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last online Apr 28, 2024 23:42:39 GMT -7
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Dec 30, 2017 23:13:02 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2017 23:13:02 GMT -7
Anna was tired. Emotionally, physically, mentally. She felt like her last year at Hogwarts flew by, what with the tournament taking up so much of it. Then there were the attacks on the other schools and graduation and now she was in the auror training program. She'd decided during the year that she didn't really want to be an auror anymore, partially because of Oscar, but mostly because she didn't know if she was cut out for that kind of work after the tournament opened her eyes. This kind of work wasn't glorious, it was hard and stressful and she wasn't sure if she wanted to do it for the rest of her life. However, she was already signed up for it, and the training program wasn't particularly dangerous. In fact, with Elaine on the loose, this training was probably a good idea, even if she didn't complete it or become an auror. So she was going along with it for now. Not that anyone in the program knew her plans. They didn't need to know. As she walked out of a particularly grueling exercise, Anna rubbed her temples and held back a yawn. Why was she so tired? She needed to find a way to wake up, especially so she could go spend some time with Oscar in the hospital. She hated that he was there, but hated even more that she couldn't spend all her time with him. She didn't want him to be there alone, but that was how things were right now. She couldn't be there always. She paused when she saw a familiar figure up ahead and smiled. She hadn't spoken to Grey in forever, even though they were in the same training group. She jogged a little so she could catch up to him. "Hey Grey. Where are you going?" she asked as she reached him. If he was headed somewhere important, she'd just bother him some other day. If not ... well, maybe he'd be interested in talking with her a bit. Or getting food or something. grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
693 posts
played by Colin
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last online Apr 28, 2024 18:17:04 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Jan 3, 2018 20:13:37 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Jan 3, 2018 20:13:37 GMT -7
@annelise Training was mind numbing and physically straining. Going from being the editor of a school paper, which barely required much movement aside from sending an article to be printed, to attempting to be an auror was wild. Grey knew that if he had been in the dueling club, which, despite not being a member, he still seemed to be decent at, this could have been a lot easier. Even playing Quidditch would have given him the physical strength to make it through some of their exercises. This was all on a different level. While he felt like he was near the bottom of every lesson, even the other trainees that had done the aforementioned clubs were struggling too. In a way that gave him some hope. Whether or not that carried all the way through the training period was the real question. A few had dropped out already, again boosting his outlook on himself, but it also served to decrease morale in the group. They were supposed to all be in this together and end up as partners that could get each other through thick and thin. Whether the ones that left were weak for giving up or smart for getting out early, he hadn’t figured out yet. There were some days that absolutely broke his resolve and left him drained beyond belief, especially when he knew there were areas that were better suited for his talents. The problem was that too much time and effort had but into this career choice. It didn’t matter if he liked it or not; if he could complete it and then finalize his decision, it would be better than calling it quits part way through like the others had.
Today had been another one of those rough days. There was something about the exercise that didn’t work well with how his body had been taking the training as of late. The pressure headache that was building up because of the stress that was being placed on literally everything currently had him zooming out of the training room and towards the cafeteria. He needed coffee, because that was basically the only thing that would fix a headache at this point. The sound of footsteps behind him didn’t grab at his attention until he heard his name called. Turning his head, he watched Anna come up next to him. “Coffee. Because if I’m going to either die from exhaustion or sleep deprivation, I’ll take the latter.” He had done the insomnia thing before, and probably would be doing it more often now that Cecelia was a vampire. That was why he needed his coffee right now.
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last online Apr 28, 2024 23:42:39 GMT -7
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Jan 8, 2018 20:38:07 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2018 20:38:07 GMT -7
Anna smiled a little when Grey explained where he was going and why. "Mind if I join you?" she asked, assuming he would be all right with that. The two weren't super close friends, but they were in the same house and they did talk with one another every so often. Though ... the last time they talked, wasn't it about this? About their plans for graduation? She couldn't really remember, but it didn't really matter. She just wanted to find someone to talk to for a bit and the good thing about Grey was that they had something in common. Auror training, that was. "So what do you think of the training?" Anna asked curiously, wondering if it was as hard on him as it was on her. She knew it was good training, she definitely felt like she was on the way to being more fit than she'd ever been in her life- physically and mentally- and she thought that was a good thing, even though it was rough. She didn't like being tired and sore, but hopefully that would wear off as the training continued. She'd have to see. grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
693 posts
played by Colin
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last online Apr 28, 2024 18:17:04 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Jan 23, 2018 20:47:14 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Jan 23, 2018 20:47:14 GMT -7
@annelise Anna asked if she could join him, and Grey nodded his head, slowing his pace down to a more casual stroll than the speed walking he had been doing. Having had to do this trek almost every day in order to get his caffeine fix, he was relatively used to flying down the corridor in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t like the headache he had was going to go away instantly with the coffee either, so talking to Anna wasn’t going to be the end of the world for him. Conversing with the other trainees didn’t happen much during the actual sessions and when there was time for it, they were supposed to be doing team exercises or whatever was slated for the day. Grey had yet to be paired with his former housemate, thus making this the first time they had really interacted since graduation. At the latest. It may have been longer than that. He had been preoccupied with other things at the end of the year, like reorganizing the student paper for the new editor to take over, and she had to finish the tournament. Busy little bees they were. All part of the system now. He vaguely recalled that discussion between them at some point last year, and he had been just as unsure about all of this then as he was now.
“Harder than I expected,” he stated, keeping it brief and to the point. He was sure there were quite a few others just like him that felt the same way. There was no reason to hold back on something like this either. “Sitting at a desk all day for the last seven years isn’t helping much either. It’s amazing that anyone comes into this fully prepared.” Grey let out a sigh, slowing his walk down even more. The longer he spent walking to the cafeteria, the less time he had to spend listening to the trainer lecture all of them before the next segment started. “How does this compare to the tournament?” he found himself asking. Obviously they were drastically different, but there had to be some similarities when it came to thinking on the spot. He was finding that he was much better at sitting down and writing things out than he was in a duel or having to show how aware he was in a pressing situation. It was going to be a long and grueling training process if every day was like the ones that had already passed.
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last online Apr 28, 2024 23:42:39 GMT -7
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Feb 3, 2018 12:16:05 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2018 12:16:05 GMT -7
Grey nodded that she could join him and Anna smiled, even though she expected him to say yes. It would have been rude otherwise, especially since they were friends ... kind of. Acquaintances? She got along well enough with Grey, even though they didn't normally do a lot together. At the moment they had a lot in common since they were both doing the Auror training. There were quite a few people in their group, and out of them Anna felt closest with Grey, even though they hadn't talked in a while. She nodded when he said that the training was harder than he thought it would be. "Yeah, me too." She laughed when he said that sitting at a desk hadn't prepared him much for it either and then asked how it compared to the tournament. "Well, don't feel too bad about sitting at a desk not helping, becuase I thought my training for the Tournament would help me here and it really hasn't. I mean, it's kind of like the actual tasks with how hard and challenging it is, but the pressure to do well isn't as bad since you don't have hundreds of people watching ..." she trailed off, intrigued by this comparison. Then she shrugged, "Honestly, I don't feel prepared for the training, but it's kind of similar to how the tasks felt." Anna paused a moment, "Am I making any sense?"
grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
693 posts
played by Colin
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last online Apr 28, 2024 18:17:04 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Feb 18, 2018 13:02:22 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Feb 18, 2018 13:02:22 GMT -7
@annelise At least he wasn’t the only one that thought it was difficult. The other trainees were probably the same way as both of them as well. There was no way to gauge what the training was going to be like, especially with how rapid things were evolving these days. For all he knew, the program had been changed to accommodate the scenarios they were now forced to deal with on an almost monthly basis. A year ago, when he first decided to reach out to the training department to sign up, these sorts of things were isolated. Now they seemed impossible to stop. Grey didn’t think he was the kind of person that could help them. The argument could be made that every extra wand helped, but what sort of aid would he provide if his heart wasn’t there? His convictions told him to stick to it, to prove his parents that he could be just as useful as Claire had been, despite her career change to being a hit-witch. Working as a reporter at the Daily Prophet probably would convince them of too much, even though that seemed like the place he would flourish the most.
He listened intently as Anna explained how the tournament tasks faired compared to their training. If he hadn’t needed to be present for the sake of the school paper, he probably wouldn’t have gone to the tasks. Trying to understand the difficulty of the things placed in front of the champions without actually be in their place was impossible for him to do. Routing the dangerous creatures aside, most of it seemed like luck more than skill. Knowing how to wiggle out of a situation and come out unscathed on the other side was the best ability to have, whereas standing your ground and fighting would only slow you down. “I think I understand. The tournament holds you to a certain expectation. Here, they’re trying to teach us how to overcome those obstacles instead of blindly throwing us in,” he responded, still unsure how to equate any of his own experiences to that of Anna’s with the tournament. “You can back out whenever you want with this though,” he commented, thinking back to one of their previous conversations regarding this exact situation they were both currently in.
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last online Apr 28, 2024 23:42:39 GMT -7
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Mar 10, 2018 17:22:27 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2018 17:22:27 GMT -7
Anna smiled and nodded when Grey summarized- much more eloquently than she- what she was trying to say. "Exactly. Here it's like preparing for those situations, that was just winging it." Anna thought for a moment and then shrugged, "Hard as it is, I think I prefer training to the Tournament because at least I feel like eventually I'll be making some kind of progress with it all and dealing with situations should at least feel manageable." She nodded when he mentioned being able to back out. "Yes, I had no choice with the Tournament, so that is nice." She looked to him, curious about why he would bring something like that up. "Are you thinking you don't want to be an Auror?" Anna's voice was softer now, not wanting to make it easier for anyone to overhear them ... assuming anyone actually cared about the conversation two Auror trainees were having. grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
693 posts
played by Colin
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last online Apr 28, 2024 18:17:04 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Mar 11, 2018 14:32:12 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Mar 11, 2018 14:32:12 GMT -7
@annelise He let out a laugh – winging it in the Triwizard Tournament? That was ballsy, though if he were in the same position she had been in, it probably would have gone the same way. He was lazy, unmotivated, only willing to do things in the moment unless his interest was really piqued. Very few things managed to do that for the Gryffindor, and that was more than likely why he wasn’t chosen as the champion for Hogwarts. In the end it was all for the better. He would have done poorly at the tasks, though maybe not as bad as the Durmstrang champion. Grey knew he shouldn’t think negatively of someone deceased, but there had to have been a better champion than him. The Beauxbatons option wasn’t all that much better when it came to personality. Thankfully Anna had pulled off the win, he wasn’t sure if he could take the French boy’s obnoxious speech that would have surely followed his victory.
Anna brought up a good point when it came to the training though; when were they supposed to see progress? Apparently this training lasted for a few years. The basics were what they were currently learning, and after that came practical field training. This part was supposed to weed contenders out, he knew that, but it felt like there was something missing still. He had chalked it up it being the beginning of it, and that eventually things would change, but doing the same old drills over and over again was starting to get redundant. His sister’s attitude towards everything in life was starting to make sense now, because she had absorbed the training completely. Anna asked him if he was thinking of not continuing, and Grey shrugged. “Maybe. I thought I would be best suited here, but I don’t know if that’s true anymore,” he matched her hushed tone. “I think I’m going to give it a few more months and see if my mind changes. But right now, going to the Daily Prophet sounds kind of nice.”
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last online Apr 28, 2024 23:42:39 GMT -7
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Mar 15, 2018 16:26:20 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2018 16:26:20 GMT -7
Anna was a little surprised when Grey started to explain that he wasn't quite sure whether or not he wanted to be an auror. The thing was, he'd seemed so sure of it when they talked with one another last year. The fact that he was doubting whether or not he wanted to remain an auror, or even finish the training, made her feel much better about the fact that she was planning on quitting sometime. First she wanted to figure out something else to do, since Anna wasn't really the type to sit around. She nodded, "I can understand that. I've actually ... been trying to decide the same thing," it was still hard to talk about that with other people. She didn't want to deal with anyone who would judge her as a quitter, but she didn't think Grey would. Not since he was considering the same thing. At least he had a different idea in mind. "I can't really explain why, but after everything I did in the Tournament, I don't think I want this kind of life. The problem is, I have no idea what else I'd want to do." Yeah, that was the root of the problem. Anna made a face as she tried again to come up with something she could see herself actually doing. grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
693 posts
played by Colin
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last online Apr 28, 2024 18:17:04 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Mar 18, 2018 13:10:55 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Mar 18, 2018 13:10:55 GMT -7
@annelise He almost stopped to look at her when she said that she was thinking of doing the same thing. So it wasn’t just him then. That was a relief, the invisible weight that had been on his shoulders for the last few months felt a tad lighter, though he was sure that would double in size the second he made a final decision. Thinking about doing something was much easier than actually doing it, and he had found that he was the type to think more than physically do. That was why he was here in the first place. His convictions didn’t override the fact that he was still internally trying to be seen by his parents for doing something they wanted him to. Quitting out during training and joining the Prophet would be the best way to stick it to them at the last minute. They already had Claire to live vicariously through and Addi to look forward to. What he did shouldn’t matter to them at all.
Grey nodded his head as Anna continued on about how the Tournament had changed her mind on being an Auror. There was no way for him to ever know what it was like to train or even be in the tasks, but as an observer and post-task interviewer he could see the difficulties that came with it. Having to be on guard and trained for virtually any situation was not the life for everyone. It certainly wasn’t the one for him right now. Those that could through their lives away for the sake of others were special – that wasn’t him. “You’re the Triwizard Champion. Whatever you pick, I’m sure you’ll get hired.” Her skills and tenacity had already been proven ten times over, far more than any of the other recent graduates. “I think it’s a little ridiculous that we’re expected to know what we want to do right out of school. Maybe I’m lucky because I have a solid fallback, but not everyone can be like that.” Rather, he was lucky because he pushed aside what he really wanted to do for something else altogether. Changing course after testing the Auror training would be easier than immediately going into journalism.
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last online Apr 28, 2024 23:42:39 GMT -7
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Mar 30, 2018 17:25:48 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2018 17:25:48 GMT -7
Grey didn't really respond when Anna told him that she was thinking about not becoming an Auror, which was kind of a relief. She knew it was ridiculous, but she almost felt like people expected amazing things from her after her performance in the Triwizard Tournament. Anna didn't think that the quiet, laid-back lifestyle she was leaning towards would satisfy those people. Then again, it didn't really matter what others wanted her to do as long as she and Oscar were happy. Did it? She was a people-pleaser and fully aware of that fact, but she also knew that it was impossible to please everyone at once. She needed to do what was best for her. Anna smiled when he told her that she'd get hired, whatever she picked. That was probably true, but that wasn't Anna's problem. How was she supposed to get hired when she had no idea what she wanted to do? She frowned as she tried for a second to think of something new that she would want to do, but nothing came and then Grey was talking again. She nodded at his words. "Definitely ridiculous. I mean, I know some people know what they want to do. My friend Irina always wanted to be a Cursebreaker, but nothing really sounds appealing to me. I want to do something, I just don't know what." Anna shrugged as she continued, "Which is part of the reason why I haven't dropped out of Auror training yet." She knew that the second she did that, plenty of people would be asking her what she wanted to do and she didn't want to admit to everyone that she didn't know. Talking with people she knew about it was different, but people that were only talking to her because of the Triwizard Tournament? She didn't want to deal with them. grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
693 posts
played by Colin
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last online Apr 28, 2024 18:17:04 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Apr 15, 2018 15:06:55 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Apr 15, 2018 15:06:55 GMT -7
@annelise He wasn’t surprised at all to hear that Irina had always wanted to be a Cursebreaker, and was now following through on it. She had saved his neck big time prior to the Yule Ball. Snapping a love potion in half had seemed easy to her, from his perspective. Of course he was also befuddled out of his mind during the preparation steps to that, still having an interest in Ondina and all that. The thought of being ‘in love’ with her made his stomach turn on knots still. He had caught a glimpse of her a few times since work began, thankfully yet to encounter her officially, and preferably to keep it that way. Whatever she was up to now was no longer his business and he hoped his name stayed out of hers. The only positive out of that was he now knew how to make an expert love potion counter and understood how to escape a weak one if he managed to get placed under one again. Ondina’s had been anything but weak, unfortunately, but his daily dose of paranoia and tonic kept whatever could be coming his way, away. Plus he had Cecelia to look out for him, in the off chance he started falling head over heels with some other girl again.
Grey nodded at Anna’s explanation for why she hadn’t dropped out yet. Even with his solid fallback, he hadn’t left either. That was because he found some of this rigorous training useful. “Nothing wrong with staying in until you find something that actually works,” he shrugged. “And it’s not like the pay is bad either.” For him, that was important. Interns at the Prophet made next to nothing compared to what he was doing now. If he could live on the low and spend as little as possible over the next few months, the transition to a new job would only affect his lifestyle slightly. “That and I feel like we might be better off learning how to defend ourselves. Sometimes I wish Hogwarts had focused more on that.”
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last online Apr 28, 2024 23:42:39 GMT -7
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Apr 17, 2018 18:29:12 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2018 18:29:12 GMT -7
Anna smiled when Grey seemed to agree with her, saying that it was fine to stay until she figured something else out. That was true, though Anna wasn't sure she'd take it that far. If she couldn't find something else she'd rather do by the end of her summer- by her wedding date- she was going to quit anyway. She knew that her studying to be an Auror freaked Oscar out and she knew it wasn't what she wanted to do, so maybe she'd be able to search better once she quit. Then again, she'd just have to see how well that worked when she came to it. She nodded when he mentioned the pay. "Exactly," she agreed. Right now she was staying with Lucy, and Oscar would be too once he came out of the hospital, but she wanted to see how much she could earn, if maybe she and Oscar could get their own place. Wow, it was weird how her thoughts were revolving around him. Then again, she was engaged. Was this natural? She didn't know. "I agree. I want to be able to protect myself, so I'm going to stay for a while longer. Hopefully during that time I'll be able to find something to do once I quit, but if not at least I'm learning useful skills." She paused and took a deep breath, rolling her head from side to side. "So what do you do when you're not here?" Anna asked curiously. Was she the only one that went home and just wanted to relax? She didn't think so. grey xavier slater
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
693 posts
played by Colin
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last online Apr 28, 2024 18:17:04 GMT -7
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Apr 29, 2018 10:44:46 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Apr 29, 2018 10:44:46 GMT -7
@annelise Having someone else to resonate his feelings on being an auror definitely made the whole process easier. It was almost like going back to his first year at Hogwarts, where all of the students had the same concerns and fears about being at school without their parents and studying something they were just starting to figure out themselves. Even if none of them ever spoke out about being worried about school, they were certainly all feeling it. While he had his own problems during the first few years of school, it didn’t mean he had been exempt from feeling that way as well. At least now he knew what he was getting into, at least a little more than back then. The basics were outlined already and now it was time to apply them, something that Hogwarts hadn’t done enough of, in his opinion. “Useful indeed,” he repeated. Much more useful than anything he had learned previously. The training was perfect for testing exactly how prepared he was for life going forward. If the events over the last month or so were anything to go by, it was going to be rough for the foreseeable future.
As they finally started to approach the cafeteria he had been heading towards, Anna asked the question he had somewhat been dreading: what did he do when he wasn’t at work. Everyone seemed normally avoid asking him questions like that, mostly because he had become good at diverting the conversation back at them. Cecelia’s ‘condition’ was new enough still that he wasn’t going to go around telling everyone about it. Not only was it not his place to do that, he was sure she would let those that needed to know when she wanted to. “I usually go right home if I don’t have any plans after,” he said, trying to play it safe. The only problem was that he was most certainly not the kind to typically make plans. “Haven’t been fortunate enough to escape the clutches of my parents’ house yet, so I try to spend as little time there as possible.” With Addi staying with Claire for the summer, there was no reason to be locked in with his parents very single evening. The deafening silence that always surrounded every one of their interactions was enough to tell him that he needed to escape that sooner rather than later.
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last online Apr 28, 2024 23:42:39 GMT -7
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May 5, 2018 22:45:28 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on May 5, 2018 22:45:28 GMT -7
Grey thought that the Auror Training taught useful things too. That wasn't a surprise. Honestly, after the last few years at Hogwarts, both of them knew that things were getting worse and worse in the world. Anna wanted to be able to defend herself and know of any extra measures that she could take for her safety, as well as Oscar's. Aurors might be a little over-the-top with some things, but they were very good when it came to safety and they wanted their own to be protected well. This stuff they were learning was definitely useful and she was glad that she was learning it. She nodded when Grey answered her questions. It made sense, considering the way their conversation was going up to this point. The two of them were tired and exhausted from training. Going home afterward made sense. "Yeah, me too," she commented. When he mentioned that he still lived at home, she shook her head and chuckled under her breath. "Good luck with that. I mean, I don't know about your family, but I couldn't live with my parents anymore. I'm with Lucy and it's such a relief." Mostly because she couldn't get along with her dad to save her life, but she didn't want to come outright and say that. "Are you looking for somewhere?" Anna didn't know of any places, she was just curious. grey xavier slater
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