Discussion With a Mirror {Rafe Thompson}

[Gilbert Thompson]

Even though Gil greatly enjoyed running, there wasn't any sort of organized sport for it, not here, anyway. Quite frankly, he'd been thinking about joining the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. He was light enough that he could make a fairly decent Seeker, and his flying was actually quite good.

There were always the positions of Keeper and Chaser to consider, as well. He probably could be a Beater, but there were others in his House that would be much better. Even his twin would be a better Beater than he would be; he was a bit heavier, but not by much.

True, he had the drama team to work with, but it would actually be fairly easy to fit both into his schedule. If he didn't have homework, that was. But he had managed to cope pretty well, so far, and he had extra time on his hands.

What better way to fill that extra time than with the most beloved sport in the Wizarding world?

But, yes, this was the sot of thing that he wanted to discuss with his twin; Rafe might be interested in joining, too.

Usually, they would have been together when they walked down to the pitch, but Gil had decided to take a run before heading over to the Quidditch pitch.

It was time to meet Rafe there, though, and he didn't want to be late; his twin wouldn't really appreciate that. And quite frankly, neither would Gil if he were the one to be waiting at the pitch.

[Rafe Thompson]

Rafe, though, had gotten there about two minutes earlier than his brother. Which was how he preferred things, really; he’d been that way ever since he was a baby. People who noticed that sometimes joked that it was because he was the younger twin: he’d lost the first race of their lives and wanted to make up for that by winning all the rest. Of course, if it was a literal race, Gil would probably win – at least if it took place on land. Rafe had always been more of a swimmer.

Then, of course, there was flying. In that case, in Rafe’s opinion, he and Gil were about evenly matched. Both of them were good flyers, and Rafe was glad there was no way he and his brother would ever be on opposing Quidditch teams at school. Not that it would have made Rafe any less competitive. If anything, yes, it would probably be the opposite. He knew Gil wouldn’t be horribly upset if Rafe’s team won the match, or become completely insufferable if Gil’s team won. Both of those were things he couldn’t be sure of with other people. Only the fact that he didn’t want to disappoint his team, even if that might please a friend, allowed him to do his best no matter who his opponents were.

Despite knowing that Gil would probably be on time for their meeting, Rafe had brought a book with him. He’d been reading it for a while now, getting a little further in the story every time he had five or ten otherwise unoccupied minutes. The blue-eyed Hufflepuff was just about to open the book when Gil showed up.

“Hello!” Putting the book away, Rafe smiled at his twin.

[Gilbert Thompson]

"Hello, yourself," Gil grinned. It was pretty much like looking into a mirror whenever he and Rafe interacted, even more so because he was left-handed and Rafe was right-handed. They were very much what people called "mirror twins."

But that wasn't really important right now. What was important right now was a different sort of discussion.

Looking out over the pitch, he grinned again. "So, what do you think?" he asked bluntly. Rafe would know what he was talking about; that was one of the wonderful things about being really good friends with a sibling, especially a twin; he could almost always interpret what Gil was saying, even if there wasn't much detail in his statement or question.

Even if Rafe decided he wasn't going to join, though, Gil had made up his mind that he was going to try out for the team. It was just something he wanted to do, and as it wasn't something that was a potentially stupid idea, he was going to go ahead with it, despite his twin's thoughts on the matter. If it had been a stupid idea, he would have seriously considered Rafe's objections, should he have had any. But as it wasn't, it was a bit of a moot point, at this particular moment in time.

Hopefully, though, once they were done talking about Quidditch, he could bring up his concerns about Sam; he definitely needed some advice on that topic.

[Rafe Thompson]

“You would be a good Seeker.” Yes, he did know what his twin had meant by that, and he did most times; since the time they were very young, they’d often been able to begin conversations in what seemed like it should be the middle of the discussion, with no confusion at all. Except, perhaps, on the part of anyone who happened to be trying to listen in. “Or maybe a Chaser? Which position are you trying out for? I’d like to be a Chaser or the Keeper.”

He would have been tempted to try out for the team even if he didn’t really have any free time whatsoever. But if that were the case, he suspected Gil would somehow find out about it and talk him out of it. Doing poorly on his O.W.L.s because he just didn’t make any time to study was not an option. Rafe had missed playing a team sport, though, and he’d always liked Quidditch, although he didn’t understand why it was apparently the only wizarding sport. What if someone liked sports but was afraid of flying? Granted, if they were afraid of flying, they might be made fun of, but he’d still met people who were, and they shouldn’t be left out.

Although he and his brother had some mutual friends, Sam happened to be one of the ones Rafe didn't know. That would make it harder to give advice; he had very little idea of what she was like as an individual. But he would have guessed she was probably rather like her father and therefore not easily persuaded to change her mind once she was sure that she was right about something.

“I wouldn’t want to be a Beater, though. I don’t really have the right build for it,” and Gil was even lighter than he was, “and, anyway, I wouldn’t want to aim a Bludger at anyone.” Which was a significant problem when that was one of the things a good Beater was expected to do.

[Gilbert Thompson]

"I was actually thinking about trying out for Seeker," he mused, gazing out over the Quidditch pitch. "Of course, I'd be perfectly happy as Chaser or Keeper, but, yeah, Seeker sounds good to me." After all, on the ground, he was a runner. A Seeker kind of had to be the airborne equivalent of a runner, in Gil's opinion.

Looking over his twin again, Gil nodded appreciatively. "Yeah, I could see you making a good Keeper OR Chaser," he told his brother. "Guess we'll just have to go to tryouts, try out for every position except Beater and see what happens," he grinned.

He hadn't really expected there to be any sort of disagreement on this front; Quidditch was rather straight-forward, when you got right down to it.

But now that that was settled, it was time to talk about what was really on Gil's mind.

"Rafe, I need some advice," he said, quite truthfully. He took a moment to explain some of the things about Sam, and what had been happening. Gil did not want to lose the Slytherin's friendship, but he also didn't want to stand idly by while she continued to hurt herself.

[Rafe Thompson]

Rafe would have said a Seeker was more like a swimmer, since runners didn’t dive or soar the way both flyers and swimmers could (unless, maybe, they were falling on the ground), but it was still a similar idea. But even though, yes, Rafe was a swimmer himself, it wasn’t a position he was interested in. Thank goodness for that, because there was a chance that if he had been, this would have ended in neither of them trying out, so as not to take anything away from the other.

The young Hufflepuff grinned back at his twin. “Sounds like a good idea to me.” He had a sudden mental image of what it would have to be like if they were the best candidates for Beater present at tryouts; that would be sad. Rafe wanted his House to have good Quidditch players, even if that ultimately meant he wasn’t on the team because better players tried out.

And then Gil mentioned needing advice. Ah, Rafe had suspected there was something more important than Quidditch on his brother’s mind. This sounded like a difficult issue to deal with. If he tried to help her, and she wasn’t ready to listen, she would probably be very angry at his interference. At the same time, though, this wasn’t just some bad relationship, which, while potentially traumatic, was something a person could get over, given enough time. This could kill her.

“Do you know why she’s doing this?” If he didn’t, it would be even harder to figure out what to do. Without that information, there would be no way, really, to know what to try in order to persuade her that it wasn’t necessary.

[Gilbert Thompson]

Well, they could have philosophical discussions about whether a Seeker was more like a runner or a swimmer at a later date.

Now, though, they'd come to a decision. Both of them would be trying out for various positions, and hopefully, they wouldn't be the best candidates for Beaters! That really would be quite sad!

Quite frankly, Gil doubted that that would happen, though; he knew some of his ... rather more muscular friends were interested in the Quidditch team, and yes, they would make much better Beaters than either of the Thompson boys would.

But then, they were back on the subject of Sam. Which was good as, yes, that was what was really pressing on Gil's mind, heart, and conscience.

"I think...," he started, frowning. "I think she's doing it because ... she thinks it makes her better. Allows her to be better. Because she wants to, even thinks she has to do absolutely anything and everything to please him and make him proud." What she didn't see, though, was that her father would have been proud of her anyway.

[Rafe Thompson]

Ouch. That was a tough one. Well, Gil had to know that already; stating it wasn’t going to do any good. Rafe just wished he could figure out what might help. But he couldn’t really come up with anything yet. The fact that he didn’t actually know the girl made it even harder.

“If you’re right, I’m not sure if anyone other than him can really do much about it,” the boy said softly. He could see Professor Snape being a very demanding parent, but Rafe highly doubted that he would want his daughter to starve herself. Although the young Hufflepuff had never actually seen evidence of this, he assumed that his professor was human in terms of having actual feelings and hopes and people he cared about. But somehow, that didn’t make Snape any less terrifying.

“I’ll try to think of something that might help. But that might take a while.” The problem was, he didn’t know how long she had. By the time things got as serious as they seemed to be from what Gil had said, it was sometimes already too late. And his brother might blame himself if he said nothing and Sam got worse. Rafe, in the same situation, would probably have a hard time not blaming himself anyway, even if he did say something, if he failed. If she made Gil feel that way, though, Rafe would end up resenting the girl in a way that could border on hatred. And, like most Hufflepuffs, Rafe did not hate easily.

[Gilbert Thompson]

"And I do know that," Gil sighed, gazing out over the Quidditch pitch, really trying to figure this whole thing out. He really felt like he should go to Professor Snape, but Sam was his friend. Then again, he'd never forgive himself if he didn't say anything and she got worse.

While his younger twin might be afraid of Professor Snape, Gil did his very best not to be afraid of very much. He had been rather intimidated by the Professor when he'd been a first year, but he had tried very hard in his classes, and Professor Snape had respected that.

True, they weren't on intimate terms, and well, he wasn't quite Gil's favorite professor, but he didn't dislike or fear the man, by any means.

"I think I'm going to have to talk to Professor Snape," he said, sighing again. "I'd rather have Sam hate me for it than see her get any worse." And yes, Gil would definitely blame himself if he didn't say anything. At this point, even though he was planning on saying something to the girl's father, he would probably still feel guilty for a while. But spending time with his twin would definitely help with that, he was sure. He'd come to a decision at last, though, and he felt slightly better about things. Not much, but at least he knew what he was going to do.

[Rafe Thompson]

Something in that sigh made Rafe wonder if Gil already knew what he thought he should do, and had just been hoping for an alternative solution. But that would mean his older twin at least had some sort of solution. Rafe couldn’t think of anything at all. He’d have tried to help a friend in the same situation – would still try to help Sam, even though he didn’t really know her, if he figured out a way he could. But if she didn’t already see the truth about what she was doing to herself, he didn’t know how anyone could force her to see it.

There were perhaps three people in the world to whom Rafe would have confessed the reason for his fear of Professor Snape. Most who knew about it would have assumed it was… well, the usual reasons so many students were afraid of Snape. But the reality was that it was not the possibility of failing Defense Against the Dark Arts, or losing House points, or even being humiliated in front of his entire class. All of these were unpleasant, of course. But what truly frightened Rafe was the vague but unshakeable suspicion that the professor knew exactly how sarcastic and cruel Rafe wanted to be at times. And, if nothing else, he’d always worried that someday a person who could tell things like that would try to goad him into actually voicing the snarky comments in his head, and he wouldn’t be able to resist.

“I wish I could come up with something else, but I think you’re right.” And if Sam did end up hating Gil for trying to help her, Rafe would do his best to make his brother feel better. “I hope she understands eventually, even if she doesn’t at first.”

But he could not truthfully tell Gil that Sam would probably get over it in time. He certainly didn’t have the dislike for Slytherins that many other Hufflepuffs (along with a lot of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws) did, but he knew that many of them were remarkably skilled at holding grudges. As were many Gryffindors. Which was unfortunate.