Not-so-secret Hiding Place [Matthew]

There were a lot of secret places in Hogwarts. From mysterious corridors that appear at the twist of a suit of armor’s arm, to a room that appears when you need something urgently. However, no one seemed to notice the obvious secret spots; they were too obsessed with finding the hidden ones, when the “ordinary” ones were just as good. Zaman tended to prefer the ordinary hiding spots. With so many people trying to find the hidden ones, if you were doing something /really/ bad in one of them, you’d get in quite a mess if a group of students on an adventuring expedition found you. Therefore, the ordinary hiding spot seemed to have an advantage over the hidden ones to Zaman. One of his preferred spots was beneath the stands. First of all, it was rather hard to get in- you had to find the spot where one of the wooden planks was loose, and then you had to be able to squirm through the hole. Once you got in though, it was quiet and shady, sunlight filtered through the spaces between the rows of seats. It was a nice place to sit and think, or talk to yourself without being considered crazy. Zaman didn’t go there often, but he liked it nevertheless.

The day had been stressful; Gryffindors and Slytherins glared at each other, the teachers gave out homework liberally, and he nearly got busted again for one of his not so well planned pranks. Dropping his work off at his dorm, Zaman walked down the stairs and through the hallways and out of the school to the Quidditch field. The stands and the field were empty, thankfully, so no one would question his appearance there. He didn’t dare get on a broom, after all- his fear of heights made sure of that. Going around to behind the stands, Zaman tested out a group of planks until he found the right one. Pushing it aside, Zaman got on his knees and wriggled through the gap, letting the plank fall back into place behind him. The moment he took a breath of the unexpectedly thick air, he knew that this wasn’t just his spot anymore. "Fuck" He swore under his breath, seeing the shadow of someone else.

Matthew was resting in the stands of the Quiddich stadium. Why? Because it was comfortable, and somewhere he was bound to not get found. He needed somewhere like this where no one would find him because he had certain... Habits that he didn't want other people discovering. He pulled out a packet of weed and glanced left and right, assuring himself that no one was looking. Once he was certain, he rolled it up into a joint and pulled out a lighter, lighting one end. He stuck the other one in his mouth and took a deep drag. At that moment, his head went light and he gazed upwards, sighing in bliss. A small cloud of smoke swirled around him and he coughed, waving it away. It made pretty patterns and swirls before it dissipated.

"Fuck"

Oh my... Matthew blinked and looked around to see another boy in his year. He raised the hand holding the joint and waved, giggling slightly. "Hiiii there~"

Zaman looked at the other boy, somewhat shocked. A joint in his hand, it was obvious his companion was smoking weed. He didn’t know much about it, considering that it was illegal and it wasn’t like he knew where to get any. Damn, he should really get out of here. What if the other kid was caught while Zaman was in the hiding spot with him? He had enough problems caused by his pranking habits. However, for some reason, he didn’t want to leave. The more he stayed here, breathing the drug-laced air, the more his head felt relaxed. Against his better judgment, Zaman crawled over and sat next to the boy, a Hufflepuff. “…what are you doing?” He asked, still in a mild state of disbelief. He guessed that there were people who did drugs in this school- but he never expected to meet one. “And more importantly, are you supposed to be doing it?” Thinking about what one was supposed to do and not supposed to do, Zaman was reminded of his own pranks. He wasn’t supposed to do those, but he did it anyway. He felt like a hypocrite, talking in such a way.

"You're in my year, aren't you~?" Matthew giggled slightly, putting a hand on the other boy's knee as he sat next to him and leaning over to see his face better. "Isn't it obvious what I'm doing?" He waved the joint in the air, smiling. "I'm relaaaaaxing~!" He wrapped an arm around the boy, smiling. "You look like you need to unwind, don't cha!" He held the joint in front of the poor boy's face. "It makes me feel gooood~" Flopping on his back, he took a drag on the joint before coughing. The one problem with smoking was Matthew's asthma, but it was okay as long as he had his asthma pump on him to take right after he was finished. The best part was, after smoking and his lungs feel clogged up, if he uses his inhaler, his lungs feel all better again!

“Fourth year” Zaman said, but it was lost in the hazy air. “Relaxing, with that?” He looked skeptically at the joint in front of his face, filling his breath with the intoxicating smoke. “It…my head feels weird…ah….” He suddenly felt infinitely more relaxed, slumping. “Today was shitty…..betcha it does” Too easily did he succumb to the drug. Zaman looked down at the other kid, having the urge to pluck the joint right out of his hands and smoke it and breath in a mouthful of smoke…it wasn’t like he did drugs….but what a fucking awful day it was, and jeez. He was going to regret this, he knew he would. But it was just too tempting to become as carefree as the other and just…flop around like you didn’t have homework to do and just waste the day away. “Can I have some…?” He asked, eying the joint.

"Can I have some...?" The boy had asked. Matthew nodded. "It's a good cure for bad days~" He smiled sweetly and placed the un-lit tip of the joint on the boy's bottom lip for him to get a good puff. Leaving the boy to hold the joint for himself, Matthew wiggled out of his robes and shirt, feeling a lot more comfortable with only jeans on. He looked at the other expectantly, for him to take off his robes too. He glanced around to make sure no one else was around while he was at it.

"Does it make you feel gooooood?"

"It...ah...yeah..." He took the joint and took a drag. For a moment, his head spun, and the next moment it died. He forgot all his worries and slumped, looking at the Canadian lazily, watching him strip, eyes roaming over the exposed skin. Seeing the look he was given, Zaman started pulling off his robes as well, tossing the heavy coat and shirt onto the slowly growing pile of clothes. In addition, he pulled off his hair tie and tossed it onto the pile. Now he was relaxed. "This is niceeee..." He intoned quietly, taking another drag of the joint.

Matthew's lips curled when the boy took a drag. He knew how the boy felt, and he felt daaaamn good. With their torsos exposed, the slightly cool air ran over them, cooling their skin. The day was still early, and the sun was high in the sky, which caused beams of light to either side of their little hidey hole, through the small openings the stands have. If Matthew shifted slightly, he could choose whether to be cool or warm. But right now, cool sounded nice. "Isn't iiit?" He giggled, smiling. "Why haven't you tried this..." He took a drag, blowing smoke away whilst muttering "...Before?" Matthew'd been doing it for ages, he knew what it was like, and he loved it. He didn't consider it an addiction because he didn't do it too often. But he was getting slack and may one day slip into a heavy addiction... Hopefully not.

Wait, what was he thinking? He was high, time for his brain to shut up!

"A...a....few years ago....maybe..." He droned, dredging up memories of getting high with a similarly aged relative...but...ergh, he couldn't remember the details of what happened. Zaman's brain was running at 5 miles per hour, and getting slower with each intoxicating drag from the joint. "How d'ya do those...smoke rin's" He asked, peering at the puffs of smoke coming from their mouths. Commercials...girls...smoke rings...lingerie....everything muddled together, and he could hardly pick out what he needed from his head "R'mber ah lingerie commerical wit ih..." Or was it a cigarette commercial? Or perhaps an alcohol commercial? He wasn't going to bother with specifics right now.

Matthew hand't a clue what the other boy was talking about, but then again, his mind was pretty muddled as well. Matthew got onto his hands and knees and leans close to the boy so that their foreheads were touching. He breathed out, smoke billowing onto the other's face, and muttered, "Let's go do something fun! Like... Like... Graaaass." In his mind, everything he just said made sence. "Flowers... 'n' bees..." They sounded like a lot of fun! Matthew pulled out his wand and poked at the grass just below them, watching it flatten and turn a murky grey.

Zaman coughed as the Hufflepuff breathed into his face, breathing in the smoke. Glazed over eyes looked into the ones that were less than an inch away from his face. They...they were the same color as his! Like the ocean....Zaman adored oceans. They were so big and wide and pretty....and really pretty. "Fun...?" He pondered "Fun...is....ocean. We should find an ocean..." He said, contrasting to Matthew's thing for grass. "And fishies and squid and tuna fish..." Oh how he loved tuna fish. On everything. Well, not everything, maybe 80.726749% of everything, but that was just an estimate, and you can't trust estimates, you know. They're not specific. They're just estimates. He stared at the grey grass curiously "How'd ya do that?"

"Eww!" Zaman laughed, looking at the melting grass before taking Matthew's hand and promptly falling over, and being dragged in several directions. "Matt!" He whined "Stop moving so fast!" But as soon as Matthew mentioned the pond, his mind was cleared of being moved around and he got up as quick as he could. "Oceannn?" He started wobbling forward without Matt, but a few minutes later just flopped over so it would be more comfortable to wait for him "Hurry up!" He insisted "And bring the weed!" He never wanted to stop feeling this light.

Stumbling along, Matthew watched Zaman struggle and then flop back on the grass, blinking. "No resting... C'mon..." He pointed wildly in a direction, unsure of which way the lake was. Perhaps it was... that... that way? Why were there five whole exits to the stands?! Once Zaman had gotten moving, Matthew took the time to whine his complaints to the other from his own spot on the grass. "An I dunneven know where we're goin'... lake..." He mumbled. There was a pause before he burst out laughing again. The situation suddenly sounded so funny and Matthew just couldn't stop... Couldn't stop laughing!

He paused to puff on his joint. His head spun... Had he had too much? "Zam... Zammy... man..." He burst out laughing again, holding his joint out to the other to have another drag.