Bathroom Chat (Phin)

One of the biggest things Hunter had missed about Hogwarts was flying. At home, in his muggle community in the Netherlands, he couldn't exactly take his Nimbus out for a fly whenever he liked. Sometimes he'd fly through the forest, zipping between trees. It definitely helped his agility, but it got boring pretty fast. So to be able to soar through the open sky again was the most exhilarating feeling. Quidditch practice hadn't started yet, but that didn't stop Hunter from spending a few hours working on his maneuvers and shooting a few quaffles and just enjoying the air.

Unfortunately, in the middle of practicing a more difficult maneuver that involved flipping his broom upside down, Hunter wound up on the ground. In a pile of mud. It figured. At least he'd been practicing close to the ground, so it hadn't hurt that bad - and at least he'd been the only one there, so nobody saw him wipe out. He was about to remount his broom to try again when his stomach growled pretty loudly - how long had he been out on the pitch, anyway? It had to be almost dinnertime! So, shouldering his broom, Hunter took off for the castle.

When he got inside, tracking a ton of mud behind him, he headed for the nearest bathroom to try and clean himself up at least a bit before joining the rest of his classmates in the great hall. He was pretty sure that he had some time before dinner was actually served, or he would have just gone to eat covered in dirt. It would bother the people around him more than it would bother Hunter. But since he had a little time, he'd wash up. Hunter entered the ground floor bathroom and headed for one of the sinks. The Hogwarts bathrooms were all so weird and medieval looking and not at all like normal bathrooms. But Hunter was used to it by now, and turned the water on without a second thought, running his hands under it. Once it was warm, he splashed it up onto his face, trying to rid himself of at least some of the dirt and sweat that he'd accumulated during his practice.

Phineas was beyond mortified. He didn't mean to hit her... He was NOT his father. He was NOT his father was what kept running through his mind. He had faced Hunter after IT had happened and he ran away terrified of what the older boy would do to him.

He had been bad days after that. He had pretended to be sick, and went to the nurse to get an excuse to get out of class to avoid Aoife. He was told to stay in bed, but he couldn't be stuck in the dorm anymore. He had gone flying already earlier that day, so he decided to walk to the furthest bathroom away from the Hufflepuff common room.

He walked and made sure it was the boys before he did so, and went straight to a stall slamming the door shut not even bothering to see if anybody was there.

Anyways. He could care less. It was then that his emotions got the best of him, and big fat tears started rolling down his face. At that point, he didn't care who saw him. His reputation was shot anyways. He didn't pay that much attention to the school gossip anymore, but he was pretty sure that they where saying he hit girls. There goes his future relationships.

He decided to take his anger on the bathroom stall walls, and hit them a couple of times bruising his hand really bad. He walked out and went to the sink. He then looked over to see who was starring at him. Great... JUST WHO HE WANTED TO SEE.

He sighed and asked, "Are you going to punch me now? Because I'd rather you not. I have to deal with that enough at home."

He didn't care enough anymore at who knew and who didn't.

This was hopeless. Hunter had completely given up the hope of his shirt coming clean - the cotton tee shirt was drenched with wet mud. So was his hair, but since it was short now it wouldn't be too hard to rinse it out. Giving up on trying to wipe the mud from his face, Hunter went ahead and dunked his whole head under the faucet, reaching up to rub the mud from his hair. It only took a moment to rid his head of mud that way.

Just as he was turning the water off, a banging sound echoed out from behind him - Hunter furrowed his brow and turned around. It seemed like it was coming from one of the stalls - he hadn't realized that anyone else was there. Reaching for a towel to dry his face with, he watched the stalls a bit cautiously, but didn't have to wait very long to find out who was causing so much commotion. One of the doors swung open, and a familiar second year Hufflepuff shuffled out. And he looked absolutely miserable.

But that wasn't exactly Hunter's concern. He wasn't the Hogwarts Help-line, and he couldn't help every miserable, unfortunate soul that he came across. Ariel, absolutely. Aoife, sometimes. But random second year children that attacked him for no reason? That was beyond the scope of Hunter's compassion. But then the kid spoke up, and asked if Hunter was going to hit him. And informed him that he'd been hit plenty enough at home. Though his gaze didn't soften any, a jolt of surprise shot through him, mingled with a sense of pity.

"No, of course not," he replied evenly, unsure of what else to say. What were you supposed to say when a child that you couldn't stand mentions that he's been abused? Turning back to face the mirror, Hunter brought the towel he was holding up to run over his hair, trying to dry it a bit while he tried to figure out how to respond. He felt bad for the kid - and even felt a bit of fury towards his parents - but had no place talking to this boy about his family.

But Hunter knew what had Phineas so upset - and that was something that he maybe could help him with. So with a sigh, Hunter looked over at the boy. "Look, I don't know what you were thinking, trying to kiss her," Hunter started off. "But don't think too much on it. She'll come around." The thought came to Hunter that he should probably tell Aoife what Phin had said about his home life - it definitely explained his reaction to her slapping him. And she was a much more likely candidate to talk to Phin about it than Hunter was. "And if it helps, nobody knows what happened except me. And I haven't told anyone." And Hunter was fairly sure that Aoife wouldn't tell anyone. Not that she had that many people to tell.

Phin was a tad relieved that he wasn't going to be recieving a beating from the older boy. He had accidentally let it slip about his dad. But then Hunter spoke. He remembered that he went through the same thing Hunter had went through only the year before. Why didn't he remember that? If he had, maybe he and Aoife could still be friends and he wouldn't be avoiding her.

But, unfortunantly, he had tried to kiss her, and she slapped him, and he her. He said she would come around. Doubtful. After what he did? Even he wouldn't talk to him. He could barley look at himself in the mirror.

He took a little breath when he said they hadn't told anybody. Good. At least what little of a reputation he had wasn't shot. He had been talking to his uncle chad, and he was major help on relationship advice. He basically said, " if she pulled away, she's not worth it." And it was taking him a while to comprehend that.

He wanted to apologize but didn't really know how. He said, "please don't tell her about home, or anyone. I know I don't diserve it, but I'd have no where to go if they found out."

He was pleading now. Another thing that his father would be disappointed by. But this time, he found that he didn't really care.

Hunter finished drying his hair and face and dropped the towel he was using lazily over the sink before turning his attention back to the kid standing near him. He didn't comment on what Hunter had said about Aoife, but was asking him not to repeat what he'd said about his home life. Hunter looked to the side a bit uncomfortably at this - that was a big request. Hunter might not be all that fond of Phin, but to not step in when he knew the kid was getting hit at home? That was just wrong on all levels.

With a sigh, he looked back at Phin and gave him a heavy look. "Alright," Hunter agreed, just to ease the kid's mind for now. In truth, Hunter didn't have much intention of keeping that bit of information from at least Aoife. He wouldn't go to a teacher or anything, but he needed to at least tell someone who was in a position to talk to Phin about it. Hunter certainly wasn't the person to discuss this with him. He didn't care what the Hufflepuff thought of him to begin with, so what did it matter if Hunter broke his word to him?

Rather than dwell on a pretty uncomfortable subject, Hunter decided to change the topic to another still-but-slightly-less uncomfortable one. "So what made you do it?" he asked, looking at Phin curiously. "You realize she threw a chair at me last year when I asked her to Hogsmeade - what made you think she'd react any differently to you?" And all Hunter had done was ask her on one date. He couldn't imagine what she would have done if he'd tried to actually kiss her. She might have lit him on fire or something. Hunter just knew that it would have ended badly.

Phin shrugged. He honestly didn't know why he did it. He didn't really know what else to say to the Gryffindor boy. But a something hit him (not literally obviously), but theoretically. Why did he think he had a chance, when Hunter had done basically the same thing the year before?

He leaned against the wall and sunk down to the floor and banged his head against the wall a little bit. He said, "I'm so stupid! Why did I even think I had a chance when even you didn't? Why me?"

That's all he wanted to know... Why him?