Lexi quickly found out that John was a damn good kisser. Their relationship was very easy, they got along fabulously. They were interested in the same things, which made them great companions who didn't argue over stupid stuff.
Despite how happy she was with John, Lexi still found herself wishing sometimes when he kissed her or held her that it was Cedric instead. She knew it wasn't fair to John, and she chastised herself for thinking those thoughts.
"I just don't know, Tricia." Lexi admitted to her friend a few weeks after she and John got together. "I'm trying to push all these Cedric related thoughts out of my head, but I can't." she sighed. "Probably because I don't want to."
Normally, Lexi would go to Bree for this kind of discussion; she was always more supportive when it came to Cedric because she had known their relationship best. But Bree was still on her honeymoon. God only knew when she would be back. Patricia was the next best person to go to.
"The last thing I want is to hurt John." Lexi added.
"You knew this was not going to be easy from the beginning, Lex." Patricia reminded her. "Give it some time. You are still used to Cedric. Let yourself get used to John. It's not like you're forgetting Cedric in the process."
"I guess." Lexi sighed morosely.
"Just be lucky you even have someone who adores you as much as John does."
Lexi noted the hint of envy in Patricia's voice, and felt extremely selfish. "Oh, Tricia. I'm sorry. I completely forgot about Rich."
"He was an ass anyway." she sighed. "That seems to be the kind of guy I attract, and somehow I fall for their supposed charm every time."
"Don't worry, Tricia. I know you'll find someone." Lexi patted her friend's hand.
--
John waited at the bar in the Leaky Cauldron. He had a date with Lexi, but she was running late, as usual. He didn't mind, he knew she had more important responsibilities that she had to tend to. But he had been sitting at the bar for near twenty minutes and his patience wasn't saintly.
He had a seat saved next to him for Lexi when she arrived, but was looking at the door when another woman sat down in the saved chair.
John didn't have the heart to tell her to leave. The woman next to him looked terrible. Her eyes were bright red from crying, and her curly blonde hair looked misshapen.
"Give me the strongest thing you have, Tom." she told the bartender.
"Are you okay, Miss?" John asked.
The woman stared at him for a minute, looking surprised. "I'm fine."
Tom came back with a pint of something. John couldn't tell. The woman drank greedily. "Doesn't look like it."
"If you must know, I had a run in with my ex."
"I'm sorry."
"Thanks."
"He must be a real prat." John guessed.
"Yes. He is."
They sat in silence as the woman drank more from her mug. She looked at him when she put it down, like she was evaluating him. "I'm Patricia, by the way."
"John." he held out his hand and she shook it.
She smiled. "Nice to meet you."
Patricia was very talkative after that, even happy. John noted that she was very pretty, especially after she tamed her hair, and very friendly. If he had not been dating Lexi, he would have taken more of an interest. They talked for awhile, and John lost track of the time.
"Nerd." Patricia teased him. She had asked him what was the one thing he would save if his house caught on fire and he told her that he would save his books.
"Am not. I just really like books." John thought through his words, and chuckled. "Okay, maybe you're right."
"Don't worry, I would probably save my books too." Patricia giggled.
"You know that makes you a nerd too."
She shrugged. "Oh well. Being a nerd can't be too bad if you're one."
John felt a shiver up his spine; it was both comfortable and uncomfortable. Uncomfortable only because he had a girlfriend.
"You haven't told me what you do, John. Surely something with books." she wore a sly smile.
"Nope. Numbers actually. I work for Gringotts."
"Really? You might know my friend. What do you do exactly?"
"Well, I recently was assigned a position working for Hogwarts."
He was surprised at her reaction. Patricia's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open.
"Patricia?"
"Holy shit." Patricia took a long swig from the mug in front of her.
"What is it?"
"Oh my God. I have been flirting with my best friends boyfriend!" she looked at him. "And you were flirting back!"
"Oh shit! You're Tricia." John realized. Lexi had told him about her friends, but she had called Patricia 'Tricia.' How was he supposed to know?
"Yes." Patricia put her head in her hands. "How could I do this to her?"
"Neither of us knew."
"That doesn't matter! She's been through enough shit as it is. Hell, only today I was telling her that she should not break up with you, and here I am flirting with you."
John felt like a brick dropped into his stomach. "She wanted to break up with me?"
Patricia realized what she let slip and a look of horror came over her face. "That's not what I meant." she quickly amended.
"Really?" his anger was hard to hold back.
"Look, John. All of this is really difficult for her. She's trying. She wants to try."
Before he could reply, he heard Lexi's voice behind him.
"Patricia? What are you doing here?" Lexi asked as she gave John a peck on the cheek and sat on his other side.
"Crappy night." Patricia told her, getting up from the bar. "I'll talk to you later. It was nice meeting you, John."
John didn't look up from his goblet of firewhiskey in front of him.
"I'm sorry I'm so late. Kateri got sick, but she's fine now. Catherine used to be a Healer."
John didn't reply. He didn't want to listen to any of her excuses. He was too angry to even care about the little girl he had grown to love.
"John? Are you alright." her hand was in his hair, brushing through it gently.
"No."
"What's wrong? Did Tricia -"
"It's not Patricia. It's you." he tried to keep the hurt out of his voice.
Lexi hesitated. "I don't understand." her voice didn't try to hide the hurt.
"She told me that you wanted to break up with me." he heard her surprised intake of breath.
"Let me explain, John."
"If you don't want to be with me, just tell me, Lexi. I'm not forcing you to stay."
"No, John. Please let me explain."
He didn't say anything, waiting for the next excuse.
"I really like you, John. I really do. And that's why I don't want to hurt you." she started. "It's just sometimes I find myself thinking about Cedric, and… that's not fair to you. I'm trying, John. I don't want to break up with you."
He wasn't looking at her, but he could tell by the roughness in her voice that she was trying to hold back tears. He wanted to make those tears go away, not caring if those tears were caused by him or Cedric. His arms reached up and pulled her into him. She let out a dry sob and hugged him back.
"How's Kateri? What was wrong with her?" he changed the subject to let her know she was forgiven.
"She's fine now. It was just a fever. Catherine and Amos are taking care of her."
"That's good." he kissed the top of her head. "I haven't seen that girl in ages. Let's go get her and go back to your place."
Lexi giggled. "You saw her yesterday."
The two of them left the bar and apparated to Ottery St. Catchpole. John was nervous, he had yet to meet the Diggorys.
Meanwhile, Patricia stumbled down the cobbled stones of Diagon Alley. She felt terrible and knew she probably looked it too. First her ex, then John. This day really couldn't get any worse.
It was dark, and the streets were nearly empty, so it was a shock when she ran into something tall and fell back onto the street.
"So sorry." a deep voice with a French accent said. He held out a hand to help her up.
Maybe the day wasn't completely awful.
