An Apology Gift #2 PV Zach Zaphiere Closed

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Said | Thought

Zach had just went out from his last class. He took his steps to the Courtyard to meet Alyssea as she had mentioned in her letter that she would be there after classes. The shining sun, the cool breeze from the fall atmosphere, the chirping melody from the bird and the dominant yellow color from the falling leaves accompanied him on his walks.

Zach actually was curious why Alyssea wanted to meet him again in courtyard. "Does she want to duel me again? Silly. If she wanted to duel me again, she would have asked to meet in Duelling Club," he thought. The monologues then continued, "Why would she want to meet at the Courtyard then? Does she find another duel and want me to moderate the duel? That would be fun though but it mustn't be it. Or... Does she want to go abroad and transfer school? I have seen it in some TV shows-" His internal conversation stopped when he saw the brown-haired girl.

"Alyssea!" He called and waved his hand at the girl with a big smile painted on his face. Then he walked towards her and said, "I'm sorry I just finished my last class. Have you been waiting for a long time?"

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown

september 11th 2023; interacting with @Zach Zaphiere

Just before she could turn the page, the syllables of her name reached her ears and she looked up. With a smile, she looked back down at the page number, whispered it to herself, and closed the book. "Hi Zach!"

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's not like I'm in a rush to be anywhere, tonight."

Alyssea put down the book just where she sat while holding the shirt closely. She decided to start some small conversation while they were at it. "What class did you just have?"

The last class Alyssea had today was... History of Magic! She'd started to get to know the new professor now that she was taking over the History of Magic Club. Thinking about it got her nervous again. What was she supposed to do? No one really expects a Second Year to be running a club.

She shook the thought away. Later, she reasoned. She held up the shirt for Zach to see. "This is for you. As an apology for burning of your shirt," she chuckled. "I hope it's the right size... I don't exactly have any sizing charms that I've learned from Transfiguration yet."

Alyssea held it out for him to see. "I also embroidered some stars onto it, for a personal touch. Sorry," she apologised again with a light laugh, mostly out of habit. "I haven't done embroidery in a long time."

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Said | Thought

Zach decided to sit near her. "Class? Uh... I just had my favorite one, Charms. We didn't learn a cool spell this time but rather a useful one. Finite Incantatem or General-Counter Spell that could cancel the effect of the spell," he said. Then he realized something, "Am I giving you a spoiler? I'm sorry," he chuckled awkwardly. "I heard you join the Hufflepuff Dueling Team. Congratulation!" He still remembered his first duel with Alyssea. She was a potential duelist and Zach might not want to face her in his next matches as she seemed more prepared. But he was also curious about what she had prepared. "Then what about you? What class did you just have?"

And without Zach expecting, Alyssea gave him something. "Oh, you made it yourself?! It's very sweet of you. Thank you very much!" He was very thankful that made his eyes gleam. Zach looked at the shirt with his hand opening it so it spread wide. "You made it the right size, don't worry." His eyes were still glued to the shirt. And right when Alyssea mentioned the stars, his eyes also noticed them at the same time. "No way! You also made the stars?! I like it so much," he said. Then he folded the shirt back and touched the yellow and blue stars on the front pocket. "It's yellow and blue. Let me guess. Is it about Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?"

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown

september 11th 2023; interacting with @Zach Zaphiere

Charms! Alyssea enjoyed Charms, but she was a bit slower to learn than, say, Transfiguration or History of Magic. Her mother spent so much time developing her understanding of Transfiguration that Alyssea forgot she still had other subjects to study for. The General-Counter Spell would definitely be useful, though.

Zach paused. "Am I giving you a spoiler? I'm sorry," he chuckled.

Alyssea shook her head. "It's alright. I've been learning a few spells, mostly Transfiguration." She clapped her hands with a bit of excitement. "I was learning one of the Third Year spells, today! Professor Aarden's difficult to please, though, so I need to keep working on it with him before I can go around using it."

The spell in question was one that came to mind after their duel. They'd taken some pretty mean hits, so a healing spell would've been handy to know then. Oh well, now she was working on it.

"I heard you join the Hufflepuff Dueling Team. Congratulations!" Zach said.

Alyssea smiled. "Thank you! Our duel was a good start for me. Starting to figure out things before the season starts, you know?" The next time she'd walk onto that piste, she'd have a strategy, and a well-thought-out one at that.

"What class did you just have?"

"History of Magic. Not much today aside from the usual. I got to know the new professor a little bit. She's very nice! And pretty!"

Having handed him the shirt, Alyssea watched as he unfolded it to see the embroidery. Alyssea breathed a sigh of relief both at the shirt being the right size and seeing the stitches still holding onto the fabric. Would've been a pain if they unravelled. She smiled at Zach's positive reaction. "Well, I didn't make it from scratch. I don't exactly own a mechanical sewing machine on the grounds," she chuckled, "I'm glad you like it, though."

When Zach pointed out the colours, Alyssea's face reddened. "I... That actually wasn't my intention," she smiled awkwardly, "When I told my mum what I was doing, she picked the colours. I didn't realize..."

The other colour she'd been given to embroider with was green with the intention of making leaves. But Alyssea had forgotten the exact stitches to make one and left the green to the side.

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Said | Thought

Zach was really surprised as he listened to Alyssea about her learning third-year transfiguration spells. He knew a spell that was not offensive but it could be annoying to face. In fact, Zach wanted to learn the spell so much but his knowledge of transfiguration wasn't that good and made him give up. Zach nodded in envy while he listened to her. "That's cool," he said. He also agreed with her that the new History of Magic Professor was pretty. "She is indeed very pretty! But I haven't had any chance to get to know her yet. Actually, I am a little afraid to get near her as she looks intimidating. But I'm glad to know that she is nice," he said.

"I am actually afraid that you won't try dueling again. But it's great to hear that. And next time, don't wear high heels when you're dueling. It's dangerous. Really dangerous. You could break your ankle!" From his mouth, he said like that. However, he actually wanted to test if high heels would boost the wearer's evasion. Because last duel she was very smooth evading the spells and made him utterly shocked. But his logical self said if he still wanted his ankle intact, he must not try it.

And back to the shirt. Zach chuckled along with Alyssea. "Ah, your mom picked the color. So I'm just thinking too far then," he said awkwardly while scratching the back of his head. Interpretation was such a Ravenclaw thing. If they couldn't give any interpretation, they might not be able to enter the common room and sleep comfortably. Zach looked at the folded shirt on his lap and asked Alyssea, "You have talent in making this. How long did you make the shirt and the stars stitches?"

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown

september 11th 2023; interacting with @Zach Zaphiere

Alyssea chuckled. The new professor? Scary? She could understand Zach's view on the matter, considering Professor Lennox had some pretty defined features. But she was nice! At least, in her current classes, she was nice.

Giving up after failure was not something Alyssea was familiar with. Countless failed auditions when she was younger steeled her for multiple attempts to even be an ensemble member. The duel was no different. It was a bit embarrassing considering she had no real strategy and seemed to be just firing spells without a thought, but hey! At least she learned. Not wearing heels was another thing.

"I won't wear high heels to duelling again, promise," she said with a smile. It was pretty impressive, if you asked her, but definitely dangerous. She'll remember where she put her sneakers for official matches.

Hearing Zach's compliment again about her stitches eased the tension she felt about the potential colour symbolism. That was not intentional, before anybody asks. "It took me..." she trailed off as she thought about last Friday. "After my last class on Friday, I ran back to my dorm and spent the rest of the evening doing it. I think it may have been five or six hours? Something like that?"

Now that she'd said it out loud, the realization dawned on her. How did she manage to spend that long on it?! She must've focused so much she didn't realize how fast the time flew.

Another thought came into her mind. Should she say it? Maybe it would be weird... but what if it wasn't?

"You know," she started cautiously, "High heels were originally made for men..." Where on earth did she find out that fact? She couldn't recall it anymore.

"What if you tried them? The heels, I mean." She blurted it out.

... Should she have asked?

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Said | Thought

Zach nodded along with the responses from Alyssea. "Five hours? Impressive," he said with a warm smile on his face. "It was fast, right?" he wondered. Making things was very hard for Zach. It seemed that his hands had no talent for making craftings. What he made might turned out to be chaos. A real chaos. Besides, it was a long time since he made any crafting. Should he try to do some crafting for practice? Maybe if he tried to practice and made something again, he could level up his skill from chaos to at least worst.

Then she said something about heels being originally for men. "Oh, really?" Of course, it surprised him. He couldn't imagine a man wearing heels like Alyssea did in the last duel or the heels that his mom wore when she was going to a party. It was a bit weird. "I just know about it. So how does it shift into women's footwear? I'm curious." His brow furrowed in curiosity. Other questions like what the model of the heels looks like or who invented it first came out one by one in his mind.

Still, in his serious mode, Zach once again was surprised by the sudden offer from the brown-haired girl. "I try what?" He couldn't believe what he heard. It was like she could read his mind that he wanted to test the evading ability from the heels. He was hesitating until he decided to answer it. "I... I want to test if it really could boost our evasion. Can I try? Uh... Do you bring yours?"

After Alyssea gave her heels to him, Zach tried them. It really felt uncomfortable even for walking. He walked like a drowsy duckling to the area with no students so Alyssea could cast some spells safely. "Okay, I'm ready," he said nervously. Was it a bad idea? He hoped not.

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown

september 11th 2023; interacting with @Zach Zaphiere

Alyssea shrugged. "I wouldn't say fast. The hardest part was starting it," she chuckled, "It felt like I couldn't do anything for a long time and then suddenly, I could do everything."

The learning curve to recall everything had certainly been steep. She didn't have any guidance from her mother, no instruction booklet to teach her how to do the stitches again; she had to remember them along the way. So, some stars certainly looked better than others.

Alyssea shrugged again when Zach asked how heels turned from men's fashion to women's. Again, she picked up the fact from somewhere and never bothered to research it. Sometimes, being a witch was hard; where was the internet when she wanted random questions answered? Alyssea loved magic but there were limitations to being in a magic school and this was one of them.

However, she was surprised by Zach agreeing to try the heels. From an outside perspective (now that she had some time to reflect in the awkward silence), the question probably sounded insane. "I don't know if they actually give an evasion boost," Alyssea chuckled, "But yes! I have them just here."

She pulled the heels out from behind her and put them on the ground. After directing Zach how to put them on and secure them, she held her breath. Walking in heels for the first time was always a struggle and Zach was no exception.

Alyssea cleared her throat as she got up from where they sat. "Keep your back straight, shoulders back, keep a good posture."

Alyssea took her wand from her robe pocket and pointed it at Zach. She really hoped their 'joke' about the heels giving an evasion boost was true because she did not want a detention for injuring a student.

"Bullarum Immortalem."

Her spell-casting had been good but evidently not good enough as her spell missed Zach by a margin. Luckily for the both of them, it did not hit any surrounding students and the bubbles landed on a nearby tree. Alyssea gave a tight smile before resuming without a word.

With a deep breath, she tried again. "Bullarum Immortalem."

The bubbles formed at her wand's tip and the spell went flying. Alyssea held her breath.

She felt like she was watching it all play out in slow motion. Her heart raced and she could hear every beat roaring in her ears. But a grin came onto her face as she watched Zach dodge.

Well, I'll be damned, she thought as she gave a light laugh. No. Way.

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Said | Thought

"Starting things is definitely the most hard part. The second is how to continue. But you managed to finish it," Zach said while giving a warm smile at Alyssea. He nodded at what she said even though he couldn't relate too much as he seldom made any crafts.

Zach sweating bullets when he saw Alyssea. He had no idea what spell she would cast on him. Zach began to squint as Alyssea waved her wand. He could hear the incantation, a Bubble-Producing Charm. Not an offensive spell but Zach was too scared. With wiggly legs, he tried to move. Nothing happened. Zach was confused then he opened his eyes more. The spell landed on a nearby tree. That made Zach breathe a sigh of relief. At least the spell didn't hit him when he was not completely ready. "Wait. Does it also count?" he thought.

Then he saw Alyssea was ready to throw a second spell. Zach cleared his throat and readied himself. Still with his wiggly legs, he stood silently. To test the truth about these high heels, he had to preserve. He nodded as a sign he was completely ready. The second Bubble-Producing Charm was cast. A bubble was conjured. Zach didn't close his eyes again. This time, he focused on seeing the direction of the bubble. Zach moved his right leg diagonally to the left back, then quickly walked backwards. What he didn't expect is there are two bubbles! The second bubble almost hit him if he didn't jump and roll on the ground.

His eyes widened when he saw the two bubbles on the ground. Then Zach looked at all the bubbles in the courtyard. It made a little mess and it was better for him to clear them quickly as he was also responsible for these bubbles. He stood, still on the heels, took out his wand and cast a Flipendo at the bubble on the tree. "Flipendo," then it popped. He looked at the bubbles on the ground and cast, "Ventus." A strong jolt of wind popped the bubbles.

Zach quickly removed the high heels and walked quickly towards Alyssea without any shoes. "You see that?" A clear excitement could be seen on his face. "I managed to not get hit by all the bubbles. First, the bubble landed on a tree. And second, I actually didn't see the second bubble from the last spell. It's just suddenly I jumped and rolled!" It made Zach think about something and ask her, "Are these heels charmed or something?" Zach's curiosity became bigger and bigger. Someone might have to stop him or he could do further research on the heels.

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown