New Year, Better Me

[Thaddeus Miller]

He hadn't seen much of the girl during the last few months of their fourth year due to the fact that she wanted him to meet whatshisface properly because he wasn't in the mood to do that back then. This year, however, he wanted to become a better everything: a better student, a better son, and a better friend to Clementine, so the next time she would ask him to meet her boyfriend he would accept the offer. Thaddeus walked out of the castle and toward the lakefront to relax at the cliffs before class would start. It had been a while since he had last been here so thought that it would be a good idea to meet his friend here so he could check up on the place and see if it was still a good spot to sit and relax when he did not have to be in classes. The Gryffindor hoped that Clementine wouldn't mind meeting him here but did not think too much about it as he figured that she would have let him know in advance if she had a problem with being on top of the cliffs. Thaddeus sat down on a patch of grass whilst he waited for his best friend to turn up, pulling some of the weeds out of the grass.

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine was excited to see her best friend again after the break, and the fact that they hadn't spent much time together last year. She didn't hold any of that against Teddy though since she had been too busy with her own affairs to make time for him as well, so she was glad he still made the effort to reach out to her now. She picked up her hair in a messy ponytail as climbed up the trail to the cliffs to meet him there, careful not to trip over anything on the ground. When she reached the top she saw the silhouette of her lanky best friend sitting on the ground and abandoned any caution as she ran over to him and put her hands around his eyes. "Guess who?" she said into his ear before giggling and removing her hands. Clem stood up straight again and walked across him to sit facing him. "Hello Thaddeus," she said cheekily.
​

 

[Thaddeus Miller]

Thaddeus smiled instantly when a pair of hands covered his eyes and recognised the voice as that of his best friend. He bit his lower lip and watched as she sat down across from him, happy that he did not have to wait too long for Clementine to show up. He looked at the girl with surprise when she greeted him by using his full name and squinted his eyes at her. ''How did you find out about that?'' the Gryffindor asked, having completely forgotten that he had signed the rose he had sent her two years ago with his full name rather than using just the nickname because he had been a little upset and confused back then. He was fine with his best friend finally knowing his real name though still preferred if she would use the name Teddy since it suited him better Thaddeus, which he also happened to dislike. ''How was your break?'' the fifteen-year-old then asked, eager to hear what she had been up to.

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine smiled at Teddy, happy to see him again and laughed when he asked how she had figured out his first name. It had required some digging around and process of elimination but she'd eventually had her suspicions confirmed. "That doesn't matter, what matters is that you didn't tell me!" she said to him with a playful scolding look on her face. "Thaddeus is a cool name, do you not like it?" she asked, wondering why he didn't go by it. Clementine leaned against her palms as he asked how her break was and she shrugged casually. "It was fine! We went on a trip to Italy to celebrate my sister's graduation to try and cheer her up," Clementine answered. "How was your break? Did you go on any beast hunts?" she asked with an amused look, knowing Teddy wanted to study beasts when he was older.
​

 

[Thaddeus Miller]

Thaddeus shook his head and said, ''I hate it. It makes me feel old.'' it had been his grandfather's name which was why it made him feel as if he was about to kick the bucket as the man had died before his birth. ''Please, Clem, just stick with Teddy, okay?'' the Gryffindor begged, not wanting the girl to call him by his full name from now on just because he had discovered it. Besides, he liked the way she said Teddy. He smiled and listened attentively as she went on to talk about her break. He frowned when she mentioned cheering up her sister and asked, ''Why did she need cheering up? Was she sad that she had to leave school?'' He shook his head once again. At first the plan had been to join his brother in the hunt for a day to see if this was really what he wanted to do, because his parents still hoped that they could change his mind, but then they told them that he wasn't allowed to come along because he was too young which he thought was unfair since they had promised him that he could accompany his brother.

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine laughed when Teddy said his full name made him feel old. She supposed she could see the argument in that so she nodded happily when he asked her to stick to Teddy. "Okay, okay, it's really not as bad as you think it is," she conceded, "but I'll stick with Teddy, it's cuter anyway!" she said brightly. Clementine shook her head when Teddy asked if his sister was sad to leave school; on the contrary she couldn't have been happier to leave. "My sister's girlfriend was Head Girl last year, but she cheated on her with the Head Boy," Clementine said so casually it almost sounded like she was talking about what she had for breakfast rather than gossiping, but that was just how Clementine talked without a filter. "So they broke up. Darcy was really wrecked about it, she ended up doing very poorly on her NEWTs - which, if you knew my sister, is really unlike her - so now my oldest sister Kenny is worried she won't be able to get a decent job," Clem said with a shrug. "But I don't think it matters to Darcy because our parents left us a trust fund when they passed away," she explained, unaware about the financial situation her oldest sister hid from them. "But the trip was fun, I think it worked in cheering her up slightly," the Hufflepuff shrugged hopefully. She was sad to hear that Teddy wasn't able to see any beasts but then asked, "Did you learning anything new on the drums? I would like to hear you play one day!" It was something she had wanted to see once she'd learned he could play, but she never wanted to ask, until now.
​

 

[Thaddeus Miller]

Glad that she would not use his full name but his nickname instead he smiled at his friend and felt his cheeks flush slightly when she said that it was cuter. Teddy couldn't help to feel a little guilty that he was still blushing at almost every little nice thing she said to him. With Clementine dating whatshisface Anthony, the Gryffindor knew that his crush on the girl had to stop as a part of the better friend thing (mainly so he would stop being so jealous of the Seeker). He looked away for a moment, hoping that she couldn't tell how red his cheeks were. He listened as she told him about the reason why her sister needed cheering up and looked at his friend with wide eyes and said, ''She did what?'' when she told him that Darcy's girlfriend had cheated on her. He continued to listen to his friend and nodded his head slightly to let her know that he was still following it. ''I hope your sister will be all right,'' he told Clementine. He had only met Professor Pratt back when he had to deliver a rose to her but if Darcy was anything like her sisters, he didn't think that she deserved all this. ''I did, yeah. It's still a work in progress and probably sounds awful,'' he said, answering the girl's question. ''I'll play for you when I can drum the song properly.''

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine nodded softly when Teddy said he hoped Darcy would be alright and said, "I hope so too," with a small hopeful shrug. Clementine wasn't too worried, but Darcy was a private person so she didn't often know what was going on with her. The only reason the red head had told Clementine she liked girls was because they went to the same school so it was going to be unavoidable to see when she started dating someone. If not the girl probably would have kept it from Clem for as long as she could. Clementine grinned brightly when Teddy said he had learned something new on the drums and clapped her hands happily. "Well let me know when, I'm dying to see you play!" she said eagerly. "You should join a band," she said half joking. "I think there were some students around the castle looking for bandmates," she recalled vaguely but couldn't recall any info to relay back to him. "Are you looking forward to fifth year?" she asked with a smile.
​

 

[Thaddeus Miller]

He grinned when she told him that he should join a band. ''As if we have time to do anything other than studying,'' he commented. ''Although that does sound like a good idea, maybe I should look into it.'' Teddy wasn't too stoked about this year as it was probably going to be the toughest one so far. He had enjoyed his laid back attitude very much over the course of the years but now he knew that he needed to work and study hard if he wanted to pass the year with good marks. ''Meh,'' he said with a shrug. ''I will likely have to spend my time in the library which is by far the last place I want to spend my time at,'' he added. It hadn't been a secret to his best friend that he did not like school as he preferred to be in the open together with his brother, doing something that was actually fun rather than wasting his time with books and boring classes.

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine chuckled when he mentioned all the studying they'd have to do this year that would keep him too busy and nodded her head in understanding, before another thought came to mind. "Yeah we have a busy year ahead of us, but you need to leave room for fun every now and then, it's healthy!," she said brightly. "Otherwise you might stress yourself out! she pointed out, trying to sound convincing and breaking out in a grin afterward. "But not too much fun, we still need to pass," she added afterward, shaking her head as she confused herself on what she thought they should do. Balancing school with what they actually wanted to do, which was just hang out together, seemed to be tough. So then she added, "If you need a study partner though, I'm your girl!" hoping that would be the best of both worlds.
​

 

[Thaddeus Miller]

He knew that Clementine was right about having to leave the room occasionally and was undoubtedly going to take a break whenever he felt like he was in need of one. ''You won't have to tell me that twice,'' Thaddeus joked. He chuckled. ''I'd say let's make a schedule for when to study and when to have fun so we don't go completely mad.'' He didn't know if she would want to do that with him as she also had Anthony to accompany but it would be nice to spend more time with his best friend this year. He nodded and smiled at Clementine and said, ''That would be nice, I still have some problems with Defence Against the Dark Arts so if you could help me with that.'' Thaddeus had hoped that by now he wouldn't have had such a difficult time with the subject and had managed to pass last year so hoped that with the girls help he would ace his exam.

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine laughed at Teddy's joke and nodded enthusiastically when he suggested they make a schedule of when to study and when to take a break and have fun. "Let's do it!" Clementine said, clapping her hands together happily. "Anthony got chosen as prefect so he's been a lot busier with his prefect duties lately," Clementine said a little sadly, "but now that means I have a lot more free time to hang out with you," she said trying to see the bright side of things, and smiled at Teddy. When he brought up Defense Against the Dark Arts, Clementine chuckled and nodded saying, "You helped me with that class once so now it's my turn to help you!"
​

 

[Thaddeus Miller]

Thaddeus was glad to hear that she would want to make a schedule with him. ''I didn't bring along any writing equipment but we could do it once we're back inside of the castle?'' If it were up to him he would probably fill in loads of free time so perhaps it would be a good thing if Clementine was there to do this together with him. At least he could trust himself to listen to what she had to say. He smiled when she said that Anthony got made prefect and said, ''Oh that's nice, you should congratulate him on my behalf.'' It did surprise him that the girl across from him hadn't been made prefect but figured that Professor Pratt did not want to seem like she was pulling favourites by choosing her younger sister. ''To be honest, you have helped me out countless times before.'' And he did not mind it at all- she was a good tutor so would accept her help for as long as she would offer it to him.

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine nodded happily at his suggestion and hoped their schedules wouldn't conflict too much so they could hang out more. She was rather surprised when Teddy asked her to congratulate her boyfriend on his behalf. She hadn't expected that from him because from previous experience she could tell Teddy and Anthony had not gotten off on the right foot and it was usually a subject they tiptoed around. Taking this peace offering from Teddy, Clementine smiled brightly and said, "Maybe we can all hang out together at the Halloween feast!" She liked hanging out with Anthony and his friends, and also hanging out with Teddy, but thought it would be most fun if they all hung out together. "It will be fun, and I won't abandon you, I promise," she said brightly. She smiled and waved his compliment away and shrugged her shoulders as she replied, "You've helped me out so many times too! That's how we met," she laughed lightly, thinking back to how she had asked him to be her test subject for hexes and jinxes and now they were best friends.
​

 

[Thaddeus Miller]

He smiled weakly at his best friend when she suggested that they should all hang out at the Halloween feast. He wasn't quite sure if he was up for that yet but a voice in his head kept repeating the four words that eventually made him agree with Clementine's suggestion. Teddy was happy when she said that she wouldn't abandon him. He hadn't made many close friends throughout the years, as he preferred to be on his own doing whatever he though was fun, but if he were to hang out with Anthony and his friends then he would definitely need Clementine to be on his side to survive the night. ''I'll hold you to that,'' he told her. He chuckled at her comment and smiled fondly at the memory of how they had met. ''I swear, sometimes when I sit down, my butt still hurts.'' the Gryffindor joked.