Odd One Out

[Elliot Briar]

It was strange being back in the castle after the long break. The year had ended just as Elliot was starting to get used to the school, and now they were back and it was filled with all the unfamiliar faces of the new first years. He'd done his best to be as friendly as he could to them, remembering how daunting the first few weeks at Hogwarts had been last year. Honestly, he still found being back a bit daunting, though at least he mostly knew what he was in for this time round, and got to see his friends again.

Rounding the corner to the common room, Elliot caught sight of another one of the many first years now in the castle, though this one he actually recognized. "Ren, hey, congrats on getting Gryffindor," he said somewhat commiseratingly, crossing the corridor to the other boy. Lily had mentioned how Ren had seemed pretty put out over not being in Hufflepuff, and Elliot had to admit he was a bit sad not to have him around in their house as well. Still, he had been sure Ren would probably settle in well no matter where he was sorted with him being so laid-back. "Are you waiting for Lily? I don't think I've seen her since lunch."

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren had been waiting for Lily for a while. If she wasn't in her common room she'd be coming back to the common room. Either way, he was too tired to go look anywhere else. He sat on the floor across from the Hufflepuff entrance. He'd walked Lily back a few times so he knew where it was. He had just started to doze off when he heard someone speaking to him. He peeked through an eye to see Elliot standing there. "She's gotta come back or come out eventually," He shrugged, shutting his eyes again. "I'm surprised she isn't with you. She certainly talks about you enough. Coulda been just to annoy Rose though," He smirked. It was so easy to irritate Rose. He may have goaded his younger sister on a time or two.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot dithered for a moment, trying to decide between hovering over Ren or having to sit down in the corridor. Ren was already getting a few odd looks from some of the other passersby in the hall, but Elliot eventually slide down the wall next to him, trying to read what he could see of Ren's expression. "Are you settling in alright? Need help with anything or whatever?" Elliot hoped he wasn't being too fussy over him, but Ren looked pretty worn out. Hopefully he was just missing his sister. "We're not always together, you know.." He and Lily were pretty much attached to the hip during classes, but it wasn't uncommon for her to be curled up with a book somewhere for a few hours. El was learning to just leave her to it during those times. He chose to ignore Ren's comments about Lily talking to Rose about him. He didn't think Lily would intentionally rile up her sister, and he had to quash down the burning curiosity to ask what she'd been saying.

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren smiled softly as El started to fuss over him. "Easy there, big brother. I'm fine. Just irritated I have to walk so far to see Linny." He chuckled as Elliot denied that he and Lily were always together. "Yeah, sure, that's why she has so much to tease Rosie about." He shook his head. "Though to be fair, Linny's only trying to talk the fireball into not burning you to a crisp." Ren smirked. "It's a waste of time if you ask me. If Rosie hurts you that'd hurt Linny and it'd just been one big pain in the neck." He turned to wink at Elliot. "It might be a bit dramatic but you should be safe."

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot felt a little chastised at Ren's big brother remark. He probably meant it teasingly, but Elliot still decided to back off Ren a little. The last thing he wanted was to annoy another one of Lily's siblings. He should have known Ren was just bothered about the climb between their common rooms, Ren was just too laid back to be worried about school like he and Lily had been last year. "At least our common room is downstairs from yours. Imagine if you'd been in Slytherin," He always thought the Hufflepuff common room was in the best location, close to the library, and not too many flights of stairs to go up and down for class or meals, at least comparatively. Elliot balked a little when Ren mentioned Rose's continued vendetta against him, though it was a little reassuring to her Rose probably wouldn't actually hurt him. If only because it would bother Lily. He sighed. "I've been trying to win Rose over with some owls, but maybe that's a lost cause. Nice to hear I don't need to immediately fear for my life next year, at least."

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily wondered towards the common room in a bit of a daze. She held her papers close to her chest, a blush coloring her cheeks. She couldn't stop thinking about the encounter she'd just had with Mihail. That was probably why she didn't notice her brother until he had ahold of her arms. She blinked and looked up at him before smiling warmly and looking down.

"Ren, the weirdest thing just happened. I..." She bit her lip and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I met the cutest boy, and I... I think I like him." She looked up to her brother. "Like... like like him." She hugged her papers tighter to her chest. "Isn't that the weirdest thing?" She didn't notice her best friend sitting nearby.

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren was about to respond to Elliot when he saw a certain blond appear around the corner. "Linny!" He hopped up, excited, but paused when his sister didn't respond. She looked kinda... Out of it. Ren stepped in front of her and took her arms in his hands. "Lily?" He grinned as he caught her attention, though his grin faded as she began to talk. He was silent a moment after she had finished speaking. "Are you aiming to get Rose to kill us?" He asked jokingly, "Linny, who is he? I'll talk with him. Run interference. Yeah? See if he's good." Worry ate at his gut. What if Lily got hurt?

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot straightened up when Lily rounded the corner looking a little dazed. He was still happy to see her, the time over break seeming odd without having her around all the time. He got up as Ren hopped up to greet his sister, frowning at Ren's concern, and then what Lily was saying. "Like, like him like him?" Did that question even make sense? Elliot wanted to point out the irony in Ren teasing him for fretting about him when he was so obviously worried about Lily, but maybe family members got more of a pass than he would. Though he resisted the urge to second Ren's question, he wanted to know who Lily was talking about too.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily blushed worse at the mention of Rose. "Oh goodness you're right, she'll freak. You can't tell her," She pleaded with her brother. Her eyes widened as her brother continued. "What?" She squeaked a little. "No! No, Ren, I- thank you. It's okay, I- ah, that is," She stammered, brushing her fingers across her cheek and looking away. Her eyes landed on Elliot, who immediately interjected with a question of his own. "El!" She walked forward and buried her head in his chest. "I- um, I think so?" She murmured uncertainly. "Oh!" She stepped back and reached into her bag. "S-since you're here..." She pulled a sleepy rat from her bag and offered her to the boy. "She was in my pocket again," Lily giggled a little. Penne was always running away and hiding with her.

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren sighed as Lily refused his offer. He should have known better. He shook his head as she turned to Elliot. "I won't tell the drama queen. And he was here the whole time. It's bad if you didn't see him until now," He chastised his sister like she wasn't the oldest. He stepped up next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. "Linny... is that a rat? I thought you had a fuzzball?" He furrowed his brow in confusion.

 

[Elliot Briar]

"Does Rose like anyone?" He had to wonder. He could get feeling protective of Lily, he really could, but Rose always seemed a bit extreme. Maybe his attempts to befriend her really were a waste of time. Elliot gave Lily a wan wave when she finally noticed him, rolling his eyes good-naturedly when Lily fished his wayward rat from her bag. He was eager for the distraction, taking the sleepy Penne gently in his hands and focusing on her rather than the weird warm feeling in his face when Lily confirmed she had a Real Actual Crush on someone. "This is Penne," He murmured, giving Ren a closer look at the rat. "She's mine, but I think she forgets sometimes," Elliot had started giving up looking whenever Penne went missing, almost certain he'd find her curling up with Lily later anyway. Stroking Penne gently with her thumbs, he chanced a glance back at Lily's still somewhat dreamy expression. "So uh.. who is it then? Your.. crush?"

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily stuck her tongue out at Ren. He was right of course, but she wouldn't tell him that. She turned to Elliot as he questioned Rose. She giggled a little. "Well, she likes us," She teased him. "You must be stinky or something." She gave her brother a smile when he questioned Penne's presence. "I do," She told him before Elliot explained. She was about to sigh in relief, thinking the subject had passed, but Elliot turned it right back to her current dilemma. She groaned and leaned against the wall, sinking down until she was sitting. She pulled her knees to her chest. "I... Mihail Styx," She admitted softly. "I'm going to die." She buried her head in her arms.

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren snickered at Lily's comment about Rose. He turned his attention to Elliot as he explained the presence of the rat. Huh, okay. That was weird. Not bad exactly, but... weird all the same. He turned to look at his sister, expectant on her answer. Who on earth could have caught her eye? He had been sure she and Elliot would be a thing. He was wrong on that, apparently. He plopped down next to her. "It can't be that bad-" He started in response to the despair on her face, but froze when she told him who it was. "WHAT?!" He shouted after a split second. "You what?!" Styx had a kid? He didn't think- no, probably not his kid. But still, any kind of Styx relative was terrifying.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot scrunched up his face at Lily when she teased him, but stinky might be as good a reason as any for Rose's animosity towards him. Next year would certainly be interesting when Rose finally got to school. Maybe she'd disperse some of her dislike for him amongst the rest of the student body a bit. He didn't really know what to think when Lily finally revealed her crush was on Mihail. Considering they were roommates, Elliot was a little embarrassed to admit he knew almost nothing about him, including whether not he was actually related to Styx, but the idea was a little terrifying. "I don't think he takes after Styx at all, at least... If they are related at all I mean," He offered, trying to reassure Lily a bit, even if the thought of Styx having a family was a weird one. "I didn't know you guys were friends, though, um." Elliot trailed off a little, trying not to sound put out. He and Lily both had other friends, which was totally fine, he just hadn't know Mihail was one of them.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily shrunk against Elliot as Ren yelled at her, bringing a hand up and clutching at his shirt lightly. She stuck her tongue out at her brother, trying not to shake. He knew she hated yelling. "It's not like I decided to like him," She scrunched her nose at her brother before stepping away from El. She needed to stop doing that. She turned to look at her best friend as he reassured her that Mihail might not be even related to Styx. She blushed as he pointed out he didn't know she had been friends with the other boy. "W-well, um... we aren't- er, weren't? I-I, ah," She twirled a strand of hair around her finger and looked away. "I... I fell over and he helped me up..." She bit her lip. It sounded so silly to say it out loud. "He... he's really sweet." She managed softly.

 

[Ren Lockwood]

Ren winced at Lily's reaction. "Sorry," He muttered. He stuck his hands in his pockets, sulking as he listened to her go on about the Mihail kid. He groaned. Of course. "Linny, you are such a softie." He dragged a hand over his face. "You can't just- how do you know you like him? Do you even know anything about him?" He questioned, stepping close and leaning down a bit to look her in the eyes. It was kinda funny how Lily was the oldest, and also the shortest.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot listened as Lily talked more about how she knew Mihail, or really, how she didn't. Could you just get a crush on someone that easily? "Well, that's good, I guess. That's he's sweet. I mean, Ren's probably right.. If he wasn't Rose will kill him," Elliot said with an awkward laugh. He'd never been good at any of those crush stuff, it still made him feel a bit weird to talk about feelings, even with someone he was close to like Lily. He'd always thought you were supposed to keep crushes a secret, but maybe not. Ren continued to question Lily, and Elliot couldn't help but wonder out loud a bit at his questions "Is that how crushes work..? I don't know if they have.. rules," He trailed off a bit, suddenly aware at how bad he was at this sort of talk, but still wanting to reassure Lily somehow.