;; magictube

- "Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic."

[magicxtech]

“Can I help it that Gryffindor’s bacon tastes so much better?” He fluttered his eyelids innocently, before plopping down unceremoniously on the bench. “Although I guess you guys need all the fuel you can get, since we’re going to crush you guys in the Quidditch match today.” A passing Slytherin laughed and smacked him on the back as the Gryffindors around him booed. The Slytherins at his table, used to the role that they had to play, started up a rabble from across the hall when they saw what was going on.

Really, not a single one of his friends took the house rivalry seriously. He knew there were people who did, but mostly they were sort of weird. Evan tried to avoid them. He leaned into Calliope’s camera, shooting the viewers a wink. “I know you’re just following her because you’re hoping to get a glance of me. Fear not! I’ll have a video up tomorrow, after Slytherin’s victory today.” He glanced over the camera at Calliope and gave her a teasing little grin. He made a mental note to ask her to be in tomorrow’s video when this was over.

[httpmagictube-blog]

Calliope rolled her eyes exaggeratedly as she watched Evan attempt to act all innocent. “I’m pretty sure they taste the exact same. Which you would know if you didn’t think it’s perfectly alright to just go and steal off of someone’s plate.” The booing mixed with cheering echoed throughout the great hall and a smirk took place on her lips. She let a small, fake laugh escape her lips before replying. “You’re hilarious, you know that? No - seriously, that was a really great joke.” She leaned over and high fived a fellow Gryffindor sitting across from her before turning back to Evan.

Calliope was well aware of the fact that the little house rivalry was more of a fun thing rather than a serious one. The houses liked to joke and tease each other, but for the most part it was all quite innocent and quite honestly pretty entertaining. “Oh, get over yourself.” She groaned, although a smile was still evident on her lips. “But yes, make sure you watch Evan’s new video tomorrow! I’m sure you’re going to love how mad he is when Gryffindor beats them at the quidditch match today!”

[magicxtech]

skype.

[magicxtech]

The second Eloise appeared on her screen, Clementine’s face broke into a grin. The sound of her accented voice filtering through her speakers was now as familiar and welcome a voice as her own mother’s. It made her feel very different, through, of course – she certainly didn’t get butterflies talking to her mother. Still, now that they were actually connected, the feeling in her stomach was easy enough to ignore. Clementine pushed her hair out of her face as she spoke.

“I’m good! Missing Beauxbatons, though. Especially the food.” She groaned. “Are the croissants still as good as they were last year? The Institute so needs to steal that recipe.” As far as food went, Salem’s little witching university left something to be desired. “Like, we have aesthetic down, but food? Ugh. You know how it is. God knows I’ve sent you enough Snapchats of the monstrosities they cook up here. I’m going to go broke trying to go out to dinner every night.” About the only thing good at the Institute was the waffle bar, but Clementine could not live on waffles alone. Not even the ones with chocolate chips in them.

But she was getting a bit off topic. “Anyways. How are you? Is Beauxbatons holding up without me?” Even though she had been back home for awhile now – this was her second semester at the Institute since her semester abroad – she always talked about Beauxbatons like she had just left. She couldn’t help herself. The beautiful old building was never far from her thoughts, nor were the students she had conversed with in faltering French that her mother surely would have cringed at. At lease Eloise took enough pity on her to talk to her in English, most of the time.

[httpmagictube-blog]

- “Beauxbatons misses you too!” Eloise reassured the girl excitedly. Her smile widened fondly as she took a second to reminisce, flashbacks of Clementine and her time at Beauxbatons drifting into Eloise’s mind. She could still recall the first day they met and how she had been so unsure of the foreign girl. But she had also been quite intrigued by her, and she found herself wanting to spend time with her and to be able to get to know her. As time went on the girl’s quickly became inseperable and as close as ever. Eloise scrunched up her nose in disgust as she nodded in agreement with what Clementine was saying. “I wouldn’t even feed some of the things you’ve sent me photos of to my cat!” She half-joked. It was true that Beauxbatons was well known for it’s exquisite menu and what it allowed the students there to consume everyday. Even Eloise had been surprised once she first began at Beauxbatons, but it was a change she quickly became accustomed to.

“I’m doing well!” Eloise chirped back. Despite the fact that one of the people she was closest to lived halfway across the world from her and the only time spent with the girl occurred through a screen, things had been going well for Eloise.  She had loved school and had always excelled in her academics. She was one of the few that actually thouroughly enjoyed spending time in class and learning a whole bunch of new things. “Barely. I believe a visit from you is well needed.”

[magicxtech]

Evan liked Calliope – he thought she was fun to be around, anyways. He considered them friends, or at least friendly acquaintances. That didn’t stop him from putting on the most patronizing expression he could when she pointed the camera in his face. “Why, hello, lifeascalliope followers! How many of you are there now, five, six?” Of course, he knew Calliope’s follower count rivaled his own, but it was fun to tease her. At least, their fans seemed to think so. Whenever she showed up in one of his videos, the watch count easily doubled. People seemed to like the rivalry, and he had no problem playing it up.

Setting the textbook he had planned on studying over breakfast on the bench for just a moment, he crossed his arms over his chest, raising his eyebrows at the other. “Video too boring without me?” He grinned over the camera at Calliope, equal parts teasing and conspiratorial. He knew exactly what she was doing, and he was more than willing to go along with it. He leaned across a very confused looking first-year to snag a piece of bacon from her plate. “Don’t worry – I’m always willing to help the less fortunate.” He wasn’t this cocky by nature, but he had to admit, it was a fun role to play in front of the camera. Besides, it was all he could to to keep up with Calliope’s banter.

[httpmagictube-blog]

As Evan made his way over to Calliope, talking into her camera as he did so, she couldn’t but roll her eyes jokingly. “Oh no, I think you’re confusing my follow count up with your’s again.” She couldn’t deny the fact that she genuinely enjoyed the banter that went on between the two. Their constant bickering and all of the little jabs and meaningless insults that flew back and forth between the two always had the power to make her smile, even emitting a small laugh to escape from her lips.

Calliope kept her eyes on Evan as he set his textbook down on the bench beside her and proceeded to cross his arms. “Not at all.” She responded quickly, a smirk still evident on her lips. “I just thought I’d show everyone just what exactly I have to put up with on a daily basis.” She watched as he leaned over and retrieved a piece of bacon off of her plate. She quickly rose her hands up, attempting to push away his hands before he got anything, but she was too late. She turned back to face him and gave him a small glare. “So not only are you extremely annoying, but you’re also a thief?” 

[magicxtech]

skype.

Clementine was not known for her punctuality. She always seemed to get caught up in something – homework was a charitable excuse, but the truth was that she was much more likely to get lost scrolling through pinterest, looking for fashion inspiration, or to lose track of time while editing her latest video. Her friends had come to expect her to show up ten minutes late, sipping tea out of hand-painted travel mug and waving as if she hadn’t kept everyone waiting around at the entrance of the Institute like a bunch of weirdos.

But she was never late for her Skype chats with Eloise. It wasn’t something she could explain, but luckily no one had ever asked her to. She told herself it was because it was simply easier to keep the Skpye appointment – she was on her computer anyways, after all. But the excuse didn’t really hold up. She was regularly late to such things with other friends. She pushed it out of her mind so that she wouldn’t have to admit the truth to even herself: that Eloise was never far from her thoughts, so it was basically impossible to forget meeting with her.

That was why, promptly at 2 PM (8 PM in France – she didn’t even have to think about it anymore), Clementine sent the call over to Eloise. Watching herself in the webcam, she self-consciously smoothed her hair over and straightened her blouse before Eloise answered. “Ellie! Hey, girl!” She waved at the camera, giggling. She was used to being on camera by this point, between her vlogs, modelling gigs, and constant Skype chats. Still, though, she felt a little bit of butterflies – because it was still so weird seeing her own face in the corner of the screen, she was sure.

[httpmagictube-blog]

Eloise stood in front of the bathroom mirror, glancing at her appearence for one last time before her Skype chat with Clementine. She grabbed her lavender makeup bag and started fishing around inside of it, finally latching onto something and pulling out a tube of lip gloss. She brought it up her lips and applied the light pink liquid all over them. The blonde smacked her lips together a few times before smoothing out her sky blue summer dress, and quickly checking her pearly whites to ensure that there wasn’t any bits of the feta cheese and spinach croissant she had just ate stuck in between them. After seeing that she was all good, she walked over to her bed and quickly logged onto her laptop.

Eloise wasn’t quite sure what it was, but something about the prospect of spending time with Clementine - even though it would just be taking place through a screen - made her nervous. It was a good kind of nerves though. The kind that filled your stomach with a collection of butterflies and made you feel all giddy. Eloise couldn’t recall the last time she had felt like this before. Sure, she had dated a few guys before. But even then, she didn’t remember feeling the way she was now.

A ringing went off from her laptop and she glanced down, realizing that Clementine was trying to video chat with her. She couldn’t help the smile that grew quickly on her lips. On time, like always. With one last smoothing over of her hair, the girl accepted the request. As the familiar face appeared on her laptop screen, Calliope’s smile grew even wider. “Clementine, hi!” She replied enthusiastically, her accent prominent. “How are you?”

[httpmagictube-blog]

“Hey guys! So as you can see, I’m just finishing up my breakfast now.” Calliope said cheerfully, one arm extended as she gripped onto her new camera and faced it towards her. The girl turned the camera around and pointed it at her plate full of food. “Bacon, eggs, toast, and a glass full of pumpkin juice. I bet you weren’t expecting that at all.” She said sarcastically. It wasn’t until she began vlogging that she realized she tended to be quite a picky eater, only sticking to the same few meals. As the brunette spoke she couldn’t help but notice multiple heads glancing over in her direction. By now, the majority of students at Hogwarts were well aware of the fact that Calliope was a vlogger. In fact, she wasn’t even the only one. But this didn’t stop various students from watching the girl in confusion as she babbled away to herself with a camera. “Not really sure what today has in store for me.” She continued to talk, getting a forkful of eggs and shoveling them into her mouth. She quickly chewed and swallowed. “It’s a Saturday, which means no classes!”

As the last word slipped out of Calliope’s mouth, she turned her head towards the entrance of the Great Hall and noticed a certain Slytherin making his way in. “Well well, look who it is.” She said with a small smirk forming upon her lips. She turned her camera towards her fellow Hogwarts peer and vlogger. “Hogwarts’ resident snake!” The words she spoke were cruel, but of course there was some playful intent behind them. The pair’s viewers loved their little rivalry for some reason, so they liked to play it up for them. And of course even though they got a long quite well, it was always fun to do.