The Wicked Walk On Every Side

Chapter 11

The weather that day was exceptionally warm for September. Wolfbane felt fantastic as he felt the sun soak into his skin all the down to his bones. Witch Hazel seemed to be enjoying herself as well, hopping around in the circle space that the four of them had created in the grass.

Wolfbane took a sip from his travel mug (Maxentius looked like he wanted to gag every time Wolfbane did this), and then sat up into a more comfortable position.

"So, uh, Belladonna," said Wolfbane, pointing to his oldest sister as he introduced everyone to each other. "Atropa, Maxentius."

"That was a weird introduction," Maxentius teased, leaning forward to extend his hand for the girls to shake. "Maxentius Antell."

After introductions were done, Maxentius sat back. Something tiny and green caught his attention in Atropa's hair, he could tell, but he wasn't close enough to see just exactly what it was. The longer he stared, the more the speck of green moved. One moment it was on top of Atropa's headband; the next it was crawling down her hair and onto her shoulder.

"Maxentius, I know I'm gorgeous and all, but staring is rude," Atropa said with a cheshire smile.

Maxentius' eyes widened, and a bright blush reddened his cheeks. "There's something in your-in your, uh," Wolfbane took a drink from his mug and made eye contact with Belladonna. She smirked back at him, and Wolfbane knew that the two of them would definitely be talking about this later. "hair." Maxentius finished lamely.

Atropa, oblivious to her two siblings having their nonverbal conversation, reached up and gingerly pulled the green thing out of her hair. She extended the hand holding it and showed the thing to Maxentius.

"Why do you have a bowtruckle?" Maxentius asked, waving at the tiny green creature after it had waved one of its spindly arms at him.

"He's her companion." Wolfbane said as he (finally, in Maxentius' humble opinion) finished off his sugary tea.

"Oh! He's your pet!" Belladonna and Wolfbane winced at Maxentius' statement.

Wolfbane even went as far as to stage whisper, "Oooh, he's gonna get it, now!"

Belladonna snickered.

Atropa's eyebrows drew together as she said, "Pike is most certainly not my pet. He is a creature perfectly capable of intelligent thought, and therefore he is my companion."

While he thought that was incredibly kind and thoughtful, Maxentius couldn't fathom how to respond, so he came up with a lame, "Ahh," of understanding.

Belladonna was petting a content Witch Hazel and watching her siblings and their friend move on to a different subject when she saw two familiar figures heading in her direction.

"Hey, Abbey!" Belladonna said, waving to the other girl and her red-headed companion.

"Hey, Bells!" Abbey responded when the two of them got closer. At the sight of Ryot, Maxentius' expression darkened slightly. Wolfbane's expression did the opposite.

"Ryot!" Wolfbane said excitedly, even going as far as to stand up and walk over to him.

The small group's attention was on Wolfbane and Ryot. The Gryffindor boy was wringing his hands,

"Wolfbane, I, uh- can I talk to you for a minute?" Ryot spared a small look at the group behind Wolfbane. "In private?"

Wolfbane looked worried as he responded with a kind, "Yeah, of course."

The two of them headed inside, with eight pairs of eyes trained on them.