Eirene had the whole day planned out. Though she wanted to be a Healer and was making the St. Mungo's booth and panel a big priority, she was also attempting to swing by every booth and every panel set up at the Career Fair. Her mother told her networking was important! As a first-year, it was especially important to get a head start. While her peers were busy goofing off and using pamphlets as napkins, she was introducing herself to employers and giving them a list of her marks in classes so far.

She couldn't imagine why they kept smiling at her so much.

One thing did not go according to plan, however. Sasha Schlagenweit was here, at the fair! Eirene hadn't spoken to him since the disastrous Valentine's Day dance, when she'd assumed that they were going together and then found out he was with Ferguson Amherst. A month or two had given her time to settle down and even speak to Fergie about what had happened. She felt embarrassed that she'd expected him to like her, and about how she'd behaved towards him. Her mother had given her quite the lecture over the spring holiday that she was too young to be chasing after boys, especially older boys who had the worst luck possible.

But still! He was here! Eirene had been sneaking nervous glances at him all morning. Now that it was lunch time, she'd written a note to him and clutched it in her hand, walking over to where he lingered by one of the booths.

Eirene cleared her throat primly, and tapped Sasha on the arm. When he turned around and saw her, she handed him the note, then scurried off towards the Great Hall, throwing glances at him along the way.

The note said this:

Dear Sasha,

I am sorry for calling you weird at the dance and crying like I was a nine year old (I'm twelve!). I don't really think you are weird. Ferguson explanned many things, and though they are quite confusing I believe I understand some every thing. You are nice to me so I wouldn't mind if you dated a unicorn even. Though Ferguson is better than a unicorn. Because he's human. Also he is nice.

I didn't know you would be at the career fair! It's very exciting!

Also can we be friends again? I promise to leave you alone if you don't want to talk to me.

Please circle one:

Yes     No      Maybe So


Sincerely,
Eirene Antonopoulos

A darkly tanned face grinned mysteriously up at him from the cover of the topmost brochure.  The Ancient Curses of Egypt was, apparently, just one of the many adventures one could embark upon for their Year Out Adventure.  It sounded interesting but it also sounded hot and sandy and curse-ridden. 

The Year Out Adventures seemed to be one of the more popular booths around the career fair.  Of course, it also wasn't exactly a career.  It seemed more like a way for young witches and wizards to put off choosing their careers for another year after leaving Hogwarts.  Not that that was a bad thing - Sasha was intrigued by the prospects, himself.  He didn't know if it'd be feasible but he'd jump on the opportunity if it was.  It would probably largely depend on whether he was truly prepared for GCSEs at the end of Hogwarts or if he would need to work towards transferring into a sixth form college.  Doing so before he turned 19 would make things much easier (and much cheaper). 

The brochures were still fun to look at, though. 

Sasha had turned his attention to a brochure entitled The Mysteries of the Mountains of Romania when, to his surprise, of all people, little Eirene was standing by his elbow.  He froze, waiting to see what the girl's reaction to his return.  But, without saying a word, the girl thrust a piece of parchment in his hand and promptly disappeared amidst the sea of older (and taller) students. 

He read through the note, twice, then looked up and glanced around him, half hoping that life might offer some sort of hint as to what his next step should be.  Was he really supposed to just circle one of the words and send the note back?  Shouldn't he say something more?  Maybe he should disregard the instructions and actually find her.  Of course, given he had no idea which direction the first year had gone, replying would be faster than trying to find her. 

Borrowing a quill from one of the attendees of the Year Out booth, Sasha drew a quick circle around the "Yes" and printed in a neat "of course" next to it.  He had no interest in trekking out to the owlery but, luckily, after two months at the Ministry he'd seen enough interdepartmental memos folded into airplanes and sent on their way to be familiar with the charm.  After a few false starts, the parchment folded neatly into a miniature airplane and soared off over the heads of the milling students.  Sasha watched the paper-craft until it disappeared through the Great Hall doors and then followed, reaching the cavernous room shortly after the note had found its destination.

Eirene meandered through the large crowd in the Great Hall, glancing back every few seconds to try to spot Sasha. This was the part of her plan that she had not thought through. Giving him a note and running away was all well and good, but how would he find her and give the note back to her? What if he hadn't seen her heading into the Hall? What if it was just too much effort and he stopped looking for her?

She perched on the end of the Ravenclaw lunch table, staring at the doors and worrying. Another few seconds passed, and then a piece of parchment flew over the students' heads and right into her hands!

After clutching it to her and glancing around as if someone would try to take it, she unfolded the note, took a deep breath, and looked at the bottom part.

Yes! He'd circled yes! And there was an 'of course' next to it!

Eirene let out a giggle and beamed at her housemates, who looked at her like she was nutters.

She looked back, spotted Sasha by the doors, and waved at him excitedly, nearly knocking another student in the face. Her stomach flip-flopped, and she tried to remember that friends meant friends, not crushes, not secret crushes, not getting jealous if Sasha suddenly swerved to sit with Fergie at the Slytherin table. She was learning, bit by bit. But it was tough to remember it all when he was suddenly standing right there in front of her.

"Hi Sasha," Eirene said shyly, moving her bag off of the seat next to hers and looking hopeful. "I got your airship! I read it and I'm very glad."

She paused, a thought occurring to her. "Does this mean you're back at school now? Or are they letting you graduate early so you can become a Ministry official?" There was a touch of awe in her voice. She'd heard rumors about why he'd left, and wondered about the important-looking adults she'd seen walking around with him earlier.

To Sasha's surprise, the little folded airplane not only found its target but landed gently in the girl's hands.  Rather than crash landing in a firey wreck in someone's hair as he'd been fearing of his first attempt.  Despite the dubious start to their relationship, he really was growing quite fond of that new wand of his. 

There was something reassuring about seeing the first year beaming at the note.  More than anything, it was the uncertainty of his reception that gave Sasha the most trepidation about returning to school.  Somehow if, despite having once thought he was a scary murder and that they were going to a ball as dates, she was able to move past it all maybe others would follow suit.  Among everything else it was, at least, one optimistic sign.

"Allo," Sasha offered as he took his seat.  "Oh - and, airplane.  It was an airplane.  Airships are different.  They're- nevermind.  I was actually really glad it worked - I'd never actually made one before."  Of course, to Eirene, that probably hadn't been the important part of that statement.  "I'm glad you've forgiven me," he admitted. 

If only that was the case.  "I wish," he said, quietly.  If Headmistress Snark had offered him that option, of graduating early and moving on, Sasha may have very well accepted it.  But, no.  Graduating early and dropping out were two very different situations and the later had been the only alternative Headmistress Snark had offered.  "But, I'm not back, either.  Not yet.  They won't let me back until May.  I've been interning with the Department of International Magical Cooperation so I was invited to come here with them."

"You were looking at the different career booths?  Already worrying about career paths?" 

Eirene blinked at him in surprise when he said that he was glad she'd forgiven him. The way she'd worked it out in her head, he had nothing to be sorry for, and she had simply interpreted his behavior incorrectly. Of course, the scene at the dance had been embarrassing for everyone involved. But if Sasha could be dense about social situations, she was just as bad if not worse!

It was unfortunate that Sasha couldn't come back to school earlier, though she felt secretly relieved that he wasn't graduating early.

"An internship!" Eirene looked even more impressed than before. "Did you know? My father works at the Ministry as a lawyer," she added proudly.

"And I'm not worried," Eirene reassured him, suddenly questioning if she should be worried. "I know I want to be a Healer when I'm older. I like looking at the booths though, and my mother says it's important to have connections, so I've been introducing myself and talking about my classes! See?"

She flipped open her bookbag and handed him a piece of parchment that listed her classes and the marks she'd received so far in a very tidy scrawl.

"I'm going to raise those to O's," Eirene said shyly, pointing at the classes that had E's[1].

1.	She currently has E's in DADA, Transfiguration, and Astronomy.

"Ja," Sasha confirmed, blushing slightly at the girl's enthusiasm.  Internships weren't really that exciting.  "Since I speak other languages and have international ties it seemed fitting.  My supervisor's German.  So, it works." 

"He does?  What department?"  Being a lawyer didn't really offer any clues as to which department the man might be in.  Lawyers could be pretty much found everywhere. 

It was Sasha's turn to be impressed, though.  He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been at least slightly worried about what his future would look like.  Maybe, such things were simpler for purebloods.  Like those muggle kids back home that just knew they were going to be a doctor or a teacher or something before they'd even turned twelve.  "A healer?"  At first, the idea surprised Sasha - he was trying to picture Eirene digging her way through a bloody trauma scene in one of those TV hospital dramas and the image just wasn't quite fitting. 

You really want to deal with all that blood and guts?  Sasha managed to just avoid asking that and, instead, settled for: "that's pretty intense.  I actually still don't quite know what I want to do."

Sasha took the offered parchment and tried to grin though the mention of classes and grades had made his thoughts flash, briefly, to OWLs.  His own determination to get straight "O"s on those wasn't that dissimilar from Eirene's.  "I can help you with Astronomy," Sasha offered.  "Or, any of them, really."  Sure, he didn't have an "O" in Defense himself but he was also five years ahead of her.  "But, Astronomy's pretty easy for me."

"MLE," Eirene replied. "My father's a defense attorney." She was still a bit googly-eyed over Sasha's internship, and thought it was interesting that the German came in handy. She wished Greek would come in handy someday. Obviously, as a first-year she'd had so many opportunities for this to happen.

The surprise on his face worried her for a second, until he told her that a career as a Healer was intense. Intense and impressive, she hoped!

It was her turn to look surprised when Sasha admitted that he didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up. The smart fifth-years were supposed to just know those things, so they could map out their lives until they were seventh-years, and then graduate and become smart, impressive adults.

"You'd do that?" Eirene exclaimed, looking at him with wide-eyes after he offered to help her with Astronomy. Sasha had just made her day. "Thank you! I don't need too much help," she reassured him. "Just a little. I'd be doing much better if the other students weren't so distracting. One of them dresses up like a Mars person, and the rest make strange comments about Venus!" She shook her head. 

"If I can get all O's, my mother says I should be able to become a Healer like her. I'm sure you'll get all O's, too," Eirene told him with absolute confidence. "And then you can decide what you want to be, because it's really important. Do you have any ideas?"

So, her father helped the bad guys get off.  Of course, Sasha didn't voice that aloud but he did find it a little hypocritical that the very parents that were defense attorneys were warning their daughter to stay away from the 15-year-old 'murderer.'  "That's pretty exciting," was about all Sasha could find to say to that. 

"Sure," Sasha offered with a shrug.  "I like astronomy.  I especially like the math stuff. They...they dress up like martians?"  From what he'd heard about the first years, it didn't really surprise him that much.  Not that it was normal.  Just ... not unexpected.  "I can see how that'd be distracting.  Not the best learning environment." 

If Sasha actually managed to squeeze out straight "O"s, he would be immensely pleased.  He wasn't too concerned about most of his classes but there were a few that had remained elusive through the years.  "If I can manage an "O" in Divination, it should be doable.  I don't know - it's not the easiest for me." 

Really, Eirene didn't need to tell him twice - or even once.  He was more than plenty aware of how important these upcoming exams and those life decisions were going to be.  He had plenty of ideas - how he was going to go about putting those ideas into practice, he still wasn't sure.  He was even less sure of how people would receive the ideas. 

"I - yeah," he admitted, vaguely at first.  "I have some ideas.  But, they're not really ... you know, conventional." 

Eirene nodded happily when Sasha agreed that her classmates did not cultivate the best learning environment. Erik was extra annoying at that late hour!

Divination didn't count as very important, in her opinion, though she could certainly understand why Sasha would want to achieve an Outstanding just to keep up his record. Ever since Winnie had predicted Eirene's doom, saying she was going to lose her friends and fail her classes, Eirene was convinced that students only used fortune telling to make people feel bad. So of course it was hard for Sasha. He wouldn't want to make anyone feel bad!

"Not conventional?" She wondered, glancing at the food that had appeared on her plate and eating the vegetables first, hoping that'd impress him. "Like German chemistry?"

Somehow, Eirene thought that chemistry needed the German language to function properly, because that was the language she'd seen in his textbook.

Without warning or prompting, food appeared before them.  Somehow, bless the elves, they must have known he was there.  The plate in front of him had vegetables, like Eirene's, and salad but not a speck of meat.  After a quick inspection of the veggies to make sure no stray bacon had found its way in, Sasha started in on the salad.

Fortunately, Sasha's emotional self control managed to help him avoid spewing half-chewn salad across the table.  He just managed to chew quickly and swallow what was in his mouth before laughing as he nodded his head.  "Yes, like German chemistry."  For a girl that probably neither spent much time in the muggle world (she was both too pureblood and too obviously sheltered for that) nor stepped foot in a muggle studies class, she sure was putting forth an impressive amount of effort to relate.  Sasha was actually more impressed by the question than he was the vegetable eating. 

"Exactly like that, actually.  Working with the Department of International Magical Cooperation has been fun so that's an option but ... I don't know.  I might try to do more school after Hogwarts.  Maybe study more chemistry or physics - sort of like the math in Astronomy class.  And, I might go back to Germany to do that but the concepts are the same, regardless of what language you study it in.  It's like potions.  Even if your at Beauxbatons and studying potions in French, it's not French Potions." 

"Oh," Eirene nodded, a bit embarrassed, but not minding the laughter because it didn't seem like he was laughing at her. "It would be funny if there was such a thing as French Potions, though. Our Potions professor is French." As if he didn't know! "I try to copy her voice sometimes," she admitted with a smile.

The thought of Sasha continuing his schooling after Hogwarts both impressed her and confused her. It must mean he was going to a muggle school, if he was interested in chemistry or physics. Eirene hoped he wouldn't waste his magical education completely. It was alright if he studied in Germany for a few years, because Eirene would still be in school, and owls flew to Germany, she was sure! She just wanted him to be around once she graduated. As friends, of course!

Eirene often planned very far in advance.

"You'll be coming back here eventually though, won't you? Or at least the UK? The Ministry, St. Mungo's, and all the best places are in London," she encouraged him.

"Ja, I know."  The Hogwarts staff seemed to be quite diverse.  Their potions professor was French, their charms professor Austrian and Professor Storm was German.  It always seemed their was an American or two.  "You do?  You try to sound French?  I do that all the time,"  Sasha admitted.

He took a bite of his salad before realizing he might have given the impression he often tried to imitate Professor Vaillancourt. He looked up, shook his head and offered a clarification.  "Well, not sound like her.  I mean - tried to sound more like my British teachers when I was younger.  You know, you could always learn French.  I could teach you a couple phrases." 

Sasha glanced down at his plate and shrugged.  "I don't know," he admitted.  "I'm sure I'd come back to visit either way.  But, you know, my family home's in Germany.  And, when I come of age, I'll have to decide whether I want to be a citizen of Germany or the UK."  Actually, he had no idea how that would actually work with the wizarding world.  He would have to remember to ask Johann about it one day.  "I don't really know," he repeated. 

Eirene beamed at him when Sasha said that he'd also tried to mimic how professors sounded, though for different reasons. The professors that she thought were both beautiful and smart, the ones she wanted to be like when she was older, were the professors she tried to copy when she was braiding her hair in front of the mirror in the morning.

Suffice to say, she had the Headmistress's "you're getting a detention" tone down to a tee, and Vaillancourt's lecture voice down pat as well.

"Really?" Sasha's offer of a couple of phrases translated to 'learn the whole language' in her head. "That would be lovely! The potions professor would be really impressed if I could recite instructions in French, and write my essays in French, too!"

Eirene took another bite, thinking about Sasha's conundrum. She visited her grandparents in Greece for a little while every summer, and knew the language well enough, but she hadn't grown up there, not like her father.

"If you end up working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, you could be a German citizen and still work at the Ministry. Then you could still see your friends a lot and keep your home," Eirene commented, believing that solved everything.

"Sure.  Why not?"  Sasha agreed at first, not seeing any harm in offering to teach her a little French.  "I was learning it at the school I went to before Hogwarts.  You could write..."  Sasha's voice trailed off in thought.  He'd been distracted enough by the utter brilliance of the idea that he hadn't noticed the girl's hidden expectation that he'd be teaching her to be fluent. 

Hogwarts didn't require any study of a foreign language, - a gross oversight, Sasha believed.  Unless, of course, you counted Runes.  Sasha didn't.  It wasn't like someone would find their way into the Department of International Magical Cooperation needing a Runes Translator to communicate.  Like the rest of his muggle curriculum, he'd been studying French independently but, Eirene was right, they did have a French speaking professor.  He could continue practicing his French and actually get feedback!  Without even sitting a separate class!  He could even do that with German, not that he needed to. 

"That's brilliant!"  Sasha confirmed, nodding his head at Eirene.  "I should do that.  I wonder if she would let me."  Of course, reciting the instructions - or anything else that was done in front of the other students for the sake of showing off - wasn't really a consideration.  But, outside of class or such.  In fact, between DADA, Charms, History of Magic and Potion, he could get through half the day without using English.  Hogwarts was bulging with opportunities to practice his languages. 

There were two A-Level examinations in the bag. 

A hint of color rose in Sasha's cheek and he quickly turned his attention back to his food. "That is true," he confirmed with a nod.  "It has been fun working with the IMC."  And, he actually knew a fair bit of the staff.  If he continued his internship until seventh year, he could probably walk straight into a job at the Ministry.  Regardless of the citizenship he kept.  But-

"I really want to find a way to use my muggle education, though."  He admitted.  "I don't know.  Maybe find a way to help other kids who are in situations like mine.  They actually aren't really good about helping muggleborns.  It's ... they could do more." 

"I'm sure the professor would let you if you asked nicely!" Eirene nodded, thrilled that Sasha had just (unknowingly) offered to teach her French. He'd even called it brilliant!

Her smile widened when he agreed that her other idea was a good one too, admitting that he'd enjoyed working in the International department of the Ministry. The part that confused her was the mention of his muggle education. While she thought it would be terrible if he never used the magic he'd learned, giving up on muggle things was different. Eirene viewed it as something extracurricular; a club or one class, not a subject to build a whole career on.

She gave him a baffled look when he went on to say they could do more to help muggleborns. Didn't they already have a special Ministry department for that? Eirene didn't understand at all.

"But," Eirene paused. "I've seen professors offer the muggleborns extra help, and all they do is mess around and play pranks. The ones in my year," she clarified hastily. "If it were me, I'd always take more help. They just don't seem to care. Not like you."

Sasha did well at Hogwarts because he wanted to do well, she thought.