Closed Different but the Same

[April Ward]

April had gone to Brightstone village countless of times, and she was sure she had wandered the streets of the town with Norton before. But now that they were... together, it felt different. It was a date, which was new to April. But after a few first awkward moments, the two had settled into their usual rhythm. Maybe their hands bumped each other a little more often than normal, but they weren't doing anything overly mushy. Maybe later? April was okay with just chatting and eating sweets for now. They had just gone to Honeydukes together and were sharing some of their sweets. April dug through her bag of Bertie Bott's beans to find one that looked innocent enough but might be gross. She thought it would be funny to see his face. "Here Norton, try this one. I think it might be butterscotch." She said, though her grin might give her game away. It could be butterscotch, it could also be dirt or something similar. Norton may be her... boyfriend now, but that didn't mean she couldn't tease him.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton was very excited about the time with April, they were just hanging out in brightstone, but this was more of a date, they were out alone, the two of them without anyone else. They’d done this before, hung out just the two of them, but this was different. They weren’t just friends hanging out, they were together and hanging out. Was it a date? Did every moment or outing they spent just the two of them count as a date? He wasn’t sure when it stopped being dates. His parents had done date nights when things had still been good, so maybe once they got to a certain point they had to declare it a date. Norton would class this as a date, and he was enjoying it a lot. The boy had his own pack of sweets in front of him as they walked around. He looked at the one that she was handing out to him. He took it and ate the entire thing in one. Immediately spitting it out when it was definitely not butterscotch. He laughed, ”I don’t know what that was but it was not butterscotch and was gross,” the boy laughed lightly as he went through his own bag of sweets and pulled out a pink one eating that in one and glad for the nicer flavour to get rid of the other one. Norton pulled out another sweet at random, a bright yellow one and held it out to her, ”Try this, it’s probably lemon!” the boy offered it to her. He knew that she had her own bag, in the same way that he had his own, but it was fun to share them too. He hoped that she would appreciate it, and also sorta hoped that the flavour of the one he was offering was disgusting. Norton didn’t want to harm his girlfriend but a gross taste that they could share amusement in was all in good fun.​

 

[April Ward]

April watched as Norton took the candy from her, and beamed as he spit it out. She laughed at him, nudging him. "I thought it was dirt or something, you're so easy to trick!" She said, grinning at him. Then he held one out to her and she hesitated for a moment before taking it. She bit it in half cautiously, then laughed. "And I got pineapple! I'm definitely winning this game." She told him, deciding that they were definitely in a competition right now and she was definitely winning. She was momentarily distracted as they passed a familiar building, and while April was normally keen to go inside Gambol & Jape's, today she really didn't want to linger near here. She was sure her dad may have picked up on the fact that she was dating Norton, though maybe not. If he had, though, he probably would have told aunt Amy, and April definitely didn't want her aunt to tease her today. She pulled Norton along. "Let's go... over there!" She said, pointing. But she realized too late she had been too loud, and as the door of the shop opened she cursed inwardly.

 

[Amy Ward]

Amy had seen her niece from the window and had noticed how close she was walking with a boy. They had been laughing and giving each other candy, which certainly made Amy curious. Did April have a boyfriend? She would have said the girl was too young for that, but then remembered she was nearly sixteen already. Amy had definitely been dating at her age. She couldn't resist this opportunity to snoop in her niece's life, and left one of the students working for her at the counter for a moment to have a chat with her and this boy. She opened the door and grinned. "April! I hope you weren't walking past without paying a visit to your favorite aunt!" She said, grinning. Then pretended to notice the boy for the first time. "Ooh, who is your friend?" She asked, a teasing smile on her face.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton laughed lightly with her, the boy hadn’t even figured that she might lying about it. It wouldn’t entirely matter to him, he was having fun and the point of those sweets were that occasionally there were some super gross flavours. He groaned loudly when she got pineapple instead of something terrible, though the groan was laughter filled. This was nice. He wasn’t even paying too much attention to where they were going instead just having fun with his new girlfriend, hanging out and having a laugh about things. The teen was a little surprised that they didn’t head into the joke store, he had thought they might, but he just followed her, letting himself be pulled away, that was until the door of the shop they’d just been about to head away from and someone called out April’s name. The boy hadn’t realised her aunt owned the joke store! Though he certainly did recognise the woman from the wedding. He smiled at her bright as her questions turned to him. He moved his bag of sweets and wiped down his hand on his trousers, ”I’m Norton,” the boy wasn’t sure if he should introduce himself as April’s boyfriend. He wasn’t sure if they were really telling people so instead he just introduced himself to her, and kept his hand out for her to shake and would let April decide if she introduced him as more than just a friend.​

 

[April Ward]

April sighed softly and turned to her aunt, knowing that she probably at least suspected that April was here on a date. Aunt Amy was great fun, but she also liked to tease people. It was no wonder she ran the joke shop, and usually that was great. Right now, April rather wished she had a boring job far away from here. "We were going to come back later." April lied with a shrug. "It just seemed busy." She added, though it really didn't seem that busy inside the store. She quickly moved on, her cheeks heating up a little as Aunt Amy focused on Norton. April felt uncomfortable and put on the spot, and as Norton only introduced himself with his name, it was clear the choice of how open to be was up to her. April shifted her weight from foot to foot, uncertain. Then, she realized she couldn't really say anything but the truth. If she introduced Norton as her friend, it wouldn't be fair to him. It would probably make him sad too. Besides, April didn't like to lie about big things. She took a deep breath. "He's my boyfriend." She blurted out, speaking quickly so the words nearly jumbled together. Then she gripped Norton's arm possessively, as if proving her point.

 

[Amy Ward]

Amy smiled as the boy introduced himself to her, even going as far as offering her his hand to shake. She did so, smiling kindly at him. "It's nice to meet you, Norton." She said with a nod. The name sounded familiar to her, and she was fairly sure the boy had been April's friend for a long time. She now recognized him too as one of the kids running around at Matt's wedding, one of the two boys April had invited. Had she been wrong, then? Perhaps they were just friends. But she could tell from April's evasive behavior and her reluctance that there was more going on. Amy glanced behind her as April said it had seemed busy. It was usually pretty busy during Brightstone weekends, but the store was actually relatively calm in this moment. But she could tell April wasn't feeling comfortable, so she didn't point that out to her. Teasing her niece was fun, but only to a point. Amy was surprised when April told her the boy, Norton, was her boyfriend. She hadn't expected the girl to say it, even if it was true. Not that long ago, April would have pulled a face and made disgusted noises if a conversation veered even close to romance. It seemed she had matured a lot, and Amy felt proud of her. "Oh, congratulations." She said with a bright smile. "It's actually not very busy right now, you guys should come in." She winked at the boy. "I'd like to get to know Norton a little. Besides, boyfriends of my favorite niece get a discount for sure."

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton looked at April as she introduced him as her boyfriend, even going so far as to grip his arm as she said it. It made him feel rather happy, he was her boyfriend, ”She’s my girlfriend,” the boy couldn’t help but blurt out, he felt like he had to say it, after she had. Just to be sure she knew that she was on the same page as him about it. They were together. He smiled at the congratulations given from this woman’s aunt but was more surprised that they were being invited in and getting a discount! Wow! Who knew dating could have such advantages! Maybe it was only because of April that he had such advantages, most other maybe wouldn’t, his family would provide few advantages. He didn’t have any cool aunts that owned joke stores, he barely really had a family any more. Well, he had a sister and a dad but his sister was helping his dad who seemed increasingly removed. The most recent ill-health that he was sure as magical people he could solve but couldn’t. He focused however on this, on his bag of sweets on April and her aunt, ”Do you want a sweet?” he offered the older woman, ”You can ask me anything too! I’m an open book!” the boy assured the woman, if getting to know April’s family meant they got to know him, for her he would do that. He wanted to get to know them too, be involved in April and her life. This was maybe beyond the point of best friend and into partner territory where they would get to know people’s family and spend time around them in a more personal fashion.​

 

[April Ward]

April giggled as Norton said she was his girlfriend. That was obvious, if he was her boyfriend. "Duh." She muttered, nudging him playfully. She was a little embarrassed about the whole situation, but it was also less bad than she had thought beforehand. She watched with a small smile as Norton offered Aunt Amy sweets, feeling a fondness for him that she knew definitely wasn't just friendly. They were dating for a good reason, and she really kind of wanted to kiss him again. But this wouldn't be a good time. "C'mon." She said, heading into the store with Norton. With him being so cute, she would be able to deal with her aunt's teasing, she was sure.

 

[Amy Ward]

Amy laughed softly as the boy confirmed they were dating, then smiled at him as he offered her a sweet. "Definitely, thanks!" She said, taking one and popping it into her mouth. "That's good to know. You're April's first boyfriend, so I'm very curious." She told the boy. He was excitable and seemed very similar to April, though a bit more polite from what she could tell. He seemed like a sweet boy. She stepped aside to let the two of them in, then leaned against a spell. "So, Norton. Tell me a bit about yourself. Are you in April's year?" She asked the boy, starting off with a simple question.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton smiled at her and followed the pair into the store with a little grin, he took another sweet and ate it quickly, it was a little gross, it was dirt but given that they were no longer outside he just chewed it quickly and swallowed. He nodded at her, ”She’s my first girlfriend!” the boy agreed, he had never really been interested in anyone else in that way. She was the first person that he had liked and it was his good fortune that she liked him back. The boy nodded, ”I’m in the same year and house, we’re both hufflepuffs, I’m a prefect too,” he wanted to get along well with her family and he would of course be honest with them about things even if he didn’t particularly want to talk about it. He was of course unsure about how much they would want to know, ”I like this store a lot!” the boy said as he glanced about, ”I laugh too much to pull off pranks but I really like them. You own this place?” the boy returned politely, he didn’t want her to just be asking questions to him, that he should be polite enough to return a few questions to her. He was pleased that April was still on his arm helping give him a little more confidence in navigating her family. Norton would do his best because he wanted them to like him.​

 

[April Ward]

April glanced at her aunt with a slight frown. Did she have to mention Norton was her first boyfriend? Granted, he probably knew that already, but it still felt like stuff she shouldn't be saying. But Norton went along with it easily, chatting away happily the way he always did. April huffed out a small laugh as he told her aunt he was a prefect, what did that have to do with anything? "He's a prefect but he's still cool." She told her aunt with a slight grin as she picked up a random item off the shelves. "Mostly." She added teasingly, giving Norton a grin too. She examined the packaging of the item in her hands, then put it back. After a moment, she let go of Norton's arm. "Did you get anything new in?" She asked her aunt as she looked around. "I haven't surprised dad with anything in a while."

 

[Amy Ward]

Amy thought the boy's eagerness to talk to her was pretty cute, especially since April seemed a bit more hesitant. She wondered if the boy had met Matt yet, and how her brother was dealing with his daughter having a boyfriend. Knowing him, he was probably very awkward about the whole ordeal. Though she also thought he wouldn't be crappy to this kid for dating April. He wasn't one of those weird over protective types. "I see, a prefect." She said, pretending to ponder that for a moment. "I would make a joke about prefects not being allowed in my store, but I actually have the head boy as an employee so I can't." She sighed softly, as if that was a great pain. "Glad you like the store, you can go pick something out and get a discount if you want. Maybe to prank your girlfriend? I do own the place, yes." She smiled brightly, then turned to April. "Nothing new, though keep your eyes open! I do have a few improved items. You should get the frog soap to try on your dad. I bet he'd love to deal with an army of frogs when he's simply trying to wash his hands." Her grin turned devious, she had always enjoyed teasing her brother.

 

[Norton Gillespie]

Norton proudly puffed out his chest when April called him cool, of course he was still cool. Being a prefect just meant he had to be a little more responsible on occasion. He nodded at April’s Aunt’s reaction to that, he was surprised that the head boy worked in this store. He didn’t know him very well but the older boy seemed so serious! He shook his head at the offer, ”I’ll look about, but I don’t think I’d ever be able to get April,” he joked with her, he knew that April was the better prankster, Norton was too easily laughing about things to be able to sit and do a prank. ”But I could probably get my sister, she’d be so unsuspecting,” he kept himself close to April, but allowed himself to look around and think about what he could get Gilly with the next time he saw her, he could already imagine her reaction to a prank. Like someone who would not be pleased to mess around, he could already hear her saying to him that she didn’t have the time for it. He vaguely listened along as April and her aunt talked about some of the thing in the store. ”That frog soap sounds hilarious!”​

 

[April Ward]

April watched Norton from the corner of her eye, feeling her heart flutter as it was clear he was trying to impress her aunt. She kind of wondered what it would be like to meet Norton's family. She didn't know much about his family, aside from the fact that he had a twin sister named Gilly who used to go to Hogwarts too. Maybe she could meet her? April would have to ask. "Of course he can't." She said, grinning. "I'm way too smart to be pranked by him." She stuck out her tongue at him teasingly. "But you should try to prank your sister. I might try to get October with one too." She mused. April grinned as Norton said the frog soap sounded good. "Maybe we should replace the soap in one of the toilets with it, just for fun."