𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎. fred weasley

𝚡𝚒𝚒𝚒. 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚜 & 𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜

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The blue fades out of Cress's hair before the end of the week, much to her relief. Axel all but cries when she finds him in the common room one morning, hair the usual black it normally is instead of a rich magenta. He does still threaten bodily harm on the twins, which is justified, but Cress manages to keep him under control so there are no mysterious happenings when the other schools arrive.

    Speaking of schools arriving — Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are arriving today. Cress doesn't think she's seen the castle is as big as a panic as it is now.

    Statues have been dusted and polished and no longer look like they're one million years old and about to crumble. Portraits and paintings have been cleaned and Cress swears the gold finish on a painting of a rather rude princess gave her temporary blindness. Not to mention, Peeves has been a real pain in her arse because apparently no amount of persuading from the professors can stop him from world domination.

    (Axel says, whenever Peeves comes at him with goop-filled balloons or water buckets, that he would love to go to the afterlife just to wring Peeves's neck. He ends up bribing the Bloody Baron in the end.)

    Point is, Hogwarts is squeaky clean and ready for an onslaught of students from two foreign schools. Cress wonders, as she heads to breakfast that morning, what would happen if Hogwarts went to say, Beauxbatons. Would all the students go? Or just the older ones who are eligible to participate in the competition? Would the other school worry about looking fancy for them or would they say fuck it and leave it as is because Cress totally thinks Beauxbatons would. They sound like they're made of freshly picked lilacs and line-dried linen. She doubts they would need to clean.

    "Why are you thinking about this?" Hamlin asks her when she brings up the topic to him. She's wagering the options with Durmstrang because whilst they're extremely hardcore, Cress doesn't know what kind of academy she would see should she ever visit.

    (Her mind pictures a humongous castle with giant dragons guarding the gate inside. And to enter the school you have to slay one — but not really because they're mother fucking dragons and they deserve respect. So maybe just knock it out with a Stunning spell and then book it into the school before it can awaken. She thinks they probably eat nails for breakfast — assuming they know what nails are — and have sword fights to the death before lunch everyday. Because they're hardcore.

    Which is completely besides the point because Cress was talking about if they would clean for Hogwarts or not. But it doesn't really matter because she doesn't think so. Durmstrang would probably fight people who they think are worthy of entering their prestigious and slightly terrifying school and then throw them in their giant dungeons for them to waste away with the rats.)

    "It's something I feel as though needs to be discussed," Cress explains, biting into a bowl of plain Cheerio's. Her mouth purses at the stale taste but she figures this is what she gets for being allergic to cinnamon. Nasty cereal and a whole lot of grimacing.