Do as the Romans do

In London, on a rather humid day, Talon sat on a bench waiting at a rather busy intersection browsing the internet with his phone. Talon was wearing a gray shirt with some design on the front, black shorts, black shoes, and aviators that he had picked up in a store in New York. He never usually wore sunglasses, but he couldn't bear the glare of the sun in his eyes, plus he enjoyed the style of aviators. Talon was glad that he was out of school for a while so he could use technology, seeing as how the rules were very strict within the wizarding world about them. He hadn't seen in phone in over a year, even though he always felt glued to the thing. He could do without, yet it did make life so much easier when you could Google something anytime you wanted to. Made finding restaurants easier to find too, but that was just a luxury.

Talon was only in London at the time to meet up with some friends he had made at Hogwarts. After asking his father to apparate him there (even though he hated the feeling of apparition), he was able to get there in no time and sent a message to his friend Caiden as well as some others to meet him there. He hadn't seen much of his good friend, nor any other of his friends he had come to know in Hogwarts, due to the houses they were in. When you were in Ravenclaw, you never really could find your Slytherin friend. Unless you were at the Great Hall, but then again you always had to associate at your table when it was dinner. But now since they were out for the summer, they were just a couple of dumb kids with wands and had the world as their oyster. Which meant they only had short time to do some incredible thing before being sent back to Hogwarts. He wondered if that would happen soon.

Talon continued to sit in the humid weather, browsing the internet for places to eat. He had some money on him and was hoping that he could find a nice place to eat before he needed to leave, but that was any time he wanted. He had sent the message to Caiden and some others a while ago to show up in about ten minutes, but it seems no one wanted to show up early. He couldn't blame them, it was damn hot out here. He looked up from his phone and out at the busy intersection, just watching the cars that passed by. He kept looking at the types of cars that passed by and read the license plate numbers. One by one, he noticed each type of car and wondered if he should ever buy one later on. Ford Kuga Estate? he thought in his mind Nah, that doesn't look like it would get good gas mileage. Nissan Qashqai? Looks like, but seems pretty expensive. Oh, a Beetle! That's a classic!. This interested him greatly, and he couldn't help it. He loved cars, ever since he went to an auto dealer a couple summers ago. Until that point, he had never really cared, he always wanted to apparate...that was until he first apparated last summer. He hated the feeling, and he still did.

Talon finally had enough though and checked his clock. In the UK, it was 2:23 P.M., so about seven minutes before everyone started to show up. But, Talon was tired of the heat though and stood up, wanting to find some shade. He looked around, hoping to find a tree or something, eventually seeing one...right next to him. He sighed off his irritation with himself and sat underneath its leaves, looking up at each individual one. Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. he heard the voice of his grandpa say I think you should do the same Bud. He never really understood what he meant. Maybe one day he would learn what he meant.

Caiden had slept in today as usual when he was on school holiday, couldn't blame him it was school holiday and no one was stopping him. All of a sudden he heard his ringtone blaring from his ears from the table across him which caused him to jump. Caiden casually got up and read the text message he received from his good friend Talon asking if he wanted to hang out and meet him in London. 'Caiden! I told you not to sleep on the couch,'his mother screamed from across the room behind him. Caiden had been sleeping on the couch again, i mean who wouldn't the couch was very comfortable even more comfortable then his bed. He would sleep on it every day if he could, but he had to break that habit. 'I'm sorry mama,' he shot back at her and pocketed his phone into his pocket. 'Hey, mum. Talon just sent me a message if i wanted to hang out with him, can I go?' he asked, as he followed his mum behind her as she walked of mumbling about how kids were these days. 'Yeah, sure darling. Go have a shower and i'll take you there,' she replied. Then with that Caiden told her the exact location he had to meet talon and head off to get ready.

Caiden wore a light blue and white striped singlet, black running shorts, a blue cap which he had on backwards and white dunlop volley sneakers. 'Caiden! Hurry up, i got to head to work!' shouted his mother. 'I'm coming!' shouted Caiden, trying his best not to sound irritated. His mother and him had a small squabble while he was getting ready to head out. Not his fault the water kept turning cold from his stubborn mother who wouldn't believe that turning the water from the kitchen would make the water in the shower cold. She'd just say it was just his excuse for being so slow in the shower. Caiden put on his wristbands on and started making his way out. 'Couldn't you be any slower!' he mother spoke, her voice irritated. Caiden mimicked her voice and sticked his tongue out as he locked his arm in his mothers arm and started to apparate to London.

Unliked Talon, Caiden didn't mind the feeling of being apparated, sure it made it nauseous for a few moment but he was used to it. Pop! he appeared in an alley since they both didn't want any muggles to see them appear out of no where as if they were there the whole time. It was against the law. Caiden with his arm stilled locked around the crook of his mothers arm then started walking to the spot Talon had chosen them to meet. After a while he finally made it to the spot but he couldn't find him anywhere so he looked at his phone and started texting. 'I am here,' he wrote. 'Where are you?' he added after wards and waited to see if he responds.

Talon continued to stare at the leaves, looking like an idiot in the process, until he felt his phone vibrate in his right side pocket. He quickly dug his hand through the pocket and pulled out his phone, looking at the alert that was across the screen. I am here, where are you? Talon swiped the alert off the screen with his finger and brought up the keyboard to reply. Sitting underneath a tree at the intersection of S Eaton Pl and Ebury St. Can't miss it. He pressed the 'Send' button and watched as his message zoomed away in the blink of an eye. He placed his phone back in his pocket and took a deep breath, getting in as much air as possible. He liked London, he just didn't like how busy it was during this time of day. Many cars passed and the sun shined, things that would normally interest the average person, but not Talon. He spent most of his summer being drenched in extreme humid conditions, and the sun only made things worse for him. He wouldn't mind it being winter already. Talon wiped his brow, some minor sweat appearing on his forearm, a signal that read 'Get the hell out of this heat!' Boy would he love to.

Caiden stood in the middle of the garden, his hands in his pocket as he looked around the crowd for an odd looking boy bobbing his head through the ground. Then he felt his phone vibrating against his leg, he quickly pulled out his phone and tapped his fingers on the screen to open the lock screen. Sitting underneath a tree at the intersection of S Eaton Pl and Ebury St. Can't miss it, he read. Caiden brought up the keyboard and tapped it with his finger on the keyboard. I am on the way he replied and started making his way to his destination. Caiden got lost for a moment, he could not find where St Eaton Pl and Ebury St was and was starting to get worried he might get lost.

He did not know London very well as he spent most of his time in Hogwart and he already knew Hogwart like the back of his hand like a map. Luckily he had his mum to escort him so he wouldn't get lost. 'Excuse me,' he tapped a stranger on the shoulders. 'Do you know where St Eaton Pl and Ebury St is?' he asked. 'Yeah, its right up there, you shouldn't miss it,' said the stranger. Caiden looked up and saw the sign which read the destination he had to go to and he could see that it wasn't far from where he was before. 'Thanks,' he said, feeling slightly embarrassed. Caiden peered under a tree where he spotted Talon waiting anxiously under a tree. 'There he is, mum,' he said walking towards Talon. 'Hey Talon!' he shouted, waving at him as he finally made it to him.

(Sorry just had to put something in)

(I am so hurt!)

In his boredom, Talon had begun to play some random game that came in stock on his phone, a game called 'Tilt'. Simple concept, tilt your phone and get your ball to the other side of the screen without hitting any hole. Plus it got progressively harder, something that would help the minutes fly by. He got to level 8 though, out of 50 and kept losing, something that began to build his temper up. Once, twice, then thrice, and he finally gave up, not going to let some game try and get the best of him. He hated how some phones had the best games but were really expensive, but his phone was somewhat average and he only got average games. Ehh, oh well. That's what you get when you buy a phone at a pawn shop, he thought to himself before placing his phone back into his pocket.

For a moment, he thought he almost heard someone call out his name. He began to peer left and right where he sat, shifting his position to get a 360 degree of view around him. From behind, he noticed his friend Caiden crossing the street to where he was at. With a sigh of relief, Talon wiped his brow again of a few meager droplets and stood up. As he walked towards Caiden, he began to brush off several grass blades from the back of his pants and several pieces of dirt that collected on his back when he leaned against the old tree bark. Well, at least now he could maybe get into someplace with air conditioning, a better place than outside at this point. "Hey Caiden," Talon said with a smile as he approached him. As he noticed Caiden's clothing, he had an obvious sarcastic smirk plastered on his face. "Looks like you waster no time trying to dress up, eh?" sugarcoats of sarcasm obvious within Talon's tone.

(Oh man up)

'Alright, Caiden be careful I am off now, don't do anything stupid,' Caiden's mother said. 'No drinking or smoking, if i catch you smoking I will kick you out the house,' she continued. 'Yes, Mum,' said Caiden rolling his eyes at his mum. 'Be a good boy will ya, mama loves you, your mama little boy,' she gave him a big slobby kiss on the cheek and hugged him. 'Mum!' he looked at her with disbelief. Then jerked his head to Talon signalling that he had a friend watching him, don't embarrassed me. Caiden then halted into position and put his hands in his pocket, smiling at his friend. 'Oh this?' he tugged his running shorts, 'I just put something on' he shrugged and chuckled. Boy it was glad to see his friends he hadn't seen him since school finished. It was a nice change from him sitting on the couch doing nothing.

Talon silently laughed under his breath as Caiden got a kiss from his mom, covering his face to hide the fact from view. His mother stopped doing that when Talon was ten, and Caiden still has it done to him when he's 15! Was it 16? He forgot his age, they were in the same class though so it didn't matter. He shook his head when Caiden's mom left, saying "See ya later Ms. A!" and then turned to Caiden. "Dude, she still does that? Damn." He shook his head again, his sarcastic smile still on his face. "Well anyway, good to see ya. How's Slytherin treating ya?" He knew Slytherins were assholes from time to time again, especially as to what happened to Sapphire. But, that was another story. "I invited some others to show up by the way," he said casually "but I don't know if some of them will make it or not. You're the only one who's replied so far." Hopefully some of the others would arrive, it'd be a pretty boring day if it was just an army of two. "Anyway, not sure as to what to do first, want to go get some fast food or something?"

'I know, she does it to annoy me,' said Caiden as Talon commented on his mother babying him earlier. 'She won't stop no matter how many time i've told her to stop,' he watched his mother as she walked off to her work. Caiden and his mother shared a very strong mother/son relationship. They could almost talk to each other like they were best friends. Both of them was always playing prank on each other and finding out new ways to annoy each other. 'Oh, yeah, Been a while. They've been treating me alright...' said Caiden, a little sadness filled his voice. Heres the story for those who don't know. The Slytherins were always bullying him and picking on him for being afraid of birds and for being smart. They would poke fun at him and laugh, they would hold him down and beat him up now and then or turning him into pigs and throwing flocks of birds from their wands. 'Oh okay,' he said, interested to see who would turn up and who wouldn't. 'How about some food, I am starving i've just woken up,' he said, patting his stomach and grinning at Talon.

"Still sleeping in, huh?" Talon grinned, knowing that Caiden could be quite the lazy person from time to time again "I guess that's excusable, it is summer after all. Alright, I'm not sure as to what's nearby right now, we might as well go and look around." Talon pulled his phone out of his pocket again, hoping that perhaps someone else had sent him a message. No new messages had appeared, disappointing him rather quickly. He shook it off though and unlocked his phone, opening up the map application. From there, he began to look around in the nearby area, using the satellite imaging they offered. "Looks like they got a couple of franchises nearby," he pointed out, still scrolling through the virtual map "but they all seem pretty close together. May as well just walk around and see what catches our eye." Talon jammed the phone back into his right pocket, starting to walk in the direction of one of the local food chains.

'What can I say,' shrugged Caiden smirking at his best mate. 'Its summer holiday might as well sleep in,' Caiden said. Caiden was glad to seee his good friend Talon again, he hadn't seen him since their return home from Hogwart. He was glad he was making his summer more useful by having a good time with his friends; instead of sitting around on the couch. 'Well what are we waiting for,' grinned Caiden rubbing his hands together excitedly. 'Im up for macdonald. I think my stomach getting impatience at thr moment,' he heard his stomach growling and began to walk with Talon. As they contiued to walk, Caiden decided to break the icr and asked. 'Who whose coming?'