Adam just needed to breath...he just needed to take a moment to not freak out about the situation that was occurring. All he needed was somewhere quiet where he could just take a moment to think things through clearly. Surely this was not real and this was not happening.

He entered into the third floor corridor after wandering aimlessly around the school grounds. It had been a solid two hours since he had gotten the letter that was now crinkled in his hands, and Adam needed to stop. Finding the nearest stone wall Adam collapsed against it before sliding down, his one leg bending to support his weight to the ground. Adam held the letter up in his hands and scanned it.

It's been a few days since they got back to school... a couple of days actually and the classes were due very soon as the announcements board suggested. The girl had her emergency bunch of peruvian darkness powder in her pocket, as she had decided to do every time she got out of the common room in case the 'he & she' popped up from thin air, and was walking down the corridor toward the courtyard.

...until she saw someone crouching by the wall. She slowed her pace down and stared at the person. "Adam?" She said, surprised at the sad posture his body was taking. Louisa crouched in front of him and looked down at the piece of paper in his hand, "What's this? What's wrong?" Something more than wrong was going on.

Adam had closed his eyes and was trying to concentrate on his breathing when he felt someone crouch down in front of him. Although not wanting to he opened his eyes to see Louisa standing in front of him. Adam opened his mouth to say something but the words stuck in his throat, causing him to make a choking noise, almost like the ones people made when trying to fight back tears.

Figuring that there was no way he was going to be able to get the words out himself, Adam lifted up his hand and handed Louisa the crumbled letter. While she read Adam kept his eyes on the scar that was still on his left hand from the can incident.

He did not answer. Louisa knew at once that something serious was going on. It was only when things were over the top for him when he ignored her and avoided her eye contact. Yet, he extended his hand with the piece of paper...crumpled piece of paper. Louisa took it urgently and started reading it.

Once. Twice.. thrice. Yes, it turned out what she had understood in the first time was the truth. His parents had given him up or whatever they meant by that. She stared at the floor for a few seconds speechless. Slowly, she lowered her body so that she stood on her knees, her legs were going numb from crouching, it seemed to be a long talk they were going to have. "I'm..sorry to hear that." She said in a low, sad voice. "Do you know how this mistake happened?" Apparently someone did this. Did he write the old address mistakenly?

Wist walked through the corrider while holding a newspaper. She was still wearing her black jacket buttoned up to her throat. She paused to read the paper and saw the headlines "Headmaster Headache at Hogwarts."

Mafalda growled when she saw Wist. "Why are you reading that stupid paper??? Are you still running around saying that you are going in and out of Knockturn Alley as you please?!" She seized the paper from Wists hands. She had enough.

Adam sat there silently, his eyes not focusing on anything particular. His breathing had slowed down to such an extent that if you weren't looking close enough it wouldn't look like he was breathing at all. Adam felt like death...at least he assumed that completely numbness came with death. Louisa's silence as well made the whole corridor seem too quiet...too quiet to feel comfortable or at ease.

Once Louisa finally spoke Adam looked up at her, his jaw clenched from trying to keep back the tears. "I...I don't know," Adam said, his hands clenching into fists. "The kit I needed for my wand was out of stock, so the guy said he would mail it to me. Two weeks later it still wasn't there so I went back, and the guy told me that there was a problem and they wouldn't be getting the kit for another two months." Adam took a moment to pause so he could inhale, before letting out a shaky breath. "I told him to send it to Hogwarts then, and left him the address for the school, but I guess someone messed up or he got his information confused or something, because somehow the kit got sent to...their house," Adam concluded, because the letter had made it very clear that that house was not his home anymore.

Adam fell silent again, reaching out and taking the letter from Louisa's hand. He crumbled it, the sound of the paper crumbling filling the entire corridor, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. He gave the paper a toss, sending it a couple of feet away from the two of them before pointing his wand at it.

"Incendio," Adam mumbled, the paper instantly bursting into flames.

Wist looked up in shock as Mafalda approached and pulled the paper out of her hands. Mafalda may have been a brat, but this was not like her! "Give me the paper back, Mafalda." Wist said calmly. She narrowed her eyes. "I did not lie about Knockturn Alley."

Mafalda laughed. "You are the most annoying person at Hogwarts. You ruined everything! " Then she held the paper high above her head.

Wist pulled out her wand. "STUPIFY!" she shouted at Mafalda.

Louisa listened to him intently. Once he was finished, she felt the urge of storming to the Post office and shout her guts out at them! If only they knew what that honest mistake had done to her friend! She gave the paper to him when he demanded it and watched him tossing it away and then burn it.

Watching the small flame consuming the paper Louisa's mind raced to find the suitable words for a situation like this. "Adam... I think you should consider this a new born." She said finally, her voice was still low. The quietness of the place added some kind of a sacred atmosphere and forced her voice to stay down. "You weren't happy there, remember? You don't need them if they don't want to give you a chance to explain it all. You're.." She searched for the word. "You were already on your own." She wished sincerely that those words wouldn't make him pour all his anger on her. If it didn't hurt him, she didn't care though.

Adam kept his eyes on the flames as he listened to Louisa speak. She had a point, and it was a very good point. Adam had practically raised himself and his parents had never cared about him at all. They forgot his birthdays, they were never around on holidays, and they weren't the kind of people that could accept him for who he was, and they certainly weren't the kind of people that could ever love him.

"I think with the money they've given me and the amount that they've saved, I'll have enough to be able to get a small place....nothing fancy," Adam said, appreciating Louisa's rational outlook on this. This was what he needed, and being depressed was not the way he wanted to be during his first week at a new place. "And I'm sure there's somewhere that I can find a job," Adam said with another little nod, straightening himself up as he did so. "And I can just keep copying JB's food via magic."

After a couple of moments pause Adam looked up at Louisa. He knew the pain was still there because as much as he hated his parents they were his parents and they had abandoned him...just like that without even giving him a chance to explain or anything. "It's just...they created me Louisa...how could they do this? I've never asked them for anything, I've never complained or whined or acted out because they didn't care about me or give me the time of day. How could they despise something that they made? What did I do to deserve this?" Adam could feel the tears pressing behind his eyes as he looked at Louisa, a pleading look in them. He wanted her to give him the explanation he needed, he wanted her to help him understand.

She watched him straightened up and she liked that he was actually trying to see reason through this. If it was her, she would've gone mad at every single person who still lived with their parents. Was that selfishness? Mean? Maybe she was but Louisa was definite that Adam wasn't like her. He was actually very wise about it that she would've kissed him right then and here to make him feel better. Only her first kiss was still attached to someone else- who might've broken her heart this summer.

But Adam was tearing up now. Louisa felt her own lump rise inside of her chest, she wasn't really one of those strong people that listened and said wise words- that was Vashti. Louisa was a cryer and a shouter. Eventually, she crawled to sit next to him, her back to the wall, and shifted to face him. "I can't answer those, Adam. I don't even know why do they have children if they're unable to love them back." Her real father was included. "But try not to think of it like this.." She swallowed hard, struggling to be the strong one here. "Like you have nothing to worry about now. You had to hide a whole world from them all these years. Now you're just..you. And you have people who love you for this!" Yep, she was included. She didn't realize that one of her hands had grabbed one of his and was pressing.

Adam felt bad for looking at Louisa with this pleading look, but he needed something to help him get through this. He had handled everything on his own, but this was something that he needed someone to lean on, and if Louisa was willing to be that person then he was going to lean on her. As Louisa shifted so that she was next to him Adam kept his gaze on the wall across from them. The feeling of Louisa's had holding his gave him some comfort...really her just being there to just be with him was helping more than he possibly could have imagined.

Adam turned his face to look at Louisa and he realized that tears were also pushing behind her eyes. He certainly did not want her to cry about this...it was bad enough that he was on the verge of crying. He gave a little nod of the head, the agreement of her words weak at first but getting stronger. "Thank you Louisa," Adam said, his eyes holding hers as he spoke. "I don't know how I'd handle this if I didn't know that I at least have you to count on." Adam attempted a smile at her, but instead of helping him feel better the action finally pushed the tears to the brim. Adam closed his eyes, the tears rolling down his face. When he opened them his vision was blurred, and in an attempt to make them stop Adam leaned his head back against the wall.

"I guess I thought if I could keep them in the dark, that I could pretend that everything would be alright. That maybe if I acted normal enough one day they could learn to not be...ashamed of me," Adam said, his eyes staring at the ceiling as he spoke. "But I was kidding myself Louisa...all these years I know this day was coming, and yet..." Adam's voice cracked. "And yet...it still hurts."

Why was he thanking her? She didn't really do anything for him. The only thing she did was saying some words and reminding him of his real position. He was perfectly fine without them already, the only thing that changed was that they finally admitted that they didn't want him. "It's my pleasure to be here with you." She kept his hand between both of hers and managed to draw a small sad smile on her face. She thought it was over but it wasn't a silly argue between a son and his parents to be over this fast. It was them kicking him out when he was not yet sixteen- or was he? She made a self-note to ask him later about his birthday.

As he continued to talk the tears made their way down his face and Louisa's tears rolled down, too. She didn't cry really but she had the lump, felt the tears and was unable to think clearly- it was pretty much like crying with the wail part. "It hurts because it's a new wound.." She released one hand from his and wiped her own tears because it wasn't really explicable to cry with him. When he said they were ashamed of him, she frowned sternly, "They're not ashamed of you, Adam!" She said confidently, bitterness was growing in her chest and she wished to hex his both parents just to punish them for being so stupid not to see him the way he was. "You're the one who should be ashamed of them! Not the way round." The words escaped her mouth too quickly to take them back. She didn't want to pour oil on the fire there but.. she did. "I mean, they obviously aren't interested in having a wizard as child. It's their loss! You're a brilliant wizard and they shall see it soon."

Adam gave Louisa a little smile, which released another flood of tears. This was embarrassing to be crying like this, not to mention it was incredibly unmanly, but Adam couldn't stop the tears. This hurt worse than anything he had ever experienced in his life, and all he wanted to do was crawl into a corner and die. It was miserable, but it was the truth. As Adam listened to Louisa he could sense that she had started to cry herself, and when he turned to see her wiping off her tears he felt awful. "Please don't cry Louisa," Adam said, reaching out to rub one off of her cheeks that she missed. "It's bad enough that I am crying like this." Normally Adam would have chuckled at this, but unfortunately he couldn't muster out the action.

Not ashamed of him...that caused Adam to let out a little scoff. "No offense Louisa, but that letter clearly shows that they are. They don't want to be associated with someone like me." The words came out angry, not at Louisa but at the situation in general. "And don't worry...I am ashamed of them, and if I ever get the chance to see them again I'll show them just want it means to be a wizard." The words came out biting and brought out a fury in Adam's eyes that he had never had before. He looked at Louisa, hoping that he didn't frighten her, but then again he was sure that she would understand where he was coming from. "Yeah...I'll show them how good of a wizard I really am," Adam said, somewhat under his breath.

She sniffed and closed her eyes when he wiped away a tear. She was messing this whole thing up. Instead of being the supportive one he was. "Sorry." She mumbled and sniffed again. "There's nothing wrong in crying!" She said defensively. She wasn't worried about him saying that to her rather than to let him know that it was okay for him to cry. He must've been feeling rage and sadness at the same time and it was only natural to let them out by crying instead of shouting and going crazy.

Louisa didn't reply when he disagreed with her because he was right. It did show that his parents were very ashamed to have a wizard in their family and it was really maddening. "You will. I'm sure of it." She decided to focus on the positive side of his words instead. "I can see it coming. You're going to be an Auror," He liked DADA, right? "And you'll save a lot of people's lives." She didn't really know what kind of word did Aurors do- it had something to do with saving people's lives, though. "You kind of saved mine when you made me realize my problems." Being the 'he & she' "You helped me to know where I was standing instead of drowning into dreams." Sometimes she did wish he didn't since it was painful and bad, but he made her see the truth and that was right. "You have a positive influence in others. Apparently, you didn't inherit it from your parents, though." Again with the speaking without thinking thing! She bit her lower lip, "Umm...sorry." She said again, even if his parents were jerks in her opinion it just wasn't right to talk of them this badly- they were still his parents. And they will always be, as unfortunate as that sounds.

At Louisa apologizing to Adam for crying he couldn't help but laugh. "God..we're quite the pair aren't we? Always apologizing to one another over silly stuff. In truth...I'd rather cry with you than be crying on my own somewhere." Although that was probably what would of happened had Louisa not shown up when she did. "And you're right...there's nothing to be ashamed about if you cry...I'm just...not used to it is all," Adam said with a little frown. Adam rarely let his emotions show like this, and when he did they were usually ones of anger above anything else.

Adam looked at Louisa as she talked about all the things that he wouldn't accomplish and he couldn't help but smile at her. Here was someone that honestly had more confidence in him than he probably did himself. He would be an auror, and he would be great at it, and in the end his parents would regret the fact that they had abandoned him all these years. What was so good about fitting in the status quo? Outside was definitely the place to be, and Adam was going to be able to do things that his parents had never even imagined.

Adam gave a shake of the head when Louisa apologized for insulting his parents. "You don't need to apologize...trust me, I am thinking things that are ten times worse," Adam said, giving the ground a little kick with his foot. "Honestly Louisa, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you," Adam said. Without a thought, Adam leaned forward and planted a kiss on Louisa's cheek...not in a way to seduce her or try to make her kiss him back, but just in a way to say thank you.

She was happy to hear his chuckle, even if it was very faint, humorless and quick. "You're not used to it because you keep things inside a lot. I just hope you open up a bit more." She was right and she even wanted to tell him that that was the reason his anger hurt him sometimes. Because unfold anger led the mind to just work crazy like- she was sure that she read that somewhere.

And he even kept his slight smile when she told him about her his dream! Well, to be honest, she didn't really know what his dream was but that should be close. Louisa was going to tell him that she was really grateful for him not to mind her insulting his parents when he leaned in and kiss her on the cheek. Louisa's face burned and her heart gave a faint flutter as did her throat... somehow. She hadn't expected that in the least.

She didn't mind it, either.

However, she had no idea how to react to that. Should she stand on her tiptoes and kiss him back? What if he.. you know, did the other kiss? He was one of those who cared about her feelings a lot and knew that she didn't want that but... he also knew that she was very sympathetic with him now that she might accept everything. Louisa find herself smile, murmur a 'thanks' and wrapping her arms around his neck- one of her cheeks touching his own. Yes, she was going to be a warm friend. He could cry on her shoulder now.. like literally.

Adam gave a little nod of the head...it was true. Keeping ones emotions inside and never letting them out usually led to destructive behavior whether it was towards someone else, or more often in his case against himself. It was something that he was trying to change, and being able to open up like this to Louisa was definitely a step in the right direction. Adam pulled back slightly after planting the kiss on her cheek, and he noticed that her face was flushed. He certainly hadn't meant to make her uncomfortable...the gesture just came to him without any really thought. Was that wrong?

However when Louisa gave him a smile and reached his arms up to hug him, Adam hugged her back. He thought he had been done crying but obviously he wasn't. Honestly Adam had never been in the position where he could be held by someone before. As Adam stayed in Louisa's arm, he felt the tears start to come again, and he began to cry something silently into her shoulder. He stayed like that for a couple of moments before pulling back, feeling slightly embarrassed that he had cried like that and that he had gotten Louisa's shoulder so wet.

"I'm so sorry about getting your shirt all wet," Adam said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wand. With a gentle flick her shirt was completely dry. He was sure he looked like a mess, but he knew Louisa didn't really care.

Louisa was happy that he finally let it all out. She kept her arms around his neck as he laid his head down on her. Her tears did come when she felt his tears seeping through the thin layer of her summer school shirt, the anger for his parents boiled in her chest. "Shh…" She whispered patting the back of his head gently until he finally pulled away. "No, it's fine." She smiled and sniffed, runny noses after a bit of crying were so mood-ruiner. But he had already gotten his wand out and cleared it for her. "Thanks." She said wiping her eyes and keeping her smile. "Now, come on!" She held one of his hands and dragged him with her to where the ashes of the paper laid on the floor.

She crouched and swept them into both of her hands, "We need to get rid of those forever." She looked excitedly at Adam, "This-" She lifted her hands to his eyes level, "-represents the sorrow in you. We're going to throw it out from the top of the tower and let it scatter around in insignificant pieces of paper." Not that there was any 'paper' left in the ashes. "I'll show the way." Since he was new and she didn't give him the promised tour yet. Keeping her hands closed in on the ash Louisa walked toward the stairs to get to the Observatory.

When Adam pulled back and realized that Louisa was sniffling and crying as much as he was he couldn't help but laugh. He didn't stop her as she took hold of his hand and led him down the corridor, picking up the remnants of the burnt letter, and cupping them in her hand. Throw them off of the top of a high tower? Yep...that sounded good to Adam.

"Let's go," Adam said, a small smile playing on his lips.

Jasper looked over his shoulder. Jasper hated them moments he had when he wanted to breakout in crazy dancing skills that he had.

But instead he started to check out the girls that were around everywhere because he had to stop thinking about breaking out it dance. But he was calm, cool and drop dead gorgeous because he IS Jasper freakin' Somerhalder and he was H-O-T!!

Jasper saw a girl and smiled. "Hello." He said to her.

Skyler put a hand on her hip and did her signature hair flip.
"Excuse me," She said, trying to look natural. "I'm not familiar with the third floor. Could you show me to the Trophy room? I've got.... Detention."
Her throat caught on that last word as if it were poison apple. This was her first time actually being in trouble. She had made a bet with her so called 'best friend' that she wasn't the goody two shoes everyone thought her to be.
"I'm Skyler," She said. "What's your name?"