What A Surprise (Hunter)

Phin was rather happy now that Alek new about him and Miranda. Of course, the news hadn't been broken to him in the best way possible, but they didn't need to hide anymore, and she could treat him like her kid. He had to admit that it was a weird situation, but it was a situation that worked. At least it seemed like it was. Sure, there was some tension between Alek and Miranda now that Vanessa was sometimes there, and Alek was a little pissy about the whole adopting situation, but he was sure the whole thing would blow over pretty quick. It was surprisingly a rather busy day at the shop. A couple idiots had sat on their wands and either needed them fixed, or replaced. Miranda had been busy with inventory, and cleaning, and Alek was helping Phin up front.

After the "big" rush, Alek had left to probably go find Vanessa, leaving Miranda and Phin alone. Miranda asked him to help with Inventory, he nodded and looked at the rather huge pile of wands she had to go threw and said, "Yeah, I'll help." He wouldn't want to leave her alone with all those wands, PLUS customers if they came in. She would be there all night if he did that. She said, "All you do, is check them off the list when you find it, and place it on the shelf." Phin nodded. He had never done inventory and was rather new at it. He was getting better at it, when he heard the door ding. He rolled his eyes and said, "I'll get this one and holler if I need help." Miranda nodded.

Phin was getting rather good at helping people with their wands. He loved working in the shop and thought about doing more with them as a career. The only thing with wandloor was that he would have to go back to Hogwarts and get an education to create them. And that he didn't want to do. That was his ultimate goal, but right now he was content with helping people with their wand situations. Phin dusted off his hands as the wand boxes where covered. When he looked up he blinked a couple of times in disbelief. It was him. The man he loathed. Hunter VanDerberg. But due to the bad review they got in the Daily Prophet, Phin was forced to be civil with every customer. And that meant even to the man who stole the love of his life and crushed his heart. Phin made sure that he used 100% sarcasm in his voice when he spoke. He asked, "How may I help you?" He almost wanted to call for Miranda and have her take this, but he wanted to see how this went.

So, when Hunter had gone to Hogsmeade to have lunch with Lyn, had he expected to go home with a new dog? No. But of course after lunch, Lyn had insisted on going into the menagerie - some things never changed. Apparently, the menagerie didn't just sell owls and cats and other strange magical creatures, but also took in animals that they came across in order to try and find them homes. Like a muggle shelter. Lyn always felt the worst for those animals, because they'd been abandoned and all that shit. But they were usually weird magical concoctions, and Hunter had never even considered taking one home - who knew what a magical animal was capable of? Hunter really didn't feel like having to watch a pet all the time just to make sure it didn't burn the house down. However, when Lyn practically begged him to take home Alaska, a little white puppy that had been so malnourished that you could practically see right through her, Hunter had given in. Because from what he could tell, and from what the shopkeepers said, it seemed like a normal dog. And Rex did seem a bit lonely, now that Hunter had taken him away from the farm. So, a bit reluctantly, Hunter had returned home with a puppy.

But within weeks, it had become clear that Alaska wasn't just a normal dog. First of all, in the very beginning, Rex had reacted a little strangely to her. And Rex was used to living among a particularly large variety of animals, and had never seemed wary of any of them. But Alaska had made the dog's hair stand on end the moment Hunter brought her in the door. "Relax, bud, she's just a puppy. You'll get used to her," Hunter had said. And then, it got worse. As Alaska got bigger, Hunter had grown suspicious - but it wasn't until the howling started that he was sure of it. Alaska wasn't a normal dog - she was a wolf. A fucking wolf. She couldn't be more than three months old, and already it was becoming obvious. The shape of her head, the size of her paws, the fur that stuck up around her shoulders. The howling had simply confirmed it. Every fucking night. Really, he should've gotten rid of her when he realized - but, though he hated to admit it, Alaska had grown on him a bit. And, despite Rex's original skepticism, Hunter's dog had actually taken to the wolf pup after a few weeks. So, though a little uncertainly, Hunter had decided to keep her - at least, for a bit longer to see how it turned out.

And so far, it wasn't terrible. It had become clear right away, though, that Alaska definitely wasn't just a dog, despite the fact that some people thought they were basically one and the same. She was too fucking smart, first of all, and while she was the easiest dog to train Hunter had ever had, she was also sneaky and tended to find loopholes in every command. And already, she was becoming possessive of things - her food, her toys - and Hunter had to spend hours working the aggression out of her. But, maybe the most annoying thing was the fact that she chewed everything - far more than any regular puppy. And at first it wasn't that bad, because Hunter could just repair things with a flick of his wand - that was, until she decided to chew his wand itself. Hunter didn't mind the marks on his wand, but it just didn't seem to be working right. So, sighing, he realized he'd have to take it in to be fixed. Which would probably cost a fortune.

"Come on," Hunter said to Alaska, clipping a leash onto her collar. He'd be damned if he left her there alone to eat the rest of the house. So, with the pup tagging along at his heels, Hunter walked the short distance between his apartment and Diagon Alley. "Behave yourself," he said to her as he opened the door to Olivanders. Were dogs allowed in Olivanders? Probably not, but there was no sign saying so, so Alaska stepped in beside him. He glanced around for a moment while waiting for someone to come to the counter, but raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw who it was. Instead of greeting him, Hunter just answered his question, still trying to figure out why Phin was there in the first place. ""Um, yeah - this piece of shit chewed my wand up," Hunter said, gesturing down at Alaska and setting his wand on the counter. "It's still working, but it's a little finicky about it." Then, Hunter continued, saying the next thing on his mind. "Shouldn't you be in school?"] Yes, Phin should definitely be in school, so why the fuck was he here. And honestly, Hunter wasn't so sure that he trusted Phineas Button to fix his wand - hopefully someone else was around to do it.

It was none of VanDerberg's business. He didn't need to know about his life. And yet, he wanted to brag about how well everything was going with him because the last time they had spoken, Phin was pretty sure he was shit drunk. Phin took a hold of the wand and looked at the bite marks on it. They didn't look too serious. And Phin decided he was going to do this on his own. He wanted to prove to Miranda and Alek that he was serious about working with Wands. He loved it, and if he fucked up VanDerberg's it wouldn't be the end of the world. Well to him at least. Phin said, "I dropped out this term. I'm living with Miranda Cunningham and Alek Krupp above the shop." He pointed up. He wasn't sure if he should say that he was adopted yet. That information might be to big for his smallish brain to handle. So Phin took it a couple steps at a time.

He continued, "I can perform a spell that will heal the wood. It might make it work better. If not I can go get Miranda whose in the back, and she can do further treatment. But the spell won't do any further damage. Basically it will just make your wand look back to it's normal state." He took out his own wand and muttered a spell. Instantly the bite marks disappeared. He got out a feather and said, "Here, try floating this. Just to test it out to see if it helped any." Phin looked at the counter awkwardly. He hadn't heard from Aoife since their last ice cream meeting. He wanted to ask since nothing had been said, but at the same time, he didn't want to bring back old quarrels. He had finally and officially moved on from that part of his life, and for the first time in a long while he felt happy.

He ran his hands threw his hair, which was a habit he had picked up. He asked, "How's it working?" Whether Hunter liked it or not, Phin had learned a lot working in the shop about fixing wands. He didn't always get it right the first time, but he was learning. He smiled at Hunter and asked, "What kind of dog is that?" He pointed to the dog that Hunter had brought in. Phin loved dogs, and normally they weren't allowed in the shop, but Alek wasn't here, so he didn't bother. Phin said, "Alek won't allow dogs, otherwise I would get one in a heartbeat." What was he doing? He was actually being civil with his rival. of course since he was on the job, he had to be, but he wasn't sure if he could move past the things that had happened. He'd have to grow up so much more to do it. He couldn't hold it in any longer and had to know. He asked, "How's... umm.. Aoife?" He looked up nervously. He knew he was crossing boundaries, but he didn't really care. He hadn't heard from her in a long time, and he just wanted to know that she was alright.

There was something a little unsettling about seeing Phin hold his wand up and inspect it – probably because Hunter didn’t trust the little shit as far as he could throw him. He didn’t trust him to know how to fix his wand, and he didn’t trust him to actually fix it even if he did know how. And while Hunter could always get a new wand, he definitely didn’t prefer to. He almost hadn’t realized that he was attached to it until now, when it was half-broken and in somebody else’s hands. Hunter’s eyes followed it warily, but he looked up at Phin’s face when he started talking again. Wait, what? ”You dropped out?” Hunter asked in surprise. ”Why?” Even Hunter had never considered dropping out of school – not when he was too lazy to study. Not even when Jack had been killed.

Hunter just stared skeptically at him when he started talking about repairing the wand himself. Was he even qualified to do that? No, probably not, because he hadn’t even finished school. He pretty much wasn’t qualified to do anything, aside from go and get someone else to fix Hunter’s wand for him. But Phin was already lifting his wand. “Wait, are you sure you can – “ But before Hunter was able to finish his sentence, Phin muttered some kind of spell, and Hunter watched as the bite marks faded away. Hunter took it back instantly, lifting it up to eye level and rotating it, as though he’d be able to tell himself whether or not it had been fixed appropriately. Though a bit surprised that the appearance seemed to be back to normal,  Hunter’s skeptical expression didn’t fall as Phin pulled out a feather for him to levitate. ”Wingardium Leviosa,” Hunter muttered hesitantly – and with good reason, because instead of lifting into the air, the feather exploded in a burst of sparks, and Hunter lifted a hand to shield his face. ”I mean, I’ll let you decide on your expert opinion, but personally, I don’t think it helped.” Hunter replied dryly, setting the wand back on the counter, which was now smoking a bit from the explosion.

Why was he being nice, anyway? Phin normally was a little git – though, some of the time, Hunter did feel a bit bad for him. The kid had a somewhat rough life with his parents and all. But regardless, he wasn’t normally nice. Hunter didn’t really have much of an opinion of Phin one way or the other now, aside from not necessarily trusting him, so he responded to his question amiably. ”She’s an arctic wolf,” Hunter replied, as though there was absolutely nothing unusual with having an exotic wolf for a pet. Maybe she wasn’t technically an arctic one, but Alaska was pure white, which was as good a reason as any to assume as much. ”I didn’t know when I got her,” he explained. After a minute, Phin was asking about Aoife. Hunter glanced up at him and released an amused breath. ”You aren’t still in love with her, are you?” Hunter asked, a corner of his mouth turning upward. He remembered the time he’d watched Phin try to kiss Aoife, and how badly it had ended, and a grin spread across his face. ”I haven’t talked to her much recently, but last I saw her she’d gotten a flat and was on about trying to be a photographer or something. I doubt that lasted though.” Hunter had stayed friends with Aoife after they broke up in Seventh Year, but since school had ended, they hadn’t crossed paths as often as they used to. ”But she’s good – just not really sure what she wants to do I think.”

Phin replied, "Because I feel like I have no purpose there anymore. My grades are shit, and after Aoife left, I had no friends." He wasn't sure he needed to tell Hunter these things. He probably shouldn't have, as he hadn't even told Miranda this. Before Miranda had adopted him, he felt so alone, and felt like his purpose in life was pointless. Nothing seemed to matter. But now, everything seemed a little better. He wouldn't go back next term unless Miranda said something about it. He was perfectly content with working in the shop for the rest of his life and learning what he could from Alek.

A wolf? As a pet? That was a little strange....But Phin wasn't one to judge on strange. He was a strange boy and he knew it. Was he still in love with Aoife.... Hell no he wasn't. He was done wasting his time on something he didn't have a chance with. Wanting to know if somebody was ok, wasn't a sign that he liked her. She was his best friend at one point, didn't he deserve that much? He replied honestly, "No. I'm not. I'm done chasing something I can't have." He smiled about the news. He could totally picture her being a world famous sheep photographer. Phin said, "I can see that. I'm sure she'll find something. She always does." Phin shrugged. He found Hunter and not him. As long as she was happy he was finally content with his part in her life.

As the feather exploded, Phin jumped back and Miranda came running up front. She looked from Phin, to Hunter and back to Phin. Phin waited for her to start yelling, or for Alek to walk in at that moment and witness his epic fail. Phin muttered, "Well that wasn't supposed to happen." Miranda put her hands on her hips and asked, "What happened here?" Phin said, "I tried to fix his wand. And I think I failed." Phin avoided looking at her face as she was rather scary when she was mad. Phin said, "It had bite marks all over it, he said it's been giving him issues so I tried to fix the bite marks by using reparo, and I don't know what went wrong." Miranda said, "Alright. Well, you should've gotten one of us, well me, since Alek is no where to be found." Phin stepped back a little bit embarrassed.

Hunter looked at Phin for a moment, thinking about what he said, before responding. ”You’re right, that’s a good reason to run away,” he replied sarcastically. ”So your plan now is… what? To work as a shopkeep forever? I mean, I’m sure it seems alright now, but that isn’t going to last.” That would be like Hunter working at Zonko’s for the rest of his life. Of course, he’d loved working there. He’d been with Ariel, first of all, and it had been full of awesome people. But Hunter had always known that he’d move on eventually. ”And anyway, if you finished school, you could still work here if you wanted – but if you don’t, you won’t ever have any other option. Which will be shit whenever you wish you did.” Hunter wasn’t entirely sure why he was even bothering telling Phin anything – the kid was nothing but a pest most of the time. But he was only what, fifteen? Sixteen at most? Hunter was easily the world’s biggest git at fifteen, so who was he to judge? Well, he was still judging, because he was still a git, but he couldn’t really act as though he hadn’t been just as bad.

Hunter nodded in agreement at Phin’s next statement. ”Smart kid,” he said, grinning. ”It’ll save you a shit ton of trouble, believe me.” Because Hunter still hadn’t managed to master that mindset. There was no such thing as chasing something he couldn’t have, because Hunter refused to admit that there was anything he couldn’t have. And he’d been right – he’d gotten Aoife eventually. After six years of bullshit, he’d proved her wrong – and then they hadn’t worked out anyway. So in the end, what had been the point? Hunter knew that the point had literally been nothing more than to prove he could, and it hadn’t been worth it. But he also knew that he’d probably do it a dozen times again rather than admit defeat.

At the sound of the explosion, a dark haired girl burst into the shop from the back room. Instantly, Hunter recognized her. ”Hey Miranda,” he said with a smirk. She’d transferred into Hogwarts the same time as Agnes and Aeva, and she and Hunter definitely hadn’t hit it off straight away. The opposite, actually – though, that could be because they had both just suffered devastating losses in their family. But that was besides the point. Hunter glanced down at Alaska to make sure that she was quiet, being that she wasn’t really supposed to be in the shop, before looking back across the counter. ”Reparo doesn’t work on broken bones either,” he said casually with a grin. ”I know, because Aoife broke my nose once and tried to fix it that way – made it worse.” Really, reparo was pretty useless for most important things. ”This one got ahold of it,” he told Miranda, nodding toward Alaska. ”It’s not terrible, just not right. Please tell me you can fix it?”

Phin glared at Hunter. He couldn't judge Phin on anything. Phin had been threw hell and back to get to school, and stay there, and now nothing will be the same. Phin needed consistency in his life. And that's what he had at the shop. He had a place to live, guardians who loved him, sure it wouldn't be forever, and he would have to find his own path at some point, but it was alright for now. And Phin didn't need the kind of negativity in his life that Hunter was giving him at that moment. Phin replied, "I'm not saying its all I want to do with my life... It's just working for my situation right now." He shrugged. Then continued, "Things are lightening up though. I got adopted." Phin was proud of it no matter how weird the situation really was. Miranda only being two or three years older than he was.

Phin nodded when Hunter applauded him on moving on from Aoife. Phin never really understood her actions or her mind set. Or her as a person. But she was just so addicting to be around. She was a challenge, and Phin guessed that that was why he fell for her. He was just another thing added to the mental list that he kept. His parents love being number one on said list. Aoife being number two. It was sad really, but it kept him going. He needed something to fight for. He needed something to give him motivation to in life. Phin knew how Hunter felt. And that was the reason why they sometimes got along on the rarest occasion. They had Aoife in common.

When Hunter greeted Miranda weirdly, Phin finally had the courage to see her reaction when she saw him. It was a mixture of emotions, but more hatred than anything. Phin looked down awkwardly and wondered what he did to piss her off. Miranda took Hunter's wand from him and observed it more closely. Something that Phin should've done, but he didn't know what he was looking for. Phin had seen Alek training Miranda on wands more intently than he did with Phin, so maybe there was a chance that she knew something he didn't. Miranda shook the wand and said, "It sounds like one of the strings is busted inside. I have no power to fix that. Alek doesn't even have the power to fix it. Basically it's a piece of shit, and broken. I'm going to have to get you a new one." The fact that Miranda didn't even acknowledge him as a person was kind of hilarious that was a sign that she didn't like him. And that was perfectly fine with Phin, because Phin didn't like Hunter either.

”If it isn’t all that you want to do with your life, then you shouldn’t have dropped out,” Hunter replied with a shrug. ”Because I’m sure this seems really great now, but it isn’t going to when you realize that you need to go back to school to get anywhere else.” But hey, if Phineas Button wanted to ruin his life, what did Hunter care anyway? Why was he even bothering, it as though he liked the kid. But he did feel for him on some level – he’d been through shit. But when life had put Hunter through hell, he’d actually turned to studying as a way of distraction. Along with drinking and stealing and sex, but that was completely beside the point. Apparently, Phineas didn’t work that way. ”It just seems like you’re running away from your problems, that’s all – what happened to the kid that tried to punch me in the face in first year? Or the one that tried to kiss Aoife, which was probably more dangerous in reality,” he added as an afterthought. ”Just because you’re afraid of something doesn’t mean you should run away from it,” he finished. ”You didn’t then – you shouldn’t now.”

Hunter raised an eyebrow at Phin when he pointed out that things were getting better. ”You got adopted?” he repeated incredulously. ”You can’t be more than a few months away from being of age,” Hunter pointed out. ”Why bother?” Really, what was the point of that? Phin had to be almost seventeen, if not already seventeen. Phin didn’t add anything to the conversation about Aoife, other than a nod, so Hunter let it drop. It wasn’t like Hunter minded talking about Aoife, but truthfully, the entire thing wasn’t really something he was proud of. Because at the end, all it had proven was that he was still a selfish git. But, Aoife had known that all along, and it wasn’t as though he was holding her back from anyone else at the time. So they’d ended pretty much on the same page – they’d always been better off as friends.

”Well, you’re as cheery as ever I see,” Hunter said sarcastically when Miranda didn’t even acknowledge him. But his smirk fell instantly when she finished looking over his wand. Any other time, Hunter might have laughed at the way she said it. But when It’s a piece of shit and broken applied to his wand, it wasn’t the slightest bit funny. ”You can’t even try to fix it?” Hunter asked, his voice taking on a slightly concerned tone. ”Can’t you just, I don’t know, replace the core or something?” Hunter knew absolutely nothing about wandlore, so it wasn’t as though he had any real ideas. But grasping at straws seemed acceptable right now, because this was his wand. And he was surprised to find that the cost of a new one wasn’t what was bothering him – it was losing this one. This wand had been with him through everything – had pranked endless people alongside Ariel. Had helped him craft hundreds of potions. Had exploded how many things in anger and frustration after his brother’s death. He couldn’t just get a new one! ”Are you sure? he asked finally, looking up at Miranda, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice.

Phin really had nothing to say. He didn't want to admit that Hunter was 100% right. And that was the moment that Phin decided he would go back to Hogwarts. It was time to stop being a child. It was time to let Hogwarts groom him into the man he was meant to be, and not become the child that Alek is. Phin didn't have any answers for Hunter. The boy who had done all those things had grown up. The one who had done all those things, ran away from everything that defined him. Phin finally came up with an answer. He said, "I grew up. You may not understand it, but I've found out a lot of things about myself this past year without the drama of Hogwarts surrounding me. This was good for me. And y-you're right. It's time to go back....I'll talk to Miranda tonight.." He looked down at his hands. He was hoping that Hogwarts would welcome him back with open arms. He knew it would be tough, but he had to do it. He had to prove it to himself, and to his friends that he could make it on his own.

Phin proceeded by rolling his eyes. He said, "Yes, I'm aware that I'm close to being of age. She surprised me. If you don't get it that's your own fault. My parents would've made me move back in if they found out I was living with Alek in this wand shop. She took a step that even I hadn't thought of by making it legal. It's brilliant really." The more Phin thought about it, the more he thought about what would've happened if Miranda hadn't adopted him. Maybe his parents would've asked for a third and fourth chance. Knowing Phin, he would've taken them up on it, and something worse could've happened. Miranda literally could've saved his life. And for that he was forever grateful.

Phin watched as Miranda looked over Hunter's wand. Her statement that it was broken made Phin feel a little bad. Maybe it was fixable before he had performed the spell on it. She continued, "You know that all wands have only one core. There's no fixing it. I'm sorry VanDerberg." Phin looked at her face, and she was deeply sorry about it. Everyone in the room knew that there was a deep connection between a man and their wand. Phin knew that if his was broken, he would be just as devastated as Hunter was at that moment. Phin gave him a sympathetic look. And it really was genuine. Phin had grown up a lot, and now it was time to prove it, not only to himself, but to Alek, Miranda, and Hunter.