Running from Reality

[Andy Moreau]

"Andy," Andy huffed. He took another breath, then straightened and ran his hands back through pink-streaked hair. "Andy James." He actually looked at the blonde now. Samson. "Ah, nice to meet you, Samson," he said. Gavin had taught him that, and it worked surprisingly well.

"Were you just going to let them kick your a~?"

[Samson Callahan Koster]

"I...I don't know," Samson said uncertainly, anxiety crossing his face. "I've never been in a fight before! People at my old school always thought I was weird but they left me alone." He chewed on his lip and wished, for neither the first nor the last time, that they'd never moved.

[Andy Moreau]

"Those guys were about to hex you to the hospital," Andy said. "If that happens again at least have your wand out, even if you suck at spells. They won't know. Plus, they were total pu~ies. The ones you've got to watch out for are these two blondes. You'll know them when you see them because everyone stays like three feet away and tries not to look right at them." And they were tragically gorgeous. Of course, everyone at Hogwarts was gorgeous apparently. Samson definitely was, in a sort of casual way.

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson had had his wand out, he'd just been so focused on his book he hadn't been able to do anything. "None of those people are in Hufflepuff, are they?" he asked hopefully. "And where'd you learn to fight, anyway?" Considering where he'd grown up, Samson should probably be able to fight, but he was kind of a failure in some things.

[Andy Moreau]

"Muggle school," Andy said, then went back to the first question Samson had asked. "Those twins and the ones that were messing with you are in Slytherin." His brows drew together. "I think all the twins here are in Slytherin, which sucks because Slytherin is the jerkarses. Ravenclaw is the nerds and know-it-alls, Gryffindor is the badarse heroes, and Hufflepuff is everyone else." He paused, then started a slow path back toward a less occupied area of the lake. He still had work to do before he got dragged back to Blackwood Farm.

"I'm in Hufflepuff," he said.

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson couldn't help but sneer and snort softly at the brief rundown of the houses as he walked alongside Andy. It figured he'd end up in the afterthought house. Maybe he should turn his middle name into afterthought. "Noted, stay away from Slytherins. I think I'd call running in to help a stranger and beatingup two guys a Gryffindor thing."

[Andy Moreau]

Andy glanced aside at Samson, then looked at the path in front of his feet instead. "Hufflepuffs are supposed to be like hardworking or loyal friends or some sh~," he conceded. He liked to think he was brave. He'd survived an awful lot and knew how to take care of himself anyway. "I guess I'm not brave enough," he said.

"What about you, you're Hufflepuff, right?" Andy got the impression that he was.

[Samson Callahan Koster]

"Yeah, I'm not super smart or brave, and I don't think I'm a jerk, not a purist or anything. Guess that just leaves having a bloody badger as a mascot," Samson said. It was probably really weird to havea pet that was the mascot of another house. "What year are you? I'm in fourth."

[Andy Moreau]

"I'm in fourth too!" Andy said. Being in the same House and Year as someone else didn't mean anything in the long run, but Samson was so cute. And probably straight. Andy tried to use Gavin as a talisman, but he'd been trying to convince himself he'd never see the guy again so it didn't work very well.

"So like, where are you from? I suck at accents." He didn't think he had much of his American accent left, but there were so many different English accents that he could never really tell.

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Well, now he knew one of the guys he'd be sharing a room with, which was a relief. Samson wondered if any of the others had colors in their hair. "Australia,Queensland. My mum dragged me up here because she wants to get money from my dad." He wrinkled his nose. The man obviously wanted nothing to do with them. "I never even heard other accents except on the radio until I got here." So he had just as little idea where Andy might be from.

[Andy Moreau]

Andy's eyes rounded. "Uh, your dad doesn't like, work on Diagon Alley does he?" Australia was a whole continent, wasn't it? That would be like someone asking if he knew someone else just because they were American. "I'm sorry, that was stupid. You don't have to tell me anything."

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson nodded and looked down at his tattered shoes as they walked. "Mum says the place is like a tavern or something, and he does tattoos." He gave a weary shrug and tossed his head,sending hair out of his eyes. "Say what you want, I never even met him and no one ever says good about him, so I don't really want to." The man could stay here and be something people talk about behind his back, and they could keep on living without him.

[Andy Moreau]

Andy kept his gaze on the ground, as though he'd just been chastised. "Sorry," he said again. His own unknown father was a sore spot and he didn't want to make other people feel the way he felt. He picked up the pace ever so slightly and aimed himself toward where he thought the lake was. "Dads suck anyway."

Andy's brows drew together. Matthew and Rhys kept trying to be dads, didn't they? Tam had called them dad a couple times that Andy knew of. "I've got foster dads. Like, two of them. They own the ice cream shop on Diagon Alley." Which was how he'd managed to hear about the owner of the Leaky Cauldron. He kept Samson in his peripheral vision just in case Samson's acceptance didn't extend to gay couples.

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson thought on that. According to people back home, his uncle was queer. Not gay, never gay from those people, always queer with a sniff and a huff and a sneer, or more colorful terms. He supposed he didn't really see anything wrong with it, though he didn't really get it. He had bigger things to worry about than who people wanted to get in bed with.

Foster dads. That meant Andy didn't really have a family. Didn't foster parents like put locks on the cubboards to keep the kids from eating too much? "Are they bad?" he asked, looking over at Andy. "I heard people at my old school talking bad about their foster parents. I didn't even think gay people could do it, anyway." According to people back home, they shouldn't even be allowed around kids at all.

[Andy Moreau]

"Um, they're pretty good really," Andy said. He looked down at suddenly fascinating fingernails and attempted to pick out dirt that wasn't there. "I've been a lot of places that weren't good, but these guys... I still haven't found anything really wrong with them. It's weird.

"And yeah, they can foster," he went on, flicking a glance at Samson. "One of them is a Muggle and my little brother is a Squib so it works out. And I'm bi. I think." His gaze remained firmly on the ground. If Samson was anything like his dad, Andy needed to get ready to run.