[Forest] Ambling For The Sake Of It

[Jac Shaw]

Jac had been in a slight dream world recently, wondering the grounds and corridors, humming happily to herself with her multi-coloured hair brighter then usual. If asked she would not have been able to explain why this was or in fact know that the person was going on about. Laughter seemed to pour out of her so easily and the fact that life seemed to be moving on around her much faster was such a distant concept she didn't even realise it was.

She had laughed so hard when she, and the rest of the school, heard that Prof Hubbles was the new headmaster. Even now as her feet carried her down the sun bathed lawns of the school Jac mused at the shock that that had been, and straight after his marriage to the Astronomy teacher too! It had been a week of no stop laughter and constant chattering in the Gryffindor common room. It occurred to her as the cool shade of the Forest's tall trees blocked the afternoon sun from her view that after Darrow there was no one she would trust more to make sure the school stayed afloat. This thought brought a wider smile to her face as her surroundings came to her.

Though the sociability of the Gryffindors had always been high there were times when Jac simply needed to get away, be by herself for a while, think. By no means did this mean that with people around her, people she both adored and despised, Jac couldn't think, on the contrary. Jac sometimes just needed alone time, sort through the days that had passed, reflect, that sort of thing. It was easiest to do so for the metamorphmagus when she was in the forest. She passed the boarders of the trees quickly, careful to avoid the muddy patches that were covered with water.

The air was a lot cooler under the thick and wild canopy of the forest and instantly Jac was glad she had been wearing her Gryffindor red and gold jumper with her jeans. It had occurred to her before leaving the common room that weather was unpredictable at the best of times. Now, as she walked deeper into the forest, she was happy she had thought of that, even if it was still sunny outside of the huddled trees.

[Girty Hubbles]

“Oi! No students are allowed in the forest. Does the word forbidden mean nothing to you kids?”

Girty had two first year Gryffindors by the scruff of their collars and was glaring at them relentlessly. Dan had told her to keep an eye out for students entering the forest, it was a very dangerous death and with yet another death of a student occurring inside the tall, gloomy trees only the other term he was keen to stop anything else like that occurring again.

“But Professor Hubbles we were just following Jac.” One of the boys chirped up and his little female friend started to nod her head furiously in agreement. With a raised eyebrow Girty looked from one to the other before letting them go, a frown still spread across her face.

“I do not care! Just stay out of the forest, enjoy the sunshine it is a very rare thing so make the most of it.” With a small smile Girty began to walk into the forest to try and hunt down the older Gryffindor, but before she went she turned around to look at the two, rather stunned looking students. “You do not have to go looking for trouble to prove that you are brave, stereotypes are so overrated.”

The Charms Professor gave them a small salute before turning around, losing her balance and stumbling forwards ever so slightly. The sound of laughter rang out around her and all Girty could do was join in with a small giggle, she had fallen over enough in her life to be immune to embarrassment so just gave a small wave over her shoulder and continued to stumble forward through the undergrowth. It had been a while since she had seen Jac, in fact it had been a while that Girty had had much social contact with anyone other then her family.

Girty was not exactly dressed for a forest excursion today, she was in her best black Indy shoes and her trouser suit was relatively new and it had already got itself caught on the brambles that made up the forest floor. With a small groan as her foot sank into the soft ground the Hufflepuff realised there would be no point in trying to take care as she would get dirty anyway. This meant she could focus on trying to find the rouge Gryffindor who had entered the forest, but then trying to find someone with bright red hair and wearing a red jumper was surprisingly easy.

Breaking out into a slight jog Girty tried to be as quiet as she possibly could, gaining more and more on Jac. When she was only a few meters away the Professor came to stop and in her most demanding voice, although laughter was creeping through, Girty ordered the Gryffindor to stop.

“Miss Biggerstall! The Forest is forbidden to all residents in the castle apart from staff members and they are the only sensible ones not to enter! I advice you to come with me before I have to take you to the Headmaster.”

[Jac Shaw]

Burying her hands deeper into the pouch pocket in the front of her jumper, Jac turned around slowly at hearing her name. Her green eyes locked onto the speakers face and immediately the feeling of horror and dread left her. For a moment she had thought she was in serious trouble but upon seeing Girty she felt much reassured that her head was going to stay on her shoulders.

Jac smiled. "Miss Hubbles!" she said, with a large grin on her face, in reply to the near-shrill greeting she had received from her old friend. That thought was laughable, Jac limiting herself to simply grinning inanely at Girty rather then laughing out loud. From her tone, Jac could tell that the new Professor Hubbles was serious, a face that in Jac's opinion suited her little.

Girty spoke of the forest and Jac began to look around, wide eyed. She whisted in amazement. "Would you look at that?" She chuckled, "So that's what you call this collecting of trees. Huh. I would never have known." She looked around in amazement before turning back and smiling broadly at Girty. Girty didn't seem pleased at all with Jac. The Gryffindor suspected that becoming a professor had completely transformed her Hufflepuff friend.

The Headmaster. How could Girty speak of the man with such a stout head without any indication that there is more to that relationship then simple teacher employee? Jac shrugged inwardly and left it to being a Hubbles thing.

She's face brightened with delight when Girty said she would take Jac to the Headmaster. She clapped her hands together and rocked back and forth. "Oh, lovely. Are we going to have tea with him then?" Jac asked flippantly. Jac's seemingly excited mood fell instantly as her arms fell to her sides. "Come on, Girty," Jac said, taking a step backwards and turning all in the same stride, "it's the forest. We used to come here all the time! Are you going to have me believe that a simple job title has stolen your fun side?"

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty was not sure what reply she had suspected to get from Jac but she had sort of hoped it would be slightly different from that one, although when you thought upon it more it really was a typical Jac response. With a small sigh Girty let the Gryffindor give her the old ’your not the same’ talk, much like many others had before her. Even the small comment about having tea with Dan failed to make much of an impact, many seemed to take their surprise of his promotion out on Girty gave offer man a snide remark to her, anyway if she had turned up with Jac to her brothers office the chances of Dan being there were almost zero.

“Who said that it has stolen my fun?” Girty put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows at the Gryffindor. “It has merely put things into perspective for me however seeing as I stupidly followed you clearly means it has not given me any common sense.”

Girty tried not to laugh but it was hard when she looked at the red haired girl and keep a straight face. After everything they had done together it was strange that their friendship had ended with them standing in the Forbidden Forest like this, Girty staring at the back of Jac, both feeling some animosity towards the other, like a distance had grown between them. Shoving her hands into her trouser pockets Girty rolled her eyes and closed up the distance between them so she was right behind her good friend.

“Come on Jac, you know I would never dob you in. You just need to set an example for the younger years, you know they would copy anything you do!” Girty gave a small laugh and sped up so she could stand in front of Jac and look her straight in her eyes. “I mean you must have heard about the group of second year Gryffindors who ended up in the Hospital wing after trying to have hair like yours? One potion turned one of the poor girls bright orange!”

[Jac Shaw]

Jac was still looking around at the forest as though amazed by the fact that that was where she had turned out to be. Jac was very much enjoying this little game, playing with Girty was always fun and now that the ex-Puffball had some responsibility on her shoulders it was all the more fun for the Gryffindor to take the Mickey out of her. Girty did always react so well to being teased that it had become second nature to Jac.

At Girty’s words Jac fixed her a look, half smirking, half questioning, with her eyebrows raised and head tilted to one side. Imitating the new Charms professor, Jac put her hands on her hips and stood up straight. “I say you had your fun stolen,” Jac said defiantly. It should have been all too clear to Girty … the old Girty anyway. “You only followed me in here to tell me to leave, not looking for something fun to do or some interesting thing to find. Just business and business is never fun!”

Girty spoke of setting the example and Jac rolled her eyes, dropped her arms hoplessly and made an exasperated ‘pfft’ noise with her mouth. Jac knew all to well that the younger years tended to copy her but Jac had never asked for that; she didn’t want that. Even if she chased them away they still followed. Why? Why would they do that? Jac couldn’t puzzle it out. Girty continued and Jac wished she wouldn’t. She had heard about the second years and of course she felt terribly about it but what did Girty expect her to do about it now?

”One potion turned one of the poor girl’s bright orange!”[/size]

At this Jac looked back to Girty, a flash of hot anger burning her hair brighter, but then her expression melted coolly into a smile, her hair slowly draining into a deep chestnut colour. “That was pretty funny,” Jac chuckled, “she was so impressed with it, once her skin went back to its normal colour. You could hardly see her blush under all that green.” Jac smile shrunk slightly and she looked down at her feet, kicking the earth testily.

What did Girty want her to do? Why was she telling her all this? Jac always felt better about being what she was when she ignored all the things, the silly things people did to try and copy her. It wasn’t her fault she was a metamorphmagus, she had been born that way. So what could she do about it then? After a moment, Jac looked up at Girty and smiled. “I’m surprised at you Girty,” Jac said playfully, “you didn’t even say hallo!”[/font]

[Girty Hubbles]

“Who needs formalities anymore, I do not think we have said hello in years, in those few seconds it takes us to say ‘hello’ we could have said so much more.” Girty tried to offer Jac a small smile. “Time is very precious so you have to make it worth while.”

Girty tried to remember who had told her that, most likely some drunk at the pub who was trying to forget about a bad relationship or chat her up in a very cryptic way. She had had that one before, some random kept asking her riddles and when she finally worked it out what he meant he was asking if she wanted to go upstairs with him, safe to say the sound of her fist hitting his face soon followed.

However back in the forest Girty and Jac stood face to face, a tense atmosphere filling the air around them and for the first time when standing face to face with Jac she had nothing to say. A small exasperated sigh escaped her and her brown eyes met Jac’s as the two best friends continued to just stand there. Girty could not think of what could have pulled them so far apart and it was only when she thought about the difference in their attire did things slowly fall into place. There was Jac in jeans and a baggie hoodie while Girty was there in a suit, an actual suit!

Breaking eye contact with the Gryffindor the Hufflepuff looked down over herself before quickly tugging at the sleeve of her jacket pulling it off so fast and undignified you would have sworn it was burning her. The black cloth limply fell to the floor but Girty did not even look back at it, she had already pulled her hair out of the ponytail and was now moving onto her rather posh looking shoes, undoing the laces and slipping them and her socks off.

The forest floor was cold and she could feel the lose dirt under her toes but she did not care, se felt free. Looking back up at the Gryffindor the smile seemed so much easier and she felt an little more like herself, the old Girty, not the Girty with a stick up her behind.

“Lead the way Biggerstall!”

[Jac Shaw]

Jac smiled playfully at Girty as she spoke of formalities. She pouted and crossed her arms, "aww! I do love formalities!" She couldn't hold the face for very long and soon was laughing, her arms trying to look like they had a purpose but failing miserably. Jac sighed and looked back to Girty. "You best be careful," she chuckled, "you're beginning to sound like Ed." Jac waggled a finger at the newly appointed professor warningly.

Despite all the laughter that poured through Jac the air soon became quite again and tense. If truth be told, Jac hated tension, it was unnecessary and avoidable. All people had to do was be honest with one another and there would be no tension to worry about. She knew this, knew that all she had to do was be honest, but Jac couldn't tell Girty what she really though ... she wasn't even sure herself.

As thought after thought on the matter whizzed through Jac's mind, she stood with Girty a few feet away, their eyes meeting but nothing more happening then that. It was unusual for that to happen. Jac remembered times when Girty and Jac would be laughing so hard that they couldn't speak and yet when their eyes met it said enough to set them off laughing again. What had happened to those days? Jac wondered ... but she knew all too well.

Girty looked away now and Jac was grateful for it. She didn't think she could handle much more of the staring competition. Jac didn't usually win competitions like that because she was so proned to laughing. But now there was no more laughter to be had. Jac looked around the forest, looking for those pesky first years and anything else really that could cause them grievous bodily harm. She didn't see anything, or hear anything either. That was good.

The metamorphmagus looked back to the professor and saw that she was busy pulling off her shoes, her jacket on a heap next to her. For a moment Jac didn't understand. Girty put her bare feet onto the ground and smiled at Jac who couldn't help but smile back. She was beginning to understand. "Now, that was more like it." Jac chuckled and clapped her hand onto Girty's back after closing the gap between them.

Jac held out her arm for Girty to take and smiled broadly at her. "Guess what." Jac said, with a proud smirk on her face, her hair flaring ginger.

[Girty Hubbles]

The pile of clothes that now littered the floor was a mini shrine to the stressed life of Girty Hubbles, the professional life that she herself thought she was too young to have. Where had been her chance to see the world? Why did she have to put up with all this responsibility? She knew that Dan was doing it for her own good, for people like her it was hard to find work as not many people wanted a werewolf working for them, she knew he was putting his neck on the line to help her but still, she wanted to have fun instead of marking papers from dawn till dusk…but then Girty guessed that is where Jac would come in.

In fact Jac was helping already, her pat on the back and hearing her jovial voice made Girty think of old times and when the arm was offered Girty was quick to link arms with the Gryffindor ready to start skipping through the trees, ready to get lost and most likely end up a lot dirtier then they were now. However Jac was not ready for the off just yet, she wanted Girty to guess something.

Girty rolled her eyes and tried to put on a fake thinking face, staring dreamingly off into the distance to act as if she was deep in thought. In all honestly all Girty could think of was the beetle that was crawling over her foot and it took all her concentration not to burst out laughing due to the tickling sensation. With a gentle shake of her left foot the bug flew off and it gave the Hufflepuff a chance to try and act normal.

“Come on Jac you know how much I hate guessing games. I maybe a Hufflepuff but being patient is not one of my qualities.”

Looking over at the now ginger haired Gryffindor Girty could only smile as she thought about what was running through that crazy mind of Jac Biggerstall. There would have been a time when Girty would have been able to say the correct thing no matter how bizarre it was, the two seemed to be on the same wavelength, but in recent years the time apart seemed to have detuned them both and all Girty could hear was static interference. They both needed to retune, so unless Jac was thinking about Elephants eating Banana’s Girty was still on the wrong station.

[Jac Shaw]

Jac was all too happy that Girty linked her arm with her own. It felt more like the old days when she did. There had been times when the two would walk and talk for ages, talking about everything from politics to boys to their next meal and everything in between. Jac doubted that a simple job title would have changed Girty that much but then again it would not be the first time Jac had misjudged someone.

Nevertheless Jac didn't let that bog her down. Instead she concentrated on the fact that Girty was showing that she wanted to spend some time with her, like they used to. Jac couldn't tell if Girty was thinking it too but it was good to be back with her friend again. Jac could just imagine younger versions of themselves skipping across her vision and for a moment Jac became lost in the memory. Girty's voice brought her back to the present.

Jac laughed and patted Girty's arm. "I do! I do!" she chuckled, obviously knowing full well that girty despised guessing games, "it's just so much fun teasing you, is all." Jac laughed a little more and then sighed. It was just too good to be able to do that with Girty again.

Jac then took a deep breath and smiled at Girty, pulling her along as she began walking. "Do you remember," Jac began thoughtfully, picking a fairly level pathway for Girty's feet, "last Christmas Ed and his fiancé came to visit me. Well ..." Jac strained her neck thoughtfully, trying to build the suspence just because she knew Girty wouldn't be able to handle it. "They got married on Old Year's Day. It was such a lovely wedding and then we had the reception, slash New Year's Eve party. It was so great.

"But that's not what I wanted to tell you!" Jac added very quickly, grinning inanely at Girty. They rounded a tree and turned left, Jac walking like she knew exactly where she was going. "Ok, ok, what I wanted to tell you was ... I'm going to be an aunt!" Jac squealed the last bit. She was so excited she could barely keep from jumping ... so she began jumping up and down. She couldn't believe that his brother's wife was going to have a baby! It was too surreal.

[Girty Hubbles]

Jac was leaving Girty in so much suspense that if she had had a chair to sit on she would have already fallen off it! The Hufflepuff just stared at the Gryffindor with wide eyes, begging for her to be put out of her misery and for Jac to actually give her the answer. Although in typical Jac fashion she went the long way around the tale giving Girty details that for a while she could not understand why they were important (however that was not to say she was not happy for Ed and his new bride! All the Biggerstall clan were amazing!)

They continued to walk further into the forest and as they rounded a rather spooky looking tree Jac finally spilt the beans and told Girty her news. At first the Hufflepuff just stared open mouthed but as Jac started to squeal the Professor could only mange a few words. “Oh my God.” She muttered as everything was slowly sinking in. “Oh my God, Oh my God, Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod!”

Girty started to talk so quickly that her words became one long un comprehensible string of babble and with a small squeal she joined Jac jumping up and down. She was sure that the creatures in the forest would not have been happy that two very childish girls were disturbing their peace but Girty did not care, this was the best news she had heard all day, heck all week!

“Jac that is amazing! You are so going to make the best aunt in the world!” Girty stopped jumping, hands placed on her hips as she tried to regain her breath from all the screaming and jumping, lord she felt old. “So when is D Day then?”

It was the standard way of questions when you find out someone was going to have a baby, there had been enough birth’s in the Hubbles family for Girty to know the drill and she was getting just as exited now as she did with any of her family members, but then seeing Jac like this in such a state of joyfulness made it impossible not to join in with the jumping and the screaming.

[Jac Shaw]

Jac could see the pained expression on Girty's face as she prolonged giving up her delicate information. It was too priceless a moment to let slip through her fingers. It had been just like when Trish had told her ... or at least read the letter from their mother. Jac had gone to visit Trisha at Grace's shop and Trish had brought the letter with her, reading it extra slowly while she, Sianna and Cook were dying to find out what it was. Well, maybe not Cook so much but she and Sigh, definitely.

And just like she, Trish and Sianna, Girty had begun jumping about with her, despite being in the middle of the Forbidden Forest and more then likely having several creatures eying them for their next meal. But she didn't care. She was going to be an aunt and more importantly her brother, her darling ickle-Eddie was going to be a father. It made her light headed just thinking about it. Or perhaps it was the low branch that suddenly struck Jac on the top of her head as she jumped?

Instantly the laughter was gone from her, her feet stayed on the ground and she bent over, her hand instantly flying to her head. "Oww," she groaned and gave the low branch above her the stink eye. Slowly her hand became wet and sticky and Jac couldn't understand why. Her hair slowly turned a washed into a dark, wine red colour as she lowered her hand and looked at it. The tips were covered by a dark liquid and for a moment Jac didn't understand.

Slowly Jac looked up at Girty and, her hand flopping down slightly, she began to laugh. It was a laugh that echoed straight from her belly. Jac laughed so hard, so loudly and with such mirth that her eye began to water. She didn't understand why she was laughing; her head felt like gnomes were having a rave party in it and she all of a sudden could taste marmalade. And despite this Jac continued laughing.

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty never saw herself as one of those air headed bimbos who squeal and shout ‘Oh My God!’ at anything, but then here she was acting like, well an American. Her rather fan girl type moment continued as she and Jac jumped up and down, most likely attracting some wide mouthed, sharp teethed drooling monster who could bite them in half in one snap…but why did that matter now?? Jac was going to be an aunt!

As always though when you become rather immature and let your guard slip something stupid will happen and right on cue Jac hit her head on a low hanging branch. Girty thought nothing of it at first, after all they had been through a lot worse, been hot by a lot harder things then a tree but when Jac stopped laughing did the tiniest bit of concern dare pass over the mind of Girty Hubbles. Here she was a teacher at the bloody school, meant to be protecting the students and yet here she was with Jac acting like a bunch of first years.

The colour drained from Jac’s hair and Girty had learnt over the years of knowing her Metamorphmagus friend that it was not a good sign. The Hufflepuff stopped laughing and an expression of joy was replaced with concern and worry, defiantly when the blood stained hand of Jac appeared in front of her. Instead of words of comfort or concern all Girty could do was swear like a trooper, every expletive she could think of escaped her lips in a sentence that really made no sense other then letting out her worry for her friend…even if it was an odd way of showing it.

Jac started laughing again but it was a different laugh to the one previously, in fact it was not even the laughter that Jac normally gave when they hurt themselves. Girty’s mouth went dry and a little bit, well a lot of panic set in and instinctively took Jac by the arm and lowered the laughing Gryffindor to the ground before reaching for her wand…her wand was not there. Girty just looked down at her mud coated bare feet staring blankly at where her sock should have been, her sock that she kept her wand.

“Jac…er…” Girty looked blankly at her friend trying to work out how to deal with the situation at hand; she needed to asses the damage first so she knew if she could leave the Gryffindor by herself so she could go and get her wand. ‘Asses the damage’ Girty thought to herself ‘Makes Jac sound like a boat that has struck an iceberg…hum have not seen that film in a while…FOCUS GIRTY!’ With a small cough Girty listened to that little voice of sense in her head and focused on the situation at hand.

“Jac how many fingers and I holding up?” It was what they always did in films so why not in real life, so there was Girty crouching in front of Jac, holding three fingers up at her paying very little attention to what was happening behind her.