Outfit

Kelvin had worked hard during the week, keeping up with assignments and otherwise keeping himself distracted with school, which had left him now with nothing to distract him.  After the mishap with potions that left him without a cauldron last weekend, he had sent a letter to his father hoping that he would somehow be able to get a new one without involving his mother, since she wouldn't help, or his brother cause he would start asking questions again.  Questions he had dodged over the summer.  That morning the cauldron arrived with a letter from his brother, and instead of heading to the library after breakfast Kelvin had headed outside toward the forest.  An hour later, the letter still in his hand, his wand in the other Kelvin was sitting against a tree not technically in the forest facing a small magical fire that was moving and changing colors at the direction of his wand, though he had long since forgotten that he was doing it.

Patrick had already sent one letter earlier  in the week, asking why he was getting the cauldron instead of their mother.  Trying to get to the bottom of what had happened in the family that left Kelvin's mother not speaking to Kelvin, or even about Kelvin to anyone.  Almost as if her youngest son had been obliviate'd from her memory, though showing no other signs of having 14 years of memories erased.  Kelvin had of course ignored the last letter, sending a curt thanks but otherwise not actually answering.  And since he wasn't there in person to continue to divert the conversation, Kelvin was staring at another letter asking the same questions, with the added promises of sending a howler if ignored again or coming up to the school.

Kelvin wasn't sure which would be worse.  Whoever around when the howler arrived knowing what was going on or the professors knowing something was going on when his brother asked to see him in person.  Both seemed like terrible options to Kelvin, but actually telling his brother at this point didn't feel like a much better option.  He had been sure that his mother wouldn't have had an issue when he told her he liked other guys.  And now she had not spoken to him since.  Thinking about that, the fire flared an angry red.  Kelvin knew that he couldn't handle it if his brother had the same reaction.  He didn't expect him to, but he hadn't expected his mum's reaction either.  And now her stupid behavior was making Patrick ask questions.  It was not fair.  He needed to be focused on school and finally being back with friends after a pretty lonely summer.  And potions, he definitely needed to be focused on potions, since it was a melted cauldron that had led to this latest round of interrogation-by-owl and threats of more direct questioning from his brother.

Pulling a scrap piece of parchment from his bag he started to write something, but instead just crumpled the sheet and tossed it into the flame in front of him, preferring to watch it burn than to actually write a response.  Wondering how long he could get away with not responding to the letter, or going back into the castle though he didn't want to miss the selection of the champions that night.  Surely Patrick wouldn't intentionally try to embarrass him into answering, that wouldn't make anything better.  Just worse, much worse.  But his brother did sometimes get a little over-protective, especially where their mother was concerned.  With a sigh, Kelvin reached toward the still red flames, holding a corner of the letter in the flames until it caught.

Outfit.

It was only the second week of school and Beatrix Dark had already figured out where she settled in the school. She had hardly any friends, hardly any motives for focusing on anything besides potions and herbology, yet she still had the same, cheerful disposition she always had. She had a sudden influx of friends her fifth year of school, but she was hardly surprised that she lost nearly all of them due to neglect or Beatrix stabbing them in the back. And while a part of her still dwelled on what she could have possibly done to be such an awful person without even noticing it. However, Beatrix had always been friendless, she realized. She was accustomed to being alone and doing things on her own. She was practically unknown before her fourth year of school, only acquiring a few friends through forced pairings in class. She had dated Callum Knight her third year, but that hardly lasted at all. That was, perhaps, one of the only reasons people began knowing her name. When she decided to completely change her wardrobe, however, was when people started noticing her. And while Beatrix liked the attention and enjoyed her vibrant clothes that she had been too scared to wear before, she was programmed to be on her own. And she would always be alone, no matter how much she surrounded herself with friends.

Beatrix was slowly steeping into maturity, a fine tea waiting to be poured. She was currently in the stage that most sixteen year old girls went through, where they believed they had deep, psychological problems and had theories of how and why the world moved on and time ticked by even though they felt utterly perplexed by their own feelings. If a teenage girl felt horrible about herself, she felt as if the world would have to stop along with her. But it never did. And that always shocked them. And Beatrix was no exception. Beatrix was a brilliant girl with perfect OWL scores, but when it came to self awareness and common sense, she wasn't all too intelligent. And she was slowly fixing that about herself. Beatrix had become aware that she was being irrational about her own feelings, believing she everything she did was awful and she should be ashamed. Beatrix finally pulled herself out of that mindset of being hard on herself, although she still wanted to change herself, fix her flaws, prove that she wasn't a disloyal teenage punk. She couldn't help but be flirtatious and affectionate, but she was thinking before she spoke. And she had placed quite the filter between her lungs and her mouth. Every time her lips parted, Beatrix would pause and reconsider her actions. Because of this, Beatrix had managed to save herself from numerous predicaments and arguments. She was proud of herself.

It was Saturday, so Beatrix took to mindlessly reading in the library. She mostly read the stupid books about love that she had been neglecting for years. She recalled when she last attempted to read one of those books; Landis Morgan had spoken to her when she was incredibly depressed and alone. The man wasn't the most friendly person, but he had reminded Beatrix a tad of her dad, as he was as equally distant as the librarian had been. Oddly, that thought didn't bother her. Daddy Dark's silence and distance hardly bothered her anymore, as she knew he had his reasons. She just liked talking to him... And he didn't seem to mind, either. When she grew bored of sitting around, she decided to write her father a letter and snatch up an owl from the owlery. Beatrix always picked the same bird, the one that stood high up in the tower and never let anyone touch it. The owl was a feisty one, only ever letting a few students it like use it for deliveries. It was a simple barn owl, fat and eternally frustrated by its surroundings. Beatrix was one of the lucky students to be able to use it. It was loyal and took a different path every time it went on a journey. Perfect for sending letters to escaped prisoners. Beatrix never even had to tell the bird where to deliver her post. The owl had managed to remember the address clearly.

It was a simple letter. Inside the envelope, Beatrix expressed her love for her father and how she already missed him. It never said his name or who he was and Beatrix made sure to disguise her writing as a chicken-scratch scrawling that looked like a child's compared to her normal, bubbly writing. She took the bird and sent it off in the forbidden forest, taking her cat, Birdie, along with her. Birdie enjoyed nature a lot more than Eater did, so the cat always came along with Beatrix whenever she went outside. The fat thing would chase butterflies and dumbly chirp at squirrels in the trees. After sending the owl off, Beatrix crouched next to Birdie as he rolled around in the dirt and leafs. Beatrix would have to give him a bath when they got back inside, which Birdie oddly enjoyed, also. Birdie was the complete opposite of Eater, and it was adorable. Eater preferred to laze around inside and bite people while Birdie was loving and wild. Beatrix wanted to adopt another kitten. She pictured herself having a lot of cats, really. She absolutely adored cats.

After a while, the girl straightened herself. Birds squawked and chirped as she made her way out of the forest, her cat at her heels like an obedient dog. Birdie had a little bell around his neck, in case he wandered away from Bea. But Birdie was always mewing and chirping, so the bell wasn't exactly necessary. She saw a flickering ember near the forest edge and her brow rose in curiosity. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking at, but as she neared the exit, she saw that a student had started a fire outside of the forest. It seemed to be tame, although Beatrix still believed the boy to be reckless. She made no attempt to silence her feet as she stepped through the twigs and leafs of the forest, as she simply didn't care if she were noticed or not. She hoped that an oncoming presence would force the student to extinguish the fire, but she knew better than that. Beatrix was never preconceived as a threat. She was small and pink haired. An innocent face with an innocent grin. Well, a mostly innocent grin. Beatrix's crazed look in her eyes never seemed to subside anymore.

"Afternoon," Beatrix announced, stopping before the boy. The corners of her mouth pulled back, revealing her straight teeth. It wasn't so much of a smile as Beatrix was simply bearing her teeth before the boy, like a wild animal ready to pounce on its prey. Birdie rubbed against her boot and collapsed next to her. Beatrix didn't even bother to acknowledge and cute little thing beside her. She was simply that serious about the fire. "You are aware that this fire is against school rules, yes?" Prefect mode was always active, even though her badge bad been ripped from her. Beatrix couldn't help but keep order at school, although that was very hypocritical of her, as she was just in the forbidden forest. She giggled her loony giggle before tilting her head to the side, "What're you burning, anyway? I'm sure it's something that could have been easily burned without the use of a whole fire being made, but I won't tell anyone." Although that was probably a damned lie. Beatrix and the head boy had tea with each other on occasion. She could easily tell Church that some little bastard was lighting up twigs near the forest. But she wouldn't. She enjoyed order, but she enjoyed enforcing it by herself, not with the help of pretentious authority figures.

Kelvin was so lost in watching the letter burn that he didn't register the sounds of someone approaching from the forest, and was startled when the older girl announced her presence, dropping the letter into the flames in front of him.  "G'Afternoon" He said, a bit disturbed by her smile and the way she was looking at him. 

"You are aware that this fire is against school rules, yes?  What're you burning, anyway? I'm sure it's something that could have been easily burned without the use of a whole fire being made, but I won't tell anyone." Beatrix said, or at least Kelvin was pretty sure it was Beatrix.

"Is it?" He said before slashing his wand down and breaking the spell that had kept the flames going, and they disappeared, leaving a small patch of slightly browned grass, a bit of ash, and the half burned letter.  "And it's none of your business."  He added quickly before he snatched up the letter, stuffing it into his bag before wishing he had put it somewhere else since now his bag and everything in it would smell like burnt paper for days.  "And what are you going to tell them, that you were walking out of the forbidden forest and..."  He smiled, trying not to show that he was only half sure that she had come from behind him out of the forest and not from the castle directly.  Though once the words were out of his mouth, he wished he hadn't said them.  Two weeks into his fourth year and he had made a less the stellar first impression with a professor, he really didn't need to piss off older students as well.