Jack kicks back in Gryffindor (open RP for Gryffindors and anyone else who comes along)

[slothbefouler]

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

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[estebanmd]

In fact, Stephen had spent a good deal of time prowling about in search of Jack ever since he had learned Jack was no longer popcorn. The only indicator was the plaque, just as the plaque had been Stephen's only informant that Jack had turned into popcorn in the first place. He had no idea where Jack might have turned up, if anywhere, only that it must be somewhere at Hogwarts. He never had found the magic lavatory that had claimed Jack for months upon arrival at the school, and worried that Jack might be trapped in it again.

He regularly checked places he had known Jack to frequent: the Ravenclaw bar, the Gryffindor common room, even the lake, as while he had never gone swimming with his friend at Hogwarts, he knew Jack maintained his habit of a morning swim. He did this not with any great hopes of success, but because it made sense, and because he would not give up.

And then, one afternoon, suddenly Jack was there after all, in the (ample) flesh. It was as though he had never been gone.

"Give you joy of your resurrection, brother," said Stephen, delighted. At the least Jack would have to remember him; they had known one another years and years before Hogwarts. If Hogwarts had been obliterated from time and space and history it would have made no difference to their friendship.

[slothbefouler]

"Stephen! How good to see you! I am sorry about the popcorn business, only I could not help it. But I am back now, as you can see, and none the worse for wear, though the whole thing was damned peculiar." Jack wondered how much time had passed while he was popcorn and then stuck in the magic privy. Hopefully it had not been long - he did not like to think of Stephen worrying about him for any great length of time.

[estebanmd]

Stephen sat beside his friend at the fireside. "No one knows what causes the popcorn phenomenon, or what reverses it. I am only glad to have you back, soul."

[slothbefouler]

"I am glad to be back, though to tell the truth, Stephen, I would rather be someplace which is not quite so much of a madhouse." Jack sighed. Having Frenchmen or Americans shooting at him wasn't especially pleasant, but at least it made sense. Nothing here made sense, it seemed.

[estebanmd]

"The last madhouse you were in you seemed to like quite well. Has Hogwarts none of the compensations of the Asclepia, then?" Stephen was concerned. If pining for home had caused Jack to turn into popcorn, it might be best to see whether the Admiralty could convey him back home again, lest kernelhood reclaim him.

[slothbefouler]

"I did like the Asclepia well enough, but on the other hand there were no magical privies there, nor little blue men who clean one's clothing whether one wants them to or not, nor people turning into popcorn, nor professors who are actually werewolves." Had that fellow really been a werewolf? He had sworn it was true, but Jack had no idea. "But I feel I must stay here for your sake, my dear, and for the sake of my friend Molly as well. And it is not so bad here, really, only I wish things were not so... strange."

[estebanmd]

Stephen was touched, enough so that he was not affronted by the possible implication that he needed minding. "My dear, you need stay nowhere for my sake. I can perfectly well take care of myself, you know." He said nothing about this Molly -- he assumed Jack meant Molly Michon, a woman whom Stephen liked insofar as he knew her -- despite Stephen's devotion to Sophie Aubrey, it had never been his habit to comment on Jack's strayings from the marital bed, especially considering that the marital bed was in a fixed location in England, and as the old saw went, no man was married past Gibraltar.

"I will confess it gladdens my heart to have your company," he added, not wanting to create the false impression that he did not care whether his friend stayed or went. "Perhaps some pocket of sanity can be arranged for you, somewhere on campus, where strange folk will not trouble you too much. I believe my authority as faculty could allow for the setting aside even of a small patch of ground where you might grow cabbages if it suited."

[slothbefouler]

Jack had some doubts as to whether Stephen could, in fact, take care of himself - though Stephen had proved himself more than capable in certain situations, Jack still occasionally thought that his friend should not be allowed outside without a keeper, though he refrained from saying so, of course.

"It would be good of you, certainly, but you know what would truly cheer my heart is a boat which I might sail in the lake. I have thought of attempting to build one, or perhaps make one with magic. I have made those small model boats, which I have shown you - I might try to make one large enough to be of use. Do you think it could be done?" Jack was fairly sure that he could do it, but Stephen knew more about magic than he did.

[estebanmd]

Oblivious to Jack's doubts (indeed, the doubts of most of the Surprise's crew) concerning his general competence outside the medical and scientific fields, Stephen turned his thoughts to this question of a ship. Hogwarts's lake could well accommodate a ship of decent size; Jack need not content himself with a piddling rowboat.

It would not be the first time Stephen had sought to provide his friend with a ship. It was the most natural thing in the world. "Of course we shall find a way to do it. I once turned a desk into a tortoise." Here Stephen's own fund of knowledge ran bankrupt. Perhaps one could turn a very, very large desk into a ship? "We shall have to ask my friend Remus. He is no longer professor of Transfiguration here, but I know him better than the present one. I have occasion to correspond with him anyhow, on the matter of Professor Homsar; to append a question concerning boats would be no great thing, I am sure of it."

[slothbefouler]

Jack's brow creased with concern. "Stephen, you do know that Remus fellow is a werewolf, do you not? Or at least so he claims, and this place is strange enough that I believe him. Is it really safe to be friends with such a creature? I am surprised they ever allowed him to become a professor." Once again Stephen was showing the complete lack of concern for his own life and limb which made Jack want to stay at Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He really had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Perhaps he was studying the werewolf for science, but still, surely it must be terribly dangerous to keep such company.

[estebanmd]

Stephen's lips compressed into a thin line. "It is perfectly safe, I assure you. You might even go so far as to call him my patient, as I supply all the school's werewolves with the potion they require to prevent the more perilous aspects of their condition from becoming an active concern. No, I will not have ill spoken of the professor, not even from you, my dear, and I am sure if you knew him better you would not speak so."

[slothbefouler]

"He does seem like a friendly enough fellow." He was good at Rock Scissors Paper too, but Jack wasn't sure if Stephen knew what that was. "I am sorry to speak ill of your patient. I am sure that he is quite safe, if he is in your care. If you could inquire of him about the possibility of making a boat by magic, I would be most grateful to the both of you." Although he didn't say so, Jack was in fact rather skeptical about Stephen's reassurances, as Stephen was likewise convinced that Professor Homsar was a genius. Stephen did get some damned odd notions sometimes.

[estebanmd]

Stephen nodded, less tense now that Jack had retracted the statement. It had sounded too much like the kind of prejudice that Remus had hinted about, that had seemed to make Remus so very low; it wanted an answer, and Stephen had given it one, loath though he was to reprove Jack even mildly at this time of all times. "I shall be sure to ask him. Perhaps you might have a nice sloop, or argosy, or somesuch."

Stephen's perennial ignorance of naval terminology had not changed one iota.

[slothbefouler]

"Stephen, an argosy is a fleet of ships. Much though I would like to be a commodore again, it would be most impractical on such a small body of water, and I hardly have a sufficient crew." Jack had to smile at Stephen's ignorance - it was like hearing an old familiar tune. "A sloop might be rather impractical as well - you may recall that the Sophie was a sloop, and though she was small, she still required a crew of 70 men to sail her. A cutter might answer, though." He added for Stephen's benefit, "A cutter is a small ship with a single mast and a bowsprit. It would be just the right size for the lake, I daresay."

[estebanmd]

"A cutter," Stephen repeated. "I shall remember it." Odds were good he would ask for an argosy instead.

[slothbefouler]

Jack gave Stephen a doubtful look. "Perhaps I ought to speak to the professor myself." He imagined ending up with a 74-gun ship of the line which would take up the entire lake, or perhaps one of those ships that flew through the air, instead of something he could actually sail.