Playing Detective (Hunter)

Hunter had a lot to hide. And a lot to answer for. Lyra had been super excited when he asked Aoife to go to Hogsmeade with him. Haoife could finally set sail. But then she went mad and threw a chair at him. That was fine, it wasn’t her brother’s fault. Then, however, he had to go ahead and prove Lyn right by asking Seren out. She had nothing against Seren, but Senter was a bad thing. And Aoife always seemed so sad and depressed. She didn’t like spending time with her friend because it brought her mood down so much.

As far as she knew, Hunter had work until about right now, so she had a few minutes before he came back. If she was careful, he shouldn’t catch her snooping around his room looking for evidence of Haoife, interesting stuff and butterbeer. Lyra really wanted some butterbeer. Next year, she could get her own, but for now she felt bad asking Aoife so Hunter was her only hope.

The common room was empty due to it being a Hogsmeade weekend and the weather being so nice. Nobody would see her run up to Hunter’s dorm as quickly as she could. Hesitantly she opened it and peeked inside, looking to make sure it was empty. It was. And it was a mess. She crinkled her nose at the horrible smell and stuff scattered all over the floor. These boys really needed to be more hygienic and clean up their room once in a while. It was a simple spell, really. She was tempted to cast it herself, but then they’d know someone had been in. And she had a mission to carry out anyway.

Ah, butterbeer. Right next to Hunter’s bed for anyone to see. Lyra grabbed herself a bottle to drink now. Other than his little stash of sweets and butterbeer, she couldn’t see anything of much interest. That sock in the middle of the floor was really annoying her. She needed to clean it up. No, she couldn’t. She’d never thought of herself as a neat freak, but now she’d seen this, in comparison with her pristine dorm, she’d changed her mind.

While she drank her butterbeer, she continued to look around the room. She was running out of time now. Maybe she should go. But she wanted one of those chocolate bars. So she’d have to stay. This was important.

Then she noticed the chest of drawers. Perhaps there was something in here. She opened the first draw. Socks. The next one. A scribbled drawing. Lyra inspected it. The original Haoife best friend contract! Her brother had told her about this while the two were still friends! Why had he kept it? Because he was still in love with Aoife. Yes! Lyn had to hear about this. If this was here, there would be more. So she continued to look through the drawers.

Zonkos was an awesome place to work! Hunter got tons of benefits like free candy and a great discount! Not to mention, the boss was particularly nice, and sometimes he let Hunter leave early! Today was one of those days. When he stepped out of the shop, a comfortable, chilly breeze hit his face.

The weather was great! After stopping into the Three Broomsticks to pick up a large case of Butterbeer, Hunter thought that maybe he should go and find Blake or Seren - they were both sure to be in Hogsmeade on a day like this. But first, he'd run back up to the castle to drop off his butterbeer. That way, he didn't have to carry it around with him. He thought about just dropping it in the Zonkos staff room, but Hunter was fairly sure that the boss would drink it. And he really didn't mind the walk.

While he walked, Hunter thought about everything going on. Basically, his life was a complete mess. It wasn't as depressing as it had been, and Hunter had been able to enjoy himself a bit more lately, but it was still a mess. There was Aoife - when Hunter had stopped into the ice cream parlor with Seren, Aoife's reaction made it more than clear that she hadn't come out of their separation unscathed. He hadn't just made her angry by his actions - he'd managed to break her. And Hunter wasn't sure how to feel about that. Just the fact that he was able to hurt her said a lot, didn't it? Because Aoife was strong - and to see her that way was unbearably hard.

And then there was Seren. Thankfully, she hadn't decided to completely shun Hunter after he'd clearly used her to make Aoife jealous. And the more time Hunter spent with her, the more he could see himself with her. He could tell that she wanted to be with him. But the connection that he'd had with Aoife still just wasn't there. And maybe that was because he was so unwilling to let someone else as close to him as Aoife had been. He liked Seren. He thought she was pretty. But she wasn't his best friend.

His thoughts carried him all the way back to the castle, and before he knew it, he was back at his dormitory. It would be empty - but when he pushed open the door he found that it wasn't empty at all. Hunter raised an eyebrow as he saw Lyra ruffling through his drawers, with an open butterbeer and chocolate bar next to her. Hunter crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, watching her with slight amusement for a moment. "Didn't mom teach you not to go through other people's things?"

But then his amused look fell, and a serious one replaced it. Because he saw what she had found. And he didn't even want to look at it. "Lyra, put that back," he said coldly, stepping into the room and dropping the case of butterbeer near his bed next to the old one.

A familiar voice stopped her in her tracks. Lyra took one more glimpse of the adorable little contract and turned around to face Hunter. Would he be angry? There wasn’t a good reason to be, that was for certain. At least in her mind. Would she herself be angry if someone snooped around in her room and stole her sweets? Probably, yes. But she was a big fat hypocrite.

“Yes,” she nodded, smiling a little bit nervously. “But where else am I going to get butterbeer?” Really it was Hunter’s fault for not paying much attention to her recently and therefore not supplying her with more bubbly warm beautiful drink. She liked attention. At home, when she was with Lyn and her friends from the village, she was not going to be the quiet one in the corner. Lyra was going to be the one talking, while everyone else listened. It wasn’t being self-centred. Just… bold.

Then his face turned from a joking one to a scary, serious one. Not that she was scared of anything. Why? She looked down to her hands and saw the contract. That would be it. She opened her mouth to apologise and put it back immediately, but then she realised that she wasn’t a stupid coward who would stop what she was doing for the sake of this moron’s stupid pride. Why would she do what he said, just because he was putting on a scary face and trying to intimidate her into losing sight of her very developed personality.

Did that make sense? To her it did.

Anger sparked up inside of her and she thought of Aoife’s sad face and Hunter flaunting Seren to her. Her brother didn’t deserve any respect, he was evil. Lyra was so tempted to write to mom telling her all the cruel stuff he’d been up to. That would serve him right. But she wasn’t a snitch. “No,” she shrugged, taking one hand away from the piece of paper to place on her hip.

“Why do you even keep it if you’re scared of someone seeing it?” Not only had he kept it, but he’d kept it neat and perfect. She already knew the answer to her question, but she got the feeling Hunter wouldn’t admit that he didn’t want to lose the only part of Aoife that he had left. It sounded cliché, like Lyn’s muggle movies, but it was true.

"I guess you have a point there," Hunter said, releasing an amused breath. "But you could have just asked me." He knew chiding his sister would do no good. She would do what she wanted no matter what he had to say about it. And in truth, he wasn't much better. He wouldn't put it past himself to sneak into someone's room for butterbeer if he couldn't get it himself.

When he turned around from setting down the butterbeer, Lyra was still holding the piece of paper in her hands. And she was refusing to put it away. "I mean it. I don't need this right now, put it back." Hunter could make out the writing on the contract, even from where he was standing. Aoife's first-year handwriting was scrawled across it, along with his pathetic first-year signature. I, Aoife O'Donnell, promise to be Hunter's best friend for two weeks. I, Hunter VanDerberg, promise the same. The memory of it almost brought a smile to Hunter's face. Almost.

Hunter sighed when Lyra asked him why he kept it. "I'm not scared of someone seeing it. I just forgot about it, that's all. It's been in there for forever." Not true at all. Hunter had spent a while after his and Aoife's argument holding that stupid piece of paper in his hands, thinking about ripping it up. Or throwing it in the fire. But each time he did so, it always ended with him smoothing it out and putting it carefully back in it's place. He wondered if Aoife still had her copy. But no, that didn't matter. "Why are you so interested in it, anyway?" It wasn't all that interesting. Why did Lyra even care about it?

Lyra shrugged, grinning. "That might have made sense. Booooooring, though." Butterbeer obviously wasn't the only thing that she'd come here to find. She wasn't going to mention that to Hunter. She wasn't stupid, however brave and unafraid of stupid third-years she was.

If Hunter didn't care about Aoife, he wouldn't be so touchy about the contract. He'd simply ask again NICELY, maybe throw it away. She reluctantly shook her head and shoved it back into the drawer. Arguing with Hunter wouldn't solve any of her queries about Haoife or Senter, only make her brother even more moody.

"You don't need it?" she repeated. "You really have that much other stuff to deal with at the moment? Because it seems much worse for some people." More specifically, Aoife, who seemed to spend her time curled up in the dormitory crying like an annoying wimp and jinxing Lyra whenever she tried to come into her OWN ROOM before it was time for bed. It was annoying. Probably for Nina and Ariel as well. In a way, she could see why Hunter had given up on Aoife. Maybe he realised she could be like this.

Bad excuse. Just forgot about it. Did he ever open these drawers? And how could you forget such an important artifact in Haoife history? "Right," she smirked annoyingly. Yeah, why was she interested? Good question, Hunter. "Haoife. Maybe if you two just get together Aoife will stop being so stupid and you'll stop being so moody." Lyra casually took a bite of her stolen chocolate bar. It was nice.

She looked at that sock on the floor again. "You should clean your dorm. It isn't a hard spell." Subject change, yes.

"That's right, I don't need it," Hunter repeated irritably, turning away from his sister and falling backwards onto his bed. He wanted to go to Hogmeade but there was no way he was leaving his room unattended now. He would just lay there and think moody thoughts and ignore his sister while she continued to snoop around his room and eat his sweets. He didn't care. She had already found the contract, so he had nothing else to hide.

"What are you talking about?" Hunter asked when Lyra said that some people had it worse. He sat up to look at her, trying to decipher her words. Who had it worse? Not Aoife. She was the one who had started all this. Sure, she'd been upset at the ice cream shop, but he'd been trying to hurt her then. Up until that moment, he was fairly certain that she didn't care at all about what had happened.

Wait, what did she just say? Hunter stared at Lyra dumbly for a minute. "Did you just say HAOIFE?" Hunter asked his sister incredulously. Haoife? "What the hell is that even supposed to mean?" Whatever it was, it was supposed to fix him and Aoife. Wait a minute... "How is Aoife being stupid?" That could mean anything coming from Lyra. Stupid as in annoying? Stupid as in miserable like Hunter? He shouldn't care. But he couldn't help but ask. He needed to know what Aoife was feeling.

Then she was telling him to clean his room. Hunter rolled his eyes. "Alright, mom, " he said sarcastically. "I know how to do it, but why bother? Blake doesn't care, and girls aren't SUPPOSED to be in here, " he added, giving his sister a pointed look that would maybe remind her that she had entered uninvited.

It seemed her brother had decided to make himself at home. Which sort of made sense, as this was his room and she was the intruder here. Lyra covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a giggle at the next statement. There were people in the world who had been through a lot worse than Hunter. And Aoife, for that matter. They denied that they were stupid teenagers, but they were making a huge spectacle out of a tiny, insignificant problem.

Yes, he cared. He was asking about Aoife. "Maybe she doesn't have it as bad as you, but what about all of those people who are DYING with DEADLY DISEASES?" They had it much worse, poor souls. "Well, child, Aoife mopes around, doesn't bother to hide her loud crying and jinxes me whenever I try to go into MY DORM," she said, clearly outraged by the redhead's behavior. "So this needs to STOP!" Seriously!

Had nobody told him about Haoife? "It's the romantic pairing of Hunter and Aoife, duh," she said, speaking as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Almost EVERYONE ships it! But then there's the irritating Senter shippers like Lyn." Maybe she was exaggerating slightly, but Haoife was truly the greatest ship ever. It had to happen. Lyra didn't like being wrong. Lyn wouldn't win this. "Oh, Senter is Seren and Hunter." In case he was too stupid to put the pieces together there.

"Mom would be ashamed of you," she shrugged. "You and Blake are both unhygienic gits then. And you should do it because it's simple!" Wow, she did sound a lot like mom at the minute. But there was nobody else here to tell Hunter off for being stupid and lazy. "Oops, too late now. I'm not leaving now that I'm here." And that she'd found the contract.

Back to searching. "What else have you got in these drawers?" she asked, just to save herself the effort of looking through them all when he could just tell her. Lyra took out her wand from her pocket. "Um... accio Haoife evidence?" No success. Maybe the spell just didn't understand and there was still more to find?

People who were dying with deadly diseases? What? "What does that have to do with anything?" Hunter asked. Since when was Lyra all righteous and caring about random sickly people? "I mean, that's terrible, but there isn't much I can do about that." But the moment his sister started to spill information on Aoife, Hunter was all ears. He sat up a bit straighter, giving Lyra his full attention.

"She's been crying?" Hunter asked, staring at his sister's face to see if it was a joke. Aoife, crying? That wasn't possible. Aoife didn't cry - especially over Hunter. So what did that mean? Was she just angry about everything? Was she regretting throwing a chair at him? Did she want to be friends again? Did she want to be more than friends? Or was she just miserable because she was alone? But then Hunter tried to push all of those thoughts from his mind. "Well, she hasn't said anything to me." Surely, if she was that miserable over the whole thing, she would just apologize and be done with it. Right? "And she was the one who started it, in case you've forgotten."

What? Haoife? Senter? Since when did people combine people's names to indicate a romantic connection? "First of all, that is the most ridiculous think that I've ever heard," he told Lyra, almost laughing at the strangeness of it. "And second of all, hate to disappoint you kid, but Aoife doesn't like romance. And Aoife definitely doesn't like me. So if I were you, I'd start looking for other people to... to ship..." He was pretty sure he'd used that last word right. But it was still stupid.

"Mom's not here," Hunter told her, reclining back onto his bed again in an uncaring manner. "If it bothers you so bad, why don't you clean it while you're going through all of my things." Hunter listened in amusement as she tried to summon Haoife Evidence. "Do you really think that if there was anything in there I didn't want you to see, I'd be letting you go through my stuff?" Hunter said in slight amusement while staring at the ceiling. "Give it up."

"Well, I was going to bring up Aoife but then I remembered your life sucks too," she said sarcastically. At least the deadly ill people were a valid comparison. "You could stop moaning about stuff and at least pretend to be a bit happier. If Aoife saying no really doesn't bother you, then you should be happy anyway." Obviously.

Oh no, Hunter totally didn't care at all. He should just face his feelings and admit that he hated Seren and still liked Aoife. "All the time," Lyra nodded. "Why would she say anything to you? You're such an insensitive git, Hunter!" Did he really have no idea what was going on in that girl's head? "Her feelings for you are really strong, but not so much that she'd look weak by apologising first. Asking Seren out probably didn't help your case. You asked her out at the wrong time. You took her by surprise and she was scared." They were in love. Could he not understand? "I mean, that's what I get from guesswork."

Ridiculous? He dared insult the ART of shipping? Lyra frowned. But it was pointless arguing. He just wasn't cool enough to understand and participate. "I still don't understand why you asked her, then. Or did you only just realise that she hates you and will never go out with you?" Oh, she didn't mean that. It went against her Haoife shipping. "Sorry, I'm sure she'll come running into your arms eventually." Definitely.

No! "I will NOT look for other people to ship! You two are my OTP!" she exclaimed. She would not abandon her OTP, just because they were having a bit of a lover's tiff. "And I refuse to ship Senter! Seren is way too pretty and intelligent for you! You don't deserve her!" So he should not give up on Haoife.

Fine, she would! Lyra grabbed her wand. "Tergeo." Suddenly the room looked so much neater and nicer. "That easy!" she repeated. So that was it. She supposed this was some sort of reverse psychology to make her leave. Well, she may stop looking but she was staying to continue this nice conversation with her brother. "Jack is so much cooler than you," she scowled. As far as she knew, Jack wasn't in love, but he'd tell her if he was. "Hey, does Jack know about this?" He shipped Haoife too.

Hunter listened to everything his sister had to say without interrupting, a slightly incredulous look on his face. Somehow, his sister had gone from the sick and dying to Aoife's feelings to OTPs, whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. This was why he had liked being best friends with Aoife. She hadn't cared about shipping or OTPs or anything like that. But he wasn't friends with Aoife anymore, and he needed to stop thinking about her. Once his sister was done with her rant, Hunter had to take a moment to process everything that she'd said before replying.

"I'm not moaning about anything," Hunter started with a defensive tone to his voice. "You're the one who's asking," he reminded her. How dare she tell him he needed to start pretending to be happy?! All Hunter did was pretend to be happy so that his friends didn't have to deal with his problems. He only dropped his facade when he was safely alone, usually in his dormitory. Then, he could stare miserably at the canopy above his bed and think all about how he'd ruined his life. But now, he couldn't even be alone in his dormitory because his annoying little sister wouldn't leave him alone.

Then, Lyra was asking why he was upset if Aoife's rejection didn't bother him, and why he'd asked her in the first place. And suddenly, whatever bit of amusement he'd found in this situation was gone. His sister wanted to know the truth? Fine. What difference did it make anyway? "Of course it bothers me that she said no, Lyra," he admitted with a defeated sigh. "But she did say no. I asked her because I thought it was what I wanted. And I hoped it was what she wanted. But it didn't work out that way, and there isn't anything that I can do to change that now. Sometimes that's just how things are. I'm not going to spend my entire life trying to change her mind." How could anyone expect that of him?

Her feelings for you are really strong. "I seriously doubt that," Hunter said with a humorless laugh. "If that were the case, then why did she react that way? She threw a chair at me," he reminded his sister. "You were there, you saw it." Hunter stared at his sister for a moment when she said that Aoife was just scared. "Aoife doesn't get scared. She just gets angry when things don't go her way," Hunter told her, shaking his head. "And when was I supposed to ask her then, even if you're right - which you aren't." It would always have come as a surprise. "No matter when or how I did it, she would have reacted the same way."

And asking Seren out hadn't helped? "Well, it wasn't my intention for it to help," Hunter said plainly. "The way Aoife will react to what I do isn't my problem anymore." Although he had asked Seren out specifically to get a reaction from Aoife. But that was besides the point. "And Seren seems to like me a whole lot better than Aoife, whether you think I deserve her or not. So why wouldn't I ask her out?" Honestly, what did Lyra know about it anyway?

"And honestly, why shouldn't Aoife be the one to apologize? In case you've forgotten, she was the one who brought all this on. I didn't do a thing wrong to her! And she knows that I'd be friends with her again if she wanted to be. So she must not want to." Hunter had considered apologizing to Aoife a thousand times over, but each time he'd managed to convince himself that it wasn't his place to apologize. It was hers.

"Not unless you've mentioned it to him, he doesn't," Hunter said when Lyra asked about Jack, who was apparently way cooler than him. "I haven't written to him, I don't want Mom to see it. He'll find out soon enough, the Holiday isn't too far off." In truth, Hunter was dying to talk to his brother. Jack would know what to do, if he were here. And suddenly, Hunter realized how much he was looking forward to Summer. Maybe a whole summer away from Aoife would be more than enough to rid her from his mind. Somehow, he'd push her out. He had to.

Still, he couldn't get Lyra's words about Aoife crying out of his head. All the time, Lyra had said. All the time. And as usual, it took everything he had to squash that stupid voice inside of his head telling him to go to her. You would think it would learn by now that he wasn't going to listen, no matter how badly he wanted to.

Lyra was trying to decide who was in the right here. Both of them were complete idiots, but one of them must be worse. Aoife had rejected her future husband, while Hunter had flaunted a girlfriend in front of his future wife. “Ooh, can I be a bridesmaid at your wedding? But not wear pink?” she beamed, thinking of weddings. “Maybe light blue. Or purple.” Yeah, that would be nice. Still, the lovebirds had to get together before she could start planning their wedding for them. And that couldn’t happen while they were in that awkward in-between stage where they “hated” each other.

Maybe it was her fault for asking. But it wasn’t her fault that he was so moody and stupid to begin with. She shrugged. “Nevermind.” What if she was asking because she was concerned about him? Worried that he was going to be depressed and moody forever? Because that would drive her mad. It was still all about her, how the whole turn of events would affect her life and mood. There was a bit of sympathy for Hunter, deep down, though.

At least he was coming around. He admitted that it bothered him. So now he could solve his problem and get that happy ever after that would solve everyone’s problem. But oh great, he’d given up hope. “Just be patient. Because the right time HAS to come.” But if he wasn’t prepared to be patient he should copy a cliché movie and get the girl with a big romantic gesture. “Or you could admit that you don’t like Seren and start a flash mob for Aoife. Or turn up at her door with chocolates and a romantic picnic for two.” Awesome ideas, of course.

“Spur of the moment thing,” Lyra answered quickly. In her anger and fear, she’d decided the chair wanted to go flying through the air like an adventurous chair. “Everyone gets scared. Even her. Think of how scared you are of mom.” She stuck her tongue out, trying her best to make the mood slightly less dark and uncomfortable. It would probably fail. “Aoife must feel like that.”

She snorted. “Because you don’t like Seren. You don’t LOVE her. Maybe you see how unfairly pretty and clever she is. But she isn’t like Aoife for you.” If Hunter and Seren stayed together, they would be the most depressing couple ever. Neither of them would ever be happy. At least their children would be really beautiful. But their wedding wouldn't be as amusing and eventful.

Another good point. “Maybe she should apologise,” she nodded. “But both of you should. At the minute, you’re both too drowned in your own pride and petty anger for either of you to ever make a move.” And apologise. Still, it seemed like Lyra was the only one who could see was a ridiculous thing they were making out of what should be a small incident.

Yeah, Jack was the all-knowing genius of the family who could tell Hunter exactly what to do. “He’ll help,” she nodded. He would have worked that out himself by now, though. “He has the most bloody common sense.”

Since she clearly wasn’t welcome here, Lyra helped herself to another chocolate bar and thought about a nice dramatic way to leave. There wasn’t time. She should just walk away. “When you’re brave enough to get over yourself and make my OTP happen, I’ll be interested,” she said, almost as moody as Hunter had been. Then she shuffled quickly in the direction of the door. She was above all this.