the horror & the wild

it didn’t much matter to luna that they didn’t really know the other. surely everyone cared about looking after an injured creature. “i don’t know. i was just on a walk and i found the poor thing, i think he was preparing to die. obviously i had to save him, it’s only a little injury.” they smiled at ellio when he patted the dugbog’s head, an encouraging sort of smile. “i mean, i had to levitate him to get him here, he’s a bit heavy, but he’s a good boy really.” luna looked down at the wound again, lifting her wand and casting some healing magic.

there's an overwhelming sense of curiosity as ripley listens to effie's words, but she knows better than to ask questions before the other is done with her thoughts. "i'm honestly just glad you decided to do this outside," she offers as her eyes run over the black, burnt material that was once a tapestry - half impressed, half struck by the lengths her friend would go to. you'd think she'd be used to it by now. "you thought of what you'll put up to replace this?"

ripley’s somehow incredibly no-nonsense response to her ramblings made effie burst out laughing. “give me a little bit of credit, rip. i’m destructive but not crazy. i didn’t want to fill my dorm room with smoke.” she hummed a little when ripley asked her question, she honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead. she had been too preoccupied with getting rid of the tapestry. “no idea. do you have any thoughts?”

minseok had been fiddling with his sneakoscope and casually eavesdropping when a familiar voice & the mention of fire caught his attention. he looks up to see effie and the now burnt tapestry – an unsurprising, but interesting sight. putting the sneakoscope back in his bag, minseok leaves it behind to join the fellow slytherin. "effie, are you torturing our classmates again ?" he asks with a laugh, arm slinging around her shoulders as he joins the conversation. "snape is going to have a conniption fit if he sees that," he points out in excited tone. all the reason to burn some more things. "what's next ?"

“it’s education, not torture.” effie protested with a smile, accepting minseok’s arm around her shoulder with a gentle pat of affection to his hand. the other students dissipated, and effie vanished the mess she had made with a sigh. “now snape won’t see it, will he?” she grinned easily, looking at her friend and shrugging her shoulders. “i just wanted to get this tapestry out of my dorm. i didn’t have plans on setting anything else on fire, which i know doesn’t sound like me, but it’s true.”

“oi, put that out now--”  why did he bother? “what a marvelous discovery - fire does burn stuff.” percy remarked, rubbing his temples as he let out an exasperated sigh at the sight of the fire. every day he was reminded why he opted out for living off campus, though growing up with fred and george made one get used to it. “i fail to see the point of destroying a perfectly good tapestry.”

“come on percy, it was mostly out already.” what a buzzkill. “besides, that wasn’t what i was saying and you know it.” she rolled her eyes, stamping out the last few glowing embers with her foot. “well there’s your problem; you’re not understanding that it wasn’t a perfectly good tapestry it was a butt-ugly foul looking tapestry which the world is better off without.”

“oh, it was absolutely deliberate. i thought snape was full of shit when he said it had an anti-incendio charm on it.” effie touched the charred remains with the toe of her boot, tilting her head to the side. “i think i might have improved it, honestly. not that i’m going to put it back up.” she looked over at her roommate with a smile almost amused. “i think we can all agree the dorm is going to look better now.”

Eddie had gone on many walks and yet, none of them ended up with him happening upon a dugbog, of all things. He'd seen many things on walks before. Wild puffskeins. Battling pixies. The tail end of a centaur. People who thought they were alone. That last one was usually more interesting than everything else. It was mad what others could get up to in secret. But anyway... the dugbog actually reminded him of his own toad (whom he very fittingly named Harry), and he didn't even hesitate before taking a step closer and reaching a hand out ever-so-slowly to pet the injured beast's head. "If this is friend shaped to you, I wonder what your mates look like." He glanced at the gash on the dugbog's leg, a twitch of concern appearing as a frown on his forehead. "Is he going to be alright?"

luna was glad of the ease with which eddie petted the dugbog. so often they found their fellow students were overly cautious with the magical creatures that they encountered. some caution was deserved, of course, these were wild creatures. they smiled easily at eddie, taking the comment about her friends in stride. “my friends are all different shapes.” they took a better look at the injury, now that they were sure the dugbog would be kept calm by the petting. “i think he will. i’ll heal it up, hopefully let him back into his home as soon as possible.”

Eddie was in the general direction of the voice. He was even listening, not quite so intently, but it was hard not to pay attention when her voice was the only one filling the silence in the room. The smell of the burnt tapestry that was possibly centuries old and practically priceless made him pull a face. It wasn't his dorm room. It wasn't his tapestry, do he didn't care much about it. He twirled the wand in his hand, taking a moment to act as if he was considering setting something on fire himself. Alas, he did not feel the urge to do so. Eventually, he pointed the tip of his wand at himself, glancing at her. "...I can't be set on fire."

effie rolled her eyes a little at the words from eddie, shaking her head a little. “come on, eddie, i already know you can be set on fire. people are wonderfully flammable.” her tone was teasing, a wry smile on her lips. she might not have any issues with throwing a punch when it was needed, but she didn’t enjoy hurting people. “besides, you’re not as offensive as this tapestry was. truly, it was beyond ugly.”

luna had never understood why so many wix found the magical creatures that inhabited their world intimidating. these creatures didn’t act out of malice, or hatred, not the way that humans did. if they ever attacked it was for survival, an instinct as natural as breathing. to luna, that was so much easier to understand, to empathise with. they knew that it was often fear which made these creatures become potentially violent; to understand them, to treat them with kindness, was the simplest thing in the world. “he’s not going to pounce on you, he’s far too injured, and all creatures like pets.” they smiled softly, demonstrating what they meant by gently running their hand over the scaly back of the dugbog. “i mean, be sensible, don’t put your hand in his mouth, but if you just give little scratches between his ears, he’ll be as good as gold.”

"it was snape. he said it has a fire resistant charm on it. after he said he wouldn't have it taken out of the dorm room, and i said i would have to take action myself," effie explained, her tone simple and easy, looking up at dean with a grin. "i don't think i need credit, but it's nice to have. have i inspired you to commit arson?"