Bank robberies and tea parties.

[Buddy McMerdor]

Buddy trudged along the clean streets of Mayfair, London, his pace consistent and determined. Today he had organised to have afternoon tea with his close friend Zane, a person he had not seen in no less than half a year. They had kept contact via owl the past six months, but the two needed to see each other again and catch up in person for a change. Buddy had been living here in London for the past few days, why he hadn't organised to meet with Zane as soon as he arrived was beyond his train of thought. Zane was one of the only two people in the world who could cross him the wrong way and not get attacked, Buddy would never consider killing Zane either, something Zane didn't appreciate, however he didn't know it either. At this moment, the eighteen year old was on a mission, to navigate his way to Zane's apartment and arrive punctually. The clicking of his boot heels against the stone pavement quickened after Buddy momentarily glanced at his pocket watch, realising he had only a few minutes before he was behind schedule. He had walked this route to get to Zane's apartment before, but sadly his memory failed him when he attempted to recall the route. But he eventually arrived at the entrance to his friend's apartment building, which always appeared as it housed hotel rooms rather than apartments, something the Death Eater never understood.

He walked past the muggle doorman, not reacting to their meaningless presence at all before walking into the elevator. Zane lived on the fifth floor, so it was only a short wait before Buddy excited the elevator. He had always disliked elevators; they were a stupid muggle invention which removed all use for stairs, another contribution to the muggle world's obesity problem, along with many others. Buddy always liked stairs; they never had a chance of breaking at a high level causing you to plummet to your death. In an elevator filled with muggles, this would have been a great idea, a murder which looked like an accident. Buddy smirked at this thought before realising he had been standing in the hallway for a few minutes. The place looked classy as usual, Zane made the right decision in robbing a bank, heck even Buddy would rob a bank if it meant he could live like Zane did. He needed to get to Zane's apartment before he was late for his tea. The wizard strolled to his friend's door, knocking three times. Buddy took a step back, waiting for his friend to answer the door. ​

 

[Zane Preston]

It was that time again. The time Zane had been looking forward too since the last time he said "see you later" to Buddy. It always seemed like forever until he saw his close friend again, one of the closest he had really. Zane didn't like to let many people in, it was a habit he developed after his mudblood mother left him as a child. He never did figure out where she went, not that he was terribly interested anyway. As far as he was concerned, the less of her he understood, the less he had to care about. He and his father had done just fine without her. Buddy had been pretty unknown to Zane for most of his school life, but after Graduation, things had changed, which was good, it meant they became very good friends. Even though six months was a very long time to go without seeing friends. He had been alittle surprised when Buddy had contacted him and arranged to have afternoon tea with him. Very british indeed. Perhaps being here had rubbed off on the both of them. Merlin knew Zane was beginning to develop an accent foreign to his usual American. He often wondered why he had gone to Durmstrang in the first place considering there were perfectly fine schools in his own country, but he was glad he'd gone. Afterall he had met Buddy there.

Zane walked into the ridiculously expensive living room and placed the required items on the table. It had been quite a while since he had afternoon tea with anyone, least of all Buddy. Of course he didn't mind, anything to see his friend again. Of course Zane smiled when he heard the knock on the door. Right on time. He walked casually over to the hallway and opened the door eager to see his friend. However, he was unsure as to whether or not he wanted to hug his friend, or jump on him. Instead he settled for smiling brightly and attempting to yank Buddy through the door. "Buddy, it is so great to see you." He told his friend as he gave up and decided to hug him. That made him feel better about not making an effort to see him, which made him feel terrible. "How have you been? Any news?" He asked as he moved to sit on the sofa, which of course was very comfortable. Zane wanted to hear all about what Buddy had been doing in his absence. Zane himself had only done a few small jobs here and there in the last couple of weeks, but he was sure to have something big lined up soon.

 

[Buddy McMerdor]

Buddy observed the door to Zane's apartment open to reveal Zane himself. His friend looked older and more mature, but he may have been mistaken, Buddy was never good at noticing somebody's changes in appearance. Zane could have dyed his hair bright pink, and Buddy still wouldn't have noticed the significant change, the uncomfortable feeling of happiness from reuniting with his friend distracting him from thinking superficially. Instinct told Buddy to resist being dragged into the classy apartment, although he knew Zane meant no harm. Zane's hug was unexpected however, so Buddy's act of returning the brief hug was delayed. He squeezed his friend, returning the quick embrace, replying to Zane's question after pulling away. "I've been numb to say the least." He answered, gaze moving from Zane down to his feet. Zane knew all too well about his depression, he was the only person that did know about how Samuel had effectively ruined his life in the space of a few minutes. Buddy knew that logically he should have loathed his ex; wanted to murder him from the pain caused by heart break, but his lingering feelings rendered him unable to ever hurt Samuel. He purposefully chose not to reveal to his friend if he had any news, incase he accidentally let it slip he was now a death eater. If Zane knew he would have to murder him on the spot to ensure his secret was kept secret, and murdering the only person he called a friend was the last thing Buddy wanted to do.

Buddy followed Zane into the living room after snapping out of his thoughts, sitting himself down next to him on the comfortable couch, leaning back so his head touched the wall. He wouldn't mind spending a night sleeping here, if the sofa was this comfortable, imagine what the beds must have felt like. Buddy stayed like this for the next few minutes in silence, almost dosing off before he realised what he was actually doing. He jolted up, shaking his head before politely returning his friend's earlier question. "What about you? How have you been? Got any news to share with me?" He queried Zane, leaning forward to pour himself a cup of tea, adding cream, but not sugar to his cup and stirring. The tea cups were graced with the symbol of the union jack, which would have appeared tacky if it weren't for the sheer elegance of the apartment surrounding him; everything looked as if it belonged. Buddy almost felt out of place in this apartment, he wasn't good enough to be sitting here with his friend, drinking tea like he was classy. He knew he was the opposite. The death eater took a small sip of his newly poured tea while waiting for his friend to reply. ​

 

[Zane Preston]

Having his friend back again, made Zane very happy. There were many things Zane wanted to hurt in life, many people he wanted hurt, Buddy was not at all one of them. Even though Zane wasn't a deatheater, he sometimes found himself thinking like one, as if he were, so he liked to refer to himself as a closet deatheater, or rather a deatheater supporter. He often wondered how many of them were around. How many people couldn't be deatheaters, but would do anything to help one. In a way it was kind of pathetic, but Zane didn't care. He nodded at Buddy's answer and frowned. He was numb. Well of course he was it was abit of a stupid question. After Samuel and all that buisness it was any wonder Buddy was still functioning really. Though Zane knew he was strong. He had kind of hoped that Buddy would have been over it by now. It was kind of annoying really, but Zane wasn't going to touch that subject. It was bad enough the guy was depressed, no need to make him suicidal. There were just somethings that would be better left not speaking about. Buddy knew what Zane thought of the whole thing. There was no need to reinforce the fact that he didn't have alot of respect for the guy. After what he did to his best friend. How could he? It would be like a massive slap in the face for Buddy. He was on Buddy's side, that was where he was always going to be. Whether Buddy liked it or not. Samuel was just a piece of sh*t. And he deserved everything he got. Unless it was something good. Then he didn't deserve it.

He watched Buddy sit on the sofa next to him through the corner of his eye. He looked kind of drained, or something, tired or something. It was hard to tell from this angle. Perhaps it was the weight of everything he had gone through. He shook his head discreetly and turned to look up at the roof. He allowed the silence to linger, he didn't need to speak. He just let Buddy rest, or whatever he was doing. He sniggered slightly when Buddy jolted and covered his mouth with his hand. Sitting upright he tilted his head at Buddy and smiled. It was more of a smirk. "You know me, I always have something to tell you." His voice was low, excited. It was sort of a lie, he didn't really have anything exciting to tell Buddy, but why not make a show of it anyway? It wasn't like it hadn't been exciting anyway, just small. He looked at Buddy, pouring some tea. He could tell something was alittle off. Was Buddy jealous? Zane shook his head. Never, there was nothing for him to be jealous of, he knew Zane would gladly do him any favours. But... Zane shrugged, if there was really a big problem, he was sure Buddy would tell him. Instead, Zane decided to pour himself some tea. Leaving Buddy hanging alittle. Oh well. He smirked again as he brought the cup to his lips and watched Buddy. "So me and a couple of the guys did a house raid. Scared a couple of the owners too. Stupid muggles." He laughed at the memory, pleading and terror. Such fun. Though they didn't hurt the family, that would have been stupid. Nah they just scared the sh*t out of them, that was all. "Enjoying your tea?"

 

[Buddy McMerdor]

Buddy didn't regret being out of place in Zane's apartment for a second, he enjoyed being a death eater, and wouldn't change his decision for the world. If he was a murderer, a classy apartment wasn't going to change that, but he believed it would help hide the fact more. At Zane's words, Buddy was intrigued, he loved listening to his friend speak, because he always had something to say and it meant Buddy could avoid speaking and be the listener he truly was. The death eater readied himself for Zane to speak; adjusting his position on the sofa to be more comfortable, if that was possible. His friend left him hanging a little, which was irritating but instead of letting it get to him, Buddy distracted himself by taking another sip of his tea. He almost spat his tea out when Zane mentioned his house raid. "Muggles are scared of everything, even climbing up stairs." Buddy replied, holding down laughter. Laughing would make him feel more out of place, since over the past few years his laughing had turned into a kind of deafening poison to his ears, it felt unnatural now. "You should have invited me." He joked, a sarcastic tone filtering his words. He would have loved to go but since he had been training to be a death eater the past sixth months any house raids were out of the question, but he wasn't going to reveal this to Zane.

To say Buddy was enjoying his tea was an understatement; he drank tea a lot, his favourite flavour of tea being apple and rhubarb. He almost lived off the stuff. The red colour of the tea reminded him of blood, and the taste was exquisite to match. Buddy thought Zane knew of his vampiric reasons for his favourite tea flavour, which further proved how much he trusted the older wizard; he felt comfortable sharing most of his unusual thoughts on things with Zane. "Of course I'm enjoying it. Are you enjoying your tea?" Buddy replied, turning the topic of conversation over to Zane once more. The eighteen year old just did not like sharing too much about himself; he was a listener and preferred to listen to other people talk as opposed to himself, he hated the sound of his voice. Plus he wanted to hear more about Zane's adventures in London while he was away. ​

 

[Zane Preston]

Zane could always tell alot about Buddy by how he acted. Though the depression tended to make that all the more difficult. He sort of had the same reaction to everything nowadays. He just couldn't seem to get into his friends head. Zane blamed Samuel for that. He had never met Samuel Phillips and he didn't really care to, but he hated the guy with a passion for everything he ever did to Buddy. It just made him so mad thinking about it. Why would anyone even want to hurt Buddy? He was a great person, nice, kind. Atleast he was before Samuel went and ruined everything. Zane really hated seeing his best friend this way, but what was he going to do? Run after Samuel and kill him? Not that he hadn't thought about it. He'd had a plan written out and everything, however he knew that Buddy would never forgive him for killing that piece if scum. He just hoped Samuel never crossed his path or he couldn't guarantee his safety. He nodded at Zane's comment and took a sip of his own tea. He had a feeling that Buddy was trying to keep the questions off of himself. Zane didn't mind talking, Buddy was more of a listener anyway, but he was going to have to get something out of that boy at some point right? Any sort of reaction or even an action would be fine! He just wanted to make sure that Buddy was living, not just alive. The two were very different indeed. "You're not wrong there mate, not at all. I sometimes wonder what the point even is? You would think that they would have discovered magic by now." He said shaking his head. Honestly. Where they naive, or just plain dumb? "Sometimes I wonder if they even actually have brains?" He added, taking another more loving sip of his tea. He may not have been a very successful cook, but he was amazing with tea. There was absolutely no doubt about that. No doubt in the world.

"You know I would have." he answered after Buddy's next statement. He knew Buddy was only joking, but still. It was the principle of the thing. Though he did really want to know what he had been doing for that six months, he knew better then to ask. If he did ask, he would likely get an answer and he was never entirely sure if he would want the answer. Buddy could very well tell Zane that for the last six months he had been planning out horrific ways to kill himself. Zane shook his head, discarding the thoughts from his mind. He hated thinking like that. Besides, Buddy was sitting in front of him, looking reasonably healthy and obviously enjoying his tea. So all was well, for now atleast. He smiled at Buddy's words and placed his tea back on the table, nodding in answer. His question did not require a verbal response when it was already so evident on his face. Though now the problem lay with what to talk about next. There was always his photography. If there was one thing he loved in the world more then hating on muggles and Muggleborns, it was photography. He immediately moved himself from the comfortable lounge and headed into his developing room. He had just finished a new batch of beauties. He smiled and carried the tray out, placing it on the table and kneeling next to it, passing some of the photos out to Buddy. "Check it, I got these done just last week, up near one of the places in Alaska." He handed Buddy a few more before finding his favourite one. There was definitely something to be said about water.