Winter break would soon be upon the residents of the castle, and Drew like any sane person were starting to feel its clutching fingers. However, the Hufflepuff also felt the stress of it being his final year at the school and the need to pass his final exams with scores in accordance to his chosen career. He never understood the point of picking his career so early in life, and how his schooling would affect it. His theory was actually just to do the best he could so that if being an Auror did not work out he still had decent grades to fall back onto to help him in whatever his next path will happen to be. Yet it was still a bit stressful, even for a laid back student such as Drew. He may not have seemed much like the type to care about such things, but even he was a responsible adult. Although that was certainly questionable at times.

As such, instead of continuing to study or even to work on his current barrage of homework held no thrall for the young wizard to work on. Instead, like so many of his peers, the need to be doing something was more prominent in his mind. So, given the time of week, it wasn’t so odd to find the Hufflepuff meandering through the quaint village near to the school. The village wasn’t all that interesting to Drew anymore. However, it was a change of scene to the stone walls of the castle, so it was enticing in that way. Like many students, Hogsmeade was no longer really that interesting and new to Drew. But, he wasn’t one to complain about being able to get off of school grounds during the term.

However, Drew had not really expected anything to come out of this sojourn away from the castle. If he was honest, he figured he’d just stock up on some candy to keep him sane during his studies and maybe send a bag home to his little sister. What he hadn’t expected to find was a certain Slytherin witch just sitting down on the curb. That was a sight he had never really expected to be met with. After all, Alice Parker did not exactly scream Curb dweller in her high sophisticated manners and level of dress and grooming. However, Drew had already sort of figured out that something wasn’t completely right with the witch currently. Not that he was seeking to fix her, as he wasn’t some girl looking for some sort of project.

Yet, Drew wasn’t the type to simply keep walking. So the Hufflepuff wandered over. He regarded her for a moment, unobserved via the witch for a moment before he shrugged off his winter cloak. He wrapped the garment over the witch’s shoulders as he dropped down to sit down next to her. He kept an arm thrown around her shoulders over the cloak. He was silent for a moment before he dug around in his bag from Honeydukes before handing her a hard candy without a word.

The witch was an odd specimen to be sure. Drew could honestly say that he had little to no clue what was often passing through her mind. He knew the social order that she belonged to, but that really accounted for little. Times were changing and many groups were questioning the old blood families and traditions. Things were changing and it seemed their generation were pushing for those changes. Drew wasn’t certain if the muggle realm had anything to do with that or not, as when comparing the magical to muggle, the magical always seemed rather outdated. Whether this was from the muggles’ ever increasing technology or just from the passing trends of fashion. Either way, many in his generation Drew noted found the world of their parents rather outdated. It was a changing world, and Drew never held any ambitions that he understood anything—not even himself sometimes.

So the wizard made no effort at small talk when he joined the younger witch upon the curb. From their various interactions since their conversation back at the café, Drew had learned a thing or two about the Slytherin. He would like to think that the friendship between the two of them had continued to grow, yet he could not be certain. Unlike the Slytherin, Drew had no qualms in breaking the society norms, in associating with someone considered a part of the lower “rung,” something that Drew knew many of the higher statused witches and wizards labeled him as. He was an unknown mutt, whose lineage was unknown, and as such he wasn’t to be trusted and had been treated as many of the muggle-borns. Drew hadn’t minded as he was used to such things from his peers. From his knowledge of her from the start of term, she used to be like so many of the others: conscious of appearing at her best, at associating with the correct people. Yet, here they were, and such meetings had not been completely uncommon between either.

“That depends on if you want to or not,” he stated simply, pulling the Slytherin closer out of instinct rather than anything else when he still felt her shivering. There was no question why Drew had seated himself there and done what he had. He would have done it for any of his friends. He arched a brow faintly when the girl started to ramble a bit. At least, Drew would characterize it as rambling given her tone of voice. “My brother Peter says it’s nice there,” he stated in response. His elder brother had been working in the country for nearly three years now, however Drew had not visited Peter there yet.

Her final question gave the Hufflepuff pause, and he stared up at the grey colored sky as he thought. “Like many things, it depends. After all, sometimes you need to run in order to survive. What’s the adage? Run away and live to fight another day? Anything is a weakness if you view it in only that light…”

“Then we don’t have to go back yet,” Drew stated matter of factly to her response. He wasn’t in the habit of forcing people to do things against their wills. While Alice was certainly flirting with sickness sitting out in the cold as she was, Drew did not yet see any danger in the actions, and remaining. Besides, he did not think them likely to stay long. If anything, he might nudge the pair of them towards The Three Broomsticks or one of the other establishments to warm up first. He did not quite know yet, nor was he thinking that far ahead. Instead, he was just focusing on the witch at his side. She seemed so vulnerable to times, so much so that he felt like he just wanted to protect her, to help her step into herself. Yet, like so many things in his life, Drew really did not know where his relationship with the girl was going. If it was just strictly friendship or if he had deeper feelings. He did not know, but he was will to wait and see.

He smiled slightly when she asked about his brother. “He’s studying there, I forget what for since I haven’t talked to him in a while,” he responded with a small shrug of his shoulders.

Drew glanced at her when she got to her feet, looking down at him as she spoke. He found himself arching a brow at the plan she was putting forward, a smile tickling the corner of his lips. He leaned back on his palms, ignoring the sting of cold from the ground underneath, as he watched her. It was nice to see the light appear in her eyes as she put forth this made idea, and she was talking to a boy crazy enough to take her up on it. Drew had no problems traveling off to France for a bit. “Sure,” he stated, “I’m sure Peter would put us up for a bit, and if you want you can even visit with my family a bit afterwards. My mothers are always complaining about too much testosterone in the house when we’re all together,” he stated with a smirk.

While Drew was serious in that he would do this with her, he wasn’t completely sure if Alice was serious in this mad scheme of hers. He knew enough about her to know she might rethink it and want to back out. In a way, he was testing her.

Drew was amused watching the teen before him. The wizard really had no idea how far Alice was willing to take this spontaneous planning of a winter holiday. Was it all just talk for this moment? Would she get cold feet the moment she was away from him, on her own back in the castle? Would the very thought of this rebellious act cause her to retract her plan? Or was this something that the more she thought about it, the more firm it became in her intentions, especially when the Hufflepuff was providing her with an escape, with fuel for the flame that had sparked in a moment of desperation? Drew had no answer for these thoughts nor did he expect that the Slytherin witch really knew all herself even. However, Drew was more than willing to follow along in this mad plan. He was quite frankly that the person one would come to be talked out of any mad adventure. After all, Drew had his share of mad adventures and schemes that had gotten into both by himself and with friends. However, the Hufflepuff would not let any harm befall the witch if they were to do this.

“If you’re willing to brave two nosy witches, a handful of teenage and adults males plus a one little girl, plus possibly insinuation we’re dating and what not, then you’re more than welcome in the Weston-Jenkins household. My mothers are nosy but well meaning.” he stated, answering both her inquiries in one answer. The Hufflepuff knew roughly what to expect from his mothers, and he kind of feared bringing the witch into his house because surely Alice would find herself being mother-henned by two well-meaning witches. But looking at the pale Slytherin, perhaps that was something she needed as well—to be in a boisterous scene where she’s accepted and encouraged.

The witch changed positions once more, coming to his side, curling up against him. Drew had no qualms in pulling the witch onto his lap, wrapping his arms about her smaller frame, enclosing her in his warmth. He worried briefly how she would handle the back-talk and rumors of those in their circle after this meeting concluded. For the two teenagers were far from being in a secluded area. Drew could care less about such things, but he knew it was not the same for Alice. Perhaps she wanted not to care, but she was not yet afforded that luxury.

He frowned briefly at her words. They could not leave now. Drew was too much of a realist to attempt that. “You know we can’t” he stated. “But if you’re still intent on this adventure when we leave for the holidays I’ll still be game.” he told her. “Though it’ll be nice to know ahead of time so I can let my family know what to expect,” he stated with a small smile, idly rubbing his hand along Alice’s upper arm, drawing up warmth.

“What? No more secretly sneaking off?” he mused aloud with a half smirk. “Avoiding families during the mad rush of getting off the train and just going our own way?” he inquired with a small bit of humor. It was certainly a scenario that followed the mad plan she had just been trying to talk him into. Truthfully, Drew was still uncertain wheter the pureblood witch would even follow through with such a plan. At the moment, she was hardly in her right mind. It would not take much to nudge her in the other direction once time has passed until that point. It wasn’t merely just time either. They were out in the open and there would be other people around once they parted. People in her circle who would pressure her into Merlin knew what. Drew just wasn’t certain how serious Alice was in this flight of fancy.

He saw so much potential in her. Potential to succeed and potentia to fail. It all hinged on the decisions she made and if she could stick to her ambitions. Surely she was able to do such a thing. The house of Slytherin was was known for its occupants’ ambitions. They were the type to make things happen no matter the cost. Surely this was at trait Alice possessed even if currently she felt a drift at sea. Perhaps Drew was curious to see what she would end up doing. But then, it wasn’t merely curiousity that kept the Hufflepuff around. If he didn’t care for the witch even a little bit there wasn’t likely any chance he would be there now. Yes, he cared for her, and he wanted to help her through whatever this was. To help where he possibly could.

He contemplated her final statement before retorting, “No more than anyone else. Hey, you might even be one-up on them in admitting to the fact,” he stated, though he made no move to move or right the witch in response to her coat statement, although he did ask “Is my cloak no longer good enough?” with a slight tease to his tone.

Drew smirked briefly at the girl’s flippant remark to the state of their current plans. He couldn’t really imagine either of them executing the plan of kissing, which had probably been the brunette’s point in using it as an example. Granted, the wizard probably would not be adverse to a bit of lip-locking but that was hardly in the here and now, and it was certainly something he needed to wrap his own mind a bit more before treading down that certain path. So Drew left that particular scenario unexplored and instead retorted, “Or I could just hide you away in my trunk and sneak you past the doddering parents that way … granted, you would probably need to have given some forewarning of not coming home.” Drew spoke with a thoughtful hum to his tone of voice. “Though frankly, the fun part is sneaking off without giving any notice.”

Granted, Drew should probably have learned his lesson from that particular excitement, considering he pulled a stunt similar last summer. He and a few of his mates had just blew off the train station meet and greets and headed for the hills (so to speak). Drew had gotten quite the talking too on that one. He didn’t particularly regret it, but he doubt that his mothers would over look a second occurrence … though perhaps if he was in the presence of a pretty lady they would go easy on him (HA! More than likely he would be pulled out of ear shot and get his own ear shot).

“Or I could apparate us there,” he stated off-handedly with a shrug of his shoulders. Having a birthday early in the school term meant that Drew was one of the lucky ones who took their test the summer prior to their seventh year. “Though frankly, the method makes no difference to me. We could do a variety of ways, muggle and magical.” Drew was never really one to quibble about details, but rather face things as they came. Truth be told, if the Hufflepuff didn’t apparate he would probably just jump the next train going in the direction he needed.

He shook his head briefly at her comment of his freezing. “It’s hardly that cold,” he retorted with a mild snort. Granted, Drew was not dressed lightly either, as the wizard was clad in a fleece-lined muggle jacket. His cloak had merely been an extra layer. But then, the cold rarely bothered Drew. The youth always stated that if he was cold then he was ill. “Though if the lady insists, who am I to argue?” he stated.

Drew smiled amused as the witch broke out into laughter. The suggested comment had been made mostly in jest, but there was a hint of possibility to it if it ever came down to it. However, frankly, Drew had trouble seeing Alice being the type to willingly hide out inside of a trunk, let alone a guy’s trunk. However, there were certainly firsts for everything, right? Yet, it was certainly not something that Drew actually saw coming into fruitation. It was a wild idea to begin with. Drew cocked an eyebrow as she got her laughter under control to ask about fitting into trunks. “And here I thought all girls had perfect that charm for widening the space inside their trunk,” he said with a tease as he helped her to her feet, getting up himself. It seemed things were starting to wind down a bit between them, and heading back to the castle was looming more in the future.

Yet Drew laughed fully when Alice deduced that he was being the bad influence here. “I have no idea where you got the notion that I would be a good influence here. I’ve racked up my share of detentions and groundings from the shenanigans I’ve gotten into with my friends,” he said, amusement clear in his voice. “Which just means you’re with a somewhat expert when it comes to sneaking off places. I say somewhat, as I am nowhere near perfect.” He arched a brow at her. Truthfully, Drew didn’t know how she thought that he would be a good influence. Drew had quite the reputation for being a bit of a class clown in his year, and he and his friends had gotten enough detentions with their Hogwarts career to expand a couple months if counted up.

As they started walking, Drew inclined his head in response to his question, “Yeah, I have,” he said. “My one mum wanted to make sure I’m prepared for anything, that she isn’t much of a fan apparating herself, so if she can tag along with someone else she’s all for that.” He didn’t really understand his parents sometimes. But then, what child ever did? “Trains are fine. Far more easier even. Let the Hogwarts Express pull into station and instead of meeting with the rents hop onto the nearest train going in the direction you need,” he stated with a nod of his head. Yeah, he’d done it before.