Authors:lee_west and ceria Rating: PG-13 Pairing: Gideon/Kingsley Disclaimer: The boys and their universe belong to JKR. We only play for free in their worlds.
Very few things in Gideon's life made him hesitate. He'd immediately accepted a position within Dumbledore's Order, he never regretted becoming a professional Chaser, and he adored his friends. However, this past week, he wanted to kill Meaghan for her continuous nagging.
Only two matches remained in Hogwarts regularly scheduled season. She had reminded him weekly in the beginning, and daily later, about their need to attend a match, but Gideon had managed to avoid making the commitment until this week.
Grumpily he told her he wanted to attend the last match, but she reminded him only two Houses played at a time and they had watched all the options for the other schools.
Finally giving up, Gideon agreed to attend the fifth match to see Hufflepuff play Slytherin, on the condition they sat in Slytherin stands. She suggested Ravenclaw once – as somewhere neutral – and Gideon told her that if she mentioned that House again, he would leave her behind.
The winter was finally giving way to spring, and Gideon, without a cloak and wearing robes bearing the Arrows crest, climbed the steps to the Slytherin stands, Meg on his arm.
He greeted Professor Slughorn with a friendly hello and introduced Meg, then sat in the back row in the corner, ignoring the babbling birds in front of him. Hopefully, there was no one there he would know.
Kingsley was tapping his feet in the Ravenclaw Common Room. He was waiting for his friend Marlene to finish making herself pretty so they could go to the pitch. She always decked herself out on match days, not because she loved Quidditch, but in case one of the many scouts that came for every game was cute.
He hated being late for the match and when Marlene finally came downstairs, he told her that, adding that he was just about leaving her behind.
"Kingsley, stop being a prick. We aren't playing."
"I like to see the game from the start, Marlene! And I hope it's the Harpies scouting today and you overdid on the war paint for girls!" he teased her.
"Is it overdone?" she cried out, pulling a mirror from her huge bag and checking her face.
He rolled his eyes. "No, Marlene. You look just fine. Come on, let's go. I want to sit in the Hufflepuff section. I'll be rooting for them."
"No, you'll be rooting against Slytherin."
"Right you are. Damn snakes!" He'd never liked Slytherin, but now he felt an even stronger aversion to them.
They arrived at the pitch and he helped her up the stands, sitting directly across from the Slytherin side. He scanned the other side quickly, seeing the green-clad bulk of Slughorn and turning his attention to the field, where the players were gathering.
"That's the second time I've seen you turn toward the Ravenclaw section with your omnioculars."
"Enough, Meg."
"If you tell me that again, Gideon," she whispered, "I'm going to push you off the stands and then you'll be praying your boyfriend brought his broom to the match."
Furious, he dropped the glasses and whirled around to yell at her, but he caught her hurt expression first and lowered his voice instead.
"All right."
"All right?"
"Yeah."
"After the match, I want to know what happened."
Gideon nodded and Meg laughed softly, throwing her arms around him in glee. She quickly kissed his cheek, much to the dismay of the two young girls in front of him who sighed loudly.
They both turned back toward the ongoing match and began looking for decent players again.
Marlene was talking to a Hufflepuff girl next to her, relating Kingsley's snarky remark about her being all done up for a scout for the Harpies. The girl's boyfriend, hearing the conversation, leaned over and told Kingsley, "Unfortunately, Shacklebolt, we're not so lucky; today it's the Arrows' turn to scout."
Fuck! The Arrows! Kingsley turned quickly to the neutral side, trying to find out who the Arrows sent, but there were no other adults than the professors. Maybe the scouts hadn't arrived.
And then, feeling a strange cold inside, he risked a more careful look at the Slytherin side.
And sure enough, in the corner of the back row, there was Gideon. With Meg, of course.
He didn't like upsetting Meg. Finally calm, Gideon concentrated on the game. He knew he should be glad he didn't see Kingsley. It had been three months since they last spoke, and Gideon was finally not feeling the tug on his emotions that he always related to Kingsley.
Following the Slytherin Seeker with his omnioculars, Gideon had a glimpse of a tall man with a bald, black head in the stands directly across from him. Immediately, he closed his eyes, unwilling to verify who was there. Pulling the omnioculars away from his face, he watched the players on his own until his heart slowed down again.
Kingsley nudged Marlene as Slytherin scored. "Let's go, Marlene."
"Go where?" she frowned at him.
"Back to the castle."
"Kingsley Shacklebolt, are you out of your mind? The game just started!"
"And I don't want to watch it."
"Just because Slytherin scored? Stop being a baby!"
"It's not because of that," he answered sulkily.
She was following the game with interest and, when one of the Hufflepuff chasers scored, she cheered wildly. "See? Let's support them." And she joined in the chorus of "HUFFLE! HUFFLE!"
Cursing Gideon for having come to the game, Kingsley made a big show of rooting even louder for Hufflepuff. Now he hoped even more fervently that the damn snakes lost the match – badly!
During the lull in the match as the Quaffle was put back into play, Meg, hearing the shouts from the Hufflepuff section, scanned the crowd. It didn't take her long to find Kingsley standing there, rooting for them.
With a sad smile, she turned back toward the game, leaning against Gideon's arm. She could see him avidly watching the Slytherin players. Apparently, she had pricked his pride enough to make him avoid looking for Kingsley. Which she was thankful for, since he sat with a pretty, young woman his age.
***
But the snakes didn't lose at all – they won, much to Kingsley's disappointment. As soon as the Slytherin Seeker wrapped his hand around the Snitch, Kingsley nudged Marlene and, this time, she didn't resist. They left with the throngs of sad Hufflepuffs, Kingsley making haste so he could put as much distance as possible between him and Gideon.
But he didn't go very far. He was stopped right outside the pitch by Dumbledore.
"Kingsley," said the Headmaster, "I was looking for you."
"Yes, Headmaster," Kingsley answered, throwing a quick look behind him to make sure Gideon was nowhere in sight.
"I want to invite you to tea with the Arrows scouts."
"Me?" Kingsley asked, horrified. "But why, Professor Dumbledore? I…I'm not that great of a Quidditch player and I'm not interested in playing professionally anyway."
Dumbledore smiled. "Exactly because of that. I am inviting a few good students – Prefects - who have no interest in becoming professional players. I don't want to invite the ones who could be considered for recruitment, so I don't influence the scouts. So, in ten minutes in my office. See you there."
Giggling, Meg returned to Gideon's side following the match. He was talking to two Slytherin players while she spoke with the Hufflepuffs. "I get to meet your Headmaster!" she said, squeezing his bicep.
With an indulgent smile, Gideon excused himself from his conversation and turned toward her, "Pardon me?"
"We are having tea with Headmaster Dumbledore in his office in eight minutes."
Why? Gideon wanted to ask, but didn't say anything. That was unlike the Headmaster to invite the Scouts to his office. Unless he had other plans for this informal meeting.
"Let me finish up this conversation, and I'll escort you there."
Meg nodded and wandered back out to the pitch to look around. Gideon watched her out of the corner of his eye, grinning while talking to the two students. She hadn't been to Hogwarts before and loved the House colors displayed so prominently everywhere. Or so she had told him fifty times during the match.
Unfortunately, he didn't trust his former Housemates enough to let her wander on her own. Meg was too conspicuous without an English accent and he was leery about what they might say to her.
Cursing silently, Kingsley escorted Marlene back to their Common Room and then, very slowly, made his way to the Headmaster's office. He couldn't believe his bad luck. He'd never heard about the Headmaster having tea with scouts or students. It had to be with the Arrows scout, of course.
Dragging his feet, he decided that he could always ignore Gideon. He didn't have to talk to him at all.
Hogwarts was too large to give her much of a tour in three minutes, and Gideon couldn't stop laughing at the way she craned her head around, trying to take in everything.
"I'll ask Dumbledore if I can show you around after tea."
Meg nodded and followed him up the stairs, mumbling in awe. While she looked around the castle, he looked for Kingsley. Gideon hoped Kingsley didn't know he was here and that he might run into him. Calling himself all kinds of a fool for looking, he finally forced himself to watch Meg. Kingsley obviously was through with him and it was time for Gideon to acknowledge that.
Gideon opened the door to Dumbledore's office and waited for Meg to walk through first. Plastering a pleasant smile on his face, Gideon followed her.
Kingsley met Lily, James and Remus at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Dumbledore's office. He thought briefly that Dumbledore was full of shit, really: if there was a student who planned to be recruited as a professional player, James Potter fit the description. But James was Head Boy, so maybe the old headmaster had to make an exception for him.
The young men followed Lily inside, and the first person Kingsley saw was Gideon, next to Meg, talking to Minerva McGonagall. He knew he'd have to make the rounds and personally greet all the professors, but dear old Minnie had just earned herself a place at the very end of the list.
Even though he stalled, Gideon still managed to arrive before the students Dumbledore invited. Meg dancing by his side, Gideon introduced her to the other Heads of House and professors present.
He heard the door open and felt something bitterly cold like a knife slide through his abdomen. Without turning around, Gideon's real smile faded as he heard the chatter of several people behind him. McGonagall frowned at him briefly, but Gideon shook his head. He took Meg's arm and gently pushed her to the far side, leaving space for the students to say hello to the professors.
Kingsley immediately rushed toward McGonagall. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Gideon and Meg talking to Flitwick. That was just fine; as the Head of his House, Kingsley could leave Flitwick for last.
He made small talk with all the professors and was answering a lengthy question from Slughorn about his grandfather when Dumbledore touched his arm.
"Horace, may I borrow this young man for a minute? I want him to meet someone."
Those were ominous words. There were only two people in the room who Kingsley hadn't met, at least as far as Dumbledore was concerned. He tried a meek, "I was just talking to Professor Slughorn about my grandfather, Professor." In any other circumstance, he'd grabbed the opportunity to leave the Potions professor's side as soon as possible, but today old Slughorn was like a lifeboat.
"I'm sure you and Professor Slughorn can resume this conversation in a few minutes. I have to introduce you to someone who'll be instrumental in your future as an Auror."
Defeated, Kingsley followed Dumbledore to where Gideon was.
Standing slightly behind Meg, Gideon let her talk to the pretty bird leaning against the boy with messy hair. Gideon introduced himself to the other boy present. He talked to Remus long enough to confirm his suspicion that Dumbledore hadn't invited them to tea to discuss Quidditch.
"Gideon, here's one more for you to meet today," Dumbledore said and Gideon nodded, holding his hand out. He could see Meg's questioning look, but he ignored it.
"So, you're going to be an Auror, are you?" Gideon asked.
Kingsley shook Gideon's hand briefly, at the same time turning to Dumbledore. "We've met before, Professor." He wouldn't pretend he didn't know Gideon at all and, with this answer, he hoped that Dumbledore would end the niceties and let him wander off.
But Dumbledore put each of his hands on both Gideon's and Kingsley's shoulders and let them away from the small group. "Good. Maybe you can chat for a little while. Gideon, I was hoping you could enlighten Kingsley about the rigors of Auror training." He looked at Kingsley with an enigmatic smile. "You'll probably be working with Gideon's older brother, Fabian. And the two brothers train the young recruits on dueling techniques, so I thought you should spend some time together." He practically shoved the two of them onto two chairs, facing each other and separated by a small table, where two steaming cups of tea and a platter of scones appeared suddenly.
"I'll be back to introduce you to other people," Dumbledore said jovially, obviously implying that the conversation should keep going until he returned.
Now that they were alone, Gideon's smile faded instantly and he leaned back, arms folded across his chest. He might have to sit there, but he wasn't going to drink the damn tea. "So, are you grades good enough or have the blokes… er, that's right, have the birds kept you away from your studies?
"I suppose there's always hope you won't pass your NEWTs and I won't have to see you in Auror training."
"Why don't you go fuck yourself, prick?" Kingsley answered angrily through clenched teeth, reaching for a scone and stuffing it into his mouth. He tried to swallow quickly, realized it'd be a difficult task and washed it down with a big gulp of tea. "For your information, my grades are excellent, probably much better than yours were when you were a student, too busy with mounting a broom because you were afraid of admitting you wanted a cock up your arse." He picked up another scone, studied it carefully and stuffed it in his mouth. He didn't want to talk to Gideon at all and tried to get up, but found out he couldn't. Dumbledore had obviously cast some sort of Sticking Charm to the chair.
Gideon could have argued that he wasn't interested in blokes while he was still at Hogwarts, but it wasn't worth it. Instead, he leaned back in his seat and glanced at Dumbledore, puzzled. There was no way he could know the current animosity between the two of them, yet he acted as if he did. Most likely, the old man followed some arcane sense of instinct that happened to be spot on this time. Which was unfortunate.
Biting his tongue to keep from laughing as Kingsley stuffed his mouth with scones, Gideon picked up his cup of tea and took a sip, watching him. His anger usually took the form of slamming Kingsley against some solid surface and kissing him – which would not work in this instance.
Shrugging his shoulders, Gideon continued to watch him, realizing that he didn't need to reply to Kingsley's comments. Nor did he want to. The summer had been fun and Gideon could admit now, months later, he had wanted it to continue. Hell, last summer couldn't even be called a relationship between them.
Watching Amelia and Fabian the past few months made Gideon realize a thing or two as well, specifically that Kingsley needed to grow up some more, and that the two of them didn't have a very healthy anything. It was more sad than funny, and as he sat there silently, Gideon thought about it.
Kingsley sighed deeply. "You realize he won't unstick us until we discuss my career, don't you? I don't think your wishes will come true, by the way. I will pass my NEWTs and, unfortunately, I'll be training under you and that other git." He snorted. "Do you have any insightful advice to give to me?"
The images running through Gideon's mind had nothing to do with advice. Turning his head, he closed his eyes and focused on the intent of the question. It was an easy enough answer, "Separate yourself from the people you know here. Hogwarts is its own little universe, but once you're through, you see a side of people you didn't expect to see before.
"Typically that means opposite sides of the Ministry's law."
Instead of making eye contact, he looked the other direction, watching Meg converse with Flitwick and McGonagall.
Kingsley thought about that. Gideon was right: he'd been friends with some of the Slytherin boys, but this year he'd noticed a change in them, especially Lestrange. He seemed to be hiding something and was not as friendly. It could be due to the fact that Kingsley had refused to shag him in the beginning of the school year, but most likely it was because the two boys were definitely on different sides.
Thinking about Rabastan and the fact they had stopped their fooling around made Kingsley remember why he'd not been interested in Lestrange any more.
The reason was sitting next to him. The same reason he'd stopped shagging blokes altogether.
He reached for another scone.
"How…" Gideon bit his tongue. He reminded himself he didn't care how Kingsley was doing. Craning his head around, he looked for Dumbledore. He was done with this conversation. It was time to leave.
With a little pang in his heart, Kingsley realized the conversation was over. He tried to stand up and found out that he could this time. He shook his robes and, without looking at Gideon, mumbled, "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."
He noticed that Lily, James and Remus had already left, so it was safe for him to do the same. He said good-bye and thanked Dumbledore, answering with a "Yes, sir," when asked if he and Gideon had chatted.
Without looking back, he left.
Minerva escorted Meg to the steps as Gideon stood up. He had waited for Kingsley to leave before moving and only then did he approach Dumbledore.
"If I had known you knew him, I wouldn't have gone through so much trouble," Dumbledore told him.
"He's got his heart in the right place," Gideon said, acknowledging Dumbledore's unspoken question about the Order.
He was tired of so much lately. "If you'll excuse me sir, Meg wanted to see the school while we're here."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement and Gideon hurried from the room, not speaking to his own Head of House. He just wanted out of there a quickly as possible.
Leaning against the wall at the bottom of the staircase, Meg smiled at him and reached out, squeezing his hand.
"Are you okay?"
Nodding, Gideon answered, "I will be."
***
From his window, Kingsley watched Gideon and Meg walking on the grounds. He followed them with his eyes until they crossed the gates and Apparated away. Only then did he pick up his books to go to the library.
He stayed in the library for a while, trying to write his essay, but the words just didn't come to him. Giving up, he decided he'd write it after dinner.
But he didn't. After dinner he went for a lone walk, ending up in the Astronomy Tower. There, huddled under his cloak, watching the stars, he remembered how much fun the summer had been. How happy he'd been with Gideon.
They'd be together again in the summer. But things would never be like before.