A Sideways Glance [Abe/Open]

[Rickie Connery]

The battle raged on around him, everywhere there were screams of ‘MEDIC!,’ more than Rickie Connery could cope with. The only thing that pushed him out of his foxhole was the adrenaline coursing through him. Stumbling through a mixture of mud and blood, the man found his first patient. Bleeding from the gut, the wounded soldier squirmed profusely, screaming for his mother. Shaking, Rickie fumbled with a small syringe of morphine and pushed it into the man’s left thigh.

It was there looking over his shoulder, panting, waiting. Waiting for Rickie to exhaust himself in trying to save a lost cause. Patiently the Grim watched the medic do everything humanly possible and, just when Rickie thought the man would live, the Grim pounced passed, taking the soul of the wounded man with him.

A rush of emotion poured out of the medic. With a mixture of anger, frustration, guilt and sadness he screamed. It echoed off the trees that surrounded him, shaking the very forest to its core. He’d failed as a medic, he’d failed his fellow soldier but who was he? Taking the dead man’s dog tags in his blood soaked fingers, tentatively he read the name. Adrian Connery... what?

With a violent start, Rickie awoke covered in a cold sweat. Shaking slightly he pulled himself out of bed and stalked to the room’s small bathroom. He recoiled as the small light bulb flickered into life and dreaded seeing himself in the mirror. For as long as he could the man put going to the sink off but he needed the calming feeling of water on his face more than anything.

Half dressed; he surveyed himself in the mirror. The dim light made the pale pink of scar tissue painfully obvious and made the dark circles underneath his eyes stand out against his pale skin. Rickie Connery looked exactly like he felt, like shit. Dreaming about war, the Grim and his brother at the same time often did that to the man.

He knew full well he wouldn’t be going back to sleep after one of his nightmares. Disorientated, he dressed himself and stumbled down to the main bar, Muck the kitten not far behind him. It was just starting to get dark, great; he’d just slept through the day, again. If he was one of the people in the village he would have assumed long ago that he was the vampire there were rumours about. Hell he looked and acted a lot like a vampire so he couldn’t blame all the nervous glances.

Once again as Rickie walked into the bar, the girl behind it smiled at him but, unlike the first time, she made no attempt to talk to him. After the disastrous attempt last time the man couldn’t help but be relieved at the fact she’d given up with him. Already she’d poured his usual drink, water, and had left it in front of his usual stool at the far end of the bar.

Gratefully he planted himself on it and took up his usual stance of looking into the bottom of the glass.

[Abraham Grey]

Abe was rapidly running out of good places to drink. With that god awful bloodsucker making frequent visits to The Hog to do his slapdash job of caring for Vivian and the soul destroyer more commonly known as Jacaranda Mulicber with her claws in Silas at Scores that only left The Three Broomsticks to get his fill of firewhiskey in relative peace. He wasn’t all that fond of the pub, it gave drinking a bad name.

Too warm, jolly and family friendly. Abe didn’t want to drunkenly pass out, or worse vomit, on a small child. It took all the fun out of the process. Not to mention the parents were usually quite upset about the whole thing. Plus students were allowed inside, like he wanted to be approached for help with an Arithmancy essay when he was trying to drink. However with his options severely limited he was willing to drop his standards. It was still better than drinking alone in his office. That was just pathetic.

Idris had declined to join him, something about still sulking over the house points Abe had taken off his Slytherins in an effort to get ahead in the House Cup. Abe didn’t think he’d been that unreasonably, sure a twenty five point deduction was a little extreme just for having untidy uniform, but otherwise how would they ever learn. He was only trying to instil some discipline in the scruffy lot of them. It just meant he had to make his way down to The Three Broomsticks alone.

Abe apparated as soon he was outside the school grounds, appearing just outside the door to the pub. He rubbed his hands gleefully in the blast of warm air that hit him as he pushed open the door and made a beeline for the bar. There was a kitten playing by one of the barstools and Abe stooped to pet it, fingers brushing over the soft fur of it’s head, then he straightened and plonked himself into an empty seat next to a man that look not only like he’d had one of those days, but also one of those weeks and quite possibly one of those years too.

”Most people drink their alcohol, rather than trying to absorb the vapours through their eyeballs.” He commented jovially. Cute fluffy animals generally put him in a good mood. Abe signalled to the girl behind the bar that he was ready to order. ”I’ll have what he’s having.” He pointed at the man’s glass. ”Wait.” Abe plucked it from in front of him and gave it a good sniff. ”Water? Seriously? Make it a firewhiskey. Double.”

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[Rickie Connery]

The strange man barely registered in Rickie’s brain when he sat down beside him. He was a little surprised that someone had actually sat next to him, a rare occurrence. The man heard Muck start to purr at his feet which made him jump slightly. Of course the cat had followed him down to the bar, he always did. When Muck clawed his man’s leg wanting to get at the stranger, Rickie picked him up and placed up on the bar.

Even when the strange man spoke to him, the younger man did not look up. It was not because Rickie didn’t want to talk; it was because his nightmare addled brain had made processing words become incredibly slow. Eventually Abe’s words registered and Rickie looked up. “Oh hi, sorry I was off...” he stopped; the older man didn’t need to know what he was thinking about.

Rickie looked back to his drink, becoming increasingly self-conscious and agitated. God he needed a smoke. Rickie Connery was no good in social situations but for everyone’s sake he endeavoured forward. “Hi there, I’m Rickie Connery and I see you’ve met Muck,” he introduced himself and the cat. He smiled weakly at Abe and gestured needlessly to the kitten that was sniffing curiously at Abe’s drink. Rickie had to pull the cat back a bit before he started to lap at the whiskey.

[Abraham Grey]

It took his designated drinking buddy for the evening a moment to respond and he looked kind of dazed even when he did finally pipe up. ”Elsewhere.” Abe finished his sentence for him. The male rules of drinking company were well ingrained into his brain. Abe didn’t expect this guy to share his life story or even say what he was thinking, the occasional grunt of acknowledgement was enough. This wasn’t a slumber party. Besides he was quite happy to fill the airtime.

At least he’d introduced himself though, it probably would have been slightly awkward if Abe had just kept prattling away when his company clearly wasn’t wanted. ”Connery?” He echoed, that couldn’t be a coincidence could it. Two Connery’s in the same town of Scotland. ”As in related to Adrian Connery?” So much for not prying into Rickie’s personal business, but Abe had a scholar’s curiosity and it wasn’t like he and Adrian was sharing anecdotes of his family.

He reached out, happy to pet the kitten Rickie had placed on the bar, his hands rumpling the fur which still didn’t deter the tiny animal from trying to get at his drink. Abe grinned too as Rickie pulled Muck back, lifting his drink to avoid further exploration on the cat’s part. Whiskey with a fur ball chaser, not tasty. ”I’m Abraham Grey. Abe. I work up at the castle.” He didn’t feel the need to explain further, everybody in Hogsmeade knew about the school. It was their main source of employment and income.

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[Rickie Connery]

Rickie’s smiled and nodded at the man a couple of times, nonchalantly trying to cover the scars on his neck with his jacket. Had he seen them? Was that why the man was humouring him? Becoming more and more agitated, the younger man began to tap his fingers on the bar. Muck, delighted at the thought Rickie was playing with him, batted at his fingers.

Rickie was once again beginning to drown in his thoughts, the darkness and despair was dragging his mind away. As much as he fought to stay focussed on the man beside him, the memories kept coming. It was only when the stranger mentioned his brother did Rickie resurface. He physically winced at his brother’s name and shook his head.

“No, I don’t know him,” he lied, looking away to try and hide his face that said otherwise. The urge to light up was becoming harder and harder to resist now. “It’s nice to meet you Abe,” just his luck. Of all the people he could have run into it had to be someone that was connected to Adrian. Screw the no smoking rule, Rickie needed a smoke and he needed it now. Fumbling through his pocket he brought out a pack of cigarettes and lighter. “You want one?” he offered the smokes to Abe. He hoped the other man didn’t mind someone smoking around him.

In the army it wasn’t something one worried about. Everyone smoked, some resisted it but the stress of warfare always got to them in the end. Smoking and drinking were some of the only stress relievers out in the front and Rickie had no interest in drinking after seeing what it had done to some of his best mates.

[Abraham Grey]

”Really?” Abe asked, more to keep the conversation rolling than out of any disbelief that Rickie wasn’t related to Connery after all. It clearly just a strange coincidence. He even looked a bit like Adrian, but perhaps Rickie just had one of those faces that reminded you of people you knew. Abe shrugged it off, settling for bitching about Connery to somebody who didn’t know him. The best people to bitch and moan to, in his experience, were people you didn’t know, they were less likely to go running to tell on you.

”Adrian is a colleague of mine. Sucks the fun out of everything, stickler for the rules and all that.” He explained to fill the silence. Never let it be said that Abe didn’t like to hear the sound of his own voice. One of the reasons he’d become a teacher was because he got to ramble his way through classes. ”He’s a fun sponge.” Abe nodded. Yes, that as a good term for it. ”But I guess you don’t really want to know this, since you don’t even know the man.” He said, bordering on sheepish.

To distract himself he took another swig of his drink, setting the empty tumbler down on the bar with a satisfying thunk of glass on wood. For once he didn’t signal for a refill straight away, it was still relatively early and he wasn’t a total drunkard. ”Good to meet you too.” Abe responded, flashing a grin. ”Good company is hard to find in bars these days.” He added, thinking specifically of a certain vampire, an accountant and his treacherous so called friend Idris.

Abe didn’t smoke and as such he was terrible at it, but when Rickie offered him the pack he had to accept. Turning the cigarette down would make him less manly and just be plain rude. ”Thanks,” He slipped the end between his lips, not waiting for the lighter and using his wand to ignite it instead. He even succeeded in not singeing his eyebrows off in the process, hurdle one passed with flying colours. ”Been in Hogsmeade long?” Abe asked, trying to avoid actually inhaling.

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[Rickie Connery]

Wait hang on a second. The longer Rickie looked at Abe, the more he recognised him. It was him! His old Arithmancy professor. The dawn of recognition lit up the younger man’s face at once and he had to fight it off if he was to keep up his charade. Wow, that had been unexpected and made things a little complicated but it seemed the older man didn’t have a clue who he was. Yet.

Arithmancy had always been Rickie’s favourite subject while he’d been at school and it had gotten even better once Professor Grey had come into the school in his fourth year. The way he taught it made had made the subject twice as interesting than it had already been. He fought hard to keep a reminiscent smile from crossing his face. The man before him had helped him to pass at least one NEWT subject.

Rickie laughed at what Abe told him about Adrian. That was his older brother alright. He hadn’t changed a bit by the sound of it. “Yeah I know the type,” he laughed softly. Oh how true that was. He looked back at his glass, actually feeling happy for the first time in months. Muck mewed softly at Rickie, patting gently at his hands before wandering back to Abe looking for attention. “By all means, if you want to bitch about this Adrian guy, I’m not gonna stop you,” Rickie said almost insistently.

He couldn’t help but snort at Abe’s comment about good company. That was the last thing he was according to the people he’d met at other places. The fact that Rickie didn’t talk much and was incredibly jumpy at everything didn’t help their opinions of him, at all.

“No, I haven’t been here long. A week, if that,” he answered sullenly. The reasons he was here were not pleasant ones. Hogsmeade had been the only place Rickie knew he’d be safe. He was a deserter and a coward and he was now hiding from the consequences.

[Abraham Grey]

Abe glanced over at Rickie and was struck by how familiar he seemed. Rickie… Connery… He furrowed his brow, scrambling through old memories to try and make the connection. Another, longer look at the man and suddenly realisation struck. Abe gaped at him, but the shock didn’t last long and he was soon grinning like a maniac. ”Rickie!” He bellowed, sounding absolutely delighted. ”Why didn’t you say something? Trying to catch an old professor out, I’ll bet. Nothing gets past me son!” He reached up and tapped his nose knowingly, dislodging the ash that had built up on the end of the cigarette perched between his fingers.

”Bloody genius you were, not like the idiots I teach now.” Abe beamed, not caring that it wasn’t exactly fair of him to insult the students he taught now. They tried bless them, they just weren’t that bright. ”Where’d you disappear off to after school? I had you all lined up for an apprenticeship at my father’s firm you know.” Teaching Rickie had been a rare treat and Abe had wanted to keep hold of him for as long as possible. Finding somebody who both enjoyed Arithmancy and was good at it was usual.

His face fell as little as he realised he’d been badmouthing Connery to his own brother after all. Woops. ”Hey listen, about Adrian, no hard feelings right?” If he remembered right Rickie hadn’t been Adrian’s biggest fan when they were back in school, but that didn’t give Abe the right to go insulting. Even if Rickie had as good as invited him to do so. ”Merlin,” A look of sudden horror crossed his face. ”You didn’t become an Auror did you?” Abe had nothing against Aurors in principle, but in practice they were terribly dull fellows.

He reached out to pet Rickie’s kitten as it made it’s way back over to him, looking for attention. ”This calls for a celebration.” Abe signalled to the bartender to get them more drinks, then he remembered Rickie was on the water. Oh well, he could drink enough for the two of them. Once his glass was refilled he raised it in a toast, not waiting for Rickie before he tossed back a mouthful. ”To old friends.” So they hadn’t strictly been friends, but close enough.

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[Rickie Connery]

And there it was, the recognition Rickie had been hoping wouldn’t cross Professor Grey’s mind. “You caught me out Professor,” he grinned with practised emotion, the ‘Professor’ part came out of drilled in, strict respect for any form of authority. There was nothing he could do about it now; his pathetic excuse for a game was up. So far his attempts at Adrian not knowing he was here had been going well, that was until Abraham Grey had sat next to him. The man found himself silently praying that the recognition would only be faint and fleeting, he was just another student but once again no.

So he was, or had been, a genius, that was nice to hear. With a faint blush the younger man looked away, pretending to be distracted by a female customer. Why did Abe have to be interested in his life outside of school? Why did he have to ask questions? Memories of better times came back the more Abe talked. The mention of the job opportunity missed made Rickie sigh, Adrian had made sure that job had gone to someone else. Adrian had wanted his little brother in the ministry where he could keep an eye on him, preferably in the same department. Rickie chuckled darkly when Abe asked him whether he’d become an Auror or not.

“No, I travelled the world instead,” he replied shortly, draining the last of the water in his glass. He signalled the bar girl shyly for a refill and busied himself smirking into the bottom of the glass again. “I hate Adrian,” he admitted slowly, quietly, “so by all means, keep going.” If anything Rickie wanted to hear what his idiot of a brother had gotten himself up to over these last few years. Making enemies for himself and playing the hero no doubt. He wondered whether his style had evolved from those stupid trenchcoats Adrian had always stolen from their father when they were younger.

“To past students,” Rickie joined in the toast with a small smile and followed Abe’s lead. In an instant the once full glass was empty. Next to the empty glass Muck mewed pitifully, desperate not for attention now but Rickie’s jacket pocket. Happy to oblige the man scooped the kitten up and slid him into one of the oversized pockets where the cat happily began to purr and doze off.