the walls kept tumbling down [anna]

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January was a hard sort of month, Jamie thought, because there were a lot of beginnings and not a lot of ends. It could be overwhelming. She had noticed that Anna Weasley had been researching a lot lately, more than she had been in previous months, so Jamie assumed that something was up in the Triwizard Tournament side of things. After baking cookies with Anna, Jamie had been slightly worried about the other girl. She had seemed...troubled. And there were a lot of stresses for Anna right now, for both of them. What they needed was a way to calm down, and Jamie had concocted a way to do that. Jamie wasn't particularly close to the Gryffindor, but she was hoping that this relaxation time would also serve as bonding time. First, though, Jamie needed to find Anna. Whenever she wanted to find her other Gryffindor friends, Jamie just hung around outside the common room until someone came in or out, and it hadn't failed her yet, so Jamie rested casually against the wall near the portrait hole entrance, waiting for a flash of red hair.

@annelise
(starting near gryffindor tower but moving to prefect bathroom eventually)

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Anna was tired of books. Sure, she liked them as a general rule, but at the moment she wouldn't feel bad if she never looked at one again. Her eyes were tired and she wanted to stop, but she needed to learn more. She found herself drifting off as she tried to read and eventually gave up. Maybe if she took a walk around the castle ... maybe stopped off in the library? Then she'd at least get her blood pumping again. More studying might be able to follow that. She stepped out of the Gryffindor Tower, taking a deep breath as she tried to decide which way she wanted to go.

@jamie

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Waiting was one of Jamie’s favorite things to do, because she knew if she was willing to wait for something, it was worth doing. She waited five, maybe ten minutes outside of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. No one had come or go, otherwise it might have been a shorter time if she sent a runner up to Anna to ask her to come out. It was no matter, though, because after those five or ten minutes were up, just the right red-head stepped out of the common room. “Anna!” Jamie said, calling attention to herself so that the Gryffindor girl didn’t walk right past her. “Got any plans for today?” Jamie asked. Even if Anna did have plans, Jamie was going to try to get her to cancel them, because taking a day to rest was more important than just about anything else at this point in time. Jamie didn’t want Anna to burn out.

@annelise

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When Anna walked out of the portrait hole, she was surprised to hear someone calling her name. She turned and smiled when she saw Jamie. "Hi Jamie," she greeted, wondering what the Hufflepuff wanted to talk to her about. They were friends, after all they made cookies with one another not so long ago, but she couldn't remember a time when Jamie looked for her. She shrugged at the girl's question. "Just studying mostly," she admitted. She knew it sounded boring, but figured Jamie would understand. "Why?"

@jamie

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Studying. That was perfect – it was something stressful, but also something that wasn’t entirely necessary. “Can I persuade you to give up studying for the day?” Jamie asked Anna with a smile. “I’ve been wanting to have a spa day for a while, to help myself relax and stuff, but it’s always more fun with another person.” The Hufflepuff began to explain. “And…well, no offense, but you look like you could use some relaxation, too.” Jamie said. She hoped that Anna didn’t think that Jamie was trying to insult the other girl, especially after some of the comments Jamie had made about the First Task, but of all of the other Hogwarts students, Anna was the one who probably needed the spa day the most. Jamie wouldn’t mind having to go ask someone else, but if Anna accepted, it would be a good day for them both…she hoped.

@annelise

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Then Jamie was asking Anna to give up studying for the day. Anna's head cocked to the side slightly as she listened to the other girl's explanation. A spa day? Anna grinned, "I definitely need some relaxation," she agreed. "Is it that obvious to everyone? How stressed I am, I mean," Not that it was that big of a deal, but Anna was curious. And if she did seem stressed, she was going to need to change her image and attitude or something. Maybe taking a break would help with that. "So where are we going to do this?" she asked with a bright smile.

@jamie

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Jamie was relieved when Anna agreed, rather easily, to give up her studying plans in favor of relaxation. That was the hard part of it over with, as far as Jamie was concerned. When Anna asked if it was obvious how stressed she was, Jamie shook her head vigorously. “Oh, no, it’s definitely not obvious.” The Hufflepuff said, rushing to console the other girl before she got it into her head that everyone thought she needed help or destressing. “I just think it was really easy for me to see, because I’m stressed out, too. Takes one to know one, right?” Jamie asked, still keeping the smile on her face. “We’re going to the prefect’s bathroom. Quidditch captains can use it too, and since not that many people have access to it, we won’t be disturbed.” Hiking to the prefect’s bathroom every time you had to use the loo wasn’t very smart, so Jamie only used it for baths, and she hoped that the other Quidditch captains and prefects did the same.

@annelise

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Anna exhaled, relieved when Jamie said that her stress wasn't obvious to the world. She gave a small smile, "Well that's a relief." Anna gave a small laugh. "Lead the way." Anna gestured that she would follow Jamie, because quite honestly she didn't know where the prefects bathroom was. Not being a prefect or a Quidditch captain, there was no reason for Anna to know about it. "What do you have in mind?" she asked curiously, actually excited to see what was going to happen during the next few hours. No matter what it was exactly, it would definitely be more fun than studying.

@jamie

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Jamie smiled when Anna said to lead the way. It was really a short jaunt from the Gryffindor tower to the Prefect’s bathroom, or at least a shorter jaunt than from the Hufflepuff common room to the same bathroom. Anna asked what they were doing, and the Hufflepuff began to speak, voice a little fast and nervous. “Well, at first I wanted to do a full-blown spa day, but then I realized a lot of the stuff at a Muggle spa uses electricity.” Jamie began to explain. Her mother had taken her to a spa once, for her fifteenth birthday. It had been weird, but also really cool, and had given Jamie the idea for the whole excursion. “So I had to nix some of the more complicated stuff.” She still hadn’t answered Anna’s question yet, Jamie realized, flushing a little. “The tub in the prefect’s bathroom has a ton of different bubble bath options, so I figured we could both take a bath, and then do facials, and then do manicures and pedicures.” Jamie looked over at Anna, face hopeful. “Sound good?” She asked as they reached the entrance to the bathroom.

@annelise

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Jamie started explaining what they were going to do and how she planned the entire thing out and Anna found herself impressed. When Jamie invited her to a spa day, she didn't think it was going to be so well thought-out. She thought that it was more of a spur of the moment type thing. "That's okay, we don't need all the complicated stuff to have fun." Then Jamie started explaining the things specifically and Anna wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about. "I don't know what all of those things are, but I'm excited to see," she answered as Jamie stopped. It looked like they arrived.

@jamie

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Jamie smiled when Anna said that she didn’t mind that they weren’t doing anything complicated. That was a relief. When the Gryffindor said that she didn’t know what half of those things were, though, Jamie was curious. “Have you ever been to a spa before, Anna?” Was that just a Muggle thing? Or maybe Anna’s parents just weren’t the kind of people that would send their daughter to a spa. Jamie spoke the password to open the door to the prefect’s bathroom, glancing at Anna. “Hope you won’t abuse that.” She said cheerily, though she doubted the Gryffindor would do any such thing. “I hope you like honeysuckle, because that’s what these candles are supposed to smell like.” Jamie said, walking around the perimeter of the bathroom to light the dozen or so candles she had placed there earlier. “Do you want the first bath?” Jamie asked. “I can show you all the taps.” Hopefully Anna wasn’t weirded out by the idea of bathing in the same room. Jamie wasn’t going to look, obviously, and the bubbles would be thick enough to hide anything once she was actually in the bath. While Anna was soaking, they could just…talk. Chitchat was good for stress.

@annelise

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Anna laughed slightly, shaking her head, "No I haven't. I think I've heard of them a little bit, but my dad ... he's not into things like that very much." Anyone who knew her dad wouldn't be surprised by that. Then she laughed, "Don't worry about it. I don't want to climb a million stairs all the time." She looked around as she walked in and nodded in appreciation. "But it is nice up here. Lots of space." She smiled at Jamie. "I'm sure I'll be perfectly happy with whatever you've prepared. Don't worry about it." She stepped closer to the bath. "Ok, go ahead and show me," she encouraged, watching carefully.

@jamie

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Jamie nodded when Anna said that she hadn’t ever been to a spa. When she had been dating Harper, learning about the extended Weasley family hadn’t been her top priority, but she had heard the Harper’s Uncle Percy (Anna’s father) had been a little bit of a tightwad. “Well, I hope I make your first experience an enjoyable one.” Jamie said. She laughed in return when Anna said she didn’t want to climb the million stairs that would get her to the prefect’s bathroom. “Lots of space, and not used by a lot of people.” Jamie said with a shrug. “Pretty sweet deal, especially since I’m not actually doing much to deserve it.” She said with a laugh. The Triwizard Tournament had pushed Quidditch to the wayside, so sometimes it felt like Jamie was only a Captain nominally. “Do you like flowery scents?” Jamie asked. She tapped several of the taps along the side of the tub. “Lavender, rose, lemon, sandalwood, or, if you want to match the candles, honeysuckle.” Jamie said, rattling them off. “I’m sure there’s a few other ones, but I didn’t want to push my luck. Some of them are weird.” Jamie said. “I’ll turn around while you get in.” Jamie said, moving towards the corner of the bathroom to pull out the two robes she had stashed there for after their baths.

@annelise

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Anna laughed, confident that the Hufflepuff could make this fun. "I'm sure it will be," she encouraged, excited to give it a go. She'd never been much for scented baths or ... other things of that nature, but she was excited to relax. It would be a good thing, Anna was sure of it. "Well, it's not your fault that you don't get to do much to deserve it this year. None of us knew the Triwizard Tournament was going to happen." She shrugged when Jamie started talking about flowery scents. "Lavender," she said, naming one of the first ones she heard. She thought she liked that smell, at least. She got in the water and smiled. She was definitely going to be able to relax here. "So how's your last year going?" she asked, closing her eyes as she relaxed.

@jamie

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Jamie nodded a little, trying not to let the corners of her mouth turn down at the comment. If she had known about the Tournament…Then nothing would have changed, the Hufflepuff reminded herself firmly. There was no use in making herself feel bad about something that was out of her control. When she heard Anna sink into the bath, Jamie waited for a few moments before turning around, sitting with her back against one of the sinks. When the Gryffindor asked the question about how the year was going, the Hufflepuff paused. “You ever been to a circus?” Jamie asked, perhaps a bit unnecessarily, especially since she was already anticipating that the answer was no. “Because sometimes I feel like those guys that juggle chainsaws.” There was the chainsaw of the Tournament, and of breaking up with Harper, and of her brother nearly moving away, and of her romance with Will…Everything was moving and dangerous and she had decided to make her profession out of smiling while she flirted with danger. “You?”

@annelise