A/n: I rewrote this due to my incessant mistakes with the previous form. I hope you guys like this one better, I was always curious with the Witches' Institute. In my perspective (In correlation with the story) I imagine four girls to a suite like quarters. I have written the next chapters out accordingly, and I do hope there are reviews, I kinda feed off them lol. I'm needy and it's sad.
clementine harkin
"You needn't think about that when you're in Ottery, love" Coral hummed, her long flaxen tresses tangled with the night sky as she sat on the windowsill, calmly stroking the Ural owl, Opal, into a slumber. I sat in the plush, cloud like sofa opposite and slightly tilted my head in a mild trance at the scenery of Coral Cassius, she was too ethereal to be bound to a place like the Salem's witches' institute – she was meant for some place parallel to her ever giving beauty, like Venice or Stockholm.
"T-Think of me! Think of being selfish and leaving me!" It was the brashness of Sage that broke my brief train of thought, as she enraptured myself into an awkward embrace of messily kept ashen locks and a taxing scent of pine tackled my nose as it was buried into her – she was well prepared for Litha, always braiding her locks with a few needles of the tree around this time. It always reminded me of our first year spent together, when in the midst of night right before the sun would rise, she'd clamber her eleven year old self into my bed – having suffered from a nightmare. Then, before I woke, she'd always find her way back into her own, leaving a trail of the pines behind in her place as the only source of evidence. I would miss her, my best friend, and returned her harsh and strong affection as I encircled my arms around her.
"You both are wrong, she should be thinking about just that when she's all the way over there, you know it's dangerous for.. Your family.. To go anywhere" it was Dawn's stern growl from leaning against the wall that caused myself to jump in my skin, always the looming realist – it was her hesitation on her choice of words that caused me to tuck my bottom lip between my teeth, what she spoke was begrudgingly right – Dawn Zilaphris always was.
"You have to learn to trust the right people, Clem. That headhunter is still alive, you still have to think about that. You still have to take care of yourself." I felt her palm atop my head, and I only but dimly nodded my head at her knowledge – what happened in Montana was only a mere three years ago. I don't think I could ever forget the burning of my home, the flame is still afire in my memories.
"Enough, Dawn, don't frighten the girl, in fact.." Coral tossed the eldest of our quad a lopsided, almost calming grin, and dispersed into her bedroom as we awaited for her lingering sentence, and the three of us watched the girl's arms were hidden behind her back, "it's June, my birthday is in a week when we're all not going to be together to celebrate it, and to make matter's worse I have a Divergence Final I know I'm going to bomb so.." She pulled her hand away to reveal an aged, almost black bottle of wine from behind her back.
I held back a gruff laugh at the Institute's famed lush, though couldn't help but giggle as Sage pried herself away from me and jumped to her feet to inspect the label of the beverage with a bubbling curiosity she couldn't contain – Coral, the well known Alcoholic, and Sage, the Alcoholic's innocent protégé. The were a duo not to be reckoned with, and I couldn't help but feel reminiscent to our antics back in my third year.
"Remember when you two went on a binge?" My voice was soft, almost dreamlike as the flashbacks recoiled in my mind at the mention. Coral's smirk only raised at this, and revealed another bottle of the wine from her other hand behind her back, "let us be idiotically drunk before the Sunday morning, hm?" Coral propped the bottles down onto the coffee table as Dawn sat herself on the carpeted rug and rubbed the calligraphy of the font atop the label, "1978? This is obviously not yours, then" Dawn placed the bottle back down on the wood with a stoic stare at her younger counterpart as she tried to ignore her remark.
Though when her glower only bore on, Coral succumbed to an exaggerated sigh, "my mother isn't going to miss these two bottles, alright?" Dawn only shrugged her shoulders as Sage began fetching some paper cups and a pen.
"Unfortunately, I am not an owner of a corkscrew, but alas I know of a party trick" Sage placed the paper cups atop the table, plucked the bottle of the Boucher wine and clasped it cinematically into the palm of her hand. We all waited and watched in anticipation while she stared at the bottle with the pencil in her other hand, and stabbed the cork into the bottle with a satisfying pop, and the pencil in the glass submerged into the beverage.
"Hm, classy" Coral sarcastically hummed as she tapped her manicured fingers atop the table, "are you sure I won't get lead poisoning?" Dawn hissed pessimistically, eyeing the bottle that Sage professionally opened and now was pouring its contents into the cups. "If you do, feel free to sue me" Sage charismatically smiled as she was tending to us as if a skilled waitress, "I'll give you my lawyer's information" she winked, finally planting herself beside me as she was the first to take a lengthy gulp of the liquid.
I followed soon after, though chose to savour the seldom drank wine and concluded with the bitter taste in my mouth I wasn't so fond of the liquor. "You're making a face, Clem" Coral monotonically added as she took a sip as well, though it didn't really bother me that I was anyways, it tasted like a soiled gym sock – liquid form.
"Do you actually remember anything when we binged last Ostara?" Sage whispered to her elder, gingerly fingering her cup innocently in contemplation, and Coral howled a loud, "hah!" Before turning to Dawn, "I remember how I ruined the roses you beautifully wove into your hair, sorry 'bout that, by the way." Dawn only dismissed the topic with a wave of her hand, "I had to chase you around the stream, you were quite adamant about not wearing panties. It was fun. But it was difficult trying to hide you two away from Priestess Lolina." Dawn recalled, a ghost of a smile provided onto her lips, and she casted her attention to myself after coddling her cup, "Sage wouldn't stop bothering the Water Nymphs, do you remember? Then she fell asleep on the garden." I shielded my laugh behind a hand, and nodded my head appreciatively at the thought – there was a Nymph that loathed Sage with every fibre of her being.
"Why did that nymph hate you so?" I asked Sage who continued to brutishly gulp the remains of her wine, "she remembered me from second year. She was jealous of my friendship with General Royland Kalor, horribly envious beings, those Water Nymphs" Sage elucidated, pouring herself another cup, I only stared at her questionably to which she lopsidedly smiled, "he's the ghost that haunts the grove near Stars Peak, Clementine." She spoke simply, basically, and I felt lightly dumbstruck at this – I lived half my school years in those woods.
A silence took our group as we each nursed our cup to the bottom, and Sage generously poured.
"So, did you say bye to Forrest at all, love?" Coral spoke gently at the notion of my muggle friend that I played casual games of scrimmage with at the local park indoor Ice Rink in the late evenings. I lolled my head to the side in brief contemplation at our last game – he broke my stick my dad bought me when he sent a slaps shot into the boards. "I haven't, I don't think he'll miss me either, really" the memories of him usually rough housing me on the ice only bore deep into my mind at how much of a savage the boy was, though to be quite honest, he was only my reflection – we both loved the game too much. These girls sugar coated my relationship with the muggle boy.
"That really is selfish" Dawn crooned as she leaned into the palm of her hand as she smirked at me, her knowing blue eyes peering into my soul – she always knew I was stubbornly selfish. I softly replied with a smile.
"I bet he'll think of you, a lot. You were his only competition" Sage offered meekly, and broke into a close mouthed smile, "no, just the only one that would play hockey with him." I solidly spoke.
"Anyways, let's get to some real action here." Dawn broke the random bout of tension I brought as she clasped my hand into her own, the action foreign and uncomfortable as she stared stone like into my eyes. I immediately realized she was performing her palmistry as her pupils rolled completely into the back of her head, only displaying the whites. The scene was unnerving, though a thrill was seeping into my bones as she began tracing my veins with a feather like touch.
Dawn was seemingly famed when it came to her exceedingly accurate tellings, always preaching of ordeals before it happened – informing people of their future that undoubtedly came true. It was a wonder she was blessed with, though seldom did.
"Ooooh, tell us about how many kids she's going to have" Sage mused, leaning herself across the table as she almost loomed over the performance. "Tell us how many men she'll sleep with" I stifled a half assed laugh at Coral's remark and continued to focus on what I really wanted to see – how it'll be like in Britian.
"Before you rest your head to sleep, be sure to tuck a Carnelian under your pillow for a clear mind. When you wake in the morning, drape yourself in whites and creams – nothing else." Sage gasped lightly at Dawn's foretelling, and practically bounced in place, "white, white like a bride" Sage spoke lividly, "white, white like a god damn virgin" Coral snickered behind her palm, and both the blondes fell into a round of laughter as I pressed my lips into a line, I didn't like the thought of either.
Paying no mind to them, Dawn continued.
"Whites, for rebirth – being born again. Whites, for remembrance of those that torched your home. Whites, for innocence and honesty.." She spoke with a lace of malice in her tone, before subsiding into a mellow, more calming waver, ".. Drink pear tea before you start your day for optimism, and make sure to alight purple candles on your windowsill for your family." She instructed almost hastily as a smile took her mouth in her light drunkenness.
All three of us awaited patiently as Dawn only continued to sit in silence, as a proper smile took her lips for the passed several moments, disallowing us the knowledge of what she was smiling about. "I surely will, Dawn, but I was wondering if.. If I'll be alright, in Hogwarts." I murmured through slurring teeth, the alcohol clearly getting the better of me. "Oh, love. You'll befriend three Lion's, and a Snake – you'll be categorized in the House that opposite of an ocean floored fish. You'll live contentedly." And I nodded my head at this – content, wasn't a word I'd specifically piece to living in Hogwarts.
She continued to smile, though, somewhat oddly, she lightly giggled as she began tracing the lower of my palm, and began to speak again, "Oh, darling. You'll meet a Badger. He shines – his soul resembles that of gold. He's quite handsome, Clem. It's almost as if he's the sun itself. You two fall for each other in the most shameless, horrible of ways, though, it's almost piteous how you're consistently sad." She paused, and I couldn't help but question this state, "sad? I won't be happy with him?" She shook her head, her eyebrows knitting together worriedly, "my dear, you'll die before your happiness, I'm afraid." I felt a jolt of sombreness take my body as I was taken aback by her words, "needn't worry – it's your happiness that dies. It's your spirit that dies, along with that boy."