One has a smile, and one has teeth [Beatrice]

[Deleted]

October 20, 2025

Zombie Island was the students idea, and it was a great idea. Jasper happily put his talents to work, and helped his students with the charms and enchantments that he could help with. Things had gone so smoothly, sitting outside the cafe, with a sealed cup in his hand, he watched the festivities. It had become late, and he could hear screams, and laughs alike filling the air. He saw many students having fun working and participating. Taking the final drip of the drink, he set it on the floor, wipping out his wand, he muttered a simple charm and guided the now floating cup to the bin. He had Leaning forward, he but his hands together, elbows on his knees and rested his head on it.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, thinking back to the days of curses and tombs, now filled with teaching, and laughter. Neither was bad, but he missed those times. The smell of candy and autumn overpowering the smell of the ocean near by. His mind wondered to his flat that he had in Rome. The past eleven years he had been away. He left so much, good and bad. He had made a life there "hello professor" the words of a student broke the trance, his eyes opened and he waived at the student, bidding them and their companions a fun time. Hoping that they would remember about their studies and homework too.

@beatrice

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Beatrice had heard about this Zombie Island from colleagues at the Prophet; it had sounded fun and since adults could join in she figured, why not? It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that her ex had just taken up a position at Hogwarts of course. She had no idea whether or not he’d be there to be fair, but if he happened to be, well...she had to look her best. So she put on a cute black dress and paired with with a tan peacoat to keep warm, and Apparated to Hogsmeade village, where she could then make the journey on foot over to Hogwarts to catch the Portkey.

When Bea arrived on the island, she admittedly felt overwhelmed. They had really gone all out with everything, hadn’t they? She barely knew which way to look there were so many things to look at. Smiling a little, she could see how much fun the students were all having, and wondered why they hadn’t thought of this sort of thing when she was in school. She supposed it was for the best as she would probably have been roped into running a booth or two, and as an adult she could just have fun.

Noticing a cafe, Bea’s stomach grumbled a little bit and she decided to heed its’ warning. She opened the door to the cafe...and right into a very familiar body. “Ooph!” she exclaimed, about to apologize when she realized who it was. Jasper Yaxley, her ex boyfriend. How many years had it been now; ten? Eleven? He looked better than ever, though Bea wasn’t about to outright admit that. She realized it had been a few moments and she awkwardly laughed. “Hi,” she said weakly, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she looked up at him.

@jasper

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Jasper had the regular teacher look, most of his tattoos covered, save the one on his right middle finger. The one that was hard to hide. He watched the crowd contemplating his next move when his side was impacted by the swinging door of the café, hearing a familiar voice say “Ooph!” He looked over to see a very familiar face, and suddenly wished he had taken more care as to how he looked that evening.

He was staring into the eyes of Beatrice Holmes, his ex-girlfriend. While they had corresponded though letters over the years, he hadn't seen her since just after graduation, when they broke up. She looked pretty good. “Hi,” the woman had feebly. He wasn't sure how long the two had been there before she had spoke. But he smiled at her, it was good to see her. "Hey Bea, been a while"

@beatrice

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Beatrice was left momentarily speechless; this was the first time they’d seen each other in over a decade, which was arguably the last time she had been speechless. This wasn’t a normal occurrence for her, and she felt like a seventeen year old girl again. He’d definitely gained more tattoos over the years (not that Bea minded in the least), and had aged rather gracefully.

“Could say that,” Bea managed to utter, realizing Jasper had actually said something to her. She stood there, slightly awkward for a moment before speaking again. “I was actually about to grab a bite, d’you….or were you just leaving?” she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. Beatrice was an accomplished Quidditch journalist now, and she would not become a babbling school girl too freaked out to talk to her ex boyfriend!

@jasper

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Working at Hogwarts, there were plenty of times that Jasper had flashbacks and the feeling of being back in school. But nothing took him back faster than looking into her eyes. Beatrice looked really good.

“I was actually about to grab a bite, d’you….or were you just leaving?” He took a moment to consider and nodded, unable to wipe his smile off his face. "Sure, I could eat something." He had eaten at the castle before coming, but he really wanted to spend more time with her. Was that bad? He could keep things cool. He would hold it together. They broke up. It was his idea as much as it was hers. There were many reasons. That was over a decade ago. They could be cordial to his ex.

He stood up, realizing the height difference, and how much he had grown over those years. He moved his hand to hold the door that she was holding. Gesturing inside "After you"

@beatrice

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Beatrice tried to hide a smile as Jaspers spread on his face; he always did have a gorgeous smile. Finding herself looking up even more, she nodded and walked into the little eatery first as he held the door open, ever a gentleman. “Thanks,” she said, finding an empty table for two and dropping her bag on one of the chairs to stake her claim. She tucked her hair behind her ears as she looked up at the menu floating above the register. She smiled a little, remembering the delectable food she had consumed while at Hogwarts. She had been secretly grateful for all the stairs she had to climb on a daily basis as a Ravenclaw student, as the food would likely have had her gain several...dozen pounds otherwise.

“This is amazing,” she breathed, and after finally ordering what she wanted, she turned to Jasper. “Alright, so how much of this was done by the students?” she asked, her curious nature once again coming out to the forefront. She always wanted to know how these events were set up, from conception to execution. Though she had only seen a sliver of what was happening in this place, she could already tell there was a lot of love and thought put into it.

@jasper

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Jasper was a different person from when he had started going to Hogwarts. Many of that he attributed to The woman standing in front of him now. Their parting was bitter, but it was for the best. There are many reasons for a couple to break up. Did his family have a factor? Yes. The blood purists hated the girl. He knew that. But he didn't matter that she wasn't a pure blood. What mattered was her, who she was as a person. Even over the time of their dating, he had visited her family and saw a very different dynamic. From his learning and growing while at school, he left to be a curse breaker, and only grew more - physically and mentally. If they hadn't broken up after graduation, he probably wouldn't have left London. But now wasn't the time to dream of what might have been. He held the door for the woman and let her in. He had been trained to be a highbrow member of wizarding society, he knew his manners.

He followed the woman into the small café and then to the empty table that she had picked out, and laid claim to with her bag. He stood by her side as she looked at the menu. She ordered and the student working the booth greeted him and commented on his being back so soon. He too ordered something small. “Alright, so how much of this was done by the students?” Reporter was definitely the right career move for her. "They did a good amount of the work here. There were some things that needed more of an expert hand, but they worked hard on this." Though he had only been a professor for almost two months, he was proud of his students work. They had done a great job.

The orders came out quickly and the he thanked the student who had brought it out. "So, how ya been?"

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Beatrice nodded, marveling with a new appreciation for the hard work the students had accomplished. “I don’t remember being this innovative as a teenager,” she mused, looking towards Jasper with a small smile. “I mean, I certainly loved to write, but I don’t think I could come up with something of this grand nature, even with the help of other teenagers.” It was impressive what people could do when they put their heads together, and as a Muggleborn, Beatrice always appreciated seeing something new in the magical world, even if wizards who had been around magic all their lives didn’t always appreciate it.

“Busy, a Quidditch correspondent's work is never done, and after this year's Quidditch Cup well…” Beatrice trailed off, chewing her lower lip. She had of course been in attendance to this years match, and had thankfully gotten away shaken but unharmed. The loss of life had initially been inconceivable to her, and she had been thankful that she didn’t have to cover that in the Prophet. Still, sometimes at night she would dream of the match, and the explosions, and wake up in a cold, clammy sweat. “I suppose you should count yourself lucky you weren’t there,” she finished with a small shrug. “But you, you’ve been adventuring all over! Tell me, what was your favorite place?” she asked, trying to steer the subject into more of a pleasant direction.

@jasper

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“I don’t remember being this innovative as a teenager,” Jasper chuckled. He remembered being a teenager at school. He had spent his days in classes, doing homework, performing his house responsibilities, and a lot of thinking and being with Beatrice. Nothing much more than that. "I wasn't any better, like you said, you were the writer. The students really have outdone themselves" He had never been that creative. He had always left that sort of thing up to her, when they were together.

She explained that her life had been busy as of late. He understood that. During his time as a curse breaker, he took as many jobs as he could. He didn't have much to do in between. And now that he was a professor, he felt like his job was never done. He defiantly understood "Busy." She also mentioned the Quidditch Cup "Yea, I heard about that." He had heard people talk, and seen newspaper clippings about the event. But, he was actually in a coma when during the event. "Are you alright?" He said caringly. Considering her job, he was sure that she would have been there. He was glad that she wasn't too close, and seemed mostly unharmed.

Not being at the event, being called lucky was definitely a word for it. He gave a shrug at that, he didn't like to talk too much about what had happened to him. Their conversation happily changed. “But you, you’ve been adventuring all over! Tell me, what was your favorite place?” He gave a crooked smile as he thought about his adventures. The past eleven years were certainly enjoyable. "I mostly spent time in Italy and Greece. I even got a small place in Italy." He mused. He had done more travel during the first couple of years, but being bilingual, and picking up Italian quickly. That had really helped in his work. He spared the gruesome details of the job, things that many people chose not to think about when they thought about the career. "When I didn't have to work, I spent time seeing a lot of the sights. They have some amazing things there."

@beatrice

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Beatrice gave a half shrug, and forced a smile on her face. “As alright as I can be, I suppose. I was far enough from the blasts that the only injuries I had were a few bruises from the mass panic from trying to leave the stadium, and a little temporary deafness,” she paused, then continued. “There was smoke everywhere, rubble falling from the stands, people screaming and trying to get out before something else went off...I know we reported it was an accident with the fireworks, but if you think I believe that for a second, you don’t know me very well. They just ‘happened’ to go off where Minister Granger and some very high up Aurors were? That’s too much of a coincidence.”

Beatrice fell silent after her rant and listened to him talk about living in Italy and Greece. “I can only imagine - most of my travels have been around Great Britain and Ireland with various Quidditch teams. And the last World Cup in Brazil, which was fun. Brazilians know how to party,” she admitted with a chuckle. “So… why come back to Hogwarts? I know you have some fond memories of the place, but I honestly didn’t think you’d ever become a professor,” she asked, a small smirk quivering on her lips. She certainly had fond memories of the place after all, and a large part of them involved Jasper in one way or another.

@jasper

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Jasper felt relief as the girl explained the minor injuries' that she had gotten. A couple of buses and some temporary daftness was very little. In fact, he had sustained more than that by just walking into a tomb. Not saying that one could compete the two. From her description, it sounded like it was pure chaos. He smiled at her, enjoying her ramblings and suspicions "You have good instincts. I'd say go with them." He gave a shrug. He really didn't have much to go on, just hearsay, and the articles about it. She was actually there.

Through the past years of being apart, it seemed like they had lived quite different lives. She reminisced about traveling and he smiled. He had been to many places, and for the most part, spent all this time in cursed tombs, caves, and abandoned structures. Honestly though, he had loved it. It didn't take long for the reporter in her to ask a question that he didn't realize he had been dreading. He had told many people, but for some reason, it was different explaining things to her. He shrugged, trying to play it cool, with a crooked smile he decided what he would say "Well, after the accident, I was deemed unfit for Curse Breaking." He shrugged again, sort of dancing around his reasons. "Honestly, Hogwarts was the only place that I felt completely free to be myself." That was, after he started to decide to be different from what his parents wanted him to be. He had a lot of good memories at that school, and Beatrice was in most of them. But he also failed to state that another reason for going to Hogwarts was to still avoid his family.

"And Meric helped me get the job." Aymeric Courtemanche was Jaspers first friend, starting on the train to the school. They had been fast friends, and had followed similar life paths, sort of.

@beatrice

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Beatrice smiled fondly when Jasper mentioned he was free to be himself at Hogwarts. She had known, and seen, firsthand how his family was, and how they treated Muggleborns like herself. Subconsciously, she knew she had had a hand in helping shape Jaspers’ view of the world being born from two Muggle parents, and still falling in love anyway. “There were some good times here, weren’t there?” she agreed with a small laugh. Teaching had never really been a career path for Beatrice; she was impatient and liked to get things done quickly and efficiently. She had certainly butted heads with her editors before, though not enough to get on probation, and believed that honesty was the best policy, even if it’s brutal at times. She doubted she would be good at corralling kids to listen to her, or if she even had the patience for it.

“How is Meric?” she asked before taking another bite from her food. She was impressed by the quality of the food, even though she had attended Hogwarts and had been well fed for seven years. Jasper must be even more impressed with the kids than she was. “Does he teach here as well?” she followed up. She hadn’t known Meric that well in school; he had been her boyfriends friend, so while they had hung out on occasion, she realized they never had really spent any one on one time together. She wondered if he had changed at all from their years at Hogwarts, and what he was like now, but she kept silent. She had already asked Jasper two questions after all; she should give him breathing room to answer.

@jasper

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Seeing Beatrice brought Jasper back. Beck before the curse, before moving out of the century, and before graduation. He knew that the time had passed, but it was really good to see her. "We definitely did have some good times." He said wistfully.

She asked how his old friend was. "He's doing alright." Meric had been a needed friend during his tough times, and even now it was nice to have an occasional drink with him. "Yea, He teaches at Hogwarts too, He's the Potions Professor now." It was strange. There were times when Jasper didn't feel as old as he was, but then he remembered that He and all his friends were adults, and many were teaching the very classes they once attended.

@beatrice
OOC: Just a reminder, Zombie Island isn't at Hogwarts, its in the outer Hebrides.

[Deleted]

Beatrice laughed, and thought back on the times she had interacted with Meric. He had been rather adept at potions if her memory served her correctly, so she supposed Potions Master made sense to her. She had a fleeting memory of their Head of House yelling at him over a potion under his bed burning away the floor. She stifled a laugh; perhaps they had been better friends than she remembered. He was always kind enough to send her an owl if something happened to Jasper after all. But Jasper did not know this, and Bea wasn’t about to reveal her source.

Finishing her meal, she sat back with a contented sigh. “Would-” she started to ask, then paused. Maybe Jasper was just being polite, coming to sit with her as she engorged herself on her lunch. Maybe he had plans to meet someone, a date possibly, and was just waiting out the clock to meet her. A small pit grew in Bea’s stomach, but she pushed it down. If that was the case, it was better to know the truth than to leave her imagination to run wild. “Would you possibly be willing to give me a tour of the island? I want to make sure I don’t miss anything fun,” she asked, finally plucking up the courage to meet his eyes. Those eyes, they made her weak at the knees, and it just wasn’t fair!

@jasper

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Being with, and spending time with Beatrice was nice. Jasper hadn't realized that he had missed it, quite a lot. Finishing the food that they had gotten the girl continued. She started to speak, but then stopped. His interest was peaked, but he didn't want to push. Or rather, he was afraid to push. Part of him was pushed back to his Hogwarts years, where they were dating, close and could talk about anything. But now, what were they? Ex's? Friends? Old classmates? The line seemed more blurred now that they were face to face. Her eyes wondered, not meeting his until she spoke again. He stayed silent until she was finished. He smiled at the e prospect of showing her around. He nodded, "I'd love to. Anything you'd like to see first?" His grin seemed permanent, though he tried to be cool about it.

@beatrice