Waiting for some Winter Warmth

[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme's life had reached a certain point, he was no longer a young child, his grandfather had passed at some point during the school year, but he had never been that close to the man, he had helped him when he'd first gotten to New Zealand, but aside from that. From what he knew his mother had wanted to come but had been unable to, there just wasn't enough money within their family to merit that, which was also why Graeme was still in New Zealand, he believed himself stuck in this country. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why he felt as such, he'd spent the last five or so years in this country, he liked it plenty, but he missed his home dearly. The few times he had gone back, seen the rolling hills that were just so similar to the ones here. He missed the sights and smells of his home, he had always been so attached to it, it was like a part of him was missing in this country. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake the feeling, he couldn't get rid of sometimes how pointless he felt like he was within New Zealand. It was his school, and he would always be grateful for that but he spent the late nights watching the stars in side of the world wishing he was on the other. Just to be annoyed by the sound of tourists walking past his home so they could reach the old abandoned lighthouse. He missed the thick accents of people around him, whom he could understand and who could understand him. He missed the bridge to the mainland, he missed the little boats. He missed every part of his home, even the rain, the blasted rain.

The teen had been doing some meaningless shopping that day, getting various items he didn't particularly need but with a lack of better things to do, it had been a good option. He had bags in his hands and he was enjoying the softly warming winter sun. It had been a pretty nice day and spending it with his grandmother inside moping about because of his dead grandfather hadn't been appealing to him. He was making his way through the streets, until he decided he just wanted to sit for a while, so he wondered out of the town and to a little patch of grass and using the robes he'd just bought, he laid them out and lay down on top, so that he couldn't get wet, or at least so there would be another barrier between him and the possibly wet grass. He was looking up at the sky, squinting his eyes with the degree of light being emitted by the low hanging sun. He missed the red sunsets of Skye, and he wished to go home, wished it so bad, but that would never happen. Graeme attempted to take his mind off it, but thinking much more about something else, about Maya. He had realised ever since skimming stones that he really did like her, she was a good friend, but so much more than that, she was beautiful to him. He wasn't very good at expressing how he felt so he'd avoided her most of the year, only giving small smiles and the like, but he was building his courage to eventually ask her out. For now, he was just content with lying on the grass the bags sat beside him, he stared up at the sky and if he pretended hard enough he could almost convince himself this was Skye and not New Zealand, it wasn't like Skye usually got any warmer than this anyway.
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[Maya Fergusson]

Maya's fourth year had started off really well. She'd been getting along with her friends, her work wasn't suffering too badly, her control of magic was getting better and her family had been closer than ever with the exception of her step-mother. Then, just before christmas tragedy struck and Maya's youngest brother was taken ill. Ethen was the only other person in her family that even remotely showed some magical ability and as a result, Maya was closest with him. The news that she could possibly lose her brother, thus becoming the odd one out in the family yet again, was heartbreaking for her. Thankfully, Ethen had fully recovered during her Hogwarts stay and she had returned to find him happy and healthy once again. His near death had caused her to appreciate the importance of family and she had eventually called a truce with her stepmother Melinda, promising to focus on mending fences and starting anew. It was why she was with both Ethen and Melinda now, showing them about the little slice of the magical world they were allowed to see. She had spent a lot of her time trying to get to know Melinda, that she was now helping Melinda get to know her. As well as allowing her little brother a taste of what was to come for him. The seven year old was quite enthralled and Maya happily ran after him as he tried to touch everything. For once she was the one with all of the knowledge. It felt nice not to be the odd one out. She turned to Melinda as her shopping came to a close and Melinda nodded. She had told them ahead of time that she would be leaving them. There were still some parts of the wizarding world that she didn't think they would be allowed into and so they headed back to the Muggle part of town whilst Maya made her way to Brightstone Village.

Maya had not been to Brightstone for a very long time. Last semester was a very trying time for her and she spent most of her time in the new counsellors office then with her friends. He'd really helped her through a lot and she was very grateful to him indeed. He had these amazing, inspirational seal posters in his office and they'd made Maya smile. She'd brought him a gift whilst shopping and was eager to give it to him when school started back and all the staff were on hand. Maya walked around Brightstone waving at a couple of the other students as she did so. She wasn't all the surprised to be seeing some of them around, after all quite a few of them lived here. She wondered what it would be like to live in a magical community. She didn't know if she could do that full time. She'd miss watching movies. She missed seeing her friends though and being unable to contact them as often as she would like. Owls were great, but they weren't exactly the most effective means of communication. Phones and computers were much better, but did not work in the wizarding world and so severely limited her options. Continuing through the town, Maya saw a nice little patch of grass a head that would be a nice place for a picnic, given that she was hungry and had brought food with her. Initially it was going to be for Ethen and Melinda as well, but she had branched off early and now had all of the food to herself. There would be quite a bit of waste. As she got closer though, she noticed that the patch of grass was already occupied and was about to keep walking until she recognised who it was. She walked a little faster. "Graeme!" She was very happy to see him. She'd not seen much of him during her meltdown after Christmas, but she was glad for a familiar face now. "I've got food! Want to have a picnic with me?!" She called to him as she ran over and dumped her bag on the ground beside him. "Fancy seeing you here."
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme's concentration on pretending that where he was lying on the grass was actually just out the front of his house in Skye was working surprisingly well. He felt like he could hear the soft sounds of the waves hitting the nearby cliffs, he was sure he could hear the distant bleeting of sheep, of his mother singing in his house, along with whatever tinny song was being blasted through the radio, they didn't have to worry about annoying the neighbours, the nearest house was a ten minute drive from them, they lived remotely, they were surrounded by sheep, by the countryside. It was easy for the teen to convince himself that he was back there, he could feel the soft grass, he could smell that Skye air. But all of that came to crashing stop when out of nowhere a voice that wasn't at all Scottish sounded, saying his name. It was an australian voice and it was then that the illusion his mind had created came crashing down, he sat up slightly, just in time to see Maya put her bags down and sit next to him. A picnic with her that actually sounded like a pretty good idea, he liked the sound of that. The teen nodded, unsure of his own voice, he wasn't sure how long he'd drifted off into his own illusion he hadn't been paying attention to the time when shopping and he didn't know what time it was now.

The sound of the scottish teen's stomach rumbling loudly was enough to answer her question, "Yeah, a picnic sounds good, and it looks like my stomach agrees tae," he told her, looking down at his stomach and then back up at her, laughter just on the tip of his tongue. He took in the sight of her, she hadn't changed much over the years he'd known her, sure, she was older now, she had grown up, but she was the same to her, just his friend Maya, whom he had grown to really like. He discarded those thoughts, "What have you got then?" he motioned to the prospect of food, "Aye, I know, got bored of sitting around doin' nothing you know?" he told her with a small smile, which it was the honest truth about why he was hear, though not why he wasn't back in Scotland, he couldn't help but wonder about her, "What about you? Shouldn't you be home with your family in Alice Springs?" Graeme asked her as she took some of the food out, he was keen to know why she was still about, though happy to see her, he hadn't seen her much during the year, and while catching up was something they could do, Graeme just wanted to spend time with her, they could honestly talk about the Chinese economy and he wouldn't mind because he was with her. Graeme cared about Maya a lot, he thought she was amazing and in his mind he was just some Scottish bloke with some serious attachment issues to a country he hadn't lived in for over five years, and wouldn't live in for another two, his plan as soon as he graduated was to go back home.
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[Maya Fergusson]

Maya fixed up her jumper, by pulling it up over her shoulder and zipped open the bag she had with her. She laughed openly when Graeme's stomach rumbled and shook her head. "Lucky I found you then! You'd have dropped dead of starvation, then what would I do?" She asked, reaching in and pulling out the small box of food that she had made. She placed it on the ground between them and opened it. "Okay! So there's fruit salad, chicken sandwiches, boiled eggs, a packet of tim tams, bread rolls, a roll of ham, apples and chocolate." She frowned suddenly and turned back to her bag, grinning when she pulled out a packet of strawberries. "I knew I had these, they must have fallen out!" They were her favourite food and she would have been a little upset if she had to forgo some strawberries because she had forgotten to pack them. "And for the drinks, i have... iced tea, lemon juice and... water!" Melinda was on a bit of a health kick of late and hadn't allowed Maya to pack too much sugar. Frankly she had been lucky to get away with the chocolate. "There's a lot of food I know, sorry about that, Melinda and Ethen were supposed to join me, but I broke away from them early. Lucky i ran into you! I'd have had to waste so much of this!" Maya didn't eat much, though she ate a lot more now than she did when she was only a girl. She'd had two growth spurts since then, luckily, or she'd still only be able 4'9. She didn't want to be that short forever after all. The addition of puberty also accounted to her increased appetite, as she was sure it did for most people.

Maya smiled at Graeme as she opened her packet of strawberries and immediately bit into one, probably enjoying it just a little too much. Strawberries were a rarity for her back home, it was usually too out of the way for the shops to get them in and when they did, it would cost her a kidney in money. She was going to enjoy them as much as she could for the short time she would be able to eat them. Maya smiled at Graeme as she picked up another strawberry, "they're all here actually, dad's brother invited us over so that he could meet the new baby. My Uncle hasn't seen any of us for years, since mum died and he wanted to know what we had been doing. He doesn't know that I'm magical as far as I know, so it's been a little weird. He thinks I go to a boarding school in England, some gifted and talented thing." She said, laughing slightly. "I'm here specifically," she gestured to Brightstone, "because I wanted to buy a gift for someone as a thank you, I couldn't think of any place better!" Daniel had been a major help to her in her time of need. Buying him a gift was the least she could do. "What about you though? Aren't you usually back in Skye now?"
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[Graeme Fergusson]

It had never left his mind just how much Maya seemed to talk, but he was glad for it. He was happy for every word that she said, happy for everything that she did. He liked listening to her speak, her accent contrasting so starkly from his own, the softness of hers against his harsh one. He laughed lightly, "Aye, I bet I would've," he said to her with a small nod, watching as she removed all the different things from her bag, simply wondering where on earth she had gotten all of this from and why she had so much of them, though it was all pretty healthy this was strange, who had this much stuff if they were to eat alone. He thankfully got his answer when she told him that she was supposed to be having lunch with two people whom he assumed were her family members. Graeme just smiled at her, thankful for the company she was providing and for the food too. He reached out and took one of the chicken sandwiches and began eating it happily. He enjoyed the food a lot, and Graeme as he was still growing, although at a slower rate than before needed the food, well that combined with all of his sports. He was spending a lot of his time training, though away from the school and away from the team he knew the importance of continuing to train himself. The teen was therefore a growing lad with a pretty fast metabolism who could easily eat his own weight if he was hungry enough.

Graeme munched happily on the chicken sandwich which was in his hand as she then explained what they were all doing in New Zealand, smiling at her as she spoke, he didn't need to say much as she talked away, there wasn't a break for him to say anything anyway. The teen laughed at her words, thinking of what he had told his classmates before coming to New Zealand, it was funny since they had to both use that lie so that people didn't find out, "I told that tae my old friends when I moved here, don't think they believed me," he laughed since he wasn't sure any of them had, while smart enough Graeme had always been very lazy, and though he had worked hard for his OWLs and in quidditch, he'd always been a tad lazy. At her question he finished his sandwich before just smiling slightly and shaking his head, "Didn't have the money, air fare costs a lot tae even get me back to Scotland, then I'd have tae get the train up tae Mallaig then the boat back tae Skye," he explained it to her, a tinge of slight sadness over the fact he couldn't go home, "I'll go back at the end of seventh year, when I can apparate and don't have to worry about any of the money stuff," he told her, smiling as much as he could though the thought of not going home for two whole years sadden him slightly. He just reached out took a couple of the strawberries, "Congratulations to your uncle then, little boy or girl?" he asked her, "How old is it?" he wanted to know about her time here, hardly wanting his mind to linger on thoughts of his home which he'd left behind.
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[Maya Fergusson]

Maya was glad for the company truth be told. She didn't like eating alone and she wouldn't have enjoyed this food anywhere near as much. The fact that it was Graeme with her made this all so much better. He was definitely her best friend. Francesca was fun sometimes, but she had a temper and Emily was never around because she was always baking. Ellington used to be fun, but these days she was so closed off and Maya always saw her skulking off to be somewhere else. She often wondered why, but was never curious enough to ask. She knew that Ellie valued her privacy after all. She hadn't seen much of her newest friend Tomas since the day at the lake. He seemed to be the sort of person that liked to be on his own though, so she wasn't all that surprised by that really. "Well, as long as you don't drop dead of starvation I'll be very happy!" She had plenty of food here though, so hopefully his stomach would be satisfied by one of these. Most of this food was pretty easy to prepare, she'd gotten good at it during the year she made school lunches for her brothers. That job had of course gone to Melinda now, but she still helped make them when she was back at home. She always put a little something in their lunch boxes for them. She missed them a lot when she was at school as she knew that they missed her, but they got along well with Melinda and now that Maya was giving her a chance, she was starting to see why. She was actually a nice person. She was starting to see what her father liked about her.

Maya nodded at Graeme as he told her that he'd used the same excuse. "Yeah, well he asked me how school was and what year I was in now. I couldn't lie, I'm not very good at that, so I told him I was attending a boarding school to nurture my talents. He just assumed it was some gifted and talented program in England." She shrugged slightly and shook her head. It was really thanks to Melinda that he thought that. She'd mentioned the program to him for his son not long ago. Maya was just happy that he had declined to send him there, it would have been hard to explain why she wasn't there. She supposed that she wouldn't mind Brodie knowing her secret, but she didn't know him all that well, how could she know he would keep her secret? She frowned slightly in sadness thought when Graeme told her that he didn't have the funds to keep going back to his home. She understood that. Her father had to work twice the time he normally did to be able to pay her air fares. Now of course it wasn't so bad because of Melinda, but in her first and second year she was always concerned about that. Graeme lived even further away from New Zealand than Maya did, who practically lived next door. "Oh, I'm sorry. I always just thought you went home when school was over. I feel awful now." She put her strawberry back into the container for a moment as she looked at Graeme. The homesickness he must have been feeling, she didn't think she could handle it. It was all right for all the magical kids, whose parents were magical, but Maya knew that Graeme's mother was a muggle, like hers, this was something they had in common after all. She glared playfully at him as he took one of her strawberries. "Thief."

She frowned a little when Graeme congratulated her uncle, taking a moment to realise her mistake. "Oh, no, the baby is my little sister. My cousins are my age. My dad and Melinda had a little girl five months ago. Lyana. She's really cute!" She said, looking through her bag for a picture. She only had one that she brought with her. All of the other ones were back on her phone. She placed the picture on her knee and pointed to the baby in her photo. "That's Lyana." She had a full head of black hair. She fit better into Maya's family than Maya did and whilst that made her a little jealous, she did love her baby sister. She pointed to the two boys. "Corey and Daniel, Ethen was in hospital when this was taken and he hates photo's anyway. He hasn't liked them since he blew up the camera a few months back." The others in the picture were Melinda and her father, but she figured that Graeme would be able to guess that and so returned to her strawberries. "How has your Quidditch training been going? You look good!" She reached out and poked his arm with her finger. She could feel the muscles, which was one of the reasons she used to hug him as often as she did.
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme hadn't spoken to most of his old friends since he'd moved, and he didn't even know if most of them still lived there, "I told them that my grandparents had enrolled me in a special school in New Zealand," he told her with a smile, "I don't think believed me until I then left for the school," Graeme shrugged at her when he spoke, it was funny how they had similar stories to explain where they had gone. Graeme would've had a much more difficult time if he'd gone to Hogwarts in Scotland like he had originally thought he would but he hadn't gone, so the story about New Zealand held up a lot more when he arrived on those few occasions back in Skye with a passport stamped from the country. At her words he just shook his head and shrugged at her, he didn't talk about what he did during the breaks, usually in the summer one he stayed in school, in the winter one he rarely got to go home, he'd been home once really, which saddened him, because he missed it a lot. He shook his head at her, "Doesn't matter anyway, soon I can go back," when he meant soon, he meant when he graduated, "I get pretty homesick, but nothin' a tough guy like me cannae handle," he smiled at her as he took the strawberries, smirking at her reaction and then taking a couple more just to prove his point. The teen was still thinking of home as he spoke, the strawberries at this time of year back home were the best, so fresh, so naturally tasty. There were home comforts that the teen missed, but know when he graduated he would find again. They didn't disappear and he knew that the moment he got back he would just feast on it all.

Graeme frowned slightly when Maya started speaking again, and then realised his mistake, "Ooooh" he said in realisation, he laughed slightly at his idiocy and then watched Maya as she rifled through her bag until finding whatever it was that she wanted. Not surprised when she took out a picture and he glanced down at it, watching as she pointed out her brothers and said who they were, and stated that her brother had been in the hospital, "He alright?" Graeme asked with concern, and wondered if it was Ethan who was the one with the magical blood. Then, he shifted his weight to one side and pulled out his wallet, he opened it and pulled out a picture, holding it out to her, "That's me and my ma," he told her, they were stood clearly in the front of the small, house, it was cloudy and there were indications of rain on the shirt Graeme had been wearing, he was younger in the picture, at least eleven but no older, "That's all my family that matter in that picture," he told her. The conversation thankfully shifted back to how his quidditch training was going, he laughed when she poked him, "I do look good," he told her, "It's going well, I train really hard, got a team to lead, can't be letting them down," he told her grinning, "Ever thought about joining?" he asked her, "Or do you just prefer to watch the practices?" he smirked at her, but he wondered if she watched him, or if she just liked watching the team, Maya had never appeared to be too quidditch, "I'll show you my broomstick, if you catch my drift," he said with a tone of seriousness then breaking into laughter at the sheer ridiculousness of the phrase, "But, yeah it's good, I want to do that when I leave school, non of that office job stuff for me, do you have any clue?" he told her, having made his mind up about what he wanted to do once he left school it had always been on his mind, but he had never appeared so certain about it until now, he even knew what team he wanted to play for.
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[Maya Fergusson]

Maya smiled at Graeme when he told her about how his friends had reacted. She thought it was interesting really. Maya's friends by comparison had actually been really supportive about all of it. Though they often asked her why she was not involved with social media and she often just told them that they didn't allow social media in school. So far that had satisfied them. One day though she was going to have to show her muggle friends pictures. Maybe she could just bring a camera to school? She knew that muggle and magical cameras were exactly the same, it was only when developing the film that there was a different process involved that made the pictures move. Clearly she would just bypass this step. "My friends mostly believed me as far as I know. At least they've never mentioned anything to me." She told him, now thinking about it. She supposed that if they were really worried they would just ask her father and of course her father would just back up her story. They knew of course that she wasn't still in Australia because a couple of them had come to greet her at the airport once, that had been fun, she'd needed to double back and exit through the second terminal. Never again. Maya smiled at Graeme's optimism. She had to admit that she felt sorry for him mother and for him. From what she had heard about the woman, which admittedly wasn't all that much, she had sounded like a great lady. Not to mention she was Graeme's mother and she had raised him all by herself. Graeme had turned out great, so she had to be cool too, right? "Tough guy huh? Tough guys don't need strawberries." She told him, snapping the lid closed on the container and sitting it in her lap with her hands covering it. Tough guy indeed.

Maya nodded at Graeme. To be honest she had thought she had mentioned all of this to him, that is until she realised that she had been mostly absent last semester and she barely really remembered any of it anyway. If she'd spent any time with Graeme at all, she had no memory of it. All the memories she had were limited to classes and Daniel's sessions. Nothing else really came to mind. "Right, I must not have mentioned it to you. Well, around Christmas when I got back home I was told that Ethen was in hospital. He'd gotten really ill and they weren't sure he was going to survive. He's fine now, but it was really serious for a while there. That's kind of why I went and brought a present, I wanted to thank someone, you know, for helping me through it and stuff." She smiled then though when Graeme reciprocated her photograph with one of his own. He needn't mention that it was him as it was all too obvious. Graeme didn't seem to have changed much at all, his smile was still very much the same. His mother looked lovely though, the thought of the woman that raised Graeme brought images of her own mother to her, however they were not as painful as they had once been. Where years ago Maya might have cried, she now only smiled in memory of her hero. "She looks like she really loves you." Maya turned her attention back to him and smiled he did indeed look good. When he asked her if she had ever thought about joining, she shook her head. She blushed as he continued and laughed a little when he mentioned showing her his broom. "I've watched you practice, I've seen your broom, what's so special about it, is it bigger now?" Had he perhaps gotten a new one during this break? "Of course you would want to be a Professional player, it makes sense. Why would you spend so long on the house team unless you wanted to be a Professional. Besides, you're Captain!" She grinned, though she had no clue what she wanted to be herself. "Nah, I don't really know. Maybe travel for a bit. But I'd need money for that. At least by Graduation I should be able to apparate around, won't need money for airfares anymore, I can agree there."
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme wasn't so sure about if people had believed him, but once he'd left and his mother had still been around, they'd really had no choice but to believe him. Graeme wasn't sure what he would've told his friends about if he'd just gone to the other hogwarts, the one that wasn't so far from his house. He knew it was close, he'd been to hogsmede a couple of times when he was younger with his father, but he wasn't there. He was on the other side of the world, where no one understood him, and where he so desperately missed his home. He missed it so much, so much more than he let on with even Maya, if Graeme didn't respect his mother's choice to send him to this school he would've tried to transfer out. He loved her too much to do that to her, she wanted him out here, and she wanted him to be able to spend time with his grandmother and what little time she had left. Graeme smiled at her, "I'm sure they believe it, or else they'd bring it up, or someone would eventually ask you about it," he spoke from his own knowledge of village gossip and the way it spread more quickly than anything else that he knew in this world. If something happened, or someone was spotted doing something they shouldn't, you could be sure everyone knew about it. Even in his situation where the closest person or house was a twenty or so minute drive. But Graeme shook such thing from his head as he tried to take strawberries, which he was denied as she closed the lid and covered it with his hands. He frowned at her, in a mock hurt expression, "But, Maya, without the strawberries I'll starve.." he told her with mock sadness in his voice, barely trying to conceal the smile or laughter.

Graeme listened along as she explained what had happened to her brother, and was glad to hear that he was doing better, the thought of her being upset, made the teen a little angry, though he pushed it down, it wasn't like he could actually do anything about it. It was just something that had happened, and he couldn't do anything about it. The teen just smiled sympathetically at her, "I'm glad he's okay now," he said with sincerity clear in his voice. The Hufflepuff smiled at her as she looked at the picture, feeling suddenly nervous about what she might think of his mother, he didn't think he'd really shown the picture to anyone, "I like tae think that she does," he responded taking the picture back and placing it back in his wallet, no sense lingering on her, because he really did miss her, and that would just make him miss her far more than he was already. Although at her words, he couldn't help but laugh at her innocence, of course he hadn't really meant it, but it was funny that she didn't seem to get it, "When you're older," he smirked at her. At her words he couldn't help but laugh, "Well, I could do anything, as long as I do good on the NEWTs, but I don't really picture myself behind a desk," he told her shrugging slightly, "I'm hopefully going to play for the Scottish national team, and the Pride of Portree, my two favourite teams," he told her grinning, he couldn't wait till he wore those Scottish colours, he couldn't wait to fly with pride in the national team of his home. He couldn't wait to paint the flag on his face, to drape himself in that flag after a victory. Maya seemed less certain about what she wanted to after school was over, but she had a little more time to decide, Graeme had less time, fractionally less, "If you go travelling, I'll show you round Skye, you can meet my ma, I can definitely see her loving you," he told her, "You might no understand her, her accent is thicker than mine," he laughed slightly, he was watching Maya, his gaze on her, vaguely aware of how much he wanted to bring her home to his ma, for her to come to his home and for him to show her his old world. Graeme wanted to show her the world, Graeme wanted to ask her out, but the words failed on his tongue, "What do you say? During your travels a small stop in Scotland tae visit me?"
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[Maya Fergusson]

Maya nodded at Graeme as he spoke. She had to admit that what he said made sense, especially knowing that her friends were very curious people by nature. There's no way they would let her get away with a lie if they thought that they could get the truth out of her. Sometimes Maya had to wonder what the point of being a secret was. After all, it must have been hard for families like hers. It was okay if you had a full magical family with no muggle ties, they didn't have to lie to anyone, but Maya basically had to lie to everyone she knew outside of her immediate family. Even her Grandparents didn't really know because they were never sure who it was okay to tell. This statute of secrecy stuff was confusing and sometimes Maya just wanted to tell the whole world that she was a witch. Of course she wouldn't though. "You're right. They're not the kind of people to let me hide something if they had even the smallest inkling. So pushy." She laughed slightly at the memories the conversation brought back before looking back at Graeme and shaking her head. "Well, you should've thought of that before trying to steal them, Graeme, I am very disappointed in you, Mister." She grinned, holding the strawberries closer to her body to stop him sneaking them whilst she wasn't looking. She knew he was only joking of course, but she was very serious about her strawberries.

Maya nodded as Graeme said that he was glad her brother was okay now. It had been touch and go there for a while and Maya was happy that he was okay now, but she didn't think she was ever going to feel completely okay again. She'd been so helpless during the entire ordeal and she didn't know what she would do if she lost her brother. He was the only sibling that was like her. It'd be very, very hard. "He's stronger than I thought, I'm glad he is though." Ethen was very close to her, she'd practically raised her little brother. Not in the sense that she had been his mother, but he was born not long before her mother first got sick and so Maya had a lot to do with him as he was growing up. He was eight now and Lyana would be one soon. She was hoping that she would get to spend a lot more time with Lyana when she graduates. It would be amazing having a little sister after all the brothers she'd had. Not that she loved them any less of course, but after getting over her initial hatred of her stepmother she'd allowed herself to accept the fact that she'd wanted a little sister for years. However Maya found herself smiling slightly at Graeme's words. "When I'm older? Graeme! What'd you mean!?" She now had a sense that what he'd said maybe wasn't as innocent as she'd first taken it to be, but that didn't make it any easier for her to decipher. "Honestly." He was such a boy. She listened as he told her that as long as he did well in his NEWTs he could do anything he wanted and whilst that was true, she just couldn't see him doing something where he couldn't play Quidditch. She knew how important the sport was to her friend after all. "That'd be amazing. I hope the best for you!" If Graeme became a Professional Quidditch player, Maya would be very happy indeed for him. It seemed like it was something he really wanted to do. Not to mention that it was a super cool sport. She smiled then as he said that when she was travelling she should visit him in Skye. She grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes! Definitely I will! I'll make sure to wear a lot of jackets because I'm sure it'll be much colder than I'm used to!" She'd loved to see where he grew up. It'd be a change from the brown desert of her home. She did love it though. "In return I'll show you around Alice Springs one day. It's quite a bit hotter than here on average, but it's really pretty at night."
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