Now that Nigel was in the middle of this confrontation, he was not so sure it was the best idea. Wasn’t that always the way of things? He was well aware that he had started it, but now he had mostly made his point, he felt, and he wasn’t sure how to get out of this situation. Burke wasn’t that much taller than him, but he seemed an awful lot bigger. Did Slytherins attend special classes on Threatening Glowers? Nigel wanted to sign up for those. He’d ask Daisy later, probably. He was aware of the fact that he was not very threatening himself; he was less scrawny than he had been the year before, due to his summer manual labor, and the strenuous Quidditch practices he had attended since school started, but he was still thin and sort of bony. Burke was much more solidly built, and Nigel’s thin finger didn’t have much of an effect on the other boy’s chest.

For being a Gryffindor, he was not very brave, and he was remembering why he rarely confronted people. Sneaky revenge later was much easier and less potentially dangerous, as he could plan to be well away by the time the target realized what was happening. That’s what he should have done. Apparently, instead of Threatening Glower lessons, he needed some Anger Management/Cooling Revenge lessons. Though, while he was starting to feel the teensiest bit nervous and as though he had possibly made a mistake, he was also getting a little thrill from the obvious danger in the other boy’s tone. He did so like to piss people off, and it seemed that he had succeeded.

The finger that had been poking into Burke’s chest was not so effective in keeping the Slytherin there, so Nigel flattened his whole hand against the other boy’s chest to resist his attempts to push past. He was a little inwardly conflicted: part of him wanted to let Burke leave and forget the whole thing, and part of him wanted to see how far he could push it. As usual, the antagonizing part won out. “It must not be that pathetic, if it’s making you so angry,” he noted. Nigel did, in fact, have someone better to bother, but Emma could wait a little while longer for him. She was probably not keen to see him right now, anyway, considering his poor performance in the match. “And stop evading the question. I’m not leaving until you answer me.” He really hadn’t gone out of his way to annoy Burke, so he was kind of mystified. Of course, if the opportunity arose, he hadn’t let it pass, but really, this was Nigel. He was an opportunist, so it was only to be expected.

“What the hell is your problem? What…are you, like, obsessed with me?!”