The Bottom Line [Bastian]

[Anael Zabini]

Anael had just finished writing the first letter of the year to her parents and was on her way to the owlery. Even though she was seventeen she was still in the habit of keeping her parents updated. When it came to her studies, at least. When it came to her personal life (which took up much more time than any class, not that they had to know) they could guess at it for all she cared. There were some things that parents had no business knowing. And whatever they said, they wouldn't want to know anyway.

She was almost there when two Slytherin boys, one from her year and one a bit younger, stepped in front of her. Anael had never had much prejudice against Slytherin, though that was in large part because both her parents, her aunt, and her little brother had made Slytherin house while she was placed in the house opposite. However, she couldn't help but note the strong association between these behemoths and low intelligence. Not only were they lacking in academic ability, but apparently common sense, too. Wands weren't the only weapons that could cause damage.

Ana had gotten the wooden bat from a muggle-born friend of hers over the summer and had taken to carrying it around school. It was useful for a lot of things. Recreational rock smashing, protection in Care of Magical Creatures (though she hadn't used it that way just yet) and lastly, the intimidation factor. It didn't seem like these two were smart enough to realize that heavy object to head equaled pain. She was hardly listening to their insults until a familiar, but still irritating, comment slipped from the older boy's lips.

“I heard that your mother is as 'free' as your grandmother. I reckon that explains all about you and Gabriel... It must run in the family.” he said, laughing a little bit. Though he didn't use a more descriptive and lewd word, Ana thought that she knew what he was trying to say. And when the second student spoke up, there was no doubt. “In that case, how about spending some time with us, Zabini?”

Call her grandmother a whore, fine. Call her mother a whore, that was worth two bashes at least. But call her a whore? Well. She hoped that they at least had the forethought to book in advance rooms at the hospital wing, because Ana wasn't going to go easy on them. It didn't even matter that their claims made no sense.

Dropping the letter on the ground, she started to run at them with the bat. Finally the message kicked in. They were running faster than they had in their lives, their arms flailing as they did. Ana launched herself on the back of one of them and hit him in the head with the bat once. Short temper? Yes. Justified? Of course.

The most frightening part was that she didn't say anything, just kept on fighting.

[Sebastian Larsen]

It was a good day, a good day indeed. Sebastian quickly made his way down the spiral staircase that reached up to the owlery, a tightly wrapped parcel tucked under his arm. The package itself had arrived that morning during breakfast in the great hall, and at its arrival Bastian had fled the room without saying so much as a word to any of his housemates. He hadn't dared to open it at the table, with all the roving eyes, grabbing hands, and growling stomachs. Even in the safety of his own dormitory the packages remained shut. He had something to do before he could unwrap the package and enjoy what was inside.

Writing the letter had taken a little longer than he had expected, but once he finally finished, he'd rolled up the parchment, and stuck the parcel back under his arm. Know better than to leave it unprotected in the Gryffindor common. He'd learnt that the hard way, he'd been taught another lesson that day, that it was never a good idea to punch someone who is much larger than you. This was how he found himself in the owlery. Finally making it to the floor landing, he was ready return to his dormitory, barricade himself in his room, and finally open his package, when a tall boy ran into him full force.

He was thrown against the wall, and his package dropped to the floor were he could have sworn he heard a crunch. "OI!" He hollered once the air returned to his lungs, looking after the boy who was now turning the corner as fast as he could, not once looking back. "What the-" He cut himself off as he stood and turned, looking down the hall to see where the boy had come from. His jaw dropped as he saw what seemed to be Anael Zabini beating the shit out of another boy with a baseball bat.

He wasn't quite sure what to do. He was slightly worried that if he tried to intervine Ana would wack him, and he knew from experience she could hit hard. He bent down and picked up his package, taking a few small steps towards the slightly bloody altercation. "Erh, Zabini, he might be dead." He stared down at them, reaching up with his free hand and running his fingers through his thick brown hair and smiling awkwardly.

[Anael Zabini]

Anael turned when she heard the familiar voice of Sebastian Larsen. However she managed to keep track of all her friends and acquaintances through voice, name, and face, even she sometimes didn't know. But Sebastian was something special. He was a teammate in Quidditch, for one thing, and one of the funniest people that she knew. And that was saying a lot. Anael didn't like to be around people who were just moping around and blaming other people for their lives that were boring as Hell just because they couldn't make it any different themselves...

Despite his words, she seemed to forget for a moment that there was a writhing boy beneath her. It was how they had ended up after he fell on the ground trying to pry the crazy girl from his back. She looked at Sebastian for a moment with her fist up in the air (the bat temporarily forgotten at the boy's side), but just as she was going to greet him enthusiastically, his words went back through her head. “Unfortunately, no. Well, I guess that I don't want a death on my record,” she said in a slow voice, as though that was not the first answer that came to her.

She rolled off the boy and watched as he took off after the other, with a slight limp that Ana was almost certain was faked. “Remember this day next time you want to mess with a Zabini!” she yelled. She knew that they were in the same house as Gabe, which probably meant that they played nice with him. But still, they had known that she was his sister when they insulted her family, so whatever they said would have been insulting to Gabe too. Of course, it was a little more direct than that. Gabriel had fair skin like their mother, so they had implied that they weren't full siblings. She made note to bring this up to Gabriel as a warning and to remind him that his house was full of morons.

Breathing heavily, she looked up at Sebastian again. She was about to ask him to help her up when she noticed that he was holding something. Wiping sweat from her forehead and picking the bat up again, she gave Sebastian a quick look-over from his face to the package. And back. “What's that you have there, Larsen?” She rarely if ever called people by their last names, but since he had called her Zabini, she returned the sentiment. She was behaving as though the altercation hadn't even happened. She used the bat to help her get back to her feet.