teachers can be friends too? (Mordecai)

Keith sat alone by the lake, watching the other kids talking, laughing, hanging out. It occured to him he hadn't really made any friends since coming to Hogwarts. H stared at the sky. Friends would come with time. He just needed to get himself orientated first. Howarts was a lot to get used to.

(My apologies for having taken this long to reply)

A large shadow engulfed Keith as a figure appeared behind him. Mordecai sniffed sharply as he cast his gaze across the lake, eyeing a few figures on the other side who seemed to be up to nothing special. Meh, everything seemed to be ship shape for the moment.

"Heyo there Shortstop. Keepin' your nose clean and head down eh?" Mordecai asked as he glanced down and grinned at the young first year that was sitting near his feet. Mordecai hadn't forgotten the first time he had crossed paths with this little rascal. The kid was a sharp one alright, even for his age. It took someone with brains to be able to pull off a stock and trade under the noses of a school full of professors.

"Now what's a bright kipper like you doin' out here all by your lonesome? Didn't get caught pawnin' frogspawn did ya?" Mordecai asked as he shaded his eyes and ran a hand through his hair in order to get it out of his eyes.

"Nah," Keith said, glancing up at Mordecai. "Nothing big since...." He motioned towards the window of the 4th floor classroom, trailing off. Out of all the teachers he had met so far at Hogwarts, Mordecai was probably his favorite. He hadn't punished Keith when he accidently snuck that thing into school, coached Quidditch, and seemed really nice. "I'm just kinda bored. Finished all my homework and nobodies in the common room, so I thought I'd come down here for a while."

Mordecai arched an eyebrow.

"Finished all your homework? I'm impressed. Used to take me bloody ages to get through the mountains of essays those old bats used to saddle me with. Mind you I rarely finished any of them so I guess it was my own fault." Mordecai chuckled at the memory of having literal mountains of books and papers fall on his head back in his school days. Man that seemed like ages ago. Wait a minute, it was.

Boy did he feel old.

"And have you found anything of interest? Last time I checked the squid wasn't the talkative sort." Mordecai calmly rolled up the sleeves of the heavy knit sweater that he was wearing before he plunked himself down on the grass beside Keith. Most teachers wouldn't have been caught dead sitting on the grounds during the afternoon nor with a random student, but then again Mordecai wasn't a teacher. He was a Coach and that meant he had the right to get to know his players. He highly doubted that was written anywhere in the Quidditch code of conduct but he was never one to follow the rules.

"How practice comin' along? Figured out your aim yet?" Mordecai asked Keith as he dug his fingers into the tall grass and plucked out a small stone that was half buried in the dirt. He eyed the rock for a moment before he chucked it into the air and caught it. Its balance was a little off but it was still a good rock. Squinting out across the lake Mordecai pulled his arm back and launched the rock straight at the water on a slight angle. The stone skidded across the water like a water flea before it sunk into the dark depths a ways from shore.

"Care to try to beat an old man at his game?" He asked Keith as he fished around for another stone and held it out to the boy.

Keith grinned slightly. Skipping rocks had never been his thing exactly, but he was good enough to skip one once or twice. "Sure,"he said, lifting himself to his feet and searching through the grass for a rock. It had to be roughly flat, and small and light enough for Keith to hurl easily. Finally, he managed t find a rock that met his specifications, and weighed it in his hand, chucking out into the blue lake. It hit, skipped one, twice, and finally sunk into the lake, sending ripples all over. Keith's grin widened as he searched for another rock.