Aurora was sitting with her back against the window with her knees propped up to hold her sketchbook in place.  It was a familiar position to be in for her: as per usual one would find her under a tree doing the same thing.  Sketching was were outlet of creative energy, and on the ride to London, it was much needed.

Pausing a moment in her fierce scribbling to look around the compartment, she felt a little lonely.  Usually, this never bothered her, as she was a classic lone wolf, as it were.  However, since Vulpes had left upon setting his stuff down for something he needed to do; it had been several minutes, and she was still in the empty compartment.

Sighing and continuing her drawing of Vulpes, she waited anxiously for his return.

The summer with Vulpes will be amazing.

Outift


Glad that things had, for the most part, gone well with Casey, Vulpes skipped his way back up the train, doing his best not to run into anyone. This wasn't exactly an easy task, as plenty of students were loitering in the aisles of the train. Quite lucky that he and Aurora had managed to find their own compartment. And that since she was generally a loner, it was unlikely anyone would have bothered her.

Finally reaching their compartment, Vulpes gently opened the door and slipped inside, closing it with a click. Unsurprisingly he saw his friend with her sketchbook out, leaning her back against the window. Cheerfully he sat down at the end of the same seat as her, and propped his feet up on the opposite seats. With a  happy sigh, he slouched and ran a hand through his long hair.

"Back from my mission," he said in a light tone. "Whatcha been up to while I was away?" Vulpes turned and smiled at Aurora.

Rory's Outfit, yo

Aurora looked up as Vulpes entered the compartment.  Smiling brightly, she stopped sketching briefly and watched as he settled down on the same seat as her.  "Hey, I was just about to send out a search party," she joked lightly and let out a contented sigh.

"Well, first I published a best-seller, then I hopped over to Mount Everest and took my fifth go at it.  Then I visited the Great Wall of China, where I saved a little boy from a Hungarian Horntail, and then I just dug my way through the center of the earth until I climbed back into this compartment." she said evenly with a quirk of a smile.  Since meeting Vulpes, Aurora had become more comfortable with making jokes and having lighthearted fun.

"And I still had time to make three masterpieces before you showed up." she added with a small smile.

"Why was a Hungarian Horntail in China?" Vulpes asked with a straight face, yet playful tone. It was nice that after what had happened a few weeks prior that they were still able to joke and laugh as if nothing had happened. Of course, in the time since then he'd also realized how he felt about her. Not that he could actually say it. "But still," he continued, ignoring his thoughts "Sounds like you had a good time. Let me borrow the time turner?"

Smiling, Vulpes nodded at the sketchbook. "Do I get to see any of these works of art?" he asked happily. It still amazed him how well Aurora could draw anything. "Or is it private?"

With a wink, Vulpes pulled his headphones off from around his neck and set them in the space between Aurora's feet and himself. For some reason he felt uncomfortable with them on. Perhaps it was the thought that at any moment they would start playing music that conveyed his feelings, but really it could have been anything.

Aurora giggled lightly and held out her sketchbook to Vulpes.  It was a picture of him with his headphones on, making a face and conducting as if in a symphony.  On the pages before it were various scenes of Vulpes doing back-flips, dance-moves and other parkour skills.  Some were just of him spacing out, thinking about rainbows no doubt, or just looking at Aurora with a certain gleam in his eye.

"I'm so excited to go to Egypt.  Eric keeps gushing about meeting you in the letters he sends me.  It's now doubled each week since I told him about you." she said in amusement with a chuckle.  Aurora had only ever been to Iceland and around London, and she was looking forward to exploring a foreign territory.  Knowing that her best friend would be there with her every step of the way was comforting.  It would make everything all the while amazing.

Vulpes quirked an eyebrow as he took the sketchbook from Aurora. Impressive, really. She captured his likeness rather well, he thought, especially the hair, considering it consistently kept it's messy look. He let out a laugh when he came to a picture of himself hanging upside down by one leg from a tree. That was a fun day, he ended up falling but recovering with a handspring.

Turning the page his smile evaporated into a much more thoughtful, if not slightly surprised look. Here he was, just looking up at himself with a certain gleam. Vulpes blushed slightly recalling the instance in which he had that expression. It was the day after they kissed, and he thought about what she actually meant to him.

Vulpes gave a small cough and handed the sketchbook back to Aurora, struggling to catch the words she said. "Won't he be disappointed," he said with a smile "I'm really a bore after all." Laughing slightly, Vulpes nodded. "But Egypt should be fun, yea? See what other wizarding and Muggle cultures are like. Exotic foods and locales," Vulpes sighed happily and rest his hands behind his head.

"And then after that trip, you get to meet my absurdly huge family. My mother is very excited to meet you as well."

Moseying was Huxley's transportation method of choice. He didn't want to appear like he actually was in a hurry to get anywhere. Huck's intention was to mosey past the compartment containing the two biggest skinny-jeans doofuses in the whole school, but Vulpes's last sentence managed to fumble its way out of the compartment and into the (mostly hollow) space between Huxley's ears.

Huck himself came from an absurdly large family. He remembered Aurora mentioning something or other about how big Vulpes's family was, and- always one for a good round of one-upmanship- Huck had been very interested to pin down the number.

Floating into the doorframe fairly quietly, like a stalking cat, Huxley folded his arms. "Meeting Headphones's mum, Sweden?" he asked smugly. "You're in for a treat. Very accommodating lady. Lost my virginity the first time I met her."

Examining a hangnail casually, he then pressed on. "How big's your family then, Robert Smith? I'm ready to be impressed."

Aurora noticed Huxley trying to sneak in like a shadow, but didn't bother looking up at him or acknowledging his existence.  Inside, however, her nerves were high strung, and every millisecond that passed made her face twitch.  When he started talking, however, that's when she decided it would be pointless to pretend as if he weren't there.

Looking up at him disinterestedly, she kept a blank expression, biting her tongue to keep from doing or saying anything that would humor him.  That is, until he insulted Vulpes's mom.

"No one asked for your insufferable presence.  So why don't you just slither on back to that cesspool of your own business and muck up someone else's day." she said flatly, eyes narrowing slightly.

Noticing only the slight shift in light, Vulpes turned his blue eyes to the door. Huxley. Good lord, why in the world was he bothering the two of them. Was he really that stupid? Giving an inaudible sigh, Vulpes lowered his arms ready to tell him off in the politest way possibly.

"Meeting Headphones's mum, Sweden? You're in for a treat. Very accommodating lady. Lost my virginity the first time I met her."

Vulpes froze, blinking once as the words registered in his head. 'Are you serious? Does he want me to gut him like a trout?' Anger began boiling up inside him, which concerned Vulpes a great deal because he'd never lashed out at anyone in front of Aurora before.

A twitch of a smile crossed his lips as Aurora flatly told Huxley to piss off. Vulpes waved a dismissive hand. "Nah, it's okay, Aurora," he said in an oddly cruel voice. "'I' m sure if he'd actually slept with anyone he'd be bragging about it nonstop to everyone withing listening distance." Vulpes gave Aurora a wink.

"Besides," he continued in a pointed tone, "Unlike the women in his family who can't keep their legs closed for more then five minutes, the ones in mine actually have standards." Vulpes leered at Huxley, relishing in the cruelty that emanated from his mouth. "It's a wonder your sisters aren't with children."

Huck gripped his heart in mock devastation at Vulpes's first comment. "Oh, ouch, buddy," he laughed. "Look, I might talk a lot of shite but I'm not the kinda guy to bang and tell, contrary to popular belief. And I sure don't have anything to prove to a froot loop like you on the subject."

However, as the rest of his verbal assault left his lips, cold as ice, Huxley narrowed his eyes. A sensation not unlike a cold sweat seemed to wash over him, and the furious intensity with which his blood now seemed to flow made it very hard to remember who and what he was. He paused, trying to figure out if the events of the last thirty seconds had actually transpired.

"...What did you just say to me?" he asked in disbelief. "The fuck did you just say to me, you little shit?"

His wand would have been the best first choice as far as dealing damage, but he was in no mental state to make such leaps.

His "Slytherin Brute" instincts took over full-force, and before he knew what he was doing he was almost the entire way across the compartment, grabbing a fistful of Vulpes's collar and hauling off as hard as he could to attempt to break every bone in the other boy's face.

(For irony's sake, we must make the conciliation that Veronica was, in fact, at the very same moment, getting trashed on stolen firewhiskey in another compartment.)

Aurora's eyes widened at Vulpes's words.  She had never heard him so sly or seen him so angry.  It was a bright contrast to his usual lighthearted and carefree nature.  Aurora was getting angrier by the second, listening to Huxley's rebuttal.  Once he bypassed the swearing and actually made a move on Vulpes, however, there were no words to describe how she felt.

Before she knew it, she shot up as if she were on fire and grabbed the arm Huxley was about to hit Vulpes with.  Twisting it behind his back, she wrenched away Huxley's other hand that gripped Vulpes's collar and used momentum to push both of them far from Vulpes.  In a blur, she had bashed Huxley against the window, and now had her right forearm across his throat, holding him back, while his left arm twisted awkwardly behind his back and his right arm was held firmly by Aurora's left.

She stared up at him with fire in her eyes and jaw set.  With years of training, she had him in an immovable state.  He won't be able to wriggle his way out until Aurora let him.

If Huxley were in any other House (except Gryffindor), or if he was much more intelligent, Vulpes would be mildly surprised at this move. But, because he was, at least as far as Vulpes could tell, a fairly dim-witted Slytherin it came to no surprise nor any concern. His hand on his wand, Vulpes was about ready to swipe it out and non-verbally hit the fool in the chest with Verdimillious.

But luckily for Huxely, Aurora stepped in. Quickly, efficently, she removed him from Vulpes who merely marveled at the ability she had. She wasn't kidding when she said knew martial arts. Not that Vulpes had really doubted her. Giving a large, wicked grin, Vulpes clapped slowly. "Thank you, m'dear," he said, nodding to Aurora.

Then he turned to Huxley. "Goodness, you are easy to play aren't you," Vulpes said evilly before giving a short, malicious cackle. This was good. The boy went crazy over such small jabs. "How pathetic," he spat. "And after all that talk about how one shouldn't take things so seriously? My, my, my...."

Again Vulpes laughed wickedly. "If you're going to dance, you should be prepared for the steps, don't you think? Or did you expect me not to bite back?" Smiling another evil smile, Vulpes slowly shook his head.

"Aurora," he said, voice oddly calm and light. "Please, let him go. I'd prefer you didn't get in trouble over the likes of him."

Knocked back hard against the window, Huck coughed in surprise. She looked dinky enough but somehow there was a pair of gunboats tucked in her sleeves. Jeezum crow! He made a mental note to always cart about a cricket bat with him and keep one eye on her at all times.

The surprise had, at least to some degree, brought his rage level down from berserker to merely Hellfire. Aurora might as well have been a fencepost for the amount that he was able to register her as taking part in the events.

"Big man," he remarked, struggling against the girl. "Must feel pretty good to let an ugly bint fight your battles for you, huh?"

Really, sitting there, telling Aurora to let him go, Vulpes looked to Huxley like the worst kind of Slytherin- rich, cowardly, cruel, and unwilling to do things for himself. "When this hot butch mess lets me go I'm gonna knock your teeth through the back of your head, Connor," he promised. "If anyone wanted to screw your haggard-arse family I'm sure you'd have more relatives than the handful of inbred hipsters you've got getting uglier and more pretentious every generation."

My mistake for mentioning my weaknesses to him, he thought angrily.

Finally snapping into reality, he gave a shove as hard as he could to Aurora in an attempt to break free. "Get off, you disgusting pest, I don't want to catch your body lice."

Aurora kept Huxley there for good measure.  Yes, why don't I let you go so you can smash his teeth in.  Idiot. she thought bitterly.

"You know, there are names for scum like you." she said lowly to Huxley.  "Coward, hypocrite, fool.  Those are just a few.  You talk a big game when insulting others families, but when someone shoots one back at you then it's suddenly not okay.  How do you expect to say stuff like that and not be answered with something equally horrendous, hm?" she got closer to his face as she spoke.  Aurora was furious, and while her expression remained blank, her auburn eyes seemed to burn.

"If you so much as breathe an unfriendly word to him again, not hell nor high water will keep me from doing you in." she added darkly and let him go.  Stepping back, she kept a steady eye on Huxley in case he made another move.

Still rather amused by the ridiculousness of the situation, Vulpes prepared another retort. However, the logic kicked in and told him to stop. If he didn't this would get out of hand. So instead he merely rolled his eyes at Huxley's comment that implied cowardice. Ironic that Huxley would call him such when he himself attempted to attack Vulpes in a cowardly fashion. If there was fighting to be had, they could simply have a civilized duel. Not that it mattered, for Vulpes had enough combat training that he was confident he could best Huxley.

Vulpes smirked and raised a hand signifying his agreement with Aurora. Some people really couldn't think, and they always tried to make themselves look good when caught. Finally seeing Aurora let the imbecile go, Vulpes placed his wand lightly in his lap, hand gently wrapped around it.

"Don't call her ugly, or anything else," Vulpes said with a sigh. "And Aurora, don't worry about me. I've fought more impressive foes than this." With a smirk he added: "Though I appreciate your desire to slaughter him." Giving a short laugh Vulpes gestured to the seat. "C'mon Aurora, we were having such a lovely conversation before we were intruded upon. Let's just pretend this whole mess didn't happen," he said calmly to her.

"Just like the classroom."