Ink and Parchment

[allison]

Allison smiled, so Leon was a muggleborn; it was a wonder he didn't want to face Alec. She tilted her head, curious about Leon's home, in the muggle world, and if he had any siblings. "Muggleborn?" she asked, a smile still on her face. It wasn't as if she disliked muggles and muggleborns like many other purebloods still seem to do; she was merely curious about his home life, and how different it must've been from hers. After all, her house elves helped raise her more than other families that did have some magic in them. "How was is like then, before you came to Hogwarts? Was that how you found out you were a wizard? Through the Hogwarts letter?" she blushed, "Sorry for bombarding you with all those questions. Curiosity got the best of me." she smiled sheepishly, something that made her resemble Alec more so than usual, if anyone had seen him smile sheepishly.

"So," she started, changing the subject, "How about we meet at the DADA classroom, surely the professor wouldn't mind if we borrowed it a bit." she said; her mind on the DADA classroom, and how it would hold up in a duel. "I promise Alec will be on his best behavior. Otherwise, he'll have to deal with me." she grinned cheekily. When angry, Alice was not a witch to be messed with, and she knew it. With all the spells that she knew, and the knowledge she possessed, she was truly a force to be reckoned with; almost as bad as her brother. "No problem, though you might want to get the newer version; I've only read it a few times in the summer, but it has many other added spells to it." she said, as she thought about her own book. She planned on getting the newer version; but she had to place it on hold for the time being, especially since her parents thought she had too much already.

"So, I think it is safe to say you know how to do the disarming spell, expelliarmus? It's great for offense and defense, that one. Perhaps we should work on strengthening your Protection spell, protego? What do you think?" she asked, eyes scanning the mutiple books open in front of her for a potential spell Leon might need work on.

[Leon Stark Kennedy]

Leon looked at her with the smile he didn't fully expect when he told her he was a muggleborn. He nodded and then chuckled at her questions. "No it's fine, a lot of purebloods who don't mind muggle borns ask, never really heard it from a half-blood before though now that I think of it," he told. He thought of her question. "Before I came to Hogwarts I lived with my parents as most do played as a kid, looked up at my older brother, you know it was when I first found out, but when you think of it everyone of us has those odd things happen, my brother was never magical, Jacob would ignore it even if he was, but when you're young you put it off as your imagination, the Transfiguratin professor came to my house and told me and my family what it was, and what it meant to have a wizard in the family," he told her, "my younger brother Jonathan he's one of the muggle students here, he was put in Gryffindor, he's actually a first year so he'll be one of the few that'll go through all the years first," he smiled. He loved his brother dearly. "We grew up on a farm, always did chores and farm work with mum and dad, on weekends when all the chores were done we'd go horseback riding, which is one of the best things in the world, in fact I miss my horse Nevada, got him when I was a tiny thing," he smiled. He was so happy thinking of the family farm but also sad since he had a decision to make whether or not he would stay completely in the magical world or go back to the muggle world with some perks.

Then she had changed the subject. "DADA sounds good, and I'll trust you on the fact he won't do anything," he grinned. And he nodded with her mentioning the newer verson of the book, "I'll do so," he smiled. "Expelliarmus I'm okay at, I can do it fairly well," he said softly and then nodded in agreement on working on portego, "safe to say I need to work on that one," he smiled. "You know sometimes I wonder how I made it through O.W.Ls in DADA," he chuckled.

[allison]

Alice listened intently as he spoke of his muggle home life; it sounded very interesting to her. She doubted that her parents would approve of her wanting to learn about the muggle experience first-hand though; they were far too proud to have their daughter be dallying in the muggle world when they knew she could do much better. "Oh? Gryffindor, hm, I'd think he'd want to stick with you if it were his choice, huh? Unless he is as brave as the sorting hat seems to say he is..." Alice trailed off in thought. Then what she said caught up to her. "Not that he isn't brave, probably, but it's just...oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything about it!" she blushed furiously, apologizing profusely.

"The way you talk about him though, it seems like you really care for him...and that horse too," she added, after listening to Leon talk about Nevada. She rode a horse a few times, but only around the host's manor, which wasn't as big as she'd like it to have been. As he agreed with the DADA plan, Alice nodded; she was truly excited with practicing with Leon and Alec...if he agreed to play nice.

"Well, DADA is a difficult subject for most...then again, I'm not like most." she grinned, thinking about how DADA seemed to easy to her, since she was very good with defense. Her only problem was the offensive spells they learned, but then she just went to Alec for help on that topic. "So, after lunch it is! Now, how about we get searching for more spells you might need to know, hm?"

[Leon Stark Kennedy]

Leon chuckled, "I don't think he's all that brave," he told her, "more stubborn than anything else, in his case I could imagine it counting as braveness." He watched her blush, "most in Gryffindor aren't as brave as the sorting hat says they are so don't worry about it," he grinned. "Jonathan and Jacob are my best friends, we had such a big age difference that we always had friends," he told her, "we would go trail riding daily if we could, I'm not all that sure Jonathan likes Jacob as much considering the thirteen year age difference between them, me and Jacob are seven years so we're closer, same for Jonathan and I but only six years apart," he said softly.

Leon nodded in agreement with her suggestion to search for more spells. He pulled the book out for his seventh year class and handed it over to her. "I'd assume this is most of what I need to practice," he told her, "and a lot of the fifth year and sixth year stuff."

[allison]

As he talked about his brothers Alice noticed that he seemed...happier, she dare say. Leon cared deeply for his brothers, that was sure. When he spoke of the age differences, Alice couldn't help but agree. " I know what you mean by the age difference thing. Though we may be only five minutes apart, if it were five years, I am almost positive that Alec and I wouldn't have the same relationship that we do now...I'm happy it wasn't like that though. Alec's my best friend, so I understand where you're coming from." she smiled softly. Who knew she'd have that in common with a muggleborn in Hufflepuff?

"So, I'm guessing you know the patronus charm? Or at least heard about it?" Alice flipped through his DADA book. There were many charms and spells in there; many that she already practiced with Alec over the summer. Seemed as if they were already ahead anyways. "Or perhaps we could work on the riddikulus spell? Hmm...perhaps we'll just see where you are then go from there?" She suggested. Looking over, she folded some of the corners of some pages, including the ones that had the patronus charm and riddikulus spell on it. There was a lot to cover, and Alice was almost certain Alec wouldn't like having to help Leon more so than he was already going to. "I'd forgotten there's so much to learn in DADA..." she admitted, after sitting tired in her seat from just going through the first thirty pages of the seventh year DADA book. Pulling out her own sixth year version, she opened it, searching the pages for a specific spell.

"Here we are! It goes over the patronus much better than your version, seeing as you were supposed to learn it sixth year." she smiled brightly. Indeed, her version has the movements neccessary, and even talked about thinking about a strong memory; whereas the seventh year version had the lack of the wand movements and how to make it stronger. It only has the incantation on it, and what was supposed to happen, though it didn't even go into detail for that.

[Leon Stark Kennedy]

Leon looked over at her. "Age difference is a lot in family," he said. He looked at the book. "I've been able to produce the patronus once, full figure, I can usually get vapor out though," he told her, "riddikulus has been hard for me though," he chuckled, "that would be a place to work at." He didn't want to seem frightened to get near a boggart so he put on a face. His boggart had always been his Great Aunt Kelly lying still and cold on the floor. He hated it considering how much he loved her. He shook of the thought that now lingered in his head. How could he allow someone to even see him so shocked still. He almost added not to work on the spell, but didn't want to seem scared of the boggart.

He glanced over at her, "I still have my copy in my trunk from last year so I'll reread over it and try to make it stronger," he said. He had to think of the patronus right now, "have you done a full figure yet?" he questioned her, "mine's a dog," he added. He then glanced back down at the book, "you know you're so much smarter than I, I wish I could say differently," he chuckled," he looked back up at her with his eyes bright. "I can bet you're great at everything here, am I wrong?" he asked her.

[allison]

Alice nodded in agreement, age was a lot to a family, and the age difference was even more, at least it seemed that way. Leon talked about how he knew the patronus, though he had trouble with the riddikulus spell. By the way he acted, the way Leon seemed, it was as if he didn't want to try the boggart yet. Alice didn't mind; she hated her boggart with a passion. "If you want, we can schedule the riddikulus spell for later on. I mean, we don't have to get straight into it, even if it is one of the spells you need to work on."

Alice smiled when Leon mentioned still having his sixth year book in his trunk somewhere. It was a good thing to keep some things, such as books for this very reason; you never know when you just might need the knowledge again. When Leon asked her about her patronus, and if she had ever done the spell, Alice smiled softly. "Yeah, I have actually. It's one of my favorite spells; the form it takes says a lot about you, you know?" Alice gained a fawaway look in her eyes as she said this; Alec's patronus, despite him being so...devious, was a hawk. Hers, she loved her patronus, but she couldn't see why it was that form.

"My patronus is a wolf" she laughed. What a coincidence, Leon's be a dog and hers a wolf. When he mentioned her being smarter than him, Alice blushed furiously, someone could have mistaken that she's been hexed to look pink. "W-well, I'm most certainly not good at everything. I have a great fear of heights, so flying...I'm not very good at." she admitted, looking out the window towards the quidditch pitch. "The only thing I know I can do is just...know what I know. Knowledge is what makes me...well, me." she muttered, softly. She really didn't see what else would make her so...smart. All she had was knowledge; she was far more intelligent than many in her own year, being top of her and Alec's year.

"So," Alice started, changing the subject, "we'll start on strengthening your patronus, if that's ok with you. Then we'll move onto your protection spell. Does that sound ok?" Alice paused, thinking for a bit about how they, meaning Alec and herself, could help Leon out. Finally she came up with how they would work, "Alec would most definitely be helpful in building up the strength of your protego; and I know how to help with the patronus charm. That sound good?"

[Leon Stark Kennedy]

Leon looked at her, "that sounds good," he said, "maybe sometime soon though." She picked it right out of him, like she knew exactly house he felt. He glanced over at her and smiled when she said her patronus was a wolf. "Certianly alike aren't they?" he asked. She blushed a lot but he wasn't going to mention a bit to her.

He listened as she spoke about everything. "I meant school wise," he chuckled, "not everyone could be great at everything but you're smart. I mean look at me, I'm wonderful at Transifguration, but get me into DADA and I'm horrible." He listened to her change the subjects and grinned. "That sounds great," he said agreeing with what she said. He looked at her. "You know I told you about my muggle life, but I've never experienced growing up with magic, mind telling me what it was like?" he asked.

[allison]

Alice smiled; it was as if he read her mind. "Yeah, they are similar. Either that means we are similar in some ways; or it was just a coincidence." she laughed slightly. The form a patronus took was for a reason; it said a lot about your personality and character. Perhaps they both had something similar, but she wasn't one to assume; she didn't really know Leon that well to say anyways.

"Ah, school-wise I'd rather not talk about it. Might as well, talk about everything anywho; it'd give us something to know about each other, right? So, now you know I'm positively horrible at flying and afraid of heights, and I know your not very good at DADA, but amazing at Transfiguration." she didn't want to start on the subjects of school. She was good at all of them truthfully; it all just came so naturally to her. Give her something outside of the classroom though, like quidditch, and she was one you wouldn't want even near a broom.

"Well, from the way you described your life in the muggle world, I'd say being brought up in the wizarding world was very different. Though there are some similarities." she put a finger on her lip thoughtfully. The way she was raised was different than other purebloods too; seeing as many had their mother as a housewitch, while her mother had a job in the ministry. "Well, I was basically raised by house elves; since my mother and father both had time consuming jobs. Though they'd be there to read us a bedtime story and sing us a nighttime song." she smiled as she thought about the times she and Alec had with their parents. It was precious to her, seeing as most the time they could only pop in before leaving shortly after.

"Yeah, but we also grew up knowing about our magic; Alec and I even tried to do a spell when we were younger, to try and sneak some cookies from the kitchen." Alice laughed at the memory, "We didn't even know how to use magic at that age, we were only five." The house elves had caught them, but gave them each half a cookie anyways. Alice smiled fondly as she thought of her house elves, they never were mistreated, they were like a separate family to her. Her house elf family. "We had a toy broom for Alec until he got an actual broom; and I had my own little potions set; until I got my wand and an actual potions set."

"That's all really, nothing much different than yours; hanging out with Alec, playing around when we could. We even went horseback riding if we were with my parent's at another's house, and if they had horses." she smiled again, her memories of growing up were fun, and she cherished them, just as Leon cherished his. They weren't at all much that different, so she couldn't understand why some dislike muggles and muggleborns just because they were supposed to be non magical.

Gentle and observant eyes, unlike the identical cold and calculating ones of her brother, looked at Leon, "Not much of a difference, is there?" she asked softly.

[Leon Stark Kennedy]

Leon chuckled when she mentioned what they were and weren't good at. He listened to everything she said before talking. "I would feel very odd being raised by house elves," he commented on that part, "my great aunt kelly, who passed a few years ago, helped raise us when we were too tiny to work outside," he said, "though I must say we never got bedtime stories," he chuckled. She didn't get much time with her parents and Leon knew immediately he would hate such a thing. She had spoke of them knowing their magic and them trying to do some magic at five and he had chuckled. Alec had a toy broom and she had a toy potions set. "I played legos when I was child, and mucked out horse stalls, which I a potions set and toy boom," he laughed.

"And your right other than that it does seem a lot a like," he smiled, "you like horses don't you?" he asked with a rather large grin, "if I invited you to come to my house next summer do you think you could, there's lots of trails out there, we could go back country riding?" he asked her softly. He doubted she would be able to, she was year younger than him and even though chances were that she'd be seventeen by next summer being a pureblood her parents would probably never approve of it.