Reopened Hop, Skip, Jump!

Avis held a finger out towards the sleek black cat that came poking around her and Ira, who had walked up right after she had. She smiled as the cat gave her a curious sniff and then sauntered away to spend some quality time on a nearby bench.

The wild looking Scotsman said something about a “bonnie Bohannon” and proceeded to take his turn, flipping the stone onto the squares in front of him and shouting out some of the rules. Prim giggled to herself. The kilt was funnier than it should’ve been and she tried desperately to stifle her laugh. It was probably considered quite rude to laugh at someone’s attire but the boy’s entire aura seemed to reduce her to humor, although she grimaced slightly at his last line about the dancing feet jinx. She hoped he was kidding but nevertheless, Avis would do her best to stay safely in the squares.

She looked on as the older girl in the strawberry outfit took her turn and Avis’ eyebrows rose in surprise at the familiar sound of Irish Gaelic. She didn’t speak it much herself but she knew all the old songs by heart. She hummed along to the girl’s merry tune and watched as she passed the stone to the Slytherin, who seemed a bit less comfortable than the others. Avis hoped this meant he would refrain from singing a song altogether, making it possible for her to skip in silence as well but to her disappointment, he joined in with the rest, his posh accent regaling everyone with some tale about a captain named Johnny. Avis sighed but smiled as the boy announced that the game was fun. She chuckled at his statement.

“Careful. You might end up having too much fun,” she said humorously and stepped up to the squares. Any previous song or tune she had ever known suddenly disappeared from her head and she froze in embarrassment. She supposed she would have to make something up. Tossing the stone, she watched as it clattered onto the seventh square. If she hadn’t been so nervous, the Ravenclaw probably would’ve gloated a bit but she had a song to think up.

“First went the Scotsman with his kilt flying free… um,” she paused on the third square, thinking of her next line,”Then went the strawberry girl, her tune sung with glee,” Avis continued, gaining a bit more confidence, “The Slytherin went next and he had lots of fun. I-“ she paused to hop over the seventh square. “I took the fourth turn but we’re not done! Ira’s up next. I hope she does well. For all of us have gone and we all did swell,” Avis finished, landing on the final circle. She turned back to the group with a grin and tossed the stone to Ira. “You’re right. That was fun,” she said to the Slytherin boy. As she took her place back in line, she threw a cheeky glance at the Scottish boy. “Can’t get me with Tarantallegra but I’ll be ready for you,” she joked, patting the pocket her wand was currently taking up residence in.

Date:

mentions: Reducio @Haven Bohannon @Colin McCoire @Prat Pass @Avis Greymond

WC: 412

It had been just another average Wednesday but it was soon to be anything but. Valkyrja had finished all her classes for the day and had been mindlessly reading a book as she wandered through the halls of Hogwarts. People had been tsk-ing and barely avoided colliding into her as her nose was buried in some fantastical word only lodged between the crisp pages of the novel she’d been engrossed in. While it had only been a few weeks into her first year as a student at the prestigious institution, she was already ripping her hair out at her roommate situation. Anything that involved being out of their dormitory was a blessing. Hence, her current hyper-fixation on books that she could consume well into the day.

Her feet took her through the hallways and she looked up as a shoulder bumped hers, realizing she was at the end of a staircase and had she continued down her path, she would have likely tumbled straight down them and had some kind of embarrassing fall. She’d barely responded to her family, mainly her nani* (maternal grandmother) since her sorting and she wasn’t interested in catching their attention for an idiotic injury at that. She’d barely begun to process that mess as it was.

Shuddering at those horrid thoughts, she carefully glanced at the page number, memorizing it for later. Then, she shut the book, holding it close to the side of her body, her hand curled around its well-loved spine. With that, she quickly made her way down the stairs, blending into the crowd, looking to see if there was anything in particular to do that would possibly keep her distracted from the chaos that had already found its way into her life.

Not wanting to linger at the risk of angering some staff or fellow student, she found her feet taking her towards the Courtyard. It was September after all. If nothing else, she could find a cozy spot and continue reading away from the distractions of people jabbering on about something or another that she could not find the motivation to be bothered or concern herself with. Sometimes, people-ing was utterly exhausting. Maybe it was their lack of insightful conversation. She wasn’t sure and she was too young to be having an existential crisis about it. A problem for later.

As she found herself in the courtyard, the scents around her felt like a breath of fresh air. She closed her eyes, finding a secluded area to simply take it all in. While standing there, she could feel the wisps of her hair grazing her cheek with the breeze kissing her skin. She quickly tucked the strands behind her ear and sighed. The blazer on her shoulders crinkled on her elbow as she rolled the material up looking around all the bustling students meandering through the courtyard that afternoon, each either engaged with others or working on assignments for upcoming lessons and courses.

A commotion had taken her attention just as she had been about to seat herself. Her eyes flit to the scene and she noticed several… maybe four or five individuals hopping and jumping around shouting strange words in thick accents. They looked like they’d escaped from a zoo though not one her nani would have approved of. The thought made her miss home for a moment as she remembered the warm summer days of pretending she was going on a wilderness adventure with her animal friends. Her nani had popped that bubble pretty quickly.

With her attention back on the group, she watched them, a girl in a strawberry ensemble seemed to be taking the lead and… tossing her pet around? She raised eyebrows at the act and all the hopping. How they’d all managed to not topple over or crush the poor animal she had no idea. Maybe it was dumb luck or some strange skill that she’d missed out on learning. Squinting her eyes, she noticed the back of the head of someone who looked vaguely familiar… The dark hair reminded her of someone she’d known well enough. In fact, as she took in the boy’s side profile, she was almost sure it was him. Putting her things away, she blinked as she watched him hop…. rather chaotically and pursed her lips to hide her laughter. If only she’d had one of those magical cameras with the moving images. Having this immortalized would have been the icing on the cake of her crazy week.

Grabbing her things, she casually put a hand in the pocket of her slacks. She’d opted out of wearing a skirt that day and thank god for it. Eyeing the rest of the group, she attempted to gauge if they were all older or if it was an entirely mixed group. She had no way to be sure but stood by the edge of the group simply observing and noticing the absurdity of it all. It seemed simple enough even if she had close to no idea what in the hell they were doing hopping in squares and over stones. Her thumb ran over a rock that she usually had in her pocket during classes while she was attempting to concentrate. Often enough, she had been too fidgety but having a rock to play with that had begun to slowly become smoother from its original state showed how often it was on her person.

Not wanting to disturb whatever order it was, she simply observed, slowly learning that the objective was to throw or fling a rock or something of a similar state in one of the squares and then hop through the numbered squares making sure to hop over the specific rock filled square and make it to the other side. And of course, embarrass one’s self while singing strange songs she hadn’t heard since she was just a child. Seemed simple enough even if she was sure she’d certainly face plant if she joined and had an audience of people who had no idea who she was. Wonderful.

Casually stepping closer, she looked over at her friend, realizing it was in fact Prat, smiling softly in his direction and offering a small wave. She hadn’t seen him since her sorting and was unsure if he would acknowledge their friendship or ice her out but left it up to him. Realizing that the game was already underway, she addressed the rest of the group as she casually quipped, “Hello! My name is Valkyrja! Valk is fine though for short. What’s this game called? Can I join? I even have my own rock!” Losing any semblance of shame, she pulled her rock out of her pocket and excitedly waved it in the air as if she had no cares. Oh well.

･─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ.･･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ.･ ───･

OOG Content:

Reducio

• Word Count: 1,130 words
• The Fit
• Permissions were given to mention and reference @Prat Pass!
• All other Kapadia family members are NPCs + mentioned as needed
• @Haven Bohannon @Colin McCoire @Avis Greymond @Ira Thornfield

Colin laughed merrily as the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor girls made up funny songs to hop along with! Avis mentioned everyone playing. Clever birb! “Can’t get me with Tarantallegra but I’ll be ready for you,” she said. Colin smiled, noting that the girl was totally unafraid of dancing a jig around the courtyard. Ira hopped across the court very easily and handed the stone back to Colin.

"We'll see about that, Miss Smartie Skirt! I might make you dance across the squares!" he said, tapping his arm where his wand rested securely in its sheath. "Right. My turn!" Colin approached the court and made his throw. Another kid showed up, calling herself Valk. Colin raised his eyebrow when she said she had her own stone! "Tis called hop scotch, lass! See? I just threw me peever and now I've got to hop across all the squares, skip over the one with the stone, go all the way up to the end and then turn around and come back again, pick up the stone and hop back home! So easy even a Ravenclaw can do it!" Colin laughed as he stuck his tongue out at Avis.

He made a little run then hopped into the first square.

One and two, tie yer shoe!
Three and four, A've got nae shoe!
Five and six, what can I do?
Seven and eight, tip the coo!
Nine and ten, I'll tie yer shoe!

Colin turned at the far end to hop back. Greebo decided to hop down and sniff at Valk. He rubbed against her legs and then went over to Haven to see if she'd scratch his ears. Colin could hear his purring.

Ten and nine, cross the crick
Eight and seven, pick up yer stick
Six and five, knock the brick
Four and three, step through quick
Two and one, don't get sick!

Colin picked up his stone on the way back and exited the court. "Right! Your turn Bonnie Haven!"

@Avis Greymond | @Prat Pass | @Haven Bohannon | @Ira Thornfield| @Valkyrja Hjörþrimul-Kapadia