Blood, Sweat and Tears

[Mervyn Strangewayes]

Mervyn didn't like to admit it, but he was lost without Leda. He'd yet to make any other real friends, so now that he and the Slytherin fallen out, he had nobody for company but himself. The loneliness was made even more miserable by the fact everybody seemed to think he was a swindler ever since he'd tried to raise money for his professors. All right, perhaps they'd approached their fund-raising the wrong way, and maybe the charity was a little patronising, but his heart had been in the right place. He sighed as he sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, wondering whether to pretend he was fine, so that if Leda glanced across the room, she wouldn't be able to gloat. He poured himself a glass of orange juice and buttered some toast, already dreading his first lesson of the morning. Classes were even more boring without Leda to laugh with.

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

Solomon wasn't the nicest of people, and he was well aware of that. Being an ass was necessary to help combat the boredom he felt while surrounded by such mediocre people. Typically it was fine, but when people tried to get back at him for it, that was when things got messy. Take a particular Gryffindor boy for example, who had threatened to complain to Solomon's manager at the Apothecary, when all Solomon was trying to do was help the boy speak some proper words for a change. It was hardly his fault that the guy wasn't open to help and feedback. Unfortunately for the Gryffindor, whether he'd known it at the time or not, Solomon attended the same wizarding school as he did, and the Slytherin was not particularly fond of idle threats from a mundane, non-metamorphmagus nobody.

Sitting opposite Mervyn, Solomon wore a face unlike his own. Loose curls of dark hair hung from his head, and his usually somewhat pallor coloring was now nicely sun-tanned. Looking so drastically different from how he did the last time they'd met gave Sol the benefit of surprise, one he took great advantage of with a special blend of sweets he'd ordered over the holidays to experiment with. A select few items from a skiving snackbox had all been combined and cleverly disguised as just another glass of orange juice on the Gryffindor table, much like the one young Mervyn had just poured himself. With a subtle use of the switching spell, Solomon quietly swapped the places of his and Mervyn's glasses and watched with some interest for the youth to take his first sip.
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[Mervyn Strangewayes]

It didn't take Mervyn long to get thirsty, and, not suspecting a thing, he took a large gulp of his juice. It tasted a little sweeter than usual, but not unpleasant. He was just starting to think he preferred it this way when he felt a warm trickle under his nose. Lifting his hand to dab at it, he caught a glimpse of red, and blanched. Bleeding. He was bleeding. Panic-stricken, he grabbed a napkin to stem the flow. He wanted to get up, to take himself away from the table and those eating breakfast at it, but he was frozen rigid in fear. He'd never had a nosebleed before, and he was terrified of blood. What was he supposed to do?!

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire had been looking for Alkander- she had some questions for him- when she saw the one bloke spike the other ones drink. She paused and watched a moment- she couldn't quite resist seeing wizard pranks in action.

This one had an interesting affect. She hadn't seen a magic nosebleed before. Curious, she went and took a seat next to the bleeding kid, moving his hands and wiping the blood from his face without really thinking.

"That's a new trick," She thought aloud. "It's what, that noseblood nugget or nooget or what?" She continued, not bothering to stop and think how her presence could be taken.

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

The look on Mervyn's face from the nosebleed alone was almost worth it. It was what Solomon had considered the tamest of the symptoms, but he hadn't considered how squeamish people could be. It only got better from here. The Slytherin scribbled down a note on his small sheet of parchment, documenting the order in which the symptoms showed themselves to have for future reference, in case he ever needed to try this again. When he glanced back up, a girl had joined the table and was helping to clean Mervyn up. "Nougat." He corrected. "And it's nothing compared to what should come next. You may want to give the poor boy some space." This was just the beginning, and if the Gryffindor thought it was bad now, he was not going to enjoy the rest of it. "Perhaps you should have bought that mortar after all, Strangewayes. Might have come in handy to crush up some ingredients for an antidote." He couldn't resist the comment, and as he spoke to him, he allowed his morphed features to slowly return to their normal state, a more familiar face for Mervyn to recognise, and to think twice about before threatening again. As he was seated opposite to the boy, the metamorph kept his wand ready for a quick and easy shield charm if necessary, just in case it got a little too messy. He was wearing new robes after all, and the last thing he needed was the Gryffindor's breakfast all over them.
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[Mervyn Strangewayes]

Embarrassed, Mervyn ducked away from the younger Slytherin girl who had suddenly seated herself next to him. What was she talking about? He hadn't eaten any nosebleed noo-whatever. He looked up as the boy sat opposite corrected her. What was he talking about?! Mervyn grabbed the tissue back from Sapphire and pinched it over his nose, which only seemed to be bleeding more heavily. In addition to that, a hot sweat was breaking out on his neck, making his shirt collar feel too tight. The strange symptoms were so frightening that Solomon's comment hardly registered until Mervyn saw his face suddenly shift and morph. Then it all became sickeningly clear: the sweetness of his drink, the remark about the mortar, the nausea rising rapidly in his throat. Still clutching the tissue to his nose with one hand, he flung the other over his mouth, to little avail; before he could even get up from the table, he vomited. Tears stung his eyes as he scrambled to get up, his robes damp with sweat and all manner of other unpleasant things. One skiving snackbox sweet would have been a cruel joke, but three? Mervyn wanted nothing more than to disappear between the cracks of the stone floor. Starting to hyperventilate, he half-ran, half-stumbled toward the door.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire glanced between the two of them, silent as she processed what was happening. Something had happened, definitely, but this seemed a little brutal for a prank. She was a little torn as the bleeding bloke pulled back, and the other bloke- whose freaking face changed had distracted her, the bleeding boy hurled. Everywhere. She jumped back on instinct, watching in surprise as the other boy jumped from the table and half bolted for the door.

After a split second of confusion, she dashed off after him. Whatever this was, it was way over the top. If you had an issue with someone, this was not the proper way to handle it. Worry ate at her gut as she caught up to the older boy, grabbing his arms and attempting to drag him with a strength surprising for her size out the door and away from other kids. "Come on," She commanded, not bothered by the smell coming from him.

 

[Solomon Mordaunt]

Solomon's face broke into a very smug grin once the Gryffindor started vomiting. He couldn't imagine what it must have felt like, the nosebleed, the nausea, the fever, the boils that were no doubt going to break out in very unpleasant areas. This was perfect. Balance had been restored and the world was right again. Pleased with himself, Solomon sat back and raised his glass of orange juice, before thinking better of taking a sip. He knew it was fine, but after watching Mervyn dash out looking like an awful mess, the juice suddenly looked and smelled very unappealing. Instead, he took his notes and left the Great Hall, just in case the younger boy and his little heroine girlfriend decided to try return with a professor, though something told Solomon that Mervyn would be preoccupied for quite some time.
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