Classes were out for the day, and Josh was sick of being cooped up inside. It got a bit boring inside hogwarts, especially whne you have to walk around it at night as well, doing prefect patrols. So, he walked down to the lake, noticing a few people about, and that the giant squid was swimming about in the shallows. He always enjoyed watching the squid, even if quite a few of the students thought it agressive. Josh knew different, of course. Well, unless you were a fish animagus of the right species, and went for a swim in the wrong place. So, he sat on a rock near the shore, and gazed out over the lake.

Figaro moved fast down the sloping lawns of Hogwarts.  He always seemed to be moving fast, talking fast, moving loudly, talking loudly.  And after a long day of quiet classroom ritual, it might be hard for someone to even believe he'd been holding back.  But he'd been working hard.  Damn hard to be slow, be quiet.  And at the end of the day, he could finally blow off some steam.

He slipped and skidded down the hill towards the lake, holding a football* in his hands.  The cold wet grass was slick so Figaro nearly biffed it by the time he got down to Josh Harcroft. 

He tossed him the ball.  "You're a hard man to find, Joshy," Figaro said with a grin.  "How'd you do on Bombay's exam?  About the fanged somethingies?"  He waved his hand for the ball back.

"I'm jacked if I don't pass Herbology," he scoffed, clearly not too terribly upset about the idea.


*yes, I mean soccer

OOC: I'm a brit, so to me, football IS what you'd call soccer.

Josh watched, amused, as Figaro nearly fell trying to get over to him. Ctahcing the thrown ball, he smiled when Figaro said he was hard to find. " Trust me, Fig, if I didnlt want to be found, I wouldn't be"Josh replied with a slight smirk. " anyway, I did all right on the exam. Dunno what I got, except I'm pretty sure I passed." Josh said, obviosuly joking at the end. Throwing the ball back to Fig, he asked " So what's the problem you've got with herbology, Fig?"

When Figaro caught the ball he smirked right back at Josh's obvious self-assurance in one of Fig's worst classes.  Figaro wasn't generally self-conscious about his lack of academic achievement - he was in Hufflepuff for a reason.  Maybe the Ravenclaws saw great value in things like schoolwork, but Hufflepuffs valued other things.  More important things.  Seemed like Josh had that figured out as well. 

He bounced the ball down the to ground and stomped it down to hold it under his shoe.  He idly rolled it back and forth under his sole. 

"Bombay mostly," Figaro admitted, referring to their be-bearded and grouchy old Herbology professor.  "That and its well boring.  I'd quit the course if I didn't need it to be an apothecary; my folks are dead set on that."

Figaro shrugged, as if he had no real argument against it.  Was their family's shop and if Fig didn't do it, his little brother Frank would have to.  And Frank was still sticking things in his ear.  Anyway, with his father going to Azkaban, Figaro might be inheriting the shop sooner than anyone had planned.

" your family want you to go into the family business, then?" Josh said, referring to the apothecary. " Kind of similar to how I'll be trying to become an Auror after school, if you think about it. The same families tend to end up as Aurors, after all" Josh said, thinking about it, after all, there had been many theories written as to why the kids of aurors tended to go into the same field of work. Of course, the kids of Aurors all knew why it was, but normally never told anyone.

Figaro nodded when Josh asked about the pressure from his folks to take up Sellaphix Apothecary.  Seemed like it had been that way his whole life, helping out in the store in the summers - even getting paid to do so lately - and the endless encouragement to keep up his work in Potions, Ancient Runes and Herbology.  Sometimes the encouragement came out as disappointment and shouting and too much pressure for Figaro to feel like he could process.  And now, with his dad going to Azkaban, the pressure seemed even greater.  He was trying not to think about it too much; just try to keep plugging and hopefully things would turn out okay.

He looked up sharply when Josh started talking about Aurors, and his intention to become one himself.  Lots of little witches and wizards said that kind of thing when they were little kids.  Wanting to be heros with wands who captured evil sorcerers, and that.  It was only the hardened over-achievers like Kit Branwell and Josh Harcroft who seemed to carry that with them all through school.  It was very difficult to make the grades that you needed to enter training; there were many that wanted to get in but never could. 

"Whoa, mate.  I didn't know you were going to try for Auror," he said, clearly impressed.  "That's mad.  But your dad's an Auror right?  Hasn't he got awards or something?  The pressure's got to be intense."

Figaro shook his head and exhaled - he didn't want that kind of heat.  Being an apothecary suddenly sounded easy by comparison.

"Dad's a Senior Auror, Mum's an ordinary one. As for the pressure, not much surprisingly. Parents insist I earn good grades, but otherwise , it's more a family tradition that makes me want to be an Auror. Why d'you think I work so hard? Did you think i enjoyed it?" Josh said, his expression making clear he was joking. " Seriously though, I've grown up listening to stories that my parents tell of old cases, when I was 5, the Snatchers tried to attack Harcroft Manor. That was just before the Battle Of Hogwarts, actually. My parents sent them packing, but not before I would up with a scar just below my left knee." Josh said, looking a lot more serious suddenly.

Figaro laughed at Josh's implication that he enjoyed being a know-it-all in class - Fig had about to answer that was exactly what people thought, but when Josh pulled a face, Figaro eased up on him.  Kid took a lot of crap in classes sometimes, but he was just keepin' on with the same shit as everyone else was dealing with, plus a little extra being a Prefect and an Auror's kid.

Apparently two Aurors' kid.  Fig hadn't known that.   His eyebrows rose, again impressed.  Figaro briefly imagined an absurd homelife where the Harcroft Auror Parents strutted around in their red robes barking orders and the three Harcroft boys stood in line in descending height order.  It was a far cry from what life was like at his place with his insane little brother running around, his mum working at the desk on the books and orders, and his dad at the shop handling customers.  What was mum going to do with little Frank now that she'd be doing both aspects of running the shop?  Selfish as it was, Figaro was just dreading summer home.

"That actually sounds pretty cool," Figaro shrugged, bouncing the soccer ball again with his hands.  (Figaro was one of those unfortunate young men who couldn't resist picking up the ball and running with it.   He'd play keeper if it wasn't so much sitting around and waiting.)

"I mean, stories about catching dark wizards and everything?  Sounds well exciting.  I mean, you even saw Snatchers?"  Figaro's curiosity overshadowed any notice of Josh's more somber tone.  He rattled on as if nothing was wrong.  "That sounds killer.  Nothing cool happened to me when I was a kid.  I don't really even remember when the Battle happened."

" It's not all that different from life in any house, actually. Stories about Dark wizards, yes, but there's a downside. More than other people, you fear being notified of one or both of your parents deaths. As for the Snatchers, it might seem cool to other people, but when they attacked, it was just scary. I kept having to move due to them nearing where I was hiding, always trying to protect Charles, my little brother. He doesn't remember it, being less than a year old at the time, but it was the most scared I've been in my life. Dad and Mum killed 5 of the 6 Snatchers betwene them, and I think the lats one died at the Battle of Hogwarts whioch was almost straight afterwards." Josh said, his voice having an edge of something to it. He hated being reminded of that night for stupid reasons. Shuddering at the feelings that came back, he forced himself to calm down. it had been nearly 10 years, he didn't need to worry about thta time anymore.

When Josh went on to tell Figaro just exactly how cool it had been, something in his voice took all the fun out of it and Figaro found himself lowering himself to sit on his haunches on the cold ground next to Josh.  Figaro remembered back to the fall how he'd been stupid enough to sneak to Knockturn Alley and how it had been a very real fear that Cinaed Tawse might kill him.  How for real, no joking, Figaro had been scared for his life.  Since that day he hadn't told anyone about it.  Mostly because of how serious of trouble he could still get into if anyone found out, but also because reliving that night wasn't pleasant.  If he was honest with himself, it wasn't pleasant at all.

He could see why Josh didn't sound like he wanted to keep talking about it.

"Oh."

He just said it flatly.  There wasn't much to say about that.

"D'you know that much about Azkaban?" he asked after a little while. 

Josh nodded at figaro's response. It really didn't need a reply. He still occasionally got nightnmares about that nighht, and would probably get them again that night, but there was little point blaming Fig. He couldn't have known. Then josh's eyes narrowed sharply when Fig asked what he kneew about Azkaban. " quite a bit, but why do you want to know?" he asked.

"Cause I want to go there on holiday!" Figaro laughed back and shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in the world.  It was a defensive reaction, and just popped out.  He didn't want to say he was worried about his dad, who'd been sentenced to seven years[1].  Made it too real.

"Why else would I ask? So, I  mean, I know there are no more Dementors, but do... people still go crazy there? Do they feed the prisoners - they have to right? They can't let them ...die or anything.  Is it Aurors guarding it now?"  He pressed forward with questions, hoping to avoid mention of his dad.

1.	Daily Prophet Article

"no need for you to get defensive, Fig. I just wondered why the sudden interest in Azkaban. As for your questions- you do get food there, but think Oliver Twist[1]  for food. well, except for the guards. they get the good stuff. As for letting the prisoers die, I think it depends on the sentance. I don't think they bother too mucj to avoid the lifers killing eahc other, but those on fixed terms should survive. As for guards, I'n afraid I don't know." Johs said, still wondering why Fig was asking. then he remembered the prophet from almost a week ago. it mentioned a Rafe Sellaphix being sent to azkaban for the runespoor explosion case. " Rafe Aellaphix was yuor father, wasnlt he?" Josh said, looking sympathetic.

1.	I'm assuming from the Hogwarts Express that the Wizarding World is stuck in the victorian era, not the Middle Ages.

Figaro leaned against the rough trunk of the tree and fiddled with the seam on the ball, glancing up when Josh said that the prisoners with life sentences were known to kill each other.  He furrowed his brow - his dad wasn't there for being violent - what if other prisoners around him were?

He looked up sharply when Josh caught on, then he looked back down.  He supposed it wasn't a big secret.  Back in October, people had got wind of it and he took a lot of piss for it in the halls, that is until Xavier Tawse did something about it.  Figaro didn't find out just what it was, but the talk stopped for awhile.  But it had been in the Daily Prophet last week, so he had to guess that people knew - at least the smart kids who read the paper.  Like Josh.  At least Josh wasn't an asshole.

"Yea," he said flatly.  "We found out at the end of January.  Can't really stop thinking about it.  I was supposed to take the shop over, but my mum says she doesn't know if she'll reopen it."

He shrugged again - he was shrugging a lot this afternoon.

Josh looke dsympaythetic, but didnlt really know what to say. "Im sorry to hear that. How long's he in for?" Johd asked, not remembering how long the article said fig's father was in azkaban for. " I hope the shop is reiopened, Fig. it'd be a shame if you lost out on your future career juts becasue your father made a dumb decision." Josh said.