Ill-advised Patrolling

[Linden Kinnek]

Linden rounded a corner. he was on patrol with lucas. he hadn't been paired up with his friend but his patrol had clashed with quidditch practice and he had switched with leia as she had some other commitment on. so far the patrol had been going okay. well neither of them had had many to compare it to. but it seemed to be going well. they hadn't found any troublemakers. so that was good. it was actually nice to just hang out with Lucas without having to think about casper or the other boys in the dorm or the rest of the quidditch team. "It took us ages to find the last one. we were worried that it had wandered out somewhere or a customer had taken it I guess that is what you get for invisible cats. it was funnyer if you were there" he said finishing the story about how over the break someone had left the door of the cat enclosure open and the cats had escaped. they had spent almost the whole day trying to find them. it hand helped that in the enclosure had been a new litter of Cheshire cats who had a tendency to vanish.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas had been paired with Leia, but it was kind of fun to patrol with Linden for once. He was one fo the few people who had a fellow prefect as one of his dorm mates, and Lucas was pretty happy about that. He and Linden didn’t spend as much time together as they probably should, as Lucas really liked the other boy. Lucas was listening intently to the story the boy told him about the escaping cats. “What is the point of an invisible cat?” He asked, curious. He had no idea why anyone would want a cat they couldn’t see, it seemed like a bit of a hassle. Sometimes, wizards were so illogical.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

linden was enjoying the patrol with Lucas. "they are called Cheshire cats and are purple when not invisible which some people find cool" he said. he was far more a dog perso n than a cat lover, but h could see why come people liked the cats. invisible cats would also make very efficient hunters" he said. picturing a mouse suddenly hit by a cat he had no chance to see. "what exciting happened on your break?" he asked. enjoying spending time with his friend. despite the fact that they were dorm mates, and on the quidditch team they really didnt hang out as often as they should. at least not on on one which was a shame s he did like luca. and in both the team and dorm dynamics were different so they couldnt just hang out.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas shrugged when Linden explained it, still not quite seeing the point. “Still think it’s a bit silly. A cat you can see all the time would be much better.” He said though he had long ago accepted that wizards just made weird choices sometimes. As Linden asked about his break, Lucas sighed a bit dramatically. “Nothing.” He said. “Nothing exciting. My sister was upset because her boyfriend dumped her so she was just sad all break, and I couldn’t practice Quidditch at all.” He complained. “It has to be so much easier in a magical family.”

 

[Linden Kinnek]

Linden chuckled as Lucas said a cat you could see all the time was better. "A dog would be even better" he said. Yes, he liked all animals but it didn't mean that he liked them all equally. he frowned as Lucas talked about his holiday. "Oh," he said. thinking about alexei. he had broken up with him. he didn't dislike Alexei. he was the cutest and he was a fun person to be around but after two years together he wanted space. he wanted a bit of freedom. but he hoped that the boy hadn't been sad all holiday. "i hadn't thought about that. i had actually forgotten that your family isn't magical. you could always come to my place on the holidays to practice. we have heaps of space and willow has some training snitches." he said. he had never thought about not being able to fly over the holidays. he had never really been big on quidditch and still wasn't but his family always enjoyed a game of crickich. a combination between cricket and quidditch where the fielders were on brooms. they had a large property that was well secluded from muggles even without the muggl repelling charms on it that was needed due to his parents conditions.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas shrugged, not sure if he preferred dogs or cats. He hadn’t had either. He sighed softly when Linden reacted to the breakup, glancing away. “I feel a bit bad for being annoyed with her now, Connor broke up with me as soon as we got back to Hogwarts so I guess I know how she felt now.” He mumbled, shrugging. The breakup with Connor was still making him pretty sad, though it was probably better to pretend he didn’t care much anymore. Connor certainly didn’t seem to care much. He perked up a bit as Linden suggested coming to his place to practice. “Really? You’d want me to?” He asked, smiling. The idea was pretty cool, especially if Linden’s sister could give him a few seeker pointers too.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

Thy continued along the corridor as lucas explained that Connor had broken up with him. he felt a rush of mixed emotions. he felt sorry for his friend. he sounded upset about it. he also somewhere felt a bit happy. too. h knew both Lucas and Connor. and while he was closer to his dorm mate he had huge respect for both boys and he was certainly a little pleased to hear that they were both single. he bit his lip for a second biting back his thoughts before finding the right words to say "how are you going" he asked.
He was glad the talk of quidditch seemed to cheer Lucas up a little. "Of course. you can always come over. not just to practice quidditch, but it will be fun to have a friend over. just not on a full moon. I stay with willow or my aunt then." he said. it was no secret that his mum was a werewolf.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas shrugged when Linden asked how he was doing. “It sucked. Honestly. He was my first boyfriend.” He said quietly, frowning as he thought back to that moment. “And I didn’t see it coming at all. He basically said he never really felt that way about me and had been mistaken about his feelings. It’s a bit of a mess since we share a lot of friends.” He admitted. While Lucas got along with Linden and Casper, he spent more time with a few Hufflepuffs in the year above him, a friend group Connor was also a part of. Lucas nodded when Linden said he could come over. “Could be fun, over break.” He admitted. “I don’t really mind being at home, I do miss it while I’m at school, but after a few weeks, I really start to miss magic. It’s weird to be completely cut off from it.” He said quietly.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

Linden listened as licas explained how connor had broken up with him. he hoped that it hadn't been ut of the blue for alexei. he had gone to the ball with someone else last year and he had taken part in spin the bottle. even if his original reason for attending was to stop casper moping around the dorm like a friendly ghost. he totally understood the feeling of feeling like you couldn't hang around your friends so much any more. he had sort of hung around with Alexi, and Lysander the last few years, at least when he hadnt been helping his aunt with the animals and while things weren't too awkward with Lysander, as they had had to work together over the break he still felt like he shouldn't hang out with him too much so was mostly hanging on his own or with Casper now he was sort of glad that the fifth year workload along with quidditch, patrol, and animals meant he didn't have too much free time. he put an arm around lucas's shoulder. in what he hoped was a 'bro' way. "you have other mates, like me and casper. we can always hang out when you want to" he said.
as lucas' description of missing home on the holidays he nodded. ivy was getting so big she was four now and starting kindy. and he had hardly seen her growing up. he was looking forward to finishing school so that he could see her more "I know. I miss seeing my sisters and dog when I am here. you should defiantly come over. when would you want to come? we can have a bonfire" he said. bonfires were one of his families favorite things to do. even in summer when muggle authorities banned fires they still had them. their property was well secluded enough that it wouldn't be seen and they had enough water and magic around to stop any serious fire occurring.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Lucas was kind of relieved to get some of the things off his chest. He wondered why he didn't talk to Linden more often, as he was very nice and lived in the same room as him. He felt a bit bad, as he hardly knew anything about Linden besides what he'd told him about his family. Hadn't he been dating someone a while back too? Lucas didn't want to ask and show his ignorance. "Thanks." He said with a smile. "I'll keep that in mind." Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to spend more time in his own dorm, though he'd really miss Kas and Freya... and he already missed Connor, the Connor from before, who had been his friend. Lucas smiled when Linden invited him over. "I don't know, I'd have to ask my parents. I doubt they'll let me over Christmas, family time and stuff, but maybe after? Before we return to Hogwarts?" He asked, already looking forward to it. "But the next break would be fine too." He said quickly, not wanting to invite himself somewhere.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

Lin was glad that Lucas seemed at least a bit keen to hang out with him a bit more. he hadn't thought of how much breaking up with Alexei would mess up his friend group. sure he did still hang out with sander outside of school but in school it was just awkward. and he liked Lucas, he had been one of, if not his actual first, friend in the school and he had always enjoyed hanging out with him and they had always got on. he clanged at his friend and then away again quickly hoping that his thoughts were not visible on his face, no he wouldn't take advantage of his friend's situation. "I always thought this picture was weird to have in a school like this. but i kind of like its daring" he said pointing to a photo on the wall of glass windows of a sity shot from some weird angle that left the image all glass and reflections very muggle very urban, nothing like what one would expect in a magic school in a castle.
linden nodded. "yeah spend Christmas with your family. but come over after. some time. or the next break." he said. since he and Alexei had broken up, or rather since he had broken up with Alexei, his holidays were quite lonely. at least the days he wasn't at work. he often found himself on ivysitting duty. and while he liked looking after the five-year-old it was nice to have guys his own age to hang out with.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

While Lucas was a bit sad about the tension between his older friends now that he and Connor had broken up, he was glad that Linden was in his dorm. He knew he had maybe not spent as much time with his own roommates as he should have, but maybe this year he could make up for that a bit. It helped that he and LInden were also both on the Quidditch team. As they passed a picture, Lucas frowned. "I never noticed that before." He said. "Do you think a student put it up?" He couldn't imagine it being part of the school's design, as most of the other art on the wals consisted of magical portraits. Lucas smiled. "I'll ask my parents." He said when Linden said when he could come over. "It sounds like fun." He said. It would be fun to hang out with Linden and also exciting to see a magical family.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

linden chuckled as Lucas said that he had never noticed the picture before. it was one that was maybe a little out of the way but he had never thought of how it got there he just liked how it didn't fit in with the overall decor of the school. but in that moment he was so grateful for whoever put it there. He had been looking for an excuse to distract his mind and to distract Lucas from the stray thought in case it passed across his face. and the picture had been perfect for it as it was now the topic of the conversation. "i can picture someone putting it up years ago as a bet to see how long it would last and it is still there" he said the mental image growing in his mind. he hoped that whoever had put it up had won the bet.
"yes you can come over at any time. we can have a barbeque and you can finally meet bjorn" he said talking about his dog who was in the picture on his beside table sitting next to ivy. while at school lin tried not to eat too much meat, backing down to one meal a day at home it was a different story. they almost always had meat and his dad was great at barbequing it.