[ttd] confusion and poor taste [freddie]

Pixie was sitting in the common room staring out at the rain. It had been drizzling all day and now it looked like turning into a storm. She didn't mind; this evening was the first meeting of the new "Dare" club and she was going to head along. She hadn't actually seen the advertisement herself, it had fallen off the noticeboard and been eaten by someone's pet toad before she could read it, but her dormmates had said the first meeting was at seven this evening by the common room windows, and that it was for people who liked all sorts of challenges. The details had been vague, but it sounded like her sort of thing so the fourth year had headed back to the common room straight after dinner and was now waiting for others to turn up.

A few people wandered through and headed for the dormitories, or came in to collect something and went back out, but so far only a couple of first years had actually seated themselves. As they had sat down in front of the fire and begun a game of exploding snap though, Pixie doubted whether they were actually here for the club, so ignored them.

It was at times like this she rather wished she had a watch. Most of the time Pixie relied on others to get her to where she needed to be; if they got up to head to class she assumed it was time she needed to go as well, and she knew someone would always tell her when the next Hogsmeade weekend was. Usually that suited her quite well, she was just the right side of being organised that she managed to be in the right place at the right time. This evening though felt a little...off. She wondered whether she should go and fetch some homework to pass the time, but decided against it. She didn't want to miss anything and besides, how much was she going to get done in the next four or five minutes?

She glanced up as someone else entered the common room, apparently looking for something. She recognised him, Freddie something. They'd been in the same year until...well, until she wasn't any more, and hadn't really talked much since then. As he walked over she smiled. "Hi, are you joining the club as well? I wonder where everyone else is..? The poster said 7 'o clock..."

@Freddie Snyder

Truth be told Freddie wasn’t sure if the ‘Dare’ club was a real thing or just some sort of prank some students played on others. However, it sounded fun and he was going to check it out. He wasn’t sure he had memorised the date and time correctly but he felt certain that the meeting was in the Gryffindor common room where he spent a lot of time now anyway, usually trying to prepare for his exams and getting distracted every so often.

After dinner Freddie had made his way back to the common room, looking around hopefully that there was indeed a club meeting now so that he had a (not exactly good) excuse to skip studying tonight. He was greeted by Pixie, one of the countless Tricketts at the school. She had once been in his year and then had repeated a year so that she was now a year below him.

“Hi Pixie. Oh, you’re here for the club, too?” he asked, sounding somewhat relieved. “I wasn’t sure about the time. Forgot to write it down and then the poster was gone so I am not even certain it’s today,” he grinned sheepishly and then shrugged.

“Do you have any idea who runs the club?” He wanted to ask if she was certain that it was a real club but felt that it was too embarrassing to ask such a question.

Grinning, Pixie relaxed a bit. Clearly she wasn't the only one who expected the club to be happening now, which meant everything was going to be fine. "Yeah. It sounded like fun but..." she looked around, shrugging "maybe I got the time wrong, or something. Danika said it was at seven, but I didn't see the poster, so who knows?" Certainly there didn't seem to be anyone else wanting to join them just yet, so maybe she'd got the time wrong and they were a bit early or something.

"Nope" she said, sounding the P loudly "Like I said, I just heard about it and thought it sounded like fun. You'd think they'd have found a better place to meet than the common room, though. I mean, if I was organising a club like this I'd want to meet next to the Forbidden Forest or something, see who was brave enough to turn up!" she was joking, but at the same time not really joking. Idly, she reached into the pocket of her robes (which she hadn't bothered to change out of after dinner) and found a new packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. She'd bought them on her last Hogsmeade trip, shoved them in her pocket to make a dull class go more quickly, and forgotten about them.

Now, remembering the supposed name of the club, she brought them out of her pocket and shook the box enticingly. "Fancy a challenge?" she asked, a glint in her eye "I pick one out for you to eat, and then you pick one for me, and we have to eat the whole thing. First one to refuse loses the game..." She grinned and, without waiting fo an answer carefully ripped open the box, revealing the multicoloured contents.

“Yeah, maybe,” Freddie agreed. “It would be a shame to miss it. I really wish the poster had been up longer.” He looked around, hoping for someone to join them for the club meeting but there was nobody around who seemed interested in that.

“Absolutely,” he nodded as Pixie said that the club sounded fun. “Yeah… I wonder if it’s really exclusively for Gryffindors. I mean, by reputation a dare club suits us most but I know a few students from other houses who might like the thrill of it, too.”

Freddie laughed when Pixie asked him if he fancied a challenge. “Bertie Bott’s Beans?” he laughed. “Sure, why not! So which one do you want me to eat?” he asked. Since he didn’t have a lot of money at his disposal Freddie rarely bought sweets and had only tasted Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans a few times. His experience with these particular sweets wasn’t vast and he wasn’t even sure if colour of the bean gave away which flavour he ought to expect.

"I hadn't thought of that" she said curiously. Freddie was right; a club that met in their common room by definition was not going to be inclusive to other houses. That, more than anything else made Pixie wonder whether she'd perhaps messed up on the location rather than the time. Still, maybe if they were doing some sort of dare themselves others might join in and a club could form by accident. It was unlikely, but Pixie didn't tend to concern herself with what might or might not be probably.

She shook the box of beans and studied them thoughtfully. She'd eaten enough of them (and played this game often enough) that she knew which ones were likely to be tasty (that green one was sure to be apple flavoured), which were questionable (pure white with blue speckles. Either egg or toothpaste) and which would be completely revolting (lurid purple. The only one of that colour, invariably tasting of common room carpet and not an experience she wanted to repeat). She decided to offer Frddie one of the middlingly-nasty ones, hoping he would assume she'd picked one of the worst and thus lulling him into a false sense of security. She chose one that was pale orange and looked quite innocent, but she knew there was a good chance it would either be cheese or some kind of bitter flower. Either way, it wouldn't be very nice, but he should feel like he'd passed the first round. "This one" she said, pointing to the innocent-looking sweet.

As she waited for Freddie's reaction and wondered which bean he would pick for her, a couple of third years appeared from their dormitory. Pixie was only vaguely listening, but she heard the words 'club' and 'defence'. She was about to tune out the conversation when one of them said 'dare' and suddenly she sat up straighter. "Freddie - I think we messed up. There's a club in the defence against the dark arts classroom, I just heard those boys talking about it." While an evening spent eating the beans could be fun, on the other hand, if they were right, it would be even more fun if a dozen people were all cheering each other on to each the most disgusting ones.

"Shall we go down and see?" she asked, getting to her feet. She waited for Freddie to agree and then led the way out of the portrait hole, hoping they were going to find the location of the new club this time.

[out]

Pixie shook the box of beans and looked at them way too long to make Freddie feel that her choice would be random. She knew how the beans tasted and would probably offer him something really disgusting so he’d spit it out and she’d win. However, the boy was determined not to spit it out. If it was disgusting he’d just swallow it down and maybe eat another one right after it to get rid of the awful taste. This, obviously, could go on for a while.

Pixie chose a pale orange bean and Freddie picked it up. He looked at it for a moment, thinking that it did look rather innocent. Then he put it into his mouth and wrinkled his nose when he tasted its bitter flavour. Quickly he swallowed and shook his head. “Ugh,” he said but was spared having to make another comment as Pixie had picked up from some boys that they were going to a classroom for the dare club.

He nodded, “yeah, I guess a classroom does make more sense.”

Pixie already got to her feet and Freddie nodded again. He was eager to go and find out what the dare club would be like. Maybe he’d only be there for the first meeting but a true Gryffindor would not pass on the opportunity to prove their bravery.

“Sure, let’s go,” he said, following Pixie’s lead.

[end]