Drew produced a small chuckle. “Getting lost is sometimes part of the adventure,” he told Alice. “Besides, how can you get lost when you have no clear destination? You know where you’ve been, but the path forward is yet unpaved.” A double edge sword perhaps of an analogy, as Drew knew that was speaking a bit twofold with that statement. Bu it applied to much more than just an impromptu trip to France. After all, it really was exactly what life was. For all their planning, one never knew exactly what the future would hold. It was not written in stone, not like the past. The past was there and gone. There was no use mulling over things one could not change. Perhaps it was another reason why Drew so often just embraced the moment. He could plan ahead when he needed. After all, this was his last year at Hogwarts, so the lad had certainly already put his thoughts forward towards his career and outside of Hogwarts. But in Drew’s opinion, he wasn’t planning his future. He was picking a direction.


“Heavens no!” he laughed. “I very rarely apparate Justin or Jamie anywhere. Those two are usually out of the house before I am, since we got the Floo system. The only one close is Abby, and that’s because she’s five, and even then when I watch her we usually hang in the house or the back yard.” While Drew was like any sibling who grew annoyed or frustrated by his siblings (and often not afraid to rant about such things), he was still fond of them, which showed in his expression when he talked about them. Family had always been an important part of Drew’s life, and he would fight tooth and nail for them at any moment. “Excellent,” the Hufflepuff said with a quirk of his lips to her acknowledgement of the plan. It would be something fun, a good event for his last year in the school before joining the “real world.”

Drew paid little attention to the people they passed as they headed back towards the castle. The Hufflepuff had never been one to quibble over a social image, and while he did try to acknowledge those around him more in consideration for Alice he did not always succeed. The Hufflepuff could be observant when he needed to be—or sometimes at the oddest times—but he could be equally oblivious when it was something he was not practice of doing. He did not mind as the Slytherin witch eventually came closer to him, or when she slipped her hand into his. Instead, he just pulled the witch closer. He was silent as she spoke, and when she spoke of the summer, the Hufflepuff sobered a little bit.

He did not respond right away, instead he had lifted his eyes upwards for a few moments in thought. “I can’t promise anything in the summer,” he said eventually. “Unless I fail my NEWTs, I’ll be working on getting a job and all that jazz during the summer, so we’d have to be doing a little more planning,” he told her, keeping the option open. Drew did not want to outright deny any possibility, but he knew he needed to be realistic as well. “Though the world is quite large, I think it may be easier to work on one location at a time,” he stated with a smile.