A Bouquet Of New Beginnings Ch. 16 "Peony I"

A Bouquet of New Beginnings Ch. 16 "Peony I"

Floriography - Life & Honor

Summary: The First Trial of the Keepers and Other Traumatizing Events

[AO3]

Below is an excerpt of the chapter. Full chapter can be viewed from AO3 link above!

*There are trigger warnings listed within the end chapter notes on AO3, but the below excerpt is the section without any of the triggers involved.*

The steam smelled of honey and peony as the silver ladle created calm ripples across the magenta liquid. Sleeves rolled up of her sky-blue uniform, Artemis hummed her mother’s lullaby as she leaned over the Potions station before she stopped stirring and picked up the pestle and mortar. Mornings when she was tasked to brew and restock the apothecary were a boon, wherein she required just enough focus on a straightforward objective to not be distracted by unwanted thoughts.

“Professor Fig informed me that you were going on an exhibition this afternoon for your independent study.”

Her heart thudded loud against her ribcage as she lifted her gaze from the crushed myrtle petals. The gruff Potions professor’s eyes were lifted as he sat at his desk - a silent insistence to observe her brewing.

“Yes, sir. He was kind enough to offer to show me some of the ruins in the area for History of Magic,” answered Artemis succinctly.

That was technically true – Professor Fig did in fact state that the destined tower was heavily weathered, and they were going under the pretext of catching up on some sections of History of Magic. They couldn’t very well say that they were going to an old, abandoned tower that served as some sort of trial for ancient magic.

“I presume you are aware of the increased activity in the area?”

Again, Artemis nodded as she sprinkled in the crushed myrtle petals and adjusted the fire. The liquid was brought to a roiling boil as the mixture slowly rendered into a viscous pink whilst she stirred seven times counterclockwise.

“Inverto.”

The inversion magic left her wand, and the viscous pink shimmered before the colour dissolved into a milky white. Potent fertility inverted to a potent contraception – a simple idea with complex application. The binding spell in place, and the potion was complete. She poured a sample and gave it to Professor Sharp to test. A single drop of the potion coated the testing strip, and offered the visual of an upside-down peony – a success.

“Good,” commented Professor Sharp as he corked the vial. “Not many would get this potion right to this… potency.”

Artemis bit her inner cheek and bit back her comment; Professor Sharp lifted an eyebrow as he waved for her to finish up. The potion vials clinked together as she packed up, though her mind was now on the trial she’d undertake that afternoon. She hoped that whatever it was, she was ready.

“Miss Loreley,” cut in Professor Sharp as she was about to leave with the box filled with cushioned potion vials balanced on her hip. The professor made his way to her, a sealed roll of parchment in his hand.

“You are to work on this for the upcoming weeks. Ordinarily I wouldn’t be concerned but you… you ought to be prepared.”

“Sir?”

The parchment was tucked into the box.

“You are to work on these during the next few office hours. It would do well to bolster your arsenal other than just spells and Healing potions.”

Artemis blinked twice as she managed to dumbly nod.

The parchment was unfurled amidst Professor Binns’ monotonous review on a goblin rebellion in the 1300’s. Snores weren’t bothered to be concealed, and once again Artemis and Amit were the only two that seemed to remain remotely awake. Leander and Andrew fell asleep within five minutes. Poppy and Natsai made valiant efforts before they too succumbed; Ominis’ dark blond locks glowed softly in the spilled sunlight as he lasted perhaps a minute. Garreth and Sebastian, once again, did not show up.

Her eyes scanned over the parchment as she read the harsh calligraphic handwriting of Professor Sharp, and tilted her head. Sticky Solution was written on the top with a list of ingredients and directions. This looked like an original recipe. Giddy excitement bubbled in her chest at the prospect.

Ominis shivered slightly next to her even as he slept. She envied that he, and frankly every other person, could take a nap. Professor Binns glided by, and a pleasant coolness settled around them. Or rather, it was pleasant to her; everyone else seemed to shiver in their varied states of slumber.

She snuck another look at Ominis, who’d taken to using his arm as a standing pillow. He’d kept her request to keep silent about her embarrassing panic; she knew Sebastian would have relentlessly asked otherwise. She still wondered what she’d missed between the two of them when the topic of where to practise the spell came about, but that was beside the point. The point was that Ominis didn’t need to keep silent, and yet he did.

Her mind flitted to the purple hyacinth that now stood atop her desk in its vase. She sent a gentle warming charm from under her desk toward him, and Ominis’ shoulders relaxed. With a small smile, she continued to read up on the new potions recipe.

A Bouquet of New Beginnings Chapter 15: "Flowering Maple"

Floriography - Enlightenment

Summary: Professor Fig is back from the fruitless trip to the Ministry, and another chat with Professor Rackham is had.

[AO3]

Below is an excerpt of the chapter. Full chapter can be viewed from AO3 link above!

Her heart and footwork were equally light as she made her way toward Professor Fig’s classroom with the note delicately folded into her pocket. The path was all but etched into her memory as she silently weaved through the student crowd. In fact, she didn’t stop until she knocked onto the professor’s office door, heart elated when she heard the voice beckoning her in.

“Professor Fig,” greeted Artemis warmly as she stepped through the threshold and clicked the door behind her. “Welcome back.”

Professor Fig looked up from his desk, weariness etched into his features but the English grey eyes brightened nonetheless.

“Artemis, it’s good to be back. Please, have a seat.”

“How was the errand to the Ministry, sir?”

“About as useful as pearls to a horklump,” sighed Professor Fig in lingering frustration as cups of warm chai were placed. Artemis took the seat across from him in front of the fire in the usual armchair. “Minister Spavin was much more concerned of the rogue dragon in the skies, and not in the least bit concerned of Ranrok and his ilk. But, I wouldn’t say it was a completely fruitless trip.”

Professor Fig gestured toward the back of his classroom where she noticed a distinct, new mound of papers and books were haphazardly stacked in a shaky lean equivalent to the Tower of Pisa.

“I was able to swing by my flat and grab Miriam’s old research. I presume you would like to read through those with me?”

Her mouth practically watered as she nodded. Professor Fig chuckled.

“Also, thank you for handling the Moste Ponte Potions.”

“Why did you need that book, sir?”

“Ah, you see. I had a feeling that this trip would be exactly like it ended up. So I thought we could brew something a little…useful. Call it a secret project,” teased Professor Fig as he opened the book and flipped it for her to see.

Polyjuice Potion. Her shoulders shook as her eyes scanned the calligraphy. Deliciously complicated, brilliantly long, and utterly disastrous if done wrong.

“I look forward to brewing, sir.”

“I could tell.”

“Are there any other potions that we should consider?”

“Hmm… why don’t you take a quick look? What Madam Scribner doesn’t know won’t hurt.”

Artemis flipped through the book; many were less than stellar, and some of them were downright dastardly. Not that the drawing of a woman with spider legs growing out of the tendrils of her brain on the Polyjuice Potion page was any bit delightful. She created copies of those she deemed necessary.

“Professor, while you were away, I was able to track down the missing pages of the book.”

Professor Fig choked on his chai.

“You – what?”

“I tracked down the pages, sir.” Artemis pulled out the pages from her legside bag, a poor attempt at righting the wrinkles clear. “It, er, it got a bit crumpled.”

She passed the paper; his English grey eyes scanned the lines. “How did you come by this?”

“Well, I became friends with a ghost named Richard Jackdaw initially when I dove into the Black Lake –”

“- wait, you dove into the Black Lake?”

“Yes. But I’d been reading at the boathouse when he popped by and mentioned that he’d pilfered a few pages from Peeves once. Of course, I asked him where he had them just in case and um, it turned out he had died in a cave. So I… may have gone to search for his bones to bring him back since he’d apparently been forgotten there for four decades – ”

“- you went to search for a dead boy’s bones?”

“Mm. But, of course, the pages were the ones from the book, and sir. The cave was like Gringotts and the Restricted Section, with ancient magic and those ornate decorations. It led to a chamber with a portrait of Professor Rackham a few floors beneath Hogwarts. He also said we would need the book,” finished Artemis.

Professor Fig inhaled then exhaled exaggeratedly.

“And were you alright? During this unsanctioned excursion?”

“Yes,” answered Artemis. He didn’t need to know of the tussle with the arachnids or the close call with Ranrok’s loyalists.

“Did you go alone?”

Artemis nodded, and she got the distinct feeling that Professor Fig was not pleased with that response. “But, Richard knew where I’d gone and he would’ve reported it if I didn’t come back, and I’d mentioned to Sebastian I was running an errand.”

“I see. Though I am glad you had put some contingencies, if you do something like that again, I do not care if I am in London or Cairo or the North Pole –”

“– the North Pole?”

“It’s just an example. Anyways, I would like you to owl me beforehand. Send a notice somehow. Understood?”

Artemis bit her lower lip.

“Yes, sir.”

“I know you’re more than capable, Artemis, and I realise you didn’t have many options. But just to ease this old man’s heart, alright?”

She smiled meekly toward his fond one.

“Were you able to find his bones?”

“Yes, he’s still deliberating on how he would like to be handled. There was one more thing I wanted to discuss with you, sir, but I’m not sure if I should wait for Professor Rackham since I’m not sure if it’s ancient magic related or not.”

“You’re full of mysteries today. Very well, let’s go down to the Restricted Section first; you could show me the pensieve, and we can bring up the topic to this Professor Rackham,” concluded Professor Fig.

Both Professor Fig and Artemis stood up from their respective chairs and made way toward the door.

“I wonder if all of the statues reset themselves,” mused Artemis. Professor Fig chuckled.

“Godric’s heart, I hope not. I’m no spring chicken.”  

Me whenever my friends are like "oh can I see what you write?"

people who only use conventional social media are so funny bc they’ll casually be like “can I see your tumblr??” are you Insane. this is no instagram or twitter. this is my vault of secrets

Multiple MC's/posing tutorial:

Since people ALWAYS ask, and no one ever gives an in depth description on how to use all these mods I thought I would go ahead and make one! It always feels like everyone is gatekeeping their methods but really it's just a lot to explain and no one wants to type all that out so....

Anyway! Here's how I added multiple MC's into one shot and posed them all pretty!

1. You need the following mods:

https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/57

https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/1149

https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/974

2. Once you have all of the mods working you will start out making your mc into the first character you want added to your picture using the character editor mod, then get the outfit you want on etc. (You cant edit it once its out there so get it just right)

3. Youre going to use UE tools to duplicate your MC. press f10 to pull up the command bar and the in: "uetools_summon bp_biped_player_c"

(without quotes) Exactly like that then hit enter.

4. You should now have a second copy of your character hanging out by your original one. Now press f8 to open the animation mod, it now moves the most recently summoned mc instead of the one you are controlling. Use the postion and animation settings to move them where you want and find a pose you like. You won't be able to edit them once you summon the next character so make it look pretty!

5. Once you have posed your character, repeat steps 2-4 until you have posed all of the MC's you want. You cannot pose NPC's, but with other mods you can make an mc of them!

BONUS:

For the lighting, you dont have to wait around all day for the sun to light you up just right either. Type in "uetools_setworldsettings timedilation 20" to make time fast forward until the lighting is just right, then type "uetools_setworldsettings timedilation 1" to put it back to normal.

If you want to take a pic at night you can spawn a floating light source with the command "uetools_customlight pointlight 100 180 true"

This one you will want to mess with and practice with first. The first number where i have written 100 is a number representing the intensity of the light. 100 is very soft. The second number where i have put 180 is how spread out it is, so making it bigger will cause it to effect a greater area. Where it says true - that is what determines whether the light source you add will cast shadows. Type false is you dont want them - i usually do. The light spawns right in the center of your characters body, you will want to set custom lights up before posing any characters. Just walk around and spawn them, use "uetools_ghost" to let you fly in order to make yourself go higher or lower to change where you place the lights and then type "uetools_walk" to walk again. Custom light usually only shows up at night but in extra shadowy areas it works fine.

Sorry that was so long winded, I hope it helps someone! Doing the poses takes a really long time sometimes but its still fun to me lol

A Bouquet of New Beginnings Ch. 9: "Blue Gum"

Herb meaning: "Quiet" or "I watch over you"

[AO3]

Summary: We do so love restricted areas, don't we? (Tl;dr - Restricted Section).

A little excerpt from the chapter below the cut, but the full chapter can be read at the link above!

Happy New Year and hope 2024 is fantastic!

“Why do you have the key to Fig’s classroom?” Sebastian asked as Artemis beckoned him in. It’d have been simple enough to, perhaps, speak in the Common Room, but there were too many people clambering. No, better to go where she knew nobody would be listening in.

“He gave it to me before he was conscripted to Headmaster Black’s whims.”

“Poor Fig. Anyways, this is great timing, really.”

“How so?” Artemis asked as the door clicked shut behind her.

“Garreth and Natty may be curious about Rookwood and the troll, but neither of them heard what we did,” said Sebastian as all hints of jovialness dissipated. “Why are Ranrok and Rookwood after you?”

Artemis rubbed her thumb against her hidden scar; the tingle tremored through her forearm. Frankly, she was surprised it’d taken Sebastian this long to ask, though she supposed she'd hardly been alone outside of being in her room.

I trust you.

Professor Fig’s words came back to her as she made her decision.

“We’re not entirely certain,” started Artemis slowly.

“We?”

“Professor Fig and I. There was… before I go on further, you mustn’t tell anyone what I am about to tell you. Not even Ominis,” insisted Artemis. Her mouth tasted bitter at leaving Ominis out, but she agreed in Professor Fig's judgment; the less people that knew right now, the better.

“I won’t, you have my word,” declared Sebastian with a confident smile. “Not Natty or Garreth?”

“I’ll only tell them if they ask. Like you said, they didn’t hear Ranrok and Rookwood talking. Frankly, I’m not sure if knowing or not knowing is safer. Either way, I’ll… let you know, if I do.”

“Fine,” said Sebastian as he flopped into the nearest seat. “Either way, I’m asking. Why are they after you? It isn’t everyday where the leader of the goblin rebellion and the top criminal in the region are both after the same person. Let alone a new student.”

She noted that Sebastian had emphasized with a fair degree of malice the word ‘goblin’.

“We suspect that they’re after something that we retrieved at Gringotts.”

“- Wait. Gringotts? The bank? When were you at Gringotts?”

“After the whole, dragon situation. Professor Fig managed to grab the portkey – ”

“– Wait, a portkey? To Gringotts?” Sebastian repeated back. “I’m not sure I follow.”

Artemis chuckled as she took a seat across from Sebastian. His freckles looked like the amanogawa against the afternoon sun through the window panes.

“Long story short, we picked up something at Gringotts that Ranrok wants. It’s a map of Hogwarts, and it leads into the library. The Restricted Section, to be precise.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Artemis looked at him pointedly; Sebastian gave a long, slow nod.

“Okay, you are serious. So, did you end up going?”

“Not yet. We were going to during independent study, but…”

“Black conscripted Fig for his toils,” finished Sebastian.

Artemis nodded as she let out a small sigh.

“Exactly. Headmaster Black, in some mental gymnastics I fail to understand, concluded that being nearly eaten by a dragon was Professor Fig’s fault, and he’s now en route to London.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes with a shrug.

“That’s Black for you. But I see where this is going – you want to be proactive.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“So, you came to me. I’m honoured.”

“Well, you did say you were clever enough to get into the Restricted Section,” offered Artemis. “I thought perhaps I could ask you for advice on how to get in unseen. Without needing to use excessive invisibility potions.”

She saw Sebastian’s back straighten as his chest puffed ever slightly.

“I am. Though, with your soft treads, you might even do better than me without magic.”

“I doubt that.”

“You’ve nearly given me seven heart attacks the past five days, Artie. Seven. Almost flung that book into the fireplace earlier…” muttered Sebastian as Artemis gave an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about that, truly.”

Sebastian batted the air nonchalantly with an easy smile.

“Whatever. Anyways, if you’re going into the Restricted Section, I’m coming with you. I’ll teach you the trick tonight.”

“Wait but –”

“– Uh-uh, like I’m ever going to pass up an opportunity to go. I do so love getting into places I shouldn’t be,” teased Sebastian. He leaned his cheek into his propped-up palm. “Besides, two heads are better than one.”

Artemis hummed in thought as she met Sebastian’s gaze. The warm chocolate eyes conveyed a clear intent that he would not budge on his decision. It did seem he wanted to go in for his own things, and she needed the assistance.

Artemis nodded in agreement. Sebastian laughed bright; his smile devious as dimpled formed on his freckled cheeks.

“Meet me in Central Hall at eleven, and don’t tell anyone.”

Thank you @sallowslove & @thefeatherwrites for the tags! ✨✨

The latest sentence in my WIP, a few chapters ahead:

He was a man once; he deserved a modicum of privacy, even when melted down to the bone.

No pressure tagging: @betheckart @theladyofshalott1989 @dom1re

LAST SENTENCE TAG GAME

RULES: Post the last sentence you wrote (fanfic / original / anything) and tag as many people as there are words in the sentence.

@groovytimetravelflower shared this with me and I thought I'd give it a try!

Had the Lucians done something to Linda, there would be no more reason to keep cooperating like this.

Tagging @groovytimetravelflower @andywinter16 @pandansca and whoever wants to do this! I don't know many other writers on Tumblr enough to tag them in these things.