[OPEN] "You're not as clever as you think."

[ooc: This is set the Friday after Valentines, the day before Christian takes Charlotte to lunch at Hogsmeade]


"Hey Christian?"

The younger of the Zabini brothers looked up at his name, blinking at the smallish blonde standing in front of him on the other side of the table. She looked uncomfortable, but then gestured to the unpleasant young man standing next to her.

"Apollo- What? What is this?" Christian asked, sitting up straighter as he tried to take in the two of them standing there. Together. Seriously, though-- What?

The Slytherin didn't respond, instead nudging Nicole forward. They both took the empty seats across from Christian. "Nicole," Apollo began, leaning forward on his arms, "needs help with Charms."

Christian lifted an eyebrow. It seemed unlikely that she had actually gone to Apollo for help, but Nicole looked thoroughly uncomfortable, so maybe she actually had. "And?"

Apollo leveled him with a bored expression, tilting his head a bit. "You're good at Charms, aren't you?"

"You are, too. Why can't you help her?"

That question made something flicker behind the Slytherin's eyes. He was up to something, it seemed. Christian honestly wasn't sure that he wanted to know, but then again, this was affecting him now, too. So he just waited, rather than caving like Apollo clearly expected him to.

"She has an exam on Monday. And I'm busy," Apollo replied, waving a hand vaguely, his eyes following the movement.

"And it's Friday. That's plenty of time."

Nicole lifted a hand a little, pointer finger up as she tried to interrupt them. Apollo didn't give her the time. "What, you don't want to help a housemate? Cold, little brother."

She tried again. "Really, I- I'm fine. I can just-"

"Apollo, you know I have plans for tomorrow. And tonight Ace and I are-"

A chuckle left Apollo's lips. "Look, I'm not doing it. So now it's on you. I guarantee that my plans are more important than yours."

"I could care less."

Apollo blinked, wanting to say more but holding himself back. "Surely you can spare a couple of hours."

Sighing heavily, Christian let his shoulders deflate from their defensive tension. Looking over at Nicole, he just knew that there was more of a story to this than Apollo was willing to admit. Whatever it was, there was no doubt that Ace would be interested in finding out. But that was for later. Christian glanced towards the professor's long table - acting like he didn't make eye contact - at the head of the room, but finally gave in. Not that he was going to let his brother off easy.

"Apollo-"

"Two words."

"I bet they won't be helpful."

"Your problem."

"I was right."

Apollo clapped a hand on the table, pushing himself up and trying to cover his amusement at the way Nicole jumped at the sound. As he walked off, Christian watched, eyes narrowing. At the end of the Slytherin table, he stopped to talk to someone with obvious interest. Leaning over on the table, Apollo said something to her before jerking his head towards the door. She stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking out with him.

Suspicion colored Christian's expression as he looked up at the professors again. But Nicole was still there. "Really," she attempted again. "I don't need help with Charms."

"What?"

"He paid me," she told him seriously. "I- I wanted to put an ad in the Prophet but it costs money, so-"

"He paid you."

Nicole nodded seriously. That set Christian's teeth on edge, and immediately he was looking purposefully around the room for a potential ally. Whatever this was, he knew better than to leave it alone. Not after that stupid show of Apollo's at the Valentine's party.

Spoiler:

She just wanted to know what happened in that closet. Well, not only that. Christian had more or less run for his life when Alice had appeared, so she also wanted to know what that was about.

Margo had seemed to think it had something to do with stopping her dobbing them all in to the teachers, but Clytemnestra disagreed. See, Alice was a pain in the arse, but she was (much as she hated to admit it) not stupid. She would have realised that she'd get in trouble along with everyone else since she was out of bed as well. That was how Hogwarts teachers worked.

No, Clytemnestra was pretty sure she knew what Christian's problem was, and if he didn't trust her yet, he was pretty damn close. Besides, who did he have to confide in? Not Alice, obviously.

He was chatting to the second year when she slid in next to him at the Hufflepuff table. Clytemnestra approved. Like her, he obviously had an investment in the future of his house. It was a shame he hadn't been the Slytherin brother, really.

"Time to dish the dirt, Zabini," she said matter-of-factly. "How was it in that closet?"

What was it with everyone trying to spook him today? Christian startled when Lux sat down beside him, whipping his head around to look at her as she spoke. It took a minute, but he got his pulse under control and relaxed, shaking his head at her.

"What is wrong with you?" He asked, more surprised than angry. "Just- .. Warn me next time."

He looked at Nicole, only for her to look pointedly at the Slytherin. Christian jumped again, looking back over at Lux.

"Oh. Right. Uh-- That's none of your business." And, indeed it wasn't. Particularly in Christian's mind. Now that he suspected of her what he did, the topic was all the more uncomfortable. "Charlotte was beyond drunk. Anything that did or did not happen shouldn't be spread around."

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" Clytemnestra asked. "I'm just giving you an opportunity to set the record straight. If you're dating Alice, you're hardly going to be taking advantage of Charlotte, are you?"

Of course, boys in general seemed to think the more the better, but Christian in particular didn't seem the type to stray.

"So tell me the story and I'll make sure everyone's got the official edition. No need to get snarky."

"But also tell me what Alice said to you after. She doesn't strike me as the type to take 'it was just truth or dare' as an excuse," she added.

Christian squinted at Lux as he reached for his glass, which was obviously a mistake. He merely ended up choking and slamming it back down as he tried to stop coughing. Nicole squeaked, staring at the pair of them with wide eyes. But the seventh year wasn't done, apparently.

Once he managed to stop, Christian stared at her for too long before finally replying. "I-.. What? People think-? No," he said, shaking his head and gesturing with one hand as he finally got his head on straight, "you've got it mixed up. Ace isn't into me. And I'm actually dating Charlotte now. We're going to Hogsmeade together tomorrow."

Christian glanced at Nicole, trying to decide if he wanted her to stay so someone else could know the truth in case Lux lied about it, or if he wanted her to go away so he'd feel less weird about being watched. She looked down immediately, reaching for a plate to try and focus on eating instead.

"Listen," he told Cly, lowering his voice and leaning towards her, "Charlotte kissed me, but I told her not to until she was sober to actually make any decisions. The next day we talked about it, and sorted it out. Ace took off because.."

He stopped, knowing that he'd probably get murdered if he told the truth. But he also believed that Lux would know better, now that he'd cut himself off.

"She was pissed at me, okay? I didn't tell her about the party." He made a sort of shrug gesture with his hands, clearly unimpressed. "Nicole," he pointed at the second year, "said she was sick. Ace never gets sick. So I went to check on her."

Oh. Oh this was just precious.

Clytemnestra gave Christian a sympathetic look. Not because of his current situation so much, although that was going to cause him a lotta hurt in the near future, but because of what he'd missed.

"Okay, you're not into her," she allowed. "But you have to admit, it's an easy mistake to make."

"Anyway, Alice isn't some fainting flower who runs off when she's angry. I don't know what she does when she's upset."

She gave him a significant look.

"You don't have to know her to see that she's not the greatest when it comes to, you know, feelings and stuff. It wouldn't surprise me if she'd been keeping you around in the hope you might eventually get the hint."

Christian frowned again, clearly skeptical of her claims. Anybody who saw the two of them knew better than to think there were any non-platonic feelings there. Obviously. Except, wait- What?

He squinted, unable to catch her meaning until it was too late and he couldn't stop her from saying it. Worse, now he couldn't unhear it. And to think he'd been worried about Apollo's plotting earlier.

"You're wrong," he told her firmly, packing up his book and papers before stuffing them in his bag. "I know there's a tough shell there, but she does just fine. I had to spend the holidays at her house because of what happened at mine, and- Look, it's really none of your business. Just know that you shouldn't go talking about somebody you haven't tried to get to know.

"Besides," he added as he stood up, "I get it. You're jealous." Christian knew he shouldn't have said that. But he let himself keep going anyway. Idiot. "I heard a rumor that you're the one that hexed Ace in the history review. And then you're getting mad at me for not saying I think of you like that? You don't have to come to me with lies about Ace, you know. I mean, I'm sorry, but.. it's like I said. I'm with Charlotte. And Ace is my best mate, but neither of us think of it as more than that."

Shrugging his bag onto his shoulder, Christian angled himself towards the door. "Now, I've got to go see what my brother thinks he's up to with Naomi Mulciber. So just-- stay here. Or, don't. I don't care. But I'm out."

Clytemnestra began laughing as she stood up as well. No way was Christian walking away from this now.

"Waaait, slow down there, Mister," she objected. "I'm jealous?"

Another burst of giggles.

"I knew I shouldn't have explained anything to you. Now you think everything I do is some manipulation tactic," she said. "If it makes you feel better, I've been dating Andrew Diamond since last year."

Not that she'd seen much of him this year, but that wasn't the point. They had an understanding.

"So yeah, I totally hexed Alice. You were right there, you saw her have a go at the Thorfinn boy, just for asking a question, too. She had it coming. Are you saying you wouldn't hex me if I treated this one like that?" she asked, casting a hand back to Nicole.

She groaned at the thought of Apollo trying some more of his doomed plotting.

"Your brother is such a drama."

Christian squinted at her skeptically, taken aback by her laughter. His chin only rose as the frown on his face deepened. "Are you sure? Maybe you should tell people you're seeing someone before you get mad at someone else for not liking you. Or just... not get mad."

Shrugging a little, he was ready move on, and even started turning away but then Lux admitted it. Stopping halfway around, Christian slowly looked at her again, anger flaring behind his eyes.

"I know it was wrong. And she did, too. Words work, you know. All you did was piss both of us off." And, of course, there was another jab about his brother. Not that Apollo hadn't earned it. Christian rolled his eyes, shifting his weight as he tried to tell himself to stay in place. "It isn't him I'm worried about this time. Naomi went with him. And he used to be Hit's best friend. Whatever they're up to, it won't be good. So, I don't really care if you think he's a drama. This school is a flipping drama. And I'm sick of it."

Damn, she'd hoped he wouldn't notice that.

"Yeah, well, mostly sure. I mean, he reckons he had this fourth year stalking him or something, so I offered to help him out," she said, "but I haven't seen him since school came back, to be honest. He hasn't tried to break up with me, so technically we're still dating."

Merlin, Hufflepuff loyalty was so annoying. The way it didn't waver or have any biases. Slytherins were so much more practical about that.

"Well, if she knew it was wrong, she ought to have apologised," Clytemnestra said. "I would never hex someone who's seen the error of her ways. Alice's problem is that she's unable to see anything over her massive ego."

She cocked her head to the side and shrugged at the idea of Apollo scheming with Naomi Mulciber.

"Well, whatever it is, it's not going to be that bad," she said. "Naomi's not that creative, and Apollo doesn't have it in him to really hurt anyone. It's probably just the next stage of him trying to get back at Kapur. Hit said something about wanting to make sure he was okay at the party."

"I suppose I can go tell him how obvious he's being. Or better yet, go tell Potter?" she suggested.