A Forbidden Challenge (Cepheus/Aquila)

Aquila slipped into the forest with easy. It's mere name called to him - forbidden. A character flaw, some might call it, but Aquila tended to take all rules as a challenge.

A challenge to see if he could break them without being caught.

So of course the Forbidden Forest had been his first on his list of Hogwarts rules to break - except for curfew, he had crossed that one off his list ages ago.

Once he was a few feet away from the edges he found himself a nice tree to lean against; he would explore, of course he would, but first he need a rest. The forest was a big place, he needed to conserve his energies before he began.

As he leaned on his perch, arms lazily behind his head he breifly wondered what his brother was doing. He had only seen Cepheus from a far or a for a few moments in the halls since being there.

I really should go find him, he thought passingly.

Cepheus had been sitting around on the grounds, even if it was after curfew, doing absolutely nothing. He couldn't fall asleep, so he decided he wouldn't and came out onto the grounds, near the Forbidden Forest.

Forbidden. They weren't allowed there, so why was someone walking there now?

Standing up and frowning, Cepheus jogged to where the other was walking and held back a small gasp when he got close enough to see it was his brother. He considered ignoring it and going back to where he was sitting, but making sure the other Turrow was okay, but that would be mean.

"Hey, little brother." He called to him, slowing his jog to a casual walk. He placed a smile on his face and waited for Aquila to turn and see him. The little brother he had missed so much. The little brother he sometimes forgot about when he was with friends. His little brother, the kid he loved and helped in raising to like Muggles because of their parents.

The kid who was growing up and wouldn't need his older brother soon.

Aquila turned at the voice, a smile on his face. He would know his brother's voice anywhere

... plus it would have been odd for anyone else to address him as 'little brother'.

"Speak of the devil," he said happily, "Or... well think since you know I hadn't actually been speaking."

Although he hadn't been expecting it, nor had he been truly committed to his previous thought of finding him, he was glad that his brother had turned up. He had missed him - it was funny how he hadn't really realized that until his brother had turned up.

"So, what brings you out to this neck of the woods," he smiled mischievously and continued in a mock serious tone, "It's forbidden you know."

Cepheus grinned when his little brother turned around, holding back the urge to pounce on him and hug him to death. Never let it be said Cepheus didn't love his little brother.

"Aww, were you thinking of me, Aqui?" He asked teasingly, using the old nickname he had given his brother long ago. A pet name, if you will.

His teasing expression turned soft as he stepped closer to his little brother, so they were close together. The Hufflepuff held his arms out, smiling happily, wanting a hug from Aquila.

"I just happened to be sitting around, minding my own buisness," He started in a serene tone. "When I see a figure walking down to the Forbidden Forest. Of course, my interest was peaked." He hummed, a stern look on his face.

"What are you doing down here, Aqui? It's dangerous to be by yourself."

"Don't get to happy there Ceph," Aquila said teasingly, cocking an eyebrow at his brother, "Who says I was thinking good things?"

He looked as his brother open arms, suppressing a grin and putting on a fake 'too cool for this' air, "You know, you're only getting this because it is dark and no one's around," he stepped forward and allowed his brother to fold his arms around him, "Otherwise it would hurt my rep." His excuse sounded false to even his own ears, and he held Cepheus just as tight as Ceph held him.

"I wonder who that could have been," Aquila responded with a mischievous smile, " I mean come on, it is clearly said to be Forbiden. Some people just have a complete disregard for the rules." He shook his head in mock pity.

Looking bashful for only a moment, he covered it up with a grin and waved off his brother's concern, "Dangerous? Meh - I would have been perfectly fine," he pretended to flex his none existant muscles, "I'm invincible!"

"Aww," Cepheus pouted. "It's me. There's nothing bad to say about me." He joked happily, a grin replacing the pout.

Cepheus smiled when his brother walked into his arms, wrapping them tightly around the shorter boy. Burrowing his nose into Aquilas hair, he let out a breathy laugh. "Don't lie," He said quietly. "You'd hug me in the middle of the Great Hall at dinner any time." Well, Ceph would hug Aquila anyway.

"Yeah, I wonder," He muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes slightly. "Absolute disregard."

Cepheus looked sad for a moment. "Aqui, don't joke about it," He sighed. "I don't think I would be able to handle it if you were hurt." Yeah, it was a bit overprotective, but there you go. He loved his brother and would protect him, whether he liked it or not.

"I'm sure I could manage to find something," Aquila responded jokingly.

He pulled away from the hug after a moment and pretended to look suspiciously at Cepheus, "You're going to do that now, aren't you?" Although he was still pretending otherwise his brother was probably right. He would do it.

"Aw," he said at his brothers sarcastic tone, "Are you mad at me? You know how I am... I think by now I honestly can help myself." He tried his best to look small and innocent.

He looked at his brother for a long moment; sometimes it was easy to forget how much he cared... not that he didn't show it, it was just... the relationship between brothers was always a special but sometimes complicated one.

Finally he sighed, "I would have been fine - honestly Ceph, no jokes. I know I'm not invincible, but..." he paused a moment digging his foot into the soft dirt, "I'm not a child anymore either." He was eleven now, that had to count for something. "Besides," he added rather grumpily, "if you want to protect me from something you should protect me from the cracked up Defence Professor." His knee was still sore from where he had dived out of the way of the spell, and he hadn't completely forgiven Professor Smith for the whole thing.

"Good luck with that." Cepheus sniffed in a mock-arrogant way.

Thinking it over for a moment, he decided. Yeah. He was. "I am, yes," He grinned victoriously. "And I never would have thought to do it without you. Thanks, Aqui!" He glomped his little brother, pulling him into another hug, this one with a slightly playful tone to it.

"Yeah I know," He muttered under his breath, looking away. "I'm still allowed to worry though. It's in the job description." Well, there was no job description, but metaphors are fun. "And no worries. He doesn't go easy on anyone." He smiled lightly at the grumpy look on Aquilas face, holding back a chuckle at how child-like he looked right there.

"I've known you my whole life, do not doubt that I will find something," he said with mock-determination.

Aquila groaned, "and I only have myself to blame." He allowed his brother to hold onto him for a few moments before he playfully shoving him off, "Back," he said with a laugh ruining his attempt at being stern, "That's enough hugs for you; you have been cut off - I demand that you stay an arms distance away at all times."

"You worry too much," he said sofly, "You should stop, it will give you wrinkles, mar that pretty face of yours," he tried to joke, but his heart wasn't completely in it and it fell flat. He paused a moment fiddling with his clothes before looking up at his brother, "Thank you... it's nice to know someone's looking out for me - Lord knows I'm not." Once again he tried to laugh, and once again it fell flat.

His cloudy look resumed when Professor Smith was mentioned again, "Yes well..." he felt like stomping his foot but thought that would be taking it too far; he was still pouting greatly when he noticed his brother's expression. "You're trying not to laugh at me," he cried his expression turning more petulant, "You know I don't like being laughed at!"

He was ready to continue pouting for the duration of their time, when a thought came to him, perking him up immensly.

"So, Cephie," he drawled slowly, a mischievous smile growing on his once gloomy face, "I met your friend Ethan today." He raised his eyebrow at his brother waiting for a response.

"And I've known you your whole life," Cepheus said back to him, a mock-stern look on his face.

"Yes, yes you do," He nodded his head as if he was right about everything - which he wasn't really - only for it to be killed by the playful smirk on his face. "All right, arms length at all times." Accepting it was easy, as he knew it was pretty much a joke.

"I have to worry Aqui," Cepheus pouted slightly. "If I don't, Lord knows what would happen to you, with all the trouble you get into." He muttered, rolling his eyes slightly at the memories of all the things that had happened. Most of them were funny after a few days and the panic was over.

Laughter rang out as he looked at his brothers pouty and petulant expressions. Oh dear. "Of course I am. If you could see yourself.." He trailed off, laughter taking over instead.

Suddenly, he stopped laughing and blinked when Ethie was mentioned. A pink tinge appeared on his cheeks and he smiled serenely. "Yeah, he told me about that," The 'Puff said, shrugging. "Did you like him?"

"Good," he nodded with mock sternness as his new hugging decree was accepted; he doubted Cepheus would keep it if the fancy came over him, but he hadn't been very serious so it did not matter so if he did.

Knowing that he was forgiven, and the serious mood had been lifted some Aquila smiled as his brother rolled his eyes feeling quite certain that Ceph was remembering some of his previous... antics, "What can I say? I have a talent." He laughed a little at his own memories knowing they would always be more funny to him than it would ever be to Ceph - who would only admit that it was funny eons later when it was obvious that he had come out completely unscathed.

He narrowed his eyes, and pursed his lips as his brother continued to laugh at him, "I think I am being perfectly reasonable."

Aquila watched his brother's expression change as Ethan was mentioned, and a suspicion came to him.

"Yes I did. He seemed like quite the nice lad... reminded me of you a bit," he paused a moment, "But you like him, don't you?" he wasn't entirely sure what he was implying, but he decided to imply it anyways.

"Good." Cepheus repeated, smiling happily. They both knew it wouldn't happen, he would probably break it and hug-attack his brother soon. He didn't really care, though, and he was sure his brother knew him well enough to know what would happen.

"A talent for trouble, eh?" He asked lightly, smiling. "I never knew there was such a thing." Truthfully, he was glad the whole 'I'm your brother, I protect you' thing was over. It made things kind of tense, and joking was familiar grounds for Cepheus to burrow into with his brother.

"Of course you are, Aqui," Reasonable Cepheus's arse. The look on Aquilas face had always made Cepheus laugh when he put it on. "Of course you are." He repeated.

"He is a great guy," The 'Puff agreed, nodding. Sharp eyes turned to look at his brother and a blush with a small grin appeared on his face. "Yeah, I do like him, if you know what I mean. But shh, don't tell Mother or Father." Putting a finger to his lips and making a 'shh' noise, he winked at his little brother. He couldn't remember if he had ever told Aquila he was bi or not..

"I wouldn't call it trouble per say..." Aquila mulled it over in his head, "Mischief is better... just a harmless bit of fun..." he paused a moment for once actually looking bashful, "that sometimes, kind of... almost always doesn't exactly go as I planned."

He sniffed at his brother, "I am the perfect image of reasonability."

Cephus had never told him in so many words, but Aquila wasn't in Ravenclaw for nothing. He could figure out clues when they were presented to hiem, "Don't worry - I am very talented at keeping stuff from them; what they don't know can't hurt them."

"Well," he said suddenly, walking slowly away from his brother, closer towards the deep of the woods, "I came here to explore."

He jumped around and dashed off into the woods not waiting for any response.

Though a few seconds later he popped back up from behind a tree, his usual smile firmly in place, "Are you coming?" he more or less taunted, "You do know that if anything dangerous happened to me it would be on your consicous forever for letting your 'ittle brother run off in the forest alone." He knew he should feel bad for practically guilting his brother into coming with him but... he didn't. Ceph knew he was more or less joking - he hoped.

"Just a harmless bit of fun that usually ends up with you being injured in some way and me going hysterical? Yeah, mischief." Cepheus said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his brother. "Most of the time they don't go as planned, either. You really need to sort that out." He pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

Cepheus scoffed slightly, shaking his head. "Sure you are, little bro. Sure." He agreed, nodding. Of course, he didn't exactly mean it..

"Of course you are. You managed to make them think you don't like Muggles all this time." He pointed out once more, smiling serenely. Maybe he should have kept his liking them a secret too, and they wouldn't have been so hard on Aquila.

When his little brother popped away, the Hufflepuff only sighed and followed him when he popped out and back in again. He was kind of worried about the guilt comment, but knew it was all in good fun. It was Aquilas way of teasing him, apparently. "I'm comin', Aquil. I'm comin'." He muttered, waving a hand absently as he pulled out his wand.

"You say tomato, I say Tamoto - Minor injuries most of the time - you just over react," he waved his hand as if he could push the ideas away, "And besides plans that go right are totally for squares. Much more fun to not know what is going to happen."

"I am the king of parental pleasing," he said holding out his hands as if he was expecting sudden fanfare. It was true that his parents weren't always easy to please but... he dealt with it just the same.

Aquila laughed merrily as his brother tiredly - and probably more than a little reluctantly - followed him into the woods.

"Good," he nodded as if they had come to a very important decision, "Every boy needs his big brother for protection from big bad monsters." He dashed off ahead of Cepheus turning around a few feet in front and glancing at his brother's ready wand, "So what exactly kind of big bad monsters do I need protection from in these here parts?"

"Minor injuries," Cepheus snorted. "Whatever you say." He waved a hand dismissively at the last idea. "Square is a cool shape man, don't bash it." He joked. He preferred circles.. But that was beside the point. The whole thing was about Aquila getting injured way too many times. More than Cepheus, and he was sure their parents had it out for the older of the two.

Laughing, he slapped one of Aquila's hands down. "Alright then, Mr. Parental Pleasing."

"Oh, I don't know," He said sarcastically. "Acromantulas, Centaurs who hate humans invading their territories, pygmy puffs, giant, horrible, evil snakes.." Trailing off at the end, he looked over to his little brother and grinned.

"I'm beyond shapes," he joked proudly puffing up his chest, "I'm existential.... or something," he hesitated only a moment not willing to admit that he had only heard the word once and didn't actually know what it meant - it just sounded cool.

Aquila took the hand his brother had swatted at and wagged it admonishingly at him, "Uh-Uh-Uh, Ceph, did you not hear me I'm the king, that means it's sir Parental Pleasing to you. Or your highness if you really must."

"Pygmy Puffs?" he raised an eyebrow as he suppressed his own grin imagining the small flully puffs of a creature, "Well I am definitely glad I have you to protect me then. I don't think I could handle a great big fluffy -"

Walking backwards, and not paying attention to where he was going, Aquila tripped over a root of some kind, and his words were lost as he had the pleasure of tumbling down the small hill behind him.

Chuckling, Cepheus shook his head. "I hope you know existential means something along the lines of 'concerned with existence, especially human existence, or something like that.." He trailed off, brows furrowing. He hated words that were confusing sometimes.

Snorting, Cepheus nudged Aquila's shoulder. "Sorry, dear. I'm the King. Just the King. Maybe the King of Hell.." Trailing off, he thought of the Muggle show he had seen - Supernatural - where a guy called Crowley had been the King of Hell. "Sounds good to me."

Oh shit, was his first thought when he saw Aquila falling. The second was can he not do anything without somehow hurting himself!? He tried reaching out to grab his little brother, missing by a few centimetres, and swore loudly.

"Bugger!" He muttered, fumbling with his wand - which was already in his hand - and running flimsily down the hill after his little brother. "You better be okay!" Cepheus shouted after him, ignoring the fact that Aquila might not be able to hear him. Once he'd reached the younger boy, he sat down on his knees heavily, causing them to hurt a little (not that he cared right now), and checked for a pulse first.

Then realisation dawned. He didn't know what to do now. Usually, whenever little Aquila had hurt himself before, there had always been an adult nearby that they could go to. Now, it was just them, and the only healing spell he knew was Episkey, which only healed minor scratches.

"I'm bloody screwed," he muttered. "Mum and Dad are gonna kill me. Oh shit, what if they think I killed him? Please don't be dead, Aqui. You're the only thing that's holding me here." He was having a panic attack, Cepheus knew that much. Oh double shit. They were in the bloody Forbidden Forest, alone at night with no one but them around - and his little brother had just fallen down a hill.

Life's a bitch.

[please excuse the language and I hope you like the panic attack.]

Aquila laid on the ground stunned for a long moment; at some point through his great fall he had closed his eyes and he didn't really feel like opening them quite yet.

He was still trying to sort out what happened. He had been walking, and then...

He became aware of someone grabbing the area around his wrist and his brother's - slightly to completely panicked - voice drifted into his head.

It only took his brain a few moment to realize that Cepheus had fallen right over the edge into a full blown panic attack. He suppressed a slight groan as he popped his eyes open and pulled himself up so that he was leaning on his arms. If he had had his own way he wouldn't have minded laying there for a little longer, but if he didn't make some sign of life soon - or did acted too injured - his brother might not fully come back from this one. As it was he might not be allowed out of his sight for who knows how long.

Once he was up and more or less awake he looked from his brother to the hill and back again.

"You thought that was going to kill me?" he shook his head in mock-offence. The hill was neither big nor step, "I must have fallen down something higher than that!" He paused a moment to think, "What about that time I tried to jump from the roof to my broom? - waaayy higher than that, and total free fall!" he actually sounded like he was proud of that 'accomplishment', "That's," he nodded towards the hill, "got a nice guide to go down. It was almost like a game," his mischievous smile slowly slipped back into place, "You really should try it some time."

[language is excused, and the panic attack was liked very much]

Cepheus calmed down slightly when he heard the groan and Aquilasat up onto his arms. Sighing a breath of relief, he let out a small noise from the back of his throat. Shaking his head, he gripped his little brothers hand, a small scowl on his face.

"Sorry for worrying," The 'Puff muttered, shaking his head. "I thought this was enough to finally kill yo-" Letting out another sound, this one sounding worried and slightly hysterical, he sighed. "Of course I remember! That was probably the worst panic attack I ever had. Worse than the one I just had." Shaking his head, he looked around the forest and then back to his brother.

"Is anything hurting really badly?" He finally asked, know Aqui would have some major and small injuries at least.

"It's okay," Aquila laughed he was ignoring the small scowl on his brother face, "We went over this; you're allowed to worry... though maybe not so much; You're going to worry yourself into a heart attack one of these days, so when it turns out I'm not dead, you will be, and then what am I supposed to do?" he smiled through his stern look.

Aquila could help but laugh at that memory, "I miss calculated on that one; I still claim that it would have been..." he paused looking for the right word, "epic, if I actually landed on my broom."

"Yeah, my hand cause you're holding it so tight," he grinned, and then pulled himself up into a complete sitting position to assess his injuries better, groaning a bit as he did so. "I think I might have hit my head," the back of it was throbbing like nobody's business, and his ankle was stinging, "and I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding somewhere."

"Are you sure?" Cepheus asked, the scowl lifting. Sighing, he rolled his eyes. "But it's my job to worry like nobody's business!" He exclaimed, shaking his head in disagreement. "You'll.. you'll.. I don't know! But stop hurting yourself so much, or I probably will die!"

Frowning, a small smile appeared on his face. "Maybe it would have been, but don't miscalculate next time." Well, maybe that would be a bit hard unless they were Seer's...

"Oh, sorry," Cepheus muttered, loosening his grip. He frowned at the injuries, thinking it over. "Think you'd be able to get on my back?" He asked hesitantly. He knew he'd be able to carry Aqui to the Hospital Wing, but he didn't want it to agitate any of his injuries.

"Oh sure," he smirked at his brother, "Blame the helpless injured kid for your death."

Aquila smiled slightly at the thought of being carried.

Still, he was veteran invalid; surely he should be able to handle a tumble down a hill better than this. Reputations were ruined by these types of things.

So he smiled despite that fact that really all he wanted to do was just lay down and not move a single bruised muscle.

"I fell down a hill Ceph not..." he shook his head and then regretted as it felt like someone had rattled his brain, "Little kids roll down hills."

Of course the kids plan to go down the hill, not trip over a root but that was besides the point.

"I'm pretty sure I can walk on my own."

Cepheus snorted. "Of course I will," Shrugging, he hummed, a completely serious look on his face. "People will think you hit your head or something if you try to deny it."

"Yeah, but you didn't roll. You like, tumbled or something.. A bad word." Scrunching up his nose, he didn't bother to think on a better word and smiled at his brother. "C'mon, Aqui. It'll be fun~"

"Technically speaking - I did hit my head," he pointed out smiling slightly.

"I believe," Aquila said punctuating his words with a point of his hand, "the word you are looking for is something along the lines of plummet or plunge with a little bit of splat landing."

He paused for a moment, staring at his brother as he thought. His immediate response was to deny the pro-offered (a little more like ordered) help, but if he was being honest with himself he had no interest in moving of his own accord. In fact, if he had been alone he probably would still be lying where he had fallen.

"Fine," he huffed pretending to submit to this plan grudgingly as he held out a hand for his brother to help him up, "But you should know you're doing all the heavy lifting here." He paused a moment before snoring, "Ha get it - heavy lifting."

Almost as soon as he said it he stopped laughing and made a mock panicked face, "We gotta get me out of here fast Ceph. I am definitely more injured than I thought if I think that was funny."