Unexpected Chocolate Frog Assistance PV Jan Dehoff Closed

Walking down the corridor was a clueless boy clutching his leather messenger bag. Jan was all alone after he said his farewell to his mother and now he’s fretting the idea that he must to ask people for an empty spot after many unsuccesful attempts of finding a compartment solely for himself. As he was about to go for the next carriage, an old lady was on his way, pushing a cart.

“Are you here for trolley treats?” the old lady asked to Jan in a sweet tone when she noticed him after closing a compartment door. Jan reluctanly nodded before scanning for any chocolate bar available on the trolley amongst the unfamiliar treat packages. “I reckon have any cadbury bars here, do ya?” The lady chuckled at his question, and Jan looked at her in confusion.

“Miss, What’s so funny about asking for chocolate?”

“Young man, is this what you’re looking for?” She said, grabbing a blue pentagon box. “We only have plenty more left before it sold out.” Jan let out an ‘oh’ at the sight of five chocolate packages sitting on the trolley. He quickly delved his hand into his jeans pocket, pulling some coins that he has taken out from his trunk prior to the train departure.

“Is this enough for all of these chocolate and that soda drink?” Jan asked the old lady, giving her two silver sickles before moving aside so she could continue her walk after getting his treats. She nodded, happily handing his five chocolate frogs, Bubble Brew, and some unexpected extra treats from the trolley.

“Thank you kindly, miss,” he said, putting the treats into his bag, without questioning her generous action. She smiled at him before strolling down to the last carriage of the locomotive train. He watched the carriage door swung open automatically for the old trolley lady before turning around and yelped at the sight of a girl standing in front of him. “Bloody hell!”

𝓣he boy’s yelp made Ruth jump as well, realising that she had barely been standing inches apart from him. Oops. The desire to buy some chocolate frogs had overtaken her.

Of course, now that she had realised that the boy in front of her had bought the last few, the feeling had now ceased. Ruth’s gaze dropped from the boy’s surprised, gray-blue eyes to the chocolate frogs in his hand, ignoring the (was that Soda?) other treats he had gotten. Oh, man. She really loved chocolate. Knowing the situation Ruth was in, the chocolate was probably magical, or something. Now she had missed the only possible opportunity to get it, and that disappointed her immensely.

Her fists balled up on instinct. She didn’t know whether to cry or to scowl. Ruth shook her head to herself, averting her gaze from the delicious treats to the boy’s face, that suddenly looked really nice to punch. Calm down,Ruth chided herself. It’s just chocolate.

Or was it?

“I’m sorry,” she muttered despite herself, and stepped back, helplessly eyeing at the candy. A sudden intrusive thought popped up inside her head. Perhaps she could negotiate with him? She glanced to his side, where a bag was lopsidedly strapped onto his bag. It didn’t seem as though he had a compartment to stay in for the next hours or so. Maybe she could—?

Ruth stopped herself from shaking her head vigorously in front of the boy. I probably look mad to him,she thought to herself, suddenly embarrassed. Besides, she shouldn’t assume. Maybe he just wanted to have it with him wherever he went. She should just leave. Ruth turned to go, but the desire to eating the candy was weighing on her.

Shooting her shot, she whipped back and blurted out,"Could we have a negotiation?"

"You give me at least one chooclate frog, and I'll let you sit in my compartment,"she made a small gesture at the bag to show him where she had gotten the conclusion for.

Interacting with @Jan Dehoff

How did she know? How did she know he hadn’t found a compartment? Jan blinked rapidly at her, caught off guard by the girl’s offer. He hadn’t expected to meet anyone like her, getting close to his face and then offering a trade. Not here, not now, with the so-called Hogwarts Express rumbling beneath him, carrying him to some destination that he hadn’t yet visited nor discovered.

The long, narrow space were only the hum of the train to fill the silence, and he felt the familiar instinct to retreat. But there was something about the way she stood there, her vibrant green eyes waiting—no, insisting—that made him question how resolute she was in persuading him to accept the offer. Silently rubbing his neck, Jan weighted on the negotiation in his mind. Perhaps the offer is not too bad, after all, he had more than enough, in fact, to spare and he do need a place to rest in ease after so many hours of walking.

“Uh sure,” Jan replied, the words escaping from his mouth were more as an automatic response rather than a genuine agreement. His hand dove into his bag at an instant, fumbling as his squarish fingers brushing against the various items and knocking the journal Oma had gifted to him while at it. He muttered under his breath, feeling embarrased, but didn’t pause to retrive it. Not yet.

Jan continued his rummage until, with a stilted jerk, he finally grasped what the girl was looking for. Three chocolate frog packages. It’s more than what she had wanted, but he decided to give that much amount out of generosity and fair share, perchance. One by one, Jan pulled them out and with a self-concious clumsiness, the edges of it crinkling as he held them in his hands. He glanced up briefly, meeting her gaze again but quickly adverted his eyes.

“Here,” he said to the black-haired girl with uncertainty, his hands turning the pentagon boxes out to her. Is she going to be satisfied with the offer? Should he had given her more? Suddenly, the air around him seem to thickened. His hands were trembling slightly, though he didn’t know if it was from the awkwardness of his action or something deeper, something he couldn’t yet named.

𝓞h, Ruth gaped as he held out three chocolate frog boxes. That was more than the amount he left for himself, and Ruth felt a sudden embarrassment. Gingerly, she reached out to grasp two of the pentagon boxes away from him and thanked him in the process, leaving the third trembling in his hands. She stared at them unconsciously. Was he alright? She had only asked for a chocolate frog in compensation for sharing her compartment.

Quickly, she turned back to look at the two boxes in her hand, the edges already crinkled. A smile perched on her lips, and she turned back to the boy to complete her trade. Gesturing, she said, “Follow me,” and she led him back to her compartment, just a few feet away from them. She settled down back to where she was sitting and beamed up at him. “You can sit wherever you want.” The compartment was spacious, possibly able to hold more than four passengers. For just the two of them, it would definitely be more than enough.

Ruth turned the boxes in her hand, taking in every nook and cranny of the box design. It certainly was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The rigid structure fit snug in her palm, almost looking like it was glowing, what with is royal blue and gold colours. She admired the intricate golden filigree patterns, somehow adding a rare touch of luxury not often seen in the chocolates she has eaten.

Turning back to the lid, Ruth carefully flapped at the hinged lid, revealing a MOVING CHOCOLATE FROG? Forgetting that she wasn’t alone, Ruth squealed at the sight, utterly surprised and delighted at the same time. The frog, aware that the lid was fully off, made for an escape, hopping away to the adjacent wall. Ruth realised that in an instant, swiftly trying to make a grab for it, only for it to slide out of her grasp and hopping to the window, jumping out of the gaping hole in the centre that let in wind.

Oh, bummer. Ruth sat back down with a sigh, then looked up to remember that she had company. She flushed, quickly looking back down to avoid his stare.She was met with a card tucked in the box, and she held it up against the light.

It revealed a gangly looking old man, yelling off into the distance, it seemed. He looked vaguely familiar. Hadn’t she read about him somewhere? Pursing her lips, she turned the card so as to face the boy, tilting her head in question. “Do you perhaps know who he is?”She asked.

Interacting with @Jan Dehoff

Jan ended up settling into a comfy seat by the window, his messenger bag awkwardly crammed at his feet despite the amount of space in the private compartment. He watched as the girl squealed out loud when she opened the chocolate frog and the corners of his mouth curled up in what might have been the faintest smile. He arranged the desk in front of them before pulling out the treats from his bag. Placing the treats on the desk, he hoped the girl might want some more.

“I don’t need these treats, so you can have the lot,” Jan told her when he slid the treats across the table toward her, making sure that they were well within her reach. He was about to say furthermore before his eyes widened when he found out that the chocolate frog in the box moved. It was at that moment that his appetite for the chocolate vanished. He barely had the time to react before it disappeared through the window gap, leaving nothing but chocolate trails.

The sound of the faint train’s wheels and rustling leaves outside filled the air, and for a moment, Jan sat frozen, unsure if what he’d just seen was real. He stared at the empty place where the frog had leapt into the unknown. It’s scary to know that he could’ve unknowingly eaten a real frog covered in chocolate. He cast a pity glance at the girl as she settled back to her seat and fixed her attention on the card in her hand, seemingly embarrassed with the situation that just happened a couple minutes ago. With a quiet, almost reluctant motion, he slid the window frame shut to keep the situation from repeating itself.

“I don't got a scooby,” he shrugged lightly when she showed him the card, the cockney slang he'd picked up from his old mates slipped out from his mouth. Jan leaned back to his seat again with his posture now relaxed; but his mind is still trying to make sense of everything. He ran his squarish fingers through his sandy brown hair out of habit before drifting his eyes back to the scenery outside, the sky was already turning pink by the time he look at it.

“One minute, I’m just tryin’ to get through the day like everyone else in London, and the next thing I know, BAM! I'm a wizard! Magic's suddenly real, and I'm caught up in it.”

“𝓦ell, that makes the two of us,” Ruth said, helping herself to the treats he had shared with her. She didn’t understand. Why buy it if you’re not interested in eating it? Best not ask now. She enjoyed eating them, especially the one that wrote “Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean” The packaging itself looked delectable, what with its carnival colours and tent structure. Ruth held up a bean, looking somewhat like the stripes of a pumpkin. She popped it into her mouth, grinning as she was right. It was most certainly pumpkin flavoured. Ruth had never tasted pumpkin flavoured beans before. She stared at the packaging again. That’s probably why it’s called ‘Every Flavour Beans’ The thought of it led to her understanding that there was more than just the…pleasant favours. Ruth shuddered at the realisation and placed it back down on the table.

“So, you’re a muggle-born, then? Just like me?” Ruth asked, turning to glaze over the cotton candied sky and fluffy clouds. “My mom and dad aren’t wizards are witches. If they were, they’d have told me. Besides,” Ruth added, “They were really surprised to get the letter.”

She looked down at her hands, fiddling with the card in her hand. The man within it moved just as much, animatedly furious about something. Ruth didn’t know what, but she enjoyed looking at him shaking his fist. “I should have probably told them I had magic,” Ruth admitted “My parents and my older siblings were out one day, so it was just me and my little brother, you see. He’s got real short hair and when he made me laugh his hair grew long and I— I was just so shocked!” She remembered the emotions she felt so vividly. The horror and the surprise. She hadn’t encountered anything just like that in all the books that she read. She had felt helpless.

“I’ll say I’m pretty glad I got into this school. Now I can learn how to control my magic.”she glanced up at the boy. “What’s your name by the way? I’m Ruth Fairchild. People call me ‘Ruthless’ sometimes, cause I can use my fists,” she grinned, then popped another bean just because she wanted to chew on something. Mm, curry. “You don’t gotta tell me your name if you don’t want to. The school sounds pretty big, we might never see each other again.”

The bean finished, she slipped the other chocolate frog box out of her pocket, eager to catch it this time. She levelled her gaze with the boy and beamed. “Hope you help me catch it this time.” Carefully, she pried it open.

Interacting with : @Jan Dehoff

Jan hesitantly nodded at her question as he continued his scenery-watching. He hadn’t had the slightest proof, not a shred of evidence to anyone, or himself; yet the sentiment had lingered in the back of his mind, stubborn as a scar that refused to fade away: His biological father might very well be a wizard.

Yes, it’s not a sudden suspicion that he formed after discovering about his relation with magic and Hogwarts, it was an idea that had taken root quite a long ago, though it hadn’t grown from anything concrete—more like a wishful thinking that twisted into a shape of possibility after his sixth birthday incident. All things considered, he had never seen his father, not even in a photograph, not even in a distant memory. Jan might’ve recalled his mum telling him how much resemblance he had to his father; other than that, it seemed like he was more of a myth than a man.

He had asked his mum twice about him, and her answer didn’t explain anything at all, but for now these questions don't need answers. Not yet. Not today. It was safer and easier to settle for a simpler and in some way, factual story of being raised by non-magical folks, or muggles—whatever the wizarding people would call his mum, Mr. Graham (his stepfather), or anyone in his little corner of existence.

He took a quick glance at the girl, noticing how she carefully selected the free extra treats he got from the trolley lady. Her hand hovering above each of them before it landed on a carnival-themed box filled with colorful beans. From the way she reacted, she seemed to appreciate them. He quickly reverted to his sightseeing, but when it was his turn to introduce himself, he cleared his throat before diverting his attention from the compartment window. He supposed that introduction was easy since it was nothing new; just a formality of getting to know each other, something he had countless times before.

“Jan Dehoff,” he simply answered with a hint of an Austrian-German accent emphasizing over the name pronunciation. “I'm from.. London.” He paused for a moment, unsure if there’s more he’s supposed to add. “It’s nice to meet you, Ruth.” Shifting to a much comfortable seating position, his attention fully drifted to Ruth opening another chocolate frog box. By then, she had already finished the jelly beans, the carnival themed bag crumpled beside her as she tore the packaging open, clearly deciding to give it another go.

Jan’s eyes narrowed, not out of concern nor judgment, but calculation. Now that he’s alarmed with the chocolate frog, Jan tugged the cuff of his button-up shirt to his elbows, ready for what comes next. In the moment before the frog leaped out, he was already in the move. His hand shot out and with a casual flick of his wrist, he caught the chocolate frog mid-air. A slight grin tugged at the corner of his mouth as he glanced at her with the frog in his palms. The kind of grin that said, yeah, I got this. Without saying a further word, he gently passed the chocolate frog back to her.

𝕽uth watched Jan’s eyes narrow down at the sight of the new chocolate frog package, still unopened. Still, he seemed as if getting ready for the frog to leap out, even going as far as rolling his cuffs up. Unbeknownst to the boy, Ruth had meant him helping her to catch the frog as a joke. She was perfectly capable of catching it—but seeing his hands close to shooting out made her hold back.

Without a word but a secretive smile perched on her lips, she released the clasp holding the chocolate frog. As the frog sprang out, ready to attempt escape, Jan too shot up. Ruth gaped as he grasped the frog in one go, exchanging a smug grin with her.

She clasped her hands, delighted at the delectable in his hands. “Aw, thanks Jan,” she gushed, accepting the treat and biting off its legs to prevent it from running away again. Oh my goodness… the chocolate melted into a heavenly gooey clump, making Ruth’s eyes grow wide. It was unlike any chocolate she had ever gotten ahold of.

“I owe you a lot for that, Jan,” she continued, mumbling slightly as Ruth stuffed the remainder of the chocolate frog into her mouth. It was too good to eat in bits. “Tell me when you ever need me to do a favour, I’ll help.” He didn’t understand how much she appreciated what he’d done.

She looked out of the window. Time passed by so fast. How long had it been? Five, six hours? Ruth turned back to Jan. “Are you excited?”she asked softly, anticipation building up. “All this time, a wizarding school existed. All this time, we were wizards, witches.” All this time. She couldn’t wait to see what was in store for her, for them.

OOC:

Reducio

I’m so sorry Idk what to write TuT

Interacting with @Jan Dehoff

“No problem,” Jan said as he gave her a reassuring smile to cover up the wince when he watched Ruth eagerly bite into the legs of the chocolate frog. He reminded himself that it wasn’t an actual frog, he was sure it wasn’t, but the way it moved before made him feel weirded out. Without a word, he grabbed his messenger bag from the table, placed it beside, and pulled out his Hogwarts uniform from the bag.

The robe wasn’t layered like his typical school attire that usually consisted of blazer, white collared shirt, v-neck pullover, trouser, and tie—Instead, it was a simple, flowing black robe that reached just above his ankles. Jan didn’t like the black robe; yet he insisted it would be best for him to get well prepared before their arrival. The last thing he wanted to do was a chaotic last minute scramble to change his robe when they were at the station.

As he neatly folded the robe, he decided to answer Ruth’s question. “Honestly no, not really,” Jan answered when she asked if he’s excited for Hogwarts. He had already lost a little of his spark during the first day, and he didn’t know why. Perhaps it’s the fact that he has to adapt to a change, a very huge one, but Jan was quite happy to know that he’s a wizard, if it means that he was able to ease his life. He hummed in satisfaction once he finished folding and stood up from his seat with the robe holding up on his arm.

“I'll just pop out for a moment to change into this robe,” Jan said, nodding slightly toward where it rested. “Won't be long, I swear.” With that being said, he slipped out of the private compartment and made his way down the narrow corridor to a place where he could change his clothing in peace.