They talked about the merfolk the entire way to the Great Hall, both of them smiling as they walked. Quite a few people gave Julian odd looks as they passed, but at first he paid it no mind. That changed when his elvish hearing picked up part of one group's conversation. "Did you hear how insanely good he is on a broom?" "Yeah, Oliver Wood said he wants to get him on the Gryffindor team." "No way!" Julian scoffed inwardly at that. There was no chance in hell he was ever going to play quidditch.-
He caught several more conversations along those same lines while he and Luna continued toward the Great Hall, but he ignored all of them. That stopped when he heard something else entirely. "CORYDON!" a female voice shouted, and his magical senses immediately detected a spell flying toward them. In one smooth motion Julian drew his wand, pointed behind himself, and said calmly, "PROTEGO!" A thick shield sprang up and intercepted the prank spell. Aside from that, he behaved as though nothing at all had happened and kept walking. He recognized the voice as belonging to Sue Li of Ravenclaw.-
It was obvious enough to him that she was one of Luna's bullies in that house, since the spell had been aimed at Luna, but he simply could not be bothered to deal with the girl. A few startled gasps rose when he blocked the spell without even turning around, and Luna also looked surprised, though she hid it well enough. Sue Li, meanwhile, was absolutely furious after being dismissed so completely that Julian had not even thought her worth a glance. "DENSAUGEO!" she snapped viciously, sending the teeth-growing hex at Julian.-
Julian had already given her a chance to leave after the open attempt to prank Luna, but since she had chosen to trample over his leniency, he decided to teach her a lesson. He turned, caught the hex on the tip of his wand, flicked it aside, and immediately launched a string of harmless but vicious illusion spells at her. "FALSUS AURUM! PERVERSA MUNDI! CHORUS CICADAE! INVORTO!" he cast rapidly without pause, sending four differently colored lights at the girl in quick succession. Every one of them struck her, and horror mixed with nausea flooded her face before she vomited onto the floor.-
That only made things worse, because it set off a chain reaction that left her emptying her stomach completely while also becoming too terrified to move or react at all. Julian calmly turned back around and continued walking, while Sue Li's friends rushed to help her only to make her scream in pain the moment they touched her. Luna frowned when she saw that, but wisely kept whatever opinion she had to herself since Sue Li had brought it on herself by attacking Julian.-
Luna split off from him once they reached the Great Hall, taking her place at the Ravenclaw table while Julian headed to Gryffindor and sat down beside Harry, who was staring at him with a very strange expression. "Why didn't you ever say you were that good on a broom?" Harry asked, sounding both offended and curious. Julian shrugged. "I never thought it mattered. I don't plan on ever playing quidditch, so it doesn't affect anyone except me." he said honestly. "Why in Merlin's name would you not play quidditch if you're that good at flying!?" Ron burst out in disbelief, sounding personally offended by the very idea.-
"Pretty simple, really. Too many restrictions. When I fly, I want to do whatever I want whenever I want. The sport might be fun for most people, like you or Harry, but for me it would just be irritating, so I won't bother." Julian explained casually, leaving the entire Gryffindor table quiet because none of them could really argue with his reasoning. Oliver Wood, on the other hand, looked almost heartbroken, because that all but killed any hope he had of convincing Julian to play.-
Not long after that, Sue Li's friends burst into the Great Hall in a panic and hurried over to Flitwick at the professors' table. The small professor spared Julian a brief glance before leaving the hall, though he said nothing. Nearly everyone else in the Great Hall, however, was looking at Julian with caution by then, since the girls had not exactly been discreet while explaining the situation to Flitwick. Snape, meanwhile, had the faintest ghost of a smile on his face after hearing that the entire thing had started because Sue Li had attacked Julian first.