Cherry Lips // s. black

-OCTOBER. 3.-

Carmilla was dragged out of bed to the great hall for breakfast at seven in the morning.

Classes started at eight thirty, apparently, and they should be finished by three in the afternoon, but June explained that sometimes teachers would run over or under time. The timetable was very loose, unless you were late to class. You would get a detention in that case.

It was all very hypocritical.

She was eating French toast lathered in maple syrup, which she had just discovered was maybe the best thing in the world, aside from raspberry tarts, when a flock of owls came swooping down over them.

She let out a quiet shriek and dropped her fork, ducking when a barn owl nearly clipped her with its big wings.

"They're not going to hurt you Milla," June chuckled, reading a newspaper that had been dropped next to her porridge. Apparently, in the wizarding world, there was a war brewing. A dark wizard was gaining power, but no one seemed to be worried. June said that the ministry would sort the git out.

Carmilla ignored the letter that had just dropped on her toast. She couldn't read it, but she wasn't about to let everyone know that, so she waited a moment for Ace to sit down beside her. Sure enough, the pink haired girl picked up the letter, "Milla, you got a letter... Can I open it?"

The black owl he sent with the letter had four wings, which made her think that it might not be an owl. Her suspicions were confirmed when it swallowed a gold spoon whole, and flapped its wings at June.

"You aren't supposed to open people's mail," June said, and served herself some fruit.

"Go ahead."

"Merlins balls, this spelling is atrocious," Ace muttered, and then cleared her throat and held the letter out, squinting down at it. She put on a posh voice. "Dear Camilla, Hope you enjoy you're first day! If you fry on Friday you com for a visit, I have rock cak.. cakces...cackes. Love, Hagrid."

June began peeling a kiwifruit with a knife that she took from the black owl's claws before it ate that too. "That's nice of Hagrid. Did he take you to Diagon Alley?"

"Yeah," Carmilla said, remembering the horrified face of Mistress Theeny when the huge man in a trench coat stumbled through the doors, dropping coins and teacups and even a few small frogs that the girls had scooped up and ran off with immediately. They were living in the corner of the shower right now. They even had names. Hagrid would be happy. "He did."

Ace picked up a piece of toast off the stand a few first years next to them were devouring and poked the four winged owl with it. "This cannot be an owl, it-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, because it squawked loudly, and bit Ace on the hand.

"Fuck!" she shrieked, squeezing her hand tightly once she'd ripped it from the shiny beak of the carnivorous bird. She leapt to her feet, knocking a jug of orange juice over. June flapped a napkin about, successfully scaring the bird off.

The students along the table, and a few from the other houses watched curiously, but went back to their breakfast a few moments later. Carmilla sighed. "Thanks, everyone."

"I don't think that's an owl, Carmilla!" June hissed, running around to their side of the table.

"It's not mine!" she shot back, pressing napkins to Ace's bleeding hand, who was holding back tears and biting her less cut up fist. The blood seeping into the napkins was making her head spin, and all she could smell was the thick metallic blood.