the great bucketlist bash [marin]

It was a cloudless July day in Diagon Alley, all blue skies and crowded shops, and while she wasn't positive if this was something Marin would enjoy, she was sure he would like it to some degree if not just to people watch. And also hang out with her. That was the whole point of coming to stay a few days with her right? Besides, boys got pedicures sometimes. Or at least they should!! She had seen her brothers' feet enough times to know that as a true and hard fact, no discussion needed. She was dressed casually in white jean capris and a sunny yellow top, perfect for the slightly sticky summer weather. With Lovecrafts as the destination in mind, Wini pushed opened the door and glanced back to make sure Marin was following.

"Two pedicures, please," Wini said with a big, bright smile at the witch behind the front desk who had curly, kinky red hair and bright red lips that were painted on perfectly. So perfect that Wini complimented her on the color as she walked them back to the big pedicure chairs. "You can sit there, Clarebear," she smiled at Marin, her brown eyes wide and waiting for his rebuke of the nickname, before she stuck her tongue out at him and scooted back in her chair and brought down the arm that had been tilted up for easy access.

"There's a massage charm button just there, if you want it on," she told him as she pointed with her wand and started hers up so that it felt like the chair was massage chopping her back. She closed her eyes for a moment as the water burbled around her feet and shins and the massage chair made her whole body shake a bit. "Oh! You know what," she said as she remembered one of the big to dos on her list today. "I have an idea for our Last and Final Year at Hogwarts and I think you'll like it." She was always going on about how he would like her ideas or this new food to try or this new book to read or what have you. Mostly, because Marin rarely tried anything new without coaxing, but also because she thought setting the scene in a positive way to start was always a good idea.

Thus, she brought out a clipboard she had borrowed from William with a flourish and smiled over at him as she read the headline she had doodled on the piece of parchment stuck there. "'Winifred & Marin's Seventh Year Bucketlist Bash'" she read with a keen look. "There are allll these things we haven't gotten to do yet and because it's our last year, we have to make the most of it! We won't be able to go back to this time and I don't want us to have any regrets. Right, Marin?" Wini asked with a glance up at him as she dug around in her bag for the color-coded quills she thought she had dumped in her bag before leaving the flat. As usual, her bag was what Marin would call a 'mess' but she thought of it rather as being prepared for any situation. Who knew when she was going to need that extra tank top or that -- wait, was that a half-eaten apple? She vaguely remembered snacking on that yesterday but she could have sworn.. oh well, not what she was looking for!

"What do you think?" she asked as she continued to look for those darn quills.

@Marin Clare

Marin had been skeptical about this entire thing, and as they stepped into the salon, he felt rather justified in his skepticism. She’d been very vague on the details, about what they were supposed to be doing here, and he could see why. Marin wasn’t exactly adverse to doing “girly” things; he’d learned how to braid her hair for her, and he let her paint his nails sometimes (though he knew the removal spell well now, and always vanished the colours soon after she’d done them) but this was another step.

He grimaced at the nickname and gave her a disdainful look. “Are we really…?” he trailed off as she poked her tongue out at him, knowing full well that fighting it would be a lost cause. He tried to think of something equally terrible he could do with her name, but came up blank. Gwart...? Something with warts...? Nope, he had nothing. That type of creativity wasn’t exactly his forte.

Marin untied his shoes and left them neatly beside his bag in between their chairs. Then, gingerly, he put his feet into the water. He copied her, bringing the arm of the chair down and sitting back in his seat. Okay, that wasn’t too bad. Merlin, though, were people going to touch his feet? Inside the water, Marin’s toes curled at the thought. One glance in her direction told him that he didn’t need to play with the “massage” settings, it didn’t exactly look very pleasant, the way she was being jiggled around.

He felt skeptical again as she told him that he’d love her new idea. Last time she’d had one of her “amazing ideas” he’d ended up by himself in the corner of some karaoke bar, holding two sodas while she did shots with an older boy. Amazing, wonderful stuff. Marin smoothed the front of his shirt self-consciously. This idea didn’t seem nearly as terrible as the last one, though. He didn’t hate it. Yet. “What kinds of things would we put on there?” he wondered, turning his blue eyes on her with a slight frown.

“Check my backpack, back pocket,” he said, watching her rifle around in her bag.

She laughed lightly as he gave her a disdainful look, just like she expected, amused just because she knew him so well and had done exactly as she had guessed. She loved knowing him that well. Wini checked on him as she got settled herself, making sure he wasn't floundering with being somewhere new, but she relaxed back into her chair once he seemed well-adjusted.

"Oh!" she murmured as he mentioned his backpack and she leaned over to reach for his bag on the floor, straining and making a little noise before she was finally able to grab it and pulled it closer to her. She easily found the color-coded quills in his bag, which she still didn't understand how it was so organized and clean, but it was lucky for her either way. She pulled the pink quill for herself obviously and tapped the feather against her cheek as she thought about his question.

"Welllll, something for me would like 'bake a cake with the house elves in the kitchen' - I've heard they might let you if you're really nice to them and I bet they have every topping imaginable. Plus I've never really cooked in there before and I heard that some other kids have. Or oh, you know what  we haven't done?" she asked, her brown eyes lighting up, before she whispered her next idea like it was a grand secret. "What if we got a detention?" Wini grinned at him and widened her eyes at such a daring idea. "What would we even need to do to get a detention? I guess we couldn't really ask to be given detention right? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose?"

Marin nodded as she mentioned baking. He wasn’t sure if they were allowed in the kitchens, exactly, but he, too, had heard a lot of stories about students cooking in there. Enough stories that it couldn’t really be against the rules, right? It had definitely been a thing during Dome Year, but Marin tried not to think too much about that period of time.

“Detention?” Marin repeated, frowning. “I can’t get a detention, I’m a prefect.” It didn’t really compute for him. Besides, he couldn't think of a single time he’d broken a rule at school, and the idea of starting now – at the grown up age of seventeen – felt wrong. Off. “What if we do something stupid and then we’re not allowed to graduate?” he continued, “It’s happened before,” he told her, matter-of-factly. At least, he thought it had.

He tried to do some brainstorming of his own. It wasn’t a terrible idea, exactly, but Marin thought he’d already done everything that he wanted to do at school – aside from his NEWTs, of course, and graduation. He shifted his feet in the water a bit, wondering how long they had to be wet for and feeling a little uncomfortable at the concept.

"I could... fly on a broom or something..." he offered lamely, picking at a loose thread on the front of his trouser pocket. Marin used to enjoy flying; he liked being on a broom when he was younger. It had been a long time, though, and the only time he'd ever gotten on a broom at school was in flying class. It wasn't a very cool or inventive idea, though, and he knew it.

"Don't worry, nobody's perfect, I'm sure some prefect in the history of Hogwarts has gotten detention at least once," she said with a wave of her hand. How could they complete their Hogwarts career without the typical teenage experience of getting in trouble and sitting in a boring classroom to feel shame about whatever bad thing they had done and miraculously come out an hour later a better person?? It had to be on the list. Even though Wini still wasn't exactly sure what she would have to do to get a detention in the first place. She shook her head at the distraction. This was just the brainstorming phase, they could figure the details out later. Or just wing it.

But his question about not graduating made her pause, her eyes glancing up at the ceiling before shaking her head resolutely. "No, no, we'll just do something medium bad. Like not bad bad to get expelled or good bad that they would just wag their finger at us and tell us not to do it again. Medium bad," she told her matter-of-factly. As if that was even a thing.

The water at her feet burbled with multi-colored lights and the witch dumped a handful of what looked like little blue crystals into the water that dissipated quickly and released a soft aroma. Wini smiled and relaxed further into her chair, her list almost sliding off her lap into the water before she caught it quickly. "Whoopsies," she murmured as she nabbed the colored quill for Marin and gave him an excited smile.

"Oh! Yes, flying would be fun, but let's take it up a notch. What if you tried out for the quidditch team?! That would be fun right and definitely bucketlist worthy. I mean, look if I was on the quidditch team, anything is possible right?" she said with a laugh. She had mostly joined because Hefin was the captain and she had gushed enough about him that Marin was very familiar with her motivations, but at least Hefin had helped her get over her fear of flying. And he was very, very handsome, that definitely helped.

"Another idea!" she announced as it popped into her head. "How about finding a secret passageway? There have been loads of rumors about some being discovered after the dome fell but I haven't found any, have you?"

“Hmm,” was all Marin had to say about the varying levels that apparently existed within bad, and the punishments that were attached to each. Quidditch team? “Absolutely not,” Marin said, unusually definitive. “Veto.” He would quite literally rather pass away right now in this chair than have to play a single game of that sport. People watching him? A team relying on him, at a sport he was rubbish at? Or – more likely – a mortifyingly embarrassing try-out? Absolutely not. No. Nope.

He looked at her skeptically when she declared that she had another idea, but this one was actually pretty tame, and definitely doable. He shook his head when she asked if he’d found any passageways. “Not any new ones,” he said. It wasn’t something he’d really thought about, but now that she’d mentioned it, it was actually kind of appealing. Marin curled his toes in the water, his grimace showing distaste for a moment before he went back to trying to distract himself with the conversation.

“Are we going to run around the castle whispering to the bricks and tapping our wands on statues?” He was clearly amused by the idea, even though it was quite likely that their sleuthing would involve talking to picture frames and ghosts and such, rather than the more hands-on approach. Marin sighed, glancing away as he tried to think of something they could do. He felt a little like there were numerous options on the tip of his tongue. Absentmindedly, he continued to pick at the loose thread on his trouser pocket.

"I suppose we could... Steal something," Marin said, sounding disapproving even as he said it. What could they steal? What would be the point? They needed Gryffindors for this, he thought distantly, feeling distaste again.

"Veto?" she questioned, glancing up from her list to look at him. Marin wasn't usually this.. stubborn but if anyone understood reluctance of joining the quidditch team, it was her. She was pretty sure she had ruined the odds of Hufflepuff winning any games that one year she was on the team. It was a good thing Hefin had graduated and had taken her only reason for joining the team with him. She pursed her lips for a moment, but nodded. "Ok fine, not quidditch. But you only get two vetoes," she said making up the rule as it popped into her head.

Knowing Marin he'd veto every single one of her good ideas and then where would they be.

Wini laughed at his idea of how they would find hidden passageways, but shook her head at him. "No, of course not," she said lightly. "You know those two Gryffindors who look like twins but aren't? What were their names? They even sound similar. Evan? Devon?" She could never remember names, but she looked at Marin expectantly, knowing he might recall who she meant. "Yeah, them. I heard they were pretty good at sneaking around the castle so maybe they know something. We'd probably be better off starting with them."

Two ladies came over to start their spa treatment, rubbing some blue goop onto their feet and massaging it in, Wini giggling every so often as she was ticklish and giving an apologetic smile to the other woman. Marin's idea had her eyes going wide and she sucked in a little breath. "Marin!" she exclaimed quietly, a smile growing on her lips. "Steal something? Look at you being such a rebel," she said, praising him, but then she lifted a finger. "Ok but only if we give it back afterwards right?"

She scribbled that onto the third column, things they would do together and then switched quills. "Ok more ideas! Each of us going on a date with someone special, and don't even try to veto that one Clarebear, I promise I'll find you the perfect person. Oh and what about riding the boats back to the train together, our final farewell trip away from Hogwarts? Wouldn't that be nice?" She was already adding them to the list.

Wini glanced up at him and though he felt compelled to backtrack, he didn’t. Quidditch? Absolutely not. Two veto rule? “Hmm.” Marin made a disapproving sound, pressing his lips together into a line to match. He wasn’t as flexible as he used to be, he thought. Was it better or worse? He really couldn’t say either way, but at least he didn’t do as much stuff he hated anymore (sewing club, fifth year came to mind). Winifred moved on quickly, though, and he felt a little relief.

“Ian and Eoin, you mean?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Typical Gryffindors, he thought. From memory, they were friends with Vyn. He tried not to let his distaste show this time. “They do seem the type,” he said begrudgingly. He’d heard Filch had caught them red handed out of bed one night, but that they’d somehow reappeared in Gryffindor tower — in their beds — before he could catch them or tell anyone. So Wini was right, he thought, not that he particularly wanted to talk to them. Out of all of the houses, Marin liked Gryffindors the least, as a general rule.

Marin barely held in a grimace as someone came to attend his feet. They took them out of the water and started rubbing some weird blue stuff on there; he wondered if it’d stain his trousers and pulled them up a little higher from the knees. The sensation was extremely distracting, and he plucked a little harder at the loose threads on the seam on the outside of his left thigh. “What, though?” he asked. “A teachers… pen?” it was lame, he knew, but he felt to distracted to come up with a good idea.

“Someone special,” he repeated, thinking that the only special person in his life was her. And his mum, he supposed, but that was an even weirder thought. She mentioned riding the boats back together and he felt mildly offended that she might think to ride with anyone else. “Boats are fine,” he said dismissively, “but dates?” he asked, clearly unimpressed.

She grinned over at him as she took in his frown. "Don't worry," she said tapping her chin with her quill. "I'll talk to them and sort it out, I'll put that on my to do list," Wini told him, scribbling a note. She knew he didn't like Gryffindors much and besides with him hulking beside her with that grumpy look he got sometimes, she wasn't sure he'd really be a help anyway.

A teacher's pen? She laughed softly at the idea and threw him a knowing look. "Marinnnn," she whined, showing her displeasure at how lame that idea was. "Something better, but not too bad that'd we'd really get in trouble..." She tried to think of something. Bucketlists were hard! In the end, she shrugged and waved a hand. "We'll think of the details later, but it's a good idea. I added it to the list," she told him, trying to be encouraging.

Wini was glad that he liked the boats idea. It made her wistful to think about the ending of their Hogwarts years and a little hopeful at what might come next. But she hated endings. At least, she would have the comfort of having Marin by her side for whatever came next. His aversion to dates, however, had her rolling her eyes. "Yes, dates," she said decisively. "We're going to be seventh years. We have to go on some dates this year. I promise I'll find you someone you'll like. What about Maggie? The quiet Gryffindor with the frizzy, I mean curly red hair? She's not loud at all, you'd like her."

Knowing Marin, she was really going to have to harp on all the positives to get him to go on a date. Or just drag him to it which was a very real possibility. She smiled at the lady who drained the foot tub with a wave of her wand and started rolling the bottle of nail polish between her hands. "You want clear polish?" she asked with a glance in his direction.

“Maggie?” Marin repeated, frowning. His distaste showed in his expression. He was quiet for a moment, glancing down as his feet were rinsed and the water was drained. Marin really had no idea what Winifred got out of this; wasn’t some stranger playing with your feet just kind of… Gross? He tried not to think about it, instead focusing on Winifred and her ridiculous ideas.

“She kind of does this…” he motioned to his mouth and made a wet chewing sort of sound. “...In exams.” Had she noticed? Winifred seemed to notice very little, when it came to things like this. Compared to him, anyway. “It’s distracting,” he explained, still picking at that loose trouser thread. Sure, she didn’t seem as obnoxious as most of the other Gryffindors in their year, but he should probably remind Wini that that wasn’t an especially high bar. She didn’t understand, though.

Clear polish? “Um, sure,” Marin agreed, glad when his feet were magically dried. “I don’t know if there’s much I haven’t done, you know,” he mused, looking back at his friend. “Give someone a detention…?” he added thoughtfully. “Can head boys do that?” he wondered out loud.

Yes, Maggie," she confirmed with an easy nod as she debated on whether she could change her polish color at this point. The witch hadn't started painting but she wasn't sure she wanted Flamingo Pink anymore. The girl across from her was getting a bright orange that felt like such a summer color that she was tempted. But not, she really did love this color.

Wini settled back into the chair as she decided and only caught Marin's miming at the tail end. "No she doesn't," she said immediately, quick to refute whatever reasons he would invent on why he wouldn't like someone. If she took him at his word for everything, they would never do anything. Then again, he wasn't exactly wrong. "Wait, does she?" she asked on second thought, trying to remember why she had discounted Maggie as an option for him before. Was the chewing thing why?

"There are plenty of things we haven't done, Marin, that's what the list is for, but I think we have a good start so far and we can always add to it, you know," the blonde said as she inelegantly stuffed the paper back into her mess of a bag, before wiggling her toes as she put them on the little footrest for the witch to start painting.

She grinned over at him with a nod. "Of course you can. You can give detention, dock points, you're Head Boy, everyone has to listen to you," she said, looking at him with pride and admiration in her eyes. She couldn't believe her best friend was Head Boy and sure there had been a week or so where she had been upset they hadn't been Head Boy and Head Girl together like she had been dreaming about, but that seemed like a distant memory now.

Wini fought to keep the smile off her face as she peered over at him. "Think the Gryffs will have any points left after you're done with them?" she asked innocently, knowing his penchant for not liking that house.