Kevin smiled, though he didn’t show it to zander and instead faked a cough in his hand. “Don’t mention it” he said as his best friend took the bag of candy. He was glad he had, the bag cost a fortune ok not really and he had started to get annoyed having to drag it around all day.

He was thinking about taking the internship? Uh hells yeah! As much as he knew that Zander wanted to marry Sophie because he looooved her, or however he had said it during their mirror call he still firmly believed that it was the wrong thing to do. Not entirely, but the moment was just wrong. “Woah, break it off?” he repeated as he stared at him. “Are you insane? Don’t just break off with her because you can’t marry her right away!” seriously, he never even had a girlfriend before and he knew more than him. Kevin shook his head and sighed loudly. “And definitely DON’T say you were going to ask her to marry you, Merlin’s Beard Zander you’re a Grasshopper at this. “ he really was.

Whatever this Portkey Pass thing job was, it sounded cool. Getting to travel around the world was always a cool thing right? And it was only for a year, before he knew it he would be back in England and back with his girlfriend. “Huh? Me? “ he asked vaguely. “Oh yeah I’m taking my NEWT exams this year, I’m not too happy about it but I passed my OWLs surprisingly well. 7 OWLs and 3 of them Outstandings” had he told him that before? He couldn’t remember. "So that means i'm not a worthless student after all, the teachers were just bad" he laughed. Of course it was because he had no choice other choice than paying attention as he was the only person in his class siiiiigh. “But anyways, I’m trying to write an applying letter for a Potions University…it’s not really going so well but I’ll get in , you wait and see!”

And also. “I met Puck before coming here” he said. They miiiiight have gotten some of the candy from the bag that was currently in Zander’s hand buuuut that was just unimportant details. “She’s looking for a place for herself and she said that when she finds it I have to drag you with me to see the place so you better take a day off work when I tell you” he grinned.

Shy? Moody? Ew, no, Katherine wasn't meeting him and risking attracting the wrath of his sister. Though, she couldn't let Ava know that, so she just nodded.

"I'll try my best not to imtimidate him, then," she answered eagerly - and that was by never asking him around. If they met, they met. That was it.

"No," she said, "I'm just here to watch people and maybe make a friend." Had she made a friend? Maybe? Hopefully?

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarShine

Shy? Moody? Ew, no, Katherine wasn't meeting him and risking attracting the wrath of his sister. Though, she couldn't let Ava know that, so she just nodded.

"I'll try my best not to imtimidate him, then," she answered eagerly - and that was by never asking him around. If they met, they met. That was it.

"No," she said, "I'm just here to watch people and maybe make a friend." Had she made a friend? Maybe? Hopefully?

Try my best not to intimidate him? Good good, hehehe. "He is actually nice but just... shy, and moody." And some people who knew both of them were twins are like... "You two are so different." or "TWINS? Wow, I didn't know that." But she's okay with that.

"Oh, you like observing people... Like a spy or something?" Being a spy is cool, especially the one for super secret agent. "Have you found some friends? I'm sure you do." Wink!

Looking around the Diagon Alley, Dima had finally found his youngest sister. "Ava! There you are. Merlin, I have been looking around this place!" The 31 year-old guy said. She was currently talking to a girl, maybe it's just one of her friends. "Hello, sorry to interrupt, but uh... My sister has to come back home now. Thank you for keep her company and... I hope she didn't do any pranks to you." HEHEHE...

Boo... Dima had picked her up and they need to go home now. She still wanted to talk with her new friend... Yeah, Ava could consider this girl as her friend. "Okay, brother..." And she slightly eyed him when he mentioned about prank in front of Katherine. Don't spill the secret, you old thing! "Bye, Katherine! I'll see you at Hogwarts and... Hopefully you will be in Ravenclaw!"

Yeah, however he was, Katherine was staying away form him. "Thanks for letting me know," she still said. Truly, though. Or else, she might have made a mistake and hurt the guy AND Ava, aka the new friend.

A spy???? Nooooo! She was an honest person, thank you very much! "I just - look what people generally do." Like, to blend in, but admitting that would sound awfully lame, so she kept that to herself. But then, she didn't need to explain further because her brother was here. Phew.

Pranks?

"No, I'm actually very glad I met her!" she said, and smiled widely at both. So, Ava liked to play pranks... which meant she was probably a trouble maker, which meant they couldn't be friends. Haha, awesome. The one other friend she had made turned out to like pranks... ugh.

"See you later and thank you!" she called after her, checked her watch and got up to find her own mum.

Zander was thankful for Kevin's kind gesture, but he decided to drop it seeing how uncomfortable it made his best mate. Heh. The former Head Boy did, however, continue grinning like an idiot. And he couldn't wait to eat the candy. Man. After having spent all his savings on the ring, candy was kinda cut out from his life. Ah, the many sacrifices he made.

Of course he wasn't grinning once the conversation took this particular turn. Instead, Zander shoved his hands into his pockets and looked up at his friend rather sheepishly. "It's just... Y'know, long distance," he said looking down. "People say it never works out." And he didn't want to mess up and lose Sophie forever, y'know? He was ready to marry her and that didn't really work out. Didn't need anything else to go wrong. "You're right though... I won't tell her. It might--er-- freak her out.." The only problem was that he was going to plan to ask her again at some point. If the long distance thing worked, that is.

But he was glad that the conversation had moved over to Kevin. It was a lot easier talking about him. "7 OWLs? That's fantastic!!" Zander smiled widely. Very proud best friend right here, ladies and gents. Very, VERY proud. "If you need help with the essay... Er... I probably won't be the best person to read it over, but I'm sure Soph wouldn't mind if you'd want to run it by her? She's going to uni for wandlore stuff, but she's taking loads of potions electives too 'cause she lives for that kind of thing." So case and point, she knew what she was doing. And Sophie Brown was good at everything so there was also that. Man. How the heck did Zander Adair manage to be dating someone like that!? lololol.

"Puck?" he echoed curiously. Even Zander hadn't seen Puck since graduation and they had actually grown quite close over the course of prefecting for three years. "I didn't know you two were friends," he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at first but deciding he didn't like that very much. No to weird. He took it back. No eyebrow wiggling ever again. Sorry. Ahem.

Great Merlin in his flashy undergarments, how had he forgotten how busy and clogged Diagon Alley could become? And how had he not remembered that this would be the busiest time of them all? Raiden found his way all the way to the very last bench on Diagon Alley and, after absently casting a quick cleaning charm at it out of habit, sank onto it. Better to be out of the way to look around than to be standing on someone's path and get stepped on again, as he had a few times on his way down.

It was amazing, really. Over six feet tall and not nearly as paper thin as he had been years ago, and he still managed to go unnoticed and be run into. He supposed he should be glad for it, the unnoticed part... but as he directed his wand at his shoe to vanish the footprint off his toes, he couldn't really find it in him to be overly happy about it.

"What did I come here for, again..." he murmured to himself, sliding a hand into his pocket to pull out his wallet and a small pad of paper that looked thoroughly worn and used. He engrossed himself in flipping through the small pages, scanning notes in several different languages while looking for the list he was sure he'd jotted down.

Should she have left the girls at home? Merlin's pants, this alley was far too crowded for the double stroller, the lines were much too long, and Emmalee was starting to think that maybe sending out the house elf to do the shopping was actually practical instead of posh. She'd really only intended to pop into Malkin's for a new set of work robes on her way home, but she'd been side-tracked and the girls had needed to eat and... Emmalee was exhausted.

But sweet mercies, there was a bench. Sure, someone was sitting on it, but he certainly wasn't entitled to the whole thing.

Pushing the stroller in that direction, the red-head deftly avoided the hordes of students who mercifully would be off to school soon. Except, if she thought about that for just one moment more, she'd have realized that it meant that they'd be on her street, near her home, as soon as the Hogsmeade weekends began. Maybe Maribeth's prejudice hadn't been... too misplaced.

Sitting on the edge of the bench near the man she had not yet looked at, Emmalee sighed and leaned over to take Roswynn out of the stroller. As she brought the fussy girl to her shoulder, she tutted and shushed the child. "Which is it, baby girl? Howell stubbornness or Quinn temper, hmm?" Given the way the afternoon was going, it could have been either.

That voice.

Raiden hadn't even looked up when the woman had sat down, nor when she had moved to take an infant out of the stroller. He'd merely shifted himself over to make sure he wouldn't be in the way of the gigantic thing, leaning forward into his notes with his forearms on his knees. But the voice... it made his breath catch a bit in surprise, a strange tingling sensation up his spine accompanying the recognition as one hand moved to his chest. Fingers absently ran along the edge of the vest he wore over his shirt.

Green, that first time. Now black and grey.

He had gone still, a notebook page half flipped, an expression somewhere between shock and disbelief scrawled across his face. Because there was no way that she was here, now, sitting next to him. Coincidences simply weren't that huge.

Ever so slowly he lifted his head and let himself look.

"...excuse me..."

Apparently the only thing that would quiet the fussing child was Emmalee's earring, which after several tugs from her daughter, she had removed and just handed to her. So, naturally, Roz began beating Emmalee about the shoulder with it. Jeanelle, bless her little heart, was contentedly chewing on her stuffed animal.

Hearing the man's voice and being far too distracted by her children to notice the small recognition that was churning in some corner of her brain, she half turned. "I'm sorry... we'll be out of your way in a min---" She'd finally gotten a good look at him. Shifting Roz on her shoulder, she let her eyes look over his face... but it was the vest that really did it. She looked at it, then up at him, trying to reconcile the face she remembered with the man next to her. It couldn't be.... could it?

"Rai?"

He sat up a little straighter now, the notepad and his wallet just barely hanging on in his fingers. She looked like Emmalee. Older, of course, and a bit tired... but the face was just...

He swallowed hard, ears warming a bit as he realised that he was staring. It wasn't as if it could be helped... How else was he supposed to react? It had been ages since he'd talked to her, but far from ages since he'd thought of her. She'd been the last person he'd expected to come across in Diagon Alley.

Yet here she was.

"Em..." He squeezed his fingers around his wallet thoughtlessly. "Emmalee."

She had gone completely silent, her free hand coming up to cover her mouth as she just stared at him as he said her name. It was him. After all this time, there he was. She truthfully could not put words to what she was feeling in the moment, though her stomach felt tied up in knots and there was definite moisture pooling in her eyes. A large portion of it was gratitude but there was also the slightly bit of pain caught up in it too.

Raiden. Raiden. She'd gone so quiet and so still that Roswynn had as well, dropping the earring and instead patting her hand against her mother's cheek. "mumamumamuma" she babbled, though Emmalee paid her little mind.

It had really been only a few moments, even if it had felt like ages, before she dropped her hand and gave him a small, watery smile. "I'm... going to hug you now."

And she did.

The hug should not have been as unexpected as it was. Raiden blinked some more, thoughts sluggishly trying to process what was happening, and then she was hugging him. It took him only half a moment to remember that he too had working arms, and he very carefully wrapped them around her, trying not to jostle the little girl she had already been holding before she was holding him.

"It's really you," he managed, squeezing her gently. "Merlin alive..."

He had so many questions. She was here? She had children? Everything else in the entire world? But none of them seemed ready to form coherent words just then. He'd been shocked into silence. So he just... hugged her.

He was pretty sure if she hadn't been holding an infant, it would have felt exactly the same.

There had certainly been a time when Emmalee never wanted to see Raiden again. And then that had given way just to an assumption that, want to or not, she probably never would. But it didn't stop him from popping up here or there. When she finally removed all of her things from Maribeth's when she'd started University and found a book he'd lent her. Or when she'd finally begun to travel and had remembered how he'd suggested it and she'd dismissed it. When Derek left her and she bitterly wondered if Raiden would end up being the only one who hadn't cared about her past.

When she sat in her old room the night before her wedding and realized that a chance encounter at 19 completely changed her life.

"And it's really you?" she said, pulling back from the hug eventually. Her eyes still searched his face, as if straining to find anything that would disprove that it was him sitting there with her. She had so many questions. Where had he been? What was he doing? She found her gaze almost instinctively dropping to his hand to look for a ring... did he have someone? Was he happy?

"I wrote you a letter," she said finally, shifting Roz to her other shoulder. "About a year and a half ago.. never sent it."

The way she was looking at him brought the familiar burn of red to his face, and he scratched at the back of his head with an almost sheepish smile as he sat up straight again. Much like the first time they'd met, Raiden wasn't very sure what the social protocol was for this. It wasn't like he'd had many experiences in the way of this; Rai hadn't made a habit of relationships. It wasn't easy to maintain them with his workload.

Women didn't tend to like being such a far second to his job, which was a hellish and demanding first.

She'd written him. He felt guilt pile in his stomach; was he the one that had cut off contact first? He'd moved so far away... it had gotten harder to write, harder still to get away. There were so many people he'd wanted to write to, but... how had he let it turn out this way?

"You did?" He looked at the child on her shoulder, and the one in the stroller that seemed so content. Big changes... it was so strange, after all this time. He wasn't sure if it was fair to even ask. "What... was it about? The letter, I mean..."

Truthfully, Emmalee couldn't remember the order in which things had started to fall apart with them. Had it been the tournament first, then her moving to London? The opposite? Or were things good before she'd overheard the rumor about him and another girl when she'd gone back during a Hogsmeade weekend? All she remembered was that by the time he'd graduated, they weren't them any more, each caught up in their own stuff.

She nodded a little, reaching into the stroller to get a cracker for Roswynn, so she'd stop chewing on Emmalee's hair. "I did.. it.." she laughed a little. "It was the night before my wedding, actually." Getting Roz set with the snack on her lap, she shifted to face him. "I was in Hogsmeade, at Maribeth's. Lots of sentimentality, life updates, a fair bit of gratitude.." She smiled warmly, wondering how it was that after all this time, she still felt comfortable with him.

"I work at the Ministry now. Or, I guess, again, after time away" Since that had been where she was working all those years ago. At his suggestion. She idly stroked her daughter's hair. "Department Head, it's.." She looked back up, eyes meeting his, and smiled. "it's nothing I could have ever have imagined doing before we met. That's what the letter was about." Among other things.

At the mention of a wedding, Raiden's eyes moved to her hands. He hadn't looked... hadn't even thought to look. He never did with women, because really why would he need to know? But Emmalee being married, with two kids, and a job at the Ministry... her growth made his feel like a wilting plant.

"You're married... that's just..." he grinned and reached to touch the little girl's hand as she chewed at her cracker before dropping it back into his lap so he wouldn't disturb her. "And kids! Wow..."

And a Department Head, no less. Raiden couldn't really hide the fondness in his expression, the pride in what she had accomplished with her life. When they'd met... she hadn't thought she could leave Hogsmeade even for a day trip. But she had done all of this.

"I told you, didn't I? That you could do things." And she'd done so much more than 17 year old Raiden could have ever imagined.

His glance at her hands did not go unnoticed, and Emmalee also let her gaze settle on the ring Iwin had had made for her. She looked back up at Raiden and nodded. She had an urge to gush about Iwin, but wondered if that would be weird. Instead, she watched as Roswynn shook her cracker at Raiden and giggled, causing Emmalee to smile. "They'll be a year next month," she said, bouncing Roz on her knee a little. "Jeannie... Jeanelle, is the one nodding off in the stroller.. and this is Roswynn." Emmalee's face conveyed every single shred of love and affection for her girls as she introduced them. Motherhood suited her. Softened her.

She looked up at him, at his next, and her eyes began to tear ever so slightly. "You did. You were the only one who believed I could and if you hadn't.. I couldn't have taken even that first step." Wow, this was surprisingly emotional, and Emmalee sighed heavily as she used her free hand to wipe at the corner of her eye. "That.." she laughed a little bit. "that was the other part of the letter."

Another deep breath and she'd composed herself. "Enough about me, what about you? Where have you been? What do you do? Do people still randomly transfigure you into animals for fun?"

Raiden very gently touched Roswynn's hand again, smiling at her as she giggled. "Both beautiful like their mommy." He liked kids, most of the time. Not at work, but... elsewhere.

The change in her voice caught his attention and he let his eyes move back up to her face, concern flickering on his own at the way her eyes were shining. He would have protested what she said - Emmalee was more than capable of changing on her own, she had just needed time, after all - but then she'd asked about him, and he found himself laughing.

"Nobody's tried in a very long time, but I wouldn't be surprised if being back in London changes that." Some crazy things had happened in Korea, for sure, but the bulk of his life's craziness had happened in those few years at Hogwarts. "I was here, for a little while... worked at the Daily Prophet for a bit. Moved to Korea in my early twenties for university, tried to continue the writing thing... it was frustrating though."

He hadn't been a fan of being a journalist. It was tedious and the things they'd wanted him to write held no value to him.

"I ended up shifting my focus to medical training instead. I work at a trauma centre in a hospital now." Didn't like that much, either, but it was better than the journalism thing. It helped people. Also didn't hurt that it paid more.

An hour for lunch and nothing to do with it. Lex wasn't particularly hungry but not being in the office--not being in the Ministry was just the break she needed. No reminders of that horrible conversation, no reminders about the humiliating fix she now found herself in. Out here she would not think about it, not even for a minute which meant sitting on this park bench and people watching.

If only the people were being interesting.

Shopping, shopping and more shopping. There was the occasional woman practically yanking her child out of Sugarplums and that one guy who'd darted down the street as if he'd seen a ghost but outside of that, the YATI was left to her own thoughts--and that was the problem.

Idly, she plucked at one of the feet on her chocolate frog, hardly noticing the way the thing still wiggled. Where was a distraction when you needed it? Probably sleeping, he had work later.

Fresh out of Gringotts, Justine was the picture of thoughtful. Her lips were pursed and her eyes were slightly glazed over, it was a look she didn't often wear in public, but lately the brunette's mind was cloudier than a crystal ball in Divination class. She shook her head and wandered down the alley... London was a terrible reminder. the Alley was a terrible reminder... And they'd never even visited the place together.

Ugh.

She needed to stop thinking, she needed to be pulled abruptly from her thoughts and soon.

Distraction was needed, desperately.

And as if in line with some perfect cosmic joke she was once again left out on, the Universe went and sent her the wrong Janvier. She couldn't have expected any better; nothing was going the way she wanted it to and she would only be presumptuous in thinking whatever higher power would take a break just because she wanted it.

"If we run into each other any more often I'll be inclined to think you're stalking me." Lex said by way of greeting. 'Hi's and 'Hello's seldom cut it for her.

It was funny, them running into each other again though, especially when the last run in saw Lex suddenly needing to be elsewhere before they could get much out. Alexa ripped the other leg from the chocolate frog, sizing up the woman as she was set to walk by her.

"Foul run in with the goblins?" She'd seen her the moment she'd walked out of the bank but didn't think much of it until she was heading this way. "It's why I let Remy do most all my transactions there." Goblins did not seem to have a sense of humour. They also did not seem to share much love for her. It was life.

Alexa Cambridge. This time Justine remembered her, not for her kneazle, which was absent this time, but for that snarky mouth of hers. The biting wit and bored expression were etched into Justine's brain thanks to all the days stuck in class together. "I could say the same, Cambridge." Justine remarked, thick eyebrow raised, her air was of one expecting a fight.

It was strange nearly walking into the Gryffindor again, and if Justine were the type to believe in fate, she might have given the occurrence some thought, but Justine believed in shoes and cars, not shooting stars and because of this simple fact, she would let the notion past right by.

"They were personable enough." Justine shrugged, though she cursed herself inwardly for even letting her feelings be so evident. "I never got on much with Remy." No skin off her nose, if she were perfectly honest she didn't like to deal with the goblins at all, but that was wizarding life for you.

Because it was the holidays, that meant he had a couple of free days off work and Daichi had decided to spend one of those days in Diagon Alley. He had bought new office supplies and more, even a bag of chocolate frogs which was currently in one of the bags in front of him.

The ex slytherin himself took a seat on a park bench but jumped up immediately with a yelp. He brushed the snow off of his pants before he grabbed his wand and performed the heating charm on the bench. The snow melted until the bench was dry and he smiled to himself as he took a seat. Now he just had to sit back, relax and tried not to think of the amount of paperwork he was sure would be on his desk when he got back from his vacation.

It was almost time to go back to work officially now that the big holidays were over and while she still had company at her home she was fully taking advantage of said company and leaving them with Lewis to keep an eye on the kids while she ran a few errands in Diagon Alley. Onii-chan seemed a little frazzled since they had returned from visiting Lewis' family in America, and Kurumi couldn't help but wonder if something had happened while they were away. Things seemed to be in fine shape at the house, so whatever it was that had her oldest brother acting strangely must be something personal.

Coming out of Madame Primpernelles Beautifying Potions with a new bottle of potions to help with her weather hands and a few scorch marks on her cheeks, Kurumi made her way towards the bench to have the onigiri that James had affectionately attempted to make for her - with a little help from Onii-chan that is.

What she had not been expecting to find as she approached the bench was a familiar face. While not a complete stranger, as they had various brief run-ins when she, on the RARE occasion, went to the Ministry on official business, it had been a while since they had seen each other in such a casual setting. Merlin did it bring back memories!

"Daichi," she whispered as she approached from the side.

Lex allowed a smile, openly amused by the idea of stalking anyone nevermind the obvious stalker tendencies she developed around Erik Vinteren. " 'm afraid you're not quite my type." Just as amusing she supposed given she didn't suspect she truly had a type to begin with. Her tolerance level simply varied.

Personable enough. If Lex was the type to pry, she may have pointed out that personable encounters didn't leave one looking like THAT but today she would be civil.

The opportunity to make a jab however? As it happened, Alexa wasn't civilized enough to pass that up. "Thought they taught all you Janviers how to make even the most hateful of creatures bend to your charm." Not getting on with the goblin? Gasp and utter horror--but predictable. How many of them ever offered a smile? You think they'd be happy enough once you started leaving large sums of galleons with them but even that didn't jerk much out of them.

But on a more serious note, what DID have the young woman waltzing through Diagon Alley like she'd lost her cruppy?