10th July 1974- Barney: 13, Clint: 10
Today was a good day, in Clint's opinion. Sure, Bobbi was back in Manchester and Natasha was in Russia but Clint was in Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour with Barney and Jem. And Will would be finishing work earlier than usual and was taking them for a meal as an early celebration for Barney's birthday.
"Do you think I could beat Black in a fight?" asked Jem.
Barney asked which Black. From what Clint had overheard from the adults, Jem got into a lot of fights at Hogwarts, despite Barney's continued attempts to restrain him.
"The Gryffindor. Paddy, or whatever Potter calls him."
"Padfoot I think." replied Barney. "Hey, is that Gabe?"
Clint followed Barney's gaze. He'd met Gabriel once at King's Cross last year. Jem leaned across the table, ignoring Barney's protests and banged on the window. Gabriel waved when he saw them and dragged the two boys he was with into the shop.
"Shift up kid." said Jem.
"Don't call me kid." replied Clint automatically, even as he wriggled up to the window.
Barney rolled his eyes. He did that a lot around more than one Moody. Gabriel stopped at the counter while the youngest boy and the middle one came over. The middle one looked vaguely familiar, dark-haired, pale and roughly the same age as Barney.
"Hey, you're Aaron's mate right?" said Jem.
"Yes. I'm Gadreel."
Ohhhh. That explained it. Aaron only had three friends, and since one of them was his own twin it didn't really count. The other was Mary or Marta or something. Both boys were wearing robes, while Gabriel was wearing jeans and a shirt with a very loud pattern. None of the Moodys wore robes, except when the Auror members had official hearings to attend.
"Hey guys." said Gabriel, reappearing bearing three ice-creams.
"Any of those for your brothers?" asked Barney.
Gabriel scoffed. "No."
"Mercy Lewis." said Clint.
Barney and Jem laughed. Gabriel ordered Gadreel to get ice-creams for himself and his younger brother.
"Barney, gimme twenty Knuts. Please." said Clint.
"Why?"
"I want another ice-cream."
"One the size of twenty Knuts?! No!"
"Why not?!"
"Because."
Clint pouted. Barney stared him dead in the eye for all of five seconds before passing him two Sickles.
"Get me and Jem one each as well. No walnuts for Jem."
Clint grinned and slithered out of the booth. He headed to the counter to the sound of Jem arguing with Gabriel about something. Once his orders arrived, he was faced with an interesting dilemma. How to carry three ice-creams in two hands.
"Do you want some help?" asked Gadreel from behind him.
Clint jumped. "Don't sneak up on people!"
"I apologise."
"Yeah, I'd like a hand."
Gadreel gave the younger brother his own ice-cream and sent him back to the table. Clint handed him Barney's ice-cream and the pair of them went back to the table. Clint handed Jem's over to him.
"You moved. Why did you move?"
"Gabriel wanted the window." said Barney. "Jem kept leaning over me to talk to Gabriel."
"Oh."
The youngest brother, who still hadn't introduced himself, was also next to the window. Clint carefully clambered into his seat, passed Jem his ice-cream and started attacking his own. Gadreel mumbled something as he thrust Barney's ice-cream at him.
"Thanks." replied Barney. "Clint, don't think I didn't see you pocket the change."
"Ass." replied Clint, reluctantly returning it.
Barney smirked at him. Gabriel and Jem were talking about pranks Gabriel had pulled and fights Jem had been in. Clint turned to the younger brother.
"What's your name?"
"Castiel Novak."
With that, he went back to staring at the table. Clint scowled at him before turning to look at Gadreel.
"Are you in Hufflepuff with Aaron?"
"I am." said Gadreel. "We have the same dorm."
"Is he a good dorm sharer? Uncle Kenneth is always telling him off for being messy."
Gadreel laughed. "The house-elves tidy up after us. But he is pretty messy."
Clint could believe that. "Have you met Kenny?"
"I have. He was showing me his rock collection."
Jem snorted. "Right. Did you have fun pretending to actually be interested?"
"I didn't have to pretend."
Jem raised an eyebrow. It was rare anyone stood up to Jem when he started snapping. Barney looked between the two, his own eyebrows up around his hairline.
"Bullshit."
"Unlike you, Kenny's actually interesting."
Silence fell on the table. At least until Clint said, "Holy shit". Jem's hand flexed but before anything could start, Barney had dropped a hand onto Jem's arm.
"Don't."
Jem rolled his eyes. Clint turned to Gadreel, wide-eyed. Gadreel had relaxed fractionally but he kept glancing at Barney. Clint couldn't understand why. If anyone was going to start a fight, it was going to be Jem, not Barney. The door to the ice-cream parlour chimed open.
"Are you going up to Underhill this summer?" asked Gabriel.
"Yeah." said Jem. "A whole fortnight of doing nothing."
"Nothing for you." replied Barney. "I've got Quidditch drills. You're gonna help me, right Clint?"
"Depends. Can I throw a ball at your head?"
"No."
"I'm gonna do it anyway."
"I know but I had to try."
A new person joined them at the table. It was Will, in robes. It took Clint a moment to recognise him. His face was drawn and he sat down next to Barney silently, without even a 'hello'.
"Did you have a hearing today?" asked Barney.
"No. We… found Benjy Fenwick. Or part of him anyway."
"Shit, I'm sorry."
Will didn't seem to hear him. He was staring at the leftovers of Gadreel's ice-cream.
"I had to tell his boyfriend."
"Fuck." said Jem. "You need like eight drinks."
Will managed a laugh. Sort of. 'Laugh' was generous. Barney looked helpless so Clint reached over to pat Will on the head.
"Thanks Hawk. I have to go and tell his mother now."
"Why can't the boyfriend?" asked Gabriel.
Will said, "We don't want to cause unnecessary grief and stress in this difficult time," with the air of someone quoting something he'd heard a thousand times and didn't fully agree with. "Be careful out there kids."
With that, he pushed himself up from the table and left. Jem sighed.
"Fucking war. Fucking Death Eaters."
The mood had been killed and they clearly weren't going for a meal later. Barney's hand had gone to his hip, just briefly. Clint knew he had a knife there, mostly because he was there when Uncle Alastor made him wear it.
"We'll get a meal." said Barney, flashing an empty grin at Clint. "I found an American diner in the Muggle part in June. You and me kiddo, real burgers, milkshakes."
"Done." said Clint, mimicking Barney's smile.
