Whose Side Are You On?

Andrew was caught off guard by Chase's sudden hug and was startled for a second. But after the shock, he put his arms around her and said "I'm not all that good. I just try my best." He then could hear her crying, and hugged her a little harder, trying to help her. "And like I said," he replied "You can always call or something. Although now, I think my phone is broken after swimming around and everything." He laughed slightly, and then really thought about it. Crap. He would get it fixed later. "Now we should probably get you home." he said, looking at the sun, which was now a little further than it had been last time "Sophia is probably worrying."

Andrew let go of Chase, feeling a lot more confident now that their friendship was still intact. He nearly blew it, but once again, things were all right. "Now how far is Sophias house from here?" It was a question, that Chase had never answered, and since he had never been there, was dumbfounded on where to go, or even how to get there.

Chase smiled when he hugged her back. She wiped her eyes when he let go of her, and her own eyes lit up when he mentioned his phone. "Crap.." She whispered and dug her hand into her pocket. Pulling out her phone, she glared at it, it was pretty much completely soaked and she groaned. "I need rice.." She muttered shaking her head. "I completely forgot that my phone was in my pocket.." She said softly. "And I doubt there is a spell thats.. electronic friendly." She said giggling. "I'll just have to hope it doesn't get completely ruined.. to tell you the truth though.. I've had my eye on a different phone for a while, so this might be my chance to get it.." She said smiling slightly, her mind completely drifting, which was typical Chase.

"Sophia's house? I said it's kind of far.. down this beach a ways.. to tell you the truth, I have no idea how far we've gone, or how far it is.. I just know WHERE it is.. not how to get there.. ya know? When she brought me there.. well it was right after.." Her voice cracked, and she cleared it carefully before continuing. "You know, and I was kind of out of it.." She said with a light strained smile. "I know it's down this way though.. I think I can see it.." She said pointing down the beach. There was a roof to a house not far from where they were. "That's the corner store, and if we get there, we go down that road, and it's almost right down that way.." She said smiling lightly before glancing up at him. "Come on.." She said jerking her head, and making off down the beach, not running, just a slow walk, waiting for him to catch up.

"You need rice?" he asked raising an eyebrow curiously. He smiled and quickly forgot about the random statement. Following Chase's orders and knowledge of Sophia's house, he nodded and continued on a slow walk with her. It seemed as if a large weight had been dropped off his shoulder, but another one toke it's place. What would he say to Nerissa? He shook the thought off, and decided not to tell her. He didn't want to upset her, and wouldn't have the words to explain it.

After a moment, Andrew finally remembered something. The party, where Andrew had danced with Nerissa, that was Sophias house! Now he remembered. "I think I know where it is," he said grinning widely at his stupidity "Sophia and Julia threw an end of the year party at her house, and I completely forgot! Do you want to apparate or walk?" he asked, wanting to know her opinion

Chase giggled. "Rice helps draw the water out of the phone." She said giggling. "If you don't turn it on after you get it wet.. and you put it in a bowl of rice, it acts like a drying agent.. like when you put rice in sugar so it doesn't clump." She said giggling happily at her own knowledge. Sure, that would be one of the only things she learned, she looked down and blushed again. Chase glanced at him, and frowned at the look on his face. "You okay?" She asked slowly, unsure of what to make of his emotions. He hadn't said a single thing about what he felt. "Andrew.. you know you can tell me anything too.." She said softly, biting on her lip again, a bad habit she had developed just recently.

"Oh.. yeah, I was invited to that.. but I chose not to go." She said smiling lightly. "It.. It was my dad's birthday that day." She said trying to keep her smile in place when she looked up at him. "I'd like to walk.. if that's okay with you.." She said softly. "I mean, not that I want to put a move on you or anything, but it's still so nice out, and I'm kinda putting off seeing Sophia, seeing as.. well.. I haven't exactly been at her house in a while, cause I needed to get out.. my head has been full of bad thoughts, so well, I moved to an apartment a while ago.." She said softly, biting on her lip again, looking at her hands.

[OOC: totally pulled Dad's birthday out of my butt]

[Lol]

Andrew was about to make a note of that on his phone, when he realized that was the thing that had been almost destroyed. So instead, he made a mental note, yet also knew he would most likely forget about it later on. "Hey what do you know," he said smiling widely "we learn something new everyday!" He then shrugged his arms up and down when she said he could say his feelings. "Well it's pretty much shown in my expression I guess. I'm glad that I have a new friend, wondering about what I'll do when I see my girlfriend again and many other things."

"Sounds good," he said smiling, keeping his pace the same as Chase. As she explained why, he nodded and said "we'll take the long route then. If that's alright with you of course." He looked around and began to wonder where the next town may have been. "Any idea where the next town is?" he asked, curiosity rising in him.

Chase smiled lightly. "I guess, that's understandable.. I mean, it is your girlfriend." She said biting her lip and looking away from him quickly. His girlfriend, it made her sad to think of the word, but.. happy at the same time, because he was happy to be with this girl, who must be amazing to have caught Andrew's eyes. She looked away, she had to get these thoughts out of her head! Or she would go insane, pining after something that could never be hers, she had to stop thinking about it, and move on with life.

"Yeah, long way is fine." She said grinning at him again. "Next town? Erm.. not really, I've only been to Hawaii once before I was with Sophia, and we mostly stayed at our summer home there.." She said and felt her chest ache again, she put her hand on it, and glanced at him, hoping he hadn't noticed. Her summer home, she should probably sell that one, she wouldn't come here again anyway, not that she could think of. And all of the others, she could live without, but she wouldn't get rid of the one in Japan, she liked that one to much, way to much! She smiled to herself, and continued down the beach, enjoying her walk with Andrew.

Andrew thought for a moment of how he probably shouldn't have mentioned Nerissa again, and decided not to bring it up. He just wanted to enjoy a nice walk with a friend and call it a day. They had already fought of mutant bears, and what would be next, ailen abdtuction. Suddenly, in Andrew's mind, he began to think of the sound of knocking on wood.

Andrew nodded quickly and began to turn a bit, gesturing for Chase to follow him. He had seen the way before, as he had taken a cab up to where the party was, and always wanted to go on the trail. "So how is Sophia?" he asked calmly, thinking about the last time he had saw her, which was back at Grimmauld place for the large battle. A shiver went up his spine, and felt his blood grow cold thinking about it. He hated how that lost that battle and the house. The order was pretty much disbanded now, since they had no base of operations. The Death Eaters had actually won.

Chase shrugged slightly, following him. "She's as.. happy as ever I guess..." She bit her lip and then turned to look at Andrew for a moment. "So.. what happened?" She asked carefully, afraid that she shouldn't know this. "I mean.. I heard her parents talking one night, about.. a battle or something, I didn't know there was one." She said biting her lip. "I know I shouldn't probably know this, but Sophia, well she's been looking kind of ill lately, and I heard her mumbling in her sleep, and you asking about her.. well I thought of that." She said her eyes wide, hoping he would take her excuse. She had seen his shiver, and seen how he tensed.

"I just mean to say.. well.." She bit her lip and looked around to where they were heading. "I don't know, curiosity killed the cat they said, and I heard her parents talking about you.. and well, I guess, you had something to do with whatever made Sophia so tense, and don't get me started on Louis, he came in, and.. he was so uptight, I've never seen him that.. upset before." She said glancing at him. "The Lestrange household is so tense.. that's why I left it.. I couldn't handle it anymore." She said biting her lip and then looking away from him again, not caring at all where he was leading her, just afraid she'd get in trouble for eavesdropping on the Minister of Magic.

"The order of the Phoenix has been disbanded," he said grimly, his body growing cold and tense. He looked down and began to see sudden flashbacks of the battle, and how he had nearly died fighting there. "The death eaters attacked the house," he said again, seeming like he was telling a large story "they came during the night, and we were prepared. But everyone got out of control once all of the Death Eaters began to started to enter. Ne'Os Emof was there and died by Matt."

His body grew warmer as he said those words. More scum had been wiped clean from the planet. But Ne'Os still lurked around, waiting for something. "I was there and got beat up pretty bad," he said grimly, remembering when he had been blasted into a wall and nearly bled out "A fellow Order member had managed to grab me and get me to the portal where we could get back to the room of requirement. Now the only factions that are fighting the Death Eaters, are just us. And the ministry, if you count Matt."

After he finished the last sentence, he felt himself return to reality, hearing the birds chirp again, and see himself looking down. He looked back up, to where his head was perfectly paralell to the ground and sighed. "That's why everyone is so tense. We have no idea what the hell happened, as we all thought we were winning."

Chase gasped and put her hand to her mouth. She had heard of the Order of the Phoenix, though never been directly involved with them or their smaller part at Hogwarts. It had been one of the fairy tales her parents had told her about when she was a kid. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, she had always thought, well that they weren't real, why would they be real? The Dark Lord was dead! Ne'Os Emof was dead, so why was the Order needed? And why were Death Eaters starting to become known again. Maybe that's why her parents had been killed? They had worked at the Ministry, though they kept their affairs to themselves, and wouldn't trust anyone like the Order, she knew that they liked what they did, mostly because a lot of Death Eaters had money, and they were able to seize claims once the Death Eater was outed, and take a lot of it.

"Wow.. Andrew.." She whispered her body tense, she could see by his body language, he was having some very bad memories. "So.. your base was taken over, and the Death Eaters... won?" She whispered her hand still at her mouth as she stared up at him. "But.. why hasn't there been anything in the prophet? Who all is loose? I want to know what we should do to fight!" She said her eyes wide, an odd fire in the depths of them. That fire had only seen once before, and it had been right after she had decided to become a Death Eater, only to be convinced otherwise by Sophia. To think, she had almost been apart of a gang, that had hurt Andrew, and Matt, and all of her friends. She looked down, shame welling up like an unplugged oil well, deep in her stomach before moving up to her face, her cheeks searing.