Would you go along with someone like me?

If I told you things I did before
Told you how I used to be
Would you go along with someone like me?
If you knew my story word for word
Had all of my history
Would you go along with someone like me?

This was like… a lot more date-y than he meant.

Not that he wouldn’t want to go on a date with Chase Moor. She was totally fit, and one of the nicest people at school. She never laughed at him, always with, and was always nice enough to help with homework. She was well liked and popular in her own right, popular in a different way from him but still known enough that their paths crossed.

No, Chase was absolutely lovely. He just wasn’t really a date guy.

Not that he wasn’t a date guy, he’d like a relationship, sure! He just wasn’t good at them, he was forgetful and lazy and reckless-

Was it somehow possible that Ducky Baker was overthinking something?

God he’d kill for a spliff.

Back to those different circles. Chase was a lot more put together than his scene. He doubted she’d ever had anything harder than the Butterbeers they were currently sipping on, and he thought it was likely she wouldn’t approve of his little side business of encouraging teen degeneracy. She probably wouldn’t tell on him, but he doubted she’d be a huge fan.

Well, who knew. He wasn’t exactly doing a good job engaging in this conversation. Luckily, she seemed to be just fine talking on and on without input from him. Which suited him just fine while he cooled his shit.

He sipped on his Butterbeer again, finally checking back in to see a pleasantly expectant look on her face. Shit. She’d just asked a question. Shit.

“Sorry, what?”

The day was warm and lovely, and Chase had spent the entire morning figuring out what she was meant to wear. Her thoughts danced back to getting ready that morning as she chatted with the cute boy a year younger than her in the sunshine in Hogsmeade. She'd agreed to go and have butterbeers with him that weekend, and while she wasn't entirely sure he had meant it as a date, she somehow found herself single for the moment and figured she'd give it a shot.

It wasn't often Chastity Moor was single. In fact, it wasn't often Chastity Moor wasn't surrounded by a gaggle of Hufflepuff girls her age, all chattering about pretty much nothing. Homework, boys, hair, makeup, some new broomstick that had just been released. That was the crowd Chase Moor hung out with. So it was somewhat unusual for her to be sitting across from Ducky Baker. He was only a year younger than her, and while he also had a lot of friends of his own... well, she didn't find herself in that crowd very often. They tended to be less well... high-class than the sort she made friends with.

Her parents always ensured she knew who to mingle with, but honestly... there was something just... fun about Ducky. He had an entire lifestyle very different than hers, and she enjoyed being around him. "So, what kind of stuff do you normally get up to on the weekends?" She asked, watching him patiently as it became apparent he'd been blanking while she was talking.

Chase was pretty used to that, in all fairness. She never expected people to hang onto her every word, and unless you stopped her or interrupted her, she'd just continue talking forever. He blinked, and his eyes seemed to focus a bit on her, and she couldn't help but giggle. "What kind of stuff do you normally get up to on the weekends?" She repeated, grinning at the look on his face. He really was cute.

Her face was bright despite his distraction, reminding him exactly how this had all happened anyway. She’d helped him wrangle all of knarls he’d accidentally let loose-no small feat. She’d been the only person in eyesight who was both nice enough to do it and fun enough to not chastise him. It’d been a fun endeavor, honestly, and his offer to pay her back with a Butterbeer had been warmly received. It was only later he’d realized how formal the phrasing was. But how could he help it with a smile like that.

So here they were. On a kind-of date. Honestly, he’d lucked into this. It wasn’t often he failed upwards, so he’d better take advantage of it.

“Ah, sorry, my brain stopped… braining,” he said, his lopsided grin stretching across his animated face. “Mostly with my mates. Probably should be studying but I’m such a sucker for good company.” His eyes twinkled. That was the thing about Ducky. In so many ways of his life he was a total dunce, but he knew how to make people feel like they were the most important person to him. The secret was–he believed it.

He didn’t add that time with mates meant mini-ragers. Getting wasted while Molly and Bev made out on a couch and Margo explained at length why she thinks the muggles should just print more money, before he stumbled outside, laid on a roof, and wished he could call his sister.

He tried to spin it into something more wholesome. “I like hanging out outside,” he said. “Especially after curfew.” He grinned, eyes darting to hers. “I like the stars. They’re brilliant and shit.”

So poetic.

“What about you? I feel like you’re always with a gaggle of mates too. Is that what it’s called, the way it’s a murder of crows, or a pod of donkeys?” Before she could answer, he smiled. “A giggle. That’s it. It’s a giggle of chums.”

Chase giggled when he mentioned studying. She should definitely do that too; she wasn't exactly the smartest girl in her class.. or the second smartest.... or the 15th.. to be honest, she was fairly certain she was at the very bottom of her grade, but it didn't matter too much. She got the grades she needed in the subjects she needed to be decent in. She knew she had a good job waiting for her after Hogwarts and wasn't exactly worried about it. "I get that; my brain stops braining all the time." She smiled at him, her eyes lit up with happiness.

She realized she had to actually think about her response to his question back at her. What did she do on the weekends? Nothing fun like sneaking out after curfew... "Well, yea, I spend a lot of time with my friends. Honestly, it's kind of nice to be away from them for once; sometimes, they go on for hours about the most trivial stuff." She leaned towards him a little, sipping her drink as she did. He called them a giggle of chums, and she actually giggled at that. Giggled in a way that wasn't like her normal giggle, it almost went into a snort, and she had to cover her mouth in a very unladylike fashion.

She looked at him wide-eyed, still grinning with her hand over her mouth. "A giggle of chums? I've never heard it called that before, but that's really funny. I think it fits my group of friends very well!" She grinned at him widely and shook her head, her red hair flying away from her as she did, coming to land back neatly around her face. "I'm afraid we don't get up to much more than the usual stuff. Get homework done, talk about boys, makeup, hair.." She shrugged slightly, her lower lip falling into a small pout. "Not nearly as fun as sneaking out at night or anything like that... though I've always sort of wanted to." She said the last part sort of under her breath, her expression turned thoughtful.

Not much of life was easy. Talking to Chase was easy. Worries about how much of a date this was or not was waning and he was feeling more like himself. His worry had been for her, that his fast-and-loose ways may be too fast-and-loose with her feelings, but she knew people. She was surrounded by them, and she wanted to have a fun time. In that regard, Ducky Baker never disappointed.

It was also refreshing to meet another student not so obsessed with the school part of school. Maybe there was a teen dirtbag in Chase yet.

He had a talent for making people laugh but he appreciated that Chase went full throttle with it. People were so restrained, always putting limitations that prevented fun. Why not be uninhibited? Why not be open? Why lie about what you liked?

“Hey people don’t appreciate the trivial stuff,” he said, lifting his drink. “Most of our day is trivial stuff, it’s important to give it its respect.” He sipped on his drink, before laughing. “Of course, you could live recklessly and just do all the big, crazy, stupid stuff too. It makes it more fun.”

Speaking of. “I mean, if you ever need a rulebreaker guide-”

He trailed off, his mouth slightly agape. He’d been about to recommend they maybe stay out late once they got back to the castle, when he’d spotted a familiar face. Jack Dyllan, her horribly dyed black mop of hair poking out from the crowd, scanning for him in the doorway.

Shit. Was today the 11th?

He cleared his throat and dipped his head to drink, shifting slightly. It was a big jump from staying out after curfew to doing a deal. Maybe Jack wouldn’t notice or get the hint.

His eyes shot back to Chase, the worry making his eyes shine in a way that hopefully just looked excited. “Beats studying, right?”

Chase paused when he asked if she ever wanted a rulebreaker guide. The very thought of it was thrilling and... scary. Honestly, she'd never really considered breaking the rules like that. Her life was already reasonably planned out. She had school to graduate, then work to do after school. She'd always be taken care of, so she wasn't worried about losing that.

She turned her attention back to him, but he seemed to be distracted for a moment. She glanced around the room but didn't notice anything odd, so she turned back to him to see him almost inhaling his drink. She tilted her head to the side slightly, confused by the sudden change in his posture. "I mean..." She trailed off before picking back up where they were. "I mean, anything beats studying, right?" She grinned and leaned forward, looking a little bit excited.

"I've never really done anything against the rules, though... " She blinked a couple of times, sitting back and taking a drink again. Did she really want to break the rules like that in her seventh year? What if something went wrong? She thought through it very carefully, completely unaware of the conundrum the boy in front of her was in. "It does sound like fun."

She had started to glance away but his quick comment brought her attention back to him, and he smiled widely, trying to keep her attention forward, even as he saw the other Gryffindor start to wander in search of him.

“I mean, if you’ve never broken a rule, then if you get caught, you’ll be off with a warning,” he said, tipping his head, trying to seem fully focused even as he tried to keep an eye out in the peripheral. “Besides, there’s something about the sky at Hogwarts. It doesn’t look as good in Astronomy class either.”

“Baker?”

His smile froze on his face. “Do you need another drink? Let me get us another round.”

They’d only gotten through half a drink but he quickly stood, and veered towards Jack. She turned and her eyebrows flew up, but he jerked his head towards the bar.

“I can’t do tonight,” he hissed to her as she hopped to his side.

“Like hell you can’t,” she snapped. “I paid already. I’m low, Duck.”

“I’m busy,” he said, as he flagged the bartender down for two more Butterbeers.

“With what?” Jack demanded.

He grabbed the two drinks and gave her a pointed look, too pointed, so he relaxed into a smile. “Having a good time. Sue me, I can get you later.”

He slipped away before she could argue, hoping there was enough good will between them that she’d let it go.

He sat across from Chase and slid her the drink, quickly chugging the half he had abandoned. “Sorry, I saw it was starting to fill up, so I figured it’d be better to grab seconds now than get stuck in line. Where were we? Right. Post-curfew stargazing. What do we say?”

Chase grinned at him and nodded at what he said. It was very true; she'd never been in trouble. She would easily get in trouble and get scolded and sent back to her dorm if they got caught. No harm, no foul. She was just about to respond when he suddenly stood up, asking about drinks. A startled look crossed her face, and she watched him go with a quizzical expression. Their drinks were barely halfway, and she hadn't really thought about drinking a lot more than one anyway.

So to see him stand up so quickly... she watched him go and noticed a girl approach him. She looked... peeved, to say the least, and they spoke to each other in short whispers. She couldn't make out what they were saying, it was far too loud in the pub, and there were far too many people to see around. She only got an occasional glimpse and felt her heart sink a little. That had to be a jealous ex, man. She was bad at dealing with those.

Chase tilted her head again at the boy quizzically as he returned. He looked... nervous now. Her eyes darted back towards the woman he'd been speaking to and then at the drinks. "I... yea... everything okay?" She asked and glanced at the girl pointedly before her gaze turned back to him. "If uh... now it's a good time, that's alright." She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, trying not to look a bit wounded as she smiled at him. "Honest." She grinned, her eyes still sparkling with confusion.

Ah, not nearly as smooth as he’d wanted. Of course, though, that was the whole thing with Chase. She was constantly surrounded by people so whether or not she realized it, she picked up on cues. You didn’t get to her level of popular without some of that. He hoped he’d been able to block out Jack’s angry form but she wasn’t exactly a discrete figure.

“No, no, now’s fine,” he said. “She’s, uh, on my case about some broom handle polish she lent me.” Is that what the kids were calling it these days? He shook his head and quickly finished the rest of his first Butterbeer before lifting the second.

“Oh, heeeey guys!”

Oh Merlin.


Listen, Jack worked hard.

Well, not at school. Or at maintaining friendships. Or following the rules. Or keeping her dorm clean.

Okay Jack didn’t work hard at most things.

But she did bust her ass at Quidditch. Especially this year. She worked her body until it was exhausted and then pushed a little more. She knew she was toeing the line between pushing herself to greatness and pushing herself over the edge, but it was what she had to do if she wanted to get recruited. And she needed to get recruited. There were no second chances.

So when she relaxed, she needed help relaxing. And Mr Ducky Dr Feel Good was an instrumental part of that process. She didn’t know people like he did, didn’t have his connections. A little smoke at the end of the day was really the only reason she managed to sleep most days.

So this whole, I can’t today routine… yeah, it didn’t work for her.

She narrowed her eyes at his retreating back before requesting a Butterbeer, putting it on his tab (he owed her) and following.

As she made it through the crowd, she spotted the reason for his distraction. Chase Moor. Jack obviously knew Chase. Even post-Voldemort, the Hogwarts population wasn’t so large that students of the same year didn’t at the least recognize each other. They’d been in classes for seven years and in seven years Jack wasn’t sure she’d ever had a conversation with the other redhead. What would they even talk about? Jack was solitary and troublesome by nature, whereas Chase oozed perfection and never went anywhere without her perfectly manicured posse.

Not that Jack didn’t like Chase. She just… didn’t have a thing in common with her.

Well, she had one thing now.

They were both going to have a drink with Ducky Baker.

She slipped into the chair between them as she drawled, “Oh heeey guys,” flashing a smile between them. “Hey Chase, Ducky, good to see you both! Hogsmeade is wild tonight isn’t it?”

Ducky was sweating.

And suddenly, the woman Ducky had been speaking with was at the table, and Chase looked at her for the first time. "Oh!" She let out a small gasp and a huge smile. "Jacqueline Dyllan!" Chase obviously knew the girl from her many years at Hogwarts. She was a pretty thing, if a bit frumpy around the edges, and always looked like she needed a shower. But she seemed nice enough, though always a bit tired... Chase smiled widely at her and sipped her drink, her gaze turned to Ducky, and she raised her eyebrows slightly. A look that read, "Uh... what's going on?"

"It's so nice to see you! I swear I always see you in class or in the hallway but just never get a chance to stop and talk." Chase didn't mention it was due to almost constantly being surrounded by a gaggle of girls and sometimes boys. Chase dug into her proper manners mental catalog and set her drink down politely. "It's really starting to pick up in here, yea. Hey! I never get a chance to say it, but congrats on the win for Gryffindor. You really are an amazing beater." She smiled again and looked back at Ducky.

A sudden realization hit her as she stared at him. He looked... anxious now. Something was not right, and she had a bad feeling she was about to get between something she didn't want to be in between. A lover's spat was on the horizon, and Chase didn't know if she wanted to stay and watch or flee with her life. Politeness kept her in her seat, though, as she turned to Ducky with a smile. "Ducky and I were just having a drink. I helped him catch a few knarls that got loose." She giggled happily at the memory. "You enjoying your night in Hogsmeade?" She turned back to Jack.