Fair Splendor
Pursing his lips, Farley recalled how Chip told him to dress in a more muggle fashion for the day. Unfortunately for Farley, he didn't really have any clothes that met his friend's requirements. He knew well that muggles didn't dress with same amount of decorum as magical folk. He'd even seen this first hand, thanks to the muggleborn student populous. Their insistence in walking around in pajamas and ratty sweats during the weekends boggled Farley to no end. Even after witnessing this for the past five years, it still made him wrinkle his nose in distaste. If his mother were to see them, she just might breath fire as she ranted about how disrespectful and cavalier mudbloods had become.
Taking in the slacks, button downs, sweaters and leather shoes that made up his closet, Farley sighed. He doubted any real muggle teen would dress in any of the clothes that he owned to go to a fair. It made him, once again, lament on how unfair it was that he wasn't allowed to use magic at home. Eventually, Farley decided that a striped polo and a pair of tan slacks would have to do.
Dressing quickly, Farley grabbed his wallet from his bedside table. He then hurried from his room and toward the kitchen, where the hearth connected to the Floo Network was. He was to floo to Alexis's home and from there, together, they would floo to Chip's home. It'd be easier if he could just go straight to Chip's place, but his parents would never let him go anywhere again if he did. And if they knew he spent so much time at Chip's? He could say goodbye to his social life.
The Cornfoots were in his mother and father's bad book due to the fact his father had married a muggleborn. It was bad enough that they knew Alexis, who was still not completely approved of, was dating him. If his parents learned he considered Chip a friend, and that the other boy liked to show him and Alexis around muggle Bristol, they'd forbid Farley from ever seeing Alexis and Chip again. At which point, he knew his parents would pull him from Hogwarts. After that, Farley would be sent to a smaller, public school. Most likely it would be one of the schools that had popped up in the last two decades. Most of these public schools had opened shortly after the war. At the time, there had been a surge in demand for schools that were more"selective" in who they allowed to walk their halls.
It was almost a miracle his parents hadn't sent him to one to begin with, he knew.
After all, while these public schools may not be held in the same prestige as Hogwarts (or any of the other big name schools of Europe, for that matter) it didn't matter for Farley's future. His parents may have just begun talking about him learning how to run his mother's family's shop, but he suspected they'd been planning his future long before now. Even though Farley didn't actually want to take over the shop, he didn't believe he'd be allowed to refuse at this point either. So, he figured it was best to keep his opinions to himself and accept what fate had dealt him. Who knows? Maybe when his parents were dead he could sell it.
Reaching the kitchen, he took a quick glance around to see if his mother was around. If he ran into her, she'd ask a lot of questions. She might even feel concerned enough to make him carry out some kind of chore to keep him from seeing Alexis and Chip.
Relieved when he didn't see her, he started to make a beeline toward the hearth. But that was when he heard a voice from behind call, "Farley? Where are you going?"
The teenager jumped.
Turning around, he looked to the ground when he saw his mother frown at him.
"Just going to Alexis's," he said.
She sighed. "Will that Cornfoot boy be there?"
"No, Alexis didn't say anything about him being there," he answered truthfully.
His mother narrowed her eyes and said, "I was going to go visit Misses Flint today. Are you sure you wouldn't rather come with me to see her? I hear Ulyssa is there visiting."
Farley bit his lip. His mother and Misses Flint didn't know about his fallout with Ulyssa. Ulyssa and him had never said anything either. They didn't want to make their families feel awkward about their broken friendship. When they did see each other outside of Hogwarts, they always made sure to keep up a cordial facade. Otherwise, they did their best to avoid one another.
When Farley found himself in a melancholy mood, he'd reflect on their lost friendship. He'd always liked Ulyssa, but she'd wanted nothing to do with him after he had been sorted to Hufflepuff. He had tried many times to get her to talk with him during the first few weeks of school. But after she hexed him to have his toenails grow at an accelerated pace, Farley got the message. Ulyssa wanted him to leave her alone.
After that incident, Farley had avoided her just as much as she did him.
"No thanks, I'd hate to leave Alexis hanging," he told his mother.
She crinkled her nose. "Hanging? Merlin, Farley, talk like the proper young man I raised you to be!" she reprimanded.
Farley flushed. "Sorry, Mother," he whispered. "Can I please go now?"
Mother gave a quiet sigh. "Yes, go," she replied.
"Thank you!"
And a moment later, Farley was shouting his destination as he threw down his fistful of powder.
-v-v-v-v-v-
When Chip saw them, upon walking out of his family's fireplace, he crinkled his nose until it looked more like a pig snout.
"What are you wearing, Farley?" he demanded. "Did you forget what I told you about dressing like a normal teenager?"
Face reddening in embarrassment, Farley shrugged his shoulders. It was at this point Alexis moved forward to slap her boyfriend's shoulder. "Shut it, Chip!" Alexis hissed. "It's not his fault his parents still live in 1997!"
The mousy blond blinked. Then, features shifting into something more apologetic, he seemed to realize what Alexis was getting at. "Ah, right. Hey, why don't we go check out my closet? I'm sure we can find something in there you can wear instead," he offered.
Farley looked down at his toes and then to Chip. "That'd be great, but I'm...and you..." he babbled, pointing at Chip's rather scrawny physique and then to his own, tall, husky one.
"My parents are a witch and wizard, Farley. They can resize the clothes."
Laughing a little, Farley bobbed his head. "Yeah, right, sorry," he apologized as he followed Chip along with Alexis out of the room and to his bedroom.
A few minutes later, Farley was going through the messy contents of Chip's closet. While he and Alexis, on the other hand, chatted about their upcoming trip to the fair behind him.
"I've never been to a muggle one, is it like a wizard fair?" Alexis questioned.
Spinning around in his desk chair, Chip made a confusing noise that sounded shocked. "Weeell..." he began, "The games are a lot like wizard ones. That's where the similarities end, though. Instead of watching people do acrobatics on brooms, and letting your kids go on winged-pony rides, you go on this giant wheel that lift you up in the air. And on other rides, like Merry Go Rounds where you ride fake horses and other things."
"Why would you want to ride a fake horse when you can ride a real one?" Farley inquired, while deciding on a simple white shirt to wear. It'd taken him a while to find it as it'd been behind Chip's many band and slogan shirts.
Chip gave an amused laugh. "It cost less for the fair people to transport and keep it running, I guess. Besides, kids like it just the same. So it's not like they're really being cheated out of anything," he argued.
Holding out the shirt he'd picked to his friend, he said, "This one will do, I think."
Both Alexis and Chip raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think you'd like a pair of shorts and maybe some more comfortable shoes, Farley? We will be there all day, after all." Alexis reminded him in her patient, 'someone's making a poor decision' voice.
Sighing, Farley didn't deign to answer her. Instead, he turned back to the closet and had another go through Chip's clothes.
-v-v-v-v-v-
"So, what's your first impression?" Chip asked with a wide grin.
Alexis closed her gaping mouth. Then she opened it for a second time without making a sound, before finally speaking. "This is...rather chaotic. isn't it?" she whispered.
"A little," Chip agreed.
Farley, taking in all the people milling about, felt a question bubble to the forefront of his mind. "Are muggle fairs always so busy?" he asked.
Chip grinned. "This one is," he answered with a small amount of pride. "This is the best fair Bristol hosts every year."
"Ah," Farley answered. "Say, where's that giant wheel you were talking about earlier? I'd like to check that out."
Throwing a friendly arm up and around Farley's shoulders, Chip pointed toward the sky. "See that moving thing there with the little rainbow chairs? That's the Ferris Wheel," he told him.
Alexis made a noise of excitement. "Oh! Let's go do that now!" she demanded. "I bet you can see the whole grounds from the top of it!"
"Yeah, for the most part," Chip agreed with a laugh. "First we'll have to go buy tickets. You guys can just pay me back with wizard money later, okay?"
Pouting, Alexis whined, "Aren't boyfriends supposed to pay for stuff like this?"
An impish grin curving his lips, Chip leaned in close to Alexis and murmured, "Maybe. Though, don't you think you should offer something awfully sweet back in return?"
Giggling, the girl leaned into her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him to kiss him soundly on the lips. Farley rolled his eyes heavenward. He prayed to God they wouldn't be kissing every five minutes while they were at the carnival.
-v-v-v-v-v-
Peering over his feet at the ground below, Farley found he wasn't impressed by the Ferris Wheel. He cast a look sideways. Farley was sure that it also had something to do with the fact that Chip and Alexis had decided to use the ride's malfunction to their advantage. They'd decided about twenty minutes ago that snogging was the best way to pass time while they waited.
Farley couldn't say he agreed.
Puffing out a breath, Farley pushed back his hair from his face as a breeze blew by. He hoped that there was something more exciting than this rip-off of a ride at the Fair.
Feeling the ride give a lurch, the teenager sent a silent thank you to the Lord. Squeezed the safety bar keeping them in their seat, he smiled in relief. Turning his head, he frowned at how the two were still lip-locked. "Guys? We're going down now. If you plan to take a last look at all of the park, Alexis, Chip, I'd do it now," he told them.
The two did not separate. Sighing, Farley glowered down at the people waiting in line for the Ferris Wheel. He prayed that they would be back on the ground before he reached one hundred in his head.
-v-v-v-v-v-
"We should do that one again!" Farley exclaimed as they met up at the ride's exit.
Alexis raised an eyebrow. "You're only saying that because you liked that you got to drive a mini-muggle car and hit other mini-muggle cars."
Farley frowned at the girl. "So? That was the point of the ride, right?" he asked.
Laughing, Chip wrapped his arm around Alexis and remarked, "Don't mind her, Farley. There's a reason she wants to be a healer, after all. She's of the nonviolent persuasion. Say, Alexis, how about you go buy us something from that concession stand over there and the two of us will go at it one more time?" he suggested with a hopeful look.
Catching on, Farley pinned Alexis with a similar look and together, the two boys waited for her to cave.
Arms falling to her side, the girl pouted as she pulled away from Chip. "Fine," she agreed. "But this will be the last time you go on this ride, got it?"
Farley and Chip bumped fists as they enthusiastically thanked her. "Thanks, Alexis!"
"What a woman you are, Alexis!"
Rolling her eyes, the girl walked off. Smirking impishly, Chip questioned, "How many more times do you bet we can do the Bumper Cars before she puts her foot down?"
Farley smiled back. "Given how easily she falls for your puppy dog eyes, I'd say at least another three rounds."
"You're on!" Chip declared. "Loser has to ride the Waltzer with a stomach full of hot dogs!"
And soon enough, they found, just as Farley had guessed, that Alexis would let them do three rounds before she stomped her foot and told them they were being a couple of pricks.
Later, when it came time for to fulfill his side of the bargain, Farley couldn't have been more pleased. The color Chip's face turned while on the Walzter was on a spectrum of green that he'd been sure only a metamorphmagus would be able to reach. His subsequent up-chucking on Alexis's shoes may not have been part of the plan, but even after that, Farley had to admit that going to a muggle carnival had been a lot more fun than he'd expected it to be.
He also wouldn't mind coming again sometime.
-v-v-v-v-v-
"What did you do today at Abbott's home, Farley?" Mother asked over supper.
Stirring his spoon in his bowl of stew as his Mother slapped Father's hand for slurping, Farley shrugged. "The usual, I guess," he answered. "We did some flying and worked on a bit of summer homework."
His mother looked torn between approval and smugness. "While working on homework was an excellent way to spend your time with Abbott, you truly missed out on a treat today. Misses Flint took myself and Ulyssa to a matinee play of the Peverell Brothers's story. It was well done and I'm sure you would have enjoyed it as well," she proclaimed.
"I bet I would have too," Farley replied amicably as he thought of the even better day he'd had with his two friends at the muggle fair.
A play would have been nice, but it would have never beaten the boundless discoveries and joys he experienced at the carnival with Alexis and Chip.
This one has to be the longest I've written yet, I think. What did you think of Farley's experience? Of the antics him, Alexis and Chip got up to?
Thank you all for reading and please review :)
