A fake punch on the shoulder made Christopher grin again. "As modest as you are, I cannot deny that you are awesome. But don't forget, Selina Skylar, that I am pretty awesome too." He smiled brightly, his face was lit up like a little kid on Christmas, and his eyes were sparkling so joyously. He felt as happy as he looked too.

Calmly, Christopher began to speak of his dad more. This time, the memories that flooded his mind didn't pain him. They made him happy, in a bittersweet sort of way. "He really wanted to meet you, you know. Elyon and I must've mentioned you to him a million times. He was fascinated by you and Violet. I would always tell him stories about you guys, and about your families. He was dying to meet your father! He wanted to get an explanation about Quidditch from an expert! He'd even told me about a hundred times that when he got better, you two would have to come over for a little bit of the summer. Our house isn't much, but for a while, it was truly home. Hogwarts has taken it's place now." He sighed. "My dad really would've wanted you to be there, at the funeral. It means a lot that you guys are coming. You're bringing your families with you, am I correct? It'd only be right if they came too."

"I'd love to be a Skylar. I'm sure Elyon would be too. In honour of our dad, of course we won't change our names or anything, but we'll be a part of your family as long as we're wanted there."

Selina looked up in the air and pouted her lips, "I don't know, my level of awesome makes me the Ambassador of Awesome. It's a pretty high title and all, don't know if I can just hand out a pretty awesome to just anyone. You still have a little work to do," she teased leaning over and poking his side. It was times like this with Chris, when things were not so serious, that she loved. He was just Chris and she was just Selina. Things were good.

As soon as he spoke about his father Selina could feel like contradiction of emotions in his voice. Part of Chris sounded sad, the other sounded like laughing. It was odd, but in a way she could see how the two could co-exist. "I would have loved to have met him. He sounds like a great guy. And as to your question, my family is coming. Mom thought she'd be unable to get out of work, but she worked it out that she can come. And my Dad will be there too. If he needs to talk to your Mom I'm sure he'd be happy to talk to her. My Dad's a cool guy and a Professional Athlete. People tend to take one look at him and back down... if you know what I mean. And I'd never ask you to change your name. I don't even now what is going to happen as of late, but in my heart we're siblings. Maybe one day we can be that on paper too."

Once Katie had let down that wall and finally let Lando in on what she was holding inside, even by accidental emotionally exhausted break down, she couldn't seem to stop. She couldn't stop the tears leaking from her eyes in that moment any more than she could turn off the emotions inside her that she had been trying to fight and ignore until they just didn't exist. And as naive as it sounded, Katie had a little hope that day would actually come. Little hope, and even more doubt. For the millionth time, she had never asked to feel anything for Legend, aside from not wanting to want to attack him on a near daily basis. But here they were.

As she just stood there in the Gryffindor boy's arms, Katie kept her face buried in his robes. His question should have shocked her, the mere fact he had thought to ask should have surprised her. She and Legend had never said anything about 'love' outloud, they hadn't really acted differently around their friends, and he wasn't asking if she loved him. He was asking if she still loved him. Something that Katie felt sure, he already knew as well, somehow.

Although she knew she shouldn't, and that Lando already had his answer in his mind, Katie couldn't stop herself. Moving her head to the side and taking back one arm from around him, the seventh year tried wiping her face of the tear tracks, letting out a shaky, slow breath as she did. "Yes." Katie's voice came out in a near whisper, squeezing her dark eyes closed once again but this time pulling back from Orlando a little bit. "I was hurt.. so hurt, and angry. Not because of the.. because of what happened, but because.. he.. agreed. He suggested or impied we break up, and I was being stupid and didn't fight for us but.. he didn't either, Lando." Still visibly red in the face, Katie shook her head a little bit as if replaying that day in her head, the words that were exchanged, how it felt. Now untangled from Lando, both hands went up to hide her face, in fear that continuing would cause forming tears to spill over.

"I'm still in love with Legend Chosen, and I sincerely wish I wasn't." Katie choked out, "I'm such a fool." She would always love Legend in a way, no matter how long time went on, because he was her best friend. But being in love with him was never an option. They couldn't even have normal, healthy friendship, nevermind relationship.

It had been almost an entire year at Hogwarts, yet Ryden realised as she was walking in that she's never been here before. Strange, since her affection for animals - especially these ones - was great. Stepping into the stable, the brunette grabbed a random brush from the ones available and walked down the stone building, smiling at the abraxans who were resting there.

Coming across a smaller winged horse than the rest, Ryden tentatively reached out and was delighted to see that the creature responded enthusiastically. Good. She didn't fancy another trip to the horrid Hospital Wing. "Hey there, fella," she whispered as she ran her small hand over its face and down its neck, relishing the contact. They had abraxans back home but she hadn't really been home in a while, to be perfectly honest.

Making a face as sentimental thoughts began racing in her head, the Ravenclaw moved the brush to her right hand and skipped into the stable, beginning to groom the delighted little abraxan as her mind wandered off to annoying places. Biting her lip, the brunette concentrated on the task at hand and tried not to focus on the fact that she hadn't spoken to Bridget since Christmas, and that her father hadn't even sent her a handwritten Christmas card. Instead, she'd gotten the envelope with the printed Hallmark and the cash.

Bloody fantastic, that was.

"How 'bout you?" she murmured the young abraxan as she groomed him, admiring the powerful muscles. "Does your family pull things like that too? Not that you'd know what I'm talking about, being an abraxan..."

A bucket holding bottles swinging slightly from her arm and a brush in her other hand, the seventh year entered the stables building, some small part of her still half-expecting to see Quasi poking his head out of his stall, watching her from the back of the stables as she went on toward him. Except, he wasn't watching her. He wasn't there, and Kaitlynnh knew that. There was a part of her that wished he was, even though it had been in his best interest to be moved, to have more room to grow and play and live, she had grown to love the giant creature and missed his companionship. Actually, she missed him a lot. Perhaps she could speak with the professor and find out where exactily he was sent to, and maybe their paths would cross again one day.

Until then, the Hufflepuff continued to visit the other young abraxans and care for them, escaping to the stables as often as she could. It was quiet down here, the younger students knew better than to play around the very large, powerful and potientally dangerous winged-horses. Katie enjoyed the escape as much as she enjoyed spending time with the beautiful horses.

Checking on several baby abraxans as she passed them, being so close, Katie couldn't help from overhear a girl talking to one of the little abraxans. "Maybe not, but they're good companions when you just need someone to listen." The words slipped from her mouth before she could think about it, because really, Katie wasn't trying to intrude. Balancing the bucket and brush on top on the stall next to the Ravenclaw's, both hands up on the stall, she quickly pushed herself up and climbed the door until she was seated with both legs on the opposite side with the exciteable baby abraxan that greeted her with a snort. "And they don't have families anymore, unless you look at it from a Hogwarts point of view. I guess, they are each other's family as much as our houses mates are suppose to be ours. But otherwise, they were seperated from their parents."

There was something oddly comforting about the fact that the little winged horse hadn't replied to her. Ryden hated babblers. They rambled on with no sense and usually made whatever conversation they were having a complete nuisance, and she never bothered with them. Well, Koala Boy sometimes babbled but his way somehow wasn't all that bad.

But little kids were a PAIN... Ugh.

Smiling as the abraxan whinnied, Ryden switched positions so that she could groom his other side when she heard a voice behind her and almost jumped up to the ceiling. Was this person a GHOST? How did she not hear them come in? Raising her head, Ryden shrugged towards the girl - older, by the looks of her - but stayed quiet as her heart rate slowed.

Clearly, though, the girl was here to stay, as she was armed with bottles and a brush. Blinking, the fourth year watched as the girl performed some acrobatics and situated herself on the door of the stall beside her. HMPF. Now Ryden wanted to sit there too. Looked cool.

Eyeing the girl as she spoke, the brunette cocked her head slightly to the side. Supposed to be... TOO TRUE, girl. Too true. She snorted. "I don't really know if that's such a bad thing, to be separated from your family. I know, yes, it's horrible to grow up alone, but, whatever, if you're used to it... You could pretend your true family was anyone in the world. And these abraxans; they don't have it all that bad," Ryden found herself replying, much to her amazement. This girl - well, young woman person thing - had interrupted her quiet time with this lovely abraxan and she was cooperating?!

Orlando had softened her. Pfft. "Ryden, by the way." Yes, she was now WAAAYYY softened up. Soon she'd be prancing about the rolling green hills of Hogwarts with a random silly airhead, singing the Sound of Music and hugging. Yeuch.

If Katie had startled the Ravenclaw, and it appeared she had, she hadn't meant to. Rather than comment on that or apologize if she had and simply let it go, Katie perched on the door, one hand gripping the door to help keep her balanced and the other reaching out to stroke the smooth coat of the friendly, young foal as it eagerly came closer. Her dark eyes traveled to the side and down, toward the younger girl as she spoke. Something about what she'd said, or perhaps the way she had said it, made her wonder if the girl was speaking from a general point of view on the matter or a personal one. Katie knew which one it seemed like, but chose not to outright acknowledge that. Whether or not the Ravenclaw was unintentionally venting, it was none of her business to know unless said otherwise. "That's true," slowly, she nodded her head. "It doesn't always have to be pretend either, though. Blood isn't always everything. Sometimes, family is who you choose. Or who chooses you. And you're right, these little guys and girls, they don't have it bad at all." The abraxan offspring did have each other for company, and a lot of love from students and professors alike. It was sort of funny though, even upon opening her mouth Katie hadn't expected to get into this type of conversation with someone she didn't even know.

.. Or maybe she did know her, after all. "Ryden Di Marco?" Katie asked, half-surprised and almost amused to realize who she was having such an interesting first conversation with, the Hufflepuff worked on pulling a bottle out of the bucket without causing it to teeter enough to fall. "So you're girl that Lando's been telling me about," pausing a moment, the seventh year abandoned her useless task and carefully jumped down from her perch, landing on her bottom in hay - thankfully clean, mind you. Pushing herself upright and dusting her robes off, Katie proceeded to get the bucket down and unlatch her abraxan's stall door, stepping outside of it as she set the bottles between the two neighboring stalls and stood outside of Ryden's abraxan stall. "My name's Kaitlynnh Mae, but call me Katie. Best friend of Gryffindor's very own koala - Orlando Renaldi." Offering a small 'I-come-in-peace' smile, Katie held out a butterbeer-filled bottle for Ryden to take if she wanted.

Forgoing the brush, for the little abraxan was as groomed as he was going to get, Ryden put it down and took a seat on the piles of hay that were scattered around. "Then again, there IS that famous saying; you can't choose your family. But I suppose one could pretend others are their real family.... Quite like these fellows, I reckon. They're each other's siblings, and I bet they're having a blast," she said and grinned over to the abraxan who was content to eat the bits of hay she wasn't sitting on. See? They weren't troubled. They could just eat and play around all day. They could even fly.

Did she know this girl? "Erm, yes," Ryden nodded, eyebrows high on her forehead as she wondered how it was that she knew her name. Was Ryden famous now, or something? Had the Gryffindors spread a rumour? She'd KILL them. She'd- Oh. ACK. Suddenly feeling quite hot, and more than a little foolish, Ryden awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. Lando. Orlando. Koala. Koala Boy.

Katie. KATIE. That girl - the one with the charms. Hmm. Small world. "It's, er, good to meet you Katie," the fourth year said, as she lacked the current ability to come up with intelligent conversation because all she REALLY wanted to ask was what Orlando had told the girl. It SEEMED like he'd omitted the part about the punching, because as a best friend, Katie did not look ready to harm her. Actually, with the whole dropping on her bum thing, the older girl looked quite friendly.

Instead, Ryden accepted the butterbeer with a small smile. It was Katie, Orlando's best friend. She couldn't very well be rude to her. Or, well, she COULD but it would be odd and would lose Ryden the only friend she had in this castle. So she took it. Plus, she wanted butterbeer. "Want to sit? There's plenty of hay to go around," she stated and scooted over to create a sizable spot on the hay for Katie to sit. Not TOO close her, mind you; she might be his best friend but she wasn't ORLANDO.

Or, wait, wasn't she ONE of Orlando's best friends? He had another one... Legend. The one she'd shouted at next to the Whomping Willow. Ryden made a mental note to try not to shout at this Katie person. It was the least she could do for him.

As it was well-known Josh hated to be alone, but sometimes even he needed some time alone which he would like to spend with thinking, yeah thinking, and weighing things he had been through in his mind. However lying on his bed in the deserted dormitory was just plain boring so the Gryffindor boy decided to spend his time with, at least doing something. Something that he could also be thinking while performing the work and that of course meant....horses for him.

To be honest he did not really know there were horses in the grounds, if he knew he would possibly have spent more time here but he had not eeeh...that was a bummer...kind of....bummer. Yet since he had that info, the boy directly made his way to the stable which was close to the Professor's Hut.

Well...this seemed to be an ordinary stable except the light smell of what felt like butterbeer and winged horses instead of regular horses he normally took care of. Eh...magical or not, flying or not they were still horses so Josh liked them.

Carter paced the grounds. He'd taken to walking around alone lately. Since he and Caroline broke up things had been pretty downhill for him. But he was determined to fix that. He'd take a little 'detox' over his summer break. A summer away from magic... and Malfoy girls... seemed like just what he needed.

As he walked he spotted Josh at the stables near the Care of Magical Creatures hut. "I didn't know you liked abraxans..." he said spotting his mate.

He walked into the stable and walked around one of the abraxans. "They almost look like horses, don't they?" he commented. "Well, except the wings..."

After looking around a bit and examining the horses a bit from afar, the Gryffindor boy decided to check the creatures some, so he approached the first one slowly just when he had heard footsteps. Narrowing his eyes, Josh quickly turned back to see who that was and was relieved to see that it was one of his besties; The Name Thief Carter.

''Carter'' so he said as a greeting to his friend, before turning back to the horse to pet its muzzle a bit. ''Abraxans...'' then he repeated. That must have been the name of this breed. Riiiiight. ''Well...yes. I do like all horses. Except those skinny, dark ones with weird dragon wings. They do not look so friendly. Not that i tried to approach one though. Not yet.''

Glancing at the other Gryffindor boy for a moment or so, Josh returned his attention back to the Abraxan and started to check its eyes for any kind of problem...or at least for some tearing here and there. Then he nodded at Carter's next words and looked back at him. ''Yeah. More like draft horses, though or...'' he took a few steps back and got a general look of the creature ''...harness horses. Yeah, harness.''

And yes the wings were a problem. Especially when it came to grooming. Looking a bit lost in thought for an instant, Josh blinked and smirked at the other lion some. ''And you? Decided to share your sweets with the guys here?''

Carter watched his friend Josh for a minute. The boy seemed oddly... preoccupied... "You mean the thestrals?" he asked. "I didn't realize you could see them." he said without thinking. The last lesson they had on them Carter had been completely preoccupied with Marie and hadn't really glanced around at the others to see if they could see them as well.

He shrugged. He didn't really know much about horses. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been on one. It was probably when he was around 5 or 6 at a fair though...

"Nah. Never been much of a horse guy..." he said looking at the abraxans. He spent most of his young life in London. And then when football seemed to mark his future his family moved to Surrey and bought a lot with a large field.

He chuckled. "No. You know how precious my sweets are. I barely share them with you." he said with a laugh. "I was just taking a bit of a walk and spotted you. Which was quite lucky. I've been meaning to ask you if you could look after my owl over the summer."

And. He was also supposed to ask about Josh's summer plans or else risk the wrath of a certain she-snake.

But he'd get to that later.

''Thestrals'' Josh repeated again just as he had done with the breed name 'Abraxan' previously. ''Looks like i need to join those classes or at least read the textbook just to learn about some magical horses!'' But one could never know if a Care of Magical Creatures clas would be about magical horses ''Not that i think i can completely trust that book anyway. I saw the word 'Unicorn' at the index page. Well...everyone knows there's no such thing as an unicorn. No horse has horns.'' But realising he was jumping from topic to topic while examining the coat fur of a nearby abraxan, Josh halted for a minute and blinked at his friend's next words. Hadn't realised he could see them? Well...wha? That was weird. ''Well...what's with it? It's pretty natural. I am not asking you if you can see the sky, am i?''

Laughing Josh petted the horse and walked to its back this time. Carter was not a horse guy. Hehehehehe...that sounded funny...horse guy. Josh was about to claim that he was no horse guy either yet, it did not look like the truth anyway. So, he just smirked and shoke his hand ''I have always known that you were a bunnies guy'' Bwahahahahahahahaha. Not seriously of course but he liked to tease his friends sometimes. And bunnies guy was not so bad at all. At least girls liked bunnies because they were cute.

And oooof course Carter's sweets were oh-so-precious. That was a nice challenge for Josh though. A fun one indeed. ''Well...i can always steal them and...'' Huh? Looking after his owl. Of course he would always say yes whenever his friend happened to ask his help yet...as far as he was concerned a wizard not needing his owl was kinda...weird. ''Sure, but...i am curious about what makes you think that you won't need your owl during the whole summer. So....why is that?''

Did not his parents know about the birdie?

Carter tilted his head to the side. Did Josh not pay attention in Care of Magical Creatures class? Or maybe it was just a class he didn't attend and Carter was horrid at checking to see who was there. He stifled a laugh. "You do realize that unicorns aren't really horses. They're cousins or something... And they do exist. There's a herd in the forest." he said nodding in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

Hmm... he must have paid attention in class more then he thought he did.

He scratched his head. "Have you ever been to a Care of Magical Creatures class?" he asked. "You can only see them if you've seen someone die. We studied them back in second year." Although, at the time, he was much more concerned with studying Marie. It was actually during that lesson that he'd begun to develop more-than-friendship type feelings for her.

He quickly pushed that thought out of his head.

Carter laughed. "Right. Bunnies. I have a whole fleet of them back home." he joked. He actually didn't have any pets. Other than Apollo. But he never considered his owl a 'pet'.

He blinked twice after Josh abruptly stopped speaking. He ran a hand through his hair. Of course he was going to ask about why he wouldn't be needing his owl. "Well. We'll be taking a bit of a family vacation this summer..." he explained. "More of a road trip really..." And being muggleborn it was a bit of a stretch to be able to explain why there was an owl in the car while they were sightseeing. Plus, his sister still didn't know about magic... or his owl.

"Anyway. I figured since I won't be writing Caroline... or Marie... this summer, it would only really be you and Mina that I'd want to talk with. You both know how to use a telephone... so I figured Apollo would have a much better time anywhere else."

At least, he assumed Josh knew how to use a telephone. The boy was half-blood after all.

Carter thought unicorns existed as well. Heh. The words just made Josh smirk a bit as he shook his head again but this time with very obvious disbelief. ''You too?'' Then keeping himself silent though, the Gryffindor boy listened to the other carefully as he looked around for a kind of brush in the stable. There was a herd of unicorns in the forest? Yeaaa, sure. That was why people saw them all the time [/sarcasm]. ''To be honest, mate, i don't remember. I intended to attend one this term but it got cancelled.'' Then the boy has to snort at what his friend said next. Unicorn? Could only be seen to those who had seen someone die? Well...sorry Carter Phillips but you just got a HUGE SNORT for that. ''Yea, yea, yea. Of course.'' Josh said after the big snort, smirking. ''Have you ever thought over the possibility that it might be something people made up because no one sees them? In the forest, huh? Not even asking for the herd, have you ever seen a single one?'' Finally managing to find a brush Josh picked it up then walked to Carter to face him. ''I know the answer is no. Because they do not exist. Unicorns are a huge lie. I wish they were real though. I would love to ride one.''

Laughing at Carter's bunnies though and giving him a look of 'I knew that', Josh took a deep cheerful breath smelling the butterbeer in the air again. Because of the smell now the boy was almost lost in the idea of having a butterbeer for himself, yet he had better stop drinking other water so yes Carter's summer plans hopefully distracted him from the idea. A family vacation. Road trip. ''Sounds lots of fun'' he said trying to keep a bit of a low profile about his ideas for he thought it was AWESOME!! He couldn't remember the last time he spent a fun time with his family or relatives anyway. Not to mention that he was going to have fun. Since the fact that he had to work all summer was now reminded to him, Josh sighed a bit but decided to pay attention to the rest of his friend's words anyway. Not owling the girls? ''You are...having problem with ladies again?'' so he said unable to avoid another smirk appearing on his face. ''Well...Slytherin ladies to be certain. I wonder when you guys will ever decide to settle down for one girl. Playing with them is not nice mate. Girls are dangerous. Slytherin girls are evil and dangerous.''

"You mean... you really don't believe in them? You weren't trying to make" an awful "a joke?" Carter asked in disbelief. "What do you think they mean when they say that wand cores are made of 'unicorn hair' or when we use 'unicorn hair' in potions?"

"I'm pretty sure I have seen one." he lied. He had seen a few unicorn hairs left behind when he was in the forest once. That was good enough proof. Plus... how could unicorns be fake? That was insane. "You haven't taken any potions from Destiny by chance, have you?" Because that would explain a lot.

"It should be. Plus, after this term, a break from magic will be just what I need." he said with a little laugh. Except. There was really nothing funny about how this term had turned out for him.

"When are those girls not causing me trouble?" he said once again letting out one of those its-not-really-funny laughs. "I'll spare you the details... but after Caroline dumped me, I got in a bit of a row with Marie. Let's just say, I think I'm done playing nice with the snake girls."

"Wait? What do you mean you've wondered when I would settle down for one girl? I've had plenty of one girl relationships." Really he'd just had problems finding any girl that would put up with him for more than a year. He really couldn't be that bad of a boyfriend, could he?

''Joke?'' Did it really sound like he was joking? ''Well...to be honest i was thinking the same about you.'' Taking the brush Josh walked to the nearest abraxan, approaching it carefully and slowly, the Gryffindor started to brush the winged horse's back. And seriously? Couldn't Carter even guess that those people who claimed to use unicorn hair for anything would be lying or acting over a rumour? Pausing for a moment, the boy stared back at his friend right before shrugging a bit ''How can they tell it's unicorn hair anyway? It can be the hair of any other animal that has...hair.''

''Yea, of course.'' then he said with a hint of sarcasm in reply to Carter's claim that he had seen a unicorn. ''Then, i suppose, you saw someone die before?'' That was how he said it worked, right? Carter had mentioned it. ''That's sad, mate.'' Shaking his head a bit, the boy was about to continue brushing when his friend mentioned Destiny and taking a potion from her. Hahahahaha... ''Since i seem to be in a fine mental condition. No, i believe not. I try to stay away from her anyway. Since there was some unfortunatel period of time that i had to be close to her. That is...thanks to Lafay.'' Yeah, that was no good experience as he even could not visit the loo since Destiny had to follow him everywhere.

Then Carter was going to take a break from magic as well. He could understand that. Sometimes Josh was feeling like he would be drowned in the concept of magic, spells flying around during the long months he had to spend in this school. He liked the castle and grounds and people but...sometimes there was too much of magic everywhere. Nodding at his bestie's words, Josh determinedly continued brushing the coat hair of the winged horse, fixing it to look good and nicer carefully. ''I know you have survived being the victim of some kind of...crossfire of snake girls, Carter.'' and he was kinda, some bit, lucky that he had been through that with no deep wounds. ''Here. You have said it yourself. Plenty. The key word is that: plenty. Do you see what i mean?''

Oooooor, on second thought. ''Eh...nevermind. Maybe what you do is the right way. We can never know, can we? Everyone has a style of approaching girls.''

Carter shrugged. "I'm sure there are ways." he said. But the only thing that came to mind was examining the hair under a microscope... and he wasn't sure if wizards used such things.

"Yeah... I have. But what does that have to do with unicorns?" he asked confused. They were still talking about unicorns right? "You see thestrals if you've seen someone pass. Those are the black, scaly ones."

He laughed. "You have got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed between laughs. "Were you bound to Destiny? Did she accuse you of having cooties?" He remembered when Marie was in that position. And Destiny did nothing but complain of cooties.

He laughed a little sourly. "Oh. It's more than a little crossfire. Caroline is mad at Marie. Marilyn is mad at Caroline. And Marie... well, she's just mad. Not that it matters much. I doubt I'll see much, if any, of Marie or Caroline come next term." Marilyn... well, he wasn't quite sure what was going on there.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe I have a curse or something. None of my relationships have lasted longer than a year and a half..." Then again, none of the break-ups had been his fault. "Who knows though? I could just be wasting time until someone super special comes along." It wasn't like Hogwarts would be the last place he'd meet someone.