Personal Possessions ((Jack))

[Jasmine Anderson]

It was hard for Jasmine to concentrate. Her mind was cluttered with so many thoughts of Brantley which couldn’t be organized. How was he going to deal after his mother died? Was he going to stop taking his medicine? What about Ellie? Honestly, Jasmine didn’t know if she could be strong enough to help Brantley. She had lost her parents at the same time when she was eight, but Brantley didn’t. His father had died first and now his mother was beginning to die. What Jasmine admired about her boyfriend the most was his courage. Even though it taught Brantley how to keep all his feelings bottled inside, she still loved him for it. Sometimes Jasmine wished she could do that herself, but her emotions were just too strong. Even if she could suppress anything, it will still show through her eyes. Jasmine’s eyes were the key to knowing exactly how she felt. She hated being so emotional. It was a curse, but sometimes a blessing. Sighing, Jasmine ran her hands through her dark hair as she closed her eyes. Her mind fell silent for a second before another question popped up out of nowhere. Groaning, she buried her face into her cradled arms, taking a deep breath. This was probably a time when Jasmine really needed to talk to Brantley, but he had two more classes before dinner. It was strange. Even though Brantley should be the one breaking down…Jasmine was. She had a good reason too. His family meant the world to Jasmine. Heck she was even living with them.

Taking a deep breath Jasmine slowly released the air. She really needed to start working on her potions project. Her potion was already brewed and tested all she had to do was write the essay. Taking a hair tie from the front pocket of her bag, Jasmine pulled her hair into a messy bun as she repositioned herself in the chair. Pulling her knees up to her chest, Jasmine flipped through the pages of notes that were sprawled out on the table top in front of her. She couldn’t continue to worry about Brantley. He didn’t want her too, but it was so hard not too. Rubbing the back of her neck, her hazel eyes gazed over each word as her mind silently pondered how to start the essay. Picking the quill off from the side of the paper, she leaned forward scribbling words down onto the parchment. She had a paragraph done until she was stuck. Sitting back into the chair, Jasmine looked around the Student Lounge for the first time that hour. There weren’t many students; only two other sixth years playing wizarding chess in the corner. Jasmine stared at the board game watching as the knight’s sword smashed into the queen. She could never really understand how to play the game. Sighing, Jasmine refocused her mind back to her essay, her quill scratching mutely across the sandy paper.

Dotting the period at the end of the last paragraph Jasmine smiled triumphantly at her work. Rolling the parchment up nicely, she tied it was a blue ribbon setting it snugly into her book. Collecting her things, she left the lounge not even realizing her essay was left behind. Her mind was mainly focused on trying to find Sapphire back in the Common Room. It wasn’t until Jasmine was halfway up the stairs when it dawned on her that she left her essay. Her eyes grew slightly wide as she bounded back down the stairs, jogging slowly back toward the way which she came. Pushing the large oak doors open, her eyes scanned the table where she had been working before. There was a boy sitting in her spot looking through the book and was just about to unroll her essay. Quickly making her way toward him, Jasmine rested her hands on the table. “Um….that’s mine…could I have it back?”

[Jack Reid]

Jack Reid sat in the Student Lounge, reading his Herbology assignments over a few times, trying to replay them over and over in his mind, just so he could actually remember them for the possibility of a pop quiz the next day. He was so frustrated with the fact that he wasn’t a good test taker, and that likely no matter how much he studied, he would likely do bad on the quiz. It may have been a bad philosophy to have, but it had proven itself to be true, with each and every test he would take. He could study for hours, yet still not retain anything he had just studied. Of course, so many of the people in his house didn’t have this problem, so they couldn’t very well help him now, could they? Just thinking of the test made his jaw clench and his anger burn up, with hatred for the very test that might not even be given the next day. Jack had to get up and do something. He had to get up and walk around, stretch his legs, and get his mind off the homework and long night that was ahead of him. He closed the book, scanning the room for people he might know. He turned at a ninety degree angle, noticing a few people, but no one that he knew quite personally.

That was a shocker. Someone that Jack didn’t know quite personally. He seemed sometimes to know more people and families than even the professors he had. Yet, did he talk or even personally associated with them in front of other people? Of course not. That wasn’t the way of a Slytherin, and he respected his heritage. Looking around, he constantly saw more and more people, some he knew, others he didn’t. But it didn’t matter as much, because there weren’t too many people in there for him to feel embarrassed by walking around the lounge so much. He walked over to a seemingly empty table, sat down, and noticed that there was a book and a rolled up sheet of people sitting there. Jack needed this desk, so he could just open up the paper and find out who’s it was, and have them come pick it up. He glanced at the book, uninterested, and proceeded to open the sheet of parchment. Suddenly, a girl walked up rather quickly, demanding her paper back. Jack suddenly felt appaled. “What do you mean, yours? I’ve heard that if you leave something in the lounge, it becomes rightfully owned by the person who found it. Of course, I could be wrong, and messing up all of my information.” Jack dangled the sheet of paper right in front of her face, yanking it out her reach every single time she lunged for it. This was a quite fun game. Jack wondered how long it might go on until someone complained. “Do you really want it back? It seems pretty bad and short for a paper” he said, with an attitude in mind.

[Jasmine Anderson]

Jasmine’s palms rested flat against the table, her hazel eyes watching the boy. She glanced down at his tie noticing the Slytherin colors. Oh great. Jasmine wasn’t in any kind of mood to deal with an arrogant, stuck up jerk. Maybe this guy wasn’t one of those typical Slytherins she dealt with on a daily basis. There were some okay people from that house, but those people just ignored the so called, dirty blood. Jasmine was half-blooded but both of her parents attended Hogwarts, so she really didn’t think of it as too bad. Her eyes grew slightly loud as he told kept hold of the essay, telling her that it should be his. So this wasn’t going to be easy. Well, at least it was giving Jasmine more practice with dealing with such people. Normally, she would just ignore them and walk away, but she wasn’t that shy girl anymore. Jasmine was a bit diffident at times, but she was working on changing that not so desirable personality trait. Reaching forward toward the parchment, the paper slipped from her fingers as the boy jerked it away. “Can I please have my essay back?” she asked reached out again, yet for it to have been pulled from her own grasp.

Sighing, Jasmine rested her hands back down on the table. “How do you even know that it isn’t good enough? I haven’t seen you at all in Professor Snape’s NEWTs potions class.” Glaring at him, Jasmine took a closer look of the boy. She had seen him around a few times, but he most definitely wasn’t in her Potions class. There weren’t many people that continued on with the course; mostly because of Professor Snape. Jasmine didn’t even know how she ever got the confidence to walk into that classroom. Maybe it was her ambition to work on becoming a healer that gave her that boost. Crossing her arms across her chest she continued to glare at him. “If it doesn’t even reach your standards, than could I possibly have it back? Since it holds no use to you?” Jasmine had a feeling that he wasn’t going to give in that easily. This was the primary example of why she hated most Slytherins, though this situation was brining back memories of how she met Brantley. He wasn’t going to help her this time, unless he had some certain radar that detected when Jasmine was under stress. No matter how amazing Brantley was, he wasn’t a super boyfriend.

“You know I can dock points from Slytherins,” she informed, her eyebrows rising slightly above her hair line. “So you can either give me that essay, or lose points for your house. What do you chose?”

[Jack Reid]

Jack watched as the girl got all indignant on him. It was an essay that she had written, apparently. She reached out for it, as he dangled it in front of her face, and he took it from her grasp right before she got it. This was fun. He needed a break from the stresses of the day, and picking on someone seemed to be a great way to do just that. She was getting frustrated, as he could plainly tell. She rested her hands down on the table, sighing at him. She seemed to realize this was a game that wouldn’t be won easily. Jack had no intention of giving her the essay unless she came up with the right way of approaching him, and as of right now, she was completely flunking. “Yeah, I’m in the class. I just choose to do the work outside of class for the most part instead of actually going to class. I go enough to get by cranky old Snape’s standards. I do my own thing, and if you’ve got a problem,” he leveled his eyes to hers, “get over it.” Jack smirked as he sat back in his chair, skimming over the slip of parchment in his hand that she wanted so desperately.

She went on about how she should be able to have it back because it didn’t meet his standards, and he laughed out loud. “Oh it holds use to me,” Jack said. “It may mean nothing to me as an essay of mediocre work, but by my holding onto it, you stay here and continue to bug me for it. That’s entertaining, in my book. So go on, keep going. It’s enjoyable to watch you get so frustrated over such a simple thing.” She should know better. She was dealing with a full, pure-blooded Slytherin. From her robes, he could tell she was in Ravenclaw, and therefore, she could be full of dirty blood. He didn’t want to get into that can of worms, because it made him worse than he needed to be, but if she brought it up, he’d have no choice but to defend his house.

The girl hadn’t introduced herself yet. He was curious as to who she was, and why she wanted this stupid parchment so bad. Instead of getting what he wanted to know, he got attitude from the girl. She didn’t seem old enough to be the Head Girl, but apparently she was. She threatened to take away points from his house, and they were down pretty far as it was, so he decided against it. “Geez, girl. Sorry. No need to get all snippy on me.” Jack chuckled as he tossed the paper in the air, towards her, not nearly far enough for her to catch it. “It was just a joke. I was going to give it back.”

[Jasmine Anderson]

Jasmine let out a heavy sigh as the Slytherin boy still wouldn’t give up this ridiculous game. Why were people like this? Did it just make them feel better about themselves on the inside? Well, Jasmine will never understand. How could such a bad deed make someone feel like they’re doing something right in the world? Life was complicated. Human beings were the most complex though with all different internal and external qualities. The theory also applied at Hogwarts with each house. Though there were some expectations to the whole ‘labeling’ fixation. Jasmine wasn’t one of those. She was had the many known qualities of the Ravenclaw house, and being over protective of her work was one of them. Normally just would just walk away and give up if she were in a kind of predicament that she was now, but she had evolved so much over the years. She wasn’t all that shy anymore and finally found her voice. Even though Brantley had helped with that aspect of her life, she was truly grateful for it. She hated being stepped all over and giving up if something seemed to far out of reach. Nothing was ever impossible. It just took a lot of will power to overcome the obstacles in life. This was exactly what Jasmine needed to do. Anyway, this guy was messing with her when she wasn’t in the best of moods. This isn’t the best thing to do with Jasmine Anderson.

As she threatened to dock points from Slytherin, the boy finally gave up his game, handing over Jasmine’s essay. Snatching it quickly from his hands, she set her bag hard down on the table top, the wood shaking slightly. “Thank you,” Jasmine said staring into the boys face for a moment before glancing back down into her bag. It was amazing how people changed once she used that kind of verbal threat against someone. Being Head Girl did have its perks, and this was most certainly one of them. If jasmine hadn’t had that kind of power, she probably would have never gotten her essay back. “Well, I wouldn’t have to get ‘snippy’ with you if you would have just handed over my essay in the first place,” she commented zipping her bag up and setting the strap carefully on her right shoulder. Moving the weight so it sat more comfortably she took a couples steps backwards from the table. “Really? You were going to give it back? When exactly? A week from today?” Jasmine’s hazel eyes glazed over with coldness as she just shook her head and turned on her heel to leave. Just as she made a couple steps away from the boy, she stopped turning back around.

“Actually,” she began walking back toward the boy and setting her bag down on the chair across from him. “I have a question.” Nodding her head she crossed her arms across her chest, her eyes meeting his. “Why are most Slytherins like this? I never will understand, but maybe you could try to explain it to me.” Jasmine didn't even know this boy, but why woud she? They weren't going to be friends anytime soon. That would most certainly be the day pigs fly if she became friends with him. Actually, it could happen. Jasmine had been friends with a few Slytherins in her lifetime. Most of them turned to this exact mannerism leaving her behind in the dust. Maybe that was one of the reasons she had such bitterness toward the house.