●▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬●
Milo wasn't even the one that Artemis had described as tainted, but he felt directly insulted and defensive over his little brother. What had Harry done that had caused his blood to be considered tainted by the goddess, if anything, he had been dealt the short end of the stick when it came to their lives but for the most part, Milo thought he was handling himself quite well. Meaning, Harry could have turned out to be a lot worse but he managed to stay strong through it all. So what was Artemis basing her reasoning off of and was it possible that Milo could change her mind? Apparently, she was quite aware of what he was planning on doing as he heard her let out a light laugh.
"Already trying to convince me otherwise without knowing my own reasoning," she said, bringing Milo to look shamefully down at the ground. It was one thing to be called out, but to be called out by a goddess, it was far more embarrassing.
"H-he's my brother," Milo told her, "I would do anything for him."
"And would he do the same for you?" Artemis countered. Her voice didn't sound malicious, instead, she merely seemed curious about his thoughts on the matter. Milo looked up at her for a few moments, trying to read her expression and gather if she was attempting to hint at something, but her face remained still and she remained quiet waiting for his answer.
"As of right now, I honestly don't think so, but I believe if the circumstances were different-"
"Meaning, perhaps if you close to death again, he would see it as fit to be by your side?"
Milo wasn't a fan of whatever game she was attempting to play. He didn't want his brother to be viewed in a poor light because of what he had done and Harry had managed to figure out. He believed his brother had every right to be angry and even when they weren't fighting, the two still weren't nearly as close, time apartment had managed to bring about those results.
"Harry is upset with me due to my own doing, I kept the secrets from him-"
"And he has never kept a secret from you before that you had to discover on your own?"
"He's not tainted!" Milo said angrily, frustrated that he couldn't argue what Artemis was dishing out, to make matters worse, she was so calm in her approach that it left him feeling even more flustered in the debate. "He's young and life has been unfair to him."
"And how long will he dwell on that mentality, Milo? How long will he lean on that crutch? There are many born into unfair lives, what makes it so that others can move past it while others feed off it?"
The boy in his stag form simply stared at the goddess, he didn't know what she wanted him to say.
"He's only a child," Milo whispered finally, " and it was a lot for him to take in. He shouldn't be punished for any of this. He's not tainted, he's merely lost. If you consider his blood tainted, then that means mine is just as well."
"No, Milo, there is a difference between you and your brother, regardless of his reactions to the events have occurred, his blood has been tainted since he was young. I cannot assist those that share the mere chance of corruption and your brother may fall onto either side, only time can tell. But his blood will remain as such-"
"What can he do to change it?" Milo asked her, taking a couple of steps towards Artemis in desperation. "What can Harry do to prove that he's not tainted?"
"Nothing," Artemis replied, " he will be cleansed upon his death."
He nearly choked on the breath that he had been holding, wishing to just yell at the goddess and tell her that she was wrong. His mind thought back to the centaurs, how carefree they were over the thought of Harry's death and now, he had to face it all over again, however, with a much powerful being relaying the news. What had tainted Harry that caused so many to call for his death? He had done nothing wrong, he didn't hurt anyone, he was just a fresh teenager trying to figure out how to deal with everything that life continued to throw at him.
He was willing to argue with her, at least for the idea that Harry could be spared with however death was going to approach him. But Artemis was not going to give him the chance to do so that evening as he found himself slipping back into the darkness. She began fading from view and as he tried to call out to her, hoping she would be willing to hear him speak, it was too late. Just like that, the goddess was gone and Milo found himself waking up in his bed, drenched in sweat.
Fortunately, he was no longer in his stag form or that would have been a sight for his surrounding dorm mates that were looking over at him from his bed. Paden was sitting on the boy's chest, apparently, he had been chirping for quite some time in order to get Milo awake. Now that the boy was, the bowtruckle seemed awfully concerned as he crawled over and hugged Milo's hand. Milo swallowed and muttered his apologies to his dorm mates for disturbing their sleep, he claimed that he ate too much during dinner, giving him the strangest of dreams.
The lie seemed to satisfy the other boys enough that they went back to bed, but Milo waited until they were all snoring again before he pushed himself up from the bed. Still in a groggy state from the mixture of the horrible news and still being half-asleep, Milo simply walked out of his dorm with Paden holding on for dear life. Paden wasn't sure where they were going but he definitely hoped it wasn't on a midnight adventure.
However, it appeared that Milo wasn't in the mood to roam the corridors that evening, instead, to Paden's delight, they entered Cedric's dorm room. All the older boys were asleep and Milo found Cedric's bed, laid down at the bottom and fell back to sleep.
Cedric didn't even notice that someone had entered his bed, until he felt the tingling sensation in his feet as they had fallen asleep for some reason. He sat up slightly, in the dim lighting of the room, catching the sight of Milo asleep at the bottom of his bed like a small kitten. He wasn't sure how to respond to the sight, although he couldn't deny that it made him happy to see Milo that close to him again. He figured something must have happened that caused the boy to leave his own bed and venture to Cedric. It made him feel better that despite their fighting and strained relationship, that Cedric still acted as some form of security for Milo.
He didn't bother to wake him up and question Milo, seeing as the boy seemed to be at peace as he slept. More than likely there was going to be an awkward confrontation in the morning, and Cedric had no problem with putting it off until then.
●▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬●
After the events of the previous night, it wasn't a surprise to Milo that he woke up early. However, it was a surprise when he woke up in a bed that wasn't his own. Immediately, with a cramping sensation in his neck, he slowly lifted his head up to observe that he was not in his dorm room. But somehow, he had managed to make his way to Cedric's dorm during the night. He honestly didn't remember making his way there but no one seemed to have noticed as the older boys were all still asleep in their beds, including Cedric.
Panic swept in his chest as he didn't want Cedric to wake up and catch him there, so he slowly slid off the side of the bed, cupping a sleeping Paden in his hands. He left the room undisturbed before quickly hurrying back to his own dorm, just in time for Paden to wake up and let out a couple of chirps. It caused his own dorm mates to stir, but Milo had just been thankful that he hadn't been caught in Cedric's dorm, it was going to look so bad otherwise.
Settling Paden down, he left to the showers to prepare for the day. The thoughts of his dreams from the night before replayed over in his mind while he lathered, rinse, and repeated the process. To hear Artemis call his brother tainted, Milo felt insulted for Harry, but to have two powerful and insightful beings such as the centaurs and Artemis claim Harry's death was some form of a solution, it left Milo feeling sick.
But it was the first day of classes and Milo needed to pull himself together. There was a lot to accomplish that term and he wasn't going to get any of it done if he was simply slacking off. Once he finished up in the shower, dressed in his uniforms and robes, Milo collected Paden off his bed and decided to head to the Great Hall for breakfast.
When he walked in, Cedric wasn't there, meaning he was still back in the dorms, much to his relief, but Heidi and Max were there. He promptly made his way over and sat with the two girls, who quickly picked up on his mood.
"You okay, Milo?" Max asked him right away as he sat across from the two at the Hufflepuff table. He glanced up as Paden began scouring the table, looking for something that he wanted to eat.
"Not really," he sighed, "I ended up having a bad dream of sorts and...well...I ended up in Cedric's bed."
Heidi immediately began coughing as she had inhaled the piece of toast the wrong way that she had been working on. She struck herself in the chest until Max handed her a drink to wash it down. By the time that the windpipe was cleared, the girl was completely red in the face.
"Okay, Milo, you and your wording, you really need to work on that or I'm never going to make it seventh year," she told him as she tried to regulate her breathing. "What do you mean you ended up in his bed?"
Now Milo was aware of how it sounded to them, although he had to give the girls a look because if they honestly expected him to so casually describe his sex life, then they truly didn't know him at all.
"I told you, " he said, "I had a bad dream, I must have just wandered to his bed for...comfort or somethi-"
"Awww!" The girls cooed at him, bringing Milo's face to fall flat before he dropped it on the table.
"No, it's not a matter of Aww, this is bad, I can't just do that. I'm just thankful that he wasn't aware that I did it. I mean, we're not even supposed to be friends at this point, just simple house mates and fellow quidditch players that's it. What sort of example am I setting by crawling into his bed over a nightmare?"
"You mean to tell me that you crawled into his bed and Cedric didn't notice at all?" Max whispered. "Our beds aren't that big, Milo. He had to have noticed."
"No, he was still asleep when I woke up, he didn't wake me up or say anything during the night-"
"Maybe because he didn't want to," Heidi pointed out. "Maybe he was fully aware of you being there and wanted you to stay. After all, Milo, it's not like the feelings between you two just vanished, they're still there, you two have just been forced to hide them."
"Yeah but-" Before he could argue any further, he was interrupted by the noise coming over from the direction of the Slytherin table.He looked over his shoulder to see a group of Slytherins, centred around Draco as he made wild impressions of Harry. When Milo looked over at the Gryffindor table, he noticed his brother sitting there, red in the face. He didn't even notice that Harry had been in the Great Hall, it truly showed how distracted he was.
But after a rough night, hearing Draco mock his little brother over something he didn't have control over, caused Milo to lose his temper. Max and Heidi watched in shock as Milo drew his wand from his sleeve and pointed it over at the younger students.
"Melofors!" He called out several times under his breath in direction of the third year Slytherins. In a span of a few seconds, Draco, Pansy, and a couple of others found their heads encased in pumpkins. Immediately, it was followed by the struggle of the Slytherins running around in place as they were left in the dark of their pumpkin prison, until they all crashed into each other.
When Heidi and Max turned to look at Milo, the boy was gone.
Heidi rubbed the back of her head.
"Remind me to never piss off Milo ever again or do anything to get on his bad side. It's always the nice and sweet ones that you have to look after."