[harry.potter.next.generation] -- [x]

[Battie]

Jonas stared at Serena, color rising in his face with embarassment. "I actually am a Hufflepuff," he muttered. He showed the girl the socks he had just bought. "See?" he asked.

He looked around. "Where is this Mallory kid then?" he asked. "If she's sobbing, why aren't you consoling her?" He didn't mean to sound so annoying and know-it-all-ish, but that was how it came out. "Besides, I only just met your brother." He stepped back slightly, hoping she wouldn't lash out at him again.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Oh, I tried consoling her all right -- but Avery's the one who's got to help her. I'm no good; Avery's the one who caused the hurt!" Serena snapped, anger flashing in her pale lilaceous colored eyes again. How dare this... this... Hufflepuff? Hufflepuff. He was a Hufflepuff. Not a Gryffindor. A Hufflepuff. A Huffle-y Puffle-y. Not a Gryffindor.

Oh, lord. If there was one thing that got Serena frustrated, it was when she was wrong -- even just partially wrong. Well, that was a good thing -- it meant that she was a normal human being and wasn't perfect, but still. She hated when that happened. "Oh. You're a Hufflepuff... well... erm..." She stammered, trying to figure out the proper words to say in the current situation. None came to her immediately, so she just stood there like an idiot, stuttering out phrases.

Finally, she hit something that she could say. "Er... wow. I totally messed this up, didn't I?" she muttered, glancing at Jonas for a few brief moments. "Erm. Well. I'm sorry...?" She halted there in a questioning tone, again not knowing what to say.

"All right now, buddy, here's the plan -- you ask her out to the dance, totally confuse her by doing that, and then I'll bag her and kidnap her and my mom doesn't here anything about this, 'kay?" Avery muttered quietly to Jonas. He was half joking, half being dead serious. It was hard to tell what part he wanted to actually happen and what part he was just finding amusement in -- Avery himself wasn't exactly sure, although he was sure about his mom not finding out about what he had done. His dad was pretty cool and would understand. His mom, however. Erm. Not the best person to get angry.

In normal circumstances, Avery would've rubbed the fact that Serena had been slightly wrong in her face, but he decided to be nice for once and not do it.

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[Battie]

Jonas stared at Avery curiously. First Avery wanted to talk about Mallory with Jonas, then suddenly he wanted him to ask his sister out? Jonas watched the other boy for another moment or two before looking at Serena, his eyes still slightly misty with his confusion. "Wanna go to the dance with me?"he asked, glancing at Avery for another second before looking at Serena again. He smiled warmly at the girl. He didn't know why Avery wanted to 'bag her', and just figured it was a figure of speech.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

WHAT? The question word jammed its way in to Serena's head as she looked at Jonas with an odd expression written across her face. ¿QUÉ? CE QUI? WAS? WAT? Multiple languages also began popping up in Serena's head. To be exact, Spanish, French, German, and Dutch -- those were the languages she knew how to say the word 'what' in.

"What on EARTH are you talking about?" Serena asked, clearly bewildered and bemused as she stared at Jonas as if he were some type of madman or a physcopath. You heard what he said, Serena! He asked you to the DANCE. D-A-N-C-E. D. A. N. C. E. Thoughts flitted about in her mind wildly as Serena, obviously confused, shifted her gaze from Jonas, to Avery, then back to Jonas. It seemed as if Avery was also discombobulated.

"Hey, mate. I was joking..." Avery muttered to Jonas. He looked up, seeing his sister looking extremely perplexed. Nice going, Avery. he thought to himself grudgingly, shaking his head. Geez. Jonas was a little simpleton, wasn't he? Well, that was no wonder -- he was a Hufflepuff. "Um... 'Rena..." he mumbled, looking up at his sister.

"Errrrr... Suuuure," Serena responded cautiously to the question that was asked of her. She wasn't exactly sure what this question meant; was it a joke or something?

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[Battie]

Jonas blushed furiously as both siblings reacted to his question. He ducked his face to hide his embarassment and collect himself. When the color had faded from his face, he looked up again. "Cool," he said, smiling at the girl.

YOU IDIOT! he screamed at himself. AVERY WAS JOKING!!! JEEZE! NO WONDER PEOPLE THINK HUFFLEPUFF'S ARE STUPID! Jonas mentally kicked himself, wishing he had never even opened his mouth.

"So," he said, keeping his smile in place, "I guess I've got a date then." Color threatened to creep back into his cheeks but he forced it away. "D'you wanna hang out until then?" he asked the two.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Awkwarrrrrrrrd. Still, Serena didn't just want to leave the poor guy alone with Avery. Who knew what else her brother would say? "Um. Sure," she responded in a rather uncertain tone, shifting rather uncomfortably in her position just standing here. Despite the fact that it was probably nearing the negatives in degrees farenheit here in Hogsmeade, she felt her cheeks warming slightly as her pale skin complexion hinted at a slight scarlet color known as blushing.

"Loria?" Serena asked, turning to face her friend. "D'you want to come with us?"

Avery knew that he shouldn't leave Jonas -- not after seeing what the Hufflepuff could do with the wrong type of information. Little simpleton. It was rather amusing, to tell the truth, but Avery didn't want to laugh since he didn't really want to receive another yelling fest coming from Serena if she tried to defend Jonas in his actions. "Sure, I'll go," he responded with a slight nod.

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[Battie]

The Hufflepuff boy smiled and said, "Cool. How 'bout we head to Three Broomsticks for something to drink? I think I have a few sickles left." He reached into his pocket, juggling his stuff so that he could hold it with one hand. "I've got five sickles, and if I feel it right, I've also got a galleon left over from buying all this stuff." Jonas really wanted to get out of the cold. His cheeks, nose, ears, fingers, and probably toes were all bright pink, and he feared they'd be turning blue soon.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Sounds fine," Serena responded softly with a slight nod, although in truth, she found this situation extremely awkward. Reaching in to the inside pocket of her cloak, she found that she, too, had some coins that could be used. Her friends had all told her that when she had got a date, that person was supposed to pay for everything, but Serena would come out with her coins if it turned out that Jonas didn't have enough money. She liked to save people embarrassing situations whenever she could.

"So. Why don't we go?" Avery asked, jerking his head in the direction of the Three Broomsticks. He would be glad to get out of the cold -- the Three Broomsticks seemed to have warm glowing around it even from the outside. A cold wind brushed by, enveloping Hogsmeade in an even colder cold.

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[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Loria sighed and rolled her eyes. Sure, everyone could just ignore her. At least Serena hadn't but still, she was her best friend. She nodded, again introducing herself to the Hufflepuff. "Er, I'm Loria, in case you didn't catch that," she said, her voice now suddenly rather high and airy. Maybe she was just nervous. But her voice didn't usually go like that unless she liked someone. But she couldn't like Jonas, she had only jusy met him, and anyway, he already aske her best friend to the dance.

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[Battie]

Jonas smiled at the new girl. "Hi Loria," he said. "I'm Jonas." He shivered slightly and said, "Well, how 'bout we head on into the Three Broomsticks? I'll be frozen if we stand out here much longer."

Without waiting long, he began walking towards the building and went to the door after peering in the windows for a moment or two. He opened the door and held it open for the others, ignoring the shouts of, "CLOSE THE DOOR!" and "WHAT'RE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING?" to wait for his new friends.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Avery entered first, giving a slight nod of thanks to Jonas, although a queer look was written across his face. Guys didn't hold open doors for people. This Hufflepuff was being too chivalrous for Avery's taste. Still, Avery didn't want to say something in case Jonas happened to misinterpret it wrong and did something else that would be a fatal mistake.

"Thanks," Serena responded lightly to Jonas holding the door open, giving him a smile before stepping inside after her brother. Once she had entered the Three Broomsticks, the warmth that glowed from the windows on the outside seeped in to her and she felt immediately much warmer than she had outside. She was glad to escape from the sharp edge of the bitter winds raging outside. "Cold outside, isn't it?" she murmured softly to no one in particular.

Tucking a few loose strands of her obsidian colored hair behind her ear, she followed Avery to a table that he had singled out from the rest of them. The noise level in the Three Broomsticks was certainly much more different in contrast to the temperature outside, Serena noticed as she winced a few times before she finally grew accustomed to the boisterous and loud words being thrown back and forth across the rooms.

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[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Loria hurried inside the door, a "Thanks" slipping out of her mouth, and walked toward a table that Avery had picked for them -grateful for the sudden warmth - and sat down.

{Writers block. -.- }

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[Battie]

Jonas followed his new friends to the table and set his stuff down. "I'll be right back," he said, then went to the bar. He ordered four butterbeers and paid the woman behind the bar, then returned to the table with them on a big platter. He set the platter down, gave each person their butterbeer, then returned the platter to the woman. He thanked her and went to sit at the table.

"So," he said as he sat down. "What's going on with you guys? Anything cool? Heard any rumors about who'll be the champions?" Jonas was nearly obsessing over the Triwizard Tournament. Deep down, he hoped with all his heart he would be chosen as Hufflepuff's champion.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Well, I don't want to brag, but I think I'm the ideal choice to be chosen as the champion for Gryffindor," Avery said with a grin, giving a thumbs up with both hands. Sure, it was a rather cocky thing to do, but Avery felt confident and sure that he would be the champion of Gryffindor house. His mom had worried over him and had sent him and Serena seven letters apiece giving advice if one of them got chosen as the Tri-Wizard champion for their house.

Remember, Avery, if Serena is chosen, make sure you watch over her and don't let her die.

That was one of the sentences belonging to one of his mother's letters, and part of the words had been slightly faded at the end due to the fact that a few tears had slid from Cho's cheeks when she had written the words. Still missing Cedric, eh?

"Champions? Hmmm. I'm not sure. I don't think I'd really like to be chosen; it's kind of nice to be watching from the sidelines," Serena murmured softly, giving a shrug. The boys at Hogwarts were often bringing up the topic of the Tri-Wizard Tournament -- probably just because they were boys, maybe.

"You interested?" she asked a few moments later, not quite knowing what else to say.

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[Battie]

Jonas nodded eagerly. "I'd love to be Hufflepuff's champion," he told Serena. "It'd be an honor."

"Ohh, an honor!" A mocking voice startled Jonas from behind. "How cheesy! I told you he was a dork Halley."

"As if I didn't already know that Charlie."

Two Hufflepuffs stood behind Jonas, high fiving each other triumphantly as their older brother spun to yell at them. They were the only ones who could get him angry in a matter of seconds.

"Will you two shut up?" Jonas yelled. "You're more annoying that a niffler!"

"There he goes again," the girl said. She had brown hair ina pixie cut and sparkling green eyes. She grinned evilly. "Dorking it up."

"Honestly Jonas, if you don't want us to make fun of you, don't say dorky things," the boy said. He had a bowl cut and his hair was the same brown as the girl's hair. He had the same eyes as well, and the two were about the same height. In fact, with a bit of making over, the two could look exactly alike, and they did do that sometimes.

Jonas sat back down, refusing to even look at his younger siblings. "Everyone," he said to his friends, "This is Charlie and this is Halley. They're my younger siblings. Third years."

The two beamed and pulled two chairs from other tables to sit on either side of Jonas. "Budge up," Charlie ordered Jonas.

The seventh year scooted to the side a little so that they could fit their chairs in. Halley grabbed Jonas' butterbeer and took a long swig. "What're we talking about?" she asked the older kids. "Anything good?"