Richard had begun his customary pacing now.

"It might be dangerous, yes. It would be worth it for the information we could get. But not with an interview..." He trailed off as he wandered over to where the painting Cae was doing of him sat in a corner. It was facing the wall, and he turned it over, curious as to where she had gotten. There was some paint on the canvas now, she had started on his face. It wasn't quite Richard, he saw. It had some gleam of him in its eyes, but there was something off. Maybe it was because it was standing still.

"Er," Richard continued, after his distraction. He had stopped his pacing to look at himself, "I think you're probably right, aurors will have talked him half to death. Even if they didn't, it's not like he'd tell us anything. It sounds to me like this is a rehabilitation facility, he probably has personal effects. If you want to know what kind of magic a guy's into, look at the books he owns. Check for anything about paintings," he glanced at the paint Richard. It had moved, but not much. Just closing one eye in a charming wink. Richard continued distractedly as he gazed intently at his own image on canvas, "Maybe... vanishing and... biologic..." Had the face changed, or did Richard's memory fail him? He lost track of his own faces so much he couldn't be sure, but Painting Richard looked like he might have shifted his features, like real Richard did when talking to pretty girls.

Richard shook himself and walked back around the painting, making a mental note to check on this promising development later. "Clowers is a Dark Arts expert, right? I'll do some research into him, I can probably find a thing or two, if he writes notable texts. See where his normal expertise lies. Any particularly advanced Transfiguration or Charms could be suspicious.

"Okay!" Richard clapped his hands together excitedly. "I think we have a game plan. Research! Magical medical facilities in Vancouver, and Jack Clowers' public academic life." He looked at his two best friends, and caught his own reflection in a shining astronomy instrument. They were all three disheveled and tired. It had been a strangely long night. "Does anyone else need to sleep for a week?"

Ocllo chuckled at his last comment. I think I need two weeks. She thought. She felt exhausted, but being with her friends made her feel a bit more energetic, or perhaps that was the stimulants kicking in again. She sat down at a desk, the book still in hand but gave Richard and his plan her full attention.

This project was something new and wonderful to think about, it would keep her mind off... Halloween. She felt as though she would never do Halloween ever again. She decided that she would forget tonight, bury it somewhere deep in her subconscious and never speak of it again.

Except now there was Jack. Would it be so easy to bury?

“That is a good plan. If you are going to look into Clowers, I’ll do some research on the facility.” She felt as though she could safely make an inquiry, and perhaps even arrange a visitation. Her friends did not need to know that talking to doctors and medical administrators was an area of experience for her. She tried to make it seem as if she were simply taking her share of the plan-pie.

“Which leaves you with, hm, making sure your folks are okay with us staying over.” She tried not to look tired, according to ‘the story’ Richard and Addie had a much more frantic evening. She tucked her dark hair behind her ears. “Are you sure they would be okay with that?”

"uh," Addie stared at the grain of the table. His thoughts slowly stitching together. He'd rather be in bed by now. He rubbed at his face then sighed. "I have no idea." He admitted. "I might have to stuff you guys in my luggage." There was a short laugh. It ended on a weird noise as an image of Richard sniffing his drawers in a cramped bag suddenly popped into his head.

"Right." He coughed. "Maybe not. Well, good night. I'll see you two in the morning." He gave River a quick one armed hug and waved at Rich. Then plodded down the hall. Sleep and food should have him feeling and thinking better tomorrow.

...and Addie was right. The incident with Richard and the spell was far from his mind when his two best friends joined him at the table the next morning. He was devouring a blueberry muffin while jotting things on paper, like usual. But the scribbles weren't his crazy spells. It was a list of how he could convince his mom to invite his friends over during holiday. "I think I have a good argument. It just kind of depends on her mood. I can call her later. But," He glanced up at River and Richard. "Would your parents be okay with it?"

"Oh!" Richard called down the stairs as Adelfonsus made his leave, "No hug for me, I see! Night got too awkward?" He laughed to himself as River followed him, both heading to the same common room. Richard crossed the room again to turn the portrait back, so Cae wouldn't know someone had been peeking. Both eyes were open again, and Paint Richard was sitting back with a smug look. "Fuck you," real Richard said, turning him back to face the wall. "You're not even real."

~~~

He woke up better rested than he had expected and walked across to the Main Hall to look over Addie's shoulder, standing intentionally too close, and whispered in his ear, "That will never work. Tell your mom that we're a polyamorous triple."

He sat down next to Addie and immediately snatched up some biscuits and started ladling gravy. He started eating as Fonsus spoke. Richard sighed, "If I let her know about it now, my mom will pretend she's upset that I'm not around for Christmas, but she'll really be happy to cut back on holiday expenses."

A good night’s sleep was just what she needed. Other than the splitting headache she felt just fine.

She sat across from Fonsus as he spoke about his family. “My parents live here, I see them all the time… I’m sure if I told them ahead it won’t be a big deal If I give them enough notice.” The holidays were important to her family… business. The restaurant would be open and Ocllo usually filled in as expeditor. There was certainly a private celebration, work-hard-party-hard, but it was a short sweet reprieve between the working hours. The family tended to center and gather in the off-times when they could really relax.

Her family had been rather thrilled to hear that she had made actual new friends. She had already spoken to her mother, early that morning over the phone. Her mother said she would try to clear her Canadian holiday trip with her father. Mother always kept her word, no mater how vague and diplomatic she sounded, she would always pull through. “No problems on my end.” She frowned and looked at her plate, nudging the eggs around with her fork. She had little appetite, but knew she needed to make herself eat.

Then Richard approached with a scandalous suggestion. River smiled and blushed, looking down at her plate. She shrugged, but her shoulders shook with the chuckle she kept trapped inside. “I do not know your mother so well as you… I’m sure you can think of a good reason. What makes her happy? When I'm trying to win my mothers favor I bring her chocolate, fine dark chocolate and red wine.”

There was another reason that River had called her mother. She had asked her mother for the name and contact number of her old doctor in Chile. "I just have a question or two... No big deal." She had told her mother. She had an idea, perhaps she could have him call the facility as a reference for her, and give them greater assess than a visitor-for-no-reason might get. He'd have to lie a little bit, of course. In reality she owed him far more favors, yet, perhaps he would help her anyway.

If not... She might have the means to persuade him. River had kept a secret for him a very long time. But, should she even breach such a trust with someone who had helped her so much for such a small and frivolous task? Yet, was it so frivolous? Two of her classmates were missing, and that was very real and very serious. Either way, would it really hurt anybody? The lie was small, and the Canadian doctors would hardly check on her real files, he was far below the equator free from any consequence they might contrive. Was it even so dangerous? The Aurors had already investigated this man. Besides, she would never actually tell his secret anyhow, even if he refused. This would be such a small lie, and he would only have to make it once. So much smaller than the lie he had to make every day. He probably would not see it as a big deal at all. It would be such a small thing for him anyhow. If not, they could get in without his help. No one would get hurt...

Right?

She was sitting across from Addie, behind him were the other house tables. She found her gaze accidentally shifting to the Ignus table, and to a certain Ignus who looked a bit-exactly-like-Hale sitting there. He turned, but she looked away before she could see if he was looking at her or turning for some other reason. She put a biscuit in her mouth and looked at the notebook intently, her cheeks were, thankfully, still red from the racy joke that Richard just made.

Her friends were wonderful, but life had become much more complex since making friends, joining the club, solving the mysteries of the universe and the missing, going out on Halloween. Sometimes she didn't feel like herself at all. It was more than just the imbalanced medicine, it was the way she was acting, the things she was thinking about. Had no one else noticed her change? Was she even a part of this change at all? or was this self (that is the thinking self that noticed these things), the stagnant still bits watching as her path seemed to alter without her permission or consent, yet, she could do nothing to stop it. Had she wanted change so hard for so long that now she had no control over it? Was she like an earthquake releasing the tension built up over so many millennia, simply breaking the moment God deems it fitting, and it has no choice of how peaceful or violent it becomes, nor where nor whom it strikes. Does the quake know or care if it is in a field or in a city? Can it stop itself? Would it?

She ate another biscuit and did not touch her eggs. She looked at her watch, she had to take her medicine after every meal. She did not dare to miss another dose ever again so long as she lived. She still had time, there might be more to discuss with her friends about Canada.

“Haha. Funny, Rich. You crack my side.” Fonsus said in a sarcastic and dry tone. Despite his refusal, the idea was scratched on the paper, as a backup. “Great. So, it’s basically set in stone.” There was some more scratching on the paper. Then Fonsus shut the book and stuffed it away before Gus managed to bite off a corner of the page. He gave the turtle a piece of carrot. He noticed, not intentionally, that River seemed preoccupied. “You okay?”

Her dark eyes widened, akin to an awakening owlett as Addie spoke to her directly.

“I am alright.” She touched her right temple and winced a bit. “I just have an ache in my head.” That was not a lie, at least.

She pushed her breakfast plate away. The magic of the table soon began it’s work. The dirty dish sinking through the wood as if it were quicksand. It was similar to the spell that made the food and clean dishes appear upon the table.

“I think I might stop to get something before class.” Also not quite a lie. This was a small comfort to her heart. Usually concealing her condition was a habit that did not disturb her in the slightest. But the implications brought up by recent events pressed upon her conscious. She hoped the guilt would fade within the week. Then she could go back to feeling like her ‘normal’ self...

She looked at Richard. She still wondered if this excursion a game or a gamble. What did Richard really[i] think? He didn’t know Katherine Hale or Jeffery Lark. He cracked jokes over breakfast, flirted at club meetings, all these the signs of a fellow who was unconcerned.

River also knew that Richard could change his face at will.

Richard was born with [i]that talent, God also saw fit to grace him with a talent for magic, intelligence, and finding trouble…

Fonsus and Richard were both extremely capable wizards. Fonsus was not challenged by school, therefore he shunned school work for his own experiments. This would be troublesome to his teachers and parents, but in truth the greatest consequence was Fonsus staying behind another year. Richard, on the other hand, did his homework but was had not likely been tested hard enough to see his full potential. If Richard was behaving the same as Fonsus, seeking his own diversions and tests, it was no wonder the two understood each other so well. Yet, the worst that could happen was… much worse.

So she quickly begged him… “Try to think of… of… Everything.” She stepped toward him and wrapped him in a one arm hug so that she could whisper the rest into his ear: “You are the only one who can pretend to be someone else if something goes wrong!”

She then leaned down toward where Fonsus sat. She tapped the notebook where he had scribbled the various and quite complicated quantum-metaphycial theories and formulas for persuading mothers to accept holiday guests. “Whatever you come up with will be brilliant, it always is.”

She walked away before anyone could ask her anything else. The headache actually saved her from any further anguished thoughts. It has spread from her cerebellum and seemed to thread its way through her temporal lobe and grind against her wernicke[i].

She decided to visit White. She’d take her regular dose and ask him for something more for her head.

Perhaps she should tell him about her plans to visit Canada, she usually brought extra when she traveled. Perhaps he could refer her to a local doctor just-in-case she found more [i]trouble…

“I won’t tell him that I’m looking for it!”

She muttered this as she rounded the corner and approached his door. It was slightly ajar, and knocking would have worsened her migraine, so she simply pushed through to see her teacher and doctor.

"Hello...?"

"Uh, what?" Richard said as she hugged him. "What, like impersonation?" He called after her as she walked off, "I don't do impressions, River!"

"I don't know what that was about," he said when she had gone, "If she sees something we don't she should just fucking say it. I don't need more cryptic hints in my life."

~~~

Professor White was at his desk, John the Raven was standing on the desk, eating little bits of bacon off of White's breakfast plate. He looked up from his uneaten food and put his fork down.
"Of course," he said by way of greeting, "You have a headache." It wasn't a question, he pointed to his own head, "Right about here. There's nothing I can do about it, should go away within the day." When she didn't immediately go away he looked back up at her, "Is there something else on your mind?"

Diagnosed in an instant, her shoulders slumped, defeated. Alas, the monstrous migrane would remain at large. White was the best, if he could do nothing then there was nothing to be done, whatever he stated was simply fact.

“I am sorry to bother you.” She sat down and undid her braid, (it was getting in the way). Her hair unfurled and knotted around her ear where she rubbed her scalp, trying to comfort the ache.

“I am going to visit with Adelfonsus and his family over the holiday break. He lives in Canada. I was thinking I should bring… extra... Just in case… I was thinking, what if the trip back got delayed? Or something unexpected occurred?" She would wince whenever the raven cawed and chortled. The piercing beak made a piercing sound. "Or... Do you think it is a bad idea to go?" She looked away from him then. She dreaded his response. The time away from school with her two best friends was the best thing she could think of. Yet, she did not want a repetition of Halloween, out in Canada White and his lab would not be near to whip up an emergency batch. She would be on her own.

And she could not skip out on their 'mission'. "I would like to make it work... If you could help me."

"Over holiday?" he asked, in a musing voice. "In Canada?" White stared at her intensely for a moment. He finally spoke up, "I'm glad you thought to ask me now, so that I can brew the potion ahead of time. May I ask what led to this trip?"

She looked away from the raven, his cool stare unsettled her. "Fonsus is from there, and his family invited me... Richard was invited too." She added quickly, she didn't want White to think that Addie and herself were an item of some sort, she wouldn't be the only one 'meeting the parents'.

"We just thought it would be fun to spend the holiday together. Richard and I have never been to Canada before." Though, Richard had never said that he hadn't been to Canada. River realized that Richard seldom talked about his past, his old school or his old friends. She was never one to pry. She wondered if he missed them like she missed her friends in Chile.

She looked away from the raven, his cool stare unsettled her. "Fonsus is from there, and his family invited me... Richard was invited too." She added quickly, she didn't want White to think that Addie and herself were an item of some sort, she wouldn't be the only one 'meeting the parents'.

"We just thought it would be fun to spend the holiday together. Richard and I have never been to Canada before." Though, Richard had never said that he hadn't been to Canada. River realized that Richard seldom talked about his past, his old school or his old friends. She was never one to pry. She wondered if he missed them like she missed her friends in Chile.

"Of course, those two troublemakers." Though neither had gotten into anything too crazy since the first day, White had never quite shaken the idea that they were likely to start fights. "I'll see what I can do, but don't let those two drag you into anything you should be doing."

~~~

The next month and a half passed very differently for each of the trio. Rather than petering out towards the mid-year break, as Richard had grown to expect, the work load at school seemed to increase with no end in sight. Richard started to feel a little stretched thin, with OWL level schoolwork and the Society for Creative Research both demanding heavily on his time and attention.
Sitting in for Caelum's painting sessions became the icing on the cake. He even suspected it was messing with his head, as by mid-November he had begun experiencing a recurring dream where he was the painting, looking out from his weird two dimensional world. He wasn't even sure how his mind had developed the imagery, and when he woke up he found he could barely even imagine what it had been like.

By the fifteenth of December, his grades had started to slip a little, and he found himself having to practice his spells a little harder to get them down, and he found himself practicing vanishing while Cae painted him in the last SCR meeting before break.

"Try not to capture too much scowling," Richard told her wearily, as he put down his wand in favor of a book. It was yet another of Clowers' texts. He was an unfortunately prolific writer.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Cae sat across the Astronomy room from her subject. She was wearing a loose t-shirt had cut up and re-sewn to fit her thin form, she slit holes in the back to create the shape of wings. Otherwise she only wore black tights, while her sandals lay beside her chair (she liked to paint barefoot). Her pink hair was loose and a bit unruly, there were bits of paint spattered about it like confetti, a blue smudge on her cheek as well, a blue that was nearly the same shade as her own eyes.

She tickled the Painting-Richard’s brow with her brush, that Richard squirmed uncomfortably. “Perhaps you should relax.” She set down her brush and crossed the room.

As she stepped away from her canvas she wondered if that Richard missed her when she was gone… Or this Richard…

When she drew near him she reached out to touch his worried brow with her fingers. When the scowl softened she said “Perhaps we need a break.”

‘Put down that book… and look at me the way I look at you…

Inner beauty was discussed much in her art classes and amongst her artistic friends. However, Cae was raised by a plastic surgeon on Madison Avenue, the concept was lost on her. She was always lauded for her technical abilities, but sometimes was criticized for her work being ‘soulless’ or ‘superficial’. Baffled, Cae would walk away from class with anger in her stomach and a sub-par grade, completely baffled.

Until Richard came along. He was handsome, she had always noticed that. Then when she tried to paint him she found herself at a loss.

She she could not capture his likeness with her own two hands, try as she might, over and over again, there was always something missing, something not quite right in her painting.

‘What does he have that I can not see?’

So, she did what any good artist should do and observed her subject. She saw that he was more than handsome, he showed bravery and stood up to Hale, he showed intellect as he lead the experimental club, he was kind to befriend Adelfonsus and River…

Richard was beautiful inside and out.

She understood what ‘inner beauty’ meant when she looked into Richard’s blue eyes, a shade of blue that nearly matched her own. Though, Cae imagined that when he looked upon her, they lightened ever so slightly.

She smiled at him, she was now confident that she and her magic paintbrush could capture all of him.

“Perhaps it is the stress.” She was referring to his spell-troubles with a shrug. “Or do you have trouble keeping your focus today?” she tilted her head to one side. “I would hate for you to vanish anyhow…”

Quite unlike the rest of his peers and friends, Fonsus was undisturbed by the looming tests ahead. However, he kept to his word with River and conquered the piling homework during study hall. His grades miraculously rose as he put almost as much effort into the classes as his experiments. Which his mother was joyful to hear and was surprisingly eager to invite Richard and River over.

Currently, Fonsus frowned at Gus. He sat at a table in the club, being unusually still and quiet. No muttering under his breath or scratching of a quill. No books splayed around him. No catastrophic end of another failed spell crackling in the air.

He was a statue. It was hard to tell if he was breathing until he lifted his head and turned to his friends, and Cae.

“What if it’s a dead end?” He finally voiced his worry. He spoke about their upcoming adventure. “What do we do then? It’s a long shot already. I don’t really want to bring negativity to the table. But I just can’t not think about it.”

River sat near Fonsus, she had a stack of books opened up before her, she had pulled together several desks to arrange them all. The OWLS were looming and the Chilean girl could not relax. Ocllo lacked in magical proficiency she needed to make up for in paperwork as much as possible.

She looked to Richard and Cae, she was surprised to see Richard struggling with his spells when Cae stepped in to... help... She looked back to her books, content to allow their little 'moment' to unfold.

She looked to Fonsus, who was uncharacteristically unoccupied. River smiled, he had kept to his word and had fulfilled his academic responsibilities to the best of his abilities, and River was very proud of him for that. She thought he might be quiet because he felt satisfied, or, perhaps between school work and experimental work, his brain was finally worn out...

... Then he spoke and River realized she could not have been more wrong.

She took a moment to mull over his words. Then shook her head and reached over to gently punch his shoulder.

"If it is a dead end, then we will have no choice but to simply enjoy our holiday together!" She tried to sound sad, but was a poor actor. She peered at him, still smiling, looking for his response. "How does that sound?"

Richard shot Fonsus the "why are you talking about secret things in front of other people" look, but joined the conversation, agreeing with River. "Yeah, we can go sledding or build magic snow forts."
He reflected to himself how unlikely that was. The vanishing of two students and the exile of a teacher within a month of each other could not be unrelated. Maybe there was no evidence to convict ex-Professor Clowers yet, but Richard was quite sure he had something to do with it.

"Did you get Vanishing Spells down, Addie?" he asked, changing the subject as he tried to relax in the chair, Cae rubbing his head and neck to sooth him. "Can I copy off you? Is that possible with practical? Probably not."