I'm good for company, I swear

[Kael Sheehan]

As it turned out Kael could leave the school for at least a little bit of the holidays. His Mum had sent him off some money she had earned that month and in the letter told him he could use one of the fireplaces at the brothel in Hogsmeade, so long as he didn't tell a soul. The money was to buy a room for an evening û she stressed that he was too young to buy a lady as well û but that one Milana-Ann was letting him use her fireplace and a friend of his Ma's in Hogsmeade would allow to him a place to sleep for the remainder of the Christmas year. All of this just so he wasn't stuck behind the gates of Howarts until the 8th when they were all to return. He wanted to go home to the brothel. The madame's cook there made the most amazing meat pies and pudding, but he supposed their generosity meant he should take advantage of it.

He'd sat in his week-long bedroom for a mere minutes before feeling the itch to go out. He threw on his large coat, his trusty boots and wandered out into the dreary weather. The disaster the snowstorm called was a bit entertaining, considering it had only been found to be a malfunction of some kind in the first place.

With the Three Broomsticks in sight, he ducked into an alley way and pulled out his can of cigarettes he'd previously rolled. Touching his head back to the brick wall behind him, he almost broke the rules by using his wand to light it, but remembered at the last second and pulled out the muggle lighter his mother had stolen from a client.

He'd just gotten it lit, hands coning around the growing embers when he saw someone familiar spot him and head his way. "Shit," he fumbled, lost the smoke on his jacket somewhere, and was furiously patting it down as the person walked towards him.

  

[Ezekiel Whetstone]

Zeke was going to get a suit, and it excited him though wearing it the Flamel ball the next day made him slightly nervous. As balls were always odd occasions since as much as she admired some of her fellow boys she was pretending to be one of them. Eliminating any possibilities of her actually getting to respond to any interests that she had been developing. Even more he had to be the perfect gentleman with the girls that showed an interest in him.

Puberty was truly making things awkward.

The snow was low enough or cleaned enough with a broom strapped to his back he could safely go for a run. As if he slipped into snow he could use the broom to escape. Plus he needed the exercise as a simple look at his classmates showed girls developed faster when they allowed themselves to gain a bit of weight. Zeke had no intention of risking gaining weight that would ruin his rouse. After all, he had spent four and a half years posing as a boy at Hogwarts placing him cleanly beyond the halfway point to victory.

Zeke would graduate Hogwarts and have the opportunity to join the Navy in his fathers footsteps. With a chuckle he saw one of her dorm mates fumbling over a smoke. Slowing down his exercise he said " Don't worry no one is looking. " Though looking around with all the snow still covering the area he debated how wise it was to travel this far from Hogwarts for exercise.

Of course this far he mostly hoped to not be seen or thought much of. Especially since he was wearing rather loose clothing except for the undergarments that were tight underneath the baggy layers. Zeke said " Also your not at Hogwarts so I doubt anyone would care. "

Though he realized how good of a run he would have returning the the Gryffindor dorms once talking to Kael was over.

  

[Kael Sheehan]

Smouldering away on the fold near his pocket, he found the cigarette, giving a little thrust of his fist into the air in triumph, slipping it into the corner of his mouth as the boy walked towards him. He didn't recognize him at first, but as he came closer her realized it was Whetstone, the odd kid who looked like he hadn't aged properly in a few years. The boys teased him in school... or at least, Kael did behind his back... only after he himself had sprouted up over a summer break and grew hair in unmentionable places. He'd never really spoken with him much, this guy, but it seemed the guy knew him well enough to speak to him outside of school.

Cigarette in his mouth he spoke from the corner of his mouth, "Ah yeah, wasn't trying to hide anything. Dropped the thing." He took a long inhale and pulled the smoke from his mouth, exhaling smoothly, letting the smoke blow over his face. He looked the other boy up and down before holding out his smoke to him.

"Whetstone, right?" A lot of the girls fussed over him in their year and younger. He assumed it was because the boy was 'pretty,' but that didn't make a lot of sense to him. "You out for a ride?" Then why wasn't he flying? He gestured to the broom on his back. He didn't think he'd really seen Ezekiel fly since first year broomstick training. Kael, on the other hand, played seeker for the quidditch team.

"Partake?" He held out the smoke to him, his eyebrows rose on his forehead in askance. "Go on, yeah."

  

[Ezekiel Whetstone]

He imagined it had to be painful to have a smoldering smoke in ones pocket. Pain that if was combined with his luck would have probably resulted in a hole burning into one of his tops. Thankfully it was Kael whom it had happened to even if the boy had less shirts to risk to such a fate.

They slept in the same dorm even if they did not speak he was partly surprised he seemed to question who he was. Though one could say even Kael had a tattoo of an anchor on his arm that he had glimpsed once it was obvious he had no relation to the Navy. His own relation to working near a Navy dock and visiting his father when he came in from posting was one of memorizing lots of names. As when near the docks it was common for friends to come and usually go without being seen again. Thankfully he spent most of his younger childhood with his grandparents in a small fishing town.

Zeke said " Correct. " rather plainly in the remark about his own name.

He moved his arm up to readjust the broom he had hanging from his back. Zeke said " No, but with the cold I'll probably end up using it. Figured it would provide a quick way back to the castle without worrying about being buried in snow. " Leaving out the simple fact that running about the castle when one had such freedom to go to Hogsmeade every day of break would have been foolish. Especially since even with the snow around the slums more of it was cleared than the areas outside Hogwarts.

He was rather unsure if he should accept a smoke. Then he remembered how many times his father commented on accepting smokes to relate better to the workers under him. He was a Navy boy, and knew things like this were more for camaraderie than actual smoking. Zeke took the smoke and looked at it for a second before taking a puff. Thankfully he had seen his father do this and knew that even with the slight temptation to cough he had every time he had to stop himself from doing so. Then he handed the smoke back and said " Thanks. "

Then he realized the smoke also probably helped Kael deal with the fact that he suspected neither of them had anything to interesting to tell to each other. After all, pointing out he had the rugged cute look was simply not acceptable. Zeke said " Have you gotten much flying in with the recent weather? " Figuring that the fact he at least watched quidditch could help manners.

  

[Kael Sheehan]

At the other boy's rather point blank to his identity question, Kael nodded and figured he should have known the kid's name. They did share a room together, after all. Kael, unfortunately, was terrible with names, but he wasn't about to apologize. Really, in all honesty, Whetstone should have been used to this sort of behaviour already. One could tell Kael their name and he'd forget it almost instantly.
He only remembered the names of people he cared to remember. Usually, alternatively, it would be "hey you," "kid" or "pal."

"Ah, an escape." He commented about the boy using his broom as a safety net. He didn't think that far ahead in time himself. The thought to bring his broom out hadn't even crossed his mind. It was currently tucked away under his bed. He watched as the other boy took a puff of the cigarette (he hadn't been expecting it) and he nodded in mock approval noticing him being able to keep down the coughing that would normally pleg green gills. He didn't know too much about Whetstone, but he didn't seem like the kind of boy to smoke and down a pint of beer. He could be wrong, though. Interesting.

"No, not at all really. Not since the last game." He held out his holey gloves to show off his rather red looking fingertips. "Me Ma is sending me new gloves, but until then I'm not freezing my arse off up there." There would be a practice soon, he knew, and he hoped his gloves would come in before then. He couldn't be a Keeper if a little bit of cold was freezing his fingertips off. "How are you on that thing?" He gestured to the broom. "Ever try out for the team?"

  

[Ezekiel Whetstone]

Zeke nodded when Kael commented on the escape. It was a rather decent idea though such tactics were common from him due to his obsession with planning ahead. His own father always planned ahead and that what helped him become an officer in the Navy and now hold a respectable position on a ship building yard.

How was he on his broom? To be honest he had no clue. He could certainly fly it in a straight line, but other than that he rarely did. Zeke said " I'd gamble I could get it to fly straight out of a snow drift. I probably have delusions that I could manage to fly better than that. " Flying was not very important to him as it was not something that could help achieve his goals. Even if it was useful.

With a shrug he said " Never really learned to play quidditch. Plus this old thing probably makes the school brooms look like champions, but it is good enough for me.." Taking it off his back and showing the broom that was from when his grandfather was a child. His father had some money from his job, but that money mostly went to taking care of other things not buying brooms. With those other things usually involving clothes as he tried to dress slightly above his station in life.

A fact that probably made people think he was a bit higher than he was.

Though people having illusions about him was no new story. Mostly as he created the biggest illusion for them in every waking thought. Zeke said " I've enjoyed watching quidditch though. No idea how you see that thing I've tried from the stands and it usually takes me a couple minutes to realize it has been caught from the cheering."

  

[Kael Sheehan]

Kael eyed Ezekiel's old broom as he mentioned it, noting that it was, indeed, old. He had been waiting for the newest broom to hit the markets himself. He would probably spend more time admiring it through the shop window than having it in his hands however, unless any of his team mates purchased one, then he might actually get to test it out. Brooms were incredibly costly. His Ma had to save up to buy him in the one he currently had, and it was now a few brooms out of date. He was worried this would start to matter if the upper class kids on the team managed to buy new brooms and he would be left in the dust (so to speak).

"Lots o' luck." He answered, about catching the snitch. "That and I've always had good eye sight. Me Ma has terrible eyes. She needed me to find things for her when I was little." Her clothes, sometimes. Her slippers. Her curlers and garters. She could hardly see much in front of her eyes, but men didn't like a woman in bottle glasses. It had been a close tryout between him and another kid, but in the end he had caught it, nearly falling off his broom to throw himself towards it as it zipped in the opposite direction. He'd strained a muscle in his arm, but had Grip try to heal it in the dormitories instead of going to the nurse û he didn't want to look weak. In the end he had to let it heal naturally, wincing through the pain.

He leaned away from the wall, taking another few quick puffs of his cigarette before stubbing it out on the wall and tucking the rest away into his pocket. "I was just headed to The Three Broomsticks." He gestured over his shoulder in the direction to High Street. "Tag along?" He felt he couldn't care either way. Talking to his dorm mate or not talking to his dorm mate, though he was curious about the guy. He was an odd one. Kept to himself it seemed. Though, Kael wasn't the most perceptive roommate in the world.

  

[Ezekiel Whetstone]

Luck was something he believed was made not had. Though with skill he figured in quidditch luck was probably a good answer. A straight answer to such a question would possibly give someone else a clue into the sport, which considering the two boys hardly talked was a good idea. Mostly if the situation were reversed he probably would not have said anything either.

Though it made for conversation.

He readjusted his broom on his back as it would have been rather uncomfortable to continue his exercising with it that way. Though the offer of a trip to the Three Broomsticks did hold an appeal. Mostly as it had been awhile since he had gone and he expected it would probably be another while before a return trip. It had little to do with money as he had enough probably to get a butterbeer every hogsmeade weekend. It was more he spent it on other things.

Zeke said " I could probably get one drink. " Any more and he would be over the small amount of money he routinely had in his shoe. A habit his father had taught him when he was younger as you always needed to have something incase one got stuck in a bind. Though his father also usually had a few words translated in whatever language he thought the nearest port spoke.

Though he would probably have to do some stairs to work off the extra food.

Then he squatted towards the ground and took off his right shoe removing the coins that were contained inside. Placing the shoe back on his foot he said " People look odd when you do that in a restaurant. " He figured everyone had a place to hide a few coins,