When a lovely flame dies [Casey]

Relationships confused Camm. Take his mother for example, she had a perfectly good man who wanted to marry her, but she chose to stick with someone who drank too much and was abusive. Everyone in a relationship was crazy, as far as he was concerned. He just received an owl from his mother that morning, which was sent in secret, no doubt, judging from her messy handwriting and the unfinished letter. Camm only read it once before he stuffed it into the bottom of his trunk with all his other useless junk. It was another one of those letters telling him if he came home for the holidays to not piss Bruce off. If. Like it wasn’t a given to expect your own kid to return home from school! Well, whatever. His mother often forgot that Camm’s very presence was likely to piss Bruce off.

It had been a messy couple of days. All his time and energy recently has been devoted to compartmentalising his own brain. What happened with Sky was packed in a box named ‘do not open, EVER’ and shoved to the back of his mind. It was there with his feelings about his mother, in a box labelled more optimistically as ‘how much worse could it get’. Again, whatever. It was just easy for his thoughts to run all over the place when he’s not doing anything that required all of his brain capacity. It was currently… ten minutes before the meeting time he agreed on with Casey, and he’d already been waiting outside The Three Broomsticks for a while. It was funny how he struggled so hard to be on time for classes, but was almost always early when meeting his friends.

He knew he could have left the warmth of the dormitories late. Instead he chose to wander around in the small village on his own, which was something that happened quite often lately. He’d walked up to the post office, considering whether to send twenty owls to Bruce, just to annoy him, but decided against it. Then he went over to Madam Puddifoot’s and glared at happy couples through the shop window until he was shooed away. He dawdled through Tomes and Scrolls and bought a book for Caoimhe as a Christmas present, and his last stop had been Honeydukes. He was going to buy some chocolate frogs for Casey at first, but changed his mind last minute and bought a no melt ice cream instead.

On hindsight that was probably a mistake because now he was standing outside The Three Broomsticks and freezing his arm off. When he finally saw Casey trekking towards him in the cold he broke into a broad smile and waved at her. Her blonde hair almost seemed to glow in the winter sunlight, and once again he found himself marvelling at the Regans’ superior genes. “Horrid weather, innit? I almost didn’t want to leave the castle.” Camm gestured for her to hand over whatever she was carrying to him. He was only standing outside because The Three Broomsticks was, as usual, full of students, and he was afraid she’d miss him. “Oh, and here. For you.” Camm handed her the ice cream with what he hoped was a mischievous grin. It was meant mainly for a laugh, but he figured he could always buy her a butterbeer later to make up for it.

Normally, Casey didn’t venture out on cold days like this one, but today, she had a rather good reason to do so. Camm Erskine was a year younger than she was, and yet, with the exception of her cousin, Kerr, and Finn, her fellow Hufflepuff was one of her closest friends. She wasn’t really sure what about the sixth year made him easy to get along with and talk to, but Camm just was. Not to mention the blonde had noticed her friend had been a bit down lately, and had managed to put two and two together when she’d heard about the dramatic scene in which Camm had stumbled across an intertwined Alex Acelyn and Skylar. Even though she’d never been through anything like that, it wasn’t hard for Casey to imagine what her friend was feeling. And needless to say, it had been an easy choice to meet up with him to see if she couldn’t cheer him up a little.

Rounding the corner into Hogsmeade, it wasn’t long before the seventh year spotted Camm standing outside the Three Broomsticks. Returning his smile with one of her own, Casey waved happily at him, happy to see him at least in decent enough spirits to smile. Horrid was a good way to describe the weather they were having now for sure “ That’s one way to put it” she laughed softly “Me either. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you wanted to cancel...but I am glad to see you. You look good.” She was sure he’d disagree, but Casey was ready to argue, the boy could be hard on himself sometimes, and needed someone to remind him he wasn’t nearly as bad as he made himself out to be. At his gesture for her to hand him her small bag, Casey frowned but reluctantly gave in, knowing that compromises were sometimes the better way to go.

When Camm handed her the ice cream he’d been holding, Casey couldn’t help but laugh at the whole situation. It was freezing and he’d gotten her ice cream. Not to mention he’d gotten her anything at all. He really was a sweet and kind hearted person, and Casey supposed that was in part what had drawn her to his friendship in the first place “You bought me ice cream?!” shaking her head, Casey went on “Your arm has to be frozen! But thank you, really sweet of you” Taking the ice cream from his hand, Casey turned towards the door of the Three Broomsticks, gesturing towards the door with her free hand “Shall we? I’m sure I can always pull rank and get us a spot” she teased lightly. Bumping her hip against his as they moved towards the door Casey gave the boy a look “We’re sharing this ice cream, by the way.”

There was always this struggle when Camm offered to help a girl carry her things. He didn’t do it because he thought he’d be praised for it, or girls would suddenly see him as someone worth dating. He did it because he’d always been taught that it was the right thing to do. And after seeing how Bruce treated his mother all these years, he knew it was the right thing to do. At least with Casey it was different. He could tell she wasn’t pleased at the prospect, but at least she didn’t put on a little show of pretending not wanting him to carry her things. It must be tiring to be a girl. And what did girls carry with them? He rarely had anything on him other than his camera and some money. The small bag was deceptively heavy. He gave it an experimental jiggle then decided he didn’t want to know.

Cancel? Why would he ever want to cancel any of his plans? Hogsmeade weekends were a treat, like getting to stay up extra late, or waking up in the morning to a fresh blanket of snow outside. “I’d never cancel on you, Casey.” He smiled. Casey was one of his closest friends, and while he had a tendency to push people away, he’d always want her around. Despite his good mood, Camm’s smile dimmed when Casey mentioned that he looked good. He knew he should just take it as a compliment, as most normal people probably would. And he wanted to. He really wanted to believe it was a genuine compliment, and not something she’d say to make him feel better because that’s just Casey. She was a nice person. “I think we’ll just agree to disagree on that.”

“Well, it’s a bit late, but hey, better late than never, right?” Camm reasoned, pushing the door open for her with a slightly sheepish look on his face. “Come on, you can prove yourself by getting us a table near the fireplace.” The warmth of the inn was gratifying after the cold, and he grinned at his brilliant idea of buying an ice cream that wouldn’t melt. “Also, you’re crazy if you think I’m actually eating any of that.” He retorted easily, plopping himself down on the seat, his coat slung haphazardly across the back. He clenched his fist a couple of times, made sure he got the feelings of his fingertips back, then turned his attention back to the blonde opposite him. They’d both been so occupied since the ball that this was actually the first time since the beginning of term they had time to sit down and… chat.

Camm had a faint idea of what Casey wanted to ask him. He didn’t miss the way she looked at him when she arrived. It was a look he’d been getting a lot lately, and he had a hunch that Casey wouldn’t be dismissed as easily with a ‘I’m alright, mate’. It was a wound too fresh to touch, and he really didn’t want to go there. He was fine. He was fine with pretending he was fine. The longer he could drag this out, the better. “So, holidays, huh? You going home then? Must be some event, all the Regans in one place.” He was acting like a bleeding prat, and he was sure his friend wouldn’t miss his abnormal behaviour. He needed to get it together! "Shall I get the drinks? I feel we both need something… stronger.” He quirked his eyebrow and let a playful smirk slip onto his face. There, he felt better already.