"I did tell him." Old men were good at grudge holding, didn't he know? And Alice wasn't at all comfortable with nuzzling with her grandfather watching, especially with those looks he was giving the back of her boyfriend's head.

"Know what? It's okay. I can see Colin Mackenzie some other time." And just forge her name on that autograph.. she did have a sampling of his handwriting, did she not? "Let's go do stuff now."

She wiggled out from under one of his arms, keeping the other slung around herself, and proceeded to tug him away from the funding booth.

Did she? He shot a quick look over his shoulder toward the booth.

Errr....

... he was watching them. West sort of waved gingerly. Hi. Ahem.

Colin some other time? West looked down at Alice. "Well, yeah we'll get to with this Daily Prophet gig for sure, right?" He smiled at her and looked over his shoulder again as Alice tugged him away.

... he was willing enough to go anyplace if it meant kisses.

Carter just chuckled. "She excited?" Scarlett. How old was she anyway? Just a few years, right?

He chuckled lightly. "Nah. Nothing like that. Everything went well." No breakdowns or accidents or anything of the sort. "Destiny did have a time shopping though." So... the only thing close to breaking was his wallet.

Not really though.

Carter blinked. "... other job?" he asked. As far as he knew, Treyen was acting. Or something. Was that still the case? Maybe not. He didn't know.

"Soooo. Things well then?" he asked. Any wedding plans was what he meant. Treyen and Ellie had been dating since... forever really.

"Eh well, hang in there, every team has ups and downs," Nolan said with a smile. That was certainly true of Hogwarts teams, and muggle teams as well!

"They're good...Scarlett is starting to talk now, and Ginger is expecting again. With a strapping young boy, I'm sure," he chuckled. Oh at least he HOPED! Whatever the case may be, they were having another baby and that was awesome!

"So, are you still mad at Ginger for taking me away from Hogwarts?" he asked with a chuckle. He knew that a lot of the students had blamed her for his departure, and yes, it had been awfully selfish of her but she had CHANGED!

"I'm not sure she entirely understands what's happening, and I think she thinks the baby will be more of a doll than anything," Nolan explained with a chuckle. Explaining things to a two year old was a hassle sometimes.

"Ugh, I know that feeling," he added with a grin when Carter said his girlfriend had gone on a shopping spree. Ginger was practically a shopaholic!

"Oh, thanks," Ellie said, picking up the quill. She signed her name - though, her signature is really just her writing her name out, then picked the tie up and blew on the ink so it would dry without smudging.

"Here you go, sir," she held it out to him.

Grin.

"Mhm," she nodded, "He writes for his old acting company. And then, he acts with his new...ish one. But that's at night Wednesday through Saturday." Because all of that was information Carter cared about. Really, Ellie was just a bit distracted by the old man and the tie that her mouth just rambled on.

She grinned wider. "Things are great. Same with you? And your animals?" Because he had more than she did, she knew. Without living on a farm or having a magizoologist dad like Max.

Meh. No offense, Reyn, but she didn't like hearing that. She had a habit of taking the blame for every loss, even though she knew and was often reassured by Treyen that it was a team effort and she alone wasn't to blame. But she still felt that if she had done better, Portree would have done better. So she simply shrugged at his words. Next season she planned on working so much harder.

"Talk? Like what?" But more importantly, "A BOY! Brilliant! That'll be so much better than I girl! Unless...Scarlett," that was what he said her name was, right? "Isn't a girly girl, of course. Does she like Quidditch?" Because obviously if she did, she'd be be 'cool' in Ellie's book. For a baby, at least.

"Not anymore," she laughed. Of course, she didn't care now that she wasn't even in Hogwarts anymore. "And actually, the professor who took your place, Bishop, I visit her quite often." Nod, nod. "She married the professor who took over Carlton's place when she left, same year as you, and he and I got along well." Ellie nodded some more. "It took a while to warm up to her, though." But now they had a girl, too! And Ellie was working on making her into a Quidditch fan. A Pride of Portree fan, even.

Madison came to the Hogwarts funding booth, a man deep in conversation stood behind the booth; beside an older man in a wheelchair. The older man looked as though he needed some company, and Madison had come to talk to both of them.

She did not want to interrupt the younger man's conversation, so she waited until he was finished before speaking. While she waited, she slipped her own donation of thirty galleons into the jar.

"Hello" she said brightly to both men "would it be alright if I ask you a few questions? it's for a daily prophet interview." Her quill and clipboard where held tightly out in front of her.

"Well, actual sentences, believe it or not," Nolan replied. Wasn't it just yesterday that she'd just been babbling and pointing at things, calling everything "cat" and "doll" and using only a word or two? Now she could say things like "Daddy I want a new cat" or "Daddy I want a new doll". Before he knew it, she'd be gossiping over the table about daycare and her classmates in preschool.

"She likes the toy broom her aunt got her for Christmas, so I'd say things are looking up," he answered Ellie's question. He wasn't sure he WANTED Scarlett playing quidditch though, which he wouldn't tell Ellie, of course. She could hurt herself! She was never allowed to do anything that could hurt her. Just like she was never allowed to go to school, date, or get married until she was 30. Yes. Then Nolan would be sure she'd be safe.

He nodded when she started talking about his replacement. He vaguely recalled the name of the woman who'd taken over, but she too had stepped down shortly after and was replaced by that other woman, the one he'd evaluated during his election time for the board. "The new divination professor seems...ok," he said. She didn't have tarot cards on her at all times like he did, and she didn't use crystal orbs, so those were two strikes already. "I mean, I had to evaluate her as part of my duties," he explained with a grin. Yes, his big, important, GOVERNOR duties. "I'm surprised you didn't run, actually, I hope you weren't intimidated by us old folk," he joked. "Carter certainly wasn't, right?" he asked his co-governor with a grin.

Carter laughed. "Yeah. Seems like a pretty standard kid thought. What is she now? Two?" That seemed right. Crazy how time flied.

He laughed again. Girls will be girls, right? It was a good thing Destiny wasn't a huge shopper outside of pets and jewelry. He wouldn't be able to keep up. Of course... he had a hard time keeping up with just the pets and the jewelry.

"How soon do you think they'll call a Governor's meeting?" he asked lowering his voice slightly. Because there were things that needed to be talked about, right?

Carter nodded. Oh. Okay. He didn't know that. "Has he got a show coming up soon?" he asked. Just out of curiosity. He hadn't been to one before. Although... he wasn't sure what the chances were of getting Destiny to go to a play. But he was pretty sure she liked Treyen. ... things would be kind of awkward if she didn't know, considering they'd all been out together before.

"Things are good with me. Just got back from holiday." Which means Destiny had a new wardrobe and new jewelry. "The animals are good. Everything is surprisingly still alive." Even Marcus. She'd had that rat for as long as he knew her. And it was still chasing the cats pretty well.

"I heard you got a rabbit...?" Right? It was a rabbit... right?

"Thank you for your donation." Carter said as someone else approached. "Would you like a shirt?"

Or... an interview. That was cool too. "Yeah. Of course. What would you like to know?"

Carter laughed. "Nah. Nothing really gets to you after taking on large men with bats." Plus, he considered his social skills pretty high now. Lots of interviewing practice.

"And I had to make sure the Board had a bit of young blood in it."

Ah good... at least she wasn't the only one who hadn't a clue about the presence of flobberworms. Still amused though by the abraxan scratching the other's behind, she shook her head at Addison, "The day an Abraxan chases its own tail, well, that will be the day I'd be Minister of Magic." Which was pretty much never going to happen, so like you know.

And it seemed they reached the end of the penned areas for the petting zoo and were coming up on some tables set up with banners for each of the four houses, along with the hogwarts emblem. BUT none of that brought any attention to Fina....NOPE, because she was too distracted by a FAMILIAR head of RED HAIR.

Barely giving a glance to the people at the booth (and the fact that one of them was another of her former students), she dropped some coins into the jar and then turned her attention to the redhead.


"Eliana Stone." Yes, she totally did just give the former Ravenclaw a greeting with her full name. Former favorite professors were ALLOWED to do that. OKAY!?

"HOW in Wenlock's name ARE you doing?!? ARE you like still playing quidditch?" What a dumb question. The redhead BETTER have still been playing. "GUESS WHAT?!? I played my first game! Last term! Keeper!" Fina was beaming now.

That comment got the Hufflepuff head of house a raised brow from her companion. "That'll be an interesting day." Minister of Magic indeed. Just enough proof that what he had said did have some logic behind it anyway. Because neither was going to happen anytime soon. Not that he wouldn't back his girlfriend.

They made it through the rest of the petting zoo with no further weird sightings only to come across a table to raise funds for Hogwarts. Addison was well aware of the struggles even without Fina and the Daily Prophet filling him in on the matter. After all it was Gringotts that was part of the reason for it and it was a good thing it hadn't soured or created any stresses between the two on opposite sides...kinda.

The cursebreaker moved to add his own coins into the mix quite willing to support his alma mater, smiling politely at the governors behind the table before glancing over at where Fina's own attention had gone. Obviously a former student...he mused to himself, sticking his free hand in his pocket casually and watching the interaction.

Sentences? "That's pretty cool." Much better than babbling. The most annoying thing about small kids was that you can never understand them. The most annoying thing about older kids was that they never shut up.

She wasn't having kids.

Ellie GRINNED at the mention of a broom. "BRILLIANT!" Completely brilliant! Those were the best gifts, honestly. And only the coolest parents let their kids have toy broomsticks, right? Right. Reyn was totally an awesome dad. "If you ever need a flying tutor..." she said, oh so casually, "Owl me." And she was dead serious about that. She'd love to teach REYN'S daughter how to fly. If anything, it was a good excuse to see him more. And the Ginger who stole him away.

The new Divination professor...yeah, Ellie wouldn't know them. She wouldn't even know if it was the same professor that taught her final terms at school. But even if it was, she wouldn't know them. She completely avoided the subject after Reyn left.

Then he mentioned duties, and she started laughing...only to laugh MORE when he brought up her running. "No way, Reyn." HER on the Board of Governors? Seriously? And no, silly, she wasn't intimidated. "I want nothing more to do with school than watching the Quidditch matches." Which was completely true and she was doing a good job of it. Running for the Board would have been against everything.

"Or," she added, "If they did another Alumni Ball thing. They really should, too." She addressed both Reyn and Carter as she said that. Could THEY do anything about it? It would be LOADS of fun, bothering her brother all night, and seeing a bunch of old friends all together again.

Namely the boring married ones.

"Yeah, of course," Ellie said, nodding, "He has performances every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night." Which put a stopper on many weekend plans, but it was okay. They worked around them usually. And Ellie didn't stay up very late, anyway.

Holiday? "Really? From where?" If it was nice, it'd be next on her 'To-Go' list, which was pretty empty at the moment, seeing as they'd already planned the vacations that were on there.

"Surprisingly? You take good care of them, yeah?" All of their animals were still alive, but she wouldn't be surprised about them. They - mostly Treyen - are very good at feeding them and such. Their animals are pretty basic. It's just Charley and Rufus that are a bit of a handful.

She laughed. "I got a bunny," they were BUNNIES, okay Carter? "When I went into my seventh year." So it's not like she JUST got it. "And then...a year later, that Christmas, Treyen got me another. And then they had six bunnies. So we have eight in all." More than they bargained for, but they refused to give them away. And they're quite lovely.

There was more laughing to Carter's response about running for the Board. But that was a topic that - congratulations to Carter and Reyn aside - she would rather avoid. It was boring, grown-up type stuff.

As fun as her conversations with Reyn and Carter were, Ellie's eyes widened and her smile disappeared the instant she was addressed...by THAT name. Heart racing, she cautiously turned her attention to the direction the voice came from.

Just as quickly as her smile disappeared, it reappeared. She didn't even bother with groaning about how to NOT USE THAT NAME, and instead went directly for a greeting. "HADLEY!!!" She threw her arms open for a hug. They could hug. Reyn would have gotten a hug if he wasn't behind that bloody table.

"I'm great!!" Better, seeing her old professors. And to think she took them for granted. Mostly Hadley, actually, since she knew how much Reyn meant to her, but only when he disappeared. "And I am still playing, of course." You know, they needed to keep up with her post-Hogwarts career. Sheeeeesh.

Hadley Quidditch! "I KNOW!!!" Ellie beamed back, "I SAW! I went to watch Aidan and YOU were playing!! You did SO well, too, Hadley!" She was EXTREMELY proud of her former professor who she helped teach how to fly in the first place. "But what in Merlin's name were you thinking playing in a match?! You must have been flying LOADS since I left!"

She hadn't even really heard Addison and his sly comment about her being minister. NO. Cause there were way more important things right now, like the fact that one of her favorite Ravenclaws was standing right THERE. Another had his hand interlaced with hers *ahem*

Releasing his hand for a moment, she threw her arms around the redhead in return greeting, grinning widely, as she noticed for the first time who was behind the table collecting the funds. One of them being her former colleague and prefect. "Hi Nolan," she said, in brief, before turning back to Ellie and placing her hands on her shoulders.

"You look well. Healthy." Obviously by fault of the exercise. Which wasn't a fault really, because well it was exercise and it was a good thing. "Good, good. Portrees, right?" Cause she totally remembered. Just she knew Andrew's kid brother was playing professionally too, and his kid sister was the sports healer for the Portrees. "That Rose girl... she's your healer still, right? Or ... well, she's not Rose anymore." No, she was married, but she sucked at remembering married names for those whom she didn't keep in contact with regularly. "It was all in the name of a school fundraiser! AND I blocked a shot!!" Fina beamed widely. And passed out of shock, afterwards, but you know.... "I haven't really though. I practiced a little on the pitch here or there, but yea." Not really. It was fun though.

And speaking of fun, she was being a TOTALLY rude girlfriend; ignoring her beau like that. "Ooopssss.... forgive me. Addison? This is Ellie, one of my former students who helped me to understand quidditch better." And she helped her better understand numbers. "Ellie. This is Addison, my ..." She paused, hesitating on the word. "My soul companion." MMHM. TOTAL numbers reference and better than using the 'b' word.

There was an acknowledgement of another presence at the table. A man named Nolan whom Addison would peg as a former colleague of his companions judging by his age. But it was the young woman who had the main focus and the talk had settled on quidditch. The girl's career as a professional player, or so he deduced, and the older woman's chance in a game of her own. Addison had been so pained that he had been forced to miss it but he hadn't been able to escape an order from his supervisor on a case of his. He's just have to settle on the memories of others.

And then the attention was turned to him.

Soul companion

Now that never failed to sound so much more....elegant...than boyfriend, the cursebreaker obviously getting the reference the professor was making as a fellow number cruncher. However he wasn't sure he had expected the confession of status. "You're forgiven..." he said quietly looking to Fina before back to the redhead who he was being introduced to. "Nice to meet you, Ellie," Addison greeted with a nod offering a hand to shake instead of the more overly friendly offering of a hug as the arithmancer had given.

"Oh, no problem. Always happy to donate to education" replied Madison, a donation to Hogwarts so the donations could be a success. Children deserved a good education and good quality school supplies and living conditions. "Thank you" she said, accepting the shirt.

"I know the festival may be closing up soon so I won't hold you back here for very long."Madison began.

She asked her questions all at once, as though the replies would seem like they were back and forth. She had come a little late, and on short notice too. "First of all, do you believe the funding support was successful?"

Quill poised, she jotted down notes. "And are you the only funding support for Hogwarts?". There could be more than one booth at another festival, or there could be a headquarters. Last of all she asked two more questions. "How many witches and wizards were out here today to donating? What kinds of people?" she needed to know what majority of consumers were coming out to donate. "Do you believe Hogwarts will be up and running like it was before the financial crisis?". She may think of more questions later.

Oh yeah! Hadley knew Reyn! Wasn't this nice? They were all together again!!

"Of course I'm healthy," Ellie laughed. Come on, Hadley. She always was. She HAD to be, really. And she always balanced her chocolate binges with fruit and plenty of exercise. "Yeah! Portree. The purple robes." That was Quidditch-for-Hadley basic enough wasn't it? Only, Ellie was surprised with Hadley knowing more than most fans. No one payed much mind to learn the teams' Healers. "Mia! She is still our Healer. How'd you know that?" No, really, how?

Hadley talking about her own Quidditch match was amusing, to say the least. "I know! I saw!" Didn't she say that already? "I'm surprised you flew in a match, then. Fundraiser or not." But proud. Oh so proud. Not that she'd say that out loud. It was weird to say you were proud of your teacher. It was supposed to be the other way around.

And...Ellie didn't even notice that Hadley had been attached to a male prior to the hug. She had Hadley-tunnel vision. "Hi," she greeted, after Hadley'd introduced her. ...When Hadley introduced HIM, however... "SOUL COMPANION?!" Her eyes widened and flitted back and forth between Hadley and Addison. One, that was the lamest term, ever, Hadley. Two, HADLEY HAD A BOYFRIEND!!! "YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND!!" Or...

Her eyes grew WIDER. "OR HUSBAND??!!"

Boyfriend, she could handle. Hadley suddenly having a husband would be WAY too much of a shock at the moment.

OH goooooddd.... Addison was such a nice gentleman, forgiving her for being rude and not introducing immediately.

Smiling politely as they shook hands, Fina looked back at the redhead when she confirmed she was indeed with Portree; purple robes though, she didn't remember oddly enough. But Ellie was surprised she knew the healer. "Well... I don't really know her, but her eldest brother, Andrew, he was a year older than me. In Hufflepuff." So duh, of course she knew him. She knew Mia only slightly, seeing as the girl was only a mere second or third year when she graduated. "And then we caught up briefly in each other's recent activities when he ran for Board of Governors a couple years ago." Mmhm. SO yea....

She was surprised she flew in a match? Why ... was it a BAD THING?! "It was a fundraiser. For fun, though." So why so surprised?! It wasn't like she was playing for a trophy or anything.

BUT THEN....... OH. She ... soul companion. No. Why did she have to say that 'b' word so loud. For being in thirties, Fina felt a school-girl's blush creep across her cheeks. "No. No, not husband. Just boyfriend." Was that a big deal? "But ssssh", she held a single finger up towards Ellie's lips.

Addison was simply an audience member to the talk of quidditch, never a player himself even if he didn't have the...concern about flying Fina had had. The names being passed seemed vaguely familiar to him, at least Andrew being around his own age. But then he had no need to add his two cents into the conversation as it went on around him. He couldn't help coughing at the mention of husband though, the word so...so...loud even among the never-ending din of the street festival. Even the title of boyfriend had been exaggerated in tone and volumn by the redhead just as her eyes had widened in shock at the revelation.

Was it really such a surprise for Fina to have such a connection? Or was it him that was the cause of the commotion? Addison couldn't be sure but he was sure it was probably best to keep either a little more on the down-low. The blush on his companion was cute though, making Addison smile.

But yes, Sssssshhhh. Like...a little quieter, capice?

Not that they were hiding their relationship, Hadley certainly wouldn't have introduced him the way she had if that had been the case. But it didn't need to be broadcast. Besides, the topic of husbandry was up in the air at the moment.

It had been a veeeeery long day for Eric until it was finally lunch break. Merlin's beard! The bloody shop's running mad! Of course, considering school term will start not too long from now and kids had their broomsticks sent to their shop and most of the time, he felt like fainting at the damages caused and he even had to explain how some of them were damaged beyond repairable and needed to be replaced. Do kids these days play quidditch with dragons or extra bludgers or something?

And it was always this time of the year when Eric really missed playing quidditch. Probably from repairing all the brooms? Who knew...

He apparated to Diagon Alley at lunch, grabbed a light lunch and headed for the festival. As he strolled around, he came across a booth. Hogwarts... Funding? Funding for what, exactly? Hmm... Oh, right! The goblins attack. Well, a few galleons won't hurt... His brother was going to attend Hogwarts, after all. As Eric walked towards the booth, he slid his hand into his pocket and pull out 10 galleons. "Good day, governors," he greeted smilingly as he dropped the galleons into one of the jars. Then a couple of figures caught his attention. He double checked to make sure he wasn't seeing things, like muggles said, out of stress from working. His jaw dropped to see who they were. "GOOD MERLIN!" he exclaimed. Had he watched quidditch matches, yes. Had he played quidditch, yes. As the matter of fact, he was a captain himself. But had he ever met a professional quidditch player, in this case, players it was almost like a dream.

So Hadley knew about Mia. And knew she was the Portree healer because of a recent catch up with another Rose brother. Okay. That made a lot more sense than Hadley randomly knowing this information about the team. Ellie nodded, accepting the explanation, but not really having further comment on it.

"Yeah," she laughed softly, "But that doesn't meant he students would go easy on you. A match is a match." And Hadley wasn't very experienced. But she survived! And played quite well. "Would you do another?" Would Hogwarts HAVE another? Ellie sooo had to see that one, too. Hopefully her own schedule would allow for it.

Onto more important things...HADLEY HAD A BOYFRIEND!! Not husband, thank Merlin. BUT BOYFRIEND!! "Since when?!?!!" the redhead BEAMED at her. Not that she wanted to know the gritty details of how they met, when they started dating, where they went...She just wanted to know HOW out of the loop she was.

Why wasn't Hadley one of those professors she wrote to regularly to keep in touch with?

In her excitement, Ellie kept glancing between the two. But the boyfriend seemed to be on the quiet side, which dampened her spirit a little. HOW was she supposed to get to know him if he didn't talk, eh?

Then, Hadley had a finger to her mouth. The girl blinked. Apparently, she had to keep quiet to. "Why?!" she whisper!shouted.

There was a right way and a wrong way to address or bring attention to a Quidditch player in public, according to Ellie. You could be kind, and approach, and politely ask for a photograph or autograph or what-have-you like Sherman did. That was the right way.

The wrong way was to shout obnoxiously.

Still, Ellie blushed slightly upon giving the man a glance, simply to see who shouted. Then, pretending she didn't know what he was shouting about, inched slightly closer to Hadley.