Closed The Sleepover PV Alan

The country house of the Vanes was probably beyond George's imagination. It was big, huge even considering it was inhabited by only a small family, and it looked fancy. From the gate there was a path of neat cobblestone that lead through a beautiful garden up to the porch of a big house. Judging from the outside the house seemed to have two floors, excluding the attic. When George and his father reached the door and operated the brass door knocker in the design of an owl, there was a short silence at first. Inside the house something was happening. Polry, a dapper looking house elf was already situated in front of the door when a yell could be heard, as a young boy was running down the stairs. "Wait, don't-", was all Alan could yell, before the house elf had already opened the front door, giving a light bow to George, causing Alan to groan inwardly and blush. Polry gave Alan a lecturing stare, reminding him of the dangers of running down stairs, causing Alan to gave a panicked glance to George. 'Good afternoon, Mister Henry and young Mister George, please leave your luggage in our capable hands, please refer to me as Polry," the house elf offered with elegance and confidence, before turning to Alan, "As for you, Alan, refrain from yelling in the house, it upsets your mother". The house elf would bow once more as George's father left and Alan nervously looked after the man. Had that been a good impression he had made? Probably getting lectured did not make a very good impression...

"Yes, come inside," Alan chimed in, before Polry could say something embarrassing again, as he moved to the porch and gave George a rather awkward and nervous hug. Hugs were alright, right? They were last time they had met! Alan truly hoped that hadn't changed since then. Alan quickly let go of him and shuffled back inside the manor, waiting for Alan to hand over his backpack to Polry. "Perhaps I can show you around?" At this point Alan's mother also arrived in the foyer and came over to George with a pleasant smile. "Hello, you must be George, Alan has told us all about you, please call me Liv," she offered her hand for George to shake. "Do you have any preferences in food? Excuse my husband, Aiden, he will join us in a bit, but until then he will be occupied by work," his mother added. She looked pretty and shared a lot of features with Alan, but his hair color and eyes clearly did not look like her. "I hope you don't mind sharing a room with Alan?" "- Mom!" Alan complained, not wanting to scare away George with dozens of questions already. If this was going like this, this would be a disaster! "I'm sorry," he whispered to George helplessly, hoping that he hadn't been totally embarrassed yet. He was a little upset that his dad couldn't make it in time though, but he understood. His dad had a very important job and at least he would make it in time of dinner. Alan smiled at George, nervously,

"What do you wanna do? Should I show you around?"

There was something about George visiting that was very exciting. Generally Alan did not often have friends over during the breaks, but this visit specifically seemed very important. He had even made sure to clean his room twice, just in case George would judge him if his room did not look super cleaned up. Alan was now however standing awkwardly between his mother and George, when he heard a sound from the living room, followed by small cough. Even more excited, Alan went on to peek through the door and saw his father stepping out the fireplace. "Dad!" Alan yelped in surprise as he ran over and gave the middle aged man a big hug. "You made it! Come on, you got to meet George, he's already here!" he said as if it was a matter of urgency, gesturing towards the entrance. Aidan would tussle Alan's hair, much to the despair of the young metamorph who had made it look just the perfect mix of styled and unkempt for George...

"Come in, George, meet my dad! This is the living room," he began his tour, heading over to George with a big grin on his face. "I will give George a tour first, please don't tell George anything embarrassing and well don't overwhelm him with questions or anything," he instructed his dad quickly, before turning to George. "So about that tour, do you want a glass of water? Tea, hot chocolate, anything really?" He asked carefully, trying to seem like a good host. He hoped that he wasn't the one overwhelming George either, but he was just so excited to have him over!

The living room was big and spacious, the centerpiece appeared to be a big fireplace surrounded by a comfy sofa and a set of armchairs. There were many plants and herbs in pots, some mundane and some magical and it generally looked like a pretty nice living room. Alan liked it here, he spends a lot of time there. Warming his belly in front of the fireplace laid Tiger, taking a nap. There was also a wall made of glass with a door leading to the porch and garden, which would be Alan's next stop, unless George wanted some water or other beverage, in which case Alan would wait for Polry to get something for George and then head out into the garden. The garden was the place Alan probably liked even more than the living room. It was huge and smelled of nature. There were trees and flowerbeds, a pond with fish and a hammock he liked to take naps in. And of course the porch where one could eat outside or barbecue, which was also very fun during summer time.

”Hello George, it’s a pleasure to finally see you in person. Alan has been talking a lot about you and he rarely invites friends over like this,” Alan’s father greeted the young man back, shaking his hand with an aura that radiated confidence. Though age and the few years of being sick certainly showed on him, though he was still a handsome man. Seeing him showed where Alan had gotten his unruly chestnut hair and bright green eyes from. Alan looked like a small copy of his dad, though many of his facial features reminded of the sharp yet delicate features his mother had.

“There are so many things, I wouldn’t know where to begin. Alan used to bring home all kind of critters playing daycare and hospital with them and he was quite the troublemaker,” he said with a chuckle, causing the face of his son to start burning in embarrassment. “I said not to tell, dad,” he muttered. “Come on, George, let’s hurry away!” He however had to smile as he watched the other boy fall to his knees to greet Tiger, the feline stretched and gave a cat yawn, clearly enjoying the attention, but too sleepy to properly react. Cats slept a lot and Tiger slept even more when they were home, probably because it was more boring at home and there was less to do and even less to explore.

Alan grinned once they reached the garden, his favorite place of the whole house. He used to hide away here all day when he was little. “Scoot over,” he chuckled as he climbed into the hammock next to George, not even thinking about it much. It was a little shaky until he had managed to also lay down, now the hammock would only sway a bit and Alan sighed as he stared at the sky. “This is one of my favorite spots, it’s just so peaceful,” he told the other, smiling softly.

“I don’t think your place could be disappointing, I’m very excited to visit you and get to know your family,” Alan argued against George’s claim, that he would be disappointed. Alan was curious to find out many things. George had often told him small things about his home and family. He knew that George had a brother and that they often fight, he had very shortly met George’s father in the pet store before, though he hadn’t talked to him, which in hindsight made Alan hope that the man didn’t think that Alan was rude… Alan was also curious to see how Cadmus lived or if he just flew around freely both outside and inside, which would be kind of funny.

It was like looking a a future version of Alan. George hoped that when people looked at him, they did not see a miniature version of his own dad, as Milton was gangling, awkward, and embarrassing. Feeling somewhat self conscious, George drew his hands close to himself after parting from the handshake, his shoulders hunched up as he held himself around his chest. Still, he smiled politely, giggling quietly when Alan turned red at the story. He could believe that Alan was always nice to critters, especially after the incident with the mosps. It was good to be kind, even if it was sometimes stupid, too.

Just a few minutes later and George found himself relaxing in a hammock. Well, relaxing for only a moment, as he became as stiff as a plank when Alan started to roll in next to him. He pushed his back against the cloth, trying to shrink away so that he wouldn't be touching Alan, although the nature of a hammock and the forces of gravity made that somewhat impossible. George stared at Alan as the older boy stared up into the sky, slowly relaxing as he, too, decided to look up at the sky.

"We're not going to break it, are we?" George murmured. He was a lot heavier now than when he was younger, owing to the additional height and his diet of turkey legs and pudding. He shifted uncomfortably, turning over so that his elbows and knees created a barrier to protect him from too much close contact with Alan. "That would probably disturb the peace..."

The peace of the hammock was disturbed already by the constant squirming of one George Henry, who kept trying to turn away, only to slide down against Alan again and need to roll up again. He would call the process Sisyphean if he could pronounce it. Eventually, he gave up, simply resting shoulder to shoulder with the other boy and staring up into the sky.

"I think you'd be surprised," George said dryly. Compared to all this, his house was nothing. They had muggle gadgets that would surely interest Alan, but George wasn't really interested in showing all of that stuff off. What was the point in getting attached to your television when you know you'll just be getting rid of it, anyway? It was the sort of stuff a wizard couldn't take with them into the magical world. "But you know, if you want to come over, I won't stop you. I just don't have a magical fireplace you can hop out of. You'll have to ride the bus."

Maybe there was a magical floo fireplace somewhere in the vicinity he didn't know about, however. It wasn't like he could ask any of his relatives. As far as he knew, he was the only wizard in Walkerburn. It was much better in London, when you knew you were only a short trip away from the most crowded space in wizard Britain, and there was no shortage of people like you around.

He let some time pass in silence as he considered that, looking out to the clouds and occasionally pointing out those that looked most like badgers, or butterflies, or less appropriate things. The cozy warmth was nice as the afternoon got cooler, and there was some fun to be had in sticking his elbows out to annoy Alan. After some time, George pulled himself out from the hammock and rolled out onto the ground, catching himself with his hands and getting back to his feet with a grunt.

"So... is this what you do around here all day?" George wondered. His parents had computers and televisions and phones to occupy them at home, but he wasn't really sure if wizards just spent all day waving their wands around at home, or what? Maybe they would practice piano, or just goof off... "Could I see your room?"