Would you go along with someone like me?

Ducky was trying not to panic. Wasn’t this his worry with dating someone like Chase, that he’d rub off and ruin them? He wasn’t one of those people who thought a drink or a smoke ruined you per se (obviously) but his friends were not exactly entry level. Molly was perpetually high, Margo good company but a lot, and Bev… Bev was just a force of chaos.

“I… you’re not missing out, first off,” he said reassuringly, reaching out to touch her arm.

She turned to Jack and offered to pay. Jack put her hands up, almost defensively. “Hey, hey, you’re dating the guy with the stuff, you should get it free.” She rocked back on her heels and said, “But hey you ever want to lend me History of Magic notes, I’ll trade you for a puff.”

“It’s not rude,” Ducky said, turning his full gaze on her, his face warming and beginning to smile more widely. “We can definitely do that sometime. Maybe mix that with the curfew rule-breaking and you have a recipe for a good time.”

“And that’s my cue,” Jack said, taking a step back. “Duck, you’re the best. Chase, catch me at the lake sometime with class notes and we’re square.”

And with that she slipped back into the crowded pub.

Ducky let out a sigh and looked back at Chase, sinking forward as his hands slid across the table. He looked up at her apologetically, chin almost touching the table. “Sorrrry,” he groaned. “She’s a lot. It won’t happen again-who am I kidding, I’m rotten with keeping track of things, it very well might.”

Chase tilted her head and then looked at Ducky with a sidelong glance. Had Jack said she was dating him? So was this a date? Her mind was now completely off track of where she'd been before. She watched Ducky for any telltale signs that he liked her like that. He had touched her arm, and his smile was so nice and warm. It changed from when he smiled at Jack, and she tilted her head towards him, a small smile growing on her lips.

When Jack stood up and mentioned class notes, she took a deep breath. History of Magic... one of the worst subjects to exist. She'd have to bum someone else's notes if she wanted to do that with Jack. She never paid any attention in that class. She giggled when Ducky spread out over the table, her eyes sparkling.

"Oh! Don't worry! Our trip was kind of unplanned, to begin with!" She grinned at him and giggled some more. "Do you mean it, though? Maybe we can try and do that.. sneak out stuff... It kind of just hit me that I've literally not done most of the stuff kids get up to when they go to Hogwarts. Not the... you know..." she nodded knowingly to where Jack had disappeared off to. "But just like... even breaking curfew, most I've ever done is go to the Kitchens. Though I suppose I do spend a lot of time in the Care of Magical Creatures class. Technically when I first got into that class, I almost got in trouble because I started making friends with every creature they had. Including the really dangerous ones." She giggled.

"Turns out when the teacher realizes you aren't going to mess anything up, they don't mind." She sighed and looked at Ducky. "You okay? I can tell that was stressing you out." She put on her kindest smile and gave him a reassuring hand touch, leaning towards him a little.

This was exactly the sort of mishap he was prone to getting into, so he shouldn’t even be surprised. His sister was always warning him that it wasn’t just his grades and his health she was worried he was ruining, but all of the potential in his life that the wrong crowd could taint. Lydia didn’t get it, though, what it was like to just be the world’s biggest f-ck up.

He wasn’t sure if Chase was just always this kind, but he felt like she was giving him a ton of leeway. He smiled, reassured. He wasn’t going to argue with her if she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. He could use all the help he could get.

His smile grew as she spoke, enjoying the innocent excitement. He laughed, trying to picture her approaching a baby dragon and could see how her sweet, sing-songy voice might even tempt the most fiery of tempers.

“Yeah I can’t imagine a professor being mad because someone was too interested in the subject,” he suggested. “Though, I’d never know,” he added with a laugh. Too much interest in school was not an accusation anyone could ever levy against him.

She switched gears and he shook his head, waving a hand as he took another drink. “Nah, I just… didn’t want you to feel weird,” he admitted. “The people I hang around are definitely not always the best influence. Not that Dyllan hangs out with me, or anyone, she’s a customer. But I also didn’t want you to think…”

What? Wasn't it Hogwarts’ worst kept secret that he was the school drug mule? He was often stoned in class, if he even made it, and he’d even been held back a year for his poor performance. But there was a strangely high number of sheltered students–wizard wealth, he blamed it on– and Chase was definitely in that number. It’d been nice to live in her innocent world for a moment.

He heaved a shrug, at a loss. “I dunno what I didn’t want you to think,” he said, laughing. “Just… felt bad about it.”

Chase laughed along with him, her smile wide even after the laughter had faded. "I mean, surely you know what you want to do after you graduate, yea?" She said, raising her eyebrows at him. "I know I'll be fine because my parents already work at the Ministry. If anything, they'll get me into the exact department I want to be in. That is the Rehabilitation and Release of Magical Creatures. But what about you? Got any plans?" She smiled at him kindly, as oblivious to the situation he'd been as might be possible to be.

"Me? Feel weird?" She looked very confused for a moment. "I guess I've never thought about it. I've never been around people who are.... 'bad influences.'" She shrugged once, tilting her head. "I don't consider Miss Dyllan to be a bad influence either! You could do worse than be in the company of the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!" She grinned and then added as an afterthought, "Or me, I suppose."

She took another drink of her butterbeer, thinking hard. "If it worries you about being in the company of bad influences, why do you stay around them?" She looked at him curiously. Her head tilted in an almost bird-like way, curiosity and naivete radiating from her.

He stared at her blankly.

Did he…

No. Of course not! He didn’t know what he was doing Friday. He couldn’t pass his fifth year. Hel, half the time he smoked the product he was meant to sell.

“To be honest, I’ll be surprised if I get to graduation,” he said, his face shining and matching her spirits despite the deep pit in his stomach. If he was stoned, he’d say it with a laugh. Margo would have made some joke about the graduation robes being ugly, Bev would say school was overrated, Molly that none of them knew if they’d make it to tomorrow, and Nora would advise they all take a shot. And that would be that.

Because why be bothered by the inevitable? The fact that he’d gotten this far was a miracle.

“It’s cool you know what you’re doing, and that your parents can help you,” he mused wistfully, as though it was something so far outside the scope of his own dreams. “What exactly do you do there, in rehab and release? Help werewolves get sober?” he teased, hoping that was enough to turn the conversation away from his own plans.

“She is,” Ducky immediately corrected, laughing. “She punched the Head Boy like week one. I definitely prefer the company now,” he acknowledged, locking eyes with her.

But her question jarred him. How was he supposed to explain that it was because he was just as bad, if not worse. Maybe Bev was worse, but if it wasn’t Bev, it’d be someone else. “Because… they’re my friends,” he said, shrugging. “I’m no better, trust me. Major screw up over here,” he laughed. "I don't think I could be influenced for the better if I tried."

Chase was confused, surprised even by his reaction. Not know what he was going to do? There was life after school... Chase blinked a few times. Her head was still tilted to the side. "But... I mean.. you're in what, year six?" She tilted her head again, still majorly confused. But he asked what she would be doing, and she laughed softly, shaking her head. "Rehab and Rehabilitation, more like... well, I want to be in the Beast division, not the Beings. The Being division provides support for Werewolves, Vampires, and the like. The Beast division works with creatures that are classified as Beasts. Everything from Dragons to Centaurs, funnily enough. Though Centaurs are only classified as Beasts cause they requested it." She shook her head, laughing softly at that fact.

"No, what I want to do is help care for creatures that get themselves into problematic situations with Muggles or Wizards. Hopefully, it would be to help heal them if they get hurt and relocate them to areas that are safer for them when they are better. I would work with nature preservations and individuals who find creatures that need help." She grinned widely at him. It was obvious she knew exactly where she wanted to go in life.

However, she felt very confused about how he felt about his friends. "I don't see you as a screwup." She frowned and shook her head slightly. She shifted forward in her seat to look at him more directly. "I mean... first off, you acknowledge that you've made mistakes, and isn't that the first step? I mean... all it takes is figuring out what you'd want to do and doing it! And hey, if you ever needed any help getting somewhere in the Ministry, I can always pull some strings." She grinned at him before taking another sip of her drink.

"Five," he corrected quickly, before leaning in and listening to her explanation. He was definitely play it up a little too much, looking too invested in someone else's future career, but he'd learned that most people wanted to talk about themselves.

"That's brilliant," he said, leaning back. "You forget that we need folks to do that kind of stuff. You'll be travelling the world, helping lost hippogriffs and silly nifflers."

"Well that's nice of you," he said with a laugh as she said how she viewed him. She was really not getting this.

He sighed, though his face was still lit with that gentle pleasantness that it always featured. "I'm repeating year five. Neither my brother or my dad finished school, yeah? 'Sides, I'm not exactly the Ministry type, unless their janitors are paid well," he laughed. "I'm not worried about the mistakes I already made, too busy making more."

Chase actually looked alarmed at his attitude as he leaned back and told her he was repeating a year of school. "But... but what do you WANT to do?" She gasped, leaning towards him with genuine concern.

"The world is so big, especially for us Wizards. There's so much to do! If you don't like the Ministry... I mean... you could always go to St. Mungos.. or... set up a shop in Diagon Alley! Hogsmeade has open buildings for sale sometimes too." She pondered almost to herself. "You could go into a research field or take a muggle job!" She looked proud of herself at everything she'd listed off.

She shook her head again. "But... don't you want to graduate?" She looked at him. Her head tilted to the side again in a manner that showed she was genuinely interested and concerned about how he felt. There was no playing with Chase. She worried about those around her.

She just kept going. Merlin, is this what he’d be like if he’d had a support system? This idea that he could do anything was in direct contradiction to his understanding of the world. Some levels of happiness and security were, by design, unavailable to some people. People like him, and his brother, and his dad.

“‘Course I want to graduate,” he said. “That’s the thing, just that is going to be hard enough.”

“I’ve actually never really thought about it, though,” he admitted, circling back to her comment about what he wanted to do. “I haven’t really been asked what I want to do, moreso told that whatever I was doing was trouble,” he said, only half-joking. “Honestly, I just want to enjoy a smoke with my friends and not have to worry about money or grades or whatever.”

Chase was still so concerned about him. Moreover... she was shocked. How could someone have such a negative view of the world? Everything was at his fingertips! She took a small sip of her drink and thought about it for a long moment before responding. "You should come by my place for the Spring break." She said after a long pause. "I could introduce you to my parents. They have all sorts of connections in the Ministry or even Muggle stuff. My mom is a muggle lawyer in her spare time." She looked at him earnestly.

"Honestly, you could invite your friends too. I have a boat house on a lake that everyone could come swimming at, or we could take the boat out too. Dragon would love to meet new people... Max and Clara as well." she smiled at him widely. "Oh, that's my dog, brother, and sister." She quickly added, still grinning.

"You could bring your smokes too. I doubt my parents would care. It might be fun!" She leaned towards him earnestly again, optimism and excitement on her face. "Maybe you just need to see the world from a different point of view... you might like what you see."