Little Talks

[Aeon Summers]

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Flourish and Blotts​

The sound of bells lightly jangling against each other filled the air as the single wooden shop door soundlessly swung open. An elderly wizard, perhaps in his mid fifties, stepped into the lonely bookstore and gently let the door shut behind him, its wooden frame clicking quietly back into place. He stood at the entrance for a few moments, sullen eyes protected by slightly lopsided spectacles, the frame a dark metal that might have once been golden, slowly surveyed the room. Finally, the man stepped to one side and began walking down an aisle of shelves, his coat fluttering with each step. He looked a lot like a business man, though his charcoal grey suit had the faintest signs of a medieval fashion. A traditional man.

Aeon watched the wizard wander around the store from behind the counter and let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. There was only half a minute more of his shift before he could go on a break. If the man had decided to come up to ask for assistance, it'd probably cut into his time. The young male glanced at his wristwatch, a series of hands that ended in various runes and symbols ticked around the clock face, at first looking complicated and random unless you knew what each hand stood for.
The seconds ticked by and finally, one of the hands stopped at the two o'clock mark. Perfect.
Aeon pushed away from the counter and quickly scooped up his jacket and satchel before wandering over to the back room and knocking on the door's thick wood, letting his co-worker know he was leaving so he could take over. Then, he was gone, the door jangling once again as he stepped out onto the street.

Obsidan Harbour​

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Aeon walked along the side of the cobbled streets, one hand in his pocket while the other traced along the front of each building he passed, like a bored child might do while out with their mother and father.
Except his mother and father had left him a while ago.
Aeon curled his finger back away from the wall. Don't let them creep into your mind, Summers. They don't belong there. You have Kida now, plus Ashton, Percy and Scarlet. One relatively happy patchwork of a family. he thought to himself as he brought his hand up to his face, closing it into a fist to look at a ring coiled around one finger. A small stone was nestled on top of it, pure white in colour. Apparently, the ring was supposed to change if the holder of its twin was in pain, or if they died. Sort of like a mood ring, Aeon had once mused. Though physical instead of emotional. The ring had only changed once or twice before, an unsettling shade of red blossoming out from the white, almost like blood.

He dropped his hand back down to his side. He'd looked at the ring at least once every day since his brother had run away with his father. He had to know that wherever Sern was, he was okay.

Aeon turned off from the street in a large gap between the buildings which held its own little park for witches and wizards to sit down and relax in after long days of generally shopping around. Though today the park was practically empty, aside from an old woman reading on a bench in one corner. Aeon shrugged his satchel from his shoulder and dumped it onto an empty bench on the other side of the park. He traced his fingers over the fabric, his name embroidered in cursive lettering on the flap, then unbuckled the strap and flipped the bag open. He tugged off his jacket and threw it inside, watching it fall into the magically enlarged space inside. It was a cool day, but he'd be warm enough soon.

The young wizard turned away from the bench and wandered off to the nearest tree, slowly circling around it and blocking anyone on the street's view of him. As he walked, he crouched down and let his hands touch the soft ground, though they were no longer hands. Instead, furry paws padded against the grass. It only took a second for his entire body to shift, bones supernaturally shifting around, some disappearing, others reforming. His ears grew out and lost their roundness, the tip of his nose turned black and extended out with his mouth to form a muzzle. His clothes vanished from his body, replaced by a layer of dark fur that covered his entire body, from head to his newly grown tail.

Instead of a young adult coming back around the trunk, a furry dog padded out. Its bright blue eyes darted to the left, where the old woman was still reading. She hadn't even looked up. Aeon grinned, or as close to as a canine can. He hated people seeing him change. He regarded his human and dog self as two separate beings. As an animal he had more freedom, he felt as if he could do anything he wanted, there were no restrictions any more, no human law. Of course, he wasn't about to go massacring people as a beast, the Ministry would probably find out it was him even if he'd wanted to, but there was still much less to hold him back. Animals didn't judge one another by how they looked or acted, they weren't controlled by a government, their lives were their own. Aeon stretched out, rumbling in content as he loosened his newly changed muscles, then pounced off through the park, every so often rolling around in the long grass. The world was a lot different when you weren't human. The ground was closer and Aeon would notice more of the things around him, the other wildlife, the bugs, the animals, he was more aware of all the living things. A butterfly fluttered into his vision and with a happy woof, he pounced after it, playfully chasing the flying insect around the large open space.

Ten minutes later, the sun came out from behind a cloud and the world around Aeon grew hotter. His entire body was already heated from racing around and being an idiot and his tongue hung out of his mouth while he panted in exhaustion. He hopped back closer to the bench where his satchel was and pulled the strap with his teeth, dragging it into the middle of the park and collapsing down on the grass next to it to laze in the sun, his tail thudding rhythmically against the ground.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

It was a rare occasion now for Taylor to be lying on her bed in Mercer Manor doing absolutely nothing. Of course, that hadn't been the case a few months prior, but after being accepted into a professional Quidditch team, Taylor had to spend most of her time practising or travelling. As seeker for the team, she didn't want to let anyone down by letting herself get sloppy with her skills. Her job was a brilliant distraction to what had become her life after Hogwarts. She had cut herself away from everyone, she felt at a loss with how her life had panned out. She didn't even feel all that close to her parents any more, who had always been such a large part of her life. They both had their own things to deal with. Her Dad had baby Gabriel and her Mum had triplets, so it wasn't exactly easy to get a word in. Taylor had come to the conclusion that it was time to grow up, something she really did not want to do. So she had trained hard and joined the Wasps.

Glancing at the clock sitting on her bedside table, Taylor sat up on her bed. She had promised her adopted brother Raffael that she would go see him in New Zealand later in the day. With the clock saying 1:45, she decided that a little bit of shopping would waste some time before she would go see him. Changing out of her around-the-house clothes, she fixed her hair and added some light make-up. Female protocol, she supposed. She padded through her large home and ended up at the big fireplace in the living room, where they normally accessed the flu network and grabbing a handful of powder, made her way to Obsidian Harbour, which was close to where Raffael lived.

The streets brought back many memories, some painful, others quite ordinary. Taylor wasted some time in the quidditch supply shop before walking further up the street. She passed Flourish and Blotts, remembering the time her Mum had owned it. She wondered vaguely who worked there now, but the thought soon fell out of her mind. She soon came to a park that she remembered playing at when she was just eleven years old and buying all her first year things. Intending to cut across the park to get to more of the shops, she stopped short at a dog sitting in the middle of the park with a satchel next to it. She looked around at the empty expanse of grass and noticed no one else there. "Hey there," she said and she crouched and gave the dog a scratch on the head. She had heard all the warnings about petting strange animals, particularly dogs because they could be dangerous, but Taylor couldn't care about that nonsense in the slightest. Besides, this dog was adorable, what harm could it do to her? "Have you got an owner anywhere?" Taylor asked more to herself than anything, because she knew the dog couldn't respond. She glanced around the park again, wondering who the bag belonged to, as she scratched behind the dog's ears.

 

[Aeon Summers]

Aeon glanced up from the green grass, or rather in his canine vision, yellow grass. A familiar scent clung to the air, a distinct smell he'd known a long time ago, but he found he couldn't place it. It reminded him of his teenage years, old memories suddenly stirring around in his mind, like mixing the contents of a cauldron during Potions class back at school. Useless subject, he hadn't brewed anything since he graduated.
What is that? The animagus wondered, gazing across the field as the sound of footsteps approached from the street, moving from hard cobbled ground to a muffled swish of grass. He tilted his head curiously. He could feel the breeze against his constantly wet nose and found that the scent came from the direction of a woman cutting through the park, growing stronger as she came nearer.

Summers rested his head back against the grass. The woman was coming closer and he could make her out a lot better. He hated the fact that things were blurred at certain distances that differed from his human self. Realisation suddenly struck him. Her blonde hair and green eyes, the shape of her face, her nose, her lips, she looked so much like somebody that he used to know. It could have been someone else, but it wasn't likely. He definitely recognised his classmate from Hogwarts. They hadn't spoken or seen each other in years, but she hadn't seemed to change much.
Taylor knelt down and spoke to him. For a moment Aeon thought maybe he looked like himself, until she started scratching his head. Oh, she doesn't know. I forgot how friendly she was. he thought, rumbling in content. He gave a short bark of "hello" and shook his fur as she asked if he had an owner. The canine looked up into her eyes. Had he ever told her that he'd started training to be an animagus while they'd been friends? Probably not, he'd only ever told a select few people, his cousin Kida because she was one too, who probably told Eden, as well as Ashton and Perseus because he lived with them and Arisa when he found her in the dumpster. Fun times. Aeon barked again and placed his paw on his satchel, prodding the embroidered name tag in the fabric.

Aeon Summers

 

[Taylor Mercer]

When Taylor turned back to face the canine, it was looking up at her and Taylor swore she could sense some familiarity in the dog, although she was sure she had never met the animal in her life. She could have almost sworn the dog was looking at her in the same way too. Animals could be very expressive creatures, she knew that from her own pets. They each had their own individual personality traits that made them unique. Merlin the cat was incredibly fat and lazy and grumpy almost all of the time except when he curled up on your lap and you stroked him until he fell asleep purring with the force of a lawn-mower. Her owl, Albus had the tendency to be a diva and fluff up his feathers, turn away from and ignore you for several hours if you didn't appreciate him enough. Then there was her horse, Eowyn, was incredibly motherly and could sense when you weren't feeling the best better than most humans could. Taylor would always go to see her when she was down and the palomino would nudge your cheek with her nose until you felt better. It was funny how pets were like that.

Regardless of pets having personalities, Taylor almost jumped in shock when the dog actually did answer her question, by shaking his fur and barking. She couldn't help but smile. "You're a smart boy aren't you?" she cooed, as she would with any other animal, leaning over to read the bag that the canine had placed his paw over. "Aeon Summers?" Taylor questioned, looking back at the dog and suddenly the familiarity she had felt dawned on her. Was this dog Aeon's? Or... was this dog actually Aeon himself? She remembered back to many classes with Aeon throughout school, she knew he had been great at transfiguration, it really wouldn't be a stretch for him to go on to be an animagus. She regrets not being that close to him in later years at Hogwarts. She'd probably know if this was actually Aeon if she had of. However that didn't change the fact that he had been one of her very first friends at Hogwarts. She supposed, after punching Jenna, she had kind of gone underground and neglected a lot of her friends and that was wrong of her, but it had been a hard time in her life and one she didn't really want to share with the world.

Taylor pulled her hand away from where it was scratching the dog's head and hoping she wasn't wrong, or she'd feel awfully embarrassed, she leaned down and whispered, "Aeon? Is that you?" A part of her really hoped it was, because it would be nice to talk to him. She hadn't seen him in so long, it would be great to catch up and see how he was doing.

 

[Aeon Summers]

Aeon could both see the recognition on Taylor's face and feel it himself, he found as a dog he could sense and understand the emotions of those around him. He didn't have to talk to someone to know if they were good or bad people, it was all in this strange empathic canine power. He felt like he belonged in a team like the X-Men or the Avengers, but quickly brushed the thought aside. Too many late nights spent reading old comic books.

As his old friend leaned in and asked if it were him, he almost let out a laugh, which would have sounded weird with his changed vocal chords. Too bad if he was just some intelligent, trained dog and not a human animagus. To passers-by, she probably would have looked like a lunatic, "Taylor Mercer, the Dog-Whisperer". Then again, in the world of magic they lived in, nothing was strange.

"Arf, arf." Aeon barked and nuzzled the girl's nose with his, before sitting back on his haunches. As he sat, his whole body shifted, paws becoming hands and feet, fur shrinking back into the skin, clothes appearing from non being in wizard-space. In a second all of his features were distorted and he was suddenly back in his human form, seated on the grass, once again green in his vision, with his arms around his knees and his blonde hair tussled from rolling around. "Hey, Taylor!" he smiled. It was one of the few genuine times he was happy to see somebody else.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor scrunched up her nose in surprise when the dog barked and nuzzled her. It really was an adorable animal. She leaned back when the canine sat back and watched in surprise as its features began to shift and change. The animal stretched and grew bigger as the fur disappeared. Taylor had met people who were animagus before, but she hadn't ever actually witnessed the transformation right in front of her eyes. It was fascinating. A little creepy, but totally cool. Soon enough her old friend Aeon Summers sat in front of her in the space the dog had been. "That, was the freakiest thing ever," she said jokingly, a wide smile stretching across her face. It was so good to see her old Gryffindor pal. He had grown up a lot, but at the same time, still looked distinctly like the eleven year old she used to know. Taylor knew she no longer looked the same as she did. Her face had slimmed out a lot during her aging, but her eyes and smile remained exactly the same.

"How are you?" Taylor exclaimed, after her brain fully caught up with that fact that Aeon had just transformed from a dog to a human. Without even thinking about it, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "And when did you become an animagus?" she continued, pulling away from the hug and sitting back on the grass. "Aw man, it feels like I haven't seen you in forever!" Taylor realised she was rambling, but it was just such a relief to see the smile on Aeon's face, proving that he was equally as happy to see her as she was to see him. When Taylor had gone to visit Sam, it had been strained, because he was her best friend in the world and she felt as though she had betrayed him when she had gone off the grid. She hadn't known how he would react and she was only just coming back to herself then. She felt better now and was able to smile freely around Aeon. It felt so good.

 

[Aeon Summers]

Aeon leaned back on one hand and used to other to smooth down his hair, which stuck out in every direction from his recent tumbles. "Freaky, huh? I've never transfigured in front of my own reflection so I'm not sure how it looks. I just imagined it as being totally cool and mind-blowing." He said with a (completely non-sexual) wink. He'd have to try it when he got home, how it hadn't occurred to him to do so was astounding.

Of course, it wasn't long before the young wizard found himself hugging his old school buddy, his arms wrapped around her smaller body. No longer was he as lanky as he had been as a teenager, the years had caught up and his metabolism slowed to a more average speed, letting him fill out to a more comfortable size. "I'm great! My life is getting on track and I'm living with my cousins now. You know Kida? The chick who was like, always getting hurt and was recently kidnapped and so on, blah blah blah blah. Everything's the same there." he said with an unconscious roll of his eyes. "She acted like it was nothing, of course. Just another day in the life. And, I officially finished up all my animagus training by...I think the end of sixth year? I just kept it to myself because it's like an escape from my personal life if I need it. Plus, super-heroes never reveal their secret indentity unless they have to. Well, I guess that wasn't the case with the Fantastic Four, or Iron Man...you probably don't read comics though. These are ancient like, early 2000 Marvel stuff." he went on in very few breaths, not aware that he was on the verge of geeking out about men in spandex.
Aeon breathed out slowly and chuckled at himself. "Yep. I'm pretty much a super hero. Nice analogy going on there, Summers. That's enough about myself, I think. How are you? We haven't even spoken since like a billion years ago or something. Give or take a million."

Once he'd actually finished talking, Aeon realised that it was pretty much the most he'd said to anyone in the past year. He'd been resulting to 'Ok.' 'Yes.' 'No.' 'Mhm.' and 'Sure.' for a while now. These little reunions, though rare, made him feel like he was a kid again.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor watched Aeon try to smooth down his hair with some amusement and wondered how long he had been in his animagus form before she had arrived. "Well it is cool and totally mind-blowing, just in a freaky way," she winked back, a laugh escaping her. She felt as if a wave of tension she didn't even know she had was leaving her just by being in the company of an old friend. She hoped she could maintain some friendships now that she had got her life back together. She felt as though she had been lonely for much too long.

Taylor listened intently as Aeon began to talk, reminding Taylor very much that he was still the same guy from Hogwarts, if not a little different in appearance. She nodded when Aeon asked if she knew Kida, Taylor remembers not being overly fond of her, but she couldn't explain why. She thinks it was just a personality clash thing. Taylor didn't say anything though as Aeon continued talking and she was happy to listen. She continued to nod at the appropriate moments, her face serious until Aeon started to talk about comic books. It was quite clear that he was a major geek for them and Taylor couldn't help but let a grin tug at her features. When the man had finished talking Taylor held back a laugh and said instead, "Well even Batman, who was crazy about keeping his secret identity had to tell a few people," she pretended to shrug casually. Comics were her guilty pleasure. It was a common stereotype that girls didn't read comics, even Aeon was assuming she wouldn't know what he was talking about. However, she was crazy about anything fantasy. She loved the way muggles perceived magic and how super powers were portrayed back in the days of good comic books. Most wizards nowadays though would not understand, so she kept it mostly to herself. Taylor felt a rush of excitement that Aeon had been the first to bring it up and she could know exactly what he was talking about. "I like it, Aeon the super dog."

"I'm good hey, there really isn't much to be said about me. I've been coping with stuff slowly too. Had a bit of a set back after finding out about Scorpius, but I'm playing Quidditch for the Wasps now, so things are going well," Taylor admitted in response to Aeons question. She didn't want to go in to too much depth about her family, because that was just too hectic to try and explain.

 

[Aeon Summers]

Aeon's face briefly lit up at the mention of Batman, another comic book super hero. Perhaps Taylor was geekier than he thought, though it then registered that Batman was a part of the DC Comics franchise. He tsked and shook his head. "Oh no, I hope you're not a DC fan. Those superheroes are way too overpowered and unrealistic. Take Superman for example, he's completely indestructable, can turn back time by flying around the Earth which is utterly stupid and would cause everyone to fall off the planet and his only weakness is a space rock." he groaned. "Marvel is where its at. I'd be an X-Man or an Avenger." he sighed in a way that a heavy fanboy might. He would totally suit tight costumes. "Aeon the Super-dog. Still too DCish, gu-rl. Need something like Wonderhound or Changeling, or Shadowfang. Hell yes." he fist-pumped, imagining himself in his canine form with a cape, or an outfit, particularly with an X.

Taylor made mention to another of their old classmates, Scorpius. Mr Knight. There were times when he'd been tempted to sock the old Ravenclaw in the jaw, but they'd talked about things and everything had been O-K. "Knight? Why, what happened with him? If you don't mind me asking, that is." Aeon questioned, biting the corner of his bottom lip. He hoped it wasn't some personal issue he'd oh-so-uncaringly stuck his nose into. Though she was the one who brought it up. Maybe she just expected him to know. He had to catch up with a lot after living as an animal for a good solid year.

Out of Character:

Sorry, my writing is terrible.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor laughed, feeling giddy like only a fangirl could at Aeon talking about Superman. Aeon was so accepting of her secret obsession, she'd never really told anyone about it, except her family. She remembers showing Raff a few comics, but he was far too proper to get into them. He'd never judged her for it, but he still wasn't exactly interested. "Or how The Flash can run in a circle so fast he can create a hole to the Earth's core," she rolled her eyes playfully. "Don't worry, I'm not a DC fan. I like Batman, but that's about as far as it stretches," she confessed. Aeon was right about most of the DC characters being massive Mary-Sue's, but Taylor would still always love Batman, for all the villains in particular. Especially The Joker. "Oh I'd totally be an Avenger," she said, realising how easily her an Aeon had slipped into a conversation by finding a common interest straight off the bat. There was always the chance it would be awkward between friends that hadn't spoken in some time. Taylor was eternally grateful for how easy Aeon had made this, just by mentioning one little thing. Taylor laughed again at Aeon's code names and pictured what he might look like as a super hero canine. She was sure the exact same thing was going through Aeon's mind at that moment as well.

The laugh soon faded, but the mood remained reasonably pleasant, even as Aeon asked about Scorpius. It wouldn't be appropriate to be smiling as she explained the situation, but Taylor could say she had come to terms with it now. It was still horrific and Taylor would secretly mourn him when she was lonely some days, but she couldn't change what had happened. She guessed it made sense for Aeon not to know, as she hadn't even known herself. "He was hurt in a Quidditch accident and he, well, he didn't make it," she said. "He was always so reckless," she added a bit more lightly. Scorp wouldn't want people to mourn over his death, but would prefer them to appreciate his life.

Out of Character:

It's okay, mines pretty awful.

 

[Aeon Summers]

Aeon's face dropped, his mouth open in a small 'o' when Taylor told him the news about Scorpius. "Holy poop. Like, wow. That is so unexpected. I don't even know what to say. I thought there would be a few people who would definitely die before their thirties, like Kida for example, or the girls from that "Goth Gang", remember them? Sinister lunatics really. But gosh, I had no idea. I was always afraid of injuring myself playing Quidditch but I didn't think about the fact you could die. Geez..." he trailed off, completely unsure of what else to really say. Even though he'd barely known the guy, the thought of never seeing his face in the street, never get to speak to him again, was all so unreal. He could picture him as he was when they were kids, moving, talking, alive. But now, somewhere, he was six feet under the earth in a small box. Maybe. If that's the way he went.

After a short pause, Aeon spoke again. "Well, lets talk about happier, fantasy things again, like Avengers." he said, moving back to their previous topic. "To be honest, I wanted to start a superhero team when I was in school and save all of Mugglekind from bad guys slash girls. The only problem being that its utterly against the law, but still. I really want to fly around in a cape and be on the watch for villains and have battles of epic proportions with explosions and amazing one-liners and save the day. Because of course my ideas are always realistic."