Janna Black and The Cite of the Dead

Rock Cakes

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    "Hagrid!" Yelled Albus, catching the giant's attention, the giant turned around to face the two first years. Janna stared at the towering man, his hands were as large as a driving wheel, he had a mass of black tangling hair and a large beard with two or three white hairs. He looked at the two children with dark beetle eyes, they glistened like normal eyes would but these were far more brighter.

    "Hullo... Are yeh Albus?" Hagrid asked, Janna gawked at him in fascination, he was so huge, bigger than any person Janna had seen.

    "Yes, and this is my friend, Janna" Albus introduced Janna, she waved with her fingers and smiled with her mouth still a little open.

    "Julianna Black... I've heard abou' you" Hagrid reached to Janna, she shook his hand, or more like his large fingers. Then he reached to Albus who did so as well and shook Hagrid's fingers "well, I've got a pot goin'. Yeh can sit at the table, right there... Anyone care for a rock cake?"

    "I'll have, thank you" Janna smiled, brushing her hair back before giving Fang another pet on the head as he sat next to her, leaning his head on her arm. Albus lead Janna to the table by hand, she stared up at the roof, little cages and other boxes of strange objects and leaves mottled out from the roof between the cages where a few bats crawled in and out.

    "So, how's Hogwarts been for ya?" Hagrid asked, bringing a tray with large mugs and a matching blue tea pot that steamed from the spout, next to the tea set was a cake that had eight large slices, one of which was already on a plate.

Albus gestured for Janna to talk first "I love it... Although I still get lost sometimes but there was this black dog in the paintings called Snuffles who lead me to the Herbology building through a tunnel... Do you know where I might find him, Hagrid?"

    "A Black Dog..." Hagrid thought as he placed the plate by Janna's hands "I think yeh saw your uncle... He was an Animagus, a scruffy black dog... He must have snuck into the paintings"

    "Sirius?" Ignoring her own question on exactly what an Animagus was "Does he have a painting in the castle?" Janna asked, sticking a fork into the cake, she tried to pull it out but it stuck there.

   "Portraits can travel anywhere, only in paintings though... There must be one somewhere, you should ask Harry" Hagrid explained, pouring tea for the three of them.

     "Then what is an Animagus?" Janna asked as she got a bite size chunk off the cake by pulling her fork out with much needed force.

   "An Animagus is...er someone who learns how to transform into an animal, you must've run into Sirius' Animagus" Hagrid explained sitting down and taking off his oven mitts.

    "So he lives in the painting?" Janna asked "do all dead wizards go to paintings?"

Hagrid looked at Janna with all her questions, he shrugged and leaned back in his arm chair "I don't know much 'bout this but I know a memory lives in the painting, like some wizards who have their portrait done so they can watch over them homes after they go"

Janna nodded, sipping  her tea from the large mug, which she held with both hands, with one going through the hoop of the mug. Albus took the opportunity to talk about his adventures, mostly how he fell asleep during History of Magic, where there is a ghost teacher who had a monotonous voice which could even bore the most attentive learner. After two slices of rock cake and a mug of tea Janna and Albus said goodbye to Hagrid who said they could bring any of their other friends if they liked...

While walking up the slope away from the hut Janna felt Albus hold her hand, she felt her stomach warm like she had drank a large cup of tea again. "Why are you holding my hand?" Janna asked as she looked at his fingers intwining with hers.

   "W-Well, my mum does so when sh-she doesn't want us to g-get lost..." Albus explained, Janna chuckled and lifted her hand with his looking at his fingers.

    "Your hands are really clammy, but I don't mind, I'm usually cold" Janna laughed as she let their hands sway between them "I wonder where the boys are right now"

Albus bowed his head and sighed "so you h-haven't changed your mind about them?" Janna shrugged pushing her hair back over her head to look at Albus more clearly.

    "Well, I do have quite a bit in common with them, maybe you can join us at the Gryffindor table, or in the common room. Ah you'll love it, there's this old armchair which most people fall asleep in because it's just in the right position from the fire hearth" Janna reminisced, Albus sighed looking at Janna's small smile as she climbed the slope with him.

   "I-I can't" Albus said, this sentence in his mind sounded more like he didn't want to join Janna's wayward friends. "I'm a-a Slytherin, I can't go in the Gryffindor areas, it's where... I don't belong"

   "Who says?" Janna huffed, squeezing Albus' hand "I go to your table and I don't get shouted at"

   "N-No, it's just... people will say things" Albus muttered, Janna understood the emotion he was feeling, she knew how it felt to be near a place that didn't want you and hated her kind "people will think I did choose the wrong house, b-but it was that ruddy hat's fault. H-He didn't let me finish what I wanted to say."

   "Albus," Janna stopped to hug Albus, he gingerly put his arms around her waist "I know what you are feeling..." Janna then leaned back and held his hands in hers, swaying them in and out "if I could I would go back in time and chose Slytherin. Not for whatever my family and some of Slytherin wants but so you could stop moping"

    "I d-don't mope" Albus murmured, Janna laughed a little, letting go of his hand to brush her hair back "c-can I walk you up to wherever y-you're going?"

    "Yes, I'm just going to Gryffindor tower to go to the boys, maybe finish our homework" Janna explained, pulling Albus by his sleeve towards the hall with moving staircases where the light shifted, as though being bent by fast moving clouds. Janna lead him through the maze of upward moving staircases, she laughed as she pulled Albus onto a staircase before it moved, he stared at her and held on tight to the railing while the stairs moved on their hinges some seeming like they might collide but only narrowly missing each other.

After the little adventure Janna and Albus stopped at the fat lady portrait. Albus stared longingly at the frame, pursing his lips, slowly letting go of Janna's hand "see you at supper, Albus" she smiled, Albus moved to a staircase that was going to move downwards.

    "See ya" Albus nodded before walking down the steps... Janna felt her stomach warm with her cheeks... She couldn't understand this feeling, she didn't feel it with the boys... Maybe it was a side-effect of the rock cake, which was something only Janna seemed to enjoy.