It was the fifth day of their holiday. They’d spent the morning hiking, and decided to have the afternoon off. The girls had gone into town to go shopping, and while Jasper would usually join them, he wasn’t in the mood for it today. Parker and Kit had gone on a stroll, which he strongly suspected was code for smoking weed. This left him alone with Daji. They’d never really spent much time together; the gang tended to fall into the quiet group and the loud group, but ever since Autumn and Fliss had got together, they’d started mixing it up. It was weird and he wasn’t altogether sure he liked it. Sure, the quiet ones were fine, but Jasper was loud-loud and quiet people didn’t usually like that. Still, he’d rather not be left alone right now, so he supposed he should try to make nice with Daji. He flopped down onto the couch next to him and grinned. “Hey! Just us lads, then.”
The last few days had been so active that Daji was looking forwards to some quieter time. There had been a lot of physical activity, and so when the girls had said they were going shopping, he had politely declined the invitation to join them. Well, also because he really wasn’t into shopping. He had been disappointed when Kit had left him to hang out with Parker - not that he was jealous, he understood that jee and Parker seemed to get on well, but he couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit neglected. Daji was chilling on the couch, flicking through a book on drumming techniques, when Jasper flopped next to him. Shutting the book, Daji couldn’t help but quietly snort. “Yep, we’re the lads,” he replied, doing a rock sign with his hands and waving them back and forth in front of him. That was laddish, right? To be honest, Jasper intimidated Daji a little: he was very exuberant and excitable, while Daji preferred to stick to the shadows more.
“We are the manliest dudes,” he agreed. They were the only guys in the group, he supposed, which would make them the lads. Thinking about it, Daji was probably the one he’d spoken to the least; he’d hung out with the girls and Kit a few times, but he was pretty sure he’d never really had a conversation with Daji. He wasn’t sure if they had anything in common, except for having reasons to see the school counsellor. He glanced at the book Daji was reading, and nope, that wasn’t something they had in common either. It was at least a topic of conversation, though, he figured. “So, uh, the band’s going well?” He’d seen them perform before, and they were good; he liked their music style, and Aislinn was a fantastic singer. The others were probably good at their respective instruments too, but he wouldn’t really know.
“Mmm-hmm,” Daji hummed in agreement, not really knowing how to respond to that. Well, it was manly to not say much, right? So he was just keeping up the manly persona. Merlin, how did people talk to people they didn’t know? Maybe this was something Daji would have to ask the counsellor about: how do interact? He’d managed to make some friends, but he guessed that in this case, he just didn’t know what to say because he and Jasper were very different people, with different interests. “Oh, yeah, it’s good, thanks. We’ve been trying to branch out and get people to hire us to play for them. We’re hoping to play at the Three Broomsticks at some point, so watch out for that.” Ash was doing the negotiations, as she was the scariest and the person people would be most likely to say yes to. Hugo used his famous family occasionally to try and persuade them, but Daji didn’t feel like he had much to do in terms of bookings. “Do you do any kind of music?” He asked, wondering if they could bond over something.
If Daji continued to make noises in agreement the whole time they were stuck together, Jasper was going to flush himself down the toilet. Much as he could definitely talk for England, it was easier if the other person got somewhat involved in the conversation. “Oh, that’s cool! Well, I’ll look forward to that, that’ll probably be the most interesting thing to happen in Hogsmeade this century.” That had come out as a bit of a backhanded compliment, but he was just going to leave it there; if he tried to explain he was just going to dig himself a bigger hole. “No, I’m not a musical person. I mean, I am a musical person, I love musicals! No, yeah, I like singing and I can sing ok, but instruments are a bit beyond me. My brother tried to teach me piano, but I did not have the attention span for that.” It was unfortunate, really, because his siblings were both child prodigies and he was… not that. If he’d been good at just one thing, it might’ve helped.
Daji tilted his head to one side as Jasper spoke about Hogsmeade; was that an insult? He chose to take it as a compliment, as he generally liked to think the best of people, but Jasper had said he would look forward to it. Jasper did seem like one of those people who stuck their foot in their mouth without meaning to. “Interesting is certainly one word for us. I’ll save you a seat if you want, I’m sure it’ll be sold out in seconds,” he said, attempting a joke. Well, he could imagine Ashy threatening the rest of the school until they turned up out of pure fear. Daji was, somehow, unsurprised that Jasper liked musicals, and smiled at him calling himself a musical person. If only Daji liked musicals; he just couldn’t accept the weird musical logic that everyone seemed to know all the songs and choreography and just simultaneously broke out into song every now and then. It confused him. “Yeah, you gotta have a lot of patience to learn an instrument; it takes a lot of energy, and piano is apparently really hard. What do you like to sing?” He asked, making an effort to engage with Jasper, as he was making an effort for him.
“Yeah, I think you’re the first band in Hogwarts history, plus you’re all from different Houses so that’s pretty special. Was that on purpose, or just a happy accident?” he asked. “Make sure it’s a good seat, then, I’m not having any back-row nonsense.” He grinned. “Patience is not one of my great strengths, no. I have energy, but it goes where it likes, I am not in charge of it.” It very much felt like his ADHD was in charge of him. Medication made it better, but it also made him more aware that when it wore off, he was completely useless. “Uh, musical songs, pop girlies, bit of rock, y'know. It’s usually at karaoke or in the shower, I’m not a performer.”
“I think it was incidental but Ash was holding auditions so she could’ve decided it would be fun to have one from each house. Although she wouldn’t have picked someone that wasn’t good just for the aesthetics so probably an accident.” Daji was pleased that Jasper knew more than the bare minimum about the band. “Of course not, only front row seats for you. Although maybe the second row is safest, I can see Ash getting enthuastic and crowd-surfing.” Oh Merlin that was a scary thought. At least if anyone got hurt they could be patched up with a spell. “You and Parker have so much energy, you could probably power the whole planet together if you wanted.” He smiled at the thought. “Well, you gotta start somewhere, y’know. What are your favourite songs?” Music was one of the few things that got Daji actually talking, and he thought you could tell a lot about someone by their favourite tunes.
“Oh, she held auditions? I kind of stan that, that’s legendary behaviour.” He’d always admired Aislinn, but from a distance because she was a little scary. Kit shared a dorm with her, which just made him respect jem more. This was why he was in Hufflepuff: he was too easily intimidated. “That’s cool! Oh, nice, see, this is what having an in with one of the band members gets you. Actually, I dorm with Drew, but I think he’s scared of me. So I really should get more tickets from him, huh?” Drew was a very quiet, meek person, and it was shocking he wasn’t bullied more. Then again, his siblings were Jessie and Hayden; the former could annoy you to death and the latter was actually quietly intimidating. “Eek, yeah, I do not have the core muscle strength for carrying people. Imagine if you could harness brain power for energy, that’d be useful! Erm…” He instantly forgot every song he’d ever heard. “Musical-wise, it’s anything from Cats and Mamma Mia, but Memory and Gimme! are my faves. And then anything by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. Marry the Night is my go-to karaoke song.” Maybe that was more detail than anyone needed.
“Oh yeah, it was pretty legendary. Although she said she did turn away some people just because they were annoying, but that’s fair enough.” It was a good thing the four of them got on so well, but Daji just figured it was because Ash was a good judge of character. “I mean, I wouldn’t say he’s scared of you, he’s just a nervous person. But yeah, now you have two of us, you can score all the best seats in the house.” It had taken a bit of time for Daji to get to know Drew (Hugo and Ash could monopolise conversations sometimes) but he was a great guy. Daji could see why Drew might be intimidated by Jasper, to be honest. “Yeah I’d probably instantly collapse if someone tried to crowd surf on me.” He raised his eyebrows in surprise when Jasper said he liked Cats - he’d heard very bad things about it, but he didn’t want to rain on Jasper’s parade. “Oh, I like ABBA, Gimme! is great. I don’t know many Gaga or Ariana songs, but I do like the ones I know? Bad Romance is kind of a bop.”
“Good for her, good for her,” Jazz said, nodding; she definitely would have turned him away and she would have been so right for that. He was probably the worst person to be in a band. They would get absolutely nothing done. “Oh, no, he definitely is scared of me, but I did set his bed drapes on fire one time so I kind of get it.” In his defence, he’d set his own on fire multiple times. “Excellent, I will be at the barrier throwing bras and screaming.” He had to laugh at that mental image of Daji. “Yeah, me too.” It hurt him that Daji didn’t know much Gaga, like that should be an actual crime. If he was the ruler of the world he would just play the pop girlies on constant loop, top volume, through speakers everywhere. No-one would be able to escape. “Bad Romance is a bop and a banger! What music do you like, then?” He assumed rock, like the band, but maybe Daji had hidden depths and liked country music too. Or opera. That would be funny.
Daji’s eyebrows shot up at Jasper’s admission of setting Drew’s bed drapes on fire. “I hope that was an accident, otherwise I might have to honour the bro code and stop talking to you,” he said, partly joking. Everyone in their band got on well but it was hard not to feel protective over Drew, somehow. “That’s excellent news, you’ll definitely get invited back if you scream and throw shit.” He could imagine Ash keeping the bras for herself, to be honest. “I like rock, some pop, some pop punk, that sort of thing. Anything with a good drum beat, as well.” He shrugged like, yes I have one interest, deal with it.
“Of course it was an accident, what do you take me for?” He was actually slightly offended. As if he’d pick on someone as mousy as Drew. If he was going to set someone’s stuff on fire he’d pick someone mean. Probably a Slytherin. Not Kit or Yuki, though. “Brilliant, I will be there with bells on.” That was a weird saying. Why would you have bells on? What was he, a cow? “Oh, cool,” he said, nodding. He didn’t really know much outside of pop. This conversation was going to die very quickly. “Drums are cool,” he added, then thought about jumping out of a window.
Daji put his hands up in an 'I surrender' pose. "I assumed it was, just checking!" He said hastily. "I've just spent too much time around Ash; she'd definitely do something like that on purpose." He could think of quite a few people at Hogwarts who would, to be honest. "If you're bringing bells, you could join the band," he joked. Oh man, 'drums are cool'? This conversation was dying a painful death. He glanced around the room for some inspiration for what to talk about. Books? Didn't seem very likely... "Do you like reality shows? I've just got into Love is Blind." Jasper seemed like someone who might like those shows. Merlin, he hoped so anyway.