#hello. I'm fucking terrible at starters. =] love me anyways

[skyfullomuses]

|| Closed Starter for || @grihm​ || For Soren

    A stroll, that's what it was meant to be. She wanted to walk through the small town, to get a feel for it. A vacation that was meant to be relaxing and one that she was meant to meet up with her brother, Jeffrey at. He was coming back from a trip in Europe that had taken him away from the family for about three years and despite being able to go visit him a few times, it had been exciting to know that the two would be able to explore a town together and reconnect with each other. Addison had so many plans for when his flight got in and he drove in to town. She had so many things figured out for them. it's why she agreed to meet him in Europe, knowing he didn't want to cut his trip even shorter and that she desired the ability to get away for a little bit.

   Hand rises, fingers running through ginger locks of hair to push it out of her face, gaze turned straight ahead as she had seen a shop in the distance, one she had decided to stop in and maybe pick up a few things for herself. That was when the world had stopped. Breath catches in her lungs and she becomes rooted where she had stopped walking. Panic starts to rise inside the back of her throat and there he was, looking at the flowers outside of a shop just a few stores down from her. Had he noticed her? Had he been following her? She knew he had been stalking her back home, leaving gifts outside her door without a name attached. He would leave her little notes about his feelings, and other such things and despite not having a name upon it, she knew. She always knew who they happened to be from. Now? Now he was here, in Europe. How had he knew this was where she was going to be? To this exact town? How had he discovered this? Surely no one she knew would've told him?

   Fear is evident in her gaze as she silently prays that he doesn't spot her, taking a few timid steps backwards, her green gaze shifts, looking around, trying to find the perfect stranger to help a girl out here in this situation. Another breath, trying to calm her nerves. "Hey, Addy! Wow!" His voice hits her like a ton of bricks and she's rooted again in the place she stops. Shoulders round downward and she inverts in on herself. Addison viewed herself as independent. Not in need of help from anyone or wanting anyone to save her. She wasn't a damsel but when Mark was around? She couldn't stop the way the fear would take over her body. "Go away." She swallows, trying to keep her tone steady. "Oh, come on! It's like fate that we met up in the same town in Europe!" She steps back again, gaze shifting around in a panic. All she wanted was help. Anyone to help. She hated feeling helpless and hated feeling like a rat in a cage, trapped with no where to go.

   He had long hair and tattoos. She spot him on the street just down the way behind Mark and she was silently trying to scream at him to help her. Please help her. Do something, anything for this situation to end. Hands rise, arms cross over her chest as a way to guard herself when Mark steps forward, hand reaching out to caress fingers along her upper arm. "You're still just as beautiful as I remember." He speaks, breath quiet and slowly above a whisper, loud enough for her to hear. "Don't touch me." Her voice shakes, her knees want to give out and she does something unexpected. She waits for the man with long hair and tattoos to get closer before she pretends to stumble, bumping arms with him, enough to hope he notices but a small enough movement to hope that Mark wasn't paying nearly as close attention to it. "Leave me alone, Mark."

[asriels]

i'm curious about your hugo and his relationship with leonora since he was absent in the cousins piece. also what is your hugo like generally?

With Rose, it’s so much easier than Lo ever imagined. She’dexpected to be shut out and shunned, pushed away, but if there’s a divide thenRose is reaching across it too. Darling Rose. The sister she never knew sheneeded.

Hugo is a different kettle of fish entirely.

It occurs to Lo one day that she hasn’t seen Hugo in aboutfour months. She’s at coffee with her Greengrass-side cousins, who she sees farmore than she should, probably, and they’ve come to a coffee place called StarWhale!, complete with exclamation mark. It’s the last place she saw Hugo, quiteby chance, and that gets her thinking while she’s waiting for her turmeric latte.

‘That,’ says cousin Julius, his nose wrinkled up, ‘sounds sodisgusting.’

‘I’ve given up caffeine.’ Lo shoots him a very cold look. ‘Whatdo you expect me to do, drink hot chocolate instead?’

‘Maybe tea?’ ventures Fenella a bit nervously. ‘Roiboos issuper nice.’

‘Roi-what the fuck?’ Scorpius looks up from his phone at last.‘You’ve got fancy as fuck, Fen-fen.’

‘Don’t swear,’ gasps Julius, fumbling to cover Fen’s earsway too late, ‘fucking hell, Scorpius.’

‘She’s fourteen, not six.’ Scorpius tips a lazy wink over atFen and she starts to giggle, turning away to avoid her older brother’s glare.

They’re annoying, Lo’s cousins, but she loves them anyway.Plus, Uncle Aeneas always buys her nice things to piss off her mum, so there’sthat.

‘Okay, so, hypothetically,’ she begins, twirling a finger, ‘howoften would you say it’s normal to see adult siblings?’

‘How adult?’ Julius raises an eyebrow at her. He’s very goodat it. He’s got the traditional heavy Greengrass brows (so does Fen, but she’syet to grow into them) and when he lifts one in that way, slow-slow, he lookslike an Ancient Greek sculpture. Lo’s been jealous of that since he learned howto do it. It seems highly unfair that she got the ginger genes while he and Fengot those.

‘Like, newly adult. Recently left Hogwarts. Not, like,middle-aged adult with kids.’

‘Dunno.’ Scorpius scratches his chin, expression pensive. ‘Depends,I guess. Al sees James quite a lot, I think. And you see Rose, right?’

‘Yeah. All the time. So we’d agree four months is a longtime not to see them?’

Fen frowns thoughtfully. ‘I guess not if they live, like,across the country? If they can’t apparate.’

‘But if they can apparate, and also live in London too?’

Fen shrugs. ‘Then yeah, I guess that is a long time.’

‘Don’t say I guess so much, Fen, it makes you sounduncertain,’ butts in Julius, always keen to seize a brotherly teaching moment,and then turns to Lo. ‘But yeah. I’d say that’s a while.’

‘Cool. Thanks. I have to go in that case.’

‘What?’

‘Aw, Lo, c’mon. I need you to get me Caterwaul tickets.’ Scorpiusmakes the very picture of misery sat there, but Lo ignores him. He haspractised the pose enough times to be a master.

‘Laters, losers.’ With that she sails off, pausing only to switchher turmeric latte into a take-out cup.

She bins it first chance she gets. Disgusting. She’s goingback to coffee.

-

‘Hello?’ The boy who answers the door is not at all what Lowas expecting. She sizes him up with intent consideration. He must only beeighteen or nineteen, still teen-young, a little too much youthful intensity inhis eyes and awkwardness in his long legs. All the same, he’s hot, in an indie-emo-rockerkind of way. Lo likes the way his dark curls fall into his eyes.

‘Who are you?’ She says it rather less dismissively than shemight otherwise. It’s never a bad thing to have a hot boy on-side.

‘I’m Leon. Who are you?’

‘I’m Leonora. Look at that.’

‘Hm,’ he says, a sudden smile easing its way across hisface, ‘would you look.’

He leans one shoulder against the doorframe, casual as youlike, and makes no attempt to hide it as his eyes rake up and down her and comeback up looking interested.

‘I’m Hugo’s sister,’ she tells him, before he says anythinghe might regret. ‘He does live here, yeah?’

‘Oh, shit. Yeah, he lives here. He never told me his sisterwas hot.’

‘I’m his bastard half-sister,’ Lo clarifies, following Leoninto the dingy flat. ‘Oh, fuck, this place is gross.’

It smells of weed and unwashed boy. The curtains are stillclosed, dirty clothes all over the floor. The only clean things Lo can see area set of drums in the corner and a few gleaming guitars, so shiny she can seeher distorted reflection in them.

Leon catches her looking that way. ‘We’ve got a gig on theweekend. We were practising late last night, so Hugo’s still asleep. Dunno howwe didn’t get any noise complaints, but we’re not going to tempt fate byasking.’

Lo might not be the best witch who ever lived—indeed, mightstruggle with some of the basics—but she does have an uncanny way of tellingwhat wards are on a place, and she felt the twelve noise-muffling ones as shewalked through the door.

‘Probs the spells,’ she says off-hand. ‘Is that… did thatuse to be pizza?’

Leon’s looking at her in that way boys do when a hot girlsays something weird, kind of put-off, patronising, and intrigued all at thesame time.

He shrugs. ‘Dunno.’

‘Okay. This is awful. Where’s Hugo’s room, please?’

Leon points at one closed door, the paint peeling off aroundthe handle, and Lo picks her way across the filthy floor to get there.

‘Have none of you heard of housework charms,’ she mutters asshe goes, and behind her Leon makes a confused noise. Guess that answers thatquestion.

She knocks on the door four times, then four times again,and when she gets no response she just pushes the door open and slides in. Thisroom, blissfully, is a little cleaner than the sitting room. Lo can only seethree pairs of unwashed briefs on the floor, for starters, and there’s a sheeton the bed, which is a good start.

Hugo’s still fast asleep. Unrepentant, Lo pulls out herwand.

‘Aguamenti.’

Hugo sits up with a gasp, thoroughly doused in water, andbellows.

‘What the fuck!’

When he spots Lo, he gathers his wet duvet to himself asfast as he can, expression thunderous, and repeats, ‘What the fuck.’

‘We’re going for breakfast,’ says Lo, tucking her wand backdown the side of her boot. ‘If I stay in this stinkhole one second longer, I’llhave to go Voldemort on all your arses.’

Hugo just glares at her balefully, sleep-mussed, one side ofhis curly red hair squashed flat. ‘I’m too hungover for breakfast.’

‘Get over it. We’re going.’

-

Thirty minutes later—delayed by Lo’s insistence Hugo shower—theyare sat at a brunch place in Clapham. Lo is eyeing Hugo up with interest. She’sonly ever seen him with Rose since school, and with family he always wears justjeans and a t-shirt or sweater, the most basic boy uniform there is.

Now she’s made him choose in a hurry though, he’s full-onindie rocker. Ironic floral shirt, tight-fitting jeans, boots, silver rings, thewhole fucking caboodle. She’s slightly surprised he’s not put eyeliner and ahairband on.

‘So this,’ she says at last, gesturing up and down Hugo, ‘thisis a Look.’

He squints at her from behind his sunglasses. Those arecool, too, hipster-style, and Lo’s still trying to process staid little Hugobeing… well, this.

‘So is this like a rebellious phase, or something?’ Shestarts to play with a packet of sugar, squishing it between her red-paintednails. ‘Or a gender thing, or—’

‘Our band’s doing well,’ Hugo interrupts. ‘I mean, reallywell. This gig we’ve got at the weekend—there’s a scout coming. He’s been tohear us before. He’s bringing his boss this time.’

‘Wait, really? You never mention it. I assumed it was somesmall-time thing going terribly.’

‘I don’t,’ says Hugo carefully, ‘like my family nosing intomy business.’

‘Why are you telling me?’

The corner of his mouth pulls up in a half-smile, achinglycool. ‘Because you won’t tell.’

Well, Lo supposes that’s true. Who would she tell amongstthe Weasleys, anyway? Only Rose, and even that she’d hold out on, because sensibleRose would probably think it was nuts.

‘Can I come?’

Hugo frowns. ‘Where?’

‘To the gig. I want to hear you.’

He shifts in his chair, uncomfortable. ‘Why?’

‘Because you’re my brother, dipshit. I want to be supportiveand all that lame crap.’

‘I don’t know.’ The blank lenses of his sunglasses stare ather. ‘I mean—they’re Muggles, Lo.’

‘Oh,’ she says, and then, ‘Oh. That explains a lot. Is that why you never bring them to meetus?’

‘Partly.’

‘Well, what else?’

‘It’s just… I’m really enjoying being away from the family.With Muggles, you know? None of them even know about Uncle Harry or Mum and Dad.They don’t give a single shit. It’s amazing. It’s the first time I’m not beingcompared to anyone or told stories about my cousins or—you know, all thatbullshit. I don’t want to change that.’

‘So you haven’t told them you’re a—’

‘Wizard? Fuck no. They’d think I was on a bad trip.’

‘Well,’ says Lo, processing all of this. ‘Fine. I won’t sayanything. Can I come?’

‘You really want to?’

‘Fuck yeah. I’ll chat you up like mad to this scout. I’m very persuasive.’ She smirks at him overthe top of her coffee, fluttering her mascara-laden lashes to prove the point,and Hugo wavers.

‘Well….’

‘I’ll tell Rose if you don’t.’

‘Fine. Deal.’

-

They’re good. Lo doesn’t know what to do about it. Up thereon stage, the crowd frantic with adoration around her, Hugo leaning into themicrophone like he’s never done anything else—they’re fucking good.

She finds the scout quickly enough, his suited boss standingout like a sore thumb in a sea of ironically ugly outfits.

‘Good, aren’t they?’ she asks, inserting herself neatly betweenthem. ‘That’s my brother. The lead singer.’

‘Mm,’ says the boss, non-committal. The scout just nods, buthis face belies his enthusiasm.

‘Seems to me,’ she says casually, tossing her hair, ‘thatthere’s a bit of a gap in the market right now for an indie boy band. All theindie teenage girls are desperate for something to… ah… plug that gap.’

For a second, there’s silence, but Lo knows she’s judgedcorrectly. Sure enough, the boss snorts with laughter, and shakes his head.

‘You might be right there. You have a phone number for them?’

‘Here, sir.’ The scout hands a card over. ‘Got it last time.They don’t have a manager.’

‘They’ll need one.’

‘They’ll get one,’ says Lo hastily, laying a hand on theboss’ arm. ‘I’ll make sure of it.’

‘You do that. Once they’ve got one, we’ll talk.’

Lo smiles, her very best seductive smile, and then walksaway into the crowd, swinging her hips.

She gives Hugo the news later, and pats his arm gently whenhe and his bandmates go into hysterics at the idea of a manager.

‘I know someone,’ she says reassuringly, already pulling herphone out. ‘I’ll make a call.’

-

Julius comes out of his first meeting with the music bossgrinning ear-to-ear.

‘We did it,’ he says, holding a signed contract above hishead. ‘We got all the edits approved. You’re signed, lads!’

The band leap up as one, hollering, and close each otherinto a wild hug.

Lo draws Julius to one side, trying to read the contract asshe does so.

‘Knew all those Muggle law books would be useful one day,’says Julius, handing it over to her. Then, in a lower voice, he adds, ‘oh, andall that time practising Confundus charms.’

‘Love it,’ breathes Lo, flipping pages over. ‘You got themeverything?’

‘Yeah.’ He collapses onto a sofa. ‘To be fair, only had toConfund a couple of times, and those were minor things. They were very accommodating.They really think they’re going to be huge. Hugo’s songs, especially—they weretalking about having him write for some of their biggest acts right now, whenhe’s done with their first album.’

Lo looks over at the band, Hugo in the middle, shining. She’snever seen him like this. He’s always faded into the shadows, silent anduncertain, lost in his own little world. Now here he is, a superstar in themaking, and he’s her very own brother.

The feeling that suffuses Lo from head to toe is alien. Shetries to analyse it, to pin it down and figure out what it could possibly be.

‘That’s pride,’ Julius leans in to whisper to her. ‘You’refeeling proud.’

Oh, thinks Lo. Oh. I suppose it is.

Hugo catches her eye from within the wild celebrations andhe grins, sudden and childlike and thrilled, and Lo can’t help smiling back.

Maybe it’s never going to be the same as what she has withRose, her and Hugo. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be just as good.