Follow-Up [Aubrey!]

[YORI OSHIRO]

She only had a few days left. The time in between being called as a Hufflepuff champion and the first task had gone by much too quickly if you asked Yori. However, she had kept herself busy, from hiding from Jos, confronting Jos, sending out letters to the family, studying, school work, getting to know Dunstable, strategizing with Dunstable, and goofing off when she could with her brothers and friends. The Asian was distinctly aware that her grade had probably suffered some due to this new business, but the hufflepuff was having a much harder time regretting it as it grew closer to the first task. Yori was eternally grateful for Dunstable, especially. That had been a variable that the hufflepuff wasn't anticipating before putting her name in, and he had served to be a good presence for her. He allowed her some time for that excitement to creep inside her.

However, Yori couldn't forget the one ally who had allowed her to go through with the decision in the first place. She owed a lot to Aubrey for doing it. Unfortunately, it was hard to express her gratitude if the hufflepuff wasn't exactly sure where to find her. The two hadn't talked much before that night in the Great Hall, and she had the added challenge of trying to get the girl alone. She did her best to follow all the terms of the agreement, and though the Asian girl was a little guilty, she did need to collect on that agreement. Much as she wanted to not risk the prefect socially, Yori wasn't about to deny a potential source of information. She honestly couldn't afford to with the competition.

It was now late afternoon, and she hadn't caught the slightest glance of the gryffindor. Tired and a little more than stressed over the looming deadline, Yori resigned herself on a bench overlooking the grand lake on Hogwarts grounds. The glistening water and sun dipping into the horizon provided a beautiful and serene location. It allowed her some time to just relax and calm down. It was the plan for the next few days anyway. She had done most preparation outside of contacting Aubrey. However, relaxation was just as important, and had intended to do so with the days leading to the first task. It was about the only thing she could think of to keep a calm demeanor.

There was just that last, niggling point. The girl brought up her legs on the bench, cross-legged, her palm supporting her jaw. ”... Where is Aubrey?” Yori muttered to herself, a small pout forming.

[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

Aubrey was a bit disappointed that she hadn’t gotten chosen as one of the champions. Sure she was happy for Alaya and James getting chosen, but this was something that Aubrey had really wanted to do. But in a way it was a good thing that Aubrey hadn’t gotten chosen, she would’ve been pinned up against her boyfriend, Scorpius, if she had been chosen and she wasn’t sure how she would be able to handle that. Plus, now she could focus on learning to fly as well as becoming an animagus more, but it seems that lately she hadn’t been able to do much with becoming an animagus as she was supposed to with her good friend James, but of course he had been busy with the tournament.

Of course Aubrey hadn’t forgotten about the night that she had dropped her name into the Goblet of Fire, she had made a promise with a Hufflepuff girl that if she were to get chosen that she would help the young girl out. Well there was a slight problem with that promise. When she had promised Yori that she’d help her out, well she didn’t know Yori very well and thus had no idea where to look for the small Asian girl. Sure she could’ve asked Dunstable where she could find her, but that would probably have been a bit suspicious, so instead she just had to be on the lookout trying to find her. Then there was the fact that Aubrey just never thought of owling the young girl. That was just how Aubrey was.

Since Aubrey had finished her homework, and James was busy with something as well as Rose (Rose of course was the one that was teaching her how to fly) Aubrey had nothing to do, so she had decided to take a walk out to the lake. She had decided to give up on her search for Yori and just hoped that she would happen to run into her, and luckily for her that’s what happened.

As she had gotten closer to the lake, she realized that there was someone else there. To her surprise it happened to be Yori. This was perfect! She wouldn’t need to look for her anymore and hopefully the two of them could set up a time and place to meet from now on, that was of course if Yori still wanted her help. “YORI!” Aubrey waved happily to the young Asian girl as she picked up her pace and pretty much ran over to Yori. “I’ve been trying to find you for days!” Aubrey smiled at Yori once she was beside her.

[YORI OSHIRO]

She was surprised how quickly she was able to relax upon perching herself on the bench. The air was cool, and there was always something about water that was inherently soothing for her. She enjoyed watching how the water glistened from the sun above it, and the occasional wind that played with her short hair. Though the nervous energy had made quite a bit of excitement stir in her the past few weeks, she wouldn't mind transferring some of that calm energy when the task started. Yori certainly didn't want to let her house or Dunstable down due to overwhelming fear. She wanted to prepare for anything and everything to help minimize the chance, but she knew that the unknown variables pretty much guaranteed being at least a little unprepared when the time came.

The hufflepuff jumped at the sound of someone calling her name, immediately stiffening in her seat. It took a moment, but she recognized that voice, and with a grin, she eagerly waved Aubrey over as she all but ran to the bench. It seemed the gryffindor hadn't forgotten about their agreement either. This came with relief on Yori's part, not exactly looking forward to convincing anyone to holding up their part of the bargain. Aubrey seemed trustworthy though, something the Asian greatly appreciated at the moment. It didn't bode well not to trust potential allies at the moment, a problem that she had come across before in her time at Hogwarts. More than anything right now though, she was grateful to just find the prefect once more.

”I've been looking for you these past few days too!” she exclaimed a bit excitedly. The girl was looking for her. That was definitely a good sign. ”Its a good thing I did stop by the lake. How have you been?” Yori wasn't entirely comfortable bringing up the subject of their deal right away, feeling a little awkward about the idea of just going right to the grit of it. It didn't seem all that polite, maybe something left over from her parents' culture back home. If she was going to get the Gryffindor's help, it didn't hurt to actually get to know her as well. It would help figure out where Aubrey would be the most useful, at its most practical core. It never hurt to gain friends either during the process.

[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

“ I've been looking for you these past few days too!” well that would explain why it was hard to find the small chinese girl seeing as they were probably both searching in different parts of the Castle. Perhaps at the time Aubrey was waiting down where the Hufflepuff Common room was Yori was probably waiting up by the Gryffindor tower for her. It really was a big castle after all. “It’s a good thing I did stop by the lake. How have you been?” Aubrey nodded, indeed it was a good thing that the two of them finally happened to show up at the same place at the same time. It didn’t help that they were in different years so they didn’t have a single class together. “So have you and Dunstable practiced anything together yet? I know he’s quite good at charms from what Scorp tells me, so you should definitely be good in that area,

[/color]” she said softly and then she realized that she didn’t even know what Yori was good at. But then again, before that fateful night of the two of them putting their names in the Goblet of Fire together, she never really even knew the girl other than just her name, house and year.

“What classes do you do the best in?[/color]” she asked curiously as she sat down on the soft grass. She figured that since they were out there they might as well enjoy the last days of the fall before it became even colder out and they would have to wear heavy cloaks, mittens and scarfs, though Aubrey was already wearing her Gryffindor Scarf. She looked over at Yori, smiling at the girl to show that she really did want to help Yori out; she wasn’t going to leave her hanging after convincing her to put her name in the Goblet. Besides it wasn’t like she needed to help James. She was sure James’s ego would be his biggest problem and there was nothing that Aubrey could do about that.

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[YORI OSHIRO]

It was good that they were getting right down to business, she supposed. Though Yori had intended to catch up a bit, she understood this meeting was a bit spur of the moment, and she didn't have a whole lot of time left to implement any advice that Aubrey was willing to give. The hufflepuff was willing to take any advantage that she could find came time for the first task, and if she were lucky, score a surprise win with Dunstable by her side. She didn't want to be disregarded like she had been the night of choosing. On the other hand, it provided an excellent opportunity. The others would be focusing on what seemed to be more important threats, leaving an opening for her to fill. She supposed that was a favorite among Hufflepuffs.

”We've been planning,” she explained easily with a smile, ”Both of us are good with charms, so that's probably are strongest advantage.” Charms had a near universal use as well, beyond just dueling. If the two of them kept their knowledge of charms extensive, they would have a spell ready for most any sort of obstacle, at least in theory. She wasn't one to deny her potential emotional state in a given situation, which worried her more than anything deep down. Yori could at least go over options if she remained in a calm state. The chances of that were slim though, much to her dismay. She was likely to run into at least one of her fears in this thing.

She considered Aubrey's question, looking out into the water of the lake with almost pensive expression. It was the old paranoia creeping in, the idea of Aubrey possibly using the information later to her advantage. Wasn't that what she was doing now though? Yori was using Aubrey for her own advantage-- against her house, her friends. She had more to lose out of the deal than the champion did. ”I'm good at healing,” the hufflepuff began carefully, ”and I've... dabbled in a few curses as well. None of the illegal ones of course.” Oh, that had been awkward to admit. "I'm not really familiar with the more practical curses though. And... I freeze up a lot. I shut down very easily."

[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

Aubrey listened to Yori as she told her what her and Dunstable had been working on. Well it was good to see that the two of them were working together, it would’ve been bad if they were a team that couldn’t work together, it would probably be disastrous. Plus there was the fact that they had came in first with the first task, which was a plus, because she knew from watching that Yori wasn’t a fan of flying, like Aubrey, but Aubrey was getting better at it. That was for sure. “Hmm… perhaps we should work on keeping you from freezing up when it comes to casting curses. But You may need some defense spells as well. Reducto is a good one to know, it’ll blast thing out of your way. How well do you know that spell?[/color]” she asked curiously hoping that Yori had tried the spell at least once or twice.

As Aubrey waited for Yori to answer, she tried to think of some other spells that would be helpful in almost anything. Charms seemed to be a no brainer for both Dunstable and Yori, so they would need to work on defense and attack spells. Sure some charms could work that way, but not all of them. Did the two of them know how to cast a patronus? She didn’t think the school would put dementors in a task, but you just never knew what they might come up with. Then there was also the chance that they might put a Boggart in as well.

[YORI OSHIRO]

The idea of explaining to Aubrey how much she enjoyed the Reducto curse, in the certain childish glee that came with blowing something apart into such tiny pieces, was much too awkward to even humor the thought. When she had first learned the spell, her brother had found her in the aftermath of one of her nastier days at Hogwarts, and had quickly decided she needed something to blow off a little steam. Yori didn't really consider herself a violent person, but there was something oddly satisfying of doing this to vegetation when she just needed to get a bit of anger out. Just as long as she didn't tell Poppy about it. That habit of hers would certainly incur some harsh wrath from the plant lover-- not that she could blame her for it really.

With that in mind, Yori managed something of a sheepish smile. "I uh... am decently familiar with Reducto," she explained, "Though I'd feel awful using it on a creature or another person. I imagine it would cause more damage than the professors are intending." She supposed they wouldn't mind its usage on magical creatures, particularly when it came to a matter of life and death. However, she'd always feel guilty about the idea of causing fatal harm to a creature while doing the tasks. She prefer to at least be a little unsure about the fate of said creatures, like the sinking Grindylow in the lake. Without knowing whether the creature died or not, Yori could try and convince herself that it managed to free itself from its ropes before something disastrous happened.

"Though, uh, keeping myself calm," she muttered a bit quietly, "Yeah, it'd be a good idea. I don't want to freeze up in the middle of the task and cost us." The last thing she wanted to be was a liability. As for using a patronus, Yori wasn't really all that familiar with the skill, though she would be too embarrassed to admit. She had cast it once of course in the Defense Against the Arts class, but it had proven to be difficult and a bit taxing frankly. She also would hope to never come across an event in which she had to use it. Dementors terrified her in a way that was primal, and the speculation of one showing up in the tournament worried her half to death.

[AUBREY LYNN MCNEAL]

Aubrey nodded both for the fact that she was glad that Yori was familiar with the reducto spell and that perhaps it may not always be the best… Plus she wasn’t sure what the professors would think if they practiced it on a tree by the lake…

And then when Yori mentioned the freezing up a thought had came to mind. “Well I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with the freezing charm, but that could come in handy in case you want to freeze anything in its place temporalriy…[/color]” she said lightly, it seemed like a good spell to know in these cases, but what other ones could work.

Aubrey had taken out her wand and begun to twirl it in her hand as she tried to think of some more. “Well there’s the expecto patronum spell as well… but I highly doubt you’ll run into a dementor. At least I hope the professors don’t put one of those in… it wouldn’t just be bad for you guys, but for the spectators, at least the ones that have horrible memories… and I don’t think the Minister really likes the dementors anyways…[/color]” she said lightly remembering when Scorp had told her about the Dementors and how his father wasn’t entirely sure if he could trust them since they had so easily turned on everyone before…