I Spit Dragon Fire

Mary giggled breathlessly but didn’t fight in the slightest as Hesita pulled her closer. Since it was exactly what she wanted, there was no reason to fight, and she liked how their bodies fit together. “Oh it’s just the traditional stuff,” she said, shrugging; it wasn’t important now, really, and she was much happier draping her arms over Hestia’s shoulders anyway. “Well, I’m not interested in you letting me go either.” Though she normally didn’t act so forward, Mary eased a little closer to Hestia as they danced, regretting even the slightest bit of distance between them.

Hestia couldn’t remember the last time she heard anything as melodic as Mary’s laugh. She quite literally thought that it was music to her ears. It should have alarmed the Ravenclaw why she became so infatuated with the other girl so quickly. Someone she hadn’t really thought twice about before. Except it didn’t because all she could now think about was the Gryffindor. “Well then I guess you’re just gonna have to be stuck with me for the rest of the night.” She smirked before leaning up to give the girl a kiss. 

Mary’s face flushed as Hestia approached her, but there was no denying how happy she was about it. Her feelings for Hestia might be new but that didn’t make them any less sincere, she thought, and she nodded quickly as Hestia took her hand. “I’d be happy to,” she said, following Hestia. “This isn’t really the sort of dancing that I normally do though.”

Hestia wasted no time in pulling the other girl close, letting go of Mary’s hand so she could grab her waist. The Ravenclaw was small but she was dominant. “Hmmm?” She hummed a little curious. Though only as to what kind of dancing she was referring too. “I’d ask you to show me, but I don’t want to let you go.” That was no lie. She surprisingly found herself almost unable to stop touching the other girl. Wanting much more intimate contact with her. 

Zaccaria ran a finger along the spine of the now closed book in contemplation of the girl’s question. Usually she’d revel at another falling into the trap of curiosity that she had laid, but she felt she might have a bit more work with this one. That she could play with her a little bit more. “Nothing” she finally conceded, “For now. Just remember that someday you’ll owe me a favor”

Hestia smirked. Neither of them were stupid. She was sure both girls were well aware of this fact. It didn’t surprise her that she would ‘someday’ owe the other girl a favor. “As tempting as this offer sounds, I have no guarantee that this is actually going to benefit me any. Especially if your ‘favor’-” She said with air quotes. “Is worth more then I’m getting. And you also have no guarantee that I’d ever do anything for you in the future.” 

Amara raised her right hand into the air and tried to make her face more seriously, “I solemnly swear that if you ever get married I will run away with you, should you need”. She didn’t know for sure what her future held, but she prayed that she would never have to lose Hestia. The other girl had come to her after her first year - a year that had been incredibly lonely but also extremely transformative on her view of what school life was going to be. Hestia had been her first friend and though she had made others none had remained so loyally by her side or given her the same level of security. None had evolved to the status of sister like she had. Already though her dearest friend was being phased out of her wedding and that definitely did not bode well for the future. 

Hestia couldn’t help but laugh, taking the moment to wrap her arms around the other girl in a hug. “Well thank you!” Such affection was odd for the girl, even towards her best friend. Even though they were joking around, she figured that Amara could probably use a hug in that moment. “Next we should plan how to sabotage Penny’s wedding.” She smirked, knowing that her friend would know fully well that Hestia would do anything in her power to stop her older sisters wedding. It wasn’t that she didn’t want her sister happy, she just thought her sister deserved so much better than Evander. “Ugh, I’m really going to be the only one who doesn’t get married aren’t I? You really should have told me how ugly I am a while ago.”

Where: The Rooms of Requirement 

When: Saturday, March 18th 

Hestia was surprised with herself and just how fast she seemed to fall for Mary MacDonald. Mainly because she’d never particularly cared about the girl before but now she was all she could think about. It didn’t take long for her to walk over to her, putting her drink down along the way. “Dance with me.” She asked, though it wasn’t really a question as she reached to trace her hand along the other girls arm before grabbing her hand. 

Penny loved Hestia too much to take offense to how little her sister cared for Evander. They would come to know each other and be friends eventually, Penny was confident. Evander loved her and she loved him. And Hestia loved Penny, so she would have to come to terms with Evander’s involvement in their life at some point. Anyway, her concerns were more focused on Hestia’s mental well-being at the moment anyway. It didn’t come as a surprise that Hestia hadn’t talked to anyone, really. Her willingness to talk to Penny wasn’t even guaranteed, but Penny would try. “Well, you know you can talk to me,” she said easily. 

She fell silent for a moment then glanced around the infirmary. “Would you like to go somewhere to catch up? I believe Margo is in the other room and I can have her watch things for me. I’d like a chance to talk to you.”

Hestia nodded, going quiet. It was odd for her to be silent. Choosing not to speak when usually she always had something to say. Choosing to respond loudly and with something snarky. It was hard for her to be snarky to her sister though, especially when she knew Penny was trying her best. It was difficult for the younger girl to talk to her sister though when she didn’t feel like she would really understand her. It was as if her older sister had all of the good luck between the two of them. Something that she knew neither of them could control. Something that only fueled her anger and resentment.

“Sure, I’d like that too.” She agreed truthfully. Every once in a while she liked to talk to her sister about how things were going. Make sure that everything was fine. Mainly check in on how the fiancee was treating her. Even though she didn’t like Evander, she was thankful that he seemed to treat Penny well. Hestia was unsure of what she would do to the man if she ever found out otherwise. 

“Jones — I thought you knew better by now,” Antonin drawled on, tilting his head slightly. “C’mon. Give me something that’ll hurt.”

“You disgust me.” She commented placing her quill down. Thankfully her wand was on the table as well, so she was quick to grab it. “Petrificus Totalus!” 

“You can be dramatic.” He said, deadpan. “The difference is, people like me when I’m dramatic. When you’re dramatic, everyone wishes that you would just go away.” Unfortunately, being that this was practice, it wasn’t like he could just tell her to leave. He watched her closely, keeping an eye on her form. “You made it, yeah, with no Keepers or Beaters in your way. The Prewett twins aren’t going to play nice, so you need to be ready.” He waved his wand. “It’s your elbow that I’m worried about. It’s a bit too low— try holding it a bit higher.” He lifted a hand and held the bridge of his nose. Merlin, he could barely take her. “Don’t get cocky, Jones, you’re just as replaceable as anyone else on this team. Besides— I could probably convince Bones to come back and take your spot. I bet he would— just to spite you. Now, come on, try it one more time.” 

When he mentioned her elbow she made it a point to raise her arm dramatically before lowering it to the correct placement. Hestia could tell that it had helped, though she wasn’t just going to admit that. She was far to stubborn to do such a thing. “Well it’s a good thing that I’m not nice at all, so I’m not expecting them to be.” Quidditch was a tough sport, that often resulted in a lot of injuries. There was no room to be nice. She was surprised that some people, particularly Hufflepuffs, were able to play at all. But she had to give them some credit for keeping up. “And go right ahead! I have no plans on becoming a professional so I truthfully don’t need to finish out this season. Plus you’ll both be gone next year. Now can I get a drink or am I expected to pass out first?” 

Ludo stood up straight and glared at her, done with his performance. “No, I can’t do it quietly. That’s how terrible your shot was. It made me want to vomit, and it made me want to vomit loud.” He flicked his wand, and the quaffle came zooming back in their direction. He held it out to Hestia. “Try it again. We’re never going to beat Gryffindor with shots like that.”

She rolled her eyes, grabbing the quaffle all the same. “And here I thought I could be dramatic. Also I made it so it obviously wasn’t that bad.” Hestia began to go through the move he was attempting to have her complete, something she’d already shown him a hundred times but was apparently ‘not good enough’ yet. “You know-” She called out, “If it was really that bad then I’m sure you can find someone else to take me spot.” Her tone was more daring than anything. 

“I’m gonna puke.”

Hestia sighed. “Can you do it quietly at least?”

“Dropped it?” Antonin looked positively blasé at the words. “Too bad. I’m keeping it.”

Hestia barely even glanced at him. “Put it back on the table or I will hex you.” She warned, “You know I will.”

It was sad almost that she was already prepared because it meant that she was used to receiving no help here. He did have to admire that sort of resourcefulness though. With a shrug of his shoulders he sat back down in front of his own potion, returning to the happy state that he had been in before she had entered the room. Every so often he darted a glance over at her to see how she was doing. Were she to ask or even looked a little bit distressed he still would have been happy to help her. It was nice that someone else seemed to enjoy potions enough to try and get ahead. 

Hestia certainly didn’t need any help, and was well aware that he would probably be more than smug about it if she did. Even if she did get stuck, she would simply do like she always had and start over and reevaluate her steps and figure out where she went wrong. It was only after that, if the potion still wasn’t going correctly, that she ever seeked guidance. If she needed to, she certainly wouldn’t be going to some teaching assistant she met barely even five minutes ago. She didn’t even know his name, which helped prove even further that he wasn’t someone she could just blindly trust and rely on. She was getting annoyed though, well aware of the fact that he kept glancing over at her as if waiting for her to screw up. “Can you stop looking at me?” She finally snapped. “Either that or just come over here and I will explain to you what I’m doing. I have no doubt that you already know, but if you’re going to be watching me then you might as well do it up close.” Truthfully being watched unnerved her, especially by someone who wasn’t exactly stealthy about it. 

Zaccaria’s brow quirked upwards, a smile lighting her face as she looked on at the girl. She had definitely judged a bit too soon. This attitude was actually rather impressive. “You know” she said, wrapping her arms herself and glancing upwards as if thinking, “If you were really interested I could teach you way more than you would be able to learn from that little book. Or anything in here really”. For her, reading this books was just a brush up on facts that she already knew or could easily obtain through exposure to the things in her family’s shop. It was almost like having her own access to the restricted section and everyone knew that was where all of the interesting stuff was kept. 

There was no doubt that the other girl could teach her quite a bit, about a lot of things. Though she couldn’t help but wonder why she would do such a thing. Surely she would expect something in return, Hestia was well aware of the fact that nothing just happened for free. “Hmm?” She hummed curiously, making it seem like she was still considering even though she’d already made up her mind. Though her decision could change based on whatever Zaccaria said. “And why would you do that? What do you want out of it.” Asking directly was the best thing to do rather than beating around the bush. There was no point for false pretenses or pretending like she believed the other girl would help her out of the kindness of her heart. 

“How could I deny such a tempting offer?” Amara continued to joke. She was sure that were they to run off with one another they actually would be rather happy, even if it was destined to be completely platonic. “Oh, you can go all in. I’ve got to spend the rest of my life with this guy. I’d much rather know every thought you have about him early on that way our inside jokes can age like fine wine”

Hestia winked at her friend teasingly, knowing that they weren’t actually going to run off together. Though she would certainly be up for doing such a thing if it actually needed to be done. “Well then I’ll be sure to bring some paper so I can write it all down.” She laughed. Their jokes and witty comments were the only way they were going to get through this. Once she started getting negative, things often spiraled and both of them knew that it would be better for her to be teasing. Though once she actually met the groom it might prove difficult to be so light about the situation. Hopefully they would be able to see the bright side of things, or figure a way out of it. “I expect you to do the same if I ever get married. Though I’ll probably just become an old spinster, seems much more appealing.” 

“You might be right. I mean, it would be awful if they left and then something happened again but … surely we’ll be fine til the end of the year. Don’t you think?” Enough had happened already and this was a school. Surely even the Death Eaters and Grindelwald’s supporters would leave children alone now. “I just want this year to be over already. I want to go home and make sure my family will be safe. I’m not sure there’s a lot I can do but I have to try.”

Hestia nodded, figuring that even evil people valued an education. After all, without one even their supporters would be to stupid to know any valuable spells. Though those who supported such dark things were stupid on a different level she supposed. She certainly couldn’t give them to much credit, considering their so called ‘causes’ were absolutely ludicrous. “Yes. I’m not to excited to spend time with family, but getting away from here would be nice.” She shrugged, not entirely sure what summer would hold for her this year seeing how Amara would most likely be unable to spend as much time with her. Perhaps she could stay with her sister in London, though that would mean being around Evander. 

Penny felt like smacking herself. She should have known better than to ask that question, after everything that had happened. She was informed about her sister finding two of the people who had been attacked, and she nodded quickly, though she let Hestia keep talking before interrupting. “Evander told me,” she said softly, trying not to upset Hestia with the mention of her fiance. “He thought it would be better coming from him. How are you doing?” She’d wanted to come see Hestia then but it hadn’t worked out for her to leave St. Mungo’s, a fact that she had regretted for a long time now. 

“I’m happy to be here for you, Hestia. Whatever you need.” They might not be as close as they could be, or maybe as they should be, but she wanted to change that now. They needed to be a family again, and even if Hestia didn’t like Evander now, that would change when she got to know him. Then they would really be a family. “Have you been able to talk to anyone about what happened?” She reached for Hestia’s hand, taking it gently and looking around for a place that they could sit and talk in peace.

The mention of her sisters fiance put a bad taste in her mouth. Hestia didn’t try to hide her dislike for him either, as Penny was well aware of how she felt about the man. It wasn’t as if the boy had done anything to warrant the dislike, but he certainly had never done anything to get her to trust him either. She just felt like there was to much she didn’t know about him, and something about him always just rubbed her the wrong way. She didn’t trust easily, it wasn’t a well kept secret or anything so it hadn’t been a surprise when she showed a dislike for him when they first met. Penny had most likely been expecting her to warm up at some point though, but the younger girl didn’t even pretend to try. 

“Of course he did.” She muttered, holding back a comment on him being self-centered. Hestia was sure that him supposedly needing to be the one to tell her sister what had happened was somehow him making it about himself. Either that or it was him trying to be controlling in some way. She just found it hard to believe that it was simply out of the goodness of his heart. “Not particularly. There was an auror, right after it happened, that I sort of snapped on about everything. But no one sense.” There was no point in lying or hiding anything from Penny as she would find out eventually. 

The bemused grin spread to a full on smile. She was definitely bullheaded, he’d give her that much. If she wanted to be here so badly than so be it. “You know, it really doesn’t serve you to be outright hateful to people. You could miss out on a lot of opportunities you know, but you do you. I’ve got the key to the supply room by the way, you’ll need it if you want ingredients. But hey - you don’t need my help. Have fun boiling water” Tilden told her before grabbing what he needed and closing the classroom’s supply closet. As part of his job he had stocked it with only the ingredients for the next day’s potions. Anything else she would need was sealed away in a larger supply room by way of lock and key that a simple alohomora wouldn’t open. He didn’t expect to be respected because that was something that was earned, but he wasn’t going to stand for being treated like lesser by anybody either and that included her being rude for no real reason other than wanting to be. 

Hestia raised an eyebrow at him while he spoke, almost impressed by his attitude. Almost. After he’d locked up the supply closet for the classroom, she went ahead and pulled out a few ingredients for her potion out of her cauldron. Then, she placed her bag down on the stool next to her. The stool was usually reserved for Benjy, but they were to busy to join them today so it was just her. It worked out well though, as she began to pull out the last few ingredients out of her bag. All the while she continued to look over at him with a smirk on her face. Hestia wondered if he had really thought she would just show up unprepared. If she had planned to do so, then there would really be no point in her showing up at all. If anything, the girl was usually over prepared, ready for anything that may happen at a moments notice. Ever since she was younger she found that it helped greatly in ensuring she felt safe and ready for the dangers of being a witch. While being a witch wasn’t a choice, at times she wished it was as it certainly had many drawbacks.