Anniebelle watched as Jake quickly took off and as he returned from where she sat hovering, then heading back to the shack on his word, "Alright well that sounds like a plan, we should probably get another fire going to warm her up--I'll share my breakfast with her."

After speaking practically on que her stomach growled loudly as she made her way back to the ground heading back towards the shack, she dismounted her broom as she headed back into the shack with the door open for Jacob to either fly into or what through the doorway.

Landing on his doorstep, Jacob morphed back into his human form before entering and closing the door behind him. Then he went about preparing the fire, stacking wood delicately before blasting it with magic to light it. The fire roared to life then, instantly dispelling the worst of the chill from the room. Finally, he finished up preparations by reheating their food with magic, all within around seven or eight minutes. Sprawled against the cough, his body suddenly went tense when he heard the doorknob jiggle, looking to Annie for a sign of her reaction.

Eventually appearing at the shack, Cassi eyed the fire from outside the windows wearily, chewing her lip as she fidgeted at the doorstop. Deciding to just go for it, she took a deep breath and opened the door, expecting to be yelled out or thrown out. Instead, she saw Annie and Jacob lounging around, though their faces seemed to melt when they saw her for some reason.

Setting her new friend down, she let Sparky go, watching as he vanished into the fire. Out of nowhere, Cassi started crying, holding the unicorn hair forward as a peace offering. "I-I'm s-sowwy!" she sobbed, silver eyes obscured behind a veil of tears. "I-I d-didn't m-mean t-ta m-make y-you m-mad, h-honest!"

Anniebelle set her broom down and darted to the door when she heard the door knob jiggle. She couldn't help but scoop Cassi up into her arms, "Cassi, if anyone should be sorry it's me. I was over-thinking everything, I wanted to get the adoption papers from my Parents--I wasn't thinking clearly. I didn't want anything to happen to you, but I thought too far ahead. I'm just glad you're alright and we're not mad at you, I promise--you did nothing wrong."

It took everything Jacob had to resist running over with Annie and squeezing the ball of cute commonly called Cassi half to death as well. Honestly, her tears broke his heart. She actually believed that it had been all her fault, which was preposterous. But she didn't see it that way. Her home life couldn't have been much better in order for her to think that poorly of herself, and Jacob found himself glad that she was free of her parents if they had indeed created that type of environment.

Blinking at being picked up, Cassi squirmed fearfully, afraid of being punished or something, before she realized that Annie was apologizing as well. Eyes wide at the announcement that she had done nothing wrong, Cassi relaxed, though only slightly. Surely she had been at fault somewhere. She always was. Maybe she could figure it out later.

Letting Annie hold her closely, Cassi's sniffling and hiccups slowly subsided into nothingness. Still afraid she had done something wrong, Cassi handed Annie and Jacob their balls of unicorn hair, the white strands glistening brightly. Jacob seemed a bit edgy for some reason, though she couldn't figure out why. Then it hit her: she had done something wrong! Something she had done had obviously unnerved him, but she didn't say anything yet, waiting to see if the unicorn hair was an appropriate payment.

"Cassi, I promise you, you acted the way you should have you thought you had done something wrong, but you didn't. There's no punishment for you, we are just glad that you're okay. Unicorn hair," Anniebelle spoke questioningly as she took the ball of hair stuffing it in her pocket as she continued to hold Cassi not wanting to put her down, "I know there's unicorn's in the Forbidden Forest, just please don't go into the Forbidden Forest again. The Forbidden Forest is a place where the students are forbidden to go, I don't want you to get in trouble for going in there again."

"Cassi? Do you no how much this is worth?" Jacob asked, taking the ball of unicorn hair carefully. "It's gotta be at least ten galleons an ounce for sure! How did you get it anyway?" Still excited, he placed the hair on his desk, fully aware that Cassi would never take it back. Turning back to Cassi, he nodded along with Annie. He didn't think she should be going back there either.

"Well, I met a centaur in the woods, and he took me to his little village so I could get rid of a snakey thing for them," she stammered*, her chin resting on Annie's shoulder as she pointed out the orange and black serpent. "He was just hungry though, so I offered to feed him, and when he climbed onto my back, the centaur hauled me out of there and to a clearing, where I took a break. While I was sitting there, a unicorn came out out and let me draw her! She even snuffled me! I think she liked me, but I'm not sure why. The picture's still in my sketchbook."

"Wh-Why i-is it f-forbidden th-though?" Cassi asked, tilting her head curiously before yawning. Even that relatively short hike from the clearing had tuckered her out thoroughly. She still didn't really believe in Annie's promise, having no faith in herself to compliment her faith in Annie, but she was too tired to argue, so she let it slide, waiting patiently for an answer.

*Cassi still does stutter. It's just that her story was too long to make every other word a stutter. :sweat:

"It's forbidden because there is more than just a few harmless animals in those words. Gigantic man-eating spiders, sometimes werewolves, god knows what else. That's why you should never go in there, I'm pretty sure the snake you brought in could tell you some pretty amazing stories about how he survived this long," Anniebelle grinned tapping Cassi's nose.

Curiously, Jacob leafed through Cassi's sketchpad, amazed at the detail and such of her art. It was worthy of Picasso or da Vinci, at least to him. It wasn't abstract though, so Picasso was probably a stretch. Still though, the picture of the unicorn took his breath away. Unlike so many of the others, it was in color, seeming to be real enough to touch it just by reaching out. Blinking in shock, he tuned into the tail end of their conversation, hearing Cassi's yawn. He went to get her a bottle then, speechless over the drawing.

"I-I d-didn't kn-know," Cassi explained, yawning again as she listened to Annie's explanation. "I-If I-I s-see the u-unicorn again, I-I'll hafta g-go s-see her, s-so I w-won't p-promise." Then she took the bottle from Jacob, popping the rubber end into her mouth before suckling over Annie's shoulder, her arms holding the bottle and leaving her at the mercy of Annie's grip. While drinking down the cold formula though, Cassi started dozing off, her head drooping several times before she fell asleep, drooling on Annie's robe slightly.

"It's alright, Cassi--I promise," Anniebelle cooed speaking softly, "If you do see the unicorn again, we're going to go with you. We're not letting you go alone and we will all go under our invisibility cloaks for safety measure's. You and I will also bring our broom's, just in case we need a quick get-away."

Anniebelle noticed that Cassi had fallen asleep and went to sit on the couch, so that it would take most of Cassi's body weight off of her arms.

Watching his two friends with interest, Jacob walked over and sat across from Annie, the sketchbook placed on his lap. "She certainly sleeps a lot," he observed, shrugging. "It makes sense, of course. Do you want to see her drawing? She's truly an amazing artist. Mindblowing even." Tapping his foot for something to do, he bit his lip while he thought.

"She seems to have forgiven us, or herself, or whomever she blamed. Honestly, I hate the people who made her think that she was always at fault. Her self-esteem is probably in the negatives!" he continued, shaking his head while his eyes flashed. "Do you think she believed you when you said we were the ones at fault?" Taking his plate slowly, Jacob began to eat, his stomach demanding nourishment now.

"Yeah, she does sleep a lot, but I'm pretty sure we did too--when we were her size," Anniebelle chuckled, trying to shrug off the fact that Jacob still had not said anything about what she told him last night.

"No, I didn't see her new drawing yet, but I've looked through her sketch book before--she is a very talented girl. I'm glad she seems to have settled down. Hopefully we can gradually bring her self esteem up. I'm really not sure if she does, but I hope sooner or later she'll realize she is only human and that she can't blame herself for everything," Anniebelle added as she started to rub Cassi's back, after which she grabbed her breakfast and started to eat.

"She must certainly need it," he chuckled as well, glad that the tension in the room had drained a bit. "But she's so sweet when she's asleep, so it's a win-win. Don't you think?" He couldn't help but feel that Annie was expecting something, but he had no idea what it could possibly be, so he left it alone. If it mattered, she'd tell him.

"I think talented is an understatement, but yeah, she's certainly amazing," he said, nodding as he finished off the food on his plate. Boy had he been starving! "The sad fact is that she might never really see things that way. Psychological scars like that are the hardest to heal. I'm not even sure where to begin." Pushing the drawing over towards Annie so that she could see it, Jacob stretched back, relaxing.

Anniebelle set her food down and brushed her hand off on her robe, then picking up the sketch book the new drawing was magnificent, "She is adorable when she sleeps, so I guess it is a win-win. She's her own Leonardo Da Vinci--that's what she is, most definitely. I think in time she will, emotional scarring can heal over time with love and a positive environment."

Anniebelle set the sketch book down, biting her lip, the taking a deep breath, "About--last night, you didn't know what to say.."

"Yeah that is true, but I'm a little worried about our ability to give that to her. No matter what we think, those other kids won't make it easy on her," Jacob pointed out, brushing a stray lock of hair out of Cassi's cherubic face. He took a swig from his bottle of water again, perking up at Annie's words. "Oh, that again. Well, to be honest, I didn't know what you were saying exactly either. I know, I'm oblivious, but I have lived by myself for the past three or four years."

"I can do my best to protect her, her and I have the same classes, so that should prove to be beneficial," Anniebelle commented then running his words through her head once more before responding to his end statements feeling her cheeks warm up once more, "I-I like you, more than a friend, Jake. I wanted to know how you felt about me, I understand if you don't feel the same way about me.."

"That's good. Make sure to scare the crap out of everyone so they won't mess with her," he responded, chuckling. Then the next comment sobered him up a bit. "I... see. This is going to sound awful, but could you give me a day or two to think about it? I've never been good with emotions, so I need to sift through them myself before I can give you an honest answer. I know, lame, but it's the way it is." Sighing, he waited for Annie's reaction, afraid that she'd be hurt.

"With my invisibility cloak I'm sure I can think something up to scare the pesky Slytherin's," Anniebelle grinned, "I can give you a few days to think, if you need it. I mean, everyone is different, so telling one person something can cause different reactions in every person. That, and it's honestly better than the one I commonly have gotten is a 'no' to my face and a 'you're a freak--no one would ever date you'.."

"Thank you for being mature about this," Jacob said, his body loosening visibly. "It's just that I can't give you an answer because I don't have one, and I won't give you false hope. That's cruel and pointless; worse so than calling you a freak and such, though I would never do that either. If you're a freak, so are Cassi and I." Eyeing the little girl's sleeping form, Jacob was suddenly curious. "Did she know about this?"

"Being childish would have gotten us both no where," Anniebelle sighed softly to herself, now it was time to play the waiting game and waiting on Jacob's answer was rather unnerving. "Well, I'm glad you will at least think about it. Did she know about this? What me liking you? Yes, she did, I told her--er well she kind of noticed it too, at least I think she did, but I guess one can never be too certain."

"Children are often quite perceptive," Jacob agreed, eyeing Cassi with more curiosity than before. She certainly was an enigma. "So... What do you want to do to kill time? I've got nothing, so shoot some ideas out there." Tapping his foot at the slightly awkward silence, Jacob whistled softly, trying to pass the time. There really wasn't much to do around the school though, especially not around the shack. It made the days quite long at the beginning of the year.

"Why, yes they are. They are mighty wise--even beyond their years," Anniebelle chuckled, still rubbing Cassi's back. "I'm not really sure of what to do to kill time, I mean we could probably think of something to do. That box on the bed is from one of my friends in Ireland there's a large pouch of herb in it--more than likely herbs that you have never heard of. You can have them if you would like, I prefer to pick my own."

Anniebelle finally went back to eating due to the continual growling of her empty stomach.

"Well, I was thinking something like chess," Jacob replied, looking towards the clock. It was almost eleven, so they had about an hour until those two men came back to take Cassi to America. It would take him a lot longer than that to go through the herbs. "Or something else if you would prefer. I don't really care." Standing, he took Cassi from Annie carefully, laying her on the couch before wrapping her snugly in a blanket. He knew just how cold it could get in the shack, even with the fire going.

"Yes, chess sounds nice, though it has been a while since I have played it, but I'm pretty sure I could manage," Lyssa grinned softly. "I'm not really sure I could think of anything else to to do that might even appeal to you. That and I didn't bring anything with me that could even be used for any sort of entertainment--though I kind of wish I did. Besides the fact that I carry Rupert around, he doesn't really play that much."

"Great then!" Jacob said, fetching his chess set. It was a set his grandfather had given him when he got accepted into Hogwarts. The glass figures were colored gold and silver, and elaborately decorated with details. He really loved playing, but very few people actually wanted to because of who he was. That's didn't include the fact that he lived out of the dorms. "You'll do fine. I haven't played in a while either. I'll have to look for something for you that will entertain you for Christmas then, huh? I'm actually a little worried about what to get Cassi to be honest. I have no idea whatsoever." Setting the pieces up, he put gold on her side so she could make the first move.

"Well, let's hope I do--I mean, you'll probably win because I'm a little rusty," Anniebelle chuckled when it dawned on her her expression changed, "Cassi won't be able to go anywhere for Christmas, I have to write my parents soon--I'm not going, if she isn't. So, I guess you are stuck with me for Christmas. I know there's was something at the Quality Quidditch Supplies that caught Cassi's eye, I want to get it for her--I plan on getting it for her, we could purchase it together."