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Post by Jeremy Taylor on Mar 19, 2009 22:39:46 GMT -5
Jeremy had been to the kitchens a few times before, but not all that often. As he led Emma through the dungeons, he only got lost twice, but he thought he covered it up pretty well, pretending that they were supposed to go in a circle and back track a little. Emma was pretty new to the school and with the way things liked to move around and change all the time, he hoped she didn't notice.
When he finally found the picture of the fruit, he looked over at her to see if she really was still following him. Seeing her there, he smiled nervously and couldn't help but wonder why? He knew he wasn't the most fun guy to hang out with so he really wasn't sure why Emma was still hanging around.
He switched the basketball he was carrying to the other arm and gave the pear a little tickle, just as his cousin had showed him. When the handle appeared, he gave it a turn and opened the door, allowing her to enter first. If she gave him a hard time about being a gentleman, he was going to insist it was so the house elves would mob her first.
{EMMA!!}
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Post by Emma Wickham on Mar 23, 2009 22:03:04 GMT -5
Emma was pretty sure that they had passed that particular suit of armor twice already. Yet, she followed right along Jeremy's heels silently without questioning his directions. After all, the halls all looked pretty much the same to her still. If asked to find her way back to the ground floor from where she was now, she could probably do so. However, if she wanted to get back to the kitchens again she might need some assistance in finding them once again. Plus, if the staircases moved then why shouldn't other places in the castle do so as well.
The way to get into the kitchens shouldn't have fascinated her as much as it did. The entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was through a portrait, why shouldn't other entrances have the same method. Although, the fact that Jeremy had to tickle the pear was a little funny. Especially when the pear squirmed a bit as if it was reacting to being tickled.
"Thank you," was the only remark she made when he allowed her to enter the kitchens first. He was being nice and she could be too.
The only house elf she had ever seen before then was the one that lived with them at the Wickham Estate. Although, she had rarely ever been allowed around him because he was particularly assigned to help her mom do tasks around the house. Emma had found out quickly that he was not a playmate just because he was around the same height as her when she was younger. There were quite a few house elves still bustling around the kitchens, she guessed cleaning up the dishes and things from lunch.
Not exactly sure what to do or where to go, she looked back at Jeremy as the portrait swung closed behind him. Stepping back, closer to his side Emma whispered, "Let's continue playing follow the leader. You lead, I'll follow."
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Post by Jeremy Taylor on Apr 11, 2009 13:08:58 GMT -5
A handful of house elves skipped up to them as they entered, squeaking offers of assistance. Jeremy was well acquainted with the creatures and while they tended to be a little overbearing at times, he had always enjoyed sitting in his grandmother's kitchen while they worked. The House elves were always nice and usually gave him stuff as long as he didn't make a mess.
Emma moved closer to him and he wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do. He stood where he was for a moment before remembering they were supposed to be getting ice cream. A low, embarrassed sort of giggle escaped him and he gulped hard before making his way towards the four long tables that dominated the room.
"Can we get some ice cream... uh, please?" he asked the House Elves who were trailing them and Jeremy looked over at Emma to make sure he was asking for the right thing. "Chocolate?" It probably didn't matter much what flavor she prefered. The little creatures had run off and returned with what looked like every flavor in the kitchen, as well as all the fixings for sundaes.
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Post by Emma Wickham on Apr 12, 2009 17:38:02 GMT -5
Although Jeremy had asked for chocolate the elves had quickly supplied them with every flavor and toppings imaginable. She was amazed at how fast they had gathered everything and offered it up to the two of them. Raising her eyebrows in surprise, she noticed the elves that still hovered near them just in case they needed something else. As they noticed her attention on them she quickly said, "Thank you." As if they were being dismissed they busseled off to various corners of the kitchen and continued what they had been doing.
Looking over at Jeremy she laughed a bit and whispered, "They're efficient."
Moving forward, Emma took up one of the ice cream scoopers and started scraping rounds of vanilla ice cream into one of the glass bowls. Feeling a bit more comfortable now that all of the elves weren't staring at them she turned back and looked at Jeremy. "So was this another secret that cousin of yours let you in on? Or did you discover this one yourself?" Emma asked, implying the discovery of the kitchen cooridors.
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Post by Jeremy Taylor on Apr 12, 2009 21:59:35 GMT -5
Jeremy was glad the elves seemed to leave them alone, but the Ravenclaw noticed that they still seemed to keep an eye on the two students, ready to rush up and help if needed. If there had been any doubt as to exactly how efficient they were, when Jeremy flipped his scooper across the room, too much force on the hard ice cream apparently, another one was by his bowl even before he could bend over to retrieve it. He sheepishly finished filling his bowl before taking up a spoon and sticking a large mound of chocolaty goodness into his mouth.
He looked up at her as she spoke, unaware that he had chocolate on his chin. He considered lying to her, thinking it was probably more impressive if he had found the kitchens on his own, but he was pretty confident anyone who knew him would know he wasn't clever enough. "No, Drew told me this one too," he answered, looking down at his bowl. He was such a little kid, talking about his older cousin so much. The hero-worshiping bit was pretty babyish and he knew it.
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Post by Emma Wickham on Apr 13, 2009 0:07:09 GMT -5
Emma attempted to muffle her laughter as the ice cream scooper went flying from Jeremy's hands. However, her own hand didn't make for a very good sound barrier because a few giggles managed to escape. Although, her laughter faded out as astonishment settled over her features. She had barely even seen the elf that had handed him a new scooper. Blinking a couple of times, she made her self believe that it had been longer than she thought and she had only been distracting by laughing. Yeah, sure. That's why she hadn't seen the house elf move. Right.
Turning her attention back to her own ice cream, she topped the vanilla scoops with strawberries and drizzled hot fudge over everything. Delicious. There was no better combination than a strawberry and fudge sundae. As Jeremy started to answer, Emma looked back up at him and noticed the ice cream running down his chin. His answer was as she expected. After all, he was the one that had practically begged her to not involve him in any adventures. However, the way he answered made it sound like he wished he had found the place on his own. There was hope for him yet.
"Well thank you Drew," Emma said as she bit off a spoonful of ice cream.
However, when Jeremy looked back up at her again she couldn't stand the chocolate he had on his chin. Emma didn't want to laugh because she didn't want him to get offended. He would probably get embarressed with any route she went but she knew that he would be so angry if she didn't tell him. "You can make quite a mess..." Emma smiled kindly and slid the napkins that were on the table over to him hoping he wouldn't get upset.
Quickly she changed the subject so that Jeremy didn't have time to become embarressed, "So do you think there are any more secrets in this castle that your cousin hasn't uncovered?"
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Post by Jeremy Taylor on Apr 13, 2009 21:51:14 GMT -5
Jeremy gave a small smirk, thinking that maybe it wasn't so bad following in his cousin's footsteps. Of course, it didn't mean he was about to go out for the Quidditch team again...
His playful smile took an embarrassed turn as she pointed out the mess he made, and he took a quick swipe across his face with the back of his hand before he noticed the napkins she had nudged towards him. Great... strike two... or was it three already? Fortunately, she seemed to overlook his sloppiness as she asked about what else the castle might have to offer.
He wasn't sure how to answer, knowing that the school held plenty of secrets and thinking that logically, there was no way any one person could know them all. Still, his confidence in his older cousin was pretty strong and he had no doubt that Drew knew most of what was out there. Even so, Jeremy didn't want to fall into that stupid hero-worshiping thing again. Best to play it cool.
"I don't know," he answered with a shrug, and even then he thought it still sounded a bit pathetic. "I mean, the castle’s got a lot of stuff. There’s got to be more than what one person can find, right?”
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Post by Emma Wickham on Apr 22, 2009 22:51:53 GMT -5
"Well even if he did discover everything, I hope at least he didn't tell you everything," Emma replied playfully with small chuckle.
It was not half as fun or fulfilling to be told everything there is to know about a new place. Things like the kitchen or the basketball hoop were definitely useful, but there were some things she hoped to discover for herself. However, discovering things alone was not half as fun as when someone else was right beside you. Emma had really enjoyed the day that she had spent with Jeremy, even with the rough start. The young girl scraped at her sundae, scooping up another spoonful to lift to her lips.
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Post by Jeremy Taylor on May 4, 2009 0:00:14 GMT -5
Jeremy smirked again, getting the idea that she wanted to find some of those secrets with him. He tried to tell himself that he was being stupid, no girl would really want to hang out with him and the only reason she was there with him now was for the ice cream, but even so, he couldn't help but smile a little.
"He told me some, but... but not a whole lot," he answered, unable to keep the hopefulness out of his voice. He wasn't usually this open to adventure, but perhaps looking for secret passages and stuff might be fun.
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Post by Emma Wickham on May 10, 2009 12:02:07 GMT -5
"Good," Emma said defiantly.
That came as such a relief. The fun was in the finding, not in the knowing. Of course, the knowing was very convienient. It got them ice cream. Maybe he would want to come with her and explore the castle some time. Jeremy had only been here three years. There wasn't much you could do with that, especially if his original attitude he had was his way of speaking to everyone. That wasn't exactly a cordial attitude when talking to others.
Her spoon scraped against the bottom of the bowl as she reached the last bites of her sundae. There was no way she could eat anymore, the bowl had been filling. Even though the strawberry ice cream looked very tempting. However, she resisted and set her empty bowl and spoon aside. The kitchens were quieting down around them except for a few house elves hovering to make sure they didn't need anything.
She felt more comfortable talking now that they weren't surrounded anymore. "So Jeremy, you said you've been here for three years. Do you like it?" Emma asked, her green eyes beamed into the boys face across from her.
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Post by Jeremy Taylor on May 11, 2009 0:22:50 GMT -5
He was no where close to being done with his ice cream, liking to take things slowly in matters such as these, but as she scraped the bottom of her bowl, he wondered if he shouldn't hurry up as well. Maybe she had other places to go and was just being polite by sticking around until he was done. Her question caught him off guard and he wasn't sure how to answer.
"Um... I don't know," he told her with a small shrug as he contemplated his ice cream a bit longer. His parents kept telling him he had to give it a try and have a good attitude, but he still couldn't do most of the spells or keep up with half of the classes. "I mean, it's school, right? But I guess it's better than the Muggle school I went to back home."
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Post by Emma Wickham on May 20, 2009 19:01:48 GMT -5
Emma understood his whole point about it being school. She wasn't the biggest fan in the stadium for academics. All of the subjects seemed a bit pointless to her. What was the point of learning about historical events that happened forever ago? She would rather work with her wand but they had taken that defense class away about a year ago apparently. Although she didn't understand what exactly was so much more important in history than in defending yourself.
"You went to muggle school?!" Emma asked astonished. "That is so interesting! How long did you go? What was it like? What did they teach you?"
Sure she had gone to muggle daycare but she couldn't remember anything of it since she only spent about a week there. Stupid blonde girl. Emma had always wondered what it would be like to go to a muggle school. Her brothers had been permitted to go to a non-magical school when they had been younger. However, since she had been such a 'difficult' child, as her mother said, she hadn't been allowed to.
This was exciting news to her though. Emma could barely contain her interest in the subject. Jeremy had lived a completely different life than she had and it intrigued her. While she had lived in one place her entire life, he had lived in a different country at one point. Now he had been to muggle school and...had said he didn't enjoy it. Her enthusiasm had completely wiped out that subtle hint of dislike he had produced. Sometimes she got ahead of herself and didn't process little things like that.
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Post by Jeremy Taylor on May 25, 2009 0:57:44 GMT -5
Great. He had to be an idiot and bring up Muggle school. He had spent almost five years there until his parents pulled him out. He really didn't like to think about it. Things hadn't been so bad when he had been in kindergarten, but once he had hit second grade, life had been miserable. The kids had thought he was odd and the teachers had written things like Problems differentiating between fact and fantasy and Referred to school psychologist for evaluation on his report cards.
He continued focusing on his ice cream, not sure how to answer so as to stop the questioning but still not come off as rude. "I don't know. I left in the middle of grade four. They taught regular stuff I guess. I don't know," he answered. He really didn't think it was very interesting at all.
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Post by Emma Wickham on Jul 25, 2009 13:41:52 GMT -5
Emma watched as Jeremy shied away from the subject of muggle school. He didn't seem to comfortable with something whether it be the memories of it or something beyond that. She had caught on. She couldn't really understand where he was coming from but she figured that it would probably be easier to just turn the tables and focus the attention on herself. He seemed to do better when they weren't talking about him. The young girl didn't want to scare him off or make him explode on her. He reminded her of the type of person that sat in the back of the class and was always quiet until one day they snapped and held everyone hostage.
"Well, I've never even been to public school before," Emma admitted sheepishly.
She looked down at her bowl and pushed the spoon around a bit to occupy her hands. It hadn't been bad at all because it had always been what she had wanted. However, after being at Hogwarts for a little while she had come to think about how things would have been if she had just agreed to go here when she had turned eleven. Of course, Emma would have been without her family and not been able to listen in on her brothers lessons then. It was just the thought of what if that made her curious.
Emma looked back up at Jeremy and smiled, "I was offered to come to Hogwarts when I was eleven, but chose not to because my brothers hadn't done it so why should I have had to be sent off for school. We had tutors instead. So being here around people my age with the same capabilities as me is definitely different."
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Post by Jeremy Taylor on Jul 26, 2009 22:12:09 GMT -5
{ROFL... "snapped and held everyone hostage"}
"Tutors, huh?" he asked, wondering if Emma was one of those stuck up kinds who were too good to go to regular school. He didn't really want to think of her that way, especially since she seemed so cool. He was almost certain he was setting himself up for a huge downfall, but sitting there with her and enjoying a huge bowl of ice cream, he really didn't care at the moment.
"So... uh... why didn't your brothers come to Hogwarts?" he asked carefully, wondering if he was delving into a subject he shouldn't or worse, giving her a good segue to turn the conversation back on him.
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