((OOC: God-modding is done for Allie's brother (and my other character), Kevin Hargrove, at my own discretion.))

"So, tell me again why I am taking you to the middle of muggle London?" Kevin inquired of his youngest sibling, Allie.

"Do you always ask this many questions?" Allie fired back, giving her brother a sly smile.  They had always had a very strong relationship, despite that he was twenty-one years older than she.  As a young child, she had begged her parents to let her go and stay with Kevin; she had spent as much time with him as with her father, he had even been the one to teach her to read and fly.  They continued walking down the dirt road towards a few large homes, snow all around them.

"I do when you're asking me to take you to the middle of nowhere with no explanation," he responded, putting his arms around her shoulders.  "You know I don't like you being out here way at night.  I know you have read about the werewolf attacks in the last few months, and you still can't do magic outside of school."

Allie cut him off, "I know," she drew out the word, "you worry about me.  But, I promise, I'll be with another wizard and we'll be fine."

"A wizard?!  You did not tell me I was bringing you to meet a boy!"

"Oh?" She asked innocently.  "Well, I guess we're here."  She gestured towards a house about 100 meters off in the distance.  "Now, don't forget, meet me back right here at 8:30.  And don't dare go knocking at the door.  Meet me here."  She gave her brother a hug and then patted him on his robes' breast pocket.  "You have fun...and don't forget me!"

Allie took off at a brisk run up the path to the house.  She looked back once, waved at her brother, and watched him step off the road and into a dense group of trees.  Allie heard the familiar crack and continued up towards the house.  As she got closer, she moved off towards the outskirts.  She had not told Sasha she would be visiting, but she could not help but to bring him something...everyone needs presents during the holidays.  Allie had baked fresh cauldron cakes, bought a bar of Honeydukes Chocolate, and bought him a book on the progression of racing brooms (with lots of pictures)--Broomsticks:  History of the Fast and Furious. 

She found a window around the side of the house that she was nearly positive was Sasha's; he had once told her of the view he had from his window--a view of the grounds and barn.  Picking up a few pebbles from the ground, Allie took aim at the window.  Tick.  She waited a moment before throwing another.  Tick.  Hearing a sound coming from around the house, Allie jumped between two bushes.  She watched as a few birds took off from a bush, causing the ruckus, before she stepped back out.  She threw another.  Tick.

Whispering loudly, Allie threw another--tick--and said, "Sasha Rudolf Schlagenweit, if you don't answer this window..." she threw another, tick.

His mother and sister had left about an hour ago.  Mr. Weiss, one of Gerhard's colleagues at the bank, was holding his annual Christmas dinner party at his luxury flat in London.  Dressed in their schmoozing finest, his mother and Anna left to meet Gerhard there.  His stepfather had spent most of the day at the office, catching up on whatever various tasks he'd fallen behind on during the three days he'd spent at home following Sasha's return.  With them scheduled to leave for Munich on Thursday, working overtime to catch up this weekend had been a necessity.   

There'd never been any discussion as to whether or not Sasha would go.  His "state" was still far too "unstable - unpredictable" for them to risk any mishaps at such a social gathering.  Sunday morning mass, tomorrow, was the planned test run and his first known excursion out of the house.  To be honest, Sasha wasn't disappointed.  He knew how to play by the rules of those status-driven social events but he'd never really enjoyed them.   He much preferred staying home and getting more studying done to going to the white-collar dinner.

The TV in his room was turned on as background noise he struggled through the list of geometry problems in the notebook on his desk.  Whenever he looked up from his notebook, he could hear Helen Cutter's panicked bits of advice as Primeval's most recent man-eating dinosaur tried to pick its way through the window glass.  It wasn't a bad show - entertaining at least.

Helen's scream echoed from the television set just as another light tap hit the glass.  The second time the tap ricocheted off his window, Sasha realized the sound wasn't coming from the direction of the television.  He froze, staring blankly at the page on his desk.  Naaw - it couldn't be.  His mind was just playing tricks on him.  Tap.  Sasha blinked, quickly looking towards the window half expecting to see some massive flying dinosaur trying to pick its way in.  But, there was nothing but the blackness beyond the window.  And, then, another tap followed by someone whispering his name. 

Sasha got to his feet and peered through the window before pushing it open.  "Allo?" he called down from the second story window, at first unable to identify who it was in the darkness.  "Who's there?"

Allie was beginning to devise a new way to get Sasha's attention; she had spied a ladder near the barn, but feared that hauling it over may draw a little too much attention.  She continued throwing pebbles until finally--finally--Sasha's figure appeared in the window.  Allie grinned.

"'Allo," she mimicked him; her accent was not quite as pronounced as most of her peers.  As half of her family is French, and she speaks it fluently, her accent is a nice compromise.  "Who's there?  Really?  Who else] would bring you homemade cauldron cakes?"

Allie lifted up the shoulder-bag she had brought along; she smiled, though she knew he couldn't see it.  Night was falling fast in the cold winter and slowly, a light flurry of snow began to fall from the sky.  Allie shivered and pulled her jacket tight around her; she momentarily regretted not wearing her warm winter cloak, but muggle clothing.  She wore jeans over long-john's, a thick sweater, and a soft brown leather jacket; it was the best muggle attire she could put together, despite not owning many muggle clothes.

However, Allie knew that her robes and thick winter cloak would not have been appropriate attire for her mission to see Sasha.  She knew that not many knew of Sasha being a wizard, so Allie had worn muggle clothing.  She even thought to bring along an Oxford Dictionary that she had scribbled Sasha's name in the cover...in the event she was caught sneaking around his house, she would at least have a reason for being there.

"So...if you didn't notice, it's snowing and cold outside.  Is anyone home?  How can I get in?" Allie called up, still speaking in a loud whisper.  "Need warmth!"

"I..."  Sasha stared down at the ground below, scowling, trying to decide if that was a trick question.  He could almost see Eirene trying to make cauldron cakes - but, perhaps, this was just one of those questions he wasn't really supposed to answer.  Thankfully, the other Ravenclaw's voice offered a more precise answer than the offer of sweets. 

But, just to be sure.  "Allie?" he called, squinting through the darkness. 

Well, yes, she had a point.  Sasha watched as a few flakes of snow drifted down through the darkness before realizing, again, she had a point.  It was cold.  But, having Neely in his barn was one thing - having anyone from Hogwarts inside his house was an entirely different one all together.  But, it was cold outside and, at this time of night, turning on the lights in the barn would certainly get Wilhem's attention.  His parents were gone; they weren't due to return for several hours. 

"I - alright - I'll be right down."  Out his room, down the hall, down the wide staircase and to the front door.  He tugged open the door and ushered Allie in with a slightly awkward grin before shrugging.  "I - um...that's ... can I - can I get your coat?" This was a new situation, indeed.  He was awkward at best around girls when they were in their own, natural environment.  ie: Hogwarts, not his foyer. 

He scratched the back of his neck as he looked around the foyer.  "I don't - I think this is the first time anyone's been in my house."  He offered both in explanation for his awkwardness (which was probably routine enough not to need an explanation) and in apology.

"Allie?" He called out from the window.

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically.  Watching as he disappeared from the window, she made her way up the steps to the front door.  The snow was beginning to fall even harder and nearly everything around her now had a small white blanket covering it.  Allie looked around until Sasha appeared at the door and ushered her inside.  She could see that the visit had somewhat unnerved him; Allie did not know all of the specifics, but heard talk in the common room about how harsh his family could be to him. 

"First person in your foyer?  I feel honored,"  Allie smiled, willing the tension to dissipate.  "Eh, I think I'll keep my coat.  Your parents keep a rather cool home...nothing like those common room fires..."  Allie immediately hated herself for mentioning Hogwarts, knowing that it had been too long since Sasha had been able to sit in front of it, surrounded by friends.  She was slightly unsure of his feelings on the matter.

"Now, let's go somewhere where we can open these!"  She lifted up the shoulder bag she had brought along.  She had wrapped the cauldron cakes with blue paper with silver stripes.  The honeydukes chocolate was wrapped in a dark brown wrapper that bore the muggle chocolate brand, 'Cadbury.'  (That had been her brother's idea and he was the one who managed to enlarge the wrapper to fit it on.)  The book was wrapped in pieces of the comic section of a muggle newspaper.  She had also slipped on a false cover on the book, it appeared to look like an English Literature book to the naked muggle eye.

"You look good, by the way.  How have you been?"