Contractual Agreements (Aoife)

Okay, today was the day. The day. The day Hunter had been planning for weeks. Or, for a few days. Same difference. The point was, he'd prepared, which clearly showed how important it was to him. And now it was here. Not only the day, but almost the moment. Of course, Hunter was there a bit early, because he had to set up! Or, un-set up might be a better way to put it. So, walking into the empty charms classroom, Hunter set his bag down and got to work. For once, he was thankful that he was able to do magic. Because moving all of those chairs and desks by hand would have been a pain in the ass and taken forever. Luckily, he just had to levitate them out of the classroom, piling them in the next closest room. He had to remove everything - chairs, desks, little trinkets, maybe even the drawers from Professor Leblanc's desk. Basically anything that wasn't too heavy for Aoife pick up and throw, swing or stab him with.

Because today, Hunter was going to ask Aoife out. Because, just like last time, he couldn't help himself any longer. Before, he'd been positive that this would never happen. Not again. Hadn't he told Agnes that one day that if he did have a soulmate, it would never be Aoife? That they had none of the right things in common? That they would always clash? And maybe all of that was still true, but it didn't change anything. Didn't change the feeling he got last year when he woke up with an arm around her waist. Didn't change the way he constantly looked for her fiery hair as he was walking, at Quidditch practice, at dinner, anywhere. Didn't change how much he loved hugging her, or always wished he could hug her longer. And before, he could push it all from his mind - because he'd be damned if he let this happen to him again. But he was tired of fighting it - and he'd never have a better opportunity than this, after giving Willow to Aoife.

Maybe they would never work. Maybe it was a terrible idea. But Hunter was tired of wondering - tired of thinking about the what ifs. It may never work out, but he had to know. But this time, he wasn't going to fail. He'd told Aoife to meet him in the charms classroom to work on their next project, which Leblanc had paired them together for. He'd made sure the classroom was completely empty, in case all hell broke loose. He'd removed all of the objects she could possibly throw, leaving pretty much nothing but Leblanc's desk and a few posters on the wall. Hopefully she didn't grab one and try to give him a papercut or something, but he could deal with that. But, even if she reacted badly, Hunter was pretty sure that this time, she couldn't say no.

Hunter's problem last time was that he had been completely naive, and had attributed Aoife with qualities that she didn't possess - number one, being a girl. Hunter had long since learned that he couldn't treat Aoife like a girl. Not at all. It would never be successful. So, he wouldn't. He wouldn't try to charm her, or try to flirt. He wasn't even going to ask her out loud. Instead, he'd made a contract. A long, detailed contract. Those seemed to work for her, from his experience. And then he'd stapled the contract to the back of it. The one that Aoife had made all those years ago. The one he'd claimed to have lost, or thrown out. He'd just stuck it to the back with a post it that said, By the way, I still have mine. He'd never been able to get rid of it - or get rid of her. Not really. Which was why he was here. So, around the time that she was supposed to show up, he set the contract that he'd created on Leblanc's desk, facing the door, and then hopped up onto the desk himself to wait.

And then, like always, his eyes were drawn to her hair. It was always the first thing he noticed about her. He shot her a grin as she stepped through the door, not bothering to explain the lack of furniture. "Hey," he greeted her, an easygoing tone to his voice. "Come over here, I need you to read this." Unlike last time, Hunter felt no nerves as she approached him. He wasn't the same thirteen year old boy anymore. He was seventeen, experienced, confident. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, he knew Aoife. And he knew that this way, it was pretty unlikely that he'd lose. Aoife wasn't a normal girl, and this wasn't just Hunter asking her out. It was a negotiation.

THE CONTRACT:

Obviously having to work with Hunter on some dumb charms project wasn’t ideal, but Aoife was willing to actually work hard on it for the sake of her grades, because she had actually started thinking about that sort of stressful academic shit. Apparently journalists needed some good school grades. As did working in jobs to do with magical animals. So she was screwed, unless she stopped copying Hunter’s homework word for word and started concentrating in classes. She missed first-year, back when nothing mattered except dancing in the common room and going on adventures with unicorns and finger painting and putting beer in Elddirs’ coffee. On one hand, she didn’t want to leave Hogwarts, because she’d enjoyed some aspects of school here, but on the other she wanted to leave as soon as possible, get NEWTs over with quickly. And she was only sixth-year.

As she walked quickly along the corridor, she rustled through her bag, checking she’d brought quills and ink and parchment and stuff, whatever she’d need for the stupid project. She was hungry. Hunter better have food like usual. What was she going to do after Hogwarts, without Hunter and the house elves in the kitchens? Without the constant access to food she’d become used to? She didn’t want to think about that terrible day. Humming a song from an old Disney movie, she sped up her walking. She wanted to get there, quickly do the project, and then go down to the kitchens, where she would quite happily spend the rest of her day, or to go and see Willow, maybe.

When she walked into the classroom, her jaw dropped and she looked at Hunter for some sort of explanation. “What the hell have you done with the classroom?” There was no furniture anymore. Maybe it was modern art, which was too deep for her to understand, but she wasn’t so fond of it at first glance. Was it Hunter’s doing, or Leblanc’s? And where was she going to sit to do the project? The floor? Hunter was sitting on Leblanc’s desk. Should she? Was it permanent? Where had the furniture even gone? Aoife didn’t understand, and she didn’t like not understanding because it happened so often and she liked to be in the know. But she didn’t have the time to bombard Hunter with more questions which he probably wouldn’t have answered, because he had something on a piece of parchment over there. Ooh, maybe he’d already finished the project and she wouldn’t have to bother. But when she saw it, it didn’t look like a Charms project. She frowned and took it to look closer at it. A contract. Another best friend contract? No, she couldn’t be Hunter’s best friend because she was Phin’s best friend. Her eyes skimmed it, and then she got it.

Wow, Hunter. So clever. Now she understood why there was no throwable furniture in the room. Thinking about it, there was no way she could say no to this. After all, it was a contract. And you didn’t just argue with a well thought-out contract like this. Unless, of course, you could find a loophole. And if she found a loophole, she was going to rip this contract up, throw it at Hunter’s face, and then also throw her glass pot of ink at Hunter’s face. But for now, she planned on remaining calm and reserved and for once acting less like a five year-old and more like a responsible adult. She noticed something on the back of the parchment, and turned it over to reveal the old contract. She couldn’t help but smile at that. Hunter had lied to her, then, when he said that he’d lost this. He hadn’t lost this.

It did make sense, since she had agreed that she owed Hunter for giving her Willow, that she repaid him somehow. “What’s a binding contract? Same as a normal contract?” she asked. Reading on, she wondered if this was really possible. Did it go against all her ideas, everything she had stood for since she was little? Or had she grown up enough to realise that all those ideals were stupid and childish? It did feel a bit hypocritical though, signing this contract. She’d think about it upon reading the rest. Maybe she could make small adjustments to stuff. Six dates seemed like a lot. There were only four weeks in a month. The next two were easier to swallow. “How about synonyms of ugly? Unattractive? Hideous?” It was good that she could still call him a git - there was no way she would be able to let go of that habit. The closet one made her want to vomit so she moved on swiftly. Keep up the pretence she liked him, yes. She was obviously an amazing actress, that would be easy.

The second part of the contract seemed to be a lot better. For Aoife. The food one didn’t mean that much, since she mainly ate at school for free and got cheap ice-cream from work. Nonetheless, it was a nice idea. The love potion ones were reassuring, she never knew what evil prank was coming next with Hunter but at least she could eliminate that one. Once she finished reading it properly, she paused. No loopholes to be found there. She really had no choice but to agree. Good contract. No excuse to throw ink in Hunter’s eyes. “All seems to be in order.” She took out her quill gel pen and scrawled her name below Hunter’s.

It was almost strange, how calm Hunter felt as Aoife walked toward him. He shouldn't be calm - if anything, he should be preparing for war. Because the fit that Aoife was going to throw when she read the first sentence was going to be comparable to a category five hurricane. And while Hunter had done his best to remove the things from the room that could assist her in her fury, there was nothing he could do about Aoife herself, who could potentially just go straight to clawing his eyes out with her own fingers or something like that when she realized that she lacked a weapon. But even though he probably should be, Hunter wasn't the slightest bit concerned. He just grinned at her like he would any other day when she questioned the lack of furniture in the room and responded easily. "I just thought we could use a bit more space," he said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. But even despite his confidence, he couldn't help his expression intensifying some as she drew closer. And finally, when she reached the desk, his eyes landed on her face, focusing on nothing but her expression. He watched on, taking in the way that her brow creased slightly in confusion. And then, she started to read.

Hunter actually had to take a breath as her eyes skimmed the first line. The moment that she understood what was going on was clearly marked by the way her facial expression changed. He could see the realization dawn on her - the shock. And already, he was bracing himself, because surely this was the point when she would explode. But Hunter was ready for it - he'd planned for it. He could handle Aoife. She'd flip shit, but he'd be able to subdue her, even if it meant having to literally, physically subdue her - which it would clearly come to. But it didn't come to that. Confusion - check. Shock - double check. But Anger? Suspiciously missing from the equation. She didn't explode. Or yell at him. Or hit him. She didn't even try to leave. The surprise just faded from her face slightly and her eyes continued to follow the words of the contract. And then she asked a question. An incredibly normal, rational question. And suddenly, it was Hunter who felt uncomfortable, because he hadn't expected this in the slightest. And he had no clue what it was even supposed to mean.

He actually hesitated before answering Aoife's question, because this had to be a trick. He just stared at her for a minute. "It's a magical agreement. If you sign it and you don't comply, something unpleasant happens." But it didn't seem to be a trick. She just kept reading. She was calm. Way too calm. What the hell was this? Hunter didn't know what to do - he couldn't read her when she was like this. What was she thinking? Forcing his thoughts to the back of his mind, he threw a lightness back into his tone and continued. "And I should warn you that, since I know you don't give a shit what might happen to you, I made it so that the effect would apply to your sheep instead - only if you sign it, of course." That was the whole point of this. She could walk away, refuse to sign it. But if she did sign it, it was her own decision. Sort of.

And then, it got even stranger. Because when she flipped to the next page and saw the old contract, Aoife smiled. Actually smiled. She was supposed to be flipping shit, and she was smiling. And Hunter couldn't help but give her a half-smile in return, still watching her face. "I tried to throw it out," he told her. "I've crumpled it about a dozen times - I almost set it on fire in third year. But I could never do it. It just felt wrong, you know?" No, she probably didn't know. Because Aoife didn't give a shit about him. She wasn't like that. Though, he was starting to wonder if he really knew what Aoife was like anymore, considering that he'd seriously misjudged her reaction. And at her next question, he couldn't help a slightly bewildered grin from returning to his face. "Who are you, and what have you done with Aoife? You're actually taking this seriously," he commented, staring at her in confusion. But then, he shook his head, answering her question. "No synonyms. But all other insults are still allowed," he added.

As she seemed to reach the end, Hunter was fairly sure that he was just hallucinating. It couldn't really be this easy. There was no way. But he watched on in confused amazement as she pulled out a pen. Was she really going to sign it? But she was. She was signing it. It was so easy. What the hell had just happened? For a moment, he just stared at her, not sure whether somehow this had backfired and he'd actually been tricked himself. But then, her voice broke through his thoughts, and a huge grin spread across his face and he was hopping down from the desk next to her. "No way!" he exclaimed, a mix of amazement and excitement evident in his voice - even to someone as oblivious as Aoife. And just as quickly, he was wrapping his arms around her waist, picking her up, spinning her in a circle, laughing - something he hadn't done since he was twelve.

After a moment, Hunter set her down, but his grin was plastered to his face. He released her from the hug, but didn't back off completely, keeping his hands resting lightly on either side of her waist. Because he wanted to. Because he could now. And it almost felt strange, because something that would be so casual with anyone else - any other girl - changed completely because it wasn't any other girl. It was Aoife. "I thought you'd put up way more of a fuss than that," he told her. "I was even fully prepared to completely remove the closet part, but I mean, if you don't mind - " he added, trailing off. But then, he laughed. "If it helps, that bit was a joke anyway and I - " But Hunter cut himself off, because he'd hardly given Aoife a moment to react, and he was probably freaking her out being so close. And then he realized all of a sudden that she really hadn't reacted the entire time. A bit, but not much.

His grin falling some, he took a step back to giving her a bit of space, but didn't remove his hands from her waist. Because he felt like the moment he did, she'd be gone. And suddenly, he felt like he had to explain. He could talk to her like a normal person now, after all. She'd already signed. "I'd say I hate to do this to you, but I'd be lying," he said, his voice taking on a slightly more serious tone, his smile falling completely as he looked down at her. "I've moved on from you a thousand times. And no matter what I do, you keep coming back. You drive me crazy, and you don't even realize, and I just have to know - " He wasn't sure why he was even bothering. She was probably just doing this out of obligation, and she probably hated him more now than she ever had. That was obviously what her silence meant. "I just need to know," he repeated, with a more final tone.

"I meant that last bit, you know," he added. "Nothing you aren't ready for. I promise," he said. "I'm not going to push you. I just wanted the chance to try without feeling like a complete idiot." And suddenly, he was starting to doubt himself. Because she definitely hated him by now. "Look, I'm not trying to make you miserable. I know you don't think that you will, but I want you to enjoy this," Hunter told her, completely resisting the urge to reach up and tuck some of her fiery hair behind her ear, because that would definitely be too much for her right now. And he had to know his boundaries. "If you can't enjoy it, then I won't either." Hunter actually had to inhale to get his breath back, and he knew that his nerves were starting to show. Fuck this shit. He released a slightly frustrated sigh and decided to just fuck it. He might never get to do it again. So he reached up, brushing some of her hair out of her face, and looked down at her. "What are you thinking?" he asked a bit desperately, his voice quiet. Serious. Because he couldn't read her now. And he needed to know.

Aoife would never have guessed what Hunter had planned. Because while she always thought he was the much more predictable one, he was actually fairly unpredictable sometimes. He was still really dumb, but maybe he just occasionally had a brilliant idea. Not that this contract was really a brilliant idea, although it was certainly smart enough that she would find difficulty in disagreeing with it. It involved free food, even, what else could a girl want? It did mean she suddenly felt a lot more respect for him. Since he may be of average intelligence after all. Nonetheless, she hid the smile pulling at her lips, because even though it was smart and all, she still wasn’t entirely sure what to think and how to react. There were downsides. Acting like a typical lovesick teenager in public would obviously be difficult. But that wasn’t the exact wording - maybe she could be his girlfriend in a more Aoife sort of way. There was still a complex debate happening in the deep inner-workings of her mind, though. On one hand, she felt like it was hypocritical, on the other, she was coming around to the idea, since it was so well presented, with so many positives. Her head hurt. She didn’t want to have to think and make a decision. She wanted to go to bed, and make the decision tomorrow, or not have to make it at all, even better.

Something unpleasant? She snorted. That made her feel a lot better about breaking the contract, if all that was going to happen was some appearance spell she didn’t give a shit about. She was the girl who’d had the ugly blue hair, she didn’t much care. But then Hunter once again proved that he wasn’t a total dumbass. Obviously he’d really thought about it. So if she was going to sign it, no way could she break the contract, because she wanted to keep Willow - and any other sheep she adopted from the east side of the forest - completely safe. By this point, she felt like she was carrots going to collapse from confusion and exhaustion. At least it would let her escape from this high-pressure, complicated situation. But she stayed fully conscious, leaning on Leblanc’s desk and staring at the contract as though it would suddenly tell her what she should do.

“No, I don’t get it,” she shrugged. “Mine’s at home somewhere. Not sure where, I’m thinking a goat might have eaten it.” Cookie ate anything that Aoife accidentally let go of for a couple of seconds, it was quite dangerous. Why had she brought that contract out into a field, anyway? “I don’t want to make a big joke out of a cool contract, that would be mean, I think.” What had he expected her to do? Laugh? Scream? Maybe it would have been a different situation if there had been any chairs in the room. But there weren’t, so there was no point pondering on what might have been. No synonyms. But really, some potential synonyms of ugly were open to interpretation. So she’d probably manage to get around that. For now, though, she went for a completely different one, just while she thought of some synonyms that weren’t really synonyms, just similar. “Alright, you cocky bastard,” she grinned, sticking her tongue out at him. “You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?” Enough to make her sign within a couple of minutes, after just a minimal amount of angry internal debate.

“Yes way,” she said, trying to act seriously but failing and grinning more. And then he picked her up and spun her around, and she giggled a little giddily. Gosh, she felt dizzy and slightly sick. She must be getting old. She put her hand on Hunter’s shoulder for stability, feeling fairly relieved when he set her down again. “Sometimes I feel like I’m growing up,” she said solemnly. That was why she hadn’t made a big fuss, because she was starting to not see the point in always being so dramatic and sort of childish. She definitely wasn’t going to stop being dramatic, because that was sort of her thing, but maybe she could stop being RIDICULOUSLY so. No, she couldn’t, on second thought. Her immaturity and dramatic tendencies were probably why Hunter had made this contract, because he didn’t mind. And there was no reason to change anyway, she was pretty awesome. He started going on about the closet thing but she wasn’t really listening so she just nodded and stared at his eyebrows. Even if he was ugly, his one good trait was his eyebrows. She’d never really noticed how nice his eyebrows were before, maybe it was a more recent thing.

Soppy bastard. No he hadn’t, a thousand times was a lot of times and he hadn’t moved on from her a lot of times. But she got the point, and she didn’t say that because she got the feeling that he hadn’t meant it literally and even if he had, she didn’t want to ruin the moment. She carried on not speaking for a bit, because she didn’t know what you were supposed to say at times like this. Obviously she didn’t have any prior experience and she didn’t want to say something pedantic, or irrelevant. Maybe she could compliment his eyebrows? Or did that sound like she was avoiding the point a bit? She was just confused. So she went back to staring at his eyebrows, still, for once, completely silent and not even thinking about talking.

Then he started talking more, and she felt quite relieved, because it gave her more time to work out something smart to say. It was quite sweet, actually. Hunter wasn’t being a cocky bastard anymore, he seemed more like a sensitive talking panda. But she bet pandas didn’t have such perfect eyebrows. When she heard him say something about saying what she was thinking, she nodded, because rambling on about what she was thinking was something she was good at. “I’m thinking… I signed the contract because it’s a really neat orderly smart contract and obviously I can’t say no to that but at the same time I think I signed the contract because you’re slightly wonderful and you have really nice eyebrows. I only just noticed. Did you ever notice what nice eyebrows you have? But I think the contract is good because I get free food and you’re not being a git anymore, you’re being genuinely sweet and that’s a bit weird so I don’t know what to think because you’re never like this and I’m sorry because I’m not normal and I’m not like Seren and I think six Hogsmeade dates is quite a lot of dates for just one month but that’s okay. Sorry.” She finished and took a breath. And awkwardly, slowly tried to wrap her arms around Hunter’s shoulders to give him a hug, but it didn’t work because she was too short, so she hugged his waist instead.

The fact that she'd somehow managed to make "cocky bastard" sound more like a compliment than an insult was definitely a good thing. The fact that she stuck her tongue out at him instead of causing him bodily harm was an even better thing. But seeing her try to keep a straight face and fail as she confirmed that the whole thing hadn't been a hallucination was beyond amazing. When he picked her up, she laughed, steadied herself on him. And most amazingly, didn't pull away when he set her down. Hunter wasn't sure what he'd expected - wasn't sure if he'd even really expected her to agree. But he definitely hadn't expected to be filled with this almost childlike sense of elation. There was a huge difference between satisfaction and excitement, and he was definitely in the latter zone. Maybe, if Aoife had just signed, reserved herself to her fate with a sense of misery, it would be a little more similar to what he'd anticipated. But Aoife was smiling! And it made absolutely no sense, but Hunter wasn't complaining.

But, miserable or not, it became pretty obvious all at once that she was definitely overwhelmed. And when she spoke, Hunter couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, I never thought I'd see the day," he joked. "But you must be, you haven't even hit me yet! It's not against the rules, you know, you aren't strong enough to hurt me anyway. Though, maybe I should have included that you can't hit me with anything." Or was that sort of included under throwing? Oh well, he'd just deal with it as it came. But at the solemn sound of her voice, he let his grin falter some and refrained from making another joke. "Aoife, we all have to grow up sometime," he told her. "Some of us don't even get a choice of when," he reminded her. "But it isn't a bad thing. It doesn't mean you have to change. You just become... more." Well, sometimes it did mean you had to change. When your brother was murdered in the middle of a street, it ment that you had to change more than you'd ever realized you could. But somebody like Aoife? She could manage to grow up without losing herself in the process. Most likely, nothing he was saying made any sense to her, anyway. But, maybe it did. He wasn't sure how much half-grown-up Aoife was able to read into things.

Despite her generally non-violent temperament thus far, Hunter still couldn't calm his nerves as he waited for her to answer him. And as she took a breath to start talking, he was sure that she was going to admit that she thought this was going to be completely terrible, and she was only doing it for Willow. But then, she rushed into everything in one breath. He just listened while she said that she signed the contract because it was well thought out. And some of his excitement faded a bit. Because he'd really hoped that wasn't the reason. But as she kept talking, everything changed. She also did it because he was wonderful. "By wonderful, you mean absolutely irresistible," he joked. And because he had nice eyebrows. Wait, what? "Nice eyebrows?" he repeated, raising one of them with an amused smirk on his face. "Maybe cutting all my hair off way back then affected you more than I thought," he joked. "If you're commenting on my eyebrows in it's place. Maybe I'll have to grow it back." Though, the fact that she'd complimented any part of him - even his eyebrows - was surprising.

Hunter was quiet through the rest of what she had to say, frowning as she apologized for not being normal. It was so weird - and so wrong - to hear those words come out of her mouth. Aoife was so confident all the time - Hunter never thought he'd hear her apologize for being herself. But he remained silent, letting her finish, and couldn't help an amused half-smile from tugging at the corner of his mouth when she couldn't quite figure out how to hug him. Laughter shook in his chest, but he tried to choke it down so that Aoife wouldn't see. When she finally decided to wrap her arms around his waist, his own responded easily, one sliding around her lower back. Hesitantly, as though she'd suddenly realize what was going on and freak out, the other slipped up into her hair, holding her head to his chest. And again, as he rested his chin on top of her head, that sense of almost immature excitement filled him that he couldn't relate to anyone else but her.  

"I wouldn't like you nearly as much if you were normal," he said finally, responding to what she'd had to say. "And if I wanted somebody like Seren, I'd still be dating her," he pointed out, frowning and looking down at her. "Aoife, Seren broke up with me because she couldn't help me. After everything that happened, being with her never made anything better. But even then, you were able to make me happy - at least a little. I felt like myself around you, when I didn't even know who I was anymore. And Seren wasn't stupid, she could see that." Talking about Seren hadn't really been the route Hunter had wanted their conversation to go. But if it was something that Aoife was insecure about, it was better to just get it over with now. "Look, I've more than fucked up my life in the past year - made all the wrong choices. I figured it's time that I make at least one right one. Besides," he said, smiling a bit. "Jack always reminded me of how huge of a git I was for screwing things up with you. I've never ignored my brother's advice before. I wasn't about to start now." Taking a breath, Hunter continued. "Aoife, the point is that you're beautiful, and amazing, and I've always just wanted you. You just never gave me the chance, so I moved on."

Hunter could feel his confidence wavering slightly as he spoke. He was normally so sure of himself when it came to girls, but Aoife was completely new territory. He had no idea where his boundaries were, or what would upset her. Or what she wanted from him. Should he keep his arms around her? Let go? Say something else? He had to adamantly push away the urge to kiss her, because he was sure she wasn't ready for that. And already, he was farther than he'd expected to be on day one. But Hunter wasn't exactly used to exerting so much self control in any relationship, which was fine now but hopefully wouldn't become a problem. And it was just so uncomfortable to not know what to do. But, considering the circumstances, it was probably better safe than sorry. So, he unentwined his hand from his hair, loosened his grip on her, and released her completely, taking a step back.

And now what? He'd anticipated awkwardness from Aoife - this was so beyond her comfort zone that it made sense. But from himself? Not at all. "I, uh - " Hunter started, not at all sure what to do now. He would have kept hugging her if it were up to him, but he didn't want to overdo it. And in the end, he decided to just be honest.  "I guess I didn't expect it to go this well. I was prepared for you to sign the contract and storm out angrily or something," he admitted, not sure what else to say. "And I'm just kind of afraid to do something that's going to make you really uncomfortable. Like I said, I don't want to pressure you." Not now that he finally had her. Though, not pressuring her was definitely going to involve plenty of internal struggle on his part. It still felt surreal, that Aoife had actually agreed. Like something that had been off for a really long time - six years, in fact - had clicked into place. "Er, do you actually want to do the charms project?" he asked, grinning. "I mean, I'm sure LeBlanc would pass you even if you turned in a piece of blank parchment."

"Yeah, but maybe I'm just waiting and then going to hit you when you aren't expecting it, then throw a tantrum and leave," Aoife shrugged. "Oh damn, I've spoiled it now." She'd have to just carry on being calm and slightly unlike her usual self. "Too late now, I've signed the contract and you aren't changing it!" Maybe she'd make an effort to not get so frustrated with Hunter and as a result, resort to physical violence less often, but she didn't want to have to completely get rid of violence from her lifestyle. She didn't hit anyone else but Hunter, after all. She didn't really have the heart to hit him at that moment though, so she gently sort of punched him in the shoulder. Like he said though, even if she'd hit him as hard as she could, it wouldn't hurt him, because she was so weak.

When he seemed to be more serious, picking up on the not-jokey tone of her voice, she frowned again, feeling like she was being a downer and making the atmosphere too sad and whatever. It wasn't difficult to tell that Hunter was talking about himself having no choice when to change. That was sad. She imagined that was because of Jack, because understandably, it was after that when he changed, maybe became slightly less obnoxious, maybe just more mature. But he was still the same as he used to be, sort of. He'd changed, but at heart he was still dumb kid Hunter from first-year, with the devil's snare and finger painting and sneaking in to Hogsmeade. "You're right," she agreed, but decided against saying anything else, just because she really didn't want to have a conversation like this when Hunter had been so cheerful and excited just a few moments ago. And that made her feel cheerful and excited too, as did him being sad make her feel sad.

After her little rant, she felt like literally facepalming at herself. "No, I said slightly wonderful, and by slightly wonderful, I mean, okayish, especially since you're buying me food," she corrected, immediately wishing she hadn't said that he was wonderful because it would only inflate his huge ego even more. "Obviously your old hair was even better than your eyebrows but- wait what? Yes, grow it back!" Her best memories of Hunter involved him with cool, long hair. Cutting it off had just been spiteful. "But seriously, your eyebrows are nice, I don't know how I never noticed them before."

"Okay, that's reassuring." But it wasn't really that reassuring. She didn't need Hunter to like her, whether she was weird or not. She was an independent woman! Nonetheless, that didn't mean Hunter couldn't like her. So she didn't shun him while he talked. And there was yet another instance when she felt what might have been pity for Seren, one of her least favourite people. Seren had always liked Hunter. And she was there for Hunter. So maybe she deserved Hunter. Or maybe not. Aoife let that thought go. Seren deserved it, for being a terrible person. It was just karma coming along and slapping the girl around the head with a raw fish. And if Hunter didn't even like Seren, then there was no point in him pretending to be an infatuated lovesick teenager towards her when he wasn't. "Jack was always a hell of a lot wiser than you," she shrugged. Knew what he was talking about most of the time, at least. She felt her face heating up, and could only imagine the bright shade of red her face must be now, worse even than her hair. She still had no idea what to say, so she focused on not looking so awkward.

"Yeah, that's because you think I'm predictable but I'm really not predictable, you're predictable," she nodded, as way as explanation. Made perfect sense. She was sort of slightly uncomfortable already, but that was probably just because it was quite warm in here, and she didn't know an air conditioning spell. Oh yeah. She'd completely forgotten about the Charms project. The whole reason while she was even meant to be here. It might be hard, with all the furniture gone. She wasn't really in the mood to do homework anymore, anyway. "I was thinking, maybe, that we could express our answer to the project in a more creative medium, a more modern medium. Either through a drawing of a sheep or expressive dance."