Closed Holden Wuz Here

[Holden Marshall]

After so many years Holden knew he should be used to the beginning of year funk he wound up in, but it still took him by surprise every time. It wasn't like being home was that much better; his dad barely noticed he was there, and when they were at Melanie's Connor had stopped being openly hostile, but that wasn't all that much actual improvement. But school was school, full of people he didn't like who didn't like him, and it was frustrating having to come back to a place he was literally trapped in. He idly pondered his irritating fate as he sat in a window seat and took in the view, idly scratching his name into the windowsill with a small knife as he thought.

 

[Eric Holland]

oh how the tables have turned

Eric had found that his resting angry face was a pretty good tool in his new job as caretaker. If he suspected a student was up to no good, he'd just give them a scowl and they'd usually stop whatever they were doing and scurry off. It also helped that in Eric's own time here at Hogwarts, he had done just about everything that could break the rules here, so he knew exactly what to look out for. He still remembered the time he had started the year with negative house points for his house, he supposed dealing with similarly annoying kids was now some sort of karma sent to him by the universe. That feeling only intensified when Eric heard a telltale scratching noise and turned around only to see his brother. Eric vividly remembered the time he had done something similar and had gotten into a lot of trouble about it, it felt so long ago. Eric moved closer and cleared his throat. "Really? Your own name? You want to be caught?"

 

[Holden Marshall]

Of all the changes recently at Hogwarts, having his older brother around was definitely one Holden had been finding most surprising. He actually jumped at the sound of Eric's voice, head snapping quickly round to face him, cheeks flushed. "What?" He said blankly, before glancing down at the knife in his hand. Sh*t. "It was already like that, some other Holden must have done it years ago. I was just tracing it, I didn't make it deeper." It was a dumb excuse, one Holden wouldn't expect the dopiest prefect to believe. But hey, Eric was more likely than most to let him off the hook for being funny.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric's eyebrows slowly raised to his hairline as Holden kept talking and digging a deeper hole for himself, though he didn't seem all that concerned yet. "Stop talking." He said with a groan. "When I was in school I was at least smart enough to carve the names of people I disliked into things." He held up his hand. "Give me the knife." He said. "I can't let you off the hook for this, you know." He said, fairly certain his brother would expect him to. Heck, he kind of wanted to, but that sort of crap would get him fired and rightfully so. He couldn't go giving special treatment to someone just because they had the same sort of stupid teenager genes he'd had.

 

[Holden Marshall]

Holden's face dropped even further when Eric reached for his knife, folding it quickly. "It's my knife! It's from scouts!" He lied, hoping Eric wouldn't know he wasn't one. "It's for camping and stuff, you can't take it." He scooted off the seat, betrayed. "Why not? What happened to being brothers?"

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric knew Holden and he had known this would turn ugly, mostly because it would have turned ugly if the roles were reversed. He loved his brother but at times wondered if he was some sort of punishment sent by the universe to let Eric learn from his own mistakes, or something. He held out his hand and raised an eyebrow. "I know it's your knife, that's why I'm asking you to hand it over." He told him. "You can get it back later." He sighed. "Holden, we're still brothers but you do understand I can't just ignore what you do and let you get away with stuff? Come on."

 

[Holden Marshall]

Holden pocketed his knife and folded his arms. "Nobody's looking! Nobody cares!" He said insistently. "And you wouldn't care if we were at home, you'd think it was funny! You're just power tripping to impress the teachers or something, you know it's not a big deal!"

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric sighed and had to count to five in his head when he saw Holden pocket the knife. He really was going to have to pull a Noel here, wasn't he? He kind of hated himself for it. But he was frustrated with Holden too. He knew he was a kid, but what he said just sounded so... childish and silly. He had to remind himself he had been just like that at that age, possibly worse. "No, I'm not powertripping, and no, I wouldn't care if we were at home. You're right. But we aren't at home, we're at my job, where I work. And do this job." He said, gesturing between him and Holden. "You know, as an adult who has to earn money to live." He added dryly. "Sorry Holden, you just can't do that crap where I can see it." He took out his wand, remembering his encounter with Noel from so many years ago. Here he was, doing exactly what he had hated so much back then. "Accio pocket knife." He said, catching it out of the air as it flew out of Holden's pocket. "You'll get it back."

 

[Holden Marshall]

Holden grabbed uselessly at the knife as it flew from his pocket, staring at his brother in betrayal. "Nobody's even here!" He snapped. It's not like anyone would know if Eric had... you know, been nice to his own brother. "Whatever." Holden spat. "Can't believe you became a pig. Guess Connor's my favourite brother now." He growled and turned away, hands in his pockets as he stormed away from his brother, thinking of several choice words he could use to decorate the caretakers' office door.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric knew what Holden was doing, he had done the same thing himself plenty of times. He was just shouting whatever he thought would hurt Eric the most, but he had managed to hit the mark. Connor hadn't been a very good brother to Holden and Penny, something Eric had tried to help with. So hearing Holden say this... stung, he had to admit. He didn't let it show though, simply sighing as Holden stormed off. He considered going to his head of house, but figured that confiscating the knife and telling him off was enough for this first time. And he didn't want his brother to completely hate him