"Ow. That hurt." Albus rubbed his right shoulder vigorously, the punch having the added effect of blurring his world a little more. He turned to glare at Jack, but the light of humour sparkling in his eyes was ill-hidden. "I'm a mortal man, and you're a Professional Beater. Watch it, will you?"
Jack cracked another witty one-liner, and Albus repressed a smirkish-smile, idly wondering if he was the bipolar one, not Jack. The faint burn of bile in his throat was a distant memory, cloaked by the pleasant, numbing flame of Firewhisky. Jack quickly turned to seriousness though, and Albus laid his head against the couch head-rest once more, this time facing Jack, his cheek resting against the rough material. Thoughts flew back to the last time he had received advice on this topic of conversation, and images of a red-cheeked, strained, shouting Neville came to mind. The smile, and along with it the somewhat pleasantness faded from Albus's face and mind, replaced by quiet resignation. Oh well. He shouldn't have bothered asking Jack at all. What other answer could be expected from the Triwizard Champion, Gryffindor idealist and dedicated member of the Order of the Pheonix?
Albus blinked. Well, certainly not that one.
"You have no bloody idea how much that means to me." The sentence was murmured, a bare movement of lips, perhaps muffled against the couch, unheard. Good. It wasn't meant to be heard in the first place. Albus stared somewhere at Jack's shoulder, gaze lost in the flowing river of water colour, objects blending into one another. Honesty slipped from his lips inadvertently, or maybe he had meant to say it all along, "It doesn't matter you know. I know I'm not going to leave it. It's the only thing I've ever been really good at. Felt at home with." He picked at a thread, somewhere poking out from the lump called a couch, "I wish I could leave the f*cking conscience behind though. Leave it or keep it, but do it wholeheartedly." Too long. He had lived with the fog of confusion, mist of conflict, hazing his mind for too long.