A much needed break

[Usiku]

Usiku weaved through the traffic of Diagon Alley heading for the icecream parlour. It was hot, he wasn't in the greatest of moods and was wanting a place to sit down and get something to eat or perhaps a cold drink. Unfortunately he couldn't go to the Three Broomsticks, so Floreans' was the next best thing. Besides, it was icecream. Icecream was good.

He paused at one of the seats outside, dumping the two bags of newly bought school supplies on the table, so he could take a quick glance in the shop to see how crowded it was. To his surprise it wasn't too bad.

With a mildly surprised shrug he picked up his bags and headed inside. He read the menu thoughtfully, trying to decide between flavours and quickly shoved his hand into the pocket of his jeans to take out the money he knew he had. That was a good thing about where he'd been. The Ministry, or some part of it, gave him some money every fortnight, like a welfare benefit. It wasn't much, since he was a student and not having to pay rent or other things like that (though it was more than the kids younger than him got, since he was now 16 and in 6th Year), nor was he allowed to have access to most of it (a lot of it was going into an account at Gringotts and needed permission for him to access it) but it was enough that the small amount he was physically given, he could do small things with it, like buy icecream.

He quickly counted it, dropped it back into his pocket and looked back at the menu. He saw with some pleasure that he had enough for a small cone and a Cola ice drink (well the wizard version), so having bought them he headed back outside, since there weren't any seats left inside, to get a seat at a table under one of the large umbrellas. At least something was going right for him today!, he figured, starting on his icecream, his bag of school supplies on the chair next to him.

[timmy89]

There was one advantage that Timmy could see from shopping alone, he could buy whatever he wants and he could have whatever food he wanted. This meant one thing to Timmy, ice cream. So after buying most of the text books and school equipment he needed, Timmy headed over to the ice cream parlour to sit down in the lovely weather outside. Fortunately Diagon Alley wasn’t very crowed at this time as Timmy now knows which days to come on. He thought back to his second year when he came here to do some shopping with his parents, it was so crowed he got separated from his mum and dad and got lost and spent most of the day walking around looking for his parents and in doing so, got knocked over and pushed around on several different occasions.

He walked around thinking back to his other unsuccessful shopping trips and didn’t realise he had just walked straight past Floreans' and turned around and walked straight into a middle aged wizard who was not pleased at all. After mumberling an apology, he walked into the shop and looked at all the different flavors of ice cream, and stood there for a while pretending to think what to have, he already knew, 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream and one of chocolate. When asked whether he wanted it in a cone or a bowl, he chose the bowl as the ice cream always melts around his fingers and they become very sticky.

After the money was exchanged he went outside where only 3 seats were taken up, an elderly wizard reading the daily prophet, a young girl with a mountain of ice cream and… a Slytherin boy from the year above. Unfortunately the comfiest seat (which had arm rests) was next to the boy, Hesitantly Timmy went over to the seat and sat down placing his bowl on the table and his bags next to him. After placing his money back in his pocket he reminded himself he needed to go Gringotts later on to pick up some money for his parents.

Timmy then went into a daydream looking forward to going back to Hogwarts even though it is his OWL year, looking forward to seeing all his friends. Suddenly there was something that slammed into his shoulder and losing his balance fell out of his chair. Slightly dazed Timmy lay on the floor trying to figure out how he got there.

((OOC Sorry couldn’t think of a more intriguing thing to do!))

[Usiku]

Usiku licked his icecream and stared out at Diagon Alley, glad to be sitting down, but a little bit on edge, knowing that he only had half an hour to himself before his ever present 'friend' would come back to get him. He sighed and took a bite of his icecream cone, counting down the minutes, letting his mind drift.

He brought himself back to reality, however, when he heard someone coming over. He frowned. Surely half an hour hadn't passed this quickly? No. It wasn't. The frown deepened when he saw Timmy putting his stuff down and settle himself in the chair. Nice of him to ask....

Usiku's frown turned into a scowl. He didn't ask nor want company and was about to say something about it when he saw that Timmy had 'zoned out' so to speak. Usiku shook his head, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully when he spotted the way Timmy was sitting. Not exactly the best way to keep one's balance... and gave the younger boy a shove to get his attention. He rose an eyebrow in a mix of surprise and amusement and a smirk appeared on his face as it sent Timmy out of his chair.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing."

He demanded from Timmy who was laying on the ground, looking dazed. Usiku looked at him impatiently, waiting for an answer.

[timmy89]

"Hey! What do you think you're doing."

Dazed Timmy looked up, what a suprise, it was Usiku the slytherin boy who was in the year above Timmy. Timmy started to get rather annoyed, he hadn't disturbed Usiku and shouldn't have been annoying him. Sitting up Timmy asked beening polite but in a way that showed his anger.

"I could ask you the same thing, your the one that pushed me out my chair!"

The small girl had run off to find her parents and the elderly wizard just sat in his seat. Honestly, Timmy thought, lazy git. Timmy used his arms to bring himself up so he was face to face with the sixth year, fortuently he was a lot taller and had a strongly build than the slytherin due to Timmy's fondness for quiditch.

"I think you owe me an applogy, mate." Timmy made the last word sound as sarchastic as he could as he tried to stare down the older boy.

[Rebecca]

Emilia hated ice cream. Just the thought of something slimy and cold slipping down her throat was enough to make her gag. Of course, the fact that the first ice cream she ever tasted was bad enough to make her throw up didn't exactly help. She couldn't remember the flavour, but had a strange feeling that it involved cucumbers somehow.

So what was she doing here? In a shop that not only sold ice cream, but specialized in it? The thing was, her younger sister practically lived for the stuff. So while her parents were off poring over the large selection at Flourish and Blotts, she had been practically dragged away as soon as Liz heard that wizards had ice cream.

And now, here she was. Waiting in line to pay for the mountain of ice cream Liz was demolishing at a corner table. It was sweltering hot, and the long line wasn't exactly helping the situation. Don't start complaining. Ten minutes ago you were holding up a line too. Emilia winced at the memory. She had just barely escaped from a rather embarassing incident at Gringotts, and now could only hope that no one had seen her.

She rolled her eyes and shuddered at the sight of her younger sister shoving spoonful after spoonful of the horrid stuff into her mouth. She had just reached the front of the line when she heard a thump as something -or someone, rather- slid off a chair and onto the ground. She craned her neck to look at what was going on, but instead noticed that Liz had disappeared, leaving the melting ice cream on the table.

"Oh please, no." She muttered, tossing her money onto the counter and heading out to see where Liz had wandered off to. With a pang of dread, she saw her heading towards a side street labeled 'Knockturn Alley.' From what she could see of it, it didn't look like a pleasant place. Not for a blind five-year-old especially. "Liz! LIZ!"

She darted forwards, knocking into someone and making them drop their ice cream. She didn't stop to apologize, but decided later that she should have stopped to jump over this ice cream. But no, she stepped in it and slipped forwards. She realized that she was going to run into a table a second too late and flipped right over it.

"YAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" She screamed as she flew into the air, waving her hands wildly for something to hold on to. She did find something eventually... but this actually made the situation worse. She had latched on to somebody's arm, and made them topple right along with her and into another table. It was Liz's, still complete with her large bowl of ice cream. Which Emilia discovered as the whole thing landed on her head. She sat there, fuming, trying to wipe the disgusting melted ice cream out of her eyes. She didn't realize who she had knocked over, but at the moment didn't exactly care either.

"Emmy, where are you? Did you pay for the ice cream yet?" Emilia looked up, now absolutely livid, to see her sister standing in front of her, perfectly fine and un-icecreamed. She slowly got to her feet, still dripping with ice cream, and replaced the bowl on the table. She tried her best to ignore the wide eyes of the people watching -not to mention the poor person who had involuntarily become an anchor- and spoke with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Yes, Liz. Yes, I did."

[Usiku]

Usiku continued watching and waiting for a response. He'd been trying to have a peaceful, somewhat boring time and he was denied that. He didn't have to wait long for Timmy soon sat up and fired back at him the accusation that Usiku had pushed him out of his chair.

"Not my fault that you don't have the ability to sit on chairs properly."

Usiku retorted, finishing off his icecream. He chuckled in amusement as Timmy got to his feet, attempting to look threatening.

"Do you really think you look threatening? Please. I've seen tantrum-throwing toddlers look far more terrifying than you ever could. Besides,"

He paused there, eyes narrowing as the amusement faded from his face to be replaced by a nasty smirk as he thought about how he could twist this situation to his advantage. He found it.

"...it's YOU who owes ME the apology. And if I don't get one and it has to be sincere, then I'll make sure that you pay for it. All I'm doing is sitting down, enjoying my icecream and drink. An innocent victim of an out-of-control, an..."

The rest of his nasty remark went unspoken as he heard a girl yelling for someone called Liz. He would've ignored it usually, if not for the sight of this girl flying past his line of vision, latching onto the arm of the elderly wizard, sending them both sprawling and icecream everywhere. He didn't say anything, merely rolled his eyes at the chaos and turned his attention back to Timmy, the very scary Gryffindor. Ha!

[timmy89]

Timmy soon realised that he wasn't doing anything to threaten the Slytherin, oh well, he'll just have to use his courage thats what he was in Gryffindor for right? The one thing Timmy really did not like about slytherins was the snide comments made about how their better than everyone else. Usiku was in the middle of some sort of rabbling on that made him sound like Timmy was at fault. I'll show you who can lose their balance easier Timmy thought and then as if by a miracle a young girl came zooming through the air past the two boys and she brought the elderly wizard down with her.

Usiku of course couldn't help turn and laugh at the poor girl, this gave timmy the opportunity he needed to get some revenge on the other boy. As quickly and quietly as he could, Timmy slipped round past Usiku waiting for his moment, then as Usiku started to turn round, Timmy pretended to fall into Usiku pushing the older guy into the table and ice cream in front of him.

"Oh dear, well my friend seems like we are both losing our balance today, doesn't it? How very sorry i am by the way, you can keep the ice cream" Timmy said with a proud grin on his face.

[Rebecca]

"Emmy, can we go back to the bookshop now?"

Emilia gaped at her in disbelief. Even if Liz was blind, it was so odd hearing her talk as if her older sister hadn't just taken down the entire ice cream parlour. She rolled her eyes. At least she had an excuse never to come near here again. "Yeah, Liz. Just wait a minute, okay?"

She wiped some more ice cream out of her eyes and reached an arm down to help the elderly wizard to his feet. He looked up at the ice cream covering her head, stared for a moment... and then burst out laughing so hard it made him look as if he was having a seizure. "Believe me, it's not that funny." She said darkly, marching down the steps with Liz in tow. The wizard was now rolling around on the ground with mirth, and Emilia was absolutely furious.

Well, this has been an exciting day. She thought bleakly, steering Liz through the bookshop doorway. I've practically killed two people, and wrecked an ice cream parlour... and it's hardly past noon! Oh yes. She stopped suddenly, nearly knocking Liz to the ground as well. The ice cream parlour. It was a complete mess because of her. She was in no way eager to go back there, but knew that if she didn't, her parents would force her. And that could possibly lead to more trouble. Possibly. But Emilia was not going to take any chances this time.

"Walk straight ahead and you'll get to mum and dad." Emilia said, giving her sister a gentle push forwards. "Tell them that I've... er... gone to clean up a mess." She turned and headed back out, trying her best to ignore the stares of passers-by. You might as well get used to it, Em. She told herself as she stepped back up the parlour steps, and was handed a mop by a worker. The elderly man had -mercifully- gone off somewhere, so she was free to clean up the mess without the laughter in the background.

"He's probably telling everyone at the Old Wizards' Home... The tale of his miraculous survival of the clumsy eleven-year-old crisis." She allowed herself a small smile as she continued her work. She had been a bit of a laugh.

[Usiku]

Usiku couldn't help but laugh at what happened to Emilia. Some people could be so stupid! However whatever joy he'd gotten from Emilia's misfortune vanished in a surprised yell as he felt someone shove him, causing him to fall off his chair and icecream to land on him.

The surprise quickly turned into anger when he saw who had pushed him: Timmy Wigwam. He lay there for a few moments, seething at the younger Gryffindor's audacity to treat him like this! And as he lay there, he decided exactly what he was going to do. He was going to get back at Timmy right then and right now. He didn't have his wand, true enough, but that wasn't going to stop him.

As Timmy was being oh so smug, Usiku was moving himself about, getting ready to strike. The remainder of his icecream cone dropped off him and onto the ground as he lunged at the younger boy, aiming his fist at Timmys' face.

[williamlunar]

(Why does this thread seem slightly god-moded?)

Victor Legard walked upon a scene of complete chaos and the ice cream shop with his mother at the exact time Usiku was pushed into the table, throwing his ice cream about. This doesn't look good... Victor thought, and looked at the boy who had done the shoving. Some Gryffindor that Victor didn't really know, but had indeed seen around the halls of Hogwarts. What was with people; couldn't opposing Houses just ignore each other rather than constantly get into these huge conflicts that often exploded into violence, as this one did the moment Timmy pushed Usiku. Kids, Victor looked to his mother who was trying hard not to pay attention to the students. Victor grinned and started towards the table where Usiku was now seething in anger.

"Man, oh man..." Victor said to himself. He hadn't seen Usiku since last year, and their misadventures with that damn book, which was now gone for good. Of course, the whole Valran thing had apparently ended up with a dead student, some Lunar kid, but Victor had not known him personally. Things were also being covered up quite well with that incident. Victor had no idea where Nicholas Valran was now, but he knew that any future conflict between them was not going to happen. He knew that was over, thankfully.

At least it was over for Victor...

Now, though, Victor was facing breaking up a fight. He didn't want this to escalate too far because it would not be good for both of them to be disallowed from attending Hogwarts before the year even started. Not to mention, both of the boys would probably not enjoy having to miss a whole year of school, whether they wanted to beat the crap out of each other right now or not. Every action had a consequence.

Usiku had already lunged at Timmy by the time Victor was standing close enough to them. Victor positioned himself between the two, grabbed Usiku's fist and attempted to push him back away from the younger Gryffindor. Victor then turned around and looked at Timmy, giving him a stern look. You had to do so with younger years, they didn't understand much else. They were too used to being reprimanded by their parents...ha.

"You guys realize how stupid this is, right?" Victor asked. "I mean, if you both want to miss the school year, I'll let you go right ahead and beat each other up. But, if you'd like to go to school this year, you'd be smart to not do this now."

"Just let it go," he ended, turning back to Usiku.

[timmy89]

Just after Timmy had said his smug comment he could see the anger creeping over Usiku's face. Oh dear... Timmy thought to himself, what had he just done. Usiku was getting up and then immediately clenched his fist and launched himself at Timmy's face. Usiku seemed to have taken things out of hand, he was of course the person who originally knocked Timmy out of his chair, and now that Timmy had got some measure of revenge and did a similar thing, he was going to receive a face full of the older slytherin's fist.

Fortunately for Timmy luck was on his side for once as another older Slytherin put himself in the way and blocked Usiku's attack. Now the older boy... Victor he believed his name was had given TIMMY a stern look. Well Timmy thought he had obviously hadn't seen it when Usiku pushed Timmy out the chair. Victor mumbled something to the Usiku and everything went quiet.

Timmy decided to be the bigger man (or boy as it were in this case) and walk away, and he was going to apologize as well as he did feel bad for pushing Usiku into the table.

"Erm listen mate" Timmy said looking straight at Usiku, "Sorry for pushing you into the table and all that, just don't expect to knock someone off their chair and expect them to not retaliate eh?"

Timmy now started to walk away in the direction of his favourite shop of all. The quidditch shop, he needed some new gloves. Timmy turned around and said

"Just treat people better yeah? Then you won't get pushed into ice cream!"

Well that was a more interesting shopping trip than usual Timmy thought...

[Usiku]

Usiku was about to lay into Timmy when he suddenly felt himself grabbed and pushed a bit. Thanks to momentum he ended up skidding to the right for a couple of steps. A little bit of his outrage changed to surprise just wondering what or who had interfered, for it surely wasn't the work of Timmy Wigwam. He looked sharply at the interference and then stepped back far, more surprise erasing anger at who had stopped the fight. Victor Legard. He hadn't seen Victor in ages, not since the time they, along with Pix had found that mysterious book!

He was so surprised that what Victor said about missing the school year about starting a fight over what had happened just whizzed past Usiku completely.

"Just let it go"

Usiku looked at Victor with a bit of confusion. He'd obviously missed something the other Slytherin had said, but he didn't know what. He glanced over at Timmy and reluctantly nodded, not really knowing why he was nodding and lowered his hand, unclenching it and relaxing the rest of his body, to a degree. He watched Timmy with a cold look, vowing silently that if Timmy gave him reason to, he'd give him a lesson he'd never forget!

His cold glare got even colder (if at all possible) when Timmy spoke up. Sure he was apologising, but he wasn't apologising for being disrespectful, or for plonking himself down at the table without bothering to ask if Usiku had minded having company. Usiku didn't say anything, just kept glaring at Timmy as if his look would send the younger boy 6 feet under.

"Just treat people better yeah? Then you won't get pushed into ice cream!"

Usiku took a step forward then, fists clenched once more, dying to chase after Timmy and really give him something to be sorry about. But Victor, a friend he hadn't seen for months was here and well, some of the stuff Victor had said earlier was starting to sink in now. No, he wouldn't want to miss out an entire year at Hogwarts because of Timmy Wigwam. Besides, there were plenty of ways one could have an unfortunate accident at Hogwarts...

With that final thought Usiku smirked slightly and looked over at the damage with a slight frown. Surprisingly enough his ice cola drink was still standing, albeit a bit melted because of the heat. He was also sticky from the icecream. At least it wasn't his favourite shirt. Picking up the drink he turned to look at Victor and gave him a friendly smile.

"Hey. Haven't seen you in a while."