Justin Hardy – Vulpes House
Justin was ambling along down the hallway, hands still hidden away in the pockets of his robes. His usual stride was a sort of rolling step that was actually quite entertaining to watch when he moved quickly. Aside from having quick hands, Justin had all the athletic potential of a turnip. He couldn’t fly, thanks to his crippling fear of heights, he ran like a scarecrow in the midst of a colonoscopy, and his upper body strength was about on par with a third year girl’s. He’d tried a few times over the years to bulk up a bit, to improve his stamina, but it just never took. His body had an aversion to adding muscle mass, so he’d accepted his slim profile. The boys seemed to like it well enough, so why mess with perfection?
He spotted something interesting as he passed by the open door to the library. Summer and Flint, on their way out. It took about as long to dissect their expressions and body language as it did for him to turn to face them, cocking his head to one side as he inspected them openly. Summer might not, but Flint would know exactly what Justin was doing. He segued neatly from examination to a playful grin and extracted a hand from his pocket to waggle his fingers at the pair.
”How was your summer, Summer?” He spoke the same five words to her every single year when school started up again. He delivered it like someone would a terrifically funny joke, as if the fact that she shared her name with the season that had just expired was something incredibly witty that he’d just come up with. Clearly, Emerson was a bad influence on his sense of humor.
His right eyebrow arched just so as his eyes slipped to Garrett. ”And how was yours?” He asked it a little more cagily of his friend. Not that he disliked Summer at all, but she wasn’t exactly a friend. She’d never managed to make much of an impression on him, other than being Bliss’s sister and extremely sweet.
The caginess he engaged in was right on par with the caginess that Flint had cancelled their summer plans with. It had been abrupt and suspicious, out of nowhere really, but Justin had let it go without more than an odd look. He’d been looking forward to having him around. The last summer had been one of his best, mostly because there was someone around with whom he could talk magic, and because Flint was just as adept at making mischief in the Muggle world as he was at Magus Grex. He’d been insanely curious, of course, but he trusted in either his ability to ferret out the truth or Flint telling him eventually- whichever came first.
”My mom asked after you,” he continued, his smirk still in place. Justin was by far the better mimic of the two; he had his mother’s obnoxious Boston accent and mannerisms down perfectly, even emulating her usual expression to a degree as he did his impression. ”Wheyah’s that nice boyfriend yah braught home last yee-ah?” Ever since he’d come out to his family a few years ago, any male he brought near the house or mentioned was immediately dating him or screwing him, in their minds. His mother had made a point of popping into the room they’d shared unexpectedly (Justin’s eldest younger brother was away at junior ROTC camp for most of the summer, freeing up a bed in the room they shared), as if she expected to catch them in bed, or painting each other’s fingernails, or something similarly inane. If only they had a bumper sticker for that: Proud parents of a gay wizard honor student, or something like that.
"And how was your summer, Teek?" Justin was not immune to the owl's charm. "Kept this one from getting into too much trouble, eh?" He jerked a thumb toward Flint. They seemed to be making an exit, so he didn’t bother going in. He just lingered in the hall, waiting for them to answer and join him so that they could converse on the way back to their respective dorms. He slipped the hand he’d used to wave into his messenger bag, extracting first one, and then two vials of Betterbeer in preparation of handing them off. If Summer was going to be around more often, he might as well start getting used to it, so she’d get one too.
He was practically mutilating his tongue, literally having to bite it in order to avoid saying any of the forty or so snarky things that had come to mind upon seeing one of his best friends with his exes’ (who another of his best friends was interested in) sister. Those could wait till he and Flint were alone. Things were going to be complicated this year, he decided, but probably amusing too.