Was that a bad idea? PV Evpraksiya Vinogradova Finished

As Evpraksiya meticulously organized the ingredients at their shared table, Novalie, with her usual carefree boldness, dropped her random assortment of unnecessary items onto the table with a loud clatter. She didn’t really care that most of what she had collected had nothing to do with their potion.
Leaning forward, her arms thrown lazily over the table, the girl watched Evpraksiya work with a playful smile tugging at her lips.
When her Potions-Partner mentioned St. Mungo's being able to uncover more about her past, Novalie’s initial enthusiasm wavered slightly.
Well.. that wasn’t as magical and mystical as she’d hoped. No palm readings or past-life revelations- just... hospital visits.
Still, the idea intrigued her enough!

“Yeah, we can do that!” she said with a nod, “Let’s see what they can find out!”

But as Evpraksiya continued, Novalie’s brow furrowed in confusion.
Certain families demand more than others? What was that supposed to mean?

“Sounds like you got forced to be like that.”, Novalie said bluntly, her lack of tact showing as usual. She never really paid attention to the subtleties of conversation. The idea of being pushed to meet some family expectation sounded uncomfortable to her, though. Shrugging it off, the redhead fiddled with some of the random ingredients she had gathered.
“Well, I guess you can be yourself here, since they won't see it.” she added with a bright smile, casting a brief glance at Evpraksiya before her eyes wandered back to the table.

As she idly played with the ingredients, an particular one caught her eye - a small glass container fillled with a thick, greenish liquid. Novalie, without hesitation, grabbed it.
Opening the container and lifting it to her nose for a sniff, she instantly recoiled though, backing her head away from it by several centimeters. The smell was revolting - like something long-dead and rotting!
But.. that didn’t deter her... If anything, it only deepened her curiosity.
So,, before anyone could stop her, Novalie dipped her fingers into the odd, slimy liquid and, with reckless abandon, stuffed them into her mouth. A split second later, she regretted swallowing the unknown goo.

“Eww!”, she yelped, her face twisting in disgust as she spit out whatever was left into a nearby trash can, “What the hell?”

The taste was far worse than the smell - a foul, decaying bitterness that clung to her tongue. Wiping her lips with the sleeve of her robe, she grimaced, still trying to shake the awful taste. But as the Ravenclaw went to close the lid on the glass, she felt a wave of nausea roll over her.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── 2024. 9. 1.| @Novalie Moon

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xxxxx𝕰vpraksiya’s hands stilled as she prepared the potion ingredients, her gaze shifting from the delicate rows of carefully laid herbs to Novalie’s chaotic pile of mismatched items that clattered against their table. A faint, bemused smile flickered across her lips at the sight of her partner’s enthusiastic, if nonsensical, contribution, and the way the other girl leaned over the table with that eternal gleam of curiosity. The Slytherin made a note to ask Nova for a blood sample sometime later and to contact the staff to run a background check. But when Nova’s cheerful nodding faded into a furrowed brow, her words took on a bluntness that sliced through the delicately pulled threads of Evpraksiya's carefully constructed manner. Forced… That word settled like a stone in her thoughts, weighty and almost unsettling. She paused, letting her fingers brush gently over a measure of Horklump juice as she considered Nova’s observation. Forced. A word heavy with its own kind of bitterness. There were things she’d been asked to do, and things she’d never dare refuse—rules etched not in school textbooks but in quiet, half-whispered admonishments. Some unspoken altogether. “Sometimes,” she murmured, letting her voice drift over her words like a light wind, “children must be kept from indulging their every whim. If you let them eat all the sweets in the world, they’d gorge themselves on saccharine sugar until their teeth rot away, and then their poor parents would be forced to call for a healer, to make it all better.” She tilted her head, a strange and almost bitter smile to the observant touching her lips. Sometimes, she thought but did not say, horrible little things hoard equally horrible little desires. And then… a woman dressed in silk and incense steps in and makes everything right again. Her eyes gazed over as she stared into the miscellaneous collection of potion ingredients blankly, a puppet without anyone to pluck at her strings. As if on cue, Nova’s attention had wandered to a small, ominous-looking vial among her collection. Evpraksiya noticed too late, her eyes widening slightly as her partner unscrewed the lid and lifted it for a sniff, only to recoil at the stench that wafted from within. But, in typical Nova fashion, her disgusted reaction was followed by an even bolder decision as she dipped her fingers into the green sludge and popped them into her mouth. The effect was instantaneous. “Nova!” Evpraksiya’s voice was a soft admonishment as she watched her friend’s face twist as though having eaten a lemon, lips contorted as she spat out the noxious remnants into the trash. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so utterly grotesque— the redhead wiping her mouth on her sleeve, her face a study in shock and disgust as she muttered an indignant “Eww!” Evpraksiya’s initial surprise melted into a warm, quiet laugh, her reserved demeanor momentarily giving way to an amused light. “That,” she said, an almost musical lilt to her voice, “is what we call a ‘valuable lesson.’ Not all curiosity deserves to be indulged little fox.” But as she watched Novalie’s face pale slightly, her brow knitted in concern. “Are you feeling alright?” she asked, looking down at the vial Nova had sipped from. “...You've just consumed armadillo bile Nova. That's not entirely harmful however it could still contain digestive enzymes. And... armadillos, in particular, are known to carry Mycobacterium leprae, the bacterium responsible for leprosy.” The youngest Vinogradova frowned at the thought and took a closer look at Nova. “We,” she stated gently but firmly. “are paying an unfortunate visit to the hospital wing. And although I don't... entirely agree with what you said earlier— about being forced to become something.” A faint, almost fragile smile lingered on her lips as she continued, “Perhaps it is excessively cautious to adhere so strictly to social conventions among friends.”

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Evpraksiya’s remark about children devouring all the candy they could find if not kept in check registered somewhere in the back of Novalie’s mind, but she didn’t quite grasp the deeper meaning. She took it at face value, puzzled as to why Evpraksiya would bring up sugar so suddenly. Normally, Novalie would have responded in her usual carefree manner, but right now, her mind and body were far too preoccupied with the wave of nausea coursing through her.

The pinkish tint at the tips of her hair had disappeared completely, replaced by a red that now appeared dull and sickly, streaked with an unhealthy-looking green. She could vaguely hear Evpraksiya’s voice, calmly explaining something about enzymes and bacteria, but the words washed over her like background noise. All the Ravenclaw could truly register was the suggestion to visit the hospital wing.
“No, no, I’m fine..!”, she protested weakly, waving her hand dismissively before slapping it over her mouth as another wave of nausea surged up. She took a deep, shuddering breath, struggling to keep from vomiting. It took all her strength to suppress it, leaving her light-headed and trembling.
'Okay, maybe not so fine after all..' - she admitted silently, casting a desperate glance at the trash can beside her, which suddenly looked far more appealing than it should.

Her skin, always expressive thanks to her her being a Metamorphmagus, lost its warm tone, turning almost ghostly pale with a faint green tinge. Her eyes, usually bright, dulled to a lifeless hue. To anyone who didn’t know her, she might have looked like a character from a horror story - a zombie shifting right before their very eyes.
Finding a moment of control, the girl managed to mutter, “Or... maybe we should go..”
Her voice was strained but tinged with reluctant acceptance.
A valuable lesson, indeed. If she weren’t feeling so sick, she might have chuckled at Evpraksiya’s words. This wasn’t the first time she’d gotten sick from eating strange things.
Why did this keep happening? Not everything was poison, was it?
The unfairness of it all made her want to groan.

Thankfully, with Evpraksiya’s support, Novalie managed to make her way out of the Potions classroom, each step bringing her closer to the refuge of the hospital wing.