The Astor/Rosensteel Household

"Red and white. Those are her absolute favorites. Those are her favorite colors, come to think of it. Besides blue and silver. Those were her house colors, at Hog--" Dianna gasped and covered her mouth. "In secondary school! Those were her school colors."

"Red, white, blue and silver... it sounds that like on American holiday, huh!" he said, laughing at his own little lame joke of his. "I'll be sure to go out and find her some red and white roses. And maybe they sell blue and silver mittens or something."

"Yes! Excellent!"

"Dianna, who are you talking to?" That was Serenity, in her pajamas. She had evidently been working for several hours, as indicated by the ink stain on her.. nose. It was also evidenced by that stain that she had fallen asleep into her writing. "Oh. Ryan! Hi." She said, blushing. "Er, terribly sorry. What were you talking to Dianna about?"

"Maybe going out tomorrow as a threesome-no, not THAT type of threesome, but you know, heh..." Ryan straightened back up. "Dianna suggested we go to an ice cream place that she likes."

"Why, that sounds like a nice idea. Jarling's? It's the best ice cream.. well, ever." Serenity went and sat down on Dianna's bed next to Dianna- the resemblance was obvious. "That's very sweet of you, Dianna." Dianna looked rather smug.

"Yeah, it is a nice idea. I haven't had good ice cream in who know's when..." Ryan then straightened up a bit. "So, do you want me to come around two tomorrow, and we'll head out tomorrow?"

"That would be fantastic, Ryan, but before you go, can you come with me and take these papers and check them?" Serenity asked, looking a bit harried. "I feel like I made some mistakes. In the papers." She stood up and took his hand, smiling in a tired way.

Dianna smiled, and then as soon as her mother's back was turned, she picked up a piece of paper, and wrote quickly "GO AND BE REALLY ♥-Y DOVE-Y", and that was all on the paper, but Dianna was nodding furiously.

"Of course, Serenity. I'd love to help you." And in his own cheesy romantic way, he wrapped a hand around Serenity's shoulder lovingly, albeit, very awkwardly.

Dianna grinned at them both, while looking forward to her ice cream very much. Yes, the helping Ryan was actually kind of enjoyable. They were kind of cute together.
Now, she'd get the family owl out of the attic where it lived, and write to Adam about this coworker who wasn't actually that bad.

Serenity smiled up at him for a moment, before starting to talk about the case. "And I'm sure I've seen the phrase "unintentional neglect" over a thousand times, and it's so much bull.." She was saying, as she took him into her office right across the hall, closing the door only halfway.

Dianna, putting the letter on hold for a moment, went over to peek inside the half-opened door, only to see Serenity kissing Ryan passionately, the papers she was going to give him ignored on the desk. She made a face- eww, right?- but made sure Ryan didn't make any jerk moves.

"Mmm..." Ryan went along with it, a feeling of joy rising through his body. He hadn't remember when he had ever been kissed quite like... this before. After a few minutes of kissing Serenity, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Dianna, and he immediately pulled back.

"She's watching us." Ryan hissed, trying to sound as quiet as he could, but loud enough for Serenity to hear him and take the hint.

"What? Oh, for goodness' sake.." Serenity mumbled, going and getting the papers. "Sorry about her." She said, giving him a much more innocent kiss on the cheek.

Dianna quickly ran back to her room, giggling and grinning all the way.

Ryan however laughed. "Kids are funny! But..." Ryan went over and shut the door tightly. "But now, we won't have any onlookers."

"I don't know why I didn't close it all the way the first time. I should tighten the door hinges.." She mumbled, before starting where she had left off again. Now that she had told him about her rather horrid past experiences, there was only one thing left- the magic. It wasn't like she used it all the time, and whenever Ryan was around, it was out of the question, but if things were going to get serious she'd have to tell him. After all, both Adam and Dianna were either at or headed towards Hogwarts. She couldn't put it off as a boarding school much longer.

"Why not?-Or, I could do it for you. It seems simple enough." he offered cheerfully.

"Oh, you would? That's so sweet. You can if you want. Thank you." Serenity sat down on her bed, lying back and looking at the ceiling. "So, after Dianna's little intrusion, I feel like talking. What do you want to talk about? I'm good with anything."

"Okay, I have a question..." Ryan sat down in her business chair, looking up at her suspiciously.

"Serenity, I know you've told me many things, but you still seemed to be hiding something. I already received some hints about it. Adam is at a mysterious boarding school which you're shipping Dianna to next year, and you seemed to have attended the same school. Something about blue and silver, and the name starting with 'Hog'? And what's with that butterbeer stuff?! I've never seen it before, and the bottle doesn't break either! I still remember that afternoon." Ryan crossed his arms. In truth, he thought that he was so cool for deducing this information.

"You might as well tell me, if we're going to date seriously."

"You have to swear you won't tell anyone. You probably won't believe me.." Serenity said. But she really thought she was in love with him, so she decided to tell him. "Alright. I'm a witch. And before you don't believe me and yell at me, I can prove it, too. Adam's at a wizarding school called Hogwarts. It's a huge secret, and we have our own government. If we ever get married, you'll know everything. Elroy was one- a wizard- and just about everyone I've told you about. Rachel Monaseem from down the lane is too. But you can't tell anyone." She said, completely serious.

(Sawyer now.)

Ryan stared at her for a very long time, studying her, and than turned around, studying the room. Everything seemed so... weird now. He half expected to find a magic switch that revealed a dungeon for Serenity to brew her potions and cast her spells. After about ten minutes of very uncomfortable silence, he turned back to face Serenity, and he stood up.

"...Serenity, I don't think you're insane, but I don't exactly believe you. If this is all real, and you are telling the truth, I would like some sort of proof." he said weakly.

(Right, right.)

"Of course! Of course. Here.." Serenity got out her wand from the bedside table, trying not to be nervous. "Er, I won't do it on you, that'd be just.. silly. Here. Wingardium Leviosa." She waved her wand at her bed. Absolutely nothing happened- she was too nervous. "I'm sorry. Let me try again.. Uh, Wingardium Leviosa!" This time, she aimed it at her trunk. It rose straight up, just like.. well, magic, and stayed there.

"...Right."

Ryan plopped down on the chair again, feeling slightly light-headed, after watching the trunk levitate completely fascinated, he spoke up again.

"So you ARE a witch, right... what does this mean, for me?" he asked.

"Well.. You don't have to tighten my door hinges. I can do it myself, really. Also, if we ever do get married, you won't ever have to do dishes.. I can make them do themselves. You don't have the capacity to become a wizard, so you won't ever be able to do spells, but I could make you potions or do spells on you, I suppose. I'm not very good at potions. It's rather like cooking, and I'm not good at that, even with magic. The only thing you have to do is keep quiet, really."

"Well, okay." Ryan seemed to relax a bit. "I thought you expected me to learn all this magic and wand waving and potion making stuff... but Serenity, that means your children are the same way, right?"

"Adam's there, at my old school. Hogwarts. Both he and Dianna are. I don't know how good they'll be at it. I was never wonderful, even though my mum was a full.." Serenity muttered exactly what her mother was too quietly for Ryan to hear. After all, magic was not the same as being a half-breed.

"Who knows? Maybe they'll be even better!" Ryan said cheerfully, not exactly sure what the best thing to say would be.

"Yeah. It's usually genetic, though." Serenity said awkwardly. "Um, and some wizards.. They're obsessed with blood purity. They'll only marry other wizards, with wizarding parents. I'm not like that, not at all. So, lots of wizards intermarry.. And you're called muggles. But lots of wizards don't like muggles, and when I was still in school, a particular wizard called Voldemort took over and we were saved by a person named Harry Potter-- he was actually in my year. It was like.. if the Prime Minister personally went and defeated Hitler, back during WWII. And we have a Minister. A Minister of Magic.. And a hospital.." Serenity went on and on, explaining everything she could.