Cassana smiled as she saw the Ferris Wheel at the Carnival. There was always a carnival somewhere in America, whether it was a twenty minute or thirty minute drive, however, not in the United Kingdoms. She dressed warmly, despite her ability to use a Warming Charm when needed, she figured that it was better to be safe than sorry. In the chilly December air, her slight frame adorned black jeans and a white, soft, peacoat jacket wrapped around her torso and a festive red and green scarf on her neck from her parents. Her feet were clad in brown ankle boots. In her jeans pocket, under her peacoat her wand for assurance. She had her hair tied back in a strict ponytail as she approached the Ferris Wheel ride of the Avalon's Annual Winter Wonderland.

As she waited in line she noticed another ungrouped person in line and tapped the male gently on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, are you in a group perhaps or waiting for someone?" She began smiling at him before adding, "I'm Cassie, I don't have a partner or anyone and I'd rather not ride alone if you wouldn't mind sharing a seat with me?" Her tone was polite enough to ensure no misinterpretation for any other reason to ride with the stranger than to maybe make a friend.

Arthur was wearing a light winter coat, a pair of red earmuffs, a scarf, some warm jeans, mittens and a pair of winter boots. He supposed he could just use a warming spell but he wasn't very cold. Besides he liked the feel of his breath as it came out as an icy fog.

He was surprised when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned his head, to see who was behind him. She seemed nice enough as she spoke to him.

"No, I'm not waiting for anyone," he answered. "Sure I'll partner up with you." He smiled back without thinking there was anything more to her question than her not wanting to ride the Ferris Wheel alone.

Cassie smiled, happy to have clearly made a decent ice breaker. She wasn't a courageous person by heart, but she was no scared little girl either. She was somewhere in between and that was the proper amount of both to be counted as polite. She was excited too. She hadn't rode a Ferris wheel since her sixth year at Tituba's and she had liked the feel of being so high in the sky. Bouncing on her heels as they approached the carnie, she handed the man her ticket while wishing she'd purchased a hot chocolate but opting to stick her hands into her pockets instead. She turned to the man.

"And your name?" She asked, frowning slightly as a thought occurred to her, "you don't look too young or too old are you in college perhaps? Maybe you've heard of such a college like Merlin's Academy for Excellence?" She didn't want to break the stature of secrecy by casting a Warming Charm when they were high enough in the sky, especially if she was riding with a non-magic muggle. It wouldn't have bothered her if he wasn't, but she would have had to cast it secretly. Realizing her words she flushed. "I-I didn't mean to offend you with the young or old comment, I just- I didn't want to assume you were in college either because maybe you're not and I -" she stopped realizing that her words weren't helping and instead looked down at her feet. "Sorry." She finished lamely.

"Arthur," he answered. She started to ramble on and he waited for her to finish. "I have heard of it, I go there. Its fine I'm not offended."

He looked back at the Ferris Wheel. The line was thinning out now. It wouldn't be too long before they were on the Ferris Wheel. He started to move forward.

"The line is getting shorter," he explained so she wouldn't think that he was trying to get away from her. "So do you go to Merlin's Academy for Excellence?" He wondered what her major was if she did. Maybe she was an Auror in Training like he was.

Cassie was a little shocked by the clear dismissal of her ramble. She wasn't used to the lack of emotion from her rambles they were sort of her defining quality. Regardless she pushed down the thought since it was better that it was unaddressed rather than addressed and embarrassing to her.

"I go there too," she brightened thinking about her college, she adored the Wizarding college, she took a step closer and looked around, "I'm a Potioneer major, what are you a major in?" She followed his steps forward. "We can talk about it more on the Ferris Wheel if you're more comfortable that way," she suggested surprised by her well, short answer, for her at least.

Potioneer, the major he might have picked if it wasn't for his uncertainty with potions.

"Auror in training," he answered. He wondered if he seemed uncomfortable talking to her. Really he was fine with talking here or talking on the Ferris Wheel, but he hadn't meant to make her think he didn't want to talk to her. It passed the time and he was open to making a new friend. "Its fine we can talk here if you want." He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"So how is class going? Assuming you haven't missed all your lessons for some reason." Having a cold or something would be a horrible start to the year. Or maybe she had exchanged from somewhere else.

Cassie felt more at ease around Arthur when he smiled, feeling successful that she'd done so. It wasn't often that she'd gone so far through a conversation without falling about her words and a ramble or two was just a given with her. However, so far it was just one and she smiled silly feeling giddy at her little accomplishment.

"That's pretty dangerous, is it just an always passion of yours?" She asked curiously tilting her head, she nodded towards the two people in front of her, "we'll be on the Wheel in a mo' or two anyway."

"I love it at Merlin's," she admitted smiling brightly, "I'm from America and I transferred a bit late so I missed some of the first lesson, but I'm trying to make it up." Cassie confessed. "What about you? Auror training not too difficult correct? Has it been enjoyable?"

"Not exactly," Arthur said. "It just felt right, I don't know how to explain it. Yeah, looks like we don't have long now."

"Training has been great," he answered. "Tough but I've managed to pull though." America, she probably didn't go to Hogwarts then. He had heard a lot of things about America but didn't know what schools for wizards and witches they had. She must be well qualified to get into Merlin's Academy for Excellence though.

Arthur watched the last couple get seated at the Ferris Wheel before asking Cassie if she still wanted to go. It would be too late to bail off once they were already moving.

Finally at the front and seated next to each other, Cassie felt relieved. She wasn't someone who felt content to speak aloud about her magical heritage. Mostly because it was such a rarity and it was very feared in America by the religious fanatics. She tended to hold her words back in order to preserve the secret of her magic. Her parents had taught her this and it was better to be safe than sorry, she had decided long ago.

"So Arthur," she said decided to cross into danger zones, "is there someone in your life you'd rather be up here with?" She decided to add in a tease, her eyes glinting with mischief, "supposedly Ferris Wheels are romantic."

Arthur was taken by surprise by her question. He was red in the face. He hadn't had a girlfriend since Hogwarts. Of course he had met women here but he wasn't in love with anyone and he was sure they would just think he was a friend.

"Err, no," he said. "No." He took a deep breath and composed himself. "What about you? Someone you'd rather be having a romantic time with?" He had meant in a teasing way but wondered how she would answer. Hopefully they could talk about something else if he hadn't embarrassed her too much.

Maybe it was a tad rude, but Cassana took immense pleasure in the red of his face. It wasn't so much that she wanted to make him feel uncomfortable but sometimes in making friends it was better to push the limits, see the boundaries of their comfort zone before getting too close. So she was content that Arthur hadn't snapped at her intrusive question.

"Nope," she didn't even hesitate to declare this, she'd only met a few guys before now and she didn't think romantically of any of them so far, she smiled, "too much Potioneer stuff. What's it like doing Auror training by the way, I've always been curious."

Cass didn't seem embarrassed, not that he had wanted to embarrass her. Well maybe he had a bit. He was still embarrassed over blushing although thankfully he was more composed now.

"I don't know how to answer that exactly," he replied. "Its a lot of exercise. We have to be physical fit to be Aurors after all. Obstacle courses and camping as well. I think I'm not doing too badly so far. What about you? Potioneering all you thought it would be Cassie?" He didn't usually talk about potions but he felt okay to now.

Noticing the people manning the ride were getting impatient he got onto the Ferris Wheel. "Come on. I think it might start moving soon."

If anything Cassie was glad that Arthur had yet to leave the conversation. She hadn't had a lot of past romances, nor any present ones so the only answer was the truth. She couldn't be ashamed of it, she'd contented herself on the fact that she had yet to meet a male to keep up with her high energy life style. She nodded quickly, smiled at him.

"I'm sure it's nice, if you don't mind me asking have you gone camping before Auror training? It's a rather fun affair when it's not for a task or anything, there's so much to do like roasting marshmallows-" she paused, "do you know what those are? They're like cute balls of fat and they're delicious. Anyways you can roast marshmallows and put 'em between two graham crackers and chocolate, important that it's square chocolate and specifically graham crackers otherwise it'd just be crap." She stopped completely and now her face was flushed, another mindless verbal vomit had let her.

"I'm sorry, I'm rather talkative as a person but to answer your question Potioneering is great as always," she loved Potions, she truly did, but talking about it got her away from her Out of Class mode and when she was in her In Class mode she was a dull stick.

"Of course!" She slid onto the seat of the Ferris Wheel, smiling at him. "Have you ever been atop one of these before?"

"Yeah, I went camping before but it was a while back," he answered. Then he listened to her explaining marshmallows. "Err, I know what marshmallows are." Lot's of witches and wizards wouldn't he supposed but it felt odd to have marshmallows explained to him.

"Its okay," he said. He wasn't going to argue with her about her being talkative but he didn't want her to feel bad about it either. "Nothing wrong with being passionate about marshmallows." He wondered if she would actually find that funny. He knew it was a lame attempt at humour.

"That's great," he replied, not really having anything to say. "No." He remembered back to his father taking him for his first time on a Ferris Wheel. "What about you?"

"Just being cautious y'know, I mean I'm from America and it's rather common to go camping in America, but I know that in England there's some-" Cassie stopped mid-speech realizing that it was very possible that Arthur's family had been negatively affected by the Second Wizarding War and she didn't mean to offend him. Except, her brain rationed, that was highly unlikely considering he knew what marshmallows were (well loads of people do, remember what assumptions are!, her brain chastised). "Here in England, I know there was quite a separation between muggleborn witches and wizards and the purebloods, so I didn't know if purebloods still had a vendetta against muggles." She shifted a bit feeling a tad awkward, she had no problem with muggleborns (barely even knew there was distinction between the two), but she didn't want to be judged by Arthur for that.

"I've definitely been on a Ferris Wheel before, in America, there's like always a festival with one of these things there," she paused, feeling a tad unsure now, "you're not cold now are you? When we get to the top, it'll be a shade colder, I don't wish you to get sick."

He wondered what she was going to say. There's some trouble finding places to camp or something like that maybe. He didn;t think camping was actually that uncommon in Britian but he knew different cultures could be hard to understand so he didn't hold it against her.

Or maybe she was going to point out the problems that Britian had had. Lot's of camping was done during those times though. He was lucky that his family had survived relatively well thoughout that era.

"Some do I suppose. But things have changed and the newer generation of purebloods seem to be more accepting."

"Sounds nice." He wasn't sure how many festivals he had gone to. "I'm not bothered by the cold. I won't get a cold." Really he knew he might a cold but he didn't usually get sick and there was no use worrying her. He really didn't feel very cold now anyway. "Are you getting chilly?"

"Are you a pureblood then?" Cassie asked curiously as she crossed one leg over the other in her seat, tapping her fingers on the seat to a song she heard on the radio, "it doesn't matter to me if you are or aren't. In America we never really care. Cos' at the end of the day we're all magical and we've all got sticks and know the same spells. ." She smiled at the thought.

It was true, which was why when she found out about the Second Wizarding War she was appalled. There was literally no difference between magical strength besides the fact that magic tended to bend to the user's skills. If a user lacked in - she was going off on a mental tangent again, she reprimanded herself against it.

"I'm perfectly fine," Cassie assured him, biting her lower lip thinking of a question before it hit her a moment later, "so Arthur who's your favorite teacher at Merlin's so far?"

"Yes I am," he replied curtly, feeling no need to hesiate with his answer. "My family wasn't incredibly old fashioned though so I didn't have to worry about over coming any prejudices." He wondered what he might have turned up like if his parents had been stricter and less at ease with the blood purity thing.

"That sounds nice. I wasn't aware of how people viewed it in America." The ride started moving.

"Its hard to say," Arthur answered. "I haven't met a bunch of them yet but Professor Mycroft and Professor Dorian seem tough but fair."

Cassana nodded at his fast answer in understanding. It was a fair answer and truthful too, she could tell. There was no reason for him to lie to her after all. She was a tad excited, this was the first time she'd asked anyone of their blood purity. It truly hadn't mattered to her so she didn't ask Brooke or Tess or James or any of the people she'd made friends with.

"In America, there's not a lot of differences between the cultures. Well, except our public school system isn't quite on par with our private, media is super important there, like our whole society is based off that, and our roots aren't as elegant as big castles like they are here in England, just dirt and grime, and terrible, terrible memories," Cassie rambled casually.

"Professor Dorian? Does he teach an Auror class? What kinds of things does he teach? Does he make learning comfortable and fun like every teacher should strive to? Do you enjoy his classes?" If she wasn't Cassie, this question on top of question pile would have seemed like an interrogation rather than her usual bombardment of words.

He wondered what the terrible memories were but didn't ask. He knew some schools were just the worst to go to. Whatever her experiences had been it was no good to make her dwell on them. If she had wanted to talk about it, maybe she would have in her rambles.

"Err..." He hadn't expected to be asked so many things at once. "Yes, he teaches an Auror class." He taught at least two Auror classes, didn't he? Not enough professors for all of them he supposed. "I suppose so. He tests us to the best of our abilities. I like the classes." Arthur looked at the ground getting further as the wheel moved and thought of what to say next. "Does your professor make learning fun?"

Cassie was literally just a ball of sitting energy waiting to explode for the most part. The best way she exploded was through her eternal rambles, and she did it frequently, so being silent in class was a bit of trick for her. It was true, however, that she participated at every turn she could to speak to let herself run her mouth as she wished. Yet, there was a time and place to speak freely. Now was a time to do so freely.

"The best of your abilities? As in magical and non-magical? What sort of abilities are Aurors expected to have as-" she stopped as she answered her own question, "oh so are Auror classes mainly physical? Do you do mental work as well?" She tapped her foot against the metal floor of the ride.

"Well I enjoy Professor Song, she's a happy person, Professor Sun seems a bit too stoic for my tastes, not as talkative but I can't complain, but I'm extremely impressed by Professor Holmes." Cassie replied smiling at the remembrance of her classes. She thrived off of learning for the most part.

"Unmagical," Arthur answered. "He wants us to be prepared in case there's a problem where we can't use our wands. "We do mental work while doing physical work technically. You need brains for stuff like navigating obstacles and camping."

He wouldn't exactly call Professor Dorian talkative but he had a great deal of respect for the man. He told them everything they needed to know at least. Professor Holmes was great too.

"Glad to hear that," Arthur said cheerfully. He looked down at the ground as he searched for something to say.

"So... have you seen a lot of the winter wonderland so far?"