i will ride, i will fly

   a small smile appears on her lips and soon her features shift from crunched up to relaxed. mai allows her head to lean against the cushion of the couch before looking at jade. “it’s interesting,” she started, “i wish we got to see more underrated creatures. have you heard of the moon rabbit? i feel like everyone needs to know about them.” would jade let her ramble? because something inside mai began to bubble, a desire to share some useless information. “hm? well. if i say yes to something mischievous would i get detention?” the tease slipped from her mouth with ease. “i don’t think i’m creative enough for something mischevious. the first thing that came to my mind was the astronomy tower. i don’t know if you’d be interested in watching some stars with me?” the witch let her eyes wander across the room before she added. “or i could get you a facemask if you want.” 

“I can’t say that I have,” Jade said. They weren’t sure they believed it could be a real creature, but Jade was, at heart, a romantic. And there was nothing more romantic than watching someone talk about something they were really passionate about. Their grin matched Mai’s at the teasing, although they shook their head. “No detention from me. Although I can’t say the same for anyone else. The astronomy tower would be fun though, or a face mask. Either way.” They reached for one of Mai’s hands absently to twine their fingers together. “We could combine them, and take the face masks to the tower, and then you can tell me more about the - moon rabbit? I don’t know anything about it.”

   it wasn’t hard to find mailan with her head on books lately. what better escape from all the war happening than irrelevant school work? she tapped her quill against her fingers as she read the words. however, she was interrupted by jade. such interruption did not bother her. after all, she enjoyed jade’s company. her arm moved to bring the other closer with ease. as always, mailan craved affection from her friends. “you are.” she spoke softly, eyes moving from the book to jade. “i’ve actually enjoyed this chapter. we’ve had worst i’d say.. you’re not going to study?” what else was there to do? “we could always do something else if you’re not in the mood for any homework..” 

Jade was always more than happy to cuddle with their friends and so they obliged, scooting closer to Mailan and looking over the book. Not hard, just enough to catch the subject and shake their head. “I don’t see how you could enjoy it but I’ve never been that studious either. And no - well, not right now.” They did plan to study at some point, and they wanted to make their mum proud so that meant good marks. And if they wanted to pursue Quidditch professionally - which of course they did - then they needed good marks. “What else do you have in mind? Something mischievous?”

Gemma had been leaning against the wall, talking to another Slytherin when Jade approached, smile on their face. And Gemma was not really in the mood to entertain—she’d been about to find Wren and make him give up some of his top shelf firewhiskey for her and Genie to enjoy that evening—but being a leader required certain… sacrifices, and humoring Jade Talkalot’s silly little crush on her was a small price to pay if it meant ensconcing Jade, and by extension their siblings, further into their group and cause. “Jade,” She pushed off the wall, smile wide as she grabbed their hands, “Just who I was looking for. Come on,” She pulled them away from the group, “What are you doing tonight? I’m going to make Volant gift me some firewhiskey—or threaten to have words with Odilia about him—are you in?”

Although they were quite aware that the crush wouldn’t ever go anywhere, Jade still felt excitement bubbling up at Gemma’s expression. There were other people for more realistic crushes. Gemma was in her own category. “That sounds like a productive use of an evening,” they said, grinning. It would be worth it just to watch Gemma deal with Wren. The letter to Mum would keep for a while longer yet. “Of course I’m in!” Gemma could probably ask them to do anything and they’d agree, so they quite easily fell into step with Gemma. “Where is he?”

When they were told to partner up for Herbology, Jade’s first inclination had been one of the triplets, as always, but since there were three of them and partnering up meant two, it didn’t always work out evenly and instead, Jade moved to Fenna. “Want to be my partner? I can’t decide if I like the Snargaluff or the Venomous Tentacula worse.”

Jade loved being a Hufflepuff. While their siblings were, of course, the most important people in the whole world, their housemates occupied a very special place too - even the ones with less than pure blood, or unsatisfactory beliefs. No one was perfect. And even now, though Jade was allied with the Death Eaters, they were still friendly with everyone. So they didn’t hesitate when they saw Mai on one of the couches with space enough for Jade to join her. The common room was fairly quiet at the moment and Jade dropped onto the couch beside Mai with a grin. “Am I interrupting? I hope I am. Studying is boring.” 

Jade had a letter for their mum in her pocket and plans to head straight to the owlery before trying to study but when they spotted Gemma, their plans changed. The owls would still be there when they were done chatting and Gemma was . . . well, Gemma. Jade developed crushes left and right and Gemma was one of the more long lasting crushes because of how pretty and competent she was. So they made their way over to her, beaming. After all, their was a lot to be happy about at the moment. “Hi, Gemma. How are you?”

When: Feb 27th Where: Just outside the greenhouse, Hogwarts grounds. Who: Ruben x anyone nearby. Really open here.

The heat of the flame illuminated his lips as he took another drag, pulling from the nearly finished cigarette idly as he gazed out at the forest. The smoke settled in his chest, a light burn warming the back of his throat. Another nasty habit that he picked up from Durmstrang. Young Dutch men were rarely ever seen without a sig between their lips. This was his third in the last hour- almost like an obsessive tick. But he liked the solitude that smoking brought him. An excuse to keep people away so he could be alone for a moment, relax around the solitary that he created.

That was until the air shifted and he wasn’t alone anymore. Ruben’s jaw tightened as he heard someone’s oncoming steps, his eyes finally turning away from the setting sun. He tilted his head as he gazed through the open door and smirked. “Out so close to curfew?” His thick accent purred the words and he moved to lean against the doorway, arms folding across his chest. “What could bring you here so late?”

Jade was a pretty stereotypical Hufflepuff in a lot of ways, and one of those ways was loving Herbology. The less than stellar professor aside, they enjoyed spending time in the greenhouses whenever possible and had sweet-talked their way into a little extra credit by means of extra time in the greenhouses. Despite the late hour, they weren’t concerned about consequences - they had allies and didn’t need to concern themself with things like that. A lot of the other students did though, so they were surprised when they stepped outside and realized they weren’t alone.

It took a minute for their eyes to adjust, although the accent was hard to miss anyway. Grinning, they shrugged. “So are you. Anyway, I had permission to be in the greenhouses. So I’m not too worried about the time.”

WHERE: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. WHEN: Anytime between February 25th, 2024, and March 6th, 2024. WHO: Any Hogwarts student or professor.

“D’you think they know how aggressive the combination of those patterns look to me, and are trying to make me have my first heart attack at the tender age of sixteen? Or do you think they simply don’t have any taste whatsoever? Ooooooh, or maybe it’s a hidden message. No matter what’s the truth, though, I feel like I should be wearing sunglasses whenever I look at them. Make it stop.”

Jade came to a stop, eyeing Alice curiously. “I don’t know what’s going on but I’m really sure it’s just . . . I don’t know.” They glanced at the . . . thing and shrugged. “I mean, I don’t even know what I’m looking at.”

❝ I will ride, I will fly chase the wind and touch the sky. ❞ OLIVIA HOLT? No, that’s actually JADE TALKALOT. A SIXTH YEAR student, this HUFFLEPUFF student is sided with THE DEATH EATERS. THEY identify as AGENDER and is a PUREBLOOD who is known to be NAIVE, OBSESSIVE, and CARELESS but also OPTIMISTIC, DRIVEN, and FREE-SPIRITED.