April 27th, 1891 - Hogwarts Boat Dock
Lester Hatchitt

For the first time in a while, Sloane felt like she could breathe a little easier. Things with Cameron were patched up, she and Alice were in an okay place, she and Sisse were relatively normal and she was no longer barely keeping herself together. It didn't take quite so much effort to get out of bed every morning and put on a happy face, she could just do it without much thought. Thank fucking Merlin.

Still, Sloane found herself still craving quiet moments more than she ever had in her entire life. The boat dock momentarily brought back memories of her St. Valentine's fight with Cam, but she enjoyed the spot too much to give it up. It was her favorite place to sit and think, to watch the clouds and the waves roll by and to catch glimpses of her friend the squid. Even after her close encounter with him last summer, she still enjoyed watching him from afar. She had to wonder if he was having a good time with her old wand down there.

"I hope you enjoy it, you giant bastard." She mumbled, even as a fond sort of smile pulled at her lips as a large disturbance under the water caught her attention. Her hawthorn wand had settled down, and even though it wasn't as good as her original rowan, she was getting the hang of it.

Footsteps behind her weren't much of a surprise as she rarely got to enjoy her alone time for very long, but as she leaned back on her hands and dipped her head back to see Hatch approaching, she didn't altogether mind. The last thing she could do was turn Hatch away after everything he'd done for her in the last couple months. He should have known better than to approach her when she was sitting by herself these days, but he was too good of a human being to quit on her now. "Hello Handsome." She greeted with an upside down smile.

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Lester had accepted it: O.W.L.s were going to kill him.

He'd been a smart person his whole life, but this was too much. There was just too much information. They'd learned — had they learned? he did not remember? — too many things, and there was no way to shove it all in his brain. He was a smart person. But he was definitely going to fail all his O.W.L.s and then he'd have to move onto Jesse and Mr. Kirke's couch before his mother killed him, and do whatever it was people who failed all their O.W.L.s but were middle class did. Play instruments on the street, maybe? He didn't know any instruments but surely that was easier than whatever this was.

Which was to say that he had (probably temporarily) abandoned studying for the day in favor of going outside to experience the outside, and was wandering down to the boat docks. He hadn't planned to see Sloane here, but he was not surprised to see Sloane here, either, and returned her smile.

"Hi, Sloane," Lester said, dropping into the spot next to her. "Do you think I could learn the violin?"

He usually wasn't this dramatic — he usually wasn't dramatic at all — but O.W.L.s warranted it.

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Sloane made room for him, but there really wasn't much to give. Good thing she'd never really been concerned with personal space. "Why in the name of Merlin's trousers would you want to do that?" He probably could, if he wanted to, Hatch was generally a pretty smart guy, so she wouldn't put it past him.

Still, the question seemed to be completely random, which had her quirking an eyebrow at him curiously. Was Hatch having an identity crisis? Had the OWLs started making everyone's brains fuzzy? Was this what next year was going to look like? Should she start thinking about learning an instrument? Oh the humanity of it all. Maybe she could train the squid to use her old wand and then it could be an attraction people paid money for. That would certainly earn her a decent amount...

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Lester sighed and tilted his body to lean a little against her shoulder, like they were children again. As long as no one came to see them, he thought this was fine. "I think I'm going to fail all my OWLs," he admitted, unhappily. And then, because he heard how dramatic it was as soon as he said it out loud, he sighed again. "Alright, that's not it. I think I'm not going to do as well on them as I want to."

Then he wouldn't be able to be a healer, or do any of his NEWT-involved backup plans that he wanted so badly, and he would never end up being like his older brothers. And that was just as bad as failing outright.

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Sloane leaned back against him, a comforting relic of growing up together that she hoped they didn't have to outgrow. "Unlikely," She scoffed quietly, tilting her head towards him curiously again.

If he wasn't going to pass his OWLs, she had no hope. "Which ones do you need?" Sloane wasn't sure she knew what he wanted to do after school. She knew about Ned and Cameron, and was pretty sure none of the girls had anything specific, aside from her and Maddy going for quidditch.

"I'm rubbish at most things, but I can help with transfiguration?" She exaggerated her claim by changing her eyebrows purple momentarily. She was a walking, talking transfiguration.

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Lester sighed. "All of them," he said. And maybe that was an exaggeration, but that was certainly what it felt like, because five N.E.W.T.s was really a lot and what if he didn't get them in the right subjects?

He couldn't help but grin at her eyebrows. "Good example," he said, "And you're not rubbish at things." She wasn't rubbish, Cam wasn't rubbish — they just had to learn a little differently. Usually Lester could help them, but today — today it all felt utterly impossible.

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Considering he had a good amount of height on her (who didn't these days) Sloane was able to lean her head against his shoulder, sighing softly. "You can't need all of them," She chuckled, though she forgot which electives he took. "History of Magic is useless for everything." She joked, looking up at him with a smirk.

"I'm glad you guys have to go through this a year ahead of me, so when I meltdown at least everybody will know what to expect." She continued to tease, unsure as to lighten things up without the joking. "Then we can repeat with NEWTs except I'll be on my own." Well, she'd have Alice and the girls, but still. Hopefully by then she'd only have a few classes to worry about and not all of them.

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Lester laughed. She was right — he didn't need History of Magic. (He didn't need History of Magic as long as he didn't fuck everything else up, at least.) He laughed again, a little less manically, when she talked about her own O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s.

"You make it sound like we're going to die as soon as we graduate," he said with a grin, "Unfortunately you'll still have to put up with me." As long as he didn't fail his exams and die from the shame, that was — but at least at this exact second, he was trying not to think about that.

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   Elsie Kirke

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set by Fallin!

"You make it sound like exams are going to kill you! What else am I supposed to think!?" She countered incredulously, a gasp of mock surprise on her features.

"Unfortunately," Sloane rolled her eyes dramatically. As if she ever wanted be rid of him. "I'm not actually sure how I'd survive without you, Hatch." She mused aloud, a hint more seriousness to her tone than her previous teasing. He was one of her oldest friends and the only one who knew absolutely everything about her; she would be some kind of lost without him.

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   Lester Hatchitt

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”You’ve gone all earnest on me,” Lester chided her; he nudged her with his elbow playfully at the same time. ”But I’m not sure what I’d do without you either.” Sloane brought him out of his shell, in a way most other people — didn’t. He’d certainly be quieter without her. He might not even have half the friends he had now.

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set by Fallin!

Sloane elbowed him back playfully, leaning away for a moment before using what little weight she did have to nudge him not-so-gently. It wasn't fair when everybody had at least six inches on her. "Yeah well, only for you." Even Calla and Cam didn't know some of her secrets that Hatch did, but she wouldn't change that for anything. They were polar opposites in most ways, but it still seemed to work well.

"So we can cross history of the list of things to study for, what else? What's your other elective again?" Okay maybe she didn't know everthing. He took creatures with her, but the other one was something boring, runes maybe? "Do you have a specific career in mind?" Shit, she should know that too.

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”Ancient Studies, but I don’t need it,” he supplied. Lester actually liked ancient studies, but he didn’t need to take ancient studies and history of magic. Really he didn’t need to take either.

Before he answered her question, he swallowed. It had started out as a secret because he wasn’t sure, and then it kept on being a secret because he — was more sure, but didn’t want to admit to it. What if he couldn’t quite hack it?

”Promise not to tell anyone?” he said, although he was sure she wouldn’t if she knew the secrecy was important to him.

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set by Fallin!

Oh right, she'd forgotten that. Frankly if Sloane wasn't in the class with someone, she tended to forget. Didn't matter anyway, apparently he didn't need it.

Sloane straightened up a little to look at him better. How often had the two of them said those words to one another? Sometimes she wondered whose secrets were whose these days. Still, they shared the other's hardest burdens and this would be no different.

"Always," She promised, patting his hand reassuringly.

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Lester sighed, even though he hadn't told her yet. He squirmed a little in his place on the dock to settle into it. "I think I want to be a healer," he admitted, in a rushed exhale of words, "But I wasn't sure, so I didn't tell anyone. And then — Alice and Cam — and I didn't want to tell anyone. But I need good O.W.L. scores if I'm even going to think about it."

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set by Fallin!

Healing seemed to be the popular choice around here and Sloane could see it. Each of her friends that was considering it had different quality that would suit the profession. Cam had the people skills, Alice the knowhow and Lester had both, but they all seemed to lack the confidence needed. She had that in spades, but none of the brains whatsoever.

"Potions, Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense." Yeah, she'd brushed up on what they needed to pass. "Forget the rest, unless you want Creature-Induced injuries, then you might want to do well in Creatures too." None of this really applied to her, but it applied to enough people now that she was paying attention. "I'm not saying fail the rest, but, I wouldn't put too much effort into them." Passing five, possibly six exams with an O or better (except maybe Herbology, Sloane thought Professor Skeeter was a little more lenient) was a lot of work.

She nudged him gently again. "I can only think about it in terms of a quidditch match, which won't do me much good for much longer," That news would come out soon too. "But make a game plan, figure out what you need to focus on, make a schedule to practice and then just do it." She looked up at him again with a smile before back out over the lake.

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   Lester Hatchitt

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Lester was a little relieved that she didn't lean on it too much; she was just talking about what O.W.L.s he actually needed to take at the N.E.W.T. level, and he was relieved. An exhale escaped him as an audible sound of relief before he even really got a chance to engage with what she was saying.

She was right, was the thing. He needed to focus on five. Maybe six. Then he would make it to sixth year, and — things would be hard but they wouldn't be impossible, and — he wouldn't really need to worry about exams again until seventh year. (This was not entirely true, but he could pretend it was at the moment, with his legs dangling over the edge of the dock.)

"You're right," he said, after a beat, "It's just five, right? Maybe six. I can do that."

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set by Fallin!