It was now 1887, the third week of July, and Hariel was trying desperately to muffle her snickers.
Their maid, Mey-Rin, had been attempting to clean one of the windows and somehow managed to switch the window cleaner and something used to clean the oven. And now the window was very… foggy…
Ciel rubbed his temples next to her as Sebastian sent Mey-Rin off to do something that wouldn't end in her screwing up again while he actually cleaned the window.
"How do you even mess up that bad?" An exasperated Ciel asked no one in particular.
Hariel finally felt she had enough control over herself so as to not laugh when she spoke, and answered. "No idea. You'd think she'd realize, but apparently not."
Sebastian shook his head from where he currently had the window open as he worked on the sill- the last part that he needed to clean. "Truly, I do not understand how one can be so incompetent."
Hariel and Ciel were stopped from replying by an owl flying into the window and landing on the table that was conveniently right next to them. It had a letter attached to it's leg.
"What the...?" Ciel's brows furrowed and he didn't even finish his sentence. Hariel didn't blame him. It was rather odd, and completely random.
Since when did owls deliver letters?
Sebastian stepped over to it, and the bird glared at him as he took the letter but made no move to stop him. As soon as the letter was removed, it flew out the open window and Sebastian closed it before looking back at the letter. Turning it over, he blinked. "It is addressed to you, my lady," Sebastian handed her the letter and Hariel inspected it.
Ms H. Peverell
Phantomhive Manor, outside of London
The Lady of the House's bedroom
"Oddly specific," Hariel muttered, slightly disturbed. How did they know what bedroom she slept in? How did they know that particular room was for the Lady of the House? She looked up, "Sebastian, over the next while, make sure no one is spying on the manor." Sebastian nodded and she turned to letter over, inspecting the crest. It had a lion, snake, eagle, and a badger surrounding a rather elaborate H.
"I have never seen that crest before," Ciel commented, looking over her shoulder. "Which is strange, because I had to memorize all the crest of nobles."
Hariel shrugged, "Neither have I, and I know you did. I was there and had to do it as well." She opened the envelope, pulling out the contents- two sheets of parchment- and looking over them. The first one seemed to be a list of some sort. Disregarding that, Hariel read the other one.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmistress: Eupraxia Mole
Dear Ms Peverell,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all your needed items. We await your owl no later than the 31 of July.
Phineas Nigellus Black, Deputy Headmaster
Hariel looked up, noticing that both Ciel and Sebastian were both looking at her curiously, waiting to hear what it was. "An acceptance letter to a magic school," Hariel rolled her eyes, "please. I have enough control over my magic, I don't need to go to some school to learn it."
Ciel twitched a small grin as Sebastian picked up the discarded list from the floor- when had she dropped it- and read over it. "Hm, it seems as if the only thing that would really interest you would be potions and perhaps Herbology. The rest of these subjects I've seen you do with ease and without any actual training."
Hariel nodded, "And I have no use for herbology, so that doesn't matter. Potions, well, that would be interesting but they seem somewhat impractical. Why spend hours over a hot cauldron to produce a probably terrible tasting and/or smelling concoction when I can have the same effect with spells, if used creatively?" As she spoke, Hariel handed the list and envelope to Sebastian.
"Then shall I pen a letter back, stating that you will not be attending?" Sebastian asked, already folding up the list and the letter.
Hariel nodded, "Yes. State that I am already receiving private training and that attending a school would be rather redundant for me."
"Then I shall do so immediately. I will bring it to you to sign once I am finished." Sebastian gave them a small bow and then left, while Hariel and Ciel went the other way to check on the servants and make sure they weren't screwing up again.
Neither of them had much hope in that.
Surprisingly, nothing too big had actually occurred that day aside from the window thing. Mey-Rin ended up tripping a lot (when did she not) and Bard had slightly singed the food but it was actually fairly good for food he cooked. Finny hadn't done anything extreme in the garden that day, so all that was needed to fix it was to replant that one bush he accidentally killed.
All in all, it was a fairly quiet day; Hariel was suspicious about it. If there wasn't some sort of drama happening, then something big was usually coming up. That's what she had learned over the course of the past year and a half, and Hariel wasn't too sure what it could be.
She didn't like that, not knowing what could be occurring. It was always better to know, or at least have a vague idea of, what would happen. That put you ahead of everyone else and let you manipulate them to your preferred outcome. So the feeling of something big happening, and not knowing what it could be, definitely disturbed Hariel.
~•~ ~•~ ~•~
Okay, I'm sorry for the late update but this chapter has not cooperated with me at all. I'd get it written and it'd delete itself, or I would have to rewrite some part because it didn't work for me, and I just got stuck in some places. All in all, I was not too thrilled with this chapter, but I finally got it done.
So now we've gotten to the Hogwarts letter, and now, soon, communication with the wizard world and all that that entails.
Anyways, thanks for your support and patience, it really does mean a lot.
~Faeries and Vampyres