mentioning: @Elena Clark | date: 31-08-2025 | fit: x

Avis flicked a curious finger at a pinwheel sticking out from the window display, watching it blur into a spinning circle of blues and golds. A small smile lifted her lips as she studied the tiny wonder and as it slowed down, she turned to glance around at the rest of the store, shifting her heavy satchel of newly bought school supplies into a more comfortable position over her shoulder.

School shopping had been rather hasty what with summer camp coming to a close just that morning and the train leaving tomorrow. She had had just enough time to snag a few items she needed before making an unnecessary but badly wanted stop at the joke store located in Diagon Alley, telling her friends to go on ahead and finish their shopping before ducking into Weasley's with a grin of anticipation.

The Ravenclaw stepped forward into the throng of customers trying out wares, gazing longingly at the wide selection of prank candy and apparently arguing loudly over whether Dungbombs were actually made of dung or just contained a sort of synthesized concoction. ("You can't fake shit! This is the real thing!") ("Well, I guess you would know considering the amount of clogged toilets I've dealt with this summer.")

Avis wrinkled her freckled nose, half in amusement and half in response to receiving entirely too much information from complete strangers. But her reaction was short lived when a couple of younger kids whizzed past her, one bumping roughly into her left side and letting out a surprised squeak and a hasty apology.

The girl paid the child no mind. Her only concern was for the small glass vial in her pocket that currently contained one of the most volatile potions known to the wizarding world, not to mention extremely hard to obtain as an almost second year at Hogwarts. Her throat went dry as she fiddled around for the vial, a breath of relief releasing when she made contact with the unharmed object. Thank Merlin.

It was probably—no, definitely. It was definitely foolish to carry around a vial full of Fire-Breathing potion in one's pocket but alas, she hadn't thought of a safer location for the thing during her journey to Hogwarts from London so in her pocket it had gone, padded with a few crumpled-up napkins she'd gotten from a meat pie stand at the summer camp fair. She looked up at the enthusiastic crowed around her. Maybe it had also been foolish to enter Weasley's with such an object.

Avis grimaced, her curiosity egging her on. She'd just take a careful and casual perusing stroll around the store and exit as quickly as possible, no problem.

After inspecting a copy of the infamous Marauder's Map and puzzling over the Socks of Eternal Wetness (the inventor contained true evil within their heart, whoever they were) the Ravenclaw found herself staring up at stack of individual boxes containing enchanted snowballs, her thoughts drifting away to the time her older brother had brought a few home on Christmas break during his second year—and aimed every single one at Avis' face throughout the week. She hadn't gotten him back for that yet, but she thought of the experience often. A wicked grin spread across her face and Avis reached up to grab one...or maybe three. It was payback time.

mentioning: @Elena Clark | date: 31-08-2025 | fit: x

It really shouldn't have been that startling, the quiet greeting that came from behind as Avis stacked another enchanted snowball onto the growing pile in her arms. But perhaps because she was already making a plan in her head that would require complete discretion and a bit of sneaky mischief, the Ravenclaw was jumpy, which, it turned out, was quite a literal way of describing the emotion.

Avis started violently at the sound of another person, her arms jerking forward and the boxes of snowballs tumbling forward into the carefully stacked wall in front of her. In almost slow motion, Avis watched her selected merchandise crash into the stack. Mouth wide in shock, she went after the boxes but missed horribly, and with nothing to catch herself on, she went tumbling into the stack.

The wall of snowballs collapsed like an avalanche, one movement triggering another. Soon enough, boxes were toppling to the floor and popping open on impact, unleashing balls of magical packed snow that were already scouting out their first targets.

Unfortunately, as Avis sat up blearily amongst the boxes, the girl noted two things. One was the ethereal blonde girl standing in the aisle a few feet away that had probably been the one to greet her and two, was the fact that there was no one else in the aisle, which led Avis to believe that she and this girl would be the only two in the snowballs' sights. Merlin's Great Bollocksing Beard.

Avis shot up and dashed towards the girl as the ironic soft twinkling sound of enchanted snow filled the air.

"RUN!" she cried as she whizzed past the blonde, eyes wide.

A wall of enchanted snowballs rose up behind the two and seconds later, it turned into a cloud equivalent to angry bees. The snowballs pelted after the girls and as Avis reached the end of the aisle, she dove behind a large wooden sign announcing a sale on extendable ears (which the Ravenclaw noted she'd have to check out post snowball fight).

Hoping the other girl had made it to cover, Avis hugged her knees to her chest as a number of snowballs thudded into the sign behind them. A streak of panic shot through her chest and she reached for the vial in her pocket, pulling it out and clutching it against one knee. Wild enchanted snowballs and spilled Fire-Breathing potion sounded like a terrible combination. Avis turned her attention back towards her unfortunate companion in this mess.

"What now?" she gasped desperately, knowing they had only a few moments to create some kind of plan.

tags: @Elena Clark | date: 31-08-2025 | fit: x | notes: your little chibi is so cute omg!

Avis cracked open an eye at the sound of a body hitting the floor nearby and noticed that her blonde companion had indeed made it to cover behind a stack of trunks, which were currently being pelted with snow.

Her own source of cover, the wooden sign, was similarly being assaulted and she could hardly hear over the noise of the magical-made avalanche as the girl spoke. Avis shouted back over the snowballs.

"They're enchanted to hit the nearest human target. Possibly one of the Weasley's most violent inventions! One nearly broke my nose last year!" she replied to the girl's panicked inquiry.

Her fist tightened around the vial in her hand as the onslaught only grew more intense and both of the girls were straining against their respective forms of shelter. Avis glanced up in surprise when the blonde expertly identified her potion, which shouldn't have been too much of a surprise. The thing was bright orange after all. "Aye! It is! From the potions contest awhile ago," she added with a bit of pride. Yet another insane scenario that she'd managed to survive, with the help of her good friend Maisie obviously.

A small oof emitted from her mouth as a sneaky snowball curved around the sign and glanced off her shoulder and suddenly, it clicked. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked back and forth between her ominous glass vial and the fellow Ravenclaw's knowing expression. Avis swallowed nervously, her throat suddenly dry.

"Are you sure? I think I'd only be able to hold it for a couple seconds, but it might be enough!" she called back as yet another snowball slipped through her defense. She winced as it smashed into her elbow, jostling the potion for a moment.

Another idea slipped into her head and impulsively, the girl slid onto her belly and began to army crawl across the floor to her companion in arms. Snowballs whizzed overhead like bullets, smashing into the shelves behind them and magically reforming to repeat the assault. Melting them was quite possibly their only choice of action. Great Merlin, it was like they'd been enlisted in the third wizarding war.

Finally, Avis managed to inch her way over to the stack of trunks that were truly just a meter or two from her sign but had felt like she'd just crawled to Hogwarts and back. She collapsed next to the girl and opened her clenched palm, revealing the potion.

"I suppose it's now or never," she said, popping the top off the vial of burning orange. A subtle finger of steam floated through the opening and the Ravenclaw held it up to her companion. "I think there's just enough for a gulp each. You first?" Avis offered with a wan smile. This hadn't exactly been what she'd had in mind for the stuff but it was a good a reason as any, although it was a bit disappointing that she wouldn't be able to singe someone's eyebrows off as an unbeatable retort in an argument or something. She sighed. Perhaps it was for the best.

mentioning: @Elena Clark | date: 31-08-2025 | fit: x

Avis ducked as another trunk tipped over from the force of the snowballs. They would have to move... and fast. The barrage hadn't slowed and the Ravenclaw began to wonder if the Weasley's had perhaps invented this particular item for a possible third wizarding war. Regardless, the two girls needed a solution and the other girl's idea, albeit reckless, seemed to the be the only one presenting itself.

Avis glanced dubiously at the fallen trunk as the blonde mentioned the reliability of their current source of cover. The Ravenclaw let out a humorless laugh.

"Yeah, too bad I couldn't have randomly possessed some sort of protection potion," she joked half-heartedly, absentmindedly rolling the glass vial of fire-breath potion in between her fingers. "Great Merlin, why'd I have to want to purchase enchanted snowballs of all things," she muttered, partially to herself. She could never tell Will. Her older brother would never let her live this down.

Moments later, Avis found herself holding out the potion to her companion with a nervous expression. They only had moments before the final trunk above them would topple over and the snowballs would have access to their hideout. One clever snowball whizzed around the corner of the trunk and nailed the wall behind them. Avis swallowed, her throat suddenly dry and turned to glance at other Ravenclaw, who was taking a painstakingly long time to swallow the potion and start on the offensive. The girl raised an eyebrow when she found the blonde rubbing her temples as if she was trying to remember something.

"Uh...? Brain freeze?" she asked sympathetically and then grimaced. Very poorly timed joke, perhaps. Would've been funny if they weren't about to suffer "death by snowball."

Finally, the girl perked up. "MINT!" she cried with an excited grin. Avis raised an eyebrow. What in Merlin's Great Bollocksing Beard...

"What are you on about..." the Ravenclaw asked as her blonde companion began glancing around desperately for something. As Avis watched, however, suddenly it came to her. Mint was a cooling agent and the fire-breathing potion required it for use. She rolled her eyes at her own thick-headedness. She vaguely remembered hearing that there was indeed mint in the potion, but it was important to always have some extra on hand, especially when using for longer periods. In other words, Avis had almost killed them both if not for her genius of a friend. The Ravenclaw glanced back at the girl who muttered a hopeless curse. She followed her gaze to a bag sitting dejectedly beneath the toppled wall of snowball boxes, most likely containing the herb they needed.

"I'll get it," Avis said impulsively and started forward on her stomach again. Two seconds after she'd emerged from behind the trunks, however, three enchanted snowballs came flying towards her. The Ravenclaw covered her head as the frozen monsters barraged her body, breaking into hard crystals of ice as they hit home. She threw herself back behind the trunk, panting. A nasty bruise had started to purple across an exposed section of her jaw and the other two hits hurt like blisters! "Right, that was a bit mad, probably. We need a new plan..." the Ravenclaw said, glancing around. "A distraction maybe..." Her eyes fell on a pack of colorful exploding bonbons on a shelf next to the trunks and a metaphorical lightbulb began to flicker on over her head.

Avis reached across her partner and snatched up a box, giving it a look of consideration. "Think they'd go after these and maybe one of us could sneak by during the commotion? I mean the bag's not that far...right?" she said in a thoughtful tone, flinching as the trunk shuddered above them from another solid hit.

mentioning: @Elena Clark | date: 31-08-2025 | fit: x

Avis impatiently let the girl examine the blossoming bruise on her chin, watching her careful gaze turn into a wince of sympathy. At her suggestion of ice, the Ravenclaw sighed. Not only was the bruise smarting, but her pride had been a bit bruised in the onslaught as well and this medical examination was rather embarrassing. Her brain had been fully confident she'd make it to the bag but alas, her ideas were infamously better than the results most of the time. The girl wrapped a convenient pile of snow in a delicately embroidered handkerchief she'd had and handed it off it Avis who took it with reluctant gratitude. It was like having Mam around.Nonetheless, she gingerly placed the makeshift ice pack over her bruise and couldn't help the sigh of relief that came with the numbing chill. Alright fine, so it had been a good idea to care to the wound.

"Thanksh," she replied with a lopsided sheepish smile, the icepack squishing comically against her mouth.

Moments later, Avis and her companion found themselves discussing the details of their new plan with three brightly colored bon bons sitting carefully in the palm of her hand. "Right, well. If these don't work, at least we'll make cute icicles?" she said sadly. "Who—" Avis began to ask, but her companion had already bravely volunteered. She nodded along carefully to her plan, absentmindedly squaring her shoulders in preparation. It would take immaculate timing but Avis was starting to think they'd be able to pull it off.

She took a breath. "Right," she agreed quietly and opened her mouth to count before a realization hit her suddenly. "Hey before we possibly die. My name is Avis. Avis Greymond. It's been an honor," the Ravenclaw said, sticking her hand out to shake.

Once the formalities were over, Avis clutched the bon bons in one sweaty hand, preparing for the count down. "Okay, ready?" she hissed. "1...2...3!!!"

Chaos erupted immediately as the girl flung the bon bons into the opposite corner. Three loud bangs echoed throughout the store and if customers hadn't noticed the desperate battle going on in the furthest reaches of the store, they certainly did now. "GO!" she urged in the split second the little ice demons fell for the bait. The Ravenclaw reached desperately for more bon bons, ready to throw more as soon as they figured out they had been fooled. Great Merlin, were these things sentient??

Avis watched as the snowballs paused mid-air and switched direction, pelting themselves towards the aftermath of the colorful explosion, most likely assuming it was one of their targets making a break for it. The Ravenclaw watched with wide eyes, her heart beating at full speed as she waited for her companion to return with the bag so she could yank her back behind cover. It was all up to her now.