#noah bratcher

We have to admit, we thought that party was going to have much more juicy tidbits to report on. Maybe you guys are losing your touch? We hope not since we have another school year on the horizon and we don’t want to be out of business so soon. If you guys stop giving us drama we’ll make it for you. 

Let’s start with our Righteous Knightmo. We thought Gryffindors were supposed to be loyal and brave but you buckled at the idea of what we would do to you if you didn’t push Muggle Comfort into the pool. You know, that doesn’t seem very Gryffindorish now does it? Especially considering how much he doesn’t like water! Poor Muggle Comfort is going to truly be afraid of water now. Congratulations, Righteous Knightmo! I’m sure your little sister, best friend, and boyfriend will be awfully proud of you. Have to admit, we like seeing that you have a bit of a Slytherin streak in you! 

Now onto Lup Minor...my oh my, it appears that no one wants you back here. If it makes up for that, we’re happy you’re back. We wonder what Roaring Bottom is going to say when he finds out you were trying to start a brawl with his best mate. We can’t help but notice that he’s avoiding you like the plague. Maybe he’s moved on? If we hear anything better believe we’ll let you know first. 

And we cannot forget Black Swan and Pretty Little Thing. Black Swan.....Black Swan we can smell the desperation coming off of you in waves. How are you ever going to keep a man on your arms with that kind of attitude? You made quite a splash when you went around proclaiming you had a boyfriend but we’ve been watching. A couple of smooches doesn’t mean you’re in a relationship. Yikes! If we were you, we would start back pedaling now. And what do you think of that Pretty Little Thing? Agree? Don’t agree? Do you really want to tango with that family? What happens when her father finds out? We know. You’ll be d e a d m e a t. Hey, that sounds like a great new nickname. 

Roaring Bottom using your ex to make your former boyfriend jealous is tacky. It’s even more tacky when your best mate is dating him. Looks like your advances didn’t get you too far. Maybe you’ve losing your touch? Or are you just self-absorbed? It doesn’t take a Ravenclaw to realize that something is off when it comes to Power Bottom. Yet it completely went over your head and everyone else’s. Some friends you lot are.

Oh and Baby Slut, we gave you such a simple task but you couldn’t do it. We’re not surprised. You just don’t have that spark of wild in you. Did you think taking Muggle Comfort from the party was going to distract us? It didn’t. So you have a few scars and you’re scared of being shirtless. You didn’t seem so shy when you were bucking helplessly into Shit Disturber’s hand back when he was alive. Maybe you just don’t like Muggle Comfort as much as you wish. You’re just desperate enough to stay and force it, hm? It seems that you and Black Swan have much more in common than you think. 

Hey, Victory, weep, weep cry, cry. We have a special report for you and Professor Grump Cat it seems that Lup Major has left the building permanently. Yes, folks, that is right. Lup Major has resigned from teaching at Hogwarts and where he has gone no one knows...except us. And we’re not ready to give that secret up just yet.

And what about our favorite Muggle Comfort? It was quite a show you put on when Righteous Knightmo showed you our letter. We didn’t think you would do that for him. It seems like underneath the shy, quiet exterior you hold that there is a lion inside of you. Expect more challenges like that in the future for you. 

“How come you never introduced me to Noah?” Peter asks, lying down on Ada’s bed and staring at her canopy.  “I’ve known you long enough…”

--

Peter is eleven and a freshly-minted Ravenclaw.  He’s one of the last to be sorted, and he squeezes onto the end of a bench with so little room left that he has to keep his arms pinned to his sides.  Across from him, the girl from the train is plaiting her pigtails and looking very concerned.  When she finishes both plaits, she looks over and gasps.  “Oh!  I know you! You’re in Ravenclaw, too?”

“Guess so,” Peter says. His plain uniform doesn’t give anything away, but the new members of each house haven’t received house crest patches or new ties yet, so the first-years are easy to distinguish from the second-years. “Do you think if we made a break for it, we could sneak into Hufflepuff?”

Not that he isn’t proud of Ravenclaw, but the Hufflepuff common room sounded the nicest.

Ada thinks about it, pursing her lips into a little pout and twisting her hair around her finger.  “No, I think they would know.  They just read our names to the entire school.”

“Ah…  It’s just a thought,” Peter mumbles.  “Ravenclaw’s nice, though.  I like blue.”

“And you get to be housemates with me,” Ada chirps, reaching across the table and grabbing Peter’s hands. “Our owls will never be lonely!”

--

Peter is twelve when he goes to Ada’s house for the first time.

“Oh, hey, Peter,” Ada says breathlessly, leaning against the door frame.  “I need a few minutes.  We just had a guest leave, and Mama isn’t ready for you to be here yet.”

Peter squirms and slips his thumbnail between his teeth.  “Sorry.  My parents overbooked, so they put me on an early bus.”

Ada turns around and yells something in Japanese, cupping her hands around her mouth and standing up on her tiptoes as though an extra few centimeters of height will make her louder. The sheer force of sound coming out of her makes Peter step back and blink a few times, and it startles Herbert, who thrashes around in Peter’s pocket and sticks his head out.  There’s another yell back, and Ada turns around with a bright smile and says, “Mama says you can come in.  Shoes off, buddy” she says, backing up and gesturing to the row of shoes by the welcome mat.

Off come the drawn-on Converse, worn-out beside sparkly pink sandals.  “If you don’t mind me asking, who was here?”  Peter wiggles his eyebrows and grins.

Ada blushes a little and squishes her hand against Peter’s face.  “Oh, stop it!  He’s just a friend of mine.  We went to the same primary school.  Boys are icky.”

Peter licks her hand.

“Ew, gross!  See?  Boys are icky!”

--

At the end of Peter’s second year, he finds himself overwhelmingly sad about summer.  Ada always leaves King’s Cross with a group of Londoners.  Peter wonders what it’s like to live so close to friends, instead of in a sleepy little suburb in a countryside town.  By the time his parents arrive to collect him, he’s eager to get his hands on his phone and ask Ada about the London students. He’s never thought much about them before, but now he’s bursting with curiosity.

Peter Wood: 6:45 PM: Who else from school lives in London?

Ichigo-Chan: 6:46 PM: Alex Wentworth, Hayleigh McDowell, me, and Noah Bratcher.

Peter Wood: 6:46 PM: Do you guys hang out during the summer?

Ichigo-Chan: 6:46 PM: Yeah, you should hang out with us!

Peter Wood: 6:48 PM: Really?

Ichigo-Chan: 6:48 PM: Totally!  We can watch movies and make sundaes!

But when Peter finally makes his plans to meet the Londoners, the roads in his town flood and everyone is housebound for three days.  It’s a foreboding event that deters him from asking about the Londoners again.

--

During the winter of fourth year, Peter shows up at Ada’s house with her Christmas present and waits by the door, shivering despite wearing five layers of clothing and a scarf and hat.  Luckily, muggles don’t think it’s odd to wear a blue and bronze scarf around town, because it’s the warmest one he owns.  The door swings open suddenly, and Peter nearly collides with a boy just as bundled up as himself.  “Goodbye, Noah,” he hears Ada’s father call from somewhere in the house.  “Get home safely!”

The boy stammers out a muffled apology from beneath his black and yellow scarf and sidesteps out of Peter’s way, and the tiny window of his face that Peter can see is flushed pink with embarrassment.

Ada appears moments later and calls out, “Goodbye!  Don’t slip!” As soon as Noah wobbles around the bend to the sidewalk in his snow boots, Ada giggles and pulls Peter into the house.  “Come in, silly goose.  Don’t you feel how cold it is?”

“Who was that?” Peter asks.

“Oh, that’s Noah.  He lives around here.  We’re gonna go caroling together this weekend!”  Ada bounces up and down and claps her hands. “Can you come with us?”

Peter almost says yes until he remembers that he hasn’t been able to ditch caroling for as long as he can remember, and he isn’t likely to be able to now.  “I’d like to, but I’m sort of expected to go with my own family.”

“Aw, that’s too bad. Come on, put the box down.  Mama’s making hot chocolate!”

And just like that, the stranger is forgotten.

--

“I really don’t know why you haven’t met until just now,” Ada says.  “But now I have two people to snuggle with at sleepovers at the same time!”

“You’d get between me and my boyfriend?”  Peter affects his best offended look and raises his hand to his heart.