“My emotions are okay! I feel totally normal, like I could take on the world,” he said, feeling rather ridiculous the moment the words left his mouth. He felt as if he could take on a maximum of one minor complication without completely breaking down, and that was only because today was a relatively good day. “Well, I dunno, maybe not, like, normal normal, but close enough. It’s probably just exam stress, right? I used to be okay at this.”
“No, no, it’s my pleasure to turn Hiccup over to your loving dictatorship! As long as I get visitation every other weekend or so, it’s entirely alright,” he said, then leaned in, as if to suggest they were in on some big secret together. “No worries, Mundungington, your secret’s safe here. I’ll not tell a soul, not even my closest confidants. Confidence, though, yes! I’m confident, one hundred percent. Just like quidditch.” Quidditch, which he didn’t have to think about, which allowed his mind to turn off and his muscles to do all the work. Transfiguration was another story entirely - one tiny mistake lead to another, which lead to him doubting himself, which lead to another mistake.
“Right, she does. That hair! It’s charming though, isn’t it? Sort of endearing?” he said, smiling fondly. “Not to say that you aren’t too, in your own perfect way. I’m glad to hear that! I’m sure the muggles would love to hear about our romance, but as you say, it’s too good to be true. Perhaps in another life.”
Furrowing his eyebrows together, Mundungus simply looked at Caradoc as he listened to him. While he recognized that they were friends, he knew that some things weren’t meant to be pressed into yet self-restraint had left him that night. “Are you sure about that?” Mundungus question as he turned back to the page he had been on before and found the brief mentioning that had warranted its appearance in the index of the textbook. “I may be getting into something that isn’t my business but something has to be affecting your magic, emotions wise anyway.”
With a look that would have suggested he was pondering over an incredibly important issue, Mundungus glanced up at Caradoc. “Visitation ever other weekend seems doable and to carry you over the weeks that you don’t see Hiccup, you can take Hiccup out for walks during the day light hours. I may be a dictator but I will be a merciful ruler.” With a nod, Mundungus allowed his gaze to drift back to his open book and for a small moment, he began to read what little it had to offer him. “Right, so everything that this book is telling me to do are things that I know you’re capable of doing because you’ve done them before so why don’t we just talk for a moment. I’m starting to think this is more of a mental thing than an actual skill capability problem.” With the closing of the book, Mundungus gave his full attention to the boy across from him as he took another drag of his cigarette.
“I can’t say that I’ve given Mary enough time out of my day to say it’s endearing but I’ll take your word for it. Anyway, she does seem nice.” Perhaps they were getting slightly off topic, though it wouldn’t really matter if the end result was Caradoc regaining a bit of confidence. “Can I ask you something? Not anything too personal although I’ll be honest and say it is a personal question. So agree at your own risk.” He half-joked just before taking another puff of his smoke.
