-open- mulling over the pain

[JESSAMINE CLARISSA JONES]

Jessie stood by the edge of the lake. She generally felt a little like an outcast. She wasn't a teacher, and yet wasn't a student either. She was only an assistant, but it was far better than being back home. Closing her eyes, she waited till she was sure she wouldn't cry. She wished that even now years on, Williams betrayal wouldn't still sting like it did. It was painful to reminisce her school years. Due to all the time she had spent with Will, Amy and Elijah. The way the sun reflected off the lake was calming to Jess. The charms assistant professor, liked it outside, she felt freer outside.

Jessie sighs, she sits on the slightly damp grass, She leans herself back on her arms, pulling her bag off of her shoulder to lay it beside her. Jess bits at her lip, wondering what she'll do about that invite. Elijah had suggested they go together, to make Amelia and Will think about what they'd done. Jess didn't want to go, but she wanted to be a good friend to Elijah - if he wanted to go to the wedding, she'd go. Even if she'd never wanted to see Will or Amelia again. Ever.

[ebony]

Having just finished preparing lessons for one of her first year classes, Ebony thought that she should get a bit of fresh air before beginning to plan and prepare the next days lessons - after all, being down in the Dungeon all the time did make her feel a bit nauseas. Ebony saw her friend in the distant, sitting near the edge of the lake. She could tell from afar that she appeared to be upset or in a dilemma but didn't exactly know why. Her footsteps were light and gentle as she lightly jogged down towards the Charms teaching assistant. Looking down at her outfit, she wondered whether her current choice of clothing was very appropriate for the damp weather. Sighing, she decided that she'd just have to grin and bear it, even if her arms were forming goosebumps from the cold air.

When she reached Jessie, she lightly tapped her shoulder, making sure to not to much force into her action in case she scared or startled the girl. She asked the blonde,
"Are you alright, Jessie? You seem quite upset? Did something happen?" The words poured out of her mouth before she could stop their flow. She just prayed that she hadn't sounded like a nosy idiot to her previous classmate.

[JESSAMINE CLARISSA JONES]

Having not heard the Potions Professor approach, Jessamine was startled from her thoughts, by Ebony tapping her shoulder, though it was only a light tap, she had been so involved in her mental debate, she'd barely recognised anyone approaching. "Oh. I'm fine" she said, with a - forced - pleasant smile. Nothing was okay, not in her mind anyway. Everything had gone downhill since after graduation.

Ebony was one of Jessie's good friends. They had been in the same dorm together, and had been class mates for seven years, before William broke Jessamine's confidence. Since Ebony was the same age as her, and her friend, she knew exactly what had gone wrong in Jessie's life, which was comforting and unsettling. At least she didn't have to explain it to her, but she wondered if she'd ask, and just how much she knew. "Just thinking" she sighed.

She didn't want to lumber Ebony with her problems. She did that far to often to Elijah. If Jess still had a copy of the invite, she would have handed Ebony it, for her too read. Jessie didn't mind her classmate questioning her. Running a hand through her long blonde hair, she beckoned for Ebony to sit.

[ebony]

Ebony did the polite thing and sat down next to Jessie when she was offered despite the fact that she grass was quite wet and she'd probably have a patch when she got up. For her, it was easy to tell when her good friend was worried or in a dilemma. The sighing and running a hand through her hair gave it away easily. Her brow furrowed as she tried to think of something which might have caused Jessie to feel so upset. A mental light bulb lit up inside her head.
"Does your miserable mood happen to have anything to do with a certain man who used to be in Gryffindor and most likely has some sort of infectious disease?" She tried to joke with her but deep down was worried that she might offend her colleague.
"You know that you can tell me anything, don't you; Jessie? I mean, I'll try to be understanding and won't tell anyone at all. Come on, we're hufflepuffs, we're supposed to be loyal!" She gave a wink with her last comment as if to try to add to her persuasion.

[JESSAMINE CLARISSA JONES]

Jessie smiled at Ebony as she sat, she would enjoy her company, it wasn't often she hung out with old friends. She gave Ebony a watery smile and laughed quietly, holding back tears she refused to cry. He didn't deserve her tears. Ebony hadn't offended her, her sometimes crass comments made Jessamine smile on a bad day. "Yes Eb, it does. His wedding to Amelia actually" she huffed out a short sarcastic laugh, Jessamine couldn't believe he'd done that to her. He'd left her looking like a right fool. Apparently a lot of people had seen the signs, where Jess had refused to acknowledge them.

Not many people knew about William's wedding, only the invited. It had been kept hushed up, because they feared the gossip as much as Jess did. Perhaps more. She wondered if Ebony had received an invite. "I know, Ebby, I trust you won't tell anyone, but you don't want to listen to me moaning do you?" she asked, trying to be sneaky about wiping away the tears that gathered in her eyes. It wasn't that Jessamine didn't trust her, she just didn't want to drag her down with her. Jess would deal with this herself, like she did years before.

[ebony]

Ebony let worry overtake her face once she saw Jessie's watery smile. Surely if she needed to cry it would be best to get it over and done with. Instead of scolding her for trying to act strong when everyone crys sometimes, Ebony chose to try and somehow think of a plan to comfort or cheer her blonde comrade up. She didn't want to get directly involved in all of it, knowing that Jessamine would rather deal with it herself but couldn't stand seeing the person who was the closest thing she had to a best friend, on the verge of tears. So instead she thought of an idea - speak bad about others. It wasn't like she particularly cared about this 'Amelia' girl anyway. Sure, hufflepuffs were loyal but she personally was only loyal to those who deserved it and from what she had heard, that Lia girl certainly wasn't a candidate for such a nice treatment.
"Don't worry, think of it on the good side - the man-tramp has found a girl-tramp. And if they have children, they'll be mini-tramps. And that Amelia girl is like automatic door - she opens her doors for any passers by. And you can definitely trust me. But on the contrary, keep 'moaning' on as you call it; at least it will keep me from having to plan the lessons with the first year brats. Speaking of first years, have you seen how cheeky some of them are? I swear we were never that cheeky. I should give those brats detention. But that'd be unfair treatment towards students. Sorry, I'm ranting on now..." Rubbing the back of her neck, she appeared bashful and did a zipping motion on her mouth. Why did she always speak too much or not enough?

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[JESSAMINE CLARISSA JONES]

Jessamine raised an eyebrow as Ebony began her little...speech, but found herself laughing hysterically by the end of it. "Oh Eb, you really say the most crass things sometimes, but I lo-" she started to say, and quickly changed her wording "really like you for that" she smiled, feeling like she were out of her 'funk' for now. Elijah wouldn't be happy to hear she'd been so upset. He spent such a long time trying to cheer her up and when he left she just fell back into her sulk. It wasn't fair on him. "the first years aren't that bad" she defended them, although in truth they could be right terrors.

Though Jessamine hadn't officially taken a class of her own yet. She liked working under Flitwick. "why don't you? I never thought you'd falter at giving a detention" she smirked lightly, "Keep ranting, its keeping me... amused, and occupied." she gave an lighthearted smile, and pulled out a lesson plan from her bag, just to piss Ebony off. "Well since you mentioned lesson plans, Flitwick asked me to plan some 1st year lessons for him, help me?" she asked innocently.

[ebony]

Ebony gave Jessie a confused look. She had just said that she hated those little first year brats and now she wanted her to help plan a lesson for them? Did she want them to suffer or something? Shrugging her shoulders, she simply got out her wand which was placed in her pocket before and flicked her wand in the air. Slightly shiny letters glimmered in the air as formed words in front of them.
'Make them see if they can use wingardium leviosa on each other so that they float in the air?'
Of course she knew that this was a beyond inappropriate thing for them to suggest to students and was a joke. To try and keep the conversation going, Ebony said,
"You'll have a class of your own eventually, maybe when Flitwick retires although I'm not sure how long half-goblin, half-wizard people tend to live. As for the lesson plans, just make them practice a basic spell. The muggleborns will love it - I'm pretty sure that any interesting spell will spark amusement in them. But seeing as I've kinda helped you... How about you help me prepare some ingredients for my fifth year class - I have to show them how to brew a Draught of the Living Dead."

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[JESSAMINE CLARISSA JONES]

Jessamine laughed, it wasn't often that she could talk to Ebony they were both busy a lot of the time. "Now that would be something to see!" she wouldn't write that down though. If the kids tried that and killed themselves, then she would never forgive herself. "Oh Ebony, I wasn't being serious about the lesson plan, but if you really wanna help be my guess" she smiled.

"Flitwick won't retire, he'll keep on teaching, and I'm happy for him to do so, basic spells is a good place to start, maybe let them have fun with the water spell" she smiled. Jessie frowned "I'll help, but I'm not a brilliant potioneer." she sighed, but agreed anyway. "Well what do you need me to do?" she asked. It was a well known fact that Jessamine was not a brilliant potioneer - she wasn't even good, but she would try and help her friend.

[ebony]

"Well, why don't we start by listing down things that we'll need to find or get?"
With that, Ebony got out her bad that she got out her pad and mini pen from her other front jean pocket and began to scribble down a list of ingredients. Her handwriting was small and neat - not elegant, fancy or bubbly though. You could say that she had a good memory as she remembered the ingredients with a little bit of hard thinking (that was one of the only potions that she could remember the ingredients of though). The list read;
> Crushed Snakes Fangs
> Moondew
> Wormwood
> Asphodel
> Valerian Roots
> Sopophorus Bean
> Sloth Brain
She smiled proudly at the list she had just composed a minute ago. Her father had taught her well. Cracking her fingers, (a bad habit that she had yet to get rid of) Ebony looked at Jessie. After reading out the list of ingredients needed for the Daughter of Living Death, she asked with a smile,
"So, do you know any place where we can get some of these ingredients? I know we have Asphodel, Sloth Brain and Valerian Roots, I think we might have a little bit of Wormwood left but as for the Moondew and crushed snake fangs; I don't think we have any left. Stupid 6th years used it all up doing their practicals. Ofcourse the 5th years have to do it next year so I need the right ingredients to show them how to do it for next year. Ahh, I've gone off on a tangent again... Basically, can you help me collect some Moondew and we can find a snake, kill it and crush some of its fangs. Simple."
She prayed that Jessamine would agree - she wasn't at all good at crushing snake fangs - they would always move or not be crushed enough when she did it. Not to mention they might come across a newt. Ewww.

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[JESSAMINE CLARISSA JONES]

"That's always a good place to start" Jessamine nodded. She watched as Ebony made the list of ingredients, and squinted a little to make out the letters on the page. The sound of Ebony's fingers cracking, made Jess wince. "That is terribly bad for your fingers" she chided. "No I don't Eb. I don't make my own potions - I'd poison myself if I did" she joked.

Jess didn't trust herself to make a potion. "I'll help you get some, and I'll crush the fangs for you." Jess smiled goodheartedly. It was strange she wasn't good at potions, because she could cook, so she just thought of crushing snake fangs, as like crushing pepper in a pestle and mortar. "How much did the 6th years use?" she asked a little shocked. Hogwarts always made sure to buy potions ingredients in abundance. "Why would they need so much?" she asked as an afterthought.

[ebony]

Scowling at the memory of when she went to get some crushed snake fangs and found there to only be a little bit of dust left in the jars, she thought a little before replying.
"Well, even I'm not sure how they used up it so quickly but I would put it down to the Gryffindors or Slytherins. Bloody troublemakers. You know, I think I might actually give some of those idiots detention this week. I'll look for every single thing that they do wrong and BAM. One way ticket to detention."
She knew Jess wasn't good at potions - in fact she swore that she had once either damaged or blown up a cauldron in one of their previous lessons when they were mere students; 3rd years possibly. Nevertheless, it was nice to have someone to help you if you hated crushing things and were scared of certain creatures popping out of nowhere like they have in the past.
"Ok, A; I already know that its bad for my fingers and B; you don't have to be good at potions I just need some help getting the ingredients and preparing them. You're smart and know where a library is don't you?"
She grinned as she teased the smart blonde.

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[JESSAMINE CLARISSA JONES]

Jess laughed bemusedly, "Dear god woman. You are mean. I'm glad you weren't my teacher, I would have ended up crying in each lesson" she smiled, Jess did remember one particular lesson in their 3rd year... when she had indeed blown up a cauldron, and then ran out of the classroom embarrassed - and in tears. It wasn't like she wanted to remember it, because someone she didn't want to name had come to comfort her. Jess tried not to dwell on her Hogwarts years. Only remembering them in passing, they had seemed such a blessing at the time, and now seemed like a curse.

"I'll help, but only because you have been so lovely about asking" she replied with a sweet smile. Then added "Oh - and if you stop clicking your hands, it'll ruin your joints" she looked at her friend. "Why on earth are we going to a library to get ingredients?" she asked a little confused. Has she somehow gotten lost in the conversation. She really didn't understand. Jess rubbed her hands together idly. Jess wondered what mistake she could make helping her friend with the preparation of ingredients. It was just like cooking... right? She could do it. She hoped.

[ebony]

Widely grinning, Ebony though to herself, 'she doesn't know...'. Upon seeing the confused look on Jessamine's face, she explained what she had meant when she was speaking before.
"If we don't know where to get them, we'll have to look in the books - which are in the library unless you want to use my copies - in order to find out where we can get them from. Of course if it doesn't say it in the book we'll have to do the alternative plan. The alternative plan is that we go for an adventure in my favourite place."
To try and intimidate her - not in a mean way, Ebony tried to put a creepy smile on her face.
"My favourite place is... The forbidden forest. We may get a few scratches but they'll probably only be from trees or twigs. Plus I need you there. I mean, what if we encounter a small creature which I refuse to fully name?"

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[JESSAMINE CLARISSA JONES]

Jessamine mimed a 'O' shape with her lips. "Library sounds the best place to start" Jess reeled off in a hurry. If there was anywhere she didn't want to go it was the Forbidden Forest. Jess had to smile in an amused fashion though, Ebony's favorite place would be the creepy forest. She'd always seemed a little... darker... than most Hufflepuffs. Maybe it was just her sardonic sense of humor? But Jess believing the worst, knew in her heart they would end up going to the creepy, dark forest. She just hoped that they didn't encounter any weird creatures. "If we need to go, then I will go with you" she sighed reluctantly. Shaking her head in resignation, she stood, and waited for Ebony to follow her example. "I suppose we had better go look for those ingredients then". Jess pulled her hair back into a high ponytail, if she was going to go into the forbidden forest she wasn't about to come out with really ruffled hair. She wasn't vain, she just didn't want to waste time doing her hair... again.