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Winter
Winter stared dreamily up at the roof of the astronomy tower. She was supposed to be making notes on the positions of certain planets, but she just couldn't seem to find the focus. How can she, when the stars are too beautiful to take your eyes away from?
She loved the astronomy tower for its ceiling. It had been bewitched to show the stars in detail as they would appear that night, as glowing diamonds embedded into a pure black sky. She enjoyed watching them as they twinkled and winked at her from their perches. Sometimes she heard their voices whispering to her, though she usually couldn't pick out the words.
In Divination, Winter learned that when certain planets glowed more brightly than others, it meant disaster was on the horizon. But looking up at the stars during Astronomy, she just couldn't believe that anything so bright and cheerful could foretell harm. The Astronomy teacher, on the other hand, was much more likely.
Aimery Park was the worst teacher in the school, an opinion that was especially strong among the female students. Winter once knew a seventh-year girl who'd thrown herself off the roof of the school due to Aimery's attentions.
Aimery had felt no remorse over the girl's death and had immediately set about mercilessly snatching other pretty young girls. And it wasn't like they could do much to resist. Aimery was Lunar, and a very powerful lunar too. Once he'd set his sights on a girl, she was already lost. Very few were protected against him: the odd shell (lunars with no gift and were immune to manipulation by their fellow lunars), children of noble benefactors who generously sponsored the school, and Winter herself due to her connection with the headmistress. But this protection only stretched so far. Aimery was a master at finding other ways of snagging students into his disgusting web.
The clanging bells signifying the end of the lesson jolted Winter out of her thoughts. She watched in mild bewilderment as her fellow students hastily gathered up their supplies and rushed to the door. She shot the ceiling one last glance but was disappointed to find that the enchantment was already fading, exposing the white stone hidden underneath.
Following the example of the others, Winter scooped up her things and turned to the door but froze when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Miss Blackburn, may I have a quick word?"
Winter shuddered and tentatively looked up at Aimery's face. As usual, his mouth was curved in a smug smile.
"I-I have to get to Potions Professor Park."
"I won't keep you for long."
"Professor Erland is very firm with late students."
"You can just tell him that Professor Park held you back."
Winter gulped. She really didn't like that sentence.
As politely as possible, Winter pulled away from Aimery's hand and smiled shakily at him. "Okay Professor. What did you want to talk to me about?"
Aimery's smile widened. He was annoyed. "I couldn't help but notice, Miss Blackburn, that you and your friends have been converging in the Dark Section recently."
Winter couldn't disguise the tremble in her voice as she replied, "We are studying for Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor."
"A good habit to get into. Even so, neither you nor your friends were particularly keen on the Dark Section up until now."
"We… thought that it was time we started to make use of it."
"As a meeting place to discuss the werewolves lurking in the Black Woods?"
Winter's eyes widened with terror and Aimery smirked at her, looking smugger than ever. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Scheming behind your teacher's backs. Such terrible behaviour shouldn't be allowed. You should be ashamed of yourself Miss Blackburn, for such wicked behaviour. You and your friends ought to be punished." His eyes seemed to light up at the thought.
Nausea swirled inside of Winter's stomach. What sort of punishment would Aimery dream up? Probably something to do with the lower floors of the dungeons. She thought of little Cress, so small and afraid, shivering in a dark cell and bile rushed up her throat.
Aimery smirked at her, looking more smug than ever. "I could turn a blind eye to your little antics. Your friends can go about their daily lives, blissfully unaware of the fact that their secret conversations have been discovered. Of course, you'd have to convince me to do so." He added, leaning closer.
Winter's heart palpitated inside her chest. Aimery's face was mere inches away and his eyes were narrowed devilishly. There was no need for him to say what was necessary to "convince" him. She could see it in his hungry grin, she could feel it in his fingers as he reached up to stroke her chin. And she hated it. She wouldn't give it to him. Never! NEVER!
Panic rushing through her blood, Winter pulled her wand out of her pocket and shrieked, "Petrificus totalus!"
Aimery's smug expression turned blank as a corpse as his lips pressed together, his arms snapped to his sides and his legs joined together. He teetered for a few moments before falling backwards like a large, hateful bowling pin.
Clutching her wand tightly in both hands, Winter took a step towards the door, desperate to get as far away from the monster lying on the floor, but stopped, and thought about what had just happened.
Aimery Park knew about her friends' discussions. She had jinxed him. It was only a matter of time before someone discovered him and undid the jinx. And then he would go straight to Levana and tell her all about what Winter and her friends were planning. Winter thought of her scars, and imagined her friends with blood running down their faces, their own treacherous hands holding the bloodied knives that had cut through their flesh. Assuming, that is, that Levana would even let them live. It's not like anyone would notice their absence. Winter knew that Levana had all of her staff trained in the use of Memory charms. Anyone who'd ever known them would completely forget-
Memory charms.
A Memory charm would wipe Aimery's mind. He wouldn't know about their meetings! He wouldn't' even know that Winter had jinxed him! It was perfect!
Now, who could Winter trust to carry out the spell…
A/N: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, presenting… Aimery Park! The world's biggest slime ball!
Finally, after all this time just hearing about him, we meet Aimery officially (I say that like we actually wanted to), and he knows about what the crew is planning. Will the Memory charm work? What if it doesn't? Why wasn't Jacin here to protect Winter from Aimery?
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