the seven devils [completed]

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖜𝖊𝖑𝖛𝖊

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ivy was beaming as she turned around, showing Varya her Quidditch attire proudly. Her blonde hair fell over her shoulders, and against the emerald color of the Slytherin house, it seemed to glow even brighter than typical. They were sitting in their room, and Elladora was on Varya's bed, picking at her nails in indifference.

"You know," Varya started, suddenly bubbling with laughter. "Sometimes, I think you might be related to Malfoy; you look so similar."

Ivy scowled, but Elladora smiled at the notion, nodding to confirm her thoughts. "I agree, but I would not be shocked if they were."

"How come?" questioned the raven-haired girl, picking up a book off the nightstand that stood beside her bed. She had been visiting the library quite often in the past few days, trying to find some sort of book that might explain the oddity from the beginning of the week. Up until now, she had not been successful, but as she stared at the Most Macabre Monstrosities book, she felt hope pulse through her body.

"Were you not aware of the severe interbreeding that happens between the Sacred-Twenty Eight? I would be surprised if half of us were not distant cousins or something akin to that," answered Elladora, rolling her eyes at the look Ivy shot her.

"Bloody hell, Selwyn, do not say that!"

"Why, afraid Black is your three-times removed cousin?"

Varya let them squabble in the background, already used to their antics. She flung herself on her bed, opening her book, and relishing in the way its leather binding felt against her palms. Elladora moved to make room for her on the bed, then looked at what she was reading.

"What are you studying?" she asked, trying to peek at the title.

"Most Macabre Monstrosities," answered Varya, flipping another book page as she skimmed over it. Elladora's eyes enlarged, but if she thought anything, she did not say a word.

Ivy's dulcet voice came from the other end of the room, asking Varya to help her get cat hair off her uniform. They had practice in a few minutes, and the girl was running around the room in a hurry, trying to get everything in order.

Elladora rolled her eyes at the girl, and Varya got up to help her friend. "That is my cue to leave," said the cherry-haired girl as she swayed her feet off the bed and on to the ground. Varya bid her goodbye and headed to her other roommate, whose eyes were watery and slightly swollen.

"It has to be cat hair," she said, pulling at her uniform. "It is making my allergies go mad."

"But I cannot see any," Varya admitted, fingers feeling the shirt's material for hair. "And besides, nobody here has a cat."

"Alphard's dreadful roommate does, he hides it whenever I visit, but I swear Varya if that little rat laid its paws on my Quidditch uniform," Ivy fumed, words muttered through gritted teeth.

"Perhaps it is something else," Varya concluded, giving up the search.

"I am only allergic to two things, Varya," Ivy said, pulling her shirt over her head and throwing it to the side. She still had her turtleneck on, but she pulled at its collar aggressively. "And unless you happen to have some witch's berry on you, I doubt it is anything but cat hair."

"Witch berry?" Varya asked, frowning at the unknown name.

"Yes, it is a plant, and I am allergic to it," Ivy answered, making her way to her closet trunk to pull out a spare uniform.

"It sounds vaguely familiar," the other girl admitted as she went back to her bed, eyes trailing after her roommate's fanatic figure.

"Yes, you might know it as Belladona; we use it in Potions class sometimes. I always have to give Slughorn a slip to excuse myself from those lessons or drink a resistance potion from the infirmary," her eyes darted around the room, a small aha! leaving her lips once she spotted her gloves in Elladora's bed. The girl had a bad habit of borrowing her roommate's things without asking. "By the way, has your illness subdued?"