The sun on the street was beginning to get to him, so Tiberius ducked into a book store. It was probably worth getting a few fun books to take to school, seeing as he had no intention of trying out for Quidditch and who knew if he'd have any socializing to do, either.

Tiberius held a hand up to the shelf and walked, letting his fingers bounce along the spines, searching for anything that struck his interest.

"DEXTER!" came a great yell as a small, three year old cannonball of a child came waltzing through the shelves.

The small chill giggled in pure GLEE at his game of chase, and ran straight into a rather tall Tiberius, rebounding back into the arms of a Jakers.

Jake lifted up little Dexter and sat him on his hip, and looked apologetic. "Sorry, mate. I..."

...

"..."

!!!

OOF. Tiberius took a half shudder-step as the child barreled into him, and pulled down a few books that clattered to the ground. Turning to make sure the child - Dexter - was alright, Tiberius first only looked down.

It was as his brain caught up and realized Dexter was a name he knew, his eyes went wide as the slowly lifted and met the face of the person he'd most wanted to see... and most wanted to avoid.

"..."

He swallowed hard, and stared, words escaping him.

"He ok?" he tried, instead of hi, gesturing to the child on Jake's hip.

It took a few moments before Jake realised he was openly staring at Tibi. Well... it didn't feel RIGHT to call him Tibi. That was a young person's name.

And little person's name.

And TibERIUS was neither of those.

It was probably the swift kick to the ribs from Dexter that reminded him he was staring. The kid was glaring. Oh.

"Yeah... yeah he's fine," Jake nodded, with a GLAAAARE back at Dexter, causing the boy to giggle now that he had some attention.

"Are you?"

Jake wasn't sure WHAT he meant by that. Whether he meant just the Dexter!cannonball incident or the whole... estrangement over the past few years.

Tiberius' eyes were drying out because he just simply wasn't blinking.

"Yeah," he said softly. To all of the above. "I... you..." Tiberius sighed. He was not good at emotions.

"I don't suppose we can skip all of this and just go back to being friends, can we..." He sounded a bit dejected, finally blinking as he dropped his head.

"Are YOU ok?" Cause we never stopped caring, Jakers... there was just no talking.

Growing up sucked. Three years ago, they would have just done either some crying or some yelling and then maybe gotten ice cream. Now there were feelings to appropriate process.

"I missed you. I didn't write because I was sure you hated me."

Jake gave an awkward little smile at what Tiberius said. Yeah... no, that probably wasn't going to happen.

"I'm... fine. Yeah..."

Kind of? Whatevs, sure. Today he'd be fine.

When Dexter continued to wriggle, Jake lowered the toddler down. Dexter held onto Jake's hands and stood on the young man's feet, ready for Jake to start walking. But that wasn't happening yet.

"I missed you too, kid," he smiled, feeling slightly relieved. "Well... I guess you aren't a kid. And I definitely don't hate you. I just... I thought you'd left for good. I was... bitter. I'm sorry."

Oh wow... Jake felt horribly guilty. But he had been a bit of a jerk.

"You're... tall."

Jake was supertall as well. But... it was still weird to see Tibi like... OLDER.

Tiberius allowed himself to grin. "You're not exactly a shortie, yourself. Growth spurt, all that." He bent down to pick up and reshelved the books he'd knocked over when the Dexter cannon!ball bounced into him.

"I convinced mum to let me back. I never really thought it would happen." It had been her decision to leave, too, though he didn't fight her on it, at all. "I'm sorry it couldn't have been sooner so we'd have had another term together at school."

"I'm glad to see you found your thumbs after I left."

"Tell me about it... I shot past 6' about a year ago," Jake grinned. "I'm like 6'2"... I must say, I miss being little."

He watched the younger boy pick up the books and thought about helping, but he had a Dexter and was too late anyway. "It is a shame..." he agreed quietly. "But it doesn't matter. We don't need school to be friends, you know?"

It made sense, right?

And Dexter was tugging his hands, so Jake kind of swayyyyyyed from foot to foot where he was standing, Dexter still stood on his feet so he was amused by the 'walking'.

Oh the THUMBS. That was... wow.

"Yeah, man. I killed those things," he grinned, and then chuckled as he REMEMBERED. "I remember... the Astronomy professor... Antares... he helped me out. Put them back on my hands."

Nodnodnod.

"Oh man, I spent like a YEAR being Kazi's apprentice. How cool am I?"

Very cool.

That was the answer.

"People ask you to reach things up high," he said, nodding with a laugh. "Mum's always all 'Tibiiii, can you get the flour? Tibiii, I need the cake pan.' I don't know why she just doesn't store it where she can reach."

Tiberius shuffled. "Absolutely." He wasn't quite sure how that would work with Jake off doing.. well, whatever, and Tiberius still in school. But, back to the thumbs. "I left them on a bench so they wouldn't get stepped on. That was a wicked curse."

He had to laugh about Kazi as he crossed his arms in front of him. "Did he tell you what he did to me when I left? Doused me in something he told me was a potion and that I had to figure out what it was based on the symptoms. Spent all summer on it. It was water."

Tiberius rolled his eyes. "But man, what a guy to apprentice with. That must have been both cool and terrifying."

"What are you up to now that you're out? Or, heck, even, what have you been up to besides that?"

If they were going to be friends, or even just friendly, again, there was a ton of catching up to do.

"How does she even get them in the high places?" Jake mused, considering the concept. He'd only seen Tibi's mother once... in Diagon Alley before the kid had even started Hogwarts. Five years ago.

Wow...

He couldn't help but burst into laughter. "THAT is a very Kaz thing to do," he nodded. YEP. Ohhhh the torture Tibi must have gone through. Amusing in its own way. "He did stuff like that a lot... but most of the time he was pretty cool. I was staying with him, and I was learning a lot of... well, darker stuff... I guess if he messed me about I could have got payback."

THAT and the man had his dodgy hip... Kazi was old. It probably helped to have Jake around. "So much better than when he taught at Hogwarts."

He smiled when he was asked about what he had been up to, and Dexter decided to pipe up. "Neptune Dragon!"

"Errr... not quite, kid," Jake chuckled at the kid's confusion. "Well, as soon as I left Hogwarts I went off to Romania for two weeks to get some experience with dragons... then I went to my mum's house, and now I'm back at dad's. I'm going to go on tour with the band he manages, and do a uni course on the road."

He shrugged. Jake could not for the life of him remember if Tibi knew he'd been adopted by the Lawsons. He knew the kid didn't know about the divorce but the rest of it had abandoned his memory. "And I have a girlfriend now. I even went out with Lexi Denver for a little while... but now I'm going out with Neptune Bott. Perhaps you know her? She's a Ravenclaw."

It was weird... not much had happened to him... or maybe it felt that way? "How was Beauxbatons? Did you have to speak French?"

"I have no idea! I think she only uses them when I'm home because I have to put them back too!" The other alternative was that Susan Pryce had a secret maaaan when Tiberius was at school, and he immediately shook that thought from his head. Kazimeriz was a much better thought than his mum having a boyfriend.

"I wouldn't let mum take me anywhere in case I broke out in pink scales or something," he laughed. He was over it now. It had been a good learning experience, though had his mother known how to get in touch with Kazimeriz, it would have been another story.

Tiberius quirked an eyebrow at Neptune dragon, wondering what on earth that could be. He listened, though when he mentioned his mom's and his dad's. He was pretty sure that Prof. Morgan had adopted him, but he'd also been pretty sure Morgan and Lawson had gotten married, but that other kid had called him Jake Morgan, and now there were separate houses... He chose not to say anything as he couldn't imagine it was a good story.

But, oh ho! Girlfriends. Lexi he certainly remembered. She'd nearly killed him when she brought that ceiling down. And Neptune! " But what about..." He looked down at Dexter and changed his mind about asking the question. Not the time or the place.

"Oh, I know Neptune. First time we met, she insinuated I was dirty and poor, and a street child." He laughed a bit, given how the rest of the term had gone. "I didn't know she was famous and refused some Beans. It was a huge thing in the street. She tried to make me her servant, once, too."

He paused, realizing it wasn't exactly the greatest impression of the girlfriend. He laughed, uneasily, the rest of his words running together. "But I suppose we've all changed a lot since then. Things seem pretty good for you? Beauxbatons was good; I did have to speak French and I didn't know any before. Joined a chorus, too. It's all very... calm over there."

Sure, there were some important people he was leaving behind, but he needed to graduate from Hogwarts. Had to.

For his dad.

Cherry beamed as he said that they were friends now. So she wasn't the only one that felt the connection. She had a feeling that they could become very close; especially if he had an affection towards the hippie lifestyle like she did.

She was NOT letting him get away with not practicing his beliefs. "Don't worry. I can help you. I can show you and teach you."

James smiled simperingly. He was really was god. He was amazing. Women were like little pawns around his fingers. It was brilliant, impressive, delightful. If only he could earn money like that weird, old muggle guy Hefner making women fall in love with him. He'd be a zillionaire!

....O______________O

James needed to get OUT! Before she started force-feeding him wheat grass shots and making him chain himself to tree's.. and stuff. His eyes clouded over with fear and he nodded absently. "Right.. well.. how about next time? Tomorrow maybe?" He coughed and looked at his watch. "Oh look! I must.. go.. at work.. there's been a tragedy.." LIES. But he desperately needed to get away from this crazy woman.

Jake had always been amused at any mention of Tibi's mother. He KNEW if she'd been his mother he'd have had such FUN... you know, because Jake was a pain in the backside and all. Bahaha.

He looked down at Dexter and ruffled the kid's hair. His feet were starting to feel really numb. "Why don't you go and see where Uncle Daniel is? Maybe he'll let you pick out a book," he told the boy, and Dexter did so, calling out Daniel's name. Jake winced... he was sure Cole was having a nap in the back room and Dexter's screeching would not help that cause.

"Yeahhh... that sounds a little like Neptune," Jake nodded and gave a chuckle. "She's gotten... a lot better now. When I told her I was going off to Romania to work with some dragons I thought she was going to slap me..." He gave a half-contented, half-sad sigh. "I'll miss her this year."

Merlin knew she'd be flirting with every boy in sight. It actually amused Jake.

"I'm glad it was all so good for you. Must have been nice..." MUST have been. "There hasn't been nearly so much drama here since all that business with Remi. Last year they cancelled OWLs and NEWTs though... Berty Borr did, anyway," Jake said this with an air of bitterness as he sat himself up on a shelf, swinging his legs slightly.

"Why... why are you coming back?"

"She'll never forgive you if you get eaten," he said, teasingly. It certainly was odd to think of the two of them together, but Tiberius had to remind himself that he'd been gone for three years. Lots can happen in three years.

Thinking about everything about him that had changed... yes. A lot can happen in three years.

He train of thought came to a sudden and complete halt when Borr was mentioned. Tiberius had to fight down the urge to vomit at the memory of his last encounter with Borr. "Borr?! He's not... back at the school, is he?" Tiberius had missed that bit in the papers, though his subscription to the Prophet had lapsed during his finals.

Blinking, he shook the thought from his head and addressed the more serious of the questions. "For my dad," he said simply and softly. Rolling his shoulders and sighing, he expanded.

"When I was home for holiday this winter, my mom gave me something... no.. returned something of mine that she'd kept in the attic since my dad died." He tried not to sound bitter, but, well, he was. It had been his and it had been from his father. When all he had was that tattered photograph, she was hiding something else that he could have had with him. Something tangible. Huggable. "He made her promise I'd go to Hogwarts. I think she waited to tell me until she knew I was happy at Beauxbatons, but I told her it didn't matter and that I had to come back."

He took a deep breath, sighing. "Second term, Kapoor helped me find my dad's yearbook, but with everything that happened with Remi, I only looked at it the once. I know there's got to be more stuff around, or something." He shrugged. That's why he was back. His father had made his mother promise that "no matter what happened" that he would go to Hogwarts. Tiberius was holding her to that. He had two years to find out anything Hogwarts had to tell him about who his father was. Crossing his arms in front of his chest uncomfortably, he knew that the Jake he remembered was the only person he would have ever told that to, and he hoped the Jake standing in front of him was at least sort of the same.

"She'll never forgive me for going," Jake pointed out, a slightly guilty smile on his face. They'd even had a mini-discussion!argument about it... but of course Jake had been oblivious to the fact that he had been stating his case. In HIS mind, he merely TOLD Neptune that he was going...

But...

... yeah.

"No way, man." Borr at the school... SHUDDER. "But he's working in the Minister's office or something? There was a party and a bunch of students were invited: I was one of them... but I still haven't worked out why."

Jake WOULD have told Tibi about the muggles that had wandered onto the grounds... if he had even heard about it more than once himself. For now it was gone from his memory. And, oddly enough, so was the part about the statute classes. It just didn't seem to matter anymore.

When Tiberius started to explain his situation some more, Jake took up his role of the listening friend immediately, nodding and 'mhmm'-ing where necessary, as the boy spoke.

"Well... I think that's admirable, that you're doing what your dad wanted. Just as long as you're happy with everything, of course," he gave a little smile. Sticking at Hogwarts through all that hard stuff was incredibly difficult; Jake always begged to leave. The only reason he COULDN'T leave was because both his parents taught at the school and couldn't homeschool him. "I think things will be a lot better there from now on."

He left out the sidenote that he felt confident of that because HE, Jake, wouldn't be there... but still didn't give any promises.

After a small pause, Jake gently clapped Tibi on the shoulder, giving a slight squeeze just after. He wanted the squeeze to covey a sort of friendship thing.

But, really... he still didn't understand how people got emotions out of mere squeezes... so it probably didn't work.

"You can look after Neptune for me."

And that was only a HALF joke.

As Elle entered Diagon Alley, all she could think about was her first year at Hogwarts. She immediately wanted to get her books and start flipping through them. But, her mother told her that since she still had six more years to go, they were shopping cheap. As they walked into a book store, Elle noticed several students laughing and talking together. Everyone looked so excited to be returning to Hogwarts, & she was excited to finally see the beautiful castle, and meet her house mates. I can't wait until I start making friends, she thought.

Luna looked around she was looking for some first year books

Elle kept walking through the store when she noticed another young girl about her age. She walked towards her, skimming the shelves for books she needed, and said, "Hi, I'm Elle! What's your name?"

Becca walked into the book store with her list of books she needed to find. She saw some other girls, who looked confused just like she did. "Ello, I'm Becca." SHe said smiling at the one who had said her name was Elle. "Have you had any luck finding books?" She asked looking again at her long list.

Furmgoat was such a busy owl today! Not only was this his third letter of the day, but it also came with a small package. Furmy was going to demand treats after this delivery else someone was getting pooed on. This door seemed to stay open a bit longer than the others, and thus made it easier for Furmy to fly through, his eyes almost immediately finding the Becca person the letter and package was for.

Landing on a low shelf near the girl person, ignoring the books that fell off said shelf as he did so, he hooted softly and gave her pointed stares.

Staaaaaare.

Jade walked into the store simply amazed by all the books. "Wow, I should come here more often!"Looking down at her list to see what she was looking for, she read off everything in her head:
Hogwarts: A History by Chroniculus Punnet
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Tremble
How Not To Blow Off Your Fingers On The First Day by Julius Gummidge
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
Quidditch through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp
Goshawk's Guide to Herbology by Miranda Goshawk
The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk
Hilary Stargazer's Guide to the Galaxy by Hilary Stargazer
"Hmm, I guess i'll be here for a while."

Becca almost, well she did jump, when the books feel. She almost, well she did, let out a high pitch scream. Shaken and a little confused she looked at the owl. It was obvious the owl wanted her for some reason. "Hello?" She asked, stupidly, cause it wasn't going to talk back to her. She noticed the owls stare and was just a little creeped out by it. "Well, You don't have to stare." She said pointly. Taking the package. Knowing the owl wantd a treat she dug around, ah. "Now be nice." She said handing over a package of saltene crackers. Yes of course she should open it. She though as she opened it and gave the two crackers to the owl.

"I would have had more if I had been expecting you." She said sadly.

She took the package confused to why she had recieved it and opened it with a smile. It was precious. She slipped it around her neck, the largest smile on her face. She reread, and reread the note over and over again. She needed to find her sister, even if this was between Hanna and herself.

Becca noticed a new person walk into the book store. Hello, I'm becca" She said sweatly. She didn't know this person, but she hardly knew anyone. "Are you going to Hogwarts too? I"m a first year. Do you know how to find books here?" She knew she was babbling. She could't help it. She was still a little spooked from the strange apperance of the delevery owl.

Elle smiled at Becca, relieved to hear she wasn't the only one having trouble finding books. "Hi! I haven't exactly searched hard, but between the two of us, I think we can get everything we need."

Jade looked up from her list. "Oh hello, i'm Jade," she said now holding a few books. "Yeah, i'm going to Hogwarts and its also my first year." She looked down at her books, "and i'm pretty sure you just look for whats on your list..."