Dollhouse [Rabastan Lestrange]

Chapter 23

"She tastes like every dark
thought I've ever had."

Callista held a stack of books and parchment in her arms, her book bag hanging off her shoulder. She had abandoned her school robes and her tie hung loosely around her neck. She looked around the courtyard and spotted Lily sitting on a bench by a tree. She smiled and waved at her and she joined her on the bench. She put the books on the bench in between them.

"I know why I couldn't find many Ancient Rune books then," she remarked.

"If we're going to do this, we may as well do it the best."

"I agree," Kai Sun remarked as he walked up to them. His hair was combed back in a neat style and his wore a beige sweater, his school shirt sticking out the top.

Sidney Hearst stood beside him, wildly contrasting him with her hair held up by her wand in a hurried mess and paint on her hands. They greeted them with smiles.

Both of them sat on the ground and put their own books and notes around them. "Ready to start?" Sidney asked, flipping through her Ancient Runes textbook. Even that was covered in drops of paint.

"Do you use your textbooks as a palette?" Callista asked, baffled. She could not even think about damaging one of her books.

"I really don't know how this happens." She laughed, her expression matching hers.

She chuckled, pulling a book from her stack. "We should get started."

The group was productive for the next thirty minutes until Sidney made the mistake of asking Lily how she put up with James Potter.

"You should be asking Callista!" She turned to her. "Does he ever stop talking?"

"Merlin no, he's never quiet."

Sidney laughed. "What about pranks?"

Lily pat her on the arm. "Yes, how do you get out of those? He has started pranking me since I became his girlfriend."

"He pranks you too?" An expression of shock covering Kai's face.

She nodded. "There is no escape."

Callista leaned forward, enjoying being able to talk like this with them. "No, no, there is an escape. It's called being James Potter's best friend. Sirius and I are the only two he never pranks, but it comes at a heavy cost."

"Cleaning up his mess?" Lily guessed.

"Helping him?" Sidney asked.

"Nope. You're always implicated. I mean, Sirius and James are kind of a package deal, but me? They seem to think dragging me out of the venue is better than just pranking me."

The group dissolved into laughter. "You have to tell us, has a prank ever failed?" Sidney asked.

She was brought back to the summer before their fourth year. It had to be one of the greatest days of her life. "Summer of '74. Hottest day of the year."

"Oh, I'm excited," Kai laughed.

"All of the shops closed early. James and Sirius, being the kids that they are, wanted ice cream. They decided to prank all the neighbourhood kids by betting them that they couldn't get into the ice cream shop down the road."

"Isn't that a crime?" Lily asked, slightly concerned.

She laughed. "The best part is that the owner was in on it. Let them break in, and take the ice cream that the boys had added chili powder too."

"Those poor kids," Sidney snickered.

"It gets better. Remus, Peter, and I snuck in before it happened and put the powder in their batch. So all the kids got normal ice cream, but theirs was so hot. It was amazing watching them run around back home to look for milk or something to help."