Would Hugh Like S'more PV Hugh Lowe Finished

Hugh wandered the grounds around the stadium alone. With night gathering, tents were one by one engulfed in the loving embrace of the night. Various lights were lit, and a posse of fireflies seemed to have been spread across the fields. A very pretty sight, whether he witnessed it back at the castle, or here, in London. Though, Hugh had to wonder why he chose to stay at the camp every year; again and again. It was, after all, mainly a sports event with a few shenanigans on the side. This year they decided to host a race as well as the regular quidditch games. Which was fine. It offered more than wasting one month on witnessing embarrassing summer flings either flare or blow up in what always seemed like a never ending summer.

His head snapped sideways as his name was called. George was there, sitting by a fire. Or rather, a lack of fire. A cold and untouched pile of branches and twigs had not been lit yet. When George uttered his request, Hugh couldn't help but grin. "Did your sleepy head make you forget you're a wizard, George?" Hugh asked as he approached happily. "You've literally got powers in your grasp that kids our age dream and write about daily." He continued, finally accepting the little matchbox that seemed to disappear into his large hand.

With one long motion, the giant figure bent the knee and got himself close to the pile. His fingers flicked a match against the box with a professional flick before he tried to push it against the paper. "Ah, bugger. They always blow out before you get there..." He mumbled to himself. Striking a second match, his other hand swept in to provide it with cover from the next breeze. "Theeeere... we... go." He smiled happily as one of the pieces of paper slowly caught on fire. Three long deep breaths of wind forced the fire to spread as Hugh pushed his face closer to the little flame. A flame that gradually became brighter, until he deemed it strong enough to grow on its own.

His hand almost immediately reached for his prize. "I believe I held my end of the bargain?" He smirked, the other hand scratching his sideburns. The giant would take a more comfortable position and look around for a few seconds. A silence grew between the both of them.

"Oh, my summer's been alright." He responded when George made the first effort. "You know, the regular. Serena and I were discussing the race and stuff" His eyes would briefly look over to George. "Good job, by the way! First time, or...?". Most people did not jump into a brutal sport like this without some experience. Unless they either lost a bet or had a death wish.

"So... Why are you all alone here? No Jake or any of the regular crew from Hufflepuff?" Hugh would not pretend he knew anything of George's day-to-day life, but after a year you catch up on who is who's friend. Especially in class. "Or is he too busy hiding his badge under his robes first?" Hugh joked. Half-joked. He approached Morris once over hiding his badge, the kid seriously needed to grow a pair. But in the end, everyone did whatever they felt was best. Maybe the poor thing was just not ready yet.

"Huh?" George said, blinking. There was about a half-second delay on hearing what the half-giant said and actually understanding it. His thoughts were tripping over themselves, getting all tangled up as he tried to figure out what he'd say net before he'd even finished listening. Now he was just standing here, piecing out what Hugh had asked. I'm a what? The younger boy rolled his eyes at the joke once his brain caught up, but he couldn't help giggling. "Shut up! I know. But my mom gave me matches, and if I give them all back to her she'll feel silly. I haven't exactly told her I can light fires with my wand as much as I want or she won't let me keep it when I'm home for summer. Besides... I sort of... am not good at the fire-making spell."

The Hufflepuff's brown eyes stared unblinkingly up at Hugh for a moment before darting away. That was an obvious lie, considering that was a first-year spell and George was regularly seen demonstrating charms that had not yet been taught in class. Maybe Hugh would kindly ignore it, George supposed, and supplied a joke to push the conversation along. "They also write books where people can use matches, you know. I don't have that power."

By the time Hugh was down and tending to the fire, George had already shoved a marshmallow into his maw and nearly choked on it in an attempt to shut himself up. He was acting so unbelievably weird, and now Hugh wouldn't be impressed with his spell work any longer - not after that terrible performance in the race. Now he couldn't even start a fire!

But Hugh could. George craned his neck, leaning over the fire pit to watch as Hugh set the match and got to work lighting up the fire. It was interesting to watch how difficult it was when you weren't just waving your wand to make it happen. "Huh," George hummed thoughtfully. He squat down to watch the flames dance up the paper and finally catch on the wood, turning into the beginnings of a proper campfire. Satisfied that it would sustain itself, George fell backward onto his butt, marshmallows and cookies on his lap.

"Fire tax, as due," George said, reaching out to plop a fresh marshmallow down onto Hugh's palm. With the debt temporarily settled, he pulled his wand out and looked around the perimeter of their little area for a stick, though it was hard to see this late at night. "No s'more yet, I've got to roast a marshmallow for you before you can have one of those. Consider it advance payment!"

It was then that George remembered what Hugh had said - he was a wizard! There was no need to go hunting for sticks, of course! George pulled his wand out from inside his pocket, the conveniently compact strip of wood swishing through the air as he demonstrated a basic charm he could perform with ease. "Wingardium leviosa," he said with practiced enunciation, hovering a marshmallow above the fire with his wand. He set it at a decent height, twisting his wand occasionally to roll it over, and put his focus back on Hugh again.

"I like Serena," he said, smiling as she was mentioned. He really did - she'd been there to help him pick out his very first broom, and although she was apparently rich, she wasn't a knob about it. Oh, and she was quite a cracking broom racer as well. At Hugh's question, he'd once again roll his eyes, smirking wryly at the Gryffindor. "Could you tell that easily? It's my first real race, but I did practice first. Can't say I'm entirely too proud of my performance as team captain... but fair play."

Fair play being equal amounts of cheating on the side of each team. He shrugged - he was sad about it, but it was still fun. The second question was harder to find the silver lining in. There was a brief glimpse of a frown before George's expression returned to neutral. "It's by choice," he said swiftly. "Jack went off to twirl the flagon... not sure if he's still at that or if he's run off with his girlfriend for the night. Jake... I'm giving him some space. Probably bring him a s'more after... We were fighting, but-..."

Once again, George's brain was running a few seconds behind, and he only caught what Hugh had asked about Jake a few seconds later. There was a serious intensity radiating from the younger boy's gaze - he wasn't glaring, but he was trying to discern whether Hugh was serious or not. It was as though the half-giant had just sprayed bug poison into his belly to scare off all the butterflies that had started buzzing. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The gentle giant offered George a sympathetic smile for his story. "I see then..." Raising his eyebrows briefly in disbelief before silently agreeing to not pry further. The scene of him tending the fire and George watching over his shoulder carried on for a little while as they spoke. Hugh figured he must have never touched a match before in his life. Maybe he never went camping with his family? Or to another summer camp like these. He decided to let it fly past them, it sounded like baggage. No one wants to unpack that. Especially not Hugh.

He happily accepted the marshmallow and immediately threw it down his throat. "I prefer them cold." He explained with a certain nonchalance as he watched George float his over the fire. Hugh grew up with a squib uncle. Something he had never shared with anyone. Most people should know very little of his heritage. It's the way he liked it to be. They all knew his blood was 'contaminated' anyway due to his mother's heritage. And if people from non-purebloods were already an issue, then he was the next wrong step further. But, growing up with his uncle did leave him with a fairly okay childhood, a muggle one for the most part. And so he liked to do things the muggle way. His giant's blood only magnified this aspect of him, as magic seemed to flow slower through his veins. Hugh softly nodded in agreement on Serena.

Only once they hit the topic of Jake, or rather the joke made about him, was when the tension flipped. Hugh raised both eyebrows in surprise before quickly bringing them back down into a dark furrow. Wasn't it obvious in a case like Jake Morris? "You know." Hugh gestured to George to quit fooling around. "He's like a..." He tried to think of a good way to put it. "A scared little mouse, right? And he needs to live up to his responsibilities, but..." Hugh stopped himself there, shooting a quick glance towards George. "Look. It's not Jake's fault, he just can't help it." No, that came out wrong. From what he'd seen, Jake seemed like a good kid. Hugh just didn't like one thing in particular about the little prefect: The fact that he tried to hide his badge.

"He's just small and afraid, and he needs to take up his responsibilities." Hugh gave George a look as he wiggled his nose in anticipation. "It all means he needs to grow up, George."

George shrugged at Hugh's look of disbelief - acknowledging that it was a tough sell, but thankful that Hugh didn't try and make a big deal out of it, or anything. The Hufflepuff reached out and spread his fingers, watching the orange glow of the flames between them as the heat of the fire soaked in. It made him shiver, reminding him that he probably should have worn more than a t-shirt if he wanted to enjoy the evening by the fireside. He sidled a bit closer, transparently using the half-giant as a wind shelter as the breeze blew past from his direction.

"Easy to please," George noted as he offered the full bag of marshmallows over to Hugh, all as cold as he liked them. He floated his marshmallow in when it had been suitably browned, looking down at the box of cookies before simply deciding to float the melty mallow straight into his mouth.

"Auhh! Hot," he said, surprised the marshmallow was hot after he'd cooked it directly over a fire for the last minute. Nonetheless, after a few puffs of panicked breath, he seemed to have it cool enough to chew it up and swallow it with a pleasant hum. "I like them better when they're all gooey on the inside. I can't remember the last time I had a roast marshmallow, honestly. I don't really have campfires much, you could probably tell."

The fire took his attention, mostly, carefully watching it to ensure that Hugh's handiwork didn't fizzle out to ash. He stole occasional glances up at the half-giant's face until the time came to confront him about that Jake comment, when his gaze became steady and settled on the other boy's eyes. He glanced down, shame in his face when he was told that he knew. Because he really did know. He'd said the exact same thing about him not three months ago, and he'd been fairly certain of it then.

Still, Hugh could see George's jaw clenching until he said the magic words - it's not Jake's fault. Of course it wasn't. No more than George couldn't help being snarky, and Hugh couldn't help being ginormous. It was just the nature of the beast.

"I know," George said softly, tucking his wand into his pocket and leaning forward closer to the fire, a bit red in the cheeks. His stomach flipped, and he felt a bit sick as the marshmallow settled in his belly. "I know he does but he-... it's just hard. He just needs some time. So just don't... make jokes like that, okay? He's had enough trouble without anyone else giving him grief. Plus, if you aren't nice to Jake, I've gotta be mean to you. That's the Hufflepuff code."

He rocked a bit back and forth before shrugging yet again at the half-giant. He looked relaxed again, no longer worried that he'd have to fight with a half-giant in defense of his best friend's honor. "I said as much to him and we had a fight, so, I think if it was ever gonna get through to him, it did then. But I'll make sure he doesn't hide the badge anymore. He'll be the bravest little badger there ever was, promise."

That assurance, made as much to himself as it was to Hugh, brought a big smile back to George's face. Poor Emma's suffering at the hands of those she'd put in detention worried him, thinking about Jake, but he was a duelist now, too. He could get it together and lay down the law properly somehow, right? George ate a cold marshmallow, chewing thoughtfully as he stared into the fire.

"Thanks again for this. I would have frozen to death out here," George said, with an exaggerated shiver. Remembering Hugh's earlier question about his friends' whereabouts, George looked at the half-giant again, smiling sheepishly as he realized something. "This probably isn't where you were going, huh? You haven't got to stay and babysit the fire if you don't want to."

But George didn't want to shoo Hugh away too early, either. He glanced back to the fire, then up to Hugh again, looking flustered as he tried to find a way to make it clear that he wanted Hugh to stay without seeming like he wanted Hugh to stay too much. But both Quinn and Jack B. had told him that the key to getting what he wanted was to be bold and direct! All he needed was to be brave for a second.

"Um, I want you to stay though," he said. Oh, god, now he was more hot and cold than the marshmallows, offering for him to leave and then demanding he stay. He hastily added on a little joke, to ease his nerves.

"Otherwise I'll just be out here eating a whole bag of marshmallows by myself, which is a little bit pathetic. Alec'll probably think I'm out here eating my feelings away 'cos I wasn't brave enough to sign up for twirl the flagon. He called me a hopeless romantic." George rolled his eyes at that. "But then I smeared mascara all over his face, so who's the winner?"

Between George's mouth burning on the inside and him talking about his inexperience in camping, Hugh sat quietly and listened. The small fire was fighting hard against the wind, and Hugh was proud for it making a stand. Like all small things standing up against a bigger tide, he felt a certain affection to it. He realized he liked to invoke it. Rattle the tiny person's cage and see what animal came out of them. His two heavy brows furrowed into a dark and confused look.

He felt cruel for the first time. Or rather, noticed how harsh he had been. Yet a part of him knew that this what they needed. How else are the little people meant to learn to stand up? And was it not better to learn to stand up to him first? Someone who would not actually hurt them in the end? George's plea for ending the joke of Jake cut through his thoughts and made him look back at the Hufflepuff. Hugh's eyes were not staring at George, but rather into him.

Hufflepuffs, with all Hugh had seen of them, were an odd bunch to him. They felt soft and likeable. They were quick in conversations, stammering or not; A subject was always spun around him, no matter what the business of the day was meant to be. Above all, there seemed to be enthusiasm and love for simpler things. Serena was at her best when creating things, working on her own and breathing life into inanimate objects through her handiwork. George liked small talk and often felt like an emotional dreamer. Hugh was like neither of them. In fact, at the end of his thoughts, the part-giant seemed to arrive at the peculiar insight that of the Hufflepuffs he had met: He felt most like Jake.

More than anything, he felt scared for himself. The world of muggles which his uncle had tried to raise him would never understand what he was. He felt hesitant to talk with anyone from Blackness these days. The people who had known him as a child running down the streets now saw a young man of unnatural proportions. One day he recalled the older couple running the Lobster Pot asking his uncle if he had a condition. Hugh had to admit it felt funny at first, but realization only dawned upon him later that day. He was beginning to stand out too much.

The wizards were worse. They found value in blood. Pure blood. And a child descendant of a giantess had blood boiling with monstrous bile. For that, Hugh's kind would forever be shunned. So his place in society was uncertain. He wasn't even sure if he ought to be studying at Hogwarts. But he did feel sure that Jake would be feeling the same way of being chosen as prefect. Hugh had no idea what odd professor Browne was thinking, picking Jake as prefect, but Jake must've been at the very least trying. And maybe he even felt guilty for accepting in the first place.

"I guess I can leave it be." Hugh eventually conceded. "I'm sure he will come through in the end." That was a half a lie. For Hugh had his doubts in seeing Jake conquer his fears without being forced to face them. Still, George mentioned a fight between them, and friends often give the harshest lessons. But the difference is that they are more likely to stick around for you whilst you face your demons. Hugh pondered on his own friends, or rather... friend. Well, there was Galton, but that boy was so out of the world Hugh often wondered if he was even real. If it wasn't for the rest of the world reacting to Mad Lansdale's half-cooked shenanigans, the giant might have believed he was cursed by a personal poltergeist.

"It's not even freezing, don't be dramatic." Hugh said as he rolled his eyes and laughed. "Still, you'd have looked rather foolish, I suppose. So I at the very least saved you of mockery from the next passer-by." He did not respond to George's inquiry towards his destination of the evening. Hugh did not know where he was heading either. There was more to think about, and walking helped loosen the thoughts that got stuck in the back of his brain during the day.

Hugh was pulled back from his trance as George clarified he wished for him to stay. The giant's eyes shot up and down and seemed to measure the Hufflepuff for a second. George rambled on for a bit, and Hugh chuckled at the end of it. "I guess you showed him." he answered softly. Thoughts lingering on his tongue. "And I shall stay." He clarified to both himself and George. "No point in leaving a new friend alone by the fire."

It was easy to stare into George. With his guard down, as it was now, his face held no secrets. In fact, it had started to turn red the longer that he squirmed underneath the giant's watchful eyes, oblivious to his thoughtful introspection. "Quit staring at me," he said with a giggle, for once wishing that somebody would wink to at least break up the staring. It was strange, being given's someone full attention when he wasn't joking, or trying to tell a story. Self-awareness had robbed some of the joy from sponging up attention. George was now keenly aware that what people thought of him actually mattered to him quite a bit, rather than being content with being thought of at all.

The younger boy narrowed his eyes with suspicion as Hugh conceded. If you only looked at him, you'd expect Hugh to be a fighter - not someone so easily swayed by sympathy, at least. A Slytherin of that boy's size would've eaten Hufflepuffs for breakfast. But George knew that despite his tough, intimidating exterior, the inside of Hugh was as fluffy and sweet as the scorching hot marshmallow that had just killed every last taste bud on George's tongue.

"I don't think you mean that," George said softly. The Hufflepuff shrugged, pulling his knees up to his chest and folding his arms, resting his chin on his hands. He turned his eyes away from Hugh to watch the fire. Jake was more of a brother to him than his real brother was, but George knew that Jake was just... Jake. He couldn't even imagine what a grown-up Jake would look like. "Thanks for saying it anyway, though."

Maybe it was all his fault for babying him, but he couldn't help it. It was his responsibility. For some reason, the responsibility of caring for this other boy - a teenager, now - fell entirely on his head... at least, in his head it did. He didn't want to let anything happen to him. But why would he ever change if nothing happened to him? George pouted, grumbling softly as he sorted out just how much he was to blame for the Jake situation. "I hope it's true."

At least there were lighter topics and sugary snacks on hand. George soothed his woes with another marshmallow, raw this time, leaving his charred roasting stick in the grass. "Don't tell me not to be dramatic!" George groaned, nearly toppling over as he reeled from the impact of that request. He'd gotten that enough already, and had learned there was simply no off switch for it. "Saved from the mockery of the passer-by, only to be mocked by the sitter-here. Some savior you are."

George rolled his eyes in retaliation, stretching out his legs and tapping his feet against the side of the stones of the fire pit. Once again, he could feel Hugh thinking as the giant looked down at him, and he couldn't help but squirm. Fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, he furrowed his brow, looking up at Hugh. "Quit..." George began, trailing off as he realized he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted the giant to quit doing. Quit thinking? He didn't want to stop that while Hugh was on a roll.

"Yes," George said with pride. He had shown him. And maybe told him too much, as he feared he would do now as his tongue begged to be let loose to fill the awkward silences that Hugh seemed to be so fond of. It seemed that perhaps the only way to shut George Henry up was to give him a good book or a silence so vast he couldn't think of a way to fill it.

Of course, there was always the humble marshmallow. "Hey. Catch," George murmured, tossing a marshmallow up high toward the giant's face for him to catch. A few thoughts popped up in his head, and he glanced at Hugh with each one, before thinking better of it and forcing his gaze back to the fire, which had dwindled slightly without any new fuel to burn. All he'd give was a small expression of gratitude for the series of favours Hugh seemed to be doing with only marshmallows for payment. "Thank you. For the fire. And the Jake thing. And also that."