Found Her!

Saying that Jonas was excited would be an understatement. Not an understatement. The unederstatement. He had been bouncing around and being generally annoying. Gregory practically had to keep a hand on his brother's collar to keep him from running off. All he needed to do was make sure he got to La Petit Dragon safely and off to school safely. Surely that wouldn't be too difficult. They were practically at the tavern already.

And then, all of a sudden, it was difficult. Gregory took his eyes away from Jonas for less than a second and he was gone. Mum is going to murder me, he thought.

He rushed into the pub and saw that the situation was worse than it appeared. Jonas had found Kayla.

Jonas had been ready to go to school for over a year now. He had to make the tough decision of deciding to go to Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, but after he had already been accepted into Beauxbatons, Jonas knew that was where he was going. It took him about five seconds to get excited about going. He wanted to meet all of Greg's friends and see all of Greg's teachers and just be around Greg.

Jonas had been walking around Paris with Greg's hand on his shirt collar. It was beginning to annoy him. He wanted to run around by himself and do his own thing. So as soon as he saw an opportunity, he ran ahead of them into La Petit Dragon and looked for a place to hide. But he didn't find a hiding spot. But he found a familiar face. Which automatically meant "friend".

Jonas rushed over to greet the older girl. "Hi, Kayla! I'm Jonas! Greg's brother! It's good to finally meet you! How are you? How's your brother? What are you doing here?" he asked in English. He was too excited to think. He had already forgotten about Greg.

Kayla stopped in the pub again as usual. She'd gotten there early and managed to snatch her own table. School shopping was really boring and the pub wasn't much better. None of her friends were at the pub this early yet. She felt kind of like a dork being so early and alone.

She was eating her salad, slowly chewing a piece of lettuce when a little boy bounded up to her. He knew her name, but she'd never met him before. Apparently he was Greg's brother. That explained the English. Kayla swallowed before she started replying to his questions. "Whoa, slow down," she laughed. She pulled up a chair for him.

"That's so cool, you're Greg's brother? It's nice to meet you too, Jonas," she replied in English. Kayla looked fondly at the bubbly little eleven year old, he looked a bit like Greg. "Greg hasn't said nearly enough about you. You know how he is," she laughed.  

"I'm doing well. Back to good old school. And I haven't seen much of my brother," Kayla frowned. She knew there was some uncertainty about whether or not Cameron was passing. She felt somewhat guilty for not asking him about it. For a brief second she wondered how Jonas knew about him.

"Enough about me. You're the one starting Beauxbatons. The excitement wears off fast, trust me, so enjoy it while you can. If you ever need any help there, just tell me. I've got sources," she winked. That was true to an extent, but she made it sound a lot cooler than it really was. She spotted Greg in the distance. "Hey! Come here, Greg!"

Gregory could imagine all the things that his brother could be saying. He could be doing all sorts of embarrassing things. The little boy knew too much about him. Jonas also wasn't a good judge of what should and what shouldn't be spoken about. That was one of the reasons Greg didn't want Jonas to come to Beauxbatons.

Gregory knew he had to rescue Kayla. He was relieved when she waved him over. He walked over to the table and put his hand on his brother's head. "Don't run off," he said sternly. Greg pulled up another chair and sat down. "Hi Kayla. How was your summer?"

Jonas eagerly sat down. His mind was just catching up with his actions. Greg would be angry with him. And Jonas could'v'e gotten him in trouble with his parents.

Jonas frowned for a moment. He knew exactly how his brother felt about him. The word "irritating" came up fairly often. It didn't bothered him some. He wanted to be exactly like his brother and he didn't understand why Greg didn't like him. "I know he doesn't talk about me. He talks about you a lot," Jonas said

He felt a hand on his head. "Sorry," he said. "I won't do it again. But I didn't get lost. I found Kayla!"

Greg was coming over and he didn't look very happy. She focused on the cute little Greg Jr. in front of her. "Oh, I meant in general. He's so private and doesn't talk much about himself," Kayla explained with a small laugh. "He's mentioned your sister, like, twice barely."

She had to admit she was somewhat flattered that Greg talked about her. She didn't think she was all that interesting to talk about.

She gave Greg a small smile when he came. He looked stern with Jonas. She had a slight feeling that she was intruding on something, but Kayla brushed it off. "Hey, Greg. Jonas was just introducing himself. My summer was pretty great, actually. I went to an international Quidditch camp. The people there were crazy good." Kayla was still amazed at her team's win last year. It had been fun to meet a bunch of different, talented players at the camp. She had left with a new anticipation for the upcoming season.

"So, Jonas," she turned to the first year with interest, "are you planning on trying out for Quidditch? You know, your brother's a good Beater," she smiled at Greg.

Greg ignored his brother's comment. He was glad that his brother wasn't lost, but Greg really wished that Jonas had been not-lost with someone else. Like Autumn. Or Cameron. Or Riley. Or... well, anyone.

"Yeah. Cameron mentioned something about you going there. Did you learn anything new for this coming season?" Greg asked. He hadn't heard too much from Cameron over the summer. What he did get were very short letters. Almost notes. Not that Gregory ever expected something big from his friend.

Greg looked at Jonas. He knew his brother wasn't very athletic (he was clumsy, in fact), but it would be an interesting answer for sure.

"He and Angela are close and people used to be mean to him about it. That's why he doesn't talk about her," Jonas explained quickly.

"He is really good!" Jonas agreed. "But I don't want to play. I don't think I'd have any fun."

He wouldn't admit it, but he was afraid of heights. It wasn't a serious fear, he just preferred to stay on the ground. He was dreading Flying class.

Part of him felt bad because most of his family had played Quidditch and he didn't want to, but his mother assured him that he could start a new tradition. "What else can I do at school?" he asked, maintaining his enthusiasm.

"Why? That's so rude of them," Kayla frowned. She had been close to Patrick and Caleb when she was younger. Maybe it was somewhat abnormal, but it wasn't something to make fun of people for.

"I practiced a lot of Wronski Feints. Crashed several times in the process." She subconsciously rubbed her bruised arm. "The Beaters there almost make me grateful for my Beaters. They had crazy strength. Overall I learned a lot at camp." Her face lit up. "Hey! Why don't you join me next year, Greg?" That would make it even more fun than it was this year. And she was confident in Greg's ability.

She turned back to Jonas. "Believe me, Quidditch doesn't get boring. At first I didn't see the hype about it either. But it's worth it, and whatever house you're in is practically guaranteed to need some players."

"Ooh, a lot. There's a student newspaper, a music and arts club, a drama club, Muggle appreciation club, and an exploration club." Kayla's brow furrowed as she tried to think of more. "And if you don't like flying, you can be an announcer." It would be nice to have an unbiased announcer. "You seem like a good fit for the Performing Arts Club. You have good taste in dramatic entrances," she lightly poked fun at Jonas.

Greg cringed internally. He didn't want to think about his friend doing something so dangerous. Crashing straight into the ground was a very real possibility. Why would someone try that? And why would someone teach kids that? Kayla didn't have any visible injuries, though, which made him feel a little better. "Maybe," Greg said shrugging. "It depends on how this year goes."

Gregory had a feeling that Quidditch wasn't going to be his brother's cup of tea. Jonas was a bit of a daredevil, but not to the point where he'd do something that would for sure cause him injury.

He chuckled at Kayla's dramatic entrance comment, but didn't say anything else.

"What's a-" he stopped. He didn't remember what Kayla had called it. "A that thing you said?"

He knew it was something Quidditch related. Jonas wanted to know the lingo, even if he never used it. He wanted to be able to keep up with his brother. And any friends that might be sporty. But mostly his brother.

Jonas smiled again. "Maybe. I've never performed anything before. Except music. But that's different. Less talking. Kayla, you play the viola, right?" he asked. Jonas was pretty sure that was the right instrument. It was a string instrument. He remembered that much.