A Forbidden Challenge (Cepheus/Aquila)

Cepheus gave him the thumbs up. "Exactly. So my plan is working. I just have to.. uh.. die now. Maybe not."

Nodding emphatically, he hummed. "Yeah, those. Ugh, I'm too tired for this.." He shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly. Maybe it was a bad idea to stay out on the grounds - but maybe not, as Aquila was here.

Blinking owlishly, Cepheus nodded. "Definitely." Even he didn't find it funny, and it was easy to make him laugh. Huffing and lifting his brother on to his back, he wrapped his arms around his brothers knees, hooking them so he didn't fall. "Make sure you hold on," Was the quiet order. "I don't want you to have anymore injuries. You have enough of them as it is, Aqui." While talking, he started trudging back up the hill he had ran down just before.

Aquila snorted, "And you tell me I have to plan better; let's leave the dying out of the picture for now."

"If I don't get my sense of humour back," Aquila blinked up at Cepheus, the picture of completely seriousness, "Please promise to mourn it properly, and remember it fondly."

"I promise to hold on, if you promise not to drop me," he half laughed, half murmured, "Or fall back down this hill - I may have lied a bit when I said you should try it."

As they continued to walk, Aquila started to feel drowsy - well it was more like he had been feeling off the whole time but now that he had nothing to focus on he realized that he was having a hard time really keeping his mind on anything.

Maybe it was the late hour, or perhaps it was the gentle up and down of being carried, but either way he had had enough head injuries in the past to know that falling asleep before anyone checked said injury out was not a good idea.

"Ceph," so instead he tried to keep his mind on a thought that had been nagging at him for a while, "I... do you..."

The only problem was he suddenly couldn't really remember what that thought was, and his eye lids felt so heavy.

Maybe if I just... that thought trailed off as his head and eyelids began to sink lower and lower.

Cepheus nodded. He didn't really feel like dying any time soon, even for one of his plans. Maybe later.

"I will," He said, faux-mournfully, pouting slightly. "I'll make sure of it, don't worry."

Shaking his head slightly, he sighed, despite the small, rueful smile on his face. "I don't plan to, Aqui," He said. "Neither of us are gonna fall, so don't worry your little head,"

The silence stretched and Cepheus furrowed his brows. "You.. what?" He asked, jumping slightly to grip his brothers knees tighter. "Don't fall asleep on me, kid. You're gonna leave me in anticipation for what you were say-- bugger." He sighed and quickened his pace, looking up to see the castle looming overhead, even from the distance they were at. The outline of the forest was just a few steps ahead.

"Wake up, Aqui." He muttered, trying to turn his head to see his little brother before giving up and walking again.

"Good," Aquila nodded his head slightly, "It had a good life - it deserves to be remembered properly."

"Worry? Who's worried? Worried isn't even in my vocabulary," he murmured softly his voice growing quieter near the end of his sentence.

He jolted up for a moment as he was shifted around, but almost as soon as he did so, his head nodded down again. Sleep just sounded like a good idea right now... but he couldn't; he knew there was a good reason somewhere.

"I'm not asleep," he mumbled unconvincingly, "I am completely and totally ... whatever the opposite of asleep is."

He let his head fall forward until it was resting on his brother's shoulder, "I'm going to get in trouble aren't I? Whenever, whoever figures all this out I'm going to get in trouble, aren't I?"

"Does it have a wife and kids tough? 'Cus I'm sure the wife could get together with your sarcasm."

Cepheus smiled, shifting about again. "'Course it isn't," He hopped over a rock, jolting them both a little.

"Awake, maybe?" He supplied, grinning. "Man, you must've hit your head hard, Aqui," The grin turned into a worried frown. He was sur ehis brothers vocabulary was usually better than that - and he knew what the opposite of asleep was, too.

The frown softened. "You'll be fine," Cepheus finally muttered. "If anyone gets in trouble, it'll be me. I'm the uninjured one. In fact, they might blame me for your injuries." Mother and Father would.

"Cepheus! She's heartbroken - how can even suggest she could move on," Aquila pretended to gasp in offense, "Honestly, and they let you into Hufflepuff."

He nodded his head slightly, not that his brother could see him, "Awake - I knew that the whole time. I was just testing you. Congratulations - you passed."

"What did you push me down the hill?" he asked rather grumpily, "No one's going to blame you. If they did well then they are..." he paused for a moment to come up with a good word, but in the end he couldn't get anything more than the very juvenile (but accurate), "stupid."

He blinked his eyes closed for a moment and then found them hard to pull back open. But he had to; he still had to...

"But I'm in the forest Ceph... even if I leave that out I'm still out after curfew." The downside to his rule breaking. As much as Aquila loved to do it, he hated getting caught about ten times more. It was a very flawed back-and-forth, that he could sometimes - a lot of the time - talk his way out of, but half asleep and forgetting words like awake?

"She'll be fine," Cepheus countered. "Of course they did. Would a true Slytherin go into Slytherin? That would be announcing that you're sly and ambitious. But of course, I'm not sly or anything.." Shaking his head, he shrugged lightly. "Hufflepuff for the win."

"Of course you were," He cooed, smiling at his brother. "Really, Aqui, you weren't testing me."

"Stupid." Cepheus nodded easily. "But, most people in the Magic World are stupid, so, ultimately, they would blame me. I have loads of reasons to, apparently."

Cepheus coughed. "Blame it on me," He suggested, but he was going to do it anyway. So really, it was an order. "Just say I dragged you away from going to your Common Room and kept you out here the whole time, and you fell over when it got dark. Or I pushed you."

"Fine! You're heartless you know," he scoffed, laughing after only a few moments.

"How do you know I wasn't testing you? Have developed the ability to read my thoughts since we last spoke?" Of course, Ceph was right, he hadn't been testing him, but as of now Aquila was going to take that fact to the grave... not that he was fooling anyone anyways, but still it was the thought that counted, or something.

"Loads of reason to what?" Aquila asked softly; apparently he was having trouble following conversations now. "Do you secretly hate me Ceph?" he cooed, his voice not fitting the question, since of course he was pretty much joking.

He yawn slightly, "I can't blame you... that would be-would be..." as he attempted to state why he couldn't blame his brother for his problems, his brain brought up all the times that he did. Just with his parents alone, although he didn't verbally blame Ceph, he let him take a lot more to protect his own 'image'.

Apparently being tired and injured didn't make Aquila grumpy and irratable like with some people - it made him do what he rarely did. Spew out truthful emotions.

"I'm a horrible brother aren't I?"

"Of course I am," Cepheus agreed jokingly before laughing along with his brother.

"Yeah, totally," He nodded emphatically. "That's obviously what happened." Well, a load of crap, but he could read his brother easily. He was practically his only family, seeing as he hated their parents.

"Yeah, I do," Cepheus muttered teasingly, rolling his eyes before he sobered up. "Nah, I love you Aqui. You're my little brother, how could I not?"

"-A good idea," He finished off for Aquila. He was used to taking the blame for other people. He was one of those guys who you blamed because he didn't mind, he just joked along, and he'd done it for Aqui more times than he could count - because he loved his brother and he wanted to protect him. That's what big brothers did, after all.

But then Cepheus blinked, furrowing his brows at his younger brothers statement. "No, you're not," He disagreed easily. "You're a great brother, and I love you lots. If you were a horrible brother, I wouldn't be here right now." Cepheus' eyes moved so he was looking at Aqui, but still in front of him - a really awkward place to stop them, but helpful nonetheless. "You shouldn't say that about yourself, Aquila." He finally finished softly, ducking his head and looking straight at the ground as he walked.

"If anyone is a horrible brother, it's me. After all, if I had pretended to be the Perfect Pureblood, Mother and Father wouldn't have pushed their ideals on you as hard as they did, would they?" Ah, the chick-flick moments. How lovely.

"Well now I just feel all exposed," he laughed softly, joking along with him for he knew he was joking. Ceph knew he hadn't been testing him because of no other reason than he wouldn't have been able to convince a total stranger of that fact let only his big brother who has probably watched him work every trick in his book. He sighed thoughtfully, "I never can fool you can I?"

"Damn straight you love me," he laughed softly, "I am just too darn lovable." Bravo and confidence was something Aquila certainly did not lack - at least on the surface.

He shook his head at his brother, although it took more effort than it should have and really was pointless since Cepheus couldn't really see him anyways, "nuh-uh; aren't you supposed to teach me to take responsibility for my actions or something?" he filled his voice with mock-disappointment, "You're a terrible role model."

"That's debatable you know; maybe you were just waiting for a chance to chuck me into the lake; I'm sure in this state I wouldn't stand a chance against the squid," even when he was arguing on serious matters Aquila couldn't be completely serious. "I'll say what I want about myself," he grumbled and pouted slightly. It was a ridiculous point to go stubborn upon but... since when had he ever been reasonable?

"You're not horrible. You let me blame everything on you," the younger boy was shamefully aware of how true that statement was - that was why they were having this debate after all; when he said everything, Aquila really meant everything. "How were you to know they were going to have another kid? And besides, they're sadistic about this, it probably wouldn't have made a difference." Actually Aquila kind of suspected that if Ceph had followed their rules he wouldn't be around at all - he was just the replacement kid.

"You know what, I've just decided - neither of us are horrible - it's our parents that are horrible." He laughed but it was more hollow than his usual cheerful one, "They screwed us up - we're just working with what they left us. So really, all things considering, we're fabulous."

He let that hang in the air for a while before asking in a quiet - unusually quiet for anyone, freakishly quiet for Aquila - voice, "Is it wrong then that I still love them?"

"Of course you can't," Cepheus agreed automatically. "I've known you all your life, so yeah," Smiling happily, he jumped slightly so Aquila wasn't falling down his back any more. "It's impossible to fool me,"

He nodded solemnly. "Of course you are, dear, of course," The older cooed lightly, glad to keep his brother talking. If they spoke, he wouldn't sleep, and everything would - hopefully - be okay.

Putting on a shocked face and voice, he replied with "Really? I am? Oh, darn. You better forget most of the things I've told you for the past 11 years then. Apart from about the Muggles, though," Shrugging to say 'what can you do', he hummed lightly, smiling to himself.

Humming in mock-agreement, Cepheus nodded. "Of course I am," He said tauntingly. "And there's nothing you can do about it, is there?" Rhetorical questions, the best kind of questions. Because no one answers them.. Most of the time, that is.

"That's a bad thing to do though," He pointed out slyly. "You need to learn to take responsibility, so because of me taking the blame for everything, I haven't taught you that," Even though the 'rents should have. Oh well. "So.. Whatever."

"We're the best brothers," He agreed in the end, a smirk on his lips. "We can blame Mother and Father all we like, it's not like they can do anything about it," Huffing out a small laugh, he contemplated slowing down his pace so they could talk some more. He decided against it - who knew how bad Aquila's injuries could be, especially the ones they couldn't see directly.

Cepheus thought about it for a moment. Was it bad to love them? They were, after all, their parents. It was basically ingrained into them to love the two idiots. So, maybe he could love them, it wasn't that bad.. They did love Aquila after all, and showed them as much affection as they could, more than they showed Cepheus. Finally making up his mind, he shook his head. "It's fine that you love them," He said quietly. Ceph himself didn't agree, he practically hated the elder Turrows with a passion. "Just.. be careful. They are our parents, but that doesn't mean.." He didn't bother finishing. He couldn't really do that. Aquila was only young, he shouldn't really be teaching him to be wary of the two who were meant to protect and love him, especially not at his age.

"Just remember that I'll always love you, no matter what, Aqui."

Aquila bit back a groan as his brother jumped to shift his weight; he understood that he hadn't wanted to drop him, but that didn't mean it had been comfortable.

"What?" he pretended to sound surprised, "You've been telling me stuff? I hadn't noticed - must not have been important." He laughed softly to himself.

"Learn responsibility," Aquila snorted, his usually goofy smile growing, "who told you that load of crud? Sounds like faulty information - probably crazy, hit his head, fell down a hill. You don't listen to those types."

"Of course we're the best - though if we're keeping score, I'm more the best - the bestest," he laughed quietly making his just quite clear.

He yawned and blinked his eyes slowly; they were getting heavy again. He thought he was doing better at staying awake, "Please Ceph, I'm always careful; careful is my middle name." His accompanying laugh was barely more than a whisper.

He blinked again only this time he didn't really give the effort to open his eyes; his brother's words came to his ears through a cloud of haze.

"... love... too... Ceph..." he mumumbled incoherently as his brain drifted off into unconsiousness.

"Oh, hah hah." Cepheus said sarcastically. "So funny, Aqui. I think my stomach is hurting from laughing so much."

He shook his head lightly, a small grin on his face. "Just wait for the future, when a father wants you to take responsibility for getting a girl pregnant. Then you'll wish you had learnt to be responsible."

Cepheus chuckled. "Of course you are. But is bestest even a word?" He didn't think so.

"Uhuh, of course it is," He nodded mock-seriously. "Because you're the most careful kid in the world, Aquila. The safest and one who hasn't been injured a load of times because of careful."

Aww, bugger. Cepheus thought as he pushed the door to Hogwarts open with his shoulder. It was never locked, so that was helpful. He quickened his pace as he headed for the Hospital Wing.

The shift as the door opened jolted Aquila to some small measure of alertness.

"Pfft," he waved off the last comment tiredly, his usual bravo not really in it, "that would never happen - after all I'm careful." He laughed softly as it lead into their last conversation.

"Hey," he more or less whispered as whatever energy he had slipped once more, "I was careful enough to not get killed, just injured so..." the self satisfied 'hah' he was going to end that with was lost as he allowed his eyes to drift shut once more.

He curled his head unconsciously into his brother's shoulder as he slept mumbling slightly to himself every few moments; only two words came out of his mouth coherently enough to be understood.

"Sorry Ceph."

"Yeah, yeah," Cepheus said, glancing at his brother in a slightly apologetic manner. "Of course you're careful, bro."

He jumped once more to pull Aquila back up - he wasn't as light as he used to be when he was younger, which was to be expected. "You weren't careful at all, Aqui," Cepheus almost snapped, but managed to calm himself. He could shout at his brother when he was healed.

"Sorry for what?" He asked idly, not really expecting any answer from his almost-asleep brother.

Aquila was long asleep by this point. Even his brother's shuffling, jumping, and almost snapping didn't wake him up.

The words were making some impression on his brain though.

He continued to mumble incoherent answers at him.

"...I... falling..." he murmured and shifted himself again (probably not helping his brother carrying him), "...there... yet?"

A slightly dismayed look spread across Cepheus' face.

"No, Aqui. You don't have to be sorry for falling," He stated firmly. "It was an accident. You couldn't help it."

He climbed the last step of the stairs to the Infirmary, almost running to get to the door.

"Almost there."

"Still... sorry," he breathed still asleep and unaware of exactly what he was saying.

In sleep, it seemed, he would speak his mind, no matter what.

"Good," he stated, quieter than the rest as he finally fell into a complete sleep that - unless someone woke him up from - he wasn't going to be responding to anything.

"You don't need to be sorry," Cepheus repeated firmly, fixed on his decision.

He bumped open the door to the Infirmary with his shoulder, sliding inside.

"We're here." He said quietly, placing his brother down on a bed.

[Should we take this to the proper Hospital Wing?]

Aquila curled into the bed smiling softly at the feeling of an actual bed underneath him.

[Sure! do you wanna make it? Since you know I started this one... and I'm still asleep as of right now ]