The Hippogriff Pen

"Oh, I'm glad to hear you two are still together." Remus smiles, sincerely happy for his friend. He still hadn't really met Scorpius yet, but he seemed like a really great guy. "What are you going to do after graduation?" Remus still had a year himself, but that didn't keep him from thinking about what he was going to do after graduating - even though his choices were rather limited thanks to his condition.

"Yeah, me too," he replied, smiling, almost sadly, to himself. He would be lying if he said there weren't times when he thought that things with Scorpius weren't going to last, but so far they had managed to work through all their issues together. "Um, good question," he said, fiddling with his hands as he tried to think up of a proper answer. "I...don't really know yet. I just want to go into music."

Remus gets a tiny bit confused at Al's almost sad smile. Maybe there had been some problems for Al and Scorpius lately? But they were still together so they must have gotten through any problems then. Remus wasn't going to be nosy and ask. He wasn't the best when it came to relationship advice anyway so he probably wouldn't be any help at all. "Music? That'd be fun." Remus is terrible at music. Well..he's not so bad at piano actually, though he hasn't played it in ages. He was terrible at the violin though, and there was no way he could sing. "What would you do? Write songs and such? Do you sing?" he asked curiously.

Al paused before answering, thinking back to his dorm with the guitar case full of burnt sheet music. "No. No, I don't write songs," he answered quietly with a tired smile. "But I do play a few instruments and I love singing. I'd love to open up a school to teach kids how to play music, but I'm thinking the furthest I'll get is playing in pubs for fifty bucks a night."

Remus tilts his head, even more confused now. He kind of thinks that Al does write music...there just must be something wrong or something... Huh. "Hm...don't give up. I bet you'd be a great teacher and I'm sure there'd be lots of kids who would just love to learn how to play music from someone as awesome as you. I mean," he shrugged, feeling somewhat awkward, "I've never heard you play but I bet you're really really good. I definitely can't sing but I can play a little piano if I try. Haven't touched one in ages though. The only other instrument I've tried to play is violin when I was younger...if I recall correctly the neighbors came over to make sure we weren't killing a cat or something." he blinks.

Al smiled at Remus' reassurances. "I'd like to hope so. I know it'll take a lot of money, but I think I'll make it eventually," he lied, not really having that much confidence in his future. "I'm alright," he shrugged, smiling at Remus' assumptions of how good he was. He chuckled at the violin comment. He knew how to play violin, though it wasn't something he did often. "I could always teach you piano if you'd like. It's not too hard to relearn an instrument."

"I have faith in you." Remus smiles brightly. He did have faith in Al, but not only that...he liked trying to give others confidence in their dreams and goals because he knew he'd always have trouble achieving his own. "Oh..." he blinked at Al's offer, "you would really teach me?" It might be fun trying to relearn piano. And if he told his parents then they'd be happy because he'd be expressing interest in something besides spending all his time in the library or his room reading. "I'd appreciate that."

"Of course! I love teaching other people how to play music. I started teaching this one Ravenclaw girl the basics of guitar," he recalled. "It'd give me some really good practice for if I ever have my own place to teach people music."

"Well if it'll help give you practice then you're going to have to teach me." Remus laughs, grinning. "Cause I'd be glad to help you work to achieve your goal, plus I'd get to relearn the piano which will be fun. And my parents will be glad I'm actually trying to do something besides just sitting about in the library all the time just reading." he rolls his eyes. He'd been doing that even more a lot lately...well, not just because he liked doing that, but lately it was because he liked seeing if he'd spot Hermione there too. "Hey...Al? Can I ask you something?" he asked quietly.

"My parents would probably love if I tried opening a book once or twice this year," he chuckled, before turning more serious and tilting his head to the side. "Yeah, Remus. Sure, you can ask me anything. You know that," he told him, smiling softly as he adjusted himself so he was sitting criss cross apple sauce on the rock.

Remus chuckles. "Books are fun." He thinks everyone should read a book at least every once in a while...or more. Definitely. He almost told Al forget it when he told him he could ask him anything, but he didn't know who else he could talk to who might have gone through the same situation, not that he thought Al had but then again you never knew. "Did you ever think that...you might like girls too? Not just guys. Or...maybe not just girls but only one girl in general?" he fidgeted uncomfortably, staring down at the ground.

Al's eyes widened, shocked to be hearing this from someone who he had once had a similar conversation with...though back in the beginning of the year they were talking about whether or not they might be gay. "Erm...Well, I've only ever been interested in Scorpius, really, but...there was this one time. I got sort of wasted and made out with this Gryffindor girl. There was a short time where I thought I was bi because of it. But I ended up experimenting a bit more with this other girl and I realized I'm 100% gay. Um, why do you ask? If you don't mind me asking..."

Remus did find it rather ironic he was having this conversation with Al, when the first time they had this sort of conversation it was about whether or not they might be gay. "Oh..." he paused for a moment, trying to figure out what he should say, "well, it's just...I've kissed a girl before and it really had no effect on me. I've never really been interested in girls either, but...recently I've met this girl and somehow I've found myself, you know, looking at her almost the same way I did when I was with...Jack, and it's sort of confusing me." It was making his head hurt. "I just..don't know what to think. All I know is that I really like spending time with her and she's pretty and I really like it when she tosses her hair over her shoulders." he was sort of going quaffley. "We have a lot in common too and she loves books so we always have something to talk about, which is good cause I've always had trouble talking to girls." Besides Lily and Molly anyway. Then poor Remus just sat there looking confused.

"Oh." Al couldn't help but be surprised. He definitely hadn't expected that from Remus, and he knew that it wasn't something that was easy to go through. "Well, have you...tried talking to this girl about this? Maybe ask her out on a date? I mean, maybe that girl you kissed just wasn't the right girl or the timing wasn't right."

Remus' eyes widened and he actually flailed his hands wildly, panic in his voice. "Oh no! No no no. I couldn't do that. And no dates...oh goodness, the last date I went on with a girl was so awkward we couldn't even finish it." he covered his face with his hands, shaking his head vigorously. "No...I can't talk to her about it. It would be super awkward and I think she thinks I'm kind of weird as it is and no no no I can't talk to her about it."

Al just smiled and nudged Remus in the arm. "Well, that's because it wasn't the right girl. How're you ever gonna know if this girl is the one if you don't ask her out, hm? And I bet she doesn't really think that. Why would she still talk to you if she thought you were weird?"

"Sirius and James still talk to me and they call me weird on plenty of occasions." Remus blinks. "And honestly I'm just confused cause I didn't think I even liked girls..." he groaned, rather confused about the whole thing. Plus she must think him even weirder after he had left her after that boggart incident. Which had him even more worried because she was smart...what if she figured his secret out? Then she might not want to be friends with him anymore and that thought actually rather upset him. "I don't know...I think I'm going to have to give this more thought."

"Well yeah, but I'm sure they still like you. But it's not like there's a rush to figure things out. You've still got plenty of time. Just go with he flow and do what feels right," he said as if it was obvious. "That's what I do. All day, every day," he said with a grin.

"Yeah...that makes sense." Remus smiles lightly. He's not so sure about the whole going with the flow and doing what feels right...he spends too much time trying to protect himself from things he can't control. And things might not always feel right but he's never very good at saying no to people so he's always going to have trouble with that. "Thanks for listening, Al."

"Anytime, Remus. You know you can always talk to me," he reminded him with a small smile. "I really hope everything works out for you, no matter what ends up happening with you and this girl."

Remus liked having someone he could talk to. Sadly he didn't feel like he could talk to Sirius about everything as much anymore, so it was nice knowing he could trust Al and talk to him. It was nice and something Remus didn't find often, so when he did he didn't take it for granted. "Thanks, Al." he smiled a bright genuine smile. "I appreciate it, and I'll let you know how things work out." He turned his attention to the hippogriffs that were still just meandering about. "Aren't hippogriffs beautiful?"

Al smiled, then turned his attention over to the hippogriffs. "Yeah, I guess they sort of are." He tilted his head to the side as he tried to admire them. He knew his dad had a soft spot for the creatures because of all the stories he told about Buckbeak. "They're definitely...different, that's for sure. I've never touched one though. I doubt they'd like me."

"Seriously?" Remus' eyes widen in surprise. He hops off the rock, stretching, and turns to Al. "Come on, you should totally make yourself acquainted with one. The last time I was here was with Viktor and I introduced him to a hippogriff. Sadly, we don't have anything to feed them with this time...but it'll be okay. I've been watching them and they seemed to have been eating plenty before you got here. They'll like you." He smiled reassuringly, reaching his hand out to help Al off the rock.

Al blinked and looked at Remus' hand, then back up to his face. "No, thank you," he answered hesitantly. "I'd rather not lose my limbs. They mean a lot to me and those things...are not friendly. I've heard the stories."

"They're not that bad if you don't insult them and don't let them see how scared you are of them." Remus blinks, smiling slightly. "Come on. You're not going to lose any limbs. I'll be right beside you."