Slipping Away

[Clementine Pratt]

As her OWLs were quickly approaching, Clementine was spending more and more of her time studying trying to prepare for them. But she quickly found that the library was getting too crowded and noisy for her liking, so she decided to study in the student lounge that day for a change of scenery. She was quietly reading over her Herbology textbook and wished she had some company as she'd been pretty alone lately. It wasn't something new to her, but after dating Anthony she'd gotten used to his presence, only for him to have been pretty distant the entire year. She had hoped after Quidditch season was over for Hufflepuff he would come around more, but that didn't seem to matter as he hadn't been able to play during the final game either way. Clementine realized she had been reading the same page for three minutes already so she shook her head and tried to read it again for another time and actually absorb the information this time.
​

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

It was no secret that Solomon didn't like Anthony's girlfriend. While he hadn't at any point outright stated his dislike for her, nor had he ever been asked, it was safe to say it was implied. The obviously faux-niceties, the change in his demeanor whenever she interrupted the group, it all went without saying that he wasn't a fan. Since Clementine had come into the picture, everything had changed. The whole dynamic between himself, Merrill and Anthony was different, and Sol couldn't stand it. He didn't have many friends, nor did he actively seek them, but he'd been happy with just the two. They were his friends first, no one elses, and they had all had a good thing going for a while, until one day in came Clementine like a bundimun infestation, just eating away at the foundation of their friendships. Like any infestation, she needed to be removed before everything collapsed.

It had taken a while to figure out how to get rid of her. A hundred different potion recipes had gone through Solomon's mind, looking for a way to break the two apart so Anthony could go back to focusing on his real friends, not whatever fake relationship he had with Clementine. Couldn't they see it just wasn't working out? Or how it was impacting their own friends? Solomon wasn't blind. He'd seen the way that Teddy kid pined for Clem like a stray dog begging for scraps. Anthony could do better, and Clementine was better off with the rest of the trash.

Eventually, the Slytherin had come to the obvious conclusion of simply using his natural talents to get what he wanted what was best for his friends. So, with Anthony preoccupied for the evening in the other side of the castle, Solomon wore his face for the evening, and wandered the corridors looking for his bubbly girlfriend. With OWLs around the corner, it didn't take many guesses to figure out where she was. "Hey, Clem." Solthony said as he approached the girl, doing his best to look serious and shuffling around like he had something important to say, but just didn't quite know how to say it. As much as he wanted to walk in, tell her she was dumped and walk back out again, it needed to seem real.
​

<i></i>

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine turned the page as she finally made progress on her reading, but no sooner had she started reading the newest page had she been interrupted. Clementine looked up to see her boyfriend and smiled happily at him. "Hey stranger," she joked lightly, not having hung out with him during her free time as much as she liked to. "How are you?" she asked, dog-earring the page in her book and closing it, turning to face him. "I thought you were on prefect duty, what's up?" she asked, still cheery, though her brow furrowed in concern slightly as something seemed off about him, he wasn't as lively as he usually was.
​

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

The word stranger almost brought a smile to Solomon's face, but he kept himself in check. Anthony had been distant lately, and he was glad that distance extended to his girlfriend, too. It was going to make the whole plan go down a lot more smoothly, or so he hoped. "I was." He responded slowly, moving over to sit down next to the hufflepuff girl. "I couldn't focus on it. There's something I've had on my mind for a long time now, and I need to get it off my chest. I can't keep lying anymore." He took a deep breath and looked Clementine in the eyes, attempting to project as much feigned emotion as he could, despite the fact he was enjoying himself. Being made up people was fun, but being someone who already existed was even more exciting, and risky, and he supposed it was the thrill that made it so much more enjoyable. "You and me, we aren't working out anymore. I just, I don't feel the same way as I used to."
​

 

[Clementine Pratt]

Clementine's brow creased further as Anthony said something was on his mind and it didn't seem to be good. Dread filled the pit of her stomach as he sat down and she had a sinking feeling she knew what was going on, but part of her hoped it wasn't what she thought. "What is it?" she asked quietly, keeping her voice as calm as possible as he looked at her. His gaze was strong and she felt uncomfortable and broke eye contact. Though as soon as she looked away, he said exactly what she had feared and then looked back at him, biting her lip to keep from crying. She should've known this was coming, since he had been spending a lot less time with her, but she had just assumed he was really busy with having made prefect and whatever other things were going on with him. She swallowed and asked, "W-why? Is it something I did?" Aside from the increased time apart that they couldn't spend together, the little time they did spend together always seemed to have been good between them too, so this still seemed somewhat sudden to her. "Is everything okay?" she asked, as if trying to find another issue that might cause him to be acting this way.
​

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

The question that came was tough, and one Solomon had tried to prepare for, but couldn't. The "It's not you, it's me" approach seemed a lot more in character for Anthony than placing all of the blame on Clementine, as much as he really wanted to. Every reason for the break up being her fault had been too unrealistic. "No, no. You didn't do anything, Clem." Solthony assured her. "People...they change. I'm not the same person I was when I fell for you." It was hard not to chuckle at his own, personal little joke. It was funny just how literal it was in this case - he wasn't that same person at all, and she'd never know that. "I'm sorry, that's just how it is. It wouldn't be fair to you if I continued to be with you and didn't still feel the same way as I used to. I tried to tell myself I was still in love with you, and that it was just a rough patch, but it's not true. I can't lie to myself anymore, and I can't lie to you." While it wasn't as savage a breakup as he wanted it to be, the whole situation was still fun to do. The Slytherin honestly thought it was something he could do for a living - pretend to be people to interfere with relationships. "There's plenty of other people out there for you. For the both of us. I've seen how your friend looks at you. Thaddeus?" The last part was just a little something extra he thought he'd throw in to help get the Pratt girl to move on to someone new, and not hover around trying to get Anthony back.
​