hh_mirror

Jack was sitting by the fire in the Gryffindor common room, dressed in his flannel shirt and jeans, with his two ruined uniforms (one stained with ink, the other stained with grease from his recent unpopcorning) folded neatly at his side. He was poring through a spell book, attempting to find something that would get the stains out. The Scourgify spell taught to him by Pete the house elf had not answered, and there had to be something that would do the trick. Jack was not especially vain about appearances, but his uniforms were important to him. They were a symbol of his career and his duty, and he wanted to keep them clean.

Finally he sighed and set the book aside. He was normally a man of sanguine temperament, but the recent bizarre events had left him unusually melancholy. He wanted to go home, or at least a place that was comprehensible and sane. But he did not want to leave Stephen alone in a place like this, and then there was Molly too, of course. How they both must have fretted to find him gone. He didn't like to think about that.

He would go to Ravenclaw to look for Stephen presently (and get a drink too), but for the time being, he simply sat and stared pensively into the fire. Perhaps Molly might come along. Stephen might come looking for him too, so he had left the door open. And who knows, he might meet someone else interesting. This was, after all, an interesting place. Maybe a little too interesting.