𝕄𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝔻𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕

Sekhmet peeled the wax seal off of her mysterious letter. The Ravenclaw Common Room was quiet this time of night, the fireplace crackling and the ceiling stars twinkling were the only noises to be heard. It seemed as though everyone was in bed trying to get as much rest as possible for the upcoming trip to Hogsmeade.

Sekhmet had nearly forgotten about her strange letter. As she was waiting for Anima to arrive for her lesson she started to take off her robes when she noticed the paper. Sekhmet slowly opened the letter trying to mentally prepare herself for whatever it contained. As she quickly glanced over it she noticed that the handwriting was of someone she didn’t recognize, but it did look oddly familiar. She decided to read it over.

моя внучка (moya vnuchka: 𝓂𝓎 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓃𝒹𝒹𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝓇),

𝐼’𝓂 𝑔𝓁𝒶𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓁𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓂𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝒾𝓉𝓈 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝐼 𝓃𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓁𝓎 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝓈𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝐵𝑒𝒶𝓊𝒷𝒶𝓍𝓉𝑜𝓃𝓈, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒶𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝒹𝑒𝒶. 𝐼’𝓂 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 16, 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓁 𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝒸 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑔𝑒 𝒾𝓉𝓈 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝑀𝓎 𝒷𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝒸𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒, 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒹𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝒜𝒹𝒹𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒’𝓈, 𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓃. 𝒲𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝐼 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓁𝒶𝒾𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝓊𝓅𝑜𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝒷𝒶𝒷𝑒 𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝓂𝓎 𝓁𝑒𝑔𝒶𝒸𝓎.

  𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝐼 𝒶𝓂. 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓃𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒸𝒶𝓃𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝓋𝓊𝓁𝑔𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉. 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒. 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓁𝑜𝓎𝒶𝓁 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒, 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝑜 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒶 𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝑜𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓈𝑜 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓎𝒶𝓁.

𝐼 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒸𝓁𝓊𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝑜𝓂 𝐼 𝓂𝒶𝓎 𝒷𝑒: 𝒢𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓏𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓈 𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝑒𝓂𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈, 𝒶𝓈𝓀 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽.   

- твой дедушка (tvoy dedushka: 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓃𝒹𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇)

Sekhmet read over the letter once more, trying to make sense of it. How could she even be sure that this was really her grandfather who wrote it? What kind of blood curse was she supposedly going to have tormenting her this year? And what on Morgana’s green spell book was that clue supposed to mean?

Sekhmet was tired of these games. She didn’t quite understand adults and their need for such unnecessary secrecy. She frustratedly stuffed the letter back into her pocket vowing to forget about it for now.

She relaxed back into the sofa cushions, trying her best to push the letter out of her thoughts. As far as she knew her grandfather was dead, or at least dead to her. He never had made an effort to contact her before, and now he comes in to tell her she has some curse. It was bloody bollocks if you asked her.

Just as Sekhmet was about to get more lost in her thoughts and the possibility of the letter being real, loud footsteps erupted from behind her.

Anima made her way down the stairs swiftly, her feet thumping on each old wooden plank. As she made her way to the bottom she quickly skipped over to Sekhmet, practically bouncing on the couch beside her. Anima looked up at her, eyes wide with excitement.

“I suppose you’re ready then?” Sekhmet joked, her mouth turning up in a small smile as she turned to face Anima.

Anima nodded eagerly, her face relatively healed from the beating she had endured. Sekhmet quickly got ready, bringing her notes up and teaching her all sorts of simple words, getting a feel for where she was at.

Anima tended to fair pretty well at English but had some difficulty with proper pronunciation. She often mixed up her “p” and “v” sounds with b’s and f’s. Sekhmet understood the challenge, considering that Arabic doesn’t have the same p and v sounds that English does.

The two worked for hours, bonding quickly through their native tongue. As it got to be around curfew, Sekhmet started to end the lesson, packing up her notes and bidding Anima goodbye. They each waved goodbye to one another as Sekhmet made her way out of the Common Room.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Regulus Black wore his usual black dress shirt, black pants, and black loafer shoes along with his Slytherin jacket and Black family signet ring.

October was quickly coming to a close. All the students were on their way to Hogsmead to try and acquire different types of Halloween costumes for the inevitable upcoming parties. Halloween was always a very lively time at Hogwarts. The holiday was commonly celebrated in the Wizarding World and Muggle World making it adored by all students regardless of blood status.

The weather was windy, a chill creeping up on all those who dared to face the outdoors. Many students wore their scarves and sweaters.

Sekhmet was wearing a dark green Slytherin jumper, a plaid green and black skirt, and fleece-lined tights along with a pair of Mary Jane’s. She had all sorts of gold Egyptian jewelry on, the most prominent being her Eye of Ra necklace.

Pandora sported a similar look, but instead of green, she wore a blue Ravenclaw jumper and a white skirt. Her ears were adorned with chunky earrings that were made with resin-covered butterfly wings.

Dorcas wore a pair of blue bell-bottom jeans, a light green cardigan, a white top, and a pair of black Doc Marten boots. She had her curly brown hair pulled up into two Afro puffs on either side of her head.

Evan and Barty were wearing almost inverted outfits. Evan wore khaki pleated pants, a black dress shirt, a Slytherin cardigan, and a pair of white Converse. Barty wore a khaki-colored sweater with a white dress shirt underneath, black pants, custom Slytherin Converse that Evan had gotten him, and a standard Slytherin scarf around his neck.

The group looked like they had come straight out of a Witch Weekly magazine. They all chatted with one another, laughing at a stupid joke Evan made as they wandered toward Hogsmeade. All the girls led the way, their shoes stepping on the crunchy autumn leaves as they walked down the hill toward the village. Evan and Barty were walking close to one another, seemingly flirting while Regulus looked like a third wheel off to the side. He made his way beside the girls.

“So what shops do you want to stop at first?” Regulus inquired, his hands in his pockets.

The four made their way close to the village as Sekhmet spoke up, answering his question.

“I think we should probably stop at Zonko’s first. They’re the only place that sells Halloween costumes and if we want to get anything good then we should probably head there first.” Sekhmet chimed in while voicing her concerns.

Evan and Barty seemed to listen once she started speaking, and the whole group nodded their heads in agreement. As they walked through the village Sekhmet noticed a familiar face to her right.

“Oi, Arafa!” James yelled over towards their group, moving away from his friends, “How do you think Anima’s lessons are coming along?” He questioned.

Sekhmet inwardly cringed at being called out by James so publicly. Her friends weren’t aware of her recent acquaintance with James Potter, making all of them shoot her wary looks.

“Guys, James was coming over to talk to me about a first year that we are both tutoring,” Sekhmet revealed, her gaze not facing anyone in particular as she spoke. She looked to James once more to give him an answer.

“I think that her lessons are going well. I think she’s making quick progress with the overall process, she’s just needing to be a bit more precise in how she goes about things,” Sekhmet mentioned, her voice taking on her usual observant tone that came on when she revealed information.

“Nice! Look I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it to her next lesson because of the Quidditch match, I was wondering if maybe you could take over that lesson for me?” James suggested, his face wincing as if he was preparing for her to hex him.

“Sure, I can do that,” Sekhmet divulged calmly, her words coming out in a casual tone.

“Great, you’re a lifesaver for that! Catch you next time Lioness!” James shouted over his shoulder as he ran back to his friends.

Sekhmet rolled her eyes at his energetic nature. She started to move toward Zonko’s resuming her previous path. Her friends followed.

“So… is no one going to mention how Potter just called our little goddess a nickname? Or how he ran up to you in broad daylight? Or no! Maybe we should discuss how you didn’t bother to tell us you were in cahoots with James bloody Potter!” Evan shrieked, his eyes wide as he looked directly at Sekhmet.

“Big deal,” Sekhmet replied in exasperation, “I was on patrol two weeks ago whenever I ran into this girl who needed help learning English. I offered to help her but I’m busy, so I talked James into helping her too.”

“Why not tell us?” Pandora inquired, confused but not judging.

“I didn’t think it was necessary I suppose,” Sekhmet told her, though she seemed more unsure about her answer now.

“As long as you’re alright then it doesn’t matter! Besides we have to hurry up and get our costumes! I want to knock Marlene off her feet when she sees me” Dorcas drew their attention with her urgent tone.

The group walked into Zonko’s, the bell on the door ringing as they walked through. As they perused the racks of costumes Sekhmet saw something that caught her eye. She got Regulus’ attention, pulling him over to the costumes.

“What do you think?” Sekhmet asked, pointing out the Wizard of Oz costumes to Regulus.

“I think that’d be a great idea. There’s enough for each of us. Good eye mea dea!” Regulus replied, turning his back to Sekhmet to go back and corral the group towards them.

“What does that even mean?!” Sekhmet shouted back at him.

He didn’t answer, instead moving to pull their friends over to the costumes. Evan complained, whining at having been pulled away from his conversation with Barty. Pandora followed without having to be asked, a whimsical smile on her lips. They all arrived at where Sekhmet was, finally seeing why they had been summoned to the corner of the store.

“The Wizard of Oz! That’s perfect Sekh! Nice work,” Evan said, wrapping his arm around Sekhmet’s shoulders and patting her on the back.

“Can I be Glinda?” Pandora asked the group, her tone kind as always.

“Of course Pan. If that’s what you’re being then I want to be the Wicked Witch of the West. Merlin, Marlene will be speechless whenever she sees me!” Dorcas chimed in, her excitement growing with every second.

“I call the scarecrow!” Barty yelled out, his hand reaching to snatch the costume off the rack.

“I want to be the Tin Man!” Regulus called the costume already in his grasp.

“I’ll be Dorthy then I suppose,” Sekhmet said calmly, her hand toying with the fabric of the costume.

“Oh, that’s rubbish! I’m stuck with the cowardly lion!” Evan grumbled, reaching out to get his costume while pouting.

The group went up to the counter to pay, discussing how and when they would get ready for the Halloween parties in the coming week. Laughter could be heard echoing around the village, students acting like the children they were despite the trying times.

The group walked to the Three Broomsticks, grabbing a booth big enough for all of them. The girl sat on the right with Dorcas being against the wall, Pandora being in the middle, and Sekhmet being on the end. The boys sat on the left with Barty closest to the wall, Evan beside him, and then Regukus across from Sekhmet. Regulus went up to take their orders, grabbing a butter beer for each of them. Once he came back the group quickly fell into comfortable conversation. Giggles could be heard at random spurts throughout the booth and lips upturned in the beginnings of smiles.