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Breakfast finishes uneventfully and the Hufflepuffs leave not long after, promising to meet the other girls in the library that afternoon. Alli looks skeptical at this idea, as it appears to involve studying, but Jenny talks her into it, and leaves the Hall looking rather smug about her success.
"I want to bake a cake for Miranda," Jenny announces to Emma once they've left the other girls' earshot. "There's kitchens here, right? Would they let me bake, do you think?"
Emma supposes that they might, but has no idea where the kitchens are, so Jenny flounces off to find an older Hufflepuff to ask. The girl she asks for directions takes this very seriously, writing them out carefully step by step for her before handing it over. When asked about permission for baking, the older girl shrugs and says "the house elves probably won't care, just ask," which then dovetails into a conversation explaining house elves, but eventually Jenny thinks she has some idea what she's doing and heads for the kitchens.
Thanks to the extremely comprehensive directions, Jenny finds the kitchen immediately with no trouble. Convincing the house elves in the kitchen that yes, she's been cooking for years, no, she is not going to try anything fancy, and yes, she will stay out of their way, takes a little longer. She eventually charms them into it with protestations of "but it's for my friend's birthday!" A couple of them are even lured into helping her, which means the cake ends up decorated rather more nicely than Jenny could have managed by herself. Since the cake is chocolate- she had to guess on flavors, but she's seen Miranda eat a Chocolate Frog and really, who doesn't like chocolate?- she proclaims that 'close enough' to bronze and frosts the rest of the cake in blue, with her new elf cooking companions providing fancy little flowers along the border and chocolate sprinkles as extra frills.
She is extremely pleased with the result! She heads back to the Hufflepuff common room to fetch Emma, looking like she would be skipping if only she wasn't carrying a cake, and they head to the library to meet their friends.
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metamorphmaga
chanuphis
"Well, anyway, she probably won't get an owl from the Ministry about it unless she does it in front of Muggles besides her immediate family."
witch_please
"The Ministry has more to worry about than a kid shifting in front of her little sister, anyway."
metamorphmaga
"Okay," Jenny says, sounding more cheerful. "So, Miranda, whatcha doing for the rest of the day?"
chanuphis
"I thought maybe I'd borrow a school broom and fly around. Maybe see if I can teach Amber to play tag."
chanuphis
"It could be an alone game, but it could also not be! And maybe she cannot learn to play tag and then we would be able to play it ourselves."
planetarium
"Hey, I'm good on a broom," says Karen, "we can all give each other something to do, anyway, it won't be an instant win."
witch_please
"I got the Slytherin-y part out of the way, now I am allowed to not care again!"
chanuphis
"Is there a quota? Do you have to make regular reports to Slughorn?" wonders Miranda.
witch_please
"I have a little snake that lives in my sleeve," Alli grins, "it squeals on me every week!"
witch_please
"That was terrible!"
"To be clear: also awesome. Feel free to be terrible."
"To be clear: also awesome. Feel free to be terrible."
chanuphis
"So anyway, yes, we can all play tag, with my owl if she'll cooperate, although after dinner I'm going to do homework."
parental_guidance
"Broom tag it is!"
Broom tag is a success! Owl-tag is, unfortunately, a failure. But there is lots of giggling and pleased hooting from Amber (despite her inability to tag and general confusion about the activity, she is fed many treats in the course of her "training" and finds this acceptable) and the outing is considered great fun by all.
They manage to cram a few more sessions of broom tag in before the weather starts getting colder, and then they have to find places indoors to hang out and socialize. Alli continues to join them; once she has passed the point of Stupid First Year as far as the older Slytherins are concerned, they attempt to give her some grief, but she manages to fast talk her way out of it. The Slytherins are left with a confused impression of- maybe she's planning to prank the other girls? Or double cross them? Or it's all some Grand Master Plot, which they're not really clear on, but that makes sense for a Master Plot they guess?- they're not really sure but it sounded okay, so she's off the hook at least for now.
Emma does not excel at anything in particular, but is fond of flying class mostly out of nostalgia for her younger days, and worries quietly about her classes as a second year, with no flying in sight. (Quidditch is fun to watch, but playing isn't her style. Too many Bludgers.) Meanwhile Jenny is adamant that History of Magic is her favorite class, and listens enraptured to all the history she didn't know; everyone else, unanimously bored witless by Binns' mind-numbing lecture style, is amused, if confounded, by her enthusiasm. They both remain generally impressed with the Ravenclaws' academic abilities, and tolerantly despairing of Alli's cavalier attitude towards scholarship. And so classes continue.
Eventually the holidays arrive. Emma arrives home to proud hugs and much fussing. She smiles and assures them yes, of course Hogwarts is wonderful, she studies hard, she is being a good little witch and listening to her teachers. This earns her even more hugs.
Christmas morning her pile of presents contains mostly books, all suspiciously scholarly-looking, and a small box. Her mother hands it to her last.
"This was your great-grandmum's, Emma dearie," her mother tells her. "Now that you're learning to be a real witch, it's yours now."
Emma opens the box to find a necklace. It's not... the most aesthetically coordinated necklace in the world. Large, pink and green, square and circle necklace with a bizarre pendant on the end, it's certainly not your standard necklace for an eleven year old. Emma has, in fact, seen it before, years ago. It was in her mother's jewelry box in the safe, pulled out when she was 'helping' (as only a small girl can) her mother dress for dinner; she remembers her mother made a disparaging comment about "who would wear something like that" as she put the box away. Apparently, Emma is expected to. It is a 'family heirloom' and it is hers for being a 'real witch'. Well, she decides, if it makes her mother happy,. She doesn't have to wear it all the time.
And thus, when her parents put her on the train back to school with her stack of books, she is (to her mild dismay) wearing her new necklace.
Broom tag is a success! Owl-tag is, unfortunately, a failure. But there is lots of giggling and pleased hooting from Amber (despite her inability to tag and general confusion about the activity, she is fed many treats in the course of her "training" and finds this acceptable) and the outing is considered great fun by all.
They manage to cram a few more sessions of broom tag in before the weather starts getting colder, and then they have to find places indoors to hang out and socialize. Alli continues to join them; once she has passed the point of Stupid First Year as far as the older Slytherins are concerned, they attempt to give her some grief, but she manages to fast talk her way out of it. The Slytherins are left with a confused impression of- maybe she's planning to prank the other girls? Or double cross them? Or it's all some Grand Master Plot, which they're not really clear on, but that makes sense for a Master Plot they guess?- they're not really sure but it sounded okay, so she's off the hook at least for now.
Emma does not excel at anything in particular, but is fond of flying class mostly out of nostalgia for her younger days, and worries quietly about her classes as a second year, with no flying in sight. (Quidditch is fun to watch, but playing isn't her style. Too many Bludgers.) Meanwhile Jenny is adamant that History of Magic is her favorite class, and listens enraptured to all the history she didn't know; everyone else, unanimously bored witless by Binns' mind-numbing lecture style, is amused, if confounded, by her enthusiasm. They both remain generally impressed with the Ravenclaws' academic abilities, and tolerantly despairing of Alli's cavalier attitude towards scholarship. And so classes continue.
Eventually the holidays arrive. Emma arrives home to proud hugs and much fussing. She smiles and assures them yes, of course Hogwarts is wonderful, she studies hard, she is being a good little witch and listening to her teachers. This earns her even more hugs.
Christmas morning her pile of presents contains mostly books, all suspiciously scholarly-looking, and a small box. Her mother hands it to her last.
"This was your great-grandmum's, Emma dearie," her mother tells her. "Now that you're learning to be a real witch, it's yours now."
Emma opens the box to find a necklace. It's not... the most aesthetically coordinated necklace in the world. Large, pink and green, square and circle necklace with a bizarre pendant on the end, it's certainly not your standard necklace for an eleven year old. Emma has, in fact, seen it before, years ago. It was in her mother's jewelry box in the safe, pulled out when she was 'helping' (as only a small girl can) her mother dress for dinner; she remembers her mother made a disparaging comment about "who would wear something like that" as she put the box away. Apparently, Emma is expected to. It is a 'family heirloom' and it is hers for being a 'real witch'. Well, she decides, if it makes her mother happy,. She doesn't have to wear it all the time.
And thus, when her parents put her on the train back to school with her stack of books, she is (to her mild dismay) wearing her new necklace.
chanuphis
"...Christmas present?" Miranda guesses, when she is the first of the group to encounter Emma on the train platform.
chanuphis
"Because your birthday isn't until March. Does it do anything or just look like - that?"
parental_guidance
Emma blinks in surprise. "Um, I don't know. I think just looks like this? It's not like it's been worn a lot, though, I guess I wouldn't know."
chanuphis
"Maybe it does something," says Miranda encouragingly. "We can look up how to find out."
parental_guidance
"I kinda hope not?" Emma says, looking down at it. "Then I'd have to wear it. But I should find out anyway, my parents would want to know."
chanuphis
"Maybe it will still work at doing whatever it does even if you wear it around your ankle under your socks."