Omninihil, Chapter Four - In A Jam
This chapter is dedicated to the kid who played an alien in a school play. I don't know his name, but ayone who can sing a love song inside an oversized guinea pig cage without cracking up must be quite special.
Sleep was a deep green pool of oblivion, and Odelia was at perfect peace suspended there. She struggled against the hand that was pulling her up toward the light, away from serene infinity.
Kira finally yanked the covers away from Odelia's curled-up form. "We're going to be late for breakfast! Come on… wake up…" With a piteous moan, Odelia complied. The blurry world outside her eyelids slid into focus. There was Kira, looking far too alert for such an hour, dressed in her uniform with wand in pocket.
"All right, all right, I'm coming…" a yawn erupted from within Odelia's face. She fumbled in her trunk for clothing and pulled the silk hangings closed around her bed for privacy. Light from the nearby window shone through the curtains, flooding Odelia's little space with a blue-green glow. The school robes, to Odelia's relief, were a barrier of warmth against the chill of the morning. Feeling more awake, she emerged from her bed and spread her arms wide, like a butterfly bursting from its chrysalis. Kira viewed the scene with amusement.
"What can I say? I have a flair for the dramatic," Odelia defended herself, shoving tiny feet into her boots while running a comb through her hair. "Who woke you up?"
Kira laughed and yawned. "I always get up with the sun." Finishing her preparations, Odelia joined Kira in going to the common room. There was no sign of Liam, but in the dawn silence the girls could hear snoring from the left side of the room. With a giggle, Kira volunteered, "I'll go wake him up." Odelia took the opportunity to sit by the fireplace and gaze into the flames. The blazing colors crackled softly as spirals of smoke escaped from the smoldering heat.
Kira triumphantly dragged a lethargic Liam from the boys' dorm. Though his hair was tousled and his eyes were mere cracks in his face, he somehow had the energy to complain.
"The food isn't going to go away if we aren't the first ones there, you know -" (yawn) "why are you looking so cheerful?" His eyes narrowed further, a feat Odelia would have sworn was impossible. "Are you one of those /morning people/?"
Kira rolled her eyes. "Yes, I seem like an ordinary girl by evening, but at dawn I magically become - Morning Person!" She twirled, flaring her robes like a cape. "Sleeping peacefully by moonlight, fighting drowsiness by sunlight, all dozers shall feel my power!" Completing her sequence, she laughed maniacally.
"Somebody's been watching too much telly-vision," Odelia groaned. Liam nodded his assent.
"Sorry. I guess I got carried away." Kira's face went red and she looked sheepishly at the floor. Her pale blue sneakers looked like they were trying to sink into the ground.
With a sigh, Odelia assured her, "It's no big deal. Come on, we might as well get breakfast since we're all awake. We need our schedules too." The three exited the common room ("Remember the password!"), the two witches supporting Liam, who was still stumbling quite a bit. Odelia slid her fingers down the smooth banner of the marble staircase, noticing that the Entrance Hall looked far less eerie by daylight. There were a few students milling about, and more noise drifted from the Great Hall. Odelia thought she heard whispers from the other students, but attributed it to an overactive imagination.
The Great Hall was fairly quiet compared to the hubbub of the previous night; apparently few students shared Kira's fondness for early rising. The Omninihil table was almost hidden among the larger ones, but Odelia soon spotted it. Liam fell gratefully into his chair, and Odelia was hard-pressed to keep her usual perfect posture. Kira was, in Odelia's opinion, far more cheerful than anyone had a right to be at such an hour. While carefully choosing bits of food for her plate - toast with butter and jam, a leftover piece of cake - Odelia noted that most of the teachers were at the head table, and only Dumbledore looked happy to be there. One hawk-nosed man wore a scowl darker than that of Liam, who was now placated by the more vegetarian-friendly breakfast food.
"Help me open this, will you?" Odelia requested of Liam, struggling with a stubborn jar of jam. Liam nodded with a mouthful of toast and attempted, with shaking fingers, to open the jar. He gave up quickly and swallowed his food.
"It's no go." With clenched teeth, he banged the jar against the table until Kira plucked it from his grasp. She frowned in concentration and grunted, going red with exertion. In an instant, she had the lid triumphantly in her hand - as the jar went flying across the table to land on a neatly folded stack of white paper.
"Oops." Kira bit her lower lip and stared anxiously at the jar. "Do you think those papers are important?"
Odelia shrugged nonchalantly. "They're just napkins, see?" She strode to the other side of the table and, wincing, lifted the sticky jar. "Oh…" Liam and Kira looked alarmed when they saw Odelia's worried expression.
"What is it?" Liam came quickly to stand by Odelia. "Oh, no. Our schedules!" Kira rushed to join the others, and for a moment all three stared in silence at the jam-stained schedules. "What are we going to do?" His eyes were almost comically wide.
"Lupin," Odelia decided. Kira and Liam looked at her, bemused. "He's our Head of House. I think he'll understand."
Kira nodded slowly. "Good idea… but who's going to tell him?" She looked searchingly at Liam, who shook his head. Then they both turned to Odelia.
The chosen one sighed. "All right, but you two owe me." Odelia's two housemates nodded in understanding as their delegate gingerly took hold of the disgusting schedules and approached the staff table, holding the offending pieces of paper at arm's length. "Professor Lupin?" Lupin turned from his conversation with Professor Sprout.
"Good morning, Odelia." He wrinkled his nose at the sheets of paper. "What's that? I don't expect my students to give me gifts," he added jokingly.
Odelia took a deep breath. "Well, we were having trouble opening a jar of jam, and when Kira finally got it open, it… sort of flew across the table and got all over our schedules." Shuddering at the glutinous mass before her, she awaited a verdict. Lupin's face was convoluted in what looked suspiciously like a smile, a good sign.
"Well," the professor replied, once he'd gotten his face under control, "There happens to be an excellent charm for getting rid of sticky things." He flourished his wand and muttered a few words. To Odelia's great relief, the jam turned into a swirl of red dust and diffused into the air. "That ought to work."
"Oh, thank you very much." Odelia carefully placed the papers in her pocket. "I promise," she added with a hint of mischief, "we'll be more careful with our schedules - and jam - in the future." Feeling far more light-hearted, she hurried back to the Omninihil table to present her friends with their schedules. "Ta-da!" Kira and Liam let out identical sighs of relief.
"Let's see what classes we have…" Kira produced a pair of green-rimmed reading glasses and examined her schedule, looking studious. "Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, lunch…"
"Potions, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts," Liam finished. Odelia was busy catching up on the breakfast she'd missed while talking with Lupin. "Hey, Odelia, I think this owl has a letter for you…" Odelia looked up to see a huge black owl perched on Liam's shoulder and the familiar shape of Darwin.
"Darwin!" Seeing Mrs. Delwin's owl brought on a wave of homesickness Odelia hadn't known she was suppressing, and she eagerly unrolled the parchment Darwin carried. It was a letter from Mara Delwin, which read:
Dear Odelia,
Odette owled us about the Sorting. We were very surprised, but the Sorting Hat's never been wrong and we hope you are happy in Omninihil. What are your housemates like? Odette says there are only two others. Who's your House Head? Did your luggage arrive safely? Odette says she saw you hand Aura's carrier to the gamekeeper, so we're assuming that everything's all right with that. I hope that you've been following our advice for a successful school career. You have a lot of potential; if you use it you could be one of the top students in your year. Did you bring those horrible boots with you? I've told you time and time again how important first impressions are; if you wear those crazy things Dumbledore will think you're some kind of hooligan. Please, please don't correct the teachers if they give a tiny piece of misinformation. Owl us as soon as possible.
Much Love,
Mum and Dad
Odelia pocketed the letter with a mixture of comfort and aggravation. Sighing slightly, she took a quill and a bit of parchment and scrawled a reply, telling her parents what they would want to hear. She was tempted to lie about the glowing green boots, but childhood memories of the Pinocchius Charm prevented her from telling outright falsehoods. Instead, she wrote that she had brought her perfectly respectable brown shoes, which was true - the fact that these shoes were to remain in her trunk all year was a minor detail.
When she looked up again, Liam was feeding scraps of toast to the enormous black owl. The avian hooted in a surprisingly gentle voice and nipped at Liam's hair. Odelia handed her letter to Darwin, who promptly fled the scene, before asking about the ebony bird. "Is that your owl?"
Liam scratched under the owl's beak. "Yeah. His name's Orion." Interesting name for a vegetarian's owl, Odelia mused. "Got him as a birthday present. He's a good owl." There was a rare note of warmth in the wizard's normally cynical tone.
"He's cool," Kira declared. "I have a kitten back in the dorm."
Odelia raised an eyebrow. "A kitten? I didn't see it." From a very early age, Odelia had been fond of creatures of the feline nature.
"He was sleeping," explained Kira with a fond smile. "He's still very young, so he needs lots of rest." Odelia nodded in understanding, remembering Aura's days of kittenhood.
"Odelia, are you done that toast?" Liam was standing, Orion-less, and clutching his schedule. "We're going to be late to, uh, whatever class we have."
"Charms," Odelia replied automatically, picking up her empty plate and finding that there was no sink in which to put it. "I'm finished. Let's go get our books and such." Kira volunteered to get the books to save time, and rushed off. Liam glimpsed Tolkien Girl and attempted to hide behind Odelia, a flawed plan since Liam was the taller of the two. Odelia meanwhile busied herself in memorizing her schedule.
"I'm back!" Kira appeared, out of breath and holding three Charms textbooks and quills.
"Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration… oh, thanks." After prying her eyes from the schedule, Odelia hefted her textbook. "Let's go."
"Where is the Charms classroom, anyway?" Liam queried. He and Kira turned expectantly to Odelia. She responded with several rapid blinks of her sleepy eyes.
"Erm…" tilting her head, she delivered her answer. "I don't know." Immediately taking in her friends' looks of exasperation, Odelia defended herself. "Just because I have a sister here doesn't make me the expert. Let's go ask Lupin." With a sense of déjà vu, the Omninihils set off for the staff table, only to find that Lupin was gone.
Kira began to panic. "What are we going to do? We'll be late to our first class!"
"Honestly, what's the use of having a sister here if you don't ask her for directions?" Liam complained. Odelia's eyes widened, and a puzzle in her brain began to put itself together. Sister… ask her… Odelia snapped her fingers.
"That's it! I'll ask Odette!" Odelia raced to the Hufflepuff table, Kira and Liam in tow, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her sister chatting with her ever-present friends. "Odette!"
Odette smiled, looking surprised. "Hey Odelia. Everything all right?" Hair in a ponytail and turtleneck peeking from under her robes, she radiated the easygoing cheer that Odelia envied so.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Odelia replied hastily, "But I really need to know the way to the Charms classroom." Nervously, she tucked a quill behind her ear and then pulled it out again, twirling the feather rapidly between her fingers. Odette nodded obligingly and plucked the quill from Odelia, pursing her lips as she scrawled something on a piece of parchment. She then handed said parchment and quill to her sister.
"There, that should be clear enough. Hurry on the staircase; your feet will stick to it if you stand in one spot too long. And watch out for Peeves." Odette grimaced while mentioning the poltergeist.
Kira grinned wickedly. "Oh, somehow I don't think Peeves will bother us." Odelia and Liam laughed to themselves.
"Come on," Odelia urged, "Let's get to class." With a quick inspection of Odette's directions she dashed off, with her friends - for she knew somehow that they were her friends - following.
--
Next up: Charms with the Slytherins, and the results of McGonagall's mistake. Liam recounts the joys of having a room to himself. Odelia's wand is explained. Ignatius reappears, as does Selena.
This chapter is dedicated to the kid who played an alien in a school play. I don't know his name, but ayone who can sing a love song inside an oversized guinea pig cage without cracking up must be quite special.
Sleep was a deep green pool of oblivion, and Odelia was at perfect peace suspended there. She struggled against the hand that was pulling her up toward the light, away from serene infinity.
Kira finally yanked the covers away from Odelia's curled-up form. "We're going to be late for breakfast! Come on… wake up…" With a piteous moan, Odelia complied. The blurry world outside her eyelids slid into focus. There was Kira, looking far too alert for such an hour, dressed in her uniform with wand in pocket.
"All right, all right, I'm coming…" a yawn erupted from within Odelia's face. She fumbled in her trunk for clothing and pulled the silk hangings closed around her bed for privacy. Light from the nearby window shone through the curtains, flooding Odelia's little space with a blue-green glow. The school robes, to Odelia's relief, were a barrier of warmth against the chill of the morning. Feeling more awake, she emerged from her bed and spread her arms wide, like a butterfly bursting from its chrysalis. Kira viewed the scene with amusement.
"What can I say? I have a flair for the dramatic," Odelia defended herself, shoving tiny feet into her boots while running a comb through her hair. "Who woke you up?"
Kira laughed and yawned. "I always get up with the sun." Finishing her preparations, Odelia joined Kira in going to the common room. There was no sign of Liam, but in the dawn silence the girls could hear snoring from the left side of the room. With a giggle, Kira volunteered, "I'll go wake him up." Odelia took the opportunity to sit by the fireplace and gaze into the flames. The blazing colors crackled softly as spirals of smoke escaped from the smoldering heat.
Kira triumphantly dragged a lethargic Liam from the boys' dorm. Though his hair was tousled and his eyes were mere cracks in his face, he somehow had the energy to complain.
"The food isn't going to go away if we aren't the first ones there, you know -" (yawn) "why are you looking so cheerful?" His eyes narrowed further, a feat Odelia would have sworn was impossible. "Are you one of those /morning people/?"
Kira rolled her eyes. "Yes, I seem like an ordinary girl by evening, but at dawn I magically become - Morning Person!" She twirled, flaring her robes like a cape. "Sleeping peacefully by moonlight, fighting drowsiness by sunlight, all dozers shall feel my power!" Completing her sequence, she laughed maniacally.
"Somebody's been watching too much telly-vision," Odelia groaned. Liam nodded his assent.
"Sorry. I guess I got carried away." Kira's face went red and she looked sheepishly at the floor. Her pale blue sneakers looked like they were trying to sink into the ground.
With a sigh, Odelia assured her, "It's no big deal. Come on, we might as well get breakfast since we're all awake. We need our schedules too." The three exited the common room ("Remember the password!"), the two witches supporting Liam, who was still stumbling quite a bit. Odelia slid her fingers down the smooth banner of the marble staircase, noticing that the Entrance Hall looked far less eerie by daylight. There were a few students milling about, and more noise drifted from the Great Hall. Odelia thought she heard whispers from the other students, but attributed it to an overactive imagination.
The Great Hall was fairly quiet compared to the hubbub of the previous night; apparently few students shared Kira's fondness for early rising. The Omninihil table was almost hidden among the larger ones, but Odelia soon spotted it. Liam fell gratefully into his chair, and Odelia was hard-pressed to keep her usual perfect posture. Kira was, in Odelia's opinion, far more cheerful than anyone had a right to be at such an hour. While carefully choosing bits of food for her plate - toast with butter and jam, a leftover piece of cake - Odelia noted that most of the teachers were at the head table, and only Dumbledore looked happy to be there. One hawk-nosed man wore a scowl darker than that of Liam, who was now placated by the more vegetarian-friendly breakfast food.
"Help me open this, will you?" Odelia requested of Liam, struggling with a stubborn jar of jam. Liam nodded with a mouthful of toast and attempted, with shaking fingers, to open the jar. He gave up quickly and swallowed his food.
"It's no go." With clenched teeth, he banged the jar against the table until Kira plucked it from his grasp. She frowned in concentration and grunted, going red with exertion. In an instant, she had the lid triumphantly in her hand - as the jar went flying across the table to land on a neatly folded stack of white paper.
"Oops." Kira bit her lower lip and stared anxiously at the jar. "Do you think those papers are important?"
Odelia shrugged nonchalantly. "They're just napkins, see?" She strode to the other side of the table and, wincing, lifted the sticky jar. "Oh…" Liam and Kira looked alarmed when they saw Odelia's worried expression.
"What is it?" Liam came quickly to stand by Odelia. "Oh, no. Our schedules!" Kira rushed to join the others, and for a moment all three stared in silence at the jam-stained schedules. "What are we going to do?" His eyes were almost comically wide.
"Lupin," Odelia decided. Kira and Liam looked at her, bemused. "He's our Head of House. I think he'll understand."
Kira nodded slowly. "Good idea… but who's going to tell him?" She looked searchingly at Liam, who shook his head. Then they both turned to Odelia.
The chosen one sighed. "All right, but you two owe me." Odelia's two housemates nodded in understanding as their delegate gingerly took hold of the disgusting schedules and approached the staff table, holding the offending pieces of paper at arm's length. "Professor Lupin?" Lupin turned from his conversation with Professor Sprout.
"Good morning, Odelia." He wrinkled his nose at the sheets of paper. "What's that? I don't expect my students to give me gifts," he added jokingly.
Odelia took a deep breath. "Well, we were having trouble opening a jar of jam, and when Kira finally got it open, it… sort of flew across the table and got all over our schedules." Shuddering at the glutinous mass before her, she awaited a verdict. Lupin's face was convoluted in what looked suspiciously like a smile, a good sign.
"Well," the professor replied, once he'd gotten his face under control, "There happens to be an excellent charm for getting rid of sticky things." He flourished his wand and muttered a few words. To Odelia's great relief, the jam turned into a swirl of red dust and diffused into the air. "That ought to work."
"Oh, thank you very much." Odelia carefully placed the papers in her pocket. "I promise," she added with a hint of mischief, "we'll be more careful with our schedules - and jam - in the future." Feeling far more light-hearted, she hurried back to the Omninihil table to present her friends with their schedules. "Ta-da!" Kira and Liam let out identical sighs of relief.
"Let's see what classes we have…" Kira produced a pair of green-rimmed reading glasses and examined her schedule, looking studious. "Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, lunch…"
"Potions, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts," Liam finished. Odelia was busy catching up on the breakfast she'd missed while talking with Lupin. "Hey, Odelia, I think this owl has a letter for you…" Odelia looked up to see a huge black owl perched on Liam's shoulder and the familiar shape of Darwin.
"Darwin!" Seeing Mrs. Delwin's owl brought on a wave of homesickness Odelia hadn't known she was suppressing, and she eagerly unrolled the parchment Darwin carried. It was a letter from Mara Delwin, which read:
Dear Odelia,
Odette owled us about the Sorting. We were very surprised, but the Sorting Hat's never been wrong and we hope you are happy in Omninihil. What are your housemates like? Odette says there are only two others. Who's your House Head? Did your luggage arrive safely? Odette says she saw you hand Aura's carrier to the gamekeeper, so we're assuming that everything's all right with that. I hope that you've been following our advice for a successful school career. You have a lot of potential; if you use it you could be one of the top students in your year. Did you bring those horrible boots with you? I've told you time and time again how important first impressions are; if you wear those crazy things Dumbledore will think you're some kind of hooligan. Please, please don't correct the teachers if they give a tiny piece of misinformation. Owl us as soon as possible.
Much Love,
Mum and Dad
Odelia pocketed the letter with a mixture of comfort and aggravation. Sighing slightly, she took a quill and a bit of parchment and scrawled a reply, telling her parents what they would want to hear. She was tempted to lie about the glowing green boots, but childhood memories of the Pinocchius Charm prevented her from telling outright falsehoods. Instead, she wrote that she had brought her perfectly respectable brown shoes, which was true - the fact that these shoes were to remain in her trunk all year was a minor detail.
When she looked up again, Liam was feeding scraps of toast to the enormous black owl. The avian hooted in a surprisingly gentle voice and nipped at Liam's hair. Odelia handed her letter to Darwin, who promptly fled the scene, before asking about the ebony bird. "Is that your owl?"
Liam scratched under the owl's beak. "Yeah. His name's Orion." Interesting name for a vegetarian's owl, Odelia mused. "Got him as a birthday present. He's a good owl." There was a rare note of warmth in the wizard's normally cynical tone.
"He's cool," Kira declared. "I have a kitten back in the dorm."
Odelia raised an eyebrow. "A kitten? I didn't see it." From a very early age, Odelia had been fond of creatures of the feline nature.
"He was sleeping," explained Kira with a fond smile. "He's still very young, so he needs lots of rest." Odelia nodded in understanding, remembering Aura's days of kittenhood.
"Odelia, are you done that toast?" Liam was standing, Orion-less, and clutching his schedule. "We're going to be late to, uh, whatever class we have."
"Charms," Odelia replied automatically, picking up her empty plate and finding that there was no sink in which to put it. "I'm finished. Let's go get our books and such." Kira volunteered to get the books to save time, and rushed off. Liam glimpsed Tolkien Girl and attempted to hide behind Odelia, a flawed plan since Liam was the taller of the two. Odelia meanwhile busied herself in memorizing her schedule.
"I'm back!" Kira appeared, out of breath and holding three Charms textbooks and quills.
"Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration… oh, thanks." After prying her eyes from the schedule, Odelia hefted her textbook. "Let's go."
"Where is the Charms classroom, anyway?" Liam queried. He and Kira turned expectantly to Odelia. She responded with several rapid blinks of her sleepy eyes.
"Erm…" tilting her head, she delivered her answer. "I don't know." Immediately taking in her friends' looks of exasperation, Odelia defended herself. "Just because I have a sister here doesn't make me the expert. Let's go ask Lupin." With a sense of déjà vu, the Omninihils set off for the staff table, only to find that Lupin was gone.
Kira began to panic. "What are we going to do? We'll be late to our first class!"
"Honestly, what's the use of having a sister here if you don't ask her for directions?" Liam complained. Odelia's eyes widened, and a puzzle in her brain began to put itself together. Sister… ask her… Odelia snapped her fingers.
"That's it! I'll ask Odette!" Odelia raced to the Hufflepuff table, Kira and Liam in tow, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her sister chatting with her ever-present friends. "Odette!"
Odette smiled, looking surprised. "Hey Odelia. Everything all right?" Hair in a ponytail and turtleneck peeking from under her robes, she radiated the easygoing cheer that Odelia envied so.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Odelia replied hastily, "But I really need to know the way to the Charms classroom." Nervously, she tucked a quill behind her ear and then pulled it out again, twirling the feather rapidly between her fingers. Odette nodded obligingly and plucked the quill from Odelia, pursing her lips as she scrawled something on a piece of parchment. She then handed said parchment and quill to her sister.
"There, that should be clear enough. Hurry on the staircase; your feet will stick to it if you stand in one spot too long. And watch out for Peeves." Odette grimaced while mentioning the poltergeist.
Kira grinned wickedly. "Oh, somehow I don't think Peeves will bother us." Odelia and Liam laughed to themselves.
"Come on," Odelia urged, "Let's get to class." With a quick inspection of Odette's directions she dashed off, with her friends - for she knew somehow that they were her friends - following.
--
Next up: Charms with the Slytherins, and the results of McGonagall's mistake. Liam recounts the joys of having a room to himself. Odelia's wand is explained. Ignatius reappears, as does Selena.
