We can be anything we wanna be (open)

[Allaire Burke]

It was yet another Hogsmeade weekend. Allaire only traveled to Hogsmeade with her sisters, but then broke away from them. She didn't really care what they were doing. The library entered her mind, instead of shopping. There wasn't really anything that she wanted, except for maybe getting candy.

Looking through the books in the library was always one of her favorite things to do because she could slip into someone else's world and leave hers behind. She disappeared in the aisles of books.

Stopping, she looked over a shelf before picking up Pride and Prejudice. Sure, Allaire had read the book before, but it had to be one of her most favorite books. She walked away from the shelf to a comfortable place where she could sit and start reading her selection.

[Jadon Burke]

"I thought I might find you here."

Jadon strolled up behind his sister, a smile on his lips. He was actually glad he was back in town... he missed the girls so much sometimes. It was easier when he was in school with them. Now, he had to be careful he didn't drift away from them.

"Managed to lose Kassia and Fee?"



(((Just to make it difficult on a guy to ask you to the ball)))

[Allaire Burke]

Allaire almost finished with the first chapter in her book until she heard a voice she knew as her brother's. "I'm not that hard to find," she said with a smile. "And yes, I did manage to lose them. I know that they went shopping, and I didn't feel like going, although I will make a stop at the Honeydukes before I go back to school. I just felt like coming here and reading for a bit." She gave a shrug.

"What about you Jay? What are you doing here?"

[Jadon Burke]

"Yes, well, I imagine Kassia is only with Fee to keep an eye on her. Makes my job easier, I guess," he smiled, sitting down next to her now that he had her attention. He glanced at the cover of the book and rolled his eyes. "How many times have you read that now?"

He shrugged and leaned back. "I promised I'd come visit more, didn't I?"

[Allaire Burke]

"I've lost count," said Allaire with a sheepish grin. "Although it's a great book, and it is worth reading over and over because most of the time I pick up on details that I missed before."

She studied her brother for a minute. "So you think that hunting us down is considered a great way of speading more time with us," Allaire asked jokingly. "I'm just kidding. I'm glad that you are visiting more. You're always gone too long and with Fee and Kassia all the time, well, don't get me wrong I love my sisters, but they're just, I don't know the right words. I'm sure they'll say the same about me."

[Jadon Burke]

Jadon laughed heartily. "Yes. I stalk you now. That's how this big brother thing works, didn't you know?" He asked, nudging her and teasing her.

"I know exactly what you mean. I love you three dearly but you're all so different. I don't know how you all came from the same family."

[Allaire Burke]

"At least you're not some creep," Allaire said with a laugh. "And we all have to be different! It would be completely boring if all three of us were the same. Besides, even if we are all different, there's no mistaking us for Burkes." She gave her brother a wink.

"So anything special changed with you since the dinner? Any new girlfriends or anything that I should know about and evaluate?"

[Jadon Burke]

Jadon smiled softly. "Are you being protective all of a sudden?" He asked her. "No, you don't have to worry. I'm single and I'm all right with it for a while. I would ask the same of you, except what yo said about the dance over dinner the other night. No potentials?"

He didn't so much want to know about her love life or really care, unless she wanted to tell him about it. He cared about everything any of his sisters wanted to say. But he needed to make sure that any guys knew they had someone to answer to if they hurt his baby sisters.

[Allaire Burke]

"Well, I don't want some bimbo dating you just for your money," Allaire stated in a 'duh' tone. "I don't know about potentials. I mean, I guess there are a few, but I still have yet to be asked. Although, I don't have a problem with it, because it will give me a whole night to read a book, or something like that. If I'm asked, I'll give it some consideration, but if I'm not, then I can still have fun."

She gave a shrug. "I did meet someone new. He seems alright. First guy that I've ever really had a literary type of conversation with. Other than that, nothing special."

[Jadon Burke]

"No, you can't really waste away the dance in your room reading a book. Surely, if you don't have a date, there must be othe girls who are going alone." He would tell her he would take her, except that he never wanted to force anything on his sisters. They knew he would do anything for them, but sometimes, in certain situations, they needed to ask.

"Hmm... another bookish sort... I'm always amazed they didn't put you in Ravenclaw, you know. Should I be worried about warning this new boy?"

[Ashton Lane]

Ashton was in the library already when Allaire went there. The school's library didn't have quite the same type of books and so he headed to this one often when he couldn't find what he was looking for at the school.

He had seen her come in and his lips twitched in amusement, he thought that he might visit with her again, but was put off that thought when a decidedly older brother looking person, and he knew that Jadon was her older brother, had stepped into view. Glancing at them however from time to time he grew restless and turned in the other direction, maybe when her brother left he'd be able to talk to her.

[Allaire Burke]

"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "I would actually rather stay in the common room reading than show up to the dance without a date. Besides it's nothing that's extremely important. It's not a do or die situation." Allaire looked at him and gave a smile. "Now, if I were Fee, then it would be a do or die situation." She gave a laugh, but also recognized the look on his face. "When you see Kassia, you should ask her to the dance. I'm sure she'd enjoy it."

Allaire raised her eyebrow when he made a comment about Ravenclaw. She didn't comment on that, however she did shake her head at the next line. "No, Jay. You don't have to warn him. He's harmless, really. "

[Jadon Burke]

"Kassia, hm?" Jadon asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because I was seriously just thinking about you to the dance. But I guess, if you have this harmless bloke interested... Kassia was also on my mind. Although, if he's in Slytherin... and a boy... I would really doubt that he is harmless."

He wouldn't say anymore about it, though. Allaire was also strong, in her quiet and reserved way, and she could take care of herself and make her own decisions.

[Allaire Burke]

She rolled her eyes at Jadon. "Jay, just take Kassia. I can tell that she's just itching to go, even if she hasn't said anything. She'll enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have a problem going with you to the dance, but Kassia comes first. Plus, I'm not extremely considered of this dance. Like I said, if I'm asked I'll go, if I'm not then I won't." Allaire gave a shrug. "And don't worry so much, nothing is going to happen."

She gave him a wink. "Oh, and you know that since you're taking Kassia, that means you have to get dress robes. That's going to be fun seeing you all dressed up!"

[Jadon Burke]

"All right, all right," Jadon said, shaking his head and smiling. "I will take Kass. But you can't tell me not to worry about you three... that's my job and I'm not going to stop worrying."

He tilted his head a moment later. "I have dress robes. Haven't you seen them?" He supposed maybe she hadn't, not in a long while. He was very rarely ever around, and when he was, he was dressed very casually and often in muggle clothes. "I guess you're in for a treat. Though who knows how well I actually clean up."

[Kassia Burke]

Allaire was wrong about one thing. Kass did not find the ball intriguing in the least. She would, like her sister, prefer a quiet evening at home, setting the house to rights, not that their mother didn't have every single thing stitched out perfectly. Kassia liked to watch. She often imagined her own home one day. After her father found her a suitable husband, she'd be the ideal wife of course. She had been practicing since she was able to walk, how to command servants how to do everything herself, she would be responsible for teaching new servants efficiency when she went to her new house so that things would run smoothly for her husband.

She might have had, upon occasion, a bit of apprehension about what the future held, marrying a man she didn't know...becoming a mother...

Her parent's marriage had worked out divinely and her father adored her mother, she was hoping, and believing that she would find the same happiness, her father would never put her with someone who would hurt her or abuse her.

Sighing she left Fee in the dress maker shop while she was fitted for new dresses and paid the dressmaker in secret to send a note should her sister leave. While she wanted to keep an eye on Fee she had to get away from the shopping scene just as much as Allaire had. Kassia found more pleasure in buying things for others, or for the home, she found more pleasure in going over ledgers and accounts for their estate to make sure that the stewards weren't jipping them, of course the stewards wouldn't dare. When she did go shopping she imagined how this thing might look on Fee, that Allaire would enjoy this book, her father would enjoy this quill, and so on and so on.

For the moment she was looking for something to get Jadon to celebrate his return, she bought him one of those new two way mirrors that let wizards talk to one another and see one another if they had the other mirror. She was happy to have found one and happier still that now they'd have a better way of keeping in touch when he was gone.

She wasn't expecting to run into him at the Library when she had gone to look for Allaire.

"Jay? " she laughed a little, " What are you doing here?"

[Jadon Burke]

Jadon looked up, creasing his brows for a second before he smiled at his sister. "I thought you'd be with Fee, Kass," he said. Not that it mattered. He had just been in Hogsmeade and it didn't really matter which of them he ran into.

"I'm just in town... thought maybe I'd get some Christmas shopping done, and then I ran into Allaire. Are you all right?"

[Kassia Burke]

"I left Fee with the dressmaker, she's happy, and the dressmaker will send me a note if she decides to leave." Kassia grinned impishly at her brother for her own semi ingenuity.

"I'm wonderful, I'm glad you came to town you know we love seeing you."

[Jadon Burke]

"I promised you I would, didn't I? Anyway, I think Allaire likes her book more than me," he teased his other sister, giving her a look that promised he knew it wasn't true. "And I was actually going to come stalk... I mean look for you next."

He smiled and finally stood up to hug Kass. "Well, Allaire, I'm going to take Kassia to lunch. Would you like to join us?"

[Kassia Burke]

Kass smiled at her younger sister, books were something that they had in common they both loved reading so she understood completely her sister's desire to come to the Library. Kassia frequented the bookstore often, dreaming of far off places and magical things. It was a quiet passion she had since most of the time she appeared biddable, to her family at least.

"Lunch would be grand. Allaire?"