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9/27
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Harry Potter:"Do you really think there's going to be a war, Sirius?"
Sirius Black: "It… feels like it did before."
TURN ON THE LIGHT is a Post- Potter roleplay that takes place twenty-five years after the Second Wizarding War.
We welcome canon and original characters in this (currently) sandbox style roleplay.
To some, living in your dad’s guest room upon graduation would seem like failure. But, to Billy, this was kind of an ideal life right now? He wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do, that schooling thing hadn’t really given him a, how do they say it, direction in life. There were a lot of perks of having two parents who weren’t pushing him into his career or to do something right away. Okay, so, mum wasn’t super keen on him laying around the house for forever, but he wasn’t technically staying at her house, so she didn’t have to visibly be reminded every morning he still wasn’t sure what to do.
Billy had just been laying in bed, scrolling through his phone, as one does when they were in both worlds. Cell phones were great, you’d never catch him sending an owl if he could send a text. Why didn’t wizards have a faster method of communication - well. I guess the face in the fireplace thing counted. But, then you had to assume the person had a fireplace and that they were around the fireplace. This thing fit in his pocket. Wizards could have invented this first, but they didn’t.
After a bit of morning scrolling he got out of bed and changed into his day sweats and jumper before heading downstairs. “Oh, hi,” he said, a little surprised that his Dad was even home. “Is it the weekend again already?” The days really started to fade together when you didn’t do much each day. Well, “much” if you count the required daily dosage of going to work, paying bills, and being upset on some days.
Okay, being a little drab. Not everyone dreaded their job.
But, Billy had never been a morning person. He was always craving just another ten minutes of sleep, about six times, but that was beside the point. There were many a class he was late to in his time at Hogwarts, and many an afternoon nap that went into his other class. Nobody else seemed to be so pushed with the unfortunate to have a saccadic rhythm that was more geared towards night. This was, perhaps, one of the reasons that Billy didn’t know what he wanted to do in life yet. So many jobs required you to be there early in the morning, but so many jobs that were later in the day seemed like they would be, well, they wouldn’t be overly stimulating.
He took a seat at the counter of the kitchen looking around. “So, what’s for breakfast?” he asked with a grin. Billy also didn’t do the cooking thing well.
Taj was of two minds about his son living with him after graduation. On one hand, he hated to see Billy stagnate and not know what to do. On the other, the boys were getting to spend so much time together! It became apparent quickly, after the initial thrill of having Billy around all the time wore off, that the men really didn’t know each other that well. Taj was only around sporadically when his son was young, only finding time during the Quidditch off-season. He wasn’t absent as much as he just…missed a lot. He always checked in on Billy, writing letters and telling him bedtime stories over the phone when he could find one, but he wasn’t there every day. He was lucky if he was there for a weekend once a month, most of the time. By the time Taj retired from Quidditch and got a Ministry job that made life more stable, Billy was already at Hogwarts. Sure, they had summers, but it wasn’t the same as being around all the time.
He heard Billy’s footsteps, heavy on the stairs, signalling his approach. He greeted Taj almost like he was surprised to see him on a Saturday. Taj shot him a bright grin, leaning back against the kitchen counter to face Billy as he sipped casually on his tea. “Mornin’!” he started, taking in Billy’s usual somewhat disheveled morning appearance. You could tell they were related in the mornings. Despite the differences in their hair, they had the same cowlick after sleeping. "It's Saturday all day, mate!"
Watching Billy mill around the house gave Taj a glimpse of what he assumed was a fairly normal post-Hogwarts experience. He never had to worry what he’d do after school or find his career passions. Taj knew he wanted to play Quidditch and was lucky enough to be drafted out of Hogwarts and, when it was clear that his playing career was coming to an end, he found something else he loved. Watching Billy search for something was a little heartbreaking for him, just because he wanted his son to do what he loved, but it was fascinating to watch him learn about himself, no matter how long it took.
Billy asked what was for breakfast and Taj eyed him over his mug. He learned quickly that if he wanted Billy to eat well, he had to cook the food. Left to his own devices, he suspected the teen would order a takeaway or eat instant ramen for ever meal. Taj wouldn’t have that. Fortunately, Taj didn’t mind cooking, especially if it meant Billy got all his nutrients. Taj spun around and reached into the cabinet for another mug and tea bag before filling it with hot water from the kettle and placing it in front of Billy. It was the weekend, which meant Taj had more time to make breakfast. They usually didn’t get to eat together in the morning, so he relished the opportunity. “You good with eggs, sausage, and those big fluffy American pancakes?” Taj made a space in the air with his thumb and index finger to signify the fluff of the flapjacks.
Taj waited for Billy’s agreement before clapping his hands and rubbing them together as if to say “let’s get to work”. Taj threw a pack of sausages into the pan and started on the pancakes. He didn’t tell Billy that they were protein pancakes. They were gonna be loaded with fruit and nuts. Maybe he wouldn’t notice. “You do anything fun last night?”
The amount of energy that his father was putting into the universe right now was too much. Billy appreciated his golden retriever-like attitude most days, but he needed caffeine first. Which, luckily with magic was within easy reach. He used his wand to get a cup of water, a tea bag, the milk, and the sugar. He wasn't a heathen after all, he would definitely be adding milk and sugar to his tea. With the power of magic he instantly heated his cup to the perfect temperature for brewing tea and added all his fixings while Taj did... whatever Taj was doing. There was a sizzling sound, and that was definitely a good sound to hear in the morning. Plus, as the food sizzled the aroma started to fill Billy's nostrils and he could physically feel his stomach caving in on him.
"Saturday already..." he commented back trailing of with no real thought to accompany his remark. Another week he could cross of his list of figuring life out. He didn't have long to hover on the thought though when his father decided to name the spread and the smells he was starting to decipher made perfect sense. "Oh yeah, I would eat pancakes every day," he commented generally excited. If there was one thing that would always be true - food was the key to Billy's heart. He was pretty sure he was only sorted into Hufflepuff so he had close proximity to the kitchens, which when CODY KALETA taught him how to get in became the most exciting thing to ever happen to him at Hogwarts.
Billy could actually cook pretty well. His late night adventures to the kitchens didn't just end in him getting some food outside of normal hours, but learning to cook as well. At least, a few solid dishes that he could impress a friend or a date with if he had to pull it out of his back pocket. He didn't love to cook, but the outcome of cooking was definitely worth all the work.
Billy took a sip of his tea, it was not quite ready to be drank and needed to steep a little more. "Oh ummm," Billy said thinking back to yesterday. "Paz has a roommate," he mentioned which was still a little shock to him. "I took the dogs over there to get us all out of the house and I ran into her." Walked in on her in a towel wasn't the thing that he wanted to tell his father had happened, especially because there was some really big confusion about Billy being Paz's boyfriend. Even if they weren't related, they would never. "Her name is SYDNEY HARRISON and she's from America."
After the whole situation had been cleared up and everyone had their clothes back on, Billy had hung out until Paz came back then she had ordered in dinner - and he was not going to say no to ordered in dinner from Paz. She was always pulling food from the best restaurants and it always tasted so divine. "We all hung out last night there, got home about one?"
He shrugged his shoulders trying to keep this casual. He wasn't sure how much you would tell a parent about these kind of life events. If he was with his mother, he would have told her everything, because he would have wanted her advice on how to not be awkward about the towel thing next time he was around Sydney. And because he'd want to gossip about Paz having a roommate at all, and an American at that!
