Two years later

Grey shut her bedroom door behind her and leaped over the bed; she slipped on the bedspread and fell flat on her face inches away from the great big desk by the window. She let out a yelp and glared at the desk as she stood up and dusted herself off. Avoiding the wicker egg chair by the desk she hopped over a pile of books and leaned out the window. She breathed in the autumn air and let a luggie fall to the ground below her window. She licked her red lips and let her long black hair fall into her face. Grinning she looked up from where he spit had hit the pavement below her bed and gazed over to the house across the street.

In the window across from hers she could make out the face of a boy staring at her house. She tilted her head in thought, trying to think of who this boy could be. He had not always lived in that house, he must have just moved in. The last person that lived there was a rather angry old man with no hair and many cats. She recalled seeing a For Sale sign in front of the house for a while. Remembering that she smiled to her self and glanced at where it now hung above her bed. She turned her head back to the boy only to find he was no longer there. White lace curtains hung in his place.

Grey wrinkled her nose in thought and quickly dismissed the thought that maybe she had imagined the boy being there. The house did look different, not on the outside but still different. It was in the way the house seemed not looked. Like it was happier and had love in it. Grey shook her head at that and turned away from the window. A smile broke out on her face when she heard the front door open; Lupin was home.

"MOONY!" She yelled flinging her bedroom door open she bolted from her room. She flew down the stairs and missed the last few steps, sprawling out across the floor at Lupin's feet. She lifted her head and smiled widely at the man staring down at her, "Welcome home!"

Lupin bent down and picked the girl up, setting her back down on her feet, "What do you want to ask?" he asked, knowledgeable to the girls ways by now.

"Did new people move into that big purple house across the street?" She asked, holding her hands out to demonstrate how the big the house is.

"Surprisingly yes. It seemed that less people could tell that the house was for sale after the For Sale sign vanished," He looked down at the girl knowingly.

"Okay then I didn't imagine him!" Grey stated proudly, "There was a boy, and then he wasn't there and it was like, 'What?'" Grey explained to Lupin, "No I'm hungry." She scrunched up her face and thought to herself for a moment, "Dinner!" She finally said grabbing Lupin by the hand and tugging him toward to kitchen, all thoughts of boys in windows were forgotten in favor of dinner.

The next morning

Grey put the hairbrush down on the bathroom counter and dashed out of the small room. She skidded to a halt in the middle of the living room where Lupin sat reading the paper. She waved her arms in the air frantically so as not to lose her balance.

"I want to greet the new people across the street!" She stated happily, when Lupin looked up at her from his paper.

Lupin frowned for a second in thought, "Um don't do anything…to much like you. Scare the neighbors after they've gotten to know you." Grey nodded her agreement, making secret plans in her head as to how to go about scaring the boy in the window when Lupin tugged on her hand, "Hon your hair is a mess, go get the brush."

"But I just brushed it!" Grey complained, begrudgingly going back to get the hairbrush, mumbling about over loving fathers. She stalked back to the living room and handed the brush to Lupin then planted herself on the ground in front of him. Lupin ran the brush through Grey's long black hair and tried to make it regain its shine, which was not that hard to do. "Can I go now? Grey asked, pulling her head away and turning to look at Lupin.

Lupin smiled lovingly and patted Grey gently on the head, "Sure. Remember, wait until they know you before you scare them, you have made three other families move out in the past two months."

Grey kissed Lupin on the cheek and bolted form the house. She totally forgot to look both ways before crossing the street as she had been told, instead she depended on luck and almost got hit by a passing truck causing her to trip over the curb and land in the front yard of the boy she wanted to meet. She practically pranced up to the front door and knocked loudly.

"HELLO!" Grey called as she rang the doorbell, "I'M HERE TO GREET YOU!" Grey paused in her knocking and waited for someone to answer the door. Inside the house, she could hear the sounds of someone moving around, going down stairs, opening and shutting a door, shoes sliding against linoleum. Grey tucked her hands behind her back and put on a welcoming smile.

Finally the door swung open to reveal a boy around Grey's age wearing a T-shirt that was a few sizes to big for him with an owl perched on his shoulder. "Hi," He said quietly, staring at Grey intently.

Grey did an unnecessary bow and extended her hand, "Hello! I am Grey. You were staring at me through your window so I decided to meet you. But last night wasn't good for me, Daddy made Spaghetti with extra sauce so I spent most the night slurping that. What's your name?" During all her talking, Grey barely paused for a breath. The boy blinked and stared in confusion at the girl.

"I'm Oliver," he told her.

Grey studied the boy for a second and seemed to reach a decision inside her mind. She reached inside her jacket pocket and pulled out a long strip of wood. She stepped closer to Oliver and gave him her best "I wont hurt you" smile. Oliver took a step back inside the house but Grey just followed him. She grabbed his shirt and held him tightly, "No leaving," she told him as she thrust the stick toward his face, "I have no idea what this will do to you," she said in a reassuring voice right before she poked him on the nose.

"GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Oliver shrieked. He pulled away from Grey and his hands flew up to his nose, which was taking on an orange look, "What did you do?"

Grey shrugged, "Dunno. You know…it's getting longer."

Oliver tried to look down at his nose, which under normal circumstances would have been rather difficult, but with its added length and orange color, it was hard not to see it.

"Can I eat it?" Grey asked, leaning toward the carrot nose.

"No!" Oliver yelled, insulted, "It's my nose!"

"No I really think it's a carrot," Grey scrunched her face up in though and tugged on a piece of her hair, "Um…I can't fix it," she told him after much thought. She reached forward and poked the tip of the carrot, "Can you still smell with it?"

Oliver tried to sniff the air around and apparently failed. He let out a cry of despair and touched what used to be his nose, "I CAN'T HAVE A CARROT FOR A NOSE!" he finally yelled at Grey, quit angry.

"Well you just need to live with it. My dad always tells me we all have flaws we must learn to live with. Mine is my overdeveloped sense of humor, or so I hear. Yours can be this," She poked the nose again.

"I don't want this flaw!" He yelled again, his face red with anger and embarrassment.

"Well we cannot pick our flaws. Can I lick it?"

"NO! GET ME HELP!"

"I know what to do!" Grey announced a little to loudly, "Stay right here," she instructed, "I'll be back real quick like," Grey wheeled around and flew toward her house. She flung open the door and screamed rather loudly, "MOONY! I NEED YOU!" she jumped over a chair and fell to the ground in front of Lupin, he was still sitting in the same chair as he was when she left, "I did something I think you would consider scaring the neighbor boy," She explain to the slightly frantic Lupin, "Also I stole your wand…"

"What did you do Grey?" Lupin asked, putting his hands on Grey's shoulders and making sure, she looked at him.

"Well you see…it's like this…I think I turned his nose into a carrot when I poked him with your wand," Grey looked as innocent as she could.

"Grey my wand was in my pocket how did you…?"

"Um I was practicing my pick pocketing skills," Grey looked down, "He's over at his house with a giant orange nose and he's kinda freaking out about it. I have you wand here," She held it up to him, "So if you could fix it that'd be great."

Lupin sighed and stood up, he helped Grey to her feet, the two of them walked to the front door, "Never a dull moment with you Grey," Lupin said as he, and Grey walked over to the house across the street. Lupin say a small boy curled up in a ball on his front steps. He seemed like he was hiding in his big clothes, trying to seem as small as he could so no one would notice him.

Grey ran ahead and crouched down in front of Oliver, "I got help!" She said happily.

Lupin compared the two children. Grey seemed to light up anywhere she went, even the saddest place with her energy and love of everyone. This other boy, he seemed more quite, like he didn't want to be where he was. Garnet Lupin didn't know the child it was obvious that he was the polar opposite of Grey.

"Want me to take care of that?" Lupin asked kindly when he reached the two children. Oliver looked up at him, his hands trying to hide the carrot.

"Yes please," Oliver nodded, bringing his hands away from his face.

Grey handed Lupin his wand and took a step back. Lupin bent down and touched his wand to the boy's nose whispering a few words. He pulled the wand away and watched closely as the carrot slowly took the shape of a normal nose once more.

"I CAN SMELL AGAIN!"

Grey clapped for Oliver and jumped on. She gave the small boy a bone crushing hug, "I'M SORRY I TURNED YOUR NOSE INTO A CARROT!" Grey squeaked.

"Um…that's okay…" Oliver cast a concerned glance inside his house. "Oh…I think I better go inside. I've been out to long…," Oliver turned away from them and headed into his house. He turned his head back slightly and glanced at the smiling Grey once more before closing his door and leaving them alone on the front steps.