There is time for work, and time for love [DJ]

He shopped in the muggle world sometimes, just for variety. There were about three menswear retailers in wizarding Britain and they didn’t get new styles in that often. Alex found too much enjoyment in trying on clothes to constrain himself to just a few trips a season.

Muggles had some okay ideas, especially in shops that catered to a higher-end clientele, but most of them were atrociously unflattering or otherwise baffling to him. And they didn’t stock robes, of course. Sometimes long coats with a similar effect, which he worse when he was trying to fit in in London or feeling appropriately rebellious, but it wasn’t the same. Especially as there didn’t seem to be a light summer equivalent. He was getting bored with his own summer robes from last year. They just didn’t feel like him anymore. Of course, he often felt that way after owning an item of clothing for about a week.

Sometimes he disgusted himself, but mostly he was of the opinion that there were worse failings than vanity.

Lately he had been especially conscious of the way he looked. Even when it made no sense, when no one could possibly tell there was anything that made him unusual, he was conscious of it. There was a certain element of protection to clothing now that he’d never felt before. But the psychological roots of the issue weren’t something he had any intention to dwell on. Now that the weather was starting to turn, he had an excuse to get himself a new wardrobe, make himself feel better with new things and new ways to present himself.

He spent the better part of an hour being fitted for subtly patterned robes, light shirts, tight trousers. One pair of shorts he hoped he’d find the nerve to wear.

The street was still teeming with teenagers when he left the shop, shopping bags hanging from the crook of his elbow. He hadn’t known it was a Hogsmeade weekend when he arrived, and for a moment he had felt hurt that none of his siblings had asked to see him. But he supposed that meant things were getting back to normal now. He no longer had to be checked up upon, and apparently, neither did they.

He wandered along the street as he decided whether there was anything else here worth his time. It was fairly useless to try and get into someplace like Honeydukes or the Three Broomsticks when the students were in town. Instead he turned into the bookshop, which was significantly less popular. It was less the books than the quills and papers which drew him in—Alex had a weakness for new office supplies as much as he did for new clothes. His quill at home was getting a bit dull and stringy, wasn’t it? Or perhaps he was just making up excuses to spend more money. He preferred shopping trips during which he went all in.

As he was waffling about whether a peacock quill was too gaudy, the doorbell jingled and he looked over on reflex. The face he saw made him smile. DJ Conway had been Slytherin prefect, therefore naturally one of the students he’d seen more often than the others. The others he wasn’t related to, anyway. Alex had quite liked him; he’d been pleasant. More so than some of the other Slytherins, at any rate. It had been nice to see that his house wasn’t representing itself with abrasive bigots this year.

“Afternoon, Conway,” he said, turning toward him and resting an arm on the nearest shelf. He was never able to resist a hello to a familiar face. “Holding down the fort at Hogwarts?”

@Damien Conway

[div style="width:50%;opacity:0.5;font-size:0.55em;"]SATURDAY, 2 JUNE 2001, 2:16 PM[/div]

With mere days until examinations began - and at least he was past his OWLs and not yet to his NEWTs, so they were just standard year-end examinations - DJ knew it was time to break open the nogtail bank and invest in some new parchment and quills. The Hogsmeade weekend was the perfect opportunity to do his exam prep and still relax away from the castle for a while. It was a nice casual 14°C out by the time he set out for the wizarding town next door, and from the feel of it that was as warm as it was going to get for the day.

There was, of course, a much more real reason for getting away from Hogwarts other than "to relax." All his guilt and stress and negativity from the beginning of the year disasters having finally dissipated, DJ still wasn't over the loss of his suddenly best friend and part-time boyfriend, Reece. When the dome had finally come down and his parents had moved him back to America where it was "safer," DJ hadn't even had time to say goodbye. And while their relationship had been anything but official, it still felt like part of his heart had been ripped out. The truth was that DJ still didn't know what or who he wanted in life. He had spent fifth year pursuing Kendall Byrd, to little avail except for casual and dramatic flirting on both their parts; and he had discovered he had a fondness for Keela Doyle, a Gryffindor girl. In fact if it hadn't been for that fondness he probably wouldn't have entertained notions of dallying with Reece, who had also been a Gryffindor. But between his deadbeat dad, his mother he hadn't heard from in years, no siblings, and his only close relative Great-Aunt Ceinwen now deceased, he felt so well and truly alone. Thus far his only saving grace had been his distant cousin Rasti, who was in the same year but in Hufflepuff. They reminisced occasionally and played a few games in empty classrooms or the library when they both had free time.

Still, DJ was able to at least go through the motions with a neutral, if not semi-pleasant, expression on his face. After stopping at Scrivenshaft's for ink and some basic writing utensils, DJ crossed the street toward Tomes and Scrolls, intending on getting the last of his supplies and then going to Three Broomsticks for a late luncheon (having discovered he had more money on him thanks to his social service solicitor's investments).  As the door jingled a familiar head by the deluxe quill display turned and DJ recognised the facial features as he raised his own head up. Alexander Regan, Alex for short. He had been one of the Aurors trapped in the Dammit Dome with the student body for the duration of fall and winter terms, and during DJ's prefect duties he'd gotten at least familiar with the young man.

"Hey, Mr. Regan!" he brightened a little bit for the first time in a fortnight. "Good to see you. And yeah, everything's 'normal,'" he added finger quotes, "back at the castle. What does the Ministry have you working on now? Or are you just off this weekend?" The Auror was four years older than him but it was not so significant an age difference that they hadn't developed a peer camaraderie, and in DJ's case at least, quite an appreciation for the friendliness, synergism, and fastidiousness of the well-groomed scion of the Regan family.

Abruptly two things happened in DJ's head. In the back of his mind, he realised that ever since October, he was himself a legal adult now and he had certain... options that had not been present before. And out of the front of his mouth without any filter, he said, "Can I buy you luncheon?"

Arawn's rotted rectum, he swore in his head, what in the devil possessed me to ask him that?!

DJ looked just as pleased to see him, which was encouraging. Alex had tried his best to maintain friendships with the older Hogwarts students, or to at least treat them as equals. Though the boy replied in a familiar tone, Alex winced at Mr. Regan. “Oh, don’t, Alex is fine,” he said with a dismissive wave of the hand. “Glad to hear things are good.” There was really no expecting Hogwarts to run smoothly, but as long as no one was getting hurt, it was pretty much a success.

“Well, there aren’t many dark wizards running around Hogsmeade these days, at least not that we know of.” Alex lifted his arm with the shopping bags and grinned. “No, I’m here for pleasure. Didn’t realize the students would be in town today, but I figure I should have. Exams start soon, don’t they?” In school he had never had too much trouble with tests and memory, hadn’t felt a great deal of stress at the end of the year, but he knew this was a nerve-wracking time for most. “Getting in a last bit of relaxation?”

The conversation seemed utterly absurd in light of the beginning of the year. The last time they had seen each other, Hogwarts was under attack. The community was still reeling from it, ceremonies and memorials and charity quidditch matches he was supposed to go see Quinn in were still being held. Alex felt almost guilty for speaking so casually. For aurors, moving on from horror was a necessary part of the job, but for students who had been thrown into positions of authority in nearly unprecedented chaos?

He opened his mouth to apologize but DJ beat him to speaking, asking a question that made him raise his eyebrows. Luncheon. Automatically Alex understood it as a romantic overture, but surely not. Even he wouldn’t have had the audacity. Well—not to ask so directly. His tactics at that age had been more coy, more subtly flirtatious than overt.

Certainly he’d taken it quite the wrong way. DJ was a schoolboy offering him lunch on a Hogsmeade weekend, not a slick older man looking to seduce him in a luxurious London restaurant. He had clearly spent far too much time with the latter if his mind went there immediately. “If you like, then I suppose I can stay a little longer,” said Alex, smiling warmly. “What were you thinking?”