waterfalls ((lien))

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The fourth floor ended up being the most suitable spot for this prank out of the entire school as the stench from the infamously-clogged toilet wouldn't deter him. Being desensitized to such smells was advantageous and would make him be among the fittest to survive in the tough ecosystem of Hogwarts. Turning on the sink, he pulled out a packet of whizzing worms and frog spawn soap. The former was banned some time ago, but it was hardly enforced in more recent years. James waited for the sink to get filled after using a pouch of cotton rounds to stop the drain. Once the water level was satisfying, he poured in the pouch and the soap and ran off towards one of the empty stalls and threw on his invisibility cloak.

“Why would having my approval mean anything to you?” he asked darkly, slipping out of his focus. He seemed to get it back again, for a short while, but the pushing away thing was playing on his mind. Hah. Perhaps Potter did have a point: he did seem to push people away a lot. Why was Potter a psychologist all of a sudden, though? That annoyed him. Well, everything about him annoyed him. It was just inevitable.

“I get along just fine with them. We don’t exactly skip along and hold hands all day long though. I’ve got far too much to be getting on with.”

Of course he wouldn’t understand something like that, because he didn’t have to try hard like Lien did.

@James Potter

Was Chang putting words into his mouth now? What a weirdo. He's met snakes that were less deranged than that. Eh, he shouldn't be surprised. After all, it seemed as if Chang had it out for him the moment he stepped onto the train's platform.

"Do ya actually have friends?"

Might as well be blatant.

He continued to banish the frogs until he could get to the products in the sink

@Lien Chang

"Do you?" he shot back at him. "Outside of your own family and those who feel obligated to be friendly to you because of your family, I mean."

@James Potter

James glanced down at his feet then looked all around the bathroom. Huh. That was some food for thought.

"More than ye, I bet," he responded cackling. It was importance to keep up appearances. Wait. How did Al end up in Slytherin while he's been meticulously planning how to appear how everyone expects while resenting such a thing?

"I think people will like ya more if you got laid."

Straight to the point.

@Lien Chang

"Yes. You keep saying that," he said boredly, watching him fixing the mess. It was very satisfying to have him doing this, but he hoped he didn't have to do anything like this again. He loathed being around James. The sight of him got his back up.

"Clean up the worms as well. Then if you have any more children's jokes on you, leave them at the door with me. Then I can spend my afternoon productively."

@James Potter

"I only keep sayin' it 'cause you need to hear it most."

Then again, James didn't have that much of a problem with prefects in general. Louis was one after all. So were many of his uncles. No, push that away. Push the motivation for acting out like this away.

Returning to the sink, he grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped the frog spawn soap in it. James was realizing how little he thought about the clean-up process. He just wanted to burden the prefects so he could ignore his own.

"What are ya gonna do with them? Burn them?"

@Lien Chang

"There's quite a lot that you need to hear as well, but I'm not going to waste my breath."

He was sounding bitter now. He knew exactly how obnoxious people like James seemed to work, and he was determined to not let it bother him. Of course, James was bothering him just by simply being present, but it was more about dismissing anything that came out from his mouth.

"Obviously I'm going to confiscate them," he said, although burning his possessions didn't sound like a bad idea. That's something he should definitely do inside his head though, not actually carry out. "Then there's the matter of your punishment. I think you're already added to the detention list for Thursday evening, so I'll add you to Wednesday and Friday as well. If you go about it in the right way, you might score an entire week's worth of detention. Now won't that be something?"

@James Potter

James was going to be grateful when he didn't have to deal with Chang anymore. Just had the remainder of the school year to go! Hopefully, it'd pass quickly...

"Aye, no shit."

He probably shouldn't have cussed at him in particular, but James couldn't help but assume that Chang would've found something to use against him anyway. "You givin' me all that detention for this when I ain't nearly as bad as some others? Don't see me beatin' up kids like Wade or Andy do."

@Lien Chang

He laughed loudly.

"The difference is that you were caught!"

He uttered another short, bark-like laugh.

"I assure you that everyone gets what they deserve. I don't actually enjoy doing it like some of the others. It is what it is, though. Now, are you bloody finished?"

@James Potter

"My pranks are inconveniences!"

He wasn't like Fred who'd blow a hole out of Gryffindor tower with the assistance of ghastly farts. James just wanted to make people's lives just a tad harder for his own amusement.

"Only if yer done bein' a prick. Your villain laugh sucks."

@Lien Chang

"I'll take five points for that."

He smirked at him.

"Oopsie daisy."

He closed his book.

"Hand me over the stuff, then."

He held out his hand.

@James Potter

"Just hand it over!" he flared, throwing out his hand again pointedly.

@James Potter

"Fine, fine!"

Digging through his pockets, he pulled the innards out. Nada.

@Lien Chang

He sighed loudly and pointed his wand at the soap in his hands.

"Accio."

At least that took care of that. The worms prank he wasn't too sure of: what did that look like, again? He hadn't seen it for a while. Perhaps Potter had used everything he had at his arsenal today. It all seemed such a waste of time and money to him, but for some reason... people liked that about him. Why were the vast majority of people so simple minded?

@James Potter

James rolled his eyes. Chang was a huge reminder of why he's always detested authority figures.

"Are ye like this with anyone who has contraband? Or just me?"

It was a good thing Fred wasn't a student or else his cousin would likely be another target.

"The rest of the worms are in the drain."

@Lien Chang

"Contraband?" He made it sound like Hogwarts was a prison. That was... interesting. Surely someone like him didn't view it as a prison. He probably thought of it like his personal playground. "I'm just doing what I have to do. As I said before, I don't really enjoy doing it. I just don't get why you keep doing stupid shit like this."

He looked at him.

"You get enough attention as it is. Why are you always seeking more? Is it that you're insecure about something?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

@James Potter

Honestly, there were moments where he didn't know what he was doing. James let the impulse override his senses; it was a miracle that he wasn't as reckless as some of his other relatives and classmates. "Man, can't ye be glad I'm making yer position operational? Geez, so ungrateful."

Insecure about something? James grimaced feeling quite perturbed at how Chang seemed to figure out his mental weak spots.

"Me? Insecure? Nah."

@Lien Chang

Lien thought he'd seen something in his eye then. His expression faltered to a grimace. For some reason, Lien's cheeks turned pink. Was he really insecure about something? Could he really carry on as he was going, bullying him, knowing that there may be some hidden fear in him? In James Potter?

He glanced away from him.

"Could you try and get the worms out from the drain if they're still blocking it?" he asked him, sounding a lot more reasonable than before. "Then... I suppose we're done here."

@James Potter

"I dunno if they're blockin' the drain. They might be in the castle's plumbing. I dunno how that works either."

He wasn't born to be a magical plumber.

"Cool. See? Just a simple prank."

James was ready to get out of there.

@Lien Chang

He sighed.

"Yeah. Great. Well done."

He opened the door of the bathroom to walk out of, then paused a moment.

He looked back at James.

"... James?" he said, quietly.

@James Potter

"Thank ye. That's the nicest thing you've said all day."

James felt as if his body was going to collapse in on itself at any moment; he wasn't used to doing all this clean-up work.

"What?"

@Lien Chang

He pursed his lips. What exactly was he thinking of saying? Ask him about the insecurities? Was the reason for that because he felt sympathy, or because he wanted to dig through the outer surface of his skin a little more, and know his weaknesses? That seemed pretty cruel, even for him. Either way, this was all too awkward. James would probably just make fun of him. It was pointless.

"Nothing. Just remember your detentions."

@James Potter