❝ MERLIN'S GHOST! ❞
❝ I MEAN, YOU'RE NOT WRONG. ❞
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Albany Bronwen was no Chosen One by any means, but being haunted by the ghosts of the greatest sorcerer of all time and a former king had to count for something, right?
❃ in which a lone...
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ALBANY MET UP WITH CARLY early one Saturday morning in the library for her first tutoring session. It was far earlier than Albany was used to waking up at, but given the mess her sleep schedule had become in recent times, she felt relatively numb to the exhaustion. Leaving the dormitory at such an hour also meant that the other girls had not yet awoken, so she escaped any questions from Faith about where she was going.
The French girl was sitting in one of the few window seats of the grand library, the morning sunshine setting her deep red curls alight. She was bent over a thick book, seemingly enveloped in its words, though straightened to wave brightly at Albany before the Slytherin could say a word. It was odd to see her dressed in anything other than the silky blue Beauxbatons robes, though the atmosphere felt all the more comfortable.
"Good morning," Carly greeted her cheerily.
"Morning," Albany responded, taking the opposite seat with a yawn. "You got a plan for today?"
Carly nodded enthusiastically. "There are a lot of spell books in your library, and I have my book of spells. You choose what you want to learn."
Albany nodded slowly, trying to will the grogginess from her brain. She glanced down at the notebook in front of the girl. "Are French spells different?"
"Some, oui," Carly said with a nod, "but these are my spells."
Albany blinked. "Your... spells?"
Carly grinned with pride. "Yes! I made them."
Albany stared, dumbfounded. "Wait, you invented these? All by yourself?"
Carly shrugged nonchalantly, flipping through the thin pages of the notebook. "Oui, I told you before. I - eh - invent spells. But the first spells, I had help."
"That's... really impressive."
"Thanks!" Carly said, beaming. She passed Albany the worn book. "I hope you will think they are useful. They do lots of things."
Albany carefully flicked through the pages, wary of how delicate the paper had become. It seemed Carly had been using it for years; many of the corners were yellowed, and small rips and tears were abundant across the edges. Every couple of pages detailed a new spell, scribbled French handwriting and doodles following Carly's thorough design process and eventually the incantation and wand movement. The spells had a wide variety of intentions; from charms that would spell out spoken English words in French, to jinxes that slightly increased the size of the victim's nose.
"A flower shrinking charm?" Albany questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Carly blushed. "Small things are cute," she mumbled.
Albany grinned. "I agree," she assured the curly-haired girl, who smiled appreciatively. "But is there anything in here that might... I dunno, help me in a task designed to kill me?"
