piquancy - charlie weasley

prologue

If there was anything that Julianna Ollivander had learned whilst growing up, it was that sometimes, it was better not to say anything at all than to let the thoughts scrambling around in your head loose. This lesson, unfortunately, took her a grand total of two incidents to nail into her head.

Of course, the first large incident that had led young Jules to understanding this was when she had begun to ramble to her mother about how edible she believed magic to be. Magic could sometimes taste like candy and she could feel people's magic, like a warm hug or nice summer's night -- akin to some type of presence. The conversation had occurred in the kitchen after a rather eventful day in first grade. She had been shoveling slices of apples into her mouth, attempting to speak around the food when she mentioned the weird boy from school.

The blonde boy, looking almost like a prince, had been the cause of a shattered vase when he had been cheated out by another student during a game of dodgeball. When the vase had begun to vibrate, Jules recounts how his magic tasted like "apple flavored cotton candy" and felt rather mischievous in that moment, as if he had been stealing cookies from the cookie jar at night. Like any good mother, Sarah Ollivander had taken all of this odd conversation in stride and hadn't stopped the chopping of the vegetables for dinner nor gave a disdainful stare.

Rather bluntly, she instead asked Jules if she had bitten another student or stolen the "cotton candy" boy's lunch in a rather joking tone of voice. Being a perceptive child, Jules felt a bit injured by the fact that her mother had apparently not believed her comment about another child's magic tasting like cotton candy. Pouting, she spent at least half an hour explaining with wild hand movements, wide eyes, and a little bit of classic seven year old tears to convince her mother that, no, she had not bitten another student in her class. She was simply only stating that his magic tasted like cotton candy, and that she was pretty sure he was a wizard like her dad.

At that, her mother had paused, letting go of all of the cooking spells in the kitchen. The taste of something minty and other flavors that a seven year old could not yet identify disappeared in intensity, just leaving subtle hints. When Jules had questioned her mother about the shock in later years after the event, her mother had simply stated the fact that another wizarding child being in that class had been common knowledge for the witches in the community, but not for the children. She had been perturbed at the fact that Jules somehow knew and that had been what had caught her mother's attention.

Her mother, being the bright person she was of the Ilverymonry's Thunderbird house, had a startling suspicion with a mind tuned for curiosity. She looked at her daughter pointedly and started the magic up again, which Jules had nodded knowingly and stated that the mint was back, along with some other flavors and the pressure of a deliciously cold wet towel in the heat of summer.

Still not completely believing, but ever more slightly curious, she had told Jules not to say a word to her father but had set some "mother-daughter bonding time" aside that weekend for going out to a mall that had recently opened up. At least that was the cover. The weekend came and they set off, wandering around the mall. And Jules willingly told her and pointed out several witches and wizards, a few that her mother had been friends with. She told her exactly what their magic felt and tasted like and her mother nodded.

And her mother had told her not to tell anyone else.

At first Jules feels a bit betrayed if anything else. Why should she not tell someone that their magic feels like an enjoyable day of sun bathing or rolling around in washed bed sheets? Were they not enjoyable things? Certainly, they weren't insulting, at least some of them.

But her mother, her brilliant mother, explains. She explains, answers any and all questions about how odd it was that she could taste magic, what would happen if others were to find out, and Jules nods solemnly. And then agrees.