[MP] Close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? (Jonah)

The Toft didn't often get a chance to visit the mainland when she wasn't at school and picking up school supplies was often the only time she left the island the entire time, so when her parents told their daughters that they needed to go to London for a few days for business, the Toft twins jumped at the chance to persuade their parents to let them come with them. So, Annika and Brietta had to entertain themselves for a few hours since they definitely weren't allowed to join the grown-ups (according to her mother) and the part of London that Anna and Bri knew best? Diagon Alley, of course!

As the girls strolled down the cobbled streets they knew all too well, the polite witch returned all the smiles she received as they wandered around, looking for a shop to go in. Their parents had given them some money to spend as an early birthday present, since their birthday was only two days away but the girls kept disagreeing about which shop they wanted to go into. The continuing disagreements made the former Ombrelune witch think of how much Annika had changed without her by her side during the months she was at Beauxbatons and how Anna had made many new friends without her. It made the petty witch bothered and jealous that her sister had so many new friends whilst she had to leave all her new friends behind in France.

The logical solution, Brietta decided, was to split up and let each other do what they wanted. As the more mature of the two sisters, their parents had given the English witch both her own and her sister's share of their money, which Brietta now split equally with her sister and suggested meeting her again at Sugarplum's Sweet Shop in two hours. Now, left alone, the scheming girl was able to actually buy her sister's present without her knowing, as well as view the stuff she actually wanted. Knowing that Annika loved cooking, Brietta was determined to find something that would be useful for her... perhaps she'd find something like that in Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment? Of course, she needed to stop off at Ollivander's too, to pick up a wand care kit. After it's ordeal with the fire and the fact that it had dropped several times throughout the course of the year (thanks to her new disability), it needed some tender loving care. And then there was Madam Malkin's, she needed a new glove. I wonder if she even sells just one glove... The methodical Slytherin was so engrossed in formulating a list of things she needed to do or pick up that she hadn't even noticed herself walking straight into someone who was equally not looking where they were going.

"Oh!" she gasped, as she took a step back to give the other person some space. "Excuse me..." It wasn't until then that the former Beauxbatons student looked up to find a very familiar face... from France. It was @Jonah Rowley, another Hogwarts student who had been sent to France following the events of the beginning of the school year. The Slytherin hadn't actually seen him since she had returned to Hogwarts though and she subconsciously raised an eyebrow at him... had he completed his first year at Beauxbatons? "Jonah," she greeted him cordially, "it is good to see you." Realising that he might not recognise her, especially since she now had her hair magically dyed to a blonder shade (her ginger hair reminded her too much of the fire), she quickly tacked on, "It's me, Brietta, from Beauxbatons."

It was a sweltering hot Thursday afternoon and Jonah was bored. He had spent the morning unpacking boxes of potion ingredients in the back storeroom of the apothecary with his mother, chattering on about the comic he had read the night before -- Martin Miggs and his latest adventure with a toaster. His mother had done her best to appear interested, nodding and laughing in the right places as Jonah retold the punchlines as best he could, but when the time for her to prepare his lunch had come around, she hadn't invited him to come back into the basement with her again.

Instead, Jonah had eaten lunch alone behind the counter, looking out the front window and impatiently watching the shoppers filter by as he chewed on his sandwich. The shop was mostly empty of customers, what with the weather being a bit dreadful and it being a Thursday, but even some of the other regular employees and family members were nowhere to be found. His brother and sister had elected to stay with their grandparents that morning, and Henry was nowhere to be found. Jonah had had half a mind to follow him out earlier, curious where he kept disappearing to, but had elected instead to eat. Now he was regretting his decision.

Jonah set his empty plate aside and hopped off the table he had seated himself on, landing a bit harder on his feet than he had expected and wincing for a moment at the shivers that ran up his weak leg. It didn't matter how many times his father checked and told him he was fine; it just felt different, somehow. Still wrong, even months after the fire had been quenched.

His eyes landed on a copy of the Daily Prophet, probably cast aside by his uncle the day before. Wondering whether he might find something interesting in the comics section, Jonah flipped through the pages. Before he reached the colorful section he had been looking for, however, his attention was caught by a large advertisement announcing a worldwide geocaching hunt. Jonah read the description carefully, thrilled that he had been able to find a potential cure for his lethargy.

"Mom!" he called down into the cellar. "I'm going out!" Without waiting for a response, he tore out the advertisement and rushed out the door. Eyes still glued to the page before him, it was no surprise when he immediately crashed into one of the pedestrians. In this case, a young girl.

"Brietta!" he responded, instinctively rubbing his left arm to make sure he was safe. "I know who you are," he added after a second, cocking his head to show his confusion at her reintroduction. They had spent the whole first term together, after all, struggling to learn French and worrying about their classmates with all the other Hogwarts transfers.

"You weren't going into the apothecary, were you?" His face scrunched up for a second, concerned that he might have to delay his adventure to help her inside.

Brietta's eyes narrowed slightly as she noticed the former Bellefeuille student rub his left arm, almost protectively, and unconsciously the young witch made to mirror him by tugging upwards on the glove covering her mangled hand. Was he still injured like her? Would he be returning to Hogwarts? The Slytherin found she had many questions. "Oh," she muttered dumbly, realising she shouldn't have been so surprised that he would remember her. A little hair dye wouldn't change her face at all and with her scar, the Toft was now quite distinctive which was something she definitely wasn't used to. At least he did recognise her though, that was good news.  "Good," she began, perking up a little, "I was just making sure." The former Ombrelune witch smiled at him, though she still held it back a bit in reserve. She wasn't sure how she felt about Jonah. Was he just an acquaintance? Or a hasty friend made under pressured circumstances? Would they be on friendly terms if not the events of the previous September? The aloof girl didn't want to be overly warm to him in such a confusing case.

Did she want to go to the apothecary? "Umm..." Brietta inclined her head, fiddling with the seams of her glove, racking her brains for a reason she would need to go in there. She didn't think she needed to. The blonde figured Annika wouldn't want anything and her parents would have told her if they needed anything. He didn't look happy with the prospect of saying yes, so she watched him carefully to gauge his response as she finally replied, "no, not at all." Brietta looked at him questioningly, the scarring around her mouth twitching as she inquired, "why do you ask?"

While they were standing there, Brietta decided to try and strike up a conversation of sorts. She hadn't seen Jonah in a while, and she had a lot of questions for him. Having a friendly conversation of sorts would probably help the Slytherin girl get what she wanted; the answers to said questions. "I was just trying to keep myself occupied for the next hours," she informed him. The English girl was deliberately withholding information, the deceitful girl didn't see a reason to tell him anything other than the very basics. Tilting her head sideways, the perceptive witch spotted something in Jonah's hand and she decided to press him on it. "Were you doing anything important?" That'd surely jog his memory about the piece of paper if it was indeed important business. If not, then she'd find some other way of finding out what it was.

The girl seemed puzzled by his question, but Jonah couldn't see why. It had seemed fairly obvious to him that a girl standing outside the apothecary might want to enter the apothecary, especially given that school was starting soon and the first student customers had begun to trickle into the shop, needing to refill their potions supplies.

"Good," he answered immediately, relaxing his worried look a bit at her response. He was on a mission and not in the mood to be delayed after having done basically nothing all morning. "My mom is in the cellar at the moment, and she wouldn't be pleased if I left when there were customers needing help," he explained as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's been dull all day," he added after a moment, not wanting her to think him irresponsible. "I wouldn't leave if it was busy."

Jonah nodded at Brietta's comment, guessing they were feeling the same way. He had been bored and was now on his way to an adventure! He hoped Brietta would find something to amuse herself, but it didn't occur to him right away that she might be hinting she would like to come along. At her prompting, Jonah held out the ripped piece of newspaper for the girl to take. "I saw this in the Prophet! Once every hundred years, wizards get to go hunting for geocaches left in the last century. Isn't that amazing? All you have to do is go pick up a rune to help you find your way to one."

He was bouncing excitedly on his toes as Brietta read over the clipping, eager to be on his way. After a moment, he put his hand out again to take the advertisement back. He couldn't find the shop without the address, after all. "I guess I'll see you at school!" he added, casually mentioning that he hoped to be back at Hogwarts for the next term. He was optimistic that he might have convinced his mother to give the school another chance.

It wasn't until he was several steps away that it occurred to Jonah that he might like to have a companion on his hunt. After all, it might take a partner to uncover the treasure and understand what all the elements were! He jogged back over to where Brietta was, skidding to a halt in front of her. "Want to come with me?" The question was joined by an excited smile, assuring Brietta that her company would be valued if she chose to join him.

The former Ombrelune raised her eyebrow quizzically as Jonah seemed to respond to her answer a little too quickly and a little too eagerly. She didn't have to wait long though before the reason for his behaviour came tumbling out of his mouth. His mother was... what? Oh! The right (and only useable) side of her mouth curled to form a partial 'o' as the pieces fell into place. That was some nice, shiny new information that Brietta had stumbled upon and she let out a small, satisfied smirk. "Your parents own the apothecary?" Brietta questioned,  hoping to clarify that small, potentially useful detail. "Good to know," she added coolly, storing the little tidbit of info in her mind. The Slytherin would probably press him on it to get more info later.

Bingo. The English girl was only aiming to get Jonah to tell her what was on the paper, but she wasn't going to complain if he was willing going to one up that by actually giving her the paper. Had he always been this easy to manipulate? Hiding her impatience and eagerness to see the paper well, she calmly took the small clipping before scanning the contents impassively, though her feelings inside were anything but indifferent. She'd heard of geocaches before, they seemed pretty interesting. She'd never had the opportunity to look for one herself, though. The Slytherin supposed her mother would be good at that sort of thing, considering she had to deal with so many runes on a daily basis. "Oh, really?" Brietta began, her face showing the slightest sense of interest, "that sounds like a lot of fun. I guess, it is quite amazing when you consider the amount of time passed between each event." The English girl often came out with overly 'mature' answers that bored her peers and today was no exception.

Almost a little reluctantly the Toft returned the piece of torn newspaper to its rightful owner as the former Bellefeuille held his hand out. He seemed a little eager to get away and the petty and self-conscious witch felt a tiny bit affronted by it. The logical side of her told Brietta that it probably wasn't anything personal but the girl couldn't help scrunch her face a little in displeasure. At his final words, before he moved away, a tiny smile slipped through Brietta's stony, impassive mask. So, Jonah was returning to Hogwarts. Good. She was relieved that someone else whom she had shared time with in France would be returning to Hogwarts's halls, she felt more at ease and comfortable with them for some reason. The shrewd girl was also pleased that she had managed to find the answer to one of her most pressing questions without even hinting at it directly or just outright asking. It was nice not to have to work for information. "Oh," she muttered as he made to turn away, "see you at school, then." Brietta replied, with just a bite of sharpness sneaking through.

And then he was gone. Brietta just stood there for a couple of seconds, gathering her thoughts and forcing her somewhat boring to-do list to swim back into her head and she was just about to turn around and begin her shopping, when out of the corner of her peripheral vision she spotted Jonah jogging back up to her. Had he forgotten something important? The Slytherin stood there, patiently waiting for Jonah to say something important but even she couldn't hide the grin that appeared on her face as he suggested that she could join him. Hunting for geocaches was much more fun than her to-do list! He seemed excited by the prospect of having a partner and having more allies at Hogwarts when they returned was always something on Brietta's mind, so why not? The scheming witch would get to have fun, and have a longer opportunity to ask him questions. It was a win-win scenario, really.

"Yes," she exclaimed, "I'd love to join you!" The former Ombrelune smirked as she warmly added, "I think we'll make a good team." She began to walk in the direction that Jonah had began running off to, assuming that he was heading for that first rune thing, and she turned to him to ask, "So, where do you think the geocaches will be? They surely won't all be in Diagon Alley..." the Slytherin trailed off as she thought a little more on her train of thought. If they were spread out far, they might not get very far. Though there was always the floo network, the methodical witch supposed. "Are you any good at reading runes?" Brietta asked Jonah, raising her eyebrow. If they couldn't read the rune then they wouldn't get anywhere anyway. The Hogwarts student realised that if he didn't she would potentially have the upper hand in the situation, as the ambitious girl's mother taught her some of the basics already. Surely, if she was the one reading the rune then she would be entitled to the treasure when they found it... right?

As a matter of fact, his parents didn't own the apothecary, but Jonah was in too much of a hurry to correct her. It didn't matter, really, if she thought that; it was close enough. He shrugged ambiguously in response, more interested in getting his clipping back than continuing a conversation. What if someone else found the treasure nearby first, and then they couldn't participate because his mom wouldn't let him wander farther than Diagon Alley?

"It's going to be great," Jonah agreed, glad to hear that Brietta was on the same page about how exciting his upcoming adventure was going to be. He set off alongside the girl, looking down at the paper again. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was probably the closest shop where they could pick up a georune. It'd take some effort not to get distracted from his quest by the fantastic products inside, but Jonah's lack of gold would probably make it easier to leave. Maybe he'd even be able to sell some of the things they found and then buy something much cooler! He supposed he would have to wait and see what was inside; it might be too wonderful to give up.

"They're all over! Didn't you read the advert?" He handed her the paper again, letting her confirm what he already knew to be true. "There's bound to be at least one nearby, don't you think? Wizards have been living here for ages." He stated it as a known fact, though it was really more of a hunch. Truth be told, Jonah knew very little about the history of Diagon Alley. But it sounded reasonable. "Maybe there's one in Gringotts and we'll have to go explore the vaults!"

They turned the corner and the brightly-colored shop came into view. "This is my favorite shop," he told his companion. "I come here all the time! I bet we just have to go to the counter and ask for a rune." Her comment made his confidence shake for a moment, though. "I can't read them at all. Can you?" The credulous boy would put his full confidence in Brietta if she could. She could point at an image of a cow and tell him it meant "sunshine" and he would trust her completely. "But maybe they'll give us a pamphlet to help?"

The Gryffindor walked beside her and Brietta allowed her eyes to wander around the street of Diagon Alley, watching all the wizarding folk hurry to and fro on their little errands and shopping trips. It was surprisingly quite interesting to look at them all, watching how differently some wizards and witches walked, how differently they talked and most prominently how they dressed. Maybe it would be an activity she would partake in more often for then on. Despite being engrossed in people watching, the secretive Slytherin kept making shifty glances to the paper in her companion's hand, occasionally glancing at Jonah's face, trying to figure out what he was thinking, what he was feeling.

She had read the paper, but only to be nosy and see what he was doing. She hadn't originally cared that much to really read the details, she just picked out the important parts. Even so, the former Ombrelune quirked an eyebrow up at Jonah and didn't say anything in reply, merely taking the piece of paper offered to her again and, this time, really taking the time to scrutinise the paper before eventually giving a quiet 'hmm' and handing it back to its owner. Had Jonah always been so rude? She didn't remember him being like that at Beauxbatons... Although, she had been pretty distracted with other situations at the time.

Brietta was not a fan of history and so she had no clue how long Diagon Alley had actually been in existence. It seemed like Jonah knew though, and as she looked around at the buildings that they were gradually passing, it seemed like what he said was probably very true. "I guess so," she replied nonchalantly, "it would make sense to have at least one in one of the most long-standing wizarding community places." The English girl let out a small huff of air in amusement, if she were to place an geocache somewhere, she certainly wouldn't stick it in Gringotts. "I don't think the goblins there would be too happy about us poking around in their vaults," she chuckled, thinking of the beady eyes of the goblins that always watched her and Annika like hawks whenever they entered the bank. "Perhaps there might be one hidden in Ollivander's though? I bet that place has been around of donkey's years. It sure looks like it."

As soon as the pair turned around the corner, it took a huge amount of willpower for Brietta to not groan in displeasure as soon as she clocked the eyesore that was known as Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The aloof witch was hardly surprised that Jonah was into that kind of ghastly shop, she should have seen it coming from a mile away. The Toft loathed the store, but if it was the only way to get hold of some treasure, so be it. "Let's do that quickly then," she began, an scheming glint in her eye as she figured out just how to manipulate the boy, "no time to stop and look around... someone might have already found the treasure if we do!" The Slytherin deliberately made her tone more serious and urgent, trying to make doubly sure that they spent as little time as possible in the shop.

"I know the basics," Brietta replied, sticking out her chin proudly, "but hopefully, you're right and they give us something to help. If not, I know enough to get m... us by." The young witch opened the door to her least favourite shop, her lips pursed together in distaste as she went up to the counter. She wanted to just ask the wizard at the counter for a rune, but something was holding her back. She was... afraid. The self-conscious girl looked at her companion, nudging him slightly in order to get him to ask. She would only do her part, if he did his part first.

Jonah nodded along self-assuredly as Brietta talked, feeling even more certain in what he had said now that the young witch was confirming it. If a clever girl like her thought he was right, well, he probably was. The way she cast off his Gringotts idea immediately made him feel a twinge of annoyance, but there was no denying that she was probably right, at least on that account. “I guess not...mum would never even let me down into the vaults.” Probably with good reason, though the young boy had a hard time seeing it.

“I hope not,” Jonah countered, remembering the wizened old man who had sold him his wand almost exactly a year before. “Ollivander’s creeps me out.” All those shelves and tight aisles that wound in a dark and seemingly endless maze of dust and whispered magic. The whole thing had an air of mystery and a sense of containment that rubbed Jonah the absolute wrong way. It wouldn’t be an exciting sort of adventure to have to go there; it would be a creepy and suffocating task.

As Weasley’s WIzard Wheezes came into view, Jonah picked up his pace a bit, excited both to be nearing the georune and to have a chance to step in the shop again. Over the past weeks of break Jonah had spent a fair amount of his free time there, but that didn’t mean there was nothing to see: the Weasleys seemed to release new products all the time. Even if Jonah had run out of pocket money ages ago, it was still a good idea to keep a wish list going.

Though he knew she was right, Jonah couldn’t suppress a bit of a groan at her next words: “Fiiine,” he agreed, not bothering to cover up his feelings on the matter. Even as he voiced his displeasure, though, he sped up a notch further, made anxious by her assertion that they might be beat to the treasure if they didn’t move quickly.

As they moved through the shop, it was all the Gryffindor could do not to veer off course and begin experimenting with the goods for sale. He stared straight ahead as best he could, imagining himself as a horse with blinders that couldn’t be distracted or tempted by the goings-on in the periphery. When they reached the counter, Jonah’s eyes wandered to the shelves of more dangerous items that lined the back wall behind the register. It wasn’t until Brietta elbowed him that he was reminded of the task at hand.

“Hi,” said Jonah, looking into the face of the woman dressed in bright magenta robes who was working the register. “We need a georune, please!” He held up the article from the Daily Prophet as illustration, wanting to be sure she knew exactly what he needed. Truth be told, Jonah wasn’t sure exactly what a georune looked like, so he had to simply trust the employee would know what to do.

“Thanks!” Jonah exclaimed as the small stone was passed to him over the counter, picking it up and holding it carefully. “You don’t have some kind of guide, do you?” He was really hoping this woman would be able to keep up her helpful streak, because the georune had begun to glow the moment Jonah had touched it, but the symbol upon it, a sort of x-in-a-square that reminded him a bit of a lantern, meant nothing to him at all.

sorry this is so late omg x__x