"Study" Group

Jack peeked over at James and saw that his eyes were closed and for a second, she began to allow a smirk to fall on her face, but it wiped off a second later. Something about the way his face was set told her she was crossing a line, and she felt her grip on his shoulder and her smirk begin to slip. His eyes opened and she saw a smile come onto his face. But it was a familiar smile. One she knew too well.

A forced one.

His answer was a thorough correction of her summary on him, shedding light that she was actually describing herself. She watched him for a second, puzzled. What was going on his mind to make her words so painful? She had expected irritation, not pain. Jack liked to dance on that line, she did not cross it unless necessary.

She was so lost in her musings and her thoughts that she did not expect him jab her in the ribs. Though it was a light movement, it was a heavier blow, something she had certainly not prepared herself for. She allowed herself to rock slightly from the blow and forced herself not to wince. She released James and turned to face him. "Sorry, chum," she said, keeping the teasing in her voice down to the minimum. "Couldn't help it. Still pals?"

OOoohh! I know! Wrap your arm across her shoulders, spin her about, and reply,"Why Jack! How could we not be pals? Especially after all of our adventures and pranks together! Remember that one where you and Keith ganged up on me? Yeah, a REAL blast, that."
Come now girls require more tact and wit. You can't suddenly spout ribald comments. It is simply unbecoming of a proper gentleman.
Cheesecake!

James smiled, and decided to lighten the intensity of his glare. "Yeah, still pals." James Wake was, if anything, patient, and usually it rewarded itself. Jack Dyllan was a problem child in James' book of "First Impressions," but if there was one thing that he learned from life in Hogwarts, it was that everyone's first impression usually fails to portray them in a favorable light. He sincerely hoped that Jack would be turning over a new leaf, but in reality, she was probably not even considering a lifestyle change.
One could dream right?

If Jack Dyllan, the school's latest role model, it would certainly be nice if she just followed the rules. After all, students looked up the Gryffindor. She was the epitome of what a Hogwarts students should. If all of Hogwarts were to follow her example, James would have a truly terrible year ahead of him.
He was secretly counting the days until he was done with Hogwarts, done with this charade of upholding the "Law" and maintaining "Order."

But, until that day, he would just have to smile with his usual forced smile, and act as if he were merely... another student. With a spot of power, of course.

Jack raised her eyebrows a bit, as his expression toned down a bit and he agreed, saying that they were friends... Hmmmm... Was James bantering or was he just being sarcastic? Either way, it showed a level of personality in him that Jack had yet to see. So far, he had seemed like a cardboard cut out prefect-type students infatuated with the rules and work with no personality left to spare. But if he could banter or be sarcastic...

She could work with that.

Hmm... Now to test her theory, see what this was all about. Again, she looped arms with him and beamed at Lana, feeling her competitive spirit kick in. She was not competing, per se, but this was somehow a challenge, and she never backed down from a challenge, not even a self-proclaimed one. "Yep. We've been friends since we first said hello. Probably because we're so alike. We just get along. Cheese to the macaroni, peanut better to the jelly, two peas in a pod, and all that jazz. Right, James-y?" The pet name was... perfect.

"If I truly recall correctly, I found you mixing a few... interesting potions with a pretty well-known trouble-maker. Of course, I knew the boy. Keith Nicholas- little 'Blood Noughat's like the little brother I never had. Well, I would say that we didn't exactly... hit off... on the right spot," James agreed, though his expression remained passive. Perhaps she could detect the lingering sarcasm.
Wait, what the f***? Wasn't that the fluff-dousing addle-brained Ravenclaw that nailed you in the sack?
Green! Mind your language. You know that was a low point in James' pathetic little life.

James mentally shrugged off the comments of his mental neighbours. The voices were doing their best to "support" him, after all. James wanted to avoid revealing more about who he was to Jack and this cheery Beauxbatons girl. So, instead, he decided to do something a little different. Complete sarcasm. Acting of sorts. Say the opposite of what he intended. Perhaps, maybe then, Jack would get the message: LAY OFF.

Jack smiled innocently at him, though it was one of the few expressions she had never completely mastered- the other being that look of adoration stupid girls saved for their boyfriends- because she simply did not have much experience with the sincere form of it. No, you could still see the devious Cheshire cat smiled beyond the expression. A dragon laid behind those doe-eyes...

"Oh that?" Jack said. "I thought we had some fun, James ol' boy? We weren't expecting company, so it was a little rude of you to barge in, but after we got that settled and squared away we were all pretty cheery and chipper, right?" She smiled at him, a little of the innocence finally coming through.

"Huh, that's odd." James smiled back, though it was not nearly as innocent as Jack's. In fact, James' smile was probably more malicious than anything else. "I was always under the impression that, if you could see a door, you could just go on in- unless it was the Girl's Bathroom. I learned my lesson the hard way." James made sure to pepper that last statement heavily with sarcasm. He would never have dreamed of actually going into the Girl's bathroom. It was equal parts stupid and bold- neither traits applied to James Wake, but they certainly seemed to apply to the stupid caricature Jack was painting of him.

He seriously hoped that everyone who was listening had a good head on their shoulders, or this conversation would quickly get awkward

((Your cue, Lana))

"Wait, WHAT?" Lana suddenly spouted as she spat a bit of her juice out. What kind of guy actually said that in public? What the hell had he drank? Butterbeer was not actually alcoholic, right? What was going on? This was definitely the guy that had given her the bored look. Who was this person, really? What was going on between Jack and James? Were they mortal enemies acting as friends? Lana was officially confused.
"S-seriously, do you actually d-do any of that stuff?" she pleaded James, hoping that her understanding of the world was not getting screwed with up.

Jack knew that it would be a hopelessly long story to explain to Lana what exactly what was going on in this point in time, and she had obviously began to realize that there was a wee bit of tension exuding from James, who obviously was not welcome to Jack making her usual little jokes. However, his last words had been loaded ones and soon, she found she was fighting with him through sarcasm.

"Well, people usually have the right to their privacy right, or is this some dictatorship where the rules of the authorities are the law of everyone's own personal lives as well?" She crossed her arms and then she suddenly remembered that they had been a bit crude to James. Her arms began to loosen and she looked at him, leaving Lana hanging since she had no idea what to say. "Are you still upset about that?"

"Well, Lana, if you must know, Jack is attempting to give me more credit than I deserve. It was merely the abandoned Girl's Bathroom. It was inhabited by a ghost with the most appalling of manners, who started shrieking when I came in. I never really figured out why," James replied, his eyes rolling over to Jack. He was pretty sure that the response he'd given would sufficiently clam up the chatty Beauxbatons girl. But then again, girls were a strange little species. She would probably reply with more questions. Regardless, James was more preoccupied with fending off Jack's sarcasm with his own. He would eventually have to ask Jack to cut the act and let him go about his business. Enough time was being wasted on this pointless game.

"Well, considering the fact that you were attempting, miserably might I add, to make a Polyjuice potion, I'd say that we had that squared away pretty quickly." James had the urge to check his watch. How much time till midnight? He had better things to be doing.

Everyone was distracted. Perfect. Brienne clenched a small vial in her hands; inside was a mix of cinnamon oil, habanero pepper, and water. She shook it up, and it became a milky-looking liquid. Normally, she wouldn't prank people at a party, but right now the party was boring. Boring because of James's intrusion. He was distracting the party-goers, making the party stall. No one would even see what she was doing, and that would be perfect. Not only would this stuff, which she called Steinheim's Tincture after Daniel's dead boyfriend Stanley, be awful-tasting but it would also be quite hot. Quite high on the Scoville Scale. She slipped a little in one of the dips that someone brought. She chose the nastiest looking one of the bunch. Quietly, she disposed of the vial.

She socialized with a couple of people that were also in Ravenclaw, whom she managed to pry away.