Flavour Fox Solo Errand Finished

Mentioning @Jack Burnett

Ruka had never been a big fan of the monthly errands; They were usually something verging on child labour, like cleaning up the library or dusting teachers' offices. Most of the time it was simply members of staff luring children into doing their jobs - jobs they could have easily taken care of with a flick of their wands - for them with the promise of some sickles, sweets or house points. There was something severely wrong about that concept, really, and Ruka didn't like buying into it unless dragged into it, no matter the rewards. Cleaning and tidying up were not fun bonding activities and people who fell for that kind of false advertisement really deserved to be taken advantage of like that anyway.

Still, every once in a while an errand would pop up that needed no sign up and was really just there for some entertainment which was something Ruka could appreciate, especially on otherwise dreadfully boring Sundays. This particular one was one he hadn't even realised was taking place until he had stumbled onto the Courtyard for some reading time, a heavy book on Duelling Spells placed under his arm as he came to a halt upon the sight of various tables and chairs arranged for some group activity or another.

There were House elves shuffling about, mingling with a decent amount of students to bring them whatever they required for their latest what appeared to be yet another arts and crafts project. Curiously Ruka stepped a little closer to make out what exactly it was that everyone seemed to be having such fun concentrating on; When he had joined that Origami event Nico had organised he had actually ended up realising that he was really enjoying the activity, so maybe it was worth taking a peek at whatever was going on out here.

He had no homework left to do, didn't really have any plans for the day anyway and... And it seemed like people were crafting their own tea bags which Ruka had to admit did sound like it could be kind of enjoyable. In addition it wasn't just mindlessly entertaining either but actually provided a useful result, if you liked tea or knew someone who did at least.

After only a moment of reluctance, Ruka decided to occupy an empty table he could see a little bit cut off from the rest of the crowd, and he set his book on the chair next to the one he'd seated himself in. It took less than a minute for a couple of house elves to approach his table to provide him with several tools to use, and questions on what ingredients and materials he may have needed for his tea bags.

Overwhelmed with the question, Ruka took a little while to give the house elves a certainly too long list of things he wanted to experiment with, but they didn't question it as they hurried off to collect his requested items. Ruka was barely able to shout a thank you after them before they already returned with his ingredients and materials, bowing away from his gratitude to leave him to his little project.

Tea wasn't something the Gryffindor had been very used to drinking growing up, but every once in a while some passerby would press a paper cup of steaming hot flavoured water into his hands on cold rainy days, and while they usually burnt his tongue too much for him to really determine if he liked it or not, he had found quite a liking for green tea during his time at Hogwarts and did enjoy a cup of it every once in a while for breakfast time. That knowledge at least made it easy for him to determine what he wanted to do for his own teabag, but he was planning on making two, and the second one required decidedly more thought.

Reaching for the silk material he had asked for - He imagined paper filters would leave a somewhat paper-y after taste when drinking - he slowly put himself to work to create the shapes he was hoping to achieve. Not being the most talented artist when it came to those kinds of things, Ruka had realised a while ago already that he needed to take some extra time to really get the best possible results, especially with such delicate shapes. The concept was simple enough and he had a pretty good picture of what it was he wanted to create - the same shape for both tea bags - but the execution was something he knew he was prone to failing at.

His determination, however, led him to finish the shapes for both bags without too many - twelve but nobody was counting, right? - attempts, and he couldn't help but look at his project fondly, a smile tugging the corners of his lips.

With the arguably hardest part done, now there was merely the question of how to fill the bags. Stuffing one with green tea leaves and sewing it shut was simple enough, but the second bag remained empty for far too long. What kind of tea were you supposed to give to someone who didn't seem like they were the biggest fan of tea in the first place?

Humming thoughtfully, Ruka took a small bowl and filled it with black tea leaves and mixed in some nice smelling spices - Cinnamon was there for sure, some ginger but not too much, and a couple other things he didn't recognise by name but seemed to complement the tastes he had mixed so far rather nicely. Taking a little while to experiment with the different spices, he finally filled the second bag up with the blend and sewed it shut with tiny, careful stitches.

Once he was satisfied with his creations, Ruka made sure both of his bags were sufficiently sealed, both of them attached to a string with a little orange cut out paper fox at the end. He carefully added some final details before wrapping both tea bags up in some paper and tying them up with a piece of red string. Grabbing a piece of paper, Ruka scribbled the name of the addressee on one side before folding it in half and filling the inside with a few words.

Let me know if you'd like to have some tea with me before the end of the school year, even if only to see if I did a bad enough job on the bags for them to fall apart once inside water.
Looking forward to it,
Ruka

Attaching the makeshift card to the little package, Ruka made sure to leave as little mess for the house elves to clean up as he possibly could before making his way back inside the castle. With a small bounce to his step, he made his way up to the Owlery to send a friendly little owl off to the Slytherin Common Room to deliver his little present.

All in all it was a Sunday afternoon well spent.