Whatever you want, it better be good.

@olivette
Suit

This was perhaps Karel's favourite room in the entire school, he'd stumbled across it during his first year and set up an office of sorts for lack of better words. He'd started dropping hints to the student body that he had a business there, a simple thing really, but one that people had never quite had the... ability pull off, not like him. Making deals came easy to him, he knew how to twist things, how to speak in a way that this room of truths didn't halt him, not many others - none of his clients at least, could work it quite like he did. Of course, they tried but it was all futile; they didn't have the same eloquence as he had, no matter how much they pretended to. Karel strolled up to the entrance of the cell, buttoning his suit jacket as he did, something his mother had sent as a gift, he did after all have to look smart and business savvy when he wasn't in his uniform; his parents didn't need to know what he did or that they were helping him give off the... professionalism he strived for but it worked and that was all he needed.

"I wish to discuss business plans." He informed the door, it was the same as he always said, the truth, but not specific enough to cause him trouble. Anyone who wished to see him, knew that was all they had to say or something similar and that was the dangerous part for them. As soon as anyone stepped into this room, they were an open books for him, he just needed to ask the right questions; something that came easy to him really. He had to praise his parents and Uncle for raising him to be able to speak and act properly. All of these little things that they assured him were lessons for when he left school, were coming in useful whilst at school. He didn't get his Prefect badge for being a kind person, no he got it because he knew how to speak, to give off an air of confidence, to make him... approachable. To Karel though, it just left more people vulnerable for him to pick their brains, to find what made them tick and how he could help them. Help them, he used that loosely; he never did things for them, he did it for himself it just appeared that he was helping them and the majority of people were far too simple minded to realise that it was all part of his bigger game.

Call him ambitious, but Karel knew what he wanted in life and he wanted just three things - money, respect and power. It wasn't going to be easy to get all three, but Karel was determined and anyone who knew anything about the Higgs and Kopitar family, knew one simple thing. They got what they wanted; every time. It was in their blood and he was going to use it to the best of his abilities. When the door to the cell opened, Karel strolled inside purposefully and took a seat on one of the stools. Behind him there was a stack of sketchbooks and pencils, the things he used to pass the time when he was waiting and it was still early, he wasn't expecting any fellow students to come to him, but he tried to keep his deal making like a business, with proper business hours. It was seven now, he'd be here until midnight then he'd turn in for the night; beside him was a roll of parchment and a quill, what he used to keep track of all his deals and business plans, he was on top of his jobs for now though, but he was ready to embrace more, to 'help' more people. For a price.

Karel's lips curled up into a smirk and he flipped open the sketchbook, put pencil to paper and began to draw.

It had been some night for the witch but as a bonus she had been able to see her father and had been able to have dinner with him. It was a rarity unless she was home from school. But being away from boarding school had it’s drawcards too. Vet didn't like being away from her family but she did like being able to spend time with her friends and hanging out with them and sharing a laugh. When they were back home, they all lived in different parts of the country and it became difficult to see each other or spend time with each other even with Apparation and floos at their disposal. They were cumbersome at times and she would rather just walk like a normal person to go meet up with her friends. When it came to her internship that was a different story, she was all for travelling by floor or apparating from just outside the school gates as she was not exactly eager to fly all the way down to London on her broom. She would probably be too after each shift to fly back and while she would love to stay in London with her family, it wouldn’t be ideal if and when Professor Burke came looking for her, wondering why she hadn’t returned to the castle.

She was feeling exactly like that after tonight. She had been at St Mungo’s and while she had seen more people she knew then she often did, she had also felt like she had traversed the entire hospital shadowing the nurses there tonight. She didn’t mind it really but she felt like she would need a sleep in the following morning. At least it was a Saturday tomorrow and she didn’t have any classes to get to in any hurry. She could actually sleep in and then see what Dima or Alis were up to. Both were good friends of her, one she spent time with making out and the other she had her morning routine with. Both wizards were people she could trust and go to with any problem she had. Thankfully at present, her only issue was what she would wear for the ball next week and also who she would go with. She didn’t mind going on her own but she really had reason to. She would talk to Alis and see if the option was there for them to go together. They already spent so much together, what harm would there be if they went to the ball together as well?

Olivette was happy to just get into her bed right now but she first had to make it to her dorm. It was still earlyish and she could still just hang out in her common room if she wished. The eagle arrived on the third floor still dressed in her intern clothes and rubbed her face as she walked along making sure to dodge some excited first years on the way down to the second floor. ”You don’t need to run you know!” she called to them rolling her yes. She was humming to herself when she heard the scratching of something. She looked around and to the windows. She couldn't see any Owls trying to come in. She moved near to where she knew the secret room was. She came to stand in front of the door and bit her lip. Olivette had heard of someone, someone she knew frequenting the room at times. She wondered if he was inside there now. ”I come by for business” she stated and watched the door open.

She made her way inside wrappinghers around her waist but that didn’t last long as she droppped them and began to smirk as she saw the Slytherin she suspected of being in here actually here. ”Evening Higgs…..fancing seeing you here and are those your Pyjamas?” she asked chuckling to herself taking in his suit as she sat down opposite him and crossed her legs as she

Karel wasn't sure how long he'd have to wait until someone joined him and honestly he wasn't all that bothered, business was business and sometimes he had slow days and others were busy. He usually used the time he waited to catch up on homework or hone his artistic skills, it kept his mind busy because the one thing Karel hated more than anything was not keeping busy. He got restless easy and that wasn't usually a good thing, he'd cause trouble given half the chance if it entertained him; Karel found a lot of entertainment in other peoples suffering after all, he just had to deal the right cards to cause some sort of chaos in the school halls.

He sat contently, doodling away in his sketchpad, he'd been working on landscape artwork recently and even though he already had some confidence in his artwork, it seemed to be steadily improving. Maybe he could start selling a few pieces of his artwork for a small amount of money, he'd in no way become a professional, but a little extra cash never went amiss. The sound of approaching footsteps seemed a little distant at first, but when he placed his sketchpad down and took a few minutes to listen, it turned out that they seemed much closer because a few seconds later there was a muffled voice at the sound of invisible locks scraping open made him turn his full attention to the doorway.

A girl who he recognised but had never really spoken to, (she'd not come to him for any business discussions before) stood in the doorway and he smiled politely at her, watching her walk over to the nearby seats. ”Evening Buchanan.” He replied, his tone almost bored as he picked his sketchpad up and began to swipe his pencil over the sheet of paper, rolling his eyes at her comment about his suit, ”Yes, I sleep in my suits.” He continued, it wasn't a lie so it just rolled off his tongue. Of course, they weren't his actual pyjamas but there had been a couple of times where his exhaustion had gotten the better of him and he'd fallen asleep fully dressed.

”What can I do for you Olivette?” He asked, looking over his sketchpad at her and arching a brow slightly, she said she'd come for a deal so it was more likely that she needed some help with something, he just hoped that she wasn't looking for something petty that probably wouldn't be worth his time. Or maybe she was just looking for a chat but if that was the case, she'd come to the wrong person. ”Well?”

Olivette did enjoy goIng to St Mungo’s even if it did tire her out a lot. She knew that was part in parcel of working in a hospital with having a father for a healer. It was no easy feat and at least she was seeing first had just what the healers and nurses went through a daily basis instead of hearing stories from her father. Hearing a story about a situation and experiencing it for yourself were two different things. The young witch worked in different areas of the hospital so she got to see first hand just what issues each ward faced. It had become even more interesting in recent times with people falling sick due to the epidemic. She thought the hospital staff who had been affected were managing well enough but then again, she wasn’t in their shoes and didn’t know exactly how they were feeling. She figured that if she asked her father then he was likely to sugarcoat his answer or just give her a very brief answer. She knew he would likely try to protect her or to give her some fanciful story but Vet was not going to have that. She thought that one day she would try and actually ask her father what he knew about the epidemic and what was being done to give magic back to the witches and wizards who had lost it, like himself.

She saw that some professors at Hogwarts were also battling with the loss of magic since they needed it at Hogwarts either in class or just for getting around the castle. How were they supposed to see in the dark if they couldn't cast a Lumos charm and weren’t able to use torch? Vet sometimes did think too practically but she had her reasons for doing so. Vet felt she had every right to be meticulous. She was a Ravenclaw after all and she was particular. There very few avenues where the witch would cut corners. Mostly it was it because she didn’t want to fail at anything, be it her work school or with Duelling club or with Quidditch. It was only natural that she was doing both her internship at Mungo’s as well as playing on the Ravenclaw this year. She did have a lot but she was all for it. She was doing a good job of balancing her time well so far.

The witch had had a tiring night and she was looking forward to going to bed but not before she had investigated who was in Rowena’s Cell. She supposed it was very little surprise to her that Karel was in here. She nodded as he spoke of wearing his suits as pyjamas to bed. He was a peculiar sort but then again, the magical world was full of them. ”Well, you certainly don’t mess around” she observed as she rubbed her chin with her hand. ”You know this epidemic…..this one that swept through our world, do you have anyone who is working to find a cure?” She asked curiously. After all she did have a reason to see the Slytherin, why should she skirt around when he appeared to be in no mood for that.

Anyone who knew of Karel’s under the table agreements, knew he often spent his free time in Rowena’s cell. It was perfect to use to his advantage, it was a well-known fact that a person couldn’t lie in this room. You could dance around the edge of lying, but it took a lot of time and thought to do that especially when you were in a tight situation. He hadn’t even quite mastered it either, but he had some bigger understanding of how to twist the room into your favour, he gave just enough of a truth that it seemed convincing even if he was lying. His suits for example; of course, he’d never intentionally fallen asleep wearing them but he’d accidentally dozed off multiple times so he had worn his suit as pyjamas, just not in the sense Olivette clearly meant.

He swiped his hands through his hair, his gaze never leaving the Ravenclaw when she walked into the room with him. He wasn’t holding out for an overly interesting conversation, but he was always willing to listen. You learn a lot by focusing intently on people and that was his favourite thing to do because it gave him ammo to blackmail, to bargain, anything that would benefit him in the long run. When Olivette asked Karel about the epidemic, he didn’t try to hide his surprise; he was expecting something dull and related to teen angst, not a serious situation like the epidemic that affected a majority of their people, including his own uncle. ”Doesn’t your father head the research for the epidemic?” He finally asked, resting his chin on his thumb and bringing his finger to rest on his lips. ”I don’t know much about the epidemic and I don’t have any, one of my connections or family members working on it. But I heard from my Uncle Nikolaj that works at the Ministry that they’re using as many people as possible to help in their own little way.” He explained.

A few seconds of silence came after Karel’s explanation and he finally turned his gaze to the witch, his sketching temporarily forgotten. ”But, in my opinion. I feel that when people start to realise this isn’t going to go away at its own accord, everyone will play their part. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to involve some of us. After all, none of the students have lost their magic and the adults may be stupid, but they’re not stupid enough to not realise that we may be their best bet.” He told her earnestly, the effect of the cell making his words come surprisingly easily. He had nothing in concrete, only speculation but Olivette had asked him about it and so he was going to answer.

”How many members of your family have lost their magic?” He asked, her father may be one of the people focused on finding a cure, but a lot of adults had lost their magic and he wanted to know just how many of her family had. His Uncle had lost his magic, but he wasn’t sure about his parents. They were very evasive when he asked questions. Karel turned back to his sketch and smudged a bit of the pencil work before putting his sketch pad to aside and gesturing to a seat, inviting Olivette to join him.

There wasn’t a lot of people that Olivette didn’t know at Hogwarts. With her surname and with there being a few them at Hogwarts or having just graduated, and who her parents were, she was familiar face. If people didn’t’ know her name, they at least knew her face. She easily got around though, thankfully with little to no distraction. THe same couldn’t be said for when she was at St Mungo’s but there she didn’t mind, because she got to meet some really interesting colleagues of her father. They were all full of stories as she had expected to be with how long her father had worked at the hospital. And many of them were familiar with her mother too, her mother had been at the hospital a a few times and she still features in a few newspaper or magazines stories to this day. She didn’t mind though. She was proud of her parents and what they had achieved. She knew it didn’t matter if she lived up to their expectations because at the end of the day, they both wanted her happy. With how everything was now, she was now worried about her parents and her sister. They had lost the one thing that made them witches and a wizard.

Vet was confident that everyone who had lost their magic, would get it back one day. It was just difficult to say when that day would come. She assumed it would be soon because she was under the impression that there were people who were working on a cure. Though, each time she questioned her father about it at St Mungo’s he was very vague with his answer. She supposed that he didn’t want others to overhear them in case it gave people false hope. There was a lot of false hope around at the moment with the muggleborns and she supposed it wasn’t the best idea if that was to spread to the wider community with a cure for this epidemic. While the epidemic had passed, well, she hoped it had because no knew patients had come into St Mungo’s since she had been able to start her internship, she knew what was left in it’s wake was now how the magical world was supposed to function. ”He does, but you know how adults are with us teenagers, they think there are only certain things we ought to know” she replied huffing a little. She was growing tired of pressing her father for details if was reluctant to give out any but she was there at St Mungo’s the place where she was supposed to get answers and help people heal. The information from Karel that there were many people at the ministry working on it provided very unhelpful. She was a Ravenclaw and could work out easily that they would have many people working a cure or some kind of solution.

Noticing that he had taken a break from sketching made her sit up and look at the wizard. ”You do present a good point Higgs…...one I’ll admit, I had not considered, too bad you aren’t at St Mungo’s with me, I bet we could uncover a few things about this whole mess” She said, smirking slightly. Vet wasn’t sure if she could actually do that, there places at the hospital that were very secure and no doubt wherever they were working on a cure in the building was one of those places.

”I have my parents and my sister, I’ll be 17 in May and who knows what will happen then” She didn’t actually want to think about it. As far as she was concerned, it was still some time away and she was at Hogwarts most of the time and while some staff had fallen sick, they were no longer sick and she suspected they were unable to further pass along the illness unless it was in some dormant state.

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