Dreary Patrols and New Bossyness [Hunter]

Darcy was out on patrol. And it was dreary. She was so sleepy and this was just dragging on. She had never realized that walking around could be so tiresome. Some of the prefects were about and she was sure Evan was somewhere around as well. But Darcy hadn't seen either of them during this patrol. No wonder though. In all her seven years at Hogwarts, she'd never been fully aware of the vast size of the castle. Having just been inside the Slytherin common room, a shock in and of itself, she was now on her way to the Gryffindor common room. Noise was clearly frowned upon by professors. But for some reason, people were just silent during the nighttime. If one thing was learned during Hogwarts, it was disipline. Darcy had never really noted this before either. It was a sneaking brainwash.

Darcy chuckled at herself and her thoughts. It was clearly getting late. She then found herself in front of the Fat Lady, and soon enough, the portrait swung open and Darcy climbed in. She hadn't been in the common room for a while. She'd hung out with Ariel at some point, but even so, she felt a weird sense of nostalgia as she walked into the room. Which was ridiculous. First overview; empty, silent and ready to be left alone. Second overview; not-so-empty, way-too-silent, and not ready to be left alone. Hunter was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the fire. Darcy wasn't sure if he'd heard anyone enter or not, but she sighed. She was glad that Ariel seemed to be speaking with Hunter again, but she was still a bit ... angry wasn't the right word. Well, something like frustrated, perhaps?

She walked over and looked down at him. "Mind if I sit?" she asked him softly, deciding to actually wait, because she didn't want to intrude if he really wanted to be left alone. But it all depended on how he said it. If he was rude, she'd sit down. If he said she could, she'd sit down. If he just stated that he simply wanted to be at peace, that would also be fine, because Merlin knew just how much Darcy was craving peace herself. Which was one of the perks of the patrols; no one really bothered you.

The longer time went on, the more Hunter came to realize that he would never heal. Ever. But at the same time, there was some small part of him - somewhere in the back of his mind - that was starting to realize that life might not be as worthless as he'd thought. When Jack had died, Hunter had retreated within himself, and refused to care about anyone else - refused to let anyone else care about him. How could he? All he could think about was death - loss. That anyone at any moment could simply cease to be, just like his brother. And he was so sure that nothing could help him. Not now.

But if the stabbing, aching feeling of regret in his gut every time he'd seen Ariel wasn't enough to prove him wrong, nothing was. He'd pushed her away, like everyone else. Really, he'd pushed her away the most violently of all. But of all the people that he'd lashed out at and ignored and hid from, Ariel was the only one that he missed. He hadn't thought that anything could effect him - what could ever be worse than what he'd already gone through? What else mattered? But it became clear pretty quickly that Ariel mattered. Through all of his misery and pain and despair - all of his selfishness and anger - Hunter spent at least part of every day not regretting that he'd lost her, but that he hurt her. And having her back was more of a relief than Hunter could explain. He would never heal. But Ariel's renewed presence in his life was already leading him out of the darkness. If he was going to be broken, he didn't have to be broken alone.

But that didn't stop his mind from still wandering, late at night, as he sat in the common room staring into the fire. And he looked up with relief when he heard somebody crossing the room - Agnes probably couldn't sleep again, too. She'd become another, strange source of comfort for Hunter. And somehow, as time passed, her voice had become one of the few that could ease his mind. But he couldn't hide the surprise in his face when his eyes didn't meet Agnes' big brown ones. No, a pair of familiar, blue eyes were staring down at him, and for the briefest of moments Hunter accepted it as Ariel. But then, taking in the rest of her features, he realized immediately that it wasn't.

It was Darcy. Hunter just stared at her for a moment when she asked if she could sit. It was kind of strange, really, how her features - though still impossibly perfect - no longer evoked the same reaction in Hunter that they used to. Pulling his eyes away from her was no longer difficult - he'd come to appreciate her sister's softer, gentle features far more. Hunter was tempted to tell her no, like he would have a week ago. Like he would still, to most people. But Darcy was Ariel's sister, and probably the only person in the school who cared about Ariel more than he did. Far more. Because that was what siblings were for. That's what Jack had been for. So with a tight smile, he nodded. "Yeah, go on."

At his response and somewhat strained smile, Darcy was actually a bit surprised. She hadn't expected a try at a smile at all. But she took the acceptance and sat down, looking into the fire. She suddenly noticed how extremely tired she was. Things were getting a bit too much for her, it seemed. Well, at least it was only for another term. She kept looking into the fire, her mind drifting for a moment. She noticed how she actually didn't know what to say to him, or even if she wanted to say anything at all. She had seen the photo in the prophet of the family. She'd recognized Jack from the park. But she hadn't told Hunter about it, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to. It was her own personal memory of him, where he'd been like coming up for fresh air after being smothered by people feeling sorry for her loss.

To say it true, when Darcy had walked away from that field in her fourth year, he'd stayed in her mind for quite some time, and she had spent more time in the park after that, just hoping that he might show up again. She wasn't sure if it was because she'd had a crush on him, or because he was such a decent guy and a breath of fresh air, but it had been one thing or the other. The shock that the guy had been Hunter's brother, Hunter's dead brother, had still not quite left her.

She looked away from the fire and sideways at Hunter. She took some time to study him, deciding not to care if he thought it was rude or if he even noticed. He looked tired. Exhausted, really. But whether he knew this himself or not was unknown to Darcy. She looked back to the fire. She didn't feel uncomfortable or awkward, but she felt like she should say something. However, everything she could think of would sound tactless or stupid. How are you? What answer would she expect? Oh, I'm peachy, my brother died last summer, and now I'm the boss of the house. So yeah, my life is wonderful! Darcy almost scowled at her own sarcastic thought. Her thought was tactless.

So she decided to take on another role that she really wanted to bring forth. But without being tactless. Hopefully. "I'm glad you and Ariel are talking again," she said softly, "She seems much happier now." Darcy wasn't sure if Ariel would be happy with her older sister for talking to her friend about her, but there were some stuff that Hunter just needed to know, and Darcy would rather have Ariel angry with her than hurt. Again.

Darcy joined him, but didn't say anything right away. She just mirrored him, staring into the fire. Hunter's eyes remained locked on the twisting flames, not flicking in her direction in the slightest. It didn't matter if she was there. But in a way, her being there ever so slightly eased the thoughts going through his mind. Her calm, quiet presence felt familiar - even comforting. And while that made no sense, being that he hardly talked to Darcy, it did make sense at the same time. She was Ariel's sister. Hunter imagined that if Ariel were to spend any time with Jack, he'd feel familiar to her as well. Because he and Jack were brothers. They were the same, despite all their differences. But Ariel would never have that chance, because Jack was dead.

With that thought, he couldn't help but glance over at Darcy. Because Darcy was Ariel's Jack. And the realization of that made it slightly painful to look at her. He fought down the wave of jealousy that washed over him, that Ariel still had her sister. Because jealousy implied that Ariel had it better than him, and that was the kind of thinking that had caused him to lose her in the first place. He couldn't consider her loss less devastating than his - he knew that now. As he looked up at Darcy, he found that she was looking back at him. Scrutinizing him, really. He met her gaze for a moment before turning it back to the fire. He could feel her eyes lingering on him, but it didn't matter. He was more than used to people looking at him by now. He didn't get what the obsession was with staring at people whose brother had just been murdered, but he'd learned early on to ignore it. Darcy and Ariel had been spared that particular misfortune, because nobody had known about their loss until they chose to share it.

When she finally spoke, Hunter glanced over at her again. Her words brought him a combined sense of relief and guilt - he was always relieved when he reminded himself that he and Ariel were friends again. But Darcy's words were also a reminder that he was the one to hurt her. He didn't respond right away, but nodded at what she had said. "I'm glad, too," he finally agreed. "If there's anyone in this fucked up world that deserves to be happy, it's your sister," he added in a low, but serious voice, looking away from her. "I was an idiot to lose sight of that."