Year/Job
Sixth Year
If I found a way to stay with you tonight It would only make me late, for a date I can't escape |
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Post by Michael Moretti on Apr 21, 2024 14:20:45 GMT -8
He knew he wasn't going to like this substitute the moment he walked into the classroom. Michael was mildly annoyed that Professor Gauthier wasn't there, but he wasn't going to fault the man for needing a sick day. The raven walked to his usual table with Liam and he guessed Bella now. Finch was with Rose and Nate was with Laurie. This is how it had been for a while now. That was okay with him, he preferred to brew by himself. It was his favorite subject and the only thing he ever considered a career in. He wasn't exactly a people person.
The wizard's voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard and Michael ground his teeth together at the sound of it. He was telling the classroom full of Ravenclaws and Slytherins that they would be pairing off to brew Veritaserum. There was a good bit of lively chatter as the class spoke to their friends, planning on doing it together, until the sub continued by saying they'd be in pairs that he assigned. There was a collective silence as the realization dawned on everyone that this was not going the way they had hoped. Michael didn't really care. He didn't want to work with anyone else period. One by one, the teacher listed off the pairs. And when he got to him it was, "Michael Moretti and Magnolia Carter."
His head turned to look at her, taking in her sharp features framed by straight blonde hair, and he felt his stomach twist painfully. It just had to be her. Michael looked away to gather his belongings so he could move over to her. They hadn't talked in a long, long time. But she had crossed his mind a time or two since. He'd often sneak glances at her during class or in the Great Hall, but he never approached her. They had simply drifted apart. Michael knew that her father had tried to get his sister kicked off her team, having heard it from his father. He knew the stance he took against creatures. And he knew that Maggie stood by him.
Michael didn't know how he felt about werewolves or anything like that. He hadn't spoken to his sister in three years. She probably assumed he hated her, but he didn't. Olivia was still his sister, he just couldn't do anything with the overwhelming weight of his guilt. It was so heavy he felt like he was being crushed by it. It was easier if he just stuck to himself and didn't think about her. But she wrote to him at the beginning of the year and he's seen her face in tabloids his housemates read and it's gotten harder to ignore. The last thing he needed was yet another reminder of that.
His honeyed eyes lifted to meet her sharp cerulean ones, feeling a pang run through him. Michael offered her a tight lipped smile before he fell into the seat beside her, setting aside his things. Soon, everyone was with their partners and the sub was instructing everyone to begin. He grumbled something about getting the ingredients and stood back up to saunter off to the closet. He shoved himself through and grabbed everything they needed and brought them back to the table, laying them out. He sighed. "Okay, how do you want to do this?"
Magnolia Carter
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Year/Job
6th Year
We can’t be friends but I’d like to just pretend. |
Steph
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Post by Magnolia Carter on Apr 23, 2024 21:25:37 GMT -8
It was supposed to be an easy day, that’s how substitutes usually worked at Hogwarts. Most of the time, this far along into the students' magical education, they didn’t want to disrupt whatever curriculum their professor was working with them on. So days like this often consisted of a lot of reading. Or a lot of talking amongst friends. When they walked in to Potions that day, Magnolia took her usual spot near the front left of the room. She liked this class and wanted a good view when Professor Gauthier was lecturing.
The chatter quickly quieted down when the substitute made it clear that he wasn’t going to let them slack off all class. That was fine, she guessed. At least she could work with her friends on this. But nope. She watched as Ivy was paired off with Claire Gable and the blonde dragged her belongings to the other side of the room when Claire made it clear she wasn’t moving.
Mag watched as each one of her classmates were paired off and she crossed the names off the list in her head, watching it dwindle down to just a few options. Her blue eyes glanced to a few tables to the right and she shut her eyes for a brief second, Please, don’t. She bargained with whatever higher being was up there, promising to be good to whichever Ravenclaw she was assigned to. Anyone but him.
Michael Moretti was as enthused over their pairing as she was, evident by the forced, tight lipped smile he gave her when he dropped his bag in Ivy’s usual seat. Unlike the other pairs around them, they didn’t speak to each other as the professor gave instructions. When Michael got up to raid the supplies closet, Magnolia got to setting up their workstation. Their cauldron was already on medium heat when he returned. Maggie began setting the ingredients neatly aside. She placed them in perfect little bundles arranged by each step in their book.
“We decide who measures and who stirs.” It might seem mundane to be assigned to just stirring but they both knew it was an integral part of brewing. One stirs too many, or the wrong direction, and a perfectly good potion could be ruined in a flash. “Are you any better with a blade now or should I be cutting?”
The question might seem like a jab to anyone listening but it was a reminder to both of them that they had once been potions partners for every class up until third year. Truthfully, they both were shit with a blade back then, but they were only twelve years old.
Maggie finally made eye contact with Michael as she waited for his answer and she couldn’t help but wonder how much he had actually changed since.
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Year/Job
Sixth Year
If I found a way to stay with you tonight It would only make me late, for a date I can't escape |
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Post by Michael Moretti on Apr 25, 2024 6:38:51 GMT -8
The thing about Maggie was that she had always been one of the few people that Michael actually liked. He had friends in his house and his class that he could tolerate, but their company was not something he sought out after a long day. Mags was nothing like that. They had similar interests that brought them together, but it was the ease of their friendship that kept them together. That is, until external pressures drove them apart. Michael couldn't tell you exactly when or why he stopped talking to her, all he knew was that one moment they were fine and the next, they were leading separate lives. That was around the time his sister was attacked and, well, he had bigger things on his mind than the loss of one of his best friends.
The young wizard nodded solemnly as she spoke on deciding who does what. That was fair. Brewing in general required precise measurements and stirring, but Veritaserum was more difficult to brew than, say, Wiggenweld. His bright eyes, which had been focused on the flame beneath the cauldron, lifted to meet her gaze when she asked about his skill with a blade. A strange warmth swirled about in his chest at the reminder of their time together, but he didn't give the feeling much thought. "Depends. Is your stirring any less awkward?" His lips pulled slightly into a teasing smile before he shrugged nonchalantly, pulling the first few ingredients to himself. He picked up the knife and started cutting.
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Year/Job
6th Year
We can’t be friends but I’d like to just pretend. |
Steph
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Post by Magnolia Carter on May 12, 2024 10:10:09 GMT -8
It was funny how they both immediately got to work like nothing had changed. Except everything had changed. Three years was a long time, especially for teenagers. They had gone their separate ways and grown in different directions. At one point, Maggie couldn’t imagine a world where they weren’t friends. But here they were, awkwardly working around each other like they were nothing more than strangers.
Maybe that was for the best, their families seem engaged in some sort of war. While Clark didn’t care for Ricardo and hardly gave him a second thought, he certainly made his disdain for the Moretti’s daughter very clear. Then there was the weird tension between Maggie’s sister Rosemary and Michael’s sister Olivia. There had been some sort of altercation, according to one of Maggie’s sisters which was kind of surprising because Romy got along with basically everyone and was always friendly. Perhaps too friendly?
“You’d be surprised how much you can learn from new partners,” she said as her fingers got a hold of the ladle. Michael was a creature of habit. When Maggie pulled away from their friendship, he found a new class partner in Claire Gable and they seemed to stick together from then on.
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Year/Job
Sixth Year
If I found a way to stay with you tonight It would only make me late, for a date I can't escape |
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Post by Michael Moretti on May 13, 2024 11:48:39 GMT -8
Michael had never been a social wizard like Nate or Finch. He had made friends in his house and class due to the close proximity to them, but he didn't actively search out interactions with other people. The boy would infinitely prefer to curl up by the fire with a nice book than go out to a party or participate in games in the courtyard. Most of the people he considered his friends were Ravenclaws, with Maggie being the one and only exception. There had just always been something about her that called to him and it was Michael who approached her their first year. He would never admit to anyone that he missed her and that included himself. But the feeling was there. It sat on his chest and weighed down his heart every time he would steal a glance at her, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. Especially with the conflict between their families.
He felt a strange twinge of jealousy when she mentioned new partners and he quickly shook it off. There was simply no reason for it. It had been many years since she was his potions partner and they both had obviously moved on to other people. Claire was easy to get along with and she wasn't half bad so it worked out, but there would always be a part of him, albeit one that he ignored, that would prefer to brew with Maggie. Most of the time, if he could get away with it, he'd brew by himself. The first set of ingredients had been cut up and Michael went to work on measuring them out. Once measured correctly, he started by adding them to the potion. His eyes flickered from the cauldron to Maggie's face, taking in her features as she artfully stirred. He wondered how much she had changed in the last three years and then he wondered what would have happened if they never stopped being friends. Looking back at the potion he said, "It's looking good so far. Though I shouldn't be surprised."
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Year/Job
6th Year
We can’t be friends but I’d like to just pretend. |
Steph
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Post by Magnolia Carter on May 14, 2024 9:26:55 GMT -8
There was no use wondering where their friendship would be if they had stayed friends, Maggie knew that, but sometimes she also wondered. Did people see something neither one of them had at the time? When her housemates started to tease her over their friendship, was Maggie the blind one? Or was she reading too much into it whenever Michael’s friends would look at them across the courtyard and started talking amongst themselves while laughing?
Whatever, it didn’t matter anymore. People changed and fell in line with the group they were always meant to be part of. Michael stuck to the Ravenclaws, Maggie stuck to her dorm mates. Eventually, they would have drifted apart. Their families would have made sure of that.
As Michael put the first ingredients in the cauldron, Maggie had to scoot over to give him room. He stayed close by while he peered into the bubbling liquid and Maggie forced herself to concentrate on the correct motion. Laughter drifted throughout the classroom as her classmates got to work and Maggie suddenly felt very self conscious about the whole situation.
“Thanks,” she said, finally looking at him again. “I have to say, it’s kind of nice having someone who can carry their own weight. I forgot what that was like.”
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Year/Job
Sixth Year
If I found a way to stay with you tonight It would only make me late, for a date I can't escape |
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Post by Michael Moretti on May 15, 2024 7:33:50 GMT -8
The rest of the class seemed to be having fun brewing with their partners, laughter flowing from the other tables surrounding them, but he and Maggie were working in an awkward silence. There was this... almost charged energy between them, growing more intense with their close proximity. Michael could smell the flowery scent of her shampoo when he leaned forward to inspect the potion and cleared his throat, sitting back in his seat as a faint blush rose to his cheeks. In the last three years, he never considered that they would speak to each other again or being around each other like this. He hadn't expected these strange feelings that were stirring up within him.
His eyes met hers when she thanked him, his lips turning into a soft smile. It was kind of nice brewing with someone who didn't need his guidance, not that Claire was bad at brewing or anything. She just wasn't Maggie. "Yeah, me too," he answered. There was a brief silence while he debated on saying anything more. That feeling was sitting on his chest again when he looked at her and he felt like he needed to know. Who was Magnolia Carter now? "Do you still brew in your free time?"
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