Running from Reality

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson stationed himself where he could easily see the door in time to wqrn Andy, wondering who on earth would want to take a shower just off the main hall. "I don't think anyone's gonna come," he said, heart pounding crazily in his chest. "Have you got it done yet?" It couldn't take any longer than stretching it over anything else, not that he would have any idea how long that would take.

[Andy Moreau]

"Um, almost," Andy said. He gave a soft grunt as he got the opening down to the neck of the shower head. "Ow! It bit me!" He pulled back his hand and had the spot that got snapped partway to his mouth before he realized that both hands were covered in goop. "Nasty!" He wiped his hands on his jeans.

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson turned the corner both to see Andy's handiwork and to see if the guy was okay. And to ask him a queation. "I thought we were ginna do the muggle place," he said, glancing toward the shower head. "Why change?"

[Andy Moreau]

"Oh sh~," Andy hissed. "I'm supposed to be in Hogsmeade at five. I was gonna show you where the book store is, right?" And he was supposed to have done his homework! Sh~ "I have to get to Hogsmeade." He wanted to see the face of whoever found their prank, but he wanted even more not to get on Matthew's bad side any worse than he'd already be if the man found out he hadn't done his homework.

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson eyed the shower head, then gestured for Andy to come with him. "Come on, then, let's go. We'll probably hear about this thing later, I bet," he said. Maybe it would go unnoticed for days or weeks, but when it finally got someone it would definitely make the rounds in the school's gossip circles. He absently tucked his book into a large pocket, distracted enough by Andy's half-panic to not worry about any new rips to the cover.

[Andy Moreau]

Andy nodded in agreement and they took off toward Hogsmeade, Andy explaining along the way. He tried to simplify, but there was only so much he could do with the complicated story. He was behind in learning about magic, his foster dads were friends with a bunch of professors, and they were all having some kind of summer-long house party. He'd just come to Hogwarts to do part of his homework. "It was so much more fun hanging out with you though."

[Samson Callahan Koster]

The overview of what was going on sent Samson into silence. He couldn't imagine having family friends who were wealthy enough to afford a summer-long house party for all their friends. And what would the friends do for money when they weren't working for so long? Just the thought sent anxiety racing through him, and he soon found his hand slipping into his pocket to finger the small pouch with his few precious galleons in it. Andy's last words pulled him from his thoughts, something he was quite thankful for when he considered it. "It was fun, are you going to be coming back here any this summer?" He couldn't imagine that making other friends would be as simple. Or eventful.

[Andy Moreau]

"Yeah," Andy said. "My foster dads were totally like, if you'd rather be at school, you can be at school, I was so pissed. Like, I've already been gone all year and you want me gone all summer too? What about you? How come you're not with like, your mom?"

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson wrinkled his nose. "She can be a little...intense," he said, though that didn't feel like quite the right word. Hell, she'd dragged him halfway across the world just to get some gold. "Besides, I haven't forgiven her yet for making me move. Home wasn't perfect, but it was home." And now he'd probably never see any of his friends ever again.

[Andy Moreau]

---

It seemed like forever before they got to Hogsmeade. "You don't have to wait here or anything, but one of my foster dads is picking me up. He's a wizard, but his husband's a Muggle." Had Andy already said that? He wasn't sure. "He'd know more about your uncle than me. All the adults have been hanging out and like spending all night drinking and stuff together." And they'd been sending Andy off to his room to be bored to death.

[Matthew Moreau]

Matthew was leaning against one of the shops staring down at a device in his hands that would have confused the hell out of him just a few years before, but whose functions Rhys had drilled into his head. Still, it would have been difficult to miss Andy even from the corner of his eye. Especially when Andy was walking with someone else Matthew didn't recognize. He pushed away from the wall and held up his hand. "Over here, Andy," he said. "Get everything done?"

[Samson Callahan Koster]

Samson's eyes widened and his cheeks pinkened at the knowledge that he had been a large part of Andy not getting anything done. He kept his mouth firmly shut and shoved his hands into his pockets to finger his bag and book. One good thing about handmedowns was that often they were too large, and too large jeans meant wonderfully huge pockets.

[Andy Moreau]

Andy had intended to lie, but what came out of his mouth instead was a trail of excuses. Or very compelling reasons, depending on how you looked at it. "So I was on my way to the lake and like this guy was there," he said, gesturing to Samson. "And these two other guys were there and they were like going to team up on him or something and I couldn't do my homework with them kicking some guy's arse so like, I helped him out. And it turns out he's like related to Ariel, you know, the Australian guy? His dad is the guy at the Leaky Cauldron but like, he's never met him, he just moved here.

"So can I come back tomorrow?"

[Matthew Moreau]

Matthew raised his eyebrows as his mind tried to catch up with that stream of information. "While I'm glad you helped him out, you were supposed to get work done," he said first, his eyes drifting over to the other silent boy. "If you come back tomorrow will you actually get it done?" He could deal with the newest surprise kid after getting a promise.

[Andy Moreau]

Andy rolled his eyes. "I was going to do it today," he said. "Next time do you want me to just sit there and ignore it while some guy gets hexed next to me?" It wasn't like he'd just blown everything off for no reason. "Or maybe I should've stuck around and waited for them to get their wands so they could hex me instead."