Finn sat in a quiet coffee shop near the edge of Hogsmeade. People rarely ventured into this nook of Hogsmeade. This was fine with Finn. He liked the quiet. Some muggle jazz was playing in the background. The ambiance of the place fit Finn's mood. It was relaxed. The snow had subsided for the day, making the trek to Hogsmeade rather pleasant and beautiful. He set his satchel down at a small booth and walked up to the counter. He ordered a vanilla latte and a basket of scones. He gave the barista a few extra sickles and instructed her that it was to pay for Casey's drink. He awaited the arrival of Casey.

Casey wandered through the streets of Hogsmeade, the snow had let up and it was a wonderful day. She didn't want to take too long to get to the coffee shop, but it was such a wonderful day for a walk. Finally she arrived at the coffee shop, he cheeks and nose red from the cold. She spotted Finn immediately and walked over to him. "Hey Finn! It's so nice outside isn't it?" She said as she slipped off her jacket, scarf and hat. She ran a hand through her long copper hair, trying to get it to fall into place. "I'm gonna go get my drink." And with that she went over to the counter, ordering a white mocha. She was quite surprised though to find that her drink had already been paid for. When she came back over to Finn, she asked, "Did you pay for my drink?"

"It's good so see you Casey," Finn replied, "I've been looking forward to this all week." He watched her go up to the counter and saw the shock in her face when she found out that her drink was paid for. He was surprised that more of her drinks weren't paid for. She was pretty. If he were her, he wouldn't have paid for a drink in his life. "Yeah, it was me, it's okay... It wasn't some creepy person... Like Harshing or whatever..." Finn laughed on the inside. Harshing was the definition of creepy. And now, he was headmaster again... He wondered what Milo would do with these new developments... He knew that he couldn't screw around while harshing was headmaster. He wasn't afraid to use unforgivibles... Finn knew this from personal experience.

Casey smiled and slumped down into a seat. "Thanks. Glad it wasn't some creepy guy then." She shuddered at the thought of Harshing buying her a drink. That would just be.... creepy. She laughed, "That would be so wrong." She held the hot drink in both hands, trying to warm them up after the walk through Hogsmeade. She should've brought gloves. "I was looking forward to this all week too." She took a sip from her drink, just a small one, in case it was still extremely hot.

He grinned, "Things could always be worse..." Finn cautiously sipped his drink too. This shop made the best hot coffee... He always ended up burning his mouth. Just when he though it was cool enough, he took a larger drink, burning the inside of his mouth. He quickly poured himself and Casey a glass of ice water and downed it. "Warmer than I expected, "He said, hiding well the fact that his mouth was in excruciating pain.

"True enough." Casey smiled, "Things couuld akwats be a whole lot worse." She shrugged, taking another cautious sip from her drink. "THis is one of the best coffees I've had in a long time." She watched as Finn took a rather large sip, he must of burned his mouth, and she laughed softly as he gulped down the glass of water. "Still hot?" She took a sip from her glass though, she'd burned her tongue too, even though she'd been rather cautious.

Finn replied, "Just a bit... I hate it when I burn my tongue..." He set down his drink and took the lid off to let it cool for a while. He had another drink of ice water. "I'm so happy it's the weekend," he stated. The usually busy coffee shop was empty. "I don't think I could have stood another day of school... This year has been so hectic..."

"I do too. It hurts! And makes your tongue feel all weird" Casey laughed, testing her drink again. It was cooling, but still too hot to really drink. "I am too. School just sucks this year. But I still love Hogwarts anyways." Hogwarts was the best place Casey had ever been, it was her home and she loved it here. Even though school sucked, Hogwarts was a pretty awesome place to be.

Finn nodded, "School sucks this year... with Harshing back at the helm... I can only imagine it's going to get worse... He's a coward who will do anything for power... He only cares about doing what's best for him and what will save his hide... I hate people like that... He needs to make up his mind about what he believes... I'm mad that Scone won't be headmaster any longer..." He trailed off not wanting Casey to know that Scone was his brother, "I wonder if he will stay on as potions teacher or if he will go back to his days as an auror..."

Casey frowned slightly. " I can't believe he's back as headmaster. This school is gonna end up in the dumps if things don't get sorted out soon. I hope everything doesn't get too much worse. At least you'll be out soon." She hadn't really known Professor Scone all that well, she'd made a habit of avoiding teachers and headmasters at all possibly costs. It was just something that went along with being shy.

"Apparently, he's the only one experienced enough..." Finn laughed... "A monkey could do better than him... Hogwarts' progress as an accomplished school will move at the blinding speed of a beached whale with him as headmaster... If he's around for very long, I think there will be a coup..." Finn cautiously sipped his drink. It was just right now.

Casey shook her head. "Sooner or later things will change. Something good has gotta happen soon. If the kids hate Harshing, then the parents are bound to start doing something if no one else gets around to do something." She took a small sip from her coffe, still a little cautious. It was just cool enough for her drink. She took a large sip, enjoying the warmth.

"That's the thing, Harshing has influence with the courts... He can get anything he wants done. That's why nobody ever spoke out against him before. They didn't want to be sent to Azkaban... You have to figure that he's threating and intimidating people again... That's the only reason he's 'qualified' to be the headmaster." Finn's voice was filled with contempt. He hated the idea of harshing in charge but it seemed to be the future.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see how things play out. He can't manipulate evryone for forever. At some point someone will have to courage to stand up to him." Casey stated surely. She had always believed that everything would always work out in the end. She had to, because if she didn't hope for things than she had no reason to keep on going. Hoping and believing in the best was something that she could always do, no matter what the situation was.

Finn replied, "I don't know that that bodes well for us, but I hope all goes well. Scone?" He asked buttering one for himself, or her if she wanted one. Finn felt an attraction to her, one like he hadn't felt in ages. Not since Faith. Her memory was so painful for him, but he needed to deal with it. Casey was right. He needed to get out of his recent funk. He needed to deal with his past to move forward. He took another drink of his latte.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see" THat was the worst part. Waiting. She nodded. "Yes please." She took another sip of her mocha, enjoying the peace of the coffe shop. There weren't many places around Hogwarts as peaceful as this. Casey smiled, she realized that she might have a crush on Finn. Maybe even something more than that. Whatever it was, she really liked him.

Finn passed her the scone on a small plate and buttered another one for himself. "I hate waiting... I'm not a very patient person... Maybe you've realized that already..." He took a small bite of scone, realizing that it too may have been hot. It was warm and delicious. Scones were an acquired taste he thought... He had always wanted them to be sweet when he was younger. They still were bitter, but he enjoyed them with coffee.

"I'm not either. Waiting is always the worst." Casey said, taking the plate from Finn. "Thank you." She took a small bite from the scone, It was delicious. She'd always hated scones, up until a couple of years ago. She used to think them so bitter, she'd had quite a sweet tooth as a little kid. Now she loved them, especially with a nice cup of coffee, or even tea on the occasion. "These are really good." She said, having already eaten about half of hers.

Finn grinned, "Hungry much?" He asked jokingly. He looked down at his and he had eaten the same amount. "I guess I am..." He laughed this time, "The strange thing is that no students ever eat here. The make the best drinks, and good pastries, yet nobody goes this far into hogsmeade... I'll never understand it." This little coffee shop, next to Finn's house, had always been his favorite place in Hogsmeade.

Casey laughed and nodded. "I'm always hungry. Besides, I didn't get my midnight snack last night, so I'm making up for it" she said, half jokingly. "I've never been here before. Usually I just go into the places that I already know, like Honeydukes or The Three Broomsticks. But I guess, now that I know it's here I'll probably come her quite it often. It's a really nice place." She said taking another glance around the place.

Finn smiled at the midnight snack comment. It was of course how they met. "Me either," he laughed, Finn hated the mainstream places of Hogsmeade. "I like hogsmeade because I want to get away from the people that I go to school with... As awful as that sounds it's true. I go to hogsmeade to relax, rather than to be stressed out..." He took another nibble on his scone and another sip of coffee.

"I can understand that. Usually when I want to get away from people, I climb a tree and just sit there with a book a book or something until I get bored. Thate sounds weird, doesn't it?" Casey laughed. She'd been climbing trees since she was a little kid, it was the easiest way for her to get away from people. It was like her little hiding spot. "Hogsmeade is probably smarter and easier to do now that I think about it."

Finn had never been good at climbing trees. He would always fall out of them and hurt himself... "I don't really like climbing trees," He said taking another sip of his coffee, "I've hurt my self too many times doing that... I guess I'm better suited for coffee shops..."

Casey laughed, "I guess growing up around trees has it's benefits." She finished off her scone, taking another sip of her mocha. "Falling out of trees does have a tendancy to hurt though. I've lost count on how many times I've done that." She paused, thinking that she was possibly rambling and even sounding a little weird. How many girls loved to climb trees and didn't mind falling out of them? It just sounded weird.

Finn gave her a confused look. How did they ever get started on that strange tangent... "Anyways... I think this is the best kept secret in Hogsmeade... I'd like to keep it that way if you know what I mean..." He looked at her, "I think you do..."

Casey smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. You're secret is safe with me. How did you come across this place anyways?" She asked curiously. It seemed kind of strange that he wanted to keep this place a secret, but she kind of understood too. It was his place. In any cas she was glad to stop rambling about trees.

"My mum use to own a small cottage back here... It used to be our summer home... Then she gave it to me for my 17th birthday... It was supposed to be a... erm.. Wedding present..." The words were out of his mouth before he knew it. "I just... I was going to get married next summer, but she ran away..." He trailed off, fighting off tears, "I don't go there much... it's rather painful for me..." He sipped the remains of his latte, and stopped talking.

Casey paused, confused. Did he really say wedding present? It took a second to sink in. But when she heard the rest of Finn's story she felt kind of bad for him. "Oh gosh. I'm so sorry." That wasn't something that you heard every day. "I can imagine it is." she imagined that that must of been awful for Finn, engaged to this girl, and then all sudden just leaves. If she had gone through anything like she probably would've given up on love and anything to do with it.

"But I digress... What's your story?" He really wanted to get off the topic of himself. He thought she already knew enough... He looked down in his cup and saw that his coffee was gone. It seemed that he had just started it.

"My story?" Casey asked with a soft sigh. She wasn't used to telling her story, in fact she usually avoided it. She hated looking at the pity on peoples faces when she told them. It wasn't like her life was terrible or anything, it just wasn't normal. "Well.... I live with my dad. My mum died when she had me. Me and my dad aren't very close, we kind of avoid each other really. I think he's scared to get close to me in case something happens to me as well. He's a bit of an alcoholic too. So I grew up with my dad, and when I discovered that I belonged to Hogwarts my life turned upside down. There's the short story"

Finn was shocked she was being so forward with him. He hadn't been nearly as forward as she was. "I'm sorry," Finn said, "I never knew my father. He left my mother pregnant and alone. I'm lucky to have my stepfather... He's a muggle dentist... We are lucky to have him..." Finn said, repeating himself. "My mum is going to have another baby in the spring... It's going to be a little boy... I'm going to have a little brother..." Finn was elated. He had a little sister, but he couldn't do boy stuff with her.

Casey shrugged it off, "I don't mind really, things could be a whole worse." That was true enough. but things could be so much better, sometimes she really wished that her mum was still alive. She was rather proud, albeit surprised, with herself though. She had never been quite so honest, nor forward, with anyone before. She kind of liked the feeling it gave her, almost as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She smiled, "Aw, well I'm glad you're mum's found someone. Do they have a name picked out for your brother yet?"

Finn smiled, "Me too," he said, "About the name... She won't tell me..." Finn said, somewhat dejected, "I'm sure she has a name picked out. She didn't want to tell me the sex either... It just slipped out..." He paused, "I guess my mom is one of those pregnant women who likes to keep secrets or something...

Casey laughed, "There's nothing wrong with keeping secrets. I bet she probably has a really good reason for not telling you the name. Or maybe she just wants even to be surprised" she shrugged and finished the rest of her mocha, which was, by the way, very good.

"It's just a bit annoying..." Finn said, finishing his coffee as well, "I don't understand why everything has to be a huge secret all the time though... I guess it's always been that way with my mother..." Finn yawned, the days were still short. It was around three in the afternoon and it was already getting dark.

Casey yawned merely because Finn yawned. "I'm sorry." She said, not quite sure how to respond to that. She could offer any advice for any other topic, but family advice was her weakest area, considering the fact that she'd never really experienced a real family moment.

"It's getting late," Finn said, running out of things to say, "We should get back to school before it gets dark outside... It was really nice having coffee with you..." He paused for a second, "Maybe you'd like to have dinner sometime?"

Casey glanced outside as he said that, surprised to see that the sun was already making it's descent towards the horizon. "I didn't realize how late it was. That's probably a good idea. And dinner sounds great" She said, grinning over at him as she got up and gather her stuff together.