Sixth-Years' Summer

Reid would probably be going up in sparks if he wasn't running so fast right now.

It had been a foolish move yes, Reid admitted to himself, because he wasn't a fan of self-delusion. He had been skimming through one of those magical thrift shops, and had come upon, by pure luck, on one of the last editions (or copies, most probably), of the Asian Crafts and Concoctions. A fairly innocuous title, but the knowledge of necromancy held within was downright mind-boggling. It would cost a good number of Galleons, ranging into thousands, money which Reid didn't possess. One well-thought out decoy, one sleight of hand, and the tiny tome (Shrunk magically, obviously), rested safely in Reid's pocket.

Or so he thought. By one of those remarkable turns of luck or coincidence, neither of which he truly believed in, two Aurors had been in the shop at the time. And while Reid had taken the steps to disable all protective wards on the book in the few seconds that the decoy had provided, he hadn't conducted a scan for simple charms. Which was why he missed the Tracking spell. Which was why his pocket was glowing purple. Which was why he was sprinting pell-mell into the closest building he could find.

He had managed to Apparate of course, but evidently the Tracking spell only allowed it to a certain radius, which was why he had been jerked mid-shift, and found himself at the doors of the airport. The Aurors would be on his trail in another.....five and a half seconds, if he counted it right. Reid slipped into the queue, muttered a wandless Confundus to the guard checking the tickets, and stepped through the doors. 

He couldn't afford to be seen alone, and with a glowing pocket on top of that. Desperate times called for smarter measures. His slate grey eyes picked out, like a hawk zooming in on a weak rabbit, a group of teenagers, laughing and talking. Perfect. Maybe his looks would be sufficient to engage the girls in conversation for a few minutes, just enough to throw the Aurors off the hunt for a lone boy, and gather enough time to dispel the Tracking Charm. Reid walked swiftly, put a convenient and hopefully amiable smile on his face (god, he really didn't do amiable), and slung an arm around the nearest guy. The guy turned halfway, and Reid blinked.

"Zane. Mate, you have no idea how glad am I to see you."

Zane smiled at Della even though her answer made him a bit more nervous. The part about being able to stop the plane sort of settled him a bit more. "With so many of us on the plane, I bet you're right." He agreed.

Della said something to Adrienne about getting a window seat, making Zane wonder which seat she had. "Are you on the same row as I am?" He questioned, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his boarding pass. "I'm an aisle seat in the middle section. Addie says there's three seats in that part. But maybe you got a window seat, too, in the row ahead?" He hadn't really been paying that much attention, honestly, as the nerves were still sort of there.

Suddenly, though, he tensed as an arm went around his neck. Turning to face whoever was touching him, Zane stared at the guy next to him. "Reid? Bloody hell, what are you doing here?" He asked, eyes wide in surprise. He definitely hadn't expected to see Reid there. He couldn't recall if he'd mentioned the trip to the other boy before. Zane was fairly sure he hadn't, assuming Reid wouldn't want to deal with some of the other people going.

Zane noticed Reid's attempt to just appear casual, which made him worry that the other boy had done something mental and gotten himself in a mess. Raising an eyebrow pointedly, he waited for an explanation.

Vivianna was about to reply to her housemate's greeting, when she heard Zane's surprised voice. It took quite a bit to surprise the Ravenclaw, not that she'd ever had too much of a problem doing so, and for that reason the Slytherin turned around to see what was happening. Upon spinning around in a slow graceful movement that any dancer would be proud of, the redhead froze for a single antagonizing moment.

"Yes," Vivianna repeated with eyes narrowed dangerously, "What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Oh the teenager wished desperately that she wasn't in a very public place right now, a place that it would be frowned upon to splatter another person's brains all over the floor. He was here. Reid was here. And at the moment, Vivianna wanted nothing more than for him not to be.

With slightly pursed lips, the witch sent an irritated glance over to Zane, only to grow more irritated at the look on his face. "You two know each other?" she exclaimed in disbelief, loathing the familiarity with which the two seemed to be with the other. "Oh Salazar, you're friends. Brilliant, just brilliant," Vivianna announced sarcastically. On the bright side, if Zane had invited this twit along, then it looked like her potions kit would be getting plenty of use. She knew it had been a good idea to bring it along. One never knew when an emergency poison would need to be brewed up. 

Sharp eyes flitting back to Reid, the female noticed something that should have been obvious from the very first moment. "You're pocket's glowing, what did you steal?" the redhead asked in a way that managed to sound bored, sharp, and knowing all at the same time. She'd berate Zane for befriending this git later.

"Yes, sir!" Adrienne grinned brightly. "We won." She joked, sitting back down next to Carly. 

"What seat have you got, Carly?" She asked with a warm smile. Adrienne hadn't known Carly too long, but the girl seemed lovely. "Maybe you're in the row in front of ours."

Some sort of shout of surprise and ruckus was going on behind them, though, so Addie turned and looked over Percy's shoulder at where Zane, a girl she didn't know, and Della were standing. Some boy was with them. Maybe Zane had asked them to come? 

Now, Adrienne was fairly outgoing. She would introduce herself to people who were friends of her friends, surely. But something was clearly wrong. Zane looked worried, this new girl looked furious, and the boy-

Merlin's pants.. 

Adrienne scowled over Percy's shoulder. That boy. She was sure Percy was probably very worried by now, but she bristled nonetheless. The boy from Hogsmeade was here. At least Zane's other friend seemed to hate the boy as well. If this guy was coming with them, Adrienne would definitely throw some kind of fit to try to prevent it.

"Excuse me. I'll be right back," She gave Carly an apologetic smile, shot Percy a pointedly upset look, and walked over to the group of her fellow students.

"What the bloody hell, Zane?!" Adrienne hissed quietly while Vivianna was talking. "You know this guy? He's not coming with us is he?" She was firing questions far to quickly, she knew, but she could not believe the luck - or lack thereof - that must have caused this mess.

"Reid? Bloody hell, what are you doing here?"

Reid looked up at the heavens, or rather the airport ceiling, and rolled his shoulders in a heaven-help-me gesture. Not that he had ever been religious. "Me? Ah, let me see....." Reid smiled acidly, sarcasm dripping off each word. "I'm jumping around on the back of a kangaroo in Timbuktu. Care to join me?"

But it was Zane. Stupid, idiotic Zane who always turned up at the right place at the right time, and if the thought wasn't so distasteful, then Reid would probably have thanked him heartily. Zane, who he bickered with like hell, but who knew him better than anyone to guess instantly that he had done something (in Zane's words): 'mental'. His friend raised an eyebrow, and Reid groaned inadvertently. "God, not the mother routine. I am perfectly alright, I'll tell you everything later, I can handle it as long as you let me hitch a ride along with you, so that I can get out of here." He didn't bother phrasing it as a question. After all, Zane had been with him for every debacle, every expulsion, every shithole; replete with folded arms and a ‘I-told-you-so’ smirk on his face. This was relatively mild.

Then a voice intruded in, and Reid leaned his head back in resignation. Of all people, Vivianna Varnes. And judging by the pursed lips, Zane had told her nothing about him. He wasn’t surprised the two were friends, they were rather similar; but unlike Zane, Vivianna didn’t shove the smart attitude up her ass (where it belonged), when the situation called for it. Reid arched his eyebrows in an action that he knew aggravated Vivianna, and enunciated amiably. “No, not friends. Best friends.” He wouldn’t have pushed the words from his lips over his dead body, if it had been just Zane, but he knew how to push his charming lady friend’s buttons (Zane had way too many close friends than was healthy anyway).

“Didn’t steal. Simply asserted ownership rights.” Flicking his wand to dispel the glow, Reid smiled smoothly. But it was short-lived; the sight of another girl whispering in Zane’s ear killed it as plain as a skewered rat. His sharp facial features shifted, contorting into an ugly scowl. The Piss Princess. She was here too? Luck didn’t exist, fact confirmed. “My faith in your taste has died forever.” The mutter to Zane was ill-concealed, especially since she was standing right next to him. Vivianna had atleast provided stimulating conversation, Reid and the Princess hadn’t been able to stand one another’s company for more than five minutes.

There were murmurs passing through the crowd, and Reid half-twisted his head back, eyes catching on two prominent, darkly tall fellows, traversing through the scattered fair of people. One had a mole on his double chin. Reid’s right hand spasmed in its place, scrabbling into his pocket, and he looked back to the group of teenagers swiftly. Escape was mandatory, and these people were his only chance at it; even if Vivianna and the snot-nosed twat had to be a part of it. He had to bear with it. He turned to Zane again and asked urgently, “Where are you headed?”

((Kiera, have I ever told you how much I love Reid?))

As much as Vivianna was loathe to admit it, the fact that Zane and Reid were best friends made a surprising amount of sense. After all, Zane and Vivianna were practically family, why wouldn't the Ravenclaw be friends with her evil male counterpart? Not that the female would ever admit that out loud, of course. Oh no, Zane would be more than hearing about this later.

At least Reynolds appeared to be on her side. While Vivianna knew very little about the Ravenclaw female, the Hogwarts rumor mill had her pegged as a nice person. In the redhead's mind, her only truly defining feature was the fact that she was friends with Zane, but perhaps she would learn more about the other girl over their vacation.

Rolling her eyes at the two comments that had spilled from Reid's lips, sounding scarily alike something she would say, the pale girl turned to Zane. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with him," Vivianna announced with a jerked thumb in Reid's direction.

The teenager's head turned at the exact moment Reid's did, both spotting the Aurors within moments of each other. Their plane wouldn't be boarding for at least a few minutes yet, and it was highly possible that the King Twit of Twitville would be caught by then. Vivianna let out a long irritated sigh, as if all the troubles of the world were rested upon her shoulders.

Turning to glare at Zane, the redhead stated, "you so owe me for this," and reached her left hand into one of the outside pockets of the purse slung over her shoulder. Pulling out a vial, Vivianna reached forward to press it into Reid's hand. "Drink," she ordered the grey-eyed male, "your name is Garret Yarnell, you're a half-vampire, and you've been fourteen years old since January." The girl was not pleased with giving up one of her vials of polyjuice potion, especially one containing her cousin's hair, but having both Zane and Reid owe her could hardly be a bad thing. After all, the girl was a Slytherin.

Zane felt like people were coming at him from all sides. Reid showed up out of nowhere, Vivianna was clearly pissed at him, and then Adrienne? When had she even met him? Zane sort of felt like closing his eyes and ignoring the lot of them. Instead, he just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Then Reid called Zane his best friend, and the Ravenclaw couldn't help but smirk. Until Adrienne prodded him again.

"Ad, just give me a second," He said to his fellow Ravenclaw, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll figure this out."

Turning back, both Reid and Vivianna managed to insult him in the same way, which made him look between them with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously?" He asked, exasperated. "Okay, you two really can't do that if you say you dislike each other so much. Sort of contradicts it." He pointed out, hoping the sarcasm hit the both of them.

When Vivianna shoved polyjuice into Reid's hand, Zane couldn't feel surprised. She wasn't very well going to travel into some country and not be prepared - at least, her potions-loving version of prepared.

Glancing at Adrienne, Zane shot her an apologetic grimace before turning back to Reid. "We're going to-"

"Hello and Welcome to today's flight. We will begin boarding for flight 674 to Greece right now. We would like to invite our first class passengers and priority members to begin boarding." The intercom voice sounded above them, and Zane turned back to Reid with a gesture to the doors.

"We're going to Greece. Touring and staying at a friend's grandparent's house for a bit." Zane explained lightly. "If you want to come along, you had better get yourself a ticket." Zane said, knowing that Reid would take this as Zane turning his cheek to whatever the boy would choose to do to get his ticket.

Placing a hand on Adrienne's shoulder once more, he turned her towards Percy. "Just give me a few minutes, and then I'll explain things." He had a feeling Vivianna would have something she wanted to say to him later, so Zane shot her an overly-friendly smile before following Adrienne back to Percy and Carly.

"We should be Zone 2 to board, so it'll just be a minute or two," He told them, picking up his - what had Percy called it? Oh - carry on bag.

There was no pretending that Addie had missed the boy's comments or dirty looks. It was one of those moments where she wished her glare could injure.

Adrienne bristled as Zane sent her away, still confused and upset at the idea of that boy coming with them. Addie still hadn't been able to overhear the guy's name, either. She heard the boarding attendants call over the intercom and picked up her bookbag, standing next to Percy, Kaiden, Dami and Carly. That's when she heard Zane telling his pal to get a ticket and sent him the darkest glare she could manage. Addie sort of hoped it would deflate him a bit, but rather doubted it.

Looking at the people standing next to her, Addie noticed that Kaiden and Carly had been quiet this whole time. She figured that Dami and Kaiden had arrived when she hadn't been paying attention. It didn't escape Adrienne's notice that both he and Carly were more quiet than the rest of the group in general, so she just smiled tensely at each of them. "Where are you sitting?" She asked Kaiden and Dami, trying to change the subject.

"At this time, we would like to ask that our passengers from Zones one and two to board. Priority Members may board at any time."

Sighing, she glanced over her shoulder at Zane and his friend before tugging Percy behind her. She led Dami, Carly and Kaiden to the doors to show their tickets and board. They walked through the Jetway and onto the plane. As expected, people stood for too long in the aisles, or had trouble getting their bags up, or wanted to change seats with the person next to them so they stood in your way for ages.

Luckily, the people in Adrienne's group, she assumed, didn't have to take on anything but some kind of bookbag or purse or something and wouldn't have that problem. Finally, Addie scooted into the window seat, and waited for Percy to seat himself next to her. Shaking her head, she crossed her arms and shot another upset look at Zane once he had sat down. Looking around, Addie saw Dami next to Zane, Kaiden nearby, and Carly a short distance from herself.

(( No Kitty, you didn't tell me. Glad to hear you do   ))

“She agreed with me first.” Reid muttered disagreeably, folding his arms. Upon realizing that this was becoming exceedingly childish, he let out a worldly, resignant, put-upon sigh and started tapping his foot on the polished floor, mind flipping through acceptable Glamours with the speed of light. Brown hair possibly, maybe with a bit of curl and big, stupid blue eyes…

All of which proved to be redundant anyway, as Vivianna held up a vial of Polyjuice and shoved it into his hand. Reid’s eyebrows flew up to his hairline, thoughts pulsing through his mind: did she brew it herself, would she have poisoned it or sabotaged the effects, how utterly convenient it was that she had a vial of one of the most illegal Potions in her pocket when he was in need of it….

Reid didn’t hide his perusal, his slate eyes bored into the vial, scanning it for apparent defects. None, as far as the naked eye could tell. Then, the hard-as-nails stare shifted to Vivianna and he scoured her face with his gaze, hunting for weaknesses, for lies and untruths. His methodical mind listed out a series of deductions, Polyjuice was definitely more effective than a Glamour, Vivianna had no cause for sabotaging it, because his disguise faltering whilst in their presence would implicate them too. There was the minor irritation of actually owing her but…..well, Reid lacked the worthless thing called a conscience and he only owed someone if he felt like he did. She couldn’t force him to anything.

Setting up a minor, non-verbal Notice-Me-Not Charm, Reid downed the vial in a smooth gulp, a drop or two making it past his lips. He bared them, to lick away at the drops with his tongue,
when he felt the presence of slightly sharpened canines. He smiled.

Zane had, quite obviously, given him free rein to do whatever he liked to obtain a ticket. But he was in company, and his friend did possess the worthless thing called a conscience, so Reid shelved the Imperius Curse which had sprung foremost to his mind with a self-suffering attitude. Ah well. A well-directed Vomiting Hex at a middle-aged man standing a few paces behind them, and a couple of handy Confundo’s later, Reid found himself on the plane to Greece with a free seat.

And a bucketload of annoying conversation surely. He was seated to the extreme left of three seats, next to the main aisle. The Princess (he shot her a tight smile in cooperation to her glare) was seated at the horizontal other end of the aisle, a few paces separating them. Zane would probably be sitting next to him, in between him and Varnes as a buffer. Reid could almost summon sympathy for his condition.

His head sank back on the plush seat, eyes closing. This was going to be a long flight.

Percy sat with Carly as the explosion of voices happened nearby. "Do you know them?" He asked her slowly, eyes trained on Zane and Addie as they talked to the new guy in the room.

Percy saw Zane's friend, Vivianna, give the guy something, which he downed a moment later. Ah. Polyjuice potion? He found it rather curious that someone would just carry that sort of thing around with them.

Adrienne came back over, leading the others, as the announcement to board came on. Picking up his backpack, Percy went with her to board. They went through the aisles, waiting for others to move out of their way as they did so.

After Percy let Addie sit, he sat beside her, and followed her gaze. She was clearly pissed at Zane and his pal who sat next to him. "Addie. Addie?" He repeated, trying to get her attention. "Who is that? Why is he coming with us..?"

Percy didn't exactly care, and he knew his grandparents wouldn't either - they had a particularly large house for an island so small; they had money, and were extremely friendly - but he just didn't want someone who was clearly causing so many problems. Percy raised an eyebrow in the direction of Zane's friend, wondering what exactly was going on.