entrancelogs | [OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

[OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

Who: Slytherin House! (And friends and visitors, of course!)
Where: Slytherin Common Room, Quidditch Pitch, various places around Hogwarts
When: Duration of the event
Rating: G (will edit as necessary)
Summary: Slytherin open log!
The Story:

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in carved chairs.

The common room has changed, somewhat, from its historical description, thanks to the decorative powers of one Mettaton. Though it still extends beneath the lake and thus retains a greenish, aquatic cast, it's much more brightly lit, its cold, damp atmosphere replaced with dazzling MTT-brand warmth. Even the giant squid, occasionally peering in as it does its rounds of the lake, seems just a shade more glamorous inside such a charming space.

Students - and a ghost or two - can be found nestled within its confines, plotting mischief around the fire, studiously doing their homework (as good students do), or perhaps trading Chocolate Frog trading cards. Though Slytherin is not especially well-known for its wide-open, trusting nature, Slytherins are known for not snitching on each other; if a guest or two were to creep in for a while, then odds are, nobody saw anything.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

... What are you saying to her?

_{[Note to self: make more of an effort to learn Bulgarian. If he ever has to translate a Bulgarian text on raising the dead, it could come in handy... along with maybe translating those eerie, unblinking stares of Vasilka's.

To be quite honest, when he'd first been introduced to Katerina's familiar all those years ago when Vasilka had looked to his child eyes like a giant, fluffy carnival toy, he'd thought she must be a nice thing to hold at night like a stuffed animal, but he's since seen her hunt mice and unruly first years alike. She's like a fluffy carnival toy that could take your eye out if provoked.

Victor, putting on his best assuming expression, gazes up at Katerina. Come now, is this the face of someone who'd try to game the system? He would, but not over this.]}

Just with Vasilka. If she's in one of her mischievous moods, I'd appreciate it if you kept her off of my books.

_{[Please? Pretty please? Has he mentioned you're one of his favorite Petrovas?]}

Edited 2016-10-25 08:30 (UTC)

[ what she's saying to vasilka will remain her own little secret. it's the one thing she'll take from her family, the bulgarian she had been raised to live and breathe. perhaps it hadn't been a good idea to speak to her cat in bulgarian when she was an overly fluffy kitten, but it'd been katerina's instincts that had done the walking, and it meant she had the ability to assert power over the slytherin menace. ]

[ she took pleasure in the small things. ]

[ katerina would like to believe she can see right through victor, but it's neither here nor there if he so much as has left his work to the last minute. how does it affect her, anyway? she'll be long gone by the time he seems to develop a better habit of keeping on top of his work. ]

What will you give me in return? [ her smile isn't quite as carefree or teasing as it could be. katerina likes to barter, even if it's for something small like time. ] She's a very stubborn cat.

_{[This is starting to smell like extortion. He half-wonders if Katerina had sent Vasilka over here on purpose just to bug him--that wouldn't surprise him. His and Elena's siblings share a few things in common, and that includes making their lives hell sometimes.]}

My gratitude?

_{[Poe swivels his head and chirps as if to second that motion. What else could Victor give her that she'd actually want? He doesn't have any personal belonging he'd imagine she'd be interested in borrowing, or any rare ingredients in his trunk that she couldn't go out buy herself. He can't put her in touch with any interesting people, considering that the Petrovas count as the few interesting people he knows. Not to mention, a seventh year already has more privileges on school grounds than a fifth year.]}

What do you want?

[ truthfully, katerina had barked at vasilka to go torment some gryffindors who had been giving one of the younger slytherins trouble. her cat has already completed her task, even if katerina is impatient to see the results. (eating things, harassing owls, stealing robes, socks, photographs. vasilka's as cheeky as katerina once had been, if now she's much more worse.) as for victor, vasilka simply likes him. it's annoying, yet good for katerina when she needs to find her cat and locates her stalking victor. ]

[ vasilka's taste. it's almost the same as aleksander's — poor. ]

[ with her brow slightly arched, she watches him in amusement. ] Your gratitude is as weak as your excuses. [ she doesn't say it as unkindly as she could, merely stating it as one would reminding another water is wet and magic outside of hogwarts is frowned upon. ] But you're good at potions, aren't you? Or will you lie and tell me you're good at nothing at all?

_{[Ouch. Katerina has her claws out today, it would seem. Victor takes a fortifying breath to steel himself in case her price is using him as a scratching post.]}

You've known me all this time. Do you think I would lie about something like that?

_{[Maybe when he was younger, a more shyly naive boy quicker to modesty. Not anymore. There's a hard determination to the way he views his capabilities now--and he's no longer shy to insist he has more potential than most of the students in his year put together.]}

Top of the class. Why?

I need the student who's at the top of the class to do something for me that could or could not be illegal. [ katerina shrugs her shoulders, and flippantly adds with some flair, ] I don't know.

[ katerina purposefully doesn't answer his question. does she think he'd lie about something like that? she knows he'd consider it. would he lie to her? possibly not. katerina's gone out of her way to know the strengths and weaknesses of the people she considers to be decent company, and victor's not an exception. ]

[ she arches her brow, and tilts her head. ] Does that sound like you?

[ vasilka, as if needing to ensure that victor thinks highly of himself, moves in a bid to nudge him — or quite possibly begin to eat him alive. she's the type of girl who'd do that, after all. ]

_{[He wrinkles his nose, unsure. Hypotheticals are suspect when he can only see the tip of them, like an iceberg concealing its real shape and size underwater.]}

I don't know, either. It would depend on what you want and what you're asking.

_{[Hypothetically speaking, of course. He's not adverse to illegality if breaking the rules serves a purpose, but he's also fifteen and reliant on his family's allowance. He's not in much of a position to turn himself into a wizarding criminal mastermind if he still wants to have a future by the day he comes of age.

A bump to his arm startles him; Vasilka butts her head against his forearm like she's emphasizing the point. Accept this mission or we'll kill your family. He's pretty sure he's seen this scene play out in a muggle movie once, only Vasilka was six feet tall and covered in tattoos.]}

[ vasilka's the godfather of all cats. brushing the side of her face against victor's arm, she begins to move, letting her cheek trail against his skin as though he's merely the bottom skirting of a couch. ]

[ she watches her cat for a moment, wondering if vasilka will try and take a bite out of him, and finds that she doesn't care. if vasilka does, it'll be amusing to see how victor takes it — with either a scream, yelp, or attempting to appear as though he has little to no nerve endings beneath his skin. ]

[ studying him for a moment, she breaks when she rolls her eyes. ] I need you to make me a potion that's inspired by forget-me-not.

_{[Vasilka, what are you doing. Going still on the cat's ministrations, Victor gives the older girl a look as if to say this wasn't part of the deal.

Getting sandwiched between a cat familiar and witch really, really isn't how he saw his night going.]}

But why would you need me for something like that? You have the skills for it.

_{[As far as he sees it, Katerina could easily take care of potion by herself with less fuss. It doesn't make as much sense to outsource talent when you have enough to get the job done alone, as far as Victor's concerned.]}

[ katerina sighs, exasperated victor isn't catching on. for such a smart boy, he's a little thick. ]

[ leaning against the table, she folds her arms and looks him dead on. it almost kills her pride having to voice it aloud, although she knows victor will never be able to use it against her. it's still a weapon, and it's a weapon katerina prefers to keep up her sleeves and in her own possession. ]

[ but victor's her friend. she doesn't ever need to feel like she can't trust someone who wouldn't exactly go out of his way to call her his own. ]

Because if I make it I'll feel guilty. If you make it for me, then I won't feel guilty if I ever have to use it.

[ as if trying to help victor piece together the very dense pieces of katerina wishing to create a plan for making someone forget her, vasilka, the cat given to her by her muggle boyfriend, begins to lick his hand. ]

What?

_{[Was that supposed to be an explanation? Forgetting all about Vasilka for a moment, he draws his brows together. On his shoulder, Poe joins in, turning his head to fix her with one beady black eye.

It's not the kind of answer he was expecting, and he doesn't know quite what to make of it. Students aren't supposed to be making memory potions due to the risks, but it's not as though they're one of the Unforgivable Curses. Since when are the Petrova girls intimidated by anything?]}

Why would you feel guilty?

_{[And more importantly, who is she planning on using it on? That would be his next question if not for Vasilka drawing her rough cat tongue along the back of his hand in an almost strangely affectionate manner. Victor doesn't seem sure who he should be paying more attention to--Katerina or Katerina's shadow.]}

[ katerina rolls her eyes. men. ]

[ she hates she needs to spell it out. her intentions should be clear, even though they're hidden beneath a murky surface. victor only knows what she lets him, and katerina has forgotten, only a little, that she's kept her cards very close to her chest for a reason. if she has to end things with aleksander, she wants it to be clean. a clean, nice cut, like a sharp axe splitting a neck nicely open. it's not a thought she gives much oxygen to, but katerina has become more worried, needing to layer plan upon plan like she's creating a stacked cake, just in case something were to happen. ]

[ still. victor should just know. ]

[ on impulse, she leans forward even more closely. vasilka takes this as an opportunity to start nosing victor's wrist, searching for his pulse. ]

[ giving him a look of exasperation, she speaks slowly and condescendingly, her voice remains hushed. ] Because if I need to leave Alek, I need him to forget everything. You need to make it so I won't feel horrible about my actions. [ she looks to vasilka, finally noticing her cat's attempting to leave her mark on victor. ] Mŭzhete sa glupavi.

[ vasilka doesn't agree. ]

_{[Victor's eyebrows jump up at the admission. Alek, as in her boyfriend? He shifts in his seat too suddenly for the raven on his shoulder, who has to clamp down with his talons to stay balanced.]}

Leave him? But I thought you were happy. You don't want to be with him anymore?

_{[This feels like a puzzle where he's missing half the pieces. Some might say starting a relationship with someone in the non-magical community was Katherine's first mistake, but from the outside they were overcoming the inherent obstacles of belonging to two different worlds.

Need for a memory potion to take all of that away comes as a surprise, to say the least.]}

[ vasilka nips victor's wrist gently, as if to say keep up, stupid! ]

It's a precaution.

[ katerina sits back in her chair, then notices vasilka for the first time almost curled up against victor. she tilts her head and smiles, making a face that almost suggests she finds the entire thing strange. ]

[ her expression settles into a business-like one. ] You don't know how dangerous the world is out there for couples where one's muggle and the other belongs to a family that can so much as sneeze and there's a hit order out on someone. Contrary to popular belief, I want to make sure Aleksander's safe. Sometimes that means breaking the magical law. [ she waves her hand dismissively, ] Or something.

Ow!

_{[The nip jolts more than it actually hurts, but Victor retracts his arm all the same, leaving his parchment unprotected.

He thought those were fairly reasonable questions, given what she was asking--that she wanted a potion that would erase all memory of her from her boyfriend's mind like she'd never been at all.]}

But he's known about you this long and nothing's happened.

_{[He frowns uncomprehendingly at Katerina, rubbing his thumb over his wrist in search of a mark. Selfless sacrifice isn't a concept Victor is familiar with. It's because life can be dangerous and unpredictable that she should want to cling to what she has instead, shouldn't she?]}

[ as if it had been her plan all along, vasilka walks all over his parchment, stopping once all four paws are on top of the paper. despite her soft fur, she becomes a heavy and unmovable boulder. does this parchment have extra cushioning? it's very comfortable underneath that derrière of hers. ]

Yet.

[ a keyword that perhaps is the very door into understanding katerina petrova's headspace at the current point in time. yet implies a paranoia she won't ever admit to. she doesn't have high hopes for the future, despite wanting to hold tightly onto the optimism she's felt brewing inside of her as if she's a cauldron and that happiness aleksander's poured inside of her is the ingredients. katerina believes in happy endings and true love, but she also knows the world isn't a place that had been fit for fairytales. ]

Stop pouting. She didn't actually bite you.

_{[Okay, Vasilka turning his homework into her new perch definitely wasn't part of the deal.]}

I'm not pouting. But you see? This is what I meant. She's always doing things like this.

_{[Together, both boy and raven fix Vasilka with a look of wariness. Chew on him if you must, cat, but he draws the line at chewing on the one piece of parchment standing between himself and a perfect grade. She had better not do more than sit there.

Honestly, he'd have considered helping Katerina out without a price tag attached--she's Elena's sister, and she's Katherine, sometimes, when he gets her nickname stuck in his head. She's not just somebody he'd walk away and ignore if she's in need.

But this? This is an extreme decision, even for someone like her who seems to excel at extremes.]}

I mean that he knows about your parents and the rest of your family and he's still with you. Right? _{[Surely he knows the sort of trouble that can follow people in the magical community. If not know, then he must at least suspect.]} Why would that have to change?

[ katerina rolls her eyes. victor's so dramatic. ]

[ she keeps her eye on vasilka, ready to leap forward as quick as a strike of lightning to pull her off his homework lest she actually try and eat it. she may enjoy tormenting those around her, but katerina doesn't particularly want victor to have to rewrite his entire essay. his writing's a complete mess. ]

[ arching her brow, she looks at him, and feels as though she's tutoring a student in the most basic of concepts: look both ways before crossing any road, don't just look at one, or none at all. ]

You know how you feel the need to protect your homework from our feral friend here? [ she nods toward vasilka who remains where she is, sitting on the middle of the parchment as she looks to victor. ] That's how I feel about Aleksander and the Wizarding world.

_{[Doubtfully:]}

I'm not sure those two are quite the same thing.

_{[For one thing, Aleksander's memories aren't like words on a piece of paper that can simply and easily be erased, or adjusted. It can be done, but not without lasting consequences. He'd be missing a big chunk of his life. He'd be missing Katerina.

Although Victor still enjoys reading the language of love and emotion in poetic form, he's had a stone in his throat the last two years; it's been harder and harder to find the words to talk about these things with real people. But looking at the older girl, he feels like she'd miss Alek, too, and the idea just feels sad and foreboding. These are supposed to be the best years of their lives, not time spent preparing for the worst.

He looks down at the edge of the desk, then back up, taking a moment to gather his courage and his thoughts.]}

I don't know... I don't think that's a good idea, Katherine.

_{[Two cents from someone who already knows what losing your loved ones is like.]}

Edited 2016-11-28 11:35 (UTC)

Good thing I wasn't asking for your judgement call.

[ a part of katerina was, but she'd made up her mind long ago. it's partly why she'd thrown herself into potions — wanting to try and fix what's broken, erase what could otherwise bring peace if it was forgotten. she hadn't ventured into the library to research all those unlawful and unjust spells for the sake of filling her palate with more knowledge. she'd been looking for herself, and for alek — for everyone she's ever met. ]

[ sometimes katerina wishes to live a life without her name, but she knows she can't quite shed it. she'll always be katerina petrova. it'll always carry weight wherever she goes. she'll always be both proud and frightened of her name and what it may have in store for her. ]

[ leaning forward, she plucks vasilka off his homework and cuddles her to her chest. the great feline seems comforted by such a movement, enjoying the way katerina's glide through her fur. she looks down at her cat and watches as her black, sometimes invisible ears twitch. ]

Haven't you ever wanted someone to forget, so you could alleviate their pain?

_{[No, just to help her wipe her muggle boyfriend's mind, apparently.

Victor isn't entirely comfortable with where this is leading partly because there's weight to this he doesn't know how to grapple with, and the tense line of his lips makes that clear. Has he ever wanted someone to take away someone's pain? Physically, yes. His own, certainly.

But Katerina and Aleksander had come together for a reason. Stayed together for a reason. Love, maybe... or maybe not, it's none of his business. But they seem happier together than apart, that much he's confident of. Is taking away something good--memories of time spent with someone you care about--and replacing it with a cheap substitute alleviating pain or just displacing it elsewhere?]}

If I forgot my own pain, I wouldn't have my reason for studying magic.

_{[He frowns into the middle distance, gaze going distant.]}

And you haven't said anything about what he'd want--what if he's happier taking the risk? Aren't you happier like this? Use the potion and you'd both be in pain. He might just not know why, but I think he could still feel it, somewhere. That he's missing something.

I never took you for a romantic, Victor.

[ katerina may not appear impressed with him pushing back on her, but she's uncovering bits of him she hadn't known were there before. victor always comes off so cool and disinterested, detached in a way she thinks draws vasilka to him at times. but she'd always known — and had seen, at times — portions of him that were gooey. ]

[ she hadn't suspected this would be a slight sore spot. ]

[ she hadn't expected herself to have this be a sore spot. her plans are foolproof, but she's finding herself to be the idiot in this situation. ]

You have someone you care about who is a muggle. They decide it's best to risk everything for you, despite the fact that there's other forces out there trying to ensure you, the wizard, stay in line. Forces you can't always protect him from, because you're here and he's out there, and no matter what spells you cast, there's always someone who has a better and stronger one on hand. [ her tone isn't necessarily matter-of-fact, as katerina hasn't quite learned how to remain so cool and detached she comes off aloof, almost like her own father. but she keeps her own temper and passion under control, even though it seeps through everything she's saying right now. her body language remains as cool as ever, but not her voice. ] If he forgets everything he's ever known about you and the world you come from, and that's enough to protect him because that's what those forces want, wouldn't you do it? Wouldn't you at least consider it?

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[OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

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