Hogsmeade
“Thank yer again, for lett’n us use yer stable, Mr. Jones” Hagrid extended a huge hand to the relatively short wizard in front of him. The man had a beard to challenge Dumbledores, and wore a pointed wizard hat that had fish hooks and rubber worms hanging from all around it that wiggled and jingled anytime he spoke or moved.
“Well, that ain’t no trouble for me. Just don’t go about and scare away my horses” The accent that came out of this tiny man was a complete shock. Mr. Jones sounded of alligators, cornbread and Sunday BBQ’s. He tipped his hat towards us and took a seat on a hay ball at the back of the stable.
“Alright, we need to stay quiet, and see if we can ‘ave a Porlock show up” Hagrid spoke in a hushed voice as he placed a bowl of honey covered apple slices near the booth of one of Mr. Jones’s horses. The door to the booth read “Harrow”. Harrow’s fur was a beautiful dark brown and it seemed she couldn't be bothered less by the presence of us students. We sat it silence for quite a while. At some point Juno, the quiet Slytherin, tried to shift their sitting position. My shoulder tensed as I worried they were going to make an awful lot of noise, but they managed to shift their position seamlessly and without much sound. I let my shoulders drop -
“AACHOO!” Everyone’s heads turned to Bethany McLaster, who gave an apologetic smile “Sorry, it’s all the hay” she whispered. And so we returned to waiting.
Cally’s head had found Bethany’s shoulder and was breathing deeply, having fallen asleep. My gaze unfocused in the general direction of the honey covered apple slices, as my thoughts began wandering. Had the Hogwarts letter said something about bringing formal wear this year, or did I misremember? Either way I hadn’t brought any, simply because I didn’t own any. But what on earth would we need formalwear for? I couldn’t remember if Dumbledore had mentioned anything about it during the welcome speech when he announced the return of the Triwizard Tournament. It had to be related to the tournament in some way, of that I was sure. Perhaps the winning ceremony was something very traditional and fancy? Or maybe Dumbledore meant for us to welcome the other schools wearing our finest clothing? Although that seemed unlikely.
Hold on. Had an apple slice disappeared from the bowl? I was certain I had kept my eyes in at least its general direction. I poked Cally carefully, waking her up. And pointed towards the bowl. Cally looked at me with a puzzled expression, before turning her gaze back to the bowl. Surely enough as we watched a red fur covered arm stretched out from behind the booth. It’s four stubby fingers wiggled in the air as it tried to grab another slice, that was slightly out of reach. The Porlock briefly lost its balance and stumbled into view. It was barely short of two feet tall, and was mostly covered in the shaggy red fur we had seen on its arm. Its face was similar to that of a horse, and the fur surrounding the area had a softer brown-beige colour to it. It wobbled quickly forward on its two cloven hooves and shoved a slice in its mouth. As it reached for a second one it froze and looked over at the crowd observing it. Hastily, it grabbed as many slices it could carry with its short fingers, before clip-clopping out of sight.
”Now would you look at that” came from Mr. Jones behind us “I ain’t seen that little fella before. So big man, you saying he’s been helping me out with the horses?”
“That’s right, Mr. Jones. They’re helpful little creatures, but can be very sceptical of us human folk” nodded Hagrid, he then turned to address us “Before I let yer go, please write a’bit about the Porlocks work in the stable before next weeks class. An’ meet me right outside the village, in about an hour’s time so I can take yer back to the castle in time for dinner.”
We didn’t need much encouragement, and were soon out in the streets of Hogsmeade, looking through the windows of a variety of shops. Although the first official Hogsmeade trip was in just over two weeks, Paige had provided me of a long list of “necessities”. Looking over the list it mostly consisted of various sweets I could acquire from Honeydukes, and some writing supplies. I decided to start my shopping over at “Tomes & Scrolls” the local bookshop. The interior of the shop revealed a narrow room, with towering shelves on each side. The only windows were located next to the entrance door, so the rest of the shop was lit up by various mismatched vintage lamps, and wax candles. The wooden floor creaked pleasantly beneath my shoes as I walked further into the store. I passed by shelves of both brand new books and ones that seemed to already have been shown some love. There were maps, scrolls and all sorts of trinkets filling the space between volumes of books. In a small corner I found where all the quills and inks were shelved. I checked Paige’s list again, 2 standard owl feather quills and 1 eagle feather quill, I found the specified quills and picked out the ones that looked the sturdiest. I also picked up a bottle of ink for myself, before wandering up to the old wooden counter to pay.
”Thank you, for your patronage miss, have a nice day” The man behind the counter tipped his head as he accepted the requested sickles.
”Likewise” I smiled politely and walked back out onto the street. It had begun to rain ever so slightly, since I entered Tomes & Scrolls. I quietly hoped it would stay a light drizzle, as I wasn’t wearing any waterproof clothes and the drying spell wasn’t exactly my best friend. Charms in general weren’t exactly my favourite thing, I’d always taken practical tings quicker, like care of magical creatures, herbology, or even potion making. Even if I found the written textbook procedures quite confusing, my hands simply had to get the hang of it once for me to feel comfortable with the task at hand. Because of this I was also a big fan of anything crafty and hand made, and usually picked up a new hobby every year around Christmas time in order to make holiday gifts. Only problem was, that I usually focused so intensively on the gifts and got bored of whatever hobby I picked up and therefore wouldn’t do it for a while and forgot all that I learned.
Entering Honeydukes, I was met with the familiar charming interior filled with a welcoming sweet aroma. It was definitely emptier now, in bcomparison to when most of Hogwarts is crammed in here looking to stock up on sweets for the semester. There were still quite a few patrons in the shop, and I saw several children browsing and pointing out things to older witches or wizards I assumed to be a grandparent or some other relative. I found the aisle storing the chocolate frogs, which at the moment was free of other patrons. Paige had quite an extensive collection of Chocolate Frog Cards, and was currently trying to get her hands on the Bowman Wright card. A skilled metallic-charmer, famous for having invented the golden snitch. Unfortunately her collection contained quite a few duplicates, but she usually just sent those off by mail to her muggle best friend. Strictly speaking, she wasn’t supposed to let her friend in on the wizarding world, but it had been an impossible task for Paige to keep it away from someone she spent every single day with before she came to Hogwarts. As I was contemplating which boxes to get her, I heard some shuffling from the other side of the aisle. And to my surprise the freckled face of Fred Weasley popped into view. He was in the process of swatting dust off his clothing. He was in a green knitted sweater, which was too short on the arms and had a large F on the chest, and his hair was all tossed around. I heard some more shuffling, and Georgia came into view as well. Her long hair was put up haphazardly in a bun, with strands of hair framing her face. She too began ridding herself of the dust of her clothes, a beige cotton tank top with a baggy blue, white and beige flannel over it. She began brushing strands of hair away from her face as she spotted me and my confused look.
”Eh- What are- Where- How did you-?” I must have been quite the visual - standing there with a bunch of chocolate frog boxes in my arms, gaping at the Weasley twins - because Fred simply laughed.
”Good to see you too, Lupin” Georgia grinned at me.
”So what are we shopping?” Fred asked as they began walking to my side of the aisle.
”Well, Paige asked me to get her some chocolate frogs” I slightly lifted my filled arms. “And I'll get some Exploding Bonbons for Oliver and probably a pack of Fudge Flies for myself”
”But why are you in Hogsmeade? The official trip isn’t in another two weeks” Georgia asked as she picked up one of the chocolate frog boxes in my arms, to inspect it.
”I could ask you the same” I chuckled “Hagrid arranged a trip as a part of The Care of Magical Creatures class. And he had some errands to run, so he let us browse on our own for about an hour's time.”
”Clever man that Hagrid” Fred said and nodded, as if Hagrid had played a really strategic move in Wizards chess or something.
“No but really, how are the two of you here?” I asked as I selected three boxes to keep, while I put the rest back.
”We have our ways” Said Georgia smugly
”Okay, keep your secrets. But I'll-“ I snatched back the chocolate frog box from Georgia “- I'll take this, thank you very much” I began moving in direction of the counter and stopped briefly to get the Exploding Bonbons and Fudge Flies, and the twins followed suit.
“We were thinking of going for a Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks, if you’d like to join us” Georgia asked as I said goodbye to the cashier behind the counter.
“Sure, that would be nice. Aren’t you getting something from here though?” I replied
”Nah, we’ll pick something up on the way back” Fred shrugged
”Alright then” How had they gotten out of the school grounds? The gates are usually locked by magical means. They couldn’t have apparated, they weren’t old enough to take the course yet. And besides, you couldn’t apparate or disapparate on Hogwarts grounds, everyone knew that. So how had they done it?
Unfortunately for me, the rain had intensified. So the three of us collectively decided to make a run for it. Our shoes made satisfying splashing sounds against the wet cobblestones as we ran, scattering the muddied water. When we reached the door of The Three Broomsticks, we quickly shuffled inside. Luckily we made it in without getting too wet.
”May I?” I raised the edge of my sleeve towards Georgia “You have some-“
“Oh!” She leaned her face slightly downward so I’d have an easier time wiping away the mud from her freckled cheek. “Thanks”.
Fred sauntered off to get us all a drink while Georgia and I found an empty booth, and took a seat. She began fixing her hair again. She pulled out some of the pins that had kept her hair in place, and repositioned them to hold her hair properly. Although Georgia was usually seen joking around and talking with anyone, she didn’t seem to mind the soft quietness between us at that moment. So of course I decided to break it.
”I don’t suppose you happen to know if Lee Jordan is into guys?” As soon as I said it, I realized how random of a question that might be. And sure enough Georgias answer was a confused “What?”
”Sorry, I should have given more context” I chuckled, “I’m pretty sure Oliver fancies Jordan quite a bit, so I was simply wondering if he swings that way you know. With you guys being so close and all”
“That explains his odd behavior when we were talking Quiddich the other day!” She exclaimed as if she’d finally found the missing puzzle piece. “In all honesty though, I’m not sure what direction he swings. We haven’t really spoken about it” She paused to think before continuing “He dated several girls last year, but never for too long, bit of a player that one” My heart slightly dropped on behalf of Oliver.
”Oy Freddie” The other Weasley was on his way towards us, with one Butterbeer in one hand, and two in the other. “Is Jordan gay?”. Fred seemed a bit caught off guard by the question, but quickly recovered his usual smug expression.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was, the way he keeps checking out my beautiful buttocks” He struck a pose to highlight his butt, and spilled some beer on himself in the process “Goddamnit” he said under his breath. He quickly placed the tankards on the table and began wiping the side of his trousers with his way too short sleeve. Georgia shoved one of the non-spilled ones towards me, and grabbed one for herself.
”Bottoms up” It had been a long time since I last had some Butterbeer, but I welcomed the taste nonetheless.
The rest of the time was spent chatting and laughing. I sat there feeling all fuzzy and warm, likely from the Butterbeer, but also due to the good company. Eventually the time came for me to head out, and meet up with Hagrid and the rest of the Care of Magical Creatures class. I said my goodbyes to the Weasley twins and headed out into the pouring rain. The walk back to the castle felt longer than usual, likely due to the uncomfortable feeling of being completely drenched all the way to my knickers. I couldn’t wait to take a nice shower and put on some dry clothes. Cally, Tristan and I said goodbye to the rest of our class and were about to walk towards the Hufflepuff common room as I saw none other than Fred and Georgia chatting and wandering down the stairs. Completely dry mind you. I caught Georgias eye, and shook my head in awe as I raised my arms in question. The two of them laughed at me, as I stood there looking like a soaked and confused cat. Georgia gave me a playful wink that clearly communicated “Wouldn’t you like to know”. I couldn't help but smile as I whispered to no one in particular “Fine, keep your secrets Weasleyl”.