Forgive and Forget ((Lanie))

[Jasmine Anderson]

Jasmine skillfully made her way through the busy streets of Hogsmeade toward Honeydukes Sweet Shop. She wasn't expected at the Chubby since it was a day off of work for her, which left Jasmine nothing to do. Normally she would spend her work-free days at the stables grooming the horses or just out on a peaceful trail ride. Unfortunately she didn't have the luxury anymore. Even though the rod that was placed in her had been taken out weeks ago, she wasn't allowed to do anything. Jasmine had gone almost seven months without horses, just only to relive that very terrifying dream of that night. Lana had been stressing that it wasn't her fault, but deep down inside that’s exactly how Jasmine felt. Only if she could have stayed in control and keep herself calm she wouldn't be going through this pain. That’s all Jasmine could ever think about. The 'if onlys'. If only I had done this or that, it was just tearing her apart. She had gone along like everything was fine, but no one really knew exactly how she felt inside. Yes, it was wrong to still blame her self for something that wasn't entirely her fault, but she couldn't help it. Horseback riding was a dangerous sport, but no one ever mentioned the emotional pain when going through something traumatic. People had worse happen but they got right back in the saddle, but Jasmine was a coward. She only dwelled on what she could have done better than just forgive and forget.

Pushing the door softly open, Jasmine entered the small shop. The smell of Acid pops, chocoballs, and sugar quills, all kinds of candy known to any witch or wizard hung in the air. There were at least a dozen people wondering around. Hogsmeade during the summer was almost as busy as during the school year. Quickly making her way around the shop, she scooped out for just the right candies. She hadn’t eaten at all that day and putting candy on an empty stomach was bad, but she can eat dinner later at The Three Broomsticks later on. It had only taken her a little while to pick out all the candy she wanted. She had two boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, four sugar quills, two chocolate frogs, and even a couple sticks of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. Carrying her selection toward the counter, Jasmine set all the items out for the clerk to add up. Digging through her pockets for money, she finally handed the clerk the right amount of change as he set the candies inside a bag. Smiling and thanking him, she quickly took her bag and set back off into the street. She really didn’t want to go into another store or even head toward The Three Broomsticks. Noticing a small bench open, Jasmine made her way toward it, taking a seat.

It was really a perfect day to be outside. The sun was shinning and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Jasmine’s mood had been lifted slightly, but she wasn’t exactly herself. She had just taken out a book and started reading. Her legs were crossed one over the other, and the book lay flat open on her lap. Luckily, Jasmine hadn’t finished all her candy was currently working on the flavor beans. Jasmine’s mind was elsewhere as she just stared blankly at the book. She couldn’t concentrate on the words and she wished that one of her friends could be with her. Jasmine just wanted to tell someone how she felt inside and hear from the people who cared truly about her that everything was alright. Bringing her knees towards her chest she tried hard to read the book but inside started to sing very quietly toward herself. "I open my eyes. I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light. I can't remember how. I can't remember why I'm lying here tonight. And I can't stand the pain. And I can't make it go away. No I can't stand the pain.” The sound of commotion stopped Jasmine from continuing on singing. Looking up from the book, she let her legs fall back down on the ground wondering what was happening.

((*huggles* I was having another one of my emotional break downs while writing this post. It felt good getting off exactly how I felt, and maybe Lanie can help Jasmine like how all my friend's helped me. *sits down on couch while offering a bowl of popcorn* I don't think you understand how this post is going affect me.))

[lanie]

Lanie Henries followed her older sister Sherrie through Hogsmeade. Her long brown hair flying behind her and her sunglasses were perched on top of her head. Sherrie had a type grasp on Lanie's hand, but it wasn't like Lanie couldn't find her if they were seperated. Who could miss Sherrie's stark white hair? A smile spread across Lanie's face at that thought, and she ran a bit faster to catch up with the older one. Coming from a semi big family was always something Lanie adored whether it was because she was never bored, or because she really did love her brothers and sisters - who knew? But Lanie couldn't see her life without Sherrie, Chantelle, Weston, and Garron. Not only were they unique on their own levels, they all got along so well that it was scary. Sherrie was the singer, she could sing any part in any opera perfectly. Of course, that took years and years of practice. Chantelle was the actress, being the drama queen she is - it was only a matter of time before she started acting on stage. Lanie was the witch of the family, literally and figuratively. She had her moments when blowing up at people was all that would solve her frustration and she was actually a broomstick flying witch. Weston could build almost anything with his hands. He even built the tree house that was in their backyard by himself. Garron was the artist. Even at his young age, he was amazing at drawing and painting.

The village of Hogsmeade was rather busy, then again it was during the summer season so that wasn't much of a surprise. Lanie didn't know if she liked having to weave through everyone though, actually Lanie had bumped into a few people a couple of times. She blamed Sherrie though because Sherrie's the one who made her do it. Dragging her here and there. They had just finished having lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and now Sherrie declared she wanted to go shopping. Of course, Lanie wasn't sure she wanted to go shopping with Sherrie in Hogsmeade. It wasn't that Sherrie hadn't gone shopping in Hogsmeade before - in fact about a fourth of her wardrobe was from shops in Hogsmeade, it was the fact that Sherrie might wear a shirt with the words, "Quidditch = life" to her muggle school and get asked questions. Lanie was afraid if muggles ever found out about the wizarding world it would be because of her wacko sister. Lanie was most likely over-reacting, but Sherrie wasn't exactly the most careful person in their family. Actually, she was the most reckless. Sherrie tugged on Lanie's hand, pulling her into a shop that appeared to sell neat looking knick-knacks that floated and did magical things. Lanie grimaced and followed Sherrie around the shop, seeing as Sherrie had finally let go of her death grip on her younger sister's hand. "Look at this, Lanie!" Sherrie exclaimed.

Lanie sighed and stepped up next to Sherrie, her arms crossed under her breasts. Sherrie was holding a glass figurine in the shape of a pygmy puff and the pygmy puff was doing random things. One second it was dancing, and the next it was walking around sniffing at Sherrie's palm. She seemed absolutely mezmerized by it. Lanie grinned and picked up the glass figurine, setting it down on the shelf again where it froze in it's original state. "If you want a pygmy puff we can buy you a pygmy puff. But honestly, you would be worried about breaking it, wouldn't you?" Lanie knew that if dropped on the floor, it wouldn't shatter and even if it did - it would fix itself. Magic was a marvelous thing that way. Sherrie sighed and nodded slowly, but then she recalled what Lanie said about a real pygmy puff and looked around the shop for it. Sherrie was sometimes rather clueless, "You can't get them here. I think they sell them in Diagon Alley." Sherrie smiled.

"Good, let's go there then!" And she was dragging Lanie out of the shop once more. Lanie pulled her hand free, and Sherrie turned to look at her. "What? Don't you want to go to Diagon Alley?" She asked, looking hurt but not really being hurt. Lanie shook her head and rolled her eyes. Sherrie was always 'get what I want, and get it now.' Never did she stop to admire anything or think things through. Hence her being reckless. Ever since Lanie could remember, Sherrie was the sibling who didn't care about the concequences. Once, she even begged Lanie for hours and hours to do some magic at home - even though Lanie explained to her that they weren't allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts. Sherrie hadn't cared. She wanted to see magic.

"You go, I think I'm going to stick around for a bit. I'll meet you back at home." She wasn't worried about Sherrie getting to Diagon Alley and then back home, she knew her way around rather well for a muggle. She even had her own wizarding money, and it wasn't like she couldn't change muggle money to wizarding money at Gringotts. Sherrie nodded and then turned to head toward the three broomsticks where she would use the floo network. Lanie sighed, and started to stroll through Hogsmeade. There was a small group of people around a man who seemed to be doing tricks, though you would think since he was a real wizard - they wouldn't be so impressed. These were muggle tricks though, so the wizards and witches were thoroughly mezmerized by the movement of his hands as he placed the ball in the cup and then took it out, showing them the empty cup. Even if he was horrible, they all applauded. That was when one of the purebloods who thought they were higher than everyone else started exclaiming they were allowing random muggles into Hogsmeade. He held Sherrie by her arm, and she was staring up at him with such defiance - Lanie felt a giggle rise out of her.

"Excuse me! I'm not a muggle! I'm a half blood witch!" Sherrie said, yanking her arm away. The man laughed heartily and looked down at her, "Oh really, where's ye wand?" Lanie watched as Sherrie crossed her arms, "It snapped in half! I was on my way to Diagon Alley to get a new one, before you yanked me out of the fireplace." The man looked a bit bewildered and then embarassed and then he sauntered off. Sherrie grinned mischeviously at Lanie and then headed back into the Three Broomsticks. Lanie shook her head again and then headed in the direction she was before, that's when she spotted someone she recognized from school. Jasmine Anderson - Ravenclaw Seeker and Captain. She was a sixth year, so a year above Lanie, but she usually kept to herself from what Lanie had seen. Quickly, Lanie made her way over and stood in front of her; "I think, that guy thought he was a muggle detector or something."

[Jasmine Anderson]

When Jasmine had looked up from her book she noticed that a large crowd had begun to form a few feet away. The people were gathering around a man who seemed to be performing a couple of muggle magic tricks. With a raised eyebrow and a curious look in her eyes she watched. Jasmine actually felt like standing up and joining to crowd, but decided just to stay put where she was. Everyone seemed to be in awe as he made the small rubber ball disappear from inside the cup. Didn't they know that it was just simple muggle trick? With trap doors and probably mirrors. Jasmine wasn’t an expert on muggle magicians but she knew enough that none of the tricks were real. How could those people be fooled easily? Maybe most of the people in the crowd were purebloods who knew nothing of the muggle world. Pondering upon the idea, she leaned back into the bench not taking her eyes off of the crowd. She remembered seeing magicians at birthday parties when she was younger. It was quite popular to have a magician do tricks while you got your face painted. There were always pony rides at those kind of childish parties and also pin the tale of the donkey. Most little kid’s birthday parties were huge and quite fun. Jasmine had always liked to get her face painted and ride on the tiny little ponies. There were still times she wished she was still a little girl.

Jasmine more comfortable back in the bench as the man continued with different tricks. Everyone still looked at him in awe and applauded for the most ridicules trick. Getting bored of watching the man’s tricks, Jasmine opened the book up and stared down at the words. She was feeling slightly better about herself but not enough to concentrate on reading. Maybe she could return home and just cook something to eat? Cooking always made her concentrate on what she was making not everything that was happening. That was exactly how she felt when horseback riding, but she would have to wait another month to be able to get the ok to ride. Looking back at the crowd she saw that a man had taken a girl by the arm roughly accusing them of being a muggle. The girl had white hair and someone stood next to her who Jasmine knew as Lanie. Maybe that girl the man had his grip on was her sister. Why were purebloods trying to band some muggles from Hogsmeade? It wasn’t like they had stumbled upon the village, they most obviously with someone who was a witch or a wizard. Jasmine felt like standing up to help but the girl seemed to be dealing with it well. He finally let go and everyone went on to their own business.

Quickly looking back down at her book, Jasmine tried for the millionth time to concentrate on reading. It was exactly working. Maybe it was wrong to make you do something else against you own will? Hearing Lanie speak, Jasmine looked up once again and smiled at the fifth year. “Some purebloods are like that. Their almost like blood hounds really, sniffing anything that they have their mind too.” Jasmine said with a friendly smile. She had never talked to Lanie, but rather liked the girl. Lanie always played a bit Quidditch, which made Jasmine wonder if she was going to try out for the team or not. Moving her things to the ground, she set a box of the jelly beans on her lap. “You can have a seat if you like Lanie,” she said calmly popping one of the beans into her mouth and handing the box over to the girl. "I know putting candy on an empty stomach is bad and spoils your dinner, but how can someone resit?"

[lanie]

Lanie grinned and sat down next to Jasmine, when she offered her Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans and asked how someone could resist candy, Lanie laughed and shook her head; "When that certain someone got a vomit flavoured one on her first try. So no thanks, Bertie Botts Beans have been crossed off my diet list." She stretched out her legs and put her arms above her head. Her fingers were latched together, so her knuckles cracked. It was a habit that her parents considered disgusting, but Lanie had found that she really didn't care. Actually, there were a lot of habits her parents found disgusting and unladylike. One being biting her nails. Lanie could never keep her nails in perfect shape - she always ended up biting them. Or chipping them while practicing for her try-out on the Quidditch team. She decided that this coming year she would try out because she felt she was ready for it. Entering her fifth year, and all, she had practiced for four years. She felt ready for the try out, besides it wasn't like she would be turned down - Lanie knew she was good. She wasn't cocky - she was confident.

"You know, that girl he had by the arm, was my sister - Sherrie. And she is a muggle, but a fabulous liar. Hence the quick thinking. Sherrie knows just about everything about the wizarding world, she's practically a witch without all the powers. So a squibb?" Lanie laughed out loud at that and shook her head, "She's the only one in my family who is remotely interested in the wizarding world. I have three other brothers and sisters. Sherrie's the eldest, and then Chantelle is a couple of years younger than her. I'm next at 15, then Weston. Garron's the youngest, and possibly the most annoying. But they always are aren't they? You would think Garron would be more interested in my world than Sherrie, but Garron is only interested in his video games." Lanie shook her head, wondering if she was talking too much she seemed to do that an awful lot. She was outgoing, but that didn't mean much. She wasn't too outgoing.