Jillian gave Faris the most malicious of triumphant grins as he seemed not to have anything to fight back her teases with, going on to agree to getting on the broom. However, her triumph only lasted until he went on to call her ragazzo yet again, something at which the girl rolled her light brown eyes at. "Hold on tight, girlie, brooms are made for 'ragazzos' like me, ragazzas like you will just fall over," teased Jillian before giving a soft amused chuckle, watching with a grin as the window magically opened for them (she couldn't see Faris doing the wandwork behind her, so she assumed the window had just done that by itself). "Wow, did you see that?! Even the windows follow my every command!" she commented, clearly fascinated by this before beginning to lead the way over to it at a slow pace, but once she was out that window it was hell on a broom. The girl sped up very suddenly, nearly sending both herself and Faris so far back they could've fallen off the broom; she wasn't the best at keeping it steady, either, so the two of them ended up doing a number of sharp turns and twirls in the air that got the students walking around campus to look up with puzzled looks on their faces. Oh, Jill was definitely not the safest person to ride a broom with, and unfortunately for Faris, he had to learn this the hard way.

Faris simply shook his head. Jillian could call him a ragazza as much as she desired to, as long as she didn't hurt him while taking him on a companion flight down to the forest. On a side note, she had actually gotten the Italian accent down pretty well. After hearing Faris, she had probably picked up on a few things. on He had to laugh at her naivety about the windows. "I guess they like you," He snorted, bringing a hand to his mouth to stifle his rude laughter. But Faris had to hold on for dear life, bringing his hands back to the broom handle as Jill suddenly took off. His long hair whipped from his face, his dark hair in a flurry as Jill's hair flew in his face. He spit out a few strands of hair as he knit his brow, his legs squeezed tightly and his knuckles turning snow white from his Herculean grip on the poslihed wooden handle. "Jill!" He cried as they did a loop in mid-air, "Stop!"

Jillian, who was obviously used to this kind of reckless broom-driving, was in a fit of amused chuckles as Faris gave a horrified call of her name, asking her to stop. "We're not there yet, Patino!" she replied, her voice loud, fighting against the loud howling of the wind in their ears. But she couldn't stop now, the forest was still a short distance away, they were almost there! And so, after a few more minutes of twirling around in the air, getting her hair all over Faris' face, and nearly crashing the two of them into a number of very tall pine trees, Jillian landed by the outskirts of the forest, where the group was all supposed to meet with their professors.

Faris stumbled off of the broom, landing promptly and hard on his bum. He simply sat for a moment, his hair all mussed in his eyes as he breathed deeply for a moment. "Never-again," He huffed, blowing the hair from his eyes as he recovered. Standing up, he wiped the dirt from the seat of his pants and tousled his dark hair. Taking a good look at Jill, he predicted that she wouldn't feel at all remorseful. "Thank you... for almost getting us killed." Faris pouted childishly, glad to be alive yet sorry that he had ever taken the trip. He should have known the consequences.

Jillian, being the kind and considerate soul that she was, immediately burst out laughing as the poor Faris stumbled off the broom and fell to the ground, something which clearly amused her to no end. She hopped off her broom and shrunk it small enough to fit in her pocket as the boy then spoke, mentioning that this would never happen again and then thanking her for almost getting them killed. "Don't be such a baby, Patino, it could've been a lot worse!" said the girl, gazing around their surroundings now. But there seemed to be no one in sight... where was everybody?! Of course, Jillian and Faris were like an hour early, so obviously there wasn't anyone around yet.

Faris let out a hoarse laugh. "Oh, please don't tell me that you've actually dismembered someone before?!" Faris stuffed his hands into the pockets of his shorts rather roughly and looked about, his brow still furrowed. He almost instantly relaxed as he breathed in the fresh forest air and looked about at the shrubbery all around. Being a magizoology major, nature was Faris's second home. He never minded getting dirty and was always up for being outdoors and in the sun. He smiled slightly, glad to be home again.

Jillian merely rolled her eyes as Faris asked if she had actually dismembered someone before, not really paying much attention at this point. There were bigger worries in her mind - where was everyone?! Did they... Oh no! They were late! They missed everyone! "Everyone's gone!" she announced suddenly, abruptly, horror beginning to fill her features. "C'mon, we're late! We have to find the others, they couldn't have gone too far!" said he girl, now taking Faris' wrist and dragging the boy deeper into the darkening forest, hoping to find the others who actually hadn't even arrived yet.

Faris checked his watch before Jill took him away, catching a glimpse of the ticking hands briefly before he was rushed off. "JILL!" He yelled, tugging his arm away as he attempted to stop, digging his heels into the ground. "It's SEVEN! We're an hour early!" He barely dodged a sharp branch that had been about to strike his face, grateful for his quick thinking. Jill probably hadn't heard him, so he began to twist his arm about to wriggle free of her iron grip. For being small in comparison to himself, Jillian was quite the strong one.

Jillian completely ignored Faris' protests, her head elsewhere, on where exactly everyone else was, on why they had all gone off and left her and Faris behind. It wasn't very fair and it certainly wasn't nice! So she continued dragging the boy along, deeper and deeper into the dark forest, getting closer to the point where the sunlight could just very barely make it through the many trees surrounding the pair wandering into unknown land. But Faris was moving too much, protesting too much, and Jillian eventually released him. "Fine, Patino!" she sighed, pausing in her tracks to turn to him with furrowed brows. "If you don't want to come, then fine, but I'm going to look for the others and I'm going to enjoy this camping trip!" she decided, turning back around and continuing deeper and deeper into the dark forest.

Faris was relieved, if only slightly, when Jillian released him. "Jill," Faris crossed his arms over his chest, "Stop acting like a child." He stood rooted to the forest floor for a moment, watching Jill walk off stubbornly. As she began to disappear, Faris knew that he couldn't leave her. She would get lost and would blame everything on him. Forcing himself to follow her, Faris slipped his wand out of his pocket and aimed it as Jill as she walked on, leaves crunching under her feet as day seemed to turn to night in the dark forest. "Levicorpus," He murmured, flicking his wand. And in that moment, Faris's spell had hit and Jill was hanging upside down, Faris's wand the only thing keeping her from falling onto her head. "You need to relax," He attempted to speak as calmly as possible, gritting his teeth. He felt horrible about jinxing her but there was nothing else that could have been done.

Poor Jillian didn't have the slightest idea that Faris was coming in her direction with his wand out and every intention in the world to jinx her, so she was completely caught off-guard as she suddenly found herself hanging upside down, as if some large invisible hand was holding her up in the air by her feet. Shrieking, the girl quickly pulled her purple t-shirt (which featured one of her favourite wizarding rock bands - Arctic Mermaids, hehe) down (or up, since she was upside-down) as it threatened to fall right over her face due to the gravity pulling the fabric, along with her hair down. Once over the shock, Jillian caught sight of Faris standing there, holding her up with his wand, and she was quick to throw him the most fiery of glares. "Patino, you idiot!" the girl snapped, clearly very highly irritated by the way she had just been jinxed. "Put me down!" she ordered, clearly not listening as the boy asked her to relax. But how could she relax when she was hanging upside down in mid-air?!

"I will NOT," Faris retorted, his voice very decisive. "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but you really need to stop and think." Faris bit his lower lip. Jill looked so vulnerable as she hung upside down and being one of her best friends, Faris felt even worse as the blood rushed to her head. But the fierce look on her face quickly ebbed away the guilty feeling. "It is seven, Jill. Seven. You overreacted. We're early, not late. Clear?" Faris cocked his head to the side, wondering if Jill would only retort or if she would relent.

Jillian narrowed her light brown eyes spitefully at the Italian boy holding her upside down as he spoke, deciding that he would not let her down ("Who's being childish now, Patino?!") and she listened as he continued, explaining to her that it was seven, that she overreacted, that they were not late but rather early. Jillian rolled her brown eyes but said nothing, her gaze leaving his as she examined her surroundings absentmindedly for a couple quiet moments, apparently trying to decide if the boy was making a fair argument or not. After a couple more moments, the girl sighed in defeat and returned her brown eyes to him. "Fine, Patino. Fine. We're early, you're right."

Faris sighed, gently propping Jillian on her feet before flicking his wand and releasing her from the jinx. Had a miracle just occured? Ever since Faris had known Jillian, she had always been stubborn like a mule, always wanting to have her way. If she didn't get what she wanted, she threw a fit until something else caught her short attention span. "Thank you," Faris smiled gently and nodded, tucking his wand back into his pocket. "Can we go back, now? Even I have never been to this part of the forest before, and it's a little creepy."

But what Faris didn't know was that Jillian had only lied to get the boy to let her down; she knew if she confessed her reluctance to going his way, he would've kept her up there for ages. And so, in order to avoid being jinxed again, the girl quickly pulled out her wand, not about to get caught off-guard this time. As Faris then asked if they could start heading back to the outskirts of the forest, Jillian shook her head. "I'm not going back. The professors had told us to be here bright and early - it's bright and it's early right now, they've left us, I don't care what you say!" she decided stubbornly. "So I'm going to go look for the others now, but if you want to return to the dorms then that's your choice," the girl added, walking back cautiously, bumping into a tree every now and then. But she was feeling far too reluctant to turn her back on Faris now, ever since he attacked her by surprise just a moment ago.

Faris groaned, feeling as if he wanted to rip out his hair from his scalp. Of course no such miracle had occured. Why would Jill have changed her personality in such a short amount of time? He ran after her, catching up as he almost tripped over a large rock. "Can we just stop, please? Why don't I send a patronus up to the school to ask if the group has left yet? Or maybe to ask what time the departure for the campgrounds is?" He had a pleading look on his face. Faris was a man of the forest, but he knew that if Jill dragged them both in too deep that it would be near impossible to get out. Who knew what lurked in the depths of the woods that surrounded Wenlock University.

Jillian listened, her gaze still very cautious when Faris approached her, as the boy suggested sending a patronus over to the school, to ask if the group had yet departed. The young girl stopped walking then, examining the pleading Italian boy before her and she gave another sigh of defeat, though this time there was honesty in the gesture. "Oh alright. Take the fun out of adventuring if you must, Patino," she said, crossing her arms and rolling her brown eyes as she waited for him to summon up a patronus to act as messenger. She suddenly seemed to turn a little more curious and less annoyed, though, as she realized that this would be the first time she ever saw the boy's patronus, and she couldn't help but wonder what creature his patronus would be in the form of.

Faris exhaled, glad that Jill had stopped, if only momentarily. Taking advantage of his minimal time, Faris whipped out his wand once again and closed his eyes, attempting to conjure up the happiest memory that he could think of. It brought a small smile to his face as he remembered his first day at Wenlock, how everyone had been so welcoming and kind to the foreigner who spoke broken English. Keeping the memory in concentration, Faris thrust his wand in front of him before speaking the magic words, "Expecto patronum!" A light mist shot out of his wand, although Faris felt the force of his giant patronus leap forth and out of sight to where he wished it to go. His patronus was a thestral, although he hadn't known until a dear friend back home had told him. Faris had never seen death and was thus not capable, at least for now, of seeing his protector and friend. He figured that Jill wouldn't have been able to have seen it either. "Tada!" He smiled cheekily, knowing that she would think that he failed at that tough piece of magic as no 'visible' creature had sprung forth.

Light brown eyes sparkling with curiosity, Jillian watched anxiously and excitedly as Faris pulled out his wand, his eyes closing as he thought of a happy memory that brought a smile to his lips. The young girl watched all of this with a sort of fascination but most of all, a burning curiosity. And then, there was light mist coming from the boy's wand, a sort of invisible force coming through. Jillian blinked. Wha-- where was it? And then, very proudly, Faris gave her a 'tada!' that left Jillian looking completely confused, her brows furrowing. "'Tada' what? You didn't summon anything!" said the girl with an exasperated sigh. "Am I gonna have to do this for you too, Patino?"

Faris stuffed his wand into his pocket, attempting and failing to hold back his laughter. In between chuckles, he managed to choke out, "My patronus--is a thestral." The look on Jill's face was priceless. He managed to bottle up his laughter, composing himself. "I wouldn't have expected you to have seen it either. It took me years of practice before a friend, one who can see thestrals, actually told me that the mist coming out of my wand wasn't failure but the remnants of the patronus." He smiled triumphantly, "But of course, if you don't believe me, why don't you give it a shot?"

Jillian's eyebrows rose with surprise as Faris shared with her that his patronus was a thestral, before they furrowed slightly and suspiciously. Maybe he was lying, maybe he was just saying that 'cause he wasn't able to get a patronus out! And just as she was about to voice this thought, the boy spoke, explaining that it took him years of practice before a friend told him the mist coming out of his wand was the remnants of a patronus. At this, Jill's eyebrows rose once again, surprised by this and believing it completely this time. It was then that he suggested she give it a shot, and suddenly the girl became a little hesitant. But thestrals had always kinda freaked her out, the whole idea of there being a large animal before her yet she couldn't see it had always made a shiver run down the girl's spine. "I--I think I'll pass..." she muttered, taking a step back.

Faris was surprised to see Jill a bit unnerved. Was she actually afraid of thestrals? Wait, not even a real thestral: a patronus, for Merlin's sake? Faris had been about to smile and tell her that he would never sic his thestral on her before his smile fell, and fast. "We have a small problem." He began, "Whenever my patronus returns to tell me if the group has left or not, how do we know when it's here if neither of us can see it... not really?" He bit his lower lip, disappointed that his brilliant idea was already failing.

Jillian, who was looking around at the air as if waiting for the Thestral to suddenly make itself visible out of nowhere, turned to Faris with slightly furrowed brows as his smile suddenly faded. She was just about to ask him what was wrong when he spoke, explaining that they had no way of knowing when his patronus would return, since they couldn't see it. "True..." muttered Jillian with a more thoughtful expression taking over her features. "Can't you tell it to... I don't know, make some noise when it gets back?" asked the young girl with a bit of a shrug, honestly not sure what to suggest. "Can't you sense it when it's near?"

Faris thought about what she had said. He had never ordered his patronus to send and bring back a message before, so he was a bit stumped about how to answer her inquiry. "I don't know. I can try," He shrugged, "But it's gone now. Besides, when does a patronus ever really make noise, besides maybe a little... what do you English call it? A whoosh?" Faris shrugged, straining his ears to hear if the thestral was returning. But the only sound came from the birds perched in the trees all around them. "And I don't think I can tell if it's around, unless it touches me or something. Remember what I said about thinking that I had been failing at conjuring a patronus all that time? I thought I had been failing until a friend told me that I had actually been succeeding; I just hadn't been able to see my patronus. Anyways, if I hadn't been able to sense it through my ignorance before, I doubt that I would be able to sense it now."

Jillian couldn't help but give a soft chuckle as Faris used the word 'whoosh' before explaining to her that he highly doubted he'd be able to sense his patronus now, if he had already been unable to do so for so many years before. "I guess we'll just have to search blindly, then!" she decided, now beginning to walk around in circles with her arms outstretched, hesitantly reaching out to the air around her just to see if she could feel the thestral. She looked rather funny, actually, almost like a blind person searching for something.

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