Closed A Portrait of Death

[Wisteria Lacewing]

The forbidden forest had become Wish's second home during her years at Hogwarts. The castle, being her first, of course. She didn't like to think of her actual house as home anymore. She didn't like who she was there, and how long it took to shake the mask of silence and obedience to avoid being a disappointment after she was back at school. Wish was always a little wobbly for a few weeks or months after breaks, and it was getting harder as she got older. Now that she was in her sixth year, her parents had started pushing harder about associating with the "right" sort of people. Wish had never understood it. There were all sorts of people who were perfectly fine, but her total lack of social ability ensured she rarely interacted with anybody. She preferred creatures, anyway, so it was only mildly heartbreaking.

Wish had taken up sketching after finding out that some creatures did not like to be photographed, and wanted to spend the afternoon observing a herd of thestrals she'd found a while back. She'd last seen them in the area of the forest she was familiar with, and was pleased to find they hadn't gone very far. After years of exploration, Wish had gotten decent at figuring out where the safer areas were for her to be. Sitting on a rock and opening her book to a half-finished drawing, Wish squinted at the page judgmentally. The wings were always so difficult to draw when they were tucked away and it irked her.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

When Professor Burleigh had mentioned the need for a student assistant Ethan had jumped at the chance to spend more one on one time with the creatures that lived on the school grounds. He already had a lot of experience with owls but he was excited to care for some that were a bit more...tricky. But he hadn't considered the fact that he couldn't see all of them. The professor had given him decent instructions on where to find the heard of thestrals and where he was supposed to leave food for them but Ethan hated feeling like he was doing something wrong, and putting a bucket of food in the middle of empty forest felt wrong. But it wasn't like he could fix that problem easily. Like usual he trudged out to the forest with his eyes on the uneven path. It wasn't until he heard some shuffling paper did he look up and see Wish sitting on a rock. "Oh, hey." he said as if they had run into each other in the great hall and not the forbidden forest. But for the two of them it was just as familiar of a place.

 

[Wisteria Lacewing]

Wish felt a spike of anxiety as she heard someone approaching, but relaxed when she realised who it was. "Oh, um, hi, Ethan," Wish looked up briefly to greet him before returning to her drawing. He was the only person she wasn't remotely surprised to run into in the forest, and she found his presence there comforting. "Are you here to see the thestrals too?" she asked, her eyes on the one she was trying to capture on paper as she put some more marks down on the paper. She wondered if anyone had ever tried riding a thestral before. She knew they were sometimes used to pull carriages, but wasn't sure whether or not they'd tolerate being ridden like a horse. Wish wasn't sure she'd ever be brave enough to try, but the thought was curious.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan struggled a little under the weight of the bucket of feed he was carrying but he set it down and offered Wish a half-hearted wave once she greeted him back. He stood with his hands on his hips as he started into the forest in front of him letting his eyes go unfocused as if that would make something appear in front of him. He was brought back to the current moment when Wish asked him about them. “Yeah I’m here to feed them.” he said simply before picking up the bucket of feed and sprinkling some of it on the ground. It was only a few moments later that her question clicked in his head and he stood up straighter. “Wait, can you see them?” he asked curiously.

 

[Wisteria Lacewing]

Wish watched as some of the thestrals began taking notice of the food Ethan had brought for them. His question made her blink and her hand froze on the page. Wish hadn't exactly been surrounded by the creatures in daily life, and especially not before her frequent jaunts into the forest, but being able to see thestrals wasn't something she'd really thought about. She knew most people generally couldn't, but in more of a vague way like she knew some people liked waking up early in the morning but couldn't quite fathom it. "Um, yeah. Since I was little." Wish nodded awkwardly, not sure if there was a good way of explaining the circumstances leading to be able to see thestrals. "Are you... feeding invisible beings?" she asked, involuntarily giggling as she tried for levity.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan listened to Wish's answer and fought his knee jerk reaction to insist that he could seem them too. He hated to feel left out but it would be pointless to lie about something so easily proven wrong. "Oh cool." he mumbled instead. There was a part of him that was curious as to how someone could come to see them so young. But that felt like a hard thing to ask in a friendly conversation. Ethan sighed but reluctantly grinned when Wish started to laugh. "Yeah, well they're trained to come to this part of the forest to get fed. Sometimes if I watch long enough I can see the food disappearing as they eat."