Chapter 2
Poe and Rey fall into a natural friendship. Ben knows it’s mostly down to Quidditch; Rey’s the best keeper the Slytherin team’s seen in decades, and the team is Poe’s life . It isn’t surprising that they’d bond over something as base as camaraderie.
What is surprising is how fast Dameron's slid into Big Brother Mode.
Ben’d been relaxing in the Slytherin common room, trying to nap, when he hears someone running down the chamber stairs. He turns in time to watch Rey’s buns and swirling robe disappear up the girls’ room stairwell.
“Rey!” Dameron clambers down the common room stairs next, calling after her. “Rey, just stop for a sec-!”
Ben turns on the couch to look back at Poe, alarmed. “What happened?”
“He’s a fucking dementor, I swear to Merlin-” Dameron starts, spitting mad and pacing in front of the fireplace. “If Hux keeps picking on her I’m gonna slam his face into the nearest stone column-” The threat of bodily violence against the cancerous redhead holds little shock value. Not in this house. Not after a four-year rivalry between the three of them. “-picking on her fucking uniform violation- a hole in her skirt!? Her only skirt! The one she had to take out of lost and found! Fucking really!? It's always a class thing with that jackass!”
“Did he get her in trouble for it?”
“Of course he did!” Poe erupts. “I had to track down Tano just so we could pull her out of Ackbar’s office. That shithead was lobbying to get her in trouble for a moth hole in her skirt-“
“Did it work?” Ben’s voice is dark, intense.
“No, Ackbar knew that shit was a waste of time," Poe says, unwinding just the slightest. "But still- after- fucking Tano had to pull Rey into her office. The whole thing really scared Rey. That kid fears suspension more than she fears a hundred-mile-an-hour quaffle headed for her head, you know?”
Ben’s eye twitches. He knows. “...Hux is dead.”
Their eyes meet in perfect sync, reflecting the menacing green strobe of the Slytherin's common room flame. Poe nods. “Hux is so fucking dead.”
Luckily, Armitage Hux is the easiest target in Hogwarts now that Phasma’s Gryffindor Head Girl and doesn’t have time to play bodyguard for her pathetic childhood friend.
He’s alone and defenseless when they catch him in the third floor boy’s lavatory.
Ben deftly casts "Petrificus Totalis,” as he and Poe flank him from behind. Their eyes lock on the petrified ginger in the mirror’s reflection.
“Here’s what we’re gonna do, Hugs,” Poe starts. “We’re gonna start with your title as Prefect since I think we all know those numbers never added up. ‘Suffragium Fixi’, wasn’t it?” Poe snakes his arm across Hux’s shoulder, nodding as if in deep thought. “Yeah, yeah I’m pretty sure that was the hex I heard the night of the tally. Wasn’t it, Solo?”
“Mmhm.”
“A dark hex, if I’m not mistaken.”
“An immediate suspension,” Ben adds.
Poe’s looking at Ben, whose eyes remain mercilessly trained on Hux. Ben hears his friend hum. “An immediate suspension,” he repeats, as if in awe. The weasel’s eyes widen. “If that doesn’t work I guess we’ll just have to target those grades of yours. Maybe play with a few test fixing hexes, ourselves? Lose you a few references? Make a few…” Poe raises his eyebrows at Ben. “Accusations?”
Ben would rather hex himself than willingly turn to his mother for anything. But it’s mostly a bluff anyway, so Ben plays along, nodding.
“Or-” Poe tightens his grip on Hux’s shoulder, drops his voice. “You can leave Rey—and all the other little first-years you deem ‘easy prey’—the fuck. Alone.”
Hux barely manages a panicked mumble of assent.
“Pretty sweet deal, we know,” Poe says, voice light again. “And we will know if you don’t uphold your end of the bargon. Won’t we, Solo?”
“Immediately.”
“'Cause we've got a certain map.”
“Makes it easy to track certain people.”
“Easy to corner certain people,” Poe finishes. “Capiche?”
All they get is a panicked, muffled “MMHM.”
Poe slaps him on his back, “Good talk, Hugs. Kiss Skywalker’s ass for us, will you?”
Ben lets his friend exit before tipping the red beanpole just enough to topple and thud like a sad sack. He leans over the petrified bully just enough to make himself perfectly visible: “So much as think of messing with her again, I will ruin your fucking life, Armitage.”