Finished Chocolate frogs emergency! PV Dealla Prince

Dee was humming quietly to herself, pushing around the remaining pasta on her plate to form different patterns. The friend who had been sitting next to her earlier had left already, citing some homework they still needed to finish before class, and Dee had waved her off absentmindedly. Her homework was all finished already, of course. Spending lunch break in the library frantically catching up on an essay because she had every free minute of the previous days in the duelling facilities was so last year. Or... well, two months ago. The weeks leading up to the next duelling stage didn't count.

There was a bit of a lull lately, both in duelling and in academics. Exams were still a ways off, the next duelling stage over a month away. No fun activities Dee participated in, things had become quiet. She hadn't thought to change this, either, complacence creeping in, herding her along in her daily trot, not even aware of how bored she was.

After eating a few more pieces of pasta, Dee finally put down the fork and pushed herself out of her seat. Might as well head to class a little earlier than was the norm for her, no harm in that. She let the crowd carry her towards the entrance hall, bag slung over her shoulder. It tugged on her hair uncomfortably, so she shifted it, trying to free the strands caught beneath it, when her name being called had her turning around automatically.

She grinned as she recognised the offender. "Hi Samantha!" Samantha was one of the newer additions to her duelling team, replaced as the figurative baby only recently by Eun-ji. They'd been partnered last stage, and although the duel had resulted in a loss, Samantha had earned Dee's respect during their shared time on the duelling piste. She'd held her own, despite being the youngest duellist on the stage.

Judging from the speed with which the girl had approached, there was more purpose to this than just saying hi, however. "Everything okay? Do you need something?" Dee asked, cocking her head and slowly resuming her steps towards the doors so they wouldn't stand in the middle of the flow of students like rocks in a stream, indicating for Samantha to walk along with her. She might have been more concerned if not for the grin on her younger house mate's face, so her question was more amused than worried.

@Samantha Salwis

@Dealla Prince

A little girl with a mission ran through the crowd, existing out of other students who were done with their lunch. Before she reached Dee, Samantha almost ran into another student, to whom she quickly apologized. The older girl had turned around when she had heard Samantha call her name.

"Yes, everything is okay, well actually not," Samantha said as she followed Dee. "It is a good thing I spotted you just before you left, otherwise I would have had no idea what to do." Samantha had prepared a whole speech in her head to convince the dueling captain to buy chocolate frogs for her. "I need 5 minutes of your time, not even, maybe just 3 or 2, I am not sure, I haven't timed what I want to ask, but it is very important, at least to me. I mean you could live on fine, but I can't." A more serious look had appeared on the young girl's face, but the twinkle in her eyes hadn't disappeared.

"I should be able to ask what I need before your class starts, so you don't have to worry about that." Samantha didn't want to miss her class herself, so she would keep it short. Well, short for her, which many people would still consider long. "Okay," the brunette stopped walking as soon as the two of them weren't in the middle of the flow of students anymore. "So, you know chocolate frogs, right? If you do, you also know how great they are, except if you dislike chocolate, then you would probably not like them that much. But my point is I do like them, like a lot, but the thing with chocolate frogs is that you eat them. And every time you eat one, you have one less." Samantha said the logical thing like it was the most important thing in the world. "And right now I don't have many of them left, they are almost all gone," Where the girl normally was straight to the point, she now did everything to delay the moment she had to ask for help. "Because I ate the others, they were really nice. And I also got a lot of new cards, which is great. Maybe one time we could trade cards if you have some cards that I don't have and if I have some cards that you don't have yet. That way we can help each other complete our collections. If you collect the cards, of course, otherwise that wouldn't really work." What a great and useless explanation of how trading chocolate cards worked.

At first, Samantha had looked right in the eyes of Dee, but now she looked to her dirty shoes. "So, I kind of need your help." A little blush appeared on her face, she didn't like asking anybody for help. She looked up again, a little nervous. "Would you be willing to buy some chocolate frogs for me? I mean, on your next trip to Hogsmeade, if you are going of course, and I would pay you back for everything, I have money saved for candy, so you don't have to worry about it." The last few things she had said in one breath. Maybe if she said everything fast it wouldn't be so bad. "And if you aren't sure yet, I can tell you 5 reasons why you should buy it, I mean why I would really appreciate it if you helped me and what is in it for you."

After Dee's question if she needed anything, Samantha burst out into an impressive waterfall of words. Dee was usually on the talkative side, carrying whole conversations by herself if need be, but Samantha made it hard to get a word in edgewise. She didn't mind much, although her eyebrows twisted up in amusement as she listened to the long, winded explanation of Samantha's purpose.

"I think I can spare five minutes," she assured, grinning, when the younger girl made some guesses about how long her inquiry would take. "No need to rush." At this rate, her promises about not delaying Dee would take longer than the question itself. Probably already did, except there was more coming than a simply question.

Yes, Dee did know chocolate frogs. Ate them on a regular basis, and although she wasn't an ardent collector of cards, she had a considerable collection. Yes, Dee did like chocolate. Indeed, when you ate them, their number would decrease, what a fascinating observation. The corners of Dee's mouth quirked up, amused, but also increasingly confused. Was there a point to this speech?

It became a little clearer when Samantha pointed out that she didn't have many left, and Dee got the feeling she knew where this might be going. Not straight away though, because Samantha took another long rambling detour over the possibility of trading cards before she finally got to the point.

Which was that she wanted Dee to buy her frogs. This was really a non-issue, Samantha could have cut her entire speech down to "Hi Dee, can you buy me chocolate frogs? Here's the money," and Dee would have agreed and not thought twice about it. Yet, it seemed to be a much bigger deal to Samantha, and to be completely honest, it was a little entertaining to watch her squirm.

"Five reasons, hm?" she asked, trying not to laugh. She was a little curious about what the younger girl had come up with to convince her. "Better hurry up, your time is running." How much faster would Samantha be able to talk before she started tripping over her words?

@Samantha Salwis

@Dealla Prince

Dee could save 5 minutes for her! Amazing! "Thank you" she said extremely grateful. She was so happy, it was like Dee had told her she had won the lottery. Even though the older girl said not to rush, Samantha talked fast. But the time she had gained by talking fast she had used to talk about useless things.

After the first part of her speech, Dee talked again and Samantha nodded seriously. "Yes, five" she repeated like Dee hadn't just said the same thing. "Okay yes, I will hurry! Just a second I need to get my list about of my bag." Samantha started to look through her schoolbag. She had written the reasons down in her favorite dark blue notebook, in case she would forget them. Unaware Dee used her as entertainment, she got the notebook out of her bag.

"Okay," she said as she filled through the pages of the notebook. "The first reason is the most important one, though the others are really good as well. First of all, you will help somebody and that's really nice of you. People who help others also become happier themselves, so it is a good thing for you as well. I mean who wouldn't want to be happy." Samantha nodded as she read the next reason on her little list.

"Secondly, you will make me extremely happy. And we are friends and also I am in the dueling club with you. So if I am happy you will see me happy and become happy yourself. It is just like when one person is tired and yawns, those around the person will be likely to yawn as well. If I am happy and I smile, you see me smiling and you will smile as well which makes you even happier." When she finished her second reason she realized her time was running and she needed to talk faster.

"Thirdly, uh, I can't buy them because I am a second-year and-," she talked faster than her head could come up with the next words. "I am not allowed to go to the Hogsmeade, is against rules and rule-breaking bad and you are prefect and you don't want no rulebreakers" She left words out just to be able to say everything she wanted in the time Dee had given her. An invisible clock ticked in Samantha's head reminding her to hurry, which caused her to stress.

"And then also, the reason that my parents can't buy it for me, because they are muggles and they don't know how to use money," she stopped to take a deep breath and realized that what she had just said wasn't right. Her parents did know how to use money, why had she written this down? Samantha glared at the paper, it didn't make any sense. After staring at the paper for a few seconds (which meant she had even less time left) she realized what she was supposed to say. "I mean, I do know- no, not me, my parents do know how to use money, as in muggle money, but not wizarding money. And wizarding money you need for chocolate frogs." She looked down, embarrassed by what she just said. Did she really tell Dee that her parents didn't know how to use money?

"And," her head turned red and she was quiet. "Uhm." What was the last reason? "Lastly" did she even have enough time to say it, if she knew what it was? "It" she stared at her notebook, couldn't her notebook talk for her? She was out of breath and her head didn't work anymore, there was too much at stake. Come on Dee, be nice to the kid and let her skip the last reason, save her from a chocolate-frogless life.

Samantha didn't even hesitate after Dee's prompting, starting to rummage through her bag, and Dee's grin only widened. So she had actually come with five reasons why Dee should help her prepared and written down? While Dee may have claimed the same thing in very desperate times, it would have absolutely been a lie, and she would have ended up making things up on the spot. Samantha was better prepared, obviously.

And the reasons were hilarious, too. At least the first two, in which she explained - in winding and complicated sentences - how helping Samantha would make Dee happier, too. Was that... was that true? Did smiles work the same as yawns in the brain? Huh. Interesting.

The third reason made more sense, and Dee nodded slightly. While she herself had never much cared about the year restrictions for visiting Hogsmeade, Samantha seemed to be a more rule-following sort. Grammar seemed to have gone out the window at this point, but the claim that Dee "didn't want no rule-breakers" made Dee snort slightly. Sure, she had a certain obligation to keep other students in check, but unauthorized candy runs didn't really hurt anyone.

By the fourth reason, Dee's precarious control slipped away from her, and she burst out laughing, although not with any malicious intent. It was clear what Samantha had meant, it just hadn't come out right in her hurry, words and grammar fumbled due to the metaphorical ticking clock hanging over her. "Okay, okay," she interrupted, although Samantha seemed to have run out of both time and words at this point. "Slow down, breathe. Don't worry about it, it's really not that big of a deal." Honestly, she was a little worried that the girl would have a heart attack right there and then if she kept going. She could certainly benefit from relaxing a little.

"Actually..." Dee continued, considering the situation. She could, of course, just agree to buy Samantha the requested chocolate frogs, saving her from a miserable existence without chocolate frogs, but where was the fun in that? Thoughtful, her eyes came to rest on her younger friend, and then she smiled, just slightly wicked. "How about you just come along with me? You can get yourself all the frogs you want, and maybe other stuff that you're forgetting right now? It's really no biggie. We can go together this weekend?"

@Samantha Salwis

@Dealla Prince

After Samantha messed up her fourth argument, Dee burst out laughing. Samantha's head turned red from embarrassment as she mumbled what she had meant to say. The laughing of the older girl had made her even more nervous and the young girl tried to continue but failed. Luckily Dee decided that wouldn't tease Samantha anymore and told her to slow down.

A couple of okays were followed by a slow down and breath. The second year did what Dee told her and she calmed down a little. No more rambling about how her parents didn't know how to use money. When the prefect told her it was no big deal, she was offended at first. Getting chocolate frogs was a huge deal! It took Samantha a few seconds to realize that the older girl meant it was no big deal to help her, but as soon as she did she was extremely happy.

Actually what? Samantha looked up with a questioning look in her eyes, only to see a little questionable smile on Dee's face. "Coming with you?" the young girl asked in awe. That sounded amazing. She could pick every chocolate frog herself and she could even buy more things! "Yes!" she almost screamed after Dee asked her to go together. Her face was pure joy and her eyes were twinkling as she looked at her friend.

But what about the rules? a little voice inside her head said. The smile disappeared like snow before the sun and the happy feeling changed within seconds. She couldn't break the rules! She shouldn't break the rules! Breaking rules was bad, but she wanted to go so bad. A little hesitant Samantha started to talk again. "But what about rule number one: first-years and second-years may not enter Hogsmeade?" the girl directly quoted the first rule. She may or may not know them all by heart.

And also, Dee was a prefect, she couldn't break the rules! But wouldn't she know exactly what the rules are, since she is a prefect? Maybe there was a special rule for prefects that they could invite a younger student to go to Hogsmeade? "Or is it different for you, because you are a prefect?" Samantha asked hopefully.

Thankfully, Samantha did not end up having a heart attack right in the middle of the Great Hall, that would have been incredibly inconvenient to explain. Dee kept a close eye on the younger girl until she finally managed to breathe normally again, then she nodded, satisfied.

The calm was only temporary, because the reaction to Dee's more or less casual, slightly mischievous offer to accompany her on the chocolate acquisition quest was met with even more enthusiasm than Dee would have thought possible. She winced slightly at the almost yelled agreement, suppressing the urge to take a quick look around. Yeah, she didn't think that sneaking into Hogsmeade was a very big deal, but there was still no need to announce it this loudly.

Apparently a few doubts had snuck up on Samantha as well, because the blinding smile on her face disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. Ah yes, the rules. Wait, rule number one? Samantha had memorised the school rules, verbatim? Dear Merlin, Dee's help was obviously sorely needed here. Dealla herself was a prefect, and even she couldn't quote the rules word by word. (She knew their contents though, of course, well enough to be aware when she was breaking them.)

She hesitated just a second, wondering how to go from here. If she admitted that it would be breaking said rule number one, Samantha would probably back out. That girl needed to relax a little. Bending a rule here and there was healthy.

Thankfully, Samantha provided her with a reasoning that she could just go along with. Bending rather than breaking, perfect. "Something like that," she replied, giving her younger friend a quick wink. Not an outright lie. Better not give her too much time to change her mind, though. "It'll be fine, don't worry. Just think about all the chocolate you'll be able to buy. So this Saturday?"

@Samantha Salwis

@Dealla Prince

"Something like that," was enough to convince Samantha to join the prefect's trip to Hogsmeade. If she hadn't been in desperate need of the chocolate frogs she wouldn't have been convinced this easily, but now all the brunette could think of were the chocolaty sweets. Besides, Dee wouldn't lie to her and knowingly get her into trouble, Samantha was sure of it. She completely trusted her dueling captain.

The older girl told her not to worry and Samantha nodded happily. The idea of all the chocolate was a great one indeed. Saturday sounded good, but she did have to make sure she had all her homework finished before then. If she would do her homework instead of reading a book after dinner, she should be able to have everything before Saturday and go to Hogsmeade. "Alright! Sounds good!" she said with a big grin, as she placed her little notebook back in her bag.

While Samantha had been trying to convince the older girl to buy her chocolate frogs, more and more students had finished eating and left the great hall. The lunch break was almost over and the brunette realized she had to get to her class. "I need to go, good luck with your class!" Waving, she took a couple of steps away from her friend. "I will see you Saturday!" she yelled before she disappeared into the crowd of students. This was amazing! She could buy chocolate frogs and explore Hogsmeade with Dee, without breaking any rules. With a big grin, she walked to her next class while humming a song, happy from Pharrell Williams.

Thread left

Samantha really was the naive type, Dee thought as the younger Ravenclaw agreed enthusiastically, despite Dee's rather flimsy assurances that their trip to Hogsmeade was fine and not breaking any rules. It was cute, though, and Dee was rather certain that they wouldn't get into trouble - or if they did, that she could get them out of it, too. She grinned, waving as Samantha ran off, then finally turned to walk to her class. After all this chatter, she was actually on the verge of being late rather than early, so she sped up her steps accordingly.

Humming to herself, she took a mental inventory of her own stock of candy, and decided it could use a refill as well. She wasn't quite as obsessed with chocolate frogs as Samantha was, oftentimes preferring proper chocolate bars to the wriggly moving frogs, and had more variety to her diet of sweets, but the two of them seemed to share a huge sweet tooth, and Dee found herself looking forward to their trip. Samantha was sweet, and energetic, and apparently a lot more innocent than Dee herself had been a year ago. She wondered if the younger girl's aversion to breaking rules came from not wanting to get into trouble, or from believing rules had to be followed. The two were quite different. Perhaps she could find out on Saturday.

Fin~