Joy in a Joke Shop
The light cast of snow January brought delighted you. The cold was just one of those things you took pleasure in. To you, it meant making hot cocoa, reading books by the fireplace, baking treats, and cuddling in warm, fluffy blankets. In all honesty, the cold didn’t bother you (thank your werewolf genes for that — you were practically a damn furnace).
However, for a certain Indo-Slytherin, it meant hell. Absolute hell.
You couldn’t help but laugh at her childlike dismay. She absolutely hated the cold. As the three of you walked down an outdoor corridor, Solaris was between you and Adrian, her arms holding on tightly to the two of you. She tended to cuddle closer to you, however, seeing as you produced the most heat.
She shuddered, her teeth chattering. “Merlin, how are the two of you not freezing?”
Adrian shrugged. “I’m built different.”
The three of you laughed, uncaring of the stares you got from some of the passing students. Solaris’ face reddened, whether, from the cold, or the laughter, you had no clue, but she managed to stop shivering for a while.
“Lupin, you’re like a damned furnace! I am so jealous of you.”
You rolled your eyes. “It’s almost like you’re only friends with me because I am.”
She snorted. “Oh no, I’ve been found — abort mission.”
More laughing riled the three of you as your banter continued to happen. It wasn’t until McGonagall cleared her throat for everyone to hear that you calmed. She instructed students on the type of items that were prohibited on school grounds and the rendezvous before releasing the students into the village. By the looks of it, everyone was looking forward to visiting; all the negative emotions created by the recent attacks had been on the rise and stressful, perhaps a day out would do everyone good.
- - - - -
The weekend trip to Hogsmeade was mostly spent inside, per orders of the Ice Queen herself, but you and Adrian didn’t mind. Most of your time spent at Hogsmeade was typically spent inside shops anyways. Everything was so picturesque regardless of where one stood in Hogsmeade.
First, there was a quick trip to Honeydukes. Solaris wanted to restock on a few treats she was low on stock: Pepper Imps, Singing Sour Drops, You grabbed a few for yourself, but not as many as she had. Adrian playfully toyed with a pair of glasses that were made of colorful sugar candy. As time went by, more and more students began to file inside and you all decided that it was time to go elsewhere. Once the three of you were done in the sweetshop, Adrian suggested the next store: Tomes and Scrolls.
The three of you passed by the specialized bookshop where Adrian bought two new books for the month. Solaris had found an interesting journal where its contents would be hidden from others’ view. Attempting to open it with the wrong password would cause the journal to spit ink onto the trespasser. The two of you found it hilarious and nearly tricked poor Adrian into falsely opening it, but he succeeded in opening it. You didn’t find anything interesting there except for an assortment of journals written by famous portioners and creature hunters — many of which you already owned at home — and decided not to spend any extra money on them.
There was a fleeting moment (as soon as you stepped out of the bookstore) where you were stolen from your trio by Lee and the twins.
“There’s our slithery little friend,” Fred shouted as he spotted the three of you walking out of the shop.
The three Gryffindors rushed over and pulled you away with them, giving the two Slytherins humorous faces as they did so. Merlin, they were childish when they wanted to be.
“We’ll only take her for a moment!” Shouted Lee as the three of them ushered you away from your friends. “We’ll bring her back in one piece, don’t worry.”
You saw Solaris snort and roll her eyes at them, clearly annoyed that her best friend was being whisked away by Gryffindors, no less. “You better, Jordan! Or else you’ll have to keep an eye open constantly.”
Once the two groups were too far away to be throwing insults at each other, they hurriedly took you away with them to Zonko’s. You couldn’t help but laugh at their amusement; the way their eyes sparkled and face reddened, jokes, mischief, and laughs really did fuel these two redheads.
The shop was relatively occupied. It wasn’t extremely packed like the Three Broomsticks would be every visit, but it wasn’t quite empty either. You recognized a few of your own classmates walking around and meddling with some of the products.
George procured a list of items they were hoping to find at the shop, reminded Fred of their budget, and began looking for them. Lee followed him, picking up random items he thought were hilarious.
You stopped at a small stand of knickknacks that were tamer than the rest of the tricks and pranks Zonko’s had to offer. Wizarding playing cards, gag gifts, a variety of trick sweets, board games, etc.
“We need more dungbombs, ‘spent most of mine on Lockhart last term,” you heard Fred say as he picked up a bag full of small, brown ball-looking objects. He was somewhere along a different stand but didn’t look up to see.
Fred found you standing alone at the alcove of tame jokes and entertainment and couldn’t help but watch you carefully. He picked up a simple cloth puppet and slipped it onto his hand. It was a simple kids toy for storytelling purposes due to its ability to change the reader’s voice.
Unbeknownst to you, a puppet in the form of a wolf popped up from beside you as you debated on getting a new Wizarding card set. You were startled for a second, the puppet having been shoved in your line of sight so abruptly. Fred grinned as he moved the wolf playfully and howled.
“What is a lovely young wizard like you doing out here all in her lonesome?” He said, mimicking a gruff tone as he moved the puppet’s mouth.
A flash of anxiety struck your stomach, it was a wolf, but a kid’s toy nonetheless. You reprimanded yourself quickly before the shock could be read by Fred. The anxiety eased and you bit your lip to hold back a laugh. “Ah, the big bad wolf! What are you doing out of the woods?”
“I came to feast and have seemed to found a tasty meal,” and before he could say anymore Fred clasped the puppet’s mouth around your nose. “Nom, nom, nom!”
You squealed a bit, feeling ticklish as he began to attack more of your face and sides. “Fred — stop — it tickles —”
“Oh, does it now?”
“Oi, you two, we still got things to buy so if you don’t mind —“ George said as he approached the two of you, but didn’t account for you to hide behind him. He simply rolled his eyes and laughed at your silliness as Fred continued to chase you throughout the store.
- - - - -
As the four of you walked out of Zonko’s, you realized that a fresh layer of snow had fallen on the streets of Hogsmeade. You followed behind Fred and Lee as everyone decided to make a stop at the Three Broom Sticks before heading back up to the castle. You were sure to find Adrian and Solaris in there already, if not, probably headed on their way. Seeing the redhead and brunette walking in front of you made an idea pop into your head as you walked beside George.
“Hey, you want a rematch from our last snowball fight?” You teased, knowing full well that last time had been unfair once Fred and Lee had doubled up on the two of you.
George watched you as a smirk toyed at his lips. “I may or may not have been considering the possibility for the past few weeks.”
You scooped a mound of snow into your gloved hands and charmed it to follow you. Soon, you had an accumulation of them floating just behind you. George, of course, helped you create some more. The look of betrayal on their faces was all you needed to see the moment the two of you began to pelt their backs and faces with snow. Shouts of frustration and giddy laced the already busy streets of Hogsmeade as the four of you ran from each other, trying your hardest not to get hit.
Finally, after a few minutes of running and chasing each other with snow, Fred and Lee called a truce. It had left the two Gryffindors covered in snow and shivering as you finally decided to head to the pub without distractions. You knew the truce wasn’t true and would have to be careful for the next week or so.
Entering the pub was a nice change in scenery. The warm and chattery layout in front of you was enough to shake the cold from your bones. There was nothing better than a nice warm butterbeer after a whole afternoon of wandering and shopping throughout Hogsmeade. Solaris waved you over as the four of you made your way through the busy spot to meet up with them. Waiting with them was a nice, warm corner booth for the six of you. Solaris couldn’t be happier.
Adrian stood up and offered to get everyone their drinks after much of a debate with Solaris on who would pay for the drinks. Solaris won of course, but ever the gentleman, Adrian still went to the bar and ordered six butterbeers. He was back after a few minutes, struggling not to slosh any of the liquid on other patrons.
It didn’t take long for everyone to fall into steady chatter. Solaris was busy talking to Lee, who was sitting across from her, about the bracelets he had adorned on himself. She showed him hers, all bright and beautifully crafted from her native island home. Her eyes widened in surprise as he offered to give one to her and his eyes did the same as she gave him one in return. Immediately they began talking about their families and vacations they’ve taken to their home countries.
Adrian and George were in the middle of quidditch talk. Of what exactly? You had no clue, but they were chatting up a storm and seemed to tease each other on beater techniques.
You and Fred, on the other hand, would butt into either conversation. The two of you were relaxing and taking sips of your warm butterbeer drinks. Offhandedly you would debate on what seasonal drink was the best, but it would then slip into a different topic.
You softly rested your head on Fred’s shoulder as you quietly observed your friends. Something about watching your friends from both houses interacting so carefree and friendly outside of Hogwarts made your heart flutter. You could get used to this type of interaction between the two. Thankfully, you knew that sooner or later the scene would become reality. It was just a matter of time and you’d wait till then.