morning glory

‘‘Ah, you were one of them too.’‘ Gwen raised her eyebrows. She had heard about the Belby party. She had also heard about how terrible it had ended for a lot of people. Gwen had safely evaded it. ‘‘I don’t know who did it, but I would love to know what you did to potentially fuck with my Quidditch practice?’‘

          “Yeah. Well, I couldn’t really... help it.” He might have had a good time at the party, just not a great time after the party. “So, um. I maybe... did something awful. And it just... it’s going to make things awkward for a while. And I didn’t really... mean to, but it happened. So... um, sorry if stuff’s kind of weird for a while.” 

‘‘Are you really trying to say that I spiked all those drinks? Just cause I called that idiot a liar and tried assaulting him before the feast does not mean that I’m capable of such a thing.’‘

          “I’m not saying you spiked them, but if you know who did... I have some strong words because I really... I feel like I need to be invisible for a bit.” His night hadn’t been the best. “If quidditch practice is kind of awkward, I’m sorry.” 

Caelan knew he didn’t mean to say that Amos doing something dumb was surprising, but there wasn’t much he had to say. He wanted to disagree with Amos because everyone preferred Lachlan. Lachlan was everything Caelan was not, nobody ever failed to remind him of that. However, he was forced to believe what the other Puff was saying due to the dumb truth serum. It made him happy, but that happiness quickly diminished. “I just….there are so many things I want to ask, but I don’t know how. Was Lachlan drunk too?” Caelan didn’t want to accuse Lachlan of anything, but he could feel his anger and confusion quickly direct itself towards his brother. “In the nicest way possible, shut the hell up.” He said with a calm yet tense tone, he wanted to keep his feelings private but the serum was in full force. “What’s stupid is you thinking it isn’t going to mean anythin’. That’s loads of things to like about you Amos, I could go on for fuckin’ days. You deserve love and happiness more than anyone in this stupid school.” he sighed, “And, I like you too, it scares me how much I like you. I don’t think I’m ready to actually date just yet either, Amos.” 

          It sucked that Amos didn’t have common sense. If so, this conversation wouldn’t have happened. He’d have not brought this up at all, just left it alone. The boy let out a sigh. Amos never preferred Lachlan; he’d always felt more comfortable with Caelan. “Please don’t... please don’t ask I just...” he awkwardly started, “I didn’t ask. It... it was... um... it just happened.” The Hufflepuff could not figure out what to say to make any of this better. Everything that came out of his mouth was awkward enough as is. He wanted to stop talking, but the truth serum wasn’t helping either. He wanted to cry. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. “Caelan,” he whined, clinging to his friend. “I meant like... I don’t mean like... I don’t know what I mean.” Amos couldn’t help it, and a tear fell down his cheek. “Is it... um, sorry. I don’t know what... to do now. Or maybe... just... sorry.” Maybe it was the truth serum or the alcohol, but he leaned over and kissed Caelan. Amos broke the kiss after a moment. “Maybe we don’t, um, have to be anything yet. Just maybe something. Or a start of something. I...” He wasn’t sure he could handle that. He stood up and started pacing. 

“You’re absolutely coming with me. I don’t know hardly enough about magical creatures to confront the man, I’d need you.” Perhaps it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to visit the library one day and look further into the classification of magical creatures. “Oh, I hope a werewolf isn’t making you cookies, Amos.” the corners of her lips turned up at the idea, however. “But if communication means you’re sentient enough to not be considered a creature, where would you draw that line? Not at werewolves, not at pixies, but at bats? What’s in between bats and pixies?” Andromeda shook her head, “No, I don’t think I’m bothersome either. They certainly will.”

          “Good because I wouldn’t want to be left behind for something like that.” It wasn’t as if Amos even liked Newt. There were plenty of things he didn’t exactly like at all about how they learned about magical creatures. “You never know. It’s not like werewolves are different than us except like every so often.” Maybe his opinion on it was different than a lot of people’s though. “I don’t know. That’s a whole philosophy about morals and it’s too late to discuss those, but I can another day when I’ve had time to think.” He smiled. “I suppose we should just enjoy the feast, yeah? It’s not like I have much more time here at Hogwarts.” This was his last Halloween feast after all. “I’ll talk to you later and if you have creature questions, you can ask me. I’ll do my best to answer them.” 

“Well that’s no shocker.” Caelan teased Amos. Amos was the first friend Caelan had made at Hogwarts, he liked to think he knew the boy well. When Amos cuddled up to him, the Scot smiled and leaned against him. The Puff seemed to tense up at Amos’ words. Part of him wanted to think he was joking, but he knew they both had the truth serum.  “I knew you preferred Lachlan…..” he whispered before registering the rest of the sentence. “What? How do you accidentally sleep with someone? Did he get you drunk or something? You’ve been our friend since first year, how can you not tell us ap-” he stopped, “Wait…you want to sleep with me?”

          He wanted to be offended by the thought of Caelan saying it wasn’t surprising he did something dumb, but Amos knew that he didn’t have the most common sense. The conversation was awkward already and he knew he wasn’t making it any easier. “Stop it,” he muttered, a blush spreading across his cheeks. “I do not prefer Lachlan,” Amos huffed. There was no competition between the two of them—hands down, every time, Amos would choose Caelan. “I can tell you two apart. Even when Lachlan is pretending to be you. But I was drunk and... I didn’t ask and I thought you were bringing me a drink, but it turned out to be Lachlan.” He couldn’t help nervously rambling. The truth serum compelled him to answer Caelan’s last question honestly. “Yes, I do, but I don’t want to ruin our friendship. And I’m afraid if we do it isn’t going to mean anything because I like you. This is all stupid though because I’m too much of a fool for anyone to like. I should just go back to my plants and animals and stop trying in the romance department because honestly, why would anyone want to date me? I’ll just... Oak can be my soulmate until he dies and I’m left alone on the planet except for my mum who I have to take care of in her old age because she’s my mum and I’m an only child.” 

Orion decided against answering the first question. “Nobody is perfect, mistakes are bound to happen.” The Claw rested hos palm against his cheek. “Amos, I have some terrible news,” he smirked, “humans are animals.”

          “Yeah, I know. I just... keep making really big avoidable ones.” He let out a huff and nervously shifted in his seat. “Yes, but I don’t have to talk about my feelings with the nifflers. All I have to do is take care of them and give them love.” What he really wanted to do was restart this whole year without all the issues. No disappearing Hufflepuffs, no forgetting to ask what twin he was talking to, no bad grades on his school work. 

Orion looked at the boy who stepped into his room. Orion figured someone let Amos in and pulled up a chair for his friend to sit. “Hey Amos, what’s up?” 

@amdiggory​

          “Why am I stupid?” he asked, sitting down on the chair Orion put out for him. “I feel like I try so much to be smart, but I make the dumbest mistakes.” The Hufflepuff let out a sigh. “Why aren’t people as simple as animals?” He leaned back on the chair. 

“Yes, I’ll just go visit Newt Scamander next time I have a moment to ask him about his unusual classifications.” Andie teased, “Besides, he came up with the whole registration system for mostly human creatures, didn’t he? It’s an awfully kept system. Could be a vampire up there,” she pointed at the ceiling containing the bats he had referenced, “or a werewolf at the Ravenclaw table, for all we know. I’ll have to mention that to him too.” Amos was going on, which in turn encouraged her tendency to ramble on when excited. She laughed, “So should bats also belong in that same classification? Since they can echola- er, talk, like Pixies and werewolves and humans can?” Her eyes widened at the suggestion that she go talk to the band, “Oh, no, I don’t know about that. You’re right, it’s probably rude. They wouldn’t want to deal with a bothersome witch.”

          “Bring me with you when you do. I have words.” He didn’t like the way the government handled some of the magical creatures, but he couldn’t exactly argue with it as one person. Plus that didn’t seem to be the main thing on most people’s minds these days. “Right? I just feel awful. Just because sometimes a vampire is dangerous doesn’t mean they should be less human than you or I. We’re just as likely to make a mess of things. Maybe the old lady next door that makes me cookies back home is really a werewolf and she’s nice.” Amos frowned. “I don’t think so. Bats would be found in the muggle world too. And I think all animals have some way of communicating.” The Hufflepuff wondered though if there were still undiscovered species out there. “I don’t think you’re bothersome. I guess that maybe they might not appreciate the question though. Clearly their passion is music.” 

Ever since the Kenny situation, Caelan had been avoiding Hufflepuff as much as he could. He knew it would only make him more suspicious, but the boy couldn’t stand hypocrites. When he entered the common room, the Scot rushed to his room and wanted to just lay down. Once her entered, his eyes rested on one of his only friends in the house. A smile grew on his face before sitting on the side of the bed. “Everything okay?”

Honestly everything had been too tense lately for Amos to really notice that his best friend hadn't been sleeping in Hufflepuff. And here wasn't really complaining with his recent dumb move, seeing Caelan was uncomfortable. Amos cuddled up close to Caelan. "No, I did something stupid." He knew this conversation wasn't going to go well and with the truth serum, he couldn't lie. "I, um, slept with Lachlan. It was on accident. I mean, kind of. I thought... he was you."

“Hmm. It’s odd, they should- Who get to decide what is what?” While the idea of pixies and werewolves belonging in the same classification didn’t make any sense to Andie, but she agreed with his sentiment. “You’ve tried to talk to pixies.” It was more a statement then a question; Amos was a constantly surprising person. “I’ve heard centaurs are very in touch with the future. I’d love to talk to one about all that, but…” But she wouldn’t dare actually go near a centaur.

          “A lot of things are odd, but you’ll have to talk to Newt Scamander about the classification system. He’s the one that made it up. In my opinion, pixies are intelligent. They talk to each other and can play complex pranks on us wizards.” Amos was really on a roll now and it was difficult to get him to stop talking about animals once he started. “Like the bats!” He looked up. “They use echolocation and I think that’s so cool.” He tried to talk to all sorts of animals, that didn’t mean it always went in his favor. “Yeah, it didn’t go very well. Pixies have more fun trying to play pranks than having a conversation with me. But I blame that on them being caged before trying to talk to me than anything else.” The Hufflepuff bit his lip. “Maybe you can go ask one of the band members later? I’ve never actually talked to a centaur. Although maybe it’s rude to ask. Like asking someone personal information. Best to just wonder about that, I suppose.” 

          The second Amos got back to the common room, he grabbed his pillow and blankets from his own bed and tossed them on Caelan’s bed. He made a blanket cocoon and curled up with his pillow. Eventually the two of them needed to talk. He probably should have had a conversation with Caelan earlier, but it hadn’t happened. And the longer Amos waited to have a conversation with his friend, the more awkward it got. The Hufflepuff couldn’t avoid it anymore. Each time the door opened, he looked to see if it was his friend or one of their roommates. 

“Odd. They’re mostly human, anyway.” She nodded - it wouldn’t seem like centaurs would particularly like the title of ‘creature’. Andie recalled her mother telling her stories about centaurs as a child. The stories never painted them in a positive light, and this was her first time actually seeing centaurs in person. She couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated, even if they were all the way over there. “Is it true they’re ridiculously good at divination?”

          “Werewolves are also considered beings and they’re mostly human, except one night. I hardly think it’s fair to call any sentient being a creature. Like pixies are actually intelligent. Unfortunately, all attempts have conversations with pixies have not really gone in my favor. I’m optimistic that one day I’ll find a way to talk to them.” Andie’s curiosity was nice in comparison to people who just made fun of him for his love of creatures. “I’ve never really met a centaur. Your guess is as good as mine.” 

“I’m not sure if they count as magical creatures, so I sincerely apologize if this is rude.” Andromeda found the one person she knew she could trust with a question as silly as this, particularly since she was certain it fell in the realm of Magical Creatures, “Why is the centaur band playing here? I though centaurs didn’t particularly like wizardkind?” 

@amdiggory​

          “They do, but if you ask me they shouldn’t. They’re intelligent beings with brains. Anyway...” He was pretty sure that the centaurs would agree with him. Amos thought that about a lot of the intelligent creatures as well, but he couldn’t exactly change anyone’s mind. “Don’t ask me why they’re playing though, but someone probably reasoned with them. They’re intelligent after all.” One centaur was probably smarter than Amos would ever be. 

Lachlan put down his empty cup, taking the one handed to him without protest. He was about to take a drink of it when he was caught off guard by Amos kissing him. “That’s, um. Not the answer I expected.” Seemed like a good time to get that catching up down, so he downed the glass of firewhiskey in one go before kissing Amos again.

          Amos didn’t really know what prompted him to act on his crush because he’d had a crush since pretty much his second year. But he was drunk and that was a good enough excuse if this came back to bite him later. If he was really paying attention, he’d realize that this was a mistake. “Is it?” The Hufflepuff was under the impression that his crush was pretty obvious, though maybe he just thought it was because they were his own emotions. Amos let him down the drink and the kissing continued. He didn’t know how long it went on before he pulled away. “Wanna get out of here?” 

“Maybe it’s better to write to her. Maybe not hearing from you would worry her even more?” Though she couldn’t say for sure. She never reached out to her parents and her parents never seemed to worry about Alecto. She would, however, receive letters time to time from her grandfather when he was alive. And hearing from him always felt good. A smile instantly appeared on her face when he agreed to go for a walk with her. Maybe some fresh air will do him some good! The castle was intense these past couple of days and with Amos missing his mother on top of everything, a walk might do the trick. “And I always have time for you! C’mon,” she wasted no time, looping an arm with his and began leading him down the hallway. When it came to her friends, Alecto would usually put everything on hold for them. Amos was no different. Besides it gave her some sort of purpose when she felt stuck with who she was suppose to be. 

          “Maybe... maybe she’ll just get freaked out if I write her a letter.” Amos didn’t know what to do because he really didn’t want to freak his mother out, but he knew that she probably was worried about him anyway. He struggled with being around a lot of people and Hogwarts was difficult for him sometimes. But this year was better than all the previous years, so he clearly didn’t have that much to worry about; so his mother didn’t need to worry. “Awesome,” he smiled back at Alecto. He followed her out when she linked their arms together, not having much of a choice and not caring. “How have you been?” the Hufflepuff asked.