until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest [Lucas]

It was a blisteringly hot day, for Scotland at least, and Harri had dressed for the weather.  She was wearing a floaty, beige tank top with some black floral shorts.  It had been a couple of weeks since her last 'turn', and so there was nothing to suggest anything unusual about her -- subsequently, she'd seized the opportunity to dress nicely, rather than in the loungewear she'd become accustomed to.  In her little bubble of self-pity it was easy to wallow and not take any pride in her appearance.  But not today.

The Ravenclaw had just finished meeting with the Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall, in anticipation of the upcoming school term.  They'd settled on reusing the Shrieking Shack for her transformations, simply because hearing unusual noises coming from there wouldn't raise alarm amongst the villagers -- after all, although Angharad knew Professor Lupin was a werewolf, she hadn't (until today) known that he had spent his own transformations in that very building, and according to Professor McGonagall only a select handful of witches and wizards were privy to such information.

It was reassuring to know it had been done before, but it didn't make the task any less daunting.  If anything it brought home just how real everything was.  The brunette glanced at her watch and noted they had finished rather earlier than she had expected.  Beau wouldn't be coming back to pick her up for another hour or so.  Although Angharad was eighteen now she had missed the year in which Apparition lessons were offered, and so was unable to perform that particular bit of magic.  She had insisted on seeing McGonagall alone; since the attack her independent nature had only become more overbearing, to the point that she didn't want to accept help from anyone -- not even her family.  Beau had agreed to apparate her there and come back to pick her up at three o'clock -- it had only just turned one-thirty. 

There were worse places she could be stranded for an hour and a half.  Hogsmeade was a lovely village -- though strange in the summer.  It was much less crowded, hardly a school-aged person in sight.  The brunette began weaving her way along the main street, glancing in shop windows as she passed them.  She strolled past Madam Puddifoot's and grimaced.  The Welsh girl had her fair share of memories of that place, none of them overly pleasant.  Harri loved being wined and dined, but not there.  It was just so cliché.  She continued onwards, heading toward Spintwitches intending to look at the latest Quidditch gear, when she chose to glance backwards at Madam Puddifoot's one last time -- whilst still moving forward.

Big mistake.

The exact moment she chose to turn her head back around to face her direction of motion the werewolf's body collided with something -- no, someone -- as they exited Dogweed and Deathcap in a mild hurry.  A muffled yelp escaped her lips as they tumbled, entwined, to the ground.  When Angharad opened her eyes she was greeted by head of dark curls and a familiar face.  "L-Lucas?"

Fake it until you make it. That was the old adage.

A tall boy stood in Dogweed and Deathcap, looking totally and utterly perplexed. Maybe taking this job was the wrong thing to day. Maybe he should have kept his old part time job. Maybe he should have been one of those Muggle museum guides. He did love to learn after all but no. No. He couldn't make a proper living out of showing a herd of rambunctious school children around ancient artefacts when they didn't even care that much about him.

It felt weird to be back in Hogsmeade now that he was no longer a student. Wearing the Ravenclaw crest on his chest just made him feel wanted but now? Now he was all on his own. He'd been in the shop for half an hour, just meandering around the various potted plants.

Luke had no idea what he was doing but he needed to convince himself that he was a modern day Alan Titchmarsh before he found out and fired him. He was terrible with plants. Whatever he touched either bit him or died. Or bit him and then died but he was making a positive change. Herbs & Harmony wasn't exactly him living the dream but he was writing and that was all that mattered.

He moved around quietly, a sketchpad open and a quill in his left hand. Never particularly artistically inclined, Lucas had sketched a number of plants the store had to offer, spending some more time on the Flutterby Bush. There had, apparently, been a resurgence in wizarding gardens. They bloomed every hundred years or so and to see them up close was really rather interesting. So far that morning, he'd collected an interview from the shop keeper that would be appearing in the next issue along with tips and tricks for preparing the garden for the incoming autumn.

"Thank you so much," he said with a broad smile, reaching out to shake the elderly man's hand warmly. "It should be out in about three weeks and we'll be sure to send you a copy."

Hastily, he closed up his books and slipped them into the leather book bag he wore. It was a nice day outside and he was planning on heading to the Three Broomsticks for a drink and sitting outside so he could sort through his papers. Before he left, he carefully picked up a small terracotta pot. In it was growing a Honking Daffodil. Living alone with no pets and no significant other, Lucas thought he was might have something to break up the silence.

Stepping back outside into the sunshine, he used an index finger to slide his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. He was dressed casually in a pair of dark jeans and a pale lilac button down shirt, he wasn't planning on running into anyone today anyway.

Oh, as Fate would have it.

Something small and oddly furry collided hard with him, sending him crashing down onto the worn cobbles. The pot he held rolled away from him, the daffodil making a loud honk! in protest. "Ow," he grunted, his bright blue eyes refocusing as he found himself straddled by a girl. Automatically, his hands went to her hips to steady her and they felt familiar. Eh?

Angharad. It was Angharad. This position was pleasant and not at all unfamiliar, they'd done this before. Without thought, his large hand went to her face, resting his palm against her jawline, softly tugging on a lock of her lovely dark hair. There was a surge of feelings; lust, desire, longing, hurt, regret, relief that she was okay. He laughed but he made no motion to push her away, she could stay there for as long as he wanted to. "Hi," he replied, the force off the fall and made his glasses sit wonkily on his face. "How lovely to bump into you," he joked.

Angharad winced, she’d fallen rather hard but she couldn’t help but let out a faint laugh at Luke’s words.  His jokes were always terrible but they’d never failed to coax a giggle or at least a smile from the eighteen year old.  His touch and warmth brought back images of happier times between them.  She hadn’t spoken to or so much as written a letter to the tall brunette since the Battle of Hogwarts; and with good reason too, in her humble opinion – he’d simply vanished without a trace right in the middle of all that.  What kind of boy just ditches you in the middle of such a traumatic experience?

Perhaps she was overreacting a little, her dad had been there after all, but that was beside the point.  Not a single owl in all this time just to check in on her... and yet she couldn’t help but want to curl up in his arms where it was familiar and waste hours just being in his company again.  But his arms were on her hips, which was a little too close to her waist, and therefore her scar; she took his hands in hers and gently guided them away, resting them on her thighs.

“Next time I’ll try to find a softer place to land.”  Angharad smiled warmly and reached a hand out to straighten Lucas’ glasses for him.  He was so adorable, why had they ever broken up?  Oh, right.  She’d gotten bored.  What she wouldn’t give now to have the security of a doting boyfriend.  Alas, no one would ever want a relationship with her now that she was...

The brunette blinked.  “What are you doing in Hogsmeade?” It wasn’t exactly an accusing tone, but it could certainly have come across as a bit sharp.  He should be off doing things graduated wizards do – did he have a job? Surely Lucas would have gotten offers straight out of Hogwarts; he was so smart and studious – who wouldn’t want to employ him?  Angharad had thought this would be harder; although a lot more timid than she’d been a year ago, Harri felt surprisingly comfortable straddling her ex-lover.  Perhaps too comfortable.

Gingerly, Harri began to untangle herself from her companion and got to her feet.  Trying not to make it too obvious she checked her bare skin for any scrapes that may have started bleeding – thankfully she’d avoided such injuries.  She’d once had the habit of sucking on bleeding cuts, but no more.  The seventh year was paranoid that some freak accident would splatter her blood into someone’s mouth and she didn’t even know what would happen but if she passed on even a timid strain of the virus she was now infected with she could never forgive herself.

A honking noise in the background caught her attention and the Ravenclaw glanced around until she found the source.  “Doing some gardening?”  She raised a quizzical eyebrow at her former boyfriend and grinned.  She’d never known Luke to be into plants – quite the contrary, she was fairly certain her housemate had been quite hapless at herbology.  Harri bent to pick up the flower and held it out for Luke; "Here."

He really had no idea what he was supposed to do. Luke wasn't suave. Never had been. Since graduating Hogwarts, he'd really tried to own the geeky thing he had going on but to no avail. He was still single. Painfully so. He didn't even have a cat because his building didn't allow it. Hence the honky daffodil. Pitiful.

But he was acutely aware of how Harri manipulated his hands. Concern was clearly etched on his handsome face and he tried to pull away, letting her go as though she'd just caught fire. How thick was he? They weren't dating now. He wasn't even sure they were friends. It had long, too long to really try and get back to how they'd been. Ever since she'd broken his heart, he had a rather unhealthy relationship with the Welsh girl.

He watched her in classes, often followed her back to the common room, always close behind. It was…painful. Painful watching her laugh with his friends. Painful when she was curled up on the laps of other boys. Painful knowing she'd moved on and he'd remained firmly in his own misery. They'd barely spoken since that afternoon. He'd taken the break up to mean that she wanted nothing to do with him but here, now? Everything felt so fresh. As she straddled him, he could feel her warmth through his clothes and his mind wandered, remembering flashes of things they did.

And he was brought back down to Earth with a bump.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Lucas bumbled, flushing pink fiercely. Where was he supposed to put his hands now? Angharad had helpfully moved them to her thighs and he left them there stupidly. He felt stiff and painfully awkward. Anyone else would love to be straddled by a beautiful lady but him? He wanted to die. Being so close to her again hurt. The skin she'd touched on the backs of his hands felt like they were on fire.

He smiled briefly, his blush fading. "I don't mind being your personal punching bag," he admitted. And what he'd said was absolutely true. When Harri reached out to straighten his glasses, his breath caught in his throat. Too close. Too much. "Th-thank you," he stammered.

Luke blinked quickly. Her tone caught him off-guard and caused him to frown quickly. "Why?" He countered, feeling a bit awkward. "Did you think I'd be laying on a beach on the French Riviera?" He shot back sharply and he instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry," he tacked onto the end hastily. He shook his head, his back sore from the force she'd hit him with and because a jagged cobble stone was pressed right to his spinal cord. "No, I'm working," he said, nodding his head towards the shop he'd just come out of and then to his notebook which lay open and sprawled on the floor some feet away.

Oh right. She was leaving.

Luke shifted to sit up, groaning as something popped in his back before he clumsily got to his feet in time to see Angie give herself a once-over. "Are you alright?" The journalist asked, concern clear in his deep voice as he took a step closer, hand outstretched towards her. Then he stopped. He let his arm drop limply to his side, remembering how she'd cowered from his touch some moment ago. How utterly depressing.

Luke laughed, lifting a hand to awkward scratch the back of his head after he stooped to collect his notebook. "Something like that," he offered. "I'm writing now," he said softly. "Don't laugh," he said, frowning as he looked at his shoes and shuffled awkwardly on the spot. "For Herbs & Harmony. It's a gardening magazine," he went on to say, confident Harri had way more fun and interesting things to do than garden. "But at least I'm on the career ladder," he said with a gentle, sad smile. "Just…don't tell my boss that I know nothing about flowers."

As the Ravenclaw extended the pot to him, he carefully took it. "Thank you. This thing?" He asked, holding up the small flower that promptly honked in his face. "Charming. No, this is for me. I've got no one and home and I don't have a pet or many friends so this little guy is all I've got." His tone was cheery but there was a clear undertone of sadness. "I think I'm going to name him Norman."

He looked at her sharply. "Are you free?" Luke asked quickly. Did he mean was she seeing someone? Absolutely. "I mean," he stammered. "Do you have some time? Can I buy you a cup of coffee?" He asked, looking hopeful. "Or tea. Or juice. Or…water…" Damn it.

Angharad felt bad moving Luke's hands away, but it made her less anxious to have his fingertips further from her scars.  She could see the worry in his face at what she’d done, and it only made her think that wouldn't be as bad as how he’d look at her if she ever told him the truth about her now.  The brunette smiled wanly as he offered to be her private punching bag, “I’ll keep that in mind.”  It was the last thing she ever wanted him to be – he was just too sweet for his own good.  Why had someone not snapped him up yet?  Or perhaps they had and he was just being polite?  She couldn’t help but feel a little sad at the thought of Luke being with someone else.

It was selfish to want him now.  It wasn’t as if she’d been totally oblivious to him since they’d split up, but Harri had always seen Lucas as something of a back-up plan until the Battle of Hogwarts.  Really it was terrible that it took a traumatic experience to reawaken those feelings in her.

The eighteen-year-old was a little taken aback by his curt response, but she supposed she’d asked for it with her own accusing tone.  “No, I guess not.” What she wouldn’t give to be on a beach right now, this weather was perfect for it -- not that she could wear a bikini in public, not yet.  “Working?”  Harri’s gaze followed his nod towards the shop he’d come out of.  Dogweed and Deathcap. Well, perhaps he really was taking up gardening – all the clues were pointing in that direction at least.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”  Angharad smiled, then blinked and looked away.  She wasn’t hurt anyway, and that was what he had meant.  There was no need in worrying him any further – the poor boy always looked like he was moments away from a heart attack.  If he wasn’t careful he’d be in the private ward at St. Mungo’s before he was thirty.

Even with his warning, the Welsh girl wouldn’t have laughed at him.  He was out of school and doing his own thing; she was jealous of him in so many ways.  “No, that’s great!”  She smiled enthusiastically, “I mean, it’s not The Daily Prophet but it’s a great start.”  She didn’t mean it as a slight, there were very few students who were able to get a job as a writer straight out of school, and none of them were ever at The Daily Prophet – if you got a job there out of school it was usually doing coffee runs or other ‘favours’ for senior employees.  Harri was glad Luke was doing something under his own strength.  “So I shouldn’t mention that you nearly killed that mandrake in Professor Sprout's class?”  She grinned at him, “Your secret is safe with me.”

Her grin bubbled over into a little laugh as the daffodil honked in his face, but it was soon swept from her dark features by his next comment, innocent as it was.  “Haven’t you kept in touch with everyone?”  She was a little taken aback that he claimed to have few friends, though she was one to talk about keeping in contact. 

“Uh, yes.  I’m just waiting for my brother to pick me up but he won’t be back for a while.”  She felt so childish, needing her elder brother to come and get her – she should have just said she was free and left it at that.  “I didn’t do Apparition Lessons, so..." She trailed off, unsure how to finish, "Juice would be great.” She ended with a smile; the Ravenclaw wasn’t sure if Lucas knew she hadn’t gone to Hogwarts for her final year, but if she was able to avoid the subject it helped keep him away from other things she’d been trying to hide.  “Just not Madam Puddifoot’s, please.”

He needed to chill.

Why was he acting so oddly? It was just Angharad. Angie. Harri. His Harri only not…really. Truly? She'd never been his. Luke was just a sad sack with feelings for an ex-girlfriend and he took very little comfort in knowing that he wasn't the only one with relationship issues in the world. She seemed different, somehow.

He wasn't stupid enough not to notice the awkwardness that settled over the two like an unwelcome blanket. Then again, running into an ex was bound to conjure up some sort of weirdness. He offered her a quick smile, not sure if she was impressed that he'd found himself a job. Why would it impress her anyway? He might be pureblood but he wasn't rolling in money. Stupidly, he had a spark of independence and wanted to carve his way in the world and what had that done for him? A dinky little apartment with dodgy plumbing and writing articles in a two-bit magazine for magical pensioners. Score.

His bright blue eyes from behind the lenses of his glasses gave Angie a quick once over, not at all believing that she was fine. He wasn't expecting anything less, of course. They were practically strangers now anyway. There was no reason for her to trust him with anything any more.

The Daily Prophet? Luke offered her another polite smile. Lucas wasn't a Daily Profit kinda guy and deep down, he was sure she knew it. "Well thank you," he eventually replied with a curt nod of his head. He opened his mouth but found himself closing it swiftly. There was so much he wanted to say to her. He wanted to say that she looked beautiful in the sunshine, that he'd missed her like the deserts missed the rain but too much time had passed now.

Angharad was clearly seeing someone at Hogwarts and he didn't once think she had any lingering romantic feelings for him. The relationship had been great, for him at least and he'd sort of come to terms with the spark fizzling out on her end.

Looking down at the daffodil, he laughed too, absently rolling the plant pot gently between his two large hands. "You told me you'd take that to the grave," he joked softly but he felt a twinge of pain and nostalgia and he repeated those words. It was a passing comment she'd made years ago and his brain was punishing him, pulling up little snippets of conversations they'd had and it only made him seem a bit creepy.

Luke looked up sharply, his eyes wide. Oh. Right. Yeah. He probably shouldn't have told her that. The tall boy shifted his weight on the spot awkwardly and reached up with his left hand to nervously scratch the back of his neck. "Not really," he began. "I mean I sometimes see Vance and Charlie," he babbled, backtracking to try and make it seem like he had some sort of social life.

"But not really," Luke said gently, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Everyone has sort of splintered, you know. They're off doing fabulous things, having wonderful lives and dating and I'm just sat here with my honking daffodil." His words were jovial but there was a tinge of sadness to them that he was confident she'd overlook. "Besides," he said briskly with another smile. "I had you in school. Why would I need anyone else?" He looked at her again with a soft smile before looking over his shoulder swiftly.

"Beau?" Luke asked as she spoke of her brother. "How's he doing?" He asked, genuinely interested. He liked her family. He'd met them a few times. The last time he'd seen Angharad's father had been in the ruins of the Great Hall. He left as soon as he saw him. He knew that Angie would need her father more than she'd need him so he quickly left as soon as he was sure she was in safe hands. Did he regret it? Yes. Often, actually. He should have stayed. They might not have been dating but the girl in front of him still meant one Hell of a lot to him and he couldn't switch his feelings off like a light switch.

He smiled again, biting the sides of his tongue before he put his foot in it again. "Great," he said, finding himself echoing her words as he began to walk slowly, letting her catch up as he juggled his plant.

"Oh as if," he snorted with a shake of his head, dark curls ruffling in the breeze as he did so. "There's so much pink in there, my retinas took a battering just walking past and if I wanted to see such animalistic behaviour, I would have taken you to the zoo," he added. They walked a little more, down the familiar cobbled streets until they came to another café with some seating outside.

"Oh shut up," Luke grunted to his daffodil who honked loudly, protesting about being put on the floor and he dashed around to pull out a seat for his friend. Friend? Were they friends, though? Catching someone's attention, he asked for two orange juices and some sandwiches. He hadn't thought to ask if Harri had eaten.

Sitting at a cute café table made him want to reach across and hold her hands. To prevent that, he shifted and neatly sat directly on his hands and leant back a little. "It's really great to see you," he blurted out, unable to stop himself. "I didn't think I'd get the chance after --" after you ripped my heart out and started sleeping with someone else. "Well," he coughed. "You know." Awkward.