RYTHM • 𝐇𝐨𝐠𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲

ℍ𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕖

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find good oil paints in eighteenth century Europe.

Or at least that's what Professor Black had told her in a harsh tone. That she was being much, too demanding, and that requesting fine oil paints, solvents, and mediums, was too much. He had told her if she was a true artist, she would be able to work with what the school could supply- quills, ink, and a few bits of charcoal or pastels here and there.

Piper had responded with. "I am the painter. Not you. I know what I can work with and what I can't."

Professor Black didn't like that.

But, it was a school full of witches and wizards, somewhere somehow someone had managed to cough up at least five half decent jars of oil paints, a canister of turpentine, and a bottle of liquin. She still had some of her brushes on her from the night she vanished from Savannah, she had been leaving her current commission at the time she was chucked back in time.

She removed the olive leather wrap from her bag and untied its straps. It unfurled two rows of brushes and pallet knives and she selected a few that would be decent to work with for this project.

Professor Weasley had provided her with a panel of wood, which was not ideal, the paint wouldn't layer as nicely as it would on canvas or paper, but it would have to do. With her brushes selected and a pallet knife in hand, she got to work.

She scooped out colors of paint and began mixing. The professors had set her up in an old classroom that wasn't being used during the current term and allowed her to work.

Piper had always been a fast painter, it was one of the things that made her mediocre and not spectacular. When you paint too fast, you do not take your time to get certain details right or allow other layers of your painting to dry properly. An impatient painter is a careless painter, at least that was what her professor had told her when she turned in her second painting assignment three weeks early.

But that didn't matter right now, she wanted to get this painting done as soon as possible. She started with a thin layer of her blue, sketching out what she planned to paint, the castle among the hills with the glistening lake. She filled it in with color and it did not take her long at all. When she presented it to Black he studied it with harsh eyes.

"You may go."

He told Piper simply.

"That's it?" She retorted. "Excuse me?" Black raised a brow.

"No 'this is the answer to the ancient texts!' or 'this looks like shit, try again'. Just 'you may go'? That's it?"

"Yes that's it." He said firmly, harsher this time.

"If we need you again we will summon you. Now go join Sallow and Gaunt. I'm sure they can fill your ears with uselessness for hours on end."

⋆｡°✩

"Well?"

Professor Weasley asked after Piper had left and Black sighed as he handed her the painting.

"It's an exact match. A perfect replica."

He continued and took out another painting from a secret compartment within his desk. The compartment was etched with the golden impression of a singular eye. The painting he removed from his desk matched the one Piper had just done to a T. every brush stroke was exactly the same.