(1939-02-08) Niffler on the Beach
Details for Niffler on the Beach
Summary: After receiving a breakup letter from Lucretia, Leoric seeks her out on the beach. A niffler makes a sudden appearance, as do Ignatius who's chasing it and Ulysses who's taking a walk along the beach.
Date: 1939-02-08
Location: Hogsmeade Beach, Hogsmeade
Related:
Characters
LucretiaIgnatiusUlysses

This narrow crescent of grainy sand and smooth small beach stones spans east to west between the fortified Hogwarts Campus wall to the east and eventually fades into a heathery moor the west. The only spot along the shore that isn't given completely to a topography of rocks and roots, the latter of which extend right out into the lake, this section of the shore is for public use by wizards tourist or local alike. Wards and spells not to mention the under water life of the Black Lake, keep the students in and the rest of the world from going onto the closed campus.


After the party on the beach earlier, the one that Lucretia had detached herself from and left, she's now returned. She knows that the partygoers will long since have left and she's not expecting to find anyone here. But its quiet. Its deserted. It suits the state of mind in which she finds herself after having sent her letter to Leoric, and especially after her latest encounter with Ignatius in the tea shop. Wrapped up warmly in a thick cloak, scarf, hat and gloves, she picks a stick from the still smouldering fire and pushes it into the embers.

"You must not think much of me." Footsteps become clear, but not until after Leoric's voice precedes him down the beach. Not angry. Not mopey. If anything, it's a touch amused. His robes catch and whip about a bit in the wind, but he pays that no mind, bouncing a golden bit of something shiny in his hand as he clambers down the path towards where Lucretia's poking listlessly at the embers at the heart of the fire's carcass. "I don't merit a personal break-up?" Leoric makes the beach and paces towards her, slowing to come to a stop just out of arm's reach. "It could have been spectacular. We could have been the talk of the school. But instead-" Leoric takes a step closer. "You're left surly and quiet with a leftover bonfire for company, and I'm left wondering what happened to scare you off before I had the chance to mess up spectacularly enough to wear out your patience for stars and cocoa."

Lucretia turns, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the gathering dusk and find Leoric in the shadows. "I know." The words are quickly spoken and swallowed just as fast, the young witch pushing the stick more firmly into the fire before hugging her cloak more firmly about herself. "I just think that there's no point to it. To any of it. Why throw yourself into feeling happy when ultimately, you know that that happiness isn't going to last? We have so much in common, Leo. You. Me. But there's no point. Even if we didn't end up ripping each other's feelings to shreds like Esther and Myrus or Genevieve and Silas, I'm going to marry someone else anyway. What's the point. What if I come to care for you so much that leaving you become unbearable. You want that for me?"

Leoric stands quietly for a long few moments. At last, he shrugs. "Yes." His hands tuck into his pockets and he steps closer again. "Nothing lasts, Lucretia. Nothing. Ever. It all ends. If that's enough reason to not even try to be happy in the meantime, there's the lake, Lu. I'll hold you under if you really want." He presses his lips together a bit, then shakes his head. "… that's a lie. I wouldn't. Because -I- don't believe that. Since everything ends eventually… shouldn't we be doing everything we can to help the people important to us be happy? I mean, I'll still be your friend either way, Lucretia, but… I rather thought you liked the handholding. And the rose chocolates. And tucking in under a blanket. I'll still try to make you happy, if you really want to be alone, but… I don't think I'll do nearly as good a job." His voice trails towards quiet as he continues, losing about half his volume by the time he concludes.

"Why would you want to even bother?" Its the obvious question really, given the circumstances, Lucretia grinding her chin into her knees, arms now wrapped tightly about her shins. "Shouldn't you want to be chasing around after girls that you know you might have a chance with? If Ignatius were to know about you and me, he'd only use that as an excuse to be extra mean to me. Merlin's beard, he made some horrid remark about me and Weasley earlier, purely over the fact that I hugged him after he jinxed my … you know."

"Because you're -important- to me. Because you've shared things with me." Leo dropped down beside Lucretia and dug his heels into the sand in front of him. "Because I'll have my whole life to do all that stuff. There's only so long now, and I want to give you something to remember. So you'll know when he's just messing up as opposed to when he's being an unconscionable git."

Lucretia looks at Leoric for a moment, a moment too long perhaps. Huddled within the warmth of her cloak, she takes a moment to wrap another turn of her scarf about her throat before turning and pressing the smallest of kisses to Leoric's cheek. "Thank you, Leo. Its nice to know that I'm important to someone here. Alphard seems to have become so tied up with other things that I don't even get a nod from him lately. I don't even know if he received the present I sent him for disrupting his party. It was rather lovely too. I suppose that means that I don't register on his radar anymore… if indeed I ever did. As for Ignatius, I saw him today. It didn't go well. I don't think he thinks of me at all, except, perhaps, as an irritation."

"No no no no!" Off the distance comes the shout of someone down the beach. Ahead of him, bounding along the sand is a tawny creature almost serptine in design. It has an elongated snout and long bristled and narrow mane lining the crown. It's a Niffler and it seems like he's found some treasure. The little creature has sniffed out some treasure nearby and it's on a direct course for Lucretia. "Stop him! Bangard! Get back here!" Suckers are fast.

"You are, very. I dunno about Alphard or Prewett or anyone else, but your family thinks pretty highly of you, I bet." The kiss leaves his cheeks flushed far more than the cold accounts for. "… and there's me. There always will be, I'd say. Even if you-" He cuts off at the voice he hears approaching, craning a bit. A niffler? And-
"Incoming," Leoric murmurs.

Lucretia turns just in time to see the 'thing', whatever the thing is, heading in her direction. Without a second thought, her wand is out and she has it grasped between finger and thumb, the blackthorn perfectly balanced as she utters the spell. It forms as a thought in her head, hisses between her lips, undulates down her arms and into the delicate grip of her fingers. "Flipendo." The air crackles around the tip of her wand and there's a punch to the niffler's chest, enough to knock it back a good twenty to thirty paces, dropping it in the sand at its pursuer's feet.

Lucretia jumps to her feet, reaching for Leoric's hand. "What was it! Did you see?"

"Ah…" Leo takes her hand and stands, grimacing. "… I did. Pretty sure, ah… that was Prewett's niffler." He glances sidelong at Lucretia. "I was referring to him, not the critter."

Ignatius screams out "NO!" but too late. Lucretia had cast her spell that knocked the little creature back some feet. A large empty satchel bounces at his side which is hanging across his chest. The creature squeels, squirming in the air before landing onto the sand. It's stunned, just momentarily. "Careful would ya?!" He barks at Lucretia as he comes up to the grounded creature and kneels. "Easy there Bangard." Iggy then opens the satchel to try and scoop the Niffler inside. His eyes lift, catching sight of Leo and apparently his betrothed hand in hand. "Not mine." He corrects stiffly. "Promised to watch it until Niles returns. Greedy little buggers really." The niffler groans inside the satchel, burried in deep. "You could have injured Bangard Lucretia."

"If I'd wanted to injure it, I'd have used something other than a knockback jinx," Lulu says testily, a glance given the creature before she tucks her wand away, fingers tightening within Leo's hand. "I… hope its not hurt, but having something running at you out of the dark is a little unnerving. I'm sorry." The apology is tightly given, the young witch's eyes narrowing a degree before she turns to Leoric and tells hims something quietly, voice dropping so it won't be overheard by anyone but him.

Lucretia whispers, "I think, maybe, we should just go. He'll probably cause a fuss otherwise, and I really don't want that. Not now." to Leoric.

It galled him, really, but after the talk of arranged marriage in the common room, Ulysses decided to break his recent self-imposed ban on Hogsmeade weekends. He'd just be careful, not to spend anything… that was simply all he had to do. So, gold winter cloak on to ward off the chill, and a Gryffindor-colored scarf scarf to boot, he walked. His wanderings had eventually led him to the beach, although he came from rather the other end as Ignatius. There was still a little detrius here and there from the night before. A few bottles left here and there, the cratered remains of a small fire setup away from the primary bonfire.
It's Ignatius' screams that draw his attentions away, however, from his reverie. And there he sees the three. Boots crunching on gravel, he approaches, otherwise quietly. But at least one person here should know that gait by heart.

That pace, Leo recognizes, and internally, he sighs relief. He gives Lu's hand a squeeze for her words, shaking his head minutely and tilting it back behind them, towards the approaching boots. "It'll be alright, I think, Prewett. Smaller things mind being airborn less, unless they land badly."

Iggy removes a silver coin from within his winter coat then slips it inside the satchel to calm the creature. It's shiny and enough to at least calm the creature anxiously trying to escape the bag again. "It's alright." Was he talking to the Niffler or Lucretia? The bag is wiggling, apparently the creature is delighted. The Preweet boy lifts his gaze again, "I wager Bangard was after your pendant. Or the cuffs of your robe. They're sorta vicious about that. I can see why no one wants them as pets."

As Bangard grunts inside the satchel Iggy's attention is set upon the pair though Ulysses arrival doesn't escape his notice. "I suppose." A reply for Leoric before Iggy's gaze meets Lucretia's. "What's the secret about this time? You take to whispers a lot whenever I'm around. Sort of rude don't you think?"

Lucretia doesn't recognise the cadence of Ulysses' approach, she does turn though however at the sound of his boots on the gravel. "Hello Selwyn," she greets, a little more quietly than perhaps the voices of others on the beach. A small smile is given Leo's older brother and with Leoric's attempt to calm the situation, she gives a small shrug, turning to speak to Ignatius once more. "If you know that that creature runs dementedly at anything that's shiny, perhaps you might think to leash it next time you take it out in public. Better yet, don't take it in public at all. Someone not so nice as me might have used the cruciatus curse on it, or worse." Her fingers go automatically to the magijugend pendant that hangs at her throat, fingers plucking it briefly before she lifts it and tucks it inside her sweater.

"Sort of like taking a first year student's private journal and holding it over his head for personal amusement, don't you think?" Comes that deep basso voice that is a "The Selwyn" trademark, in response to Ignatius' question. So Ulysses had noticed that. And granted, he didn't know the situation, but frankly he could care less. Leoric was here, Lys would take his side. And since Leoric was physically attached at the moment to the Black lass? Same logic applies.
He comes to stand behind the two, almost seeming to tower, arms crossed over his chest. And so, he greets the others. "Prewett." Face impassive. "Black." A slight grin at the younger girl. "Brother." And title so given, just in case Iggy didn't get the connection.
Then his eyes go to the bag, and places the context of what he has heard. "A niffler? Really?" And even now, there's a hint of "Remember that time when Dora…" to his tone… because, frankly, that's an instant question to ask when it comes to small magical creatures.

Leoric grins at the greeting he's offered. "Yes. He's watching it for his… brother? Cousin? It was rushing towards us and Lucretia popped it with a Flipendo. Prewett's a bit cross." He keeps his tone neutral, so as not to imply an active attempt to hand his brother ammunition.

"A leash?" The suggestion baffled Iggy. "That's silly Lucretia. They're supposed to be free. They're treasure hunters. Why would you leash that?" Distructive yes but mostly regarded as gentle creatures. "Besides they're mostly harmless. Just uh eager." Spirited. Another coin was retrieved from his coat then slipped inside the satchel to keep the creature calmed and distracted. "No harm came to Mulciber and if you stayed long enough you'd have seen him flaunting about how proud he was of it, Selwyn." He paused after a moment. "Whatever it was." He shrugged then corrected. "Classmate."

Lucretia tugs her hand from Leos and wraps her arms around her middle. "Its freezing out here," she says. There's a small smile given both Leo and Ulysses, ultimately though the look that she gives the former is one of mild disappointment, as if perhaps she finds him lacking somehow. "I'm going back to the castle. Excuse me." She shoves her hands deep into the folds of her cloak, retrieves her gloves which she takes a moment to wriggle her fingers into, then turns and marches along the path, not giving anyone, least of all Leoric, a chance to follow her.

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