WHO: Hugo Nott & Val Avery WHAT: Discussing the BOTCH Ball WHEN: 15th February WHERE: The Avery Estate WARNINGS: None
It was Thursday morning and Hugo Nott (“The Man, The Myth, The Legend”) was paying a visit to his oldest friend. He’d taken a leisurely breakfast, read the morning paper and picked up some particularly nice blooms from his greenhouse before apparating just outside of the Avery estate. Cane and bundle of flowers in hand, he wasn’t sure if he would come across his friend or his goddaughter first — although he wanted to make time for them both.
Standing back from the front door, he waited to be welcomed inside.
Val had assumed the house-elf would take care of visitors but that little creature was nowhere to be found and Val had been getting ready to go for a stroll. She had just opened the door to find her godfather, which brought a genuine smile to her face. "Uncle Hugo!" she exclaimed, before going in for a quick hug.
"Dad's painting upstairs," she explained, nodding towards the stairway. "I'm going for a walk myself. Getting some fresh air." Val sidestepped from him, giving him the room to go inside and visit his dear old friend.
Hugo smiled down at the girl, holding out the neatly-tied bundle of flowers for her. “Valkyrie, I was hoping to catch you too. What a sorry mess that occured yesterday,” Hugo frowned, still clearly annoyed by the happenings at what would’ve been such a nice event. The work that his goddaughter had put into the evening hadn’t deserved such an ungrateful reception.
“May I accompany you a little way on this walk?” Hugo suggested to her.
Val grinned at the flowers and took the bundle, smelling the sweet scent. She savoured it for a moment before setting them down on a table right by the door. "I'll have to put them in a vase when I get back," she smiled.
"Yes, please join me," Val replied, looping their arms together. "I'm so glad the Nott men treat me so well. I received Theo's greetings yesterday, and it's only too bad he doesn't have an older brother," she giggled. "It was such a wonderful gesture."
Hugo nodded slightly and smiled, glad that Theodore had done as instructed. “It was a tradition that his mother started, I remember the flowers she used to pick for him to send you when he was a child. I’m glad that he continues it now.” As if it was from the boy’s own mind. He walked slowly alongside her, using the cane in his free arm.
“I am awfully sorry about what happened to your lovely party, Valkyrie,” Hugo told her.
Valkyrie drew in a sharp breath, the images of the night's events still fresh in her mind. She was angry at first, and then sad, and now somewhere in the middle. Trying her best to keep a neutral face (because Averys weren't dramatic, you see), she merely nodded and offered her godfather a meek smile. "It's not your fault, Uncle Hugo."
She have his arm a brief, but reassuring squeeze. "What I wrote on my post is true, though. I was so angry that I probably could have murdered someone for real." She was frightened, albeit excited in a different sort of way, of the prospect herself.
He chuckled softly, perhaps seeing something of his old friend Gerald in the young girl. “It’s perfectly acceptable to be angry,” Hugo told her. “The real trick is channeling your anger back into the cause.” He didn’t feel the need to mention what cause. “Do you still feel angry?”
She genuinely considered the question, as though she needed to think about it. Her brows furrowed together in concentration as she walked in silence for a few seconds, and finally, after lamenting about it for longer than necessary: "Yes."
Hugo nodded, seemingly reflective. “Good,” he assessed her anger. “One thing I learned at a young age was that you shouldn’t feel as though that anger is erroneous or unjust. You should be angry, they attacked innocents to prove a point. They destroyed your hard work and hurt your friends, as well as threatening our way of living. Your anger is deserved.” He walked slowly, cane tapping on the ground as he went.
Each word her godfather spoke rang true in the young girl's ear and brewed her anger further along. She remained quiet as she listened to him, and at his final statement, Val looked at Hugo, with a curious glance. "What do I do, then?" she asked, though she had an inkling just what she'd be told.
“You use it,” he told her, as if the answer were obvious. “Your brothers have their own ways of using it.” Dante, he thought, was much more accomplished but both of the Avery men seemed dedicated to the cause. “We could teach you some of the dark arts, or you could continue with your work. Show those horrible Phoenixes that you won’t be daunted, your work will continue benefiting the preservation of our heritage.” He smiled. “What do you think you’d like to do?”
"Learn it," Val replied, without missing a beat. "I don't know that I would —," she paused, a slight hesitation to her voice, "— necessarily be any good at some of the things the Dark Lord expects, but I'd like to learn aspects of some of the more unique spells. And I'm sure you and dad and Dante and Keats will all help with it." She raised both of her brows, as if half expecting Hugo to challenge her.
His smile seemed oddly satisfied. If only his son could show such an interest in — well, anything. Maybe Valkyrie could be a good example to him. “I’m sure they’d all be happy to help. I certainly will.”
"Good," his goddaughter replied, her typical smile returning on her face. She would have time to think on all of this over, time to study on some of the things she wanted to learn about, and she would soon be learning everything in the flesh.
But for the moment, Val turned to Hugo with a wicked grin. "So, Uncle Hugo, what's it like being 'The Man, The Myth, The Legend'?"
Hugo chuckled, a deep noise in the back of his throat. “Oh, you have to meet Kettleburn. He’s quite the wordsmith, but seems terrified of tea,” another chuckle, knowing that his first meeting with Kettleburn had included the man thinking he’d be poisoned. “I’ll settle with being Uncle Hugo for now though.”