Thank you! And nice to meet you, Jemma

Aww, don't say that *huggles Bella*

Glad you liked it

I wouldn't exactly call him sweet You'll see why in a minute

Thanks for all the luffly comments, dearies Here we go with the next chapter

*****
The Cousin


"Ok, here's the letters...You got them all?"

Emma Cobblesten, Cale's little cousin, was perched on the end of his bed, handing him a number of large scrolls, which were letters she had written for her friends. Poor Emma, he thought to himself. The strange animals-turning-into-students disaster last year had caused her parents to become paranoid that their youngest daughter was not safe at Hogwarts, and they were sending her to America to live with her older sister Penny and attend wizarding school there. Cale had been rather disappointed; she was his favorite cousin, despite the 4 year age difference and the fact that she was a little girl obsessed with make-up. He had been looking forward to knowing at least ONE person at Hogwarts.

Although, according to Emma, all the people she knew were really friendly and would be nice to him, especially when he told them he was related to her. But he still didn't like the fact that she was using him as an owl to deliver messages to all her friends.

"Yes, I have them right here," he patted the side of his pocket to show her that he had them in a safe, yet accessible place. "And all of your friends pictures...except the one of Bella. I don't think you ever gave me one of her."

"Oh, I don't remember ever having one..." Emma replied, tapping her finger on her chin. "Oh, well, you can ask Jack or someone else to see her."

"Who's Jack?"

"The Quidditch captain! Can you at least try to keep up?" Emma snapped. "Ok, all you need to remember is that Anna is the one with curly hair, and she's really smart and kind of bossy. But that's just natural for her; I think it runs in her family. Jason plays Quidditch and has a lot of Gryffindor pride, and...well, we'll just go over the rest later, ok?"

Cale was hardly listening at that point. "Can you toss me my dragonhide gloves?" he asked, turning back to the large trunk that was sitting in front of his bed.

Emma grabbed them off the nightstand and attempted to toss them to Cale, but missed and nearly broke the small replica of the Holyhead Harpies stadium Cale had sitting on his desk. He rolled his eyes and snatched the gloves from the tiny little figurine. One of the goal posts had broken.

"Sorry," Emma muttered as she blushed. Clumsiness really did run in the family, it seemed.

"It's okay," he sighed in reply. He dropped the gloves in his trunk and stood back to admire his packing handiwork.

"So, are you nervous about the sorting?" she asked, bouncing off his bed and examining the damage she had done to his replica.

"No," he answered. He said it just a little too quickly, and a little too loudly.

"Don't worry about it...you're lucky," Emma said, helping him to close to top of his trunk over his belongings. "Most students have to actually sit in front of the whole school and get sorted...you just get to go to the Headmistress and get sorted privately in her office. I heard that's what they do when any student makes the transition from homeschooling to Hogwarts."

Cale sighed as they finally snapped his trunk shut. He sat down on top of it, staring at his hands. "Ok, truth be told...I am a little nervous. What if I get in Slytherin?"

"So? That's not a bad thing," Emma assured him, sitting next to him on top of the trunk, "I had lots of friends in Slytherin. Plus, your dad was a Slytherin, and he was really nice. Or you might get your mum's house."

"Hufflepuff?" Cale asked in horror. "That might be worse."

"Hey, I know lots of cool people in Hufflepuff too! Once you get there, you'll find out that all those sterotypes aren't true. There are some exceptions, of course, but most of the prejudice between the houses is long gone." she explained. "Or, you could be in a house totally unlike the one your parents were in. Like Jacob. Neither of our parents where in Hufflepuff and he ended up there, while me and Jackie went to Gryffindor and Penny was in Ravenclaw."

Cale didn't say anything...he just continued to stare at his hands. The little girl looked at him, and after knowing him her whole life, she was certain something was wrong. Cale was not one who was usually at a loss for words.

"Cale?" Emma asked, "You look like something else is bothering you."

He sighed and leaned back against the wall his trunk was propped against. It was strange that he, a 16 year old male, always felt like opening up to his little cousin, a 12 year old little girl. She was the only person that he didn't have to act all cool and macho around. He wasn't exactly sure why that was, but it was nice to talk to someone about his secrets every once in a while.

"What if people don't like me?" he asked. "What if people think I'm the freaky new kid?" He never had been good with people judging him.

"You must have a very demented sense of reality," she replied, rolling her eyes. "People don't think like that. All you have to do is be nice to people and be yourself. Who cares if they think you're a freak? You really need to stop worrying about what people think of you, Cale. And when I say be yourself, I mean be yourself, not that egotistical jerk you turn into sometimes."

Cale rolled his eyes right back at her. The thing you need to understand about Cale is, he is a real guy guy. When meeting new people (especially if the people include a couple of attractive females) he can get a bit of a big head. He tends to be a bit of a show off, and says some things he probably shouldn't say. He likes being the center of attention. And even though he knows people don't like jerky guys like that, he still does it. It's kind of hard to explain why...that's just the complicated way that boys act.

"I'm sure you'll have nothing to worry about," his cousin said again. "If it makes you feel any better, I can come with you and your mum to your sorting. So you have extra support."

He shook his head, "No, that's ok. You're probably right. School can't be that difficult can it?"

"Nope, it's not. You'll like Hogwarts," Emma added. A noticeable gloom settled over her face, and Cale remembered why; she wasn't going there with him next year. "There's lots of drama, so you'll have tons of fun."

He wrinkled his eyebrows. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Emma sighed. "No offense Cale, but you're kind of a drama queen."