welcome to chimera!

[Victoria Summers]

Victoria had remained awake most of the night to get the potion done, and when she was finished the resulting product had been pretty damn pleasing. It had been a while since she'd put in quite so much effort into a prank on Caractacus Phelps. The extra tutoring had, of course, helped with her general mark in Potions, but it was also the main reason she'd acquired the finesse to pull off such a potent - if not the most potent - love potion. Fortunately, it was nearly clear and had a soft, spicy scent that made it easy to disguise and although she wouldn't be trusted to get close enough to his food to slip it to him, Willy Wagstaff certainly would.

Her appearance spoke slightly to the fact she'd been up all night working. Her tie was loose, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a few buttons were undone and she was sitting on a chair with her head down on a desk, vial clutched in her hand. She had, in fact, managed to doze off as she waited for her partner in crime. Thankfully her hair was not the kind that frizzed, but piled ontop of her head like it was with the help of a charm and an army of bobby pins it resembled a dark bird's nest.

It was really a small miracle she hadn't been caught. She'd used a few small, discrete charms to dissuade interest from the Potion's classroom during the night, but she was no master spellcaster and it was sometimes difficult to tell if she'd successfully managed it or not. Still, she'd been left unbothered to finish her concoction. The excitement of what a disaster this was going to be for Cactus had kept her up and going, but now once everything was done and her part was mostly over it had been impossible to stave off sleep for a second longer. Hopefully, Willy wouldn't take the opportunity to draw on her face before waking her.

[William Wagstaff]

Willy Wagstaff was not typically a punctual person, given to lazy lay-ins and dawdling in the halls, and had lost himself the good opinion of more than one professor for nothing but his tardiness. Without a goal he deemed worthy, he was content to be as slow and unproductive as humanly manageable. Thankfully, for their plan, one of his two best motivators was a good laugh (the other being material gain), and he had never heard of a scheme wrought with so many potential laughs as the one that occupied his mind now.

Accordingly, and uncharacteristically, he shook off any lingering morning fatigue and slithered out of bed without much trouble. Soon after, he was out of the dormitory, and sooner still, he was before the potions classroom.

Pushing open the door, he peeked his head in and caught sight of his fellow partner in crime; sparing a cautionary look around him - though he wasn't sure who he feared would see him - he then slipped inside soundlessly and approached Victoria.

It was immediately evident that she was fast asleep, but rather than give in to his usual mischief, he sidestepped the opportunity for pranking and instead settled down on a desk adjacent. The plan in store held too much excitement for him to give thought to much else at the present time.

"'Eyyyyy," he said lowly, the situation making him drop his voice (despite the fact that no one was nearby). He prodded her effectively in the shoulder. "Vickyyyyy. Wake up, eh?"

Grinning crookedly, he questioned immediately, "You got the potion?"

[Victoria Summers]

Thanks to six years of pranks, Victoria was never a particularly heavy sleeper and so was roused within seconds, wiping her mouth and looking around confused for a second before snapping too it and grinning at Willy. "Course I do,' she held up the little bottle and shook it around happily. "Stayed up all night to get it done."

Standing with a slight groan she stretched tired and stiff limbs and neck before patting down her wrinkled uniform and fixing it up a bit. Distractedly tucking in her blouse and doing up the buttons, tightening the tie and frowning a little bit as her hands reached her hair and she had a hard time identifying just what she had done to it. Ahh well, such is the price one pays for utter brilliance. "You sure you can slip it to him without him noticing? No second goes."

[William Wagstaff]

Willy gaped at the potion with some awe, clearly impressed by her handiwork. To be sure, she certainly looked like she had spent all night on it - but he did not doubt for one second that either of their efforts would soon be worth every second spent.

His grin was wide, and lazily confident in its own way. "'Course I can, what do ya take me for?" he asked, though the offense was feigned good-humoredly. "I ain't good at a lotta things, but you can count on me to slip old Cactus somethin' on the sly."

He held out his hand. "Can I take a look? I'll be real careful."

[Victoria Summers]

She handed it over carefully, almost reluctantly. It was the product of quite a bit of work and risk and the image of it shattering on the ground was wince-producing. But she'd have to hand it over to Willy at some point, seeing as he'd be the one to drug their intended target. Grinning at his assurances, she nodded. "Yeah? Good. Don't want to know what kind of practice you've had,' she teased lightly and folded her arms to keep from checking on her hair again.

Not usually one to be overtly concerned with her appearance she was still somewhat bothered by the knowledge she had to look about as appealing as a sewer rat at the moment. Thankfully, the Hufflepuff common room was not far and she wouldn't have to brave the majority of the student body if she waited until breakfast started before sneaking back to her dormitory.

[William Wagstaff]

Thankfully, too, that Willy was far from the kind of person who was put off by messiness or disarray - that would credit him too much for his own hygiene, and he was at least not a hypocrite. In any case, he was too much interested in the task at hand to concern himself with anything else, much less disapproval for a friend's uncombed hair.

He accepted the bottle with a grin at her joke, though his manner was surprisingly careful - perhaps as careful as hers. Although he lacked an appreciation for the importance of academia and integrity, he could fully respect the effort behind a good prank; his priorities were well positioned. Gingerly, he held up the bottle to eye level to give it a more careful look, before bringing it under his nose for a close sniff. The scent of the amortentia was familiar, particularly that strong whiff of muggle money that always pervaded the potion for him.

Slowly, and with an admittedly nimble dexterity, he smoothly pocketed the potion in his jacket and tapped it protectively. "Alright, we better get a move on," he said, even as he got to his feet. "What say we both get our asses down to the Great Hall, eh?"

[Victoria Summers]

Vicky patted his shoulder and shook his head. "I'll be in in a moment. I've got to at least put on fresh clothing,' she replied. Call it girlish vanity, she was at least running finger-combs through her gnarled mass before appearing before the school. "Besides, I've a note to pen to Betty Braithwaite - I doubt she'll want to miss this." She fluttered her lashes jokingly at Willy and went back to her cauldron to get her bag, slinging it over her shoulder and pulling on the strap to keep it from digging in before she approached the door.

"I'm guessing this'll make the best headline of the year, don't ya think?" She smiled again, a certain stupid excitement overtaking her manner. She was so, so looking forward to the pay off for all this work. Even if it didn't go off exactly as planned it still promised to be wonderfully explosive. "I'll be quick, promise. Don't let the fun start without me."

[William Wagstaff]

Willy raised an eyebrow, but nodded with a grin. "'Aight, 'aight," he conceded, "go on up and get nice and dressed up for the show, eh?"

Although he never voiced it aloud, he did appreciate the thought that had gone into this - penning Betty Braithwaite, for one, was a stroke of genius. There could be nothing better to top off a prank on Cactus than the added publicity of a newspaper article.

As she moved toward the door, so too did he, feeling the cold glass of the potion bottle against his chest. "Yeah, don't ya worry," he said reassuringly, with a crooked smile. "I'll wait 'til ya get a good seat 'fore I slip him some of this."

With that, he slipped out of the door and spared one glance backward. "Don't be too late though, eh?"

[Victoria Summers]

"I'll be quick!" She promised, and darted out the door to the Hufflepuff dormitories to keep her promise. Not wanting to miss a thing and wanting everything to be perfect, she didn't take any extra time that was absolutely needed. She changed her uniform, wrestled with her hair and then was back out, taking steps two at a time as she headed for the Great Hall. Taking her seat at the Hufflepuff table with a mind for the best view, she waited eagerly to see all her hardwork unfold in glorious chaos.