Do you want to build a Snowman? PV Finished

Mention: @Nobody || Interacting: @Ruth Fairchild

Date: 23/12/24

Word counts: 358

Winter break had finally arrived, and with it happening came the sound of an almost reverent silence stretching through the Ravenclaw common room as if the area had taken a moment to rest from the chaos it endured over the previous night. Jan could imagine if these walls could talk, it would’ve sighed in relief knowing that the majority of students in Hogwarts were planning to come back home; however, there are some, like him, who decided to remain for reasons of their own. As for Jan, he had agreed to be Ruth’s companion during the break, so of course, he had carefully planned something throughout the night: Taking her on a one-on-one hangout in Hogsmeade.

Sure, it sounds risky, but he sure needs some entertainment while staying in Hogwarts. It would’ve been boring for the two of them to stay inside the castle all week. With a parchment that bore the skeleton of potential patrol routes, sketches of corridors, and a timing chart that seemed optimistic on one of the long tables in the Great Hall, Jan began to delve into his conspiratorial work before someone decided to interrupt his observation with a loud knock near the common room entrance door. He quickly cleaned his stuff before heading to the entrance door and the next he knew Ruth Fairchild was dragging him (again, which is a surprise to Jan but also not at the same time) outside the castle and now forming a snow angel.

“Plan?” he repeated as he crouched down cautiously next to Ruth and formed a snow angel as well. After the incident a week ago, he didn’t dare to go outside, but here he is, slowly having fun again in the snow. He was relieved that there’s no students playing around at the Hogwarts ground during this time, and therefore, no snowballs getting in his way. After a moment of moving his arms and legs in wide, sweeping motions, he gave her his thought at last. “I’ve been thinking, maybe we can go to Hogsmeade,”Jan told Ruth, somewhat hesitant with his reply, “You know.. Spend time there together. I’ve got some galleons for us.”

𝕽uth stopped her snowangel, turning around in the snow to face Jan, who had begun to form his own snow angel. She grinned at the sight. It was lovely, seeing as he was getting used to the snow again. Ruth hadn’t seen him out on the grounds (not that she had been out as much either) after the snowball incident.

Her smile did, however, waver slightly at the thought of Hogsmeade. “Wait…isn’t that the town near Hogwarts that only Third years are allowed to?” Ruth frowned then, standing up to look down on him, scrutinising the boy. He hadn’t seemed like a boy who would break rules. Galleons, though? Saved up, for the both of them?

Ruth sat back down in the snow, deciding to care about her wet tush later, and began to form lumps of snow, attempting to make a snowman. She hadn’t made a lot of snowmen back in Bath. It didn’t snow a lot back there, so the chances of her getting to master the technique of snowball rolling was little to none.

“I didn’t know you were a risky one,” she smirked at him, accidentally crushing the lump she was making. Well, there wasn’t much of a lump to crush, but the ascending snow “hill” deflated into smithereens, which bummed the Hufflepuff out. Deciding to focus on making a base rather than Jan’s crystal blue eyes, she continued, “What made you decide to go? There’s plenty of ways to spend time together.” She paused again. “Say, you make it sound like we don’t spend time together.” Without turning to him, she wagged a finger. That was certainly a lie. They spent plenty of time together, in class and out on the grounds, in the study room and libraries. He was her study partner and her friend.

Best friend.

The word felt funny in her head. She hadn’t really had best friends ever, had she? Ruth glanced down at the horribly done base, then offered Jan a hand to help him up from his snow angel. “Say, wanna help me build a snowman?” She asked him.

Performing an Anna on Elsa(@Jan Dehoff)

Mention: @Nobody || Interacting: @Ruth Fairchild

Date: 23/12/24

Word counts: 292

Jan nodded at her question, propping himself up on his elbows as he watched Ruth fuss at her snowman base. “Me, a risky one?” he echoed, helping himself up with a slight help from Ruth. “I don’t know about that. I may be... Curious about that area. And I thought you'd like it.” He glanced at the ground to see his own snow angel. The angel wasn’t much, really—just a set of clumsy impressions in the powdery snow, the kind that looked like a poor squashed butterfly rather than anything divine.

“This one looks terrible,” he sighed in dissatisfaction. He looked down at it for a moment before turning back to Ruth, nodding at her offer of building a snowman. “Sure, it's been a while since I built one.” Jan crouched down to scoop a handful of snow and pack it carefully. When a spherical shape was made, he quickly leaned over the crumbling snow mound, his gloved hands working to re-shape a larger sphere of snow. “So, do you want to go there?” he asked Ruth, implying about Hogsmeade. “It will be a short trip.”

Totally a short trip, just going through secret passages in the castle and walking a couple miles from the Hogwarts ground. Jan isn’t prepared for the hours of walking, but the plan he made over the night.. The sneak-out plan, it must succeed or else. He’s confident enough to notice how during the break, the castle seemed nearly devoid of prefects, so it'll be much easier for the both to sneak out. Unless.. “It’s alright if you refuse to spend time there,” Jan continued as he crouched down, scooping the snow and shaping it again into a sphere. “We can always go there in three years.”

𝕽uth carefully eyed Jan's gloved fingers as he worked on the base, tapping against the snow to pack it all in, maintaining its spherical shape. How had Ruth not thought of that?

Silent, she, too, decided to reciprocate and mirror his actions, rolling her own bunch of snow and packing it in. The snow stung her hands and numbed them, biting. Ruth ignored the coldness and the potential for a frost bite if she stuck her hands in the snow too long and set it down, unsure if the small ball she had made was even worth anything. Eh. Just make a larger one, then, to roll on to the top of the base that was coming back into a shape.

"You sound as though you're doing this for me," Ruth replied to Jan about his curiosity in risks. "You know, I don't want to be the reason you get detention." She stopped her handiwork for a moment to rest her freezing hands, taking the time to look at Jan and imagine him serving detention. She couldn't see it.

Her, though? Ruth had already spent a handful back at Bathwick Academy anyways,for punching people. Was that really wrong of her? They were mean, conniving snakes (not Slytherins) and their faces were very much punchable, thank you for asking. Here, everyone's faces weren't so much. They were nice and unique. Ruth was nice and unique.

Here.

"But yes, I'd love to go to Hogsmeade with you. When will we be taking this...'short trip'?" Ruth asked him, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly. The distance wasn't specified and it piqued Ruth's curiosity of how long it'd actually take. However, she trusted Jan enough to know he knew what he was doing. He had probably thought about this for some time. Like her, he wasn't one to rush into things. That was silly.

Ruth's eyes widened as Jan added another comment, of how they really didn't have to, and they could just wait another three years before setting foot in Hogsmeade. Oh no no no. That wasn't going to happen. Ruth for all the trouble's worth was going to see what Hogsmeade looked like, and she wasn't keen on waiting for three whole years.

As if pondering, Ruth fell silent again, packing up her snow ball, now more than a few inches wide, then began rolling around the snow covered grounds, making sure to roll around Jan and her snow angels, no matter how ugly Jan decided his was. As it got bigger, she constantly patted the snow, unwilling to experience another bundle of snow landing on her feet, shape crumbled.

As she rounded back, Jan was doing a fairly good job. The base was starting to gain its spherical shape, ready to add the second layer, or at least the torso. Ruth wrapped her arms around her snowball, legs buckling as she hefted it up and staggering. "I got it! I got it!" She gasped out a breath just in case Jan tried to help, and made for the Snowman base. Luckily for her, the top surface of the bottom snowball was slightly flat, making it easier. Carefully, she lowered the body onto the base,using even her cheeks to balance it out.

As the structure became stable, Ruth stepped back, "Alright. I'm in. What's the plan?"

@Janosch Dehoff

Mention: @Nobody || Interacting: @Ruth Fairchild

Date: 23/12/24

Word counts: 750

“Wait, so you’re in?” Jan repeated with a question mark. “Well in that case, allow me to elaborate what I have in mind.” He shifted his weight to one foot as he surveyed the progress they made before darting around to check their surroundings. It was a relief that a few other students were scattered about in the far distance, so Jan told Ruth without stopping what they’re doing just now. He took his time to adjust his midnight blue coat and cleared his throat before beginning to explain. It's going to be long one, for sure.

“First thing we’ll need is timing. I’m suggesting we should leave when most people are either in their common room or having their meals so that would be.. At night. I can assure you that there will barely be any prefects or teachers spending their Christmas night in Hogsmeade.” He took a moment to gather more snow and pile it up into another sphere, but smaller one for the head. Before lifting it up, Jan approached the half-finished snowman, his fingers brushing the top of the body and pressing it down gently to ensure its stability.

Jan’s gaze flickered over Ruth to gauge on her expression, but he quickly returned his focus on completing the snowman, taking the spherical snowball and plunged it on the snowman’s body “I know a passage near the third floor stairwell, behind a tapestry. Most people wouldn’t bother to check it out, at least that’s what I thought when I observed the area. We use it to get out to the lower ground floor.” It was from this part that Jan wished there were other options. He wasn’t quite sure where this secret place would lead them, considering how predictable magic can be. He has some excuses in case they run into a prefect or staff, but luck has to be on their side for this one.

He stood back up and adjusted the last part of the snowman’s head before wiping the snow off his knitted gloves. Perfect. The snowman is already complete, just a couple of decorations or accessories would be enough. “If that goes well, we’ll head to the courtyard gates and.. This might be tiring but we’ll walk our way to Hogsmeade,” He continued on, taking off his own scarf and wrapping it around the snowman. Compared to London, the winter here was colder, its chill already biting his neck from the moment he took his scarf off but the scarf on the snowman’s just temporary. Enduring the chills for a while wouldn’t hurt, he thought.

“I made some rules for safety as well. I think we both know we should stick together no matter what. We’ve got a few hours to look around. I think a span of two hours will just be enough to get what we want from Hogsmeade if we’re quick. It will be a waste searching for each other when we separate.” He paused for a moment, ensuring that Ruth was able to absorb all of the information and in the meanwhile, catching up a breath. Jan couldn’t believe how much he yapped over something like this. For someone who’s not much of a talker, this is a lot to say. “Take your time to register that in mind. If you have any questions or doubts, just let me know, okay?”

While his friend was thinking of something to say, he shifted some of his attention to the snowman, inspecting the little figure one last time. The face. Their snowman isn’t fully completed without the face. Jan scanned the ground around him for something to use. His eyes quickly spotted a small branch lying nearby, half-covered in snow. It looked jagged and rough yet he didn’t mind at all. He wasn’t planning on using it as decoration for the snowman's face— Instead, he picked it up and began to jab it into the snowy figure’s head with exaggerated concentration.

One was poked a little higher than the other like it was mid-winking or permanently confused, whatever that wonky face is. The snowman now had two awkwardly positioned ‘eyes’, if you could even call them that. He didn’t bother to fix it again and instead, his eyes turned back to Ruth as he retreated away from the snowman. “Like what I just did to the snowman?” Jan asked. He handed the branch to Ruth before deliberately tucking his gloved hands to his pocket.“I’ll let you decorate its mouth.”

𝓛istening to Jan rattle off the plan made Ruth realise how much time and effort the lad had probably put into the sneak out to relinquish any chances of them getting caught, though there was still a possibly, albeit slim. She leaned against a tree as she watched him do the upper body of the snowman, then found herself smiling as he shrugged off his scarf and wrapped it snugly around the snowman instead. It vaguely reminded her (with a pang) of earlier in the year in October, when Ruth had done the same thing to Jan. It left her feeling bittersweet, and she went to join Jan in completing the final touches and decorations.

"I think you've really thought the plan out," she began, amused at the way he stared at the snowman like a connoisseur of snowmen making, "One thing that I'd rather we do, though, is going during lunch. I can't afford to miss the Christmas feast, and I wouldn't want you--" she jabbed a finger at his arm gently as her friend busied himself with a twig, "--to miss out either."

She then paused as Jan stepped aside, a wiry smile forming on her face as she took in the humorous sight. The snowman's eyes ogled back at her, as if confused as to why she suddenly burst out into laughter at the sight of the uneven pair of eyes. "Love it," she managed to utter within fits, letting him hand over a branch for the mouth. That she began to construct once she calmed down, though the quiver in her shoulders and smile suggested she might end up giggling once more.

It was a bit hard to bend the branch without breaking it. Scratch that, terribly hard. Ruth could only twist the small arms that extended off the branch into a curl whilst the majority of the branch stayed in a line, causing the snowman to look as though it couldn't bring itself to offer a complete smile. "It wouldn't affect the plan much, going at lunch. Plus, we'll have more time to spend together!" That got her excited, and she spun around to meet Jan's eyes, bouncing lightly on her feet as she clasped her hands together. "Please, just think about it." That said, she quickly bounded towards the boy, shushing him before he spoke. "Just think about it." She gave him a look, then turned back to the snowman.

In the soft-falling snow and solitude, Jan and Ruth's masterpiece stood calmly, offering its awkward grin and odd eyes at them. It was a sight Ruth was afraid to let go, for she had no film or camera to capture the moment. Thus, she took it upon herself to remember that day. For a moment, Ruth felt at peace.