THE WALKER RANCH

((ooc: sorry for the double post but had too, start of a thread ))

Steven apeared out side the house a porch light swung gentle back and forth as he smiled down to Andrew "welcome home to the walker ranch " he said as John ran up the steps and inside leaving the door open for them "I'll take you to your room , you have your own bathroom so if you want to freshen up you can " he said walking up the steps into the large living room , an open fire crackled against one wall as he walked dowen a small corridor and pushed open a door "hope you like it" he said with a smile "johns next door and im just down on the left if you need me".

Andrew walked into his room, feeling a bit stunned and overwhelmed. The room was beautiful. His own father would not have done that for him. He had had some big overwhelmingly large antique canopy bed with tapestry curtains that made his gryffindor bed look like a miniature. He had lived in old money luxury. Whatever Andrew had had was in the house because it had been inherited by Andrew's father. This was all new, and designed with ideas that someone had used because he had given them to him. He walked in, stunned, unable to speak. It was the best place he had ever been. Ever. He put his bag down on the bed and just took his time looking at things. Nobody ever did anything like that for him. Not ever.

steven smiled seeing he look on Andrews face " this is all yours , now used or second hand its brand new" he said his hand now resting on his shoulder as he stood hext to him " you said you liked fishing and boats ,in the morning if you look out you window you can see a large oak tree in it is a tree house I thought you and john would like to play in" he said "Andrew this is your home , but only if you want it to be, I guess in away im trying to say I can't replace and would not want to replace your real dad but I am here and now and will give you anything you want , if its space and time then you have it " he said placing Andrews bag on the bed then turned to face him "ow and I didn't have any help from a woman" he grinned and winkewd as he moved back to the door" i'll leave you to get settled , I'll be in the living room if you need me." he walked off down the corridor back the way they had come.

Andrew spent a long time checking out each inch of his room. It was beyong his wildest dreams. So, how did this fit it with what a real family was? This was going to take some time to figure out. He went outside to the tree house and climbed up inside. It was a real treasure trove for any boy, and Andrew could see himself being happy to live in either place. The room or the tree house. And he could choose? He could spend time in both and not be chastised for it? It was confusing for him. He curled up in the tree house listening to the sound of the wind in the leaves, just thinking.

Jon sat in his own room gancing out the window he saw Andrew walking over to the tree house , slipping from his bed he headed to the tree house too ping his head threw the hatch "what you doing out here?" he asked as he too climbed up into it closing the hatch "don't you like your bed room?" he asked sitting cross legged aginst a wooden wall opasite him "dad worked hard on your room and this for you" he looked around the tree house "I had one just like it back home" he looked at Andrew "dad said you didn't know what a family was?" he asked out right.

"I love the room," Andrew said, "My old room was full of big antiques and stuff, but none of it felt like it was mine. They were just left over from some dead people. These arent' left over from anybody. They're new things. I've never ever seen a room just for me full of nothing but new things. I mean, even at Hogwarts, the beds are old and left over from somebody else.

"And your dad is right. My dad was a bad man. He was a wizard, that much is true. But he was always drunk on firewhiskey and he spent a lot of time with women that he paid to have, well, a good time with. But they were nice to me. They taught me how to read and write and gave me what little education I had.

"I got to Hogwarts by, basically, forcing my father to sign my Hogwarts papers one night while he was drunk. He was killed in a bar fight a couple weeks after that, and then I got another batch of school papers. I hitchhiked my way to London, and that's where I met your dad. He was the frist person, outside of the ladies in the pub, who was nice to me. He helped me get my stuff for school and get to the train station. Have you been to Diagon Alley yet? It's pretty cool. Maybe sometime your dad will let us just go hang there. I have wizard money in the bank there. Maybe we can go shopping or something."

"Right now, this tree house is where I want to be. I tried to make my own tree house once, but it fell apart and I fell out of the tree. Anyway, I think being up in a tree is just about the best place any kid could be--except down at a creek or a pond with a really great frog."

John picked up a cushion and hed i against his chest as Andrew spoke "eww I would hate to sleep in anything that wasn't mine" he said leaning down on the cushion to once again listen to Andrew speack of his father , john sighed "dad would never do that , he and mom always said that one day i would meet some on like mom and I would know it inside , but for the moment im happy climbing trees and throwing worms at girls " he chuckled remebring how their old nabours had girls and he would drop them from trees. He listened again as Andrew spoke of how he got to hogwarts "yeah?" he said " dads good that way back home hes helped a lot of folks and their kids , I guess he saw something more in ya Andrew to adopt ya like he did , hey do ya know how to ride a bike , maybe dad will buy us some bikes and we can race" he said grinning "Khaats farm is just over the hill that way" he pointed to his right "we're going there tomorow for dinner, mumm been told it a barbaque, sticky ribs and chicken too, ya hungry i know where the chocolate biscets are and dad let me have some when i want except before lunch then i have to wait " he said with a cheesy grin to him.

Johns eyes lit up at the mention of frogs "aww we have a pond right under ya bedroom window , right now its got nothing but this, frog spawn dad calls it, Im hoping i can have a frog some day , i was told ya had a frog, can I see him?" he asked moving onto his knees closer to Andrew "did you bring him?" he so hoped he had as he had so many questions he wanted to ask about him, and how he could get one of his own.

OOC: andrew not only showed him Frog but they had a conversation about russell being dumb name for a frog, so they decided to keep calling him frog. just fyi.

"Yeah, " Andrew said, "I thought your dad was sort of weird at first for talking to me. Nobody ever did that much before, unless it was one of my father's drinking buddies or one of his women. And, yes, I can ride a bike. I learned the hard way. I borrowed one once from a kid and had to learn fast because he didn't like me borrowing it. I accidently ran it into a creek." It made Andrew laugh remembering.

"You know, you can catch one of those tadpoles and watch it grow up into a frog. I can teach you. Then it would be really yours. Catching tadpoles is easy."

((oops, forgot sorry ))

John smiled and nodded "great what to we need ?" he asked rumaging in the tree house he found a jar with a silver lid and a net "will these do?" he asked holding them up to him now excited at catching his own frog "ow will i know it will want to stay with me I heard some just hop away and don't come back " he said siting now back against the wood wall , he watched Andrew feeling they would become best of freinds given time , even though he still sightly resented him for taking some of his dads attenshion from him, he felt he could get that back because now he ahd a play mate some one he could hunt frogs with or climb trees, play forts with or just ride bikes "no I haven't been to the alley not on my own, been with dad a few times though, gettin stuff for ya room " he said "do ya think we could catch that , what did you call it tadpole?" he asked moving to the trap door and quickly down to the ground the jar swinging around his wrist as he moved down the ladder jumping the last step on to the soft grass at the base of the tree "you coming?" he shouted back up to andrew.