Page 5 of Half Agony, Half Hope

Covus didn’t even glance his way, but his ruby flared, and suddenly the couch Fred was lounging on in their shared flat shot out from beneath Fred and moved gracefully against the wall.

Fred hit the ground with a thunk and exclaimed “Didn’t your mum ever teach you no magic use when you’re fighting?”

“Alas, I was but a poor only child. Left to my own devices and taught little of the ways of the world.” Corvus threw a hand up to his forehead for dramatic effect. “But she did teach me many tedious ways to rearrange a room with magic that have proven more useful than I anticipated.”

Fred sighed and grumbled as he brought the couch back. “More like a spoiled and coddled little prick.”

“I heard that. I’ll make the couch swallow you next.”

Rolling his eyes, Fred flopped back onto the couch. “You don’t have the attention span to create a working digestive system.”

Corvus shot back. “No, but it’d be good enough to suffocate you.”

“Remind me why I allow you to live with me, again?”

Corvus smirked. “Because of my charm.”

That drew a bark of laughter out of Fred. “More like you’re a hopeless mental case, and I feel sorry for you.”

And with that, Corvus was struck with a rather stupid idea that might actually prove Fred’s point. “Mate. Do you think you could help me with something? It might end in us actually being chopped to bits and fed to the poor.”

“If it helps you get over this stupid bint, I’ll risk life and limb just so you can focus on anything I’m saying for longer than five minutes.”

But Corvus had once again tuned Fred out, and maybe it was premonition, or maybe he’d just never seen Corvus like this about a girl, but Fred knew this girl had taken up permanent residence in his friend’s head.

At the next Cursebreaking class, Corvus planned to linger afterwards - expecting Pearl to ask the teacher at least 5,000 questions after class as she usually did. However, as soon as class ended, Pearl sprang up from her seat, and with a (mostly) silent laugh, Corvus’ registered the teacher’s disappointed expression as he chased Pearl out of the door. By the time he made it to the hallway, he had already almost lost her, but he managed to catch sight of her sprinting around the corner.

Fred jumped out from the column behind which he’d been hiding. “Now what, mate?”

“Follow me! There’s still time.”

Both men raced after Pearl, and when they finally caught up to her, she was out of the building and headed down a side alley. Corvus gave Fred the signal and had only a moment to prepare himself before a wicked gleam entered his friend’s eyes. This really was an incredibly stupid idea.

Fred shouted dramatically. “I’ll teach you to give your family’s money to the poor. That money was hard earned and shouldn’t leave the Winterbourne bank accounts. How could you help orphans?!”

It took everything in Corvus’ power not to roll his eyes. He should have just hired an actor. “It’s my sacred duty to help those less fortunate.” He saw Pearl stop out of the corner of his eye and turn towards them. Fred, undoubtedly having seen the same, sprang into action. Launching himself at Corvus, Fred punched him in the cheek, but as Corvus braced himself for more, he suddenly saw a flash of green, and Fred was pulled screaming into the brick wall behind them. Corvus caught a glimpse of Fred’s terrified face before it was swallowed up. Turning to Pearl, he saw her focus stone shining brightly and her hands drawing closer together. All of a sudden, the sounds of brick moving ceased, and Corvus felt that perhaps this had gone too far. Fred might not agree to his own suffocation in order to aid Corvus’ pursuit of a girl.

Pearl’s focus stone continued to glow merrily as she walked towards Corvus and touched the cheek where Fred had hit him “Are you all right? I despise bullies.”

Distracted by her attention and impressed by her strength of mind to hold a spell while checking on him at the same time, it took Corvus a moment to remember that his friend was in mortal peril. “Oh, right as rain now that you’re here, love, but I’m a bit concerned about our friend in the wall here. Can he breathe?”

“Of course he can breathe. It’s just a nifty way to keep him occupied until the campus officers arrive.”

Ah. That did rather complicate things. They should have considered she’d call in someone else. Corvus attempted to pivot. “You know, I bet he’s learned his lesson. Maybe you can let him go?”

Pearl only scoffed. “That’s a mite more forgivin’ than I’d be.”

“Oh, I am quite forgiving. We’ll give him a chastisement and send him on his way.”

Suspicion clouded Pearl’s eyes. “What were you arguing about anyway? Did he steal one of your Rolexes?”

Corvus cursed inwardly. On the plus side, she hadn’t heard Fred’s awful acting, but she also didn’t hear about his imaginary benevolence. However, there was still time to turn this around.

“Oh, just one of my father’s lackeys - upset I’m spending part of my inheritance on helping the poor.”

Corvus thought he heard a laugh from inside the wall, and he tried to cough to cover it up.

Pearl stepped closer to Corvus. “Corvus. Why did the wall laugh when you said that? Could it be you’re not being entirely truthful? Why don’t we ask it?”