summer ponds and train rides
it was any other day in the united kingdom. trees were swaying in the summer wind. kids of all ages played in ponds and lakes, swimming away from their problems as the sound of laughter echoed around the small muggle village. the dirt driveway was very hard, and a lack of rainfall made it the perfect place for two seventeen-year-old boys to hang out, enjoying a small study session as they prepared to return to school.
"quiz me again, nick." the taller boy exclaimed, lying down on his stomach. a blanket underneath his chest as he kicked his feet in the air, resting his chin in his arms as he looked up at nick.
nick sighed, looking down at the book as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. it was a book on transfiguration, the one subject that neither of them was too good at. their real interest lay in quidditch. whether it be flying a broom, or feeling the thrill and adrenaline that came from a quidditch match, both of them seemed to have a certain life force that connected them to the field.
"bad, i really think we should take a break." nick responded, dragging his finger down the entry of one page. squinting his eyes slightly as he read the page. bad admired this, the way he always squinted his eyes because his family was too poor to afford glasses. the way he mouthed the words of an entry or paragraph, his jumbled up brain not processing the words correctly. "it's a beautiful day out, why don't we go swimming in the pond or something."
bad sighed and rolled over on his back, placing his hands on his stomach as he stared up at the clear blue sky. "if we go out swimming, then we'll run into my little siblings. that's mad thinking."
nick pouted, shutting the book as he slowly placed it on the blanket next to him. bad looked up at him, watching him as the brown-haired boy looked at him. one of them sitting with their legs crossed, and the other one lying down on their back.
"it's hard to believe we're returning to hogwarts for our final year in what, six days?" nick asked, sighing slightly as he laid down next to bad. both of them looking up at the sky as they blinked slightly. the warm rays of the sun and the sound of leaves rustling in the wind pulling them into a sort of sleepy silence. "i don't really want to say goodbye."
"yeah," bad responded, his voice barely a whisper under his breath as he continued to look upwards. "we have finals too, and not to consider the job-hunting and everything else."
"job-hunting, huh?" nick asked slightly, and bad nodded in response. "too bad transfiguration is such a big part in most occupations. otherwise, we'd have business scouts traveling from all over the world to see our grades."
nick then smiled, leaning upwards slightly as he kicked bad slightly in the ankle. causing him to flinch slightly in response, looking towards the side at his friend. "but you're probably thinking of a career in quidditch, mister hufflepuff quidditch captain."
bad sighed, pretending to act annoyed to save his humble reputation. but a small smile broke loose as he turned back to the sky. it was insane. merely a week ago, he had gotten his hogwarts letter in the mail, along with a small note from professor sprout saying that he was chosen to be the quidditch captain. which was all he had ever wanted since he joined the quidditch team in his fourth year.
"what about you?" bad asked a with a sly grin, his eyes widening slightly as he looked over at nick. "mister, i'm too chicken to tell my housemate i like them."
nick blushed with the accusation, looking away from bad and up at the sky. "i don't like quackity, we've been class partners since third year - that's all!"
"mhm," bad nodded in agreement, even though he thought (and knew) otherwise. but let the poor boy be in denial.
"speaking of housemates, have you been in contact with any of them?" bad asked, sitting up as he leaned over. pressing his chest against his knees as he looked to his side. his gaze fell on nick, who looked at him in response. "quackity, tommy, even velvet?"
nick pressed his lips together, sitting up quickly so that the two boys were sitting side by side. the sound of bad's siblings running through the backyard was barely audible behind them. "yeah, i've sent a few letters. just checking in on them and everything."
bad squinted his eyes at nick in return. uncertain if he was telling the truth. nick was a bad liar, but he had a naturally guilty face so that even when he was telling the truth, he seemed to look extremely guilty. "really?"
nick cracked under the pressure, rubbing his neck as he tilted his head to the side. "okay, so maybe it's been more than a few letters. but not enough to be annoying or anything."
bad giggled, nudging his friend in the side as nick blushed in response. as if he thought that the confession was the worse thing in the entire world. "you're too childish for your own good, you know that right?"
"oh be quiet." nick scoffed in response, looking away with a smile as bad continued to poke him in the side.
-
"oh bad, make sure you watch over malo and grave," his mother cried, throwing her hands over bad. who stiffened at the sudden movement, his mother quickly pulling away and smiling wistfully. fixing bad's small white button-up t-shirt as she quickly fussed over him. bad's younger brother grave teasing him from behind their mother, causing bad to roll his eyes.
"ah, you're such a big boy!" his mother cried, looking up and cupping his cheek. making him look away from his younger brother and back at his mother. "be extra careful this year, and make sure grave doesn't get into too much trouble."
"i'll be fine, mum." grave sighed from behind their mother. rolling his eyes as he stopped making fun of bad. their mother turning around to look at the messy-haired boy. who was turning fourteen later this month. "you don't need to hire a full babysitting service for me, really."
"i don't know mum, he's pretty irresponsible. maybe you should take extra precautions." malo teased from beside him, bad turning to look at his younger sister, who was only attending her first year of hogwarts today. her pretty shoulder-length hair falling to her shoulders, kept back by multiple butterfly clips as a simple striped scarf lay around her shoulder.
"nobody thinks it sounds smart when you use big words, mal." grave rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest as malo stuck her tongue out at him. the two younger siblings bickering as bad watched with a small smile. glad that it was them bickering and not him.
"bad, this year you need to bring me back a leaf from the whopping willow." a small tug of bad's trousers distract's bad's attention. his gaze falling on his seven-year-old sister, bosie. the youngest girl tugging on bad's trousers as she smiled up at him.
"the whopping willow?" bad asked, arching an eyebrow as he stared down at his younger sister.
they had a current deal in motion. since it would take a few more years until bosie could attend hogwarts, she would request one thing for bad to retrieve and send in a letter. sometimes it was a roll made by the house elves, sometimes it was a rock from the edge of the great lake. but, with the passing years, it became less of a sweet retrieval, and more of a 'how dangerous of a mission could bosie send bad on by the seventh year?'.
"alright bosie, i'll retrieve a leaf from the whopping willow." bad responded with a small smile. knowing that he could easily pick a leaf from any other tree on the schoolyard. bosie had only heard rumors about the tree, she wouldn't know what an actual leaf looked like.
"seriously?" bosie asked, tilting her head at bad. bad wanted to scoff at the disbelief in her voice. did she seriously think he wouldn't be able to do that?
"of course. by the holiday break, you'll have a letter, sealed with a leaf from the whopping willow." bad said, quickly standing up straight and dragging his finger across his chest. smiling down at bosie as he kept his finger near his heart. "cross my heart."
"bad, don't do anything too dangerous." their mother interrupted before things could go too far, placing a hand on bosie's shoulder as she steered bosie away from the current conversation. "it sets a bad example for the others, which is not a good idea."
bad frowned. "sorry mum."
"c'mon love, let's let your siblings board the train. it'll leave soon anyways." their mother urged, and bad's eyes shot up to the clock on the wall. his lips pressing together as he furrowed his brow, worried etched into the wrinkles of his face as he read the current time. 10:57.
"alright mum," bosie responded, hugging bad's waist before quickly pulling away. a loopy smile on her face as she grabbed onto her mother's hand, sending a look over her shoulder as she waved goodbye to bad. "bye bad, see you during the holidays."
"remember to watch over your siblings bad, remind them that any bad behavior and they're grounded." bad's mother reminded him, and bad chuckled in response. quickly picking up his trunk and his cat carrier, looping his fingers through the handle of the cat carrier as he tilted his head and smiled at his mother.
"i'll try, mum. see you over the holidays," he said, before quickly turning around and pushing through the crowd of students and families. ignoring the yelps of shock or surprise as he pushed through the audience. quickly boarding the train and walking through the different compartments. searching for an empty compartment, or at least a compartment with nick or somebody else he recognized.
that's when he quickly paused in front of the fourth to last compartment. quickly sliding the door open as he smiled at the occupants. hositing his trunk and cat carrier onto the overhead luggage, before sitting down near the window, listening in on his friend's current conversation - which for some odd reason, contained the whereabouts on you-know-who.
"i'm telling you, nick. my mum swore on her own grave that she saw 'im in a pub in downtown scotland." a black-haired boy in a snowcap quickly countered, and by the sound of his voice, it sounded like he was arguing.
nick snorted at this, rolling his eyes slightly as he leaned forward in his seat. it seemed like they hadn't even noticed the presence of bad. "quackity, why would you-know-who be getting pissed in a pub? do you think he wants to be found?"
"i don't know, but if i was a great murderer with hundreds of followers, i would certainly get a drink or two in my free time." quackity responded, and this caused the other boy in the compartment to chuckle.
"we all know you would get more than a drink or two, quackity." a certain messy-haired blonde exclaimed from the window. not bothering to look up from his newspaper as the compartment broke into a fit of small giggles at the comment. it was much easier to laugh at something so serious than think.
"i would get shots. doesn't matter the number." quackity responded, rolling his eyes as he turned to face the messy-haired blonde. bad continued to look at his friends. nick sat next to him, but quackity sat on the dirty compartment floor, sitting cross-legged diagonally across from bad. "what about you, dream. if you were an evil sorcerer, how would you celebrate another murder?"
"i would murder another person, quackity." dream responded, eventually looking up from his newspaper with a grin. his blonde-haired hadn't seemed to grow or shorten over the summer, and it was even messier. like he had just gone swimming in a lake and hadn't bothered to brush it. the simile was quite fitting, considering dream smelled of salty water and was the fastest swimmer of any of them. once taking a dare in the second year to swim across the black-lake and back. which he had accomplished in under a minute.
"ah yes, because nothing says relaxation like murdering hundreds." quackity responded, mimicking an accent as he leaned forward. looking over at dream as bad let a few giggles escape the corner of his mouth.
dream sighed, pressing his lips together as he turned back to the page of his newspaper. "quackity, don't you have homework or something."
"nick let me copy his." quackity responded, gesturing to nick, who blushed at the comment. causing bad to turn and look at him, raising an eyebrow as the train started moving forward.
"of course he did." dream scoffed underneath his breath, and bad seemed to be the only one who found it funny. giggling uncontrollably as he looked over at nick, who was blushing a deep red at the accusation. quackity looking between the three friends before shrugging it off, continuing on the topic of the only homework he did do, which turned out to be history of magic.
-
"excuse me!" quackity shouted, brandishing his arm in the air as he waved over the trolly witch, who was currently trading a couple of acid pops with the compartment a few doors down. a small frown piercing the old woman's lips as she looked over at quackity, dream, and bad.
she quickly turned back to the students, continuing to exchange the small golden and bronze coins for handfuls of chocolates - something that made bad's stomach rumble, he hadn't had much to eat for breakfast, nor for dinner. it was a constant struggle for food at his house, and during the summer, he would feel guilty if his siblings had littler platters than he did. even if his mother claimed he needed food due to the growth spurt he had hit back in fifth year.
"what would you like, boys?" the trolley witch asked, pulling her cart down the rows of compartments. stopping in front of bad's compartment's door. her eyes quickly glancing downwards, making sure to lock the trolley in place before she looked upwards again.
"four chocolate frogs, and two pumpkin pastries please!" dream asked, nudging both quackity and bad out of the way as he walked towards the front of the door. leaning against the archway as he quickly pulled out a couple of silver coins.
money was never a problem for dream's family. his father was the current male in charge of the muggle liaison office in the ministry of magic, and money came easily for him. dream's mother, on the other hand, was rumored to be dead. her body was never found after a terrible act by some of voldemort's most loyal supporters, who believed that dream's father's occupation was a betrayal of loyalty. dream didn't talk about his mother much, and this was about as much as bad knew on the subject.
"dream, you don't have to pay for me." bad urged, knowing he would feel incredibly guilty if dream paid for bad's snack on the train. "really."
"bad, shut up and accept the free food." nick said from inside the compartment. bad looked over his shoulder, frowning as his gaze fell on his friend, who was sitting on the ground of the train, his long hair thrown over the seat, from where dream sat moments earlier, braiding his hair as they gossiped over prefect duties. making quackity and bad feel slightly irresponsible.
"yeah, go dream!" quackity exclaimed from besides bad, causing dream to nudge him in the side. both of them laughed at themselves as the trolley witch prepared their snacks. "free food rocks!"
"here's your sweets, boys." the trolley lady exclaimed, finally handing the three boys a couple of different misshaped, gold-tinted containers of food. causing quackity to squeal, dream to nod at the trolley lady in thanks, and for bad to quickly turn around. blushing slightly as he handed one of the two chocolate frogs to nick.
"so, last chocolate frog on the train to hogwarts." quackity noted as he unwrapped the plastic, opening the small container and poking at his chocolate frog. "how's it feel to be all old and responsible?"
"this is sad." nick said, already chewing slightly on his chocolate frog as he looked up at bad and quackity. dream sitting next to the window, opening his own chocolate frog as he quickly scrummaged in the container for the card. "i would be crying if i wasn't eating."
"preach." quackity snorted, raising the container to his lips and taking a bite of the back legs of the frog. bad quickly rolled his eyes at the two of them. silently unwrapping the golden wrapper and taking out the chocolate frog. quickly taking bites of the enchanted chocolate as he hid his mouth behind the palm of his hand.
"what card did you guys get?" dream asked, holding the chocolate frog card in his left hand, while slowly holding the frog in his other. the cursed chocolate wiggling in his grip, but finally pausing as the spell wore off. "i got bloxam."
"i have six of her'." quackity noted, taking out his own card as he wiped the chocolate from his mouth. slowly tilting the card in the compartment light, looking at it from the best angle before responding. "i got oldridge."
"who?" bad asked, taking his own card out of the container, quickly reading the name on the back before turning to the front. frowning when he realized that 'gifford ollerton' was dead, and a fake image was plastered as his photo, instead of the usual live - almost 3Dish - photo.
"first known victim of dragon pox - what a wimp." quackity read, squinting his eyes slighty as he popped his lips on the 'p' in wimp. frowning slightly before turning to nick. "who did you get?"
"wildsmith," nick replied, scrunching his nose up in disgust as he turned the card over. reading the back as dream snorted slightly. nick, for whatever odd reason, seemed to have been cursed to always get wildsmith. bad was pretty sure that he had eighteen ignatia wildsmith's, and only three other cards. two of those house finders, and one of those the famous hogwarts potion professor and hufflepuff house mentor, philza.
"oh, wow." quackity responded in blunt sarcasm, "why did i ask?"
nick furrowed his eyes and turned towards bad, pointing a finger towards the tall male, which caused bad to grin and shake his head 'no'. "i'm not trading you, nick."
"dream?" nick asked, exasperated as he turned towards the dirty-blonde. who was already digging into his pumpkin pastry. he looked up at the sound of his name, before quickly grinning slightly and shaking his head no.
"of course not," nick frowned, looking back down at his card in disapointment.