America the Beautiful....?

Ashley was walking through the streets of New York on a vacation with her family. It had been along time since she had had fun with her family. Being the only girl made it hard to like the places that they wanted to go. So she went along with this one this time as long as she got to go shoping in some places. Her father agreed and she left on her own with her phone in her pocket and her wand in her bag.

Ashley was wearing some blue jeans, a pink hearted t-shirt, and some pink and white teniss shoes. She walked down the street with her newly bought items in bags. As she walked along the side walk on that hot day, she found herself lost in a part of town she was starting not to like. The boys on the stairs outside the houses would stair and hoot, so she walked faster. Suddenly she heard running behind her. She tightened her grip on her bags and high tailed it to an alley around the next corner. At the end of the corner she dropped her bags and pulled out her wand from her purse.

She pointed her wand at the boys, but they just laughed. She smiled then blasted one of them away with a stunning spell. The others looked at her in horror, then turned and ran out of the alley. Only the one that she stunned and another boy was left. This boy she knew from school. Her wizarding school. She frowned and tightened her grip on her wand. She through out another stunning spell but it missed. Just as she went to send another spell the boy threw one at her. She brassed herself for the pain.....

Andrew had hated being in New York at the moment. Sure it was a large place, full of danger and adventure, but when there was none going around towards him, he felt out place. He didn't live for the thrill and danger, unlike his brother, but he did at least want something to do to pass the time. Being without friends was also a pain as well, him being an outgoing person and all.

He looked to his left to see a girl being pursued by 3 men, who didn't seem all that friendly. Something was up, and Andrew was the right person for the job. He quickly jogged across the street, ignoring the horns by the other cars as they slowed down to avoid hitting him, he made his way to the alleyway where the girl had been cornered. Pulling out his two gloves, which were concealed magic gauntlets, he quickly pressed his back against the wall, to watch the scence.

After a moment of the guys starting to close in on her, he was about to pounce at the men, when she pulled out- a wand. She was a witch. He then figured that she would be alright when she had managed to knock out one kid, but the other had sent a spell dodging towards her. Andrew had enough of this. He sprinted out, and before the guy had turned 180, Andrew used Protego to deflect the spell. Then Andrew ran up to him, and hit him square in the face, knocking him out instantly. Andrew then stood, over the unconcious body of the person, and quickly ran over to the girl.

"Are you alright?" he asked, in a worried tone, noticing that she had been wincing as if she were expecting the pain to begin. "Miss?" he asked again, wanting to make sure she was alright "is everything okay?"

Ashley had closed her eyes during all the comotion. She didn't want to give the kid the pleasure of watching her be in pain. Her eyes always gave it away. But when she heard another voice and felt no pain she didn't know what to do. Was it one of the other guys, come back to hurt her? Or maybe someone else who saw and wants to capture her?

Ashley opened her eyes slowly to see a young man alittle older than her standing in front of her and the other guy on the ground unconcious. She wasn't sure what had just taken place but she wasn't going to ask to many questions. "Um...I think." She said to the boy looking down at herself to make sure everything was still in place. When she was sure that she was fine she looked back up at the boy, to realize that she had seen him at her school as well. Which ment that he must have helped her by taking the other boy out.

"Um...Thank you I think. I was just walking along when I realized that I was lost. Before I could even stop to ask for directions, those boys started trying to hurt me. I ran down here and managed to take one of them out but that one there..." She said pointing at the boy on the ground. "Had a wand like me. I wasn't able to stop him so I closed my eyes. When I opened them you where here and he was down there." She said stairing at the boys body with her hand down to her side. She then looked at the boy to realize that he had no wand in his hand.

"How did you stop him with no wand?" She asked him backing away and picking up her bags now as if none of the last few minuted had never happened.

Andrew looked back at the man he had punched in the nose, who was now bleeding rapidly due to the cartilidge being broken. Andrew's hand also hurt as well, so he figured that now he knew his own strength. What had made him mad though was that they were trying to mug a girl. That was really low beyond belief.

He turned his head back over to the girl, "It isn't safe roaming these streets by yourself, you never know what kind of scum will hunt you down." It was a truth that had stung at times, but it was also a reality that everyone needed to accept. There would always be good, then evil. Balancing things out seemed pretty stupid at times and sometimes wasn't fair. That was one thing Andrew was trying to do, tip the balance on the favor of good.

He looked down at her hand, to see she was holding a wand, one that had looked a lot like his. Even though he had recently gotten a new one, the core made with a dragon heartstring that he had gotten himself when he hunted a dragon with a few others. Good times that was. He quickly banished the memory from the corner of his mind and focused back onto reality. "So you're a witch then? As you can tell, I am a wizard."

Andrew smiled when she asked about having no wand. Not a lot of people had actually asked that question and it often made him curious. "These are magic gauntlets," he said "ones that actually amplify my abilities with magic. Really does came in handy in a tight situation." Now he had to focus back on the people that had tried to hurt the girl. He went over and pushed the two close, eaching facing the oppisite way so their backs were against each other.

Andrew then held out his gauntlet and said "Incarcerous!" Suddenly, a thick piece of rope envolped from the palms of the gauntlets and flung themselves around the two thugs, tightly securing them. "There," he said moving his arm back down to his side "if the one I knocked out had any brains, he would probably apparate out of themess." He then turned back to the girl and smiled. "Names Andrew Thompson. And you happen to be...?"

Ashley looked down at the boys hands as he told her about his magical gauntlets. Living with several boys, she understood how boys cool like other things than girls. "Oh...they look cool." She said watching him go over to the guys and tie them up. She knew that the magical boy would get free but they wouldn't be around when that happened. So she smiled and put her wand away, grabing her other bags.

Ashley then smiled when he said that it was dangerous to wander the streets by herself. "Oh I know but I had no choice. I wanted to go shoping and my brothers and father had other plans. I have no friends here or I would have gone with them. See I'm only on vacation here, so I don't really have any safe place to go. Do you live somewhere around here?" She asked him while watching the guys on the ground stir.

She smiled at him introducing himself, she had totally forgotten about introducing herself. "Oh I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself with all that was going on. My name is Ashley Paul. Thank you for everything." She said to him offering her hand to shake. She wasn't sure if wizards and witches in the wizarding world knew about this muggle custom but everytime she went to do so with one of them they would stair at her like she wanted something. She was hopeing that this boy was different.

Andrew used stupefy on the boy who had not been knocked out by the spell and rolled them behind a dumpster next to them. They would wake up in an hour, their pictures all over the internet with the captain Dumpster Boys or something. It would be a fitting fate for them. They would be fine though and would wake up in an house or so, screaming for help when the wizard couldn't find his wand. Andrew could be devious sometimes, when he wanted to be.

After making sure they would be hidden from plain sight, Andrew turned away from them back to the girl and listened to her story about her family and all. He wondered why they would've left her out here by herself, as the city ranked pretty high in crime at the moment. He didn't know if they were daft or just tired of the girl. He couldn't imagine the second one, since parents were supposed to love their children unconditionally. "I live about a mile north," he claimed.

He turned back towards the girl, whom had recently introduced herself as Ashley, and shook her hand, the way he did with all other people he had just met. "My name's Andrew," he said with a small smile letting go of her hand afterwords "and it was no problem. I hate seeing scum like them trying to mug another girl. Or worse." He examined Ashleys figure, trying to find out her approximate age, coming to the conclusion that she may have been 14 or 15. A couple of years below Andrews age.

Ashley smiled when he shook her hand, she was glad that someone in the wizarding community knew what she was trying to do. She then smiled again when he said that he lived a mile north. That ment that she could catch a taxi from his place and get back to the hotel. Plus if she could get him to walk her to his place, maybe she could finally make a friend. So she watched as he moved the guys and hide them. She could only imagine what he was thinking.

Ashley checked her bags to make sure she still had everything then looked back up at him. "Um....would you mind if we could head back to your place so that I could get a taxi. I don't mind walking." She asked him hoping for a good answer. "I wouldn't want to almost get mugged again, and having a strong handsome guy with me would keep them away." She added trying to smile and look cute to add on to her petheticness. Maybe it would work, if not she would be walking for the next....who knows how many hours.....wondering around trying to find out how to get back to the sane part of town.