Friendless » Fred Weasley

xxxviii. bowtruckles are cute

"Pass the marmalade, please." Tori took the jar from Alicia, spreading it on her toast. Owls flooded the Great Hall ceiling as the morning mail began to arrive. Athena swooped in from up in the air with the rest of the owls, dropping a rather large paper.

Tori remembered how she had applied for the Daily Prophet over the summer to keep up on what was going on. She ripped a piece off her toast, feeding it to her owl before Athena flew off. Tori unwrapped the newspaper, catching a glimpse at the headline.

"GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST!"
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. "But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.

Tori read over the article several times before showing it to the twins. "What do you think was in there?" George asked her, chugging down some orange juice.

Tori shrugged. "I dunno. Whatever it is must be powerful, lucky whoever retrieved it got there before it was stolen." Fred reread the article again, shaking his head. "This has to be some sort of act from You-Know-Who."

"How can you be so certain? It's been eleven years since he's disappeared, why would he be back all of the sudden?" Tori took back the newspaper, folding it up and tucking it away in her bag once the bell rang.

"Why not?" Fred asked, walking out if the great hall. "It makes sense to me, he's now more powerful and Harry Potter, the only person ever to live after facing him, is now in Hogwarts."

Tori was about to reply when a loud screech came from the end of the corridor. "FRED, GEORGE! GIVE ME BACK MY PREFECT BADGE!"

"Oh yeah, we took his badge." Fred glanced down the hallway at his older brother, who was running towards them now. Tori nodded, picking up the pace a bit. "Again?"

"Yeah. Think we could make it to class before the next bell?"

"Not if he catches us, but let's make sure that doesn't happen." The three of them immediately started running through the corridor away from Percy, who threatened to take points away from his own house.

"Excuse us! Coming through. Don't mind us!" Tori shouted, dodging through students walking down the hall. Fred passed her the badge once Percy got a little to close. She took off, racing towards the bridge.

She passed it to George, who passed it to Fred, once Percy had grabbed her cloak. They were outside now, close to their Care of Magical Creatures class.

"You can't disrespect me like this! I'm your Prefect!" Percy cried, still running after them. The bell rang shortly and Fred threw his brother his badge.

"As a Prefect, you should probably try to be on time to your classes, Percy." He reminded Percy. Percy went red in the face, realizing that now he would be late. "You three are completely unpleasant!" He yelled, stomping up to the castle.

"Completely unpleasant is more of a compliment," George smirked as he began once more running towards the woods where class would begin.

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"Bowtruckles are harmless creatures unless you're a woodcutter. Today I have selected one bowtruckle for each of you to interact with, they are very shy creatures who don't trust easily. These next two weeks you will be working with them to gain trust and see if it's enough to let you cut a piece of wood of their tree."

Tori watched as Professor Kettleburn gestured to the trees behind him with many little green twig creatures on it. They looked cute, to be honest, but she had read her copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Yeah, they were cute, but their nails were sharp.

He had paired everyone up to one tree, so Lee was with Tori. "How are we supposed to get them to trust us? Mine won't even come near me!"

"Maybe don't be so loud... you'll scare them. To be able to trust them or distract them... we need food!" Tori readout of her copy of her book. Charlie's notes were helpful to also point out that they are considered omnivores.

"We need... roly-polys... or fairy eggs." Lee glanced over her shoulder to her book where Charlie deeply recommended roly-polys.

Tori went to get a cup of a couple of roly-polys, making a face on the way back. "They smell awful." Lee took the cup from her, grabbing one out. "Maybe that's just how they like it."

Tori's bowtruckle was watching her from behind a small branch. Tori picked up the bug, trying her best to carefully hand it to the green creature.

"He's eating it! Yes! I'm going to name you Lee Jr!" Lee's fist-bumped the air in accomplishment. "Seriously? Lee Jr?"

"Yeah, it's a great name! What are you going to name yours?" Tori glanced back to see her bowtruckle now munching on an ivy green leaf. "How about Ivy? Is that a good name? Ivy?"

Ivy didn't seem to have a problem with it. She just sat there finishing off her leaf. The rest of class Tori and Lee kept trying to feed their creatures in any way get them to come closer.

Tori's stopped hiding behind one of the branches and moved on to a smaller one. Tori took this as a minor win.

"Those things are sharp," Fred complained, gesturing to his hand. It had a couple of scratches on it, one of them bleeding. "Hold on." Tori ran her hand through her bag, looking for a napkin or a tissue.

She found one, pulling it out. She pressed it on his hand as the two of them walked towards the Herbology class. She could hear snickering from behind them, but she didn't care.

Tori handed him the tissue as they entered the Herbology. "Alright, class! Get ready! Today we're talking about Puffapods!"

bowtruckles are so adorable

i want one

i literally want everything.

a weasley sweater, a bowtruckle, a weasley
(fred preferably)

is that too much to ask?

so my arms feeling a bit better, so that's good!