Chits and Chats (Char and Air)

Almost running into the common room Charlotte searched the empty place for Air, to see if he was doing his usual trick of hiding in the shadows. Sighing when he was nowhere to be found she curled up in front of the fire and yawned sleepily the day had really taken its toll on her.

She had gotten on well in most of her lessons but she was still drained, she hadn't had much chance to recoup her energy after what had happened this summer and she hoped that Air wouldn't be able to tell. She knew however just how perceptie he was and banished this thought from her mind, Charlotte however couldn't tell him the truth, for, it was not her story to share.

Curling up tighter into a little ball, Charlotte rested her chin on her knees and closed her eyes, trying to distract herself from the memories that kept flooding through her mind.

Aireon jumped down from hanging onto the roof and landed silently on the floor. He composed himself and made it look like he had just entered. Char was sleeping peacefully on the couch. She must've had an interesting summer. He reached out and stroked her cheek in a caring way.

He didn't want to wake her up, nor did he want to startle her. He walked over to a stuufy, leather chair by her couch and sat down. He decided to let her wake up on her own time.

Aireon had also had an interesting summer. He had moved to Rome for a month to practice his parkour. He got pretty good and couldn't help but to have that kind of fun on Hogwarts. Thenkfully, he kept quiet about it.

The fire in the hearth began to die down, so he walked over and stoked it to keep in going. He also got a blanket and placed it over Char's sleeping form.

As soon as she felt something being draped over her Charlotte whipped her head up from her lap, her red eyes flaring dangerously but she relaxed and smiled when she saw who it was, she had missed Air over the summer dispite it being her busiest one yet.

"Air!"

Charlotte grinned and jumped up from her seat moving towards him and wrapping her arms around him in a large hug resting her head in the crook of his neck.

"Are you alright?"

She asked, concerned after what had happened in Transfiguration.

"I will be. It's just that the kitten dying brought back some...repressed memories," Aireon finished with a heavy sigh. Those same memories flashed before him.

"If you want, I'll tell you the story. But I must warn you, they're not the happiest." He had already shared a basic summary of it to a fellow Slytherin, but he barely knew her.

It's about time Charlotte knew as well.

Charlotte cocked her head to one side when Air talked about memories that he had been hiding, biting her lip she took a seat next to him and leant her head on his arm in a comforting way, she slinked a hand around his own and squeezed it for reassurance.

"I would like to hear this story, don't worry I'm good with depressed stories, I have a few of my own so...if it will help you...please do tell me."

With kindliness reflected in her large red eyes Charlotte squeezed his hand again.

Aireon sighed deeply.

"Okay. Here it goes,"

(OOC: this is the story. just pretend that I'm telling it.)

Aireon walked calmly through the halls of the fortress. His footsteps echoed throughout the empty halls. Such was his regular nightly walk around the Lumino Shadeon, the headquarters of the White Shadows. However, something seemed off about tonight's walk. The very air around him seemed to tremble as if it knew that something bad was about to happen.

Aireon shrugged it off. He was trained to always be on guard. Perhaps his senses were on overdrive tonight. Suddenly, he whipped around and pulled out his sword. The point came within a hairlength away from a black-robed figure. The hood was drawn up, and the figure seeemed to have no face. It wore steel battle gloves and had a sword clipped to it's belt.

Aireon knew at once that he wasn't alone. It was an attack. The figure drew it's sword, and soon, the halls were filled with the clash of the daimond blade of Aireon's sword, and the steel of the intruder's sword. Aireon parried and countered with such a grace, that one might mistake him dancing. Soon, the diamond blade was plunged into the attacker's face. The figure let out an earpiercing shriek before it fell.

Aireon ran throughout the halls and soon faced what appeared to be a mass of shadow which he knew was really more of the intruders. More of his fellow members joined him, and then, it was like the light versus the shadows. At first, it seemed that the light was winning, but the shadows soon gained the upper hand. Aireon's comrades fell one by one. Soon, he was surrounded. But he stood firm. The blades of steel descended as one. With a great leap, he escaped the fierce circle and stood on a beam of the roof.

"Dragon's flame!" Aireon shouted. His plam channeled magic into the diamond blade, and all the intruders burned to ash. He jumped down and looked at all the bodies of his friends. The sight was horrible. Blood stained the marble floor. The air stank with death and fire. And Aireon, well, Aireon survived. But he was alone. No one in his brethren was left. So he became the White Shadow.

When Aireon finished tears were flowing freely from his face. "Now you see why seeing my failure in transfiguration hurt me so bad. I'm sorry that you found out about this, but you had to know the backstory. If you want nothing to do with me, then I'll accept that," he said.

Listening to the story intently Charlotte thought that it sounded like a very opening scene to an action novel but she didn't want to seem insensitive. She bit her lip and leant forward into his chest as she spoke and when Air began to cry Charlotte hugged him close and stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"Air, you are one of my best friends i would never ask you to go or want you to..."

Hugging him again and stroking his back with a soft hand.

"I understand now...Professor Romain is a good man no doubt he will apologise tonight."

Aireon relished the warmth from the hug Charlotte gave him. The tears began to fade, and the memories went back to the darkest corners of his mind.

"Thank you, Char. I really appreciate you being here for me," he said in an endearing tone. "You see, when I first told some one that, the next day, I was back to being alone."

"I already forgave Professor Romain. It is all in the past, but still, I'm going to be a little cautious around him for the next few days," he commented.

A large friendly smile broke out on Charlotte's lips and she continued to hug Air close to her, was there not one person who hadn't had some horrible experiance in their upbringing?

"Of course I'm here for you Air, we're friends, that's what friends do...obviously whoever else you told isn't really your friend..."

Tightening her arms around him Charlotte lay her head on his chest.

"You will never be alone as long as I'm here."

Aireon sniffled. He felt kinda silly for crying in front of some one, but Charlotte was his friend, so he had nothing to worry about.

"Thanks, I needed to let that out. And thanks for being my friend," he replied. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. The tension through out his whole body vanished.

"How was your summer?" he asked. He felt in need for a change of topic.

Stopping huggng Air so tightly Charlotte moved to sit next to him on the sofa and she smiled gently at him, hoping that now he had told her they could be more relaxed around each other.

"My summer?"

Charlotte jarred, there were good points and bad points about it.
There was the trip to China with Cobie...but then there was the whole incident with Dark that kind of marred it a little bit.

"It was a mixed bag, I went to China finally! With my new dad! I got adopted!"

Pulling out a picture of her and Cobalt Smith on the wall of China she showed it to Air.

"Professor Smith adopted me."

"I'm happy for you. He's a great professor, and I have no doubt he's a great father as well," Aireon congratulated Char.

"I went to Rome for...um...about two weeks. I learned parkour there. It's where you run up walls, jump rooftops, things like that." He purposefully left out why because the importance of his visit.

"I have some photos if you want to see them," he offered.

Charlotte's smile only grew when Air congratulated her on her new adoption, she really was so happy about it because it meant that someone loved her enough to help her and reach out into her lonliness outside of school to be with her.

"Wow Air! That sounds really interesting..."

She was a little in awe of the things that Air could do already, despite only being 12 but she really hoped that she could be like him one day.

"I'd love to see some."

Charlotte placed her own away in her blazer pocket close to her heart.

When Aireon saw the way Charlotte brightened even more, he felt like the dark past was fading to the bright future. He always had a caring heart, and to make some one smile like that made him feel content.

He reached into his bag and drew out a photo album. He showed Charlotte the pictures of the Colusseum in it's ruined glory, the hills of the rugged countryside, and the many other ruins from the Roman Era.

"I hope you like them. It's the least I could do for my first real friend," he said after he closed the book.

As Air drew out the photo album Charlotte looked at all of the pictures with him, she never knew the beauty of the place until these photo's were shown to her and now that she knew just how amazing the place was, she would have to make a visit there.

"It's so beautiful there..."

Already in her mind she had begun wondering about what she was going to paint when she visited.

"I'm already thinking about what I'm going to paint! It'll be such fun to go there, maybe, maybe you'd like to come with me?"

Aireon was taken aback by the request. No one had ever invited him anywhere, but he was grateful none the less.

"I don't have any plans. Of course, I'd like to come. It'll be alot more fun with company," he replied. He could already picture Charlotte painting the beautiful scenery.

"How's Arsen?" he asked. He was extremely curious about his friend.

Charlotte smiled happily and began to hop around the common room very excited and happy at the prospect of going on holiday with her best friend, for that's what Air was, her best friend. Grinning she hugged him tight then continued her boucing.

"Its going to be great!"

Her happiness only increased when she thought of Arsen and the great times that they had shared recently.

"Oh he's just fine! Don't worry about him."

Aireon smiled at Char. This was going to be a fun summer. Just then, a thought popped into his head.

"Hey Char, How's your sword-fighting coming?" he asked. "Remember the sword I gave you when we first talked. I picked up a few techniques during the summer to add something special to the fight. I thought you might like to learn,"

Charlotte nodded her head, she of course still had the sword it was upstairs in her room, with a smile sent in Air's direction she bid him to wait for her as she sprung up from her seat and dashed upstairs to get it from her trunk. As soon as she had gotten it Charlotte ran back to Air and held the sword firmly in her hand.

"I have not had much chance to practice recently...things have been a little hectic around here."

Smiling again she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I however would love to learn these new techniques."

"Well then, shall we?" Aireon asked as he unsheathed his sword. The light refracted from the diamond blade.

"Now, to cast a spell with the sword, you must release all tension in your body, and you should release your magic. By that, I mean to not hold it in. Let it flow like water," he instructed gently.

"Once that is done, imagine what your want to accomplish. The more powerful spell require something to be said." Saying so, he pointed the the blade at the fireplace. A medium sized fire erupted inside. The diamond blade seemed to have a fire inside it. It swirled around inside like a mist before it faded.

Charlotte listened to Air as he spoke and made sure to note down everything that he said in her head, biting her lip she unsheathed her sword and did the same thing that Air had done only this time pointing it at the fire with the intention of putting it out instead of creating it. Focusing on letting her magic flow through it she tried to stop the fire but nothing happened.

"Hmmmm..."

She muttered and she closed her eyes imagining her magic flowing like water throughout her body and into the sword, out through the tip and to the fire.

"Lets go!"

Charlotte smiled and imagined putting the fire out, and it worked this time but it only dimmed not went out completely.

"Awwww."

She pouted.

Aireon watched as Char tried to extinguish the fire. He saw the blade as it seemed to shimmer the light like water. When the fire didn't extinguish, he decided to brighten her spirits.

"Well done, Char. You've successfully casted your first swordspell. Don't worry about the fire not going out. I kinda thought that would happen. You need to learn to will the power into the spell," he said. He hugged Char warmly. She'd done excellent for a beginner.

"Now, you practice in private, on your own. Don't worry, you'll do fine. And the best part is that sword magic doesn't drain your core. Be sure to start out with the four elements fire, water, air, and earth. They're the simplest. Once you've done that, I'll show you some more," he instructed. "For now, let's talk some more," he offered.

Charlotte smiled at Air and returned the hug that he gave her with the same warmth, she really did like spending time with her friend and she missed him while he was away, she thought that maybe in the future he would make an excellent Professor because she had learnt so well from him.

"Really? I didn't suck too bad?"

Grinning she hugged Air again before running back up to her dorm to put her sword back in her trunk away from prying eyes, returning she sat down on the couch.

"I will Professor."

Charlotte teased.

"Do you think...that they make converse shoes for owls?"