S/V Quarters

It was a rather peaceful day and evening at Hogwarts. There had been, miraculously, no major events during the day, no last minute meetings, no big accidents or mishaps in her lab, nothing. The Slytherins and Gryffindors, for once, had decided to forgo any dueling, muggle combat, pranks, or even verbal fights and catcalls. Instead, they stuck to mere glares, followed by an occassional finger flip at each other. All in all, it seemed as though it was a perfect day for everyone.

Until Viper and Sevastyan arrived at their newly shared quarters.

Viper loved living with Sevastyan at their very own quarters. While leaving it up to a coin to decide where they would spend the night had been entertaining, it got to be a bit problematic at times as various possessions such as jewelry, makeup, clothing, etc, tended to go missing. Living together in a designated area, in a way, felt more... official, in Viper's point of view. To her it provided a way to symbolize their relationship, showing that it was indeed, a seriously, deeply meaningful aspect of their life's. It helped show that it wasn't merely two people fooling around as several of Viper's previous relationships had been. What she had with Sevastyan was something Viper cherished, and hoped would last forever, and that perhaps the shared quarters was a next step towards something bigger.

However, the pessimistic aspect of Viper's character and to note with a hint of frustration, that sharing quarters wasn't always all that easy. Naturally, they wanted a style that combined and merged their personal preferences, and in the end, happily came to compromise that displayed equal aspects of their styles. Or at least, Viper thought they had. Now that she thought of it, now that she spent some time living with it, she realized that there was far too much crimson for her tastes...

"Alright, so dragon vessels are balanced out by a pint of evergreen essence, creating a -Crimson- A -Crimson- effect causing -Crimson-" Viper sighed in frustration at the inability to focus on anything other than her surroundings, her irritation skyrocketing. It was as though she had ADD to the max. Looking around, all she could see were blobs. Not the styish furniture, not the custom, personalized flare. She couldn't even conjure her own thoughts, which were of utmost importance at the moment, as she was reviewing a potions formula an ex Colleague had sent her to look over. All she could see, everywhere she looked was crimson.

Crimson

Crimson

Crimson

Crimson

Crimson

Crimson


Crimson


Crimson


Crimson

Crimson on the walls. Crimson on the drapes. Crimson trinkets. Crimson frames. Crimson vases. Crimson furniture....

Green orbs took a quick glance downward at the thick fabric covering her frame, shielding her from the light chill. A sigh or irritation escaped her. The blanket was, of course, crimson.

It wasn't that she disliked anything that belonged to Sevastyan. No, not in the least. It was just... well.... She was Head of Slytherin house! Not to mention a rather avid fan of emerald. It was more or less engrained into her system to be decked out in emerald, and now with the crimson, which in her eyes represented Gryffindor, it felt as though she had left the solace of a Slytherin themed area into an alternate reality in which Gryffindor dominated all.

"I can't do it!" she blurted out loudly, leaping to her feet, her mind spinning with crimson. Even when she blinked she could still see crimson. "I'm sorry love, but the crimson has to go. It's just, I mean, look around! It looks like the Gryffindor mascot vomited all over!"

Viper inhaled an exhaled slowly before turning to Sevastyan as calmly as she could. "Sorry love, but you have to get rid of the crimson."

Sevastyan’s day and evening had been... well, perhaps not exactly perfect, but quite well. He’d woken with Amaranth, whom he was now living with in shared quarters, which in his opinion of late was the best way to start the day. It would’ve been a perfect day had he been able to spend nearly every moment of it with her and unbothered by the worries of the world around them. But alas: there were classes to teach and students to tend, papers to grade and house points to distribute. While he tried not to be a biased professor, any class with Slytherins tended to receive only slightly more favor than the others. Then again, another’s perception of ‘light’ might not match his. Miraculously, even the bouts of red versus green seemed to be very mild, limited to glares and hand gestures of varying levels of offensiveness.

Even arriving with Amaranth to their shared quarters was bliss. The hours in which they could spend quality time with one another and need not fret over being needed for something or another were at hand. Sevastyan loved living with Amaranth, finding the arrangement much more casual than the marriage he’d nearly gone into nearly a decade earlier. He barely even remembered Roxane these days, his romantic memory entirely crammed with thoughts of a very specific Potions Mistress and her charms. No pun intended. Living with her was a crucial step in the right direction, in his opinion. No longer need they sacrifice for items lost along the way to either set of chambers this way. They couldn’t legally claim they were married, but the move to live together made it seem almost like they were. Not that he had grand plans for marriage... it was just that his father had been rather anal about it. And his mother always asked when he was going to look for another girl.

Now, Praskovya’s letters repeatedly asked if he would ‘pop the question’ soon.

While Sevastyan hoped his relationship with Viper would last, he didn’t see the need at the moment to bring up marriage. She hadn’t really even hinted at such a thing, nor had they discussed it. Why would they discuss it at any rate? The Russian vaguely wondered if Amaranth were the type of woman that preferred as much hoopla as could be mustered or would like to keep things quiet and private.

When he had first made a comment about him moving in with her, Sevastyan hadn’t been sure if he’d crossed a line or if she were exaggerating when Amaranth had said not many would willingly live with her. He knew by living with Roxane for a time that things would have its ups and downs. Heck, even living in a dorm with other young men his age at Durmstrang had been trying at times... especially when they had gotten the grand idea to tattoo the last person amongst them to wake up the morning after a drinking contest in their final year. Sevastyan hadn’t known about it until he awoke to the sensation of needles pricking his skin and four of the other five boys in his dorm physically instead of magically holding him down. He remembered being blindfolded with a crimson bandana... crimson being his school’s main color.

Despite a few of the cliché kinks, Sevastyan thought they’d adjusted rather well. He certainly was content with his surroundings, and the scenery was even more appealing when a certain woman whom he loved with all his heart happened to be in the room with him...


As Viper reviewed a piece of correspondence she’d received... it looked like something for the sake of research but he couldn’t be sure... Sevastyan contented himself with grading a few essays until she finished. He glanced up briefly at her irritated sigh. ’Must be a complicated project,’ he mused with a slight shrug before returning to his own task. He hadn’t really even noticed the amount of crimson in the room, finding it natural to his eyes. Rather, it was the occasional green item that caught his eye.

Green... the color associated with the love of his life... it was even the color of her lovely, captivating eyes.

When another sigh issued from his partner, Sevastyan decided the essays could wait until his work hours. With the flick of his wand, said parchments vanished to return to the desk in the Defense classroom. The Russian then stood, forsaking the crimson blanket that had been around him to block out the chill of a slight draft, and walked over to see what precisely it was she was concentrating on.

Sevastyan was within six feet of Amaranth when she leapt up and shouted. Stormy orbs gazed at her irritated state in utter confusion. Despite her frustration, the wizard couldn’t help but laugh a bit at her take on the color, even though having crimson vomit in actuality was not a good thing. “It’s not that bad, is it?” he countered gently, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Unfortunately, the top he wore happened to be – you guessed it – crimson. There was an emerald green and metallic silver trim upon the hem, sleeves, and collar, but that was pretty much it. Praskovya had made the garment herself, and made a mirroring garment of mostly green with a slight dab of crimson for Viper as a Christmas gift.

“Not to mention I thought the Gryffindor color vos scarlet?”

It had been quite a few years since she had lived with a roommate. In her Hogwarts days, she had shared a room with three other girls up until her 5th year. From then on, she had been able to coerce the current Head Girl and her successors to give her room to Viper, therefore granting the Potions Mistress her very own room for her remaining Hogwarts days. Her's to decorate as she desired, and her's to use as her own hideaway for parties. At least, for the days when she was not out during the late/early hours at some other party or other gig.

So it had been... eight years since she had had a roommate? Merlin, no wonder Addison had stared in shock when she had told her what was occurring during a holiday floo chat. After recovering from the initial shock, she had listened to every word Viper had uttered regarding the recent relationship in the witch's life, adding a teasing smile followed by a playful chant. "A.V. and Sevastyan sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes roomies, than comes marriage, then comes a random, baby carriage!"

Viper's reply had been a roll of her eyes, followed by a finger gesture, given teasingly. While she had told her best friend her thoughts that her moving in with Sevastyan had a meaning that their relationship was going somewhere, she hadn't necessarily meant marriage. She herself had professed numerous occasions in her past that she did not believe in marriage, viewing it as no more than a legal, enduring form of the Cruciatus Curse. In fact, it was these views, among many, that ultimately lead to the split between her and her "fiancée" Victor.

Both of them bore the same ambition, and dreamt of rising so high in their chosen fields that they'd be immortal. However, one crucial difference lay within their dreams: Victor wanted a family. And not just any family, mind you. One where he could go, rising higher and higher while Viper, his wife, would stay home, tending to the Manor, and their children. He wanted her to sacrifice her career the moment he deemed them ready for children, a dream that would be nothing more than a nightmare to the witch, causing her to sever her relationship with him, and leave the two towards their seperate ways.

Viper couldn't be sure if it was perhaps this experience that lead to her dislike of marriage, though it was highly unlikely, as she couldn't recall one single moment in her childhood that she dreamt of marriage. She had been raised to view the sanctity as a benefit that would either rise you or sink you, a belief firmly advocated as she had yet to witness a truly happy marriage. Her parents certainly hadn't been, nor was her eldest brother's as he chose to forsake his wife entirely. And Odessa's elopement had lead to her downfall.

Granted, they had never really brought up the subject, nor had Sevastyan really hinted at it, but Viper assumed it was because he was comfortable with the way things were. That and it was possible that his broken engagement with Roxanne had lead him to refrain from marriage, and possibly leave an unpleasant aftertaste for him.

Regardless, she loved Sevastyan, and knew her feelings were mutual. It didn't matter to her that their relationship was not officially described in an official document, like that of a marriage license. She knew he loved her and he knew she loved him, and that was all that mattered.

Though, she had to admit, if only to herself, locked within her mind behind an iron wall of occlumency: She rather like the sound of Amaranth Kaminski...

However, at this moment, all her thoughts, including this one, lay suppressed by what the Potions Mistress deemed to be a staggering amount of crimson.

A raven eyebrow arched in slight irritation combined with quite a bit of hysteria. "What is so funny? Sevastyan, this is serious! I was born and raised a Slytherin, hell, I'm the bloody Head of House! I feel like I've been been eaten by that overgrown cat of a mascot, and have been regurgitated!" she whined, leaning into Sevastyan's embrace.

Only to find that her love was covered in crimson as well.

She gave a small cry as she realized this, withdrawing and staring at him with wide eyes, swearing slightly. "Bloody hell! -No pun intended- You're crimson too!" she breathed in shakily, trying to regain her composure. "Crimson is taking over..." she breathed out.

"Scarlet, Crimson, it's all the same, Gryffindor plagued color! Please, Sevastyan, I'm asking you once more. Get rid of the bloody crimson!" she asked, closing her eyes rather over-dramatically, as though looking at the color was simply unbearable.

Sevastyan blinked at the look Amaranth set him with, followed by the hysterics. He fought the urge to laugh again as she referred to the House of Gryffindor, finding her ways to describe its mascot terribly funny. The Russian couldn’t quite believe she was taking this seriously. Perhaps she was merely joking with him? “It vos just the vay you said it, that made me laugh...” he murmured, reveling at the feel of her leaning against him and expressing such with a barely audible, contented sigh.

Just about to tighten the embrace a little, the wizard jumped at his significant other’s shout and her sudden flight from his arms. Raven eyebrows knitted together and arched in curiosity, wondering what about him had startled her. A light cadence of further mirth escaped him at her exclamations, again amused at how it had been phrased. Though, in an attempt to correct his earlier mistake Sevastyan rubbed her back in an effort to comfort her. It was difficult to say whether she was just kidding around or actually seemed disturbed by the color. “Is it really that bad?” he asked gently, attempting to coerce Viper back into the embrace.

“Crimson is the color of Durmstrang. There is a subtle difference...” he remarked, keeping his tone light. Although, Sevastyan had to admit to himself, both colors fit under the umbrella term of ‘red’.

"Please, Sevastyan, I'm asking you once more. Get rid of the bloody crimson!"

Sevastyan sighed, having eyes only for Viper. The over-dramatization of how much the color bothered her was sort of cute, though honestly he didn’t understand what the big deal was. A couple of murmured spells in the Russian language issued from the wizard’s lips. “There... is this better?” he asked, then pressed a kiss to the portion of forehead between her eyebrows.

Everything that had been crimson was changed to green, as it was the only color Sevastyan could think of that Amaranth would appreciate other than black. The crimson shirt he’d been wearing, however, had been magically removed from him and the white tank top he’d been wearing beneath became his primary shirt.

With each note of laughter escaping Sevastyan, Viper felt her annoyance grow, though she leaned unto him, resting her head against him. "Well I'm glad the face that I'm annoyed amuses you..." she muttered from the corner of her mouth in a rather teacher-ish manner. She knew deep down she was being completely unreasonable, not to mention unfair, but she truly couldn't help it. It was like how a person couldn't help but jump and wince at the sound of nails scratching the blackboard. Her annoyance at the Gryffindor-like colors was just inevitable.

Emerald orbs closed at the contact from Sevastyan as the witch took several deep breaths in an effort to calm herself. Despite her closed orbs though, the witch could still see the crimson. It splattered her mind as though she were the canvas of an artist, smoothering her Slytherin core as though it were the plague of Gryffindor.

She nodded at Sevastyan's question with a bit of a pout to her -ironically- crimson lips, looking rather like the spoiled little girl Sevastyan had seen during the prank of the student's some weeks prior that had transfigured much of the adults at Hogwarts into childhood versions of themselves. That little girl tended to fuss whenever she didn't get her way; an unfortunate trait that carried unto adulthood, it seemed as Viper pulled away from Sevastyan's attempt of an embrace to fold her arms across her chest with the pout upon her face becoming more defined.

“Crimson is the color of Durmstrang. There is a subtle difference...”

"Red is still red..." Viper uttered through her pout, though she knew deep down Sevastyan was right, admitting that there was still a subtle difference between the colors of Gryffindor and Durmstrang. A subtle difference, perhaps, but to be fair, a difference nonetheless.

A raven eyebrow arched at the sound of the sigh, wondering if it was perhaps exasperation that Sevastyan was trying to voice, and was about to question it when words of the Russian language cadenced throughout the room. The sparkle appeared back in the witch's eyes as the offending crimson material was charmed to a color almost, if not matching, the emerald of her's. Much like a spoiled child finally getting her demand met, Viper smiled, leaning into the contact. With a gaze of appreciation upon her significant other's slightly less-clothed form, Viper wrapped her arms around Sevastyan's neck, pressing her lips gently against his.

"See? Isn't this color a bit... easier on the eyes?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head. "Not to mention on the stomach..." she added with a mutter, referring to her earlier comment regarding the color being regurgitated by the Gryffindor mascot.