all my life i've been told to wait

It wasn’t often that Pavo ventured out of the comfortable confines of the Slytherin common room and into the lairs of the other three, less distinguished houses. None of the other houses could ever hope to rival Salazar’s own in luxury or prestige, after all. And as for the company- well.

But on the rare occasion he did actually deign to willingly walk among the riff raff of the school, it was for very good reason. Very good reason translating almost exclusively to a visit to his sister. Truthfully, Pavo had become quite well-acquainted with Rowena’s bronze and blue, a fact he wasn’t sure how he felt about. On the one hand, if there was anyone deserving of respect in his immediate circle, it was easily Lula. The intelligence and dedication of his sister was something he’d never doubted- indeed, if he had, he wouldn’t have ever had reason to visit her on enemy soil. His sister, at least, seemed to value the label she’d been given, unexceptional though it was. And her own opinion demanded some sort of grudging respect from her brother, though Pavo’s estimation positioned Lula as an exception amidst the unremarkable inhabitants of her house. He had no doubts at all that her placement was anything less than the result of a carefully considered choice, and he knew, after all, that beneath the studious, innocuous demeanour lay a soul as serpentine as his own.

All this to say that when the self-appointed Slytherin sovereign stumbled across something particularly challenging (not that it happened often, mind) in an academic text, it was his Ravenclaw sister he sought in her Ravenclaw common room. A year younger she might have been, with interests that occasionally left him bemused, but when it came to grasping that which his peers (certainly not Pavo) might have grappled less effectively with there was no one whose opinion he valued more. Opinion, yes, because he definitely wasn’t asking for anything more than a consolidation of his own understanding. If that understanding only came out fully when Lula shared her own, it just spoke to how good she was at articulating ideas. It certainly didn’t indicate ignorance (or slowness) on his part.

In any case, it was with an Ancient Runes text tucked firmly under his arm and an irritated expression that Pavo stood obstinately ignoring the hideous knocker’s squawks as he rapped it firmly against the door, grip tighter than was strictly necessary. Even the iron grasp of his fist wasn’t enough to muffle the stupid thing. Didn’t it know better than to try and pose its useless riddles to him? It wasn’t like he ever paid them any mind (nor had he ever made an attempt to answer that had backfired spectacularly, not at all).

Undoubtedly he was already causing enough of a racket- but he’d never been one for patience and really, what was taking his sister so long? She wasn’t in the library and it was far too late to still be abed. The only possible explanation, then, was that she was so engrossed in whatever new project she’d started that she couldn’t hear his demanding knocks.

Well, perhaps his demanding voice might do the job instead.

“Lula! Open up!”



[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The weekend finally came after the very hard week and Charlotte allowed herself to sleep more than usual.
She skipped the breakfast and once when she finally woke up, at 11 am, she realized that her room was empty.
The weather was beautiful, the sun was cheerfully playing with the glass on the windows making the funny contours in the room.
Charlotte realized that probably everyone was out, she would be if she hadn't different plans.
But, instead of going out she found her clothes and once she was ready, she left her bedroom and went to the common room.

The Ravenclaw common room was in one of the big towers so she was able to see without any problems the biggest part of the ground around the castle.
She couldn't but wonder how sad must be to be Slytherin. In their dungeous they were able to see only darkness.
Like she assumed before, the common room was almost empty, except of the very few students who stayed inside to study. Those were the biggest nerds in the house full of nerds.

Charlotte sat on the sofa at the corner of the room and once again looked at all letters she got from her friends and family. She didn't respond just yet and that made her feel bad. She didn't want them to think that she was ignoring them.
The thing was that she wasn't sure why she didn't respond. Maybe she was afraid that her friends would be able to see behind pointless rows she wrote and see her all problems and drama in this wizarding world where magic was something usual, like waking up in the morning. Maybe they would see everything that was happening in this strange castle and then they would know that she was lying to them all the time.

While she was reading once again the letter she got from her best friend, her mind started recalling memories from Valentine's day party. She made a mistake, probably bigger than every mistake she made ever in her life.
Charlotte wasn't even sure if she and Christian could have the future.
What if he realizes that she was the actually bad person and leave her because of that?
Or if he falls in love with someone who is better than her, and more than anything, who doesn't say magic like if it was the dirty word.

She put the blank paper in front of her and started writing.


She paused when she heard knocking on the door.
Actually, it wasn't knocking. It was more like if someone was trying to break the door and come inside.
Did someone forget the password, again?
Well, that wasn't her mistake so she looked at her letter again but that annoying knocking just didn't stop so she finally stood up and opened the door.
Charlotte looked at the Slytherin boy in surprise.

"What are you doing here? You know that this is Ravenclaw's common room, yours is down in the dungeons. And Lola isn't here now" she shrugged.

For a second after the door opened, Pavo wasn't entirely sure he was hearing correctly. He'd been expecting Lula, after all, and this domineering ginger was the furthest possible cry from his refined, dark-haired sister that it took him a second to lower his hand and send the impertinent stranger the look of scorn she deserved.

But when he did, what a look it was.

He didn't waste any scowls or scoffs on her, irrelevant as she was. The cold look of disgust sufficiently spoke of his disapproval at her presumptuous greeting. If greeting were even the right word.

Not that Pavo desired an interaction of any sort with Waldorf. She was exactly the kind of Ravenclaw that gave Lula's house its less-than-stellar reputation among the others. Or his own, at least. Smug, superior, shrewish know-it-alls who thought themselves above the halls they walked. Waldorf was the ultimate example.

Case in point: directing him to his own common room as if he hadn't spent six years walking that exact same route, as if he'd accidentally wandered up a tower rather than down to the dungeon where he belonged. If it had been a less stupid comment, he might have expressed some sort of sarcastic thanks.

Not to mention that she'd gotten Lula's name wrong. He didn't imagine his sister would care at all how Waldorf spoke of her, but it was a matter of respect- something Waldorf would do well to display, given the impossibility of her ever earning it.

As it was, he simply shouldered roughly past and into the room, casting a displeased eye around. Empty. And everyone knew how conscientious Rowena had been with the gender-exclusionary charms cast on the dorms. He turned on his heels to face Charlotte with a disdainful glare.

"Where is she?"

Charlotte opened the door and to be completely honest, she wasn't sure what the hell is the problem. But for some reason, this guy looked like if he wanted to kill her. And for the first time, Charlotte was almost one hundred percent sure she didn't do anything wrong.
So, what was the problem? Thus boy was angry and there was no visible reason for that. He acted like the boy whose hormones was getting wild and she didn't want to deal with that now.

"So, what do you want?" she said coldly fighting with the idea to just shut the door and leave this so called bad boy on the other side, without any way to come in.
But she was better than that. She was better than him.
That was the reason why she was standing there waiting for his answer, even if she was becoming more impatient with every second she had to look at him.

Charlotte couldn't help herself but look at him. This boy, Mavo or something like that was the worst Slytherin could have. He was wild, without any manners, the type of the people you would run away if you ever see them outside the castle.
He was hot, but that was all he could give to you. Good look, because that was everything good he actually had.

"Did you get lost or something like that? I have more important business than looking at you while you want, what was that once again? Lula? I told you already she wasn't here so would you please go or you need me to show you the way back to the dungeons?" she frowned and looked at him icily.

"hey, what the hell are you doing?" she looked at him with the look full of hate when he just walked in like if he has any right to be there.
"I already told you she isn't here and why the hell you think that I know where she is?" she said fighting with the idea to just curse him just to show him that he can't speak like that with her.

Of course, it was asking too much of Muggle-Worshipping Waldorf, Insufferable Know-It-All Extraordinaire, to behave with a modicum of class or dignity. All he'd needed was a simple, preferably brief answer to a very easy question, and instead he got some kind of explosion of passion, complete with more idiotic questions and assumptions.

And how many times was this red-headed shrew going to offer to show him the way to his own common room? He'd heard of people assuming Slytherins were single-minded and out of touch, but Gryffindors were the ones renowned for that particular brand of idiocy, weren't they? So he wasn't a Hufflepuff (particularly good finders, so the legend went), and thank heavens for that. But if his sister hadn't taken up the bronze-and-blue, nothing could have enticed him to suffer through the insufferable gits that called themselves Ravenclaws.

He only shot her a look to be sure of his aim when he sent the non-verbal Silencing Charm her way, remembering to cloak his intentions in silence, this time. For a second he considered accompanying the careless flick with something that had a little more kick, but the thought of wasting any more of his magical energy on the shrew than was strictly necessary was distasteful. Instead, he settled into one of the couches arranged artfully around the room, dropping his textbook to the table and leaning back with languid grace. He barely even looked at her as he spoke.

"You might do better to pay more attention to those in your house, and less to us dungeon crowd, hmm? But if you're so keen on playing the tour guide, perhaps you can show yourself to that window and straight out of it. And you'd do well to direct yourself to an etiquette class while you're at it, you miserable fishwife."

The words were cold, mocking, but not particularly riled. Truth be told, Pavo was too disgusted by Waldorf's lack of manners and sense to be properly offended. It was difficult to take such shrill nonsense seriously. If this was what Lula had to put up with on a daily basis, was it really any surprise she spent so much of her time alone or with him? He'd pity Waldorf's crass ways- if he didn't already find every aspect of her behavior so utterly revolting.

No, she wasn't worth rage. Any breath he deigned to waste on her was already an immense kindness.

[from HP wiki: The Silencing Charm renders the victim temporarily mute. Possible godmod warning, since I'm just assuming the spell worked, but if you'd rather it didn't then feel free to come up with an excuse or have her reverse it or something. He cast it non-verbally so she wouldn't have heard it but might have seen it ]

This boy was just like every other Slytherin. He was annoying, rude and didn't actually care about anything that was happening around him.
For him, it doesn't matter that he shouldn't be here or that he should listen to Charlotte because, to be honest, if she didn't open the bloody door he would still be outside calling for his sister. Charlotte felt sorry for Lula, or whichever her name was because if Charlotte had the brother who was like Pavo, she would probably go insane.
But God obviously looked at her since she was the only child in her family.
She should really go to church sometimes. She owed a lot to the God.

Once again, she wanted to tell him to get the hell out of her common room but words just didn't leave her mouth.
She was trying and trying over and over again, but every time when she opened the mouth she was able to hear only silence.
That sick, rude, spoiled bastard.
How dare he to use spells on her. In her common room. In the school.
She was going to tell that to his Head of Hause. Maybe professor Aldon would do something about that.
She should unless if she already started acting like everything that Slytherins do can be tolerated.

Because she couldn't speak, for now, Charlotte just kept looking at him while he went to sit on the couch like if he own this room.
She sat on one chair far away from him and decided to just wait until the spell stop working.
When he said, fishwife, she started to laugh and was more than welcomed to see she can make a sound again.
She looked at him with hate written all over her face while she was speaking and with every word her cheeks become redder.

"How dare you to use Silence spell on me?" she yelled.
"You sick spoiled bastard. I am so gonna say this to professor Irina. I should curse you in this moment, you idiot. No matter how much I already hate you, I would never use spells on you" Charlotte realized that this didn't have anything with hate. She was hurt and more than anything else, she felt humiliated. He just decided to leave her without her voice, in her common room once again, and he didn't even blink. Classic Slytherin.

"You made a brilliant description of the way to the window. Maybe you can try first, just to be sure that it is the right way" she frowned and took her book from the table and started reading.
Fine. If he wants to be here, she would let him be, but she won't speak with him ever again.

Pavo watched with disgust as Waldorf's face increased in ruddiness alongside her volume. He had the suspicion she hoped to rouse some kind of regret or shame in him, but in this hope she would have been gravely naive.

He didn't react beyond an impassive flicker of his eyes in her direction, and when he spoke it was with a cold disinterest.

"Of course you wouldn't. Magic is wasted on muggle-loving filth."

He had decidedly unimpressed opinions of both her personality and her intelligence- the former of which was far too hysterical and intrusive, and the latter- well, if she thought that running to their weedy new Head of House would achieve anything, then she was even denser than he'd thought.

Her next words weren't particularly cutting or clever. But Pavo was not in the habit of allowing other people to have the last word, least of all a Ravenclaw harpy.

A careless flick of his wand and the window flew open. Not sitting up or moving from his position, he silently trained his wand on the book, watching as it lifted up and away from its owner, moving rapidly to and out of the window.

As it hovered past the window frame and out of reach he directed a pointed stare in her direction. Perhaps he'd strike lucky and she'd go after it herself, without the magic she didn't deserve. If not- well, he wasn't impartial to a bit of penitence and humility. He might give it back.

If she begged.

[So sorry you had to wait]

"What I wanted to say is" Charlotte paused for a second only to be sure he was listening to her. Which she can't be sure since he seemed to be so uninterested in this topic. Even if he is the one who used the spell on her. She will tell that to Professor Aldon, of course.
"I wanted to say that I would never use spells on you because I'm not mean, which I can't say for you" she frowned and shook her head. It's pointless to try to make him see how mean he was, Pavo probably just didn't care.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Charlotte yelled once when her book left her hands. She looked at him angrily and pointed her wand at him. Who would say, for the first time she had her wand with her, it was her lucky day for sure.

"Give. It. Back. To. Me." She separated every word just to be sure he would understand. Pavo was obviously stupid enough so he wasn't able to understand her.
"What? Am I speaking Swedish? GGive it back to me. Now!"
Or what small voice ion her head said it and she frowned. She won't curse him or something like that. Just to show him that she is better than him.
"Fine! You can have the stupid book!" She stood up in order to get the hell away from him.

[It's absolutely fine!]

Charlotte was right. Pavo couldn't care less what her reasoning was- the fact was that she was either too much of an idiot or too much of a coward to match her bite to her bark, and so he wasn't inclined to even attempt an understanding of her logic.

When she finally seemed to learn how to use her wand, Pavo almost thought she'd managed to find her wits, too. Senses on the alert for any magic she might throw his way, he raised an eyebrow and waited.

Now things might actually get interesting.

And waited.

And- hah, she didn't have it in her. Just as he'd thought. If Pavo were the sort of person who was stupid and sentimental enough to pin his hopes on disrespectful strangers, it might have been a disappointment. As it was, he wasn't. So it wasn't.

She kept screeching, making demands she had no way of forcing him to obey- but this time, she seemed to realize the pointlessness of her own actions. With a final huff, Waldorf's big mouth stopped moving. Giving up? Or calling his bluff?

Well, if she thought that had any chance of working, she had another thing coming. Pavo had always held that there were few things more pathetic than a threat not followed through properly.

So he let it fall.

And then, because he was utterly bored with poking this wet blanket of a Ravenclaw but had no intention of letting her forget just who she'd insulted, he flipped his wand round and shot a Jelly-Legs Curse at her retreating form. That tiny bit of magic was the last he intended to waste on her- and he was almost doing her a favour, really. At the very least, it would teach her to never turn her back on a Slytherin.

There is some time when Charlotte wasn't sure what to do.
It's simple; she wants to do something but there is that tiny voice in her head that says to her what is wrong.
And this was wrong.
Using magic on other students must be wrong. She can even get detention because of that.

But Pavo didn't care, of course.
He was still levitating her book in the air and there is nothing she was able to do to stop him.
She could ask him to stop, of course, but she doubted he would listen to her.
He seems to be the one who doesn't listen to anyone.

She was even thinking about the idea to really tell Professor Aldon about this but then, what she could do? She is new here, she probably doesn't know what to do at all.
It was suspicious how she got the job after all. As far as Charlotte heard, that woman never worked with kids. So how she can stop someone like Pavo from doing whatever he wants.

She put down her want and looked at him.
"Just leave me alone, okay? I let you in so you can stay and wait for you sister or whatever you want. I don't care" and that is the second when everything happened.

In one moment she was standing and making her way to her room and in the other moment, her legs became jelly. She fell on the ground and looked at him too shocked to say anything.
"Expelliarmus!" she almost yelled and was glad to see that want fell close to her.
She grabbed it before he even got a chance to do anything.

"Okay, what you will do now without your wand and your little magic?" She smiled and it felt good.
Doing something felt good.
If she was smart enough she would do this after the first spell he throw at her.