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pinkanonwrites · 1 year

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Imagine if Malleus was turned into a gliding lizard, he'd be so tiny!!

I did end up going with a lizard for Malleus's transformation rather than a dragon, I hope you all enjoy it! I think it suits him well.

GN! Reader, They/Them pronouns, Comfort

+2,100 words

“ I think they just have trouble believing that you can see things from their perspective, that’s all.”

Malleus couldn’t help but cock his head at your statement. “Their perspective?”

“Yeah. They all see you as this all-powerful super mage, you know?” You shrugged in response. “When you think someone is that far above you, it’s hard to picture them actually experiencing the world the way you do. That you actually see things…” You made a vague flattening motion with your hands. “At their level.”

“At their level…” He hummed, hand resting on his chin and thoughts appearing to be a thousand miles away. “Your insight has been greatly helpful tonight, Child of Man. I hope I have not troubled you with these questions.”

“Not at all! If you ever need a hand, just let me know. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Malleus chuckled. “That we certainly are.”

When Malleus had asked you about his inability to connect with most of your fellow classmates on his regular night visit to Ramshackle, you weren’t sure if there was any advice you could give that would actually help him out. Regardless of your direction of his appearance and mannerisms, people would think what they wished about the future King of Fae, and the last thing you wanted was for Malleus to try changing anything about himself. But maybe if you could get him to understand that it isn’t necessarily his fault, it would help ease a bit of the burden.

You can’t say you expected it to end like this though, with Lilia depositing a small, greyish-brown lizard into your hand after instructing you to open your palm to him. First thing in the morning and everything.

“You take good care of him now!” He chirped, and if you hadn’t reached out with your free hand to death-grip his blazer sleeve you’re certain he would have pivoted on his heel and left it at that. But ohhhhh, not today. You weren’t letting another bonkers boy slip right out from your grasp without explaining just what the hell he was going on about.

“What the hell are you going on about?”

“Oh? This was your idea, wasn’t it? For Malleus to get to see things…” He perfectly copied the hand motion you’d made to Malleus the night prior. “On your level.”

“That doesn’t explain the lizard! And were you spying on us?”

“Honey, I’m always keeping one eye on what our dear little prince is up to. That’s my job!” He gave you a playful boop on the nose with the tip of one manicured finger. “And the ‘lizard’ is gonna be your scout for the day! After a day in the life of our beloved Prefect I’m sure he’ll have all sorts of fun commoner stories to tell Malleus about when I come to pick him up.”

“So I’m just… carrying around a lizard all day? For Malleus?”

“That’s the spirit! Why don’t you show our little scaly sweetie here all the cool stuff you get up to then? I’ll be back at sunset to collect him. Have fun you two!” He reached over to the lizard in your palm and gave it a mimicking boop. “And don’t cause any trouble! Any more than usual, at least.”

And with a whirl of sparkles and a flash of a glinting fang, Lilia was gone. You looked down at the lizard in your palm, staring up at you with little, googling eyes.

"I guess… you're coming with me today?"

In response (you think?) the lizard gave you a slow blink and a little flick of his tongue.

"Alright. Not like my day could get any weirder anyway. Should I put you in my pocket, maybe? Or you could-WOAH!"

Instead of letting you decide, the little lizard took a flying leap from your outstretched palm, landing square in the center of your chest and scrabbling wildly against the fabric as it struggled to find a grip. You quickly cupped a hand under the little creature and let it clamber upward until it had found a comfortable resting place on your right shoulder.

"Jeez! A little warning next time? What if I dropped you?" A little webbed foot papped against the lower side of your cheek and you sighed, reaching up to give your new tag-along a pat on the head with your index finger. "Alright, alright, I forgive you. Just be a little more careful, okay little buddy?"

Before you could even finish bonding with your new scaly friend, the door to Ramshackle house blew open behind you. Bursting from the doorway was a whirlwind of ashy gray fur, blue flames, and shrieked, panicked placations.

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" Grim yowled as he veered a hard left and disappeared behind the house. From within you could hear your spectral roommates shouting for your attention, twinkling bursts of magic going off in the distance. If you had to guess, Grim had probably set the living room curtains on fire… Again.

"WATER MAGIC, YOU GUYS! NOT WIND MAGIC!" You hollered as you rushed back into the house. Looks like you were going to be late for morning classes again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Seven class periods, one free study, an incredibly hectic lunch time, and several after-school assignments from the Headmaster later, and you were barely hanging on by the skin of your teeth. Malleus sure picked a doozy of a day to send a little lizard to keep an eye on you, because it felt like just about everything that could have gone wrong did.

You spent all of your Flying class miserably landlocked, as usual, running drills and doing jumping jacks until Coach Vargas had deemed your amount of exercise “suitable.”

Then during your History of Magics study period you were stuck looking up what ended up to be first-grade level history on the Shaftlands, missing your chance to get any of your actual essay done in-class.

In Potionology you added powdered mint leaves instead of dried, and the resulting mishap quite literally blew up in your face. Fortunately you had been fast enough to block your lizard friend from the blast with the palm of your hand, but you had to stand there soot-stained and miserable throughout the remainder of Professor Crewel’s lecture anyway.

You nearly got trampled by the lunch rush, and if it weren’t for Jack’s quick thinking you’d probably be a pavement pancake right now.

Then, as if you hadn’t had enough to do in your regular school day, Crowley had you visit every single Phys. Ed club and take their photos for the school newspaper. Does he even know how hard it is to wrangle a bunch of mean, sweaty teenagers into letting their pictures be taken? He must have, because that would explain why he made you do it.

Finally back to Ramshackle Dorm, the sun was already setting when you slumped up the steps and collapsed face first into your mattress. Homework could wait. Right now you just needed a chance to breathe.

Vaguely, you felt a small, scaly figure wriggle itself underneath your palm and lift it up. You shifted your head to the side just enough to see the lizard propping up your palm like a makeshift tent, tongue sticking out as he stared you down with big, glossy eyes. You bit back a chuckle.

“Hey, buddy. Good hustle today. Didn’t fall off my shoulder even once.”

It scampered forward, floppy-limbed and frantic, until he stopped right in front of your face. A little, suction-cupped hand papped on the side of your cheek, a tiny show of solidarity in the face of your unending workload. It almost brought you to tears.

“Thanks, bud.”

You rolled onto your side, cupping him carefully again under one palm to keep him steady.

“You wanna know the worst part of today? Worse than running laps or failing history or almost getting trampled?”

He cocked his tiny head in your direction.

“The worst part is now you’ve gotta go home, and you’re gonna tell Malleus all about what a colossal fuck-up I am.”

The little hand papped against your face again, a few times, each with increasing urgency.

“It’s true! What one thing did I get right today? I’ve been tripping over myself just to keep from self-destructing since I got here. Everything you have here, it’s so… So different! And everyone seems to have no problem with it except for me. I’m just… “

You sighed, tracing a finger up and down the lizard’s soft, scaly back.

“I’m just tired, bud. I wish it was as easy for me as it was for everyone else.”

You trailed off again, one final thought budging to be let free.

“I wish Malleus was here.”

POOF!

You wheezed, vision suddenly obscured by a thick, purple-black smoke. Despite its sudden, engulfing power, it almost made you feel strangely at ease. It smelled like the forest right after a heavy rain, the slight charge of a thunderstorm that’s only just passed. And as the smoke coiled and curled off over the edges of your mattress to seep onto the floor, the vision of Malleus Draconia appeared before you. He was draped across the bed in a position similar to yours, mirroring your pose with a look of incredible melancholy on his face.

“Oh, my Child of Man…”

“Malle-!?”

Before you could even begin to question him Malleus was sweeping you into a hug, burying your face in the fabric of his uniform. One of his hands held your lower back, the other cradled the back of your head so gently, oh so gently. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been hugged like this.

“The world has been incredibly cruel to you today, hasn’t it?”

Fuck. Fuck. You’d gotten so good at holding it in, at taking a deep breath and saying everything was going to be okay. But in less than a dozen words Malleus had obliterated every wall you’d so carefully constructed since arriving in Twisted Wonderland to keep from having a complete emotional meltdown. Well, there was no use trying to hold it in anymore, not with the way you were bawling into Malleus’s tailcoat, heaving like you were sure you were never going to breathe again.

But Malleus didn’t shush you, didn’t say that everything was going to be okay. He just held you tight, let you pour your emotions out into his expensive shirt, rubbed your back as your sobs became whimpers and finally soft, steady breathing once more. When you could finally pull yourself together enough to throw a sentence together, that’s when you pulled your face out of Malleus’s chest.

“How did…” You rasped. “How’d you get here? Did little buddy tell you? Are you like, psychically linked or something?”

“Ah. No, not quite. My apologies for the deception.” Malleus Draconia, looking sheepish? You never thought you’d see it. “I wanted to see what your days were like in a manner as unobtrusive as possible, so Lilia supplied the idea of a minor appearance transmutation so I could accompany you.”

“Oh. So you… Were little buddy?”

“Yes.”

“Ah. That’s… That’s kinda embarrassing.”

“How so?” You honestly should have seen it sooner, with the way Malleus looked at you with those curious, glossy-green eyes.

“I carried you around all day! I like… pet you, and stuff. You watched me almost blow myself up.”

Were your eyes deceiving you again, or was Malleus actually… Pouting? “My apologies. I never intended to make you feel this uncomfortable.”

“No! No, uh. I mean… It’s fine, really. It was nice, actually, having someone besides Grim keep me company all day. I’m glad it was you.”

He smiled, soft and warm and incredibly fond. The hand still cradling your lower back was rubbing in slow, soothing circles, nearly enough to make you doze off. “I am glad as well. I’ve always known you to be fascinating, but I never could have considered just how much weight is upon you to succeed.” He cupped your cheek, thumb running back and forth over your cheek bone. “You, my Child of Man, are unfathomably strong. Never once have I considered you to be, in your words, a “fuck-up”.”

Your breath hitched again, and you thumped a palm against Malleus’s chest. “You’re gonna make me start crying again.”

“Then I shall cease my praises. For this evening, at least.”

Eyelids fluttering, you let yourself curl closer into him, just the slightest bit.

“Thank you, Mal. For… For just everything.”

You knew that you wouldn’t be able to lie like this forever. Tomorrow you’d have to get up and stop Grim from burning the house down once again. Tomorrow you’d have to run laps and avoid getting trampled in the cafeteria and have to justify all the homework you weren’t able to get done tonight. But that was all for tomorrow. Tonight was just you, and Malleus, and what you thought was the ghost of a kiss on the center of your forehead as you drifted from the land of the waking into a, for once, peaceful slumber.

“Sleep well, my Child of Man... My love.”

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland imagines #malleus draconia #malleus draconia x reader #malleus draconia imagines #twst #twst x reader #disney twst #disney twisted wonderland #my writing #twst transformation fic #anon

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shinonometrash · 3 years

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Jasper Lane’s Main Story: English vs Japanese version, full summary, comparisons & thoughts. Part 1 of 3. (TW: rape, sexual assault, drugging)

So! Jasper’s route has finally been released in English as of August 31st, 2021. It seems that Voltage is following the same release order for consorts and events as how items were released in the Japanese version. I spent wayyy too much money to binge the entire route in a day...and get all the premium content...(honestly the hardest part about binging a route isn’t the love passes, it’s getting all the spirit points. Ugh.) I took note of a lot of different things in this and wanted to make a post going over all this information. Sorry this post took me so long to make, I had to go back and reread a lot of Jasper’s story in Japanese to refresh my memory as well as make sure I didn’t miss any big details since I had read it first back in May, and my Japanese has improved a lot (I think) since then. It was unfortunate and I didn’t really want to, lol. But! Now it’s his birthday (9/11)! I get to post this on his birthday! Happy birthday, asshole! This post is why you and your route suck! I’m probably only going to be able to post this first part today though, because honestly this post is taking much more time than I expected.

The biggest thing is going to be that

Jasper’s English (Court of Darkness) route does NOT contain any major triggering content. You’ll probably still want to punch him, though.

So, if you’re looking to find out about that, there you go. Anyways.

I’ve broken this into four posts, three that contain summaries of each chapter, regardless of changes, and one that only contains the changes.

(As of the date of posting, 9/11/2021, I have not completed all the posts yet. Please check back later and I will add the links to the rest of them as they are posted.)

This post is part one including the summaries. Part two in currently progress. Part three in currently progress. Post with ONLY comparisons and thoughts currently in progress.

Since I had contacted Voltage about the triggering content in Jasper’s route (and made a very lengthy Tumblr post about it) and they told me they prefer to remove potentially triggering content from stories in the localization process, rather than simply adding trigger warnings, I was more or less expecting this. Although...I didn’t really expect it to be to this extent, nor did I realize how I was actually going to feel about it...! Of course, the CoD did a fabulous job with the content they were given and what they were told to do, as always, and I completely understand why they changed what they did. Like. Seriously. They did the best they could do with the absolute mess of a route they were given. But, like, the route was an absolute mess to begin with. So there’s only so much that can be done to fix it...💀 Anyways, please know that any of my complaining is not directed at the CoD team because they’re wonderful!! Support them by buying in game content if you’re able to!! They recently released a special VIP pack that’s honestly an AMAZING deal. This is just a criticism of the route itself and my thoughts on it, not on the CoD team.

Now, onto the main point of the post...the English and Japanese versions of this route are very different.

Warning: This post contains major spoilers about Jasper’s main story as well as potentially triggering content including but not limited to rape, sexual assault, and drugging.

In addition, I am not including any CGs in this post as I’m not trying to break Voltage’s policy.

Please click under the read more to continue.

Okay, so first off this is probably going to sound incredibly self centered of me, but I sort of get the feeling that my post about his Japanese route had some sort of influence on the changes in his route...? Not sure how big of tabs Voltage keeps on Tumblr...but it seems like nearly all of the main points I was specifically really mad about got changed--and I’m sure they must have definitely seen my post...? Also, this too probably sounds silly, but I was kinda happy reading some of the dialogue that was nearly the same as the way I had translated it. Part of me was still afraid that I had no idea what I was talking about and just looked stupid writing a long post with misinterpretations of lines💀

Pre-notes: 1. For those who named their cat something else, Robin = MC’s cat. 2. In the direct quotes, anytime you see “---” it’s just me cutting out a part in the dialogue that I deem unnecessary for comparison purposes. 3. I bolded whether there’s differences in the chapters or not in each chapter summary, in case you only want to read the summaries for the chapters with the differences. It’s pretty much going to be the same as reading my other post, then, but I explain more of the chapter here, usually.

Chapter 1-3

Literally so dull. Nothing really of note. Pretty much the same between the English and Japanese. Jasper asks about her hands and she’s like “omg he’s so nice he was worried about my hands!!”, she meets Sherry and they become friends, the headmaster tells her she has to learn magic if she wants a chance at going back home. They go to the runes and learn about the history of Saligia. Guy grabs her again, she escapes.

Chapter 4

It starts to get a little bit more interesting here. Overall, nothing seems too different between the two stories yet. Jasper invites her to the rooftop for a tea party. Jasper is desperately trying to get MC to interact (in a positive manner) with Guy, she asks Jasper to have tea with her instead. Sherry and Rio mention a ball. Toa and Guy get into a glaring match. Toa leaves. You know, the usual. Jasper whispers something in Guy’s ear and they leave, and everybody follows them because...you know. They discover that Guy’s room has been trashed. Toa walks in and asks what’s going on, and then falls silent when he sees Guy’s room. Guy is like “Toa, you left before me, did you not?” and Toa is like “What are you trying to imply?” then they glare at each other until Lynt is like “Are you trying to say that Toa is the culprit? He would never.” Fenn agrees. Roy says they should investigate, and Toa says he will also investigate, since he is the dorm prefect after all. Afterwards, Jasper asks Guy if he thinks Toa did it, Guy says “No, Qelsum isn’t that stupid.” Guy says they need information. He sends Jasper out to investigate, tells Jasper to be sure not to be seen. Fenn, Violet, and MC go out for food or something, and MC runs into Sirius, literally. Fenn is like “what are you doing?” and MC says she ran into somebody but turns around and there’s nobody there. I guess it’s trying to imply that Jasper is stealthy and can hide away into the night or something?? But then that’s it.

Chapter 5-6

No overall noticeable changes. It’s time for the ball! Sherry lends MC a dress and they head to the ball. She sees Jasper in the hallway closely inspecting wine, without Guy. She calls his name and he startles. He tells her he’s selecting a wine for Guy because Guy is very selective and will not consume anything that Jasper has not prepared. Jasper essentially says that Guy is his reason for living. Then they go into the dance hall. And Guy is all like “why did you come in together?” then they say they ran into each other by chance. Guy goes to take a sip of the wine, looks startled, and then ends up spitting it out into a handkerchief. He claims he choked on the wine. She finds Jasper in the hallway again, looking at the wine, and calls out. Again, he startles. She wonders why. She tries to ask, but then he dodges the question by telling MC that the dress looks good on her. He invites her to dance and says he’ll teach her. They head back to the ballroom, she asks him some various questions and they all basically end with him saying that he serves Guy or whatever, and she’s thinking all like “work, again...?”. Jasper then tries to make her dance with Guy instead of himself, and when she says she’s going to leave he grabs her arm. There’s a few choices you can make, but one of them is “Please let go of me.” And then! And then! This man literally looks at her and asks “Why?” Yikes!! And she asks why he’s asking why, and he says he doesn’t want her to go, so she agrees to stay a little longer. (Mistake #1) Then he shoves her off onto Guy again. After dancing with Guy she goes out to the balcony and runs into Aquia, and Aquia pricks his finger and it starts bleeding. She tries to look at it and it somehow brushes her lips and at that moment Guy and Jasper come out and ask what’s going on. Aquia apologizes (he did nothing wrong!! >:( ) They then discover that Aquia’s wound has magically healed somehow. Then here’s the scene with Guy: “That girl, I want to know everything about her.” Jasper: “Oh my, have you fallen in love?” Guy: “Something like that” Jasper: “Congratulations! We must celebrate this wonderful occasion!” Guy: “That’s enough now. Investigate that woman’s power.”

Chapter 7

No major changes between versions. But...Ughhhhhhhh. We’re gonna meet Sirius in this chapter. But first some humor. They go to the S rank lounge, I believe after the ball. Jasper offers to make coffee. Literally ALL the valets suddenly RUSH to Jasper’s side to ask him to teach them how to brew coffee. So there sitting in the S rank lounge with Jasper brewing coffee while all the other valets are like 👀👀👀👀 lmaoooo. Aight and so the humorous part ends there, sorry! That’s it! Now we must move on. Fenn says he wants to go out drinking and asks Jasper if he’d like to join, Jasper declines saying he has other matters to attend to. We learn that Hawke, Jasper, and Lance are all drinking buddies. MC is all like “oh thank god, that means he does get time off!” -_- So then Toa laughs and comments how close Jasper and MC are, and is like “wow imagine using your valet for something like that” and then tells her that she’ll be a tool for Avari if she sticks with them, and that it’s not too late to switch to Qelsum’s side instead. (She does not switch. Mistake #2. Arguably her biggest mistake in this entire route, if you ask me.) Guy interjects and tells Toa that MC is his, and Toa is like “lmaooo then why does she seem closer with your valet than you?” and then they glare at each other. MC gets annoyed and leaves. Jasper asks where she’s going. She says she’s going back to her room to see Robin. For some reason, Jasper seems disappointed about this? Afterwards, she goes to her room for a bit but then decides to go explore the town with Robin. Uh oh! Robin goes missing.

She starts looking for Robin and runs into this sketch looking dude. He asks her where’s she’s going, she says she’s looking for her cat. He’s like “oh that flying thing?” and she’s like “Yeah!” and then is like “could you just tell me which way he was headed? I can get there myself.” but the guy insists that she should follow him instead, because the streets are dangerous and she might run into dangerous men. The man is then like “I’m Sirius.” (which, when I first read the Japanese, I thought he was saying “I’m serious” lmaoo) and then he frickin grabs her hand and drags her off!!! Yikes!

Chapter 8, 1st Interlude, and Chapter 9

Okay so we’ve got the most significant changes in these chapters. Like. A LOT. This is what the majority of my previous post focused on: the drugging, sexual assault, and morning after. They basically did their best to make this consensual. It went very similar to what I had predicted, although played up a bit more cringe-y than I had expected...or maybe I just hadn’t thought about how cringe-y it would be. There’s literally so many changes that it’d be a bit of a pain to summarize all of them between the versions, I’m just going to put the actual dialogue/stuff from the stories for a lot of this so you can see the differences more directly. (The Japanese will be roughly translated by me, of course.)

Chapter 8

So Sirius starts walking and walking and walking and she asks where they’re going but he keeps insisting it’ll only be just a little longer or that it’s a shortcut and stuff. Ughhhhh...Then she’s like. This man clearly has no idea what he’s doing, I’m going to run away after all. But then he suddenly tells her they’re going to take a “break”. He drags her into the bar before she can protest or try to run. She tries to say no to a drink, but then he asks if she does drink and she’s like “well I do, but...” and you start seeing the differences here. In English she makes a comment of “Ugh, if only he wasn’t so charming.” Sirius further insists only one drink, even though MC tries to say she needs to go find Robin. He then just straight up orders drinks for them, despite her protesting. She then agrees, and then mentally apologizes to Robin. (Mistake #3) And we start seeing the biggest differences about right here...

For this chapter, let’s play a guessing game on which one is the Japanese version and which one is the English version, shall we? :)

Away from the table, Sirius plants a palm on the counter. Two of the usual are set out before him, bubbles frothing over the top. Sirius glances back and finds MC staring at the patterns in the wood grain. Sirius: Much obliged. Tavern Keeper: Mm-hmm. Scooping up the fizzing, popping tumblers, he tosses a wink at the tavern keeper. Then, he strolls back to spend time with his new friend. - Away from the table, Sirius plants a palm on the counter. Immediately two of the usual shot glasses are set out in front of him. Just to make sure, he looks back at MC, who is staring at the table. Sirius: Ah, thanks. Tavern Keeper: Mhm. Sirius skillfully drops the tablet he had hidden between his fingers into the shot glass of the opposite hand. Then, feigning a nonchalant look, he returns back to the table.

Did you guess which one was which in this part? :) And yes, my friends. In the fucking CANON MAIN ROUTE, it deadass has a line saying that our love interest puts a drug in our drinks. And yet...the Japanese fans still love him! Ugh. Also, that “skillfully” bit really concerns me. That kinda implies that he’s done it multiple times before, does it not??? Honestly I’m not really sure why it says it was a shot glass in the Japanese, though. I thought they were drinking like cocktails, not taking a shot. Maybe that’s why they changed that bit...? Now the stories are the same again for a tiny bit. Some time has passed that they’ve been in the bar/tavern and MC chugs her drink and slams it down on the table. She seems drunk. She’s rambling about Guy and Jasper. Like “I’m not an object!!” “and he’s like “Yes, yes, you aren’t an object.” then like “Who goes around saying stuff like “you are mine” and “give me your power”?? Like seriously! Who says that sort of stuff! It’s so messed up!” and he just listens along, amused. He then says that it’s good to drink sometimes, and she agrees, and then he asks what she wants to do. She notes how she’s only had one drink, yet her head feels a bit fuzzy already, and how it made her very talkative. She says she wants to go home. She reveals that her family died, and that she has a hair clip in her hair from her mom that’s very important to her. She mentions how there are still good people in this world, though. Sirius tries to order her another drink, and here’s where stuff deviates again.

Sirius: Another of the same, if you please. MC: What, no! I’m fine MC: So hey, you’ve been fantastic company but I really need to go find Robin. (Man I got way too into that conversation.) (Robin must be out there looking for me.) MC: Thanks for the drink, though. You’re a really good listener. And also...really, really pretty. MC: It’s been great meeting you. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime? MC: Like...when I’m not looking for my cat. That’d be...nice.” (I have no filter. No filter whatsoever.) MC: Right, so...Bye... He stands up right as I do. The rickety old table wobbles between us and I pitch into his arms. Sirius: Steady on. Sirius: I might almost think you’ve fallen for me. (Fallen for him? But I’ve only just met the man.) Sirius holds me steady as I smile up at him, feeling silly but bold. He’s even more handsome up close. MC: Like I said, very attractive but...gotta go. Sirius: Hold fast. MC: Haha. Did you just pick me up?! Sirius hefts me into his arms like I weigh nothing, and for a moment I feel like I’m being carried off into the sunset. An electrifying thrill runs through me as I sway against him, adn then I realize we’re moving. MC: Where are we going? Sirius: ... MC: The look he gives me then makes my eyebrows shoot up. I nod and let him carry on. (English version, Mistake #4) When I next open my eyes, I’m being placed down on something fluffy. (I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. I should leave well enough alone but there’s something about him...) I peer at the unfamiliar ceiling overhead while Sirius stares down in my eyes. Sirius: No need to hurry. Sirius: The night’s just begun, after all. (Wait a second, aren’t you...?) The seductive smile on his face comes closer. For a split second he reminds me of someone, but it must be my imagination. - Sirius: Bartender, another of the same. MC: Ah, no, I’m good! MC: I really need to go find Robin. (Yikes, I got totally absorbed in that conversation.) (Surely Robin is looking for me, too) MC: Thanks...for talking with me...and listening... MC: Thanks to that I’ll be sure to...remember this... MC: From now on, I’m going...to study...more seriously...for sure.... (Wha...I’m so dizzy...) MC: Sorry...I’m...leaving now... Sirius: Whoa, hold on. MC: Ah... Unsteady on my feet, Sirius picks me up and holds me in his arms. I feel swaying and I open my eyes slightly. I’m being carried somewhere. MC: Where...are we going...? Sirius: ... Strangely, it feels like the ceiling has gotten awfully high... The next thing I’m aware of when I open my eyes is being placed down on something fluffy. (Where am I...?) I gaze at the ceiling above me and Sirius looks into my eyes. Sirius: Let’s take it slowly. Sirius: The night has just begun, no? (Huh...?) Laughing mysteriously, the man’s face comes closer. For a second, I think he looks similar to someone. But it’s just my imagination, right...?

I’m sure you can guess which one is which. One is extremely alarming, the other is cringe. It’s clear they did the most they could to try and make it consensual between them, and ended up doing exactly what I thought with having her make several comments about how attractive he is and then add some playful flirting between them. 😖 Alright! Ready for the next part?

1st Interlude

I just read the normal first interlude in Japanese before typing out this post and...god, I thought the premium interlude was bad. So, one more time, trigger warning for sexual assault. Damn I really don’t want to write this part, I’m so tired from writing the rest TT (I saved this for last, unfortunately.) I’m not translating all of these so I’ll do a mix of translating exact lines and summarization. In all the stories, first she calls out Jasper’s name at first, confused, and then Sirius looks shocked. And she’s like, how weird, why would I call him that...he’s clearly Sirius...and then they all start to deviate. ><

Normal Interlude

Japanese version (this is the worst one): MC: I’m sorry...I must’ve gotten drunk, sorry for the trouble... Sirius: So you’re apologizing in this situation. (This...situation...?) He kisses her. (Wha...I’m being...kissed...) I’m aware of it, but my body feels so heavy, I can’t resist it. With my arms pinned to the bed, I’m forced to accept the kiss. He says “what is this power?” and then she sees an aura flare up around him. She asks if it’s magic, and he says that it’s interesting, and then asks if it has to do with the length of time or the type of physical contact. -- Sirius: Is it only your lips, or...? His finger runs along my knee, tickling it. With his other hand, he skillfully slips his hand into my shirt. Sirius: No need to be alarmed. Sirius: I simply wish to confirm. (Confirm...?) Sirius: So soft and smooth, you feel nice to touch. Sirius: But, I don’t feel anything from just touching you... Sirius: Is it different depending on where I touch? The sensation of him stroking my skin falsely spreads through my whole body while his fingertips make their way down to my lower limbs. I move my shoulders to try to tell him “I don’t want you to touch me!”, but it doesn’t matter as his fingertips continue to try to uncover something. MC: St...stop it... Yelling out makes him stop--at least, that’s what I had thought. However, the thing that stops him isn’t my voice. He removes his hand that was feeling around in my shirt and then starts to think about something. (Is he...searching for something...?) Sirius: ...so it can’t be transferred through the skin, hm. (W-what...?) It’s finally over--is what I thought, at least. This time, he drops kisses on my ears and collarbone. When he puts his hands on my thighs again, I want to run away immediately. (Why...? Why is this happening...?) MC: Is this...is this a dream...? Sirius: Yes. It’s a dream. So, goodnight. Sirius: You’re about to reach the limit, aren’t you? (Limit? What is he talking about?) Even if I wanted to think about it, my head is too fuzzy and I can’t think of anything. I don’t like it, but...what is it I don’t like? Surely it was something important, but I can’t remember. Before I could say “I’m sorry, I’m really sleepy” my consciousness blacks out. She passes out and Sirius says something about how interesting it is, and that he must report his findings to Guy.

English version: MC: Sorry, I can’t believe I called you by the wrong name. Sirius: Is this the time for apologies? (I guess not...?) He kisses her. (We’re kissing. I’m kissing Sirius...) He’s certainly attractive enough. I’m not attached to anyone here, and yet...Why is it that I keep thinking of Jasper? He says “what is this power?” and then she sees an aura flare up around him. She asks if it’s magic, and he says that it’s interesting, and then asks if it has to do with the length of time or the type of physical contact. -- Sirius: Is it only your lips, or...? His fingers walk along my knee, tickling me. I shiver and grin as he gives me a considering look, then slips his hand inside my shirt. -- Sirius: I only wish to see what you’re capable of. (Strangest bedroom talk ever.) Sirius: You’re exquisite. Soft, smooth, perfect to the touch... Sirius: But I seek other responses. Sirius: Tell me, is this where you want to be touched? He peers down at me expectantly, hands petting along my skin as if to encourage me to speak. I squeeze my thighs together, hoping he’ll continue without the need for words. He raises an eyebrow. MC: Sirius, I need... At first I think the sound of my voice has given him pause. Then I realize something else has happened. He tidies my open shirt a little and frowns thoughtfully. (What is he doing? What is it he’s looking for?) Sirius: Hm, no transfer from the skin. (Uh, what?) My mouth falls open. Has the moment been ruined somehow? If so, what’d I do? But then he plants tiny kisses over my ears, neck, and cheeks. His hands sweep over me once more, but far more soothingly. Still, I can’t get the image of Jasper out of my mind. (I can’t be doing this. It’s not fair to be thinking of one man when I’m with another. I need to sort my head out.) MC: Sirius, I can’t do this. I’m...I think I’m developing feelings for someone else, so it wouldn’t be fair to you to do this... Sirius: Well, well. There’s an unexpected turn. ...All right. We’ll think of this as nothing more than a passing dream. Sirius: This never happened then. Good night, MC. (Good night? But we’ve only just...) Suddenly I feel very drowsy. A second ago I wanted nothing more than a crazy, one-night romp with a man who has crystalline red eyes. Now I can’t think of anything but how comfortable this bed is. She passes out and Sirius says something about how interesting it is, and that he must report his findings to Guy. --

Yikes!!!!! I was so shocked when I read the normal interlude!! Especially the Japanese version!! Now for the other one...

Premium Interlude

Japanese version:

MC: I’m sorry...I must’ve gotten drunk, sorry for the trouble... Sirius: So you’re apologizing in this situation. (This...situation...?) His voice is close. But besides that, I don’t understand the situation very well. Sirius: Is it hard to open your eyes? MC: Yes... Sirius: I’ll make you feel better right now. (Feel better...?) She sees him put in eyedrops. She tries to ask but her voice is really quiet and her throat is dry. MC: Excuse me, could...could I have some water?” Sirius: I’ll give you some right now I felt something cold touch my lips and water poured down my throat. MC: ...nng (No...it’s something else. I’m...being kissed...) I understand that, but, but I feel too drowsy to be able to resist. With my arms pinned to the bed, I’m forced to accept the kiss. He says “what is this power?” and then she sees an aura flare up around him. She asks if it’s magic, and he says that it’s interesting, and then asks if it has to do with the length of time or the type of physical contact. (What...this kiss...) It’s a kiss that makes me feel as if I’ll be swallowed by the torrent of pleasure. (I’ve never experienced something like this...) Sirius: Ha...ahh... MC: ...mm, Sirius... His lips pull away with a wet sound and I sigh. Sirius: It’s as I thought... MC: Stop...it...already... Sirius: Shhh... Sirius: Be quiet. I’m going to make you feel better. He wipes his finger along my wet lips and pushes it inside my mouth. My shoulders jump and I shiver and inhale sharply, feeling like I’m being bitten on the neck by Sirius. MC: Mnn... Sirius: Suck... He moves his finger around my mouth and I move my tongue as I’m told. Sirius: That’s it good girl... Sirius: ...so it can’t be transferred through the skin, hm. (What...is he talking about...?) Sirius: How about...here? He removes his finger from my mouth and strokes my knee. MC asks if it’s a dream, and the rest of the interlude ends the same way as the normal Japanese interlude ends.

English version:

MC: Sorry, I can’t believe I called you by the wrong name. Sirius: Is this the time for apologies? (I guess not...?) I can almost feel his voice vibrate against my skin. Shivering at the sensation, I let my head fall against the pillows. Sirius: Would you rather keep your eyes closed at the moment? MC: Mm. yeah. I like the sound of your voice. It...reminds me of someone... Sirius: Then keep them closed. Sirius tells her to hold on a minute and puts in eyedrops. MC says her throat is dry and asks for some water. He gives her water, but she realizes that it’s not a cup but rather him giving her water from his lips. -- They kiss. (Who taught him to kiss like this?) It’s like some dam has burst within me and a tide of pleasure is threatening to sweet me away. (I’ve never experienced anything like this. Is this magic, too, or just him?) Sirius: Mm..Yes... MC: Ah...Sirius... A wanton moan escapes me as he gives me space to breathe. The thing is, in my mind’s eye I keep seeing someone else. Sirius: Quite as I suspected. MC: That was incredible. What was-- Sirius: Shh. Hush now. I’ll fufill that yearning of yours. He rubs his thumb against my dampened bottom lip then slips it inside my mouth. My shoulders jump as he moves his lips and teeth over my neck. Sirius: Suck. I obediently swirl my tongue over his thumb, taking it in further. Sirius: Good girl. -- Then she says she can’t do it because of having feelings for someone else, just like in the normal English and the rest of the interlude continues the exact same way.

I can’t believe Voltage was really like “hey, pay us and we’ll make the content less rape-y for you! :)” Big yikes lol. I’d only read the premium at the time of my original post, and I thought that was bad enough to write a post about it. That normal interlude though? YIKES. Like...gahhh I know I already said this same thing like three times earlier but I’m just so grossed out!!

Also, a quick note. The CG for this has Sirius laying on top of her while she has her eyes closed. This is because she’s UNCONSCIOUS in the Japanese version. I was wondering how they were gonna get around it, but like not long before it came out I was like “oh they can just have him comment telling her to close her eyes or something” and I guess that’s more or less what they did...?

Chapter 9

Okay so I realize I did make a slight translation error in my original post about the ninth chapter. She does indeed say “I don’t have a headache” rather than what I had thought it said which was “My head hurts, but it can’t be a hangover.” which is what they went with in the English. “My head doesn’t hurt, though, which suggests I don’t have a hangover.” The rest seems about right, though. Anyways, so this chapter starts the morning after the events of the first interlude with MC waking up in the strange bedroom. While not technically as big of change as in Chapter 8 and the first interlude, this is also one of the most changed chapters between versions.

The Japanese version:

(Where am I?) I open my eyes and am unable to move at first. ---- (Robin and I got separated in town...so I was searching for him) (And then...ah, yeah, I met Sirius) (He was showing me the way...and then there was that bar on the dark street where I was only going to drink one drink, and then...) .... ....... .......... “Shit, I can’t remember anything...” I’m not sure how I got to this room or what happened after I blacked out. My head doesn’t hurt, so it’s not a hangover. I only had one drink, that’s the one thing I CAN remember. “No way...” Nervously, I run my hands down my body. The hem of my shirt was untucked, all the buttons completely undone, and my skirt was rolled up past my thighs. (I want to think it’s just from how I slept...I really want to think that, but...) Being drunk can make you roll around and do that. I can’t hide how anxious I am about this unexpected situation. My heart thumps painfully in my chest and my legs shake. ---- (Huh? A tattoo?) I see Sirius taking a shower in the other room, with a tattoo spread across his back. (That would mean Sirius and I...) Looking at the bed with disheveled sheets, I wrap my arms around my body and hug myself tightly. “Maybe...maybe we just slept, that’s all...” (It’s a pitiful excuse, I know.) (Oh my god!! I need to go find Robin!!) Remembering something very important, she runs out of the room. ---- Sirius: “Ha, she ran away.”

English version:

Where am I? I open my eyes and stay perfectly still for the first few minutes. ---- (I got separated from Robin in town and while I was looking for him I, ended up lost.) (And then...Oh right, I met Sirius. Man, he was attractive.) (He was showing me the way, then we paused for a drink, and then...) Then...Hmm. What did happen? I’m drawing a blank here. “What the? I have no memory of last night.” I have no idea where this is or the events that led to me waking up here. There are flashes of groans and sighs, but that’s all. My head doesn’t hurt, though, which suggests I don’t have a hangover. Not that I’d expect to have one over a single drink, but I remember that drink being similar to a potion. “Uh-oh. Did I hook up with someone?” I carefully pat myself down. My shirt’s untucked, the buttons are undone, and my skirt’s hiked up around my thighs. (Then again, I could’ve just slept weird. Here’s hoping.) I’ve definitely rolled around in my sleep while drunk before. Still, I never thought I’d have to do a walk of shame in another realm. My heart pounds as I look around, trying to figure out who I spent the night with. (Did I somehow manage to book a room for myself? With what coin?) (It’s like everything that happened since I got here caught up to me all at once. What did I do...?) ---- “What was that?” (A tattoo? It was a gorgeous one, if so.) (The question is, how acquainted did I become with that tattoo last night?) The rumbled bedding comes back into view as I put my head in my hands. “Maybe we just crashed here together after our drink.” “...” (Pitiful excuse, but I’ll take it for now.) (Wait, Robin! Oh god. I have to go find him.) I run out of the room as soon as I remember. Given how little of the situation I remember, it’s probably better if we put that night behind us. ---- Sirius: “Alas. She has absconded.”

Then after she leaves, it goes about the same in both versions. She finds Robin at the gates, is rushing to Toa’s class, gets stopped by Jasper. His voice reminds her of Sirius. He then teases her for being late and is like “You said you were going to go back to your room last night, but it seems like you went out and had fun instead.” and she snaps at him and says she didn’t. He acts surprised. She apologizes and walks off, embarrassed. He laughs.

So. Yeah. One of them, MC wakes up confused after being drugged and raped and is trying to process that and then remembers Robin, runs back to the dorms, and has to deal with Jasper teasing her saying she went out and had “fun” which triggers extremely fresh, bad memories. While the other one...MC is like. Did I hook up with someone?? Whoopsies! Hm, I wonder how I did that. Oh but that Sirius guy was SO hot. Oh shit! I have a cat that’s missing! Gotta go. And then Jasper teases her but she just gets upset because she feels embarrassed about hooking up with someone. Neat. Also, what is with Voltage and their obsession with using “abscond”???

----

Are you feeling uncomfortable right now? A little horrified that Voltage would write a story like that, and romanticize it? Awesome! Me too! Let’s take a break here before moving on. Thankfully, the next parts won’t contain anything near as triggering as the first interlude and chapter 9.

(Next post currently in progress, will add link as soon as possible! This is taking much longer than I thought it would to write;;;)

#jasper lane #jasper court of darkness #court of darkness #court of darkness jasper

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twstwonderlandstuff · 3 years

Text

Sleep depravity

You feel like shit.

Flashback

Ahaha, the new year! A time for fun and festivities! Surely, that’s what YOU’RE going to be doing, right?

Wrong.

Well, I mean right, but it’s not fun by what most of NRC calls as. So imagine this, right, you’re sitting in yo damn class doing your damn shit when suddenly, your classmate whispers to you from behind.

“Hey.” You nudge an elbow, to show that you’re listening.

“You should watch ‘Tales of the Seven Lords’. It’s a really good series.” You nod in thanks at the recommendation and your classmate retreats back to his seat.

And the day goes on as usual: Running around campus doing your part-time jobs, occasionally talking to your friends and seniors, feeding Grim, appreciating how fine everybody looks today- pardon me.

So now, it’s bedtime and you’re there listening to Grim talk as you do your homework. Then, he says: “Oh yeah, someone said something about a recommendation, right?”

“Right, I forgot about that.” You nod, finishing your homework in time. “We should check that out to watch for New Years. It’s in a few days.” You sigh, bouncing your leg.

See, unlike from where you’re from, NRC has a different curriculum, where the OFFICIAL tests come out somewhere in the 3rd and 9th month of the year, not the 6th and the 12th, so this is just cooldown time for you to kind of chill and relax.

“Right, holidays~~~ We don’t need to listen to Vargas anymore!” Grim hums cheerfully, and you nod. He’s already loud and super annoying every time he meets a slightly muscular kid, but add THAT with him rambling about safety protocols? Nah, man, ya can’t.

"Ah yes, the holidays where everyone goes home and leaves us here to wail and stay all alone with nobody- I mean I got you but you know- nobody and probably have to clean the school.” You take a deep breath. “Lovely.”

"That annoying guy is going to do something like that...” Grim complains, rolling over to flop on your stomach. “I don’t wanna!”

“Same...” You reply lazily, fist bumping Grim’s paw. “Hahah... hah...”

Despite your complaining, you feel a little giddy. I mean, come on, you get the FUCK around the school, all day by yourselves! What’s not to love about that? And the series is sure to keep you entertained.

Flashback end.

‘That was a terrible, terrible thing to think about.’ You thought blearily, thoughts swirling around your head as Grim falls asleep on you, *heetos and dorr*tos all over your body, making you feel sticky and gross.

It’s now the actual new years, where everybody’s gone home and like you predicted, Crowley did assign you to tasks- fucking bird, so you and Grim’s ass didn’t do what he told you. Fucking hell, the school’s been functioning DAMN well without you, surely the tasks not THAT big of a deal, right?

After goofing around for a few days, you’re getting bored, so you drag your lazy self to Sam’s store (where his friends from the other side are tending it for him) and rent out a DVD- Crowley didn’t gift you a phone, unfortunately (but still fixed that old TV set??? Man’s got some weird priorities)

You bring this news to Grim, who immediately begs and whines for you to open and watch the show. So you did.

The first episode, you were intrigued, but only a little bit. The same went for the 2nd and 3rd episode. You’re about to call it a lame series when you hit... the 4th episode.

It was a wild ride of emotions and wow... that scene where Henry helps the king really brought you and Grim to tears.

You were hooked. Or in other words, you were fucked. Fucked because now, you can’t THINK of anything BUT the series, which forces you to stay at home and watch the entire god-damn thing and now its 2 days after that.

At... you blearily open your eyes and notice the cracks of light shining through the curtain. “Oh god...” At somewhere around 8 am in the morning.

“Fucking hell... I’ve gone and fucked up my sleep schedule... shit...” And for some reason, tears began running down your eyes. What the fuck? Are you THAT tired that’d you’d cry over your SLEEP SCHEDULE?

Yes. Yes, you are.

You hear a knock at the door. “Oh my fucking god.” You curse, rolling down the uneven wooden floors, wincing as you get splinters. You lethargically stand up and open the door and look up to see...

HEARTSLABYUL

Someone 5 cm taller then you- oh screw off, you’re 145 cm, its okay to be pissed, you know?

“Happy new year, prefect-” You interrupt him.

“Oh.. you’re cute!” You grin gleefully, pinching the red hair’s cheeks.

“U-unhand me at once!” The guy with red hair shouted, forcibly taking your hands away. “Or its off with your head!”

"What, you’re gonna- you’re gonna tie me up~?” You tease, punching the guy’s shoulder. “That’s kinky dude... like tone down the horny ya know...”

2 guys with red-orange hair and other with blue starts laughing loudly in the background and you laugh too.

The guy with red hair STARTS turning red- oh my fucking god, people can turn red?

“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!” And a collar winds up around your neck.

“Eh????” You ask, lightly tugging at the collar. “What the fackin hell is this shit? Y’all really out here puttin’ collars and shit on people... in the middle of the day too... wow...” You mutter, slipping into a country accent.

Flash! You hear a snap of a camera and turn to look at another person with a feather duster on his head- why does he have a feather duster- you know what, its cute, and you like it. You reach up and begin petting it, effectively blocking the phone he’s holding.

“Eto, prefect? You’re kinda- woah!” You look at him with a glazy eyes from those 2 days of non stop watching.

"Are you a...” You ponder, biting your lip as you blink repeatedly. “Are you... a fuck boy?”

(“CATER’S A FUCK- CATER’S F-FUCK- AHAHAHAHA-” Ace wheezes in the background as Deuce starts laughing harder, neither of them caring that they have collars on their first day back.)

Fuck boy has a bewildered look on his face, but before you could see his reaction, another hand goes to tug you back. You look up and... is that... is that lettuce, you see? No no way, it... it kinda looks like broccoli, though..

“Let’s get you to bed, prefect.” The broccoli tells you firmly, but like hell are you listening to a broccoli! Fuck man, you got higher standards then that, come on!

“No! I’m not listening to a broccoli!” You duck, effectively pulling out of his grasp and ran inside to wherever room you’re in and slam it shut. “YOU’RE NEVER GETTING ME, BROCCOLI MAN!!!”

(”Bro---brocoll-” This time, it’s Deuce’s time to collectively pound weakly at the dirt, one hand holding onto Ace’s shoulder as he looses it.)

Eventually, you slump on the ground and slowly... you don’t hear the brocolli’s voice anymore.. which is good (but like, why does his voice sound so... sexy??? Like, why??? It doesn’t make any... sense...)

---

Ace and Deuce finish from their laughing stock, having to hold on to the third years to get up from their position. “We’ll go check on the prefect.” Deuce tried to say, a snort or two making its way to the sentence.

“HAH- KINKY- KINKY FUCK BOY BROCCOLI--- AHAHAHAHAHA-” Ace was still loosing it as he walked inside, a tear streaking down his face. “I love the prefect so fucking much.”

Laughter bubbles up against Deuce’s throat as he walks in. “F...Fuck...boy...”

“W-where is the prefect, anyway?” They immediately see you, slumped against the hallway, snoozing away. With their strong powers, they gently lift and place you on the sofa, amidst all the gunk and shit that’s piled up.

“Ew, what were they even doing?” Ace cringes, looking at the mess. “It smells like shit.”

“They’re watching ‘Tales of the Seven Lords’- oh.” Deuce nods, in extreme understanding. He too, has pulled all-nighters with his gang to watch this series... oh how they cried like mad.

“Oh, that show... it’s bad. I don’t like it.”

“What?!” Deuce swiftly turns around. “But its really good!”

“No, it’s not, what? You got some poor taste, Juice.”

“It’s Deuce, not Juice! And you’re the one with poor taste!”

They bicker all the way, until they’re lovingly threatened by Riddle to NOT say a word, or its way more then off with your head, got it~?

SAVANACLAW

An extremely good-looking lion man- lion man, the fuck???- who lazily looks around at your dorm. Behind him is an EVEN better looking man, this one with a very fluffy tail and BEEG ears and BEEG body and my god, wow... he also sexy- like, sexier then lion man.

“Furry?” You mutter, your eyes falling onto another boy with animal-like ears and tail, except he’s shorter then the two, but his eyes seem to have more light in them.

“Happy New Year, prefect~!” He cheers on, his small tail wagging- oh that is cute oh my fuck- oh shit-

“...what the fuck? Why the fuck are there furries?” You gasp in alarm, running your hands through your hair in a frantic manner. “HAVE I MISSED A FUCKING GENERATION OF FURRIES?!”

“NONONONO NO NO NO THERE’S NO FUCKING WAY- NO-” You scream, falling onto the floor and grabbing a piece of your hair.

A shadow seems to loom over you, and you can feel something fluffy- or maybe that’s just you. “Prefect, are you okay- not like I’m worried, or anything, but...?” That line seems like something you’ve heard, but from where?

“Has the herbivore lost their mind?” Sexy lion man can be heard asking in the back, his voice quickly slipping into a yawn.

“Are ya worried, Leona?” The smaller guy teases, a ‘shi shi shi’ going past his lips.

“Tch.”

Well they seem like good friends- nice.

“I’m fine-” You look up and BAM WOAH WHAT IS THAT- SOMEONE’S PANTS AREA THING NOPE-

“I’M NOT FINE FUCKKKKKKK!” You scream back. The guy jumps back.

“Prefect, are you possessed?”

“By this stage? I might as well fucking be- HAH!” And you snort at that- it’s not even funny, you moron. “Oh, and also sexy lion man- yeah I’m talking to you, yeah you-” You point at said man. “I’m not a herbivore, okay? Like, I’m not a vegan (NO OFFENSE TO THE VEGANS OUT THERE), umm...” You slip into a dramatic accent where everything becomes more pronounced.

“I’m a fucking omnivore, and if you wanna like, insult me, please do it right. Thanks.” You pose, your hands making a heart shape, before slumping onto strong boy’s arms.

“Pfft- AHAHAHAH-” And Ruggie’s gone and lost his shit, because what’d you expect, right?

Leona looks surprised, before becoming very irritated, dragging Ruggie by the scruff/neck and walking away, leaving Jack to deal with you.

His seniors out of earshot and eyeshot, he glances at your sleeping form, which was nuzzling up to him, sighing in bliss as the warmth surrounds you.

He lets out a snicker despite his best efforts not too. Goodness, you surprise him every day.

He easily brings you inside with a princess carry, making sure to respectfully touch only your legs and you back to support you.

He glances at your sleeping form- what on earth were you doing that could keep you up so late, anyways? Oh, he finds out by passing through the living room, TV still on.

He finds your bedroom and lays you down there, not bothering to bring Grim inside- just kidding, he absolutely brings Grim in because he knows how much you love each other, but you didn’t hear that from me~

He glances at your form again and brushes some hair out of your face. The steady rise and fall of your chest eases him. Maybe he should stay here, just in case you wake up and act like THAT again and that’s something he’s sure a lot of people aren’t ready to witness.

He takes a chair and sits in front of you, once again having his eyes trained on you, seeing he has nowhere to look at.

A content smile passes your lips, and he smiles at that. What kind of dreams are you having, he wonders? (Little did he know its about him)

Wait.

If he’s waiting for you like this, isn’t that what you usually do for friends?! He stands up immediately, regretting his actions just as fast as he notices you squirm, sighing in relief as you settle back down onto your dazed state again.

“Happy New Year, prefect. Let’s make more memories together.” He mutters lowly, far too low for you to hear but somehow, you smile at just the right moment.

He leaves quickly, a red blush adorning his cheeks. No, that does NOT make him happy in the slightest! His tail isn’t wagging, his ears aren’t red, you’re lying!

Right?

Wrong.

Yeah, right.

Oh, god damn you and making him so confused!

OCTAVINELLE

An incredibly good-looking gent, with a smile on his face that doesn’t look as nice as it should. And look, he’s got a fedora! That speaks fancy~

“Happy New Year, pre-” You take the fedora and slap it onto your head, to the surprise and subsequent irritation of this man.

Or octopus. Honestly, they radiate the same vibe, so you wouldn’t know.

Then, you began doing the Orange Justice (cringe) as you hum- “Mhph, then you break it down! Down! Down! High! Down!”

“Is shrimpy-chan okay?” Oh what the fuck he’s so tall- THERE’S ANOTHER ONE YOU’RE SEEING THINGS-

“Oya oya.” HE HAS ARA-ARA ENERGY OH MY GOD YOU CAN’T DEAL WITH THIS- NONONONONO-

“Ara ara? Ara ara ara~ ara ARA!” You reply in kind, switching to a weird boogie as you sing offkey about a song.

“Under the sea~~~ under the sea~~ something, something, du do do do, under the sea~ under the grass, and till they fall~ ahhhh!!!” You grab the gent’s hands and drag him to you, paying very close attention to your feet as you attempt to tap dance.

The gent splutters indigation, so you leave him be and focus on your feet.

“Ne, that sounds fun!” The 1st double says, following you to dance- except he’s doing way better then you.

“Wha- how the fuck- that’s good! How the fackkkk... fuck... fucking... fucking fucking wop wop!” You giggle, trying to imitate his dance.

“Hehe, shrimpy’s funny when they’re tired!” Double 1 says, grabbing your waist as you shout in fright.

“Jade, maybe we should-”

“Let them be, Azul.”

Upon closer inspection, you realize that this ‘Jade’ has resonating vibes with Sebastian from Black Butler- wait, is this the twin cliche?! Where there’s the crazy one and the other’s the sane one?! But then again, he has that scary smile on his face... hmm, maybe that theory should be left alone.

You, still Double 1′s arms, shout: “Come on butler man! Join us!!!”

“Butler... are you referring to me?” He sounds surprised.

“Yeee! Come on dude,let’s vibeeee-” You stop mumbling and began singing again. “Oh oh, I’m a rebel just for kicks now! OWAH!!!”

“Owah~~” Double 1 joins, and Jade with a grin, joins in. “Owah~”

“...owah...” The gent also joins, albeit in a softer tone.

“What else, shrimp- eh??? They’re asleep!” Floyd pouts as he gazes at your non-moving body. “No fun.”

“Oya, maybe we should bring them back to their couch. It looks like a nice place to be.” Jade remarks, looking at the pile of chips and snacks on the floor. Floyd shruges, dropping you with a thud, but you don’t seem to wake up. Jade picks you up for Floyd and brings you to the couch.

Azul cringes at the sight of messy chips. “It’s giving me heartburn just looking at it.”

“Don’t lie, Azul. We saw you eating the same thing yesterday~” Floyd teases, a wide grin placate on his face.

“...I could’ve sworn nobody saw me! How...” Azul mumbles to himself, a red flush on his face.

“They’re asleep. We should leave them be.” Jade suggests, walking back to the group.

Azul nods. “There’s nothing I can make a deal about, anyway. And, the benevolent sea witch wouldn’t agree with that, wouldn’t she?”

"Yeah! Goodnight, shrimpy!” Still, you don’t reply, but Floyd looks happy enough since he hoists Azul up from his stand and walks out with him, princess style.

“F-floyd, put me down!”

“Nah, Jade looked really happy holding Shrimpy, so I’ll do the same to you~”

“Floyd!”

Jade walks behind them, watching as they have their fun.

Did I really look that happy? He glances back at your living room and gives a rare, sincere smile to the dimly lit room.

“Goodnight, prefect. I hope to get along with you better.” He whispers to himself, before closing the door gently behind and catching up to his brother.

SCARABIA

Sunshine??? in the form of a... homo sapient???? and a snake??? why the fuck-???

“Happy New Year, prefect! I brought you some food, a few blankets and oh!” The sunshine greets, giving you things, which you don’t have the strength to take, but nod as thanks anyways. He hands you a carpet, incredibly soft, 100% quality. “A carpet- eh, prefect?! Are you okay?!” The sunshine fusses, grabbing your cheeks in worry.

You melt, easing into the touch. “I’m okay now.” You lazily reply, giving him a slow wink. “Haha, get it? Cause- cause you’re here, and you’re the sun, and you’re cute, so like... haha? No?” You don’t let him reply as you sigh and nod, taking his hands of your cheeks. “Alright.”

The sunshine grins at your attempt. “I don’t really know what you mean, but thanks!” Oh my god he’s so cute-

“...hopefully, these things can dress up your broken- er, rustic house.” The snake replies, watching your behavior with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

You son of a bitch-

“Look, snake-man. No no no no, look at me. Watashi no eyes, you look at eyes- you see my eyes?” You stalk towards the snake, squinting at the bright sun (2 suns) as you trudge towards him. “Y-you see? Yeah, these eyes have tried their FUCKING best to fix up this dorm, so please, bro, please don’t like, mock it cuz like-- it’s really fucking hard- and you know why?!”

“Why?” The sunshine questions, just as you hope (but for some reason, the snake has backed away and is guarding the sunshine. You wonder why.)

“Lemme tell you why- lemme tell you why. So, this bird-man bitch boy I don’t fucking know, right-” The snake sort of laughs at this description as sunshine nods. “This guy, right, leaves ALL this SHIT to me- like BITCH, did you see the fucking state of this... I don’t know, um, SHACK?!” You point aggressively at the house. “Yeah man, it was SHIT! Like, there were holes, rats on the ground, and there were a insects everywhere...” Oho, snake seems to tense up at this, walking towards sunshine in a scared manner.

“The wood was rotting, it smelled like mold... the couches were moldy, the BED was moldy... it was... it was FUCKING shit mate, like the fuck?! You expect me to clean up that shit in what, like...” You bring up your fingers, not even counting. “Three fucking days? Like what the fucking hell, bitch? I’d like to- to- to know what the fuck crossed his mind, like the fuck, you know?”

“That seems hard, prefect. Do you want us to help?” The sunshine offers, but the snake interjects, saying: “Kalim (oh, so his name is Kalim, huh? Cute name for a cute guy!), how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t-”

“But it looks like they’re having a really hard time!” Kalim argues, pouting and looking at you pitifully, and you give the snake a woeful mourning face. The snake glares at you, before sighing heavily. Ah, damn, you feel kind of bad.

“Nah, it’s okay sunshine, I can handle it. Oh, by the way, have ya seen my baby?” You say nonchalantly, describing your feline friend.

“Baby?” The snake pales. “You have a baby?!”

“Prefect, why do you have a baby?” The sunshine panics too, eyes widening, forgetting the nickname you gave him.

“Yeah, I do! Wanna see-” Slump! You fall onto the ground before you can finish your sentence, leaning across the snake’s legs.

“Oh... they’re probably talking about Grim...” Jamil realizes, sighing in relief at the thought.

“Oh yeah, that’s probably it! Hehe, we think alike, Jamil!” Kalim grins, much to the chagrin of Jamil.

“Yeah, yeah, we do. Now come on-” Jamil lifts up your body, princess style and grunts. “Help me open the door.”

“Sure thing!” Kalim hums, opening the door. “What do you think they were doing, looking so tired?”

Jamil shrugs, walking inside ASAP, first giving the dorm a quick sweep with his eyes- he isn’t quite sure how to feel about the bugs you said. They pass by the living room and upon seeing the disarray, nod in understanding.

“Kalim, can you clean it while I put the prefect back in their room?” Kalim nods and gets to work, rolling up his sleeves.

Jamil smiles, nodding as he walks towards your bedroom, opening it with his foot. Surprisingly, it looks WAY cleaner then your living room- you really did stay up all night to watch whatever show was on, huh? The bed isn’t even creased.

Jamil sets you down gently, and you immediately roll to the side, sighing in comfort. He watches as the crumbs of snacks fall onto the bed, and thanks the graces that its not Kalim’s, or his bed that got the food spilled, phew.

Speaking of Kalim, how is he faring? Jamil walks back to the living room, fully expecting to see Kalim get distracted, but much to his ACTUAL surprise, the room is a quarter cleaned. The crisps are thrown in the trash bin and the blankets are folded up, albeit not neatly.

Jamil smiles, a little bit proud of Kalim. “Kalim?”

“Here. Shh, not so loud. Grim’s sleeping.” Kalim whispers back, waving from the kitchen. “I’m trying to clean the dishes, but...”

“Here, let me teach you.” And so, they two do their best to help clean the living room until it’s up to Jamil’s standard.

“I bet they’ll feel surprised when they wake up!” Kalim giggles, happy that it’s clean.

“I hope so, it’ll be a waste if we did all this and they didn’t notice.” Jamil frowns, crossing his arms, satisfied. “I’m sure they liked the gifts, Kalim?”

“Really?! I didn’t go overboard, right?!” Kalim worries, looking at Jamil in concern.

“You always do.” Was Jamil’s snide remark.

“Jamil!” Kalim pouts, and Jamil nods.

“It’s true.”

“Aww... I thought I really... aww...” Kalim shakes his head, cheering up immediately. “There’s always next time! Let’s visit Heartslabyul next, Jamil!”

“Let’s go.” And Kalim rushes out, shouting a ‘Happy New Year!’ to the dorm, despite his previous warning. Jamil says nothing, echoing his behavior as they walk out.

(And it’s true. After 14 hours or so, you wake up, walked towards the living room, and cried the SHIT out of your eyes. It really was nice to see, you know?)

DIASOMNIA

You can’t distinguish who the fuck this person is, but they’re definitely tall.

“Who the fucking hell??? Is so fucking tall?” You ask in a whisper. “Hello?”

“Don’t talk to Malleus-sama that way, human!” A guy that looks similar to a cucumber yells.

“Shut up, my guy. Oh shit, sorry I probably sound really fucking rude hah.” You snort, pinching the nose of your bridge. “Um, what can I do for you? Or something?”

“You look pale.” A softer voice comments. You turn to look at him and oh fucking HELL he looks so... soft??? Princely???

“Woah.” You breathe, grabbing his face. He quickly pushes you off, but you don’t mind. “What the fuck... Your face??? Is?? Nice???”

“Thank... you...?” He says strangely, stepping away. “Da- LIlia-sama, I think we should leave. ___ doesn’t seem to feel well.”

“Nonsense, ___’s fine. It’s probably just lack of sleep.” You let out a bark at that.

“Hah, lack of sleep. More like lack of heat!” You giggle at that- why did you giggle at that it literally makes no sense. You turn to look at this ‘Lilia’ person and holy shit, is that a d i l f ?

“...Dilf?” You mutter, stetching out your hand to touch this short emo man. “Emo???”

“What is a dlif?” Emo man’s face contorts into confusion, one that is not often seen in his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that phrase...”

“Dad’s I’d Like to Fuck, because damn bro, you look- you look like you raised hot kids and set them on a frying pan do you get me, cuz like you’re also sexy? I don’t... yeah.” You nod heavily at your sentence.

Emo man and prince-looking guy’s face contorts into a grin and a horrified look respectively. Tall man seems to have the same face as prince-looking guy, while Cucumber just... freezes.

“Are y’all okay??? You know what, I don’t- I don’t have- I’m not- I’m- I’VE GOT THE APPLE BOTTOM JEANS, BOOTS- BUTTS- BUTTS WITH THE FURRR, THE WHOLE CLUB WAS LOOKING AT HER~” You break out into a song, changing your voice to a country accent.

“SHE TOOK THE FLOOR AND GOT THE JEANS AND WENT LOW LOW LOW low low low low...” You sync in with the music, going lower to the beat until you lay your body on the ground and slowly lose sight (or blurry shapes) in front of you.

You don’t know what happens next, but you do know that someone’s riding a small cow. With big horns. And hair? With the bit of consciousness you have left, you reach up to touch the cow horns.

“Sick...” You mutter, and your hands fall slack on the small cow’s horns and you finally fall into well-deserved sleep.

EXTRA

“Lilia.”

"SEE SILVER, I TOLD YOU THAT PEOPLE WOULD-”

“I DON’T NEED TO HEAR IT, DAD!”

“NONE OF US DO!”

“Lilia.”

“I- I’M A DILF- I- I’M A DILF- HAH, I’M- OW OW OW... ow.. my back... oh, yes... Malleus?”

“I’m bringing the human inside.”

“Sure..- argh, ow ow ow... Silver, Sebek, come help me!”

“Yes, old man...”

“...”

“Pfft... a dilf... a dilf....” Malleus snickers at your naming choices, lighting up candles that you’ve strategically set. Once the lights are on, he can’t help but squint at the messiness of your dorm. He walks past the living room and opens your simple bedroom door, placing you on your bed. You don’t seem to be unbetrubed, but you squeezing something in the air. Ah, perhaps you’re looking for the cat?

Poof! Grim instantly nuzzles into you, and you both sign at the warm heat between you. Malleus smiles at the sight and leans closer to you, and whispers: “Happy New Year, child of man. Let’s make more memories together.” He gazes at your simple room, and his eyes falls at your bedside table. He smiles fondly at the picture on your bedside table. It’s you, Grim and him in Ramshackle’s living room, you making flower crown as you bitch on about physics, Grim agreeing and complaining as well.

He gives you a small pet on the head and disappears in neon butterflies.

“Shall we go?”

“Oh, young whisperer, you’re back. I take it ___ is back in their bedroom?”

A smile blooms on Malleus’ face. “Yes, now let’s go.”

“Dilf.. dilf...”

“I can’t... dilf... I can’t.. no...”

I don’t fucking know what this is

I just thought--- lilia... is a dad.... and he sexy

and memes... and i created this fic

please enjoy it

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dranza · 4 years

Text

Tarot

Draco x Reader

Word count: 2232

Draco bumps into you in the slytherin common room, late at night. You both find yourself opening up to each other. I just think its cute man.

Warnings: Parent struggles. If there is anymore please let me know!

Glancing at the clock on the wall I realise it's now half past twelve in the morning. I had officially spent over four hours painting my tarot cards, procrastinating from doing my homework is officially one of my skills. Sighing, I slide the card I was working on over to the edge of the table to dry. I then reach for a mint leaf from my pocket and slide it into my mouth, the taste takes me back to being a child and playing in the manor gardens with my Nanny. I'm clearing up my paints as I hear footsteps coming into the hall that leads to the slytherin common room. Scrambling, I hide the paints under the table and pretend to fall asleep over the charms book I was meant to be reading. Recently, Pansy had been taking her prefect duties a little too seriously and had busted me for being out of my dorm room too many times now. I could easily wind her up and make her leave me alone but tonight I just didn't have the energy to hear her rattle on about how ‘we aren't meant to hang in the common room outside of curfew times’. The thing is, I’ve always been a night owl and not wanting to wake up the other girls in my room, I've made a habit of coming down to the common room to have some alone time.

“Stop being so pathetic, I know you're not asleep y/n” Draco announces in a chuckle as he walks in front of the table I'm at.

“Oh, what do you want Draco?” I lift my head to look at the white haired boy towering over me.

“Don’t worry, I'm not here to kick you out.” He pulls at a stool with his foot and sits opposite me, picking an apple from the bowl on the side table “I was just coming to pick up a snack. What are you doing awake at this hour anyway?”

I lift a paintbrush from under the table in response. “I don't even know where to start on the charms essay so I thought I'd add to my collection instead.”

He places his elbows onto his knees and leans closer to the three cards I had set on the edge of the table. “These are pretty good, I didn't know you could paint.”

“I didnt realise I had to inform you of everything I do.”

Draco huffs contempt, tilting his head a little “fair enough.”

“What are you doing awake?” I ask as I lift my wand and clean my paint brushes.

“Just finished the reading for potions class” he takes a bite from his apple and lifts the middle card.

A confused giggle escapes my mouth and I tease “I didn't know Draco Malfoy actually cared about his grades.”

Under his breath (more to himself than to me) he whispers “my parents would probably kill me if I didn’t.” Switching to a smirk, he echoes my words back to me “Well, I didn’t realise I had to inform you of everything I do.” He places the card back onto the table and drags the subject back to me “anyway, everything you need for the charms paper is in the fourth and fifth chapter.”

“Ah, thankyou.” I open up the charms book to the suggested chapters and place in a book mark. I stretch out my legs and lean back onto the sofa behind me, sitting on the floor for so long has made my legs go dead. “So, do you want me to do a reading?”

Dracos body stiffens slightly, and he straightens his back. “I don't think so, it's not very accurate anyway is it?” His thin fingers pick at his loose black pajama bottoms for fluff that wasn't there.

He clearly was one of the people who thought divination wasn’t actual magic. Back at Durmstrang, divination was such a popular subject that I was shocked when I came to England and saw so many columns popping up in The Daily Prophet about it just being a hoax. “Oh, for goodness sake Draco, it is accurate if it's done correctly. One card wont hurt you. Also, accurate or not, at least I'll get some practice.” I offer an encouraging smile.

“Please... my father says it's purely based on chance and calculated guessing. I don't imagine you'll be very good if you've had Trelawney teaching you anyway, the woman is out of her mind.” he says in a huff, scrunching his nose in disgust.

“One card?” I lift my eyes to meet his and pout in an exaggerated way.

He cocks a brow and flashes a look at the cards “one.”

I sit up instantly, leaning to the chair that I dumped my bag on earlier that night and pull out a full tarot deck. I clear the table, shuffle the cards and spread them upside down in a row. “What do you want to know?”

“Errr,” he squeezes his eyes shut and sways his head trying to think of a question. “What do I need to focus more on right now?” he asks unsurely.

I smile softly at him, surprised that he actually asked a decent question. “Perfect, now just really concentrate on that question and pick the card you're most drawn to.” He seems to hesitate a bit so I add “Don't think too deeply about it, just go with your instinct.”

He lets out a loud breath as he bows over the table to be closer to the cards. With a single finger he slides a card out slightly from the deck and then sits back, looking down at me tentatively.

Sitting on my knees, I take the card he selected and flip it over.

“The magician? Really? What may this suggest y/n? Well, we're at school and maybe I need to focus on my magic skills.” he word vomits in such a patronizing manner I resist the urge to punch him.

“Will you just shut up Malfoy! Let me concentrate…”

He lets out a sharp nose exhale but obeys.

“I think it suggests you have an opportunity to right a wrong, it's something you've been putting off but you finally have all the tools you need to be able to make it happen.” I look away from the card to him but his gaze is locked to his hands now. “This has really been weighing down on you, hasn't it? You just need to focus and manifest on the outcome. Is it… is it to do with your father?”

“What?” he lifts his head in a sharp movement at my final question. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, I told you this is all a load of rubbish. I'm heading back to bed.” He throws his half eaten apple into the bin. “As should you, we have potions first thing tomorrow and I doubt Snape will let you nap in class.”

“I’m sorry Draco…” I break, realising I had touched a nerve. “You don't have to answer me. Don't just… you don't have to leave.”

He runs his fingers through his messy white hair. “I just… well, I’d just rather not focus on that right now.”

Draco’s father (Lucius Malfoy) is meant to be having his final hearing, for conspiring with Voldemort, this weekend and whispers all about the Malfoy family have been wandering through every hall at Hogwarts. Last year Voldemort had tried to take over the wizarding world and Draco (much to his parents' alarm) had apparently joined Harry Potter in destroying the horcruxes. Still, everyone was questioning his intentions. He has been putting on a brave face but it's obvious he's been more reserved since the news broke out.

“That's ok.” I try a sympathising smile. “I get it, I’m not trying to pry.”

“Yeah, well, you’re the only one then.” he says with a sigh.

I look around to try and change the subject, “what's your favourite colour?” I blurt out. I sink inwardly, was this really the best I could come up with.

Draco smiles, raising a brow. “Black.” he states confidently.

“Ha, dytto.” I pick at the dry paint on my hands. “It reminds me of ink... and wolves... and outer space.”

“Yes, that. Also, you always look great when you wear black” Draco chuckles softly. “Well, I mean not you personally. Although… I'm sure you also do look great in black. But I mean generally, no one can ever… really go wrong if they’re dressed in black.” A blush creeps up his face as he stammers over his words.

A funny little giggle escapes me as I watch him, a similar pink tinting my face. “I know what you mean.” I nudge his arm slightly, noticing his all black pajamas. “I think there’s still a certain skill in pulling off a black outfit though.”

Draco picks up one of my paint pots and twists it in his hand, trying to look at anything but me, his blush deepening. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You know, I would have pinned you more as a bright pink kind of guy myself.” I kick myself for trying to be funny but it lifts his nervousness.

“Not quite.” His laugh is deep and sensual, sending a warm fuzziness through my body.

“Do you ever paint?” I ask, signally to the pot in his hand.

“No. I’ve never done any intricate stuff like this anyway.” he gestures to my cards. “These really are quite amazing.”

“Thankyou.” I try not to stare at his face as he studies my work, but the candle light bouncing off his eyelashes and his soft, bottom lip kind of tucking under his teeth is making it very difficult. “To be honest, I don’t really like them.”

“What? Why?” he shoots at me.

“It’s not very neat around here…” I point at the first card, I’d spent half an hour trying to get the shading right on the bricks of the tower earlier tonight. “And her hair just looks like a wig.” My finger grazes the back of Draco’s hand as I point to the Empress card.

“No it doesn't, plus no one else would notice these things you’re bothering about”

“My mother will.” Quietly correcting myself, I add “would.” I clear my throat lightly to continue “And she would definitely reveal a few more mistakes as well.” I take in a long breath and rub my eyes. “I know this sounds terrible but sometimes I think it's not so bad that she's gone.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, I… I didn't know.” He stretches his arm across the table towards me but stops just before his hand touches. “Are you OK?”

“Yeah, I was never really close to her anyway.” I sadly shrug. I realise I’ve never told anyone else any of this. I'm clearly over-tired.

“And your father?”

“He died when I was 3, I don't remember him. It’s why I’ve had to move here after my mum passed, Uncle Filius is the only member of my family that would take me in.”

Draco questions in surprise “So it’s true. You are Professor Flitwick's niece?”

“The one and only.” I give him a side smile.

“Hmmh, well, I know this means nothing… but I don’t think it's all that terrible that you don't feel bad you mother is gone. Sometimes parents aren’t as perfect as they seem.” Draco clicks his fingers and continues, “As you probably know, I’m meant to be meeting my dad this weekend. I have no idea how to explain myself to him. The last time...” Draco stops abruptly at the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway. Two 3rd year students walk in carrying a whole load of sweets whispering to each other in rapid conversation. Draco swiftly stands and informs them that they cannot be out of their dorms so late. They try to oppose but after a stern look from the tall, blonde-haired prefect they give in and return. He takes a second before turning back to me and saying “I think we both ought to go back to our beds as well, it has gotten quite late.”

I look up at him confused, “don't you want to finish what you were saying?”

He shakes his head while holding out a hand to me. “Maybe another time. I’m guessing this won't be the last time we bump into each other, here at this hour.”

I accept his tight grip and with a strong motion he lifts me from the ground. “No, I hope not anyway. This was nice.” I squeeze his hand gently before letting it go and picking up my things.

His hand combs through his thick hair as he smiles shyly “It was.” He waits as I pick up the last of my books and we walk out together. As we get to the end of the hallway he stops and looks down at me, “are you sure you don't need help taking that stuff up?” I shake my head and with that he yawns. “Well then… good night y/n.”

“Goodnight Draco.” I glance back as I’m walking up to my room and catch his eyes looking back at me. He instantly pulls his gaze away and for some reason I feel a little disappointed. Goodness me, was I really forming a crush on the Draco Malfoy?

Im writing a few different one shots that can be read on their own or in order for a full story. Here’s the masterlist!

#draco malfoy #Draco x reader #Imagine #Harry potter #Draco is so hot #Tom felton #Hogwarts #Slytherin #common room #dungeons #voldemort #lucius malfoy #cute draco #slow burn #filler #getting there #mine

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magicalforcesau · 3 years

Text

Fragments of the Garden - Origins - part 1

A companion collection to Dancing With Ghosts in Your Garden

(ao3 link)

Getting into Diagon Alley had been a bit of an event, her mother had to take off work and get Bo up and off to school before they could finally head out. The time and place on the parchment had been specified down to the minute, but as they seemed to circle the same block for the hundredth time Satine started to wonder if maybe this was all some elaborate prank.

“I’m sorry, love,” her mother finally turned to her, “It’s supposed to be right here, but I don’t see a Leaky Cauldron anywhere along this stretch,” Satine looked back down at the parchment again, rereading the same message she had a thousand times since receiving it. Disappointment started to seep into her bones and she looked up in desperation, one last time scanning the buildings around them. Her eyes drifted just right of her mum and she lit up.

“It’s there!” Satine pointed her finger at the old iron sign dangling over the door, dripping water on passing pedestrians. When she glanced up at her mother though she was only met by confusion.

“Uh, what is dear?” Her mother’s eyes seemed to skim over the building without seeing it, and Satine was struck with an odd feeling of experiencing something that her family never would.

“The Leaky Cauldron,” Satine answered, grabbing her mum’s hand in her own, “I’ll show you,” Determined she pulled them across the street and up to the building, her mum still showed no signs of acknowledgement so Satine pulled open the door and dragged her inside.

“Oh,” the soft gasp came from behind her and she glanced back to see the surprised look on her mum’s face, it seemed entering the building was enough to break through whatever weird magic surrounded the place and she followed her mum’s gaze from the owls swooping through the windows to the dishes washing themselves in the kitchen.

“You must be the last of the muggleborns,” A creature was approaching them, eyes like a hammerhead shark and face long, it took Satine a moment of staring to realize that their mouth was on their neck, “You’re a little late, but I know we can be a little hard to find,” The creature pulled out a piece of parchment and skimmed it over, “So you’re the Kryze’s?”

“I’m Satine, and this is my mum,” She found herself answering for them, her mother looked a little pale so it was probably for the best.

“You can call me Jho,” they said pulling out a brown stick, that Satine realized with belated excitement was likely a magic wand, “Follow me and I’ll let you into Diagon Alley, make sure you buy a wand when you get in there, because otherwise you’re not getting back in,” they made a sound that she assumed was a laugh and she tugged on her mum’s hand in order to follow close behind.

“How many pounds is a wand?” She wondered aloud and Jho scoffed.

“Pounds. When you get inside you should first go to Gringotts, transfer over the amount your letter told you to bring and they’ll give you real money,” They were facing a brick wall and Jho turned back to them for a moment, “Welcome to Diagon Alley,” they turned back and tapped a pattern into the bricks with their wand and suddenly the whole wall melted away, bricks turning into themselves to get out of the way and a bustling path with funnily dressed people was revealed. Satine stepped through pulling her mum in with her and the wall closed up behind them.

“Hello you must be the Kryze’s,” They turned and were greeted by someone who looked almost human, but with white and blue pieces coming from her head instead of hair, “I’m Professor Shaak Ti from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, here to help our new muggleborns find their way in our world,” Satine’s mum stepped forward dropping her hand for the first time.

“It’s lovely to meet you. I must say I’m very overwhelmed,” Her mum had seemed to have gotten over the shock and Satine took the opportunity to tune out the grown-up talk and gaze around the new world she’d stepped into.

Owls seemed to be a common theme as they swooped around in broad daylight, landing near magical folks wearing a wide variety of interesting clothes. Most commonly seemed to be cloaks and funny hats, but she saw one witch wearing an outfit entirely made of feathers and hoped very much that her school uniform would not be something that itchy. Her attention was drawn next to the shop windows. There was one with a broom floating in the window, many children seemed to be gathering around it so she wondered if maybe it was a toy of some sort. A building with sweets in the window boasted such things as cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties instead of chocolate croissants and eclairs and she saw a tall wobbly looking stack of cauldrons in the next. Her eyes landed on another window jam packed with books and her heart leapt in excitement.

Satine had always been a reader. She read during both class and lunch, as well as nearly constantly at home and when she’d gotten her letter to Hogwarts, she’d read that too, but she hadn’t considered that a new world of people would provide her a new world of books to read. She found herself approaching the window, excited to read the spines until her mum was done talking when a flash of dark fabric bumped into her sending her falling backwards onto the cold stone pavement.

She looked up and her eyes met that of a witch’s, they were such a light blue they looked like ice, although Satine would maybe attribute some of that to the witch’s personality.

“Watch where you’re going, girl,” She spoke sharply, and the wizard behind her turned and rested his eyes on Satine too. His were a dark blue, but held the same kind of coldness, like how she imagined the bottom of the ocean would feel like.

“They’ll let anybody in here these days,” The first part was spoken under his breath, but not quiet enough for Satine to miss it, “We have more important things to worry about than another lost, muggleborn,” He turned on his heel and continued on.

“Don’t muggle parents teach any manners,” the witch also spoke as she turned to follow her companion further down the street.

Shocked and confused Satine continued to sit where she fell staring off after them. She jumped when suddenly a hand was thrust into her view.

“Need a hand?” She turned and looked at the newcomer, he was a boy near her own age, with a wide grin and warm brown eyes. She took his hand and he pulled her up, “Are you ok?”

“I think so,” She replied, but found herself still staring after the icy couple.

“Hey, whatever they said, don’t let it bother you,” The boy gained her attention again, “They’re pretty much as old-fashioned and traditional as you can get,”

“You know them?” Satine questioned.

“Yeah, the Kenobi’s,” the boy rolled his eyes, “My family used to attend their pureblood dinner parties until a couple years ago when my older brother Hevy lost his temper… But good riddance I’ll say, none of us Fett’s care too much about blood status politics anyways,” Satine’s head was reeling trying to make sense of it all.

“Purebloods?” Satine asked, too busy trying to catalogue all these new terms to ask it with a little more of her usual finesse.

“Purebloods are wizards whose family line is all magical,” He answered, and with the realization of who she likely was he continued, “There are halfbloods who have one magical parent and one muggle parent, and muggleborns who have 2 muggle parents.”

Satine thought back to the words the Kenobi’s had said to her and a new fire started burning in her chest. She had no time for such an old-fashioned way of thinking, she needn’t prove herself to them she’d been invited here and that was enough. Still they’d manage to plant a small seed of doubt in her mind.

“I hope I never see another Kenobi again,” She decided and the boy laughed loudly at that.

“I understand that sentiment,” He agreed, mirth still sparkling in his eyes, “By the way, the name’s Cody.”

***

Riding the train had been exciting, looking up at the castle had been extraordinary, but standing next to her peers waiting to be shepherded through the doors to the great hall was as nerve wracking as it could get.

Cody, who she’d written to a few times to test her new owl, Sundari, had explained a lot of wizard things, especially the sorting. Cody laughed at her on the train and said if there was any way she was anything, but a Ravenclaw he’d eat every vomit flavored jelly bean in Honeydukes. She was still nervous though, and as the time crept closer even Cody looked a little pale.

The doors swung open suddenly and they followed the prefects inside, each student taking a moment to admire the starry night sky, before they stopped before the stool with the old sorting hat resting upon it. Cody had mentioned that they changed up the order of ceremony a lot, sometimes they’d go in alphabetical order or the reverse. Or they’d just go at random, Satine hoped that whatever way they went she’d be one of the first to get things over with.

So of course, it was her luck when they decided to go in alphabetical order anyways. Cody was called before her of course. His name was spoken loudly and it made it easy to pick out his older brother, and fourth year, Hevy who cheered embarrassingly loudly for his little brother. Cody stepped up onto the stage and sat on the stool, the hat barely sat on his head for a moment before shouting out for Gryffindor. The red and gold table cheered loudly, and Cody was smothered in a headlock by his brother as soon as he reached it.

Satine waited patiently as names were called all the way through J and readied herself for the K’s before suddenly the man up front started calling for Z’s. She felt a spark of indignant rage as they started going in reverse which would leave her as one of the last to go, she cursed her own luck as she tried and failed to not look a little grumpy.

Finally, finally her own name rang out over the crowd, and she heard some cheering from the direction of Gryffindor table as she stepped up shakily onto the stage. The hat was dropped over her eyes and she heard its voice speak through her own thoughts.

“Oh, quite right, with a mind like this it can only be,”

“RAVENCLAW!” The hat was removed from her head and she looked across the large room to see the dark blue and silver table cheering passionately for their new member. She felt something warm settle over her as she walked over to the table and was patted on the back and high-fived all the way to her seat. She’d worried a bit about belonging, but to think her place in this school had been so easily found made her grin widely. She sat down and had a minute to collect herself while they called the next student, and then maybe she could start making friends with the other Ravenclaw first years-

“Obi-Wan Kenobi!”

At first, she’d thought she was imagining the hush that crossed the room at that name given her own ears suddenly seemed muffled. She threw her gaze onto the stage as a boy with perfectly styled hair, and finely pressed robes walked poised up the steps to the stage. The words of the older Kenobi’s, who could only be his parents, rang in her ears as she frantically made eye contact with Cody over at the Gryffindor table, who gave her a worried look and a shrug. They both turned back to the stage and waited for the final verdict of who would have to put up with the son of the most pretentious wizarding family in England.

***

When Obi-Wan Kenobi had first gotten his letter to Hogwarts, he’d reacted with the poise and manners that his mother had instilled in him since he was born.

“Your letter came today,” His mother had said, handing it over to him, “When your father gets home from work today, he will once again tell you what you are expected to do,” Obi-Wan didn’t spare a glance at the letter, instead keeping direct eye-contact with her.

“Yes Mother,” He replied as he had been instructed to do and she nodded in acknowledgement.

“Now leave me to my work, you may have the afternoon to reflect,” He gave her a short bow in thanks and used every ounce of willpower not to scurry out of the room. Once his mother was out of sight though, he let all pretenses drop and all but ran to his bedroom.

Throwing himself onto his bed (he mentally noted to remake it before his mother saw the wrinkles) he hugged the letter delicately to his chest and grinned in absolute elation.

He’d been dreaming about this moment for as long as he could remember, memories of bedtime stories from his parents, before they’d deemed him too old, about their own time at the school. The absolute honor that they felt having been chosen for Slytherin and how one day he too would get to experience it. He’d dreamed of the green and silver robes when he was a child, but as years passed and his responsibilities around the house grew and grew, he found himself these days just dreaming of the school itself.

He chided himself for thinking that way, but if he were honest with himself about his own selfish desires, he was wishing these days about being away from this house and away from the people within it. He knew he’d never escape the demands of his family and he would be foolish to ever try, but he certainly wouldn’t mind them not breathing down his neck every moment of the day.

Once again he shook his head, banishing the thoughts, he knew he was lucky to be a Kenobi such thoughts about his parents he really shouldn’t consider. They’d given him all the finest toys as a child, and on his 6th birthday when they’d swapped out all his toys for fancy robes, they’d gotten him only the best, plus, he remembered with excitement, they’d let him choose one sweet from Sugarplum’s and didn’t even bother to remind him that boys should not have such a fondness for chocolate.

This year, on his eleventh birthday, they’d given him the greatest gift a wizard could ever receive, he turned over on his bed eyeing the sleek Elder wand on his bedside table. It had been darkened with a varnish and there was a real strip of silver winding around the grip. It was his prized possession.

The reminder of the wand brought him back to the letter still gripped tightly in his hands. Gently he peeled back the wax seal, and pulled out the parchment within. He didn’t need to read the letter, already knowing exactly what it said, but that didn’t stop him from reading his name over and over again, wanting to memorize the script in case he was in a dream he would wake up from.

He eventually left the letter and the list, tucked back inside the envelope, on his nightstand. It was rare he had the afternoon off from chores or some sort of manners lesson, so he would be foolish to waste it daydreaming. He remade his bed, sheets perfectly smooth, and sat at his desk pulling out his father’s old transfiguration textbook for the hundredth time, flipping it back to page one.

***

When Professor Windu called his name, it all became real to him. He ignored the hushed whisper that fell across the hall, his parent’s reminders to stand up straight and walk with purpose echoing loudly in his head as he started forward. His palms were sweating, but he ignored it in favor of schooling his expression to be neutral, his eyebrows pulled together slightly as the whispers got louder and the hat stared at him funny, but his father's disappointed tone smoothed his expression once more. Once he had sat down on the stool, facing the audience, he knew from experience he did not look any part nervous.

“Well, well a Kenobi, welcome back,” the hat spoke as it slid down over his eyes. It was silent for much longer than he’d expected and he fought the urge to fidget, “You seem to think you’ll be assigned to Slytherin,” The hat commented finally.

“I’m a Kenobi,” He thought back as if it was obvious, “My place is in Slytherin, like my family before me,” The hat hummed which felt very odd, like a vibration through his skull.

“Your family has fit into the Slytherin name for generations,” The hat agreed and Obi-Wan mentally agreed with satisfaction.

Yes, he was certainly on his way to following the guides his father had set up for him, he’d be a Slytherin and make friends within it, work towards becoming a legislator and-

“It’s my place to determine where you will succeed,” The hat interrupted his thoughts to muse once more, “I think the best place for you would be-”

“RAVENCLAW!”

***

The hat had been silent for so long Satine had been starting to wonder if something was wrong. So, when the announcement had finally been made, she jumped in surprise before the words really registered within her mind.

“Ravenclaw,” She echoed in surprise, and the realization finally dawned on her. She watched as the pristine boy walked down from the stage, he still looked bland and neutral almost like he was bored by the whole thing and it made Satine rather mad. When he passed by her she ignored him, she would not cheer for someone like Kenobi. She did make eye contact with Cody again who seemed very surprised about something, but she would not have time to bother him about it now. The feast was beginning and even her disdain for Kenobi would have to wait until after such a marvelous feast was enjoyed.

***

The feast was everything he dreamed it would be, but he found himself staring at his empty plate rather than gathering anything for himself. The Silver plate was almost right, but the blue table cloth just kept the hat’s voice echoing in his head, ‘Ravenclaw!’

Him? A Ravenclaw, that hat had to be daft, and likely had it out for him, seeing as how his parents may actually kill him for this. It wasn’t even his first day here and he’d already failed them. Surely, he’d be forced to polish every single one of his fathers awards next time he was home. For this he may even have to shine all the dishes too. Though, he supposed, he’d be lucky if they didn’t lock him up in his room all winter break.

Him, A Ravenclaw! Sure, he liked learning, but didn’t that show his ambition? That was a Slytherin trait, right? And he supposed resourcefulness and creativity could be seen as similar traits. Maybe it was because he wouldn’t describe himself as cunning, but he couldn’t really see himself as witty either.

He noticed suddenly that there were eyes on him. He looked up from the table, suddenly realizing where he was and made automatic eye contact with a girl across the table from him. She was also a first-year judging by her robes, she had hair the color of wheat and eyes the color of the sky which she was using to glare at him now that she had his attention.

“Um, hello there,” He greeted, nearly biting off his own tongue for using a filler word, his father would really have his head come winter break, if this was the path he’d be going down.

“Don’t tell me you’re not planning to eat anything,” Her voice was filled with fire, “You know that’s quite rude,” He didn’t know what had provoked her, but he did realize that perhaps what she said may be true.

“Well, it’s not really your business, but I’ve no appetite this evening,” He retorted, but still glanced at the feast around him for something to take, he didn’t want to offend the staff. He reached for a roll, but suddenly the food vanished and the desserts appeared.

“Serves you right,” She said, before ignoring him in place of spooning pudding onto her own plate.

Obi-Wan stared at the desserts lining the table, there were many he’d always wanted to try and his eyes kept coming back to the chocolate pudding. He caught himself mentally begging the girl to call him out again as an excuse to have some, but she didn’t, so he just stared off across the room at the Slytherin table and listened to his mother’s voice echoing in his head.

#obi-wan kenobi #satine kryze #cc-2224 #commander cody #obitine #star wars #prequel trilogy #clone wars #magical forces au

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juniperwindsong · 4 years

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In Love & War (3/3)

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been so kind as to comment on this story and even kinder in their patience for how long it took to complete. I’ve never struggled so much to write anything, and I might still be staring at an unfinished draft if it weren’t for the help of the most incredible, @navirosera, who listened patiently to my ranting, raving, and complaining and provided the spark to help me finish. I really can’t thank you enough.

I have posted the remaining part of the chapter at the bottom so it’s in its proper place. If you’ve already read the first part of this, just keep scrolling till it looks new.

Part 3: Quatervois

You hold your left hand up against the glass of the window. The setting sun catches the diamond of your ring, creating lines of rainbow light. It gives the impression your whole hand is sparkling. You smile. It's only a modest sized diamond set against a pale gold band. But it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

"Something out there I should be jealous of?"

Arms encircle your waist. A warm body presses against you from behind.

"'Out there'"?" you echo playfully. "Oh, I suppose there is a lovely ocean view. I hadn't noticed."

Felix rests his chin on your shoulder to see what's caught your attention.

"You know, I really ought to get you another one. Something better. With a diamond you can actually see."

You spin around in Felix's arms.

"Don't you dare. I love it. It's perfect."

Felix glances at your hand now resting against his chest. He frowns at the ring slightly.

"Hardly perfect. It's ridiculously small. It barely counts as an engagement ring."

You wrinkle your nose at him. "Then why did you pick it in the first place?"

A hot blush creeps up Felix's cheeks, a sight you find intensely amusing.

"There's a face I don't see often,” you laugh softly.

A change comes over Felix. His eyes widen, and he leans away from you, dropping his arms. He peers into your face intently as if he's seen something he doesn't like. You’re worried you must have offended him.

"I wasn't poking fun," you assure him soothingly. You close the distance he’s created between you, reaching up to take his still heated cheek in your palm. "I like it. Makes you look younger."

Felix's eyes soften. "Do I look old then?"

"Far too old for me." You shake your head in mock concern. "What my friends will say when they discover I've eloped with my prefect, I can't imagine." Your face suddenly clouds. "Why did we elope? Was there a reason? I mean, it was lovely little chapel, but it would have been nice to have my friends there. And Mrs Weasley will be so disappointed when she finds out.”

Felix swallows. “The war, remember?” He hides his face in the crook of your neck. “Everyone choosing sides. We didn't want them to be uncomfortable."

"Oh. Right."

On some level you're aware this doesn't make sense. But the vibrations against your throat send lightning through your body. The answer no longer seems important. You run your hands through Felix's hair as he places hot, slow kisses up your neck, under your chin. When he reaches your lips he murmurs against them: "Let me buy you a new ring. Please."

You shake your head. Your nose nuzzles his with each small movement. "No. This is the one I want."

You’re at a loss for how this sweet statement could cause your new husband to look so unhappy.

"Not again! That's the second time this week!"

The sudden exclamation startles you from your reverie. You lift your head from its resting place against your hand. You’re in the Burrow's kitchen with an irate Mrs Weasley, not a villa in Nice with Felix. The sun setting outside the window had brought the memory back.

Mrs Weasley wads the offensive letter up and throws it into the fire.

"I mean really, and at the last minute, too. So inconsiderate. I suppose that sort of thing is acceptable in France, but you'd think manners would be the same everywhere, wouldn't you? Pass me that cutting board, dear."

You rise from your chair and reach up to pull the cutting board from a high shelf. You could easily retrieve it with magic, but you need the distraction. It's precisely the reason you've moved to the Burrow. Mrs Weasley's strict regimen of conversation and domestic work keeps your mind from wandering. Most of the time.

You offer Mrs Weasley the cutting board, then lean against the counter. You force yourself to pay attention to her diatribe.

“I'm sure it's a phase, but I do hope it will pass soon. Once he grows out of that hair and that earring," Mrs Weasley shudders. "And that's really the most telling, isn't it? Any woman who likes that sort of thing can’t possibly be any good. You don't approve of it, surely?"

You look up from where your gaze has fallen to your hand and shake your head vigorously.

Her opinions safely confirmed, Mrs Weasley returns to the cutting board. She directs her wand to a veritable army of knives that begin dicing vegetables with gusto. "Like I say, very telling. Bill never used to be like this. He would never have dreamed of sending an owl last minute saying he wouldn't be at dinner. I mean really! What if we'd had something important to discuss? What if-"

You stare at the ring on your finger. It's the same one from your memory: a single, small diamond, a band of pale gold. Humble, but an auror's salary isn’t high. And this is definitely the ring Talbott had given you.

You relish the ability to call this memory to mind. You, dusting the curtains in your cheery flat when Talbott suddenly appears behind you. He presses a small blue box wordlessly into your hands. Your heart stops when you open it.

Talbott isn't one for material gifts. You never ask them of him. You had intended, once you were married, to find a simple wedding band to indicate your new status. For Talbott to think of it himself means more than you can say in words. Instead, you spend a long, fervid night showing him.

You close your eyes, savouring the echoes of bliss reverberating through your body. Until a question wheedles its way in like a leech.

Why would Felix have pretended the ring was his? Even for a second? It didn't fit Felix's extravagant style at all. He hadn't been happy with it, that much is clear from your newly remembered honeymoon scene. So why didn't he remove it after obliviating you? Replace it with another?

The inconsistency bothers you. Against your better judgment, you tentatively prod your brain for an explanation. But while your memories from before the fateful spell all seem to be intact, the days immediately after remain fuzzy.

"...talking about visiting her family, and it's much too soon for that. Imagine going all the way to France for a girl he's really only known a short time. I didn't meet Arthur's family until..."

You shake your head firmly, clearing it of unwanted thoughts. You'll never understand what Felix did. You're not supposed to be thinking about him, anyway. You straighten, and interrupt Mrs Weasley mid-sentence.

"Can I do something to help, Mrs Weasley?"

"Oh," Mrs Weasley stops abruptly. "Well, I really only have the potatoes left to mash, and that’s just -"

"I'll do it.”

You walk to the sink before Mrs Weasley can argue. A pot of peeled and boiled potatoes waits expectantly. You tap the masher with your wand and set it to work with vigour. You can feel Mrs Weasley's eyes on you, but you keeps yours fixed to the sink.

After a moment, Mrs Weasley returns to her knives, now scraping the diced vegetables into a bowl. "You know, I was thinking," she says in an airy, would-be-casual voice that instantly puts you on your guard. "I'd planned for four, and it would be a shame to let all this extra food go to waste. Why not invite your young man to dinner?"

The masher spins wildly in the pot, spilling potatoes over the side before you can correct it. Mrs Weasley continues as though she hasn’t noticed.

"It's been some time since you last saw him. And goodness knows, he looks like he could use a solid meal. What he must be eating without anyone to take care of him..."

You remember the assorted debris of take-away strewn about your old flat's kitchen table. A short stab of pain punctures your lungs. Imagining Talbott alone in the ruins of the home you once shared robs you of air.

"Y/N, the masher!"

"What?"

You look up to find the masher dancing across the counter, trailing potato in its wake. You break the enchantment and return it to the pot, then reach for a dish towel. You try to mop up the soggy potato droppings, but your vision is blurred by tears.

The dish towel is plucked gently from your fingers. You look up through wet eyes to find Mrs Weasley peering at you in concern.

"I'm so sorry, Y/N. I didn't mean to press. I understand if you need more time to-"

"It's not that, Mrs Weasley," you say, through sniffs. "I just...I... I miss him. I miss everything."

"You know, dear," Mrs Weasley says delicately, "Arthur and I have had our fair share of rows. Why, I remember one in our seventh year, nearly ended us. I couldn't eat a bite for weeks. But, there's never a problem two people can't solve if they're just willing to talk through it."

You sigh heavily, wiping your hand across your eyes. You let yourself sink into a kitchen chair.

"Talbott doesn't talk, Mrs Weasley. I'm the one who always solves these sorts of problems. I've never minded, but this time...this time I just don't know how."

Mrs Weasley flicks her wand at the masher. It resumes its duties at a more stately pace, and she draws the chair next to yours.

"Talbott is a good man, dear. A bit strange, and - well, I do admit, I'd rather hoped you and Charlie would...well...that doesn't matter now - what I mean to say is Talbott loves you. I'm sure he doesn't expect everything to be just the way it was all at once. But you have to start somewhere or it'll never come right."

You worry your lip between your teeth. You don’t know what Talbott thinks of you right now, and you’re afraid to find out. But Mrs Weasley's arguments chip away at your fear. You do want to see him again. And Talbott is unlikely to come find you himself.

"I suppose I might...send him an owl."

Mrs Weasley's smile is so bright it hurts to look at it.

"Really? Oh, that's wonderful! I'm so thrilled. Here, let me do it. You go get dressed!"

"What?"

"Well, you can't let him see you in that!"

You look down at your clothes: an old house dress of Mrs Weasley's and a jumper of Charlie's, both extremely baggy.

"Mrs Weasley, Talbott's seen me in just about everything."

"Yes, well, a little bit of effort never hurt. In fact, why don't I pop down to Diagon Alley before the shops close and pick up some of those delightful little cakes he liked so much last Christmas. I'll send the owl on the way. Now go!"

It's useless to argue with Mrs Weasley when she's in this state. You climb the stairs, listening to her chatter to herself as she pulls on a travelling shawl. For the first time in days, you manage a weak smile.

You spend a few minutes prodding your wand across an old summer dress from Mrs Weasley's school days. You've never excelled at the sort of charms Andre used to transform clothes into something magical, but you do your best. The end result, if not exactly fashionable, doesn't look as though two of you might fit in it. You run a brush through the tangled knots in your hair, and, after a minute's debate, decide in favour of lipstick.

You feel distinctly foolish.

It makes no sense to be dressing yourself up to meet the man you've lived with since you left school. Even less so to be this self-conscious about it. But Mrs Weasley's excitement has apparently infected you. Your stomach is full of swarming butterflies. It reminds you of your very first date with Talbott.

You cross to the looking-glass and inspect yourself critically. While you may feel like a teenager again, your reflection shows quite a bit more wear. Your face is pinched and wan, like someone recovering from a long illness. You lean in closer, practicing a smile. Something moves in the corner of the glass.

You whirl around, fumbling for your wand. The room is empty. It must have a been a trick of the light. Instinct puts you on your guard, however, and you inspect the room again, more slowly. As your eyes pass the window, you catch a glimpse of something moving in the yard. You blink, and look again, unwilling to believe your eyes.

Felix is picking his way across the long grass, surveying the Burrow with a mixture of distaste and apprehension.

Your brain stalls. Thoughts peter out as soon as they begin. You don't know what to do, what to think, what to feel.

Felix glances up. You know he can see your silhouette in the window. It's in the way his rich brown eyes suddenly catch fire.

"Y/N, I know you're there," Felix calls softly. "I just want to talk to you. Please."

A battle begins inside you. Part of you wants to hurl a curse out the window at Felix. Part of you wants to hide under the bed. But neither of these are in charge of your feet. You're walking out of the room and down the stairs before your brain catches up to what you're doing. It stops you just before you reach the kitchen door. You can't really be considering this. Felix has proven exactly what he's capable of. Walking out there to him is like walking into a snake pit.

Only this time, you know. You're prepared. You're not the girl of a year ago, naively believing she could be just friends with a Rosier. Nor are you his thrall. Your head is as clear as it's ever been. And you have things you want to say. You clench your hand firmly around your wand, and step outside.

You keep your eyes on your feet as you walk. Just taking even steps requires considerable effort. You stop when you see Felix's shoes. It's several seconds before you're able to raise your gaze to his, and then it takes all your self-control to keep your jaw from dropping.

You've never seen Felix this worse for wear. His robes are so rumpled he might have slept in them. His hair is untidy, his nails unclean. There are circles under his eyes as dark as bruises.

Pity, and something else you refuse to name, well up inside your throat. The desire to put your arms around him, to stroke his cheek or straighten his hair, anything to fix his face into something less pained, is overwhelming. You hate yourself for it. You quickly recite every terrible thing Felix has done in your head. But you've never been able to stay angry with Felix when he looks at you like that.

"Y/N." Felix says your name like a prayer. You will your heart not to break. You keep your voice as expressionless as possible.

"What do you want?"

"I - I just want to talk," Felix repeats. "To ex-explain." His impassive mask slips as he stutters. For some reason, this display of nerves inspires you with confidence.

"I already heard your explanations. What else could you possibly have to say?"

Felix rubs his palms against his trousers.

'That wasn't - I mean - I didn't get to...to say everything I needed to. It was all so..." You don't think you've ever seen Felix so lost for words. You grip your wand tighter to stop your hand reaching for him. "I didn't get to explain myself clearly. Explain what happened. Why I...I did what I did."

At these words, your desire erupts into rage. It's almost a relief to finally feel it. You let it boil your blood, vibrate in your limbs. You clench your fist around your wand so tight your knuckles turn white. As if the immensity of Felix's crimes could be summed up in a few simple words.

"You mean, why you obliviated me? Why you erased Talbott from my memories and ruined both our lives?" The bitterness that's festered inside you for weeks spews forth like lava. "You lied to me, Felix! You let me feel like I was going mad! You forced me to marry you, and then kept me locked in your house like a-"

"But I didn't!" Felix's cry is anguished. It only fuels your fury.

"How...dare you! How can you really think I'm that stupid? That I would fall for that? I remember everything Felix! I heard you admit it, and I know I'm not insane. Denying what you've done won't change anything, it just makes you look pathetic.”

Felix flinches as if your word were a curse.

"I'm not denying what I did. I did...obliviate you. And I did lie. But...I didn't force you to marry me."

"Just because you didn't hold a wand to my head doesn't mean I wasn't forced. You can't get out of this on semantics."

"I'm not trying to get out of anything," Felix says quickly. He looks up, staring at a point just near your ear. "Look, I made you forget him...Talbott. I thought...without him to worry about or pressuring you to stay...I could convince you to run. Go visit your relatives in America. But I-I don't know...maybe the spell went wrong. I've never used a memory charm before. But you seemed to forget everything. You weren't sure who you were, or where you were. I was terrified."

Felix takes a step closer. You know you should stop him, but you're hooked to his words. Your anger flounders as you struggle to find this memory, to prove Felix is lying yet again. But all you remember is Felix's wand pointed at you...then nothing.

"I didn't know what to do," Felix continues. "I couldn't just leave you there, or - or send you to another country while you didn't even know your own name. So I...I took you home. With me. I thought...maybe I could figure out a way to undo it. Or something. I don't know, I never had to find out. When you woke the next morning, you were better. Or at least, you knew who you were and who I was. But...I suppose the spell had worked because you didn't remember...Talbott." Felix's fingers twist at his sides. "But then you - you saw the ring and you asked if... we were...engaged."

You look down at the diamond ring on your hand. Something in the way it catches the light reminds you of a moment in the Rosier kitchen: leaning against the butcher's table, your head pounding, a fog across your senses; Felix standing in front of you, as nervous as he is now. You hear your voice ask a question, and you hear Felix's response...

"I didn't know what to say! I didn't know how to explain the ring without mentioning Talbott, and I didn't know what else you remembered or-or how you felt about me. I just...I wanted you. I've always wanted you, so I...I said-"

" 'Only if you want to be'."

Felix's eyes meet yours. There's a soft, eager light in them, as if the memory is something he cherishes.

"You...remember that?"

'I didn't until just now."

You stare at the Felix in front of you, but your mind is faraway. Back in the kitchen, watching Felix wait for your answer. You stood there, your aching mind picking through its tangled memories, sorting through all your moments with Felix. The way he'd always been there for you at school. The way his seriousness made you laugh, and his little touches made you shiver. The decision was as easy as breathing.

"I said, yes," you whisper into the air.

Felix says nothing. He only nods.

The emotions writhing within you evaporate. Anger, desire, everything you've felt toward Felix is suddenly missing. Wind blows, and it sounds like a foreign language. The world around you is as unfamiliar and threatening as a different planet. You don't know how to exist in it. You can only stand, frozen and unsure.

After a minute of silence, Felix continues.

"I know I shouldn't have let you believe it, or - or let it go as far as I did. I should have sent you to America, like I meant to. But... I couldn't help it. I love you. I always have." Felix's hand jerks oddly, as if he meant to take yours before thinking better of it."I told myself it was better this way. That you were safer with me. But...you were right. I did it for myself, and I - I'm sorry. I know it doesn't fix anything, but I am. And, I want...to make it up to you."

This time, Felix lets his hand reach for yours. You make no move to stop him. He strokes your limp fingers delicately, as if they were made of glass.

"I made a mistake, and I - I hate what it's done to you. But I love you, Y/N. You can't pretend I don't. And if you'll let me, I'll spend my life making it up to you."

You can only stare. Your brain has forgotten how to form words. Felix is just beginning to look concerned, when the door to the Burrow's kitchen opens with a bang. The sound breaks your spell, and you rip your hand away.

"Get - off - my - land!"

Mr Weasley marches across the grass toward you, Mrs Weasley and Talbott in his wake. Mr Weasley's wand is stretched out in front of him, but Talbott gets there first. He sends a quick, silent hex flying across the yard. Felix has no time to block it. He throws himself to the ground to avoid the red light, then rolls into a crouch, wand at the ready.

"Come inside, Y/N, quickly!" Mrs Weasley grabs your arm and yanks you away. You let her drag you back toward the Burrow. Your legs are too weak to walk on their own. You watch Talbott hurl spell after spell at Felix, who blocks them as he beats a hasty retreat. He reaches the edge of the Weasley property, and with a last glance in your direction, disapparates.

"Sit here, dear. Let me make a cup of tea." Mrs Weasley pushes you into a chair. "I should never have left you alone, I can't believe I-"

Her prattle is interrupted by the slam of the kitchen door. Talbott tumbles inside, breathing heavily, still clutching his wand. His head swivels until he finds you.

"Why was he here?"

It's the first time in weeks you've stared into Talbott's yellow-gold eyes. They're flashing like you've never seen. You search for your voice. Your brain is still racing.

"What was he doing here, Y/N?"

Talbott stalks closer, his movements rigid. You open your mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. You have no frame of reference for Talbott angry with you.

Mrs Weasley clears her throat. "Now really, Talbott, I don't think that's-"

"He just...came to talk." Your voice is a low rasp, but it cuts cleanly through Mrs Weasley's protests.

"To talk?"

"Yes."

A feral sort of growl escapes Talbott's throat. He turns, kneading the back of his neck viciously. He paces to the kitchen door, then back again, like a caged animal. It's almost frightening. But you're sick of feeling confusion and fear, and you're sick of feeling sorry. You'd rather be angry some more. You stand, letting the rage you couldn't finish venting on Felix flow through you again.

"So you talked?” Talbott spits the words, each syllable tight and clipped. "You talked to him after everything he's done? After you know what he is? He's a Death Eater, Y/N, and a liar. That's who you want to talk to?”

"At least he cared enough to come find me - unlike you." Your words shock Talbott into stillness. “I just disappear, you get some letter that doesn't even sound like me, and you just write me off as lost?"

Talbott is rooted to the floor. He can't move, even as you advance on him.

"What Felix did was terrible, Talbott. But he did it because he loves me."

"You want me to do something terrible to prove I love you?"

"I just want you to do something!"

Talbott's nostrils flare. His upper lip twitches like he's holding back a sneer.

"So, you'd like me better if I were more like Felix Rosier? If I kidnapped you? Cast spells on you to make you do what I want, like a puppet?"

"I wasn't a puppet!" Your vision blurs red, and you lose all control of your tongue. “Felix didn't force me to marry him, Talbott, I wanted to! When I didn't remember you anymore, I realised I was in love with him and I wanted to be with him. That's what he came for. To remind me of that."

The ghost of your words lingers in the kitchen for several minutes, each as long as years. Talbott's face is entirely blank. Mrs Weasley's hands are clapped over her mouth in horror. You don't care. Saying it out loud releases a weight from your shoulders. It leaves you light-headed and exhausted.

"So...you do love him."

It isn't a question. Talbott's voice is resigned. Guilt tugs at your heart, but you can't really feel it. You're too tired to feel much of anything.

"I don't know. I don't know...anything anymore." You fall into the nearest chair. You drop your head into your hands, your eyelids heavy. "I feel like I'm two different people. Like I've lived two different lives. I was happy in both of them, but... I don't know which one I am now. Maybe neither. I don't know how to choose."

Talbott blinks. It draws curtains over his molten eyes.

"You don't have to choose."

He turns and walks away from you, without a backward glance.

There's no reunion dinner that night. Mrs Weasley sends you straight up to bed. You hear her and Mr Weasley conversing in low tones into the wee hours of the morning. You pull the pillow over your head. You don't want to hear what they're saying about you.

It's two days before you're ready to rejoin the rest of the world. Another before you can eat and drink again properly. One more day, and you're participating in conversation, if only to nod or say, "Of course, Mrs Weasley." By the end of the week, you're as close to normal as you were before Felix's unexpected visit.

The days don't bring you any closer to an answer, but they do bring you further from heartache. You find it's easier to turn your mind from memories of Felix now you've confessed your love out loud. It's as if the feeling has lost power over you. Each day, the loss of him hurts slightly less.

The hardest part of your life now is how little you can do for the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore's task for you reminds you unpleasantly of your school days: to lay low and let others handle it. You would happily ignore this if you thought you might be useful, but the truth is, you don't know how to help. There's no mystery to solve, no secrets to uncover. Just ones to protect.

Still, you attend each meeting, week after week. You help Mrs Weasley with the dinner beforehand and the cleaning afterward. You pay attention to the news that's shared. You contribute what insight your experiences offer.

But mostly you watch Talbott.

Talbott attends almost every meeting, but you never speak and he never approaches. He sits as close to the door as he can manage, and bolts the moment the meeting ends. He's careful never to turn his eyes on you. You watch him just the same. It’s so long since you’ve been in his presence without something horrible happening. Every movement he makes is mesmerizing, the way it always was at school. His sharp nods, his slow blinks, the tapping of his finger against the table you're sure he's unaware of.

You miss Talbott, you realise. Or maybe you just miss the part of your life he represents; the life you built together. The damage done to it seems irreparable. Though you spend many nights wracking your brain, you can think of no way to fix it.

Talbott may choose to ignore your eyes on him, but Mrs Weasley does not. She, at least, is not content to watch and wonder. She renews her encouragements that the two of you talk. She attempts to seat you together at meetings. You deflect her machinations as best you can, but Mrs Weasley won't be thwarted forever.

One evening she insists on arriving at Grimmauld Place earlier than usual. "It's a large meeting tonight, dear," she explains, a little too airily, "so we'll need to start dinner early. And I promised Sirius I would take a look at the drawing room curtains, he thinks the doxies are moving back in."

Sirius is sitting at the end of the kitchen table when the two of you enter. You call a soft greeting, but he merely lifts a hand and grunts. He's staring at a notebook on the table in front of him, as if waiting for words to appear in it. You light a fire with your wand and set water to boil, then begin chopping onions.

As you work, you notice Mrs Weasley shoot furtive glances at the clock. Her attitude is strangely expectant. Something about her nervous energy raises your hackles. When the doorbell clangs, you have a sneaking suspicion who it might be.

"I'll get it!" she says with entirely too much enthusiasm. You narrow your eyes at her as she leaves.

"Bit early, isn't it?" grumbles Sirius. You don't reply. You're listening hard to catch the sounds from the floor above. You hear the front door open, and the murmur of low voices. Your heart stutters as you recognise them both. Mrs Weasley returns to the kitchen with a stiff Talbott in tow. Her face is practically glowing.

"I'm so sorry, dear, Arthur must have got the times mixed up! The meeting's not for another half hour. We're just getting dinner ready, but there's a good bit to do. Perhaps you might be willing to pitch in?"

Talbott stops moving when he notices you. His head darts about the room, searching for an escape. There's a twinge of heartache at seeing him so desperate to get away from you. You turn back to the onions, face burning.

You hear Talbott mumble something about not being much good in the kitchen. Mrs Weasley ignores this entirely.

"Oh, just a bit of slicing. Nothing too difficult! A simple severing charm will work if you're uncomfortable with a knife."

Mrs Weasley drops a cutting board and several loaves of bread on the table. Even with your eyes down, you can see Talbott's hands in your peripheral vision. You wield your knife with extra care, worried you might sever one of your own jittery fingers.

The only sound in the room is the dull thud of blades on wood. After a minute, Mrs Weasley speaks into the awkward silence.

"Well, while I have you two here, I think I'll just pop upstairs and take a look at those curtains. Sirius," she calls, and you hear Sirius stir. "Why don't you show me which room they're in?"

"It's the curtains in the drawing room, Molly."

"Why don't you show me," Mrs Weasley says slowly behind a clenched smile. You can't see her face, but you're sure her eyes are boring into Sirius. He must have taken the hint. You hear his chair being pushed back hastily.

"Oh! Right, of course. I'll show you."

You close your eyes in a plea for patience. You're not sure whether you want to laugh or cry or throw an onion at Mrs Weasley's retreating back. When you open them again, Talbott is watching you. He looks away as soon as your eyes meet.

How long has it been since you were this close to Talbott? Close enough that you could reach across and touch his cheek, if you wanted. If you were still allowed.

Something changes in the room. It takes you a minute to realise what. The sporadic sound of Talbott's knife has stopped. You glance up and find him staring at your hand. You see thoughts race behind his molten eyes.

"What's wrong?" you ask softly, and feel instantly foolish. What isn't wrong in Talbott's life at the moment? You don't expect him to answer, but after a quick gulp he says, "Your ring." He nods at the naked skin of your fourth finger.

Your blush is almost painful. It's been so long since you wore your engagement ring, you've actually forgotten to miss it.

"I...took it off. It didn't feel right...under the circumstances."

Talbott doesn't reply. His head moves in something that might be a nod or a twitch. His eyes return to his cutting board.

You work in silence. A silence you grow quickly to hate. It feels ridiculous to be this uncomfortable around the man you've known for years, a man you know better than anyone else. You used to be able to read his silences so well, interpret meaning from his every change in posture. But you suppose you're both different people now. Each unsure what the other is thinking.

The tension reminds you of something. When you remember what it is, you can't stop a small chuckle. Talbott's head jerks up, eyes registering alarm.

"Do you remember when we first met?"

Talbott only blinks.

"At the start of third year?" you remind him. "When I decided I wanted to become an animagus, and Tulip said I ought to talk to you?"

"I remember," Talbott says. After a beat he adds, "Why?"

"I was just thinking...I think that's the last time I was this nervous to talk to you."

Talbott's eyes shed some of their armor. You catch a glimpse of the man you remember underneath.

"Why were you nervous to talk to me?"

"You were so...intimidating." You smile. It's a rusty, disused expression on your face now. "And you looked like the last thing in the world you wanted to do was talk to me. I was sure you must not like me for some reason."

It had taken so much courage to seat yourself at the Ravenclaw table that day. You'd defeated a cursed vault, battled yetis and werewolves, and Talbott's piercing gaze had made you more nervous than any of them.

You return to chopping, but Talbott remains still.

"I did like you. I'd fancied you since first year."

The knife slices cleanly through the pad of your finger. Drops of blood sprinkle the onions, but you barely notice. You're looking at Talbott in wonder.

"You never told me that."

"Your finger." Talbott nods at your bleeding hand.

"Why did you never tell me that?"

Talbott doesn't answer. He walks around the table toward you. Your heart beats louder with each step. He pries the knife from your suddenly clenched fist, and takes your bleeding hand in his. He taps his wand to your wound and murmurs a spell. The skin seals back up flawlessly. Talbott returns his wand to his pocket, but he doesn't release your hand.

Your gaze is drawn to his face by an impulse you can't control. Talbott's molten eyes are on your mouth. You watch his lips part, his tongue wet them nervously. But he doesn't speak. He doesn't move. You recognise the symptoms. You know he's trapped in his head. There's no parchment or quill to hand, but that tradition really belongs to two different people.

You lean in to Talbott's face until your lips are a breath apart. You pause, waiting for permission. Talbott hesitates, and your heart stops. Then he closes the narrow space between you. Your lips meet, then meet again. You had forgotten what it feels like to kiss Talbott, or maybe it was never like this before. Your lips tingle, and your skin crawls with desire to be touched. Talbott's mouth is careful, almost reluctant, as if he's sure you'll be gone in a moment. You want to promise him you won't be, but neither of you could believe that now.

When Talbott doesn't draw you to him the way you're used to, you pull away. You search his face for answers. Yellow-gold eyes meet yours, begging for something you don't understand. You've always been the one to figure out the next move, but this time you need his help.

"Talbott." Your voice is a whisper. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," Talbott murmurs. He closes his eyes so you can't see him think.

"I don't know how to fix this," you admit softly.

You lower your gaze to your hands. Your fingers are still twined together.

"Maybe you can't."

You look up, your heart horribly still. "Is that...what you want?"

Talbott untangles his fingers from yours.

"I want you to be happy. Even...if that's not with me."

You don't know what to say. You open your mouth hoping the right words will appear on their own, when he kitchen door bangs open.

Talbott jumps away from you as if hexed. You look up, expecting to see Mrs Weasley.

It's Professor Snape. By itself, this isn't unusual. Snape is a member of the Order, and he attends every meeting he cannot avoid. It isn't his presence that's cause for concern, it's his unfamiliar expression: one of pale fear. A look you've never seen on the forbidding Professor. The implication leaves you cold. If something has happened to worry Snape...

"What's wrong, Professor?" you ask.

"Potter," and even Snape's voice is missing its usual sneer. "Where is Black?"

You must look ridiculous, you think to yourself, sprinting through the Ministry for Magic alongside Talbott and Sirius in a sundress of all things. At school, there was always time to dress carefully before running into danger. But Harry Potter and his friends are trapped in the Department of Mysteries, and you're determined to help, no matter what you're wearing.

"What are they doing here?" Mad-Eye Moody addresses Talbott as the three of you reach the lifts. "They can't be here. They're not aurors."

Both you and Sirius begin to argue at once. Your recitation of all the dark wizards and dangerous creatures you've defeated is drowned by Sirius' roars of, "I'm his godfather!" Your words reverberate through the huge, empty chamber until Moody slams his staff against the ground for silence.

"There's no time. Just get in!"

The four of you squeeze into the lift where Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, and Tonks are already waiting. The small space throbs with tension as the lift makes its impassively slow descent.

"Isn't there another way?" Sirius barks, slapping his wand against his leg.

"No," says Kingsley shortly.

Moody shuffles about to fix his normal, beady eye on you.

"Seeing as neither of you are aurors, and you ought not to be here in the first-"

"I am Harry's godfather!"

"Then make him your responsibility!" Moody snaps at Sirius. "You, Remus, and Y/N: find the students and get them out. Leave the Death Eaters to us."

You give a sharp nod. Talbott shifts uncomfortably next to you.

The lift finally settles. Your party is out and running before the doors click shut behind you. Moody leads the way through the Department of Mysteries labyrinth, a strange instrument in the hand not holding his wand apparently providing him directions.

"This way!" he calls, leading the group through another door.

Adrenaline courses through you as you run. It's a feeling as familiar as your old school robes. This is your element. For the first time in so long, you’re unburdened by confusion or indecision. When you burst through a door to find black-robed figures surrounding two students, you know exactly what to do.

In front of you, the aurors advance on the Death Eaters. Their spells fill the room with light and sound. You wait until the Death Eaters have turned to face this new threat, then descend toward the dark-haired boys, yanking them into a crouch behind a stone step.

"Where are the others?"

You have to shout to be heard over the noise of the duelling around you. The boy with glasses - Harry Potter, you realise by the scar - rips his eyes away from the fight.

"Up there! They're still in that other room." He gestures at a different door than the one you entered through. "The girls are all unconscious, I think. And Ron - one of those brain things got him. You have to help them!"

You twist around, searching for Sirius or Lupin. Sirius is a few rows down, a wide grin on his face as he duels. Lupin, you don't see at all. You cast about for threats, but the boys don't appear to be in immediate danger.

"Stay here," you order them, feeling a bit of a hypocrite. "Wands out, heads down."

Keeping your body low to minimise your target, you sprint up the stairs. None of the Death Eaters have a glance to spare for you, and you make it to the door unmolested. Before you push through it, you can't help but look back, scanning the fight for yellow-gold eyes.

Talbott is dueling a Death Eater nearly twice his girth. You watch, transfixed. You've never seen Talbott move like this. He's usually twitchy, better in the air than on his feet. Now, as he duels, his movements are smooth and precise. He twists to avoid a purple spell, then spins back, sending a stunner of his own. It catches the Death Eater in the chest, and he drops instantly. In spite of everything, you grin.

As if able to feel your gaze, Talbott's eyes find yours across the room. You nod your head at the door to indicate your direction. Then, with a last look at Talbott, you hurtle through.

Desks and shelves and heavy tables indicate the room is some sort of office. Only every single piece of furniture is now overturned or collapsed. You step with caution, but still manage to slip. The floor is slick with liquid. You notice strange, jelly-like objects floating in the shallow pools - the brains Harry Potter had mentioned? You take care to avoid them as you search for signs of the students.

"Hello?" you call softly. There's no answer.

You reach the middle of the room and survey your surroundings. There's a door just ahead; another to the side. You're considering which is more likely when you hear shallow breathing nearby. You ready your wand, then hesitate. It could be one of the students, hiding from you. Ron or Ginny would know you right away, but not the others.

"It's alright," you call again. "I'm here to get you out. I'm a friend. I'm with the Order."

"Well, hello, Friend with the Order."

You whirl around. A tall figure in a black hood emerges from behind a fallen cabinet. Without pause for thought you yell, "Stupefy!" but he easily sidesteps the spell. You cast a quick shield charm, blocking his return attack, then steady yourself for another. But the Death Eater hesitates. His hood flicks to a space over your left shoulder. On instinct, you dive to the side. Red sparks explode through the air where your body had been, thrown by a second Death Eater behind you. His spell hits the other masked figure in the arm and he howls in rage and pain.

"Watch where you're aiming!" he snarls, clutching his injury.

You use the second's distraction to throw yourself behind a desk. You lean back against it, breathing through your nose and thinking past your racing heartbeat. The wreckage of furniture forms an almost unbroken wall for several metres. If you can just make it around without them noticing...

One of the Death Eaters shouts a curse. Red light slams your hiding spot into the wall with a crash. But you're already two desks away, flat against the floor and crawling carefully. Your dress snags as you press close to the wall of splintered wood.

"Just kill her!"

"Rosier said not to kill until we're sure Malfoy has the prophecy. You want to go back to the Dark Lord empty-handed?"

"That's the students, not the Order members.'

These words make your heart stutter horribly. Your hand slips on the wet floor.

"Over there!"

Heavy footfalls sound nearby. You straighten, but only make it to your knees before two hooded figures loom over the desk. There's time to aim a stunning spell at only one. The Death Eater you hit drops instantly, but your stomach still clenches in dread. The other's wand is pointed at your face and his spell is already half voiced.

"Avada-"

You throw yourself flat, your only hope that the spell might miss. You hold your breath, waiting for bright green light.

But the rest of the curse never comes. There’s the thud of a body hitting the floor. Then rapid footsteps. You roll over quickly, wand at the ready.

"Y/N?"

Felix's black hood is thrown back. His rich brown eyes gaze down at you, swimming in fear and relief. You squeeze your own shut to stop yourself staring. It's been so long since you've seen that expression, you'd forgotten how much you missed it. Or maybe you've never been so glad to see it. You take in large gulps of air, trying to catch your breath.

"Are you alright? What are you doing here?“

Felix's panicked words remind your of your mission. You push yourself up with a groan, skin smarting where it's smacked the hard floor. Felix bends hastily, holding out a hand. You hesitate for only a second before letting him pull you to your feet.

It's a moment before either of you can speak. Felix inspects you from head to toe, presumably searching for injuries. You straighten your dress, trying to hide your blush. You wish you were wearing something more substantial.

"I...thank you...I guess," you say at last, to your shoes. You're not quite ready to look Felix in the face.

Felix doesn't answer. You lift your gaze, head buzzing with nerves, and catch him staring at your hand.

"You're...not wearing your ring," Felix says haltingly. An eager light flickers briefly in his eyes. "Are you and Talbott...not-"

Your face contorts in annoyance. You cross your arms to hide your hand.

"Is this really the time?"

Shaking his head as if to clear it, Felix answers, "No. No it's not." Hints of concern reform on his features. "Y/N, you have to go. Now."

"I'm not going anywhere,” you insist hotly. “Not until I find the other students."

"They're safe. Relatively. As safe as I could manage. If the aurors hurry, they can get them out in time.”

"What do you mean, as safe as you can manage?"

"We have them rounded up in another room," Felix explains rapidly, eyes darting nervously to the doors. "I convinced the others we could use them as leverage, so they're not about to be killed. I'll make sure the aurors finds them, I promise. Just trust me."

At the word We, you can't suppress a shiver. It isn't the pleasant sort of shiver Felix usually inspires.

"Trust you?" you repeat, adjusting your grip on your wand. "You're a Death Eater, Felix."

Felix makes a noise of exasperation. He shuffles in place, as if desperate to be gone.

"That doesn't mean I want students to be killed. I'm not a murderer."

"How could I know? You've already proven you're more than willing to lie to me when it suits you."

"That was to keep you safe! " Felix almost shouts in frustration. "Exactly what I'm trying to do now!"

He makes a sudden movement as if to grab your shoulders. You jump back, wand lifting on instinct. Felix freezes. He eyes your wand, and perhaps you're only imagining hurt in the lines of his face. When he speaks again, his words are fast and strained.

"Y/N, I made a mistake. An awful mistake, and I'm paying for it every day I'm not with you. Every day I wake up and realise I have - have nothing." Felix's voice cracks briefly. "I know I deserve that. I deserve for you not to trust me. But you have to believe that all I want in the world is get you out of here alive."

You wish you didn't believe him. It would make everything so much easier. But in spite of his crimes, your instinct about Felix hasn't changed. You can't imagine him ever doing anything to hurt you. On purpose, anyway.

"If that's true," you say softly, "Then help me get the students out. Because I'm not going anywhere until I do."

It's clear from Felix's grimace how much he dislikes this plan. He runs desperate fingers through his hair, searching for cracks in your resolute expression. But your face remains firm. Felix is finally forced to sigh.

"Alright. Follow me."

Felix leads you through the twisting labyrinth of rooms and corridors, most showing evidence of a fight. Doors are splintered or hang off hinges, and you have to watch your feet to avoid scattered piles of broken glass. You're just beginning to be concerned about how far in you are when Felix stops outside a heavy, un-battered door. A low mutter of voices carries from inside.

"Stay here," Felix whispers. Catching sight of your raised eyebrows, he adds, "Please. There are guards. I'll need to get rid of them."

"I can help," you whisper back, but Felix shakes his head. Only your desire to find the students quickly keeps you from further protests. Reluctantly, you lean against the wall out of sight of the door. Felix readjusts his black hood before sweeping into the room.

As soon as the door clicks shut behind him, you press your ear to the jam. You can hear Felix's footsteps walking away, his voice mingling with the others. You lean in closer, trying to make out the words, until a deafening bang from inside makes you flinch. You hear footsteps again, this time coming closer, running fast across hard floor. You grip the doorknob but hesitate, unsure whether to intervene.

Someone shouts an incantation. There's a heavy thud, and a voice cries out in pain. Felix's voice. Without thinking, you grab the handle and fling the door wide.

It takes you only a second to locate Felix, hood askew and blood dripping from his face, on the floor in the middle of the dimly lit room. Another hooded figure looms over him, wand out and aimed.

"Stupefy!"

Your jet of light hits the Death Eater square in the chest. Without waiting to watch him fall, you swing your wand from side to side, searching for enemies. But the only other robed figure you see lies prone beside a door set into the opposite wall.

Felix groans. You step forward quickly, holding out your hand and helping him struggle to his feet. There's a long, clean gash down the side of his face. You're surprised at how sick the sight of the wound makes you.

"Are you alright?"

"I - yes, of course. That was..." Felix rubs the back of his neck, not quite able to meet your eye. "Thank you."

You're saved from thinking up a reply by a muffled cry from behind. Three girls and a boy, all dressed in Hogwarts robes, are huddled against the wall as if thrown there, each trussed up in snaking, black cords. Only one is awake and struggling.

"Ginny!"

You skirt the fallen Death Eater and drop to the ground, using your wand to sever Ginny's bonds. As soon as you tug the cord out of her mouth, Ginny croaks, "Y/N, he's one of them! He's a Death Eater, too!"

You follow her frantic gaze to Felix, standing awkwardly in the background.

"It's alright, Ginny. He's a friend."

Felix blinks, and for a moment his face is filled with the soft joy you love so much to see. Then a door slams.

Felix whirls around, wand raised, and you're on your feet only a second later. But no attack comes; no spells fly. You glance between the doors on either end of the room, but no new hooded figures appear. Instinct suddenly chills your blood and you scan the floor instead.

"Where's...the other one?" you ask haltingly.

Felix's eyes widen as he understands. He shoots a panicked look at the place where the Death Eater had fallen, but his body is nowhere to be seen. Felix sprints to the far door, pressing his ear against it.

"He...must have gone to get the others."

Felix runs his wand across the door frame, sealing it with a squelch. You turn back to Ginny, struggling to stand on what looks like a broken ankle. You mutter, "Episkey" and watch the swelling in the ankle subside, then inspect the other three students. It isn't immediately clear what's wrong with them, but none react when you attempt to use magic to wake them.

"We'll have to carry them," you tell Felix, at your side once more. "You take Ron and I'll get the taller girl. Ginny, do you think you could carry the blonde one? She looks the lightest."

"This isn't going to work." Something in Felix's voice makes your skin crawl.

"Why not?”

"It’s too late. The rest of the Death Eaters will be here in minutes. Even if we use magic to carry them, we'll never make it to the lifts in time."

A leaden weight sinks in your stomach. There's too much truth in Felix's words for you to deny. You cast about for counterpoints, solutions, some sort of foolproof plan, but your brain comes up short.

"Well," you say, forcing yourself to breathe through your panic, "We'll just have to try. Maybe there's somewhere we can hide, or-"

A second slam in as many minutes almost shatters your brittle nerves. You fumble with your wand, aiming it at the door nearest you this time, and almost drop it when you recognise the intruders.

"Talbott," you breathe in relief. "Tonks, Lupin, thank Merlin! The students are here and we've got to get them out. Now. Death Eaters are on the way..."

But Talbott's face steals the words from your lips. He's staring at Felix with eyes so molten they might be made of fire. When he speaks, his voice thrums with suppressed hatred.

"Drop it." Talbott gives a curt nod at Felix's half-raised wand.

Felix's gaze flicks warily from Talbott to Tonks, her wand also lifted, to Lupin, ignoring the stand-off and kneeling to inspect the unconscious students. You notice all three are pale and grim-faced, and you wonder what else has happened. But there isn't time for questions now.

"I said, drop it!"

"Talbott, wait!" You step quickly in between the two men. "Felix led me here. He was keeping the students safe."

Talbott doesn't even blink. If it weren't for his reply, you'd wonder if he heard you at all.

"One half-decent act doesn't make him any less of a Death Eater."

"But he isn't helping the Death Eaters, he's helping us! Helping me. He saved my life from a Death Eater that-"

"This isn't about you!" Flame flickers in Talbott's eyes. "This isn't about us. This is my job. We're rounding up all the Death Eaters. You'll have to plead his case to Mad-Eye, if that's what you want."

The thought of trying to convince Mad-Eye Moody to give Felix a second chance makes you blanch. You open your mouth to argue, but this time it's Felix who cuts you off.

"You won't have to worry about in any of that in a minute. A dozen powerful wizards are on their way through that door." Felix jerks his head toward the other end of the room. "I highly doubt you'll be able to round them all up just the three of you."

Talbott spares a wary glance at the far door.

"He's right," Tonks chimes in, her voice uncharacteristically serious. "Let's get the students out first, then come back with Mad-Eye and the others."

Tonks lowers her wand, and moves to help Lupin with the unconscious teenagers. Lupin has already lifted the taller, bushy-haired girl over his shoulder, and uses his wand to levitate the unconscious Ron. Tonks mirrors his spell on the small, blonde girl. She wraps her free arm around Ginny to help keep weight of her still-tender ankle.

"We'll never make it at that pace," Felix says darkly, eyeing the careful way Lupin manoeuvres Ron toward the door. "They'll catch us up before we're halfway to the lifts."

"You're not going anywhere until you drop your wand!" Talbott tries to point his wand around you at Felix, but you move with him, blocking his view. Behind you, Felix snorts.

"And leave myself unarmed when they all surge in at any second? I've betrayed them! They'll spare me about as much mercy as they will you."

A soft sound from the far end of the room suddenly stops your heart. All three of you fall silent as you watch the doorknob turn slowly. It rotates each way once, then stills. You hold your breath, braced for another loud slam, but the door remains closed.

"Tonks," you say into the trembling silence, "You and Lupin, take the students and go."

Lupin is two steps ahead of you. He has Ron through the door already, and waits impatiently for Tonks. But Tonks looks from you to Talbott uncertainly.

"I think...we ought to stick together."

"We'll be right behind you," you say. "We'll give you time to get to the lifts." You try to smile reassuringly, but your mouth doesn't remember how. You can only hope you sound more confident than you look.

Tonks continues to hesitate, until a hard thud on the opposite door makes her and Ginny both jump.

"Come on!" Lupin calls from the other room. Tonks shoots a final, unsure look at Talbott before forcing the eerily floating blonde student ahead of her through the door.

Another thud, then the sound of voices echoes from the other side of the room. The doorknob rattles again, violently this time. The noise seems to shake Talbott from his unswervable anger. His wand wavers before finally abandoning Felix for the far door, his eyes reflecting frantic thought.

"What spell did you use on the door?" you ask Felix, your voice betraying your nerves. Felix's answer is equally unsteady.

"It's a variation on an imperturbable charm. But it's not impenetrable. With enough of them, they can break the spell." Felix's head snaps toward you, mouth set in a thin, grim line. "Y/N, you need to leave. Now. Go with the others."

"That's ridiculous, we stand a better chance with three of us.“

"He's right." Both you and Felix look at Talbott in shock. For the first time since entering the room, Talbott meets your gaze. "You need to go."

"I'm not leaving you," you argue, holding Talbott's eyes. You're close enough that you can watch the fire in them melt into liquid, like a churning yellow-gold ocean.

"Please, Y/N, go." And there's a pain in Talbott's voice like you've never heard. "I can't lose you. Not again."

Your heart breaks gently at Talbott's confession. Exactly as it had when he first managed to pen those words. You wish you could promise him something, anything to assuage his fear. But the far door is shaking now. You've run out of time. You take a breath, steeling yourself for a last stand, the way you have so many times before. Facing death is nothing new for you, but you don't want anything to be left unsaid if it comes.

"Talbott." You close the distance between you in short, measured steps, as though worried he might fly away. "I did get lost...but I found my way back. You led me back. And I'm not going anywhere. Not ever again. I - I promise." Your fingers brush Talbott's softly, asking permission. "Whatever happens, happens to both of us."

Talbott's fingers close around yours on instinct. He grips your hand tightly, all his attention on you as if there were nothing else in the room.

"Do you mean that?"

You can only nod, your words exhausted. But he sees the answer in the spark of your eye.

"Y/N." Talbott releases your hand to reach for your face. He strokes your cheek in careful wonder like he's forgotten how. You close your eyes, reveling in his touch.

"Go."

The word startles both of you. Talbott let his hand fall abruptly. You turn to face Felix, unable to hide a slight blush. Talbott's mere touch has made you so dizzy you can't comprehend Felix's meaning right away.

"What?"

"Go. Both of you, go." Something has changed in Felix’s voice. It's no longer nervous. It's no longer anything. It's empty and lifeless, like the voice of a corpse. "I'll distract them. Tell them some story. Buy you enough time to get to the lifts."

You shake your head slowly. "No...Felix, that's...there must be some other-"

Felix takes your chin delicately in his hand, and your voice trails away. You feel Talbott shift beside you, but Felix moves no closer. His empty eyes merely wander your face, as if trying to memorise each part of it.

"Y/N. Let me do this. For you. I-" His voice cracks like dead leaves. "I never meant to hurt you."

The pounding on the far door intensifies. The heavy wood splinters, and light pokes through from the other side. If anything else can be seen, your vision is too blurry to catch it. You close your hand around Felix's, trying to blink back the tears. There's so much you want to say to him. To this man who handles you so delicately, looks at you like treasure, loves you like you're the only thing in the world that matters. But you aren't sure there are words to explain how you feel. You can only nod, and say inadequately, "I know."

Felix releases your face, then locks eyes with Talbott.

"Keep her safe."

Talbott's jaw tenses once before he manages a short nod. He grasps your hand again and tugs you gently toward the door.

You take a last look at Felix Rosier, watching you walk away from him.

"Go," he says once more.

Felix turns to face the oncoming noise. And you turn and run the other way, Talbott at your side.

You don't stop running until you reach the lifts. Talbott guides you back through the labyrinth of rooms, never loosing his grip on your fingers. There's no sign of Tonks, Lupin, and the students, and you can only hope distantly that they've made it out alright. Once inside the lift, you throw yourself against the wall. Your breathing comes in short, painful gasps and hot tears still threaten the corners of your eyes.

"Are you alright?" Talbott's voice is so quiet you almost miss it under the sound of blood pounding in yours ears.

You glance up at Talbott, blinking through your tears. He stands stock still, eyes alert and tense. You choke back a mad laugh. It reminds you forcibly of teenaged Talbott: the awkward, anxious boy you fell in love with almost instantly, whose stillness hid such depths and inspired the best in you.

"Yes," you answer honestly, wiping your eyes. "I'm - I'm alright." You take a shuddering breath, trying to settle your swirling thoughts. "Talbott... I-"

There's no time to worry about finding the right words. Talbott takes your face in his hands and stops you with a kiss like wildfire. He clutches you to him, dragging his hands across you artlessly, trying to pull you into him until you occupy the same space. It's a closeness you've craved for so long, and your hands are no less wild. You can never have enough of this. Enough of him.

You tear your lips away, gasping for breath, but Talbott won’t release you. You're forced to speak against his neck as he clings to you for life.

"Talbott, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." You repeat the words over and over. You can't think of anything else to say. Talbott's head shakes where its pressed against yours.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"What?"

You struggle to ease Talbott’s hold on you just enough so you can meet his molten eyes.

"You've always come after me. All the time I've known you, our whole lives - I run and you come find me. And the one time you needed me to come find you, I didn't. I was...too afraid." Talbott tangles his fingers in your hair, closing the fraction of space between you again, until his forehead rests against yours. "But this time, I promise...I won't let you go. Not ever again."

For once, it's you that can’t give your thoughts voice. When the lift doors open, you and Talbott are still clasped together, speaking softly in a language that communicates feeling better than words ever could.

Epilogue

"Good morning," you whisper huskily in your husband's ear.

He groans without opening his eyes. You giggle softly, trailing breathy, teasing kisses up his neck, under his chin. His lips part, inviting yours into a lazy, lingering kiss. When you pull away, his eyes remain firmly shut.

"You're sleepy this morning," you murmur.

Talbott cracks an eye. "You know, some people sleep in on their honeymoon."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. Some people even enjoy it."

You trace his collarbone with a finger. You can hear Talbott's breath catch.

"Strange. I enjoy my waking life a lot more than dreams."

Talbott stirs, at your touch or your words. He rolls you over in his arms until you're pinned beneath him. You revel in the sensation of being very slightly crushed by the body you adore.

"What's so great about it, then?" Talbott asks in dry amusement. "The smell of the sea, or the sound of the waves, or the room service that means we never actually have to get out of bed?"

You grin, and shake your head against the pillow. "None of the above."

"Really?"

"Really." You trail your fingernails lightly up and down Talbott's back, savouring the feel of his warm skin. Talbott shudders under your hands. He locks eyes with you, his molten, yellow-gold stare saying everything you love to hear. He leans down to murmur against your lips:

"What then?"

You smile. Your mouth meets Talbott's and you say in between tantalising kisses:

"I'm Mrs Talbott Winger. I'm your wife. I'm on my honeymoon - in the middle of a war, where we're being constantly hunted - but...I'm with you. So I'm better than safe."

Talbott's only response is another kiss, but you know exactly what he means.

#felix rosier #talbott winger #felix rosier x mc #felix rosier reader insert #Talbott winger reader insert #Talbott winger x mc #felix rosier fanfiction #talbott winger fanfiction #hphm fanfiction #hphm #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery fanfic #juniper windsong #reader insert #love triangle #dark!

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gloves94 · 3 years

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To Be So Lonely [Draco Malfoy] 28

Rating: M Pairings: Draco Malfoy/OC Chapter warnings: Drug use! SuicideMentions! SlightGore! Violence! Death! Depression!

CHAPTER MASTERLIST

MY MASTER-LIST

The dull oatmeal might as well have been sawmill dust. It was just one of those days that felt duller than the last. Lately for Nel it had kind of been like that. She shot a woeful look at the empty seats across from her where Tracey would usually be joking around and Daphne talking about her latest work of art. Letting out an exhausted sigh, she turned her attention to The Daily Prophet which was next to her breakfast. She didn’t care much for the articles but attempted to keep her mind busy from the fact both her best friends weren’t speaking to her and the horrible holiday she would have to spend with her cruel guardian, Cloelia Lestrange, and her psychotic adoptive brother.

“This has to stop,” A voice interrupted. Nel looked up to see Theodore quickly sit in front of her. He looked over his shoulder making sure his girlfriend wasn’t around to witness him threading with the ‘enemy.’ “Nel, this is absurd, just apologize for whatever you did and make up with Daphne and Trace. I can’t be looking over my shoulder like this every time I talk to you.”

For somebody who knew a lot about everything, Theodore didn’t know much about people.

“You know Daphne is upset because of what you did and well, I think Tracey is just hurt,” He expanded.

Her dark eyes fixed on him with no expression. Theo was acting worse than the girls. He was acting like a two-faced bitch. Sneaking around when interacting with the orphan girl so he wouldn’t upset Daphne. Nel didn’t know what was worse his cowardness or his willingness to do anything for his girlfriend. She secretly prayed never to be that pathetically whipped.

It was then that the rest of the Slytherin’s arrived and Theodore scampered away to take a seat with them. To make matter’s worse Pansy’s loud laughter and cheerier attitude at the new company she kept was the cherry on top. Part of the reason she didn’t want to speak to them was – yes, because of the whole telling Dumbledore her story, but the other half of it… The Dark Lord wanted to kill her. He had placed a bounty on her head. The Lestranges knew it, so did Mr. Malfoy, she eyed her friends from a distance. This time her gaze shifting into a suspicious one. Just how much did they really know? How much had they overheard during dinners with their families? Eyes moving across the room she looked at the Headmaster who seemed distracted in a hearty conversation. Dumbledore’s façade of being a kind, sweet, twinkly eyed, old man became more corrupt as time passed by and she saw the ugliness in him. He definitely knew. There was absolutely no way he didn’t.

Looking all the way across the Great Hall she saw the Gryffindor table. The House she initially wished she had been sorted into. She could see Harry half away struggling to keep his eyes open spilling some pumpkin juice on his uniform. Hermione lecturing from a thick book and Ron trying to help Harry stay awake. They were her friends, too right? They were nice to her, so were some of the other Weasleys. But what if they didn’t really like her? What if they only talked to her because they felt sorry for her? Anxiety pricked at her and her insecurities. They hadn’t spoken in a while, maybe they hated her too. Elowen was so engrossed in her own dark cloud of anxious thought that she didn’t realize the second boy that noticed the anxious look on her face from across the room and decided to join her for breakfast this morning taking a seat across from her.

He sat down confidently with an easy smile resting his elbows on the table and greeted her. “What are you doing?” She asked wide-eyed and surprised self-consciously turning to see the dozens of prying eyes that were staring at the two. “Everyone can see us!” She asked wide-eyed.

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” Cedric let out a charming laugh. She looked greatly frustrated at his unannounced appearance. They were supposed to keep their partnership down and under the wraps, it simply made everything less complicated. “We haven’t discussed the Third Task yet. What are we going to do?” He leaned forward with interest, his elbows resting on the table.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” She admitted sincerely. “I haven’t really thought about anything lately,” She said miserably slumping her head on one of her palms. She hadn’t even been in the mood to have any sweets she might encounter. For some reason there had been a lot of pear tarts around her as of the late. However, she didn’t fancy them.

“You don’t look too excited,” He noted observing her obviously upset demeanor. She neither agreed nor disagreed with his statement. “Say, what do you want to be when you grow up?” He tried shifting the subject. “A menace to society,” Nel droned out numbly. Cedric couldn’t help but laugh, “You know, I’m going to be Ministry of Magic one day,” He boasted with pride. Being in a foul mood Nel fought the urge to roll her eyes of course the golden boy wanted to be Ministry of Magic. How could she have forgotten that?

She didn’t even hear what he said after that. Somehow the conversation quickly shifted back to the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the Third Task. “Meet me at the Room of Requirement tonight, I’ll see you there after prefect duty,” he leaned forward and whispered before leaving.

The school year was near its end. It was almost the Tri-Wizard tournament so the two really had to get cracking to find out what they were going up against and properly strategize. That meant Nel also had only a few weeks to make up with her friends. Turning her head, she hoped to meet Tracey’s brown eyes from across the dining table however, the Quidditch player seemed more focused on whatever Millicent was gossiping about.

Nel thought she hadn’t done anything wrong, she was sure, more than certain about it. She even hadn’t gone out of her way to make some elaborate plan for vengeance yet, despite this she felt the need to apologize. Even Theodore had advised her to apologize, but for what? She hadn’t done anything wrong. What would she apologize for? For not wanting to come forward to Dumbledore in fear of retaliation from the Lestrange family? For lying to the Headmaster? If anything they had done her wrong. They had gone and babbled her story. It was hard, but she had to remind herself she wasn’t the antagonist in this situation.

Once again looking forward across the room her eyes accidentally met an icy pair this time. She looked away quickly, if she had moved any faster her neck would’ve probably snapped. Suddenly, she couldn’t be in the same room as her attacker any longer. Quickly picking up her belongings she rushed to her first class of the day.

She rushed out of the Great Hall and was about to reach the stairs when a handheld her back, the grip stern, not gentle or too harsh. She already knew who it was.

“Hello Elowen,” She was pulled back and cornered trapped in between a body and the wall with a stretched arm. Keeping her eyes down her jaw clenched when she saw the bottom of a Beauxbaton eggshell blue uniform pants. Impulsively she pushed past him and tried to walk away but the long boy didn’t flinch at her violent shove.

“I want to speak to you,” He spoke in a smooth voice cornering her further into the small space he had created in between the wall. “I want to give you something.” He spoke suspiciously scratching the tip of his nose, no doubt from having been snorting dragonpuffs.

It was the type of interaction which was downright ugly. Snape had already confirmed the girl’s worst fears. Ellar was planning something vile. So was his mother. Now all she needed to do was prove it. Prove it and find a way to escape going to their home this summer. She knew the moment she crossed the door she was as good as dead, and there was nothing she could do about it. “Stay away from me!” She spat once again attempting to rush past him. “Elowen come on,” Again, he spoke in an unstrained and eerily calm voice. “I’m late for class,” She snapped ignoring him. “History of Magic can wait,” He said senselessly. Nel tried to catch the eye of anybody passing by. She hoped someone would see and help her get out of this trap. “How do you expect me to talk to you after everything you’ve done to me?”

“Everything I’ve done?” He let out a cool laugh. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” He ran a hand through his shinny dark hair. “No ide-“ She coughed incredulously eyes widening in disbelief at what she was hearing. “You forced yourself on me, pushed me into the lake and tried to drown me!” She exclaimed, voice breaking at the admission. “You’re imagining things,” He didn’t bat an eyelash. “I didn’t do that,” He lied with terrifying ease.

“Yes, you did!” She spat back in a firm voice.

“You must be confused,” His eyes narrowed, and he looked at her as if she was the one acting insane. “We went down there just to talk, we started dancing-“ “Against my will,” She interrupted. He didn’t stop his manipulative narrative. “You fell in and I tried to get you out. In a moment of rush, I can understand how that can get confusing,” He smiled at her and even had the audacity to flick her nose in a playful manner. “Here, I got you something,” He said pulling up a small brown pastry box with a pear tart inside. She smacked his hand and the stupid tart away making it fall to the floor and looked at him furiously. “You could’ve killed me!” “Elowen,” He shook his head, ignoring the pastry she had rejected or her livid expression. She hated the way he said her name stretching it out like a long drawl he was too lazy to properly pronounce. “Stop twisting things,” He clicked his tongue remaining composed. “Do you hear yourself talk? I didn’t do that. You need help,” He let out a chilling laugh as he gaslight the hell out of the Fourth-Year girl.

She knew he was lying, but why did he sound so certain? There was no way somebody had used a Polyjuice potion to imitate him. There was no absolute way he had someone posing as him at Hogwarts. No way he was telling the truth. So, if she knew he was lying why did she find herself doubting her own memory? “And even then, it’s your fault for going down to the docks and falling in the water.”

“I didn’t fall-“ She stammered, deciding to stick to the facts she knew. “You pushed me.”

He flashed her an irritated look as if he couldn’t believe what she was saying. Elowen was beginning to question herself. Was she actually imagining things?

The hallway was now empty and Nel was officially late for class. “Don’t be unhappy,” He lifted her chin up with a finger and she jerked her head away not wanting to meet his eyes. “Watch the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament with me.” This time she looked at him in the eye. “No. This is the last time I ask you. Leave me alone,” she warned him before giving him a hearty shove that made him stagger back on his feet. Ellar stood back racking his brain for any idea to once again seize an emotional grip of control over the girl. He had really messed up at the Yule Ball. He should’ve sucked it up and strung her along for the rest of the year. How could he get her to stop walking away from him? To once again succumb to his will and squeeze her under his thumb. He needed her to attend the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament with him. After all, it was all part of the plan. “I just asked you to go steady and you walk away from me?” He followed. To be clear he didn’t ask, it was just another of his demands. “Nobody’s going to want to go with you just like nobody wanted to go with you to the Yule Ball,” He didn’t stop there when she realized the brunette continued to ignore his calls. “And Malfoy?” He let a rueful laugh aiming for where he knew it would hurt. The mentioning of her friend’s name brought her to a sudden halt. Ears automatically perking at the mention of his surname. “You think he’d ever be interested in a nobody like you? An orphan girl with no past, present or future?” He laughed, this time cruelly. “Please, Elowen, he’s only toying with you,” He said rounding around her his hand touching her back and caressing around her arm and shoulder. “But you already knew that didn’t you?”

She didn’t want to think about that… “Then again, he did strike me like a muggle. That brute. Perhaps, vulgar really is his style,” he chuckled. She smacked his arm away from her body and held her books closer to her body as she shrunk her shoulders forward. He side stepped around her this time and stood in front of her blocking her way. She continued to shrink under his intense gaze.

“You’re not pretty, you’re not smart, not even darling or graceful in any way shape or form without an ounce of elegance-“ “I already told you to stay away from me,” Her jaw was beginning to hurt from clenching it so tightly. Eyes beginning to sting. Why wouldn’t he leave her alone? Why did he have to be so cruel? Why couldn’t she see past the fear and find the strength to attack him with all of her bloody rage? “Who told you to say that?” He spoke in a low voice. “Your friends? The ones who don’t even like you?”

She was at a loss of words.

“They don’t know what’ good for you,” He paused. “But I do,” he insisted. His voice dripping like a bittersweet honey, the type that lingers in flytraps ready to capture an innocent passing by fly. How can someone be so damn fucking twisted? Who did this guy think he was?

“God, Ellar, you’re such a-“ She couldn’t even manage to get the word out. “You’re such a-“ As much as she pondered on picking the perfect word only one word came to mind. Ellar didn’t have a moment to react little by little a headache he had been feeling evolved into a migraine as his head began to swell and grow larger and larger until it inflated into large balloon. “You’re such a fat head!” She stomped her foot down and whipping her wand out of the inside of her sleeve zapped his back as he scurried away spitting out a trail of curses. His small body tipping from side to side as he struggled to keep his bobble head up. She would have to deal with whatever his mother would do to her over the holiday when the time came. Frustrated she wiped the one tear that had managed to escape.

“Nel?”

‘Oh Merlin, really? Now what?’ Spinning on her heel she turned to face Harry Potter with her wand still held high and up. “Are you alright?” He asked with a confused look on his face. Shouldn’t he be in History of Magic? “Oh, er- yeah,” She lied wiping at the tip of her nose and slid her pale wand up her sleeve. “Was he bugging you?” By now Harry knew that Saintday kept these types of things to herself. The abuse, the bullying- He understood why, probably better than anybody else at Hogwarts and decided not to press about it today. However, things like this he couldn’t ignore. His green eyes remained looking in the direction in which Ellar had turned and vanished into. “I took care of him already,” She muttered looking down at her cheap black shoes. Suddenly she didn’t feel like going to class anymore.

“Are you sure you’re alright? Really?” Harry pressed. Why couldn’t she confide in him? Why didn’t she really trust him? She would rather be alone that reach out to him, Fred, George or anyone really. Of course, he had noticed the girl’s aloofness as of the late and what was that whole thing in the morning? Cedric Diggory having a word with her. “I think the question is, how are you Harry? I’m sure dealing with the Tri-Wizard Tournament has been bad enough as it is. Tell me,” She crossed her arms and approached him immediately switching the topic of conversation with ease. “What are you going to do with all that fame and glory?” She arched an eyebrow somewhat still bitter that Harry was allowed to enter the tournament and she hadn’t been. Harry frowned at her comment. He couldn’t tell if she was being spiteful or not. “I don’t care for either,” The Boy Who Lived admitted humbly. Funny, considering it would be something The Girl Who Died would kill for.

“Hm,” She pondered on that thought wishing she could be Harry. She didn’t know if to take him for a fool or appreciate his humility. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She teased cracking a false smile. Harry saw right through it. “You know,” He began. “We should go to Hogsmeade someday. As friends. I know you’re banned from the Three Broomsticks, but there’s other stuff to do. We can go to Zonko’s? Or Honeyduke’s?” He offered with a casual shrug.

So, Harry actually was her friend. She felt rather foolish for forgetting but with the Slytherin-Gryffindor rivalry and clouds of anxious thoughts it was easy to forget. “Hogsmeade sounds nice,” She smiled at him sincerely. Harry was about to respond when someone bumped into his back shoving him forward. Irritated he turned to see Malfoy swaggering down the steps standing next to him shooting daggers at him. His eyes seemed to shout, ‘Shove it!’ Without acknowledging Potter, Draco turned to look at the girl. Harry returned the death stare.

“I’ll-uh, see you later Harry,” Nel broke the tense silence between the three bidding the Gryffindor goodbye subtly asking him for some space. “Yeah,” Harry looked between them. “Maybe at Hogsmeade,” He said purposely knowing it would irritate Malfoy to no end. He waved at her before walking away in the direction of Professor Moody’s classroom.

“Hogsmeade?” Draco exclaimed. “I heard you were with bad company, but Potter? Out of all people,” He combed his hair away from his forehead and shook his head. “And you’re going to Hogsmeade with him?”

She didn’t answer and kept her arms crossed looking at him with an irritated expression. They were just going as friends but that was none of his business.

“I’ve been with worse company,” She shot at him remembering that the time the two had attended together.

Ouch.

Despite the jab he let out a throaty chuckle. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” He asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” She shot back irritated that her hostile comment hadn’t made him upset. “Seems hardly fair you get to skip while the rest of us have to deal with Binns incessant rambling?”

Touché. “What is it to you if I’m in class or not?” She sighed pessimistically before walking away towards the Slytherin dormitory. The morning had been way too long. She didn’t want to think about anything Ellar had said to her. The thought of crawling into bed and laying in a fetal position underneath the covers passing the day by doing nothing was very tempting. “Davis and Greengrass still giving you a hard time?” He changed the topic both of his eyebrows knitting, the edges of his mouth pulling down in a frown. He sounded genuinely concerned, but then again- did he really care? She wanted to block him out of her head, but Ellar’s hurtful words sounded back like an echo: “He’s only toying with you.” She remained quiet her answer was her silence.

“I’m waiting,” the blonde said impatiently.

Exasperated she didn’t mean to explode but she did. “What’s there to say?” She paced around the corridor walking back to him. “My best friends won’t even look at me- I get harassed by Lestrange first thing in the morning and now!” She didn’t’ mean to raise her voice. “Now youwon’t let me skip the most boring class at Hogwarts!”

“It’s not even noon and I just want today to be over with! I just want to lay down and die,” She shouted frustrated.

It took her a moment to compose herself from her loud tantrum and depressive statement. “Are you done?” He cocked an eyebrow up.

She felt her blood begin to boil. Why was he invalidating her emotions like that? She was about to push him away just like she had done to Ellar, like she did to everyone when he interrupted her in a surprisingly cool tone.

“I’ll take care of it,” He said cooly trying to reassure the girl. She was more than perplexed by his statement. Taken aback she looked at him oddly. Just what did he mean by that? “Just like I took care of Lestrange.” “Huh?” Slowly she could feel her anger begin to melt away. A mischievous smile grew on his face before he began to walk away. Purposely leaving her to wonder just what he had done.

“Draco?” She asked in awe. “What did you do?”

“Wouldn’t you love to know,” he let out a low laugh and walked away leaving a very confused Slytherin girl behind.

Xxx

Nel never apologized to Tracey or to Daphne. She knew that sometimes it was best to yield and bend a knee in these types of circumstances. However, this time she would not apologize. It was her story and they had taken that away from her.

It didn’t help that since she had been seen with Ellar that day some of the Slytherin girls began to call her nasty synonyms like victim, tease, and attention-seeker, slut was also on that list.

She tried not to let it bother her. Words hurt, even if she had sworn she didn’t care what anybody else thought. Not that any of them would ever say it to her face considering how scared they all were of her.

It was nearly the end of the year. After having spent all morning long packing her belongings and getting ready to return to her guardian, something which she had been terribly dreading, Nel decided to head to the Great Hall to have a late breakfast alone before going to the greenhouse to spend the rest of the day with Nathair. It wasn’t like she had much interest in bidding goodbye to anybody else. Maybe to Professor Snape and a few others, but it wasn’t urgent. Besides, everybody and their mother would be viewing the last task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

“Saintday!” A voice interrupted her alone time and her meal. “There you are the tournament is about to begin!” It was Professor Moody. It looked like he had been running around the castle. For some reason he looked more agitated than per usual.

“So?” She shot back rudely. Not caring if her attitude caused her some lost points for Slytherin or landed her in some detention. At this point she was beyond that.

“All students must attend the tournament,” He repeated again. The edge of his mouth twitching oddly. His eye unnervingly shaking as it focused on her deep frown. “That’s not true,” She mumbled taking a mouthful of cereal. “Professor Snape said I could stay in the castle,” She lied.

Not to mention the fact she was also avoiding bidding Cedric and Harry good luck. Not because she didn’t wish it upon them, but because she really didn’t know what to say to either of them. Sometimes words were, well, hard. “No students are allowed in the castle without supervision. Tournament now,” He leaned down to try and meet her eyes, but she ignored him. Before she knew it, he had aggressively lifted her by the arm and dragged her out of the empty Great Hall. The cereal spoon she had in her mouth dropping halfway as the two made way to the arena.

“Get your hands off me,” She whipped her arm back to her person. By now she had an idea that the retired Auror had more than unconventional, perhaps even unorthodox methods of teaching, but she drew the line when it came to physical boundaries.

He led her all the way to the arena and all the way there he complained about ungrateful, slimy orphans, or something amongst those lines. Arriving to the arena she realized that it was actually the Quidditch pitch which had been modified to resemble a massive auditorium with tall stands so that everyone could see the tournament. It seemed like the Third Task had not been what her and Cedric had been imagining. It was a massive maze of hedges that were at least 20 foot high. The maze was filled with dangers and traps and in the middle from the distance one could see a bright celestial glow – the Triwizard cup. The first to reach it would be the winner of the tournament. This was it – the moment her and Cedric had been waiting for all year.

It seemed like the Third Task hadn’t started yet.

She sat far away from everyone on Ravenclaws’ side. The students didn’t seem to mind her presence. Cedric’s girlfriend Cho was in the group and the two shared a friendly wave. Distracted by this, she didn’t notice the Slytherins watching her from the distance.

She sat in the top corner towards the end where she could hopefully be invisible for the time being. Little by little she was starting to understand Professor Snape more and more. She understood his aloofness, why he dressed and acted like a wet bat, always trying to camouflage every day. She looked at him from across the pitch, he was sitting with the Headmaster and other professors in a private box. “If we were up any higher, we’d have nosebleeds,” a voice interrupted her wish of being aloneand train of thoughts. Sulking Simon, she acknowledged the ghost boy. Maybe his company was more than appropriate.

“We?” She asked. “Simon, you don’t bleed,” She let out a humorous snort. Everything was fine until the ghost began ranting, moaning and sulking about his status as a lost soul in this cruel and very dull world. “I mean, I don’t even like Quidditch that much, and I’m stuck here. It makes me want to dieall over again.” Avoiding him, really not feeling charitable enough to help a poor soul cross to the other side Nel walked down the stands and instead took a seat next to a blonde girl that had a dazed look on her face and was eyeing a bird that was flying over the arena. She didn’t pay much mind to the bird. She was just grateful this girl didn’t talk. She sat pretending not to hear Simon calling at her from the highest stands in the seating area.

“Saintday,” Malfoy who had been watching her from the distance approached her. “Malfoy,” the other greeted emotionlessly. “Why on Earth are you sitting with the Ravenclaws?” He half sneered looking at his surroundings with disdain.

Nel shrugged. She just wanted to be alone. She was mourning her last hours of freedom before she had to return to La Maison de Lestrange. She also didn’t feel like sitting together with the Slytherins. What was the point? Why would she put herself through the martyrdom of attempting to capture her friend’s attention through pleading looks of pity?

“Come on,” Draco tossed his head back cooly.

“No, I think I’m okay, I’ll just sit here and cheer,” she said in the most uncheerful tone hoping he would go away, and she could simply return to her silence.

“It’s because of them, isn’t it?” He realized looking back at her friends.

Before Elowen had a chance to answer Malfoy grumbled a mysterious “I’ll be back,” before leaving.

Once he was gone, Nel let out a heavy sigh. She wasn’t expecting him to be back any time soon. And finally, it was silent. Nobody would speak to her. All she had to do was sit tight, watch the task and hope that Cedric came in first place.

“You know, it’s bad luck to see nightjars in the daylight,” The girl sitting next to her spoke in a soft voice. Nel ignored her hoping she would stop talking or go away. She didn’t.

“They’re an omen of death.” She continued with an eerie soothing tone that contrasted her morbid statement. Looking at her closely she realized who it was.

Great – Out of all people she had to end up sitting next to Looney Lovegood. Momentarily distraught, she didn’t feel the presence creep up behind her.

“Hello, Elowen,” The silky voice made her body turn stiff. With an abrupt flinch she slapped the owner of the voice by swatting her arm over her shoulder. She didn’t stop to see his reaction simply stood up and walked away.

“I’m glad you made it,” Ellar said strained trying to keep his temper in check, rubbing his wounded nose. He snorted and sniffed right afterwards cleaning his nostrils from any leftover substance.

“Bloody fuggin hell,” She exclaimed vulgarly her temper leaping from zero to hundred. “Merlin,” She growled out pulling out at the roots of her hair in stress. “Leave me alone!”

God all she wanted to do was be alone and stay alone in the stupid castle and marinate in the misery and little time that was left of her few hours of freedom. She noticed Moody standing near the exit of the stands. He had witnessed the entire interaction and hadn’t even flinched. Why hadn’t he come and jinxed Lestrange just like he had done to Malfoy earlier in the year? Frustrated she decided to head the opposite way, descending down the stairs of the stands heading down underneath them.

Walking underneath the stands she followed the trail which led to the Champion’s Tent. However, hearing a creak she stopped and turned, but didn’t see anyone behind.

It was suspicious. “Where are you going?” Simon suddenly appeared levitating besides her. “Away,” She grumbled pessimistically. “You know the champions’ tent is on the other side, right?” There was no use in avoiding it, but maybe there was just no going around it. She’d have to face Cedric and Harry eventually. “Thanks,” She said shortly, not lengthening the conversation but not dismissing him either. She walked a long way, he hovered slightly behind. Once outside of the champions’ tent she assumed the participants were probably being interviewed by the media and preparing for the task.

She stood outside anxiously fidgeting for a moment and took a huge breath.

“You know it’s for champions only, right?” Simon said. “rules are for fools,” She scoffed self-importantly suddenly feeling some of the nervousness melt away as she pushed the tarp away and stepped in. She ignored the “Champions only!” Shout that came from a blonde journalist in the back.

All four champions turned to look at the intruder. “Nel!” Harry was the first to approach her. He was wearing a sporty long sleeve maroon shirt that was half black. “What are you doing here?” He asked surprised. “Harry,” She exhaled the breath she had been holding. Her dark eyes darted from Harry’s green to meet her friend’s across on the other side of room. “I just came to wish you good luck.” She really did. Even if her money was running on Cedric. “If you get lost, remember to keep your hand to the right, and eventually you’ll find your way out,” She advised wisely.

“Thanks, good advice,” He nodded looking exhausted. “You’ll do great, I know it,” She slapped his arm stating the end of the brief conversation. She turned to Cedric. ‘Harry already had made a name for himself, fame, fortune… Why not give somebody else a chance? It would be selfish of him not to do so’, she thought to herself with bitter resentment.

“Nel, you came,” Cedric looked pleasantly surprised as he approached the two students. Harry looked between the Hufflepuff and the Slytherin peculiarly. He had only seen the two of them interact a handful of times. However, after seeing the two in the Great Hall he decided to keep a close eye on them using the Marauder’s Map. To his surprise he found the two would sometimes vanish off the map. Not only that but they also spent a conspicuous amount of time together. Alone.

‘But wasn’t Cedric with Cho?’

Harry looked at them, it didn’t look like that type of relationship to him. However, with Saintday- it was always hard to tell these kinds of things.

The Chosen one pretended to busy himself with warming up and stepped away from the two.

“I’ll admit,” She began timidly. “I wasn’t going to come,” She admitted with discomfort, “Yet, here I am.”

A normal person would’ve perhaps taken offense to this but not Cedric. Instead, he chuckled at this. It was one of the great things about him, one of the things that made him so cool and easy going in the eyes of well, practically everyone. “I can’t believe you weren’t going to come bid your favorite person good luck,” he shook his head still wearing an askew smile that was perfect on him. This time it was her turn to laugh. “You? My favorite person?” “It’s been a pleasure Diggory, but I’m afraid this has all been business, not personal,” She joked stretching out her hand to him like partners usually did at the end of a successful business deal. Both shared a laugh. “Good luck. You’ve got it in the bag!”

Cedric smiled back and stretched out his hand to shake hers. However, instead, he pulled her into a hug. The girl wasn’t surprised by the gesture, she welcomed it and hugged her friend back. “Whatever happens Nel,” Cedric said pulling away. “If I win or lose, we’ll still be friends, right?” She wanted to joke and say that hadn’t been a plan of their business deal but chose not to. She was in a lonely moment of time, scarce in friends, and Cedric was a very good one at that. “Why wouldn’t we be?” She arched an eyebrow acting perplexed at his question.

“Good,” He nodded. “Because I’m going to need some eyes and ears in Gringotts when you get there. Specially since I’ll be working for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement starting this summer,” he boasted.

His friend couldn’t help but be genuinely happy for her. He was one step closer in the long way to accomplishing his goal as the next Ministry of Magic. She congratulated him and their moment was interrupted when a loud announcement was made indicating it was time for the champions to take their positions in their designated areas of the maze.

“Good luck everyone!” She said in general to all, including Viktor and Fleur. “I’ll see you on the other side!” Cedric waved as he began to walk away. “Oh, and Nel?” He paused on his step. “Be good?” He chuckled heartily before exiting the tent the opposite way.

To the Slytherin’s surprise Harry lingered behind.

“You’ll do fine,” She gave him a half side hug. “See you on the other side,” She exited the tent.

Walking out of the tent and underneath the tall stands she looked for Simon, but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she saw Professor Moody approaching the tent. The scowl on his face was deeper than usual and his walk was rushed. He did not look pleased.

“Oh, the task is about to start,” She explained. “I was just returning to-“ She ducked barely dodging a nasty hex the professor had cast in her direction. Her shocked mind barely had time to register when he again tried to hex her.

“Immobulus,” He spat. “Protego!” She blocked with swiftness.

“Professor,” She was tongue tied. There was no time to ask questions. Mad-Eye was lashing all kinds of spells in her direction. The attacks weren’t calculated yet weren’t sporadic either.

Nel took what she had said in the beginning of the year. So far, they had had a mass murderer, an idiot and a werewolf as a professor. This was a surprise – she hadn’t dealt with a psychopath before.

Taking back steps, she looked up the tall ceiling where people were sitting down witnessing the tournament. All oblivious to the hell that was being raised literally underneath their noses. “Help!” She shouted loudly hoping anybody would see her, would hear her. She shouted again until she backed up to a wooden rod that held the stadium up.

She raised her wand ready to cast any spell to the ceiling of people. Maybe then somebody would- “Incarcerous!” Like serpents, thorny ropes magically appeared and crawled over her body binding her with knots. Collapsing to the side her heart began to pound, she spat at the dirt she bit when she fell and attempted to blow a strand of hair off her face. She could see Mad-Eye’s limp legs approaching her.

“Filthy brat,” He walked over to her. Kneeling down he grabbed a fistful of hair with his good hand he turned her to the side roughly, “Scum,” he grumbled pulling on her hair making the student wince. She wanted to ask what he wanted. What his vile intentions were but suddenly couldn’t find her voice. She was looking at the man with hatred when a sudden zip knocked him back. Only then did she hear “Plumbum rectio!”

‘What was that spell?’ She could hear the footsteps crunching the ground below. Eyes peeled, shocked she looked up to see a boy holding his wand out looking down at Moody with a sneer. “Crucio!” He cursed without mercy making the older man writhe in uncontrollable pain. The ropes around her loosened and wiggling out of them she staggered to her feet she looked down at the horrifying scene. Strings of saliva, bulging veins and a twitching tongue were all in an irrepressible spasm as the man groaned and grit his teeth in terrible ache at the torment.

This had to stop. “Stop it!” She shoved the boys arm roughly.

Without removing his eyes from the professor, still wearing a sickly-sweet smile, he shot a final spell at Professor Moody making his body twitch one last time before becoming stiff.

Elowen looked at him with disbelief.

“I told you to stick by my side, didn’t I?” Ellar said gruffly closing the space between them and wrapping an arm around her side leading her away.

Panic and fear ridden she took his side without question as they walked away in rushed strides. “We have to find a professor! We Have to tell Professor Snape!” She looked over her shoulder to see that Mad-Eye was still laying limp on the dirt. “No,” He snapped harshly reaching for her hand. “It’ll only make things worse,” he said before once again leading the way. “How do you know there’s not more like him around? How do you know Snape isn’t with him? Or Dumbledore for a matter of fact.” Her mind was still processing what had happened. He was right, what if there were more people like Moody around the school grounds holding a wicked intent. “I mean- you don’t even know what that man was going to do to you. Do you ever use your head Elowen? Do you ever think?” He snapped cruelly making the girl flinch away from him, but his grip on her shoulder remained tight. “I know what to do,” he spoke without emotion.

Maybe he was right. Maybe he did have the best intentions after all. He wouldn’t have saved her and attacked Moody if he didn’t, right? But then again – he had tried to drown her earlier in the year. Snape had even admitted to her that the Lestranges had some evil plan in the works. So why trust him? Glancing over her shoulder she caught sight of the professor’s silhouette still laying down in the distance.

“Elowen, listen to me,” His tone was threatening. She started to step away from him, but he closed the space between them. “The only safe way out of here is through the maze. It’s dangerous out there,” He reasoned with a flawed logic that seemed to only make sense to him.

Going into the maze? Was he insane?

“It’s the safest place,” He insisted. “Somebody will see us there. We can hide! We don’t know who else is coming-“ He hurried towards her side, trying to take her hand in his, but she would not allow it. Her gust twisted at the thought of following him. All of her instincts should at her not to follow the boy into the maze.

“You,” a third voice made the two students turn their heads back. Before them stood Simon his translucent eyes were wide. He looked struck, almost as if he had been split by lightning. Eyes wide, thin jaw slack, the ghost remained frozen. ‘What was wrong with him?’ Nel turned to look back at Ellar who wore a contrasting nasty grin on his face. Unlike the ghost, he seemed pleased. Almost as if he was enjoying this.

“Sulking Simon. Hufflepuff died a couple of years ago. Some say it was a Quidditch accident, others say there was more to it,” She remembered Draco had said to her once. "I used to be the Slytherins Seeker and there was an accident," She remembered Ellar sharing. "They were looking for a scapegoat and well, there I was," She could still remember the way he oh-so innocently claimed to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Oh! And the worst part is that she believed him! “I-It was you,” She looked at him horrified. “You killed him!” Slowly she began stepping away from him creating as much distance as she could between the two. She looked in between the two males. “Nothing about your death was an accident. Was it?” She asked Simon who was rendered speechless. Triggers and lost memories of the night he lost his life came flooding back to the ghoul.

“Big deal,” Lestrange broke the silence with a loud scoff. “I had to prove myself to him,” he began. “Alas, my range of devotion was limit due to my schooling so I did what I could best. I began cleansing Hogwarts of the impure. Filthy blood mixed among us not worth the teachings of Sacred Salazar!” He shouted. “You tricked me,” Fuming Simon finally snape. “You tricked me into coming to the pitch at night and then used me to play your sick little game with your friends!” He rolled up his sleeves showing his twisted limbs and fractured bones. “Eighty-six fractures in my body!” Nel winced at the horrific sight, she couldn’t even imagine what Ellar and his accomplices had put Simon through. It sounded like they got away scat free by making it seem like Simon had fallen off a broom. “And there’s nothing you or anyone can do to prove it,” He threatened with a smug smirk with his crooked wand raised.

Nel felt nauseous. How had he conned her so easily? How had he done it again and lured her to this place and almost inside of the maze? Lying was a part of Ellar’s nature, just like violence was, it was a weed that had long been ingrained into his core by the environment he was brought up in. Yet, he was beyond the point of saving. At this point, he had no remorse, no conscience. She didn’t want to stick around and find out why he wanted her to go into the maze with him. “Simon,” Nel mouthed, her movements calculated as she waited to attack or deflect. The ghost waited. “Get help.”

Simon left.

And just like that- like a coin he flipped. Wands raised at each other, Nel wasn’t fast enough to deflect the silent Imperio curse he cast upon her. Just like his mother, he didn’t need to vocalize it.

Ellar smirked, pleased when he saw Saintday’s body tremble against her will as she dragged her feet towards him slowly until she was standing before him. A cross look on her face as she appeared to be struggling to fight back the curse. It was useless.

“Y-You’re a murderer,” she spat through a stiff jaw.

More than pleased and feeling haughty he opened his palm for her to hand her wand to him. “See? That wasn’t too bad,” He smiled before brushing her lose hair over her shoulder. Being close enough she socked him square in the nose. He bent down in pain feeling the hot rush of blood coming down his nostrils. God, that felt good. “Sniff that!” She shouted.

Heaving, quickly ducking for her wand Nel ran as fast as she could hoping to reach the stairs at the end of the underneath the stands. Her pounding, mind racing, consistently looking over her shoulder on the offense. It didn’t take the Beauxbaton student to catch up. She could see flashes of red as he casted aggressive dark spells in her direction. This time she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill.

“They’re an omen of death,” She remembered Lovegood saying early. She cursed the omen, did this mean her time had come?

Again, looking over her shoulder, she was so close to reaching the stairs, so close- when she stumbled on a wooden block and collapsed face first into the ground. The friction of the rocky roughly scraping her skin.

Ellar was unstoppable. She winced turning around to feel a sharp pain shoot up her ankle. He was getting closer, so close he lunged at her and in her moment of fear casted the only spell that came to mind.

“Expecto Patronus!”

A manic grin grew on the boy’s lips. It was useless. Instead, he was not expecting the creature that came out of the wand to be dark. Dozens of night jars shaped orbs of darkness surrounded him engulfing the boy in a whirling haze of energy sucking entities which rendered him weak and made him collapse on the ground. Again, struggling to her feet, she didn’t dare stop to see if he was fine or not. Instead, she limped towards the end. The stairs were closer now. Where was help? Why wasn’t anyone coming? Where was Simon? Finally reaching the entrance of the stairs she stopped to catch her breath and attempt to fix her wounded ankle. Leaning against the frame’s entrance she was about to cast the charm when she was unable to move her hand.

Stunned, her petrified body collapsed in a full bind.

She fell to the floor stiff, helplessly trying to find her attacker and when she did, she saw Professor Moody straightening out his ragged coat licking his chapped lips.

“Now, you’re coming with me,” was all he said before everything turned black.

Xxx

Alastor Moody barged inside of the Defense Against Dark Art’s Office. He tossed the student that limped like a ragdoll on a chair in the corner of the room. Her head lolled to the side as she struggled to regain consciousness. A haze of dark blurs blinded her dazed vision.

“You got lucky, eh,” He said over his shoulder as he opened and closed several of his desk drawers shut as he scavenged for a powder. “Real, real, lucky.” Finding a small vial with white glittery powder he rushed back to the Slytherin’s side.

With a flick of his wand, a robust manilla rope magically appeared binding the girl’s arms and legs to the chair. Head still down as she struggled to remain conscious the man uncapped the small vial and waved the dust under her nostrils making the girls back straighten out like an arrow. Eyes wide, chest heaving, a full-on panic began to settle in as she racked her body from side to side in a struggle to escape the binds of the chair. From across the room, she could see her wand on Moody’s desk.

“It got late, real late,” Moody said flipping a small blade on his hand. “You’re of no use for the Dark Lord today.”

She was trembling like a leaf in the wind. Looking at him terrified. Her eyes glued to the knife the man was playing with.

“Let’s see now-“ He held on the blade tightly and leaned in close to her. His breath stunk of fluxweed, not alcohol like she had always imagined. His tongue poked out. “I want to taste your blood, your precious blood.”

The man before her suddenly began morphing. His face molded and disfigured before tightening into the one of a younger man. The all-seeing mechanical eye fell to the ground with a loud thud. A thin man with sharp face features whom Nel had never seen before towered over her. A compulsive twitch which made his tongue stick out of his mouth revealed his psychopathy and mental instability.

She could’ve wet herself with fear. She didn’t even realize the door opened and closed.

“Was the Crucio really necessary?” He turned to look at Ellar Lestrange who had shut the door behind him and locked it as he approached the two.

Of course, the two bastards were in it together. “Had to sell it,” The other shrugged an invisible speck of dust off his shoulder. Without much of a care he pulled out a small, thin vial from his pocket, popped it open and snorted a hit of whatever was inside. “Want a hit?” He asked the man, who ignored him. “So, what are we going to do?” Ellar asked. “We can’t get her in there now that the Tournament has started.” “We wouldn’t have this issue if you hadn’t been so coked up on dragonspuff done what I instructed you to do since the beginning!” The other snapped. “Didn’t you slip her the amortensia that I gave you?” “I did! But she didn’t take it!” “Then who did?”

Both exchanged a look before looking back at their hostage. It had collapsed to the floor that time he had tried to give her that pear pastry. Sitting in her seat, with adrenaline pulsing through her system she watched the two males carefully and attempted to remember and memorize every single word they said. Struggling was futile. If they wanted to kill her, they would’ve done it already. She sucked in a deep breath as if she were going to sink and held it. “What’chu starring at?” The man growled out raising his knife. “Wan’ me to poke an eye out?” He warned pressing the blade against the thin skin on the edge of her eye socket. She winced pressing her back against the top rail of the chair. “Hold her,” He ordered, and Ellar pinned down her left arm. The man she did now know was Barty Crouch Junior undid the bindings of her left arm and rolled her sleeve up over her elbow. She struggled coughing a “No,” as the breath she had been holding escaped. Screaming, trying to kick, or fend for herself she failed. The knife dug into her forearm and tore her flesh down vertically in a long line opening her skin to pouring red ribbons. She cried out in pain as the blood began to seep out. Trembling and in tears the horrified child was rendered silent.

Ellar simply watched, Crouch could’ve been muttering something to himself gibberish or Latin, it was hard to tell. Elowen thought the pain was over, but it wasn’t, she let out the loudest most horrifying scream when the man dove and with his long, filthy, and twitchy tongue licked her open wound.

A loud pop echoed the room as the light fixtures violently exploded making glass rain. The curtains caught on fire, windows cracked, and a moment latter shattered. Books began tumbling outside of their spaces in the bookshelf and the door blasted open.

The men remained undisturbed by all the chaos in the room. Instead, their eyes were pinned to the poor girl’s horrified expression. “Try whatever you want, you’re not getting out of here anytime soon,” Crouch laughed evilly licking and wiping some of the smeared blood that stained his bottom lip and chin. Undisturbed, perhaps too drugged and numb Lestrange chuckled and seemed to waltz around the room before standing before a large trunk. Crouch stuck an arm behind the chair and dragged it with her body still on it. He dumped her inside of the trunk without much care. As if she were waste. “And – into the trunk you go,” Ellar singsong as he slammed the opening locking her alone in the darkness.

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typicalmidnightsoul · 4 years

Text

𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖊𝖘𝖙 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖉𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖇𝖑𝖚𝖊 - Chapter 4

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦

*NSFW*

When Nesta and Cassian fuck in the prefects bathroom.

chapter 1 2 3 <- here

Nesta looked stunning to say the least.

Cassian’s breath was caught in his throat when he saw her, she was-

Exquisite.

She went straight to the front to her grandmother who embraced her tightly, a smile replacing the scowl that was there mere seconds ago. He turned to Feyre and Elain,

“Why does your grandmother not like you, again?”

“Because Feyre fought to come to Hogwarts, I took her side, she does like us, just mildly disappointed, and I think she’s softer now that Nesta is coming here too.”

He had to remind himself over and over again that Nesta Archeron transferred her from Durmstrang, that that school had changed her, and that she was different before it.

“She shows off Nesta like she’s a prize,” Feyre said.

She was, not a prize maybe, but a female of deep preciousness. He would show her off too, if she was his.

“Oh and don’t forget the fact of me being in Hufflepuff as an added disappointment.” Elain added, “Even Feyre’s house is deemed adequate to her. Nesta’s house unsurprisingly made her proud.”

“Why?” Azriel asked.

“We’re a pure-blood family, Az, even though Nonna couldn’t care less about our blood she does care about tradition and family, and in our family we prize intellect over being a warrior. Most of the people in our family are either Ravenclaw or Slytherin, with a small group of Gryffindors.”

Cassian shook his head, “But Nesta loves you, Elain, deeply.”

“That’s probably my only shield from Nonna’s wrath when she finds out I’m excelling in Divination.”

“And what about your aunt?” Rhysand asked.

“Like our mother, our aunt loves Nesta to heaven and back, there’s nothing she wouldn’t do for her. She loves us all and she doesn’t really give a shit about houses even though she was ecstatic when she found out that Nesta was in hers and mother’s old house, but she is particularly partial to Nesta and twice as protective.”

Cassian stood up, not being able to control it anymore, he had to talk to her, and he had to touch her. He walked up to her where she was pouring herself a drink.

He slowed; admiring her, the sequin fabric in shade of dark rose clung to her hour glass figure with flowers embroidered around her bust, a cloak of the same material hung down around her trailing after her.

“Nesta.” He said.

“Cassian,” she greeted, she was pleasant to say the least. It felt wrong, like there was another reason to a change on her behaviour.

“No biting today?”

She scoffed, “Not in the mood to ruin everyone’s day today.”

“You don’t, ruin everyone’s day that is. People are too in awe of you.”

“Hm. I-“a crash in the distance. Nesta groaned “I had advised that Nonna not let the first years come. Excuse me”

Cassian shook his head following her figure; he turned to make himself a drink when he saw another figure in front. It was Romella Donahue. Nesta’s aunt.

“Ms Donahue, I’m Cass-“

“I know who you are.” She looked him up and down, “I came to tell you that I don’t know what you want from Nesta but stay away from her.”

“With all due respect, why would I do that?”

“Because I know men like you.”

“Oh and what do you mean by men like me?” He furrowed his brows fully facing her.

“Men, who play with a girl’s feelings, don’t think I don’t know what goes on between you and Morrigan. Nesta doesn’t need a fuck boy showing her that she is not worth the effort of a man.”

“Fuck boy-“

“Don’t act stupid, I’m glad Nesta has Eris because he at least cares for her and shows her, her true self-worth.”

“Auntie Ella?” Nesta had come back, her eyes confused, “What is-“

Cassian walked away, out of the fundraiser and into the halls. He closed the doors behind him sending everyone the message that he didn’t want to be followed.

He decided that he needed to cool down; he needed a bath so he made his way to the prefects’ bathroom on the fifth floor to use his privilege as quidditch captain.

He sat in the bath for 10 minutes before someone knocked on the door.

“Whoever it is, I want to be alone.”

“Um, it’s Nesta,” she said, “Uh but I understand if-“

He hastily picked up his wand on the side with his robes and opened the door.

Nesta took the ajar door as an invitation and stepped inside.

“Um, I wanted to talk to you but you’re busy so I’ll-just,” Was he imagining this? Nesta Archeron flustered and stammering, any other day he would think it was because of him being shirtless but- no it wasn’t that, he could tell something was on her mind.

He moved the bath supplies on the side back, “Talk.” He ordered.

Yes something was definitely wrong because instead of snarling at him Nesta just sat down.

She took off her cloak hanging it on the side, Cassian kept his eyes on the stained glass picture of the mermaid in front of him in order to keep his eyes from deceiving him and travelling around her exposed skin.

He dragged his wet hair back, not even daring to glance at Nesta.

“I am sorry for what Aunt Romella was saying, it was totally out of order- she shouldn’t have,”

“I don’t blame her. She was trying to protect you and she wasn’t wrong.” She turned to look at him

“Calling you a fuck boy was wrong.”

“I don’t care what she thinks, but you,” He moved bracing his arms on each side of her and pulling himself on his arms and holding himself there, his nose skimmed the skin in her back.

“Where are you nowadays? Why is it that whenever I see you, your fire seems to have died out.”

Her breath hitched, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course,” His hands skimmed down her waist, “I’d pull you in but I don’t want to ruin this dress because it looks awfully gorgeous on you. So off.”

Nesta breathed, “What are we doing Cassian?”

“Why, I am being your distraction. Is there a problem?”

“Distraction. Right.”

He chuckled, “We are going to pretend that this is a mere distraction. Calm down.”

She ignored him until he said, “Dress off.” The pure dominance in his voice

She did as she was told glad to have a distraction; she stripped down to her undergarments and stepped in the pool. Cassian’s hands came around her instantly, pushing her against him,

She moaned as his chest pressed against her,

“Do you need an invitation to take it all off?”

Nesta whimpered as his hands came around her and undid the clasp of her bra.

“Do you want to stop?” He asked.

She shook her head, “No.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist, Cassian taking the moment to grasp her breasts so roughly that she mewled in surprise; she glared at him, “Rough.”

“Should’ve gone to the Hufflepuff quidditch captain if you wanted sweetness.”

Nesta gasped again as he leaned down, biting down on her neck, leaving a mark.

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t.”

“Is it now?” He said his mouth now replacing where his hands had been on her breast, “Why is that?” he said against her nipple making her writhe.

Nesta in her heat strung together, “Because I don’t like soft men.”

Cassian’s eyes took on a feral look and his free hand dipped down in between her legs, her black lace underwear was wet as fuck with her arousal, he pressed his thumb to her.

She cried out her head tipping back, she wasn’t one to beg but this time she would probably have too and Cassian- well he had every intention to make her beg till her voice goes sore.

He kept pushing around her nerves, watching the pained expressions of need taking over her face.

“Cassian-“

“Yes?” He asked pushing his thumb against the fabric while pinching her nipple at the same time.

She whined, panting his name again and again.

Enough, she decided, she had enough of him teasing her. She grabbed his face and pulled it down on hers, his tongue slid hungrily inside her, God she could die of this, she realized, she could die from wanting him like this.

He angrily pulled away, turning her around and pushing her against the wall of the tub. He pressed the impression of his cock against her ass, grinding against her,

“No,” he growled in her ear, “you don’t get all the fun when you made me wait so long to get you in this position.”

Nesta tried to turn but the hold on her waist was unbreakable. She moaned as he pushed even more against her, trapping her there in eternal torture.

She whined, “Cassian please.”

He smiled against her neck, “there are those missing manners. Hmm… should i?”

His hands slid up her front so possessively, that she whimpered.

His hands went on her breasts massaging them harshly, making all kinds of noises spill from her mouth.

“Say it Nesta, you know what you need to say.”

“I’m yours Cassian. All yours.” He stopped everything.

“Is that something you’re just saying because you want me inside you?”

She shook her head, incapable of voicing words and in the reflection of the floor tiles he could see sincerity in her eyes. He turned her around and picked her up placing her on the tiles of the edge of the bath tub, he hooked a finger in her panties and slid them off saying,

“I guess then I’ll have to grant your wish,” He dipped his head between her legs his tongues pushing against her the bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs, he slipped two digits into her slippery cunt sliding in and out, that’s when her symphony of moans and mewls started all over again.

His thrust were shallow and fast as Nesta said, “Cassian, Cassian, Cassian.”

He pressed his thumb sharply making circles and she went utterly still, her hands in his hair pressing in. She let out a half moan-half scream as proof of her orgasm ran down Cassian’s hand. But he wasn’t done, not yet. He slid out of the pool, making Nesta shuffle back and press her thighs together, not because she was scared but because she had no idea what he was going to do.

He grinned at her maliciously, sliding his hands up her thigh forcing them to part.

“If you think we’re done, you’re not as smart as I thought you were, Unless you want us to be?”

She shook her head profusely, urging him to continue. He stood up, motioning for her too as well.

And the second she did, he grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her mouth against his, her hands were everywhere pressing against his figure, tracing his physique wondering how the hell someone could be this hot. His hands were now focussed on her ass as he squeezed it loving how it writhed against his greedy hands, he only came to this fundraiser because he knew Nesta would look like a super-model but never did he think that this was the night he would fulfil his fantasies.

Nesta pulled away for a bit, “What happened to us being friends?” He remembered that rough talk he had when he’d told her they should try being friends

He pulled her closer, his hands on her ass, her breasts pressed against his chest and said,

“You and I aren’t really the type to be friends.” Nesta’s face took on a lustful look,

“Cassian,” she wined, “I want you now.”

“Thought you’d never ask, “He said a feline smile spreading over his face. He tugged her to him. His dick brushing against her stomach, she gasped hotly closing her eyes. Cassian took that chance to grab her and push her against the wall, They stopped when they heard noises of clattering feet outside. Cassian grabbed his wand and recited,

“Muffliato,” then immediately after, “Colloportus.” Locking the door.

She grinned at him, “I didn’t know you could do those spells. I thought they were beyond your potential.”

He growled, “Keep chatting shit and I’ll find another way to keep that mouth busy that will only delay you from getting what you want.”

She shut her mouth but the smirk remained on her face, Good god what would he do with this woman. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pouting her lips and bucking her hips urging him to move on. He growled at her taking her breast in his hand and playing roughly as he slid his cock in inch by inch. He groaned, half roaring as he slid in, Nesta gasping and panting form the fullness in her. She rolled her eyes back tipping her head against the wall.

“Cassian, baby please.”

“Say my name like that again and we’ll be in this bathroom till morning.”

“I wouldn’t be complaining.”

He slid out then in again, and she mewled,

“Ah, I’m so close,” he was too but he wouldn’t not yet, he had waited for this for far too long and he’d-

Nesta’s walls tightened around him she bucked her hips at the same time,

“Come with me.”

He growled against the skin under her ear,

“You’re doing this on purpose you little minx.”

She smiled whining into his ear, “Please Cass.”

He spilled himself inside her the same moment she did. Their orgasm so powerful she saw stars, he roared as he came over the edge. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I do not regret coming after you.”

“Hm.” He grunted, still unable to make out words.

“We should go before Filch catches us out of bed at night.”

“Are you going to pretend that tomorrow nothing happened between us?” He growled.

“No, but I think it would be best that we-“

“Keep it between ourselves? Why?”

“You know there is something going on, with me and my friends and Nonna-“

“Are you gonna tell me what it is.”

She smiled, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Will you be in harm?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Fine. But after whatever it is going on with you is finished, I’m kissing you in front of the entire school to let them know you’re mine.”

She smiled shaking her head at him, “Fine.”

Without another word they dressed and hours later in his bed Cassian could still feel the taste of her on his lips, in his mouth and he made himself a promise. He’d find out what was going on and goddamn him if he wouldn’t help her.

#nessian fanfic #nessian #feyre #rhysand #cassian #nesta archerom #prythian

34 notes · View notes

danddymaro · 4 years

Text

Johnny Storm x Reader x Steve Rogers

Part 1: The Boyfriend

Word count: 1861

Seriously, I’d been wanting to do this for a long time. He played them both well, and I thought it’d be pretty fun. I mean I like messy triangles.(for my sake they won’t be too long of parts, maybe just 4 in total.)

And yes, yes, I have other shit not continued, but I honestly plan on doing it...

Its just work... and so much more Shit I have going on. I’m so worried about disappointing people, here and in Real life.

(｡ŏ﹏ŏ)

Oh well...

Everything is the same with reader inserts.

Italics are Flashbacks = Example

Italics with quotations are thoughts = ‘Example’

................................................................

She’d only agreed to have him visit because she assumed no one would be home.

She wanted to avoid questions at all costs, not until she was certain,

‘ Great, ‘ She thought to herself , knowing how it seemed to have some guy over while everyone was out...

She wasn’t ashamed of him, just unsure of what to tell everyone, especially the man before her,

“Hey Steve...” she said dumbly, nervously taking a soft chew of her inner cheek.

“Hey...(f/n) ,” he said awkwardly, “ (f/n) , and...” trailing off giving the two other people an opportunity to introduce the new person,

“Oh... Johnny,” (f/n) started, sounding less than enthusiastic to continue on with an introduction, stiffly standing in between the two men, “Steve, this is Johnny,” she said lowly, stepping aside to let Steve get a good view of the younger male who waved amiably .

“ And Johnny, This is Steve.” She said smiling crookedly, holding out her hand over to the elder male in order to present the first Avenger.

With a glorious grin, the hot-headed male looked over at the other man, eyebrows raising up high as he got a close-up look of him. “Wow, you’re really jacked up,” he commented. “Way bigger than I imagined,” he added, holding out his right hand out towards Steve in order to properly shake.

“Johnny Storm,” he said introducing himself, “ It really is a pleasure to meet THE captain America,” he added with the same widespread smile, linking his hand to the other male with a hearty shake as Steve extended his own arm to him.

“Johnny Storm? “ Steve repeated uncertain, but with a nod to indicate the name had stuck.

During the interaction he strayed his eyes to (f/n), giving her a brief look of the same uncertainty and question.

And sure enough, she could tell just what he wanted to ask,

“Oh, well...Johnny...He’s... “ She started off uneasily.

‘What exactly is he?’ she asked herself.

‘I could say he’s a friend... but .. he’s not really a friend,’ she thought to herself.

‘We have hung out a lot lately ... but he’s not my boyfriend either,’ she also went on. ‘I think we’ve well established nothing’s really there,’ she went on.

For just a fraction of a millisecond her (e/c) colored eyes drifted off to Storm, a purse to her lips taking form, ‘Correction, I’VE well established it, and he’s being the same idiot as always,’ She thought with exasperation.

They'd been introduced with the intention of ending up as a couple, but from the young woman’s standpoint it wasn’t a match.

Johnny was handsome, as well funny, being overall a charming guy when you look past his ego. He wasn’t a bad guy, but she had already set her eyes on someone else, which just so happened to be the man standing before her, waiting for an answer,

‘This is all so confusing,’ She told herself. ‘Messy and confusing,’

Admittedly, she had grown attached to Johnny, and was intent on continuing to see him, but only as a buddy.

‘Only as a friend,’ she reminded herself, having to do so far too often.

“ I’m willing to accept it,” Johnny said nodding, “for now,” he added, making her drop her shoulders, because he had assured her there was something there.

Because he was convinced otherwise,

“You’re just hung up on someone else,” he pointed out, surprising her with the statement.

Because she hadn’t told him, not even mentioned a name...

“It’s pretty obvious, “ he replied, shrugging with a soft sigh, “ Otherwise you'd see how prefect we are for each other,” He added, managing to hit her with doubt.

For a moment she bit her lip, thinking that perhaps that was the problem, Maybe she was to distracted with Steve to actually give Johnny a try.

‘Between these two...’ She started, ‘ I’m really staring to have doubt,’ She told herself, taking back her earlier musing, because she hadn’t really made it clear to Johnny.

She didn’t downright reject him, and had in actuality given him a maybe.

Her fickle behavior was partial to blame...

“ Judging by you’re expression i’m guessing your thinking about it right?” he asked her, sounding just a smidge too smug.

“So who is it?” he asked her, leaning onto the table with open ears, waiting in expectancy.

“Why do you want to know?” she asked him, turning from him, looking elsewhere, feeling her face heat.

Leaning back onto his chair he chuckled, tipping his head back just a bit as he laughed, “ I want to know what guy is trying to steal my girl,” he said while grinning.

He’s never serious, and she’s never certain,

“He's my...”

‘My what?’ She asked herself again, feeling butterflies as the two men gazed at her.

It was then that the younger male interjected,

“Boyfriend,” Johnny answered for her, cutting her off immediately with that single word, making her snap her eyes over to him instead, peeled so wide open that they could very well simply pop out of their sockets.

‘Boyfriend...He’s my boyfriend?’ (f/n) thought swallowing down hard.

‘He says...

He thinks...

He’s my boyfriend,?’

While she did feel anxious and annoyed... she also felt tickled pink.

‘Only a friend.’ (f/n) argued with herself. ‘I see him as only a friend,’

“Boyfriend?” Steve repeated, his grip instantly tightening onto the other man’s hand, but as he realized what he did, he released his hold entirely, letting his arm fall back in place.

“You two are dating?” he asked them both, but more specifically focused on (f/n), wanting to hear it from her.

But again the other man spoke, this time putting his arm around her, bringing her close to him with a strong snuggle. He gave her a kiss over the crown of her head, the sound of his lips smacking together coming out exaggerated as he did so, “She’s so cute,” Johnny said amused, “ You know I just love seeing you blush like that,” he added, in a low tone, his hot, minty smelling breath touching her ear, worsening her flushed face and making it grow darker with rouge.

involuntarily she shuttered, feeling him so close, having his arm wrapped around her and his lips almost on her skin.

“Anyways,” Johnny started, placing his attention back to Steve, “ We’ve been seeing each other for a couple of weeks now, “ he added, “Right babe?” he said addressing (f/n), staring down at her with his pretty blue eyes.

Panicking she gave a weary chuckle, “ O-Oh yeah! We had met a while back... “ She answered back, which hadn’t been a lie. She had met him about three months ago, being introduced by Stark himself.

“ Yeah...we've been dating for a couple of weeks now,” she informed Steve, which of course was a big fat lie.

“ what would it be? like about three... No...Four weeks ?” Johnny asked her, questioning her and putting her more on the spot. She began to gnaw at the tip of her tongue, “ oh...” she said softly, “ Three... I would say three,” she chatted, adding more to their lie.

‘Why am i doing this?’ She asked herself, mentally kicking herself.

“ That's quite a while now...” Steve commented rather blankley. “ yeah,” Johnny answered back “ it is isn't it ?” he said with a chuckle, “ but you know when you're with the right person...well time just flies by, right babe?” he asked (f/n).

“ Yeah, “ she breathed, looking right at Steve.

‘The right person...’

Catching herself gazing too long she shook her head, batting her eyes, trying to force herself from eyeing him for too long.“ I'm sorry Steve, we kind of have to go,” she said softly, giving him an apologetic smile.

She hastily grabbed the other man's hand within hers and pulled him along behind her, briskly walking and leaving Rogers alone.

“ Have fun...” he muttered non-enthusiastically, his lips pressing together tightly, not even able to form a false smile. His right hand lifted up in a lifeless manner, not even having the will to wave at them.

.....................................................

Once in the closed elevator (f/n) pushed Storm back, her face completely overtaken by the color red as she glared at him, “ what the hell is wrong with you ?!” she exclaimed. “ We are not dating!” she said to him, her voice rising just a bit into a squeaky tone with how completely taken back by his claim she was.

“Relax, Relax,” he coaxed her putting up both his hands in defense as he tried to calm her.

He then placed them on her shoulders, almost crushing them in his hold, bringing her close. “ come on babe, calm down!” he told her, making her stare at him like as if he had gone completely insane.

“babe..” she muttered.

Normally she’d brush off the little endearment , but in her current shame filled rage she shook at it,

“ you can't be serious!” she said in disbelief, “ you don't think we're actually dating right?!” she questioned him.

‘DO you even know if your dating?’ Her inner voice argued back in a sassy fashion, causing the woman’s teeth to tighten.

“Well then why did you go along?” He asked her cheekily. “ Maybe perhaps you actually do like me, right?” he said coming down towards her, nearing her in a dangerously close manner, his nose grazing hers.

He could see all the little specs in her eyes with his proximity and continuing on playfully he smiled at her, his hands landing on the side of her cheeks, ignoring the wild flame in her eyes.

The part of him that loved playing with fire was drawn to the dangerous gleam, wanting to melt along with her.

And for just a moment her breath hitched, her lips trembling as she slipped into a lightly drunken state,

‘He’s so stupid...’ She told herself, ‘He’s so annoying...’

“But so sexy...” she muttered, unknowingly leaning into him more, just a hairline from smashing lips,

“See,” he muttered, “ I told you you wanted me,” he said while giving her a quick , rushed peck.

Falling back from her high, her right hand swung, whipping above him and missing as he ducked. “ Chill! Chill!” he said continuing to laugh, being quick to grab both her wrists.

“Why are you so stubborn?”he asked her, quick to pin her against the wall.

He could easily melt her, knowing he had his effect on her. Well aware of the attraction they had for one another, it bothered him moreso to know what stopped them was one person,

‘Just one person,’ He thought to himself, knowing that if she would have laid eyes on him instead, she wouldn't have had the will to fall in love with anyone else.

‘I would have never wasted time,’ He added, biting his lower lip as he resisted the urge to dive down again and get an actual kiss.

‘But we’re just friends right?’ He silently asked her,

‘ That’s what you say...

That’s what you want to feel too...’

Sighing , he released her,

‘That’s why I have to go along with it and pretend...

If it will keep me close to you I can pretend,’

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wizardess-legends · 4 years

Text

New Faces

Summary: The academy being suddenly attacked by unknown soldiers as the prefects try to fend them off. However what’s to happen when some night class students appear to aid the prefects in the fight. (This was written later year as my introductory for Fay & Akemi).

“Gah! What are with these guys?! Better yet, who are these guys anyway,” Zeus had shouted angrily after recovering from getting hit by one of the spells. The small group of men were dressed in soldiers like uniforms that were glacier blue with accents of gold. “How about we worry about who they are later Zeus, we can’t let them get into the academy,” Lizzy said while helping Lucious sit up. The last three soldiers walked closer with their staffs at ready, seeming to stop a distance away from the group of prefects and deputies. “This is your last chance, step aside now or we will force our way in,” one of them shouted, giving the last warning.

The group was now standing once again preparing themselves for the oncoming attack until something strange happened. Suddenly there was mist that started to roll in around the soldiers who seemed to have been confused as to what was happening, then the mist started to take shape into a large hand and slammed down onto the soldiers. “Just when I thought today was going to be boring, you dumb-asses are in for it now,” the aggressive sounding person was none other than Viggo appeared with a grin on his face as he had his pipe like wand in hand already which seeing the delinquent of the night class was a surprise of its own, but surprisingly he wasn’t alone; in fact he was with two girls that were dressed in night class uniforms as well. The shorter girl had short rose goldish hair with a small pair of deer antlers protruding from her head along with big round onyx black eyes and the taller girl to the left had extremely long sage green hair though her eyes were hidden behind a short veil of cloth. “You misters are in big trouble now,” the shorter girl said in a lively yet cute voice while pointing an accusing finger at the invading soldiers.

“I do hope you know you’re breaking several laws and regulations by storming in here,” the tall girl said in a modulated tone whilst taking a step forward. Changing targets, the soldiers took aim at the three students and attacked.

~~~~~

Deflecting another spell I let out a small huff as these soldiers really were quite tough but it would take a lot more to get me down. “What’s a little thing like you going to do huh,” the soldier taunted in which I responded with a small scoff at the man’s insult.

I felt my nails grow sharper while I brought my right hand up to my mouth, glaring at the soldier. “Just watch me,” I said, giving a toothy smirk before biting down onto my palm enough to draw blood before removing my hand. “Sagitta sanguine,” I recited the spell in which the blood that seeps from my wound started to float into the air and clustered together making arrows as they shot through the air.

Deciding it’d be best not to let this battle drag on too long I focused my magic on forming my blood into a long whip. “Playtime is over,” I said, cracking the newly formed whip towards the ground before bringing my arm back and swinging it forward to give the whip momentum to lash forward. Having aimed for the man’s legs the whip successfully wrapped around one of his legs and latched on in which with a fluid pulling motion the soldier went falling on to his back with a thud sound.

~~~~~

Typically any other time I’m opposed to senseless fighting, but this I will not tolerate in which I reach up to my headpiece carefully removing it from my face slowly to soon reveal my creamsicle orange colored eyes. “You kids are in over your head, if you step down now we might just let you leave with your lives,” the soldier said as I could only look at the man in disgust, with that eye contact I was able to foresee what he feared. “For a man of your age and commanding position, you’re quite the insolent ignoramus to believe we’d simply just oblige,” I started to speak harshly before bringing my hand up to the air using my index and middle finger to draw symbols.

“Ame no iwatowo oshihirakite ameno yaegumo wo,” I chanted while further drawing the symbols at a moderate pace; however, before I had the chance to finish a gust of icy wind interrupted the spell causing me to get knocked back some. Just feeling the chilled winds made my body tremble, it almost felt like I was submerged into freezing cold water. Attempting to shake off that chilled to the bone feeling I brushed my hair off of my shoulder and stuck out my hand to continue fighting back. Starting to smirk I said in an amusing manner “You know, there’s an old saying where I come from; live scorpions in the pants make life interesting.”

It was clear I managed to confuse him which seemed to have distracted him from the fact that more and more scorpions were appearing on the ground and on him in which one even appeared on my left arm. Five… Four… Three I mentally counted backwards to see how long it took as shortly after getting to three was when he screamed in terror and began to flail about trying to shake them off. Snickering at the soldier’s poor endeavor to rid of the scorpions, I turned my attention to the fairly big scorpion crawling on my arm in which I’d slowly move it to guide the beauty seeing to it I handled her with care. Still admiring the scorpion on my hand I brought it closer to eye level starting to smile as the man’s screams didn’t cease in which I said in a matter of fact tone “One of the most fascinating things about these arachnids is that compared to all the other arthropods, scorpions have the longest lifespans; in the wilderness they can live up to two to ten years.”

~~~~~

The fight didn’t last much longer as the soldiers collected their fallen comrades and retreated disappearing into a cloud of haze. The three regrouped and seem to have a small celebration which was short lived when an angry Zeus started storming over shouting, “Are you three stupid or something?!” Of course there was an instant reply from Viggo who shouted back “I know you’re not the one calling us stupid! We just save your sorry asses!” Which it seemed Viggo shoved his hands into his pockets aggressively before going off to who knows where muttering to himself. Letting out a sigh the tall girl was placing her headpiece back in its original spot before crossing her arms over her chest before chiming in “For once would you refrain from shouting like a screeching wyvern Zeus.” Zeus glared at the green haired student getting ready to speak his mind but was cut off.

“ZEUS,” the shortest of the students happily called out while running at top speed. It seemed the angry expression the night class prefect had seemed to falter as it turned to a grin, catching the rose haired girl and lifting her up before engulfing her into a bear hug. “There’s my favorite person,” Zeus declared loudly as it was hard to stay mad at such an adorable human being which caused her to giggle, setting her down after a couple of minutes. “Hey are you guys alright,” Lizzy asked as she skid to stop from jogging over.

“Yes we’re quite alright thank you for your concern,” the sage haired girl said with an elegant smile slightly bowing her head. “Hey new friends to make. Thanks again for saving us back there,” Caesar said in a chipper manner as he and the rest of the prefects joined the group. “Hiya! I’m Akemi Yukimura. I hope we can all be great friends,” the short one rocked back and forth on her feet while giving a big toothy smile which of course caused Lizzy and a few others to just melt a bit from the adorableness. “I’m Fay Junix, it’s delightful to meet you all,” the tall girl introduced herself before folding her hands on one another properly in front before formally bowing her upper body and then standing properly.

After Lizzy and the rest of the group introduced themselves which of course wouldn’t be a proper initiation of friendship until Akemi gleefully gave each of the day class prefects hugs. “So we’re just not going to talk about what just happened a while ago,” Hiro brought up in his usual lazy tone which it seemed the majority seemed silent from not being sure what to make of this. “From what I’ve read from current events that’ve been appearing in the papers is that Graceus is having problems with Gedonelune as to exactly what the leading conflict is due to hasn’t been stated. But I can only imagine that from the uniforms of those soldiers, they’re part of the Graceus royal army,” Fay said, being the one to break the silence.

“If that’s the case then it seems like things are only getting worse,” Alfonse said putting his hand to his chin trying to think as the agents of the Ministry must have had an unsuccessful meeting with the ruler. “There isn’t much info to go off of so there’s no use in running around trying to solve something we know very little information about,” Lucious said rationally before Zeus could jump the gun with a stupid idea. “Grrrr if anymore of those loser soldiers show up again we’ll make sure to wipe the floor with them,” Zeus said as clearly he was still angered by the fact that those soldiers even attempted to attack the academy. “Well how about we unwind by going to the cafe and relax,” Alfonse suggested as not only would it be nice to unwind from the day but also a good opportunity to get to know Akemi and Fay better. It seemed Akemi’s eyes sparkled with joy at the mention of the night cafe as she jumped up happily as she shouted, “FOOD!” Seeing that just about everyone was in agreement the large group started to make their way to their destination while making small chat along the way.

#wh ocs #wizardess heart #wizardess fanfic #viggo la rochejaquelein gedonelune #fay junix #akemi yukimura #zeus brundle #alfonse goldstein #caesar raphael #lucious duller #lizzy luna #hiro tachibana

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romance2d-otomegame · 4 years

Text

The Route Thief

Sumary: Everybody used to tell me to stop playing those games, but what can I do? An otome game is pretty addictive and specially if is one like Wizardess Heart. This game is my life! Wait, I didn't mean literally... Then, why I'm suddenly inside on my game!? Is that Hiro and Zeus? When I said this game is my life I didn't mean to want that this game BE my life!

Pairing: Hiro x Marian

Chapter 3

I was walking from here to there on my room. They make me change into a dress too much elegant for a diner. A new make up and a new hairdo, and then I've been the rest of the evening trying to joint points. Could it be that I'm really on my otome game? How come? Just what happened to me before? Besides, on what timeline am I? Do really exist magic? Since I've never leave my room. This days, I can't tell.

"Young lady, why don't you rest a little? There's something that bothers you?"

Are you kidding? Everything bothers me!

"Say, Clarisse. "

"Ye-Yes?"

"Are you... Able to use magic?"

She opened wide her eyes and then smiled faintly

"No young lady, I'm afraid I can't use magic."

"Oh, you can't?"

"No. But, the young lady is such an amazing wizard! Maybe you can try sometime. "

"Wait, I can use magic!?"

"Of course. I saved your wand here. "

She opened a shelve and pulled off a box, she opened in front of me and inside was this silver wand whit a red stone on the handgrip. I grabbed the wand, and probably I was waiting something like a Harry Potter moment happened to me but, it didn't, it was just like hold a simple stick. Do I'm really able to use magic?

"Maybe this is not the time for this. "

I put the wand back on her box.

"The young lady might be right. Your fiance is about to arrive any soon after all. "

And I was more nervous.

"Hey, Clarisse, uh, how is the relation between... Zeus and me?"

"Oh, uh... Well, is very... Enthusiastic?"

Why are you thinking on it so much? Soon a knock on the door call for me.

"Young lady? Young master Zeus Brundle has arrived. Please come down to welcome him."

Okay life, is this is a dream this could be the perfect moment to wake up... Wait, actually, can you wait until I see Zeus whit my own eyes? I went down the stairs where some servants and the mother was waiting for me. She didnt even glanced at me. The door on the other side opened, and I stayed on such awe that the only thing I could do was hold my breath. Definitely, that man was Zeus Brundle, no doubt! He was walking so arrogant like I always imagined, and he was wearing his usual casual clothes. Wait, I'm wearing a party dress and he came dressed like that? Men are the same in any dimension... Suddenly I caught a glimpse of someone walking slightly behind Zeus, could it be...? No way... Hiro!? That's... That's Hiro Tachibana right!? OMG I wanna scream! Though he was wearing a white shirt and a black jacket whit his sleeves rolled up, he was looking just as hot like I always imagined! I covered my mouth cuz I feel that I would scream like a fan girl of a band on a concert!

"Why are you covering your mouth like that? Are you gonna barf?"

I hear a grave voice just in front of me. Darn it! I didn't realize he was already in front of me! What do I do!? What do I do!?

"Err... Ah... I-I... "

"What is wrong with you? Say welcome to him already!"

"We-we-welcome very much. "

OH SWEET LORD PLEASE KILL ME NOW AND MAKE SURE NOBODY FIND A SINGLE BONE OF ME!!! Can I go and lockdown on my room for the next three years!!??

We moved to the dinner room after my "kill me now" moment. I was unable to see Zeus right at the face even when he was sitting in front of me. Hiro was standing behind Zeus. It unusual for me but, I guess that is because Hiro is considered Zeus's bodyguard. Zeus was just there sipping his soup and nobody was saying a single word, it was getting on my nerves. Now that I notice, Zeus was actually behaving on the table. That was different from the game were it said that he attacked food like a beast. He and Hiro. But here, his manners were quite decent. I guess even him knows that he have to behave on a situation like this. Wait, but, doesn't he hate that?

"How is the soup Zeus? Is it your liking?"

The mom broke the silence

"Uh? Ah, yea is pretty good. "

Zeus barely rise his eyes to look at her.

"I glad to hear it. I apologize again, my husband is in a business trip and he couldn't accompany us today on your visit. "

"Yea I know, you don't need to worry about it."

It is my idea or Zeus answers are curt? Hiro approached Zeus from behind and whispered something to his ear.

"Oh, yea, uh, so... How are you? I hear that you fell and hit your head or something like that."

Something like that? If you're going to visit a sick person at least pretend that you're worried for her.

"Ye-Yea I fell from a horse while riding, but I totally fine know, hehe."

But probably I'm going to be killed by my own mother if she keeps looking at me like that. My face don't know if it have to turn red from embarrassing or pale from scare.

"Marian, did you thank Zeus for coming?"

Her look on me was like she was about to swallow me if I didn't.

"Uh... Th-Thank you for coming to see me, Zeus, It makes me very happy. "

I tried to give my best smile but, the look on Zeus was strange. His frown became even deeper. What is it? Did I said something bad? Di-Did he notice that I'm not his fiance?

"So tell me Zeus, when will you go back to Gedonelune?"

The scary mom continued

"mmm, on three days."

"So soon!? But I thought that classes will be staring next week."

"Yea but since I'm a Prefect I gotta be there before to prepare the welcome party of the new students. "

You do say that whit a big smile and proud huh?

"How wonderful! A welcome party!"

I don't think is the kind of party that you are thinking, mother.

"I am so glad to know that you are such a responsible prefect Zeus, you work so hard and you must be incredible at magic too. "

Excuse me?

"No need to say all that hehe. "

And you don't smile so proud when we all know the truth!

"I feel so much at easy to know that my daughter will be in such a good hands. I was worried just to think that she'll be so far away from me. "

Wait, where are you sending me now?

"Wait, where are you sending her?"

Thank you so much Zeus!

"Why of course to Gedonelune! Marian did not told you? She was accepted as an exchange student on the Royal Magic Academy, she will be joining the next week."

HOW IN THE NAME OF OTOME I'LL KNOW THAT!? Besides, the surprise on Zeus and Hiro faces shows that they didn't know either.

"No, she didn't told me."

Wait, Zeus, you don't need to look at me like that, I swear I didn't know anything! I don't know anything about magic, how I'm going to study on a school like that!? I'll be expelled right away! I want to scape please! SOMEBODY!!

To be continued...

#shall we date: wizardess heart #zeus brundle #hiro tachibana #OC #the route thief fan fic

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creative-type · 5 years

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The Murder of Arthur Wright XVII

First Previous AO3 AN: this is it folks, the penultimate chapter. Submit any guesses on whodunit now. In the interest of fairness, I’ve gone back and made some minor additions to some previous chapters. See the AO3 link for more details

Chapter Seventeen: The Final Piece of Evidence

The last time Margot visited the local precinct she had been recovering from her burns. The investigators looking into the botched Drathmakal summoning had insisted on speaking with her as soon as possible, and Margot had seen no reason not to oblige them. It had been an unpleasant experience for all parties involved, in part because the man attempting to conduct the interview could hardly stand to look at her.

Dash’s contact was in another department entirely, his office hidden away in the lower levels of the precinct. They were greeted there by a young man of about twenty-five, who gave Dash a salute as crisp as his freshly-pressed uniform. At the sight of him Dash rolled his eyes before offering a hand, which was enthusiastically shook.

“Gabe, this is Professor Margot from over at Kempeston. She’s been helping me figure out what in the world’s going on with Master Wright.”

“I know the professor,” Gabe said, shaking Margot’s hand in a much more agreeable manner. “Everyone’s talking about how she and Professor Ford fought against that frog. It almost makes me wish I’d gone to Kempeston.”

“You’re a mage?” Margot asked.

“Oh yes. Never had the reserves for the flashy spells, but I get by.” He stood up a little straighter and said proudly, “The prefect called my work exemplary.”

The young officer’s enthusiasm was contagious, and Margot found herself smiling. “The most important magic is the kind that doesn’t tend to get any attention.”

Gabe beamed at her. “Thank you, Professor. I’ve learned a lot working this case. The senior investigator thinks we’ll have the code cracked by the end of the week.” He looked suddenly nervous. “I, er, probably shouldn’t have said that. It’s all very hush-hush at the moment.”

“C’mon, Gabe, you know me better than that. I won’t breathe a word. Orc’s honor.” Dash cocked his head and tried to look past the lanky youth. “Where is everyone else, anyway?”

“At a meeting,” Gabe said, moving to block Dash’s line of vision.

“Without you? What about all that exemplary work you’ve been doing?”

“I would be with them, but I lost privileges when my boss found out that you’d copied Master Wright’s notes—which I remember you distinctly promising not to do. I trusted you.”

Dash grimaced a little, and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Geeze, sorry. I didn’t want to get you in trouble. But this is important. Maybe the most important. Please, Gabe, you got to let me through.”

Gabe shook his head stubbornly. “No can do, Dash. Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, shame on you.”

“I, uh, don’t think that’s how it goes, actually.” Dash rubbed his chin and spared a glance at Margot before snapping his fingers. “I know, how about a trade?”

“Trade?”

“You know, the exchange of goods between two parties?” Dash said, eyebrows raising. “In this case, information. The professor here’s cracked Wright’s code. Think of what the prefect will say when he finds out you’ve saved him a week of work?”

“You did?” Gabe said, eyes bulging as he turned towards Margot. He couldn’t have been more awed if she’d told him she was a Wizard, and for a moment he seemed beyond words. “How?”

“Didn’t you hear, Gabe?” Dash asked lazily. “The professor here helped design some of Wright’s safeguards. She knew his work better than anyone.”

Margot shot him a glare that was studiously ignored.

“Well what is it?” Gabe demanded. “What was the formula for?”

Dash wagged a finger. “Nuh-uh, you show us first. A sign of goodwill, as it were. Then we’ll talk.”

“I can’t let you in. Really,” Gabe said, face crumpling. “I know you’re a good sort, Dash, but you’re not one of us, you know? I can’t tell anyone.”

Margot could see that without intervention the argument would go nowhere. She leaned in closer to Gabe, and asked, “Is that door to your office unlocked?”

“Uh, yeah, but why—“

“How about this,” Margot interrupted smoothly. “You go for a quick bathroom break, and by the time you get back we’ll be gone, with Master Wright’s formula left in exchange. You don’t let us in, and we get the information we need. Everybody wins.”

“I, er, I guess that’d be okay,” Gabe said. “But only if you leave that formula. Take off without it, and we’re done for good.”

“That’s fair,” Dash said. He made a little shooing motion. “Now hurry, before that meeting ends.”

Once he was out of sight Margot and Dash hurried into the room labeled Magical Investigations. It was a cramped space made even smaller by desks piled high with paperwork. Margot’s attention was immediately drawn by a glowing rune at the largest of the workspaces.

“They do recreations there,” Dash said. “You know, of crime scenes and things like that. Dunno how to activate it, though.”

“I really need to give you lessons one of these days,” Margot said. She wasn’t familiar with the rune, but it seemed like luck was finally on their side, and she could see the smear of where a greasy finger had activated the spell. Calling on her magic, she traced over the mark.

“You really do know how to do everything, don’t you?” Dash said, an enormous grin spreading across his face.

“One of us has to know what we’re doing,” Margot said. The run glowed an acidic greet, and with a flash of light a simulacrum of a notebook sprang into existence.

“They created Master Wright’s spellbook?” Dash said.

“The original probably wasn’t in any condition to study in depth,” Margot said. She flicked a wrist over the illusion, and the book fell open. She recognized the untidy scrawl written on the pages.

Reaching into her bag, Margot pulled out the copies Dash had made for comparison. Unlike the copies, the recreation’s formula was completely intact—likely the result of the investigator’s efforts to pick apart Master Wright’s research.

“The problem with recreations is that it’s partly guesswork,” Dash mused. “You take the information you got and try to reverse engineer the most likely scenario based on the facts. Look here, Prof.”

He pointed a meaty finger at the pages that came before the fateful formula—or at least what was left of them. It looked like someone had grabbed a handful of paper and ripped it out of the notebook, leaving jagged perforations as evidence behind.

“Do you think Master Wright did that?” Margot asked.

“Don’t know, but we should probably skedaddle. Gabe��s one of my best contacts, I’d hate to lose him.”

Margot broke off the rune and together they hurried out of the office. They had just closed the door behind them when Gabe ran around the corner, red-faced and nearly in a panic. At the sight of them he nearly melted into a puddle of relief.

“Oh thank goodness you’re here.”

Anything else he might have said was cut off as a tall, scarecrow of a man came into view, trailed by a trio of men wearing the blue band that marked them as mages on the sleeve of their uniforms. This newcomer, at least, Margot recognized from her interview after the Drath attack as Mattathias Mathers, the head of Magical Investigations.

“Well hello there, Investigator,” Dash said. “Just the man I was hoping to see.”

Mathers hardly deigned to spare him a glance before turning his attention to Margot. “Good morning, Professor. I didn’t think I would be seeing you again so soon. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Mathers was a soft-spoken man, but he gave Margot the impression of hiding a heavy hand beneath a velvet glove. He had not asked any questions after the Drathmakal summoning, but to this day he was the one person from the investigation that Margot remembered most.

“I was just wondering how your investigation on the Wright case was coming along,” Margot said.

“Ah, yes. Of course. I hear you were present during the explosion and the one to find Master Wright dead. I am sorry you had to experience that so soon after your recovery.”

“But you’re not sorry she had to experience it at all?” Dash asked, eyebrows raising.

“Mr. Cain, I told you the last time you came scurrying in here like an unwanted beetle that I have nothing to say to you, and none of my investigators have anything to say to you,” Mathers said. “I would be greatly obliged if you would take the initiative to remove yourself from my presence. Permanently.”

“Now Investigator, the professor isn’t the only one who was there during that explosion,” Dash said. “The public demands answers, and so do I. What caused that explosion?”

The craggy lines in Mather’s face deepened, and Margot would not have been surprised if he used his magic to make the temperature plummet twenty degrees. Gabe cringed and looked like he wished the ground would swallow him whole, and trio of senior investigators looked uneasy.

“Follow me,” Mathers said tersely. He turned sharply on one heel, the tails of his uniform shirt billowing behind him as he swept back the way he had come. Dash and Margot had to hurry to keep up with him as he took an unmarked stairway to the basement of the precinct.

This time Margot was not imagining it when the air grew cool and dry, and she felt the faintest breeze where magic was used to keep the air from growing stale. Mathers did not stop, and from the basement found another stairway that led even deeper underground.

A bored officer guarding the door sprung to attention at the sight of him, only for Mathers to wave him off. “This will be a quick visit.”

With a long, spindly finger Maters painted an intricate sigil over the door that caused it to melt away into nothingness. A snap caused mage light to spring into existence, revealing a corridor lined from floor to ceiling with metal shelves, each filled with boxes upon boxes.

“Welcome to my job,” Mathers said dourly. Tenting his fingers in front of him, he began strolling down the passage. After a few steps he indicated toward a box.

“That’s Jean Brodeur. She was a mother of two killed on her way home from work, likely a botched robbery. Whoever did the deed had enough magical expertise to cleanse the area of evidence. Her mother comes every week begging me to reopen the case. Her husband doesn’t any more, and I can’t tell you which is worse.”

A few more steps, Mathers’ face a serene mask of contemplation. He indicated to another box. “Like Master Wright, Rhen Petrov died in a magical experiment gone wrong, but unlike Master Wright he was neither famous nor his work terribly important enough to warrant serious scrutiny. I don’t have the resources to pinpoint the exact cause of death, and so the case remains unsolved. I'm told there wasn’t enough of him left to bury.”

They came to the end of the corridor and Mathers plucked a box from its shelf, carefully wiping away the dust that had gathered on the nameplate.

“We don’t know who this man was, except he was a wanderer viciously murdered in a way too gruesome to repeat in mixed company. I swore I would find his killer, and I never have.”

Mathers replaced the box tenderly before rising to back to his imposing height. He looked down the length of his hooked nose at Margot and Dash, a cold fury burning in his black eyes.

“I will find the answer to the death of Master Arthur Wright, but it will be in my way and in my time. The more resources wasted on this nonsensical accident are resources my people could spend investigating cases that truly matter. Now please, get out of my sight and let me work.”

Both Dash and Margot were more than happy to oblige him, and they were escorted out of the precinct before Margot had a chance to tell poor Gabe that Master Wright had been attempting to Teleport ten kilograms of perfectly spherical graphite a distance of twenty-five meters.

“Well that was a waste of time.”

Dash grunted as he leaned against the park bench. He had adopted what Margot privately dubbed his thinking pose, with his head rolled back and his eyes closed. Margot chose to stand and would have preferred to pace, but settled for manipulating a globe of water in her hands.

“Someone ripped out those pages,” Dash said.

“Abigail said that Master Wright protected his notebook against tampering,” Margot said. “That means it was probably Master Wright himself, and it’s impossible to know why without seeing those pages.”

Dash hummed his agreement, and with his eyes still closed found a jerky stick. “Keep talking, Prof. It helps me think.”

“Abigail said that either the formula or the ring itself had to be tampered with for it to explode, and if I had to guess I’d say that it was probably the formula. Those rings had more failsafes than I could count. The one I helped with was just the extra cherry on top.”

“But Wright kept that notebook with him,” Dash murmured. “Who could get their hands on it?”

“His son probably had the best chance. They did share a room during the mage's conference,” Margot said. “His wife wasn’t even there, and I don’t think Desdemona would know how to tamper with it in a way that Master Wright wouldn’t recognize.”

“But Wright junior had everything to gain from his father’s success, financially speaking,” Dash said.

“A crime of passion?” Margot guessed.

“Tampering requires a bit of forethought and the nerve to follow through with a plan. Hard to pull off in the spur of the moment.”

Margot spun water between her fingers. She hated even to think it, but there was one possibility they hadn’t yet addressed. “Abigail knew.”

“Tobe says her work checks out,” Dash said.

Margot bit her lip. “I know she says that she’s lost her magic, but what if that isn’t true? It would take seconds to Teleport to and from the mage’s conference without being missed. It would take some serious firepower, but Abigail knows the mechanics of Teleportation better than anyone who isn’t her father.”

Dash cracked an eyelid. “Do you really think that, Prof?”

“I don’t want to believe it,” Margot said. “But I can’t see how else it could be done.”

She let the globe of water settle in her palm, the events of the mage’s conference replaying in her mind over and again as she tried to come up with something that would put this case to rest once and for all. She remembered Master Wright’s curt dismissal, him reading the equation from his notebook to activate the rings, even the lump of graphite that would be used in the experiment—no bigger than the water she held now.

Was it Abigail? Of the Wright siblings she held the least vitriol towards her father, though his actions had affected her most of all. Was it possible she had been working together with Desdemona all along? Desdemona alone admitted she wanted revenge for what Master Wright had done to her sister. Was it possible she had bullied Abigail into tampering with his equation?

Or perhaps it was Felix, fed up after years of being looked down upon for not pursuing his Mastery. He was, after all, the one member of the family who spent the most time with Master Wright in the present day.

Margot would be the first to admit that she didn’t see how Adeline could have played a part in her husband’s demise, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility that the Wright matriarch had arranged for someone to do her dirty work for her. The marriage was an unhappy one, and they had quarreled before Master Wright left for the conference.

Something didn’t sit right, a niggling suspicion that Margot couldn’t quite place. Something about the facts didn’t line up, but the more Margot tried to grasp for it the farther it seemed to slip from her grasp.

Margot supposed that part of her problem was that she was having a difficult time distancing herself from the facts of the case. Magic should be used to help people, and in his selfishness Master Wright had hurt the people closest to him in a terrible way, never acknowledging his mistakes or taking action to correct them.

It wasn’t right. None of it was.

Disgusted, Margot threw down her globe of water, and then froze as the pieces of the disparaging puzzle came together with an almost audible click.

“Dash?”

“Yeah, Prof?”

“I think I know what happened.”

Slowly Dash raised his head. “That’s funny, because I was about ready to say the same thing.”

#daughter of the lilies #daughter of the lilies fanfiction #creative-type writes #margot #fanfiction #dotl fanfiction #The Murder of Arthur Wright

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lilydeerwrites · 5 years

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A Muggle Studies Moment 3: Part 4: A Lily and Sirius Sidequest conintued ...

The motorcycle transaction went well. The neighbor, a Mr. Trevorsmith, was beyond relieved to be rid of the motorcycle. Apparently, his wife was well over it and wanted it gone. He showed Sirius a few tricks to get it started, wrote down instructions about petrol and parts, and took his money gratefully. Lily was impressed with Sirius' ability to remember how to use Muggle currency and to ask insightful questions about the function and care of the machine. Two helmets came with the motorcycle, having belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Trevorsmith during their courtship. Three kids later, she no longer had interest, apparently.

Sirius thanked the man sincerely and politely, but she could see the glee and elation lurking behind his polite smile. The very moment the man went back into his home, Sirius calmly folded the registration papers into his jacket pocket and turned to Lily, offering her a helmet.

"Fancy a ride? You facilitated this whole thing, after all. First ride belongs to you, my dear!"

She put the helmet on and climbed on behind him. "Have you the slightest idea how to drive this?"

He nodded confidently. "I've done a lot of research. Manuals, old videos, anything I could find. Jamie even found me a Muggle game that was a simulator once. It only worked for a few days, but I did my level best. Do you trust me?"

Lily patted his shoulder affectionately. "Well, I know how to ride a bicycle. That's like this but without the motor, so ... won't Remus and James each be insulted not to have the first ride with you?"

Sirius nodded, grinning cheerfully. "Oh, yes. It has to be you - literally. We have to ride it at least to a point of entry for the Wizarding World. And James will be sooo jealous when we get to Potter Manor and you've got your arms all around me."

She laughed. "Poor James. He really has improved. I don't think he's asked me out in months."

"Do you miss it?"

"Not ... exactly. He was awfully annoying, but I do appreciate if he's changed because he's started listening to me."

"That's most of it. Poor old James has always listened to you. Every word you've said in a class, every time you insulted him and us, and every kind interaction he's witnessed with other people. My boy's always had a terrible mouth-to-brain connection problem, especially when he's blinded by wretched, angsty thirteen-year-old lurve."

She adjusted her helmet and said a prayer to whatever might be listening that they wouldn't come to harm on this experimental ride. "Was that all it was? Angsty 'lurve?;"

"You know better than that. James is gone on you. Still. He's just trying to be less of a prat about it. I promise the inside of his head is every bit as ridiculous for you as he ever was. Thinking about giving him a chance?"

Lily tightened her grip on Sirius' middle. "If I don't die today on this motorbeast of yours, I may ask him to go to Hogsmeade with me. What do you think?"

He turned around to face her, his gray eyes filled with more sincere emotion than she'd even thought he was capable of. "I think it's brilliant. You're brilliant, Jamie's brilliant, and together, your brilliance will outshine the damn sun. I also think I need to be extra careful not to land us in the hospital wing. It's a lot of pressure, taking your best mate's girl on a motorcycle ride when your best mate doesn't even know he's got a girl yet, right?"

Lily laughed. "What if instead of 'his girl,' he's my boy? How do you like that?"

Whatever Sirius said was lost in the sound of the motorcycle's engine revving to life. She was glad of the muffling effect of the helmet, and extra glad of the firm grip she had on his waist when the machine suddenly lurched forward. Both of them swore, and Lily had to stop herself from using her magic to ensure their safety.

A moment later, they were tentatively moving forward, only slightly jerkily. They did a slow circle of the block, and then another as Sirius became more familiar with the controls. Lily had to admit that he appeared to have done his homework. He knew the names of the parts and was making good headway on smoothing the transitions and increasing their speed. When they pulled into the Evans family's driveway and turned off the motorcycle, Sirius couldn't help giving a quiet (for him) whoop of joy.

Lily's mum met them in the driveway, smiling. "Well, look at the two of you! I could hear you coming - that thing is awfully loud. Come inside, get comfortable, both of you!" She looked at Sirius, then back to Lily, then to Sirius again. "I'm so glad that Lily's brought a friend home to meet the family. Sirius, is it?"

Sirius smiled politely. "Sirius Black. Thank you for inviting me to join your family for dinner, Mrs. Evans. It's so nice to meet you."

Again, Lily found she barely recognized the polite boy who stood beside her. "Let's go in. I'm so ready for your pot roast, Mum! I've missed it."

Sirius followed Lily into her parents' home, his stomach suddenly tight with anxiety. He had never been in a Muggle house before, and he didn't want to slip up and say something ignorant or upsetting. His internal monologue wasn't helping. Right. Don't fuck it up. I always manage to fuck things up, and this is no different. I'm a disgrace. Mother was right ...

He looked up, startled, when Lily touched his arm, directing him to the chair beside her. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were already seated, as well as a sour-faced girl he assumed was Petunia. She might have been pretty if she hadn't seemed so very determined to look at both him and Lily as though she smelled something foul. Something about her reminded him of his cousin Narcissa, and that was enough to kickstart the manners that had been ingrained into his subconscious since he was a small child. He pulled out Lily's chair, waited until she was seated, then sat down himself, his posture perfect.

The Evans parents seemed impressed, but Petunia sniffed and pointedly ignored them.

"It's good to meet you, Sirius. We're very glad that Lily is getting on well at school and making friends," Mr. Evans said, offering Sirius a smile. "I'll admit, Lily's er .... gifts ... are still a bit of a mystery to us, but we're glad she's thriving. Lily tells us you two are in the same house and have some classes together?"

"It's quite nice to meet your family as well, Mr. Evans. Yes, your daughter and I are both in Gryffindor House, and she's known to be one of the brightest students at the school. You should be very proud."

Mrs. Evans smiled, patting Lily's arm affectionately. "We're quite proud. Now, how did the two of you become friends? I'm very curious, as I've heard a few names over the years - Mary, Marlene, Severus, and Remus, mostly - but how did the two of you meet?"

Next to him, Lily was starting to blush. "Mum!"

Sirius took it in stride. Of course her family might think they were more than just friends. After all, Lily was every bit as gorgeous as he was. Any parents, with the exception of the bigoted, abusive set he had lucked into, would have thought they were a lovely, well-matched couple. He knew the Potters would have thought the same thing, and probably Remus and Pete's parents as well. He explained calmly, "Lily and I met as first years when we were eleven, but I'm afraid my best mate and I didn't make a very good first impression. It wasn't until this year that I - well, I had some problems, and your daughter may have actually saved my life. I was ... hurt, you see, and no one was around, but Lily was making her prefect rounds, found me, and got help. After that, she kept checking up on me to see that I was doing all right, and now we've become good friends."

Mrs. Evans addressed her daughter, "Why have I heard nothing of this heroic deed, darling? Surely if you saved a boy's life, the first person you'd tell is your mother!"

Lily was squirming uncomfortably, and her gaze kept darting to her sister. Petunia looked like she wanted to stab Sirius and Lily both with her fork, possibly in the eye. Lily was clearly desperate to get her parents' attention off of herself and onto her sister, but the Evans parents were too blinded by pride to see what was going on. It was a different dynamic from Regulus watching as Sirius took all of the blame and punishment for the both of them, but those experiences had made him very aware of sibling dynamics. He felt for Lily and even a little bit for Petunia, despite her sour expression and the mean things he knew she had said to her sister. He caught Lily's eye and gave her hand a quick squeeze under the table.

"I must say that it's lovely to meet you as well, Petunia. Lily speaks of you often," he said in his polite-est, most House of Black voice.

Petunia seemed startled to be addressed, and torn between being impressed by the possible status hinted at by his accent and manners and disgusted at the idea that he was one of them. For his part, Sirius honestly could not have cared less, but the relief on Lily's face was reward enough. He wondered idly why all families couldn't be like the Potters, who wouldn't have minded if James fell for a Muggle, a Muggleborn, or anyone at all, so long as it made him happy?

"Does she?" Petunia replied, somewhere between incredulous and resentful. "I rather thought that awful Snape boy was her only friend. Lily has always had a tendency to be rather exclusive with her few friends."

Sirius laughed. "There is where you and I have a bit of common ground, Petunia. I can't say I'm terribly sorry to see her friendship with ‘that awful Snape boy’ come to an end. Did you know that he's quite bigoted against those students born to Muggle families? I personally can't imagine why someone would choose to be a bigot about attributes one has no control over." He gave Petunia a pointed look. "Why, that would be like if your family decided to hate all wizards based on pure ignorance."

Under the table, Lily stepped on his foot, signaling that enough was enough. He knew he'd pushed a bit, taking a shot at both Snape and Petunia, but she didn't look mad.

"That's right, Tuney. I was telling Mary and Marlene about your engagement, and how happy I am for you. They asked me about your taste in dresses - they're very interested in Muggle fashion, you see, and I told them that it was all quite new and that I knew your favorite color was green, and that you favorite simple, classic lines. Was I close?"

Petunia glanced at her parents, whose attention was, for once, on her, and smiled, albeit a bit tightly. "Quite close, only Vernon's aunt does hate green, so I think I may consider pink or lavender."

The conversation continued, with Mrs. Evans and Lily enthusiastically asking about possible venues and other wedding-related isssues, and Sirius internally sighed with relief. The pot roast was delicious, and he was hungry, even after their hot dog snack earlier in the day. With the attention off of him, he was able to eat and allow himself to relax a little bit. There was a motorcycle outside, a Muggle motorcycle, and it was his. All he had to do was get through this dinner and he would be on his way to the Potter estate, where he could house and tinker with his prize. He couldn't wait to show the rest of the Marauders. He knew that James would be willing to help him and ride with him, but part of him hoped that Remus was at least a little bit impressed with it. James was going to be so happy he might actually explode when he found out that Lily was planning to ask him to Hogsmeade. He was looking forward to witnessing that reaction even more than he was looking forward to showing off his motorcycle. Well, maybe not quite as much, but it was definitely close.

#harry potter #sirius black #lily evans #james potter #fanfiction #marauders #marauders fanfiction

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goldenvindication · 5 years

Text

brannie’s first kiss

this was an effort from both kana and i, but i’m proud of it no less. // @pleasantprefects

Brighid found herself wandering outside after her encounter in the great hall with Walsh, and hadn't bothered to go back to the dorms or to the prefect's bath to get cleaned up after Ancient Runes. She scowled, wondering what exactly she was going to do with herself.... and Annie.

Annie put a jacket on and went outside, her hair beginning to stick to her face in the downpour. She sighed, pushing it back behind her ear. The rain was a good setting for her mood today -- especially thinking about the events of last night, everything she'd obviously done wrong -- dancing with Brighid, going in general, kissing Brighid's cheek... what had she been thinking? Hopefully she wouldn't come across any Slytherins, especially not Brighid's friends. If Brighid had told anyone about her actions, it would be so embarrassing. Finding herself at the lake, Annie looked around to see no one there... except Brighid's familiar form. Fuck. She turned around to leave, but stepped on a tree branch that split with a loud crack! Quite an entrance for someone who doesn't want to be seen. Startled, Brighid turned to quickly look for the snapping branch.

The last time a branch had snapped behind her--a flash of green-- "Annie." it was just... Annie. No one else. Nothing was going to happen. Not now. "What are you doing out in the rain? You'll catch a cold that way, you know."

She knows, she knows, she knows-

"N-no I won't. I'm fine, just... going for a walk." Annie's face flushed, matching the red color of her nose from the cold.

Brighid had to stop herself from narrowing her eyes in a glare. She didn't want to do that to Annie, even if it was clear she was lying. People didn't just go for walks in the freezing November rain for the hell of it. "Would you like to walk with me, then? I find that walks on the lakeside are... better with company, even if you don't want to talk."

Annie's stomach dropped. Brighid still wants to talk to her? After everything last night? Turning Brighid down if she was excusing all of that wasn't an option. "I- yes, of course." Annie took a few steps closer to Brighid, but not close enough to invade her personal space.

Sighing, and letting the water wash away the sand that was still left on her skin, Brighid glanced sideways at Annie. What was she thinking, right now?

"I am.... sorry," she said after a minute. "I should not have spoken the way I did to you last night. It was... terribly unoptimistic of me, and not very kind to speak to you in such a manner."

Annie looked at Brighid, stunned. "Are you really apologizing to me? After what I did? I invaded your personal space completely, just because I'm still shaken from everything that's been going on--" She swallowed hard. The man in the dark cloak, Fawley, the secret attic, all of that, some of her scariest memories had been when she was with Brighid. She squeezed her eyes shut. "-- that doesn't give me an excuse. Especially after what you told me."

"I hardly feel it was an invasion of space. After all, was I not the one who had asked you to dance?" Brighid shook her head softly. "But... no. I was thinking, I suppose.... and got some sense talked into me. Just because... I've never felt that way about anyone doesn't mean that I never will, I suppose. Maybe... I just need to figure that sort of shit out. You don't deserve to be snapped at out my my bitterness just because I'm not sure who I am."

"I didn't take it as snapping. You just seemed- very sure about your feelings, or lack of." She cocked her head. "I guess I was wrong about that."

"My grandmother has always said to act sure of myself, especially if I wasn't. It normally works out... but I suppose it doesn't always." She frowned. "I'm not terribly sure about any of those sorts of things. Not really.

"I don't think you have to be sure," Annie said softly. "I think that the way everyone learns about those things is figuring it out as they go." She laughed a little, pushing her wet hair away from where it had slipped out from behind her ear. "Not that I would know."

"That's true enough, yeah...." Brighid smiled softly, mimicking Annie's actions by brushing her own wet hair away from her face. "It just feels as it I'm doing some great injustice to whoever might fall for me, if I don't know whether or not I ever want... that sort of thing. Romance, dates, picnics on the lake shore... I can't see myself doing it, but maybe it's because I've never had the chance to."

"There is no harm in trying," Annie murmured. "There are definitely people out there... even here at Hogwarts. Unless you wanted to go for a muggle." Annie giggled a bit, trying to imagine pretty pureblood Brighid on a date with a muggle.

Brighid couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at Annie's comment, but ultimately smiled. "I would never, and you know that for a fact, Montfort. But... yes you're right. Not about the muggles, Merlin no, but about the other students." She looked away. "I don't go out of my way to hurt people though, contrary to popular rumor. It would be immensely shitty of me to go around dating people while having different expectations of where our relationship was going."

"I don't think you go out of your way to hurt people. You just... save your respect for people who you think deserve it. I think people have told you that they're afraid of you, and that can't be a good feeling. Even if you have friends who you love and care for, I'm sure it isn't easy being deemed as unapproachable and scary."

Annie bit her lip, choosing her next words carefully. "Communication is an important part of any relationship. If you communicate what you want, it's not your fault if the person you're with gets hurt.”

"It's easy though." She scoffed quietly. "It's easy to make yourself seem unapproachable and scary if you don't want people to bother you. It makes weeding out people who deserve respect, and those who don't. It's easier to.... be alone. I don't know." Looking up at the sky, Brighid watched the clouds, not caring if the raindrops fell into her eyes. If she started tearing up -- she wouldn't -- then no one would be able to tell. "Would you ever want to be in a relationship with someone if they didn't know what they wanted out of it?"

Annie's heart beat faster. She quirked an eyebrow at Brighid, stopping to look at her for a moment. Don't get your hopes up, Montfort. "It depends on the person." Her voice trembled. "Wh- why are you asking me?"

"Ah, sorry I've overstepped. You don't have to answer if you don't feel comfortable. It just seemed the conversation was headed that direction. You seem to know a lot about people not understanding who they are, so I thought you might have had some experiences, or at least an opinion." Brighid looked away from Annie, back up to the castle.

"I don't have any experiences..." Annie grabbed Brighid's hand, pulling her to meet Annie's gaze. She wouldn't be surprised if Brighid could hear her heart beating. Annie's stomach twisted in anticipation, but she ignored it as she moved closer to Brighid, hoping she wasn't reading the signs wrong. She couldn't be, not when Brighid was asking her. "But I don't know who I am either. I'm just... making it up as I go along." She looked into Brighid's eyes, wrapping her arms around her neck. "Just like you."

Feeling Annie's hand on hers, and the warmth her being exuded, gave Brighid life. Everything about her was enchanting, from the way she spoke, to the way she understood. She let Annie wrap her arms around her neck and shoulders, drawing them closer together, and Brighid closed her eyes for a moment, taking this in. The cards were in her hands, weren't they? What a dangerous hand it could be, if it went wrong... "If we're both just making it up as we go along, I think... I'd like to make it up as we go.... together." She leaned forward, closing the little space between them, and pressed her lips to Annie's.

Annie didn't kiss back for a moment, entirely shocked by how close they were, how perfect Brighid's lips felt on her own, but quickly came to her senses and kissed Brighid -- beautiful, smart, kind Brighid -- back, reveling in the feeling of holding her close. This is what she'd dreamed about for what felt like eons, getting to kiss the mysterious girl who didn't seem so much like a mystery anymore. Annie pulled away, pressing her forehead to Brighid's. "Making it up together sounds like a good plan," she whispered, leaning in to kiss her again.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief against Annie's lips, Brighid rested her forehead against the Ravenclaw's. "I don't want to hurt you, you know that, right? I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm nervous about it--you can't tell anyone that I said that, by the way-- but I want to do the best I can, for you."

"I trust you, Brighid," Annie admitted, remembering their conversation from the night before. "Not to fully avoid hurting me, but to do the best you can to try. That's all I can ask for." She pressed a kiss to Brighid's nose, giggling a bit from pure adrenaline.

"I..." Brighid's voice caught in her throat. "I will... try. I'll try my best to avoid hurting you, and I'll do my best to... trust you, as best I can." She recoiled at the sudden kiss on her nose, thrown off slightly at the display of affection. "So, where does that leave us, Annie?"

"I- I don't know." Annie pulled back a bit. "You said you don't know if you want a relationship, and I'm ok with that. I told you, I'm ok with just figuring it out as we go along but -- if you find someone else you want to snog, could you maybe tell me first? I don't know, is that ridiculous?" She shook her head, chuckling. "I'm not sure I want a relationship yet either, but I know I like you and I liked that, what we just did, a lot."

"No, that seems fair. I don't imagine anyone else will come along-- Chow was sort of just a thing for a while because neither of us had anything else going on, you know?-- and people... don't exactly like me, as I'm sure you've noticed. I will though." Brighid wrapped her arms around Annie's waist. "I like that a lot, as well. If you think on it, and decide that is something you want though, let me know? I will offer the same courtesy to you, though I can guarantee with complete certainty that I'm an idiot when it comes to that sort of thing, so I might need a shove in the right direction."

"Chow?" Annie tried to hide the teasing smile forming on her face. "You snogged Chow? As in Gillian, yeah?" She suppressed the fit of giggles trying to erupt. "I'm sorry, I should have expected it, I just didn't expect her. Good on you, she's cute... scary cute, but cute."

"Did... you not know about that? I thought the whole bloody school knew about the two of us. Er... yeah. You don't have to worry about that or anything, we stopped snogging when her and her boyfriend decided to be exclusive." Brighid looked away awkwardly. "Most people would say the same thing about me though, you know? "Oh that Calhoun, she's a scary one, gotta watch out! But you know, she's cute..... in a scary cute way.”

“You are nowhere near as scary as Gillian Chow. Gillian Chow would never have even tried to help me with arithmancy homework. She would have scoffed and called me dumb. I mean, maybe not now, with, um,” She frowned, looking down at her feet. “But in fourth year she would have never spared me a second glance.”

"Not true. I know for a fact that she was familiar with you, at least in passing, last year, before all this started." Brighid thought for a moment, trying to remember what it was that made her think of that. "Oh ,she's going to give me such hell. She told me before we starting seeing each other that we'd break things off if we started seeing other people-- she mentioned you and I, specifically."

“You and I? She thought-“ Annie shook her head. “I hate that she was right. I wonder who she heard it from...” She pulled Brighid in for another kiss. The butterflies didn’t go away, even though Gillian somehow knew her old secret and Brighid didn’t want something serious. That really didn’t matter right now... and it was still raining. How perfectly romantic.

Brighid couldn't help the smile that fell across her lips as Annie kissed her in the rain. "Sometime, I don't think Gillian Chow hears anything. I think she just knows." Brighid pulled away for a second, shivering as the icy cold fingers of winter finally reached her through her wet cloak. "We should... head inside, I think." Brighid thought for a long moment. "Would it be okay, if I held your hand?"

Annie smiled. “I think I’d like that.” She held her hand out for Brighid. “Let’s go inside, you were right earlier, both of us could catch a chill.”

#anniewriting #look they're gay

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