alchemical blurb

[mswoods]

The following day, Sadde has Transfiguration in the morning.

She is all over it at lunch.

"Okay, so, Transfig is just about the coolest thing," she says first thing to the Ravenclaws as soon as she sits at the table.

Comments

[chanuphis]

"...Well, I hope that works out for you. You don't get to change your mind later."

[mrwoods]

He shrugs. "I've been mostly hanging out with you three anyway. And there's this one other boy our age who doesn't seem to mind I'm a muggleborn. He's mostly- confused about a lot of stuff, really. His name's Jacob. The other girls our age seem nice, too."

[chanuphis]

"I'd worry more about the older years."

[mrwoods]

"I'm pretty used to bullies who are older than me. Granted, not like five years older, and without magic, but this time I can hit back with magic as well! And I can do it with magic they're not expecting, even! Like yesterday, when I was in the Wing, I think I creeped out this Hufflepuff kid by doing this." And he does the lizard tongue-flick thing to illustrate.

[msmaxwell]

Willow eeps and giggles.

[pleating]

"Did the Hufflepuff kid hex you?"

[mrwoods]

He laughs. "No, Madam Pomfrey was poking him with a wand and I think he thought it was just his imagination."

[pleating]

"So why did you want to freak him out?"

[mrwoods]

He shrugs. "Because it'd be funny? It caused him mild temporary discomfort that he'll likely forget if he hasn't already, and made me giggle then and now, and I'll probably giggle about it some more in the future."

[chanuphis]

"Okay, now I'm more worried about you being in Slytherin. People in other Houses are going to be predisposed not to assume anything you do is intended harmlessly."

[mrwoods]

"Mmm, even if most things I do are in fact actively helpful? Make it more than twice as many things, since apparently people tend to focus on a bad thing about twice as much as they focus on an equivalent good thing."

[chanuphis]

"I think a reputation as being a minor trickster figure even if you're usually trying to be a benevolent one is dangerous if you're a Slytherin. We know you, but random Hufflepuffs don't, and Gryffindors might think they do, which is worse."

[mrwoods]

He giggles. "You know, the idea of Gryffindors randomly hexing me in the hallways is kinda funny. It'll probably not be as funny when it actually happens, though. How about I'm only a trickster to Slytherins and benevolent to non-Slytherins? Or at least, Slytherins I dislike, Jacob's okay."

[chanuphis]

"I mean, I don't think other Slytherins are necessarily safe either, but it's better, anyway."

[mrwoods]

"Yeah sure, but I think they're bound to hex me in the hallways anyway just because I'm muggleborn, so I get to keep my fun at only a slight increase in the total amount of hexing going on."

[chanuphis]

"Yeah."

[mrwoods]

"And at least some types of hexing are bound to be fun, right? It can't all be blood-pouring-out-of-your-ears or people wouldn't do them ever at all, and I like frustrating bullies so the thought of not minding the milder ones when they try to bully me and get confused when it fails is funny all on its own. I speak from experience here," he says, and giggles some more.

[pleating]

"Some of them are fun. There's one that makes you dance."

[chanuphis]

"I got Renée to cast that on me once to see if I could actually dance. I couldn't."

[msmaxwell]

"Oooh I want to try that one!"

[mrwoods]

"Also I have a probably broader definition of fun than most people, what with the whole trickster vibe I got going on here."

[chanuphis]

"I know the incantation if you want to try the dancing hex - or it might be a jinx, I don't remember - but I don't know how to undo it."

[mrwoods]

"Mmm, not undoing it wouldn't be as much fun, eventually I'd need to go pee."

[chanuphis]

"Yeah, you'd probably have to dance your way to an older student or a teacher to get it undone."

[mrwoods]

"Yeah, I think I'll just be surprised when someone decides to hex or jinx me randomly. It's bound to happen, eventually."