HH_mirror

Jack woke up early, as was his wont. Now that it was winter, the lake was iced over, so his habit now was to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast instead of immediately going out for his morning swim. He sat up, feeling somewhat peculiar, and noticed straight away that the bed hangings were blue and bronze, the colors of Ravenclaw. A thought occurred to him, and he glanced anxiously around, but the bed contained no second occupant. Which made sense, as he had no memory of any liaisions the previous night, but you never knew around here.

He yawned and got out of bed. One foot made a metallic clang on the stone floor. He looked down at himself automatically, and his eyes widened as he realized that his left leg had been replaced by some sort of metal prosthetic. And - good Lord - his right arm had been replaced as well. He stared at his metal hand, flexing the fingers. What on earth...?

It was then that he caught sight of his reflection in a convenient mirror on the opposite wall. He recognized the small blond fellow staring back at him with his mouth agape - it was his erstwhile Charms partner, Ed Elric. He was in Mr. Elric's body! Clearly Mr. Elric (who, he recalled, was very good at Charms) was playing some sort of damnable prank on him, swapping their bodies around. Irritably, he stalked over to a clothes chest, his artifical foot clanging with each step, and put on a shirt and trousers, and stalked out into the hallway, on his way to Gryffindor to give Mr. Elric a piece of his mind.

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.

*sounds of fumbling around, brief squeal of feedback*

I say, hello, everyone. This is Captain Jack Aubrey with Royal Navy WART! Or no, I reckon it's WART 54 or something, ain't it? Anyway, I'd just like to say that I ate one of those magic biscuit things and I was talking like a damned fool for a while, but it's worn off and I'm damned happy about it! *bangs his fist on the table* And Miss Casson is here too. She's a very nice girl, and has been to New York and all. I ain't ever been there myself.

( Well, I daresay I ought to play some music, eh? )

Anyway, that's enough music for now, I should think. Stick your head in the fireplace if you want to talk to me or Miss Casson, or if you have anything you want to play. I am at your service, ladies and gentlemen.