After leaving from the lake he made his way back to his office in the Hospital wing. He sat at his chair, with his elbows resting on it, and his hands cradling his face. He sat there like that for a long time, thinking over what had just happened. He had never thought she'd come back here. And even if he did that was the worst reunion that could have happened. He took slow even breaths, trying to sort through everything in his head.

Everything was so confusing. Why did she even take a job here? There would be no other reason for her to be here, after all. Nothing was fair. He doubted everything he did. Was it a mistake to leave, a mistake not to tell her, or to have not wiped his memory of it all when he had the will to do it? Why did he freak out like that down at the lake- he certainly had been caught so off guard.

He closed his eyes, calming himself down. After a few more minutes he stood back up, having collected himself, and taking on a professional air about him. He grabbed the clipboard off his desk, decided to busy himself until..or if she ever came. He walked out of his office, walking down the wall shelves of potions slowly, marking off the things that he needed to restock so he could make that trip to the dungeons later.

Pyxis had stayed by the lake and waited until when she turned he was gone. It was then that she stood up and made her way back into the castle. She'd gone straight to her room and taken a seat on her bed, her head buried in her hands as she cried. Her heart ached within her chest as she laid down and rested her head on her pillow. She didn't understand it, why would he come back here? Why was it that he had come back here, after he'd so easily ran away. Of all the places in the world, they'd both come back there. She huffed and moved over to her desk to look for something to distract herself.

She dug through the drawers until her hands located her notebook and she retrieved it from the depths of her drawers. She smiled a watery smile as she took a seat at her desk and opened it. It was her notebook that she drew in ever since Hogwart's, and now she stared at the pictures she'd drawn. They were strange, weird and sort of depressing with their alien like forms. The eyes were vacant and blank, and the hands drooped down. "Creepy." She mumbled as she wiped at her tears.

After a few minutes of flicking through her notebook, she finally shut it and made her way through the school and to the Hospital Wing. She knew it had only been about an hour since they'd talked, but she wanted to make sure he was alright. She stepped inside and cleared her throat. "Parker?"

He had walked all around the shelves making his list, busying his mind with the tedious task. Keeping himself busy had always been the most important things through his years of training. It's what got him through the day and half through most nights without delving into the past with what-ifs and could have beens. He hoped that once school started he'd be kept busy enough, if not he'd take on other responsibilities if they were needed. He'd even willingly volunteer to help either in Herbology or Potion classes.

After he was done making his list, he walked over and set the clip board down on the desk in the main wing, overlooking all the beds. He sighed, sitting down, looking out the window. He hated himself for coming back here. He obviously made a mistake, and had only hurt Pyxis worse. He sat there, drifting away in his thoughts, not noticing her walk in at first, feeling her magic before seeing her when she walked in.

He looked over and stood up from his desk as she called out his name, nearly knocking over the open inkwell on his desk. He stepped out from behind the desk, He hadn't expected her to actually come. "Pyxis?"

Pyxis smiled sheepishly at him, rubbing the back of her neck. She felt awkward now, and she didn't like it. She wished she could just talk to him about all of the planning she had to do for her lessons, and how boring her life was. It made her frustrated that she couldn't, and negative feelings began to rise but she squashed them. Her mission was clear, get her friend back. She wasn't just going to let him slip by again, that was not an option in her mind.

"Yeah, hi." She said awkwardly and in a rather hesitant way she moved forwards and continued walking until she reached his desk. The walk felt like it was an hour long, and she felt awkward the whole time, and most definitely self-conscious. She watched her feet and sighed as she reached his desk. She slowly raised her eyes and her eyes were attracted to the clipboard on his desk which read several potion ingredients. She realised the because he was the healer, he'd probably need to restock on some ingredients.

Pyxis gnawed on her lip, slightly avoiding the topic that they both needed to discuss. She pointed at the clipboard and then looked to him with a small smile. "I've finished planning my lessons so I have a bit of spare time, I could brew you some potions if you want... or you can just collect the ingredients that you need." Pyxis mumbled.

He smiled back at her slightly, feeling the awkward tension form between them. She was right that things had changed. She felt so far away at that moment, further away then she had been the past nine years. He felt a pang of regret shoot through him, but knew that now was not the time to focus on things that could have been different. For the first time in a long time he couldn't be bothered to care so much about the past.

He watched her walk slowly towards him, listening to the soft sounds her shoes made on the hard floor. He glanced down at his desk and then back at her as she stopped before him. His voice came out too quiet and tentative as he spoke back. "Yeah, uhm, hey."

His eyes followed her finger as she pointed , and he brought his hand to rest on the clip board. He looked up at her again and raised his eyebrows a bit. "Oh- oh, you're the potions master! I wondered what..."He trailed off at the end, his voice wavering slightly. He cleared his throat, bringing back his feigned professional confidence that he had lost the moment she came in.. "I'd just need the ingredients, thanks though, really."

Pyxis nodded her head once, making a note to get the ingredients for him. Silence settled around them once more, and she could find no words. She wanted to ask, but the words seemed to get stuck in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it once more and looked down at her feet shyly for a moment. She wondered if he'd still want to tell her, or if he'd be as vague as he was at the lake. She felt her legs shake a bit and she also felt a strong urge to cry. She didn't understand why this had to be so hard, why it couldn't just go back.

You know why, her mind reminded her, and she did. She bit down on her lip, feeling un-comfortable and awkward. This wasn't how it was supposed to be at all, in her mind there had always been a great reason and she'd forgiven him. THen they'd gone back to the old days, and she'd been happy again. But sometimes, life didn't work the way you wanted it too. With a heavy sigh, she sat down on the edge of his desk and stared at the floor. "So, you going to... tell me now?"

He took a slow, deep breath as the silence settled. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, willing it to go away, with either her speaking, or words somehow forming in his head and mouth. He opened his eyes when it didn't get broken. He glanced back at his clipboard, noticing from the corner of his eye her legs slightly trembling. His first instinct was to rush to get her a chair and some water. He cleared his throat. She was just as unnerved as he was, though he probably should have offered her a seat to sit down. He hated the awkward tension between them, and he suspected he probably couldn't bring himself to speak until she broke the surface of the conversation.

He looked down as she sat against the edge of his desk. He swallowed, breathing out nervously. "Well...I've been trying to work it out ten...eleven year now. I swear I thought about telling you. But I had no clue how to put it..." He closed his eyes. "So, please, just bear with me while I try to explain..." he felt himself shudder slightly, and a nervous lump form in his throat as he choked out. "Okay?"

Pyxis nodded, wondering why it was hard for him to explain. She nodded her head and waited for him to continue, her eyes fixated on him. She wanted to move closer to him and hold his hand in a comforting way. She knew it always helped her, when someone made a simple, physical move to comfort you. She felt anticipation and hesitance at what he was to say, after all she had waited to long for it and she could not believe that she might actually understand why she'd suffered so long.

She almost warned him in a playful tone to lighten the mood that it better be good or she was going to beat the Pancakes out of him, but again the words were stuck in her throat. Instead, she sat silent and drummed her fingers against the edge of his desk as she coughed lightly. The silence stretched out a while as she waited.

He opened his eyes, listening to the light drumming against the wood she was doing with her fingers. He sighed, "It sounds stupid. It all sounds so stupid now. But at that time it didn't. We may have talked and argued over a million things that contributed. And you always tried to comfort me, but some things just stick." he looked at her. "Some things just stick and fester in your head until you've tricked yourself into believing they're true." He went silent a moment, just looking at her before taking a breath. "I needed to just get away from everything, I thought I could cut myself off so that I could...try to figure out all the negative feelings I had, so I could stop hating myself for all these things I couldn't help."

He looked down at his feet, taking the few steps to sit down in his chair. He rested his elbow on the table, biting his lip. "I felt like that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't be as good, that no matter how nice I tried to be someone would always be angry at me or hate me. I-I sat and listened and was the shoulder to cry on so that I could worry about other people's problems rather than my own." He ran both hands through his hair. "But it got to this point, that I couldn't do that anymore. I had to be selfish and stop myself from caring. It killed me inside to see you hurt, but for some reason I felt like I needed to simply start over in a sense so that I didn't end up doing something I'd regret."

He let out a small laugh, full of self-loathing. "Damn well backfired, didn't it? I regret leaving you like I did so much. I can't help but think back to past, and I still hate myself." He shook his head a bit, staring down at his desk. "But- but there's a very small part of me that knows that I couldn't have done things any other way..." He had a very solemn look about him as he continued to stare down as this desk.

Pyxis listened with surprise, for that had not been what she'd thought it was at all. Now that she thought about it, thought back to all of their fights, thought back to all the times she assured him he was perfect the way he was, now that she really thought about it, it made sense. Heck, she should've seen it coming. Guilt welled up inside her and she moved her fingers from the desk to her lap, picking at the nails as she felt tears fall. She felt that she was partly to blame, all because she was so wrapped up in her own life that she slightly neglected Parker.

It was even worse when he confirmed that he was always the shoulder to cry on, and Pyxis sighed. He could've come to her, he did most of the time, but he was always a little bit strong. She'd always known he never told her everything, that he was hiding something. She'd never thought much of it, figuring that he'd tell her eventually. She should've realised when he didn't, she should've. She hated his laugh, it made her wince as he stared at hit desk. She didn't want him to hate himself. He hadn't realised she was hung up on him, that she'd foolishly fallen in love with him. She wasn't the kind of girl to just let go of that, to let go of their friendship.

Pyxis moved off the desk and over to his side, her hand reaching up to rest of his shoulder as she squeezed it. "Don't. Don't hate yourself, this isn't all you fault, Parker. I should've realised, I mean I always knew there was something you weren't telling me but I figured you'd tell me. When you never did, I should've realised that you weren't going too if I didn't insist that you did. Im partly to blame, I shouldn't've always made you carry my burdens, my sorrow. Don't hate yourself. I know what you thought, you thought i'd move on and continue living my life. But there are reasons I never could, Parker. Never, because... well... I can't say, but just know that no matter how long you were gone I never would've moved on. Its not your fault I can't, its mine."

Looking at her, Parker noticed the subdued surprise on her face. Why was she so surprised? What had she suspected the reasons for him leaving to be? It was just him, there had been something wrong inside of him that he thought he could fix by running away. He bit his lip and looked down at the first sight of her tears. "I'm so sorry I made you think it was because of you. But it really wasn't at all..." If only he'd been able to get himself together sooner he could have probably saved her so much grief. How could she have blamed herself? It was him that hadn't been talking to her, it was him that ultimately left, not her. He'd been the one to hurt her, not the other way round...

He moved the few little things and papers on his desk around, feeling nervous, needing to do something with his hands. He bit the inside of his cheek. He felt to stupid and was trying very hard to keep his emotions down. Grown men do not cry. he repeated to himself as he took a breath. She didn't deserve a friend like him and had no clue why she would put up with him being like this.

He hardly moved his eyes over when Pyxis stepped over to his chair, and he kept his eyes down when she squeezed his shoulder. "No...you can't blame yourself. Constantly asking if I was okay shouldn't have something you needed to worry about...I hardly realized there was anything wrong myself until it was all too late. It'd not have done anything anyways..." He tried to brush it off, he'd have denied anything being wrong, claiming as he always did that was was just okay. "I don't care what you say Pyxis, but I would always be there for you, to comfort you..." He brought his hands up to his face as she went on to say she'd have never moved on. "Please...please don't say that Pyxis. You don't- you can't mean that. People...they lose and gain friends all the time. You always had friends, Pyxis. You- you had to be fine."

Pyxis sighed at him, a surge of sadness running through her. After all this time, that was it. She'd neglected him when he needed her, and she felt as if she'd been cheated of so many years. So, so many years. All because of one simple mistake, she'd been so busy wrapped up in herself. She reminded herself that she shouldn't just blame herself, that he could've come to her, but that just made her feel even more guilty. He'd never been out there with his emotions like her, and she huffed at herself.

As he said that she couldn't blame herself, she smiled softly. Of course she did, she was human after all and any good person would try to shift the blame onto themselves. When he insisted that she couldn't mean it, that she had to be fine, she felt her annoyance flare. She couldn't tell him, it wasn't right. She wanted to, the words were lingering on her lips, but she wouldn't let them out. She couldn't.

Hesitantly, she sat down on the desk in front of him and rested both of her hands on each side of his face, lifting his head up to face her. Her jaw was set firmly as she stared at him meaningfully, trying to let him understand. "I do partly blame myself. I could've helped. Im glad that you would've always been there for me, but I wish I could've always been there for you. I wasn't, don't even deny it! I tried too, but I was so busy with myself I sometimes neglected you. And its not that easy, you can't - you probably never will understand!" She exclaimed in frustration, releasing him and stepping away from him.

"Pxyis, know that none of this was ever so simple...even if things had gone a bit differently, I feel like the result would have been the same..." He broke his gaze from the papers in front of him, looking at her with pleading eyes hoping she understood. A small smile reached his lips "Blame my years of sitting through divination, but I think, as painful as it was, this was meant to happen."

He looked back down, to the small cup that was sitting on his desk. He remembered a small ritual he used to do a few years back. Worried about the mistake he make, worried that he'd made a really terrible mistake, once a week he did simple little tea reading that he had learned. Sometime it helped reassure him, other times not. After a few months he realized how unstable his tea reading was, he gave it up.

Parker was pulled from his thoughts when Pyxis sat in front of him, and put both hands on his face, pulling him to look at her. He brought one hand up, gently circling around her wrist. "Pyxis, you weren't because I pushed you away...I wouldn't open up. That was me, not you. I had pushed you away anyway...you had to worry about yourself." He didn't move his eyes from her as she stepped away. "I guess I won't understand. There are thing neither of us can understand about this situation..."

Pyxis pursed her lips at that. She liked to think that maybe things could've been different, but she knew he had a point. He's always been very quiet, never really told her everything that was on his mind. She hadn't realised that before, when she was younger, but now that she was older and looked back, she realised she had been so naïve to believe that everything had been alright when clearly it had not. She cursed Parker and his inability to feel as if he fit in, she thought that fitting in was so boring and normal. She liked that he was different, and he was different in a good way. "I guess you're right." She mumbled.

Pyxis hated it all, she hated how hard life was. She especially hated how your parents raised you to think that everything would go right, that all of your dreams would come true, that you'd marry, have kids, live happily, earn lots of money, but really it was hard. Nothing was easy in the real world, and once you were released into it you became lost. Add in a war and life sucked.

Pyxis huffed and almost stomped her foot like a spoilt child. Spoilt child she was not, but stomping her foot made her feel as if she was one. She also huffed a lot, she wondered why that was. Maybe it was when she was annoyed, or just had no words to express her emotion. "I guess," she said, not feeling in the mood to argue whose fault it was. "No, there are things that we could never understand. Well, you probably could, but I don't feel like enlightening you on the details." She muttered this more to herself than him.

Parker hadn't thought he needed to fully fit in with everyone, he certainly didn't want to be a pompous jerk like some Slytherins, he knew some were plenty kind. On the surface he may have felt he fit in, but there was something a bit deeper where he felt a disconnect. If there were ever any outings to Hogsmeade he often felt like a tag along. While he did enjoy being a little bit different, he didn't want to feel like he was in a different, lonely world. "But I wish things had gone different for you. I hate how unfair this all is..."

He learned from a young age the unfairness of life. From his parents disinterest in him, to their divorce, to his still living in poverty. He seemed to have been surrounded by people with ideal lives, and while they had their own struggles, it was still hard to know he could never have what they did. He couldn't ever have the ideal life.

Parker sighed and looked down then. There really was no point in arguing this. After all this time and after he felt like he'd explained everything to the best of his ability, there seemed hardly a reason to even talk about it anymore. "Just know that I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone. But I especially didn't want to hurt you." He looked back at her again. "I just hope things can not be so tense between us. I know things won't be okay tomorrow, or even three years from now, but..."He trailed off, not really knowing how to finish. Though he missed her, and seeing her again made him realize just how lonely he had been.

Pyxis rolled her eyes and wondered how many times he was going to inform her that he wished things had gone differently for her. There were only so many times that she could tell him that she never would've moved on, no matter how differently things had gone. No matter if he'd told her he was leaving and wasn't coming back, she doubted she would've let him go. She wished he could understand, and she felt her eyes fall shut as she clenched her fists in frustration. "I wish that too, Parker, but that's just... it doesn't matter how you left, it would've been the same as it is now."

She also hated how un-fair this all was, but it wouldn't change. Everything had happened, there was no going back no matter how much she wished they could go back. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, effectively messing up the semi-neat locks of hair.

"I know you never meant to hurt me Parker, fact is, you did," she mumbled. She didn't want him to feel guilty, but the words slipped out before she could stop them and she couldn't be bothered taking them back. He wouldn't listen if she tried too. "I don't - im not sure if I can do this again," she hesitated, before she turned back to him and sat on the desk in front of him once more. She'd missed him so much, but she was starting to realise he was bad for her mental health. "How can I know you won't run off again?" She asked in a small voice.

He noticed she was getting more frustrated, and saw her clench her fists. he furrowed his eyebrows. Like always there was something he wasn't getting. He pushed his chair back a bit and stood up again to properly talk. "I know that, Pyxis, but I can still wish. I know things can't turn back and things won't be okay, I can still wish. I needed some little bit of hope to hold onto to think that you'd be okay... " he raised his hand up a bit to her, but let it lower back to his side as she ran her hand through her hair.

He sighed and looked down when she spoke. He then swallowed and stepped to stand right in front of her. He bit his lip a little and raised his hand up to her hair, fixing and brushing down the stray strands she'd pushed up when she ran her hand through. He watched his hand, not looking directly at her. As hard as it was he hoped that they didn't have to go through it again. Even though only an hour ago he thought he might just pack up and leave, he knew he couldn't bring himself todo it. "Well, for one..." he started. "I'm stuck here for the next three years to finish my training. And if...well, depending on how things go here, or if someone else wants my job...I may- I may go. But...I may stay."

Pyxis looked over at him as he stood up and sighed softly. She wished it didn't have to be this way, wished that everything could've been find or she'd known how he felt and could've helped him change his mind. She wished she'd put more effort into finding him, instead of sitting at home and sulking over the fact that she'd lost him. She wished Haley hadn't also left, that had really ruined her. She'd lost her only friends, and she'd had nothing. "I get it, I know, I know. But, the thing is, I think... if Haley had stayed I might've been able to move on with her help. But she left as well and I didn't have anyone."

Pyxis' head snapped up as he moved over to stand in front of her. She eyed his hand warily as he bit his lip and she felt his hand smooth over her hair. Her muscles tightened instinctively, and her eyes feel semi-shut before she forced them back open and focused on loosening her muscles and relaxing. She managed to relax slightly as she looked at his face whilst he watched his hand. "I hope you stay." She mumbled.

There was far more that he wished. That he could have possibly told her before, or that he could have pulled himself together enough to write after he left. Sometimes he wished he had the strength for force himself to forget, and other times he wished he'd just stop trying to forget because he just wanted everything back. He was a little bit glad to know that there could have been the chance of her moving on, but he was surprised too. Haley had left? He never realized it because he had tried not to care about anyone, but he never expected that from her, even with the struggles she'd been going through."...She left? Really? Please tell me, not the same way I did.." he furrowed his eyebrows. Twice. If it happened twice to her in such a short time...he felt more terrible. She didn't deserve it. Not at all.

Despite seeing how tense and uncomfortable she seemed, he finished fixing her hair a bit. He remembered how before neither of them minded any hair patting or things like that. But this wasn't before anymore, he couldn't let it hurt. Things were now, they were different. He lowered his hand slowly wish a sigh. "I sort of hope so too...Though I wasn't quite the best in pediatric wing, so we'll just have to see how I deal with the children here." He tried to crack a small smile, looking at her.

Pyxis looked at him through her lashes before she looked back down at the ground. She did leave the same way Parker did, except worse for there had been no leading up to it. Parker had been giving her a whole year to slightly adjust to not being so close to him, but Haley had always been there and then she'd just vanished without any warning. However, she'd found it more painful to deal with loosing Parker for obvious reasons. She frowned at him, wondering how to respond and she decided just to tell him the truth. "Yeah, pretty much." She shrugged.

Pyxis looked back up at him as his slowly lowered his hand from her hair, and she grabbed his hand within her own. She felt her eyes prick with tears, she wasn't sure why she wanted to cry. It was so much to take in at once, and she desperately hoped he wouldn't leave her. Pyxis giggled at him. "Indeed."

Parker breathed out. His head lowered, he closed his eyes. "And..I'm guessing you still don't know where she is?" He wondered what reasons she could have had for leaving, if they were similar to his, or entirely different. He remembered her being strong, and wondered why she opted to just run. She had been a good friend too and wanted her to have lived a good life too. Hopefully she had been able to move on from whatever she had run from and was now doing better.

He kept his hand where it was in the air when she grabbed it. He saw her eyes water slightly. "Don't cry. Please..." He had made her cry so much, and couldn't handle seeing her cry again. He didn't want to keep hurting her.

He let out a small laugh with her. He lowered his hand again, with hers still holding on. "You know, I didn't fancy you to be too good with children either. Play nice, will you? I don't want kids coming in here pretending to be sick just to get out of you're class."

Pyxis shook her head in the negative. She wondered where indeed Haley was, and she missed her a little bit. She was there all throughout her last year of school when Parker had abandoned her. Haley leaving was another reason why Pyxis had felt it was her fault that Parker had left in the first place. Mainly because two people she was close too had both left, and she felt that it was her. Something she'd done. She'd wondered how she could be so bad. Now, she was beginning to realise that it wasn't her. She still worried, though. "I don't know where she is, but it sucks because I never got to thank her for being there for me."

Pyxis shook her head with a small smile and reached her free hand up to wipe at her eyes lightly. He couldn't understand why she felt like crying. "I won't, promise." She smiled softly.

Pyxis pouted at him as she felt him lower his hand, hers still holding onto his. That was un-fair, she loved little children! Most of the time... "Oi! Not fair, I'll have you know im brilliant with kids. Let's just hope you don't scare them off and they have to come to me for pepper-up potions and the likes."

"I'm glad she was there for you...and hey, considering the way things usually turn out...maybe we might come across her one day soon?" He wasn't quite sure if he wanted to see her as much, not wanting as painful a reunion as he had with Pyxis, but as she was another close friend of his, there was a part of him that just wanted to know she was doing fine.

Parker couldn't help but smile the moment she pouted. Of course she'd deny it. He still almost thought of himself and her as if they were sixteen again, remembering the times when they would complain about the obnoxious younger years during the summer of sixth year, so he never thought either of them would be good with children. He supposed they would just have to find out once school came around. "Oh please, I don't think I'm all that scary. If anything they'll not respect me and try to walk all over me...then I'll scare them." he joked.

He smiled softly and looked down at their hands."Would it be okay if we went out to eat lunch sometime? I mean, know you're probably busy with you're class planning and all... so it doesn't have to be soon..." he sighed. What was he thinking? it was still far too soon to be trying so hard to fix things. He shook his head a bit. "Uhm...wait- nevermind, that might have come out sounding weird... it's probably too much a hassle anyway."

Pyxis' eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of seeing Haley again. She wondered how she was doing, and what was her reason for leaving though she wasn't all too fussed over it. Though her and Haley had been good-ish friends, they'd never been close and she hadn't had as much of an attachment to Haley as she did to Parker. In fact, they weren't even near each other when compared to how fond she was. Even without her extra feelings for Parker, he was closer to her than Haley ever was. "I hope so, I wonder how she's doing sometimes, you know?"

Pyxis grinned as she realised they were slowly slipping back into their old banter, teasing one another, pouting, and joking around. She hadn't expected it to be so easy, though there was still a bit of hesitance about the way she joked. "Puh-lease, you're absolutely terrifying, especially to small children. You don't even have to try." She teased and poked her tongue out at him.

Pyxis' eyes lit up once more, and she had to bite her lip and remind herself it was friends only sort of thing, a way to fix things up between them. Not a date, not a date, not a date, she chanted to herself repeatedly as she looked down at their entwined hands briefly then looked back up to him with a huge smile that she couldn't suppress. "Hush," she grinned as he began to backtrack. "I'd love to, i've finished planning my lessons so im free whenever."

"I wonder all the time how everyone's doing, actually..." He sighed a bit. It was a way to get him through sometimes when he couldn't be bothered to care about himself. He liked to hope they were all doing well now and living the ways they always wanted. Though there had been several occasions where he had seen old school mates. Never one's he knew that well, often a few years off from him, but nonetheless horrific. He'd seen a few addicts, street attack victims, creature attack victims, perhaps turned to creatures themselves, or those that had become Aurors or something of the like that had been in life threatening conditions from spells. They were far and few between, but it still always had him dying to know how those closer to him were doing.

Parker felt so relieved when she joked back. It meant that maybe they would be able to get back years of lost time. That all of this wouldn't be so hard. It certainly felt a lot harder to try to let her go.

Looking at her he saw the same strange expression on her face as she had for years. He looked down when she did, still no closer to coming to understand the ways she looked at him sometimes. He figured it was just a Pxyis thing. Because he never saw anyone give him that same look. He saw her grin and she said that she would love to. "Really? Great." He smiled, but then frowned, nearly groaning. The thing one needed when going out to eat was money...and it was so rude to invite someone out and then ask them to pay. Maybe he could go to Diagon Alley and sell some spare ingredients. He tried to internally shake off the conflict from his expression, bring a smile up again. "Does a few days from now sound good?" he asked.