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Post by Jinx Collen on Dec 18, 2009 15:45:54 GMT
After her success at Honeyduke's, it was off to the Shrieking Shack for Jinx, to finish her to-do list for the day. She thought the Shack had been far too dreary and morose for far too long, and since no one else would, it was up to her to fix that.
The first thing to deal with was what kind of a tea garden was she going to enchant around the old house; a proper English tea garden? A zen Japanese tea garden? Perhaps just surround the place the tea plants themselves? There were so many options, though whatever she did would have to blend in somehow with the elegant dilapidating building itself... so proper English tea garden was out of the question.
She pulled her wand out and began twirling it like a baton, "Now, if I were a scary old haunted house, what sort of look would I like to give off when tourists came to gawk at me?" A thoughtful smile spread across her features, "Ooh, that's exactly it!" She bounced happily about her decision when she heard footsteps crunching up the path to the Shack. "I wonder if they'll want to help," she wondered to herself as she waited for the newcomer to finish their trek.
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Post by Riley Harris on Dec 18, 2009 22:36:30 GMT
Riley finished walking up the path to the Shrieking Shack to where Jinx was standing. "What are you up to now, friend?" Riley asked the Hufflepuff that she only knew by reputation. "I saw your fun at Honeydukes. That was quite clever."
Riley waited to see and hear what her plan was hoping that she could at least sit back and enjoy the show. Riley didn't know much about the odd Hufflepuff but that didn't really matter. From the little bit that she did know she wagered that Jinx liked to even things out and Riley was eager to see the mastermind at work.
"Are you going to do something to the shack? I think it could definitely use a make over and some new landscaping." Riley added with a grin looking over at Jinx.
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Post by Jinx Collen on Dec 19, 2009 16:32:09 GMT
At the appearance of Riley, a fellow fifth year who she'd had a couple of classes with, Jinx smiled. She knew a bit about the girl because her family situation was so unusual. Her father was a werewolf, and even though that was terribly dangerous, Riley and her mother had stuck it out with. Quite a brave little lion. She bore the Gryffindor crest well.
"Why, thank you, pumpkin," she said with a sweeping bow. "I am indeed going to do something with the shack," she said happily. "Great minds, eh?" she smiled. "I think it could use a bit of sprucing up, too. Nothing too major, I mean it is a landmark and all, but just something to freshen up the facade, y'know."
She turned to look at the shack again, holding up her thumb as if to measure how big anything needed to be according to that measure. "I was thinking a big old Japanese hornbeam tree, right there," she pointed to the left of the shack, "and then some nightshade bushed all around the front... maybe throw ivy in here and there, give a real creepy, homey, haunted sort of look."
"What do ya think?" she asked Riley, "Care to help?"
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Post by Riley Harris on Dec 19, 2009 19:31:01 GMT
Riley was pleased by how friendly Jinx seemed to be and was glad to have found a new friend. And Riley grinned as she heard her plans for the shack.
"Yes, I definitely agree that it needs a new creepiness factor." Riley replied, "And yes I would be much obliged to help you in your redecoration." As Riley said this she whipped out her wand, looked at Jinx and said with a grin, "Your wish is my command."
Riley swished her wand and twirled it about as she said "Crudus victus orno" and pointed her wand at the shack. Instantly ivy began draping itself over parts of the house and adorning the walls. Riley anxiously awaited her companions response.
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Post by Jinx Collen on Dec 21, 2009 17:52:04 GMT
Jinx paused for a moment, glad for Riley's enthusiasm, and trying to decide how to match her spell. She tilted her head and then said, "Traba corroboro," a dark cloud left her wand and seeped into the beams of the Shack, fortifying the main frame of the house so that as the ivy continued to grow it wouldn't tear the place down. It also cause some black thorny serpentine iron work to wrap itself around the beams, hugging them like steely, spiky pythons.
She looked over at Riley and quirked an eyebrow as if to say 'Not bad, eh?', but now it was beginning to look almost too dark and dreary. Then she smiled as she began to think about the bushes. She raised her wand and chanted, "Sambucus nigra exubero. Solanaceae satos." The earth around the foundations of the house began rumbling and gurgling up, finally bursting forth with purple and green foliage. The dark purply-black bushes began sprouting bundles of tiny, super pale pink flowers, and the more subdued green bushes began sprouting deep, bright purple star-shaped flowers.
"Okay, your turn," she said, turning back to Riley. "You wanna take the tree?" she asked daringly.
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Post by Riley Harris on Dec 21, 2009 23:33:00 GMT
Riley watched in amazement as Jinx added her touch to the house. It was like watching a master painter while they were working on a masterpiece.
Riley couldn't help but let loose a giggle as Jinx looked back at her and quirked her eyebrow. And stared in awe as she procured beautiful purple and green foliage dispersed throughout the lawn.
Seeing the look on her face, Jinx challenged her with fixing up the tree. Now even though Riley was outside of her comfort zone she was never one to back down from a challenge. "Sure," Riley replied to Jinx with a smile, "I'd be more than happy to fix up that sad little tree."
Riley pushed back her sleeves and said, "Prunus subhirtella pendula!" as she waved her wand and pointed at the tree. Instantly the tree began to twist and the trunk thickened and shrunk as the branches thinned out and spread out toward the ground. It slowly began to be covered in delicate pink cherry blossoms.
"Not a bad weeping cherry tree, if I do say so myself." Riley said more to herself than Jinx. She nodded at her handiwork and looked at Jinx and asked, "So is there anything else to play with around here?"
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Post by Jinx Collen on Dec 31, 2009 3:23:57 GMT
Jinx was giddy watching someone else with as much enthusiasm for toying with the balance of things as she had. It was beautiful the way Riley altered the shriveled up little stump and made it a beautiful large, sweeping boughed fruit tree. She thought about the girl's question, "Anything else to play with, hm?" She scratched the back of her head with the end of her wand. "Well, we've added a beautiful touch of creepy greenery to the outside of the house... We could either try to sneak inside the house, or we could climb the lovely new tree and hide in the branches so we can mess with people walking by?"
Although she had been at Hogwarts for five year, and exploring Hogsmeade for two now, she had not yet entered the Shrieking Shack. Even she got scared by some rumors, besides the fact that the Shack was a beautifully dreary counter balance to the cheery little town of its residence. She didn't want to accidentally upset that, but at the same time, she was as curious as the next person. On the other hand, messing with people was always a fun pass time, especially when there were sure to be people inspecting the new additions to the facade of the Shrieking Shack.
Because of these two very appealing ideas, Jinx thought it best to leave the final decision making up to her new friend, and perhaps see what other suggestions she might have. This Gryffindor girl seemed to have a brilliant little head on her shoulders, and she couldn't wait to get to know her better. She could already tell this friendship was going to bloom as brightly as the freshly charmed flora surrounding the Shack. They were going to get on swimmingly.
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