17/6/22

Two years on... and still writing.

*sigh*

I'd have thought I'd have this done by now (chapter number-wise) but I think I'm only just over ½ way through the story.

Adding to the fact it seems I take a month or so to update the story, I'm not sure how much longer or how long this story will be when I finish it

But worry not, even if I don't carry on, but I hope I will, I am determined to finish this one.

Pinkie Promise : )

Feeling like he needed some air, instead of going to the Room of Requirement, Jack snuck his way through the castle and out the front doors, which once again - if Jack remembered last year correctly - were unlocked.

Not wanting to be seen, Jack stayed in the shadows as he made his way to the lake.

Sitting down, Jack hugged his legs and placed his chin on his knees, trying to calm down in a way that meant he wouldn't start waking the castle by mindlessly attacking things with staffs, or his fists.

After a minute or so, he heard something in the bushes behind him and quickly got up and into a fighting pose, a stern look on his face.

"Nice reflexes. So what's got you out here at this time of night then, Jack?" a voice said from the shadows as Gaia – the Spirit of all Forests and Woodlands in the world - came out of the trees.

"Just needed some fresh air," Jack said calming down, before turning around and sitting down again, looking away from her as she sat down.

"Jack, I have known you for centuries," she began, as she smoothed out her leafy dress that had a thick vine rope belt around the middle. "I can tell when something is bothering you. Especially when you're so close to my forest."

Jack looked down at the ground and saw a ring of frost and ice had formed around him and some was getting close to the trees.

"Sorry, G," Jack said lying back and rubbing his face "But you know I can't control my powers if my emotions are high enough."

"Which is why, J," Gaia said rolling her eyes "I know something is wrong. So: What is it?"

"I... snapped at Harry Potter for thinking he was the one who had it worse, just because a friend of his dad's sold the family out to Mouldy-Wart... in the Gryffindor common room. And at least half the house was there watching me leave, but I'm not sure how much they heard. " Jack said sighing and lying with his back to the ground, looking up at the sky.

"I have the feeling you reminded him of your own sad story, about not being seen or heard for years and years and years, yes?" Gaia asked rolling her eyes as she grew some to pass the time.

"Am I really that predictable?" Jack asked looking over to her.

"Yes." Gaia said calmly, a smile on her face, which slowly turned into a frown. "Look Jack," she said sighing "Just because someone has forgotten your story, to focus more on their own, doesn't mean they're bad friends. And I know you would regret holding this grudge against them if you keep a hold of all this hate. Just something to think about." she said getting up and going back into the forest.

Sighing, Jack calmed down a little more, before he rolled over to go to sleep there by the lake, imagining it was his back in Pennsylvania.

After spending a night outside by the lake, Jack woke up early and went back inside the castle heading for the kitchens rather than the Great Hall.

"Good mornings sir," one of the elder elves said as he entered as the others got the tables ready. "How might we help you?"

"Can I get some pancakes and orange juice please," Jack asked as he stretched himself out and went over to the little table in the back.

Soon, a couple of elves came over with what he asked along with some eggs and bacon too.

Thanking them, Jack tucked into the food and was almost finished when the door opened and in came Fred, George, and Baby Tooth.

"You alright mate?" Fred asked joining him.

"Meh..." Jack said no true emotions showing.

"Jack, we know you're probably still upset," George began as he sat down as well.

"But hiding away from everyone and not talking about it won't fix anything." Fred finished.

"It will get me as far as first class, where we need to be quiet and listen to the teachers," Jack said sipping his juice.

"Just don't keep things bottles up ok, we hear that's not good for you," George said calmly before the twins got up to leave.

"Is sir ok, sir?" a young elf voice asked, making Jack turn to see a youngish elf who was carrying a sweeping broomstick.

"Yeah, just had a... small fight with one of my friends last night," Jack said finishing up and getting up. "Thanks for the food, I'll see myself out."

That evening, after avoiding his friends as much as he could, Jack found himself in the Gryffindor common room with Ron and Harry doing their homework.

Due to Oliver Wood's new Quidditch training – even if the team had managed to knock it from 5 days to 3 days - Jack and Harry only had a couple of nights a week to do all the homework from the teachers.

The reason Oliver had made such a timely training plan was because last week, Ravenclaw played Slytherin in their match and Slytherin won, narrowly. This was good, according to Wood, saying this might help them get closer to winning the cup.

Of course the boy's homework troubles were nothing compared to Hermione's. She was last to leave for bed, first to wake up and get to work on something else the next morning. Every night she would be sat in the corner surrounded by her work from 5 different subjects, snapping at people when she was disturbed.

"How's she doing it?" Jack heard Ron mutter to Harry as they did their Potions homework.

"Doing what?" Harry asked looking over to where Ron was looking.

"Getting to all her classes?" Ron said and started going on again about her mixed up timetable.

Looking over to Brownie-Locks, Jack was wondering how she was managing it too. He had gone off the idea of it being Changelings, but there might still be another way for this to happen.

He was about to start writing out ideas on what they might be when Oliver came over to talk to Harry about the Firebolt.

"Bad news Harry. I've just been to Professor McGonagall about your Firebolt." Oliver explained. "She – er – got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd got my priorities. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off as long as you caught the Snitch first."

"No... Well I would never have guessed that, would you guys?" Jack asked in an overly dramatic way, hand on heart and a gasp to his face.

Baby Tooth was giggling a little as she was sat at the table in front of the friends.

"Yeah, I always did question the magical world and their priorities on things," Annie who had just came over to join him said, sitting down next to him.

"Have a feeling it's got something to go with 'I have all this magic, so my life's not as important'" Jack answered shrugging getting back to his own homework, while Oliver said to Harry to just order a new new broom from Which Broomstick.

"... you can get a Nimbus 2001, like Malfoy's got."

"I'm not buying anything Malfoy thinks is good," said Harry flatly.