Not Alone (Hyacinth/Jory)

[Jory Addison]

"Why not?" Jory asked. "It happened, and it's over with, and that's it. One little thing isn't enough to throw away a year of being friends!" Maybe he was just destined to never have long term friends. How long before Eros didn't respond to an owl or Hyacinth decided he didn't want a gay best friend? He didn't want to lose any more friends, especially not Indigo.

[Indigo Noble]

"'Cause maybe I can't be friends with you," Indigo said. He kept his face half turned from Jory, unable to look at him. "Go hang out with the Blackwood-Hardts." And Brindle, and Hyacinth. Indigo wanted to walk away, but what good would it do when Jory was just going to follow him?

[Jory Addison]

Jory's eyebrows came together. He didn't understand why it was suddenly so different, keeping a friend was more important to him than worrying about whatever else there was trying to stop them. He shook his head roughly and bit his tongue on a snappy response as he turned to walk back to the others. Maybe he'd just go back home.

[Indigo Noble]

Indigo stood stiffly for a moment, then turned back toward the ice cream shop. He needed a distraction, and he needed to be alone. Mari and Castiel could just go stare at pygmy puffs and ravens until they got it out of their systems.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth had been polite and not watched, but there was no missing Jory's mood when he headed back toward them. His hair turned a sympathetic shade of light brown, and his brows drew together. He wouldn't ask in front of the others, but he wondered, and he reached out to rub Astra's ears a little in silent support.

[Marius Reed]

"Is he okay?" Mari asked when Jory returned. He'd considered going after Indigo, but Jory had beat him to the punch. Even he caught on to Jory's mood, or he might have said something else. As it was, he shot a glance toward Castiel as they were joined, wondering.

[Jory Addison]

A glare was shot at Mari as Jory latched onto him as a way to focus his thoughts. "Ask him yourself," he said, reaching for his bag again. "And you can tell 'im that if he gets his head out his arse he can come talk to me. I'm going home." It was unfair to lash out at the guy, especially considering he was a student and younger even than Indigo, but right now all Jory thought was that if Mari hadn't shown up, Indigo would still be his friend. Astra gave a little whimper and wiggled to be put down, Jory stooped briefly to deposit her back into the snow to walk out of Diagon Alley.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth gave Mari and Castiel an apologetic look, then excused himself to follow after Jory. He didn't know what had happened, but if Jory needed him, he was more than willing to help. He would be quiet if Jory needed quiet, and he would listen if Jory needed to talk.

[Castiel Catalyst]

Castiel had watched silently, but now that it was just him and Mari, he could do more than try not to gawk. "What just happened?" he asked, as though Mari had any more of an idea than he did. Somehow he doubted it. From what he'd heard, Mari and Indigo just made out all the time.

[Marius Reed]

Mari shook his head as he watched the other two leave, wide-eyed. "I don't know," he said. He watched the pair's retreating backs for a moment longer before turning to follow Indigo. "He apparently pissed Jory off." Well, that was obvious, why else would Jory say that to him? "I didn't know anything was going on with them." Not that he and Indigo tended to talk about other people.

[Castiel Catalyst]

Going on with them. Castiel's eyes sharpened slightly as he glanced over his shoulder. Nah, that couldn't be it. Jory was gay, and if anything had ever happened, Mari would have had an easier time. He shrugged and looked ahead. "He went into the ice cream shop," he said. "Do you want to follow, or look at pets first?"

[Marius Reed]

"I should go talk to him, shouldn't I?" Mari asked. He may not have a lot of experience with the whole boyfriend thing, but it was kind of part of the job to make sure things were okay, right? It didn't feel right to go off and do something else when Indigo might need someone to talk to. "If you wanna go to the pet store you can."

[Castiel Catalyst]

Castiel shrugged. "I guess," he said. If Mari was going to be all boyfriendy, then he may as well find something else to do. Besides, it was way too cold for ice cream. He'd rather go find out how much ravens cost and see if the pet shop owner knew if they were okay at Hogwarts. "Come get me when you're done, Kawaii-Kun."

[Indigo Noble]

Indigo hadn't known what to do when he'd walked into the ice cream shop. He'd asked for a bathroom, but he didn't really need to go, so all he'd done was splash cold water on his face and stare at himself in the mirror until he couldn't handle it anymore. Then he'd caught up his bag and headed back into the shop to buy something.

He wanted some kind of sundae of death. Rocky Road and hot fudge and a hundred other things balanced in a cup so he could think about anything besides what he was thinking about. Why couldn't Jory just stay with the other professors and leave him alone?

[Marius Reed]

Mari wasn't long behind Indigo and came up beside him at the counter. "Hey. I could get that for you," he offered, gesturing to the display. How was he supposed to breach the subject? He'd already decided it would probably be a bad idea to tell Indigo exactly what Jory had said, but that was about as far as he'd gotten in planning what to say.