Secret Ninja Friends (Aoife)

Jack had, yet again, spent an entire school term alone - well, not completely alone really. He had his parents and grandmother. But they didn't exactly count, since they weren't much fun to hang out with. So, though Jack wouldn't admit it, he was particularly excited to be going to London to pick his siblings up from their weird magic school. Summer was going to be great! Hunter and the twins would be back until September, which meant that Jack could sit back and let them do the chores that they'd missed out on and also have some decent company. Sure, he had friends in the village, but it was common knowledge that the VanDerberg siblings were the most awesome brother and sister team ever!

Almost the moment they stepped onto the platform, Jack lost his parents in the crowd. That was mostly because he'd gone the opposite way from them on purpose. They would just stand by the tracks, eagerly anticipating the return of their children. Jack didn't feel the need to catch them the moment they emerged, though. After all, he couldn't let them see how eager he was to have them back. So he retreated to a bench that was somewhat close to the tracks and waited for the train to pull in. It didn't take very long, and soon the scarlet engine appeared in the distance.

When it came to a halt, students immediately started spilling from the compartments and Jack stood up on his bench so that he could have a bird's eye view. He didn't see any of his siblings - yet. But after a minute he did catch a glimpse of fiery red hair fumbling through the crowd. Jack grinned as the red-head passed him, apparently not noticing him, and hopped down from his vantage point. "Aoife!" Jack exclaimed happily, catching the girl's arm and spinning her around.

Jack was excited to see her again - she'd grown on him a bit over the past summer, and she fit in like one of the family. But when he caught sight of her face, he raised an eyebrow in  surprise before laughing happily. "Well, someone grew up a little since the last time I saw you," he commented. Hunter sure wouldn't be the one laughing now when Jack teased him about Aoife being his girlfriend. "How've you been?" he asked her. "And where's your other half, anyway? I thought he'd be with you."

Yeah, I hope it's okay that I started this. I was in the mood to post with Jack!

Finally, this year was over. It had started out great, other than the problem of eating with lipstick (which she’d mastered now) but now look at what had happened. Aoife had lost her best friend by throwing a chair at him and almost completely wasted the rest of the year by moping around and hating herself and Hunter and Seren. Bit of a disappointment, really. At least now she could go home and try to forget about everything without telling her family about what had happened and trying to hide her depressing frustrating moods from them. Maybe even talk to her sister, who hadn’t replied to her three owls. Stupid girl.

On the way back she sat with Phin in a compartment towards the front of the train. She sat quietly for most of it, not talking much except when Phin started conversation, sleeping for a while and occasionally having a sip of butterbeer. She really wasn’t in the mood for a cosy chat. She wasn’t sure why, since she finally got to go home. Maybe it was because she was reflecting on the worst term she’d ever had or because she was sad about Aylee leaving for good. Maybe she was even slightly sad because she wouldn’t see Bill’s ugly face in the corridors anymore. But probably not.

The train pulled into the station and with a quick goodbye to her little firstie friend, Aoife had ran out of the compartment and was pushing her way through to get off the train, her sharp elbows giving her an advantage in getting past these gits. Upon getting out onto the platform, only to meet another huge crowd, she wandered around aimlessly, looking for her family. It seemed that they hadn’t turned up yet. Trust the O’Donnells to be late to anything. That was where she got her late-for-DADA thing from.

She jumped when someone grabbed her hand, wondering if it was her brother who was rescuing her from this madness on the platform. But it wasn’t. It was someone taller than all her siblings. Oh, it was Hunter’s brother. “Jack!” she said, trying to make her words sound as enthusiastic as possible. After all, Jack hadn’t done anything wrong. Other than having the wrong evil git of a brother.. She needed to forget about that for more than a couple of minutes, because it was getting annoying to herself. Instead, Aoife smiled genuinely. “Yeah, I got that growth spurt!” Her parents always said it would happen and she hadn’t believed them, but now she was only slightly below average height instead of tiny!

Then he asked how she was and she was a bit confused. But then, who was to say Hunter had shared what had happened with his brother? Still, she’d thought they were really close. “Uh… I’m great.” That didn’t sound very convincing. And an other half comment which made her wince. “He’s your brother, you should ask him why he isn’t here.” And why they hadn’t talked for ages. And why they probably hated each other. No, she was meant to be over this now.

"Well it suits you," Jack told her when she said she'd gotten her growth spurt. He was a little thrown off by Aoife's appearance, but in all honesty it wasn't all that unexpected. All girls grew up at some point, and Aoife was around that age. What was she, fourteen now? He grinned as he thought of Hunter, who would be fifteen in a few months. The redhead who he'd always insisted was not his girlfriend had to be on his mind. Because those two were destined to be together. Jack knew these things. Or at least he knew his brother.

Jack frowned when Aoife said she was great. She definitely didn't sound great. "Right. And I'm actually a wizard," he said sarcastically. It was frustrating when people pretended to be fine when they obviously weren't. Actually, now that he took a better look, she did seem down. Or maybe just less enthusiastic than usual? Jack couldn't put his finger on it really, but more than her appearance had changed. She definitely wasn't the same bouncy, hyper redhead that Jack had met over the summer.

And her next words explained why. At least slightly. Ah, so something had happened between his brother and Aoife, judging by her tone. "Is it just me, or do I sense some hostility?" Jack said, an amused grin forming back onto his face. It couldn't be that bad if she was just having a fight with Hunter. "Alright, come on, tell me. What did my idiot brother do now?"

Now that Jack thought of it, Hunter had been pretty short in his letters lately. And he hadn't mentioned Aoife, or any of his friends really,  in a while. A few months actually. Jack hadn't thought much of it, but maybe there was a reason after all.

Yeah, she could always rely on Jack to be nice enough. “Thanks.” He was right there, she was totally destined to be a really tall person. Her sister decided to crush her dreams by telling her that she’d never be six foot, but she was determined and that had to account to something. People always told her she could be anything she wanted to when she was little. Her two dreams were sheep and giant. Aoife had achieved sheep status long ago, so why not reach a nice tall height? There must be a spell for it, if she didn’t grow naturally.

Oh, so her great answer hadn’t been quite as convincing as she’d thought. ”Maybe you are a wizard,” she said matter-of-factly, to avoid the subject of herself. “You can be anything you want to be, people always say! They could have just sent your Hogwarts letter to the wrong person by accident. You never know. Magic is messed up.” Everyone made mistakes, even if they were wizards. Hunter had made a mistake, asking her out, she’d made a mistake throwing a chair, the twins had made a mistake with their stupid shipping and invitations, Seren had made a mistake being such an evil person.

“So Hunter didn’t tell you he ASKED me OUT? To HOGSMEADE?” Obviously in the wizarding world Hogsmeade could be a great place to hang out with friends, or it could be a hideously romantic place for couples. Oh, she knew that now. “I threw a chair at him. But it didn’t even hurt him.” Aoife couldn’t miss out the chair part, because it was sort of the act that shaped the entire outcome of all this. She had managed to convince herself it was all Hunter’s fault, since he started it, but after a lot of thought, she’d started wondering what would have happened if she’d just said no. Or even yes. That clearly didn’t occur to her at the time.

Maybe, like Victoria had said, they could still be friends. But that was only if he hadn’t taken it a step further, just for his own petty revenge. Now there was no chance, because she half-hated him and they weren’t anything at the moment, friends or enemies or whatever. “Then he asked SEREN out,” she added in a very dramatic tone. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about her, but Seren is the most evil, mean girl in the entire school. And she hates me.” Seren was smart so she must know she was being used. Maybe she was okay with that. Or maybe Hunter had liked her all along.

"Maybe, but I doubt it," Jack laughed when Aoife said he could be a wizard. "It would hardly be fair for me to be a wizard, since I'm already cooler than all of my wizard siblings without the help of magic." Though it was kind of cool when Hunter brought home that awesome drink, or interesting prank items that shouldn't actually be able to exist. But just because his brother brought back cool things didn't make him cool. "Though it would be pretty cool to actually see your school. Everyone talks about it all the time."

Jack could tell that an explanation was coming, and he was all ears. But when Aoife finally divulged what Hunter had done, Jack couldn't hide his confusion very well. "Hunter asked you out?" he repeated. "No, he didn't tell me. But... shouldn't that mean he's more likely to be with you then?" Jack scanned the area again, wondering who Hunter could be with instead. But then, Aoife's next sentence made everything make complete sense. She'd turned him down! By throwing a chair at him. Was she kidding? Jack just stared at her incredulously for a good moment or two, weighing the seriousness of her statement. But then, he couldn't help himself any longer, and he burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"He asked you out and you - and you threw a - a chair at him?!" Jack managed to choke out, literally doubling over. "Did it hit him?" Jack asked eagerly. "Oh man, he's never gonna live this one down," he added, a grin spreading across his face. "I can just imagine his face. Oh, that had to knock his ego down a couple of notches - God knows he needs it."

Oh, there was more to the story. And Aoife told the next part in a rather dramatic tone. "You know, for someone who hates being a teenager, you sure sound a lot like one," Jack informed her. "And that's the oldest trick in the book," he added. "He was just trying to make you jealous. He's a git, don't let him get to you." But still, Jack couldn't help but asking, "Did it work?" It wasn't really his business, but it didn't hurt to ask.

He frowned slightly though, when he realized that Aoife seemed legitimately disheartened by whatever had happened between her and Hunter. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this," he said. "But I can't blame him for asking you. It was bound to happen sooner or later. And I promise you that he won't be the only one, so you might want to get used to it." It was only fair that Jack warn her, after all. She was a girl. One who had become surprisingly tall and pretty, and who Jack knew to be plenty of fun to be around. She couldn't keep guys away from her forever. "But I mean, you can always just keep throwing furniture at them. It's worked out so far, right?"

Aoife nodded. “That’s true.” Magic automatically brought you right up the cool scale and Jack was already pretty close to the top. Meanwhile, his siblings were right at the bottom, with or without magic, those suckers. “It’s a pretty castle. Maybe I can take a picture!” she suggested. But maybe not, since muggles couldn’t see Hogwarts. That probably still applied in photography. It was worth a try though. But why would she do that? One of the twins or Hunter could take a camera. It was their brother. Sometimes she had trouble seeing the resemblance though.

Okay, now she saw the resemblance. It seemed as though Jack had let her down by being almost as stupid as Hunter. “No, because why would I say YES?” That would be completely ridiculous. Saying yes would destroy everything she stood for and land her the stupid commitment of being… in a RELATIONSHIP with HUNTER, of all people! There was no good side to that potential situation!

Why was he laughing as though she’d said something really funny? “He deserved it!” Aoife protested. “Yeah, it hit him. On his shoulder, I think. But not hard. So he didn’t get any permanent injuries.” Or any injuries at all. Like he deserved. Really, in her fury she’d think that she would have thrown the thing with a bit more power and with a bit better aim. His shoulder was a crappy place for the chair to hit. The chair wasn’t the best one for throwing, anyway, because it didn’t have sharp edges and wasn’t really heavy.

“I wouldn’t sound like a teenager if your brother hadn’t TURNED ME INTO ONE.” Just by asking her out, he’d created a lot of drama which was resulting in her sounding like a teenager. “Yeah, maybe, but it seems like he actually likes Seren now. Just what I can tell from the hand-holding and sickly in love faces and spending all their time together.” She just happened to notice, it wasn’t like she actually could bear to look in their direction deliberately. “No, it didn’t work,” Aoife said confidently. She was certain it hadn’t worked. “It just helped me understand that he’s a git and he’s too stupid to deserve my attention.” Maybe.

So now he was on Hunter’s side?! What was wrong with the world? “I think you’re under the influence of a crazy person potion too.” Still, she could probably make this crazy person come around and see her point here. “He will be the last. I have three friends. None of them will ask me out,” she said bitterly. That was true friendship, not trying to make things romantic. “Well, two friends since Aylee is leaving now.” It was depressing. Two friends, one of whom was a first-year and the other who was trying to convince her she was in love with Hunter.

A picture. That was a smart idea. Why hadn't any of Jack's idiotic siblings thought of doing that by now? "Will a camera work there?" he wondered out loud. "I thought electronic things didn't run right in Hogwarts." Hence the whole no television thing. Typically his siblings were glued to the electronics in the household when they returned from school because of that weird restraint.

Jack raised an eyebrow at Aoife and tried to keep from laughing. She seemed completely appalled by the idea. Why would she say yes? Only because it was completely obvious that those two would end up together at some point. So what difference did it make, really, if it happened now or later? Apparently, Aoife didn't think that way though, so Jack just shrugged. "No reason, I guess."

Jack had the hardest time reigning in his laughter, even after Aoife's defiant response. If anything, her defensive protest only made Jack laugh harder. After a few minutes, he managed to catch his breath slightly. "Okay, okay. Sorry," he said. Only he really wasn't sorry. "But seriously, I would give anything to have seen that." For now, picturing it would just have to do. "Where did this happen? Please tell me somebody else saw it!" Oh, if it was in public that would be even better!

"Hunter turned you into a teenager?" Jack repeated, wondering if Aoife realized that she had just admitted to acting like a teenager to begin with. It sure sounded to him like the girl was just in denial. A lot of denial. She may not even realize it yet, but it was there. Oh, but she was also saying that Hunter seemed to have actually shifted his attention to this Seren person, whoever she was. "That doesn't sound like Hunter," Jack said at Aoife's description, crinkling his nose. "But shouldn't that be a good thing? It means he doesn't want to go out with you anymore at least. So couldn't you just be friends again?" Of course, Jack knew that it meant no such thing, but he wasn't going to tell Aoife that.

Jack rolled his eyes when Aoife denied that anyone else would ever ask her out. "Look, you don't have to like it," he told her. "But don't be so naive that you refuse to see the truth. There's no point in lying to yourself." And if Aoife really thought that every guy she ever met would want a strictly platonic relationship, she was lying to herself badly. "And I'm sure you have more than two friends - wait, you know Aylee?"

No electronics? “Don’t know,” she shrugged. But that would make sense. Because there was no TV or PlayStation or anything in the castle. How had she not realised that? “But you can get wizard cameras.” And Aoife was getting one later in the holidays, her parents had promised. “I’ll take a picture for you.” Because Jack was awesome, so he deserved it and everything.

Jack’s laughter was infectious. But because she was in such a moody bad mood, it didn’t make her laugh, only glare at him for the long duration of his laughing. “It wasn’t that great. Or funny.” Maybe it sounded slightly funny if you told it the right way, but it really hadn’t been like that at the time. “Your brother is a git,” she started. “So he asked me after class, in front of loads of people from loads of years.” That only made everything worse, because he’d had to make everything so hideously public. She wouldn’t have said yes no matter what, but she hated him more for choosing that time.

Yes. Not fully, she wasn’t a complete teenager yet, but she was on the way, thanks to him. Like Jack had said, she was actually sounding like a stupid teenager. And only stupid teenagers got into messes like this, whether it was their fault or not. “Well it is Hunter. NewHunter,” Aoife nodded. NewHunter was terrible. He was ruined. She didn’t want to be best friends with this git. Technically, they weren’t even best friends when it happened, because there was no contract. “It doesn’t mean that at all. It means he’s changed and he doesn’t like me at all anymore and he hates me so much he’d ask my least favourite person in the world out.” The meaning was clear.

“Fine. Then I won’t say yes to anyone. I’ll just be alone for the rest of my life and be PERFECTLY HAPPY with a whole farm full of SHEEP.” Nobody needed human friends when they had sheep instead. “Well, four if you count you and Ariel,” she added. And Blake, she didn’t know what was going on with him. But they definitely weren’t friends. “Yeah, she’s one of my favourite old people!” Aoife was going to miss her so much. “Why, do you know her?”

"Whatever you say," Jack said, brushing off her statement about how it wasn't funny. Because she was wrong - it was absolutely hilarious. Whether she and Hunter thought so or not. Then she was calling Hunter a git. "Yeah, tell me something that I don't already know," he chimed in, shrugging. He listened to her say that Hunter had asked her out in front of everyone. "So then you, in turn, threw a chair at him. In front of everyone." Jack didn't add that Aoife's reaction probably drew a lot more attention that Hunter's question.

"New Hunter," Jack repeated doubtfully. He couldn't imagine his brother being much different than before - he'd always been a git, so he didn't know what New Hunter was supposed to mean. He stared at Aoife when she expressed her logic about what Hunter had done. "That's really what you think?" he asked incredulously. "Hunter doesn't hate you. He's just a desperate git who's too stubborn to admit he's wrong. I know my brother - he couldn't hate you." Then he added one more thought. "Maybe it wasn't about you at all," Jack suggested with a shrug. "Maybe, like you said, he just likes her."

Alone with sheep. Jack snorted in amusement. "Well, to each their own I guess," he said, a grin returning to his face. In his mind, though, he was already making bets on how long it would be before Aoife accepted the fact that she was female. "Well, I'm honored to be counted among your friends whenever I could be considered guilty by association." Apparently, Aylee was actually friends with Aoife. "I've bumped into her once or twice while everyone was shopping for school. Or coming to get on the train," he said with a shrug, absentmindedly glancing around to see if he could spot the girl.

This conversation was getting boring to Jack - talking about his brother and everything. "Since I'm sure that I'll have to hear about this dramatic fiasco the entire way home from my overly annoying siblings, let's change the subject shall we?" he suggested. He didn't want to make Aoife talk about it if she didn't want to. "So aside from my git of a brother, how have you been?"

Yes, she’d thrown a chair at him in return, but people were probably staring at them enough already. It was sort of expected behaviour from her by most students, she imagined. Monsieur Leblanc was of course very annoyed with her because she threw the poor innocent chair, but probably not surprised. With his magic Arithmancy skills, he might know she was violent if he hadn’t realised. The people who’d heard about it second hand never really seemed that surprised. “Not everyone,” Aoife backtracked. “Just Charms class.” Most of them wouldn’t care, boring old people like Tor and Mor and Zor.

Okay. Hate was a strong word. “Strongly dislike, then.” It was impossible that he still felt the slightest hint of compassion for her, though. “There’s a difference between not wanting to admit you’re wrong and deliberately asking out a girl’s worst enemy to make her jealous,” she insisted. If what Jack was saying was true, Hunter would just be avoiding her or something. Until he was brave enough to apologise. But that wasn’t his current course of action, definitely not.

“I’m serious!” Aoife O’Donnell was always serious about sheep. Sheep were her life. And her only true friends that she would love forever. “It is an honor,” she agreed. “So you’re friends? And you say “bumping into her”… does that actually mean you’re looking for her specially?” If Jack got to be Aylee’s friend even after she left school, the redhead was going to share that old woman with him. Maybe they could write to one another or whatever.  She might need Aylee’s advice at some point.

That was true. The twins were a bit obsessed right now. “Prepare yourself for arguments about who to ship Hunter with.” If she wasn’t way too cool, she would be literally facepalming at them. How had she been? She’d been a it preoccupied and hadn’t really had much of a life recently. “I’m good,” she said. She was good other than the Hunter thing, so that wasn’t a lie. “Lyra made me dress up as a mermaid for their party.” Ariel. “I have tried most of the ice-cream flavors at work.” That was many, many flavors.

Just charms class. Since Jack didn't have strange magic powers and didn't go to Hogwarts, he had no idea who charms class consisted of. But if it was a whole classroom, that was still probably a decent amount of people. It didn't matter. He just looked at Aoife when she said there was a difference between not wanting to admit you're wrong and what Hunter did. "That's true," he agreed slowly. "But there's also a difference between deliberately asking out a girl's worst enemy to ruin her life and deliberately asking out a girl's worst enemy in a desperate attempt to get her to notice you," he added with a shrug.

"I don't doubt that," Jack said with an amused laugh when the redhead said she was serious. That girl was definitely serious about her sheep. Was he friends with Aylee? "No, I wouldn't say that," he replied, shaking his head. "I've only met her a few times. And I actually did bump into her," he told Aoife, turning his eyes back to the younger girl when he didn't spot Aylee anywhere. "And knocked her books all over the place."

Wait, what was Aoife going on about? "Who to ship him with?" Jack repeated incredulously, furrowing his brow in confusion. "Er, what is that supposed to even mean exactly?" Honestly, why did girls have to make up words for things? Why couldn't they just talk like normal people so that everyone could understand them? "Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll get tired of it before we get home."

Jack raised an eyebrow at Aoife as she described the very exciting life that she'd been living since he'd last seen her. "Sounds thrilling," he said sarcastically. "If you ask me, you should probably get out more." Jack was actually pretty surprised that Aoife was leading such a boring lifestyle since she'd stopped being friends with his brother. Hunter wasn't that exciting. But then again, if Jack remembered right, Hunter had a lot of friends. Did Aoife? He wasn't so sure.

Yep, he was definitely turning into Lyra. Stupid Haoife shipper who thought he knew exactly what he was talking about when really he didn’t know anything about her life or what was going on and had no right to try and convince her that she should make up with Hunter. “If he wanted me to notice him,” Aoife said very slowly to make sure he was understanding, “he would have got me a present. You know, food. Or something to do with sheep. You should suggest that to him, if he ever feels like not being a git anymore.” If he did stop being a git and he got her a present, she might consider forgiving him.

“Oh, good. Didn’t want you two getting involved in disgusting icky kissy things.” And a solemn look to prove her point. “You knocked her BOOKS all over the place?” she asked, very shocked. “Did any of them get ruined? Does she hate you now? Aylee is OBSESSED with books!” Strange child old woman. But she did read some good books, like all of John Green’s. Cool bloke, John. She should stop mildly “fangirling” and actually listen to Jack again. Ah, the twins hadn’t discussed shipping with Jack yet. “It’s… like pairing two people romantically. But yeah, you’ll hear about it from them probably,” Aoife nodded.

Maybe it didn’t sound that exciting when she put it that way, but in reality had she really done more exciting things with Hunter? Only finger painting. Cool parties. Snowball fight. That stuff was rubbish anyway. “Actually, my life is very interesting,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “Probably much more interesting than yours.” Even though Jack actually got to be around sheep all the time since he lived at home on their farm. Still, he was boring. Very boring. “I actually do a lot of exciting stuff. I’ve just been very BUSY recently.”

Jack couldn't help the laugh that escaped at Aoife's words. "A present, huh?" he repeated. Jack liked Aoife - possibly even more than his brother. Well, he wasn't allowed to like her more than his brother, but she was definitely cooler than his brother. But despite how much he liked her, he couldn't completely follow her logic. Hunter had asked her out. She'd thrown a chair at him in response. And she thought that he'd respond by getting her a present? Well, no use fighting with her. "I'll be sure to pass that along to my brother," he told her with a shrug. What else could he say?

Jack raised an eyebrow at Aoife when she started talking about him and Aylee. His hand rose to rub the back of his neck a little awkwardly, but he grinned in a good-natured kind of way. "I really hope you realize that the day you get involved in 'icky disgusting kissy things', I'm never going to let you live it down," he told her, trying to get the conversation away from himself. "I don't think any of them got ruined. And no, she doesn't hate me," he told her. He just stared at Aoife as she explained shipping. "Sounds stupid."

"Well considering that all I do is do chores, alone, on the farm all day, you're probably right. I'm sure your life is much more interesting than mine," Jack admitted. He was about to go on about how boring his life was, but at that moment he caught sight of another familiar face - his brother. "Woah. He cut his hair!" Jack commented in slight amazement. "I guess I should go," he said to Aoife, knowing that she wouldn't be following him over to his family. "It was good to see you," he told her, giving the redhead a quick one-armed hug. "I mean it, don't let my brother get to you. If he does, let me know and I'll deck him one," Jack joked. Then, he gave her one more grin and turned to take off in the direction of Hunter.