Kylie nodded. She kept back her tears, this was not the time or place. She was hardly capable of crying regardless. She was rubbish at crying in front of anyone anyhow. "Well.. I mean. That's what I've heard.. just some whispers in the common room and such. I don't know what the boy was doing.. or any details really. I would have thought it to be bigger news.."

Kylie laughed slightly at this slight joke. In any normal, non-dreary, situation, she would have laughed with enthusiasm. But for some reason, today wasn't a day she could do that. She sighed. "I wish I just knew what was going on here. I feel, almost like I keep missing things. Big things." She sighed again, "And for some reason, in certain classes there are always fights between the student and teacher or something. It's so.. strange.. is it normal?" She asked nonchalantly. Her old school had been rather small, academically demanding. She hadn't really ever been in a bigger.. more.. normalized school.

She thought again, Hogwarts was definitely not much bigger as far as how many students attended. And it was definitely not normal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlipperyDeathBanana

To say that LouAnn was a little confused would definitely be an understatement. She wrinkled her eyebrows and did a quick mental review of what Mr. Masterson had just said. She then shook her head to indicate that no, she didn't believe he wanted people to believe he was dead. "I'm a little confused, sir. What job did you have...and why were you no longer of use to...who?" she asked, a ton of questions coming out at once. "How did you get official people to believe you were dead?" She knew she was asking more than a small amount of questions, but she just couldn't help it. She'd never known anyone to lead a life so similar to hers.

EARLIER:

"It can be," he nodded, seeming as if he wasn't concerned at all. This was Hogwarts, after all. "Sometimes...students feel very strongly about something..and they'll do what they can to show it...I guess," he shrugged gently. "I just work on the grounds...I'm kind of secluded from the life within the school walls," he smirked gently and then shrugged again.

----------
LATER:

"It wasn't hard," he shrugged, sounding as though the topic was nothing to him. "It's that kind of job...where you know how to get into and out of the tiniest situations. Plus, you have some rather influential people on your side..." He chuckled and then picked himself up off the floor, walking over to the bookshelf. "Let me show you the newspaper article." He started his glancing over the books, trying to remember which one he put it in.

Kylie somehow doubted that.. he seemed like he was almost trying to put off a cool vibe. Almost. It was possible that it was just his natural vibe. But, a grounds keeper would still know a thing or two about the school. Especially being a graduate from that school. Kylie decided to let it slide. "Tell me about yourself. You've heard a thing or two of me. It's only fair." It was only fair. Her life wasn't interesting, not really. Not compared to some people here.

Still in awe that someone out there had near about the same life story she had, LouAnn continued to listen with interest as the groundskeeper answered her questions. She thought back to the day her family her family met with the Wizarding Protection Agency. They'd been the ones who erased her, but...she never knew how. Merlin, she was only ten-years-old!

When he mentioned a newspaper article, LouAnn drew her attention to where he'd glanced, suddenly very interested in seeing more about his background story. "Could you show that picture one more time? The one you showed me earlier...," she asked.

Earlier:

It's only fair? Constantine raised an eyebrow. He hadn't asked her to tell him about her past. "I assure you," he started, leaning forward onto the table and watching her, "there's nothing to tell." He smiled gently and inclined his head. "I'm sorry to disappoint."

------------
Later:

Ah. There it was.

Constantine pulled the book off the shelf and returned to the couch. "Oh, yeah, sure," he nodded, picking up the photo of his cousin and passing it to her. "I'm...sure you don't care, but I have a photo of him and I when we were younger in this book, too." With a small smile, he started to fiddle through, trying to find which pages he had hid stuff in between.

When Mr. Masterson returned with the book, LouAnn made a move to lean forward but found that it was near impossible with Roma right there in her lap. She smiled at the dog, still grateful that Roma had been there to comfort her when LouAnn had needed her the most. She hugged the dog then gently moved her to the side in anticipation of the photo. LouAnn really wanted to see it again...Mr. Masterson had a photo of her father!

She happily accepted the picture, her lips curling up into a smile as she looked at her daddy. She missed him...and her mother and Lucas, too. She glanced up when the groundskeeper mentioned the second photo. "Oh, I bet I've already seen it," LouAnn said, not really thinking about her answer before saying it aloud. She glanced back down at the photo in her hand, the little smile still on her face.

Constantine paused in his looking as he took a moment to process the answer she had given. "That...can't be possible," he chuckled, lightening up. "Unless you've broken into my hut...and looked through my stuff, you can't have seen this photo." He resumed his searching, trying hard to not think about how weird it was that she was smiling at the first photo.

Without looking up from her current photo, LouAnn nonchalantly replied to what he'd just said. "It was three years ago. You were gone for the holidays, and I just couldn't resist. I broke in around midnight using Alohomora," she calmly said. She remained calm for nearly half a minute then cracked up in laughter. "I'm only joking, of course." Had she...mentioned...seeing the second photo? If she did, she most certainly didn't mean to. "...and of course I haven't seen the other photo. How in Merlin's name would I even recognize you and your cousin at the age of fourteen?"

Ah, there was the newspaper article...WAIT. Constantine looked up again and stared at LouAnn. "How...how did you know that the photo is of us when we were fourteen? Seriously, you HAD to have broken into my house." Constantine blinked a few times; this wasn't adding up!

Merlin Me!

LouAnn had better concentrate on what she was saying before she seriously had to start doing some damage control. If she didn't shut up, she'd reveal an important family secret for sure!

"Ummm...no, you said fourteen...just a minute ago," she said, grinning to try and cover up her lie. "...and I didn't break into your hut. Trust me, if I did...and I didn't....but if I did, I'd have taken that necklace rather than some photo I had to dig for." She pointed towards a nice man's necklace laying atop a counter. Not that she needed a nice man's necklace...or not that she would have stolen anything from him in the first place...but she most certainly did not break into the hut to view a photograph.

"Uhm...no I didn't," he responded gently, raising an eyebrow. Geez, he was getting old, not stupid! "Oh...forget about it," he shook his head, continuing to flip through the book to find the other picture. And there it was!

Gently, Neo pulled the photo out and watched it for a second. It was a nice photo, both him and his cousin relaxing on a porch after an intense game of tag. "Here, take a look," you weird child, he added in his head. Smiling gently, he passed her the article about the car accident and his "death" and the other photo.

LouAnn heaved out a sigh, blowing it out so hard that her bangs fluttered upward. She sank down into the seat a little, nearly squashing Roma as she did so. If she escaped this school year without a single professor thinking she'd lost her mind, she'd be lucky. She reached forward and accepted the article and photo from him, smiling once again at the site of her daddy at age fourteen. Several minutes passed while she studied both, then she finally glanced up at the groundskeeper once again. "My, what an interesting story you have there," she said, tapping the article a few times. "The man in this picture...tell me, when did you last see him?"

Constantine had to pause and think about her question for a second. Geez...when had he seen the man last? "I think...we were maybe..16 or 17? We kind of lost touch after school," he shrugged. "Why?"

"...because, I just thought I'd update you on him a little," she said, sighing to prepare herself for the big confession. She laid the photos and the article to the side, readjusted Roma, then started her little story. "He's alive and well, you can be rest assured. He's married to a former Slytherin, too---a wonderful, loving woman named Lavender."

She paused to sort of collect herself then started back up again. "They have two children---Lucas, who'll be attending school here next year, and...LouAnn, who was named after her daddy. Luis Antonio...LouAnn." She said no more...for now. She'd probably startled him enough with just that.

Constantine blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

He couldn't have heard right. "I beg pardon," he asked, his brain still trying to process the info. Yeah, wasn't processing.

Her facial expression remaining fairly neutral, LouAnn repeated everything she'd just said. Although, she really thought he heard her the first time.

"He's alive and well, you can be rest assured. He's married to a former Slytherin, too---a wonderful, loving woman named Lavender. They have two children---Lucas, who'll be attending school here next year, and...LouAnn, who was named after her daddy. Luis Antonio...LouAnn."

There was another show of blinks as Neo stopped and thought about it all. He was....and she was... "You...you are pulling my leg," he concluded, staring at her with an incredulous look on his face. "This cannot be possible."

Her small smile developed into a little laugh as she took in the sight of his many blinks. The poor man...perhaps she could have been a little less straightforward with her explanation. However, she imagined there really was no way to come right out and tell someone they were your family. "If I am pulling your leg, then I just made one really good guess at his first and middle name, hmm?" she replied, giving him a matter-of-fact look.

"Touche," he countered, raising his eyebrows. "So...you...if you are my cousin's daughter, then...that makes us...like...first cousins? Or, something like that? We're...we're family." What a...completely unexpected surprise. It was a joyous one, but completely unexpected.

Kylie had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. She could tell if someone was lying to her. Always, without fail. Card games were easy to win because of this. But, in this scenario, the question had been personal and probably not her place to ask. She shrugged it off, she was a student, he was a faculty member, regardless of if he lied or not--she had to respect him. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't my place to ask." She said quickly. She looked up and stared boldy into his polite gaze. She hoped she'd sent the message that she knew he was lying. She softened her face and went on to say, "I can't believe how fast the year goes by.. it feels like just yesterday I started here. And now.. now.. it's what, January."

She had only been back at Hogwarts for about an hour. It had been horrible at that all girls school. Running up the path toward the grounskeepers hut, she spied a puddle of mud. Still wearing the stupid, ugly, bright blue skirt from that dumb frilly school, she took a giant running leap and landed right in the puddle. Anyone walking around would think it strange for a small blonde girl to be sitting in a puddle of mud grinning stupidly, but there she was. Dani eyed the area around her, then leaned back, laying in the mud, happy to be away from the clean and shiny halls of that evil place her mother had sent her. Sighing, she closed her eyes and let her clothes soak up the mud underneath her. Today was a good day.

Mr.Masterson,Groundskeeper=Awesome.

Walking up around the grounds near Mr.Masterson's hurt she spotted a young blonde girl.Walking over to her she spotted it was Dani.Racing over, she jumped into the puddle of mud she was lying in and lay in it too.DAAAAANII!

Dani's eyes flew open at the sound of Shana's voice. "Shana!!" She hadn't expected to see her friend so soon. "I'm back!" She jumped to her feet and started jumping around. Today was even better. Hogwarts was still just how she remembered it and her friend was right here!

Eye roll.Shana gave Dani a blank look and shook her head."Well of corse your back!" She giggled getting up out of the mud."Im sorry about blowing up at you the end of last term,It was just like a shock that you were leaviing." She beamed."Soo how was your new now old school ?"

Dani stopped jumping and looked at her friend. "Do you see what they made me wear?" The once shiny, blue skirt and matching blouse were now coated in mud and therefore unrecognizable. "Okay, maybe you can't at the moment. But we all had to wear this ugly light blue color and they made me wear hair clips." She pointed to her hair, now hanging loose with a headband holding her bangs out of her face. "And the older girls tried to make me wear make-up. I hated it. And there were no sports or boys or mud or water balloons!"