Cody was minding his own business, which was usually the case right before something horrible happened.

In this instance, it was an angry bee. Cody sat in the grass near the rocky shores, working on an assignment. He reached over to grab a text book, upon which the little devil creature had decided to sit and rest. It flew up instantly and stung him right above his left eyebrow.

"AGHH!" Cody started to panic at once, though he also tried very hard to not make a scene.

"Ahh!" Susan screamed, assuming at first glance it was her he was screaming at, seeing as she was sitting only a bit further down from him.

Alarmed, Cody jumped and gave Suzie quite the frantic look at her scream.

"Did you get stung too! Great Merlin, they're everywhere!" he exclaimed, poking at his forehead and frowning.

"Stung? What? I'm just not used to being shouted at." Susan replied as she stood up. "I think we should get you to the nurse. That doesn't look so good."

"It doesn't feel too good either," Cody remarked, giving a bit of a dorky laugh. He immediately hated himself for doing so, and turned a pale color of pink as a result.

"Er...nurse. Yes. Sorry I was shouting...I'm sort of a big baby when it comes to bees," he said, as he started to get to his feet.

One of his long lanky legs got stuck behind the other, however, and so he stumbled a bit getting up, making his cheeks go hot with slight embarrassment. If he could make it to the castle without spraining an ankle or smacking his head on a pole, it would be a miracle.

"It's okay! They are pretty terrifying." Susan frowned emphatically. "I'll get your stuff and come with you. You're not allergic are you?"

"No," Cody said, shaking his head, feeling at once a little ridiculous for not being allergic.

"It's probably no big deal," he added, not wishing to come off as so fragile. So..whiny. And, he had been in to see Nurse Sagebrook numerous times for bee stings. Cody could tell she was growing weary of his many visits.

"I'm fine," he concluded, giving a brave, reassuring nod.

"Are you sure? Well, I have some ointment in my bag, if you want....I get stung a lot. Actually I have a lot of accident....a lot." She bit her lip and smiled at him.

"I'm Susan, by the way." She nodded as she held out her hand.

"Oh, I'm Cody," he replied, giving a lopsided grin as he gave her hand a firm shake.

"And, er...ointment sounds good, yeah, thanks. You're accident prone too? Ever broken a bone?" he asked, raising his brow a little in a kind smile.

"My ankle, my third year." She nodded. "My accidents typically cause mess more so than self-injury. You're Professor Hamren's son, am I right?"

"M-hm, that's right," Cody said, perking up a bit with pride at the mention of his dad.

"Er...I hope that's a good thing?" he added, although he knew there weren't many that didn't like Professor Garrin Hamren.

"I met him last week." She smiled as she produced the tube from her pack and sat down on a boulder. "Jason introduced me." She replied, a pleasant smile playing on her lips.

"Sit down, I'll do it for you." She nodded as she twirled the tube in her hands.

Cody's face wrinkled a bit as she applied the ointment, but he tried as much as he could to not make too much of a face. Must be a brave soldier.

"Oh, you know Jason? He's my cousin. You probably figured that much out." He gave a broad grin that lasted only a moment as her finger poked his forehead again.

"So you carry that stuff around with you, do you? Do you have like, band-aids and a whole first aid kit? That's what I should do."

"I do, I have the whole shebang in my backpack. But if we're being honest I only bought it because it was pink." She grinned.

"There. Good as new. And yeah, he warned me that anyone I meet would be related to him for a while." She laughed. "He's an odd one, your cousin."

"Odd, yeah...he's a good guy though," Cody replied.

"Are you two dating?" he asked.

"Er, I mean, if it's none of my business...it's only, Jason is hardly ever just friends with a girl," he explained, feeling a bit guilty at once, as though he had said something mean behind his cousin's back.

"We're just friends." Susan replied. "He offered me a date, but it wasn't quite what I wanted, so I turned him down. I mean, I'm not stuck up or anything, I just have never dated before. I don't want to lose my mind over someone who has other interests."

"What about you? I bet you've got a terrific girl on your arm, yeah?"

"Hm? Oh, er...sort of, yeah," Cody replied, smiling at the thought of Jane.

"She lives not far from my house. A muggle...she doesn't know I'm a wizard. I don't know how to---or if I should tell her," he said, lifting his brow a little and chuckling.

"She saw my wand once. I didn't really know what to tell her...."

"That's the way it was with my parents. My dad was a wizard, and my mom was a muggle. He took her flying one night. It's hard to explain a magic wand. Flight seems to ingrain it in." She smiled.

"I'm sort of horrible at flying," Cody said with an embarrassed laugh.

"If I crash with my girlfriend on the end of the broomstick, I think that's grounds for breaking up. Besides a big hospital trip," he added, giving a sort of goofy expression as he laughed a bit more.

"So, er...your mum took it well, I reckon? If she stayed with your dad to make you and...er...you have a brother, don't you?" he asked, trying to recollect what he sort of knew or had heard about this girl.

"If people care about you, it won't matter what you are. They'll love you regardless. And it definitely worked out for them. They were so in love! IT was so romantic."


"And yeah, I have an older brother. Jason's age, actually."

"Huh," Cody said, furrowing his brow for a moment as a small smile swept across his face. Older brothers, Jason, and a girl...that spelled trouble for sure.

"So true love wins all or something?" Cody said, frowning all the more as he wasn't quite sure how that saying went exactly.

"Conquers...conquers all," he corrected himself, giving a dorky chuckle.

He poked mindlessly at his sting.

"How does it look? Like I have a ginormous pimple?" he asked, smirking softly.

Susan laughed. "Looks like you walked into a door. I've done that -- many times. But if anyone asks you could always say you rescued a baby from a runaway carriage instead."

Cody grinned. "And the heroic Cody saves the day again!" he said with another laugh.

"It would have to be baby Sagebrook, I suppose. Annelise. Have you met her?" he asked, his eyes lighting up a bit at the thought of the cute little bundle of joy.

Susan shook her head. "No, not yet. I remember Nurse Sagebrook waddling around, I didn't realize the baby was here already. What about you? Isn't your mom like...constantly with child?"

Cody gave a throaty, sort of explosive snicker at that.

"My mum? Er, the last was Emmy...she's going on ten. I have loads of siblings, I know. I could have even more than I realize...she's not my biological mother, you see."

"Gosh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean ...well, I didn't know." She gave a sheepish lopsided grin.

"But there are quite a few of you. Your house must be like a sleepover every night."

"Oh it's horrible---but wonderful, all at the same time," Cody said with a nod, giving a wide grin.

"It's sort of a mess most of the time---not the house, just...the chaos of it all, it's so constant. I'm the oldest, then it's Nolan, Keely, and Adam, then Emily. Jason's always about the house, and so is his sister Karissa, and there's always friends going in and out, so yes, it's a zoo. It's like pulling teeth trying to find any privacy. I'd go completely mental, I'm sure, if they had another baby."

"It sounds like a lot of fun. I know Nolan, Jason, and your dad. I've yet to meet the rest of them yet." She giggled.

"Keely's not around much right now," Cody said with a small shrug.

"She has some...er...things she's working through. And Adam...well...he's an acquired taste. I love him, don't get me wrong, but he can be...hard to handle. And Emily is sweet as pie, so you'll love her for sure," he said, smiling softly.

"And Karissa...well...maybe I'll just let you judge for yourself," he added, chuckling.

"You'll have to stop by the house some weekend. There's always something going on."

"I'd love to. After we move. Dad bought a new house this year." She shrugged.

"Cool," Cody remarked.

"Or...not cool? Is this move a good thing or bad thing? For you, I mean," he said, smiling gently.

"I don't mind. I just hate all my stuff being in boxes right now." She shrugged.

"But our neighbours are supposed to have kids, so I'm hoping we'll be friends."

"When do you move?" Cody asked, as the vacant house next to his own popped into his head, but he thought little of it. Sure, the house had been recently sold, but it would be too much of a coincidence. And aside from that, he was now distracted by a horrible buzzing noise nearby. Another bee. Fantastic.

"Dad's moving all the stuff while we're at school. I won't be there until spring break." She nodded. "Some break...having to unpack everything."

"Get friends to help," Cody suggested with a nod.

"I remember when Luna---er, my mum---and the kids moved in. Uncle David and Aunt Alison came over to help out. It involved rearranging my room and turning my Dad's old study into Keely's bedroom...quite the process.

"Isn't your brother of age? Can't he help with magic? Or, I could volunteer the use of my cousin," he said, grinning.

"Or I'll help too. Just tell your Dad you have to leave for awhile so you can tend to my bee stings."

The bee took a dangerous loop around Susan's face, and Cody immediately held his hand up to smack it away from her.

"OW! Ugh...."

The stinger was still stuck in his palm when he examined his new injury.

"Goodness! They certainly have a taste for you, don't they!" Susan exclaimed as she looked at his hand and retrieved the ointment once more. "I have some tweezers but I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm a man. I can take it," Cody said, wincing and looking away as he stuck his hand out for Susie to nurse.

"Told you I'm a big baby!" he said, laughing a bit in spite of himself.

Susan pulled out the stinger with only a bit of a problem doing so and began to rub the ointment on before he could have another allergic reaction to it.

"All done." She smiled as she planted a peck on the site of his new injury.

Cody's face went entire red at once. And oh, how he hoped it didn't show, but he felt so hot, surely it did.

"Thanks," he half-squeaked, clearing his throat right after.

"I, er, sorry...just...I'm a really shy kind of bloke, I suppose. Not shy about talking, but...well it took me about two months to properly ask Jane for a date...."

"I didn't mean to embarrass you. I just thought you might need it after being stung twice. Should we sit inside maybe?" She asked.