{trickett party} fear begun to fade away like sunlight | • j a r i

Freya had cycled through outfits so many times in the past few days she now could remember every single item of clothing she - and some of her sisters and cousins, to be honest - owned. She’d tried skirts, dresses and playsuits, jeans, shorts and everything in between. In the end, she’d opted for a crop top and some distressed light denim jeans. It was very muggle, but that was what was in fashion nowadays. At the party, there was a broad range of characters. Some in robes, some in muggle clothes and a lot in mixed mash-ups of the two.

The party itself was bustling, music was playing and everyone seemed to be having a good time. She supposed there were way too many people here for Freya to confirm that last one, but from the ones she’d interacted with people seemed happy, anyway. The blonde was in charge of handing out cabin keys to those who were still arriving so she made sure to stay in the busy area of the party with her seemingly small wooden box containing many keys. Freya was built for this. She was a social girl in every sense of the word. Fluttering around making conversation with family and strangers alike was basically her forte.

Freya finished talking to one of her uncles and turned around only to be almost knocked over by one of her younger cousins. “Oh - Jari?” She said, taking a small step back and steadying the glass of champagne she held in her left hand. “Have you grown taller this summer?” Freya tousled his hair affectionately. She remembered when he’d come to the Gryffindor table to eat breakfast with her and their other little cousins rather than sitting at his own house’s one. “Where are Váli and the others?”

After quite a bit of paperwork Jari was finally allowed to leave the summer school for a family get together but of course he had to be "accompanied by an adult". Before this year he probably wouldn't of minded but after managing to survive Hogwarts nearly burning to the ground, being cut off from pretty much all but a handful of adults, and fighting monsters in the Gauntlet he felt less and less like he needed adult supervision. He felt he was more than capable of taking a port key and finding his way home all by himself but it wasn't really up to him. Despite how he felt he was still a minor and thus he had to be collected. All of his thoughts about being too old for the whole thing quickly washed away the moment he laid hazel eyes on his beloved mother. Rushing to her side and hugging her quickly Jari forgot for a moment that thirteen year old boys don't hide in their mother's skirt folds and squeezed her tighter.

Once they had finished the paperwork and traveled to the location of this summer's Trickett party Jari had almost immediately left her side to catch up with his cousins, Aase and Pixie and Vali had to be around here somewhere. Instead he found his father and younger sister by one of the fireplaces and he stopped to hug both of them. His father told him about the cabins and how they would be staying the night and especially about how clear the night sky was which meant one thing: he could watch for aliens shooting stars. The excitable Hufflepuff marched on to find himself a snack before feeling someone poke him in the shoulder. He heard the giggle and the patter of footsteps running away before he could turn around to see them and in a flash he was chasing after them. "Your it!" One of his many younger cousins shouted back to him as they ran through the room. He barely saw Freya before he was nearly crashing into her, not quite used to the power of his only slightly taller legs. It wasn't much but if he was capable of growing a couple inches in a couple of months it would be no time at all before he caught up with the rest of his classmates; just like his mother promised.

"Maybe." He shrugged with a bright smile in response to her question, aware of his new height but certainly not the type to brag. "I think their hiding," He laughed as another small cousin ran past him and he reached out to tag them on the shoulder just in time. "Your it," The smaller boy turned back to return the favor but Jari quickly followed up, "No tag backs!" And chuckled even as his voice cracked. Turning back toward Freya he smiled up at her and her glass of something fizzy. It was the same stuff the adults drank and then suddenly it dawned on him. She had graduated. She wasn't going to be there to protect them all and show them all the secret passageways next year. It would be so different with out her and the realization made him just a little sad. "Freya, do you think I'm too old to play tag?" He asked absently, still staring at her glass of Champagne.

Freya jumped as another one of the younger Tricketts popped out from the crowd and then disappeared back in again. She remembered being like that, she thought nostalgically. When she was little there weren’t a lot of Tricketts her age and younger, but she was forever running around trying to catch up with the older ones. She smiled warmly as Jari’s voice cracked, her heart swelling a little as she thought about how her little cousin was growing up. All of them were, she thought. Even me. “Jari are you okay?” Freya asked, tilting her head to the side curiously in response to his odd question and the way that his gaze was fixed on her drink.

A part of her wanted to poke him a little. He’d always been a sort of strange child and now that he was growing into being a proper teenager, not much had changed. “I don’t think so?” Freya chewed her lip for a moment before adding, “I think you should play tag as much as you want to until you don’t want to any more.” Freya had stopped playing tag when she was younger than Jari was now. Her older cousins and siblings grew out of it and she did too, even though she was the youngest. You couldn’t play tag if there was no one to play with you, she thought before quickly coming back to the conversation at hand. “What makes you ask that?”

It seemed like every where he looked the people around him were getting older and naturally that was supposed to mean he was getting older too but sometimes it didn't feel like it. Back at the summer school he had felt like he was too old to need his mother to take him home but now that he was back here, among all of his cousins and family, he felt like the same old Jari. He felt like safe and familiar at the kid's table, looked forward to his parents kissing him goodnight, and most of all wanted to play tag. It was like he was stuck between two pages of a book unable to commit to either.

He nodded when she replied to him, her words made sense, truly they did but it still left him wondering. "That makes sense..." He said as he began to shrug. "I don't know, its just... everything feels different now." He told her honestly and without much hesitation. He didn't want her to think he was complaining because it wasn't all bad but it was new. "Especially after everything that happened with the dome and stuff things like tag don't seem as important as they used to." He chewed on the inside of his lip as one of their aunt's laughter filled the room from behind him. Jari was supposed to be laughing and having fun but instead he was pulling Freya into this conversation, the young man felt bad for that.

"What's in the box?" He questioned, attempting to change the topic.

Freya listened to her little cousin with a sympathetic ear. The blonde played with the frayed seams of her distressed denim jeans absentmindedly, wondering if she’d ever looked so young and naive. What would Jari be like in five years, she thought dimly. He seemed so small and open. So childlike. At the mention of the dome, however, Freya felt a small frown appear on her forehead. A small crease in between her eyebrows, nothing too severe. She was angry that he’d had to go through that. Hell, she was angry that she’d had to go through that, but Jari was so soft and innocent and - sigh -so young.

“Well if you’re having fun playing tag then I don’t think you have to stop,” she said, reiterating her point gently. She meant it though. He really should keep doing the things he loved for as long as he could. “I understand what you mean though. Especially with the little ones-“ the ones who hadn’t started school yet, she meant, “- but you’re not alone.”

“It’s all the keys for the cabins,” she answered truthfully. “I’m in charge of making sure everyone who’s staying for the weekend gets to sleep somewhere.” Freya laughed at that.

It was nice to know that she understood where he was coming from. That was step one in feeling better about something and Jari hated when he was worried about things. Life was so much easier when Aliens were the worst thing he had to worry about. Now he had seen real threats, real danger, real monsters and suddenly the aliens he dreamed about no longer even seemed frightening. It didn't mean he wasn't still going to wear his tin foil hat or anything but maybe he'd leave it off now and then. It was currently stashed in his back pocket for just in case they went outside at any point. Inside the big room he felt safe but if they were going out into the woods he'd definitely be putting it on. "Thanks Freya..." he said slowly, half smiling at her, grateful for the helpful advice.

"Who is staying so far?" He asked curiously wondering if which of the cousins were staying with their parents. If Vali was staying he'd have to watch out where he slept, the young boy was a notorious prankster and more than once he'd been on the receiving end. Maybe this night would be different, if he could get Freya to help him that is. Maybe tonight he could be the prankster. It sounded like fun but honestly the young wizard had no idea where to start. "We should play a joke on someone, a nice joke though." He quickly added a bit more information to his proposal, voice cracking again as he rushed to speak. Jari didn't want anyone to get hurt, not even their feelings, that would just be the worst.

"You up for it?"

For a talkative, bubbly person like Freya, talking to someone like Jari was both calming and made her feel impatient all at once. It was weird. He spoke so slowly and his sentences trailed off into verbal ellipses that she could almost see floating above him in a comical speech bubble. The blonde shifted from one foot to the other, trying not to be impatient as he took a while to process things. “Oh, so many. I think we have like forty cabins already.” She rolled her eyes in a good-natured jab at the size of their friends and family. “Sigurd and Brita and Astrid and…” Freya rattled off a list of names, some of them variations on the same name (Thor, Thora, Tor). When she realised that he was probably asking about the younger Tricketts, Freya rethought her words for a second.

“Vali’s staying,” she said thoughtfully. “And Eija’s here already, probably around with Toka.” She sipped her champagne thoughtfully, glad that it was fruity and bubbly on her tongue. There weren’t a lot of alcohol flavours that she really liked but fruity champagnes or champagne with orange juice was nice and easy to drink. She was a lolly-drinker truthfully, though. Sweet, fruity cocktails were her favourites. “I’m down to play a prank,” Freya answered, her smile widening. She looked at the box in her hands and cast a quick glance around the place before pushing it into someone’s hands. “I’ll be back in a sec, I swear.”

Then, with one hand on Jari’s back, she steered him away from the crowd to a more secluded part of the balcony. “I’m always up for it. What were you thinking? Who’s our target?” Freya gave the distant crowd a scrutinising look.

He smiled when she agreed to help him with the little plan and watched her hands as she moved to pass off the key box. He was excited to stay in the cabins, the tree houses were really cool and magical. When his mother said they had rented out a whole tree for the family party he was a little confused by what she meant. He'd heard of some pretty strange things growing up magical but renting a tree was a new idea. When they had finally arrived though he completely understood and was in awe by the whole thing. Glad to be here with family Jari let Freya lead him out onto the balcony and was once again impressed by the trees. They were high up in one of the bigger cabins.

The cool night air was a welcome respite from the warmness in the cabin and Jari smiled into it. It was breezy high up in the tree houses and he couldn't help but grip the handle tight and lean over it to take a look down. "Its so far..." He trailed off, excited by the adrenaline coursing through his body and then she brought his head back into the game. "Right!" He turned back toward her with a grin and rubbed his hands together in thought. He didn't want to do anything really mean so they would have to stick to the simple pranks. To be truthful he wasn't exactly a professional at pulling pranks. Actually he had never really pulled one only been on the other side of one.

"Um I don't really know?" He hoped she wouldn't turn around and decide he was too boring. He could tell her stories and be goofy all day but he may of bitten off more than he could chew with this pranking thing. "I guess jokes are more Vali's thing, I've never done one? Do you have any ideas?" He was excited to do something fun. "What if we hid a plastic snake somewhere? I know Aunt Astrid is creeped out by them?"

Freya automatically reached out to drag her little cousin back from the edge, but she pulled her own hand back before doing so. The edges were charmed so that people wouldn’t get too badly hurt if they fell. She was pretty sure, anyway. The blonde cast a suspicious look down off the edge too, feeling her heart speed up just a tad at the height. Freya was no stranger to heights. She’d been quidditch captain for three years at Hogwarts, and they’d basically won all of the cups (the last one had been a total wash; playing quidditch while trapped in a death dome wasn’t entirely conducive to good, fair competition or morale). Freya had spent a lot of time up in the air. For some reason though, standing somewhere high was a little more scary than flying somewhere high. Maybe she felt more in cool, calm and controlled on a broom in the sky.

Freya snapped herself out of it and followed her baby cousin, listening thoughtfully to his ideas. “I used to put colourful hair dye in my sisters’ shampoo?” She offered. The girl reminisced with slightly out of focused eyes before coming back to the present. “Astrid might kill you, Jari, her snake fear is seriously for real. Like a phobia, you know. Like she’ll probably cry.” Someone like Jari would probably have be understanding about it; he was an empathetic boy. Freya eyed him for a moment, thinking that he was probably on the receiving end of pranks more often than not. "How are you feeling about your fourth year?" she asked curiously, wondering if he was excited to be going back to school or not.

"Oh no then never mind! I don't want to make her cry lets not do that!" He immediately began to prattle on and verbally back step, the worry in his eyes was genuine. He was not made for this kind of thing. He was too warm hearted and not nearly mischievous enough but for some reason tonight he felt like doing something completely out of character. Jari was trying to figure out his place and who he was and doing things he wasn't used to sounded like a good way to narrow it down. Last year he had been so comfortable in his own skin, so sure of himself, but as he shot up in inches it seemed like he felt shorter than ever. He wasn't sure what he was good at anymore or what his purpose was. He wanted to know though. And more importantly he wanted to have a fun night so he took a second thought about their plan and then giggled. He tried to imagine what his sister @Janne Trickett would do if he dyed her hair a different color and then he shrugged. "What if we make all the cookies float?" Jari really was pitiful and pathetic at this pranking business. Not to mention he had the sense of humor of a thirteen year old boy, fart jokes and ridiculousness were pretty much his whole repertoire.

"I'm really excited to go back to Hogwarts, is that weird? With the dome and everything?" He second guessed himself but talking to Freya was easy and soon he was rambling on again in his usual way. As always when Jari got excited about whatever he was saying he began to wiggle around and use his arms to really emphasize his points. "I'm taking advanced astronomy classes at summer school but the telescope at Hogwarts is like way better." Nodding along as he grew more and more excited about the coming term Jari felt more like his old self. He was obsessive about the things he liked, he was an all in kind of Badger and he never stopped loving the stars. "Aliens can't hide from me forever Freya." And he meant it too. Committed to his cause one day Jari Trickett was going to discover life on a distant planet. He would be in the history books for all time, but of course he wasn't in it for the glory. He wanted to find the Aliens first, just in case they were mean, so the human race could protect itself. He hoped they weren't, but he was prepared just in case. His hands went down and slid into his pocket, fingers touching the smooth tin foil reassuringly.

"You sad not to be going back?" He wondered, an empathetic half smile on his face as the night breeze tossed his longer hair from one side to the other.

Float cookies? Like for fun? “Umm, sure.” When Freya had been little, she’d been like a mix of Pixie and Váli. She’d fallen into the whole cheeky Gryffindor routine with ease and vigour. Coming up with fun ways to prank her friends and family wasn’t hard for her like it seemed to be for Jari, bless his soul. The blonde gave him a serene smile, but was happy when they moved away from the whole pranking idea thing.

Freya had always been proud of the fact that lots of people found her rather easy to talk to. Jari, for example, didn’t seem to be having any trouble telling her all of his thoughts right now. She wasn’t sure he’d be so open with all of their cousins. “I don’t think it’s that weird,” Freya said thoughtfully. Sure, she was happy to be rid of that place, but there was no need for him to be. “Lots of crazy things have happened at that school, Jari, but it’s Hogwarts.” Freya shrugged, “There’s just something amazing about it.” She wasn’t kidding. Hogwarts had this sort of allure that was hard to escape. Secret passageways, hidden magical objects, it was like a giant fantasy maze all in one.

“Oh,” Freya replied, nodding and feigning interest. Whenever Jari started talking about aliens and stuff she felt herself sort of zone out. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about him or that she thought he was stupid or anything like that, but Freya just wasn’t convinced about the whole tinfoil had thing or the idea that he would be the one to find them. “Well good luck, I hope you find something interesting,” Freya said encouragingly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I guess I’m sad. I’m also excited. You know, Erika’s job is pretty cool and exciting and sometimes I get to hold her things or do her paperwork at my internship.”

He was relieved when she said that he wasn't weird for wanting to return to Hogwarts school of magic. She seemed to understand where he was coming from and that made him feel even more comfortable talking to her. Despite all of the terrible things that had happened even during Jari's short career at Hogwarts he still felt at home at the castle. It had a way of becoming a big part of every witch and wizard's life that it touched. There was something truly magical about it, she had that right. "Exactly, and this year I'm going to pass potions." He said proudly, his chest puffed out just ever so slightly because he was working really hard at becoming better at not setting himself and his cauldron on fire. So far he was making improvements but he was far from getting a potioneer's award.

Jari was used to the less than enthusiastic responses he got to his alien obsession but he was far from insulted by it. He wasn't in this game for the glory or the recognition, he didn't need others approval or encouragement, he was doing this for them. He wanted to protect his family and the human race and all of the wonderful creatures that called Earth home so he kept one eye on the sky. He was prudent in his mission and it didn't matter of his sister was the only one who believed him. An army of two against and entire alien race, Hufflepuffs weren't exactly known for quitting when things go tough. "Thanks." He said with a warm smile but took it as a cue to move away from the subject. He could drone on for hours and sometimes he would but tonight he wasn't trying to alienate himself.

Listening to what she was saying and really thinking about her response the nearly third year nodded. He couldn't really relate because he was so far off from having to become an adult and find a job but he tried any way. "Oh yeah, does she let you touch the treasure?" He asked, having heard more than one tale from Erika about buried treasure and dives to sunken ships. In his mind their cousins wasn't just some Gringott's employee but a world wide explorer extraordinaire. She was a hero and now Freya was going to learn to be just like her and Jari couldn't of been more excited. "Have you gone on any treasure hunts with her?" He asked, jumping right to the fun stuff and accidentally brushing past her mentions of paper work.

“Only one more year and you’ll be starting your OWLs,” Freya said encouragingly, wondering how the hell her little tiny baby cousin was only a year away from starting his fifth year at Hogwarts. Did this mean he was turning fifteen this school year? Learning about vanishing spells and stuff? Freya’s eyebrows went up a little, the thought striking her out of nowhere. Oh… wait a minute… she did some quick math in her head and amended her sentence. “Two years. I mean,” she corrected. Phew. She still had a little while to go before a serious freaking out was necessary.

“Oh I have touched so much treasure,” Freya said, leaning on the wooden bridge’s rope railing as it swayed a little in the wind. She was secretly glad that they’d moved on from the whole alien thing. Freya would defend Jari literally to the death, but she just wasn’t a believer like him. “Like you wouldn’t believe,” Freya might have been trying to impress her little cousin right now, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t true. “Weird old swords and crown things. Coins, vases, magical cursed items. It’s pretty cool actually.” The girl paused for a moment. “Of course, mostly I just sort of stand outside and hold things, or take notes or file paperwork. Erika gets to do all the really cool stuff. But one time I held like this thousand year old sword and stood outside a pyramid for a few hours and when I waved it around, lightning shot out of the pointy end?”

Flinching at her words he moved to open his mouth and correct her but before the words came out she had already fixed it and Jari smiled up at her. "Yeah, not yet." He said with a bit of a grin, he was not really looking forward to when he had to take the big tests. He didn't do very well on exams in general and the ones he'd taken so far didn't really even matter. He sometimes wondered if they made them take them every year just to get them used to it for NEWTs and OWLs. He supposed it was a good idea to let the students know what they would be in for. He was two seconds away from falling into a deep worry about the tests he was going to have to take years from now, a worrysome look falling onto his rounded features, but then the train was successfully brought back on the tracks and they avoided the crash entirely.

He wiggled with excitement as she began to tell him about the treasures she got to work with. It was all to thrilling to hear about from Erika but it was even better from Freya. He had always really looked up to her, she had been there the first day they all arrived at Hogwarts what felt like forever ago now. She let him sit with her at the Lions table even though Aase and him were sorted into Hufflepuff instead. She showed them the cool passageways and secret doors behind paintings and she helped him get over his fear of the ghosts. It was not an over exaggeration to say that Jari might not of survived his first term with out Freya. He definitely wouldn't of thrived in the way that he did and he was thankful to her.

And happy that she got to do something really fun after Hogwarts.

"Really? No way? Really?" He answered in time with her tidbits of information, a mix of disbelief, envy, and enthusiasm dripping off of each of his words. "It shot out lightning?" He could barely believe it when she said it as his hazel eyes grew wider. "That sounds so awesome." He wanted to wave a magic sword and shoot lightning, who wouldn't? "Like the Pyramids in Egypt? How did you get there? Was it really hot? Did you see any Mummies or beetles?" He hadn't read too much into the country but Jari knew all the popular stories, most of which were incredulous but the preteen of course believed in one hundred percent. "Is the paper work boring?" He asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as they stood outside.

Freya quirked one eyebrow with a little smirk. She was trying to be mysterious. And cool. “Really,” she confirmed with a nod. Of course, the letters and paperwork she had to send and file were a serious bore, but it was true that she did get to play with the treasure every now and again. Her cousin’s eyes grew wider and Freya had to laugh. She couldn’t be cool girl Freya for too long without the mask slipping off, revealing her regular sunny self again. Plus, his excitement was infectious. “Like Pyramids in Egypt, yeah. Like I’ve actually been to Egypt now.” Freya laughed again. Sometime she would actually have to go back to that place and check it out like a tourist, rather than just spending a day basically standing in the sun and taking notes.

“No mummies or beetles,” Freya said, shaking her head, “Although we did bring back these weird coins that had beetle shapes imprinted into them. Really odd. I guess they did something magical too.” Freya paused for a moment for dramatic effect, then added, “the sword could control the weather!” The blonde leant against the rope of the bridge, leaning into it as the wind swayed it a little. “Oh yeah, the paper word is pretty boring,” she agreed with another nod, “Like you just write stuff about what happened and make notes about things you collected and file them and classify them by Gringotts’ organisation system and stuff. I was never really into being so organised, you know, so that part’s not that fun.” Freya laughed, “Why, you looking into treasure hunting when you’re older?” She asked.