● Aiden ●

Aiden grinned at Artemis’ reaction and rolled his eyes. Trust Artemis to fire up after a single question. “Calm yourself, I’ve had enough of screaming, demented people today.” Perhaps she wouldn’t catch on the underlying insult, but Aiden bit back a laugh and smiled into his butterbeer. If he was lucky (read: not), Artemis would fly off the hinge again. Truth be told, he missed it. He was so surrounded by monotony he’d forgotten what fun was. He’d occasionally kept in touch with some of his Hufflepuff friends but had lost contact with most of his other friends, including Artemis and Noelle. 

After having graduated, his father had told him to [i]“Make a decent career, boy! How are you going to provide for your family? Certainly not by riding a broom 24/7. And what would you tell your mother when she asks about your job? At least you could tell her you’re a doctor…” [/i]Things had gone on in this vein for quite a while until Aiden had had enough and, just to get his father off his back, accepted an intern position in St. Mungo’s while declining an offer from several professional Quidditch teams. And not as a reserve, as every new member started out. As a Beater, he would have been able to play in every match. He still missed it sometimes, much more than the blabbering of an old man that had fallen on his head and forgotten his own name. 

At Miyu’s response, Aiden snorted. “No doubt, I wouldn’t be surprised if you showed up with a ghost girlfriend someday.” Of course, their Sixth and Seventh Years had been filled with drama, turmoil, teen angst and students he couldn’t even remember seeing before getting together and breaking up in a matter of days. It had been amusing, watching from the sidelines and occasionally getting himself dragging into it intentionally or not. Being a Quidditch legend – especially after Sixth Year – in his time at Hogwarts, Aiden had had no shortage of admirers and people constantly trying out for the team after he had become Captain, trying to take advantage of his good nature to gain a place. Fortunately, none were better than the current team and he’d only had to accept a Chaser and two reserves, all of whom were good. The dirty looks that decision had warranted, though, hadn’t been good.

His mind wandered back to Hogwarts and the three people he’d been friends with. It had been a stroke of luck, meeting them here. “What’s up with your books, Noelle?” He tipped his chin in her direction, watching her face go through a flurry of emotions, wondering how to answer. “You don’t have a tarantula farm at that mansion of yours by any chance, do you?” A snicker, and he found himself ducking away from a large butterbeer cork. Across him, Noelle was visibly frustrated at his jibe but he could see her fighting down a smile by the rapid appearance and disappearance of her dimple. A telltale sign he’d observed over the years. He had missed the Ravenclaw and the high level of intrigue she’d presented; while Artemis was predictable, Noelle was not. She was a closed book, a puzzle with pieces scattered by the winds. She’d kept him curious and nine years later, she still did.

Finishing up his butterbeer, Aiden thumped the empty mug down onto the rickety table. He stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I was going to go flying sometime later today but now that you’re here, we could go together. You game?” He knew Artemis had a phobia of flying but the other two were perfectly good fliers – he’d missed flying with familiar faces. Deep in his pocket laid his broom, one of the best considering he’d been saving up for it since he’d been eleven. Artemis’ condition briefly passed through his mind but he dismissed it. Surely the girl could get up on a broom even a little bit? It wasn’t like she’d fall and even if she did, she had three others to catch her. 

---

● Noelle ●

Noelle was less than pleased to be back in the vicinity of Miyu Kisaragi. The very person who’d caused her untold misery and the reason why random streaks of her hair were still multicolored. 

Inwardly, though, a frightening thought was coming to life. She’d missed it. She’d missed the fun of it. Her logical side immediately shot back, [i]”What was so fun about getting paint dumped on your hair and having your books missing? Don’t forget the day you had to walk barefoot all day because Peeves stole your shoes.”[/i] Those were plausible concerns but truthfully, Noelle missed the spontaneity of it all. But she sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it. Noelle was already watching her back, just in case Miyu decided to try something. She was never able to tell with him, his stupid, smug face giving nothing away until all hell broke loose. However, the unexpected thought that his smile was… magnetizing butted up out of nowhere, forcing a disgruntled Noelle to shove it back down, not happy in the least.

Unfortunately, avoiding him during Hogwarts hadn't been entirely possible. As most classes were either Slytherin and Ravenclaw or combined in the case of electives, Noelle had found it impossible to avoid him and had resorted to ducking her head and lying low. Of course, teachers had made [i]that[/i] impossible too by usually partnering her up with him. Countless explosions later, he'd singed the ends of her hair and that was only the beginning of it. And, horrifyingly, she'd had to stifle a [i]laugh[/i] during some of them - of course, when his accidents hadn't affected her, which was rare. If he ever found out she thought of him as amusing at times, she'd never live it down. But despite her confusing opinion on the asian boy, Noelle found it changing radically at times and she honestly missed all three of them.

Schooling her face back into a neutral expression from the slightly wistful smile, she once again found herself at a loss for words at Aiden’s jibe. Noelle knew he was only teasing but she couldn’t help but throw a butterbeer cork at him to shut him up, shoving down the smile that threatened to show. Her face colored lightly, a flurry of emotions on her face that she’d failed to hide. One quick tap later, her books were shrunk and in her pocket. No more teasing. And if she was lucky, they’d forget they were ever looking at a volume titled [i]‘Time Fairies and Where to Find Them’[/i].

At Aiden’s offer, Noelle smiled and nodded. “I don’t have a broom, though. I left it at home.” Flying would be welcome after all this time. However, after a quick glance at Artemis, Noelle decided against it and regretted her words. She knew the Gryffindor hated flying, something she’d witnessed over time during the few flying classes Ravenclaws and Gryffindors had shared. “On second thought, I don’t feel like it. I need to go to Gringotts.” A visible shudder accompanied her words at the thoughts of the menacing goblins that had taken a liking to intentionally scaring her. “Do you want to come with me?” Noelle turned to Artemis, an encouraging smile on her face only slightly falling at the thought of facing a goblin. Though she was mostly doing it for Artemis, the girl’s company would surely be comforting. Now her only concern that her fear wasn’t obvious; Aiden and Miyu tagging along to witness her fidget and lean precariously away from the goblins wouldn’t be ideal. No, not at all. They could go bash heads over Quidditch instead.