Is There Something In The Movies? [Vivian]

[nova hypatia vector]

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February 17th, 2022

Falling asleep at one of the tables in the Ravenclaw common room while finishing up homework had become commonplace for Nova over the years. She lived to keep her mind busy, always doing the extra work being given out or writing over the required amount on essays because it ate up time that would otherwise be spent doing nothing throughout the day. Especially when it came to the late hours of the night, where the common room cleared out and the only sounds came from the scratching of her quill on parchment or the pops of crackles of the fireplace. Nova could've sworn that the house elves occasionally left her warm cookies when she started to blink back the sleepiness. If not, she had a stalker with an invisibility cloak. Either way, they were always good and welcome (despite the fact that she could make them better).

Tonight was not an exception to the falling asleep at the table rule, and when she woke up with a practice test practically glued to the side of her head, she was unaware of her surroundings and briefly irate. NEWT-level Arithmancy was almost easier than baking a three-tiered cake for her aunt at this point. Having her brother as the professor felt like cheating at times, but there were also expectations because it came so naturally. The paper that had been stuck to her face was for Archie's class, and in her confusion, she ripped it off her cheek and caused it to tear slightly. An easy fix normally if she hadn't just been asleep for an unknown amount of time.

Nova groaned as her brain realized what she had just done to the practice test. The silver-lining being that it was practice and therefore not a required piece of work she had to turn it. She couldn't imagine how it would look to turn her work into her brother with a rip down the middle. Everyone would probably think that she was full of herself or something. Realistically this was all unnecessary since she already planned on working for her aunt after graduation. NEWT-level Arithmancy wasn't required to bake cookies. It was because it was the only class that was a challenge to her anymore.

Blinking away a little more of the tired, she pulled back her sleeve to check her watch for the time. Four o'clock in the morning, give or take a few minutes. She had no idea when it was that she'd fallen asleep, but she'd been alone in the common room then and it seemed to still be empty. Creeping back into her dorm room would only invite the possibility of accidentally waking up a roommate, and she'd hate that more than sleeping on one of the common room couches until it was a reasonable time to get up. Rubbing at the cheek that had been home to her paper, Nova started to quietly shift her work into a pile, that way she could actually get to bed.

Vivian River Jordan ● 500 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Vivian River Jordan]

17 February 2022

So Vivian was definitely giving off some mad scientist vibes as she leaned over the box, but at least she hadn’t started rubbing her hands together evilly or monologuing to her prisoners. Not that she usually took prisoners, since hostages would be a better term for it – unwitting students who didn’t realize they were walking into a fifteen minute explanation of whatever nonsense hobby Viv had picked up this time. But lucky for everyone around her…she’d lost her voice. And who could blame her, really? Last weekend, Ravenclaw had positively slaughtered Slytherin in their Quidditch match and Vivian had been gleefully commentating the entire time (as well as in the victory party right after). Her voice came and went in the days since then, which was unfortunate when it came to beating other Ravenclaws to give the right answer in class, and she certainly wouldn’t be ready to commentate for the Hufflepuff/Gryffindor match this weekend. But, all in all, a hundred percent worth it.

Still, it suddenly occurred to her that it was quiet. Very quiet – she hadn’t heard any students walking by or ghosts popping through the walls for hours now. She glanced at her watch, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was almost four in the morning, which meant Vivian had been trying to make this glitter bomb work for hours. Oh, the sacrifices she made for a good prank. There was something that just wasn’t working – she’d flip the lid, but it wouldn’t trigger the countdown mechanism for the glitter bomb. Anyone who opened the box would still be woefully glitter-free. A problem for another day. Vivian sighed slightly as she shut the lid and balanced the bulky box carefully in her arms, sticking her head outside the door to ensure there weren’t any prefects on patrol and then beginning her sneaky journey back to Ravenclaw Tower.

This is why you invest in an invisibility cloak, she scolded herself as she dove into a side corridor at the sound of footfalls approaching. She waited for one moment, then two, finally giving a slow exhale as the footsteps continued down the corridor and faded away. The rest of the journey was uneventful, and one Viv had made dozens of times before whenever she got distracted with her inventions. Good pranks didn’t just pop into existence by themselves, after all, and Vivian could provide a certain level of imagination and ingenuity that Gryffindors just weren’t capable of (bless their hearts). Vivian lightly tapped the knocker against the door, lips pinched in concentration as she listened hard to the question. The stakes were high, because the idea of being locked out for the rest of the night was quite out of the question. But Merlin, she hated Transfiguration, which meant these questions always had her stumped.

“Because an object has no fixed permanent state, only what we perceive it to be,” Vivian finally answered, beaming as the door swung open in front of her. She scurried inside, determined to sneak upstairs without any of her mates noticing so she could slip into bed and pretend she’d been there the whole night. But she wasn’t prepared for Nova and her ridiculous study schedule -- so really, this was all her fault. As Vivian passed by the study tables, a sudden rustling noise startled her and Vivian gave a squeak (as much as she could with her half-gone voice, at least). She dropped the box, which clattered to the ground and sprung open. Aaaaaand of course it works now, Viv thought with a wince as both girls were suddenly engulfed in a cloud of brilliantly sparkling silver glitter. Merlin, Nova was going to kill her, although…maybe less if Vivian explained the mechanics behind her invention? Wishful thinking.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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In her zombified state of recent sleep, Nova probably could have been convinced that the sharp squeak that came from somewhere within the common room was an auditory illusion. Heck, she would have preferred that over what it ended up being. Because one second she was sleepily stacking slices of paper and the next her vision was completely clouded over with a sudden burst of fog. Or was it mist? It twinkled, almost, as whatever the particles in the air twisted and turned with the common room fireplace (now invisible to her) acting as their backlight. Was this…glitter? The perplexing situation she now found herself in absolutely didn’t make any sense because it wasn’t anything that she had done. The only obvious answer was that someone had booby-trapped her paperwork whilst she slept. A prank for when she woke up and tried to clean up her things in the morning, most likely to giggles from underclassmen waiting in anticipation behind the cover of one of the sofas. She wouldn’t find it funny though, because now she had to clean up whatever in Merlin’s good name this stuff was. A Weasley product would mean the glitter could be adhesive to whatever it landed on, or impossible to clean up with normal magic. Hopefully she wasn’t going to have to explain to the head of house that the house elves would be needed for this. She was not going to go waking them up at four in the morning.

After a moment, the plume of glitter started settling, and she was happy to see that she could now see the offender in question. She wasn’t going down for this. But Vivian was if it couldn’t be cleaned up with a couple waves of their wands. “Please tell me that was an accident,” Nova asked, her voice cracked and dry as she spoke. Merlin, she could feel the exhaustion vibrating at the end of every word. This class that totally wasn’t necessary was going to be the death of her, only because she wanted to prove to her brother that she was above his class. “Because I don’t have the energy for it if it wasn’t.”

Vivian River Jordan ● 363 ● About You Now by Odina

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Vivian River Jordan]

Vivian tried not to inhale glitter as she felt it settle all around her and Nova. She should have been delighted that something had finally triggered the mechanism to release the glitter, but really all she could do was mourn the fact that there wasn’t a proper audience around to enjoy it. The point of a prank was to be uplifting, after all, and bring about a smile or two. Situations like these in the middle of an empty common room were just a waste! Viv blinked glitter out of her eyes and brushed some off her shoulders that had settled like a bad case of dandruff. Nova didn’t look thrilled at the sudden prospect of finding herself in the middle of an unexpected cloud, and Vivian eyed her unamused expression with caution.

They’d known each other since both were just little twigs of 11 year olds trying to find their place at Hogwarts. So Viv knew exactly how committed Nova was to her study schedule, and she was quite familiar with the scowl someone might receive whenever they interrupted ‘quiet studying time’ or got off-topic. Classes had never really interested Vivian – it wasn’t where her talents shone through – but she thought she was quite good at staying out of trouble -- both with professors and snooty Ravenclaws. She shot Nova an indignant expression at her insolent question. “Why would I waste my good ideas on someone who doesn’t appreciate them?” she grumbled, her voice raspy from disuse and the abuse she’d put it through last weekend. She didn’t bother trying to prank Nova because the other Ravenclaw wouldn’t appreciate the joke. Viv liked to cheer people up, after all, and her pranks weren’t mean. Not that Nova would care – her bottom line was always whether or not it would distract her from her insane study schedule.

In all honesty, Vivian hadn’t quite worked out the kinks of this project yet. She knew what it was supposed to do in theory, but things hadn’t quite worked out according to the theory so far. In a general sense, she liked that -- the problem-solving was the most fun part, besides the end result. But it might be problematic here. Sliding her wand out from her sleeve, Viv gave it an experimental wave – just to see what the glitter would do. As the glitter multiplied and poofed out in a cloud all over Nova’s study papers, Viv gave a gasp of excitement. “It works!” she said gleefully, examining the new piles of brilliant starry silver settling over the textbooks and empty chairs. Her voice came out painfully raspy as she tried to excitedly explain, “It has to be done the Muggle way, see? The Gemino Curse was quite tricky to work out.” Viv hadn’t wandered into the realm of creating new spells, which was insanely difficult, but she did like to tweak different charms to suit her pranking purposes. The spell to multiply objects was easy if you only had one target, but a million tiny pieces of glitter, each one needing to be targeted and replicated at once? It had taken her ages to figure out the mechanics of it, and many failed attempts and reworked formulas. She could almost ignore Nova’s scowl as Viv grinned brilliantly at her own ingenuity.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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She hadn't meant to come across as grumpy, but how couldn't she be in her current state? Exhausted and covered in glitter in the early hours of the morning was not what she anticipated her life to be like right now. Archie would find it hilarious if she told him, mostly because it was his class work she was slaving over. Knowing the way glitter was, even if they did clean it all up, there was bound to be a piece or two stuck to her homework. He would ask too. Nova didn't go around wearing gaudy things that had glitter falling off them. That was their 'stepmother'. Just thinking about that woman made her angry, because she could hear the start of her rant and the red tinge in her face about the mess that had been created. She disliked when Nova made an appearance in the family home and was still covered in flour from the bakery. Glitter, in comparison, was an aneurism enduring nightmare for Harmony.

Watching Vivian pull her wand out, Nova wrongly assumed that they were both going to start cleaning up and pulled hers out as well. That was until the pile of glitter on her schoolwork puffed into a cloud again and multiplied, turning from what was a fine, shiny coating of glitter over everything into something that looked like freshly fallen snow. Had this happened at any other point in the day when she wasn't trying to finish up her work and go to sleep, she may have found it impressive. Vivian was going on about her process of making the mess increase, but all Nova could do was sit there and brush off the glitter that had shot onto her face. "Vivian, please," she pleaded slowly, so as to not allow any of the particles to be sucked into her mouth or nose. "All I wanted to do was go to bed..."

Vivian River Jordan ● 321 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Vivian River Jordan]

Sometimes Vivian could get so caught up in what she was doing that she’d miss the warning signs, the little indications that the other side wasn’t having as much fun. And that was certainly the case now as Viv found herself so totally absorbed in her little victory that she almost forgot about Nova for a moment. Being a Ravenclaw was so hard sometimes – everybody expected you to know what was going on, so the pressure to succeed was always there. Some of her House-mates took that as an expectation to be top of the class, which meant they were always the last ones in the Library and the first ones to raise their hands in class. For others (including yours truly), they didn’t bother themselves much about classes and homework and exams. No, the pressure was on in a totally different way. Every good idea needed to work, every fun experiment needed to succeed. Viv liked to bring a little innovation and showmanship into her pranks, but she’d been stressing at the fact that the release mechanism hadn’t been working. And would the glitter be as impossible to clean up as she’d hoped?

So she was totally absorbed in the success of her experiment now. But when she finally glanced up and saw the warning signs that Nova’s temper was simmering – the displeased grimace, the glimmer of stress in her eyes – Viv felt her smile falter. And it morphed into a little pout at Nova’s tired words. “Seriously, Nova?” she complained, a little annoyed that the other girl wasn’t the least bit interested in the scientific/magical breakthrough she’d just had. “I just modified this spell to act on a super micro scale that it wasn’t originally designed for. Isn’t that even a little cool?” Truly, Viv didn’t see the point in being so preoccupied with schoolwork all the time. Finishing an essay, drawing a diagram, reading a chapter of the book – what was the point? They felt like achievements, but they didn’t really have any value. No way of bringing it into the real world or taking it with you to whatever came after Hogwarts.

But playing around with magic to do new and interesting things? Now that was worth the investment, in Viv’s professional experience as a stressed-out Ravenclaw trying to make her mark on the school just like everybody else. And it was an achievement that could be shared with other people. Academic achievements were individualistic by nature, and while they might suit the average Ravenclaw – it wasn’t enough for her. But, she did have to admit…it was late, she could see through the windows that the sky was still pitch-black, and they did have that Transfiguration exam soon. Merlin, Vivian hadn’t even cracked open any of the practice exams for that yet. “Never mind, just go to bed. I’ll clean it up,” she said after a moment’s pause. It was only fair, even if it was going to be a lot of work. The house-elves probably had left a broom lying around the common room somewhere.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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She didn't even have the energy to be upset when she barely had the energy to keep her eyes open. Was being covered in glitter at an ungodly hour in the morning worth losing her head over? Probably. But she couldn't bring herself to that point when she was exhausted and still unsure of what exactly was going on right now. Vivian had flown into the common room then blew up her glitter contraption. Any semblance of disappointment that came out was because she was still confused and half-asleep, and not willing to deal with being covered in glitter. So maybe she was sort of upset. Vivian didn't seem to like the tone Nova had taken with her, but how else was she supposed to react? "But it's four in the morning," she stated, slightly exasperated because she wasn't sure how she could be the bad guy in this situation.

Instead of leaving immediately like she wanted to (which she really couldn't until she got herself and her belongings cleaned), Nova continued to stand by her desk, silently sweeping glitter off of her arms and shoulders. "It'll take you hours to do that," she mumbled. Picking up her wand she pointed it at her desk and stopped. Her brain still hadn't caught up with being awake yet, and she completely forgot what cleaning charm would be best suited for this. "How'd you modify it?" Nova asked, realizing that if Vivian had done a lot to it, a common cleaning charm probably wouldn't work. Getting the house elves for help would be loads easier at that point. "It won't explode again if I try to clean it up, will it?" It was almost better to ask Vivian since she was the mastermind behind it all. She'd seen Gemino curses turn nasty before, like during first year when someone cast it over a bag of charmed, fake prank spiders. They were everywhere instantly.

Vivian River Jordan ● 321 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Vivian River Jordan]

Time didn’t really mean much to Vivian – or at least, it didn’t flow in a neat straight line. She’d watched hours flash by in a minute once she’d gotten properly absorbed in something fun, like scheming up a prank or tossing gnomes over the garden hedge. But then she’d also watched the minutes drag by like they’d been charmed to pass in slow-motion, like some of her duller classes that had Viv nodding off over her desk while she daydreamed about Honeyduke’s. The nighttime wasn’t always for sleeping, not if she’d been struck by inspiration for one of her projects, and off periods weren’t always for studying – not if it was snowing outside or she wanted to think up some witty retorts for her next commentating match. So Nova’s observation that it was four in the morning didn’t mean anything to her, and Vivian only shrugged. “So what? It’s only brilliant when the sun’s out?”

Her voice was still raspy (thanks Quidditch) so Vivian cleared her throat, wishing she’d remembered to bring her water bottle – the one she’d charmed herself so the Ravenclaw eagle pattern would do a little dance if it got wet. As it was, she hadn’t remembered so she’d have to make do without. Viv winced a little at the thought of cleaning it all up herself, but she wasn’t opposed to the thought. She found Muggles positively fascinating, and she’d developed a little obsession with her Muggle Studies class and all the smashing ways Muggles had found to do things without magic. As Nova got out her wand, Vivian didn’t process what was happening until her mind finally caught up to the situation. “Errrr, hold on,” she said nervously as she eyed Nova’s wand. She was decently sure the glitter wouldn’t explode, but she couldn’t say that with a high enough level of confidence to let Nova try.

“My spell doesn’t just react to cleaning magic,” she confirmed, her face brightening as Nova asked about the mechanics of Viv’s experiment. She knew why her House mate was asking, but she didn’t much care if Nova’s reasons were much more practical – why would she turn down an opportunity to explain her work? “See, it absorbs the magic like a sponge to power the latent spell I’ve placed on it. The more magic you try, the more it multiplies. Neat, innit?” Those were just the broad strokes, of course. She was still a student, so Viv doubted she’d gotten her glitter fine-tuned enough to react to all the major branches of magic…but the simple household spells she’d seen her mum do a million times? Yeah, that had been tricky but not impossible. If they didn’t want to stay there until the sun rose, or a teacher caught them, then magic wasn’t the answer. Viv pulled out her wand too, but didn’t direct it at the glitter. Instead, she twirled her wand so two small misshapen brooms twisted out of the air and fell onto the table. She picked one up and offered it to Nova. “I’ve seen Muggles do this in movies,” Viv said brightly as she waved her own broom in the air excitedly.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Nova had to close her eyes and let out a long exhale to prevent herself from saying anything she was going to regret. Glitter was never ‘brilliant’ in her opinion. It got everywhere, was impossible to clean up, and was horrible for the environment. And it was currently still all over her and her belongings. How could anyone have a positive opinion of the pieces of plastic if they were in this situation? She was too tired to bicker back and forth right now, and getting Vivian to back down was going to be impossible. Arguing that it didn’t matter when the appropriate time for glitter was automatically made Nova want to collect her things and head immediately to the head of house, because she honestly should. But that still took energy that she didn’t have right now, and making it a bigger deal than it already was would make her look like the bad guy. Which she clearly wasn’t.

Being stopped and told that the charmed glitter didn’t react to cleaning magic made Nova stare blankly across the common room at her housemate. She had heard that correctly, right? As Vivian explained that the charm absorbed the magic cast at it, which then caused the multiplication explosion. Merlin’s scraggly chin hair, this was worse than she’d imagined! Watching two brooms appear from another spell, Nova continued to stare at Vivian as one was handed over to her. She put her hands out and pushed it away from her, adverse to the mundane method. “No way am I cleaning up your mess that way.” Enough of her time at the bakery had been spent sweeping up flour with a broom, especially before she was allowed to use magic outside of school. Her aunt said that it built character and a good work ethic, and she was right. But this wasn’t her mess, and Vivian could do it all on her own for making such a foolish spell. “This will take weeks to do. Just go bug the house elves instead and have them clean it,” she added as she took a few steps away from the broom and Vivian.

Vivian River Jordan ● 359 ● Les loups pastel by Ingrid St-Pierre

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Vivian River Jordan]

Viv wished she could say Nova’s blank stare was because she was in awe at the level of detail and creativity Viv had put into her spell, but she knew that wasn’t it. No, Nova was probably doing Arithmancy in her head and thinking about their upcoming exam that she hadn't finished studying for. Or plotting several ways to kill Viv without having it pinned on her. Viv raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip at Nova’s outright rejection of the broom. “Clean up my mess?” she echoed, staring at Nova with an unimpressed look on her face. It sounded exactly like something her mum might say, and that naturally brought out the rebellious streak in her. She rolled her eyes and finally said, “Merlin, why do you talk like you’re ancient? Now’s exactly the time to do something mad like clean up a glitter bomb without magic. Be honest, are you even going to remember what assignment you were working on in five years?”

It was a moot question though, because Nova was just going to respond with some banal line that their schoolwork mattered. And then Viv would roll her eyes because even while she felt that same push towards greatness that every Ravenclaw did – that ambitious desire to be recognized, to have achieved something amazing – she didn’t see classes as the way to get there. Viv didn’t even really understand why Nova did, because she knew a little bit about the Vector family’s bakery and it didn’t seem like getting an O in DADA was a requirement to work there. Truly, Nova’s mind was a puzzle that couldn’t be solved. If it ever became the answer to the door’s riddle to get into Ravenclaw Tower…well, they’d all be locked out forever. It was just one more sign that the two girls were so different, even if they'd been sharing a room since first-year and had probably seen more of the other than either really wanted.

The look on Viv’s face turned flat as Nova suggested the house elves. “It’d go faster if we did it together,” Viv pointed out in response to Nova’s observation that it would take weeks to clean the whole mess up. That was an exaggeration at any rate, even if there was definitely more than an hour’s work in the glitter that currently surrounded them. Viv hated the idea of asking a house-elf though, and it was completely out of the question. She'd rather work till morning to get it done. “But I get it,” Viv continued in a snobby tone as she turned away from Nova and grasped her broom in her hands, “You don’t want to be shown up by me. It’d mortify you for the rest of the House to hear that I was better at something. Off to bed then.” And she began to sweep some glitter into a small pile, back turned to Nova like she didn’t even care that the other girl was here anymore.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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How, at any point in this encounter, was any of this her own fault? She wasn’t the one that developed the glitter bomb, or brought it into the common room, or made it so that it was impossible to clean up with normal charms. That meant it was Vivian’s mess to deal with. Nova already knew she was going to be dragging the glitter that was on her up into the dorm room, so why did she have to deal with the clean-up down here as well? It was starting to get to the point where she was either going to get the house elves herself or go straight to their head of house. And banging on the door at four in the morning was not going to lead to a lovely response from them.

“Because its work for my brother’s class and he’ll absolutely bring up the homework I turn in that was covered in glitter. You wouldn’t get it,” Nova retorted. She disliked cleaning because that was literally all she ever did at home. At least that came with a baking lesson attached to it. All this gave her was a rude awakening and a piece of Arithmancy homework that had glitter glued to it. Not to mention the unknown amount of pieces that were probably tangled in her hair and lost in every crevice of her body, clothes, and belongings.

If only the problem here was competition. How was Vivian a Ravenclaw again? Creating a glitter bomb that multiplied against magic wasn’t exactly smart. Nova gritted her jaw as her roommate grabbed the broom and basically taunted her with being better at cleaning. She still didn’t get how this was any of her problem though. With Vivian working on a pile of glitter, Nova grabbed her bag and started toward the dorm room, stopping after a few steps when she got a really stupid, intrusive idea. Wand into her hand, she pointed it at the mound that Vivian had created with her sweeping so far, and audibly cast a cleaning charm at it. “Don’t forget that spot,” she called out as the glitter exploded once again.

Vivian River Jordan ● 359 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Vivian River Jordan]

Ugh, those words really annoyed Viv. You wouldn’t get it. It was just so…so…ugh, so Nova to think like that! Like she was some long-suffering martyr that knew better than the rest of them, that was tragically living out the responsibility to be the best at everything and carry everyone’s weight. And it was also just patently wrong. Okay, sure, Viv didn’t have a professor brother to judge her homework or star in half the class’s daydreams when they’d rather stare at the professor than the boring math on the board. So in that sense, maybe Nova was right. But it was only a technicality, because Viv did not like Nova’s inference that her life was harder was Viv’s. In fact, Viv had a rather nasty bite mark that caused her problems every month, made her feel different than the rest of her year.

Not that she wanted that secret to make its way through Hogwarts’ rumor mill, of course. But she was getting off-point. Viv rolled her eyes at Nova’s exaggerated worry about turning in slightly off-color homework. “Please, I turn in my essays with coffee rings and scorch marks all the time. So what if you can see the parchment from the Astronomy Tower? You can’t be that worried about other people judging you.” Viv herself didn’t quite stay awake at night worrying what others thought of her, but she supposed part of that was because the girl was generally well-liked at Hogwarts. Her commentating always got good marks when it came to public opinion, at least, and she always got a good laugh from the audience when it came to a prank. That was all she really cared about. She figured Nova probably didn’t care much about what her House mates thought of her, but she could be insanely neurotic about the professors. Maybe Viv had a future in psychology after all.

Viv was extremely aware that Nova was still in the room, even with her back turned while she was currently nonchalantly sweeping glitter into a small pile and trying not to think about the hours of work still ahead of her. Still, she relaxed a little as she heard the tell-tale signs of Nova gathering her things and marching towards the dormitory door. Not that she didn’t like Nova, but if there was one Ravenclaw who wouldn’t hesitate to run to a teacher and rack up a good round of detention for the other side…well, it was her. And while Viv didn't mind a dose of detention now and then, she really didn't want to have to polish the medals in the trophy room again. Viv turned a little in confusion as Nova called out, and her eyes widened as she realized a split second too late what was about to happen. Fuming, Viv watched the pile of glitter explode and multiply, settling on and around her like a fireworks display turned to silver snow.

She took a deep breath and then shot Nova an innocently sweet (and completely fake) smile. Her trademark smile for her parents post-prank, and occasionally for the Weasley family whenever the wider circle of kids was involved. Which was fairly often. “You’re so right, I’ll take care of it now,” she said, dropping the broom without a second thought so she could pull out her wand. Viv loved Charms class, and she’d never had any problem coming up with insane and ridiculous ideas for how to modify spells to have a little fun. The tricky part was making it work, but hey – she managed it every now and then. Even if it required a little transfiguration, which she hated, to reach an end result that she loved. She pointed her wand at the recently-multiplied pile and traced a sharp path in the air from it to Nova with her wand (which had begun to glow an ominously bright orange). As the glitter flew through the air, the little pieces of confetti transfigured into paintballs and made muted thwacks as they exploded into a brilliantly electric blue on Nova’s robes. Like she'd just gotten a bucket of paint dropped all over her front, really. “Thanks for the good idea,” Viv called out as she crossed her arms and stared Nova down. She’d pay for that, whether it was in detention or worse, but – sorry not sorry. She had a stubborn streak, and there was no way she'd let Nova have the last word here.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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This was just going around in circles now. Hadn't she just told Vivian that she wouldn't understand what it was like to do homework for her brother? Coffee rings be damned, she was not turning in homework that had anything improper on it. That just wasn't who she was. She didn't want anyone thinking Archie played favorites, even if she was one of his best students. Keeping everything squeaky clean (literally in this instance) was her way of doing that. "Its not about people judging me," Nova muttered, though she wasn't sure exactly how loud it had come out. At the same time, it sort of was. This year already sucked and she just wanted it to be done. No more questions about whether she was doing alright following her dad's death, or if her brother was giving her better grades because of nepotism. And she really didn't need Vivian's glitter either. It was quite literally the icing on the horrible cake she had been dealing with for the last several months. Nova wanted off the train, and June couldn't come fast enough.

So that was why she didn't feel too bad about the newly formed cloud of glitter that had been blasted into existence. It was hard to see Vivian at first through it, but she knew she'd done a number on her housemate by the way her words were coming out now. Maybe it had been a bad idea after all. If she couldn't handle the Vivian storm and glitter bomb, then she definitely couldn't deal with what seemed to be balls of blue paint as they splattered all over her. Thank Merlin she'd packed her work away in her bag, because that definitely would have ruined all of it.

At first, Nova didn't know what to do. Retaliate again? That wouldn't get her any satisfaction at this point. She already regretted the first one. Looking over herself, there was no telling if any of the paint would come out of her robes. House elves supposedly had stronger magic, but were they able to scrub the stubbornness of Vivian out? "I just wanted to go to bed..." Nova heard her voice crack at the end, a combination of the exhaustion, stress, and frustration finally taking its toll. Yes she helped instigate the final bit. But this literally wasn't the time or place to be doing this. Now she was going to spend the rest of the early hours trying to scrub the paint off of her hands and face, because she was sure it had to have gotten into both. Without saying anything else to Vivian, she turned and headed up towards the dorm room. She should have just done that in the first place.

Vivian River Jordan ● 457 ● Song by Artist

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[Vivian River Jordan]

It was hard to pretend that it wasn’t getting a little personal. Because Viv could feel the way Nova was judging her and everything about her attitude screamed condescending annoyance. Like she thought she was better than Viv, or at least smarter if it meant not getting caught up in situations like pranks gone wrong or late-nights in the common room. Like there was only one right way to do things, and you needed to really suffer or you weren’t doing it right. Viv never pretended to be the smartest person in the room, and Merlin’s shaggy beard – she tried so hard not to judge people. Except for Al and his whole emo look, but that was less of a ‘judging the book by its mopey cover’ and more based on years of experience.

But yeah, maybe she was judging Nova a bit too. People like her – academic-minded Ravenclaws and ambitious Slytherins and the like – positively killed themselves to achieve the kind of results they did. They wanted to be the best, with a very rigid idea of how to get there, and that meant that life passed them by like the scenery in the background of a Muggle show. Whizzing by, never really noticed, and definitely fake (what did they call it? Greened screen?). It was sad to see it happen, and even worse when they tried to impose that misery on everyone around them too. Viv gripped the broom tightly as she paintballs whacked against Nova’s robes, although she didn’t feel the post-prank euphoria she loved. This didn’t feel like a good joke, it just felt petty. And a little mean, even if Viv didn’t really think she’d started it.

“Stop feeling so bloody sorry for yourself all the time!” Viv snapped at Nova’s retreating back, her usual good humor disapparating on the spot as she watched the other Ravenclaw all but flee up the stairs. “Why do you have to have the most everything? The most O’s, the most to do, the most reasons to suffer? And why do you have to make everyone else as miserable as you are?” The words chased after Nova’s retreating back, although Viv stayed planted exactly where she was. It was hard to pretend that she was okay because really – there were plenty of things in Viv’s life that made her suffer too. Starting with this curse she would have to carry around for the rest of her life, but not excluding the nepotism she received accusations of and the creeping sensation that she’d never escape the long shadows of the better generations that came before them.

But Merlin’s sake, she didn’t let herself dwell on it the way Nova seemed so pulled into herself and her own worries. No, the pranks were a good way to cover up the angsty feelings, a good way to keep a smile on everyone’s face and hope that better days were coming. And Nova’s whole act just peeled away the façade and sucked all the humor right out of her. Viv crossed her arms – because she wasn’t going to apologize – and turned back to survey the mess. The glitter covered half the common room like a snowstorm gone awry, and it was already obvious that this was the kind of job that’d keep her up until the early hours of the morning. Not exactly the kind of night she’d hoped for…

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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How could she not feel sorry for herself? Her life sucked. Yeah, her father had been a cheating piece of garbage with zero moral compass or interest in any of his children (and who knows what else), but she also didn't deserve to have both parents dead and gone before being able to stand on her own feet. And Merlin, she didn't even want to begin on Harmony. How much her classmates knew about her life really didn't matter to her. Except when it did, like right now. Since when did Vivian have the right to dictate how she went about her own education? Of course she was going to focus in succeeding when she had literally nothing else aside from her siblings and aunt.

Nova really wanted to ignore her roommate and go to bed, but she couldn't. She felt her nails starting to dig into the palm of her free hand, papers crumpling under the pressure of the other one. "Why are you acting like you know me? Did your mum go missing when you were a baby, only to get replaced not once, but twice? Or how about being treated like the hired help by your newest step-mother, whose only a few years older than your brother? Wait, I've got a better one for you. How about your completely absent father deciding to go and die, leaving you to try to explain to your younger siblings that it's not them and that he was just a piece of shit that never cared to begin with? Because if that's the type of misery you're sick of me projecting onto you, then please, make it go away. I'm tired of it." With all of that thrown on top of the normal struggles of a soon to be graduated Hogwarts student, she felt like drowning was normal at this point. She also didn't mean to start yelling, but she couldn't hold it back anymore. It would be a miracle if heads didn't start popping out of the various dorm rooms in a moment, because Nova wasn't being particularly quiet.

Vivian River Jordan ● 349 ● Song by Artist

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