Lisa offered a warm smile to her brother who was now, weirdly, a foot taller than her. “I gotta start putting bricks at the side of your bed. I’ll ask Sammy to help with that,” she teased him once again. His question gave her pause before nodding. “Mhmm. I spent time with Ash and met a few others.” She kept one of the exciting events to herself because she was afraid that if she spoke it aloud, it would vanish and be all but a dream. She was trying to keep her excitement within her. “And you?”

Now that she had mentioned Ash, she wondered where she was… ah! Yes. She saw her approaching.

Lisa listened to Raj’s few words of wisdom and would keep them in her mind. She always valued wisdom and advice from older students. “Thanks Raj. Narrow down the subjects…” she repeated before reaching into her pocket to pull out a tiny notebook to write that down.

“Nice to meet you too.. well again! Thanks for playing the ice cream guessing game at Florean’s… that was fun!” she said to Tahani before listening to her brother’s wisdom that he offered her. She remained calm and nodded in agreement with him. Speaking of housemates, she saw Mitsuki watching her and Evan. Lisa nodded to Mitsuki when she made eye contact with her fellow housemate. “How… was your summer?” she asked, hoping her voice would carry over the continuous chatter of the table.

“Ingrid, hey!” she greeted before becoming quieter when she let her brother do most of the responding. “It was so beautiful!!” The wedding and Korea too. She was happy for Chin-hae. She thought he deserved the best. “Was your summer good?” She couldnt believe that like Ev and Ash that Ingrid would be graduating too. All the seventh years who had so much knowledge would be abandoning them for their next adventure…

Then she saw Ash. Her smile widened at the greeting and then dropped promptly when she saw her friend rest her head on the table. She cast a look to her brother, hoping that he’d see it and do something. “I’m planning on surviving OWLS.”

The next voice gave her pause… Atlas. “Hey At!” She turned herself away from the bench to face him with a wide smile but then she noticed that he looked upset and sad. Her smile faltered at his expression as she glanced down to the gift he extended her. “Oh the bracelet… Thank you so much… You’re a genius…I… thank you.” Lisa opened up the wrapping to peak at the bracelet. It was stunning. She couldn’t even tell that it had received damage of any sorts. She could rest easy now that the bracelet was intact. Now all she had to do was return it… Wait. And then it hit her what she and Atlas had committed together. Seeing him like this did throw her through a loop. Worry crossed her face. “Are you okay? Sherbet lemon?” she offered the candy to him with eyes wide with concern. She didn’t notice that her hand was shaking.

She turned her gaze momentarily to the Hufflepuff Table when she saw something flicker out of the corner of her eye. What was going on there?