Sander immediately looked up from the plate of good he was staring down at. It seemed that Tessa has noticed his sudden silence. He smiled weakly and shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. I was just thinking that I'm going to miss this place and all my friends, especially you, when I graduate. I never really thought about it until now. Honestly, before I got here, I was already looking forward to the day I graduate. But things are different now,"Sander gazed deeply into Tessa's eyes.

Then he sighed deeply and decided to change the subject. It was time to shelve those thoughts of saying goodbye for now . He still had at least nine more months left in this school.

" Maybe you'll get to meet my siblings one day. I have a strong feeling that you'll get along really well with them." Sander informed Tessa. "We're very close so you can imagine what a handful we can be when we decide to amuse ourselves. There was a time, Chris 'borrowed' my father's shoe polish and exchanged it with the car wax polish. My father always loves polishing his own cars, and so kept wondering why no matter how much 'car wax' he applied, the car would remain dull looking." Sander smiled as he remembered that day.

"Then to add insult to injury, the girls swapped decided to pour some of the liquid dog food into the soap my father uses to wash the car. To this day he still doesn't know why the dogs keep licking his cars," Sander began to laugh hysterically just visualizing the puzzled look in his father's face.

" My mother would dread celebrating our birthdays because they always ended up in food fights. Sander grinned even as he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.

"I guess there won't be any food fights for my birthday this year. Which may be a good thing. I don't think the Headmistress or house elves would appreciate the mess. " Sander chuckled.

Then it dawned on him what today's date was. It was his birthday tomorrow. Not that anyone would know. He was turning 18.

Tessa was afraid of his reply, to be honest. What if he saw her completely differently now? It wasn't often you met someone who had transferred so many times... what if he thought something was wrong with her? She took a deep breath to try and get a hold of herself, but it was difficult.

Hearing his response, relief flooded her. "I'll miss you too- I'm sure all of your friends will, including me, I mean," she spoke, her tongue apparently unable to stop its flow. "You're such a good friend, and very kind to everyone you meet..." She quickly stopped, embarrassed despite how true her words were. "But, even after you leave, I'm sure we'll all keep in touch- and there's always the holidays," she pointed out. "Unless of course you're traveling- then we'll just have to visit you," she said with a grin. She didn't want to show how much it hurt thinking about him leaving.

She smiled at the thought of meeting his siblings. "They sound like a fun lot," she said, laughing at the stories he told. It sounded like things she would do. "I never really took you to be a big prankster," she told him, her smile widening. "But it sounds like you all got up to all sorts of trouble!" She had done many pranks at all of her schools- and even a few already at this one. But never on her father- she knew that wouldn't go over well.

"For your birthday, huh?" she asked thoughtfully. "When is your birthday Sander?" She would have to start planning something good now. It would be the best birthday he ever had... if he would tell her when it was!

It warmed Sander's heart to know that Tessa would also miss him...at least that's what he thought he heard her say. "You're a good friend too...and that is often hard to come by....plus I love how patient you are with the younger students. You'll make a good mother one day...I mean a good...big sister." he quickly corrected his slip of the tongue.

Then he nodded his head emphatically when she reminded him that they could still see each other even after he graduated and left Hogwarts. "Yes that we can definitely do. You must come and visit my home. I'll take you out on the lake. It's nice to row on it during the summer or skate on it during the winter." he told her enthusiastically.

"My birthday? It's on the 13th of this month. But it'll just be another ordinary day for me. I expect my mother will send me something, and I guess that will be all. When is your's since we're exchanging birthday information. What do you usually do on your birthday?" he asked inquiringly. She rarely talked about what she did, but he wanted to know more about her. What her likes and dislikes were?

Tessa shook her head at Sander's compliment. "I don't know about that," she told him with a grin. "I'm only patient for so long..." She trailed off. She hadn't thought she would be good at helping people, and she had already helped others with spells and was teaching Lux to fly. She hadn't really thought of herself as patient... perhaps she was? She didn't comment on the kids- she was focused on Quidditch and competing- that was goal. She hadn't really thought about after that...

"I definitely want to," she assured him. "It looks gorgeous, and your family sounds like so much fun," she said with a laugh. She could only imagine the pranks that the group would pull- hopefully she could participate. "Both of those activities sound wonderful- but I think we may have to go for a broom flight around your lake too- have you ever done that?" she asked him. That was usually her first way to explore.

"The 13th... but," she quickly thought of the day. "That's close! Sander, you should have said something sooner!" she scolded, giving him a gentle slap on his arm. Her mind was already turning about what she could do for him... and a few good ideas were already starting to form. "My birthday is next month, November 19th to be exact," she told him with a smile. "I'm usually in school, so if friends find out or I organize something, we usually have some sort of dinner or get together. One of the best years was when my friends surprised me with a game they had invented- it involved paint filled balloons and us flying around on brooms. IT was the best," she said with a fond smile. "When I was home... well, if my Father could take a break from his work, we would try to go out to dinner," she told him with a shrug.

Please delete. The duplicating spell was cast here.

Sander smiled excitedly. He was happy to hear that Tessa was eager to come visit him too. He wanted to show her where he lived in his own part of the world. Then he came up with an idea. "I was wondering what are your plans for the Christmas holidays? If you don't have anything planned, would I would like to invite you to come spend the holidays with my family and I. I could also invite Lux too." Sander extended the offer to Tessa.

"Flying over the lake? I definitely think that can be arranged. Can we ride tandem? I mean I do have my own Firebolt and I do know how to fly, but I know that I will have a tough time catching up with you....Miss. Quidditch Profession Player," Sander teased Tessa.

"Ouch that hurt," Sander feigned being hurt as he rubbed the spot where she had playfully slapped him on the arm. "Tessa, you really don't have to do anything. It's just another birthday. Honestly, the only gift I want is to spend that day with you....I mean you and our friends." Sander quickly corrected himself even though he knew he was lying. He just wanted to spend the day alone with Tessa. They could talk and have fun doing things together.

So her birthday was just a month away. At least he had time to plan up a nice birthday party for her. However, knowing that he was not good at arranging things of this feminine in nature, he decided that he would enlist the help of Lux. She would know what to do.

Sander began feeling sad for Tessa again, when she talked about how she spent her birthdays. He remembered her telling him that she was used to being alone and not make any friends at all. Sander knew that his time was limited here at Hogwarts, and not knowing what the future held for either of them, Sander made a promise to Tessa. As long as he was around, he would make sure that she had the best 6th term here in Hogwarts....and that she would never ever feel alone and friendless.

"Christmas?" she repeated, her mood instantly lifting. Not only did she love that time of year but this was a chance to get out and see more of the world! But, her father... "I would love to! It sounds like so much fun," she told him with a wide smile. "But," her smile faded slightly. "I'll need to check with my Father," she explained. She hoped he would say yes...

She grinned at his response to the lake flight. "That should be fine! I've been doing that with Lux, actually- I've been teaching her how to fly," she said with a soft laugh. "Don't worry, I wouldn't leave you behind- but riding tandem would be more fun! We'll be able to hear each other and point out things to one another," she agreed. "That's me!" she laughed at Sander's nickname for her.

"Mr. Hockey star doesn't like a few taps?" she teased, lightly tapping him once more with her hand before laying off. "You know there's contact in that sport?" She made a face at him as he insisted she not do anything. "Well, we shall have to see what I can come up with. No promises on something spectacular, okay?" she said, not wanting to get his hopes up. However, the wheels in her head were turning...

She saw Sander's eyes dim and frowned slightly. "Hey, Mr. Grumpy face," she said, reaching out and covering her hand with his. "The past is the past- parts haven't been ideal, but I wouldn't trade any of it," she told him. "No, wait, I wouldn't want to go back to Beauxbatons," she amended with a shudder. "But, other than that- all birthdays and holidays? It's been fun," she assured him.

Sander was getting excited just thinking about the possibility of spending time with Tessa over the Christmas holidays. He smiled from ear to ear. He too hoped that her father would agree to let her come and visit him. If he did, there were so many things they could do together.

Flying across the lake would definitely be one of them. Riding tandem. Him sitting right behind her made him smile even more. "Are you sure the Firebolt will be able to handle both our weight. I mean Lux is smaller and lighter than I am. I'm not exactly a feather." Sander laughed at the idea.

His heart began to beat faster when she reached out with her hand and covered his. He liked the feel of her hands, strong, calloused but soft at the same time. He could feel his face start to burn again. He looked up and gazed deeply into her eyes, before he realized what he was doing and quickly looked down at his food.

Then she tapped him again on the shoulder. "Ouch! " he laughed. "Okay Ms. Tapster, let's see how you like this." Sander nudged her with his shoulder and then nudged her again. On his second attempt at nudging her, instead of falling back into his sitting position, he discovered that he had leaned over too much and found himself sliding off her shoulder. and falling sideways.

Sander instinctively reached out to stop his fall and his hands grabbed hold of Tessa's waist.

Well hey it wasn't like her mother would even know what a howler was. Silly comment, really Bartholomew. "Like I would get one. Pshhht." She shrugged it off because it was so nothing to her currently. Abbi's brown eyes popped as he mentioned using a hex, they popped in excitement and if you looked closely enough you could see the sparkle of eagerness in them too. "I say we go look at the library for the right book."Like how wrong could it go? They were second years, surely they could do some sort of a simple slug hex, no?

Tssssssk. Tssssssssk. Excuses, excuses that's what it all sounded like to the fairy girl.

The glaring competition was SO on! Her eyes began their glaring radiating sassy, attitudey vibes. "I'll go tell Mr squiddy Bartholomew you don't like him and I bet he'll push you in the water." Now that would be something to watch and laugh at but back deep, deep, deep, deep inside her mind somewhere Abbi would probably feel sorry for him. Not that she'd do anything...okay maybe she would..but that wasn't happening yet so WHY was she thinking about that? "Yeah in the big lake. We can go looking for him sometime if you want?" He did come out every now and then, he wasn't that hard to find not as hard as mermaids at least.

Head shake. "Your name is Bartholomew...your nickname is Bart, but Bartholomew is so proper." She imitated a posh accent. Giggle snort. "I'm not worried, Bartholomew." Yes she was using that name more than necessary.

DRAMATIC eye roll. Like she was trying to be that, had he never ever heard of it before? "Whateverrrrr." There was emphasis on the 'r' because ATTITUDE. "Well don't go asking me for underwear if you need more." Just in case he was thinking of it, but hey he said there was no more use. You NEVER knew though. NEVER.

Gaaaaaaaaaahh! COVER! Take Cover!

As fast as she could, Miss Abbi climbed under the bench and carefully as to not to get hit by the food being thrown at her she grabbed her whole plate and placed it beside her. Food ammo charged. She grabbed her egg with her hand, yeah, and threw it away in his direction.

HAH! Take that smelly egg Bartholomew. Giiiiiggle.

Tessa hoped that Christmas could and would happen. She made a mental note to send a letter to her father as soon as she could. It would be nice to spend the holidays away from her distracted father. Sure, he remembered Christmas day- most of the time.

She noticed Sander smiling wider, and she couldn't help but join him. If they did spend the holiday together, there were many things to look forward to. "I think my Firebolt can handle it. But, we can always do a test run here," she suggested. "I've wanted to take a fly around the lake here for awhile," she suggested with a grin. "Besides, I've put that Firebolt through many more strenuous tests," she added with a laugh.

She smiled as her hand covered his. She hoped the callouses on her hands weren't too rough- she had never been self-conscious of them until now. She began to remove them, but then Sander's eyes caught hers. Her breath caught, but after a moment the spell was broken when Sander looked away. She took a deep breath, looking down at her own food.

Then, it was back to fun and games- an area she was much more comfortable with. "Ms. Tapster? I quite like that one," she said, beginning to tap a rhythm on his shoulder with a giggle. Then, he was nudging her. She gently pushed back, laughing. He nudged again- and was suddenly falling. "Sander!" she exclaimed, and froze. He was so close, his hands around her waist...

Silence stretched as she fought to regain control of her tongue, although her mind was still a whirlwind of activity. "I... um... are you alright?" she stammered finally, unsure if she should reach around or not to help him. Granted, as surprised as she was- she liked being this close to him.

Sander didn't know what to do. He was in a strange predicament. Here he was midway falling to the ground and the only thing that was keeping him from making a face plant on the floor, were his arms wrapped around Tessa's waist.

As close as he was to her, he could smell her sweet scent. Sander wondered whether she wore perfume or this was just her natural smell. If it was the latter, then she should bottle it because he knew he had never come across a sweeter scent than what he was smelling now.

...and her waist. She was so slender, and yet he could feel that she was fit. He wanted to wrap his arms tighter around her and pull her close...but then she asked whether he was alright and Sander realized what he was doing.

"Yes I'm alright. I'm sorry for holding on to you. I think I can push myself up now without falling." Sander told her when she finally broke the silence between them. He reluctantly began attempting to right himself.

Sander felt winded. Propping himself back up, should have been an easy task, but it wasn't. He was actually feeling exhausted. Sitting upright now, Sander was still reluctant to remove his hands from its grip around her waist.

However, he realized he had to. He didn't want someone to comment about what he was doing. That would definitely embarrass her especially since they were sitting at her House table, Sander slowly removed his hands from her waist and placed them back on the table.

.....and then just because he wanted to, he leaned over and nudged her again.

“You could so get one someday. I’ve seen you Abbi it’s only a matter of time.” She had a getting into trouble look he knew that look he carried it. So she would get a howler don’t worry he knew it. If he had to make sure she got it by doing something to get her in trouble. His get Abbi a howler thoughts moved when she said the swear word to his ears. “Library? Library? Why would we ever think about going there?” He looked around and started to point at older students even ones at their table. “Why not just ask someone to show us, it would be easier and a lot less work.” Bart wasn’t stupid, lazy, but not stupid. He knew how much effort it was going to take to get to the library, find the right book, open it up, and read. When he could turn and ask here and be done.

His glaring continued as she glared back, “I never said I didn’t like him, I don’t like the name. The name for a boy is dumb. DUMB.” It wasn’t the squid’s fault he was named that way, but now that he knew he was named after the squid it made him feel less cool and that just wasn’t happening. “He can’t push me in the water he has no hands.” Honestly like a squid could come up on the land just to push a boy into the water.

His eyes perked up though, “Go find the squid? Yes we should go find him.” Bart had a few things he could say to this squid that had the same name. Not that it was the squid’s fault but still he had to prove he wasn’t named after him. Maybe it was said different or something, he was just grasping at straws, but something that put him different than the water creature.

“My father named me Bartholomew my mother doesn’t even like it. I heard her tell someone she didn’t before. So she calls me Bart that’s my name.” His eyes rolled at her next comment, “Proper why would I care about proper? Proper is for lame people that don’t know how to have fun.” Not his thing see. “Stop saying that name so much.” He really didn’t want others to hear her and have it continue.


His face cringed, “I don’t want your underwear and it doesn’t seem you have the size for the balloons anyway.” He had eyes he knew things. Picking up another sausage and actually eating this one he gave a smirk about his comment figuring she was a girl it would irritate her, but she kept calling him the wrong name so she deserved mad too.

Sausage in the air check.

Pancake across the table double check


He was going to hit her with something and that’s when he saw her disappear, “Under the table isn’t going to stop this.” No he’d get her. He was figuring out how to get her from under the table when.

WHACK

EWWW Egg sunny side up. Now he was dripping with yolk all over him. Wiping it off and flung a pancake under the table after her. Making sure it was soaked in syrup.

Sander was so close to her, Tessa could feel his breath and smell, well, him. It was wonderful. And, since he couldn't see her, she closed her eyes to take it in better. It was wonderful. Little did she know that Sander was doing the same thing.

She felt his arms around her waist tighten ever so slightly, and she doubted he was even aware of it. It felt good, having him there- at her back- despite the fact that he was almost falling over.

"Okay, just be careful," she warned, remaining as solid as she could in case he needed extra support. Soon, he was upright again and she sighed, slightly in relief. A wave of grumpiness overcame her. Did he have to lean on her? It was his own fault for falling... It passed quickly, though, so none of those words left her mouth.

So, when he nudged her again, she laughed. "Didn't you learn your lesson?" she teased with a wide grin.

Sander grinned over at Tessa. "Doesn't look like it huh? Hey this is Hogwarts, a place to learn lessons, and this is one lesson, I don't mind repeating again," Sander winked at her, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Besides you started it first. Ms. Tapster," Sander nodded faking a serious look on his face. Sander hoped that his taunt would provoke her to start tapping him again. He had to admit that he liked feeling her hands on his arm. If she did take up the challenge, he decided that he would offer his back for her to tap.

For some unknown reason, he was still feeling sore.

"AaaaahhhChooooooo" Sander suddenly sneezed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even feel that coming. My nose suddenly got ticklish," Sander rubbed his nose vigourously.

As his fingers touched his nose, he felt the ticklish sensation again. Was there something near or on his nose that was causing it? Sander thought to himself. He felt around with his fingers and was alarmed to find that he it was hairs. Not the ones that were now starting to fall occasionally from his head, but nose hairs!!

Some of his nostril hairs were unusually longer than normal. He hoped Tessa hadn't noticed it. If she had, she had been nice to remain silent about it. Picking up his napkin, he turned away from Tessa and in the pretense of wiping his mouth, he discreetly, tucked the corner of his napkin into his nose and began tucking those errant nose hairs back into his nose. His nose hairs definitely needed some serious trimming.

Placing his napkin back down on the table, he picked up his fork, turned back to Tessa and smiled at her like as if nothing had happened.

Tessa laughed aloud at Sander's comment. "So I guess I should give you a failing grade so you can retake the class?" she teased back with a grin. Honestly, she wouldn't mind repeating the whole thing- this time she would stay more relaxed... she hoped.

"Me?" she replied, putting on her best shocked expression. "I don't know what you're," she reached out and gave him a tap or two on the arm. "Talking about." Three more taps. She repeated it a few more times before stopping- she didn't want to be TOO annoying- for now!

Suddenly, Sander sneezed! She jumped, and quickly began to search her robes for a tissue (thereby missing the sight of the nose hairs). "You're not getting sick are you?" she asked him, concerned. "I'm sorry I don't have a tissue on me... I usually do..." she wasn't prepared for something. That was a rare moment. Had she left them in her room? Was she getting lazy being so far away from her father? It was a relief, sure, but that didn't mean she should start to leave things behind. You never know what may happen.

"No I don't think I'm catching a cold. Something was tickling my nose," Sander told Tessa...'and thank goodness I managed to hide it before you saw the culprit," Sander thought to himself. "That's alright. I don't need a tissue, the napkin worked fine," Sander grinned at her.

"Me? I've never failed a subject in my classes. I wouldn't mind taking the test again," he taunted her, before giving her another light nudge on her shoulder.

Then she resumed her tapping again. One...two...and Sander waited patiently, as she continued to tap even more. She looked happy just tapping him, and he was not inclined to disappoint her. So he just continued to grin back at her. However, just as she started to let her guard down, Sander suddenly reached out and grabbed hold of her finger, pulled her hand closer to him and rested it on his chest.

"I think this little happy tapping hand, needs to rest right now," he told her. He wondered whether she could feel his heart beat faster which it was doing now, because she was now sitting closer to him and her hand was now resting on his chest.

Sander was lost for words. He smiled to himself thinking that if Lux were here now, she would be saying that he was looking at Tessa all weird. But Sander didn't care, he liked looking at Tessa, period.

Bay walked side by side with Christmas, he promised her that he would eat with her at breakfast. He let go of her hand and sat down at the long table. " how was your sleep?" he asked her while pouring himself some pumpkin juice. "did you want some too?"

Christmas smiled and said "My sleep was fine and yeah i would love some pumpkin juice Bay" Christmas was so happy at the moment

Tessa nodded, still looking at Sander with slight concern. "Are you sure?" she asked, reaching up to put her hand on Sander's forehead. She had done it hundreds of times to her own father... but as soon as she placed her hand on Sander's forehead she felt her own face start to heat up. That wasn't how fever worked. "You're right, everything seems fine," she said, bringing her hand back with a grin.

"Never failed? Not even once?" she asked, surprised. Everyone- except for, perhaps, the Ravenclaws had to have failed at something. Granted, she didn't care about school as much as many others seemed to. For her, it was her athleticism, her quick thinking, and speed that mattered in her profession of choice. A little learning never hurt- but some people just took it too seriously. SHe preferred to laugh.

"Well, I will be sure to give you plenty of quizzes to help prepare you," she said, giving him a gentle bump and a few more taps. But then, Sander had caught her hand in his. She looked up at him, curious as to what he was going to do next. "Are you sure?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper as she gently tapped on his chest. Not surprising, he had an athletic build- he was a hockey player after all. But her hand on his chest made that fact very evident. She couldn't tell whether it was his heart or her own- but one (or both) was beating a mile a minute. Most likely hers.

She saw a look of amusement pass on Sander's face. "What are you thinking about?" she asked softly, not wanting to break the moment. However, curiosity had gotten the better of her.

He was glad that she had a good sleep. As he poured her some juice he saw some pancakes and scrambled eggs and Bacon.. Yes the food his parents never let him eat unless it was a hard boiled egg. Ewww he didnt want to think of it, so he started to pile some food on his plate. Bay noticed he might looknlike a pig.

" im sorry, im just soo hungry... " he slowed doen his eating to continue. " plus my parents never let me eat anything remotley good tasting" while he picked up a peice of bacon and slowly ate it, savoring the moment.

Christmas smiled and said "It is fine Bay you can eat what you like" Christmas put some pancakes on her plate and took a sip from her pumpkin juice and smiled this was incredible

Phewwww. Yay food, he was happy she didnt care what he ate. Munching down on some more bacon he turned to her " how are your classes going? My homework seems alright, i only have two more left to do." he hoped her classes were going okay, he knew she had her NEWTS this year and hes heard that they are very difficult.

Christmas smiled at Bay and said "Classes are going fine and and least you think that homework is going alright" Christmas was just hoping to find out if she made the gryffindor team or not

Bay listened to her as he munched on more bacon, he paused. She seems worried sbout something or she seemed down. He wiped his hands on the cloth that was over his lap, a good habit that he picked up from his parents.

Once his hands were clean he reached out and took hers. "is everything okay? You seem worried.... Is it about your newts? Or something else?" he hoped that if anything was wrong that she would tell him.. "is it anything i can help with?"

Christmas looked at Bay and said "Everything is fine and its not about my newts i am just hoping that i did enough in tryouts to make the team and nothing you can really help with"