╔══════════════╗

chapter three

"HYPOTHETICAL GREG"

╚══════════════╝

     Emilia had three best friends. Dinah Monarda, Melanie Turner, and Carmilla Valentine. The three had taken her under their wing when they ended up sitting together in Second Year Charms, and they adopted her the second that they noticed she was only hanging around with the Hufflepuff girls because it was the easiest option.

      And, since then, numerous things have happened. Dinah's gone from bright ginger to icy blonde. Melanie's Newt Scamander obsession have increased to the point that she's probably going to get him tattooed on her heart. Carmilla's learnt the art of swiftly stepping away after an insult has been thrown at her, to allow a path for Dinah and Dinah's fist.

      Okay. Everyone's learnt the last one. Dinah, despite being looking harmless with her baby face and shortness, was the most violent. And, since the others were either firm believers in words being the best weapons (Melanie and Carmilla) or would feel too guilty if they did anything (Emilia) it was often Dinah that served the punches and slaps and kicks and knees to the crotch.

      But, over the years, Emilia had come to the realisation that the bonds you choose to make are always better than the ones you're forced to have. And, yes, she knew this was a terrible thought and that she deserved her siblings' treatment because of it, but it was true. Friends were the people you choose to stick with. Sometimes you're lucky with family, and sometimes you're not. Emilia had a feeling she was unlucky in that sense.

     However. Emilia was very incredibly lucky in the friendship department. And, although her friends' letters somehow never reached her (odd?), they were all peas in a pod. She loved them to death. She'd take a curse for them, and if they managed to still get hit, she'd nurse them back to health, no matter how long it took. Her friends were her everything.

     So, Emilia felt her blood spark with excitement every time she remembered that, in just one day, she'd be able to see her friends every single day. She had her trunk packed for the past week, winter and summer and "in-between" clothes had been neatly placed, her books had been purchased, and her favourite records were already being carefully guarded by various jumpers and pyjamas. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was positioned between her 101 Dalmatians and Sound of Music pyjama tees. A comfy lemon-coloured jumper looked after The Man Who Sold The World.

     It was around lunchtime. Emilia had been cleaning up her plate when the doorbell rang. The rest of her family was out, so Emilia darted from the back kitchen to the front door, where the scrambled to unlock the door whilst also hoping that she wasn't going to get accidentally murdered.

     Her jaw dropped when the door opened. The feeling like she was Frankenstein first brought to life was racing through her body, and very quickly, her jaw lifted and her mouth curved into the brightest of grins.

     "DINAH!"

     Now, it should be mentioned that Emilia Salvatore hugs like the world is going to end. She would wrap her arms around you and hug you like you're the most important thing to ever exist. And, somehow, her hugs would make you feel like you're truly loved, like you'll always have someone that cares so much about you.

     Which is why Dinah always ended up with a smile and rosy cheeks after hugging Emilia. Her best friend would continue to grin at her like she was the most important thing in the world, like she had all of the love in the world, and like the sun shone for just her, all in one. So, Dinah smiled, but she tried to keep her cool as she stepped inside.

     "I've missed you, Em," said Dinah. She smiled brightly at Emilia, once the front door was closed behind her and her trunk. Emilia knew her best friend, and she knew that her best friend had a problem with showing her emotion for things. Which was fine, Emilia thought. If everyone in their group showed as much emotion as Emilia, they'd look like they're all on very good drugs.

     Emilia glanced at the trunk. "Are you staying tonight?"

     "Um, that's what your godfather said?" said Dinah.

     Emilia's grin managed to grow, and she clasped her hands together. She almost squealed. Almost. She held herself back, just a little. If she got any more excited, she'd probably spontaneously combust.

     "That's amazing!" exclaimed Emilia. She bounced on her feet, almost close to dancing with joy. Dinah laughed at her, but not in the bad way. More like, Dinah laughed like, you're so cute, I love you so much. But, again, Dinah wouldn't say that aloud. Dinah's love was shown in the same way she showed her emotions — through her actions. "Oh, wow, I've got so much to tell you!"

     It took ten minutes for them to catch up with each other's lives. Dinah explained that she had finally left her parents and was now living with her sister in Sheffield, so she hadn't seen her as much as usual, whereas Emilia explained what happened towards the start of the summer. And, by the time she had finished explaining the whole plan that surfaced because of it, Dinah had a mischievous smile plastered on her face.

     "Hey, Em," said Dinah. "You still want that flower—"

     "Oh my God," Emilia said, her voice a whisper. "Yes."

***

    It didn't take long for the collected smarts of Dinah and Emilia to figure out how to magically create a tattoo. They experimented on Dinah — which Emilia hated but Dinah insisted — and then they moved onto the image that Emilia had wanted on her skin for the past five years.

     The black outline of baby's breath snaked up her left arm and finished on her shoulder. Yellow flowers were placed randomly, looking just as bright and sunny as the person that wore them. It had been on her skin for an hour now, and Emilia was yet to stop grinning every time she looked down, and bam, she had the best tattoo in the world.

     They had found a spell in this random spell book that Dinah had borrowed off her Melanie, who had borrowed it off of her aunt who had bought it from a strange witch in Venice. And, because the spell wasn't the muggle approach to a tattoo, the flowers wouldn't have to scab and be covered in cling film before they were ready to be showcased to the world. Yes, it had been painful, but now, her skin just tingled if she touched the area with the flowers inked in.

     Which was why Dinah was standing, and if she did sit down, she shifted a little. It was her fault, really, as much as Emilia didn't like to put the blame on her friends. But, it was. Emilia suggested just a nice little tester on her ankle, but Dinah laughed and refused, and that was why Dinah was only sitting on one half of her bum when she had the courage to sit.

      Now, they had locked themselves in the bathroom closest to Emilia's bedroom. Whilst Emilia had her hair firmly plastered on the top of her head, Dinah was still struggling. So, whilst Emilia ate a bowl of cereal, Dinah was still trying to stop her pale skin accidentally turning an unnatural colour.

     "I'm just saying," said Emilia, between mouthfuls of Frosties. "We could've found a spell, or a potion, for this."

     "We could've," said Dinah, glaring at her hair in the mirror. It was around seven o'clock, Emilia thought. Both were waiting to wash the colourful mixture out of their hair. Emilia could feel her bones shaking with excitement. She couldn't wait for tomorrow, she couldn't wait for how cool her hair and her tattoo were going to look together, she just couldn't wait for the next school year. She was just so happy. It was making up for how crappy the rest of the holidays had been for her.

     "Uh, Di?" asked Emilia. Dinah mumbled a response. "How come Capulet invited you over? Not to be rude, I'm so over the moon that you're here, but—"

     "He said that you were having a rough summer," said Dinah. "He could've suggested it a while ago, and the four of us could've made an effort to keep you out of this house for as long as possible, but whatever. At least we're having a nice sleepover, and we're doing exactly what you've always wanted but you've never done because your family would've killed you."

     Emilia grinned. "Lucky that they're all out tonight, then."

     "Probably Capulet's doing," said Dinah. "No offence, Em, but he's creepy."

     "He means well," said Emilia. "He feels sorry for me. He's trying to be nice."

     "His trying is borderline scary, Em," said Dinah. "And also confusing. Why would he only tell me about this on the last day of summer? And not Mel or Carm?"

     Emilia closed her eyes, and she sighed. "Why'd you think?"

     "Blood?" asked Dinah, her voice lowering to a whisper. Like, not a school whisper, the kind that's whispered but loud enough to be heard. Like, a proper we can't be heard whisper. Emilia nodded. "That's sick."

     "That's Capulet," Emilia mouthed.

     Dinah smiled sympathetically. She crouched down to sit next to Emilia, and she hugged her, trying her best to keep both sets of hair away from each other. As she fidgeted to cross her legs, she winced.

     Emilia giggled. "Forget the palm tree on your butt?"

     Dinah sincerely nodded. "I forgot the palm tree on my butt."

***

     Had Donna screamed when she saw Emilia's hair, in all of its blue glory? Yes, yes, she had. Had Donna sobbed and threatened to kill one of the house-elves when she saw the tattoo? Yes, yes, she had. Had Emilia and Dinah hid said house-elf and told it to stay clear of Donna for eternity? Yes, yes, they had.

     But, even with that whole mess, Emilia was living. Her hair was blue, her left arm and shoulder had the prettiest tattoo in the world. And, because of the whole Badger-Gone-Bad thing Emilia was dealing with, Dinah's hair was now a very pretty shade of purple. And, really, Emilia didn't mind her godmother hating the new additions to her appearance. Personally, Emilia felt great, and technically, she wasn't breaking any school rules, and there was no law that stated under-eighteens couldn't use a tattoo spell, so, basically, she wasn't doing anything illegal.

     "Yet," Dinah sniggered whilst they walked through Kings' Cross. Both of which were getting looking for their hair colours, but both didn't mind. Emilia felt like she was on cloud nine. If she died, she'd go straight to the brightest star.

     The two had been Apparated to Kings' Cross by Donna, but Emilia's godmother had cleared off a couple minutes later, once she was aware that Emilia was fine and that the hair dye was permanent. (Well. She didn't really understand the fact that it wouldn't be over time, because Em's roots would grow, but she doesn't need to know that. She'd just end up shaving all of her hair off.)

     "Mel said she'd get the usual compartment," said Dinah, as the two began walking through the train's awfully narrow hallway. "Hopefully she got here early, I think I'd rather skin myself alive than share a compartment with some second-year called Greg."

     Emilia asked, "What do you have against Greg?"

     "Hypothetical Greg is the kind of obsessed that's painfully annoying," said Dinah. "He'll ruin your favourite bands. He'll make your record collection worthless, you'll end up burning them all because you can no longer stand them—"

     "Hypothetical Greg sounds misunderstood," said Emilia. "He also seems a bit out-of-place. What little boy is called Greg nowadays?"

     "Hypothetical Greg is called Greg — and he wouldn't make you think that he's misunderstood, if you actually met him," said Dinah. Emilia tilted her head in confusion. "Okay, well, you wouldn't, because he's hypothetical, but, if he wasn't—"

     "Shut up, you've got a palm tree tattooed onto your butt," said Emilia. Dinah gasped, and Emilia started to laugh, which caused Dinah to start laughing, too. "But, anyway, which carriage are they—?"

      "Fuck, Salvatore!"

      Dinah immediately stiffened. Emilia saw Dinah's fist curl. Quickly, Emilia smiled at her, and said, "I'll catch up to you, okay?"

     As Dinah walked away, Emilia frowned at Sirius. "Nice to see you too," she replied. He smiled back at her, and she picked up a piece of her own hair, and grinned. "Have you seen it? It's so cool! And I got a tattoo, as well—!"

     "I wouldn't have said fuck, Salvatore, if I hadn't seen the hair," said Sirius.

     Emilia shrugged, a small smile on her face. "I mean, I thought the fuck, Salvatore, was just because I'm here," she told him. She wiggled her eyebrows. "Don't you say you're attracted to me every time we speak?"

     "Well, that's a good point," said Sirius. Emilia grinned at him, and he added, "And it looks really good. You suit it." He sniggered at her. She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "I mean, you did somehow manage to have a very Hufflepuff approach to getting a tattoo, but—"

     "But, I got it done," said Emilia. "Which is all that matters, because I've wanted it for years and it's good that I bit the bullet." The smile on her face grew a little, and she stepped closer to him to nudge his arm. "And, you'll be pleased to know, my aunt was horrified."

     "That makes it even better," said Sirius. "I've fancied getting some runes on one arm for ages, I'm tempted to get that done now..."

      "You can borrow the spellbook I used," said Emilia. If I'm allowed to borrow it, to lend it someone else... I will be able to, my friends are good. "The spell we used wasn't that painful. Compared to how muggles do it, anyway. It just feels all weird and tingly afterwards." She began to giggle. "Which was great for Di — oh, shit! Forget that, I didn't say anything."

     Sirius nodded. "I heard nothing."

     Emilia continued to grin. Her mood had risen into the stars. To be fair, her entire mood and outlook on life moved to the sun when she was at school. She was with her friends, or people that weren't Salvatores, every second of every day. After years of being in school, Emilia was under the impression that she was incredibly extroverted, however, she couldn't get the energy she needed to breathe from her family. She didn't know why, and she disliked how her body disliked her family, but her brain kept on telling her how wrong it was to hold the negative feelings.

     But she did. However — however — on the bright side of things, Emilia was fortunate to go to a boarding school, and therefore didn't spend as much time with her family as she could've done. Thank the stars!

     "Hey, Padfoot," said Peter Pettigrew, the quiet short boy Sirius was friends with. He looked at Emilia. He looked flustered when she smiled at him. "Prongs and Moony found a compartment."

     "Oh, brilliant," said Sirius. He then turned to Emilia. "I'll catch you around?"

     "Best plan out this tattoo of yours soon," said Emilia. "My tattoo parlour's really busy this time of year."

     Sirius smiled. "Will do, Salvatore."

     As the two boys walked off in one direction, Emilia walked off in the other. The train was being to churn its wheels and move out of the station as she went to find her friends. Her hand trailed along the wall, as if the flat wall could provide any sort of grip if she needed it.

     She arrived into the compartment holding her friends the second before the train abruptly sped up. Just as Dinah exclaimed her arrival, Emilia was forced backwards, landing uncomfortably on both Melanie and Carmilla. They began to laugh, whereas Emilia sheepishly moved to sit next to Dinah.

     "Lost your balance, Em?" asked Dinah.

     Emilia questioned, "How's your left b—"

    "Oookay!" said Carmilla. She had a green ribbon serving as a headband. Emilia thought that it looked pretty. "So, your hair's blue, and you've got a fucking tattoo — that's a lot to handle—"

     Melanie asked, "What happened?"

     "I'm doing it," said Emilia.

     Melanie raised an eyebrow. "Who's it?"

     Dinah snorted. "Was that why you told me to walk on, Em?"

     "No!" exclaimed Emilia. She jumped right to side of the bench. Dinah smiled at her, and Emilia narrowed her eyes, which caused Carmilla to start laughing. Her friends thought she was cute. They didn't think it in a bad way — not the kind a lot of people did, where they treated her like an incompetent idiot because she generally spent most of her days walking on sunshine with her head in the clouds. They just had a tendency to smile, and think, you're such an adorable being.

     "All right, sorry, we'll drop it," said Melanie. "You're still cute. But — what's up with the blue and the flowers?"

     And, with that, Emilia grinned. She looked both mischievous and very excited. Her friends looked both intrigued and mildly worried.

     "Well," she said, "I'm sick of my siblings and the way that they always get me into trouble because I'm the Hufflepuff, I'm the idiot. If they expect me to get into trouble, then fuck, I'm going to get into so much trouble that they won't know what's hit them."

     Her friends looked impressed.

     "So, I'm planning to fake a ton of letters from school complaining about my terribleness," said Emilia. "But, um, hi, if you've got any other ideas..."

     "Oh, I've got one," said Melanie. Emilia nodded, a little too excited. "Have you heard about the group of boys in Slytherin? Paris, Laurence, Sampson, and Gregory?"

     Emilia raised her eyebrows in surprise. "The ones with the greasy hair?"

    Carmilla shook her head, looking up from her packet of sweets. "No, sweetheart," she said. "You're thinking of Snape and his lot."

     "Oh," said Emilia.

    "Paris, Laurence, Sampson, and Gregory are the ones that go around school talking to the younger years," said Melanie. Emilia frowned. That sounds quite nice, why—? "And then they brainwash them into believing what that idiot Riddle says."

     That doesn't sound very nice, Emilia back-tracked.

     "So," said Melanie. Next to Emilia, Dinah was smirking into her magazine. "How do you feel about going on a quest to break their hearts and self-esteem?"

╔═══════════════╗

if any of you did aqa english this year i definitely named them sampson and gregory because of that fucking exam

also?? can you tell melanie is poppy's mother uh??

also,, welcome to mean spirits in chapter three the main character dyed her hair blue and got a tattoo this is wild jfc

anyway!! thank you for reading, and let me know what you thought! :)

also: em's tattoo looks like this:

(however, with em, there's also baby's breath tattooed, but this is the picture i used as inspiration) :)

╚══════════════╝