[Lake] With Love

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash sat on the banks of the huge lake, knees drawn up towards him, arms wrapped around them. He was waiting for his lover Simon Ellison. They'd been having a little fling for the past few month, nothing serious. Just a way to have some fun and release the tensions of the week. Or month. Whenever Simon was able to sneak down for a visit.

The former Ravenclaw lay back against his favorite willow tree and listened for the familiar voice of his lover. Well, not really former because once a Ravenclaw, always a Ravenclaw. At least in Ash's book anyway.

Picking up the small, flat, smooth tones lying in the sandy area next to him, he started flicking them out towards the lake, watching them skip across the water. Finally, he heard a familar voice, and turned with a small smile.

[Simon Ellison]

It has been a long time since Simon had come this far up north and walked in the forest that once used to be his home during the uprising many years ago. Everything seemed to have gone wrong for the rogue wizards and with Girty leaving him Simon had made a quick exit down to London to squatter for a while with other wizards such as him. He lived off doing the odd jobs around the wizarding world, working as a boggart remover for a few years, but now there was talk…talk that there was a great power raising and as a result the Ministry of Magic seemed to be getting a little more tight with possible wanted felons and as a result Simon left the ‘big city’ and headed to find what this dark power was.

However during his time back in Scotland he had bumped into someone he knew from school, a former Ravenclaw and now a Professor up at the castle. He was a good looking bloke and after many drinks and before Simon knew what he was going he found himself locked lipped with Ashton Laurent. At first Simon did not know what to make of it all, he was on the run so maybe getting into something was not the most sensible of options, but Ashton was a Professor and he knew that he was close with the Hubbles family who over the years seemed to have gained a hell of a lot more power in the wizarding world. Maybe this would be a good connection to have, and so selfishly Simon carried on with the fling in the hope of a bit of safety and information. It was not everyday however Simon dared risk coming out of cover and seeing his ‘lover’ but he had messaged Ashton earlier and arranged a meeting and this was the very reason why he was walking across the castle grounds towards the dark lake.

His hood was pulled up over his head covering his dyed black hair (the appearance change was in hope of not being noticed) and swiftly made his way across the lawns towards a solitary figure sitting in the sand skimming stones over the still water.
“You know it is dangerous to be out at night.” Simon chuckled as he approached up behind Ashton, a small teasing smile tugging on his lips. “Or maybe you are waiting for that dark stranger to come and whisk you away?”

His hood stayed up as Ashton turned to face him and he stood there waiting for the Professor to make the first move, he could tell that Ashton enjoyed his company and the passion that between them and since Simon was with Ashton for the information (or so he kept telling himself, but there was always that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that maybe there was something more) he decided to let the old Ravenclaw make the first move.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash gave a smirk at Simon's warning of it being dangerous to be out at night. "I laugh in the face of danger" he retorted cheekily. Of course he knew it was a little more dangerous than before, but he wasn't really scared. Hell, not much scared him. Except for a certain..man. But Ash was determined not to think about him right now. Right now, all he wanted was a few minutes (okay, more than just a few) with Simon.

He smiled as he caught a glimpse of Simon's black hair under his hood. "Maybe I am." he replied in answer to Simon's question. "Nice hair by the way" he knew Simon was waiting for him to make the first move, but Ash was in a teasing mood tonight, and turned his attention back to the lake. "So, what've you been up to lately? Besides no good?" he teased gently, the hint of a laugh in his voice.

Finally, after a few minutes of silent waiting, he stood and with not quite two steps, was standing right in front of Simon. He smiled as he placed a gentle kiss on the other man's lips. "You have any trouble getting down here?" he murmured quietly through the kiss.

[Simon Ellison]

It seemed that Ashton was onto him and as the two of them stood face to face, their eyes locked on one another Simon was convinced he could see something through the laughter. A chink in Ashton’s shiny armour maybe, but he had a feeling that he was not going to delve into it too easily and Simon was not one to prey on someone else’s troubles, he had enough of his own as it was. A selfish opinion maybe but living rough made you selfish, there was no room to care for other people. Simon had been taught to have a heart of stone, but maybe there was someone out there to chip away the stone and find the flesh and blood underneath.

As the silence fell over them Ashton turned back to the lake and just after the compliment about his hair. “Thanks.” He mumbled as he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets to protect them from the cold evening breeze that was rolling in over the lake. “I have been up to the odd things.” He looked over at Ashton and gave him a cheeky look. “I have been earning a bit of money by doing a bit of cleaning and pest control…to use the term loosely. What about you?”

Finally Ashton turned to him and gave into temptation planting a kiss upon his lips, Simon barley had time to kiss him back when another question was thrown his way. “There were a couple of students hanging around in the forest.” He rested his forehead against Ashton’s and tried to look into his lovers eyes but from such close range Ash looked like he had three eyes rather then two. “Honestly, authority in this school seems to be lacking, are you meant to be on watch tonight Professor Laurent?”

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash shrugged when Simon asked what he's been up to. "Teaching, patrolling, and on occasion hanging out at the pub. That's pretty much it." was his answer. Merlin his life was boring. He wished something exciting would happen. He groaned, dropping his head on Simon's shoulder. "Ugh, my life is so boring." he mumbled.

Of course, he wasn't sure he wanted as much excitment as Simon probably had, but he wished something would happen. Anything to break up the tedium of being a young teacher. Well, not that teaching was boring. He just felt that as one of the youngest members, if not the youngest, of the staff no one really payed any mind to him or his opinions.

But now of course was not the time to complain about that. He knew Simon couldn't stay for long, and he planned to make as much of that time as fun and carefree as possible. He shivered slightly as the cool breeze stirred the leaves. "Yeah, it does seem that way. No, I was on patrol last night."

[Simon Ellison]

Simon has always thought that being a teacher would be a dull profession, after all school was boring so he could not see how being a teacher would be any better. The thought of having to pretend to be passionate about something enough to pass it onto the students seemed far too much effort for him. But then, he was the man who was on the run from the law and living rough in the attic of an abandoned house…some life huh?

But it seemed that Ashton longed for a life like that and as Ash leaned his head on his shoulder Simon planted a gentle kiss on the top of his head and wrapped his arms around the Muggle Studies Professor. “Neh, your life is not boring.” Simon reassured him “You’ve got a rogue wizard in your life now, how can that be boring?”

Simon’s soft chuckle ended abruptly when he felt Ashton shiver underneath him. With a small smile Simon unwrapped his arms and slipped off his red jacket handing it to Ashton revelling a skin tight black t-shirt. “Here.” He said softly “Take this, you look freezing, I will go and collect some wood to start a small camp fire.”

As soon as Ashton had taken the jacket from him Simon jogged off towards the borders of the forest collecting the odd sticks that where lying on the floor. He knew magic would be able to start a fire, but you needed to have the full effect right? Heading back Simon arranged the twigs on the sandy floor and shot his grey eyes up to Ashton with a small smile tugging on his lips. “Care to do the honours?” He asked, referring to the lighting of the fire.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash mumbled incoherently when Simon assured him that his life was not boring. He knew of course that Simon was just trying to make him feel better. How could his life not be boring? Plus, as good of a liar and manipulator as Simon was, Ash seemed to have a special gift for seeing right through him. Creepy, but special.

He started to protest when Simon offered his jacket, but took it anyway because he knew that Simon Ellison was not going to take "No" for an answer. The raven-haired boy slipped his arms into the sleeves and closed the garment around his slim figure. Seeing as Simon at six feet, one inch was quite a bit taller than him, the sleeves hung down past his hands. It was a bit annoying, but ahh well, at least it kept them warm.

He smiled slightly when Simon came back with an armful of wood for the fire. He knew of course that they could just use magic, but that seemed to take away from the experience. Plus, Ash loved the smell of campfire smoke, and the smell of burning wood. So, when Simon asked him to do the honors, he gladly accepted and pulled a box of matches from his bag. Don't ask why he had them, he just did. Striking a match, he held the tiny flame against the wood and watched the fire flare up.

[Simon Ellison]

The mumbling from Ashton made Simon roll his eyes, he was just trying to offer the Professor a little feel good comment to make him feel better about his sad little life, but apparently he was not going to believe him. Oh well, his lose really, if he wanted to be all emo about it and have a sulk about how rubbish his life was then he could just go ahead, Simon had more prying issues at hand. Ashton even looked like he was going to start to protest when Simon offered him his jacket but thankfully he decided against it, clearly the Ravenclaw was smarter then he looked.

Well maybe, Simon thought bitterly as when he gave the offer for Ashton to start the fire he pulled out a box of muggle matches and did it the old fashioned way. He must have had his reasons, over the couple of months they had been conducting their fling it was something that Simon had got used too, Ash’s strange little quirks which made him…well him and one day Simon was sure he would find someone to who loves those little things, unfortunately he was not going to be that ‘one’ as they just seemed to drive him barmy.

However, the matches served their purpose and before long the orange and red flames was consuming the twigs and a warm haze surrounded them cancelling out the coldness of the breeze over the lake. In Simon’s opinions there was nothing quiet like a camp fire and a small content smile passed over the man’s face. Simon wrapped an arm around Ashton pulling him closer towards him as he stared into the flames before talking once more.

“So…anything interesting happening up in the castle recently? Ministry officials snooping around?” Simon was trying to make it sound like casual conversation but he was more worried about being caught by an aurora when he was just relaxing by the lake…that would make an interesting headline in the newspaper, thinking about newspapers… “Did you bring down that copy of the paper?”