Up high, in the sky, hundreds of stars twinkled brightly, and the moon shone eerily grey, but the beauty of the night sky was obscured by the thick layer of grey fog, that lay across the London city like a tight blanket. The night was a quiet one, with no one but an odd pedestrian walking quickly over graveled sidepaths. Now and then, a car would whiz past, spraying water from the rainfall a couple of hours ago, or the wind would rush along the corridors of houses, breaking the silence for a minute or two.

Isaiah Lewis, 12 years old, with an outfit so crumpled it looked as though it had been lying on the floor for weeks, walked casually down the streets of east London, idly kicking rocks with his feet, as if they were balls. Isaiah slowly proceeded down the path, with no care of where he was heading, and holding an annoyed expression on his face.
The school holidays had just started, and Isaiah was already dreaming of going back to his school. It had begun before Isaiah had even left the train station, with Keisha, his older sister, giving him a glare and reminding him that "if anyone goes into my room these holidays, they're dead." From then on, Isaiah had been told by his younger sister that she preferred the house "when you're at school,", and Ejaz had threatened Isaiah that he'd kill him if "you tell mum or dad about Lana,", Lana being his new girlfriend.

Yearning for an escape, Isaiah had fled as soon as he'd had the chance. His parents, both heavy workers, weren't home when Isaiah had left, and he still had a couple of hours until they arrived back home. Now, wandering the streets of London, he moodily kicked another rock, annoyed that he still had days more of his family until the holidays where over.
After kicking a couple more rocks, Isaiah looked up, scanning the streets for something to do. It was no point staying angry for any longer.

Soon enough, Isaiah spotted a ball, bright red and roughly the size of an orange, prefect for playing with. Well, better than rocks, anyway. It lay on a roof, with terracotta tiles, stuck in a thin gutter at the edge. Moving so that he could get a better view, Isaiah noted that the house, which was under the roof with the ball, was surrounded by a white wall, with a thick enough top, that anyone could easily walk along.
Isaiah walked straight up to the wall, and reached up to try and grab the top of the wall. It had a rough surface, good for grip, but much too high for Isaiah. He tried fruitlessly a couple more times, jumping up high, with his fingers outreached. But it was no use. He simply wasn't tall enough

Maggie had snuck out. It wasn’t particularly unusual, the girl was somewhat notorious for doing these kinds of things, and she’d been missing the chaotic energy of Hogwarts so much that she had to make a little of her own. Therefore, that night, she’d crawled out of her window, down the ladders that ran down her apartment building, and had been roaming the streets of London since. She’d come to a neighborhood, a nice one at that, nothing like hers. The quiet hum of cicadas and the chirping of crickets reminded her of the Summer camp she’d gone to for years before she was sent to Hogwarts. She narrowed her eyes as she walked down the gravelly sidewalk: a few yards away was a figure. Now, Maggie was brave, but she wasn’t dumb, and she’d snuck out fully aware that there was a good chance that she’d see someone wandering the streets of London at such a late hour. However, as the figure drew closer, Maggie began to recognize some of its features: and once she did, she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Isaiah Lewis! She’d seen him in passing a few times, as he was a fellow Gryffindor in her year, and she’d even invited him to a party once, so she recognized the face, even in the dark setting. “Isaiah?” she asked, incredulously, as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

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maggie parker
stamina-5 | evasion-6 | strength-6 | wisdom-4 | arc power-4 | accuracy-9

"Isaiah?"

As Isaiah heard the voice, he knew that there was something strangely familiar about it. Not being able to place who it belonged to, he turned around to find out, and saw Maggie Parker standing on the footpath.
He'd met Maggie only briefly, and hadn't gotten to know her that well, but he'd attended her birthday a couple of days back at Hogwarts, and she seemed like a nice girl. As a fellow Gryffindor, she was confident and friendly, with brown hair and a fringe, fair skin, and pretty eyes.

"Maggie?" he said back, the surprise obvious in his voice. Abandoning his attempts to climb the wall, he half jogged, half fast-walked to where she stood. "Why... what... I didn't even know you lived near here!" He said, grinning. Isaiah was glad to find a friendly, familiar face. The night was lonely, with no people around, and it was better to have someone by your side at a time like this then to walk alone.

But, when he reached her, Isaiah found that he didn't quite know what to say. Although they were acquaintances, with a couple of friendly encounters, it really ended there, and Isaiah didn't know how to start. Thinking quickly, he stumbled out, rather clumsy, a sentence. "So.. um, what are you doing here? Do, do you live around these parts?"

Reducio

ooc: sorry for the late response!

“Nope.” Maggie responded, popping the p and grinning at Isaiah lazily. She glanced his crumpled clothes, concern growing in her chest. She didn’t know him that well, so she decided to hold off on asking him until a little later. “I live in the ever-charming Brixton.” she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice, “It’s about a thirty minute walk from here— not bad, ‘specially since it’s in South London.” she paused for a second before asking, “Isaiah, what are you doing here? I mean, it’s what, midnight? Decided to take a nighttime stroll?” she asked, a rare expression of worry appearing on the happy-go-lucky Gryffindor’s face. Isaiah wasn’t homeless, his clothes were nice— he couldn’t have run away, could he? Maggie had pulled that stunt once— she was five, though, and she only made it a few blocks before she was tackled by her laughing older brother, Jason. But Isaiah was eleven or twelve, and there was no laughing brother chasing him and dragging him back home. She didn’t really know the boy, so she wouldn’t know if he talked about his family, but she was going to take a wild guess and say that whatever the situation was, it wasn’t good.

---

maggie parker
stamina-5 | evasion-6 | strength-6 | wisdom-4 | arc power-4 | accuracy-9

Isaiah looked shamefully down at his shoes when Maggie asked the question. Now that he thought of it, the act of running away seemed incredibly childish for someone his age. Not the one to think of the consequences, he hadn't even noticed how late the night was getting, oblivious to what was around him.
"I ran off," he admitted, he felt his face heat up as he spoke, and didn't have the courage to look at Maggie as he spoke. "My siblings... they were being annoying. I needed a break."

As he said the words, he began to feel more and more guilty. Isaiah had run away, causing his family to stress, just because he wanted some time to himself. It's not that bad, he thought to himself. They don't need me; but that didn't get rid of any guilt.

"Are you going for a midnight stroll?" he asked back, hoping for a change in subject. "It's a pretty good night for it. Not to cold, and the streets are basically empty. But," he said afterwards, not wanting to seem irresponsible for a second time, "I guess that isn't always a good thing at night, at a time like this."

“I get siblings being annoying, that’s for sure.” Maggie chuckled lightly, remembering her little sisters and brothers, who could never fail to find ways to annoy her. Her older brothers weren’t as much of a problem, or a problem at all, really, but Maggie had often been condemned to watching her little brothers and sisters, so she knew firsthand how annoying siblings could be. When Isaiah asked if she was going for a midnight stroll, Maggie responded with, “I guess you could say that,” a small grin on her face, Maggie continued, “It’s just— Hogwarts has been crazy. Like, junkie-living-under-a-mailbox crazy. And I’ve just had trouble adjusting— a year ago the craziest thing I’d done was put rats in my Principal’s desk, and now I go to a bloody magic school in Scotland! I guess everything has seemed so, well, bland, since I got back, and I needed to do something exciting, you know?” she grinned, but it was true. She’d been thinking about doing something exciting for awhile, but she’d been way too busy watching her siblings and working at this snowcone place on the corner. Yeah, as soon as she’d gotten back, she’d gotten back into the routine of babysitting and making snow cones, like she’d always done in the summers. It wasn’t so bad, and she got free snow cones whenever she wanted them, as she’d made friends with the other people who worked there.

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maggie parker
stamina-5 | evasion-6 | strength-6 | wisdom-4 | arc power-4 | accuracy-9

"I definitely know what you mean," Isaiah said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically and loud.
He loved his family, and the holidays were relaxing and calming. But, after the first couple of days, relaxing and calming becomes boring and dull, with nothing to do but look out the window and stare, reminiscing about the fun, exciting times he had back at Hogwarts. The house was empty most of the time, with his siblings off at their friends houses. Unfortunately, he didn't know any friends who lived around his area, so it became pretty lonely. That was, until Maggie came along. It was a relief to see someone from Hogwarts again.

"It's so boring at home. I mean, at first it was alright, and relaxing, but after a bit, it just became boring, with nothing to do at all. Sometimes I just wish I was back at Hogwarts, but, I know that as soon as I get back to all the homework and rules at school, I'll wish that it was the holidays again. It's like when it's summer, and you wish that it would be winter, but then, as soon as it's winter, you wish it would be summer." He stopped suddenly, and grinned self-consciously, aware that he'd blabbered on a bit.

Maggie was relieved that she wasn’t the only one feeling this way. “Thank you!” she said in agreement, laughing. “It’s getting kind of late though,” she said, glancing up to the starry night sky. “I’ll run by here at like, noon tomorrow and we can hang out then?” she asked, hopefully. Isaiah seemed really nice, and she wanted to get to know him over the summer. Usually her days were filled up with working and watching her younger siblings, and of course helping out with chores around their tiny apartment. When she had free time, though, she’d jump at the chance to hang out with some of her Muggle friends, but now that she’d stumbled upon a fellow wizard, he was added to the mix. “Did you know Min-Seo Kim lives around here too?” she asked, an idea blossoming in her mind. “Maybe we could all plan something together and hang out.” she suggested, smiling at the boy. She turned, giving Isaiah a small wave as she headed back towards her home in Brixton, leaving the nice, cookie-cutter homes behind to go to her ancient, cramped apartment that somehow managed to fit a family of 9, 10 when Jason’s girlfriend was over, which was like, all the time.

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maggie parker
stamina-5 | evasion-6 | strength-6 | wisdom-4 | arc power-4 | accuracy-9

"Min-seo?" Isaiah said. "Yeah, we were actually really close childhood friends. But I didn't realize she was a witch until recently, and that was a huge shock. That's a great idea, for the three of us to catch up. Send me an owl when you have a time and date."

He had enjoyed talking to Maggie, and it was good to know that there was a magical friends nearby for him to talk to. But Isaiah knew that he should be getting back to his home now. His parents would be back from work soon, and he didn't want them to worry. Plus, he would get in trouble if he arrives after his parents, and he didn't want that to happen. It would suck to get in trouble on the first part of holidays.

"Well, I've got to go now. I don't want to get in trouble with my parents, and they'll be back from work soon. Plus, my siblings might be worried too," he added as an afterthought. "Well, bye. See you soon!"
Then, without looking back, as soon as Maggie had started to head home, Isaiah began to walk home in the opposite direction, towards home.