Venturing West

[Aion Zephyr]

Aion was making the most of the time he had during the summer break to learn as much as he could about the rest of the wizarding world before he left Durmstrang. He was about to enter his final year at the school, after which he'd have the make the decision of what to do once he left. Would he become a professor? Work in the ministry? All he knew were the subjects he enjoyed.
After travelling to New Zealand, home of Hogwarts, Aion had decided to take a trip into Obsidian Harbour, to compare notes from back home. If he could grab a good bargin on equipment he would be thrilled and his trip, worthwhile.
He had only been browsing for two hours before hunger was striking. Although it was a little early for lunch, he started to look for somewhere nice to eat. He'd be happy for a little sandwich, something "to go", but looking around he had a feeling it wouldn't be so easy around here. There were so many people filling the space, children of all ages obviously looking to buy their essentials before school started up again.
As Aion moved through the crowd, he caught something or someone, and felt as they were knocked backwards. He turned back around in the hope it wasn't a child. ​

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie was so happy to be starting her fourth year and to be leaving third year behind. Looking back, third year hadn't been as great as she had first thought and she had high hopes for the new school year. She vowed to leave all complicated romantic feelings behind so she could concentrate on her grades which had slipped because of all the drama she was involved in last year and she hated herself for letting that happen. She decided that she would visit Obsidian to make a start on shopping for school supplies for the new year and this time she would be free of any family members which she was very happy about.

First of all, she needed food and she needed it fast. She walked along the main street, looking for her favourite pub which served the best food when she bumped into someone and was almost knocked backwards. She was concentrating so hard on getting food that she hadn't taken notice of where she was going. Luckily, she didn't fall. She was able to catch herself and regain her balance. "Woah, I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going" she said to the person she had just hit, hoping that they would forgive her.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

As Aion turned, he saw a dazed young girl regaining her balance behind him. "Oh, no not at all" he tried to begin a reply apology, when he looked at the girl more closely. "Are you alright?" He asked, putting out his left hand onto her arm to steady her. She had a strange look across her face, as though she wasn't quite with it. Aion didn't think he hit her that hard, may he didn't want to walk off and leave a student if she looked as though she may soon faint.
It's hard to tell when someone looks normal when you've never met them before, but this girl looked pale. "Here," he began, guiding her by the arm passsed a middle aged wizard with a lumpy brown hat, ignoring his mumbles as Aion found a clump of seats outside a shop. "Sit here for a bit" he said with authority. He didn't care if the girl was fine. She looked alone and the prefect inside him insisted he ensure she was comfortable before he ran off.
Releasing her, he turned to look across the street once more "You didn't drop anything back there right?" He asked, his hands returning to his jacket pockets. Looking once more back at the girl, he questioned his own actions. He wasn't great in social situations and never knew when was too much. "Sorry.." he began. "..I was just headed for some lunch, I didn't see you there.." he added. "Food blinkers I guess.." he trailed off a small laugh to himself. All this over a sandwich.​

 

[Professor James Cade]

The summer holidays had gone by surprisingly fast and suddenly James found himself back in New Zealand, where it wasn't summer at all. The seasons being upside down in his schooling country played havoc with Jame's mind and his wardrobe. Packing for winter whilst wearing shorts and enjoying a warm day was a very strange experience. Jess had been especially clingy during his last few days at home. The girl had been glad to have her nicer brother back and had spent the summer bombarding him with questions about his love life. What happened to Misha, who was Maddie, why wasn't Maddie his girlfriend, was she still dating the boy with the dreamy smile. These were questions that James couldn't answer, at least not to Jess. He knew if he explained the Misha situation to Jess the only follow up question he would get would be What's kissing?" and that was not a conversation he wanted to have with his baby sister.

As always, the countdown to returning to school began with stocking up on school supplies and purchasing the new (and not so exciting) textbooks James would need for the year. James decided to spend a few days in Obsidian harbour before heading to school. Any excuse to avoid his brother, his parents though he just needed the time to acclimatize. All of James's items had been bought on his first day in the harbour and he was now just enjoying his time walking the streets. He had come across a few familiar faces already and had been hoping for some more. As he walked past a few groups of people he saw something in the corner of his eye that he didn't like. She was unmistakable from any distance, it was defiantly Maddie he was seeing, with a guy. An older guy, taking her by the arm to sit down. Clearly someone had moved on from Felix. James smirked and decided to approach the pair. The last time he saw Maddie had not been pleasant for the both of them, but this was too good to miss. Plus, James needed to know what was going on with the guy, for his own peace for mind. James managed to sneak up behind Maddie's chair and cleared his throat, "Madeline, I see someones had an interesting summer, I see you've moved on from Felix pretty quickly,"

 

[Ezra Cade]

Durmstrang was starting to lose its allure and the prospect of returning to the school for another year was becoming more and more of a miserable thought. To cheer himself up Ezra decided to follow James to Obsidian harbour. His brother was going for his annual mini exile, where he stayed in the Leaky Cauldron in preparation for going back to school. What a loser Ezra thought as he caught site of his brother on the high street. He smirked as he saw him spot someone, the sight seemed to trouble him. It was a girl sitting with a guy. Did he know the girl...did he like the girl? Ezra's mood lifted significantly as he saw an opportunity to mess with his brother.

As he got closer he heard James begin to speak to the girl, something about moving on quickly? He was jealous! Brilliant! Ezra suddenly appeared next to James and rested his arm on his brothers shoulder. He realised the two at the table wouldn't know who he was, it was doubtful that James bragged about his Durmstrang brother. Ezra looked from James to the girl, the tension between them was palpable, the guy at the table looked lost, or maybe annoyed that his chance to pull was gone, he wouldn't blame him, the girl was delicious, Ezra on the other hand probably looked like he was having the time of his life. "This is pleasant, James introduce e to your little friend why don't you," He grinned at his brother before winking at the girl.

 

[Madeline Walden]

The last thing Maddie had imagined happening to her that day would be bumping into an attractive stranger. Yet, there she was, being escorted to a seat by that same person. She sat down and rubbed her shoulder and smiled at the boy, gratefully. "Yeah... i'm fine, thanks" she said, a little embarrassed. "What a terrible way to make a first impression", she thought to herself, annoyed that she made herself look stupid in front of the boy. She shook her head at the boy's question "no, I think i've still got everything with me" she replied while tapping her pockets. "You didn't lose anything did you?" Maddie returned the question, wondering how hard she had bumped into him. However, Maddie couldn't help but laugh a long with the boy when he spoke about his food blinkers. "I was the exact same, I was heading for food as well and didn't take into account anything or anyone else around me" she giggled.

The atmosphere soon changed when another boy who Maddie knew very well decided to join them. She rolled her eyes the second James Cade began to talk. The two were not exactly on the best of terms after the explosive argument that they had at the end of the last semester. They had both said horrible and unforgivable things to each other and Maddie wasn't ready to forgive him and she wasn't prepared to be nice to her fellow Gryffindor either, despite their history. She shot James a false smile when he dared to ask her about her situation after Felix. "I don't dwell on the past James, and I certainly don't have to explain myself to you. If you must know, we just met and he seems much nicer than others that I know from Hogwarts" she replied, narrowing her eyes at James, hoping that he would pick up on the insult. Maddie turned to the other boy and smiled at him "This is James. He's at Hogwarts with me" she said introducing the two of them.

It wasn't long before another person joined them, someone who seemed to know James but Maddie had never met this person before. She turned to James and shot him a confused look as the other boy started to talk to him. The new guy sent Maddie a wink and her brow furrowed. Was this guy for real? Yeah he was a little attractive but he definitely knew that. "I'm Maddie, and who are you?" she asked.