i see rocks in your future

freddy ryland | 17 | hufflepuff | seer "lowkey, no pressure."

[kyrie-ravie]

Of course he could ask her whatever he liked. Kyrie had Freddy right where he wanted her- a bug pinned in place. They strolled back into the stone comfort of Hogwarts castle, sheltered from the howling wind.

"Well, you know how I had my Auror internship over the summer?" He peeked across at his friend, her eyes were wide with recognition, hanging on his every word. She was salivating for him, desperate for connection. Like this, the lie was effortless. He could have told her that he was the great Merlin himself, and Freddy would have believed him. "You can't tell your family- but they've offered me a role. My Captain, Captain Thorne, she works in the Forensics team. She's had me working on creating a spell that will reanimate a victim for a short time- long enough for us to record their testimony, or at least extract memories."

He smiled, eyes shining with excitement. He dropped her arm, "I just need a line of rune from this particular book. They don't have it here, it's not even in the Restricted Section. All politics, you know." He waved his hand dismissively.

"It's such a shame- the only copy is in the Library," Kyrie sighed, dusting snow off his uniform, feigning nonchalance. He looked up at her, "Do you happen to know anyone with a pass? I thought, your family is so well-connected, surely you'd know someone who could let me borrow just one book."

[freddy-ryland]

.

Freddy knew all about Kyrie's internship - Micah had been annoyed the whole summer over her classmate being on his team. Had come home scoffing and pissed as a wet cat over his Captain's nonchalance about bringing a teenager into their work. Freddy thought it was wonderful that Kyrie could work alongside the Ministry's Finest. She'd long since given up hope that her family would let her get any kind of work internship for curse-breaking before she left Hogwarts, tales of her delicate condition running rampant around recruiters before she was even allowed to think of asking around.

Freddy gripped Kyrie's forearm with joy for her friend, grinning brightly at him. "That's so exciting! You deserve a place with them! I didn't think you'd go a Forensics route, but you'll be awesome in whatever role that Captain thinks you'll do well in."

Micah hated his Captain, but her Uncle only said they had 'warring personalities' and that it was good for Micah to feel challenged. So Freddy could only see the good in this work.

Freddy nearly stumbled at the request of the Library. The LibCon pass wasn't a secret, but Freddy didn't go around bragging she had a card. She wasn't sure anyone even knew she had it on her regularly, and it wasn't just something Q got her for special occasions. Besides, it was for guest use only - hell, if Freddy tried to use the card when Q hadn't put her down in the register for a visit, it wouldn't even work! Worse, the door might blow up, and Q could get in trouble for Freddy trying to get in without permission.

"None of the Rylands or Shacklebolts are affiliated with the Library," Freddy replied stiffly, "the Rylands work mainly in law and public forums at the Ministry; the Shacklebolts obviously work with law enforcement. LibCon has no use for any of them. I'm sure we have a few cadet branches or other families we're related to - Zabini, Bones, Binns - who may have a pass, but none are in close enough relation to ask." Not without it being a strange request either, and one that would be scrutinized to hell and back by everyone with the surname Ryland or Shacklebolt running around.

She took a deep breath, "Why don't you ask Q? I'm sure she'd be happy to get you a guest pass like mine?" Freddy nearly bit her lip - oh, she shouldn't have said that - "I-I mean -- Q likes to help our friends; I'm sure if this book really is something she can help you out with unless it is super dangerous or fragile or like illegal. But your Captain wouldn't make it illegal or that hard to get to, would she? I mean, we're still students. It's not like we have full access to the world of magic beyond Hogwarts," Freddy did, by virtue of blood and a LibCon guest pass, but still, the Aurors wouldn't assign something that was only found in the Library. It would be impossible for even a seasoned Auror to get, let alone Kyrie.

Freddy shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

Timidly, she posed another question: " Isn't that necromancy, Ky?" Freddy whispered, "Are you sure that's something the Captain can even assign you? That's like high-grade stuff that the Department of Mysteries does." Maybe their friends dabbled in all sorts of odd magics, but they chose to do that, not have an adult assign it to them as a job interview. Freddy wasn't being told to create curses - she did it for fun, for theory, because she was good at curses.

[freddy-ryland]

Who was your first kiss with, and did you enjoy it?

"Q was my first kiss of course and I enjoyed it and still do -- don't you kiss your friends? But, I loved our kiss, we were so young I think we might've even been the same height still."

[kyrie-ravie]

It had to be now. There were mere weeks left of his time in enforced education- and then, they'd be graduates, and Freddy Ryland, along with her library pass, would be long gone. He'd worked for years for it, earning her affections until she called him a friend, even going so far as to send him a Christmas present. His prize. He'd done it. Wormed his way in.

Still, when he saw her skipping over to him, Kyrie's heart skipped a beat. All in anticipation. He was practically salivating- it was time, it was time. He broke out into a smile.

Freddy was the only person that Kyrie tolerated lipreading for. Seven years of 'friendship' and she hadn't learned a lick of his language. He didn't even think to be irked by it, so focused on his task as he was. Kyrie nodded, then gestured down to his bookbag, which had the tie pin fastened to it. His gaze quickly flicked back to her, and he shrugged, "I spent some time with my sister, but even she was busy. Mother and Father went away for the holiday, left us behind to study for our exams."

He sighed, then offered his arm for her to take. "I'm glad to be back, though. I wanted to ask you something..." Kyrie led them out of the snow, back inside, strolling at a casual pace. He set the tone for the walk, the conversation, the way she was pressed close to his side. He was in charge.

[freddy-ryland]

✰

Freddy happily slipped her arm through Kyrie's offered one, her mittened hands curling over his forearm as they set a leisurely pace across the parapet. He was so polite sometimes that people didn't realize that Kyrie was actually lovely beneath that intellect and the occasional charming barb. Everyone knew Freddy wasn't... always there, that she could and would fall to the floor if someone wasn't there to catch her or at least bear her weight for the few seconds her strings were cut like a puppet. She'd crashed to the floor so many times over the years once she could propose that she was Queen of the Floor.

But her friends - Merlin Freddy could cry and rave about her friends every waking moment of her day. They never made her feel less than or weaker, offering an arm instead of grabbing it outright, hovering a hand over the small of her back instead of steering her - it was the little things that didn't make her feel like a ticking time bomb of prophecy and concussions.

Here it was, the fruits of her friendships - an offered arm, an easy walk, and her gifts proudly displayed on their bags and lapels. Freddy could be ostentatious; her family surely had the money for it, and Freddy had easy access to the Ryland and Shacklebolt Vaults. Perks of being the one with an executioners axe above her neck. But she labored and wondered over each gift to make or get her friends, and Kyrie's was no different - something smart but practical, something that suited him. She felt light with the knowledge he liked her gift, and when he asked to ask a question she smiled, broad and shining across her face.

"You can ask me whatever you like, Kyrie," she trilled, voice pitching over the winter winds that snaked through their thick winter clothes, "Did you need help with something? I dunno if I can; I've already missed three classes just this week back." Enough classes that her Father had already swept into the school to demand that she finish her last semester by correspondence. Something Freddy had vehemently denied along with her Head of House. "Can you believe how much work they've already assigned? It's like they don't want us having fun during the home stretch of our school career - not that'll stop us from it!"

[freddy-ryland]

In the winter weather of a new year, the winds howled over the parapets and bridges that connected Hogwarts's many wings and towers. These bridges, parapets, and open-air stairwells were neither hidden nor blocked when the snow came; people simply didn't use them. But Freddy loved them, the high whipping winds across her face, the glacial freeze of the lake, the stone mystery of the castle walls. It was magical, going beyond the wand in her sleeves.

Today, the bridge connecting the Southern wing to the Western wing was cleared of snow and was the easiest route from the Study of Ancient Runes to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Only the older student body knew that, and very few braved the gusts this high up in the air, but Freddy always liked to wave at death as she trooped on by, knowing very well that her expiration date was several years down the line.

There was a familiar figure hovering at the entryway to the bridge, readjusting his bookbag and Freddy flounced over.

"Happy New Year Ky!" She trilled, having not gotten a chance to speak with her friend. "I hope you had a wonderous Christmas, I sent you a present along in the mail, did you like it?" It was a simple tie pin decorated with small geometric engravings, nothing extravagant, a trinket. "Did you see anyone this break?" She tucked stray curls into her beanie, "I spent some time with Q of course, but everyone seemed a tad busy this season, especially the purebloods and such with the balls and soirees." That Freddy was invited to but rarely allowed to attend for her health - blegh.

He wasn't wearing it, but that's alright.

@kyrie-ravie

[freddy-ryland]

“Remember you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine.”— Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Mom was staring her down, examining her backpack and rolled-up overalls, picking at the flyaways not quite pressed down, pursing her lips over the scuffed Converse.

"We can buy you better clothes than these Freddy," the short form of 'we are a powerful House you don't need to dress like a gardener'.

"I'm just going to Diagon Alley, it can get so dusty in the summer." the short form of 'I'm going to meet Q then we're tramping to Li's then finding wherever T is and going for drinks and I don't want to spill liquor on my nice dresses'.

"I'm not so sure Diagon Alley is such a good place to run off too...alone." short form from 'wait for your brother to babysit you, he's off work, he can protect you from your little friends and your little plans and your little adventures'.

"I won't be alone! We're just going to the bookshop!" the long form for 'fuck off'.

"We can buy books from the catalog." short form for 'don't leave this house. we can keep you safe here. there is no reason to leave for no reason nor without protection or to meet your ridiculous friends and we are rich enough to build you a library - just stay home, stay where you're safe.'

"I'm leaving." 'I'm trapped'.

Freddy marched out the door, her puffy spacebuns stirring in the breeze, onto the broad porch and into the front garden. Their house was the largest on the wizarding block, enough home for two families, enough space that a bedridden girl could find solace and peace and solitude. But Freddy couldn't help but feel that a few thousand square feet of various four corners was stifling.

"Patronus me when you get there!" the long form of 'I'll call the Calvery if it pleases me'.

Her parents couldn't do much since she was 17 now, couldn't tell her no, legally an adult, but if they called an Auror to bring her home, they'd get her home. No one could tell a member of the Shacklebolt family 'no' even if their married name was Ryland. Hell, even just the name Ryland would get the Aurors moving.

"Yes, Mom." Because she was dutiful and careful and hated to worry them more than usual. Because she woke up at night with her Mom touching her chest, ensuring she was breathing. Because she found her Dad tapping her awake from naps, so sure she was unconscious. Because Micah and Q and T and Li and everyone else had found Freddy bleeding from head trauma from a fall, curled up into stone corridors, and splayed out on busy streets when the magic decided to poison her own body and send her flying through time and memories and the future. Freddy is just a passenger in her body for a magic rooting and rotting her from the inside out.

But she smiled and waved from the sidewalk, the street built for wizards, apparition points set up in front of homes and in public spaces. A necessity of bygone War days, now the public knew who was coming, had wards set against random entry points, and the Rylands were stringent about watching the comings and goings.

"Just be careful!"

Freddy pointed at herself, "Who me? I'm always careful!" Carefully plotting the days until Graduation, plotting the days until she could escape, find a curse-breaking program willing to take on a girl with counted days and worse chances of survival past 25. Somewhere that wouldn't sneer at the wasted spot could give her all the adventure her fragile body could handle and let her chart her own course. Freddy's life was a map to a swift end, but that didn't mean she couldn't attempt to enjoy every second she breathed - living in fear meant not living at all. Living within the four walls and four corners and four streets and the four sets of eyes following her every move and watching her very steps making sure she didn't so much step on a crack - it was suffocating, and as Freddy spun in place, she couldn't help but feel a choked up relief at seeing her Mom's face fading away, warping and disappearing into the void of her house.

Landing just outside of Knockturn Alley, Freddy let out a huff of air, her magic rocking her body with a deluge of images - monsters and criminals, grimy shadow children stalking the alleys with white teethed smiles, cackles of war and shrieks of laughter. A life lived, and living and living long after Freddy died. Her moments here were short, her rattled lungs sucking in an expanse of air as she stepped from the apparition point.

There, across the way, leaning against the wall, sharing a bottle of butterbeer, they waited. Freddy took in the scent of piss, magic, and cigarette smoke and bounded forward, clenching the straps of her backpack every two seconds getting a bombardment of visions until she was wrapped up in cosmos and ink, nestling her nose into her Beloved's hair and letting the weight of Falmouth fall from her shoulders. Q already chattering away, and the sound fell like rainfall on Freddy's ears, calming and kind in the wall all summer showers were, and they parted, pinkies locked together.

"Hey Nightmare," Linden greeted, Freddy offered them a shoulder bump before whipping out her wand.

"I learned a really fun hex this week!"

A shine of sun bounced off a grimy window as the trio set off, Freddy bouncing along, shifting between past-present-future, her head spiking with pain.

But life moves quickly, and Freddy's would move quicker than the ones at her side. It was her right to experience the sunshine, so she wiped away a bit of blood dripping from her ear and continued forward.

[freddy-ryland]

[ 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐌 ] ― Quinn calms Freddy down from a vision-related panic attack in a loud place

What's holding up her face? Nothing but blue skies Passageways to windows That don't close

There were blasts of green shooting off. The body weaved and ducked, curling beneath and under tapestries. Then a flash of yellow caught somewhere beneath her neck - air what was airairair - the Body was going airborne, eyes finding a portrait, horrified while the oil was slicked over with red so much red paint, like a prank gone wrong.

The crack echoed around in the Body's skull, coming from its ears.

There was something soft beneath the body, all warm and plaint, all covered in fabric and barely stirring. The rush of bodies before them was growing ever larger, piling through the door and meeting giants and flashing spells as they went down down down.

The Body needed to breathe, and as it slid off the body beneath it another spell caught it in the arm spinning it sideways and into the stone wall with a thump lost in the din of battle.

The spine was cracking, bits of bone shooting out of its back and slingshotting. Vertebrae and muscles flaying, skin peeling from its back, a hooded figure laughing as the Body died and faded against the ground. They were laughing.

Pointing and laughing.

Laughing so loud it sounded like joy, crowning, victorious over Freddy's crumbling body and wilting figure. She hit the stone wall with a soft thump, sliding onto the ground with a hushed cry as the Hufflepuff buried a cry into a bitten tongue, long limbs tucking around her body as the coppery tinge of blood filled her mouth. It was pounded in her chest, in her ears, plugged with only laughter and her heartbeat going faster than any hummingbird's wings could.

Hands latched around her palms, pulling at her nails that came free from her flesh with a low painful moan.

"--ars, come back to me sweet one," Freddy felt legs trap her own, slinging around her thighs while her legs sprawled forward, still twitching, feet wiggling with phantom pains while sharp short breaths entered and exited her lungs. But her vision was spotting over, head tilting back to explore the array of black sparkles and blackholes that threatened to overtake her.

"Please," the Voice was close to Freddy's ears, a palm covering one, Freddy could feel their skin stick to her own, blood slick and congealing, "breath deep."

The breath got caught in her chest, and Freddy let out a choked bellow as it expelled out.

It was so fucking hot; Freddy pulled at her clothes, limbs jerking as the fabric stuck against her sweating skin, hair matting behind the knob of her skull. Hands pulled off her jumper leaving it balls onto the floor and tugging down her thigh highs, cool air slinking around sweat-soaked skin like a cat.

But her heart kept going, sharp tictacktiktacktip - faster and emptying into her skull - blaptakcitkkslaptaktiktaack - all wrong and beating - clinktactikptaptaptippptaaack - wrong and ringing against her ribs as she balled up her fists as another sheen of green spells covering her left eye and the right found a swirl of bodies in front of her, dressed in spring game wear. Where was the blood? When was she?

"She's having a fuckin' panic attack!" The cry cut through the mixed-vision-real-life din that was echoing around Freddy/Body.

"Madame Pomfrey--!"

"--with the beater--"

Snips of conversation around Freddy, coming through the screams and curses flung around the body.

"...oh fuck it all then-- 'land get UP!"

Blood was coming from her mouth, dribbling off from her bitten tongue. It was coming from her ear; the delicate inner workings had broken again, the words coming in bursts and slips.

"Stop yelling!"

It was blessedly silent for a few moments, Freddy blinking away the blackhole spots to find eyes, and a voice, lips so close to her own. The sound coming from them so loud and clear it found purchase in the space Freddy/Body carved out into the universe. They hovered, jilting into place as the Voice continued to bark it's orders, and the tiktapsliptaackblahblahtiktaack of her heart was the only sound left as Freddy/Body focused on the Voice, heavy across her thighs.

It lasted a minute as a shouting cry came through the Voice's orders, the vibrations of stampeding feet rushing around the two forms pressed against the wall to avoid them, Freddy twitching incessantly as she felt a hand pressed against her poorly working lungs.

"Listen to my count--" the Voice guided her, a siren, an angel, a chorus, dragging Freddy in and out of the blackhole threatening to swallow her whole, "--ne-- ree-- " the voice was getting caught, as the past came back, with a screech as the wall beside Freddy blew apart, debris crashing into her prone body, pebbles finding a home in her flayed half-corpse not yet dead, "--ive." But the world was slipping apart, in and out, Freddy not quite in either, stuck in the throes of her unstable magic.

"Li-- -arm" The Voice rang through the shattered hallway, above the din of laughter and screams; Freddy blinked open her eyes that she was sure had popped and jellified onto her skull. The spell had been one of flaying and melting, so why was she still breathing? Why did they need an arm?

"Make it quiet -- noise," Freddy's jaw tried to form words even as the body deposited her in the present, but the laughter was still around her, pointing at her prone figure, slaughtered on cobblestone. Sweat soaked through the Hufflepuff jersey sticking to her bones still encased in blood and muscles, and a comforting weight is thrown across her thighs. The vision released her with an uncomfortable pop, but her heart didn't know that as it continued to stutter stop then restart in sharp, unrelenting hard beats. The world was spinning and unsure, but gravity made a person as Voice/Quinn's fingers ground into her temples.

"I'm going to vomit." Freddy attempted to say. But it came out garbled and spluttering as she violently twisted to her side, a cool hand gripping her hair and cupping her chin, as she vomited the rest of her treacle tart, sips of spiked butterbeer, and blood until it washed the stone with bile - yellow-green-red. Deliriously, Freddy thought it needed a bit of blue to round it out.

But as the bile spread, soaking Freddy's skirt she began to shiver and cough through the tremors in her chest while her overworked lungs expanded with oxygen, a headache growing from her nose and spreading across her head.

There were still bodies in the corridor, pounding rushing feet and crowds, but there was silence in the bubble. Quinn's face hovered an anxious few inches from her face, fingers coming up to wipe away the blood and vomit from her lips. Linden was above them both, with T and Des behind their shoulder, standing just outside the silencing bubble's shimmer.

"Can I have some chocolate?" She asked trying to steady her breath, but her heartbeat hadn't slowed still holding the time signature of a rave. Quinn dug some out from a pocket and pressed it between her lips.

"Oh my darling, can you stand?"

Freddy didn't answer, instead locking her shaking muscles around Quinn's shoulders, burying her dirty face into her collarbones, soaking in a heartbeat a tad too fast, the sweet candy melting in the heat of her mouth.

"Can we sit, quiet for just a while?" it came out jumbled, mumbled, and through the blackspots still hovering in her eyes waiting for a moment to drag her beneath again. Freddy held Quinn like a child would a loved stuffed toy, fingers playing with loose strands of hair, rubbing over the knobs of their spine.

"Yes of course my Sun and Stars."

[freddy-ryland]

bellamyadler​:

Bellamy barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he turned away from the girl panting in the doorway to put the tea sets away on their designated shelves. Mostly just to give the girl a chance to catch her breath. She must have ran to try to catch the professor before lunch but came too late. “My family knows a bit about curses,” he says after a moment, offering her a chance to ask him her question and breezing over her introduction at the same time. It’s not as if he hadn’t gone to school with her for the last 7 years. However, it’s not a surprise that this is the first time they’re talking. He’s never been very talkative and that assumption is even less-so after the death of his boyfriend last year. “Besides,” Bellamy shrugs and with a wave of his hand, the rest of the tea sets float to the shelf behind him. “I’ve got the clean up handled on my own.”

Freddy had grown up in the pureblood circles that were sticklers for manners and Grandmother Zabini was never above rapping her knuckles with her wand if she didn’t mind them. She knew who Bellamy was, in the same way she knew who everyone was. On the periphery but never formally introduced. Hogwarts was large and friend groups were small, and it surely didn’t help she was perceived as odd as she was nice. It made moments like this, when she ought to have been introduced to someone far earlier, somewhat awkward. 

“My question mostly has to do with curses merging with warding charms,” because Freddy had a lovely problem to detangle but needed a nudge of guidance, “largely because my brother has a question about a family heirloom and doesn’t want to mail Professor Flitwick himself,” a bald lie never hurt anyone, “would the process of detangling such a situation be best started with breaking the cursed enchantment, the ward, or rather dismantling both simultaneously?” Because it was ticking away under her bed and frankly she’d rather not get hauled up for messing with Restricted Section spells... again. “I can help clean up though, I do so dislike standing about like a bump on a log. It doesn’t suit me to be lazing while others work.”

[freddy-ryland]

Best thing you've ever seen.

My friends smiles when we all are hanging out doing fun things together.

[freddy-ryland]

Who are you crushing on?

Well, that is a fairly forward question, could you take a running leap into the Whomping Willow for a second? To see if you are also stupid as well as mannerless.

[freddy-ryland]

bellamyadler​:

Flitwick’s last class had just finished up, the professor trotting out after the students to rush off to lunch with the rest of them while Bell stayed behind, collecting the mismatched tea sets the previous class were using, but looked up when he heard someone enter the Charms room. “The Professor already went to lunch. You’ll have to come back another time to see him. Unless you’re here to help me clean up.”

.

“Oh, I hoping to catch him before lunch -- shoot.” Freddy scuffed her shoes on the ground, pushing away a sweaty lock of hair from her forehead. She ought to have known better, Flitwick does so like his lunch and Freddy was a whole two floors above the Charms room. “I have a few questions about Warding and Shield charms and how they can be applied to cursed items or places?” Freddy fumbled with her bookbag, “Ummm... you’re Bellamy right? I’m Freddy, I don’t think we’ve ever properly met or anything.” She looked around at the mess, “I can help clean and wait for him to come back... it’s ahhh bit  teensy-weensy urgent that I get a response - quickly.” 

[freddy-ryland]

kyrie-ravie​:

Kyrie was finding the adjustment back to school difficult. A combination of being around people his own age again, losing the responsibility of his work-study program, and finally being able to remove the charmed hearing device, meant Kyrie was almost constantly on edge.

He did his best to drown everything out, throwing himself into his seventh year of study with reckless abandon, while narrowing his side-focus onto getting into the god-damned library network. It was obvious to Kalani and Kyrie that they couldn’t enter their crafted doors without their sister, who was Muggle through-and-through, with her meaningless hockey games and cut-and-paste sixth form science projects. Lani had lost interest over the holidays, apparently ‘enjoying’ spending time with their sister; Kyrie, on the other hand, was now laser-focused on learning absolutely everything he could about the Library to try and find another way in.

At Breakfast, he was reading a book about conjured, crafted and concealed doorways, including a fascinating chapter about mirrors, in the hope it would help him find something library-related. He felt the rustle of someone sitting opposite him- assuming it was his sister, he ignored her.

But there was a bit more scraping and shoving than Lani’s usual grace, so he frowned, looking up to see Freddy chattering away. Kyrie put aside his book, blinking before focusing on lipreading. He pulled a face, “I already told Captain Thorne I’m not replying any more. We’ve got to study,” He said, averting his gaze only for a moment as he reached for a croissant, “The internship was good. If I get the grades I think they’ll let me straight in.”

He leaned over, expecting to see the Ancient Runes homework and finding nothing. He raised his brows, “You’ll wanna get Lani for Runes stuff. She’s better at it- she’ll be here soon. She’s not talking to me right now, sooo…”

Freddy finished chewing and took some water, being sure to be looking at Kyrie while she spoke, sometimes she forgot always moving, always buzzing around. A little comet her brother said, often exasperated by how underfoot she could become.

“I didn’t even think to ask your sister honestly,” Freddy helped herself to some potatoes and fried tomatoes, she had practical spellwork today and would likely pass out. Taking her potions was always better when her stomach was full of normal food, not just sugar. “I know you’re one of the smartest kids in our year, and I saw you and figured that you’d be a good ask.” Freddy popped another potato into her mouth, chewing lightly, “If you don’t think you can answer I’ll just wait around for Quinn... I mean she’s the one I got the book from anyway. Well let me copy it out last time I visited her.” 

Freddy pulled the scroll from her jacket pocket, “I’m not asking about you’re weirdo Captain, my brother wants to know and I don’t feel like feilding questions with him. Then he’ll come visit,” Freddy shuddered grumbling as she pushed aside a few plates to make room for the runes she’d carefully copied, “and I don’t want him sticking his nose around here.” Freddy looked up from where she was placing a clean tea cup on the edge of the parchment, brows knit together as she blew away crumbles and pulled out a spare pocket runebook, “Why’re you fighting with Lani?” Sibling problems, the bane of Freddy’s existence. 

The Hufflepuff moved a few more jugs and pushed the scroll towards him, “Also the runes came from an alchemy text, I wanna see if I can match them with this cursebreaker puzzle I’m working on. I already know how to break it,” Freddy’s lips pulled into a bright smile, “but I wanna see if I can do it a different way, ya know?”

[freddy-ryland]

“Q not down yet?” Freddy dropped into a seat across from Kyrie, reaching for some sweet breads and jelly, no one flinched at the Hufflepuff making herself at home for breakfast. It was rare Freddy ate at Hufflepuff table, often switching between her friends for various meals. The teenager didn’t have any friends in her dorm, though the newcomer Kennedy seemed nice enough but it was hard to beat 6 years of Freddy making her home at anywhere but the Badger table. “Just as well, I wanted to ask you someth--”

“You’re not supposed to be sitting here!” Freddy turned around, the first year was shorter than her even while seated, there was a muted gasp as the child paled, “...The Nightmare!” he choked out. It was only bad luck that Freddy dropped into a Vision, her body locking up, eyes glowing white --

“You should stay away from the ramparts tonight” Freddy stated, popping back out of her Vision as the baby bird scrambled away, tripping over his feet. Then turned back to Kyrie, grumbling “I cannot stand that nickname,” she poured some sugar into her cup, “...just once I’d like someone to thank me. Where was I? Yes, hi Ky, I wanted to pick your brain on some Ancient Runes work,” Freddy snagged a flapjack from the stack, “also Micah keeps asking about you so could you please answer his letters before he storms the school. How was the internship anyway?”

@kyrie-ravie

[freddy-ryland]

linden-flint​:

Linden nearly beamed. “Oh, you are wicked, little Freddy. I think that’s a fantastic idea. We can get him to sing that song of yours as well, just to scare them shitless even more,” they said, pressing a hand to Freddy’s arm in excitement at just the idea alone.

“You know I’ll be there, managing the odds. I’ve got bank to make on people thinking the school hotshot will win until they actually have to handle the expectation and buckle under the pressure,” they nodded before raising an eyebrow curiously, “Well… now you have to tell me what you have; can’t have you keeping all those secrets up your sleeve. What if you got roped into a duel as well? That’d be unfair odds.”

“Even if you told your parents you were coming to visit me, would you still get grounded for stepping foot in the alley?” They asked, a pout forming on their face before they sighed and continued, “I was working, so it was boring, boring, boring. But that meant I had plenty of time to myself to… play around. If you catch my drift.”

.

Freddy groaned, “Not the song, c’mon Li I don’t want ‘im to follow me around like last Spring. Flitwick just about had it when he busted into the Charms final,” The Hufflepuff shook her head, leaning into Linden’s touch with a happy smile.

“Fifth years are always so on edge too, they hit OWLs then find any reason to blow off steam.” Freddy had borne witness to many brawls, and always come out with her pockets heavier. Laughing Freddy knocked shoulders with Linden shaking her head, “Me? Get into a duel, has someone knocked a screw loose? As if I’d ever get into a fight, puh-leez, all I’d have to say is something like ... ‘This will not end in your favor’ ... and they’d drop to the floor right there!” Freddy mimicked fainting but wondered how much money they’d make if they ever contrived such a stunt. “Don’t think I’m holding out on you! Some of these aren’t even in the published spell books yet - shiny  brand new patents for us to play with.” 

“Fudgin’ Aurors know my face, they’ll just go get Uncle Kingsley or Micah to drag me home, can’t get away with anything when they’re on speed dial.” Freddy frowned, kicking her heels with annoyance but lightened up at the promise of something better than dwelling on her family’s overprotective nature. “Oh playing around were you? Anything particularly fun I can know about?” 

[freddy-ryland]

linden-flint​:

.

“We could always make it two weeks… three if we’re smart about it,” they said, gaze still trained on the pair that wondered down the hall, plan forming in the back of Linden’s mind. Their head lolled to the side, finally facing Freddy, “There was fighting and you didn’t do anything to tell me about it until now? I’d have love to have seen some eleven year-olds trying to beat the shit out of each other. But you’re right, knowing about unforgivable curses is much more fun.”

Sighing, they pushed themselves from the wall, “How was your summer, Freds?

.

“Maybe a month if we ask Peeves to help,” the poltergeist had already stolen her socks, he was a nasty little thing until Freddy plied him with candies and Weasley Wheezes. The corridors were emptying, classes coming back into session, droll Professor intonations wafting from open doors and windows. “I’ll call you for the next fight, already overheard some fifth years drama and plans for a duel in the Shrieking Shack, might be a fun friend-date for us. We can get score cards.” The Dueling Club was well and fun, but everyone knew the best fights were the unsanctioned ones, plus she always made a killing on the bets. 

“C’mon we know much better spells than those boring Unforgivables by now - which reminds me I did sneak a few spells outta my brother’s Auror books.” Micah needed his own apartment if he didn’t want her to snoop. 

“Worked at a candy shop, stole some art with Q, broke my Mum’s vase. Got grounded for sneaking out to that Cthulhu show, go grounded again for trying to go to Knockturn Alley. Only went to hospital once!” Freddy reported with a bubbly grin, “How was yours, anything majorly interesting?”

[freddy-ryland]

linnea-quinn​:

.

Q enthusiastically applauded Freddy’s opportune costume change. “Darling—you’re an absolute vision!” Their hands and bodies linked back up at the earliest opportunity, as they always did, like they were two atoms that were fundamentally incapable of not being bonded while in each others’ orbit. 

“That’s what I need your expert eye for, of course! I can listen to the story, but I can’t untangle all the threads the way that you can…” She gave Freddy’s fingers a squeeze, and then laughed, “…oh we will make time to eat, I promise you that…” Reluctantly, Q unthreaded her hand from Freddy’s so that she could step up to the large urn full of Light Dust and dip her fingers into the chalky, fluorescent substance; the buzzing particles warmed her fingertips, which shimmered in the room’s many reflective surfaces as she withdrew her hand, and nodded for Freddy to follow, a matching gleam in Q’s ocean eyes. She studied the gilded mirrors that lined the Hall for a moment, then stepped up to one and dexterously drew the sweeping shapes of a complicated rune over her own reflection, the lustrous strokes illuminating with swirls of green and purple and blue, before the portal opened. 

Q reached back to take Freddy’s hand, dusting remnants of Light over the other’s girl’s knuckles like fine powdered glitter. And then, together, they stepped through.

They were spit out in the Bibliotheque Mazarine, which at this hour was lowly lit by long rows of petite lamps like little mushroom caps. The few Parisians still awake for scholarly pursuits did not even look up as Quinn and Freddy passed through, and made their way out into the city at night. Paris in twilight was like a galaxy of warm twinkling stars, and the pair of them glided through the night like twin-tipped comets toward the Louvre. 

“You ready to meet your first hedge?” Q said to Freddy as they made their way up the museum’s outer steps. For there at the door, patiently awaiting their arrival, was shy and statuesque Aaliyah Khouri—the Painter of Library Doors. The hedge smiled timidly when they saw Q and waved a paintbrush through the air in greeting; it wasn’t a surprise to see Aaliyah here, as they preferred to venture up Above Ground during nighttime hours. And really—who knew magical paint better than the Painter?

“…Freddy, this is Aaliyah—they’re the artist behind all the Doors that access the Network.” Aaliyah ducked their head and reached out to give Freddy’s hand the tenderest of shakes. Then, in a soft hushed tone, like the sweeping turn of one page to another, the Painter said, “Fredricka Ryland, of course, it’s a pleasure. I love painting for you—such a colorful spirit…”

.

The Light Dust felt like it wormed its way beneath her skin, spreading warmth and heat against her bones, tangling into the fibers and cords of her muscle. Quinn always at home with the puzzles and brilliant oddities that LibCon raised her within, but every moment with a new magic sent Freddy reeling and rushing to explore more of the fantastic world. Freddy lifted her knuckles, studying how the dust seemed to etch and rush around her skin. This was more magic than anyone at Hogwarts taught, and as the Dust settled down it reminded her of the Elf Champagne on New Years during Shacklebolt celebrations, rushing between her toes and up her skin.

So focused on the feeling of the Dust in her veins she missed the portal opening - one of her favorite parts - and ushered herself closer to Quinn admiring the swirling colors and veins of magic. Given enough time Freddy could stare forever, trying to find pattern, meaning and puzzle her way through it’s depth. 

But there really was never enough time for Freddy, so when Quinn stepped through she follow just a half breath after.

The only thing Freddy could compare the Doors to were apparation or floo, but it wasn’t that at all. For less than a second Freddy and her body were weightless before hopping out the otherside, too short a period for the Hufflepuff to comprehend it’s feelings for affects. Like magnets Freddy found Q’s shoulder again, finding her footing in step as Freddy craned her head back to admire France in the lowlight.

Freddy hummed as her feet tapped against the cobblestone, gas lamps being lit while folk bustled quietly up and down the street. She could peer into the windows and find a couple kissing over a dinner, and another one screaming. Here two siblings reading in the same bed, a father and mother opening glasses of wine as the children giggled. The heavy sigh Freddy let out was one of longing, to see and enjoy other people’s lives, a willing glance. For more than a few they passed Freddy’s eyes flashed, her knees buckling for a millisecond before popping out of her visions of their marriage or loves, past spots of war and majesty past. Quinn kept their walk up, their hands grasped tight and Freddy didn’t fear popping in and out of the past/present/future as long as Q held her tight. They reached the Louvre in a timely manner, while Freddy’s visions spat at her images of the Mona Lisa being brought it, the sculptures of Rome and Egypt. 

Freddy was breathless as, willing her magic to stop, the visions dissipated with petulant sigh and bubbled between her ears and behind her eyes. 

“Aaliyah,” their name came out closer to a prayer or even a devotion, Freddy for a moment was starstuck by their statement, “I have admired every door you’ve ever fashioned me, each one better and more spectacular than the last,” Freddy kept her grip light, brushing her fingers along the back of their palm, “I’m grateful for your talents - your magic is beautiful.” She kept her tone soft, welcoming, as  Aaliyah’s magic seemed to live within their fingertips, a fine dust and speckles staining her palm until they parted. Freddy rubbed her fingers together where they had touched, and admired the magic until it slipped away and only her own remained.

Hedges, she thought, must be a marvelous type of wix to prompt such a sudden and bright feeling of magic in my veins. 

[freddy-ryland]

linden-flint​:

“We’ve been back precisely forty-seven minutes and already the record for Fastest Time to be Accosted by an Over-Enthusiastic First Year has been broken. Congratulations. Do you want me to see if they’ll be the new holder for Quickest Time for a Student to Shit Their Pants? What did they even want, anyway?”

.

“They seem lost,” Freddy watched as they scurried away, heads knocking together over a map, “but it doesn’t matter if we give them directions they’ll always be late the first week.” Freddy was sure the Castle was sentient and played tricks on the first years. “I caught two of the firsties dueling last night when I went to the kitchens, throwing sparks at each other like it was life or death.” Freddy giggled, “It’ll be poorly aimed Jelly Legged Jinxs and Tongue-Tying Curses until Christmas, I don’t miss not knowing anything more fun.”

[freddy-ryland]

linnea-quinn​:

Des shuddered when Quinn was so loud. It was still too early and her head hurt too much. “Morning Freddy” Des whispered as she gave a small smile over the rim of her mug. What Quinn said about things changing made Des happy. She would really like more friends. She loved Freddy but she felt bad relying on her as her only friend all the time. Plus the more the merrier, right? Des felt warm when Freddy called her by her nickname. Did she always feel like this? She wasn’t even sure anymore. All she could think of was how warm her cheeks felt despite everything being totally normal.. Yep nothing was different at all. Why would anything be different? Why would the cute little crack in Fred’s voice make Des blush harder? “I’m good. Quinn was nice enough to get me coffee. Did you sleep well?” She desperately hoped that Freddy wasn’t going to regret the kiss because it would absolutely crush her. Des sometimes wish she didn’t crush so hard and so fast. It was painful and didn’t usually end well for her. “Last night was fun.” she said in a hushed tone.

@linnea-quinn·

Q hummed triumphantly into the cuddle, squirming even further into her best friend’s lap. “My Sun and Stars…” she greeted back affectionately, and then folded herself up like a contortionist so that she could wheedle her socked toes underneath the sheets. Quinn pulled the blanket up to her nose to hide her grin, so that only her eyes were visible from where she was laid in Freddy’s bed, her gaze moving with bemused curiosity between the other two girls as they exchanged some awkward niceties. This shit was better than Degrassi!

Not wanting to detract even a molecule of attention away from this moment, Quinn held still and just watched—eager to see who might crack first.

@freddy-ryland·

Freddy sudden and poignant urge to throw Q off the bed came in full force, her best-friend was setting her up gosh darn it. The teen’s head was splitting open and the sun needed to be turned off. Idly she reached down to rub her fingers through Q’s head, “Dear little comet...” she muttered, “what in the high constellations are you scheming right now?” she finally hisses, trying to will the flush in her cheeks to relax as Dizzy sat on the floor. 

“Hey,” Freddy leaned over to grab Des’s hand and tug on it, “Come up here, there is more than enough room,” there absolutely was not, but fudge it all.

“Last night was alot of fun,” she nudged Q’s leg with her own, or perhaps it was Q’s hip, “though I keep forgetting I’m a bit of a lightweight - did anyone else see a dancing pygmy Griffin or was that just that last shot of Illusion Tequila that was funneled down my throat?” her laugh cracked in the back of her throat, high and nervous. 

@desdemona-borgiablack​