Hum de dum

[bubosquared]

Had a random bout of inspiration. Firstly, a bit of H/D textslash (well, it's slash in my head) I sent Meryl:

And in the end, it comes down to this: two boys, facing each other in silence. There are no hands extended this time, and neither of them seems willing to draw his wand on the other.

And a quadruple war!drabble for Elfie. Comes right after Requiem.

perspective

When Lee walks into the pub and sees Flint sitting at the bar, he realises that Fate has a rather nasty sense of humour.

Flint has his back towards him, but he recognises him immediately. He looks the exactly the same as the last time Lee saw him: back straight, neck and shoulders tense, every inch the Quidditch Captain. Lee wonders if Flint would recognise him, if he looks at all like the fifth year Quidditch commentator being kept in check by the teachers.

The last time Lee saw Professor McGonagall -- still "Professor McGonagall" even though she hasn't taught a class in more than two years -- was when she asked him to join the Order.

"You have a keen eye, Jordan, and if there's one thing we need right now, it's information. You’d be very useful to the Order."

So he joined, because it was the Right Thing to do, because he couldn't just sit back and watch his friends go to war. He does what he's good at, watching and reporting, calling things as he sees them no matter whether people liked what he said. He always has, and they rarely do.

He called Flint on his faults, and earning himself the eternal hatred of most of Slytherin House, but he never cared. The Slytherins always claimed Lee was biased against Flint, but what Flint never realised -- what none of the Slytherins ever realised -- was that it wasn't about House rivalry, but about the fact that Flint was a great player and wouldn't need to cheat.

All of which, of course, is now in the past. There hasn't been a professional Quidditch match in three years, and even the Hogwarts matches are cancelled more often than not. Flint isn't a Chaser anymore, and Lee is no longer a commentator, and when he thinks of Flint, he thinks "chief strategist", and not "cheater".

War tends to break things down to their basics, and the bottom line about both of them is the same: they're soldiers. They are alive in the midst of death, and fighting on the same side, and Lee has long ago come to the conclusion that there's no use in suspecting anyone of treason. If they are, they are, and that's the end of it whether you suspect them or not.

Which, ultimately, is why he finds himself walking up to the bar. "Buy you a drink?"

(All war!drabbles can be found here.)

And that, my dears, is that.