Nom Nom Nom

Casey was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, for no particular reason, as she was eating breakfast. She grabbed a plate of eggs, dishing those out and digging in. When she was done, she grabbed toast and looked around as she was munching on it. She spotted a girl a little farther down the table and slid down, taking her toast with her. "Hi," she said, smiling. "I'm Casey, what's your name?"

Robin was innocently munching on some toast when an older Gryffindor girl spotted her and greeted her.

"I'm Casey, what's your name?"

Robin smiled timidly at the girl, "Hello, I'm Robin," she stated quietly, "Robin Potter."

She shook her land lightly.

Casey smiled. "Well hi Robin! What year are you? You look a little bit younger than me and I'm a fourth year. So are you third?" She smiled. The girl was shy. That was ok, Casey was pretty easy to talk to. "Do you have any siblings here? I thought I heard of another Potter. In fact, I think I saw him the other day..." with that monster Blaine. But at least I stepped in.

"Oh yeah, I'm a third year," she nodded shyly; but when she mentioned her brother, she went on full alert. "You saw my little brother, Sam? Did he get into trouble? Did he make any trouble?"

Some people might ask how she went from really shy to fully alerted. This was because her brother was a werewolf who had a knack for a smart mouth and getting into trouble. Especially when in danger.

I really hope nothing happened to him, she thought to herself worriedly, biting her lip.

Casey shook her head. She thought it was cute how quickly the girl jumped in to make sure he brother was ok, though she would do the same for Lyssa and had done before. "Not really. He wasn't doing anything. This older student, Blaine Thomas, was being annoying and being prejudiced against first years and all that stuff. I stepped in because I can't stand Blaine. Also, he's... Dangerous. He's the worst kind of monster, only human by the loosest definition possible. Next time you see Sam, tell him to stay away, although if he hadn't figured that out for himself by now, he's really dense." She smiled reassuringly. "I'll look out for him though, when I can."

Robin smiled appreciatively at the older girl, "thank you so much," she said gratefully, "for looking out for him. My brother's really dense, but not dense enough to still go against that Blaine guy... But I can ask, why's Blaine a monster? I mean, is it that he's some sort of vampire, or some other evil creature?" She carefully avoided using the word 'werewolf'. She didn't know if Casey noticed.

"I'm still really grateful anyway, and I'll slap my brother upside the head the next time I see him," she assured her.

Casey smiled. "Any time. I don't like bullies." She shook her head. "No, he's not a creature. I don't have anything against creatures," she added hastily, noticing Robin's hesitancy in bringing them up. Perhaps the girl was one, but she would pry. "My boyfriend's half Veela after all and I'm friends witha half vampire. No, Blaine's a human, by definition. He just really enjoys other people's pain and likes causing people pain. He toys with them. It's disgusting." She shuddered.

Casey smiled. "Like I said, I just can't stand bullies." She laughed. "You don't have to go that far."

"He toys with people?" She repeated incredulously, "he's a Gryffindor? My parents always taught me that Gryffindors were the brave, courageous and the awesome, Ravenclaws were the smart-ass know-it-all's, Hufflepuffs were the nice ones, and Slytherins were the ambitious ones - that aren't evil anymore!" She exclaimed, "But never once have they said Gryffindors can also be psycho... no offense, I wasn't meaning you."

She registered something else she said and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "A boyfriend, half-veela too? Aww! Who is he?" She squealed.

She looked around, looking for a person who might've been staring at her, but she only found McQueen's blond hair. She blushed slightly and looked away, turning to Casey once again.

Casey rolled her eyes. "I personally think the Sorting Hat was on drugs when it put him in Gryffindor. He should have been in Slytherin. Although I don't know what he was like when he was younger- he might have been nice," she said doubtfully. "Most Gryffindors are psycho in a good way. Like dancing-on-the-middle-of-the-Great-Hall-for-no-reason psycho." She smiled. "That's me."

Casey winked. "Yep. He's the best. His name is Liam Aston, but he's not here right now. I think he's got trouble at home with his family, he had to take off school for a while. Who do you like?"

In a second, the Gryffindor girl got her answer. Robin turned to look at a Slytherin boy and turned back away, blushing. Casey glanced between them with raised eyebrows and a smile. "McQueen? You like Timothy McQueen, don't you?" She laughed. "You do! Just look at that blush!"

Robin chuckled at her comment. "Yeah, but that's technically not psycho, that's crazy, in a good way," she added for good measure.

"Liam Ashton? I don't believe I know him, sorry," she frowned, stroking her non-existent beard in thoughtfulness.

"McQueen? Me? Like him? Are you mad? No way!" She exclaimed, her cheeks flaming, "McQueen's an arrogant jerk who likes to pry and find out about what his business isn't. And he likes to take advantage of what he's got!"

But you think it's hot... a small, sly voice inside her head told her. If that voice had a face - it'd be grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Shut up, she told the voice sternly.

"And will ya keep it down? He might hear you!" she whisper-screamed.

Casey laughed. "Finally, someone else who gets it besides me and my sister. We don't think it's weird at all. Just a day in the life." She smiled. "Then again, we frequently walk around with strangely colored hair or clothes because a) a prank went wrong or b) a prank went right." She grinned impishly.

Casey nodded. "He's been gone for a while, I would really expect you to know him." She frowned. "I really miss him."

"Deniiiiaaaal!!!!" Casey sang out. "Denial, denial! I can tell you do, you like him so much it's amazing!" What she didn't tell Robin is that she could sense Robin's emotions right now because of her empath abilities.

Casey grinned. "You like Timothy McQueen," she sang softly, so no one else could hear her.

"A prank going right?" She snorted, "who'd wanna prank someone as nice as you?" She smiled at her, glad to have her as a friend.

"I am not in denial!!" She exclaimed, turning redder by the moment, "I just don't like him that way - or any way! He's a jerk!"

She had this feeling Casey knew what she was thinking - but that was preposterous, wasn't it? Simply insane! Then again...

"I don't like him..." she whined, taking on a childish tone, "not at all! And he likes that other Hufflepuff in 5th year - Florence something - not that I'm stalking him or anything," she added quickly - honestly, actually, because he mentioned it once the last time they spoke.

Casey smiled widely. "Lyssa, my sister. We get each other all the time. Or, well, we did." She frowned. "Long, complicated story short, she's adopted and she went to go look for her birth father. So she's not going here right now either." She smiled, glad Robin seemed to have accepted her quickly.

Casey laughed. "You are though! The shade of your face is remarkably close to this apple." She picked it up and held it next to Robin's face, making a show of comparing the two. "Yep, pretty dang similar."

Casey registered her sudden confusion and wariness and could guess that she'd said too much, gotten the Hufflepuff girl suspicious of how much she knew. She'd have to dial it back, or at least give a legitimate reason to know. Although the blush would have been clue enough for anyone.

Casey raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Oh yeah, that's not stalkerish at all Robin. And I'm sorry he likes someone else. But we might be able to fix that." She winked.

"Well, I hope you two can still gt along, even after she finds her birth father," she told her, putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

Robin blushed an even darker shade of red when she indeed did look remarkably the colour of the apple. She waved it off, embarrassed at how she was reacting - especially for that stupid McQueen.

"I'm not stalking him!" she exclaimed, her voice getting an octave higher, "Honestly! He told me he liked that girl... I mean, who wouldn't like her? She smart, she pretty... and that's about what everyone looks in a person." She looked down at her half-eaten plate of breakfast.

Casey nodded. "Oh yeah, I know we will. We're like twins, no matter who our birth parents are and we've always both known she was adopted. It wasn't like our parents kept it a secret. I just wish she had let me help her, although she understandably wanted to do this on her own." And also she was, you know, venturing deep into Mafia territory, risking life and limb on a piece of information that may no longer be true. But it's whatevs.

Casey grinned at Robin. "You're funny when you're embarrassed," she stated. "And he should definitely be open to options because you're pretty and smart, so I don't understand the difference." She saw Robin look down and put her hand out on top of the Hufflepuff girl's. "Hey," she said soothingly. "It'll work out. I'm a firm believer in that. You'll get who's right for you, whether it's McQueen or not."

Robin smiled softly at her words, even though she knew that Casey was hiding something, she just let it go. "Well, I wish the best of luck to you both."

At Casey's statement, Robin just turned about 30 shades darker. She looked down at herself. "I'm not pretty..." she told her, "I'm just average. Nothing special." She didn't deny that she was smart for one reason and one reason only: she knew she was smart - even if she didn't want to admit it.

"I hope whatever 'works out' for me isn't with McQueen," she had to add lightly, even though her heart was screaming at her to stop denying what she really felt.

She was amused when she pictured her heart and brain arguing. She expected it to go something like this:

BRAIN! STOP DENYING THAT ROBIN LIKES TIMOTHY, AND START EMBRACING IT! The heart would yell at her brain.

But Brain would have her arms crossed and would say, I won't start embracing it because we both know McQueen would hurt her, and that eventually, that Hufflepuff prefect would get together with him!

Heart would look upset, Don't say that! It's not true!

Brain would shake her... head... angrily, [i]Face the facts; it's just McQueen's nature to do something like that, and fate is cruel and doesn't like us, past experiences showed this,[i] Brain would say this in a monotone voice, and heart would have tears streaming down her face.

Suddenly that image wasn't so amusing anymore, and Robin frowned, shaking her head to rid it from the image.

Casey smiled. "Thanks, that means a lot." She could tell that Robin knew she wasn't saying everything and it made her feel a little bad, but she wasn't going into all the gory details of it because she didn't need to worry anyone else the way Quinn was already worried for them both.

Casey shook her head. "You are pretty, even if you don't see it. Everyone has something beautiful about them and you do too Robin. Just believe me," she said, smiling.

Casey raised an eyebrow. "If you say so." She watched Robin zone out a little, she shake her head, coming back to reality with a frown. She was sad now. "Hey, are you ok?" Casey asked.

"Huh?" Robin asked distractedly, "Yeah, I'm okay. I was just imagining my brain and heart argue, but then my brain won. Stupid logic." She didn't think her phrase came out the way she wanted it to, so she added quickly, "I mean, I know that I can't just deny not liking McQueen anymore, but I know that he'll break my heart, so I just imagined my heart and my brain arguing about what to do, and my brain won." She shrugged indifferently, even though she felt sad.

She imagined her brain with arms and legs and eyes again, then she imagined her heart with the same additional features, only in her mind, her heart was kind of stout and looked up at the tall brain. She thought that it was metaphorically how her body worked. Her heart would listen to her brain, even if she thought it was a bad idea.

Stupid Brain, she thought again.

Casey smiled a little at the image, though she straightened her face because Robin was obviously distraught. "Well I'm sorry. Logic sucks sometimes. But you do know, deep down, that you are avoiding a ton of heartache. If you need it, I'll sneak into the Hufflepuff dorms with a tub of ice cream from the Kitchens and we can sit on your bed and eat it all in one go." She smiled. "Sorry, I watched this Muggle movie once... It's supposed to make you feel better when a boy's being stupid, or something like that."

Casey's fingers itched and she almost wanted to control Robin's emotions, make her happy again. But it would be fake. The emotion would be real in and of itself, but it wouldn't Robin's and it wouldn't be natural. It would be very wrong for her to do it, even if she had good intentions. The only time she really used it was to calm someone down when they were crying, and that was usually Danni.

Robin smiled at the obviously caring Huffleppuff, and couldn't help it; she just had to hug Casey. "Thanks for caring," she mumbled when she finally let go of her, "And I'm not much for Ice-cream, but if you bring up various chocolates you'll be the best person I've ever met," She looked her in the eye and said so seriously, but there was an amused glint in her eye that showed she was happy.

"What's a movie?" Robin asked in confusion, "I'm a half-blood, but I'm not good at naming any muggle thing. Is it like a photograph that speaks?"

Casey smiled as Robin hugged her, hugging back. She was a very touchy-feely person hand had actually wanted to hug Robin, but wasn't sure how the Hufflepuff would react to it. "Anytime," she replied, smiling. "Ask any of my other friends, they'll tell you that I will mother-hen anyone who's even slightly upset. It will probably get annoying." She grinned. "Chocolate, got it. I'll be there with chocolate if you ever need it."

Casey nodded. "Yeah, it's like one of the portraits here, only it's only a certain legnth of time and the people say the same thing every time you watch it. My sister and I went to see one once, that's where I got the ice cream thing. I'm a purebloode, so I didn't really understand everything either." She shrugged. "Muggles are so weird."

She smiled at Casey, "Anyone would be lucky to be your friend, you know," She told her honestly, and she gave a small giggle at her comment, "Right. Note to self, next time I get a broken heart, just call Casey," She said jokingly, but had actually been only half-joking.

When Casey told her about movies, she resembled a six year old kid who just had a crap-ton of candy for breakfast. "Oh, now I remember!" She exclaimed, "I remember I watched this movie with my brother, and it was like... like I was in the movie, which was so cool! I remember there were lots of explosions and really cool stuff." Her eyes lit up in glee, remembering the movie she watched. "I've gotta go there again this summer."

Casey smiled and shook her head. "I'm not a saint you know, I have my flaws. And my secrets." Her smile faded a little. Should she tell Robin her secret? She knew the girl had a right to know and other people didn't care and often didn't remember about her ability. She ran her hand absently up and down the thin scar on her left arm. She glanced around and checked there was no one listening and leaned closer. "Um, I'm kind of an Empath. I know what you're feeling and I can control it if I want to." She sat back again, blushing. "It'll be ok if you don't want to talk to me anymore or don't trust me or whatever."

Casey grinned. Her eyes lit up. "Explosions? Yours had explosions? Man, Lyss dragged us to one with a lot of feelings and girly talk! I want to go to one with explosions! Take me with you next summer!"

"An empath? That's so cool!" Robin exclaimed in glee, contrary to what Casey had assumed she would feel, she actually felt happy, and touched that Casey would tell her such a secret, "Of course I trust you! And I won't stop talking to you just because you can read and control emotions."

Robin grinned at her, "Oh, of course I'll take you! I'm sure there's gonna be at least one movie with explosions and grenades and stuff in it! Besides, there's almost always one."

Inside, Robin was really happy. She had made a friend who trusted her enough to even tell her a secret! A friend who liked her enough to want to meet her in the summer! Such simple words gave such an amazing meaning...

Casey sighed in relief. "Thanks. Not everyone likes it you know. That's how I got this." She rand her finger up the scar on her arm again. "And this one." She touched a small scar on her forehead. She shrugged. "The people in my American school didn't really like me," she said simply. She was happy that she was beginning to get over it.

Casey smiled. "Awesome. This will be so much fun! We might just have to drag Samuel along. He seems like a person I want to get to know. He has spunk. But then we can do something else, just us girls. I needto learn more about Muggles anyway."