Banner Credit: Sylvain

Spring Break
Early Afternoon

The year had practically flown by. Autumn froze into winter which melted into spring and it all happened so fast. Katrina was struggling to recall how exactly it was already spring. In the past few weeks, there were only a handful of things Katrina actually remembered doing. The monotony of everyday life quickly became an indistinguishable blur and Katrina was left with a handful of memories of months of day to day life that just seemed hazy now. It was odd. But it also left a craving desire to make memories. There was a part of Katrina that longed to do something new and fun and exciting, but she kept it carefully packed down where the desire wouldn't really affect her for now.

Katrina's guardians were out eating at a fancy London restaurant for late lunch/early dinner. It was some sort of sentimental thing for them. The first time they had gone out on a date had been there or something. Katrina had no desire to awkwardly sit while they reminisced and Liam had begged to go to Diagon Alley and check out some of the shops so Katrina had offered to go with him. Liam quickly took off into the broom shop and left Katrina outside, which was fine, she really didn't mind. She had no desire to ogle at brooms seeing as she didn't really like them to begin with. Her guardians had said it was fine for them to roam around the main street as long as they didn't go down any of the side streets or left the alley. Katrina had a phone to talk to Liam with (not that it worked well with so much magic around) and a wind-up watch and promised to meet at the Ice Cream Parlor in an hour and a half, so until then, Katrina had the freedom to roam around.

Katrina walked around the Alleyway and breathed in the scent of magic. Well, the scent of lots of people, little space, and assorted odd items that she couldn't identify the scent of. The window displays were fascinating and Katrina found herself looking at them over the heads of the shorter children desperate to run their fingers over the newest broom model or a potion that makes you irresistible, or a potions cauldron made of pure bronze. Several shopkeepers were sampling things or showing them to passerbys, baby dragons, no larger than your hand to live in your pocket, golden wristwatches that displayed not only the time, but what your family members were doing at that very moment, a kettle that didn't whistle but sang and would make the tea itself. A subtle hint of amusement and wonder filled Katrina's expression as she wandered.

The draw of the bookstore caught Katrina's attention not too long into her meandering. The calm, quiet and serene interior, quite the opposite of the cluttered sound of in the alleyway. Katrina found herself walking down the aisles of Flourish and Blotts, running her fingers down the spines of several books she passed. Katrina found herself looking at books on magical healing, again. It wasn’t like she could learn things above her grade, but the possibility of learning more, or at least getting more context. So there would be less unknown, so she could cast healing things better. Katrina slid the book out of the shelf and gingerly flipped through the pages, eyes darting around the page. She leaned against the bookshelf, oblivious to her surroundings.

London, not a place Jan was too terribly unfamilar with although last time he had went here, it had been far too humid for his liking and this time was no different. The boy was more accustomed to the more chilly and frigid climate that Durmstrang was housed in so this was a far cry from home. Nevertheless, he had begrudingly agreed to accompany his father on the trip overseas, something about an important client matter and while the boy would much rather be spending his temporary relief away from Durmstrang not having to burn up, it was nice to get a change of scenery every now and then to see how these English folk amused themselves. He adjusted the strings of his black hoodie stepping out in the crowd giving the street a rather amused look which happened to be flooded with wizards and witches of all kinds, not his kind but they certainly were a sight to behold.

His father had been in somewhat of a hassle when he had rushed out the door muttering something about the Ministry. What, pray tell, buisness did the Aalberg family head have at the British Ministry of Magic was not something Jan was too interested in nor he did he want to know. He took it as an excuse to slip out to see if he could at least bring back some souvneir. One of his mates back home had been livid to find out the boy was traveling over the break and sworn Jan into bringing back some rather textual souvneirs. More specfically, Jan had been tasked with bringing back some historical texts so that his buddy could at least try to imagine what it was like traveling around London. Something tourist-friendly, the boy thought to himself dodging several passerbys before coming to a stop before what happened to be a bookstore. Well, it certainly looked like one as evidenced by what could be seen through the windows as his head tilted up to drink in the name.

"Flourish and Blotts." He muttered to himself raising one eyebrow in interest.

Apart from the lively crowds, these Londoners also seemed to have a knack for creative titles. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided it could be worth a shot extending his arm to push open the door as he strode in and instantly, the hustle and bustle of the crowd that had been polluting his ears for the past ten minutes was instantly silenced by the peaceful and silent atmosphere of the bookstore. There were rows and rows of books to be found, people talking in rather lowered tones, similar to that of a library as he picked an aisle at random making his way down it. His eyes pored over the titles of various spines that loomed out at him wondering what would serve as a positive souvneir to remember this curious little place by. There was a wide range of selections ranging from Magical Maladies 101 to things such as A Niffler's Routine.

He withdrew his hand taking a few steps back as one of the books he touched seemed to take offense at this fact withdrawing further into the shelves. Intrigued, he reached out gripping the novel with his hand trying to pull it out and in response, the hard-cover tome rose a few inches off it's resting place to give him a solid thud on the arm before resting back into it's place. Deciding it wasn't worth his attention to exhaust all this effort on such a trivial thing, he turned his attention back on navigating down the aisle when he caught a shock of red hair. Someone else, a girl in fact who seemed to be rather invested in whatever publication she was flipping though. Someone who could help him, someone who wasn't a foreigner. Approaching slowly, he waited a few seconds before offering a polite greeting.

"Excuse me."

His light accent would give him away as a non-Londoner for sure. It was something he had been attributed to as Jan plastered on his best smile nodding to the text that the redhead had been paging through with a rather focused purporse. "I couldn't help but notice you seem rather familiar with this place, more than me anyways." Well, at least he had the English skills to make up for the accented tone, most his people back home wouldn't even be able to put a word or two together in the English lanaguage but could speak a novella in German.

Funny how that worked.

"Do you have any particular recommendations? I'm looking for something history-based of this..Diagon Alley." That was how they said it, right? He hoped he got it right.

"Dates, names, all that good stuff."

Anything would do really, something to appease his interest while his father probably meddled in affairs that he didn't need to. They'd agreed to rendevous afterwards but when that would be, Jan didn't know so a bit of exploration was never a bad thing.

Katrina was slightly at awe with the amount of new content in this book. She had been going through some muggle healing books over this break, reading up on some of the basics and how to properly address certain types of situations. But this book had a mass amount of knowledge that Katrina hardly knew where to start. Magical spells, remedies, past healers, the history of magical healing. It had it all. Katrina, still entranced by the book, only idly heard the door to the bookstore swing open, letting the noise from the alleyway slip in for a moment before it closed again. Katrina wondered for a moment if it was enchanted with a silencing charm to keep the noise out or if the seals on the door were just that good. The wannabe healer continued skimming the book, debating it if she was going to buy it after all.

Katrina was so enthralled by the book that she didn't register the boy that had approached her until he spoke. Her eyes darted up from the book, taking in a boy who looked around her age. She glanced down and remembered the book page-- 241-- before letting the book close. He seemed to be needing assistance of some sort and the book could easily wait for later. The boy didn't seem that much different from others at her school, dirty blonde hair, tanned skin, dark green and brown eyes, black hooded sweatshirt. But it was his accent that signified to Katrina that he wasn't likely from around here or from her school.

He commented on her familiarity and Katrina sort of glanced down at herself. She looked like she was at home here? Well, sure, she casually combing through a book in the magical bookstore, but to think that she looked like she belonged-- it brought an unexpected feeling of warmth through Katrina. Her outfit wasn't necessarily 'London' enough for someone to guess she was from here most likely, slightly oversized off-white sweatshirt (that she was only brave enough to wear because of the handy Spongify here and there), black leggings, and combat boots. Her fiery orange hair was down like normal, her wand safely stored in the homemade holster around her arm under her baggy sleeves.

Katrina returned her thoughts to the boy before her. "I do?" Katrina glanced back at the boy, "Well, you're not wrong… is there something I could help you with?" He clearly needed some sort of aid. But Katrina could help herself from a slightly amused and teasing tone leaking into her words.

The boy asked about the history of Diagon Alley, "Oh, Diagon Alley," For a moment, the Third Year was acutely aware of her accent, light British accent, leaning more to west coast America. Katrina scanned the bookshelves, trying to recall the Magical History of London book she had spied earlier, that was sure to have something about Diagon Alley in it. Katrina took a few steps to look down the neighboring aisle, making sure the boy was behind her. "You could just ask the bookkeeper, they would know better than I would where books are in this store," The teasing tone was slightly more obvious. Katrina kept one eye on the boy though, she wanted to make sure she wasn't unintentionally hurting his feelings, not that she would let the intentions be evident across her features.

Katrina found the History section of the bookstore, not too far away, it was less of an aisle and more of a mound of books though. Well, she assumed it was the history section based on the titles of the books. Hogwarts, A History, A History of Magic. She then looked for books titled with something to do with Diagon Alley or Magical London. "I warrant 'A Guide to the Magical World of London' would have something on Diagon Alley, don't you think?" Katrina removed the book from the pile and flipped through it, quickly finding a chapter on Diagon Alley, "The Leaky Cauldron was present long before Charing Cross Road was even planned in the nineteenth century; its true address is number one, Diagon Alley, and it is believed to have been built some time in the early 1500s, along with…[source]" Katrina read from the book before fading off. "This should be what you're looking for,"

Katrina handed the book off. "So you aren't from around here are you?," Katrina looked him up and down, "Durmstrang? If I were to guess based on your accent, which honestly doesn't say much," After hearing a response, Katrina would continue, "So what brings you to Diagon Alley?"

She was technically right. Jan could have just perhaps pulled aside of the fine people who manned this curious little store in order to inquire about his request which would have seemed like an feasible thing to do but in response, he merely shrugged his shoulders at her observation. "You seem like you know what you're doing, fräulein." He would much rather take his bets with the redheaded girl, she seemed nice. Well, at least she didn't appear offended or annoyed he had popped up out of nowhere and burst into her little bubble of peace. That, and trying to find an employee who worked here in this maze of books was probably a taller task than it looked like, the girl just happened to be nearby and willing to lend a hand.

He followed her lead watching as she removed a particular textbook giving it an intial flipthrough. He raised an eyebrow in interest at the piece of information she rattled off. "1500's? This place has quite the lengthy history." Germany wasn't even a nation then as he accepted the book gratefully nodding his thanks. Yes, this was perfect, the amount of detail and content it contained would satisfy a historical geek like his mates back at Durmstrang, this was as good as a souvneir as he could find but Jan did also find himself intrigued. He was broken out of his thoughts as the girl began to inquire about him as he nodded confirming her guess. It was far too obvious to any stranger what part of the world someone like Jan would probably hail from. "Very astute. Durmstrang indeed though I have to say it is not as humid there, this is all new to me." He waved a hand around them indicating the bookstore, the crowds outside and whatever else made up the entirety of London.

There were a lot of things that brought him to London. More specfically, his father's absurd dealings otherwise Jan was sure he would still be at home in Germany mulling things over in his room. "Father had some errands to run over the break so I decided to accompany him for the week." He really hoped it stayed at just that, Jan was curious to get to know more about this little place but more particualry, if all the people were as welcoming and outgoing as this girl in front of him, perhaps his time here wouldn't be as mad. Now, it was his turn to guess though it would be a relatively simple one given there was only major school in London who's names was repeated over and over. "Hogwarts, I presume?"

He'd only been to the castle one other time but even then, they hadn't the chance to explore the interior. From what he remembered, it was large and for a moment, he wondered if Durmstrang paled in comparsion to the English school but quickly pushed that thought out of his mind as he realized that in all his years of socal interactions, he had probably broken the first very rule and he did his best to amend that as best as he could. "I am Jan by the way. Jan Aalberg." He ran a hand through his hair as he took in the details of the newcomer he had stumbled upon. She defintely wasn't someone that you would just pass over in a crowd, not with that fiery red hair, curious to know exactly who he had the honor of meeting.

Katrina couldn't help as a smirk pulled at her lips at his comment. That she looked like she knew what she was doing. Though the word he used, 'fräulein', was unfamiliar to Katrina. She assumed it meant something like 'friend'. At least by the way he said it sounded like something nice or polite. She decided she would figure it out later. Language acquisition wasn't something Katrina ever really excelled at, but other languages had such wonderful words for things that English never quite satisfied.

He was indeed from Durmstrang. Well, Germany. What did Katrina know about Germany? That was the location of Durmstrang, that's about it. And that they have castles and pretzels. Nothing much for Katrina to talk about there that wouldn't seem extremely shallow. Then he mentioned the humidity change and Katrina smiled. "The humidity is always a change", Katrina recalled the change from Colorado to here and back again. Besides the altitude change, the dryness of Colorado versus the humidity of London was always something that was hard to get used to.

His father was running some errands over break. Katrina nodded, "Sounds nice. At least you got some travel out of it," Travel sounds amazing, but Katrina, unlike this boy, didn't have a reason to travel. And asking her guardians for a trip was one of the last things that Katrina would be interested in asking for. Though she had travel in the past, Colorado for her parents old friends, Italy last summer for a few weeks.

The subject changed back to Katrina for her school, "Oh yes, Hogwarts, my home for the past few years," Katrina smiled. That was a little more true than she wanted it to be. Hogwarts was the only place she truly felt at home. But that wasn't the topic for an easygoing conversation. Katrina dug herself out of her thoughts and back to the conversation at hand.

He introduced himself, Jan. At least ow Katrina had a name for the boy, "Well, Jan Aalberg, I am Katrina Walker. Pleased to meet your acquaintance," Katrina smiled and glanced down at the healing book held at her side. "So, did you want the book for you or an errand for your Father or something else? If you don't mind me asking that is,"

Jan was perhaps a bit taken aback at how accustomed these Londoners were with this horrid, ruddy, blazing weather. "This is all still very new to me. Back home, it is not unusual for tempatures to drop below zero on a daily basis." He briefly recalled a memory of where one of the first years dressed in a tank top and some shorts had gone out for a stroll in the cold-bitten snow climate and it was no surprise frostbite got to him early on. Perhaps not the wisest choice but at least, here, there was no risk of freezing to death, he silently thanked the deites he had left that overgrown fur coat at home. He would probably be sweating buckets if he had thrown that thing on. Sun and heat was not something that came to them often so it was a luxury Jan was doing his best to enjoy while he could. After all, it was hard to predict when he would be back on this little island nation.

His guess was right. The girl was indeed a Hogwarts student and that piqued his interest even more. Well, she had already had it from before but he had never really understood what made the castle so famous as it was now. It's students and the school were so widely talked about that it put not just the German school to shame but other various wizarding establishments as well and Jan struggled to grasp the fact why that was. As far as he could tell, they were no different than the others. He repeated her name carefully letting it sink into his memory. "Katrina." A pleasant and pretty name, the German boy thought letting a smile rise to his features. "In my language, your name would mean pure." He added as an afterthought nodding to himself.

"A very beautiful moniker for someone like you."

Pure, indeed.

He was lost for a moment perhaps drifting off into his mental space before finding himself brought back to the present by Katrina, attention shifting to the matter of the books. The thought of his father actually taking a moment or two to put his nose into some books would be the day he knew something was wrong. The Aalberg boy knew all too well his parents cared only about few things and those were wealth, their name and whether Jan was living up to their perfect picture example of him. He didn't really mind but for the most part, he knew he'd would most likely be getting an earful to listen to if his father saw that he was mingling with these "commoners." That term, he had heard much too often these days. "It's for one of my buddies." He ran his hand over the front cover of the book she had helped him pick out glancing down at it.

"My mate's really into learning about new places and not so I promised I would bring him back a souvneir, a book or something from here."

Maybe this would appease his thirst for knowledge. As far as Jan was concerned, he was looking forward to be bombard with all sorts of facts once his friend got his hands on this novel."Otherwise, I don't think I have ever spent more than ten minutes in a bookstore." He added chuckling slightly though there probably was a segment of truth to that statement. The whole idea of having to read page after page of ink just didnt't appeal to him, Jan was a more practical person by nature but to each their own. Maybe that was why he had been thrown into Atticus House, he could see no better reason.

"I will say however.."

Jan added, his gaze shifting to meet her eyes.

"If everyone is as pleasant as you here, I might actually enjoy it here more than home." The sense of warmth and the overall friendly vibe he felt here was not echoed back at Durmstrang where things were stricter, more reserved in nature to say the least.

Katrina had at least given him hope that was not the case here.

"Is it really a hat that puts you all into your houses?"

Jan. Katrina couldn't help but think about his name. What was in a name? Oh gosh, that Shakespearian book she'd read yesterday definitely had gotten to her head. She couldn't help think about him, the boy she was currently speaking to. Maybe it was more of Shakespearian wearing off but there was just something she couldn't quite put her finger on. No, she was just making it up. Playing with her own thoughts. Besides, last time she had felt this, it had ended up one way. The past feeling of hurt welled up and Katrina squashed it. She'd just met Jan, she couldn't be fantasizing already. No, focus Kat.

Jan repeated her name, a smile on his face. Why did it feel like this? He just said her name. And smiled. He was already smiling before? Wasn't he? It wasn't her that made him smile. Her name. Stop it Kat, get out of your head. Katrina's slightly snarky voice of reason returned and Katrina returned to reality.

Katrina had heard before that her name meant Pure. That hadn't much meaning to her before though, just a word. What else was pure? Something perfectly clean and bright. Like the color white. "A very beautiful moniker for someone like you." Jan's words made Katrina stop and take a look at him. Beautiful… her… Get. Out. Of. Your. Head. Kat. This time Katrina completely followed her internal voice.

Katrina listened to Jan speak about his friend, apparently he liked learning about new places, "This would probably be the best place for that. Otherwise Diagon Alley is the joke shop, brooms, potion ingredients and the like," Jan said buying the book for his friend would be the only reason he would spend more than ten minutes in a book store, "Well, what are you interested in then?" To Katrina, her younger life had been spent with her nose in a book, always learning or adventuring or studying. Now it was mostly for knowledge, filling in the gaps for what she had lacked in the ability to learn at the school, but it was still such a large part of her life she was curious to what kept Jan occupied.

There was a change in pace in the conversation and Katrina suddenly found her gaze meeting Jan's. "If everyone is as pleasant as you here, I might actually enjoy it here more than home," Katrina felt heat rise to her cheeks, "Well, I'd like to think I'm pleasant," Katrina joked, trying to not let it show how much his words meant.

Jan's next words caused a laugh from Katrina, "A hat that sings at that," Fond memories rose up in Katrina, "I was sorted into Gryffindor, house of bravery, symbolized by a lion," Katrina smiled, "I just realized how little I know about, well, anything about Durmstrang. You have houses and sorting, right? I'm guessing you don't have a Shorting Hat?"

He nodded as Katrina rattled off the various sorts of things that could be found here though he was paying perhaps only half attention, the other taking into account how open and willing this Hogwarts girl was on sharing the inside secrets this little island nation had to offer. His interest was piqued a bit at the mention of certain joke shops, a thing that would probably be practically unheard of at Durmstrang given it's rigid and stoic enviorment. This place was more fun, more friendly and it was beginning to appeal to the German boy. Well, not just the place, he thought to himself as he watched the redhead talk, the thought lingering in his head for a moment that it took him a minute to realize that that Katrina was asking him another question.

"Oh! Me, I..uh.." He said clearing his throat to compose himself. That wasn't normal for him, the senior Aalberg child was typically very confident of his ability to interact with others and it was rare he would be trying to fish around for words. There was just something about this girl, Jan couldn't quite place it but he kept drifting off someplace else each time she talked and he wasn't quite sure how to describe it. "Well, I'm more of a hands-on person. The adventurous type, dueling, flying, all the outside stuff." He decided not to bring up the fact that it was this same mindset that had strained the relationship with the staff back at school. Jan was known for his ability to take to any errand effortlessly but he was not known for doing it in a smart manner. Perhaps a bit brute-headed but he got the job done. "A singing hat." He repeated grinning not really believing what was coming out of her mouth.

Gryffindor, she had said, that curious little house with the lion. "I can see it." He said tilting his head looking her up and down. The fiery red hair, the jovial, outoging attitude, yes, it all made sense to him. "Well, we don't really have a Sorting really." No, they didn't have a fancy hat or any magical item that determined their fate for the next seven years though Jan supposed if Durmstrang implemented something like that, it would certainly make for some interesting reactions. "I honestly don't know how they do it, someone said it's based on how much magical prowess you show what sort of family you come from." That made sense to him though whether it was an an sound concept or not was an entirely different reason.

"Four houses, Atticus, Concinne, Liberalis and Terpscichora. I'm an Atticus, house of cunning, skill and bravery." There was also that whole bit about being exlempary in various Dark Arts that were offerd at the school but somehow, he didn't feel like that would go down too well here. If there was an glaring difference Jan had noted between his school and Durmstrang, it was the sheer amount of students that went here as compared to Durmstrang. The castle here was massive, understandbly so to accomdate the large range of students as compared to their moderate-sized one althought he somewhat knew the reason behind it. "Durmstrang's not for everyone though."

He added running a hand through his hair, It was always this bit that made people a bit wary of the Durmstrang kids, he really hoped that wasn't going to be the reaction he got here. "Our school..ah..doesn't accept Muggle-borns. It's been an ongoing debate in the German Ministry for years now." Politics, something that he loathed and this father enjoyed, Jan didn't understand how. It was just a bunch of men shouting at each other over things that probably wouldn't even have that much relevant impact on their lives.

He realized by now that he probably ranted on and on about a school far, far away that Katrina probably had no interest in visiting. After all, if you asked Jan, taking a trip to a school in the bitter cold and covered by snow where you were practically judged at every turn was not on everyone's vacation list. "Sorry, I get carried away some times." He said before nodding towards her. "Enough about me though, tell me more about yourself. I'm there's a whole lot more that makes up the merry and pleasant Katrina Walker."

Jan seemed almost lost in thought, like he was trying to figure something out, or he was focusing really hard on something. The thing was, there was nothing for him to really be thinking hard about, Katrina hadn't said anything she thought was confusing. Maybe she'd spoken too fast or… it was her that he was looking at. Maybe, she had something in her hair or on her face. Katrina raked her hands through her hair once, moving the part in her hair farther to the side. Jan stuttered out a response to her question of his interests, that shouldn't have been a hard question. But he was shaking himself out of something.

Jan went on to talk about how he was very hands on and adventurous. Dueling and flying and being outside. At the mention of dueling Katrina perked up. "Oh, dueling," She smiled, a light in her eyes, a similar interest. She tended to be somewhere between adventurous and pre-planning, leaning more to the latter. But there was an adventurous spark inside her, but it usually took a companion to come back into her normal demeanor.

Katrina introduced her house, Jan agreeing that he saw that in her. It was odd, how far Katrina had come from the quiet, introverted girl with her head in her books to the outgoing duelist who was prepared for anything. The hat had been right. Katrina recalled it mentioning that her Gryffindor self was deep down. She saw it now. That hat seemed to know her better than she knew herself. Jan explained how the sorting at Durmstrang worked, by how much 'magical prowess you showed' that seemed, odd. At least new to her. A school based on what family you came from. Where would a muggleborn be sorted, then? Perhaps not at all. Katrina wondered how much of that Jan focused on, he hadn't started the conversation by what family she came from, so maybe he wasn't as into that as it seemed his school might be. Jan mentioned he was from Atticus, a house of cunning, skill, and bravery. Seemed like it was a mix between Gryffindor and Slytherin, sort of how Katrina saw herself.

He mentioned that Durmstrang wasn't for everyone and went on to say that the school didn't accept muggle-borns, that it had been a debate for years. Katrina wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say. If she mentioned she was muggleborn there was a chance his whole view of her would go tumbling down. Then again, she didn't want to get to know him then say the truth or accidentally say the wrong thing and then he realized he shouldn't be associating with her. Maybe she should just stay quiet for now. Katrina was pensive for a moment, as he apologized for getting carried away.

Then the conversation swung back around to Katrina, what makes her, her in essence, "Well, I'm a duelist as well. Interested in healing, magical and non-magical. Am fascinated by dragons. Have a cat named Boomerang. Not a fan of brooms. Somehow always dragged into chaos of one sort or another. Recently been writing a fair share of letters. Tend to put more effort than its worth into school," Katrina listed off random things, honestly the first things that popped into her mind, "Currently escaping my grandparents from some sappy lunch date thing and am restricted to Diagon Alley so I can keep an eye on my brother... speaking of I don't have a crazy amount of time before I need to rendezvous with him," Well, they weren't as much her grandparents as her guardians, but she wasn't going to lead with that, besides, she'd been playing around with referring to them as 'Papa' and 'Gramma' which sounded grandparent-y. And she did only have a few more minutes to chat before she needed to chase down her brother.

"While I still have some time, what about you? Certainly there's more to Jan Aalberg than meets the eye,"

Jan certainly paid attention when Katrina brought up the fact that dueling also happened to be one of her favorite past-times. Jan wasn't sure how skilled she was with her wand but he had to assume that if she took an vested interest in it, the girl could perhaps give him a run for his money. "We'll have to put that to the test sometimes. Who knows, I might learn something new or vice versa." He said winking jokingly patting his pocket where his oaken wand lay sheathed finding himself rather comfortable with how this converstation had been turning out. Maybe it was due to the fact that Katrina was so receptive, otherwise, the other patrons of this bookstore looked like they had seen a thestral and wanted nothing to do with society. The redheaded girl on the other hand illuminated everything about happiness and he found that was pretty alright with him.

Okay, so they were both in the same boat. The German boy was ridding himself of his father's accursed Minstry trip and Katrina had sought out a few moments of peace from her grandparents, maybe it was just sheer luck or fate that brought them together. Jan didn't believe in all that philsophical stuff but for once, he was willing to make an exception. "I'm honored you think so." He said dipping his head in a sort of bow. Jan had quite the reputation back at Durmstrang but he wouldn't want to scare Katrina off. He was nervous, he didn't know why but this was one converstation that he didn't want to screw up. Naturally, converstations like this would come easy-going to him but for some reason, his words and his manner of talking were careful, paced and observant perhaps fearful of the fact that one mistake would end up in this entire thing blowing up in his face.

It didn't help the fact that Katrina was also on a time crunch as she gently put it. He wanted to make every second count, he doubted his father was anywhere near done haggling with the Ministry goons but he certainly didn't want the senior Aalberg to come scouting for him in the midst of London's wizarding population, that was a diaster waiting to happen for a lot of reasons. "Well, where to start..you make it look so easy." He said grinning rubbing his chin. Jan wanted to know what was the inspiration behind naming the feline Boomerang, he could think of a bunch of reasons. The only pets he had was a great, big hulking snow owl that looked like it could make you crumble before it's gaze if you looked at it for too long. "Like you, I'm an avid dueler. Eldest child of the Aalberg family, both my parents are lawmakers for the German Ministry of Magic." Not a fact he was proud to admit, there was a certain stigma that tended to follow you around in the world of politics, a reality that he tried to distance himself from.

They were more alike than he though. Duelers, students, and like Katrina, he hadn't been too much on board with the idea of flying around on a broomstick though to be fair, he wasn't opposed to it. Jan knew how to fly but he simply didn't want to deal with the different personalites and competive faces when it came to Quidditch, too much stress for him. He took a glance at the clock that was mounted on one of the walls, the Roman numerals depicting the time. A couple of minutes, she had said before they'd each have to attend to their own matters yet there was a part of Jan that would not feel right if this was the only satisfying converstation they would have. She'd mentioned something about letters, hadn't she?

"Hey, um.." He cleared his throat as if trying to pull the words out of somewhere so he could formulate them into a comprhensible sentence. "You said you write letters, right?" At least, he had thought he had heard it. In any case, it seemed reasonable for any witch and wizard given that was their primary mode of communcation, Jan had never really fully understood why Muggles needed an entire vessel to transport their mail, were they that priveleged? That was the way he saw it at least. "I was wondering..um.." Mustering up the confidence and courage that had been instilled in him from Durmstrang, he managed to force the words out eyes flicking to meet her own searching for a reply to his request. "I just uh..you know..thought if you wanted to keep in touch that..um..we could..write?"

He let the question linger in the air his fingers crossed as he knew it was perhaps a long shot but it never hurt to ask. Jan didn't know why he had but there was something, something his mind couldn't place it but he had felt drawn to their talk and it seemed like an sin if he just let this blow away into the wind. It was worth asking, at least that was his father always said. You would never know if you didn't try and that was what he was doing right now.