Open Starting Fires Wherever We Go

[Celia Vu]

Strictly speaking, Celia did not need to do the "homework" Professor Castillo had assigned them. There was no way he could check whether they had actually practiced fire and illumination spells as he'd told them to. Plus, she didn't really need the practice. Fire charms were some of her favorite spells, and she deployed them liberally both inside and outside duels. She found it oddly empowering to know she could produce something so destructive with a simple wave of her wand.

So Celia had made the long walk to the towers after dinner not to practice fire spells, but fire scrying. It was an area of divination she had relatively little experience in, and she figured it was about time she changed that. Fire was a notoriously chaotic method of divination, but perhaps it could tell her something that her tarot cards and tea leaves couldn't. Celia found an isolated spot and sat down on a large windowsill. When she was younger, she used to spend a lot of time up here, gazing out into the distance and daydreaming of flying far, far away. It was too dark to see much now, but she spared a glance at the stars before turning her attention to the candle she'd brought. "Incendio." The wick caught fire, and Celia tried to empty her mind as she stared to the side of the flame, waiting for a vision to emerge.

 

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara hadn't been writing to her family as much during the school year, with leading Heta and all the additional quidditch practice (which paid off). She had spent a good deal of time writing individual letters to her dads and sisters, as well as a few other members of the company that she missed dearly. The whole group was less like a business and more like a family, and while Elara knew that dynamic would change somewhat once she took over, she hoped to still have everyone by her side.

Having given all her letters to a few different owls so their could actually carrying the multiple scrolls, she headed back down the stairs into the castle. It had been empty on her way up, but she saw a light dance near a window and realized a person was nearby. As she got closer, she could tell it was Celia, a familiar face from Heta, but not someone she had particularly been interested in getting to know. The girl seemed rather abrasive, and Elara liked to keep her world as positive as possible. But as she walked by, she knew it would at least be polite to greet the Slytherin. "Good evening, Celia," she said with a bright tone, wondering what exactly she was doing setting fire to things at night.

 

[Celia Vu]

The most difficult part of scrying, Celia had discovered, was the waiting. It wasn't like tasseography or cartomancy, where she was guaranteed to see something. Sometimes she spent an entire hour staring at a mirror or bowl of water only for nothing to appear. Tonight, though, the flame was alive. It didn't take long for a silhouette to emerge in the fire. She strained to make sense of the shape. It was slim, oriented vertically. The end was pointed and—

Celia flinched violently at the sound of a voice, and the flame shook wildly but did not go out. She blinked hard and glanced up at the intruder, bright spots still dancing in her vision. "Elara?" It took a moment for the Gryffindor to come into focus. Celia frowned a little, unsure what Elara wanted. The girl's bright tone felt out of place in the dark tower. "What are you doing here?"

 

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara was taken aback as she made eye contact with Celia, her hand hovering near her own pocket. She wasn't afraid, but the whole situation felt weird to her, and she wasn't the biggest fan of the inside of some of the towers at night. "I was just finishing up some letters. Or, sending letters. I had to coax a few owls who didn't seem to want to take the trip," she rambled, unsure of why she just didn't stop with the first letters. "Are you... practicing some spells or something?" Elara asked the Slytherin. She realized that she was asking a prefect what they were doing, but Celia did spook Elara a little if she was being honest. The idea of getting hit by the girl's bludger at any point during quidditch was on Elara's "Top 10 Worst Things That Could Happen at Hogwarts" list.

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia stared blankly at Elara as the girl started rambling about letters, wondering where this was going. She had to resist the urge to clarify her question. She didn't want to know what trivial errand had sent Elara to the towers; she wanted to know why Elara had stopped to greet her. After all, they weren't friends. The Gryffindor's question made Celia narrow her eyes slightly. Was Elara trying to get her in trouble? It was a bold move, considering that one of them was wearing a prefect badge, and it wasn't Elara. "I'm scrying," she said smoothly. "Pyromancy," she added in case it wasn't obvious by the lack of other possible scrying tools. "Are you familiar with it?" Elara was a seventh year, and Celia wasn't too proud to get divination tips from an older student — assuming Elara even took Divination.