edited (1/30/22)
| | |
Lance, Percy, and I have been traveling around for a few weeks. During that time, the boys have been teaching sword fighting and hand to hand combat, while I've been teaching them archery, cooking, music, magic and how it works.
"Ready," Percy nods.
"Are you sure you are ready? I don't want to hurt you," I ask, worry seeping into my tone. Right now, Percival has so bravely offered himself to be my sparring partner so I could work on my sword fighting skills. My arms are already sore from Lancelot teaching me yesterday, which means that today is going to be even worse.
"Yes, I am, now come on." He motions me to come at him with his hands.
"Alright then." I grip Lancelot's sword in my hands and lunge at him. He swiftly steps out to the side to dodge my attack and counters with his own strike. I barely manage to duck out the way, side-stepping out to distance myself from him. He parries my strike before thrusting himself at me. I block his sword with mine, my arms already beginning to tire out.
He cuts at me; the sound of metal clashing together echoes through the trees. Thank Merlin I set up charms around us. I send a sequence of attacks at the man, but he somehow dodges all of them. How he is able to do that given his size, is something I can only wonder. I cut at his arms, drawing a hissing through his clenched teeth and red blood from the wound.
Immediately, I drop the sword and rush to Percy's side. "Merlin, are you alright?" I ask quickly, my eyes scanning up and down.
"I'll be fine. Nothing a little magic can't fix," he groans, his hand over his wound.
I lead him into the tent and have him lean against the wooden table of the dining room. I quickly flick my wand around, the ingredients for a potion coming levitating towards me. I work quickly to get him his potion which I apply on before wrapping it up in a bandage. "That's going to leave a scar," I tell him, biting my lip.
"At least I'll look intimidating," he replies, puffing out his chest.
I snort. "Percival, with your size alone, you already are."
"Now I am more."
"Percy! Lizzy! I'm home!" We hear and turn our heads towards Lancelot waltzing through the flaps of the tent with bottles of what I presume is alcohol. "I come bearing gifts!" he announces.
"Is that alcohol?" Percy inquires, motioning his head to the bottles in Lancelot's hands.
"Vhy yes it is my dear Percival." He boops Percy's nose with his finger. I chuckle at the interaction.
"Lance, are you sober?" I ask still lightly laughing at his drunken state. I already know the answer, I just want to hear him say it.
"I'm m-moderately functional-l. How dare you ask dat of me, My Lady!" he exclaims slurring some of the words.
"I'll take that as a no," I murmur. I turn my head to Percival. "Has Lance ever been drunk before?"
"No. Never," he shakes his head. "I'm assuming he has in the past, but this is the first I've seen him. I must say I find it quite amusing, "he says pointing towards the drunk Lancelot prancing around the sofas and chairs before turning towards my records and grabbing the Michael Bublé Love vinyl and plays it.
"Would you care for a dance, My Lady?" the drunk man asks me with a hand stretched out, bowing.
"Of course, my kind sir," I reply chuckling, shaking my head at his faux posh manners. I place my hand in his. He leads me towards the middle of the tent. We dance around. Laughing. Singing. He even dragged Percy into our little partnership. Both of us having a great time with this new side of Lancelot.
When La Vie en Rose begins to play, I start to hum along to the lyrics. I clean up my potion making from earlier while still humming along to the tune. I could use magic, but I have hands so I might as well use them. I do a little spin as I put the bottles of ingredients back into their proper places on the shelves. My humming turns into light singing.
I finish putting away all the bottles to sit on the sofa with a content sigh. I could definitely get used to living like this.
Lancelot turns over behind the sofa and pukes on the floor. Perc and I start to gag at that awful stench, covering our mouths with our hands.
"Hehe, sorry Lizzy," Lance apologizes sheepishly then proceeds to pass out on the sofa.
"I'll bring him to our room," Percy says with a sigh, walking over to the unconscious brunette. He picks him up easily and carries him to the back of the tent.
"I'll clean the mess." I stand up to grab my wand on the table and say, "Scourgify. Thank god for magic," I breathe in relief as the mess cleans itself up, but the wrenched stench still lingers. I walk to the bathroom to grab a couple of candles to hopefully make the air fresher.
The next morning Lance wakes up with the worst hangover and I brew him a potion to help him deal with it.
| | |
A couple days after the drunk Lance incident, I ask them what they would think if I turned into an Animagus.
"What exactly is that?" Lance questions, clearly interested in anything magic.
"An Animagus is a wizard who can turn into a chosen animal at will," I inform, "I've been thinking about this for a while, and I thought it could be fun."
"What animal have you chosen if you do this?" he asks.
"A dog," I state simply.
"A dog?" Percy asks in disbelief. "Why not something cooler like a horse? Or a lion? Or a-"
"Or a unicorn?" Lance declares, excitement in his eyes.
"Or a unicorn," Perce repeats with a nod of his head.
"A unicorn?" I ask slowly with eyebrows raised. I get nods in reply. "What would the common person think if they saw a unicorn just wandering around?"
"Ohhhh, yeah, probably not that," Lance utters with eyebrows furrowed.
"See that's why you're not the brains of the group," Percy smirks towards Lance.
"That's exactly neither of you are the brains of the group," I point towards the two men, leaning back against the sofa arms stretched across the back. "Plus, you can't choose your Animagus form. It's based off your Patronus forms, which mine is a dog."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Perc dismisses with a wave of his hand, going back to the kitchen to make lunch.
"Dog it is," I state.
"Dog it is," Lance confirms.
| | |
A month of mandrake leaves, saying 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus' every sunrise and sunset over my heart, the day to become a dog has come.
"Okay, okay, okay, okay. Let's turn into a dog. Dog. Doggy. Doggo. Become a doggo. Think like a doggo. Doggo senses come," I ramble, nerves clearly getting the better of me. Lance and Perc waiting patiently on the sofa as I pace back in forth.
"You know you are insane, right?" Percy adds.
"I know. Isn't it great?" I grin up towards him with a cheeky smile. "Okay. Let's just do this."
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
I open my eyes, and everything is larger. The sofas are bigger, Lance and Perc are giants now, well Perc more than usual. They look at me with wide eyes. I look down and instead of hands or feet, I have furry paws. The males are staring at a black and white Border Collie, still with the bright emerald eyes that are my irises.
I jump around in joy, running around the living room, then chase my tail and the boys are on the couch practically dying of laughter, leaning on each other for support, which doesn't provide much as they are practically falling off the furniture. Then Perc lands on the ground with a THUD. I stop running and Lance stops laughing. I change back into human form and we stare at each other awkwardly.
Then burst out laughing.
| | |
We move after a week, following the attack of dementors. I channeled my inner Dad by practically shouting 'Expeco Patronum' and already knew my Patronus as it is a spell that is past a N.EW.T. so obviously I did. 5th year was when I made a corporeal Patronus.
We decide to go to a tavern to get some food and other supplies. We enter into the bustling place. The air filled with the lively cheers of patrons, waitresses bring glasses of ale, beer, and other assortments of alcoholic beverages. Lance and Perc grab a table while I get our drinks.
"Three beers please," I kindly smile at the plump woman wearing a bandana on her head behind the counter. A man walks up to the bar and orders an ale. He is like Lancelot with brown shaggy hair, a stubble, brown eyes with a hint of mischief, and a rugged rough look to him.
"Three beers. Isn't that a little much for a princess like yourself?" he ponders, his eyes still in front of him.
I turn towards him with a mischievous smirk. "Well, first thing, I can hold my alcohol. And second, I am certainly no princess," I answer.
He turns to look at him, and I see his eyes widen a little before going back to neutral. "An attractive thing is a woman who can hold her own."
"That I can most certainly do."
"Shall we bet on that?" he prompts with a raised brow and smirk.
I run a quick pro and con list in my head. I have nothing else better to do, plus it'd be fun to take an ego down a notch or two. I give him a matching smirk. "We shall bet."
"Get ready to lose."
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure. Last time I got into a drinking contest they sorely lost. It was a good day of rolling in money," I smirk at his bewildered expression. I walk over to the conversation between my brothers. I tell them what I got myself into. Percy is worried about my drunk arse, but I assure him I know what I'm doing. "Also, Lance, you get one drink. Percy and I aren't going to deal with your drunken arse again."
"Don't worry, I've learned my lesson," he insists, grimacing as he remembers what happened. I believe him. If there is one thing Lancelot is, is that he a man true to his word.
I walk over to the man who made the sore mistake of challenging me to a drinking bet and sit down in front of him. Other patrons gather round us, watching the show where they assume the man is going to win against the woman.
"Ready to lose?" he questions smugly with confidence that will surely crumble after this is over.
"Are you?" I smirk back with eyebrows raised.
"Okay. Everyone place your bets. Who will become victorious, the man Gwaine or the little lady?" Everyone cheers for the man who I now know as 'Gwaine' when his name is called out. I freeze for a second with recognition, which he picks up on.
"Are you sure want do this? I promise your pride won't be hurt too much," he acknowledges.
"Are you? I promise your pride will be hurt a lot," I reply with false confidence, as I have heard stories of how he can hold his drinks. There's been many tales of his incredible tolerance to alcohol. I should've gotten his name before I agreed to anything. My mistake. Oops.
Drinks after drinks. Shots after shots. The other patrons in the tavern are all loud and cheering. Gwaine is getting more and more hammered. I on the other hand am still relatively fine, a little tipsy, but fine. Well, as fine as you can be after downing three beers and four ales. He is very close to falling off his stool but still somehow going.
"Reedys two gives ups?" he asks loudly, slurring his words.
"I think I sh-should be asking you dat q-question," I comment, pointing an accusing finger at him.
He carelessly slaps my finger away. "Nah, I'm prefectly fin," he insists, then he promptly collapses onto the floor. Cheers with a mixture of groans are heard throughout the pub.
"Fank you very much for this," I state for the patrons who lost the bet, which is practically everyone. Everyone disperses and leaves the tavern leaving myself, Lance, Percy, and the unconscious Gwaine. "Hey, hey. Wha 'bout him?" I ask the woman who runs the tavern.
"Not my problem. He's yours," she says.
"Wha?! How da fuck is he my p-problem?" I exclaim. She waves me off. "Whadever. I'm definitely gonna regret this," I grumble. I walk over to Perc and ask him to pick up Gwaine so I can take him back to the tent when I set it up.
We walk to a nice wooded area I squat down to pull the tent out my emergency bag. With a flick of my wand and the spell 'Erecto' the tent is set up ready to go. I motion for Perc to take Gwaine to his room and set him on one of the beds. I go over to the outskirts and start casting protection charms.
"Protego Totalum."
"Salvio Hexia."
"Muffilato."
"Repello Inimicum."
"Cave Inimicum."
"Repello Muggletum."
And the Disillusionment Charm.
Honestly, I don't know how I was clear headed enough to actually cast the spell correctly. I know I can take a lot of alcohol, but tonight was definitely a challenge.
I walk back into the tent and collapse onto my soft, comfortable bed.
The next morning is something I hate whole-heartedly. I've always hated morning but having a hangover along with it makes it a million times worse. My head pounds against my skull as I walk to the kitchen is seek of tea.
"If you keep eating food, we gonna run out. Again," I scold, walking up to Percival. He pauses, makes eye contact with me, then proceeds to shove the rest of what looks like a muffin into his mouth. He gags on the muffin. I roll my eyes and point my wand towards him. "Waddiwasi." The muffin goes flying out of his mouth and onto Lancelot's face when he stands up.
Lance looks utterly appalled as the half-chewed muffin slides off his face. Perc and I snort in laughter at the scene unfolding before us. The brunette launches himself at his buddy. I watch in amusement as Lance and Perc wrestle each other. They knock over stuff and things break off my bookshelves.
"Are you children finished yet?" I ask in an unnatural calm manner. The boys pause and look up at me. I can see the fear in their eyes as for when I am calm, they know something is going to go down. "Stand up, go off to the side and don't you dare move." They stand up and shamefully walk towards the side of the tent. I use my wand, flicking it around, the things they broke repairing themselves and setting themselves back to their original place. "Alright, now both of you are going to sit down while I make some tea. And don't even think about talking too loudly; I have a hangover and I will not hesitate to silence you."
I hand them their mugs of tea. We just sit in comfortable silence, relishing in the peace and quiet. All of us just happily sipping onto out cups of teas. Percival has taken a liking to Honey Lavender while Lancelot enjoys Earl Gray. I am basic and like the classic green.
An hour or so passes and I sent Lancelot and Percival off to by some food and clothes.
I make myself yet another cup of tea, this time Chamomile. I happily sip it while sitting on the sofa, a maroon blanket draped over my legs. A good book in my hands by the title of Pride and Prejudice. Personally, I think that Elizabeth was too good for Mr. Darcy, but I am still a sucker for a good romance novel even if I don't believe in it myself.
A creak sounds to my left and I glance up to see Gwaine caustiously looking around. I quietly place my mug and book down before grabbing my wand.
Gwaine picks up Lancelot's sword and unsheathes it. He notices me and points the tip at me. I do the same but with my wand.
"Ha!" Gwaine laughs. "What is that little piece of wood gonna do?"
"You don't want to see what this little piece of wood could do," I retort back.
He lunges at me with Lance's sword. I block it with the Protego Charm and his eyes widen in the recognition of magic.
"Petrificus Totalus," I point my vine wand at Gwaine, and he freezes and drops the sword with a loud clang. "Mobilicorpus." Frozen Gwaine lifts up and I direct him to an armchair in the living room and make him sit there.
I go back to my spot on the sofa and pick up my book and mug from the table. I leisurely stretch out my legs under the blanket as I snuggle myself deeper into the cushions of the sofa. It's nice. Me reading a love story while a stranger watches. Now that I think about it, I realize how creepy that sounds. I glance up from the printed pages to see Gwaine still sitting in the chair frozen – of course it's not like he had much choice.
Another hour or so passes before Lancelot and Percival gets back. They open the flaps of the tent and apparently don't see Gwaine sitting in the chair as one of them goes to their room to chek up on him.
I wave at Lancelot from my position on the sofa, not taking my eyes off the page.
"Where did he go?" Percy asks quickly, worried that he might have escaped. I point to the still frozen Gwaine who looks like smoke is coming out of his ears. "Ahhhhhhh. Good job then." I grin at the compliment.
"Ohh, can I have some?" Lance questions. I quickly wave my wand around to set out another kettle on the wood burning stove. I then wave it again to get a mug out of the cupboard and a packet of Earl Gray tea. "Thank you."
I hum in acknowledgement.
"What do you have there?" he asks, walking his way towards me a piping hot mug of tea in his hands. He sits down across from Gwaine and I in another chair.
"Pride and Prejudice," I answer, not tearing my eyes off the dead tree in my hands.
"What's it about?"
"Love."
"So descriptive."
I grin to myself. "I know."
"Why do you read so much?" Percy asks from the kitchen, a bowl of cereal in front of him.
"It's nice to escape into a different world for a few hours. To live a new life, experience new things. It's just a way to escape for me," I shrug. "I would watch a move instead, but I don't access to those right now, so books are my only option."
"What would you recommend me?" says Lancelot.
I finally look up from my book. I stare at him, deciding what he will like. A few moments later, I decide: "Sherlock Holmes."
Immediately, his face contorts into one of confusion with a hint of distaste. "Who names their child 'Sherlock'?"
"He has a brother names Mycroft," I inform him.
His face pulls a look of disgust. "Oh god!"
A muffled sound pulls our attention from the horrible names to Gwaine still sitting there. Realization hits me. I pull out my wand and cast the counter spell, releasing him from his binds. He gasps and pulls himself away from us. Even Percival stops his cereal-eating to watch the scene.
"You bitch!" Gwaine yells, pointing an accusing finger at me.
Perceval gets up from his seat at the table and stalks his way down to Gwaine, puffing out his chest to increase his already enormous size. Lancelot looks down right murderous.
"Actually," I start with a grin. I have been waiting for someone to say this so I can reply with: "It's witch."
Both Lancelot and Percival snort.
"You cheated on our bet!"
I frown, taken aback. "That's what you're concerned about? You're worried that I might have cheated in our bet and not for th fact I have magic?" I ask, hoping for some clarification.
"Yes!" exclaims Gwaine, throwing his hands up. He then stops and looks at me. "What were you thinking of?"
"That you might want to kill me for having magic? I mean, that just the first one that comes to mind, but there's a whole other assortment of reason why."
"Huh. Well, I guarantee you that is it not because of you having magic. That I don't care about," he brushes off with a wave of his hand. "What I want to know is: Did you cheat?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Well, then princess, you have earned my respect."
Well, that took a turn I did not expect.
| | |
Spells
Stupefy- to make a target unconscious or stunned
Scourgify- to clean an object
Amato Animo Animato Animagus- the incantation you say to become an Animagus
Expecto Patronum- to conjure a Patronus
Erecto- to erect a structure
Protego Totalum- to make a protective enchantment around an area for an extended period of time
Salvio Hexia- to deflect hexes
Muffilato- to fill the ears of those nearby with a buzzing noise or to soundproof an area
Repello Inimicum- to repel enemies
Cave Inimicum- to keep enemies away
Repello Muggletum- to keep muggles away from an area
Petrificus Totalus- to paralyze a target
Mobilicorpus- to move bodies
| | |