<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/f6/DU3TpeFXUAAkBHq.jpg)</div><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/A5xScp0.png)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>NAME:</strong> Cairon Hildebrondus (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=299655.msg14674976#msg14674976)<br/><strong>HOUSE | YEAR:</strong> Ravenclaw, 7th year<br/><strong>BLOOD STATUS:</strong> Half-blood<br/><strong>WAND:</strong> 10 9/16" | pine | dragon heartstring | inflexible <br/><strong>WEARING:</strong> Forest green hoodie, jeans, trainers<br/><strong>DATE | TIME:</strong> September 1st, late morning<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong> On the train to Hogwarts<br/><strong>CONTENT:</strong> Musing out loud<br/><strong>MOOD MUSIC:</strong> Mercy Mercy Me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CShUISLYLGY&amp;list=RDCShUISLYLGY&amp;start_radio=1)<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong> Addison Snow</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/>"There are a lot of us, I think, who consider Hogwarts a home away from home...or more home than home."<br/><br/>His words addressed her own on the subject of their school.  Once it had been a finishing school, not a university, and he only imagined what it would have been like to spend his younger years there, rather than the Junior Wizarding Academy.  That school wasn't bad, but there was nothing to compare to Hogwarts.<br/><br/><em>“What about you, Cai?” She lifted his arm -the one closest to her- and pulled it over her head so that she was more comfortably leaning against his chest and the limb was loosely around her toso. “What do you have planned?”</em><br/><br/>The already-comfortable yet friendly position they were in was adjusted by her into something a tinge more intimate, and he didn't register it with the intellectual segment of his brain, as deeply musing as he was on her words.  He just accepted it, and settled in all the more with her.  The question was one he'd been avoiding for various reasons.  "I honestly don't know.  I can always get involved in the family business, of course...but I want something more.  I have my contacts, both in Hogsmeade and London and some other places.<em>It's not what you know, it's who you know</em>, and all that rot...but it's true enough.  I've thought about going out on my own with spell development...I know a couple people who I could go into partnership with..."<br/><br/>Here, again, he trailed off into thought, his mind working at a fever pitch with its plethora of plans, always folding in and amongst themselves.  If Addison had only known a tenth of his dreams, his half-decided ambitions, or his schemes...who knows how she would react?  But he hadn't made any certain decisions yet.  No...he'd not reached a point of no return with anything...not at present.  But even with those lofty goals he kept to himself, there were other dreams he'd considered...<br/><br/>He turned back to her, a temporary chink in his self-subscribed armor as his voice rose somewhat in pitch.  "You know what?  If there was an opening in the staff...I'd love to teach.  If Pearson, or Collins, or Nix...or even Palmer were retiring..."  He paused again.  "Not going to happen.  But it's a pleasant enough thought."  He nodded, eyes again gazing off...out the window.  "But I'll see what I can do with what I have."<br/><br/>With that he shuffled all of his future plans off into the nether regions of his mind, and took full stock of the present.  His arm around Addison relaxed somewhat as his hand stroked her upper arm.  "I know one thing for certain...I want to keep in touch.  Not just after the year is over, either."  He caught himself for a moment.  "We've been friends a while, though it feels like it's been longer.  I think what we have works very well."  Now, in that moment, he caught himself, and asked what exactly was he saying?  She knew well enough just how their relationship worked...why was he mentioning now?  They'd decided it was fine just the way it was, and he was happy with that.<br/><br/>Looking over at her again, he smiled...but again, her eyes seemed to once more capture something within him; an unknown something that seemed to be attached to other, more deeply-embedded feelings he couldn't identify--not at that moment.  There was something different about her, without a doubt, than the last time they'd been together...but there was also something decidedly different about himself, and he couldn't place it.<br/><br/>Before he knew it, what cornucopia of thoughts and feelings were in his head had him leaning forward, and he planted a soft, brief kiss on the pale-haired young woman's soft lips.  Leaning back, he kept his eyes on her, one eyebrow raised.  "Sometimes it's a bit hard to resist those lips."