The Crash Years

"Pfft," Demi said with mock sincerity. "Me? Trouble? Like I'd ever cause trouble." She dropped her act and grinned mischievously at him. "Like I'd ever plot anything." Which was of course exactly what she was doing, she just needed an idea. She looked at Drew. "What do you think?" She asked him, her head cocked to the side. Knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer.

Drew grinned. "I think I need to stay far, far away from you during lunch. You're definitely plotting something, and I want to avoid a detention if I can. You remember the last one? They nearly tried to string us up on the rafters of the school. I don't want a repeat of that."

"Fine you boring person," Demi said with an eyeroll. "Just help me think of an Idea. and I'll go perform somewhere not near you. That way you can't get the blame, okay? Okay. Now help me idea search." She said, trying to think, what's something she could do that wouldn't get her into too much trouble if she was caught.

Drew looked at her oddly. "Wait a second, here. DEMI, the master of plotting, is asking ME, lowly peasant Drew, flobberworm at plotting extraordinaire, to help her? Are you feeling alright? I mean, next thing you know, you're going to be a prefect! Oh, the horror!"

"Boo you," Demi said poking out her tongue. "I was just wondering if you wanted to take any part in my lovely plotting, without getting into trouble at the end, but fi-ine, I'll do it myself." She grinned, and winked as they entered the great hall. "See you after lunch!" She said cheerily waving and heading to the Gryffindor table.

Drew was a bit leery of what was going on, but he ignored it. He walked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat down with the usual crowd. He had friends in Ravenclaw--just none of them as close as Demi. However, he heard a commotion coming from--no surprise--the Gryffindor table, and he turned around. Demi was causing trouble quickly.

"Helllllo Pippa," She said sitting down, the girl she sat next to looked at her. "Oh dear," She said with a slight laugh. "Beware Demi is causing trouble." Demi winked at her. "Oi Louis!" She shouted at a person a few people down. "Chuck the pies." Louis looked at her. "Chuck?" He asked hiding a slight smile. "Sure." He picked one up and flung it at her. Demi laughed. "Idiot," She shouted back, though she loved the way that he just went along with whatever crazy plan she went without knowing what she was doing. "Ow jesus it's hot," She exclaimed which was really the whole point of getting a pie flung at her. She was quite lucky she hadn't missed it actually, but of course, she hadn't thought of that before. "Oi Potter." She yelled. "Have a pie." And because she had been holding the hot pie for far too long she flung it in his direction.

Pies.

Demi was throwing PIES? What on earth had possessed her to do that? Drew shook his head--worst of all, she had thrown it at James Potter. Although the prat probably deserved some pie in the face, it definitely was not smart to actually do it--especially when Remus Lupin, one of the Gryffindor prefects, was sitting there, staring. Demi was sure to get a detention. Why did she never think things through?

Pippa whacked herself in her face with her hand. "Demi Demi Demi," She said with a shake of her head, though her mouth was curled up in a slight smile. Demi's eyes were wide with fake innocence as she looked at Potter who looked anything but amused. "What?" She asked him. "I thought you liked pies?" She looked at Pippa who was trying to stiffle her laughter. "Didn't you hear him yesterday? He did say he did like pies didn't he?" Pippa hid her face in her hands and put her head down on the table, laughing too hard to get a word out of her. James Potter was not amused, though he did look quite comical with pie all in his hair. Someone else who didn't look amused was Remus Lupin, who had been reading when a pie had bounced off James and splattered all over his book. "Oops?" She suggested with a light shrug and a grin. "Mitchell," He said pulling out his wand to get the pie off of his book. "You've got youself a det. Prongs." He said warningly. As Potter looked like he was about to start a food war. "I'll put you in one too." Potter frowned, looked at Lupin and put down the food. "Seeya chaps," Demi said picking up a handful of chips. "Mitchell," Lupin said. "You've got a det, right after classes today." "Aye aye," Demi said. "Heard you the first time. And Potter. You really do look smashing with pie in your hair. You should do it more often."

Demi skipped away from the wreckage looking bright and chipper, as if nothing had happened. In fact, she almost looked proud of herself. "How many dets?" Drew asked, amused. If it were anyone else, he would have been annoyed, but this was really nothing new for Demi. She lived a constant stream of detentions. It was almost abnormal for her to not get one, and at least this time he was not dragged into this mess.

"As far as I'm aware right now, one," She said eating one of the chips that she was holding in her hand. Once she swallowed it she looked at Drew, grinning. "Best Idea I've had all week," She told him seriously. "So worth the det. You should have seen Potter's face," She flung her chipless hand into the air. "Seriously." She ate another chip. "Hang on," She said through a mouthful of chips. "I'm grabbing something else to eat." She walked over to the nearest table, which happened to be Hufflepuff and grabbed a few sandwiches off of their table before heading back over to Drew, Ignoring the Hufflepuffs. "Should have seen his face," She said with another giggle. "Epic." She bit into the sandwich.

Drew just shook his head, laughing. "Only you, Demi, could pull off a stunt like that and only get one det. Although, the fact that it was Lupin that caught you throwing a pie at Potter's face probably helped with that one. Remus is usually pretty fair, from what I've gathered. If it were the Ravenclaw prefects, you'd be toast." He grinned. "Can't say I'm not glad to get out of this detention with you, though. You have gotten me in so many over the years that I know enough about them to not want more. When is this one?"

"It's rather a pity Potter didn't throw anything back, I could have done with a food fight, might have made me late to defence, damn." She shook her head continueing to eat. "Yeah Lupin's alright, you'd think that I'd get more for throwing a pie in his friends face but." She shrugged. "He's alright. Least Evans didn't notice, I'd probably have gotten like two for her for some bizarre reason or another." She grinned impishly. "Yeah well, you're in the goody-two-shoes house mate, course your prefects will give out dets like party invites. After class," She said with a nod finishing off her sandwich and starting on the other.

"After class? Looks like I'm going to be spending some time alone, then, doesn't it? I should have just gotten the blasted det. At least we'd be together, then. Now I have to do some actual work." He stopped for a second. "I'm sounding just like you. This time apart might be a good thing, then." He winked. "Must maintain my reputation as a fuddy-duddy, eh? Although for the Ravenclaws, I'm almost a troublemaker, spending time with you lot."

"Le gasp, the Ravenclaw doesn't want to do work. The world is falling," She grinned finished off her other sandwich and wiping her hands on her legs. "Falling. Falling? Seriously. Exploding would have worked better. Anyway," She shook her head. "You should join Gryffindor, we are much more fun. Though, then you'd have to put up with the Marauders on a daily basis. Nevermind, I won't put you through such torture. That would be mean of me."

Drew grinned. "You know, you're not all that different than the Marauders. I mean, you're always in detention, you have the brains of a gnat..." He winked and jumped out of the way, just in case Demi tried to whack him for that one. "Although, they are admittedly much smellier and far more good-looking. But nevertheless, I thank you for sparing me from them. I would rather have my stick in the mud Ravenclaws, thank you very much. Although, really, Remus is not half bad, and Pettigrew is not much of a nuisance because he has the brainwaves of a rock."

Demi looked at him. "You did seriously not just compare me to the Maraduers you twat," She said in shock. Taking a step forward to whack him over the head. "Pfft," She said. "I have more brains then them, cept Lupin," She waved her hand like that didn't matter. "Seriously, I make these grand plans up on my own." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Your lucky I finished my sandwich," She told him seriously. "Or you and Potter could both have food hair. Well. At least you are not as boring as most Ravenclaws. That would be depressing, imagine if I didn't have you to drag into detention with me. What would I do?"

"You'd get in more trouble during your detentions, that is what you would do." Drew grinned. "I don't know how many times I've had to stop you from throwing things at the heads of the det moderators. I'm not much of a Ravenclaw, but I'm smart enough to know that THAT is a stupid idea." That worried him for a second. "Demi, don't throw anything at the heads of your det moderator today, okay? Promise? I won't be there to bail you out."

"They're idiots though," Demi whined at him swinging her arms by her side. "They areee, going on about stuff that nobody gives a crap about." She made a face. "I'll try," She told him. "No promises. Nooo promises. But Yeah," She shrugged at him. "I'll try." She smiled. "Defence, now don't we? Or am I still having timetable problems?" She scrunched up her nose thinking. "I am right right? Defence? Right? I think so. Yep. Lets go."

Defence passed by with little incident, thank goodness. Drew was not in the mood for a ton more trouble. The rest of the classes in the afternoon were boring, but Demi behaved--for the most part. A few cases of throwing things at people, but nothing that would get her a det. Eventually, the time came when Demi had to go meet whoever it was that would be her moderator and do whatever new punishment they would devise for her. He, however, was going to go to the library and get some work done, so that when Demi was finished with her detention, they could goof off together.

Cole, still in a rather sour mood from the encounter in class that day, was taking some down time alone in the library. It was one of those days where almost no one was about there, and he was making good use of it, just pouring over a book about something he didn't know or otherwise hadn't understood at first. He had to be perfect, had to be the best in order to make his parents proud of him, to beat his brothers. But, dammit all if he wasn't good enough. He'd never amount to anything in this eyes of his family. Being the youngest really sucked, because it left him with so much to live up.

Drew walked into the library. It was usually completely empty on days like today, when most were out and about. In Ravenclaw House, everyone was gathered around in the common room, reviewing for tests and working on group projects. However, he needed some time to himself. So, to the library he went.

However, when he went to sit down in his usual spot, he found Cole working avidly away. He looked like he was very absorbed in his work, so Drew did not want to bother him. Besides, after the earlier encounter, he was not incredibly keen on trying to be all chummy with Cole. So, he picked out a different spot and sat down. However, with Cole there, flipping through pages and occasionally muttering to himself, Drew could not get much work done. After finally finishing a bothersome potions essay, Drew gave up in favor of just staring at Cole. He was very easy to stare at--he drew Drew's attention more than most. He was a puzzle waiting to be figured out. Drew was only truly like a Ravenclaw in that he could not stand to be presented with a mystery he could not solve. He knew nothing about Cole, and he wanted this to change desperately.

Cole was scribbling away some notes and muttering out the important bits as he read, so as to better remember them. He wasn't even aware of his surroundings anymore, not when he got into working. That was why the bloody hat had nearly stuck him in Ravenclaw, but he'd vehemently told it not to. Finally, however, he came to the end of the book he'd been reading and looked up to unstiffen the muscles in his neck. It was then that he noticed Drew, who was...staring at him?

Drew was pondering something when Cole caught him staring. Crap, Drew thought to himself. No one ever caught him staring but Demi, usually, since Drew tended to blend more into the background--especially with Demi as his best friend. However, the silence of the empty library and the nature of the situation meant that Drew was a lot more vulnerable and much more likely to get caught. Drew should have thought this through before, but it was awfully hard to manage that. Cole had an odd sort of... frantic seriousness that Drew had not ever seen before except in Ravenclaws. It was almost as if he was working hard because he had something to prove. He was so absorbed in his work, but he almost looked frustrated.

Drew tried to hide from Cole's gaze, but he did not stand a chance.

Cole tilted his head just a little at Drew. "Can I help you with something or were you just staring at me because you could?" he asked, finding his comment slightly witty, but at the same time curious. He really just wanted to get back to reading, but he couldn't with someone watching.