#magicapandora

[adellovesrowan]

IM SO LATE BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADEL!!! She’s still one of my fav mcs 💕😭✨

AHHH THANK YOU BLAKE 🥺 that means so much to me <333

[missnight0wl]

OMG I TOTALLY SPACED OUT BUT HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY DUDE 😭💕🎊🎉🎁

Thank you so much, Blake! 💖🤗😄

[nicos-oc-hell]

Who’s Goddamn White Uncle Is That?

Inspired by a conversation @rosachaotic, @magicapandora and I had back when the hphm MC’s dad was revealed and since I already had established dads for my ocs, i made him one of the many uncles that are in an Italian mafia family. This story is an expanded/continuation of what I had originally posted on here.

Summary of the series: In the forest in 6th year when Rakepick ambushes Barnaby, Dimitri, Rowen and Rowan, Rowan takes the spell that was meant for Rowen and falls into a coma. Follow Dimitri as he tries to get his magic back as it was stripped from him when his uncle, Arthur, came and gave Dumbledore permission to put magic dampeners on him. It’s a wild ride, Arthur & Dumbledore are pieces of shit, Dimitri stoops very low to get his magic back and hurts others in the process.

French is in bold italics, Thoughts are in italics

It was like time was moving in slow motion when a green spell shot out towards Rowen Khanna from the tip of Patricia Rakepick’s wand. Without hesitation Rowen’s twin sister, Rowan Khanna, and his best friend, Dimitri Di Angelo, both went separate ways. Dimitri tackled Rakepick to the ground while Rowan managed to tackle her brother to the ground. The two of them were laying on the ground for a few moments before Dimitri picked his head up with a huge grin on his face as he was listening out for Rowen’s heartbeat.

“Thank god, you are ok my friend.” Dimitri’s smooth accent came out with a slight strain as Rakepick was struggling beneath him. He muttered his own spell and Rakepick was suddenly not moving any more. The smile dropped off of his face with a cock of his head as saw that Rowen did not share the same look as him but rather one of sorrow. “Roe? Are you alright?”

Dimitri quickly noticed that two of the five heartbeats in the clearing were steady as if the people weren’t just in a battle. He knew one was Rakepick as he had magically knocked her unconscious but he couldn’t identify who the second one was. Dimitri quickly scrambled to his feet and rushed over to where the twins were still on the ground. He quickly turned Rowan over so she was no longer face down on Rowen and immediately started looking for the source of the glassy look and slow heartbeat.

A lot happened at once, Dimitri and Barnaby were panicking over Rowan not responding to any stimuli while Rowen was trying to slap Rakepick awake. “Wake up! Wake the hell up! Dimitri, cancel the damn spell!” Smoke was starting to rise out of Rakepick’s clothes from where Rowen was gripping her robes. Barnaby ran over to Rowen and yanked him up off of Rakepick while sending sparks up into the air to alert anyone who was near. Rowen immediately starts struggling against Barnaby trying to get back to trying to set Rakepick on fire.

“Calm down, Rowen!” Barnaby shouted while twisting Rowen’s arms behind his back.

“Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! She did something to my sister and she will pay for it!” Rowen started to breathe very heavily with sparks coming out of his hands from his magic starting to get out of control. Suddenly his heartbeat dropped back to its normal pace, his head dropped down and he became dead weight from the quick spell Dimitri threw his way.

Dimitri turned around with Rowan in his arms and casted Leviosa on Rakepick’s body, he motioned for Barnaby to stand up with Rowen then walked away to the path back to Hogwarts.

Dimitri sat next to Rowan passed out while holding her hand in a tight grip pushing as much of his sun flames as he could. He was passed out for about a good hour before Snape had come and dragged him out of the Hospital Wing so that he could go to class. It was futile as Dimitri passed out in the middle of charms class as he had basically drained his magical core in the short two hours, he was with Rowan in the Hospital Wing.

A short while later, Dimitri woke up to low voices talking above him. He slowly opened his eyes and hissed at the bright light that hit his eyes the second he had opened them. He put his forearm over his eyes and noticed the tube in his arm after it had touched his face. “1, why is there a tube in my arm? 2, when did I get here?” Dimitri asked, taking his arm off of his face and sat up while rubbing his eyes.

Snape turned his head towards Dimitri then flicked his eyes up to above Dimitri’s head. “You’ve been here for about two hours. This is why you don’t overexert your magic, Mr. Di Angelo. It is a very dangerous thing especially for two hours straight.” Dimitri glared over at Snape with a quick sarcastic smile, he took the offered glass of water from Dumbledore and sniffed the drink before he took a sip of it. “The tube is to get fluids into your bloodstream as we can’t force anything down your throat.” Dimitri instinctively tilted his head to the side with an amused smile and Snape glared at him as soon as he noticed it.

Dimitri started looking around the room before his eyes landed on an unfamiliar face, “Who in the hell is that?” He asked, nodding his head towards the tall blonde man behind Snape. Dumbledore stepped in front of the blondie and Dimitri immediately rolled his eyes at the fact that Dumbledore was now in his direct line of sight.

“Dimit-”

“Mr. Di Angelo” Dimitri injected before Dumbledore could get the rest of his name out. “If you’re gonna lecture me, I’d rather you not try and sound like my disappointed nonno while you do it.”

He noticed the tick in Dumbledore’s jaw before he spoke again, “Mr. Di Angelo, what you did was not only dangerous but it could have lasting effects on not only your magical core but also your body. You need to realize that your actions have cons-” Dumbledore was cut off again by Dimitri rolling his eyes and moving his hand in a way a child does whenever they are mocking someone behind their back. Dimitri silently yanked the tube out of his arm and slashed his arm in a way where the person it was directed at would be pushed out of the way by a gust of air. That is when he finally noticed the metal cuffs on his wrist with the lack of a chain between them.

Dimitri opened his mouth but no words came out as he tried to put together while he had cuffs on. He let out a little laugh before he turned his attention back to Dumbledore, “Sir with all the disrespect in the world, don’t try to fucking lecture me on the fact that I’m trying to help my friend, whom as you may notice, “ He mumbled something underneath his breath that faintly sounded like probably not you useless sack of shit, “is in a coma. I don’t particularly care about ‘potentially damaging my magical core’ if it means that I can see my friend make it out of her coma.” He pointed at the man who had side stepped Dumbledore and was staring at Dimitri as if he had seen a ghost.

“You have quite the mouth on you young man.”

Dimitri held his hand out and just stared at Snape with his head fully tilted to the side. “Why has nobody answered my question on who the random white man is! He’s looking at me like it’s the first time he’s seen me in decades.” The man had finally stepped forward to introduce himself and held his hand out towards Dimitri, who just stared at the hand until the man retracted.

“My name is Arthur, I’m your uncle and your father has sent me to look after you while you recover as I’m the only one who can use wizard magic.” The man, Arthur, stated with a tight smile as he waited for the explosive reaction he was guaranteed was going to happen from the look on Dimitri’s face. Yet Dimitri just scoffed and rolled his eyes while muttering something underneath his breath. “Per your father’s request, I am to stay here until you are able to be by yourself.”

“You mentioned my father…which one are you referring to when you say that? Giotto or Sora?”

The man hesitated for a second because he wasn’t aware that the boy considered both of the brothers as his father. “Uh Giotto?”

“That man is not my father and you will not refer to him as such. He is a disgrace to the family. Also,” He turned his head back to Snape and Dumbledick who were standing next to each other watching their interaction, “This is a white man. A WHITE man, now while both my father and uncle look white they are in fact asian with a quarter of white in them, this man could not possibly be my uncle. My dad’s side of the family is Asian and Italian, he sounds like a fucking American. I know Hogwarts has some pretty shitty security but honestly you should’ve spotted this shit from a mile away.” Dimitri threw his hands in the air with an exasperated look on his face. He looked back at Arthur in disgust and muttered something underneath his breath that only Snape could hear as he was standing directly above him.

Arthur's jaw was clenched by the time Dimitri had finished his rant about him being a white American. He walked over to Dimitri, leaned down and started to whisper something in French in his ear. “Just because I am an adult, it does not mean I won’t smack the everloving shit out of you and make you have the face only a mother could love. I may be an American, I may be white but you will treat me with the respect that you show the others in the family. You hear me, Boy?” Dimitri just raised an eyebrow before he turned away from the man with a muttered you smell like onions and garlick. “You are a little shit, you know that right. Giotto should have raised you better than this.”

Dimitri pushed himself up off the bed and shoved past Dumbledore who was trying to stop him from leaving. He ignored the shouts from Dumbledore and Snape while walking up the stairs, if it was a cartoon, he would have steam rising out of his ears from how angry he was.

[cursedcrusaders]

@magicapandora I was your secret Santa! I had a fun time drawing Rosie with victor! I hope you like it and I hope you have a happy holiday!

@hphmsecretsanta

[hphmmatthewluther]

Back By Midnight: Operation BULLSEYE - Part 2/4:

The first chapter can be found here!

Taglist of peeps who might be interested (lemme know if you want to be added or removed!): @akaisenhatake​ @camillejeaneshphm​ @catohphm​ @fangirl-screaming​ @rosachaotic​ @ag907​ @nikyiscreepy​ @oseathepebble​

(contains violence, death, and use of guns)

Also, this story features a brief cameo from a character of @camillejeaneshphm 's, and the name for the WIW in this version of events comes from @magicapandora !

Two hours until midnight. That was the time limit that was bouncing through Matthew’s (now Agent Moon’s) mind as he approached the building. He willed himself not to look at the road as a white minivan drove by, taking a corner further down the road, adjusting the silver bracelet on his right wrist. This was the only thing on him that hadn’t been from Bill. He’d even asked about it, and Matthew explained that it was something he just wore for good luck and protection, not that it ever seemed to work..

“Not bad, New Moon. Most people on their first mission tend to look at the surveillance devices a little too much.” Agent Gaia said over the earpiece, a little muffled by the sound of traffic.

“Focus on the road, Gaia, I’m the one running interference!” Agent Terra exclaimed, Matt expecting to hear frantic keyboard typing, but only getting a few clicks here and there.

“Alright, you’re past the ID machine. Like Gaia said, it’s on the 28th floor, so you’ll need to make your way up unnoticed…which is exactly why you’re going in via the car park.”

Matthew darted around the side of the building, risking a look up at it. It was 30 stories tall, all of which was owned by Reflection International, as evidenced by the giant logo he was standing under.

From his own investigations, while they had never done anything illegal, there is certainly a lot of criticism for their practices, be it extreme markups of life-saving medicines, ruthless buying of patents, as well as lobbying governments. Still, as he approached the entryway of the car park, he found himself wondering just what a company like this could be hiding that required the murder of multiple Intelligence Personnel.

Before he went any further, he heard a door open within the car park. Ducking low, he shuffled forward until he had a good view. Out of the door came two figures: a woman with ginger hair and a suit, and behind her was a man who looked familiar. He was tall, with dark black hair, and was wearing a striking white suit.

“That’s…” Matt said under his breath, “...the guy who Bill talked to today. The executive.”

“Well spotted.” Terra confirmed. “That’s Ryuji Ketseuki, Vice Executive for Reflection International. Rose up through the ranks to become one of the youngest business executives of all time. Apparently they call him the “Wizard in White”. Blech.”

Matthew watched as the woman opened the door of an expensive-looking car and sat in the driver’s seat, Ketseuki getting in the back of the car, the engine soon roaring to life.

“Now’s your chance, Agent Moon. Wait for the right moment…” Terra said, as the car park shutters slowly opened. Ketseuki’s car rolled out and turned towards the main road, as the shutters started to close again. Taking a deep breath, he went for it, scampering a little to get his whole body past the shutters before they…well, shut.

“I’m in.” Matt said, allowing himself to smile.

“So am I.” Terra chuckled, as Matthew heard a few more clicks. “Since your earpiece is now inside the building, there’s way fewer checks on it than a computer outside it. Should help me delete any footage of you snooping around. Alright, get going.”

Taking a moment to breathe, Matthew set off up and out of the car park, towards the fire exit stairs. He’d have to make it across the reception of the building before he could get to the higher floors. Considering he was carrying several tools of espionage as well as a gun, he was slightly afraid of being seen as suspicious. Still, he figured, it was about the same anxiety he had when walking outside normally. He breathed in. He took a first step. He breathed out. A man in a business suit walked across a reception, past another giant Reflection International logo. It was 10:10pm.

“Wow, you’re a natural! You don’t look suspicious at all! No wonder M- er, Bill chose you!”

Finally, Matthew was able to slip past the crowd until he was near the lift and the stairs (he frowned at how the sign called it an elevator)

“Now, there’ll be cameras in the lift, not to mention other people, so your safest bet is probably the stairs, but keep the lifts in mind if you need to get somewhere else fast.” Terra pointed out. “It happens sometimes that the best way to get out of a sticky situation is to just - CAREFUL GAIA WATCH THE ROAD-”

Matthew stifled a laugh as he started to climb up the stairs. Through the windows of the doors, it looked like most people had gone home for the day, with half of the corridors being pitch black. Still, Matthew kept on guard, and it would just be his luck that when he got to the 28th floor he would find that a single light was on.

“Pants.” Matthew said, bluntly.

“I’m checking the cams now, hang tight.” Terra assured him, seemingly recovered from whatever Gaia had been up to. “Man, it’s like they want the data to be deleted easily, this is child’s play…ok! Yeah, looks like someone’s in there with the ID machine, but they aren’t working on it, which is good news.”

“I’m guessing the bad news is I’ll need to go in with him and pray he doesn’t smell a rat.”

“He kind of looks like a rat.” said Gaia, off-handedly, “hold on, Terra, gotta overtake here.”

“Gaia! That’s really rude!...Look, reporting you is probably the last thing this guy wants to do. Just act natural, be nice, and there’s no reason to worry!”

“I suppose…” Matt said to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. He checked his watch, and found that it was almost 10:30pm. He just hoped he had enough time to get this done. He couldn’t waste any more time. He had do right by Bill. Steeling himself, he opened the door labelled “Floor 28 - Research Division” and walked forward, not flinching when the corridor lights came on.

“Seems like the guy noticed the lights came on.” Terra informed Matt. He showed no reaction and kept walking until he came to the door.

“Should I knock?” he whispered.

“It would be polite.” Terra admitted. Shrugging to find a counter-argument, Matthew knocked thrice.

“C-Come in!” Matthew slowly pushed open the door, and glanced at the other person in the room. He tried to keep his face still. He kind of did look like a rat, just a little. He looked around the same age as Matt was, with short blonde hair and largeish blue eyes. He also, somehow, looked more nervous than Matthew normally did.

“C-Can I help you?” he asked nervously. Matt took a glance at the name on the desk. Ben Copper.

“Oh, no worries.” Matt reassured him, “I’m from the IT team. Mr Ketseuki asked me to do some work on one of the prototypes here.”

Ben’s face looked a little less nervous. “Oh, right, go ahead then, I-I was just burning the midnight oil really, had some work I needed to get done, that kind of thing…”

Matthew nodded and smiled softly, and Ben gave a nervous smile in return. With that, he was free to examine the rest of the room. There were monitors and computers here and there, as well as a few larger devices.

“There! By the window! You can’t see me pointing, but I am!” Terra said suddenly. Matt walked over, leaning over it. It was smaller than Matthew had been expecting, about the size of a home radio, with a circular screen on the left and a variety of buttons to the right.

“Brilliant work, Agent Moon. But we can’t just take it off of the table. There’s likely to be a tracking device in it somewhere that you’ll need to remove first.”

Matt made sure Ben couldn’t see his face before he winced. Of course it couldn’t be that simple. It never was for him, after all. He reached into his jacket’s pocket and took out the Swiss Army Knife. On closer inspection, he saw that it was decorated with a variety of constellations, the one standing out the most being that of Hercules.

“The device should be under the screen.” Terra explained, as more typing was heard, “you should be able to use one of the blades to pry it open.”

Matthew began to flick through the many utilities the knife had before finding one that seemed suitable for pulling up the screen. Slowly, he slid the blade underneath and pushed down. There was a click, and the screen was half-off of the machine, still connected by wires. Now all Matthew had to do was figure out what a tracking device looked like, and pick it out.

“Wait.” Terra said, Matthew picking up on the nerves in his voice. “...Don’t look up. Don’t even try to, just keep your eyes on the machine, and don’t say a word.” Matthew did as he asked, though felt the overwhelming urge to do the exact opposite as curiosity filled him. That curiosity vanished with Terra’s next sentence. “There’s a sniper trained on your chest from the building opposite.”

Matthew felt that fear wash over him. It was the same one he’d felt when the floor had caved in earlier in the day. Alarm bells were ringing in his head as his hands hovered over the machine. It couldn’t get worse than this, right?

Turns out, once more, his luck would once again kick him in the shin. “Hey,” Ben began, “Mr Ketseuki…he’s not upset that work had to be done on the prototype, right? I’d hate to think…” 

As much as Matthew floundered when it came to smalltalk, he somehow found it in himself to respond. “No, no, of course not. One of the others apparently flagged a small issue that needed outside fixing, so…here I am.”

“Right, right…thank goodness, that’d be the last thing I want, especially with a prototype as important as that.” Ben said, sighing in relief.

Matt found himself slightly more at ease, which was odd considering the circumstances. “Important? Is there a time frame on when this has to be ready by?”

“Oh, I’m not too sure. Apparently it’ll help with our global network, making the data a lot easier to find quickly.”

“I see…” Matt nodded, trying not to change his expression. Strangely enough, Matthew didn’t think he was lying, merely misinformed, which put even more questions into his head and almost distracted him from the knowledge that a gun was pointed at him.

“You’ve got to get that device out of the machine, quick.” Terra ordered. “Once you’ve done that, we can be a little more…loud, so to speak.”

Trying not to look conspicuous, Matthew put his finger under the screen to stop it falling back into place. Switching the knife over, he discovered a pair of tweezers within. Reaching in as slowly as possible, he found a small red circle that stuck out like a sore thumb on the green circuitry. Taking a breath, he pried it off of the circuit, seeing that the reverse of it had Reflection’s logo on it: A lone snake wrapped around a staff, with it’s tongue sticking out. Cautiously, he pulled the component out, making sure it remained behind the screen until he was able to drop it on the counter in front of him. Allowing himself to smile, he returned the tweezers to the Swiss Army Knife, returning the screen of the ID machine to its proper place.

“Nice one, but…looking at the corridor cam, you have another problem coming towards you…I guess the sniper tipped him off.” Terra sighed. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Ben clutched his chest in shock.

“Who’s in there?!” barked a low, gruff voice, the owner of whom banged on the door again. “Get out here now!”

Ben looked at Matt, confused. Matt merely shrugged, as if he was as confused as Ben was. “W-What’s going on?!” he asked, the fear in his voice palpable.

“Security alert!” he replied, not showing any sympathy. “We know there’s an intruder in there. Out, now!” Ben stammered over his words, confused, and so Matt took over.

“It’s just us two! We haven’t heard anything about a security alert-”

“Shut up! You’re both a threat as far as I’m concerned! Now open the door before I kick it open!”

Matt remained where he was, and motioned the panicking Ben to stay put too. He placed a hand over the ID machine, waiting for a voice in his earpiece. After a few long, long seconds, he heard Gaia.

“Got a plan to get you out of this, but you’ll need to hurry. I’m coming up to the road between you and that sniper. When you hear the signal, drop down and take the machine with you. You’ll know it when you hear it, trust me.” she reassured him.

“I’m trying to get into their radio feed too, should help you get past this guy.” Terra added, as Matthew heard the van screech. “Get ready.”

Ben looked at him again, confused. Matt smiled, his eyes going back to the window. He dared not look at the building opposite, instead at the road. He watched as a white minivan sped up the road, before its horn blared out as loud as possible. Thankfully, Matthew was smart enough to know a signal when he heard one, and pulled the ID machine off the table and ducked to the floor.

Ben yelped as several bangs were heard, many from the door and one from the window. Matthew quickly scanned his environment: A bullet hole now marked the glass, with a few shards having fallen nearby. Ben had crawled under his desk, where he would hopefully be safe, and that guard was still trying to get through the door. What that meant, thankfully, was that he could talk aloud to his fellow agents again. “I’ve got to get past that guard. I can get to the door without being seen by the sniper, but once I do that guard will shoot me point blank.”

Terra cleared his throat, which crackled through the earpiece. “Right, right…sorry, a lot of people were beeping back at us. If you look through your pockets you should find a bunch of cuboid thingies with keyrings. You’ll want the grey and white one.”

Matt did as instructed, holding it in his hand. The word that came to mind as a result of the keyring was grenade, but that would draw far too much attention, which meant…

“This is a flashbang, right?” Matthew asked, as the guard outside resorted to kicking at the door, Ben continuing to whimper from under his desk.

“Well observed. Yeah, you’ll need to pull the keyring and toss it up at him. And make sure to look away. Here, I’ve got through to their radio line, have a listen:” There was some more static, and other voices could be heard. “Don’t worry, they can’t hear us.” Terra reassured him. “It’s a neat little bit of tech we came up with thanks to our tracking of outer-space signals…but I’ll tell you about that later.”

Matt crawled past the glass, keeping low, getting closer to the door as he heard the guard cursing over the radio. As he reached the point where he could throw the flashbang from, he saw Ben’s eyes glaring at him through the table.

“W-What’s…what’s happening…I-I…” he stuttered, his hands clutching at his hair.

“...Hey.” Matt whispered at him. “It’s gonna be okay. Trust me. Just stay put and you’ll be alright.”

Ben didn’t stop shaking, but was no longer on the verge of tears as he pushed himself further under the desk. Over the radio, the guard was still cursing, though he seemed more confident now. “Stupid fool…whoever they are, they will not be standing when I’m through with ‘em…I’ll shoot ‘em both, just to show who’s boss…here we go- AH!”

As the door finally swung open, Matt tossed the cuboid up, covering his eyes with the keyring still in his hand as the guard stumbled back. Matthew charged forward past the rapidly blinking Ben and the dazed guard, as he heard another gunshot fire out at the window, missing him by a fair margin. This time, however, he could hear the sniper’s reaction.

“Shitting Hell!” came a static-y voice. Matthew held the ID machine a little closer to his chest. It was one of the three people who had visited the building after the explosion, the first voice. At the time she had been devoid of emotion, but now she seemed rather irritated by the turn of events. “Get up! Hold him still before he reaches the lift so I can silence this little pest!”

Matt’s smile faded as he heard loud footsteps behind him.He hadn’t got too much of a good look at him, but he was pretty sure that this guy was a lot more muscular than he was. Thankfully, Terra chimed in. “I called the lift for you, but…he’s gonna catch up to you before you get there.”

Matt grimaced as he got closer and closer. He needed another idea that was just about crazy enough to work, and thankfully he got one.. “Can you open the doors now, but stop the lift on the floor below?”

Terra paused for the briefest of moments, but ‘m-hm’-ed in confirmation. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Moon…” he sighed, as the doors opened ahead of Matthew. In the seconds he’d been running, Matthew had made two calculations: that he would have a lot more options available to him on top of the lift as opposed to inside it, and that the surprise of not seeing the elevator would once again provide a sorely needed moment of hesitation. Gritting his teeth, and holding the ID machine close, he sprinted forward onto the lift’s roof, grabbing the cable and spinning to hit the still oncoming guard in the chest, sending him back a little. He had hoped that would be enough to stop him before the doors closed, but his pursuer put his hands on either door and forced them back to the edges, causing them to stutter in and out slightly. They weren’t closing anytime soon. He got a good look at this guard; he had shaved hair as well as a shaved face, and still had that gun in his right hand. But then Matthew heard something that he did not expect.

“My goodness, such a failure you are.” spat the sniper, the guard raising his hand up to his earpiece, the message clearly directed at him. “Can’t even chase a person down a corridor properly.”

The guard suddenly looked nervous, his rage replaced by fear. “High Pr-”

“Enough! You’re in front of our unwanted guest, after all. Listen well. I have my sight trained on the space right outside that lift. I will shoot whoever is thrown out of that lift, understand? A situation like this requires an itchy trigger finger, just as it requires a competent enforcer.”

“...Pants.” Matthew said. “...Y’know, she’s threatened the both of us, so…this is how truces tend to happen.”

“No…this is how promotions happen.” the guard grinned, before aiming the gun at Matthew. Instinctively, he kicked again, landing a hit on the guard’s shin. Taking the initiative, he kept up the offensive, jabbing with his free arm at the hand with the gun in it, letting it clatter to the floor and nudging it off the side of the lift with his foot.

Taking a quick glance at the space outside the lift shaft, the guard pushed forward, gripping Matthew’s arm and pulling, clearly trying to get him outside. Still clutching the ID machine, he willed himself to come to a halt, causing the guard to start stumbling toward him. The lift rocked a little, and the guard snarled, grabbing for the ID machine, but Matt was ready for him, somehow. Pushing up with his legs, he began rapidly kicking at the sides of the guard’s torso, before sticking his legs out and digging into the sides of his stomach. The guard yelped, letting go of Matt’s free arm. Sidestepping, Matt put down the machine. He took his silver bracelet and wrapped it around his knuckles. It was probably never meant to be used this way, but desperate times called for it. And what better protection than a good offence, right? Discarding the argument when he remembered his life was in danger, and that Bill had trusted him, Matt leapt forward, driving his silver-covered fist into the guard’s upper chest. At least, that was where he was aiming. But the guard, seemingly in desperation, had tried to go low, thus leading to Matt striking his head. The guard straightened out, clearly concussed judging by the glazed over eyes. He didn’t seem to have a clue where he was as he staggered backwards out of the lift shaft. Then came the gunshot.

It split through the windowpane and struck him through his chest. The force of the bullet stopped his movement backwards, before he tumbled to the floor almost instantly, now motionless. Matthew felt his mouth go dry as he returned his bracelet to his wrist, picking up the ID machine and cradling it in his arms. He flinched when he heard more voices on the radio.

“Kilo Sierra Delta!” the sniper said, as Matt heard more footsteps.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Knew I should have stayed late…” Matt came back to reality upon hearing this new voice. It was another of the people in the building. The one he’d seen the most of.

“Terra, can you take the lift down?” Matthew asked, as he noticed something that had fallen out of the guard’s shirt, visible through the bullet hole.

“Oh, thank god, you’re alive. Ok, yeah, give me a second, the other people in the building are all headed up, you’ll have a more or less easy getaway once you get down to the ground floor.” Terra explained. “Crap, they’re coming though!”

Matt gazed down at the still rocking lift. He pushed on the wall so that there was enough room for him to jump down into the metal cube. He shimmied his legs down the gap, then his left arm, dropping the machine on the lift floor. Over the radio, he heard that slightly Scottish accent again. “I’m on the scene! Can see the body, along with…HEY!”

Matt should have ducked down, but instead he grabbed the thing that had fallen from the guard’s pocket before manoeuvring downwards. He heard loud footsteps overhead, but knew that all she would be able to see was his hand. Gripping the thing he’d taken with his thumb, he proceeded to wave two certain fingers at the person before pulling it down and closing the lift doors, his silver bracelet clanging against the metal as he did so. The woman above seemed, to put it lightly, upset at his actions.

“WHO WAS THAT?! I WANT CCTV FOOTAGE! NOBODY GIVES ME THE TWO-FINGERED SALUTE AND LIVES TO TELL THE TALE!”

“Calm yourself,” said the sniper. “The intruder cannot have gone far, nor could he have left the building yet.”

Matt once again sank to the floor as the lift descended through the building, suddenly remembering that he still had that gun on him. He’d never even thought to use it. “...I got the machine…how close are you guys?”

“ETA 3 minutes, Agent Moon.” Gaia said, “providing this arse in the Range Rover stops holding everyone up-”

He listened as Terra took over. “...Was that the first time you saw someone…”

“N-No. There was…another time, but…” Matthew sighed. “That was the first time it was that close to me. That I had…”

“Hey, you did what you had to, and you even tried to get the both of you out alive. One thing’s for sure, that guy certainly seemed to fear that sniper. What did he call her?”

“ “High” something or other.” Matt said, struggling to remember the details; much of it was a blur. “And then after she’d…yknow…she said, what was it, “Kilo Sierra Delta”, which…”

He was going to say he wasn’t sure what it meant, but then he looked at what was in his hand. It was a card, with the Reflection International logo on it, but this time the snake was not sticking its tongue out . This time it had fangs. He turned it around, and instead of a playing card, as he had been expecting, it was a Tarot card. It showed a knight on horseback, riding with a blade held high in the sky. The text below it read: Knight of Swords. “Kilo Sierra, perhaps.” Matt said aloud.

“Pardon?” Terra asked.

“I’ll explain when I see you.” Matt replied, standing up as the lift neared the ground floor. Sure enough, as the door opened, the reception was more or less empty as silent alarms flashed on the walls and ceilings. He looked around, before seeing the minivan through the window. Unable to stop the smile on his face, he ran for it, leaving out the front door once Terra had confirmed the sniper had left the building opposite. He quickly checked his watch. It was ten past eleven. He supposed it was just about his luck that it would end up being this close.

Getting to the minivan, he saw the back door open and clambered inside. Once there, he was greeted by two people who looked about the same age as he was, both South Asian with glasses and black hair, though one had her hair in a ponytail and the other had it cut short.

“Agents Gaia and Terra, I presume.” Matt said, smiling.

“Good to see you, Agent Moon. Sit down and relax, mate. You’ve done something amazing here.”

He gladly did just that, putting the ID machine down next to him as the car sped away. The adrenaline had caused him to more or less ignore any injuries he’d gotten as he went up and then down the skyscraper, but now he was starting to feel the pain in his shoulder, his hands, his legs, as well as general exhaustion.

“How’s he looking?” asked Gaia, still driving.

“Nothing serious, but he’ll need some help at HQ.” Terra reported back. “You’ll be alright, our people are top-notch.” He then found himself smiling. “Sorry, it’s just…Bill was right when he told us about you. You are a wildcard.”

Matt found himself going pink. “I mean…I couldn’t have done any of that without you two helping, so…”

“Doesn’t mean you did any less.” Terra pointed out. “You’ve saved a lot of good people’s lives tonight.” He moved across the minivan and sat down next to Matt, examining the machine. “I’ll get to look at just what makes this thing tick once we’ve reported back at HQ. I imagine it’s chaos over there, what with a transfer of agency and all that.”

“We’ll get to look at it.” Gaia reminded him, sighing. “We’re on track to make it, even with London traffic.”

“Brilliant.” Matt said, finally letting himself relax. “...so what happens now?”

“We’ll head to HQ and report back to the one who gave us this mission, Agent Galileo. She confirms it’s a success, we get a successful mission under our belts…and then I guess we figure out what happens with you.” Matthew suddenly found himself very nervous, something that Terra noticed. “Hey, it’s alright. Bill had to have a lot of trust in you to transfer agency, plus you successfully completed his mission, which all goes in your favour…”

Matthew twirled the card around. “I hope so. I really hope I didn’t cause too much trouble.”

“To be honest it’s been a lot of fun.” Gaia admitted. “It has been quiet for a while now, feels good to have some action this close to home.”

“Exactly!” Terra exclaimed, his eyes focusing towards the card. “Wh-where did you..”

“It…was in the pocket of that guard. I picked it up and when I looked at it, I thought maybe that’s what “Kilo Sierra” was referring to, you know, K.S.”

Terra nodded, raising an eyebrow at the snake image on the back. “And the guard referred to the sniper as “High” something…High Priestess, maybe?”

Gaia rolled her eyes. “Ah, the Tarot cards again. We’ve been hearing about a group using them recently and we have a theory that some sort of gang has been using them as a sort of…well, identifier, funnily enough.”

“We thought it could just be a cartel or something at first, but…killing so many agents, having a Reflection International building as a base of operations…”

There was silence for the rest of the trip, as Gaia concentrated on getting to this HQ place as fast as possible.

When they finally got there, at around 11:45 pm, they scrambled out, remembering to take the ID machine and card. “Quick, quick, we don’t have much time!” Gaia hissed, as the three made their way towards a largeish building. Matt followed the two agents, who seemed similar enough to be twins, as they ran past a sign which read:

THE MIDNIGHT FOUNDATION - Nam astra et quod est infra.

[catohphm]

It’s about to come onto 2023 where I live so I thought I’d wish you all a great Happy New Year and tag several wonderful people who helped me bear through 2022!

@mjs-oc-corner, @cursebreakerfarrier, @ariparri, @helenadurazzo, @nerdyliv, @immagrosscandy, @dat-silvers-girl, @nelabelievesindragons, @hphm-z, @heleneplays, @endlessly-cursed, @that-scouse-wizard, @danceworshipper, @oneirataxia-girl, @autisticarachnid, @ladyofsappho, @drinkyoursoupbitch, @slytherindisaster, @gcldensnitch, @praetoring, @hphmmatthewluther, @ag907, @magicapandora, @carewyncromwell, @smarti-at-smogwarts, @night-rhea, @weirdcursedvaultkid, @nonie-star, @theguythatdraws, @thatravenpuffwitch, @kc-and-co, @nicos-oc-hell, @camillejeaneshphm, @rosachaotic, @melodymidway

There are more people who I’d like to tag, and even if I didn’t tag you, I still value you just as much. All of you are great human beings in your own ways, and I love you all platonically<3 Let’s hope for more great adventures in 2022!

Once again, happy New Year everyone! 🫂😊🥳🎉

[rosachaotic]

Im back at drawing Talbott x mc stuff and i blame @akaisenhatake , @magicapandora and @stupendousbookworm for this

[marmotish]

D1 for Ismelda or Bea?

you said /or/ i say /and/ 😊

expression meme

[struckbyelectriclove]

8, 19, and 29 for Kat! ♪( ´▽｀)

this took so long thnak u for being patient ;0;

8. What does their dream house look like?

oooh tough!! kat really just wants a roof over her head in the end, but she does want something with adequate heating, since she’s pretty sensitive to the cold! i’m thinking maybe a one story house, with a master bedroom and two guest bedrooms (one of the kid she wants) and two bathrooms? a pretty open floor plan, too, so she can see the living/dining room from the kitchen! since it’s post-canon and she has her glasses, i think she’d like the walls to be yellow! and also have a lot of natural light. ideally it would by on a mountainside where she and her spouse and child could explore and have fun in!!

19. What’s their unusual quirk?

oh god kat has a bunch,,, i think the one i’m gonna pick out for today is her lobe for auditory stimulation? idk but. she just really likes to hear her own voice sometimes. she likes the sound of her bare feet padding on the common room carpet, and could pace it for hours.

29. Are they a good cook? If they are, what do they like to make?

kat is a good cook, though she often doesn’t have the energy or patience to start lol. she mostly likes making vegetarian meals, especially those with tomatoes in them. fish is also good, though it tends to be more work. she does get better as it as she gets older, particularly when she’s traveling the world on her own!

[wandsandrings]

Rosie in Kace’s notebook for the ask game? If you want to of course!!

[In this page, there is a big drawing of the head of a rose flower, though the lines are kind of shaky, but it’s still easily recognisable. “ROSIE” is written in big letters at the top.]

ROSIE:

They’re a nice person. We haven’t spoken much before, but I know a bit about them. They like fashion and pink, I think. And that ‘vampire’, though I have no idea why, but fine. Everyone says that they are pretty cool. Maybe I should say hello more once in a while.

. . .And do what I always do when I try to make friends— bake them something. Cupcakes! With pink frosting. And maybe some sprinkles if I can find any. Hopefully they like cupcakes (but everyone does, right...?)

[The end of this entry is punctuated by a small doodle of a cupcake.]

[cursebreaker-lilith]

28, 17, and 4 for the friendship asks! ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

aaaaa thank you sm!!!

28. Which friends always sit with MC on the Hogwarts Express? (4-6 people total) (Besides a bigger booth at the Three Broomsticks, we’re also going to need a bigger train compartment…)

It changes depending on the year. Rowan is always there of course. Ben is there until year 5 and then Lili and Rowan refuse to let him in (because of the red cloak attack thing). Penny is usually there for a while, but she has a lot of friends and sort of hops between compartments. Bill is similar to Penny. Barnaby is there from 4th year on, and Charlie from 5th year on. Liz is probably there too because of her friendship with Barnaby and Charlie even if she isn't great friends with Lili and Rowan.

17. Which friend always goes back to school shopping with MC?

Lili goes on her own ahaha she spends her summers alone because her mum doesn't let her go anywhere

If she did go with anyone, it'd be Rowan though! They go dress shopping together for the Celestial Ball ^^

4. Which friend is in the bed next to MC in the Hospital Wing? And what did they do to get in there?

bsjbs probably Barnaby. Or Rowan. Or any combination of those three lol Three halves of a whole idiot, they are.

But honestly, Lili in general tries to avoid the Hospital Wing so it's more likely she's visiting Rowan and Barnaby after a Quidditch accident. Or something with the Cursed Vaults went wrong and she and whoever shes with are there because of that.

[adellovesrowan]

HAPPY 10/10 BAYBEEEEE. I CANT BELIEVE YOU INVENTED ROWAN KHANNA AND ADEL YOUNG 💕💕💕💕

AHAAHAH THANK YOU BLAKE <3333

[missnight0wl]

13 for Helena! Specifically what she calls her friends and what her friends/family call her!

Thank you for asking, Blake! 💖

13. Nickname headcanon

For most of the family, Helena is “Ellie”.

When her dad used this nickname for the first time shortly after Helena was born, her mum was sceptical, suggesting that perhaps it’s too similar to their last name, and so they could choose another diminutive form. But Chris replied that it’s perfect because “he’s a big Ellis and she’s a little Ellie”. Jacob, who was six at that time, thought it’s hilarious, and even though Alice didn’t love it at first, the nickname stayed with Helena. And soon, nobody even questioned that anymore.

Sometimes, Jacob calls her “Sunshine” in more affectionate moments. Their parents use it occasionally, too, especially Chris. Their grandparents like to call Helena “Princess”.

For most of her friends, Helena is simply “Helen” – even for Rowan. Charlie starts calling her “Nell” during their fifth year, though. Of course, there’s also Jae who calls her “Biscuit”, but he doesn’t do it that often.

As for Helena calling her friends, she actually uses their first names usually, as simple as that. Ben is occasionally “Benny”, Bill is “William” (especially in his seventh year), and Jae is obviously “Muffin”. From time to time, she calls Charlie “Chuck”, but she does it purely to tease him because she knows he doesn’t like it. He prefers being called “Captain” – even if he won’t admit it – which Helena does use sometimes after he becomes the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

[themilkshanghai]

Spring Break Challenge 2022

[ April 5th : Breakfast ]

Spring Break 2022 by @kc-and-co

Mcs : Cereza | Rosie | Joslyn | Alvina

( @rosachaotic , @magicapandora , @lisindrw , @oneirataxia-girl )

( Kitchen Room )

" Breakfast is ready~ And I made cupcakes too, Would anyone like some? "

" Looks so appetizing~ "

" Yay! ME ME ME~ "

「 Breakfast makes good mood, fills energy and heals all wounds. These breakfast are scrumptious. Sandwich, fried egg, toasted bread...cupcakes…can’t stop eating!! 」

" It’s full now, thank you for breakfast~ (^_^) "

[krinkitori]

In my plot, during rehearsal they looked like they were kissing (actually they weren't), but during the official performance, somehow Rowan REALLY KISSED Rin and she was surprised

and you can try coloring, if you like 💙

(Base used for the drawing)

Thanks for helping me sketch Rin's hair @magicapandora , and ideas of @lisindrw

okay, i'm going to sleep 🙈💦💦💦

[hphmmatthewluther]

The Phantom Woes of Matthew Luther: Part 1

It’s time, at last! This story features:

Verna Malinda ( @gaygryffindorgal​ ) Camille Jeanes ( @camillejeaneshphm​ ) Rosie Mayfield ( @magicapandora​ )

As well as characters from:

@stupendousbookworm​ @catohphm​ @nelabelievesindragons​ @endlessly-cursed​

The Phantom Woes of Matthew Luther

 “Matthew Luther hasn’t come out of Ravenclaw Common Room at all recently, and his friends and quidditch teammates are starting to worry. With the help of the Most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts, can you find out what’s happened to both Matthew and Helena Ravenclaw without being spirited away yourself?”

 Part 1/4 : Bring the Boy Back Home

 To think the weekend had started out so normally. Just like always, a smallish crowd of students had gathered at the Quidditch Stadium to watch whichever team had managed to book a spot first practice for their upcoming matches. Today, it was the blue-clad Ravenclaw team who had taken to the air, under the ever-watchful eye of captain Orion Amari. But Eagle-Eyed watchers might have noticed that there was one less player out on (or rather, above) the pitch. The first to notice was, naturally enough, a quidditch player herself. Verna Malinda, fifth-year Gryffindor and chaser for her house’s team, frowned at the players overhead. She saw the seeker, the beaters and the keeper, who she recognised as Ara Black. However, only two chasers were in play, the captain, and Skye Parkin…so that begged the question:

 “Where’s Mathieu?” came a hushed voice from behind Verna. Turning around, she saw the worried face of Camille Jeanes, one of her dormmates. She too was looking up and frowning, but more nervous than perplexed.

“You noticed too, then?” Verna asked, causing Camille to jump in her seat.

“Eep! V-Verna, sorry, didn’t see you there…” she began, taking a second to calm down. “What were you saying?”

“You noticed that Luther isn’t up there practising.” Verna explained, leaning back on the bench. “You’re pretty close with him, know what’s wrong?”

Camille shook her head. “He wasn’t at breakfast either…I’m worried…”

Verna nodded, frowning. “I’m sure it’s nothing too bad. Maybe he’s got the flu. Or overslept.”

 Just then, Andre Egwu, Ravenclaw’s seeker, slowed down overhead, talking to Orion before descending. Verna listened intently, and picked up part of the conversation

“-might be able to help with Curse-Breaker-”

Curse-Breaker, the two thought. One look between them and they both knew. Andre’s nickname for none other than Matthew Luther.

“Come on, let’s see what he’s up to.” Verna said, a sudden determination in her eyes.

“Really?” Camille asked, following her out of the quidditch stands, “I wouldn’t want to be worrying over nothing…though I do that a lot…”

Verna chuckled. “You sound a fair bit like Matthew, no wonder you two get along so well.”

 They headed down through the stands, watching as Andre appeared, placing his broom to the side. He watched as someone else came up to the stadium. They were wearing a fully pink/white ensemble: pink heels, patterned pink-and-white skirt, a fluffy pink jacket that stopped at their waist, and a thin white scarf. Unfortunately for Verna and Camille, while Andre hadn’t noticed them, the person in pink most certainly had.

 “Hey guys!” Rosie Mayfield said, waving and smiling brightly. Andre twisted around and blinked in surprise at the two, who had gone as red as their house colours at being found out. “You here about Matty too?” they asked.

Camille opened her mouth and closed it a few times, but it was Verna who finally spoke up. “Y-Yeah…” she said, moving ever-so-slightly closer, “we…saw he’s not at practice.”

Andre sighed, nodding in confirmation. “Yeah. I was only asking Rosie to see if they knew anything I didn’t…you two haven’t seen him recently then?”

The question seemed more directed at Camille, which Verna supposed was fair. Everyone knew those two were like brother and sister. Millie and Matt, an inseparable duo.

 Camille shook her head. “No, that’s why I was here, I was hoping I’d see him, but…” she trailed off, looking like she was about to cry. Rosie placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, it’s ok, Millie.” They said, “It’s not like we don’t know where he is, since Andre’s in the same dorm with him, so…” they turned to look at him, gesturing at Camille.

“Right! Sorry, yes, darling, it’s ok, Matt’s up in Ravenclaw Tower, in his dormitory…” his smile faded slightly, “...which is the problem.”

Millie sniffed, wiping her eyes. “Wh…what do you mean?”

 Before Andre could say anymore, one of the reserve Chasers and Orion Amari appeared.

“Hey! We need you on the pitch!” the other Chaser said. Andre groaned.

“Sorry, I was-”

“It is quite alright, Andre.” Orion said, sighing, “You have done what you can for Matthew. It’s out of your hands for now, and so we must now prepare for our next role in these events.”

 Andre nodded, slightly confused by his captain’s words, but said his goodbyes to the others and followed the reserve chaser out from the stands. Orion turned to follow them, but briefly turned back.

“All of Ravenclaw House is worried about what’s happened. You will need to talk to them to continue on the path you’ve chosen.” he said matter-of-factly.

“That…doesn’t make any sense.” Camille said, very much confused.

Orion just smiled. “Has the path chosen by Matthew Luther ever made sense?”

Verna clicked her tongue. Orion was being even more opaque and cryptic than usual. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Captain!” the reserve chaser yelled. Orion remained unfazed, waved to the three, and left.

 ***

It wasn’t until lunchtime that day that Camille, Rosie and Verna were finally able to talk to the Ravenclaws.

“Did either of you know what Andre was going on about?” Verna said, stepping into the Great Hall, “stuff about “paths” and that.”

Camille shrugged. “I don’t know…sorry.”

Rosie pondered this. “Maybe…maybe he’s asking us to do something about this? He doesn’t seem to think anyone else can.”

They came up to the Ravenclaw tower, where most people were reading while eating, taking care not to leave any crumbs on the pages of their books. Camille scanned the table. She saw Cato Reese eating a sandwich and reading a book on Charms, Coraline Wytte passing the water jug to Isabelle Dubois, but no sign of Matthew Luther.

 At that moment, Rosie decided to take the initiative and actually ask someone. They walked over to where Tulip was and smiled.

“Oh, hey guys!” she began, “Mind if I ask you guys some things? It’d be a real big help!” Camille and Verna watched in awe as Rosie worked their magic, Camille noticing one of the other students next to Tulip going bright pink at how near he was to them. Before long, Rosie beckoned the others over. “Ok…so, what’s up with Matty?”

 Tulip looked up at them, looking unsure where to begin. “Matthew Luther’s been up in Ravenclaw Tower for a while. None of us thought much of it at first, sometimes he needs a bit of alone time, but this is…definitely the longest he’s been like this. Normally Helena Ravenclaw’s able to convince him to talk to someone about it by now…”

The three non-Ravenclaws looked slightly confused. “Helena?”

Tulip rolled her eyes. “You know…the Grey Lady. The Ravenclaw ghost?” At last, they nodded in understanding. “Well, yeah. Matthew Luther and her are pretty close. The amount of times he’s accidentally called her mum, honestly…”

 Camille suddenly looked rather annoyed. “What’s so wrong with that, exactly?” she said a little louder than she expected.

“...Nothing, Camille Jeanes.” Tulip replied, looking rather guilty. “But…yeah, that’s what’s happened. The problem is of course that it’s not like it was back in year 2. He’s got prefect duties and that quidditch match is coming up. Matthew Luther can’t afford to be up in his room like that.”

The boy who had gone bright pink, and seemed unable to meet Rosie’s eyes, finally spoke up. “Y-you could um…try going to see him yourselves…”

 Verna considered all of this. She knew that if she flaked on her duties as both chaser and prefect, it would really mess things up. Something had to be happening with Matt. Something more than a sulk.  “That’d be nice, but we’re not exactly allowed in other house dorms, are we?”

The boy continued. “Actually, um…there’s no rule like that for Ravenclaw. If you can get past the riddle you’re allowed in.”

 Rosie grinned. “That’s it! That’s what we’ll do!” they declared, smiling at the boy. “Thanks so much for letting us know, um…”

“...V-Victor.” he said, scratching under his jumper’s turtleneck.

“Victor! You’re the best! I owe ya one!” They said, winking, before turning to the others. “Right! Shall we?”

Camille nodded, looking slightly more determined than before. “We’ve got a path ahead of us, um…it would seem.”

 Verna chuckled. “Yeah, there’s something about all this…best to figure out what the hell’s going on.”

Rosie brought their hands together excitedly. “That’s the spirit! Let’s wolf down our lunch and head on up there!”. The three did just that, and as they left passed by the quidditch team as they left the Great Hall, Andre giving them a silent thank-you, Orion nodding at them knowingly, and that reserve chaser not even acknowledging them. Camille looked behind her and saw him staring back at them, scowling.

 ***

Their journey up to Ravenclaw Tower was quiet for the most part, with most people eating lunch in the Great Hall, but they stopped in their tracks when they got close to the entrance of the Tower.

“Hear that?” Verna asked, glancing to and fro. It sounded like stomping and yelling coming from up ahead. The three drew their wands in preparation.

“What could it be…?” Camille wondered aloud. She was sure she recognised that voice, but it was muffled by the castle walls so she couldn’t fully make it out. When they opened the next door, they saw the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower, made of dark oak wood with a bronze eagle statue as a door knocker. A few feet away, looking rather like a caged tiger with a toothache, was none other than Merula Snyde.

 “Stupid door!” she hissed, “that’s barely even a riddle!”

The bronze eagle looked at her, expressionless. “Is that your final answer?”

“Of course not you damn fool! Just let me-” she would have most likely kept ranting if it weren’t for her noticing Verna (who rolled her eyes in exasperation), Camille (who looked almost angry that she was here) and Rosie (who was holding in a laugh).

“...Malinda? Jeanes? Mayfield?” Merula said, her confusion causing her to calm down. “What in the name of Merlin are you doing here?”

 Verna crossed her arms. “We could ask you the same thing.” Camille repeated the gesture. Rosie, however, seemed to know her reason for being here already.

“Aw, were you worried about Matt?” Rosie asked, trying not to smirk. “That’s so sweet…” Verna looked at them, confused, as Millie began to understand. Merula went pink in the face.

“Shut up! It’s not like that!” she snapped. “I was just…well…I have prefect duty with him, see…”

Rosie was bouncing on their toes at this point. “Eee! You have prefect duty together! That’s the cutest thing ever!”

 Camille, too, was beginning to smile. “Aw, ‘rula, you should have said-”

“Do not test me, Jeanes…”

Verna, meanwhile, was still slightly confused. “Wait…are they-” Come to think of it, they had gone to the Celestial Ball together, and had dinner at Madam Puddifoot once, and were often seen talking to each other a lot more than rivals usually did-

“Oh wow.” Verna said finally, “You sure know how to pick ‘em, don’t you Snyde-”

“What is that supposed to mean?!-”

At that moment, the Eagle cleared its bronze throat. “Do you have an answer to my riddle?”

 The four looked at each other. “Can we hear it first, pretty please?” Rosie asked, still smiling at Merula, who was fiddling with the strap of her satchel, staring at the floor.

The eagle nodded, and began to recite:

“What can go around the wood but never go inside the wood?”

There was a brief silence as they thought it over. Verna was the first to think aloud. “Around the wood…but not inside…what sort of…”

Rosie frowned. “Ugh, riddles are the worst sometimes.”

Merula nodded. “Luther told me that half the time the answer on the door is just “a river”, but I have a feeling that’s not it this time…”

“Could it be?” “No, you’re barking up the wrong tree there.”

 Camille looked up. “Of course! Um, I think I might have it…maybe…”

Rosie squealed in joy. “You do?!” Merula, too, had a smile on her face. “Say it! Go on!”

“O-Ok, um…” Camille turned to face the bronze eagle. “What goes around the wood but never inside the wood…the bark of a tree!...right?”

There was a brief nothing, which was full of all the fear in the world for Camille, but it passed, and the door creaked open.

 “YES!” Verna yelled, punching the air. “Nice one, Millie!” Rosie cheered, and Camille felt a little shell-shocked. “I…I did it!”

Even Merula was grinning in relief. “You sure did! You’re not just a pretty face, huh?”

 Before Camille could respond to that, Merula rushed into the Common Room. “Let’s go!” Rosie exclaimed, the three following after the Slytherin Prefect, past several shelves of books and up several staircases until they came to the boy’s dormitory.

 Most of the doors had been opened by the students leaving that morning, and only one remained shut. Merula was staring at it, playing with her satchel’s straps again.

“Well? Gonna knock?” Rosie asked, gesturing to the door.

“Of course! I just…” she said, trailing off. Seemingly understanding, Verna stepped forward and knocked thrice. “H-Hey! Matthew?! I-It’s us!”

“Mathieu? You ok?”

“Luther, what’s happening in there?”

“It’s alright Matty, we’re here to help!”

 There was the sound of shuffling from inside the dormitory.

Merula was quickly losing patience, but it was more out of worry than anything else. “Alright, that does it! Hope you’re decent, Luther! Alohomora!”

There was a clack, and the door started opening. The shuffling inside intensified, before there was a thump noise. The group entered the room and, half-on half-off of the furthest bed, was a tall boy with green eyes, pyjama trousers, a dressing gown, and an incredibly serious case of bed hair. Verna would later say of it that it looked more like a hedgehog than Merula’s hair normally did.

 Matthew Luther seemed frozen in fear, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times. The fear seemed to morph into what could only be described as shame as he nervously spun his silver bracelet around his wrist. “...H-Hey guys…I-...I’m sorry, I…”

Camille sighed, looking him up and down “Oh, Mathieu…”

“There’s no need to apologise.” Rosie reassured him, “We just wanted to check up on you.”

Verna nodded in agreement. “Yeah, no need to worry, really.” Merula, meanwhile, walked across the dormitory so she was standing right in front of him.

 “...You look terrible.” Merula said, smiling in spite of herself. “That…wasn’t a good way to start, um-”

“N-No, it’s ok…not like you’re wrong, is it…” Matthew said, shrugging “I um…don’t you guys have lessons?”

“Luther, it’s Saturday.”

“It is?! Oh, thank god, I thought I’d been in bed for the whole weekend…”

“Wait, you thought it was Monday?”

“Well, yeah, and I thought I’d overslept for Charms, and that really made me feel bad, and…yeah.”

The three others watched, slightly gobsmacked. “It’s like they’ve forgotten we’re here, isn’t it?” Verna whispered.

Camille nodded. “He definitely seems to have brightened up quickly…but that’s a good thing, right?”

Rosie finally cleared their throat when it looked like Merula was about to try flattening his hair down with her hand. “Sorry, it’s just…well, we were wondering how we could help.”

Camille nodded. “Mm, we’d like to see you around again, Mathieu.”

 Matthew sighed, sitting down on his bed. “Y-Yeah, I just…” he sniffed, trying to steady himself. “It’s…about Helena. She’s…gone.”

The four looked at each other. “When you say…gone…” Verna began, scratching her temple.

“I don’t know what’s happened. She’s nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere for her…she’s…I don’t know if she’s left…or…she’s…something’s happened to her…or she…a…ab-...”

Merula placed her hand on his shoulder. “You thought she’d abandoned you.”

Matthew nodded. “I know she’d never, but…that fear that she had…that I didn’t have her anymore because of something I did…”

 Verna sighed. “A missing ghost…” she wondered what it’d be like if Nearly Headless Nick went missing. Slightly more quiet feasts, but definitely an outcry to find out just what had happened.

Rosie sat down on the other side of Matt (Merula was on the other side, her hand still firmly on his shoulder) “Ok…tell you what. You want to find out what’s happened with Helena, right?” When Matthew nodded, they continued, “So: we can help you find out what’s happened with Helena, but you gotta help us, and help yourself, by getting out of this dorm again. Does that sound doable?” they asked, no form of belittling or patronising present in their voice. Matthew looked at Merula, smiled, before turning back to Rosie.

“A-Alright. I’ll try. Promise.”

 “That’s all we ask.” They replied, getting up. “Ok! First off, let’s get you some actual clothes…”

Merula rolled her eyes, “We’ll be here a while, then…” she whispered.

Camille smiled at Matt, happy to see her baby brother again, while Verna peered out the window. Though it was daytime, the moon hovered in the sky above the quidditch grounds, tinted blue as the sun shone overhead. She wondered silently just what she’d gotten herself into as Rosie came in with multiple sets of clothes for Matthew to choose from, insisting that he could do with more designer clothes in his wardrobe.