[Corridors] Exploding Snap! [Maeve]

[Ian Gray]

Ian sat cross-legged in the middle of a deserted corridor on the fourth floor. It was one of those corridors that was nearly abandoned all throughout the day, seeing as how all the classrooms were unused and the toiletries were beyond unusable.

Laying in neat rows in front of him was a deck of cards. They were more slender than normal Muggle cards, and quite a bit longer as well. The suits moved in threatening ways, before exploding randomly.

When one of his sixes burst into flames, catching a five on fire, the entire deck began to shriek annoyingly, surely attracting attention.

Pulling off his robes rather hastily, so he was adorned in only his school shirt, a pair of black slacks and his Gryffindor tie, he threw them over the cards in a poor attempt to muffle the noise.

Holding the remains of the six in his hand, he let out a low groan. "Always giving me trouble, you are." He said forlornly, before squeezing his eyes shut and placing his hands over his ears-- an action that made him unaware to the loud footsteps bounding toward the hallway he sat (rather rudely) in the middle of.

[Maeve Malfoy]

Maeve walked through random corridors she knew quite well for being random. It seemed as if whenever she got extremely bored, her legs took her through the same path of travel of the corridors. This path was one she took a couple times in the last week.

She just wanted to walk until, one: she got in trouble; or two: she wanted to go back. It will most likely be the first one. She rarely wanted to go back to the common room in the dungeons. She didn't care of it's location, that had nothing to do with it. It was the people in the common room. They rarely felt like doing anything but sit there.

She turned a corner and heard rather annoying screech and wanted to check it out. By the sound of it, it wasn't more than another turn away. She stopped at the edge of the corner and poked her head out a little. She heard a groan and the screeching was muffled a little. Scanning the person on the floor who groaned, she guessed they were playing exploding snap. She thought that she'd stay hidden a while.

But against her natural curiosity, the logic never won. So, she walked up behind the person. She crossed her arms and looked over the guy's shoulder. She was right. And by the looks of the tie, he was a Gryffindor. "You do know that you are sitting in the middle of a corridor, exploding screeching playing cards that will attract all sorts of attention, right?" she questioned roughly.

[Ian Gray]

Ian opened one of his eyes, his eyebrows furrowing in a small frown. Of course, such a dry comment had to have come from a Slytherin, and Ian gave Maeve a short look.

He recognised her to be the one who mocked him at the Great Hall a few nights ago.

"Well actually," Ian said a bit dryly himself, taking his hands off his ears and shoving the robe off the rows of cards with his foot. The shrieks magnified, and he winced slightly. "I'm blind and deaf, so I had no idea," The exaggerated words were accompanied by a cheeky smirk, and he stretched out his legs in front of him.

Realising he had been bored, his cards his only company for about an hour now, he glanced at the girl challengingly. "Up for a game? I might be blind and deaf, but I'm sure it doesn't take either to beat you." Although his tone was slightly playful, there was a gleam in his eye that signaled trouble would brew between them soon.

He raised a brow, shuffling the cards in his palm. Of course, forgetting completely about the scorched five, he burned his finger on it and cursed loudly.

[Maeve Malfoy]

Maeve instantly remembered the boy from nights before. She mentally laughed at the joke she pulled on Ian. A smirk appeared on her face when she heard his comment of blindness and deafness. "Ha, very funny." she replied in the same dry tone as he.

Walking around Ian, Maeve sat in front of him. Looking at the cards, she said, "Why not? I have nothing better to do. And I do believe it is me who will be winning." she added challengingly.

She laughed when he burnt himself. "Obviously, you're lacking in brains as well as the hearing and sight you claim to have lost." she crossed her arms over her chest.

[Ian Gray]

Ian sent her a glare, before he resumed his shuffling-- albeit more carefully. "I suppose it's a good thing brains aren't required to beat you either," he said swiftly, waving away her comment and making space for her to sit. "Us Gryffindors are usually more prone toward actual challenges, but it's always nice to be granted with an easy win."

Then, smiling charmingly, he held up a royal blue eight, before slapping it flat onto the cold corridor floor. "Right, I'm sure you know the rules?" He asked with a raised brow, before laying a striking emerald-coloured joker next to the previous eight. "It would be a shame if someone so brainless would have to explain such simple rules to the aristocratic Slytherin whose intelligence obviously surpasses that of Nicolas Flamel."

He said it all in a very bored tone which he was inwardly proud of.

Then, folding his arms, setting the deck of cards in front of him, he smirked impishly. "I'll choose the red king as my face card," he added lowly. "And yours?"

[Maeve Malfoy]

Maeve growled slightly. "I'm going to act as if you didn't say that." she returned his glare. "I'm not an easy win, Gray. I'm one of the more difficult Slytherins to beat. If you wanted an easy win, you should've stayed in your common room."

She smirked and took out her own deck out of her pocket. "We'll play with two. And I know how to play." she shuffled her cards quickly before laying down a dark yellow five on top of the eight. Maeve didn't know how to play the game well, but she could easily beat this guy, she thought. "Well, I'm sorry to inform you that you are dealing with an aristocratic Slytherin, if you wanted one of those you should owl my cousins."

She set her deck down in front of her as well. "The emerald queen, of course. Your move."

[Ian Gray]

Ian grinned at her comment, spreading out the deck in front of them. "I've already beaten all of them," he said in a mock-sulky voice, heavy with exaggerated forlorn. "It's a shame when your best opponent is yourself."

As if emphasizing his skill, he trailed a slender finger across the cards facing downwards. Then, picked up a card randomly and flashed it toward her. "Red ace." Grinning at once, he placed it next to his king.

However, it seemed Maeve had chosen her face cards well, because rather than the burst of flames that usually happened to his opponents cards after such a move, the blue eight merely sizzled for a brief second.

Ian pouted at once, before shrugging it off and picking a card from the deck. "Nearly got you," he said, as though he actually had. He looked at his card, realising it was an emerald nine. Humming lightly to himself, he looked up from his hand and gave her a small wink.

[Maeve Malfoy]

She nodded. "Very much a shame when that happens." She glanced at her deck. "I've beaten them a few times. But only when they tell me the rules they decide to play by. If there is any."

Maeve shook her head at his display of confidence. "Let's hurry it up. I personally don't want to get caught in some random corridor playing a game with a Gryffindor." she watched him lay down his card and flashed her own emerald ace. "Ace emerald." she kept it her hand though.

Smirking at him. "Here's a secret, Gray, if you want a card to explode whenever you want, you've got to know where to place it." Waving the emerald ace around slightly, she placed it where the length was overlaping the corner of his red ace. The red ace sizzled a bit before it burst to flames beneath her emerald ace. The emerald ace moved on its own back to Maeve, stopping at the end of the dark yellow five on her side. "I thought you knew how to play?" she teased.

[Ian Gray]

Ian smirked, leaning on one hand as he picked another card from his face down pile. "Ah, always get to know your opponents strategies," he said to her with a raised brow, looking at his chosen card.

"Emerald Joker."

There was a pause as he eyed the cards in his face-up pile, and gave Maeve a careless smile. "Oh, I know how to play," giving her a small wink, he placed his previous emerald nine next to the emerald joker. One of the cards in Maeve's face-down pile burst into flame, and Ian snickered quietly to himself.

"I prefer to play a more defensive style," he said, gesturing to the two cards. They seemed to make a barrier around his Red King, and he grinned.

The Yellow joker set in the middle of them cried out suddenly in an indignant way before starting to do an odd jig between the frame of its card. If you looked close enough, you'd see the tip of its elaborate shoe was adorned with a terrible scorch mark.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie who was lost once agian. Came down to the 4th floor looking for a short cut. Once again no succes when she heard a game of exploding snap. Her cosuins use to play but she had never gotten the hang of it. She noticed Ian who she had met earier.
"Hey Ian...can you show me how to play?" As she sat down next to him timmtly trying to watch