3 Jan 2009
6:15pm, Compartment 017

There was a crowd gathered at Compartment 017 in the third car of the Hogwarts Express.  A chamber normally meant to sit 6 comfortably had nearly 15, and then some out in the corridor looking in.  There was a hushed excitement and a constant chattering rabble as all those present inclined their heads to see if it was really true. 

Figaro was sat like a king at the middle of it all, his back to the big windows, crouching on the ground.  He was reveling in the attention.  It was his perfectenschlag.  And it was all because of something that was normally pretty boring.  In front of him was a small little pouch and inside? A handful of about fifty toothpick-sized billywig stings.  There were three disgarded on the floor, the sharp tip bitten off.

Figaro Sellaphix himself, son of apothecaries, and a loudmouth lad of legal Wizarding age, was blinking heavily and almost slurring his words.  He had a contented grin on his face.  He wasn't tired so much as...euphoric.  The lightness in his head was getting to be too much, but he really wanted to show everyone what he'd learned over holidays.  This would be his fourth sting in less than 15 minutes. 

"Number four, okay? Okay?" he held up a sting for all to see.  "And it'll to'ally work.  Proper floatin' like a proper... proper."

He shook his head to steel himself for the spicy, sour, head-spinning little rush.  Then he bit off the pointy end of the sting and spat out out.  Next, Fig stuck the open end in his mouth and the icy, spicy, sour venom hit his tongue.  He shut his eyes and his head swam.  Intense vertigo and he put out a hand to stable himself against someone.

And there it was! An exclamation from those gathered and Figaro looked down.  He was floating!  Slowly rising off the floor still in a seated position.  His head was absolutely swimming , though.  But he'd done it. 

"Hold me down!" he mumbled.  If they didn't catch him, he'd hit the ceiling. 

Sophie was not, particularly, impressed with this little show. She had wanted a nice quiet ride back to school with her boyfriend so she could finally give him his bloody Christmas gift and they could pretend the Salem Headmaster had never given them that dreadful lecture about precautions and childbirth, and maybe snog a bit. After all she hadn't seen him since that night and despite her best efforts to not, she'd found herself missing him a lot over the Holiday. Of course she'd been having a spectacular mope so she hadn't bothered to try and get him to come see her and she didn't fancy meeting his mum "as the girlfriend", just yet.

Of course nothing Fig ever did was quiet or calm. No he had to put on a show because that was how his brain worked. He thrived off the attention. So not only was he doing something she was fairly sure was dangerous in such rapid secession; he had also drawn a small crowd - and even if it wasn't out right get your skinny arse expelled worthy she was sure would get him in trouble if he were caught. Sometimes she felt more like a babysitter than a girlfriend, not a lot mind you, or she'd have just broken up with him, but enough that she found the while ordeal annoying (and stupid) rather than interesting or impressive. Of course she didn't have to find it impressive, everyone else was showing enough wide eye'd interest.

And now he was starting to levitate, "Gordic's garters," she muttered not-so-quietly under her breath as she reached out and tugged him back down, trying to wrangle his squirrely form so it looked like he was sitting next to her rather that hovering, "I'm in love with an absolute sloppy mess," his words were slurring a bit and he couldn't seem to focus his eyes. She leaned close to his ear, one arm around his middle holding onto him, voice low, "My Valentine better involve jewelry, that's all I'm saying". She wasn't even going to bother to ask when he had started thinking this was a clever idea. It was pointless, he probably couldn't even remember now; and even if he could he'd just call her a killjoy.

Nicholas had managed to get a seat near the window, which made the overcrowded compartment much less claustrophobic. He'd watched as Fig bit and sucked on three billywig stings.  Which if he remembered right was not one of the listed uses in the potions book for the stings.  But he wasn't too worried about it since not all of the uses of gillyweed were exactly listed in a book either.  At least not one he'd ever read.  Which didn't mean much either.   And besides it was Figaro, Nicholas wouldn't exactly be upset if Fig poisoned himself.

Though the Hufflepuff looked alright, and between the billywig stings and the daggers Sophie was staring into him, if the stings were poisionous, there'd be a dead badger on the floor.  But he looked alright, and since Nicholas had already swiped one of Fig's stings, as Fig bit into his fourth Nicholas bit into his first.  And nearly spit the slime out.  It was spicy and sour and not in a way that reminded of a nice hot and sour soup.

Nicholas was already starting to feel a little light headed and a bit giddy when Fig started to float.  "Oh hell," It had worked.  So maybe he'd hoped four of the stings would knock Fig on his arse.  That would have been just as entertaining to the crowd.  Figaro shouted for someone to grab him, and Nicholas, getting more lightheaded as the billywig sting had more time to take effect, said over the general noise of the compartment and train, "Sophie, let 'im go.  See how high he gets.  Hovering is easy.  You can do that with candy."  Okay well most candy, at least the kind they'd sell him before he turned seventeen, didn't have the same effect on his head as the billywig sting, which was still in his hand, did.

Thank Merlin Sophie was a champ and pulled his lightly floating body down again.  His butt was touching the seat, but it didn't feel like sitting.  He smiled in slow motion as she whispered into his hear.  Her breath tickled.  "I'll get you jlewelery," he agreed.   "Like a million of it." 

Then he noticed Nick with a bitten off billywig sting in his hand.  He pointed at him.  "Aw mate, you had one.  Awesome right?  Careful.  Makes you lightheaded a bit."

Fig leaned down against Sophie's arms holding him at his middle and picked up the little pouch.  He held it up to the others.  "Try it.  It's hilarious."  He grunted and blinked at his own movement.  He was still very dizzy and very much ignoring gravity.  The train took a curve and he bumped strangely against the wall even though Sophie was holding on.

At one point he tugged the bag away from a younger student. "Not you! You're like twelve-years-old. Big boy stuff.  Get outta here."

Someone nearby was looking at a sting dubiously.  "Bite off the end and stick it on your tongue.  Mate, just one! You crazy or something?"

Back on the train. And back to Hogwarts. The break didn’t seem that long to Mysti, but she was ready to go back. She had found a quiet cabin towards the back of the train, but found herself not exactly enjoying the quiet. After having been home for the holidays with her parents and two rather loud older brothers, silence hadn’t been much of an option. She thought it would be nice on the train, but it was just too weird now.

Mysti found herself wandering down the corridor of the train, not exactly sure what she was looking for.  And then she found it. In a rather filled compartment on the third car, she found something that seemed a little more normal.  Even though anything with Figaro Sellaphix was never normal. Making her way through the group that had gathered in compartment 17, she found Sophie trying to keep Figaro from floating too far up.  And somewhat familiar Gryffindor encouraging Figaro to keep going.

And what was that in the bag? It looked like Billywig stings. Which would explain the somewhat vacant look in Fig’s eyes, and the levitation. And judging by the Gryffindor’s face, he’d had one as well. After seeing Fig offer them to the others, then tug the bag away from a younger student, Mysti raised an eyebrow. She crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame, watching for a moment with a hint of amusement in her eyes.

“Aren’t Billywig stings somewhat difficult to get a hold of?” Mysti asked, watching Figaro as he floated a bit above his seat. “And good thing we’re inside, otherwise you might float off, not to be seen for a week. Or something like that.”

Part of Mysti wanted to try it. She remembered her brother Billy telling her about how in one of his potions classes, he and some classmates stole a couple stings and messed with them in their dormitory. He said it was a pretty crazy feeling. The floating part. Well, the giddiness and light-headedness was weird as well. Just one couldn’t hurt. She started to extend her hand, but then brought it up to her cheek.  She shouldn’t.  And would try to resist for now. Someone else besides Sophie had to have some sense.

"Mysti...!"  Figaro greeted with a friendly grin and a droopy blinky.  It was Mystique Ketteridge.  "It's been ages...!"

It had only been a few weeks but it felt like months and months.  It was good to see her.  She and Figaro were old friends by now, Hufflepuffs to the end.

"Not hard to get a hold of if you basically live in an Apothecary," he explained with that same goopy smile.  "And I do.  Sellaphix Apothecary, have you heard of it?  It'll be mine someday, you know.  I'll be the boss of it and my parents will retire to the Isle of Wight." 

He watched as she almost tried it. 

"Don't be such a wuss!"  He let go of Sophie for a moment and grabbed Mysti's hand and pressed a sting into her palm.  (The flat way so he wouldn't stab her.)

"Bevans did it," he added, as if that should be reason enough.  "Don't you want to be cool like Bevans?" 

I'm going to chug along just a bit.  Feel free to stick around!

The train continued down the tracks through the grey English countryside.  They passed slumbering fields and suburbs under patchy snow.  This late in the season, darkness was still falling early so things were already to begin to darken as they headed further and further north to Scotland.

Inside Figaro's compartment, the crowd had thinned down and Figaro himself was no longer floating in the literal sense.  His head was still abuzz though. 

"It's not illegal," he said matter-of-factly.  "Anyone can come in and buy billywig stings.  Even a baby.  Even a little baby, if the baby had a fistful of sickles."

There'd been some discussion that use of the stings in such a manner wasn't allowed, and the discussion that had followed included advisement the the person protesting should dislodge their undergarments from unpleasant places, or that rules were meant to be broken, and freedom of speech was brought up at some point. 

"Honestly, it's not a big deal," Figaro declared with a docile smile.  "Relax."

Mysti found herself as one of those still in the compartment with Figaro. It was good that there weren’t as many people there, considering what they were doing. Though, as he’d said, it wasn’t illegal.  But on the chance a prefect or someone had come by, they might think they were doing something that wasn’t allowed per school rules. But also, as Fig had stopped the floating, it seemed a little more normal.

Mysti ended up allowing herself to try one of the stings. It wasn’t that bad. It was kind of fun, actually.  She didn’t start floating like Figaro had. But he’d also had more than one of them. She did feel a little lightheaded, and a bit more giggly than normal.

“I guess it’s not that bad. And does help you to relax.” Mysti said, with a smile.  In all honesty, it made her feel more relaxed than she had in a while. Nothing to worry about.

“Kind of a nice feeling.” She giggled. “They should allow these during stressful weeks like exams. It’s make everyone feel better.”

She sure wouldn’t mind having access to such a thing during exams. It’d relieve the stress for a bit and make her feel better. Mysti might even feel more up to studying without feeling the pressure of the tests. Or whatever.

Figaro's finger floated up and out towards Mysti, his arm rising to support it and now that he was pointing at her he said, "Exactly.  Exactly."

His tone was empassioned. Sincere.  His brows were furrowed in whole-hearted agreement. 

"They're a bit expensive..." he did add.  "So I just nicked a few."

Fact was, Figaro had about 50 when he left Hogwarts and was now down by about a dozen having passed some around for others to try.  His mum wouldn't miss a handful of them - they came by the keg. 

"What'd you do for holiday, Mysti? Going to get back on a broom this term?"  The Hufflepuff Quidditch team had been aching for Ketteridge in her hiatus and they'd been tanking in the scores.  With a team of first years and rejects, who could be surprised?

Mysti nodded along as Figaro agreed. I mean, her idea was logical. But teachers and others probably didn’t think the same way the students did.

“How expensive? Well, I suppose in an apothecary you might need a lot. People probably use these for all kinds of things.  Well, I guess potions mainly. But people probably use them for what we’re doing. Relaxation of sorts. Right?”

It made sense.  Granted, with a slightly fuzzy mind due to the stings, anything probably made sense at that point in time. But the fuzz was wearing off a bit, and Mysti was even wondering about the quality of her thoughts.

“This is a few? It seems more like a dozen. Or a couple dozen. But we needn’t focus on the mathematics of the thing.” It seemed silly to worry about that.  Fig got however many he got. And he probably knew the difference between a few and a dozen. Probably.

“Holiday? Just spent time with the family. Played some quidditch with my brothers ‘n dad. First time in a while we’d all been together. And it gets loud when my brothers are both together.” And she meant it. It seemed as they aged, they got louder and louder each time they were all together. “And yeah, I recon I will. I missed it a lot.  Glad I was better to get back on track over break.  I’ll need to do some more training, but I’m sure we’ll get the team going better again. Everyone was improving so much over last year.  Sad I didn’t get to keep them going for the fall.  But Angie’s doing well.”

Granted the team had been pulled together towards the end of last year by Mysti begging her friends to join.  But it had been fun, and everyone had been doing pretty well for the rag-tag band of misfits. Hopefully she’d be able to get back on this semester.  There hadn’t been too many extras, so there might be a chance to join up.  She’d have to talk to Angie about it, her being the captain now and all.

“How about you? Have a good break?” Mysti looked at both Figaro and Sophie. She realized she didn’t talk to Figaro all that often.  But he was a good friend.  And Sophie definitely seemed to be doing good with him. And both of them were good people.

Sophie had given up trying to reason with her obviously high boyfriend, she had also given up trying to keep normally sane and rational people from doing something stupid like sticking stingers in their mouths. As the group had grown and then mostly dispersed she'd shifted her position, back against the car wall, legs draped over Fig's lap (on the off chance he kept going and ended up floating again). The hum of conversation that flowed around her was almost enough to lull her to sleep, it was comforting after the near deafening silence of home over break. Her brown eyes drifted closed as she exhaled slowly, only to have Mysti's voice bring her back into the conversation. No naps for Sophie!

Opening one eye she waiting on Figaro to answer for a moment before she gave a small shrug, "Hols were alright I reckon. It was just me 'n' Nan. Da's still on the road, so you know," she gave a one shouldered shrug. She didn't really want to draw attention to the fact the whole break had been exceedingly depressing, or that the highlight had been "breaking in" to the WCU HQ - which was not exactly what had happened at all. It couldn't really be breaking and entering if you just walked in right? She wasn't a felon or anything, though Bagnold had threatened to throw her in a holding cell before asking for her help to decorate the place. "It's probably the first break I'm coming back to Hogwarts not having gained a stone from constant face stuffing on homemade goodies," she sounded mildly amused as she wrinkled her nose a little.

"Boooooorrrrrringgggg....!" Figaro droned, nearly on top of what Sophie had been talking about.  His filter was even more off than it normally was, under the fuzz of the stings. 

"Holidays, I mean," he said.  "Not you, Soph.  You're amazing." 

He was sat happily under Sophie's legs.  Outside the landscape was trundling by under a darkening sky.  He'd been curious to hear what Sophie'd got at too.  With them both at home with their folks, they hadn't seen much of each other.  One of the reasons Figaro always looked forward to being back at Hogwarts, despite the homework, professors and uniforms - he could finally see people.  His girlfriend. 

He looked over at her with a dreamy grin.  Then he furrowed his brow.  "Did you try one?" he asked accusingly?

“I don’t think that sounds too boring. It sounds… peaceful. I would have loved maybe a bit of quiet now and then.  My brothers are rather loud all the time. I suppose it’ll be nice to have the quiet castle now.”

Maybe even too quiet.  But of course with the tournament and everything going on, there was bound to be some noise. And with Figaro around, there was also going to be noise.  He’s a good guy, but somehow managed to get into quite some trouble.  Or crazy schemes.  At least that’s what it always seemed like. Oddly, kind of like her brothers. Perhaps that’s why Mysti usually enjoyed Figaro’s company.

“It’s good to see you two again, that’s for sure.” The words just kind of came out as a continuation of her previous thoughts.  She’d missed her friends over the past couple months.  And maybe to help throw off Figaro’s question for Sophie.