[LOG] Flashback: Alison & Ora, Tea Near King's Cross

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Where: A tea shop near King's Cross Station, London
When: Sept. 1 (I think?), 2021, fifth year

"Make sure to cause plenty of trouble, you hear?" George commanded, and Alison rolled her eyes and tried to suppress a grin as Freddy nodded and George ruffled his hair, before she was hugged around the middle once more with a quick, "Bye, Mum!" and their son was off, short red hair bobbing through the crowd as he pulled his trunk behind him towards the train.

"You're lucky his mother doesn't mind him getting into trouble," she told George slyly, to which he just grinned and ruffled her hair, as she swatted his hand away and waved to Hermione and Ron, who had just seen Rose and Hugo off as well and were heading towards the exit as the train began to blow off large amounts of steam, signaling that it was getting ready to leave. There was a rush of last-minute goodbyes and the last few students rushed to board the train; then, with a cheerful whistle, the scarlet engine began to pull out of the station, gaining speed as it finally rounded a bend in the tracks and was gone.

"Ora!" she called, spotting her friend with her fair-haired husband not far from them on the platform, turning to head back now that the Hogwarts Express was out of sight. She waved wildly, still not really having the height to be spotted easily, pulling George behind her through the crowd as Ora stopped and turned towards the sound. "Ora, Draco, hello!" At least if Ora didn't see her, she'd see George and stop, hopefully. She hadn't had a chance to catch up with Ora last year before her friend had left King's Cross, but she had been hoping to find her this year, and hoping that she'd have a bit of time as well. "Do you have a bit?"

[OOC: Alison's cut her hair (I'm actually thinking of having her do it sometime in the Snogs RP, later on :D;) and it now looks like this~]

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Ora laughed. "I know, I ought to come back to London more often, don't I? Every time I come back I swear there's something big that's changed since I've been gone." Even with magical travel being what it was, shuttling back and forth between China and Britain had never been that difficult with just one stopover via Portkey, but there was always the issue of finding time. Lately it seemed that the only times Ora managed to make it to Britain were to visit Malfoy Manor during Christmas holidays and to see Scorpius off for school. Both she and Draco were busy people--it was difficult finding a day off from her classes at the Quanzhen School, and since raising their family it seemed that Draco was a bit more reluctant to come back to London for leisure because he visited so often on business.

The crowd at the platform thinned, some parents simply Apparating away after seeing their children off to Hogwarts. Ora nodded as she and Alison walked together, a few steps ahead of their husbands. "Tea sounds wonderful about now."

George and Draco were keeping silent, standing a good polite distance away from each other as they followed their wives, at a loss for what to do. Neither of them wanted to initiate conversation, afraid it would land them in the painful predicament of having to spend time making hours and hours of small talk with each other. Draco was trying catch Ora's gaze, giving her the 'please don't leave me alone with a Weasley' look, but she did a fine job of evading him as she chatted with her old friend.

Thankfully it was Alison who found an excuse for George to take off, which lightened the pressure off Draco quite a bit. Things had never moved entirely to being comfortable for Draco at gatherings with the Potters or the Weasleys. Having barely survived two significant Weasley weddings--one of which was actually a Potter wedding, but had a large Weasley component--Draco was more than happy to put as much distance as social etiquette allowed between the Malfoys and anyone who was a Weasley or Potter. He heaved a nearly audible sigh as George left, nodding a goodbye as he sped off from the group quickly.

"Nice seeing you again, George," Ora waved as he left and then turned to Draco expectantly.

Ora gave her husband a 'do you want to do that too?' look, to which Draco replied smoothly to his wife and her best friend, "I have a lunch meeting to attend at the Ministry, so I'll be heading off."

It was not precisely a lie and not precisely the truth either, but simply that Draco was taking advantage of the fact that the British representatives to the International Confederation of Wizards never wanted to miss a lunch with the famous Mr. Malfoy, Ambassador to the Chinese Ministry of Magic when he was in town.

"Oh," Ora said brightly, "well, I'll see you back at the Manor later in the afternoon then?"

Draco nodded. He shook Alison's hand and gave her a small, polite hug. "Take care, Alison," he said simply before heading off in the direction of the Ministry, trying not to look too relieved.

Ora smiled as she watched her husband head off, noting in his step that he was hurrying away without trying to appear so.

"Well, now that we can talk freely, how's everything at home? How's Freddy? Has George been subtly hinting about more kids yet?" Ora grinned. "You know that marrying into the Weasley family practically means that you need at least another kid."

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Alison returned the hug, thinking that a very, very long time ago she wouldn't be at all thrilled to exchange pleasantries with Draco Malfoy. She could still remember her first few years at Hogwarts, and how she hadn't really liked him all that much. But it'd been a bit difficult to continue disliking him with Ora as a best friend, until finally she'd come to realize that Draco wasn't as bad as everyone else made him out to be. Pressured, yes, but inherently evil, no. He'd actually become a relatively good friend, though that might have been because Ora was always there to balance things out. She watched as he headed off down the street, and grinned over at Ora as soon as he was gone, her friend already launching into questions.

"Everything's fine," she laughed, as they turned the corner in the opposite direction that George had, continuing down towards the next block, where there were a few cafes from which they could choose. "It's actually a bit nice, now that Freddy's in school and I don't feel so guilty staying late at practices." Even though she was mostly coaching now, it wasn't as though she could leave any earlier than her players, and she still filled in occasionally when someone wasn't able to make a practice.

They crossed the street, and Alison pointed to a cafe a few shops down that she'd been to a number of times before; Ora nodded and they began to make their way over as she answered Ora's other question, still grinning. "George doesn't hint at anything subtly, you know, and he's definitely been hinting. It's just, with Freddy home all summer, I managed to mostly stave him off, but I'm a bit afraid of the next few days." Not that she really was - she honestly wouldn't mind more children. Much though she missed it, she wasn't going to go back to being a full-time Beater, and with the chances of getting hit with a Bludger nearly zero, the chances of more children became... well, much, much higher. "Though I imagine Freddy'll miss being the baby of the family."

The bell over the door tinkled softly as the two women entered the cafe; they were seated near the window and given menus, and as Alison looked it over, she paused to peer at Ora over the top of hers. "And how are things with you? You two seem pretty well, you're not too busy to get a bit of relaxation in?"

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

Ora laughed as Alison mentioned George's not-so-subtle ways. It certainly fit with what she knew the twins had once been famous for. She was glad that Draco wasn't pressuring her for more children, though she quickly realized that he might start once he realized that the chances of the Malfoy name being carried on through their son were beginning to look slim.

"I'm sure Freddy will enjoy having a little brother or sister."

Ora glanced over the menu, flipping through the pages and trying to decide what she was in the mood for.

"Well, things are certainly busy with teaching classes," Ora admitted, a wry grin on her face. "Summer holidays are only a month long in China. But I can't tell you how much easier things are since Scorpius has left home for school, though I did have some trouble getting used to the house being so empty."

Ora put down her menu and leaned a bit closer across the table. "One of the perks of having an empty, quiet house is that Draco gets a bit more adventurous."

Ora winked as she settled back down and flipped another page in the menu, still trying to decide. "How's Freddy getting along in Gryffindor these days? I keep asking Scorpius to look after him if he gets in trouble, but you know how Scorpius can be. He starts reading a book and the next thing he knows he's missed both lunch and dinner."

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Alison nodded. "First you have to get used to having children around, and just about the time you've got it down, they're ready to go to boarding school and you have to get used to the empty house all over again." She supposed the simple way to get over that one was to have more children, but taking a break in between certainly never hurt anyone. "Sounds like they keep you busy at your school though - I suppose I know how you feel, the off-season is just as busy as the regular season sometimes."

Choosing what she wanted, she set the menu aside and grinned over at Ora, laughing a bit. "Oh, adventurous, hm?" That must keep you busy as well, then." She sighed, leaning back in her chair, still smiling. "Freddy seems reasonably all right at not getting caught at whatever trouble he's getting himself into, so I'm not too worried. It's Hugo I'm worried about - he seems a little less good at sneaking about." She shrugged. "It's all right - I do know how Scorpius gets. Ah, to have a quiet child..." She glanced up at the ceiling, though she wouldn't really change Freddy for the world. "I'm sure Scorpius is doing all right?" she asked, looking back to her friend. "I'm sure he stays out of trouble and in the library studying quite a bit more than my son does."

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"Scorpius does get top marks," Ora said, with a hint of pride for her son. "So at least I won't be worried about his O.W.L.s." Settling on a small lunch and a selection tea, Ora closed her menu. "He's fifteen you know, that age when he's realized he's romantically interested in someone." Ora chose her words carefully, trying to keep them neutral. "And you know his type, he's so serious. I just know that if he gets rejected he'll be so hurt."

The waitress came by, taking their orders and their menus. Ora and Alison smiled and thanked her and returned to their conversation.

"You know what worries me most," said Ora with a resigned sigh, "Scorpius doesn't have that many friends in Slytherin. He's not the type to have a group of friends like you and I did when we were in school. I think the only person he can really talk to if he needs it is little Albus Potter and..." Ora trailed off for a moment. It wasn't her job to out her son to her best friend, at least not until he had decided what he really wanted and acted on it. Ora shook her head.

"I just wish he had more friends, you know. Your Freddy is lucky, he's got all his cousins at school looking out for him."

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Alison grinned and nodded, remembering their own fifth year and the scramble to do well on their O.W.L.s. She was sure Scorpius would do well, given his studious nature, and didn't blame Ora in the least for being proud.

The waitress appeared and took their orders while Alison thought over that next bit. She did suppose fifth year was about that time when romantic interests suddenly seemed to come to the forefront, if they hadn't already. She nodded again as the waitress took their menus, leaning a bit closer to Ora. "He's a nice boy, though - I mean, as long as whoever he likes isn't daft, I'm sure he won't be rejected." Though she supposed logic didn't exactly always pertain to these matters, given past experiences.

"Hm... well, I suppose Slytherin was always a bit strange like that - it can be hard to make friends. We were lucky we did have such a good group of friends," she remarked, remembering their odd little group of friends, which had spanned all four houses. "Albus is a good boy, though." She rather liked her nephew; he was a little excitable at times, but he always thought things through and tried to make the right choice whenever faced with a problem. He was loyal, too, from what she understood. "They're really good friends, aren't they? Ginny says he considers Scorpius his best friend, so I'm sure he'd be willing to listen if Scorpius ever needed it."

She sighed a bit, offering a wan smile. "Freddy needs his cousins looking out for him," she said wryly. "Elsewise I think he'd be in detetion a lot more than he is, now. He's incorrigible."

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"Mm, I'm not so sure," Ora said with a worried frown, not quite elaborating why someone might reject Scorpius's advances, aside from his obvious withdrawn nature.

Ora nodded and smiled, her eyes growing distant as she remembered the days when she'd studied at Hogwarts. "We were quite unorthodox then, having close friends from different houses. Though I hear that's more common these days." From what Scorpius had told her about the school, the student body had been gradually growing more closely knit since the war against Voldemort some twenty-odd years ago. Houses seemed less competitive and more friendly, and Slytherin was slowly beginning to lose its reputation as a dark, pure-blooded house, for which Ora was glad, having found herself back in her days as a very atypical Slytherin girl.

"I've met Albus a few times, mostly at the station. He seems to be one of those very sweet and outspoken boys. Not quite the type I'd expect Scorpius to get along so well with," said Ora with a laugh, remembering how surprised she'd been when she'd read the first letter he'd ever sent his first year, proudly declaring that he'd already made a friend, and his name was Albus Potter and he'd been Sorted into Slytherin too. She'd showed it to Draco during dinnertime, who had choked upon reading it.

"Well, better one Freddy than two, right?" Ora grinned, remembering Fred and George's spectacular exit from the school during their fifth year. Had it really been that long ago? "I suppose now you know a bit of what it's like to be Molly Weasley," said Ora wryly. "Well, if Freddy ever needs help in his studies, tell him he can go see Scorpius."

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"He'll find someone. Hopefully it's the person he has in mind." She understood all about chasing people around - it had taken her a year, at least, to even get the eye of Fred and George, and then another before they'd become good enough friends that she'd gotten up the courage to ask them out. That all seemed so long ago now, but she still remembered her nervousness very vividly. It had been extremely important at the time, and she didn't doubt that Scorpius felt the same way now. She was a bit glad that (hopefully) Freddy wouldn't start thinking that way for another year or two, at least.

"We were pretty odd," Alison admitted, though she supposed they'd been good for Slytherin house, in a way. She and Ora had helped prove that the entire house hadn't been made up of Voldemort supporters. One didn't have to have an affinity for the Dark Arts to be sorted into Slytherin, after all. It had just seemed that way for a very long time. "It's good that's more common, now - I think we tended to take the house rivalry a bit too far, sometimes..." She could remember more than one occasion when that had been the case, in fact, and it was something of a relief to know that the rivalry had turned a bit friendlier, after the war.

"I do suppose it was a bit of a surprise, that Albus and Scorpius became such good friends." Alison could remember hearing the news from George, who'd heard from Ginny not long after Albus had left for Hogwarts his first year, and it had certainly been unexpected, but not unwelcome. "But it sounds like it's been good for them both; I'm amazed Scorpius puts up with Albus, I don't think I've ever seen Albus sit still." Albus and Freddy were usually nowhere to be found at family dinners, often out in the backyard playing Quidditch with James or digging up something or other than had been meant to stay in the ground.

"And one Freddy is definitely better than two. If I ever have twins, they'd better be girls," Alison laughed. "Well-behaved girls. I don't know how Molly survived six boys, especially with two of them being such troublemakers. I think if I had six boys I'd throw in the towel then and there." She grinned over at her friend as their waitress returned with their meals and drinks. "So will you be in London long, or are you two heading right back to China?" she asked, picking up her fork.

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"I think Albus just what Scorpius needs, to be honest," Ora said, pausing for a moment when she realized the other meaning of what she'd just said. "I mean, I'm sure that if Albus wasn't friends with Scorpius, he'd never leave the library for meals. I wonder would Harry or Ginny would say if I invited Albus to spend some time with Scorpius in China over the summer."

Ora laughed, "I think if I had six boys, even if they were all like Scorpius, I'd throw some of them out." Ora folded her napkin over her lap and scooted closer to the table to pick up her sandwich.

"I think we're going to stay a couple more days," Ora said, taking a sip from her tea. "Narcissa and Lucius certainly wouldn't mind having us for a bit longer at the Manor. Why, did you have plans?"

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

Alison nodded. "They do seem good for each other. I don't suppose either one of them would really object - Harry's still a bit distant on the subject of Malfoys, but there's no reason he'd forbid anything like that. I could put in a good word if you think he'd need it." After all, she, George, and Freddy had been to China on holiday before, and they'd lived to tell the tale. Freddy had rather enjoyed himself, even though he was a number of years younger than Scorpius and not exactly the bookworm type.

Alison laughed with her friend and nodded. "Six boys is enough to kill anyone, I think. George is not getting six boys, and that's that." She grinned, taking a bite of her pasta and chewing slowly. "The Weasley family is quite large enough with me having fewer children than that."

She nodded upon hearing that Ora would be in town for a few more days, glad that she might get the chance to see her friend for a while longer. "Nothing in particular, but I don't get to see you nearly often enough. I can hand practice over to Ackley for a few days. We ought to go find ourselves some trouble to get into." Though she supposed their definition of trouble was rather different than it had used to be, there were still plenty of minor adventures to be had, here and there.


[OOC: BTW, Alby says he likes that idea of going to China, they've probably got a nice big house and won't be able to hear the banging. XD;]

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"Hmm," Ora thought about that for a moment. She'd never been terribly close with Potter, in fact the only reason she'd been invited into the DA at all their fifth year was that Fred and George had told Alison, and Alison had dragged her along. It had turned out all the better in the end of course, because she did sympathize with Potter's point of view if not the man himself. "If he says 'no' then I might ask for an intervention. Thanks, I'd really appreciate that."

Ora grinned. "I can't imagine what Weasley reunions will be like a few years from now. I'm still amazed you all manage to fit at the Burrow for family dinners during the holidays."

Ora put her teacup down, thinking. She broke slowly into a smile. "I think Draco can manage on his own for a bit." Surely there were still adventures to be had, even at their age. "I really do miss the sounds of trouble."

[OOC: D: Uh, where is this log going? XD I figure we can end it on the 'trouble' note with one more post? Cause I have no idea what sorts of shenanigans two 40 year old witches can kick up in two days. Now that I think about it, quite a lot actually, but I can't think of anything specific. D: *is lame*

And yaaay! Alby in China! Yes, Ora's old ancestral home is carved into the side of a mountain, very dark and maze-like (but certain rooms are totally warm and cozy) and they will have so much fun! ~<3]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

"Sure - I really think he'll be reasonable about it, but if he's not, he won't be able to keep it up against Ginny and me." Alison took another bite before nodding decisively.

"It really does just get more crowded every year," she said, thinking of the Burrow. "That house must have as much magic in it as the Hogwarts Castle does, or else it'd have burst apart at the seams a long time ago." Alison had never ceased to be amazed at how the Burrow still held the entirety of the Weasley family and its many environs, with everyone still having room to sit around the dinner table. "Though I guess someplace like that probably is a bit lonely when it's empty. It's good Molly likes having everyone over, I don't think we'd fit anywhere else."

Alison grinned over at Ora as her friend agreed that trouble was indeed something they both missed. They'd certainly spent most of their lives getting into it, and some habits just never died. "Excellent. I'm sure we can find something to keep ourselves amused, before you head back and I don't get to see you until the boys come home for the holidays. We'll make sure to make it something good, so you'll have something to tell your students about when you get back."


[OOC: Uh. Eheh. I suppose I'm not really sure what kind of trouble we'd get into either, specifically, so I guess we should leave that unsaid. XD But I'm sure it'll be awesome, whatever it is? :D; Ending hereabouts sounds good, though, now that we've gotten to gossip a bit? I can't think of anything else major we can snicker about, anyway. :D;

Heeee~ Yes, Alby would like that very much. Except I can just see him trying to pronounce Chinese and failing left and right. XD; Though it would be so cute if he asked Scorp to teach him some, because I can see him totally asking that~]

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[OOC: I propose that we say later on that we went to visit the Muggle parts of New York City and bummed around. D: Cause nothing says "we're not in London anymore" like Times Square. XD

Awwww, I can see Alby trying to speak Chinese. D: It fills me with squee because it would be too cute!

So, you wanna start fifth year with Alby and Scorp? XD Did you have something in mind, cause I have NO IDEA. @_@]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: XD That sounds like a wonderful plan~ We can go catch a match of whatever that atrocity is that Americans play instead of Quidditch, too! :D

XD It will be, because I think he'll suck at it~ But he'll really want to learn.

Yes! Well there's still that brilliant plan with Alby waking up in the middle of the night and trying to disguise the fact that he's incredibly turned on? XD And then he'll try to run away into the bathroom and much hilarity will ensue?]

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[OOC: Don't Americans play Quidditch too? XD Given that there is a World Cup and all. Maybe they're just no good at it the same way that we SUCK at soccer, I mean, football. XD

I know we had plans for more Scorp/Alby pre-hooking-up awkwardness too, but I seriously can't remember at all. D: OMG, what are we going to do? *wail* Did you want to kick off with Scorp and Alby being a bit awkward on the train together with Alex and Joe going, "WTF" first? :D]

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[OOC: They do, but it's not their sport of choice, there's some other sport they seem to like better. XD; But there are at least two American Quidditch teams, to keep us in the league!

Yeah, there must've been more. D: But yes, having them be all awkward on the train works - maybe we could do a log with a couple of scenes, like on the train, and then at the dorms, and a couple of things like that, with Alex and Joe totally getting suspicious?]

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[OOC: I would imagine that any popular American wizarding sports would probably have some relation to baseball, given its long history here in the States.

I like the train awkwardness idea! :D And Alex and Joe totally thinking that they're all awkward cause they must've had a huge fight over the summer or at the end of the year or something like that. And then one day they'll talk to Zach about it and Zach will be all preceptive and say, "I think they like each other but are too afraid to ruin their friendship" and then Joe and Alex will be FLOORED. Then they'll start a complex betting pool for who talks first to who, and whether it'll work out or explode disastrously. XD]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC It was... more like hot potato or something. It was pretty lame. XD;

Ahahaha. Yes, that's brilliant. XD I like it. (Zach is spending too much time with that girlfriend of his, ahaha~) And then Scorp and Alby wonder what's wrong with all their friends and why they keep watching them so closely. XD And maybe Alby will start to say or do things, every once in a while, but fail miserably and get awkward again.]

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[OOC: Was it? D: I don't remember Rowling mentioning it anywhere, 'course, I never read "Quidditch Through the Ages" so that might be why. XD Hot potato is pretty lame. :/

Zach is totally one of those introverted guys who totally finds a girlfriend and then spends every. waking. moment. with her. ¬_¬ Oh well, at least he's a nice guy. XD Yes, it will be so funny when Scorp and Alby realize that Alex and Joe are practically tailing them everywhere. (Cause hey, 20 galleons is a lot of money!) Awww, poor Alby will start to say something and then go all silent. D: And then Scorp will totally ignore his mum's advice (is there anybody ever who actually does take their mum's advice?) and not tell Alby because he's so scared that if he weirds out Alby he won't have friends anymore. XD]

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[OOC: Ah, yeah, I have the Quidditch through the Ages book. I totally forget the name of the American game, but it is SO lame. I'll send you the description later, you can laugh with me. XD

Ahaha, Zach~ Yeah, I can totally see that. At least he is nice, though, and I'm sure Alby and Scorp will appreciate that. ^^; And yes, they should totally wonder about Joe and Alex following them - maybe it'll at least give them something to talk about, for a while, before things get awkward again? But yeah, I can see Alby trying to say something, then getting scared and stopping. Aww, I think they're both afraid of weirding the other out at this point, poor boys. D:]

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[OOC: I think that may be generally reflective of the British thinking we are totally lame. It's okay, at least we both think the Canadians are lame.

Hmm, I wonder if Scorp would try to pull Alby aside ever and say, "Yeah, so that kiss last year, don't worry, it mean anything," or something like that. ¬_¬ Or I wonder if he would just shove it under the rug and pretend it never happened. D: That would be so totally extra awkward cause Alby will be trying to tell Scorp he likes him and Scorp will be like D< "it didn't mean anything!" because he's too afraid to tell Alby what he really feels. D: oh, it's high school all over again. XD]

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[OOC: Haha, yeah, that could be it. We're not lame! Really!

Awww <3 That could add to the angst, though, if he did that. XD Definitely extra awkwardness, there~ Alby would be kind of "D: ..." for a while, and try to ignore his feelings AGAIN. And I'm sure there are other awkward situations we can put them in if we think about it~ >D I wonder if we should do something with Hawk, he might notice something as well...]

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[OOC: I think the Brits are just jealous we whooped their asses in the Revolutionary War. :/

I like the idea of adding to the angst if Alby tries to bring up the possibility of going back to the Chamber of Snogs or tries to talk about the kiss or something. XD ~<3 We are so wonderfully sadistic. :D

I'm wondering how promiscuous Hawk is. As in, does he hit on other guys in public? Has he had a scandalous relationship with anybody in school and that kind of thing, because I think at some point in time if it's really bugging Scorp he might try to pull Hawk aside (or one of his ex-boyfriends) and ask him a few things. XD]

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[OOC: Ahaha. That must be it. Have you ever seen the Declaration of Revocation? It's hilarious.

XD Hey, we just want to write good stories, right? And yeah, I think Alby is more the type to want to try to talk about things, so after he can't keep quiet any longer he'll try to bring it up, and then Scorp can insist it didn't mean anything and yay, angst~

Hm. I think he's pretty much your average teenage boy, in terms of number and types of romantic relationships, he's just... openly gay. He probably hits on people mostly out of humor, though if he thought someone was going to accept his advances, I don't imagine he'd mind. He's probably had a relationship or two, though - the whole rest of Hogwarts can't be straight, right? >>]

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[OOC: Haha, I just read it on your cue. It's pretty hilarious. XD

Yay, angst~! :D

As a school of only supposedly ~300 kids (if we assume 40 kids per year), I really can't imagine there'd be that many kids who are gay, or at least open about it. D: Assuming that maybe 5% of any population is homosexual (this is probably a rather large estimate), that boils down to about 15 kids, spread over about the seven years. Not great numbers. If we can assume that an addition 5% are willing to be experimental, we get something slightly more workable. D:

Anyways, all of the previous paragraph may be moot because Rowling's grasp of population dynamics is pretty bad. I think she's claimed in interviews before that the wizarding population in Britain is about 3,000 people. Even if only 90% of them went to Hogwarts, ~300 kids in school at any one time is a bit for a population of that size to be sustainable. I think it ought to be something more around 15% of the population being school age. D: Anyhooosss...

Either way, if Hawk's had two relationships with other boys (I assume from various years, since having all the gay boys in fifth year is maybe a bit too much with the asses and the u's and the me's)...I don't think that gives Scorp and Alby much to work with when it comes to asking people for advice. D: I have the feeling that Hawk's turned down a lot of girls asking him on the pretext of being gay, but you're right, he's probably not terribly promiscuous because there really aren't all that many people to be promiscuous with. So him having one or two in the past sounds about decent. Do you think he's in a relationship right now? XD

I think the thing that Scorp would ask him is if he asks someone out before he knows whether or not they're interested, and what he does if someone expresses disinterest because of the gender/gayness issue.

...and this was really longer than it needed to be, I think. D: Sorry.]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Isn't it though~ XD

You really are probably right - while the WHOLE of the school is not likely straight, I don't see there being a large gay contingent, based on what seems like a reasonable number of students. (I suppose not everyone goes to Hogwarts, maybe, or something like that, but that is still a lot of math that seems to be getting dropped, somewhere in there. ^^;) Even adding in people willing to experiment doesn't gain us a lot, but at least that gives us a little bit more to work with.

I was definitely thinking one or two past relationships for Hawk sounds good, and probably both of those would be with boys in different years (probably older?). So that doesn't give our boys a lot of people to turn to for advice, but that's probably pretty realistic (and adds to the angst!). I'm guessing Hawk's probably not in a relationship at the moment, but I wouldn't be terribly opposed to putting him in one, if that would suit our purposes better. (I also can kind of see Alby... watching him, almost, to see if he acts different, somehow, to make sure that people can't just look at him and realize he's gay or something. Oh, Alby. XD;;)

That does seem like at least a safe way for Scorp to ask Hawk about things, though, so that sounds good to me~ I think Hawk is really pretty laid back - he'd be obviously disappointed if someone wasn't interested, but he wouldn't exactly have the added problem of his crush being his best friend that poor Scorp does. :D; ]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: I like the idea that Hawk has been dating older guys. I mean, when you're just a turning a fifth year, the likelihood of you dating younger guys when you're in say...third or fourth year is really not very high. XD

Whether or not Hawk is single is up to you, but he better not be having any designs on Albus or Scorp will have no compunctions about kicking his ass if he gets too close. >:E Hahaha, that will be so cute if Alby watches Hawk for a bit to make sure he doesn't act too gay. XD *laughs*]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yeah, I can't really see him dating anyone younger, so older just seems to make sense. :D;

I think single's probably better at the moment, maybe his previous boyfriend just graduated or something... Somehow Hawk just comes off as single in my head. XD; He might crack a joke or something if he realizes Scorp likes Alby, but I don't think he'd do anything - he is a decent guy~ (Hahaha, though if Scorp got jealous, that would be cute.) Alby is totally going to try to gauge if people will be able to tell. XD He feels suddenly exposed or something, even though he's not really acting differently except for being awkward around Scorp.]

[of-gunmetalgrey.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Oh, I like that idea that Hawk's previous boyfriend just graduated. Awww, now he's single and alone. It would be totally cute if Scorp started getting all jealous and protective if Hawk made jokes at hitting on Albus or something. :3 Oh Scorp. ~<3

So yeah, I can start the "sittin' on the train" log? from where Scorp hugs his Mum and Dad and runs off? X3 I'll try to get to that before I have to go to my TA review session! Teaching undergrads! Whee!]

[n3xt-in-line.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Yes~ That works for me. XD That'd be so cute~ Hawk would definitely tease him (relatively nicely) once he figured it out. XD

Sure, sounds good! :D Don't traumatize your students too badly! XD <3]