06. A Tiny War Within



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𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓 that Rain is not the best at dealing with his emotions. It's also a fact that he's dramatic and a right foul git when he feels he's been wronged— I mean, why do you think he's had this completely pointless long standing feud with Sirius Black for all of eight years?

Achilles has wronged him, repeatedly, without an explanation for exactly why, so he spells his bed to blow up and croak like a bullfrog any time he so much as tries sitting in it.

That's the first thing he hears of when he steps out of the dorms into the common room. "You don't understand, Evan. It was the funniest thing I've seen in my entire life. The bed just kept making the most horrible sound I have ever heard and I swear Kane was absolutely going to fucking explode -"

That's Barty Crouch Jr. speaking, and he cuts himself off with a wheeze. He clutches the shoulders of an annoyed looking Evan Rosier as they step out after him. "I know. Merlin, Barty, I was literally right there when it was happening. You don't need to recount the entire thing."

The corner of Rain's lips twitch in amusement, which quickly fades when both boys turn look at him. Barty starts to say something, grinning widely like he's about to break down from how amusing he finds this entire situation, but Rain looks away and quickly leaves the common room before any of that happens.

It's unfortunate, that no matter how fast he tries walking away, Barty ultimately catches up with him while he's in the process of leaving the Dungeons. Evan trails after him, sighing in an exasperated manner. "Was it you, Fairchild?" Barty asks.

Rain spares him a sideways glance, carefully maintaining a neutral expression as he answers. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he answers curtly, and then proceeds to speed up.

But Barty is relentless, and it's truly annoying. He catches up and inserts himself in the space next to Rain again, his eyes sparkling with a feral kind of amusement. Rain think he's a bit mad, to be honest. "No, I know you know what I'm talking about. I saw you walk out of our dorm room last night and I thought I hallucinated the whole thing because I was high as fuck-still am, to be honest-but now that I think about it, you're the only person who'd do something like that without being afraid of the consequences."

Barty steps around him and stops right in front of him-of course, Rain immediately stops and eyes him with disdain. Barty hardly appears to be fazed. "It was you. I know it was. I need you to teach me that spell, Fairchild."

From his side, Rain hears Evan sigh like he's regretting every single choice he's ever made. Rain relates with that sentiment. He crosses his arms in a manner he hopes is unfazed, because that is the farthest thing from what he's actually feeling right now. "How are you so sure that it's me who did whatever it is you're talking about?" He replies, then quickly adds. "And anyway, even I if it was me, I wouldn't arm you with such a thing because I know it'll come back to bite me in the arse later."

Barty's smile doesn't waver, and Rain feels like the more he continues to entertain this conversation, he'll end up trapped. It wouldn't be the first time Barty roped him into doing something he'd come to regret later ( He never speaks of The Incident from his fourth year. Even thinking about it makes him want to go back in time and strangle his younger self out of sheer embarrassment).

Barty throws an arm around his shoulders and Rain squirms to detach himself from the hold, but it's no use. "I don't usually go around complimenting people, Fairchild, but you have a brilliant mind. Even I can see that. Imagine the chaos we could cause if we teamed up. With my charms, both your and Reggie's minds and Evan's endless annoyance at anything I say-"

"Oh, for crying out loud, Barty-"

"-we could have this entire school bowing at our feet before the week ends."

Rain finally manages to shrug off Barty's arm, rolling his eyes in the process. "Intresting pitch, Crouch, but I have no desire to become like those mindless Gryffindor buffoons-"

Barty pulls a face like Rain has just insulted him and his entire family, "How dare you compare us with that bunch of fools?" Evan actually slaps his forehead repeatedly with the palm of his hand, and Rain is admittedly a bit worried for his head. Barty's expression changes so fast, from offended to delighted, that it nearly gives him whiplash. Rain is left wondering whether he imagined the whole thing. "We'd be loads better than them, obviously. You can't tell me the thought of usurping Potter and his lot doesn't please you in some way."

Of course it does, but Rain would rather die than admit that. "I have no interest in such things," he lies. Barty doesn't look like he believe him, and neither does Evan. He can't blame them, Rain doesn't believe himself either.

He rolls his eyes again. "I'm not teaching you the spell," he mutters as he walks away.

"Ha! So you're admitting that you did do it! I knew I'd get it out of you!"

Rain ignores him, of course.

"I'll get you one day, Fairchild! I'm going to make you teach me that spell even if it's the last thing I do!"

He tries not to think about Barty's proposition too much as he goes through the last few minutes before his first class starts, and by the time midday rolls around, he's completely forgotten about it.

◈ ━━━━━━━ ⸙ - ⸙ ━━━━━━━ ◈

Rain had always been obsessed with neat and beautiful things his entire life

Before Hogwarts, Rain and his brothers were all required to attend writing lessons to improve their handwritings. River disliked it at first, but grew impartial to it the older he got. Sage hated it from the beginning-and he still does to this day, because the governess that came along when he first started was a hard faced woman who was terribly mean to them, and so he decided to adopt a chicken like scrawl that would have made her shriek indignantly if she were still alive and kicking, despite the fact that he can write well, just to spite her.

Rain always loved it, though. The governess during the period he first started was the exact same one who taught River, and she was kind and patient to a fault despite the fact that Rain was an absolute twat in those days. She had the most beautiful and elegant handwriting Rain had ever seen, and he had the dream of adopting a similar handwriting to her.

She often encouraged them all to venture to forms of decorative writing, and Rain did as such in all the languages he could speak. Even long after she had left. He was an absolute perfectionist when it came to writing, and he preferred not to be interrupted while in the middle of that very activity lest he loses concentration and make a mistake, thank you very much.

He's in Potions at the moment, and for the past few minutes, someone has been throwing little bits of paper at the back of his head every now and then while he's trying so hard not to lose focuse as he copies notes down.

He ignores it the first few times, but the last straw comes when he accidentally drags his quill on the surface of his parchment, and the line it forms is a jagged and ugly thing that makes fury explodes within him because of how absolutely unsightly it looks in the midst of the beautifully shaped letters of his notes.

He turns swiftly to look at the perpetrator, and lo and behold, it's Sirius Black.

Sirius looks like he's paying attention to Slughorn, and that's the only thing that solidifies his conclusion that he's the wanker that has been testing Rain's patience, because Rain knows Sirius. He's had at least five classes with him each year and he knows that he hardly ever pays attention to the professors when they teach- one of the many mysteries Rain has yet to solve is how the fuck Sirius Black manages to emerge among the top students in most of his classes when he all he does is mess around during lessons- so there's no way he's going to fool him.

Rain has really been trying not think about Sirius and anything related to him in anyway since that whole fiasco in Hogsmeade- he still can't get over the fact that Sunhee thought Sirius was flirting with him. That sounds like something straight from his very worst nightmares- but of course, he apparently can't afford such a luxury because-well, it's Sirius.

He'll catch sight of him laughing loudly and obnoxiously with his fellow Gryffindors in the Great Hall, he'll hear some poor professor shrieking his name along with those of his equally annoying friends when they pull some elaborate prank, he'll see a couple snogging literally anywhere in the castle and he'll be taken back to that cursed day that brought this horrible crisis upon him and he'll get the overwhelming urge to scream or burn the entire world with everything along with it.

So, yeah he's been trying his best to avoid all matters Sirius Black but it's hard when the twat seems to have the entire world wrapped around his little finger.

That whole thing aside, Rain has no desire to get into trouble today, so he neatly tears a piece of his parchment from the very bottom and writes a very furious;

Leave me the fuck alone.

Short and to the point. Rain decides he won't waste much of his ink writing a very detailed paragraph about how he would like to bash Sirius's skull in with his very heavy Potions textbook and drown him in the Black Lake after in that specific order if he doesn't stop messing with him.

He folds it into a neat rectangle and charms it to float along the the floor on it's way to Sirius's desk.

Less than ten seconds later, the note flops back onto his desk. Against his better judgement, he sneaks a look at Sirius and sees him smirking into the palm of his hand, and it's infuriating because of course he finds joy in tormenting him. He must've been overestimating Sunhee's intellect in all the years he's known her if she thinks this dolt has any desires other than making his life miserable. He turns back to the note and unfurls it.

don't know what you're talking about??? i haven't even looked at you since potions started

Rain scoffs at the note- because of course Sirius doesn't punctuate his sentences correctly like the neanderthal he is- and he feels Marlene McKinnon, who's his usual potions partner, giving him a weird look that he ignores. He frowns at the note and dips his quill into his ink pot before writing;

Black, I swear to Salazar I will get out of this seat and wring your neck with my bare hands if you don't quit it. I know you're the one throwing things at the back of my head!

Then off it goes. Rain takes a deep breath to calm himself, and the more rational part of him berates himself for giving in to that obvious bait. Give it to Sirius Black to make him act like a brainless fool that abandons all sense of logic. He hears a quiet snicker, and he nearly snaps his quill in half. There's a moment of silence, and then another note flutters back to him.

ooh how kinky didn't know you were into that kind of stuff fairchild and while it's not exactly my cup of tea i suppose i can make an make an exception for you

Rain doesn't know how he expected himself to react after reading the note, but he doesn't expect for his body to move on it's own accord and slam his forehead on the desk.

The sound startles Slughorn- and Marlene because she jumps and mutters a terrified 'what the hell?'- and he immediately stops talking. "Mr. Fairchild, are you...are you alright?" He asks, sounding bewildered. Rain fights the resounding urge to scream, and he feels heat crawling up from his neck to his face. He feels the other students staring at him, snickering at his expense, and he's absolutely mortified.

He remains still and silent, and it worries Slughorn, so he speaks up again. "Miss McKinnon, is he-

At that, Rain immediately looks up, schooling his expression into that of a sane person. "I'm quite alright, Professor. Sorry for interrupting," he tells him, his voice stiff.

Slughorn doesn't look at all convinced, but he nods and decides to carry on. Rain puts his quill down and clenches and unclenches his fists repeatedly as he glares poisonously at the note There's an urge to to just 'incendio' the stupid thing in the middle of the class, consequences be damned, and he probably should have instead of doing whatever he does next.

Only you can posses such such low level of immaturity, Black. Get your mind out of the fucking gutter.
(I know you're an uncivilised heathen, but would it kill you to punctuate your sentences correctly?)

At this point, Rain is sure that he's digging his own grave by going along with this rubbish, but again, all logic must have jumped out the window when he caught sight of Sirius's smug face after refusing to admit to his misdeeds.

a bit hypocritical for the person who says he wants to choke me to tell me that but sure whatever you say
and no I will not punctuate my sentences

There's a tiny smiling face at the end of the note, which is honestly the most childish thing Rain has ever seen, but it makes him snicker unconsciously. The embarrassment from before dissipates at that, and so he immediately scowls and pushes away the fluttery feeling takes residence in his stomach, because there's no way he'll ever let it be known that he finds himself...endeared by the childish antics of one Sirius Black. Ugh.

I've had enough of this. Fuck off. Stop disturbing me, Black. I'm serious.

In hindsight, Rain probably should've realised his mistake, because the next time the note comes, he says, "Merlin and Morgana both, what in the absolute fuck?"

Rain slaps a hand to his mouth and immediately hides the note in the pocket inside his left sleeve, because the entire class turns to him once more and Slughorn looks at him, properly disturbed and worried-Rain reckons he probably thinks that he's having a breakdown in the middle of his class- so he discreetly pushes his ink pot with his fingers and let's the ink seep into his perfectly neat parchment. His heart weeps in indignation at the mess.

"Pardon-pardon me, Mr. Fairchild?" the professor inquires, intending to shuffle closer to his desk. Rain forces his hand off his mouth and gestures towards the mess infront of him with both of his hands.

"I spilled my ink, Professor. Apologies. It won't happen again, sir," he mutters absently as his mind comes up with all the ways he could commit murder and make it look like an accident. The professor pulls out his wand and casts a spell over the mess to make it vanish.

Before he resumes teaching, Slughorn shaves off five points from Slytherin for the use of inappropriate language. Rain turns to flip Sirius the bird when Slughorn turns away from him, to which he only gets an amused grin in return that makes him want to choke himself.

Rain didn't think he could think any lower of Sirius until the git decided to write;

i think you're mistaken because I'm sirius not you

Rain blames himself. He walked right into that one.

◈ ━━━━━━━ ⸙ - ⸙ ━━━━━━━ ◈

Rain doesn't know what's wrong with him, honestly.

Since the Hogsmeade fiasco, he's been avoiding his friends like the plague, and while they do understand that he probably needs the space to get over what happened, it's been a whole week now and he's fairly sure that Halima is just about ready to march up to him and punch his face in for putting them all through something so...stupid.

Case in point, it's the lunch hour that very same calm and warm Wednesday afternoon, after whatever went down in Potions, and Dorian Blanchard is sitting across from his with a mildly entertained look on his face. "Mate, Moreau looks like she wants to come over here and put you in the ground," he tells him.

Rain frowns and turns around to follow his line of sight. And he's unfortunately correct, because Halima is glaring at him from the Gryffindor table, sitting in between Marlene and Mary, and she looks ready to storm over to his table and make a scene regardless of the consequences.

She lifts her hands and makes furious gestures that her hand that roughly translate to, 'What the bloody hell is your problem?'

Rain scrunches his face at her, and she gapes at him like she's offended by his answer. He quickly turns away and faces Dorian, and he finds him squinting at him like he's trying to figure something out.

"What are you looking at?" Rain grumbles. Dorian laces his fingers together and places his chin above his joined hands. Rain wrinkles his nose, slightly disturbed.

"You and your friends are always having some sort of drama, like every other week," he says, his words laced with his heavy Irish accent, and Rain's disturbed look falls into a scowl. Dorian smiles, like that's the very reaction he was expecting. "It's quite entertaining, but after some time, it becomes painful to watch."

"What are you talking about? We don't have any drama," Rain snaps defensively.

Dorian laughs lightly. "Ho, ho. Of course you do! It's been on going for weeks now, and while I prefer keeping my cute little arse away from other people's affairs, I just can't help but wonder what happened between all of you to make you so unfriendly with each other."

Rain squints at him as he calmly takes a long sip of the water in his goblet. "That's hardly any of your business, Dorian."

Dorian rolls his eyes and tears a piece from his loaf of bread. "We've been living in the same space for five years, Rain, and I have to hear you mumble to yourself angrily every night before you go to sleep because of this. Most of the time, it's usually because of Sirius Black, but recently, it's only ever been about your friends. Kane, especially."

Rain suspicious expression falls to give way to a softer frown of confusion. "I don't do that," he says, and then he pauses to think it over. "Do I?"

Dorian lifts an eyebrow and nudges Nicholas Bennett, who's sitting next to him, with his elbow. Nicholas looks like he's been trying not to let them know that he's been listening to their conversation, but he's honestly doing a terrible job. He smiles sheepishly at Rain. "You actually do, mate. Have been for the longest time."

It must be a subconscious thing, because Rain doesn't remember doing anything of the sort. He shakes his head at to clear away the confusion. "Whatever. That doesn't matter. I don't know what you think you know, but whatever is going on is none of your business, so stay out of