OPEN``like a book

[ayden]

Ayden Goyle wasn't a bookworm. In fact, she never read "just for the fun of it" at Hogwarts. At home, she read all the time in her room. Her social life at Hogwarts was a bit more demanding, leaving her little time alone. Ay didn't mind it much but, she took any opportunity she got to spend just a few minutes alone, like this Saturday afternoon.

Ayden dug out her battered copy of Pride and Prejudice out of her trunk. It was an old book she found out shopping one day. After one day of reading it, she fell in love with it. Ay had read the thing about ten times now, and each time, she loved it more - even though she knew it all by heart. It was therapeutic somehow.

Donning a light green sweater, Ayden trekked out to the lawns. Walking far enough from the castle, so no one would see her from a distance, Ayden found a nice tree to sit under near the lake. It was large, and provided plenty of cover from the bright autumn sun. The ground was dry enough for her to sit on, without worrying about having a wet bottom when she stood back up. Ayden settled herself down, using the tree's trunk to support her back. She took the book out from under her sweater - where she hid it.

With a rather contented smile, Ay opened up to were she left off. She used a deep red ribbon for a bookmaker. She stuck that in a farther back page to keep it from blowing away. After reading a short paragraph, Ayden was sucked in. Her mind was solely on reading the story, imagining herself in the main character's shoes. She was oblivious to anything, or anyone around her.

[/blockquote]

[Phoenix Eden Goyle]

Phoenix found it to be a rather nice day, so he decided it was a good day to either walk around in a muscle shirt or no shirt. His body frame was just like his fathers, but unlike that guy, he was pure muscle, where his dad was fat. He probably would be too if he didn’t work out so much. After contemplating for a moment, he decided to go with a muscle shirt. Though his abs was covered, his tanned arms were showing and you could see a bit of his chest. Phoenix dressed like this to catch the eyes of guys. He was still single and he hated it. He really wanted a boyfriend. This way, he could tell which ones were gay and which weren’t.

He picked up Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, one of his favorite books. He couldn’t remember where he got it from. His parents weren’t likely to buy him anything, but that didn’t really matter. It was one of his favorite books. Phoenix probably read it a million times already, most of them being at school, as his parents kept him busy by messing the house up. Seriously, that was annoying. He could be mopping the floor and his mother would come in with dirt on her shoes and then yell at him for missing spots. Phoenix wanted out of that house, but he had no place to go and, since he’s not entitled to any of the family’s money, he has nothing to get a house with.

This book never failed to immerse him and soon, he was walking around blindly. He wasn’t even aware that he was walking. He probably didn’t even realize that he was a real person and not a character in the book. Something told him that he should probably look up, but he didn’t listen. Phoenix quoted his favorite lines in the book. Even though he had read the book dozens of times, there was still mystery in it. There was still something to be discovered, something that he hadn’t seen the other times he read it.

Suddenly his feet hit something and he almost tripped over it. Phoenix dropped his book, trying to stop himself from falling. He stepped back and looked at what, or rather who, he had hit. His sister, Ayden. He did like her, probably the only person in his family that he liked. No, he didn’t like the fact that she was a Slytherin, but he still loved her, always wanting to protect her. It was the way he was. “Ayden,” he said. “What are you reading? And where's all your friends?"

[ayden]

It was funny how one could so easily be engrossed by a book. A tale that happened in a completely different times, when things like courtship, ran a little differently. Ayden liked to put herself in the main character's shoes, and imagine herself as that person - in that time. It was quite reflective in a way. It made her look at love from a completely different angle. In her book, the main character, Lizzy, swears she could never like Mr. Darcy. In the end, after many parties, a proposal and denial, and many months - the end up together. It was funny how things like that worked. And, all the while - the family tried to cover up their younger daughter's scandal.

That was the sort of family Ayden wished she had. Her family was completely messed up. Her parents pretty much just disowned her brother, Phoenix, for not being in Slytherin and because he was gay. Ay was just glad their parents were letting him still live at home, even though they treated him practically like a house elf. Their parents gave Phoenix no allowance of any sort, and Ayden seemed to be getting more than before. Probably because they cut him out.

Ayden felt guilty about it. She tried saying something about her parents, Phoenix needed something for all the work he did for them. Her pleads went unnoticed, or ignored. Ayden wasn't even allowed to talk about him to her parents. To them, their son didn't exist. That was cruel, too cruel for Ayden. She might be a b*tch at times but, she could never do that to family - regardless of who they are.

Ayden's mind wandered far from the book. She thought about her Christmas she had for her brother, sitting in her trunk. Over the summer, and past weeks, Ayden had been saving half of her allowances to give to her brother. He shouldn't leave Hogwarts with just the clothes on his back. She was worried about where he would go, and what would happen to him. She did love him, after all, he was her brother. Nothing would change that detail.

Quite suddenly, Ayden was yanked out of her thoughts. Something - no - someone, had walked right into her. She could see their shadow towering over her. Her eyes widened, and she dropped her book next to her. Ay frowned, and was about to tell off the one who interrupted her but, he spoke first. She looked up at him, and saw the very brother she was just thinking about. A bright smile lit up her face when she saw him. "Me? Oh, I'm not reading, really. I mean I was but, then I started thinking about...things," she replied rather rapidly. "My friends? Oh, they are probably off gossiping about someone," she added with a small eye roll. Ayden looked down on the ground, examining a book there, she noticed. She picked up glanced at the cover and reached up to hand it back to him. "Dickens? Not a bad choice," she said to him.

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[Phoenix Eden Goyle]

Of all the people that he could’ve ran into, he was glad that it was her. He was a little upset that it wasn’t a guy, but at least it wasn’t someone that would give him a hard time about it. Well, he hoped she wouldn’t anyways. Phoenix took his book from her and sat down near her. “One of the best authors,” he commented. “He’s right up there with Mark Twain, Herman Melville and Anna Sewell. It’s a shame the last two didn’t or couldn’t write many books. Most people only know Melville as the author of Moby Dick when in fact, he wrote quite a few books, mostly about sailing.” And he knew for a fact that Anna Sewell didn’t write her book until she was older and her health had been declining. She hadn’t been able to write books. “Jules Verne was a great author, too.”

Phoenix could sit there all day and talk about his favorite authors, but he’d probably just bore Ayden. There had to be another topic they could talk about. He remembered that she mentioned her friends were probably out gossiping and he decided to talk about that. “Gossiping?” he rolled his eyes. “Why do girls always gossip? Don’t you have anything better to do?” Phoenix didn’t really gossip himself, but sometimes he listens to it. It was mostly his way of trying to get dirt on his enemies. He maybe a nice guy, but he will bring down his enemies anyway he could, even if it meant playing dirty.

He began thinking about the army and the very few members that it had. Slytherin Gang had pretty much taken over the school. Even students that were in the Army are changing sides. Phoenix decided that they could be scared that the gang would kill them if they weren’t on that side. It was stupid. He had to come up with ways to get more members. They had to take down the gang and the death eaters. “What side are you on? Are you in the gang?” Phoenix hoped not. When he took down the gang, he didn’t want to have to hurt his sister.

[ayden]

Ayden looked at her brother with a surprised expression. She didn't know that he was into books and their authors. Then again, no one really knew she was too. Ay hadn't exactly told anyone about it. Her parents knew but, only because they were the ones that bought the books for her. A bright smile lit up her face, knowing there was something in common between them. One would think, after sixteen years siblings would have something in common other than share genes but, not these two. Ayden hated that her parents wouldn't let her talk to him. "I like Jane Austen," she said, laying her hand on top of her book. "But, those that you said Melville, Twain, Swelle,..they're good too," Ayden added thoughtfully.

Ayden let out a light laugh. The only other thing better than gossiping was shopping. It seemed anytime anyone opened their mouth there was some sort of new juicy news, like most recently, someone said something about Malfoy breaking things off with Potter. The gossip of late, had been all about who is with who, and blah, blah, blah. Ayden was actually getting tired of hearing, and talking about it. "We do talk about other things," Ay protested. "Things we don't talk about in front of boys because they would scream and run away," she grinned. "Oh, plus we give each other advice and back up when someone needs it. Then, there is shopping - so, yes, we do more than just gossip."

Ay stiffened at the sudden turn of the conversation. She looked away from Phoenix with a bit of a frown on her face. What side was she on? What do sides have to do with anything? That's all anyone ever said, what side are you on? Ayden didn't have a side. Not yet. Her parents, and friends, were pressuring her into the Gang but, Ayden didn't want to conform. In fact, she didn't want to be apart of any group at all. She was a student, at Hogwarts, she had no concern for the outside world. Yet, someone had the bright idea to bring the outside in. Ayden refused to ever talk about it with anyone, because she didn't care yet. There were more important things on her mind like boys and graduation to think much on what was happening outside the gates. Ayden did know what was going on, no thanks to the parents and people talking about it but, she just didn't concern herself with it just yet. Ay knew her place was here, to learn, graduate, and then worry about things like war.

Ay shook her head. "I'm not on any side," she said, looking at him once more. "I'll never join a side. It's just ridiculous in my opinion,," she said. Ayden looked away, almost afraid of seeing his reaction. She had a feeling he might persuade her to whatever side he was one but, she wasn't going to budge. All her friends had tried - and she wasn't about change her mind, not until she absolutely had to. It wasn't a matter of life or death so, those sort of decisions could wait.

[/blockquote]

[Phoenix Eden Goyle]

Jane Austen...he'd never read any of her books, but he knew that she wrote all those girl novels about romance. He wasn't above reading those. He just never got the chance to. Phoenix only had the few novels his parents bought him before they realized that he was not like them. Back then, he hadn't wanted Jane Austen books because he hadn't realized that he was gay and those books were too girly for a straight guy to read, at least from what he heard. Phoenix would read them now, though, he decided. He just had to figure out how to get them. He supposed that he could always ask Ayden to borrow them.

Boys didn't understand girl stuff. He did, but only to a certain point and he doubted if he'd be comfortable enough to hear them talk about it. How different girls were from boys... boys didn't usually give advice, except if they were fathers or rather the ones who acted like fathers. "Advice? You sit around and give advice to each other? That isn't something you'll usually find a boy doing. But we always have each others back." That only happened if they were friends, though. You wouldn't find enemies standing up for each other. "As long as the boys are friends, though. We have this thing about attacking each other."

So she didn't have a side. That was good. If he could take out the gang while she was neutral, he wouldn't have to hurt her. "That's fine. Too many people don't know what they want and they change sides alot. It is too hard to know who's loyal to whom. As long as you realize, you'll be forced to choose a side eventually, especially if the dark lord is still in power. They are the biggest on the sides." And Phoenix was pretty sure that they considered neutral to be a betrayel. He wasn't too sure on that, though. "You'll have to choose wisely. Turning your back on a side isn't a good thing to do in the face of war."

[ayden]

Ayden giggled at Phoenix's response to the girl business. Of course they gave each other advice, that's what friends are for. "You boys just don't get it. Us, girls we're..complicated and when things get more complicated we turn to our friends." Ay shook her head. The only way you would understand was if you were a girl, however, mum and dad didn't bless me with a little sister," she teased him. Ayden hoped that he really picked up on her teasing. She wouldn't want him to get mad, not at her. It was bad enough that their parents treated him like crap, Ayden wasn't about too - even though she had to around her parents. That was something that made her carrying around a bag of guilt all the time.

Ay would much rather go back to talking about books, not stupid sides. She ddin't see a point in picking sides. Ayden was very capable of defending herself if need be. This whole "choosing a side" business was tearing friendships and families apart. Ayden would rather not go through the pains of having to fight someone, like Phoenix, later on down the road. She'd much rather not fight with anyone at all. "I've made my choice - I'm on my own side - not turning my back on anyone," she said with a defiant nod. "I'm not going to be forced into doing anything...unless that's what you are here for," Ayden said, almost glaring at him. She really hoped that he was going to try to persuade her to his side. This was the exact sort of thing she didn't like about the "choosing a side" business.

Ayden sighed. There had to be something else they could talk about. Something other than the impending war that was coming. Ay took a few minutes to listen to the birds sing their songs. She tired to come up with some sort of subject but, to no avail. Ay suddenly remembered the second thing their parents hated about Phoenix. She smiled slightly, a question coming to mind. "Any new boyfriends recently?" she asked. Sure, Ay would probably have known if he had - she knew all the juicy news about just everyone. Gossip was something her social life, and current status in the Slytherin house, that sort of demanded her attention.

[/blockquote]

[Phoenix Eden Goyle]

And that was why they say girls are from a different planet, he thought. It’s because they know how to talk about their feelings while boys have to keep everything bottled up inside. It was just because their friends wouldn’t listen to that. They would just try to change the subject. “Well, girls listen when their friends need to talk. Boys ignore it or change the subject to keep it from getting uncomfortable.” Phoenix laughed at what she said. “You could ask them to have another kid. They might give you the sister you always wanted. Just hope she’s evil, otherwise they’ll treat her like me.”

No, he wouldn’t force her. He wouldn’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to. Nobody in the army was forced to join by him. They were there because they wanted to be. If Ayden joined, it’ll be because she wanted to, not because of him. “I’m not going to force you to do anything. I never force anyone to do something. People who do that belong in the gang. And by what you said, I think you’d do well in another group. One that, technically, doesn’t exist. The Army doesn’t mess with them. We just hate the gang. If you want more info, talk to Jedrek Weasley. But don’t tell anyone. Like I said, they don’t exist.”

He wished there were new guys. Hogwarts wasn’t a good place to find a gay guy. They all seemed to be straight. He tended to flirt with a few, but nothing ever came of it. Phoenix wondered if they were threatened by him or something else. “No, no one new. They are either threatened by me or mum and dad. What about you? Do you have any new boyfriends?”

[ayden]

Ayden let out a silent sigh of relief as her brother seemed to accept her joke. She shook her head. "I'm not bad, and they seem to like me," she said dully with a shrug. Ayden hated her parents, more that Phoenix knew. The fact that she was treated as a queen and his was treated as scum bothered her. It wouldn't be so bad, had he not joined Dumbledore's Army. Their parents didn't really like that much, and kept pressing her to join the Gang. Ayden just refused to join anything.

Ayden shrug. Maybe she would seek out the Weasley kid. Then again, if the DA didn't mess with them, who is to say that Gang didn't? Ay didn't want to destroy her social status anyway. She felt like the other stuff didn't matter, this was their time to learn and grow - not fight. "Well, do you know what this "non-existant" group does?" she asked curiously. It would probably be hard to learn about something that doesn't seem to exist.

Ayden chuckled and shook her head. "No. They are all afraid of dad," she said. Ayden wished they weren't. She longed for a relationship, something that meant something.

ooc; sorry it's super lame. =[

[/blockquote]

[Phoenix Eden Goyle]

That was true. Maybe it didn’t have to do with being evil. It probably had more to do with houses than anything. “Well, then let me rephrase that. As long as your sister is in Slytherin, they’ll love her.” Phoenix thought about how he was no longer living at home and didn’t have to put up with their parents anymore. “They’ll probably like me more if I weren’t in Hufflepuff.”

“The non existent group works on trying to stop wars and senseless killing,” Phoenix explained, wondering if Jed would like him telling people about it. He does want more members, so it probably wouldn’t matter. “They tell people that they are neutral. Just act the same. This alliance is banned, remember that.”

That was good to hear. There weren’t too many men that deserved his sister. He didn’t want her to get mixed up with Slytherins or anyone in the gang. She was better than they are. “Glad to hear it,” Phoenix said, laughing. “I don’t want you getting mixed up with the wrong boys. Try for someone in the army or neutral.”

It was time to tell her that her new home would be with Potters. He was still a little nervous about leaving her at home with them, but he knew that she’d be able to take care of herself. She didn’t need him around to take care of her. Phoenix would write to her everyday and make sure that she knew he would be okay. “Ayden, there’s something you need to know. I won’t be living at home anymore. I ran into Harry Potter and he asked me to move in with him and I agreed. I’ll write to you everyday, but make sure Mom and dad don’t see them because they’ll probably intercept them.”

Phoenix watched her face, hoping that she didn’t mind that he was leaving. He knew that if she asked him to, he’d stay. He just wanted to make her happy. But he hoped that she didn’t tell him to stay. He would be happier with the Potters. He knew that he would. He hoped that she saw that. “I think I’d be happier there. I’ll be with my friends.”