Dearest
Pest
Cousin,
It took me a minute to actually get this unrolled. (Honestly, why in the hells could you not just fold this into an envelope like any sane Never mind.)
The dedication of a Ravenclaw never ceases to amaze me. Truly. The script even gets sloppier as it goes, which tells me that you...wrote this. By hand. (Why?)
Yours, with great concern,
Jules
P.S. aaaaaaaaaa ∞
Fireballs, huh? You mean Chinese Fireballs or Catalonian Fireballs? If we're talking about dragons, I prefer Swedish Short-Snouts.. aren’t they just magnificent?
Anissa almost dropped the jar of raspberry jam she was drinking from. Her lips, glistening with sticky dark red liquid, twitched before the girl broke into a crooked smile.
“Serious relationship? Dearest, it might seem to you that it would be convenient for me to have an exclusive test subject for my projects, but in fact, it's better to test potions on different people in order to identify all possible individual side effects. I hope you understand the message. But! If I wanted to keep someone by my side…”
Ani trailed off as her gaze shifted to a certain door of the Ravenclaw’s seventh-year dormitory, but continued when she felt her cheeks gradually turn the color of raspberry jam.
"Today, students, you will have to pair up to revise the potion that you already brewed in the sixth year.” Professor Sharp proclaimed as he limped through the Potions classroom. “Elixir to Induce Euphoria, which may be quite useful for some of you who are not particularly happy to return to school after the winter bre.. miss Basil! I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you could at least wait for me to finish speaking.” Sharp shook his head disapprovingly, looking at the girl with the scar on her face, who almost knocked over a fellow Ravenclaw student who was about to approach the Slytherin prefect’s potions station.
“Ah, please forgive my impatience, Professor! But the early bird catches a worm, or a snake in our case, right?” The girl chatted until professor rolled his eyes and continued on his way to his desk.
“Will, Willy, William! I don't think we’ve ever talked before. But I saw you at our table when you were talking to Montrose, Andrey or whatever his name is.” Nissa continued to blabber quietly, taking the ingredients from under the counter and arranging them in front of her and the redhead. When everything they needed was laid out, she took the dagger out of the sheath that had been hanging on her belt and began skinning the Shrivelfig.
“Mood-altering potions are so exciting, despite the fact that some of the ingredients are poisonous. But some of these things are effective on their own, you know?” The girl said, rolling the Shrivelfig between her palm and the counter, “Imagine running into dementors without your wand. I read that these wankers feed on positive emotions or memories.. damn, you better not be an optimist at such moments!” she maundered as she made an X-shaped cut in the bulb and squeezed the purple juice into the cauldron. Basil took a wooden spoon and stirred the potion until it turned blue. After that, she carefully placed the spoon on the edge of the cauldron and picked up a couple of porcupine quills, only to break them in her hands and throw them into the mortar.
“So what am I talking about? Oh yes, the dementors. What if there's a way to trick them? I've been thinking about Glumbumble treacle. You know Glumbumbles? Nasty bastards because they taint honey, but useful bastards when you don't need to be happy. Once I got some of that treacle in the forbidden forest, and believe me, it took a lot of Alihotsy leaves to make me smile again.” The girl giggled lowly, shaking her head as she kneaded the porcupine quills with a pestle. Once the powder was of the correct flowability, she stood on tiptoe and checked the potion, which was simmering and yellow in color. Ani turned the mortar over and poured all the contents into the cauldron, then immediately grabbed the wooden spoon and stirred the concoction four times anti-clockwise until the liquid turned blue again. “So, my plan when encountering dementors is to eat some treacle and not let wankers feed on my emotions. Let them starve. There's only one problem, if you eat too much, you can get so bloody melancholic and then you won't be able to do anything without the help of a friend. Tsk. But if you have a friend with you, then you don't have to take Glumbumble treacle. You can't both lose your wands, can you? And what is the probability that Hogwarts students will encounter dementors? None. Probably.”
She stood up on her toes again to check the potion. Still blue. The girl tapped the edge of the cauldron with a spoon to shake off the droplets and turned back to William. “Do you think they could add the Elixir to Induce Euphoria to the prisoners’ food in Azkaban to keep dementors fed? I mean, you can't have a lot of positive emotions when you're locked in Azkaban, right? Do they feed prisoners at all? Is it even necessary to feed the dementors? Oh, all this food talk is making me hungry. I wonder what's for dinner tonight…”
Noticing Will's confused expression, girl poked him in the shoulder a couple of times and whispered loudly “Aye, do me a favor and cut these Sopophorous beans, they need to be added before the potion turns purple, but you know that yourself.”
William could list off the ingredients and the process of making the complicated Elixir in his sleep, even if somebody rudely shakes him awake in the middle of the night demanding answers. Not that he would advise doing such a thing: he can't always be sunshine and daisies. There is plenty of space in the detention room to reflect on committing such atrocious and gut-wrenching acts as waking Will up from his slumber.
"Miss Basil!"
Will gets pulled out of his prefect power fantasy. He turns his head in surprise to see a determined Ravenclaw student set foot near his preferred potion station, the closest to the blackboard.
"…But the early bird catches a worm, or a snake in our case, right?"
"Why would anyone try to catch an early snake?" he mutters under his breath, puzzled not at the bird and snake metaphor but at the insinuation that the snake would allow itself to be caught to begin with.
A friendly smile, however, never leaves his lips. Even when he hears an unflattering "Willy" as a form of address. It took William some effort not to let the muscles of his face reflect his displeasure at the nickname.
"Yes, Will or William would do, Miss Basil," he simply says, hoping that she catches the hint. He waits for her to share her name. She looks familiar, the scar makes her stand out in the crowd. He's surely seen her before in some of his classes. It seems like this will be the first time they get a chance to work together, so he is ready to make an ally for his little schemes out of her.
The introduction never comes, and he watches her working the potion ingredients as she's used to doing it alone, leaving Will with the role of an observer. He tries to interject a few times but his attempts at shifting the topic of the conversation monologue prove unsuccessful: he can't find an entry point. How can they work together if they don't talk over the details of who does what?
"Miss—" he tries again observing the Shriverfig skinning.
He tries to take care of some parts of the potion-making process but his Ravenclaw lab-partner is always one step ahead. He watches the wooden spoon disappear from under his palm and blinks at the witch as she stirs. Turquoise in the cauldron turns to blue. He stares at the bubbling water until the snap of the porcupine quills pulls him out of it.
"Glumbumbles? Yes, I'm familiar. Miss—"
The conversation is distracting (it is a curious topic) and the proper brewing order is followed (he cannot fault his partner for anything) but it doesn't sit right with Will because he is not yet a part of it. Without being able to put a word in, Will feels a little lost and uncharacteristically timid. His routine is disturbed and his brain seems to refuse to take the next steps because it hasn't sorted out the student's name and task designation.
"Wait, dementors, at Hogwarts? Yes, the chances are extremely low…"
He takes a step back when she suddenly turns to him. Oh, now they are talking about dinner? And the poking! AND telling him what to do?! Right, William, come on, what is this, man up!
But instead of taking care of the next steps for the Elixir, caught off guard by the "Sopophorous beans" and still having his thoughts buffering somewhere in the dinner territory, he blurts out the entire menu for the evening, finishing the list with "… a healthy helping of baked beans. Hope you like beans, miss. I'm sure the Azkaban prisoners would kill for it."
Phew. There we go, more words than was probably necessary but it did break Will out of the stupor.
"How did you manage to consume the treacle? I must have misheard you: students are not allowed in the Forbidden Forest, that would be a cause for detention," he chuckles as he rolls one of the beans between his fingers. Hard to cut but easy to crush, this one. "I believe the purpose of a prison isn't to allow the prisoners to have fun. They are criminals, Basil. I can't believe you can think about food in the same lane as talking about the dementors. Although this is not the worst dementor conversation I've heard so far. Do you know how to cast a Patronus charm by any chance?"
Preparing the beans is easy enough: Will hasn't had any bouncing incidents in years but it has always been fun watching his classmates try to cut them. He should be on the lookout for any rogue beans flying in their direction.
"We need seven of the beans, I'm sure you can help out," he says, moving three of the beans in her direction as if she wasn't the one doing half of the potion by herself prior. In his mind, if she does point that out, it'll give him an opening to talk about the importance of duty allocation without sounding too preachy! Well, he'll probably still sound like that. "I can finish the rest of the potion after if you wish."
He makes quick work of his beans and eyes the next Shrivelfig, hoping to get to it first after they throw the beans in the cauldron.
“Oh, I'm sure you can finish by yourself. But it's rude to finish on your own when your partner is right here, don't you think?” The girl huffed, pressing the first bean between the counter and the flat side of her dagger. As soon as the remaining Sopophorous beans were processed into the juicy little pieces, Basil nodded to the prefect. “Vot. The beans.” She leaned back a little, allowing Will to pick the prepared ingredient. Noticing how greedily he was eyeing Shrivelfig, girl pushed the bulb towards the Slytherin with the dagger and didn’t forget to roll her eyes. “You could just say that you want to prepare Shrivelfig. It’s not like I’m holding it hostage.” She muttered, as if she'd given him at least one chance to work on a potion with her.
Left empty-handed, the girl had no choice but to start fiddling one of her braids. “So many questions you have, William. I like that.” Ani tilted her head to the side to stare into the prefect’s face. “I’ll answer, mhm. How did I managed to consume something that doesn’t look edible? I just closed my eyes and put it in my mouth, as usual. Perhaps you're interested what the taste was like? No?” The girl smiled, completely ignoring the talk about detentions and criminals. In her defence, she can always say that she was in the Forbidden Forest on summer break. No one has the power to make her not have fun, especially in the summer.
“Patronus Charm, eh? Took me long enough to figure it out, but I can cast it. Professor Hecat is a great help, if you interested in learning. Although, I still had to do my own research. You know, some of the books had quite funny wording. Like, you need to be pure of blood to cast a Patronus, and other reads that you need to be pure of heart or soul. But it’s all bullsh.. I mean nonsense, William. Don’t look at me like that.” Basil sighed and scratched her head before continuing to murmur, “Ugh, all you need is concentration and intention. I don't believe in any kind of purity.”
After finishing the sentence, the girl glanced at the cauldron, where the liquid had already turned purple. She raised her eyebrows and nodded toward the ingredients in front of her ‘partner’. “Bean time.”
Anissa, good morning to you! If you don't mind me asking, what was your first manifestation of magic moment?
good morning, anon! of course i don’t mind, you can ask anything. ;)
now about this story.
at the opposite end from my house in our village was a small cornfield with many poplars growing behind it. my mama kept saying, "Nissy, don't go there," but her arguments were never convincing enough. or maybe i was just too stubborn back then.
so one hot summer day, when mama fell asleep on my bed with a book in her hands, i just climbed out the open window and walked in the direction of that field. barefoot, because my little childish brain didn't think to put on shoes, even though they were on the porch outside.
beyond the cornfield was a thicket of grass, with a thin layer of white fluff from poplars on top. it seemed like a good idea to fall into this fluff like snow, but it turned out that the ground under the grass was quite hard. but i still lay there in the shade of the poplars, looking up at the sky and listening to the crickets. after a couple of hours had passed, i decided to go home so as not to piss off my mama, because i didn't want to hear anyone yell at me at all. because i didn't do anything wrong. yet.
so i got up from the ground and started trying to shake the fluff off my clothes and hair. it was damn difficult, because the fluff stuck to everything! at one point, i got so sick of it that i wanted it all to just disappear. and it did. just not the way i planned. A second later, all the fluff caught fire. the fluff on my body flared up and went out, but the one on the grass was quickly approaching the corn with a line of fire. i was completely unprepared for this, so i decided to run home as fast as i could.
do i need to say that mama and the neighbors yelled at me in the evening because the cornfield burned to the ground? no, you probably already figured it out.
With a soft flap of her wings, Tato landed on the windowsill of the seventh-year dormitory. Holding the letter in her beak, the owl raised one leg and slowly dragged her claws across the glass, making a shrill, terrible sound. She continued to torment the ears of the occupants of the room until a blonde head appeared on the other side of the window.
After waiting for Felix to open a window sash, the bird proudly marched into the room and dropped the letter on Swede’s lap.
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ✽ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
i do not know when this feathery lump of pure malice will deign to deliver this letter, so i hope it has found you in good health, aliquid dulce.
oh, i have not forgotten that you wanted to meet me to return a bad christmas present i gave you, but unfortunately the potions textbook will not read itself in advance on its own.
anyways, according to my schedule, i will have a couple of free hours on february 14th. and of course i am definitely not suggesting this particular date because many students are whispering about you and i was curious about what all the fuss was about.
meet me at three broomsticks at six? ;)
patiently waiting for your decision,
A.B.
p.s. do not give Tato any treats if she has been naughty!
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ✽ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
The screech tore through Felix' dreams like a well-aimed curse. He was already teetering close to the edge, but the sound sent such a violent jolt through him that the tall Swede plummeted off the mattress onto the wooden floor with an unceremonious thud.
He groaned, face pressed against the cool planks, limbs tangled in his blanket. "Vad i hela…?" he muttered, his voice thick with sleep, as he struggled in a half-conscious slur to untangle himself.
Lucky for him, the seventh years no longer had bunk beds like the younger students did. Felix still missed the top bunk sometimes - no matter how many times he'd rolled right off it in the morning, much to Alsius' chagrin. More than once, his best friend had been forced to patch him up before breakfast, sighing long-sufferingly about the limits of a wizard's durability.
Another ear-piercing scrape echoed through the dormitory, and Felix winced, finally pinpointing the source of his torment. His bleary gaze landed on the window, where a familiar, feathered menace was currently dragging her claws down the glass with sadistic precision.
Felix stared.
The owl stared back.
"…Why," he whispered, voice still hoarse from sleep, "why would you do that?"
With a groggy sigh, Felix pushed himself up, rubbing at his face before stumbling over to the window, fumbling with the latch. The moment the sash lifted, Tato marched inside like she owned the place, dropping a letter straight into his lap. Felix swore the owl huffed at him, as if personally offended by how long he had taken.
A good thing Mademoiselle wasn't around, he thought. His own owl would have thrown an absolute fit at the intrusion.
Felix sighed, rubbing the lingering sting from his ears as he sat back on the bed, his free hand already working at the seal. That sound was going to haunt him for days. He read the letter quickly, lips quirking slightly at the last line.
So, A.B. was finally free, then.
His gaze flicked back toward Tato, who was still standing there, waiting. Expectant. He exhaled through his nose and rubbed a hand through his dishevelled hair before murmuring, "You heard that? Your Mama said no treats for you."
Tato blinked.
Felix raised a brow.
Tato hooted.
Felix sighed and reached for his quill.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─☆: .☽ . :☆─ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Dear A.B.,
Your owl has found me in excellent health, though my ears may never recover. A commendable tactic - truly - if you ever wish to bring a man to his knees at dawn.
As for your generous invitation, how could I say no? I was beginning to think you’d keep dodging me until next Christmas. Six o'clock at The Three Broomsticks, then! :)
Looking forward to it,
Felix
P.S. No treats for Tato? A shame. She's looking at me like she might eat my quill instead.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─☆: .☽ . :☆─ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Felix folded the letter and held it out. "Here," he murmured, watching as Tato snatched it away without hesitation and with one last, unimpressed glare in his direction, she took off.
The biting wind of the Scottish Highlands burned the skin of a girl sitting on the terrace of Ravenclaw Tower in the early morning, making her to pull her hood lower and wrap her robe more tightly around her body. She was sitting on an ice cold bench, staring at the chimney, the smoke from which seemed to hypnotize her, swirling and dissolving into the gray sky. Why was she even outside so early in the morning? To hide from the annoying pink hearts everywhere that reminded her that her plan for the evening had apparently gone awry? Perhaps. Or maybe she just needed some fresh air.
Ani's pensive state was soon disrupted by a sharp pain in her shoulder and the familiar low hum coming from the dark brown owl, which was now sadistically passing her claws through the fabric of the robe directly into the girl's skin. The bird squealed in displeasure and flapped her wings when her owner tried to push her off and dropped the letter she was holding in her beak onto the bench. “Zaraza..” Basil hissed, picking up the paper and brushing the snow off it, hoping that a little dampness wouldn't have time to blur the ink.
As she read the text and ran her cold fingers over the neatly written sentences, Anissa slowly broke into a crooked smile. Dodging him? Oh, if only this boy knew who he was offering his hand to after the unexpected Gobstone attack last month. Anyways, Felix accepted her invitation of his own free will, which means her evening will not be spent re-reading Crime and Punishment and taking fresh air breaks. Pleased with herself and the answer she received, the girl put the letter in the pocket of her robe and got up from the bench. “Let’s go, Tato. A messenger who brings good news deserves a hearty meal.”
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ✽ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
The day went suspiciously smoothly after professor Black announced at breakfast that classes were canceled due to the holiday. Anissa managed to do a lot during this unexpected free time: took a nap, drank tea with the elves in the kitchen, ate chocolate that some forgetful student left on the desk in the common room, even wrote a couple of inches of an essay on poisonous plants that Sharp assigned last week. She even had time to wash and dry her hair before endless crowds of girls filled the bathrooms to get ready for their Valentine’s dates.
When Ani returned to the dorm, she found it empty, except for Tato, who did not hesitate to give her owner the nastiest side eye from her perch. Now, the only problem, apart from the bird's hostile gaze, was the lack of warm outerwear in Basil's wardrobe. The sun has already sunk below the horizon, which means that the temperature outside has begun to drop lower and lower, causing frost to draw sinuous patterns on the windows of the dormitory, so her father's old coat was no longer suitable for the Hogsmeade walk she was about to take. Oh well, Anissa was incredibly lucky today, so after a short inspection of the room, her gaze fell on her roommate's fur coat hanging in the closet, which someone had left open before leaving the dorm. But you know what they say? When life gives you lemons..
Without a second thought, girl pulled the fur coat off the hanger and draped it over her shoulders. “Merlin’s knickers..,” She whispered, walking slowly to the mirror to look at herself, “I look like a bloody Puffskien… It’s perfect…” Although this black wolf fur coat looked much better on Lilith, at least because she was taller than Ani, Basil had no other options. Or time. In a hurry, taking a piece of paper, she scribbled, ‘borrowed your shuba, i will return it at night. you can choose any honey from my stock. grateful, A.B.’ on it and tossed a note on her roommate’s pillow.
After turning in front of the mirror a couple more times, girl wrapped the scarf around her neck and stormed out of the dorm.
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ✽ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
Hogsmeade greeted Anissa with bright heart-shaped garlands hung in the alley right after the bridge and loud rumbles coming from of people who practically attacked the stands of enterprising merchants in an attempt to buy an unreasonably expensive bouquet for their partner at the last moment. In this shiny chaos, she managed to snatch a red rose from one of the vases without even slowing her steps as she walked up the street.
The atmosphere in the Three Broomsticks was even worse than during the Christmas holidays: couples of Hogwarts students and couples of permanent residents of Hogsmeade occupied all the empty tables, celebrating love, and what else do they celebrate on Valentine's Day? As if love doesn't exist on other days of the year. Fortunately for Ani, two fifth years left as soon as girl opened the inn doors, so she walked to the table with her head held high and took a chair that faced the entrance. Ignoring the fuss around her, Basil looked around the room and, not finding Felix, breathed a sigh of relief. She must be early, because the Swede always showed up on time everywhere.
Girl carefully placed the rose on the table, and after pulling her arms out of the sleeves of the fur coat, but leaving it on her shoulders, took her wand out of her pocket. With a gentle touch of the tip of the wand to the red bud, it turned into a small sprig of a baby blue forget-me-nots. Thought it’s not a gift, but rather a means of identification. She wasn't eavesdropping for nothing after all.
