Pancakes and Plotting (Jamie)

[LILY LUNA POTTER]

CLICK!

It had been a fairly long time since Lily had walked the streets of Hogsmeade. A whole summer to be exact. After leaving Hogwarts for the year she hadn't had a chance to visit. It was nice to be able to be out and about having some alone time without having to worry about where her parents or brothers were. As she wandered along the street, Lily found her feet leading her towards the Shrieking Shack. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that big of a coincidence. As soon as Lily had heard about the Hogsmeade weekend, she'd immediately demanded that Jamie Wood meet her near the Shrieking Shack. Jamie was going to help her get back at one of the boys on the Slytherin Quidditch team. One of the little toerags had dared to call her a, well a bad word because she may have accidentally slipped a spider into his bag.

Anyways, she had figured out a way to get back at them, but she needed a partner in crime, and since Jamie was her best friend, it was an automatic entry into the prank. Of course, Jamie didn't exactly know she was going to be a part of the plan yet, but once she heard Lily's idea she was sure to want to help! It was always a bit of a chore getting Jamie to help her, but she always came through in the end. Besides, this time Lily had a secret weapon! She'd managed to nick a pile of blueberry pancakes and a bottle of syrup from the Great Hall before she'd left. Who didn't like blueberry pancakes?!

Lily smiled slightly, arriving at the gate to the path leading up to the shack. She leaned on the rickety gate, glancing up at the house. Lily had been in the shack once or twice, (thanks to some superb advice from her Uncle Ron), and it honestly wasn't as scary as everyone said it was. True, it was covered in dust and everything was rotting, but other than that there was really nothing there. The tracks Uncle Ron had talked about were gone by the time she was able to actually get into the Shrieking Shack, but the broken bed and piano were still there. Upon closer inspection Lily had also discovered some rat and dog hairs, although what those were doing there she'd never know.

As she was recalling her first trip there, she heard someone approaching behind her. Lily turned around and smiled, hopefully it was Jamie.

[JAMIE SEONA WOOD]

Aaah, Hogsmeade! There was nothing like it, wasn’t there?! Ever since her third year, when Jamie had finally been able to visit the small all-magical village – her parents had of course not hesitated to allow her those occasional visits with their signature, since both had loved it when they were younger – it had grown on her in its uniqueness. It may not be much, compared with cities like London or Edinburgh, but the fact alone that here you could walk around just like you were, as a witch with your wand in hand, it just made all the difference. Not to mention the wonderful shops here! Zonko’s might have lost a few customers over the years due to the existence of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, but here in Hogsmeade, it was still a wonderful opportunity to get up to no good. Not that Jamie was a particular prankster, but since she was good friends with Lily Potter and also Roxanne Weasley, that just rubbed off.

Speaking of Lily, the very same had apparently summoned her to the Shrieking Shack, because she had something to tell her, so while she made her way down the slope that led from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, she found herself to be quite intrigued. Oh, Lily liked such little shows, not saying exactly what she wanted to keep the suspense, and so far it was definitely working. What would it be this time? Lily’s head seemed to burst with crazy to dangerous ideas that she wanted Jamie to participate in. It was hard to say no to her gleaming eyes and her encouraging smile, and it was even harder sometimes to stay strong when you had no words at your hand to aid you, nor a voice that could underline your firm resolution. Merlin knew how crazy life at Lily’s side could be sometimes, but she was still the best friend Jamie could wish for.

Upon approaching the wide, fenced-in field that housed the shrieking shack, she could already make out the shape of her friend, leaning against the gate that should prevent people from going on. Only that it often didn’t. Jamie was sure Lily had been inside once or twice, but she herself never had. Not that she was scared of the ghosts that were rumoured to be inside, but… why would one even want to go in there, what was there to see? Probably nothing but dust and and old furniture, and if you wanted to meet ghosts, you could always take a stroll around Hogwarts and have a chat with Nearly Headless Nick. Or in Jamie’s case not so much a chat, but that was of no consequence. When Lily turned around expectantly, Jamie gave a cheery wave and put out her hands in a ‘now what’ gesture, indicating she’d like to know what was the matter of her being called to this place. If the conversation should get more complicated later, she always had little scraps of parchment ready in her pocket she could write on to express herself better. Or… she would surprise her friend with a new spell she just had learned. It was definitely fancy, and she couldn’t wait to see Lily’s face.

[LILY LUNA POTTER]

Lily smirked, it was Jamie! Excellent, now they could actual get started. But first, they had to find a quieter, more secluded place to talk. She didn't want anyone hearing her plan, it could get her into enough trouble that her mother and her father would send her a howler, something she didn't really want. Motioning for her friend to come closer, she whispered, "we have to find a better place to talk." Lily hesitated a moment before walking closer to the barbed wire fence that surrounded the Shrieking Shack before kneeling down beside the rotting wood. She fiddled around with her boot before withdrawing what looked like a small pair of hedge trimmers. That's right, Lily was going to cut the barbed wire. Maybe. If she could figure out how to use the darn clippers! She'd managed to nick them from one of the Herbology greenhouses, but since they were for plants, and not metal, she had no idea if they would work or not. If worse came to worse she would just cover her hand with her sweaters sleeve and pry the two strands of barbed wire away from each other, leaving a big enough gap for a girl their size to fit through. Lily slowly unhooked the safety latch on the clippers and placed the barbed wire between the blades. She then pushed down on the handles with both hands, nothing happened. She tried again, nothing. Sighing in frustration, she pulled the clippers away and looked at the barbed wire, only a tiny dent in the metal indicated that anything had been trying to break it. Well, boom went that idea! Good thing she had a plan B!

She stood up and turned around, walking over to where Jamie was standing. "Here, take these." She stated, dumping the pile of pancakes and bottle of syrup she'd been holding in her pockets into Jamie's arms before walking back to the fence and crouching once again.

Lily dutifully made sure the sweaters extra long sleeve was covering her hand before reaching out and grasping the wire. She slowly counted to three before pulling upwards. Surprisingly enough, the metal was pretty easy to bend, and she had no problem prying it in the direction she wanted it to go in. Smiling, she did the same with the bottom wire before crawling through the hole. Lily stood up on the other side, dusting herself off before turning back to look at Jamie.

"Come on then! We gotta get walking, it's at least a 10 minutes walk up to the shack!" She stated happily, shoving her hands in her pockets.

[JAMIE SEONA WOOD]

A better place to talk to than here?! Why did Lily order her here than in the first place? Okay, so there were people passing by, but what was so important that should be hidden from everyone, even those few who would even take notice of the two girls standing at the fence? Grinning mischievously, Jamie had a comment on the tip of her fingers that she just couldn’t pass up on her friend. They loved to wind each other up after all, it was a common theme between them and they were never any hard feelings involved in those jibes. One might not think that a mute girl could have a loud mouth, but especially when she was in Lily’s company, Jamie was anything but silent. You had to show something to keep up with her energetic friend after all, right? She put one finger to her lips, indicating ‘silent’ and then exaggeratingly pointed at herself, as if to say ‘I am silent!’, then she pointed at Lily and tabbed the thumb and fingers of her right hand repeatedly against each other, to create the typical ‘chatting’ gesture. Showing her the tip of her tongue for good measure, this charade would translate to something along the line of: ‘It’s not my fault you talk, I would not be heard’, and Lily would probably get the gist of it anyway, since they had been exchanging little messages like that for four years now.

Then however she saw what Lily got up to and her eyes grew wide and she shook her head, walking forward to tap Lily on the shoulder as if to say: Hey, wait! But as usually she couldn’t do much when her friend had decided on something. This must be a criminal action, certainly! Jamie had no idea who was the owner of these ground or if there was any, but there wouldn’t be a fence for nothing! So she was almost glad that Lily couldn’t seem to destroy the barbed wire. Accepting the load her friend put into her arms, she was momentarily distracted by the rich aroma that seeped through the package. Syrup!! And was that the scent of blueberrie pancakes?! Uh-oh… On one hand it was an absolutely amazing prospect to just have been handed such a treat, even though the Shrieking Shack seemed to be a weird place to have a picnic, but on the other hand Jamie knew Lily too well to not get suspicious. Would those pancakes be some sort of extortion or incentive? But if the incentive was to good, then the plan Lily was brewing would probably be quite bad.

Shaking her head again, Jamie followed Lily’s action and crawled through the wire, after she had pushed the package with pancakes through first. One of the barbs found their way through the fabric of her woollen pullover, and she winced, her mouth opening soundlessly, but she bit it back. Jamie didn’t want to go up there, but if she wanted to reach Lily in any way, she had to get on to her side. Once she reached her friend, she pulled at her sleeve and pointed up at the shack, shaking her head once again. Maybe Lily would think her cowardly now, but Jamie just didn’t see the sense in going inside that ramshackle building. Rolling her eyes, she painted a large question-mark into the air. ‘Could you PLEASE tell me what this is all about?’

[LILY LUNA POTTER]

Lily giggled at the look of surprise and suspicion on her friends face. Leave it to Jamie to make the Shrieking Shack look as scary as death! She'd tried, (multiple times to!), to explain to her friend that the Shack wasn't a scary place! Now that there was nothing scrambling about every month, it was actually rather peaceful. True, it was dusty and a bit odd looking, but it was still quite a nice place, especially for a good long talk! For some reason, the old building, rotting wood and dusty ground inspired the true prankster in her. Some of her best ideas had been thought up in that Shack or at least near it. It was almost as if a powerful, mischievous aura lived within the hallowed walls, and to be perfectly frank, Lily absolutely adored it!

She was also quite pleased to see that her pancake ploy had worked quite perfectly! Jamie looked less reluctant now that she knew there were blueberry pancakes that were to be eaten in the near future. Heck, Lily was the same way! Food was good, and Lily quite enjoyed food, so the prospect of it in a lovely, inspirational spot was quite exciting for her. Plus she was saving a box of sugar quills for desert, (they were her favorite), and she hoped Jamie would like them as well.

Lily eyes widened slightly and she let out a small squeak as the barbs pricked at Jamie's side. God, if she got hurt because Lily had wanted to go someplace, she'd murder herself!

As soon as Jamie was standing up again and standing beside her she immediately started fretting. "Oh my gosh, Jamie! Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I should've warned you about that bit that sticks out, here, let me fix your sweater." She said, pulling out her wand and mumbling a hurried 'reparo', the hole in the knit fabric closing. As far as she could see, the barb hadn't actually pierced skin, a pretty good thing considering Lily was pretty lousy at healing spells.

She pulled the box of sugar quills from her back pocket, carefully tearing the lid off, depositing it in her pocket before plucking one from the box. "Do you want one? I brought the for dessert, but I don't think it really matters when we eat them." She stated, sticking her own quill in her mouth. Lily stood there for a few moments, savoring the sugar crystals that were punctuating her taste buds before replying to Jamie's question concerning what was going on. "I'll tell you once we get there, come on! It's not that bad once you actually get inside!" She insisted, turning towards the Shrieking Shack and beginning to plow through the tall grass.

As she walked, the grass crackled and crinkled under her feet, reminding her of the impending cold season. It wasn't that Lily disliked winter, no she actually liked most aspects of it, sweater and hot chocolate especially, no it was something completely different. Lily didn't like the toll winter took on her little plans! Winter made it so much harder to walk around the castle at night, or to spend hours in Hogsmeade looking for new material! As she pondered this interesting fact, she turned around to make sure Jamie was still following her, smiling, she motioned for her friend to hurry up. "We're almost there!"

[JAMIE SEONA WOOD]

Gladly, after the first stinging sensation died down, the pain didn’t continue, which spoke against split skin. Very good, the last thing she needed was an injury… or getting Lily worked up about it! Bless her soul, the same bubbly excitement she radiated when she was happy and in an enterprising spirit, she could turn into deep and almost excessive caring. Shaking her head, Jamie quickly raised her hand, palms turned outwards in a ‘relax!!’ motion. Ugh, kid gloves. At least Lily wasn’t putting them on often, but she really, REALLY needn’t fret over this now, and she also wouldn’t have had to repair the sweater for Jamie, since it clearly hadn’t been her fault.Showing her the unpierced skin, she gave a carefree smile and made a dismissive gesture. “Nothing happened, calm down!”

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise as Lily produced the sugar quills from her back pocket, another unexpected treat. Why was Lily walking around with so many treats? There MUST be something dire afoot if Lily had prepared for so much coaxing. Or since when had she started to carry so many sweets around with her? Yes, Lily had quite the sweet tooth after all Jamie knew about her friend, but this… this was pushing it! Nevertheless, Jamie couldn’t help but lick her lips at the prospect of getting a quill. They might not be her favourites – charmed choc crisps would probably hold that prime position until her dying day – but she still loved them! She took the quill Lily handed her and started to suck at the upper tip of it.

But that, oh that was so typical! Typical Lily to not tell her what she wanted to say until she deemed it the right time. Given, life with Lily was never boring because of that, but Jamie wasn’t the best candidate for being kept in suspense. She had learned to listen though, and it had somewhat taught her patience to wait for what was to come, but Lily in her whole demeanous was not really making this any easier. There was nothing else to be done however, and so Jamie obliged with a shrug, turning towards the shack, even though she needed to get one thing out of the way first, as she started to walk. Turning to Lily, then jerking her head at the shack, she made an exaggerated frightful expression and then shook her head. “I’m not afraid of this place!”

Really, most of the scary atmosphere around the Shrieking Shack was probably due to the stories they spun about it, and they might have been fabricated exactly for that reason: To keep the students from using it as a day-by-day playground. Maybe there weren’t even ghosts in there, after all, the ghosts she had encountered in Hogwarts were quite used to style, they loved to reside in a castle, and what could that shack hold against Hogwarts? Her steps got more determined and she squared her shoulders, the closer they came. If Lily showed no fear, then Jamie wouldn’s show any unease either! Suddenly something occurred to her and she put the quill between her teeth so she had both hands free. Forming the left into a circle, she put the index finger of her right hand inside that circle, turning it like a key, cocking her head. “What if it’s locked?”