Asking a favour [Closed]

[Trent Innes]

[reserved for Kyle Winters]
In order to do well on his N.E.W.T.s, Trent needed to spend at least an hour a day reviewing the curriculum from last year. While that sounded perfectly achievable, there was one major problem: Trent did not have many notes from his sixth year. Not only had his attendance record been poor, but he also had the unhelpful tendency to only pay attention to what he found to be interesting or useful. But any of it, no matter how boring Trent found it to be, could be on the exam.

When Professor Forrester had broken the news this morning during office hours, Trent (after a moment of panic) thought his best shot at getting his hands on last year's notes would be to ask Kyle Winters. Kyle, in addition to being the classmate that he was on the best of terms with, was in all of his classes except for one. Ignoring the dreadful truth that he would need to talk to Professor Sigma about his Arithmancy notes, Trent had spent the rest of his Saturday at a table in the crowded common room, occasionally looking up from his mediocre notes to scan the room for any sight of Kyle.

While Trent knew Kyle's weekday routines well – they were very close to his own – he knew very little of where Kyle went during the weekends. He supposed he could send an owl asking to meet, but considering he had never done so before in the six years that he had known Kyle, it felt impertinent. Regardless, Trent's situation was not Kyle's problem or responsibility and he felt it was best simply to wait until Kyle was free to ask his favour.

It was nearly dinner time and the common room had started to empty, and there had still been no sign of Kyle – at least, not that Trent noticed. He had been half-reading, half dozing as he looked over last year's Potions notes and found, not surprisingly, incomplete recipes. He yawned, rested his chin on his hand and closed his eyes once more.

[Kyle Winters]

After a long week of school, the weekends were a good opportunity for Kyle to rest and recharge…

… if he actually had any time to himself to begin with.

Needless to say, as a Seventh-Year his school workload had become even heavier than before. Last year, the intensity of his N.E.W.T.-level classes had already given him quite a rude shock, but somehow things managed to get even worse this year. Apart from that, Quidditch practice was kicking into high gear again; as one of the oldest and most experienced members in the team he had to help coordinate the practice sessions and coach the younger members, while stepping up his own training to stay on top of his game at the same time.

On top of those commitments, Kyle also needed to visit the Muggle hospital at Bradford every now and then. Having recently outgrown his previous prosthesis, he was still in the process of getting used to his new one. His medical appointment earlier in the afternoon had taken longer than expected too. Just the other day his prosthesis had been bent out of shape in an unfortunate accident, and when he tried to fix it with the Mending Charm, the spell reverted it to its original state without the adjustments that had been made to accommodate for Kyle’s gait. The prosthetist had been most perplexed about why the prosthesis had gone out of alignment yet again, and the only thing the teenager could do was to feign ignorance and pretend that he was just as confused.

It was almost dinnertime when Kyle finally arrived back at Hogwarts. All that long-distance Apparating had made him hungry, but it seemed like a good idea to take a quick shower first. By the time he reached the Entrance Hall his mind was still not made up, and out of habit he found himself heading down the stairs to the Slytherin common room. Oh well. Since he was already here, he might as well put his backpack and crutches down first, rather than lug all his belongings with him.

The common room was emptier than usual, but there were still quite a few students who hadn’t gone upstairs for dinner yet. Among them was a drowsy Trent, who probably had been reading (or trying to read) something before giving up and choosing to get some shut-eye instead. Curious about what Trent had been reading, Kyle stole across the common room as quietly as he could take a peek. Though he did not know what to expect, Kyle was nonetheless still a little surprised to find that it was Trent’s notes from Potions class. It was a humanising moment: the usually unflappable and nonchalant Trent was, like everyone else, not immune to the stress of having little time left to buck up and improve his grades before the impending N.E.W.T.s after all.

But there was something was a little off about the notes, and Kyle did a double take before realising that some of the recipes were incomplete. Not good… he thought to himself, wondering how Trent would go about resolving this issue. Not wanting to appear like a presumptuous prick, he was pondering over how he should broach the topic to Trent when he accidentally bumped into something behind him with his backpack. He turned to see what it was, and instead hit the crutches in his hands against something else with a loud thud.

A quick glance revealed, to Kyle’s relief, that he had only knocked into two out-of-position chairs. But the noise was probably sufficient to wake Trent up. “Um… is Potions that boring for you?” he blurted out in the spur of the moment. And it was only after those words left his lips did it dawn upon Kyle that he could have raised the topic at a later and more convenient time.

[Trent Innes]

As he looked for the source of the thudding noise that had woken him, Trent found himself face-to-face with just the person that he had been waiting for. "What?" he asked in confusion as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes and found Kyle looking at him expectantly. "Oh," he said, as Kyle's question about Potions being boring slowly registered in his drowsy state. Nodding, he stifled a yawn and gestured to the parchment titled "Amortentia" which was currently being held open with a bottle of ink and a copy of Advanced Potion-Making. "Sometimes, yeah," he agreed. Trent had described the characteristics of the love potion in great detail, but with no desire to ever brew one, had only copied down the first two ingredients before putting down his quill and letting his mind wander for the rest of the lesson.

Trent leaned his chair back and stretched, but as he offered a grin to Kyle, he suddenly remembered the task ahead of him. His smile faded and he returned to his position at the table and stared down at the scrolls in front of him with a blank expression and his jaw tight. Now that Kyle was actually here, he was having second thoughts about asking him for his notes from last year. It was a big request, and why should Trent reap the benefits of Kyle's hard work? They weren't close friends, in fact, Trent had only started calling Kyle by his first name just the night before during their detention.

Frowning slightly as he tried to think of something he could offer in exchange for the notes, Trent moved the makeshift paperweights off of his notes on Amortentia and tossed the now-rolled scroll into one of the two piles he had been sorting his notes into before falling asleep: "complete" and "incomplete". Kyle's not the best with Transfiguration, he thought, as he unrolled another scroll. This one revealed itself to be nearly three feet of parchment covered with extensive notes on the Wound-Cleaning Potion - while not as glamorous as Amortentia, this potion was far more useful to Trent.

I could help him with his casting form, he thought quickly. It was the best he had come up with, and he needed to ask soon before Kyle left for dinner. "Hey Kyle?" he called, tossing the scroll on Wound-Cleaning into the smaller pile. There was a short pause that might have looked as though he was waiting for confirmation from Kyle, but during which Trent gathered the nerve to continue with his absurd request. "Could I please borrow all of your notes from last year? And, if you want, maybe we could study and practice for our N.E.W.T.s together?" he asked, his voice calm and mostly disguising the panic he felt at the chance Kyle might say no.

[Kyle Winters]

Indeed, the ruckus that Kyle had made was loud enough to jolt Trent from his slumber, and without thinking he blurted out something about whether Trent really found Potions so boring. He immediately regretted his clumsy attempt to defuse what might not even have been an awkward situation, but Trent simply replied with a cool “Sometimes, yeah.”

Trent’s grin disappeared as his gaze returned to the notes, some of which were incomplete, and for a second Kyle wondered if the both of them were sharing the same thought bubble. At that moment he felt it was awfully arrogant of him for assuming that Trent didn’t already have a solution at hand. But his thoughts were interrupted when Trent called out. “Um, yea? he acknowledged as he looked at his friend with bated breath, unsure of what was to come.

But Kyle’s worries turned out to be absolutely unfounded when Trent requested to borrow his notes and suggested that they could study together for their upcoming N.E.W.T.s. “Oh,” he mumbled absently, secretly relieved that Trent had saved him the effort of broaching the topic, before breaking into a smile. “That would be great. Honestly, half the time I’m just blindly jotting down whatever the professors write on the board,” he admitted ruefully. “I'm only good at accurately copying things wholesale like a photocopier, so I'd definitely need help understanding some of the more difficult concepts.”

“Don't worry, I’ve summarised everything we learnt last year – or were supposed to learn – into a set of condensed notes,” he added, just in case his previous sentence conjured an image of a veritable mountain of parchment in Trent's mind. “They served me well enough for me to scrape through, but I think that’s on me, rather than the notes.”

[Trent Innes]

Trent had been watching Kyle's reaction closely, and when Kyle mumbled absently, his immediate thought was that Kyle was looking for a polite way to decline. "Never mind," he said quickly, intending to tell Kyle not to worry about it – he was asking for too much, too soon – but to his surprise, Kyle smiled and agreed. "I – what?" Trent asked faintly, not entirely sure if he had heard him correctly. As it became clear that Kyle was not only willing to share his note but also seemed excited about it, Trent's face lit up as he broke out into a wide dimpled grin. "Really?" he asked, shaking his head and laughing softly in disbelief. "Thank you. You're a lifesaver, honestly," he said.

Trying to not get caught up in the excitement of his triumph, Trent paid close attention to Kyle's next words though he couldn't stop smiling. There's still Arithmancy to figure out, came a nagging thought that he ignored almost as soon as it came; he would figure that out later. When Kyle mentioned that he didn't always understand some of his own notes, Trent frowned slightly. While he knew nothing of Kyle's grades, he had seen Kyle perform magic these last six years and felt as though Kyle was being unnecessarily hard on himself. "I'm not worried about that," he said quickly when Kyle assured him that his notes were complete, even if he didn’t understand all of them himself. "And I can help you with..."

Trent trailed off for a moment, trying to think of a way to phrase his next words in a way that wouldn't sound boastful or make Kyle further doubt his own abilities. "I'm pretty good at picking things up once I have the notes," he began, and then wanting to balance his strengths with his weaknesses, continued: "But it's difficult to remember everything. Especially for spells I don't use very often." He grinned again, remembering the night before when he had performed the Gouging Spell in place of the Scouring Charm.

Trent stretched and looked around the common room, leaping to his feet to realize that it had completely emptied during his conversation with Kyle. "Sorry! he said. "I've kept you from dinner." He began to gather his belongings off of the table, and dropped them into his bag haphazardly; sorting the scrolls no longer seemed important now that Kyle would be sharing his much more detailed notes. "We better get upstairs or we'll miss it."

[Kyle Winters]

In all the years that Kyle had known Trent, it wasn’t too often that he got to see the his friend smile so broadly. Him agreeing to lend his notes must have lifted a heavy weight off Trent’s chest. “I’m just doing what any friend should do,” he said as he returned the smile, equally heartened that he was able to help a friend out. When Trent mentioned that he was good at picking things up, Kyle's eyes lit up. “Thank you in advance, Professor Innes,” he said in a half serious, half playful manner. Despite the cheeky remark, his gratitude was genuine, for that was something he really needed help with.

It was as though Trent had read Kyle's mind, for he raised another issue that was troubling the latter: his tendency to forget anything he hadn’t revised in a while. All the times when he had cast the wrong spell came to mind and he cringed inwardly, but Trent’s grin reminded him of their detention on the first day of school and how he had ended up blasting a hole in the stone floor of the Owlery instead of cleaning it. That was enough to distract him from his depressing thoughts, and he chuckled at the funny recollection. “How could you not remember the Scouring Charm?” he asked in disbelief. “It’s such a useful spell and a complete game changer, I swear. Totally blows the Henry vacuum out of the wa—” Abruptly he stopped himself as he realised that Trent was probably unfamiliar with the ubiquitous Muggle household appliance. At the same time, he was also feeling a bit embarrassed about how enthusiastically he had been gushing over a mundane household charm. “Sorry,” he said. “Got a bit too carried away there.”

Quickly, he changed the subject. “But speaking of spells we don’t use often, why would anyone use the Porcupine to Pincushion spell outside of Transfiguration class?” he asked incredulously. “There aren’t even any porcupines in Britain.” But his rhetorical question needed no answer. Not was it the right time to ponder over it: the two of them had been so engrossed in their conversation that they were now late for dinner. “Nah, it’s my fault for blabbering on for so long,” he apologised instinctively. He nodded when Trent said that they should get moving, and while his expression betrayed none of his feelings, deep down inside he was somewhat miffed at himself for being so easily distracted and holding his friend up from his dinner.

It was only when they were going up the stairs did Kyle realise that he had also clean forgotten about why he had came into the common room to begin with. He shook his head with a resigned laugh. That quick shower that he had intended to take before dinner would have to wait.

[Trent Innes]

While Trent had many acquaintances, and, as far he knew, no one actively disliked him, it wasn't often that someone called him a "friend". Hearing the words from Kyle caught him off-guard, and though he kept smiling, his eyes glazed over as he took it all in. Friend? Trent had always liked Kyle well enough; they got along, and spoke to each other on a daily basis – it was hard not to when they shared a dormitory and most classes – but did Kyle actually consider Trent to be his friend? When had that happened? And why did it feel so unnerving to Trent that he felt the same way about Kyle?

The "Professor Innes" remark brought Trent to the present, and catching Kyle's expression, he laughed in earnest. "Come off it," he said dismissively, but in an equally playful manner. Trent felt a pang of regret at the reminder that he had forgotten the Scouring Charm and hesitated on his explanation. It felt too personal to be revealing his affluent background, but in light of their newly discovered (by Trent, anyway) friendship, he answered honestly. "My parents always had house-elves, so between their house and Hogwarts, I've never really had a need to use it." Trent had always tidied up after himself, but as far as needing cleaning spells or equipment, he had always been spoiled in that regard. "But you're right. I need to practice it. I'm going to need it in ten months."

Trent's smile widened as Kyle seemed to understand his plight by pointing out spells that seemed entirely useless other than needing them to pass their exams. Trent laughed, and continuing the conversation as they exited the common room, he said, “Right? I know Professor Dextera is just trying to teach us the fundamentals, but I’m not likely to remember how to turn a teacup into a gerbil.” They climbed up the stone stairwell and out of the dungeons, breaking through into the crowded Entrance Hall where students were beginning to gather following dinner.

Trent checked his watch. "Ten minutes left," he said briskly, and added, "plenty of time." He pushed open the double doors of the Great Hall and as they headed towards the Slytherin table, Trent remembered his earlier plans and groaned involuntarily. "I just remembered, I'm supposed to meet Simone by the lake," he said, referring to their classmate, Simone Taylor, a seventh-year Ravenclaw whom Trent had gone out with a couple of times the previous year. "I'll catch up with you later, all right? Thanks again, Kyle."

As he jogged out towards the Lake to meet Simone, Trent replayed this evening's accomplishments and discoveries, and to his surprise, he found himself smiling.

Friends. It didn’t sound so bad after all.