Jake was suspicious.
Just a little.
He probably shouldn't be. There was nothing really to be THAT suspicious about. It was just....When he'd been younger he'd believed most everything George had told him. He'd wisened up over the course of his four years at Hogwarts, and NOW he very well knew that George didn't always tell the truth (rarely, some would say) and that sometimes George told him some things just to trick him. Knowing that did open up the door to be wiser, but it also didn't really help with knowing when he was being tricked. There was no real good reason of course for him to be tricked now. It's not like going out to the biggest tree on the Hogwarts grounds was some hilarious prank. There would be no upside for George.
So yeah, it was probably just a normal day, looking together for a magical creature that George had heard was seen on school grounds. It sounded like a great afternoon, away from the stress of studying for finals.
It had started at breakfast. Jake had maybe been talking a little too much. Usually, when he was talking for a long time, it was a sure bet that it was animals. Regular muggle animals, sure, but magical creatures were even MORE fascinating. Jake had been at Hogwarts for four years now, and he was STILL learning more about them. There was only so much reading one boy could do, while also keeping up on his homework, and all of his other responsibilities. Sometimes, he got so caught up he forgot about the homework.
Today had been one of those days. He'd been chatting to George a bit while he read. ("Mooncalves are actually way more interesting than you'd ever know.") He might have gotten a little caught up, but the things he was learning were too fascinating not to share ("And the real crazy thing is, is that the mating dance cuts all these patterns in the corn fields. That's right... THEY'RE the crop circles, not aliens. It was a magical creature all along! I mean, can ya believe it? Kinda crazy that MOONCALVES are real, but ALIENS aren't, right?") That really blew his mind. George had seemed a little interested in the crop circle part, but Jake had maybe forgot to notice when he was going too far, minutes later. ("Plus, can you imagine, burrowing for a whole month, over and over again? I mean, ONLY in the full moon, that's the only time they can come out. And I bet that no muggles even noticed that crop circles only come out during full moons. And ya know, the interesting thing about their diet---")
Eventually, George had said he needed to study, so Jake had finally stopped. But he'd been given a promise. Meet outside by the big tree, 1:00, and they'd investigate a new mysterious creature that George had heard rumblings about. George often knew about the latest rumblings, probably because he gossiped too much. This creature was apparently not even seen by the Care of Magical Creatures instructor yet, so the time to find it was now.
Still, Jake wasn't sure. He'd never even heard of a creature called the Welsh Snotnose.
Jake stopped by the tree. 1:00 on the dot. This was going to be quite the expedition, and the fourth-year had brought his backpack of various creature-finding (and creature-drawing) supplies, just in case any in particular were needed. He sat against the tree, closed his eyes, took in the warm sun, and waited. He was usually more punctual than George was. He opened his eyes when he heard footsteps.
George hadn't shown up yet, but somebody else had. Somebody else that Jake recognized. "Huh? O-oh, it's you!" he exclaimed with dawning recognition.
