Innocence [Abby]

Brynn was lost. Luckily, she wasn't supposed to meet up with her mother and sister for a while, but because she had no idea where she was, the ginger wasn't even sure if she'd be able to find them in time. The only reason she was off by herself in the first place was because she'd told her mother that the shopping would be faster if she just bought her own stuff. Her mother, while not too happy about it, told her to meet them at the Leaky Cauldron for supper. It seemed easy enough at the time but after two or three (or seven) wrong turns, she finally had to admit that she had absolutely no idea where she was.

Of course, she could have just asked someone for directions, but Brynn had honestly had her fill of strangers for the day and decided just to keep wandering for a while longer. After only a few steps however, Brynn let out a cry of frustration. This was getting her nowhere! It felt like she'd been walking for days and it was time for a break.

Brynn sat against a building (she wanted to lay face down but the ground was dirty) and closed her eyes. What was the new term going to be like? How well did people remember her? Hopefully, they wouldn't remember too well; she wasn't quite sure she'd made even a half decent impression to anybody. Of course, she'd had her reasons, but now that they were resolved it all seemed a bit ridiculous. While part of her was quite happy that she hadn't seen any of her classmates yet, the other part was desperate to see a familiar face. In fact, she was so desperate that she was hearing things. In the distance, she could hear someone that she knew, except . . . that was ridiculous! Ugh! Brynn  put her head in her lap. Maybe if she sat like this long enough someone would find her.

Abby held tightly onto her younger brother's hand. Diagon Alley was even more crowded than usual this close to the beginning of the new school term, and the blonde-haired witch was worried she'd lose Oliver in the mass of people. She was having a hard enough time following her mother and she was a full foot taller than the 4-year-old boy! The young girl always enjoyed coming to the bustlingly wizarding street, especially to buy the new things she needed for school, but she wished it wasn't always so busy. The small Hufflepuff hated crowds, particularly when they were filled with people she didn't know, and it made her shopping experience in Diagon Alley a little more nerve-wracking and stressful than she liked.

The blonde suddenly felt a tug on her right arm that forced her backwards a couple steps. She looked down at her brother, who was still clinging to her hand, but was now trying to pull her backwards towards one of the windows of the nearby shops. "Ollie? What are you doing? We have to follow Mum." The 12-year-old tried in vain to drag her little brother forwards again, panicking slightly as her mother began to get a few people in front of her. "Mum! Wait! Ollie wants to look at something!" Abby sighed in relief when her mother whipped around, in search of the small witch's voice, no more than a second later. She raised her hand with a relieved smile on her face, and waved at the older woman to fully get her attention. Turning back to Oliver once she was satisfied that their mother was coming back towards them, the Hufflepuff squeezed his hand and allowed herself to get pulled towards the shop the small boy had been so determinedly trying to get close to.

When the two of them got within a few feet of the front window, Abby let go of her now-squirming-brother's hand and watched as he raced over to stand beside the taller boys who already had their faces pressed up against the glass. The blonde-haired girl was just able to make out the sleek form of a broomstick under their outstretched arms. So that's what Oliver wanted to see so badly. Their father must have told him about there being a new racing broom out.

Feeling a hand brush her shoulder after watching her brother for a few more moments, Abby looked up and saw, to her relief, that it was her mother. "Ollie wanted to look at the new broomstick." She pointed towards the big window where her younger brother was still standing, looking even smaller than normal next to the teenaged boys. Emily Lawson shook her head with a slight chuckle. "Looks like your brother's going to like Quidditch just as much as your father." The older woman smiled down at her daughter, giving her shoulder a squeeze, and then made her way over to Oliver, crouching down beside him so she could talk to him more easily.

Abby looked up at the towering shop in front of her. She'd been in Quality Quidditch Supplies before with her father, and she'd inherited part of his enthusiasm for the game, but it appeared that her younger brother was going to love the wizarding sport quite a bit more than she did. The 12-year-old didn't mind though. She had grown up liking more of the things her mother enjoyed, so she supposed it made just as much sense for Oliver to take a liking to a lot of the things her Dad had a passion for. The curious witch wondered what it would have been like if the reverse had happened though. Would that mean she wouldn't like books and reading nearly as much as she did, and be into sports more instead? Shaking the strange thought from her mind, the young Hufflepuff glanced over at Flourish & Blotts, which was only two shops over. It was her favourite store to both browse and shop in in the winding street, and she often spent more time in its cramped premises than any of the other shops combined. There were just so many books to look at and page through, though the small girl had quickly learned to stay away from any of the dangerous ones, particular if they had the potential to bite or curse and hex her.

As the blonde turned back to her mother and brother again, a flash of red caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Curiosity caused Abby to turn quickly back around and glance more intently at the book shop. Was someone sitting next to the exit? Yes! A girl with bright red, curly hair was sitting down on the ground by the exit of the shop. Why on earth was she sitting there? Peering even more closely (not even bothering to worry about the fact that she was outright staring at that point), the young witch suddenly realized she recognized the hunched figure. It was Brynn Caines! The peculiar Slytherin, who she'd met during their first year at Hogwarts. Abby knew that the small girl was a muggleborn, so maybe she'd come to Diagon Alley that day to buy her school supplies, but didn't know her way around the street very well? Maybe she needed help?

Quickly making up her mind to at least go up to the red-haired witch, the 12-year-old spun around and ran over to her mother and explained what she wanted to do. Her mother agreed and said she could go on her own, but that she was to stay near Flourish & Blotts and not to wander too far off. Her mum would come find her when her brother was done looking at all the broomstick. Nodding her head and promising she wouldn't go off on her own, Abby made her way over towards where Brynn was still sitting, as fast as she possibly could. Panting slightly as she pushed her way past the last group of people that were between her and Flourish & Blotts, the small Hufflepuff stopped for a moment and glanced down at the Slytherin girl who now had her head face down in her lap. Was she upset? Sick? Wanting to find out, the blonde-haired girl tentatively cleared her throat. "Um... Brynn? Are you alright?"

Brynn lifted her head out of her lap "Stupid hallucination! I know Abby's not really here, just go . . . away." The ginger opened her eyes to see . . . Abby, right in front of her. Wait, so she hadn't been imagining things? Well that was a belief! It also made a lot more sense. "Oh, yeah . . . I'm fine. I think."

Brynn hopped to her feet, unsure of what to do next. It was very nice to see her . . . well, it was very nice to see Abby again, and the ginger was torn between whether to give her yearmate a hug or not, resulting in an awkward flap of her arms.

"Soooooo" she began, desperately trying to think of something to say, "are you excited for school to start up again? I am. I hate summer. Luckily there's not much longer left." Brynn scowled. It was true, she couldn't wait to be back at school, because even though seeing her siblings had been nice, she could not get away from her mother quickly enough.
"Are you here by yourself?" She asked abruptly. If Abby's parents were around, they'd ask her questions like why was she all by herself, and did she need any help. Of course she did actually need help, but it wasn't like she was going to admit it yet. No, it seemed best to avoid them for now.

Abby's eyes widened in surprise at Brynn's mention of her being a hallucination. Maybe she really was sick? The blonde-haired witch couldn't think of any other reason why the young Slytherin wouldn't think it was really just her standing in front of her, as was to be expected by most people in normal, everyday situations. It wasn't like it was strange for her to be in Diagon Alley this close to the start of the new school year either. Did Brynn just not expect to see anyone she knew? Maybe she didn't want to? The small girl frowned at the thought. She and Brynn weren't exactly friends, but Abby still liked the interesting witch and though she was rather concerned to find the redhead in her current state, she was still happy to see her, nonetheless.

The other young witch soon seemed to snap out of whatever sort of reverie she'd been in though, looking up at Abby more clearly and saying she was fine. The Hufflepuff wasn't overly convinced. If she was fine, why was she sitting on the ground in front of one of the shops, all alone? Was she just tired? The 12-year-old still suspected Brynn might be lost too, and just hadn't asked for help yet. But where was her family? Surely she wasn't here by herself, even if she was a muggleborn?

The red-haired girl certainly seemed to be feeling better, to Abby's relief, as she quickly stood up a moment later, appearing to be completely steady on her feet and everything. The little blonde smiled at her, happy to see her looking a bit brighter. Her smile nearly turned to a smirk though, as Brynn moved to step closer towards her. The small snake stepped just as quickly back again, fluttering her arms about awkwardly. What had she been going to do?

Abby nodded. "Yes. Though I love summer. And this one was extra fun and special. In a way, I almost don't want to go back actually. Though I'd never truly decide not to, even if I had the chance. Hogwarts already feels like a second home to me." The young Hufflepuff smiled warmly at this, hoping Brynn felt similarly. From what the 12-year-old had managed to pick up on about her yearmate in the almost full year they'd known one another, it didn't seem like she enjoyed being at home and obviously, as she'd said, she was looking forward to going back to the school, so maybe she even thought of it as more of a home than Abby herself did?

"Um, no. I'm here with my mum and younger brother." She turned slightly, pointing over at the pair, who were still both bent over in front of the window that housed the new, shiny broomstick. Did Brynn really think she'd have been in such a big, busy street all on her own? Her mum and dad would never let her come all by herself! (Not that the blonde-haired witch would have wanted to anyway.) And how would she have even gotten to Diagon Alley? It wasn't like Abby could just walk the entire way. Plus she liked going places with her family. The small girl didn't mind being on her own sometimes, but it was nice going to fun places with her mum, dad, and little brother too. She enjoyed spending time with them. She loved them all dearly, really. The War had brought them all closer together, and though it had left it scars on all of them too, they'd come out stronger, as a complete unit, because of it.

"You're not here by yourself, are you? Is that why you're sitting by Flourish & Blotts all alone? Were you waiting for your parents, or meeting someone else?" Abby assumed Brynn had two parents, though she supposed the redhead might not, for any number of reasons. The Hufflepuff felt almost guilty with how curious she had become of the interesting girl though, wanting to know anything she could learn about her, even the potential rocky state of her family. She was being much more friendly and open than normal because of that.

Brynn's expression darkened as she caught sight of Abby's smirk. What, had she never seen an almost-attempted-hug? Well, thinking back on it, she had never seen an almost-attempted-hug herself, so maybe it was ridiculous. Either way, she was definitely going to have to start doing it more so it became normalized.

Ooh, look at her "I love summer! This one was sooooo special, I almost don't want to go back, la dee da. Brynn's face flashed from disgust, to annoyance, to flat out anger. Abby almost didn't want to go back? Was this girl insane? Perhaps if she had better self control or wasn't lost, Brynn could have kept her mouth shut, or perhaps said something nice, but she didn't and she was. "Yeah, well you didn't go home to find that your siblings hadn't gotten a single one of your letters. You didn't find out that the reason you hadn't gotten any letters from them was because your mum had been hiding everyone's letters. And you didn't spend every single day begging, and pleading, and fighting with your parents so they'd allow you to go back to Hogwarts!" The sound of her voice escalated throughout her rant, finally ending at a full shout. Ugh, now she felt bad. Abby didn't deserve to be yelled at, after all it wasn't her fault that summer sucked.

"Sorry," she said, eyes downcast and voice back to normal volume, "It's just, you don't know what it's like, to have the hope of going back to the only place where you feel like you actually belong squished out of you as, no matter what you do, your parents say 'no' day after day. Hogwarts is more my home than my house is, and even though I'm just a statistic, I feel like someone actually cares about me there." Crud! Had she really just said all that out loud? Brynn groaned inwardly, now Abby knew a lot more than Brynn had intended for her to know.

The biggest question was what Abby would do with this knowledge. Would she tell the other kids in their year? Would she tell Brietta and Annika? Oh no, that would be horrible! Brynn found the twins a bit sketchy with their twin-ness and their cunning, no, the ginger had decided quite early on that they were not to be trusted and had withheld even more personal information than usual from them. Yet somehow, Abby was actually friends with them! Brynn figured that if Abby told anyone it would be them and that would not be fun. She didn't know exactly what they would do, but she could guarantee that it would be very unpleasant. "Please don't tell the Annika and Brietta," she said, locking eyes with the Hufflepuff, "I don't want them to know. You won't tell them, will you?" While not expressly said, a warning was there. She wasn't quite sure what she would do if Abby did, in fact, tell the twins, but the Queen of Pranks (aka Eillyn) would be there this year, so she knew it would be good.

"Ah, of course, good to know." Blah, of course Abby wouldn't be there by herself! Luckily, only one parent was there and she seemed to be occupied with a small child at the moment. She wondered how long the brooms would keep the kid interested. She wasn't too worried though, since she could easily disappear in the crowds. That was possibly the only good thing about being short.

Brynn narrowed her eyes at the blonde girl. What was it to her if was or wasn't there by herself? Never mind the fact that Brynn  had just asked the very same question. With a quiet huff, Brynn debated what to tell the girl. Did she tell her about her mum and sister or not? Brynn decided not to giver her any answer at all. The ginger gave Abby a sly smile "Do you think I'm here all by myself?" Now she was very pleased with herself. Ha! Let her wrestle with that one for a bit. Unfortunately, though she very much would have liked to, she couldn't just leave it at that, it would only make her look even more suspicious. What to tell her though? Perhaps make her question her questions? "Can't a girl sit on the ground?" She challenged "I was going to go in there to get some books, but then I found something on the ground and I thought it looked like it was glow in the dark so I wanted to check it." There! Well, that was certainly an . . . interesting story, but not so interesting as to be deemed automatically as a lie. Or at least Brynn hoped it wasn't that obvious.