You Got To Be Flaming Kidding Me PV C. Gears

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@Anastasia Beckett

Claudia hefted her books as she stumbled into the study room. She needed to study for the end of the year, and had to make sure she had, in fact, turned in all of her homework. Though she wan’t worried that she’s would fail, Claudia still felt the need had to study for all of her classes. In fact, one class in particular made her especially worried: potions.

Claudia’s parent’s are both professionals in making potions, and one could say that potion making runs in the blood of the Gears family. Claudia herself feels gravitated more toward potions than spells, leading her to believe she had inherited the interest in chemistry from both of her parents. Claudia feels the need to prove herself, and that was why she was in the study room that day. To prove herself to her family. Not that she needed or cared about proving herself to her family. Rather, Claudia just wanted to excel at something and be remembered for something other than her eye patch or odd personality. That, as well as a fear of being considered a failure, drove her to study.

So when Claudia entered the study room that day, she was jittery and set on edge. That was why she had carefully examined the room before entering. She wanted to make sure that nothing would corrupt her knowledge. That was why, as she looked left and right, observing the few students who occupied the room, she didn’t think to look forward. Her eye was not directed toward the source of all her troubles-to-be and that was her fatal mistake.

As Claudia examined the room, she saw petite Hufflepuffs and dedicated Ravenclaws, she saw noble Gryffindors and scheming Slytherins, but she did not see the one person directly in front of her. She did not see the source of her impending doom. Or, more specifically, on that day Claudia had failed to notice a tall, brunette Gryffindor who was practicing a fire spell. A fire spell that had just happened to bend back toward Claudia.

By stumbling into the study room, Claudia had also stumbled into the path of flames.

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Ana managed to duck ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shorter girl walking directly into the path of flames. ABSOLUTE AND COMPLETE MORON. Still, Ana felt obligated to at least try to warn her. "SHIT, NO, LOOK OUT!" she said, cringing as she finished. She was clearly way too late. She huffed and glared at the wall for a moment. This was beyond being funny to her. It was just stupid and annoying. Nobody else she knew had set this many people on fire. Especially not in such a short time period.

She hated the world. Why were people so flammable and stupid? Also, why the hell had Ana managed to accidentally set so many on fire? The only answer was there was a god who thought that they were really funny. It wasn't. She was going to get detention or expelled or something if this continued. Somehow, no professor had confronted her about it, despite the fact that about a month ago she had set a prefect on fire. She still had somehow managed to get away with that. It had been after curfew. She didn't question it too much, seeing as she really didn't mind getting away with repeated arsons/assaults depending on how one looked at it. She stood and brushed herself off as she looked around for her wand which she had dropped when she'd hit the deck.

She placed her head in her hand and sighed slightly before committing to looking up. Blowing air through her lips, she glanced at her latest victim. "I told you to watch out" she muttered sullenly. At that moment, she felt something under her foot and discovered her wand. Lazily, she bent down and picked it up. She inspected it for damage for a few moments before looking back at her victim. "I suppose you expect me to extinguish you," she said. For some reason, most of the idiots she had burned didn't know the counterspell. Why that was Ana's problem was unknown to her. Honestly, she provided the flame, was it too much to ask that the other provided the extinguisher?

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@Anastasia Beckett

“...LOOK OUT!” Claudia heard someone yell. Jumping at the sound, Claudia turned her head forward, face to face with a raging hot fireball. There was no time to react, to move, it was right in front of her. Briefly, Claudia’s mind shifted to her eyepatch. Could it survive the attack? Then, her mind wondered if that was the last thought that would ever play in her mind... and if that was then the last thought... and if - you get the idea.

As the ball and her face met, Claudia closed her eye to protect it. She did not want to lose another eye. It was already bad enough having terrible vision, she could only imagine what it was like to be blind. She coughed from the smell of burned hair and the ashes in the air. What a sight she probably was. Aware that her clothes were (probably) on fire, Claudia tried to pat herself down as much as she could, glaring at the girl.

“I told you to watch out.” the girl whispered defensively. It seemed as if it had been an accident... No. someone is conspiring against me! They set it up, they set it all up! She’s... hmm. Claudia narrowed her one eye, suspicious of the girl. She was probably with some group of others, wanting to torture her. Or maybe to find out the secret of her eye patch. By burning it away. “I suppose you expect me to extinguish you,” the Gryffindor girl said, her voice an apparent sigh. This had clearly happened to her before, but Claudia wasn’t sure exactly how many times.

“It’s only polite after all.” Claudia spat, “You should probably do the courtesy of helping your victims instead of... this.” Claudia waved her hand over her flaming clothes and looked down.

She shouldn’t have looked down.

Claudia shrieked at the sight before her. It was worse, way worse than she had imagined. “Are you INSANE? You’re going to kill someone one day you know!” Claudia subconsciously raised her hand to her eye patch and felt tiny flames licking her face. At least it wasn’t that bad, her eyepatch could’ve been...

Claudia’s hand instantly flew to one of the straps. She could feel it slipping, the flames eating away at it. Suddenly, more than ever, she wanted the girl to take out the fire. “I suppose you’re gonna actually help me now, instead of casually standing around? YOU SET SOMEONE ON FIRE FOR GOODNESS SAKES! AND I’M STILL. ON. FIRE!” Her voice held a hint of panic, though it was mostly bitter. Claudia couldn’t believe that the... that girl had the nerves to launch a fireball in the middle of the study room!

Claudia looked around, glaring at the bystanders watching her. She didn’t like to be considered a spectacle and she was in no mood to make her day worse by hearing the fake “I’m sorry”s and seeing the pitiful glances all day.

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Ana rolled her eyes at the girl's reply. She was fairly certain that magic flames could be extinguished the same as normal flames, so really, this girl could have patted out her own flames, or pulled a stop, drop and roll, or quit frankly anything other than demanding Ana put out the flames. At some point, the fires ceased to be Ana's fault. Alright, maybe she had been the one who had started the fire, but Eye-Patch Lady here had been the one blindly bumbling around a castle full of reckless, hormonal teenagers learning magic. Anyway, Ana had warned her or attempted to anyway, so really, it was obviously Eye-Patch's fault.

"Calm yourself, if I meant to kill you, or anyone else for that matter, they would already be dead," Ana said dryly, twirling her wand between her fingers for a moment. The idea of killing someone by setting them on fire really didn't seem like the way Ana would do it if she needed to. Maybe to dispose of the body, but fire was too little control for Ana to use if she wanted to off someone quickly and she was sure there were more painful things she could do if she wanted to prolong it. Not that she was planning on killing anyone in particular...

She was in fact planning on putting the girl out, but she was annoying Ana right then, so she was waiting. The girl wasn't in much actual danger - Ana wasn't a complete sociopath - but even if she was, magic was a wonderful thing that could cure just about anything.

When the girl's voice began to sound more panicked, Ana rolled her eyes again before flicking her wand and casting the extinguishing spell. This girl was clearly a first year, because first off, a higher year would have known the simple spell needed to solve the predicament, and secondly, anyone who had been at Hogwarts for more than a year knew that fire was common and really not something to get too overly freaked out over.

"See, nothing to make a scene about," Ana said as the flames disappeared. She crossed her arms and looked at the girl to make sure she was somewhat all right. Ana didn't think getting in trouble was something she had to worry much about, since this was so obviously not her fault, but she opted to lean on the side of caution and making sure this girl wouldn't say anything that Ana didn't want her to. She didn't much mind the rumors of her setting others on fire, but she would most certainly mind if a professor were told and it lead to her getting in trouble.

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@Anastasia Beckett

Claudia sat with one hand to the side of her face, glaring at the bystanders for a bit. If she walked out afterward and heard the whispers of “hey that’s the psycho who had a panic attack today!” or the reply of “Oh, the poor thing got set on fire! Have some decency, would you?” then she felt as if she would walk up to them and scream in their faces.

Or not.

The Ravenclaw probably wouldn’t have the energy to scream, let alone have the energy to put some effort into her unintelligible stammering. If she screamed at someone after she left, what would probably come out would be something like, “Hhsjsisksihdt*” to the pitiful friend and, “Yehdhndiisikoe**” to the other. But that was because she had no energy to make actually good sounding arguments. Maybe she should just stick with glares. At least with glares people could actually understand you.

“Calm yourself, if I meant to kill you - or anyone for that matter - they would already be dead,” the girl said while twirling her wand. Claudia rolled her eyes, though she knew it was true. Why don’t you get a bridle for your tongue, demon spawn? No - wait - demon spawn... nah. More like... Claudia shook her head, not being able to think of anything. It seemed to her that when you made an enemy you needed to make a “nemesis nickname.” Clearly she had read too many books where’s characters did that.

All lies. There’s no such thing as too many books.

Claudia felt like her panic attack had died (along with her robes - those would have to be replaced) since she stopped looking at the flames, but clearly she was freaking out worse than ever as Hestia*** used an extinguishing spell to get rid of the fire. Or maybe it was because she had asked nicely. “See, nothing to make a scene about,” Hestia said as the flames disappeared.

Claudia rolled her eye discreetly at the girl and thought that she needed some kind of warning sign reading something like, “Watch out! Potential Arsonist walking through!” so that no one else would get hurt. Actually, maybe she should dye her hair red like flames. And maybe style it like flames too. Actually, the styling part was going too far. But that would be a great warning sign to tell people that they were going to get burned alive! Up you’re life insurance people!

“Th-Thanks... I guess,” she sighed, she felt much calmer now that she was extinguished, “But, uh, Hestia... next time... don’t do it in the study room. Launch y-your fireball of doom - or-whatever-it’s-called - somewhere where people aren’t.” Claudia was still sitting, but she had started picking at the ashes on her clothing. She then glared upward at the girl.

“Die.”

“I-I mean... uh, okay?”

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*Translation: “I’m a human being perfectly capable of fighting my own battles, no thank you very much.”
**Translation: “Yes, I’m a psycho. And I’m in a terrific dream world that doesn’t involve you.”
***OOC Note: So I searched up “nicknames for a fire girl” (“what to call a potential murderer who will someday set fire to you, your house, and your children” didn’t work, so I had to make due) and ended up getting actual names. I couldn’t think of a nickname... this is what I resorted to - I really wanted a nickname. Hestia is the female version of the Greek god Hephaestus, who is the god of the forge, crafting, volcanoes, and fire and whatnot so I guess it’s ok. It seems like a terrible nickname that only a smart Ravenclaw would know. Exactly why I used it.

The girl who she had set on fire was making some rather deranged faces at Ana, which did little more than make the Gryffindor roll her eyes as though she was speaking to a small child. A rather stupid small child at that. As a Hogwarts student, one was expected to have a certain level of being able to get over small inconveniences like being set on fire every now and then. If this girl was going to get this worked up over every little thing, she really wasn't going to do well at this particular school.

The girl thanked her somewhat unenthusiastically. Not that Ana would have expected the girl to go out and arrange a parade in her honor or anything, but given how freaked out she had been at a little fire, Ana would have thought she would have been far more grateful to no longer be on fire. Some people were simply strange, she supposed.

She arched an eyebrow slightly at the girl calling her Hestia. That definitely wasn't her name, and she was about to tell the girl so when she remembered a Greek Goddess by that name. Maybe the girl thought she was being clever, but after learning Latin, Greek, and about various ancient civilizations her entire childhood, Ana knew a thing or two about ancient gods. If she was thinking of the right goddess, Hestia was rather boring. She was the goddess of the hearth and home or family or some dull nonsense like that. Maybe the hearth bit was what this weirdo was thinking of. If Ana was a Greek goddess, she was definitely Athena. Well, maybe not, since sometimes Ana's plans went a little wonky. Aphrodite maybe. Really anyone other than boring Hestia. And maybe Artemis, since Ana really liked boys and couldn't imagine swearing them off just because.

"I suppose I could do that, but it would be far less entertaining," Ana replied cooly. Where the bloody hell did this girl expect her to practice spells if not the study room? Magic wasn't really allowed outside of class beyond practicing, and somehow, she doubted her head of house or roommates would take very kindly to her setting fires in her dorm room.

The "die" earned another sideways glance from Anastasia. For someone who had panicked so much over such a small irritation, this younger girl seemed set on making herself a target for further bullying from Anastasia. Not that Anastasia was a bully, well, alright she was, but the people she harassed were generally people like this who had done something to earn it.

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@Anastasia Beckett

After her comments of “die” and “uh, okay?” Claudia watched the girl in front of her with narrowed eyes. “I suppose I could do that, but it would be far less entertaining.” the potential-murderer-and-arsonist-to-be replied. She wasn’t sure whether the girl was talking about her “die” comment, or her question about launching the fireball somewhere else. Somewhere were there weren’t... well... people.

Additionally, the Ravenclaw wondered what the other had meant about entertainment. Surly the girl could find entertainment in other things than hurting people. Like books! Books were always good. But hurting people...? Claudia wondered if that was an early stage of being a sociopath - or a psychopath, it just depended on if she liked toying with people’s emotions, or at least could feel them. Or, rather, knew what emotions were. Maybe she should instead have asked the girl if she had contacted a psychiatrist, even if it was a muggle one.

Looking up at her “unintentional” arsonist, Claudia parroted her thoughts out loud, only leaving out the bit about socio and psychopaths. “So y-you enjoy watching people, uh, squirm and writhe in pain? Great! Me... me too, maybe w-we could hook up sometime, launch a few... murderous... fireballs at people and maybe we’ll get to-to kill some others. Wouldn’t that be fun?” she asked sarcastically, although most of the strength in the statement was lost upon her stuttering and stammering.

Claudia suddenly remembered that her eyepatch was slipping and wondered if she would be able to ask Hestia to repair it. Although, clearly, the Gryffindor was more about destroying things than fixing them. Or maybe not... Claudia distantly remembered that the girl had extinguished her clothing earlier that day. Well, recently. However, Claudia shrugged that one off almost immediately, as that was more of... Well... extinguishing... than actually helping to fix something.

Then again, there was also the matter than the girl may not know how to fix it and only make it worse. Claudia honestly wouldn’t put it past the girl.

Even if Hestia could actually fix it, there was still the fact that people were curious, and as Claudia had drawn attention to the eyepatch, Hestia probably would ask about it. Claudia didn’t yet know what lie she’d craft that time, as the wrong excuse could get another fireball sent her way. Plus, Claudia didn’t have a fake story for enemies yet. Mainly because she wasn’t noticed enough by people, but she didn’t. At least, not yet. Claudia set a sort of reminder in her brain to craft one. After all, she had to be prepared for everyone who might - and will, someday - ask.

Wondering how she might get the girl to fix her clothing, and with it, her eyepatch, Claudia asked, “Hey... do y-you, uh, Um, have a... repairing charm? I mean, know one. I mean, c-can you preform one? On me. And my clo-clothes, I mean. Uh... because I really don’t want to, uh, buy a new one?” Claudia swept a hand over her clothes so that the girl could see the damage.

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OOC Note: Agh! I’m so, so sorry about the late reply. To be honest, I was kinda holding this off because I didn’t know what to say! And I was actually busy. But yeah.

@Claudia Gears

Anastasia rolled her eyes dramatically when the girl began to speak. Why was she still bothering Ana? She seemed rather taken aback at Ana's comment regarding the entertainment value of setting others on fire. Ana wasn't a complete stone-hearted madwoman, she did feel guilty when she felt people on fire, however, most of them were such whiny little brats about it that her guilt was generally assuaged. This girl for instance was being so obnoxious about the whole thing that Ana was seriously considering reigniting her. This was Hogwarts for God's sake! There were fire and hexes and all sorts of dangerous things flying about at pretty much all times. You would think people would learn to deal with it at some point...

Ana's eyebrow arched again when the girl began to rant about murderous fireballs. They had covered this - Ana's flames weren't murderous. They weren't even particularly sinister, just a bit uncontrollable. Rather like Ana herself. "Ah, so you think you're quite witty, don't you?" Ana said, her tone disinterested. Any wittiness that might have come across in the girl's words was utterly ruined by her stuttering and stammering like a crazy person. In any event, it wasn't witty to circle back to Ana being murderous. She preferred spirited, a little violent, or even occasionally homicidal. She wasn't murderous, and if she was, the people she would kill would be the last to know. "I'm going to go ahead and burst your silly little bubble and inform you that you're really not."

The crazy girl's eyepatch was slipping, and if Ana cared, she would have inquired as to the nature of the scrap of fabric. However, Ana really just didn't care. She was irritated and bored with this whole encounter, and this girl was really making a far bigger deal of this than was needed. She wasn't on fire anymore, so she ought to be grateful and learn to look where she was going. Ana scoffed when the girl asked if she knew a repairing charm. "Of course I know one, I'm not a moron," she said disdainfully, fully intending to imply that her victim was stupid for not knowing the charm. How did this girl not know that charm completely by this point in her first year?

"Reparo!" she said as she flicked her wand. After she was done, she waved her hand slightly as if she was a ruler dismissing a peasant from her court. "You may go." Not much caring whether or not the girl did in fact leave, Ana turned back to what she'd been doing before this whole annoying encounter.

Reducio

OOC - Loved threading with you!