Had her offer been refused, she would have understood though based on their interaction the night before, Luna doubted that the man would turn her down if he had free time to spare. And what better to do with free time than to explore and nibble? In a sense, she was trying to kill two birds with one stone. And to her knowledge, she had plenty of time to spare. She knew she was likely free to roam but with Umbridge still lurking behind every corner, butting into everyone's lives, she had to show some caution. And if they were off of the grounds, they were less likely to get into trouble with the said tyrant. She took a step back as he agreed and then offered his arm for her to take hold. Luna took her arm in his and they set off towards the outside. It had been raining on and off for the past few weeks and Luna was sure snow could descend upon them at any moment. But she was sure there was some kind of repellant spell in her new arsenal that could help them if they were to find themselves in any sort of trouble. Not to mention that the man beside her was an alien and time traveler, she had nothing to really worry about. Well, not exactly. Still, Luna was determined to have a good day. She had spent enough time the day before moping and crying about her situation. If nothing could be done then nothing could be done. She had to just face it like the adult she apparently was. And she wasn't alone. Her mind was adjusting and she would be alright. As they walked outside, she peered up at the gray sky. It wasn't a welcoming sight by any means, but it was better than being cooped up in the hospital or inside a stuffy classroom full of annoying classmates. Her mind momentarily went to Draco and the consequences that he should receive. At first she was ready to have him expelled. What he had done was dangerous and spiteful and honestly, unnecessary. But as she could settle into a more mature mindset now, she wondered about how much use it would be to just expel the blond from school. Obviously he didn't take it seriously so other matters should be considered, more thoughtful ones. If anything, she was still somewhere interested in whatever consequences the Headmaster could come up with. She knew that the boy's father would somehow find a way to brush off the incident as something teens did when they rebelled. Luna's life had been the price for such rebellion and she needed to know that another student wouldn't be attacked like she was. That was more important, to prevent anymore attacks or mishaps. Honestly she wasn't even sure if Draco would learn his lesson, he wasn't someone she paid any mind to so she couldn't give much of an opinion on the boy's mental capacity. And she didn't want to attempt it either, she knew her time and energy could be better spend doing something else. In a way, she was over the whole incident, finding it much more productive to move on and adjust, rather than grit her teeth and drag her heels along the road to acceptance. "I do hope the weather holds." She commented to the Doctor. "Even if it doesn't, a little rain or snow can't hurt." She said simply and looked back from the sky to the tall man beside her. Even though she was older now, she was still not up to his height. She looked over her shoulder and to the Doctor who seemed just as content as she was. It was weird to feel such tranquility with her entire world in ruin, but to know she had company, it made the healing process much more smooth. Luna was aware that there would be a long road ahead of her but for now she wasn't alone and she was very grateful for that. The two of them explored the lush outside until they decided it was time to eat. Even though it was now noon, the day hadn't warmed up at all. If anything, it had gotten even colder and small white flakes of snow were fluttering down from the sky above them. Luna let out a small laugh as they just decided to go inside the TARDIS to get out of the snow. "I sensed something strange, I suppose this was it." She ran her hand along the painted blue wood. She then walked around it and placed her head on the side of one the four long walls. "It's been through so much." She could feel it, almost see every encounter and planet and person who had been in contact with the spaceship. Luna looked at it and then the Doctor opened the door and let her inside. Her heart was pounding as she entered it. "She's beautiful." She said in awe. Walking up the metal ramp, she basked in the green and yellow hues of the lights around them. "Thank you for showing me your TARDIS." She said, trying to remember what it stood for. It was a mouthful indeed so the acronym was useful. "Well shall we?" She set the basket down as they walked down below to where there was more room to sit and eat by the coils of the beating heart of the machine. She sat down and handed him a wrapped sandwich as she picked out an apple for herself. Looking up, she stared at the intricate engineering and shook her head. "You're very brilliant, someone like you shouldn't be alone." She commented. Though she hadn't clarified if she meant the Doctor or the TARDIS itself. - - - Should she keep pressing the matter? Rose didn't know. At breakfast she didn't make much conversation. She was rather torn between badgering Mr. Smith and not. She left a note for the Doctor but she looked up and saw he wasn't at the table. She wondered what he was busy doing. went to class and saw that it was altered, that everyone just had a half day since everyone who was traveling would either leave tonight or the following day. She looked over at Harry and Hermione to see them making plans to go off. She just shook her head and decided not to think about Christmas back home with her mother. They didn't do anything big or special but they were together. They would get a little tree and put it in their flat, they'd make good food and walk around the city and window shop. It was nice and now she was stuck in a fantasy novel with no one to help. She was even beginning to question why she was here, she felt like she was the only one doing anything. And on top of that, she was beginning to wonder if she was going mad. Was the Doctor even real? Rose rubbed her face and just headed to class with everyone else. It was an uneventful couple of hours of her not really taking notes nor paying attention. At lunch, people were already beginning to say their goodbyes and take their leave. Rose wasn’t sure what she would do for the rest of the day. She still was uninspired to actually do the homework assigned to her because she didn’t even know where to begin. “I miss real paper and pens.” She muttered to herself as she walked around the halls of the school. In a way, she had been looking everywhere for the Doctor. Since her encounters with Mr. Smith had been rather forced, she was sort of avoiding him as well. Rose’s feet were beginning to hurt and her patience was wearing thin the more she thought about her own family and how she had landed in one of her childhood series. She had looked everywhere for the Doctor and no one knew where he was. The blond watched some third years, a brother and sister, leaving to catch the train back home. She shook her head and sat outside. It was beginning to snow and while it would normally be a magically tone at Hogwarts, she was in no mood to be happy. She was just growing more and more irritated by the minute. Here she was, trying to help the Doctor and yet he was nowhere to be found. What did she have to do to summon him? Kill the Headmaster? She felt a headache coming on and she decided to go back inside and get some tea. Tea was always her mother’s answer for everything. As she headed back inside to the Great Hall, she heard Draco bragging to Crabbe and Goyle to what he had done to Luna. The area was somewhat crowded with people coming and going. “The look on her face was priceless, she never saw it coming.” He laughed. “I only wish I had saved some for that filthy mudblood that Potter fancies.” He sneered. “Will up just shut up?! You’re a psychopathic git that no one even cares about!” Rose shouted at him across the foyer. Everyone quieted down and looked to them. “What did you say to me?” “You think your father will always be around to bail you out?” Rose scoffed and folded her arms. “I would be a million pounds that in two years, you’ll be forgotten. There will be a war and you’re too cowardly to pick a side. You’ve wasted your life being an angry arrogant prick and you know that deep down inside that you haven’t got any real friends. You think it’s all fun and games to toy with people who you think are beneath you but you know that you’ll never be as happy or as important as Harry or Luna or Hermione and your jealousy eats you up inside and soon there’ll be nothing left except a shell of a pathetic waste of talent and misplace ambition.” Rose slowly approached the boy. “Who the hell are you to say-“ “I’m stuck here! My home is in another decade in another time. I don’t even belong here and you think you can push me around like one of your poor toys?!” She began to raise her voice. “You need to get your life together! I’m trying to help you but knowing you, you’ll just laugh it off and tell yourself I’m wrong but I’m not.” She snapped. “I want to go home! I’m sick of being here and watching things I can’t change. I’m sick of being ignored and not being able to even enjoy myself here. I’ve dreamed of coming here but it’s all wrong.” She glared and waved her hands at Draco. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing, I’m all alone and you’re just making everyone worse! Bloody hell, if any of you knew what I know, you’d lot be preparing for the war that’s coming! But you ruin everything because you can’t even see where your loyalties lie.” She shot Draco another glare after she had looked at the crowd. “I miss my mum and even Mickey who was a god awful nightmare when his team lost a match. And I miss my job but I lost that and thought, why not take some weird bloke’s invitation to have an adventure and suddenly I’m here in the past which would make a bloody good story, I gotta say, but no one here even sees the big picture and it’s getting pretty foggy for me and I just want some answers!” She huffed. “Guess I got a bit carried away there…” Rose cleared her throat and took a step back. “Sorry…lost my mind for a sec…” And now she felt even more abandoned as she saw the Doctor wasn’t even around to help her out. - - - Hermione was very pleased that Harry had agreed to come back with her for the holidays. She was certain that it would do him some good. She also thought that they could stop by and see Sirius at some point if they played it safe. “My parents would love to have you over, Harry.” She said to him. “I’ll send word to them and we can go tomorrow morning.” That should be enough time to pack and tie up any loose ends they had. Hermione and Harry soon finished breakfast and headed off to their last round of classes. It was kind of Dumbledore to let everyone have an early break of sorts. She wondered if he wanted students to leave and escape the wrath of Umbridge. She didn’t want to mull over that idea too much that perhaps even the elderly man was weary of the woman. That wouldn’t be a good sign. Once the classes had ended, Hermione headed off to send word to her parents. She burrowed Hedwig and sent her off with a note explaining that she would be coming back with Harry. She didn’t want to list a reason but she was sure her parents could guess the reasons. Hermione headed down towards the main part of the school and when she did, she saw a large crowd morning in front of the Great Hall. Hermione tried to get a closer look but couldn’t and from the sounds of it, it was Rose. A knot of worry tightened in her stomach and she wondered if the girl from the future was alright. It soon dissipated though thanks to the Charms Professor. Hermione carried on and found Harry and Ron in the common room doing their own things. “Hey.” She waved to them and first approached the redhead. “So you’re leaving to stay with your family?” “Yeah.” “When?” “Tonight.” Ron replied. “Oh well…hold on.” She ran up to the girl’s dorm and came back and handed her friend a small wrapped parcel. “Don’t open it until Christmas, alright?” Hermione smiled tentatively. He took it and looked it over. He thanked her and they hugged briefly before he went on and headed up to his dorm. Hermione let out a sigh, knowing that it had been a tense encounter when it really shouldn’t have. She wondered when things would get back to normal. Rose had said they would get better but that wasn’t helping their current predicament. Finally she looked to Harry who was by the couch. “I sent word to my parents, I’m sure everything will be fine.” She informed him lightly. “We can leave tomorrow, we already made plans to have them pick me up at King’s Cross around eleven or so, the train should be running on time.” She wasn’t sure what else to say. “I guess we have the rest of the day to ourselves.” Ron was pretty much out the door already and Hermione had a feeling that spending it in the library reading or studying wasn’t what would entertain Harry. “I think I heard we could go to Hogsmead so maybe we could go there and do some shopping.” She knew it was snowing but she didn’t think it would bother him much. It brought her mind back to their third year and all of the mess that had happened. She remembered the turmoil Harry had gone through when he thought Sirius had betrayed his friends but then it turned out to be a misunderstanding. And since then they’ve been there before but she would always remember going without her friend and then finding him crying alone after spying on the teachers. Her heart hurt just thinking about the past pain he had to endure. “Come on, let’s bundle up and go.” She encouraged him and headed up to get her Gryffindor scarf and a jacket. She met Harry down in the common room and they headed off to go on a little outing. As they walked, Hermione began to talk about what they could go when they were at her house. “I think my parents already put up the tree but they usually leave some things off it so I can add them when I’m home.” She said. “And my mum makes the best tea and snacks for Christmas Eve.” She told him, her face brightening up as they headed out into the cold. “And there’s this park right by the library, either are great for getting some reading done. And there’s a new cinema in town too but I would prefer books to film.” She said. “But we can see one if you really want to.” She added as they arrived at the snowy Hogsmead shopping district connected to the castle. “Where to first?” She asked him. “My parents may be dentists but they do like sweets, believe it or not.” She laughed a little.