Life's a Battle [Cory]

Cory had grown used to people whispering about him and his family over the last seven years and he always tried not to let it get to him. Things with his parents were still rocky, it had never been the same after he was sorted into Gryffindor and there was still the usual tension between them and Harvey as well. More than a few times Cory had tried to get his brother to open up and tell him what was going on but Harvey had refused, simply saying that it was nothing and choosing not to say another word on the matter. It wasn’t lost on Cory that Harvey never left him alone with their parents and it had been that way ever since their first year. There was something going on there but Harvey wouldn’t talk to him about it for whatever reason and Cory had seen how agitated it made his brother when he asked about it so in the end he had stopped asking. Cory knew that he didn’t want to make things more difficult for Harvey, his brother already got into fights trying to look out for him despite Cory telling him repeatedly that he could fight his own battles. Harvey was the oldest, though, and Cory knew that he felt responsible for him despite the fact that Cory wasn’t born that long after. Being triplets meant that they had each other’s back no matter what and that was the way it had always been. Harvey always looked out for him and Cory tried to do the same for his brother in return. It hadn’t changed anything between them when he was sorted into Gryffindor, not like it had with the rest of the family, and Cory was glad about that. The two of them were still close now and honestly Harvey was the one who made going home for the holidays bearable. More often than not they would make themselves scarce for the day or go somewhere to practice Duelling or quidditch and Cory knew he was pretty lucky to be able to do that. It made returning to school and practicing with Elaine that much more fun and Cory rolled his eyes n return as she said she bet they spent their summer gossiping about her. “You caught us, we had nothing better to do with our time than talk about you constantly,” he said sarcastically, an amused smile forming on his face as he looked over at her. He knew that Elaine was only playing around, he knew better than to take her seriously when she said something like that but he couldn’t resist giving as good as he got anyway.

With everything that was going on right now, Cory knew that they needed to be ready for anything so a sparring session with Elaine couldn’t have come at a better time. She was one of the only other people who hadn’t turned their backs on him when he was sorted into Gryffindor, they had become friends on the train and it had stayed that way all through their time at Hogwarts. It was strange to think that they would be graduating at the end of the year and they then might have to go their separate ways but Cory was seriously considering staying on and going to the university and he hoped that Elaine would as well. Cory wasn’t sure whether Harvey would decide to stay on or not given just how rocky his time at Hogwarts had been for the last seven years but he knew that only time would tell. As Elaine said she thought the other students liked using his being in Gryffindor against his brother, Cory nodded. “I know they do. I wish he’d just ignore them like I do and I know he tries it sometimes but if he didn’t rise to it then they’d probably stop. They know it’s something they can use to get under his skin so they’re going to keep on doing it,” Cory sighed. It wasn’t difficult to get Harvey to lose his temper sometimes and that was something that the other students had taken to counting on. “It doesn’t help that some of them have tried to curse him when his back is turned before either. You’d think they’d have learned their lesson by now,” he added with a shrug. Harvey could be a hothead but he knew how to fight and he also knew how to duel so the other students never really stood a chance but for some reason that didn’t stop them from trying anyway. “This whole thing with the Enlightened has made things so much worse. Now they like saying that our whole family is involved with them and Harvey hates it. I honestly don’t know whether our parents are but the rest of us aren’t,” he admitted. That didn’t stop the rumours from spreading, though. “So am I but it happens more often than you might think. I guess I’m used to it by now,” Cory shrugged. He was glad that his friend had come around in the end as well, though. He didn’t have many true friends and he knew to keep those he did have close. “Good luck with that. It’s our seventh year, I think they see that as an excuse to torture us,” he chuckled. He honestly couldn’t blame Elaine, he was ready for things to get more interesting as well but their professors had to get them ready for their NEWTs at the end of the year and they seemed to have decided how they were going to do that already. As Elaine asked how his summer was other than fantasizing about her, Cory couldn’t help but laugh. “I think we both know I’m not the brother you want fantasizing about you,” he chuckled. He had seen the way she and Harvey were around each other and he had a feeling that it was just a matter of time before something happened there. “It was alright. Honestly, Harvey and I made ourselves scarce as much as we could. Things with our parents still aren’t great,” he shrugged. “How was yours?” Getting into position, Cory nodded as Elaine asked if he learned any good healing spells over the summer. “That’s a good idea. I gave Episkey a try, it could still use some work but it’s pretty useful for smaller injuries. I came across another one called Vulnera Sanentur as well but that’s meant to heal deep gashes so I didn’t get to try it. Do you know any others?” he asked, not sure whether Elaine had come across any that they could try as well.

ELAINE MACKENZIE WARRINGTON