The Way He Does the Things He Does ((Jazz))

[Vanessa Baer]

Vanessa ran her hand through her hair as she walked through the corridors. There were a few lingering students, some of them laughing as a boy got pushed into a girl. Vanessa smiled, amused, at the blushes on their faces as she continued down the corridor toward the Great Hall. She was still in her school robes, thinking even if she wasn’t going to eat in the Great Hall, she could at least look presentable when she grabbed some food and dashed out into the Room of Requirement. Her black hair was curled slightly and she had a green flower pinned over her left ear. The flower had been charmed so it wouldn’t fall out, or flop, or do any of those other things that the hideous green flowers would do. Vanessa entered the Great Hall, quickly scanned the Gryffindor table before she was satisfied that Jeremiah wasn’t sitting down. Jeremiah… her fiancé… it was such a weird term, but nonetheless it felt so right. Vanessa’s smile was still on her face, but it was secretive as she reached over one of her house mates and plucked a fruit from the bowl in front of Jordan Cortes. “Why so smiley, Smiley?” Her fellow Hufflepuff 7th year. Vanessa raised an eyebrow and tossed the apple up in the air before catching it and grinning even wider than her secretive smile, “Every day is worth smiling about.” She said in reply. Jordan laughed and nodded, “Hear hear!” Vanessa laughed as she saw Jordan’s eyes flicker to Braeden and then back to Vanessa before she blushed and shoved a carrot in her mouth. “See you later,” Vanessa called as she rushed off.

She hummed a song underneath her breath as she headed toward the Room of Requirement. When she reached the spot, she paced three times thinking of what she needed (more like wanted), and after the third pace the door appeared. Vanessa opened it and the moment she stepped inside, music flooded around her. She closed the door and looked around her. It was just a room, with windows that let in the light. Beneath the windows were rows and rows of pretty flowers. It was perfect. Vanessa just wanted to sing, and dance, have fun and think. She couldn’t do any of those in the Great Hall. She would have liked it if Jeremiah was with her, but she figured he might be hungry and want to eat dinner unlike her, she could deal with an apple. Vanessa bit into the red apple as she kicked off her shoes and shrugged off her robes (she held the apple with her teeth when she did this). She wriggled her toes and then stood on the tips of them as she took the apple from her mouth. As she chewed, Vanessa danced with her eyes closed to the song. It was a familiar song, because it was one she wrote, but after awhile (and after finishing her apple), Vanessa grew bored of the tune and closed her eyes… I need the core to disappear and for this song to come on… She sang the lyrics in her head and then soon enough she heard it. Vanessa opened her eyes, happy to see the apple core was gone, and then smiled before taking the flower out of her head and throwing it into the air.

“You’ve got a smile so bright; you know you could have been a candle. I’m holding you so tight; you know you could have been a handle. The way you swept me off my feet, you know you could have been a broom. And, baby, you smell so sweet; you know you could have been some perfume.” Vanessa sang along with the song as she spun in a circle with her arms spread outward. She stopped spinning, lifted her hands above her head, and twirled her right wrist while moving her left hand down. She hopped and moved to the beat a little, “As pretty as you are, you know you could have been a flower. If good looks were a minute, you know you could have been an hour. The way you stole my heart, you know you could have been a crook. And, baby, you’re so smart; you know you could have been a school book.” Vanessa giggled as she felt grass beneath her feet. Sure enough, when she looked down, there was grass growing from the stone flooring. She smiled and spun around once more. This time when she stopped spinning, she spotted Jasmine in front of her. “Jazz!” She shrieked with delight while pulling her best friend into a hug and starting to dance with her. Vanessa couldn’t help it, she was in a good mood, and she wanted her best friend to be in a good mood with her.

[Jasmine Anderson]

Jasmine had been distracted from everything lately. All she did was just sit there, staring at something, her mind either silenced, or running over the endless possibilities. It felt like it was the only thing she could do. Just sit there, feeling useless, like a lump of coal. This wasn’t her usual habit, but it was just so hard to move one. Jasmine was a very…sensitive person. It was very easy to bruise. With just the right word, or action, it could hurt for a long time. Luckily, Jasmine was one to forgive easily, but was she going to forgive Brantley so easily? “What am I going to do?” Jasmine questioned short in her mind staring off out of the window. Her hazel eyes were filled with such loneliness, that they looked like they didn’t belong to her. She sat there in the student lounge staring off into space as the first year next to her tried to get a simple levitating charm. The eleven year old was hard concentrating on that white feather that she didn’t even notice Jasmine wasn’t paying any attention. “You’re just going to have to move on. It will all be better soon with time.” the voice answered back which made Jasmine groan as she propped her elbow on the table, her chin resting in her palm. Her fingers drummed across her cheek silently as her gaze was still out the window. She was sick of this. Sick of feeling so empty, guilty, and miserable. All Jasmine wanted was him out of her mind, and by him, she meant Brantley.

Jumping back to her senses when she heard a loud explosion, Jasmine stared at the younger girl beside her. She just coughed, shaking her head, her brown braids moving about. “I’m never going to get this,” she mumbled which made Jasmine suddenly snapped back to reality. “Don’t say that. You can do it. Just practice that movement Professor Flitwick taught you. You have to get the movement of the wand right, and then move onto how you would say the charm.” Jasmine smiled warmly at her as she flew on the dust of black remains of the old feather. Taking out a new one she set it in front of the girl nodded her head. She just gave a loud sigh before taking a deep breath, and swishing her wand. With just one simple word the feather was up in the air, a gleeful smile on the younger students face. “See!” Jasmine laughed as the feather fell back down on the table. “Just practice that some more, than you’re going to be just fine.” The girl just nodded beginning to put her things away. “You don’t seem yourself Jasmine…” she heard her whisper which made Jasmine stare unexpectedly at the younger girl. “I’m just fine. What do you mean?” Watching curiously as the girl stood from the table to put her things into the little backpack, she waited for an answer. “Well, for one, you’re distant. Normally you concentrate well than what you just did. Secondly, it’s the look in your eyes. Everyone knows you’re having problems with Brantley Chapman.” Jasmine sighed as she rested her head into her palms. So much for her spotless reputation in staying out of the grapevine.

“I don’t know why you would stay away from him; he is after all the most romantic guy at school. Almost every girl would die to be in the position that you were in.” Did this girl have a crush on him or something? Of course Jasmine knew that. “Boys aren’t worth that much trouble, but I would get him back before anything else goes wrong,” she finished with a smile and nodding a thanks before leaving. Jasmine stared after the first year her eyebrows still raised into her hairline. Was she going so low to asking advice from a first year? Oh wonderful. Running her fingers through her hair, Jasmine stood up, picking her back pack off from the floor. She had to find Vanessa. “Nessa….Nesssa.,,, Where would she be?” Jasmine questioned quickly walking back and forth down the corridor. Jumping when she saw a door open on the side, she nodded knowing that her best friend was probably in the room of requirement working on music or something. There weren’t many places at Hogwarts that had pianos. Turning the knob, Jasmine pushed open the door and was instantly greeted by the cheery voice of Nessa before being pulled into a dance. Groaning, Jasmine swayed slightly before taking her friends hand and pulling her down on the ground beside her. “What are you so happy about Vanessa?” Jasmine asked staring into her friends face, searching for some kind of answer. No. It was not unusual to find Vanessa so happy, but this was like…a different happy. The kind that had a reason behind it. “You better tell me what’s going on.”

[Vanessa Baer]

Perhaps it was naivety, perhaps she was blinded by love and happiness, but whatever it was – Vanessa was too smiley and too happy to see that Jasmine perhaps wasn’t all that willing to dance around and giggle and talk about weddings. The alarms that would normally go off loud and clear inside Vanessa when she looked at her best friends tired eyes and lifeless smile were quashed and quieted from the music and more squeals from herself. Jasmine pulled Vanessa down to the ground, who promised herself she would stay still long enough to tell Jasmine what had her so exuberant. But she couldn’t. Within seconds, Vanessa was rolling around on the grass with that smile still on her face. She wiggled her toes in between the green grass and giggled before rolling over and lying on her side to face Jasmine. Her head was propped up in her right hand while her elbow was propped up on the ground. Her left thumb fidgeted with the engagement ring on her left ring finger ever so subtly so Jasmine wouldn’t notice. It wasn’t that she didn’t want her to notice, it was just… well… that was how her mother found out and she would rather tell her best friend the good news rather than have to explain it off the bat. Again, the blinding of happiness made Vanessa completely over look how Jasmine was acting. She was looking at everything through rose coloured glasses, and there wasn’t anything that wasn’t happy in her world. Not at this precise moment in time. Everything was perfect. Positively perfect. Vanessa grinned to herself secretly before she turned so she was lying on her stomach and her hands were laced together. She looked at Jasmine out of the corner of her eye and then tilted her head with a happy sigh, “I love life. I love love. I love life and I love love.

“If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago if I ever saw myself getting engaged, I would have said ‘nope! I’m content here!’ But now… that’s all changed. It’s such an enormous change, one that will have this glamorous effect on my life. I mean, no it won’t be easy, but it’ll be splendid all on its own. You have to believe me, Jazz. It’s… indescribable. The only thing I could do to describe it would be to burst into song and I think I’m out of entertaining ditties to sing. The other half of me, though… feels like it could sing for eternity. With happy songs never ending.” Vanessa beamed at her best friend before sitting up and moving closer to the Ravenclaw. “Maybe I’m being too cliché about it all, you know; girl and guy get engaged, girl melts into a huge puddle of goo. But… it’s… just the way it is.” She threw her arms around Jasmine as she squealed in delight, “I’m engaged! And you’ll never guess to whom…” Vanessa said the last part with so much sarcasm she had to give Jasmine at teasing glance, “It’s… indescribable. Really. There is not one word in the English language that could possibly describe this feeling I’m experiencing.” She smiled again before falling back onto the soft cushiony grass with her arms outstretched in front of her.

Her stomach did somersaults and flips, it was like it was taking up a part time job of being an acrobat. She could see it now, the drum roll, the trapeze, the flip, and the land. There was applause, and the applause was the beating of her heart. Vanessa looked at Jasmine, her excitement slowly dimming into something she can control. She looked into her best friend’s hazel eyes and smiled softly, “Who would have thought? Me, Vanessa, getting engaged to anyone, much less Jeremiah who is amazing beyond all words of description.”

[Jasmine Anderson]

Jasmine raised and eyebrow at Vanessa as he friend began to roll around in the grass. What was making her so giddy at the moment? Confused, Jasmine waited as Vanessa just rolled around on the ground finally sliding over on her side, fingering something on her finger. Looking down slowly at her friends finger’s she almost flipped over with shock at what she saw. Right on her left ring finger was a beautiful ring. No way. Blinking twice, Jasmine looked away before looking back down. Yep. It was still there. Vanessa was going to get married? Jeremiah asked her to be his wife? When did this all happen? Why wasn’t she informed right away? So many questions were running through Jasmine’s mind that it made her completely forget about her troubles with Brantley. She and Vanessa hadn’t been hanging out much lately, both to concern in their own relationships. Well, Jasmine surely was going to be the third wheel now probably. Since Brantley and her were never going to anything other than people who weren’t even friends, Jasmine surely was going to take more of an effort to hang out with her best friend more. “Oh my god Nessa…” she finally whispered blinking a couple more times before looking in her friends face. Happiness outlined every corner of Vanessa face that almost made Jasmine want to smile. “You’re going to get married!” Taking her friend’s hand quickly, she examined the ring, twisting it barely. It gleamed under the rays of the sun peeking through the window. “I would have never thought….Jeremiah asking you to marry him…don’t take it wrong…I’m just shocked that all…”

Vanessa continued on her happy babble as Jasmine just smiled a small smile allowing her friend to talk on. She was just so…blissful, and don’t get it wrong, Jasmine was happy for her best friend too, but there was just something holding her back that would allow her to roll around with her in the grass. Jumping as Nessa wrapped her arms around Jasmine’s neck, she tugged on her friends black hair gently. “You’re getting married to Jeremiah….Vanessa Baer….hmmm….sounds good to me.” Watching as her friend fell onto her back, Jasmine brought her knees up to her chest, leaning up against the stone wall. The sun was shinning through the window, its warm rays casting down on her back. “You are going to tell me everything that happened that night with you too…” looking up from her knees she sent Vanessa a sideway glance smiling. “I want to know the juicy details about how he did it, and any thing you remember him saying….” Jasmine stopped before raising her eyebrows again. “Am I going to be the maid of honor? Surely I do deserve that position don’t I?”

[Vanessa Baer]

Vanessa giggled as Jasmine put her first name and Jeremiah’s last name together, “It should, it’s only a one letter change.” She looked at the ring on her finger and positively melted. This was really happening. She was going to be with Jeremiah Baer for the rest of her life and she couldn’t be any happier. Vanessa chewed on her bottom lip, still smiling, and looked over at Jasmine as she demanded Vanessa tell her all about the proposal. She let out a laugh when Jasmine asked if she were going to be the maid of honor, nodding. “Of course you are! My best friend? How could you not be the maid of honor?” Vanessa squealed again and looked at her ring once more. She went back to the day he proposed, recalling his words, his actions, and the way she felt when he did it. She rolled over the details in her mind, picturing his face when he asked. That whole moment had been so absolutely perfect. After a quiet moment, Vanessa began to tell what happened. She didn’t leave out a single thing. “Well, a couple of days before the proposal, I received a letter from RAM – you know, that really good music academy that I’ve been wanting to get into for years? I told Jeremiah about it almost immediately, and I think I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to go. Apparently he was okay with the decision at first, and then something must’ve clicked inside him because a couple of days later, he asked me to meet him in the Courtyard.

“So, Potions was slow, but I finally got out and went to the Courtyard. He was sitting by the fountain and I couldn’t resist, so I splashed him and got him wet. And then we sat down and he asked me about Potions, and then I asked him why he asked me to meet him. He seemed to stutter a bit, and was nervous. He said he didn’t want to lose what we have and then he got down on one knee… right then and there. He pulled out this ring, and asked me to marry him. It was… amazing. But… I had to ruin it.” Vanessa frowned here, because if there was one thing she would have changed about that moment it would have been her initial reaction, “It took me a moment to say yes, because there was a part of me that thought it as all way too soon. Ultimately, though, my heart was shouting at me to tell me that this was what I really wanted more than anything. I said yes. And the rest is pretty much history. I’m now engaged to be married.”