Chapter Text
First quidditch match of the season
It was an ordinary, quiet day in the school library, most students quietly studying and whispering to each other, though there were some who chose to run the risk of angering Madame Pince and as such were speaking louder than most yet still it was easy to put it off as background noise. It was still quite peaceful even with that.
At least, that was until the double doors of the library were pushed open, slamming against the wall with a loud bang, the librarian immediately went on alert as a perfectly average looking teen, already in the telltale quidditch uniform strode through, looking for someone with a one track mind, managing to avoid her so far as he finally found who he'd been searching for, sneaking up behind him, grabbing his hand. "Knew I'd find you here. I thought you said you were coming to watch. Its about to start. Just thirty minutes we have to get there. Come on, you can't miss my first match as seeker. You know how much I've wanted this. Sunce we were kids," he bounced on his heels as he waited for an answer, fiddling with the loose strands of hair. He tutted as the other got a much too familiar look on his face, causing him t frown, not pout as he could already guess what he was about to say and nearly sat on the table in an effort to make his point clearer, "you promised you'd come to every one of them. You did. ANd you've upheld that promise so far so why's this one different?"
The other didn't seem much phased by the mini outburst, though at least he'd put the book he'd been reading aside, giving him his undivided attention, "haven't you realised we have our OWLs at the end of this year? I know you didn't study much the last two years, as indicated by your report card," it was quietly said but not in a way that went with some negative reason normally.
His face screwed up like he'd smelled something rotten, annoyed as he curled his nose up. "Come on Cas, a few hours isn't going to kill you. You know how long I’ve been wanting this. Ever since we were kids,” while there was an almost petulant tone to his voice it wasn’t on the level of whining just yet.
Castor but his lip, opening his mouth to respond, likely to give another refusal and an excuse, it wasn’t even so much of a bad one, ten OWL subjects wasn’t a very good idea but it was all worth it. His brother got to take only six and still have time to explore his hobbies it was all good. “Pollux, I-“ though he had the feeling he’d be cowed into agreeing anyways, it didn’t hurt to try and go against it at least. But this time he was cut off as his study partner returned, arms laden with a couple heavy looking tones. He pulled out his wand to help her only to be cowed by a fierce glare that was seriously too much for this small incident.
“What’s Polly doing here?” She asked in a tone that was anything but endearing, lips pressed into a thin line, brows furrowed, seemingly annoyed by his mere presence.
“You two know each other? Surprising. Don’t think he’d gone out of his way to get familiar with anyone else in our year, the newly dubbed ‘Polly’ looked between the two, one brow raised in suspicion. Such a little thing shouldn’t be suspicious but the other, he was just too familiar with him to not be.
“Of course. We share ancient runes and arithmancy. He’s the only one that seems to actually understand any of it. Other than me of course,” there was a slight smirk on the tall girl’s face as she pressed her fingers into her own chest, obviously proud while simultaneously putting others down. “Still you haven’t answered my question. I didn’t expect to see you of all people here,” she’d finally freed her hands of the tones, rolling her wrist, they were heavy but she refused to accept help. All par for the course.
“I’m just trying to convince my brother here to pull my brother from studying and now you to came watch me play,” he stood up to his full height, still managing to only just barely reach her shoulder, looking up at her, head angled a bit.
“Fine. I’ll attend,” it was inevitable quite frankly but he thought he’d at least be able to hold out longer. He couldn’t say no to him, it was coming to be an issue. Luckily he was much too nice to use it to his advantage purposefully and anyways, he’d been getting tired and stiff now. Admittedly spending the weekend like this probably wasn’t the best idea. “On one condition,” he stopped the other’s small celebration, a bit of a smile playing in his lips. “We come back here immediately after. I know you’re failing potions so that’s what we’re focusing on. Deal?”
Pollux looked at the hand, lips now pushed out in a bit of a pout, as he glared at the hand. But he hadn’t been lying. This really did mean a lot to him. Just like how the other and his academic achievements meant to him. Wildly different but they’d always seen each other through. He had a toothy grin on his face, taking the hand and shaking it like it was the most serious thing ever, “deal,” a light glow surrounded their hands for a moment. They probably shouldn’t be playing around with a weaker version of the unbreakable vie but it hasn’t backfired for them. Yet.
“Wait, what? Brothers?” She finally spoke up again, looking between the two, squinting a bit. “I always thought you two were cousins. What with the same name and same birthdays. Twins? You two are twins…” really it wasn’t a question at this point. Just a statement. She had an expression of someone who just made the discovery of their lives, looking between the two constantly. Now that she was looking for it the sikilarities were there. Once you ignored the different hair and eye colour. And the texture. And the height, one barely reached her shoulder, the other was a fair bit taller. They both had the same permanently haughty faces once you ignored the gauntness of one. Brothers she could see but twins? It was a struggle to wrap her head around that one. “You two don’t look all that similar. Who’s older?”
“He looks more like mother, I father. It’s as simple as that. What a stupid question, what does it matter? We’re twins,” there was a hint of bitterness in Castor’s tone as he said that, lips pressed so much into a thin line they were almost entirely invisible.
“It definitely matters to you. And to them too I guess,” it seemed to be quite the sour topic between the two, one could almost feel a shift in the air as the topic was brought up. “He’d older. Just by two hours though. You’d think it was more like ten years with the way he acts,” Pollux laughed, more than a little dramatically as he laughed, in an effort to lighten up the suddenly tense atmosphere.
“Someone has to do it,” such a vague and seemingly everyday statement yet it seemed to hold a weight behind it. One that shouldn’t ordinarily be there.
Normally unable to read the room, even Fausta was able to see and feel just how awkward it is between these two, which did probably explain why they weren’t seen together often. “I see Barbary saved me a seat. Good luck you,” she waved and seemingly disappeared, not wanting to spend more time than necessary around them. One was just too much for her. The other… well she wasn’t swure how to feel about him. Maybe she was regretting her decision to go up and offer him the opportunity to study together. But what with the things, mostly rumours she’d heard of his family and what she knew, however little it was, it seemed like a smart decision. And it had been. If she didn’t mind dying of awkwardness.
“You’re such a mess. Honestly. How do you expect to be flying properly if this is covering your face. I swear you’re probably one of the few sportsmen that cares more about having long hair than the ability to see,” and immediately his brother started acting like a mother worried about every little thing, patting down his hair, trying to convince him to let him plait it, and failing miserably. He even went as far as to brush off his robes for him and further use an ironing charm. Honestly, no one would care whether or not his uniform was pressed. Would they even be able to see at that distance? Most likely not.
”I’ll be fine. This is probably like my twentieth match,” he grinned a bit, as annoyed as he was, especially after they started gaining attention and while he loved attention like nothing else, this kind of attention wasn’t the same. He finally got annoyed enough to do something about it and pushed him towards the hufflepuff stands, his twig of a brother nearly stumbling and fell only to recover quickly enough. “Now go! It’s about to start. Don’t forget to cheer for me. Just block out anyone else,” and without a second glance at him he strode on to the field, a grin that from the looks had to be painful on his face, eyes shining brightly as he glanced around at all his teammates, sending Bean, the opposing seeker a wink as he took a moment to make sure the ribbon in his hair was tightly secured before going to the lineup. He was practically vibrating with excitement.
Finally! What he’s wanted since he was five was right at his fingertips. It only took a decade. He had to dig his heels in to make sure he didn’t go off on an early start, so excited he was.
As soon as the whistle blew, he was off on the air and he just had to take a moment to fly around, especially now that he wasn’t entirely focused on protecting the goals. He could just take some time to speed through the air, the sounds of the match fading into the background. Such an exhilarating feeling it was.
But eventually he got serious. All it took was a hint of gold flying by the his ear for him to remember where he was, honestly he was like a magpie. More magpie than wizard.
It took some time, honestly he wasn’t trying that hard, he’d always felt disappointed when the game ended early because of a seeker too good at their job. And it was fun leading Bean on, going like he was about to dive for it, only to pull up and of course his opponent was always just behind. Eventually, though he realised the other had caught sight of it and of course he had to cut her off.
And what a feeling it was! To wrap his hand around the fluttering little charmed object, that feeling cemented in his heart that this was what he was born to do. No ifs ands of butts. Still they ended up losing. And he couldn’t help but wonder, had it been his fault? Maybe he shouldn’t have stretched it on for so long. Oh well, he found he couldn’t bring himself to care.
After s quick shower and change of clothes, he was searching out his brother, pleasantly surprised to see him smiling in that odd way of his. “You did well,” ah his compliments. Always nice to receive.
“Still lost though. Probably my fault that one,” Pollux had the decency to look bashful at least.
“Same change that it wasn’t. You’re always gushing about your teamwork so it isn’t simply your burden to bear alone,” Castor’s smile widened a bit as he wrapped his arm around him, a bit unusual for him considering he normally hated any physical touch of any kind but here they were. “Now back to the library,” he pulled him away from his friends, humming a bit.
“Oh come on! Even after suffering such defeat? You’re an evil man Castor Rigel Boavk,” he hissed, most certainly pouting now.
Even with how often they butted heads and with how rare it was they saw eye to eye, their different paths in life the one thing that would never change no matter how long they lived was that they were brothers. As much as each regretted how much they’d been pulled apart, they could admit that they still had that at least.