Careless Collisions and Soaked Shirts ((Oscar))

[kael]

One of the young kittens clambered her way up Kael’s arm and onto his shoulder, making him laugh and gently disentangle her from his shirt. Her mother was watching the kittens with a ferocious protectiveness so Kael gently shooed the kitten towards Saturn before rolling his eyes with a quiet chuckle when one of the other four kittens promptly curled up on his lap and went to sleep. “I wish that we didn’t have to sell you,” Kael informed the snoozing kitten wistfully. His parents had been breeding kittens and selling them to the most responsible owners since he and his twin were six so he was used to caring for kittens and watching them leave when they were old enough. Lynne had never quite mastered the ability to not let herself get attached so it was usually him taking care of the kittens during the summer while his sister worked part-time in their parent’s bookshop. He was more detached than his sister, a lot colder and impersonal than his sweet and friendly twin. But he had to be. He always had to watch her back and get her out of trouble; he was the older brother, it was his job. Who would have thought that a few minutes separating them in age would make such a difference?

“Kael.” His mother popped her head around the door and beckoned him out so Kael lifted the kitten out of his lap and set him on the floor with a gentleness that would have surprised most of the people who thought that they knew him. Saturn hissed at him as he passed her and Kael frowned at the cat, crouching to offer her one of the treats that the kittens hadn’t eaten before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. “You have to go out,” his mother informed him urgently. “I don’t mind where you go, but you have to go out. We’re expecting a visitor and I’m sure you’d prefer not to have to sit through a boring tea party and mindless chatter. Lynne is out with one of her friends so if you go to Diagon Alley then you might see her. Go on now, have fun. Maybe you could meet up with your girlfriend? If you do then remember that your father and I want to meet her. She’s the only girlfriend that you haven’t broken up with after a few weeks, and I want to meet her. Mothers need to do these things, you know.” She chattered all the way to the front door, where she pushed him through the door, pressed a bag of money into his hand and then closed it abruptly.

Kael walked through the streets of London aimlessly, unsurprised when he ended up outside the Leaky Cauldron. Where else would he go? Lynne was in the Alley somewhere so he didn’t have her for company and Vic was threatening him with sending one of his novels away to an agent so he was avoiding his friend fervently, afraid of being told that he wasn’t good enough to be published. Adrina was in Hogsmeade and his mother had pushed him out of the house so fast that he hadn’t been able to bring up the idea of flooing to Hogsmeade to visit his girlfriend and her daughter. Therefore, Diagon Alley it was. He crossed through the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley with a scowl. Lynne was acting strange, his mother was acting strange and his father was acting strange. Was he the only one in his family who didn’t have some sort of secret to hide? How truly infuriating. His twin always came to him for advice and it felt odd to not know what was happening in her life. He had wanted her to become more independent but she had stopped confiding in him altogether and he missed her. This aloof, secretive girl wasn’t his sister and he wanted his giggly, outgoing and sweet twin back; the girl who would stay up all night talking to him about random matters and then get annoyed when he kept falling asleep during her monologues.

It was too early in the summer to be out buying school supplies but there were still plenty of Hogwarts students just spending a few hours with their friends. Kael lifted a hand in absent-minded greeting to one of the less annoying friends Lynne surrounded herself with and received a wide grin in return before she turned back to her group of friends. No Lynne, he noticed with a frown. Maybe they had had a fight, and that was why his sister was acting so strangely. With a grimace, Kael drew closer and asked the girls if there had been an argument but his frown only deepened when the girls shook their heads and told him that they were as clueless about Lynne’s new behaviour as he was. They seemed surprised to realise that he knew as little as them. “What are you up to, Lynne?” Kael wondered out loud as he entered a café, looking surprised when he knocked into someone and the drink spilt over them both. “Sorry,” Kael apologised instantly, brushing the liquid off his arms carelessly. His shirt was ruined, he noticed grimly, but the collision had probably been his fault anyway since he hadn’t been paying attention. “I’m sorry about that, really. Do you want me to buy you another drink? It’s the least I can do after I decided that your previous drink would be a good addition to my shirt.”

[Oscar Flynn G7]

Five weeks.
Five weeks.
Five weeks!
Five weeks… the period of time left before the Flynn family received another member. It was brilliant. It was better than brilliant. It was completely… brilliantly brilliant. The grin across Oscar’s face stretched even further as he tapped his foot absent-mindedly against the wooden bench he was sitting on. He could hardly believe that he would soon be getting a little sister. Would she like him? He would make sure of it. Oscar was an only child; but he had many friends with younger siblings, and always noticed the bond that they had. He envied it- he wanted it. And soon, soon he would have it! It was almost too much to think about. He was so, so excited. The fact that he would be back at Hogwarts in five weeks was pushed into the back of his mind. When Oscar didn’t like something, he either ignored it completely or confronted it. And you couldn’t very well confront a thought could you? So he shoved that one into the very back of hid head, so that only the excited, happy feelings could come through. Every time he thought about his soon-to-be sibling he found himself grinning uncontrollably. He was naturally a happy boy, but this really was… brilliant.

His restless feet finally got the better of him; he leapt from the bench he was perched on, landing (a little less gracefully than he had hoped) on the grass of the park just outside Diagon Alley. He just could not stay still. He felt as if he had taken some sort of crazy, mind and body enhancing drug. But he didn’t touch drugs, apart from the cigarettes and beer, so this feeling was purely Oscar. He was always full of energy; it had become one of the main reasons he was so good at Quidditch and muggle Football. He just couldn’t stop moving once he was off. Sure there were no Quaffles, Bludgers, Snitches or footballs in sight now, but he was still as energetic as ever.

He left the park, smile still set on his face, a calm breeze lifting and dropping his hair as he walked. Where to? Five weeks… in five weeks, she would arrive. It was only right that Oscar bought her a present, wouldn’t you say? Something… something a small muggle girl would like. As he was not a small muggle girl but a fairly large wizard, his mind struggled a little as he headed further into Diagon Alley. There was always… he could get… perhaps she might like… As hard as he tried, he could not think of anything. He glanced around, finding himself in front of a large pet shop. Perfect! Every girl liked animals, right? Oscar could not think of one who did not. It seemed like the best idea he was likely to come up with, and so he pushed the door open.

The outside of the pet-shop had been welcoming, inviting. Friendly signs had lured him in, photos of grinning (slightly scarily) puppies had convinced him that a small, cuddly animal of some sort was the perfect gift. But the inside on the place was completely different. It was almost empty, the only obvious signs of life coming from behind the counter, where an old wizard in crumpled brown robes snored gently. Oscar cast a doubtful look around. A few black rats huddled in the corner of a rusty cage. A large, fat owl which was clearly obese from too many cheap owl-treats was leaning heavily against a post in the middle of the dimly lit room, her eyelids heavy and miserable. It took just a few more moments for Oscar to come to a hasty decision and get out of there, fast as his restless feet could take him.

Clearly that pet-shop was certainly not the place to buy a happy, cuddly little creature who could cheer up a small child if she ever needed it (which, of course, Oscar would make sure she never did. But the point was there; everyone loved a furry companion). So where now? Casting aside his urge to charge back into the shop, buy all of the animals and then restore them back to health to save them from the terrible shop which was clearly sapping the life out of them, Oscar headed towards the Leaky Cauldron for some serious thinking.

It wasn’t long before, beer in hand, (Oscar looked far older than sixteen; he had never had trouble ordering alcohol) Oscar was heading outside. He didn’t much like the atmosphere in the Cauldron. Although normally a very social young man, he was determined to think of a place where he could buy his soon-to-be sister a present, and the best place he knew to do that was just outside the pub, cigarette in one hand and beer in the other.

He had already placed a cigarette between his lips on his way out, ready for a flame, when someone walked straight into him. His beer was immediately used to soak the other boy’s shirt, while Oscar just managed to catch his cigarette as it fell from his lips. The boy’s apology was instant- Oscar barely managed to try and put a name to his face before it came, followed by an offer to buy the Gryffindor another beer.

“Nah- it was my fault, I should be buying you a new shirt really.” Oscar smiled, although he hoped the boy didn’t take that as an offer for a new shirt. He looked at the older boy’s face. It was familiar, only slightly. Oscar was sure he was a student at Hogwarts with him, but as he hated to assume things, he fell back on the normal method of introducing. He offered his hand to the older boy after tucking his cigarette safely away. “Oscar Flynn, nice to meet you; although under the circumstances, perhaps another method of initiating conversation would have been preferred.” He smiled lightly, then glanced down at his drink. It was almost empty, most of it now on the boy’s shirt or on the floor beneath them. “And on second thoughts, perhaps I will take you up on that drink offer?” Oscar was of course, perfectly capable of purchasing another drink for himself. But the boy seemed friendly enough, and if Oscar was lucky, he might even know a good place to buy a kitten.

[kael]

“Don’t worry about it,” Kael brushed the boy’s words away impatiently, grimacing at the sodden feeling of his shirt as it brushed against his skin. The younger boy looked somewhat familiar but Kael, being the grumpy and anti-social person that people described him as, didn’t recognise him and had no desire to either. The smell of beer rose from his shirt and Kael raised an eyebrow at the younger boy significantly. “I don’t care whether you’re old enough to drink – you’re neither my family nor my friend so I really don’t care nor is it any of my business – but I think everyone would agree that it’s a bit too early for any kind of alcohol. You’ve either had a bad day or something had frustrated you.” Kael raised a hand before the boy could interpret that as a reason to tell him about his unimportant teenage angst-ridden worries. He had enough worries of his own, and he often had to be concerned about his twin’s and girlfriend’s worries too. He didn’t need someone else trying to make him care more than he seemed to. “I don’t want to know; please don’t feel the need to tell me just because I was unfortunate enough to bump into you.”

“Kael Collins,” he introduced himself briskly, absent-mindedly rubbing at an irritating scratch on his arm – undoubtedly from one of the kittens – before shaking the boys hand politely. “That way of meeting someone and starting a conversation is terribly clichéd,” Kael affirmed agreeably. He had little else to do since he had been kicked out of the house for an unknown length of time so he might as well play nice. Or rather, Kael’s version of nice which was offhandedly polite to most people. Well, Lynne was the twin who enjoyed talking and socialising with people. Kael would much rather be left alone with his notebook and silence so that he could continue with his latest story. Or, if he had to be bothered by people, he would prefer to have the company of Lynne, Adrina and Gia, Harmony or Aurora. Harmony was his ‘little sister’ according to that scheme Lynne had signed him up for and he enjoyed her company, although he felt that she was sometimes intimidated by him, and Aurora had somehow become a sort of friend. If they hadn’t become ‘sort of friends’ before he had started dating Adrina then he would have blamed his girlfriend for the feeling that people no longer felt truly intimidated by him and were now starting to pester him.

Kael studied Oscar silently before making his decision. “I’ll buy you a drink, but not alcohol since I don’t know if you’re underage and it’s too early, in my opinion anyway, for trying to get drunk. How about coffee instead?” With that said, Kael turned and started to walk in the direction of the café he most often frequented without checking to see if Oscar was following him. Did it really matter? Whether he was in the position of having to buy him a drink or not, Kael wanted some coffee himself and he didn’t care whether he was plagued by company while he drank it or not. Quite honestly – as if Kael was ever really anything less – he would probably prefer not having company but it had been his fault that Oscar had lost his first drink and therefore he would be the one to buy the next drink if Oscar followed him. It was hardly his problem if the other boy preferred to buy another beer rather than accepting a free coffee.

[Oscar Flynn G7]

Within a few moments, Oscar’s immediate idea that the boy was friendly disappeared from his head. Initially, when Oscar had first bumped into him, he had actually seemed alright; offering the Gryffindor the drink and all that. But now, it was as though Oscar had somehow insulted him to make him so hostile. When he spoke, retorting about Oscar’s underage drinking, one of the younger boy’s eyebrows rose instantly. This was almost amusing, if not a little sad. Being the social character he was, Oscar often met knew people who were neither related to him, nor did they know him. This boy was a perfect example. However, the conversations that Oscar had had with other new people certainly didn’t involve ‘scolding’. For that was what Oscar felt the boy was doing; telling him off for underage drinking. He was tempted for a moment to retort back, loose his temper like he used to so many times. For he was prone to getting his anger get the better of him. But... he was older now and he knew better. So, toning down his smile a little, he spoke back in a tone that certainly wasn’t as friendly as before, but neither was it unkind.

“Aye- I agree that on a normal day this certainly would seem to be a terrible time to start drinking for many people. You are quite right in telling me so in such a.. parental way. However my day has been quite the opposite of bad and unlike some there is nothing whatsoever that I have to be frustrated about.” He told a tinsy bit of a lie here; the elder boy was frustrating him slightly with his hostile attitude, so unfamiliar to Oscar. “ But, I am drinking- or rather I was drinking, should you care to know, in celebration of something fabulous.” He stopped here. With anyone else, he would have grinned his famous grin and told them the reasons for his celebration- he was getting a little sister. Then, the two would drink and hug and be merry and celebrate in crazy ways that would involve a lot more hugging and drinking as the night wore on. As he thought of this, Oscar wished it could be so. No doubt this boy could be a good friend once you got to that point in your relationship with him; but right now, all Oscar wanted to do was be happy with someone who could share his joy. Clearly, the boy was not that someone.

The boy introduced himself- Kael Collins, a name which rang a bell somewhere in Oscar’s head, though he didn’t dwell on that. For Kael, despite his retorts earlier, was still offering Oscar a drink. Although, Oscar noted, this one would not be alcoholic. It seemed like a far-fetched idea to Oscar, but as the boy- without waiting for the Gryffindor- turned away and headed towards a café, Oscar studied the situation. On one hand, he wanted to celebrate and discuss fluffy companions with a friend, new or old. And he knew that that was unlikely to happen in Kael’s company. The lack of alcohol was also an annoying issue. However… Oscar wanted to see further into the boy’s personality. Although he often got angry with characters similar toe Kael, he did love meeting new people with such different personalities and Kael clearly had just that. He also did like his coffee.

Kael was almost in the café now and Oscar knew he’d have to make up his mind. The café was one he’d never been in; not surprising, since he rarely actually drank coffee out of the home. Choosing one of the two options offered to him, Oscar ignored the fact that he still hadn’t smoked that nicotine into his body, and followed the elder boy into the café with a curious expression on his face. It seemed like a nice enough place; the usual tables, chairs, that sort of thing. Quite pleasant really. Noticing Kael ahead of him, he nodded very slightly. “I’m not too crazy for the extravagant things, so just a mocha will do me fine, thanks Kael.” His tone was only mildly gentler than before as he glanced around again. “Any seating preferences?” He added.

[kael]

Kael’s mouth lifted slightly in a smile. Even for him, he had been unusually unfriendly and he knew that Lynne, even as strangely as she was acting recently, would have smacked him sharply over the head for behaving in such an antagonistic manner. But the kid had still answered back to him and had earned just the tiniest bit of his respect in doing so. It was always amusing to find people who weren’t afraid to snap back at him. “I’m an older brother; being ‘parental’, as you call it, is very much a habit now since my sister can’t be left alone for even five minutes without getting herself and other people into trouble.” Oscar didn’t seem to feel the need to be as friendly as he had appeared to be before, Kael noted with satisfaction. He wanted momentary entertainment, not someone who thought he was actually looking for someone to be his friend. His twin was the only social person he could tolerate for more than a short amount of time and that was only because he had grown up with her.

“Something fabulous,” Kael repeated, almost mockingly. “Well, as thrilled as I am to know that you wanted to share that with me, I don’t really care. But congratulations for whatever has gotten you so excited,” he added as an afterthought. Somehow, Kael thought with a dark scowl, Lynne had trained a small amount of polite friendliness into him and it emerged at the strangest times. It had to be Lynne, because she was the only person Kael really knew who would get beer spilled on her and still manage to be charmingly friendly. It was a small mercy that she hadn’t quite trained the charming part of her friendliness into him. “You could have picked a better choice of drink though. Beer is something that people lacking good taste or a tolerance for alcohol drink. Next time, try whiskey or scotch. At least then, if you wake up with a hangover, you’ll have earned it,” Kael advised inattentively.

“You took your time,” Kael informed Oscar caustically, the small grin on his face a complete contrast to his biting tone. “Were you wondering whether or not accepting coffee from a stranger is a good idea? How smart. For all you know, I could be a serial killer who enjoys killing people by putting poison in their coffee.” Kael chose a table near the edge of the café, smiling warmly at the waitress who came over to serve him. She was one of Lynne’s many friends and Kael had been in the café often enough for her to recognise him instantly. “Marianne,” Kael greeted her neutrally, vaguely amused by the way she jotted down his usual order without even asking him what he wanted. “And you wanted a mocha, right?” Kael asked Oscar idly, nodding at the waitress when she promised that she would be back with their drinks in a few minutes. The service was always good and the coffee better, which was mainly why Kael returned to the café despite it being a generally crowded place.

His coffee – plain black, one sugar – and Oscar’s mocha were placed in front of them as well as two cookies. “The cookies are on the house; consider them thanks for the kitten.” Marianne told him with a wink as she accepted Kael’s payment for the drinks. Kael rolled his eyes but accepted his change wordlessly. It had been almost a year since Marianne had bought one of their kittens – a kitten from the same litter as Kael and Lynne’s kittens, Pluto and Jupiter, for the matter – but she always insisted on thanking them every time she saw them. The coffee was blisteringly hot but Kael raised it to his mouth and took a gulp without showing any sign that the liquid was anything more than warm. It had been a bad day – a bad week, really – and he fully deserved the caffeine boost that he rarely allowed himself to indulge in. “Have you ever been here before?” Kael inquired nonchalantly, not really interested in the answer but at least attempting to make polite conversation for as long as they were both sitting together.

[Oscar Flynn G7]

“I am an older brother…” The words were spoken by Kael, and yet Oscar couldn’t help but grin inwardly. Soon he would be able to say those words! And they would be true. He almost felt jealous as Kael spoke about a sister, for although Oscar knew that he could not assume something, it sounded as though Kael was very much the ‘older brother’ type. And although Oscar would soon have that, he didn’t just yet. And he wanted it, badly. A distant bell rang in Oscar’s head as he recalled Kael having a sister… Laura? Lynne? He couldn’t remember the name. He was never very good with names, and the last name- Collins, was it? - certainly didn’t help him any further. He didn’t reply as Kael spoke about being parental, merely nodded. Would his sister get into trouble? Would she be defiant or obedient or misbehave behind his back? He wanted to know her now; the wait was unbearable.

The tone in which the elder boy spoke with next made Oscar’s temper stir even further, and he had to dig deep to suppress the want to snap at Kael. It was something fabulous, he knew. And if Kael couldn’t respect that then that was his problem. He didn’t care, he said. Oscar mulled this over in his head. If a fellow student came up to him and professed something like Oscar had to Kael, he would care. Even if he didn’t like the other student, he would care. If not out of friendship then surely out of curiosity. Once again, the need to say something about the slightly rude comment was pushed down and replaced with an entirely different reply to Kael’s talk.

“Oh- thank you.” He hadn’t expected the congratulations. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it either, so it too was pushed down. “Well then,” Oscar spoke again after listening carefully as Kael seemed to ‘lecture’ him on which alcohol to drink. Yet again, a parental vibe was coming from the Hufflepuff. “I guess I lack in good taste. At least, in your books I do. Why else would I ever want to drink beer after all.” He smiled lightly. “Next time? I find it a little odd that you encourage me to drink whiskey or scotch, when you so patently expressed your dislike for me drinking even beer.” Oscar didn’t speak rudely, merely conversing in a light tone. He didn’t want to show disrespect, but at the same time he hated being the silent humble creature that would have endured Kael’s ‘lecture’.

The serial killer comment which had reached Oscar as he came into the café had surprised him slightly; it was humour, dry humour though it was, he hadn’t thought that Kael would have a sense of it. “No, I wasn’t thinking that at all…” His mind wavered as Kael headed towards a table. Oscar shrugged before following. The elder boy was different from the people Oscar knew. There was something incredibly self-assured about him. Not necessarily confidence, although he had plenty of that. It was more just knowing who he was and what he was doing, and knowing that no-one could take that away from him. Oscar admired this trait. He didn’t think he knew that much of who he himself was.

The waitress- Marianne – quickly returned with their drinks after Kael had placed the order, and the comment she gave as she set them down stopped Oscar’s thoughts. Kitten? It seemed that Kael had given her a kitten? Kael questioned Oscar then about whether he had been in the small café before, but Oscar brushed that away absent-mindedly. “Sorry- but a kitten? You gave her a kitten?” He couldn’t keep the small smile from his face. Could it be that this odd Hufflepuff opposite him could help him find the perfect gift for his soon-to-be sister? “You sell them or something? If so... well I'd love to have one. My cause for celebrations- I'm getting a sister in five weeks. My parents want to do some good and are adopting from Africa. I've been struggling to find a gift for her all day- a kitten seemed like a nice idea, only I haven't been able to find a pet shop nice enough. I'm don't know much about them... but my mother used to be a cat-fanatic. Our house already has all those cat-flap litter-tray things...” He wavered, wondering if he was rambling. "Um, do you think something could be arranged?" Oscar had no idea how people normally bought kittens and if he had been a shy person he would have cringed at how little he knew about such 'transactions'.

[kael]

Maybe he had been wrong about the boy after all, Kael pondered as he studied Oscar out of the corner of his eye. Most people, even if they were intimidated by Kael and his sharp tongue and apparently uncaring personality, would have at least bristled in annoyance at the way he dismissed their good news and outright told them that he didn’t care to hear it. But, if he had annoyed or angered Oscar in any way, the younger boy didn’t show it much. How interesting. Kael mused silently. The boy had struck him as a Gryffindor to be truthful – rash, excitable and perhaps foolish – but the way he didn’t show any irritation made Kael wonder if he had been wrong. Adrina was a Gryffindor but she never hesitated to show him when he had annoyed her and neither had any of Lynne’s Gryffindor friends, even when they had been chasing him for a date that he had never taken them on.

A slight smile flickered into existence for a second before vanishing again. Kael had never been one to display himself or his emotions openly. People mostly had to work hard to decipher even a small part of him and he liked it that way. Idiots annoyed him, as did people who gave up at the first sign of resistance. “I said it was too early to be drinking, not that I cared about the fact that you were drinking,” Kael corrected impatiently. He was a writer; it annoyed him when things were misinterpreted and then passed along in their incorrect version. Words were important in every context; even when nothing was said, there was something lurking in the silence, just waiting for someone to hear it. “Besides, whiskey and scotch are better things to celebrate with. They won’t erode your stomach lining quite as quickly.”

“Then perhaps you’re not as smart or as cautious as I thought you might be,” was Kael’s only response. How foolish. Kael couldn’t help but to roll his eyes. He had been civil to Oscar but certainly nothing near friendly and yet the younger boy still had no caution. Then again, Kael allowed benevolently, the people to be wary of were generally those who were friendly without any reason to be. Those were always the people to keep an eye on, especially if you were outright rude to them and they still laughed it off and continued to be friendly because then they definitely wanted something. If nothing else, everyone who met Kael could be sure that he didn’t want anything from them.

Kael’s eyebrow rose slowly, his expression politely puzzled. “No. I didn’t give her a kitten. I sold her a kitten. There’s a big difference. One includes the exchange of money and the other is a profitless yet generous thing to do,” he corrected disinterestedly. Oscar seemed happy about the idea and Kael eyed him thoughtfully, wondering if he was just about to receive another customer. It was usually his parents or Lynne who charmed customers into visiting the kittens – Kael wasn’t exactly the charming type of person, as Oscar might well have guessed – though they would have to deal with Kael during the sale and home visits if they chose to view the kittens during the summer. “Ah, you’re getting a little sister. Enjoy the peace while it lasts.” Kael laughed at the idea that it was something to be celebrated. He loved Lynne but there were times he wanted to strangle her for being so frustrating. Times like this summer, as a matter of fact. “You and your parents would have to visit the kittens and see whether any pick you as their owners. Most people think that it’s their choice. That’s not true. If a kitten doesn’t like you, you’ll know instantly. And, if you decide that you want one of the kittens and that kitten is happy with you, I’ll need to take a look around your house,” Kael warned him seriously. “It is standard procedure, not me punishing you for spilling beer on my shirt before you start to wonder. But things should be fine – they usually are – especially if your mother loves cats because she should know how to care for a kitten already.”