Hufflin'

skullwaker:

Andrew was treading quickly through the corridors, swaying his cloak over himself and shaking his wand, whispering a concealing spell, his form slowly disappearing as the words left his lips. Filch and his damn cat had almost caught him and he had needed to retreat in the requirement room for a few minutes before being able to leave again, the man sure was focused on his task to keep them within the castle. And to top it all, he was now late, he usually was first on their meeting site, setting up and structuring the duels before anyone got there. He was no leader, but someone needed to organize everything or it was bound to turn into mayhem, and somehow the task had fallen to him.

He hastily made his way to the forbidden forest, throwing a weak lumos spell to light his way without raising suspicion. As he got closer he realized that just one person was already there, good, still, he couldn’t decipher who the figure belonged to from there. Andrew eventually reached the birch, Matt it was then, he had not expected the boy to join the club, yet he had been a more than proper opponent, and the only Hufflepuff to join them. Which had valued him some teasing at first, but his abilities had shut the idiots up, good.

“Hello Matthew, I apologize for being late, I was… Held back.”

He threw his cloak to the ground as he greeted the boy, revealing casual clothing as well, a worn out hoodie and jeans, not something he was usually seen wearing. But uniforms were not the best clothes to fight in, and he was no sewer, any damage to it would therefore be annoying.

“Is there anything in particular you’d like to work on today ?”

“Andy! Hey! It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re here, it looked like no one was coming which would’ve really sucked.” Pushing himself up to his feet when the older boy arrived he beamed at Andrew. The two of them where more or less the same height, which was a nice change for Matt since he was so used to towering over everyone. Still grinning he pondered the Slytherin’s question. “Well, I was hoping to practice blocking. Chris nailed me with a stinging hex last week because my defense was totally off… my arm’s ached all week since so I really need to get it right.”

Matt really enjoyed dueling against Andrew, the two of them where pretty much evenly matched so it was far more fun dueling him than someone he had to go easy on. Not that the others didn’t try… they just needed more practice. Pulling his wand from his pocket he smiled at the other boy. “So how about it? Wanna throw everything you’ve got at me and see if I can block it?”

Picking his way across the grass, trying to keep his pace steady down the steep hill towards the forbidden forest Matt glanced back over his shoulder. No one would see him, the concealment spell would see to that but still, it never hurt to be careful, especially when he was heading off to meet the other members of the dueling club who’d decided the more formal rules weren’t quite up to scratch. Sure, formal dueling had its place in civilized society but dark wizards wouldn’t exactly stop and bow when they where trying to kill you. They’d decided a couple of years ago that it was for the best just to make sure they where prepared. Matt had been hesitant at first, sure he enjoyed dueling but he would never purposefully set out to hurt anyone. Still, he understood their logic… things might’ve been peaceful right then but in their world, you never knew what was just around the corner.

Reaching the ancient silver birch where they met every week Matt gave a small wave of his wand, dismissing the concealment spell and peered around. He was early but he was sure the others would be there soon.
Sitting down at the base of the tree he fiddled with the cord that hung down from the hood of his sweatshirt. He’d changed out of uniform before coming down. Sometimes accidents happened and someone ended up getting hurt so they’d all figured it was best not to ruin or try to explain ruined uniforms. Of course injuries where a good excuse for them all to practice healing spells and potions too so it kind of worked out…

He had to wonder of course what Cashmere would think of it all, he felt terrible for not telling her this was where he snuck off too every Friday evening but it was something they’d all agreed on. They’d all sworn not to tell anyone since if word got out about it they’d all be in a whole world of trouble. It wasn’t that Matt didn’t trust Cashie, he trusted her with his life but at the same time he didn’t want to betray the others’ trust. It was frustrating to say the least… Maybe she’d understand? And the others would never have to know, she could keep a secret after all…

cuteasa-button:

“What ? No ! It’s even worse if you’re trying to distract it, what if it hurts you ? You dummy !” He almost tripped as his best friend dragged him around in a frenzy.

The other boy’s enthusiasm quickly spread to him and he rolled his eyes, following him in the corridors, now being the one to drag him along towards the Ravenclaw common room. “Serenity ? I’m not sure, she doesn’t like to be reminded of it. You know they threw her in the lake because of that the other day.” Stopping in front of the eagle knocker he grimaced. “I’ll try to ask her, but she’s very sensitive about that and I don’t want to make her sad. Wait here I’ll be back”

He answered the knocker’s riddle and rushed inside the boys’ dormitories to grab his broom, checking if Serenity was around at the same time.

Waiting for Noah outside the Ravenclaw common room the Hufflepuff as practically bouncing from foot to foot, a mix of nervous and excited about what they where about to attempt. They could totally pull it off, he was sure of it, Noah was awesome on a broom and he’d only have to keep the tree’s attention for long enough so Noah could grab a branch.

The thought of bodily injury or just how much trouble they’d get into for even trying it didn’t really occur to him, Matt was far too focused on the goal of trying to make a new wand for Noah and if the whole thing would even work. Matt had spent so much of his free time pouring over every book on wandmaking he could find but he knew none of that compared to learning from an actual master wand maker like Ollivander but he had to wait out two and half years of school yet before he could even try to get an apprenticeship. Where was the harm in trying it out himself in the mean time?

cuteasa-button:

“And it’s not like there’s a dragon in the Forbidden Forest anyway you know.” He seemed to ponder for a moment before his eyes shot wide open, looking at Matt, panic running in the green orbs. “There is NO dragon in the Forbidden Forest right ?”

Cocking his head he couldn’t help but smile fondly at his best friend’s interest in crafting him a new wand. “Non-verbal magic… I’m not sure I want to try that yet considering how verbal one doesn’t like me already.” He grimaced, and was about to continue his sentence when Matt grabbed him, suddenly even more excited than minutes before.

“O- Ok…. Willow… Hogwarts… Magical wo-. I’m going to die Matt. I’m nowhere near good enough to dodge anything from the Whomping Willow. Really.” 

“Sure you are!” Grinning at Noah he was practically dragging his friend out of the great hall. “I’ll distract it, all you need to do is swoop in and grab a branch.”

Matthew was perfectly confident in his friends skills on his broom and likewise confident that he could distract or maybe even immobilize the tree long enough for Noah to grab a bit of the wood. “And nope, no dragons in the forest… that I know of anyway.” Glancing at Noah he was all grins and confidence, sure they could pull this off and make Noah the best wand possible. “Oh! Hey isn’t there a girl who’s half mermaid in your house? Do you think she could maybe talk to the merpeople for us and ask if we can trade something for some hair… that would be awesome and so much easier than trying to guess what they might want.”

Okay, I just can’t stop myself. I made a new girl serenitywatkins.tumblr.com

Anyone fancy playing with her? X3

cuteasa-button:

“Do you think they’d be interested in like…. Muggle stuff ? I don’t think they’ve seen a lot of this world… I have a lot of more than useless things gran offered me, gadgets and such. What do you think ?”

That was worth trying at least, since wizards and such did seem more than interested in muggle things. Which he honestly couldn’t fathom since it was so basic compared to what they had with magic.

“Mine’s got a dragon core. But I don’t know much about all of this, I’ll trust your judgment on whatever you think’s best. And really, I’m sure it’ll be good either way, or at least better than this one. And if not well, at least it’ll be fun !”

“Maybe…” Still looking thoughtful Matt was again toying with his wand, lost in thought at Noah’s suggestion that muggle items night be of interest. There had to be something they could trade with the merpeople or centaurs for a single hair of all things.

“Dragon heart string is a powerful core but prone to accidents… which given how accident prone your wand is anyways doesn’t exactly help. I dunno. We’ll have to see what we can get hold of.” Humming softly to himself, again in thought he blinked a little to himself as an idea struck. “Willow. Willow wood would really suit you. I’ve been reading up on wood types and willow would totally be perfect for you, it’s for wizards who have a lot of potential and willow wands are really supposed to lend themselves to non-verbal magic too. But it needs to be magical wood, we can’t just take it from any old tree…” Standing abruptly Matt grabbed his friend’s hand, grinning down at him. “Go get your broom No’. I know where we can get the wood!”

cuteasa-button:

“I hope so… A wand isn’t exactly cheap. And if Liam turns out to be a wizard too we’ll have to buy all his stuff next year. That’s a lot of money.”

When Matt disappeared in his own thoughts, Noah just rolled his eyes and waved his hand before the boy’s eyes until he came back to the world of the livings. Arching an eyebrow he considered the offer, after all it was a win win situation, Matt loved wandmaking and he desperately needed a new one, and to be honest, it couldn’t be worse than the one he owned and he was confident in his friend’s skills. Replacing his glasses on his nose he grinned at his friend and nodded.

“Sounds good to me ! Uh… I don’t suppose asking nicely to the creatures there to get something from them is an option ? Cause they are a bit… Frightening.”

“Yeah… asking nicely would probably just get us drowned or something. Maybe there’s something we could trade with them? I mean depending on what we went for… there must be something we could say give a centaur in exchange. It’s only one hair we need after all.” Tapping his wand rhythmically on the edge of the table, something Matt tended to do when he was thinking, the taller boy chewed his lip thoughtfully.
“There are unicorns on the forest too… they’re a more typical source of wand cores. I guess we need to figure out what would best suit you since even if we succeed, there’s no saying the wand would definitely choose you… “

cuteasa-button:

Noah blinked a few times, his stare going from the wand to the book to the wand again. He had honestly expected the manual to burst or grow a head, or something along these lines. Still surprised he handed the wand back to his owner and patted his potion book, arching an eyebrow.

“Well…. That was… Different. I’ll have to send an owl to tell dad about that.” This opened new opportunities, maybe he’d be able to get his O.W.L in the end, and be respected by his fellow housemates as well. Taking his own wand out again he threw a dirty look at it.

“I can’t believe I’ve been failing all these tests because of you, stupid piece of wood.”

“I bet your dad’ll be so happy ‘cos I know how much it’s been getting to you and I’m sure he does too.” Twirling his own wand in his fingers absentmindedly Matt was lost in thought for a moment then. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to experiment a little? Noah needed a new wand and Matt had been reading up on wandlore almost obsessively lately, the basic principals of making a want where pretty simple really; it just took decades of practice to perfect them. “Say… umm… why don’t we try making you a new wand? I mean it’s no big deal if it doesn’t work since we can just go to Ollivander’s during the holiday but it’d be a fun experiment right? We’d just need to find some wood that’d work for wand and something for a core of course but the Dark Forest and Black Lake are right there… they’re crawling with magical creatures. Maybe we could get some mermaid hair or something? Do you think that’d work? I mean Ollivander uses unicorn hair but I know other wand makers use other materials.”

donovenenderpm:

Wow. Was he really that upset? All because some guy had hit him earlier, even if this was his first time talking to this guy? Holy shit. Making friends was a lot more convenient than he thought it would be. 

He stared down at the table for a second in deep thought. Yes, this was how he would rule. Scratching his chin he smiled lightly. Everyone will like him, encourage him, help him on his way simply because he was a charismatic and nice guy. People would automatically like him because of his good looks and his smile, and would do a great amount just for a kiss from him. Yes. This was it. This was the missing link to his plans and he didn’t know he was even looking for it. 

Looking back at Matt he gave him a very big, happy smile. “No, I really appreciate it. I don’t like bullies either, so I’m hoping if he gets to know me he’ll feel guilty.” Nodding lightly that sounded like a good reason. “I never thought I’d get anyone trying to help me, but I really appreciate it.” Should he hug him or something? This seemed like a good time to, but he wasn’t really sure. 

When Donoven smiled what was left of his anger ebbed away. He couldn’t be too angry if Donoven himself wasn’t when it was the younger boy who’d been punched. “If you’re sure… just let me know if it happens again okay? Or even if he just threatens you, bullies shouldn’t be allowed to hurt you or give you a hard time.”

Despite Donoven’s hesitance Matt reached out, grabbing the younger boy and pulled him into a tight hug. They might have only known each other for an hour tops but like hell Matt was going to let his new friend suffer at the hands of anyone. He hated bullies, even if it made him stupidly protective of someone he barely even knew.