Ayla had been rather surprised that morning when a fair sized parcel had dropped into her bowl of porridge. Her mother's owl had always been a little well strange. When her father had insisted on getting their own Owl for the post her mother had gone to a muggle animal shelter. She had spent three months tracking down a London animal shelter that had an owl. Apparently the muggles had been completely mystified when they found a caged animal left to starve when it's owner had passed away. The old woman had been a squib and had kept the owl for post purposes but the muggle authorities had gotten to it first. Apparently the old woman didn't have any relatives and wasn't nice to her neighbours, she had been dead for weeks before anyone noticed. The owl was disgruntled but her mother had taken to it right away. Although he seemed to enjoy making post deliveries once again the Owl never quite made it's mark and so Ayla's letters, along with her younger siblings' often ended up in her food.

This morning had been the worst of all. She had shrieked as she was splashed with porridge. The owl hadn't even stopped to receive affection, he simply swooped close to where she was sitting dropped the parcel and flew off again. With her breakfast ruined Ayla had left her house table intent on heading back to her dormitory room to change her clothes before her first class of the day. As she walked down to the Hufflepuff common room she tore open the small letter taped to the top of the parcel. It had been addressed to her in her mothers elegant scrawl. As she opened the letter and her green-gold eyes began to scan the contents she stopped dead in her tracks.


Ayla swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and searched the corridor she had been walking down. There was no one around as the majority of the students were still in the Great Hall enjoying their breakfast. Taking a few extra moments to make sure no one was watching her she slipped into the nearest empty classroom. She put the parcel down on the closest desk and hopped on top with it tucking her yellow and black striped legs under each other and pushing down the front of her grey pleated skirt while positioning the parcel in front of her. She ripped off the packing tape and opened the cardboard box. Inside was a wide array of objects. There were several letters, a few small wrapped presents, a tiny stuffed beaver with a Canadian flag on his chest and a small black box that was easily recognizable to be holding jewelry.

She picked up the different letters, there was well over a dozen of them. She opened each one in turn and reread them four to five times. Each one had been written by a different one of her friends back home. It looked as though her friends had gone in together to make her a care package to send to her new London home. Of course since all of her friends were muggles they had no idea why her family had actually moved to London or that she was currently sitting inside an empty classroom in an ancient classroom where she learned how to perform real magic.

She had no idea how much time had gone by as she read her letters. At one point she was sure she had heard the bell announcing that classes had started for the day. Which meant she should be down in the green houses with the other third years by now. It would be the first time this year she had been late to class. However she was too caught up in her parcel to worry what kind of detention Professor Bombay would give her for skipping class.

Ayla was holding her final letter unaware that she was shaking. She was looking over the unsteady script, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. She hadn't been expecting this one nor had she been expecting the rush of emotions she'd feel by reading the contents. As she opened the letter a well worn picture had fallen out. She had studied the picture for a long while before reading the letter it had fallen out of.


Ayla put the letter in the box and wiped at a tear she hadn't noticed falling down her cheek. Aleks had been her best friend since kindergarten. They had done everything together for over five years, they had been practically inseparable. It had sucked leaving him and all her other friends behind when her family had moved to London but she had realized how hard it had been on him. The summer past her parents had surprised them all by taking a three week long trip back home. Ayla was able to see all her old friends again and was surprised by how much everyone had grown since she had last seen them at New Years, Aleks especially. What was even more surprising was while they were out at the beach Aleks had confessed he thought he was in love with her and had kissed her. Even though it was one of the best kisses she had ever had she couldn't help but think of all the friends and crushes she had back at Hogwarts and had told Aleks they were better off friends.

She put the picture in the box and pulled out the black box she assumed held the necklace Aleks had mentioned. She pushed open the box and let a soft gasp escape her lips. Inside was a simple silver chain and a tiny silver heart, the chain threaded through the middle of the heart. It was so simple and ordinary and in a sense so muggle. She hadn't even realized how much she had been immersed in the Wizarding world until now. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the present, it was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, it just reminded her how much she didn't belong in the muggle world anymore which in oddly made her feel enough more homesick than she had been feeling before.

She took the silver chain out of the box and unclasped it ready to put it on when she heard footsteps outside the doorway to the empty classroom she was currently sitting in.

Eirene power-walked through the corridors, legs pumping, arms swinging, in an attempt to follow the rules while making it back to Potions in a record amount of time. She’d drank a lot of orange juice this morning, and was really mad at herself that she’d had to run to the loo in the middle of class. Loo breaks were just not acceptable! She could miss something important! Keegan could put a frog in her cauldron like last time!

As she walked, she peeked in the classroom windows, wanting to know what the other classes were up to. Every so often, Eirene would slow down, stand on her tiptoes, peek in, and pick up speed again, making her look like a demented, overly curious pigeon. Ooo! It looked like Professor Morrigan was setting up a lesson in Transfiguration! Powerwalk, pause, tiptoe, powerwalk, the cycle continued on, until Eirene caught a glimpse of something strange on the ground floor. A girl was sitting alone? All by herself in a classroom? Eirene skidded to a stop and stared.

The girl looked like a second-year or third-year, wore a Hufflepuff uniform, and was putting something shiny around her neck. Eirene glanced away and wondered if she should keep walking. She was on a time crunch, after all.

Then she got an idea! She could be helpful and tell the girl that she was Very Late for class. It’s something that Sasha would do, wouldn’t he? Eirene loved to play the game of What Would Sasha Do.

“Excuse me!” she said primly, hovering in the doorway. “Don’t you know you’re late for class? It’s 8:20!” Eirene paused and put her hands on her hips. “You could get into trouble for skipping!” she told her in a hushed whisper, glancing around the corridors as if a professor or prefect could appear any second.

Ayla paused momentarily as she heard Eirene powerwalking through the corridor. Even though she was a little thing it was hard to miss the sound of school flats clapping quickly down the stone corridor. She listened hard when the sound came to a stop then relaxed turning her attention back to her package. It seemed that whoever it was rushing through the halls had stopped. She moved to place the necklace around her neck again when Eirene framed herself in the doorway to the classroom and spoke up. The shock of hearing a voice in the silence caused her to shriek and drop the necklace.

She looked up at the younger girl, very obviously a first year and she looked to be a Ravenclaw. Ayla tried to remember if she recognized the girl from the sorting the month before. She had been paying more attention than she usually would have to this years sorting. Her younger siblings had finally made it to Hogwarts and she was very interested in seeing which house Erik and Dahlia were going to be sorted into. Unfortunately she couldn't remember what the girls name was.

"Huh?" she asked in response to the girls concern of her tardiness then realized she had dropped her necklace, "Ah crap!" She hopped off the desk she had been perched upon and searched the floor for the thin silver chain she had just dropped. Panic rose up in her as she couldn't spot it anywhere and her movements became more frantic. Finally she spotted a glint of sparkle three desks down. She picked up the chain and the panic became full blown hysteria. The heart was gone.

She turned to Eirene, her eyes wide and brimming with tears again her shaking hands holding onto the chain, "The heart's gone. Aleks' heart's gone!" She raced to the first year unaware of how crazy she might seem, "You have to help me find it! It's like this big," She held up her fingers to indicate how small the charm that used to be on the chain actually was, "It's silver and it's gone and you've got to help me find it please!" She wondered how the younger girl would react and almost wished Dahlia had been the one to find her, she knew her little sister would do anything to help her, "If you help me I swear I go straight to class."

Eirene’s eyes widened. The Hufflepuff sure was jumpy. Remaining rooted in the doorway, she watched with alarm as the girl hopped around, searching for her dropped necklace. Eirene pressed her lips together to stifle a giggle. She felt slightly guilty that she’d startled her so much, but the response was amusing!

However, when Ayla looked up with tears in her eyes, Eirene’s amusement vanished. She knew what it felt like to ‘overreact’ when something bad happened. The necklace was probably important to her, Eirene realized. She opened her mouth to tell her she was sorry, and that she had to run back to class, when Ayla pleaded with her to help find it.

Eirene took a step back. “But!” She checked the corridor again, convinced they’d both be in for it now. “But…” she repeated, more feebly this time. Eirene liked feeling helpful, and at any other time she would have happily helped the girl search. But now? Now? She had potions! She couldn’t!

Then Ayla said that if she helped her, she would go straight to class afterwards. Eirene still hesitated. Yet sticking around was something that kind and considerate Sasha would do, even if it made him a bit late to class. It was also Potions. Professor Gunnar would understand, where as if it were Professor Bombay, she wouldn’t have dared.

“I suppose,” she relented, feeling very much like a saint. Eirene let out a dramatic sigh, stepped fully into the classroom, and thought hard.

“Oh, I know!” she exclaimed, taking her wand out of her pocket. “Accio heart!”

Poor Eirene. It seemed that every time she tried a new spell, it backfired. This time, the spell worked (technically). But instead of a small, silver heart, a large jar flew out of the classroom cabinet and hit Eirene in the chest. Eirene fumbled, caught it, and looked inside.

Inside, there was what appeared to be a human heart. A human heart with hair all over it. The note attached to the jar read: For Halloween. Do not touch. Eirene didn’t get a chance to read the note, however. She took one look inside the jar, let out a shriek, and dropped it.

The glass shattered and the heart bounced across the room. Now they’d really have a hard time finding that silver locket!

With Eirene agreeing to help her look for the little lost charm Ayla was able to calm herself and wiped the tears away. She's have plenty of time later to worry about how much of an idiot she had looked in front of the girl. She was probably overreacting to the situation but the necklace was the only true link she had to her life back home and it was sure to have been a constant reminder of where her own heart was. As much as she was sure she didn't feel the same way about Aleks as he did about her it was nice to have a reminder of being loved.

She almost physically slapped herself on the forehead when Eirene took her wand out and used a summoning charm. Sometimes she forgot that she was a witch, she supposed that was the curse of having lived for the most part like a muggle. Even after having spent two years studying as a witch using magic still felt like a foreign concept to her. She wished she had thought of it first especially since the charm seemed need very specific instructions.

Ayla shrieked and leaped out of the way when the jar dropped shattered and splashed really bad smelling liquid everywhere. Unfortunately she had not been able to get out of the way in time and now not only was she covered in porridge from breakfast but most of her legs and shoes were covered in some kind of magical formaldehyde. Ayla let out a long spray of curses as she looked down at her ruined shoes. She then slumped her shoulders as she watched the liquid spread over the marble floor. How the hell were they going to find the heart now.

She looked at Eirene hoping she wasn't giving the younger girl an accusatory look, "Maybe we should stick to just looking for it the old fashioned way." She stepped cautiously around the liquid as best she could and decided to start by looking under the desk she had found the chain under.

“EWWWWWWWW!!!” She squealed, whirling around and surveying the mess. Eirene stared at her uniform in revulsion, which was splattered with foul smelling liquid and- oh Merlin- hair! Eirene shuddered, took a step back, and sunk into one of the desk chairs. She needed to sit down for a moment. This was too disgusting to handle.

Ayla gave her a look and continued the search for her necklace. Eirene stood up again and began the process of Scourgifying her outfit. It took at least seven spells, but when she finally felt clean enough to face reality, she turned to Ayla with her wand raised.

“I’m sorry,” she told her guiltily. “The icky heart in the jar startled me! It just slipped out of my hands.” Her voice sounded a bit defensive as she explained. “I’m really amazing at Scourgify, though. If you stay still a moment I can get the icky off of you. And the-” Eirene cut herself off, staring in confusion at the crusted oatmeal on the girl’s outfit. She must have had a horrible morning.

“I can clean this all up really fast!” Eirene lifted her wand again, anxious to prove that she wasn’t useless.

Ayla had been crouched down under a desk when Eirene started to apologize. She felt like such a cow when she heard the hurt and guilt in the younger girl's voice. Ayla knew she hadn't meant to break the jar. If it had been her she probably would have done the same thing, actually there was no probably about it, Ayla would have chucked the bloody thing.

She stood to address her, bumped her head on the under of the desk and came back up rubbing her short locks, "Hey sweetie don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you, hell I would have done the same thing, that thing was gross."

She watched the younger girl with her head tilted to the side and she suctioned all the grossness off of herself with a convenient spell. Two things crossed Ayla's mind then. The first being that this eleven year old girl not only knew spells that most kids in her year were still learning but she was fairly decent as performing them. Ayla wasn't that great with summoning charms and never really felt the need to use them but when it came to something like Scourgify she was downright scared of using it. The first time she had tried to use it on a stain she had gotten on her blouse she ended up sucking the colour right out of it.

She sighed not really wanting to admit that this girl who was easily two years younger than her was much better than she was. It made Ayla rack her brain to figure out what she was actually really good at. She nodded and stood as still as she could with her eyes closed as Eirene ran her wand up and down Ayla's uniform. It took her five tries to get all the caked porridge out of her blouse and sweatervest and six tries to get all the heart goop out of her socks and shoes. When Eirene let her know she was done she slowly opened her eyes and looked down at herself. Her outfit looked immaculate.

Ayla let out a high pitch squee and through her arms around Eirene in a great big hug, "Thank you so much." She blushed a bit as she took a step back almost regretting having invaded the girl's personal space. She always forgot about the fact that not everyone was as touchy as she was. She bit her lower lips wondering if she should confide in the girl that she would never have been able to do the spell herself. Instead she decided it was best to make the girl look good rather than making herself look inadequate, "You're really good at that. I bet you get straight O's." She winked at the younger girl and moved back to the desk she had been looking under.

"I'm Ayla by the way. Ayla Collins." She got down on her hands and knees since she was no longer disgustingly dirty and the desk she was looking under was well away from the spilled liquid, "My little brother and sister are first years. Dahlia's in Hufflepuff like me but Erik's in Gryffindor." She wasn't sure whether she was expecting Eirene to know who her brother and sister were or not. She remembered during her first year of studies she didn't really know anyone except those in her own house well into the school year. By the end of the year though her true personality had come out and she felt as if the whole school knew who she was.

"I found it!" Ayla didn't even try to hide the excitement in her voice. She knelt down even smaller under the desk and looked into a fair sized crack in the marble tiled floor. The little heart charm was wedge in the crack. Ayla bit her lower lip, "Crap! I don't think I can get it out, it's wedge in tight." She took out her own maple knotty wand and pointed directly at the charm so that her wand knew what she meant, "Accio Heart!" The tiny charm wiggled making a horrible scraping sound as it tried to move it's way out of the crack. Ayla lowered her wand the moment she heard the sound and sighed in desperation feeling the tears well up again. Perhaps Eirene knew what to do. She was too worried about getting the charm back that she wasn't letting it get to her that the first year was better at wandwork than she was. It was something she could dwell on later and besides it wasn't like Ayla ever really bragged about her grades.

The Hufflepuff allowed her to Scourgify her outfit, so Eirene took the opportunity, knowing she’d feel better if she could do something nice after causing such a mess. It took many tries to get the gunk off of Ayla, but finally, she stepped back and admired her work. Scourgify was definitely her specialty. She was so fastidious about her appearance that she practiced it more than any other kid she knew! Some first-years didn’t even know how to do the really basic form of it! It was appalling, really.

She caught Ayla’s sigh, but assumed it was because the girl, like her, didn’t like feeling dirty. If Eirene had known the third-year was jealous of her, she would have keeled over and died happy right then and there. She spent a lot of time envying other people and didn’t always realize that someone might envy her.

“All clean!” She announced much like her nanny did after Eirene took a bath. Suddenly, Ayla squealed and grabbed her in a hug. Eirene froze up she was so surprised, but when Ayla stepped back, Eirene smiled at her. Her smile grew even wider when she complimented her on the spell and her grades.

“I do!” She exclaimed.  O’s and E’s. “Or, I try to!” Eirene worked very hard for those grades, though her enthusiasm sometimes caused her spells to react explosively, and her perfectionist nature meant she got very upset when she failed.

Eirene introduced herself to Ayla, including her last name in hopes of impressing her with her family’s status. “I know them!” she said, referring to Dahlia and Erik. “Dahlia’s really nice,” she added, choosing not to mention Erik because he was the mischievous sort. The sort she didn’t associate with!

Potions kept creeping into her thoughts, and Eirene couldn’t help but wonder what time it was and how much she’d missed in class. She looked at the door, uncomfortable. Would it be okay for her to leave now? Just then, however, Ayla exclaimed that she’d found the heart.

“Oh, good!” Eirene clapped her hands together, happy that Ayla had it and anxious to run to Professor Gunnar and explain why she was so delayed.

However, it wasn’t so easy. When Ayla first said Accio, Eirene glanced in panic at the large hairy heart slouched on the floor, but it didn’t move. The silver heart didn’t move much, either. She wrung her hands, listening to the girl’s sigh and feeling sorry for her. She really needed to get back to class! But… Ayla had just hugged her a moment ago. She’d said she bet Eirene got all O’s. Eirene would feel extremely guilty if she ran off now.

“Well,” she hedged, thinking. “I’m sure there’s something we can do,” Eirene tried to reassure her, stepping carefully around the glass to the classroom cabinet and looking inside. Someone had stuffed a cloak in there, along with a crown. How odd. She gingerly rummaged around until her finger touched something sharp- a brooch! Eirene picked it up, looking at the long, thin pin, and scurried over to kneel by Ayla.

She positioned the pin underneath the charm as best she could. Eirene wiggled the pin and felt the heart give slightly, but it was still jammed in there.

“Can you try Accio again?” she said, still trying to dislodge the heart. If both of them tried at the same time, she hoped the stubborn thing would pop up!

Ayal would be smiling for hours just thinking about how proud Eirene had seemed when she guessed she was a straight O student. She had never met a girl so determined to be good at school. She knew when she was eleven she had a whole bunch of other things at on her mind that she was lucky to get a single O by the end of the school year. Of course almost every one of her other marks was an E but she never really put her true potential into things or at least that's how her Professor's saw it.

She felt a surge of warmth wash over her when Eirene confessed to knowing her younger siblings. She definitely agreed with her assessment of Dahlia, the younger Collins daughter was a sweetheart to the very core, she seemed to have all of Ayla's strengths and none of her weaknesses, she knew her parents had high hopes for her. Since Eirene hadn't mentioned anything about Erik she assumed the girl had already gotten a taste of his mischievous nature and his tendency to annoy every female within a five mile radius. Ayla loved her brother as any sister would but he was a right pain in the butt sometimes.

As Eirene searched a nearby cupboard for something to help them get the heart out of the crack Ayla busied herself with trying to thumb it out but her fingers as dainty as they were, were still too big to nudge the charm in any significant fashion. She couldn't get over how brilliant the younger girl was when she had come back with a broach and slid the pin of the broach through the hole inside the charm to help pull it out of it's rut.

Ayla nodded, "Alright. Here goes nothing." She pulled up her wand and swished it directly at the charm again, "Accio heart!" With the extra force that Eirene had put into it the heart popped out of the crack and Ayla was able to snatch it out of the air before it got itself lost again. She threaded the simple silver chain through the small charm and carefully latched the necklace around her neck letting the charm sit in the crook of her collarbone above the open collar of her white blouse.

She turned to Eirene with the biggest smile possible, "How do I look?" She gave her a charming smile a batting of her eyelashes and twirl of her hands. She gave the younger girl a wink and then got to her feet and headed to where her parcel and her book bag was sitting on a previously empty desk. She pulled out a scrap piece of parchment and a quill then turned to Eirene, "What class are you supposed to be in sweetie? Who's your Professor?"

Thankfully, due to both their efforts, the charm flew out of the crack in the floor and into Ayla’s hand. Eirene let out a giggle at the girl’s antics and nodded at her. “You look very pretty!” she said, enjoying this game. It wasn’t a lie, either. The girl did look nice and presentable without all that gunk and oatmeal coating her clothes.

“Potions, with Professor Gunnar," she replied. "Are you a prefect?” Eirene asked with awe in her voice. She thought she’d memorized the prefects, but perhaps she’d made a mistake somewhere. Even if the girl wasn’t one, she was kind enough to write her a note. Professor Gunnar had to believe her now!

As Ayla scribbled on the parchment, Eirene frowned at the glass and other gross remnants still scattered across the floor. If something like this had happened at home (of course, in an alternate universe. The Antonopoulos household did not shelve hairy hearts alongside their jars of jam)… if something like this had happened at home, the family house elves would have cleaned it up before she’d even had a chance to scream ‘EW!’. Here, though, no one else knew about the mess besides Eirene and Ayla.

“Should we tell the caretaker about the… the… thing?” she pointed at the heart, wrinkling her nose. “I don’t think I’m supposed to try to clean up glass.” Her mother was big on keeping her away from sharp objects.

Eirene wondered who in the world would hide something so disgusting, and for what purpose. Her first thought was Keegan, or even Erik, but those two had no restraint. Whenever they got a hold of something slimy, be it worms, frogs, or boogies, they’d dash around and shove it in all the girl’s faces.

“Do you suppose it’s a real heart?” she breathed, glancing at Ayla with a mixed expression of horror and excitement.

Ayla leaned over the desk one foot pointed behind the other to keep her balance as she scrawled away at the piece of parchment she had pulled out. She had a smile on her face when she mentioned she was having Potions with Professor Gunnar. It made this situation that much better. Professor Gunnar was no stranger to Ayla's 'notes'. She had a habit of writing her Professor's letters to try and keep herself out of trouble. She had a better time writing down her explanations of why she didn't finish her homework on time rather than stammering and spluttering when faced to face with her professors.

Ayla only paused twice while she wrote her letter. The first time had been to ensure Eirene that she was definitely not a prefect. Not that there was anything wrong with being a prefect Ayla just wasn't one. She doubted any Professor would nominate her as a prefect. It wasn't as if her grades were bad, most of them were above average for her year and she was getting a good amount of O's in both Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures, she was just what her Professor's here and even those back home had deemed disruptive. Ayla never had a problem getting her work done but constantly talking in class made it hard for others to get their work done. No, she doubted she'd ever become a prefect.

The second pause had been to make sure she was spelling Eirene's name correctly. It would be horrible if this plea she was writing up for her had her name spelt wrong over and over again, it would look bad on both of them. She finished up the letter with and smile and turned to Eirene showing the younger girl what she had written.

"With this there's no way Professor Gunnar will get you in trouble for being late." She gave the girl a wink and rolled up the piece of parchment. Before handing it over she moved it to her left hand and with her right rummaged through her bookbag again before coming up with a tube of what looked like lipstick. She popped the top and twirled the bottom until a good amount of the glassy stick was showing. It was a brilliant shade of purple and sparkled like a burning star. Ayla ran it over her lips and smooshed them together making sure the whole surface had been covered. She then kissed the edge of the parchment. The bright and sparkly gloss pulled itself from Ayla's lips and onto the parchment. Once the full image of her lips was on the parchment it hardened creating a genuine wax seal in the shape of Ayla's kiss. It was still bright purple and sparkly but was now a full seal. Ayla's lips looked as though she had never put anything on them.

She showed the tube to Eirene, "Madame Madeline's Magical Mwah! It's the best kind of seal for a girl like me." She handed Eirene the rolled up and sealed piece of parchment. She knew that once Professor Gunnar saw the purple seal he'd know exactly who the letter from from. That was the beauty of Madame Madeline, she did all of her seals by special order making sure there wasn't a single one that was identical to another, it was like a magical fingerprint.

Ayla then turned her attention to the mess that was still spilt over the majority of the floor. She smirked happy that this was something she excelled at and would be able to show the younger girl that she wasn't entirely useless, "Orca Reparo!" She swirled her wand in a big arc before swishing it towards a desk. The many shattered pieces of the jar gathered themselves up and reformed the specimen jar upon the desk Ayla had indicated. Reparo was one of the few spells Ayla was great at. When you had a little brother like Erik it paid to know how to fix you own things. She then performed the Tergo spell hoping it would work and siphoned all the liquid off the stone floor, taking at least five times to suck it all up and deposit it in the newly remade jar. Then with a large gulp she picked up the hairy heart using as little of her fingers as she could manage and put it back inside it's disgusting home.

"Good as new." She smiled back to Eirene and gave her another hug, "Thanks so much sweetie, I don't know what I would have done without you."

Eirene read over the note and grinned. She fought the urge to underline Ayla’s mention of the Scourgify spell, as well as the part where she talked about giving Ravenclaw house points. Instead, Eirene thanked her and waited patiently for Ayla to seal the letter. The lipstick was… new and different. She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle and took the note when Ayla was done.

Eirene then watched in fascination as the third-year cleaned up the broken glass with an impressive sweep of Reparo and copious amounts of Tergeo. “Wow!” she exclaimed, hoping she’d learn to do that in her classes soon. Visibly cringing, her wand hand twitched when Ayla picked up the hairy heart with her fingers, but soon it was all over and Ayla dropped the heart back in the jar with a sickening plop.

Eirene returned the hug this time and wondered over the nickname ‘Sweetie’. It didn’t bother her, but she wasn’t used to it. Her parents weren’t very outwardly affectionate and didn’t like using terms of endearment. Maybe this was what it felt like to have a big sister? Not the annoying, bossy kind, but the nice and easygoing type, like Ayla.

“You’re welcome!” she replied shyly, glad that she’d stopped and helped. It made her feel good about herself and she wasn’t even going to get into trouble! Eirene clutched the note as if it were her lifeline and thought about how jealous Keegan would be- he’d missed the grossest, most revolting experience she’d had yet!

“I better get going now. See you later, Ayla!” As she exited the classroom, power-walking once more, Eirene imagined bragging to her classmates about their defeat of the (inanimate) hairy heart, using only their wands and their wit! Even Mairead couldn’t say she’d done that…

Ayla watched her leave with a wide smile on her face her fingers running along the surface of the small charm they had just gone through such an ordeal to secure. Spending those precious moments with the younger girl made her realize just how much she missed living back home with Dahlia, it even made her miss Erik just a little bit. She was glad that the twins were finally at Hogwarts but with everyone that went on in the school between classes, studying and extra curriculars she rarely saw them. It was nice to feel like a big sister again.

Once Eirene was gone she packed up her parcel and slipped out of the empty classroom. She knew she had promise Eirene she'd go right back to class but she needed to put her package in a safe place and besides she was probably already going to get detention for not having shown up it wasn't going to get any worse if she didn't show up at all. All that mattered was that Eirene didn't get in trouble. She was sure Professor Gunnar wasn't going to do anything to punish Eirene, especially not with the note she had given her.

With another glance down the hallway Ayla hurried through the corridor to finally make her way into the Hufflepuff Common room, which thankfully was empty. She snuck into her dorm room and placed her package carefully in her trunk took out a muggle science fiction book she had brought with her and flopped down on her bed intent on finishing the rest of the period here before setting off to class again.
 
~*~ Thread Finished ~*~