@Lamik Fillestar

Today was a very important day. After days of waiting it was time for Jake's very first sleepover!

Although Jake had been quiet all break, he would always cheer up when he thought about the impending day. The boy had counted down the days excitedly since leaving Hogwarts. He had never been invited over another kid's house before and never thought he would be. He had never HAD friends before that could invite him on playdates. He missed his friends from school, and couldn't wait to see Lamik again, and to get to play with him outside of the dangerous place that was Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had told his parents all about Lamik over Christmas break and about the things that Lamik said they were going to do together.

On the morning of the day, Jake had packed all of his things (including each of his stuffed animals at his own insistence) with his parents' help. He had been so excited then he could scarcely sit still. It had only been once his bag was all packed, when everything was ready to go, that it all began to sink in for Jake and take him from excited to a very different feeling altogether. Ever since arriving home, Jake had scarcely been able to leave his parent's side. The scary events that had befallen him at Hogwarts had left their effect on him. Not to mention, the mask...the voices...though they had been quieter since leaving school, they were never completely gone. The thought of his first sleepover had been an exciting thought - one that had cheered him up and made him forget all else - but now that the day had finally come and it was finally real he realized that he was going to be leaving his parents, and suddenly he wasn't so sure. And along with that were the thoughts that maybe he wasn't ready for a sleepover after all, and all of the things that could possibly go wrong which had been missing from his imagination in the days before.

Jake's nerves grew the closer and closer the car got to their destination. By the time they had pulled up in front of Lamik's house, Jake had begun to hug Freddie to his chest and his stomach was in knots. he suddenly felt so nervous he didn't want to get out of the car. Maybe...maybe he should ask to go back. But the door slid open and he was coaxed from the car and eyed the large and unfamiliar house they had pulled up in front of with hesitation.

As they made their way up the driveway, Jake felt the childish impulse to hold his arms up to be carried, but resisted it. He didn't want to arrive at his first sleepover being carried like some kind of baby. He did take his mother's hand though, walking at her side and up the walkway to the front door. The closer they got, the more Jake felt anxious, and he watched uneasily as his parents rang the doorbell. He tried to tell himself that everything was going to be fine, and remember how much he wanted to see Lamik.

But when the door finally opened and he found himself looking up at a stranger the small boy stepped back behind the safety of his Mum, peeking his head out from behind her as he'd used to do when he was little, Freddie hugged tightly to his chest. Jake's hiding place didn't last for long. His mother turned to coax him out, urging him gently to say hello to the lady who had opened the door.

"Hi, Mrs. Fillestar," the small boy with the plushie mumbled shyly, giving a small wave as his mother rubbed his back comfortingly and gently walked him through the door. 'He's just a little nervous,' he heard his mother saying, as Jake turned to take in the sights of a house he had never been in before. The grown-ups were talking, but he heard only snippets of the conversation (except that it said his name a lot). He was too busy staring around at the sights of this unfamiliar house. It was weird being inside another kid's house. It was homely, nothing like Hogwarts, but so different from his own. He tried to take in all the sights, dropping his bag gently at his feet (his mother had the other bag - which had any stuffed animals that wouldn't fit in the first). Then, he waited to see Lamik.

Lamik was just finishing his preparations for today's sleepover. Usually, he wouldn't do much- if guests wanted something, they could ask for it and then they would go get it together. This sleepover was special though, as it was supposedly Jakes first. Lamik fully intended to make sure that his friend would enjoy himself, and so he put in a but more effort to make things look nice. The front door opened up into a spacious living room/kitchen hybrid, with a refrigerator, oven, microwave, and other kitchen wear lining the left wall, in front of which a wooden dinner table sat. The other side of the room had two sofas, one against a wall and the other opposite to a second wall, facing a suspended television. In between the television and the opposite sofa was a low to the ground coffee table. Lamik had specially asked his parents if the two could sleep in the living room, and when she had said yes he had immediately brought every pillow he could get his hands on downstairs, along with two mattresses, blankets, bedsheets, and pillows. Pringle was sitting on the cover table beside a pile of board and card games, as if watching over the beds. As soon as he heard the doorbell, Lamik got up and waited for whoever had arrived to enter, hoping it was Jake. Luckily, it was, and as soon as jake entered the living room the boy waved with a grin.

It was strange and disorienting, being inside a house that wasn't his own. It wasn't so bad as the first time Jake had gone to Hogwarts, but after so many months at school that too had started to feel almost homely, hadn't it? Lamik's house was strange and unfamiliar, and all brand new. He looked around uncertainly, but his face brightened as soon as he caught sight of his friend. Lamik grinned and waved at him, and Jake waved back, his face breaking into a grin too as he rushed over to the familiarity of his friend.

"Hi Lamik!" Jake said brightly, giving his friend a hug. He hadn't meant to, but it had been what felt like ages since he'd seen any of his school friends. "I missed you," the boy added. Jake had spent so much time missing his parents while he was at school that he had never imagined he would ever miss school. He didn't want to go back really - he LIKED being home. Magic was amazing, but it was also scary, and the things that had happened there had left their mark on him. But he DID miss his friends. He had gotten used to having them around - being able to see Lamik at the Gryffindor table, or Ruthie at the Ravenclaw table, and of course all of the Hufflepuffs that he saw every day. It was weird but his house had almost seemed...lonely without them. He missed the laughter.

Had Lamik been paying attention he might have noticed the slight shake of Jake's arms, or the way the nervous boy's heart beat quickly in his chest. He wasn't good at unfamiliar situations, and it was his first sleepover ever. Still he smiled, trusting Lamik even if he felt anxious, and he DID feel excited too.

"Hi Pringle," Jake greeted as well, noticing the lion stuffed animal that was above the mattresses. That was a familiar sight as well, and helped him feel more at ease, drawing a smile to Jake's face. "I brought Freddie," he reported, though he knew Lamik could already see that. "And all the rest of mine too." He put the backpack down and began to take them out and deposit them gently onto one of the mattresses - a monkey, a giraffe, a panda, as well as Patches the bunny and Stripey the tiger who accompanied him to school. "My mum has the other bag with the rest, but this is all I could fit in my backpack." Lamik had told him at school that he could bring them all, after all, and he had insisted to his parents that he do so.

"Um...Your house is really cool," Jake said, wandering off to look around the room, trying to get used to it all. He wondered if Lamik's family was allowed to eat on the couch while watching TV. He had always been told you had to eat in the kitchen, but what if your living room WAS the kitchen...? He had made it to the kitchen and was just looking over the various appliances when he suddenly felt hands upon his shoulders. He looked up to see his mother.

"Come here hon, let's not play in the kitchen without a grown-up, okay? If you're hungry, why don't you let your friend Lamik get you a snack?" she said. He mumbled his apology, blushing at the public admonishment, as she walked him back towards the couches, then knelt down and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Daddy and I are going now but we're just a phone call away if you need us, okay baby? We'll talk to you tonight. Mrs. Fillestar is gonna let you call us at 8:00 so you can let us know how you're doing. Now why don't you give Mummy a hug and be a good boy and have a great time," she smiled.

Jake blushed a little once more, wishing he could have said his goodbye without Lamik standing so close. He had been needing his parents a lot lately, and suddenly didn't want them to go. He was a little worried that he might cry, but he gave his Mum a hug all the same, holding on for a long time as she ran her fingers through his hair, before finally letting go. He said his goodbye and then stood back by Lamik, watching his parents go. They said a few more words to Lamik's parents (maybe warning them about the kitchen) and then they were gone.

In the end, Jake didn't cry, though he did feel that need to be near them, and the little emptiness as they left. He had had a lot of fear lately...since the ball, the fire, the mask, the voices...and when he was with them the fear went away. Now he was in a new experience and he hoped he was going to have a good time, but the anxiousness sat in his chest all the same.

With them gone, Jake looked up to Lamik. "So u-um...what happens now?" he asked his friend. It WAS his first playdate, after all.

It would be a lie to say that Lamik had expected the immediate hug that Jake decided to engulf him in. He wasn't one to turn away a friendly embrace though, so almost immediately the hug was returned. "I missed you too." He said, waiting for Jake to let go before taking a step back. Lamik had, in fact, noticed the slight shake of the younger boy's arms, and came to the conclusion that it was due to nerves. Jake wasn't exactly the most confident student at Hogwarts, and supposedly this was his first time sleeping over at someone else house.

Lamik was glad to see that Jake found a distraction rather quickly: Stuffed animals. One of the similarities between Jake and Lamik was rather childish. Both children enjoyed plushies in one way or another. The two did enjoy them in different ways, however. Lamik simply found comfort in their presence- he hugged Pringle, his stuffed Lion, at night or when he was nervous. Jake, on the other hand, liked playing pretend with them. Of course, Lamik did join in- but it was because he enjoyed playing with jake, not necessarily because he especially enjoyed the make-belief. "We'll have to find a place for them all." He said, referring to the many plushies that his friend had brought.

After Jakes's parents said goodbye, Lamik was left a bit confused. Why didn't they want him to go to the kitchen alone? It really didn't make much sense, so the boy made a mental note to ask his friend about it later. Still, there were games to be played and enjoyment to be enjoyed, so Lamik brushed the thought off and hopped onto one of the mattresses. "That depends what you want to do."

Jake was happy to hear that Lamik had missed him too. Even if sleeping at somebody else's house was a little scary, it was sort of great at the same time. He kind of got the best of both worlds. He could see Lamik, play together, have a good time, and then go back to his mum and dad in the morning. It would all be fine, just so long as he didn't get homesick when nightfall came.

Lamik said that they were going to have to find a place for all the stuffed animals and he was sure right. Jake looked around the room, and then his face lit up with an idea. "Maybe we can put them all around where we sleep," Jake suggested, tracing a square with his finger in the air. "That way," the boy explained, as he took some off of the bed and began making a plushie barrier. "They can watch over us - and Pringle can watch over them." After a thought, he put Freddie on the table next to Pringle so they could be together - daring to let the dog leave his hands. He hesitated only for a moment as he left him by the table, and hoped Lamik wouldn't notice his reluctance to not be holding him.

"What I wanna do...?" Jake asked, surprised. This wasn't how he had thought this was going to go at all. It was Lamik's house, so he had just thought that meant Lamik would be the one to pick. It turned out he had had it backwards.

Jake paused for a moment, not sure what to say. He wasn't really sure what the choices were. What if he picked wrong? Lamik had probably had friends over a lot of times, and they had probably known what to do a lot better than he did. How could he be the one to choose? Well, he didn't KNOW Lamik had had a lot of friends over...it was just a guess...but Lamik had a lot of friends and Jake only had a few. This was new territory. Far away from meeting up in the library or the common room. His eyes flickered with unease.

"W-well..." he said, searching around the room for ideas. When he was at his house he mostly liked to draw, or read, or watch TV. Those didn't seem like the types of things you DID at sleepovers though. He wished he knew what he was supposed to say.

"Well I can introduce you to my animals," he said shyly, looking at his stuffed friends. "And we could play with Pringle and Freddie..." He blushed. He did want to do that, but he was a little afraid that it sounded like something a little kid would pick - and Lamik was twelve. Of course, Lamik liked them too. And he knew that he would play with him - it was one of the reasons he loved being friends with Lamik. At school he wouldn't have thought twice. But this was a sleepover, so it had high expectations, and Jake couldn't help but wonder if there was something he could have said that Lamik would have thought was cooler. "I don't really know if there's any um, like sleepover games and stuff."