Casey had taken her usual place, beneath the shade of an old tree, leaning against it's trunk. She was sitting cross legged and was reading a book, as usual. Her copper hair was up in a pony tail, just to keep it out of her face, and she was in her usual Hufflepuff uniform, though her robe lay on the ground beside her, it being too hot for the robe. It was quite a nice day outside, sunny, with some clouds scattered across the sky, and not too hot. It was perfect weather really, which is why Casey had opted to read outside, rather than inside. She was perfectly content at the moment, which showed in her features.

AJ was walking back from the forest after taking some time to think. A lot of things had been on his mind recently.

He had noticed Casey, a Hufflepuff whom he had always gotten along with, but had never really talked to much.

"Hullo Casey." He looked at the book she had. "A lot of people I come across seem to be reading. I'm starting to think people carry books just to start reading when I'm around." he joked.

"Mind if I join? I won't bother, I'll just read if you'd like."

Casey looked up from her book at the sound of another voice directed towards her. Recognizing AJ, she smiled, she'd known him for years, although they weren't great friends, they did get along. "Hey AJ!" She greeted, closing her book and putting it down besider her.

She laughed at AJ's comment, "Well, you know I'm almost always reading, so I don't think it's you." That was pretty much true, Casey almost always had a book with her, and she was usually reading when she had the chance.

"Yea that's fine. And you can bother me, I've been reading for a while, so I kinda need a break"

He was glad to hear that Casey wasn't using reading to avoid him. AJ loved to read, and often found himself reading with Casey on occasion.

"It's such a nice day out isn't it?" he asked, but wasn't really looking for an answer.

"How have you been recently Case? I haven't seen much of you."

He took out his book, just in case she really wanted to read. He took off his cloak and used it as a pillow and laid down on the ground.

Casey nodded, looking up at the sky, "It really is. It's the only reason I'm out here reading, rather than inside."

She readjusted herself, trying to get comfortable again. "I've been pretty good I suppose. Surviving at least. Homeworks been killer lately. What about you?"

AJ had a lot of drama going on. But didn't want to bring it up. He just wanted to relax and talk to an old friend.

"Good." which is the answer he wished was the truth.

"Just been studying extra hard. NEWT levels you know. Hard. I've been working extra hard in everything hoping to get selected for the Tournament. But there are such more qualified Ravenclaws out there."

He took a breath, looking over to the lake in the distance. "Are you entered?"

"Jeez you sound as if you've got a lot on your plate. I've got my O.W.L.s and I've been studying like crazy. Hopefully it won't be so bad." Casey shrugged, she wasn't a scholastic type person. She did well and got good marks, but she usually found other things to do rather than study or do homework.

She looked at AJ as if he were crazy. "You've got to be joing. You'd have to kill me before I entered that contest. I wish you luck though. You'll probably get in."

He laughed, he really couldnt imagine Casey in the tournament.

"OWLs arent too bad. I got all O's and E's. But then again I'm in Ravenclaw, not Hufflepuff." He joked, not really thinking Hufflepuffs were stupid.

"What is it that you want to do after Hogwarts? That way you know what OWLs to do really well in."

"Oh jee thanks, so are you saying that all Huffies are stupid?" Casey teased back. It was true, Ravenclaws were ridiculously smart, but there were some really smart, talented Hufflepuffs as well.

Contemplating Aj's question, she paused. "Honestly, I've no idea. I've considered healing. . . But I'm not really sure"

He thought of Gwen the medi witch he got drunk with in Hogsmeade.

"I met the new medi witch, her name is Gwen Ravin. Maybe I can introduce you to her, she can give you pointers. Met her in Hog's Head, maybe we can head down sometime and see if we can bump into her."

Casey looked over at AJ excitedly, "Really?" She asked, "That woykd be great, I'd really appreciate that." Casey thought it would be great to talk to someone with someone with experience. It was hard to plan your life around something you weren't sure you'd be that interested in in the end.

He was glad he was able to help a friend. "Are you any good at accio?"

He asked, hoping she was. Everyone who had tried to help find his shoes had failed. He didn't really want to ask her to look with him, but if she was good with Accio he figured he'd ask her."

Casey looked at AJ quizically, wondering what kind of question that was... "I am somewhat. I wouldn't say I'm bad at it, why?" That was a random question to be asked, and she was wondering where that would go. In truth, she was pretty good at accio.

"Lost my shoes. Another Hufflepuff, John, offered to help earlier but we never started to look. Was just wondering if you could accio them for me. BUt no need if you dont want to."

He didn't expect her to want to so he dropped the subject in his mind.

"I know John," Casey stated rather randomly, before turning back to the original subject. "You lost your shows then? I can do that for ya, no problem, it may or may not work, who knows. Do you want me to do that now then?" Casey asked, quite happy to do that for AJ.

"Sure!" he looked at the shoes he was wearing now. "They're black like these, but no potion mix or anything."

He smiled at Casey. "Thanks again. In advance. Even if it doesn't work."

Casey looked at AJ's shoes before taking her wand out of her pocket. She stood up, figuring she had a better chance that way. She pictured AJ's shoes in her mind, and then stated, clearly, "Accio Shoes!" She frowned, hoping it would work. She stood waiting, looking for any sign of shoes flying towards her.

It didn't work. "Maybe you have to be more specific. Like 'Accio Andrej's Shoes!"

He knew accio charms were hard and needed to be specific as possible.

"That should work."

Casey frowned, trying to work out what she'd done wrong. "Hrm, I suppose that's a good point. I'll try that." She cleared her mind once more, focusing solely on his shoes.

"Accio Andrej's Shoes!" She stated quite clearly, hoping that it would work this time. It was hard to tell, but she waited, still hopeful

AJ looked near the lake, where he thought he had left them. All of a sudden, in the sky he saw something black flying towards him. Was it a bird? No, his shoes were plummeting towards him.

"It worked!" he was excited.

His shoes were still traveling fast. "Watch out!" he yelled, pushing Casey aside. His shoes hit him in the head making him fall to the ground.

"Oi!, that hurt." he said rubbing his head.

Casey grinned, she'd done it! You have no idea how good that felt. She stumbled backwards as AJ pushed her out of the way, she was glad he did, especially as the shoes ended up hitting him. She knelt beside him, making sure he was okay, it looked like it hurt.

"Oh jeez, are you ok AJ?" She asked, worried that he'd been hurt pretty bad. "Thanks for getting me out of the way by the way."

"No problem," he said still rubbing his head.

He started to change shoes but realized he didn't want to carry a stinky pair around all day. He pulled his wand and transfigured them into two quills.

"I hope I remember to transfigure these back."

He laughed.

"What now?"

Casey laughed, "I'll remind you, just in case you do forget." She sat back, realizing that AJ was ok at this point. She was just glad that it wasn't her that had been in the path of those shoes, that was the only problem with accio, you had to be careful of the objects that were you summoning. She'd have to work on that.

"I have no idea. What would you like to do?"

He had no clue what he would like to do.

"I dont know, there is so much to do. Or not a lot to do depending on what you like to do."

He thought for a second.

"We could go explore the Forest. Sneak off so we dont get in trouble. Or perhaps get a group of students to join us? It's up to you."

Casey, "I think it's a combination of both. There's so much to do, but so much of it's been done, that there's little things left that still hold the same excitement. . . . I'm not sure that that even made sense" She said with a shrug.

Casey visibly hesitated at AJ's idea, turning to looking at the forest wearily. She wasn't sure if he was joking, but he seemed quite serious. "Go in the Forbidden Forest?" She stated, less of a question, as she turned back to him, "I guess we could do that. It would be interesting, that's for sure. How far in are you planning on going?"

The truth was he had planned on going in far.

"Oh not to far. Just in a ways. I've been in there loads before. Never attacked."

That was another lie. He really wanted more to come, but if she didn't it would be no big deal.

"We're leaving at dawn. Meeting by the gamekeepers house."

Casey looked at AJ, not sure if she believed him. She entered the forest once before, it hadn't been too bad, but she hadn't exactly gotten very far. Still, this could be fun, and she could have some stories to tell afterwoods..

Casey shrugged, beginning to get more interested, but still undecided. "Who's all planning ongoing?" She asked, knowing that the more people that were there, the more likely she was to go. Still, she was intrigued, what had she got to lose.

"John from Hufflepuff, and Valentina and April from Slytherin. Possibly Robyn and Veronica."

He liked the safety in numbers and was very excited to go.

"It should be loads of fun!"

Casey grinned, she liked that selection of people. Particularly John. At that, she was pretty much sold. It was going to be interesting, that was for sure, and probably the craziest thing she'd ever do.

"Alright, I'm in." Casey stated, hoping that she wouldn't end up regretting her deciosion. Of course, she'd be worrying about it and get all nervous up until the moment she was in the forest. But she was in now, and wasn't going to back out.

He was estatic.

"Alright great, meet at dawn then. I should get up to the common room, a lot to plan."

He said goodbye and left her to finish reading.

OOC: We have already started in: "Deep into the woods" meet us there :)