Open Sweeter Than This

[Harper Alston]

Harper had had a lot of fun at the Yule Ball, so there hadn't ever really been a question of whether she was going to the Valentine's Dance. No, she didn't have a date. She didn't even have a new dress. But she didn't really care. As long as the food and the music were good, she would be fine. At the very least, she might be able to catch up with some of her friends. As far as she knew, they didn't have dates either.

It soon became clear, however, that the vibe of the Valentine's Dance was very different. The Great Hall was incredibly pink, which Harper thought clashed with the dark green leaves and vines that intertwined across the ceiling. Rose petals were falling everywhere, and even though roses were normally her favorite flower, she thought it all a bit much. Even the music was... less than ideal. A pair of harps were playing very slow, very romantic music — definitely not something you could jump around to. Hopefully something more upbeat would start up soon.

In the meantime, she planned on sampling all of the treats. Harper made her way to one of the tables and poured herself a cup of punch. As she sipped, she studied the pastries laid out, trying to decide what to start with. She also glanced around furtively to see what other people were eating. She'd been burned one too many times by magical treats, and while she didn't really expect Hogwarts to serve anything too unpleasant, she decided she'd try exercising a little more caution for now.

 

[Blake Lodge]

Blake was arriving at the dance. She was alone on Valentine's Day this year which didn't happen since she was seven. She was all about single independent woman kind of vibes this year. She saw Harper around the snacks table giving out some serious sketchy vibes.
Blake tried to go silently behind her and surprise but the sound of her heels probably made that impossible, or not as the music was too loud.
"So, we meet again. Is it weird that we meet every time that there's a party?" she said with some giggles. It was odd that she met Harper, her roommate, at parties all the time but it was also kind of funny.
When she saw Harper outfit she frowned a bit "Same dress? You could have said something I'd happily let you borrow one of mines" she said hoping the girl would take her advice next time. "Anyway, why the sneaky glances? You trying to do tsomething you are not supposed to?" she asked almost forget to, even though it was the main reason why she approached Harper.

 

[Harper Alston]

A familiar voice, which sounded startlingly close, interrupted Harper's thoughts, and she flinched before turning. There was Blake, once again dressed to the nines in what Harper was sure was a ridiculously expensive outfit. "Blake! You scared me!" She grinned at her roommate, happy to have run across someone she knew. They weren't exactly friends — Blake seemed to have completely different interests — but they got along well enough and Harper had had fun dancing with her at the Yule Ball.

At Blake's comment about her dress, Harper shrugged. "I forgot to bring another dress from home." She'd meant to, but it had completely slipped her mind after she had gotten caught up in the excitement of seeing her friends and family for the first time in four months. Besides, she didn't see what was so wrong about repeating an outfit. "Thanks for the offer, but I think we have very different styles," Harper said with a laugh. She didn't like girly clothing, and she couldn't imagine wearing any of Blake's fancy stuff. She'd be too worried about accidentally ruining an expensive dress.

Harper shook her head and blushed slightly when Blake asked if she was up to something. It seemed that she was not being as sneaky as she had thought. Hopefully no one else had noticed. "I'm just trying to figure out what's safe to eat," she said, knowing full well that she might sound a bit paranoid. Harper turned her gaze toward a nearby older student who came forward, took a heart-shaped pastry, and bit into it. They didn't turn into a bird or sprout horns or look sick, so Harper reached over and plucked a pastry from the same pile. "I've decided not to trust anything I can't recognize. Magical food can be weird."

 

[Blake Lodge]

Blake looked at her with a puzzled look "What about our different styles? This is a very simple dress that I'm wearing, there are simple designer dresses like the ones you like. I just do a little thing called accessorising" she said as she gave a wink at the girl in this last part.
Blake glanced at the snacks table, she saw some familiar things and others that seemed to be similar to what she had eating or that she might know but the difference was that these were heart shaped.
"Well, I'm familiar with most of these food since it's almost the same my parents used to have at our parties and galas. We still have them but my parents just throw parties separately. I tell you I'd invite you to one but even I don't like them" she said "That thing over there is so good" she added pointing at a purple and white pudding "It's made out of sugared violets. Trust me it sounds grosser than it is" she told Harper as she took a bit for herself.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper didn't know much about fashion, but Blake's dress did not look simple. Well, it kind of did. It was just black. But something about the length or the shape or the fabric made it seem like it was much too fancy for her taste. "Honestly, I don't even like dresses," she said with a small laugh. It was impossible to freely move around in them unless you were wearing shorts. And even then, the excess fabric often got in the way. Harper's eyes darted towards Blake's wrist at the mention of accessorizing. She definitely remembered the other girl bragging about the four thousand dollar bracelet she had stolen from her mum.

Harper cautiously took a bite of her pastry, which was quite sweet and seemed to be filled with raspberry jam. Nothing strange happened, so she took another bite, listening as Blake talked about her parents' parties. Harper frowned slightly. "Why don't you like their parties?" She was imagining elaborate affairs like the Yule Ball, which had been enjoyable even if she had had to dress up. And Blake certainly didn't seem like the kind of person who would pass up a chance to dress up. "Aren't parties by definition fun?" Her parents didn't really throw parties aside from birthday parties for her and her siblings. But they did sometimes invite a few of their friends and their families over during the summer for dinner, and the gatherings, though small, were always fun.

Blake pointed out a purple and white pudding, and Harper peered at it curiously. "What do violets even taste like?" Maybe she'd try it after she finished her pastry. It was a good thing Blake was here. She'd just follow the other girl's lead when it came to navigating the snack table.

 

[Blake Lodge]

Blake heard Harper saying she didn't like dresses, how could she not love them? They were just the best, of course that maybe some are extremely tight and that for the sake of being fashionable people have to suffer but she just nodded her head at Blake as if saying it was fair.
Blake gave Harper a small smile, she clearly didn't knew the bad side of parties among the rich "Well yes, they are supposed to be fun but with a bunch of snobs that pretend to care about you just to know how high in the social ladder you are is kinda bad. Even better when your parents throw inumerous charity galas just to show off how charitable they are and how big the house is." she said with frustration "Charity galas with auctions are the worst, my parents made me wear and show off the necklace or whatever they were auctioning around in the party, a lot of attention drawn to me...mostly because I'd be an great match to their sons...can you believe it? It's like arranged marriage is still a thing! In what century do those people live in?!" she finished saying, she clearly had more to vent than she thought she ever did. She hated how her parents cared so much about their social image so much, they hated each other's guts but if she asked anyone they wouldn't know that as her parents ended their marriage with a friend divorce party where the literally "cut the knot".
Blake was caught by surprise by Harper's question, she honestly had no idea how violets tasted. She had eaten that pudding tons of times, yet, she had no idea how it tasted like "Isn't it obvious? They taste purple of course" she said with a mocking smile pretending that it was a totally acceptable answer.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper's eyes widened as she listened to Blake's description of her parent's parties. She finished her pastry, making a sympathetic noise as Blake ranted. "That does sound... terrible," she finished lamely. Her roommate's world was completely foreign to Harper, so she couldn't really contribute to the conversation. But it seemed like Blake might just need someone to rant to, and Harper could be a good listener.

She couldn't help speaking, however, when Blake started talking about the auctions. "But you're just a kid," Harper said, surprised. "Are they actually planning an arranged marriage? Have you tried telling them no?" Marriage was ages away, as far as Harper was concerned. She could hardly imagine herself dating someone, much less marrying them. And the thought of her parents caring at all about who she liked was laughable. They'd barely blinked when her oldest brother had invited his first girlfriend over to their house for the first time. Blake's situation just sounded so strange.

Harper rolled her eyes at Blake's joke. "Ha ha," she said flatly. Still, she was curious and she took a small bit of the pudding for herself before tasting it. It mostly just tasted like sugar though it smelled floral. "Too sweet," Harper said with a grimace. She picked up a pastry that looked like a cream puff except the cream was a violent shade of pink. "This isn't going to turn me pink or anything, right?" she asked, only half joking.

 

[Blake Lodge]

Blake gave the other gorl an apologetic look, she felt bad for just dropping a bomb like that. "Oh hell no!" Blake said quickly looking at Harper "Technically they can't make me marry someone until I'm legally an adult, which is also the age I get access to my mom's money and a third of my dad's money. The secret is watch what I sign until I am eighteen, after I am eighteen I have enough money to do whatever I want and to be honest my parents won't probably stand up to me as I'll have access to their money all together making me rich, therefore more influential, than any of them. I'd drown them in problems if they ever wanted to go against me" she said as if it was the most natural thing in the world "You know, in our world, money equals power, if you have money then you are untouchable and my family has lots of that, meaning I'll have lots of that. Not wanting to brag though." she said with a painful expression as she had just realised that maybe she was making Harper feel inferior to her, it was not her intention at all.
Blake didn't laugh at Harper's joke about turning pink, instead she gave her a serious look as if saying she would turn pink but eventually ended up laughing "I don't think any of the food here has those kind of effects, there's just good food and bad food." she said still laughing "What made you so suspicious of food? You weren't like this at the Yule Ball" she questioned Harper.

 

[Harper Alston]

"Oh, well, that's good," Harper said when Blake assured her that her parents couldn't actually arrange a marriage, though "good" definitely felt like an understatement. She listened as Blake explained that she'd get access to her parent's money when she turned 18. There were times when Harper got frustrated that her parents seemed to overlook her in favor of her siblings, but it was clear that her issues paled in comparison to Blake's. She couldn't imagine having such an antagonistic relationship with her parents.

Blake started talking about the amount of money her family had, which Harper didn't find too surprising. After hearing about the bracelet incident, it was clear that Blake was very, very rich. "I dunno, sounds a bit like bragging to me," Harper teased, though there was no malice or resentment in her voice. She knew her parents weren't very rich. She'd always had to share a room at home, and she'd gotten a fair amount of hand-me-downs from her older brothers. But her parents had always been able to afford the basics, as well as all the sports she'd participated in through the years, and that was enough for her. She honestly hadn't put that much thought into her parents' financial status.

For a second, Blake looked serious at Harper's question about the cream puff. She frowned and put the pastry back down on her plate so that she could throw it away later. Blake then laughed, but Harper noted that the other girl hadn't definitively answered her question. The cream puff could stay where it was. "I got tricked into eating some kind of biscuit that turned me into a bird," she said. "It looked and tasted normal, but then I started sprouting bright yellow feathers." She laughed lightly. Harper could see the humor of the situation now, but at the time it had been terrifying. She hadn't known that food could do that, transfigure people into animals.

"So I'm just trying to be a bit more cautious now." It hadn't been too hard. Harper could eat whatever she wanted at mealtimes since the food was the usual stuff that they'd been serving all year. And she still accepted treats from her friends. But here at the dance, there were a bunch of special desserts she'd never seen before, so she was just going to be careful. "Besides, you guys have some strange stuff. What's up with acid pops and cockroach clusters?" Harper asked, wrinkling her nose. Thankfully, she'd never tried them, but she'd seen them in magical shops over the break.

 

[Blake Lodge]

Blake couldn't help but laugh, and laugh, and laugh...she needed to stop, she was laughing for too long and too hard but in her defense Harper the bird was a fun thing to picture "I see you found out canary creams" she said still between laughs. She wished she had seen that but she had another idea.
The girl opened her little purse and took out a small rectangular box, it was a golden box with some carvings in it. "Do not ask why I carry this but if you want a little revenge just put a bit of that powder on his bed sheets. Or if you can't do that just slip a bit in his drink, not too much though, you don't want that to happen" she said handing the box to to Harper "Now, I won't tell you what that poweder does but I advise you not to touch it with you bare skin EVER! If you want to cause a little more chaos, whenever the person tries to make the potion that will undo the powder effects you just gotta coat the cauldron with the powder before the potion starts to be made, and then..." Blake turned her head to the sides making sure no one was hearing her "Boom!" she said making explosion gestures "Don't worry, nothing too big".
She tried to find an explanation for acid pops, they were great but the hole in their tongue wasn't worth it and the cockroach clusters...well Blake had never tried one because they looked too much like a real cockroach so she just shrugged "I guess we have more pranking food than actual edible one, you'll get used to it don't worry" she said with a smile.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper glanced down in surprise at the box Blake handed her, automatically accepting it while trying to also juggle her plate and cup. She started to regret it when Blake explained what it was. "But—" Harper started to say before Blake warned her not to touch it with her bare skin. Great. She tightened her grip so as not to accidentally drop the box and moved it away from her body. To be honest, Harper had briefly thought about getting revenge after the incident. But she didn't know how she'd find the boy again — he was older and in a different house — and she didn't actually have any good ideas. Coming up with prank ideas had always been her brother's forte; she just helped execute them.

She did know, however, that this was not a good idea. Spiking someone's drink with a mystery substance was a bit much for her. Harper's eyes widened when Blake told her the powder could make an explosion. "I think I'm good," she said, trying to hand back the box. "I don't even know if I'll ever see him again, and it wasn't that big of a deal." If she ran into him and a prank occurred to her right then and there, she might do something. But she wasn't that invested in trying to track him down. Harper paused before eyeing Blake curiously. "How did you even get this stuff? Is this what you use on all your enemies?" Did Blake always carry this around? She had a lot of questions for her roommate.

Blake didn't seem to have much of an explanation for the magical world's truly terrible candy choices, which didn't surprise Harper. She couldn't see how anyone could explain their existence. "I can't believe they're so popular," she said with a laugh. Someone must be buying them if she kept seeing them in stores, right? "I don't think muggles even have prank foods." At least she couldn't think of any. "Guess pranks are more common among wizards?" Maybe one day she'd go to the prank shop in Brightstone and memorize which foods she needed to avoid.

 

[Blake Lodge]

"Oh Harper dear, you are no fun" she said laughing "Don't woryy. My enemies do get worse things that just that powder. That is Bulbadox Powder" she added with some obviousness as if Harper was supposed to know what that was. "Oh right, you probably don't know what that is. Just a powder that makes the victim's skin start to break out in boils. If you put it in the cauldron where you will prepared the Cure for Boils it explodes but nothing too big don't worry" Blake explained to Harper, the other girl was probably thinking it would be something extremely bad or hurtful when it was actually a prank with a cure.
Blake thought for a while before answering, she did not knew any muggle food that was used as a prank "Well, in the wiarding world defence...muggles eat tide pods. I'd choose prank foods to tide pods any day" she said laughing.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper just stared blankly at Blake. Bulbadox? That sounded like a medicine. Blake went on to explain that it caused people to break out in boils, and Harper grimaced. "That sounds painful." Even though she'd been imagining something much worse, the powder still sounded a bit extreme. Her pranks in the past had meant to be funny or embarrassing or inconvenient for the target. She hadn't ever tried to physically hurt someone on purpose just for a prank. And giving someone boils came awfully close to that, as far as she was concerned. "Thanks, but honestly, I really don't need this," Harper said, offering the box to Blake again. If this was considered a prank, then magical pranks were a lot more intense than she expected.

At the mention of muggles eating tide pods, Harper burst into laughter. "Seriously? Is that what wizards think?" she asked, shaking her head disbelief. "Do they really think muggles eat laundry detergent? That's ridiculous." She'd never once heard of that actually happening. It was a joke as far as she knew, and an old one at that. "What other strange things do wizards think muggles do?" she asked, half curious, half wary of the answer.