How do I look? (Lita)

[Rister Graas S6]

“Hello, gorgeous,” Rister muttered with quite a lot of self-satisfaction. Turning himself before the large mirror in the Room of Requirement, he could see that the quite complex charm he had found and modified just the tiniest bit had worked. It had been a long and tricky charm, but to the eyes of anyone who wasn’t under appropriate charm to see through it, he would look as a girl. It made him appear shorter, leaving her standing at a mediocre 5’5 instead of his usual space-efficient 6’; and the charm made his shoulders appear narrower. It made him appear as a girl, even though he was far from the dreamt of voluptuous body. A relatively flat chest for a girl, lanky and gangly body with far too large knees and elbows created an awkward and invisible creature. Add a plain face to match and you created a girl absolutely no one would notice among the crowds in the halls of Hogwarts. Dull brown eyes (opposed to his usual cutting green), chubby cheeks (not his usual sharp cheekbones), shapeless chin (instead of his jagged angles), bushy eye-brows (unlike his own sarcastic and dark arches), sparse eye-lashes (instead of his own think Maybelline commercial look-alikes), and of course – shaggy, dirty, hay-like in both look and feel mop of shoulder length hair. That was the same dull brown – which didn’t bare any resemblance to chocolate – as the eyes of his female charm-cover, instead of Rister’s own dark black. Smearingg his lips with red lipstick and throwing a blob of blue colour on his eye-lids, Rister was ready. In short? He looked nothing like the – admittedly – quite attractive male he was known to be.

But transformations took a bit more and Rister had come with preparations. Dragging off his pants, Rister strapped on a simple Scottish kilt. He might use the charm for his own amusement for a while, but he wasn’t going to wear a skimpy little skirt. A Scottish kilt? Masculine enough and it decently covered his legs up to his knees. He’d wear his won simple black blouse and hope no one would look closer. Besides the blouse went nicely with the red and black squares on the kilt. A pair of simple flip-flips and Rister decided he was ready. He looked different enough for not even his own family to not recognise him, at least not without the appropriate charm. Leaving the room, Rister pondered where to head to. He would have to meet someone to see how it would hold and someone who probably knew him well enough. Perhaps Lita? She could possibly give some tips in case he needed them. And she was probably the easiest person to track down for now. Where else to check but the library? He hadn’t seen her for a few days anyway.

So Rister took to skipping down the hallways with a merry bounce lifting his knees with each step. He wasn’t really used to swaying his hips with every step after all. Skipping made the hips move and thereby reached the same goal. He was most likely successful too as people did look at him. Mentally giving himself a self-satisfied pat on the back, Rister entered the library and looked around, wondering through a couple of eyes before spying Lita tutoring some newbie again. The already familiar skip in his feet again – how did girls manage to move all day long like this? – Rister made his way over, waving merrily at the young kid. His voice a whole lot higher than usual, Rister cooed a merry greeting while throwing his arms around the shoulders of both girls: “Good morning, my dear-dear friends! Isn’t it a lovely day? So perfectly charming and fresh and just lovely!” Ignoring the mildly surprised glances, Rister just smiled brilliantly at both of them and took a seat at the table, as Lita and the kid agreed on another time to meet for the tutoring. “Lovely day, isn’t it?” Rister beamed merrily at Lita but before either of them could react madam Pince appeared to shush them. Apparently Rister had been spoken to loudly, in his effort to keep up his shrillier pitch of tone. Apologizing profusely to madam Pince, Rister fluttered his eye-lashes at her just for good measure: “I didn’t think at all. How thoughtless of me. I’ll be sure to keep my voice down now. So to not to disturb other. May I say that you look especially lovely today?” Madam Pince blinked, her hand raising to her collar, before she muttered some apology about having to check on books and hurried away.

“Did I do something wrong?” Rister wondered out with some puzzlement, “I swear, madam Pince hates me anyway. I do not cause trouble in the library. It’s not my fault others do!” Picking up his wand, Rister lifted his left hand soothingly, as Lita reached for hers. “Not hexing. Don’t worry, a Protego won’t distract it anyway,” Rister murmured softly as he touched the tip of his wand between his eyes. “Cherminette Obscure,” Rister murmured and drew the thing silvery thread that appeared across the table until it touched a spot between Lita’s eyes, “Cherminette Viscure.” Lita blinked but Rister grinned wickedly towards her, knowing that after a slight haze around him for a moment, the spell would allowed Lita to see through the charm he had used. “How do I look?” Rister questioned in a low whisper, as he spread his arms, knowing that Lita could see him well enough as Rister and as the girl-charm, depending on which image she wanted to pull on display. “Quite ingenious, don’t you think? Peaceful, calm, and we both know that Pince does dislike me. For no reason, I might add.”

(Amusing enough for you for the evening I won't be around? )

[Lita Hollows R6]

“Now start on your Charms essay and I’ll look through your Potions homework. Did you find out what was wrong with your Transfiguration essay?” Lita might not be the best at Transfiguration but even she didn’t have trouble with second year spells. After receiving an Exceeds Expectations in her Transfiguration OWL, Lita would find herself highly disappointed if she couldn’t spot a most simple mistake in a second year Transfiguration homework assignment. But the second year girl shook her head so Lita pulled the textbook towards her and prepared to launch into a detailed explanation that would pass even the most intensive questioning session from Professor McGonagall. There were times when she absolutely despised tutoring the younger students but this particular girl always tended to pick up on things quickly enough to not test her patience. She just needed a bit more confidence in classes, which was where Lita came in. She taught the girl a few things ahead of the rest of the year, checked over her homework and just generally provided a studious environment that wouldn’t be interrupted except by requests for assistance.

Lita finished circling the mistakes in the Potions essay and set it aside, leaning back in her chair lazily with a book in hand. She had finished her own homework, the girl she was tutoring was working away steadily and the tutoring session was nearly over for the week. And thank Merlin for that, Lita sighed gratefully as she felt the headache take root behind her temples. As soon as the girl left, she could drain the headache relieving potion she had tucked away in her bag. Those tension headaches happened annoyingly often when she had had little sleep the night before and more than two tutoring sessions to sit through. She would just need to drink that potion and then spend a short while outside. Though the mention of outside did rather make her wonder what mischief Rister was planning. She hadn’t seen him in a few days and that never boded well for peace. Just as long as whatever he might or might not be planning didn’t involve her, Lita decided ambiguously, she didn’t really care about what Rister was planning unless she wasn’t there to be a casual observer of the results.

The girl sitting beside her stopped working and giggled so Lita looked up and frowned at her disapprovingly, raising an eyebrow curiously as she felt an arm land on her shoulder and heard a shrill voice speak in her ear. “The session’s over so I’ll meet you here at the usual time, next Thursday,” Lita told the younger girl with a light smile, collecting the parchment they had used and handing it to the girl. “Yes, it is a nice day today,” Lita answered curtly, rifling through her bag to fish out the vial of potion and draining it thirstily. The pangs of pain inside her head instantly started to recede and Lita let her eyes slide half-shut, relieved that the pain was no longer constant. “Do I even know you?” Lita inquired wearily as she studied the girl. With brown hair and brown eyes, the girl shared the same colouring as Lita but apparently lacked the lucky genes that Lita had always been thankful for. She was pretty, in a rough and understated way, but not familiar to Lita. Added to that, the girl was too loud for the peace of a library – proved by the way Madam Pince had shushed her fiercely – which had only irritated her headache further. Lita was simply grateful that she had remembered to snag the potion before hurrying off so as to not be late for the tutoring session.

The girl picked up her wand and so Lita grabbed hers instinctively, her eyes cooling and shuttering as she readied herself for a fight. The library was the most improper place for it really so Lita backed down but kept a ready hand on her wand. Trickery was not a concept she was unused to. “Rister?” Lita questioned disbelievingly, keeping her voice low since he obviously wanted to parade around as a girl unnoticed for a while. “That shade of blue doesn’t suit you at all,” Lita glanced at his eyes critically before drawing her wand to change the eye-shadow to a more flattering colour. It wasn’t hard since Rister currently resembled her in colouring. “You chose a nice shade of lipstick though,” she added with an approving grin, a frown slowly appearing as more pressing thoughts entered her mind. “Can I ask why you changed your gender though? Were you unhappy as a male? And where did you get the make-up from?” Lita paused for a few seconds before shaking her head. “No, I really don’t want to know if you have a tendency to wear make-up when the urge strikes.”

[Rister Graas S6]

“Lovely day, not nice. Your old great-great aunt with a hearing problem is nice. Occasionally. When she’s not doing something odd and disturbing. But the day is lovely,” Rister corrected curtly, as he tilted his head and pondered, “Of course you could also say to that nice great-great grand-aunt that she looks lovely, whereas they usually don’t. So perhaps a statement that it’s a pleasurable day would be more exact.” Rister observed wordlessly as Lita rifled through her bag and drank a vile she produced. He knew the girl since birth and he knew her face. He could see the tight lines of tension at her eye-corners well enough. But there wasn’t really anything he could do about them right now and Lita was quite smart enough to drink a painkiller potion herself.

“Do you know me? How philosophical do you wish to be about it? Because can you even know anyone? Can anyone even honestly claim to know themselves? How do you define a person? By looks? By name? By nationality? I think you could call me Marie. It’s a nice name. Or will you associate that to Marie Curie and raise your expectations so high you will feel I’ve disappointed you even though I’ve never promised to save the world,” Rister philosophised quite calmly, as he leaned his arms on the table and smirked at Lita, knowing that in reality he was simply avoiding the question. But stalling tactics worked, because few people cared to listen usually anyway. It was manipulating human nature that made Rister a smart Slytherin.

Rister smiled widely at Lita, even though he was thankful she didn’t shout out his name overly loudly. “In flesh and bone,” Rister stated, spreading his arms calmly, grimacing as Lita fixed the make-up. “What was wrong with my eye-shadow? And it wasn’t my make-up. I raided Morgana’s dorm-room. Why on earth do second year Slytherin girls have make-up? They’re too young to wear it.” Rister scowled darkly at the fact, even if he couldn’t recall a moment when Morgana had worn make-up. Hopefully it would stay that way too. Morgana didn’t need anything else to make her prettier. And she definitely didn’t need some guy noticing her. “I never said I was unhappy, and I didn’t specifically change my gender. It’s just a charm. A quite complex one I happened on quite accidentally in Dana’s rare editions store. It makes me appear as a woman. I might look shorter, but in reality I’m just as tall and wide as I am in reality,” Rister explained as he tilted his head and pondered on how to explain it.

“Well, think about it. It’s brilliant. We both know that madam Pince doesn’t like me and Gabriel, though it’s the girl causing the ruckus, not us in reality. She didn’t even blink over seeing Marie. Marie is a simple girl. Quiet, annoying when spoken to in order to guarantee her being alone. Not pretty enough to attract swarms of guys, not so ugly people would bully and stare in hallways. Peace and quiet that Rister couldn’t have in Hogwarts, Marie has without even working for the goal. Dad laughed when he saw the idea and helped me modify the spell a bit. Though he warned me not to pull a Mrs. Doubtfire. What or who is that?” Rister questioned, throwing a puzzled glance at Lita as he finished explaining the reason why he had decided to try it, “And it’s just one. And of course one of the most important things too.” Rister winked quite arrogantly at Lita, as he leaned back in it’s chair, balanced on it’s two feet and raised his legs to rest on the table-corner. Thanks to constant exercise and his romps in forests his legs were muscled and far from the smooth long pair of legs girls wished for and guys drooled after. Patting the side of his leg quite merrily, Rister nodded seriously at Lita as he announced: “I have great legs. It would be a shame if no one ever saw them.”

[Lita Hollows R6]

“My great-great aunt is dead and, though she was odd and disturbing at times, she didn’t have a hearing problem. She did have a sight problem though,” Lita volunteered the information helpfully and without hesitation. Dead relatives for whom she had felt little and known even less about were not people who could be used against her and were therefore useless information. There were times that the fact that she had been surrounded by cautious people who had everything to lose if they dabbled too deeply in the political games they played with was all too obvious in her thought pattern. Her father had taught her politics, Adrian had taught her to be cautious, her mother had taught her that she would rather die than become like her parents and her friends had taught her everything else that she could learn.

“What a deeply thought out monologue,” Lita nodded, a slight smile tugging at her mouth. It had been a while since she had discussed something in enough depth to satisfy her searching mind. “Though I do notice that you didn’t say that your name is Marie, just that I could call you that and I wonder if you’re truly trying to hide your identity or merely trying to make a point.” She slipped the vial into her pocket and tilted her head as she answered the questions. “I believe that you define a person by taking everything about them into account. Their personality, their hopes and dreams, achievements, disappointments, their past and how they react to people. But everyone interprets things differently which is why they are so many differing opinions in the world.”

Lita laughed good-naturedly, her disbelief receding as Rister affirmed that it was him. She still wasn’t entirely sure why he felt the need to become a female – maybe it was some strange way of trying to understand the thought patterns of girls – but Rister was often odd. “It wasn’t the right shade for your current colouring. It would look quite nice on Morgana though,” she added, tilting her head thoughtfully as she summoned the image of the younger girl to her mind. “Make-up is just a tool, rather like nice clothing. It accentuates natural beauty, even if some girls think it necessary to use too much. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll talk to her,” Lita soothed her friend, hiding a light grin. Rister and his brothers were always so protective of their sisters and, though she scolded them for it, it never ceased to amuse her. “What a wonderful charm,” Lita leaned forward eagerly, wanting to know more. “Does it just change your appearance or does it affect your personality also? And what was that charm that you used to let me see through the glamour? Is it specific to the spell you’re currently using or does it apply to other glamouring spells also?”

“I should have known that Kris would help you,” Lita sighed exasperatedly, wondering if Cleo knew that her oldest son was pretending to be a girl. “Mrs Doubtfire is a man who dressed up as a woman because his ex-wife wouldn’t let him see their children because he was so irresponsible,” Lita clarified briefly. She had never really cared for the story because it was so ridiculous and outlandish. If the man wanted to see his children more often then there were more mature ways of doing so. Lita rolled her eyes and pushed Rister’s legs off the table, frowning at him reproachfully. “Marie, you should know that girls don’t sit like that. It’s terribly unladylike. If you wish to show off your legs then wear a shorter skirt and high heels.”

[Rister Graas S6]

„Odd and disturbing is enough. See? Live the cliché. Clichés are what move around money so in an indirect way, it’s clichés that move the world too. It all comes together,” Rister drawled out with some amusement, even as he let out an exaggerated sigh and shook his head at Lita as if reprimanding a mischievous child. “And even though you tend to call be shallow and careless, I like to humour myself with the fact that somewhere deep down I’m deep too.” Rister snickered quietly. Shallow? He was. When it came to girls. But girls came so easily to him, so was it any sort of surprise that he picked the best from the selection? Not a single guy would blame him at least. “Ah-ah-aaa. One too many philosophical thoughts in there. Why make it sound and seem so serious and deep? Maybe I was just trying to hide my identity. Besides people should just save time and see it my way anyway. Would solve quite a lot of problems in general.”

Rister smiled as Lita laughed, noticing that all the tension that had entered the girl when he picked up his wand had left the girl. Though she had still been relatively trusting in letting Rister finalize the spell. But nothing bad came out of it, so Rister didn’t dwell on it. “Perhaps. I haven’t really been in contact with make-up nor applying it previously, you know. And Morgana doesn’t need make-up. She’s pretty as she is. Perhaps too pretty even.” Rister tilted his head as he considered Lita. Make-up as a tool? Perhaps. It had been said before that a woman was strongest when she armed herself with her weaknesses. Everyone used artificial tools. What was his own signet ring if not an artificial tool to let him reach his goal at times. So why not jewelry? “But, I suppose I’ll trust your word on make-up,” Rister admitted slowly, before shrugging quite carelessly.

And he should have known Lita’s Ravenclaw side would take over and drill him about the charm. And despite the general consensus that he was thick and lazy and slow – Rister knew quite much about wand-work and had prepared himself more thoroughly than most others would. “It’s a mixture of Bedazzlement charm and glamour spells I suppose. A bit more complicated. I can show you the incantation sentences sometimes. The visibility charm was uniquely modified to fit just this one. Had me and dad brainstorming for an evening, before we got it right,” Rister said, holding up his arms in a mock-surrender, “It doesn’t change my appearance at all. It just alters how other people perceive me. It... Oh, it’ll be easier to show. I’m 6 feet, you know that.” Rister stood and stepped next to the nearest shelf, reaching up his right hand, his fingers curving slightly on the edge of the highest shelf, most people used a small movable ladder to get to. “For a moment,” Rister muttered, as he reversed the spell that had allowed Lita to see through the charade. After getting an assuring nod that Lita saw ‘Marie’ again, Rister stepped back next to the shelf where he had stood before, knowing that for Lita his height seemed shorter by three quarters of a shelf. “I look shorter. But someone that much shorter wouldn’t be able to reach as high,” Rister explained quietly, as he raised his hand again, “I’m just the same. It’s an illusion you could say. A difference in how others perceive me and slight manipulation of purely humane traits of having to have everything make sense to them.”

Recasting the spell to let Lita see him for who he was again, Rister retook his seat, throwing an arrogant grin at her: “Marie is someone. Too plain to be noticed. Normal enough to not attract attention. And in a school filled with raging hormones and weepy teenage angst, she’s too insignificant for anyone to realize she appeared out of nowhere. It would be far easier and quieter for Marie to study in the library – or anywhere really – than for Rister. And he’s known for disappearing from everyone’s sight now and then anyway.” Rister wrinkled his nose in slight distaste: “Kids? Sheesh, does dad think I’ll fall in love while letting myself be amused by Marie? Corny and quite foolish. And before your mind falls in the gutter, even you have to admit that I don’t need the spell to gain an invitation to girl’s dorms.” Rister, gasped at Lita as he placed his hands over his heart: “Short skirt? High heels? Like those… cheap… girls prancing around with a new guy every year? Shameful wenches! I would never. And those hormonal males. Horrible! Horrible, I tell you! For them to grab my prim behind and molest my ear with their whispers. I’m a proper lady. I would never do something like that. Guys are only after one thing.” Rister shared a conspiratory wink with Lita: “If only someone would tell me what that is. I haven’t quite understood it just yet. Care to shed some light into the matter?”

[Lita Hollows R6]

“Clichés bore me,” Lita murmured, her eyes heavily lidded and guarded as she gazed at Rister. She wasn’t used to strange girls randomly taking a seat at her table when she was finishing up a tutoring session – or at any other time, for that matter – and, to be quite frank, it was rather unnerving. Especially when the other people studying in the library were currently packing up their books and supplies, giving up studying and researching in favour of the food waiting for them in the Great Hall. “You are shallow,” Lita informed her friend bluntly, not even bothering to be tactful about it. She had told Rister and Gabriel, and the rest of the Graas siblings as well, what she thought of them too often to worry about hurting their feelings. But she loved them despite their faults and they knew it almost as well as she did. “Philosophy is fun. And if everyone saw things your way, Hogwarts would be in chaos, McGonagall would be screaming like a banshee and you would be crowned King. I much prefer the way things currently are.”

“I can teach you how to apply make-up if you really want to know how to do so properly. We could use a Gryffie for you to practice on,” Lita suggested with a wicked grin. A male Gryff, naturally. Idly, her mind scrolled through a list of possible victims...candidates, Lita corrected herself playfully. After all, she wouldn’t hurt them. Much. There was that redheaded idiot who had thought that she would actually thought that she would be interested in more than hexing him for his foolishness; or how about the third year with a fondness for bullying the younger years? Or maybe Ashlyn could suggest some more worthy candidates? It could be like a bonding session, to show Damon that she was at least trying to accept his awful taste in females.

It was an ingenious idea really, Lita mused as she listened to Rister’s explanation. Not that she wanted to experience life as a male – Lita grimaced distastefully at the very idea of becoming a hormone-driven teenage boy– because she was very fond of being a female, thank you very much, but it was still a complex spell. “I most certainly want to see the incantation at some point,” Lita confirmed keenly, an impish smile crossing her face as an idea struck. “Do you have to cast the spell on yourself or can it be cast by someone else?” Lita inquired, feigning mere curiousity as she hid the mischievous quirk to her mouth. “What a wonderful spell,” Lita murmured to herself again as she watched Rister’s demonstration. It was a truly remarkable illusion, Lita commented to herself mildly as she eyed Rister contemplatively. There was absolutely no sign that Marie was Rister in any visible way until the spell was cast to let someone see the real him. Fascinating.

It was odd to see Rister suddenly appear where Marie had been standing only a second before; it made her feel just as insane as her great-great aunt had been rumoured to be. It was definitely disconcerting. “So is this what you’re going to do whenever you want to experience a quiet, peaceful life?” Lita asked doubtfully, not entirely convinced of the practicality of such a thing. “My mind likes the gutter. It’s a fun place to play, don’t you agree? There’s always fun to be had while roaming the gutter.” Lita sent a blank stare at Rister, not sure whether to be offended at the implication that she was cheap or amused because Rister was one of the hormonal males he was currently complaining about. “Are you trying to call me cheap?” Lita demanded to know, pushing outrage to the forefront of her emotions. “I wear short skirts and high heels; there was a time when I had a new guy every month. Am I cheap?” Her eyes were mild but piercing, requesting an honest answer, as she gazed at him squarely. There had been reasons for her unscrupulous behaviour of course but Lita wasn’t going to make excuses for herself nor did she expect other people to. Reasons meant little when she had been trying to lose herself in a whirl of alcohol, dancing and men. “You’re not ready to know what guys are after if you don’t automatically know just from watching them.”

[Rister Graas S6]

Rister tilted his head and considered it for a moment. “I am shallow. Occasionally,” he admitted calmly. The shallow front was useful. And it came easily as there was a good measure of shallowness sin him. Not all of it though. Rister was far too aware of his duties now and how hard they would be one day, to ever completely loose grasp of himself. So deep down there was always a calm collected Graas wolf calculating, weighing, stalking in shadows. Even if sometimes even Lita wasn’t allowed to see it under the mask that made life at school simply easier. Even if Rister did like to have his fair share of fun and even more. “Hardly chaos. Just without curfews. Those who can’t go to sleep in time, deserve to be sleepy,” Rister summarised evenly, offering a calm grin at Lita, “Besides at that case I would be crowned King? I believe you just admitted – subconsciously and involuntarily at least – that I do have some sway in Hogwarts and thereby would at least be a logical choice for a King.”

Rister shook his head firmly. The offer was nice and would doubtlessly give Lita fuel the fight between her and Gryffindors even further, but that didn’t make it a good plan just yet. “Thanks, but it would probably blow my cover of incognito. At least before the Gryffindors, who’d title me notorious just for having been seen hexing someone in your company. I probably won’t bother much with Marie, but it can’t hurt to have a trick like that in your back pocket.” Rister laughed out loud at the expressions shifting on Lita’s face. Her innocent grimace was nearly flawless, but Rister had clearly seen the wicked gleam in her eyes before. And he knew his best friend as well. “I know what you’re thinking, but no. There are things that have to be accepted voluntarily. The incantation includes free will chantment twice, so you can’t force-cast it on anyone. You can do it, only if the other party chants the spell with you, even if the other party isn’t wielding a wand. No torturing poor Gryffies with it. Especially as we don’t want to make Ashlyn’s life any tricker as I wouldn’t want Damon coming after our heads,” Rister stated, tapping Lita’s nose, “Even though Ashlyn seems to have enough character to warrant a spot in Slytherin or at least among Ravens. I wonder why she ended up in Gryffindor, as it’s obvious her relations with her house aren’t the greatest. And the spell is still an illusion. If something goes wrong it can start wearing off, and as you take up as much space, the eye can notice small inconsistencies and become suspicious over time.”

Rister was slightly startled at Lita’s question. Cheap? Her? Lita usually didn’t shine out with insecurities. And even though she had had her own wild bouts of dating, she had never been cheap. Rister met her eyes calmly. “No you aren’t. I know you have never liked to hear of my dates, except for more amusing mishaps. But during at least half of those times I get to make a choice whether I want to entertain my date a bit longer in the night or not. There are short skirts that show off your legs to the best of their abilities, and there are skirts that let me see your underwear – or lack of thereof - when you aren’t standing up straight. Just like there are heels that adorn the legs and those that make it impossible to walk, so that the girl hangs from your neck,” Rister smiled gently at Lita as he stood and walked across the table, dropping a brotherly kiss on the top of his head, before hoisting her bag over his shoulder, “You had your fun and tasted different samples. Nothing wrong with knowing just what you could get before you make up your mind. But you’ve never been cheap or I wouldn’t have sat on the sidelines this calmly. Now come on. I want to get out of this illusion and I might as well show you the spell now.”

((Figured we should try to wrap up old posts as a new school-year is beginning soon.))