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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 21:36:04 GMT -5
Michael had said he'd meet Dare here, so here Dare was, waiting. And wondering where Michael was. Not that he seriously thought Michael would just sit in the Room of Requirement waiting for him all day, but he'd still expected to find Michael here already.
Dare shrugged it off and sat on the couch, drawing out his portrait of Emilian and the frame he'd bought on the way through Hogsmeade. He settled everything on a coffee table in front of him, then pulled out his wand and got to work sizing and mounting the portrait.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 21:43:06 GMT -5
Michael hadn't slept for two days, at least not nearly enough to count as sleep. The night before he had heard the other guys come into the dorm room and he had remained as quiet as possible, hoping that, though it was obvious from the wand and the drawn curtains that he was there, they wouldn't do or say anything. One had hit the curtain on his way by, muttering something Michael hadn't understood.
He had left the dorm room early the next morning, before any of the others were even awake, and avoided looking over at Chase's bed, though he bent to pick up the Prophet to take with him. He had steered clear of as many as he could while waiting to go meet up with Dare, and when he finally walked into the Room of Requirement to see the familiar form, he breathed a sigh of relief, however short lived it was.
Michael didn't even look down at the portrait as he dropped the Prophet into Dare's line of view and walked by to sit on the couch. He put his back to the arm and pulled his legs up into the chair with him, bending his knees close to his chest as he waited for Dare to read it, not even realizing he hadn't said anything.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 21:50:10 GMT -5
Michael hadn't needed to say anything. Dare felt the tension the moment his concentration was interrupted by the sound of the paper landing on the table. Dare looked at it a moment, then set down what he was doing and picked it up. He might have thought that Michael had just dropped it there, but everything about Michael's silence, and his posture, curled up and withdrawn, told Dare that something was going on.
Dare shuffled through until he found the gossip column, intending to read the entire thing, but it turned out he didn't need to. Everything he needed to know was in that first section. Lovers...every sense of the word... Dare's jaw didn't drop. He didn't move at all, but stared at the page in shock, his heart racing.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 21:56:48 GMT -5
Michael swallowed and stared past Dare with wide eyes. It wasn't fair, he wasn't ready for everyone to know, it wasn't right for that woman to force them out. "Chase was in the dorm room last night," he said softly, his voice cracking slightly from worry and exhaustion. He wrapped his arms around his legs and pulled them closer to his body for comfort. She had no right to publish that, to tell everyone, it wasn't hers to tell.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:03:16 GMT -5
Dare barely registered Michael's words at first, but the tone of his voice alone was enough to drag Dare out of numbness enough to breathe. He turned his head to look at Michael, hardly lowering the paper, and his brows knitted. Dare looked back at the paper, then laid it on top of everything on the coffee table. "What happened?" he asked, needing to know, even if he didn't want to. He wanted to close his eyes and pretend he didn't know so they could just go on.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:08:11 GMT -5
"He kept saying that I shouldn't be allowed to stay in the dorm," Michael said, his voice low. "Saying things like how do he and the rest of the guys know I'm not looking at them and...other things." He took a breath and held it for a second before releasing it in a long sigh. He decided that the wand and the curse could wait to be admitted, and so left it at that for Dare to pick apart as he wanted before moving on.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:14:08 GMT -5
Dare swore under his breath. He didn't need to know what the other things were. He could imagine, and that was more than enough. Without thought, Dare reached out, his hand moving to take Michael's for comfort. Close friends hold hands - when they're GIRLS! Dare squeezed his eyes shut a moment, but didn't let go. "Was he the only one?" Dare asked, knowing the question was wishful thinking more than anything.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:18:51 GMT -5
Michael shook his head, "He was the only one that really did anything, though." So far. He was very glad for the comfort of Dare's hand, and took another deep breath before telling him the rest of his encounter with Chase. "I pulled my wand on him," he said, not looking at Dare. "I didn't aim at him, but his bed's in pretty bad shape. He said he was sorry afterward, but I don't believe him."
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:25:55 GMT -5
Dare's eyes opened at that, and he turned his gaze on Michael. He couldn't really blame Michael for what he'd done, especially considering he hadn't hexed Chase himself. Dare gave Michael's hand a supportive squeeze. "You'll stay away from him, right?" Dare swore again. "Should we talk to the Headmistress? I mean...he harassed you." And Michael had thrown a hex. Dare's lips pressed tight.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:33:09 GMT -5
Michael shook his head and lay his cheek on his knees. "I'll stay away from him as much as possible, but it's not worth going to the Headmistress about. He'd just say that he apologized." Not to mention that Chase could always say that Michael had tried to use sectumsempra on him. Everyone knows what you people are like. He closed his eyes and his hand tightened in Dare's as remembered anger swept over him.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:37:13 GMT -5
Dare's hand tightened in return, and didn't loosen. He tried to think of what they could do, but they were pretty much helpless. They hadn't had any control over the way people found out, and they didn't have any control over how people reacted. That thought triggered another. Dare's eyes widened. "Sh~, my father reads the Daily Prophet!" Panic swept through him all over again. "He doesn't know. Sh~, my father's gonna know. And your father! Oh my God, does he read it too?" Dare's free hand speared into his hair, mussing it without a single thought.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:45:10 GMT -5
Michael's eyes snapped open and he picked his head up to look at Dare. He hadn't even thought of that. Everyone read the Prophet. His hand went limp in Dare's and he looked at Dare in horror. Though he had already been disowned by his father, the idea of the man finding out still terrified him, even if there wasn't much more he could do about it. He didn't even nod, he figured it was obvious in the way he reacted that his father read it.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:51:42 GMT -5
Dare swore repeatedly under his breath, trying to think of some kind of damage control. "I'll write my father...but he'll already know. I still have to write him, I should tell him..." He trailed off when he felt Michael's hand loosen, and dragged his gaze back to Michael. Panic welled up even farther at the look on Michael's face. "We'll change our names and move to Mexico," he said, so desperate that the words felt half serious, even if they were entirely unreasonable. "I'll do caricatures for tourists and you can sell Chiclets."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 22:55:11 GMT -5
Michael didn't see the humor in Dare's words, only thinking that it would be useless to write to his father, though sending his mother an owl wasn't a bad idea. When he spoke, his voice sounded hollow, "How could they let her print that?" he asked in a low voice, bringing his eyes up to Dare's. Though he knew much more personal things had been written about other people, that didn't occur to Michael as he thought about what was in it, she had even wrote that they were lovers. It wasn't right.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 18, 2008 23:04:37 GMT -5
Dare's brows knitted, and he could feel the prickle of tears threatening at the bridge of his nose. "How could she write that?!" he countered. "This isn't gossip, this is our lives! God, this is something we can't take back! This is the rest of our lives she's just f~ed with!" Dare broke his gaze from Michael's, his free hand moving to rub at his face, to try to stem the flow of tears. He'd been warned about the Daily Prophet, and he'd laughed it off. Joke's on you now, isn't it? he thought bitterly.
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