And all our days were a sun-drenched haze ~ [Kerr]

It had been surprisingly sunny – for September, so not warm at all – when Freya Trickett had woken up this morning. The girl had let herself wake up relatively slowly before bouncing down to the bathrooms. She’d had a quick shower and dried her hair before heading down to breakfast with a smile on her face. The bubbly blonde had spotted Kerr Regan and decided to accost him. She and Finn had been eyeing off potential quidditch players for the new term, and Kerr was potentially on their list. Freya had gone to sit with him to chat about whether or not he was planning on joining the team, and which positions he might be interested in if he did want to play. Freya knew he was a sporty kinda guy, but he hadn’t been on the team last year. Gryffindor had lost three of their best players after last year’s graduation and needed some spaces filled.

Freya had never really been good at keeping on topic with things though, and they’d ended up talking about different things pretty quickly. After expressing her surprise at the fact that Kerr hadn’t known that her oldest brother ran the best local bakery in Hogsmeade, the girl had impulsively invited him there for lunch. It wasn’t a date, and Freya hadn’t even considered the fact that it might seem like it from the outside… especially to a suspicious mind, like her brother’s. Freya was totally naïve. Now they were heading into Hogsmeade together. Freya was in a bubbly mood and was super chattery.

“So what’s it like to have another little rush of Regans at Hogwarts?” she asked happily. “I’ve been the only Trickett here for two years – which I think is a record, by the way – and it’s kind of surreal to be the oldest for once.” Freya tugged on a loose blonde curl, letting it bounce up to its original position before playing with it again absentmindedly. Her shoes scuffed on the ground a little as she walked. “You know, I haven’t really thought about it before, but we have more in common than I thought. Is Professor Regan your uncle or cousin? We both have relatives teaching here now. And we both have a whole bunch of little cousins starting this year.” Everyone knew the Regan name just like they knew the Trickett one. Any teacher who paid attention at all would know that they’d taught a whole bunch of people from the same families. Freya was often compared to her older siblings and cousins, and once a professor had told her she looked like her mother when Ebony was young. Which would have been about a million years ago, by Freya’s reckoning.

Kerr Regan was much cooler and more popular than Freya, but they had overlapping circles of friends and had shared both classes and a common room since their first year. It made sense that they were friendly, if not friends exactly. Well… Freya would say that Kerr was a friend, but the sunny optimist would have liked to call everyone her friend, so really that wasn’t saying much. Either way, while the sixth year girl had heard some rumours about her housemate, she could only ever see the best in people, and as far as she was concerned, Kerr was friendly and seemed nice, and that was good enough for her. The two were almost at Hogsmeade now. "So you've never been to Crust and crumbs?" she asked, turning to Kerr with her eyebrows raised.

He'd accidentally left his curtains open so as the sun rose, a big beam of it decided to land right on his face. Groaning, he tried everything but get up and close the curtains to escape the sunlight. It was only until the pillow he'd placed on his face to block the light made him sweaty that he finally got up. Rubbing his knuckles into his sternum on top of his black t-shirt, he yawned, sleepy green eyes turning to examine the outside. He was the last one in the dorm so that meant he could be comfortable. He slipped his hand to the hem of his shirt and pulled it off, tattooed chest bare for the first time since he'd gotten back to Hogwarts. He didn't have the time nor the energy to deal with the intrusive questions about his ink. It was bad enough that his uncle had stared him down that summer, but to have the nosy people in his house try to interrogate him? No. He was intensely private and he was very aware of that.

It took him nothing to get showered and dressed, and he made his way down to the Great Hall. He sat in his regular spot and made his regular breakfast meal when an irregular breakfast event occurred. A bright ball of sunshine was suddenly beside him, and he didn't even hide the fact that Freya Trickett's bubbly presence made him smile. Out of all of his yearmates, Freya was the sweetest and the prettiest. She was also nicer than any one person should be. This was definitely made evident by the way that she just asked him out to her brother's bakery. If he was a horrible person, he'd have teased her about her asking him out on a date, just to see a blush on her face. As it were, he was a semi-horrible person, so he'd just agreed to go. He liked her, he liked food...what was a better combination.

As they made their way to Hogsmeade, his hands were in his pockets, and he was turned to her to catch every word she said. A soft grin danced at his lips. "I wasn't prepared for how many would be here." And he really wasn't. Everywhere he turned there was another firstie trying to get his attention. And of course he wouldn't deny them anything, but damn they needed a lot of one on one time. As a Regan, especially as a little kid, you were surrounded by your family almost all of the time. To come to Hogwarts with a multitude of others...it was a shock. "They are all homesick and anxious, and try and find the nearest cousin to cling to. Usually it'd be one of girls...but for some reason it's 'Big Cousin Kerr'." He acted like he hated it, but he loved it.

He chuckled at the reference to 'Professor' Regan. "Which one...? No. The DADA teacher is my cousin, but everyone calls him uncle. The astronomy teacher is an unknown. Like...it wouldn't be a shock if she was related to me, but I have no idea who she is..." He shrugged, shaking his head. "Maybe she's a long lost relative who wanted to creep on the family? I don't know. Dom's here, so whatever happens, it's handled." He had so much faith in the strength of his family. His curious eyes turned towards her, and for a moment he was stricken by her pure...goldness. In the sun, she gleamed so brightly. He rubbed the back of his head roughly, trying to shake the daze off.

"No. No. I haven't. I don't much come to Hogsmeade. I never got the big deal about it. Yeah, it's a wizarding town and it's great to get out of the castle, but you're with the same people that you've just left...I floo home sometimes, or go see my gran, She misses us, and since my grandda died, she's been lonely. But..." He smiled cheerily at her. "I've admitted that I have an addiction to food, and sweets mostly. I con at least one person to bring me something back, and usually it's from the Three Broomsticks, though I've had an occasional box of sweets...that half have already been eaten." He mock scowled, using his hand on the small of her back to gently guide her around a root that was near the path that they were exiting.

"It must be rough for you too, having so many siblings at the school and in Hogsmeade...Do you ever feel overwhelmed?" He did. All the time. There were just so many of them, and sometimes he just wanted to be in a quiet place. He was more used to it than anything. His brother and sisters weren't there for him, and it wasn't like he could just man up and try and befriend them. Torr was a dick, and Nessa was stuck up. Gianna wasn't so bad, but he wasn't close to her either. It was better with his cousins, and he kind of envied Freya just able to go visit her brother and it being okay. He led her down to the stone path that began Hogsmeade and he looked around, a little puzzled.

"Where am I going...?" He smiled at her, unconscious of the fact that his hand was still on her lower back as they stood there. "Lead the way, Freya.."

This was nice.

Nodding enthusiastically at Kerr’s comment on being unprepared for the amount of little Regans who had turned up this year, Freya shot him a look that said that she understood exactly what he meant. The fact that Pixie and Váli were totally crazy might have contributed to the shock, but she didn’t mind. Freya loved her little cousins like nothing else. Family always came first. “I know what you mean,” she told him, gesturing with her hands for emphasis. The girl used her hands a lot when she spoke. “I’m worried about Jari. He’s not the youngest, but he’s the only one in Hufflepuff and the rest are with us…” Freya trailed off with a shrug. She’d already let Jari sit with them at dinner a couple of times so that he felt a little less isolated. The fact that this might encourage his dependency on her didn’t even cross her mind. “I don’t mind though. I’m the only “big” Trickett at Hogwarts, so it’s my responsibility.” She shrugged again, with an easy smile. Freya's eyes were on the ground in front of her for a moment as her shoes crunched against the rough ground, but she looked up at him again as he started speaking.

Freya’s light brown eyes grew wide at the mention of a long lost relative who wanted to creep on the family. The sixteen year old was fairly sure that she knew every – or at least almost every – Trickett branch vaguely near her. For a moment, Freya entertained the idea of a long lost Trickett relative coming back to creep on everyone… but it just felt weird. There were quite a few weirdos in her family, but the blonde was sure that any of them would be welcomed with open arms. She wondered what he meant by “handled”, but didn’t ask.

“Oh I love Hogsmeade,” Freya answered, shaking her head a little, a fond smile finding its way onto her lips. She didn’t come here every single weekend, but she loved the fact that she could. That there was a place that she could go that wasn’t in school. Kerr might be oblivious to the way that he was touching her, but Freya stiffened a little in surprise. Her male friends weren’t quite so touchy feely, even if she was. She relaxed immediately – it wasn’t bad, she just hadn’t been expecting it. The bubbly sixteen year old walked with a little bounce in her step and she listened to everything he was saying before butting in. Freya was in a great mood today, and when she was in such a mood it was often impossible for her to sit still.

“You know, at first it was really nice,” she answered honestly, nodding. “Especially after the year with the Carrows. I mean… until our fourth year I hadn’t really been apart from my family at all. I’m the youngest of seven and I have a million cousins too – you’d know all about that – and it was probably the worst timing ever for them to all graduate.” The year Severus Snape had been headmaster of the school had been hard for everyone, and Freya had basically been isolated from her family for the first time in her life. “So you can imagine how having them around the following year could be nice. It’s impossible to keep secrets in my family…” Freya frowned as she thought about this, tucking a loose strand of messy blonde hair behind her right ear. In particular, the summer after the battle had been horribly claustrophobic for the Gryffindor. Her family had watched her like a hawk. “…But I suppose I’m kind of used to the lack of privacy? It can be kind of… suffocating… sometimes. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Our family is super close.” 

The blonde shrugged. The conversation was reminding her of how news had travelled in her family after Seth had kissed her. Somehow her Uncle Lyall must have found out about it, because suddenly all of her cousins knew. The girls were giving her advice and the boys were threatening to put arrows through his neck… The lack of privacy could be irritating sometimes, for sure. Freya preferred not to think about it. She brushed her hands against the thin wool of her jumper and then ran her fingers through her messy hair.

"Oh, it's just this way, come on!" Freya's expression brightened as they arrived at Hogsmeade. There wasn't far to go now until the bakery. The blonde tugged at his arm, her pace quickening as she followed the stony path. The smile didn't drop from her face as she started humming a tune - a Rupert Hartwood song - glancing over at him to make sure he looked like he was having fun.