Ross was going to inform the girl that it was quite alright. He would figure out what and how to eat later on his own, as he assumed the people here had to at least be a little friendly. Surely they would understand his predicament, right? Still, before he could say anything the girl managed to interrupt the whole deal with her own thoughts. It was rather peculiar to take back someone's own word, but Ross was already curious enough. If he could find one part of the story, he was certain he could connect it to the rest.

The girl's consistent peeking through the freezing window out into the snowy world certainly sent him some signs that she was hiding too, or perhaps awaiting something. Both would make sense, but it made him unsure of how she would try to hide it. It did not make much sense to him, but he supposed his actions probably did not make much sense to her either.

Luckily, the girl seemed fine with what he confessed. If anything, she seemed rather supportive. The anxious look on his face was soon replaced with a genuine smile. His shoulders untensed, and he seemed to take a deep breath of air as he sunk back into himself from the tense position he was in before.

"Thanks ,Milly..." the boy mumbled, seemingly much more relaxed now that he could feel like his issues had been forgiven.

Milly.

The name sort of fit.

Ross decided he would continue to refer to the girl with the flaming hair as Milly. It had a ring to it that he could not help but enjoy, and he hoped she would like too. It had sort of slipped out at the moment, but he was sure she had been called that at least once in her life so it could not be that horrid for her.

His smile only got wider at the joke she made at the end.

"Yeah... Can't believe I'm sayin' this, but I think I miss goin' to Hogwarts. Even potions!" he remarked.

Hogwarts had ruined his relationship with his parents, but it had also been so full of excitement. It was buzzing all the time, and there was always at least one person to listen to consistently chatter. The environment was so nice, and it felt nearly supportive. He would say it felt like a family if he had had any friends at the time.

As she began to explain her situation, Ross hurt the faint chatter of adults. The streets had been rather empty at that time that day, so hearing the adults certainly felt abnormal. It was only worse when his suspicions it was abnormal were confirmed, as she informed him to duck. He could never be sure if it was connected, but he had a sneaking suspicion that they had to do with her.

Ross, matching her energy, collapsed within his seat and allowed himself to sink to the ground and under the table.

"What's goin' on?" he whispered, as if they were within the store.

Hiding under a table with @Mildred Wilson

Thump Mildred tensed in fear, focusing and listening for the sound of the bell rung of her parent's walking in, Thump Mildred could hear her heart pounding in her chest as she hid under the table. "Please don't come in here, please don't come in here" She whispered under her breath, she even crossed her fingers for extra luck- thankfully, she didn't hear anything.

Yet.

She realized that her parent's had not entered, she released a sigh of relief. " UHM WELL" She clasped her hands over her mouth and removed them realizing she had spoken perhaps a little too loudly, "Well... Uhm... oh wow do you see the moss over there?" She whispered at him and pointed towards the moss near the wall, "Moss... I kind of like that, I think I'll call you Moss." She shook her head, "I mean... If you don't want to be called that I totally won't- but being called moss sounds pretty cool you know." She started counting on her fingers, "I mean reason number one, they protect the soil!" She put down another finger, "Reason number two, don't they help plants? I think so anyway, moss are super cool." She rambled on.

With her mind on moss she nearly missed the chime of someone entering the parlor, she caustically peaked out and gulped- it was her parents. She looked back at Ross, "So uhm.. promise you won't be mad? I might have... ranawayfrommyparents" she said in one rapid go followed by a quick, "Without telling them and they're kind of standing... at the door" in the lowest voice she could muster, She heard her parents start talking, "I don't know if I trust them anyways, are you sure they had said someone that looked like her walked in here?" . "It doesn't hurt to try, we should stop here for a second to think where she could have gone." she tensed in fear- "They probably are really mad at me" Of course, she had never been grounded in her life and has only seen her parents upset at her only a handful of times, what if they were to take her out of Hogwarts? the mere thought of that starting welling up tears, "Oh my merlin, Ross!" She yelled towards him in a hushed tone, "What if they take me out of Hogwarts?? and I never see you again" she might just have a panic attack right then and there- she really loved it at Hogwarts, surprisingly. At first, of course, she might have wished that the school would burn down but now, she has found herself enjoying her days at the magical school.

Listening to the girl beg in such a pathetic tone left him terrified. This must have been a gigantic issue to her, and it was such a contrast to how she had acted prior. When he had first met the poor girl, she seemed so confident. She radiated with this energy that drew him in. He never imagined he would see her in this state or even in this location, yet here he was. The only expression he had on his face was pure concern, but he was too fearful to speak in case they were to come in. He held his breath as if he were underwater. It was not until the girl spoke to him that he took another breath, but he proceeded to cover his mouth as if breathing would cause unnecessary eyes looking at the two of them.

Instead of some serious remark, she proceeded to call him Moss. If he was not covering his mouth, it would have been clear he was smiling; however, he was trying to act serious for the girl in front of him. Her little ramble was adorable to him, even though he often would do the exact same thing she did. As she finished her ramble, he took his hands off his mouth.

"Alright, as long as i getta call ya' Milly it's a deal." he remarked with a goofy grin on his face.

Hearing the chime freaked him out a little too, but only due to Mildred's reaction. He somewhat sunk into himself as she whispered. This was clearly intense to her, and if it was intense to her it was certainly intense to him too. He did not even have time to open his mouth before he heard the low mumble of adult voices.

There was something scary about adult voices. They had power. They had confidence. They could strike down someone's day in an instance if they were angry, and these were clearly frustrated. Ross was not sure if that was worse or better than an angry parent, but he supposed two of them could be a living nightmare. As they spoke, everything began to make sense with Mildred.

So that was her deal.


It was horrid. Parents like hers seemed so intimidating, and it only showed as soon as she began to mumble. The mumbling was horrid. She simply seemed to weak at the time. The only time Ross had seen anyone so panicked had to have been... well, never it seemed. He had only seen Flash heartbroken, and another person he hardly even caught the name of mourning a dead relative. It was heartbreaking, but this is one of the things he had no clue how to get out of. He was constantly helping with issues of the past, but never present moment issues. This was new.

New issues required new solutions

As she panicked and claimed they were going to take her out of Hogwarts, Ross was extremely tempted to look over to her and inform her he was not going to let that happen, but he felt that might be too dramatic and not exactly what someone needed. Well, more of what anyone needed.

Ross was already far from home. He hardly knew anyone in the area, and Mildred was the first familiar face. If he were to get in trouble, they would have nobody to tell. All they could do was yell at the boy, and while Ross was terrified of being shouted at the girl seemed to be on the verge of sobbing her eyes out. Besides, he was hungry. There was never a worse fate than being hungry, after all.

He did not even give Mildred a second glance as he grabbed onto her wrist, tugging her upwards and out into clear view of the two adults that stood before them at the door. He lifted Mildred's hand up above both of their heads, squeezing once in an attempt to let her know it was okay. He proceeded to draw his wand with his free hand.

Hopefully the strong core would serve him well in faking.

He pointed it directly at the two in front of Mildred, keeping direct eye contact. He had once claimed he would make a good theater kid, but it was time to put that theory to the test.

"Is this your girl?" he inquired, an attempt at a raspy voice failing him miserably.

The boy coughed a couple times, attempting to find a reason for some sort of redo.

"I'm holdin' your daughter hostage! he exclaimed with much more force, his normal voice being brought out. "I stole 'er off the streets because.. erm..." he mumbled, realizing he had no excuse to take her.

The boy's dark eyes frantically bolted around the room. There was not exactly anything he wanted, and asking for it would probably end up futile. He had to come up with something not illegal on the spot, though he was rather sure what he was doing right now was illegal.

"SHE TOUCHED MY MOSS! YOU BETTER CLAIM 'ER NOW!" he yelled far much more passionately than he intended.

Interacting with @Mildred Wilson

Moss was most definitely an interesting choice of name for someone, although it just seemed to fit Ross almost... in a weird way- Mosses have been living on earth for a long long time, therefore they have survived many things mother nature has thrown to them. It almost reminded him as well she was sure he would survive whatever he was going through that lead him to run away from home.

She could feel herself rambling again,"Of course I'll let you call me Milly! I mean I didn't think you would you know... let me call you Moss exactly, it is a strange name BUT She held up her hand in a stop motion, "They are extremely helpful and plus they seem like such a friendly plant you know? Do you think I could grow Moss? I mean that's a thing right, When I get back home I'll find some moss in honor of you, I'll place it in my ro-" The girl ramble came to a sudden stop, it was then she remembered would she even get to home? What if she had to be on the run forever, or rather what if her parents locked her at home forever since she ran?

Fear

Is this what Fear was? was there even a name for the feeling that was coursing through her right now? Mildred wasn't sure if she has ever felt fear in her life, she thought back to the time that a bunch of kids took Chicken and threw him around, that was fear, right? The feeling of being helpless, like she was trapped in a box underwater with no one to help her- she pleadingly looked at Ross. Of course, there was nothing the boy could do- it was awful of her to even ask him to help her in a situation like this but with nothing else, no one else to turn too she only hoped he would be able to help her.

In her panicked mind she remembered all the good times she had at the school, all the people she met, plus even the tasty food... she might never drink any pumpkin juice as good as the ones at school. She would even say it- she would miss class. Oh dear, she would never learn any spells- she knew of the other magic schools however they seemed... extreme in their ways. She would never be able to eat with friends again, who did she even know back at home? She would never get to be in the library again, the common rooms- nothing. It was that moment when she felt something grab her and pull her up, surprised she ducked almost a second too late, she would have probably hit the table. She whispered-yell at Ross when he was pulling her up, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'RE GOING TO-" she stood right there in the open with Ross, and even worst her parents were looking full-on at her, surprised.

Ross positioned her hands above and she felt him squeeze her hand, she wasn't even sure what was happening at this point although she knew that she trusted him. She called it a gut feeling or whatever, or perhaps the grumble in her stomach was she wanted Ice cream also or she was deeply terrified, she thought it was the latter- although she gave him a weird nickname and in her mind that meant he was to be trusted.

She couldn't help but hold in her laughter when she heard Ross attempt to sound older, although ultimately failed as she started giggling, it did sound almost like a dying horse. She has probably never seen her parents this shocked, she wasn't even sure what to say. She looked back at Ross for some guidance, when she thought This is really happening. In her best attempt at making her voice a higher pitch- almost like she was crying or whining in a weird way, "y-yeah THAT'S RIGHT"

She pointed at Ross, "I TOUCHED HIS MOSS, I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF" without realizing it she had said it louder than intended, "BUT I DON'T THINK IT WAS A GOOD REASON TO BE TAKEN HOSTAGE FOR" She broke free and pulled a little bit away from Ross before finally stepping closer to her parents and looking at them, she quickly looked at him before to assure him that he wasn't really angry or something at him. "It all happened so suddenly, Mother and Father! I was outside the shop and I saw him walking past me when I had accidentally bumped into him- therefore touching his moss." In the heat of the moment she wasn't even sure if she was supposed to agree or disagree that she touched his moss, she said the first thing that came to mind- crap, she hoped she didn't ruin anything- in situations like this, didn't the person disagree to the crime? she should really watch more shows or something.

Interacting with @Mildred Wilson

Mildred stood there panting, trying to calm down- clearly, she never meant to be this "excited". If you were to look at her, her shoulders would be tense and rising up and down almost like a wave, her hands held onto her coat almost as if it were her lifeline.

She watched as the faint emotion of surprise flashed on her fathers face, however it was gone within a blink of the eye. A true trait of a businessman, the ability to pretend. Her mother, on the other hand, covered her mouth in shock- it looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Mildred Wilson, get here this instant!" her father's voice boomed through the parlor, she jumped slightly from it. "Y-yes! I'm coming." She found herself automatically heading towards them, and stood right in front of them- something she has done countless of times, how many times has she taken this position in front of her parents as they disagreed with something she did? She looked at her mother, always the silent one.

"Did you think it was funny to mess with your mother and I?" She looked down at the ground, trying to focus on anything else but them. She counted the cracks on the ground, as her father went on. "One... two... this crack is a little shorter than the rest... three.." Her father's voice once again snapped her out of her thoughts,"You scared both of us to death! What if something happened to you? What if someone had stolen you for blackmail?"

Mildred wished that she was anywhere but here, she would rather be sitting in potions class listening to the professor going on and on about some sort of ingredient, "Worst of all, you dragged some boy off of the street to join you in your joke." Mildred looked up, "Hey! Ross isn't som-" her father shouted at her, "ENOUGH! you will apologize to him this instant! She looked back at Ross and took a few steps towards him, "I'm sorry... for dragging you into this." She quietly said- she heard her mother in the background tell her father, "Maybe Hogwarts isn't the best place for her.."

She frowned as her parents called for her to come back, "We're going home right now." her father had finally said. As she stood behind them, right as they were about to open the door. "WAIT!" she yelled out, she looked back at Ross- she couldn't leave him here all alone, right? "We should..uhm.. bring him with us!" she stepped away from her parents, "Just in case... he goes out and tells everyone what I did! that would clearly ruin your reputation." she looked at Ross, hoping that he wouldn't be upset at her for this.