Ginny rubbed her temples as a child walked behind her, talking nonstop. The little boy seemed to be about 6 or 7 years old, had red hair and freackles, and the way he spoke, he seemed he knew Ginny very well. Ginny stopped walking, her eyes closed and a hand on her forehead. The little boy bumped into her legs and fell backwards, landing on his butt.
"Cousin?" He asked, looking up, confused.
"Terry, do you ever stop talking?" Ginny asked, turning to face her cousin. She normally was very patient with small children who talked alot. But he hadn't shut up for two hours. Literally.
Xaver awoke with a start, on the branch of the tree he had fallen asleep in hours ago. He recognized her voice; he'd recognize it anywhere.
"Family?"
Xaver dropped down with a light thud right behind the boy who had fallen. He looked down at the kid, curiously for a moment, towering above him, before he offered a hand to help him up.
Terry glanced at Xaver, then shook his head. He offered a small smile, and stood up on his own, now being silent. He glanced at Ginny, then looked down.
"I wouldn't touch his skin directly, Xaver." Ginny cautioned. "He may see some of your lest protected thoughts."
Xaver nodded and let his hand fall, watching them both curiously, closely.
"Really? Interesting. How did that come about?"
"I'm guessing that it can run in the family a bit. He's like I was when I was a secnd year." She said to him, nodding at terry.
"Well, if you're anything like Ginny, you won't turn out too bad. I had horrible control of powers when I was your age. Mainly, fire I just couldn't get down. The eyebrows and mustache of my Master never grew back, even though I bet he tried, day in and day out with magic, and silliaonxet."
Xaver squatted down, so he was eye level with Terry.
"The trials of younger years are nothing to be ashamed of. You have a much better control than I had for a while. You'll be amazing, like your cousin, there. Maybe even as good looking."
Xaver grinned widely, rising and watching Ginny, chuckling quietly.
Ginny flushed slightly, shaking her head at Xaver's words. Terry, however took them to heart. He glanced at Ginny, blushing slightly.
"Well, I accidently put my last teacher in a coma...that's why they sent me to cousin Ginny for the day." He said, softly.
Xaver winced. Coma.
"Ouch."
He became curious.
"So, you go to school already? How early do you start school in this realm?"
-He put his teacher into a coma? What's a coma in this language?- he asked Ginny, his thought very low and secured, so no matter what, only she could hear.
Terry thought for a moment, "Not school, really. I'll come to Hogwarts whenb i'm elevan. It's like a place to help me control my powers when I come here." He said, trying not to confuse himself.
~A sleep that someone may never wake up from.~ Ginny told Xaver, lightly. She smiled at terry.
Xaver nodded.
"Understandable. So, you have been hanging out with Ginny all day, then?" he said, keep conversation light.
-Oh. Double ouch.-
"Not all day. She was late picking me up. By hours." He stressed, spreading his hands and enounciating carefully. Ginny raised an eyebrow.
"I was not. Your stupid little muggle friends wouldn't let me leave the town." She muttered to him. She had been walking through the town, and some muggle kids who knew Terry had stopped, surrounded her, chanting little kid things. Ginny had stood for a moment, waiting for them to stop, when they didn't, she had yelled and pointed over their shoulders at an imaginary mother or two and the kids had scattered.
Xaver blinked.
"They wouldn't let you leave town..?" he wondered curiously. Odd. "Why so?"
He looked at Terry.
"I'd be a little more grateful, kid. She did, after all, pick you up, and allow you to stay with her. She could have not done so at all."
"Because kids are more in tune with magic and who is able to use it." Ginny said, nodding at terry. He flushed again.
"I am grateful! But she's a mean teacher." he mummbled the last part, glancing at Ginny. She grinned, seeming to take slight pride in this.
Xaver raised an eyebrow.
"My perceptions must be way off this day, Milady. Think me idiot, but I still do nut understand why they wanted to stop you.."
He shrugged, and looked to Terry.
"I had thought so."
Then he smirked, crouching down to his height, instead of towering over him, watching his eyes.
"She is, huhm? How so?"
Terry looked at him, then at Ginny. He covered his hand, seemingly thinking Ginny wouldn't hear.
"She makes me do work!" He whispered.
Xaver fought a laugh, glancing at Ginny, a playful, soft look in his eyes, before turning back to Terry. He liked kids. Terry was no exception.
"She does, eh? Well, we all must work for the privilege to relax," he whispered back, knowing Ginny could hear, but playing along respectfully. "Have you ever considered that she's trying to teach you by this work? Or, that maybe she needs a little help in some places and has you help her out without admitting she does, in some cases?"
Ginny smiled, rolling her eyes. Terry really seemed to get alog with Xaver, and her previouse annoyence with Terry slid away.
Terry seemed to think about that.
"Maybe..." he admitted.
Xaver nodded, giving a goofy grin.
"Yup, maybe."
He chuckled, rising.
Ginny smirked, "Now, terry, come on." She said, motioning for him to follow.
Terry made a face, "More work?"
"Nope, I told you, work is done for the day. For you anyway." She mummbled the last part.
Xaver smirked down at Terry.
"You're as lazy as I am," he commented, laughing.
Suddenly, he simply jumped, propelling upward into the high boughs of the closest tree. He made not a sound a he moved around, climbing up there, but allowed there to be a soft thud as he landed, just as he was, walking as if he had never missed a beat, next to them.
"Fruit?" he asked, though his voice was slightly muffled.
He had bit into one of the apples, and had to speak out of the corner of his mouth to hold it there. He had one in each hand, and offered them to both of them, shrugging.
He gave Ginny a soft, sidelong glance.
-By the way. Can I help you with any of that work?-
Ginny took her apple and smiled at him, but didn't eat it.
~Nah. I can do it. Just paperwork.~ She said to him.
Terry took his apple, biting into it as he started to follow Ginny.
-Alright. But I might be forced to sweep you away from this work, later, and make you eat some really good candy. You wouldn't believe this little factory I found in London.-
Xaver munched absently on his apple, walking with them both.
~Oh really?~ Giny said, absently. terry looked up at her.
"Cousin Ginny?" he asked, taking a large swallow of apple before being able to continue, "when can I go home?"
-Yup. You shall be mine prisioner, my love, and sweets will be punishment yours.-
Xaver looked down at Terry, listening to him. He glanced at Ginny curiously.
"When Aunt Tracy sends for you." She said, looking at him. He couldn't read the expression in her eyes, which was pity for the boy. She knew that his mother was just trying to find another place to send him, since she didn't want to be around him.
Xaver's head snapped up, and he watched Ginny, frowning. He had caught the last of her thoughts.
-What is all that about?- he asked her.
"So, Terry, what have you learned so far in school?"
~Aunt Tracy is kind of....flaky.~ Ginny said, very lowly in his mind.
Terry smiled and finished off his apple, leaving the core. He held it in his hand, holding his other hand above it. the core rose, floating between his hands. He made it spin, then smashed it, making it explode, doing all this mentaly.
-Eh?-
Xaver grinned at Terry.
"Good," he commented, nodding.
He finished his own apple, and threw it up, not looking at it. It spun at immense speed, then simply stopped, the whole of it becoming illuminated, ten becoming molten, black liquid. The liquid glittered and spread out, then fell. Just as it started its descent, however, the black stuff transformed into a very much alive black bird. It gave a thrill and twirled, swooping around Xaver's shoulder's, before perching on Terry's shoulder, clicking its beak happily at the boy.
Xaver chuckled.
Terry shivered with delight as he gapped at the bird. Ginny smiled down at him, picking her way over falled trees.
~She can't stand having Terry around. She didn't like me much when I was small either.~
"My friend, Arkelot," Xaver introduced. "He has been long since alone back at my home realm. I grew up with him. He likes having friends, especially the younger."
~Perhaps because the younger they are, the more I can help,~ the bird chirped up. ~Kylie, for instance. I grieve for her.~
Xaver looked at the two, and gave a soft, lopsided smile.
"Yes, Ark particularily liked my little sister. But he has been looking for a friend he could pal around with lately."
-That's horrible.. -
He looked over at Giny, keeping pace with her.
~Like I said. She's flaky.~ She didn't care much if her aunt liked her or not, but she wondered what Terry would think when he realized his mother always pushed him away.
Terry patted the bird, with wonder. he looked at xaver, asking what to him was an innocent question.
"What happened to your sister?"
Xaver paused, glancing at the boy, but where he probably would have become tense and mute to others, except Ginny, he simply kept that pang of emotions to himself. He watched Terry for a moment, before finally answering, his voice unchanging from before, just softer.
"She was killed."
Terry understood death. He understood killings even better, despite the fact he was so young. Many of his psychic abilities supplied him with images many adults couldn't stand. He looked at Xaver sadly.
"I'm sorry."
Xaver hesitated slightly, then nodded, giving a small smile. He patted Terry on the shoulder, allowing his topmost thoughts, of thanks for the understanding, to be heard. Xaver had supreme mental characteristics, and under nearly all situations, only thoughts that were simple, such as the thanks he gave Terry, would ever be allowed to be passed. He stuck his hands into his pockets, and then glanced at Arkelot, saying a stream of words in that foreign, undeterminable language of his.
The bird chirped, and preened Terry's hair affectionately. Xaver smiled slightly at this, then looked foreword.
Ginny smiled slightly. Despite Terry's incesint talking, he was a good kid. He also could tell when someone would rather not talk about something painful, but that was just because of his own personal ways. They arrived at a clearing, with caves in a semi-circle. Where the wolves lived.
Xaver looked around, taking in the area with curiosity. He hadn't been there before. He watched the caves for a moment, then looked back over his shoulder to Ginny, simply looking at her.
Ginny whistled two light notes and a few wolves came to greet her. Soime of them smelled around Xaver and terry, but the largest barked, making them get away. This one was obviously Ginny's favorite, the one called Moonlight. This one had met Xaver before, and felt no threat from terry.
"hey Moon." Ginny said, softly. She knelt beside the wolve, rubbing behind his ears. She had been so busy lately, she hadn't seen any of the wolves, and she hadn't let them keep up with working everyday and night for her. Not since one of them had died.