Darian was the first to arrive for their little tête-à-tête. Signature's bar was nearly empty in the middle of the day, nothing like the throngs that descended once it transformed for the night, but in his consideration the privacy was a bonus. The barman gave a grin of recognition when he went for a drink and with a start Darian realized it had been nearly a year since he'd last visited Signature. His stay in Europe had stretched longer than he'd planned.

As incidents in London escalated, he sometimes wished he'd stayed there. Misa, who after all had grown up safely in another country while the last war had raged, saw no parallels in Diagon's dwindling safety and puzzled over his paranoia which his months-long sabbatical in Paris was supposed to have fixed. Ah! He couldn't help it: Darian was high-strung. His inexhaustible self-confidence was rock-solid but his good cheer was under considerable barrage. Misa was only allowed to read him positive headlines from the Prophet nowadays. Then came the owl from Sid, which of course he must answer; given the circumstances surrounding their last interactions this simply couldn't wait. He loathed to visit Hogsmeade at less than his usual capacity of charm - there were impressionable students to think of! and Tapendra, Maiko, so many others - but perhaps seeing Sid would restore him. It was an enormous loss to the European community (not to mention Darian) to have the man trapped here. His favorites always ended up leaving him for Hogwarts.

Darian took a table with a view out the enchanted windows. Even bespelled to display the inviting lights of some imaginary city, he could feel through the windowpane Scotland's eternal chill. He was shockingly somber for this meeting in a double-breasted wool-twill overcoat, the subtle weave of his trousers and his smart shoes proclaiming him no more than a fashionable businessman. His face blazed pale against the pitch of its high collar, a winter picture as bleak as the dark timbers of Hogsmeade besieged by snow. Only his hair was as bright as ever. He rattled his fingers against the table, an antsy drumming that made his rings glint. Perhaps meeting at the Three Broomsticks would have been better. More heat, more noise, more - life.

Ah, Darian looked so nervous. Sid could hardly blame him - his own dreams had held dark portents of late; how could any man relax, with England in such chaos?

But compared to his companion the new Professor of Divination - such a title! He'd never have seen it, years ago - was quite calm; cheerful, even. He swept to Darian all smiles and gleaming eyes, a contrast to the pale specter he'd been months ago. Sid without his personality was a pale, unhealthy man. He'd lain on the beds of St. Mongos little more than a beautiful corpse, his cheeks sunken in, the scars of injections and patches obvious on his exposed arms. His luster had gone and the only life he'd shown was the frantic movement of his eyes, lost in some awful dream.

Now he seemed restored - he positively glittered. His suit was fine (of of Darian's design, of course; how could he wear less?) his manner animated. His serpent's earrings caught the light as he tossed his head. One might even think him happy to work with screeching children.

"Darian," he breathed the man's name, all warm affection. "You look like you've seen a ghost, my friend." He kissed him in greeting, not hesitating to draw the other man to him. "Is London so terrible to you?"

Sid was looking ever so much better. He almost put Darian to shame, sauntering in like that. Even if it was his own handiwork Darian was very admiresome. He went easily when pulled in for a kiss to the cheek. At their joining his hand came up briefly to rest on Sid's lapel, fingertips brushing those luxurious feathers. He ought to have worn something more like that.

"Yes," he answered. "It's terrible without you." His smile was dazzling. By God, if anyone could tell just by looking at him - well! He couldn't have stress ruin his good looks.

"Ah, mon vilain," Sid purred back with a laugh. "You flatter me. But if we were all London needed, I'd have broken your heart a thousand times over, just as you would have mine."

He slipped away to sit across from him, relaxing into the fine chair like he owned it; even the beautifully tailored suit and its decorative feathers didn't ruffle in the slightest. The movement was so familiar he barely thought out it - he even brought his hand up to rest near his lips without conscious thought, smirk slightly obscured by his curled fingers.

"And now I've gone and exiled myself to dreary Scotland. Look at this place! The mud and fog never clear." It'd been like that when they'd been here as boys, of course; the mud on Hogsmeade's streets had a way of getting everywhere if one wasn't careful with charms. "And I am surrounded by children. We cannot have been so bad at their age, were we?"

Sid slunk down into the chair and straight into a pose - yes, he was definitely restored to his usual self. It made Darian's smile widen with a touch of humorous warmth. He seated himself across from the other, trim figure angled towards his friend. From the gracious tilt of his head to his lingering gaze he was the very soul of attentiveness, a thoroughly charming and thoroughly practiced image which in his work had become second nature. Perhaps there was even something a little hungry about the way he leaned in, nerves hidden but eager for their comfortingly familiar banter. Sid was one of the very few who understood, encouraged, and embraced Darian's lifestyle.

"You are a barbarian now," Darian confirmed. "Doomed to tartan hell. McGoogly is the only light in that darkness, and I understand that she's away on business." It was a truly tragic situation. This was where the two of them had started, but Darian could not understand the impulse to return; though he enjoyed visiting, liked to torment his relatives and take in the fresh air, a castle full of preteens was not his idea of a good time. Hogwarts was boring, its intrigues revealed as one grew older to be not half so scandalous as what the adult world offered. Sid had put himself there willingly, and Darian could not quite fathom it. It was one hell of a way to go cold turkey.

"No, no. We were irrepressibly charming." That was what all of his professors had said or at least, that's what they had actually meant. 'Hellion' was an interpretable title, as was 'troublemaker, firecracker,' and his favorite, 'headache.'

"Don't worry about me, Darian," Sid said with a laugh. "I refuse to allow my fashion sense to be polluted by Hogwarts'...environment." Truly, the others did not dress so badly, and the uniforms could even be rater smart if given the right flare and fitted correctly. Of course, he'd always been quick to dispense with the flowing black robes they made them wear; the effect was always to obscure what ought to be seen.

"And yes, she's away. I've only seen her once." He'd had Darian's obsession with the uptight, controlled woman since he was young, and she'd aged as well as could be expected. Storm had his moments, he'd admit, but the man was hardly as comely. Sid suspected whatever Storm had hidden under his robes was pale, wrinkled and possibly horrifying. A wonder he'd married such a fine-looking woman, but if Witch Weekly were to be believed...

"Ah, but I get to see your lovely cousins so much more often. Landis seems positively horrified to see me," he said, with mock hurt. "Tis as if he has something to hide."

Darian shrugged as he unbuttoned his overcoat. His shirt underneath was deep pinstriped plum, with a green carnation pinned over his heart. He toyed with it a moment, fluffing its petals, though it was enchanted and its time under his heavy coat had not crushed it. "Well, you won't be able to help it, will you?" he asked when he was satisfied with the flower's presentation. "Stodginess is pervasive. You won't even know its happening. But then you'll find yourself wearing wellies and excusing them as practical, and next I see you you'll be all head to toe in House colors." Darian took a sip from his drink, then continued critically: "I want your Hermes scarf if you're just going to waste it."

"I wonder when she'll return." Lacing his hands under his chin, he batted his eyelashes at the other madly. "Ask her if she remembers me."

"Ah, but I get to see your lovely cousins so much more often. Landis seems positively horrified to see me. Tis as if he has something to hide."

Darian grinned at that. It was a rite of passage for older relatives to torment their youngers; he had benevolently shared this privilege with Sid too. It was hardly their fault that that passage hadn't exactly ever ended. If over time Landis had grown less uptight instead of more, they almost certainly would have left him alone. "Careful, darling. He's a married man now. The lovely Juliette is quite formidable - if you want one or the other you must flirt with them both."

At that comment, Sid was suddenly very aware of the snake imagery he'd come arrayed in - his hand shot to his dangling earrings, a worried frown darting cross his face. "I shall endeavor to keep an eye out," he said, then smirked. "But you will have to forgive my love of snakes. Blame the sorting hat, and -" He clasped his hands together, as if in prayer. "If you ever see me in wellingtons, hex me on sight. If it isn't someone using polyjuice, I'll deserve it nonetheless."

He might dress casually on occation, but even then he wore only the most carefully chosen pieces, his jeans pre-destroyed and expensively branded. Never would he dress purely for practical purposes. The thought! Darian must be truly concerned about him, to think he might slide that far. Sid was touched.

"Perhaps I can uncover the secret to their union. Quite how he managed to land a lady like that, well -" he laughed. "Your cousin has never had a touch for people, has he? Perhaps she's into frowning disapproval."

If there was a hint of devilish smirk to Darian's mien as Sid's hands flew anxiously to his earrings, it went quite unnoticed. Sid was too busy realizing how very Slytherin he looked. Darian could have cackled. "The process has already begun!" he intoned in a scandalized whisper. "Right then. I promise. But what about that scarf?"

He was happy to change the subject to his favorite topic - gossip. "She must be," Darian confided cheerfully. "Juliette worked for me, did you know? And she never responded to my managerial style in the slightest. It must be the Snape effect." He waggled his fingers. "The frowning, and the swooping."

Sid waved a hand magnanimously, not quite dismissive but nonetheless a bit playfully condescending. "Should that fate befall me I shall consider it," he said, generously. "Until then..."It'd take more than that to part them.

He waved to one of the servers as they passed by, turning back to Darian as the man headed over, his smile just a little too knowing. "Your cousin definately has perfected his swooping. You ought to have seen his expression when he first saw me. You'd have thought he'd seen a ghost." He was almost hurt by that. Almost. "If you hear I've been hexxed or poisoned, you know who did it."

He paused. "And if that's the case, the scarf is yours."

Darian examined his fingernails which were, of course, perfect. "Well, he's never had much patience for you," he excused his cousin, as though to imply in comparison that Landis always had time for Darian. He tutted sympathetically, taking a sip of his drink.  "It won't be long in those close quarters. Alas. After everything else you've survived..."

His eyes flickered over the server as the man approached, and he tilted his half empty glass with a bright smile in silent request for another. Naturally it was lovely to see Sid but in other ways this meeting was entirely unsatisfying. Darian couldn't even get properly drunk with him, much less expect anything more. If it was just the distance, that could be worked around. But Merlin, he wasn't eager to sneak into Hogwarts to fool around. (It was the same problem that kept his arrangement with Tapendra on Tapendra's terms.) He couldn't even remember the last time the two of them had been in the same room, wearing all their clothes, and not planning on something scandalous or mind-alteringly illegal. It must have been years - or, wait. Then again. Darian had visited Sid in the hospital.

Which lead back to why Sid was at Hogwarts in the first place, really.

Still it was a dreadful situation and no two ways about it. Since they were here, Darian supposed he might as well inquire about that delicate subject. He waited until the server was well away and then leaning in murmured, "Has Hogwarts proven restful for you?"

Sid laughed. "Don't fear. I've no intent on letting your beautiful cousin overcome me so easily." Besides, if he died he'd be sure to do it spectacularly. Perhaps he'd go off the tower, like Dumbledore had...Such thoughts were sobering. He'd been so close to a ignominious death, not long ago. He was hardly that fond of fantasizing about it, even if old habits died hard. Just a few years ago he'd assumed his death might be at Josie's hands...he'd prefer Landis, of the two.

Sid let the waiter refill his own drink, and Darian just had to bring up the elephant in the room. Sid sighed, and reached across the table to pat his friend's hand. Given the two of them, it was closer to a caress - his fingers lingered, slid over the expensive glitter of Darian's rings.

"Somewhat." He folded his own bejeweled hands around his glass, looking down into it. He was still unpacking his things, working out the arrangements; Hogwarts had been without a professor for some time, and the paperwork and details of hist roster were taking time to gather. He'd yet to teach a class...to his relief. Despite his assurance in his vision, teaching had never been on his list of  desiredprofessions.

"It's..." He paused, and sighed. "Dull, Darian. I find myself with...cravings." He caught his friend's eye - the playful gleam his own suddenly gained said everything. "My colleagues are such a closeted bunch. I can't even smoke in front of students, did you know that?" He leaned forward. "Do say you'll let me visit you on the weekends. I'll go insane otherwise."