With You? Always.

Lads and Ladies Night

Author's note: This one was fun to write. Enjoy! :)

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"Look how big he is! It's amazing how fast kneazles can grow in such a short amount of time. He was only half his size before we left for summer term!"

Poppy was leaning over the fencing, trying to coax one of the kneazles to come closer to her while Andromeda was perched on top of one of the railings. Natty was right next to her with her back propped against the fence.

Andromeda looked over at her friend, who was more than halfway over the fence with her arm reached out in front of her, and shook her head. "Poppy, you're going to fall flat on your face if you try to reach any further."

"If he moved just a bit closer..."

Natty glanced over her shoulder and suggested, "Why don't you go into the corral? It's not like he's going to bite."

Poppy scoffed and whipped her head around, slightly glaring at Natty. "Because he's just going to keep running away from me! I'm trying to build some sort of trust, and I rather not barge in on their own space and potentially scare him. They can be quite territorial if they feel threatened. Gran has taught me that I need to be patient when working with such magical creatures."

Andromeda laughed and asked, "How's your Gran by the way? I knew you were bursting at the seams to tell her about all the magical creatures we encountered last year."

Poppy immediately perked up at Andromeda's question and pulled herself back from the fence to turn to look at her friend. "Oh, yes! I told her about how we actually got to see the hatching of three Snidget eggs! She found it so fascinating that she wanted to do further research on them and asked exactly where we found them. I won't be surprised if she is there right now."

"I hope she doesn't get lost. That cave was like a maze."

"At least Gran isn't trying to find where we returned that dragon egg. I would be concerned about her well-being given her age and her lack of ability to outrun a dragon."

Natty raised her brows in disbelief. "Wait a minute. Am I just hearing this now for the first time? The two of you outran a dragon last year?!?"

Andromeda gave her friend a slight nod. "And were approached by a herd of centaurs, and witnessed a mooncalf dance..."

Poppy piped in with, "And don't forget infiltrating an underground dragon fighting pit and setting a dragon free."

Natty stared at both of her friends with her eyes wide open. "Andromeda, how on earth are you standing here in one piece? It's a miracle you made it out alive after this past school year in the first place!"

"I honestly have no idea, but you're not the only one to notice. Ominis has already told me I need to take it easy this year or he will take matters into his own hands."

"Oh! Speaking of Ominis..." Poppy lips curled slowly into a smile. "What did the two of you get up to this summer?"

Andromeda hid her face behind her hands, mumbling, "Not you too."

Before Andromeda could get another word out, Natty clapped her hands and squeaked. "Let's just say Andromeda was a bit tongue-tied and managed to get a view of Ominis that should only be seen behind closed doors."

Andromeda groaned while Poppy's jaw dropped. "Merlin's beard! Andromeda! Do I dare ask what happened?"

"I was teaching him how to swim!" Andromeda threw her arms out to the side, her face growing warm with her cheeks glowing with the color pink. "He asked if he could take his shirt off, and I said I was fine with it if it made him more comfortable, and the next thing I knew, I was blankly staring at his bare chest."