Сможешь ответи найти (Zoya)

Stasya had hidden her mother’s diary again, having skimmed through it for like the hundredth time. She knew that her mother had not included her father’s identity in her entries and yet the girl couldn’t help but reread the sections about the time that her mother had been with him. She had been really disappointed by the fact that neither her search of her family’s house nor the letter to the Ministry had brought them a final answer as to who her father was but she felt that with Zoya by her side she’d get there, sooner or later. At least she could read the story that had led to her being born now.

While finding her father mattered a great deal to Stasya and was really serious, the girl could not help but notice that she quite enjoyed all the scheming that she did with her best friend. Coming up with always new plans on how to uncover her father’s identity was actually a little adventure in itself and Zoya’s determination and optimism gave Stasya the strength to actually keep going. Had she been in this all alone she’d probably have admitted defeat already but as it was she felt confident that somehow they’d find out his identity, find him.

Their newest plan was risky, they wanted to go through the admissions at Durmstrang, hoping to find some information about Stasya’s father in these papers. After all, he was the magical parent who was the reason she had been admitted to Durmstrang at all. There just had to be some information, at least another hint. It felt a little like a scavenger hunt only that it was not just for fun.

Stasya felt that their plan was good. She was a student librarian and had gone into the office with a list of books that ought to be replaced by new copies. She had tried to make some small talk with the staff member, told them how interesting it was to deal with Durmstrang administration and asked casually if they kept the admission forms of all students and had mentioned that they needed a huge filing cabinet for that. By the end of this little conversation the girl had a vague idea where in the office they’d have to look. However, when she left the office she was a bit of a nervous wreck but also really proud of herself.

They had chosen a random Tuesday to sneak into the office. First, around lunch time,  they’d wait in the corridor and when the elderly witch left they’d try to block the door and sneak in. Of course, if they were discovered this would get them and their house into a whole lot of trouble. The end justifies the means, though. Stasya told herself that over and over again and tried to comfort herself that they would probably (hopefully) not get expelled over this.

She nodded at Zoya as her friend asked if she was ready. Her mind was spinning, though. The girl had envisioned countless different outcomes and at least half of them had been quite bad. She was as ready as she could be, however. As the girls walked through the corridors, Stasya felt that they already looked suspicious despite the fact that they really did nothing wrong at all. She giggled nervously. “I’m so nervous,” she whispered and looked at Zoya, hoping that her friend would know just the right thing to say to calm her down.

They arrived at the spot that they had chosen to observe the office door and Stasya took a deep breath. “You are sure we’ll get the door blocked?!” She checked with Zoya again, knowing that Zoya had already confirmed this a couple of times before. She trusted her friend, of course, but Stasya could not forget her nightmares about how the door would fall shut right in front of their noses. Naturally she had told Zoya all about that, hoping that somehow, miraculously, Zoya would find a way to make it all work out.

@Zoya Chernova

Zoya was pretty sure they would lose a whole lot of chips if the plan went south, possibly even stripped of their student positions, but this was important, and there was no backing down now. The little witch was determined to help her best friend find the answers she deserved. Parents sucked, Zoya wished she didn't know her own, but Stasya had the right to decide that for herself. They had tried the ministry and Stasya's home, but there was no useful information to be found (and the ministry didn't seem too keen to help a pair of teenagers), but then they came up with this plan. Sneaking into the Admissions office was definitely against the rules, but Zoya was confident it would hold some answers. And she never backed down from a challenge. It was like a puzzle with moving pieces, and they had worked out every detail, or so she thought.

"She usually leaves about now? Right?" Zoya asked at the same time that Staysa admitted her nervousness, and the blunder made Zoya giggle. "It will work out, I promise," She reassured her for the seventh time in the last half hour. "I know the spell; it will work," Zoya had practiced the charm to conjure a little block for the last week and a half. She'd conjure it and then float it between the door while the old witch's back was turned; it would work perfectly.

Hiding behind the corner, Zoya looked around the hall quickly, double-checking that no one was watching them, and then smiled when she heard the familiar click of the door opening. "Quick, quick," She whispered, her hands around her wand, and as quietly as she could, the witch performed the charm, a small blue colored block forming on the ground by her feet. She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves, as she floated it toward the door, and it slid into place just before the door closed. Stopping it from latching and allowing them a way inside. Turning back to Stasya, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and fought back a giggle. "Told you so," She quipped, her eyes crinkling as she smiled.

"When she is past the hall, we will head in,"

Stasya nodded and then confirmed in a whisper, “yes, she usually leaves around this time.” The girl felt almost sick now as she was so terribly nervous. She remembered quite well that she had felt similar when they had been on their mission to search her family’s house. There were just so many things that could go wrong. It was a high risk they took and they couldn’t know if it was worth it in the end.

Zoya’s reassurance was more than appreciated and Stasya took a deep breath. “I know,” she muttered, her mouth suddenly feeling very dry. “You’re right. You can do it.” She leaned against the cold stone wall to steady herself. However, she was feeling so cold now that her teeth were even chattering.

Then suddenly the door opened and Stasya felt momentarily petrified. Hadn’t Zoya taken the initiative the opportunity would have passed without Stasya taking action. As it was, though, Zoya managed to block the door just like they had planned and they watched the member of staff walk down the corridor.

“Okay,” Stasya whispered, finally regaining control over herself. “Let’s hurry in then.” She said, smiling nervously at Zoya. She felt like hugging her friend and thanking her that she was doing this with her but now wasn’t the time for that. Her heart was beating frantically as they rushed towards the door. Stasya glanced around and when she saw that the coast was clear she pushed the door open, leaving it to Zoya to step in first.

"Hurry indeed," Zoya said quickly, ushering her friend forward as they both scurried across the hallway and toward the office. Zoya was both impressed and proud that her spell had worked exactly the way she had intended it to. The little witch had been confident, but that didn't mean she wasn't excited when it worked. Zoya took the lead, nearly diving into the office as her spell began to wear off, and held the door behind her for Stasya to join. "Okay, where to look first," She mused, tapping her chin and bouncing nervously on her heels.

"Where did you say they kept the paperwork again? Over there?" Zoya had only been in here a few times, and she hadn't been paying excellent attention. She hoped Stasya knew where to look, but if not, Zoya knew a few choice spells that would make a big mess and help them scatter the evidence around. In her mind, it would absolutely help them find what they were looking for; in reality, it would not.

"Want me to just...? You know..." She waved her wand hand around, not using a spell, to motion for the chaos spell she was so fond of. She assumed Staysa would remember it quite well because Zoya's go-to in the morning when she couldn't find whatever it was she was looking for in the dorms.

Stasya followed Zoya like a shadow. They were standing in the middle of the office now and the girl felt how her heart was beating quickly. This wasn’t good. They weren’t supposed to be here. They could get into so much trouble. Rule breaking never was easy for the fourth year and the girl felt petrified for a moment.

She snapped out of it when Zoya directly addressed her with questions and nodded slightly in response. “Yes, over there,” she confirmed, her voice quite faint. The girl felt how her cheek reddened. Zoya was doing this for her and she was more or less useless in situations like that. If they took too long it the chance that they were getting caught was only getting higher.

“Do you think a spell would work? If it does it would probably be the easiest way.” Stasya paused, chewing on the inside of her cheek before continuing. “I suppose we’ll have to unlock the drawers first, don’t you think? They are surely protected somehow,” she mused, thinking that they contained confidential files that could probably not be summoned easily.

"Yeah, anything we can use magic for, we should." Zoya motioned with her hand, indicating she shared Stasya's need to make this as fast as possible. The longer they were here, the more likely they were to be caught; it was only prudent to use magic to speed up the process. Stepping up to the file cabinet Zoya nodded. Intellectually she knew that Stanislava was most probably correct in assuming that it was locked, but she had to try anyway. Yanking on the drawer dramatically, the whole cabinet shook until Zoya dropped her hands. "Spells for unlocking things," She thought to herself, her eyes glossing over a little as she zoomed through her mental Rolodex of spells. "Ah, ha!" She exclaimed, quietly but abruptly, and held her wand to the case again.

Spells and wand magic were by far the young witches favorite part of the school, mostly because of how useful they were for her true passions: dueling and illusions, but also for times like these. "Alohomora," She incanted, half expecting the warding on the file cabinet to be much sturdier than a simple unlocking charm could break, but pleasantly surprised when to the top drawer creaked open slowly. There were so many files inside, it was jam packets, and the drawer's weight was entirely unevenly distributed. To Zoya, it looked like nothing, but the redhead knew the dissarray inside the academic office of the Durmstrang institute would most likely irritate her best friend.

"I think you should try to summon, the paperwork doesn't technically belong to either one of us, but the magic might be a little more forgiving if the person who's name is on it is the one calling for it,"

Stasya nodded. She felt more than a little nervous now. What if there were protective enchantments in the office, detecting that there were students in here without a member of the Durmstrang staff? What if they could hear their voices? She took a deep, calming breath. While the student librarian deemed it possible that the file cabinet might be locked she assumed that the staff didn’t consider the office interesting for most students which meant that the protections might not be all that extreme, after all.

Zoya was a lot more a doer than a mere thinker like Stasya herself and she appreciated this trait of her friend very much right now. As the duelling captain cast Alohomora, Stasya held her breath and then opened her mouth in surprise when she saw that the drawer indeed opened at the spell.

“Well done,” she whispered, glancing at her friend. Her cheeks turned a pinkish shade of red as she stepped closer. Frowning ever so slightly as she saw its content. How was anyone supposed to find anything in there? She assumed that the Durmstrang staff never really picked anything out of there by hand but simply summoned files because otherwise they’d just waste a whole lot of time.

Zoya seemed to have come to the same conclusion and Stasya nodded. “Okay,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. “Accio Stanislava Ivanovna Bulgakova’s file” she said, saying her full name because she wasn’t sure if the spell would actually work if she’d simply stay ‘accio my file’.

A thin folder emerged out of the drawer and flew into Stasya’s trembling hands. She looked at Zoya and smiled nervously. “I dare not open it,” she said quietly, staring at her name on the folder. What if this was the moment? What if she’d know who her father was in about a minute? What if she’d get disappointed because there was no information on her father in there? “Can you take a look?” she asked, looking at her best friend pleadingly. 

Zoya watched as her best friend began to summon what they were here for and felt her heart racing in her chest. Like they were on a treasure hunt, where danger lurked behind every desk and a potted plant, the little witch was ever vigilant. At any moment the secretary might return, they had to be quick, leave no trace, and most importantly, get what they came for. As the prize floated out of the file drawer and into Stasya's waiting hands, Zoya's jaw dropped. "It worked? ... I mean, ahem, of course, it worked," Zoya's surprised face gave her away, but soon enough, the corners of her mouth pulled into a smile.

"Yeah, I will," Agreeing instantaneously, the redhead reached for the file, flipped it open, and began skimming the words. There were all sorts of fields, lots of data filled in by what seemed to be an ancient typewriter, but nothing other than the letter "e" being higher than any other letters in a line seemed to stand out right away. "Hmm," She began, making small noises as she moved on to the next page, and that was where she found it. "Well, that is just strange," Muttering as she traced the words twice and kept Staysa in suspense, Zoya finally looked up from the page.

"It has the name of your father, your real father," Zoya admitted slowly, blinking a few times before shuffling the page around so that Stasya could read it. "Ivan Mikhailovich Chernov," Zoya said the name out loud, repeating it over and over silently to herself and then shaking her head. It couldn't be the same person; she was sure of it. "But that is probably the most common name in all of Russia," Sighing dramatically, the young witch set the folder down on the open drawer and slunk into the secretary's rolling chair. She began spinning in a slow circle, staring up at the ceiling, and waiting for the next move.

A nervous chuckle escaped Stasya when Zoya expressed her surprise that accioing the file had worked. She hadn’t expected it to work either so she did not think anything of her best friend’s reaction. They got lucky for once and it was well deserved or so Stasya at least felt.

She was relieved that Zoya agreed to open the file. Her hands were trembling so much now that she felt she’d drop it any moment anyway. She took a deep breath as the other girl took the file and flipped it open.

As Zoya muttered that something was strange, Stasya stepped closer to her friend and took a look at the file as well. “Oh,” Stasya said as Zoya read the name out loud. “Isn’t that…” she paused and looked at her friend, frowning. “That’s your father’s name, isn’t it? Maybe they accidentally typed your information in my file? We’ve started school at the same time. It could be a mistake.” Somehow the information didn’t feel like the revelation Stasya had expected. It felt wrong.

She watched as Zoya sat down and spun around in the secretary’s rolling chair. “It has to be a mistake,” she picked up the thread again, “or it could be another Ivan Mikhailovich Chernov. Or…” She shrugged and shook her head.

“We should leave,” she said all of sudden. Her legs felt like jelly but Stasya just wanted to get out of the office now, feeling like she could not breathe anymore. “I’ll check if the coast is clear,” she muttered and opened the door just a little bit to lurk outside, thoughtlessly relying on Zoya out of all people to clear up.

"Yeah, it is, but it can't be the same wizard; that would just be, like, astronomically impossible." Right? Zoya was using words to cover up her confusion; the Klyk Vampira hated not to understand something. She very much liked being the second smartest person in the room, right behind Stasya, but she did not understand this turn of events. "A clerical error? Yeah.. that works." It made sense; it was far more probable than any other reason she could come up with.

"We should leave," Zoya nodded her head enthusiastically, a bit of red hair spilling out of her haphazard hair tie, and stood up from the spinny chair. Shoving the pages back into the folder (in the absolute wrong order), the teen witch slammed it shut with both hands. This was too weird, and if they stayed too long, she was sure they would get caught.

Using a bit of force, she jammed the folded back into the file cabinet and slammed it shut with all of her might. It would be obvious that someone had opened it, but Zoya left the entire draw in such chaos that the secretary would be hard-pressed to figure out which file had been looked at. "Let's go." She said softly, grabbing for Staysa's hand before leading them out of the office and down one of Durmstrang's many corridors. It was narrow and abandoned this time of day, so they had some privacy, and Zoya had a feeling they were going to need it.

"You okay?"

Stasya nodded, feeling that Zoya was right, had to be right, actually. It was sheer impossible that they had the same father, that they were half siblings. Yet, while she nodded in agreement, the girl couldn’t help but wonder. What if…? No, it made no sense. Zoya was a pureblood, her own mother was a muggle. How should a pureblood man have met her mother? Besides, Zoya was about her age, meaning that the man would have fathered two children at about the same time. That was… Stasya’s first impulse would have been to call it disgusting but somehow she felt bad allowing herself to even think that now.

“Mhmm,” Stasya said as Zoya responded to her idea that it might have been a clerical error. It was the most likely chance. However, she felt a little disheartened that, if her theory was right, they hadn’t even got one step closer to figuring things out.

As Zoya grabbed her hand and let them out of the office, Stasya glanced sideways at her friend, a slight smile flitting across her face. Her hand was icy cold and she only realised it now that her skin touched Zoya’s. She let her friend drag her along, not even really taking in where they were going.

’You okay?’

Stasya wanted to smile and say ‘yes, of course’ but, while her lips curved into a smile, her eyes began watering. She still nodded, though. It took her a moment until she felt able to respond.

“I… I don’t know what to think,” she admitted faintly. “We need to find out why the name is really there.”

Now that they were somewhere more private and less likely to get them a month's worth of detention, Zoya sighed loudly. Relaxing against the wall, a tiny bit of the tension she was carrying released, but only long enough to be replaced with confusion (which was always followed by irritability). The young witch did not like not knowing all of the answers, and this was a strange puzzle, to begin with. She fidgeted with her hair, tapped her foot, and inspected the crack in a stone until Stasya answered her question and then nodded.

"And we will," She said instantly, not needing a second to consider her best friend's words before having a reply. Zoya was determined to help Stasya with this, whatever it took, but she was lost for what step to take next. Going to the administrations' office was supposed to be the ticket. It should have given them all the answers they needed but instead only posed more questions, how annoying.

"We will find out, Stasya; you have my word." The little witch turned to the other girl, crossing her fingers over her heart to symbolize how dedicated she was in this pursuit. "We will need another plan, but maybe first, we could go eat something?" Never investigate on an empty stomach.

More than ever Stasya was glad to have Zoya as her best friend. She smiled at her gratefully, knowing that she’d never be able to find out anything on her own. She wouldn’t have gotten this far on her own and right now she really had no clue how they should proceed. She felt certain, though, that with Zoya’s help she’d find a way to solve this mystery.

She nodded as Zoya confirmed that they’d figure it out and a few tears ran down her cheek. Quickly the girl lifted her hand to dry them off and opted for a small smile.

“Thanks,” she muttered as Zoya promised her that they would find her father. Again she could feel how her eyes were watering and she turned her gaze down.

Zoya suggested eating something and while Stasya was not hungry she figured it would be a good thing to go to the Grand Hall anyway. Her thoughts felt so confusing now that she was certain that she wouldn’t be able to come up with anything sensible now anyway and if food helped Zoya then that was good.

Zoya could see the tears welling in Stasya's eyes, and as a few escaped, she grew even more dedicated to their cause. More than anything, Zoya wanted to protect her best friend, and she was willing to do just about anything to do it. Even if it meant breaking into the Administrations's Office and risking her Dueling Captainship, Zoya would break every school rule if it got the answers because she knew that was what Stanislava needed. And Zoya could relate; she hated when things left unsolved; unanswered questions made her irritable.

"Your welcome," She said softly, still patting Stasya on the back, still trying to be supportive even as her mind was racing a mile a minute trying to think of the next steps. Food was certainly on the list, but after that, they needed a plan of attack. They needed to figure out how to move forward with the search. "Okay, let's get going, then. I think it's Bulgaria night, and I don't want to miss the Torta Garash," The redhead announced, standing up and offering Stasya her hand as a friendly gesture. They'd eat and then figure out the rest.

/end

Why was this all so complicated? Not for the first time Stasya wondered why she couldn’t just know her father. She just felt that something was missing, that she didn’t know her whole identity. The teenage girl tried to figure out who she was and, not knowing who her father was, she felt that she was missing an important piece of information.

It felt so great to have Zoya on her side for this mission. Stasya smiled and cried at the same time as her friend patted her on the back. "Thanks," she muttered again. Suddenly having food seemed like a good prospect. After this emotionally straining endeavour Stasya felt that a break was much needed. They could discuss things and make plans later.

She took Zoya’s hand and followed her friend to the Grand Hall. “Sounds delicious,” she muttered, although she didn’t really care that much about the food her friend had mentioned.

[out]