Arya took a moment to consider his offer as she paced too, turning on her heels to face him once more as she slowly drew her wand and took stance. Hm. "... No, sir. I can take it." Maybe. She hoped she could take it, for a few spells at least.

Plus he was probably going to take it a bit easy anyway, why add more easy to that?

Bliiiiiiiink! Why they were crying? Well, wasn't it-

Wait... Aaron was crying? Eyes wide, Kita glanced at the fifth year boy who was currently wiping his face. Merlin! Aaron was crying! Was this a first? Was this a sign about how much he cared for Alyssa in a more than friends way?

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!

Okay, Kita REALLY needed to calm down. She nodded at what Aaron said. But was she going to keep quiet? No! "You think we'd let you just go without coming here and trying to stop you?" she said, raising an eyebrow at the young girl, "And Lyssie, we care too much for you. We'll miss you too much if you go. That's why we're crying." Even if Aaron won't admit it.

Kita giggled at Aaron's response to Lyssie's problem. Trust him to make a remark about the awesomness of Hufflepuffs. Who are, by the way, pretty awesome. Now onto Lyssie. "Lyssie, you will fit in! Everyone fits in at Hogwarts! You look... pretty well fitted in the common room and the classes," Pretty well fitted? What in the name of merlin did THAT mean? And why did she have to say it? UGH!

Laugh at her? Why? 'Cause she was leaving and was now coming back? But... that's no reason to laugh or point at her if she was. But she had a point. People would noticed and... things would be said. This was Hogwarts after all. "Lyssie..." she said slowly, "Do you want me to speak to them? Tell people not to ask you anything until you're ready to talk about it?" She could do that right? Speaking in front of a lot of people wasn't exactly hard for her. "I can be a pretty scary seventh year, you know."

... SNORT!

What in the name of merlin? She didn't want them to be embarrassed? "Lyssie, you're talking to a girl who skips around in her heels and a boy who wears costumes for the fun of it. I think we're used to it, right Aaron?" Yes, she was addressed the boy now... FINALLY! "Lyssie, we're coming with you no matter what." And with that, Kita stood up and wrapped an arm around one of her bestest friends. "You coming Aaron?"

It seemed like it had been ages since Adam had walked the grounds of Hogwarts, and the moment he stepped through the front gate he felt like he was home again. Adam was planning to meet Louisa here, so he set down his bag that he had managed to magically shove all his clothes into, and looked into the forest. He was sure the thestrals were still in the woods somewhere....

It wasn't weekend yet but Louisa was determined to squeeze time to meet up with Adam... who was even more busy with his OWLs than she was with her finals. Getting rid of the uniform, she strolled down the grounds toward the front gate where they both agreed to meet in this springy day.

Her egg basket dangling from one arm, the one one waved for him as she ran forward. "Adam!" The Ravenclaw halted when she was near, dropped her basket and wrapped her arms around his neck without waiting for him to stand up. As soon as she let go, a gentle smack on the shoulder, "Where in Merlin's pants were you hiding in?" Even if she knew where - well, assumed she knew. He was getting punished for not meeting her that often.

Louisa moved around him and sat on the ground, heck with white shorts, facing him and ready to be informed on his whereabouts.

Adam was busy looking intently into the forest when he heard the sound of ground crunching a little ways away. Turning to see who he was he spotted Louisa, who had thrown her arms around his neck in a bear hug before Adam even had a chance to say hello. When she gave his shoulder a smack Adam gave a little chuckle.

"I'm sorry that I didn't write more, but I was busy with family stuff," Adam said, giving her an apologetic smile. "My...uh...well my mother passed away two weeks ago." Adam shot his glance slightly to the ground. He felt like he needed to tell Louisa in person rather than through a letter.

His mother... what? O__o Louisa's jaw dropped slightly open. She was all prancing happy girl to a boy whose mother had died? Seriously, she had to be like that in the wrong time? Always happy at the wrong time and especially with Adam.

There must be reasons for this, no?

Anyway, he didn't seem shattered or anything which was a good thing. Sort of. The girl dragged herself closer until her knees touched his, "I'm really sorry.." her voice was a liiittle bit over a whisper, she wasn't really sure about this whole sadness thing now. "H-how do you feel?" Besides sad that is.

Adam gave Louisa a little smile. "I'm okay...I was confused at first you know. When I decided to go to see her, I was nervous and constantly doubting whether it was the right thing, but once I got there I realized I made the right choice. I got to...you know...say goodbye. I think it would have hung over my shoulders for the rest of my life if I hadn't." Adam was feeling better and better about his situation, even though it hurt still.

"Actually I think the best thing about the whole trip was my grandfather. He got into a bit of a fight with my dad...apparently it's been my father that's kept him out of my life, and my father lied to me. My grandpa is actually a wizard," Adam said with a chuckle of disbelief. "Can you believe that?"

"But anyway, enough about me. How are things with you?"

Louisa smiled subtly as the boy started telling his story. So he did go to say goodbye, she wasn't sure he would. She thought it was very brave and mature that he did, she would go there have one of her fussy tantrums and ruin everything. But again Adam wasn't someone who'd act that quickly based on emotions only - it was a girl reaction.

...his grandfather was a wizard? Seriously? "Really?" She stared at him in disbelief, "Why didn't he tell you then? He could've helped you! He could've taught you more about magic! You wouldn't be so miserable!" And now she was angry at Adam's grandfather. Heh. She cared a bit too much maybe?

Enough about him? Nu uh. She didn't think so. Louisa moved away a bit and shrugged, "I'm boring. Taking care of Dalouisa," the metal egg, "And trying to manage through the finals." Keeping her bright and happy face on. No need to mention Joao since he disappeared.. AGAIN.

"Well here's the annoying part," Adam said, clearing his throat slightly, "my grandfather wrote to me on numerous occasions telling me he was a wizard and how difficult it was at first because his parents were muggleborn too, and all this other stuff, and my father just burnt all the letters. My grandpa never said anything in person because he assumed that I knew, since my father told him he showed me the letters and that I wasn't a wizard, so it didn't apply to me." Adam gave a gentle roll of the eyes. "Needless to say when my grandfather arrived at the hospital and saw I wasn't there he demanded my father to explain, so he told him the whole thing, and my grandfather was absolutely furious. That's why he sent me the letter...my father wasn't even going to tell me!"

Adam could feel himself getting angry again, but knowing that wasn't very constructive, he let out a deep breath. "So...my father is gone...we don't know where he went, and my grandfather has offered to take me in, so I'll be living with him. Well...I'm going to test it out and see how things go. We have a lot of catching up to do, but it'll be nice having another wizard around."

When Louisa said her life was rather boring he gave a little nod of the head. He noticed she hadn't mentioned anything about Joao, which the last time they had spoken had been a big thing. After all he had taken her out for her birthday and got her a cat and all this exciting stuff. Maybe Joao was as nonexistent as Rubiey had been lately...although Adam couldn't fault her completely. He had been m.i.a. for the past few weeks as well..."I can't believe how quickly finals and such sprung on us!"

Louisa's jaw dropped open again, unable to believe that a father could do that to his own son, seeing how much this magic thing put him out of place for many years? She took a deep breath along with Adam. "It's good that he left you to your grandfather now, then." All what she could say, oh and, "I really hope it works out for you. Get to know him more and that he's... not a grumpy old man." A small smile played across her face after that, "Either way, you can always come to stay at the leaky cauldron too! I am staying there all summer this year." Oh! Speaking of which, "Well all summer minus few days when I'll be visiting Dallin. Can you believe it? He invited me to go to Florida!" Which was waaaaay far from here in a place Louisa never thought she'd visit before.

Nodding her head, she elaborated, "I know the feeling. It's scary. I hope you didn't fall much behind for your OWLs." She'd ask to help him but, again, she was a year behind so.. it wouldn't be helpful at all.

Adam gave a nod, chuckling at Louisa's comment about him potentially being a grumpy, old man. "He doesn't seem too grumpy, other than when he was arguing with my father, but that's understandable. I really think he didn't want me to have to go through this alone, you know? He's actually quite an incredible wizard," Adam said, straightening up as he did so. "He loves DADA, and he was actually an auror before he retired! How amazing is that?" Really Adam was excited because he hoped his grandfather would be able to help him become one as well.

When Louisa said she was going to spend most of the summer at the Leaky Cauldron Adam gave her a little smile, and when she mentioned she would be spending a few days in Florida with Dallin. "That's great Louisa! I'm glad to see that things are going so well between you too. You'll have to go surfing...honestly it's the best thing ever," Adam said with a little smirk. Yeah...he was a sucker for surfing.

"I think I'll be alright," Adam said, letting out a little sigh. "Heavens knows I've studied enough..."

His grandpa was an Auror? Louisa mouthed a 'wow', "That. Is. So. Cool. He's a hero!" Which was every Auror in Louisa's head. "Did he tell you which house he was in? Maybe he's a Gryffindor like you!" Louisa started to like the old man... again. But.. wait a sec, Adam's father just left? The girl fell silent at this piece of information. "He must be devestated because of his wife's death.." she murmured, "But how could he leave you alone in this?" Ugh! Shaking her head she added, "Don't ever try to understand grown-ups, you'll never understand them." The same with her stupid biofather who decided to send her a letter out of the blue. IF he was truly him.

On to the highlight of her summer holiday, "Yes, we're doing great." She had this big grin to prove it, "Even when I told him about Joao.. he was…" kind of protective? With a slight frown she went on, "… fine with it. He asked a few questions, true, but he liked the idea of meeting him one day which's good." Uh-huh.
Surfing! "Oh, yes. Dallin's a great surfer, I'll ask him to teach me." Bright idea! Would Ellie be there, though? Louisa didn't know and was not going to ask about that. She didn't mind the girl that much anymore.

"How are you and Rubiey doing? Does she know about your mom?"

He was in Ravenclaw actually," Adam said with a little smirk. "He has quite the book collection at his house, ranging from magically oriented things, to spell books, to muggle books even. It's just remarkable." When Louisa mentioned that his dad was devastated he gave a little nod of the head. "He's mourning. My mother is the only thing that my father ever cared about more than their company, and he's known her since they were kids. My dad is going to have to figure out how to live a life without her in it...and...well...I guess he wants to do that on his own." Adam gave a gentle shrug of the shoulders. The fact that Adam's father had treated him so poorly at the hospital and at the funeral, practically ignoring his existence, angered Adam and made it difficult for him to empathize with the man at all. "Oh well...I have my grandfather now and the rest is just...whatever," Adma said with a little shake of the head. "No point in stressing over it."

Adam nodded as he listened to Louisa talk about Dallin and her. "I think it would be a bit wrong of him to not be okay with it. After all, Joao makes you happy and that's what's important so..." Adam trailed off. No point in bringing up how he felt about Joao. When Louisa asked about Rubiey he gave a little frown. "I'll admit we haven't seen each other much. We've both been so busy, then I had to leave to go take care of all this family stuff...I'm hoping to meet up with her soon though." Honestly Adam felt like a terrible boyfriend. It really was not okay to go this long without seeing his girlfriend.

Tate bowed low, although he kept his eyes on the girl. His expectation was always that people went through the motions of a proper duel, even when such things didn't happen in the real world. Just manners, he supposed.

And although he ought to let her cast first, since she didn't want him going easy on her, he started off with a very well pronounced, "Stupefy" in her direction.

Louisa's face brightened, "Ravenclaw, huh? Well, I guess I'm starting to like him already." Hehehe, she was a bit biased to her house, yes. However, his father's situation is understanding. She nodded her head at Adam, "You're right. Maybe he'll come around soon." Or maybe he wouldn't.

Joao making her happy? Pffft, yeah, right. She was starting to get a bit upset about him not being out of his common room that much. Seriously, she'd seen Dallin and Adam more than she saw him this term! But she was just not going to rant about this. Not now. And definitely not to Adam, he already hated the boy. "You two had your reasons to be away, though. That's normal." Back to Adam and Rubiey. See the casual lovely way she started talking of Rubiey? Louisa's becoming a good friend again! ^__^

"So did you... see your mom die?" The question, no matter how terrible, was about being able to see the Thestrals more clearly... somehow.

Arya matched Tate move for move, bowing and keeping eye contact, up until he cast the first spell. And while it certainly was different having the Headmaster casting at her instead of one of her classmates, she wasn't able to think on it much, her mind going to that weird place it did when she dueled.

Instead of tossing up a shield she side-stepped the stunner, and drew her wand through the air in the proper motion. "Gelatinus."

Adam gave Louisa a little smirk at the positive comment she made about his grandfather being in Ravenclaw. He figured she would approve of that...after all Louisa had to most pride in being in the house she was in out of just about everyone he knew. Not that there was anything wrong with that...having pride in yourself was important. Not to mention it was much better than hating your house...

Adam gave a little nod about him having just reasons for not seeing on speaking to Rubiey in a while, but he still felt terrible about it. After all Adam did miss Rubiey, but at the same time he felt bad that so soon into their relationship he was already having family issues. No matter who you were, Adam's family issues definitely brought with it a lot of baggage. He wouldn't blame someone from being involved in all of that. When Louisa was Adam if he was there when his mother died, Adam gave a little nod of the head.

"Uh...yeah...I was. It was actually just me in the room. My grandpa forced my dad to go and get something to eat, and he went with him. I think maybe he just wanted to me to have a chance to be alone with my mom." Adam was quiet for a couple of moments, looking off into the distance with a concerned appearance on his face. "You know it's kind of silly but all those muggle doctor shows always say that the people in comas can hear you if you speak to them, so I...uh...well I sort of got off my chest all the things I'd been keeping inside you know? Maybe it was just me hallucinating things, but when I took a hold of her hand after I'd finished I could have swore I felt her squeeze my fingers back, and then she...well...you know."

Adam fell quiet. He hadn't told anyone about this whole incident, mostly because he was sure that people would think he fell off the loony bin, but he knew Louisa wouldn't judge him or think he was crazy. He was quiet for a couple of moments before a small smirk played across his lips. "So, did I tell you I finally mastered a patronus?"

Oh. He was. Louisa listened to him, nodding her head at the muggle doctor shows, she hadn't seen any of those actually but she did know what kind of rubbish muggle doctors say. And people in comas could hear? Well, that was a possibility, Adam's mom seemed to be a proof, right? She squeezed his fingers!

Louisa's eyes went slightly wet with the tale, she kept her mouth shut all the time as he talked and paused. It was such a cruel situation to put a boy in, especially someone with Adam's sensitivity. But he showed great maturity in dealing with it, Louisa wouldn't have mustered that much, she'd cry nonstop all the time- Heck she was barely controlling her tears now!

But yay for the change of subject! She sniffed once and smiled, "No, you haven't! How? When?" Now, if his grandfather taught him that, it would be just super awesome and Louisa HAD to meet the smart old man. "What did it turn out to be?" She already knew Dallin's, who was the only friend that could conjure a Patronus so far. She was pretty curious about the others.

Adam could tell that Louisa's eyes were starting to tear up and he felt bad that he had told her so much detail. Really there was no need to make Louisa feel as horrible about the situation as he did. "Sorry...I don't mean to be bringing your mood down too. She's...well...she's in a better place now, right?" Adam didn't really know how he felt about the after life but he figured it had to be peaceful there...

When Louisa got excited about his Patronus Adam smirked at her. "I've been working on it, but my grandpa was the one that kind of gave me the final push that I needed to get it. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but he found a way for me to mentally put myself so whole heartedly into my happy memory that I was almost reliving it right then and there. It made all the difference in the world. Want to see?"

Standing up Adam pulled his wand out of his pocket and closed his eyes for a couple of moments, visualizing the way that his grandpa had taught him, before opening them again.

"Expecto Patronum!" Adam said, instantly the white mist bursting from his wand in the perfect shape of a phoenix which flew around the air above them, before winding down around Louisa, circling right next to her, before hovering right before Adam. "Well....what do you think?"

His grandfather found a way to get him to his happy place? That sounded.. great! Louisa didn't have the slightest idea of how that could be done but that meant Adam connected with his grandfather quite well. Her smile grew bigger at the news and she nodded enthusiastically at his question. Of course she wanted to see it!

She watched him stand up, close his mind and uttering the spell. At first Louisa was afraid that it wouldn't work for him and she had to pretend to be impressed by the silvery mist that escaped his wand, but nooo! The mist was forming still as it pranced higher.. flying, her mouth was shaped as a perfect 'O' as her eyes followed the creature, trying to figure out what it was. An eagle? No. A bird? No. What?

It came closer to her, and twirled before disappearing. "A phoenix!" She gasped, jumping to her feet and laughing happily. "Your patronus' a phoenix! That's so great! It means you're a great person!" Another laugh followed that, she was just so excited for this. Pushing her hair out of her face, she spoke again, "It was so perfect and great! You should teach me how to do that next year." Uh-huh. If Adam could do it on his fifth year, so could she!

Louisa turned around to sit where they were sitting a moment ago but froze. Why did the space look so empty now? O.o She continued to stare.. there was something.. crowding the space along with them.. something... else...

GASP!

"My egg!" She turned to Adam, "It was right there with us! Where is it?" Her Charms homework had fled! D:

Adam smiled brightly at Louisa as she stood up, admiring his patronus with admiration. Out of all the spells that Adam had managed to accomplish over his schooling this was by far the one that he was the most proud of. He'd never imagined with his background that he'd be able to find something powerful enough to produce this kind of magic, but there it was, in the flesh. He laughed heartedly when Louisa said it meant that he was a great person. "Well that's good to know," Adam said with a little smirk. "I know phoenixes admire those with strong loyalty and possess many admirable attributes, so when I first conjured it I was really excited. I was worried I was going to get something treacherous like a snake or something," Adam said with a small shake of the head. Not that Adam was a treacherous person or anything but sometimes you never really knew...

And then Louisa's smile had faded completely and a look of sheer panic was coming across her face. At the sight of it, Adam's patronus vanished instantly. Her egg? Where could it have gone? Surely these things didn't just magically grow legs and walk off, right? Adam began to lift his bags, giving his wand a gentle flick to move things out of the way.

"Don't worry Louisa...we'll find it. Has it ever done anything like this before? Maybe my patronus bumped it by accident and sent it rolling or something?" Err...that was unlikely but Adam felt the need to give some rational explanation for the eggs sudden disappearance.

Adam was looking around when his eyes landed on the woods and two beady eyes staring back at him. "Oh no..."

Did it do anything like this before? Pfffft. No! It had never rolled around for gigs if that what he was implying at. Louisa watched him looking for it among his bag and underneath them. "No. It doesn't move. It's just a metal egg." Which didn't explain her scared voice but whatever. It was her HOMEWORK, that was vital to Louisa!

She was looking around, too, when Adam straightened up and looked further away than her. "What? Don't just 'oh no' me! What is it?" She followed his gaze toward the space before the forest. "What do you see?" She didn't really get why he was so absorbed in those creatures when her egg was-

O___O

"Oh Merlin!" Without hesitation and before they got too far away, Louisa dashed forward. "Let go of my egg!" She yelled, running at the top of her speed. Those vicious Thestrals were NOT going to steal her homework! She couldn't see them but she definitely could spot her Dalouisa, right? Right.

Adam was realizing after Louisa's response about her egg never up and moving like that that perhaps he was implying that her egg or her were a bit abnormal. It certainly wasn't what he had been intending but that was how it had come across. He was going to apologize to Louisa when she figured out why he was staring off into the distance at those beady eyes. Before he could stop her Louisa was booking it across the grassy area between them and the woods.

Oh no. Yelling at them was definitely not going to get them to give the egg back. "LOUISA, wait a second, just..." Adam got next to her and took a hold of her arm. "Just hold on a moment. Yelling at them is only going to scare them off and then lord knows where they'll take your egg. I've got some apples in my bag...let's just...you know, lure them out and then we can get the egg back."

Adam gave Louisa a warm smile quickly retreating back to grab a few apples before coming back along side Louisa. He handed one to her. "If it's any consolation the baby just has it sitting by its feet. I think they were just trying to get our intention...you know...like little kids do," Adam said with a gentle shrug.

WHAO.

Louisa was jerked gently backward and then she stopped completely listening to the boy catching her arm. How could he be so caaalm? They were probably going to eat it! Her poor little good-taken-care-of egg! "Apples. Right." She ran back with him to his bags, snatched an apple from him and then nodded her head at him. Okay. They were only going to lure them toward them and not scaring them off. That was pretty smart, actually.

She started walking toward the space where he'd stared at a moment ago, with an apple in her hand. "This better works out." She murmured to herself rather than to Adam who really was very rational and calm about the dilemma.

"Tell me when we're close enough." She told him quietly when they reached the place really close to both the Front Gate and the crowded trees. The Forbidden Forest shouldn't be stretched out to this part of the grounds probably, but those crowded trees were their home apparently so better be careful and not end up deep inside.

Right?

Adam felt better now that he had gotten Louisa to take a deep breath. He was sure if it had been his egg that he would have been freaking out as well, so he couldn't blame Louisa for wanting to bolt at the thestrals in full force. As they approached the small area where they were all gathered, the mother shot them both a curious look. Adam stuck his hand out and set it on Louisa's shoulder as a gesture that she should stop. He gave her a little nod as she lifted her arm to give them an apple, him smiling encouragingly at one of the younger thestrals.

As soon as it took a good whiff of the apple it started to munch on it, the other two coming towards to investigate as well. Adam held out his own apple and the third one came to munch on it. Adam turned to look at Louisa.

"Alright...the egg is by itself. I'm going to give you my apple slowly, then I'm going to walk over and pick up your egg. I'm thinking if I give the mother this second apple I have maybe she won't try and stop me from taking it." Adam let out a little sigh, shooting a look at the mother before looking back at Louisa. "Alright...are you ready?"