All Work and No Play PV Adamina Scasson Closed

It had been a good day for Adamima. The weather outside was decent for that time of year, and she had finally managed to get some fresh air, which always cleared her cluttered mind.

She had recently found a fascinating new book on the psychology of several different magical creatures, so she had decided to head down to the Great a lake in order to get some reading in while outside in nature. Besides, there wasn't many people outside anyways, at least not by the cool chill the lake produced, so there was plenty of silence for her to focus on the task at hand.

However, the peaceful nature ambience was quickly shattered with the sound of a splash nearby. Adamina's head shot up from the gently worn pages in the book, a scowl already formed on her lips at the disturbance.

For the minuscule moments between her raising her head and hearing the splash, she had hoped it had just merely been a frog or fish, and when she saw a fellow student standing ther, she realized she might not have been that far off. Based off of his green and silver tie, he was a Slytherin, and not a kind looking one at that. His eyes seemed to twinkle with a mischievous gleam, and mischief never got anybody anywhere but trouble.

Before her staring became obvious, Adamina refocused her steely-gray eyes on the pages of the book, trying to blend in with her background. But, alas, there he was, asking to get... something in the lake back? Her eyes followed where he pointed, and it seemed that he had dropped his wand, the most important aspect of a wizard, in the lake.

"Is that seriously your wand?" she asked, disbelief and annoyance intermingling with her words. She could feel herself getting more heated by the moment, and she honestly couldn't tell exactly why. However, her mind was more than happy to come up with a multitude of reasons.

This Slytherin idiot just had to come out by the lake today of all days, didn't he? The one day I chose to read outside, he decides to just drop his wand in the lake, and then have the audacity to ask me for help? Her thoughts raced furiously, and Adamina slammed her book shut, standing up to walk over to him.

"Are you trying to get on my nerves? Because a I've heard of you and your little antics, and I'dd much prefer myself and my studies to be left out of this!"

@Jack Burnette

The first-year's brows shot up as the girl actually shut her book, got to her feet, and approached him. She seemed angrier at being interrupted than he would have expected, but he wasn't too concerned. Not yet, at least.

"So...I'm guessing that's a 'no', then...?"

He would have been happy to answer the Gryffindor's many questions, but 1) he was fairly certain she meant for most of them to be rhetorical and 2) the answers he had for her would probably only have served to infuriate her more than she already was.

But then something caught his ear. "Wait, you've heard of me? What did you hear?" That was surprising. He may have enjoyed playing a trick or two, but he was only a first-year, this was a big school, and the other girl looked like she wasn't any older than he was. This hadn't been the first time he'd been told his reputation preceded him, either. How was it that word traveled so fast?

Unsure whether to be flattered or alarmed, Jack ended up simply attempting to play it cool with a calm demeanor. For all he knew, maybe the girl was thinking of someone else and only thought it was him. She didn't seem the sort to pry herself away from her books too often.

And yet, if any house other than his own tended to talk about him, it was probably Gryffindor. He had personally met even more of them than Slytherins (unintentionally), including a prefect and an ex-prefect, and had ruffled quite a few feathers.

Well, regardless, it mattered not. He gave her a lop-sided sneer, asking, "You should know better than to believe everything you hear. But anyway, if you're so eager to stay out of it, what made you close your book and get up just to come talk to me?" As they spoke, he began to remove his cloak, undo his tie, and pull his sweater over his head. "Wanted to say you met someone famous?"

@Adamina Scasson

Adamina paused in her rant as he spoke, her spiked words retracting slightly as she thought about his question. It didn't really surprise her much he was curious about what people said about him - most people were infatuated about what others thought of them. However, he did seem to come off as a type to not care much... Note for later the Gryffindor thought, hand going to touch the notebook in her cloak's pocket.

"Of course I've heard of you." Adamina crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one side in a more offensive stance than before. "It's not often someone so new to a school begins mischief right away. Besides, people love to talk. I prefer to listen," Adamina said, a small smirk on her lips as she tapped the notebook in her pocket.

"As for what people say - you're a Slytherin troublemaker." Adamina hesitated slightly, wanting to make sure she wasn't butting heads with the wrong person. "Your name is Jack, yes?" she asked a note of worry in her voice.

A deep scowl tilted on her lips as he continued talking, even having the audacity to question her motives and her sources. As if I wouldn't get the proper information.

"For your information, I came over here to inform you of the fact that I did not enjoy being bothered, and I would prefer not to strain my voice when talking to a damned Slytherin of all things." Some part of Adamina winced at her words, knowing how harsh they were, how toxic her voice was when she said them, but a fire had erupted in her. Just something about this boy infuriated her very self, because of how she knew he went against the order she oh-so-loved. "And as for meeting someone famous? Check your ego, snake." Adamina spat out the word, and regret instantly filled her, quickly quenching the fire that had been birthed inside her not moments ago.

"Oh god, I'm so sorr-" she cut herself off as he began pulling off his robe and tie, her apology faltered with confusion. "What are you doing?" she asked, feeling heat rush to her cheeks as he started taking off his sweater.

@Jack Burnett

Jack mentally noted the change in the Gryffindor girl's stance, but chose not to comment on it as he continued to remove one article of clothing after another. "That's true," he agreed, his regard for the girl bettering slightly. "Listening can be a lot more valuable than talking."

At the mention of his being a Slytherin troublemaker, however, he cast her an incredulous smile. "Please. Do I look like a troublemaker to you? I don't even know enough magic to keep my wand from slipping my grasp, let alone fish it out of a lake." He glanced down at the buttons of his dress shirt as he undid them one by one, thinking of whether or not to answer about his name.

"Yes," he acknowledged at last. "That's me. You must have a good memory, Lioness. But if you know of and remember me so well when we haven't ever even met, that puts me at a disadvantage already, doesn't it?" The redhead shrugged his arms out of his unbuttoned shirt. "I'll have to be sure to remember and get to know you," he warned her with a playful wink.

Jack sat himself down in order to remove his shoes next, listening attentively to the Gryffindor girl as he did so. The venom saturating her voice at the term 'damned Slytherin' caused him to hesitate and look up at her, hazel eyes reflecting genuine confusion. He was aware of his house's reputation, of course, but he had assumed only fools let such things affect their ideas of students in them before they even got to know them. The thing was, he hadn't taken this girl for a fool so far, so what was it that she seemed to be so worked up about? Had a Slytherin done something to her? Or was it something she had heard about his deeds, whether true or not?

He watched her for a while in stunned silence, ceasing in the removal of his socks and everything else until she called him a snake. The dark-haired Gryffindor spoke with such vitriol that she actually ended up regretting her insult enough to apologize for it immediately after.

At that, the Slytherin laughed aloud. "Do you often apologize to your victims after insulting them?" he asked teasingly, still laughing as he pushed himself back up onto his feet. "Don't worry about it. I do have a pretty big ego, I'm sure. But as for being snake-like, you should meet my dormmate. He's way more suited to that name than I am - and he'd take that as a compliment."

Even more amusing was the sight of her flushed face when she interrupted herself to ask what he was doing. "What? Never seen a shirtless boy before?" He took a moment to stare down at his pants, appearing to contemplate whether or not to remove his black dress slacks. "I'd have thought it'd be pretty obvious what I was doing. I hear the lake is deathly cold, especially this time of year when it's about ready to freeze over, but I don't happen to have any swimwear on me." His smile was weak when he turned back to her again. "And I can't do much at a wizarding school without a wand, can I?"

So saying, he took a deep breath, as if to prepare himself, and began to walk toward the edge of the water.

@Adamina Scasson

Merlin, this boy will be the death of me, Adamina thought, somewhat exasperated, once again feeling her cheeks heat up brightly, and certainly not from the cold. Who knew that an eleven-year-old could have such a flirtatious attitude? Adamina was tempted to make a quick note, but she forced herself to stay in the conversation.

"As for apologizing to my victims?" Adamina said, a slight teasing tone in her voice, "I don't have that many. Consider yourself honored for being my first."

Truth be told, when he had looked up at her and she had seen the confusion in his eyes, it held felt like a knife in the ribs. While yes, she tended to come off as cold and heartless, she had grown up in a life where she had been taught to be nice, and real human emotion always hit her where it hurt.

"Of course I've seen a shirtless boy before," she protested, trying not to embarrass herself in front of the Slytherin. "They just usually don't undress in front of me." God, I must look like a tomato right now, she thought, tapping her foot quickly against the ground in an attempt to release some of her embarassment.

"Wait, you're actually planning to go in the lake?" Adamina said, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Are you insane? Like you said yourself, it's deathly cold, literally. Hypothermia will kill you in one hour and that's the minimum amount of time! If the water is colder than 10 degrees Celsius, then it could take as little as thirty minutes, especially without proper equipment, which you certainly don't have! Not to mention the assortment of dangerous magical creatures living in the lake!" the Gryffindor rushedly said, desperately trying to convince him using as much as she knew about the cold, which, admittedly, wasn't much.

She rushed after him as he started walking to the edge of the lake, quickly moving to stand between him and the edge of the lake. "Listen, if you want to jump into the freezing cold lake and get hypothermia, I'll let you. But, you'll have to push me in first."

Now that's a stalemate, she thought confidently, folding her arms in front of her chest.

As it had not been Jack's conscious intention to be flirtatious in the slightest, he had no idea of that particular effect he had had on his peer. Though he did notice the gradually-growing ruddiness to her complexion, he wrote it off as anger, for that was what he was most often used to inciting in people, whether intentionally or not.

The girl's teasing words about her victims caused Jack to laugh more light-heartedly. So she did have a sense of humor after all. "I am, actually," he told her with an honest, boyish grin. "Honored, I mean. But if I'm your first, instead of not having 'that many', don't you mean you don't have any? Unless I'm not really as special as you make me seem."

Amused at the Gryffindor's attempts to reason with him, he replied simply, "Then I'll just have to be quick about it then, won't I?" Tilting his head, as if to gauge something, Jack announced, "I think I can reach it in thirty minutes. It's not that far off. And it's floating, so I doubt those deep-lake dwellers will find much reason to pick a fight with me. Not like I'm trespassing too far into their territory."

She was actually hurrying after him even after stating she wanted nothing to do with his dilemma. That was odd in itself. But what she did next absolutely flabbergasted the Slytherin first-year. Running ahead, she placed herself between him and the edge of the lake, blocking him off.

"Listen, if you want to jump into the freezing cold lake and get hypothermia, I'll let you. But, you'll have to push me in first."

There it was: the famed Gryffindor bravery. Or stupidity, depending on how you looked at it. However, it had revealed itself in a way Jack hadn't expected. The girl wasn't being brave to prove anything or for her own gain. She was doing it on his behalf; out of kindness. It was the worst combination of traits possible. You couldn't argue with stupidity when it went against all logic and reason. And there was absolutely no defense against kindness, which, in Jack's opinion, made it the most dangerous weapon of all. How was he supposed to deal with both?

He had expected the girl to tattle on him or something; to go get a teacher to fetch his wand instead. Jack guessed she might have even contrived to get him in detention for interrupting her studies or, at the very least, threatened to. Or, she could have easily chosen the straightforward option and just let him make the stupid decision to jump into the lake. So why hadn't she done any of those things? What was she after?

Her unexpected behavior had completely caught him off-guard. To the Slytherin, Adamina's move had caused less of a stalemate and more of a near-annihilation. As long as he still kept his wits about him, though, perhaps he could keep her from realizing it just yet.

Jack crossed his own arms over his chest and clenched his jaw (both to look more intimidating and not merely to conceal the fact that he was starting to shiver from exposure of his bare skin to the cold). His hazel gaze met her steel-gray with a level stare and he spoke with an equally level voice (for it was all he could do not to let his shivering affect it).

"Why?" he demanded to know. Though he meant to sound neutral, his tone had an edge to it that he suspected was caused by his new unease with this person. Taking a breath, he tried again. "Why bother trying to stop me? You don't have any reason to look out for me. If anything, it's the opposite, since you don't seem to have a favorable idea of what you've heard of me and what I've done."

The redhead took a slow step closer to the dark-haired girl. Then another. And another. He continued to gradually approach her as he went on, his eyes never leaving hers. "You seem to have already formed your own opinion of the kind of person I am. A 'damned Slytherin', was it?"

Jack stopped moving forward at last, his face inches from the Gryffindor's. "Why risk the hypothermia and dangerous creatures you were just warning me about only to get in my way?" His thick brows had narrowed slightly and the edge in his voice had become more definite, lending his words a more sinister quality. "If I'm so terrible, what makes you think I won't just shove you in now, clothes and all?"

A small, malicious smirk upturned a corner of his mocking mouth. "I do need to get my wand back, one way or another. Did you have any better ideas? I'd rather leave the professors out of this mess. But what about you?" He inclined his head in a questioning manner. "Were you planning on fetching it for me instead?"

Courage was being afraid of something and choosing to take action anyway, which Jack associated with going against survival instincts and, thus, stupidity. The stupidity here was to be found was in the fact that this girl was trusting a complete stranger - no, worse; a known hooligan - to value her well-being over what he wanted.

This young woman was putting herself at his mercy with the danger of being subjected to all the hazards she had just taken the time and trouble to warn him against. Since she had just listed them all out in detail during her attempts to reason with him, Jack knew she wasn't simply ignorant of what she was risking. Worse yet, there was nothing he could see that the Gryffindor stood to gain from the encounter regardless of the outcome; there were only things she could lose. That meant she was acting purely out of selflessness - and there was little that Jack detested more than that.

@Adamina Scasson

Adamina felt a chill rush up her spine as his voice grew a sharp edge, feeling like it was cutting into her skin with every word. Truth be told, she hadn't felt such a sudden rush of fear up until this moment in her life, and it was quite odd to her. She forced herself to focus on his body language, instead of the rising confusion in her mind, threatening to send her spiraling into insanity.

He's cold... she thought near-frantically, trying to pull what facts she could from the situation. However, all rationality went out the window as he kept walking closer to the edge where she stood, questioning her and her motives and her trust. As he did so, she moved backwards, letting out a quiet yelp as she felt the heel of her foot now over open air. He was now eye-to-eye with her, and far too close for her liking.

"I have to help you so you don't die! If you die when I'm around, who do you think will be to blame?" she said, heatedly, trying to keep her voice from shaking. Even if I don't get blamed by anyone else, that's on me if you die. The risk and the consequences far outweigh the gain if you go in the water."

She leaned forwards now, picking up her back foot and putting it on solid ground, staring into his eyes, her own gray ones reflecting her hurt and fear. Try as she might, the eye were the windows to the soul, and even she couldn't control that. "And I don't think you're a 'damned Slytherin'," she said, her voice lowering to a near whisper.

He still came closer. Asking her why'd she risk it... and why she would trust him.

Adamina felt yet another horrible chill snake down her spine at his words, realizing her mistake. She shouldn't trust him. She couldn't. This piece of interaction told her as much. But, at the same time, she couldn't let him go in. Her morals simply forbade her from it, even to the point where she couldn't force herself to step out of the way.

Think, Adamina, think. You can't sacrifice yourself at this point - he'll push you in and go in anyways. He's leaning forward, I have the height advantage, he's cold, and he's not as balanced... That was it.

Adamina leaned back slightly, pulling her arms to her sides before surging forward to push the Slytherin over, pushing her entire weight onto him in one move, praying that was effective enough, and went to righten herself. However, she wasn't prepared for how close she was to the edge, and she felt her face whiten as she tipped backwards, in almost slow motion. As a last ditch effort to preserve something, anything, her hand darted to her pocket and tossed the notebook far out in the grass, hoping she'd be able to find it later as she felt her body make impact with the water, sucking in a deep breath before her head went under the ice-cold water.

Her body heat was instantly leached from her, leaving her entire body left feeling cold. Adamina let out a scream, instantly regretting her decision as the water rushed into her mouth and lungs, chilling her from the inside. Her robes weighed her down, and she desperately clawed her hands in an attempt to reach the surface, trying to pull herself up before she either suffocated or froze to death.

The Gryffindor threw her arms back, letting her robe drift off of her and pulled herself to the surface, taking gasps of air into her burning lungs, a sudden wave pushing her under again. Hold the air, she willed herself, feeling her extremities slowly numbing.

The Gryffindor's yelp caused Jack to hesitate, wondering if he had taken things a little too far. She continued to argue against him, though, doing her best to logic things out, and though he could still find holes to poke in it, he had to admire her efforts, especially with as shaken as she appeared to be.

"If you were in real fear of me dying and you getting blamed for it, nothing's stopping you from going to get a professor," he answered, attempting to shoot down her reasoning. And though she told him she didn't really think he was what she had called him earlier, her continued interaction with him appeared to give her doubts.

Just when he thought she was about to admit defeat, the dark-haired girl drew back before unexpectedly charing forward to shove him backward with the momentum of her full weight. Astonished and thrown-off balance in more ways than one, the Slytherin went down hard, falling on his rear. As he did so, though, he observed the Gryffindor's actions disrupt her own balance, which was far too precarious due to her proximity to the edge of the lake.

Before Jack even had time to make a sound or move, he witnessed the girl take quick action to throw a notebook of hers a short distance away. Then she went down in the opposite direction he had, pitching backward into the frigid lake.

The half-naked Slytherin boy bolted up and towards the water where the girl had disappeared. She came up once, gasping for air, but almost immediately was sucked back down under.

Her schoolmate's mouth hung ajar, wide eyes scanning the waters as he tried to process what to do. It was far too late to get a teacher at this point. With the girl's lecture about all the lake's dangers fresh in his mind, he couldn't just leave her to fish herself out, though, either. After all, this whole situation had been instigated by him in the first place.

"Fucking hell..." he muttered under his breath as he straightened up. Bracing himself, the redhead closed his eyes before leaping into the water after the brunette. Thanks to her brief emergence, he had an idea of where to find her as he plunged in himself.

Instantly, he wished he'd kept his clothes on before going in, but there was little use in lamenting over that after the fact. He forced himself to move despite the heat-sapping cold as he saw the Gryffindor's figure and reached for her hand. With the water making them both nearly weightless, the Slytherin kicked his way back toward the surface and dry land with all the desperation and adrenaline-aided strength of a survivalist.

He broke the surface with an enormous gasp, clawing himself up onto the lakeshore with the brunette in tow. His hand was clamped around hers as if frozen that way, even as all his other limbs struggled and strained to be free of the water. With a final burst of effort, he did his best to jerk the girl out after him, using up the last reserves of his power as he collapsed on his back on the ground, chest heaving.

@Adamina Scasson

Adamina briefly felt an impact with the water as the Slytherin boy jumped in. Her eyes flared open in panic, a garbled scream rippling out of her throat and dissolved into the water as she panicked, desperately trying to tell him to not jump in after her.

However, his hand wrapped firmly around hers as he dragged them both to the surface, to air, to ground. Her vision blurred, and she felt as though her lungs were constricting, and she tried as hard as she could to not blackout. They burst out of the water, him pulling her up onto dry land, the both of them inhaling the sweet, fresh air. He rolled onto his back as she simply laid there, face towards the ground.

She used one hand and all of her strength to push herself sideways, coughing harshly until some of the water lodged in her lungs came out. The Gryffindor took deep, shuddering breaths, regaining her oxygen back. Once that was restored, the cold struck her like lightning as a cold breeze shuddered around the lake, disturbing the sparse grass around the edges of the lake. She coughed harshly again, pulling herself to be on her knees, getting rid of the remaining water in her system.

Her body shook like a leaf in the cold, her wet clothes plastered to her like a second skin and dripping with icy water. Water... saps cold... faster than air... she thought weakly, noticing she had yet to start warming, even with all her layers. She groaned, pulling herself up slowly using first her elbows and then her arms, nearly collapsing several times. Her instinct urged her to curl up into a ball, to keep what heat she had close, yet Adamina pulled herself up off of the ground anyways, peeling off the wet clothes layer by layer, only leaving her simple collared shirt and leggings on, if only to preserve her modesty.

Now feeling far more capable, she wrung out her wet clothes, before setting them up open to dry by the breeze. Adamina walked up to the Slytherin boy, feeling another burst of anger shroud through the mist of her exhaustion, warming her from the inside.

"Why the hell would you save me?" she hissed, seething. "I warned you of the risks, and you decided to take them anyways, even when seeming to dislike me, and after threatening to push me in!" She knew her voice had raised to a yell, but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. "You should have just left me to drown. I'm sure as hell not worth saving, not when you jumping in could risk your life as well as mine." Adamina's voice dropped down, her words trembling slightly when she spoke them. Her teeth began chattering quickly, and she wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her hands up and down them in an attempt to create some heat with the friction.

Completley illogical... she thought, If he cares so little of others, why would he risk himself? There's near no chance of success if he goes in, and he knows of the dangers. He's guaranteed survival if he just didn't jump in at all...

"You should probably put your clothes back on," the girl said with chattering teeth. "They're dry - they'll warm you up."

@Jack Burnett