Monday, December 8th
Early Morning
Uniform

It was another Monday morning at Hogwarts..... It was Monday morning...... Oh God, it was only Monday morning.  Monday, Aiden’s least favorite day of the week.  Monday, meaning there was still the rest of the day and the week left.  Mondays were a work of the devil.  Aiden had convinced himself of that years ago.  He hated Mondays and Mondays didn’t particularly agree with him.

This morning he had woken up earlier than the rest of the boys, as usual.  He had gone out into the common room to do his morning exercises since it was too cold to run outside, as usual.  He had been minding his own business, as usual, when he realized he was no longer alone.  Two younger Slytherins were chit-chatting at a table across the room.  Ok, that wasn’t usual but it wasn’t quite unusual either, so Aiden had resumed his push-ups.

”Erin Harper kissed a Gryffindor?!”

”That pretty one... the Park guy.”

”A GUY?!”

”SHH! Keep yer voice down...”

Aiden had been holding himself up on his arms listening to the girls when he couldn’t hold himself up anymore and fell chest-first on the floor.  He turned around on his back as he tried to process what he had just heard.  Erin had kissed a guy?  Now, Aiden had no problem with people who tended to lean that way, but he had had Erin down as a straight-shooter.  At least, he had always seemed that way....  Huh, something just didn’t quite seem right about that. 

But that had been that.  Aiden pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he had gotten ready and unwillingly made his way out of the dungeons and into the Great Hall.  And now here he was, sitting there, plate still empty, thinking to himself about how Mondays sucked and how weird they were.  Nothing was ever sane on Mondays.  What he had overheard earlier... maybe he had heard wrong?  Those kids were quite young.  Perhaps they were just spreading false rumors?  This was Hogwarts, after all.

Aiden grabbed a piece of toast and spooned some eggs onto his plate.  He was about to take a bite when another Slytherin joined him at the table.

Hey, it’s ‘maybe-kissed-a-guy-maybe-not’ guy himself....Wait, why is he up this early? Must be another Monday thing. Damn, Mondays screw with people....

Ignore the kittens, concentrate on the sleepwear.

Erin hated mornings. He hated them with the dull, insistent fury that comes from something one has to endure. Usually, he didn't get up until he absolutely had to, skipping breakfast to roll out of bed ten minutes before his first class, or - if he thought he could get away with it - skipping his first class altogether. But today he had to be up early. He had a paper due that he'd completely forgotten about until late last night and, procrastinator to the last, had decided he'd wake up early to finish it, rather than staying up.

That had been a mistake. Erin was used to late nights, far more than he was to early mornings; the chances that his hastily cobbled-together paper made any sense was minimal. Eventually, the only one awake in his dorm room,  he'd scribbled a hasty conclusion and, taking heed of his complaining stomach, plodded down to the Great Hall for breakfast, passing a trio of giggling underclassmen as he went. They'd given him an odd look, but Erin was too out-of-it to notice. He didn't even bother getting dressed. It was early enough that he'd have plenty of time to come back to the dorm beforehand, at a more normal-person time, and do so. Let a professor TRY to take off points for that, this early in the morning.

It was the first time he'd eaten breakfast for weeks. There was hardly anyone down here. They all knew better, he supposed. He made his way over to the thinly-populated Slytherin table and flung himself into a seat, giving Young (a fellow fifth-year) a bleary nod as he did so. Food materialized on the table in front of him, and Erin slowly helped himself, torn between the mutually conflicting desires to fall asleep at the table and to fill his grumbling stomach.

Merlin, he hated mornings. That is was a Monday, too, was only horrible sugar-free icing on the sleep-deprived cake.

First Erin Harper was supposedly kissing guys..... and now he was up early in the morning eating breakfast.  Aiden wasn’t sure the two were related, but he couldn’t overlook the fact that this didn’t sound like the Erin Harper he had known since his first year at Hogwarts.  Strange.... just strange.  What was stranger even still was the fact that he was so intrigued by it all.  Normally he minded his own business and didn’t listen to the gossip that infected the student body.  But, at times, he couldn’t help himself.  Gossip, like what he had heard this morning, would reach him and he’d become curious.

Aiden returned Erin’s nod with one of his own and turned his gaze back to the food in front of him.  Should I ask him about it? He’s right there... No, no, that would be nosy.  Aiden didn’t want to start anything.  After all, it was still early in the morning.  Exactly... it’s early in the morning... Hadn’t Aiden always chosen to try and talk sense with his father in the mornings because he knew his father would be too tired to put up much of an argument? Maybe Harper would be the same?  And if not, if he got angry and wanted to fight, well, Aiden could handle himself.  He was trained in Taekwando and was a fair duelist. 

“Feeling alright, Harper? It’s a little early for you,” Aiden turned towards the blonde Slytherin, “Does it have anything to do with that Park guy you kissed?”

There.  He had dropped the bomb.  Next move was Erin’s.   

Now, as a matter of fact, Erin was very pleasant in the morning. He was considered to be much more pleasant in the morning than any other time of the day, mostly because he didn't talk very much and couldn't be bothered to insult anyone, much less gather up the energy to get angry. So, although it took him a minute to process Young was talking to him, Erin obediently turned to look at the other boy down the table.

“Feeling alright, Harper? It’s a little early for you. Does it have anything to do with that Park guy you kissed?”

Erin stared at him for a long, long time. His brain wasn't quite functioning well enough for him to be able to decide if Aiden was asking genuinely or taking the piss. Erin wasn't equipped to deal with sarcasm this early in the morning. His "bristling and snarling" circuits were also likewise jammed. Young generally wasn't a bad guy, bit cold, but he wasn't the type to spring something like that on a bloke while he was eating breakfast, was he? But he was a Slytherin, and nasty inquisitive bastards they were - and - and - oh, Merlin, what a thing to have to deal with. Erin wasn't even sure he was up to vocalizing yet, much less taking flak about his dubious sexuality or recent encounter with Hogwart's most rampantly bisexual.

Which, incidentally, he'd done a lot of lately. Taking flak, that is, for what he'd hoped had been something he could forget about, not - not anything to do with his dubious sexuality, which was indeed dubious, especially when he couldn't stop comparing kisses...

Erin began to turn a slow but very steady shade of red.

"Oh my God," he said in tones of the deepest horror and mortification. He let his head fall forward onto the table (narrowly missing the plate of bacon), his next words wailed out muffled and mournful into the wood of the table. "Does everybody know?"

Aiden tried to remember if he had heard anything before about this Park guy.  If only he paid more attention..... But, no.  Aiden didn't care at all for gossipers.  People who wasted their lives nosing into other people's lives?  What kind existence was that?  It was juvenile.  And he liked to think he was better than that.  Of course, he was still only fifteen.  He couldn't not ignore everything that was being whispered around him.  Now that he thought about it... he had heard things about Park.  Apparently he was known for his escapades with members of both sexes.  But.... Erin?  Things still didn't add up.

"Oh my God,"

So it was true.  Park and Harper had kissed.  From the looks of it, Erin didn't seem all too pleased that the secret had gotten out.  He shouldn't be surprised.... This is Hogwarts.  Aiden wouldn't be surprised if the students were being watched 24/7.  But that was his paranoia talking.  He had to let that go. 

Aiden picked up his plate and bag and scooted down the table closer to Harper.  He didn't want to alert others around them about their conversation, so he figured sitting closer would be best.  Especially if Erin didn't want more of this getting out.

"It's true then..." Aiden mused, glancing at Erin, who had his head down on the table, "I'm sorry to pry but... why would you kiss him?"  Because Aiden didn't think Erin was that kind of guy.  And he wasn't even sure who kissed who!  He was just speculating at this point....

Lost in his thoughts, Erin hardly noticed Aiden had moved to sit closer to him until the other boy spoke. Good idea; he hadn’t yet considered there were a few others at the table with them, but he would surely regret it later if any of them heard.

"I'm sorry to pry but... why would you kiss him?"

Erin sprang up from the table like a jack-in-the-box, quivering with indignation. Apparently his morning lethargy had been momentarily wiped out by the very suggestion. “I didn’t kiss him!” he hissed. “ He  kissed  me! The bastard - ” He faltered. All Park had done, really, was take revenge for Erin’s prank. It wouldn’t have been so weird if he hadn’t done it with kisses. And like hell was Erin admitting he’d kissed Eli back! “He, uh. Snow was involved.” He slumped, moodily crossing his arms in front of his plate.

It hadn’t yet struck him that he was discussing this with someone he wasn’t particularly close with.

Aiden was slightly alarmed when Erin shot up to his feet, yet he didn’t let it show on his face.  His eyes only watched Harper with interest as he tried to mentally piece together what had happened between him and Park. 

“I didn’t kiss him! He  kissed  me! The bastard - ”

From what little Aiden knew of the Park guy in question, this made a lot more sense then if Harper had been the initiator.  It seemed more likely that an open bisexual who had a reputation for kissing others would be the kisser rather than the kissee.

“He, uh. Snow was involved.”

Well, Aiden certainly did not expect this. “Snow?” He couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice.  What in the world did snow have to do with kissing?  Obviously there was a lot more to this story than he had first thought.  When he had overheard the underclassmen earlier, they made it out like it was just a kiss.  Just a kiss and nothing more.  Yet this story was now taking a more interesting turn...

“Snow and a kiss? This Park guy sounds mental...”

Aiden didn’t quite like the fact he felt like he was interrogating Harper... as if he was a victim to some sort of bizarre crime.  But he couldn’t help himself.  It was in his blood.  He was meant to inherit one of the biggest private investigating firms, after all.  Well, he was supposed to... Often times Aiden thought he’d be better off working for the Department of Law Enforcement in the Ministry.

"Snow?"

Erin waved a hand irritably. "It was during that heavy snow last week." The snow bit wouldn't seem important unless Aiden knew that Erin had thrown a snowball at Eli, thus springing the whole concept of "revenge." Erin hedged. "I may or may not have thrown a snowball at him," he said hesitantly, shooting the other boy a look out of the corner of his eye as though daring Aiden to comment on that.

“Snow and a kiss? This Park guy sounds mental...”

"Yes!" Erin said, relieved beyond all reason. "Yes, he is. What kind of bloke goes around kissing people for revenge..." Aiden was the first person to believe that it was all. Eli's. Fault. Which it was, entirely. Erin was pleased to have a cohort in this. 'Course, he wasn't really all THAT sorry it'd happened. The rumors were infuriating, but if not for them, Erin might've... well... he didn't regret kissing Eli. He just wished they hadn't been seen.

"It was during that heavy snow last week.....I may or may not have thrown a snowball at him,"

Harper had thrown a snowball at Park and Park, in turn, had kissed Harper in some form of revenge.... A very strange form but revenge nonetheless.  Everything made sense to Aiden now.  Well, except for the ‘kiss for revenge’ part.  That part would never make sense to him. 

Aiden normally thought people seeking revenge had every right of doing so.  They had been wronged so they wanted retribution.  It made sense.  But his idea of payback would be something like maybe a duel, fist fight, hex, curse.... stuff like that but definitely not kissing!  He was completely on Erin’s side on this one. 

"Yes!  Yes, he is. What kind of bloke goes around kissing people for revenge..."

“A snog-a-holic just trying to take advantage of the situation...” Aiden shook his head, “Boo hoo, you threw snow at him. Big deal!  It’s not like you tossed a dungbomb in his face...” Some people overreacted at the smallest things these days.  Wimps!  What kind of ‘men’ was Hogwarts producing nowadays? “So what did you do after he kissed you?  Did you punch him?” Because that’s what I would have done...

“Boo hoo, you threw snow at him. Big deal!  It’s not like you tossed a dungbomb in his face...”

Erin nodded, stuffing some bacon in his mouth while he had the chance. He HAD tried to escape, at the time... but once Eli had pounced, it'd all happened so fast. He was glad Aiden was on his side. For the first time since the conversation had begun, he relaxed a little. He didn't like talking about what'd happened, but that was because usually, people giggled or mocked him. Not like Aiden, who understood. He was a decent chap after all; Erin should've hung around him more.

“So what did you do after he kissed you?  Did you punch him?”

Erin nearly choked on his bacon. Just the question he didn't want anyone to ask.

His first thought was to run - look at the time, I'll be late to class, see you! - but they had plenty of time left, and it'd only put Aiden off for a while before he asked again. Might even make him suspicious - something Erin dearly did not want. Better to make something up - no, just, leave out what he'd actually done, and hope Aiden didn't try to corroborate the story with Eli Park.

"I didn't do anything," he said weakly (after all, he had just recovered from a near-miss with bacon). "I just left. The new Head of House said if I punched anybody else or got into any fights he'd stew me up to my eyeballs in dragon guts." The new Head of House was actually Erin's older brother, although fortunately no one knew that. And of course he'd never said anything of the sort to Erin, but probably only because dragon guts were too expensive. It'd be something like extract of deadly nightshade, knowing Landis.

Excuses made, Erin had time to muse over Aiden's words. Punching him... yes, that would have been the proper thing to do. Erin had wondered many times over the past week why he hadn't done just that. It was a much more socially acceptable way of reacting to unwanted kisses from the same gender than kissing back. But it'd been kind of nice at the time - Eli was a good kisser - and he guessed he'd just reacted...

Merlin, he was pathetic. He really hoped no one ever found out that he'd kissed Eli back. Knowing Park, though, he was probably happily spreading it around Hogwarts for all to hear. Damned serial kisser - if Erin saw him again, maybe he really would punch him.

The other Slytherin watched as Erin had trouble swallowing his bacon.  He hadn’t asked anything out of line, he thought.  Asking him whether the Park guy had kissed him in the first place was more out of line than asking what Erin did in retaliation.  Was there yet even more to this? 

"I didn't do anything.....I just left. The new Head of House said if I punched anybody else or got into any fights he'd stew me up to my eyeballs in dragon guts."

Oh. Well, then... Aiden could believe that.  No one wanted to get stewed up to their eyeballs in dragon guts, right?  That could be painful, fatal, and would result in a very unfavorable stench.  Aiden wasn’t too familiar with the new Head of House, fortunately for Erin, so he was full on to believe the other boy.  At least now he knew that their new Head of House was a bit.... violent? gruesome? interesting?  He’d have to figure it out for himself eventually.

Aiden nodded, “Ah, that’s too bad.  You should have given him warts on his lips or something... That way he would have a harder time kissing people.  Or blisters, that would work too.”

Erin had overlooked one thing, however. As likely as Landis was to say something that threatening to him, he would be much milder to an ordinary student. In fact, not that Erin knew (since he made a point to disassociate from his brother at all times), but to all outer appearances Landis was quiet, pleasant, and although certainly terrifying when roused, hardly likely to waste dragon guts on a student. Aiden had noted what Erin hadn't thought twice about. It was fortunate that Aiden didn't know Landis at all, or, again, Erin's story might've already had some very visible holes

“Ah, that’s too bad.  You should have given him warts on his lips or something... That way he would have a harder time kissing people.  Or blisters, that would work too.”

Erin gave Aiden a long, long look. Slowly, his lips spread into a wide grin. "That's brilliant," he said, and laughed. "Ah, what a missed opportunity."

Aiden ate some of the eggs on his plate and then poured himself a glass of juice.  He swished it around in his glass before taking a drink.  Something didn’t settle well with him.  He didn’t like the idea of Park getting away with something like that.  Supposedly it was revenge, but the way Aiden thought about it was... snowball contact was nothing compared to a kiss from a person of the same gender....  Park had clearly taken advantage of the situation.  Creep.

"That's brilliant.....Ah, what a missed opportunity."

“Maybe not....” Aiden set down his juice and turned back to Erin, “The winter festival is coming up, right?  I’ll bet you anything Park’ll be there.” How did he know?  Well, the guy sounded like he liked parties... “Why don’t you do something then?  It’ll be in Hogsmeade, on holiday.... Surely the Head of House can’t do too much then, right?”

Ah, now Erin was had a dilemma. Truthfully, he didn't want anything to do with Eli Park. The other boy might spill his secret, and Erin definitely didn't want that. But on the other hand, what kind of excuse could he possibly give? The proper thing to do, real English boys' school kind of thing, would be to agree heartily to the idea. 'Oh, violence, my word, yes, let's do it!' And Erin had nothing against violence, nothing at all. He also had a rather shaky view of morality, and had happily beaten people up for no reason whatsoever other than that he felt like it. But in this case... it wouldn't feel right, beating someone up whom he'd kissed. The two things were completely separate to him, and hard to mix. Even if kissing Eli had led to a world of trouble for him, he couldn't go and thrash the other boy for that.

His options, as far as excuses ran, were all pretty weak. 'Course, there was a great gaping hole in Aiden's logic there, the idea that his Head of House wouldn't hear about this if Erin did it at the festival. Someone was bound to tell Landis about it eventually, probably one of his fellow Slytherins. If not that way, as brothers, they DID share a house, and most normal people (i.e. people with no idea how much the two hated one another) would assume that meant Landis would find out from Erin there.  So that was a good solid, excuse right there... except Erin hated to admit that his Head of House was also his brother. He'd done an awful lot to disassociate himself from Landis to go around blabbing about it now. Oh, sure, it seemed like a silly distinction to make, but this was one of the things on which Erin wouldn't budge. He didn't like to talk about it, and that wasn't about to change now. No matter how much easier it'd make things. Besides, then he'd have to explain to Young that, yes, his own brother would stew him in dragon guts, and happily, too.

Well...it wasn't too late. He could still take the plunge and tell Aiden that he'd kissed Eli back. He was already used to being a loner, and he could take care of himself with hexes and fists if anyone gave him shite for it, like he did with everything else. But was he brave enough for that?

He glanced over at Aiden consideringly. Of all the people to tell admit the truth to, Young was a pretty good choice. He seemed pretty cool-headed.... for instance, it could be Knight confronting him about this, that'd be way worse. With Young, he probably wouldn't be any worse than disgusted. Erin didn't think he was the kind of guy to beat someone else up for something like this (like Knight).

He almost did it, really did. But as he opened his mouth to confess, courage failed him, and instead what he said was, uncomfortable and reluctant, "That's not necessary. Honestly... what Park did was all out of fun. I'm not mad at him or anything, just annoyed by the rumors. And it wasn't so bad, considering. Could've been worse."

"That's not necessary. Honestly... what Park did was all out of fun. I'm not mad at him or anything, just annoyed by the rumors. And it wasn't so bad, considering. Could've been worse."

You know that feeling you get when you can tell a person isn’t quite telling you the whole truth?  Well, after Erin spoke, Aiden immediately had little sirens going off in his head.  The other Slytherin’s words had come out somewhat awkwardly as if he had wanted to say one thing but ended up saying another.  It was something Aiden did in the presence of his overbearing, nosy father quite often, so he could easily tell when others did it.  Though Aiden didn’t like being lied to, he didn’t get angry.  He had pried into Erin’s life a bit and the other hadn’t gotten angry and it seemed, up till this point, he had told Aiden the majority of what happened. 

“I guess your right.  He could have started a duel with you or something.  Not that I see him winning any sort of duel or physical fight... He’s a small guy, right?” Aiden mused, taking another sip of his drink, “If kissing was your only ‘weapon’ perhaps that makes sense.... it’s still completely mental.... but to each his own.”

Personally I would have kicked his ass... a nice jab to the ribs followed up by a round kick to the face and he’d never want to even look my way again.  Aiden might not always be the first to jump on the violence train, but he had his moments.  Use it when it was needed otherwise let the others do that sort of dirty work.  One of his father’s lessons that Aiden actually took to heart.

“Still, it would have been fun to watch,” Aiden smiled, an almost laugh escaping him, “He’d probably wet his trousers and start crying or something.”