clean out of ideas [gabrielle]

Gabrielle raised her eyebrows. “Six?” she repeated. She was surprised, but she should probably have known that, though. Brecht (quiet, easy to be around, carried her books sometimes) and Katelijn (periodically annoying during their middle years, mostly fine now) were in her house and year. Now that she thought about it, Gabby had dated one of Christoffel’s friends for most of last summer, so she knew him too, sort of. When Lijsbeth was done speaking, Gabby nodded, understanding. She recognised that it was probably very self obsessed of her to be herself — smart, beautiful, popular, Gabrielle Delacour — and still feel the need to stand out, but she wasn’t bothered by it.

“My sister Fleur was Beauxbatons’ champion,” Gabrielle said. She assumed Lijsbeth both knew that already, and would know what that meant — Fleur was much older than them both but Lijsbeth didn’t seem like a total idiot. “Everyone loved her,” she said with a small shrug. It couldn’t be helped; Fleur was intelligent, stunning — prettier than Gabby — and had a kind of charisma most people could only dream of. She’d been prefect, all the teachers seemed to have loved her. “We get compared a lot… I think I’d die if I had five sisters.” She smiled a little, amused at the idea. She sometimes hated that she looked so much like her older sister, but even her jealousy and her resentment (always woven with love and adoration and idolisation, of course) had faded in the past year or so. So many things felt less important now that she was at the edge of proper adulthood.

She let the brush drop back into its container and lit her wand again as she looked at some of the taller shelves. Lijsbeth was several inches shorter than her, so she should probably take the higher ones (mentally, she patted herself on the back for being so thoughtful). “I have a couple of options,” she answered casually. Option one was the job in America she’d been speaking to someone about, but she hadn’t told any of her friends or her, um, the guy she’d been seeing (not a boyfriend), about that option. “My parents both have businesses I could work at, but I really don’t want to do that,” she said.

It was a reaction Lijsbeth was used to, and she shrugged one shoulder with a small grin. Somehow even though four of them were still at school, people still didn't connect the surname and realise they were all related. And most of them automatically assumed Brecht and Katelijn were twins, what with them being in the same year. They weren't just blessed with parents who had planned a big family - or perhaps, Lijsbeth sometimes suspected, hadn't actually planned anything at all. Whatever. She wouldn't be without any of them, and that was another thing she wasn't looking forward to . Next year there would just be her and her youngest brother left at school, and Lijsbeth knew she would constantly be wondering where the others were, if they were okay, and what they were doing.

But at least none of her older siblings had some something as amazing as enter the Triwizard tournament. She'd heard of Fleur Delacour of course - who hadn't? They'd never met of course, though Christoffel remembered her from his first years at Beauxbatons, had even come home his first Christmas and told the family about the 'beautiful prefect who had smiled at him". Lijsbeth didn't think it would be kind to mention that right now so instead she nodded. "That must get annoying sometimes" she said, thinking as she did that she was glad Mom never compared any of them to each other. Well, except when Katelijn was going through a particularly wild phase just prior to starting Beauxbatons, when she'd wished at least twice a day that she could be quieter!

"I wouldn't be without any of my brothers or sister though" she said with a comfortable sigh, lighting the tip of her wand again to check if there was anything else left on the bottom shelf. There was something in the corner, something dark and fuzzy-looking. A discarded blanket, maybe? "Well, I guess you've still got..." Lijsbeth was about to say still got time before you have to decide, but at this moment the fuzzy thing stretched out a long hairy and most un-blanket-like leg, far too quickly for the sixth year's liking. She scrambled backwards, a sudden swear word escaping before she knew what she was saying as she landed on her bottom in the slimy black pool they'd encountered earlier.

If that was a spider it had to be a foot across, at least. All sense of decorum vanished, Lijsbeth jumped to her feet and was out of the store room. empty-handed, before she had time to even think about what she was doing. 

Gabrielle shrugged casually, though it was clearly “annoying, sometimes” — she’d just said as much, hadn’t she? “Neither would I,” she added, clarifying. She wasn’t jealous of Fleur, anymore. Her life seemed pretty idyllic these days, but it wasn’t the kind of life Gabby was interested in at all, at this point. Adorable little Victoire, with the unpleasant surname, who was going to grow up with the most wonderful parents, and a very cool aunt (or two, she supposed reluctantly), was such a sweet angel. There was still no way in hell Gabby was having kids until she was at least thirty-five.

As she shifted a few odd tools with her wand, the blonde had some errant thought that she’d hate to be the sibling of twins (not that the Westbroeks in her year were twins… Right? She was blanking on the topic, suddenly), because it would be impossible not to feel left out, or something. Lijsbeth’s swearing distracted her. She spun around, alarmed at the alarm in the other girl’s voice. Gabrielle had a frown on her face, her wandlight bright and insistent as it lit up her shocked expression.

Her gaze flicked from the Belle, who was (disgustingly) scrambling up from where she’d fallen into the sticky black stuff on the floor — Merlin, it was all over her clothes — to...

Oh.

Gabby made a flicking motion with her wand automatically, sending the creature sliding along the shelf away from her as she copied Lijsbeth and bolted for the door. She didn’t stick around to see if her quick little spell had angered it, and as soon as she was outside she spun back around, flicking her wand once more. She winced a little as the door slammed shut. She tried to catch her breath.

Her heart racing in her chest, Gabrielle glanced down at her feet. Just the tiniest mark on her shoe. Manageable. She glanced at the Bellefueille. “What do you think it ate?” she asked, displeasure dominating her expression, over other things she was feeling, but not showing (fear, mostly).

Well, she supposed that was that. She certainly wasn't going back into the room.

/out

Lijsbeth knew she was overreacting, but she didn't care. She'd heard of spiders growing the epic proportions, and she'd read about acromantulas (which she was quite certain this was not), but that didn't mean she had to enjoy suddenly coming face to face with one. Or face to hairy leg, in this case.

"There's a...it's a..." she began, so many words clamouring in her mind to get out that she failed to articulate any of them. Thankfully Gabrielle seemed to understand and flicked her wand in the creature's direction, and then both of them were outside the abandoned tack room. Lijsbeth got a hold of herself and pointed her wand at the door but the older girl had beaten her to it. Not that she minded. She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the bench where she'd placed the bridles earlier.

"What it ate? The last person who got sent to do their student service in there, probably" she said, attempting a joke that nonetheless came out sounding breathless and a little irritated. Really, Lijsbeth was a bit annoyed with herself that she'd run away from an insect rather that trying to figure out what species it was - though logically she was pretty sure it wasn't anything more exotic than a regular house spider that had drunk a swelling solution. With a sudden flash of inspiration she summoned one of the ancient saddles back inside and braced it against the door. It was doubtful the huge spider would come after them, but she was taking no chances.

"I guess our student service is finished for the day" she said, thinking that at least they'd cleared a good portion of the room "we should probably go and let the stablemaster know what we found". Of course, it was possible they'd be asked to return and finish the clean up, but Lijsbeth doubted it. Getting freaked out by giant arachnids was definitely an acceptable reason for cutting the experience short. She glanced critically down at herself, siphoning off the worst of the mess that she could see, though a change of clothes and a shower was next on her agenda. With a final look at the door, as if to convince herself it as securely closed, the sixth year dropped her shoulders and felt herself relax. "Shall we go?" she asked, and then added "It's been nice talking with you."

[out]