The weather Sunday was too nice to stay inside. Not that Asher had intended to. He had finished his homework yesterday and was as caught up with all of his classes as he could be without the practical portions. He had even completed the extra-credit work for McGonagall who promised to add it to his upcoming Transfiguration test to offset the lack of practical magic.

Asher tapped Millicent on the shoulder and pointed to her. He held a flat hand to his chest and pushed it downwards and outwards as if tracing a ski-jumper's slope with his palm, then he pointed to the door. He raised his eyebrows in a question.

Millicent smiled, proud of herself for remembering the BSL she had been learning. She had hoped that BSL and ASL were similar enough for her to transfer some of her knowledge, but so many signs were different that she wished her cousin Marlee had been born in the UK and not in the USA.

"Sure, Asher. Let's go!"

Asher grinned and picked up a bucket and his baseball bat. He rested the bat against his shoulder.

Millicent eyed it warily. "What is that for?"

He smirked, looking at the bat then at her, suggesting with his dancing eyes that she should be able to figure it out on her own.

"You know I don't play."

He gave her a thumbs up. That was fine, he intended to hit some baseballs before his skills completely atrophied. If he had to do it alone, that was alright.

Millicent rolled her eyes. "Are you suggesting I bring something to entertain myself, Asher Green?"

Asher jerked his head towards her dorm room. He set down the bucket of balls and made a fist, shoving it downwards in a deliberate movement, thumb and palm towards the ground. He pointed at himself. He would wait.

Millicent mumbled something as she walked away that made Blaise smirk as he walked across the common room. He caught Asher's eyes and said, "Don't tell me you've convinced her to play your muggle sport?" He smiled a lopsided smile.

Asher shook his head. He held a raised index finger behind a flat hand and moved it under and out away from himself, then pointed at his chest. 'Only me.'

Blaise chuckled. "I didn't think she'd bite. She's probably the most familiar with muggle things in this house, other than you, but I can't see her being able to hit anything with that bat."

"I could hit you over the head," Millicent said as she reemerged from her room, a small bag in her hand.

"But you wouldn't," Blaise said, looping his arm over her shoulders. "You like me too much." He rested his head on the side of hers.

"Ew," Millicent said, shoving him back. "Get off of me."

Blaise retreated, laughing. "We don't have to hide our love, Millicent!" He shouted across the common room, drawing several pairs of curious eyes to the first years.

Millicent's face turned bright red. "You wish, Zabini!"

Asher smirked.

"And you can shut it, too," Millicent said, catching his grin. She shook her head in mock-distain, "Honestly. Boys."

Blaise jogged out of the common room ahead of them, hurrying to catch up to Marcus who would be taking the Slytherin quidditch team through their paces. He often let the first years practice alongside the team to scout out early talent.

Millicent and Asher walked at a more moderate pace, flanked by their own upper-classman. Audrina was a sixth year Slytherin. She was taller than Asher and most of the boys in her own year. She had a lean, muscular build and wore her black hair in rows of tiny braids plated close to her scalp. The braids tracked upwards from her hairline and ended about four centimeters from midline on either side. Down the center of her head was a single, large braid that cascaded down her neck, ending between her shoulder blades, giving the illusion of a mohawk.

Asher liked her hair. And Audrina in general. He found her very pretty. He often observed her talking with her friends and had learned that she used magic to create the different hairstyles she wore. He would have to tell Emma the next time he wrote to her.

Emma liked to have her hair braided as well, but she hated the time it took. Even when Asher's mum and aunts worked together, they were often there for several hours. Emma used to joke that she would cut her hair short like Asher's if she thought she could avoid the hours of braiding. She loved the results too much to do that, though.

Audrina had one more characteristic that Asher noted with jealousy. It was the way she carried herself. He noticed the same traits in many of the purebloods, including Draco, when he wasn't pouting. There was a grace to the way she walked across the floor and she never entered a room without demanding attention. It was done in a subtle way, there was no gaudy display or commotion that accompanied her, and you just couldn't help but notice her. She had an air about her, an aura, which ensnared anyone in the vicinity. Asher only wished he could carry as much nobility as she did.

They walked out into an open space near a couple of thick-trunked trees. The leaves were changing colors in the late September air. Some had already fallen, creating an area rug of orange and red under the thinning treetops. Asher took a deep breath. It smelled like fall. He loved that smell.

He set his bucket down. Millicent nudged him, "Do you need me to throw them to you?" She looked uncertain, as if sincerely hoping the answer was no.

He smiled and shook his head. He motioned for her to step back. Then he picked up a ball, set his feet, and tossed the ball in the air above him. He quickly grasped the bat with both hands and swung in a single, fluid motion, connecting with the ball when it reached the level of his navel. The ball leapt off the bat in a lazy arch, landing about seventy-five meters away.

Millicent tapped him on the shoulder and motioned towards Audrina. "Do the balls come back?" The older girl asked.

Asher shook his head. He pointed to himself, then to the approximate area where the ball had landed.

"You go get each one?" She asked, indignantly.

The boy nodded. He had about fifteen balls in the bucket and would hit them all and then go on his search for them. It was not his favorite part of playing alone, but the feel of the bat in his hands as it connected with the ball had awoken a part of him that had laid dormant for too long. He would run all over the grounds if he had to.

Audrina shook her head. "That sounds terrible." She walked over to the bucket.

Asher felt a moment of shock and defensiveness as she pointed her wand to the baseballs. He was ready to step in front of her when she began muttering. He could not understand what she said, but a glow settled on the balls for a moment before vanishing. The baseballs looked unharmed.

She smiled at Asher's look of apprehension. "Try it."

He picked one up and tossed it in the air. He hit the ball solidly and it launched about eighty meters before landing. Asher glanced back at the girls standing behind him.

Audrina looked smug. Millicent's face registered confusion which quickly turned to a wide-eyed awe. Her gaze was focused on the ground behind him.

He turned and saw to his amazement that the ball was rolling back to him! It rolled past his feet and up the side of the bucket before dropping in and settling into place with its brethren.

A slack-jawed Asher slowly looked up at the tall sixth-year. She grinned and performed a sarcastic curtsy.

"How did you do that?" Millicent asked. "I haven't seen that before. What was the spell?"

Audrina said something that looked like, 'Totam kay red-itis' and Asher was sure he was reading that wrong.

Millicent looked impressed and turned to him, not waiting for him to ask, and spelled out 'Tortamque reditus.'

"I created it last year when playing with my cousins. I was babysitting and had no desire to run around chasing their toys all day," Audrina explained as she sat with her back against the tree. She pulled out a wizard novel entitled, Lust Potion Number Nine. A very muscular, half naked wizard stood on the front cover, looking down at a beautiful witch in his arms. As Asher watched, the witch looked up at the wizard, smiled, and kissed him seductively. Then she settled her head back on his broad chest.

He tried not to think about holding Audrina in the same way or wonder what her kisses would feel like. What they might taste like. Instead, he focused his attention on his sport. For twenty minutes he hit baseball after baseball, feeling the shudder of the bat in his hands each time it connected with the ball. His arms were beginning to ache, but he felt good. Alive. He felt like himself again.

Asher turned to Millicent, who sat a little apart from Audrina, working on a needlepoint picture. It did not take long for her to feel Asher's gaze on her and she looked up to meet his inquisitive eyes.

A light blush crept into her cheeks, "It's for my cousin." She held up the artwork and showed him. It was a whimsical illustration of the solar system, outlined in bright colored threads.

'How learn?' he signed. He had watched his mother do something similar when he was younger, but he did not think the magical world would have the same thing.

Millicent's blush deepened and she glanced over at Audrina. The older student was still absorbed in the novel. She motioned for Asher to sit beside her. Once he did, she leaned in and explained, "I learned it at Marlee's house. My aunt is a squib, remember? She's had to learn this muggle stuff. But I kind of like it."

She looked over at Audrina again and some of her tension vanished. Audrina was still reading. She made no indication that she had heard.

"Don't tell anyone, okay?" Millicent asked.

Asher smirked and pretended to zip his lips shut.

Millicent shoved him playfully, "You know what I mean!" She shoved the needlepoint into her bag.

Audrina noticed them now. She closed her book and stood. "Does this mean you're done?"

Asher nodded, then pointed at himself and out to the field in front of them. He still had to collect that first ball that he had hit.

Audrina rolled her eyes, "Honestly, you forget I'm a witch." She pointed her wand to the field and said, "Accio baseball."

The ball flew back at her, barely missing Asher's nose on the way. She caught it expertly between two hands and held it out to the first year. "Here you go," she said simply.

Asher took the ball from her, realizing that this trip outdoors had done nothing to quell the little crush he had on the older girl. If anything, it was growing.

Millicent rolled her eyes and made sure to accidentally knock into Asher with her bag as she walked past him towards the castle. The bump snapped him out of his novel-cover fantasy and Asher jogged a couple steps to catch up to his friend.

"You're ridiculous," she said.

He held his hands up in surrender and plastered an innocent look on his face.

Millicent smirked and shook her head, "She's a sixth year and I heard she's trying to get Eli to ask her out."

Asher frowned at the thought. He didn't actually think he had a chance with someone like Audrina, but he didn't like the idea that she would start dating someone else either.

'Whatever,' he signed, smacking the fingertips of two flat-hands together, once on the front side and once on the back. The sign looked like two swinging doors that overlapped when they opened and closed.

Millicent laughed. "Boys," she said, shaking her head.

Asher grinned. He knew he was being stupid. But he was going to hold on to the fantasy just a little longer anyway.