Cassana loved to read, she liked to read on the newest muggle books, the latest magical theories, and whatever she so pleased. Sometimes she found herself regretting the loss of galleons. Other times, she treasured the books so much that an Empath would be able to tell the love she put into the worn and doggy-eared pages of them. She would read to get inspiration, read to get caught up, read to learn. Reading to learn was her favorite pass time really, and there was almost only one thing she was desperate to learn about. It was a subject that had her simply entranced like nothing else had and there had been a speculating rumor in the Potions' section of the paper that spoke about the release of the in-depth research of the Quintia McQuoid at a bookstore called Riker's Bookshop. When it was confirmed that morning, she dressed quickly.

She had never been more excited to spend money.

So she had dressed quickly and floo'd into the store. Then of course, she did what she normally did and screwed up. On her first step after cleaning herself, in her haste forgot to retie her shoes. The last thing she saw before she winced at her fate of falling was the informative sign that said: Quintia McQuoid: Queen of Potions. She could have sworn that she had hit someone too on accident because her hand definitely hit something solid before she went falling towards the ground.

As a child, Parker had admittedly been a much bigger fan of movies than books. Probably because the movies his elderly neighbor always watched when babysitting him were always so exciting and dramatic, while the only books he'd really been exposed to were his mother's bibles.

After being admitted to Hogwarts, however, and being exposed to an entirely different culture and history that captivated him to no end, reading (and learning in general) became a passion. The few muggle novels he'd stolen over his summer breaks weren't often as interesting, but he liked them all the same. And besides a handful of his grandmothers classics she'd given to him upon moving out, Parker really didn't have that many books of his own.

So with a fresh new paycheck, Parker thought maybe he should treat himself to one? Tess had nagged him enough over the past week about taking better care of himself, so feeling justified in his decision, he finished getting ready and set out.

He apparated to one of the nearby shopping districts and wandered about to see if he could find any book stores. One caught his attention almost right away - how could it not given the sign out front that said Quintia McQuoid: Queen of Potions and the  packed crowd inside. He had only just squeezed his way into the store, passing by the floo chimney's, when someone practically tripped out of one and pulled him down to the floor with them.

He lay there for a few brief moments, the back of his head pounding and stars passing in and out of his vision. "O-ow..."

With her indubitable luck, Cassie had fallen on her face. Typical.

Cassie groaned as she pushed herself up off the ground. There was a throbbing of pain from behind her palms, a tingling hurt in her head and probably bruising her knee. Ever since she was younger she had problems staying upright. Falling was common for her, so was crashing, and the pains that came with it weren't anything new to her. Her parents had tried to teach her a plethora of healing spells, spells to put bones back into place, spells to clean up blood, spells to basically make sure she looked less of a (literal) bloody mess than she did after injuring herself. Except, she was a little inept at healing, better at creating potions. She sat up, looked over to see that her estimates were correct. Her knees were red with slight scratches there was some bruising on her elbow, and lots of redness on her palms. The bruises she'd heal, but she was lucky that in spite of being clumsy her body wasn't frail or prone to injuries.

She looked around, turned her head left to right to see if she'd accidentally taken anything down. When she saw another body near hers. She gasped, embarrassment flooding into her system, she gulped and moved herself closer, placing a cautious hand on the male's- she identified- arm, her face the picture of shame she begun speaking.

"I-I'm so sorry, oh my god, are you hurt? Do you need medical attention? Did you hit anything hard too? I'm so so so sorry," she continued, "I-I know a couple of spells, nothing too elaborate or too helpful- I-actually no, I don't think I can anything to heal you better than someone at St. Mungo's can. Oh my, are you hurt so bad you need medical attention- I'm so so sorry." She drew out the so with pure sympathy, sorrow at hurting another person.

"I'm Cassana but please call me Cassie, do you need me to apparate you somewhere to get medical attention?" She asked sincerely.

Parker let out a noise halfway between a groan and a whimper as he brought both hands up to cradle the back of his now-pounding head, a hard lump already beginning to form where his skull had made contact with the floor. As soon as the initial sharp waves of pain traveling through his head and upper back started to subside, he moved one arm to try to prop himself into a sitting position. He winced and inhaled sharply at the movement, pain curling its way down his back.

When well fed and well rested, Parker wasn't exactly weak, nor was he all that easy to knock off his feet - but for the past couple months Parker's self-care was considerably lacking, and as a consequence, so was his physical state. And though there had been a time (only a couple years back) that he'd grown used to the pain, he most certainly wasn't anymore.

Feeling a carefully placed hand on his arm, he opened one of his eyes and looked up at the woman, he assumed, had been the one to knock him over. She started to gush apologies and concerned questions, confirming his assumption. He slowly brought himself up off the floor as she continued with barely enough pause between her words to let him respond. His head started swimming, and he suddenly felt sickeningly dizzy as he became hyper-aware of all the people looking in their direction from the scene they had caused.

"I-I'm okay." He finally managed to blurt out, barely managing to hold back his own apologies even though the situation hadn't been his fault. "Or... I will be... oh God, I think I need to sit down a moment," his accented voice trailed off into more of a murmur, as if talking to himself. Perhaps he'd hit his head a lot harder than it seemed?

{{ OOC: I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY >.< , it's been a busy week): }}

Cassie waited patiently for his answer, worry eating at her stomach for the guy. She scanned dark eyes over his face, handsome features but gaunt in some areas, and she wasn't particularly large girl. She weighed a little on the light side and she was fairly short even in her tallest heels so for her to knock the guy over completely he couldn't have been- no Cass, she admonished herself, to assume is to make an ass of u and me. Her mother's clever rhyme was as stinging as it was true so she decided not to assume anything about the boy.

People started to flood near them and her anger, as easy to trigger as it was to dissipate, rise. She clenched her fists at them and waved them off.

"Sweet Merlin, please give the guy some space," she barked, and at the flinches and glares she sneered. When they left around them she nodded at the male's answer. She glanced around and was relieved to find an area designed for reading and coffee drinking. She bit her lower lip, she really wished she knew more about Healing than Potions so she could help him, but shook the thought away.

"Of course, there's some chairs over there, here let me help you," she was ready to wrap an arm around his waist and put one of his over her's so she could guide him to the chairs but she paused. "May I?" She gestured to the idea that she was going to slide an arm around his waist, nervously.

Being used to relying on what little strength and decent stamina he actually possessed when healthy, he felt somewhat embarrassed about his current state. There were times that he felt like if he hadn't been or hadn't looked so weak, he could have avoided a lot of his bullying growing up. There were probably a lot of things he could have done differently or been more careful about in order to avoid it.

He'd been startled slightly by her sudden shout at those around them clear away - but he was thankful for it. The place was already too crowded for his liking, making him feel overwhelmed and drained.

He kept his hand raised up to the back of his head, pain still throbbing through his skull. The thought didn't even occur to him to try and lessen the pain (probably a good thing as he could have easily messed it up with how out of sorts he felt).

"Of course, there's some chairs over there, here let me help you. May I?"

He nodded, following with her gesture and resting his arm over her shoulder as she led him over. He probably would have been fine enough to walk over on his own; after all, they weren't that far away. He was thankful for the gesture though, and let her help. He might as well, she seemed to feel bad enough about the accident.

"Thank you, really." He said softly.

Cassana hadn't been born a worry-wart or a maternal figure of any sort. However, a large part of the reason why she was so set on being a Potioneer, besides her excelling in the subject, was that she tended to have a heart set on helping others. Now despite the fact that she simply adored Potions, she was beginning to see that it wasn't the best way to help others... Her curiosity about Healing was rather high, and if she were a Healer in Training she could help the poor guy within moments. She was a tad irritated with herself for harming another person. Brilliant Cass! Taking down two people in one month? First Tess now -, she blinked.

With his arm around her and one of her's around his waist, she was mildly shocked at how easily she could slid it around him and the lack of well weight there. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, determination causing her back to go ramrod straight as she sat him down gently.

"You never told me your name, I mean I should know the poor guy who I tackled's name right?" She teased, "that was quite a fall, is there anywhere it hurts?" She paused realizing there had to be a way for her to work in her concern for his weight. "Also you must be lacking energy after that tumble how about we get you some food? Burgers? Fries? Shakes?" After saying those things she quickly realized that a cafe didn't sell those things and mentally slapped herself. "I mean tea? Coffee? Excessively sweetened drink full of calories and sugar? Scone? Ham and cheese sandwich? What about a soup? Chowder?" She rambled on, a hand on his shoulder, her face scanning his for discomfort.

“Oh, uhm, I’m Parker - you said you were… Cassie, right?” he asked, just to be sure. He wasn’t always the best with names, but he had a feeling that this run-in was memorable enough for her name to stick in his head. He smiled softly at her teasing, recognizing that this whole situation was rather ridiculous on both their parts.

Honestly, he was surprised by how light-hearted he felt at that moment; her high energy and seemingly racing thoughts were strangely comforting. It made him feel like there was any reason to be overly embarrassed, that this was something almost not too out of the ordinary. “Just my head, but I’ll be fine, really.” He assured her.

Her sudden questioning him about food caught him somewhat by surprise, especially as she listed off foods he was fairly certain weren’t served at the cafe. He was barely able to keep up with her, and he felt inexplicably confused as he let her rest her hand on his bony shoulder. “Erm, there’s really no need - I appreciate it though.”

Glancing up at her, Parker realized he recognized her from around school - whether they shared classes or not, he couldn’t be certain, but it was definitely possible. “You go to the Academy, right? I feel like I’ve seen you around before - what a coincidence, huh,” he chuckled lightly.

"Yup!" Cassie nodded her head excitedly. "C to the A to the double S to the I to the E, and it's nice to meet you Parker," she spelt out jokingly trying to ease more tension between them. Well more like ease him into being more comfortable with her. She wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest, just a little on the defense side and feeling like a mother hen because of the pointy feeling of Parker under her deft fingers. She was an impulsive person by nature and tended to act on her thoughts before thorough examination and right now she was sure that Parker was in need of just a little bit of TLC.

At the fact that he said he was fine she nodded in understanding since she couldn't go any further with Healing, which frustrated her.

"Oh, well," she was lost for a moment before an idea sprung to mind, she released his shoulder to sit across from him, smiling brightly as she clasped her fingers together, and called the cafe worker over, "can I have one small clam chowder and one medium sized one, both with a piece of French roll, please? Also two waters and a chocolate croissant," off the cafe worker was grumbling the entire time, the medium clam chowder and croissant were for herself so was one of the waters. She felt hesitance creep up into like a thief.

"I-I-I," she tried to come up with reasons to justify her actions and was falling short before finding a single one to grasp onto, the truth always worked best, "I want to be friends with you and friends eat together." She glanced down at her fingers as she fiddled with them in her lap. "So that's why I ordered for you please tell me you're not allergic to clams or chowders because that would really suck and I'd have to give you my chocolate croissant and chocolate is so good, but I'd give it to you to because I want to be friends with you." She chewed on her lower lip, searching Parker's face for indignant outrage.

Parker couldn't help but crack a smile as she so enthusiastically spelled out her name. Her playfulness seemed so natural, so easy, and he couldn't help but imagine she must have a lot of friends. She seemed like one of those genuinely kind people - almost to a fault - that everyone couldn't help but adore. And the people like that in movies and books always had it good, giving nothing but good in return.

He shook himself out of his trailing thoughts. Parker always had the worst habit of making these his huge, wild assumptions about some people - building them up so much in his mind when he barely even knew them.

When she released his shoulder, he thought for a brief moment that she was about to say goodbye and be on her way - gone just as quickly as she came, which wouldn't have really surprised him for some reason. But she sat herself down in the seat across from him at the small cafe table. Parker barely had time to process the the whole situation when she called over a cafe worker and startled rattling off an order for them both. And before he even had a chance to protest, the worker had already disappeared. Parker just sat there with a slightly perplexed expression, an inkling of guilt settling in the pit of his empty stomach.

"I-I-I... I want to be friends with you and friends eat together."

Parker felt his next words catch in his throat as she continued on to explain her reasoning for ordering the food despite him saying there was really no need. He thought back to before the start of the year, when Tess had helped him pay for a new set of robes. Something she didn't have to do, especially considering they barely knew each others. And here was another stranger, Cassie, so eager to buy him food and share a meal. A feeling of appreciation swelled in his chest, but the guilt - always the guilt - remained. Was he really that pitiful looking that people felt the need to do these things for him?

"No - I... I'm not, I'm just surprised is all. You really didn't have to." He chuckled, but it seemed slightly nervous, slightly forced. And he started picking at the skin around his nails, unsure of what to really do with his hands. "You don't need to buy me things to be my friend--"

Cassana was not a newbie to the art of helping others. Her mother had eternal gratitude that she'd never wanted for things like a poor person, and so she started many charities on the basis of helping them receive enough money to buy essentials like food, clothes, and sometimes if necessary enough shelter. Idna Rose was a kind woman like that, and it was basically brandished into the young pureblood witch that she should behave with kindness to all in need of assistance. Later Cassie would change her perspective into being kind to all creatures.

It was a gift, she thought to herself, that she would be able to look even the worst of people and still help them if they needed.

"I like helping people, like a lot, Parker," Cassie says fiddling with her fingers, "I mean you- I don't mean to offend I swear, I just want- people are," she paused, as always struggling to find the words, "people are delicate things and when we grow up we have to carry this huge weight of our pasts on our shoulders before we decide to share it with another person and I just want to take the weight off of everyone's shoulders. Sometimes the best way to start is by buying another person food, and I love food so I just kinda thought you'd like food too."

She smiled luminously at him.

"Well I'm glad I won't have to, but I never mind helping someone else. It's partially why I'm majoring in Potions, speaking of majors what're you majoring in? Is it fun? Do you have a favorite class yet?" She asked politely despite her exuberant nature.

For much of Parker’s life, it seemed like most people were out to make things more difficult for him, rather than easier. Cause trouble rather than offer help unless they got something out of it. So now, to have people (strangers no less) go so far out of their way for him simply out of the kindness of their hearts felt so strange. Nice, but strange. He never really considered himself a particularly likable or good person, so to have someone so forwardly say they wanted to be his friend without knowing the slightest thing about him was odd. Again nice, but odd. In all honestly, he really didn’t know how to feel about it. Should he just accept it with whole-heartedly, or be caution despite her genuinely kind presence and demeanor?

Parker listened carefully as she struggled to bring together the words. He knew what that felt like, and knew well the frustration that came from miscommunications caused by something as simple as poor phrasing. He nodded, indicating he was listening as he allowed her the few moments to collect together her thoughts properly.

He felt a small smile tug at his lips as she spoke. “Kinda like the idea that you should always be kind to a stranger, smile at them on the street or whatever else, because you never know what kinds of things they could be dealing with? Or-- er, at least, that’s one of the things my Gran would always tell me.” He supplied to the conversation, starting to feel a little bit more conversational as she want on with all this energy he could never have imagined having himself.

Potions? She must go to Merlin’s, or so he assumed because he didn’t know of any other academies or universities - but she did look vaguely familiar now that he thought about it. “That’s great!I’m training to be a Healer actually, but Potions was definitely my second choice for the same reasons.” He found himself pausing to think for a moment when she asked if it was fun, “Well, it’s… challenging. And rewarding, so yeah, I guess so. And - erm - I’m not quite sure if I’ve got a favorite class yet, honestly. Do you?”

Cassie was humming with joy, she was excited that she felt like she was on the correct path to making a lasting friendship with Parker even though she'd originally crushed him (that was the only way she could describe it). She was used to making friends and used to eventually crashing into them or tripping over them. They'd help her up but tease her relentlessly afterwards. So this was new. This was nice, it was nicer than any meeting she'd had with a guy so far. She was enjoying herself immensely.

"Exactly!" Cassie hurriedly agreed, before smiling faintly, "your Gran sounds like a wise one. Maybe in another life she was Yoda or something." She paused, worry setting onto her features, "Yoda was this super wise character from this huge muggle movie called Star Wars, and he was green with elf ears. Not that I think your Gran was a small, green, with elfish ears kinda lady but I - yeah, I can stop now." She fiddled with her hands in her lap, her face sort of flushed, her elation at the food that she bought finally arriving increased. She pushed the small sized soup towards Parker with gusto and handing him the other water. She smiled at the waiter and nodded in gratitude.

"I'm considering double majoring in Healing actually!" Cassie said, with wide excited eyes and an even wider smile. The good news was that they had some equal footing. "What made you want to be a Healer, Parker?" She asked gently before she took a sip from her water and a sip from her soup. "If you don't mind me asking of course," she added. "I actually love Healing Potions, Professor Mycroft's kinda straight faced but it's all good cause his teachings always feel relevant, I love the class."

The conversation flowing between the two of them felt so natural, as if they’d been friends for some time rather than strangers that had roughly bumped into each other no more than 15 minutes prior. It was a bit odd, but nice nonetheless. There was something so genuine about her that made her otherwise overwhelming enthusiasm something of a comfort.

Parker couldn’t help but laugh at the way she stumbled over her words and her face flushed red. He always assumed he came across as someone that at least knew about muggle stuff, so to have her try to hard to explain Star Wars and Yoda was just… really, funny to him. He didn’t remember the last time he had a real laugh like that. His laughter dying down just as the food was brought and she pushed the bowl towards him, he thanked her first and then went on to say, “No worries, I’m muggleborn, I understand what you mean. Though I’d’ve imagined most wixen nowadays would know what Star Wars is?”He picked up his spoon. “I guess not, though.”

He seemed to pause for a moment, realizing he’d totally forgotten that double-majoring was a thing. As much as he would probably love to do that with potions, he knew it was beyond his abilities and finances. As she spoke, he took a bit of his soup, thinking things over.

"What made you want to be a Healer, Parker? If you don't mind me asking of course.”

Talking a long drink of his water, he tried to think of how to phrase it. Why did he? To help people of course but… beyond that? “It’s kinda hard to say really. I mean, a lot of it is wanting to help people but there are so many ways to go about doing that. I guess it’s about seeing a more immediate impact of my ability to help - and being able to be a part of something bigger than myself.” After another sip of hip water he added on as an after thought, “I had an idea of what I specifically wanted to go into, but I feel like I’m starting to have doubt about that now - not that it matters just yet.”

"I actually love Healing Potions, Professor Mycroft's kinda straight faced but it's all good cause his teachings always feel relevant, I love the class."

Parker nodded in agreement as he ate more of his soup, nearly done with the small bowl. “Yeah, I completely agree. I didn’t know about the whole Holmes's experimental potions business thing before, and I was actually thinking of asking him more about it.”