Rainbow In an Oil Slick

[Lucinda Sylvester]

Lucinda hadn't been at Hogwarts for very long, but it already felt like a place she would be quite happy to call home for the next few years. Not only was her house down in the dungeons of a castle, with spooky flickering lights guiding her to and from the rest of the castle every day, but the professor who was the head of that house was also sufficiently warlock-looking, in her opinion. He was even named after one of the rivers of the Underworld, she presumed, which was an unexpected bonus. She was very clearly in the best house of the lot - Lucinda even liked the way the green parts of her uniform looked against the black of her robes. And that was all just the surface of her satisfaction at being here. There was evidence of magic everywhere she looked, and she was completely ready to start learning it herself already.

Too bad none of her lessons had got that far yet, which brought a scowl to Lucinda's face. It was the whole reason she was curled up in an alcove along one of the corridors with one of her spell books, unsuccessfully trying to learn how to make an apple levitate. She wasn't using her wand yet, of course, because she felt there was no need to baby herself with the magical equivalent of training wheels unless she truly needed to... but it was beginning to look like she might need to, she thought with a grimace. One more try, at least. Sticking her hand out over the apple Lucinda used it to copy the motion the book described this time, still making sure to speak the incantation clearly. However, it continued to be to no avail, and Lucinda fell into staring moodily at the apple, not yet quite accepting that she probably wouldn't be able to levitate it at all yet without using her wand.

 

[Zoe Westwick]

Zoe hadn't expected it, but she loved this castle. It was so big and old, there had to be hundreds of secrets buried in it. And so many towers! Her home was so close to the stars, it would be so easy to take her telescope out every night and just watch for aliens... or spend some time in that forest... if it was so forbidden, there must be some pretty exciting secrets in there. Sure they had said it was forbidden, but Zoe was pretty sure she could guess what her big sister would say about that. So much to do and explore. It was a dream come true.

For now, exploring seemed like the best way to use her free time, getting to know this castle and seeing what it was like, where the oddities were and what the people did. The corridors and staircases were fascinating, and Zoe was struggling to see how anyone here got anything done, when they had such an interesting place around them to explore. She was wandering along one such corridor, when a girl caught her eye, giving Zoe reason to pause. She was tucked away from the corridor - so much so that Zoe almost hadn't seen her - and she seemed to be gesturing at an apple and chanting to herself. Scooting a little closer, Zoe realised the girl was trying to cast a spell... but her wand was nowhere in sight. Rocking back and forth on her feet, Zoe leaned a little closer as she spoke up. "I think you'd have a bit more success if you tried using your wand. Did you lose it?"

 

[Lucinda Sylvester]

Having stared at the apple just long enough for her brooding to make her feel better, Lucinda had practically given in and come to the decision to use her wand on her own. She was just about to draw it out of the pocket of her robes when a voice interrupted her, and her head darted up to take in the person who had addressed her. Once she was satisfied that the girl wasn't laughing at or ridiculing her, Lucinda felt secure enough to reply somewhat civilly. "I didn't lose it, no." Narrowing her eyes in contemplation she once again cast a look over the girl in front of her, eventually deciding that it would be worth finding out if she was an interesting person to talk to. Lucinda hadn't hated her on sight, after all. "I wanted to see if I could learn the spell without it - true witches don't use them, so I don't want to either." Whether or not she would have the ability to stay true to that wish (and it was increasingly looking like 'not'), Lucinda was prepared for the other girl to disagree with her statement. It seemed an annoyingly common thought among the people here, unfortunately. What did matter was how the girl would disagree, as it would cement Lucinda's opinion of her in an instant.

 

[Zoe Westwick]

hi

Zoe wasn't sure what she had expected the other girl to say, but it quite certainly wasn't that. It didn't make any sense - the whole point of being here was to learn to use a wand, why would she think they wouldn't use them? "Oh." She said uncertainly, tilting her head to the side. Maybe the girl just didn't know very much about magic yet - she might be muggleborn. Gentling her tone slightly, Zoe smiled. "Well, my mum uses a wand and she's definitely a true witch, and so does my dad, and he's a true wizard, so I think they must be pretty important to the whole thing." She rocked back and forth on her feet for a moment, mentally debating what to say for a long moment, before adding; "What kind of true witches do you mean?"