To Warm My Bones [Cade Summers]

[dawn]

In the life of Dawn Catarina Roper, there are days that are good, days that are bad, and days that are in between. These in between days can be fast, slow, tiring, too hot, or too cold. These in between days varied. Today was one of those in between days. She had gotten up early for breakfast and her classes. She had just showered and gotten dressed when the girls in her dormitory began to giggle a little at her. "What?" She asked them confusedly. "Dawnie, it's Saturday," one of them said before they all burst into laughter. Dawn thought a moment and then laughed herself. She shook her head and grabbed her muggle clothes and went to go change. She came back out, instead of in her school robes, in a black turtleneck and a pair of flare jeans. She stepped back out after pulling her hair up into a ponytail and looked at the other girls. "Better?" She teased with a light laugh, causing the rest of the dorm to laugh as well before she grabbed her Hufflepuff scarf and school bag. She had a few essays that she wanted to go ahead and do in Hogsmeade. Sure, there would probably be a lot of people around, but she'd rather not be here at Hogwarts while she worked on her essays and other homeworks.

After grabbing her things and slipping on her shoes, Dawn left her dorm and went in to the Common Room. There were a lot of other Hufflepuffs standing around waiting to head to Hogsmeade Village as well. It wasn't too long before the group headed to the Courtyard to wait for everyone. It wasn't exactly rare that a large group of students headed to the Courtyard when they were all going to Hogsmeade. Soon, the rest of the students who were allowed to go to the little village arrived and they were all off, lead by a few of the professors. Dawn tightened her scarf around her neck and chatted quietly with a few of her fellow Hufflepuffs on their walk to Hogsmeade. She kept her hands in her pockets as they went. Her hangs were becoming cold from the air. It wasn't a terribly long walk, but it wasn't a short one either. Dawn didn't mind it though. It gave her her exercise for the day, not that walking through Hogsmeade wouldn't, but still, Dawn enjoyed not having to go on runs every day or whatever to keep herself in shape. Sure, she didn't want to be lazy, but sometimes there were days where you just didn't want to do anything.

Upon arriving to Hogsmeade Village, the students all scattered. Deciding that a nice warm place to get a drink and do her homework would be best, Dawn headed to the Three Broomsticks. Once inside, she spotted a small booth in the corner and seated herself. A waitress approached and asked the young female what she would like. Dawn smiled and told her that she would like a butterbeer and told her that if a large group stepped in, she would gladly give up the booth for a smaller table. The waitress smiled at her and nodded before walking off. The Three Broomsticks wasn't terribly busy, but it was still busy seeing as Hogwarts students were still paroosing around the village looking for things like Christmas Presents and whatnot, which as Dawn sat there, thought that would probably be a good idea, but for now, she needed to work on her essays and homeworks. So, Dawn pulled out her parchment and quill and began to write her essays and work on her homework. She smiled as her muse for her essays and homework seemed to fly from her mind, allowing her to finish her essays with no problem.

[bailey]

Cade had awakened to the silence of the dorm room and the rays of sunlight striking his eyes. A quick look at the clock and it was 11:37am, all the students that were going to Hogsmeade today had left an hour ago. He was late but he didn't mind walking to Hogsmeade alone. He swung his legs over the side of his bed, rubbing at his eyes while yawning and looking around the dorm. All the guys were gone, probably gone to Hogsmeade as well or finding one thing or another to do around the castle being that it was Saturday and classes weren't in session. Ah, such a beautiful saturday it was. The sun was beaming at this hour outside of the window although he knew not to let that fool him, it would be quite chilly outside considering it was November and the slight sway of the trees hinted that it was a bit breezy as well. It was only the beginning of the year, his final year at Hogwarts and he had to admit he was pretty excited. Soon graduation would come along and then he was off to pursue his dream of being an Obliviator. Of course he would head to a wizarding university first to perfect his ability in Charms but being an Obliviator didn't necessarily require a four year degree form a wizarding school. He knew though that he would have a better chance of becoming one if he went to a four year univeristy though which is why he considered it. And he knew his parents would be happy that he would go to university. The thought had him smiling as he scratched his head and yawned again. He knew his parents loved him and only wanted the best for him, as most parents did. But he would soon be on his own to make his own decisions that would decide his future. And he couldn't wait.

He stood up and strolled to the boys' bathroom, looking himself over in the mirror. He had bed head but it wasn't like his hair wasn't usually styled somewhat close to that, albeit a bit more tamed. He ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times to make himself look more presentable before he brushed his teeth and washed his face. The cool water from his towel woke him up the rest of the way as he cleaned around his gentle blue eyes. Girls liked to comment how pretty his eyes were. He didn't find them very special, he'd seen things that were beautiful and his eyes just didn't seem to live up to them. After he finished, he went back to his room for clothes, a simple pair of dark blue jeans and a black long sleeved shirt would suffice. He slipped on his black jacket and grabbed his hufflepuff scarf, walking off but turning back and grabbing his school bag before he was down through the tunnels and common room and then out of the swinging portrait by noon. Maybe he could hang at the Three Broomsticks and get a little bit of work and maybe even a little bit of reading done while there. Walking down the hall he saw a few of his friends from the dorm and classmates. He smiled and nodded with a small wave as he usually did. Everyone knew Cade was a pretty quiet guy for the most part but lots of people also knew he was friendly. He had no problem with anyone unless you caused trouble. Luckily, that hadn't happened this school year. Yet anyway. He made his way out of the door and down the path that led to Hogsmeade. The walk was nice and quiet, he watched the trees sway in the breeze and wrapped his scarf around his neck a bit tighter to keep the chill from biting him.

Once he arrived, he headed straight to the Three Broomsticks. Inside, the place wasn't full and loud as it usually was. It wasn't completely empty though, a few groups sitting up on the stools in the front and a few people sitting at tables. He chose to sit at a booth in the corner, nice and quiet where he would be able to concentrate on his studies. Behind him sat another girl, one he'd seen in the common room once or twice. She was doing school work just as he was about to be doing, her head bent as she looked thoughtfully over a piece of parchment, quill in hand. He sat in his chair, putting his bag in the booth beside him. A young, lovely waitress approached him then. "Would you like something to eat or drink today?" she asked kindly with the light smile of a customer service worker upon her face. "Not at the moment, thank you. But I will ask when I do," he smiled up at her. He noticed a light blush stain her cheeks before she giggled and nodded in confirmation and walked away. With a shake of his head and a lingering smile, he reached for his bag, pulling out an Astronomy assignment that was due in two weeks. He took a quill in hand and began his assignment. Today seemed like it would be a pretty productive day.

[dawn]

As Dawn sat there doing her homework, she didn't hear anything that was going on around her. In fact, if the waitress hadn't set down her butterbeer so closely to her parchment, Dawn wouldn't have even noticed it, but she did, thankfully. She looked up and smiled at the waitress before thanking her and going back to her homework. She sighed softly down at her Herbology essay. She groaned a little and glared at the parchment where her quill rested on the last letter of the word she had just written. She sighed a little and sat up, looking around to see if anyone was in her year and could help her, sadly, she didn't see any one. Dawn shook her head and waited for the ink to dry before she rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into her bag with her completed Potions essay. She wrapped a little black ribbon around it to show that it was unfinished. Her Potions essay had a yellow ribbon around it, which signified that it was complete. A light sigh escaped Dawn's lips as she opened up her next piece of parchment to begin yet another essay. She wasn't excited about it, but she didn't want to spend her Sunday writing a billion essays which were all due the next week. It wasn't how Dawn functioned, actually. Usually Friday nights were Homework nights, but she had felt like sleeping more than doing her homework.

As Dawn worked on her last essay, she sipped lazily at her butterbeer. She had wanted to drink it before it got cold, but after a moment, she was on a roll and had forgotten about the warm drink. It wasn't until after her essay was close to being complete that she remembered her drink. Why? The door opened and a cold chill went through the Three Broomsticks. Dawn shivered and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck as she went to drink from her butterbeer. She sighed a little as she realized that it was cold and shrugged before downing it. Within a few minutes, the waitress returned and Dawn ordered another one, smiling at the young woman. Then, Dawn returned to her essay and upon completing it, her new, warm butterbeer arrived, making her smile and giggle with glee. She took the butterbeer with a simple," Thank you,"

[/b] before she sipped at her drink. She set it down and tied a yellow ribbon around her last essay before sticking it in to her bag. She sighed happily upon realizing that her homework was almost complete. Although, she would probably have to wait until she returned to the castle to finish her Herbology homework.

Of course, it wasn't but a few moments later that Dawn realized who had walked in. It was a fellow Hufflepuff, although he was a year older than she was if she remembered correctly. She bit down on her bottom lip and her eyes darted towards the Herbology essay that she hadn't completed. She began to wonder if she could possibly ask him for help. She sighed and scratched at her head before finally nodding. She grabbed her butterbeer and took a deep breath before walking over to him. Dawn wasn't exactly an...outgoing person until after you met her. She was extremely shy at first, which made people often look at her funny, but she digressed. It was the way that she was. So her heart was beating rapidly out of nervousness when she approached the Hufflepuff and gently tapped his shoulder. "E-excuse me," she squeaked out, blushing a little. "I'm sorry to bother you, b-but my name is, um, Dawn...Roper and I noticed that...you're a Hufflepuff...like me and, well, I was wondering if you were...any good at Herbology," she managed to stutter out before she scolded herself for being a complete pansy. She pushed those thoughts away and looked at the boy in front of her, wondering how he'd react to being disturbed.[/size][/blockquote]

[bailey]

Cade continued to mull over his Astronomy assignment, moving through it step by step, labeling stars that he knew and the moons of each planet. He casually looked up as the bell that hung over the door rung, signaling someone new entering or leaving the hangout place. He found his eyes casually moving over to the girl that was sitting near his table. Her eyes were cast down upon the table, her pen no longer moving at a steady rate as she mulled over what obviously was a difficult essay for her. Her brow was held in a crease, sign of frustration and he contained a smile. Suddenly her head came up and he cast his eyes downward at his own school work. He made work of labeling a few more moons and stars before he even thought of looking back up at the girl. He brought his eyes up to her again, seeing her take out a fresh piece of parchment and began moving her quill across it. Surely she hadn't started over the last one? Or could it be that she was doing one for another class and thought to come back to the last one? The crease had disappeared from her forehead so the essay she was doing now must have been something simple to her. When her quill stopped at the end of the parchment and she picked it up, he averted his eyes once again, looking back down at his own work. He really felt like a creep sometimes when he sat and people watched. But it's not like he was the only one that did it right? He blushed a little at the thought and shook his head before he got back to his work, temporarily forgetting the girl sitting at the table next to his.

Soon the waitress returned to his table with a smile on her face and a warm butterbeer in hand. "Here's a warm butterbeer. I know it's cold outside and everything so I thought I'd bring you something to warm up," she murmured with a smile before setting a napkin down and then the butterbeer on top of it. He smiled up at her, thanking her dearly before looking back down at his work and continuing to label a few more stars and then a few constellations before she walked away. The waitress was really sweet and thoughtful. He took the warm mug in hand using the napkin and took a sip when suddenly he noticed black writing on the napkin. It was a set of numbers with the name "Leila" written neatly above the numbers. "Um, miss. I think someone used this napkin and wrote their number on it," he called too her before she got too far away. She looked back at him and gave a wink before he realized that it had been her who's number was written neatly upon the napkin. She was into him. She seemed nice and she was quite pretty actually. He gave a blush and nodded his head to her before he sat the butterbeer down upon the napkin once again, She was really nice, but he was sure that he wasn't her type. And he knew for a fact that she already had a boyfriend, seeing a guy come in often and kiss her, which made her not his type either. He couldn't ruin a relationship like that and he definitely did not want to be an out for her relationship. Too much drama. He shook his head and looked back down at his work before continuing.

Pretty quickly, he finished labeling the diagrams of the night sky in this time of the year and sighed in satisfaction. He didn't notice the fact that the girl who'd been sitting in front of him was now standing next to his table until the sound of her gentle voice broke his concentration. She stuttered and stumbled as she spoke her name and he couldn't help the small gentle smile that graced his features once she'd finished. He knew a little bit about Herbology, not much, but maybe enough to be able to help her out. "Sure. Cade Summers by the way. I must admit I don't know much about Herbology but I wouldn't mind giving it a shot," he nodded before motioning her to take a seat. He'd taken Herbology in his first year but found that, while he wasn't too bad at it, he liked other classes more than he liked it and dropped it for Transfiguration instead in his second year. He had learned a few things from listening to people talk about it though so hopefully what he did know would be of help to her.

[dawn]

Dawn blushed heavily as she waited for a response from the rather cute young man in front of her. She was nervous...really nervous. Never had she ever willingly approached someone on her own to ask for help...especially wen she didn't know who they were, but, he was a Hufflepuff so...it's not like he'd be hostile towards her...right? Dawn really hoped not. After all, most houses were pretty friendly with themselves...except for maybe a few people...and Slytherin's... She wasn't too sure about that though. She did know, though, that Hufflepuffs were friendly towards one another...most of the time. Dawn thought a moment. She believed the boy's name was Cade...Cade...something, but she could have been wrong. A lot of the girls in the dormitory often spoke of him and how hot he was, how smart he was, and how nice he was. Dawn had to admit that he was indeed quite cute. He didn't seem to be mean either as he looked at her and waited for her to finish talking, when she had been talking. He didn't seem to be impatient, or irritated that she had spoken to him, from what she could read from his facial expressions any way. She could only hope that he was, indeed, going to be nice to her.

After a moment, the boy spoke, making Dawn let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding in. He said sure, introduced himself and said that he didn't know much about Herbology, but that he wouldn't mind giving it a shot. Dawn blushed gently and smiled at him shyly as he motioned for her to have a seat. She pulled the chair back and sat down in it, setting her bag down on the floor next to her, out of everyone's way. "Thank you," she murmured shyly as she pulled out her parchment with the black ribbon around it. She set the parchment down, out of the way of his Astronomy homework (from the looks of it, anyway), and pulled open the parchment, gazing down at the almost completed essay. "Well, you see, I'm doing an essay on the Venomous Tentacula," she said, while blushing heavily. "I mean, I have most of what I need, but my essay stills seems...disconnected... Do you, um...think you could look it over? Tell me if you think anything's wrong or needs more explaining?" She asked, looking over at Cade, wondering if he'd be amazing and would do this for her. She wouldn't blame him if he said no. She'd find another way to fix it later, she supposed.

As Dawn waited for Cade's response to her question, she nervously tapped her pen against the table, not realizing that she had actually been doing it. She really did hope, though, that he would be nice and read over her essay, but she wouldn't be terribly upset about it if he didn't. After all, it wasn't like he was her friend or brother or anything of that general nature. The man didn't have to do anything that he didn't want to. He wasn't indebted to her or anything like that. Of course, Dawn would absolutely adore him if he did look over her essay and help her out. She'd probably be in his debt for forever, basically. Of course, she'd rather be his friend, but whichever Cade would prefer. After all, Dawn was a sweet girl, but she wasn't sure if Cade would enjoy being around her. From what she had heard about him from the various girls in Hufflepuff, he liked to keep to himself and keep quiet, which was nice in Dawn's mind, but when she was around her family or her mates, she was extremely vocal, happy, loud, bubbly, and crazy-like. Most people didn't really like that about her, but that was because none of them really knew Dawn. Most believed she was bipolar or had two different personalities, but that was because she seemed to be two different people...although she wasn't. She hoped that as she got to know Cade (if he allowed her) that he wouldn't be freaked out by her nature.

[bailey]

Cade looked over the essay as she told him what it was about. The Venomous Tentacula wasn't anything he'd learned in his one year knowledge of Herbology, but he had casually overheard some sixth and seventh years talk about an essay they were doing on the same thing, and this obviously wasn't a coincidence. She had a lot of detailed information in the essay, including a description of the deadly plant, how venomous the plant was and where the plants stores and releases it's poison from. The essay was quite good, he had to admit. As he read over the essay he heard her tapping her pen against the table. Nervous habit maybe? "Maybe you could talk about what spells can be used to defend yourself from the plant?" he spoke in question form before looking over at her then back down at the essay to read over again. He'd heard the students talk of the many spells that could be used to counter against the plant's poisonous bite and deadly grip. You could always cut off the tentacles or stun the plant to make a quick get away. Thankfully, Cade had never had a run in with one of the plants, he wasn't so sure he'd make it out alive. "You could also add a bit of history in it and talk about how they were used in the Battle of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters," he said as an afterthought. Not one student in the school hadn't heard about the Great Battle of Hogwarts. He just happened to know, from overhearing of course, that the deadly plants were used by Professor Longbottom himself to defend the school along with the Herbology professor at the time, Pomona sprout.

As he finished scanning over it, he handed the essay back to her and gave a small smile. "Other than that, it's a good essay," he nodded before he looked back down at his Astronomy homework. He was glad that he could help her with it. Would she have been disappointed if he hadn't been able to help him? Would she have gotten angry at him? A lot of people have the misconception that Hufflepuff girls are shy and quiet. But you would be surprised at human nature, something Cade knew about second hand and quite well from all of the time he spends people watching. He's seen outbursts like none before from women, some of them being from betrayed Hufflepuff girls. Or is it possible that she would have sad because she couldn't finish her homework and she was ultimately dependent upon him for answers? Nah, no way. He barely knew the girl and he was sure that she barely knew him. He'd just met her after all. And he was sure that she would have figured out that missing piece with or without his help. From the flow and read of that essay, she seemed like a smart girl. Her handwriting was flawless as well so maybe she was a neat person? You could never tell exactly how a person is until you watch them though. Her stuttering gave away her shyness. Or could it just be a habit? Cade gave a subtle smile at all of the observations he made about the girl sitting across from him, clueless of the things his brain conjured up.

Cade looked back down at his Astronomy homework once more, pulling it close and picking a quill back up into his hand as his eyes scanned the constellation map before his eyes. He was almost done with it and had been about to put the finishing touches on it before Dawn had come over. Maybe that was all she had needed from him and maybe she would get up and leave. He wouldn't mind at all, knowing that she probably had important things to do and possibly more homework to do as well and he had no reason to bother her. He'd come here to relax and do homework and that's exactly what he would do. He wrote in a couple more star names, a constellation or two here and there and then he was finished with his star map. "All done," he murmured to himself.

[dawn]

Dawn continued to tap her pen against the table as she waited for Cade to look over her essay. She wondered what he would tell her to write about. After all, she couldn't possibly think of anything and she was sure that there was something missing from her essay. Finally, Cade spoke, making Dawn grin. He told her that perhaps she could talk about what spells can be used in defense against the plant. She nodded eagerly, enjoying that idea greatly. She was sure that Professor Longbottom would enjoy that tidbit of information. She had to admit, it was a smart idea and now that she thought about it, she could probably talk about other ways to defend yourself against the plant and it's attacks. She grinned happily before he spoke once again, telling her that maybe she could even talk about how they were used in the Battle of Hogwarts against the Death Eaters. Dawn's eyes lit up as she looked at Cade when he told her that and she nodded. She waited, rather impatiently in a way, for the male Hufflepuff to finish looking over her essay so she could make these new and necessary changes. She couldn't wait ti improve her essay and make it even better than it was. She was glad that she had even left space at the bottom for her to talk about whatever it is that Cade pointed out to her. She was actually quite eager to finish this essay and wrap a yellow ribbon around it. It would mean a free weekend for her, which she very much needed.

Dawn smiled and blushed a little when Cade told her that other than what he had mentioned to her, it was a good essay. After a moment she picked up her pen and began to carefully and beautifully write the continuation, and finish, to her beloved Herbology essay. She wrote what Cade suggested for her to write about as well as any new information that she thought up in her head while she wrote. After finishing the essay, she rolled it up carefully and wrapped a yellow ribbon around it so that way she knew that she was finished with her essay, just in case she had forgotten or something, which was possible with Dawn. She was sure that Professor Longbottom would really enjoy her essay, and even if he didn't, she was still proud of it. She had put a lot of hard work in to it as well as asked for help, which was something that Dawn never did. In fact, this was the first time, in six years, that she had ever asked anyone for help on an essay or any homework that she had ever written. It just wasn't really in Dawn's nature to ask for help, no matter what it was on. Even when she got lost, she would look around and try to find her way out or to where ever she wanted to be before she ever asked for directions, not that she ever had asked for directions or needed to. Still, it just wasn't something that Dawn really did.

After a moment, Dawn looked up at Cade, who had just finished writing names down next to what looked like stars and constellations. She smiled a little when she heard him say that he was all done before she slipped all of her supplies into her knapsack and then looked at him. She tucked some of her dark brown hair behind her ear and looked at him. She took a breath and decided to speak. "Th-thank you...and I don't just mean for saying that it's a pretty good essay. I mean for also helping me with this essay... I know you didn't have to," she murmured shyly as she looked over at Cade. She smiled at him a little sheepishly. "I really am in your debt... I don't...really ask people for help, but thank you...really, I mean it," she said before she looked over at her table. She stood up, leaving her bag back at the table, before she put down some money on the table, forgetting that she hadn't paid and had just left her butterbeer there, which was now cold. She blushed and apologized to the waitress, who shook her head and waved her hand, telling her that it was alright before she nodded and then headed back over to where Cade was to retrieve her bag.