Closed Surprising Encounter

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas had been enjoying being back at Hogwarts, and decided to take advantage of the lack of homework at the start of the semester by exploring his favorite parts of the castle. He'd always liked the second floor corridor a lot, as it was filled with many magical portraits that moved and chatted. He still remembered his first impression of the moving paintings and how he had felt like he was dreaming. It brought a smile to his face every time. Lucas looked at the prefect's common room door curiously as he passed it, wondering what sort of secrets were kept in there. But he walked on, planning on going up a floor to look at the trophies in the trophy room next.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper was panicking. He couldn't be right- he couldn't- but it was just getting so hard to ignore. He had to speak to someone, but he didn't know who. Not the twins, not Augustus or Stanis, they were too close to this. He was tempted to reach out to Asher, but Asher was always so busy. Would he really have time to listen to Casper struggling to explain himself? Besides, Cas couldn't just write a letter. His parents might find it. Or might get Casper's reply instead of him. He couldn't risk it.

He was hiding in the abandoned classroom, pacing, shaking and nervous. He froze when he heard footsteps in the hall, and quickly and quietly snuck over, cracking open the door just a smidgen to peek out into the hall. Casper's eyes widened as he saw Lucas, and without thinking Casper threw open the door and stepped out, grabbing onto Lucas's hand and yanking him into the classroom with Casper. Once they were both inside, Casper peeked out into the hall to make sure no one had seen him before quietly and quickly shutting the door. He pulled out his wand, and both locked the door and after a few attempts managed to cast the silencing charm. He had to talk to Lucas, he knew he did, but he couldn't let anyone else know anything. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas yelped as the door to a usually empty classroom suddenly opened, and something grabbed him and pulled him inside. He yanked himself free from the grip of whatever it was, trying to reach for his wand. "Don't eat me!" He yelled at what he could only assume was some sort of castle-dwelling magical monster Hogwarts had neglected to teach him about yet. But only then did he actually look, and saw it was Casper. Lucas put a hand on his heart, taking a step back as he took a deep breath. "Casper." He hissed angrily. "You scared me! Is this a prank?" He asked, looking around. He frowned as Casper locked the door and cast a silencing charm, starting to feel doubtful about this again. "Hey... you're not going to suddenly murder me here, right?" He asked, a nervous laugh escaping him. "What's going on?"

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper was so nervous he hardly reacted to Lucas' antics. He was shaking, trying not to panic, and he began pacing again nervously. "I'm in so much trouble," he whispered, running both hands through his hair. "My parents are going to freak out, I can't- I don't-" he took a deep breath, shaking his head and trying not to cry. "All they want is for me to be a successful lawyer or something, wear a suit, work five days a week and make good money before going home to a nice little house with a wife and some kids," he recited, biting his lip and trying to keep it together.

He turned and dropped against the door, pulling his knees up to his chest. "Sneaking around with my art is one thing, its a hobby, I can hide that, its okay," he shook his head, rocking a little. "They want me to be this guy, Lucas, I have to be this person, but I- I don't know if- I'm scared, Lucas," He swallowed nervously, swiping at his eyes. "I-I think- I don't- I don't want a wife," he managed, his voice shaky.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas was still a little freaked out about all this, and seeing Casper clearly panicking wasn't helping matters much. Rather than feeling like he might be in danger, he started to worry Casper might be in some sort of danger. "Uh, Casper?" He asked, trying to make sense of all of what he was saying. He listened, frowning. He always thought the way Casper talked about his parents was strange. They wanted him to be a lawyer, though Lucas didn't know if there were wizard lawyers, and also apparently wanted him to have a wife and kids. It felt so weird to even think about that yet, as they were thirteen. "Casper, it's okay... we're kids." He said quietly. "You don't have to do any of that yet, they can't expect you to do more than just go to school for now right?" He said, hoping that it would help a little. "And when you're older and realize you want to do something else maybe you can just... tell them?" He knew he wasn't being very helpful, but that was Casper's parent's fault for being so bizarre, he decided. "Of course you don't want a wife, we're thirteen." He said, wrinkling his nose at the idea. "It's weird to even think about that stuff yet. Right?" He said, figuring that was what Casper meant.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper shook his head, tangling his hands in his hair. "No, Lucas, you don't get it, it's not that easy," He started to hyperventilate. "I'm supposed to be their heir, they adopted me to carry on this 'legacy' and I don't- I just-" He struggled to breathe, gasping in breaths. "Lucas- I can't get these thoughts out of my heads. I don't... I don't see girls. Not like that. I... I keep thinking how pretty all the boys in our class are," He ran his hands down his face. "I can't think like that, Lucas, I can't," He couldn't help himself; he started to hiccup softly as he buried his face in his hands and cried.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas frowned at Casper's words, he just... didn't get it. Why was Casper so worried about the future? It was ages away, and maybe by then he'd want to do boring adult things. But he could see that he was really upset, so he tried to calm him down by patting his arm a bit. He blinked at Casper's confession. "Oh." He said, hesitating. "Is that a problem?" He asked softly. "Like... if your parents adopted you, can't you just do that too when you're older? Then it's fine if you like a boy, right?" He said, gently stroking Casper's arm.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper shook his head. "I... I don't know, maybe. I just... I was adopted to be their legacy, they already get so upset about my art, I just," He took a shaky breath, though he had to admit what Lucas said had slowly started to calm him down. "I'm just scared," he admitted softly. "I don't want to be sent back," He sighed, looking up to Lucas with dewey eyes.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas sighed. "Your parents are dumb if they get upset about your art." He said plainly, even though he knew that was a rude thing to say about someone's parents. "Even businessmen have hobbies. So why can't you just do that for fun?" He asked, shrugging. "Maybe you could send them a letter? To explain that?" He asked him. "Only if you think that's safe, of course." He added, hesitating. "Do you really think your parents might... send you back?" Lucas wasn't sure how adoption worked, but he didn't think that should be an option. At least not an easy one just because the kid liked to draw. But what did he know about how things worked? Especially in the magical world? "There's... a counsellor at school, maybe she can help you?" He suggested timidly.