» Stomping on you, Private

[Audrey Borgin]

It was finally the weekend, but Audrey had to study for her O.W.Ls. The Slytherin had always been confident about her grades, but she was still worried about her exams. Truth to be told, she was rather bored of all the studying, and she couldn't wait for the exams to be over. She tried to think about the summer, and not her O.W.Ls, but it was improssible when she walked in the Common Room with a bunch of books in her cauldron.

Her lips pouted when she saw that the Common Room was only occupied by that mud-blood, Rebecca Grey. Audrey couldn't understand what was wrong with the Sorting Hat. How could it allow muggleborns to be sorted into Slytherin? Lysandra Sutherland, Rebecca Grey... They could perfectly fit one of the other houses. Maybe Hufflepuff, where all the rubbish of the Sortings went.

" Hello, Miss Grey." Audrey greeted coldly, with a clearly forced smile.

tag:becky outfit: THIS notes:here

[Rebecca Grey]

Becky could not believe how quickly her OWLs were approaching. Much of her free time in recent weeks had been spent tucked away in the library, though more often than not it had resulted in chattering with her classmates or impromptu naps, rather than actual studying. That much was unfortunate; though not a stupid girl, the Slytherin expected no better than one or two Es on her impending exams, schoolwork having never been something she was more than moderately good at. In this venue, the muggleborn knew she would have to concede defeat to the twins who, as Ravenclaws, were unfortunately more clever than she suspected she would ever be.

Knowing little work would actually be accomplished, Becky had elected to spend the afternoon relaxing in the common room rather than struggling to cram more information into her tired mind, an idea that she apparently did not occur to any of her housemates, as the fifth year found she had the room to herself. The Slytherin sat comfortably, though not inappropriately so, on one of the green couches, the book in her hand intended for pleasure, rather than education. She was interrupted from her reading by the approach of a yearmate—one she quickly wished had just gone silently to the other side of the room.

“Good day, Miss Borgin,” Becky offered cautiously, her tone not nearly as cold but not friendly in the least. It had not taken the girl long into her schooling to realize that some were less tolerant of differences than others, and the Borgin girls in particular had served a bit of a dilemma to Becky. She had tried very hard to be pleasant to them, as apart from their one drastic flaw she might have become friends with them—particularly where they shared a dorm. Unfortunately, their blood prejudices hindered that idea, and even if she had had the sense to feign some sort of blood purity, no doubt Blanche or Cecilia would have debunked that quickly enough.

Audrey was particularly bad about it.

“Studying, are you?” she inquired, innocently enough. “I seem to have grown tired of it, myself.”

[Audrey Borgin]

Ungrateful mudblood! She had the opportunity to attend Hogwarts, she ruined Slytherin's reputation with her filthy blood and she didn't even want to study? If Audrey was the headmaster, she would kick all of the mudbloods out of the school. If they wanted to learn how to use their magic they could open their own school.

" If studying is so tiring to you, dear Miss Grey, then you should probably take a break from it, don't you think?" Audrey asked the girl with fake politeness, taking her transfiguration book out and opening it to the right page. Or, perhaps, you could leave Hogwarts and go to one of the schools for muggles in London., Audrey thought as her eyes scanned the page. Grey, Sutherland, the mudbloods and all those blood traitors.

" I am sure you are going to do just fine, Miss Grey." Audrey commented, offering the girl a forced smile. " You could at least get an O in Herbology. This is what I am striving for, at least. I want to have good scores at the... easiest subjects." Herbology probably seemed as gardening to the mudblood. In fact, lots of mudbloods seemed to enjoy Herbology. It was not weird that they liked working with mud, though, concidering that they were mudbloods.

tag:becky outfit: THIS notes:here

[Rebecca Grey]

“I—I had intended to,” Rebecca replied, expression and tone equally puzzled. Why would she have said as much otherwise? She did not willingly make herself look the fool, after all. Though she knew her OWLs were far too close for comfort, Becky simply had no desire to continue forward, at least at the moment.

Although with Audrey Borgin for company, looking busy might have been a better idea after all.

“I am not overly fond of the subject, but I imagine I shan’t do too terribly,” Becky responded cautiously. She had never fallen in love with herbology, but did not have a strong dislike for it either—and that their head of house taught it had always been a mark in the course’s favour. The fifth year imagined she would continue with it in the coming years, provided her mark was favorable. “Though in truth, I don’t expect to do badly in any of my subjects.”

If it sounded haughty, Becky did not care in the least; the Slytherin had learned early on that treating the Borgins as she did the twins—though perhaps a bit more politely, as they did share a dormitory—was the only way she could deal with their blatant dislike of her. Had she not been born to muggle parents, she and Miss Penelope Borgin might have been friends, even if Miss Audrey Borgin still proved to be a menace.

[Audrey Borgin]

So she did not like Herbology? Then what was her favourite subject? Muggle Studies, most likely, if she took that class. Or any class that she could write essays. Writing essays did not require that much magic, after all. Sure, Audrey had seen Rebecca practice magic in the classes they shared, but she was a mudblood and mudbloods did not possess the same amount of power in their spells. It would be foolish to call them muggles, but they were surely not as strong as a wizard would ever be.

" Oh, you won't, if you try hard enough." Audrey replied to the other Slytherin, not botherin to smile. Truth to be told, she seemed far more friendlier when she was not smiling in the most forced and sarcastic way she could.

" Which classes do you concider dropping?" she asked Rebecca with curiousity. The mudblood would probably drop all the classes which demanded using magic, or at least most of them. Audrey honestly hoped that they woudn't have to share any classes next year.

tag:becky outfit: THIS notes:here

[Rebecca Grey]

The fifth year was rather surprised that Audrey was even taking an interest in her; usually she just made some snide comment and wandered off. Her response was polite but guarded, as if even her words were looking for some sort of trap. “I’ll no doubt be dropping magical creatures; I had not thought it would be quite as tedious as I have found it,” Becky offered up. It was one of two elective classes she had taken on in her third year, the second being the blissfully simple Muggle Studies. “I shall probably drop Herbology as well, and perhaps Astronomy—neither is particularly interesting to me, nor do I feel they teach me anything useful.”

Her eyes cast quickly over her shoulder, hoping Professor Prince was not present; she would have hated to offend him by dismissing his subject with such ease. Becky had toyed for some time with the idea of dropping History of Magic as well, though ultimately decided that—provided she passed, of course—it was far too useful a subject for one so ignorant of the magical world.

“And yourself, Miss Borgin?” Becky inquired gently, not wanting to provoke her housemate. “What do you think you will be dropping after our examinations are over?”

[Audrey Borgin]

Rebecca might have been a mudbloods, but she was not stupid. Neither Herbology nor Astronomy were exactly useful classes, unless someone wanted to become a healer after graduation. Audrey was always good at Herbology, but she was not especially fond of the class. Still, if she got a respectable score at it, she would probably concider keeping it in her final two years of schooling. Her parents were probably planning to have her marry someone rich, but Audrey still wanted to have a good education.

Audrey pondered Rebecca's quiestion for a while and then she sighed. " Well, I am thinking of dropping History of Magic and Charms." she replied to the other Slytherin. Charms was an important class, but the spells taught there were too light for Audrey's tastes. She always preferred the dark arts and transfiguration, they demanded much more skill and talent than charms.

tag:becky outfit: THIS notes:here

[Rebecca Grey]

That the other fifth year intended to drop history was of little surprise to Rebecca—were it not for her own ignorance on the subject, she would dispose of it in a heartbeat, as it really was not a practical subject for any sort of occupation, or her (hopeful) future as a wife. In fact, the Slytherin did not expect more than a handful of peers in her class in the following year, which was both an interesting notion and a daunting one. Miss Borgin’s decision to drop charms, however, seemed far more peculiar, prompting the brunette to speak out curiously, rather than back away slowly as anyone sane from a rabid dog.

“Charms?” the surprise in her voice was both evident and genuine. “I would think it a rather useful course—like transfiguration, defence, potions. Why on earth would you want to drop something so useful?” Realizing she had criticised the yearmate who had never offered her a single scrap of kindness, Becky leaned away ever-so-slightly, as if an inch in either direction might make all the difference.

[Audrey Borgin]

Rebecca's question rather irritated Audrey, but at least she didn't try to change her mind or something like that. It was not surprising that Grey was curious about her decision, Charms was a useful class and few would concider dropping it, especially if they wanted to find a good job after graduation. Audrey was just going to become a wife, though, so it didn't really matter what NEWTs she was going to take.

"It is not set in stone yet." Audrey said to Grey almost as if she wanted to excuse her previous statement. "Charms just do not interest me as much as some other classes and I want to focus on the classes I like. If I don't pass in many classes, though. I do not really want to find a job after my graduation so it doesn't really matter how many NEWT classes I attend."

tag:becky outfit: THIS notes:here

[Rebecca Grey]

Of course Audrey Borgin would not need a job; Audrey Borgin was a pureblood and so probably had a husband assigned to her in the cradle. Not that Becky was jealous—when she married, it would certainly be for love, a proper fairy-tale love story about which she could tell her grandchildren. After all, her father had loved her mother and vice versa, so she would settle for no less. But at the same time, such a situation offered a security that Becky herself did not have: she had no parents to guide her, no guardians well-versed in the wizarding world, and a brother who, though heir to a reasonable estate (at least for their sort of people), was dependent upon her. She had to find a way to land on her feet, and the chances of finding a suitable match (handsome, wealthy, and someone with whom she would fall hopelessly in love) quickly with such pressures were slim to none.

Becky would have to find an occupation after Hogwarts, if only to escape the Chaucers.

But these were personal matters, and Miss Borgin was hardly a friend. “I suppose you know what is best,” Becky offered with a small shrug, doubting any other response would be suited.

[Audrey Borgin]

Luckily, the mudblood didn't try to change her mind as if she was some friend of Audrey. While they had a reasonably polite conversation, they would never become friends. Audrey came from a proud family and she refused to befriend some muggleborn, whose ancestors probably tried to kill some of Audrey's. Those filthy muggles tried to kill wizards and Audrey would never forgive them for that.

She gave Rebecca an almost polite smile, before she raised from her seat. "Please, do forgive me, Miss Grey. I need to meet with my cousin in the library so we can complete an essay together. Have a nice day." she said to the brunette and then curtsied before heading to the door. That was merely an excuse to leave the mudblood, because while Audrey didn't care about that being's feelings, she didn't want to start a hurtful argument when she could simply enjoy the company of one of her pureblood friends.

tag:becky outfit: THIS notes:here