Getting distracted seemed to be a major issue for April, especially while at Hogwarts. Whenever she went to get anything done, be it homework, reading, or seeing a friend, she somehow got off track. Today, she had decided that the library would be the perfect place to get some peace and quiet, sit down, and pen a letter to Tyler, whom she hadn't corresponded with for awhile. Every time she went to write him back, the words didn't flow correctly, or someone disrupted her.

She sat in the back of the library, at a small wooden table with only onr other chair. It was dark back here, so April lit a candle with her wand, and dipped her quill in ink, biting the back of it. Contemplating, April started to remember what Tyler had last written to her about. How school was, how work was going for him, their families...

April put quill to parchment and was about to write when she looked up, and there was someone standing there.

Casey was back at the library, surprisingly enough she hadn't been here in a while. But she needed to get some things done, and the library seemed the best place for that. With Casey's lukc, all the table's had an occupant, which meant she'd have to share one, and with that, she'd actually have to approach someone. Searching for a familiar face, she frowned. She didn't recognize a single face, or at least she wasn't good friends with any of the people here.

She stood over April's table, somewhat nervously. She hated to interrupt people, but she very well couldn't just sit down at the table without asking first. She told herself to just suck it up, it wouldn't be that bad. She was just asking if she could share the table, that was all, there was no harm in that, was there? When April looked up, Casey offered a friendly smile. "I'm really sorry to interrupt you, but do you mind if I sit here?" She asked, trying to be as friendly as she could, without showing her shy habits.

April looked up, seeing a girl she knew only by face ,and had never spoken to before. This was surprising on April's part, considering she knew many people nowadays around Hogwarts, refusing to sit inside the common room. April motioned for Casey to sit down, hoping that she could at least concentrate long enough to finish writing the first sentence of this letter, even if Casey was here.

"Not at all, sit," she said cheerfully, hating when people got the wrong impression of her just because she was in a sour mood.

"Casey, right?" she asked, but nowing who it was. "I'm April, if you didn't know."

She looked down at her letter, dotting a few letters and reading over the first sentence. It seemed well enough. April had a tendancy to be a perfectionist with her writing, since she had always had extremely neat handwriting.

Casey felt quite relieved when the girl seemed more than willing to share the table with her. So that hadn't been that bad. And now that she saw the face, she recognized the girl from around, but didn't really know her. Taking a seat, Casey uttered a small "Thanks." She took out some parchment, her quill and ink. She had her own letter of sorts to write.

"Yea, I'm Casey," She admitted, offering a small, yet friendly, smile. As soon as April said her name she realized who she was, "You were there in the woods right? With AJ...." Casey asked as realization hit her. That had been one heck of an adventure, that was for sure.

She turned her attention to the parchment sitting in front of her. In her neat, tidy handwriting she wrote "Dear Dad, and then stopped, not sure what else to write. She sighed, her and her father weren't on the best terms, and it was always hard to write a letter to him. Despite that, she never failed to send a letter his way, but as the years progressed she found it harder and harder to write to him.

April watched as the girl named Casey sat down, making herself comfortable in the wooden chairs which probably never would be too comfortable at all. Casey seemed relieved that April hadn't bit her head off, which was normally a good thing, but also seemed worried and distratcted.

When the girl spoke, April realized where she had actually seen Casey around. In the woods, that time with AJ, and when Flame had showed up... April remembered now, although that day was very crisp in her memory. She had a nagging feeling that she had seen Casey around the castle after that as well ,but had never spoken to her either way. April sighed, looking down at her parchment again.

Across from her, CAsey seemed to be attepting to write a letter as well. April tried not to be nosy, but her curiousity got the best of her, and it seemed that Casey was writing to her father. The activity seemed to be particularly difficult for her, as she was struggling to put words onto the parchment after Dear Dad. April looked at her own parchment.

"Writing a letter as well?" April asked casually, pointing to her parchment to show Casey that she too was writing.

Realizing that she actually did know April made her relax a little more. Some how conversation with someone you've kind of met before was a lot easier, even if conversation had never passed between them before. She thought about the 'adventure' in the woods. That had been one heck of a morning, She hadn't really seen any of the group since then, besides John and AJ really.

Turning her attention to the letter before her, she still struggled to find words to fill the blank space of the parchment. Heraing April's words, Casey looked up at April, "What.... Oh, yea...." She paused, feeling rather stupid. Looking down at her parchment, she realized this was going to be a particularly hard letter to write; she wasn't really even sure why she wrote to her dad, it wasn't like she ever got a reply. Looking up at April, she shrugged, "Yea, just a letter to my dad," she decided to explain, "Too bad writing a letter isn't as easy as it looks."

Noticing a change in Casey, she looked up and saw that the girl had relaxed a bit, and wasn't as anxious and uptight as she had been when she first walked over. Her eyes was looking at the parchment, not up at April, but April knew she had heard her. Casey looked relieved that she wouldn't be forced into conversation by a complete stranger, but rather, someone she knew just a bit. April smiled helpfully so she could feel more at home.

When she spoke about writing the letter, April could immediately tell that her relationship with her father must be a bit strained. She found that writing to her parents was much easier than writing to Tyler or other friends, even though she was much more comfortable around Tyler especially. She looked at her own parchment and realized that her letter would never get done if she wrote this slowly.

"I get whatyou're saying. Letters just don't write themselves, however. Are you writing home, to your father?" she asked, an obvious question, but hoping to loosen Casey's tongue a bit.

For now Casey was going to put the letter on hold. Sometimes it was easier than others, and words tended to flow easier. For now she was just stuck, but surely she could think of something in time. Perhaps a conversation with April was the distraction she needed. It sounded weird when you put it like that, but by not focusing on the letter too much, Casey had a tendancy to write more. It was really just a matter of thinking about it too much.

Setting down her quill, Casey looked at April. She could see that there was some curiousity there. It was obvious by now that Casey wasn't on the best terms with her Dad, she could tell that April was at least somewhat curious. "Yea, just a letter to my dad, we're not on the best of terms, so writing letters can be a bit hard at times...." she decided to explain. "Who're you writing to?" She too was curious. It seemed that April was having as much trouble as she was at this point.

Looking up again from her letter, of which she had now written two sentences, it seemed as if Casey had given up writing her own letter. She had explained that it for her dad, and April's suspicions had been confirmed. April was happy that she was on good terms with her own father, since he spoiled her and treated her like a little princess. Some people thought that was obnoxious, but she got enough of the other half of humanity from her mother.

"I'm sorry to hear about your father. I'm writing to my friend, Tyler, back home. I just miss him a lot, and I don't know what to say sometimes," she admitted, looking at the neatly written note.

"Looks like you've given up," she said, glancing over at the quill that was now placed on the desk, no lnoger writing.

Casey shrugged, it no longer bothered her as much as it used to. She was happy, and that was all that mattered. There were times when it really hit her hard, but for the most part she just accepted it and let it be. At this point she was used to explaining the whole story as to why she and her dad weren't close, but that was something she preferred not to talk about. It was a conversation she typically avoided.

"No biggie. It happens.... I'm gonna guess that Tyler isn't a wizard?" Casey asked curiously. She could understand why April would miss him. If casey had any good muggle friends, well she's miss them a lot too.

"I'm just gonna think about it for a while, I guess. I dunno, it's just not flowing, you know?" With that she picked up the quill, playing with it absentmindedly. Perhaps if she thought of something then a letter would soon form. She frowned, realizing that she had never really had this much trouble forming a letter. She usually just wrote what came to mind.

April listened to Casey speak, knowing that she felt the same way about writing right about now. She would never get this letter written, she knew, but she'd have sometime very soon. Sighing, she put her quill down, and quickly scanned the letter for a moment before looking back up at Casey. She felt it would be best to address the question about Tyler first.

"Actually, he is a wizard. He's just a little bit older than me, so he's already done school. He was three grades above me, actually. So, he's back home working for my father, and here I am, in school without him," April replied, sighing a little. She quickly scrawled out, in neat writing, another sentence.

Putting her quill down, she looked back up at Casey. "I feel the same way, though. I just don't know what to say sometimes, and especially now. I can't make him miss me any less."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why don't you and your dad get along?"

Casey listened to April's explanation, realizing that her assumption had been way off base. She sympathized with April, realizing how hard that must be. It gets hard when you're friends are that much older than you, they're out experience a new life, and you're still stuck in an old one. She could imagine that it must be hard, although she'd never had a problem such as that before.

"That must make things kind of hard, huh? It's great that you two are still good friends though," She said, hoping she wasn't distracting April too much as she watched her write out another sentence.

As April brought up the inevitable question, Casey cringed inside. It was a hard topic to explain. She didn't want sympathy, although that's what she usually got. She tried to think of ways that she could weasel herself out of this one, but soon say there was no other option but the mere truth.

Casey frowned, hesitating slightly. She wasn't sure how best to word her sentence. Things weren't really as bad as they sounded. "Well... It's kind of a long story, but to put it simply, my dad's a bit of an alcoholic. Has been ever since my mother died. You can imagine, he's not the best person to be around...." She trailed off.

Casey seemed to realize that she has assumed incorrectly, but had made better by attempting to feel April's pain, which was a good thing. April nodded in response, hoping that Casey didn't thin kshe was angry for her accusations about Tyler. She knew that not all people had older friends, so it was hard to imagine such things, and she didn't expect Casey to understand what she went through with Tyler.

"Yeah, it's tough, but we get through it. I just have to miss him a lot, but oh well," she said, resigned. She put her quill down, realizing she'd have to finish the letter after they finished talking.

Immeditaely aftering asking Casey about her father, she regretted it. She could see the look on Casey's face after she questioned her, and could see it bothered her. However, Casey went on and explained anyways, although she put it very short, clearly not wanting to admit to it. April understood that it was hard for a girl to grow up without a mother and technically without a father either, in this situation, so she put on a face.

"Of course, I can understand that. That's terrible for you to go through. I'm sure there's help for him, however..." April said, trailing off. "I'm sorry about your mother. Were you awfully close with her?"