On the first of December there was no longer any pretence of Christmas. The common room was laden with thick luscious garland lining every ledge and the fireplace. The room smelled of gingerbread cookies that students had bought from Hogsmeade, and burning candles from the candelabras in the windows.
Victorie had intended to practise her calligraphy in the remaining hour before dinner, but had soon found that it had become significantly harder getting all the way to her usual spot without being interrupted. Every meter she progressed, there seemed to be someone new to chat with.
And none of them were ghosts!
It had been a dragged on display of short conversations:
"No, you don't have to bring me dinner today Delilah, I'll join you for it."
"That's an excellent bird-conjuring charm, Roxanne."
"Of course Jamie, I think that rhyme works perfectly."
"Yeah Teddy, I promise to listen to Sudden Whale Death as soon as I get a chance."
"The mud trail was definitely Peeves' doing, Maya. I wouldn't spare it a second thought if I were you."
Eventually Victoire dropped her bag on the floor and slumped down at her small table. She made a mental note to thank Teddy for his advice about how beneficial positive feedback could be.
After getting her stationary out she angled her pen and placed it on the parchment, watched a minuscule amount of red ink come out, which she dragged into an S-shape. She studied how the liquid spread across the fibres in the paper, how the hairlines transitioned into shades...
"I see you're enjoying the book I gave you."
Victorie looked up from her writings. It was Ethan, standing with a deck in his hands once again and motioning at The Lavender Waltz poking out of her bag. She wasn't surprised to see him. It was only one of many times she had found the boy in the Gryffindor common room.
"Absolutely." She said, taking her pen off the paper while he sat down opposite her. "There are so many incredible recipes in there for herbal medicine. Rare things too. Things I've never even heard of." She felt her eyes go wide as she spoke.
He began flicking through the cards in his hands. They were tarot cards, she noted. "Not just herbal medicine either. Have you looked at the later chapters yet?"
"I haven't." She shook her head with a fascinated attitude.
"It's where I found the herbivicus charm. You know the vines that covered your staircase at the dorm party? That was the spell I used to make them grow so rapidly."
"That was you!" She didn't know if she should be angry or not, but settled on letting it slide. Her eyes fell on the book in the outer pocket of her bag. "So it was a spell then?"
"It's a combination actually." He spilled. Victorie opened her mouth to speak, but in the same line of breath Ethan was already moving on, "Delilah asked for my help with it. But the party was not my doing." He ensured her. "It especially was not my choice to use your altar as the snacks table." The boy finished with a sympathetic smile.
Although Victorie was flattered to hear that he had even paid attention to her altar, she wasn't particularly interested in talking about it at the moment. "A combination of what exactly?" She asked.
Ethan paused and looked down at his cards. He began dividing them up into two equally sized parts. "Uuuh..." He proceeded to bend the decks against the table in front of him and she began to lose hope that he was going to answer her.
But then, just before letting the cards begin to plummet against each other, he gave up his pursuit and discarded the cards completely. "It's a combination of a seed, a potion and a spell." He explained while looking at her piercingly and counting from one to three with his fingers.
She met his gaze wholeheartedly, thinking that it sounded like complicated magic.
When she spoke next, her voice came out unintentionally like a whisper, "How did you manage to acquire the ingredients for that?" She felt odd asking, like something inside her was telling her that she shouldn't.
But Ethan was smiling like nothing. "You know, I actually came over here to ask you if you could do a tarot read for me? I want to learn how it works." He gathered up the cards and offered them to her.
Victorie cringed at how bent they were, but smiled politely and told him to shuffle them while focusing on a question he wanted answered.
While he did so her eyes fell on a scene behind Ethan. Teddy was standing by the fireplace, chatting to someone. The bustling flames lit him up and her smile turned shy while remembering his forehead against hers the night before.
She was about to look away when their eyes met. He immediately returned her smile and they lingered on one another. There was a knowledge of something at the depths of the exchange, and she felt a flutter in her stomach.
"What do I do now?" Ethan asked.
She turned her attention back toward him and his deck. "You unfold one card onto the table." She instructed.
Ethan did as he was told, and the Justice Tarot appeared.
Victorie examined the card for a moment before sliding it toward her and beginning her explanation. "The Justice card in its reversed position suggests that you have acted immorally. When it appears, it is to incentivise you to reflect on your own behaviour and to make better choices."
She slid the card back to him across the table. "Now you need to relate this card to the question you posed. The card can also serve as directions or advice for the rest of the day."
"Can I get a tarot reading too?" Teddy Lupin was now standing right next to them. Victorie looked up at the boy who was currently smiling innocuously at her.
"Grab a chair." Ethan mumbled while mostly paying attention to the Justice Tarot, now pinched between his index finger and his thumb.
Teddy made himself at home on a chair taken from a nearby table. He flung an arm around the backrest and stretched his legs while awaiting Victorie's instructions.
"This is a three card tarot reading." She explained to Ethan as she handed the deck to Teddy. "While you shuffle the cards, focus on your past, then place a card on the table. Then do the same for your present and future also."
As Teddy shuffled, Maya approached. She was holding out a large poster before her as she walked. "Have you guys seen this?" She inquired.
Teddy's eyes had been closed in concentration, but when he peeked at the poster Victorie shielded it. "Focus!" She demanded and turned to Maya once his eyes were closed again. "He needs to concentrate." She said with a stern look and one finger put up to her lips.
Maya sighed, then she also grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat down to wait. Victorie took this moment to gander at the poster.
Icy blue Christmas baubles surrounded a garamond font. The Yule Ball, Victorie read.
Once Teddy had unfolded his third card in the line, he posed the question, "What's next?" but his attention turned quickly to the poster as well.
Maya sat forward and held up the poster in front of his face. "Have you asked McGonagall if you could play at his thing?"
"I didn't even know it was a thing until now." Teddy muttered. "But I don't have my band."
Another chair was pushed up toward the small table and Delilah sat down. "Can I get a tarot reading too?" She chimed with an ounce of desperation.
"Sure." Victorie replied, somewhat overwhelmed by their popularity.
Teddy was reminded of the on-going activity. "So..." He said and directed his attention back at the divination expert, indicating for her to go on.
Victorie looked at his cards, examined each one of them. "Here we have the reversed Hanged man, representing your past." She picked up the card and presented it to Teddy, while also making sure that Ethan was following along with her teachings. "We can interpret this as though you've had lost opportunities, perhaps even a few regrets, and you may have felt restricted up until now..."
Teddy looked wearily into her eyes, as if fearing that the slightest twitch in his features might reveal its accuracy.
"As if your life has been on hold." Victorie let her words ring in everyone's ears for a moment, then picked up the next card. "This is the reversed Magician, representing your present." She began. "There might be something that you want, but you're struggling to achieve. Perhaps there's something holding you back from getting what your heart desires."
When she finished, the company around the table stayed quiet, waiting with anticipation.
Teddy was pursing his lips and squinting at her. There was a discontent evident in him with what she was saying, but she didn't care. She picked up the next card and went on with the same level of soulfulness.
"The Lovers, upright." She declared. "The arrival of this card in your reading foresees a deep connection in your future, perhaps a friend, or even a romantic partner."
Teddy averted his gaze and Victoire could spot a slight tint in his cheeks. She put the card down and moved her hand to graze the first one with her fingertips. "You need to accept the losses in your past. Perhaps it will enable you to take action in your quest for your desire, and transcend your relationships." She finished by grazing the last card, then folded her arms and rested them on the table.
"That doesn't make any sense." Teddy scoffed, but the sadness in his eyes spoke otherwise.
Victorie studied the boy before her. She wondered why he had even asked for a reading if he was going to be so closed off to it.
She was still staring at him when Jamie came up to the group and put one hand on each one of the backrests of Teddy and Delilah's chairs. "You're more popular than Teddy." He joked.
Her eyes went wide when she realised that Jamie was referring to herself. Teddy and Victorie's eyes met instantaneously. The statement broke the tension between them and they both relished in the absurdity of it.
"Will you ask McGonagall then?" Maya asked once more.
"We'll talk about it later." Teddy responded while smiling knowingly at Victorie.
A warm light protruded from the Great Hall as the gang entered the dimly lit room through the gaping doors. Ethan made his way over to the Ravenclaw table and the rest of them followed, although having lost Maya a while back.
Fir twigs lined the long table along with a few sparsely placed candelabras. They were serving butternut squash soup. The table was also set with big bowls of Brussels sprouts, plates of asparagus and baskets of saffron buns and gingerbread cookies for dessert.
Victorie sat down despite feeling more than a little out of place at the Ravenclaw table. The rest of them seemed right at home though, and Delilah shoved a large heap of asparagus onto her plate then passed the plate along to Jamie.
Teddy poured himself a cup of water, then self-assuredly moved on to Victorie's cup next to him. "Let me get that for you." He mumbled while filling hers up.
The plate of asparagus slid slowly between Delilah's hand to Jamie's as the two watched the scene unfold. They weren't the only ones giving Teddy a look.
Victorie had abandoned her pursuit of soup with one hand still clasping at a soup-filled ladle and the other holding the designated bowl, just to watch the pouring jug fill her cup up and Teddy smile at her, all the while wondering where the sudden courteousness had come from.
Teddy rolled his eyes but didn't stop smiling at her. "Don't worry." He assured her with a chuckle.
Jamie, Delilah and Ethan looked at Victorie with raised brows.
"It's not like I'm going to throw it on you." Teddy added and put the jug down. "...I have morals."
Victorie scoffed and jabbed Teddy with her elbow. It was the only thing she could do to defend her honour while her hands were full.
She let the thick soup trickle into her bowl then set it down. "You are such an idiot for saying that!" She let out and attempted to look him in the eye without smiling, then failing miserably a few seconds later and having to compensate by shoving his shoulder.
Teddy smiled while defending himself and Ethan asked, "What's going on?"
The two of them stopped to look at their staring friends. "It's nothing." They chimed in unison.
"There you are." Delilah said, announcing Maya's presence as she approached them.
She sat down next to Teddy, slightly out of breath. "McGonagall says you can play the ball if you get a band together." She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it like she was telling him that they had managed to save his baby from a burning building.
"Only if we can have you on drums." He smiled.
Maya's head fell and she squeezed his shoulder tighter. When she gazed up at him again she looked like she was about to cry. "Yes!"
Teddy didn't look fully relieved yet though. "We still need both lead and rhythm guitar players if we're going to make it work. And we'll need backing vocals."
"We'll set up auditions!" Maya exclaimed. Teddy opened his mouth to reply, but never got a chance to. "I'm on it!" She continued enthusiastically and set off on her way out of the hall without one bite of food.
"Guess we'll be the one's leaving soup at her bedside today, Delilah." Victorie commented, and Delilah smiled appreciatively back at her.
Jamie placed his hands on the edge of the table and leaned in. "The only reason to go to the Yule Ball is that it would be a great opportunity to pull off something big..." He said and his eyes briefly met Victorie's.
"A big what?" Teddy asked.
"I think he wants to do a prank." Delilah explained while studying Jamie's plotting expression.
"A big prank." Jamie corrected with an evil grin. "Give me some time and I'll come up with something good."
Victorie put her chin in her hand and her elbow on the table, mind already spinning with possibilities.
"Oh, please." Ethan began. "We all know that it's Victorie who comes up with all the best pranks." He wagged his eyebrows at Jamie, daring him to take the bait.
Teddy cracked a piece of gingerbread in two.
Delilah sat forward and said, "What about last year when he spelled all the clocks in all the classrooms to curse at every hour?"
"I remember that very well seeing as I was in Transfiguration with McGonagall that morning. She was not happy, I can tell you." Ethan shuddered. "But it's still not better than when Victorie put sneezing powder in Madam Hooch's whistle!"
Victorie snorted, remembering the specific Quidditch game he was referring to. "My favourite is actually that time when Jamie made it snow in the corridor for an entire day — in June. I still don't know how you did that."
"Neither do any of the teachers." Jamie revealed triumphantly.
Ethan glanced at Victorie briefly. "Well how about on Halloween when she released a dung bomb in the trophy room. Now that's daring." He said with a pleased expression.
Delilah shook her head in awe. "I can't believe you did that."
"I can't believe I never got caught." Victorie admitted.
Ethan put his hand on Jamie's shoulder. "I can't believe this guy thinks he's better than Victorie Weasley at pranks. Among us walks a genius and it's her."
Victorie cocked her head to the side as she took in Ethan and his words. She never knew he felt that way.
Beside her Teddy had begun forcefully cutting (or more like sawing) through a Brussels sprout. She flinched as she heard the blade scratch against the plate.
"But it's not about who's the most daring, it's about who's the cleverest." Jamie argued while gesturing at himself with a half eaten saffron bun.
Ethan pondered for a second. "And craziest. Like when she let out a bunch of snitches into the Great Hall on the last day of school. That caused a fair bit of mayhem." He smiled at Victorie and she bashfully looked down at her food.
"Actually we did that one together." Jamie interjected. "Locating and acquiring that many snitches is definitely a two person job."
Victorie looked up from her soup with a smile at the fond memory. "Whose idea was that, even?"
Jamie shook his head with a crooked smile. "I don't remember."
Ethan's voice took on a more sincere note then. "I genuinely don't know how your mind can be so crazy but analytical, all at the same time." He sighed.
When he finished, Victorie wasn't sure what to say and her eyes wandered to Teddy. He'd been quiet during the entire conversation, and now his eyes were glued on Ethan while taking a swig of water.
"...And how you're not more scared of McGonagall." Ethan continued.
She shrugged. "After about the eleventh time of seeing her wrath it loses a lot of its asperity."
"It's genuinely impressive." He stated. "You'll have to give me a run down of how that beautiful mind of yours works sometime."
Teddy started coughing loudly and had to put his cup down. When he began to fill it with water again Victorie slid her cup over for him to fill and their eyes met. As they did he gave her a pointed look that she couldn't quite decipher. It wasn't until they had finished their dinner and left the Great Hall that she received some clarity on the matter.
They were in the corridor, walking back to their common rooms when the boy asked if she could stay behind as the others walked on.
"You realise what happened in there, right?" He asked once the others were out of hearing distance. "You realise what he was doing?"
His voice had a superior casualty to it, but she could tell that it was only to mask the fact that he was feeling annoyed about something.
She furrowed her brows. "What who was doing?"
He turned from side to side, not meeting her eye. "How can you be so blind not to see it? It was so obvious!"
"What was obvious?!" She found herself mirroring his frustration in her tone of voice. If he could just tell her what he was referring to perhaps she had in fact seen it.
"Ethan!" Teddy exclaimed. "He was very clearly flirting with you the whole time we were in there!" He pushed every word out like it was a speed test, then put his face in the palm of his hand.
Victorie scrunched her nose. "Well he can't have been flirting with me the whole time." She remarked to try and diffuse the weight of what he was saying.
She looked around the dark corridor, but their friends were long gone and there was no one there but them now.
He lifted his face out of his hand to scoff out, "So obvious!" once more, then his face went back in his palm.
Victorie ignored Teddy's melodrama and thought back to what had happened at dinner. "But there was never any cutting twinge." She remarked.
When Teddy let his hand fall to his side, his solemn face had clear red marks on it from where he'd been rubbing. "Yeah because he's not insecure." He shrugged. "But I'm telling you — it was flirting."
"You never explained that last time." Her words came out like an accusation and she awaited a response with insecurity displayed in her eyes.
"Explain what?" He exasperated while pulling the sleeves up on the long-sleeve he wore underneath a loose t-shirt.
She began to feel like she was walking on thin ice. He was tired of her cluelessness, but she could do nothing but push through. She was already in it now.
Still she couldn't help the almost panicked stress in her voice when she spoke next, "That it doesn't have to have a cutting twinge!"
"Yeah because I shouldn't have to explain that to you!" He pointed at her with his full hand and the corner of his lip twitched. But she knew that any amusement was only a desperate attempt to keep his sanity. "There are nuances to everything. Not everything is the exact same every time."
His voice was snide and cruel and she felt a twisted need to keep questioning him only to annoy him more. If he was going to make her feel stupid, she was going to make him barmy having to deal with the fact.
"Why can't it be the exact same every time?" She whined. "And why can't you explain it to me in a way that's clear?"
Teddy stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans and pressed his lips together. He was seething now. "Okay." He began nodding profusely. "Well then here's a little run down for you." His voice was shaking and he looked down at the stone floors. A flicker of nervousness flashed by in his demeanour, and then it was gone again.
In three quick steps he had walked up to her. They were now face to face and she could see just how wild his hair had gotten from running his hand through it one too many times. His eyes flitted between her irises. His eyes fell to the floor again and he took a deep breath. Victorie wondered if he could hear her heart beating in her chest.
Then a calm seemed to wash over him when he looked into her eyes again. He leaned in close, and she had no choice but to look straight up at him, but with a sour expression. His eyes travelled ever so slightly to the side of her face.
"This is flirting." He mumbled and took an isolated lock of her hair, let it slide through his fingers and then pulled it behind her ear.
Surprise had replaced Victorie's sour expression, and all she wanted was to watch his enactment unfold before her.
With one hand still in his pocket, his other hand began tracing down her arm, and his gaze soon followed. "This is flirting."
His irritation had now been washed away and he smiled modestly. His fingertips against her skin almost made her shiver, but she fought the reaction.
Now his hand had found hers. He skimmed the tips of her fingers with his and lifted her hand. He brought their hands up until they were level with his chest. Only then did he interlace their fingers.
"This is flirting."
Their eyes met again and he moved even closer. "This is flirting." He whispered against her lips, barely audible. Their eyes fell shut and he graced her nose with his. Then he leaned back, and for a moment there was no touch. She felt her eyebrows furrow.
Her hand was let go of and she opened her eyes. But Teddy was no longer in front of her. He was walking backwards, smiling at her confidently. Then he stalked off and disappeared around the corner without another word.
Thanks for the enlightenment. She thought to herself with an eye-roll.
Later that night Victoire found herself lying awake in her four-poster, unable to sleep. Eventually she resorted to giving up and not long after she was down in the dark and deserted common room, not an entirely unusual place to find the girl during the wolf hours.
In front of the fireplace she sat cross-legged. She had brought her altar down, thinking that she might as well take advantage of the new moon and do some manifesting for the coming month of December.
Victorie placed a candlestick on her altar and created a flame by hovering with her hand above the wick.
She began by cleansing the area around her with lavender. She poured a thin stream of salt counter clockwise in a circle around her, which she had stored in a small vial. She opened one of the compartments under her altar and retrieved a small glass bottle. She tugged the cork off, and from little textile pouches she sprinkled dried rose hip, sage, and a few cloves in there. She opened another compartment and got out a piece of moss, tore some off and with her finger pressed it inside the bottle.
Then on a small piece of paper she wrote: With the power of the elements in me, and the divine spirit of the Goddess, grant me deep and meaningful connections for the coming month. Grant me long lasting and deep-rooted friendships.
Rolling the piece of paper up, she sealed it with a string and placed it as well inside the bottle.
After that she added a leaf of mugwort to it and dripped a few drops of chamomile oil in there.
To finish the spell jar off, she sprinkled charcoal inside and sealed the bottle with candle wax. She placed the jar on her altar and got her wand out. She was just about to say the incantation when a presence opened the door to the common room.
Victorie gasped and immediately blew the flame out on her candle, thinking that it was McGonagall catching her out of bed once again. She managed to knock the altar in the process, and everything began to sway slightly. But when her eyes adjusted to the scene behind her, and she saw that it was none other than Ethan who stepped out of the portrait hole, relief washed over her and she steadied her altar with her hands.
Once the initial relief settled, she couldn't help but feel intruded upon. After all, it wasn't Ethan's common room.
He looked over at her, visibly out of breath, and didn't look too pleased to see her. His mouth opened and he hesitated to speak.
"...I don't usually sneak into your common room in the dead of night, just so you know." He explained sheepishly as he stepped closer to her with his hands behind his back.
"Okay..." Victorie slowly answered.
His eyes drifted to her altar. "But basically... what I'm doing isn't exactly allowed." His mouth fell into a lopsided smile, and it crossed her mind that the expression didn't exactly fit the subject matter.
Victorie stood up and leaned herself against the armrest of the nearby couch. She put her hands on her elbows and looked Ethan up and down. Upon giving him a once-over she noticed that he was concealing something behind his back.
"So you came to our common room to violate the rules?" She was curious to find out what he was up to, but the discontent she felt at his sneaky behaviour overshadowed it.
"Mrs. Norris was following me. I needed an escape." He shrugged, but stopped in his tracks suddenly. "Filch doesn't have the password to get in here, does he?"
"I don't think so." She said, for a brief moment having to imagine a world in which Filch strutted about the Gyffindor common room with his cat, keeping everyone in line.
"Good." He replied and walked up to Victorie. Then he assumed a gloomy expression. "Besides, people tend to stay up studying until pretty late in my common room." He seemed almost fatigued by the idea. "...And I needed privacy." He finished, then revealed the item from behind his back...
Victorie let out her second gasp of the evening. "You stole a Puffapod plant?!"
In a panicked reaction Ethan took one hand off the pot and clasped it over Victorie's mouth. With wide eyes she reached out to steady the pot, which was now balancing on a lone hand. Stricken with dread they both looked at each other for a moment.
Then Victorie broke the contact and urged Ethan to sit down on the couch with her. When tugged along by his arm he obliged and Victorie found that she could once again do nothing but stare wide eyed at the boy and the plant.
"Don't you think someone will notice that one of them is gone?" She asked. A touch of excitement was imminent in her voice when she spoke, and Ethan had definitely discerned it too. Which was why he felt confident enough to respond by saying:
"Let them. They won't know it's me." A smile spread over his face. "Unless you tell them."
Victorie could tell that she was being tested, but his tests were pointless. The only reason he felt inclined to test her to begin with was because he didn't know her that well.
She looked at the plant. She'd seen them before in class, but never without supervision. Several stalks were sprouting up from the earth in the pot, and off them hung pink and purple little pods.
"It's so gorgeous up close." She reached out and touched one of the pods. Instantly the pod blossomed into a large purple flower.
As soon as the flower had blossomed, Ethan was quick to get out a jar from his bag and collect the little sparkling beans at the centre of it. "Think of how many potions I can make with this."
"Sure, but you'd also need to make some very expensive trips to Dogweed and Deathcap." Victorie countered.
Ethan sealed the jar shut and placed the plant safely in his lap again. "Like Dittany. Or I could make a brain elixir!" He looked fondly at the specimen in his lap.
But Victoire didn't have quite the same fondness in her aspect as she took in the plant this time. "Baruffio's? That recipe doesn't actually work. And from what I've heard the results can be quite devastating too."
He shook his head. "That's why we need The Lavender Waltz." He got his copy of the book out of his bag and handed it to her. "The very end." He instructed.
Victorie wasn't sure why they had become a 'we' suddenly, but nonetheless she flipped to the back of the book.
Before her on the pages were detailed instructions for a similar potion, but with a long list of ingredients.
"I mean, sure, this reads like a thorough recipe. But..." She skimmed the ingredients and read aloud, "Asphodel, moly, aconite."
Her eyes went wide as they landed on one particular ingredient. She turned the book around and held it up to him. "Tentacula Leaves? Where do you plan on getting hold of all of this?"
As soon as the words had left her mouth though, she realised that Ethan already had a plan for that, and she was sure it required a similar approach to the one he had used to get hold of the Puffapod. She lowered the book to rest in her lap.
Ethan caught her look of realisation, yet remained aloof. "Well," He inched a little closer. "It involves being out after curfew, I'll tell you that much." He grinned. "And from what I understand, that's not against your terms."
"It's not." She confirmed.
"That's good." His eyes trailed down to his hands. "Because I actually wouldn't mind having someone with me. You know, someone who gets it."
Victorie considered it for a moment. Sure she had done some bad things throughout the years. The conversation they'd had earlier at dinner was proof. But the point of that stuff was usually not to give herself an advantage. Pulling a dumb prank and creating an elixir to increase brainpower wasn't exactly the same thing.
"I'm not sure I do get it." She said. "A brain elixir, wouldn't that be to cheat in your classes?"
"Do you care?" He wondered.
The question made her hesitate. She looked down at the book, studied its cover, front and back. She studied the spine and noticed that no author was credited. "Where did you get hold of this?"
Ethan shifted the position of the plant in his lap. "I first came across it in the restricted section of the library, actually."
She couldn't help but roll her eyes at the revelation. Of course the book was in the restricted section. She should have realised it sooner, seeing as hardly any of the recipes in it had ever been taught to them in class.
"...But then I bought my own copy at Borgin and Burkes. The one you've currently got." He spoke with an air of nonchalance. Like he was trying to deliver the information off-handedly. But Victorie could spot a clear crack in his façade.
"And then you went to the restricted section again to lend another copy which you could have in the meantime." She explained aloud, effortlessly piecing it all together.
Before Victorie could ask how he had been given authority to lend the book from the restricted section, Ethan backtracked the conversation. "So... Do you care?" He reiterated.
She opened her mouth to reply. Her eyes found the big purple flower, the only one blossoming. Never before had she seen one outside of class before. She closed her mouth and instead opened the book to the recipe once more.
Did she want a potion to make her smarter? No. She was already smart enough. On the other hand, if she went along with his plan it would be a unique chance to try her hand at making an exceptionally rare and powerful potion.
"Maybe." She finally replied.
But it wasn't much of an answer. Ethan searched her face for a second. Then, without another word, he went on to place the plant on the coffee table and get his jar out once again. He unscrewed it and began tapping each pod until they were all blooming in a striking combination of pink and purple.
"I get it. It's a bit daunting. If you came with me, it would involve breaking into the Greenhouses, stealing, as well as breaking the curfew." Absent-mindedly he picked the beans off and placed them in his jar as he spoke. "Even so, it could also be quite exciting." He smiled to himself. "And it's fun to share that excitement, which is why I'd like for someone to join me."
Victorie was listening carefully with a hand over her chest, fiddling with the ends of her hair.
"And it would be cool if it was you." He said as he put the last bean in the jar and sealed it shut. "Do you know why?"
She pinched the ends of her hair a little bit harder. "Why?"
Ethan looked up at her and said in what seemed like complete earnestness, "Because I trust you."
Published: 14 April 2022