open Sugar Rush Without the Sugar

Jennifer ran out of the dark and dusty wand shop after a long 20 minutes of testing out wands. Sill was still looking at her newly purchased wand. Never before she had felt so happy. Jennifer had already finished buying all of her school supplies, and decided to sit down for a moment to organize her purchases, and possible read them for a bit, after all she still had time. She saw an open table by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, and ran over to it.

Jennifer sat down, and set her bag on her lap. Then she took out the books, and began to read their titles, Jennifer didn't really pay attention to her books, as she picked them out. She read the book names and placed them back into her bag. Jennifer smiled, she had never been on the verge of happiness before. Until now. The only problem was, she didn't have any friends. A big problem. Jennifer sighed, and pushed that thought away. She sat down for a while, when she checked her watch. An hour until she would be picked up by her dad. So, Jennifer decided to explore. As she passed the front of the ice cream parlour, there was a girl. No much older than Jennifer by the looks of it.

She decided to approach the girl. Maybe we could be friends. She thought, and so Jennifer walked up to the girl carefully, and made sure that the girl could see her. "Hello! Are you going to Hogwarts too?" Jennifer smiled at the girl hoping that she could have a friendship.

Janneke was still looking over her wand when the girl approached her. She jumped a little, having been so immersed, and immediately her face flushed pink. She looked over at the girl, and returned the smile while moving some of her dark hair behind her ear. She lowered her wand from her face, sliding it carefully into her bag. "O-Oh, yeah! I'm just about, uh, finished with my shopping!" Her smile slightly faded with annoyance from her stutter. But she ignored it, hoping the girl would as well. She pat her bag, one of the ones she had brought for shopping. Her parents had other bags, because she knew she wouldn't of been able to carry them all.

She adjusted her seat to offer one at the table for her. "Do you want to sit with m-me?" She paused, and realized she hadn't introduced herself. Her mother would be upset! Well, not really, but she would be disappointed if Janneke got so carried away that she forgot to introduce herself! "Oh, s-sorry! My name's Janneke." She reached her hand, a little shaky from the excitement, out to shake the girl's. "It's good to f-finally run into another first year!" She chuckled.

Jennifer smiled when the girl didn't ignore her. Most of the time, people ignored her. For what reason, she didn't know. "O-Oh, yeah! I'm just about, uh, finished with my shopping!" The girl said. Jennifer smiled, "I'm about finished too." 

"Do you want to sit with m-me? Oh, s-sorry! My name's Janneke." Jennifer shook Janneke's hand gratefully, and replied, "I'd love to sit with you! And nice to meet you Janneke! I'm Jennifer." Jennifer smiled and sat at the same table Janneke was sitting at. She seems nice, Jennifer thought happily, I hope she likes me... Maybe we could be friends! She placed her bag on her lap, and took her wand out. "It's good to f-finally run into another first year!" Jennifer nodded, she felt the same way. When she was shopping for her school supplies, most of the customers weren't first years. Perhaps the other first years purchased their items earlier, or maybe they hadn't decided to shop yet.

"Have you gotten your wand?" Jennifer asked, it was the object she was most curious of, "I was very excited to get it, and it took me almost 20 minutes for me to get the perfect one!" She smiled and looked at it closely. It had a strong grip, was a bit bendy, and it looked fairly pretty to Jennifer.

Janneke nodded as Jennifer introduced herself and sat down. "It's nice to meet you, too, Jennifer!" When saying her name, she gave the J a softer sound than she meant. In fact, if Jennifer could notice, Janneke had a slight Dutch accent mixed with the common English accent - not a very odd combination, as they mixed well together, but when surrounded by people with similar accents the difference was noticable.

She watched Jennifer bring out her wand from her bag, and she lit up as she asked about it. "Yeah, I-I did! One of the first things I got here! Um, I was looking at it when you came!" Though she had just put it away, she didn't mind reaching over and pulling it out of her bag again. She held it up near Jennifer's, and noticed the wood seemed similar. "What wood is that, cherry? That's what mine is!" She lowered her wand and gave a shy smile. "My mum helped me learn the different types of wands, so I know common woods and cores and all that." She grinned, growing excited. "Oh, oh, what's your core! It would be hilarious if we had the same core, too, wouldn't you say?" She laughed, and looked back between the wands. "Mine's a White River Monster spine."

Jennifer had a large smiled when Janneke pulled her wand out and showed it to her. "Yeah, I-I did! One of the first things I got here! Um, I was looking at it when you came!" She smiled, and recalled that her wand was probably the last thing she got, "I bought my wand last, to make me excited through the entire trip." Jennifer wanted to spend time around Diagon Alley, so she made sure that she was quick to buy her items, probably the reason why she bought her wand last, to make her hurry up and get things done.

Jennifer's eyes widened when Janneke said her wand wood was cherry. She also had a Cherry wood wand. Jennifer moved her wand closer to Janneke's and was amazed, "That's so cool! And you learned this from your mom? That's amazing!" She felt a lot more comfortable with Janneke, her companion was quite friendly, very knowledgeable. "My core is Dragon Heartstring." Jennifer replied, "It would be hilarious if we had the same core." She agreed.

Jennifer looked at her wand once again and smiled, it made her happy for some strange reason. She thought about the classes that they would take in Hogwarts, "So which classes are you looking forward to?" She grinned at Janneke, and wondered if they would have anything else in common.

Janneke laughed when Jennifer told her she bought her wand last to keep her excited. "That's a good trick! I didn't even think about that! Guess I was just too excited, eh?"

But then Jennifer started complimenting her on her knowledge about wands, and Janneke blushed. "O-Oh, it's not that cool. I-I don't even know th-that much, after all!" Her stutter started coming out from her modesty. She was smiling though, grateful for the compliments. "T-Thanks, though. But, uh, it would've been cool if we had the same core! We would be like... wand twins!" She paused, and giggled. "Wins? Twands?" She loved smashing words together like that.

"Dragon heartstring... if I remember correctly, that's a powerful core for a cherry wand! But... hmm.. th-that could be unicorn tail hair.... I don't remember." She flashed Jennifer a wide grin. "No matter what it is, I bet you'll be a great witch anyway!"

At the question about what classes she was looking forward to, Janneke paused to think. "Hm... well, Potions sounds exciting! As well as Herbology, plants are so cool to look at and learn about! Maybe that's why I'm excited for Potions, too, you get to use things you learn about! At least, uh, some of them!" She chuckled, "Can't wait until we can take Care of Magical Creatures, though. Forgot what year that is. M-My father works with the Ministry, in the d-department of magical creatures, so he has books I used to read!" She thought fondly of the books; she wished she could've brought them, but she didn't have enough room in her trunk. Besides, her father needed them for himself!

She realized she had been rambling, and probably talking quickly. She did that a lot when she was excited. "What about y-you, Jennifer? What classes are you excited for?"

Jennifer giggled when Janneke smashed the works together, "Wins? Twands?" She smiled, and listened to her as she spoke about classes she was looking forward to. Jennifer was amazed at Jannake's knowledge for wands, "No matter what it is, I bet you'll be a great witch anyway!" She smiled, "Aww thanks Janneke. I bet that  you are going to be one of the best in our year!"

Jennifer listened to her as she spoke about potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and how her father worked in the Department of Magical Creatures. "Whoa! That's really cool!" Jennifer exclaimed, sometimes she wished that she had a dad that worked for the Ministry. But, unfortunately her father was a muggle. 

"I'd say that I'm looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I feel like that class is quite important. Who knows what's out there?" Jennifer paused to look at her companion, "Care of Magical Creatures seems great too! Although, like you I'm not sure about what year we can take that class. I hope we can take it soon though!" She looked at Janneke, and grinned, "Flying seems fun," Jennifer figured it would be easier to fly than to walk, at least there was nothing to trip on, "Although it would be my first time on a broom..." She admitted. "Charms sounds great, I love learning new spells, and it might be a fun class to enjoy after a harsh time with other classes." She shrugged, who knew how tough the Professors were going to be.

"Are you nervous about the Professors?" Jennifer asked, "Whenever I hear about them... It's always about their cruel punishments.." She shivered at the thought.

Janneke blushed when Jennifer bet she'd be one of the best. She wanted to be good, sure, but she didnt expect to be that great. But she didn't say that; she just accepted the compliment with a small smile.

When Jennifer told her how she thought her father working in the Ministry was cool, she grinned and nodded. "Yeah, i-it is cool. Sometimes he'll have to leave for s-some time on a, um, business trip, but he sends us letters and pictures about what he's doing! Maybe if he goes on a trip and sends me another letter I-I'll share it with you!"

Then she started talking about the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and Jenneke hummed with agreement. "T-True, that is an important class. It's good to know what's out there, though I can't help but w-worry about that at the same time." She let out a nervous chuckle, but didn't let herself dwell on it too much. Jennifer mentioned Flying class, and her usual excited grin reappeared. "Oh, y-yeah, Flying! I'm looking forward to that too, it'll be my first time on a broom too!"

When Jennifer started talking about her worry about Professers, Janneke felt her hair on the back of her neck stand on end as well. "Hmm, yeah. My brother Dorian is going to be a sixth year and during the years he's s-sent me tips about some of the Professors, especially the ones I'll be taking that he took too. I'll sh-share those with too, if you'd like?" She didn't mind sharing so much with Jennifer. She seemed cool, and she didn't want her to have a rough time at Hogwarts because she wasn't prepared. Janneke didn't think she was much more prepared, but any knowledge she could share, she would.

Midas walked through Diagon Alley while checking his supplies list. New books? Check. New robes? Check. Broom supplies? Check. "Great! I think that's everything!" Now that Midas had finished up purchasing everything he had needed for year 2, he decided he would relax by enjoying some ice cream.

He looked around, and saw the sign for Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. He made his way through the crowd, and walked into the ice cream parlour, and looked around. There were tons of delicious flavours, and he couldn't choose just one. He decided that he would purchase the two scoop cone. He looked at the price, and found out it was   and took out 4 sickles. He gave the person behind the counter the sickles,  found a seat by the side of the parlour. He sat down and began to eat his ice cream. 

As he was eating his ice cream, he couldn't help but overhear a conversation near him. There two girls near him that seemed to be talking about wands, and he heard them also talking about classes. He looked at them, and realized they were about his age. Could they also be attending Hogwarts? 

"I d-don't mean to intrude,  but do you two attend Hogwarts?" he shakily asked them.