＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚
You're wrong.
Red and blue Bertie Botts Beans taste
disgusting together.
No, they don't.
They're yummy!
Disgusting.
Hagpace's Law has been proven
time and time again.
You're just a hater.
Hagpace's Law is shit.
Fine.
Bertie Bott's is a no.
What's your favorite thing from the
trolley on Hogwarts Express?
I don't take too much to sweet things,
but I'd go with liquorice wands.
How do you not like sweet things?
They all just taste so... sweet.
Wow, genius.
As if that's not the entire point of them.
What's your favorite?
Liquorice wands because I like sweet things.
Are you anywhere near London?
Rune looked up from her journal. She was relaxing on a sunbed on a beautiful beach in Buzios, Brazil.
Hundreds of tourists and locals, all oozing with sunscreen and colorful straw-sunhats streamed past with drinks and fruit on sticks.
She was pretty damn far from London.
"Oh, she's finally looking up from her book," said Honorius as he reached for his Acai Juice and sipped from the glass.
Rune made a scene of readjusting her kaftan. "I can't get too tanned. Last time I did, you said I ruined the show."
"You're only as good as your sponsors, sweetheart," replied Honorius in such a gentle tone, one might have mistaken it for affection.
He extended his glass to her. "My juice is finished. Be a darling and get a refill for me."
Rune tucked her journal under her arm as she took the glass from her Ringmaster and she tried her best not to sigh until she was sure he wouldn't hear her.
Once she placed his order, she opened the journal on the counter and wrote.
No.
I'm on vacation.
Why?
The moon looks nice tonight.
Thought you might like it.
Why would you think that?
You told me you liked stars the other night.
Just an intuition.
Too quickly, the drink was refilled, and she paid for it before taking it back to Honorius and graciously handing it to him.
"How's that horrible headmaster of yours?" he asked with a shiver of disgust.
"Dumbledore," sighed Rune, with a shake of her head. "I got into trouble with him."
While most adults would have chided her for it, Honorius seemed to light up with joy. "What did you do?"
Rune leaned back in her sunbed and sighed, "I let a demented beast out of its cage."
Two weeks. They had been on holiday for two whole weeks, and she hadn't received even a hoot of an owl from Regulus.
She knew she was across the world from him, but owls knew how to find receivers in even the most remote of places.
She tried all she could to not let thoughts of him eat away at her mind, but the only time when it was even remotely possible to not think of Regulus was when she was speaking to Super Mysterious Guy.
Even though she still harbored some ill feelings towards him and couldn't ward herself off from the way her fingers itched to keep writing to him. The way her excitement peaked when she felt the journal grow warm in her fingers and then saw the scribble of his words across her page.
It was becoming an addiction. Every few minutes, she'd open it up to see what he said. She tried to memorize his words before they disappeared away.
Most nights, she'd stay up writing to him, completely disregarding the fact that she had shows lined up back-to-back every day.
A slight melancholic feeling entered her chest when she remembered it was her last day in Brazil. The circus rarely visited the same country twice and over the last two weeks she'd grown rather fond of the culture she'd been exposed to. That was why she requested her last day be on a beach where she was surrounded by it.
She shut her eyes to bask in the warmth of the sun, but her happiness was short-lived by a gruff voice.
"Master, it is time to leave. You have to meet sponsors before the train leaves tonight."
Rune wished she could have told him to carry on without her but since she already knew that he wouldn't, she packed up her stuff and without uttering a word, she followed the Ringmaster and his assistant back into her prison.
***
What's your biggest fear?
I think it's disappointing my parents.
What's yours?
You can't laugh.
No promises.
Not being loved.
I don't think anyone has
ever truly loved me.
...
...
What's your favorite thing about yourself?
My eyes.
Why?
Because someone told me they like it.
Tell me an interesting story about you.
...
...
If you'd like to.
There's nothing really that's interesting about me.
I'm possibly one of the most boring
people you couldever come across.
No one is boring!
Come on, you can't think of even one thing.
When I was younger, around 8 years old,
I was playing in the park near my house
and this man came to me and offered me
an egg in exchange for the chain I had on.
Now I know it was dumb, but I was 8, so
like any boy my age, I was fascinated by
the shiny, black egg being offered to me.
As you can probably tell, I exchanged it.
For months, I looked after that egg.
I incubated it under my pillow, I nestled it.
I figured it was a dragon's egg almost as
soon as it began to grow in direct
sunlight, so, I'd light the fireplace and
hold the egg over it until my fingers
grew ashy.
And then?
And then one day, my mother realized that
my chain was missing.
It wasn't an ordinary chain, it was an
heirloom from my grandfather so
she grew angry at me.
Rightfully so.
She searched all over my room and turned
it inside out and rather than finding that
chain, she found the egg.
What did she do with it?
She was really angry. That chain belonged
to her father. It must have been hard on her.
Okay, but what did she do?
She made me watch as she destroyed it.
I know it was still just an egg, but she
destroyed that egg that I had spent so long
looking after.
It broke my heart. I think that was the first
time I realized that mistakes have consequences.
What?
What?
That's what you realized?
Not that maybe, no offence,
your mum is psychotic?
I made a mistake.
I should never have exchanged that chain.
You were 8!
Tell me something interesting about you.
Usually before I fall asleep, I like to
think about all the little things
I do that no one else notices.
Like what?
I stop every time I see a butterfly
so, I can admire its colours
and patterns.
I like to think my mum did too.
I've always double folded my socks.
I wonder if my dad did that.
One of my friend's loves chocolate
cake so I always choose it for dessert.
There's a song I listened to with a boy,
and I keep replaying it.
I try to notice everything about me
because I hope I see things from the
people who could love me in it.
I like to think I'm made up of
pieces of all of them.
What song?
Oh! Carol by Niel Sedaka.
Wow.
What?
That is a terrible song.
Don't you dare!
"Rune!"
Rune immediately shut the journal and tucked it under her pillow before bolting out of bed and running down the corridor, despite the weight of the dress as it weighed down on her.
"I'm sorry," she sputtered when she saw the stern face of Honorius before her. "I'm sorry. I was just using the bathroom."
She gulped as he narrowed his eyes at her, obviously seeing right through her lie.
Her eyes nervously darted to the stage where a group of pixies were encircling the stage in a beautiful dance display for their closing act.
Rune gasped as her head was harshly pulled back and lipstick was painted across her lips.
She was beyond thankful for the mask that shielded her identity because it saved her from needing eye make-up.
"You go out there and be beautiful," the Ringmaster instructed her as his fingers reached out and traced the crystal stones on the gown. "No matter what."
Rune had been doing her best to ignore the stones. They were crystals so they were sparkly and beautiful. They were also sharp and hard and just the thought of them melding into her skin until she shed again had her shivering in fear.
Still, she managed a nod.
As the pixies floated off, Rune rolled her shoulders back and gracefully flounced forward into the limelight.
As the hundreds of eyes fell on her, she lifted her eyes.
She once believed she was spectacular, but she was just a spectacle.
Still, as the orchestra tempo increased, a hiss rose in her throat, and she twirled elegantly as her lithe human form twined and twisted into that horned serpent.