Closed Heart of a Phoenix

[Harper Alston]

Harper was in good spirits. Not only had she emerged from her first duel injury-free, but she had also managed to secure a win. It was a bit unfortunate that her win meant Sky's loss, but at least there didn't seem to be any hard feelings. In fact, the duel had been quite fun, and things were only going to get better since they had agreed to get ice cream before the next round of pairings were released.

The kitchens were quiet, a welcome moment of calm after the excitement in the duelling chamber. As soon as they entered the room, Harper hopped onto a nearby countertop, figuring that Sky could handle retrieving the ice cream on her own (she had lost after all). "Don't forget my extra sprinkles," she teased, swinging her legs. She paused before adopting a slightly more thoughtful tone. "Who do you think is advancing to the next round? I hope Hilda makes it." It would be cool if she and Hilda both made it to finals.

 

[Skylar Anderson]

The duel with Harper had been heaps of fun, and Skylar didn't even mind that she'd lost. Harper was great duellist so she wasn't surprised, and at least it had been heaps of fun with her, especially since it was her first time duelling. But having lost to her meant she now had to get her ice cream, which wasn't all too bad anyway. "Which flavour did you want again?" Skylar asked as she entered the kitchens, before she began rummaging through the fridge, looking for where the ice creams were kept. She laughed a bit as Harper mentioned the extra sprinkles, "Oh don't worry, you can get so many sprinkles that it'll end up being half ice cream and half sprinkles if you want!" she added with a grin.

She had just begun choosing which flavour she'd get for herself when the conversation turned back to duelling, and who would progress to the next round. "I honestly don't know, but it'll be cool to see who wins from some of the friendships and rivalries I saw got paired up for the first round." Skylar remembered being quite surprised when she saw the pairs, and was almost certain half of them weren't a coincidence. "Oh yeah, that'd be so cool!" she added, having almost forgotten that Hilda was participating too. "Well if that does happen I think we should definitely host a Gryffindor girls ice cream party! Just as a celebration of some of us doing it in the first place." she added with a grin.

 

[Harper Alston]

"Are there any magical flavors in there?" Harper asked curiously, trying to crane her neck — not that she could see anything. "Wait, no. I'll just have cookie dough. I don't want to accidentally eat fish ice cream and end up throwing up before the next round." Magical people had strange tastes, and Harper decided now was probably not the best time to be adventurous. Especially when there was a very real risk of vomiting in the next round, thanks to whatever twisted mind had decided that inventing a slug vomiting curse was a good idea. "Good, I want it to crunch," she said with a grin as Sky promised to overload her portion with sprinkles.

As Sky got the ice cream ready, Harper leaned over to one of the cabinets and dug out two glasses. It was tricky maneuvering herself while she was still sitting on the counter, but she scooted over to the tap to fill them up. "Do you think they did that on purpose?" she asked, setting aside a glass of water for Sky. "They had to have matched us on purpose, right?" Not that she was complaining too much. Still, the optimal outcome would have of course been both her and Sky moving on to the next round. Harper brightened at the idea of a party. "We should do that anyways! There haven't been nearly enough parties in Gryffindor this year." Which was a real shame, considering Gryffindor was one of the best spots in the castle. "How much food do you think we could sneak out without anyone noticing?" she asked, grinning.

 

[Skylar Anderson]

As soon as she'd scooped Harper's ice cream into a bowl and added as many sprinkles as she could, she presented it to her with a flourish. "Your ice cream, ma'am." she added, bowing with a completely straight face. As she straightened up again though she couldn't help but let a grin settle on her face, before she grabbed her own ice cream. "Remember that picnic we once had outside by the lake? We could do something similar maybe." she wondered out loud as Harper agreed with the idea of having a Gryffindor party. "Imagine inviting all the Gryffindors to take part instead of just our small group, it'd be so much fun! And we could do it outside by the lake again, since that'll be big enough, and I'm sure the house elves could help us prepare the food if we asked nicely enough..." Skylar trailed off in thought, although her eyes had lit up with enthusiasm. "Although sneaking food out is definitely a good option too." she grinned, glancing around the kitchen to see whether there was anything they could take. She spotted a few biscuits lying out on a plate, and jumped off the counter to go pick a few up. "These seem like a good start!" she said with a mischievous smile, before she broke one of them up and placed it onto her ice cream. "Nobody will ever know..." she said in a low voice as she placed the remaining few in a tissue which she promptly stuck into her pocket.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper grinned. "Why thank you," she said, matching Sky's serious tone as she took the bowl. Sky had done well; she could barely see any ice cream past all the sprinkles. Harper nodded, smiling fondly, at the mention of the picnic. The five girls of course saw each other every day in the dorms, but it had been a while since they had hung out as a group. Harper wondered belatedly if they should have waited for Hilda's duel to finish and invited her to join them for their ice cream break. "Yes, let's throw a Gryffindor lake party! We'll have to do it soon before it gets too cold to swim. Or do you think there's some kind of spell that could heat up the lake?" There seemed to be a spell for everything.

She laughed as Sky took a couple of biscuits. "I'm not sure that's enough for a Gryffindor party," she joked. Harper set her bowl of ice cream down before rummaging through a cabinet to find another packet of biscuits. She added a couple to her bowl and took a bite — another great idea from Sky. "I guess it'd take forever to steal enough food," she conceded. "But—" she lowered her voice, "—the house elves still kind of freak me out. I can't believe some people have them living in their house." Harper found the concept of maids and housekeepers foreign enough. Before starting Hogwarts, she hadn't known anyone rich enough to afford one. House elves took that concept to the next level.