Emilia

“Hey, Emilia!”, Sally had suddenly appeared out of a crowd of students.

“Clarissa and I were playing chess, want to join?”, she asked and put her arm around Emilia's shoulders, blocking her way to the dorm.

Sally smiled innocently as if nothing had happened. Her blonde hair was now tied back in a ponytail, with the exception of a few strands she seemed to have missed. Emilia's face turned red instantly again. She could have looked at her for ages, and it kept hitting her how beautiful her friend was. There were tiny, almost invisible freckles under Sally's eyes which she had never seen before until now.

“We just finished our game, do you like chess?”, Sally asked.

“I, uhm, well, we are 3 people, how would we play?”, Emilia stuttered.

“Don't worry, I will play with Clarissa, I want a chance against you in case you are as smart in chess as you are in class.”, Sally laughed.

Emilia paused for a moment, but deep down she knew she didn't want to leave. She liked chess, and had played against herself a lot. She had also watched many other students, but she had never played with others. She also had to admit that, although she liked it, playing against herself didn't help her learn it in the slightest.

“Yeah, why not...”, she said reluctantly.

Sally dragged her through the crowd to a small table in the back of the room. Clarissa sat on one of the couches around it and waited. The chess board was already prepared on the table.

“Hi Emilia, did you run a marathon or why do you look like a tomato?”, she laughed.

“Uh, no, but I just showered.”

Emilia didn't know if that was a suitable explanation, but since her skin usually did look irritated after showering it might as well have been true.

She sat down facing Sally and Clarissa.

“How good are you?”, Clarissa asked, already playing the first move. “Oh, are you okay with us being white and you black?”

“Yeah sure, uhm, honestly I don't really know how good I am, I usually play against myself or, well, watch...”

Sally smiled.

“Doesn't matter, maybe there's still a few things even I have to teach you.”

If the redness in Emilia's face had disappeared a little, now it sure as hell was back again.

“Well, I guess…”, she said, distracting herself with her own move.

“What do you do, like, in your free time?”, Clarissa asked. “Not to be rude, but there's many… rumours, and I just want to know what's true.”

“Uhm,…”, Emilia started, “I read a lot, or practice my spells. I keep a list of the things I want to do further research about, usually because I stumbled upon them, and when I am not sure what to study I pick a few of them and search books about the topic.”

The game continued, and Emilia realized quickly that the two girls were very good.

“You really do study a lot. Is that all you do? No other hobbies?”, Clarissa wondered.

“No, not really. I walk around Hogwarts and in the forest a lot though and keep an astronomy diary if that counts though.”

“Astronomy? Like the one Trelawney showed us? Are you like… into divination?”

Clarissa and Sally started whispering and pointing at the chess board, probably evaluating what Emilia's strategy could be.

Emilia bit her lip, in the end, divination was one of the least favoured subjects in Ravenclaw, and she didn't want to start a discussion.

“No”, she said when Sally and Clarissa had stopped whispering. “Its more focused on our astronomy lessons. The one Trelawney had was about Astrology.”
That was, at least, true. She always thought Trelawney’s divination techniques were… questionable, but had also seen them succeed in various instances. She judged the likelihood of them having been by pure chance as low, so although her techniques seemed odd to Emilia, she approved them as legitimate.

“Aren't you scared in the forbidden forest? I mean, that can get you in quite some trouble.”, Sally wondered, while placing the next move. As if she wanted to make a point, it was a quite threatening one for Emilia. It was hard for her to focus with Sally opposite to her.

“No, not really. I have my protection, and I know how to fight almost all of the creatures in the forest.”, Emilia answered.

“Yeah I could have guessed that it doesn't scare you to go there, but why do you even go in there? Other than it being forbidden, I don't know what would draw me to the forest at all...”, Clarissa remarked.

“Its quiet there, and a lot of charms and spells need moonlight, it makes them work better sometimes. Nature also is great place for rituals, my mind is way more free then.”

Clarissa didn't seem contempt.

“How do you think I was able to curse some people so subtly when they annoyed me? It wasn't a direct curse, many were rituals.”, Emilia added.

“So, these things… they really work that well?”, Sally chimed in.

“They are hard to control and take lots of persistence and willpower, that's for sure, but they work. There's way better, stronger and direct ways to achieve the same goal sometimes, often potions, direct curses or other things, but if you want to be subtle they are perfect. They are completely neglected in school though, that is true… probably because they had such a deep connection to religions”

“Well”, Clarissa said, “Lots of things are. I asked teachers a lot when we will learn something specific, but sometimes they admit that these are areas we have to do research of our own. They can’t teach us everything.”

“What kind of rituals do you do?”, Sally asked.

“Mainly those who are self-centred, often times one for enhanced concentration, better sleep or inner calm. But I've tried many so far...”

“If I win this game, will you show me one?”, Sally leaned forward and grinned.

“Uhm… I mean”

Emilia wasn't really sure if that was such a good idea. “How often have you been in the forest so far?”

“Well, I stepped one foot in and decided ‘fuck this’ and then left… so basically 0”

Clarissa laughed. “You do you, but I am not a fan of this… ritual stuff. Given that it works of course but yeah, you do you Emilia”

Typical Ravenclaw, Emilia thought. As much as she liked her house, sometimes the students could be a little annoying in their stubbornness. She had to admit, she didn't know exactly how much of those rituals wasn't placebo, but they were exciting. And since her first trials were because of pure scepticism, she suspected that they did at least something.

She had left out one thing though – that they were also quite questionable if you REALLY could control them. As far as she had understood, you could temper with peoples mere character, and make them a different person for at least a short amount of time.

Emilia looked at the board. It looked pretty even, so if she focused on it a little more, maybe she had a chance?

“Alright”, Emilia said. “Deal! If you win, I’ll show you one.”

And suddenly Sally's moves were different, as if she could look into Emilia's head and predict every single tactic and every single move. It didn't take long and she knew, Sally had won the game.

“I cant believe you would have let me win without our deal”, Emilia laughed after admitting her defeat.

Sally seemed a bit too pleased with herself for Emilia's taste.

“Noooo don't worry, I would still have destroyed you as late in the game as possible”, Sally teased.

‘Just wait until our next lesson’ Emilia thought.

“Do you stand by your word?”, Sally asked.

“Of course I do, but as far as I understood, I am the one to decide on the ritual.”, she grinned. “Dont worry”, Emilia added quickly. “I wont hurt you, but it will be looots of fun”

“Im just gonna trust you, but no evil tricks”, Sally said, and if it wasn't for the sparkle of excitement in her eyes Emilia would have feared she wouldn't have trusted her.