Until Someone Gets Hurt PV Jack Warren Finished

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]B[/font]efore Jack even knew it, the summer was already almost over. The boy had tried his best to avoid his family home because his parents were away to deal with his father's condition most of the time. Thankfully, he only spent a short time in Dublin before being quickly whisked away to summer camp at Hogwarts. During the previous school year, Jack was so secretly excited that his childhood friend was a witch. Not like he'd ever say it too often, but the excitement was still excitement. As a younger boy, he really wasn't a fan of keeping the truth from people he was close to. However, his mother had enforced the rule that muggles couldn't know, so he didn't let them know.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]T[/font]he Hufflepuff prefect had set himself on the ground during one of the many bonfires at night when a certain red-headed girl had decided to slip him a note. With a confused look, Jack took it, of course. Why wouldn't he? Winnie was always eccentric, by all means, but recently it seemed like the girl had been a little more distant. Of course, it was probably just that they both had their different friends, and they were in separate cabins. Maybe he was just worried. Jack was so used to playing the overprotective brother to her, and it was basically second nature at this point. Even with that, he still had made some time for the girl; what kind of friend would he be if he didn't? After taking a moment to set down his drink, Jack looked down at the note. A friend date at the great lake. Huh. It was an excellent idea, but he wasn't sure why it had to describe via letter. She could've just asked to go to the lake. In the end, he decided just to ignore the odd choice of delivery, and as a bonus, they could hang out some more! Just like the good ol' days!

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]O[/font]ver the past few summers, Jack had found a fondness in floral shirts with a nice pair of pants. It was his go-to summer look. So for today, he sported a navy blue short-sleeve button-up top with large yellow and pink floral designs, which the top few buttons were left open, much like he'd seen in so many action hero wear in movies. So as he leisurely strolled out beyond the super active parts of the great lake, Jack couldn't help but wear a grin on his face. Eventually, a small girl sat on a cream-colored cardigan came into his sight. "Win!" He would call out with hand waving in the air. Jack didn't even care if his nickname for the girl could be confused for him cheering for victory. After twenty or so more feet, the prefect spoke again, "You know you could've got a blanket from the cabins! You didn't have to dirty up your stuff-" Stopping only feet away from his best friend, the boy crossed his arms stood for a moment. "Heya." was all he said before lazily dropping his butt on the ground next to her.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]"S[/font]o....Uh...What's with the note? You could've just asked me to hang out-"

Hanging out with @Winnie Harper

The Fit

Interacting with: @Jack Warren

Date: August 14th, 2021 - 7:00 pm Outfit: Dress

───At Jack’s arrival, Winnie would visibly brighten up. An enormous smile graced her features as she turned to peer over her shoulder at the call of her nickname. "Jackie!" The mere sight of the boy always put her at ease. She could not recall seeing him during the summer, which felt odd considering their conversations about possible summer plans during school. She had supposed they had discussed it all the way back in April, so perhaps the boy had forgotten? Either way, she would not fret about it too much. He was here now and seemed excited to be by her side.

"Oh?" Winnie’s sight flickered down to the cardigan she was currently sitting on. She gave the boy a small shrug. "It’s okay, it’s nothing that a simple charm can ’t fix." The Ravenclaw would remind her friend with a smile. In stark contrast to her grass-stained first-year attire, Winnie’s outfits were always clean and crisp, in part thanks to the Scourgify charm. Although she hadn’t been able to use it during the summer, she could use it now that they were back at Hogwarts, right? Either way, she paid no mind as she shifted her body around so that she was facing Jack.

“Well... We didn’t really spend much time with each other over the summer, so I wasn’t certain if you were mad at me or... but you came, so that must mean that things are okay between us!” She would offer the boy a sheepish smile, then reach across to grasp one of his hands. She turned it so it was facing palm up and then placed her present gingerly on top. “I made this for you.” She explained, using her free hand to tuck a few strands of her copper hair behind her ear. “It’s a friendship bracelet. That’s not too girly, right? I won’t be insulted if you don’t wear it, I just... I wanted to remind you how important you are to me.” She gave his arm a squeeze, her head tilting to the side as she silently gazed over at him.

A million questions seemed to run freely through her mind, and she was hoping Jack would help her answer them. Weird things kept happening to her, a misplaced memory here, a familiar face that claimed to know here and there. It made little sense. She trusted Matt and what he said, but... she just needed to hear everything was okay and she needed to hear it come from Jack Warren. She took in a deep breath and started, “Jack... Things are okay between us, right? I know I’ve been dating Matt Pride for a few weeks now, but just because I have a boyfriend doesn’t mean I don’t want to be around you. A-And you, if you had a girlfriend, I wouldn’t stay away from you. Friends are friends no matter what.

“You are irreplaceable to me; you know that, right? I trust you.” She paused, her brows knitting together before she continued. “Because of that ... I need to ask you something... Do... Do you think there’s something wrong with me? People keep acting weird around me, saying that I did this or that when I can’t remember doing anything of the sort.” Before the boy had time to respond, her eyes welled with tears and she was suddenly reaching up to pull the Hufflepuff into a tight hug. “...I... I’m scared. Jack... I think someone might be using a polyjuice potion to pretend to be me and do weird things...”

Flippantly, Jack waved his hand. For a moment, the idea of magic was forgotten. Muggle habits that Jack had always seemed to die hard. Even now, the scarred boy couldn't help but worry about grass stains on the girl's cardigan. It took a moment for the sitting child to break out of his thoughts of muggle society. "Oh. Right- duh" was all he had to say before letting out a chuckle. "I should probably start using magic more. I'm kinda shite at it, though." The comment was said casually of the cuff, and the conversation quickly turned.

Had they not hung out in Dublin all before summer camp had started? Jack's eyebrows furrowed, and his expression scrunched together. "Win, I don't get it. We've hung out all summer, at your bookshop? I'm not mad at all, and I don't see why things wouldn' be okay..." His lilting voice ended in an upward inflection as if asking a question. As he sat with legs splayed lazily, and his arms were propping himself up from behind. The confusion on his face was easy enough to read. The gentle touch of Winnie's hand made him glance away from the girl that sat opposite to him and down to their touching hands. As his palm was turned towards the sky, Jack's brown eyes followed the movement of her hand underneath his. The soft fabric in between their hands made him quirk an eyebrow. "You made it?" Deliberately pulling his hand away from his friend, the guy looked down at his open palm. A bracelet? Had she made it, really? "Win, you didn' have to do this." As he spoke, the kid rolled the bracelet between his fingers. Jack didn't have a favorite color, but purple and black were colors he was fond of. "Friendship bracelet? I am not really sure what to say, Win. I like it a lot." As if to prove a point, Warren slipped the bracelet around his wrist and quickly tied it. "You didn' have to remind me of that, sis. I know. We're basically family, so it doesn' have to be said." The girl was like a little sister. Only moments after wrapping the band across, Jack flipped the polaroid to the other side before his face quickly turned a bright shade of pink, whether in anger or embarrassment was still to be seen. "I-This-If-You-Why do you have this?" After letting out a huff, he continued. "Nobody can see this. Ever."

Setting down the photo in between his legs, he tried his best to pretend it didn't exist. The boy threw his head back for a moment and sighed again. The sky was pretty. The day was rather lovely, and it seemed that the night would be just as pleasant. The silent thoughts of the day were interrupted by a sudden inhalation. As Winnie spoke, or instead rambled, Jack peeled his eyes from the sky and down to his friend. Matt Pride? Dating? The boy's eyes narrowed; that didn't sound right at all. Didn't she loath that kid? That was the one that was messing with her at the Blossom ball. Raising his hand, the prefect gave her an odd look. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean you're dating this pride kid? You never said anything about this when we were starting up with camp and shite. Plus, you complained about him all through your first year. That can't be right." This obviously didn't make any sense. He might not have been the brightest bulb in the shed, but he knew enough to catch on to something sketchy.

"I know Winnie. I trust you too, but I don't think anything is wrong with you. I don't know about a Polyjuice, I've had several talks with you, and we hung out in Dublin, and you said that you didn't hang out with me mcuh, which we totally did!" The boy's voice was getting raise as he continued to ramble on. The entire idea of Winnie being afraid just made his blood boil. If anybody fucked with any of his friends, he would break anybody's legs. His fists clenched, and he glanced over his shoulder as if somebody might be here for an ass-whooping of a lifetime.

@Winnie Harper

Warning: This reply includes a character suffering an anxiety attack, if this a trigger for you, please do not read it. Thank you.

Interacting with: @Jack Warren

Date: August 14th, 2021 - 7:00 pm Outfit: Dress

───At Jack’s insistence that his magical abilities were flawed, Winnie would raise her brows in surprise. She hadn’t seen Jack in action yet, but the boy usually exceeded at whatever feats he undertook, so she found it difficult to believe him. "That’s probably not true, Jackie. You’re a prefect. I’m sure you’re also a brilliant student and thus a wonderful wizard." She would give him a little nod, a dreamy smile crossing her features. It was obvious that Winnie believed nothing less about her friend.

She watched the boy silently as he looked over the bracelet; her face heating as nerves tugged and twisted her insides. Her features broke into another smile when the boy said he liked it and swiftly placed it on his wrist. "I made it! I know I didn’t have to, but... I wanted to." Her arms wrapped around one of Jack’s own, giving the Hufflepuff an affectionate squeeze. She leaned her head against the boy’s shoulder. She gazed up at the bracelet, a content sigh pressing past her lips. "Family?" She repeated, turning to peek up at the boy, her blue eyes wide with excitement. "Jack, I would love to be your family... Like husband and wife! You know, not related but related by love instead!" Right, because that was definitely a great analogy to make. Part of her had said it on purpose to fluster the older boy a bit. She knew he meant they were like siblings.

Speaking of flustered, she couldn’t manage to swallow her giggle when Jack complained about the picture. "It’s cute. I have a lot of pictures of us, but this one is my favourite, do you know why?" She released his arm and plucked the photo from him, her thumb rubbing over the glossy seal that overlay the treasured memory. "Dad had told me that a boy like you wouldn’t keep hanging around a little girl so I should stop bugging you. Then you showed up later that day and played with me. It was the day I decided we’d be friends forever." She was definitely leaving out the part where she begged him to put on the tiara, but it seemed unimportant. They were having a pleasant moment.

Unfortunately, bliss couldn’t last forever. Confusion came crashing down on the girl’s mind like rough sea water battering the side of an old sailboat during a storm. Her mind was racing at her friend’s comment, "... No... We... I didn’t see you all summer..." She tried to explain, her brows furrowing and knitting together as she suddenly pulled away from the embrace she had locked the boy in. Her heart began to hammer against her chest as a chill ran through her body. Something was fighting through her mind again, a sensation, a feeling that he might have been right. There were bruises on her body that she couldn’t explain during the first of August, the signs of a battle she couldn’t remember fighting. Jack had helped her...? No, that wasn’t... "Why... Why would I complain about Mattie? He’s such a nice boy, he’s helped me so much this summer, especially when I get confused... So me saying rude things... That... It doesn’t make sense, Jack!" There was a twinge of anger in her voice, not directed necessarily at her friend, but the frustration of the situation that had trapped her in a steely cold cage.

The girl would stand and take a few steps back from her friend. She had forgotten about her sweater and ended up stumbling over it. A sob ripped from her throat as she suddenly crouched down, her arms covering her head. "No, no, no... Not you too, no... I can’t... No..." Waves of panic were rising in her chest, burning her throat as they manifested. The girl was experiencing an anxiety attack, not the first since she had several small ones throughout the summer, but this one had been the worst. She trembled, beads of sweat forming along her brow and upper lip as her mind raced. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she remember doing any of this? "J...Jack... Help... Help me..." She begged, salty tears burning her cheeks as she glanced up at him, her watering eyes pleading with him to say he was joking before. "I don’t know what’s happening to me... I’m scared."

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]A[/font] grin that lacked a distinct shittiness grew across his face as Winnie complimented him. It was nice to have somebody aside from himself tell him things he already knew. Nice. "Thanks, that means a lot." Earnisty was not a normal phenomenon for the young shitster. In hindsight, this might be why Jack liked Winnie so much. The same with Jake and George. They looked up to him, and that gave him a sense of self-worth. This sense of loyalty that Jack had was more than just a trivial need to keep those who treated him with kindness close, but rather to protect them in their entirety. For Jake, that would be to defend him from the harsh realities he would experience, and for Winnie, protection from those seeking to hurt and use her. Had Jack's heart started to grow? He had to look away in fear of showing a blush forming on his cheeks.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]H[/font]usband and wife? Jaysus christ! That was not the expected outcome of him calling her family. The bloom of red on his cheeks hadn't even already worn off! Why did she have to say embarrassing things like that? A meek 'heh' was all the boy could manage before the fire behind his cheeks was wrangled back into a dormant state. "You can't say stuff like that! You know that you're like a sister to me!" The statement was preceded by him palming Winnie's face and lightly pushing it away. "You're so weird!" Was all he could chuckle afterward.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]"W[/font]inifred. If anybody at Hogwarts sees this, I will know." Any seriousness that Jack could muster was lackluster at best. He couldn't be intimidating to Winnie, she would just see right through him, and he knew it. "If you show anyone, I will throw you into the lake." Of course, Jack would never hurt Winnie, but he would absolutely follow through on this threat. Jack didn't really know Winnie's dad that well, but he wasn't a fan based on what Winnie had told him. How dare he say that the boy wouldn't stick around. All Jack could do was smile at the memory of coming back the next day. The Hufflepuff couldn't tell her that he came back because his mother forced him, but in the end, he couldn't help but feel thankful to her for doing so.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]S[/font]adly any happy memories were slowly replaced with unfortunate realities. "We hung out at the bar- Winnie, why haven't you gone to a professor about your memory?" All the talk of Mathias was starting to get Jack going down a dark path. His anger was like a volcano. The prefect had been letting his dislike of Matt simmer, but now it was getting close to boiling point. Jack had purposefully avoided meeting Pride because he knew he would not have kind words for the kid. It was really only for the sake of keeping his position. He might have been skirting the lines of what's okay for a prefect, but he generally wanted to keep his post. Jack honestly liked it. " He kissed you without your permission at the blossom ball! You hate him, Win!" Now, with features twisted in a veil of anger, Jack could really only think of two things. His friend, Winnie, and the target of his rage, Matt. Did Jack know for sure? Absolutely not, but the boy might as well go to the Olympics for jumping to conclusions. Matt was the only piece that didn't make sense for Jack. A one-eighty like that means that he's the problem. Right? It didn't matter if he was right, but the prefect knew where he was going next when he finished comforting Winnie.

[font=Tempus Sans ITC]F[/font]or a boy who prided himself on being the brutal badass, Jack could feel his heartbreak as he sat helplessly next to his sobbing sister. With a stern face, Jack spoke as he wrapped his arms around Winnie. "I can fix this." The only words that the boy could find to say. Jack hardly contained the anger in his voice, but he kept it in check as he continued to comfort. They must have sat there for ages as he held Winnie tight. He was the shield, Jack thought. However, he would lash swiftly and with such punishing effect that Matt's children would feel the pain of his anger. As soon as he felt that Winnie had calmed down, Jack would stand slowly and repeat himself. "I can fix this." With that, he stood to find his way towards a certain prideful individual. Wrath was coming down like an iron fist. It was going to hurt.

Interaction with @Winnie Harper

Jack Leaves the thread to find @Matt Pride