Would you go along with someone like me?

It hit her three seconds too late that this was a bad idea. She was totally out of her depth. Ducky Baker and Chase Moor, odd pairing as they might first appear, had one major thing in common. They were good with people. It meant they knew how to read people, how to say what you needed in any situation. Jack was not exactly trained in the subtle art of teen socialization.

It’s a good thing she preferred bad ideas to good ones.

Besides, she was the one that was owed. Judging by Ducky’s strained smile, Jack fully had the upper hand, and her very inexpertise made her a liability he’d need to neutralize. She flashed him a toothy grin, the glint of a threat in her eyes. Give me the weed, man.

Chase spoke, and Jack realized the biggest flaw in the plan–now she had to talk to her peers. Ugh, gross.

But she put on a show for Ducky’s sake, to show just how committed she was. “Yeah. I mean, to be fair, I’m usually on the way to detention, so I don’t blame you. Guilty by association.” Yeah, no way Miss Perfect would risk the stink of trouble rubbing off on her. Day three of their final year and there had been rumors of a relationship brewing between Chase and some Beauxbatons boy. On Jack’s third day, she’d punched Matt Lestrange in the eye during duelling club.

They had no overlap.

But Jack did genuinely feel the compliment about Quidditch. She didn’t care who it came from, the validation fed her frenzy and she lifted her chin, her eyes sharp and her expression almost serious. “Thanks, I have a good team.” She paused, then added with a smirk, “I should know, I put them together.”

She barked out a laugh and jostled Ducky, who gave a weak laugh, shooting her a look to go away. At Chase’s words, Jack gasped, a little too dramatically. “Wow, Ducky! That’s so nice of her. Looks like you may be in need of some good karma, a good deed in return.”

“Yeah, I’m enjoying the night,” she barrelled on. “But man, am I stressed out. Between Quidditch, prepping for NEWTs, and, ugh, is it just me or is Potions extra intense this year? I definitely need something to take the edge off-”

“Chase,” Ducky said, clearly starting a sentence without a clear pathway there. “Uh, Chase and I were just talking about the healing energy of the outdoors. Maybe you should go for a walk, Jack?”

Okay... Chase knew something was happening, and she felt herself settle back into full gossip mode. This would be one to tell her friends later, and she needed every. single. detail.

Chase actually it up a second when she mentioned putting the team together. "You know, I knew that you were the Captain, but it completely slipped my mind." She smiled and took another sip of her drink, enjoying the looks that were happening between Miss Dyllan and Ducky. If there was one thing Chase knew, it was that something was being said without being said, and while she hadn't figured it out quite yet, she knew what to watch for.

The obvious statement of taking the edge off went right over Chase's head. Instead, she focused on what Ducky said. A healing walk outside? They hadn't been talking about that... that was an obvious dismissal for Miss Dyllan.

She looked at Jack and then at Ducky one more time before feeling the need to know burn ever brighter in her eyes. "Walks do help. I personally find it very nice to hang out with friends to rewind at the end of the day. Do you think you'll pass potions? I know I have to get at least an E on my N.E.W.Ts if I want to get into my chosen career path... which has been quite a pain." She mused the last part to herself, momentarily lost in her own thoughts about her mountain of Potions homework she still had to do.

"Are you any good at it?" She turned to Jack suddenly, acutely aware that she had no idea how smart or what position in the class Miss Dyllan was in.

Okay, okay. This was–

Going horribly.

Usually a mishmash of these personalities would be no challenge for Ducky. But right as he’d decided he wanted to see where this avenue with Chase led, right as she’d revealed she’d never even broken curfew, that’s when his most ornery customer had decided to come collect.

Sure, this was the time they were supposed to meet. But things changed. Every other stoner was chill. But noooo, not Jack Dyllan.

“Hanging out with friends, just like this,” she said, leaning back and looking much too comfortable. She suddenly lit up and Ducky felt dread build.

“No, not a big fan of Potions. Herbology, though, you know, the study of plants-”

“Okay!” Ducky’s face was a little manic, this was the most out of control he’d felt in awhile. “Jack, I’d actually like to get back to chatting here with Chase. I’m sorry, I don’t have your broom polish on me, it’s in the dorm.”

She stared at him, her jovial expression suddenly blank. “I think you do have it on you.”

He sputtered, “Well, I don’t.”

“I think you do.”

“I don’t.”

They glared at each other, Ducky hoping Jack would just leave.

But there are dreams that cannot be.

Chase lit up when the girl mentioned Herbology. "Oh, I love that class! It's literally the one I actually get an O in without a problem!" She grinned at the change in conversation, and then her grin faltered somewhat. The two were glaring daggers at each other, and it was increasingly apparent that something else was happening besides a lover's spat. This Miss Dyllan wanted something from Ducky... broom polish?

She looked back and forth between them as they squabbled over whether or not he had broom polish on him, which to her felt like such a strange thing to go all the way to Hogsmeade to get. Maybe Miss Dyllan was really low on money... but if that was the case, she could always borrow broom polish from the groundskeeper. So... no, no, Chase was sure on this one. They were not looking to trade broom polish.

"Umm... can I be of assistance in any of this?" She stammered, attempting to defuse the situation that was building up in front of her. "Perhaps I could go and get some broom polish for you from the Quidditch Store?" She smiled at Jack nicely, though the confusion on her face was very obvious. "Though... I'm getting the idea that's... not what you're after."

Jack Dyllan was stubborn, Ducky knew that. He typically was not the stubborn type at all, his opinions on what was best or good often dictated by the whims of those around him. He chose what was fun when he ever did make a choice.

But man oh man, he did not want to see that look of disappointment in Chase’s face when she realized how different they were. She’s hardly broken a rule and, from the rumors he’d heard, she never went without. Here he had to break the rules smuggling contraband to other teens just to make some coin.

But they were caught. Jack wasn’t budging. And Chase wanted to help.

With a sigh, he reached into his jacket pocket, in the false lining Molly had stitched for him. He gathered up the baggie into a ball in his hands and tossed it over to Jack, who caught it in two hands. She opened her hands just enough to see the buds, before slipping it into her pocket.

He leveled his gaze at Chase and sighed. “I didn’t owe her broom polish.” He gave her a sad, whaddaya-gonna-do smile.

Chase watched the little package fly across the table and just caught sight of the buds inside of it before it was quickly stowed away in the girl's pocket. Honestly, you could almost see the wheels turning in the poor girl's head. Her expression was puzzled and confused at first before something clicked, and her eyes widened. She looked back and forth between the two a couple of times before sitting back in her chair with a little whoosh of expelled air. "Oh."

She thought about it for a second, trying to decide if what had just happened in front of her bothered her or not. Truth be told... it was kind of exciting. She'd just witnessed a drug deal in front of her very eyes. It was one of those things she'd read about in books or seen on a tv show back at home. People took drugs to feel certain things, she didn't know what that one did that was just passed in front of her, but it had just gone to the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team!

Her eyes slowly moved to Miss Dyllan before sliding back to Ducky. She tilted her head to the side, her mouth open to ask before she could slowly respond. "What's it like?" She wasn't really sure if that was an appropriate question for this situation, but it was the first that had jumped out of her lips.

Whoops.

That was her problem. She was impulsive. She just did shit sometimes. How wise was this, advertising her vices? It was well known that her Head of House was already having to bend over backwards to ensure she didn’t lose her spot on the team from her rulebreaking.

But also…irritated as she was as Ducky, she liked the kid. And no smart person iced out their plug.

She glanced towards Ducky, and there was a flicker of anxiety in his eyes. But that soon morphed into surprise at her question.

Jack glanced between the two of them, as Ducky’s face softened into a smile. Ew, were they having a moment?

“I mean, it’s just weed.”

Ducky shot her a look and he turned back to Chase. “It depends on the strain, but this is good for relaxing the body. A lot of athletes actually use it.”

“And they’d, uh, really like to keep using it without professors getting involved,” Jack said more slowly, glancing at Chase.

Chase looked thoughtful at the idea. If she was honest, her worries had never felt bad enough to need to use something like weed to 'calm down' from. Chase thought about it for a long time before deciding that the use of those drugs was probably for people who had a lot more on their minds than she had to worry about. What the stuff was, she had no idea, but she assumed it was a lot.

She looked at Ducky and saw the smile on his face. She smiled back, happy that he seemed to have calmed down from how he was before. She nodded at what he said, looking serious for a moment. "I suppose that makes sense, I'm not into sports or anything, so I guess I wouldn't really need things like that." She said while attempting to look thoughtful. When Jack spoke, she turned to her, a frown visible on her face.

Then suddenly, her face lit up with a happy smile. "Of course not! I can't imagine why anyone would tell a professor." She seemed absolutely clueless to the fact that they were worried she would tell anyone. She was very serious about what she said, and it was obvious that the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

Ducky was always oddly charmed by the uninitiated. Hanging out with the likes of Margo and Molly, Bev and his crew, he took for granted that there was an option for youth that was untainted by complications. On one hand, rebellion and substance abuse were totally normal rites of passage for any teen. But if he could choose for, say, his little sister, he definitely thought the unmedicated, fully innocent route was best.

"I mean, you don't need it," Jack pointed out, before Ducky was able to cut her off.

"Either way," he said, firmly, looking back at Chase. "I appreciate you being cool. I'm sorry, I mixed up my time. And some people-" he shot the Gryffindor a look "have absolutely no patience."

There was a pause, and Jack's eyes darted between the two before she coughed. "Right, I'm, uh, gonna go. Good properly meeting you Chase, pleasure doing business, Duck." And she slid out of her chair.

Chase looked between the two, confused for a moment longer. She really did feel like there was an entire world of conversation she had absolutely no clue about in this situation. There were so many things she didn't know that, at this point, she almost felt a flutter of panic. Had she squandered her teenage years?!

"Wait!" She looked at Jack and then back at Ducky. She struggled with words for a long moment, chewing them over in her head in a way that looked almost painful. "I...hmm.. how do I put this? Will you teach me about that stuff?" She suddenly turned and looked at Ducky and then back up at Jack. "I mean... I feel like I'm missing something very valuable to my education here at Hogwarts, and I feel like this is something I should experience before I leave, right?" She gasped, almost on the edge of her seat.

"You said business about it, right? I could pay you." She looked up at Jack with a huge smile, her eyes politely glancing at her outfit and back up at her face. "I want to know more, and I can help... uh... with stuff..." She bit her lip and then looked apologetic. "Is that asking too much? I suppose it might be rude. I'm sorry..." She apologized, her eyes going back to Jack. "It just seems there is so much being unsaid right now, and I've never experienced that before. Like... usually people around me never stop talking... so... I want to know what's not being said." She turned to Ducky, a pleading look on her face. "Please?"