ZELDA CAIRNCROSS & OSCAR ERDSTERN

#CAIRNSTERN | ZELDA X OSCAR

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➔ I’ve missed this beautiful firecracker’s birthday! But I did want to make something for her. So a belated happy birthday (ik it’s been a week 😅) to Zelda!! Oscar and I love you very dearly 🧡

🏠 for a moodboard about my muse’s home aesthetics

— zelda cairncross & oscar erdstern: home sweet home

Weekend with the Grays 2022

Day 2 - Welcome Ball 2.0 Hosted by @endlessly-cursed

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➔ Snapshots from the ball

Violette Durand x Deaglán Herrity @magicallymalted

Oscar Erdstern x Zelda Cairncross @cursebreakerfarrier

ZELDA CAIRNCROSS & OSCAR ERDSTERN

𝐙𝐄𝐋𝐃𝐀 𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐌 𝐂𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐍𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 & 𝐎𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍

✧･ﾟ𝐙𝐄𝐋𝐃𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐍𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 & 𝐎𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑 𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍

@cursed-herbalist I didn’t really have a direction to go with this lmao and I’m sorry this took forever, but it’s Halloween so I had to finish it! Eli and Cairnstern my beloved ❤️ hope you enjoy! Lydia Ellis, who belongs to @mjs-oc-corner, is mentioned in passing.

• • •

Eli knew the story of his great-grandmother Emilie’s life very well. She came from humble beginnings, grew into a talented witch, found she had intriguing divination powers, predicted the deaths of everyone she held dear, and drove herself insane. His grandfather told him that story and his father Maurice dismissed it. But Sandy wasn’t a liar. He was the most trustworthy person Eli knew. And especially since Emilie was his own mother.

According to him Emilie was haunted by death. Her own parents had died young, leaving her and her two sisters behind. She saw her first dead body at age nine. And by the time she reached eighteen she had already predicted thirty-five deaths, with seven predictions coming into fruition shortly after. When Sandy was sixteen, Emilie predicted her own death- never muttering them details to anybody- and eventually it changed her entire persona and she couldn’t live with her demons anymore. Sandy said her ghost wanders the moors near his childhood home, wailing in agony. The image was ingrained into Eli’s mind and the thought alone gave him shivers. It wasn’t great when, at seven years old, he had nightmares about it.

The whole thing seemed so preposterous. But in the Wizarding world anything was possible. And when Sandy told Eli the tale for the first time, he could see the tears welling in his eyes and his skin turn pale. It was real. It was chilling.

The moment that Zelda heard of Emilie in passing, she had to know all about her. And when better to ask Eli then when Oscar had joined them after classes to do some extra Ancient Studies work?

“I can’t wait to hear more about your dad’s finds in the Saudi desert,” Oscar exclaimed as they headed to the classroom. “That statue he mentioned sounds interesting.”

“I know about something that’s far more interesting,” Zelda smiled. “Just you wait.”

Eli was sat at his desk marking his sixth years’ most recent assignments. The paper he was reading made him sigh exasperatedly and he didn’t even notice when Zelda and Oscar walked into the classroom.

“Hey, Pop!” She beamed.

“Zelda?” He checked his pocket watch. “Goodness me, is that the time already?”

He shifted his papers to one side and straightened out his waistcoat as he got to his feet.

“I hope you two are studying hard for your OWLs,” Eli then added, opening the cupboard behind the desk.

“Sure are,” Zelda replied proudly. “I’m helping Oscar study for Herbology tomorrow morning and then we’re studying Charms with Lydia.”

“That’s great. Promise me that you’ll make the most of your time. I want you both to do your very best.”

“Promise,” the two said in unison.

“Good. Now where did that statue go…”

As Eli rooted through the mire of books and artefacts piled in the cupboard, Oscar leaned over to Zelda and lowered his voice.

“What’s this interesting thing you were talking about?”

She winked. “You’ll find out.”

“Ah!”

With a triumphant smile, Eli pulled the statue from the cupboard. It was about the size of a book and in the shape of a man with squared edges. He sat back down and cleared his throat.

“Now, there’s some interesting family history where this particular statue is concerned and when-“

“Pop?” Zelda interrupted.

“Yes, Zelda?”

“Sorry to interrupt you, but we’re on the subject of family histories, can you tell us the story about great-great grandma Emilie?”

Hesitating, Eli frowned. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s a dark, dark tale and Oscar’s here-“

“Oh, come on, Pop!” She interjected excitedly. “Please? Oscar likes ghost stories, don’t you, Oscar?”

The young man nodded. “Especially if they’re a true story.”

Eli sighed. He knew that Zelda wasn’t going to give in and that Oscar was now too intrigued to let an opportunity to hear such a story slide.

“Alright,” he then said, watching as the two students exchanged an excited glance. “But you mustn’t go telling it to anyone else.”

And so Eli told the story exactly how it had been told to him. Zelda and Oscar listened intently, the latter quickly deciding that the story was, in fact, more interesting than the statue. It was heartbreaking, tragic, and Oscar would hate to see Emilie’s ghost knowing what she’d been through.

“Have you got anymore family stories?” He asked following the tale.

“Perhaps another time,” Eli uttered, but before he could continue Zelda burst into laughter.

“Well, there’s the story about the time that Pop and I went to South America and it was really dark and because it was so dark we didn’t the chupacabra and when we went to sit by the fire the chupacabra jumped up and bit Pop on the backside-“