Chapter Text
A yellow pansy.
That is what you found on your bed as you entered the dormitory, ready to tuck yourself under covers. Well, rather, you found it adorning your Puffskein plush toy's head. You picked it up, curious as to how it had got there.
"What's with the flower?"
You whipped your head around to see Imelda changing into her nightwear, regarding the pansy in your hand with a cock of her brow.
"I wish I knew. Nerida, did you put this here?" you asked.
Nerida shook her head, slipping under her covers. "No, not me."
"Then who?"
Imelda shrugged. "I'd say you have an admirer."
"An admirer? Among the girls?"
"Doubtful. You're popular among the students here - don't pretend you aren't," she persisted, stabbing a finger at you, "- but my gut's telling me this is bigger than that. If one of the boys has found a way to sneak in to our dorms, my fists would like to have a little chat with them." She punctuated this by grinding her fist against her palm.
"I'm sure that can't be it," you said, twirling the flower between your fingers. "Perhaps this is just someone's way of thanking me for helping them."
"If you insist." She let her hair loose and shook her head, locks swaying from side to side. "But you won't find me believing that for a second."
"As I'm sure you won't," you replied with a shake of your own head.
"Whatever the case, you should find a vase for it. It's pretty," Nerida suggested, after which she shut her eyes, ready to drift off.
"I should, yes."
You didn't have to look hard to find one. Grabbing an adequately small one from one of the tables in the common room, you then used the waterfall by the entrance to fill it with water. You plopped the pansy in as you headed back to your dorm, thinking it a bit silly to fill the vase with one measly flower of meager size.
But as Nerida had put it, it was quite pretty.
"Oh come on, that was not fair. Again."
"You are such a sore loser, Sebastian."
"I'm not. But it's obviously not fair if you win every time."
"Would you rather I stroked your ego by losing deliberately?"
"Of course not. I just need you to play a bit worse. Even you can't keep a win streak like this going forever."
"Perhaps you should simply hone your skills instead of whining each time."
Wetting your finger to turn a page in your book, you rolled your eyes at your two friends' back-and-forth. Each game of Wizard's Chess went largely through the same process: Sebastian would challenge Ominis, they'd play a round, and Sebastian would lose. He would ask for a second round, and the same would occur - rinse and repeat. It wasn't that he couldn't accept loss, he'd readily admitted to being bested by you in dueling, after all. But if Sebastian set his mind on something, he was adamant to emerge victorious in whatever trial he subjected himself to. Beating Ominis was but a matter of personal resolve, pride playing only a small part in it. Their commentary during and after was beginning to sound like a broken record, though.
"I have improved. I was this close to winning just now, I could practically taste victory," Sebastian said, rearranging the pieces on the board. "And I don't whine."
"Keep telling yourself that Sebby, I'm sure that'll help your case," you quipped, eyes glued to your novel. You only called him by that nickname when you were teasing him.
Sebastian fixed his stare on you. "Says the one who used to complain the game was rigged when they kept losing consecutively."
"Yes, which I've at least admitted myself," you retorted. "Moreover, I learnt to move on and set my ambitions on something more realistic."
"In that case, I'll have to make sure you'll rue the day you doubted my capabilities."
"For the record, Sebastian, you've still got quite a trek up that hill if you wish to fulfill your potential," Ominis declared.
Sebastian sighed, toppling a chess piece with another, looking unamused. "Such supportive friends you two are."
"We try," Ominis replied before you could. You flashed a toothy smile at him, which he seemed to sense as he smiled back at you.
As they began a new round, your eyes darted over to the grandfather clock in the common room. The day had flown by in a blink of an eye, it appeared. Thirty minutes until curfew, and you still hadn't bathed like you did each night before bed - and you did like sticking to your evening routines.
Shutting your book and pulling yourself up from your seat, you stretched your limbs before saying, "I'll go have a bath. Might take a while, so guess I'll see you two tomorrow?"
"Of course. Sleep well," Ominis said with a small curve of his lips.
"You sure you want to miss my first win?" Sebastian asked, a smirk playing on his.
"I'm sure I won't miss much," you remarked with a smirk of your own. "Good night, boys."
As you'd surmised, you did spend some time with your bathing, truly feeling like decompressing for the first time after your moderately eventful day. After deciding to climb out from the inviting warmth of your liquid haven, you hurried back to the common room. You still wanted to catch a few words with your dormmates before you'd pass out.
Upon entering your dorm, you were perplexed to find a small gathering of your dormmates by your bedside.
"I knew it. Someone is definitely trying to woo you," Imelda said, amused as she leant against your bedside table.
Your eyes scanned the room, spotting the yellow pansy from last night behind Imelda. When you stepped closer to see what the fuss was about, you understood: another flower had been placed next to your pillow, a purple pansy this time.
"It has to be one of the boys, right? Why would any of us do something like this?" Nerida mused, rubbing her chin in thought.
You reached for the pansy and held it between your fingers, staring at it as though you'd get direct answers by doing so. "Could this be a prank? If it's not you two, perhaps some of the other girls thought it a fun jest?"
"Or, a boy is very grateful to you," Imelda snorted, alluding to your prior deduction. You had no trouble reading her implication between the lines.
"Or, someone likes you," Nerida elaborated, wiggling her eyebrows. "You have to admit it would be romantic."
"Let's not get carried away," you said, laughing nervously. "I'm sure whoever it is, and whatever their intentions are, they will tire soon enough."
Nerida and Imelda side-eyed each other, facial expressions telling of their contrasting opinions to yours.
"Well, let's hope you'll have a whole bouquet amassed before this mystery solves itself, shall we?" Imelda pushed herself off of your table, murmuring, "Though I still am ready to throttle a boy or two if this is their doing."
"Oh, that would be lovely," Nerida beamed. "I sort of want this person to stay a mystery for a bit longer just to see how far they'll go." Snickering, she left your bedside for her own.
"All right, that's a very nice thought indeed, but let's just wait and see what tomorrow brings," you said, sighing and setting the pansy next to its kin in the vase. It did look better with two floral occupants in it.
But you had to admit - there was still room for one more.
Day three of your cryptic admirer's antics all but proved that they certainly were dedicated to befuddle you further. A whole hyacinth had graced your covers this time, settled on the foot end of the bed.
"This is definitely being done on a lark," you'd told yourself and your dormmates. Imelda and Nerida had strongly begged to differ. You'd sighed, ultimately shrugging and transferring the bulky flower to your small vase. It had made for a tight fit, so in the end you'd decided to procure a bigger vase to accommodate the conundrum. You'd had a hunch you'd be needing it.
The fourth day was no different, as you'd come to suspect by now. A thin and neatly trimmed branch of apple blossoms had been arranged horizontally below your pillow, creating a decorative underlining for it. Such a simple feat of no ostensible deep meaning, yet you knew it had not been thrown there like that in haste; all of these occasions had deliberate planning behind them. But who would bother to do so just for a silly prank?
"Have you thought to ask Sebastian and Ominis about who it might be?" Nerida had inquired.
"No, actually," you'd replied. "I haven't even told them yet. I always seem to forget when the opportunity rises."
"Well, you should," Imelda had said, sitting on her bed, feet crossed as she leant back. "I bet they'd be able to crack the mystery or at least throw an educated guess." She'd paused, the corner of her lip curving slightly. "Maybe it's been one of them all along."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. They'd never do something like this," you'd insisted. "Sure, we get up to mischief with each other all the time, but never in this manner. They're always more direct with their approach."
"Maybe that's why they're doing it, so you won't suspect a thing," Nerida had pointed out.
"No way," you'd laughed. "They aren't this subtle. Trust me, I would know."
"All right, know-it-all. Whatever you say," Imelda had snorted, a furtive gleam in her eyes. "Just ask them tomorrow so we can be done with the suspense."
You'd exhaled deeply, promising to do just that. You did want to bring some sense into this mysterious case.
Before you'd really given it much thought, you'd instinctively started arranging the flowers into an elaborate bouquet of sorts. Making do with what scant resources you had, it did end up looking quite lovely, even with the unconventional assortment of flora.
A fleeting thought had rapped your mind then, whispering of a contingency - there was a certain someone you'd hope to have as your secret admirer, if that was what this whole debacle was. But you knew he'd have nothing to do with this, so you'd quickly discarded that flickering hope.
So, when the next day arrived, you confronted your pair of closest friends in the Undercroft about the matter.
"Sebastian, Ominis. Has anyone been speaking of me... fondly, recently?"
The boys - practicing their spellcasting while you perched atop a heap of junk in the corner of the room - stirred, both casting curious looks to your direction.
"Who isn't?" Sebastian asked as if the answer was obvious. "You're well liked by all of our peers."
"Yes, well, that's not exactly what I meant." You cleared your throat, swinging your feet to quash your nerves. "Has anyone expressed any... special interest in me?"
"Oh?" Sebastian asked, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Fancy someone, do you?"
Ominis had yet to offer his two cents, but you attributed it to Sebastian having already asked what he would have as well. He did look intrigued to hear what you would say.
"No, uh, not exactly," you said, tapping your heel against the enormous box you sat on, eyes glued to your feet. "I've been receiving flowers on my bed for the past four nights. Each time the flower is different and placed on new spot in an, should I say, aesthetically pleasing way, even. I'm not sure if it's a prank or if... you know."
Ominis seemed to perk up a little at this. "Why didn't you tell us before?"
"I don't know. Got a lot on my mind, and I didn't want to make a big deal out of it before things started escalating."
"So, you've got a secret admirer," Sebastian said with a dramatic flair, pacing back and forth as he spoke, "and you'd like to know who it might be. You think we might have an inkling as to who it is."
You nodded, expectant.
Ominis coughed into his balled fist, resting his other hand on his chest as he cleared his throat. "Apologies. Something in my throat."
"Well," Sebastian said, drawling the last two letters with a cluck of his tongue, "I'm sorry to say that I haven't got the foggiest."
You groaned, your hopes dashed.
"I'm afraid I won't be of much help either," Ominis said apologetically, "but I think I have another idea."
Your hopes rekindled. "Oh? Do tell."
"Have you considered the meaning behind these flowers?"
"Of course," you answered. "That's exactly what I've been trying to solve. I have no idea if I'm the butt of a joke or a target of courtship; or something else entirely."
"No, that isn't what I meant," he said, tapping the pads of his fingers together. "Have you thought of looking up the meaning of each flower? Perhaps they're encrypted. They might contain a hidden message."
"Oh!" you exclaimed, eyes lighting up. "Ominis, that's brilliant. It didn't even cross my mind." You dropped from your elevated seat, landing gracefully with a smile. "There ought to be books on that subject, right?"
"I'm fairly certain I've seen a couple books discussing the 'language of flowers' in the library," Sebastian supplied, crossing his arms and smiling. "That should prove a good start."
"Excellent. I'll go straight away." With a grin you passed Ominis, patting him on the shoulder twice. "Thanks for the tip, Ominis. You're a gem."
You swore you caught a faint blush on his countenance. "Don't mention it. I hope it'll prove helpful."
Humming to yourself, you strolled between shelves in the library, searching for ones on botany. Once your wandering gaze settled upon the right section, you tried locating books in that category that delved specifically into floriography as you began sweeping your finger across book spines.
You sounded a soft 'aha' upon your successful endeavour, finding several books on the subject. One caught your attention, the most embellished one among others. You slid it out of the shelf, flipping it to marvel at the vividly illustrated cover and the comical length of its title:
Perceiving the World Through the Lens of Floriography
A Comprehensive Compilation of Flora
AND
Their Symbolism to the Common Gentlefolk
A Definitive and Illustrated Encyclopedia
Opening the book and flipping through the middle pages, you confirmed its contents to seem informative and comprehensive indeed, aptly adequate to your needs. With a pleased nod to yourself, you found a private corner to situate yourself in, settling down on the chair and plopping the book on the table.
You opened it from the index page, sliding your finger down on it in hopes of coming across one of the flowers you'd been gifted. You determined it best to go by order of flowers received, which meant you were specifically looking for a yellow pansy.
With a small thump of your heart, you flipped to the page indicated on the index, anxious to see what you'd unearth. After a short introduction on the history of said flower, your eyes landed on the meaning of receiving one:
Yellow Pansy: Thinking of you.
You blinked, unsure how to react. Who was thinking of you? Why were they thinking of you? You wanted know more, so you went on to the next flower.
Pansy: You are ever in my thoughts.
Your chest constricted a little. This had to be a prank, didn't it? You frantically thought back on your mismatched bouquet in your dorm, searching for the next flower.
Hyacinth: Your loveliness charms me.
A prank. Someone was playing with your feelings. Yet, you couldn't put an end to the momentum your heart rate had picked up, equally fascinated and nervous to find the last flower's meaning.
Apple Blossom: I prefer you before all.
The tips of your ears burned, and you stared at the words over and over again. Who? Who prefered you before all? Could this be a real confession from someone in your house? A part of you hoped so, but only if it were someone truly special. Someone like...
You shook your head, closing the book. You dug out your pocket watch, staring at the contraption like a dullard. You weren't one, though - you were merely lost in your thoughts, cultivating the seeds for a wily stratagem.
The flowers had always appeared right before you went to get some shut-eye, which you did around the same time each night. You knew this, because you'd often pay a quick visit to the dorms hours before, and yesterday you'd fetched a pack of Chocolate Frogs to share with your friends an hour prior to curfew. That said, what better time to plant them than when you were otherwise preoccupied; taking a bath, for instance.
You stood up, resolve coursing in your veins as you headed for Madam Scribner's desk to fill in a form to borrow the book, just to be thorough and prepared.
You would bathe early today. Tonight, you would catch your secret tormentor in the act - and hopefully, confront them personally.