Chapter Text
Farah Dowling is in a conversation with Saul Silva.
“Right, and I would like you to send Ben to me after his final lesson today. I need to speak with him about concocting more Zanbaq. Though I’d like to prevent it, I have a feeling we’re going to need more of it sooner rather than later. Thank you.” She nods and Saul walks away towards the Greenhouse.
Farah turns to head back to her office, but she notices a familiar redhead rounding the corner. There was that feeling again, one that’s difficult to put into words. But no, work first over personal life. At least in this moment.
Bloom excitedly walks towards the Alfea Library and enters with a swipe of her card. Farah follows behind her secretly, sliding in before the doors close. She heads over to the Education shelves to act as if she’s here for a book. Bloom is still in sight, but Farah can observe from afar without drawing attention to herself.
There was this slight nagging feeling inside of Farah that she wanted to uncover. But it would only pop up when the redhead appeared. This was a minor reason to follow Bloom however. The major one was that Burned Ones have been sighted recently, and because of Bloom’s connection with them, Farah has been watching over her from a distance. She made a promise to the Peters, ensuring Bloom’s safety, and as a duty of the Headmistress, she must uphold it. Regardless of how absolutely irritating the student was.
As if it’s an internal calling, Bloom easily makes her way through the massive building, over to the Harry Potter books in the Fantasy section. She’s been here on countless occasions.
It’s a little semicircular part of the library that’s lit up with fairy lights and ceiling stars. Small plants are placed in random areas, (courtesy of Terra) sitting in painted terracotta pots and medium sized white buckets. In the middle of the rounded area on top of a grey shaggy carpet, sit two ginormous fuzzy beanbags, worn down from use. They’re an off-black color with little twinkle splots. In the corner, a curved bookshelf holds all the latest editions of Harry Potter and another contains the books written about different locations in the series. Decorative pillows scatter the floor and a wicker basket of rolled up blankets rests next to the shelves.
Bloom struts over, crouches and scans for a book. She pulls out a dark twilight colored paperback with a matte texture that reads “Prisoner of Azkaban,” and plops herself into one of the beanbags. It sags way more than she expects, and she feels her hindquarters painfully hit the floor through the thin fabric. She irritatingly scoffs under her breath,
“Stupid beanbag.”
Standing up and turning it to a more fluffy side, she drops down again, only to receive the same result.
“Fine, whatever. I give up.” She declares to no one with a large arm gesture.
Settling down as much as she can, she turns to the first page of the book and drifts off into story land within minutes. Once again, she doesn’t notice Farah in the shadows, watching her through several bookshelves further back. Being aware of her surroundings has always been a weakness of hers. Maybe that’s part of the reason she’s at Alfea.
Farah’s light hazel eyes continue to stare at Bloom until they see that she’s not moving for a while. Gosh there it is again. A little sensation that made Farah turn away. She silently retreats from the privacy of the shelves and begins to walk down the open hall.
Ironically at that moment, Bloom looks up from her book world to see Alfea’s Headmistress stride towards the Library’s exit. She watches her gracefully walk out the doors and turn towards her office, where she disappears out of sight.
Bloom puts on a questioning look and squints her eyes.
“What was she doing here?” Bloom asks herself half-heartedly.
She couldn’t care less at the moment, and swiftly returns to her novel, floating off to imagination land once more.
*Walking back to the Office*
Farah elegantly climbed up the stairs to her office, pondering what she had just seen. Nothing interesting really but a bit more than she expected.
‘What a curious girl. One wouldn’t expect her to be such a reader from the way she speaks to people. And to me. Quite the opposite really, and I don’t particularly enjoy her tone. But there’s something about her that I can’t place a finger on.’
Farah truly had no idea what drew her to Bloom. The girl was ignorant, rude and to be frank, a total brat. She wasn’t that kind to her friends, and even worse to her teachers. She did well turning in assignments on time, but never engaged in discussion and always rolled her eyes whenever she was called on. However, she was the first changeling to ever be heard of for a long time, there’s something. She was also discovering that her parents weren’t her biological parents. Some slack had to be cut there.
But no, that wasn’t it, it was something internal, like a feeling that Farah sensed every time Bloom would pass. It was warm yet indescribable. But the reason she followed her was to ensure her safety from afar. She would deal with this later when everything had cooled down. That is, if it ever did.
‘The ironic thing is that I could care less about Bloom. I have a duty to her for her protection yes, but establishing a relationship with her? Completely out of the question. I want nothing to do with her.’
Opening the door of her office, she strode in and closed it, not to be disturbed.
*Farah returns from her flashback to her office. Rosalind has been defeated and Farah is checking in on the 5 girls and it’s Bloom’s turn, who is sitting across from her on a couch.*