Parker hardly remembered the amount of letters and begging it took for his mother to finally agree to let him spend most of the summer at his Grandmother's place. The disappointment in leaving for winter break for the first and only time during school was well worth it. He'd not have managed it otherwise. He was sure that if it was the grandmother on her side she'd be more willing, but it wasn't. And since his parents' divorce his mother had refused to even contact her, despite the fact she had been there for them in the past to help out. The second part of the year had gone great, he felt great, and exams were passed (well, half-decently) with ease.

He couldn't have tried to hold back his smile if he tried, the whole train ride back. In the letters they had exchanged (she actually wrote back using the owl, and that alone meant more to him than anything), she said she'd actually meet them at the station, in the magical portion even if she could figure out. Even if she couldn't, just the fact he'd not be taking some dismal taxi home was uplifting and exciting. He'd been talking to Pyxis all about it the whole way and as they reached the station, he was looking out the window for her, acting like a lot of the first years did, as they gathered their things. Stepping out of the train with their trunks in tow, he flashed Pyxis a smile before starting to look around, walking closer to the barrier. "She said she'd try to be inside, should we look around a bit more or go out?" he asked, taking his eyes from the crowds of parents and kids and almost adults, looking at Pyxis.

Parker's excitement towards the end of school was hard not to notice, and she honestly couldn't help but be extremely excited too. The exams had been long, boring, but not overly hard and she hoped that she'd done well with all the work she'd put into them. She was glad now that the holidays had come around, and she'd be getting to share them with Parker, and his grandmother who she was intrigued to meet. That, and she wouldn't have to spend the holidays with her father! Her mother and father had figured out an arrangement, he would have her holidays of 4th and 6th year, and her mother 5th and 7th year, but now she didn't have to suffer through the holidays again under his abuse. She was more than a little pleased at that information. It had taken a lot of pleading though, and she'd thought for a while that her father would out-right refuse, but then she'd received an owl from him informing her that she could go and to 'have fun'.

She figured her mother had something to do with it. Now, they were sitting on the train and she'd spent most of the time grinning or laughing at Parker as he rattled on and on about it. His excitement made her have to bite her lip to keep from informing him that he was plain adorable, and the way he looked out the window like a first year would cracked her. "Okay! Stop it, i'll die from the amount of adorable in this compartment," she rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. She followed him off the train, their trunks trundling along behind them as they moved through the crowd. Pyxis looked up at Parker and shrugged her shoulders. "We should look around here a bit more, but if you can't see her we'll go through," Pyxis of course, had no clue what his grandmother looked like so she'd have to rely on Parker to spot the woman.

While Parker had been excited on his end of things, he had been worried Pyxis wouldn't have been able to a good portion of the year. The a lot of the excitement he was was the fact they'd actually be able to spend a summer together, they never had that. They exchanged letters often enough, but they could actually do things, especially since his grandmother lived in a nice area and had a large plot of land out of the city, closer to Southern Ireland, where a lot of great scenery was. They could actually have fun, not having to deal with their parents, just run around and literally do whatever they wanted to do. There was really no way this summer could get any better.

Turning from the window, he grinned "Oh shut it, I'm just excited!" he said with a laugh. "I've never been picked up from the station." he said, even though he knew she knew that. "This'll be the first time we're not gonna say goodbye at the station." he stated obviously again.

Parker nodded in agreement, that they should look around a little bit longer just to be sure. "Uh, well she looks like an old woman? Short grey hair, tall, uuuh, hardly speaks English so she probably look confused." He said, listing off a few things from the top of his head as he stood on his toes to look over some people, although he was tall enough just to look over, still in in that awkward stage where he wasn't quite used to his height yet. Though after a few more moments he decided that she might have not been able to figure out to get through, so with his empty hand he grabbed Pyxis' hand. "Lets just go through, she might be right outside." he said, taking a few steps back with Pyxis before running through with her.

Pyxis couldn't wait to spend an entire summer with Parker. They had plenty of fun at school, sure, but that was tainted by school work, and annoying people who set Pyxis off like a match. Especially with their 6th year exams, it had been stressful to say the least, and now they could just hang out and have fun. Parker had explained to her in amazing detail all the fun things they could do, and that his grandmother had property with lovely scenery. She found herself un-able to stop the huge grin on her face at all the exciting things that were sure to ensue. And she was feeling particularly happy at the moment, so perhaps they wouldn't fight as much either without the stress of school. Her grin widened - if that was possible. She was about to have the most fun she'd ever had in her entire life.

Pyxis rolled her eyes at him and reached over, ruffling his hair. He then continued to state three rather obvious things, to which Pyxis raised her eyebrows and shook her head with a laugh. "You know you just said the three most obvious things in the world, right? Yes, I noticed you're excited, I know that too, and I know," she giggled at him. "Someone's a little bit too excited and has made their brain short-circuit, don't you think?" She winked at him.

Pyxis snorted with laughter at his explanation of his grandmother. "So basically, she looks like every other old person around us? Really helpful, Parks," she rolled her eyes and grinned up at him. Damnit, when he stood up normally he was freaking tall, but when he stood on his toes to see over the mass of people around them she felt like a midget. He didn't even need to stand on his toes for Merlin's sake, he was tall enough to see without doing that! She used her free hand to yank him back down onto his heels and huffed at him. "Don't do that, you're tall enough without standing on your toes!" She exclaimed. She nodded her head and gripped his hand, letting him pull her along for once and running with him through the barrier. She sighed at how oblivious muggles could be. "Can you see her?" Pyxis asked.

Although there was the end of school stress, bothersome people, and some behavior issues of his own near the beginning of the year, with all that done and past things were looking up. Way up, and nothing could stop it. Despite all the crap the past years, Parker was for once feeling simply really, really great. Not only because of the summer's plans, but with things in general. Minus lingering doubts in the back of his head, he was really getting comfortable and sort of sad he'd have to leave the school and leave his friends next year. If he was honest, he didn't really feel ready for growing up quite yet.

He almost seemed to playfully pout as she ruffled his hair as she always did. He laughed at himself and shook his head in an embarrassed manner at Pyxis comments. "Oh shush" He said, his face a bit red out of embarrassment as he rose one hand to pat his hair back down.

Parker tried to hold back a grin when Pyxis snorted, it was always so funny when she did that. He grinned down at her (something he still wasn't used to) and nodded "Yep, though she probably looks more confused then the rest of them." He continued to peer around and let out a "Hey!" as she tugged him down. "Oh please, there are a lot taller people around here." he said off handedly. To be honest, he didn't know where his height came from. He was a bit taller then his father even. Perhaps from either of his grandfathers he'd never met, but whatever it didn't matter, he didn't need to be bothered with thoughts of his deadbeat father anyone. He'd not let him ruin his fun.

Parker kept hold of Pyxis' hand as they got to the other side of the barrier and he started to look around, used to the fact that these muggles were painfully oblivious to nearly everything going on around them. He took a few steps away from the barrier with Pyxis, so they weren't in the way for other people going through it, and he was starting to get worried cause he didn't see his grandmother right away. When Pyxis asked if he could see her at all he opened his mouth to respond when out from between two business men an old woman squeezed through and quickly made her way over to the two. Parker lit up and slid his hand out of Pyxis' as his grandmother came in for a hug, which he returned, saying how happy he was to see her and how he missed her. She took his face in her hands, kissing him on each cheek, returning his words but with a thicker accent before she turned and grinned brightly at Pyxis.

Pyxis was immensely relieved that school was over. The stress made her highly irritable, and since she had basically Parker and no other friends, she tended to take out her frustration on him. Which wasn't good at all, but he seemed to be able to tolerate her when she became short with him. Pyxis looked out the window and watched the countryside fly by, a small smile forming on her lips. She was excited to finish school, yes, but she also didn't want to because she'd miss Hogwarts a lot. SHe hated being at home with her mother, who was trying to make up for all the years of pain she had caused Pyxis but only ended up making everything awkward, and she hated being with her dad who basically spent the whole time scaring the crap out of her. She frowned and had to return her attention to Parker's excited ramble to cheer herself up again.

She grinned as he playfully pouted at him when she did a very familiar gesture of ruffling his hair. She drew her legs up and curled them beside her as she rested her head against the wall of the compartment. She stuck her tongue out at him.

Pyxis pouted up at him as he stood on his toes. She felt completely and utterly dwarfed beside him, and to save herself the feeling she'd been un-able to NOT tug him down to a little smaller. She still felt small and huffed indignantly. "You wanna bet?" She asked grumpily, looking around at the people. Sure, there were a few as tall as him and a little taller, but she still didn't want to be a midget next to him. "Well, even if that is true," she started as she crossed her arms and frowned at him. "Think about how I feel, all small and tiny while you're tall standing normally!" She huffed again.

Pyxis instinctively squeezed Parker's hand tighter as she saw someone that looked like her father, but when he turned around he wasn't her father at all and she relaxed her hand against his. Pyxis let Parker pull her away from the barrier so that they weren't in the way of other people. Pyxis looked around with mild interest and then back at Parker to see if he'd spotted his grandmother yet. She saw him open his mouth to answer her question, when an elderly woman pushed between two businessmen and walked over to the two of them. She let Parker's hand slip through hers as his grandmother hugged him to her. She felt a smile on her face - she'd never met her grandparents - and she grinned as Parker's grandmother took his face and kissed each of his cheeks. Pyxis smiled back warmly and held out her hand. "Hello, i'm Pyxis," she introduced herself.

He smiled, glancing down at Pyxis briefly after she pulled him down before he looked back up again and rested his arm on her shoulder, probably just emphasizing their size difference as he sometimes like to do. It was sort of his playful way at getting her back for ruffling his hair all the time. It always got a pout out of her and it always made him smile. He glanced down at her again still grinning as she crossed her arms. He laughed a little. "Oh come on, it's cute- like a mouse." he added. "Plus, in case you hadn't noticed all around school guys like shorter girls. So thank me for doing you a favor as your friend and making you appear even more 'petite'." He said, knowing that that wording would get a sarcastic eye roll from her. She really needed to stop being so self conscious. Though he wasn't really one to talk.

Parker had noticed that Pyxis squeezed his hand tighter, and in response he gave back a reassuring squeeze, even though he had no clue what cause the reaction from her. He didn't really think it the time to ask either, not that he would have had time to ask anyway as he spotted his grandmother or Maimeó as he affectionately called her. As they hugged Parker looked absolutely ecstatic, his flushed with joy. A look that Pyxis may not have seen before. He hardly ever saw his grandmother, but that was part of what made ti so special to see her, not to mention how much of a great support she'd been to him emotionally and to his mother financially. "I'm so happy to see you." he said with a wide grin as she returned the words.

Parker then pulled away, motioning to Pyxis as she introduced herself. His grandmother smiled just as warmly to her and waved her hands away as she went to hug and kiss both of her cheeks too. She pulled away, resting a hand on both their arms looking happy as could be. She looked between them saying in her thick and somewhat hard to understand accent that the cab was waiting for them and they could talk on the way to the cottage. Parker nodded, "Alright lets go then" and flashed Pyxis another excited smile as they began to walk through the busy station.

Pyxis felt a horrified look on her face as he rested his arm on her, like she was a bloody armrest on a chair! She knew he did it only to tease her, because he was so bloody tall and she was so bloody small! She pouted up at him per usual and reached up a hand, pushing his arm off of her with an indignant huff that was also normal. She crossed her arms and frowned at him. "Don't do that! That's just mean!" She exclaimed. She looked even more shocked and horrified when he said she was cute - like a fucking mouse. A mouse! Mice aren't cute! She reached up and hit the side of his head lightly. "Mice aren't cute! They're disgusting and filthy." She said, looking like a small child who hadn't gotten her way as she pouted again. "Oh yes, thank you so much for making me look like a little girl. I'm sure the boys think that's just amazingly attractive." She raised her eyebrows at him, though inside she danced around squealing at the fact that he'd called her cute. It was better than nothing, even if he did think mice were cute...

Pyxis felt her entire body relax from the tense position it had just held for two reasons. One, turns out it wasn't her father, and two, Parker squeezed her hand back, offering a comfort than no one else could ever give her. She'd always wondered how simple it was to feel safe around Parker, with just a smile of his, or a glance even, she'd feel safe and secure. She'd never had any friend other than Parker if she thought about it really, so she couldn't compare it to anyone else. She'd had friends for brief periods of times, but her constant anger and her defensive nature made it difficult for people to get close to her, and eventually they'd just drift apart. But Parker had never been like that. From that first encounter, she'd immediately trusted him like she had no one else. Which was rare, considering Pyxis was wary of practically everyone. Pyxis felt her heart flutter at the look of pure joy on Parker's face and she felt herself smiling softly at him.

Pyxis glanced at Parker briefly before she looked back at his grandmother. Her body froze up as the woman embraced her and kissed her cheeks, and she fought back an urge to step away from her. She didn't want to be rude. Her smile was slightly forced now and she took a moment to calm herself down and nodded her head, struggling to understand the thick accent. She followed after Parker and stared down at her feet as she walked, sticking close to him and slightly on edge.

Parker made sure Pyxis kept close as they made their way through the station. He had a feeling she was uncomfortable, his grandmother being a very close, touchy person and Pyxis just the opposite. They made it through to the outside without having been pushed around too much, it seemed that there's weren't as many people as there could have been out that day. They waited around for a while, Parker's grandmother muttering about the cab being late. Parker gave Pyxis a half-hearted smile, "Think I should tell you know that the ride is a long one. We might as well nap on the way to the ferry and then on the ride home too." He said with a shrug.

A short time later, it finally arrived. Parker went to start packing their bags up as his grandmother began to chastise the driver. When they got in, the cab set off, taking them towards the ferry station, to take the ferry across the lake. As they drove down the bust road, stuck in a good deal of traffic, Parker rested his head against the window, looking out and seeming very content, almost sleepy.

(Wanted to cut it down quite a bit, I know you don't really miiind, so yeah.)