Butterbeer, Gold Skies and Mars Bars (Matthew Bennett)

Outside of the Three Broomsticks, Oliver sat a bench while waiting for his brother to get out of work. He had the day shifts most often, since she was still young. On Oliver's days off, he had to pick Matthew up so the littler germ wouldn't go off with his annoying girlfriend. It was still a mystery how Matthew could even like such a person. He'd walked in and ordered a butterbeer to go, mostly to show Matthew that he had arrived and he needed to hurry up. Really, Oliver didn't mind waiting. Except today was an exceptionally cold day. It was the end of December, so very close to January, and the snow falling made for a beautiful scenery. Leaning forward, his elbows resting on his thighs, Oliver pulled his black beanie down to cover his ears before reaching down to pick up his bottle of butterbeer.

Although he wasn't a massive fan of the drink, it was always a welcome treat when the weather was unbearable. Oliver had liked winter before, but now he simply found it annoying to have to walk like a layered up penguin. Taking a taste of his drink, the warmth filling him, Oliver glanced towards the door of the Three Broomsticks to see if Matthew was anywhere close to being done. He could have waited inside, but since Oliver still wasn't forgiven he didn't want to be around Matthew's moody self. His brother was such a fourteen year old. Though the window, Oliver could see Matthew wiping down some of the tables, so he figured it wouldn't take much longer. Besides, Oliver was rather warm in his many layers of clothing, and his mismatched socks kept him warmer, since he was actually layering up on two pairs. He played around with the snow on the ground, moving his feet to make shapes.

He made a dog, and then a weird looking alien-human hybrid that he wished he could have taken a picture of. Then he drew a moon, and lastly, he wrote down the word Oliver. Even his own name was strange. It wasn't ridiculous, like Mortimer Link Bell, but it was strange. It was like staring at himself in the mirror and not recognizing his own face, which had actually happened already, so he could compare the two feelings. Scratching the word with his foot, Oliver write Ollie instead. But it was the same. Ollie felt better, more familiar than Oliver did. But none of those felt like himself anymore. Rather, he wondered if they ever had felt like himself. He had never thought about it, always figured that his name was a sort of label, much like how he's a Hufflepuff, and a Student, and a Son, etcetera.

But it occurred to him that maybe that's what Morgana, the girl from the Ministry, was. She was neither Ollier nor Oliver. It was such an abstract idea that Oliver had to go up to the Ministry and share his findings with her, even if she didn't care about them at all. He would do so after New Year's. Or he would just send her a letter. Yes, a letter was probably best since he would have to come back to Hogwarts after New Year's. He was only going because his mother wanted him there, otherwise he would have stayed back and tried to keep Victoria some company. Not that the Ravenclaw wanted to see him around much after the Christmas thing.

He was in the middle of his inner ramblings and thoughts when the bell to the door jingled and Oliver's blue eyes turned towards the person coming out. It was his brother. Oliver's cheeks and nose were pink with cold, so he took another sip of his drink before Matthew dropped down on the spot next to him. Reaching inside the pocket of his coat, Oliver took out a Mars bar and handed it to Matthew, who took it after a second's hesitation. "How was work?"

Matthew's reason for applying to the three broomsticks a year ago was absolutely ridiculous. Well, really, a year ago, Matthew was ridiculous. Last year, Matthew had turned in an application to the pub the very moment that he realized that his big brother, Ollie, had. He'd made sure to set up his schedule so that he and Ollie always worked on the same days, because obviously Ollie would want to work with Matthew as much as Matthew wanted to work with him. Because they were an awesome, amazing, epic team, and would basically be superheros of the restaurant business, and everyone else would probably get fired for not being nearly as awesome as them. And everyone there would be jealous of their awesome brotherliness, and wish that their siblings were as cool as Matthew and Ollie were when they were together. It was the only logical ending to them getting a job in the same place together. Or so Matthew had thought, back when he was a naive loser who didn't realize his brother was a triple-extra-double-betrayer. But as it turned out, that was exactly what Ollie was. Which was why Matthew was still working at the job that he'd taken on because of Ollie, and Ollie was off doing whatever the heck it was he did that Matthew no longer cared about.

The only good part about Matthew being stuck with a job that reminded him every day how much of a liar his brother was, was that Matthew actually really liked the job. Surprisingly. As it turned out, working at the Three Broomsticks was a great fit for Matthew! He got to talk to people all day long, and they couldn't even get away. Not if they wanted their food at least. But most people were more than happy to talk to him - at least, when he was in a good mood and talking about happy things. Of course, there were the days where he complained incessently to his customers about Ollie and Annoying Ari, and everything else. And normally, his boss would eventually pull him aside and tell him he was annoying the customers. But in general, the customers actually liked Matthew, despite how bluntly he would inform them that their food choice was disgusting - mostly because of how friendly he was otherwise. And lots of people - especially old witches who thought he was adorable - tipped him really well.

Today was no different, and Matthew was just counting his tips out at the end of his shift when the door swung open and in walked the only person in the entire world who had become more annoying to Matthew than Ari - Ollie. Matthew had no idea why Ollie came to get him. Was he trying to make up for all the time that he'd decided to abandon Matthew and be an absolutely shitty big brother? Well, too bad, because he'd missed the part of Matthew's life where he'd become plenty old enough to walk himself back from Hogsmeade, thank you very much. So, when Ollie walked up to the bar, Matthew made a huge, immature show of turning his back to him, completely ignoring him while he counted his money. And of course, once Ollie had flitted out again and the door slammed closed behind him, Matthew was in no rush to follow him. Even though all of his tables were clean, he grabbed a rag and took his good old time wiping each and every one of them down. Just so that Ollie would have to wait for him. Or not. Maybe he'd leave. Of course, there was still that part of Matthew that got sad at the idea of Ollie leaving him behind. But that part of Matthew was stupid and he didn't listen to it anymore.

Finally, after what Matthew hoped was ages, he went in the back to grab his bag and started to head out the door. "See you Wednesday!" he called to his coworkers over his shoulder, and pushed the door open. "Holy shit, it's cold!" Matthew exclaimed, using his favorite word that he wasn't supposed to say because he could, and because he wasn't supposed to and that made it more exciting. Ollie was sitting on a bench outside, being a complete weirdo and drawing stuff in the snow. Matthew had half a mind to melt his glorious masterpiece with fire, but instead just plopped down on the bench beside his traitorous brother. Within a moment, he'd pulled his wand out and let a bluebell flame fall from it. He caught it in one hand, twirling it absentmindedly, before acknowledging his brother. And the only reason he was acknowledging him at all was because he had chocolate.

Without saying thanks, Matthew took the chocolate with his free hand, ripped the wrapper with his teeth, and took a bite. He only looked at Ollie again when he spoke. How was work? What a boring question, he really couldn't do any better than that? "Good," Matthew replied. "I made money. And ate food." He looked down at his fire before replying. "How was whatever it is that you do nowadays?" he asked, not looking at his brother. Because he didn't deserve to be looked at. "And I can walk home myself, you know," he added, just to be an insufferable fourteen year old brat, because he could. "I'm not a little kid anymore. I can say the word shit, and work by myself, and walk by myself. You don't need to come get me."

Oliver frowned a bit when Matthew verbally used the word shit. It wasn't that Oliver had never used it, he used it all the time, but he used it mentally. Matthew had actually said it out loud. Regardless, as soon as Oliver made up his mind on reprimanding his younger brother for his language, he realized how hypocritical it would be. Oliver used it - whether people heard it or not was entirely unrelated - so he had no right to forbid Matthew from using it. Instead, he gave his brother a small smile, "End of December. It's ridiculous, isn't it?" he nodded, more to himself than to Matthew. He watched for a while as his brother conjured up the blue flames. This was his first time seeing him do that, even though it was a very simple spell. It never really occurred to Oliver that he had missed Matthew growing up, because children don't grow up in six months, but seeing his little brother do a spell Oliver didn't even know he knew about was like seeing him in a new light, an older version of the Matthew he left at the station in Norway. Could his brother really have changed from being a boy to a young man? He was barely fifteen, but Matthew looked older at that age than Oliver did. "I didn't know you could do that." Oliver pointed out. "That's pretty cool." Once again, Oliver felt the massive elephant in between him and his brother.

Oliver refrained from sarcastically saying "you're welcome". He was a little cautious with Matthew, afraid he'd offend him even more. He listened as Matthew briefed him on his work day, the blue flame still playing between his fingers. He didn't actually expect Matthew to ask him anything in return, but when he did, Oliver felt a small wave of familiarity. "I went to the shop to get candy." Oliver patted his pocked softly, careful not to smush his sweets. "I'm not going around doing mysterious stuff, you know." he glanced at his little brother. "I just go around the neighborhood, walk some dogs, visit some friends." Their mother had told him to be careful, because she actually suspected Oliver of doing all the rebellious teenage things he hadn't actually though about doing. "Okay, I actually just ride the bike around until I have to get home. You should come with me sometime." Oliver had asked Matthew once to go with him, but the snappy comeback he received made Oliver not want him around.

"I know." Oliver shrugged. "But I can't say no to mum. She'll kill me if I come back without you." Truthfully, Oliver would have done it even if his mum didn't bug him about it. Despite what some may believe, Oliver loved Matthew. "Fine. I won't walk home with you again." Oliver replied, not bothered, but tired of Matthew arguing with him. "But if you die, I'll find a way to defeat fire. And then your people will never see how awesome it is. And I'll figure out how to clear peoples' minds, so the older generations won't know what fire was. I'll create a dystopia masked as utopia and ban fire and all of it's relations. So it's up to you, really. If you want to risk death." Oliver knew he couldn't actually be much help in life or death situations. Oliver would never curse someone, but he may buy Matthew enough time to attack back. Oliver would be the distraction, Matthew the warrior.

Matthew was pleased at the way his brother frowned when he swore, because that was half the point of saying it. Well, that was half the point of anything he did nowadays, really – to piss Ollie off. Or at least to disconnect himself from his brother, like Ollie had done to him. And now that he was back, Ollie spent all his time acting like he hadn’t entirely abandoned Matthew by leaving for Norway – like he’d done absolutely nothing wrong by choosing education and life experiences over spending more time with Matthew! But then, the frown disappeared, and Ollie smiled like he suddenly thought it was okay that Matthew had said shit, and Matthew scowled because that was the complete opposite of the reaction he was going for. But he still responded when his brother commented on the cold weather, because Matthew wasn’t very good at not talking in general. “Yes, it’s terrible,” he agreed, pulling his hood up over his head to block out some of the biting wind.

“Didn’t know I could do what?” Matthew asked in slight confusion, dropping the flame into his other hand and letting the warmth spread through his fingers. He glanced over at his brother to find that he was looking at none other than the fire! The fire? Ollie was surprised that Matthew could create bluebell flames? Matthew honestly hadn’t even noticed that he’d conjured it. It was just something he did – a habit, really. “It’s fire,” he responded defensively – as though Ollie had insulted him just for thinking he wouldn’t be able to do it. “And I’m very good at fire spells now – better than anyone else in my class! I can burn shapes into things, that’s how well I can control it.” Matthew almost went on to tell Ollie that he’d actually burned his name perfectly into the bark of one of the Hogwarts trees, but immediately thought better of it. He was bitter and angry with his brother, but he didn’t want to completely ruin his brother’s pitiful, traitorous existence. Though, now that Ollie was coming back to Hogwarts, Matthew really hoped that he wouldn’t find the tree – though, it was pretty likely. The first thing Ollie would probably do when he returned was go around to all of the trees and hug them and say hello, and tell them how he’d missed them far more than his little brother Matthew.

Matthew rolled his eyes when Ollie pointed out that he didn’t do mysterious things. Of course he didn’t – he was Ollie. It wasn’t like Ollie was sneaking off like a normal weird teenager doing things their mother had banned them from doing without telling anyone where he was going . If anything, Matthew was far more mysterious than Ollie, and he wasn’t sure why their mum was so concerned about what Ollie was doing. Just because he was older, so he was more likely to be invited to do evil things, and also because he was more naïve and more prone to being manipulated, Matthew supposed. No, the real reason Matthew had no idea what Ollie did nowadays was because he purposefully made a point not to care. Not that he wasn’t curious, of course. But he’d put more effort than ever into not seeming interested in his big brother’s life. “You really just ride your bike around and walk dogs?” Matthew asked. “That isn’t very exciting – I at least come to Hogsmeade, and sometimes visit Ari when her parents will let her out.” But Matthew specifically didn’t answer his brother’s request about riding bikes together, because that was something that brother’s who were friends did. And Matthew and Ollie were no longer friends.

Matthew rolled his eyes when Ollie brought up their mum. “Mum still thinks I’m a baby,” Matthew complained. “But I don’t need someone to watch me all the time. I’m fifteen,” he pointed out, as though Ollie didn’t already know. “And I walked here by myself this morning.” But then, Ollie was going on about how he wouldn’t walk Matthew home but he’d destroy fire if he died. “You wouldn’t dare!” Matthew exclaimed instantly. “And I don’t think you could, anyway. You’re the last person on earth who could ever live with yourself if you created a dystopia. To create a dystopia, you have to be an evil ruler – and you’re not an evil ruler, you’re just a git. Maybe you should create a world full of awesome epic people and then ditch them for another, way lamer and less cool country. That sounds more like you.”

Oliver didn't understand Matthew. At some point in their life, he had. Oliver had been able to predict that boy like one could predict London weather, but now Oliver had a feeling that most of his younger brother's actions had a certain amount of malicious intent. He could tell by the way he seemed pleased to see Oliver worry about him, like the whole point of pulling some weird thing was to make him worry. But then again, Oliver hadn't always been good at reading people, except for Blake. He and Blake didn't hang out much, not anymore. Oliver stopped clinging to the older Gryffindor by the time he was almost thirteen, and before Blake graduated they simply passed each other on the hallway. After a while it seemed he spent most of his time at the library, but even then Oliver didn't dare approach him. Blake would have been an excellent friend to keep. He would have been able to give him better advice with Victoria than any other person, and right now - he would have told Ollie what to do with his brother. But Blake wasn't around.

It was clear that Matthew was still angry about Oliver leaving, but it hadn't even been a whole year and besides, Oliver had a right to try new things. Maybe it would have been better to take Matthew along, but then what amount of independence would the two of them get? Pulling his beanie even further down, trying to cover some of his guilt, Oliver caught Matthew pulling his hood up. Glad they at least had some of the same thoughts, if even for different reasons. "The flame." Oliver replied, glancing at the fire in Matthew's hand, watching as it spread through his fingers. "I mean I didn't know they'd taught you that." Oliver had never been interested in fire much, so maybe he had been taught the same thing, he just hadn't paid attention. "Of course I know it's fire, I'm not stupid." Oliver snapped. There was - though very little - an amount of annoyance. Did Matthew seriously think he didn't know what it was? Oliver had probably snapped at his brother a few times, only when he caught him climbing or generally injuring trees. He had never done it because he felt...offended.

In an effort to ignore that he's just snapped at his little brother - because the whole point to make up with him, not make him angrier, Oliver grinned. "So you're a fire bender, now?" Secretly, he wanted to know all the things Matthew could do now that he couldn't do a year ago. If Matthew was so good, he must have burned some sort artwork on anything! He could have done it on the sofa, which Oliver hadn't checked. Or on a rock, or maybe on his books - which was likely. Or maybe Matthew had burned his girlfriend's silly name on something, which would definitely give Ollie something to tease him about. Oliver's smile grew as he thought of the last idea, however, just as it grew it banished in a second - because what could Matthew do to piss Ollie off more than anything? Hurt a tree. Narrowing his eyes, Oliver glanced up at his brother. "You had better not burned your girlfriend's name on a tree because if I find out you pulled that shit I will personally make sure you can never do a fire spell again." Okay, that was probably a false threat. Oliver wouldn't actually hurt Matthew, but he was trying to be very serious and as intimidating as he could be, which honestly, wasn't much.

"Well, not all the time." He confessed. "I mean, I have friends, you know? Non-wizard friends. We hang out sometimes." His eyes lowering, Oliver admitted something to Matthew that he hadn't actually admitted to himself. Not outloud, at least. "I get to forget I have magic for a while, which is a good change, actually." he said, pulling his beanie a little bit upward, his blue eyes - which matched those of his brother perfectly - glancing at the snow below their feet. "When are you going to tell mum?" Oliver asked, slightly raising his eyebrow as if their mother was aware of it and he hadn't been officially told. "I mean, about Ariadne." Surely Matthew wasn't going to be able to hide it anymore, it was obvious he liked her, much more obvious that she liked him. Both of those ideas were equally confusing to him.

"We all still think your a baby." Oliver corrected with a playful grin. Of course they all thought he was a baby. He often acted like one, too, but Oliver didn't say that. [Color=white]"I so would!"[\color] Oliver replied. "Don't underestimate me." Ever since Durmstrang, Oliver had realized that when people thought of him they thought of a naive kid, someone who could be easily lured into a van with sweets - despite his age. At the time, he hadn't bothered, but coming back he realized his parents felt the same too, and that had been disappointing. It wasn't that Ollie would just attack the first person that came into view, but he figured that if he had to hurt someone for the sake of say, his mother, there was a 90% chance he would. Though, of course, he wasn't going to use a curse on them. Maybe just a hex, the stinging hex, probably. As much as he hated it, Oliver couldn't actually hurt someone and maybe he was weak, but he still didn't need that from his baby brother. He caught the last part of Matthew's comment, about leaving people, and rolled his eyes in a very Matthewesque way. "I came back, though. Didn't I?!" Oliver hadn't abandoned him. He'd left, but had come back even before his time at Durmstrang was up. That wasn't exactly abandonment.

It looked deceivingly simple, the way Matthew contorted the fire in his hand. And to Matthew, it was. He stared at the flame for a moment, thinking. All this time, he'd spent trying to act like he didn't want to be around Ollie - trying to offend his brother. It was a frustrating goal, because offending Ollie was a nearly impossible task. Matthew's brother was so amiable and nice all the time that he never showed any real disdain for anyone or anything - not even Matthew, who was going out of his way to earn it. So Matthew should have been happy about the bit of annoyance in Ollie's voice - finally a sign that he was accomplishing his goal. But when Ollie snapped at him, Matthew's first reaction was to frown and look over at his brother in surprise. And then, a tiny wave of guilt washed through him - just a small one - that he really hadn't expected. Most people would think absolutely nothing of Ollie's response, but Matthew knew his brother. Of course, he wouldn't ever admit that he felt guilty, and he quickly pushed the feeling away.

Still, not able to bring himself to say anything else mean, Matthew just answered Ollie's first question in a somewhat friendlier voice. "They didn't teach me in school," he said simply, his eyes returning to the flame, lifting a hand to shield it a bit from a particularly strong burst of wind. "I taught myself." Matthew tried to stop there - but ended up having an internal battle, because it was harder than anything not to brag about his fire prowess, and in the end he lost and continued talking. "I can do tons of fire spells now - and I can draw in the air with it," he added, his voice taking on a slightly excited tone without him meaning for it to. But really, what was cooler than being able to leave a trail of fire in the air, and keep it floating there? Well, there may be a few things cooler, but not much.

Matthew shook his head when Ollie called him a firebender. "Nah, I'm like a fire bender, but fire benders don't use wands. If I went to a fire bender exclusive party and they found out I had to use a wand to make my fire, I think i'd be kicked out," he said matter of factly. "And I mean, technically I have the ability to manipulate all the elements, so if you think about it, I could actually be the avatar." Oh shit. Matthew quite honestly hadn't expected Ollie to figure it out straight away - he definitely shouldn't have mentioned burning things. And he was absolutely positive that his guilt showed on his face - but only for a few moments, because then the entirety of what Ollie had said sank in, and it was replaced with a look of surprise. "I don't have a girlfriend," Matthew said instantly, not sure why Ollie would even suggest such a thing. But he decided not to elaborate like he wanted to because it was best if they left this subject involving the trees Matthew had defiled altogether.

"Why would you want to forget you have magic?" Matthew asked, a little confused by his brother's words. Matthew had truthfully never felt overwhelmed by his magic - he loved being a wizard and everything that it entailed. "I think if I was a muggle, I'd probably end up being a magician anyway," he said. "You know, and pretend like I could do magic, with tricks and things. I'd be pretty good at it, too, I bet." But again, Matthew didn't have long to think about the subject, because Ollie was changing it. And this time, Matthew furrowed his brow in confusion. "When am I gonna tell mum what?" he asked. About Ariadne... "What would I need to tell her about Ari?" Truthfully perplexed, and entirely oblivious, Matthew searched his brain for some big event that had taken place that involved Ari that his mum would somehow want to know about. But there was nothing. "What are you talking about?"

I came back though, didn't I? Matthew fell into silence again, not sure how to respond. He returned his gaze to the fire, because watching it helped him think. Last term, he'd spent plenty of time staring at it in anger, over being left behind. He wasn't angry anymore. Just bitter. "You did," he said slowly. "But you still abandoned me - you just left. You didn't even tell me before mum and dad. I didn't even know you were thinking about it." But even as the words came from his mouth, Matthew knew that it hardly mattered, because he'd changed since then. He didn't need Ollie now like he had then. But he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss being friends with him a bit, because if he didn't he wouldn't be this bitter about the whole thing. "Just forget it, it doesn't matter."