Lucas didn't have a date for Valentine's Day, a fact that could be debated to be for the best, but he did have a Sophie. And having a Sophie was even better that having a date, even if she was going to go off at some point and spend the rest of the day with her boyfriend. Figaro only mildly bothered him more than Deus did, but not because he was jealous. No, thankfully, he'd gotten over that bit of confusion back when a stream of pretty French girls showed up at the beginning of the school year to distract him. His irritation had more to do with the fact that Sophie and Figaro had done the dating thing before and each time it seemed to end in spectacular fashion.

If it was going to end, it was not his call to make and he'd already decided that he would be keeping his judgmental musings on the subject to himself. After all, it felt like ages since he'd spent any quality friend time with Sophie and he didn't want to waste it arguing with her. And so here he was, waiting outside of the sweet shop, waiting for Sophie to come along. His gift was tucked into his back pocket, a necklace he'd fashioned from a pair of broken and cast off earrings from his sister and chain. He'd offered to fix the earrings outright for Alice, but she'd waved him off in favor of trying out some new styles the American girls were sporting.

"Hey," he grinned when he spotted her through the crowd.

Sophie had a lot of important people in her life, people she couldn't quite imaging having gotten through the last year without. At the top of the list (though sometimes he drove her completely mad) was Lucas. He was like that old worn sweater that saw you through every little up hill battle and heartbreak, always warm and familiar. Whatever weirdness there had been at the end of the summer was gone now, and it was better that way because the idea of losing someone else to unchecked emotions was just ridiculous to the tiny sixth year.

Of course they hadn't had as much time for one another lately, between her becomign a Prefect and his endless quidditch obsession as well as classes, socializing fell further and further down the list for both of them. It was why she'd insisted on a morning Valentine's "date" with him. It was important to pay attention to your boyfriend, but it was arguably more important to be a good friend. Besides, today was Gracie's birthday and if Luc intended to go he'd probably need some psyching up before hand. Until Deus she had never really understood the draw of a relationship with a snake... now, well now was different.

Her brown eyes lit up when she saw him, tiny body quick to pounce as she hugged him and placed a kiss on either of his cheeks, "Happy Violent Cherub Day! I should tell you now buying you gifts anymore makes me feel like a mom, so you just better be grateful," her tone was teasing as she thrust the oversized back at him. The previous year she had made Valentines for almost everyone in Gryffindor and all her friends from other houses. This year she was keeping it simple; just Fig and Luc, "Alright, you've got me for the whole morning so do we want to talk about your girl problems now or later"?

Luc caught on to Sophie as she bounced up to hug him and gave her a squeeze. Sophie liked to accuse him of being half giant and he was always quick to tell her she was just half pixie. It wasn't his fault she had stopped growing back in fourth year or that he probably wouldn't be done until after they'd left Hogwarts. It did made greetings a bit of an experience and Sophie went a step further and dropped a kiss on each cheek before he set her down again.

"I'm grateful, I'm grateful," he assured with a laugh and dug into his pocket to hand off the little package. How fitting, he realized as she handed him the large gift bag she'd been toting down the street. He had her all morning apparently, did he want to talk about his girl problems now or later? "Can we not," he groaned a bit and opened his bag to take a look at what she'd gotten him. "This is great, thank you," he pulled her in for a quick side hug. It had not been his intention to talk about his past girl problems or even his current, very non-existent girl problems, but now that she'd brought it up, it was hard to not think about it. "Maybe we'll talk about it later. What should we do, Puddifoot's is a mad house already."

Lucas gave the best hugs of anyone she knew (except maybe her dad and Deus). They were warm, familiar, and they made her feel safe in a very strange way she would never be able to explain to anyone else. Once he set her down and handed her the small wrapped package she waited for him to peek in the bag. She'd spent a long time hunting down the Falcon's hoodie and bribed someone from her father's label to get her the Sid & the Giant Squid shirt. No one would have that yet. Of course the middle of the street was not the sort of place to go digging through giant gift bags and she had to contain her excitement.

Looking up and down the street she considered his question before pointing toward their favorite bakery. It was not nearly so busy as everywhere else on high street, but was open enough no one could accuse her for sneaking around on Figaro. Also, the proprietor Candy was especially sweet and seemed to have a fondness for the petite Gryffindor. She even gave Soph freebies sometimes! "Candy's, looks good. You know my fatal weakness is her cupcakes. If I ever go on the take as a Prefect, I will have to be paid in cupcakes from her bakery... not that I would ever go on the take"! Her brown eyes went shifty, as though someone might have been listening in on her before she glanced back up at Luc and tugged him up the street, "C'mon I skipped breaky. Sophie hungy, Sophie hungy"!

Sophie was bouncy and full of energy, overly child like as she tugged him down the street. It was like having the old Sophie back. The Sophie before she started looking more and more like a girl. The Sophie before he'd kissed her. And most importantly, the Sophie before her mom passed. It wasn't that he didn't like the new Sophie, they were all growing up and changing after all. It was more... he missed doting on her in the same way he doted on his own sister and it had been a while since he felt like he could do that.

"Who needs money when you have butter cream frosting," Lucas agreed with a laugh. "So if I buy you a cupcake, you won't turn me in if you catch me out after curfew, right?" It was mostly a joke, but Lucas was still adjusting to Sophie being a prefect and didn't really want his friend to turn him him either.

Candy greeted them as they entered. Did they want the usual? Of course they did and maybe a double at that. One for now, one for later. He dropped into a seat, finally able to dig into his large gift bag to pull out the bundles of fabric he'd spotted amongst the tissue paper. "Sid and the Giant Squid," he opened it amazed. It was unlike anything on the market right now and he couldn't help but admit that being friends with Sophie did, indeed, have it's perks. The other bundle was heavier, thicker and he unfurled it to reveal a Falcon's hoodie. It was his favorite team and he couldn't help the grin that overcame him. "You're amazing, you know that?"

Though she still held onto his hand Sophie was focused less on pulling Lucas after her and more on the image of cupcakes dancing in her head. She was even humming a happy little tune, hips swaying with the rhythm of the made up song. It looked very much like a one-sided-backwards-mambo, "Only if you have a very good reason, and also I am not with someone who will tell on me for letting you off the hook. You could avoid the whole problem if you were well behaved enough to be a Prefect," she looked over her shoulder and fluttered her eyelashes at him with a teasing grin.

Once they were inside the very pink and lovely shop, Sophie made a beeline for Candy and found herself wrapped in a warm hug. The blonde was as voluptuous as always and quick with the affection before waving the duo off toward an empty table. She bounced a little in her seat, chewing on her bottom lip as she watched Luc's eyes go wide. She wanted to clap and squeal a little. She loved giving gifts- almost more than getting them actually. The stupid happy grin that formed at the corners of her mouth conveyed ow happy she was she had made him happy.

"I do what I can. I also have it on fairly good authority that The Squid are going to be playing Spellpunk with Phrenology of a Gentleman opening over Spring Hols. I couldn't get us tickets yet, but as soon as they settle up on the date you are expected to go and be my moshpit barrier. People do not seem to understand that I am small and could be crushed to death," she was stil bouncing in her seat as she slowly began to unwrap the gift from Luc, being painstakingly precious with the paper (mostly to annoy him), before finally getting it all done and looking into the box, "Cor Luc, this is brilliant, I love it"! Mere seconds later she had layered the necklace over her lion-faced locket, mixing metals be damned,

Lucas had never been what anyone would call a model student, in his overall grades or in his track record. Sure, there were certain subjects he excelled in outright. Others, though, his interest was spotty and inevitably showed in his marks. Rule breaking on the other hand, that was another thing entirely. It wasn't so much that he went seeking trouble for the sake of causing trouble so much as he went seeking fun and ended up in trouble. It was a very real distinction to make and one he could debate for a good hour or so. He could even make a case for making an even better prefect for it if he tried hard enough. It simply wasn't an effort he wanted to put in right now, not when he had enough things occupying his time and Lucas just rolled his eyes at Sophie's teasing over it. "Behaving is boring," he told her.

Sophie might be a prefect now, but it had not changed her gift giving in the slightest. Concert tickets might be on the way and he was needed if only because Sophie liked to go places she probably shouldn't. "That's the only reason you keep me around, huh?" He shook his head with an amused sigh as he waited for Sophie to finish opening her own. "Oh, come on then," he demanded as it became obvious she was going to take here dear sweet time with it. "I do what I can," he grinned, using her own phrasing. The cupcakes arrived and Luc ran a finger through the frosting and sucked it into his mouth. With gift giving over with and food well underway, his mind was left to wander on it's own, picking up the piece of unfinished business Sophie had left laying about. "What do ya think about this birthday party later?"

"Behaving isn't boring, if it is then I'm boring, and we both know that can't possibly be true," she stuck her tongue out at him but let the matter drop. Luc would have made a pretty good Prefect in her estimation but then what did she know about it all? Not much, obviously - she was still a bit baffled by the fact she'd been asked. After breaking Figaro's nose at the start of the year she figured she'd be on everyone's bad list forever...even if he'd kind of had it coming. She grinned at Norwood's assertion she only kept him around for protection, raising one shoulder and letting it fall nonchalantly, "You say that like its somehow a negative thing. I like to think of it as a mutually benefitial relationship. You get to go to awesome shows and I get to not be smished to death. Everyone's happy"!

Carefully peeling back the wrapped her on her cupcake she made her typical thoughtful face, lips pursed to one side as she tried to think of the best way to express herself on all things Luc and Slytherin related. It wasn't easy at all, "I think I'm going with you so you don't do anything stupid like kiss one of Gracie's friends again, or trip over your own tongue and fall into whatever pool it is they're working out. You plus girls in bikinis plus your ex all kind of equal a disaster in the making," she paused to take a bite out of the sweet treat, leaving a glop of frosting on her nose, "But having said all that, I've always liked Gracie and it makes me sad that you two can't even be friends anymore because of something that happened almost a year ago. What are you thinking about this birthday business"?

The situation with Livi and Gracie was not something he was proud of by any stretch of the imagination. He hadn't gone out looking specifically for one of Gracie's friends and he certainly had never intended on things with Livi getting as far as they had. Sure, Livi was attractive and smart and she was a great kisser, but she had ideas about things. Things that didn't even register on his radar outside of thinking them outdated at the least and shallow at the worst. Social standing, connections, blood. These things were important to Livi and even if it hadn't come to a head, they wouldn't have gotten very far being on such different planes.

Lucas peeled off his wrapper and took a bite while he contemplated what Sophie had to say. Sophie didn't want him going in unsupervised to an admittedly, altogether tempting situation without some supervision. This vague truce like thing he had going with Gracie right now did not mean he was free to just come to her party and start ogling bikini clad girls. The ice was still thin and he had no intention of dropping into freezing cold water before they made real stable ground.

"Maybe we just skip it?" Lucas shrugged and reached across the table to wipe his thumb at her nose, before sticking the newly free frosting into his own mouth. "If I'm going to look like an ass, I'd rather just blow it off, you know?"