Chapter 39
*Scarabia Dorm – Guest Room*
Grim lock-picked the room’s lock with his claws. “I have to get something, I will return as quick as possible !” And with that he disappeared.
“I taught him that.” Roxana said proudly.
Riddle sighed. “Of course you did.”
“It’s a useful skill you may needed later in life.” Roxana justified. “I wonder what he went to get.”
Well they didn’t have to wonder for long, Grim came back flying on the carpet.
“Am back ! Carpet is our way out !” Grim grinned.
“You know I could just apparate us right ?” Roxana said.
Grim blinked at her. “I…forgot.”
“Hmm, the carpet may be in use later.” Roxana smirked.
The carpet did not feel safe, but it couldn’t run away because Roxana already apparated them.
“What are we doing in Mostro Lounge ?” Riddle asked.
“If we are getting into trouble I will make sure to get others in it too.” Roxana smiled, she raised her hand. “Accio Azul Ashengrotto, Accio Floyd Leech, Accio Jade Leech”
Accio spell doesn’t work on people, so when you try to summon a person with the spell, the spell drag the person by their clothes … unless they are naked.
“Aaaaaah”
“…Is someone screaming ?” Riddle looked at the direction of the scream.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH !!!!” Azul face planted on the floor, followed by Floyd who fell on top of him followed by Jade for fell on top of both of them.
The three of them groaned, Azul louder than other two because he’s the one under them.
“Get-Off-Of-Me !” Azul groaned and pushed the two eels.
“Aww, cute pajamas Azul.” Roxana smirked.
Azul glared. “You !”
“Azul you’re glaring at a chair, Roxana is the other way” Jade said.
Azul pointed at Roxana this time. “YOU !”
Roxana rolled her eyes. “Accio Azul Ashengrotto’s glasses”
The octopus merman put the glasses on after they got summoned.
“COULDN’T YOU TALK TO US LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE DO ? WHAT HAPPENED TO HI ! HELLO ! HOW ARE YOU ? GIVE US A WARNING —!” Azul shouted.
Roxana blinked lazily like a cat. “Warning.”
Azul ignored that. “INSTEAD OF SUMMONING US LIKE WE’RE OBJECTS !”
“Goldfishie !” Floyd crushed Riddle in a hug.
“UGH !” Riddle tried to wrestle his way out of it.
“Why are you wearing Scarabia uniform ?” Jade asked.
“Well, let me tell you” Roxana smiled.
***
“I wouldn't have expected that from Kalim, of all people.” Azul said.
“I never knew the little Sea Otter had it in him.” Floyd said while still hugging Riddle who was now turning blue.
“Floyd Riddle is turning blue” Roxana said.
“Oopsie !” Floyd let the red head go.
Riddle finally gasped for air.
“He's never given me that impression, either.” Jade said with a thinking face.
“Vice Housewarden Jamil's got his hands full trying' to deal with it.” Grim said. “He's a decent guy, which is pretty rare for this school. I feel kinda bad for him. I swear...”
Azul stayed silent at that and raised an eyebrow.
Jade turned to Azul. “Azul, you're in Jamil's class, right?”
Azul nodded. “Yes. We also share a number of electives. Our paths are wont to cross often. Grim might be right when he says that Jamil is a rarity in this school. He's...demure and poised, you might say. He hardly ever ventures opinions of his own.”
“Yeah. I'm in the Basketball Club with Sea Snake, and he pretty much plays like a goody-goody.” Floyd said. “I never pay much attention to other dorms to start with, so I had no idea he was vice housewarden for Scarabia.”
“And now we know he's having trouble dealing with his housewarden's antics. Hm...” Azul has his suspicions, but he didn’t voice them out loud. “It sounds like I should come to their aid.”
“Wha? Did you hit your head or something' when I wasn't looking'?”
“Why, I never. I'll have you know the last incident forced me to reflect on my greed. I came out of it a changed man.” Azul said. “Moving forward, I've decided to contribute to the school as a whole, in honor of the Sea Witch's spirit of benevolence. Now that Scarabia is faced with a crisis and my very own classmate is in need of help...I can hardly ignore them in their time of need.” He smirked.
Floyd grinned. “Oooh?”
Jade had a smirk too. “Oh-ho.”
“It's just as well—I tire of picking at the same turkey dinner alongside the same faces every year.” Azul smiled. “Why don't we pay Scarabia a visit tomorrow?”
“Seriously?! We just broke outta that prison, and you want us to march back in? Count me out.” Grim said.
“C'mon, sealie, don't be like that.” Floyd said as he poked Grim’s cheek.
“Have some faith in Azul. I'm sure he'll make this a holiday to remember.” Jade smiled.
“It would be rude to visit empty-handed, of course. Jade. Floyd. Don't forget to wrap up our gifts.” Azul smiled.
Jade and Floyd smirked. “Yes, sir. / Yes, SIR! Heheheh...”
“I could certainly think of worse ways to spend winter break than in a sweltering desert.” Azul said. “I can already tell this is going to be positively delightful. Heheheh...”
Riddle turned to look at Roxana. “Why them ?”
Roxana just smirked. “How about you take Grim and the twins away, I need to talk to Azul for a moment.”
Riddle sighed but did what he was told.
Azul turned to her with a frown. “Alright, from a scammer to another scammer, why do you put up with these things ? You could have stopped everything from the beginning just like how you could have given me that picture the same day you got it.”
“Why ?” Roxana smirked. “Because it’s my idea of fun my dear, I love the chaos that Jamil is causing with that little plan of his, I have to admit controlling Kalim and make him do all those horrible things is a very bright idea, besides I just love watching people make up plans and succeed half way before destroying their whole progress and watching them fall into the pits of depression and hate.”
Azul didn’t have any emotions in his face.
“I just love the smell of misery.” Roxana smirked. “And besides, Kalim need to wake up to reality at some point, better now than never, Jamil was supposed to be his … friend, but with a friend like Jamil who needs enemies ?” She chuckled.
Azul huffed amused. “On that, I agree.”
“By the way” Roxana said. “Do return Kalim’s carpet, am sure he will miss it.”
“Oho ?” Azul looked at the magic carpet that was flying around Mostro Lounge in curiosity.
***
The face Jamil made the moment he saw the Octa-trio was worth everything.
He must really hate them. Roxana chuckled as Jamil tried to force them politely out of Scarabia dorm.
The trio forced their way in followed by Roxana, Riddle, and Grim.
“Yeesh, these Octavinelle guys are so pushy when they wanna be...” Grim said.
“And I love that about them” Roxana said.
*Scarabia Dorm – Lounge*
“Oh, hey, Azul. What brings you to our dorm?” Kalim asked.
Jamil eyes widened when he saw Roxana, Riddle, and Grim. How did they…
“Hello there. It's nice to see you, Kalim.” Azul smiled. “Goodness me! Scarabia never fails to impress every time I visit. It's a veritable winter wonderland outside, yet in here, the sun's so hot that it might as well be midsummer. You would have vacationers coming in droves if you opened up a resort here. It's an ideal location.”
Kalim grinned. “You don't say? I don't really have the savvy for business stuff, but thanks for the kind words!”
“At any rate, I'm here today because I caught your magic carpet. I'd like to return it to you.” Azul smiled.
“Really? It ran off again? I'm sorry you had to deal with that.” Kalim said as he grabbed the carpet.
Azul smiled. “Oh, it's no bother at all. By the way, is Scarabia having holidays in the dorm this year?”
Kalim nodded. “Yes, that's right. Is Octavinelle doing the same?”
“Why, yes! Fancy that!” Azul smiled at him. “In fact, what say we take this opportunity to improve relations between our dorms?”
Jamil eyes widened. “Wha...?!”
“It seems there are many things to be learned from Scarabia's unique studying style that was apparently adopted this winter.” Azul said.
“That's right! I would be positively honored to host Octavinelle's housewarden here in our dorm.” Kalim grinned.
“...Kalim, I recommend against this.” Jamil said.
Kalim pouted. “Aw, why?”
“The whole point of our current training regimen is to catch up to the other dorms.” Jamil said. “If we invite the housewarden of one of those other dorms to join us, we're showing the enemy our hand.”
“Oh, please. He's hardly an enemy. Besides, didn't you invite the Slytherin residents and Riddle who is from Heartslabyul ?” Kalim said pointing out the contradiction in Jamil’s words.
“Well, er... Yes...” Jamil was now in an awkward position. “Look, Azul. I'm saying this for your own good.”
“You're absolutely right, Jamil. Other dorms are always going to be, on some level, our rivals in the grade standings.” Azul nodded. “I'm afraid we'd best take our leave, boys. Kalim, Jamil, best of luck with your training. *Sigh* Back to spending yet another holiday stuck indoors in the dead of winter, just the three of us. It's unavoidable, I suppose...”
“And after we worked so hard to capture that magic carpet and bring it back...” Jade looked sad.
Oh the cinema. Roxana snorted.
“And it made a huge mess outta the Mostro Lounge in the process...” Floyd pouted.
The lie. Roxana had to bit her lip, it’s funny when these three up on an act honestly.
All three of them sighed. “Alas...”
Grim looked at them. “Laying' on the guilt trip a little thick there, don't ya think?!”
Roxana hit him on the head. “Shh !”
“OWIE !”
“Not so fast!” Kalim stopped them.
Jamil facepalmed. “Here we go...”
“Azul is one of the top magicians in our whole school.” Kalim said. “I think Scarabia would benefit greatly from having him over! Besides, turning away esteemed guests out of hand would bring shame upon the Asim family name.”
“Why, Kalim! What a kind and generous soul you are!” Azul said as he took Kalim hands in his to ‘thank him’. “Naturally, I would be more than happy to share any insights I have with you.”
“The two of us will be happy to assist with cooking and cleaning.” Jade said.
Floyd grinned. “Yeah! We do it at the lounge anyway, so we're pretty good at it.”
“That would be great! And it would ease Jamil's workload.”
“I don't NEED any help.” Jamil glared. “... Ugh, forget it. You're not listening to a word I say.”
“All right, let's get ourselves ready for some special training! It's your dorm versus ours. Put your things away and come to the courtyard.” Kalim said with a smile.
“Certainly. Do go easy on me, Scarabia gentlemen. Heheheh...” Azul chuckled.
*After a while*
*Scarabia Dorm – Vacant room*
“Kalim was in a pretty good mood today.” Grim said.
Azul nodded. “Agreed. That was the "regular" Kalim I know.”
“When he's in a bad mood, he narrows his eyes and gets this scary tone when he talks.” Grim shivered.
“Oh please, he’s hardly that scary, just a kitten with his claws out.” Roxana said.
“For you !” Grim deadpanned.
“Are you certain that's what's happening here?” Jade said.
“Whad da ya mean?” Floyd asked.
Jade turned to his brother. “You're prone to mood swings yourself, Floyd. Kalim doesn't give me that same impression. I suspect a different root cause at play.”
“Jamil said it was brought on 'cause of their lousy dorm standings in Spelldrive and the exams.” Grim said.
“Really? Since when does Sea Otter care about that?” Floyd said with a bit of surprise.
“Sea … what now?” Grim said confused.
“He means Kalim.” Jade said. “Floyd likes to give people nicknames based on sea creatures. In your case, Grim, you have a cute, round little silhouette. Which is why he calls you Sealie. It's a term of endearment.”
Grim was offended by that. “I ain't round! I'm full-bodied, thank-you-very-much!”
“Sea Otter's always banging' on a drum with a grin on his face. Reminds me of those fuzzy sea scamps.” Floyd said.
“He does have a generally sunny disposition. I can't imagine his demeanor would shift so drastically over something as minor as unimpressive grades.” Azul said.
“Well I did tell you that Jamil is controlling him, but we need to know what kind of magic, it has something to do with he mind, so either hypnosis or another type of magic that eases control over mind by force like my Imperius.” Roxana said.
“Yeah…we will come back to that … Imperius thing later.” Azul said while giving her a look before he turned to Jade. “Jade, would you mind having a little "talk" with him?”
“Consider it done. Jamil would be a harder target, but...” Jade smiled. “Kalim might be willing to "talk" openly with me.”
“Then I think I'll play with Sea Snake in the meantime.” Floyd grinned.
“Excellent idea. I'll join you for that.” Azul said.
“Well, Riddle and I will be around for the look out then.” Roxana said.
*Side Story*
*A-Deuce Shenanigans*
"Oh great..." Ace said. "If Riddle discovers us he’ll have us collared !”
“But if Grim discovers us we will be turned over to Roxana.” Deuce said.
Both boys stayed silent for a moment.
Ace sighed. “Riddle it is.”