#it’s not uncommon to hear about the professor ‘oh well she’s really nice. but I hate her as a teacher’

[kittypokemuses]

Doting on Daisies: Part 1/?

Ahh, a perfectly pleasant Pastoria City day… The sun was shining brightly in the sky after days of rain, casting a soft warmth over the town and reflecting in a faint rainbow. It was truly beautiful, something she loved above this town. Sure, all the rain could be dreary at times, but it revitalized the lush plant life and encouraged water Pokemon to venture across the land. It also made the sunny days all the more wonderful. While not uncommon, she still felt such a day was important to enjoy. Abigail soon found herself standing on the porch of her well tended house and taking in a deep breath of the fresh air. This was certainly the perfect day to enjoy a nice long walk with her overly tall daughter who was always kind enough to keep her strides short. ...Shame she wasn’t home… The deep breath was let out in a defeated sigh. Shaking her head, the mother found herself thinking aloud. “Oh, Audrey, I miss you already.” While she couldn’t be more happy and proud of her daughter, living on the college campus meant sparse visits. “You’d better have a good time there,” she chuckled to herself and stepped down from the porch onto the path. As per usual, the visiting Pokemon, two cute little Starly and a glimmering Kricketune this time, fled from her presence and back towards the treeline. The wild Pokemon may adore the berry trees her family grew, but didn’t care much for the family themselves. The redhead couldn’t much blame them, given it was a gym town and there was no way the Pokemon could tell the difference between a simple observer, a trainer wishing to strengthen their team in a battle, or even a gym challenger needing a grass type for their water type gym leader. Still. She wished she could view the wild Pokemon closer than their windows or, on occasion, the porch. The empty nest made her yearn for a Pokemon that much more. Shame the hubby didn’t want one. Oh well… Perhaps she’d spot a trainer with their Pokemon out and about on her walk. Double checking that she had her purse and umbrella (you never knew in this town) Abigail made her way onto the main path. Much to her delight, it only took ten minutes to stumble across a young trainer and his companion Pokemon. “Oh my goodness! Is that a Turtwig? We don’t see those every day! Are you a new trainer?” The boy turned to face the woman, signaling for his Pokemon to stop his tackle practice against the tree. “Oh, yeah!” he smiled, revealing his missing tooth. “I got him from Professor Rowan! I’m taking on the Gym Challenge!” “That’s lovely,” Abigail smiled softly. “Your Turtwig will certainly have an advantage over the water types Crasher Wake uses. “Sure will!” the child beamed. “Say, I could use a little training before I challenge the gym. You wanna battle?!” “Oh, I would,” the woman assured, “but I don’t have any Pokemon. Say, maybe you can train along Route 213, just east of here? There are lots of water Pokemon there I’m sure are itching for a tough battle!” “That’s a good idea! Thanks, lady!” “No problem,” she chuckled. “Say, before you get back to training, does your Turtwig like to be petted?” “Oh, yeah, he does,” he knelt down and patted the Pokemon’s head. “You wanna pet him?” “I’d love to!” Abigail practically cheered in response, kneeling down and holding her hand out to the Turtwig. She’d never interacted with a Turtwig before, but her brother-in-law’s Arcanine was also a Pokemon and he liked to sniff people first. The Turtwig smiled and approached, cocking his head before giving her hand a few sniffs. Satisfied, he examined her further, lightly taking her hand in his mouth and grazing his beak like mouth against it. “Oh, don’t worry!” the boy laughed. “He’s not biting! That’s how he learns about things! Professor Rowan taught me that. Since Turtwig doesn’t have any hands, he uses his mouth to feel things.” “Ohhh, that’s really interesting!” the redhead encouraged, genuinely interested in hearing what the boy had been learning. She did love kids, after all. “What else did he tell you?” “Oh, lotsa stuff! He’s a domsti- domscate- dom-…” “Domesticated?” “Yeah, that! So he understands some people words!” “Ohh. I hope he can understand when I say he’s a handsome one,” Abigail cooed as she withdrew her hand to pet the Pokemon’s cheek. Happy with the attention and petting, the Turtwig let out a contented snore like noise. The Pokemon’s cheeks were smooth and a bit hard to the touch, but had some give when she rubbed them. Upon moving towards the top of his head, she noticed a vast difference in texture, feeling akin to a mix of Magikarp scales and tree leaves. Neat! “You can tell if a Turtwig is healthy by their shells! When they feel good, it feels wet!” “Oh?” Curious, Abigail moved to pat the Pokemon’s shell. Just as he said, damp! It felt like hardened soil, but didn’t come off on her hand. She’d pet the dirt, but no dirty hands! “He must be a healthy boy then!” “Uh-huh! I take good care of Twiggy!” the boy declared proudly. “Twiggy, such a great nickname for a great Pokemon!” Abigail chirped, giving the Turtwig a final few hearty pats. “Well, I should probably get out of your hair and leaves,” she giggled, reaching into her purse. “Before we part ways though, here’s a special lemonade for you. It can restore your Pokemon’s health after a battle! Use it well on your journey and good luck on your Gym Challenge!” “Thanks, lady! Maybe we can battle someday when you have your own Pokemon too!” “Maybe!” Abigail chuckled and waved the two goodbye. Leaving the interaction with a smile, the redhead resumed her walk. She’d have to tell her sisters about it during her visit later. The rest of her walk was relatively uneventful, simply spotting a few Magikarp leaping out of the river and Starly flying overhead. Maybe she’d see a Staraptor leading a flock one of these days. Hopefully not a Gyarados though. She heard they can be quite violent. As she approached her home once more, Abigail let out a sigh. While she was content with her interaction today, it was still a shame to return to an empty house. As expected, the Pokemon scattered upon her arrival, but it was less disappointing after having pet the Turtwig earlier. Walking up the path, the woman spotted something in her potted daisies. She was fairly sure that eight inch tall bud wasn’t there earlier. She certainly hadn’t planted it herself, nor had she placed it in a way to crush the flowers. “Oh, you shouldn’t be there,” Abigail spoke softly as she knelt down near the Pokemon. The grass Pokemon shivered and met the woman’s gaze, seemingly too petrified to move. “Oh, you poor thing. I won’t hurt you. Here,” she dug through her purse and pulled out a Poffin, holding it close to where she suspected the Pokemon’s nostrils to be. “I was planning to give this to a certain Arcanine, but I can get him another one.” The Pokemon looked at her with wide eyes before tentatively taking a bite. “Budew!” the little bud exclaimed, pleased with this new treat she had never tasted before. When the little Budew leaned forward for another bite, Abigail moved it just a little out of range, guiding the Pokemon to exit the pot of daisies. “There we go,” Abigail cooed, setting the poffin on the ground for the Pokemon to eat freely as she tended to her flowers. The Budew nibbled at the poffin contentedly, getting full halfway through. She was quite small and had been eating berries earlier, after all. Turning her attention over towards the seemingly friendly human, she toddled over and observed what she was doing, trying to upright the downed daisies. Oh. She hadn’t meant to harm the human’s flowers. She had simply tried to hide. “Bu,” she called to the human as she placed the tip of her bud to the potted soil, proceeding to glow a soothing green and sending the aura through the soil. In mere seconds, the fallen daisies lifted from the soil, standing once again in their former glory. “Oh!” Abigail gasped. “Thank you, little one!” While the Budew didn’t know what the human was saying, she sounded happy, leading the Pokemon to reply with a pleased trill. “I should have known a grass type like you could help flowers!” she chuckled, reaching out to pet the Pokemon without really thinking. While she initially flinched, the Budew did not flee, instead looking at the woman in confusion. “Sorry,” she retracted her hand. “Is that okay for me to do?” The Budew said nothing, simply looking at the human inquisitively. Taking a chance, Abigail slowly reached her hand out once more, waiting a moment before giving the Pokemon a few more pats. Deciding she liked the sensation, the Budew let out another pleased trill. “That’s a good flower,” the redhead spoke softly and reached for the poffin on the ground, setting it atop the Budew. “It’s probably best you head back to your family now.” She pointed towards the Roselia in the distance, waiting for her baby to return. Grasping the poffin in her little buds, the Budew seemed to understand, offering one last pleased trill before she toddled back towards the forest. “Bye-bye!” she waved, receiving a similar, “Bu-bu!” in response. Aw, how cute!

[iloveyoumorethansoup]

Some classes r like oh this is fine I guess and then some classes r like I would drop this class lightning speed if it was not a requirement

[weighty-ghosts]

‘Vanishing Spells (or: How Sirius Inadvertently Outed Their Relationship)’

Vanishing Spells (or: How Sirius Inadvertently Outed Their Relationship), by weightyghosts

“James thinks he’s sneaky, Lily knows exactly how to push Sirius’ buttons, Sirius is a tad overprotective, Remus is exasperated with them all, and Peter is definitely sleeping in the common room tonight.”

Rating: teen

Word count: 2918

Pairing: Remus x Sirius

Published: December 16, 2020

Warnings: None

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/28080297

   It’s a frosty December night and the boys are in the Gryffindor common room, still sitting by the fireplace from when they had come in to warm up after a snowball fight with the Slytherins.

Well, it wasn’t so much a fight as a sneak attack that involved the Gryffindors hiding behind Greenhouse Two and pummeling those green-clad gits with exploding snowballs... But the Marauders still considered it a battle won in the war against their enemies.

James and Peter are occupying the couch, finishing their Transfiguration homework (really it’s just James writing and Peter peeking over his shoulder), and Remus and Sirius are in the plush crimson wing chairs that flank the couch.

Remus is engrossed in a book Dumbledore gave him on Non-Being Spirituous Apparitions, and Sirius is sitting sideways with his legs dangling over the arm of the chair, drawing idly on the back of his completed essay, and tapping his foot to an unheard beat (much to James’ annoyance).

Sirius is also trying very hard to stop himself from staring at Remus, but he can’t seem to help his eyes wandering over every few minutes to watch the way the firelight brings out the auburn and gold in the werewolf’s hair, the ends a bit curled from the wet snow outside.

Remus glances up at him but looks away quickly, a light blush spreading up his neck. Sirius bites the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling, going back to his doodling. This thing between them is still new and exciting, and most importantly: a secret.

A few quiet minutes later, James puts his quill down and stretches his arms over his head, letting out an exaggerated grumbling noise, a habit that Remus finds slightly irritating.

“Hey, Padfoot?” James asks in an offhanded way.

“Mmh?” Sirius murmurs, not bothering to look up from his sketch of a dragon breathing fire on a figure that looks suspiciously like Severus Snape.

“How’s your boyfriend?” James asks casually.

“He’s-“ Sirius glances at Remus automatically, then freezes when he meets amber eyes that are wide with a silent warning.

Sirius’ eyes flick back at James, whose entire face is screaming, “Ha! Got yah.”

“Wait, what? I don’t have a boyfriend!”

“Oh, no?” James arches an eyebrow in disbelief.

Peter puts his unfinished homework down and settles back on the couch to watch the evening’s entertainment.

“No! I think I would tell you if I had a boyfriend.”

“You don’t need to tell me, because I already know.”

Sirius drops his quill in his lap and folds his hands together, eerily similar to how Professor McGonagall does when she knows she’s about to hear a tall tale.

“What is it you think you know?” he asks in a patient tone.

“I know for a fact that you and Remus are seeing each other,” James replies.

“James!” Exclaims Peter, like he’s scolding him for outing an unspoken secret. Which he is.

But Sirius has his wits about him now, and keeps a carefully composed face, lips pulled up in a small smile.

“What makes you say that, Potter?” Sirius asks, adding a little bite to James’ name.

“Well, Black, ” says James, returning the bite in kind, “maybe you’ve forgotten but,” he lowers his voice a little and leans in closer to his friend, “we have a map of the school that shows where everyone is at any given time?”

Remus has to admire how Sirius is able to keep any emotion from showing on his face at this information, like he didn’t even hear it. It’s truly impressive. But he also seems unable to reply, so Remus steps in.

“It’s not a big deal, James, I’ve just been helping Sirius-”

“Yeah I’ll bet you have, Moony,” James says suggestively, with a cheeky grin.

Remus blushes and returns to his book so he can pretend to focus on something else.

“Hey!” Sirius interjects, but immediately regrets showing his obvious dislike of what James was implying when James turns back to him looking rather smug. He continues, more calmly, “I didn’t want to tell you and Pete...but I’ve been having trouble with vanishing spells, so Remus has been helping me practice.”

“Bollocks!” James refutes, “You’ve always been good at charms.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you! It’s embarrassing.”

“That explains it then, Prongs,” Peter says, trying to placate them.

“Thank you, Peter,” Sirius says, and tips an invisible hat to the blond boy.

“Oh come off it!” James jumps back in.

“Come off what?” Sirius asks, his voice rising with indignation. Of course James is right but he’ll be damned if he lets the prat be aware of it. “You think because you saw us together on the map once or twice-“

“Seven times.”

“S-seven times,” Sirius stutters but pushes on, “that we’re suddenly shagging behind your backs?”

“Yes.”

“That’s complete and utter-”

“But it’s not just the map,” James says, straightening up into a more formal position as if he’s about to recite a speech he’s been working on for a long time, and when Sirius sees Peter roll his eyes, he’s fairly sure James has practiced it on him.

“Something has been going on for weeks,” James continues, “You’ve been sneaky and quiet and acting all cute with each other, and going off on your own places,” James turns to Remus now, “and I know Sirius was in your bed at least once because I saw him sneaking back to his own one morning, and we’ve been friends for over five years so if you think I don’t know you two well enough to know when you’re happy and when you’re hiding something, you’re absolute bloody imbeciles.”

Remus and Sirius are quiet for a moment as that sinks in, then open their mouths to speak at the same time.

“What do you mean acting, ‘all cute-’” Sirius asks.

“Sirius was in my bed because I had a nightmare,” Remus states, shooting Sirius a look, “He was just checking if I was alright.”

This makes James pause, chewing on his lip. He knows that it isn’t uncommon for Remus and Sirius to turn to each other when they have nightmares, it had definitely happened before, but he was so sure this had been different. He has a harder time accusing Remus of lying, though, so he decides to address Sirius.

“When I said you’ve been acting all cute with each other, I meant that you’re all affectionate and stuff! And Padfoot,” James looks around the somewhat-busy common room to see if anyone is listening, but they aren’t so he continues, “has been very protective over Moony, lately.”

“That’s true,” Peter says thoughtfully, tapping a finger to his chin as he thinks back to the last couple of full moons.

Remus looks surprised at that and glances at Sirius with questions in his eyes.

“I’ve always been affectionate and protective with him,” Sirius says calmly, but his cheeks are slightly pink and can’t seem to meet Remus’ gaze, “It’s just the way we are.”

“This is different,” James says.

“Nope. You’re wrong,” Sirius says, picking up his quill and going back to doodling as if the matter is closed, “Utterly wrong.”

James crosses his arms petulantly, the frustrated frown on his face displaying how annoyed he is that his friends won’t just tell the truth.

“It’s true, James,” Remus asserts, “There’s nothing going on.”

“Oh, for Merlin’s hairy left b-”

“What’s that, Potter?”

Lily Evans had appeared in the common room as if by apparition, and stood by Sirius’ chair with a bemused expression on her face.

“Er, h-hey Lily,” James stammers as a blush creeps up his neck to the tips of his ears. Sirius rolls his eyes at the way James completely falls apart when this girl they’ve known since she was a tiny, obnoxious Firstie shows up.

The fact that Remus makes Sirius’ brain and insides melt with merely a look is a completely different cauldron of kelpies.

“What are you talking about that’s gotten you so riled up?” She asks with a smile, always enjoying a rattled James Potter, and crosses in front of the fireplace to sit on the arm of Remus’ chair.

She puts a hand on Remus’ shoulder and they smile at each other. Although, Remus’ is a little forced, as he doesn’t particularly want Lily involved in this conversation. They’ve grown to be close friends since becoming prefects last year, and she knows him too well. He’s fairly certain she’s already figured out about him and Sirius.

Remus looks over at Sirius and is surprised at the hostility in his face. He seems to be glaring at Lily, or more specifically, her hand resting on Remus.

Remus sighs loudly, forcing down the urge to roll his eyes, and Sirius’ mouth twitches.

He loves how easily exasperated his boyfriend gets with him.

“I was trying to get these two wankers to admit that they’re seeing each other!” James replies to her.

“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” Lily says matter-of-factly. They all glance at her in surprise (the boys in question looking away quickly so as not to seem too interested, of course).

“What? But you said-” James starts.

“No,” Lily interrupts, “They’re definitely not together.”

Sirius bites his tongue to keep from asking, “Why the hell are you so damn sure?”  

“What makes you say that?” Peter asks, and Sirius reminds himself to be extra nice to Peter tomorrow. Or to at least try to.

“I just don’t think Remus is Black’s type at all, you know? He’s not...” Lily trails off, searching for the right word, “He’s just not really…”

“Not really what?” Sirius demands, forgetting the façade as anger bubbles in him. How dare she imply that Remus isn’t anything?

“Look, as much as I love Remus,” who she throws a pitying look to, and Remus braces for what she’s about to say next, “He’s a...you know... and I just don’t think he’s good enough for you.”

Remus closes his eyes and chuckles, but the sound is drowned out by the explosion that erupts from Sirius.

“WHAT?”  

He’s on his feet, paper and quill knocked to the floor, as conversation in the common room halts and all eyes lock on him.

“Remus John Lupin is the absolute best, most brilliant person in this entire sodding school, you witless wench!”  Sirius bellows, pointing an accusing finger at her while ignoring James’ gasp at how Lily is being spoken to, “And he happens to be exactly my type! Everything about him is my type! He’s beautiful and smart and sexy and funny, and a bloody good kisser, and he makes me very happy, and- and…”

He starts losing steam when he sees the extremely-pleased-with-herself smirk on Lily’s face. His eyes flick to James who goes from looking indignant to surprised to ecstatic at Sirius’ soppy declaration, to Peter who is just dumb-founded, and finally to Remus.

Remus is half covering his bright red face with his hand, attempting to disappear into the fabric of the chair. Sirius hears him laugh softly, though, and his anger is immediately quashed.

“Thanks so much for that, Lily,” Remus says sarcastically.

“You’re welcome,” she says cheerily, planting a kiss on Remus’ forehead. Sirius crosses his arms and frowns. “So predictable, Black,” she continues, shaking her head at him.

“Am not,” he denies, then has the decency to look abashed when adding, “But, you know, you should apologize to Remus for what you said.”

“Oh please, Rem knows I think he’s too good for you. I’ve told him many times.”

“You what?” Sirius looks accusingly at the werewolf.

“I thought she was joking?” Remus replies lamely.

“Lily Evans, you are an absolute genius,” James says, gazing up at her with glazed, adoring eyes. He looks about ready to swoon.

“And you, James Potter, are an absolute moron,” she says simply, “They’ve been hiding this for weeks, and you think they would just come out and say it if you confronted them with it? I told you it wouldn't work. Honestly, you know them better than that,” she adds with a tone like a disappointed school teacher. James could point out that he initially tried to catch Sirius off guard, but he doesn’t seem to want to contradict her. In fact, he seems rather enthralled by her chastising.

“Wait...weeks?” Peter asks in a small voice, looking as lost as he does in Potions.

Lily nods with a smile, rubbing Remus’ shoulder.

Sirius clears his throat and walks over to Remus, figuring he should apologize for blowing their secret, but mostly so he can get Lily away from his sexy boyfriend. He shoos her with a wave of his hands, and she gets up, tossing her hair at him before going to sit in the chair he just vacated.

“Sooorrrry, Mooony,” he croons, then takes the book from Remus’ hand so he can sit down in his lap. Remus’ eyes flash around the room at all the people watching them amusedly, but he rationalizes that there’s no way he could get any more embarrassed than he already is, so settles on sighing and shaking his head.

“You really can be thick sometimes, Sirius Black,” he says teasingly, loosely wrapping his arms around Sirius’ waist.

“Only sometimes,” Sirius says, then his face lights up like he just realized something, “Silver lining, though, Lupin, I can do this now.”

He cups Remus’ cheek, tilting his head up as he leans in and presses their lips together. There are a few cheers and whistles from the other Gryffindors, and Sirius chuckles into Remus’ mouth. Peter and James, however, are busy groaning and dramatically covering their eyes as if they’re witnessing Filch undress.

“Eugh, I don’t want to see that!” James whines.

Sirius pulls away to glare at them, and Remus blushes even more furiously, shooting apologetic looks at their friends. Apparently he could get more embarrassed.

“You wanted to know, James!” Sirius asserts, “You insisted, in fact. Now you have to suffer the consequences.” He turns back to Remus and to pull him in for another kiss.

“Please get a room!” Peter complains.

Sirius detaches their lips again and looks thoughtfully at the blond boy.

“Good idea, Pete,” he grins, “Come along then, my love.”

Remus is sure his face must be about to burst into flames, but he lets Sirius pull him to his feet anyway.

“Oh no,” Peter says, eyes wide, “That’s not what I meant! Please don’t-”

“Don’t worry, mate, we’re only off to work on our vanishing spells,” Sirius replies wickedly, clapping Peter on the shoulder as he drags Remus towards the staircase to the boy’s dorms.

Lily laughs, and Peter looks back at James, who narrows his eyes and crosses his arms.

“Good show, Pettigrew,” he snaps, “Now we can’t go upstairs...bloody ever.”

Lily rolls her eyes at them and gets up from her seat.

“It’s not like they’re going to do anything they haven’t already done in there,” she says, and grins at the horrified looks on the boys’ faces.

Sirius yanks open the door to their room and tugs Remus inside. Remus goes over to sit on the edge of his bed, quirking an eyebrow as Sirius locks the door with his wand. Sirius turns and walks over to him with a sheepish smile playing on his lips.

“Vanishing spells?” Remus asks, his voice full of poorly-suppressed humour as he looks up at Sirius and opens his knees for Sirius to stand between them.

“An excellent cover-up!” Sirius replies, placing his hands on Remus’ shoulders.

“You panicked.”

“I might have panicked.”

Sirius smiles as Remus laughs at him, his favourite sound in the world. “I didn’t like how Lily-”

“The witless wench?”

“The witless wench- was talking about you.”

“I appreciate you defending me,” Remus says with genuine affection in his voice, then slides his hands slowly up Sirius’ thighs, “It was rather sexy.”

Sirius bites his lip, enjoying where this seems to be going. “You know what, Moony?”

“What, Padfoot?”

“I wouldn’t mind practising a vanishing spell on your trousers right about now.”

He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and Remus falls back onto the bed with a groan, throwing an arm over his face.

“What a line,” he grumbles, but Sirius can tell he’s laughing.

Sirius climbs onto the bed, straddling Remus with one knee on either side of his hips.

“Did it work?” He asks, pulling the other boy’s arm down so he can look into his eyes.

“Absolutely not.”

Sirius frowns. “Is the spark gone now that everyone knows?”

“Yes. It’s completely gone. I was only with you because of the sneaking around.”

“Git,” Sirius says, poking Remus in the ribs, “I’m going to make you pay for that.”

“Oh yeah?” Remus’s eyes light up with mischief, “How?”

“Take your trousers off and you’ll find out.”

“Take them off for me.”

“Can’t. We never actually practiced the spell.”

Remus growls and pulls Sirius’ head down to kiss him hard, effectively ending the banter.

*

Half an hour later, James and Peter are standing on the other side of the closed door, trying to discern if it’s safe or not to go inside. When they hear whispering and a muffled moan, James turns to Peter and glares at him, lightly smacking the back of his head. They begrudgingly stomp back down to the common room to settle on the couch, for what will no doubt be a long night of homework.

*

[swtki]

Techers Pet - Spencer Reid x Reader

A/N: I have been listening to Teachers Pet by Melanie Martinez literally for 3 days straight. Also I have been watching Criminal Minds so much I’ve gotten through six seasons in four weeks lol. So with both of those factors (and my horny monkey brain) I got the idea for this!

WARNINGS -  Professor! (slightly sub) Spencer Reid, College student! Fem! Reader, mentions of sex, teasing, bad words :(, slightly dom reader, mostly soft core erotica. 

Caught the teacher giving his eyes to a student Thought, "He pretty cute" and she bit her lip back to him Chewing on her nails and her pens while she's dreaming of him And he's fucking in sin (you know he is) 

I looked up from my paper, my hands forming into fists on top of my skirt. What the actual fuck does this even mean? and what the fuck is Dr. Reid playing at? Usually when all fifty of us students pile into the lecture hall, Dr. Reid would start with using his big fucking mouth to start telling us about whatever subject he had chosen for that class. He never had us do papers, honestly it made up for the amount of time he spent telling us weird statistics that really have nothing to do with the curriculum.

 He just stood at the chalk board, grazing around the room with his beautiful deep brown eyes. I wondered what it would be like to stare into them as I absolutely ruined him. I wanted him to shut up as I tell him what is what for once. We locked eyes, I knew it probably meant nothing to him. But, I bit my lip anyways, simply because I wanted to test him. I wanted to see how he would react to his twenty-year-old criminal psychology student looking at him with desire. I could see him swallow and then quickly turn away, avoiding my gaze. He was so adorable. His messy brown locks always in his face, his glasses always perched on his perfect nose. I wanted to see those hands on me. I could easily list out a hundred and one things I wanted this man, this man who was thirteen years my elder, to do to me. 

When I heard him clear his throat, I knew the real lesson was about to begin. I’m sure my classmates were all listening to the actual lesson about how handwriting analysis can depend on many factors, that's why we all got different pages with different instructions. I’m sure that would have been more than fascinating, if I wasn’t so focused on wanting him to get on his knees and devour me. I fucking hate having an imagination.

Finally I snapped out of my thoughts for good when he looked at his watch, declaring class was over. I lingered, taking my time to pack away my stuff. I saw the last student exit, then I started moseying my way down the hall.

“Ms. (Y/L/N), what can I help you with?” He asked, leaning back on his chair. God fucking damnit why was he so perfect in everything he did?

“Well, Dr. Reid, I have a predicament that I wanted your input on.” I said, stepping to the side of his desk and propping my hands on top. I could tell he was fighting the urge to look down my shirt. His face was a nice, cute crimson color. He hesitated before speaking,

“I’ll do my best, please, shoot it at me.” He looked into my eyes as I smirked, bending down to put my lips to his ear.

 “Dr. Reid, I’m having difficulty with deciding the chances of me giving you the best head you’ll ever receive. I was wondering if you could give me a number, an estimate maybe?” I purred into his ear. I could hear his breath hitch as I finished my sentence. 

“I- well um, I guess thirty three percent of educators know of at least one student-teacher relationship, so while it may not be common, its not extremely uncommon either. But, in this situation, one hundred percent.” I smiled as he timidly gave that reply, surprisingly he had an attraction to me as well, which made the whole crushing on my professor thing a lot better. We kissed for a while, pulling away for air. 

I dropped to my knees in front of him, eyeing the tent he had developed in his trousers for me. I placed both of my hands on his thighs, batting my eyes at him. 

“Tell me Dr., have you always been looking down my shirt, or just since I started flirting back with you?” I teased, placing my head on his knee. He was breathing heavily, wanting my touch so badly.

“I-well-” he stammered “I have always wanted you.” I pushed myself up, straddling his lap now. 

he bucked his hips up, wanting any friction he could manage. I leaned in slowly, letting a small chuckle escape my lips. 

“For a genius, you are so pathetic. You wanna know how many men I fucked, imagining you in their place?” I slid my hands into his hair, making a slight tug at the roots. He made a small whimper that I found so arousing. 

“Oh Dr. Reid I would love to tell you all the amazing things I want to do to you.” I pulled a hand away from his hair, placing it on his cheek, lifting his face up so he was forced to look me in the eyes.

“Please tell me (Y/N), tell me what I could do to please you.” his voice was filled with desperation.

I pulled my face away from his, staring at the needy mess in front of me. I started to laugh, causing him to look at me with concern. 

“Nah, you don't deserve it now” I placed a quick kiss on his lips and hopped off his lap, leaving him shocked.  

I grabbed my bag off the floor and slung it around myself. His jaw was slack open, his eyes searching for an answer on me. 

“Wait-” he started, I spun around on my heels, walking towards the door. 

“See you next week you fucking loser!” I called as I left the building, 

On my way home I couldn’t stop thinking about what he must be doing all by himself. He must have gotten home, sad, disappointed that he got so close and still didn't know how my insides felt. I kind of chuckled at the thought of him getting off to my actions, then laying there contemplating if I was just teasing him or if I had an actual plan.

My phone buzzing snapped me out of my head, I picked it up, seeing it was an email. I wasn’t going to open it until I saw the name. 

DOC187781@gmail.com

hey I know you probably were just messing around today, that's okay I’m not expecting anything. I just thought, in case you weren’t, well I don’t have your number obviously. But if you want to see me before next class, well here's mine.

###-###-####

Dr. Spencer Reid.

pt 2

[easily-infatuated23]

Hidden Kiss

a/n: this is based on a concept from the 2003 live action peter pan movie and I had so much fun writing this!! if you want this kind of situation with other characters let me know, i’d love to make this like a head cannon or something. I also have some requests i’m working on so don’t worry those are coming!

pairing: Platonic!Harry Potter x Gryffindor!Reader, Fred Weasley x Gryffindor!Reader

word count: 3.2k

warnings: mentions of death

summary: There is something in the corner of the readers mouth, and it’s powerful

The day had been ordinary. Meals, classes, all as normal as they could be. When Professor Flitwick asked Harry to tutor a fellow student, he thought nothing of it. “Who is it I’ll be tutoring Professor?” Harry asked. “You will be tutoring Y/F/N Y/L/N. You will have access to my class room. She’s agreed to meet you here at 7 o’clock today”. Harry nodded and left the classroom to make his way to his next class. He didn’t know Y/N very well, or really at all. He knew that she was a Gryffindor in his year, and that was all. At dinner he asked Ron and Hermione about her. “Do either of you know Y/F/N Y/L/N very well?” The two shook their heads. “I do”. The three looked over at the voice, it was Neville. “She’s quiet but really nice. She also has the most amazing smile.” The three laughed a little at what they thought was Neville inferring he had a crush on Y/N. “No seriously, if you ask anyone who knows her they all say the same thing. There is something about her smile that makes you want to stare.” With that, Neville went back to his Herbology book. “Thats odd” Harry said. Hermione shrugged. “Speaking of, it’s 6:55 so you’d better get going” Ron said. “Yeah alright. I’ll see you guys later” Harry said. He left the Great Hall and made his way to the Charms classroom. When he got there, Y/N was waiting for him.

“Am I late?” he asked as he entered the room. “Oh no,” she began, looking up from her book “I’m just always early to things”. As Harry approached her, she smiled. Neville was right, she did have an amazing smile…but it was more than that. As the session continued, Harry kept looked at her lips. “Are you ok Harry?” she asked. He pulled his gaze up to meet her eyes. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about something”. “Ok”. She shrugged and smiled again. There was definitely something in the corner of her mouth. Every time he thought he saw it, it disappeared. When the session was over, the two walked back to the Gryffindor common room together. “Thank you for helping me Harry. I’ve been really struggling with this unit for some reason” she said as they climbed through the portrait hole. “My pleasure. Let me know when you want to meet again” he replied. When they walked into the common room, Ron and Hermione were sitting on the couch together in front of the fire. The two greeted Harry and then Y/N. “Do you want to join us for a bit?” Harry asked. She politely declined and left to go study more. “How was it?” Hermione asked. “It was good” Harry replied. “Did what Neville said about her smile hold up?” Ron added. Harry wasn’t sure how to respond to this. Her smile was definitely special but he still wasn’t sure exactly what he saw. He simply chuckled and nodded his head.

As the tutoring sessions continued, and as Harry got to know Y/N better, the thing in the corner of her mouth became more constant. He had also started to notice that nearly anyone who talked to her would glance at her mouth multiple times throughout the conversation, as if they thought they saw something too. It didn’t seem to bother Y/N. Harry wasn’t even sure she noticed it half of the time. He still hadn’t told Ron and Hermione about what he thought he saw. It was bad enough he was seeing and hearing things because of Voldemort, he didn’t want to add another thing to the list. After seeing more and more people stare at her mouth, he finally felt confident enough that he wasn’t the only one seeing something, so he asked them.

“There’s something different about her, have you noticed?” Harry asked. “Well I mean she always wears the same pair of shoes but I don’t think that’s-” “No I don’t mean like that. Have you ever noticed that whenever she smiles or talks or does anything really that there is something in the corner of her mouth?” Hermione and Ron looked at each other. “You mean like food?” Ron asked. Harry sighed in frustration. “No it’s like- there’s something hidden. It’s staring right at me but I can’t figure out what it is”. “Are you sure you aren’t imaging something?” Hermione asked. “No I’m not. Next time you see her look at the left corner of her lips, trust me.” Ron rolled his eyes.

They wouldn’t have to wait too long to look because moments later she entered the common room. “Hey guys, did you happen to write down the due date for the Charms essay? I sort of tuned out the last few minutes of that class accidentally” she said with a chuckle. “Oh yeah it’s due next Tuesday” Hermione replied, trying not to make it obvious that she was staring directly at Y/N’s lips. “Brilliant, thanks Hermione”. She smiled sweetly before turning and ascending the stair case to the girls dormitory. But, before she turned, they saw it. Hidden in the left corner of her lips was…something. It’s hard to describe what it was. “Did you see it? Right when she smiled, it was there” Harry said as he pointed to the left corner of his mouth. Hermione and Ron looked at each other again, this time not to judge Harry for seeing things, but realizing he was right. “It’s almost like an invisible sparkle” Hermione said. “Yeah it sort of draws you in” Ron added. “I’ve never seen or read about anything like that” Hermione said, nudging Ron slightly to break him out of his dreamy haze. “Maybe we should ask Luna, she knows about all sorts of weird things that don’t make sense” Harry proposed. It was decided. Tomorrow, the group would ask Luna if she knew anything about things hidden in the corners of peoples mouths. Harry had to admit, it sounded daft. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it was there.

The next day on their way to breakfast, the trio found Luna. “Hey Luna! Can I ask you about something that seems impossible?” She gave Harry an airy smile. “Nothing is impossible Harry Potter, just uncommon” she replied. Hermione couldn’t help but roll her eyes a bit. “It’s about Y/N, there’s something in the corner of her mouth and-” Luna stopped him. “Ah yes, her hidden kiss.” “Her what?” Ron asked. “Her hidden kiss. My mother had it too. It’s a special kiss that hides in the corner of your mouth. Only someone incredibly special to the one who has the kiss may receive it. It’s a powerful thing”. With that, she skipped away towards the Great Hall. “A hidden kiss? That sounds bonkers” Ron said. “It does but it also kind of makes sense” Hermione said. “How do you mean?” Harry asked. “Well, remember how Dumbledore said that your mother’s love protects you from You-Know-Who, maybe it’s another form of that. The one who receives the kiss, is protected by that persons love”. As unlikely as it seemed, the trio couldn’t help but feel like this had to be the truth. “We could also just ask her” Harry said. “But, maybe she doesn’t know she has it” Hermione suggested. “This is all a bit too mad this early in the morning, I’m going to go get some sausages” Ron said, making his way towards the Great Hall. Hermione gave Harry a slight smile and followed after Ron. Harry, however, wasn’t satisfied. He wanted more answers and now he had somewhere to start. He decided to go to the library and see if he could find some books on hidden forms of magic. When he got to the library, he flipped through as many as he could before his first class of the day. Nothing. He found nothing.

Once classes ended for the day, he decided to go back. When he entered the library for the second time that day, she was there. “Maybe she doesn’t know she has it” Hermione’s voice chimed into Harry’s head. He shook her voice away and decided to walk up and ask her. “Hey Y/N”. She looked up from her book and smiled at him. The hidden kiss sparkled. “Hi Harry. What brings you to the library for a second time today? If you keep this up, people will think you are up to something” she said jokingly. “How did you know I came to the library already today?” “You didn’t come to breakfast. Luna said you went to the library to look up hidden magic. It’s a very interesting topic” she replied. This was his chance. “Do you know much about it?” he asked, sitting down next to her. “I know a little. I know it usually occurs by accident and can sometimes be passed down or remain present through blood” she said, looking back down at her book. “Was there something in particular you were looking for?” He swallowed. It was now or never. “Yeah um… have you ever heard of a hidden kiss?” She blushed and then closed her book. “I see you’ve discovered my little secret. Although, I guess when it literally stares people in the face it’s not a secret”. He chuckled. “Yeah it’s a bit hard to hide. Luna told me a little about it but what exactly is it?” he asked. “Well, a hidden kiss isn’t necessarily magic in origin. I know some muggles who have it. It’s a special kiss that’s reserved for the one the bearer of the kiss loves the most or for an important moment.” “What do you mean by important moment?” She sighed. “Well, for example say someone you love is dying or has just died. If you give them your hidden kiss, it can revive them and bring them back to you. Even if you don’t have romantic feelings for someone, the kiss will still work if you feel a great amount of love for them”. “How did you get yours?” Harry asked. “I’m not sure. I was orphaned as a baby and and when I was brought to the orphanage I already had it. I’m guessing my mother gave it to me but I don’t think I’ll ever know.” She looked down at the desk and fidgeted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…but I understand” Harry said. She looked up at him and smiled slightly. “I know. Let’s just keep this and the kiss our little secret.” He nodded. “Do you want to come back to the common room and hang out with me Ron and Hermione?” he asked, feeling badly that he had made her sad. “Yeah, I’d like that” she said.

When the two entered the common room, there were eruptions of laughter. Fred and George Weasley were telling jokes and simply being themselves; and the whole room was cracking up. “I guess we’re late to the party” Harry joked. “Harry!” the twins said in synch. “And you’ve brought a new friend. Who’s this?” Fred asked. “Fred, this is Y/N”. “Nice to meet you” she said with a bright smile. Fred froze. Her smile was something out of this world. Harry and Y/N made eye contact and laughed. Harry walked away, patting Fred on the back as he went. Y/N laughed again. Fred still hadn’t moved. He was just staring at her. She waved her hand in front of his eyes. “Hello? Earth to Fred…” He snapped out of his daze. “Oh sorry, hi there it’s nice to meet you. Come join us” he said, taking her hand and leading her to the couches where most of her year was gathered. The group was very lively. Everyone was talking and laughing, but Fred couldn’t focus on them. He only saw her. It was like everyone else had disappeared and there was only the two of them. She hadn’t noticed his staring. She was telling a story about the time she thought she was feeding a stray cat that turned out to be McGonagall. She had never been this out going before, but she loved it.

The group started to thin as people left to go to bed until there was only Y/N, Fred, George, and Harry left downstairs. Harry was saying something to Y/N about Charms class for tomorrow when Fred whispered in George’s ear. “Hey can you take Harry and go upstairs. I want to talk to Y/N alone for a bit” he said. “Yeah sure, so long as you can actually get yourself to speak! I saw you earlier, that was embarrassing” George joked. Fred pushed him slightly as George got up. “Alright Harry, come on. Even the chosen one has to sleep” George said. “Oh shut up George! See you tomorrow Y/N” he said, getting up from the floor. “Night George, night Harry” she said. The two boys climbed the stairs and left Fred alone with Y/N. “You were quite popular tonight” Fred said, scooting closer to her. “I know right, it was so weird. I don’t think half of those people even knew I existed until tonight. I had a lot of fun though.” She smiled at him. Before he could think it through, he found himself reaching out and touching her face. Specifically, he grazed his thumb over the left corner of her lips. She held her breath. “Oh sorry, I don’t know why I did that” he said, retracting his hand. “You would be surprised how much that happens or almost happens to me” she said. He smiled slightly, not feeling as self conscious about his actions. “Maybe they can’t help themselves because you are so beautiful” he said. She felt a blush creep onto her cheeks. “I have to ask-” he started. She chuckled and shook her head. “Yes there is something in the corner of my mouth. I’ll tell you what it is someday.” She cupped Fred’s face with one hand and placed a light kiss on his cheek. She stood up from the couch and made her way to the stairs. She stopped at the bottom and turned back to face Fred’s blushing face. “Goodnight Fred”. Fred turned back to face the fire and smiled. There was something different about this girl. Something that drew him in and made him feel like everything would be alright.

Over the next few weeks, Y/N got closer to the Weasley twins, Fred especially. What had previously been a chaotic duo, became a slightly less chaotic trio. Y/N balanced Fred and George out perfectly. She liked to follow rules and managed to use her good standing with the Professor’s to get the two out of trouble multiple times. Fred and George managed to get Y/N to let loose and have more fun. “I wish we had all become friends sooner, I feel like I am finally the best version of myself and it’s all thanks to you guys” she said one day, pulling them in for a hug. “We love our little stick in the mud” Fred joked. She scoffed and laughed as she pushed him. “How dare you I am not a stick in the mud, George back me up here!” she said. “This is between you two, I’m getting out of here before it gets ugly” he joked, walking away. “There’s only one way for you to prove you aren’t a stick in the mud any more.” Fred said, taking a step closer to her. “Oh yeah and what’s that?” she asked, matching his step. “You agree to go on a date with me where we forget about rules and do whatever we want”. Her jaw dropped and she pretended to look around in awe at a fake audience. “Oh my goodness did the Fred Weasley just ask me on a date?” she joked. “Yes he did” Fred replied, taking another step closer to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. “Then I accept” she said. One date turned into two, turned into five, turned into a loving relationship still going strong two years later. Y/N was certain that Fred was the person she would spend the rest of her life with.

As the inevitability of a war crept up on the wizarding world, Fred and Y/N felt like their relationship was the only thing that was stable. With Snape as Headmaster of Hogwarts and Fred not there with her, Y/N felt hopeless most days. That is, until, the day Harry Potter returned. When the trio climbed out of the portrait hole behind Neville, Y/N could barely contain her happiness. This was something to hold onto. This happiness only grew when McGonagall got rid of Snape, and the Order of the Phoenix entered the Great Hall. As soon as they could, Fred and Y/N ran to each other and embraced. Fred held her so tightly she thought she might pass out, but it would be worth it. To have the man she loved back by her side was all she wanted. This reunion was cut short however, preparations had to be made and a war had to be fought. Y/N fought harder than she ever had. The battle was brutal. When the break in the fighting came, she ran to the Great Hall to find Fred. And find him she did, lying dead on a stretcher.

When George saw her approach, he ran to her and hugged her close. “He’s gone Y/N, what are we going to do?” he sobbed. She knew what she was going to do. She pulled herself out of the hug and ran towards Fred’s body. “Everybody stand back” she said as she lowered herself down next to him. “Darling I’m sorry but he’s gone, there’s nothing we can do” Molly Weasley said, tears streaming down her face. She looked up at her. “Trust me” she said. Y/N turned back to Fred and whispered in his ear. “This is, and always will be yours”. She then pressed her hidden kiss to his lips, giving him all the power she could muster. Everyone couldn’t believe what happened next.Their lips, still locked together, began to glow slightly. The wind outside the Great Hall picked up suddenly. Everyone was looking around trying to figure out what was causing this. She pulled away slowly and laid on his chest holding him as closely as she could, her eyes squeezed shut. The wind whooshed into the room and began to swirl around Fred. It was so forceful people had to hold onto each other to stop from blowing away. Fred’s colorless skin began to turn pink. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the wind disappeared. Everyone held their breath. “Come back” Y/N whispered. Then, she felt a small rise from his chest. She opened her eyes and sat up slowly, staring at Fred. His eyes fluttered open. “Hello love, miss me?” he said. She exhaled happily and hugged him closely as he sat up a bit. The family was amazed. They rushed in and all hugged Fred, crying now of joy and not sadness. “What was that?” Ron asked from the hug. “That, was her hidden kiss” Harry replied knowingly.

[hops-hunny]

Love Lines

Pairing:  Severus Snape x Divination Professor! Reader

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 1.8k

Summary: Severus was the moon, (Y/N) was the sun and when they came together, they made a beautiful eclipse.

A/N: I got this idea from a thought that came in my head after imagining someone reading the palmistry on Snape's hand and saying “this line means you’re in love with me”. It was supposed to be shorter but I got really into it.

Severus Snape had had it up to here with the new divination professor. She was bright, cheery, and loud and in his opinion, extremely annoying. Every time she'd walk into a room, he couldn't take his eyes off of her....which he found to be quite bothersome. While hearing her name was enough to ruin his day, the rest of the castle couldn't get enough of the young professor. But, who could blame them? She was the type of professor who made learning fun, the type to stay after class if you had questions, the type to let you out of a lesson early just because it was a nice day outside. She wasn’t just adored students, but her fellow professors as well. 

When she’d walk into the great hall, everyone’s eyes would light up as bright as Christmas lights. Everyone except Severus that is. He tried his best to ignore the flutter in his chest when she’d smile at him. He convinced himself the warmth in his cheeks when she’d throw her head back in laughter was just a mere change in temperature in the room. He told himself the scent of her vanilla and cream fragrance as she walked by was much too sweet for his liking. But, he was no fool. He couldn’t keep lying to himself about what his heart, his soul wanted. That’s why he tried to distance himself from her, avoiding her whenever humanly possible. But he was no match to her efforts. She always found a way to flock to him, like a moth to a flame.

He found himself pondering these things as he wandered through the forest. He had been out from the castle gathering ingredients needed for tomorrow’s potion. He crossed another item off his list as he placed it into his basket. In reality, he wasn’t very low on the ingredients listed. In fact, he had plenty of them. However this is what he usually did when he found himself having free time. Leaving the castle to avoid her as much as possible. Although he didn’t know, today was in fact, not one of those days.

“Severus! Hey Severus! Wait up!” he turned around to see her running to catch up with him. She had a basket of her own which had a blanket hanging out the side, as she pushed her round glasses up her face. Her attempts were quite futile considering they kept slipping down. Her wild (h/l) (h/c) dancing around in the wind around her. Her sweater draped over the slopes of her shoulders, much too big for her and the same could be said about her jeans. He couldn’t help but find her beautiful, dirt covered shoes and all. When she finally caught up to him, she gave him a wide grin.

“Ah yes, Professor (L/n). Always a pleasure to see you.” He retorted, sarcasm dripping from his words. If it was obvious, it didn’t seem to phase her much at all. ”Is there a reason you’ve charged at me like a fool in the middle of the forest as the sun sets? Shouldn’t you be in the castle by now?” He added on, turning away from her as he continued to walk seemingly unphased by her presence.

“Well I’m not sure if you keep up with the moon cycles but tonight’s a full moon! I always head to a spot I found during my first week here. However, the sun is still out currently and while usually I’d just go and wait, I decided I’d join you in whatever you’re doing! Maybe I could be of some help? I won’t be much trouble, I swear to Merlin!” She finished what she was saying with a warm smile. Severus looked her up and down before sighing and continued to walk which Professor (L/n) took as a sign to follow. 

The next hour or so was interesting to say the least. (Y/n) practically skipped next to the man as she followed him through the forest. Every once and a while she’d peek over his shoulder to view his list, finding the next thing needed pointing it out to him before he found it. At some point Severus muttered something along the lines of ‘damn hufflepuffs’ but Miss (L/n) simply didn’t hear him(or chose not to respond). 

-----------------

Finally, as the sun finally started to retire and the moon awoke, his list was complete. He turned to the professor, and quickly tried to bid her goodbye. ”Well Miss (L/n) this has been a rather...interesting time. But, it appears my list is complete so I bid you farewell. Enjoy your moon or whatever it is you seemed so eager to get to.” He said as he began to walk off.

“Wait, uh, Severus! Why don’t you join me? I know you’re quite a busy man but if you could find the time I was hoping you would like to view it with me? I think you may enjoy it!” She said hesitantly. ‘Why would she be hoping for me to join her? Don’t get your hopes up Severus, we know where that led to last time.’ He found himself thinking. His face took on a scowl as the silence grew. It was quite awkward as she rocked back and forth on her heels, looking up at him awaiting his response. He realized this and let out an exasperated sigh before giving her a simple nod. That was more than enough for her. She grinned at him, intertwining her free hand with his as she led the way.

-----------------

“Oh it’s such a lovely night for this! The sky is so clear. And the stars, oh the stars. I wish I could see this every night, it’s quite breathtaking.” She began to lay the blanket out over the grass. She walked close to the ledge of where they were, looking down at the small pond there. The frogs croaked their song as the crickets played alongside them. It was all quite beautiful. He found himself in thought again. In all his years at Hogwarts, how come he had never come across it? That was the thing he loved about her the most, no matter where she went she left a little piece of wonder and beauty trailing behind her.

She continued to take things out of her basket, placing them on the blanket. She took out two silk cushion-like pillows, along with a thermos. She sat on the pillow before patting the other one as she opened the thermos, pouring the liquid into two porcelain tea cups. He sat down on the other cushion rather stiffly, stealing glances of her out the corner of her eye as he pretended to be gazing at the moon. A warm cup being placed in his hands brought him out of his thoughts. He took a sip, chuckling softly. Hot chocolate. Such a childish drink yet it suited her perfectly. They sat in silence for a bit, the only thing that could be heard was nature’s symphony and the soft hum of the small vintage radio she had sat up. 

“You know, I’ve always been interested in the moon and stars. When I was a little girl I’d sit there every night outside of my family’s cottage fascinated by them. When I got a bit older I was fascinated to learn about how they correlate with our existence. How we think, how we act, how we love. I think that’s what made me get into divination in the first place.” She turned to face him as she spoke, her eyes filled with pure adoration for her craft. It reminded him of when he first started to teach potions. He smiled contently, listening to her talk about divination. She was so expressive when she spoke, waving her hands around wildly, her body dancing gracefully. At some point he had to take the cup from her hands because she was spilling bits of coco on herself. That’s when she grabbed his hands. “You know, palmistry is one of my favorite forms of divination because of the endless combinations of lines and marks. Each person's hands tell a different story.” she analyzed the lines of his hands as she spoke, bringing them closer to her face. As she stroked and traced the different lines on his hands he spoke.

“Is that so? I’ll admit, divination was never my best subject. Do tell what’s present.” He said as he gave her his other hand as well. Despite always being a bit skeptical of divination, after hearing her speak so passionately, so sumptuous of the subject was slowly nestling a place in his heart beside hers. He watched as she bit her lip slightly as she gathered her thoughts.

“I apologize if I’m over stepping but this line,” she said tracing the line as she spoke, “Indicates that you will have a lot of struggles during your life. Especially when it comes to loving others. And this one here indicates you’re a lot more sensitive than you let on to be, you care deeply even when you don’t show it.” She smiled after that one, locking eyes with him. The ambiance had clearly shifted in the air. It was more of a somber, bittersweet feeling than before. To lighten the mood, she followed up with a bit of a joke. Or, so she thought it was. “And this one here means you’re in love with me.” she said, trying to remain with a straight face. (y/n) thought he’d give her one of his usual Severus responses. Oh how wrong she was.

“It appears divination is a lot more accurate than I once thought it to be.” He said, holding her hands back as he stroked her small calloused ones with his thumb. He looked up to be met with a wide set of eyes and a look of shock. He felt her hands warm up in his own as she took a dry swallow.

“I’m sorry Severus, am I hearing you correctly? Perhaps I’ve misunderstood you.” she said barely above a whisper. A quiet tone for Miss (L/n) was very uncommon in any situation. Instead of answering verbally, the raven hair man reached up removing the young woman’s glasses. He pulled her closer causing her to fall into his chest. He reached down, tilting her head up oh so delicately as if she’d fall apart if he moved even a tad bit rougher. They both mutually began to inch their lips closer together, eyes closing softly. Their lips danced a delicate and affectionate waltz that tasted of the hot chocolate they had moments ago. He wrapped his arms around her waist, settling his hands at the base of her spine. Her own hands held his face stroking his cheek lightly, his coldness meeting her warmness. They both pulled away from the kiss, resting their foreheads against each other.

He held her close for the remainder of their time together, his cloak wrapped around them both. Neither he or her uttered a word but that was the special thing about that night, neither one needed to in order to convey the deep and immense amount of appreciation they had for one another. Perhaps she was onto something, the moon and stars could not only tell about how we love, but help reveal who we loved as well.

[forever-rogue]

A Good Man - Part 3

A/N: Hi friends, so I have a confession to make. I am a liar, a dirty, filthy liar because I said this would be 3 parts. Yeah, no, it’s gonna be more than that. I’m aiming for 5. But you never know apparently. So! Enjoy part 3 :) As always, comments and feedback is welcome, and if you’d like to be tagged let me know! xx

Pairing: Professor! Javi x Reader

Word Count: 7.4k (oops?)

Warnings: yearning, oh so much yearning; sm**ches

A GOOD MAN ‘VERSE MASTERLIST

MASTERLIST

JAVIER MASTERLIST

»»————-　♡　————-««

Opening the brightly colored box of tea, you held it up to your nose and let the warm citrus and spice notes overwhelm your senses. Humming softly in content, you pulled out one of the sachets and delicately placed it into your favorite teacup, figuring that only the best would do. You read the back of the box, finishing just as the kettle started whistling on the stove top.

Grabbing it, you filled up your cup and made sure the bag was fully submerged, debating on adding just a drop of honey, but quickly decided against it and put the little bear shaped container back into the cupboard. Picking the cup up, you were planning on high tailing it back to your room, to avoid any sort of questioning from Sarah. She would surely be home at any time now, and you wanted to avoid any confrontation. 

"That's an impressive new collection of teas," her voice startled you so much that you almost sloshed the tea all over yourself. You had been so wrapped up in your preparation that you hadn't heard her come in at all...or she'd been extra quiet to try and catch you up to something, almost as if she could sense something was up.

"Yes," you gave her a dismissive look and made it a point to avoid her eyes as you tried to sweep past her.

You just knew she wouldn't let it go. No - that was not her style at all.

"These are all...uncommon," she commented and you swallowed the lump in your throat, "isn't that one tea shop in Austin the only place that sells this?"

"Huh, yeah, maybe so," you knew exactly where they were from. You'd paid the place a few visits yourself over the years; that's how you know the significance of the gift, "look, I've got a lot of homework to do, and this paper to finish up."

"When did you have time to go and get these?" you stopped dead in your tracks as you quickly tried to think of an excuse, a reason, somehow you could have gotten the teas without her knowing. And she knew damn well that you had been home all weekend, working away on various projects and your paper for Javier's class that you were determined to make perfect.

"It was a delivery," it was a quick lie, the first one that came to mind. You turned around and gave her a nonchalant shrug, "it was here when I got home a little bit ago. My mom sent them over, thought it was a nice treat."

"Your mom stopped over in Austin and sent them to you?" she could tell you were getting close to snapping, but was going to keep pushing and pushing until you broke, or she dragged the truth out of you, "and wrapped them with a ribbon? Where's the shipping box?"

"I threw it out already..."

Her hands were on her hips as she stared you down with a cocked eyebrow, your name rolling off of her tongue in an accusatory tone, "where did you get the teas?"

"Sarah, stop," you tried to be firm; resolute. Instead it sounded more like a plea than anything else, "it's nothing."

"If it's nothing, then tell me where you got these," her ocean gaze was searing as you let out a long breath and bowed your head slightly.

"Javi," you finally admitted, letting his nickname hang in the air for a few long, pregnant pauses, "they're from Javi."

"Holy shit," she said after a few moments, but all you could do was nod as you stared at your feet. It didn't sound so...normal when it was finally out in the air. Maybe you had both overstepped your boundaries. But, even if you did, you couldn't really find it in your heart to care, "he really likes you. Or he's got absolutely way too much free time on his hands."

"Should I not have accepted?" you felt silly, almost like a child getting scolded for doing something naughty. But you were both consenting adults, and neither of you had technically done anything wrong, "h-he had it waiting for me at my desk. I didn't know what else to do."

After the class had ended, and you'd spent the lecture basically staring at Javi and vice versa, you'd been determined to go and speak to him. But instead, your nerves had only increased as the time went on and you weren't even sure what to say, where to begin. Instead, you hastily packed up your bag and left along with everyone else, keeping yourself hidden in the zombie horde of other students. You'd felt guilty about it since, and hoped Javier wouldn't take offense...maybe he'd just think you had somewhere else to be right away.

"No, no, no babes," Sarah could practically hear the gears turning in your head as you thought of every negative outcome, every bad possibility, "that's not what I meant. I just meant that...obviously, there’s something to this all. Think about it - you don't just go out of your way like to keep up something special for someone you don't give a shit about. You know?"

"Yeah," you agreed as you set the cup down on the counter and ran a hand through your hair, "I know. It's just...I feel like that I like him...as more than a professor. Its definitely a crush, and I still barely know the man, but..."

"But you want to," she easily concluded as you groaned and threw your head back, staring at the ceiling as if you were begging it for answers, "there’s nothing wrong with that. You're just two people who happened to meet a certain way. Imagine if he was man that you'd met out one day, like a bookshop or while getting a coffee. You wouldn't be having reservations then, would you?"

"Most likely not."

"Then think of it that way," she insisted, stealing your cup and taking a sip of the sweet tea. She instantly made a face that suggested it was delicious, "just because he's a professor-"

"My professor!"

"Doesn't mean it has to be weird," she insisted, "in a few months he won't be your professor any more, and by the end of the school year you won't be a student anymore. Think of it like that."

"What if, and this is a big if, something were to happen between us, then what? He could lose his job," you couldn't think of doing that to him, no matter how much he didn't care about the position. It would never sit right with you, "I'm not...going to do that."

"Babes, nothing is going to happen," Sarah promised as she pushed the tea back towards you, "you don't even know his true feelings yet, although I believe my suspicions are correct. Talk to him, and see where it goes."

"I wish it was that simple," you took the mug and finally tasted the tea for yourself. It was divine; you wondered how carefully he'd chosen this particular kind, "I feel like I'm over complicating things."

"You are," she gently tapped your head and caused you both to laugh, "a classic over thinker...next time you see him, just go and talk to him. Everything will be fine."

"I could just call him," you murmured under your breath, more to yourself than anything else, but Sarah much have had supersonic hearing because her mouth had just about fallen to the floor.

"Excuse me?!"

"He...he gave me his number," your cheeks were surely a brilliant shade of crimson by now, feeling hotter than ever, "when I went to see him last week. He told me to call him if I needed help with my paper."

"Help with your...oh hell no," she was almost jumping with excitement at the revelation, "he totally didn't give you his number so you could call if you needed help. We all know exactly why he did it."

"Ummm...." you were at a loss for words, staring at the tea and the playing with the string attached to the sachet, "I guess not."

"Call him," she insisted firmly, "call him."

"Yeah?" you asked and she fervently nodded, her curls bouncing wildly. You bit the inside of your cheek as you slid off the stool and grabbed the tea, "maybe I will. But do not, and I mean this, do not listen in."

"Scout's honor," she gave you the three finger salute as you marched off to your bedroom, practically shaking with nerves at the possibility of calling Javier. Before you could close your bedroom door you heard her shout, "good luck!"

You could do this. You totally could. No if, ands, or buts about it. It was just going to be a friendly conversation ti thank him for the more than generous gift he had given. Right? Right.

Then why did you feel so damn nervous?

Your hands were practically shaking as you sat at your desk, pulling the phone towards you. Catching your reflection in the window, you let out a sigh at yourself and how panicked you looked, almost like a little deer caught in headlights. It was dark already, a small rainstorm had started earlier; the perfect environment for a cup of tea.

Picking up the receiver, you dialed Javier's number; you were almost embarrassed that you had it memorized it already, having repeated it to yourself so many times over the weekend. Pathetic, you bemoaned yourself, a pathetic girl with a silly little crush.

Once you dialed the number, you held the phone close to your ear waiting for baited breath to see if he would even answer. Maybe he didn't answer calls from unknown numbers. Maybe it could go to his voicemail. Would you even leave a voicemail? Should you? Should you have called from a blocked number? There were so many things spewing through your mind.

It rang and rang, seemingly endlessly, by just before you were about to hang up and let it go, he answered. His voice was still as warm and rich over the phone as it was in real life and a pleasant shiver ran down your spine as you listened to him say, "hello?"

"J-Javi? It's me," you said in almost a rush as you realized that he might not realize who me was. You sighed quietly as you said your name, wondering if you should cut your losses and hang up already.

"Hey," he seemed to relax slightly when he realized it was you, "how are you? Everything's okay, right?"

You tried not to grin from ear to ear at his question, mentally calming yourself down, "yeah, Javi, everything's fine. I just...wanted to thank you. For the tea. Its wonderful, truly, and I can only imagine the trouble you must have gone through to get it. I appreciate it, I'm drinking one actually, the citrus spice one, and its delicious."

"It was nothing," he promised but for some reason you couldn't help but think it was a lot more then that. It definitely was; if only you could have seen his face when he'd heard you say his name, "I just wanted to thank you."

"Whatever for?"

"Being the one student I've had in three years that gives a damn about the class," he said and you couldn't hold back your laugh. He liked that sound - he liked it a lot, "you don't know what it's like to go through this same bullshit all the time. Its nice to get a break from the routine, the norm."

"Thank you for helping me," it was weak trade off, but you were happy to give it to him. You were happy to listen to that warm, rich timbre any time, to watch those honeyed, syrupy eyes any time, "I appreciate you giving me your time. And I'm sorry for running out the way I did earlier.”

"Why?" he asked softly as he waited for your response with baited breath. He desperately hoped that he hadn’t scared you off for whatever reason, or come on too strongly, "why did you leave?"

"I wish I had a good answer for you," you cradled the receiver between your shoulder and ear, nervously twisting the cord between your fingers, "I got nervous. So I just left...I just...it wasn't you, or anything."

"Do I make you nervous?" Javi sounded almost...nervous himself. Worried? There was a quality to it that you hadn't heard before.

"No, not really," you admitted. It wasn’t Javi himself that made you nervous or anxious, it was all the ideas or possibilities or what could, of what this could turn into. You just hoped that you weren't about to make a fool out of yourself. How were you supposed to face the rest of the semester if you were completely wrong about this? You squeezed your eyes shut as you mulled over your next words carefully, trying to figure out what to say, "its just...I hope I'm not reading this wrong. Or making something out of nothing."

There was a sharp inhale of breath on the other side and you could just picture him, sitting at home, frustrated looked on his face. After a few moments of tense silence, you heard him again, "what do you think this is? What do you what it to be?"

"Javi..." you let his name hang in the air, trying to get your point across without needing to expand. Letting out a shaky breath you thought about just hanging up then and there. But no. You were already in too deep, "I...don't want to be just your student."

There was a tangible shift between the two of you as the air remained silent for some time. All you heard was a few shaky breathes on his end. You wished, desperately so, that you could see what was going on in his mind. Little did you know, Javier was sitting there, his stack of papers now long forgotten as he tried to retain his composure. He ran a hand over his tired face, almost wishing he hadn't asked, almost wishing you hasn't told him what he wanted to hear. This wasn't part of his plan. This wasn't how he was supposed to be a good man.

"Javi?" just when you couldn't handle the still, tension feeling hanging in the air, his name came out almost like a pathetic whimper.

"Are you free this weekend?" he blurted the question, not letting himself linger too much on it before he changed his mind, "maybe we could go and get a tea?"

A blush blossomed in your cheeks at his question, your stomach erupting in butterflies at the sheer concept of spending time with him outside of school. You realized you were nodding silently, before finding the proper words, "I'm free this weekend. I'd like that...a lot. Maybe we can even settle and get a coffee instead."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," you almost whispered into the phone. Your voice was so soft and quiet that almost weren’t sure anything came out. But then you heard a soft sigh, almost like a relieved breath on the other side. 

"Great," he couldn't believe that this was happening, couldn't believe that he was getting nervous over all of this, like a schoolboy. He’s been out with countless women in the past, seemingly nothing phased him, but here he was, genuinely terrified, but excited at the prospect of what could be. He bit his bottom lip before deciding to make sure his intentions were crystal clear, "then it's a date..."

"Yeah," you agreed, begging yourself not to sound too eager or excited, “it’s a date. How about Saturday around one? I can meet you at the old cafe near the other side of town? I forget the name, but it’s the only decent one in town and they’ve got pretty good coffee.”

“You’re sure you don’t want the tea?” he joked and you felt some of the tension and nerves subside. This would be fine, everything would be.

“Positive,” you promised, “we’ll get tea next time.”

Your promise of a next time, that you were confident enough to think this could go somewhere was enough to make him realize that maybe this wasn’t a horrible decision after all, “how does that sound?”

“I’ll see you then,” you twist the cord of the phone so tightly, trying not to completely freak out. You had a date with Javier Pena. Granted, it was only an afternoon meet up for coffee, but a date was a date, and he’d confirmed it, “have a good night, Javi.”

“You too,” how was his voice this dreamy? You could listen to it for hours and hours, even if he would have been recited the phone book to you. Hell, you practically did that in his class every week anyways. You couldn’t wait to hear it, with no restraints, no pressures from being in your roles as teacher and student. To get to see him, just him, as he was, “good night.”

Slowly, almost reluctantly, you put the receiver back in its cradle, leaned back and staring at the ceiling. Holy shit. You had actually just agreed to a date...with your professor. 

Before you could actually think too much about it, your bedroom door slammed open and Sarah burst in, ambushing you from behind and you squealing into your ear. Your face warmed up as you realized that she already knew.

“Sarah!” you moaned at her, trying to hide your face out of pure embarrassment, “I told you not to listen in on my call!”

“I didn’t listen to your call,” she insisted, “I just sat outside your door and listened to your end of the conversation. That’s not technically listening in on the call, because I didn’t hear his end of the conversation.”

“Of course,” you playfully nudged her, “you would find the one loophole.”

“What can I say?” she seemed very proud of herself indeed, “I’m a pro. But you! Can you believe? A date with a hot professor. What a dream!”

“Please,” you grabbed her arm and looked at her with wide eyes, “don’t so much as breath a word of this to anyone. I just don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea or anything.”

“I would never,” she promised, “your secret is safe with me, babes. But, I will expect a full report after your date.”

“Maybe...”

“I’m your best friend!” she pouted, “it’s girl code, practically the law!” 

“We’ll see...”

“You can’t bone the hottest professor on campus and not tell me!”

“SARAH.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

"Javier," Chucho shook his head at his son, watching as sweat dripped off of his face and neck. Javier spared him a quick glance, finishing up the fence post he was working on before wiping the sweat from his brow and catching his breath. He'd been helping his father to fix up his fence all afternoon, virtually wordless, but glad to be at his father's ranch again. Stevie had been ecstatic to come along, running around all afternoon and studying the various animals around the ranch and trying to play with them.

Javi had the day off, a rare occurrence these days, and decided to make the most of it, leaving early in the morning to make the several hour drive to Laredo. It had been some time since he'd seen his father, and he'd been itching to spend some time with him. He was completely breaking through every other one of his normal routines, why not do this as well? Despite being a man long grown, he still often turned to his father for his advice, and general comfort when be really he needed.

"What's up, Pops?" his hands went to his hips as Chucho came over and offered him a cold bottle of water.

"You've been working out here all day, barely said a word," he noted and Javi shrugged at his father's concern laced with all sorts of silent accusations, "are you going to come in and talk to me, mijo? Or are you just going to stay out here for the rest of evening?"

"I don't know what you're talking about papá," he wasn't even sure why he was lying to his father. He could read him like a book, almost better than anyone else. Chucho raised an eyebrow at him but shook his head, turning to go back inside. He beckoned for Javier to follow, which he begrudgingly did, feeling like he was a small boy again, about to be scolded for something or other.

"I made tamales," a little spring suddenly appeared in his step at the thought. He never bothered to cook extravagant meals or anything fancy for himself, so he was always glad to come home and get a warm, delicious meal, "your mama's recipe."

»»————-　♡　————-««

Javi piled his plate high with the delicious foods, gratefully accepting a cold beer from Chucho as he sat across the table from him. Before he could even get the first bite into his mouth before being interrupted.

"So, mijo, what's on your mind?" Javi groaned inwardly as he set his fork back down. He clasped his hands and rested his chin on them as he tried to figure how, and what, to tell him.

"Can't I just want to come and see you, papá,?" he asked with a noncommittal shrug as Chucho's brown eyed gaze remained fixated on him.

"Absolutely, you're always welcome," he answered, "but I am your father. I've known you since birth. I know when you've got something on your mind. Que pasa?"

"Papá,," he shoved a huge bite into his mouth and chewed on it, mulling over his words, "I'm just...I guess...thinking about things a lot lately."

"Colombia?"

"Sí," he swallowed his mouthful and slumped slightly in his seat, "there are times when it still hits me. At night, more than anything. I just can't help but think I could have done it all so much better. Cleaner. Less blood on my hands."

"What you did wasn't easy, mijo, it was never going to be," his tone was softer but Javier refused to acknowledge it. He'd gotten this speech at least ten times before from his father, and countless times from others, but it never made him feel better, "you did your best, you know that everyone knows that."

"I just can't help but think that things could have turned out differently," the image of Horacio Carillo killing the young boy, and countless others, without hesitation, directly in front of him were a frequent theme in his darkest dreams, "all those innocent lives that were wasted...when we were taking out Calí cartel, the wife of Franklin Jurado, you remember him right, she called me a piece of shit. She meant it, I could hear it in her voice. Sometimes I think she was right."

"You are not a piece of shit, Javier," Chucho insisted firmly, almost slamming his fist down on the table. He hated knowing that this was still plaguing his son, "you are a good man. You've done a lot of good for a lot of people. The work you did was good."

Javier scoffed at him at him as he just shook his head. He tried to be a good man, lord knows he was trying. But lately he was wondering how well he was doing that in the department, "it was a load of shit. We brought down Escobar and Calí for what? Just for more scumbags to come out and stake their claim? To show just how fucking corrupt our government and those in Colombia are? To show that that everything is completely fucked up and nothing will ever change? Yeah, I did that. It was good for a little while, soon it'll all go back to normal and nothing we ever did will matter."

"Javier," his head almost whipped up at the sound of his name, coming out so sharply from his father's mouth, "you didn't know better at the time, neither did Steve, or those two young ones you worked with in Calí. You did what you had to at the time. If you had known any different at the time, you would have it differently. You're a good man, Javi, you've always been a good boy mijito."

"I wish I could I see it that way," he took another bite, trying to get his father's words into his mind. He knew he was true, that he did his best with what he knew at the time. He always thought that the end justified the means, that sometimes in order to catch bad men you had to do bad things. But at the end of it all, he wondered if it all had been worth it. It had to be right? He had made a difference, he wanted to believe that his work wasn't for naught, "sometimes I wonder."

"Tell me, if you had know there was a different way to do things, would you have done it?"

"Of course," he nodded, taking a long drag from his beer as he wiped at his brow, "I would do whatever was best."

"Exactly," Chucho wished he could get his son to see him in the same light he saw him in. But he was hard, and he knew he could never truly know the full extent of Javier's inner torment, "there is no use ruminating on things that are in the past. You cannot change them now. You shouldn't dwell on things that are done. Your path is not behind you, it is in front of you."

"Lo sé," he agreed, finishing up the tamales on his plate and downing the rest of his beer. Even if he had a hard time believing what was he saying, it made him feel even minutely better, "it's just hard sometimes, you know?"

"I do," he agreed, "now tell, what else is on your mind? And don't tell me it's nothing, either."

Javi got up and grabbed his plate, bringing to the kitchen, rinsing it as he sat it down in the sink. He leaned against the counter as he contemplated getting himself another beer, but opted against it.

"I think..." gods, he felt like nothing more than an anxious child at this point, drumming his fingers along the aging counter top, "there's, well...I might have met someone."

"Oh?" this time Chucho almost gave himself whiplash as Javier refused to meet his eyes, instead focusing his attention on the floor, "a woman?"

"Sí," he answered.

"That's wonderful, mijo," the older man stood up and brought his own plate to the sink, and stood across from Javi. He put his hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze, "you deserve someone special. Especially after you'll been through. It would be nice to know that you have someone looking out for you."

"It's a little more complicated than that, papá," he'd already told him so much, he figured that he could probably just go on and tell him the whole truth. Nothing bad would come of...or at least he hoped it wouldn't.

"Please tell me she's not married..."

"No-"

"Is she pregnant?"

"No-"

"Then what's the problem, mijo?" Javier swallowed the nervous lump in his throat as he looked up and met the gaze of those wise, dark eyes.

"She's a student," he admitted, waiting for his father to yell at him, to freak out, or something. But instead, nothing came. Only a few moments of silence as Chucho waited for him to expand, "she's in one of my classes."

"What's the problem with that?"

"She's my student...she's younger..." he shrugged his shoulders, "it just feels off, I don't know."

"She's an adult, right?" he asked as Javier nodded, adding that she was a senior, "then what is the big deal? You're both consenting adults. Then there's nothing wrong with it. If you like her, Javi, and you think she's good for you, then go for it. Just keep a level head and do what's right. You know what to do son, your mama and I raised you right."

"You don't think I'm a horrible person for being interested in a student?"

"You're not the first and you won't be the last," he stated with a laugh, "what if you had met her at the grocery store or something? Would you be experiencing this  hesitation then?"

"No...not nearly as much anyway," he admitted. The age different might still have bugged him slightly, but he knew he could get over that, "I just don't want it to seem like I'm taking advantage of her because of my position or anything."

"She sounds like a smart girl-"

"How do you know?"

"She's interested in you, right?"

Javier snorted with laughter as light flush of color rose up in his golden cheeks. Leave it to his dad to be his best friend and biggest supporter. They'd butted heads numerous times over the years, but at the end of the day, Javier loved his father most of all.

"You've got a good head on your shoulders, son," he promised, giving him a gently nudge, "just be smart and make good choices. You always do."

"Papá," Javier let a small sigh as a smile worked it's way on his face, "gracias por todo."

»»————-　♡　————-««

You sat up, bolt right, trying to catch your breath, feeling impossibly hot, despite the chilly morning. Once you realized you were awake and in your own bedroom, you laid back down and staring at the ceiling. You'd just woken up from a dream starring Professor Peña and yourself in a very compromising situation; naturally though, your mind hadn't let you get to the best part, stopping just before you managed to get him stripped of clothing.

Groaning, you rolled over and glanced at your alarm, seeing that it was still much earlier than you would have liked.

Saturday morning had rolled around much sooner than you had expected, and your stomach was in absolute knots. Maybe you could still back out now?

But no - you wanted to do this. You wanted to see Javi.

Instead of talking yourself down, you slid your legs out of the bed and decided to spend the morning relaxing and taking the time to get ready and treating yourself to some much needed relaxation. You spied the outfit you had picked out the night before hanging from the back of your closet. You wondered if it was too much, or not enough...

It was a simple floral shift dress that you planned on pairing with a pair of your favorite chucks. It was still just warm enough it sport, despite being almost fall and you vowed to take advantage of the weather for as long as you could. The dress was innocent enough, bordering on too short and maybe slightly lower cut than it needed to be, but you liked it, and you hoped he would too. Not that it mattered...but still...the idea was nice.

Before changing your mind, or thinking too much about your decisions, you stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower, letting it get hot before jumping in and scrubbing yourself from head to toe. You just want everything to go well. This was really important to you for some reason or another.

»»————-　♡　————-««

When you arrived at the cafe, you were early, despite your best efforts not to be early. You hadn’t wanted to appear too eager, but your nerves had gotten the better of you, and found yourself out the door earlier than expected. You’d even walked, making the decent trek to the other part of town, hoping it would kill more time, but apparently there had been too much spring in your step, and you’d arrived with some time to kill. Instead of ordering your drink already, you’d walked to the back of the cozy cafe, sitting at a small table and pulling out the book you were currently reading - you always keep one in your bag for situations exactly like this. The weather had slowly shifted, and it now looked like it was about to rain; you cursed yourself for walking, but the euphoria of the moment really won over. 

You sighed lightly as you looked around, watching all sorts of different milling about, going about their days. It was calm here, quiet and cozy, just like you preferred. Turning your attention back to your books, you attempting to read the page you had last ended on...but it was proving to be a challenge, and you ended rereading the same sentence about ten times before finally getting the gist of it and moving on. 

You weren’t alone long however, but had gotten absorbed enough into the book that you hadn’t noticed Javier appear across the table from you. He reached over and gently tapped the spine of your book, captured your attention and startling you slightly. He had a smile grin on his face as he watched your eyes widen in surprise, quickly closing the book and slipping it back into your bag.

“Hi,” your voice was but a mere, breathy whisper as you tried your best not to let your cheeks flush too much, “I-I hope you weren’t trying to get my attention for too long. I didn’t even think my book was that interesting!”

“I just got here,” he admitted as he studied you, his dark eyes taking everything in, lingering for just a moment longer than necessary on your chest, something you didn’t think was too intentional. He looked good, more casual than when he was teaching but still almost unfairly handsome. He was sporting a pair of jeans that hugged him in the all the right places, accentuated nicely by the black button up with the rolled up sleeves. He wasn’t wearing glasses today, but he still looked....so good, “how long have you been here?”

“A little while,” you said sheepishly, “I got here a little early. I wasn’t waiting too long.”

“Good,” he jerked his head towards the counter, “come on - let’s go and order. You look very pretty.”

“I, ugh,” you were instantly stammering over your words, trying to remain cool and composed. Instead you found yourself spewing out, “you too.”

“You think I look pretty?” he teased, and half of you expected to be embarrassed, but instead you just rolled your eyes at him and gently shoved his shoulder. 

“You know what I meant,” you bemoaned him, as he laughed and nudged you towards the counter. The woman behind the counter glanced at the two of you for just a moment, eyes flicking between you and Javier before settling on him, and zoning in on him. You had no doubt her thoughts were immediately all consumed by him. You wanted to roll your eyes at her and her obvious attempted to capture his attention, but stopped yourself. He must get this all time; but if he did, he didn’t let it phase him, keeping his gaze trained on you instead. 

“What are you having?” she grabbed a pen to take your order, making the most obvious eyes at Javier, who just ignored and put his hand on the small of your back.

“I’ll just have a black coffee, a little bit of sugar,” he told her before looking at you, attempting to guess your order, “and she’ll have a coffee with cream and sugar.”

You looked up and shook your head lightly, “close, very close. An iced coffee with extra cream and raw sugar.”

“I was almost there,” he insisted as he reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet. You attempted to grab his hand to stop him, but he moved slightly out of your reach, shaking his head at you, and you decided not to argue with him, “I’ll have it right next time.”

Next time. You really liked the sound of that.

“Whatever you say, Javi,” you said in a sing-song voice as he handed the woman behind a twenty dollar bill and told her to keep the change. He followed you over to the pick up counter. 

“Extra cream?” he said as he watched your coffee being made. You stuck out your tongue and shrugged at him, “so you’re drinking some coffee with your milk, huh? And iced? Dios mio, you might as well stick to tea at this rate. This was not how coffee was intended to be consumed.”

You couldn’t help but burst into laughter at his mock tirade, watching his face shift through various expressions before your coffees were placed in front of you. Grabbing yours, you took a long sip and ended with an exaggerated ahh, “delicious. Better than that bitter bean water you’re drinking. Black? Do you hate yourself that much?”

“Not as much as you apparently hate yourself for drinking that poor excuse of a coffee. They would have roasted you in Colombia for that,” the last part slipped out before he could help, and he stiffened slightly, but you instantly relaxed when he noticed that you weren’t hung up on anything. You weren’t going to push him to talk about anything he didn’t want to; you’d already made that up in your mind a while ago

“That was a horrible joke,” you laughed as you slid back into your seat, and he took his place across from you. It was a small and intimate, a fireplace going somewhere near by, casting a light glow around the space and chasing away the chill from the cold, early fall day, “they would have roasted me? You should stick with your day job. And I’ll stick with my tea. I make a coffee exception once in a while, like today.”

“I don’t know how you do tea all the time,” he sighed dramatically, “I’ve been drinking that matcha I got in the mornings, but it’s just not the same.”

“You got matcha?” your eyes widened as you realized he’d taken your suggestion to heart. He took a long sip from his coffee and nodded, “it’s good though, right? Most tea is, just different from coffee. All the ones you got me are delicious...thank you for them, really. It’s such a thoughtful thing.”

“It was nothing,” he insisted, smiling so brightly that his dimple was on full display, “but I am glad you like them.”

“You should...try them sometime,” were you pushing the envelope too much? Did you really care? No, not really, “I-I have plenty, if you’re ever interested.”

“I’d be interested,” he said with a glint in his dark eyes, “I’d be very interested.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

Being with Javi was easy; fun to the point where you almost never felt awkward, fun to the point where you were almost laughing the entire time, not questioning if whatever you had said was dumb or too much. He was kind, much more open and relaxed than he ever appeared in the classroom, asking you all shorts of questions about yourself, and answering whatever you wanted to know about him. Within reason. You hadn’t really broached the subject of his time with the DEA in Colombia, and while you were naturally curious, you figured if he wanted to tell you, he would. 

But it didn’t deter from the lovely afternoon you were having. He was animated, using his hands as he talked, his dark eyes expressive and lively. You liked him, how normal and easy this all seemed. You only hoped that he felt the same way about you. Little did you know that he did; he liked you very, very much. He loved how passionate you got when you talked about things you liked, how you had a habit of tapping your chin when you were searching for a word or an answer, how your eyes crinkled in the corners when you laughed, how you leaned in closer to him, listening to him and making him feel you truly cared about what he had to say.

When he realized just how much he liked your smile, he knew he was fucked. So fucked. But then again - so were you.

The day had quickly turned to evening, and it was almost completely pitch back outside. You cursed yourself for deciding to walk, knowing it would be horrible to get home. But as soon as Javier realized that you didn’t have your car, he insisted on driving you back to your apartment. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer; and frankly, you would have been loath to turn down his offer because you wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. 

You gave him directions, he deemed you the worst copilot ever as you were horrible with directions, but eventually he found your place and pulled up front, turning off the car while the two of you remained in silence for a few minutes, neither of you wanting your time together to end. 

“Well,” you said finally, avoiding his eyes as you moved to open the car door, “I guess I better get going.”

“I can walk you inside,” it wasn’t a question, more like a subtle plea. Shifting in your seat, you found him watching you with a hopeful expression etched on his features. Biting your lip, something that Javier had noticed you had a tendency to do, you almost drove him crazy. If only you could see how beautiful you were. Nodding, you opened the door and stepped out, waiting for him to come to your side before walking in the direction of your apartment. 

Deliberately making each step as slow as possible, you could feel how warm he was as he walked alongside you. When you reached your front door, you sighed lightly, “well, this is me. Thank you for today...I had a really good time.”

“I did too,” he said gently, his eyes softer than you had ever seen him. You wished there was a way to convey to him just how much, how terribly much you had enjoyed his company, and how reluctant you were to say good night.

You watched each other for a few moments, feeling your heart race as neither of you made any move to leave. But then - suddenly - before you could fully process what was happening, Javier put his hand on either side of your face and crashed his lips onto yours, kissing you with intensity, a searing passion that you took your breath away. You wrapped your arms around his neck, carding a hand through his dark locks as his hands found purchase on your waist and pulled you close. 

His touch, his taste, his smell, everything combined in a way so delightful that you’d never experienced before; surely this was what sheer bliss was like. He felt perfect against you, there was no fumbling awkwardness, instead it felt like the two of you had been doing this forever. He break apart from you only when you were thoroughly breathless, feeling drunk off his kisses. 

Javier studied your face, your eyes wide and lightly swollen lips as he wondered if he’d just made a huge mistake. A million thoughts were running through his mind as he tried not to panic, and reminded him that surely, he couldn’t have read the signs all wrong. But when your expression slowly turned into a shy little smile, a warmth heating up your skin as you looked at him with the sweetest eyes, he knew he hadn’t made a mistake. He reached over you and brushed a stray lock of hair out of your face.

“Umm,” you breathed out as you rode out the euphoria of the best kiss you’d ever had, “I...wow. Javi...I had a great time today.”

“Me too,” he agreed, already beginning to miss the feel of your lips against his. He let out a small laugh, almost not believing his luck as he shoved his hands into his pockets, “I hope you have a good night, dulzura.”

“Good night, Javi,” you beamed at him as he slowly turned around to head back to his car, watching until he was just to make sure he was safe...and to admire the view of course. He gave you one last wave before you unlocked the door and stepped inside, leaning against the door and trying to calm yourself down. Despite your best efforts, a small squeal of delight pass through your lips. Bringing a hand to your lips and tapping your fingertips along them, you could tell they were plump and plush from all of his kisses. 

Holy shit. This had actually happened. This was all a reality.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Permanent Taglist: @secretsweetscollectionblog  @sheridans-dynamos   @rogerfxckingtaylor  @queenbbarnes  @persephonesnebula @spacedustmazzello  @queenlover05  @ah-callie  @blushingwueen  @thisis-theway @el-lizzie  @rosetophighlander  @rae-gar-targaryen    @hiscyarika  @readsalot73  @huliabitch  @ollyoxenfrees @coffeeandtodd  @beepbeepsephy  @gooddaykate  @scarlettwitcher  @nerdyknightwritersblog  @choicesarcade  @arrowswithwifi  @everythingaboutnothingstuff  @24kgolden  @suckerfor-fanfics  @bestintheparsec @pedrosdoll  @winters-buck @javihoney  @aeryntheofficial  @hail-doodles @engineeredfiction

AGM Taglist: @misslolasworld  @mrsparknuts  @siempre-pedro​  @domino-oh-damn​  @weasleywinchester​  @wickedfrsgrl​  @fioccodineveautunnale​ @wonder-jedi​ @zoogrl05​  @annathewitch​  @thinemineours​  @prettyjewel93​ @jawabear​

[aidanchaser]

Table of Contents beta’d by @ageofzero @magic713m @ccboomer @aubsenroute @somebodyswatson​

Chapter Fifteen The Heist

Luna Lovegood hated Hogwarts. Yes, she was in Ravenclaw, and yes, she loved learning, but school? School was where curiosity went to die in a long, slow, stretched out sentence.

For Luna, the transition from her family home, where her father had encouraged her explorations and experiments, to a place of high stone walls and demanding bells had been terrible for her, and she’d nearly quit after her first year.

Now she was glad that she had persisted, because school had one thing worthwhile: Ginny Weasley.

When Ginny had hexed those boys for calling her Loony, the stars in the dark night had burst into existence, and school had become not just bearable, but pleasant. Luna had skipped everywhere for the rest of the that week.

This year, however, there was no skipping. Even Herbology, one of Luna’s favourite subjects, was overcast by the horrid cloud that Snape and the Carrows left on the school.

At least Ginny and Neville were in Herbology with her. N.E.W.T.-level courses often combined sixth and seventh years, and Luna was glad to have her closest friends with her at least once a week.

They were currently repotting Venomous Tentacula, which involved lots of soothing whispers and gentle strokes to the stem and vines. Neville worked easily, and Luna did too, even humming a lullaby to her knot of vines as she transferred the plant into a larger pot and carefully aerated the soil.

“Ow!” Ginny hissed, drawing her hand away from her plant.

Luna patted one of her vines and paused her melody. “Did it bite you, Ginny?”

Ginny pressed her wounded hand to her mouth. “Just got me with its leaves. Bloody bastard hates me.”

“You have to be gentle,” she sang, and reached for a watering can.

“I am gentle!”

Luna giggled. Ginny could be gentle, but it was not her natural state by any stretch.

Once Luna had finished repotting her Tentacula, she moved to Ginny’s station to help her work.

“You have to be kind and patient.” Luna ran her fingers along one of the vines. “It’s a sensitive plant.”

Beneath Luna’s hands, the vines no longer lashed out with sharp, sudden outbursts of movement, but instead swayed in time to her humming.

“See?” Luna paused her song. “Now put your fertilizer in that pot.”

Professor Sprout praised them all for their hard work, and congratulated them for finishing the lesson without any bite accidents. “There’s usually at least one of you turned bright purple and on your way up to the hospital wing, but you all did excellent work today,” she beamed at them.

“Hospital wing’s full up anyway,” Hannah Abbott mumbled, just out of Sprout’s earshot, as she cleaned up her work station.

Hannah looked unusually wild today. Her thick plaits were uncharacteristically loose, and dirt streaked her cheeks. She wrestled her book into her bag with the sort of determination one might use when salvaging Snargaluff pods.

Neville reached across his station to hers and picked up her shovel and trowel. “Ernie will be fine,” he murmured, and returned her tools to the greenhouse shed.

Hannah tried and failed to regain control of her trembling lip, then hurried out of the greenhouse before Neville could come back.

It wasn’t just Ernie, who was recovering from a detention after he had called the Daily Prophet “rubbish” and added that he hoped Harry would show up at Hogwarts so he could “put Snape in his place.”

It was Parvati and Padma Patil, who had refused to attend Muggle Studies. Each night that they refused earned them a night of detention, until after three weeks both girls had become too ill to attend any of their classes.

It was Hugh Ward, who had defiantly announced to the boys in his Slytherin dormitory that he was a half-blood.

Luna didn’t know what curses the boys had used to try to punish Hugh for being so proud of his Muggle lineage, but he had been in the hospital wing all week. Luna had visited him, and the Patil twins. She made a point to visit anyone who had been in Dumbledore’s Army, because they were her friends.

On these visits, it was not uncommon for her to find Hannah, helping Madam Pomfrey change linens and administer medicine to those who needed it. Though Hannah never did any of the Charm work in the hospital wing, she watched closely each time Madam Pomfrey cast a spell.

Luna knew that Hannah wanted to become a Healer. Each time Luna visited the hospital wing, she thought about becoming a Healer, too. She liked caring for people, and she was taking enough N.E.W.T.s for it. But so much of Healing was urgent, and Luna had never done well with urgent.

“Must you always move so slowly?” Ginny snapped.

Luna frowned at her gloves as she packed them away. She much preferred the greenhouse to the castle and couldn’t understand why Ginny was so eager to get back. She’d much rather be down here with the fresh air than back with the Carrows.

“Come on,” Ginny whined, “I’m starved.”

Luna squeezed her Herbology textbook between her personal field guide and the thick tome for Transfiguration. With those three texts and her scaly Care of Magical Creatures book, her bag was nearly bursting at the seams.

“Why didn’t you eat breakfast?” Luna shouldered her heavy bag and hurried to the door where Ginny and Neville were waiting.

“I wasn’t hungry at breakfast.”

“Helen said she was sulking in the Owlery after a row with Harry,” Neville whispered, but not as quietly as he should have.

“We didn’t have a row! And anyway, don’t use his name. Someone might hear you.”

“Should we just call him You-Know-Who?” Neville asked with a grin.

Ginny shoved him, none too gently, and picked up her pace, leaving Neville and Luna trailing behind her.

Luna pursed her lips and looked up at Neville. There was something different about him this year, but Luna couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Did you grow taller over the summer?” she asked, and tried to gauge if she was looking up more than she had looked up last year.

“What? Oh — yeah, I did. Gran sent out for a whole new wardrobe.” He wrinkled his nose. “It was only like, an inch I think, but she insisted. I think it was her way of apologising that Mum and Dad were gone most of the summer.”

Luna tilted her head. “I suppose they work quite a lot.”

Neville laughed. “I haven’t seen much of them since… well, I guess since Voldemort came back. I mean, a meal here and there, but usually only one at a time.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not bad.” He adjusted his bag. “Their work’s important. And I’ve always had Gran around.”

Luna looked down at her hands. There was dirt under her nails, and she supposed she ought to clean up before lunch, but she liked when her hands were dirty. It reminded her of her mother, who had always smelled like earth and soot. It also reminded her of her father, whose fingers were often stained with ink.

“But you miss them.”

It wasn’t a question. Luna didn’t ask questions she already knew the answers to. There were plenty of other questions to be concerned with.

“What do you think we should call Harry?” she asked. “And I suppose we’ll need names for Ron and Hermione as well. Should we all have secret names? Like cats, perhaps? I should like to be Turnip.”

When she and Neville reached the castle, Ginny was waiting impatiently at the door.

“You both walk slow,” she complained, and stormed inside.

“My,” Luna said, “it must have been quite a bad fight with Parsnip.”

Neville frowned. “No, I don’t like that one.”

“Butterscotch?”

“Hmm…”

“Pickled Herring?”

“Must it be food?”

“I like Pickled Herring, because it sounds like him, but backwards.”

“I suppose.”

Luna waved goodbye to Neville and joined the Ravenclaw table. She sat next to a girl named Kim Sheringham, who Luna did not consider a friend, exactly, but they had lived together for the better part of six years, which might count for something to other people. It just didn’t count very much to Luna.

“Hi, Luna,” said Kim.

“Hello,” Luna said, but remained focused on her lunch

“How was Herbology?”

Luna hummed. “Warm. Pleasant.” She reached for the pitcher and poured herself a glass of water.

“Sounds nice. Listen, do you think you could do me a favour?”

Luna stared at Kim and took a sip from her cup. She waited for Kim to ask for what she really wanted.

Kim faltered, but she’d always been more keen on small talk than Luna. Finally, she said, “Could you tell Flitwick I’m not well? I need to review for the Muggle Studies exam tonight. Please, I just can’t keep all the Sacred Twenty-Eight straight. Just tell Flitwick I fell ill after lunch or something. Any excuse will do.”

Ravenclaws, as a rule, did not skip lessons — unless they had an exam to prepare for.

“I could review with you,” Luna offered, and pretended not to notice the way Kim’s brow furrowed.

“That’s alright, thanks. Just tell him I’m not well. He’ll believe whatever you say, you know.”

Now it was Luna’s turn to frown. She didn’t understand what Kim meant, but she didn’t get to ask because Kim was already leaving.

Luna finished her meal alone, still puzzling over Kim’s comment, and wandered to Charms by herself. She apologised to Flitwick for Kim’s absence, and promised to take notes for two. Flitwick readily accepted her vague excuse, and this only puzzled Luna more. How had Kim known that Flitwick would not press her?

She was distracted throughout class, but her notes were no less for it. She was not sure that they would help Kim — no one ever asked to borrow Luna’s colourful, pictographic notes — but Luna would not mind explaining them.

After Charms, Luna had a free period, while the Gryffindors took their Charms lesson. She passed Ginny and Neville outside Flitwick’s classroom door and smiled. Ginny grinned back, which worried Luna. It was not the sort of grin that suggested Ginny was truly in a better mood; it was Ginny’s mischievous grin.

Luna waited until she was in the library to check the Galleon in her pocket. She had not noticed it grow warm during her Charms lesson, but it must have, for there was a new date and time inscribed where the identification number would be. Tonight, an hour before Muggle Studies.

Whatever Ginny had planned would get them all into trouble, certainly, but Luna at least knew that it would be fun, and fun was in such short supply these days.

There was plenty of time between now and then, so Luna set about working on their personalised field guides for Herbology. She had started adding to it, not just for Herbology, but also for Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid was sweet, but Luna did not find him an adept professor. She could appreciate the practicality of his lessons, at least, but had started recording what she learned from their field experiments into her Herbology project. She enjoyed this sort of work, collecting information and organising it. And decorating it.

Professor Flitwick had suggested a career studying magical plants and animals, doing field work, exploring, traveling and notetaking, making discoveries. Luna liked the idea of it, but the way he had presented it sounded tedious. He had mentioned the Ministry and paperwork, almost as if he had been trying to put her off from the job. He had even suggested that she spend her summer reaching out to people at the Ministry to try some job-shadowing, but Luna had a hard time finding people in the Ministry that were not involved with either the Death Eaters, the Rotfang Conspiracy, or the Heliopath Army.

Was it not enough to simply wander?

Luna had never been good at purpose. It was one of the many things she had always admired about Ginny. Ginny had always known who she was and what she wanted. Luna, for all her appearances of self-assurance, wondered and doubted far more than anyone knew.

Luna finished her note about Fire Crabs in preparation for tomorrow’s lesson and waited for the ink to dry. She swung her legs back and forth and stared out of the large window. Neither of her parents had ever made a living on the things they were passionate about. They did things that were uninteresting to fund their curiosities. She wondered if she would end up doing the same.

With a sigh, Luna closed her field guide and headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. Again, she ate alone, but she watched Ginny talk with one of the girls from her dorm. Ginny’s smile was wide but empty, and she tapped her fork anxiously against her plate.

Neville sat alone, picking at his food, and Seamus and Lavender sat together, but they had more interest in the professors’ table than in each other.

Luna shook her head. Gryffindors were always so obvious. If the Carrows were even a little bit smarter, they might have known to be suspicious.

Neville left dinner first, and after an exact count of thirty, Ginny followed. The rest of the D.A. made their way out of the Great Hall in staggered exits. Some relied on a count of their own choosing. Some relied on waiting until a certain number of people had exited before they made their way to the seventh floor.

If Umbridge had taught them anything, it was how to avoid getting caught.

Luna waited until Michael Corner loudly announced that he was going to check on Padma, and trailed after him at her usual aimless pace. When he headed for the hospital wing, Luna went all the way back to Ravenclaw Tower, but instead of climbing the stairs, she slipped down another corridor to the Room of Requirement.

The Room no longer looked as it had for D.A. meetings. In fact, Luna thought it looked rather like a proper classroom. There were even stacks of reference books on some of the desks.

“I thought if anyone did walk in on us, it would look like we were studying,” Neville said, when he saw Luna’s curious glance.

She hummed thoughtfully. “You should ask it not to let anyone walk in on us.”

Neville looked surprised, then frowned and sank into one of the desks. He drummed his fingers thoughtfully.

Luna always appreciated the way Neville took her ideas seriously, rather than laughed at them, or dismissed them instantly, the way so many of her peers and professors did.

Padma and Parvati returned from the hospital wing with Michael, and a small crowd surrounded them, asking if they were alright. Hannah and Susan were notable outliers, clustered by themselves and whispering quietly. Ginny, too, stood alone, trying to count heads, and another girl in a green headscarf, someone Luna had not spoken to since those early days of the D.A., sat by herself.

Luna slipped into the desk beside Atalanta Shafiq. She smiled pleasantly.

“Hello. It’s Atalanta, isn’t it?”

The girl stared at her with large brown eyes. Luna thought she was in fourth year, the same Dennis Creevey would have been in.

“You’re Luna.”

Luna’s smile widened. “How did you know?”

“Everyone knows you. You’re one of the people who went to the Ministry with Potter two summers ago.”

“Oh, you mean Pickled Herring.”

Atalanta stared at Luna as if she had lost her mind, a look Luna was used to, though she hadn’t seen it in a while. She hadn’t spent much time with new people recently.

“You’re friends with Hugh, aren’t you?” Luna asked her.

Atalanta nodded. “I know you visit him. How is he?”

“Oh — he’s well. Don’t you see him yourself?”

The girl turned to stare straight ahead. Her face was hard and her voice tight. “He asked me to stop coming. As if everyone doesn’t already know we’re friends — as if he has anyone else to bring him notes —” She broke off abruptly and her nostrils flared. “Everyone knows we were friends with the Creeveys anyway. My lineage doesn’t protect me as much as he thinks it does.”

“It sounds like he cares about you.” Luna hummed. “But you seem like someone who can take care of yourself. It’s okay for both of those things to be true, you know.”

Atalanta did not say anything. Luna appreciated the way the girl considered her words. It was like watching someone put together a puzzle, and Luna loved puzzles.

The door opened and closed one last time for Pearl Lais and Ginny announced, “I think that’s everyone. Let’s get started.”

All conversations ceased as she spoke. Ginny commanded a room with more ease than Harry had. Luna could not help but smile dreamily.

“So as you all know, tonight we have an exam for Muggle Studies.”

“I won’t take it,” Zacharias Smith announced loudly.

“And we fully plan to resume our protest,” Parvati added, voice defiant. Padma looked less confident, but she nodded when Parvati looked at her.

“Standing outside the Muggle Studies classroom is great,” Neville said, “but if we could do something more coordinated and subversive, we might be able to get more students on our side, and you wouldn’t have to go to detention.”

Padma raised an eyebrow. “You have something planned that won’t get us in trouble?”

“As long as we don’t get caught,” Ginny grinned. “I heard Snape threatened to take your Prefect badge. Your protest has been great, but it’s not worth that. We need people like you in charge as much as possible. Let me show you what we have in mind. It’s so easy, even Neville could do it.”

Neville did not look upset by the remark in the least, and pulled a stack of loose parchment from the desk at the front of the classroom. He began passing it out.

“It’s partly a Muggle-trick,” he said, “so it’s perfect for Muggle Studies.”

“There’s a bit of Charm, of course,” Ginny said, “to make it more interesting.”

Ginny and Neville explained the procedure of the prank to the members of Dumbledore’s Army. Everyone had several sheets to practice with, but Luna took to it right away. She found it a rather endearing bit of spellwork, but she knew that Alecto Carrow would hate it. Still, it was a harmless and funny prank. Even if they did get caught, the punishment couldn’t be too severe.

As Luna finished folding her third sheet of parchment, just for something to do with her hands, Ginny slid into the desk next to her.

“Hey,” she said, “I have a special job for you.”

Luna looked up from her parchment as Ginny pressed a small bottle into her hands.

“Neville got that from Herbology today. Can you smear it into Carrow’s book before the exam?”

Luna held up the colourless vial. “Should I wear dragonhide gloves?”

“No, it has to be ingested. Just the corners of the pages will do.”

“How will I get the book?”

“Just ask her for it. Say you need to check your notes or something. She’ll believe whatever you tell her.”

Luna stared into Ginny’s deep brown eyes. “Why?”

“You have an honest face. If I ask, she’ll know something’s up.”

Luna wasn’t sure what it meant that she had an, “honest face,” but it was the nicest compliment Ginny had given her all year, so she took it and pressed it into her memory like she pressed flowers into her field guide.

“I should go now, then,” she said. “So I’ll have time.”

“Don’t worry about getting caught,” Ginny said. “I’ve got something else planned and she’ll probably single me out for the whole thing.”

Luna didn’t mean to smile, but she did. “I would be honoured to have detention with you,” and she punctuated her statement with a curtsy. Ginny laughed, and it made whatever punishments Luna might receive for smearing poison into Alecto Carrow’s book worth it.

As Ginny had predicted, Professor Carrow did not suspect anything was amiss when Luna arrived at her office early and asked to check her notes against the enormous tome that she read out of during their lessons. She muttered something about Ravenclaws and perfectionism, then left Luna at a desk with her notes and the book.

Carefully, Luna dabbed some of the poison onto her finger and smeared it onto the upper right corners of each page. She pretended to skim some of the pages, and even made a few marks into her own notes to sell the lie, but she wondered if she even needed to. Professor Carrow hardly paid her any mind.

When she had finished, she thanked Professor Carrow, and waited until she was alone in the hallway to wipe her hands clean.

All students were required to take Muggle Studies, and the curriculum was entirely new, so everyone, from first year to seventh, took it together in the Great Hall three evenings a week. Luna found it slightly more entertaining than History of Magic, because while Professor Carrow could drone on much like Professor Binns, Carrow at least took questions, and Luna loved when her friends asked questions.

In their very first class, Neville had challenged every line of Professor Carrow’s reading. She had snappishly asked for his lineage not twenty minutes into class. With a wide grin, Neville had said, “Longbottom and Fawley.”

The other day, Ginny had asked Professor Carrow why they weren’t going to evaluate the Carrow family tree the way they had the Bones family. Professor Carrow had turned red and Luna had expected her to hex Ginny then and there.

Luna had not asked any questions yet, though she had, at one point, raised her hand to point out that it was unfair to accuse Muggles of being liars and cheats when Thicknesse was a continuation of Scrimgeour’s evil plot to bring down the Ministry through the horrors of gum disease. The other students had laughed, and Professor Carrow had given her a condescending smile.

“How could the Ministry allow such plots to happen right under their nose?” Professor Carrow had asked with a sickly smile.

“Same way they allowed Death Eaters to infiltrate and Voldemort to take over,” Neville had said loudly, and he’d gotten a week of detention.

The dining tables were removed from the Great Hall each night of Muggle Studies and were replaced with rows of desks. Students sat by year and by house, so Luna took a seat near the back of one of the Ravenclaw aisles. She thought it was a good thing that the D.A. was largely composed of upper-years. Professor Carrow would be less likely to notice them folding up their exams.

The Great Hall was quiet as students worked on their exams. Quills scratched against parchment and occasionally Luna heard the sound of a page turning as Professor Carrow licked her finger and turned the page of her heavy tome.

As she folded up her exam just like they had practiced in the Room of Requirement, Luna watched Professor Carrow closely. The woman coughed after five pages and reached for her tea. After ten pages, she rubbed her throat and finished her drink. By the fifteenth page, her cheeks were already flushed purple and she looked uncomfortable.

“Professor!” Ginny shouted. She didn’t need to shout, since the hall was as silent as O.W.L.s had been, but as her voice echoed, every head turned to her.

She had her hand stretched as high as she could and she bounced anxiously. “Professor!”

Professor Carrow stood from her desk and frowned down at Ginny. “This is an exam, girl. Be quiet.”

“It’s an emergency, Professor. Can I go? I’ll only be a minute.”

Professor Carrow’s mouth lifted in a sneer. “No.”

“Please, Professor? I mean, I’ll use my exam if I have to, but —”

Laughter rippled across the hall and Ginny grinned.

“Make it quick!” Carrow snapped at her, and Ginny sprinted from the hall.

She really was gone only a minute — both Luna and Professor Carrow counted — and Luna wondered what she possibly could have accomplished during that time.

Ginny maintained an appearance of studiousness as she returned to her exam, and Professor Carrow returned to her book. She rubbed her throat again and looked at her empty tea cup. She snapped her fingers impatiently. A house-elf appeared with a pop and poured her a fresh cup, then vanished just as quickly.

Luna forgot all about the clusters of parchment that decorated her desk. Her focus was wholly on Professor Carrow as the woman inspected the cup of tea. She sniffed it, tapped her wand against it, took a small sip, and seemed satisfied. She finished the cup and went back to her book.

Luna kept watching, and it was another seven pages before Professor Carrow licked her finger and paused. She looked at her hand, at the book, and then directly at Luna. Luna tried to shrink into her seat.

Carrow got to her feet and started down the aisle of Ravenclaw desks with a look of fury that might have cowed a dragon. Luna, however, was spared immediate consequences by a squeak that began on the Gryffindor side of the room, followed closely by a squeak from the Hufflepuff aisle.

Hastily, Luna Animated the collection of parchment mice that she had so carefully constructed during the exam. They joined the chorus of mice that now filled the hall, leaping off of desks and scampering towards Professor Carrow.

Luna didn’t think Professor Carrow was a woman who feared mice, but it at least startled her, and it certainly upset several of the other students, who screamed as the parchment creations scurried over their feet and onto their desks. Students leapt up onto chairs and desks, and the entire hall descended into chaos.

It was impossible to tell, as Ginny and Neville had probably planned, where the mice had come from. Carrow pointed her wand at the ones nearest to her, and they went up in flames, but they were quickly replaced with more. Some tried to climb her skirt while others scampered across the room, nibbling on exams and tearing every piece of parchment to shreds.

“Everyone out!” Carrow snapped, crushing one of the mice under her heel. “Orderly!” she added as a few of the more skittish students bolted for the door.

But even those that ran reached a wall of students who had, for some reason, stalled in the doorway of the Great Hall.

“What now?” Carrow elbowed her way to the front, and Luna stood on her tiptoes to peer over Draco Malfoy’s shoulder. She saw a message painted on the floor of the entrance hall in bright red, impossible to miss.

DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY: NOW RECRUITING

Professor Carrow tried to vanish the mess, but it sparked with fireworks and she leapt backwards. A pair of first years stared in awe. A few upper years laughed.

“Weasley!” Carrow snapped, and a few of the older students waited for the inevitable joke of, “Which one?” before realising that Ginny was the only Weasley left at Hogwarts.

Ginny leaned against the pillar that framed the door into the Great Hall. She smiled at Carrow. “Yes, Professor?”

Professor Carrow lifted her wand. “You’ll get more than detention, brat —”

“Say, Professor,” Ginny said, “you’ve got a little something on your —” Ginny gestured to her face, then paused and gestured to Carrow’s hands, “well — everywhere.”

Professor Carrow looked down at her hands, now bright purple.

“That looks like Venomous Tentacula poison,” said Neville. “You ought to be careful around the greenhouses, Professor.”

Carrow whipped around and aimed her wand at Neville, then searched the crowd for Luna. “You,” she snapped.

Luna raised her eyebrows.

“What’s your name?”

“Lovegood,” Luna said, before it had even occurred to her to lie.

Carrow ran her tongue across her teeth. “Lovegood? Your father runs The Quibbler?”

“Er — yes, Professor.”

“You and Weasley, to the Headmaster Snape’s office immediately.”

Luna started for the stairs, but Ginny folded her arms over her chest and refused to move.

“Weasley!”

“Snape isn’t Headmaster.”

“I’ve had just about enough of you. Pureblooded or not —”

“Last week you called me a blood traitor, but this week you’re suddenly all concerned with —”

“Imperio.”

Luna watched, horrified, as Ginny’s posture relaxed and her dark eyes widened.

“Stop!” Luna cried, which, futile as it was, at least provided cover as Neville drew his wand.

“Stupefy!” Neville shouted, and Professor Carrow fell backwards, sprawled over Ginny’s message on the floor.

A few of the students cheered and footsteps thundered down the stairs.

Amycus Carrow and Argus Filch shoved their way through the crowd of students. They took in the mess of paint on the floor, the unconscious and purple professor, and Neville with his wand drawn.

“What did you do, you filthy brat!” Amycus snarled.

“She was only Stunned,” Seamus Finnigan shouted. “Seemed fair since she was using a bloody Unforgivable!”

“Another week of detention then?” Neville asked, with more bravery than Luna thought anyone should have, considering how many detentions had landed students in the infirmary.

“No, I think your punishment should be a bit more public and swift —”

“Professor?” Malfoy interrupted. He grabbed Luna’s arm and pulled her forward. His Head Boy badge glinted in the candlelight. “Professor Carrow was just about to take Lovegood and Weasley up to the Headmaster’s office. Shall I help you escort them?”

Amycus Carrow did not do well with being interrupted. It was a challenge for him to hold so many thoughts in his head at once.

“Lovegood and Weasley?”

“Yes, sir. They’re responsible for this mess, too. Pansy can help Professor Carrow, here, and I’ll help you get this lot to Professor Snape.”

Luna did not fight Malfoy’s tight grip on her arm as he took her to Snape’s office, not the way Ginny pushed and pulled on Amycus as he dragged her up the stairs. Neville, too, was more docile in Filch’s grip, and he eyed Malfoy suspiciously.

Carrow announced the password, “Asphodel,” and the gargoyle that guarded the stairs to the Headmaster’s office parted with ease.

Luna was so rarely angry. Anger was a concept, something she witnessed in others, and maybe glimpsed in herself the way she could glimpse the edge of the Black Lake on a clear day. She did not feel true anger very often, but as she was pulled up to the Headmaster’s office, it rose in her chest with each step.

It was horribly unfair of Hogwarts, who had denied Umbridge access to the Headmaster’s office, to allow Snape control over it, when Snape was the very one who had killed Dumbledore.

Luna tried to swallow down her anger, but it refused to budge. She hated Hogwarts.

Carrow pounded his fist on the heavy oak door at the top of the stairs and pushed it open.

The Headmaster’s office was different from what Luna remembered. She’d only seen it once before, but she had adored it. There had been so many trinkets bobbing and whizzing about; it had been full of noise and life. It had reminded her of her mother’s office.

Now, however, it was cold and empty, with nothing but a Pensieve in a corner and a desk stacked with parchment. Fawkes’ perch remained, but was empty, and behind the Headmaster’s desk were the frames of all the previous Headmasters, including Dumbledore, fast asleep. She looked away, and settled on Snape’s face. As much as she disliked Snape, looking at him hurt less than looking at Dumbledore’s portrait.

Snape, seated at the Headmaster’s desk, kept his eyes on what looked to Luna like a letter.

“No, please, come right in,” he drawled. “I’m not busy or anything.”

“These students cursed Alecto,” Amycus said. “Stunned her right in the entrance hall.”

“They had nothing to do with it!” Neville snapped. “I Stunned her because she used an Unforgivable on Ginny! It was just me!”

With an eerie amount of care, Snape set the letter aside and finally looked at the group that had invaded his office. His face had no more displeasure than it usually did as he looked at each of them.

“Then give Longbottom a detention,” he finally said to Carrow. “Five feet of lines reading, ‘I will not hex my professors’ ought to do it.”

Luna could not tell if Snape was serious. Amycus appeared to be having the same problem. His jaw worked fruitlessly before he finally sputtered, “That’s it?”

Snape stood. “What would you like me to do? Expel him and send him back to his Dumbledore-fanatic parents? You’re in charge of discipline, Carrow. So discipline them. Can’t you control a few children?” He opened a cabinet and pulled out a cloak. “I have business off of the grounds tonight. I expect that this will be dealt with by the time I return.”

Snape held the door open for them, and Carrow reluctantly led them back down to the corridor. Snape swept past them, dark cloak billowing the way it had as he had paced the aisles during his Potions lessons, and disappeared down the stairs.

Carrow watched him go, a hard look on his face. “Are the dungeons ready, Filch?”

“Oiled the hinges this morning, sir,” Filch said. “Haven’t put the chains back in yet —”

“It’ll do for now.”

Ginny’s thrashing did not hinder Carrow in the slightest as he, Filch, and Malfoy took the three of them downstairs into the dungeons. Their wands were set on a nearby shelf, tauntingly visible but well out of reach, and then the three were left alone until Carrow could come up with something more creative.

“Did you see it?” Neville’s voice was steady, and he leaned almost comfortably against the stone wall.

The iron-wrought bars rattled as Ginny kicked them, but they did not budge. “Of course I saw it. We ought to go for it now, while Snape’s gone.”

Luna eyed a trickle of water that slid from the ceiling and into a small puddle on the floor. She wondered if it came from the Black Lake or a leaky pipe. “What did you notice?” she asked.

“The Sword of Godric Gryffindor,” Ginny said. “Didn’t you see it hanging under Dumbledore’s portrait?”

“Oh. Is it important?”

“Dumbledore left it to Harry,” Neville said. “He needs it. I don’t know how we could get it to him, though.”

“I can talk to him,” Ginny said. “If we could just get out of here —” She kicked again, but the bars did not budge under her assault.

“We aren’t getting out of here.” Neville retrieved a worn piece of parchment and a golden feather from his pocket. He searched for a dry spot on the floor and unfolded the old parchment. “But we can make a plan. Halloween would be good, when everyone’s at the feast.”

Ginny gave the bars one more kick for good measure, then joined Neville on the floor.

Neville pressed the tip of the feather to the parchment like a quill and said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

—————————— ✶✶✶ ���—————————

Ginny was forced to scrub the entrance hall clean until there was no trace of her graffiti, and students could see their reflection in the polished floor. It took her the better part of three full weeks and her hands were blistered and cracked when she was finished.

Luna spent every night reading out loud from Alecto Carrow’s horrible book, and if she faltered or hesitated in any way, she earned a welt and had to start over. It went on for two weeks.

Neville was left in the dungeons for a week, and did not appear for lessons nor meals. He said nothing about what happened to him, but he flinched when Seamus clapped him on the shoulder at his first meal back.

It wasn’t even an hour later that Susan approached Neville and asked what the revenge plan was. Neville told her to keep her head down until the Halloween feast.

To an outsider, it might have appeared that the Carrows had won. Muggle Studies lessons passed without incident. There were small protests in Dark Arts, but nothing more dramatic than civil disobedience. It was quiet at Hogwarts, until Halloween.

They started small. Seamus and Parvati slipped some of the Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes Exploding Whizz-Bangs into the eggs at breakfast with a Switching Spell. After the chaos of breakfast, Alecto Carrow promised to hold the entire school for an extra hour of Muggle Studies that evening if no one confessed or gave up the perpetrator.

No one said a word.

Lavender took the leaflets from the Daily Prophet with Harry’s face and the bounty and modified them. Instead of “Undesirable No 1” the leaflet read, “Desirable Chosen 1” which was enough of a change to get their point across. She lamented that Dean could have done better, but the rest of the D.A. praised her work.

The leaflets were blown up to twice their size and pasted into windows all across the castle, with the help of everyone in the D.A. Every common room, from Gryffindor to Slytherin, was plastered with Harry’s face.

By lunch, the Carrows were scorching walls left and right, and Atalanta Shafiq told everyone that the Carrows had accidentally blasted a hole through the Slytherin Common room right into the Black Lake and flooded the dormitories.

Neville’s job was an unfortunate one, but he took it with grace. He waited until lunch was nearly over, then shouted at Crabbe and asked, “I know you said you’re a pureblood, but isn’t there a bit of troll in your tree? Was it on your mother or father’s side?”

Crabbe threw a hex that sent Neville flying five feet backwards and when he got up, he was puking up something slimy. Hannah escorted him to the hospital wing.

Ginny’s role for the day revolved around being as suspicious as possible without getting into real trouble. She ducked through hidden corridors. She paused to fiddle with her bag or her shoes. Luna stayed close with her for most of it, until after Transfiguration, they ducked out of Amycus’ careful watch by slipping into Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.

Demelza was waiting for them. “Ready?” she asked.

Ginny nodded and plucked out a strand of her hair.

Luna left the bathroom with Demelza, but Amycus Carrow saw exactly what he expected to see: Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley heading down to the Halloween feast.

Luna watched Demelza sit next to Helen Donoghue and engage Helen as easily as if she really were Ginny. Amycus stood at the door, eyes intent on Ginny. Luna could not help but smile, despite her trepidation at her own task.

She ate slowly, unsure how full her stomach ought to be. She looked at the professors and bit her tongue when she noticed that Snape was missing. Their plan hinged on Snape being out of his office.

Well, it was too late for them to change course now. Neville was waiting for her in the hospital wing, and Ginny was probably already hiding out by the Headmaster’s office.

Luna took a deep breath, pulled the bright yellow half of a Fainting Fancy from her pocket, and swallowed.

She woke with a headache in a corridor not far from the hospital wing with Neville and Michael Corner leaning over her. She licked her lips and tried to swallow down the spiced pepper flavour that seemed stuck to her tongue. She decided that she didn’t care for the second half of those Fainting Fancies.

“Are you alright?” Michael asked her.

Luna sat up and rubbed her throbbing head. “I fell,” she said.

“I tried to catch you. You should have warned me when you were going to do it.”

“It’s alright,” Neville said.

Luna gagged. His breath smelled like Porlock dung.

“You’d better get back to the feast,” Neville told Michael. “The less time you’re with us, the better it’ll look for you.”

“Are you alright?” Luna asked Neville as Michael hurried back to the Great Hall.

Neville grimaced. “I was hoping for boils. Madam Pomfrey says I’ll be tasting acid for a week, but she was at least able to stop the puking, so we can go ahead with the plan. Everything seems to be going well so far.”

“Oh… there is one thing…”

Luna told him that she had not seen Snape at the feast. Neville checked the map while they walked.

“I don’t see him at all,” Neville frowned. He ran his finger across the Marauder’s Map. “Oh — he’s just arrived at the gates. What do you think he left for?”

“Perhaps he’s joined a league of vampires. Halloween is a special holiday for them.”

“Then I guess we’d better hurry up before he finds us and drinks our blood.” Neville squinted at the map. “You catch up with Ginny. I have an idea. Peeves is just around the corner and if he can stall…”

Neville was still talking as he disappeared behind a tapestry of Mordicus Egg cooking over an open fire. Luna paused to watch the heavy tapestry resettle in Neville’s wake. The threads of the flames seemed alive as they rippled back and forth, until finally the tapestry stilled.

She skipped on ahead to the gargoyle at the end of the corridor. She spun around once in a circle, and did not see Ginny. So she spun again, and this time Ginny stepped out from behind a suit of armor.

“How’s Demelza doing?” Ginny asked.

“She’s very good at being you,” Luna said, then said, “Asphodel,” to the statue. It stepped aside easily and Luna hummed. “I really thought he would have changed it.”

“It’s a good thing he didn’t. Where’s Neville?”

“He said to go on without him.”

Ginny was already halfway up the stairs. “Alohomora,” she said, and the lock on the office door clicked open. She shoved the heavy door with her shoulder.

Ginny ran in for the sword, and Luna listened at the door. While she listened, her eyes roved over the portraits. Their oily eyes were fixed on Ginny as she lifted the Sword of Godric Gryffindor from its display.

“Breaking and entering!” one portrait shouted. “In the Headmaster’s office!”

“Put that sword back, child,” Dilys Derwent said in a kinder voice. “I’m sure you mean well, but —”

“Thievery!” Phineas Nigellus Black shrieked at her. “Unheard of! In my time —”

“Treachery!” one woman with a thick wand shouted.

“You’re the traitors!” Ginny shouted back at them. “Letting Snape in here — helping him — and after what he did to Dumbledore!”

She broke off and stared at Dumbledore’s portrait. It’s gold frame glistened, and the impression of Dumbledore stared back at her, as still and as unmoving as any Muggle portrait.

Luna abandoned her post at the door and came to Ginny’s side. She stared at Dumbledore’s portrait and felt her heart grow heavy, the way it did each time she passed her mother’s office in the basement of their family home.

“Ginny,” she whispered, “we should go. You can’t argue with what’s been done.”

“It isn’t fair.” Ginny turned her fierce glare on all the portraits, then back onto Dumbledore’s still portrait. “You know what the sword is for, what it can do. Tell them.”

The portrait did not so much as blink at her.

“Ginny.” Luna tugged on her arm.

Ginny’s lower lip trembled, and she turned away from Dumbledore’s portrait. Luna pulled her towards the door, but froze on the first step.

Ginny heard it too — footsteps coming up for them.

They backed into the office, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run as Snape and the Carrows burst into the office. Ginny brandished the sword as she might a wand for a duel. Luna did not have time to reach for her wand as Amycus Carrow thrust Neville at her. He fell into her and she staggered under his weight.

“You two,” Alecto Carrow sneered, “are supposed to be in the hospital wing.”

“Oh, but I feel much better,” Luna said. Neville only groaned.

“How’d you find us?” Ginny snapped.

“Hogwarts is a castle filled with portraits, Miss Weasley. I think you can figure out the rest.” Snape waved his wand and Ginny jumped as if the sword had burned her. It clattered to the ground and she clutched her hand to her chest.

“I thought,” Snape drawled, “I asked you two to control these children.”

“We did —” Amycus protested. “We have — she was just in the Hall, I swear.”

“I think a detention in the Forbidden Forest ought to teach them a lesson or two. Every night for the next week. From sundown to midnight.”

Luna tipped her head to one side. “But —”

Ginny squeezed her wrist and she stopped talking.

But that meant they would be with Hagrid instead of at Muggle Studies lessons. She wondered if Snape just didn’t realise when Muggle Studies lessons were. Did he think they were during normal lesson hours?

“And what if they try it again?” the Carrows asked.

Snape removed his cloak and pulled out a smudged piece of parchment from his pocket. “I expect you’ll prevent them from trying again.” He glanced at the sword on the floor. “I’ll have it removed from Hogwarts, then this will no longer be a problem.”

As he tucked the parchment into a book on his desk, Luna was certain that the smudge of ink was actually a small black pawprint. She supposed if Snape was a vampire, he must have a familiar by now.

Snape took a seat at his desk and surveyed the small crowd in his office. “Well? Is there a reason you’re all still here?”

The Carrows shoved Ginny towards the door, and Luna helped Neville limp down the stairs.

“Yes, I know,” she heard Snape say as the door closed. “I can have a duplicate ready in days.”

And as the latch on the door clicked, Luna thought that she heard the familiar rumble of Dumbledore’s voice.

—————————— ✶✶✶ ——————————

It was midnight, but no one was keen on heading back to the castle just yet. Ginny sat down in the grass and leaned against one of the trees on the edge of the forest, still in view of Hagrid’s hut, but away from where Neville was helping Hagrid pick Moondew for Madam Rosmerta’s Butterbeer.

Luna crouched down beside her.

“Do you think the Carrows will come and collect us?” Ginny asked. “Or could we stay out here all night?”

Luna ran her hand over the trunk of the tree. She loved the transition from the soft moss to the rough bark and back again.

“It’s just so empty in the common room,” Ginny said. “Is it like that in Ravenclaw?”

Luna crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. She thought for a moment. “A bit. Terry Boot never came back. Mandy checks for his name in the paper every day. Anthony Goldstein wasn’t a Muggle-born, but his family left for Canada after Dumbledore’s funeral, and they don’t plan to come back any time soon.” She plucked a small dandelion flower from the grass by her knee. “I expect it’s worst in Hufflepuff.”

Ginny folded her arms over her chest and looked up at the stars over Hagrid’s hut. “I miss him, Luna. I miss him so much, but when we talk it’s like he isn’t there. And I — I know you probably don’t want to hear it — I’m sorry — but I don’t know that I have anyone else —”

Luna reached for another dandelion and folded the stems into the beginning of a flower chain. “I will never take half of you,” Luna said, “and I don’t believe that you are one to give halves.”

Ginny’s laugh was sad. It made Luna’s chest ache. She leaned against Ginny and continued working on her flower chain.

They sat in silence, until nearly two, when Hagrid insisted they return to their bunks.

“I’ll walk yeh ter the castle,” he said, “but don’ let Filch catch you on your way up.”

Neville waved the map. “We’ll be alright. As long as any portraits don’t get involved.”

Luna tied off the flower chain into a crown and stood. She spun in a circle and dropped the circlet on Ginny’s head. “Up we go,” she said, holding her hand out to Ginny.

Ginny took it. “Thanks, Luna.”

Luna smiled. She pulled Ginny along and hurried to catch up with Neville. She took his hand as well.

Luna hated Hogwarts, and she had no desire to go back behind those high stone walls, but at least she did not have to go alone. At least she could go with friends.

[littlemessyjessi]

Torn: Remus Lupin Story: PS OC: Chapter Two: Bothersome Bella

————————-

Remus Lupin Imagine Turned Story

Re-Written and Edit of an old story of mine I had on Mibba that deserved some more love and attention, lol.

Remus Lupin x Vega Black (OC, OFC, PLUS SIZE OC, PLUS SIZE OFC)

———————————————–

“If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without; and a good man will find a way.” ― Anna Sewell, Black Beauty 

------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Song: “Cowboy Lullaby”: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

------------------------------------------------------------

Vega stood outside of Ravenclaw tower looking at that arrogant eagle door knocker who refused her passage until she correctly guessed the riddle. She'd guessed three times now and each time she was wrong. Now normally, she would've had more patience that than but the last three weeks hadn't been the best for her. Lost and late for her classes because of the moving staircases. Detention for her tardiness. A howler from her Aunt Walburga every single day telling her how upset they were with her sorting.

It didn’t help that she was missing her parents an awful lot. 

It had been years and yet still... she was trying her best to deal with it. 

Relocating was nothing new to her due to change from Tennessee to London...but Hogwarts was different.

At times like this, she just really wished she could still run into her father’s arms. 

Ride behind her mother as they took a moonlight ride on her mother’s mare, Star. 

She missed it. 

She needed it. 

She was dealing with alot.

All the mundane little things of life. 

And many other struggles of the first year. In a few years, this would be comical to her...but not today. So.....she lost her temper. "Piece of shitl!" she screamed hauling back her Charms book and swinging at the entrance. "I hate this! I hate everything! Now let me in so I can go to sleep!" "Vega?" She paused in her assault and looked over her shoulder at none other than Remus Lupin. Of course. Of course it would be him. Why on earth would it be someone else besides her crush? The universe was against her and the little eleven year old girl felt like she was doomed to have Remus think she was mentally unstable. First it was crying over a muggle book and now it was psychotic rage over not being able to get into the common room. "Everything alright?" he asked her cautiously. She sighed, blowing a puff of air out of her reddened cheeks sending a dark curl bouncing in front of her before looking down in shame. "I can't get inside." He almost smiled. She was beating herself up over nothing. Most first years couldn't. Most upper classmen in the other houses would never even have a chance. "Oh, maybe I can help." he offered. "What's the riddle?" "Follower of man, dark as night, a trained choreography, comes after light." spoke the eagle again. Remus tapped his chin. "Alright, follower of man. So it's behind you and dark as night so it's black or at least darker. A trained choreography. Hmmm, we'll come back to that. Comes after light." he rambled. Vega bit her lip, "Ok so something dark that follows you after light....and it's moves. Merlin's beard!" "What?" he asked a little startled by her outburst. She grinned, "It's a shadow!" "Correct. You may now enter." spoke the eagle behind them. She smiled at Remus, "Thank you. I couldn't have done it without you."  He shook his head, "Yes, you could've. You were just frustrated. You're smarter than most adults I know...and you're only eleven."

He bent to pick up her fallen books and peered at the cover, “Black Beauty?” 

”Um, yeah.” she mumbled. “I found it in the common room and I just thought it looked interesting.” 

Remus smiled at her gently, “You like horses don’t you?” 

Vega’s cheeks flushed, “Well, I- I mean my mama - well, I just- just- Yeah.  Yeah I like horses.” 

Remus fought not to smile as she rambled but simply nodded and handed her the book. 

”I like them too.” he said. “They’re gentle giants.” 

”Yeah.” she said hugging the book to her chest. “They’re majestic.” 

”Yeah.” he agreed. “I hope you have a good night, Vega.  Good night.”  "Good night, Remus." she smiled before ducking inside. Remus smiled and shook his head as he carried on his way. He hadn't seen very much of her since the sorting ceremony but she was in a different house and a different year than him. Additionally, she was a first year and apparently a very high strung first year so he didn't hold it against her. He did feel sorry for her. Everyone could hear the howlers her aunt sent her every day. Sure, Sirius had gotten them too and they were much worse for him but.... things seemed to affect Vega a little differently than they did Sirius. Remus went on about his way until he reached the Gryffindor tower and studied in the common room for a little while. Which actually meant he studies while James and Sirius copied his notes. After a while, he went to bed and actually had a fairly restful sleep. You never get him to admit that he had dreamed of Vega. Her curly black hair. Her big grey eyes, silver like the moon. Her full little lips. He'd never admit it but there was a sort of calmness that he got from her. She soothed him. The very thought made him laugh darkly. Of course, soothe the savage beast. At twelve he desperately wanted more friends and was incredibly grateful for the ones he had but...he'd never let himself be anymore social. Because he was afraid of what he was...and what he might do. The full moon was next week and he most certainly was not looking forward to it. The process, the lies, the hiding...any of it. He felt so lousy for lying to his friends like that. He'd done it all of the previous year and he got the feeling that they were onto him...just that maybe they didn't quite know what they thought they knew. The next morning we he awoke, he was alone in the dorm room. It was a bit odd seeing as how it was Saturday. The snores of James and Sirius who always chose to sleep late usually shook the bed. It wasn't all that uncommon for Peter to be up early. He was never one to miss a meal. "Hmm." Remus hummed in curiosity before climbing out and getting dressed. He greeted a few other house meets politely as he made his way out of Gryffindor Tower and down the corridor. His stomach growled and he figured he nip in and see if any breakfast was left in the Great Hall. However, on his way he heard some noise. A bang and then a lot of ruckus. Her recognized the glint of black hair up ahead and could clearly see that Vega lay in a heap on the floor....clearly injured. He ran to her and knelt beside her when he noticed three other girls. He recognized them instantly as the Black sisters. The eldest, Andromeda, had long brown hair and was the most tolerable. She was a Slytherin prefect a few years older than him but she was quite nice and polite. The youngest, Narcissa or Cissy, was a year younger than he, also in Slytherin, and had long white blond hair. He didn't know her very well, only that she was very quite and seemed completely smitten with Lucius Malfoy. The middle child was by far the worst. Bellatrix Black, hooded dark eyes and curly black hair with sharp features. Bella had a mean strike a mile long and she was cruel as they come. She was in his year and it was very clear that she and Sirius hated each other with a passion. And apparently, this included Vega who lay on the ground with cuts all over her and a blossoming bruise on her face. "Bella, enough!" Andromeda threatened. "What?!" Bella sneered. "She deserved it!" "She didn't do anything to you!" Andromeda pressed. "I saw her go for her wand." Bella spat at her elder sister. "If she did it's probably because you drew yours first." Andromeda said sternly towards her sister. "We both know that Vega was minding her own business just reading a book and -”

“A muggle book!” 

“You're being a bully." "And you're a blood traitor." Bella snapped at her sister. "Come on, Cissy." The blond first year followed behind her sister who sneered at Vega, "See you later, cousin." Vega looked down and away from her. When the two of them left, Andromeda knelt down and inspected her young cousin. "I'm sorry, Vega." she said honestly. "You know how Bella is." Vega nodded and winced, "I'm fine. Thank you for your help." She moved to stand only to collapse into Remus' arms. Much to her embarrassment. She turned bright red. Andromeda arched an eyebrow at it but said nothing. She simply picked her cousin up. Since she was a seventh year and Vega just a first year, and a rather small one at that, it was nothing to lift the little girl. "Remus, if you would run along to the Great Hall and tell Professor Slughorn that I need to speak with him in the hospital wing, I'd appreciate it." she told him. He nodded and took off in the direction of the Great Hall. Breakfast long forgotten...as well as the blood on his clothes. He almost hit himself for not realizing because James and Sirius almost attacked him over it. "Whoa, Remus, mate! What happened?" James pressed. "Nothing." he tried to push them off on his way to the Head Table. "Professor Slughorn." he said as he approached. "Andromeda Black has asked me to inform you that she needs to speak with you. She's in the hospital wing." He tried to be quite but Slughorn being Slughorn drew attention to it. "The hospital wing?!" he exclaimed and Remus flushed a little. "Yes, alright, Mr. Lupin. Thank you." And with that he was gone in bustle of robes. When Remus turned he was met with many stares but none so potent as James and Sirius'. He maneuvered around them and headed for the door, his stomach twisted in knots. Two familiar hands came down on his shoulders and turned him around. "What's going on?" Sirius asked him. He looked into his friend's eyes. If anyone deserved to know....Sirius really did. She was his cousin. "It's Vega." he said. The color drained from Sirius' face. "What?" he whispered. "What happened?" Remus glanced around, "Follow me. Not here." James and Sirius exchanged a glance and they followed him outside the Great Hall and down a corridor. Remus sighed, "She’s hurt. Andromeda took her to the hospital wing so I'm sure Madame Pompfrey will fix her up but Bellatrix Black jumped her in the lav." Sirius almost turned purple with anger, "That bitch!" "Is she alright?" James asked. Remus shrugged, "She awake but pretty cut up and she had a bruise on her face when I got there. Narcissa was with Bellatrix but I don't know if she was involved." "I bet she was." Sirius snarled. "She's just like her. She's got her nose shoved so far up Malfoy's arse that she..." "Andromeda broke it up." Remus cut him off. "She took her to the hospital wing and sent me to fetch Slughorn." "I'll kill 'em." Sirius seethed. "Sirius, mate, I know that you're angry but we've gotta be smart here." James reasoned with him. "She's my sister!" he exploded.

“Cousin.” James corrected. 

“Well whatever,” Sirius said before deflating. “Vega never did anything wrong. She's a good girl."

James and Remus could clearly see how he was worried for her. "She's in good hands, mate." James assured him. "Madame Pompfrey is a wicked healer." "And I'm sure Slughorn will do something about Bellatrix and Narcissa." Remus reasoned. "Andromeda seemed determined of that." He had to admit that was quite admirable. Even when she knew there was definite possibility of points being deducted from her own house....still it seemed as if Andromeda's good judgment would way out. "Not good enough." Sirius growled. "Well then." James smiled. "I guess we'll just have to prank them." Sirius grinned slightly in spite of himself, "Well do it for V." "Somehow I don't think she'd approve of you causing mayhem in her name." Remus smirked before adding, "But I'm in."

--------------------------

Chapter One

Chapter Three 

--------------------------------

--------------------------------

Hello my lovelies! Here is another rewrite of a previous work of mine that I had on Mibba! I did a bit of reworking on the character, her name and her backstory because I just felt like she deserved more!  I would love to know what you think of little Vega!

So please comment, reblog with thoughts and/or smash the ask box!  I do so love hearing from you my loves!

Love,

Kenny

————————-

@frankie2902

@pleasantdreamqueen   @becrazy–beyou

@littledeadrottinghood @blackirisposts

@therealmrshale @woodworthti666@thegreatirene@fanfictionandjunk

@angelus320

@alanlizzingtonshore@buriednurbckyrd@disneymarina@tubbypeachwriting

@sullybot @georgiagrl1990 @whenallsaidanddone

@mischiefnevermanaged94 @inumorph

@congurl

@centerhabit

@bubblymusiclover13

@qtmeryr

@thisismysecrethappyplace

@tnupsweetpie

@alisoncdariel

@hannahloveslife

@wormyboi

@blackirisposts

@maggyme13

@amethyst09

@ibenkastberg

@fanfics1717 @mrscasnovak

@thickemadame @babygirl-barnes

@theladyofmasks @aengsty

@kalliravenne​

@witchygagirl​

@gruffle1​

@writtenbywolfie​

@kribbydahhufflepuff

@leah-halliwell92​

@thelastwildangel​

@silent-browser​

@simplymagical​@simplymagicalwritings​

@lilac​flicker

@malulucifer

@minxyvixen​

@moncheriemoony

@queenlexusloverofbts​

@criminalyetminimal​

@plus-size-reader​

@owenniasstars​  

@adventuresofnight

@tuutifruuti

Love, Kenny

----------------------------------------

[loverdrew]

My Everything II

You’ve always been passive, to yourself, and a little bit naive, but what unfolds when he comes in and turns your whole world upside down?

Everything I

The Next Day...

“Hey Kyle.” I said casually as I walked into his office. 

“Hey Y/N. Thanks for coming to visit me!” He stands up quickly and gives me a side hug. “How are you settling in? Sorry I couldn’t help you move in, the office gets crazy around here the first week of school.”

“Uhm, alright. Been to most of my classes and I like the professors and students, but there’s this one damn kid that I can’t stand.” I began daydreaming once again about probably the hottest guy I’ve ever seen who makes my blood boil to thousands of degrees. 

“Shawn Mendes?”

“Uh yea, how’d you know?” 

“I get complaints about him almost weekly. Not the most liked kid in this school. And that speaks volumes when you’re 1 out of 35,000 students being talked about.” He slightly chuckles, moving back in his chair.

“He just comes in and acts so pretentious, cocky, entitled. I just have a real disliking for people who don’t have any drive to do better in their lives and college is the place to do that.” I could feel myself getting red, but I just kept telling myself what I have been since I got here: that nobody will dull my shine.

“You got all that after one day with him?” He asked with a slight chuckle.

“Well I have a few classes with him and I’ve been told numerous things from people who know him personally. Remember, I’m good at knowing who people really are.” I smile proudly.

“One of my favorite traits about you kid.” I made a face of great confidence, laughing after, hearing a door behind me open to see a taller boy with light brown curly hair, dark eyes and an inviting soft smile. 

“Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Richards, I can come back in like 15 minutes?” He smiled down at me and then looked back up at my stepdad.

“No worries, this is my stepdaughter Y/N. Y/N do you mind if we continue this later?” I nodded understandingly and got up out of the chair. Kyle is a business major advisor to about 350 kids so it wasn’t so uncommon that students always needed him. 

“Take your time, nice meeting you...?”

“Joshua, but just Josh is fine with me.” He had a very enticing smile that seemed so genuine like he was actually delighted to meet me. And he also had a small laugh every time he smiled which made him even seem more adorable. I blushed and dipped my head, heading towards the door.

“Well, nice meeting you Josh. I’ll see you around! Bye Kyle I’ll catch up with you later!

A few hours later...

I was unpacking my bag getting out my Math notebook, ready to take notes in the 4th row. It was close enough for the teacher to see me but not close enough so I get called on for questions. I was writing the date in the top right corner when I felt a presence to my left. 

“Oh hey Josh! You have math 111 too?” He plopped down next to me with that damn smile again.

“Yea, your dad recommended this professor too, says he’s the best. It’ll help me a lot when my actually business classes come into play. And I like that it’s in the afternoon, I’m able to get out of class when the weather is at its best.”

“Me too! Morning classes can be draining but with this one I feel even more energized and awake to actually learn.” We both nodded with bright eyes, but my eyes opened wide and my smile ran down to a thin line when I looked in the row next to us. Mr. Mendes lazily walking in with an obvious purple mark on his neck that I could tell he was proudly showing off. I scuffed and shuffled in my seat.

“Everything alright?” He follows my gaze and sees Shawn, realization hitting his face. Damn, does everybody know about this kid?

“Just, that guy gives me bad vibes. Practically dangling in my face that Kyle is my stepdad because his dad is the dean. Thinking that he knows me or something.”

“It’s only the second day and he’s already made an enemy out of you? He’s worse than I’ve heard.” He shook his head in disgust.

“Like, I didn’t even do anything to him. I keep to myself, I don’t get why he already has it out for me.”

“Well, now he’s not the only kid who has an ‘in’ with the school admin.” Josh said pointing out the obvious. “But don’t worry, at least in here, he won’t say anything to you.”

“Why is that?”

“Let’s just say Shawn keeps his distance from me. We’ve had a bit of trouble with each other in the past, he doesn’t go anywhere that I am if I have anything to say about it.” He rubbed my knee softly his with hand, reassuring me that I’d be alright. Then our professor walked in, already going over new material for a quiz next week.

After class Josh had to run to his next class but since I was done for the day I decided to grab a coffee and go over some notes from bio and math since I knew those would be the two subjects I’d need the most studying on. In the library, I found a somewhat secluded place and sat down and began writing in my notebooks when the devil himself decided to sit in the chair next to me. I groaned, but kept my nose in my books.

“So what is that now? 3 classes together? Guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.” He smirked.

“Let’s get one thing straight Shawn. I don’t care that you know who my stepdad is, I don’t care that you know tiny details about me, I don’t care that we have more than half of the same classes together, what I care about is my classes. I don’t have time for games that’ll distract me and I certainly don’t have time for your annoying pathetic presence in my life. So grow up, get a life, and stop terrorizing a freshman.” My eyes were daggers to his. My tone stinging with every word I said to him, and I could see it on his face. That Mr. Shawn Mendes had never had someone, let alone a female freshman stand up to him. Females were probably all over him but I’m big on someone’s character; I don’t care about pretty he is. He held his tongue in, most likely holding in a bunch of nasty words I wouldn’t be able to repeat, nonetheless handle, but he simply nodded his head turning away from me.

He angrily grabbed his jacket with a tight fist and swung it off the table, his backpack dangling from his shoulder and just walked away. All the heat I had in my body evaporated once he was out of sight. I felt like crying with all of the anger and emotion leaving my body, but I sat up straight getting back into the groove of math equations I had to solve.

I got home a few hours later when the sun was just setting, seeing Mara and Logan sitting on her bed, all dolled up smiling. 

“Oh, both of you look fancy, what’s the occasion?” I questioned, throwing my backpack on my bed.

“A party at Logan’s friends house, and you’re so invited!” 

“What? Who?- I don’t have outfits for parties, I just got done with studying, I’m - wow - so exhausted,” I fake yawned but Mara just rolled her eyes. 

“You’re borrowing something from me then and we won’t be back too late, it’s just a nice kickback with some people our age and maybe a sip or two of beer it’ll be fine! It’s your time to meet some people.” She begged, already rummaging through her clothes to find something my style.

“I did already meet a friend. Joshua, he’s in my math class! Curly hair, nice smile, good kid! So I don’t have to go.” I tried to be as convincing as possible that I didn’t need to meet a bunch of drunk college kids.

“Joshua Bassett? We’ve known him since high school! He’ll be there too! Really good guy, and he’s singleeeeee.” She sang, shimmy-ing and throwing me a black thigh length dress. I huffed and went inside our walk in closet to change. If Josh is there, then everything should go okay, right?

8 pm

We arrived at the party to see colored lights illuminating the dim house and loud music coming out of every open window and door. Mara and Logan swiftly entered and said hi to what seemed like everyone. So this is what it feels like to go to school with people you know. I didn’t know that feeling ever. Every school I’ve attended was somewhere different, so I was’t used to the same face. They landed in the kitchen getting 3 beers, one for each of us and popping them open with a cheers.

“See Y/N? Not scary at all, it’s not like some crazy rager with cups everywhere and people having sex on the couch. Just a cool kickback.” Mara told me while taking a sip of her drink. “Oh, look who comes this way.” She winked and cocked her head to behind me, seeing Josh high-fiving and bro-hugging all the guys at the door. His eyes caught mine and relaxed, smiling and not breaking the contact. I blushed and turned back around to Mara, giving her a face to make her stop embarrassing me. 

“Hey what’s up Y/N! You know these 2 love birds?” He gave me a quick side hug, his hand gripping my hip and staying just a little too long, enough for my skin to get goosebumps, but I didn’t mind it one bit.

“I live with her this year, been good so far.” I joked.

“Yea, until you’re running out screaming because of the crazy sex these two have.” Everyone laughed at him.

“Hey! Those are meant to be kept secret!” She shushed while laughing loudly.

“Tell your boyfriend to keep it to himself then!” 

Mara playfully smacked Logan, he laughed and shrugged, “Don’t act like you don’t tell your girlfriends either!” He pulled her in lovingly and kissed her temple. Oh what it must feel like to be in love like that. To be able to act like best friends, but know in your hearts you love each other more than that. I had never felt that way, so safe, so loved, so wanted. No guy had ever wanted me like that, I was just the girl you pass by in the halls or sit behind in class. After my dads death my mom was devastated that someone she loved so much was taken from her, and that pain was something I didn’t want to experience. And with the horror breakup stories I’ve heard, I thought love was suppose to break your heart. 

Josh pulled me out of my thoughts and gave me a look asking if I wanted to get away from the crazy noise. I nodded and told them we’d be back, as we headed to the backyard where there was a pool to sit at and just talk and watch the water. We both took off our shoes and dunked our feet, feeling relaxed. I breathed in a big breath, enjoying the fresh air and stars in the sky.

“I didn’t know you and Mara lived together, she’s been a good friend of mine since high school.” Josh said, once the awkwardness started to kick in.

“Yea, she told me before we came here because I mentioned meeting you in class.”

“Oh so you’re already talking about me huh?” I shoved him and laughed, rubbing my arms up and down.

“You look really pretty, but you seem cold do you want my jacket?” Before I could even tell him no (even though I really did) he was already shrugging off his jacket and swooning it over my shoulders. His face fell in front of mine smiling, and I pulled the jacket closer to my body. 

“So Y/N, tell me about yourself. For some reason to me you seem so interesting. I mean from what I know you’re smart, you’re pretty, you’re driven. All of the things I wish I could be. Oh- but not pretty, I mean...” I laughed loudly at his award sentence, but it was adorable that he was trying. 

“Well, I’m from a town 2 hours from here so home is further away. I miss it but, I needed to get away. My favorite actor is Heath Ledger, may his beautiful soul rest in peace.” Josh smiled, agreeing that Heath Ledger was one of his favorites too. “I love old school RnB music, my mom played it all the time growing up in my house and still does today. My favorite season is winter, I have a younger brother Mikey who is my favorite boy in the world, and I hope one day to leave a mark in this world. That’s my main goal. For people to remember me, for something good I did.” I looked off into the distance, reminiscing on my reoccurring dreams of changing the world for the better. Josh’s gaze followed mine, getting lost in my daydream.

“You seem like the perfect person to do that.” I looked back at him, getting choked up, and wiped myself of my thoughts.

“Well, tell me about you Joshua, what is inside that curly haired head of yours?”

“I’m one out of 3 children, the youngest. I have 2 older sisters who make fun of me from time to time but they’re the ones I miss the most right now. My parents aren’t together anymore, my dad takes care of us while my mom lives 3 states away. It’s been really hard adjusting to college without her.”

“Oh, Josh I’m really sorry. I’m sure she’s sad she can’t be here to witness an important moment like this.” I said sincerely, him getting lost in his own thoughts now, staring down at the water. 

“It’s been tough not gonna lie, she’s hasn’t really called much and I miss her but sometimes certain people just aren’t meant to be in your life, much less be parents.” He said kind of harshly. I rubbed his arm, giving him an empathetic smile.

“And seeing as Mr. Richards is your stepdad I’m assuming your parents are also...?”

“Uh my dad died when I was a baby. My mom was devastated, loved my dad with her whole heart. But then Kyle came in and I don’t know, made her feel whole again I guess. And gave her Mikey which only made her even more happy.” I smiled at the faint memory of my mom and Kyle finally bringing Mikey home from the hospital.

“I’m so sorry, but I’m extremely happy for your family, new additions can be a good thing!”

“Yea but that kind of pain my mom felt, I don’t ever want to feel that. Heartbreak is the one thing I try to avoid at all costs. All love does is hurt you in the end.”

“That’s a bleak way to look at the world.”

“Well that’s what happens when the world is mean to you. It wakes you up, makes you face reality.” I pulled my legs into my chest and laid my chin on my knees.

“Well, what if someone was willing to try and change that reality, turn it into a better one?” Josh asked shyly, not giving me eye contact anymore.

“I’d like to see them try.” I turned to him, giving him a smile, and he returned one. 

The next thing we hear is two guys yelling at the top of their lungs coming into the backyard. One big blonde guy was facing us, with another tall brunette guy that looked all too familiar with his back to us. The blonde was telling him to get out, that all he does is cause trouble, and something about making out with his girlfriend; yikes. All of a sudden the blonde threw a punch that landed on the his face, making him face to his knees, blood already dripping from his mouth. Then dragged his body in the pool and threw him into the freezing water. He wasn’t resurfacing fast enough and I got paranoid, looking at the guy in pure shock.

“My god, Shawn.” I threw off Josh’s jacket, getting ready to go in since nobody else was going to. For some reason my body went into fight mode, and only was focused on saving him.

“Y/N what are you doing! It’s freezing!”

“Look if you want to help me tell Mara and Logan to find a first aid kit and an empty bathroom. Go!” He didn’t want to fight with me since it was a life threatening situation, so he grabbed his jacket and ran inside the party. I began going down the steps into the freezing water, getting Mara’s dress all wet but that was the least of my concerns. I dunked my whole body into the water, bringing him to the surface, he was somewhat conscious beginning to open his eyes, people already crowding around the pool to see the damage. I hung his arm over mine and carried him soaking wet into the house and up the steps. I heard people’s whispers and confusion as to why anyone would save him, but I simply ignored because I was not about to have someone literally die on me. 

We made it to the bathroom upstairs with the first aid kit Mara found, and I sat him down on the toilet. He was barely hanging on and kept falling to the side. 

“Shawn, work with me okay. Please stay awake.” I shook his head. His eyes were still slightly shut but he was at least making sounds, groans coming from his mouth.

“I’m going to clean up your lip and get you some water to sober you up. Mara! Get me some water please!” She yelled ‘on it!’ from the hallway, and I was left to use some rubbing alcohol on his cut to clean and stop the bleeding. I began drawing out his plush pink lips in my head, running my mind around them. Droplets of water still falling from them, my mind going crazy at the simple sight. Shawn’s eyes began opening slowly, finding me of all people tending to his wound.

“Why are you doing this?” He asked groggily.

“We may be different but that doesn’t mean I won’t help you. You weren’t surfacing when he threw you in, and I got worried.”

“So you care?” He asked genuinely surprised, sitting up a little more.

“Don’t bug me Shawn. And stop talking.” I was still wiping the alcohol on the cut. It started swelling and already turning red, soon it’d be purple. Shawn sat still, but his eyes kept darting to every crevice of my face to my only dimple, to the furrowed look of concentration of my brows. It’s almost like he was mapping me out, and I tried to not let it affect me once again. No guy had ever paid so much attention to me in so little time. I felt a heat rise between us when he stopped at my lips, covered in shiny lip gloss. I would’ve never know he would’ve wanted to know what they taste and feel like against his own, never in his life had he ever imagined that. I stopped wiping, and cleared my throat looking down at the ground.

“You’re all done.” I whispered, feeling my head go a little dizzy. I looked back up for a second to see his forehead lean in a centimeter when I heard Josh’s voice coming up the stairs.

“I’ve got the water!” I stood up so fast, blinking my eyes a few times then turning to Josh and grabbed the water. Shawn rubbed his face and shook his curls to get some water out. 

“Thank you.” He took the cup with a simple stare, no emotion whatsoever, and walked beside me, giving Josh a nod before heading down and out of the house. I sighed, my shoulders falling, wondering what the hell was happening to me. Josh pulled me out of my daze rubbing my shoulder.

“C’mon let’s get you home.”

Tag List

@fallinallincurls​ @the-diabolic​ @spideylovin​ @shawn-youth​

[detectivedreameater]

Missed Reservations||Anita and Marley

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @professoranieves​ SUMMARY: This wasn’t the threesome either of them wanted. CONTENT WARNINGS: Gun violence, Death

This wasn’t a date. Obviously. Marley just liked pushing buttons, and it seemed Anita was still willing to play. She wasn’t sure what about Anita drew her in, but Marley found herself coming back to her more and more. She liked Anita, and Anita played along with her stupid antics. Even after the whole phlizard mess. And it was nice, to have someone around that she could just be easy and casual with. And that knew but didn’t know. Someone that wasn’t afraid to look her in the eye, even with their red glow. And so, she’d dressed up a little. Not too much, because this wasn’t anything like that-- but a little. Nicer pants, no jeans. A real blouse, not just a button up, and a blazer instead of her normal leather jacket-- though she did opt to grab it on her way out. Just in case. 

The drive to Anita’s was short, despite how close to the lake she lived. Marley had driven down the street to her place many times in the past week since the lake had been declared not safe, but it was refreshing to take the turn into the neighborhood instead of the turn to the boathouse. She remembered the house from last time she’d been there, noting specifically how different the inside and outside looked. Anita liked warm colors. It fit right in with Marley’s theory of what she was. Lifting her hand, Marley knocked on the door, putting on a cheeky smile for when Anita answered the door.

Anita was still a bit uneasy with how much she was seeing Marley recently. There was obvious attraction between them, and it definitely didn’t fade even after discovering that they were both less than human. If anything, for Anita anyway, that was part of what made her keep going back for more. She’d never knowingly been with someone who wasn’t human, and it was refreshing. She still kept her guard up, but part of the reason she cut people off after one night was the fear of them finding out about her. With Marley, that fear largely didn’t exist anymore. After she got home from work and took a steaming hot shower, Anita threw on a short black skirt and a bright patterned shirt. She finished her look with some nice high heels and a jacket. She was just finishing up her hair when she heard the knock at the door. A grin spread across her face as she saw Marley. “Well, you sure clean up nice. All that just for me?” She teased. 

“Hey, I can look nice when I feel the effort is worth it,” Marley said with a bright smile. She didn’t even have her sunglasses on right now, though they were tucked safely inside her jacket pocket, lest she feel the need to wear them. But with Anita, she felt no reason to. “Besides, you never know who else might be watching, right?” She held out her hand. “Sorry I didn’t bring flowers. Or a boombox. But I figured since this isn’t a date, it doesn’t matter,” she teased back. “Although I will do that thing where I say you look rather good. Not that you don’t always look good, whether you’re in a bathing suit, clothes, or, you know,” she shrugged with a cheeky grin, “naked.” Stepped aside. “Shall we?”

An uncomfortable chill ran down Anita’s spine at the mention of someone watching them. She didn’t let that get to her though, why would anyone be watching them anyway? “Definitely not a date.” She echoed, stepping out onto the front porch and closing and locking the door behind her. Despite some basic research, Anita was still not able to figure out exactly what Marley was. Probably because all she had to go on were those mesmerizing red eyes and the occasional intangibility. Anita grinned, nudging Marley slightly. “You know, now that you mention it, you look very good naked too. In fact, I think we both might be at our peak attractiveness when we’re fully naked.” Anita softly placed her hand on the other woman’s cheek, then pulled her in for a kiss. “You know, we could always skip dinner and jump right to the being naked part.”  

Marley couldn’t help but notice the momentary stiffness in Anita’s body as she stepped out. She wondered what could’ve caused it, but didn’t chance the glance away. It was both a gift and a curse, to always see everything through the lens of a behavioral profiler. She tried to brush it away, though, and smiled. “I think you might be right,” she agreed, leaning in as Anita kissed her, letting it linger for a moment, as if she were debating the offer. “But I made reservations,” she said with a fake pout, scraping her teeth along her bottom lip as she looked at Anita. “And you promised.”

Anita smirked softly and raised an eyebrow, “You made reservations? You sure you’re not trying to hijack this and turn it into a date?” She teased, then started walking towards Marley’s car. “But fine, I suppose since I did promise, I owe you that much.” Realistically, Anita knew that doing anything except sleeping with Marley was a bad idea. She didn’t really want to get to know her any better, because getting to know people leads to feeling for them. And that was just not something that she was interested in doing. Once she reached the car, she turned around, leaning back against the cold metal. “For the record though, this will be the first and last time I let you take me out for dinner. No matter how hot you are.” There was a teasing tone to her voice, but she hoped the look in her eyes let Marley know that she was being mostly serious. 

Marley was mostly pleased with the turn of events, following Anita slowly towards the car, taking her time going down the drive. Enjoying the view. She wanted to know what made Anita so wary of dinner and dates. Marley knew her own reasoning for it, and she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Anita’s was similar. Maybe she’d found a sort of kindred spirit. Not that she cared to, or needed one. She was fine on her own. She had been all her life. It was just nice to know there were others like her. Licking her lips, she stopped just short of Anita on the driveway, watching her lean back against the car, tilting her head. “We’ll see,” was all she said, no inclination as to whether she was being serious or teasin, before she stepped past her and to the driver’s side. The drive was fairly quick and quiet and when they pulled up to the restaurant, she unbuckled quickly, stepping out. “So, why the Red Dragon?” 

The drive was rather quiet, giving Anita time to think about her doppelganger she saw at The Velvet Rope the other day. But her worrying was cut short when they arrived at the restaurant. She unbuckled, then walked over towards Marley. “Quiet, good food, and close to my place for a quick drive back for dessert.” She said with a smirk. The pair walked into the restaurant, and Anita was pleased to see it wasn’t very crowded. “Guess you didn’t need to make a reservation after all, huh?”  

“Wanna know a secret?” Marley asked as they approached the stand, leaning over to speak quietly so only Anita could hear, “I didn’t actually make a reservation-- Two for dinner, please!” Straightening up and speaking a little louder as the hostess greeted them. She held up two fingers and a smile and the hostess grabbed their menus, leading them back to a booth in the back. The place was unusually quiet today, and Marley, again, couldn’t help but wonder why. Sometimes she cursed her natural curious nature and her need to know everything. Trying to ignore it, she slid into the booth across from Anita. “Well, good choice, anyway. I order takeout from here all the time.”

 Anita couldn’t help but laugh, and roll her eyes. Of course she hadn’t made a reservation. “All just part of your ploy to get me to not bail on dinner plans, huh?” As they walked back to the booth, Anita felt eyes on them. Not in a light and fun way either, she felt like someone, maybe something, was watching them closely. But as she looked around, everyone that was in the restaurant seemed to be preoccupied with their own meals, and not with them. Once she sat down she decided to shake off that feeling, focusing her attention back on Marley. Well, that was one thing to note. She ate normal food more than just on dates to keep up appearances. “So, uh, is this the part where we dive into the small talk about our jobs? Or does that come after the first round of drinks?” 

 “Got me,” Marley said with a wink. She picked up the menu and perused through. She hadn’t been lying, she did order from here a lot, but not because she wanted to-- simply because the dumplings were to die for. “Oh no, uh uh,” Marley said, shaking her head, “I have a strict no shop talk policy outside of work. Otherwise, it’s all people would have me talk about. All you need to know is that I’m a detective and no, I won’t give you a ride in my cop car. But please, do fill me in about your job. All I know is that you’re a bug professor.” A grin. “Which, really...how does someone get into a job like that?”

 “What if I ask for a ride in your car real nice?” Anita asked, drawing out the last two words as she pressed one of her legs against Marley’s under the table. “I mean, I can be really persuasive.” Human food was okay, but Anita really didn’t have much of a preference for it. She went more for textures than flavors, so pretty much anything with the word “crunchy” in the description caught her eye. “Entomologist, not a bug professor.” She smiled coyly, partly frustrated that they were actually going to do the small talk thing, and partly fine with it because she loved talking bugs. “Well, you get a PhD in an uncommon subject, then a small town university pays you to teach their students all about the life-cycle of the praying mantis. Then before you know it you’re out with some detective who wants to hear all about it without offering anything in return.” 

 Marley felt her skin tingle as Anita pressed a leg against her own. A grin spreading on her face. “You’ll have to be very persuasive. I don’t let just anyone in my squad car,” she said back, knowing full well that if Anita asked she would say yes even without the convincing. The waiter came by for drinks and Marley ordered gin and tonic before focusing back on Anita. She seemed almost a little distracted, and Marley wasn’t about that. She leaned forward onto the table, letting the blouse she’d chosen to wear sag slightly open. “Right, entomologist. And did you always wanna be that?” Tilted her head, giving a light chuckle. “Hey, you were the one who said you weren’t interested in getting to know me better. All you gotta do is ask.”

 “I guess I’ll just have to work on my persuasion skills and try it out someday then.” Anita said with a wink. As she looked up when the waiter came by, she could have sworn she saw someone in a black and white striped shirt staring at the two of them, but then in a blink of an eye, they were gone. She tried to shake the thought from her head, there was no way she had a doppelganger following her. Even if she did, it wasn’t really what she wanted to be thinking about right now. “No? I mean, didn’t even know what it was when I was younger. But I’ve always been fascinated with bugs, so I guess I always knew I’d end up doing something with that.” She hated this question. The real answer revealed too much about her family, and while she knew it was unlikely, she really didn’t need anyone connecting the dots from her to them, least of all a detective who already knows too much. “You always wanna be a cop?” She asked, her eyes flickering away from Marley back to where she thought she had seen something, just to be sure nobody was really there watching. 

Marley watched Anita curiously, growing increasingly annoyed as her attention seemed to be pulling in different directions. She kept glancing around, as if looking for someone, or something. Marley grabbed her drink when the waitress brought them back and took a sip. “Bugs, huh? Well, at least it’s not boring,” she said with a grin, taking another drink. The alcohol felt nice in her throat, not that she needed it to enjoy the night. “Mostly,” she said offhandedly to Anita’s question. “I didn’t really think about it before I decided I wanted to be a detective when I was 13, so,” a shrug, before she followed Anita’s line of sight again. She raised a brow, setting her arm on the table, chin in her palm. “Something else catching your eye?”

Anita looked curiously at Marley. “Not a lot of 13 year olds wanna be detectives. I’d imagine.” She hated that she actually found Marley intriguing. It’d make things so much easier if she actually didn’t want to know more, but the more time they spent together, the more genuine questions she wanted to ask. The waitress came by to take their orders, and this time Anita could sense something close to them, but she couldn’t see whatever mime-infused doppelganger was following her around. “No, uh, sorry.” She replied, taking a deep breath and focusing back on her not-a-date date. “I just… don’t you feel like someone’s watching us? And not in a fun voyeuristic way?” 

“Well, when your friend is murdered in front of you and no one cares to solve it, it leaves quite the impression,” Marley said dismissively, much more interested in what it was Anita was trying to say. “Watching us?” She stiffened a little, glancing around. She was usually attentive to these things, but in her intrigue with Anita, she hadn’t been paying too much attention. The waitress had come by for their orders, but Marley told her to give them a few more minutes. “You sure you’re not just saying this to get out of dinner?” she said, but now that Anita had pointed it out, she could almost feel it, too. A chill up her spine. Not that she ever got scared, but it was unsettling to feel. “Maybe we should just get out of here.”

Anita froze up at Marley’s response. About a million and one questions immediately began running through her head. She knew what that was like, hell, she’d probably murdered more than a few people’s best friends back in the day. She was about to say something when Marley asked about who Anita felt was watching them. “No. If I really wanted to just get out of going to dinner I wouldn’t have let us leave my place to begin with.” She said, a linger of flirtatious teasing coming off her words, but largely her focus had pulled from just trying to flirt with Marley. “Yeah, okay, good. Let’s go.” Knowing Marley was feeling something odd too made her feel a bit less paranoid. But she still was on edge. Grabbing her coat and purse, she got up out of the booth they were sitting in and made her way to the front of the restaurant. She wasn’t willing to tell Marley everything that had happened at The Velvet Rope, but she felt it was only fair to tell her a bit. “I, uh, I think someone’s been following me for the past day or two. I think that’s who might’ve been watching us.”

Marley managed to grab her drink and take one last gulp before Anita was bolting from the booth and she was chasing after her. The nerves seemed to be rolling off her now, and Marley watched her closely, her stiff movements and shifting eyes. “You think you’re being followed?” she asked when they got outside, heading towards the car. Marley looked around, eyes narrowing. It wasn’t quite dark enough for her to feel invulnerable, but she wasn’t about to back down if someone was following Anita-- them. If someone was following them. Sharp eyes glanced around, but she didn’t see anything or anyone. Still, the feeling was there, and Marley always trusted her gut. She backed up and put a hand on Anita’s arm. “C’mon, let’s get back to yours,” she said, leading them back to the car. “Did you get a look at them? Have they been at your home?”

Anita would never admit it, but it was nice having someone around at a time like this. In the past decade or so when shit went sideways she didn’t have anyone else around to protect her. And even if Marley wasn’t doing it for any other reason than that she was a cop and it was her job, it eased her nerves ever so slightly. “I just… I saw this person at the club last night, and ever since I’ve had this uneasy feeling that I’ve been being watched. Being followed.” Anita looked up at Marley when she put her hand on her, leaning into the gesture slightly. “No? I don’t know. The club was dark. They had facepaint on. They might’ve followed me home, like I said, I’ve been having this feeling almost non-stop since last night.” Anita was pretty sure that she had a Doppelganger, which she didn’t know much about other than it mirrored the person it stalked.  What else would explain seeing an identical version of herself? She got into the passenger side of the car and sunk into the seat, her head dropped into her hands and she gently rubbed her temples trying to calm herself down. “Fuck, I’m sorry that I’m dragging you into this. You can just drop me off at home. I’ll be fine.” 

Marley helped Anita into the car, keeping an eye out around them before getting into the driver’s side herself. “Don’t be stupid, I’m not leaving you alone if you’re being followed,” she said nonchalantly, starting the car and taking off. She made sure to do a few fake turns and loops around the block to determine if anyone was following them. “Not to mention I’m a cop and it’s my job,” she tacked on quietly as she turned back onto the road Anita lived on. No headlights around meant no one had followed them in a car, but in this town, it wasn’t always necessary. She didn’t get that strange guttural feeling anymore that they were being followed as she turned off the car in the driveway. “Stay here,” she said, opening her glover box and pulling out a small revolver. She held it out to Anita. “This end?” she said, tapping the barrel, “Point it at anything that’s not me. I’m gonna check the house.” Before slipping out and taking out her ankle holster gun, locking the car, and heading up to the house.

When it came to fight or flight, Anita was always flight. But that wasn’t really an option now. She was so settled in town, and even if she wasn’t she was not about to let one creepy mystical stalker ruin her life. Her stomach curled when Marley handed her a gun, she’d never actually held one before. It was so … heavy. “Uhuh. Okay.” Shakily, Anita gripped the revolver in her hands as she watched Marley make her way down from the driveway to the house. It felt like an eternity that she sat in the car waiting for Marley to come back out. But then she saw her appear from the side of the house? That was odd. Anita got out of the car, the gun still gripped in her hands. “Is it all clear? Nobody followed us?” She asked, but as the person approaching her made her way closer, Anita knew something was wrong. “You changed? Where’d you get those clothes?” 

Marley crept up to the house and went inside. Before she even did anything else, she made sure to go intangible and shut the door. She stayed still for a moment, listening, but heard nothing. Crept through the house silently, like a shadow-- she’d done it so many times, sneaking through houses, invisible, intangible, up to the bedroom. Nightmares and more. But not this time. This time, she was there to see if someone else was in the house, and she was here to protect someone. But only because it was her job. Nothing else. She made her way through the house towards the back, gun at the ready. The hairs on her arms stood on end, which let her know that something was up. But what, she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure what compelled her, but something in her gut told her to go back, that the trouble was outside. She turned quickly to head back out front when she heard a scream-- and broke into a sprint.

Suddenly, the person Anita had been talking to started miming at her. They had the same face, they moved the same. But that was not Marley. Slowly Anita began backing away from whatever this was. Why were all of these look alikes dressed like mimes? “Sorry, I don’t speak mime.” She said, trying to make sure her voice didn’t give away how afraid she was. The gun in her hands stayed pointed at this creature. “I uh, I’m not afraid to use this.” As the creature approached her, she thought about pulling the trigger. But she didn’t really know what this thing was, and she just couldn’t bring herself to take another life. She felt the grasp of the creature, it grabbed her shoulders and slammed her up against the car. Feeling helpless, Anita let out a scream, writhing trying to break free from the grasp of this creature. Her only hope was that Marley could get there. 

Marley sprinted straight out the front door, leaping down the front steps and skidding into the driveway. Someone had grabbed Anita and was pressing her against the car and-- no, not someone, her! Marley faltered for only a moment. Whatever it was, she was, they were doing, she didn’t care. Anyone who hurt someone she liked didn’t get a chance to answer questions. It was shoot first, ask later. Marley swept up the drive, aimed, and fired. Eyes flashing anger as she rounded the corner, barrel still smoking. Whatever it was-- a doppleganger or someone imitating her, or whatever-- it didn’t matter to Marley. No one took her face. She finally lowered her gun, putting it back in the holster, looking over at Anita. “Are you o--” she started, but the thing on the ground was suddenly standing back up, grabbing at Marley. Marley swerved, grabbing her throat, eyes flashing again. She glared into her own eyes, her own face-- covered in white paint. She hated it. She hated this. She was so over mimes and mimes stabbing people and mimes hurting people and mimes exploding on people. With a single inhale, she stole the breath straight from the mime of herself, hand on her neck. When the body turned limp, she let go and the body dropped to the ground. Marley took a moment to herself, to calm, before turning to look back at Anita. “Okay...where was I...are you okay?”

Anita was about to resort to Plan B, using her venom on this thing, when she heard the bang. The vibrations from the noise was so loud it disoriented her a little bit. Slowly she slid down the side of the car until she was almost sitting on the pavement. There was something wet on her face, blood she presumed. But when she brought her hand up to touch it but when she brought her fingers down to her eyes, she didn’t see red, but black. What the hell was that? Her heart started pounding fast, and she gasped when the mime creature got back up. She watched Marley in awe as she seemingly sucked the life out of the thing. Her chest got tight and she felt like she was seeing stars. “I don’t think so.” She stared at the creature, trying to figure out what was happening. “I - I have one too. Last night, I saw… it looked just like me.” 

Marley looked at Anita. She was freaked out. This always happened. Always. Now she was going to be afraid of Marley, too, and right when she was starting to really like her. Sighing, Marley squatted in front of her, trying to meet her eye to eye. “Hey, hey,” she said with a soft voice, “you’re gonna be okay. It’s dead now, I promise.” She looked back at it, but something wasn’t quite right. It looked almost like it was...dissolving? In the next moment, it started smoking, with a very dark black and somehow white tinge. Marley grabbed Anita a little forcefully, tugging her up and helped her stand. “Let’s get inside,” she said. “In case more show up.” Because if Anita had one, too, that meant something really not good was going on here. 

Anita nodded, slowly bringing herself back to reality. She grabbed Marley’s arm when she reached down to her, but her eyes remained locked on the mime creature as it began to slowly dissolve right before their eyes. There was a smell, something familiar and…  buttery? She couldn’t quite place it, and she wasn’t very interested in doing so. Once she got onto her feet, she reached out for Marley without even thinking about it, clinging onto her arm. “Yeah, yeah, let’s get inside.” Anita’s heart was still pounding, and despite the fact that they had killed that Marley look-alike, Anita still felt like she was being watched. “Do you think you could stay? The night, I mean?” She asked, looking up at Marley as they walked towards her front door. 

As Marley helped Anita stand, moving quickly away from the thing with her face, she couldn’t help but feel a pang. Anita seemed more freaked out than she was letting on, but Marley wasn’t going to push it. And then she asked her to stay and Marley froze a moment. After a pause, she nodded, trying not to think about it too much. “Yeah,” she said as  they made it up to the door. “Yeah, I’ll stay.” She let Anita inside first, gently prying her off her arm. “Go inside, I’ll be right there, just need to...grab something from my car,” she said, making sure she was safe inside before heading out and going to her car. She grabbed her jacket, tazer, and dug around in some of the supplies she kept in her car. There, the motion sensor. Heading back in, she stuck it by the front door, locked it, then headed into find Anita. “House okay?” she asked, a little unsure of what to say.

It had been so long since Anita had been near a dead body, even one that dissolved into nothing shortly after being killed. Whatever that was, whoever sent it, there was one that looked just like Anita out there. No doubt just as violent a creature. “Yeah, okay.” She said with a nod, then walked through her front door, turning to watch Marley walk away. She walked inside and sat down on the couch, she felt dirty. Killing that thing was what was necessary, what was right, but that didn’t stop the flashbacks. “Yeah, house is good.” Anita shook her head softly, “What the hell was that? I mean... “ Running her fingers through her hair, she looked up to Marley. “Thank you. For what you did.” 

Marley wasn’t good at this comforting thing, but it looked like Anita really needed it. “Um,” she started out, rubbing the back of her head. She pulled her blazer off and set it on the table. “Yeah, you’re welcome. But as for what that was?” She glanced back towards the front door, “I have no idea. Dopplegangers aren’t usually that...aggressive.” She came over to where Anita was but didn’t quite sit down, wondering what the right thing to do here was. “You said there was another one? That looked just like you? Was it, uh-- mime looking like that one was, too?” Took a seat finally, keeping a small distance between them.

Anita smiled ever so slightly. “I thought it was a Doppleganger at first too.” She settled into the couch, wrapping her arms around her own torso. “Yeah, it was a mime too.” This was possibly the first time that Anita had been alone with Marley that she wasn’t the least bit interested in having sex with her. But she still wanted her to be around. Which was a strange feeling, a new feeling. She wasn’t entirely sure if she liked it. For a little while she sat in silence, feeling both incredibly awkward and also slightly comforted. “I’m sorry our evening got ruined.” She offered with a slight smile, trying to somewhat lighten the mood. “You sure you’re okay spending the night?”

Fuck mimes, Marley thought bitterly. Bristling slightly, she flopped back on the couch for a minute. When Anita spoke again, she looked over at her. The question was kind of loaded, whether either of them wanted to admit that or not, which meant that her answer would be loaded as well. Sighing, she sat up again and tried to give a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, “and yeah, I’m sure. I was planning on staying the night anyway, so it’s not like I have anywhere to be.” She silently thanked that she’d fed earlier this week and wouldn’t need to sneak out in the middle of the night to do that, though maybe it would’ve made her feel better. She ignored the feeling. “Besides, it’s my job to at this point,” she tacked on again, not sure if she was reminding herself or Anita of that fact. She stood again, holding out a hand to Anita. “C’mon, you should go up to bed. I’ll do another sweep of the house while you find me something to sleep in,” she said, “looks like it’s my turn borrowing your clothes.”

Anita nodded, smiling back at her. “Yeah, good point.” She reached out and took Marley’s hand, standing up and letting her hand linger as she stood there for a moment. Part of her wanted to hug Marley, maybe even kiss her, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Okay, yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Anita made her way back to the bedroom, pulling out a pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt for Marley. She then stripped out of her outfit from the night, noticing specks of the black goop were all over her top. She threw on a nightgown, then walked out into the living room with the spare clothes. “All clear?” 

Marley did do a thorough sweep of the house, but it was more so to give herself a moment. This didn’t have to be anything more than just making sure someone didn’t die because of a mime doppleganger. That’s all it was and all it needed to be. If that meant staying the night at a girl’s house who she slept with sometimes, then so be it. She paused in the middle of the living room and looked around, before going to the kitchen and grabbing a glass of water before turning to head to the room, only to be greeted by Anita in the doorway. “Oh, uh-- yes. Yep. All clear,” she looked down at the glass in her hand. “Here, I uh-- got this for you.” She didn’t know what Anita needed, but people always needed to drink water after traumatic experiences, right? She took the clothes gratefully. “Thanks.” 

Anita looked at the glass for a moment before taking it into her hands. It was an odd gesture, something she wasn’t really expecting, but it was also so nice. It was thoughtful. She didn’t really need water, but she took a sip out of courtesy. Anita set the glass down on the bedside table. “Thanks, for everything. I… I don’t think, If you weren’t here tonight… ya know.” She said, largely avoiding eye contact, as she pulled the sheets back on the bed. She climbed into bed, turning over on her side and looking over at Marley. It was oddly comforting to have someone there. Even if there was looming awkwardness too. 

 Marley nodded slightly, before pulling off her shirt and pants and putting on the clothes Anita had given her to borrow. It was strange, crawling into someone’s bed without having slept with them or without the intention. Though they’d slept together before, this was nothing like that. Just....lying in a bed with someone. Marley laid on her back next to Anita. She turned her head to look at her for a moment. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, “I won’t let it hurt you.” Hoping her words were some sort of comfort, any comfort-- and then immediately finding that thought unnerving. Still, couldn’t help but add on, “You’re safe with me.”

[palendromicdragonrider]

Turn Back the Hands - Part 2

“Aaand I think that’s everything,” Claude said, patting his mare on the back as he closed the door to her stable. 

“I think you are right,” Byleth said. “It seems your classmates have all made it back to their dorms already.”

“They’re probably exhausted from the day’s events. I wouldn’t blame them for wanting to rush to bed.”

“And you? Aren’t you tired?”

“I’m in no rush to get back to my dorm,” Claude admitted. Now that he was back, he would not be able to hide from the death threat that was slipped under his door. Hopefully he could gain some ground on finding the person who was after him before their next mission. “Where are you off to next, Teach? May I escort you?”

“I have to speak with Lady Rhea about how the mission went,” Byleth answered.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? You should have gone to see her as soon as we arrived.”

“I could hardly leave my students alone until I knew they had completed all of their duties, now could I?”

Claude looked around dramatically, making the point that he was the only student present. “If I didn’t know better, Teach, I would almost say you just tried to make a joke.”

Byleth did that thing again. For the briefest moment, her eyes crinkled, as if she was going to smile. But she didn’t. “Good thing you know better, then. Are you going to escort me or not?” Byleth turned towards the church building, leaving Claude scrambling to catch up.

“Good old Teach, as stony-faced as usual.” 

“What does that mean?”

“Hmm,” Claude mused, pondering how far he wanted to take this. He had not quite meant to say what he did out loud, but perhaps getting her to open up a little about her emotions—or lack thereof—would also help loosen her tongue. “I can never tell what’s going on in your head. Whether you’re feeling resigned or if you’re just lost in thought. Or maybe you simply don’t care about anything that’s going on around you.” Byleth looked up and frowned at him. 

“You think I don’t care about anything?” she asked.

“Oh. . . Sorry. That came off a little more rude than I meant it to.” It was actually exactly as rude as he meant it to be. The easiest way to pull emotion out of someone was to shake the ground beneath their feet a bit. “I guess I’m just trying to say that I find you fascinating. Like a puzzle I can’t quite figure out.”

“If you find me fascinating, you have a bit of a funny way of saying it,” Byleth said, the slight frown still on her face.

“Maybe I’m not coming off clearly,” Claude sighed. He pretended to scramble for the right words to say. Byleth leaned in closer. “Let me start over. Before you came here, you were a mercenary, right? Always getting your hands dirty on the battlefield and what not?”

“Obviously,” Byleth replied cautiously. “That’s how you and I met.”

“Exactly! It’s a bit unusual that you suddenly decided to become a teacher one day. How does one go from being the cold-hearted mercenary referred to as the Ashen Demon to teaching a bunch of teenagers at a monastery?”

“I actually didn’t make the decision, if that answers your question. Had my father not been recognized by Alois, he and I would still happily be taking jobs as mercenaries together.”

This was all known to Claude already, but he was grateful to get her talking. Perhaps getting her comfortable enough to discuss the Red Canyon would not be so difficult after all. But he would not reach that topic yet. Not until she had opened up a little more. “Did your father teach you how to fight?” he asked.

“Yes, he did,” Byleth said, a hint of pride in her voice.

“I figured. Your father used to lead the Knights, didn’t he? And I hear he was a legendary mercenary as well.” His next words would be a bit of a stretch, but what was life without risks? “It must have been hard on your mother when you followed in your father’s footsteps and became a mercenary, too.”

“I never knew my mother,” Byleth admitted.

“I see,” Claude said. That was actually something he did not know. It was not uncommon for the knights of Seiros to have wives and families that lived back in their home villages rather than relocating to the monastery. Until that moment, Claude had assumed that Jeralt was in a similar position. He recollected himself quickly. “I’m guessing you grew up moving from battlefield to battlefield with your father, then?”

“That sounds about right.”

Claude smirked at her. Though it meant his work would be more difficult than anticipated, he was amused by the fact that Byleth’s expression did not change the entire time that they spoke. Still, he persevered. “You know, for someone who’s right about the same age as me, you certainly have an unusual amount of composure.” Claude looked up towards the church. He noticed then that Byleth was walking slower than usual. Normally he would blame her height, but that never seemed to stop her before. “Though maybe I’ve just been in the wrong company as of late. I guess it’s only natural that you’d be different from most of the students here. So many of them are young nobles who grew up in the lap of luxury.” 

“I hardly see what nobility has to do with it. I am this way because I had to be this way under pressure. Such is the life of a mercenary.” Byleth looked up at Claude, a speculative gleam in her eyes. “If we are going to point fingers, you don’t seem like a noble, either,” she said.

Claude laughed, though he did not expect to. “Well,” he sighed. “Even so, I am a noble.” Heir to House Riegan, the ‘leading family of the Alliance,’ among other titles, he thought with little amusement. “But I didn’t exactly grow up in luxury like most people of noble blood.” He ran a hand through his hair. The conversation was going in a direction he did not want it to go. “Maybe that’s why you and I get along so well.” Claude nudged Byleth playfully. “Folks like us should stick together.” 

“Luckily for me, that won’t be too difficult to do. I am professor of the Golden Deer house, after all.”

They were close to the stairs now. As Lady Rhea was hardly likely to be okay with a student wandering around this late at night, Claude figured this was his last chance to have Byleth’s attention. “Yes,” he began, “and as house leader, I’ll do all that I can to help you out.” Claude bowed deeply and fluttered his cape, giving Byleth a wink.

“I would greatly appreciate that, Claude Von Riegan,” Byleth said. Instead of walking upward, she stopped just by the steps. Perfect! Claude thought. “Though I do hope you mean that beyond just escorting me from one well-guarded area to another.”

“Oh, certainly!” Claude beamed. “We can start by making time for more little chats like this. Getting to know each other better. Then if there was anything you ever needed to know from me, you would not need to go out of your way to ask.”

Byleth huffed, crossing her arms and shifting her weight from one hip to the other. Gods, Claude thought. Byleth had a gaze that could burn through a man’s skull. “You are very funny, Claude,” she said. “You are witty and charming, and that is not the sort of thing I would say to just anyone.”

“Why, thank you,” Claude said calmly, though his tone made him nervous.

“But why do I get the impression that you want something from me?”

Claude gulped. Even when he thought he was ahead, it turned out that Byleth was two steps further. “I—“

“You aren’t hitting on me, are you? Because despite how young I am, as your teacher—“

“No! No. Nothing like that,” Claude assured her. He found himself more than a little offended. Sure, Claude could be flirtatious, but it was always light-hearted, and in no way exclusive to just Byleth. To think Claude was actually making a move on her would mean she ultimately lumped him with the likes of Sylvain, the notorious playboy from the Blue Lion house, and that guy—

“What is it then?” Byleth demanded, her tone more harsh than before.

Claude groaned. This really was not his day. He recalled what Byleth had told him on the mission, about how she could tell if he was lying. Defeated, he replied, “On the way back, you seemed transfixed by that canyon.” That must not have been what Byleth expected, as her stance softened. “Did something. . . Happen there? What do you know about it?”

“It’s nothing,” Byleth said. She averted her eyes away from Claude.

Claude found himself stiffening. “Nice try, but you can’t get anything past me.” He tried to keep his tone light. If she’s going to call me on my bluff, then I will give her the same treatment. “You saw something. . . Or felt something. I’m sure of it.” Byleth took a slight step away from him. Maybe he was coming on too strongly. Claude reminded himself that it was often better to play the long game, and be patient, than to lose his prey altogether. He smiled gently at Byleth. “But hey. If you don’t want to share, that’s fine by me. Everyone has their secrets. Although, I’ll admit, there is something about that canyon that had me captivated, as well. I was hoping you could give me some insight.”

“I can’t,” Byleth said. “And that’s the truth. I’m sorry.”

“I believe you,” Claude said, hoping to hide the disappointment in his tone. ?

“What was it you thought I would know?”

Claude arched an eyebrow a her. “Well, I overheard you saying you remembered Zanado being a peaceful place. It got me wondering how Zanado came to be called the Red Canyon. I mean, nothing there was actually red. . .”

“Unless the red was blood. . .” Byleth finished.

Claude looked at her pointedly. So she did know something. Whether she knew it or not. Byleth grew more and more intriguing by the second. “How would you know that, though?”

Byleth shook her head and shrugged, as if she realized what she had said. “Must have read it in a book somewhere. My father always had a bunch of old books laying around.” She squared her shoulders. “It’s getting late,” she said. “You should get some rest. I’ll see you at class tomorrow.” 

“Right. . . Goodnight, Teach.”

“Goodnight, Claude.”

Claude walked back towards the dorms as Byleth headed up the stairs to see Rhea. But Claude was not going to give up that easily. There was something he wasn’t being told, and that little obsessive part of his mind that wanted to know everything going on around him would not relent until he knew what it was. There was something. . .significant about the Red Canyon. He felt it, ever since. . .

Marianne. . .

He followed Byleth up the stairs. 

It was a wonder that he did not run into any school staff on his way up, but considering the time of day, he assumed that everyone was in their quarters. Nonetheless, Claude was careful to step lightly and listen for any footsteps coming down the stairs. When he reached the second floor, the door was already closing behind Byleth. Dammit, Claude thought. He approached the archbishop’s audience chamber. This was not his first attempt to eavesdrop. Far from it. In his favor, the room beyond the door was ceiling to floor made of stone. Rooms with carpets and drapery tended to absorb more sound. Claude pressed himself against the door near its hinge, both for the slight opening between the door and the wall, as well as the little shadowed corner that he could hide in should anyone walk by.

“—So, you have safely disposed of the bandits,” Claude could hear the archbishop Rhea say. “I pray that their souls find salvation.”

Blah, blah, blah, Claude thought impatiently.

“But why did they target the students to begin with? We must further investigate the true cause of all that took place. Until we know more, I ask that you—”

Target the students? Claude repeated his head.

He thought of earlier that day. The man who had leapt out of nowhere, his sword drawn, Claude barely lifting his bow in time, the dead face staring up at him. . .

He recognized that face.

It did not occur to him in the moment he had killed him, but Claude had seen the man before. The night that he, Edelgard, and Dimitri were out camping. The night that they were attacked. The night that Byleth saved them.

The two sets of bandits were one and the same, he realized. The idea caused his body to quiver slightly. Why would he be tasked with eliminating them without being told who they were, how they were significant to him personally? For a reason he could not explain, he felt betrayed. Claude clenched his fists. His emotions would have to be dealt with later. He wanted to hear the rest of this conversation between Byleth and Rhea.

“And just what are you doing?!” A voice demanded. Claude jumped. A turn of his head brought him face-to-face with Seteth, Rhea’s advisor. His face was set in a deeper scowl than usual as he looked down at Claude.

“Ah, Seteth!” Claude beamed. “I was just looking for Teach. She ran ahead to speak to Rhea while I finished putting away our equipment from the mission. I told her I would report to her when the job was done.”

“Is that why you had your ear pressed against the archbishop’s door?” Seteth questioned.

“I could hardly burst in on them if they were having an important meeting, now could I? I was waiting for the conversation to turn into casual pleasantries.” Claude put on his most innocent smile. “Why, is there something I’m not supposed to hear?”

Seteth groaned, pressing his pointer finger and thumb against the bridge of his nose. “As if I would tell you if there were,” he replied. “You may be heir to the leading house of the Leicester Alliance, but as long as you are in this monastery, you are a student like everyone else. If you could at least try to respect the privacy of the faculty and the religious leaders here, it would be greatly appreciated.”

“But of course! I shall conduct myself more appropriately in the future!” Claude exclaimed.

Seteth scoffed. “Now, step aside. Isn’t it past your curfew anyway? I will pass along your message to Professor Byleth, if you like.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it can wait until tomorrow. Sweet dreams, Seteth!”

Claude side-stepped past Seteth and made a bee-line for the stairway. He was fortunate that the man was not as perceptive as Byleth. Or. . . At the very least, that Seteth was likely to call Claude out on his bullshit. No doubt Claude would get an earful from Byleth the next day, but that was far down on the list of his worries. Byleth knew that the bandits they were after were the same ones that had tried to kill him, and she did not tell him. What if they were connected to the note in his room? What if someone in the monastery was behind the first attack, and wanted another shot at getting Claude killed while off the church grounds? Even if that were not the case, Claude had the right to know who he was facing. Know your enemies, he thought bitterly. He was reviled as a schemer, but his schemes had their uses.

The gears in Claude’s head were turning. . .

“Hragh!” Claude grunted, swinging his training axe down. Hilda blocked his blow, though not without effort. She stumbled backward a couple of steps to avoid falling completely.

“Hey!” Hilda protested. “I thought you were going to go easy on me when we practiced today.”

“Sorry,” Claude said, pulling back his axe. “I got a little carried away.”

“Well let’s try getting a little less carried away,” Hilda retorted. “The professor said we were not supposed to spar today, just focus on our form. And I will not be putting in anymore effort than is necessary! Our mission yesterday really took the energy out of me.”

Claude frowned at the mention of Byleth. She had avoided talking to him all morning, but the way she watched him during her lecture earlier that morning, he knew she had spoken to Seteth. Claude would be lucky to get away with working in the stables for the next week. It was more likely he would be shoveling shit the entirety of the upcoming month.

“Claude? Are you listening to me?”

“Huh? What?” Claude asked. Hilda groaned. 

“I said, ‘let’s get this over with.’ Swing your axe!”

Claude rolled his shoulders and lifted his axe. “ Ready when you are.”

“I think,” Hilda panted, “that’s enough for today.”

“I agree,” Claude huffed. He wiped the sweat off his brow with the front end of his shirt. Sylvain whistled at him from the other end of the training grounds. 

“Looking good, your highness! Why don’t you lift that up a little higher?” Sylvain’s friend Felix, who was standing right beside him, punched him in the arm.

“Be mature,” Felix said.

“I’m just checking out the competition,” Sylvain said. He blew a kiss at Claude, who pretended to catch it then winked at him. Gods, how Claude hated that guy. But he had to give him some credit: part of Claude’s laid-back and flirtatious persona was adapted from men like Sylvain that Claude knew back home. It was easiest to get things done in private when nobody took you seriously in public. 

Sylvain laughed at Claude’s reaction while Felix looked unimpressed. The sound of the door leading back to the monastery grounds opening drew Claude’s attention away. Edelgard entered, sending a wave of silence through the courtyard. There was something about her presence that was captivating. And it wasn’t just the fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous. There were plenty of other pretty girls walking around the monastery. Claude decided it must be the way she carried herself that demanded a certain level of respect, whether or not you were not under her rule. Even Dimitri, the leader of the the Blue Lions and prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faergus, seem to defer to her whim, though he would never openly admit it. At least in that case, Claude was sure that Dimitri had more than a little crush on Edelgard. He could practically hear the royal wedding bells ringing whenever they were around each other.

But Edelgard’s powerful presence was not the reason Claude was watching her now. He had actually been hoping to run into her that day. Her. . . Or Dimitri, technically, as well. But between the two, Edelgard was by far the more shrewd. Despite his skill with a lance, Dimitri was still naive in many ways.

“Hey, Eddie!” Claude called as he approached the white-haired princess. Edelgard rolled her eyes.

“Claude,” she started. “I believe I have asked you before not to call me that. How can I help you? Need help pulling a prank? I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be the right girl for the job.”

“It’s nothing like that,” Claude assured her. He put is arm around her shoulders and led her farther away from the center of the training grounds. “I was actually hoping that we could talk about the night we got attacked by the bandits,” he whispered.

Edelgard blinked, her eyes widening. “You mean right before school started, the night we were saved by Professor Byleth?”

“Is there any other night that I could be talking about?”

“I suppose not,” Edelgard admitted. “What about it?”

“Do you ever wonder why they were after us?”

“Oh, you mean three wealthy teenagers wandering around without guards in the middle of the woods?” Edelgard laughed. “They wanted our money, Claude. I would think that would be obvious to a guy like you.”

“I think the insults are a little unnecessary right now,” Claude said with a frown.

Edelgard’s brow furrowed. She crossed her arms over her chest. “What are you getting at?” 

“Do you think it’s possible that someone. . . I don’t know. Informed the bandits that the three future leaders of Fódlan’s nations were all going to be out of the protection of the monastery for one night? That maybe someone was behind their attack ‘cause they wanted us—“

“Dead?”

“Exactly.”

Edelgard looked around the courtyard. It was doubtful anyone could hear them, but more than one pair of eyes were watching them. It was no secret that their personalities tended to clash more often than not. Edelgard leaned in closer. “You mean like an assassination?”

“Yes.”

“Have you talked to Dimitri about this?”

“No,” Claude said. “I haven’t seen him yet today.”

“Good. Then don’t talk to him about it.”

“Why not?!” Doesn’t he deserve the right to know?”

“I don’t think we should incite a panic,” Edelgard hissed. 

“Give the guy some credit.”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if-“

“If what?

Edelgard’s eyes flicked behind Claude, ever so briefly.

“A bunch of us are going to the town tonight. There’s supposed to be dancing, drinking, mingling. . . You should join us.”

“It’s against the school’s rules to be beyond the gate past curfew.”

Edelgard laughed aloud, as if trying to draw attention. Claude figured it was her way of saying she wanted to wrap up the conversation they were having. “You are too funny, Claude. It’ll be fun. You can get the chance to know some of your classmates better—and some of the students from other houses, as well. I heard Sylvain and Felix mention they were going to be there, for example.”

Ah, that’s what she was getting at. So now Claude had to be all buddy-buddy with Dimitri’s childhood friends? Great. Just wonderful. “I’ll see what I can manage,” Claude said.

“Good.” Edelgard patted Claude on the shoulder. “Now, if you will excuse me. I have some training to do.” She sauntered away towards the rack of training weapons as Claude watched her. The other students pretended as if they had been sparring the entire time, but most of them kept glancing between Claude and Edelgard nervously. Everyone, that is, except Hilda, who openly gawked. Claude avoided her gaze as he headed towards the door. Before he made it out to the monastery grounds, Hilda was right beside him, looping her arm through his.

“Cla-aude,” she sang, “you’ve even keeping secrets.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, darling,” Claude replied sarcastically. Hilda only giggled.

“Puh-lease! I saw you flirting with Edelgard. Saying good-for-nothings in hushed tones while looking into each other’s eyes? I didn’t know you were the ‘fraternizing with the enemy’ type.” She elbowed him playfully in the ribs at the word “fraternizing.”

“It’s nothing like that,” Claude argued. “She just invited me out to the town tonight to go dancing.”

“And will that be with or without her tongue down your throat?”

“How can I manage that when I have another girl go with me?”

Hilda’s eyes widened. “Who?!” she demanded.

“You,” Claude said. Hilda stopped walking. 

“You can’t be serious.” 

“Why not? I’ve known you longer than anyone else here, anyway. I would love to have you go as my date.”

“Oh, so it’s me you want to make out with now?”

“Trust me, I am not trying to make out with anyone tonight. You’re more like a buffer.”

“Good. Because as cute as you are, you’re not exactly my type.”

“You mean because I won’t do your chores for you in hopes of you giving me a smile, or a bat of your eyelashes?”

“Hey, now!”

“Look, do you want to come with or not? Don’t worry about my reasons, just come and have fun. I promise I’m a great dancer.”

Hilda crossed her arms and hummed, as if she were pondering his offer.

“Fine,” she said. “But if we get caught, I’m telling Professor Byleth that it was all your idea.” 

“I have no objections.” Claude kissed Hilda’s hand. “Meet me in my room at ten?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Hilda replied. She skipped back towards the dorms muttering about what to wear, and Claude stalked towards the classrooms. He hoped Dimitri would be there. No matter what Edelgard said, he had the right to know if someone was trying to kill them. Though he had to admit, he was curious about what she meant by asking Felix and Sylvain about him. As his childhood friends, they were bound to have dirt on him, if any existed. But Dimitri just seemed so pure. The poor guy couldn’t have possibly done anything worse in his life than kill a fly.

Claude groaned inwardly. There were too many secrets going around. He had hoped moving to Fódlan a year ago would simplify his life, not make it more complicated. Much luck of that happening any time soon. Claude reached the Blue Lion’s classroom, and the door was wide open. He peered in. No lectures were going on, and only a few students remained at the desks talking with each other. None of them were Dimitri. 

Claude’s stomach growled, reminding him that it was well past midday. He realized that Dimitri could be in the mess hall, too. Claude rushed in that direction, but to his dismay, Dimitri was not there either.

Shit, Claude thought. He did not know off the top of his head where else to look for him. And while the monastery was not too big going in a straight line, it had a significant number of nooks and crannies where a person could hide. Still, while he was there, Claude figured he should eat. There was always the chance that Dimitri would still show up. 

Students stared up at him as he walked past to grab a plate. After the first few weeks of such behavior, Claude was more or less used to it. After all, he was the House Leader for the Golden Deer and the future leader of the Alliance. The fact that no one knew where he had been before his grandfather legitimized him as an heir seemed to only make students more intrigued by him. Claude had heard the circling gossip speculating on where he came from many a time. Some guesses were wilder than others. None of them accurate. 

“Claude!” A voice called. From across the hall, Lysithea was waving frantically to catch his attention. “Come and eat with us.” Claude noticed Leonie sitting across from her at the long table. He smiled and waved back in agreement. Once he had his food, he sat down beside her. Leonie seemed particularly interested in her lunch.

“How was training today? Did you and Hilda get a good workout in?” Lysithea asked.

“I did the best that I could, considering Teach wanted me to use an axe instead of a bow today,” Claude said. Probably the first of my punishments for eavesdropping on her conversation with Rhea yesterday. “As for Hilda. . .”

“Say no more,” Lysithea groaned. “Unless it is makeup or jewelry, I have never seen that girl put effort into anything.” Claude thought he could have been making it up, but it sounded like there was a hint of jealousy in Lysithea’s tone.

“Yeah, trying isn’t her strong suit. If I remember correctly, I think she has an older brother that spoils her rotten or something.”

“Hmm,” Leonie grunted. 

“Are you still in a foul mood?” Lysithea groaned.

“Why? What happened?” Claude asked.

“It’s nothing. . .” Leonie muttered.

“One of the boys in her archery class mistook her for a boy today,” Lysithea said in a fake whisper. Claude looked over at Leonie, who was finally looking up, but with a scowl on her face.

“No offense, but I didn’t take you for the kind of girl who cared what a guy thinks.”

“I don’t,” Leonie asserted.

“So I see,” Claude laughed. “Well, how about I cheer you up tonight? Hilda and I are sneaking into town after curfew. There’s supposed to be dancing and partying or something. Come with us. A good dance under the stars can turn any frown upside down!” 

“What if we get caught?” Leonie asked.

“Caught schmaught! You are sneaking out with the master of schemes! I’m sure I can think of a way to get us out okay.”

“Umm,” Lysithea interrupted. “What about me? Aren’t you going to ask me to go dancing too?”

“Oh, I would never mess with a child’s bedtime.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“I’m joking, I’m joking! Of course you can come with us! As long as you’re okay with breaking school rules, losing out on sleep, possibly a little drinking. . .”

“On second thought, I’ll pass.”

“Actually, I like the idea of seeing you drunk, Lysithea,” Leonie snickered.

“Yes, I’m sure it would be a hoot,” Lysithea said with a roll of her eyes. “But seriously. Have fun without me. I guess I could cover for you if you needed it.”

“Aw, you are too kind!” Claude beamed. He bent over and kissed her cheek, if only to annoy her. Lysithea made it too easy to tease her.

“Gross, gross! Stop!” Lysithea protested, pushing Claude’s face away. Her cheeks were flushed red, but she was laughing.

“So then, oh grand leader,” Leonie began, leaning her arms on the table. “How are we going to get out of here without the guards seeing us.”

Claude looked around, half to make sure no monastery staff were in hearing distance and half to see if he could spot Dimitri. Still no luck. He turned back to Leonie and Lysithea, a sly grin on his face and hands laced menacingly together. “I am so glad you asked,” he said, “Because I was wondering if you had any rope left over from hunting. . .”

[sick-raven]

Ghosts of the past - Chapter 1

Batman fanfiction

Characters: Jonathan Crane, OC - Miranda Bradbury, Bruce Wayne, John Constantine

About: Miranda Bradbury moved to Gotham for a few reasons - to enjoy her career as an assassin, and to face her fears. Who else should help her with hallucinations that follow her than the fear expert Jonathan Crane? However, the doctor-patient relationship is very unstable one as both of them have to fight with their past, their present, and Batman.

Author note: I was trying to figure out some fancy way to describe the story. It's just a porn with a plot about two sick freaks. Enjoy.

Fair warnings: Suicide attempt, rape mentions, nsfw, violence, light bdsm

Status: Finished, will post next chapters when in mood.

Can also read at AO3.

Chapter 1

It was a dark evening in Gotham. Now, every evening was dark, but in Gotham with its never-ending mist of smog, it was especially dull and uncomfortable. Street lights wouldn’t break the darkness, windows only shined TV light out and painted pictures of entertained families, or dining families, or, as most common in Gotham, arguing families.

Gotham was also loud and Terry Borrows hated that fact. They’ve never got used to constant car noises – revving of engines and horn honking that all coming back twofold in echoes bouncing from walls of thin streets. Annoying, headache causing. Terry would rather listen to their boss shouting all day.

They were hyper focused on the noise. On their check-up doctor said it’s nothing weird and then asked for payment in amount of Terry’s two-month salaries. Thief.

That’s when they heard it. Soft, almost silent ding. As if you try to get attention at the wedding table and you hit the crystal glass with a spoon. Once. Carefully. It sounded almost magical in this grey place.

Ding.

Terry stopped. At the end of the narrow street they saw a shadow. It was a person kneeling next to something on the ground. Terry didn’t see any details, but dread climbed on their back. This is Gotham. Terry should run. It doesn’t matter what were they witnessing, the logical thing is to…

Ding.

The person looked his way. Every little move was followed by that soft jingle.

And then Terry realized they can’t move anymore. The jingle dinged louder. And louder. The sound vibrated through the streets catching them right by the soul. Terry realized they can’t breathe. Their heart was racing like crazy and their head hurt from wave of sound around them.

The person… a woman… walked straight to Terry, bringing the sound with her. In the dark Terry recognized a scarf on her face and… oh god… bloody knife in her hand.

Run! They tried to move their legs. Nothing.

The sound. The fear. The knife.

Finally, Terry’s body gave in and they fainted. They didn’t see the woman touching their neck for pulse. Nor did they hear the sound stop as the woman left without hurting them.

In the street, there lay another body.

***

Miranda Bradbury really liked Gotham. She felt like a character in gothic romance. Darkness, never-ending mist and bad weather, creepy architecture and constant danger. She enjoyed Gotham since she’s moved here two weeks prior. This city was crazy. Mental even! During the time period she tried to adapt to her new environment, she’s already seen the clown terrorizing city, the Riddler enslaving a whole block and some maniac with knives kidnapping people trying to lure in the Bat.

Oh, yeah. Batman. Before she didn’t understand. How can the police just let mask vigilante on loose? She understood after two days. This city…

This city also ruined her business right away. She moved here, opened a toyshop and that was it. The empty place flourished under her care, filled with toys, decorations and joy. The shop was in pretty good part of town, and yet – no customers. Too late she found out this used to be a toyshop of some crazy guy – calling himself the Toymaker – who tried to kill the city with explosive teddy-bears and sentient Barbie dolls.

Yes. This city was mental.

And she loved it. She always tried to blend in, be the grey mouse in her warm turtleneck and messy brown hair. After witnessing crazy punk-rock fashion of this city she realized she stood up more like this. At least she can pass for naïve outsider. That’s always a plus in her line of work.

The fourth day and finally two guys entered her shop. They looked around with deep uninterest in their eyes. Walked through isles touching stuffed toy here and there or picking up a toy car and putting it back two seconds later. Miranda waited patiently at the counter, small smile on her lips.

They finally stopped in front of her. She suspected they are twins as their expression were the same – dull and bored. They were dressed like gangsters from twenties. Gotham was weirdly stuck in time.

“G’morning, lady,” said one of them despite it being deep afternoon. “We’ve come to talk.”

“How much?” Miranda asked.

“Excuse me?”

“How much?” she repeated not losing her patience. She adored the confused looks. “This isn’t my first rodeo, gentlemen. How much is the protection fee?”

“Straight lass, huh?”

“Partially,” Miranda joked. “I hate beating around the bush.”

“Don loves people like you. Right to bus’ ya know? It’s ten percent if you don’t want’cha place to burn.”

Miranda overlooked the empty store. Ten percent of nothing is… probably not suitable for Don Falcone, one of the mafia leaders of the city. Before setting the shop, Miranda made her research on the city’s bad guys. Always ready. Don Falcone won’t care, he will just want his cash. She started to think she underestimated the marketing. Be better PR, Miranda, it’s not that hard.

“Tell me, friends,” she started with a nice voice, “how does Don Falcone feel about illegal businesses?”

***

Miranda moved to Gotham for various reasons. One of them was the fact she was constantly on the move. She’s never spent anywhere more than two years. The last city she was in was Star City and that didn’t go well for her with all the supers around.

The second reason was that she’s always heard about Gotham as this sick place. The city corrupted by illness eating itself out like a wounded animal. That intrigued her and she felt as if this is the proper place to hide and never be found. And if she is, it will be probably in the dumpster behind some chemical plant. She could live with that future in mind.

The third reason… the main reason she wasn’t afraid to admit, she just didn’t want to deal with it… was him.  Professor Jonathan Crane. Miranda took years of stupid, non-working, useless therapy to end up here. Her… could she even call them fears?... were crippling. And she needed the best. Jonathan Crane was the best. The fear specialist with shady background. But that’s Gotham for you. You might do inhumane experiments on your students and don’t get your licence revoked.

Miranda should probably be afraid of someone like that. Ridiculous idea. He was still running decent psychiatric office and all reviews threw him five stars. She will be careful. She just really needed help.

This was the part she hated. Explaining. She sat in front of the professor. He was fairly young for the title. Miranda’s looked through his files too, though he has been careful keeping most of the information hidden. Star student, at least he used to be. Those climb the leader fast. He wasn’t even forty yet, his ginger hair hid possible grey hair very well. He was watching her with his intense blue eyes and almost never blinked. He waited for her to get everything out. Miranda hated those stories. Repeating them again always made her feel crazy. She probably was.

“It’s complicated. I will try to make it short.” Now, Miranda, where is your hate for beating around the bush, huh? Just tell the nice doctor you are a fucking madwoman.

The professor was silent. Waiting. Even sitting he was very tall, and she noticed his fingers being thin and bony, just like his whole appearance.

“I have a problem. I’ve seen tons of shrinks about it already. Most of them gave up on me or drugged me to no avail. The thing is I have this weird… I don’t know… Phobia. Causing me panic attacks, crippling me.”

“That is not uncommon for deep fears,” said the professor. Miranda wondered how can shrinks be so calm. If someone told her they are crazy, she would probably joke about it right away.

“Yes, I know. I was told that hundred times already. There’s a catch.”

“Do tell.”

Miranda shuffled in her chair. No matter how many times she has talked about this it still made her uncomfortable and she felt like an idiot. But she had to fight this. Or she might…

“It’s ghosts. I panic around ghosts.”

The professor opened his mouth to say something, but Miranda quickly stopped him.

“No, I don’t believe in ghosts. That’s nonsense. I just call these things ghosts. It’s like… hallucination I keep having. They appear and it’s like someone caught my heart and pulled it out of my chest. I feel dead. I cannot move, I cannot act, think, anything. But according to all the doctors, I am sane.”

“When do these ghosts appear?” Professor didn’t even flinch. Nor blinked. He heard crazy talk daily why should she be any more interesting?

“They first appeared a little over a decade back. This is when the first attack happened. Then I got a charm, see?” She touched her necklace. Simple round silver ball that jingled softly when moved. “It keeps them away. When I take this off, I see them. I get attacked right away.”

“May I see?”

She held the pendant firmly. “Sorry, I don’t take it off on the first date.”

Her joke created tiny smile on his face. “Understandable.”

He asked more questions and she tried to answer as truthfully as her crime record allowed. By the end of the session she felt like dried out sponge.

“Don’t be afraid, miss Bradbury. We will figure this out,” professor said when she was leaving.

“Funny you say that. I can’t really feel the fear,” she smiled and that ended their first meeting.

***

Terry Borrows way lying in the hospital bed. They hit their head during the horrid night which caused a mild concussion. The doctors were also worried about their heart because it showed signs of arrythmia.  It disappeared a day after the incident, but everyone was head over heels with this situation.

“They keep me here because they want to blame it on me,” wrote Terry to their friend. “Because they have nobody else for the murder.” Terry believed that. This wouldn’t be the first time Gotham has fucked them over. At least they survived. Witnessing murder first hand was like being sentenced to death.

So, they were bored on the hospital bed, half asleep, half awake, back hurting from cheap bedding. Eyes closing and opening again just to see how far the sun has moved or whether the food was ready.

Closing. Opening. The sun was setting.

Closing. Opening. Darkness.

Closing. Opening. Shadow.

Terry’s heart nearly stopped. They shouted by surprise. They are definitely going to die now!

“Terry Borrows,” said the shadow with a deep voice. “I have few questions for you.”

Terry was struck by fear. The rational part of their brain wanted to scream. They didn’t. They watched a man dressed as giant bat and their voice trembled.

“Y-yes?”

“What did you see at the crime scene?”

“I already told the police everything.” There was panic in their voice.

“Tell me.”

“There was a woman, she killed someone. She had some sort of mask. She… ah!”

The door opened. The nurse stepped between the doorframe, looked at Batman and then strategically left closing the door behind her. Terry swallowed a curse.

“Continue,” demanded Batman.

“The sound. It was the sound that made me faint.”

“What else can you remember?”

“The jingle. She was jingling like some fucking Christmas tree.”

“What about her movement?”

“What about it?” asked Terry. Batman just waited to let them figure out what he means. “I don’t know. I saw her just for a few seconds. She was hidden in the shadows.”

“Thank you, Terry.”

“You are welcome?” answered Terry unsurely. Then the door opened again, and doctor stormed in ready to shun the uninvited guest.

But he was already gone.

Chapter 2

[ivydcmir-blog]

☁☼☁( ****. simay barlas. cis female. 21 ). welcome back to your summer paradise, IVY DEMIR we were wondering when you’d finally show up! the town’s really missed how MESMERIZING you are, even if you can be a bit AMORAL at times. we hear back home they call you the CHERRY PIT, makes sense considering you remind everyone of IMPORTED CIGARETTES, OLD LOVE SONGS COMING FROM A RECORD PLAYER, PERFUME AT THE BASE OF A THROAT, & FAST CARS AT MIDNIGHT.  ☁☼☁    

oh she’s extra late to the party ! im she .... my name’s xan im 22 and from the est timezone i go by she / her pronouns and ur watching disney channel <3 i am....so excited to bring ivy to life ... shes been my sleep paralysis demon for weeks its time for me to set her free baby ! lets go !

first things first ivy is inspired by characters like effy from skins, georgina & serena from gossip girl, and just a TINY bit of villanelle from killing eve ( not the....assassin part.... ) 

her daddy’s side of the family are oil tycoons and her mom’s side ? well ivy has no idea what they do or who they were

basically a little after ivy turned a year old her mother just . poofed...vanished into thin air and didn’t leave a trace behind. growing up ivy would hear a lot of rumors from the staff abt what kind of person her mom was or where she went but the one person who could tell her the truth ( her dad ) just refused to talk abt it. he got super angry anytime she used to try so ivy stopped asking !

she was born in tokyo actually ( on her parents anniversary trip, which was another mystery ) but was raised in manhattan ! she is absolutely in love with nyc and definitely considers it her home

so shes filthy rich and i mean like ... disgusting billionaire rich to the point that it’s just not right and you know, that definitely shaped her upbringing. even as a little girl ivy found it very clear the amount of power she has just by being born into the right family 

she was....kind of a strange child ! she was abnormally sharp for her age and intuitive and without that maternal figure in her life, ivy grew very attached to her father. he’d even take her along to business meetings because she was well behaved

as she grew up it started to become apparent ivy liked to play games. the more she observed the people around her ( the staff, her dad, his business partners, the kids at school, etc. ) the better she got at finding out what made people tick. sometimes her games were harmless ( like flirting with the boys she knew her friends were crushing on ) and sometimes they were more intense ( like setting up empty pill bottles around her and pretending she’d overdosed to freak out the maids ) ask ivy why she did any of it and she’d simply tell you she was bored

high school ivy was very much reckless like this. she found the upper east side teen drama so dreary she’d often act out just for a change of pace. i’d like to think she broke the record for most detentions at whatever private school she went to. she was definitely someone just about everyone knew just because of all the rumors she stirred up doing crazy things 

despite all the misdemeanors she got into yale ! her dad is basically on of the biggest donors to the university. there’s probably a building somewhere on campus with her last name on it, but ivy really couldnt care less. she didnt exactly want to go to college and she definitely didnt want to leave nyc, but shes got this weird complex with her dad and really cannot tell the man no ! so she majors in classics just bc she thought it’d be neat to have to learn latin 

of course ... she starts to get bored. she’s already barely attending classes and on academic probation so when it leaks to the dean she’s sleeping with a professor ? ivy was sure it’d be expulsion.....but then it wasn’t ! turned out her dad had made a special deal with yale and after a nice monetary exchange it was like ivy never did anything....

after her dad announced he was going to turkey for his brother’s funeral last august she decided to "take a gap year” from yale but really she’s got no plan to ever go back ! instead she disappeared much like her mother did for a whole year without a trace. she told absolutely no one where she was going or what she was doing.....and she’s come back to the hamptons for the summer with no warning ! 

PERSONALITY & TIDBITS

so ivy is....all over the place ! most of the way she behaves is because she finds it a bit too easy to grow bored. still very much into playing games with people bc she gets a kick out of it ! it takes a lot for ivy to take anything seriously so she’s not exactly the best person to come to if you need advice or comfort. if you’re looking for excitement? trouble? an out of body experience ? then she is 100% your girl 

for someone so chaotic she is weirdly nostalgic and sentimental about things. she’s obsessed with greek heroes and foreign poets and superstitions and it’s not uncommon to find her getting existential with you with a cigarette dangling from her fingertips and a foggy look in her eyes. she’ll say something that seems entirely deep and profound one minute, and the next she’s blowing smoke in your face asking if you want to do a line in the bathroom with a wicked smile on her painted lips

a huge flirt ! she will and she does hit on absolutely everyone. definitely not the traditionally romantic type but she does go through phases where she tends to hyper fixate on others for specific periods of time. until she gets bored. it’s a vicious cycle

full of unhealthy habits that include drinking, smoking, doing drugs, fucking around, but the worst is how little she sleeps. she’s been prone to nightmares ever since she was a kid but she’s never acknowledged it as a problem despite it obviously being one

once she flew to paris with nothing but a cheap pink wig. wore it the whole time she was there and called herself yvette. 

picked up her father’s obsession with luxury cars. not only does she collect them, she races them, too. most infamous stint was showing up to a race in an evening gown and winning. 

speaks about five languages fluently. often likes to fuck with snobby rich people at high society events by pretending she can’t speak or understand english, only to turn around and speak to someone else in perfect english

it’s rumored she once snuck onto the yacht of a ceo to a fortune 500 company, only for him to find her in nothing but a bath towel eating chocolates while flipping through his playboy magazines, and that he was so taken with her instead of pressing charges he decided to name the boat after ivy.  

rumors are rumors, but you really never know with ivy....

thats it !!! if you’re reading this you made it !! please come plot with me i know im late but i have a lot of heart memes saved up and i cant use those by myself </3 we can message through im’s but im 100% easier to get in contact with over discord @  EL i love u 💖✨🌙#8172

[crowsheadcaneandleathergloves]

Ferocious Zoya

Hogwarts AU

Zoyalai (Zoya Nazyalensky/Nikolai Lantsov)

Warnings: The Darkling’s real name, and King of Scars spoilers if you look really hard

Word Count: 3,820

Here’s another Hogwarts AU I wrote but with the crows: Impossible

Zoya Nazyalensky waited patiently with the other professors for the new professor. Or, rather, the assistant professor.

Nikolai Lantsov was his name.

Zoya knew quite a bit about him but right know all she knew was that he was horrendously late. While a couple professors were waiting patiently, Zoya had her lips pursed and was tapping her foot against the cold stone of the floor.

“Lighten up a little, Zoya,” Neville said, smiling at her. “With this new assistant, we won’t have to do as much work as normal.”

“We’re magical, Neville,” Zoya grumbled back. “If we want something we can use magic.” She hadn’t meant to sound harsh but she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before and Nikolai’s tardiness just irritated her even more.

Zoya remembered Nikolai Lantsov from her time at Hogwarts. They had both been in the same year. He had been put in Ravenclaw while she was sorted into Slytherin.

She remembered crazy things happening in school. Once, someone built a small boat that would probably sink in water but charmed it so it would fly and soar. On the night of the Yule Ball, a masked person with hazel eyes charged one sickle per person to ride on his boat. Zoya did not remember who her date had been only that she had ridden that flimsy thing. They flew over the Great Lake and flew higher and higher and higher until Zoya was sure she’d be able to reach out and touch the stars. It was one of the only times the word magical ran through her mind.

Another time, an anonymous person with shockingly blonde hair began punching anyone who said the word “mudblood”. Milliseconds after the word was said, the cloaked figure would appear from seemingly thin air and sock the culprit right in the jaw. Mere five days later, no one dared say the slur on Hogwarts grounds. 

By that time, this mysterious person had a name: Sturmhond.

And then, during Zoya’s seventh year, on Valentine’s day every single student, teacher, and caretaker woke up with a red rose on their bedside table and personalized note expressing their undying love for the receiver. Zoya hated to admit it but she still had her note piled under all her things in her trunk.

Ferocious Zoya,

I do declare my love for you. You are clever and intelligent and determined to do you best! I have the utmost confidence in you that you will succeed in any career path you choose (however I personally see you becoming a famous auror one day!) Do manage to take some time for yourself, however! It never hurts to stop and smell the flowers! Stay strong!

Sturmhond

While no one seemed to know who it was, there were many theories. Zoya didn’t say it, but something had always told her it was Nikolai Lantsov.

But Nikolai Lantsov as himself was always intelligent, strong, and always had a student fawning over him. Teachers loved their prized student. Students loved how charming he was. Even Filch could not manage to hate him. 

Zoya was snapped out of her thoughts of simpler times when she heard heavy boots draw near the Great Hall. 

Nikolai Lantsov’s broad figure stood in the Great Hall’s massive double doorway. He had a grin on his face. “It’s good to be home.”

***

School started and Hogwarts was the same. Except for the fact that Nikolai Lantsov seemed busier than all the Hogwarts’s professors combined.

Hooch wanted him to teach her students the art of flying broomsticks. Flitwick wanted Nikolai to show his students the levitating and flying charms. Neville Longbottom, who hadn’t previously known of Nikolai before, wanted his help since he had “travelled far and wide and had seen many incredible plants”.

It wasn’t uncommon to see Nikolai grab a school broomstick and fly through a window and into a class because it was quicker than running through the halls. Sometimes he was muddy from Herbology, or stinking of whatever students were learning in Care for Magical Creatures. No one seemed to care, though. He was still Nikolai Lantsov.

Zoya told herself that if Nikolai asked to help with her Defence Against the Dark Arts class, she’d outright refuse. Nikolai, however, never asked. Good, she had thought one night before bed.

One encounter that stood out in Zoya’s mind was when she had been in the empty potions classroom, rummaging in the potion’s cabinet for a Confusing Concoction, planning to use it on her students to see if they could cast spells while under the influence of the potion.

She hadn’t realized Nikolai had even walked in until he had coughed and said, “hello.”

Zoya had spun around, startled. When she had realized it was just Nikolai she had turned around again, returning to her search of the potion.

Zoya hadn’t expected to hear him speak again until he said, “you don’t think Aleksander would mind if I glanced around in his potions cabinet, do you?”

She had finally found the familiar bottle and took it in her hands. She turned around to look at Nikolai and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Maybe. Guess it depends on what potion your looking for.” She raised an eyebrow expectantly.

Nikolai scratched his neck. “Oh.” He let his arm drop and shrugged. “You know, just a headache potion.”

“To cure or create?” Zoya asked, stepping out of the potions cabinet and letting Nikolai step in and glance around. 

“To create,” Nikolai said easily. He glanced around at all the oddly shaped bottles, his eyes roaming over their labels. “Alina wants it.”

“What does the Muggle Studies professor want to do with a headache creating potion?” Zoya had asked incredulously. 

“Wants to show her students about muggle superstitions for curing certain ailments and whatnot.” He shrugged his shoulders and then they slumped. “Doesn’t seem to be here. I’ll go check the Hospital Wing I guess.” Nikolai had the walked to the doorway, turning back only to smile and say, “it’s nice seeing you again, Zoya.”

When Zoya had checked the potions cabinet after he had left, she had seen the headache potion right in front of the cabinet, perfectly eye level to Nikolai’s height.

As months went by, Zoya began to notice strange things about Nikolai. Like how he’d be sick every month and had to be confined to his room. 

As well, during the first few months of the school year, strange smells came out of his room. Soon, the smell was gone and Zoya noticed Nikolai speaking to Aleksander Morozova, the potions professor, more and more often. 

All her questions were answered when on one especially beautiful night, the full moon rising, Zoya couldn’t sleep. 

Ever since she had prematurely retired from being an auror, she could not sleep well. Before her retirement, she had slept like a log. But now, she couldn’t go two hours straight without waking up. Sleeping potions didn’t work; all she did was get horrendous, bloody, nightmares. Zoya would rather have bags under her eyes and feel exhausted than have nightmares. 

The stars twinkled outside her window and she was taken back to that Yule Ball when she flew in that rickety, flying, boat. 

Soon, Zoya found herself outside, drawing her cloak tighter around her body as the winds whipped around her. Her black hair was probably looking atrocious and she was without any makeup but Zoya couldn’t care. The cold brought her back to reality and out of her nightmare. It was like dunking her head in cold water.

Zoya’s hair on the back of her neck prickled as she head a loud howl cutting through the beautiful night like a knife. The noise startled Zoya and she gripped her wand from inside her cloak. It sounded like a wolf but it was incredibly close to Hogwarts grounds. Too close, she thought to herself.

Suddenly, Zoya caught a flash of brown fur and she jerked her wand towards the thing, thinking of the only spell she could think of: Petrificus Totalus.

A white light flew from the tip of Zoya’s wand. The thing whined softly before being temporarily frozen. 

Zoya edged closer to the creature and recognized it instantly as a werewolf. But who and how had it gotten loose on Hogwarts grounds, were unknown. The werewolf’s fur was slick and looked soft, the snout short. What really made Zoya take a step back were the eyes—human eyes. 

Zoya shivered and she was unprepared as the werewolf un-froze and snarled right into her face.

Zoya clamped her mouth shut, refusing to let the werewolf win so easily. She’d have to take the werewolf in after it transformed back to human to see what had caused the werewolf to roam Hogwarts’ grounds in the first place. 

The werewolf snapped at Zoya and then ran towards her. She cast her all-time favourite spell, Ventus, causing a strong gust of wind which made the werewolf slide backwards. She kept the wind going for as long as possible. She was horribly out of shape; Defence Against the Dark Arts was not suitable preparation for the real world and teaching it had made her grow weak.

Zoya cast Stupefy quickly, the wind dying down to nothing and the werewolf was knocked back at the power of the spell, out like a light in seconds.

She dragged the werewolf to the groundkeepers hut which was uninhabited since Hagrid left. It was dusty and unkempt and Zoya barely feel asleep before every two hours she woke herself up to stun the werewolf so he wouldn’t come to and kill her.

As the moon began to lower beneath the mountains and the sun’s rays could be seen peeking out, Zoya tried to straighten herself out before opening the hut door and stepping down the steps.

Nikolai Lantsov was sprawled out in the old pumpkin patch, his eyes staring upwards towards the sky, his cloak muddy and wet. “You’ve got a strong stun spell, Nazyalensky.” He slowly lifted himself into a sitting position.

“Nikolai?” Zoya couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice.

“The one and only,” Nikolai grinned and winked as he heaved himself up onto his feet.

“What were you doing on the school grounds? You could’ve killed somebody! And shouldn’t you be under the influence of the Wolfsbane Potion?” Zoya asked, flaring up suddenly like a match.

“Always straight to the interrogation. How very Zoya of you.” Nikolai grinned and ran a hand through his messed up hair. Then, more to himself, “I think I might need that curing headache potion now...”

“Nikolai.”

Nikolai sighed and then said, “come on. Let’s go to the castle before the students wake up.

They made their way up to the castle in silence until Nikolai said, “I normally transform in the Forbidden Forest but I somehow must have found my way back...” he trailed off. “And Wolfsbane potion is an incredibly difficult potion. I trust Aleksander’s skills in potions but not as a person in general. One wrong move and the potion could be deadly.”

“You were trying to make the potion on your own,” Zoya suddenly realized, remembering those awful smells that used to come out of his room. “Those first couple of months.”

Nikolai nodded. “Yeah, I thought that I could possible create the potion myself but I don’t have any talent in potions.”

Zoya pursed her lips as they got inside the castle and began walking through the halls. “I could try to make the potion. When I was a student I had an O in potions.”

She didn’t mention the fact that that was probably because of all the secret practice she had done making cosmetic potions for herself. How arrogant and self-conscious she had been back in her school years.

Nikolai didn’t say anything for a long moment before shrugging and saying a “sure.”

Zoya could hear the doubt in his voice. “What? You don’t think I can do it?” I probably—” but she was cut short as she saw Nikolai’s grinning face. “What?” She frowned.

“You were always competitive.” Nikolai chuckled.

Zoya sniffed. “And what’s so wrong about that?” She asked snappily.

Nikolai didn’t have the chance to reply as they both caught sight of a young Gryffindor student further down the corridor. Once she realized she had been spotted, she scurried away.

“Who was that?” Nikolai asked, squinting at nothing as the girl’s footsteps faded away.

“Nina Zenik.” Zoya could recognize that girl from a mile away. Who knew what she’d say now that she saw two of her teachers roaming the hallways at the crack of dawn, noticeably mussed up and disheveled. 

A moment of silence passed through them before Zoya said, “there will probably be rumours.”

“I don’t care.” Nikolai said. He then turned to face Zoya. “And I fully believe in your potion skills, Nazyalensky, and I trust you more than Aleksander.”

“That’s not saying much,” Zoya huffed but she couldn’t help but let a small smile escape. She rolled her eyes.

***

The potion was difficult. 

But Zoya gritted her teeth through it all and trucked along, reading and re-reading the passages over and over again, even speaking to Severus Snape’s portrait in the Headmistress’ office, one of the best potion masters she could name that was at her disposal. 

She didn’t know what had caused her to decide to help Nikolai. Maybe she thought she was obligated to help a fellow colleague. Maybe she was doing it because it was her job to keep the students safe. Or maybe because Zoya actually cared.

Zoya had bought her own cauldron so she wouldn’t have to ask Aleksander and kept it in her private bathroom. More often than not, Nikolai would keep her company while she brewed the potion, her hair becoming fuzzy and her skin feeling dirty.

There seemed to never be a dull moment when Nikolai was there. He always seemed to be in the best of spirits, always smiling and laughing and cracking jokes. 

“Honestly, how do you always seem so happy?” Zoya had grumbled after one particularly hard day of arguing with Nina Zenik.

“You fake it ‘till you make it, Nazyalensky. I’m a rather convincing actor, even to me!” Nikolai had replied with his self-sure smile.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you frown. Don’t you get tired?”

“It takes more muscles to frown than smile.” Nikolai had joked back. He then suddenly turned serious. “Honestly though, it can get tiring. I guess I’m just so used to be seen as a emotionally strong person.”

Zoya suddenly looked mildly interested. She looked up from the potion book for a second. “How so?”

“After I was bitten by the werewolf, my mother and father begged me to hide the mark and to hide any thing that would make people come to the conclusion that I was a werewolf. So, I guess I just decided that I would act as who they wanted to see: a strong leader, a kind gentleman...etcetera etcetera.” Nikolai shrugged. 

Zoya stirred the potion three times counter-clockwise. She hadn’t thought about Nikolai past his outer shell. 

“I like to please people too.” Nikolai added in thoughtfully.

Zoya stayed silent and shook some white powder into the Wolfsbane potion. Then, she thoughtfully said, “perhaps you should take your own advice: Manage to take some time for yourself. It never hurts to stop and smell the flowers.” She hadn’t even realized what she had said. 

“What?” Nikolai asked, his spine straightening. His eyes widened just a bit.

Zoya straightened too, suddenly realized what she had said. She cursed herself. She had gotten too comfortable in Nikolai’s company.

“You knew?”

“Of course I knew. Are you daft?” Zoya snapped, her guard coming back up. “A blond haired, hazel eyed, boy anonymously going around school?”

“But I changed my appearance!” Nikolai looked amused.

“Not until Year 4, you didn’t.” Zoya said as she began stirring again. 

“Hmmm, Nazyalensky. Didn’t know you were paying attention.” Nikolai grinned and handed her a bottle. “Next ingredient.”

Zoya took it and rolled her eyes. 

***

“How about you, Nazyalensky?” Nikolai asked, the potion near done. It was close to cyan. “What happened when you graduated? Did you become an auror?”

Zoya’s shoulders stiffened. “For a short period.” She then shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Nikolai frowned and just silently passed her her wand, nodding understandingly.

***

Zoya gripped her wand anxiously, trying to calm her nerves. A goblet of lightly smoking, blue-green, Wolfsbane was in front of her and Nikolai. 

“You think it’s alright?” Zoya asked, hating how small her voice sounded.

“I trust you.” Nikolai said, looking over at Zoya with his easy-going smile. “I’m sure it’ll taste great.”

Zoya punched him in the arm lightly. “You know it’s not supposed to taste good! It’s supposed to be unpleasant.” She grumbled.

Zoya didn’t like this. Alone in her bathroom with the smoking potion in front of them. It felt ominous. She couldn’t take the silence. “Well then? What are you waiting for? Drink the darn thing. I didn’t brew the potion for eye candy!” 

Nikolai chuckled and grabbed the potion. Zoya noticed his knuckled were white from gripping the goblet too tightly. He downed it all in one gulp.

Nikolai made a face and Zoya wondered if she had actually concocted the Wolfsbane potion correctly.

“It’s...sweet...” Nikolai fell to the ground in a heap.

“Nononononono,” Zoya said, her voice becoming high pitched as she repeated the word. I poisoned him, she thought suddenly, her heart palpitating in her chest.

Zoya heaved Nikolai up quickly, casting a levitating charm and hurrying out of the bathroom and out into the hallways were students were milling about, about to head to their first class.

“Get out of the way!” She growled, the students parting quickly. Zoya dragged Nikolai’s floating body through the halls, hearing students beginning to murmur. “Get out!” She shrieked again. “Go to your classes!”

Madame Pomfrey quickly took Nikolai in, her face scrunched up and her movements quick. “Zoya, you should know how dangerous Wolfsbane can be when done incorrect—”

“—I know I know!” Zoya said, pacing the Hospital Wing. Her head was throbbing. He asked me to do it. He trusted me with his life...

The whole thing seemed outrageous now that she was looking back at it. How could she have thought that she could make Wolfsbane Potion? How had she been so stupid? Even Snape had warned her that he had found it difficult—

“He should have asked me to brew the potion himself. No hard feelings, Nazyalensky, but you’re hardly capable to brew one of the most difficult potions known to—”

Zoya spun to Aleksander, her eyes alight with distaste. “Well he didn’t ask you, now did he, Aleksander?” She knew it sounded childish but Aleksander’s words were true. She should have never let Nikolai drink the poison she had created.

Aleksander only smiled politely and Zoya hated him even more. How could he be so calm? He swept over to where Nikolai was laid and pulled out a clear liquid. “This should help,” he said with a pleasant expression masked on his face. “It should eliminate some of the poison. Mind it though, he’ll throw up.” He then left.

Madame Pomfrey didn’t even hesitant or ask about Aleksander’s motives. All she did was uncork the bottle and began feeding it to Nikolai.

Zoya clenched her jaw as Madame Pomfrey fed him the potion. What if Aleksander had poisoned it and was trying to kill Nikolai?

But the liquid went down easily and, just as Aleksander had predicted, Nikolai vomited up some of the poison.

“You may go now, Zoya.” Madame Pomfrey said, looking up at her. “Go teach your classes. Nikolai is in good hands.”

***

Zoya managed to get through one class. She almost strangled Nina Zenik and was close to cursing that blasted Kaz Brekker into oblivion. 

Eventually, Zoya got Alina to take over her classes. She just couldn’t handle it. What if Nikolai died while she was away?

Zoya sat next to Nikolai in the Hospital Wing, watching over him like a mother bird. She almost hated the way she felt about Nikolai. Why did she care so much? Zoya bit her lip and glanced over at Nikolai, feeling her eyes prickle with tears but refusing to let them fall.

Late at night, when Madame Pomfrey had retired for the evening, Zoya was looking out the window.

Madame Pomprey had said that there nothing left to do. She had given him healing potion upon healing potion and had given him poison extracting potions upon poison extracting potions. She was sure she’d seen enough vomit to last her a lifetime.

Now, it was just a waiting game.

The sky was clear and bright and Zoya was reminded of that night which seemed like ages ago but really wasn’t that long. 

Zoya sat back down next to Nikolai. She needed something to hang on to—anything except for the sadness that was filling her up and was close to reaching her capacity before it would leak out.

Anger. She needed anger. Zoya found it inside of her and gripped onto it for dear life. “Why?” She asked and she was glad no one was around to hear her voice crack. “Why?” She asked more quietly. 

Zoya hardened her voice. “Why did you want allow me to brew the potion?” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m not even that good at potions! Alina could have probably done a better job than me!” 

Zoya crossed her arms, feeling her fingers begin to twitch. She felt a sense of relief flood her as she noticed she was no longer on the verge of tears.

“I don’t know why I helped you either.” Zoya snapped, needing to fill the silence of the room and to keep her sane. “I don’t know why I decided to brew that potion. I knew it was difficult. I knew it was dangerous...” she trailed off as her lip trembled; just now realizing how this could have all been avoided if she hadn’t decided to help Nikolai.

Zoya put both of her hands on Nikolai’s cot. “It was stupid of you to even allow me to do it. I shouldn't have suggested and you shouldn’t have agreed,” she hissed.

That was when Nikolai’s mouth began to move.

Zoya thudded back in her chair, shocked. Her anger she was clinging to desperately to slipped away and she was left with utter bewilderment and the urge to cry.

Nikolai was trying to say something. “F-f-f...”

Zoya felt the tears well behind her eyes. This time, she didn’t blink them back. Instead, she let them roll down her cheeks. Her nose was stinging and she covered her face with her hands.

“F-f...Ferocious Zoya, I do declare my love for you.”

[bibliomint]

well?? at least his face is nice

So i visited my college for a scholarship dinner and spent the night to meet professors and other incoming freshmen the next day

and at the dinner i met a v nice boi whose name is Noah & who is an accounting major

hes v tol & nice and attractive; has brown eyes/brown hair and a v nice nose--it’s the same width from the bridge to the tip and honestly im usually like “eh noses we all have them they stick out of your face” but that evening i was like “damn thats a nice nose”

anyway

his parents are also there bc duh their 5th out of 8 kids is getting free money why wouldn’t you be there

he’s very extroverted. he’s the type to know everything about everyone. conversation isn’t difficult, because we have some things in common and he’s v nice

things are going ok until the Head of the Psych Department, Dr W sits down with us (which isn’t uncommon a lot of staff/prof’s joined people) and asks me what my major is

I say biopsychology (aka neuropsychology, aka the science side of psych)

His parents are like “??? what is that” and I look at Dr W bc of course she would be the best at explaining it 

but she just looks at me

and tells me to explain it

at this point i'm still trying to adjust to being around this many new people. im overwhelmed. im exhausted (i had been awake since 5:30 that morning and it was close to 7 in the evening and we had been driving for 4 1/2 hours). i don’t know anyone except my mother, and she is never any help.

after i try to explain my own major that i only kinda know in any sort of depth, Noah decides it's a good time to join Dr W and g r i l l  m e 

for at least 20 minutes i feel like I'm under the microscope and if i say one wrong or suspicious thing they’ll instantly lose all respect they have for me

i try several times to turn the conversation to him but neither of them budge

i have never been so uncomfortable in my life

finally, finally, Dr W decides it’s enough and takes pity and turns the conversation to Noah, who easily answers all the questions while i silently die in my seat all over again bc wow why couldn’t i have just been made to be extroverted why is basic communication this difficult for me

eventually all incoming freshmen are sent off to another room to form a line and take pictures with the president with their scholarship

so we’re standing in the messy line and he looks down at me (im not short. im average -- 5′5 with 2′’ heels) and we talk in hushed tones about nothing really at all; this one guy his sister dated who was absolutely massive, what i thought about this one guy wearing suspenders, how i constantly reminded him of someone else he knew and it was super weird, what i thought about this other guy rocking a man bun, and how differently people interpreted the dress code.

he was like “yeah no the dress code thing is interesting. some people just don’t look professional enough?? like those skirts *nods in a specific direction to a girl wearing an A-line skirt* are good and then pantsuits [what i was wearing] are good too but some things....eh. hbu what do you think about that guy, the one in black.”

“i dig it”

“how about the grey one”

“eh.”

“how bout the blue one? it's a safe choice”

“*quiet nod in agreement*”

the conversation dies for a moment, and then i'm like “idk man i think the red is my favorite its v sharp”

"oh cool” and he gets quiet bc hes the only one wearing red and im like,,, did i say something wrong it was a compliment i'm not trying to flirt not really??? idek know you

and then the atmosphere is ok again bc he’s just that good at it

i work up the nerve to ask him when his birthday is bc im inwardly dying to know bc i have my Suspicions™

he quirks an eyebrow (i'm not even kidding he does) and goes “the end of march i just turned 19 hbu”

i barely hear him my mind is going Too Fast Too Furious

and i'm like “the beginning of march i just turned 18″

and he’s like “oh cool congrats”

and my brain is on autopilot and i'm like “thanks u too that's also cool”

but all i can think of is hes an aries oh my gods it all makes sense now