He was shocked, and that had been what Ken was going for. She had anticipated the widening of his eyes and the pure curiosity in his voice. She didn't really care at this point if he cared about her. She was ready to just...verbally admit the things that had happened. It had been her worst nightmare, and she had only recounted it with her parents. They had cried and stuff. Too much emotion. Ken felt totally numb. Maybe this guy could cause her to FEEL something. She doubted it, though.

"I don't know why he chose us. We don't even know who it was. He could come back for us at any time. We lived together in my apartment in London. I've since relocated to another place, of course. But...we were just lying in the living room watching TV. We like Muggle things, you see. And we heard a commotion. A man in all black robes came in. We tried to fend him off, but he stunned us both. When we woke up, we were somewhere totally different. It could have been anywhere in the world. I will never really know where we were. The only important thing is that we both, somehow, made it out alive."

"Really? But I guess it's not really normal, then again most people aren't normal," Lucas nodded and smiled back. He was probably not normal. He tended to ramble, but hopefully Briony wouldn't see him ramble, it might scare her. That he didn't want to happen "That's good, well that's good to know, I might keep that in mind whenever I decide to go there and actually know where it is!," he was too terrible at geography. Wasn't his fault the class was boring, all of the muggle classes were boring. He noticed that she was playing with a ring on her ring finger...on her left hand. Is she married?! He hoped not! That would be just to awkward. "Oh, don't tell me," he spoke putting his hands up. "I will not know where that it!" he said, he couldnt listen to anyone who talks about places where they are, he would have no clue. Unless he'd got a map. Maybe DA had one. Unlikely. Now he was slightly confused. His mind went back to the ring but he had to keep focus. But he was focused when she talked about his little "offer". Wink wink. He grinned at her. "Good, I'm glad actually. So how about now?" he asked looking around the Cafeteria. It was very crowded. "This place is quite crowded," he stated.

For one in his life, Dan didn't know what to say or to think. He actually sorta felt bad for this girl now. It was weird. He wasn't used to feeling this way. But to be away from your home for a year, not sure where you are or who you were with... That had to be scary.

"I'm sorry that happened to you." But he wasn't saying that in a pitying way. He just was sorry that she had to go through that.

To avoid crying, which would be extremely embarrassing, Kenedie said, "Alright, I've told you my deepest darkest secret. Now, what's your name?" She almost felt like she was flirting, but surely it couldn't be that...right?

"Your right. We all have our weird little quirks and habits," she chuckled, thinking back to how she was a perfectionist most of the time. Maybe it was more like a know it all. Guess when your head is in books like it usually was you were. "Maybe you'll have to visit where I grew up someday. In La Rochelle. Nothing big but most enjoy France. I may have to teach you a thing or two on speaking it as well," she mused, knowing how he probably knew more than five words in french. She liked the language but enjoyed English a little more. She observed his expression [Ehh...cause she was just like that] and noticed how he was staring at her hand. "Everything okay?" she asked tentatively, looking down at her finger. Nothing looked out of place. She chuckled at his gesture. "Oh I'm sure you've heard of New York City. Everyone has heard of the city that never sleeps," she told him lightly. "Hmm...is there any chance we could meet up later possibly? I have some paperwork to finish." Plus she'd rather fix herself up a bit. Her hair looked terrible. "It's like this most days. It's what us Ministry folk call 'normal'." She air quoted for him.

She wanted his name after all this? What a weird person. But it was okay really. She wasn't so bad really. A little odd from the whole kidnapping, but he could work with it. "Dan. And you are?"

He hadn't run away screaming. That put her in a bit of a better mood.

"I'm Kenedie Hawthorne. You can call me Ken. I'm from New York." Ah, something she still took pride in. As much as she loved London, there was nothing like saying she was from the Big Apple. She smiled for the first time in forever. It felt foreign and odd, but still nice.

Lucas nodded and laughed, thinking about his dreaded rants. But he was kinda autistic when he likes everything to be perfect and fine. He felt like he had lost his touch on that. "Sounds classy and yeah I might have to. Of course!" he would like to learn another language, that will be cool. To be honest he only knew what hi and no was in french. The rest was strange words to him. Oh no. She saw. Quickly hide it! He looked up and replied. "Yeah, yeah, fine," he nodded, going a bit red. Oops. "Yeah something would be wrong with me if I did and to be honest there is like so many things wrong with me but strangley I know where New York City is," he thought that he should of paid more attention to Geography lessons now. Sigh. But it wasn't here fault. He just asked at the wrong time that's all. "Yeah that would be great, really? Normal? It's like a place where someone keeps...lots of people," so he thought. STUPID! He mentally slapped himself.

"Nice to meet you, Ken. I'm from China." Which would be rather odd to her he was sure seeing as he was British. But he had been born when his parents had been in china for a short time. "I moved back there after Graduation, and just came back here a few months ago."

"Classy is far too great a word to call it," she laughed, and rolled her eyes. Lucas seemed like he could talk about nonsense for hours and not even get the least tired. She hadn't met a lot of people like him but it her her laugh. "Our french lessons begin later then," Bri said with an overly excited tone. Her eyebrow raised as he turned red. Then it struck her he may be curious in whether or not she was married. Of course! It had happened before anyway. "I'm not married if you're wondering. It's my mum's wedding ring. She died two years ago." Wow it had been that long already? She giggled as he said so many things were wrong with him. "Do you always ramble?" she questioned with a cheesy grin. "So where do you want to meet?" she asked leaning forward a bit and biting on her lower lip again. "Riiiight." Another ramble. Hehe.

"Well it does sounds classy!" La Rochelle, that did sound classy to Lucas. French lessons later? Cooool. "Good, can't wait," he smiled. Soon he will be able to speak part of a different language. Well he thought that it wasn't that quick to learn it, but it depended on the person and he had no clue if he actually would manage to speak a lot of French. He nodded, he wasn't going to comment on that. But now he would and his face fell immediatley because of what Briony said. "What. That's too bad," he would never know what he would do without half of his parents well for the fact he hadn't see them in ages kinda worried him. He smiled at her when she giggled but it was true about him. "Erm, I probably do and I hate it," yep, he hated, hated it! It was annoying too. He raised his eyebrows. Huh, he'd never thought about that. Well, there was just so many places to go. But he would like to go to Diagon Alley first. 5 years it had been since he stepped into there. "Well, I was thinking about Diagon Alley, it would be nice to see it again. For location in Diagon Alley, I have no idea," he said chuckling. Perhaps he needed to think of things before he said them. Oh noes. "See there is too much things wrong with me," he nodded. It was unfair for him because he always had to listen to himself ramble.

"Okay well maybe it does have a little class to it I guess," she figured, finally giving in. It was beautiful in that city. A big tourist attraction for sure. She just didn't like France thanks to mummy and dad. Briony just shrugged a little as he sympathized. "It's not like it matter anymore. I never liked her. Yet it strangely hurt when she was gone," she explained in a stern and awkward tone. Somethings you just could never forgive. "I find it amusing Lucas. And not too many things amuse me now a days," she smiled, and took a bite of the peach. She thought about where they could meet up there. "How about the Main Floor of the Leaky Cauldron?" she suggested, looking back at him. "No there aren't."

"See I was right," Lucas grinned at Briony. Hehe. He wondered what La Rochelle looked like. Of course it was classy but he bet that it was a nice place to live. "Why?" he asked her, how could anyone not like their mum? "If you don't mind me asking," he added. He felt like he was invading her life, well he was just concerned. Well of course it hurt, she was her family. He noticed her tone and raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't believe her one bit. "How? It's stupid and annoying," and so was he, from his point of view. Leaky Cauldron, he hadn't heard that name in a while, it certainly brought back memories. "That will be great," he was still a little concered but he tried to get it out of his thoughts and smiled at her. "There is," he spoke simply.

"Whatever," she laughed, just shaking her head and looking at him with an amused expression. Her smile fell quickly as he asked why she didn't like her mum. Wasn't their a simple answer to that? "She tried to make me something I refused to be. Then...after my sister died when I turned fifteen...my mother blamed her death on me," she answered in a curt tone. She avoided looking at his face and gritted her teeth. It was the worst thing a parent could ever do to their child. "I don't have a lot of stupid and annoying in my life," she replied, blinking and letting her expression slowly return to normal. "I'll be looking forward to it then," Briony added. "No there isn't," she argued in his same tone.

He smirked at her. He was right and she was wrong. "I er," wow. He shifted in his seat. He was thankful that she avoided his look. He had no idea what to say. Just think of something! "Your mum is a terrible person, I think she liked your sister better than you then," he stated. He just decided to agree with her from now on. "Yeah your right," he spoke as she looked like she was letting her expression turn back to normal. "Me too," he spoke slightly distracted. "Fine there isn't!" he spoke and laughed.

Briony looked at him with a frown and shook her head. "Lucas I come from a pureblood family with a very prejudice veela mother. Her daughter, my sister, suffered from seizures that randomly occurred. She didn't like my sister until she was dead. My mum was outspoken and vile. I believe that she always misjudged people," came her reply, glancing at the other employees around. As much misery her mother put her through she finally apologized in the end. "Glad you came to terms with that," she smiled. She tapped her fingers on the table and finally said, "How old are you?" Yeah a question that had been bugging her.

O_____________________O

"WHAT!" Lucas was shocked. That, was just...he couldn't describe it. He saw her glance around. So what if anyone heard. They could hear it from him last. "Actually I'm glad that she is dead," he nodded. He hated people who did things like that. Once he had calmed down he spoke again. "Sorry about that," he apologised. What a nasty life she had. "Well I figured you wouldn't stop saying it so I just agreed, even though my opinion remains the same," Huff. How old? He didn't really keep track of his age, sometimes he forgot but he knew it right now. "23. You?" He asked back.

Kenedie found that vaguely interesting. She had never been to China but always wanted to go.

"Wow, China. That's far enough away. Why'd you go there after graduation? Were you just sightseeing?" She found it oddly pleasurable that she was actually interested in this conversation. She wasn't forcing herself to fake it.

Briony's eyes widened as he practically yelled. She just sighed and looked at him sadly. "It's horrible but unfortunately that's my life. My life didn't get better until after school. Even then I still couldn't find anything to enjoy unless you count my niece and last boyfriend." Yes, she missed Charlie somedays. They just sort of---fell apart. She smiled lightly at him and rolled her eyes. "I like the little argument. Believe me when I say don't agree on everything I say." She said nonsense at times. Then she was quite surprised when he said he was 23. 23?! "Oh--er..I'm 25," she said with a sheepish grin. So what if he was younger. He didn't look that young.

He slightly gritted his teeth. He didn't want to be angry but he was. He just hated people who did horrible thing. He sighed and placed his elbow on the table with his hand closed and rested his chin on his closed hand. He needed to calm down. He also scared Briony too which annoyed him more. See, there was a lot of things wrong with him. "Yeah, but no one deserves a life like at. Well it was a start." Then it wasn't. Briony had a horrible life. He felt slightly grateful that he didn't have one like that. She had a niece? Cool oh and and her last boyfriend. Of course! "That's terrible. So what about your niece and your last boyfriend? Care to tell me about them?" he asked. "Really? Well then I think I'd better have more with you, although I'll probably just give up," he shrugged, it was mostly likely that he would. He raised an eyebrow slightly but made no comment. Hehe. He laughed when he saw her expression to his age. He smirked at her. "I know, I look older," which was annoying, he looked his age at Hogwarts, maybe it was America which made him look older. 25? Bigger smirk. "Really?" he spoke still smirking.

"I found a friend in books. Books are my life which is odd considering I was a little Hufflepuff," she smiled a bit at the memory. Days upon days spent in the library reading, keeping to herself and dodging Slytherin insults at how Huffies didn't have the smartest brain. She was smart so screw that. "Well my niece is 15 and went to Hogwarts last term. Now she lives in California with another aunt. Thalia lived with me in America when she was 9 and 10," she explained to him in a soft tone. It wasn't in her nature to ever be extremely angry. "Then Charlie--we met in the Education Department and dated for a while. OUr lives became to hectic and things just sort of...fell I suppose," Briony added, looking down at her hands. It's what she did when thinking. "I don't think you should just let a woman win the argument," she said defiantly with a smirk. "Yeah you do," she mused, trying to ignore his expression. Then she saw his expression turn into a bigger smirk and her eyes narrowed. She smacked him lightly on the head with her folder. "Don't give me that look mister. You should be grateful I even told you."

Books?! Hehe, she found friends in books. Hehe! But don't laugh, it's not nice Sawyer. He supposed that books were alright, only when he was bored and had nothing to do. Huh? She was a Huffie. What a very weird coincidence. Well he should of remembered her then. "Really, well books are sure interesting," he commented a nodded even though he was lying. "Yeah it's odd, I think the sorting hat couldn't see that you loved books. Wait, you were a Huffie? Weird, so was I," he pondered. So she was 2 years older than him and he couldn't remember that she was in Hufflepuff. He nodded at her to show that he was listening. "Poor girl, she must of been all over the place," he frowned but he was actually frowning, he wasn't faking it. "You were in the Education department? Well it makes sense," he probably thought that Charlie was smart too. Why did everyone have to be smart except him! Wow, that must of been tough for them. He understood that. He narrowed his eyebrows at her. "Why? So men should be arguing with women all the time? What's the point!" He exclaimed. Really, what WAS the point! He gasped. "You shouldn't say that to a guy! I mean it loses are confidence!" He folded his arms and looked annoyed at the table. Hehe this was too funny. "Hey! That isn't nice!" It wasn't fair! He rubbed the top of his head, although it didn't hurt. "What?! You should be grateful for me telling you my age! Your the one who said I look old! Or older than my age! I can't think now!" He sulked. Good thing he knew a bit about acting.

"They are interesting. They take you to worlds that don't exist. To people you only wish were real. I always knew that my prince charming wasn't going to ride in on a horse and sweep me off my feet," she mused, looking at him with an expression of irritation was it? No man had ever lived up to the title of HER prince charming. "My whole family was is in Ravenclaw for centuries. Then my sister made Gryffindor and me Hufflepuff. I care more than I do read. Oh I was Head Girl and Prefect too." She was always proud of that fact. It had been her LIFE goal. Then he mentioned he was in Hufflepuff. "Really? I'm suprised your name doesn't ring a bell." Actually she had been so anti-social that there was no surprised she hadn't met him. Although she did tutor kids. He seemed the kind she would have tutored. "Poor girl? You have no idea!" she exclaimed with a chuckle. "She has six brothers Lucas. That was a dream come true. And she has a HUGE mouth along with a very independent personality," Briony explained to him with a smile the entire time. Her niece was more than thrilled to get away with her. She shrugged at his comment. Yeah it did make sense. "Not harsh arguing just enough to finally let us win in the end," she said with a smirk. Hehe. She liked this guy. Plus she had a feeling they'd definitely be seeing more of each other. "You should be honored I say you look older! Why not take it as a compliment?" At least he didn't look like a young guy or anything. He didn't look that old anyway. "Why should I be grateful? It doesn't matter with men. Women on the other hand is a whole different story---" one she didn't have time to explain. No offense but he was a real ditz sometimes.

Wow, Briony's explaination of books was kinda cool and weirdly wanted him to pick up a book. Not that he would anyway. Prince Charming? No man could be Prince Charming, no guy was perfect, no matter how hard they tried. He chuckled softly. "No because I think Wizards prefer brooms to horses. Anyway, I bet there won't be any Prince Charming's which are probably easy to find, some men are jerks, some are just cruel and there are probably plenty more categories." Like his category; annoying. He had no idea what he said was true, coming from himself, as a guy. But people had flaws. "You know. That makes sense," he nodded, of course it did! He nodded again but her next sentence shocked him. Wait...he remembered her! Of course, who didn't remember their prefects and Head Girls. He was in his fourth year when she became head girl but he remembered, well he remembered her name but it was something! Why didn't it ring a bell before! "I remember now! Oh god, I have such bad memory...unless America had something to do with it?" He pondered. He raised his eyebrows waiting for her to speak again. "6 BROTHERS?!" Wow, wasn't that too much? He smiled when she described that her niece had a huge mouth and a very independent personality. He narrowed his eyebrows. Meh, he was just going to let it go. She could have her fun. He couldn't care less. "How so?! Well, do you really think that is great that guys get told that they look older than their age! Obviously it's not good to look older." Fake glare. He shrugged. "You just should," he replied. "It does," he spoke simply. "No, it's the same story," he laughed slightly, it felt like they were getting nowhere with this.

"Oh every girl has her own idea of her Prince Charming," Briony corrected him. He didn't know what he was talking about. "My Prince Charming is out there somewhere I just...haven't found him yet," she said in a faraway look in her eyes. Her perfect guy was someone who would be there for her forever and not leave her. She would get it right someday. "I'm glad something makes sense in that thick head of yours," she chuckled, rolling her eyes. Seems like not much went through it. "It could," she mused, thinking about Americans. They did laze around more than British people did it seemed. Maybe that was just her. She laughed and nodded. "I'd go kind of crazy to every now and then." At least Jared was already married and out of the house. That left five more. Or maybe it was four. Let's see there was Jared, Grant, Louis, Ethan, and Willie. Yep four left. "They'll find you wiser than you are," she teased. "Besides, it's not like you look a ton older. Just two or three years." She wouldn't be talking to him if he didn't look older. Okay never mind, maybe she would. "No I shouldn't, it does NOT matter and if i was some uptight woman I may have just smacked you if you inquired my age," Briony snapped with a defiant glare. Grrr....