Humphrey wanted some solitude, and he felt a bit crowded inside the castle. He just wanted to get outside and paint a little. So, he had brought his canvas, brushes, stand, and paints with him to the clearing. Even though he loved to paint, he'd never painted a picture of Olivia yet. It was something that he wanted to remedy.

Taking out his brush, he dipped it into the paints and started to draw the great hall. Not how it usually looked, but how it was decorated for the last ball. Adding in some of his friends in the background, talkiing, dancing, and laughing. He placed Olivia in the center, in her beautiful dress with her hair done up. She was smiling softly, and he tried to make her eyes sparkle like they did in real life. It didn't do her justice, but it wasn't a bad painting. Eventually he would give it to her, along with a frame for it.

Just as he was packing up he heard some twigs snapping. Who else was out here? "Hello! Who's there?" Humphrey asked. As of yet he couldn't see anybody.

Tati had been keeping herself locked away in her room she had been really depressed she had gotten bad news from home and didn't want anything to do with anyone. She had decided to take a walk for a change hoping not to run into anyone but she noticed that someone was already where she was going to go so she was going to try and avoid them and not let them know she was there until she turned and stepped on a twig.

When the person asked who was there it was only then that she noticed who it was, it was Humphrey.

"Sorry to distrub you, it was just me. I will leave you now."

Humphrey's face lit up when he saw that it was Tatiana who was there. He hadn't seen her in so long, and he'd been wondering how she was. She was one of his few friends aside from Olivia, yet she seemed to have droped off the face of the earth. Now she was here, he wasn't going to let her just turn around and go without talking to her. Had she been ill, upset, he didn't know.

"Tatiana, please don't go. I've really missed you, I would love it if you could stay and talk a little while." he told her honestly, smiling a bit at her. Walking over to he, he gave her a tight hug. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you anywhere, I've been wanting to hang out with you. You are my best friend you know."

Tati was a little surprised when Humphrey asked her not to leave. She had not really expected anyone to truly miss her especially him. He was always so wrapped up in Olivia how could he possibly miss her.

When he walked over to her and hugged her she could not help but hug him back. Afraid to let him go like he would disappear. This was something she had been needing why did she have to isolate herself in her room. All at once she started to cry, she didn't mean too, she just had so much emotion trapped inside it wanted to come out.

"My parents were killed in a accident and I just locked myself away not wanting to talk to anyone.". Tati cried in his shoulder then pulled away

"Sorry, I got you all wet." Tati said wiping his shirt then trying to stop her tears that weren't stopping.

Why did she looked so shocked that he wanted her to stay? They were friends, at least he thought they were. She'd disappeared, and he hadn't had a chance to see her in quite a while. He knew it seemed that all he cared about was Olivia sometimes, but it wasn't true, he had missed her.

Humphrey wondered what had happened to Tati, she was clinging to him for dear life. Not that he minded, he was just worried about her. When she told him about the accident he felt sympathy for her, he knew what it was like to lose your parents. His had been killed in a car accident when he was eight, he understood what she was going through. He let her cry into him for as long as she needed to.

"I know what you're going through, mine were killed in a car accident when I was eight. For about a year whenever I was at my aunt and uncle's I hid either in the library or in my room, shutting the world out. When I finally started to talk to people, I started to come to grips with it." he told her. "You can always talk to me, okay, no matter what it is."

"You think I care about a silly shirt? I'm worried about you, not my shirt." Humphrey said, concern clear in his eyes. "Come here until the crying stops, it will eventually. Believe it or not this is a good thing." he said, pulling her into a hug. Sometimes you just needed a shoulder to cry on.

Tati was enjoying just feeling comfort from someone at the moment she really didn't care.

"I don't know what is going to happen to me, my grandma is getting to old to care for me.". Tati sighed

Tati knew she could always talk to Humphrey but she didn't want to get in the way of anything.

Tati could not help but smile a little when he commented about his shirt but she revelled in his arms. She looked to Humphrey as her best friend and brother and she felt safe in his arms like things will get better.

"Will the pain ever go away?"

Humphrey could see that she really needed a friend right now. She was hurting, and she needed somebody to be there for her. He knew the feeling, he wished he had a good friend to help him after his parents died.

"I'm sure that you'll figure out something." he reassured her. "If you're really worried about it, I could talk to my aunt and uncle about maybe staying with us for a while. Not the best idea, but who knows, they could say yes." Humphrey said, shrugging.

It was good to see that he could in fact pull a smile out of her. Her tears started to slow a bit, though they were still there. He knew she looked up to him, though why was beyond him.

"You'll always miss them, but yes the pain does stop after a while. As the old proverb says, time heals all wounds." he told her. "You've been making sure to eat regularly, right?" he asked. Sometimes after something like that happened people skipped meals, which did not help things.

Tati sighed when he offered his house, "I would hate to impose, I will figure something out."

Tati pulled away from him and moved over to a bench and sat on the bench and pulled her fit up and laid her head on her knees. When Humphrey asked her if she had been eating regular meal she tried to curl tighter into a ball.

She had not even thought about meals really, she had locked herself away in her room and only came out for class which you would not even know she was there because she was in the back of the classroom.

"Ummm, maybe once in awhile." Tati could not lie to him, and if she would have been seeing him regularly he could probably tell she had lost some weight, but then the robes hid a lot of things.

He could see that she didn't want to be a burden to anyone. Humphrey was still going to talk to his aunt uncle about it. It would only be for the holidays and the summer, the rest of the time she'd be at Hogwarts. They might agree, he would do his best to convince them of it.

"Tatiana, I'm going to talk to them about it. It would be fun to have my best friend around. Plus somebody's got to look after you, may as well be me." he told her sincerely. She was a good friend to him, he would be one for her.

She rarely left the tower, just for classes usually. He wouldn't be surprised if she had been skipping meals regularly. When she curled up into a ball he felt so bad for her, and a couple tears started to fall down his cheeks. Why did the worst things always happen to the best people? Walking over to the bench, he took a seat next to her.

"Hmm, I'll take that as a no." he said quietly. Humphrey put an arm around her, pulling her into a light hug. "From now on I'll bring food up to you after my own meals. That way you can stay in Ravenclaw tower, but you have to eat. I'm not going to let you starve yourself, okay?" He was taking it as his job to take care of her, somebody had to.

Tati could not help but smile as she looked up to Humphrey,

"So now instead of best friend you have moved yourself up to be my big brother now and have to take care of me?"

Tati had to smile at that she had no siblings and being an only child sometimes was trying and she always wanted to have someone at home to talk with and do things with. Having a brother meant she would have a protector.

"Its not that I meant not to eat, I just haven't felt hungry or anything." Tati looked up at Humphrey from her knees.

"You know you don't have to take care of me." Tati sighed and then leaned her head on Humphrey's shoulder. "I don't want Olivia to get jealous of you taking care of me, she is good for you and I would hate to mess that up."

To be honest in the beginning Tati was the one who was jealous of Olivia because she had Humphrey and Tati in the beginning thought he was perfect but since that first walk they had taken Tati knew that it was for the best. She had resigned herself to being his friend and that was better than nothing at all.

Humphrey just smiled back at Tati, it was great to finally see her. "I wouldn't say that, best friends are supposed to take care of each other to. And it's not that I have to, I'm choosing to. Seeing you all sad and stuff makes me sad too." he told her honestly. It was tough seeing his best friend struggle.

Having grown up as an only child, and then with his aunt and uncle, he'd always wanted to have a sibling. If they agreed to letting her stay, they would definitely have some fun together.

"Trust me, I know what it's like to not be hungry. But you still have to eat a little even if it isn't much. Sometimes it helps just to have somebody reminding you, ya know." he explained.

"Tati, I want to help you throught his. You look like you need a friend right now, and I'm your friend." Humphrey said seriously. "To be honest I don't think she'll mind. She knows we're just friends. If it does bother her then we'll deal with it then. I don't want to mess it up with her either." he admitted, smiling at the thought of Olivia.

Humphrey knew that at the beginning Tati had hoped they would be more than friends. The way it turned out though, he thought that he made the right decision in just being friends. Olivia was better for him, even though Tati was a great girl too.