Thatcher scratched absentmindedly at the tiny scratches at the back of his neck as he flipped through the old Daily Prophet that had been left behind at the Ravenclaw table at breakfast. His Valentine's present from Ruby, the orange tabby kitten he'd dubbed Syd;an homage to the famous muggle couple Sid and Nancy- Ruby's black kitten was Nancy; had shown that she liked hanging, quite literally, onto the back of his neck all morning. He hoped she would either grow out of it or learn to perch calmly as opposed to scratching the back of his neck to shreds for the rest of his life. Taking a breath and forcing himself to leave the scratches alone so they could heal up before his new companion launched herself up there again, he flipped to the next page. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly as he skimmed the article about the dance. Everything was related back to Ava's death of course, as it would be for a long time to come he figured. His eyes trailed to the end, to little Sophie's parting shot, he fully expected the Flickwick sisters to save the wizarding world one day. God help the world if they ever figured out that they were stronger together.

He closed the paper and tossed it into his book bag, pulling his wool overcoat tighter around himself and leaning against the stone backing to the bench he was sitting on. “Com'on Eddie, no dawdling now.” The only bother about having large chunks of free time in his schedule was that Thatch was, more often than not he found himself waiting for his friends. Edmund Klint, possibly one of his best guy friends was supposed to be getting out of Herbology any minute now and then they had some catching up to do. Thatch supposed it was his fault for letting himself get roped in to helping out with the SAWS booth for the dance , but the fact that he'd heard through the grapevine that his friend and Emmy Carter were dating was a wake up call that they needed to hang out a bit more. Seeing each other in class just wasn't gonna cut it apparently. They had a break between Ed's class and potions so they'd arranged this morning to meet up here. It wasn't that it was freezing cold, Thatch was warm enough, it was the waiting without anything to do that bothered him. He wasn't the most impatient person he'd ever met, but he knew that he was pretty high up there. If Edmund didn't show up soon he'd be reduced to doing schoolwork in the courtyard, and he knew he could do that later.

Edmund had spent the past forty-five minutes staring blankly at his Herbology bench, reluctant to take part and contribute. He couldn't concentrate, and although he would never admit it, his new girlfriend definitely had something to do with it. Rufus and Helene Klint were less than impressed with how easily-distracted their second-youngest was, and somebody as enchanting as Lou Carter couldn't have helped. Clarissa on the other hand, was ecstatic. She was constantly writing to Edmund asking him to invite Lou over for dinner, but he was wary. Two infamous Gryffindors in one place meant trouble, and Edmund wanted his girlfriend to get the best start with the demanding expectations of Mr and Mrs Klint.

Other than schoolwork, much of his life had remained the same. Conversations with Waker and Leon were abundant, as always, but he'd made a conscious effort to make plans with Thatcher. The Ravenclaw was a firm fixture in Edmund's close circle of friends, yet Edmund couldn't remember the last time they had conversed outside the classroom. And to be honest, he couldn't wait for a catch-up with one of the lads.

Scooping up his textbooks, quills and sheets of parchment, Edmund threw his brown leather satchel over his shoulder and hurriedly left the conservatories. Pushing his wayfarer spectacles up his nose as they started to slip, he didn't forget to hold the door open for a passing Hufflepuff girl, returning her bashful smile with a cool grin. What? Just because he had a girlfriend now didn't mean he had to cease all charm? Sliding on a navy duffel coat to face the chilly February air, Edmund rushed down the corridors. He was already late. Typical.

Finally reaching the main doors to the courtyard, he instantly recognised the figure waiting on a nearby bench.
"Oi, Thatcher, chilling on your own again?" he laughed teasingly, loud enough for the other dwellers in the courtyard to hear. He gave his mate a wink of amusement, striding over and delivering Thatcher a firm pat on the back. "How're you doing mate? Sorry I'm late." Edmund wasn't the most punctual of people, it had to be said, but at least his tardiness came with an apology.

Thatcher spent large chunks of his life pretending he was just a normal kid, without a wand or friends that could cast spells. His mother had seen to that, not in a harmful way, but in a 'I want  you to know both sides of your heritage' way. Because of that, he had a number of muggle friends that he went eight months at a time without seeing. He was the sort of person that could pick up a friendship from the last time they'd been together as if it was yesterday.

It was a handy skill, it meant he could keep his friends close, if he chose to do so. Edmund Klint was definitely a friend he wanted to keep. He was sometimes cocky and arrogant but had never been so much so that it had turned Thatch off of their friendship. It was nice to have a guy to crack jokes with, someone he could sit down and have a completely guy centered conversation with, and no he didn't mean talking about boys. It wasn't that he resented his best friend being a girl, it was just nice to have a good mate that was of the same gender, kept his head on straight in a way.

Thatch couldn't say he was surprised that his friend was running late, he knew it wasn't on purpose and that the other boy would be along soon enough. Just hopefully soon enough that they could actually hang out before having to run to Vaillancourt's dungeon. He looked around the courtyard, surveying the  other students milling about, people watching at it's best. Hearing his friends voice he smiled and turned his head in the direction of the sound.

He laughed and shook his head, leaning forward on the bench as his friend strode up to him. “S'What happens when your mate takes his sweet time getting here from class.” The pat on the back was a welcome reminder of their friendship and Thatch brought a hand down on his knee with a smile before giving the other boy a playful punch on the arm. “If I wasn't used to you being late by now Ed it'd be pretty sad. How am I doing? How are you doing mate? Miss Emmy Lou Carter eh? Well done!” he said with a laugh.

Taking a seat next to Thatch, Edmund breathed a heavy sigh of relief. It was as if they'd seen each other everyday for the past fifty years. Leaning back and resting an ankle on the opposite leg, he shrugged nonchalantly at the mention of Lou, a satisfied smirk spreading across his face.
"No need for a congratulations, mate," he laughed. "I always manage to bag the girl at the end of the day." He gave Thatcher a look of amusement - in fact, Edmund's statement was to the contrary. He felt ridiculously privileged to have Carter on his arm, and even now, he still couldn't quite believe.

"Apart from that I'm all good. How're you, you old devil?" he asked, nudging Thatcher in the arm boyishly. "Still just friends with Flickwick?" Edmund knew there was nothing lustful between Grant and his best friend, but he still liked to tease him about the fact it was a girl. Apart from Waker (who indeed was a former flame) Edmund had no real friends who were girls. Sure, he was friendly with Grace and Quinn, both only through Lou. There was a sea of nice enough female students out there who Edmund hadn't really encountered outside the realms of schoolboy flirting. It could be a potential avenue of friendship for the young Mr Klint, but on the other hand...

Better leave temptation to Beelzebub. He was a kept man these days.

"And how was your Valentine's? Any new faces on the horizon that are bowing down to the great, almighty Thatcher Grant?" If there was one thing Edmund was good at, it was granting his friends a dose of his own confidence. Thatch was a pretty laid-back guy who seemed uninterested in the extrovert bravado of Edmund, but his friends like Leon and Waker needed a bit more gusto. And who better to bring it? "There must have been a few girls who asked you to the ball, surely."

There was something nice about not having to make excuses about not hanging out with a friend, about not being around them constantly. It made Thatcher optimistic about seeing all of his friends when he finally left Hogwarts. Not that he particularly wanted to think about that subject right now. The end of the year was already fast approaching and he wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest. For now he would enjoy the time he had here with his friends. The smile never slipped from his face but it changed to an amused smile he held onto solely for Edmund, it was a smile that held no judgment, just pure amusement at his friends cockiness, real or forced.

He joined his friend with a soft laugh “The day you tell me otherwise friend is the day I get your head checked.” Thatch had always thought it would take serious trauma or serious drama to take Ed's cockiness down a peg. His smile softened though for a moment “She's a good one though mate, honestly I'm happy for you.” He said quickly before returning to jokey, ridiculous Thatcher.

He was used to the jokes about he and Ruby being more than friends, about their friendship blossoming into something more. He'd been hearing the jokes since they were in second year. They were old hat, and frankly ridiculous. If he and Ruby were going to progress to dating they would have done it ages ago. Thatch operated on the premise that their friendship worked because that wasn't a possibility. He'd never believed that you couldn't be friends with the opposite gender, but he understood some people's fascination with the subject, Ed himself didn't really have good female friends that hadn't started out as flings or that he hadn't had some sort of romantic interest in..

He rolled his eyes, over-exaggerating the expression, smile twitching at the corners of his mouth “Oh didn't you hear? We decided to give in to the pressure and declare our everlasting love for each other, getting married this spring.” He couldn't quite make it through the sentence though and started laughing through the last few words, shaking his head he continued. “Still just friends with Rue, we like it like that. Other than that, I'm good. You know me, not a care in the world!” Thatcher stretched his legs out in front of him, reclining slightly to show just how relaxed he was.

The subject of Valentine's didn't really spark any of the excitement he was sure it had sparked in countless others. He simply shrugged “Another holiday another ball, you know? No one's bowing to me mate, I'll take a simple avowal of true love. Seriously though, I suppose most girls figure they've either had their chance or I'm not interested. To be honest, I just wasn't looking this year.” Even Thatch was taken aback by that knowledge, the kind of thing you don't realize until someone asks you point blank about it. Shrugging again he smiled, “'Sides it's kind of nice not to have to do the same old song and dance. How about you? Any romantic candlelit dinners?”

"Yeah," Edmund agreed, momentarily putting on his semi-serious head. "She's awesome, I can't lie about that." Although his comment was one of quiet pride, Edmund had to keep it from spilling over. He still couldn't believe that Lou was giving him the time of day; for the first time in his life, he'd actually worked hard to get this girl, and there was something utterly charming about the way she was in control. The young Ravenclaw was just happy to be in the passenger seat.

As the topic of conversation changed to Thatcher's 'burgeoning' relationship with Ruby Flickwick, Edmund let out a boyish laugh at his friend's sarcasm. "Seriously man, the sooner you get it over and done with, the better. No way can you be just friends; you're madly in love with her and you won't admit it!" Edmund was, of course, just teasing - but he couldn't help but be amusingly suspicious. Most girls either swooned over Edmund, or were a past fling and felt a little bit bitter about being forgotten by the Ravenclaw lothario.

"You've always got to keep a lookout. There's a whole yard of girls out there that you haven't even considered. I mean, think about it mate, it's our last year at Hogwarts - at no other point in your life will you be seriounded by good-looking and easily-available females. It's an exact science," Edmund stressed his speech amusingly, shaking his head in comic disbelief. "As for me, there's been a few scuffles in the dark but you know me, Thatch." He stretched out his arms in faux confidence, giving out a sigh of satisfaction. "I don't need to woo women with meals and romantic evenings. They're just glad to be in my company." Edmund let out a laugh - he sometimes couldn't believe his own ridiculousness at times.