An Excuse to Know You Errand PV "Min" Requiza

It was a little known fact that Jack was not really a tea person, but Ruka, attentive as he was to the Slytherin, was one of the few who realized this. That was why it surprised the first year to receive an owl from the second year on the Sunday afternoon of June 14th which included a note and a pair of cleverly-crafted fox-shaped tea bags made of silk. Reading the note, however, he smiled, deciding that perhaps it would be worth trying after all. Now all he needed to do was respond back to Ruka as soon as possible - and in style.

It was a shame he hadn't known Ruka might have taken an interest in that particular errand or else he might have enjoyed participating with copper-haired boy. Still, there were likely to be more errands to come. Sure, they had done the relay race together, but that had included Flash and ended up a little less about fun and more about resolving conflicts. Next time, he supposed he would just have to ask Ruka what kinds of things he enjoyed so they could do something else together; something that maybe involved just the two of them.

Having tea together with the fancy tea bags sounded nice enough, of course, but Jack couldn't help but think it might have been more fun to make something with the Gryffindor. After all, Jack simply enjoyed doing the errands posted just to try new things rather than for the reward and he thought Ruka might have enjoyed them as well, especially with some company.

Having been aware of the animal tea bag errand that Gris had set up since it had been posted on the bulletin board, Jack knew exactly where to go. He hurried down to the courtyard after his last class, trying to think of what he could make for Ruka without copying the older boy's designs. Once he got outside, he glanced about for a table to sit at and happened to recognized a student from his own house as he did so.

He hadn't yet gotten to talk to the intriguing dark-skinned young man with black hair in cornrows directly, though he had seen him outside pretty often, so it made sense that he would have been outside again on a fine June day like that one. What Jack began to wonder was if that kid was a tea-drinker. Or, if not, if he'd at least be interested in trying out the crafting errand. If nothing else, there was the alluring reward of chocolate frogs and sickles to persuade him to participate.

Re-adjusting the strap of his school bag on his shoulder, Jack evaded a few scurrying house elves to seat himself at an empty table with room for one more. Setting down his bag, he rummaged through it for a minute to take out a piece of paper and a ball-point pen his parents had sent him a while back when the novelty of using a quill pen with ink began to wear off. Setting the pen to the paper, he began to write a note:

Hello, fellow snake.

I was wondering if you'd care to join me in making a tea bag animal as an errand craft for the handsome reward of four chocolate frogs and six sickles.

I'm not really one for tea, but at least the biscuits should be decent to snack on while we work.

In case you're interested in joining me, I'll be the kid in the Slytherin robes with the red hair that has brown streaks and blonde highlights.

Hope to see you soon,

Jack Burnett

Once the note was finished, the Welsh boy wasted no time in folding up the paper into a proper paper airplane, turning in his seat, and aiming it at the back of the other first-year's head.

Upon sending his message on its way, Jack promptly turned back around in his seat and attempted to figure out what he would need to make one of those tea bag animals. According to a house elf, they were usually made with either filter paper, silk cotton, or silk. Since Ruka had used silk for his own animals and Jack figured the boy knew more about tea than he did. He recalled the Gryffindor having had tea for breakfast a few times back when he had sat with him each morning to make sure he was eating properly.

Along with the material for the bag itself, there were also scissors, sewing supplies, embroidery thread, and paper that wasn't filter paper to be used for the...'tag', he was told. What a tag was or why a tea bag had one, Jack wasn't entirely sure other than a few suspicions, but that didn't matter all too much to him just then. Ruka's pair of tea bag foxes had them, so he would make them, too.

When the house elf asked what sort of tea leaves he wanted, though, the redhead blanked for a moment. After straining his mind to search his memories as best he could, he thought he recalled asking about the tea that Ruka drank when he had some for breakfast, curious as to why such a young kid would be interested in little more than leaf water. If he recalled correctly, Ruka had mentioned the tea he drank was green...but how did it compare to red tea leaves? Or black or...oolong, whatever that was? Probably not a color.

Either way, he couldn't have been sure Ruka would have liked the other flavors any less or more than the one Jack had seen him have before. He tried smelling the fox-shaped bags that he had been sent, wondering if he could make two more tea bags with the remaining tea leaves that hadn't been included in his own. That way, when they had their little 'tea party', they could try them all. After all, even if the fire-dancer had already tasted all the available flavors, Jack certainly hadn't. He hadn't even realized they could have other flavors since the only memory he had of tea was that it was like hot water with a bitter aftertaste. If only they had sugar to add to the bags...