Gloriana Potter

“Ah, with those subjects, it is the practice that makes the difference. That, and your wand. Although it might be a bit biased of me to say that, considering my family’s venture.” She made a note on the page she was in before she put her book down. “Let me see what you are reading on. Is it any spell in particular?”

“A twin brother? That must be so much fun! Any sibling must be good, but a twin?” she had dreamed of having a twin as a child, another girl, identical to herself, and they would do everything she wanted all day long. “Do the two of you look alike?”

“You are sweet, thank you.” looking down at Elizabeth, Vasilisa sends a silent prayer that nothing ever happens to her or Sebastian’s siblings, so that she can be raised by people who love her. “It must be difficult, entering a new world like that.”

“Thank you.” She took a seat and opened the book. A few pages in, and she heard the girl groan. Tatiana looked up from her book with a smile. “Unless you’ve met everyone on this planet, I do not think you could; and I’ve met a lot of people.” Some of her siblings could be picky on the subjects they liked to learn too. “What are you reading on?”

“Glorianna!” A familiar voice called behind her. “You can’t just hide! You’ve work to do!”

“There’s always work to do.” She muttered, wishing her twin hadn’t had to go with their father to the market. He would have found that funny, or at least empathized.

“I had a marvelous Christmas, I went back home with Bella my cousin, dodged my father for most of the winter, healed some winter illness on the way back. It was nice. Relaxing even.” she had also dodged around the letters from her ardent fiance, much to her chargin, she hadn’t wanted to deal with him at all. But she wasn’t about to tell Annie that. “What did you want to chat about?”

“You are not strange! You are a very pretty girl!” she quickly assured Annie, afraid her words had saddened her. “Did he? How wonderful.” she can understand that, the Malfoys, with the exception of Louis, were a million times kinder to her then her own parents were, “What sort of magic store?”

The holidays were nice, her time spent with Bella and her father’s side of the family was well received. Telling stories about her travels, her healing, they took an interest in the girl that was often dropped at their doorstep for months at a time. Phoebe couldn’t be happier, nor felt as safe as she did.

She had managed to avoid her father the whole of winter break, though she learned that he knew that she was residing at Hogwarts. Which simply meant that he was lurking and waiting for the chance. Which meant her fiance was still lurking about and she did not want to deal with him, with his waxing poetic about the life they would lead, and their children. Maybe in another life, she’d be charmed. So she kept away from the estate and hopefully out of his reach. 

Thus, Phoebe was out in the courtyard, idly turning snow into charmed moving animal sculptures, trying to enjoy the last wisps of holiday gentleness before being thrown into the medley of Healer training and coursework.

“Hmm?” she flicked her eyes up, and mouth quirked into a smile, “Hey, when did you get back, of course, we can talk,” she flicked her wand to deposit the snow on the ground.

Vasilisa waited for Annie to continue, not really understand what was wrong with what her parents expected of her, but after half a minute she realized Annie meant what she was saying. “Oh, I understand. Well, your parents most likely wanted what was best for you.”

Annie felt different. She had gone home for the holiday, just for a few days. She had seen her brother and guardian. But she hadn’t told them about Phoebe or the attack she’d suffered in the woods. It was the first time in her life that her brother didn’t know exactly what she was thinking. She wondered if he had not lived his own life that he hadn’t told her about while they were separated. The result was that she felt entirely alone. 

And she still had to talk to Phoebe. Her feelings on that matter were not better. Still they had to do it. Who could she be honest with? Was Phoebe the person to trust with her weakness? She’d never felt so vulnerable. She saw Phoebe across the courtyard and crossed it. She couldn’t avoid her any longer. 

Annie,

Happy Christmas sweetheart, a small token. I hope this season goes well, and I will see you when we all return to the castle. 

With Love,

Phoebe. 

“Like the last one, she is capable of burning the bookshelf down. UNLIKE the last one, you can put her out with a snap. Merry Christmas!”

- Oswald"