The "Oldies"

Dom silently 'ohhhed' as he clarified that he meant the Leaky. She grinned her lopsided smile and said "I was about to say... You're taking Hogwarts too seriously." She had not taken Hogwarts seriously when she had attended - the rules were more like suggestions, and few people seemed keen to actually uphold them - but somehow she took the school even less as an employee. Hell, she wasn't even sure what her job entailed. Mostly she just walked around the grounds, swinging keys.

Declan the Professor was back in full swing. A small frown dug the corners of her lips downward as she felt like he began his lecture. She was very aware of how to handle the day after, she certainly had the practice, but he definitely was not treating her like an equal, like someone who knew what she was doing. In that moment, she creepily felt as though he were treating her like one of his students.

Dom had always had an issue with age. Not only was she a middle child, but she was also in a weird middle age for her cousins. She did not belong with the older cousins, but she definitely did not fit in at the child's table. She had always been fairly mature for her age, getting jokes much earlier than her siblings, but her love of play had kept her from being considered old for her age. Finding friends who treated her like an equal had always been a struggle. And now, Declan was treating her like an unruly child.

Whatever.

He quickly amended his statement, making him come off as less of an arsehole, but still leaving her feeling a teency-bit irked at his superiority. She would get over it, though. She was not one to hold grudges, unless they were fun. Still, she was a little bummed to be brushed off so rudely. She didn't need to spend the day with him or anything, no, this was just a night of fun. But someone hadn't told his face how to respond to fun, it seemed.

She looked up at him, reaching up to rub the side of her face, and blinked her wide eyes at him. "Okay."

It was really the only thing she could think to say.

Don't look at me like that, he wanted to say. It was as though Declan had disappointed her, when it was really the other way around. That wasn't at all fair, he complained silently, passing her a hurt glance before snatching up his jacket and tie.

It was two days later before Declan found himself back at Hogwarts, merely hoping that he could get through the day without any students getting into trouble. Of course, he wasn't a lucky soul, it seemed, so that was not to be his fate that day. It started at breakfast, sadly, with a confused look from Keiran as his wife mumbled something in his ear, and Declan just knew. Whether or not Millie had actually been talking about Declan just then, Keiran definitely knew. That meant most everybody else had to know, and it meant that sooner rather than later, his students would know. That, he feared, would be far worse than just silently chiding himself on the daily. Because that happened, too.

But it wasn't until he was on his way to the last lesson of the afternoon when he saw her. Something in him wanted to stop, and take her into a hug and apologize. But Declan wasn't that tactile, usually. Not with... normal people. For a bit, he had thought Dom might not just be some other normal person, but apparently she didn't understand that. Deciding it might be best to just avoid her for the time being, Declan narrowed his eyes, hoping to put off a persona of a man who should not be messed with. If nothing else, at least it scared off the students.

Dom hadn't seen Declan for two days or so after their escapade, but that wasn't completely unheard of. He wasn't always on the grounds, of course, and she was forced to patrol them constantly, pretending she knew what she was supposed to be doing – which, of course, she did not. Honestly, when she first started working there, she only saw Declan once every two weeks or so. It had become more frequent as they had thought to actually pursue a friendship. Or, well, she had thought to. Declan just hadn’t fought it.
 
Honestly, she hadn’t thought much of the Yule Ball night for awhile. They were friends, and sometimes friends did silly things like sleep together. It had been nice, and no one had gotten hurt, so her mind had turned to more pressing problems – like the fact that, apparently, she was supposed to turn in some report for the end of the semester on all of the tasks she had completed. That was going to be a little difficult considering that she had done squat.
 
She was peering at the document, squinting and slowing her steps as she walked down a corridor. Students hurried out of her way, as they knew her as the Gamekeeper who made a fool of everyone with relative ease. She glanced up and spotted the familiar figure, with a familiar expression on his face. Yep, Professor Arryn was in town. She grinned and waved a hand. “Oy! Dec!” She pranced over to him and pivoted, walking alongside him. “So, I’m royally f*cked. Supposed to write a report on what I’ve been doing all year but… I haven’t done shit.” She shrugged. “Should be interesting. Where are you off to? Looks like you’re headed for a root canal.”

Declan nearly groaned when she approached, his eyes drifting briefly to the ceiling. His gaze didn't focus on her so much as drift around her, because he couldn't quite bring himself to look Dom in the eyes as she spoke. She had no idea, it seemed, that she was the one he was upset with. He actually had to stop himself from wincing at the first curse the fell from her lips, the word too much of a stinging reminder. Figures.

When she concluded, though, it felt like she was expecting some sort of solution from him, despite the fact that she had also mentioned his clearly unamused expression. "I'm sure you can come up with something," he muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "You seem to be able to talk your way in and out of things pretty well..."

He paused, then realized he had ignored her question. This drew a long inhale and caused a heavy sigh, but Declan couldn't bring himself to be frank with her. She probably had no idea what the real problem was, after all. "Everything has gone well in classes today. On my way to the last one, then I get to leave."

Her mouth was going much faster than her mind was, of course, but that was in the hopes of accidentally stumbling onto the solution to her report problem. That was how most things in her life was fixed - she just kept talking until some excuse worked. And that was probably how she was going to solve this issue as well. Really, she was Dom Weasley. Her family was so near and dear to the wizarding community that she doubted there would be any major issue with her not knowing what she had been doing for the past few months. Besides, her puppy-dog eyes were unbeatable.

Real talk.

At first, it seemed he was trying to discreetly compliment her, and the corner of her mouth twisted upwards as her head turned towards him. But he kept speaking, and his tone did not seem at all complimentary. Her eyebrows ducked inward and her mouth drooped, confusing wrinkling her brow. What crawled up his ass, and why was he taking it out on her?

But she let him continue on, bobbing her head along, concentrating a little to keep up - he really wanted to get out of there. "So... you're classes went well... Why are you so cranky then? Need me to cheer you up?" And now, she couldn't help the wry grin that twisted its way onto her face.

A chance at escape had seemed available, but she spoke and Declan found that he couldn't help the slow, clearly-pained blink of his eyes. When they opened again, he finally looked directly at her. His eyes searched hers for a moment, and Declan's lips flattened into a line while he tried to find a way to keep from outright insulting her. In the end, though, it probably didn't come out in the nicest possible way.

"That won't be happening again, Dom. It can't."

Declan lifted his hand to rub at the back of his neck, just along the line of his shirt collar. "Yes, my students behaved and the lessons were taught well, given my lack of actual qualifications. But I also had to deal with looks that were just as confused as my own. Word's gotten around, just like I thought it would. So this, whatever you think we have... It can't happen anymore. I'm your friend, Dom. I can try to be that, and I will as long as you don't mention Friday night again."

A flicker of anguish - one he didn't expect - sparked in his chest and made itself known in his expression for perhaps a breath before Declan covered it up. He had gotten used to doing that, so it wasn't much trouble, of course. But it was just a little sickening that he had gotten so near to telling her. He had wanted to explain it to her. But Dom had changed the topic and now he was left feeling just as useless as he had before. This time, unfortunately, he also had not been expecting it. So when the notion had made itself clear to him the next morning, Declan had been... Hurt. He still felt that hurt, and wasn't at all sure what to do about it.

"I want to be your friend, Dom. I do. But friends don't -" he hesitated, anxious about using the word at all. At the last moment, Declan decided not to pin it on her until he was sure she knew what he was on about. "Friends don't do one night stands, and I certainly don't appreciate the idea of friends with benefits. I'm sorry if that's what you wanted from me. Dom, you're spectacular, okay? But... Friends don't use other friends like that. Not after their friend has been... Well, used before."

He gave a shrug, his gaze having long since fallen to the floor of the hallway, but couldn't bring himself to stay there. So he turned towards his classroom, intending to give her the time it might need to put the pieces together.

He just stared at her and she felt the grin slip off her face, feeling something bad was about to happen. He spoke, shutting her down completely. The suggestion had been in jest, but she didn't think he would take it that badly. People got over awkwardness through jokes, and that had been her intention, seeing as he was trying to hold her at arm's length away. If she and Declan started doing it on the daily, that's when things would get complicated. But not being able to joke about one drunken misadventure? She simply did not understand it.

He continued on and she wheeled around, stopping him in his tracks so that they could have this talk not on the move. She looked up at him, very keen to understand where he was coming from. Was it just because of all of the whispers and talks of the two of them? She supposed she could understand that - Declan wanted to keep his job, and wanted it to be drama-free. She didn't care much, but she could respect that. She couldn't see how that kept him from treating her as she was though - a friend he had happened to fool around with. Stuff happened.

And then he continued on. And now she had a problem.

"First off," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Friends do do one night stands. I'm not saying everyone does, but it's not unheard of. We're not social pioneers." That wasn't her major problem though. Used. Used. He had accused her of using him. Now, Declan had revealed some pretty weird stuff to her. But she knew what used was. Roxi had taught her how to use, when to use, and how to be used in the best way possible. What she and Declan had done had been innocent and fun. Being used did not feel so sweet.

She was visibly bristling, but she tried to keep her voice low. "I did not use you. You did not use me. We both agreed to that. We wanted it, and we had fun." She stepped in front of him as he head for class."Don't you accuse me of using you."

Declan had done his best to appear relaxed. Honestly, he had. But when she snapped at him, he drew himself up to his full height, glaring down at her as though it could make her stop talking. Obviously, however, that was not the case. The first word he wanted to use against her was 'naive.' He knew it wasn't very fair, and he knew that the idea of picking words that would hurt her was the worst way he could go about it. Instead, he decided not to plan his retort and simply let it happen.

"You didn't? Oh, my bad," he returned sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "See, usually, I absolutely love it when someone I care about makes light of things that should have been private but can't be. I love being reminded of what she did to me, and how painfully stupid I was to believe anything she said. That's always been the best part of my day!" he near-shouted, the pain and frustration clear in his tone.

His eyes lifted to hers again, and he hesitated for a moment before something of a growl burst from his throat. "I would have told you, you know. I would have explained. But you changed the subject. I was ready to let you in, Dom! And look what you've done! It's last year all over again! I never expected that you would act like Da-."

Declan huffed, destroying his styled mop of hair by pushing his fingers through it angrily. "I refuse to talk about this here," he decided aloud, taking a step away from her. "I won't do this here. It would be better if you just acted like nothing happened. That would be brilliant. I've been trying to do that all day."

And all hopes of this being a discreet, private affair flew out the window.

She began arguing just as soon as he began yelling, shoving her words in the spaces between his. He looked more threatening drawn up to his full height, looking down at her, but her voice was more shrill because she cared less about her reputation that he cared about his. Her eyes were alight with that Weasley fire, her fists balled up as though ready to fight. Dom Weasley was not to be taken as a joke when she was angry.

"I didn't have sex with you to make fun of you, you bloody moron! It had nothing to do with her - I don't know anything about her! Shit, is it possible that that night had less to do with your issues and more to do with alcohol and what was supposed to be good fun?!"

She sputtered when he accused her of having changed the subject and she knew any honest argument that came out of her mouth right now would make her seem like a child. What could she say? That she didn't press the topic because she didn't feel like she would be able to actually help? That the situation sounded much too complicated and she had never been good with sincere problems before?

So, she settled on, "I was cutting you some slack! You got pissy that I pushed you into dancing - I thought your ex-whatever might be the line!"

And then he tried to accuse her of being like his ex, but he stopped himself. Still, the damage was done. She looked at him in surprise and hurt, anger morphing them into a look of almost disgust. How dare he make her feel so low. How dare he make her out to be a bad guy when he had been just as much at fault.

He began to step away and she panicked. "You can't just decide that. It takes two to tango, and I want to talk about it here! Funny how that words - both sides have to agree to it. Makes them both equally responsible." She spit the words out, goading him into understanding that he could not pin everything on her - especially considering how it shouldn't have been such a big deal in the first place. "I will not be treated like a mistake, Declan!"

He winced visibly when she said aloud exactly what had happened, right in the middle of the halls at Hogwarts. Maybe his last class would just realize he wasn't going to be set free, and they would just go back to their dorms. Declan doubted they would truly be affronted. He, however, absolutely was. He wasn't sure he had been so angry in... well, years probably. He had been more distraught than angry with Danica at first, after all. So the anger had been somewhat diminished by the time he fully realized it.

"Fun." Declan repeated flatly. "Fun. Right. Okay." He shook his head. There was clearly no point in explaining himself. Instead, he just waited until Dom had finished - or tried to. As soon as the last utterance of his name had been shouted at him, Declan stepped forward again, cutting off the space between the two of them has he invaded hers.

"The hell are you on about, Dom?" he glowered down at her. "You think you're the one who feels like a mistake? That's all I've ever been to anybody," Declan snapped, feeling like he could leave his parents out of that equation. "I don't do things like this. I work. I excel at things because. I. Work. But I didn't have to do that on Friday. The dancing wasn't something I had to think about, okay? It wasn't. I wanted to understand why it mattered to you, but it just reminded me of things I didn't want to think about. That was the problem. And I wouldn't have gone through with... that if I'd known you would have decided to make fun of it. For all of two minutes, I'd thought it mattered. At least you've proved me wrong before I was awake enough to say anything."

Declan frowned and shook his head before moving away again. "Can I go now? I've got a class to teach."