Disclaimer: I own nothing, but I can pretend I own everything.

***

"Come on, doggie! Come on! Fetch!" James, having wandered off on his own, was in the front yard, and had found a dog to play with. He had picked up a stick that was nearby, and was now trying, unsuccessfully, to play a game of fetch. "Come on. Why won't you fetch the stick?"

"'Cause I'm nae a dog, ye daftie," said Rahne, morphing to human. She looked pretty fed up, crossing her arms and standing with her legs slightly apart.

James was instantly sheepish, and scratched the back of his neck, looking at the ground. "Oh. Well, uh..."

Shaking her head, mildly amused, Rahne said, "Ah, that's okay. How were you te know, anyway?" James looked up at her with apologetic eyes. "Hey, want me to show ye the grounds?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!" He brightened instantly. "Maybe me and Remus can make a marauders map for this place!"

"Marauders map?"

"Yeah, see, it's like..." James launched into an explanation, and Rahne got more and more excited about the idea as he went on.

"That'd be really cool! I know my way around this place well enough. Want me to show ye all the secret passages?"

"There are secret passages here?" Rahne nodded, eyebrows raised. "Neat! Come on, let's go already!"

The two of them bounced off, eager to make mischief.

***

From an upstairs window, Xavier watched the whole exchange, Dumbledore by his side. The pair had paused in their tour of the grounds to watch the events on the front grounds. Evan and Kurt were playing frisbee not far away from James and Rahne, and as soon as they saw them leave the front yard they followed stealthily after them. Xavier smiled.

"Ah. Fucking childhood," he said nostalgically.

"Yes, I remember those days. Fresh to magic, learning new things to start trouble every day. To be young again."

"Yes, youth is wasted on the young, those assholes."

"I should show you those pictures I have of me when I was younger. I wasn't always a hunched-over, wrinkly old man, you know."

"Hmm."

"What did you look like when you were young?"

"I always fucking looked like this." Xavier turned his wheelchair and carried on with the tour.

***

"Wow," Sarah marveled at the plush restaurant. "How can you afford to take me to a place like this?"

"Why, do you eat a lot?"

"No, it's just--well, you can't be that serious about me, right? We just met. So I figure you must be rich." She turned to look him in the eye. "Did I guess right?"

"I don't have to afford it," he smiled a debonair smile. "I am the best dine-and-dasher in town."

She grinned, but then they had to stop talking for a moment as they were shown to their seats. Pietro pulled a chair out for her, and she smiled even wider, sitting down and reaching for her water glass. After taking a sip, she continued the conversation. "So what's your power, anyway?"

A slight breeze crossed Sarah's face, and suddenly there was a rose being held across the table. "For you," Pietro offered.

"Whoa. Uh--thank you." She took the rose from him, and broke off most of the stem, tucking it behind her ear. She was still marveling at how fast Pietro really was.

Pietro was still marveling at how cool this chick was. She was the first to really catch his attention since...well, since ever. "What's your power?"

"My power? It's the-" Their talk was interrupted once again by the arrival of the waiter. They took a few minutes to place their orders (Pietro sent for the most expensive thing on the menu, much to Sarah's amusement), and then Sarah was able to continue. "My power is the ultimate irony. Well, maybe not the ultimate..." she corrected herself.

"Why, what can you do?"

"Well, see, I'd demonstrate like you did, but I don't think you'd really want a citrus fruit right now."

Pietro was incredibly confused. Then, since he just really wanted to see what she could do, he said, "I could squeeze some lemon juice into my water."

"Okay, then." She placed her palm a few inches away from the table, and suddenly there was a lemon beneath her hand. She picked it up and handed it across the table to him. "There you go. I get energy for this power of mine, which is really weird, if I do say so myself, by ingesting all kinds of citrus, you know?

"Cool. So what's the irony?"

"The irony is that I can't stand orange juice."

***

There is a chapter. Sorry it took so long. I don't have an excuse this time, other than I couldn't think of anything to write. There will be more coming more frequently now, I promise. Review!