much ado about charms pv: jack warren fin

Reducio

OOC: Hey no worries! Life happens!!

Asteria hummed quietly, glad that he had accepted the apology. Some days, her temper made her worry that she would never quite be able to make friends like she wanted, that more bridges would be burnt than were built. It was a strange fear for an eleven year old to hold, certainly, but there it was, worming its way through her. All thoughts of angst however, were driven away by a dull thump as her companion met the ground in a perfect mirror of their initial meeting. Quickly, she leaned over in her chair, offering out a hand to help Jack up.

"Look who's clumsy now," she joked, testing the waters of their newly formed peace, not wanting to disturb it, but wanting to maintain the joking rapport they had established. "But you're right," she said, tapping her lip slightly. "There should be a way to make the library less, well, boring." The thing was, for Asteria, boring was an understatement. Libraries and her had never gotten along, had always maintained an uneasy level of tension. They were so big, but so stiffing, feeling as if they wanted to swallow her up, leaving no trace of her behind. And then there was the fact that bad things always seemed to happen to her in libraries. It was like a fact of life or a law of nature: gravity pulls down, clouds form, unfortunate coincidences happen in libraries. 

"Maybe if it was less stifling, students would actually like being here. Maybe..." and with this, a glint entered her eyes as an idea, still mostly unformed floated to the forefront of her mind. "We could make it more fun. What do you think?"

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

Apologies aside, Jack forgot how unfortunately painful it was to fall directly onto his back with only a stiff wooden back. He could feel the settling dust slowly floating into his open eyes. His face twisted into a look of discomfort, as the boy tried to blink the small particles out of his eyes. Even though the dust, Jack could see Asteria's outstretched hand. Reaching up, he clasped her hand with his own. "I meant to do that." Finally standing with the help of his Charms partner, Jack gave her a thankful smile. It was apparent that Jack wanted to keep the peace too. Plus he knew he overextended himself with trying to look cool in front of Asteria. With his feet now under him, Jack swept his head to the side to throw a few strands of displaced hair out of his eyes.

'We can make it more fun' she had said. Several possibilities crossed through his head on how to make things more fun, however he didn't want to push his luck with a rash casting of a spell. "Now then. That sounds like a proper invitation to get into trouble. You do you have in mind? Magical fun, or somethin' a bit less....hocus pocus?" To be honest, he was considering casting a spell such as Tarantallegra on his new friend, and it was rather obvious because he already had pulled his wand from his robe's pocket.

"Woah... slow down a tic, hotshot," she said, hands out in front of her, eyeing his wand with a faint air of suspicion. Half-blood or not, magic still set chills down her back, even after multiple months here. What could she say? There was something about it that always seemed to rub her the wrong way. Even so, there was no denying the usefulness of it. "But you might have the right idea," she sighed, tugging on a loose strand of hair. "Magic might just be our best bet to liven the place up." 

The gears that had been slowly clicking away in her brain finally fell into place, yanking the half formed idea into full detail. "What if-" and with this she leaned closer to Jack, voice falling to a conspiratorial hush, "we gave the library a good light show? Y'know fireworks, some sparks, that whole thing. Oughta be fun, yeah? Unless you have a better idea?" Charm books now forgotten, she beamed over at the other Hufflepuff first year, her hands clamped under her chin. This was a scenario she could work with, this was a moment where for once, she didn't quite feel out of her depth. It was nice. Oh sure, there was the fact that they would get in trouble, but that was a problem for Future Asteria - just another bridge she'd burn once she got to it.

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

It was always easy for Jack to get excited, but especially with magic. Growing up his mother had a strange aversion from magic, so Jackson was trying to make up the time he had lost as a child. However, he tried to settle himself down as Asteria called him out. The boy's expression was still a grin of anticipation, and he lowered his wand as she continued to speak.

Jackson belted out a belly laugh at the thought the idea of shooting sparks. "Nonono- I love your idea. Sparks are a great idea! Red or green?" The boy spoke excitedly through his laughter. Images of a full-on fireworks show flashed through his mind. Colors splashed against the high vaulted ceiling of the library in reds, oranges, greens, and blues. Even though he knew that his imagination was being a bit over-eager, he could hear the crackles and pops that came from muggle fireworks. An American holiday came to mind as well. What was it called? he tried to think before it came to him. Ah right, independence day! American muggles really did love their explosives. Jack's expression had a far off look for a moment as he fell into his daydream.

Before his mind wandered too far away from the current anticipation of the library fireworks show. "I think that is a brilliant idea." The cherry wood wand in Jack's hand tapped against the wooden table as remembered the correct ways to pronounce the spark spells. "I think you are bang on, and I've decided that I'm going to go with green sparks." A devilish grin, the Hufflepuff began to back up. After he put a good fifteen feet between them, he suddenly raised his wand at Asteria. "I hope you are ready!" Any semblance of an attempt to be quiet had been left behind by Jackson. "Verdimillious"

A flash of green sparks jetted from the tip of his wand as Jack aimed at Asteria. He was aiming above her, to make sure he didn't actually hit her with the spell. No matter the girl's reaction, Jack would have turned and started to run down one of the long corridors of bookshelves. A "Whoop!" Echoed from the boy as he ran.

A small grin began to flicker across Asteria's face as she watched the jubilant response of her fellow Hufflepuff. He was, if nothing else, incredibly enthusiastic about this whole situation, and she felt faint bubbles of joy rising in her chest at the entire thing. "If you take green, I'll take red. Better to have a good mix, yeah?"The tinge of excitement was even more present in her voice and her faint grin began to blossom into an all out smile.

 As the other boy pulled out his wand, she ducked her head down as the display of green sparks began to burst off above her head. "Periculum," she mumbled, adding a faint spray of red to the forest of green lights that were snapping and popping above them. The lights left the library feeling more like a disco than a quiet study space, she thought as she raced off, following her compatriot, quieter potentially, but still delighted, her boots padding quietly against the carpeted floor of the library. 

One she felt that she had gotten a significant distance away from the scene of the crime, she paused, stopping to catch her breath, panting slightly, one hand resting on a bookshelf, the other on her knee. There was no way that library staff wouldn't catch them at this point, right? They had been loud, flashy, all the things that you weren't supposed to be in a library. Turning towards Jack, she smiled again, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "So that was fun. Do you have any ideas for what we should do next?" 

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

It's fantastic that Jack had found another student that was willing to get in trouble with him! There were so many goody two shoes here who refused to do anything fun with him. If he were a car, there would be skid marks on the ground as he turned the corner into an isle of bookshelves. His footsteps were surprisingly soft as he moved. The spark of mischief shined brightly in his eyes, and his cheeks dimpled as he continued to grin like an absolute loon.

Their former workspace had quickly turned into a dual-colored light show, and it was absolutely and utterly fun. At this point it was safe to say that all the tall Hufflepuff wanted to do was have a good time. Finally stopping somewhere in the mazelike bookshelves, Jack exhaled loudly and plopped down on his booty. Without him realizing, Asteria was pretty close behind him. He looked up, and there she was! His eyebrow quirked up, and an impressed look crossed his face.

Asteria spoke soon after they had caught their breath. What was next? To Jack, the only natural progression from shooting fireworks at each other is something more extreme. "Well, first of all, we should probably sneak out of here. We were pretty obvious in our....playin' around."

"That's true, we oughta scoot. Wouldn't wanna ruin a perfectly good prank with actually getting caught." 

She grabbed for the boy's hand, intending to drag the pair of them towards the entrance of the library, when she paused, hand faltering in mid-air. 

"Did you- did we- remember to grab the book we need for the project?" 

But her empty hands revealed that she at least had forgotten it in the chaos. "Shi- shoot," she hissed, running her free hand through her hair. "We came here just to do this dumb project. And we forgot the one thing that we needed."

Inside her tumbled an odd mix of emotions. There was a need there, a need to live up to the expectations of others, and part of that was academic. Her dad wanted her to succeed, wanted something good to come out of this whole wizarding mess, so academics were the way to go. The whole desire to live up to her dad's expectation was a strange niggling feeling of anxiety that tugged at her gut and she wished that she could explain it, lay it out plain and simple. But it felt messy and just plain weird.

She eyed Jack cautiously. "Do you want to go back for it, or should we still try to dip?" The question was accompanied by a faint shrug, and she began to tug at a strand of hair while she waited for a response.

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

Getting caught was always on Jack's mind, considering how much he actually breaks the rules. His eye's followed Asteria's hand as she reached towards him, and his brow furrowed slightly? Was she planning on grabbing his hand? Why would she do that? This boy may have had his first kiss, which was rather one sided, but the thought of a girl grabbing his hand was close to unfathomable! The storm of confused thoughts was pulled to an abrupt halt once she explained their current predicament.

"How could we forget!" He slammed his meaty part of his hand against his forehead. Stupid books. Stupid school. Stupid homework! Gritty resolution solidified in his gut. They needed to finish this stupid project, and he knew he'd have to go back and risk going back.

His expression steeled, as if the boy was preparing for to go to war. "I will go back for it..." The dramatic shift in expression was a sheet difference between his happy and jolly self. It was clear that he was making purposefully being over dramatic. "If...if I don't come back...tell everyone about how awesome I was for doing this." After his brave goodbye, he flashed his charming smile and a wink, that clearly gave away his dramatic flare as an act. With that he turned and ran back to the point of where the chaos originated.

"Fare thee well good sir," she called after him, the pangs of laughter already threatening to rise in her. A certain part of her wished she had a handkerchief she could wave after him, like lady waving off a knight to a joust. "If thou dost die on the field of battle, I'll make sure to erect a monument in your name." She couldn't help it. She started to giggle, a full body thing that wracked all of her, left her crouching on the floor of the library, waiting for her fellow Hufflepuff to return. If there was something she was certain of, it was that he wouldn't get caught. There was enough chaos, and enough people who didn't really care to learn what first years looked like, that she felt fully certain that he could slip by unnoticed. 

Splaying on the ground, waiting for Jack to get back, she let herself have a moment to reflect. In some ways, this whole adventure had been better than how she would have planned to spend her day: simply wandering the grounds of Hogwarts, poking her nose into places that she ought not to explore. Instead, she had been given the gift of what seemed like the start of a beautiful friendship, and she couldn't deny that the thought of it sent a jolt of elation running through her. 

Pulling herself up, she patted at her hair, which had begun to grow unruly with static from the carpet, attempting to point in ever direction. Where was he? she wondered, peering around the corner of the bookshelf, her eyes peeled for the chaos that she could only assume would herald his return. 

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

Okay. Books. It is an easy plan. Run in, grab the books, and run out. Jack was a pretty quick kid, and he doubted that he would actually be caught in his act. If anything, if he could play dumb and act like he didn't know what all the ruckus was. He felt comfortable in b.s.ing his way out of trouble. In the boy's mind, he was on a mission. Every step he made was like a minor earthquake, which would alert the trouble. This whole entire event and new friendship made him feel like a real secret agent, or something else equally cool.

Winging around a bookshelf, Jack had to grab hold on the edge of the shelf to prevent himself from sliding directly into the next bookshelf across the Isle. Finally, his holy grail was unveiled directly in front of him. A golden hue began to glow around the books, which was surely his overactive imagination. In a matter of several seconds, Jack gassed his wheels and sprinted to the newly abandoned table. Swiftly he piled all the books up in one arm, and he turned back to return to his partner in crime.

Jack finally turned the corner and Asteria came back into his view. With his free hand, he waved frantically. "Go! Go!" Soon enough Jack was running past her in a full sprint. As soon as he was directly next to his huffle friend, he slowed slightly. With a slight glance as he passed, Jack reached out and grabbed hold of Asteria's hand. Pulling her along, he continued to run away from the scene of the crime. He couldn't help but grin as they fled.