Magical Hogwarts

Thursday, 28th of July 2005
late evening

Usually, at this time of the evening, there were still some people at the flying school. The last official practices ended at 10 pm on some days, but when Aglaya entered the building now it was pretty deserted. There was no light in the cafeteria anymore although, sometimes, athletes, staff and family sat there together for a light meal or a drink until far later in the night. The reception in the foyer was empty, too. Aglaya saw a dim light from within the shop, but didn’t go inside to check if Valera was indeed present. It didn’t matter. She hadn’t come here to find company.

It was no surprise that nobody was still here, of course. The news of Svetlana’s murder had spread in the course of the day, including the fact that the body had been found in the waste container by Aglaya. The rumours would spread widely and, given the changes and additions people made, make the whole situation even worse than it already was.

Aglaya had been questioned for hours already and it hadn’t been pleasant. The multiple time champion felt certain that without her potions she would surely have broken down because of the horrible questions Afanasiy Kirillovich had asked and the insinuations he had made. However, she had stayed mostly calm. What did it matter, though? She was their prime and only suspect. Afanasiy Kirillovich had already mentioned jail. Would he really imprison her for a crime she hadn’t committed? Would he try to find some kind of evidence that she had murdered her cousin or even fake it? A shudder ran down her spine as she considered that possibility.

She passed through the private area of the school and quickly changed into a training outfit. Maybe it was late, maybe it wasn’t quite the right time to think of practice, given the circumstances, but Aglaya couldn’t help it. She needed to get onto her broom, turn on some music and perform to it. She was a wild bird that had been held in a cage far too long.

The picture of how she had found her cousin in the waste container appeared in front of her inner eye again and, while this had been awful, Aglaya felt that the worst was still to come. She couldn’t be sure if she wouldn’t get arrested at some point and she felt it would be silly not to use the time she had now to do what she loved most. The potions she had downed in the course of the day made her feel like this was an excellent idea and forget that she hadn’t eaten anything yet. Stepping into the arena, Aglaya put her sports bag on a front row seat and then approached the music desk to pick something she wanted to listen to. While she usually chose the pieces of music she was using in her competitive programs, she felt that this wasn’t quite the right choice now. Instead she put on Air by Johann Sebastian Bach in an endless loop.

After a brief warmup on the ground, Aglaya mounted her broom and began to improvise to the music. Slowly the tension lessened and she wasn’t quite so caught up in the dark thoughts anymore. There was still the deep feeling of sadness and despair, but she could release it into movements that were in flow with the classical piece of music. The longer she flew, the more expressively she performed. Suddenly even the execution of a backflip that she hadn’t been able to do in months seemed possible again. Her first attempt, still a little hesitant to begin with, didn’t work out and she found herself on the ground after missing the platform of the broom. The second attempt was shaky, but at least she stayed in the air which was an achievement, given that she felt a little dizzy. Encouraged by this, the athlete tried again, this time with better success. She went on improvising, including more and more elements each time the music started anew and ignoring that she was getting tired and, respectively, also a little slower. She took off for another backflip, but she didn’t quite get the rotational speed she needed. As her feet hit the broom’s tail, the handle was catapulted upwards and hit her in the face.

A moment later she was on the ground again. Aglaya wanted to mount her broom and continue, but, when she lifted her hand to wipe off what she thought might be sweat, she realised that she was bleeding. “Damn,” she muttered to herself and went to the stands where she had put her bag, quickly pulling out a towel to press on the laceration. She was less bothered by the wound itself than by the fact that this ended her practice. After all, she had experienced enough of such incidents to realise that this wasn’t serious injury, but as long as the wound was bleeding, there was no way she could go on flying.

@Valera Tikhomirova

[OOC: I have a rather lengthy text about what happened before. If anyone is interested in reading it pm/skype me, please]

It had been a long, horrendous day.

Again.

Ve had arrived at the school at vir usual time, ready to open the shop at around eleven am, but there had been no customers. Instead there was a terrible sense of quiet and calm, with fear and sadness bubbling just under the surface. Svetlana Vsevolodna had been found dead. Aglaya had found her in a waste container outside, early that morning, and now the investigators who couldn't, in Valera's opinion, discover who had sent them an owl when they already had a signed letter in front of them, were interviewing everyone to try and pin it on Aglaya find the murderer.

Oh, they didn't say they had already made up their minds, but it was obvious. Valera had been one of the first questioned. In the absence of Aglaya or Alyona ve was the easiest to find, and the investigators clearly hoped ve was going to 'accidentally' let something slip. They barely seemed to care that ve had been working in the shop alone late the previous evening and thus didn't have an alibi for at least two hours - in fact, didn't have one at all because Grigory was away on an important conference in Berlin. Ve could easily have carried out the terrible deed and nobody would have been any the wiser, but they didn't even ask whether anyone could vouch for where ve had been last night. They were solely interested in trying to build a case around Aglaya.

Had she and Sveta argued? How long had they been rivals? Was Aglaya known to have a bad temper? Did Valera think she was capable of losing control? Was she jealous of Sveta's recent marriage (here, Valera had laughed in derision, but had the sudden horrifying thought that she hoped someone had broken the news gently to poor Cezary, now a widower so soon after the happy event)? On and on and on, as if they cared only for proving what they suspected rather than even checking the bo... Sveta to see what evidence they could find.

Lessons and training had been cancelled, of course. Everyone was interviewed, and Valera opened the shop not just for something to do but also to offer strong coffee to those who wandered in needing a pick-me-up. Ve could have gone home, but that felt wrong somehow. Instead ve ate an unsatisfying dinner at the cafeteria and returned to the shop to begin an unnecessary full stock inventory that would at least keep vir mind occupied.

Vir eyes were burning, vir stomach burned from the quantity of coffee ve'd consumed in the last ten or so hours and now ve was imagining ve could hear music. Ve sat down heavily on a stool and stretched, yawning. Ve really ought to go home, but...no, it wasn't vir imagination. Ve really could hear music.

Valera stood up and followed the sound, already certain it would be coming from the arena. What ve hadn't anticipated was that it would be Aglaya practising, using a piece of music that as far as Valera knew wasn't part of this season's programme. The door stood open, and ve stood just beyond, not wanting to disturb vir niece. Aglaya soared above far above vir, oblivious to anything but the music and the art, flying an improvised sequence that was somehow more beautiful than anything ve had seen in competition that year because it came from the heart. Her heart leapt and soared when ve realised Aglaya was including backflips, something she hadn't tried so far this season. It was surely a good sign that...

Then she missed one. It wasn't a serious slip, just a misstep that caused the broom to fly up and hit her in the face, but she had to land ignominiously. Valera was already crossing the arena space, jogging over to join vir niece in the stands. The music played on as the blood streamed down Aglaya's face and she stemmed it with a towel, as Valera pulled vir wand and approached, a healing spell already forming on vir lips.

"Pity about that last one. It's been quite a day, hasn't it." ve said.

She wasn’t alone.

Her heart skipped a beat when she realised that someone was approaching her. Then she exhaled loudly. Out of all possible people approaching her now, Valera was definitely more welcome than most others. Admittedly, Aglaya wasn’t too pleased to be caught in this situation anyway. She didn’t want anyone to see this minor injury. It felt wrong to give it any attention given the circumstances. Sveta had been murdered. What did a little wound matter then? She didn’t even feel any pain.

“Yeah,” she said. She could feel how blood was slowly soaking the towel and just pressed it more tightly against her eyebrow. “It was close enough.” That wasn’t really true, though. She knew that Valera knew it, too. It had been careless of her to go for another backflip when her body had already given her signs that she needed to stop or at least take a break to recover her breath.

Ve had said that it had been quite a day. That was an understatement and just this simple sentence was sending a cold shiver down her spine. She had been okay as long as she was up in the air. The tension and anxiety had been forgotten while she was moving to the music but were welling up again now that she was on the ground again. This brief moment of blissful oblivion had passed and the picture of Sveta’s hand hanging out of the waste container appeared in front of her inner eye. She swallowed and sank down on a seat, suddenly feeling incredibly exhausted.

“You have no idea…” she said, though Valera could probably, to some extent at least, imagine what the day had been like for her. Sveta’s death had been a shock. It was more than just a bitter tragedy for the family, though. Her death and the incompetence of the investigators threatened her own life. If Afanasiy Kirillovich proceeded on the path he had taken, Aglaya felt certain that she’d spend the next years in a wizarding prison with no chance to ever experience the wonderful feeling of being up in the air, expressing her deepest feelings to the sound of music again.

“I don’t know what to do anymore.”

The lines of Aglaya´s body told Valera ve´d arrived at just the right time. Vir niece was exhausted, flying because it made her feel better after a terrible day despite knowing she really shouldn´t be in the air without anyone knowing what she was doing. Normally she would...but this was hardly a normal day.

"Put that down...here, let me fix it..." ve said quietly reaching for the towel and pulling gently until Aglaya lowered her hand. Like most head wounds the cut was small and superficial, it just bled impressively. Ve murmured a spell to close the injury and then another to help minimise the bruising, though Aglaya would need a potion to make it fade entirely. Still, it looked a lot better than a moment earlier. Ve muttered Tergeo and the blood vanished from the towel as well. In other circumstances ve would have insisted vir niece be checked by her mother or another healer, but if they could keep this incident between themselves so the investigators never found it it would be best. Aglaya responding in any kind of a normal, emotional fashion was something they would likely twist into something ridiculous.

 Ve smiled, a sad, twisted halfway expression that was accompanied with a sigh. "You know my opinion of that pair already" ve said. "If I could get away with performing a strong memory charm on the both of them  - and, of course, if I´d ever successfully performed a memory charm in my life - I´d go and do it right now..." Valera had been strangely absent from class the day that particulr spell - and indeed many others - had been taught and thus vir armoury of charms was somewhat limited, not to mention vir own memory meant ve sometimes forgot things ve knew perfectly well. Ve kept lists to counteract this in the shop, the kitchen, vir handbag...but nothing that was accessible just now, even had ve remembered to look. Vir sole concern just now was what was best for Aglaya.

"I´m not surprised. I don´t know either - though I think a good night´s rest would help us both to think more clearly." Ve sighed again, glanced around to check they were alone, and asked in a lower tone "Do you need to take anything that might help?"

“Thank you,” Aglaya said after Valera had dealt with the wound. It looked far worse than it really was, but she knew that ve also knew that it wasn’t anything to worry about. Maybe she’d have a little bruise and swelling there even after the wound itself was closed but that was hardly anything they needed to give any further thought.

“Well,” Aglaya said and sighed, “who knows if other investigators would come to different conclusions.” She had given it some thought. For an outsider she looked like the perfect suspect. Sveta had been her main rival, the one person that had defeated her a few times during her career. Of course, people not invested in the sport wouldn’t see that she needed someone like Sveta to push herself to keep working hard and trying to improve herself even if she hadn’t ever really liked her cousin as a person.

“I don’t think I want to sleep now,” she said. It was probably hard to understand given her level of exhaustion, but the prospect of the new morning with even more questions by the investigators scared her too much to call it a night.

“I wonder…” she looked at her broom which lay on the ground, tempting her to pick it up again, “what would happen if I just… went to Switzerland already? I mean, the European championships are pretty soon. I could train there until they start. No, that’s silly. Forget I said that. They’d call me heartless and think I’m running away because I feel guilty.” She sighed. “I don’t think there’s a way to make them understand that I didn’t do it unless anyone confesses the crime.” A bitter laugh escaped her. “And even then, they probably wouldn’t believe it.”

Valera didn't know how to respond. Ve wanted to reassure Aglaya that somehow everything would turn out okay and the facts would come out soon, but the uncomfortable truth was that things looked pretty black for their extended family. Different investigators would probably be politer and unlike this pair would probably have a higher IQ than a venomous tentacula, but they wouldn't have a vested interest in proving Aglaya's innocence. They would follow the most likely trail and look for evidence that confirmed their suspicions. The cousins were rivals, not close, loving family members. From the inside it was a dymanic that made sense and had worked for both of them, but to strangers it certainly looked suspicious. Valera didn't want to think that, but ve had to admit it was true.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep either" ve agreed, slightly rephrasing the statement. The best thing for vir niece would be a good night's sleep, but that wasn't achievable without potions and ve didn't want to suggest anything more than the young witch was already taking. As long as Aglaya didn't try and more flying tonight. If preventing that meant Valera had to spend the entire night sitting here in the practise arena, so be it.

Going to Switzerland would be inadvisable too. Tempting, though. Valera could see the appeal of taking oneself away from the immediate situation and just training somewhere away from the bustle of the school and the inevitable gaggle of reporters. Doubtless a few would follow her there, but it might be easier to keep them out of one training arena with a few well-placed spells. There were advantages to being a member of the family that actually created the sport, after all. The more ve thought about it, the more Valera found it difficult to insist vir niece dropped the idea and stay home.

"I know what you mean, but I'd probably be thinking the same if it was me" ve said eventually "The press are going to misinterpret whatever you decided to do, so maybe you should just do...whatever feels right."

“Yeah…” Aglaya smiled vaguely. It wasn’t like she couldn’t sleep. She could easily take a potion and get a few hours of sleep. It was really more the fact that she wanted to put off waking up to a new morning in hell. The longer she stayed up this night, the longer she’d be left in peace with no investigators trying to prove her guilty of murder.

Valera gave her idea about travelling to Switzerland some thought and Aglaya appreciated the input. It wasn’t like she could risk raising any more suspicions. She was the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Leaving the country would definitely not be well perceived.

“True…” Aglaya sighed and buried her face in her hands. It was all so messed up. Her fingers gently touched the part of her forehead which had made contact with the broom handle. It was quite sensitive to her touch despite the wound being closed. She pressed her finger on it, almost enjoying the pain she felt as it distracted her from the panic she felt inside.

“I think it’s more the investigators, not so much the press, misinterpreting everything I do that is worrying me,” she admitted, letting her hands sink down again. There had been nasty things in the papers in the past. While this was hardly pleasant, Aglaya was more scared that the investigators might find that her guilt was proven when it really wasn’t and throw her into prison.

“Do you think that they’ll arrest me?” She looked at Valera, hoping that ve would have something reassuring to say, but at the same time feeling that there was a chance that exactly this would happen in the near future.