Miniature Goblins ((Tanner))

[Devon Darcy Daniels]

For once, Devon was not running. It was an odd feeling, having piles and piles of books on her legs which were usually moving so fast they couldn’t be caught under books. But, Devon had a quiz she needed to study for, and the only way to do that was to study from the books that she had never opened. Devon was in her seventh year, and she had always done rather well in the classes she attended, but this term she had been struggling with History of Magic. Of course, who wouldn’t be struggling with that class? It was the single dullest class in the world. All Binns did was drone on and on through his notes, he didn’t even care that half of his students were asleep on their textbooks. Devon had skived off on his class quite a bit, which had to be why she was struggling, but a quick run around two always did better than having to deal with Binns’s annoying voice. Now Devon wished she had attended the class, even though she knew she wouldn’t have paid much attention to him anyway. Devon sighed and thumbed through the pages, skimming excerpts here and there about the goblin rebellions. Nothing popped out at her to interest her or to stick inside her head that she would remember for the quiz. With a defeated sigh, she closed the book and leaned against the wall she had sat down beside in the aisles and aisles of books.

She sat in silence for a moment, listening to the turning of pages, and the whisperings of younger students. Then the idea came to her. Yes! Why hadn’t she thought of it before? Devon flipped open a book that was to her left and pointed her wand at an image of a goblin. She muttered an incantation that would make the goblin come alive, but it would be in the size that it was on the page in the book. Soon the goblin was shouting up at her from the old book and waving it’s long forefinger at her. Devon picked the goblin up in her palm and brought it level with her face so she could see it more clearly. A clever smile crossed her face as the goblin continued to shout at her and tried to think of a way off her palm. “Hello, there. I was wondering if you could help me with the goblin rebellions? It’s dreadfully hard for me to remember anything, and well I figured you could…er… he- hey! Don’t do that!” The goblin had jumped off her palm onto a thick volume of History of Harmful Creatures and then off that onto the hardwood floor where it scuttled off.

Devon pushed the books off her and chased after the goblin on her hands and knees. It was such a stupid idea! She started to curse herself under her breath as she chased the goblin under an empty table and toward the doors. What would Dumbledore do if he found out that she had brought a goblin to life? Sure, it was a miniature sized goblin, but it was a goblin all the same! Devon groaned again as she lurched forward to grab the goblin, but only succeeded in hitting her head on a chair which shot forward and slammed the door shut. Well, at least it couldn’t get out now. Devon sighed and stood up from the floor and was about to continue on her hunt for the goblin when she saw a Ravenclaw watching her with a look of bewilderment on his face. “Er… hello… have you seen a miniature goblin running around here?”

[tanner]

This is how it works. You're young until you're not. You love until you don't. You try until you can't. You laugh until you cry. You cry until you laugh. And everyone must breathe. Until their dying breath. In his head, Tanner sang along to the song that was playing on his mini wireless. He had formed a habit of having to listen to music when he studied or working on homework. Some would argue that it only distracted your mind, but Tanner found it impossible to concentrate in silence. It almost seemed louder than sound to him, but that was just his own personal opinion that many would probably find ridiculous.

He had just finished reading about the goblin rebellions for History of Magic, a subject that he was pretty impartial too. It wasn't the most entertaining subject, but it was history, which meant you just had to memorize the facts. Being a Ravenclaw, he knew that memorization was the most basic form of learning and he figured that it was better than having to learn to apply the information. He was a fast reader too, which was most of the homework for that class.

He rooted through his bag and then pulled out his Practical Transfiguration book. They had been working quite a bit on making portkeys lately in class, and he had still been having some trouble get the spell just right. Consistently, he had managed to transfigure the items, however they kept taking him about ten feet away from his destination. Sure, it wasn't a very large error, but he wanted to perfect the spell as best he could. With N.E.W.T.s approaching, ever little detail would matter.

As he flipped through the pages of the book, a movement on the ground caught his eye. He followed it and was sure that he must have been seeing things. It had to have just been his mind playing tricks on him, for it appeared to be a small goblin that was running across the ground. Before he could even think much about it, he heard a loud crash and turned toward the commotion. There, a girl he recognized as a Gryffindor in his year, was crouched on the ground looking very frustrated. He gave her a curious look as she asked if he had seen a goblin.

"Uh, actually I did," he answered with a quick laugh. "Why, are you missing one?" He held back the rest of the laughter that bubbled inside. It was quite an awkward experience, but at Hogwarts, what wasn't awkward?

[Devon Darcy Daniels]

“Great!” Devon exclaimed with a bright smile when the Ravenclaw (who Devon had recognized as Tanner) said he had seen the goblin. Her smile faded slightly, however, when he asked if she were missing one. “Sorta… see… I have trouble with History of Magic, considering well... I kinda skive off the classes and Binns, as you know, has decided to give us a quiz over the goblin rebellions… and the problem is I don’t know anything about the goblin rebellions…” Devon shrugged and walked over to Tanner, grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the chair before dragging him to the left aisle of books where she was certain the goblin had run to. She now spoke in a whisper, “…so I kinda sorta brought the goblin from the book to life and well… he ran. He wasn’t much help either; I suppose this was why they rebelled and why they aren’t many wizards’ favourite creatures.” Devon sent Tanner a glance and then got on her hands and knees again to look for it at a lower level. She yanked on the hem of Tanner’s pant leg as if to tell him to get beside her and continued to talk in a whisper; “Now I’ve got this… kinda large but really miniature sized problem. Ohhh if Dumbledore ever found out. I guess it’s better than a giant, though, hey?”

Devon continued to crawl around on her hands and knees for a moment, biting her lip so she wouldn’t continue to talk. It was odd for her, because she was never truly outgoing when it came to anything. She always let the person get a word in edgewise at least, but at the moment she was worried out of her mind about the goblin. After a moment, she sat back on her ankles and looked over at Tanner. “I’m Devon, by the way. You’re Tanner right? We’ve been in the same year for seven years now, we better at least know each others names.” She smiled and then leaned against the bookcase behind her. She was about to say something more, when she heard a distinctive sound from above her. Lifting her head, Devon let out a gasp. “There you are! You stupid little… troll!” She reached up and grabbed the goblin from where it was hanging off a book. It had apparently tried to climb up to the top so she couldn’t get to it. Devon brought it down, keeping a firm grip on it this time. She heard it screaming something, and she thought it sounded an awful like; “I’m no troll! I’m so-and-so the Destroyer.” Devon rolled her eyes and stuffed the goblin in her robe pocket before standing up.

She motioned for Tanner to follow her, keeping one hand wrapped around the goblin in her pocket so he wouldn’t get out, and the other hand ran through her hair. Within seconds, Tanner, Devon, and the goblin troll had arrived at the little corner Devon had been in. She knelt down beside the book that she had taken the goblin from and pulled it from her robes. “Do me a favour and hold it down while I put him back?” Devon pulled out her wand, muttered the counter incantation, and soon the goblin was 2D again. She smiled triumphantly and looked over at Tanner; “Thanks! Blasted thing. Took me all over the bloody library and I still haven’t learnt a thing about the goblin rebellions except that goblins are nasty.”

[tanner]

Before he knew what was happening, Devon had dragged Tanner to the ground as she explained the bizarre account of why there was a miniature goblin running free in the first place. When she wasn’t looking, he rolled his eyes with a smirk at the thought of what crazy things people would do just to get out of some reading. He didn’t say much until Devon introduced herself and clarified that she had his name correct as well. “Yeah, Tanner,” he said shortly, watching as she finally stumbled onto the feisty little hellion who had been attempting to scale the bookshelf. Then, he followed Devon’s lead as she led him back to the book that had apparently spawned the little guy. Listening, Tanner helped Devon to get the goblin back to his original form.

“I guess that gives a new approach to hands-on learning,” he said with a raised brow. “You might wanna stay away from the 3-D learning though, and stick with just the two-dimensional parameters of a book. He laughed slightly again when Devon seemed quite relieved that the charade was over. He didn’t really see how it was too terrible. Humorous would have been his description, however it wasn’t he who would have paid the consequences had the goblin caused any real harm. “Have fun learning the way the rest of us are confined to,” he said with a smirk as he turned to go back to his table where he could finish his own work.

[Devon Darcy Daniels]

Devon scowled at Tanner’s mention of 3D learning. She had walked herself into that one, or at least in her mind she had. She knew if Clay were there at that moment he would say something, and in her thoughts she could hear herself snapping at him already, but she didn’t say anything to Tanner, figuring it wasn’t really something she wanted to share with the whole world even if Tanner was only one person. “That’s the problem, I can’t learn from books. I’m a Gryffindor, not a Ravenclaw like the more prominent people of this school.” She retorted as she began to stack the books with magic and then put them away. Devon learned things by remembering doing something fun with them, or by a song she had been listening to at the time. Reading them and memorizing facts never did her any good at all. The books continued to put themselves away as she looked at Tanner with a steely gaze, her sudden happy demeanor changing back to her introverted sarcastic personality.

She felt her eyebrows raise when he wished her luck with learning the way the rest of the students did and walked off. She stood rooted to her spot a moment and then she bent down to retrieve her book bag and follow him. “You know, I didn’t do anything to you.” She told him huffily as she appeared beside him again. “You could at least try to be pleasant.” Devon wasn’t used to being shoved aside like she had just been. Not that she was usually the center of attention, either, but most people had the courtesy of being pleasant with her even if she wasn’t all that pleasant with them. It was a change in how things usually went and it intrigued her, but it frustrated her more than it intrigued her.

[tanner]

Really not meaning to, Tanner had apparently struck a cord of discontent as Devon told him that he could have at least tried to be pleasant. He turned, half way back to his table. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "What if I told you this is my pleasant side?" Tanner gave her a serious look, knowing full well he probably was being a little harsh. All of the homework was getting to him. Sure, that didn't give him the right to act so selfish, but that was just how Tanner was. Cruel or not, he had a bad habit of shrugging others off. It wasn't intentional, but just second nature to him. It made him appear to be a jerk, but he was used to the label.

"I'd have offered to give you my notes, but it's obvious that they wouldn't do you any good. I don't think you can animate them into anything interesting, and I probably wouldn't advise it." He gave Devon a cheeky grin before turning again to go back to the table where he became even more bitter to the work that waited for him there.

((Yes, very short... but it's hard to write a lot when you are trying NOT to talk a lot. ))

[Devon Darcy Daniels]

Devon raised her eyebrows again as she put her hands on her hips. The sarcasm that had slipped from him made Devon want to reply with an even more sarcastic remark, but she didn’t. She figured that if she had wanted to be rude to him she wouldn’t have followed him and bothered him about being rude to her. Of course, maybe she wanted to be sarcastic anyway. It was how Devon was. Sarcastic, snippy, short. It was just the result of her keeping to herself over the years. “If you told me that this was your pleasant side, I’d feel sorry for whoever puts up with you on a daily basis,” she replied with a smirk on her face. Honestly… had the world gone completely dark while she was locked away in her own universe? She hadn’t really spoken to anyone besides her family for the past year or so, except Dixie but that was… well… different, wasn’t it? It didn’t really count as a friendly conversation, more like… a twist of fate and helping the Slytherin find a place to stay at while she was in Paris. Now, Devon realized why she kept herself away from everyone else in the world. People like Tanner who pushed everyone else away. At least when Devon was off on her own, she wasn’t making anyone feel like they were… well… insignificant. Was he making her feel insignificant? No, he was just getting on her nerves.

She glared at his cheeky grin and stood rooted to her spot when he turned to go back to his table again. Devon debated with herself. Should she go after him again and bother him again? Or was it even worth the effort? She could just return to learning about the Goblin rebellions… but where was the fun in that? Before she could think on it any more, Devon followed Tanner again. Once she was beside him… again… she shook her head, “You’re one of those ‘I hate the world and all it holds’ people, aren’t you? Too afraid or angry to have a decent conversation with someone.” Devon tilted her head to the side in an attitude of annoyance, though she was certain she was being the annoying one now. “People don’t like that, you know. Being pushed aside or shrugged off because they are willing to try and hold a conversation with someone. It makes them feel like they are… well… insignificant and minuscule.” She had no idea why she was continuing to talk to him, obviously there was going to be nothing good from the conversation. But she stood, waiting for a response while trying to think over a way that she could indeed remember the Goblin rebellions.

[tanner]

Tanner pretended to ignore Devon as she continued to talk. He really was listening though. For some reason, he wanted to hear what she had to say, but didn't want her to know that. He was surprised that she followed him back to the table. Maybe she followed him for the same reason he actually listened to her. She seemed like a cool person, but he didn't want to put the energy into showing that he thought thought. For Tanner, it was just easiest to distance himself from people and stay in his own little world of his. Devon must have felt the need to scold him though, and he rolled his eyes when she began to chide him for his bitter personality.

"I don't hate everyone," Tanner remarked, not even looking up from his paper which he was taking notes on. His voice was emotionless and empty. He tried to sound as casual as he could. "Maybe I don't care what people think of me," he added rather coldly. It was true... for the most part. Because of his lack of people he was even close to, Tanner didn't bother to know or care what others thought about him. He held his views of them and figured they held their views of him. It didn't matter what they were, because he knew he probably wouldn't care enough to change his ways anyways. He continued to write, but still listened to see if Devon said anything else. When she stopped talking, Tanner finally looked up from his work.

"It's rather bold of you to judge me," he said calmly. "I mean, do you really even know me?" he asked. "But maybe, if I'd have branched out and decided to judge you, I'd have realized that I should have expected you to think the worst of me. Apparently you are the type to see everybody's downfalls. But what's your downfall, Devon?" Tanner gave her another glare, this time not as harsh, but more taunting than anything. Tanner dropped his view and went back to his work, trying to act as disinterested as he could as Devon replied.

[Devon Darcy Daniels]

“Humph,” Devon retorted as she slid into the seat opposite him, “Could’ve fooled me. You’ve got the ‘I hate everyone’ aura about you, and trust me; I know that aura.” She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear as she leaned back in the chair, pushing her foot against the table leg and causing the chair to teeter back and forth on its two legs in the back. If she was getting a disapproving look from Madame Pince she didn’t notice, but she wouldn’t have cared either; so it didn’t really matter. She was growing even more annoyed on the fact that Tanner was still brushing her off even though he was talking. “Ho, hum,” she replied, “You care what people think, everyone does; even those of us who fight to say we don’t. If you didn’t care what people thought you wouldn’t be human.” Even Devon cared what people thought, to a point. For the most part it was more if they didn’t like who she was or whatnot they could deal with it. She didn’t need to befriend anyone who didn’t like her for herself. Well, actually then, she didn’t befriend anybody really.

When he looked up from his work, Devon smirked. He spoke a bit, about judging him, and then asked what her downfall was because apparently she picked out everyone elses downfall. Chewing on her lip a moment, Devon shrugged. “I judge people? But everyone does that. I guess, it’s those who separate themselves by trying not to judge that make the most friends, though? My downfall, disregarding the whole judging thing, would probably be my ability to irritate people and yet still maintain a sense of ‘I hate the world and everyone in it’ personality.” She stopped pushing the chair back and forth and let it fall forward with a thump. Devon watched him a moment as she propped her chin on her hands, “You know, I didn’t really judge you. In a sense I judged your personality by what I’m experienced with. You in turn judged me by my so called judging of you. See, you immediately assumed I was judging you. Now, since everyone judges everyone I’m going to assume that you thought I was judging you at our first meeting.” She smirked here, “But you don’t know, I could know you rather well. See, when someone like us, yes I said us, decides to branch out and outcast themselves from the rest of the world – we become more open than we would have liked.

“Therefore, allowing other outcasts who have chosen to be outcasts to see them in a whole other light that people in cliques or whatnot would not be able to see them in.” Devon stopped here and thought about all she had said. It made sense to her, and she wondered (vaguely) if it would make sense to Tanner. If it didn’t, that was okay. She could deal with that. She’d just return to her life and jogging, and fail that blasted quiz.