i love to hate you

Marlene bit down on her lip before taking the bottle. “Well, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t teasing.”

“ i would never,” he smirked and passed over the bottle to her. “ but there, is no fun drinking on your own. “

“Not entirely true. I’ve lived my whole life on the sidelines and I haven’t been bored.” Of course, with friends like hers, boredom seemed an impossible thing to experience. Even doing mundane tasks like homework held a chance of something exciting happening. “Guilty by association I’d say. I just have a tendency to surround myself with them.”

“ you may have to teach me how to go on about that someday.” he smiled and took another sip from his bottle. “are gryffindors known to be the troublemakers of the school ?” he asked “that’s what i keep hearing but don’t know whether to believe or not. “

“It’s called ER. It’s an American series about hospital in like the nineties. I’m not sure anyone else here but me knows about it.”

“ you are right, i’ve never heard of it.” he nodded. “the last show i ever watched was friends, and that was the last time i watched tv. “

She took a swig from the bottle before holding it back out. “So you’re one of those, huh? Wanting to stand out?” Though she wasn’t shy, Mary preferred to stick on the sidelines of her more outgoing friends. “Loss of points and detention…wouldn’t be the first time.”

“ those as in, someone who refuses to blend in ? yeah, I sometimes am. life gets boring otherwise” he leaned to take back the bottle and shrugged. “ so you’d consider yourself a rule breaker ? ” 

“Seriously Mave, how many times have I told you not to call me Jolene? It’s annoying.” She sighed and shook her head before sitting down on the grass. It was starting to get chilly in the Scottish Highlands, but not enough to make her want to stay indoors. “Fine I did get lost, don’t be a prick about it.” Maddie shook her head, finding it not surprising that he’d talk that way about their older brother. “What is with you two always going after him? We can’t blame him for being the way he is, dad made him that way. He made us all this way.”  

Maverick blinked slowly a few times while trying to figure out how to respond to that. “ you know what’s annoying, being the only normal kid in the house. I don’t know what is it with you and Valerius hating your names. they are just names.” he nodded, smiling at having made her accept at least one thing. “ you mean dad and I ? you think I get along with him ? the only reason he’s not after me all the time because I do as I’m told, unlike you. there’s no point in being rebellious or a diva. ”

“Uh, why would me not actually staring be disappointing?” She shook her head slightly, taken aback by the comment. Mary glanced at the bottle in his hand. “I suppose a swig or two won’t hurt.” 

“ because then i would just be another face in the crowd,” he smiled and handed her the bottle. “that’s always the spirit, unless we get caught of course, but that hasn’t happened yet. “

“He wrote to me to tell me to be nice to bloody Romanian girl and her bat. That doesn’t tell me much does it?” Vale knew news of his betrothal were approaching soon, but he didn’t call it by what it was as he hated the word. “Because I haven’t seen her and I haven’t looked for her and you just happen to be here so that makes it easy on me.” He grinned at his brother and snatched his bottle, wasting no time to drink its contents. “Start explaining.” 

“ it tells me that you might be getting betrothed to some girl and her bat.” he rolled his eyes and sighed. “you haven’t been looking but she has, I’m surprised you are not that interested in your favorite sibling and her doings. she got us expelled, father didn’t want her ruining our name more so he shipped us here to be with you, the prodigy. ” 

“Then I must be captivated by you.” She said with a laugh. “Although now that we’ve come to that conclusion… what should we do now?”

“ that’s right.” he teased. “you can help me drink this and then we can come up with something. I get my best ideas under some sort of influence. “

“Well” the blonde said before looking around casually. “Is there anything around here that’s special…”

“ I’d say you but I had already hinted at that” he smirked. “but besides you I think this bottle is also quite special. “

“Oh, it’s Neela. She’s one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite shows.”

“ can’t say I’m familiar. what show would that be ?”

Maddie rolled her eyes, suddenly annoyed at whatever twin connection sixth sense he had. It was always that way; she could lie and pretend and deceive anyone but him. “You are just still mad that I got us expelled, but it was necessary, don’t you get it?” She replied with a slight shrug. “I was trying to find your common room. I belong there, not in Ravenclaw.” 

“ I wonder what made you think that ?” he sighed and leaned against a lamp post. “ really , Jolene, you are not going to find it out here. ” he looked at their surroundings and began to miss the bitter scandanavian autumns. “ you are better off in Ravenclaw because dad was right, Valerius gets more annoying with age. you are lucky you don’t have to deal with him all the time. ”

“i heard it was rude not to stare.” she quipped. “then again, it’s plenty rude to do a lot of things and people do it anyways.”

Mave thought about it for a moment and nodded. “ people only stare at things that are fascinating, and I am, so I won’t blame you. ”

“Maverick seems to be pretty fitting if I do say so myself.”

“ ok, then I’ll keep it. does your cat have a name ? ” 

“Define special.”

“ why define it when my definition of it changes all. the. time. ”

“As a prefect, I don’t give a fuck. As your brother, I am deeply offended that you didn’t think of sharing.” Vale scoffed, sitting besides him. “Now will you tell what the hell are the two of you doing here?” 

“ didn’t dad write you a letter, or did he forget ?” he smiled at the thought, knowing it would bother his brother. “why don’t you ask Jolene anyway? she knows exactly what happened since it’s her fault. ”

“You know I have no idea what your purpose is.” She mused, sticking her tongue at him. “And lost or not, it’s not a bad idea to explore, did you know about the hidden passages?”

“ charming.” he said and shook his head. “yes, I did know, they mentioned it in the that pamphlet, are you actually going to tell me what you were doing? I’m not as stupid as you think I am. ”