"Oh you know I'm down for that. But how do you surprise him? Can't he like, sense everything?" Honestly Fade had no idea, but figured Magnus was pretty much the authority on the subject of all things vampire related. At least the most qualified Vampirologist in the room anyway. Chase made a sound as he unwound from his ball on the adjacent couch and yawned before sauntering over to them.

"Well, that's why distraction will be our main tactic. Like bait and switch. Making something look ordinary."

"So like what, turn his flask into a frog when he drinks out of it?" He wasn't sure what Eirik hated, but frogs were a good bet. He knew someone else who couldn't stand them.

Magnus snickered. "Only if the flask is with us though, cos 'e 'as to 'ave it. Maybe, instead we get 'is bookbag and put a charm on it so all 'is books fly off like bats?"

"Brilliant, so how do we do that exactly. I don't remember being taught any exploding bat charms or anything." He laughed at the thought. "Oh but check this out!" He had been practicing and bats just so happened to be high on the list. Pushing his hair behind his ears he focused really hard and they started getting longer. Or at least the -looked- like they were growing, and eventually turned into big bat ears. Only for a second before they deflated and returned to normal. Fade was beaming.

"Well, there's the curse of the bat boogeys maybe we could try alterin' that?" He watched as Fade showed him the new skill and Magnus laughed heartily. "Dude that's freakin' awesome! I wish I could do that."

Fade giggled and reached to pet Chase who swatted at his hand a little before headbutting it. "Hmm, if we hide nose gold in his bag somehow the boogey curse is all we need." He squinted down at Chase. "Maybe I can get my cat to sneeze on it or something." He smirked at the unsuspecting feline.

Magnus laughed. "Yes, lets do this!" he said, "though I'm not gonna bath Chase..."

(( OK some things happened and Eirik left school so this is the aftermath. Sorry about the time jump. Not that anyone is paying attention? lol IDK ))

There would be no prank though. Suddenly Eirik was missing. Magnus had looked everywhere, had bothered a lot of Slytherins all to no avail. He worried. Was Eirik avoiding him or had something happened? Then he got a letter, Eirik had gone back home—too new a vampire to safely remain at Hogwarts. He felt bad that his friend was dealing with so much and wished things were different. Part of Magnus felt abandoned.

Then he got angry. Angry at the helplessness of it all—angry that he cared—angry that Eirik was gone and Magnus was left at school—angry that he was a werewolf and Eirik was a vampire—and that they weren’t normal. Angry at nothing and at everything. And with all that anger was sorrow and the loss of a friend that meant so much to him.

The staff noticed Magnus had withdrawn quite a bit. He wasn’t eating, was barely doing anything. He spent most of the time in the dorms, away from everyone—not even bothering to go to class. Because of this, it only took a few days before his parents were notified and he was pulled from school.

Bart left a quick message on Fade's bed: Fade, I am taking Magnus out of school for a little while. We are really worried. ~Bart

He wound up at Paul’s house (auror best friend of the Lees) because he was really well suited to help given that he’d spent so much time with vampires. Paul managed to assist Magnus in getting caught back up in his studies and bolstered the boy’s spirits--by taking an art class with him and visit the museum d'Orsay, among other things like just being there and listening. But his demeanour was still off; though only time could heal that.

Fade had been listless since Magnus () had been gone. There weren't that many other guys in the dorms who he really got along with. Besides, some of the older boys liked to pick on him because of his hair, trying to get it to change colors and whatnot by making not so kind comments and such. The unkind comments only seemed to worsen when Fade started dragging his floating unicorn toy all over the place with him as well. So instead of going back to the dorms Fade had been falling asleep in the corner of the library. This sort of sleeping situation made for a very cramped neck and uncomfortable shoulders. Eventually he was pulled aside by the Astronomy Professor and given an extra credit assignment that put him falling asleep on top of the Astronomy tower instead.

One such night, thankfully it hadn’t been too chilly out, Fade stepped over the door frame and into the common room exhausted. Even after his hour long nap, he had been so uncomfortable he was more tired than when he had fallen asleep. Rubbing his neck and flopped into a cozy chair by the fire and let his head fall back to stare up at the ceiling. There were constellations up there as well and despite his love of the subject, the sight of them only elicited a groan.

Magnus was the only one in the common room, he'd been at Hogesmede most of the day with Paul (who was spending the weekend just to make sure Magnus was okay.) He had arrived after supper and slipped into the dorms with little notice. Then when everyone was in bed he slipped back out and was watching the fire. Fade came in rubbing his neck. Magnus looked up. "Ey, Fade." The boy's voice was forlorn/distant.

He really did need some sleep, now he was hallucinating. “Hey Mags.” () He responded, not really caring if anyone saw him talking to himself. Chase meowed from the stairs and leapt down to greet Magnus. Fade’s eyes followed his cat across the room and almost popped out of his head when it finally dawned on him the Magnus was in fact sitting right there. “Magnus!” He had shouted but it didn’t matter. Slipping from the chair, it hadn’t been that comfy anyway, onto the floor he gave his friend a big hug. His heart was sort of pounding in his throat and there may have been tears in his eyes but it was dark and hard to tell.

Magnus petted Chase. "Sorry about leaving so suddenly. Dad took me out. Said 'e left a note..." He drew himself into a hug, watching the flames flicker. THen he was drawn into a hug and Magnus gave a smile. He had missed Fade, he was one of his best friends. "You look like I'm a ghost," he laughed though it was a little hollow.

He let go and recoiled a little inside himself. “Sorry, I just. Yeah he did…” Thinking back on the note only made him more nervous. Nervous and something else, maybe a little angry. “You know you can talk to me.” He blurted. Chase meowed in retort. There were other things he wanted to say, but Magnus () didn’t sound like he needed a lecture. He lowered his voice and muttered “It kinda sucks here without you.” While tracing circles in the rug.

Magnus shook his head. "Nah its okay."

He lowered his head. "I should've." He sniffed. "Did I tell you I 'ad a big brother in the orphanage?" He stared at the fire. "Little kids get paired with bigger kids, see... 'e was me brother, me friend--and I lost him when I became a werewolf... cant find him either cos to the muggles I'm dead. And that wizard secrecy thing. And well, Eirik reminded me of him... and now 'e's gone too. And... I wonder if it's me. Maybe me birth parents left me cos they didn't want me... Maybe you were better off without me, maybe I'm just wrong..." But he looked at Fade with unshead tears in his eyes. "It did? I'm sorry..."

Fade knew Magnus () had been close with the other children, but he didn’t know he lost a brother. It was a real shame Eirik had to leave and dredge up all these old memories. But maybe it was for the best. At least it was a way to learn how to either deal with it or develop some fun coping mechanisms. All Fade knew was that his friend was feeling terrible and he would do whatever he could to help the guy feel better. He took a deep breath.

“It isn’t your fault.” He was staring again. “And no one’s better off without you, seriously man. That’s ridiculous. I didn’t lose a week of sleep because I was better off without you. Didn't find Chase on your pillow every night cuz he was better off without you. The Professors who called your Dad, who came to pick you up didn’t do it because they were sick of you. We did these things because we can’t really manage without you.” Saying ‘we’ made it feel less awkward but only slightly. Still the rest of the dorm was asleep and what did it matter anyway, let them think he was a loser. “And maybe it doesn’t make any difference, but I don’t plan on going anywhere so there’s that.” As he had been talking the color had been draining a bit from his hair leaving behind a weird silverish hue.

Magnus wiped his eyes with his arm. "Paul said similar...that's where Dad took me... cos you know, auror gets the supernatural stuff. But... I just thought they were you know, adutling me." He smiled. "Thanks. I mean it... I--I know I've got issues, I mean you've seen my boggart. Fear of not being wanted. Kinda comes from the orphan thing and then St. Mungos..." He sniffed again but gave Fade a more Magnus'y smile. "So... I do 'ave something for you... if you want a present. Cos Paul took me to the museum d'Orsay."

“I getcha, you’re tougher than I would be about it, tell ya that much.” Fade really couldn’t imagine a life without his parents or where he would be otherwise. It made perfect sense for Magnus () to be as disrupted as he was. It was a wonder he wasn’t worse off. “I don’t need things to wana still be your friend.” He nudged Magnus and smiled. “But you always get me cool stuff, so I’m down this time I guess.” Chase made a sound and rolled over for belly rubbins.

"I know that. Just cos I doubted if you should be around, didn't mean I doubted if you would be. You're me best mate man. Though if I could've taken you outta school--I might not 'ave come back." He got up and went to his bag and pulled out two books. He handed a thick one to Fade first. "Its all the artwork currently on display." Handing him the book and then handed another book, wizard one this time. 'Metamorphmagus: A training Guide.' "Paul said I need to learn to be a little more comfortable with the werewolf thing... so I asked if we could get you something so you could do more of your cool stuff. Those bat ears were awesome man. You should celebrate it. By the way, 'e's here for the weekend. If you wanna hang out with 'im. "