Of course, as always, there was a healthy pile of books and homework on Mairead's bed.  And, very much like always, Mairead was diligently ignoring them.  There was still one more day of classes before break but, as far as she was concerned, Spring Break had already started.  It was highly unlikely she was going to retain anything taught on the following day.  She didn't think she was at risk of flunking out.  But, she certainly wouldn't get any awards for most improved student.  She was fairly certain she couldn't lay claim to many of the rubies in the Gryffindor hour glass.

Her grades were ... it depended somewhat on the class.  Though her reading and writing had improved considerably, full essays were still hard.  She was, definitely, a doer - she missed flying class sorely.  Charms and transfiguration were her strengths.  If one ignored her essays, DADA and Potions were a close second.  History of Magic was a toss up - she'd been raised in a family steeped in oral history.   Taking notes was still prohibitively hard - she didn't even bother trying in History.  So, when it came to essays and tests, either she remembered what she'd heard in class or she didn't.  Her grade in astronomy was probably her lowest.  She was pure rubbish at it - she just couldn't wrap her head around some of the concepts and many of the words were just too long. 

She was ready for a break from school and a break from the complex ins and outs of the maze of school social life.  Mairead, of course, would never let it show (she had a reputation to uphold, after all) but homesickness had set in once again sometime towards the beginning of the term.  She was eager to see her mum and da and friends.  And, to get out of these ruddy, uncomfortable uniforms. 

She'd wandered down to the paddock behind the hospital hut with her flute case in hand.  Tynan, she knew, had been helping out with the Healer's mare - whether he was there, now, she didn't know.  But, it was a gentle spring day and Mairead was looking forward to some time away from the castle. 

Tucking her flute case under her chin to free her hands, Mairead scrambled she scrambled up that fence and dropped down on the other side.  Leaving the flute case balanced on the top of a post, she crossed the pasture to the mustang mare, singing[1] to herself as she stroked the mare's neck. 

1.	Lads o' the Fair - Lyrics if you need them

Mairead's soft singing was his first indication that he wasn't alone; until then, Tynan had been half zoned out, pitchfork diligently sending the horses' muck to the wheelbarrow he had in the small barn's aisle. It was relaxing and simple task - just how he preferred things.

The news he was going to get to go home for break had cheered him up considerably - even if the letter had told him they'd be spending most of it rebuilding part of the barn, since Bessia the carthorse had kicked one of walls and put a big hole in it. It would be nice to go home, see everyone - and just get away from the crowds and bustle of Hogwarts. He liked some of the kids here; his fellow Gryffs were alright, Mairead was familiar, Keegan too. But it didn't compare. Tynan wasn't the sort to like being taken out of his element, and his element was a simple life in relative solitude, surrounded by nothing but sea, with the occasional dragon attack. Aside from the latter the castle was too loud, too populated, and too big. But it was fireproof, a point in its favor.

Grudgingly, he would admit there were parts of Hogwarts he might miss over the summer...like having kids his age around to talk to. But right now he wanted to see the sea, and be able to sleep in a pile with the dogs again.

His grades weren't anything to write home about, and he fully expected to get hit for them when he got home and his parents saw his midterm results. He was already planning to be stubborn about it - it wasn't his fault he couldn't read quickly or write well, they hadn't really taught him to, now had they? (His own tendency to dodge lessons as a child had nothing to do with these issues, of course)

Mairead's singing drew him his thought and from the darkness of the barn, out to where he could spot her. He stood at the entrance to the shelter,  leaning on the pitchfork with the prongs sinking into the soft earth.

"'ello, Mairead," he said solemnly, watching her with the horse, who seemed receptive to the attention - as usual. "Ye gaein tae gae awa for the break, too?" He asked, letting the pitchfork fall against the wall as he straightened up.

Her hand came to rest on the mare's shoulder as she turned towards Tynan's direction.  Mairead was grateful, though not surprised, that it had been her fellow Gryffindor she'd run into down here.  They were a lot alike, the two of them and, consequentially, he was rather familiar - comfortable to be around. 

"Aye," she confirmed, grinning at the thought.  "Mr. McDonough's gonna meet me at the train.  Then, we're gonna apparate to Dublin to meet up with me mum and da."  She could have stayed with Deaglan again, like she had over Christmas, but she was feeling quite homesick and was ready to see her parents. 

"Yer headed home, too, no?"  She grinned and patted the mare's neck.  "I can't wait to see everyone at home." 

"Aye, I am," he said, walking to the mare, stretching his hand out for her to sniff before he stroked the underside of her chin, letting the horse rest her nose in the crook of his arm. "Dinnae how though, yet. Me mum will probably come an' git me, or one o' me brothers. It'll be nice, tae be home. S'quieter, though the storms can get bad this time o' year."

He wondered for a moment - despite their differences in blood purity the two had grown up in very similar backgrounds, so...well, if anyone was like him, it was likely her. "Will ye miss it? Hogwarts, I mean," he asked, somewhat uncomfortably. "An' Keegan an' everyone else."

To be honest, about three times out of four Mairead forgot that Tynan was pureblood.  He seemed far too normal, accessible and not stuck up to be pureblood.  He seemed so much more like her than many of the other muggleborns - it seemed so hard to believe he wasn't. 

"We stay away from the coasts in the spring," Mairead nodded, well aware of the potentially tumultuous nature of spring weather.  When you spent most nights sleeping outside and only had a thin layer of ornamented wood between you and the elements on stormy nights, you developed a keen understanding of the rhythm of the seasons.  "We got caught in a late spring storm up in Dunluce and me Godmother's vardo got blown over.  Storms don't seem so bad when ye sleep behind stone.  I bet its pretty." 

From what she gathered, the Scottish coast was much like the Irish coast - only more so.  More cliffs.  More surf.  More dramatic. 

Would she miss Hogwarts?  Right now, that was a difficult question to answer.  Right now, all she could think about was how much she missed her parents and her friends at home.  "I donno," she admitted with a shrug that she hoped simply appeared casual and didn't betray her homesickness.  "It's been almost a year, ye know?  Since the last time I was really home.  I been sent to stay with one of the old professors so I could 'catch up'."  She glanced towards Tynan and shrugged. 

He couldn't help it - the image of a wagon falling over was kind of funny. He smirked slightly in amusement; if her Godmother was anything like his Grandmam then she'd have woken the whole group with her squawking and shouts (and cursing).

"Aye, the storms can git bad this time of year," he said, stroking the mare's chin. "Dad n' Cam tried tae gae fishin' during one years ago. Waves washed 'em and the boat right back up on the beach," he said, smiling slightly. "Mam said they were lucky they dinnae drown - they were jus' angry their ale washed overboard."

The horse sighed, the gust of her breath making his loose shirt sleeves flap - Tynan being in his usual out of uniform attire of peasant shirt, pants and boots. Mairead's shrug was casual, though he couldn't help but wonder at it a little - he himself acting much the same these days to hide his own homesickness.

"A whole year? How did ye stand it?" He couldn't stand being away that long - and didn't want to imagine it'd happen to him. "I dinnae git tae gae home over Christmas and that drove me mad. Can't imagine being away for a whole year."

Mairead wrinkled her nose, trying to picture being on a boat in a storm and failing completely.  "I never actually been on a boat," Mairead admitted with a dismissive shrug.  "Other than the whole bit at the beginning of the year.  Don't really know anyone with one.  Tha' must of been right scary.  Bein' in the vardo when it's windy's bad enough - and the worst that's gonna happen is yer gonna get thrown into the side of the cupboard.  I think I'd get sick if it was stormy like that. I feel ruddy on the train." 

The Gryffindor crossed her arms over her chest as she watched the mare's breath rustle her classmate's shirt.  She was so very much looking for the opportunity to get home - to be amongst people whom she didn't always feel behind around and ... well, stupid.  She couldn't wait to sneak into Dublin with Jarlath and loiter in shops and stores. 

"I'm used to movin' around all the time, right?  It didn't bother me to stay with strangers - it was easy at first."  Mairead shrugged.  "I didn't really have a choice, either.  I had to learn me letters and numbers and how to mix in with all ye magical types so they put me into foster.  And, I'd been in foster before - not for as long, though."  She shrugged, again, trying to appear dismissive.  She liked living with Opie - it certainly hadn't been like that day with the Child Welfare and Protection inspector woman.  But, it'd still been a year. 

"Boat's ain't so bad. Ye git used tae the swayin' after awhile," he said. "Or ye throw up over the side a lot..." Like Micheal did. "Wouldn't gettin' thrown intae the cupboard hurt?" He asked, recalling a time when he'd been thrown overboard. "Off the boat ye just get cold..."

He pursed his lips, looking down at the horse. He couldn't imagine moving all the time - but if it was with roughly the same group, you weren't really moving, were you? The landscape just changed a lot...and faces came and went. It'd still be weird. Mingulay didn't really change much - sheep came and went, the dragon burned the house down sometimes. Really the only major change had been...his hand reached for his face automatically. He stopped it, dropping his hand to his side.

"I keep forgettin' yer muggle, even with yer rattlin' on about it," he admitted, guiltily. "Compared tae the others like Keegan, ye jus' seem like a wizard." He patted the mare's neck, letting her head go, and crossing his arms again. "Foster? Like..." What did that mean again? "They put ye with another family? That's weird."

Mairead narrowed her eyes at Tynan suspiciously.  He didn't seem to be joking with her but the notion was just too foreign to wrap her mind around. 

"The school boats weren't too bad," she admitted, with a shrug.  Again, they were her only experience with being on boats.  "But, the water was flat as a drunk pub singer.  I done seen the waters when they're rough.  And, I seen the movies.  There are sharks and whales and other things."  She shrugged then grinned slightly. 

"And, it only happened once," Mairead pointed out.  "I only sleep inside when it's too stormy for tents, even.  Most of the time, though, I just sleep outside.  Then ye can't get dumped anywhere." 

She was definitely homesick but she was also restless.  And, perhaps, those two feelings went hand in hand.  Before this year, it hadn't been often she was in the same place for more than two weeks.  And, she'd never been in one place for more than two months.  It was weird.  And, she got bored easily.  And, if she were being honest with herself, she wasn't used to having to deal with the same people, who weren't her family, for longer than a few weeks. 

"I'm a mudblood and proud of it," Mairead confirmed, stroking the mare's neck.  She'd been called a mudblood several times over before she'd been called a muggleborn; it had seemed natural to claim that name, despite - or even because of the way it had been flung at her.  "Think yer the only one who forgets."

Mairead nodded and shrugged, dismissively.  "Yeah.  Ye know?  When they decide yer parents aren't good enough so they stick ye with some other ones.  It's no big deal.  Hopefully, they didn't come by much this past year, ye know?  Not sure what me parents could have said about where I was."

Tynan looked honestly alarmed. "They?" He asked. "And yer parents dinnae fight 'em off?" He couldn't imagine that...in reality or at all, really. His mental image was of a group of death wizards sweeping down and taking children away.

"If they'd have tried that w' me my Da would have fed 'em tae the dragon," he said with feeling. "Bairns aren't animals. Muggles," he added, with feeling. "Strange lot, ye all are."

The alarm in Tynan's voice was obvious; his motivations for it was less so.  It wasn't simply accident that prompted Mairead to avoid talking about the details of her home life with classmates.  While Tynan wasn't just any other classmate, she usually was quick to change the subject.  She was used to people offering their own opinions about her parent's child-rearing tactics.  Her first experiences in this world hadn't been pleasant.  Mairead cast another suspicious sidelong glance at Tynan.  This one lingered on the young man as, again, hard-learned suspicion was prompting her to question his motives.

"They're from the government.  Ye can't just fight em off," she finally answered.  Though she had come to the conclusion it was unlikely he was being malicious, her tone held a touch of defensiveness.  "Me da came close to slugging them once.  But ... wouldn't yer pa have been carted off to Azkaban or somethin' if he fed some Ministry bloke to the dragon?"  If not, then the situation was entirely unfair.

"Not that it matters.  We're not exactly muggle, now, are we?"  Mairead shrugged, dismissively.  "We're Pavee, they're ruddy stones.  Do ye think she's ever been ridden?"  Mairead nodded towards the mare, having immediately tagged the question on the end.

"Well.." That was a good point. His father probably wouldn't be able to get away with feeding a Ministry worker to the dragon - though Tynan suspected that wouldn't stop him from doing it. Angus had quite the temper, when it was roused. "That'd depend if he gits found out," he pointed out. "Dragon's don leave much behind."

Her sudden change of subject surprised him, momentarily; until his underused logic centers fired. He did that exact same type of change if asked about his scars - admittedly, he also did it much faster. And usually more rudely.

Still, he got the message, unspoken though it was. "Dinnae. Ye wannae try?" He smirked, his tone and expression challenging.

"Dragon's don leave much behind."

"Our dogs can't do that," Mairead muttered under her breath, pursing her lips before turning her attention fully to the new topic.  So far, Tynan hadn't been at all critical or condescending - not that Mairead had expected him to be.  But, it was still an uncomfortable topic to linger on.  Traditionally, Pavee were often rather quiet and secretive about their lifestyle - outsiders, Stones, were far too prone to being critical at best and abusive at worst. 

But, despite his obvious surprise, Tynan obliged the subject change.  Mairead offered her fellow Gryffindor a slight grin before turning back to the mare.  She glanced from the horse to Tynan and back, a mirroring smirk settling slowly on her features. 

"I -"  She glanced over her shoulder, double checking there wasn't anyone around before looking back again.  "Aye.  It'd be wicked.  Long as they don't think we're trying to steal her."  She glanced at Tynan, eyes glinting excitedly before glancing around once more to make sure the coast was clear.

He grinned; that was more like it. Mairead being uncomfortable was kind of weird.

"Her halter's innae barn, I'll-" he paused, his inner responsibility kicking in. "I should finish the stalls, before we do anything," he said, running a hand through his fringe. "I told Nadge they'd git done," he added as a justification. And f Tulojow came running - limping? - out of her hut and saw them running off with her horse, he didn't want to be on the wrong end of her cane.

This was a good place to get hurt, though. Where better to get thrown off a horse than right outside the Hospital Hut?

He turned and jogged back to the barn proper, rolling his loose sleeves up. "Almost finished, anyway," he added over his shoulder.

Mairead looked back towards the small lean to barn that, presumably, sheltered the mare.  For better or worse, (mostly worse) the mention of the location of the halter seemed to remind Tynan of what he'd been up to before she'd distracted him: chores. 

"Ah," Mairead said, pursing her lips. 

The logic seemed crystal clear to her and one that had an age old feel to it.  The sooner the chores got done, the sooner they'd stop interfering with other stuff.  In fact, Mairead could almost hear those words in the back of her head in her godmother, Siobhan's, voice.  Tynan had already started back towards the barn. 

"One of these days yer lot will learn to pick up after yerselves," Mairead told the mare before breaking in a run to catch up with Tynan. 

"I can help," she offered, falling in step with her fellow Gryffindor.  "Ye know.  It'll get done faster."  Like peeling onions.  Only gentler on the eyes.