Getting Into the Holiday Spirit

[Brenton Douglas]

Wide amber colored eyes stared up at the thing in the tree. How did it get a wand? Did the evil witch and wizard really trust a troll with a wand? What were they thinking? A troll wasn't that bright, but he supposed they could use wands if they figured them out properly. Why wouldn't they be able to? Brent didn't know very much about trolls, but Hannah must if she knew they ate fairies. Did she know they could have wands?

"Who' ya thin' ya are? Tellin' me t' calm down," Brent argued. What had he done? He knew the truth about the troll, but he hadn't done anything. He threatened it, sure, but to stay away from the fairies, it said it wasn't after any, so if that was the truth (and Brent doubted it was) then there wasn't any threat.

[Drew Thornton]

"I know exactly who I am," Drew answered firmly, moving down the tree now, but still keeping his wand on the small boy. "Drew Thornton, sixth year Ravenclaw, and I'm telling you that it would be a good idea to settle down before someone gets hurt." By 'someone', Drew of course, meant the Slytherin. A wand in the hands of an agitated firstie was not a great combination.

"Tell me who you are now," Drew prompted, hoping to get the kid calmer by talking to him, carefully continuing his decent as he spoke. "I can tell you're a Slytherin by the robes. Do you know Charlie? Good friend of mine."

[Brenton Douglas]

As if Brent would really believe the troll was a Ravenclaw. As if the name would actually make him put his wand away and everything would be better. Ha! This troll really was dumber than he looked. And settle down? Brent wasn't even excited yet, he was annoyed, frightened, but not jumpy in the least. All he wanted was for the troll to go back into the forest and leave the fairies and Hannah well alone.

A snort of laughter at the name. Charlie. The only Charlie he knew was the Quidditch Captain one and he didn't like her much. She'd laughed at him when they'd met, she and some other bloke. And it didn't surprise him one bit if the evil witch and wizard had employed the...girl?...to work for them too. Stupid blighter.

"Will." Short, simple. It wasn't his actual name, but when his dad was around that's what he called Brenton.

[Drew Thornton]

"Will what?" Drew asked, finally getting to the bottom most branch and sitting down, letting his legs dangle a few feet from the ground. The kid was probably a first year if he knew Hannah, and lucky Drew wasn't the type to pound smaller kids. When he had been a first year, there was no way he would have gotten away with talking to a sixth year like that. Nope, he would have been pounded into next Tuesday.

[Brenton Douglas]

"Wha's i' t' ya?" Brent shot back. Did it matter what his name was? It wasn't like his first name was really Will, it was just what his dad called him. William was his middle name, but he answered to Will when his dad was home. Actually, it was the only way to answer his dad because his dad didn't call him by any other name. Sometimes Brenton wondered if his dad even knew his name was really Brent.

But this thing had to want something. It knew of Hannah, it tried to make Brent believe it wasn't after fairies, and it was pretending to be a student. It wanted something, but what?

[Drew Thornton]

"Hey, I'm just trying to make conversation," Drew answered, pullling two apples out of his pocket and offering one up to the boy who called himself Will. He doubted the kid would take it, but Drew wasn't about to eat the other one without at least trying to share.

"So, Will the Slytherin....You're a first year?" he asked, again, just trying to make conversation. At the very least, Drew hoped the kid would lower his wand.

[Brenton Douglas]

An apple? Did he think Brent was like Snow White? Red apples were the most tempting, but he couldn't take one. What if he was poisoned and Hannah was left alone and frightened? It would do no one any good. They would get her if he wasn't around to try to protect her.

Instead, he glared at the older thing. An apple, ha!

"Yea..." he answered. He didn't have to lie. And just because he was a first year didn't mean he couldn't kick troll bum any day. So maybe he'd need a little bit of help, but he could take care of any old, ugly toll.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew shrugged back when the boy declined his offering and placed the spare apple back in his pocket. He still wasn't sure what was up with this kid, but Drew really wasn't planning on turning his back on the little Slytherin.

"Makes sense if you know Hannah," Drew answered, not sure if he should mention that his cousin was also in that class. Will could quite possibly take out whatever grudge he had on Jeremy, and honestly, the boy already had enough on his plate. Besides, Will didn't seem very big on name dropping.

[Brenton Douglas]

Well, of course it made sense. Brenton was the protector of the one who protected the fairies, and he was in the same year as she was. Duh! However, he didn't think about the consequences of saying his year, the fact his face wasn't hidden in the least bit, or that this troll was being as suspicious as the young snake. Truly not a good idea, to not know enough about your enemy.

And it would make sense that the troll was pretending to know Hannah, trying to siphon information out of the Slytherin. But it wasn't going to happen easily, no, not at all.

[Drew Thornton]

The boy didn't answer and Drew was getting tired of sitting in the tree. On the other hand, the Ravenclaw wasn't sure he wanted to jump down when the first year still had his wand out.

"So, you going to lower your wand and let me out of this here tree, or are you going to go ahead and hex me?" Drew finally asked as he finished off the apple. One or the other didn't really matter to Drew at this point. "Or, I suppose you can tell me why you're holding me hostage in the first place."

[Brenton Douglas]

Was that thing insane? Like Brent would really lower his wand in the face of danger, only if someone else was in danger... maybe. But Brent didn't want to make the first move either, so he wasn't about to hex that hideous monster unless it tried to attack him first.

And holding him hostage? Brenton never once called him a hostage, a monster, a troll, a witchnapper, sure, but never a hostage.

"I never sai' you couldn' come down," Brent pointed out. In fact, he'd insisted it come down out of the tree, but never that it had to stay put.

[Drew Thornton]

"Nope, never said it, but the way you have your wand pointed at me, it's not making me rush to jump down there," Drew answered, swinging his legs casually, but still keeping his focus on the boy and his weapon. "So I'd either really like an explanation as to why you feel the need to threaten me, or I'd appreciate you lowering the wand."

Drew already figured the kid for a nutter. He'd have to make sure Jeremy stayed away.

[Brenton Douglas]

What exasperation Brenton felt rising. He'd already told the thing it was because it was after the fairies he and Hannah were protecting. Well, she was protecting them, he was protecting her. It was after fairies or Hannah, and either way, he had to keep an eye on it to make sure it wouldn't attack and eat one or the other. Especially not Hannah.

"An' jus' who d'ye think ye are tryin' to make me give you an explanation?" This thing, this troll thought it could just require him to give an answer as to why he felt the need to keep his wand up? He'd already told the thing why, and on top of it, Brent had every right to keep his wand up if he felt threatened, wasn't that a part of the wizarding laws or something? While he didn't know for sure, it sounded great to him.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew rolled his eyes at the small boy, wondering if he could just string the kid up by his ankles and be done with it.

"I already told you who I am," the Ravenclaw answered, drawing on his last bit of patience. "And the honorable thing to do when you have your wand pointed at someone is to at least tell them why." Then again, who ever heard of Slytherins doing anything with honor?

Drew had had enough of this kid. He figured he could go about his business and still keep an eye on the crazy little snake, so he got up from his branch and climbed back to where he had been working on his lights. The kid could go hoarse yelling up at him and that would be fine by Drew.