The key to success
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XXXXX𝓐 pleasant breeze greeted Mylo as they stepped out into the courtyard, the bitter January cold they had been expecting having decided to ease up a bit and allow for a more subdued temperature to take over. Pleasantly surprised by the unexpected weather Mylo wondered if they would have enough time to sit and enjoy it for a bit before going to lunch, not thinking about it for too long before settling on the decision that a bit of fresh air could never hurt.
Walking a bit further into the open space Mylo looked around for a quieter corner where they could maybe do some reading or maybe even get started on a new drawing, not wanting to get too distracted by others around them, their eyes falling on a seemingly empty bench in the corner where they could find the peace and quiet they craved.
Making their way over to the place he had picked out Mylo quickly realised that their original observations about the spot had been wrong, as they hadn't seen that around the corner from his destination there was a second bench occupied by another student who seemed engrossed in whatever she was occupied with.
Still it was a quiet spot in comparison to the rest of the area so Mylo continued their journey, sitting down and reaching down into their bag to grab their book. As they were searching though they caught a glimps of the object that had caught the other students attention, immediately recognising it as a muggle wind-up clock.
Even though Mylo had been at Hogwarts for a few years now it was still an adjustment each time that he remembered that objects that were mundane to him were fascinating and alien to other wixes. It seemed as though she was trying to figure out how it worked, so after probably taking too much time trying to decide if their interruption would be welcomed Mylo just bit the bullet and made his way over to the other student. They had always been taught that if someone else needed help you tried to do your best to offer it, of course stepping away if they didn't want it.
"Uhm, hi sorry. I just saw you working on this clock, are you trying to figure out how it works?"
𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐎𝐍, 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑 ; 𝓯𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓫𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓶 𝓪𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷. xx |
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| sta • 8 | eva • 7 | str • 5 You will grow strong wis • 10 | arc • 7 | acc • 8 | Perf. | Wand. | Calm. pres. In the softest way ability | ability | ability |
The key to success
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| xxx | Lottie was no fool, but the Muggles certainly liked to make her feel like one. There were a plethora of things about muggle life that perplexed her. For one, she didn't understand their mechanics. It was incredibly difficult to imagine herself relying on incredibly elaborate technologies and machines to get her through everyday life when magic could do the same in half the time. She was aware, of course, that muggles didn't really have magic to rely on, but the point stood that it was incredibly difficult to imagine herself in their shoes. Nonetheless, she tried. Her last trip to Hogsmeade had been fruitless, other than a surprising run-in with an old face and a quick trip into Muggle Artefacts. That was where she found this strange device. It was small and circular, with a glass face display a clock. She was not unfamiliar with clocks, of course, although the exact workings of this one were what stumped her. Unlike the simple, self-explanatory methods of time-telling she had back at home, this one had a whole bunch of little dials and switches. She was determined to figure it out. A few evenings later, she stole away to the courtyard, seating herself on one of the stone walls to toy with the small device. On top were two little bells, which she had flicked multiple times to confirm that they were actually intended for sound-making rather than decoration. That had caught her a few stray glances from the other students, so that investigation had been fairly short-lived. She had been a few moments from taking her wand and exploding the glass on front when an unfamiliar voice interrupted her study. A soft flush already spread across her lips before looking up at the boy. She cleared her throat, placing the clock down by her thigh. "It's just, er-" She tapped the small thing with the top of her hand, gently. "Bit of a mystery." | xxx |
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| ✦"You better start walking. Love takes miles."✦ STA 8 │ EVA 8 │ STR 6 │ WIS 6 │ ARC 6 │ ACC 7 |
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XXXXX𝓣heir help didn't seem unwanted at least, as the Slytherin placed the clock besides her and tapped it on the top while responding to Mylo's query. It was quite the relief actually as Mylo hadn't realised that they had been expecting to be - hopefully politely - waved off, their advice not welcome.
Moving in slightly closer they noticed that the clock seemed slightly different to how he himself was expecting it to, not that it mattered that much as they still knew how it would work but it was exciting as they realised they would actually be able to get it to work if the key was still with the clock.
As when the other student had put the clock down it had allowed Mylo to spot the small hole in the clock face, meaning that this wasn't a normal clock but a wind-up one! They just had to find out where the key was stored and even if it was still there.
"Oh yeah, these things can be fascinating. If I'm not mistaken this should be a wind-up clock, meaning that somewhere there should be a small latch that holds space for a key, it's actually great that this one isn't a 'regular' clock as one of those wouldn't have worked here, magic and electricity and all." They explained, cutting themselves off as he realised the other student might not have wanted a full explanation. Visually looking over the clock for the aforementioned latch Mylo pointed at it.
"May I? I think I know where it should be, and if you like I could explain how it works?" He asked, happy to share their knowledge.
𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐎𝐍, 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑 ; 𝓯𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓫𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓶 𝓪𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷. xx |
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| sta • 8 | eva • 7 | str • 5 You will grow strong wis • 10 | arc • 7 | acc • 8 | Perf. | Wand. | Calm. pres. In the softest way ability | ability | ability |
The key to success
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| xxx | Lottie's initial response to the stranger's eagerness was not particularly keen. A bitter rush of indigence flooded through her quite suddenly, forming from her embarrassment and only growing from their seemingly much stronger knowledge of the small artefact. She was, regrettably, overcome with a strange need to prove her capability. "Well, of course I know that," she replied, smoothing a hand down the clock face, "I wouldn't be so foolish as to bring an electric device onto school grounds. I found it in Hogsmeade, after all." Subtly, she examined the ridges lining the back with great curiosity. Despite her aborted attempts at uncovering the truth of the object, it still seemed to her that an abundance of muggle book-smarts was worthless when met with anything of real substance. It was yet another reminder that no amount of research could truly adjust her to muggle culture. She pulled her hands from the object sadly, pushing a stray strand of hair back behind her ear and looking up at the stranger. It took a great effort not to make some snide remark and force them away. Instead, she heaved a soft sigh, watching a plume of pale smoke stray from her mouth and disperse into the air. In her mind, she considered her options. She could escape the interaction with a quick farewell and maintain some misconception that she knew everything there was to know about muggles. Or she could maintain her somewhat fabricated composed demeanor and allow this other student to engage in her hasty investigation. In the end, she was too exhausted to fight the latter. She surrendered the clock to the other, watching with great curiosity to see what strange plan they were conjuring up in their mind. "Just please be gentle with it." | xxx |
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| ✦"You better start walking. Love takes miles."✦ STA 8 │ EVA 8 │ STR 6 │ WIS 6 │ ARC 6 │ ACC 7 |
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XXXXX𝓐s soon as she answered their request for help Mylo knew that they had said something wrong. They absolutely hadn't meant to imply that she didn't know what she was doing, however intent didn't outweigh impact which is why they found themselves trying to subdue the anxiety clawing its way to the surface.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to imply that you wouldn't know that, I just get caught up in explaining things sometimes." He managed to say, seemingly without a trace of anxiousness making itself known in their voice. It didn't happen often that he was able to mask his own feelings without composing himself -even if just for a split second- but they were grateful this was one of those times.
As the girl huffed Mylo started to wonder if maybe he should just apologies again for butting in when their help might not have been welcome after all and walk away, however before they could come to a conclusion she spoke again, apparently having decided that whatever knowledge Mylo wanted to share was worth it.
"Yeah, no of course, I wouldn't want to damage it in any way." He quickly said in an attempt to reassure the other student as she allowed them to take a look at the clock, hopefully convincing her as Mylo would never want to damage anything. Especially something that belonged to another person.
As Mylo looked at the seemingly ordinary object in front of him they took a quick inventory of what they knew themselves, scanning the clock and talking through what exactly they were doing and looking for as they thought it might interest the girl.
"You see how there's a small hole here just below the clock hands?" Pointing to a small round hole slightly obscured by the glass in front of the clock face and the two long bits of metal. "This is where a key should be inserted to wind it up, although you probably already know this.." He quickly added, wondering if voicing their thoughts out loud was such a good idea after all.
"They hopefully wouldn't have sold it to you without the key itself so it should be here somewhere." Mylo voiced, gently picking up the clock to check for the compartment that would hold the key. "They're usually either at the back or.... -" he trailed off, having manoeuvred themselves and the clock so that he could check the bottom while holding it carefully aloft.
Having spotted the secret compartment Mylo pointed at it while showing it to it's owner.
"This should be where the key is held, you can then unlatch the front panel of glass that protects the clock face and insert it into the hole and twist it a few times. That should allow it to work again." He explained, handing the clock back to the other student not wanting to overstep and do everything for her.
Realising that they hadn't introduced themselves yet Mylo quickly went on to rectify that mistake, along with another apology.
"I'm Mylo by the way, sorry again if I offered help without it being wanted."
𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐎𝐍, 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑 ; 𝓯𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓫𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓶 𝓪𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷. xx |
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| sta • 8 | eva • 7 | str • 5 You will grow strong wis • 10 | arc • 7 | acc • 8 | Perf. | Wand. | Calm. pres. In the softest way ability | ability | ability |