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The night is young, and the night is cold. A certain young witch, with a disposition susceptible to such cold, shivers, tucking herself further into the blankets and curling tighter around the snugstone. The warmth, while faint, serves its purpose as a comfort, Olruggio’s magic like a shield against lowering temperatures.
Her roommate, an intelligent witch usually, had forgotten to close the large window that night, allowing chilly wind to circulate throughout the room. And poor, poor Coco isn’t brave enough to close it herself, accompanied by the risk of Agott waking up. Doomed to tossing and turning sleeplessly.
“Urgh,” comes a quiet grumble from the other side of the room. “Coco, I can hear you from here,” Agott warns, having woken despite Coco’s efforts. She sighs, “Just what is it that has you awake at this hour?”
“Eep!” Coco squeaks, quickly tugging her blanket over her head as if to minimise the racket already made by her restlessness. Peeking shyly from under the covers, she whispers, “It’s nothing, really!” Agott makes a disbelieving noise, and Coco laughs nervously. “It’s just the cold. You, uh, the window was left open, and the wind is coming in.”
Agott hums sleepily, “Is that all?” Then comes rustling from Agott’s side of the room, and Coco directs her gaze to the opposite wall, sitting up when she realises her companion stands. Rubbing her eyes sleepily, Agott reaches to the window, pulling it shut. The simplicity of the action causes Coco to simmer in embarrassment at how easily this could have been solved. “And you couldn’t do this yourself?” Dark pupils shift to meet Coco’s gold, and she averts her eyes first, flustered by the judgement.
The blonde girl mumbles something under her breath, and Agott raises her eyebrow. “What was that?”
“Um, I didn’t want to wake you,” Coco mumbles.
“Well,” Agott scoffs, “It's a bit too late now.”
Eyes shut, Coco’s voice goes high and quiet as she squeaks, “I’m sorry…!”
But when a scathing reprimand doesn’t come, she opens her eyes to see Agott at the door, putting her slippers on.
“Hm?” Sensing her staring, the dark-haired girl turns her head towards Coco questioningly.
“Nothing! Uh, are you not going back to sleep?” Coco tries.
Agott smiles, slight as usual but lacking the sarcasm it normally would. “Come with me.”
“Oh, um— okay!” Nearly tumbling on her sheets as she gets off the bed, the snugstone is almost lost on the floor, but Coco scrambles to catch it. “Safe!” she cheers quietly, and Agott giggles behind her hand.
“Hurry up, Coco,” she urges, “Master Qifrey won’t mind if we wake him at this time, but it won’t last forever.” Adult witches do still need their sleep, even if the sacrifice would be for their own little apprentices.
They pad across the hallway near-silently, just the tap-tap-tap of light, careful steps on wood, then a customary knock on the door of Master Qifrey before Agott opens the door without permission. The two glance upon the sleeping form of the white-haired teacher, Agott with familiarity, Coco with the apprehension of potentially crossing a line.
“Master Qifrey?” Agott calls quietly, approaching with a lamplight in hand. Coco follows after somewhat listlessly, letting the more experienced girl take the lead. They stand above his bedside, simply staring at their teacher, before Agott ruthlessly drops her own snugstone on his hair-covered forehead.
“Ack—!! Wha—” The girls scurry backwards as to not be hit by the sudden force of Master Qifrey sitting up, looking around still half-asleep as the snugstone tips into his lap. “This is… Agott’s snugstone?” He mutters confusedly, reaching blindly at his nightstand for his glasses, propping them up on his nose before spotting Agott and Coco to the wayside. His tone turns fond as he addresses them. “Ah. Now, what brings you two here so late at night?”
“Coco was cold.” Agott points at Coco, throwing her under the bus instantly. “And… me too.” Her ink-stained fingers come to clasp together lower as Agott tilts her head down, looking up at Master Qifrey and batting her eyelashes. “Master Qifrey, the snugstone wasn’t warm enough to get the wind away…”
“I see,” he sighs, and Coco really doubts his words because his glasses are askew, tilted from the rush job of putting them on. “Come with me.” Standing, he shrugs on the warmer layer of his robe, and Agott and Coco both rush to follow him. Like master, like apprentice, Coco thinks, reminded of the way she had scrambled after Agott earlier.
Down at the kitchen, Master Qifrey has milk sitting over a low pyreball spell while he reaches to the very top of the cupboards, the one that’s meant for hiding sweets and the like despite how all the girls can reach it with their sylph shoes. It’s mostly left untouched out of courtesy. The height has Coco straining in her seat at the counter, tilting her body left to right in order to see. Agott, sitting next to her, warms her hands with the returned snugstone while staring at Coco unimpressed.
Master Qifrey hums, hauling out a glass jar with fine brown powder within. “Coco, I doubt you’ve had this drink before,” he says while carefully setting the jar on the counter. “It’s perfect for nights like these. Marshmallow?” He offers. Having also gotten the marshmallow bag from the cupboard, he holds one out to Coco.
“Th-thanks!” The girl takes it gratefully.
Turning to her dark-haired companion, he asks, “Agott, you?”
“No thank you,” Agott respectfully declines.
He pops one in his mouth before taking out his, Agott’s, and Coco’s favourite mugs, continuing, “Are you fond of chocolate? Most kids your age are. You do like sweet things, so I don’t think this will be too unfamiliar, but—” The milk is removed from the heat, and with a smooth, elegant swipe of a glyph, it funnels perfectly into the three cups. “I do enjoy seeing newcomers’ reactions.” Master Qifrey’s fond smile melts softer after seeing the anticipation on Coco’s face, as she always wears for the flashy kind of magical manoeuvres.
Coco stutters, “Th-that was super cool! And smooth! How did you get the milk to land in the cups if the glyph just went over it? Is it the puppetry sign?”
“All will be revealed in time, Coco,” the white-haired mentor chuckles. “Now, would you like more or less cocoa?”
“More or less of what?” Coco blinks.
.
.
.
He stares at her stupefied for a moment as Agott badly disguises a laugh as a cough behind a fist. “Ah, chocolate, I suppose.”
“More!” Coco cheers, and Master Qifrey scoops two spoons of the powder into her cup, following suit with two for himself and one for Agott. Three smaller spoons appear, falling into the mugs without disturbing the power-liquid mixture inside further than a simple ripple.
As Agott and Qifrey gently mix their concoctions, Coco catches on and joins in, watching as the steaming milk turns a warm brown colour, paired with a distinct sweet smell.
“Woah,” she murmurs, staring at her drink.
Master Qifrey chuckles, pushing forwards the bag of marshmallows. “I must ask again, would you care for a marshmallow? Pop it in your drink and you’ll find it quite nice, I assure you.”
Two marshmallows are taken, one a fluffy white, like a smooth, cylindrical brushbuddy, and the other as pink as Tetia’s hair. Coco’s pretty sure she can see a glimpse of the girl in the corner of her eye, coming from just behind the staircase. The plop! of the marshmallows into Coco’s drink quickly gets drowned out by the pitter patter of two pairs of steps.
WIth a smile, Master Qifrey brings out Tetia and Richeh’s cups as well, pouring more milk to heat up while scooping their usual amount of powder into their cups.
(“Hmm.” Coco stares at her teacher scrutinisingly, muttering quietly, “Master Qifrey knows what Richeh and Tetia would choose. He must really care for us.”
“I wonder who the sixth cup is for?”)
“Yay!” Tetia cheers, sliding atop the stools with Richeh across from Agott and Coco. “Hot cocoa is the best on nights like these!”
Richeh nods, pulling her mug closer to her. “It’s rich(-eh) and warm…”
“Oh! I forgot to ask! Why are we having hot cocoa so late?” Tilting her head and pressing a finger to her cheek, Tetia tilts her head, hair still mussed from sleep. “It is perfect for the timing because it’s super cold right now, but I thought we’d all be asleep.”
Sipping gently from her cup, Agott explains, “I left the window open. It got cold in our room, and Coco hasn’t had Master’s hot cocoa yet, so…”
Master Qifrey chuckles, “…So they woke me up and put me to work.”
“Mm,” Richeh nods, “The only correct decision. Cocoa for Coco.”
Tetia gasps, eyes sparkling at the phrase, “Yes! It’s cocoa for Coco!”
Patting the girl’s pink head, Master Qifrey agrees, his smile lovingly soft, “Cocoa for Coco, and cocoa for the rest of us as well.”
The milk steams, having hit the perfect temperature, and Qifrey easily fills up the three other mugs on the table, stirring them to chocolate-y brown. Then, the marshmallow bag is placed on the table for all of them to take freely, with Richeh proudly dropping three of each colour in, and Tetia trying to make a two-by-two cube of pink marshmallows on top of her drink. Master Qifrey himself takes a white marshmallow and pulls it in half, dropping one half in his mug and the other in the last remaining mug of hot cocoa, with an unclaimed recipient.
“Uwaaah!” Coco exclaims, “It’s melting!” The marshmallows in her drink have indeed softened to the point of liquidation, a thick froth-like texture swirling in the triad of the colours pink, brown, and white.
“Drink up now Coco, it can only stay warm for so long before it settles.” A warm hand lands on her blonde locks as Qifrey gets up, holding the extra mug. “I’m taking this to Oru, don’t get hurt while I’m away, girls.”
“Master Olly is three steps away,” Agott grumbles, “Nothing’s gonna happen.”
He sighs, “You never know, especially with you girls.” Before Agott gets him for the comment, Qifrey is far away, already in the hallway leading to Olruggio’s room.
Abiding by the warning against knocking, Qifrey abruptly opens the door, taking a moment to observe Olruggio hard at work over a desk. The man, so deep in work, startles when the mug clacks on the desk in question.
“Cocoa,” Qifrey explains, fingers lingering a tad too long on the inviting warmth. “It isn’t your usual thornbark tea, but I imagine you wouldn’t want to miss out.”
“Are the girls up late again?” Olruggio grumbles, “Nothing good happens when they do that, especially at such a young age.”
Qifrey laughs, “Surprisingly, no.” At Olruggio’s questioning noise, he elaborates, “Neither Coco nor Agott could sleep because of the cold, so they woke me up for it. I suppose Tetia and Richeh must have heard the racket.”
“Woke you up?” An eyebrow raise comes from the scruffy man. “I know you, Qifrey, you sleep like the dead. Waking you up is like having to pull a tree from its roots.”
Choking at the unintentional accuracy of the statement, Qifrey coughs, and laughs, “They dropped one of your snugstones on my head.”
“Hm. Surprised it didn’t break,” Olruggio teases.
“Hey!”
“I should hand out a stronger one.” Sighing, he presses a hand to his forehead, “S’pose I should’ve expected this, this winter’s rolling in much harsher than usual.”
Qifrey tilts his head, “If you had, Coco wouldn’t have had to have her first taste of cocoa. You should have seen her. As excited for it as she is for magic.”
Uproarious laughter comes from downstairs, the combined high giggles of four girls piercing through the heavy haze of comfort. Qifrey turns back towards the door.
“I’ll be on my way now, Olruggio. Try to be out before I wash up.” He hums, “I do worry for you, dear friend.”
Olruggio waves a hand dismissively. “You do your part, I’ll do mine. I’ll be out for breakfast tomorrow morning.”
Qifrey laughs, “Of course.”
The door is left slightly ajar as Qifrey leaves to dote on the girls. They present to him milk mustaches in chocolate, comparing them affectionately to their Master Olly, and a fondness bubbles up in Qifrey as roots extend downwards.
“I’m sure he’d be happy to see you all take after him,” he chokes out through laughter.
Truly, no cold stands a chance against the warmth of family.