Wynie & Friends: Plan the Dunkein Scheme!
Ft. @amus2110 Carina Savage, Orpheus Beaumont, @ravenothere Lukai Reinheart, @mostboringcrossover River Cain.
“Please just do something about them!” A soggy Duncan fell to the ground harshly on his knees and cried. “P-Please, I — I can’t do this anymore!”
Emcy looked extremely pissed off as Duncan sobbed at his feet. Three times. Three godforsaken times Duncan Hobhouse has interrupted his conversation with Carina in the past week. Three. Bloody. Godforsaken. Times.
You might ask why Duncan didn’t go to Amihan. Well, Emcy had wondered the same and asked. “She won’t listen…” Duncan had grumbled miserably.
He couldn’t blame her though… “What was it this time?” Emcy asked with a polite, tight smile. Just get this over with…
“...and he was holding back his tears because, you know, if he cried then they could escape and he wouldn’t see her again!” Carina was retelling her latest read animatedly as Emcy sat beside her, listening intently. “Then she asked, ‘why are you crying, Darling?’ and he couldn’t hold it back anymore and collapsed into —”
“Help!” Duncan Hobhouse rushed into the Hospital Wing screaming. “Help me! Merlin! Please! I don’t want to be eaten by the squids!”
“Oh dear —” Carina stood up immediately. “Okay, okay. On the bed please. I’ll be right with you!” She rushed to get her supplies as Emcy helped Duncan to the bed.
There were baby squids clinging on Duncan’s face and arms, snails and worms in his hair, and a horrid odor of fish oozing from him. The source was soon clear when Duncan suddenly shouted fearfully, “get it out! It’s in my shirt! Get it out!” Emcy tore his shirt apart at his request, and out jumped a few small, grey fish.
“Okay, I — Uh,” Carina stared awkwardly at Emcy, Duncan with his shirt ripped in half, then her gaze flitted to the buttons and fish on the floor. “Uhm — Okay, let’s get the other things out first.”
It was fairly easy to get the snails, worms, and fish off of him. The squids, however, were going to be difficult. “We can sedate or give them sleeping potions,” Emcy suggested in the end after trying to pry them off didn’t work.
“That’s what I was thinking. I’m going to get the syringe.” Carina rushed away again. Duncan’s wails had now quieted to sniffles and hiccups. “What happened?” Emcy asked, now less annoyed and more concerned.
“I-It was that Hufflepuff Lu – hic – Lunatic!” Emcy’s eyes slightly narrowed at his use of words. “She poured a b-bucket of those th-things on me! A-And she called me stupid! She was also with that mudblood and Lovegood!” Duncan looked up now, his eyes bloodshot. “This is bullying, right? This is considered bullying! My father will hear about this, and Black will have those mudbloods out of this school! Those filthy, deranged —”
“Okay, calm down.” Emcy frowned at the boy. “So it was Whyle?”
“Who else?!” He shouted lividly. “First she chased me with a Venomous Tentacula head, then she chased me with a Puffskein, and now this! How is that mudblood still in this school?!”
“Whyle, okay.” Emcy made a mental note to have a talk with her soon. Carina came back with a syringe filled with Sleeping Draught, smiling kindly at the traumatised boy who had just finished ranting.
“Ah! What are you holding that for?!” Duncan cowered back against the pillow. “I’m just going to put the squids to sleep,” Carina explained as she closed in, “otherwise we won’t be able to get these off. Trust me.”
Emcy watched Carina knock out each squid, careful not to pierce Duncan. Emcy picked the squids off of Duncan and dropped them in the same bucket as the other animals.
When Duncan was clean of baby squids again, he had tiny bites all over his face. “It itches!” He complained while Carina applied healing paste to the bites. “That Hufflepuff Lunatic is so dead once I get out of here!”
“Which won’t be till tomorrow,” Carina announced solemnly. “You are going to rest the night here. I don’t want you washing off that paste until the bites are gone. It’s possible you could get an infection if you don’t let them heal properly. Now rest. I’ll tell your Head of House about your condition.”
She pulled Emcy away as soon as she finished, hiding themselves in the matron’s office so Duncan wouldn’t hear their conversation.
“What do you think?” Emcy just sighed tiredly at her question. “I think Winnie won’t listen. I also think he must’ve done something for her to have such a reaction, but I don’t know what yet.”
“He kept calling her a lunatic,” Carina glowered, “and he kept throwing that word around as if it weren’t a slur! Does he have no shame?”
“I reckon not,” Emcy just shrugged, “I cannot emphasise how many times students have reported to me and Amihan about him. Regardless, I will have a word with Winnie.”
“But he said there were two others.” Carina whispered worriedly. “A muggleborn student and a Lovegood.” “I think she mentioned going on her weekly feed with Tobias and Leonard this time.” She sighed. “That must be it…” Carina whispered sadly and peered at the door again. “How could anyone be such an arsehole? How was he sorted into Ravenclaw? Actually, I wouldn’t like it any better if he were in another house.”
“I know, dear,” Emcy smiled gently at her, “I don’t like that he’s in Ravenclaw either. Anyway, I’ll go find Winnie before someone else hears about this and gives her detention. I’ll come get you after your shift ends in a minute.”
“Okay!” Carina hugged him before leaving the office first. Emcy left after her and made his way down the stairs to the second floor — Winnie?
Wyanne looked up and waved at him. “Hello, Emcielian!” She was mid-conversation with Amihan. “Player,” the other Prefect greeted with a nod, “did you hear about what Wyanne did?”
“No,” Emcy smirked darkly, “what did she do?
“I wanna tell!” Wyanne was brimming with excitement. “So I was feeding Toasty — with Leo and Tobi — when Dunkein suddenly showed up and said, ‘Oh Lovegood have you been kidnapped by these two?’” Amihan snickered at the silly voice Wyanne used to imitate Duncan, “and he called Tobi the M word! Then Leo said something which made me laugh so Dunkein was like, ‘You have a lot of nerve to laugh, Lunatic!’ and I basically cleverly told him he was stupid, and unfortunately he didn’t understand my jabs but it was still nice.” “She said he’s ‘quick as a glacier’,” Amihan grinned widely like a proud older sister and high-fived Wyanne. “Yeah, that! And I was quite unimpressed by his sad attempts at insulting me so I dumped the last of Toasty’s protein over him. End of story!” Amihan clapped as Wyanne bowed, but Emcy just pinched the bridge of their nose in exasperation.
“You traumatised the boy!” Emcy sighed. “It is against the rules to initiate physical attacks when his attacks were verbal! Actually, it's against the rules to attack at all, but — Winnie, you have to stop getting your so-called revenge every time he does something bad!”
“It was for good reason!” Wyanne argued. “I chased him with a Venemous Tentacula after he insulted Teddy even after helping him get a leaf, then I chased him with the Puffskein for calling you a show-off, now I still have to get revenge for Tobi because he called him the M word —”
“Winnie, no,” Emcy facepalmed. “You should be bringing such issues to a Prefect, like me or Amihan! Or tell a professor! Getting revenge by yourself using those methods is against the rules!”
“As if you guys will give him the proper punishment! Worst thing he’ll get is detention from you! That’s not a punishment! That’s just making him do mundane tasks that magic usually does! It changes nothing, he doesn’t get threatened, he’ll only be angry because detention ‘wasted his time’ and who knows what other things he’ll do afterwards!”
“Humiliating him is not the correct course of action, Winnie.” “Neither is sorting books back to their shelves and letting him off scot-free afterwards.” “Winnie,” Emcy stared at her gravely. “He could get you expelled.” “I’m a seventh-year and have heard of no such thing yet,” she replied haughtily, “and even if I did get expelled, he’ll graduate and find people at least six years within his age range knowing about his malicious deeds and how I made sure everyone knew about it. He needs to be held responsible for what he’s done.”
“And what if you go overboard one day, Winnie?” Wyanne just rolled her eyes as he continued. “What if something goes wrong and he or you get severely injured? The rules are there for a reason, Winnie — they’re there to protect students from getting hurt. You need to think logically before doing stuff like this. Risking yourself and others’ safety is something only you will be held accountable for if things go sideways! And it’s unnecessary to dump carnivorous creatures on him! If you had only dumped worms or snails he wouldn’t have needed to come to the hospital wing to get treated and stay the night!”
Wyanne blinked at him, her face void of any emotion but shock. “He got bitten?”
“Yes! Screaming and crying as Carina treated him. She had to sedate the squids because they were stuck to his face, and — Ugh. My point is, you are going to endanger yourself and his safety! You made a horrible decision today!”
“You’re just bitter that your date got interrupted,” Wyanne blew a raspberry at them.
Amihan finally spoke up. “I think you did a very good job. Sad that the Squid didn’t toss him into the lake. I heard Dunkein can’t swim.”
“Toasty’s disgusted by him,” Wyanne explained, “I’m certain he would’ve done that if he didn’t have such hatred towards Dunkein.”
Emcy sighed irritably in the end. “Next time, do not toss animals on Duncan, regardless of what he says. You could get into trouble and lose house points."
“Uh-huh,” Wyanne patted their shoulder, “okay, I’m sorry. I’ll remember to consider your schedule with Carina as well before I throw carnivorous animals at someone next time.”
Amihan just bursted into laughter while Emcy narrowed their eyes at the Hufflepuff. “There should be no ‘next time’, Winnie.”
“That'll be a thing the day I die,” Wyanne promised with a curt nod. “By the way, is that Carina?” She bursted into a fit of giggles when Emcy turned around immediately.
“Not a word,” Emcy hissed over their shoulder before they ran to their girlfriend.
“Emcy!” Carina smiled at her boyfriend, who kissed the back of her hand upon taking it. “Did you talk to Wyanne?”
“I did. Apparently Duncan tried to insult her and it made her angrier after he called Tobi the M word.” Emcy rolled his eyes at the boy’s brainlessness. “He never learns.”
“Hmm. You’re grouchy today.” “Yes, I am.” “How about this?” Carina looped her hands around Emcy. “We go to the Room and I can finish telling you about that book while we cuddle and you play with my hair.”
“I love that idea.” Emcy lifted her up, one arm supporting her back while the other hooked under her knees. “Let’s go right now.” He carried her to the floo station, and the two disappeared in a burst of green flames.
“Kerr.” Wyanne found the stoic Hufflepuff at the Quidditch field, practicing whatever a Beater practices in their time. “I need a favour.”
“A favour?” Orpheus frowned down at her as he wiped some sweat off his forehead. “Are we familiar enough to ask each other for favours, Whyle?”
Wyanne rolled her eyes. “Fine. Orpheus, I need to ask you for help, please and thank you very much.”
He smirked at her attitude. “What for?” He swung again, adjusting his grip on the baton.
“For Tobi because our resident Ravenclaw blood purist called him a mudblood today.” Orpheus’ head snapped at her direction the moment she mentioned Duncan.
“Oh?” He threw the ball into the air and swung. “Tie him to a chair, cover him in beast feed, and throw him into a den of Puffskeins.”
“That’s a good idea, but see, I’ve already terrorised him with a puffskein, and I want to add a little flare to it this time.”
He merely raised his brows by an inch. “What’re you thinking?”
She gestured for him to bend down and whispered the plan in his ear, occasionally pulling back to laugh at herself before continuing.
When she was done, she looked up at him hopefully. “So?”
He had an unnervingly evil smile on his face. “It’s doable.”
“Lukai Duckai Lukey Duke,” Wyanne sang as she entered the Slytherin common room, effectively making every Slytherin turn around to look at her with confused expressions. “Is Lukai Reinhart here?” She asked, wide eyed.
“What is it?” Lukai strutted up to her, and his housemates resumed their tasks. “And how did you even get in here?”
“Mylene told me the password.” Wyanne shrugged. “Anyways, I need help.”
“What, getting a book from a higher bookshelf?” She gave him a playful punch on his arm. “Ow. Alright, what is it?”
“So something happened to Tobi and now I want to kill Hobhouse but I obviously cannot do that so I’ve decided to give him a bit of a living nightmare.”
“Oh? I’m intrigued, but haven’t you already chased him around with his two biggest fears?” “I’m not just gonna chase him till we graduate,” Wyanne deadpanned, “I’m gonna make him think thrice before ever saying that word again.”
“Fine. What do you have in mind?” She whispered her plan into his ear, and when she was done, he chuckled at her. “Shorty, you are diabolical. I’m in.”
“Riv, Riv, my handsome Riv,” Wyanne smiled at her boyfriend as she entered his dorm room. “I have a proposition and I think you’ll love it.”
“I love any proposition you have.” He put down the Divination textbook he’d been studying. “What’re you up to this time, Puffy?”
“Okay, before I tell you, there’s a backstory to this.” She pulled off her shoes and climbed into his bed, snuggling with him as she retold what had happened earlier in the afternoon. “Now, I’ve recruited Orpheus and Lukai, and I’ve got a plan for you.”
“For me,” he grinned toothily, “let’s hear it.”
She happily told him everything she’d planned, and by the end his tail was wagging excitedly. “This sounds amazing. I want to do it.” Wyanne smiled triumphantly.
“But first," River poked her ribs, "I want cuddles.” “And kisses?” “And kisses," he nodded and laughed as she grabbed his face and peppered his entire face with as many kisses as the freckles he had.
“Oh! Something else happened today and I wanna share!” She smiled excitedly at him. “Do tell.” He wrapped his tail around her and pulled her in while she started retelling another interesting scene she’d witnessed at the Great Hall this morning….
When Wyanne returned to the Room of Requirement that evening, Emcy looked quite disgruntled. She’d expected him to be happy, brimming with joy, after a date (seeing as she saw Carina leave with a happy smile), but he just looked angry.
“Winnie,” he greeted curtly.
“Emcielian,” she replied carefully. “What is it?”
Emcy sighed. “A little birdie told me you showed up at the Slytherin common room.”
It was Isaac Cooper, Wyanne was sure of it. “And?” Here we go again…
“And I know about you wanting to avenge Tobi for what Hobhouse said. You’ve made it very clear, and I wholeheartedly do not support what Hobhouse did. But Winnie,” Emcy looked up at her, his eyes filled with fear — not just worry, but true fear, “what if he tries to get back at you this time? What if he does something horrible to you… Some things cannot be healed by magic. What if he uses an Unforgivable on you? Or maybe he hires someone to do so? Hobhouse is stupid, yes, but he’s not an idiot. He knows money can buy himself a lot of things… And no matter what you say, I don’t want you to get a scar like I did. I don’t want to find out you have died, all alone, in an alleyway, when I open my Daily Prophet one day.” He stood up and walked over to her, his hands trembling as he grabbed her shoulders. “Let’s just go tell the professors about what he did and do this the safe way, please.”
Wyanne looked up at him, then towards the floor, guilt gnawing at her heart uncomfortably. She didn’t like it when Emcy stood in her way, but she hated it when he was on the verge of tears. She despised making her friends, least of all her oldest and best friend, so scared.
She wanted to tell him she’ll back down just to calm him. “I…” Then she hesitated and realised…she couldn’t do it. “I can’t.”
“But why?” Emcy whispered, shaking her slightly. “Why would you do this and endanger yourself?”
“Because I know, if we tell an adult, the worst he’ll have is detention,” she said seriously, “he won’t learn from his mistake, he won’t understand the hurt he’d caused! You’re the smarter and calmer one between the two of us, so understand me when I say that you were raised by a family who loved you, and you were surrounded by support when your appearance changed, then when you came to Hogwarts you were treated as an equal by everyone because being ‘weird’ is the normality here! But I had a different life, Em!”
She looked up at him, pleading with her eyes and her words that he could try to understand her standpoint. “No matter what you, or Myrna or Vincent or Castiel or Poppy or Garreth or my athair — No matter what anyone says, I look different, I speak differently, I have been told so and treated differently before I met you! I was cast aside, I was called racial slurs, I was laughed at for my upbringing and my inability to speak English and then still for my accent! Sometimes I still stutter because I have this translator in my head that’s trying to find the correct English word! I was treated unfairly, and my ma would tell me to stay silent and the bullies would stop when I didn’t give them a reaction, and then what? They continued on! The adults saw and turned a blind eye! My ma taught me not to fight back, but to stay silent! I felt like I did something wrong when I was the victim! I cannot stand it! Staying silent doesn’t always mean you get peace, it means you are surrendering to their actions! There’s hardly anyone here to judge me for my appearance, but now it’s our ancestry, and it’s just as terrible!”
She was so emotional she shook his hands off her shoulders and started pacing. “The fact that Tobi doesn’t understand the real meaning of the word makes it ten times worse! I had thought the slur the other kids called me was a nickname for me until I learned. I don’t know what Tobi thinks the word refers to, but it is a weapon for Hobhouse to use, and he will continue to use it until he has fully understood that saying the word will bring consequences more than just a lecture and a detention slip!” She was panting by the end, and Emcy just stared at her as if seeing her in a new light. “So…I know this is risky, but I would rather do something about it to make him think twice before saying the word than stay silent like those other people who wouldn’t do shite when I was being bullied. Okay?”
Emcy swallowed, staring at her. She could see the gears turning in his head, the struggle in his eyes…and he nodded. “Okay. Do it.”
“Thank you…” She swallowed nervously. “Does this make it bad?”
Now Emcy was confused. “Make what bad?”
“Like, our friendship…” She rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “Did I ruin it?”
“Of course not, Wyn,” he smiled gently at her. “You’re always my little sister, yeah?” She scoffed at him. “I’m only 8 months younger than you!” “And you’re shorter than me, so you’re little.” She clicked her tongue in aggravation but still leaned into his arms for a hug. “Just be careful, Wyn. I don’t think Carina will be too happy if she has to treat you for a broken leg.” “I won’t!” “If you say so.”
And thus, the revenge begins.
A/N: Cheers to @amus2110 for the idea of tying Duncan up to throw in a den!
