Deva walked to the owlery to send a letter to Athena about the next time they could meet up. She needed to get out of this craziness. She needed to be free again. After all this time, she needed to be free. She walked up all the stairs, pretty much running, and looked around for Zar. She smiled as the black owl she had had since she started Hogwarts soared down to her. He was getting old, and it broke her heart to know this, because he was the only thing she had left from her previous life. The only thing she had left to be true to. Even though it was a risky thing to have. After all, one didn't see too many black owls in this world.

Suddenly, the letter didn't seem so urgent. She walked over to the bench positioned in the oval room and sat down on it, Zar sitting down on her knee. She patted his sweet and beautiful feathers and looked out the window. She wondered how long she'd been sitting there when she realized her thoughts had drifted to Parker. She leaned her head back and wanted to scream. She hated this. She hated it so much that it was suffocating.

She remembered the time when she had been very upset and sent a letter to her housemaid, Mrs. McCluskey. And then Parker had shown up, and they had just talked and taken things easy. Just chatting about everything and nothing. She wondered how weird her life would be in the future. Would she be able to tell everyone? The first one she'd tell would be Alcyone. No doubt. She'd run like hell and scream it at her, hugging her for hours on end. Then she'd gather Anne, Parker and Pyxis and tell them. Then she'd run up to the Astronomy Tower and shout it out for the entire school to hear.

She sighed and closed her eyes, imagining the scenario, making her grin like crazy. Until she heard someone coming up the stairs.

Parker's eyes drooped slightly as he was walking down the corridor from the hospital. He groaned and shook his head, trying to wake himself up. He rubbed his face and then moved his hands up through his hair. Why was he so exhausted?? He'd not been like this since the beginning of his training. He usually could handle few hours of sleep...and even then he'd been getting some more sleep then he had previous.

He supposed the emotion toll of everything was just getting too much for his body to handle. He just felt like he was going to collapse. He knew he should have taken a pepper-up or something of the like before walking about the castle, but he always hated pepper up. Because of this, Parker just was not in a good mood. His head was pounding, everything ached inside and out, and he couldn't find his bloody owl. He didn't feel like himself and he hated it. He needed to talk with his friend from the hospital.

He managed to make his way to the stairs up to the owlrey. Hopefully his owl would be there, if not, he'd send it with a school owl. Though usually his owl got through to and responded to faster...

Hand gripping the rail, he make his way up to the landing very slowly. Just wanting to curl up and fall asleep, right there. He didn't though, and looked around when he reached the top of the landing, a hand against the wall for support and his other hand clutching the letter he needed to send. He walked in, rubbing his eyes, looking like the wreck he felt like he was at the moment.

Deva blinked when she saw it was Parker walking in. Speak of the devil and he will come. She almost smiled at the irony when she saw how extremely exhausted he looked. He seriously looked like a total wreck. She rose instantly and walked over to him, grabbing his arm, not even sure if he had seen her yet.

"Parker? Are you okay?" she asked with a worried tone.

He looked like he hadn't slept for days. She instantly wondered if it had anything to do with the horrible start he and Pyxis had here at Hogwarts. She really hoped it wasn't. They had always been so good friends, and Deva knew that Pyxis depended a lot on Parker's well being. She always had. And so did Deva. When Parker looked tired, she remembered how she had constantly asked how he had been, especially during third year. That's when it all seemed to start.

As he walked in rubbing his eyes he sighed. He lowered his hand, his eyes glanced around and as he turned his head someone came into view, coming towards him. He tensed up and took a small step away, his fist clenching, as she grabbed his arm.

He blinked. Staring at her a moment as she came into focus. "Deva?" he'd not spoken to her in ages, and hadn't seen her beside meals at the great hall...which admittedly lately he'd not even been going to.

He sighed, relaxing slightly, and as gently as he could he pulled his arm away. "Sorry- I just...didn't see you.."

Deva bit her bottom lip as he looked almost confused at her. That was right; they weren't best friends anymore. Deva had found it sufferable to be around the castle because she and Alcyone were getting along, but she hadn't talked much with Parker. She instantly made her mind up that this had to change.

"Nothing to apologize for," she said, shaking her head.

There was something with the way he had rubbed his eyes and not seen Deva before some seconds had passed. She had noticed how he took a step back and clenched his fist. So she let go of his arm. He seemed jumpy for some reason. She couldn't quite pin-point why. But once again she wondered that maybe it had something to do with his relationship to Pyxis. It had always been so important to both of them, it had been obvious to everyone around them, but they never seemed to realize how much the one actually cared for the other.

"How are you?" Deva asked, trying to sound casual, but the worried tone easily broke that from her.

Parker frowned and looked down as she let go of his arm. "No, really, I'm sorry. I should be more aware." He found himself irked at the way several people now had grabbed at him when they saw him. He hated that it bothered him, and it wasn't any of their faults, he just hated how defensive and jumpy he got.

After having been reunited with Pyxis he'd hurt her, when Damien had grabbed at his arm he nearly punched him. Parker just hated this more violent side of him. But...living where he did, he couldn't help it. And he still hated it.

He sighed, "To be honest, I've been much better. Nothing I can't handle though. Stress is practically in the job description for a healer." he said shrugging as he stepped in more, looking for his owl.

Deva didn't react at the look in Parker's eyes. She couldn't define it, and she wouldn't try. Not now. She was too tired to go back to her behaviour analysis routine that she had been in ever since she started out as an auror. She just didn't care. She stepped a bit back, giving him his space as he looked for his owl.

Deva didn't believe him, though, and it didn't take an educated auror to see that. She walked back to the bench she had been sitting on and Zar returned to her, sitting down on her knee again. She was pretty sure Parker wouldn't pay any mind to the owl on her knee, pretty sure he wouldn't recognize it. But even so, she didn't feel so comfortable.

"I wonder why it's like that," she mumbled, very sure that Parker could hear her.

Parker breathed a small sigh of relief when she took a step back. He supposed he just needed a little bit of space. It was a tad bit strange to go from an entirely professional environment with no friends to conversations and people wanting to get back in touch.

He walked towards the back of the owlery where his owl was sitting huddled among some others. He held his hand out for his owl and it slowly stepped up onto his arm. He started to attach the slightly crumpled letter to his owl's leg as it hooted softly and ruffled its feathers.

He turned back around and walked towards the window as he pet hos owls head gently. He stood looking out the window, hearing her mumbling. "There are more people that need help than can give it. I don't mind it though. I honestly don't see myself doing anything else. I love it." he said softly, raising his hand and letting his owl fly off from his arm and out the window. He looked over to Vilde. "Nice owl you have." he commented. He remembered coming up to the owlery several times during school. Not needing to send out or expecting any letters, but just to see all the pretty looking owls. When work had offered to pay for an owl of his own, he took great care to pick one he especially liked the look of, something recognizable as his own.

The soft breath of relief leaving Parker made Deva instantly know that he was developing some sort of personal bubble. She didn't blame him. She looked him over again, not quite able at hiding her worry at his tired face. But she didn't comment. She wasn't Haley anymore. His business was his own.

She watched him as he walked over to the owls and got one, sending them off. She was once again seated on the bench and leaned her head back, looking up into the roof. "Is it yours?" she asked kindly, looking at the owl. It was beautiful. As most owls were.

She smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. And yes, that is a fair point. More people need help than the ones who can offer it. If not, there'd have to be 51 percent of the world's population who were healers," she said softly, "And that wouldn't be a very efficient world."

She smiled. "Thanks. He's getting pretty old though," she said. Zar nibbled her fingers and she gave a small laugh. "He doesn't like to be reminded of it, either," she added, "Like a grumpy old man." More nibbling. She merely laughed and gave him a small cracker. That made him hoot happily.

Parker was able to see that she was worried, he tried to brush it off though. Why would she be worried? People in the past had just minded their worries elsewhere. Parker had never been one that people worried about since leaving the school.

He turned to face her after sending his owl off. And he smiled a little bit when she asked if it was his. He nodded. "Yeah, he is. His name's Arthur. The hospital bought him for me when I started working there since I would need one. Er...I hadn't had one when i went in... things happened, you know." he said with a slight shrug, just barely having to tell the truth. He thought it would be weird to say he had never had one, as pretty much every kid did. So, he just made it sound as if he had an old one that died or something instead.

"I'm glad you can see that at least, you'd not believe how under appreciated a lot of Healers and nurses are. Especially by Auror's, who you'd expect to be more in tune with us..." he sighed. Thinking back on some few key less than pleasant experiences, not to mention a large portion of the rehab center being shut down because of the Ministry's crap funding.

Parker nodded, "Well, I'm sure he's lived a happy and full life." He chuckled lightly, and the nibbling behavior and the hoot suddenly reminded him of an old friend, Haley's owl, which warmed up his expression even more.

Deva didn't know what to make of the way he was obviously trying to hide the fact that he came from a poor family. Or, it was obvious to her as she already knew that. Deva felt beyond rotten for not being able to tell him that she was Haley at that moment. She missed the conversations they often had in the owlery and halls. She wanted to sigh, but refrained from doing so. Instead, she smiled. "I like that name. It's kind of royal," she said happily.

"Yeah, I've had Zar since my first year, so..." she said, her voice sad, speaking the untold truth of how long he had to live, not noticing that she had used the name 'Zar'. Then again, she wasn't sure if Parker even knew the name of her owl. She really didn't like to think about it. She'd lost her parents, she'd lost her home, she'd lost her friends. She had even lost her name. She was just a shadow of what she had once been. And only Zar was left to remember this. Her only constant. If she was unstable, the death of him would lead her to going berserk. Luckily, she wasn't.

Deva nodded. "When I worked as an auror, I noticed that. I was in the hospital a couple of times, and they all found it surprising that I treated them so equally. They constantly said that it was an honor to have me as a patient. I was flabbergasted at the choice of words, but I just went along with it, saying I was honored to have someone so friendly as my doctor and stuff. And they are all so friendly! The only thing I can think of is that aurors might not like healers because the healers are always safe and the first one to protect when it comes to battle, while the aurors are sent out so quickly as if they were nothing at all. That might be it. But I've never thought of healers like that. I had a friend who wanted to be a healer sometime. I'm glad to say that he succeeded," she said with a soft smile. What he didn't know was that she was talking about him.

Deva beamed down at Zar. "I've done my utmost to make him happy at least. And more than once, I've saved his life. So he had better be grateful," Deva said with a wicked grin. Zar nibbled lovingly at her fingers again and her smile went soft.