Look So Good In Green

[Thistle Carnahan]

It had been years now since Felix started Hogwarts and left her all alone at home, and Thistle still hadn't gotten used to it. Growing up in the hustle-bustle of a house chock full of siblings and watching them all move away one by one had left a quiet ache in her, desperately missing her brothers and sister while they were away at Hogwarts year after year. She lived for the holidays twice a year, when the house felt like home again - the chaos of Sawyer and Felix, Theia's quiet grumbling, it made life feel normal again.

There were downsides of having so many people at home though - the bathroom was a mess of different products, and Thistle had given up trying to find her own things in the mess, just washing her hair with whichever shampoo was nearest - Sawyer's, judging by the strong smell. It wasn't until she was lathering that Thistle noticed the strange colour of the bubbles. Green - her hair was full of green froth, and she was pretty sure it wasn't something this shampoo didn't usually do. Some kind of haircare potion Sawyer had added, perhaps. It wasn't until Thistle looked in the mirror after getting dressed that she realised what had happened. Running her fingers through the result a few times, Thistle found she didn't actually mind. In fact, the bright green that had replaced her dark-blonde hair looked quite fun. Still, this reeked of Felix, and as fun as their prank war was Thistle knew Sawyer would likely be Actually Upset by this one. So she wandered out to the living room where her brothers were hanging out, unable to quite keep the grin off her face as she spoke. "Hey Sawyer, there's something wrong with your shampoo."

 

[Felix Carnahan]

Felix was sitting on the floor with a deck of cards in front of him. He was trying to perfect a new trick and it giving him some trouble. He tried to ignore that Sawyer was there all together. Their prank war had started harmlessly enough. with a handful of Only Bad Flavour Beans here and few stink pellets left around there. But they had escalated recently and Felix had found himself on the losing end. But that wouldn't be the case for long. He ran his hand down his face to hide the fact he was smiling. The hair dye was ready and waiting to strike and he couldn't wait. That was until he heard Thistle's footsteps and registered what she said. Without looking up he felt his eyes go wide and his heart started to race. Did she say Sawyer's shampoo? Slowly he looked up and he felt his stomach drop. Thistle's hair was bright green and he knew his life was soon going to be over.

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

Sawyer was spread out across the couch in the lounge, enjoying seeing how close he could dangle his foot to Felix's face before he got a reaction. With the way things were between the two of them right he'd found the only time he could completely relax without worrying about a biting teacup instead of his mug or cockroach clusters in his shoes was to keep Felix in his line of sight at all times. Even if it meant being subject to any number of tedious magic tricks in the meantime.

Sawyer slid his head over the arm of the couch curious as Thistle came in, trying to puzzle out exactly what she'd just said as he stared at her upside down for a few moments. "What..." He managed, swinging himself up onto his feet and over to Thistle fast enough to make himself feel dizzy. "Felix. Why is Thistle green," he said, voice flat enough to hopefully convey the level of danger they were in as he picked at Thistle's hair. "Thistle, I'm so sorry, we'll get it washed out, I'm sure I manage a- A colour changing charm or something?" He said, trying to alternate between a reassuring, placating tone so Thistle wouldn't panic and alert Theia while also trying to kill Felix with his eyes alone.

 

[Thistle Carnahan]

If Thistle had disliked the green hair, it would all be worth it and then some for the look on Felix's face. As it was she could enjoy his horror wholeheartedly, eyes light with glee. She had wanted to find a way in on their prank war ever since the boys had come home, and she was well and truly in now. She giggled when Sawyer apologised, though she pulled away quickly when he offered to fix it. "No!" She said urgently, clapping her hands on top of her head. "I like it! I don't wanna change it back!"

 

[Felix Carnahan]

Felix wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor. He was tempted to break the floorboards himself if that would get him out of here. He winced as Sawyer asked him about Thistle’s hair. He wasn’t sure there was anything he could say that wouldn’t make him sound instantly guilty, which he was but his self preservation instinct was kicking in hard. “I don’t know.” he mumbled with a shrug even though Felix knew his face was on fire. He relaxed a little when Sawyer started to come up with ways to fix this. Sawyer could technically do magic outside of school now. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Felix jumped up reflexively as Thistle yelled and held up his hands, hoping that Theia or dad wouldn’t hear. “You don’t want green hair when you start school do you?” he tried to reason.

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

"Like Hell-" Sawyer started when Felix denied responsibility, taking a threatening step towards his brother before stopping himself with a deep, controlled breath. They were in enough trouble here if they couldn't convince Thistle to let them redye her hair without him adding a brawl to the list, as much fun as it would be to jinx Felix into oblivion right now. He settled for pointing violently at Felix before turning his attention back to Thistle, flinching when she vehemently rejected his first suggestion. "Please, Thistle, Worm, Theia's gonna kill us if we leave it like this," he reasoned, voice climbing dangerously close to whining. Felix was right, if Thistle kept her hair like this with school right around the corner then Sawyer could just as well kiss his own last year goodbye because Theia would murder them both.

 

[Thistle Carnahan]

Thistle snorted softly when Felix denied his role, giving him a flat disbelieving look. She scoffed when he mentioned school, raising an eyebrow. "Of course I do!" Thistle insisted. "Green hair is cool, everyone's gonna think I'm awesome!" Thistle hadn't really given much thought to making new friends at school, figuring she would spend most of her time with her scout friends or her brothers, but green hair seemed like a great way to make a first impression. She gave Sawyer a frustrated look when he mentioned Theia, taking another step back. "It's my hair, she can't tell me what to do! If I want green hair I'm gonna have green hair!"

 

[Felix Carnahan]

Felix was a little annoyed that no one seemed to believe his lie. But he had to admit it wasn’t a very good lie and he was generally known as a bad liar. He let out a panicked whine when Thistle seemed unmoved by their argument. Sawyer was right. Theia would kill them for letting a prank like this get out of hand. “What if we all dye our hair?” Felix said, the words falling out of his mouth before he realized what exactly he was saying. His eyes went wide again. That could work in theory. “Theia can’t kill all of us.” he added quietly. A looming sense of dread started to fall over him. Was he really about to go back to school with green hair?

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

Sawyer decided to save his opinion on Thistle's expectations about school, he wasn't exactly worried about what everyone else was going to think right now, he'd definitely seen weirder fashion choices around Hogwarts, he was more concerned what their sister was going to do if she found out Sawyer and Felix's little prank war had escalated enough for collateral damage.

He'd just been considering if he had enough leverage to bribe Thistle into letting them fix it when Felix offered a different idea, making Sawyer pause with his mouth open. "That... might actually work," he said, surprised at his brothers pragmatism as he eyed Felix's hair grimly. "I think we can get away with it if we make it look like it was... on purpose," he said, tugging at a piece of his own hair that had fallen in his own eyes for a moment before letting the curl spring back with a sigh. "And Theia never finds out, right?" He added, fixing Felix with a warning glare, the unspoken threat that he would take his little brother down with him if he dared snitch. It wasn't exactly how he'd planned on his final year of school starting, but it was better than the alternative...

 

[Thistle Carnahan]

As defensive as she had been a moment ago, Thistle's eyes lit up in delight at Felix's suggestion. Going to Hogwarts for her first year with green hair would be undeniably cool, but matching with her big brothers?! "YES!" Thistle said insistently, nodding her hair eagerly. It was actually a surprise when Sawyer agreed, but she certainly wasn't going to look that gift horse in the mouth. "YEAH!" Thistle said eagerly, bouncing a little on her toes. "Yeah, we tell her we all did this together on purpose! And then we'll all match when we're at school and it'll look so cool!"

 

[Felix Carnahan]

Felix was regretting this idea already. He noticed the way Sawyer eyes his hair and he made a face. "If we do this it... will technically be on purpose." he pointed out feeling grim about the whole situation. He nearly jumped when he noticed how serious Sawyer looked and he nodded quickly. "Never." he agreed solemnly and held out his pinky to promise and make the pact for real. He was at least glad Thistle was excited about all this. And in some ways that was the most important part. If she had hated it they would be dead already. "That would be kind of cool." he admitted when Thistle pointed out they would all match. Most of the time it didn't bother him that he didn't look exactly like his siblings but their resemblances to each other were always a bit stronger. At least this way they'd all have at least one thing in common.