working together (thius)

Dahlia found herself wondering why she continued taking charms all the way up until her seventh year. It wasn't like she would need charms in order to further her career, her potions would be more than enough for her to succeed and make a name for herself in the world she wished to be a part of. But maybe she was a bit of an overachiever, even if she regretted it the whole time she endured the task. The paper that she was stuck working on just happened to be a group effort, something to try to bring the students together or something. The obvious choice for her in a partner was Melanthius Burke since he was the only one in their little 'friend group' who happened to also be a seventh year. So, she sat there at one of the tables in the common room with all of her charms papers and book strung out around her in some form of organized chaos probably only she could make sense of as she waited for Melanthius to show up. She wanted to get this over with.

@Melanthius Burke

After partnering up with his friend Dahlia for a paper in charms, Thius promised himself that he'd try to not gush about his girlfriend as much to ensure they'd be productive and so he'd avoid being delivered some kind of intimidating, yet empty threat. He couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't do such a thing however, especially as there was a chance his girlfriend could walk past them in the common room. How could he avert his gaze during a potential brief appearance?!

Entering the common room, Thius took a seat adjacent to Dahlia and set his backpack to the side of him, catching his breath after racing down the floors. "My apologies if I was tardy, Travers. I had gone to the library to check out some books when I had to deduct points from a group of first year Gryffindors for disorderly conduct..."

He glanced at the array of books and papers scattered around the table and raised an eyebrow.

"How do you bloody find anything?"

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia tapped her foot beneath the table as she looked over the stacks of papers that lay in front of her. A frown tugged at her lips as she glanced up at the clock above the mantle and saw that Melanthius was late. Most people would have already earned a stern lecture from her for wasting her time if not worse repercussions for such things. She was very busy and she didn't have time to waste waiting for someone who didn't respect her enough to be prompt. She decided she would give Melanthius a pass, though. Surely he would have a good reason for his tardiness.

Sure enough, soon after her thoughts of this, he made his entrance and apologized for his tardiness. "Very well, I will not lecture you on your lack of punctuality." She said, as much as an acceptance of his apology as he could probably ever hope to get. "It's very simple, really. I know exactly where everything is." She said, knowing that he probably wouldn't understand it even if she tried to explain. She waited for him to sit down so that they could get started.

@Melanthius Burke

Nodding, Thius was relieved. He loathed holding people up, and it was always extremely frustrating when circumstances beyond his control forced him in such a position. And with some of the threats Travers had made towards Comarth, he'd prefer to not poke the bear with an assignment to complete.

"As long as it works for you," he replied sincerely as he pulled out his own material. "If I wasn't so stringent about organizing my books, I'd fear losing my mind!"

Although his voice or face didn't express it, it was something he feared outside of being generally organized. It was one aspect of his life he was able to control without judgment, and that was only because nobody would give the side eye over being particular about books.

Flipping open one of his books, Thius turned the pages until it landed on the specific chapter they needed. "How shall we begin this then?"

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia was well aware that most people looking in on her organizational skills would probably think they were lacking. In reality, she had a system that worked for her and that was all that mattered. She cared not what other people thought. She picked up one of the stacks of parchment and shuffled through it as she waited for Melanthius to seat himself and to get his things out. "I'm sure having your own private dorm to yourself has helped with your ability to organize." She said, maybe a small hint of jealousy tainting her tone. She felt she deserved a room to herself. Why did she have to share a room when he got one to himself? She scowled at the parchment in front of her before reminding herself that it wasn't necessarily his fault. She shouldn't hold such a grudge against him. But she couldn't help but think of all the advancements she could make with her potions if she had privacy... She huffed ever so softly before looking back up to Thius.

"Maybe we could lament about how much of a waste of time this is?" She said with a sigh. She should have dropped charms when she had the chance but it wouldn't have looked good for her not to have a full roster of classes. Her parents wouldn't have approved. They still thought her dream to become the best potioneer in all the world was a silly dream. She despised them for it and knew that she would prove them wrong. But for now, she didn't want to risk their displeasure since howlers at breakfast were incredibly annoying.

@Melanthius Burke

"The extra space helps marginally. I just have to figure out how I'll be shelving them, but I never get around to it as I savor every second with my girlfriend there..."

He couldn't help gushing over Bellona nor could he stop himself. It was all too easy to manage such a feat. People called it obsessive, but he'd shout his love for her from the rooftops without caring about a single soul judging. But he couldn't because...

Was Dahlia already exasperated by him bringing up his girlfriend? He hardly said anything that could be considered excessive! He'd already broken his promise to tone it down just a little bit! Oh well. It felt painful holding back the tiniest amount.

"I already learned all of this in third year from reading, so this is another review for me. I suppose we could lament about it."

Thius carefully stuck a bookmark in the book to save his place before leaning back. "I don't think this work is challenging enough. What about you, Travers?"

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia rolled her eyes when he mentioned not even being able to organize his books because he was so wrapped up in Bellona. It was sickening. Did he not have a life that was apart from the girl? Sure, she got it. He thought he was in love even though love was all an illusion, but did that have to make up his every waking thought? It was disgusting. She wasn't acknowledging the statement aloud, though. She didn't want to encourage him into going on and on about Lestrange when they had other things to get done right now since he had already admitted to not being able to get anything else done when she was involved at all. She just hoped Lestrange wouldn't come into the common room and ruin all of his concentration.

Luckily, when she didn't say anything on the subject he seemed to drop it. Perfect. "I think it is a waste of time. I am still kicking myself for not dropping charms but I know my parents would be displeased and I didn't want to have to deal with howlers over breakfast because of it. My mother can hold quite the grudge and I would have never heard the end of it." And charms were apparently useful in her mother's opinion. All the beautifying charms or whatever. Dahlia still thought it a waste of time. "I do agree it is less than challenging though so that at least helps some so I don't have to waste too much time with it."

@Melanthius Burke

"Your parents wouldn't let you drop charms?"

And he thought his family, at least on his father's side, was controlling! That was another level...

Thius crossed his arms behind his head, allowing himself to better unwind after running down flights of stairs not that long ago. It's been a rough few weeks outside of those moments of solace with his girlfriend.

"True, we're able to have more free time once this is finished. I'm reading four different books currently, I'm not quite sure how I manage it, and I haven't been able to find time to get through some of those when I have no choice but to patrol near curfew!"

His priorities were drastically changing, especially now that he was in a relationship.

@Dahlia Travers

"My mother says that charms are useful. You know, cleaning charms, beautifying charms, whatever. I couldn't care less about cleaning charms; my potions are even better than any charm. But my mother still insists I will one day be a good wife once she manages to marry me off." She spoke in the most deadpan voice she could manage. She hated all of this. But if anything could be said, she got her stubbornness and vindictiveness from her mother and even she didn't want to cross the woman just yet. So, she relented and kept the class.

She leaned back against the back of her chair, pulling one foot up beneath her as she looked over her the parchment in front of her. "I am still trying to perfect my beautification potion on top of some other projects I have been working on." So, this was a complete waste of her time. And it sounded like Thius had plenty of things he would rather be doing than this as well. She thrust the parchment that was in her hand at him. "Here's what I had started before you got here." The parchment had a tidy introduction written in neat handwriting across the parchment. At least it would get them started.

@Melanthius Burke

Thius raised an eyebrow as he heard about her mother; although he had been around them since childhood, he was often too introverted and shut off to get acquainted with any of his peer's parents, even if their families were really close.

"Does your mother realize there's more to charms than enhancing aesthetics? I imagine there'd be some that might be of use to your potions work had your parents not made it a chore to learn."

But he was also different in the sense that his thirst for knowledge was insatiable, just like a Ravenclaw... It's been six years, yet the conversation with the hat still rattled him, especially now that he was sort of beginning to realize that his family was more extreme than others in the community.

Gently taking hold of the parchment, Thius read the introduction and promptly nodded. "Hmm, we can take turns writing paragraphs until we meet the requirements. Then we can worry about proofreading after."

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia waved a dismissive hand at Thius as he went on about the usefulness of charms. "I'm sure she does know that charms have other uses but those are the ones she keeps bringing up. She always tells me I need all the help I can get to secure a husband, whatever that means." She rolled her eyes. As if she cared about securing a husband. "I just want to be able to get my business going and make a name for myself, I don't need some man holding me back to do that." She said with a scowl. She definitely wasn't looking forward to the whole good little pureblood wife thing.

She fell silent as he read over the introduction she had written then nodded when he spoke. "That would probably work best. That way we're not fussing over each word the other uses until the end." Since she knew both she and Thius had their own ways of doing things, it was the option that made the most sense.

@Melanthius Burke

"I never knew your mother had such warped priorities..."

Thius really didn't know what to say; he really didn't know too much about Dahlia's life despite their friendship and growing up in the same community. "Why is she so worried about you securing a husband if it's going to be arranged anyway?"

It seemed rather contradictory, but Thius never understood why arranged marriages were such a huge deal among purebloods other than to ensure that the blood wouldn't be contaminated.

It only made him feel even more fortunate that his family wasn't forcing such a situation upon him, especially after what happened with his sister over the summer. Pulling out one of his quills and an inkwell, Thius began writing a paragraph without checking back for references. That could wait until proofreading; he trusted his memory in the meantime.

"What would you do if the act between you and Comarth stopped working? Poison the more intrusive suitor?"

@Dahlia Travers

It hadn't made sense to Dahlia either. She didn't understand it, so her mother had explained it to her. "She thinks I will embarrass her and my father if I don't learn to be domesticated. She says I'm too feral now, that no man would want to deal with my moods if I don't have something else to bring to the table." Maybe those words her mother had told her when she was a young girl had hurt back then but she said them without any emotion at all now. Back then she cared about whether she was an embarrassment to her family... Now she knew her purpose and it wasn't to sit at home drinking wine and raising children.

She hated that that was what her mother wanted for her. Sure, her mother enjoyed that lifestyle. She had given up everything to be a good housewife and socialite but Dahlia was not her mother. Maybe her mother was right and she was too feral. As if to prove it, a devious little smirk came to her lips at Thius questioning. "I would be lying if I said the thought had not crossed my mind." She said, tapping her fingers against the wood of the table in front of her as he wrote his paragraph. Luckily, the common room was empty so she felt like she could speak freely. "Have I told you about the potion I have been working on... Aside from the magic dampening potion and the beautification potions?" She remembered telling Comarth but she couldn't remember if Thius was present at the time or not.

@Melanthius Burke

Dahlia? Too feral? Thius ended up snorting.

"I'd hate to hear what she thinks of my mother's side if she considers you feral. I reckon you're the most serious out of the four of us."

A lot of it was definitely her resting face, but Thius didn't think there was anything feral about his friend besides possible homicidal inclinations; that was why he thought she and Comarth were a good match - she balanced out his zaniness.

"Hm, is it the potion that'd affect the heart?"

He glanced down at the paragraph he wrote, already scrutinizing it before handing it back to Dahlia to keep the flow of the writing going.

"If so, I actually have a heart from a jilted bride you could test it on, but it'd have to be over the Christmas holidays. I didn't bring it as with my girlfriend spending time with me in my dorm, the only place to have stuck it would be the bathroom, and I don't want any harm coming to her. The curse is supposed to have worn off, but I wasn't going to take any chances."

@Dahlia Travers

A smirk came to her lips at his statement. "You never witnessed the temper tantrums I threw as a child whenever they would mention marriage or whatever else displeased me." There had been plenty of destruction left in her wake and she probably reminded those who witnessed it of a wild animal. After witnessing them, some of her household elves still gave her a wide berth. She had matured quite a bit since then. "In my defense, I was young." She said with a shrug. As if everyone had nearly homicidal, destructive tendencies when angered as a child. It was normal, right?

"Yes, that's the one! It will slowly turn the heart to stone over time." And if she could perfect it, it would be completely untraceable. It would cause a medical mystery and that in itself brought her plenty of amusement.

She took the parchment when he handed it to her, reading over what he had written and then immediately picking up where he had left off, looking at her notes and such from time to time as she smoothly wrote word after word on the parchment. Her eyes lit up a bit when he made the offer. "That is just what I need to make sure it works! As you can probably guess, there aren't many willing participants to test such a potion. It isn't like my beauty potions that nearly anyone would be happy to try. I will have to work hard on perfecting it before Christmas break so as not to waste time." She said, not commenting on his mentioning of Bellona since she was far more interested in the fact she would now have a way to test her potion than she was his worry for his girlfriend.

@Melanthius Burke

"I'd never expect that coming from you, personally."

It was amusing imagining his friend with a ferocious roar; like Comarth said, both she and Bellona had dragon-like qualities to them. Besides his unintentional matchmaking because both Dahlia and Comarth lacked a romantic bone, Thius could understand why she appealed to Comarth.

Hmm...

The various cogs in his head were oiling themselves up as he deciding to be more intentional with the matchmaking between the two; he was sure his girlfriend wouldn't mind helping, it'd allow her to better befriend Dahlia after all.

"I was originally going to feed it to one of my family's fanged geraniums as a romantic gesture, but it's not too often someone has a usable heart on hand for such a project..."

Besides, he can always get Bellona a fanged geranium as a gift...

Thius was doing a terrible job at not gushing outwardly or not.

"So, how exactly would the potion be ingested? Would it be something that can be infused with food for ample plausible deniability?"

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia shrugged, maybe she had managed to tame her temper enough that it seemed a little unbelievable but she had learned that it was much more satisfying to wait and get revenge for those who had wronged her than it was to explode in the moment. "I guess you've never truly seen me angry." Because even she couldn't ALWAYS avoid acting in the moment, even if she knew it was rather pointless now. She wanted to be seen as a silent predator. That was who she had shaped herself into. She wanted to be like a jungle jaguar, able to sneak in and dispose of her prey with no one else being the wiser.

A frown came to her lips when he talked of how he planned to waste the heart by feeding it to flowers. Why would he do something so meaningless? Weren't there other things he could easily feed his plants? "It would have been a waste to have fed it to a flower when it can be so useful for things like I'm working on." She said with almost a disappointed tone. To think he would have thought to feed the heart to a plant instead of offering it to her in the first place! The nerve.

She continued to write on the parchment even as she kept up their conversation. This was too easy, honestly. "Yes, I plan on making it completely tasteless and odorless so that it can be mixed into a drink or food, whichever is easiest. It will take time to take full effect, causing the pain that will come from the heart turning to stone from the inside out to be excruciating and lasting before the victim meets their ultimate end." She said with a bit of a smirk. She had it all planned out. She just needed to test it and make sure everything worked well.

@Melanthius Burke

"No, I can't say I have. I've mainly witnessed you threatening Comarth, but that's a normal occurrence."

In fact, he'd merely consider that extent of her anger to be Dahlia's default state. Nothing to be bothered about really. Except he took her threats seriously as they always threatened death. When Bellona got angry to the point of screaming, however, Thius enjoyed her wails as if it were a siren's song. It was music to his ears.

Merlin, both of them were very dragon-like. Thius didn't know how well Comarth would be able to handle Dahlia's wrath. He'd probably be burnt alive by her fire if he drooled around her face again. Dammit, he was going to have to get on Comarth later to getting that dragon comparison stuck in his mind just because it was the most correct one.

He looked as if he was with the fairies as his mind compared his lady's and his friend's differing anger states and similar temperaments.

So there was a dragon that blew ice instead of fire just like Bellona?

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Dahlia questioned his initial idea for the heart. "Bellona loves carnivorous plants. I thought it'd be touching to let her see it in action without it hurting either of us!" he retorted defensively.

When it was his turn to write another paragraph for the assignment, he listened and merely responded, "You'll have to keep that one on the black market as I doubt my brother would approve of it."

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia shrugged her thin shoulders. "Only when he chooses to push my buttons." She said as if that made her threats all okay. After all, if he wouldn't annoy her, she would never threaten him. She felt she was entirely within her rights to do so. Generally, her anger was a cold fury, strongly controlled until it could be funneled into something worthwhile. But it hadn't always been like that. Though, back then she hadn't been nearly as dangerous as she was now. Now she could make good on her threats if she so chose to.

She finished writing her portion on the parchment as he stared off into space, he was probably thinking about Bellona. She could deal with it as long as he kept his gushing to himself instead of making her hear about it. "Are there no other chunks of meat in your house you could use so that you're not wasting something that could be so useful?" She crossed her arms over her chest after sliding the parchment back to him.

It was her turn to snort when he told her what she already knew. "Of course, I don't think the ministry would allow us to stay open long if we were selling such things. And I do not want to find myself in Azkaban for murder. No, this will have to be something that will only be available to special customers and for a very high price." She said, knowing full well she could never sell something like this in the open. But she felt that her beauty potions and other potions would be enough to keep the legitimate side of her business going while the other side remained secret.

@Melanthius Burke