University of Wizarding Professions

Yellow foxglove

"I'm sort of friends with him."

"What?" Prudence erupted, almost dropping their sheets in surprise.

Luisa looked away in embarrassment, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, I met him during the first week, he's actually very sweet... I'm surprised that you're telling me this now."

Prudence didn't have time to add anything, as they suddenly felt their knees bend, sending their face at full speed towards the edge of their desk.
Thankfully, Luisa reacted and put her hand in the way, so instead of the hard wood, Prudence's nose hit her soft skin.

"Sir! That was uncalled for!" Luisa yelled, looking down at the tiny man that had just hit Prudence's knees with his cane.

"Then get out of the room," Mr. Swindlehurst angrily squeaked. "All your classmates have left already!"

Prudence quickly apologized and scrambled out of the classroom, Luisa on their heels.

"Geez, I hate when he does that," Luisa groaned.

Mr. Swindlehurst had a tendency to hit people's legs with his cane when he was angry or frustrated. No later than a week ago, one of the Potions first years had been sent to the nurse office, because the surprise hit had made him fall face-first into a beaker of potion.

"Anyway," Luisa said, turning to Prudence as the two of them walked towards the hall, "can you tell me exactly what happened?"

Prudence quickly summarized the morning's events, leaving Luisa confused and lost in thoughts.

"I'd never have thought him to be so harsh... I mean, I knew he didn't like Elijah, but..."

She left her sentence hanging, holding her chin and staring at the floor.

"Whatever," Prudence gently said. "It's over now, even if Elijah got detention. I won't try to stand in Seth's way anyway," they said, their voice lowering.

They still weren't over the look on his face. These terrifying blue eyes, filled with hatred and disgust...

I almost had forgotten how it felt like.

"Want to go anywhere before lunch break?" Luisa asked, tearing them from their thoughts.

"Not really," Prudence said.

"Let's go outside a bit."

The two of them casually walked to the school yard. October was nearing its end, and the wind was getting chilly, making Prudence shudder despite the heavy wool of their jumper. They would have to bring a coat next time.

"We'll be on holidays soon," Luisa said, readjusting her collar, her eyes lost in emptiness."I wish we could stay in the dorms for the holidays..."

Prudence glanced at her, slightly worried. Her voice held a discreet melancholic tone that didn't suit her. Luisa seemed to notice their look and immediately smiled.

"It's a pain to take a plane back home," she said, shrugging. "And my parents are always so annoying... I wish I could stay here and have fun with everyone else."

Prudence didn't reply, surprised by her arguments. Luisa always seemed so strong and confident, they didn't think she could get lonely.

"You mean be a pain in everyone else's ass."

Luisa and Prudence spun around at the sudden comment, surprised by the other presence.

It was a girl, a girl Prudence had actually seen before, since she was in their class. She was always sitting in the back right corner and rarely spoke to people, and her whole demeanour was enough to keep people away from her. Entirely dressed in black except for her uniform, half of her face covered by her long dark brown hair, her feet clicked with the sounds on the multiple chains and nails that decorated her boots.

"Piss off," Luisa said, smirking, "everyone is a pain in your ass."

The girl rolled her eyes, the wings of her eyeliner twitching with the gesture. She walked closer, and Prudence silently stared at her, unsure about why she would initiate a conversation in the first place. And so they were even more surprised when she completely ignored Luisa and towered over them, her dark green eyes scanning them up and down, her long hair cascading down her shoulders like a cloak.

"Can I have a moment with you?" she asked, expressionless.

"Wait, you want to talk to Prudence?" Luisa exclaimed, apparently astounded. "I'm surprised you'd want to talk to anyone in the first place-"

"I didn't ask for your opinion," the pale girl interrupted her. "So? Got a moment?" she asked, not missing a beat.

Prudence stood frozen for several seconds, their brain struggling to compute the information. The girl raised an eyebrow in mild annoyance, and they eventually found their voice.

"I uhm, I'm... Uh... How can I... Help y-you?" they stammered, taking a step back as they felt like the girl's aura was going to crush them.

The girls' purple lips stretched in a mischievous smirk, and she grabbed their wrist, pulling them along with her.

"Follow me," she said, dragging them around with ease.

"Hey, where are you going like that?" Luisa asked, following her.

"None of your business, cotton candy," she said, not even looking at her.

"What are you, Elijah?" Luisa snarled, still following her. "I'm not letting you drag them around as you please!"

The girl turned around and sent her a murderous glare, but to Prudence's relief, Luisa didn't back down and pulled their wrist out of her grasp. The two girls stared at each other in silence, both trying to make the other look away.
Eventually tearing their eyes from the other girl's spiked bracelets that looked like they could impale them, Prudence took a deep breath and raised their hands.

"Luisa, it's alright... I'll go."

"No you won't," Luisa softly said. "She's crazy, she'll poison you."

"I don't waste my experiments on anyone," the girl said, sliding a hand into one of her pockets.

Prudence watched with a mix of apprehension and curiosity as she pulled out what looked like a perfume vial, and removed its cap.

"Oh no, you stay away from me with your weird stuff," Luisa said, taking a step backwards.

"Are you coming then, or not?" the girl said, shrugging.

Eyeing the perfume vial in her hand, Prudence judged wiser to follow her without question. They didn't want something bad to happen again, after the mess that was this week, and it seemed like she needed help for something.

"I'll go," they hesitantly said. "But if Luisa comes."

The girl let out a long sigh, and Prudence turned to Luisa, who raised a thumbs up.

"Fine, whatever," the girl said, "follow me."

She walked away, her long curtain of dark hair following her like a weird coat.
Prudence jogged after her, Luisa letting a loud groan behind them.

"You could have at least introduced yourself!" she called, earning no reply from the other girl. "Her name is Joha-," she said, turning to Prudence before letting out a loud yelp of surprise.

The other girl had abruptly stopped walking, and had just sprayed the contents of her perfume vial into Luisa's face out of nowhere. Luisa stumbled backwards and coughed, Prudence staring at her in surprise.

"It's Jo," the girl said, pocketing her vial. "I told you that already."

"I... I forgot," Luisa said between coughs, holding her throat. "You didn't... Have to... Do this!"

A mischievous smile made its way on Jo's lips again, as she proudly stared at Luisa, who was now catching her breath.

"And three, two, one..."

Luisa looked up, and met Prudence's wide eyes. Seeing her reflection in their glasses, she stood speechless of a few seconds, before her face distorted in a mix of surprise and disgust.

"My hair!"

Her hair had just turned blue, in a wave that went from the roots to her tips in a split second. As she lifted one of her bangs in front of her eyes and overcame the surprise, her hair suddenly turned a deep red.

"What have you done to me now?" she roared at Jo, who seemed to pleasantly enjoy the situation.

"Seems like it's working perfectly," she said. "Although I didn't expect you to reach this shade of red this quick."

Luisa's hair colour gradually went from red to vermilion, almost black as she furiously walked towards Jo, murder in her eyes.

"Change me back, now," she growled, Jo completely ignoring her and starting to walk again.

"That's what you get for interfering," she said, shrugging and gesturing at Prudence to follow her.

Prudence quickly walked to Luisa and caught her arm to hold her back and prevent her from breaking Jo's nose.

"It's... It's not dangerous, is it?" they said, Jo only waving her hand without turning back.

"She'll just change colours for the next two hours."

Prudence had to use every ounce of their already very limited strength to stop Luisa from jumping on Jo and burying her face into the ground. Her hair kept changing from red to black in flashing waves, until it settled on a calmer purple.

"Alright," she said, "but if she does one more thing like this, I will punch her."

Prudence caught up with Jo, who was now walking around the greenhouse. Her eyes travelled across the glass, until she found the subject of her interest, and gestured at Prudence and Luisa to come closer.

"Look inside," she ordered, forming a dome with her hands to be able to see through.

Prudence did the same, suddenly interested by what she was trying to show them. They looked inside, and just across them was a large pot holding a tall plant, which adorned large-tube like flowers in grapes, the flowers slightly rising every second as if the plant was breathing.

"See that big yellow one here?" Jo said, confirming their suspicions.

"Yes, I know it," Prudence said, turning to her in apprehension. "What about it?"

The corner of Jo's lips imperceptibly raised, and she pointed at the plant on the window.

"You're having detention in there next week, right? I need you to get me one of these flowers."

Prudence and Luisa's jaws dropped as one, Luisa's hair abruptly shifting from purple to green.

"Hell no!" Luisa exclaimed, slamming her palm on the window. "They got detention, they're not going to get more in trouble! Why do you even want these anyway?"

"It's none of your business," Jo said, crossing her arms and immediately reporting her attention to Prudence. "Are you gonna do it?"

"I... You don't... Seem to get it," Prudence said, hesitantly pointing at the window. "This type of magical foxglove flowers are extremely poisonous, I wouldn't be able to touch them without gloves-"

"I know that," Jo said, exasperated. "But I need them for something."

"For what?" Luisa said, her hair gradually inching towards red again. "There's no way we're helping you with that, it's too dangerous!"

Jo looked down, frowning. Prudence could tell she didn't want to explain herself.

"I think... I think Mrs. Reeves has an extract in her office," they hesitantly said, remembering when they went to her office a few days ago. "Maybe you could ask her...?"

"For once, I'm not interested in the poison," Jo said, blowing a few bangs away from her face. "But I need one of those flowers, and I can't go in there."

"Ask the teachers, maybe...?" Prudence timidly suggested.

"Already did. They won't let me handle the flowers by myself."

"For a good reason!" Luisa said.

"Since you're going in there, I need you to get me one of these," Jo repeated, Prudence staring at her in silence. "You'll have two weeks of access, and I just need one."

"Why on earth would you need one anyway?" Luisa yelled. "That's enough of your nonsense!"

"I don't owe you any explanation," Jo spat.

"But I'd like to know," Prudence quietly said, making the two girls turn to them in surprise. "I mean, if I'm to get you one, I need to know what you're going to do with it," they said, hesitantly looking up in Jo's direction.

Jo looked down, her eyebrows furrowing, her bracelets jingling together.

"I need them for the colour," she eventually muttered. "Someone I know really wants to get that shade of yellow and I need to find out how to synthesize it."

Prudence stared at her, surprised by her reason.

"I expected something much more Machiavellian," Luisa said, her hair changing to a surprised blue. "Turns out you actually want to help someone, what a surprise," she added, smirking, her hair slowly changing to yellow.

"I am not helping anyone," Jo said, flipping her hair with a gesture of her chin, "I took it as a challenge."

Silent until then, Prudence stared at the yellow foxglove through the window. It was sure that they were of a beautiful shade of yellow, and Prudence caught themselves thinking that Niamh would have loved it. She always seemed to wear yellow and orange. They wondered who could have asked Jo to bring out this colour. They were always entranced by flowers' colours whenever they looked at them, but they didn't expect anyone else to feel the same.

When Prudence burst their bubble of thoughts and went back to reality, they weren't surprised to see the two girls fighting again. Or well, Luisa fighting was a better statement, for Jo seemed to be reluctant to even reply to her.

"I don't know why I even bother," Jo eventually said, crossing her arms. "I'll get these myself."

Luisa was about to roar something, but her jaws closed abruptly when she saw Prudence promptly walk away from the window.

"Don't," they said, their expression genuinely worried. "They're dangerous, you could get seriously hurt."

"Don't tell me what to do," Jo said, glaring at them, her emerald eyes darkening with annoyance.

"I think I have another idea," Prudence said, suddenly pensive.

Jo tilted her head to the side, Luisa's hair changing to a curious orange.

"Do you need exactly this colour, or just a strong yellow?" Prudence asked.

The question seemed to leave Jo unsure. She brought her fingers to her chin, her black nails scratching her pale skin.

"She really said this one yellow," she said.

"She?" Luisa asked, tilting her head to the side, a wave of pink going through her hair.

"Not. Your. Business," Jo hissed.

"Okay..." Prudence muttered, unsure. "I'll see what I can do... But I will not steal these flowers from the greenhouse."

"Very good thinking," Luisa said, proudly crossing her arms and nodding, her hair changing to a proud salmon pink.

"... I don't want people to get hurt by this poison. I can't let you handle this."

"That's... Not the reasoning I was expecting," Luisa muttered, her hair turning grey. "But well, the end is the same, I guess."

"If you're not going to get these flowers, then I don't need your help," Jo said, shrugging.

"Just... Wait for Monday morning, alright?" Prudence said, frowning with worry. "After that, you can uh... Break inside the greenhouse all you want."

"Not happening," Luisa said.

Jo glared at Prudence in silence, and Prudence shrunk under her menacing gaze. She definitely looked frail and fragile, with her pale skin and slim silhouette, but her dark green eyes still sent a chill down their spine. They tried their best not to think how her spiked boots could scratch their skin away if she tried.

"Fine," she eventually said, leaning away and freeing Prudence from her shadow. "I'll see you before the Potions class next Monday. You better have something worth my time."

Prudence only nodded, nervously gulping down. Not wasting any more of her time, Jo walked away, her boots clicking along with her steps across the short grass.

Prudence let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat off their forehead with their sleeve. Behind them, Luisa let out a growl of frustration, staring at her bangs, now a dull shade of dark blue.

"If that doesn't wear off by tomorrow, I am definitely making her eat my soles," she groaned.

"What is it with you and soles?" Prudence absent-mindedly asked, watching Jo's silhouette in the distance.

"I don't know," Luisa said, "I don't like to stain my fists, so feet are a better option for beating people up. Anyway, I hope you have a plan for Monday, because I'm reporting her to Mrs. Reeves."

Prudence silently nodded. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, it was the thing to do. They couldn't risk Jo getting into the greenhouse and potentially hurt herself or one of the plants.

"I wouldn't have expected you to bargain with her," Luisa said, a smirk on her lips. "Are you suddenly becoming courageous?"

"I... I wouldn't say that," Prudence stuttered, pink dusting their cheeks.

"I was kidding," she said, widely smiling. "Now let's go before Elijah gets out of class. I don't want to see his ugly face."