Open No owls were harmed, unfortunately

[Morrie Ayre]

Out of Character:

Tw: Thread contains bullying, vomiting slugs jinx, and some attempted violence towards animals.

Morrie stormed into the owlery slightly out of breath from all the stairs. She was holding a half crumpled letter, crumpled from the tight grip she had on it. She hadn’t heard from her mum since before the term started. Not one measly letter. Not to her. Not to Sofi. Normally she just left it, but Morrie was mad and had taken matters into her own hands. She’d written it all down, all her anger and true feelings about her upbringing and family, and none of it was complimentary. Now all she needed was an owl to take it to her mother so Morrie could feel better about it.

“Get down here!” Morrie ordered an owl, waving the letter in the air. “I’ve got this to send, you stupid bird!” When the owl didn’t move, she tried coaxing another. Then another. But it was like they’d all decided to ignore her and Morrie was far too angry for this. She took her wand out and cast “Stupefy!” up to the rafters. The stunning spell shot upwards but missed all the owls, leaving the spell to hit the ceiling instead. "Oh, come on!” she yelled, stamping her foot angrily. She looked at the now badly crumpled letter in her hand and wondered if sending it was even worth it after all.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Since the twins were born, Eurydice had told herself that she was going to be writing home more frequently than last year. She was already missing so much at home and even just reading about it would hopefully make her feel better about missing home so much. She'd taken to avoiding Kael-nii just a bit after having talked with Terror-san and Elio-nii. She was just a bit nervous about her brother finding out about certain things. Which was why she was going to be using the school owl to write home instead of asking her brother if she could have Epi, her brother's short-eared owl, bring the letter. Climbing up to the Owlery was something Eurydice was starting to get accustomed to. As soon as she got there though and saw Morrie screaming at the poor birds, Eury froze, clutching her letter close to her chest. She swallowed and considered backing away but decided against it. Morrie hadn't noticed her yet as she flung a spell up to the ceiling which made Eurydice flinch but she continued on anyway, sticking close to the wall as she looked up at the owls. She smiled as she met the eyes of one and she extended an arm, silently beckoning them to her. The owl hooted and flew down, landing on her shoulder so she pulled her arm back, reaching into her pocket to grab some treats which she fed the owl. "Hi," she whispered, "Send a letter for me?" And as Eurydice ran a finger through the owl's feathers, she'd forgotten all about the other girl in the room.​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Did Eurydice think Morrie hadn't seen her or something? Morrie was looking straight at her, her gaze drawn to the hooting owl now sitting on her shoulder, which didn't seem at all fair. None of the school owls had come to sit on Morrie's shoulder. The redhead was already so furious and seeing that Hufflepuff having no problem with an owl made her boil.

The letter she'd written was now a crumpled ball, she took a couple of steps closer then threw it towards the owl on Eurydice's shoulder to try scare it off her. The logic was simple, if Morrie couldn't send her letter then neither can Eurydice. Her other hand was still holding her wand and she mulled over if a spell might serve her better.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice was pretty content to feed the owl treats before sending him off with her letter. It would be a long trip after all. It was stupid of her, however, to forget that Morrie was still in the owlery with her even if the other girl had gone silent. She'd only remembered when a projectile came her way which made the owl panic. Next thing Eury knew the owl was wildly flapping its wings, digging its talons on her robe and shoulder and screeching furiously at the Slytherin. "Shhh, it's okay, it's okay," she said in much the same panic because those talons and feathers hurt. The owl didn't calm though and took off out of the Owlery, screeching which made Eury turn to glare at the Slytherin. No matter how Eury looked at it, that was uncalled for. She had been minding her own business until Morrie decided to throw whatever it was at her. Picking it up as it landed not too far from her feet, Eury threw the crumpled ball out of the window - at least now, Morrie wouldn't be able to throw it at her. The Hufflepuff then turned to leave the Owlery - she could always send her letter later.​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Morrie’s face turned from cruel amusement watching the owl panic, to scarlet fury when Eurydice had the nerve to throw her letter out the window. That letter had contained a lot of personal information and she dread to think who would find it. Morrie was so angry that she'd done that, that for a moment, she just stood there, gripping her wand so tightly her knuckles turned white. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she snapped, "You just threw the letter to my mum out the window. That's sick." Without waiting for a response, Morrie raised her wand, her lips curling into a dangerous smirk. “Fine, if you want to be sick, then eat slugs!” she aimed and cast slug vomiting curse in the direction of Eurydice and watched to see what she'd do.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice hadn’t really thought about what Morrie used to throw at her except that it was a piece of paper - trash, to be precise. After all, who else would throw important stuff at other people. And who would let important stuff look like that anyway. So needless to say, the Hufflepuff was quite surprised when Morrie screamed at her for throwing a letter to her mum out the window. She didn’t really believe the older girl though so she just kept on walking towards the door. She almost made before she heard the Slytherin start yelling again and the beginnings of a spell. Eurydice’s wand was out in a second as she cast a shield, “Protego!” Too late and too weak. The spell broke through the shield and hit her squarely in the chest. Nothing happened at first and Eury had almost thought that Morrie’s spell had failed. Until she started gagging. The back of her throat felt disgusting and slimey. And she threw up with a force, tears brimming. A slug had just come out of her mouth. Oh Merlin. There was no time to think, nonononono… She threw up another one.​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Morrie hadn’t thought about what would happen after casting the curse or if it would even work. Details like that never crossed her mind in the moment. Most students would’ve blocked or dodged it anyway so this wasn’t her fault. If Eurydice had been better at casting protego then this wouldn’t have happened. And of course, if Eurydice hadn’t thrown Morrie’s letter out the window, she wouldn't have felt the need to curse her in the first place.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust when the first slug came up, “Eww!” Morrie realised, somewhat belatedly, that this scene didn’t look good on her. She would be in trouble if someone walked in now, so in a bid to try look less guilty, Morrie stowed away her wand and half heartedly tried to help. Her eyes darted around the owlery, and she spotted a metal feeding bucket in the corner. Grabbing it, she held it out. “Here. For the slugs” she said, “Don’t worry, you'll be fine. They’ll pass in like, twenty minutes? Maybe?” She didn't know how long the curse lasted, but twenty minutes sounded about right. Probably. "And I think owls eat slugs you know.” Not waiting for a response, Morrie sidestepped Eurydice and the slugs, then made her way toward the door to leave before the slug vomiting got worse.