Meeting a friend

Patrick walked into the library, slightly aware that it was the first time since school started that he'd been in the place. Two-Bit was not there, he was off in his dorm doing something.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said looking down at his feet. He just noticed that he was missing a sock. Two-Bit, he thought, shaking his head. He picked up a book and sat down at a table.

"Luckily, I always carry an extra," he muttered taking his shoe off and sliding on a new sock.

Ian had been hoping to get away from everyone for awhile. He knew the moment he saw one of his friends they'd know something was wrong. He hadn't really talked to anyone at all over break...at least not after he found out about his dad. He just wasn't in the mood to handle listening to everyone ask him how he was and all that.

He'd gotten lost in his thoughts for a moment and wasn't paying attention, but footsteps and a voice near by made him snap back to reality. When he looked up and saw Pat he couldn't help but sigh a bit. Ian hadn't realized how much he missed his friend until just now. Even if he knew things would take a bad turn and lead to a conversation he didn't want to go through.

Hearing what Pat was talking about he couldn't help but standing up and approaching him with a grin on his face. "You carry around an extra sock. Patty you've got to be the weirdest guy I know."

Turning around when he heard someone talk to him, Patrick chuckled when he saw Ian.

"You'd carry an extra sock too if you had a sock stealing kitten," he reasoned. "Little demon's managed to even get it off of me when I have my shoes on."

"So what's new with you?" he asked, realizing that it had been quite a while since he had hung out with Ian or any other of his guy friends.

"I have a shoe stealing puppy if that's any thing similar," he smiled weakly and took a seat at the table Pat was at.

Well that didn't take long at all Ian mused to himself about how quickly Pat had gotten to the dreaded question. "I've been better Pat, I had a really rough holiday. My uh...my dad and step mom...they uhm..."

He found that he couldn't finish the sentence, going so long without talking about made it really hard to do so right now.

"Yeah, I guess that's similar," Patrick nodded amused. "It's easier though to keep Two-Bit amused though with the spare socks that you always find that don't have a match."

Patrick frowned when Ian seemed to have a rough time talking about his holiday. "Dude, if you don't want to tell me it's fine. I was curious."

He tried to think of something to talk about. "Are you and Oliver still together?" he asked in a low voice. He didn't know if Ian had told anyone else yet.

"Thanks Pat," Ian let out a sigh of relief glad that he didn't have to talk about it. He knew Pat would be around for him if he needed it and that's all that mattered. He really was glad that he had such a good friend.

He was pretty glad when Pat changed the subject and nodded with a smile on his face, "Yeah we are. We were supposed to spend the vacation together, but ya know things popped up. How're you and Alli?"

"Alli and I are great," Pat smiled at the mention of his girlfriend. Of course he also smiled that Ian and Oliver were still together.

"We didn't get a chance to see each other over break, so when we met up by the lake before classes started up, we had a huge snowball fight," he said and chuckled at the memory.

"That sounds like a good time," he chuckled at the iimagery in his head of the two of them playing around in the snow. "I actually got back to school a little late, it took longer than I thought it would to move all my stuff to my mom's place."

He shrugged and flipped idily though his books, "How's your sister?" He asked just for the sake of conversation.

"It was," Patrick chuckled. "I stuffed a big snowball down her shirt. She retaliated by charming ice pellets to go down my shirt. It got intense."


Pat shrugged. "Pam's...Pam I guess. Other than getting annoyed rather easily over break, I don't think there's anything new with her."

"Sounds epic man," Ian yawned a bit and ran his fingers thorugh his hair, "you been practicing your flying mate?" Ian remembered how nervous Pat had been the first time Ian started teaching him how to handle a broom.

How was Patrick going to admit that he hadn't gone near a broom since that first lesson? Did Ian really expect for him to willingly go near one?

Well, yes as he had no clue (or at least Patrick hoped he had no clue) why he was so afraid of brooms or at least going up on them.

He knew that a look of panic or nervousness had flashed in his eyes--they always gave him away--so he just shrugged. "When I get the time," he said hoping his voice didn't also betray him.

Ian could sense that Pat was nervous and wanted to help ease his friend's fears but he couldn't do that until Pat opened up about why he was afraid of flying. With a bright smile on his face he moved over and sat next to Pat putting an arm on his shoulder.

"'s alright if you haven't man," he said with a bit of a grin on his face, "I guess that just means I'm going to have to work you even harder to get you back up to speed."

Smiling a little as Ian put his arm on his shoulder, Pat inwardly chuckled a bit. Somehow he knew Ian would say that.

"When do you want to go out there?" Patrick asked hoping against hope that either Alli would be there or that it was as far away as humanly possible.

This of course could be solved easier if he came clean about his little fear (more like huge beyond reason fear) but his male pride wouldn't let him admit it. Only to certain people (Alli and Morgaine, Pam already knew. Oh and Emmy. Merlin, he told a lot of girls about that!)

"I'm not completely sure, when do you think would be best for you?" Now that Ian thought about it he hadn't been flying in awhile himself. Maybe that's what he needed to get his mind off of everything going on and just go back to being himself.

Patrick thought for a moment. He could lie and say that no time would be best for him but that wouldn't be fair. Or kind.

"I'm not doing anything right now," he pointed out though hoped that Ian would shoot him down. "We could go now."

Granted, it's freezing therefore making it less likely for me to fall off my broom but hey, who cares?

"Like right the instant Pat," Ian raised an eyebrow not expecting that answer from him. To be honest he thought that Pat would try and stall. "I dunno man...I really gotta study." He thought on it for a moment and snapped his books shut.

"But ya know if you're that anxious to get back in the sky I suppose I can put studying aside for just a little bit."

"No, no," Pat shook his head. "If you've got to study, the far be it from me to keep you from those books of yours."

Relief flooded through him like a tidal wave. Thank Merlin for the need to study! Now to just keep the topic off of flying for say...six months?

"What are you studying?" he asked; phase one of his ten phase plan Operation: keep both feet on the ground.

"Are you sure man?" Ian asked with a knowing grin on his face. "I mean I really have no problem taking a studt break to help my best friend get comfortable on a broom." He chuckled a bit before showing the book he was reading to Pat.

"I'm uh, just trying to get a more clear understanding of lycanthropy. You know...how it's contracted and passed....things like that."

"Dude thanks but I mean," Patrick said smirking a little, "are you sure you're a Ravenclaw? You seem much to eager to take a break from the important studying."

His smirk became a smile when Ian said that he had no problem taking a study break if it meant getting him comfortable on a broom. Though he didn't like the look of that grin at all.

"Oh, well that sounds interesting," Patrick said with a smile. It really did.

"Oh there are more important things in life than studying ya know," Ian nodded, "I'm still a Ravenclaw at heart. I just have some Gryffindor tendencies." He shrugged and opened his book back up.

"Yeah I figure if this is something I'll be living with for rhe rest f my life I might as well get used to it, and learn what I can to protect my friends and mate." He couldn't remember if he'd told Pat about him being a werewolf yet or not. He'd told so many people lately that he couldn't be sure who all he'd spilled the beans to.

Pat didn't recall Ian ever telling him that he was a werewolf. Dating Oliver, yes. Werewolf, no. It just so happened that Pat thought werewolves were somewhat cool. Ones like Ian at least.

"You know I agree," Pat nodded. "There are more important things than studying."

For example, you'd never catch me doing it! he thought and it was true. Studying just wasn't his thing.

"Wow, that's really insertpraisehereasI'munabletocomeupwithsomething," Patrick said once Ian told him why he was studying up on werewolves.

Phase one of Operation: Keep both feet on the ground was working. He hoped.

Ian laughed and smiled a bit, it was odd. Just a few minutes around Pat and he was feeling better than he had the entire break. "But I've got OWLs coming up so I've really got to keep ontop of studying."

He let out a baited breath when it seemed that Pat was okay with him being a werewolf. "Yeah I guess it is kind of cool. I just...well when I transform I'm like a big puppy. It's kind of embarrassing."

"Ah the dreaded OWL's," Patrick faked a shudder. "I wish you luck my Raven comrade."

He couldn't help the small smile that came on his face as the image of Ian as a puppy came to the front of his mind.

"Meh, it could be worse. You could have the table manners of an chimpanzee," he said. "Apparently I do according to Pam. This is of course the girl who eats so fast that we time her now."

Good, chimps stay near the ground. Just don't mention brooms!

"Well to be honest you should probably be studying to. I heard the NEWTs are really hard," he laughed a bit at Pat's reaction to the tests. Ian really wasn't all that worried, he tended to do well on tests.

Seeing the smile on Pat's face he punched him playfully in the arm, "Don't you even think about saying that it's cute."

"Have you ever eaten with a chimp?" Ian asked with a smirk, "cuz I'm pretty sure Pam just insulted them."

"Study? Moi?" Patrick asked with a chuckle. "I've got another year my friend, and of course NEWT's are hard. Why else would they call it Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests?"


"No, not at all. I wasn't thinking that," he denied as Ian playfully punched him.

"Oi! What are you implying Ian?" Patrick raised an eyebrow. "I've got outstanding table manners."