University of Wizarding Professions

Someone nice

 Prudence woke up to the alarm of their old clock, furiously jingling on their bedside table. Blindly reaching out, they managed to turn it off, and weakly ran their fingers along the table to find their glasses, which they shoved on their nose before laying down. It was their little ritual, when they woke up. Turn off the alarm, put their glasses on. They couldn't even see anything without their glasses, so it was the one thing that told their body to wake up.

Blinking under the gentle sunlight that came though the window of their small room, Prudence slowly slipped out of bed, their naked feet meeting the old wooden floor. They ran a hand through their messy hair to clear out their vision field and dragged their lethargic body out of their room.

After walking down the two long flights of stairs that led to the bottom of the house, Prudence reached the kitchen, where they found their breakfast already set and ready to eat. They internally thanked their father for making them breakfast every morning before going to work. He was a librarian, and he had to leave the house earlier than the rest of the family to start his day. Prudence's mother was also already up, but nowhere to be seen, since she spent her days locked up into her workshop, working on potions and extracts.

As they ate their breakfast, the clouds of sleep that blurred Prudence's thoughts finally drifted away, making them slowly aware of their surroundings. It was around 7AM, the sun was rising and coating the house in a warm, soft light that caressed the windows. After putting their dishes away, Prudence went back to their room to get their clothes. Nothing special, just the dark red jumper and white shirt of the school uniform along with a pair of simple brown pants. Twenty minutes later, they were ready to go. Or, almost ready.

"My tie!" Prudence exclaimed as they were standing in the doorway, remembering the missing part of their outfit.

Not wanting to be late again, they ran up the two long flights of stairs to their room, bursting in and rummaging through the organized mess that covered the old wooden floor and their bed.

The room wasn't really messy, more like cramped. It had been built inside what used to be the attic, the ceiling was low and it only had one, large window on the wall across the door. What made the room feel so small wasn't the lack of space, but the dozens of plants resting on the shelves covering the walls. Some were too tall to be put on shelves and were left on the floor, some hung from the ceiling and gently swayed with the cracking of the ceiling planks. Here and there, on the bed, piled up on the floor, between plants on the shelves, were books of various colors and sizes, stored in every small space that could host them. Dry leaves, petals and papers were scattered on the floor, along with a few lonely socks and pens.

Prudence quickly rummaged through their bed sheets, finally pulling out their blue tie with a triumphant smile to themselves. They ran down the stairs to the bathroom, and stood in front of the mirror, hastily twisting the tie into a somewhat decent knot. As they tried their best to make the knot look symmetrical, a shiver ran along the tie's fabric, and it's tip slowly raised up like a snake, as if it suddenly had been woken up by Prudence's clumsy gestures.

Prudence froze in their movement and watched the tie look at them, gulping down as they remembered how it had gone the previous day. They had accidentally turned their tie into some sort of alive animal, and they had struggled to make it lay inert, making them late in the process. Prudence blinked, the tie inching to the side, as if waiting for them to say something.

"Listen," Prudence whispered, trying their best to ignore the fact that their were actually speaking to a piece of fabric. "I don't want any trouble, okay? Just... Lay low and I promise I'll let you free the moment I come home."

They had done so the previous day, and the tie had slipped into their bed sheets like a wild snake. There was a small silence, until the tie gave a small nod and slipped by itself into Prudence's jumper collar. That was easier than expected. Prudence sighed in relief, only for their eyes to meet the bathroom clock.