“I don’t even know if Mungo’s is doing internships this year yet,” Jordyn lamented.  The career fair wasn’t that far off, but it was enough that she had anxiety over that too.  “I hope I get to at least see patients in person,” she pouted at Neely.  Internships, from what Jordyn understood, were usually fetching coffee and filing papers, but she was a determined girl and she usually got what she wanted out of things.  She really wanted to show off what she knew and apply some of the things she was learning in her classes to practical matters.  “You are doing one, aren’t you?” she quickly asked Neely.  She thought Neely would, probably with something fabulous. 

Of course, it was also entirely possible she’d have the chance to spend her entire summer relaxing.  That, to some degree, sounded wonderful to Jordyn, but then she remembered she’d be with her parents all summer and that was just about the worst thing she could have imagined for anyone.  Being at an internship would be infinitely less horrible.  When she wasn’t with them, she truly hoped she’d be able to spend most of her time elsewhere. 

“Kind of?” Jordyn said incredulously, “They’re absolutely gross.”  Not that Jordyn knew many babies at all: she was an only child and her only cousins were much older than she was, so growing up she hadn’t been exposed to them.  However, she knew the lore: too many bodily fluids for Jordyn to handle out of someone who wasn’t even (usually) sick.  She wrinkled her nose.  “I don’t even want to begin to think of names – that makes them real,” she informed Neely, “like imagining a pimple and then waking up with one… horrid!”  It would be infinitely worse, she realized, to wake up with a baby, however, than a pimple.  Were it a trade off, Jordyn would wake up with a million pimples. 

Thankfully, the conversation shifted quickly  - maybe not in the first direction Jordyn thought of and she rolled her eyes, trying to avoid blushing at Neely’s brazen talk.  Instead, Jordyn could focus on the idea of a tropical vacation that she’d never be able to go on.  “It sounds a bit… honeymoon… to me,” Jordyn had to admit to her friend.  Very romantic and whatnot, but Jordyn thought it sounded a lot like long term commitment, and that scared her – not that she’d tell Neely that.  “As much as I love you and you are my sister, there are many things I’d rather do than accompany you on your honeymoon,” she wrinkled her nose at Neely.  “And healing Jai would certainly be one of them!” she retorted with a laugh, so glad it was dark out and she could look up to avoid looking at Neely and admitting to the fierce blush on her cheeks. 

“I am, however, still intrigued by France,” she moved it back to a more realistic venue.  “I’m fairly certain my parents would also be more pleased with that option.”  Not that they had much of a say in it… but Neely didn’t really know that. 

“They should… people always need healers.” How could they not?! “And if they do have a program, you’ll absolutely be one of the ones who gets to do something exciting and not just go on coffee runs. But if you want, you could skip helping people and come save shoes with me. I want to intern at Runwitch.” Neely would know what to do with herself if she didn’t get it. Even if they had to work nights. There would still be weekends!

Neely didn’t know if she could entirely agree, though the logical side of her brain knew Jordyn was right. There might have been adorable baby faces and designer bonnets to coo over, but… not worth it. “Um, we have excellent hygiene and emergency potions. There will be no pimples.” The same went for the unsavory side effects of… canoodling. But she and Julian were clean. And hadn’t sealed it yet.

“It’s not a honeymoon. It’s a summer holiday.” Like American Spring Break, but less trashy.

Even so…

“France it is.” Neely could deal. France was stunning, and she could get Julian in a hut some other time. Later that summer. “Why do parents get in the way of everything?”

Neely did have a point.  Healer wasn’t exactly a career that any newly wand-armed eleven year old could do.  She was pretty much made for it.  Weirdly enough, she wasn’t afraid of blood or bones or anything of the sort.  She kind of found it interesting, actually.  The articles in the prophet that some parents sent about a particularly strange case of people being turned inside out was especially interesting.  She doubted Neely would want to hear about it though.  Instead, she laughed and shrugged her shoulders: “If healing people doesn’t work out, I will most assuredly help the shoes of the world at Runwitch with you.” 

It would have been fun, she had to admit, doing an internship with her best friend.  But, they were very different and looking toward to very different career paths – their life paths would always include one another. 

It seemed as though that life plan now solidly included France in it.  At least that way they wouldn’t be sharing huts in the middle of the water and… well… regardless of whether Jordyn had anyone to bring by that point, she still wasn’t going to be interested in sharing a very open tent.  She was extremely private. 

Too bad her ‘parents’ were in the way, as Neely so nicely put it.  “It’s their job to make us suffer,” she shrugged, conceding that point was probably true.  “But France will be lovely.  Imagine: a beach cottage, or something like that,” she smiled.  At least a cottage had doors with locks.  “And the same amount of scandalously small bikinis you want to wear.” 

“Good, because two shoes are better than one.” And Neely was sure she could use the help of another qualified intern who knew what they were doing. Too many people who wanted to dive into the magazine had zero clue about what it really entailed. It was their loss. Neely would earn her keep. “And Merlin, if there’s some hopeless Huff— I mean.” Oops. They weren’t all created equal. “Hopeless person who gets in based on a false resume, I’ll scream. I am not babysitting some fashion novice.”

But Neely would be there, at least, and that was her foot in the door.

And Jordyn would be at St. Mungo’s for when the clueless members of their internship hoard ended up injured in the printing department.

Discussing how to get one’s parents to agree to something had a much brighter outcome than discussing someone’s icky injuries, though. “Yeah, we could do a cottage. With lots of picnics… and fairy lights.” Actual fairies. She laughed, shaking her head. “I’ll get you into a small bikini, too, don’t worry. That’s how you’ll save Jai. His eyes will pop out of his head, along with Julian’s when he sees me.” A plan to blind their boyfriends (Neely was calling them that, never mind the technicalities of Jordyn’s situation).

So only half-saving, but. Oops.

“We should walk a bit that way when we go back— there are some flowers that I think would look great in my hair.” Neely had apparently not learned her lesson about picking flowers around the school. Maybe if these weren’t in the Greenhouse, it was ok.

Jordyn gave Neely a look as she started to say hufflepuff.  She knew that’s where it was going anyway, and maybe a couple of weeks ago she wouldn’t have minded so much… but the house wasn’t all that bad… or at least one member of it made Jordyn reconsider her previous stance.  She couldn’t blame Neely though, it had taken quite a… transformation for Jordyn to even think about her prejudices. 

At least she had a considerate friend who caught herself.  “You wouldn’t do well at that,” Jordyn teased, imagining Neely sitting next to someone who couldn’t tell the difference between a plaid and a check.  It would be disastrous… if the other person even survived. 

"Making their eyes pop out defeats the purpose of them having eyes.  How could they appreciate us afterward?" Jordyn rolled her eyes, trying to deflect from the discomfort of imaging herself in a tiny bikini in front of anyone.  Some might have used the word prude to describe her, but Jordyn certainly preferred modest.  “Besides, you act like we’ve already exchanged promise rings and snogged in front of a professor or something,” she laughed. 

Whatever.  She wouldn’t be putting any unhatched dragon eggs in her counts if she could help it.  “You could enchant them and make some fantastic flower crowns,” Jordyn mused.  She’d seen something in a muggle magazine about it last time she was home and walking on the street.  They were quite cute, but assuredly they’d be better with real flowers, and something enchanted about them… much better than the muggle version. 

They were growing low on strawberries, and the moon was quite high in the sky: Jordyn didn’t want to be lat for curfew.  Letting out a deep breath, she looked at Neely.  “Perhaps we should head back now, so we have enough time to pick those flowers?” she got ready to push herself up, if Neely wanted to go - of course.

It was best not to dwell on the almost-insult.

And Jordyn was right, Neely wouldn’t have much patience for someone who had no idea what they were doing. Unless it was a project. She loved those.

“You’ll heal them and give them new eyes,” she suggested. “But make them the same. I love Julian’s eyes.” And his mouth, and his torso, and his lap, and his height. “There has to be some kind of potion for that.” One that someone could hand to her so that she didn’t have to deal with it, because, ew.

“Jordy, you skipped levels, you don’t need to snog in front of Storm to prove that.” She could work on titles later.

And trips now.

Also, flowers.

“Yes! Now I know what we’re doing instead of homework.” Neely was already waving her wand, letting the snacks pack themselves up. A little girl talk always went a long way. Especially out in the fresh air, where they could enjoy spring to its full extent. There was something about picking flowers at night that was very editorial. Neely stood up adjusting her purse and waiting for Jordyn to join. The impending summer of losing— her Trace, her v card, their curfew— would be a summer of winning.