portal -dev-

[ALASTAIR REDWOOD]

Alastair Redwood was generally a rather genial person, he usually seemed quite content, but today was not one of those moments

There was a sour expression on his face, as though he had just smelled something rotten. In fact he highly suspected that the thick, congealed brown goo at the bottom of this cauldron he was currently bent over, had already started the putrification stage. His body language was tense and jerky, a sure sign that he was in a very bad mood.

He paused momentarily in his scrubbing, gaze traveling over to where he twin worked opposit him, doing the same task. Beyond Devon was a table with almost a dozen more cauldrons that needed to be cleaned and he grit his teeth, eyes narrowing.

He wouldn't be getting much studying done tonight, seeing their potions professor had chosen a very inconvenient time for their detention, the night before Alastair's first Arithmancy test.

His eyes narrowed as he went back to scrubbing, cursing his brother and his idiotic mouth. The year had barely started and he had already gotten a detention! Alastair was not the sort of person who got detentions, and he burned with shame over it, especially knowing that it had been over something as stupid as this.

It had all started with an in class potions assignment, when they did have classes together, they generally avoided one another like the plague, but Dev's friend had been sick and had 'claimed' to be Alastair's partner for the day.

Alas should have put his foot down, since after all he out of all people knew how this would probably end, but he was feeling generous and had agreed.

Bad choice.

Both Devon and Alastair had completely different ways to go about making the potion and Dev had overlooked some things that were absolutely crucial in making the best possible brew and Alastair had gently corrected him.

Of course Dev didn't listen and of course they had argued over who was right and of course somehow in the middle of it they had managed to knock their cauldron over and burn a large stain into the stone floor.

It hadn't been pretty and needless to say they had earned themselves detention. Alastair could already feel that this year would be a very long one.

.

[DEVON REDWOOD]

Devon had that sour look on his face just as his brother did, his dark eyebrows drawn together to form a rather deep furrow between them, his jaw quite obviously clenched, his lips pursed. He wasn't terribly happy with his brother at the moment, mainly because he had been completely wrong about the potion they had been working on and that was why they were in this mess.

True, the potions book had called for just a pinch of dried lavender leaves, but the fact was, potion recipes were just like cooking recipes: they varied from wizard to wizard and potions making was not an exact science. Alastair obviously thought that every single minute measurement in the book was relevant, but Devon knew that the recipes were based on teaching the students how to measure and treat the ingredients, not necessarily how to make the potions themselves.

He never should have gone to his brother as a partner, he should have known he would do something like this. He should have known that Alastair would be wrong, and then be so stubborn about it. Devon scowled harder and turned to dump his somewhat cleaner cauldron before he went back to scrubbing it. Obviously they were cleaning the first years' used pots, seeing as they had perfectly good but now wasted ingredients caked and congealed at the bottom of them. No wonder they were always so low on supplies by the end of the week.

Once he had finished his current cauldron, Devon moved to get another from the communal dirty cauldron desk. He honestly couldn't see them finishing all of them by dinner, not with how slowly they were going. As he looked up he caught his brother's eye and frowned.

"What?" he said gruffly. "Am I not scrubbing the right way, Alas? What does the book say?" A chunk of dried muck came loose at the bottom of the cauldron as Devon pushed at it, causing him to nearly tip forward and slam his face into the edge of the black pot. He made a frustrated noise and took the disgusting waste in his hand to chuck it angrily in a wastebasket by the wall.

[ALASTAIR REDWOOD]

Alastair met his gaze with a heated one of his own, pausing, "Funny." He snorted, glaring at the other boy, "I didn't know you cared about giving attention to details." The brunette said spitefully, hunching back over and scrubbing with a little more force than was probably necessary.

"You know if you actually gave a damn about paying a little closer attention we wouldn't be here right now!" The words were hissed acidly from under his breath and he hit his knuckle against the inside of pewter wall in his vigor and grit back an angry expletive.

"Don't get that stuff all over the walls or we'll have to stay and clean that too!" Alastair said, wishing desperately he could just use a quick vanishing charm for this. Unfortunately even at Hogwarts detentions were no fun.

[DEVON REDWOOD]

"Potions," Devon said in a low tone, "don't need to be perfect. Don't you get it? It isn't about the correct color or the correct density or odor or anything! It's about what the potion does, and leaving out a pinch of lavender and adding another sprig of hemlock doesn't change that!" He stabbed at another bit of the cauldron's mess.

"In fact, our potion was going to be better than everyone else's because of it! But no, it just had to be by the book, didn't it Alas?" Devon looked up at his brother as he ground out that familiar and degrading, girlish nickname he had pinned to him when they were young. They gave each other hell.

"You know, this is all your fault," Devon said coldly after another few moments. "You know I'm good at potions, you should have just listened to me! I knew what I was doing!" He glared at the chunks of hardened mess in the bottom of his cauldron. What an idiotic task, cleaning without using magic in a magic school. "We could have had the best grade on this potion, but instead we got detention. Because you wouldn't trust me." He finally just gripped his pot by the edges and slammed it down on the table, dislodging all the pieces at once. He dumped them out and got to scrubbing at the rest of the stuff out.

"You're the one who's good at charms and transfiguration, and...and magic! Why can't you just let me have something? You don't even like potions! Why do you have to be the best at it?"

[/blockquote]

[ALASTAIR REDWOOD]

He pulled back, rubbing his knuckle, lips tugging into an angry looking snarl, "Thats moronic Devon." Alastair said, looking over at the other boy, "Thats what Potions is about! Potions is a very exact form of magic, like science okay? To put it into terms you could understand." He was struggling to keep his voice down, but was frustrated and incredulous at his twin's obviously false statements, "They have to be the bloody right color and the right density! You can't just improvise unless you really know what you are doing!"

Devon had long ago christened him as 'Alas' a nickname that had a painfully close resemblance to the girls name 'Alice' and despite it's cruel origins it had stuck. Alastair didn't even mind it anymore really, but occasionally when Devon used it in such a way he was doing right now...well it brought up a slew of sore childhood memories and feelings that Alastair had tried very hard to overcome.

He grit his teeth, "We have detention because you never listen to me! You automatically assume that you are right and I'm wrong even when I'm bloody fucking better at something than you! You just hate the idea that I could be actually right, because then maybe you actually aren't the best at everything."

His brother admitting that he was better (even though he knew this already) made him pause, a little shocked considering the slew of angry words he had just said. He should have let it rest after that, but anger was still twisting hotly in the pit of his stomach.

He laughed humorlessly, "Get over it Devon, why is it so hard for you to accept that I could actually be better than you at something?" he had been scrubbing the same spot for a good five minutes now and there was still no change. He bristled with frustration, thinking about all of the formulas he needed to look over before his test. At this rate they were going to be there all night!

[DEVON REDWOOD]

Devon grit his teeth, his scrubbing pausing as he fought to keep control of his temper. It wasn't working very well. He really wanted to sock his brother across the mouth just to shut him up. "I do know what I'm doing, Alas," he growled. "I know bloody well what I'm doing! Better than you, at least, you who has to have a book in front of you to have the first idea of how to go about making a simple healing potion!"

He threw his scrub brush down, furious. None of the caked on mess was coming off at all, no matter how hard or long either one of them scrubbed. He had a feeling he would be missing dinner and certainly wasn't happy about that.

"Maybe I would have listened to you if you were right," he ground out before he turned to find a certain potion he knew of that was good for cleaning. It was like a wizard's Windex. He found a large vial of it and poured some into his own cauldron before pushing it across the table to Alastair. "Use this, you're getting nowhere." He couldn't even bring himself to say that kindly to his brother, though he was trying to help to get them both out of there.

He noted his brother's pause and thought perhaps they were getting somewhere with this heated argument. He knew that his brother had been gaining some confidence here at Hogwarts. Here he was accepted, here he was talented. Devon didn't have the magical skill that his brother had. He had skills in things that muggles valued, things like rugby and football, and history and maths. He just needed one thing here, but no, Alastair wouldn't let him have even a class like Potions.

He shook his head at his brother's response, though, amazed that he would still be so stubborn about this. He glared at his twin over the desk. His progress on this cauldron had halted completely. "You're just stubborn," he muttered. "You can't stand the idea that I could be right about something like this. Something that you're usually good at." He looked back down to his cauldron and went back to scrubbing. The solution he had poured into his seemed to be working and he was soon able to rince this one out and return it to the pile.

[ALASTAIR REDWOOD]

He frowned, blue eyes focused on the vial that Devon had instructed him to use. Stubbornly he wanted to refuse help -of any kind- from the other boy, but Devon was right. These cauldrons were nowhere close to clean and if they had any hope of getting out of here before midnight it was probably best. Faintly he wondered if they were even allowed to use such a potion, their Professor had not said anything, but it seemed rather contradictory to the whole point of cleaning out cauldrons as a punishment.

However, not wanting to hear his brother go off again about him and how he actually followed instructions, he kept silent, grabbing the vial and pouring some into the pewter cauldron. As he scrubbed, the potion foamed and sparkled.

As he scrubbed he remained quiet, silently fuming. Devon had always been better then him, at virtually everything and when they had come to Hogwarts Alas had expected it to be the same. However as they began school it had quickly come to light that Alastair's talent in magic far exceeded that of his twin. Magic had always been like a sense of safety and security to him, he relished the feeling of learning a new spell, of feeling the magic tingling in his fingertips after using it. He had always been looking up at Devon, watching him effortlessly make friends and excel.

Magic was his, he thought bitterly, selfishly.

Alastair didn't want to admit that Devon was actually talented when it came to potions, and the whole situation rather stung. Sure Devon may be talented at Potions, sure he could have been right, but why was it that he never wanted to listen to Alas? Even if he was right, he acted as though his opinion didn't even mean anything.

Glowering he bit out through gritted teeth, "You're the stubborn one, everything always has to be done your way, who gives a damn about the opinions or ideas of other people right? You just have to be right." He shoved his cauldron aside, fiercely grabbing another and nearly dropping it. He grunted at the weight, heaving the thing onto the table and gritting his teeth. The resistance of the weight just made him angrier.

"You always expect me to follow what you do, what you say goes right Devon?" He glowered, "I bet your Gryffindor friends just stare at you in awe and amazement. The amazing Devon, oh he's so great." His ramblings were bordering on childish, but he was barely making sense to himself anymore.

[DEVON REDWOOD]

"Oh, shut it, Alastair," Devon snapped back, leaning over his cauldron to spit the retort at his twin. Devon was the sort that didn't recognize childish responses because he himself found them at the same maturity level as his own retorts. "Just shut it! Everything has to go back to our houses, doesn't it? It isn't like it's my fault I was sorted into Gryffindor!" Though the truth was, there wasn't a place Devon would rather be than in the Gryffindor common room, cutting up with his circle of friends, listening to the older students' jokes. When they had first been sorted, and the schism between the Slytherin students and the Gryffindors became painfully apparent, Devon had desperately wished that Alastair had been sorted into Gryffindor as well. Now, however, he realized how very different they were, and how much Alastair belonged with the others just like him.

"I don't care if you do what I say most of the time." A blatant lie, but Devon needed to get his point across, because apparently Alastair hadn't gotten it yet. "But you knew that I knew what I was talking about, and you should have listened to me! I'm sick of you thinking that I don't know a thing just because I don't study until my eyes are swimming like you do." His anger was making him scrub harder, and the cauldrons were getting cleaner, at least. Not to mention he was into a third-year pile, and they actually knew what they were doing, to the point that there was usually just a dry ring around the top where the potion had sat. They were much easier to clean.

Devon tossed his scrub brush down suddenly. "I have an idea," he said. "We make a pact to listen to each other, even if we think the other's wrong. That way it'll be harder for us to get into arguments." He knew this wouldn't work, partially because he was only suggesting it to shut his brother up and keep this current argument from continuing. "Deal?" He held out his hand, putting on that face that so often got him out of trouble. At least, if he wasn't yelling outright at his brother when he was about to receive detention. "I promise I'll be better."

[/blockquote]

[ALASTAIR REDWOOD]

Fine.

He could admit that Devon wasn't half as bad at potions as he had made it sound like he was. In fact his twin was actually...good, maybe even better than Alastair himself. He seemed to have a knack for knowing just the right thing to tweak to improve the overall brew even if it did not follow the directions listed in the book.

The only other student he had seen with such an aptitude was his fellow Slytherin, Severus Snape and the older boy was not the most approachable of people so Alastair had never questioned him on his methods.

He rose his head, peering over at his brother trying to reign back his features so that he looked less interested than what he really was. Was this Devon trying to reach a middle ground? Usually Alastair was the one who initiated such arrangements.

"Fine..." He said, peering suspiciously at the other. It wouldn't work, this Alastair could swear by, but the idea of his brother making attempts for peace was new, "And we won't be quick to call the other wrong..." He added, knowing he had done that very thing.

They shook on it and Alastair pulled back, watching Devon with a searching kind of look in dark eyes.

"We're almost done here." He said referring to the nearly diminished cauldron pile. "First detention of the year..." A slight, strained type of smile tugged his lips and he shook his head, "That's a record for me."

[DEVON REDWOOD]

Devon grinned and nodded quickly in agreement to his brother's addition to the pact. "For both of us," he said. He could tell his brother didn't believe a word, but still, they shook. Maybe they could both try to honor it. It would be strange, Devon thought, not fighting with his brother. But perhaps it would be a welcome change, if an unlikely one.

"At this rate you'll have a detention a month," Dev teased. "Can you imagine? Perfectly behaved brother Alastair in detention." He smirked. "I think I'm a bad influence on you, Alas. You'd better watch yourself. Detentions are a slippery slope!" He grinned at Alastair, pouring a bit more of the cleaning solution into his current cauldron to let it sizzle and break up the caked on, dried mess. They really were almost done, and he was eager to get it all done and hopefully weasel a snack out of one of his fellow Gryffindor boys. He would have to head down to Hogsmeade some time to stock up on his own little food supply.

"Hey," he said suddenly, scrubbing hard at some bubbly, burnt milk sort of texture that was along the underside of the rim of his cauldron. "Do you want to go down to Hogsmeade this weekend, Alas? I've got some sickles to burn and I really want some candy." His stomach growled in agreement. He glanced at the clock on the wall above the door and wilted as he saw how late it was. No way could he get any food from the house elves. The kitchen was undoubtedly closed and cleaned up already.

[/blockquote]

[ALASTAIR REDWOOD]

Hewas still looking suspicious, but he seemed to be in much greater spirits than before when they had been arguing. "Better not be." He grumbled to Dev's insinuation that he would be making this a common occurrence, "Now if only I could inspire you to study more." He sighed, knowing that Dev cracking a book without being prodded and threatened before the deadline would have to have been an act of God. "Honestly you aren't you worried at all by the O.W.L's?"

As much as Dev annoyed him at times, Alas did not want to see him fail.

He looked up, reminded that the first official Hogsmeade weekend was indeed on it's way. Alas leaned back from his cauldron, rocking on his heels. He could get Apex some treats if he went as well. He had bought the little owl with the money he'd saved up from his summer job and the tiny thing did not like staying up in the owlrey with the other birds that towered massively over him.

Plus he have a chance to spend a little time with Dev too. Even during the summer at home they had not seen much of each other. They had both been busy with their own things, Dev had had his muggle friends and where-ever they often had gone off to and his job at the pet-shop in the village proper. Devon had been busy working full time at the library and hadn't done much outside of work and the occasional visit from a Hogwarts friend.

"Sure." He said, pushing the now finished cauldron away. "I'm done." His stomach gave a little growl and he flushed, He was glad he had brought some snacks with him and reached into his schoolbag to pull out a bag of crisps and a pumpkin pasty he still had leftover from the trainride. He settled himself on the top of the desk and looked over at Devon. "I think we're done."

[DEVON REDWOOD]

Devon finished with his own cauldron and got up to stack it with the others, his fists on his hips as he surveyed their hard work. He was surprised that they had gotten it done even in their hours down there in the dank dungeon. Dev knew that Alastair was used to it, though the Slytherin commons was quite a bit brighter with the light filtering through the lake and the windows under the school, but it was nonetheless not a place that received a bit of sunlight.

He turned back to his brother, smirking. "I'm not worried about exams," he said. "It's the beginning of the year, I don't have to worry about them until the end. That's when I'll buckle down and study, don't worry." He grabbed a cleaner rag to wipe down his station, waiting until Alas had moved his clean pot to wipe there as well. He finished and tossed the rag into a bucket of water and stretched, bending his back until it popped. He had been sitting in one position too long.

"You study too much, Alas," Dev said, leaning over the desk, his hands resting on the slightly damp surface. "You need to get out. Get some sun." He popped his brother under the chin. Alastair indeed had a paler complexion than his twin. Devon much more enjoyed time outside, playing rugby with those few boys who actually knew what sports were outside of quidditch. Alastair was obviously a bookworm.

He watched Alas pull the snacks out of his bag with jealousy, resisting the instinct to lick his lips at the mere sight of the food he wanted. He didn't ask, though. If Alastair was actually willing to share, he would offer. Devon, for once, did not want to be rude. "Okay," he said, leaning back again. "Let's get out of here, then. I'm tired."

[ALASTAIR REDWOOD]

"The O.W.L's aren't just normal exams Dev." He countered, taking a bite of the pastry, as he chewed he regarded his brother thoughtfully, "They determine what you are going to do in the future you know?"

"Hey." He frowned, complaining halfheartedly at his brother brand of physical affection.Alas reached up and rubbed his chin gently, "I live in a dungeon remember." A smirked tugged at the corners of his thin lips, "I'm supposed to be pale and creepy."

Alastair was not much of an outdoors person, he appreciated nature as much as anyone else, but he was not much of a sports fan. At home he would often take long walks along the winding country lanes, but he found that he often burned instead of getting tan like Devon.

Being an observant sort of person he noticed his brother eyeing his food and sighed, reaching into his bag he picked out another pumpkin pasty and threw it at the boy, sliding off the table. "Didn't you eat dinner?"

"Yes well I'm tired as well." He frowned, "And my first big Arithmancy test is tomorrow. " It was his nature to worry over tests and grades, even though he was quite good at Arithmancy, "You'd do well to go to sleep as well, instead of getting up to no good with some of those friends of yours."

[DEVON REDWOOD]

Devon grinned as he caught the pastry, standing and taking a large bite of it. Food still in his mouth, he spoke as he was wont to do. "No, I didn't have dinner. I had to skip it for this bloody detention. Didn't you hear me whinging about it or were you not listening?" He wouldn't have been surprised by the latter at all, though Alas was just as capable of and expected to have intentionally ignored his brother's complaints. After all, Alas kept most of his to himself. Devon could see how he could get annoying.

"O.W.L.s are just a test to see if you've memorized facts, Alastair. That's what all tests are. Memorizing won't help a bit in the job world, not unless you're some kind of teacher and you have to teach new students how to memorize more facts! If someone is really interested in hiring someone for a job, they need to find out how well they will do at that job, not at a bloody rote test." This was always Devon's argument to tests and his lower grades. He always said that he was good at applying knowledge, not just vomiting it up on command. He said that it didn't serve any purpose and though his parents had always scolded him for bad grades, they couldn't admonish his talent for arguing his point, though he could sometimes lose his temper.

Dusting his robe off and removing all the little particles of potion and ingredient they had been cleaning all night, Devon turned to the door of the potions classroom. He paused with his hand on the door, glancing back at Alas with a little frown on his face.

"Do you enjoy that?" he asked, his tone surprisingly cold considering his previous conviction. "Talking about my friends like that? You don't always have to put them down, you know. They're good guys, they just like a prank or a joke every once in a while." He restrained himself from a cruel remark about either Alas's so-called friends or, worse, his not having any to make fun of. To Devon, it seemed that Alastair's status among the older Slytherin boys fluctuated regularly. He was either too far beneath them both in age and social status to be included, or he was barely there, that little fifth year they let tag along. He didn't want to admit to himself that he sometimes felt the same way about his own fellow Gryffindors that he so admired.

[/blockquote]

[ALASTAIR REDWOOD]

He raised an eyebrow, "Why are you being so defensive?" Alastair asked, surprised by the sudden fierceness in Devon's voice. The Slytherin hadn't meant anything by what he had said, only trying to impress that Dev shouldn't get up to trouble as he and his Gryffindor friends were wont to do.

Alastair did not like Dev's friends, had never felt comfortable around them. It could have been the fact that Gryffindor and Slytherin seemed to be intrinsically meant to be opposed to one another, but it could have also been the fact that Alastair knew for a fact that when his brothers friends looked at him they thought 'Poor Devon, his brother is in Slytherin.'

Alas had made his niche in his house, had found people who liked him and recognized and respected his skills. Alastair liked being respected frankly and he liked feeling powerful.

"I didn't say anything." The brunette said testily, growing wary, "I don't care who you hang around with Devon." He said, tensing, "And I think it's rather hypcritical that you are so quick to make allowances for you friends but when my friends get into mischief you are so quick to label them as untrustworthy and dangerous."