"I'm afraid we haven't met in person, young man," Luciana said sarcastically and directed her gaze at her worthless niece. "Where are your manners, Kayleen? Wipe that surprised look off your face before I do it for you." A hint of pure disgust could be heard in her voice as she addressed her niece. Her left eye twitched from behind the square rimmed spectacles.

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Kay's face turned ashen and she squeezed Elijah's hand tightly when she looked up and saw who it was. There was a lump in her throat and she found it impossible to speak for a moment. "Aunt Luciana, this is Elijah Young," she said hoarsely and tried to swallow. "Elijah, this is my aunt, Luciana McLaggen." There! I did it, she thought and continued to hold on to Elijah's hand as if it was her only chance for survival.

Elijah raised both eyebrows this time at the womra; why would she want to be introduced to him in the first place? And then it all made sense. This was Kay's Aunt. She must have seen him and her from another part of the pub and decided upon herself to interrupt them.

He felt as if his hand might be squeezed off in an instant by the strong grip Kay had on it.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. McLaggen," Elijah said with a slight nod. He glanced back to Kay and realized that she was clearly uncomfortable with this woman being around them. He took it upon himself to stand up with Kay and he turned to face her aunt. "If you'll excuse us," he said, "Kay and I were actually on our way out to run a few errrands for some school things."

And with that he began leading Kay by the hand away from their table and from this... this... woman.

Refusing to let go of his hand, Kay stood up and kept her eyes firmly fixed on Elijah. She remained silent and couldn't help but tremble as he led her away from the table.
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Luciana's eyes narrowed and a hissing sound could be heard as she drew in a sharp intake of breath. The nerve of him speaking to me in that ungrateful, snobbish tone! Why, he's as bad as she is and look at how she follows him! Revolting. An uncontrollable rage burned inside her as she addressed Elijah's retreating back.

"Mr. Young, I hope that your owl made it back to you intact," she said as she mocked him in a sickingly sweet voice. "There are no guarantees for it's safety when it is delivering messages."

Elijah stopped and furrowed his brow as he stared straight ahead in the direction of where him and Kay were walking. This didn't make sense; Kay's aunt couldn't possibly know what Haratio looked like. He delivered his letter to Kay, not Kay's aunt Keeping hold of Kay's hand, he slowly turned back around to face Ms. McLaggen. "Pardon me, ma'am," he said in an attempt to sound as calm and placid as he could. "But how would you know what my owl looks like?"

The grotesque smile that was on Luciana's face quickly vanished and she glared icily at Elijah. "Any owl that arrives at my house is my business, Mr. Young," she began in a haughty tone of voice that sent a chill through the air. "Nothing gets past me, not even a letter to that irresponsible brat who is cowering at your side."

Elijah blinked disbelievingly at this woman. How dare she get ahold of a private letter that was sent to Kay! He thought. All of these pieces were finally coming togeter; Elijah recalled the fact that he did indeed send Haratio out with a letter to Kay, the fact that Haratio returned with no reply from Kay, and he hadn't heard from her the entire summer; but then as they met here in Diagon Alley, Kay says she never even recieved his letter.

An unexplainable rage was forming deep within him. "It was you," he said glaring at her. "You were the one who took Kay's letter from Haratio and didn't give it to her. Back where I'm from, reading someone elses post is justifiable cause for going to prison... Ms. McLaggen," he emphasised the fact that he was still being somewhat polite.

And then the straw that broke his back were this womans choice words for referring to Kay. "Irresponsible? Brat? Kay?!" he said, his voice growing only the slight. "How can you say such things about your niece, do you have any knowledge of the things she's accomplished at Hogwarts? She's one of the top students, she's Quidditch Captain, and has been for two years now, and she is the most respected Ravenclaw Student the school has ever seen."

He drew in a heavy breath, gave Kay's hand a squeeze, and while keeping his stare on Kay's aunt, Elijah said, "C'mon Kay. We're definately leaving now. Good day to you, Ms. McLaggen," and he turned on his heel walking him and Kay out of the Leaky Cauldron.

Kay was speechless the entire time as the scene unfolded between her aunt and Elijah. Hearing her aunt admit that she took the letter made her begin to wonder how many other letters had been confiscated over the years. I know she hates me, but why go to such extremes? She never touches the school owls....

She was jolted back to the moment when she heard her aunt call her an irresponsible brat. She always does that and I always fight back, but... Kay heard Elijah's voice grow slightly louder as he defended her. No one has done that for me before! she thought as she squeezed his hand.

The inevitable confrontation was over as quickly as it had begun, and Kay walked out of the Leaky Cauldron hand-in-hand with Elijah. She was still pale and trembling from the incident when they got outside.

"Thank you, Elijah," she said softly and threw her arms around him.

"What are you going to do?" Bucky inquired wondering just what kind of discipline will Jamie be using. "Spank her?"

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"Oh, I'm sure!" Fatima exclaimed and glared at the bartendress. "Well, you can keep your cook and your food. I am out of here! Comprende? OUT!"

And with these dramatic words, the tall and lanky girl with long light brown hair marched out of The Leaky Cauldron and into the streets of Diagon Alley.

Luciana's face contorted into a grotesque smile as she watched the retreating backs of Elijah and Kay. "And good day to you, Mr. Young," she hissed at them. "Thank you for finally taking the traitor's brat off my hands. Good riddance!"

At that moment, she felt a twinge of what some would call happiness at the fact of her good-for-nothing niece had finally found someone. But this kind of feeling did not linger for long in the icy heart of Madame McLaggen. Her thoughts wandered to her next task at hand - informing the traitor's brat that she was no longer welcome under her roof.

Elijah heard the distant voice of Kay's aunt, but paid her no attention and kep walking until they'd finally reached the street outisde the Leaky Cauldron. He felt bad not saying his goodbyes to Ashlie, but then realized she probably wouldn't have noticed him leave anyway.

A swarm of emtions were creeping upon him a this point. Who did this woman thnk she was talking to him like that; and what was she on about talking about her own neice?! While she was standing right infront of her nonetheless! How rude!

Elijah continued walking with Kay further up the busy street of Diagon Alley so that they were a great distance away. They'd just reached the doors of Flourish and Blotts, when he stopped, looked up and down the street, and being satisfied with the fact they had not been followed Elijah looked at Kay, an extremely confussed expression on his face.

"What was that all about?!" he asked furiously. It was all the words he could muster up to say at the moment.

Kay stepped backwards so that she was an arm's length away from Elijah. She crossed her arms tightly and looked down at the ground. Where do I begin? But there is so much that I don't even know about.

"I never told you about my family, have I?" she asked timidly because she knew it to be true and kept her eyes diverted downwards.

Elijah furrowed his brow at Kay, watching her as she gazed intently at the ground. He thrusted his hands into his pockets, "No you haven't told me of your family," he said cooly.

He started walking with the intention of her to follow him. "Would you like to tell me now?" he asked.

Elijah stopped and turned around, seeing Kay still firmly planted in the spot she stood in once they walked out of the Leaky Caulrdon. Hearing her broken-voiced reply to him, he began to feel like the biggest heel. It wasn't his fault Kay's aunt clearly had issues.

He sighed, walked over and stood close to Kay. He gently cupped her face in his hands and lifted her head up to him. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely, kissing her softly. "I didn't mean to get upset." He released her face and put his arms around her, holding her colse to him.

"Come on then," he said gently after releasing her. "Tell me all that you want to tell me," and he reached for her hand.

Kay calmed down once Elijah held her in his arms and had kissed her. "I'll tell you everything I know about them," she said quietly as he took her hand. "I don't even know where to begin, Elijah."

She hesitated for a moment and then continued. "I don't know much about my parents, except that they were in Ravenclaw. My father, Robert Harrison, was a stellar Quidditch player according to my Grandfather McLaggen. I think he was House Captain for two years, but Grandfather brags about everything. My mother, Minerva McLaggen, was Head Girl when she was in school and I believe she was the only McLaggen not to be sorted into Gryffindor. Granfather told me that she was a gifted witch and that she was a Hit Wizard for the Ministry. I really don't remember them because they died mysteriously when I was four years old." Kay stopped talking and looked at Elijah, hoping that he was understanding what she was about to allude to.

Elijah nodded his head, and listened intently as Kay told the story of her parents. Upon hearing that her mother had been a Hit Wizard for the Ministry, he looked to her with a raised eyebrow expression. "A... a Hit Wizard?" he inquired. Once again Elijah was showing his lack of knowledge for the Wizarding World and felt extremely embarrassed because of it.

Aero glared after the girl. It had been only fifteen minutes since she'd ordered. Who did she think she was, the Ministress of Magic? Well, that was all fine for her then. If she didn't want to be patient and wait the last moment for the food then that was her fault. Maybe Jamie and his friends would eat it.

Cook took that moment to come out of the kitchen though with the food, and pie, all prepared, that the girl's had ordered. He glanced at Aero, questioning where to put it, but found her looking over at the last remaining girl, Elena.

"You still want this?" she asked, her voice firm. If this one walked out too, she might have to yell.

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"I think I just might," Jamie said. "Someone needs to teach her what's wrong and right. Drinking like that just isn't." He shook his head, bouncy curls swinging this way and that, springing off his forhead.

Ashlie, however, was paying no attention to Jamie, nor Jacques. She'd caught sight of Elijah walking out. And, of course, not bading good bye. She felt a slump in her chest and she turned away bitterly. Tipsy-esque or not, she could still feel things.

"C'mon Jacques. Let's get some ice cream. We can take Jamie and his friends."

Elijah nodded his head, "Is your grandfather still alive?" he asked. "Why couldn't you live with him rather than you aunt?"