"Call it Saiyuri's obsession. Ever since she visited her sister in Japan, she will randomly have the urge to talk in Japanese and use the honorifics of Japan. From being around her so much, you tend to pick it up."

Drew sighed as he jumped down and followed her, "But relieved - yes; however, not entirely. You don't know what Lee saw.. Kain is either going to intercept Saiyuri before she gets to America before I can get to her, or he's going to steal her after she's there. There's no doubt he'll get her, it's just the question of whether I can prevent Lee's vision from coming true by the precautions I'm taking. If Kain gets her.. she'll be lost for sure."

Pounding his fist on the table, his anger pulsed to the surface once more, "Damn him! And damn Lee for her visions! And damn Saiyuri for being so innocent and naive as to not see what's going on right before her eyes! I refuse to tell her everything and cause her to worry until I can assure that she'll be safe. Anna, she doesn't even know where she is! She could be anywhere right now! I can't lose her.. not again.."

Sighing, he looked up at Anna, "I do apologize for being such an ass, Anna. It's just.. tonight.. it's been.. I mean, with Lee and Fynn, Kain.. I just.. I can't take anymore bad news about Sai! And the fact that she has no idea where she is, it's got me even more worried and I fear for her safety even more!"

"Lee - Fynn - Kain? What are you talking about?" Anna tilted her head lightly, staring at him with a worried frown. "Your brother popped up again? Also -" it sounded like an afterthought, but it had occured to her before, as a way to maybe find Kane and prevent him from doing anything. "next time you talk to Saiyuri, make her get a map of England and have her use a location spell with her wand; that way we can have a general idea of what city she's in."

Drew sighed as he turned and leaned his back against the edge of the table. Staring down at his feet, his hands shoved in his pockets, he explained to Anna everything that he had not told her about the situation -- the complete illness, Kane's obsession, what extent Kane would go to to get Saiyuri, Mr. Rumeti's contacts in America, what could happen to Saiyuri if she gets in their grasp, Leane's vision.

"As for the map, Saiyuri would still have no idea. She'd either have the wrong map or it would be upside down and she'd be confused on how to read it. She's always relied on me for directions. That girl could get lost in small town grocery store," he added with a soft chuckle.

Sighing, he continued, "I just don't know what to do anymore. I've done everything I can from where I'm at. There's no way I can leave school and follow her. I'm just glad to hear that Mr. Rumeti is taking muggle routes. It will delay his journey for about a month -- I know he'll take to sea once he reaches the coast and he'll want to show Saiyuri the beauty of it and some of the islands before he goes to America. Hopefully the meeting can be delayed until we are released for Christmas break..."

His hand clenched tight, he hit the side of the table with his fist and looked up to the ceiling, "What am I going to do Anna?"

"Don't go nuts, first off," the brunette teased, though finally understanding the seriousness of the matter. "Second, I would tell Saiyuri, just so that she can be more aware of the situation. You don't think that, if something happens, she'll be seriously pissed off at you for hiding it? Even if she realizes you're doing your best to keep her safe, you have to keep in mind that you're hiding something very important, and it's bound to hurt her." Pushing up her glasses, Anna let him stand looking at the ceiling as she walked to and from the two tables, organizing the repotted plant neatly under a window that would get plenty of sun.

"Kane isn't so much of an issue as the illness is, I think. I have ways of locating her, though the accuracy will be a bit off because I don't know her that well. Equally, I can find Kane. So we can keep an eye out on both of their locations to make sure they keep away from eachother." Her brain working at full force now - her previous happiness or annoyances forgotten - she was running over every aspect of the situation as well as she could. "By keeping her in the dark, we're not doing her any favourites. And, most importantly..."

With a loud "thump", she set down the last one of the pots on the table of the other side of the room. Anna's voice had automatically risen in strength to cross the distance - and now, standing so far away, her louse echoed slightly through the greenhouse as she added, "Who knows about this that can actually help?"

Raising his voice so he could be heard, he replied, "Fynn and Leane know, to some degree. Fynn more than Leane simply because I needed his help earlier. He was kind enough to send his house elf to my relations who live down the road from the family Mr. Rumeti is going to. They, along with Fynn's house elf, are keeping an eye out for Kane and Mr. Rumeti. Professor Snape is the only other besides those two I have mentioned and Mrs. Rumeti. My father and Lucia don't even know. My father I believe doesn't know because he is not the Guardian of Saiyuri, he is the guardian of Mr. Rumeti; and I believe Lucia and Saiyuri's other siblings don't know simply because if they knew, her brothers would do everything in their power to go after the one who did it, and Lucia would simply want to be at Saiyuri's side for fear there's other things wrong with Saiyuri than she knew. To be honest, I don't even believe Saiyuri's mother knows the full extent."

"Strange, isn't it? Mr. Rumeti wants to use Saiyuri as an experiment, but the rest of her family would do anything to get the one who did this and find a way to reverse it, yet he refuses to tell them anything. You would think he would want their help in tracking the cause down, but instead he turns to strangers and treats Saiyuri as a test subject."

Sighing, he looked over at Anna, "And I couldn't tell Saiyuri. If I did.. she'd run. She could never trust her father, and her father would know that something had changed and she knew something that she wasn't tell him. He might put more security around, to make sure she doesn't go anywhere. He claims he wants to save her, but I fear there's something more going on. That man has always given me a strange feeling.. I don't know, maybe I'm just grasping at straws and my thoughts are so scrambled that it's making me think poorly and has clouded my judgement. And I'm sorry for worrying you like this, I shouldn't have; it's not your burden to bare. Thank you for letting me talk, though, I feel a bit better having been able to get that off my chest."

Shaking her head with a smile, Anna eyed him curiously, "You think I'm going to just let you handle this yourself? You're really overestimating my smarts, and underestimating my affection." Walking back to him, her eyes stood pensive as she bit down on her nail, thinking over a battle strategy. "I can only make a guess at this, but I think Mr. Rumeti is hiding it from his family because he wants to either keep them safe, limit the ways it could leak to Saiyuri, or - and this is most likely - he doesn't trust them to act the way he wants them to in such a situation."

Her hips bumped lightly against his as she moved to lean against the table, her arms folded over her chest as she continued biting her thumb. "I can't say anything about his motives, either, but I'd like to think he considers it useless to track down he did, and would rather experiment with older magic to maybe find a cure. If he finds a solution, he can take the credit for it, which will come in handy if more people get such an illness - he strikes me as the kind who'd love the attention."

"It's your choice wether to tell Saiyuri or not," Anna added after a moments consideration, though the tone in her voice was still doubtful, "because I don't think her running away is such a bad thing - despite it being more difficult to keep her safe. I would, however, advise you to tell Dumbledore; and to do a private investigation on the natures of this illness so that we can have a better shot at curing it. Ideally, Kane wasn't in the picture, but sadly he is." With a light sigh, she reached into the pocket of her pants, taking out a teardrop shaped pink stone hanging from a thin silver cord. "With this I can locate him and Saiyuri - with some luck - but it would be best if we could find a way to lock him up someplace, or get him to be fixated on someone else."

Drew sighed, "Saiyuri knows everything about her illness. She remembers that day like it was yesterday, even though I've done everything to repress the memory. She still has nightmares about it. As for Dumbledore, he knows as well. He's the one who keeps it a secret from the rest of the school when she suddenly faints and gets rushed to the Hospital Wing. He keeps the cover story of her poor health believed by everyone -- including Madame Pomfrey, for she doesn't know a thing either."

"I think your last thoughts on Mr. Rumeti may prove to be positive. He knows his family would never do as he asks; they'd be more concerned about the long term effects of what he's doing. However, he isn't doing this for others, for there are no others. This creature has had very few victims, all died much sooner than Saiyuri. It's strange she's lived this long. What's even stranger, is Snape was able to come up with a potion that will reverse the effects on her for awhile. The more I think about it, the more none of it makes sense..."

"As for Kane, there's no way in hell he'll change his affections. And if we did lock him up, he'll find a way to escape and get back to Saiyuri. He's loved her since the moment he laid eyes on her. No matter where she is, no matter how far away he is, no matter what lengths I take to secure her safety and make sure no one knows where we are; he still finds her. It's as if she unconsciously draws him to her. But you would think after 13 years of keeping him away from her and keeping her from knowing him, he would have gotten the hint that he can't be with her no matter how hard he tries. To be honest, we don't even know why he's so attached. He doesn't even know her like we do, he's barely spent any time with her."

Taking the stone in his fingers, he played with it a bit before letting it fall as he spoke, "If this can find Kane, then lets get a global map, locate him to the country, and start eliminating possibilities. After we find him, we'll search for Saiyuri and see how far away he is. But first," he said with a groan as he pulled on his gloves, "let's get this mess finished so we don't waste anymore time. Tomorrow we begin our search."

Returning to his work, he chuckled as he glanced up at Anna, "Never thought you'd start your first year of Hogwarts with this much adventure, did you?"

Mrs. Norris, who had been preoccupied with the mouse the whole time, jumped back onto the stool, licking her lips and paws while staring at the two working diligently, never suspecting them of having left their work.

With a light smile, Anna shook her head, "I meant, tell her about Kane, not about the illness. And-" Her finger tapped against his nose lightly, "You forgot to mention Dumbledore knew, so of course I thought he still had to know. But that's good - that makes it easier."

Her hand returned to her chin, and she tapped her lips pensively, watching Drew put on the gloves without making a movement herself. "Kane has already revealed that he can easily divert his attention - otherwise he wouldn't have kissed me. So I think you're overestimating him. Not to mention, what he feels is not love - it's just want. He wants something you have, I'm guessing." She looked at Drew from the corner of her eyes, using him as a soundboard for her theories for a second. "What surprises me the most is that he hasn't raped her yet. Want like that usually evolves into raping - and it has nothing to do with the person in question. Also, I refuse to believe that there is no way to lock him up. With both modern day mechanics and magic available, making an unescapable prison should be possible. Not to mention that he's just a teen wizard, like us."

With a light sigh, the young Belgian pushed herself away from the table again, pulling on the glove and easily repotting another plant. "And when it comes to adventures... So far, the biggest adventure has been the fact that Liam seems to fancy me." Through her orange glasses, she eyed Drew for a moment, adding, "Kane, and Saiyuri's illness, are a huge problem - and especially the illness is dreadful. But since I'm new to the situation, I'm filled with hope."

Drew laughed, "Hmm, maybe Saiyuri should know about him.. It's just.. it's not something to discuss over the phone, you know? I want to tell her in person, but there's no way I can unless I break about a million school rules."

Sighing, as he re-potted another plant, Drew spoke softly, "As for Kane raping Sai, he'd never do it. You think too poorly of him, even though he does seem the type. What he wants isn't just Saiyuri's body, he wants her -- all of her -- her love, her trust, her hand in marriage; everything. But as for wanting something I have, you're right - that's how it started; but somehow it grew to true, heart-felt love. He knows I love Saiyuri just as much, if not more so, than he does. But he believes he can steal her away from me. He's already stolen her first kiss, though she doesn't remember it thank god. He believes he can simply show up, take her away, and make her forget me and fall for him in a heart beat."

"Liam adores you more than you realize," he said softly while re-potting another plant and smiled at Anna, "As for being hopeful, I'm very glad you are for I'm close to losing it."

His manner suddenly turning quiet, caused Anna to follow suit, and her voice was low in seriousness as she answered, "It's not that I'm thinking lowly of Kane, Drew. I just... that's not love. I can understand that he wants her love and trust and all that other stuff. But I refust to believe he loves her; that's not the kind of behaviour of a person in love, but more of someone who has deluded themselves into believing that they need to have a person." Hissing lightly as she burned herself on a protruding leaf of the plant, it took the brunette a while to repot the plant in question, being far rougher then she had been with the others.

"Also..." Her fist pushed down on the dirt around the plants' roots, securing it inside the pot. "In such a situation... it's good to have friends. Because when someone is losing their hope, someone else is just finding it." She looked up at Drew and gave him a warm smile, her eyes shining kindly. "So don't fret too much, alright? You can think about it, but worrying about it won't help anyone."

Drew couldn't help but smile slightly at Anna, "Thanks, Anna. I'm really glad Sai took an interest in you, you've turned out to be one hell of a friend in just the short time we've known each other; I really appreciate it. As for Kane," he continued with a sigh as he re-potted another plant, "if you just see the way he looks at her. Sure, his actions don't show it, but his looks.. The look in his eyes every time he says her name or sees her face, it's like an open book into his heart. He truly feels for her.. unless there's something I've missed that you picked up on.. I mean, maybe you're right, maybe it is all just fake to get me to believe it and make me doubt.."

"I'm not trying to say your brother is an asshole," Anna smiled lightly, shoving another plant in a new pot, covering the roots with dirts before pulling off the seed pods. "I'm sure he's not. If he find someone who likes him back, it might change a ton of things. He's just... deluded. Somewhat insane, is all."

Her thin knife slid open the seed pod, and with her fingers she pried out the seperate little seeds. "And on Saiyuri taking an interest in me - you know perfectly well you were all but too eager to think badly of me because I was a Gryffie." Anna grinned teasingly, her head tilting sideways as she teased, "You can thank your lucky stars I decided to take on the challenge."

Drew couldn't help but chuckle, "True, I did decide to think bad of you from the beginning, but not because you were a Gryffie - but because you were friends with Fynn. We despise anyone associated with him; well, we used to. Now we're all going to have to put our past behind us and get along, for Leane's sake. If we don't make an effort, Saiyuri will never forgive us."

With a sigh, he re-potted another plant, "As for my brother being insane, you're right. To some degree it seems he is. Maybe if he did find someone who returned his feelings, he may forget Saiyuri and focus only on that girl, but I doubt it will happen. He rejects anyone but Saiyuri. The worst part is, he knows about the illness, and chooses the most inopportune times to try and take her. He times it for when I'm getting the potion for her. But now, because it's happening so often, he's been sort of, silent I guess you could say. I thought he had finally given up on her, looks like I was wrong huh?"

As he finished re-potting the plant, he turned to Anna and forced himself to smile, "But let's forget him and finish the work quickly so we're not falling asleep in class tomorrow, m'kay?"

The brunette stayed quiet for a moment, working ahead like he had suggested. They'd finished about 90 percent of the task, before Anna spoke up. "You don't have to force yourself to appear fine, you know. It's just me." Her brown eyes were kind as she looked at him, adding after a moment, "You don't have to stay strong for me."

Drew laughed half-heartedly as he worked and spoke softly, "I have to stay strong. If I don't, I'll break and run after her. If I do that.. Kane is sure to find her. She's never left my side, you see. So he's always just gone to where I've been and found her. That's why I'm to blame for her being in every mess he's caused. Besides, if Sai senses I'm not alright, or if anyone else does, they'll know something is up. I don't want them all worried, it's my fault she's in the mess to begin with. I'll do anything to protect her; and I will not burden anyone else with what I have to do."

"You could consider it a privilege," Anna offered, walking around the table to where he was moulding the dirt, and taking over his job with a gentle push. "And you know perfectly well that you're not to blame. Staying away from her at the moment is the best thing to do, alright - and not only because of the situation, but also maybe to test your feelings in a way - but that doesn't mean you can't wish to be with her."

Taking the last of the pots in her arms, she moved to the other table again, locking the pots to her chest. "We'll figure something out."

Drew sighed as he took off his gloves and laid them on the table as he continued to speak softly, "Test my feelings... do I really seem that unreliable? Maybe I am.. I never really did think I was good enough for her.. She'd be better off without me and following her father's wishes anyway. Her father's been pushing a guy from the south on her for the past few years. His family connections are exactly what a Rumeti should be connected with, nothing like my lineage. Maybe I should convince her to give him a chance, ya think?Besides, without me around, Kane couldn't find her..."

The pots reached the table with a loud "THUD", loud enough to cause one of the stone pots to crack. "You have GOT to be kidding me?!" Her voice rose a little, and as she turned around, the glare in her eyes along with the normal mess of her hair made it look like a fierce lion was ready to go to battle. "Don't you EVER say such RUBBISH again, you hear? Saiyuri loves you - that makes you good enough! Don't give me that crap."

Angrily, the brunette pulled off her gloves, tossing them on the table in front of Drew. "I've hit you before when you were being an ass, and I will not hesitate to do so again."

Drew sighed as he looked down at the gloves on the table, "But all I do is put her in moor danger, I don't protect her like I should.. How can that possibly be good for her? The more I think about it, the more I realize I can't be with her. I just bring her more misfortune and pain. Kane is the perfect example. If I had never introduced them, she wouldn't be in this mess right now!"

Her hand was next to his cheek in an instance - but rather then slapping him, Anna pulled Drew in a firm hug. "Shut up now. Kane being an ass and stalking her isn't your fault. The only thing you can do is try your best in keeping her safe. You love her. That in itself is a gift - you are the best thing that has happened to her, without a doubt. So stop doubting yourself."

Drew's face relaxed into a small smile as he hugged Anna, "Thank you, Anna."

A true smile creeping across his face as he stepped away from Anna, he sighed, "Now what do you say we send Norris after Filtch so we can head to bed, hm? I bet you're exhausted after your day with Liam!" he added teasingly.

Sticking out her tongue - immediatly following his attempt at changing the topic - she couldn't resist a happy grin, "He did wear me out a bit, alright - not that I'm complaining." Looking at the spot on the ground where Mrs. Norris was sitting, she called, "Well, kitty? You heard the man. Go fetch your master, will you?"

Drew laughed, "You two are impossible."

Mrs. Norris, after giving a glare at Anna, jumped off the stool and slowly made her way to the door and sat down, her back to Drew and Anna.

Drew sighed as he went over and opened the door to let her out. Closing the door behind her, he walked back over to Anna and hopped up on the table to sit, "Well, what happened between you and Liam today? Anything exciting?"

In mock shock, Anna rested her hand on her chest as he came back and hopped on the table. "Impossible, me? You lie!" She smiled brightly again, leaning her elbows on the table and looking up at him with a grin. "And nothing really happened, actually. We did some talking - he told me about the muggle girl he had a thing with before, and I'm starting to understand why Luc is so protective of him; but that's about it."

Drew looked down at her curiously, "Geez Anna! What'd you do to him? He never talks about what happened to Lucinda or with the muggle willingly! And after such a short time of knowing you too! Well, it's official. Our suspicions are right; and in the words of Leane 'He's got it bad!'", he added with a laugh.