Mugwort
The first day of classes didn't seem to be too much trouble, she'd only had double Transfiguration and History of Magic, both classes she could bring Dusty along to. Dusty had done beautifully, staying quiet and sleeping in Alice's pocket for the most part. The Gazette finally had its first meeting, with Alice's assignments being minimal.
The next day however, Alice would have to be up earlier than her classmates. Before she could go to class, or breakfast even, she'd had to drop off Dusty with Hagrid so they could become acquainted.
"She's a beaut isn't she?" Hagrid said as the little dragon danced in his hands. A little glimmer etched the half giant's eyes.
"She is, she's very smart too." Alice said with a big smile. "We haven't exactly been apart all summer though Hagrid, so I'm nervous to leave her. I know I can trust you though. You've raised a dragon before."
"Not for very long." Hagrid laughed as Dusty buried herself into his beard. "I didn't even realize Norberta was a girl, now did I?"
"I still trust you Hagrid, maybe more than anyone else I know." Alice giggled as she handed Hagrid some of the treats she'd brought for Dusty, "Except maybe Charlie of course, and maybe Felix, but Felix is a bit hands off for my taste. Aunt Luna and Uncle Scamander of course would be appropriate babysitters too."
"I suppose I'm honored." Hagrid's lips parted into a large smile.
Alice reached into her bag and pulled out one of her shirts. "This is for Dusty, so she can have my scent."
"That's a right smart idea." Hagrid insisted as he watched Dusty take the shirt from his hands. "Best to get going to breakfast now."
"I'm off then." Alice said before Dusty flew to her shoulder, shirt tucked into her mouth.
"Oh no Dusty sweetheart." Alice said carrying the dragon back to Hagrid. On the way, she slowly wrapped the dragon in her shirt. "I have to go to Herbology, and Dad said you can't be in that class due to you scaring the Mandrake babies all summer."
The little dragon whimpered slightly as she was placed into Hagrid's large hand. She looked like a doll as she unwrapped the blankets.
"You will be fine little one." Hagrid gently whispered at Dusty.
Alice began walking towards the door again.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Dusty cried with a shrill sound incredibly unmatched by other sounds. Hagrid was holding her in both hands now.
Alice felt a pain in her chest, she didn't want to leave her. She also couldn't take her.
"I'm sorry Dusty."
"Get going. I've got the little darling, she's just sad." Hagrid instructed, his booming voice not loud enough over Dusty's continued cries.
Alice opened the door before leaving up the hill to the castle. She sat herself down alone at breakfast. Her ears were still ringing from the sound of her companion's cries.
Alice began to hear giggles a small ways down from her, she tilted her head to see it was some Slytherin girls from her sister's year talking. They were pointing at her slightly. She recognized Sarah Brenna, the girl who had tormented her and her sister for years.
She wondered why they were laughing at her today.
She checked her outfit and her hair, all clean.
"Hey Alice." Hector Owens greeted her.
"Hi Hector." Alice waved a little at her teammate. Happy to be distracted from the memory of Dusty's crying in her mind and the Slytherin girl's giggles. Alice was used to being laughed at, used to people talking behind her back, it wasn't a big deal, but the giggles felt intentional.
"Mind if I join you?" He said before sitting across from her. Alice had to admit she fancied Hector a bit. A bit more than Jonah and a little less than Lorcan. He had beautiful, almost golden eyes and perfectly tossed flax hair. "Going over your class schedule?"
"Of course." Alice rubbed her neck, "And prepping for the Hogwarts Gazette meeting tonight, I've got to give Jeanie a tentative schedule for her to write when I'm playing."
"I saw you leave this morning with your dragon. Where is he?"
"She." Alice corrected before explaining, "She is with Hagrid, I can't have her with me during certain class times."
"You do a lot don't you?" He asked before taking a drink of pumpkin juice.
"Just as much as I can handle. Mum worries I'm too ambitious." Alice said as she went back to writing.
"That's alright isn't it?" Hector asked with a big smirk.
"I don't need you to tell me it is or it isn't." Alice didn't mean to snap, "Sorry it's just no one can tell me if I am or I'm not alright."
"I like that." Hector leaned on his elbow, "Strong women are particularly interesting to me."
Alice felt her heart leap a little bit, "Really?"
The Slytherin girl's giggles began again. Alice flipped her head to them, her braids flying.
"What's their problem?" Hector asked rubbing his neck.
Alice shrugged, "Not a clue."
"Your sister mentioned you like Sugared Butterfly Wings." Hector said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a paper box of her favorite candy.
"Thank you." Alice said taking the gift, "I mean its a bit early for sweets, but I do love them."
The two continued a slight conversation before the school bell rang. Alice gathered her things and made her way down to Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Her mind was encapsulated by the little gift. She kept it in her robe pockets.
She wondered if maybe Hector fancied her.
She didn't mind that idea, almost more than the idea of Jonah's fancy.
What if Jonah asked her on a date though?
What if Hector asked her?
She resigned to go on a date with whoever asked her first. If they even asked her on a date at all.
"Longbottom, Alice." Called her father, breaking her from her day dreams as he took attendance in the Greenhouses.
"I'm here dad."
"Well Merlin's pants I'd hope so." Her dad chuckled before crossing off a name on a board in his hand.
"Kersey, Mu-" Her father hesitated as the snickers began, "Kersey, Mug."
Alice looked over to poor Mugwort Kersey, his hand barely extended. He was a Hufflepuff who had heard nothing but heat for his name since he'd been born. He was a scrawny boy with sunken in eyes. His hair covered his eyes and Alice had seen him get in trouble for wearing eyeliner before.
She felt bad for Mug as everyone often made fun of his name and his eccentricities.
After her father's lesson and instruction to work with the little mushroom caps, Alice slid over to Mug who had no one around him. She decided to become his friend.
"Mind if I stand with you?" She whispered.
Mug paused as if the whole world had stopped. He didn't say anything but moved over slightly.
"Thanks, my friend Ruby wants to stand with her boyfriend James who's in Gryffindor with me and honestly I'm not in the mood to get between them. I thought she'd want to stand with me, but I don't know now. Beatrice my other friend, she's quite squeamish with plants so I tend not to work well with her in Herbology."
Mug nodded.
"You any good with fungi?" Alice asked.
Mug nodded his head again looking at the oozing mushroom caps before him. Alice had worked with these her whole life.
"I'm not the best at Herbology, but dad talks a lot at dinner about these, he won't brag but he helped discover them." Alice said proudly as she looked up noticing her dad wasn't paying attention, "Well he won't brag here, but he brags at home. Tremella Shoots are a variation of what the muggles call Witches' Butter, but these ooze some really gross excretion. It's good for healing cuts."
"They are in his book." Mug said, speaking with a deeper voice than his appearance should have lended.
"You've read dad's book?" Alice asked with surprise as she put on her gloves, "That's better than me I guess. I haven't even read dad's book, well all of it. He's a bit of a dry author, sticks mainly to facts. Mum's the better writer of course."
"Her writing is a bit dramatic for me." Mug answered as he began wiping the Tremella with the brushes. "Too descriptive."
Alice forced her mouth to gape, "You are joking right? She's actually considered the best Author of the modern century."
"Yeah, by biased organizations." Mug asked with an upturn of his head. "And you have to say that, she's your mum after all."
"I do not." Alice said crossing her arms. She pulled out her brush and began working with the fungus in front of her.
Mug's face dropped aggressively as she began working. "Hey, I meant no offense. People are allowed to have opinions right?"
"Not when they are wrong opinions." Alice said with a slight grunt.
Mug started to laugh a little, "You are funny Longbottom."
"I'm not trying to be funny." Alice rolled her eyes. "You just insulted my mother."
"I didn't insult her personally, honestly, I love her class." Mug chuckled, "I just said her writing is too dramatic for me. I never spoke to the quality of her grammatical skills or even a denial of her adventures."
Alice felt her lip pout.
"Hey, please don't be cross. I guess that's why no one ever talks to me, nobody seems to agree with what I've got to say." Mug said before handing her a jar.
Alice felt herself laugh as she put the ooze she'd collected into the jar. "I'll do my best then to change your mind."
"Honestly, I prefer conversation with someone who challenges me, so this could be fun."
"Fun!" Alice exclaimed, "I plan to take this very seriously."
"Hey, Little Terror!" Her dad called at her, "Please focus on the Tremella's."
As they left the Greenhouses, Alice and Mug walked out together through the stream of seventh year Ravenclaw and Slytherin students making their way inside. Alice and Mug found themselves continuing the previous conversation until a shrill voice called at them.
"Oh Alice and Mugwort, don't you make a cute couple?" Sarah Brenna asked on her way towards the Greenhouses. She was alone, which wasn't typical.
"What are we, five?" Alice asked Mugwort rolling her eyes. She turned to look at Brenna, "It's twenty thirty two, guys and girls are allowed to be friends with no sexual tension whatsoever."
"Did you learn that from your mother?" Brenna asked with a roll of her eyes, "Because I'm sure she doesn't believe that."
"What are you saying?" Alice asked moving closer to Brenna and staring up at her.
"I'm saying your mummy is well acquainted with many men." Brenna said into Alice's face.
"She is not!" Alice said sternly. "Well, not in that way."
Brenna began to laugh to herself. "Well your sister has certainly learned from her, everyone knows what she and Warrington do together when they are alone at that joke of a shop your brother runs."
Alice felt like puking.
"And I hear you've set your catch on other boys as well." Brenna taunted, "I do hope Mugwort knows all about your many men. You and your sister are learning how to be slags from your mother obviously."
"At least I'm not a bitch." Alice exclaimed without a thought.
Brenna gasped holding her chest before loudly insisting, "I'll tell a teacher."
"Go ahead, I'll tell them you called one of their colleagues a slag." Mug coughed from behind Alice.
Alice looked back towards Mug who had stayed behind. Alice felt herself giggle a little bit.
"Did that happen?" The sound of Alice's dad's voice echoed across the grass.
"Did what happen?" Alice looked past Brenna to her dad who was standing in the doorway of the greenhouse. He must have left the greenhouse to see where Brenna was.
"Did Miss Brenna call a teacher something inappropriate?" Her dad asked, his eyes narrowed towards Alice.
"Not in so many words." Alice said before blurting, "But she did say Mum is well acquainted with many men and that she's teaching Min and I how to be slags."
Brenna's voice went up a pitch as she said, "I said nothing of the sort-"
"That's fifty points from Slytherin Miss Brenna." Her dad interrupted without hesitation.
Brenna's face lost color in moments, "Sir, I do believe I have the right to defend myself, Alice called me a bi-"
"Only in Professor Fyre's defense sir." Mug insisted.
"Fifteen points from Gryffindor for language." Her dad said before raising an eyebrow at her. "Now Miss Brenna you can either join us in Herbology or I can mark you tardy."
Brenna's jaw clenched in a depth of constipated enigma Alice had rarely seen.
"Don't let what Brenna says about you or your mum get under your skin." Mug insisted as Brenna ran towards the Greenhouses.
"I don't." Alice felt her lips pout, "Honestly she's barely a blip on my dislike radar, she's just mad because my sister stole her boyfriend."
"So you told Brenna we're friends?" Mug asked with a chuckle as they both walked towards the castle. It was the wrong way, but she had to admit it'd be nice to have a friend.
"We can be friends." Alice giggled. "Just friends though please, you seem a fine fellow but you are not in any way my type."
"Ouch Longbottom." Mug laughed putting his hand to his heart, "That hits me here."
"I'm sorry." Alice said with a shrug, "It's just better to state those things up front you know?"
"I do know." Mug continued laughing, "Honestly, isn't that how your sister and Warrington got together? Over something Brenna said?"
"Something like that." Alice groaned, "Add that to the list of things I dislike Brenna for."
Mug's laughter softened, "So what class do you have next?"
"I don't. I'm supposed to meet mum down at Hagrid's." Alice said excited to see her dragon again. "He's watching Dusty, my dragon."
"Bad ass." Mug nodded. "What kind of music do you listen to Longbottom? You may seem a bit like a fluffy fairy, but I have a deep feeling you like the hard music."
"I have eclectic taste." Alice didn't want to disappoint him. "But that's mostly because my family is eclectic."
"How so? Doesn't your Uncle own that shop in Diagon Alley."
"I mean my Uncle Jack likes that kind of hard stuff and my Grandma and Grandpa Fyre play some old music that's kinda cool. Mum and Dad will both say that the Weird Sisters are their favorite, but I think that's because of nostalgia. Minnie prefers Spiritsprouts but she won't tell anyone."
"But Spiritsprouts are good." Mug said with a turn of his neck.
"Yeah, I think so, but my Uncle Jack thinks they are pretentious." Alice shrugged, "Pretentious with no real musical substance, just whiny music sung purely about things they've never experienced."
Mug shrugged, "I guess so, your sister's got decent taste though."
"Yeah, except in men."
Mug began laughing again before he insisted, "Get out of here, go play with dragons."
Alice giggled before bounding away towards Hagrid's hut. "Bye friend!"
"Bye Alice!" Mug called as she began to make her way back towards Hagrid's.
Alice entered Hagrid's giant hut to see her mother looking quite small sitting at Hagrid's giant table.
"Hello Baby!" Her mother called to her. There were circles under her eyes today, darker ones. Duke was sitting on Alice's mother's hands but he was slowly sliding closer and closer to Hagrid.
"Where's Dusty?" Alice asked looking around Hagrid's hut.
Dusty wasted no time upon hearing Alice's voice, jumping out of Hagrid's beard and flying over to Alice. She rested her feet on Alice's shoulder.
"Little dear missed you for a good hour, but after a bit, her and I became friends." Hagrid explained pulling back his shoulders. "Sammy was just telling me how Duke's been approaching Dusty."
"How he brings her gifts but she rejects them." Her mother revealed, "But that's all he's tried."
Hagrid looked at little Duke, "He's got no mating call, no mating dance, nothing of the sort. I know he's never mated before, but he's seen other dragons."
Duke began to fly towards Alice, perching himself on her other shoulder.
"Perhaps he's not mimicking other dragons." Alice suggested as Dusty hid in her pocket.
"Well he's certainly not mimicking Freya and Kai Jones." Her mother chortled. "That would have been one of his first real experiences."
"Of course he isn't, look how those two turned out. He probably doesn't want to be killed off." Hagrid chuckled under his breath before standing. "Maybe he's mimicking you Sammy."
"Me-" Her mother's eyes started wide at first before she slammed them shut and rubbed her temples, "Oh Merlin's beard."
"You alright mum?" Alice asked.
"The only experiences he's seen has been Nev and I." Her mother groaned, "Which Duke missed several years of build up on that one, his first experience with us both, was our first official date."
"No wonder then." Hagrid chuckled, "It's to my understanding things moved pretty quickly after that."
"I suppose it did by most standards." Her mother smirked a little before turning pink. "But that's what Duke is aware of now apparently. Other than that-well, I guess Kai and I were, somewhat, flirtatious."
"You snogged on the floor." Alice reminded, wondering why her mother would be embarrassed. "After he brought you whiskey."
"Thanks Alice." Her mother rubbed her neck. "Although that does explain the gift giving."
A silence fell across the hut, making it seem smaller than it was. The only sound consisted of Dusty nibbling on the sugar butterfly wings in Alice's pocket.
Duke began attempting to climb down Alice's robes to join Dusty, but stopped upon hearing Dusty's growls.
"Want a bit of whiskey with me Sammy?" Hagrid asked trying to break the tension.
Alice's mother shook her head, "You've got a class of third years in an hour Hagrid."
"I know." Hagrid said as he pulled a bottle down from a cabinet, "But you don't, and I've always held my liquor better."
Her mother chuckled as Hagrid poured, "Fine, but just one."
Her mother and Hagrid shared a whiskey as the three brainstormed ideas of giving Duke better examples and finding ways of making Dusty more receptive.