Jory returned the hug before quickly letting go. He was interested in hearing about her family. "What did you find out about your family?" he asked curiously.

"Yes," Jory agreed. "We've got six more years."

"Yes,I'm ready. What are we dancing to?," he said trying not to show nervousness. "Nope, I don't as yet. Wanna be partners?"
He wasn't sure if he wanted to turn into a girl though. The idea was funny.

Cassie had for the second time in her life taken ten minutes or so to get ready. She was getting pretty good at this hurrying thing, at least when she wanted to be that is.

She dropped her bag on a table when she found the empty classroom and propped herself up on a table. She did ask Joshua not to be long, hopefully he wouldn't be. In the mean time she entertained herself by producing bright yellow stars with her wand and watching them float around.

Hurrying out the Gryffindor Common Room, Josh almost jumped over all the moving stairs things as he made his way to that particular empty classroom. Yup, he did that. Not to forget that he rolled down the last stairs while trying to do it and hit his head which caused a little bruise on his forehead but...whatever. He doubted it was going to take anyone's attention anyway for he already had this huge scar.

Opening the door slowly, the Gryffindor stepped inside and smiled at the Hufflepuff girl when he saw her there playing with her...wand work? ''Well...i hope you have enjoyed your magic enough so far.'' She knew why he was saying that, right?

Hehehe...

Cassie had not noticed that Josh had entertained the room, because she had moved on to producing magical animal dancing lights and they were keeping her well entertained. It wasn't until he spoke that she noticed she was not alone. She grinned and hopped off the table. When she got closer she noticed the bruise on his head. Oh boy, he didn't get into a fight on his way here did he?

"Josh..you didn't run into Finlay and beat him up did you?" because she just had to ask.

She spun her wand between her fingers before handing it over to Joshua. The last of the dancing animal lights disappeared." Yep I'm ready to be wandless."

Ari was a bit confused about the hug, which ended somewhat abruptly, but focused on answering her friend's question. 'Well, my gran was Head Girl and was in love with the Head Boy from her time, who happened to be a Malfoy, but her family didn't allow her to marry him, arranging a marriage with a man who had been in Ravenclaw, like herself, instead. It was distressing to find out that my grandparents didn't marry for love.' she narrated.

What were they dancing to? Good question. 'I found an old disc we could use, but the music is rather complicated to dance to. There is a beautiful waltz, called The Blue Danube, lovely to listen to, but I don't think we could pull it off. Worth a try, though.' Ariadne explained. Anyway, it was very unlikely that they could nail even the simplest of dances.

'Yes, I'd love to. The Potions assignment is worth 50 points, so I really want to do it. Plus, it'd be fun to see what it's like to be a boy.' she giggled, contemplating the prospect.

Wait!

Watching the magical stuff Cassie had created vanish for a moment or so Josh wondered how she had managed to do those. Wow! Apparently, the magic work of many people in this school was way better than his. Yea, apparently he had to stick with the more muggle means of accomplishing stuff just he had been doing with combatting for a long time.

Then looking back at the Hufflepuff girl, he raised an eyebrow at her. Beating Finny up? ''Well...actually that was something i have been looking for, for a long time so far. But no, he never faces me alone. There's always a Neptune Bott or someone, mostly a professor, around to out for him. So, no i haven't touched him'' Yet. Yes, yet. He was soooo going to find the chance to beat him up some day. He was determined to do so.

It surprised him when how willingly and easily she had handed her wand to him....unlike Evelyn. It had been a very difficult business to take the she-snake's wand from her hands. And what felt weirder was that Cassie's wand felt much more welcoming to his hands than Evelyn's did. Evelyn's felt rather cold and...unfriendly even under the holster.

Anyway, giving the girl a friendly smiled Josh safely placed the wand next to his. ''That's good. So, now, tell me exactly what you want to learn and practice. What is your purpose?''

Because he only taught to those who wanted to fight evil. He was going to help no people at the evil side. There was NO WAY he would do that.

As she watched her conjured lights disappear Cassie inhaled deeply. She hated failing at anything she tried to do but seeing Josh all toned and what not made her feel weak. What if he decided she wasn't learning the punching stuff fast enough and decided against teaching her? Gaaah, it would make her even more frustrated that she already was. "Hmm, well how did that happen?" She asked pointing to his face.

Cassie watched Josh with her wand until he put it next to his on the table. That was when she finally relaxed totally. It wasn't that she didn't trust him or anything, she just..felt a whole lot more comfortable not being the only wandless one in the room. Josh was cool though and would probably beat her up muggle style than hex her if he wanted to hurt her, which he didn't want to....she hoped.

Oh right. She figured he'd ask why she wanted to learn muggle combat when she had a wand and was quite apt at using it too." Well, I love dancing and it's relaxing, but lately dancing hasn't been able to help me get the edge off. I want to vent..I want to hit stuff, but I can't throw a punch or a kick to save my life." She sighed. Yeah it was a bit embarrassing admitting something like that."In any case, what if I lose my wand and someone tried to beat me up? I'd be helpless."

"Yes, it is distressing. I've heard stories like that. But it's not really like that these days, thank god," Jory said.

Jory had always wanted to try try waltz. He'd seen it alot on TV.
"Well, we'll never know if can do it unless we give it a shot,"he said his fears all of a sudden evaporating.

Jory laughed. He had no idea why the idea of turning into a boy fascinated Ari so much. He had decided he would use some of her hair for his potion.

Nodding, Ari replied: 'Yes, it's good that things changed, because otherwise my family would have disowned me for not being a Ravenclaw.' This was intended as a joke, but it was probably the truth.

Ariadne was surprised at Jory's sudden courage. 'Ok, let's get this started.' she said, gaining some Gryffindor courage herself. The girl began to play the disc and then took Jory's hands, proud of herself for not trembling or anything of that sort. The beautiful music made her relax, as she made the first few steps. It was not that bad.

'Do you think I'm weird for being curious about how life is as a boy?' she asked with a chuckle, noticing Jory's amusement. 'Sometimes the girly talks bore me to tears. A change would be welcome.' she laughed. 'But it's not bad to be a girl, I promise.'

Jory was surprised. "You really think they would have done that?"

The music was soft and perfect for the waltz. "Er.. I think I'm supposed to place one of my hands on your waist I think?" Jory said also taking a few steps. "Hmm, its not so bad," he thought

Jory was amused. "No, I don't think so. Actually now,the idea seems kind of exciting to turn into someone else."

They continued to move in time with the music. Jory was surprised at himself but he guessed he watched alot of dance shows.

Hesitating a bit before replying, Ari finally said: 'Not my mum or my grandparents. But if my great-grandparents lived, I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy. After all, they're the ones who forced an arranged marriage on my grandma. I suppose nothing that dramatic happened in your family?' Ariadne wondered.

'On my waist. Yes. Sure.' the girl blushed a bit but regained her composure rapidly. The music was lovely and she felt a lot lighter. Not to mention that Jory did make things easier.

'I'm curious what you'll think about being me.' Ari chuckled, but at the same time lost her concentration and accidentaly stepped on the boy's foot. 'Jory, are you ok? I'm so sorry!' she panicked.

"Well, it sounds bad saying this but it's probably a good thing they're not alive," Jory said hoping he would not hurt Ari's feelings. "Nope, nothing dramatic except I have an Australian mom and American dad."

Jory turned a bit red as he put his right hand on Ari's waist. But he did feel comfortable with Ari.

"You're not bad," he said to her. And at the same moment Ari's foot came crushing down on his. He let go of her and grabbed his foot. He wondered how someone so small could have such a strong foot.

But after a while the pain subsided. "I'm ok now , don't worry about it," he told Ari who look as if she was about to cry.

She had never thought about it that way, but yes, her great-grandparents weren't very nice people. 'I guess.' she replied simply. 'Really? So how come you live in Britain now? Is your family here with you?' Ari was shocked at how little she knew about her friend.

Talk about irony. Exactly when Jory told her she was doing well, she had to step on his foot. 'Can you walk? Should we go to the hospital wing? If only I knew a pain relieving Charm!' Ariadne started blabbing and got even paler than usual, if possible.

"Dad's a police detective. We moved here when he got a job offer," Jory said trying to remember if he had to Ari any of this. "I guess it was a good thing because I didn't have to travel far to get here. Who knew all those weird stuff I could do when i was smaller was magic."

Jory gingerly stood on his foot. It seemed fine except for the little throbbing pain. "I'm good," he reassured Ari who was talking very fast. He never knew she could talk so fast when flustered.

How did what happen? Blinking at her Josh seemed to be confused for a moment as he had no idea what she was talking about yet when she indicated some spot on his face...he figured it a bit. Well...there were always something on his face that should not have been there. ''It's nothing.'' so he said ''Not a big deal. Let's just move on.'' Yea, he did not like talking about his bruises, scars, wounds...etc.

Then, smiling at her, he gently took her arm and tugged her towards the other side of the empty classroom...away from the wands. So, if she ever felt like snatching a wand from there, all in a sudden, she needed to run to the other side of the classroom right now and that Josh knew he could handle.

He kept the smile on his face as she spoke, explaining her reasons and intentions for requesting to learn this. Hmmm. It did not surprise the Gryffindor yet all sounded reasonable. ''Well...then. Stress relieving and wandless defense.'' he summarised. ''Did i get it right?'' eh...he supposed he had gotten it right. ''To be honest i think every witch and wizard should be learning wandless defense. Seriously, one just shouldn't make his life depend on a magical stick. What if...one days it slips away from your hand?'' Or lost? Stolen? Broken? It was a stick after all. ''Anything can happen to it. But everyone always have their body with themselves. Always.''

Now, it was time to start. *ahem*

''All right. Show me what you can do and i want the best. I guarantee you that i won't react. Won't move even a single muscle. This is only to see what you can do, so we will know where and what to start with''

Cassie shrugged as Josh dismissed the cut on his face. She didn't want to pry really and besides, most guys were like that. They had this tough guy, nothing hurts persona thing going, which most girls usually just went along with, so that's what she was going to do.

She allowed him to lead her to the other side of the classroom, away from her wand she noticed..hmmm.. yeah she didn't like being that far away from her wand. SHe looked over her shoulder at her lonely looking wand as he led away. Great, what had she gotten herself into now? At least he was gently, she didn't have anything to be scared of..it was only Josh.

Cassie nodded as Josh basically summed up why she wanted to do this. He hit the nail right on the head. Of course there was also the wanting a distraction from her thoughts thing, but she could leave that alone. He didn't need that much detail."Yep that's it in a nutshell." She concurred.

She listened as Josh spoke about the benefits of wandless defense. It all seemed pretty logical to her and most certainly it was practical. She didn't get why people thought him to be crazy, he seemed like a pretty smart guy to her....just a little bolder than the average student...bolder than the average Gryffindor even."Right, my body is always with me." How right he was, she seemed to be doing the lonely thing these days anyways.

What? Cassie blinked at him for a few seconds. Did he want her to hit him or something? Well she would, he asked for it anyways but he better know that she would not be taking responsibility for any damage she may inflict on him. ahem...yeah right.

She made a fist and threw a punch at his arm. O.O Was it suppose to hurt her? She whimpered softly and rubbed her fist as her eyes watered." Is it suppose to hurt? |Did I hurt you?"

That had been convenient indeed. Ari could only imagine how difficult it could be for foreign students to come to Hogwarts while their family was continents away. 'So where do you live here in Britain?' the Gryffie asked, curious if it was anywhere near her hometown. 'A detective? Wow! That is the most interesting Muggle job! Does he work for...ah...what do they call it...Scotland Yard?' Ariadne wondered. 'Hmm, yes, it must've been peculiar for you, but my mum knew they were outbursts of magic when I was little.' Ari remembered.

Ari was angry on herself for hurting her friend, but she believed him about being ok. 'Are you sure you don't need anything? We should at least sit down.' she finally said, leading Jory to some chairs at the back of the classroom. 'Would you like any chocolate? It always makes me feel better when I have a problem.' It was a silly thing to say, but true, nevertheless.

"We live in Wales,"Jory replied. "That's what I wanted to be before I found out I'm a wizard but now I'm thinking maybe I should do something in the Wizarding World. Good guess, Ari! Yup, that's where Dad works. He's always so busy there."

"My parents couldn't figure out how I managed to change my sister's hair colour or make somethings levitate," Jory reminisced "but it made sense to them last summer."

Jory didn't want Ari to worry, his foot was feeling alright. He followed her to the back of the class and took a seat. "Sure, I love chocolate. Do you always carry chocolate around with you?" he asked grinning at her?

'Pretty far. I guess it even takes long to get to King's Cross in London to take the train. I live in Yorkshire, so it would be easier for me to come directly to Hogwarts, but I still go to London to get back up north. But so far it's worth the ride.' Ari smiled, thinking at the lovely people she had met on the Hogwarts Express.

'I bet he is. Wow, Scotland Yard! Maybe if you choose to work in the Security Department of the Ministry it could be similar.' the girl suggested. 'Do you remember what spell you've used to colour your sister's hair? I have a friend in Ravenclaw who wants to turn her cat blue and hasn't found the incantation yet.'

Ari smiled sheepishly and replied: 'Umm, yeah...most of the time I do have chocolate with me. Hey, it works even after a Dementor attack, it's really good to have some at any time.' she chuckled.

"Yes," Jory said nodding "it's quite a distance but I manage to get here. Thanks to my parents. Do both your parents come to see you off?" Jory munched on the chocolate Ari had handed him. He had a weakness for sweets.

"I'll see when the time comes," Jory Ari. "What do you want to do when you leave Hogwarts, anyway?"

Jory thought hard. He had no memory what so ever over saying an incantation. All he remembered was his sister Grace who was four years then running around trying to catch him and the next think her hair was pink then turned red a few second later. At that time it could not have been explained. Jory remembered how his mother had panicked the whole day. His dad thought Jory had played a prank and wasn't so fussed.

He told Ari he didn't remember any incantation. "Why does he want to turn it blue?" He pitied the poor cat.

Jory laughed. "Anything else unusual you walk around with?"

Was that a trace of envy Ari felt when Jory mentioned both his parents taking him to London to board the Hogwarts Express?! 'Just my mum. I've never met my dad, anyway.' she confessed, surprisingly detached. This year at Hogwarts had changed her quite a bit, she wasn't that much of an introvert and didn't keep as many secrets. 'My dad's a Muggle, and he left before I was born, when he found out mum was a witch. I know it was wrong of her to hide it from him but his actions were much worse. I wish I could at least talk to him once. He's in all the Muggle newspapers, apparently he's a very rich MP with hopes of becoming Prime Minister.' Ari stopped there, thinking it was very likely she had bored Jory with her story.

'I'll tell you, but be warned, it's not something you hear every day. Here goes,' she took a dramatic pause, continuing afterwards: 'I want to become a wandmaker.' Now the girl was waiting for Jory's reaction.

'I don't know exactly why she wants to do that. The thing is...Gwen's a bit different, but she's a very nice girl and an extraordinary friend.' Ariadne felt the need to defend one of her favourite Ravenclaws.

'Unusual? I wouldn't call chocolate unusual.' Ari laughed heartily. 'Well, walking around with a wand is already pretty unusual, don't you think? Other than that, I do find myself with strange objects around me from time to time, like carrying my cat's toys to class by mistake or interesting pieces of newspaper all around.' the girl chuckled. 'But can you say you never carry anything peculiar with you?' she teased.

Jory was shocked to hear what Ari's father had done. "He never contacted you nor your mother anytime after he left? Do you have any other siblings?'' Jory never knew what it was like to have only one parent but he figure it was tough. ''What's your mother like?''

Again Jory was surprised. Ari had picked quite an unusual profession but he was sure she would be successful at it. He told her that.

''I know Gwen,'' Jory said ''and I guessed she was different.'' Jory had spoken to the young Ravie lots of time.

''No, chocolate isn't usual, I guess,'' Jory responded ''Do you pick up stuff absentmindedly? The only thing I carry around besides my wand is a picture."
He pulled out a picture out of his pocket with four persons in it. Himself, his six year old sister Grace, his mom Rachel and dad Danny. He showed it to Ari.

'No, he never wanted to get in touch with us after that. My mum wrote him a few letters immediately after I was born, but received no answer, so she gave up.' Ari replied, adding: 'And I'm an only child.' But when speaking of her mum, the girl's face lit up. 'Mum's fantastic, she's my best friend, she's really funny and very intelligent and knowledgeable.' Ariadne made a short description and smiled at the thought of her mother.

Ari nodded at Jory's compliment about her succeeding in her chosen career and smiled gratefully. 'So what do you think of Gwen?' Ari asked the boy with curiosity. 'I won't tell her any of this, I promise.' she said, grinning.

'Yes, I do pick up weird stuff absent-mindedly, I hope I will grow out of the habit, but who knows...' her voice trailed off while the Gryffie was admiring Jory's picture. 'Wow, so that's how a real family looks like. It's beautiful.' the girl said, impressed. 'You told me once that your sister doesn't show magical abilities, right?' Ariadne wasn't sure if she remembered correctly, but she did know for sure that someone told her that about their siblings.

Jory felt sorry for Ari's mom. Raising a child alone must have been hard. He tried to reassure Ari, ''Maybe he will finally get some sense some day and contact you and your mom someday.Your mom sounds nice. Atleast she's around for you.''

Jory knew Ari would not tell Gwen so he was truthful. "When I spoke to Gwen she answered all my questions and we talked normally but she would stare at me hard as if she were thinking of some other answer she would have liked to give instead of the one she did give. She seems a bit...distracted and caught up in a world of her own. Do you hang out with her alot?''

The young Huffie was pleased with Ari's response. He loved his family.
''No, she doesn't. Its weird, isn't it? I'm the only one who can do magic in all of my extended family. I wonder how that happens.'' Jory thought for a moment then told Ari, ''And suppose it get worse and you pick up something more weird like... your cat perhaps?'' He found the thought funny but somewhat likely.

Ari nodded. 'Thanks. For what you said about mum. I don't think my dad will ever try to contact us, but I'd like to meet him, just once. A part of me wants to hear an explaination which would excuse what he has done.' the girl said, staring into space, holding back a tear. 'But still, I'm lucky to have so many friends to compensate for his absence. Good friends, like you.' the Gryffie turned to Jory and smiled.

Ari chuckled at her friend's accurate description of Gwen. 'That's true. I think she's trying hard to be polite, but I like her a lot, nevertheless. She's fun if you get to know her, and yeah, we do spend a lot of time together.' she admitted.

'I don't know. It is unusual, but not unheard of. And I'm glad you're magical, because otherwise we probably wouldn't have met.' How true. 'Nah, I wouldn't pick up living things. My cat would meow or move and I would be aware of his presence. It's only inanimate objects that I pick up.' Ariadne explained.