SPOV

Busy Days

Al got back late that night, slipping into the dungeon chamber covered in sweat and sagging beneath the weight of the days exhaustion. I could hear his ragged panting from the entrance, the intensity of the weekend's training session palpable in his labored breaths. It had been his turn this time to oversee the two strike teams progress while I performed the bookkeeping for the order in our room.

Unfortunately for my best friend, even the grown members of the order had shown up for this friday's endeavor, doubtless pushing the cute brunet to his limits. Mizuki, Sorrenson, Charles Weasley, and Vivienne le Fey were already warlock class fighters, yet even they had trouble keeping up with Al's regimens on the occasions they joined us for practice.

This was in no small part due to what we called Geminus, Al's improvised martial art.

During the preceding weeks, the beautiful boy had decided, in his infinite desire to push us ever towards new heights, to teach us a new style of dueling he'd been working on. Since he and I had acquired the unicorn wands Coeur and Ame from the Valois Patriarch, it meant we had needed to find a use for the extra weapons.

Al and I were naturally ambidextrous and so took to learning dual wielding. With Coeur and Excalibur at his side and Ame and al's nameless original wand by mine, we were able to adopt the new style with ease. Sometimes we fought with both wands, other times we would brandish the unicorn sword and dagger, or summon my lightning bow as accompaniment.

It was not however the same for the rest of the order. Finding a second wand for each of our friends that neither conflicted with it's owner nor their first wand, was a challenge in and of itself. When one considered that many of us like Markus or the Maxus twins had unique family wands it only became more difficult. Once that had been settled it became another thing entirely to practice left handed spell casting.

Lorcan and Lysander were the first to really dive into the martial art Al was attempting to create. I found of the younger order members, they were the most gifted when it came to fighting in general, and the most eager to please their prince and leader. The twins were dangerously athletic, acrobatic even, able to navigate the parkour courses of the Room of Requirements with effortless grace. They could so masterfully fight off the myriad creatures and training dummies Rose would release to test us that at one point it impressed even the adult warlock Sorrenson.

The clone boys would sketch out maneuvers and stances in a manual Al was putting together, often arguing passionately with the Princeling over the most effective moves for this situation, or that opponent. I caught them reviewing youtube clips of various muggle martial arts during study halls and overheard them test the limits of Amelia Bones' knowledge of the subject whenever she came from the Ministry to check in on us.

Melody Abbot and Aurora Parkinson were not nearly as gifted in combat but both made such astounding progress training with Al that they could now count among the best of duelists for their age… even if Geminus had proved entirely too much for them to handle.

One weekend, spurred by rumors of our growing skills, Al's father showed up to Hogwarts with Hermione and Ron in tow. The three heroes counted as the highest ranking officials in our government and could boast between them the defeat of countless dark wizards. To have the Minister for Magic, the defense Minister and the Speaker of Mysteries all surprise us with a visit was unnerving to say the least.

It was decided by a quick huddle of the order leadership that we would not attempt to disguise our growing skills, and so made no efforts to downplay the more experimental lessons Al had taught us.

We endeavored to impress.

Hermione's personnel were visibly flabbergasted when Al's team Alpha and my team Beta squared off in a squad style battle that strained the limits of what the wizards thought possible. Ron's aurors and magical police likewise took feverish notes, insisting the ministry training protocols needed updating if mere children could already fight like we could.

More than the power and dexterity on display, was our teams coordination. We had grown so familiar with each others personalities and dynamics that we fought as though one well oiled machine. We used hand signals and short hand to anticipate each other's actions and intentions, coordinating defensive shield charms and offensive elemental magic in a way that no one wizard could ever do alone.

A very short unspeakable, dressed in the telltale black and white robes of their department, tugged on Hermione's sleeve, whispering into her ear when she bent low enough to hear. The figure's hood was raised to obscure it's face and even Vivienne seemed not to know the mysterious individual's identity. Rose scrunched her nose at the sight but thought better than to offer her opinion on the matter.

'There was no way her younger brother Hugo could be working with their mother… could there?'

'That would make inviting him into the order very difficult' i remember thinking to myself. Al would be angry he could not recruit Rosie's brother. A genius in his own right, the young Weasley would have made a valuable addition to the Jade Rabbits.

"You're looking well worn. Did training go over long tonight?" I asked, catching Al wipe the sweat from his face. He'd used the base of his t-shirt for the task, lifting it up from off his stomach towards his brow. A glimmer of taught abs beginning to take shape grabbed my attention as the flash of skin came and went. I found myself mildly impressed at the progress his body was making. I was in better shape than Al, but I couldn't help but admire his sleek physique.

"It's ENDLESS… music practice, combat practice, potions work, investment work… I'm going CRAZY."

"Well, if it's any consolation the progress we're making speaks for itself. The order is only getting stronger, richer, better informed, more connected. You're getting what you wanted out of this experiment. When the nightclub is finished you'll see even better returns from all this."

"Maybe." He offered somberly, unsure how convinced he was by reassurance. He poured himself a tall glass of water from a pitcher and as he looked at the clear liquid, for a second I could tell he wished it were wine.

"How are the numbers?" He inquired in between gulps.

"It's tight. Your Rhoynar fortune is being released to you in drips and drabs. Its an interminably slow process. Probably to cover up all of the corruption and embezzlement that was going on throughout the centuries that the title remained dormant."

"Just fabulous…"

"Yeah, well at least there's a lot of it left. We're talking in the hundreds of millions when it's all accounted for."

"We'll just have to wait years for it to resolve."

"Probably" I offered, rising to bring him a towel. I wiped his temples and pulled the wet t from his body, tossing it into our hamper in the corner of the room as soon as it came free of his raised arms and head.

"Thanks Scor"

"Hmm."

"Any other goodies to report?"

"You mean headaches?"

"What else is there."

A sigh.

"Victoire, Mizuki and Alex want me to reveal to the world that I'm the ASP. I have two singles I could release but they feel I should time it alongside a leak of my identity. Better sales, higher impact… etc…"

"Wow… that's…"

"A massive step? No kidding. Not to mention we haven't decided whether other members of the order should join the label under a band. Izanami and Izagani say there's a whole industry in Japan and Korea that revolve around training music stars from an early age. Idol training its called or some such. They think a group would make more sense to brand and market than a solo performer. I just like music Scor… I had no idea my hobby was going to blow up… Now they're saying it will have to be a major component of the order? It's going to take the fun out of the whole thing!"

"You could just say no."

"Doubtful. I may be the leader but the older members of the order are adamant that my potential popularity could be invaluable to our success. By the way… Have you given any more thought to joining the band?"

"I hate the idea of having a public profile Al… but for you… i'd do just about anything. So you can count me in if Vicky and Mizuki insist it's critical."

"Viv and Niime are insisting too… creepy dark elves… they say Prince Syl and his people expect us to do everything in our power to grow our influence. That is if we want to count on their allegiance and support in an emergency."

"You're Prince Rhoyne now… after your father passes you will be Prince Peverell also… you have certain responsibilities. Just like my father does as Supreme Founder."

"I thought being rich just meant doing whatever you wanted. The amount it takes to grow and maintain that wealth not to mention power is…. crazy… I just never thought it would be like this. Thanks for… sticking by me Scor…"

"Are you kidding? We'll never be bored. You can be certain of that. If the price is we need to grow up a little faster… well i'm willing to pay that price for a life of adventure."

"And danger… don't forget all the awakenings and civil strife popping up all over europe. Thousands of muggles turning into wizards… growing contact with our human cousins… this whole mess could explode one day…"

"That's the point though isn't it? I trust you and I to handle that explosion a lot better than Hermione and Ron… no offense to your aunt and uncle."

"No no… I know what you meant."Al finished, grabbing the towel from me to wipe the rest of his damp body.

"How's the Riddle going?" I asked after silence had overlong filled the space. He eyed me skeptically at that.

"How's reading the rest of your Tome of Time going?" He asked back dangerously. We shared almost everything with each other these days… save the more delicate investigations into our font magic. It wasn't mistrust so much as embarrassment and trepidation that caused us to delay discussing those matters.

"Æ£ßüS" I dared to whisper.

No sooner had the word left my lips than did that glorious soul print emerge upon his chest, like lambent writing penned in molten gold.

He shivered, goose bumps emerging all over his body as his hairs stood at attention.

"Not funny Scor… I get cold every time you do that."

"Sorry… just wanted to see it again…" I offered sheepishly, a little embarrassed at the impromptu move.

"Aurora and Max have started to date… Did you hear?" He asked suddenly, a curious tone in his voice. He sat himself cross legged in his sweat pants, holding his feet cutely in his hands as he watched me.

"I did. Louis told me. He seems happy for them."

"Yes well for a time I thought he and Rory might… you know… but i guess they were only ever best friends."

"Any new prospects for Order membership on the horizon."

"Well—"

"—On second thought forget I asked."

I groaned, retreating to my bed. There I rested myself against the pillows propped against the backboard. I was too tired to work one more minute.

Al slipped on a replacement t shirt not bothering to head to the showers for a rinse. I crinkled my nose but relented when I remembered that tomorrow was laundry day.

To my surprise Al followed me, laying himself between my legs, resting his head against my chest. Almost by reflex I began stroking his hair, feeling the tension release from the long days effort.

"Gods this is nice… just this…" He mumbled after a while. "I'm not too heavy?"

"No Al, you're just fine."

He purred lightly, his eyes slipping closed peacefully.

"I discovered an interesting secret… but i'm not quite sure the time is right to share it…"

"Oh, and is it juicy?"

"Definitely. It's about James."

His eyes shot open, rolling upwards to look at me upside down.

"Everything alright?"

"Hard to say. I'll just need to tell you during the daytime, when we're not at risk of rousing our neighbors with that telltale Weasley cacophony."

"Drama then."

Al smirked, closing his eyes again. Doubtless i'd roused his curiosity.

"Drama." I returned smugly. It was hard to make heads or tails of James and Cyril. Harder still to—

—"Scor?"

I groaned for the second time in as many minutes, leaning over to turn our bedside lamp off.

"Nope. I know that Scor. Some insane question about a topic that will take hours to resolve. You're beat, i'm beat, let's just to bed with us."

"Ok. Fine. Night SçΩrP"

I shivered under the spell of my name, feeling a warmth flowing through me as al moved to slip beneath the covers next to me. He pulled his joggers off and slipped his arm around me. It was a departure from the usual, where I would cradle him.

"This is nice for a change."

He kissed the nape of my neck and slipped his fingers beneath my night shirt to rest absently on my stomach. I found his hand with mine and smiled.