plurk meme { 2018 } au august

[iluvroadrunner6]

Completed: 31/31
Running Word Count: 63,180

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august 6: hogwarts | ava & alek | 1,228

[iluvroadrunner6]

Alek and Ava met in the first week of their first year, and had been inseparable ever since. It didn’t matter that they’re different houses, it didn’t matter that they were very different people – they connected. And Ava’s never been the type of girl to let a connection go to waste.

It also helps that she’s the friendliest Slytherin anyone’s ever met.

He even asks her once, why she’s in Slytherin when she doesn’t seem to match the rest of the group.

“My mom was a Slytherin. So was Grams. I’m a legacy.” She gives a small shrug in return as she pokes at her roast slowly working it into smaller pieces.

“Still. You don’t have to be what your family is.”

“No, I don’t,” she sighs. “But just because it’s what my family is doesn’t mean it’s not what I am. Ambition isn’t a bad thing.” She smirks a bit. “Besides, someone’s got to show that we’re not all walking dicks.”

Alek smirks. “You sure about that?”

He winds up with a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his face for his trouble. “Shut up. I’m the nicest Slytherin you will ever meet.”

“We’ll see.”

Seven years of school can change a person, especially in a school like Hogwarts, but as far as Ava’s concerned, the only way she’s going to get through it is being herself, and that all starts here.

- - - - - -

Ava finds out about the werewolf thing in the way you least want someone to find out about the werewolf thing. On a full moon, when Snape is being a jerk and delaying them too long for Alek to get somewhere safely. Ava doesn’t know what else to do, so she shoves him in the nearest closet and seals it with a lock charm.

She probably should run. She probably should tell a teacher. But instead she waits for the sun to come up, listening to Alek thrash and break things inside the closet, before finally emerging in the morning, using his robes to cover himself.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” It isn’t one hundred percent okay – nothing she heard coming out of that room is okay, but they’re okay, whatever this is, this isn’t going to change their friendship. “Want me to walk you back to the common room?”

Alek nods and turns to follow her lead, and soon it all comes out. Their father, and how he was turned, and then proceeded to turn his family along with him. How he usually has a plan, but since he got held up, he didn’t have time to get there. Ava listens, but all the while, she can’t help thinking that there has to be a better way. A way to protect them, a way to protect everyone else, but she knows that whatever the solution may be? She’s not going to find it at Hogwarts. If she goes to one of the teachers, they’ll likely have to report it, and that will only get Alek into trouble. So once Alek is safely deposited back in his room, she heads up to find her owl and send an urgent, urgent letter to her grandmother.

The Ministry of Magic is always so uptight about underage magic. Elizabeth Spencer is not.

- - - - - -

When she returns to Hogwarts after Christmas break with a number of ingredients that are designed to last her the remainder of the school year because things will probably get suspicious if she tries to get them from Snape. Ava’s no Hermione Granger, she isn’t even close to being the brightest witch in her year, but her grandmother is a potion’s master, and she can certainly put her mind to the things she’s willing to learn.

She slides up next to Alek as they’re leaving the dining hall, and tucks her arm into his, before steering him away from whatever class he’s currently heading for and towards someplace private where they can talk.

“I think I’ve found a solution.”

“Solution for what?” Alek frowns, glancing over at his best friend in confusion.

“Your fuzzy little problem.”

Alek stops dead in his tracks, before pulling her over into one of the alcoves where they’re out of view. “You can cure me?”

“No. But I can tame you.” His head tips to the side in confusion and she continues. “My grams knows about a potion that takes the umph out of a werewolf so long as you take it every day the week leading up to the full moon. You’ll still change, but you’ll be you. You’ll be in control.”

Alek stares at her for a moment, dumbfounded, before reaching forward and gripping her shoulders tightly, hanging on her every word. “And it works?”

“From everything she’s heard, yes. But she’s never seen it in action so we’ll have to test it.” Ava hesitates for a moment, because this is her best friend, and she knows he trusts her, but this is a lot of trust to put in one person. “Do you trust me enough to be my guinea pig?”

He’s quiet for a moment, before glancing back to her. “If this works, can you teach me to make it? Do you have enough that we could make some for Connor and Ethan too?”

She had almost forgotten about his brothers for a second there, probably because Alek is the only one she spends considerable periods of time with. “It’s really hard to make. I had to practice a lot when I was home before I got it right. But I’ll see if my grams can send me more ingredients.” There’s a pause as she straightens. “We’ll test it on you first. And if it works then it works and we can try and make it for Ethan and Connor too.”

Alek surges forward in a rare show of physical affection, throwing his arms around her and pulling her in close. Part of her likely anticipated how much this would mean to him, but actually experiencing it, at the end of the day, is a little more than she bargained for. Still, she hugs him back fiercely, because this is a thing she can do. If she can make any of this a little bit easier, then she’s done her job.

“Thank you.”

“You know you’re my best friend, right?” Ava says as she pulls back. “Anything I can do to help, I will.”

He nods before giving her a small smile in return. “The full moon is on the twelfth. When do we start?”

“I’ll start cooking up the first batch for tomorrow.” She reaches forward and gives his hand a squeeze. “It’ll work, Alek.”

He squeezes her hand back in return. “I hope you’re right.”

- - - - - -

About a week later, Alek sleeps through his transformation like a baby. She totally could have teased him about running in his sleep like a dog, but she refrains, mostly because she’s just so relieved it worked.

By the time summer comes around, she’s gotten it down to a science and spends a week a month out at the Hale house making sure there’s enough for everyone. It’s probably not something she and Elizabeth need to do, but if there’s something they can do to help, why wouldn’t they?

After all, what are friends for.