Gryffindor dorms

Sevin chat about the future 
Sasha Violet Augustine 

The school was coming to a close. They would be in their flat soon and Devin couldn't wait. He was eager to be free of the school. It hadn't felt right coming back to this place. He was done. He just had to tell Sasha that. He propped up on his elbow, facing her. "Just a few more nights and we'll be home." He hoped she was still comfortable with that idea. The flat they had rented was much less than what she was used to. But it was going to be theirs. That was what mattered to him.

They just had to get through their final exams, and then they were done. Just a few examples and a couple more weeks stood between them and the summer holidays. And their flat. She couldn’t believe they had actually gotten a flat. She was equal parts nervous and excited for it — whatever one was more prevalent depended on the day. She hummed at his words, eyes following him as he shifted. ”I like the sound of that.” And she did. Being home with him sounded so much better already than being at her parents’ house. That hadn’t felt like home in a long time.

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If you think rapid fire means she’s not picking an outfit, you’re wrong.

Devin didn't ever get tired of looking at Sasha. Her blonde hair falling over the pillow,those bright eyes turned to him---she was so beautiful. He told every day. He hoped the words weren't losing meaning. He hoped she was believing him and not her horrible hag of a mother. Devin could not believe the way the woman had criticized Sasha. It boiled his blood even now. He wanted to keep her far away from those negative influences. It soothes his worries to hear Sasha say she was looking forward to the future they had laid out together.

He worried his lip under his tooth as he waded into the topic he was really trying to bring up tonight. "I think this is going to be it for me. I don't have another two years in me." He searched her face as he spoke, trying to gauge her reaction.

She definitely had not thought that this year would end the way that it had. When she had come back to Hogwarts, she’d been irritated to see that Devin had decided to return as well. Even though the last time they had spoke, he had made it crystal clear to her that he was done with her, the second they were back at school, he was bothering her at every opportunity. It was like he didn’t want her when she wanted him, but the second she did what he wanted, he changed his mind.

Sassing him and rolling her eyes at eventually made their way to this. Slowly, the talk of getting a flat had come up. More of Devin talking about how he needed one than them both getting one together, but that’s what the idea had turned into. And now it was rented and theirs. They just had to make it through exams first. Her brows furrowed at his words, immediately surprised, though it was obvious from the look on his face that he wanted to see how she’d react. “You don’t want to come back?” She could admit it had been different since their return, but she’d never seriously considered leaving and not graduating.

Devin had been thinking about this for awhile. He was seventeen already. As someone who had already been old for his year, to be pushed back another one made the age gap really significant. He swept his tongue over his lips and raised one shoulder in a brief shrug. "I don't think so. Two years is a lot more time. I'm already legal. I came back so I wouldn't mooch off the Audreys or anyone anymore. Now, we have the flat. I can fight...maybe even try out for one of the shit pro-teams. I could do shit I'm actually good at." He had been given a brochure about this tech school, too--Gowshock or something. They had culinary classes there. He could be about that sort of schooling.

Coming back to Hogwarts had been the obvious choice, mostly because it had been her only choice. Her parents had been wondering what to do with her, and it was only a matter of time until they decided on some boarding school to send her off to. It probably would have been better than being at home, in al honesty — but a Muggle boarding school when she hadn’t been to a Muggle school in years? She’d be behind in all those classes and everyone would think she was a complete imbecile. She didn’t want to do that at all.

But now that she was back, she realized how much had changed. She had known it already, but something about being back here just made it all the more obvious. It was why she couldn’t wait for them to be out for the summer, even if she had no idea how she was going to contribute to paying their bills yet. She was looking forward to the break, but she had always thought she’d come back in the fall. Just to finish up. Apparently Devin had been thinking exactly the opposite. ”Are you sure?”

She wasn’t one to push for education, but she saw some downsides. ”I know it’s awful here but what if you want a job someday that needs NEWT scores?”

Devin did not really see himself with any sort of white collar future. He just was not that kind of guy. He was going to make his living with his hands--be it swinging a punch, a bat, or wielding a wok. That was who he was. Charms, Herbology, Potions, and COMC were the only classes that he wasn't completely rubbish in...and even Potions he wasn't great it. It wasn't really like cooking. It was too precise. He wasn't the down in the details type. 

When she asked if he was sure, the wizard nodded. "Yeah, I think so." He expected the question that came next and had an answer at the ready. "Cahn ye really see me in one o' fose jobs, Sash? Fat ain't me." His Cockney accent came through thick on the words. Much thicker than usual. He normally fought it down, but thinking about learning and school and traditional money making careers---it just brought out the poor boy in him. 

Can you really see me in one of those jobs, Sash? That is not me.

She didn’t really know what she was going to do when she graduated. It was something that she hadn’t thought all that much about. Sasha had never been one to try all that hard in her classes. If she could sweet talk someone else into doing her assignments for her, then she would. So her marks were average at best. Maybe they’d be better if she actually tried, but since she had returned, she’d seen little point in trying all that hard. But she had still never considered just… not coming back.

If it was on Devin’s mind though, couldn’t it be on hers too? It wasn’t like she was going to go to university or off into some fancy job either. Maybe she wouldn’t be flying around on a broom for a living either, maybe she didn’t even know what she could do for a living, but she thought it was pretty easy to assume that it wouldn’t require high NEWT marks.

"I guess not…" She knew he liked cooking, and he didn’t need NEWT scores for that. And she wasn’t sure how the professional teams worked, but she didn’t think there was any reason for them to require a Hogwarts graduation either. "If you get on one of those teams, you’ll be famous, you know." She was pretty sure all of professional Quidditch players were.

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Devin could see that the thoughts he had been carrying around for awhile were completely surprising to Sasha. He tried to explain himself further. "If I were like you, if I just had one more year, that might not have been so bad. But I've got two. I'd be almost twenty when I graduated. That is so bloody old. Ain't no sense in delaying life for that long when I ain't going to use what I learn here  anyway." Or if there was a reason for it, Devin just did not see it. He wasn't smart. Not in the scholastic sort of ways. He had street smarts. He had creativity. But he wasn't a good student. No professors were going to be missing him if he dropped out. 

He rolled his eyes when she mentioned him getting famous. "I wouldn't count on that. I probably ain't even really got a chance to make a team anyway--be reserve at best, and for someone like the Pride or Cannons. Ain't nobody really a fan of Division E teams." He didn't think he could really make it on a team, but if he could, he would go for it. He loved the feeling of a bat in his hand. It made sense--and it let him take his anger and energy out in violent ways. 

It wasn’t that she was looking forward to her last year of Hogwarts. She wasn’t. She was just doing her best not to think that far into the future. Them moving into their flat, this summer—that was what she was looking forward to. She was excited to be done with school for the term, excited for the months of them living on their own, with no schoolwork to worry about, no registration, nothing looming over their heads except for the inevitability of going back to Hogwarts. She would be out of her parents’ house, something that she had never thought that she would be so excited for her.

She wasn’t cutting them off entirely or anything. They were her parents. Despite their shortcomings, despite what she knew Devin thought of them, they were still her parents. And she was used to them—used to her mother’s jabs about her weight and her appearance. Usually she heeded what she said. She dieted, she exercised, did whatever she could to look the way that they wanted her to look. Being here, being out of the house, it didn’t change that entirely. It was still engrained in her. She just was still excited to be on her own. With Devin.

Him not coming back to school was just not what she’d expected him to say. She knew that two years was a long time. She had just never considered not finishing. “I mean…” Her teeth caught her bottom lip as she concerned his words. “If that’s what you want to do, do it. Not that you need my permission.” She didn’t want him to think that he was destined to stay in the same station in life he’d been born into. But Quidditch or cooking… both of that was more than what he’d come from—and he didn’t need test scores for that. “I don’t know about that. I’ve seen people sporting Cannons gear. I’m pretty sure your roommate has a poster taped on the ceiling above his bed,” she teased, rolling her eyes.

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Words: 342 (I told her that wasn't really rapid, but here we are anyway)