Meeting a friend

"Because if he was, I'd probably run away screaming," Patrick said seriously. He took the piece of cookie that Ian offered and bit into it.

"Hmmm, love cookies," Patrick grinned. Cookies were just something he loved no matter where he was.

"Hmm, haven't really thought about it," he said. "Maybe History professor or Magizoologist."

Merlin knows he wasn't going to be a flying instructor.

"Stanger things have happened Patty," Ian chuckled a bit running his fingers through his hair. "A talking cat isn't all that far out of the realm of possibilities. Although seeing you freak out over it would be hilarious."

Nodding as Pat spoke Ian grinned, "I can see you as a magizoologist mate. Personally I want to be a spell invetor. In fact do you mind if I try out one on you?"

"Don't even think about it," Patrick warned. "Though you are right. Stranger things have happened and we are at Hogwarts, where three headed dogs once protected stones, snakes petrified people, and toads taught classes."

"What kind of spell is it?" he asked somewhat warily. His sister asked that once and he wound up with pink hair for eight days.

"It's a binding spell," Ian replied as he walkid over to the windowsill and grabbed a potted plant. He set it down on the table and waved his wand at it "Florae Incarceri" His wand produced a bright blue, and it flowed through the plant. He reached out and touched and short of a small quiver nothing happened.

He turned to Pat and smiled, "Now you try and touch it, the vines should grow and hold your arm."

Reaching out and touching the plant, Patrick almost jumped out of his skin when the vines grew and grabbed ahold of his arm.

"Well, it works," he said. "Now, why in Merlin's name would you invent something like this?"

He wasn't mad, just curious.

Ian let out a fist pump in excitement and grabbed his wand again "Finite Incantatum." The plant shrivled back to it's original size and Ian grinned in triumph. He couldn't believe that it worked.

"Well the spell is designed to only bind people that aren't the caster, so if you cast it during a duel it'll render your opponet unable to respond." He laughed and pulled out another piece of his parchment and started scribbling down his notes.

"Oh," Patrick said. "Makes sense. You are one evil genius though. Remind me to never get on your bad side."

The book he had taken down just so it looked like he was there to study actually seemed interesting, well from the cover.

Animagi? he thought as he saw the spine. Sneaking a peak at Ian, he thought about it. It would be rough and there was no way on earth he'd be able to do it during this school year but if he worked over the summer....

His thoughts were dangerous but so much fun to loose himself in.

"Genius, yes. Evil not so much," Ian said with a bright grin on his face. Finding out that his spell worked had put him in an intensely good mood. Almost good enough to completely overshadow how depressed he was earlier.

He reached over and placed his hand on Pat's shoulder, "and don't worry mate you're entirely too cute to be on my bad side."

Glancing over at the book Pat was reading he raised an eyebrow, "Animagi...you're intrested in becoming one of those?" He tilted his head to the side in confusion, he didn't really seem the type. He was way more than willing to help him out.

"And so modest," Patrick chuckled. "and thanks. Pity the sod who does get on your bad side though."

"Huh, oh no," he shrugged. "I just pulled it down out of the blue when I came in here so it would look like I was doing something. Seems interesting though."

The revealing potion took about a month to make---which was okay seeing as he wasn't rubbish at the subject but it said that an average transformation took about a year and a half to two years.

"Just out of curiosity though, what form do you think I would take?" he asked. Okay so he had lied to Ian; he totally wanted to become an Animagus.

"You know me Pat," Ian laughed out and went back to flipping through his books looking for the components for his next spell.

When Pa asked what form Ian though he'd take it didn't take Ian long to answer, "A tiger or maybe a lion. Buuut you'd be a cute little tiger kitten."

"A tiger kitten?" Patrick raised an eyebrow. At least Ian didn't say badger or something along those lines. "At least I might be able to understand what Two-Bit says then."

He was thinking more like a stag or something that didn't fly....but Kitten was good too.

"Yeah either that or a goat," Ian added in with a chuckle, "you and goats have one thing in common. You'll eat almost anything." He teased Pat a little more and tossed an arm over his shoulder.

"I think I'm ready to tell you why I've been so bummed lately," Ian said with a bit of a gulp, "But you've gotta promise me one thing. You can't ask me if I'm okay.."

"Oh really? This from the dude who eats rare deer meat?" Patrick raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah sure dude," Patrick nodded. He was honest too; Ian hadn't laughed about his fear of brooms so he wouldn't ask if he was okay if Ian didn't want him too.

Ian took a deep breath and looked over at Pat, "My dad died about a month ago over the break. I haven't...I haven't really started dealing with it yet. I've been strong for everyone else so I've yet to grieve myself. So I've been holding everything in and it's just eating me apart from the inside out."

He sighed and wondered if he should so go and figured he might as well just tell Pat everything on his mind, "On top of that I...I think I might sort of be falling for a straight guy."

Patrick was floored. He had no idea what it was like to lose a parent but he knew that Ian didn't want him to ask if he was alright. "Oh mate, I'm so sorry."

Ha! Loopholes, gotta love 'em. Ian said that he couldn't ask if he was alright, not that he couldn't say that he was sorry.

"Wait, you lost me." he said after Ian said that he was having feelings for a straight guy. "I thought everything was fine with Oliver. At least, I think that's what you said."

Ian was glad that Pat kept his word and hadn't asked him if he was fine, he did give the standard I'm sorry. He didn't expect anything else from Pat.

"I said that we were still together," Ian mumbled quietly, "I think...no...I know I want to break up with him. I kind of want a more dominant guy."

"Ah," Patrick said but didn't know what else he could say. He didn't have much experience with these matters. "Umm, have you talked about it with him?"

Merlin, were all couples breaking apart at the seams? It was just him and Alli that were intact.

"I've been....avoiding it," Ian admitted a bit ashamed of himself, "even though I know I need to do it, I don't want to do it now. I know it's gonna hurt him, and I really don't want to do that." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. There really was no other to go about this, but it didn't stop I an from wishing that there was.

He smiled at Pat a little bit sad, "Dude....thanks for listening and stuff. Hope I didn't bring down your good mood with all my baggage. That's sort of why I didn't come to you sooner."

"Dude, it's no problem," Patrick said with a smile. "I'm hear if you need someone to vent, rant, wail on, and/or show emotion to. That's what friends are for."

As for the mood killer, Patrick didn't think that anything could kill his mood. Not so long as Alii was by his side, his sister wasn't insane, and classes kept going the way they were.

Ian grinned and pulled Pat into a quick hug before pulling back and returning to his book. "You know you're pretty much my first guy friend. Or at least my first straight guy friend, it's nice to have a friend that I can just...be a dude with you know?"

After a loud yawn he looked over at PAt and closed the book, "So what are our plans for the summer?"

"Completely understand mate," Patrick nodded. "You just need a friend who can let you be yourself, no matter who your real self is."

Patrick shrugged. "Dunno yet. Maybe see Alli over the summer, convince Pam to stop being annoying, convince Two-Bit to stop stealing my socks....the usual."

"Yeah exactly," Ian nodded, "as much as I love Hayleigh like the sister I never had. There are things I can say and do with you that I can't around her." He grinned brightly as his eyes lit up as he came up with an idea.

Tuning to Pat he started speaking quickly and excitedly. "Hey Pat I'm actually going to be spending a good chuck of my summer in Italy at the villa I inherited from my dad. Think you might enjoy spending a couple days out there with me?"

Patrick smiled at the thought of spending some time in Italy. "Sure mate. That'd be wicked. I'd have to check with my dad, but he'd be fine with it."

Italy, the host to the city that was the former empire of the world. Lasted 400 years, the longest ever before Britain. Think of all the history there was to learn there.

He may hate studying, but he could learn history like there was no tomorrow.

"Sweet," Ian said excitedly with a fist pump and a huge grin on his face, "it'll be awesome. The villa is right outside of Rome. I spent a bunch of time there growing up but haven't been back in awhile."

He tilted his head to the side and scratched the back of his neck. I wonder if I should invite Jay to come along with us? He blushed a little bit at the thought and set to the side to mull it over later. He'd like it alot, but he wasn't sure if it would be the best thing for his crush.

Patrick chuckled a little at Ian's enthusiastic reaction, and raised an eyebrow when he noticed a little blush on Ian's cheeks. He didn't say anything though.

"So what else is new with you?" he asked, completely stumped as to what else to ask.