#they lock Daphne in her room at one point and she argued that they ‘’can’t put an innocent person in prison!’’

[hyperfixationtimego]

gosh okay look I thought episodes 1 & 2 were mediocre at best but listen episodes 3 & 4 were goddamn DELIGHTFUL

[alphashley14]

One of Us

A Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated/Mystery Skulls Crossover

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Chapter 19

No One Ever Really Dies

After fleeing the lounge, Ricky and the kids hurried into Fred and Daphne’s room and shut and locked the door behind them.

Once inside, they stood around the door and listened. 

“I don’t hear anything. What about you Scoob?” Fred asked.

“Not a thing,” Scooby confirmed. 

“Even the best of friends argue,” Daphne said. 

“She’s right,” Ricky said. “They love each other too much to resort to violence. No matter what they’re fighting about.” 

The six of them backed away and sat around the room to talk.

“So like um…” Shaggy plopped down into a chair, “can we talk about… that?” 

“Shaggy’s right. We need to be on the same page about this,” Velma agreed. 

“I just can’t believe that sweet little dog turned out to be…” Daphne left the end of her sentence open-ended, but everyone knew what she meant.

“I trust him,” Ricky said, to all of their surprises. 

“Like really?” Shaggy exclaimed. 

“But why?” Scooby asked. 

“Whatever he was in the past, he isn’t the same guy who’s comforted me today more times than I care to mention,” Ricky said. “I don’t need to remind you all that I have regrets too. But I’ve realized that I was wrong and I’m doing something about it. He didn’t get to finish telling us his story, but it should be obvious to us all that he did the same thing. And unlike me he’s had centuries to do so.” 

“He’s right,” Velma said, thinking back to how Mystery had told her about magic. “If he was the same fox who did all of those things back then, I don’t think any of us would even be standing here right now. If he wanted to hurt us, he’s had infinite opportunities to do so by now. Not to mention that he wanted our trust enough to tell me what his achilles heel is.” 

“Yeah but like, that’s assuming he’s telling the truth,” Shaggy said. 

“I think he has good intentions,” said Scooby, remembering how Mystery had exacted justice on his behalf when the scary priest in the painting had come at him earlier.

“I think so too, just from what we’ve seen and what we’ve been told so far,” Daphne said. “But, I think it’s important that we all remember that we don’t have all of the facts yet. Mystery didn't finish his story.”

“Is it wrong of me to say that I’m kind of glad he didn’t?” Fred asked, anxiously messing with his ascot. “It’s- a lot.” 

“I feel exactly the same way,” Ricky agreed. “Also, adding onto this discussion, I would like to point out that even if we didn’t trust the Mystery Skulls, I believe that continuing to cooperate with them is presently the more strategically sound thing to do. If it weren’t for the Mystery Skulls, my old group would have us vastly outgunned and outnumbered right now. Not that I’m calling you kids incapable. Because it’s honestly impressive how difficult it’s been to get one up on you. But if they cornered us somehow…” 

“He’s right,” Velma said thoughtfully. “The Mystery Skulls actually have a pretty good chance of overpowering them, even without our help.” 

“But if they’re so strong,” Scooby said with a tilt of his head, “then why don’t they just barge in and rescue Arthur?” 

“Actually, yeah. I was sort of wondering the same thing,” Daphne said thoughtfully.

“The situation’s too delicate for that,” Ricky replied. “Right now to Professor Pericles, Arthur- or rather I, am a tool. But if we barged in and tried to rescue Arthur- or me, then we’d need to get the remote from Pericles. And he’s so smart that chances are he’d realize what we were there for before we could do that. He might even realize that the swap’s taken place. And if that happens, I can’t begin to describe how monumentally bad that would be. Because then Arthur’s not just a tool anymore - he becomes a hostage. And I think we all know what the first of his demands would be.” 

“The planispheric disc!” Mystery Inc. exclaimed at once. 

“Like he’s right. He’s totally right!” Shaggy cried. 

“And even if we gave him the disc, there’s no garuntee he’d give Arthur or Mr. E or whoever’s in that body back,” Fred added. “Because as long as he has a hostage, he’s got a way of making sure we don’t interfere with his plans.”

“Which means that as much as we don’t like it,” Ricky walked over to the window and leaned against the glass, looking out over the twisted forest. “The covert operation that Arthur has going on right now is the best chance we have of getting him back safely. I just hope he stays safe in the process.” 

Ricky talked with the kids for another twenty minutes before they bid each other goodnight and at last retired to their rooms for the evening.

As soon as he was back in the seclusion of his room, the entire day finally hit him all at once. Ricky felt like he hadn’t slept in fifteen chapters. He was suddenly so tired. Had it really been only a day? It felt more like seven months.

But as much as he wanted to collapse face-first onto that huge bed and pass out for the rest of this chapter (assuming nothing weird happened in his dreams this time and his insomnia hadn’t followed him to this body), Ricky knew he’d feel monumentally better after a shower.

Ricky looked over to the bathroom with a sigh and repeated what Fred and Mystery had told him earlier. “We’re both guys… it’s only as weird as I make it. Don’t make it weird…” 

The problem was that it was already weird. Ricky had grown more accustomed to what existing in Shaggy’s body felt like, but the shower really forced him to feel the difference. Then there was Shaggy’s hair. Washing Ricky’s hair was a process. Shaggy’s hair on the other hand was as easy as wash, rinse, fluff it with a towel at the end, and- oh wow. Hair’s basically dry already. All done. 

So. If he was looking for plus sides to this whole situation, he supposed he could add that to the list: showers were easy.

After he was dried off, Ricky got dressed to go to sleep, brushed his teeth, turned out the lights, then finally climbed into bed. 

As absolutely magical as the bed was, Ricky laid awake for a long time, letting his thoughts drift wherever they wanted to go. He thought a lot about today. But time and time again, his thoughts wandered back to Cassidy. Until finally, he gave up and stopped trying not to think of her.

She would have loved all of this, he thought to himself. Vivi’s a fighter, just like her. They would have gotten along well. She might’ve been cautious of Mystery, but he would have adored her. She wouldn’t’ve been afraid of Lewis either. And the Dead Beats would have made her laugh. A mental image came to mind. Of her. Laughing as the little pink spirits nuzzled and crowded around her for pets like they had to him and the kids earlier. The thought brought a smile to his lips. 

As nice a thought as it was, it was never going to happen. And it was all his fault. 

Are you here now? Could you have come back as a ghost? Like Lewis? 

No. Ricky didn’t want that for her. If she came back as a ghost, then what if she came back as a weak spirit, like the painting ghosts? Stuck in one place? Trapped where she’d died? Clinging to her humanity and always struggling to not be consumed by stronger beings? Like the wild world of yokai Mystery had described. God, no. Not Cassidy. After all she’d been through, she deserved peace. 

But… where exactly? 

The Mystery Skulls talked about life after death as if there was more than one. If that were true, then perhaps he and Cassidy would truly never meet again. But maybe it was better that way. Wherever she was… all he wanted was what was best for her. But what did he know? Basically nothing. He would have to ask one of the Mystery Skulls about it when he got the chance. 

“Wherever you are,” he prayed to her quietly, “I hope you’re at peace, somewhere worthy of you. And I’m- Oh Angel… Cassidy I’m so sorry…” 

Maybe Ricky was just that exhausted. And perhaps not being in the body of an insomniac had something to do with it too. The last words that slipped past his lips before Ricky cried himself to sleep came out barely a whisper. 

“I love you…”

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

“It’s done,” Lewis said, popping back into the room through the table in front of them. Marcie shrieked and nearly sent Arthur’s coffee flying across the room, but Arthur reached out and caught it before it could spill. 

“Dude. You did that on purpose,” Arthur said dryly. 

“Maybe,” Lewis shrugged. “It was funny tho.” 

“It wasn’t funny to me!” Marcie protested. 

“Sorry,” Lewis said, not sounding remorseful. He flew up to Arthur’s head level and flipped upside down. “But to be fair, I don’t get people I can mess with very often. What’s the point of being a ghost if you can’t at least have a little fun with it right?” 

“Yeah,” Marcie half-laughed, “I guess so.” 

“Is there anything else I can do to help while I’m here? Anything at all?” Lewis asked. 

“You’ve done plenty,” Arthur said. “Seriously Lewis. We may not have been able to pull this off without your help. Just out of curiosity, how many different tracking devices and bugs did you find on the Enigma Machine?” Arthur asked. 

“Four,” Lewis replied. 

“And what did you do with them?” 

“Hid them in the ceiling above the vehicle. Just like you said. When you make your escape, the tracking systems will show that the van is still in the garage. They won’t be able to track it.” 

“And you weren’t seen?” 

“Come on man, you know me. I’ve had plenty of practice avoiding breathers and fucking with security cameras by now,” Lewis said, flipping over so he was upright once more.

  “How foolish of me to doubt you,” Arthur said jokingly. 

“Yeah Arthur. Why’d you do that?” 

They laughed, but soon broke off into silence as an unpleasant truth hung in their air between them.

“I don’t want to leave you,” Lewis said sadly at last.

“And I don’t want you to go,” Arthur admitted, pulling his friend into a hug. “But we both know why you have to.” 

“Your plan will work. It has to,” Lewis said. 

“And when it does, I’ll see you on the road the night after next.” 

“But until then, know that you’ll never be off my mind. Just- remember, Arthur. If you need me for any reason, you can send a message through the Dead Beats.”

“I know. Thanks, Lewis.” Arthur said. 

They pressed their foreheads together for a long moment, a final goodbye, before Lewis turned to Marcie. “Take care of him,” he beseeched her. “Arthur’s the smartest idiot I know. He could build a whole new world with that brain of his, but he’ll get so focused on it that he’ll forget to do important being-alive things. Like eating. Or sleeping. Or occasionally taking a shower.” 

“Hey! I- do not!”

“Oh yeah? How many meals have you eaten today?” 

Arthur opened and closed his mouth, then pursed his lips in thought. “...Does one singular donut count as ‘brunch’?” 

“No it does not. Eat something, Kingsmen!” Lewis barked. 

“All right. All right. You have my word. I’ll scrounge something together.” 

“And you’ll sleep?” 

“... Yyyyes…” Arthur groaned. 

“But you’re going to eat something first.” Lewis said. 

“Fine! Look, Lew! This is me, going to eat something!” Arthur said loudly as he marched into the kitchen. 

Lewis’ scowl softened into a smile as he watched Arthur disappear into the other room. Then he turned back to Marcie once more. “Hey. Uhm. I know you’re doing a lot as it is, but I meant what I said. Take care of him… please.”

“Don’t worry. I will,” Marcie nodded. 

“Seriously. Thank you. The only reason I’m not an anxiety-ridden mess is because I know he’s not totally alone in here.”

“You are an anxiety-ridden mess,” Marcie corrected. 

Lewis barked a laugh. “I guess that’s true. So… it seems like you’re taking this really well. You’re definitely less hesitant to believe all this than Velma was. Any reason why?” 

“I mean Arthur had the Dead Beats as proof of the paranormal from the get-go, so I guess I’ve had a while to come to terms with the whole ‘ghosts are real’ thing before I met you. Other than that, I did have my doubts as to whether he’s really not Mr. E for most of today. Until…” 

“What?” 

“I made one reference. Just one. And the next thing I knew, Arthur had to physically restrain himself from going on a rave about Smash Bros trivia. We got refocused back to the task at hand pretty quick, but that’s definitely when I knew for sure. Mr. E would never.” 

Lewis snorted. “Yeah! That sounds like Arthur!” When Arthur came back into the room, eating the final bites of a ham and cheese sandwich, he didn’t say a word about Lewis being gone. Marcie supposed that for them, just leaving was easier. Or else they’d never be able to let each other go. 

Marcie was tempted to ask Arthur if he was okay, but he spoke up as she was opening her mouth to do so. “You should eat something too. I would’ve made you a sandwich too, but I didn’t know what you liked or if you were vegetarian or anything like that.”

“I’m not vegetarian but yeah. I’ll eat something. Speaking of… it’s getting pretty late you know. Are you… going to sleep soon?” 

“Eventually.” 

“How about a shower?” 

Arthur snorted. “Not a chance in Hell.” 

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

Ricky dreamed that night. Of her, of course. 

The last time Ricky ever saw her was in the forest when all five members of the original Mystery Incorporated met together for the first time in 20 years. After Pericles made his offer and flew away, Brad and Judy had left in a huff, at that time still pretending that they were acting in the best interest of their son. Leaving Ricky and Cassidy alone beneath the moonlit trees. 

“The nerve of that bird,” she’d scoffed, angrily kicking a tree root. “Who the hell does he think he is?” 

Ricky just scowled, trying to hide how tempted he was to take him up on his offer. He didn’t trust Pericles. Their relationship would never be what it was. But… he missed him. As hard as he denied it, he missed his old friend. Having lost his every friend and ally, Ricky was alone. He hated being alone. 

Unless… 

“He’s right you know,” Ricky had said. 

And Cassidy had whirled around to scold him, “You can’t possibly be considering-!” 

“Of course not!” (He’d lied both to her and himself that night, of course.) “I just mean that us, working together… we’d have a better chance at getting the pieces than we would by ourselves. My offer still stands, Cassidy. You’re smart. Resourceful. Strong. I want you back on my team.” 

Looking back, she’d looked almost hopeful at first. But as soon as ‘getting the pieces’ left his mouth she had turned sad, her disappointment in him evident. “And my answer is the same,” she sighed. “I told you already, Ricky. I won’t hurt those kids.” 

“Right,” Ricky had said bitterly, “Because they’re good kids. What was it you said? Better than we were?” 

“We were good once too,” she muttered.

“You were a child.” Wait- what was that? A newer memory, the voice of a newer friend, echoing in his ears.

“You were a good kid.” What was he doing? He could be good again. This didn’t have to end the same way it had been the first time. He could save her. She didn’t have to die! 

“And he took advantage of that.” But even as these thoughts occurred to Ricky, everything he wanted to say was trapped at the back of his throat. 

“Goodbye Ricky,” and then she was leaving. 

NO! IF YOU LET HER GO YOU’LL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN!  

Ricky tried to move but his feet were rooted to the spot. He tried to talk, to shout her name, but no sound would come out. He reached out, trying to catch her, but she was just out of reach. 

NO. NO NO NO NO! 

But he watched her walk away, just as he had back then. And as she vanished into the darkness of the trees the memory of another familiar voice, a more cruel voice, echoed in his ears.

“Would you like to know how she died?” 

“NO!”

Ricky shot up, wide awake in a cold sweat. He had to look around for several moments as he recalled where he was and why. He was safe. In Lewis’ mansion. The forest was but one in a long series of regrets. And Cassidy- 

She’s gone.

Ricky took several deep breaths and fell back onto the pillows. 

Fuuuuuck. 

Figures he couldn’t go one night without something weird or otherwise unpleasant happening in his dreams. Granted - he hadn’t ended up in another dimension this time, so this was arguably an improvement. Arguably. As in Ricky could also argue that he preferred the Sitting Room. Seriously, the realities of the waking world were unpleasant as it is. Why did his brain have to torture him when he was asleep, too?

Just then, his stomach made a noise akin to the sound of a dying whale. 

“Fuck you Shaggy,” Ricky grumbled in the dark. But he felt bad as soon as the words left his mouth. It wasn’t Shaggy’s fault that his body for some reason required breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. It was genetics- some kind of disorder- something. In any case, something wasn’t right. 

Come to think of it, how is he not constantly shitting with how much he eats? And how is he not as fat as me while shitting all the time? Where does the food go? Is this kid’s stomach a portal to another dimension??? 

Ah, the thoughts one has while tired as fuck at- Ricky glanced over at the alarm clock to see what godforsaken hour of the night it had the audacity to be - 2:51 in the morning. 

Also, speaking of shitting, he kinda needed to go to the bathroom anyway. 

Grumbling in I-don’t-want-to-get-up, Ricky reluctantly left the bed’s warm comfort. Fuck, he’d been all cozy from his body heat warming the covers and the inside of the mansion was cold - especially at night. But what else should he expect from a haunted house? Ricky turned the bedside lamp on, retrieved his jacket from where it was lying at the foot of his bed, and quickly put it on. 

He used the facilities, then went to the door. He glanced over at the clock again. It was now 3:00 am - the witching hour. Was it a good idea to wander the halls of a haunted house during the witching hour? Probably not. But based on the off-key didgeridoo noises his stomach was making, this stupid body wasn’t going to leave him alone until he fed it. So he really didn’t have much choice if he wanted so much as a chance of getting a wink of more sleep. 

Ricky stepped out into the hall. Fuck - it was dark. Fortunately there were nightlights at pretty regular intervals in the halls for the living, so he wasn’t wandering completely blind. He was fine leaving the East Wing and the few turns after that. Living and working at Destroido meant that he was used to remembering his way through large buildings. He heard footsteps once or twice with no one attached to them, weird glowing orbs darted in and out of sight, and at one point he thought he heard voices muttering. But he didn’t meet any ghosts. That is until- 

Uh-oh. Which way was it again?

Left or right? Should he just walk to the end of each hall and see if anything looked familiar? Dammit, where were the Dead Beats when you needed- 

Scrrrrraaape

Such a quiet sound was deafening in the silent hallway. Ricky froze. 

Scraaape- Scrrrrrraaape

Ricky gulped and turned his head in the direction of the noise. 

Ding-dong Daddy-o… 

One of the suits of armor had moved. From its usual frozen position to leaning forward with its head turned in Ricky’s direction, glowing pink eyes beneath its mask fixed right on him. 

Ricky gulped. Lewis said they protect the mansion. “U-uh… I-I’m a guest…” he stuttered, fiddling with his fingers, feeling very silly and very scared. “I uh, I got hungry. Could you uh- tell me which way the kitchen is? 

Scccrrrape Scrrrraaape

The suit of armor moved again, pointing towards the left. 

“Oh-” Ricky had kind of not expected it to answer him, much less help. “T-thanks.” 

Scrrrraaape Scrape Scraaape 

The suit of armor briefly bowed to him, then motioned for him to be on his way. 

Heart pounding, Ricky’s whole body felt stiff with fear as he took the route to the left. He could hear the armor’s head turning as it watched him go. As he came to the next hallway (he remembered where he was now), he heard a bunch more scraping behind him as the possessed armor returned to its usual frozen position. 

Well that was terrifying yet helpful. 

Just as terrifying yet equally helpful, every suit of armor Ricky passed from then on pointed in the direction Ricky needed to go. Until finally, very creeped out and not wanting to make any more noise from the metal moving, Ricky told one of the suits of armor as politely as he could that he remembered which way to go from here, but that he appreciated all of their help. The armor bowed to him, resumed its original position, and none of them moved after that. 

Soon after that, came into the foyer, where he was happy to see a familiar troop of pink friends playing tag near the ceiling, zooming around the chandelier. As he stepped out of the doorway, one of the Dead Beats spotted him and pointed him out to his friends, who all made happy trilling noises as they zoomed down to give him nuzzles and demand pets. Trying to stay quiet, Ricky laughed, scritching their heads. “Hey you guys. Boy, am I happy to see you. I’m on my way to the kitchen for a midnight snack. Would you like to keep me company?” 

The Dead Beats were delighted to do just that. 

Then at last, Ricky made it into the kitchen. 

Ricky opened the fridge and squinted from the glare of the bright artificial light, his eyes having adjusted to the dark house. He was looking for a drink when- 

“Ricky?” 

Ricky jumped and banged his head on the top of the fridge with a curse. 

“Oof, you okay dude?” 

“Lewis?” Ricky turned around, rubbing the soon-to-be bump on his head. The ghost was standing by the doorway with a couple more Dead Beats. “You’re back. And- What’re you doing up?” 

“I’m a ghost,” Lewis shrugged. “I don’t exactly need sleep. What’re you doing up?” 

“Uh- couldn’t sleep. And I got hungry.” 

Lewis snorted. “You just missed Scooby. He was in here for a midnight snack not half an hour ago.” 

“Ah. That explains why the fridge doesn’t look as packed as it did earlier,” Ricky said. Right then, one of the Dead Beats floated over to him helpfully with a bag of pretzels. Ricky thanked him and then turned back to Lewis. “So. How was Arthur?” He asked, popping one into his mouth.

Lewis sighed with relief. “He’s okay. Thank God. Marcie’s on board, I helped with some things, and thus far everything’s going according to his plan.” 

“That’s good,” Ricky sighed, eating another handful. “So what exactly is his plan?” He asked after he swallowed. 

“Actually, I needed to talk to you about that…” Lewis rubbed the back of his neck and procured a flashdrive from a pocket in his waistcoat. 

Ricky abruptly stopped chewing. Why did he have a feeling that he knew what the contents of that were? He swallowed. “What’s that?” He asked. 

“Proof of what happened to you,” Lewis winced. 

“... Oh,” Ricky looked away. “Did uh… did you watch it?” 

“No,” Lewis said. “That would be a messed up thing to do. And I’m not going to let anyone else see it without your permission either. So… are you okay with me seeing this? Or anyone else for that matter?” 

“Um… let me get back to you on that. It’s- late. I know somebody should see it but- could I think about it?” 

“No problem man. Take as much time as you need,” Lewis said, tucking it back in his pocket. 

“Oh! Ricky. What are you doing up?” Mystery, in the form of a dog, trotted into the room and hopped up into one of the chairs.

“Ah- uh, bad dreams,” Ricky said, forgetting to lie about it. “-And a midnight snack,” he caught himself, shaking the bag of pretzels. He quickly changed the subject. “So uh, how are you and Vivi? All good?” 

“What happened with Vivi?” Lewis growled.

“Tensions ran high, and we had a moment. About three years ago. But we got through it, and we’re fine now,” Mystery said, hinting very strongly to Lewis that they would talk about it when not in mixed company.

Lewis fortunately caught the hint, because he reverted the subject back to Ricky. “Gotcha. So, Ricky. Bad dreams? Do you… want to talk about it?”

“I’ve just been- thinking a lot about Cassidy,” he admitted, setting down the now-empty bag of pretzels and opening a jug of yogurt. “I know you never knew her but, I really wish you had. She was… she really was perfect.” 

Ricky was too deep in self-pity to notice the panicked look Mystery and Lewis shot each other. 

“I said a lot of really shitty things to her,” Ricky sighed. “Things I didn’t mean. And I just wish I could take it all back, or at least tell her how sorry I am. For all of it.”

He was completely oblivious to Mystery and Lewis silently shouting at each other on either side of him. 

‘Should we tell him???’ Lewis mouthed. 

‘No!’ Mystery mouthed back. 

“And she would have loved this.” Ricky laughed, “Knowing her she’d be like ‘hell no’ at first. But once she got over that initial hurdle I really think she would’ve liked to learn all of this, and to meet you. And you would’ve liked her.” 

‘He deserves to know!’ Lewis mouthed, gesticulating wildly. 

‘Don’t say SHIT!’ Mystery swiped a paw across his throat.

‘He’s heartbroken!’ 

‘It’s too much!’ 

“She would have been a big help too,” Ricky said. “She was so smart. One of the smartest people I ever knew… and the kindest.” 

‘I’m gonna tell him!’ 

‘Don’t you dare!’

‘We should tell him!’ 

“In the morning!” Mystery loud-whispered. 

Ricky looked up, and Mystery and Lewis quickly snapped into “totally-not-up to-something” poses before he could notice. “Did you say something?” He asked. 

“Oh- yes. Cassidy-” The dog cleared his throat. “Cassidy is a truly wonderful person. And uh- in the morning, I have a lot more to tell you and teach you that I bet she would really want to see.” Were it not past 3:00 in the morning, Ricky might have caught Mystery’s use of the word ‘is’ as opposed to ‘was’.

‘Smooth,’ Lewis mouthed at Mystery over Ricky’s head. 

Mystery shot him a glare. None of that was a lie. 

Just then, on its own, the radio on the counter turned on smack in the middle of a Mystery Skulls song.

“If I could do this all a-gain,  If I could start o-ver, and give you everything-”

The three of them turned around to the source of the noise to see the Dead Beats floating totally guilty around the radio. 

“-Yeah, I wouldn’t change a thing. As long as I have you baby- As long as I have you baby!” 

Ricky just looked at them confused and listened while panicked, Mystery and Lewis comically shook their heads, ‘NO!’ 

And the Dead Beats stubbornly nodded, ‘YES!’ 

“See?” Ricky sighed, completely misinterpreting what the Dead Beats were trying to tell him. “They get it.” 

As the strum of the keyboard and the thrum of the beat gave way to lyrics once more, Lewis flew across the room-

“-’Cause no one ever really diiies-” 

Ricky didn’t hear the rest because Lewis cut the radio off. 

“Why’d you turn it off?” Ricky asked, confused. 

“I- uh- it was way too loud. You- sillies,” Lewis turned to the Dead Beats with a too-wide grin. “I know how much you love music, but do you want to wake the whole house? We’re going to have to have a talk later,” The ghost growled at them. 

The Dead Beats just crossed their arms and turned away sharply. Foiled!

While Lewis glared at the Dead Beats, Mystery turned back to Ricky. “Speaking of,” the kitsune-disguised-as-a-dog said, “I really think you ought to get back to sleep.” 

Ricky scoffed. “I’m not so sure that’s going to happen. Sleep doesn’t exactly come to me easily. Not to mention I’m not exactly looking forward to another nightmare.” 

Mystery tilted his head, thoughtful. 

The dog made a flourish with one of his paws, and a small vial appeared on the table in a flash of his foxfire. 

Ricky jumped, not expecting it. The vial was half-moon-shaped, with a star-shaped cork, filled with a beautiful luminous midnight blue fluid. 

“Really? You’re gonna give him that?” Lewis exclaimed. The Dead Beats were still pouting behind him.

“What is it?” Ricky asked.

“Magic,” Mystery replied. “We're acquainted with a number of potion makers and regularly enlist their services. This,” Mystery said, motioning for Ricky to pick up the bottle, “is a half-dose of dreamless sleep potion. It instantly puts its drinker into deep sleep, then awakens the drinker fast enough that the mind never enters the stage of sleep in which dreams occur. This is a half dose, meant to be taken when one wakes in the middle of the night. So it should guarantee you another five hours or so of restful slumber.”

“Just don’t get reliant on that stuff,” Lewis warned. “Trust us, we know from experience: It becomes an unhealthy coping mechanism if you use it too often.”

 “So I will not allow you to use this tomorrow night under any circumstances,” Mystery added with a nod.

Ricky blinked at him for a few moments, so grateful and stunned that words failed him. “I- Thank you Mystery,” He stammered. 

“Oh pish posh. It’s such a simple matter it hardly requires any thanks. But I accept it all the same.” (Bullshit. Ricky could totally tell he was enjoying the gratitude.) 

“Also, don’t drink that until you’re already in bed,” Lewis cautioned. “It’ll put you out so fast that the flavor will still be on your tongue when you konk out. Arthur took it too soon one time and passed the fuck out right in the middle of the apothecary.”

“Sheesh. Strong stuff,” Ricky said, admiring the way the potion glittered. 

“Hardly. Just a little magic,” Mystery chuckled. “Now off to bed with you. The faster you fall asleep the sooner you’ll wake up. There’s much to discuss in the morning.” 

After Ricky finished his yogurt and two packs of popcorn, he bid Mystery and Lewis goodbye and the Dead Beats led him back to his room (Lewis discreetly made it very clear on their way out that they were still in hot water). As Ricky followed the pouting ghosts back to the East Wing, he turned the potion in his hands and wondered if Mystery had ever used it, or if he ever had trouble sleeping. He was centuries old, and had been through so much. Did he get nightmares too? 

The Dead Beats led him on a different route back to the East Wing than he’d taken earlier that took them past the library. Which was why Ricky stopped, confused, in front of the doors. 

The lights were on. 

Curious, he walked into the library and the Dead Beats followed, chirping something that he imagined meant: “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be following us?” But Ricky ignored them. 

The library was seemingly abandoned and dark, save a few lamps and the dull glow of moonlight shining through the windows. It wasn’t immediately apparent who was working this late until Ricky spotted an orange sleeve sticking out of a pile of papers at one of the desks. 

“Velma?” 

“TWELVE!” Velma shouted as her head shot up from the desk. Ricky and the Dead Beats jumped with surprise. She snorted and adjusted her glasses, reorienting herself back to reality from whatever she’d been dreaming about, then her bleary eyes fixed on him. 

“Shaggy-? Wait. No. Sorry. Mr. E- Ricky! Sorry. What are you doing here?” 

“Couldn’t sleep. What’re you doing here?” He asked, crossing his arms. 

“Who could sleep in a house full of books?” She shrugged. Then she yawned, rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses. 

“I’d get back to bed if I were you,” Ricky advised. “Mystery’s also awake and if he finds you in here he’ll probably scold you for neglecting your health and send you back to bed anyway.” 

“Are you going to scold me?” Velma asked. 

“Nah. I’m up at 3am too, so I really can’t talk,” He shrugged. “Come on. Let’s go together.” 

Velma straightened her work station so it wouldn’t look like a tornado had blown through it come morning, and the two of them followed the Dead Beats back to the East Wing.

Their walk was mostly silent until they passed a familiar portrait of a scowling priest, who gave them an extremely distasteful look but didn’t dare say anything out of fear of facing Mystery’s wrath again.

That was when it occurred to Ricky that they were walking along the same stretch of hallway where he’d had that talk with Fred earlier. Also he and Velma were alone. Which made it the perfect opportunity to ask her a rather delicate question. 

Ricky cleared his throat nervously. “Um, Velma?” 

“Yes?” 

“I uh, have a question to ask you… It’s not exactly a fun one, but uh...” 

Velma straightened her spine and squared her shoulders. “Okay,” she said thoughtfully.

“I need to know how Cassidy died.”

Velma’s face softened at the question, but he saw confirmation in her eyes of what he’d already suspected. 

“You were there, weren’t you?” 

Velma looked away, and she didn’t answer for several long moments. She took off her glasses to wipe the wetness from her eyes with her sleeve before she got a grip, put her glasses back on, and confirmed what he already knew: “Yeah. We were there.” 

Ricky’s throat closed. For her, and for the other poor kids who’d had to witness something so awful. He didn’t meet her eyes when he asked her quietly, “Did she suffer?” 

Velma hesitated in her answer. None of them had seen it happen, but they were all haunted by imaginings of Cassidy’s final moments. Had she been shot by the Kriegstaffebots before the self-destruct sequence completed? Was she blown up? Had the explosion killed her instantly? Or had she been covered in burns and injuries, forced to suffer before she faded away? Or had she lasted a bit longer and drowned? Supposedly drowning was a peaceful way to go, but she must have been so scared- 

“No,” Velma said firmly, no matter how much she doubted it. “It happened so fast. I’m sure she didn’t suffer.” 

Ricky’s entire body sagged with relief. “Thank you, Velma."

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

Professor Pericles was a homicidal maniac. 

Both fortunately and unfortunately for the entirety of the human race, he was smart about being a homicidal maniac. 

He didn’t just kill people whenever he felt like it. He did so with purpose, waiting until the opportune moment to remove certain pawns or obstacles from his path. Which was good for Marcie and Arthur, because it meant that they likely had a bit of time to stop Professor Pericles from killing someone in the future. 

They had been working for a little under an hour after Lewis left when a stubborn little red light turned green. 

Marcie nearly spat out her coffee. “I’m in!”

“Seriously?” Arthur’s head shot up excitedly from where he was hunched over his own computer, sending a couple of pages of scribbled notes falling from the side of the table. One of the Dead Beats picked them up and put them back helpfully. 

“Yep. Alright, Arthur. Now what?” And with that they swapped computers, and Arthur’s face lit up in the artificial light as his eyes greedily took in the seemingly alien letters and numbers filling the screen. 

Seemingly alien of course, unless you were an expert of Arthur and Marcie’s calibur. For while to untrained eyes it may look like word salad, to the two of them it was like looking into the Matrix, and at a mere glance Arthur knew that Marcie really had pulled through. 

He was looking at the Kriegstaffebot program codes.

It was time to deliver the first strike. The question was: when was Pericles going to feel it?

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

They went into Velma’s room to talk. 

It went about as well as it could have, as painful as it was for both of them.

After Velma finished recounting Cassidy’s final hours, Ricky thanked her and returned to his own room, where he laid back in his bed, the sleeping potion still corked in his hand, and stared at the ceiling processing what he’d been told. 

He blew up K-Ghoul. He. Fucking. Blew up. K-Ghoul. He destroyed her home and her livelihood, and he tried to kill her until he succeeded. 

Ricky was grateful for the potion Mystery had given him, because he was so angry right now that he was certain he’d never get back to sleep otherwise. 

K-Ghoul had been his gift to her when Angel Dynamite had returned to Crystal Cove. He used the excuse that she’d need a good cover to come back with her alias intact. But that wasn’t completely true. He could have just as well gotten her a job as a custodian somewhere if he wanted her to keep an eye on the town and the new Mystery Incorporated unnoticed. But she would have been miserable doing that kind of work. Angel Dynamite was a DJ, and Cassidy had always loved music. It was true that she came back to Crystal Cove for a reason. But he wanted her to be… happy. He also supposed, looking back, that he’d wanted to thank her for all the joy she'd brought him once. And to make amends in his own way, even if the words to apologize hadn’t come (yet another of his many regrets). 

Their breakup was his fault. As the years went by after Pericles’ betrayal, Ricky had grown bitter and angry. And the one who got the brunt of it was the very same person who stuck by his side longer than anyone else. He never struck her. As awful a human being as the curse had twisted him into, he didn’t think he’d be able to live with himself if he ever hit Cassidy. But all the same, he’d been so… mean. And of course, no matter how much she loved him, Cassidy’s self-esteem and strength of spirit was too high to deal with his bullshit, so… They broke up. 

And after all that time, Ricky had still regretted the way he’d treated her. But even though they weren’t together anymore, he… he wanted her to be happy. K-Ghoul had been his way of looking after her, as he should have done all those years ago. 

And Pericles fucking blew it up. Without even consulting me. How dare he? 

“He had no right…” Ricky seethed quietly, feeling more like his bitter old self than he had in a while. But this time his anger was directed at just one bird. Professor Pericles. Not the kids. Not the world. Not Cassidy- 

Cassidy… 

Maybe it made him a horrible person, but he couldn’t help but be a little mad at her. “Why didn’t you come to me?” He whispered into the dark, a tear falling down his cheek. 

I would have protected you. I never would have let him hurt you if I knew. 

But Ricky couldn’t be mad at her. Because he knew exactly why she hadn’t come to him. 

She had no way of knowing that I would have chosen her. I was working with Pericles. For all she knew, I was the one trying to have her killed. 

Imagining that broke Ricky’s heart all over again. That Cassidy died thinking-

Ricky sniffed and closed his eyes. 

Cassidy… died.

As angry as he was, Ricky was also overwhelmingly sad. 

They were in the Midnight Zone. She was surrounded by Kriegstaffebots. The lab exploded. 

No. No, she would never give up! There was no corpse so maybe- 

But their seal friend found her helmet. Even if she survived the blast, the weight of all that water would have killed her for sure. And even if not, there’s absolutely no way she would have been able to swim to the surface before she drowned.

There was no way out. Not even for her.

She’s gone.

In the back of Ricky’s mind, ever since he’d first learned of her death, there had been doubt. A small flicker of hope. Cassidy? Dead? It couldn’t be real. But Velma was no liar, and above that she was a realist. Hearing the facts of how it had happened from her made it… real.

She’s gone.

That was that. That was it. Ricky Owens was never going to see Cassidy Williams again and he didn’t even have a body to bury. The empty shell that had once been her was buried under rubble at the bottom of the ocean, the high walls of the trench the closest thing to a tombstone she would ever have. 

She’s gone. 

Pericles did it. He got rid of her. He pulled the trigger- 

But I put the gun in his talons.

The weight of his own grief threatening to crush him, Ricky redirected his energy into his rage. I never should have saved him all those years ago. 

He uncorked the potion and was immediately hit with an extremely strong smell. There was a lot of lavender but also other herbs and- whatever the hell that was. Ricky had no idea what he was about to ingest, but he trusted Mystery and needed to be well-rested. 

She will be avenged. Her death will not be in vain! I’m going to need every bit of strength I can muster if I’m going to help- 

But Ricky didn’t have a single other thought. For he’d tipped the bottle back and downed it in one gulp. And the instant after a light, minty, earthy flavor hit his tongue, Ricky’s entire body was going slack, the bottle was slipping from his fingers, and he was being enveloped in the welcome peace that slumber brought - completely dead to the world.

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

Dawn came with deceptive tranquility. 

The sun was peeking over the horizon and a morning mist had settled over the forest, making the mansion and the twisted, jagged trees around it seem as if they were on an island at the center of an endless gray sea. 

The arrival of a long-awaited guest was marked by the rumble of a familiar engine, and the mist curling around a familiar silhouette like an angel’s wings.

Well. If any of you missed Ricky, you ought to be overjoyed with how Ricky-centered this chapter was. And you should expect the same from the next few chapters as well. If I were to map out the evolution of my plans for this chapter, they'd look like a roundabout with the number of directions this could have gone. At one point it was going to be heavily referencing the exorcist (have fun speculating what the fuck that means) (also that''s the stage I was at when I wrote the last chapter's author's notes, so sorry - I lied. It's gonna be a while before things get "nuts"), but then I realized that part would fit better later in the story. So a large chunk of this chapter was cut out, pasted somewhere else to be saved for later, and rewritten. So you guys have that to look forward to. But I'm happy with where this chapter ended up. I loved the humor and fourth wall breaks, angst is always fun to write, I liked further exploring some off-screen Rickidy interactions that may have happened in the show, and I think it ties up Ricky's grief arc in a neat little bow - right before it's smashed to pieces in the next chapter when You-Know-Who returns! (How did that accidentally become a Harry Potter reference? Oops. Lol. Though the dreamless sleep potion was inspired by the potion of the same name and function in the Harry Potter series. I just got back from Universal Studios, ok?! Harry Potter is on the brain.) Also. We got to meet the suits of armor, Lewis is back with the main group, and Arthur and Marcie have hacked into the Kriegstaffebots. What will they do with that? :D Finally, I just wanted to say that the next chapter of this fic has been living in my head rent-free for almost a year. It's one of the scenes I imagined that made me want to write this fic to begin with. So from the bottom of my heart, I can't even begin to say how excited I am to share it with you. That's all for now Warlocks, Witches, and Badass Bitches.

Chapters 1-18 of One of Us are presently posted on Archive of Our Own.

[cocoabubbelle]

Watching “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” (1969-1970 CBS) + Thoughts

Episode 10: Bedlam in the Big Top

Oh joy, a creepy clown.

Never thought I’d see a strongman and a man with dwarfism ride a tandem bike together.

Animation Blooper: Daphne speaks with Velma’s voice.

Shaggy when the strongman and short guy about to crash into each other (due to someone sabotaging their bike: “Dig that crazy drag race.” ???????

Strongman must’ve hit his head bc when asked where his friend was, he pointed in the opposite direction of where the animators actually put the latter.

Scooby saves the day!

The duo are named Max the Midget and Samson the Strongman.

Wherever weirdness calls, Fred The Scooby Gang will be there!

You all are so dumb sometimes HOW DID YOU NOT NOTICE YOU DROVE OFF WITHOUT YOUR TALKING GREAT DANE?????

I am not 100% sure how hypnosis works in real life, but I am mostly skeptical.

Hypnotized Scooby Doo: is brave and can walk the wire while doing summersaults.

Trampoline shenanigans that honestly should have broken a trampoline that size.

Scooby doo bounces off the trampoline and somehow gets tangled into a bunch of balloons that make him float. “I’m falling up!”

Daphne, not having seen what the ghost clown looked like or having been given any description of him and seeing him walking from afar: “That looks like the Ghost Clown!”

Daphne’s supposed to be a damsel in distress by getting hypnotized by the Ghost Clown, but I’d argue that Fred momentarily took that title by getting yeeted and locked into a wardrobe by said clown first.

Hypnotized Daphne: riding a unicycle (“She can’t even ride a Bicycle!”) into a wire while wearing a ballet dress and tiara. If we choose to believe that she dressed herself in the privacy of a fitting room, this is relatively tame as opposed to what the most-likely male and grown man dressed as a clown could have done to a pretty and female teenager or make her do. *shudders*

Hypnotized Daphne is apparently really strong too as Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby combined aren’t able to catch her, while Shaggy and Scooby are even ran over by her.

Elephants watch hypnotized Daphne ride past them, and don’t even budge as she manages to ride the unicycle on top of them. Elephants have probably seen weirder things than this and aren’t phased anymore. 🐘

Scooby can apparently speak non-anthropomorphic elephant, or the elephant can understand anthropomorphic dog.

Scratch that, there was a translation error on one of their ends 😆 Scooby is able to correct the elephant and get him to spray water on hypnotized Daphne.

Fred: “Here’s the perfect trap.” Me: *sees there are around 8 min left of the episode* 😬

First time Scooby doesn’t need a Scooby Snack to be encouraged to do things: Daphne made a super-duper hero sandwich 🥪 Even Shaggy volunteers to do Scooby’s job if it means he can eat Daphne’s sandwich! (My Shaphne heart: 🥰). They wind up splitting it willingly (for once).

I wonder if the Ghost Clown is the ringmaster the Scooby Gang spoke to in the beginning? As I am thinking about this , the Ghost Clown confronts Shaggy.

Hypnotized Shaggy: Lion Tamer.

My suspicion that the Ghost Clown is a creep increases: Scooby just had a pole for his wire walking; Shaggy gets a hat along with a whip and chair; why was DAPHNE made to change her clothes??

It’s official: Ghost Clown is the show’s second official creep (see episode 6) and first official villain to actively attempt murder.

Day 7 of Fred setting up traps and them not working.

Shaggy decides he and Scooby will turn the tables on the Ghost Clown and get him to accidentally hypnotize himself when he tries to hypnotize them again. It works!

I’m sorry for doubting you Mr. Ringmaster. Culprit turns out to be an ex-circus worker named Harry the Hypnotist. To be fair, he wasn’t named dropped or had a painting that hinted of his importance (see episode 2).

Day 10 of no “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” Only seven more episodes before I finish season 1; will I be able to hear it before the end? Only time will tell.

[littlemissnoname13]

Blaise’s Cup of Tea (D.M)

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Reader

Warnings: some mentions of alcohol, very mild sexual themes, nothing too explicit, Draco being a fûxkboy ,Draco being a huge simp

Summary: where Draco is secretly in love with his best friend’s fiancée

Word count: 2122

A/n: had this idea in the shower and I couldn’t help myself. The blog has been a mess recently and for that I apologise.

For Draco Malfoy, a typical night usually consisted of three things. 

First, a glass of his favourite spirit; preferably scotch in his hand.

Second, a cigar tucked in between his fingers

And third, a random girl in his bed chambers. It didn't matter if his company for the night shared the same interests as him, it didn't matter if she liked him for who he was or if she liked him solely for being the heir to the massive Malfoy fortune. 

Come morning, he would never have to see her again anyway. 

His Father, Lucius always chastised him for bringing a different girl as a plus one to social events. Even Narcissa wasn't all too pleased about her son engaging in all these hedonistic activities and bedding random girls. 

The friends he’d grown up with were all well on their way to settling down and having children while he was still not even close to having a serious relationship. 

“Why can’t you be more like Zabini?” Lucius would say, everytime the Malfoys sat down for a family dinner. Narcissa would agree to this while expressing her desire for grandchildren and Draco would have to refrain from choking on his dinner. 

Blaise Zabini, was happily engaged to longtime girlfriend Daphne Greengrass and they were busy planning their Summer wedding. 

Every time Draco would meet Blaise for a drink, all he’d talk about was Daphne, the wedding, floral arrangements, invites and party favours. Just last week, Blaise even confessed to having already thought out names for his future children. 

Taking a final sip of his scotch, Draco placed his glass on his desk and returned to his bed, where a random brunette girl was peacefully asleep. 

He took a few moments to recall her given name in his mind but this attempt remained futile. He couldn’t even remember how he felt while they were doing the deed a few hours prior. 

His father was right, he was slowly turning into, for a lack of a better term, “Pig person.”

As he quietly slipped into his bed next to the brunette, he started to think about all the one night stands he’d had in the last few months. 

One night stands are appropriately called one night stands for a reason. He knew that. 

But it wasn't his fault he couldn’t get that one particular night from four months ago with that one particular girl out of his system. 

It had all started out so innocently. 

A chance encounter at a bar, alcohol fueled conversation, his hands on her hips on the dance floor and his lips on her lips by the end of the night. 

He’d never before met anybody so charming yet painfully frustrating in his life. 

Y/n. Y/l/n. 

Distinctive features, expressive eyes and lips that quirked upward with a wicked smile.She had one of those faces that had the capability of engraving itself into one’s subconscious and the way her brows furrowed in annoyance indicated that she might have been aware and unnerved by it. 

In the few hours he’d spent with her, she’d stimulated his brain with her wits and intellect. She’d made him care about uninteresting things like the witch burnings in the 14th Century. She’d challenged his predetermined notions and world view.

Everything about her was vivacious.

Her effervescence reminded him of a freshly opened bottle of sparkling Rosé on a hot summers day. Crisp yet sweet if you took in a moment for the flavours to sink in. 

And Merlin was this girl could kiss!

The way she gently nipped on his lower lip and teasingly traced her tongue left him with something more to be desired. 

Nothing happened with Y/n that night. Nothing except feverish kisses and whispers of “I want you.”

They’d spent the whole night talking. He’d never spent the night with a girl and not done anything before. 

And she’d left before he could even manage to open his eyes the next morning. 

She’d disappeared without a sign or trace.

Nothing but her fruity fresh scent on his pillows remained to remind him that she was in fact real and not some hallucination. 

Draco went the the very same bar again the next day with his hopes held high. He wanted to see her again. He needed to see her again. 

But to his utter dismay, y/n never showed up. 

Soon, it became a habit of his to go to the bar and wait for her.

He’d gotten so desperate at one point that he even interrogated the bar keep about the girl that had seemingly managed to capture his attention in the span of a night. 

But no matter how hard he tried, Draco never got any answers. 

She became nothing but a distant ghost of a rather blissfully perfect night. 

Just when he was about to toss away the memories of y/n and her pretty lips inside a locked and chained box in his head, he heard his house elf appear with a pop into his bed chambers. 

“Master Malfoy, this letter just came for you.” The elf said quietly as he stretched out his arm to hand Draco a sealed envelope. 

Draco would have told his elf off for appearing in his chambers in the middle of the night but decided against it when he saw the scrawl of Blaise’s messy handwriting on the envelope. 

It was two in the morning and a rather odd time for Blaise to be sending him a letter. 

Assuming that it must be something urgent, Draco quickly ripped open the seal and unfolded the letter. 

Draco, 

I write this with a heavy heart and I write this with nothing for company except a bottle of bourbon. 

Daphne left me this morning. 

The wedding is off and it is all my fault. 

To be honest, It did feel like things were going too fast and we were jumping to life altering decisions without taking the time to think and contemplate. 

After thinking all day, I have decided to get married after all. 

Your mother has been rather kind and offered to set me up with a girl that is supposedly “perfect for me.” Although I definitely trust her judgement, It would be great if you could “assist” Narcissa in her search. You are my best friend after all. 

B.Z.

By the time Draco was done reading Blaise’s letter, the girl sleeping next to him had started to toss and turn in her sleep. 

~~~

When his mum flooed into his residence the next morning, Draco’s company for the night, who was named Sylvia by the way, was just on her way out. 

Sylvia was rather laid back and was looking for nothing other than a rebound. Draco had offered her tea but she’d politely declined stating that she had brunch planned with her friends anyway. 

“And who is this charming young lady, Draco?” Narcissa asked. 

“She’s Sylvia and Sylvia was just on her way out.” Draco said in a clipped voice before literally shoving an annoyed looking Sylvia into the fireplace. 

“It was nice meeting you Mrs. Malfoy.” Sylvia said in a calm and polite voice, with floo powder in her hands. “See you around Draco.” 

“And I thought, you were finally serious for once.” Narcissa sighed before sinking down into one of the many chairs Draco had in his living room. 

Draco wanted to say something sarcastic in response but he bit his tongue and held it all back. There were more pressing matters at hand that required his attention. Like helping his mum find an appropriate match for Blaise who has so casually placed such a huge responsibility on his shoulders. 

The responsibility required him to go on multiple, rather tiresome “dates” set up by his mother. 

The first girl he met mistook him for Blaise. 

The second girl he met confessed that she was being coaxed into the meeting by her overbearing parents and had a secret Muggle boyfriend that she loved with her whole heart. 

The third girl he met was one of Blaise’s ex girlfriends.

The fourth girl turned out to be one of Draco’s own one night stands that had ended on a sour note.

It was safe to say that Draco returned to his mother that night with his shirt stained burgundy from the wine she’d poured over his head. He deserved it though.

Narcissa even agreed that he’d deserved it because she broke into a chuckle when her son walked into the Malfoy Manor with drops of wine falling from his blond hair. 

“Well this is a disaster.” Draco muttered to his mother who gave him an accomplished looking smile in return.

“This was a Disaster.” She quipped, before leaning towards the coffee table to pour herself some more tea. “Luckily, I’ve already found someone I deem to be a suitable partner for Blaise.”

“You have?” 

“I have. I too have been pulling some reins and meeting people personally for Blaise. He is like a son to me after all.” 

“Looks like I got splashed with a vintage red for no apparent reason then.” Draco muttered before using his wand to summon a clean cotton shirt. 

Narcissa simply shook her head at her son and stood up from her chair. “I’ve actually invited her for tea today so that you’d be able to meet her as well. Why don’t you fix your hair and put on a clean shirt before she gets here hm?”

Draco knew there was no point in arguing with his mother. 

When Narcissa Malfoy wanted things done, she’d sure as hell go ahead and get them done. A true Slytherin she was. 

He quickly unbuttoned his shirt and used a cleaning charm on his hair. He would have preferred to shower but he didn’t really have the time to dilly-dally around.

“Fancy seeing you here.” He heard a voice say, just as he was about to put on his clean shirt. 

It was a familiar voice and it raised prickling goosebumps all over his exposed flesh.

The goosebumps were a natural reaction to hearing a voice he’d replayed over and over in his head every single night for the last four months. 

In front of him stood Y/n Y/l/n in the flesh. Very much real and not a ghost of his imagination, clad in a blush coloured midi dress with a sweetheart neckline. 

He opened his mouth to answer but his mother beat him to it. 

“Welcome to our home. Sit down, have some tea with us.” Narcissa said in her best hostess voice and all Draco could do was force his hanging jaw shut. 

~~~~~~

The next few hours felt like the longest yet shortest few hours of his life. 

He was still processing the fact that he had in fact seen the girl, the ghost, the memory right in front of his eyes, wearing a dress that made her look like a scene in a vintage film. 

His palms were sweaty, his head was reeling, his throat was as dry as the Sahara and he could barely pay any attention to a word his mother was saying. 

“Draco?” Narcissa cleared her throat when he failed to respond. “Draco dear, are you listening?”

“Yes mother.” He replied curtly before taking a sip of his tea in a desperate attempt to soothe his throat. 

After what seemed like another torturous hour of tea and polite conversation, you thanked Narcissa for having you and leaned in to place a chaste kiss on his cheek before taking the floo network. 

“The Y/l/n family has been a friend to our family for years.” Narcissa commented. “I think Blaise would be rather fond of y/n. What do you think, Draco?”

He wanted to tell his mother about the time he spent with you four months ago.

He wanted to tell her that he was ready for a serious relationship if it was with you. 

He never really cared for the colour pink but it suddenly felt like a rather nice colour. 

You were witty, clever, sincere and extremely gorgeous. Of course Blaise would like you. He’d be a fool not to. 

After taking a few more seconds to carefully contemplate the situation at hand, Draco finally opened his mouth. 

“Yes, I think Blaise would like Y/n.”

Narcissa looked at him with a satisfied smile and the weight of a fully grown giant landed on Draco’s shoulder. 

Maybe you weren't Blaise’s cup of tea.

Maybe he’ll get back together with Daphne. Yeah, that would be perfect. 

But what if he didn’t?

Could Draco live his whole life knowing that he was absolutely smitten with his Best Friend’s soon to be Fiancée?

~~~

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[rantswithhannah]

bridgerton season 1

So, season 1 of bridgerton. Not a lot to say that hasn’t already been said. The plot is very dumb, especially Daphne and Simon. 

Daphne and Simon:

Their entire relationship consists of them just being physically attracted to each other, with zero communication and just… too much drama for dramas sake 

Daphne is ducking annoying 

Simon isn’t as bad, but he also isn’t a great character 

There’s absolutely no character development for either of them, they just change their minds in seconds and the plot will change with it

They have no chemistry 

Simon doesn’t want kids. Daphne wants kids. They fake date, then fall in love, then pretend they're not in love so both of them think they’re just forcing each other to marry them when they literally kissed a few days ago? Then Daphne is okay with Simon not being able to have kids, but not that he doesn’t want kids? It’s the same situation? And the show paints him as the one in the wrong? And Simon is literally just so… bland. He had no personality, except daddy issues. And the reason he chose not to have kids is so fucking stupid but Daphne should’ve respected it. There literally wouldn’t have been any issues if they just TALKED TO EACH OTHER.

Daphne and Simon just SOLVE their plot without any character progression, Simons just like… okay I’ll have a child.

Why is their entire plot just instant “falling in love” then miscommunication and fighting 

I ALSO CANNOT WATCH BIRTHS AND PREGNANCIES, THEY’RE TERRIFYING

Aside from them, there’s just so much that’s concerning about the show

Dismissal of larger issues:

They don’t address the blatant misogyny and classism that’s shown throughout 

The entire point of the show is for women to attract men??? 

AND AGAIN, the misogyny and the classism? There’s no further analysis or nuance on how the servants are treated, or how people from the high class cannot be with the lower class people - I think I’ve read too many books about revolutions and leftist risings that I can’t watch something about the upper class without at least one aspect of it being critiqued 

It’s literally being framed as normal and perfect, when daphnes freaking out about her dress and I’m sure someone is starving to death a few miles outside of their gigantic house 

It’s meant to be an escapist fantasy, but instead the life just seems so fucking useless and pointless and dull

I only liked a few characters: 

The only person who I actually liked was Eloise and maybe Colin 

I only liked Eloise, actually

Actually I liked Penelope too, and her and Eloise’s friendship.

Anthony:

The plot with Anthony and Sienna made no sense either: it was literally just them going through a cycle of sleeping together and then Sienna saying she can’t be part of his world, again and again. There’s no progression.

Anthony is also a ducking controlling asshole

Why does he almost kill Simon twice, and then also get into a fistfight with simon and no one says anything about it? 

Random side comments:

What was with the boxing side plot???

But the featheringtons side plot is also kind of dumb - they mistreat marina so much, and they run out of money, then the father dies. That’s it.

They tried to make the bridgertons seem like some tight knit family that loves each other - but all they do is argue and fight. 

Marina was literally taken from her home and sent to the featheringtons, then locked in a room for weeks and no one batted an eye???? 

It’s not even that entertaining, but it's definitely visually pleasing. The shots or cinematography aren’t mind-blowing, but the aesthetic is pretty. The editing is kind of odd, though, like the scenes just… happen. It’s a normal TV show, there’s nothing creative going on. The narrative (with Lady Whistledown) isn’t particularly unique either, and it’s just there.

[alaffy]

Bridgerton, Ep. 2x04 – Victory (Spoilers)

Halfway through the season and, uh, nope still don’t like Anthony.  

I do wonder when they’re going to bring the three youngest Bridgerton’s more to the forefront.  I know that we still have three Bridgerton sibling’s stories to get through; but I think it would have sort of been one out, one in.  Like, we started with the five oldest siblings.  Then, Daphne had her romance and has moved away (ie, she’s not in every episode), so you’d think we’d be seeing more of Francesca?  In fact, where is Francesca?  (After some fact checking, it looks like Francesca was to have a larger role, but the actress who played her couldn’t be in more then three episodes and now it looks like she may have left the part? Huh).

Anyway, this is the episode we knew would happen.  Now, that they have had “the moment” Kate and Anthony are having trouble hiding their attraction to one another.  Of course, they aren’t able to stay away from each other as Edwina believes that Anthony hasn’t proposed because of Kate’s behavior and wants Kate to play nice.  So, we have an episode of smoldering looks and near misses.  Though we do have one nice moment as Anthony does tell Kate about how his father passed and it makes Kate realize why Anthony was so panicked when she was stung.

Meanwhile, Colin has found out that Marina lives nearby and pays her a visit.  I don’t know how I feel about these scenes.  Part of me felt like, seeing Colin, made Marina have to think about how her life didn’t go as planned and so she took it out on him. The other half feels like she was cruel to be kind.  She realized that he was still infatuated with her and so, in order to make him move on with his life, she called him a child, but also pointed out that people love him.  Penelope, for instance.  

Portia is able to able to get rid of Cressida.  Well, actually Portia contrives a way for her middle daughter and Lord Featherington to be alone together and then catch them in the act with a bunch of people. Because of this, Lord Featherington has to propose to Portia’s daughter.  Portia thinks she’s won, until she learns the truth.  Lord Featherington is dirt poor and was only interested in Cressida because of her money.  Now, it seems like all of them will be in the poor house.

I feel sorry for Eloise, as she’s being pushed into something she is not ready for or does not want.  

Of course, we have the big moment where Edwina wants Kate to dance with Anthony so that Anthony can get Kate’s permission to marry Edwina.  Yeah.  Of course, the two dance and Lady Danbury and Daphne can both tell there’s something between the two.  Kate does start the conversation, but then lets it slip that she will return to India after her sister is married.  This causes Anthony to flee the room.  

Kate chases after him and they have an argument.  And I just….what is going through Anthony’s mind here?  What does he think will happen once he’s married Edwina?  Of course, the two of get closer as they argue and Anthony asks Kate to give him a reason to change his mind and…in bursts Daphne.  Kate leaves the room and Anthony goes to find Daphne, who might be actively trying to get drunk.

This leads to Anthony and Daphne arguing and Daphne finally telling her older brother that what he’s feeling for Kate is love (…sure).  Anthony realizes then what he must do.  Daphne seems pleased.  Daphne really should have locked him in a room until Anthony told her what he meant by that.  

Meanwhile, Lady Danbury has a talk with Kate.  She tells Kate that Kate needs to be honest about everything.  Kate needs to tell Edwina about the deal her grandparents made and she needs to be honest about how she feels towards Anthony.

You can guess what happen next.  The next day, just before Kate is about to tell Edwina everything, Anthony comes out of the home and, like the dumbass that he is, proposes to Edwina.  

I know where this story will go, but are we sure Kate can’t do better?

[xo-gossipwitch]

The Slytherin girls are in a tizz over a mysterious piece of parchment rating the hottest guys in Hogwarts. What’s more surprising is the trio of Slytherin boys arguing over it - Theo rated higher than Blaise!

Attention Hogwarts: The ranking of this season’s most eligible wizards has finally hit the market! Order was given based on the following criteria: dashing good looks, smooth-talking, promising future, and snog-ability!

Hogwarts’ Most Eligible Wizards

Theodore Nott

Harry Potter

Blaise Zabini

Fred Weasley

Neville Longbottom

Adrian Pucey

Ronald Weasley

George Weasley

Cedric Diggory

Draco Malfoy

There’s been quite a change in the ranks since last month. I wonder what happened.

~xoxo, Gossip Witch

The energy in the Great Hall was buzzing with excitement as the blast landed in the hands of the students enjoying their dinner. As everyone began unfolding the pieces of parchment, a hush fell over the room. Everyone read with bated breath as their eyes skimmed the list, eyes opening wide as they searched for the names usually located at the top of the list.

“Second place,” Harry mused, nodding his head slowly as he read over the rest of the list. He glanced toward the Slytherin table out of the corner of his eye and noticed Draco gathering his things. Harry let out a laugh as he shook his head. “Definitely can’t complain about second place.”

“Speak for yourself, mate,” Ron grumbled, crumbling up the piece of parchment in his hand. Ron tossed the piece of parchment into the air and smacked it down to the far end of the table. “Bloody seventh place.”

“Better than tenth place,” Neville chimed in, looking back over his shoulder at the Slytherin table. He caught Draco’s eye and turned his attention back to his friends sitting around him. A shiver ran down his spine as he felt Draco’s glare burrowing into the back of his head. “I shouldn’t have turned around.”

“Probably not,” Harry laughed, shaking his head as he turned his attention to Draco storming out of the Great Hall. “Serves him right.”

The rest of the Gryffindors gathered around the table chimed with their own taunts of Draco’s shortcomings and jokes at his expense, except for one. Hermione slammed her textbook shut and pushed herself away from the table. She shoved her book into her bag before turning to stare at her housemates.

“You’re all pathetic,” Hermione hissed, narrowing her gaze at each of her so-called friends. “It’s a stupid list created by someone who gets off by watching the rest of us suffer as she reveals our secrets. It’s in her name! All she cares about is gossip. This list is full of gossip, and that’s it. There’s no reason behind her ranking, and you all know it.”

Harry opened his mouth to speak but closed it quickly when Hermione turned her attention towards him and pointed her finger at him.

“You don’t get to say a word,” she growled, shaking her head. “You got lucky, and Gossip Witch must feel bad for you because you can’t keep a witch happy without her leaving you. That’s why she placed you so high on the damn list. Anyone else have a comment they would like to make?”

Hermione looked around the table at them and snickered as they all reverted their gaze to the table, refusing to meet her eye. She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded her head. “That’s what I thought,” she affirmed, turning on her heel and making her way out of the Great Hall. She had an embarrassed Slytherin to track down before he did something stupid.

~xoxo~

Draco slammed the door to his dormitory shut with a swift kick, mumbling under his breath as he made his way to the bed. He collapsed, face first, into the pillows and let out a scream. He couldn’t wrap his mind around his ranking.

He could understand that he was not ranked first. He had been steadily seeing Hermione for the better part of a year, so that alone would have put him lower on the list. But coming in after Potter, Longbottom, and the Weasley clan plus Pucey and Diggory was unacceptable. How was he supposed to recover from this blast?

As Draco continued to sulk, suffocating himself with the pillow, he heard a faint knock at his door. With a heavy sigh, Draco rolled onto his back and cradled his head with his hands. “Come in.”

The door creaked open and closed quickly as Hermione stepped inside. She stared at him from the door for a few moments before approaching the bed. He looked defeated, which was an unusual look to be seen on Draco’s face.

“So,” Hermione said, leaning against the end of Draco’s bed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Draco huffed, rolling his eyes as he pushed himself up into a seated position. “Do you want to be seen with the tenth most eligible wizard in Hogwarts?”

“What do you think?” Hermione replied, moving to take a seat next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. She leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Draco let out a laugh as a smile pulled at the corners of his lips. He slowly turned his head to face her, capturing her lips with his. He kissed her softly at first before bringing his hand up to cup the back of her head as he slipped his tongue into her mouth, battling against hers for dominance of the situation.

He brought his opposite hand to Hermione’s waist and slowly leaned her back against the bed, refusing to break the kiss. He smiled as he heard the gentle moans escaping Hermione’s lips as he positioned himself on top of her.

Draco pulled away for a moment and grabbed his wand off the nightstand. He looked back over his shoulder and pointed the wand to the door.

“Colloportus,” he whispered, smiling as the lock snapped into place.

Hermione glanced up at him with a broad smile. “Silencio,” she whispered, giggling as Draco dropped the wand to the bed and captured her lips in another passionate kiss.

~xoxo~

“There’s no way you deserved to be named most eligible wizard,” Blaise said, glancing at Theo out of the corner of his eye as they made their way to the dungeons. “Gossip Witch has to be Tori. That’s the only way you’d beat me out for first place.”

Theo rolled his eyes. “Tori hasn’t talked to me in three weeks,” he huffed, readjusting his bag on his shoulder. “There’s no way she’d think so highly of me. Besides, it’s not like you were in second place. It’s gotta be someone who’s been caught with Potter and me.”

Blaise thought about it for a moment. He shook his head to push the first name that came to his mind away. He and Daphne were finally in a good place. There’s no way she’d put him in third place if she were really Gossip Witch.

“It’s not Daphne either,” Theo said, interrupting Blaise’s line of thought. “She’s the feature character in most of Gossip Witch’s blast. There’s no way she’d write that about herself.”

“Then who could it be?” Blaise asked, reaching out to open the door to the dorm. The handle barely jiggled as Blaise pulled on it. He furrowed his brow and tried the door again. “The door’s locked.”

Theo rolled his eyes, stepped forward, and pounding his fist against the door. “Malfoy, open up.”

~xoxo, Gossip Witch ~

Want to be a part of the Gossip Witch fun?

This story is meant to be slightly interactive. Submit anonymous blasts about the students at Hogwarts and you might find your prompt used as inspiration in a future chapter! Submit your blasts to the @xo-gossipwitch​ blog on tumblr.

Thanks for continuing to inspire this story!

[heloisedaphnebrightmore]

Advantages of studying [Remus Lupin x Reader] - Requested

Title: Advantages of studying Pairing: Remus Lupin x Reader Word count: 2.9k Published: 22 July, 2020 Author: Heloise Daphne Brightmore Notes: I got this cute request by winsalo on Wattpad a couple of days ago. Summary: You have been helping Remus with his Potions essay, whilst slowly falling for the kind boy. However you are rather shy around Remus and find it hard to make the first step.  Request: [x]

"Please could you do one with Remus and a girl called Evangeline but Eve for short. They become sloe whilst studying together. I love your writing by the way." - Winsalo [Wattpad]

Harry Potter Characters Masterlist | Masterlists

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You have been sitting in the library for the past two hours, studying with Remus. Studying might have been a strong use of word as you have been trying not to stare at him the whole time. You kept your face down, pretending to read the lines of your potions book, but you couldn't even recall a word. Of course, you couldn't. Although you kept glancing at the book, your eyes often wondered to the brown haired boy sitting across the table.

Potions wasn't his strongest subject, therefore you have been helping him with the essay you were given by Professor Slughorn. He was so concentrated on his parchment, his brows furrowed, whilst trying to write down his thoughts. At times he ran his fingers through his locks with a deep sigh leaving his lips as if it helped him in concentrating. His long fingers wrapped themselves around his quill, holding them firmly in place. It made you wonder what kind of a boy he was.

You have known him since first year and you could only see a kind side of his, but you knew there was always more to people. You wished to get to know him better, you wished to talk to him more often. Unfortunately for you, he was quite reserved. Unless he needed help with studying, he didn't talk to you much. He did wave at you or smiled gently while nodding when you met in class, but he never really initiated a conversation. You wished he did though. You were rather shy when it came to him. You never really dared to get close to him, feeling as if he was trying to keep everyone away from himself, other than his three best friends.

You admired him for his smart brain, his kind manners, his polite behaviour, but you rarely saw those sides and unfortunately your lack of knowledge on him forced you to admire only his physical appearance. You didn't complain though. He was dashingly handsome and a sweet candy to the eyes.

You tried very hard not to stare, but it seemed to be impossible. He flipped through the pages of the book he was taking his notes from, before he lifted his face to look up at you, causing your eyes to widen in surprise. You felt like you have been caught out and you were unable to hide the blush creeping up on your cheeks.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, but instead of looking at him, your eyes wondered to the shelves full of old and dusty books. You were trying to avoid his eyes in case your stupid little brain decided to stare at him once again, creepily.

"Sure." You replied after a moment of silence, digging yourself into your book.

"Look, if you have anything else to do, I can finish it from here." He spoke, making you frown as you finally looked into his dark, green eyes and shook your head.

"No, not at all. I guess, I am just a bit distracted, that's all." You let a small smile spread across your face.

"Can I help?" He asked, but you shook your head, knowing this was a battle you had to fight with yourself.

"It's nothing important." You tried to reassure him.

"Well, it seems to me that it is. You haven't written a word on your parchment." He pointed at your paper and for a second you could feel your face go white as your blood rushed out of your cheeks.

"Oh..." You breathed, realisation hitting you hard.

"So...?" He tried again, but you just shook your head, quickly starting to write your essay, knowing you had barely a few hours to finish it. Remus didn't try to talk to you again, seeing that you were completely lost in your studies. He smiled softly as he looked at your hunched form, your complete attention on your paper.

Hours passed by when Madam Pince walked over, her nose held high, his brows raised, impatiently waiting for the students to leave the library. You both packed your books, notes, quills and inks, putting them all in the bags, ready to leave. As you walked out of the library, Remus placed a hand on the small of your back and halted, turning towards you. You raised a brow at his unexpected actions, but gave him your undivided attention.

"I guess, you don't have to tutor me anymore." Remus smiled at you as if he thought it was some kind of a burden on you. However you didn't return his joyful expression. You weren't happy to say the least. You didn't want that gap to stand between you two once again, but you didn't dare to do anything about it. He clearly didn't want you as anything more than a tutor.

"Yes, but if you have any questions, you can always ask me." You reassured more yourself than him, hoping for him to come to you eventually.

"I will, thank you." He nodded and offered you a pleased look, before he walked away from you, leaving you to stare at the back of the dark brown jumper he has been wearing. You heaved a deep sigh as you walked up to your dormitory, concluding that you have been left to ogle over his mere presence from afar once again. Arriving to your dorm, you threw yourself on your bed and hid your face in your pillow, hoping for this feeling you have been harbouring for him to just disappear.

The next couple of days have been quite. You watched him sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table at breakfast, you stared at his back on Potions and Transfiguration, being seated right behind him, you gazed at his laughing form, sitting by the lake with his friends. You wished to be part of all his experiences, but you knew your love for him was only one sided. Love, indeed. You came to love the oblivious boy, making it so much harder to watch him from afar.

You were sitting in your dorm room, legs spread across the floor, back leaning against the edge of the bed. You have been sighing for minutes straight, before your friend walked up to you and sat down besides you.

"You have to stop this. Why don't you just ask him out?" She asked curiously.

"I can't. He... he is Remus. He wouldn't date with someone like me." You let out a defeated deep breath, head hanging low in sorrow.

"What does that even mean? Have you looked into the mirror? You are beautiful, you are smart, you are funny. Who wouldn't want to date you?" She asked with a sceptical look on her face.

"Clearly noone." You huffed. You couldn't recall receiving a single confession recently.

"Erm... yeah. You have been staring at Remus so obviously, that everyone is aware of it." She raised her brow knowingly.

"No, I have not." You argued, but she shook her head.

"Yes, you have. I could walk around the dorm, knocking on doors and people would confirm it without hesitation." She smirked. "The only person who doesn't realise your feelings is Remus. Look, he is a nice guy, ask him out. Even if he rejects you, which believe me, he won't, you won't have to be scared of being made fun of, because he is just not wired that way." She tried to convince you. While you knew she was right, you were still scared to let him know of your feelings.

"His friends could make fun of me. He could start avoiding me. I could even scare him away and that would be beyond painful." You spoke, but your friend just shook her head.

"Excuses. Do it!" She said as if it was that simple. "Do it!" She repeated it once again with a raised brow. "If you don't I will." She grinned mischievously.

"What?" Your eyes grew wide in shock.

"I will tell him myself." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"No." You replied, suddenly grabbing her shoulder.

"Will you do it then?" She asked, waiting for a clear confirmation.

"Fine, I will." You spoke in an unsure tone.

"Good! Now let's go to bed and first thing on the morning you will confess your undying love." She giggled, making you grimace at her happy face.

Slumber took over you harder than ever as you tried to think through all the scenarios that could happen. As much as you wished to think of all the happy endings, somehow your mind wondered over to the dark side, imagining all the different kind of rejections you expected to receive. Deep sighs left your lungs on numerous occasions, to a point where your friend woke up and threw a pillow at your face. You growled at her childish behaviour, but soon finally let your nervous thoughts go and fell into a sweet dream, revolving around Remus.

The next morning you stood in front of your mirror, preparing yourself for the most embarrassing day of your life. You wanted to stay behind and just play the poor, sick student act, but your friend laughed straight in your face and pushed you out the door. You rolled your eyes at her dominant behaviour, but headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast anyway.

Remus was already sitting at the table with his friends, laughing about probably the newest prank they have been planning. You heaved a deep sigh and took your seat, trying to avoid the inevitable.

"Come on." Your friend ushered you, but you just shook your head furiously.

"Not in the Great Hall." You frowned.

"Why not?" She asked, her head tilting in confusion.

"Everyone could hear it. Let me do it later." You whispered, not wanting anyone to know that you have been planning something.

"Fine." She huffed and returned to her breakfast.

Classes flew by and since your friend wasn't nagging you, you certainly thought you were off the hook. Oh, what a wrong thought that was. Classes finished and you were sitting outside the Black lake as per your friend's request, studying for your Transfiguration exam. You were deep in your thoughts, but you could just about hear a group of boys laughing loudly at the edge of the lake. You didn't have to think for long to realise it was Remus who was having fun with his group of friends. You turned to your friend, your cheeks heating up, feeling embarrassment coming over you.

"It's time." She said with a cheeky smile, biting into her lower lip. You frowned suspiciously before it all downed on you.

"You knew!" You stated firmly, but she just shrugged with the same smile across her face and nudged your shoulder, telling you to go.

You placed your books and parchment on the grass and stood up hesitantly, while rearranging your wrinkled cloths. You looked back at your friend, hoping for a more empathetic feeling from her, but she just gave you a sceptical look as if she knew you wanted to run away. You knew you had no escape route at this point, but your legs didn't move. You stood there, looking at the man who has stolen your heart, but you just couldn't take the first step.

"Remus." You heard her calling him from beside you and you gave a terrified look to your friend, who simply shrugged it off. "Go." She said as she lowered her head back into her book once again.

Your eyes looked up to the owner of the green orbs, who was curiously searching for a reason why he was called over so abruptly. You met him right in the middle of the land, between both of your friends and stood silently. You exhaled sharply, before deciding to speak up.

"Hey." Your voice was weak and low, he could barely hear you.

"Hey, is everything okay?" He asked, realising your rather nervous fidgeting.

"Yeah..." You spoke hesitantly. "I..." You tried to get your words out, but they just didn't seem to come. "I thought..." You kept attempting to say what you practiced last night, but your mind drew a blank and you started to get more and more scared of the situation. He could see your shaking hands and before you knew it, he grabbed them and squeezed them gently.

"You don't seem okay." He said, worry clear in his voice. His touch made you feel even more terrified and out of mere fear you quickly removed your hands from his. "I'm sorry." He apologised as he realised what he had done.

"No!" You shot up, not wanting him to feel bad for trying to comfort you. "I just... can I be just honest?" You asked, feeling more and more nervous about beating around the bush.

"Yes, that would be much appreciated." He chuckled lightly. You heaved a deep sigh and exhaled, repeating the process a couple of times before you took the courage to speak up again.

"Would you go on a date with me?" You asked, your words almost slurring together. Your eyes were attached to his face to see a reaction, but he seemed expressionless.

"What?" He finally spoke, but those were not the words you expected.

"Please, don't let me repeat that." Your tone was begging as you felt the fear growing inside you. As if you could be rejected by simply repeating your words.

"I... I didn't think you would look at me like that." He frowned and you tilted your head curiously.

"Why not?" You asked, knowing that you have been more than obvious about your feelings.

"I don't know. I just didn't see it." He smiled gently, making your heart flutter in hope, but then silence fell up on you, making you anxious about his answer once again. His eyes were fixed on the ground, letting his thoughts take over him.

"You were the only one who didn't." You chuckled awkwardly trying to save the situation and fill in the silent gap.

However it didn't work. Remus stood in front of you with a puzzled expression, trying to find the right answer, while you fidgeted with your hands in nervousness. You felt your heart sunk deeper in sorrow as you started to realise that his silence was perhaps a rejection he didn't dare to say, not wanting to hurt you.

You painfully smiled to yourself, concluding that he was perhaps too kind to reject your advances. You let him think for a while, knowing he was probably searching for the nicest words to tell you, he didn't see you that way, that he didn't think of you as a potential romantic interest. You heaved a deep sigh, eyes still glued to the nervous boy.

"Come on, Moony. You have been drooling over Y/N for the past year. Just say yes." Sirius shouted, throwing his arms in the air out of frustration. Your eyes widened at his words and finally Remus looked up at you in shock.

"Damn it." He whispered, but you could just hear it fine. A small smile started spreading across your face, before you started lightly giggling. "That's not how I planned to... yeah." He said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. He was nervous, but it wasn't because he was trying to find words to reject you, but because he didn't know the right words, now that his feelings have been returned. "I guess, that would be a yes then." He smiled happily this time. You could barely contain your excitement, but you tried to hide it anyway. You didn't really know much about Remus' friends, but you were certain that you would like them.

"Good, I'm glad you agreed." You spoke awkwardly, not knowing what to do next.

"I would have been stupid not to." He chuckled.

"Go get some Moony." Sirius walked up behind him and patted him on the back, pushing him forward. Things happened so fast, you could barely process the situation. One second Remus was standing in front of you, smiling awkwardly, the next he stumbled over to you, his hands on your upper arms to steady himself, his lips attached to yours.

Your eyes widened in shock, your breath stuck in your lungs as you felt his plump lips against yours. He quickly stepped back, fear clearly projected in his eyes.

"I am so sorry. Sirius just pushed me and I..." He tried to explain everything at once, his words a mess, his arms gesturing all over.

"It's fine." You smiled softly, trying to contain the cheerful screams you wanted to let out so badly. "But next time, maybe after the date." You giggled, which caused a relived sigh to leave his lips, before a smile appeared across his face.

You have never felt more excited in your life, than in the moment he said yes and for the record, there wasn't just one or two kisses, but many more throughout the years.

Notes: If you enjoyed it, don't forget to like and/or reblog the chapter. Thank you :) 

If you enjoy my stories, please consider donating and supporting me on Ko-fi. Of course, it’s completely your choice, I will continue updating for free anyway :) Thank you <3

[invisibleinorange]

Chapters: 12/? Fandom: Bridgerton Rating: T Warnings: Presumed Character Death Relationships: Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington,  Eloise Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington(besties),  Bridgerton Family Dynamics, Simon Hastings/Daphne Bridgerton Characters: Colin Bridgerton,  Penelope Featherington, Eloise Bridgerton, Anthony Featherington,  Benedict Bridgerton,  Portia Featherington, Violet Bridgerton, Genevieve Delacroix Additional Tags:  Bridgerton, Polin Summary:  Unexpected bad news arrives for the Bridgerton Family (and friends) regarding Colin's travels. This will be a series that is set after "The Duke and I" or season one of the show. It is a companion piece to "Goodbyes".

It took nearly a week for the tensions to calm down after what posthumously was dubbed ‘the night of the burnt dresses’.  Anthony for his part had attempted to make things right by purchasing a series of new dresses for Penelope.  He knew that he took things a bit too far but he’d only wanted to protect her like he would any of his sisters.  At the end of the day, he wouldn’t change a thing about the actions he’d taken.

He wouldn’t come right out and say it but he also felt a bit like he’d done the poor girl a favor.  Her mother had clearly been dressing her in poor fitting dresses in the poorest excuse of fabric colors for years.  Dressed in decent clothing, it was abundantly clear that had she had her new wardrobe in the last season, things might have played a little differently for her.

He knew better than to put that out into the universe though since he’d barely escaped unscathed from the daily glares, silence and intermittent tongue lashings from the family.

Benedict hadn’t exactly been forgiven either.  Whenever he came into the room, people got up and walked out all together.  Eloise and Benedict had hardly went a day since Eloise was born without talking to each other and even she was keeping her distance.

It was enough to drive anyone mad.  There was only so long that Benedict could avoid being home by drinking and making art.  As much as he needed his outlets, he also did enjoy the comfort of family around him.

He needed to take action but he didn’t know what to do.

Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to do anything.

He was alone the study when he heard the door open.  He was busy working away with a sketch with his charcoals and he didn’t bother to look up. In his mind it was either going to be a servant or someone who would walk right back out.

He was surprised when it wasn’t.

“Benedict,” he heard after a long moment.

He looked up and there was a strange sense of déjà vu that hit him.  Just like she’d sought him out before on the swings and things had seemed to be working themselves out, she was there again.

She cleared her throat.  There was something quiet, unsure about her voice which reminded him of how she’d always been instead of the confident girl that he’d been watching her grow into.

“Can we speak?”  she asked.

“I’ve been trying to speak to a week,” he said knowing there was some edge to his voice and he softened it once he caught himself. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or deceive you.  I was just caught off guard and -  I would have told you I didn’t send the dress.”

“This isn’t about the dress,” she told after a moment, lips pursing into a tight line.  “I know that none of you would intentionally hurt me. It was my thought for jumping to conclusions and thinking that you were trying to romance me. I’ve never actually had anyone attempt to romance me so I was too blinded by it to think logically and Eloise didn’t help.”

“I didn’t know that you wanted me to romance you,” Benedict said after a long moment raising an eyebrow.   It was uncanny really that even now the thought of actually romancing her was foreign, weird.  Even after all these weeks, he still thought of her like another sister. If he set his mind to it, he could do this properly.  “I mean, I thought that you hadn’t set your mind to accepting my proposal so I was honestly giving you the space you required.”

“I don’t know what I want,” Penelope confessed after a long moment.  That didn’t seem an accurate depiction of how she felt though since she knew precisely what she wanted and it was something that she could never have.  All the time in the world could pass and she’d still wonder about how differently her life might have been had Colin not been lost at sea.  “I won’t begrudge you secrets because I have plenty of my own – I can’t marry someone that I can’t trust and I wouldn’t want that for someone else.  You can’t grow to love someone if you can’t trust them.”

It was that point that he realized she was still wearing the ring he’d given her and everything seemed to fall into place. She was actually considering going forward with this after everything.  An even bigger alarm went off in his head at the fact she thought she could have some secret so big that he might have a problem with it. He cocked his head gazing at her as if trying to read through it all to figure it out.  There was literally nothing there.

“I won’t lie to you any more then,” he said after a long moment. “And while I can’t think of anything more than a white lie that you are burdened by, I suppose you can do the same.”

Penelope visibly winced at that.  There was something about the expression on her face that made it clear that she was holding back something big and he was at a loss so he just listened and waited, prepared for her secret to be something absolutely innocent.

“Then I must tell you something now,” she started. “You must promise to never tell anyone.”

“I promise,” he told her. He nodded, anticipating building and a chuckle already threatening at his lips for whatever would come out of her mouth.

“I’m Lady Whistledown,” she confessed.

Confusion flooded his feature and that chuckle did escape though almost waiting for her to laugh as well. Surely, this was a joke!  There was absolutely no way.

“Did Eloise put you up to this?”

“No, I’m serious.”

“But – that’s impossible!” he found himself arguing knowing that there was no way that the awkward little wallflower who hung around his little sister was that the proprietor of that wretched gossip column. “There is no way that you’d have nearly ruined yourself and the whole Marina Thompson thing easily could have –“

“Colin,”  she said after a long moment as if to justify it. “I couldn’t let Colin go through with it.  I tried to talk him out of it and he wasn’t listening so I used the only tool that I had that would stop him.  I’d rather be a spinster than someone who lets. I regret the hurt that it caused but I don’t regret – well, I do actually.  If I’d not done it, he’d still be here now and you wouldn’t be trying to ruin your life by marrying me.”

That was enough to render his speechless and he rose from where he’d been sitting, pacing for a moment to try and gather his thoughts.  His family had been absolutely obsessed with that woman, trying to figure out who she was every time they delighted in what she said or were angered.  He didn’t know whether to be upset or proud that Penelope was capable of such a stir.

The truth of the matter was that she’d never said anything that was false (as far as he was aware) about their family or other families. She merely speculated, stated what she observed and candid.  He couldn’t hold that against her, especially when more times than not she’d saved them.

The fact that she blamed herself for saving Colin from a loveless marriage built upon a lie hit him like a ton of bricks and the heaviness of it reminded him of the grief that he’d locked down. He wasn’t happy that his brother was gone but he didn’t blame Penelope or anyone else for the death.  He could have just as easily blamed Anthony for the fact he’d felt like he needed to see more of the world.

Benedict let out a long breath of air that he didn’t know he’d been holding before crossing the room,  decisively taking her hands as if to show that this information didn’t bother her.  He wasn’t going to go and tell the Ton this information.

“You’re not the reason he’s dead,” he said after a long minute.  She wasn’t quite looking at him though so he reached down to force her to look up at him.  “Besides, Colin would be furious if he knew you were blaming yourself for that.”

She was clearly going to dismiss the words but it was essential that he knew as much.

“Well he at least wasn’t furious enough to come back and haunt me,”  she said quietly after a minute. She’d honestly begged him to do it and he hadn’t.

“Well you’re just not looking in the right place. He’d haunt the kitchens. Even in death he’d be a bottomless pit,”  Benedict added, with a sad, wiry smile. Even if it was painful to talk about him, it did feel nice to have Colin’s name not be avoided.

“I can’t argue that,” she said after a long moment.  “Are you really sure though?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” he insisted.  “You’re just crazy enough to survive our family.  We might as well make it official.  I suppose, I could put one condition on it.”

“And what might that condition be?”

“Our first born son,” Benedict said after a long moment pausing to try and make the words feel less weird. “He’d have to be named Colin.”

Something about that touched Penelope to the core and she felt tears forming in her eyes. She wasn’t quite sure how much of that was still grief and how much was the moment.  Her words didn’t form for a long moment.

“What if we only have daughters?” she finally asked.

“Colleen clearly,” Benedict added with mirth.

--

Beloved Readers it appears that the mourning black of recent days is about to transform to new, exciting shades. It  thrills me to announce that the confirmed bachelorette Penelope Featherington will not be forced to spend season as a wallflower.

As previously reported, she took up residence with the Bridgerton Family some time ago. While there was speculation around the Ton to what this might mean,  we can now confirm that from grief new beginnings have formed.

Benedict Bridgerton, the second eldest son of the family, has allegedly proposed and said proposal has been accepted.  The news has brought joy where in recent weeks there has been little positive news to report…

LADY WHISTLEDOWN'S SOCIETY PAPERS, 7 OCTOBER 1813

[pl-panda]

Vegas Vacation - chapter 1

Disclaimer: See Master Post

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While in darkness, some look for the light. Others, light up a match. There are also those who learn to adapt and push through.

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Vegas Magic - chapter 1

Hang-black-over

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*pain*

Harry felt a headache at least the size of Fluffy. He tried to open his eyes, was momentarily blinded by the light. He tried to lift his hand to look for glasses, but something weighed him down. Something warm and soft... Something that started to move!

His head instantly snapped in that direction only to see a mess of black hair. From under that mess, he could see a girl staring at him with a smile on her face. She had soft blue eyes, a heart-shaped face, and a slight tan. For a moment his eyes wandered a bit lower and he blushed Gryffindor red. She was naked. It took him a moment to notice he was naked too. Seeing his reaction she giggled. A melodic sound hitting his ears was enough to finally break him from the daze.

Absentmindedly, he tried to pull the cover up to regain at least minimum modesty and maybe stop the blush. This earned another giggle from her. When he finally managed to at least partially cover himself, she pouted.

"Why the sudden modesty, mister?"

"Um… eh… I… did we…?" He managed to ask, which earned more giggle from her. She sure was in a really good mood.

"I think that is quite obvious."

He tried for a few moments to remember who she was, but his mind came empty. "I… I'm sorry… I… I kinda don't remember your name." He managed to finally squeeze the thing out.

"Why I am offended, mister." She gave him a smile that could only be described as sultry. "I thought the night we just had would be rather memorable. I will definitely remember it for the rest of my life. As for my name… I think since yesterday it's Zatanna Potter."

Harry was too surprised to answer. He could only gape at the girl next to him. She decided to add fuel to fire and raised her hand, showing him a small golden ring on her finger. Harry managed to grab his glasses from the night table and put them on before taking a close look It was a beautiful wedding ring that could double as a family signet. Harry's seen a similar ring on Narcissa Malfoy's hand. Just to check, he raised his own hand and saw an almost identical ring. His was a bit bigger and bulkier though. He also noticed that there was an identical coat of arms engraved on both.

Harry let out an audible groan. There is a dark lord after his head and the first thing he does is get married.

"Am I that undesirable?" She teased him while slowly trailing fingers along his arm.

"No… No! You are breathtaking! Beautiful!" He quickly reassured her.

"Good answer." She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips before standing up. Now Harry could admire her in all her glory. He noticed that she must have been about his age. Her… assets were well developed. She could probably rival Susan Bones and Daphne Greengrass in his year. "I am going to get a quick shower. I guess we should sit up and talk after that…" He trailed after her long legs as she made way to the bathroom. He would bet his wand she was intentionally swaying her hips just to tease him.

As soon as the doors closed, he let out another groan. Resigned, he got up and started to gather his and her clothes and sort it into separate piles. He froze for a moment when he picked a pair of lacy thongs and a matching bra, but he quickly got back to work. He just hoped that it could be fixed. Maybe they could just cancel the whole thing?

"One thing for sure. I am not drinking again…" He said to himself before sitting back on the bed. Harry tried to remember how exactly he got there, slowly retracing his steps in memory.

He could remember being at the Dursleys' after the Tournament. He could remember Prophet informing about Bellatrix LeStrange escaping. They blamed it on Sirius. He then remembered a missive from Goblins, informing him that Sirius Black was dead. Harry was devastated by this. Sirius was one of the few links he had to his parents. He promised that once he was cleared he would be able to live with him. For a moment, Harry hoped for a family. And then Sirius was gone. Just before Harry's fifteen birthday

Then there was the last will. In his infinite wisdom Sirius made a stipulation to his will that for anyone to access anything of his or the whole Black Family, Harry was to take vacations. Remus was to be his chaperone while they were to leave to 'Black property somewhere in America'. Dumbledore was really against the idea, but Sirius' old house that he let Dumbledore use was locked tight until the stipulations of the will were met. As such the wisened Headmaster had no option but to allow Harry the trip. He and Remus were taking a portkey from Gringotts, making any tracking impossible. While it was clear that Dumbledore was against the idea, he could not stop them in any way. Also, while the headmaster was unable to follow them in any way, so were the Death Eaters.

They arrived in Magical Las Vegas, which was in normal Las Vegas. The two made their way to Black Casino, which was the 'Black property in America'. Harry hoped to enjoy the luxurious hotel, but a waitress that strangely reminded him of someone he saw somewhere handed him a drink when Remus was distracted. He hesitantly downed it, enjoying the burning sensation. From there, it was hazy. He could remember flashed. They didn't stay at Black Casino. Remus took him to a magic show. Apparently, it was similar in fashion to a talent show for Magicals. This was supposed to be a world-famous Giovani Zatarra.

The show was taking place in another Casino. Harry could remember that he lost Remus in the crowd. He ended up at one table where a man that also looked a bit familiar gave him a bunch of tokens.

He played, won, played again, won even more.

Through the mist, he recalled taking his win and going to look for Remus. The rest of it was a total blur. He could remember meeting Zatanna. More games, cards, machines, roulette, etc. Then he had a brief flash of… Elvis? Then there were a bit more games and finally, Zatanna dragging him to a hotel room. At each stage, he got more and more drinks. The drilling headache still served as a reminder of the amount of alcohol he consumed

The doors to the bathroom opened and Zatanna walked out, wrapped in a towel. Once again, Harry stared at her for a moment with open mouth before quickly averting his gaze. She grinned and slowly walked to him.

Zatanna took a seat next to him. "So…" She started solemnly.

"Um…" He really had no idea what to say

"What is the last thing you remember?" She asked suddenly after a brief, but uncomfortable silence.

"Well… I was separated from my chaperone. I ended up at some table where a guy handed me a lot of tokens and I won quite a bit. Then I packed and left looking for Remus… I walked into some empty corridor and after that, I can't really remember much. Everything is hazy.

"I actually think this is where we met…" She mused for a moment. "My dad was giving a show. I actually had a bit of a fight with him just before he left." Seeing Harry's raised eyebrow, she frowned. "He keeps treating me like a baby. No helping at the shows, no Justice League stuff, if it was up to him, I wouldn't be allowed to date anyone until sixty." She quickly blushed, remembering last night. "That was actually why we argued. He overheard me talking to a friend about a cute guy I've met recently. I was so angry. He showed no respect for my privacy and to boot that up scolded me."

"He sounds… strict…" Harry was unsure of what to say.

"I mean I love him, but he just… Anyway, that evening I was angry. I walked out of the room, hoping to maybe at least watch the show from backstage, but then I stumbled upon you. I… I kinda decided to spite my father and invited you for a date. You agreed and we played several games. You were so sweet and cute." She smiled at him. "Not to mention hot."

Harry focused on what she was telling and remembered meeting a girl in that corridor. They spoke for a moment before she asked him if he wanted to join her in an outing. They returned to main hall and Harry kept on winning. At some point, they decided to switch casinos. The next one was very interesting too.

"How is it that nobody batted an eye at our age?" He asked suddenly.

"I mean… it's Magical Los Angeles. As long as you have money, they don't ask questions…"

"Yeah. That's about right." He grumbled. "It's probably the only reason why Malfoy still walks around to torment me…" She placed a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked at his wife and nodded. "Sorry. It's been… a hard year for me."

"I remember… mostly. I am pretty sure you omitted some details, but I won't dig…"

"Okay. We cleared some casinos. But how did we end up married?"

"I… I received a text from my father. He was furious that I went behind his back. I wanted to spite him, so I… kissed you. Hard." She blushed, albeit not as hard as Harry earlier. Or now for that matter. "I tried to push further, but you were a perfect gentleman." She smiled at him. "You said that you wanted to wait until marriage. It was so sweet. I kissed you again as a reward." Seeing his look, she smiled sheepishly. "I was not exactly sober either…"

Harry quickly raised his hands in a surrender gesture. "I am not saying anything."

They both laughed weakly at that. "Anyway, you had this goofy grin on your face after that. The Casino we were at… Black Casino I think… Had a chappel in it. You actually proposed to me and we got married on the same evening. Then… let's just say I am a very pleased wife." She gave him a sultry smile like before. Harry squeaked when she moved to sit on his lap.

"Um…" then a dreadful thought entered his mind. "Oh, Merlin! Remus! He is going to kill me!"

"You mean the werewolf?" She asked surprised. Harry skipped over the fact she knew his secret "He was at our wedding. With another woman at that. I'm not sure if he was there for us or waiting in line…"

Harry was about to answer when he heard a knock at the doors. He got up and was about to move to open when Zatanna caught his hand.

"wait a moment." She nodded at him and Harry realized he was completely naked. "Let me… Sserd pu um dnabsuh!" In a puff of smoke, Harry was now wearing a two-piece suit and white shirt underneath. For a moment he wanted to ask her about that, but the knocking got more irritated and he actually worried who might that be.

"Maybe… Dress up while I check whose that?"

She nodded and Harry walked to the next room. To say he was surprised would be an understatement. It was an exclusive suite of the kind he saw on movies when he sneaked a look at the Dursley's. He focused on the doors. He had his wand in one hand when he opened the doors. Outside he was greeted by a very much alive Sirius Black, his godfather!

[belgian-quaffle]

possibilitea for more

Draco and Astoria fall in love over time and tea

Read it on hpft | ao3 | ff.net

Victorian Chai

This was not how Draco expected to spend his birthday.

"Oops," The brush (more like shove) against his shoulder from the couple as they pass around him on either side shouldn't be a surprise, this is not his first time out in public since the end of the war, and yet, somehow, today, it is.

Equally surprising is the hot drink that ends up spilled across his white shirt. "So sorry," The woman says, struggling to hide both her unapologetic tone and holier-than-thou smirk.

"Don't worry about it," Draco fights back the sigh; it wouldn't do any good.

This much he's learned.

His lack of reaction clearly disappoints them, but their laughter resonates all the same as the couple continues out the door of the cafe. Draco blinks a few times, to clear his thoughts, and steps forward to the counter. "A breakfast tea, please?"

"Wow," He looks up abruptly, suddenly nervous about a second encounter in so many minutes. Instead, he's met with an amused face. "Covered in coffee and you don't even care?"

"It's not the first time," With the rest of the cafe now empty and only this girl's friendly face in front of him, this time he doesn't hold back the sigh.

"Yeah," She looks him up and down appraisingly. "I'd guess not."

A full year after the end of the war, Draco is used to the glances. It doesn't make them any easier. "My tea?" He says plainly.

She flicks her wand over her shoulder. "The water's boiling," She grins simply at him. "Aren't you going to clean your shirt?"

He hesitates, before answering with a scowl. "Left my wand at home,"

Her wand flicks over toward him immediately and shit, telling her that was such a bad decision, he knew...wait, his shirt is dry? He looks down. The stain is gone? Draco looks up and sees the girl failing to hide a smile. "Thanks," He nods.

"You're welcome," She returns, finally starting to fix his tea.

"I mean it," He presses. "Most people wouldn't do that for me right now."

The girl slides his to-go cup across the counter to him, grinning at him. "Most people are not in the same boat as us, Draco,"

His hand pauses on the cup. "Us?"

"Don't you recognize me?" Her grin grows as she takes in the look on his face. He can't place her at all. "They were right! Brunettes do do it better!" She flips her dark hair around, laughing.

It's the hair flip that gives her away; he'd seen that all too often...just not on her. "You're Daphne's sister, aren't you?"

She smiles. "Astoria,"

"Pleasure," Draco nods, pulling his tea over and taking a sip. "This...this is not a breakfast tea,"

She shakes her head. "Victorian chai. You looked like you needed it,"

Draco ducks his head so she can't see the smile on his way out. Far and away the best interaction he's had in public in years.

Earl Grey

"You moved out of your parents' house?" She gasps.

"Well I couldn't stay there forever!" Draco argues.

"I thought it was like, a law, that Malfoys had to stay in that house!"

"Hello pot, it's kettle!" He deadpans, for he knows she's staying with one of her sister's friends right now.

"That's just temporary," She brushes him off. "For my summer job," She waves her arms, and he's abruptly reminded that in just over a week, she'll have to return to Hogwarts and he'll be losing his best friend.

His only friend, really.

"I needed-a change." He needed floors that weren't stained with blood, rooms that didn't echo with shouts of former classmates and teachers. Parents that didn't stop sentences abruptly to avoid voicing an opinion that shouldn't be said but they definitely still had.

You know, former Death Eater things.

"You just wanted to be close to me," She crows.

"Only for your tea," Draco cradles his mug close.

"I feel used,"

"You shouldn't make such good tea then,"

She stares at him. "It's earl grey. A baby could do it,"

He sips his tea coolly. "Remember that when I write you at school, asking you how you get it to taste so good,"

Chocolate Candy Cane Tea

"Draco!" The sudden weight thrown against his back is a complete surprise, but there's really only one person it could be, so when Draco turns as soon as the weight drops off his back, he's already grinning down at the short brunette standing with him.

"You're back!" She's here, Astoria's back and Draco's pulling her in for a hug before he even knows what he's doing.

She's laughing when he lets her go, so much that she doesn't even notice the slight blush in his cheeks, for his own reaction to her arrival had caught him so off guard. "I've missed you too!"

Yes! That's it. He's just-he's missed his friend, is all. "How was end of term?"

Astoria scrunches up her face, looking over her shoulder slightly before turning back to him. Draco's eyes follow her gaze to a group of girls he vaguely remembers being a few years below him at Hogwarts before returning to Astoria. "Ah," He says, nothing more needing to be said.

"They're not all bad," She tacks on guiltily. "But unfortunately, the good ones couldn't be here today.

"Well," Draco offers, looking over her shoulder. The girls are pointing at them now. This can only get worse, in his experience. "I'm doing some Christmas shopping. I could use some help looking for something for my mother if you're looking for a better offer to-"

She's linking their arms before he can finish. "Lead the way,"

Astoria gives him the scoop about those girls as they push through the crowd of students in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies (because that would never be an acceptable gift for Narcissa Malfoy, even Draco knows that) and Draco can't help but wonder why she hasn't mentioned any of this in her letters last semester, which had all seemed so light and happy.

It seemed Hogwarts was taking a little longer to settle down than the picture she'd originally painted for him.

"So," Her light nudge pulls him out of his thoughts and he realizes they've made it through the crowd. "What does your mother like?"

He blinks down at her. "Expensive jewelry to prove she's better than everyone and pureblood elitism,"

She laughs; it's loud and musical, drawing the attention of a few people around them and Draco can't help the small smile that grows over his face as he watches her. "Well one of those you can't buy and one of those you can't afford...you can't afford expensive jewelry right now, right?"

"On my zero galleon salary as a volunteer studying potions and alchemy manuscripts at St. Mungo's?"

"Pro tip: try that "poor little rich boy" act on someone who hasn't ever been to your manor before,"

Draco can't help but laugh and Astoria grins triumphantly. "You get my point," He says.

She grins. "Yes, I suppose I do. Then what else does she like?"

Draco frowns. "I dunno. Clothes?"

Astoria shakes her head. "No,"

"How do you know?" Draco argues.

"I just do!" She reaches up with her free hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear and it's then that Draco realizes their arms are still linked. They have been, this entire time. It's been...nice...being this close. He hadn't realized that sweet vanilla smell was her.

Except now he's hyper aware of the fact they're so close. Suddenly, his arm feels heavy and awkward. Why is he so stiff? He is not old enough for body parts to be freezing like this-or is he too old?

"Let's just...pop into a few shops and see if we find anything," Astoria suggests, already leading them into the closest store full of knick-knacks.

"Hello dearies," A sweet old lady greets them the instant they walk in the door. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Ye-" Draco starts, only to be cut off by Astoria.

"Just browsing, thanks."

The owner smiles. "Can I offer you two some tea while you browse?"

Draco's eyes widen. "N-"

"That would be lovely!" Astoria beams and the owner gives them both a smile before hurrying off to the back.

Draco tries to convey she's going to poison us with his eyes as they browse, but he's not sure it passes over to Astoria, since she's happy to continue picking up small objects and sniffing spices.

"Here you are, dears!" Astoria accepts hers with thanks and Draco takes his skeptically, still shouting, "murder," loudly in his head. Maybe she's magically developed Legilimency skills this term.

Apparently not.

"Oh Merlin!" She exclaims. "This is amazing! You have to try it,"

"I don't need to," He says stubbornly. "I have the best tea maker right next to me,"

She shakes her head. "It tastes like Christmas in a cup!"

He scowls, resigning himself to dying and ruining his parents' Christmas. "Oh. Wow,"

"Chocolate candy cane tea," The shop owner smiles. "It's my best seller in December,"

"Does your mum drink tea?" Astoria's got that look in her eye and Draco nods, knowing exactly where she's going.

"This would be perfect."

He returns to the shop a day later, to pick up another bag of it to give to Astoria for Christmas. She's completely surprised and her hazel eyes light up as she throws her arms around him in thanks and he finds himself returning the hug almost immediately with no reservations this time.

It's such a vastly different response than the tight lipped smile and nod he'd received from his mother.

White Papaya Tea

Astoria's cleaning a table in the cafe, where she's taken a job again after graduating back in May while she figures out what to do next, when Draco grabs her waist to twirl her around excitedly. "You'll never..." He trails off, when he sees her face. "What's wrong? You look a bit flushed today,"

"Nothing," She shakes her head. "What's-" Her cheeks are still pink. "You look happy! What's happened?"

He examines her skeptically, but lets it slide. "I-I found something today,"

"You did?" Her eyes light up and she drops the rag on the table. "Can you-are you going to tell me?" She's already going behind the counter to make tea and Draco settles down at a table. She's back in a few moments, with two mugs, and places one in front of him while sitting down across from him.

Draco takes a sip of the tea-it's creamy and slightly sweet. "What is this?"

"White papaya," Astoria says impatiently. "Draco! What did you find?"

He can't help but laugh at her eagerness. Her entire face is lit up and he can't help but smile along with her. Just her presence always lifts him up. "It's big, Stor, it's-" He explains a little about the manuscript he's been working through recently and how it could help retrieve lost memories, before he continues. "And it would make such a difference right now on people who've lost their memories from the Imperius or Cruciatus,"

"Draco," She breathes. "This-this is huge!"

It is huge. It's been the only thing they've talked about all day at work. It's what's going to put him on the map, maybe finally give people something to whisper about him without a hint of disdain in their voices.

And he'd immediately rushed here to tell her about it the moment he'd been able.

The realization washes over him abruptly and he tenses, even as she's still smiling her perfect smile at him.

"We have to celebrate!" She exclaims.

"Sorry," He hears himself say, rather coldly. "I'm busy now,"

Astoria looks, understandably confused at his sudden change in tone, but she nods all the same. "Later then,"

"Maybe," Draco nods, but now that he knows how he feels, he can't. He has to protect her from the names and words. "Goodbye, Astoria,"

He turns quickly so as not to see the look on her face, but he doesn't manage to move fast enough to avoid seeing it fall.

Victorian Chai

It's a few weeks later that Draco is waiting outside the cafe, two to-go cups of tea in a carrier in his hand, taking deep breaths to steady his nerves. A few Astoria-less weeks later that have been absolutely miserable.

It turns out that avoiding her after realizing his feelings for her had done nothing to make them go away. What a surprise.

He pulls out his pocketwatch to check the time, nodding when everything looks right. Suddenly, the door opens in front of him and he jumps up, but it makes no difference; when Astoria sees him, she stops abruptly. "What are you-" She stops. "Why haven't you been around in a while?"

"I was being stupid," Draco says firmly. "But I'm done doing that now," If he was going to be better now, he was going to do it with everything, Astoria included. She stares at him, lips pursed, and unable to take the silence, he says, "Did you change your hair?"

She nods. "Daphne tells me that getting bangs is never really about getting bangs and there's really some great, underlying trauma, but I think I like them. They feel..."

"New," Draco supplies, because he knows the exact feeling, of needing something tangible to feel like things are different. A visible representation to signify the fresh start.

"Yeah," She nods. "Is one of those for me?"

"Yes!" He passes it over to her. "A Victorian chai." She smiles; it's clear she remembers the same as he does. "Though it's nowhere near as good as yours."

"I see," She says, sounding like she wants to be teasing, but her words cut a little too much. "You're just back because you want me for my tea,"

"It's not just for your tea," Draco admits. "Though it's taken me far too long to admit that it's for you too,"

There's a splash against his foot and Astoria's breath catches in her throat as she looks up at him. She doesn't appear to notice she's dropped her cup, but Draco doesn't care this time that there's coffee spilled all over him as he steps closer to her.

Her lips part just in time for him to kiss them softly. "You made me drop my tea," She accuses, when they break apart.

"I told you it wasn't very good!"

"Hmm, if only we knew someone who could do it better," Astoria grins, leaning in to kiss him again.

"If only," Draco agrees, thinking they may not be getting that tea for a while.

A/N:This was originally written for The Great Collab of 2018-2019 over at HPFT. This was for topic 1: new beginnings with a challenge theme of slow burn.

additionally, many thanks to starbuck for reading over this and giving lovely comments and advice! also, shoutout to my aunt and uncle's spice and tea store, which is where i specifically looked for types of tea to use in this, thanks fam

[swanky-batman]

Savior Part 1

Draco Malfoy x Reader

Warnings: I really don’t know where to start on this one- swearing, drinking, crime, violence, you-know-who and his merry band of misfits, insinuations of forced marriage, etc.

The reader is trying to help Hermione get prepared for the journey her, Ron and Harry are going to take. In order to do so, she starts a little trouble. Little does she know, the ripple effect on this one lasts for a while.

Masterlist

Part  2

-----------

You were trying to breath normally, being chained against the wall in a cold damp basement. One of your eyes was swollen shut and you tasted blood. The door opened and voices were talking, getting closer.

--- 3 weeks ago---

“Hermione, I can’t believe you’re going alone on a trip with those two.” You giggled, trying to lighten the mood.

“Y/N it’s not going to be fun.” She answered, shaking her head. She stopped walking next to you, “Are you sure you don’t mind helping us?”

You grinned, “Of course not! I love stirring up trouble, and they won’t even notice for a while.”

“I don’t know when it’s going to happen but I know there’s going to be trouble.” She bit her lip.

Your voice lowered, “That’s why you’re preparing a bag?”

She nodded her response.

You cracked your knuckles, “Alright, wish me luck. You’ll have a couple of minutes but you better hurry.”

She nodded and you walked off. You walked up to none other than Draco Malfoy, knowing Snape would be watching closely.

“Hey there, buddy boy.” You grinned.

He looked up and his friends looked annoyed, Crabbe asking, “What do you want?”

“Aw, no greeting?” You pouted and noticed Snape slowly stepping closer, trying to read what was happening. “I’m just here to chat- unless you prefer something a little more… dramatic.” Your eyebrow twitched in a teasing manner but the insinuation flew right over Crabbe and Goyle’s heads. You rolled your eyes, sighing, “This is what you have to deal with on a daily basis?”

He nodded, actually a little amused.

Snape moved further away and you knew Hermione hadn’t had enough time yet- you started to panic slightly.

“I’m actually really sorry about this.” You hissed slightly, “Truly.” You raised your hand and slapped him, his expression blank for a moment as he realized what just happened.

Not a moment later Snape was in between you and him, pulling you apart and you tried to struggle for a second.

“Oh, you’re stronger than you look, Snapey.”

He glared, dragging you towards Minerva’s office.

“Your student is out of control.” Snape spat as he threw you in a seat before relaying the event that just took place.

“Ms. Y/L/N, what caused you to act in such an appalling manner?” She askes, looking over her glasses.

You shrugged, not really giving an answer.

“Points will be deducted from Gryfinndor and you will have detention for at least a month- if such lude behavior happens again I will be forced to suspend or further. Do I make this clear?”

You nodded, “Yes ma’am.”

“Go on.” She sighed, nodding towards the doorway.

You heard Snape as you walked out, “That seems like a relaxed punishment.”

“Well the boy does have a snicker that makes you want to raise a hand to him.”

You giggled as you continued down the hall, towards the house dorm. You found Hermione and whispered, “Did you get everything you need?”

She nodded, fiddlin with her thumbs. “How much trouble did you get in?”

You shrugged, “Nothing too bad. It’ll be worth it if you-know-who is stopped, right?”

She nodded, looking more sure. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Although I do kind of feel bad for Draco- lad didn’t understand what hit him.” You giggled a little as you got ready for bed.

--- 2 weeks ago---

You had seen Hermione, Ron and Harry off as they got ready for Rons brothers wedding a couple of days ago. You hoped Hermione would have fun, seeing as she seemed to be super nervous lately.

You had seen Draco once or twice since that incident but he had avoided you at all costs. You did feel a bit like a bully but it distracted Snape long enough for Hermione to collect the supplies she needed- it was worth it, right?

You tried to push the incident out of your head.

---last week---

Death Eaters were roaming around the school, Snape becoming headmaster. It was all too much for you to grasp. Then one afternoon, a blonde man was seen talking to Snape in a corridor- and you swear they were looking towards you.

You felt a shiver work up your back as you tried to ignore them. You had to find a way to ignore them. You had to find a way to get out of this place. Hogwarts was no longer safe.

You helped a couple of the students with safe places and phrases to use as a safety or warning between them in the halls since there were rules for interactions.

Packing up a bag one night, you slipped out as quietly as possible. You made it out towards the outer grounds when something came up behind you and it got dark.

--- Present---

You were dragged up a set of stairs and dropped onto the floor- you tried to contain yourself but your face fell towards the floor.

There was a man there- the blonde one from Hogwarts. He was standing over you for a minute, pouting.

“Bring him in.” He spoke after a moment, dull.

A shuffling, a door opening, and then more voices coming in.

You heard a gasp and then, “Lucius, what is this?” From a female.

“Quiet.” He ordered, walking over to pick you off the floor. “Is this that little mudblood that dare strike you?”

Your good eye met Draco and confusion passed both of your faces, with a female standing next to him.

“Answer me.” He hissed.

“Y-Yes, father.” He answered, quietly.

He janked your hair and pulled you towards Draco. “We will destroy anyone in our path- start with her.” He dropped you at his feet.

You looked up at him, “Things seem to escalate quickly around here, huh?” You wheezed out before getting kicked.

“Father, stop.” Draco spoke up.

“You’re right, she’s yours.” He snickered.

“I want her to be brought to my room.” Draco spoke after a minute.

There was silence for a minute before someone came over to drag you to his room.

You were pretty sure you blacked out along the way- you woke up later in a bed.

Draco leaned over you and you flinched back.

“I-” He ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his face, “I don’t understand what’s happening.” He looked over at you, worry on his face, “Are you going to be alright?”

You tried to laugh and stopped immediately, a pain rushing through your side. “I’m gonna be honest, I’m actually not sure yet. What are you planning on doing?” You wanted to joke, to laugh, to be strong- but you didn’t know what was going to happen.

He slid down next to the bed, “My father has always been… eccentric. This is a whole new level- I’ll get you out of this somehow.” He turned and looked at you, “I promise.”

“Your father doesn’t seem to like me very much.” You teased.

“Malfoys are supposed to look and be strong all of the time, I think he assumes you made me show weakness.”

“I-” You started to argue, “Look, are you going to get me out of here?”

He frowned, “We might have to wait a bit for you to heal-” He looked towards the hall, “I’ll make something up, okay?”

A moment later, the door flew open and Lucius walked in with that woman next to him. “What are you doing?”

“Father, wait one moment.” Draco spoke, standing.

Lucius took a couple of long strides across the room towards you and sneered.

You shut your eyes and a moment later, “Move.”

You peaked out and saw that Draco was standing in between you and his father. “Father, stop.”

“If you don’t move, I swear I’ll-”

“I want to…” There was an audible gulp, “Keep her.”

“She isn’t a pet.” Lucius hissed back.

“Make her mine.” Draco finished. Him, his father, the lady and yourself all looked astonished.

“You don’t mean-” The female spoke.

“You are not able to marry a- mudblood.” His father almost looked nauseous.

“I thought she was mine. I choose what I can and cannot do with her.”

His father and the woman exchanged a look and then they looked over towards you.

“Draco, dear, you haven’t really had a good chance to-” The woman started.

“Mother- I know what I want.” He answered back. “You wanted me to take control. I am.” He pushed them both out of the room, locking the door and turning back to you.

“And here I thought your parents were a little looney.”

He strode over to the bed, “I only said it to buy us some time- so you can heal and we can get you out of here.” He leaned over you again, “I know this isn’t a great time to say it but, I need you to trust me. He may be insane but I know how my father operates.”

You paused, gulping, “I guess I really don’t have a choice.” You tried to flash him a smile, “White isn’t really my color, though.” It coaxed a weak laugh from him. “So what’s the plan?”

-----

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[onelittlesparkx]

BOH ctnw

This was it. Daphne Finnigan would have to be at the top of her game tonight, otherwise she'll end up dead. The entire year  had been nothing but keeping on her toes and being secretive in order to stay in one piece. Towards the end she and almost all those having difficulties would end up in hiding in the room of requirements, their sanctuary. <B>"And what if we want to stay and fight?"</b> Noo sooner had she thought the words she heard her own cousin, Ernie McMallian demand a response. The saying was true, the apple did not fall far from the tree. <br> As the students began to file out she removed her school robes, not wanting them to hold her back. Making sure her wand was secure between her belt loops of her skirt she rolled up the sleeves of her button down, still in uniform, as Ernie walked up before her. "Staying behind too?" she asked with a cocked brow. <br> "Yeh, I'm off to fetch Smith an' make sure the bloke doesn't chicken out and leave." He looked slightly awkward, as if he wasn't sure of what to say. Daphne smiled up at him, loosening her scarlet and gold tie around her neck. Nothing was needed to be said on his part. "Well, off you go." Patting him on his back she turned to find Seamus and Kyle. Head held high she looked around, first catching sight of Seamus and soon after Kyle standing beside Jefferey Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt. <br> Time and time again she heard from Kiera how Kyle reminded her of Steven. Looking at him standing there, proud and tough, she imagined it was her father there for a split second. The fear had gone from his eyes, until he turned to look at his sister with a heart breaking expression. As he nodded in agreement as to what Kingsley had said it took him only a short moment to approach the blonde. <br> "Find Seamus, do whatev'r it is ye need ta do, an' meet me up a'the third floor." <br> "Yer not stopping me?" she asked with a puzzled expression. She would have thought that the two of them would have to raise their voices at one another before such an agreement was presented. <br> "I can't rightly be do'n that now can I? Yer of age, I s'pect ye wouldn't be throwing yerself in if ye weren't prepare, yeh?" Still slightly confused she nodded. "It's time ta finish what mum and Da started," with those last words drawn out he smiled at his sister before taking off behind Moody. <br> His words echoed in her ears. Their parents, their real parents... would they meet the same fate? Pushing the question out of her head she looked around for Seamus again, spotting him before she walked towards him, only to end up running. He, like she remained calm still. Knowing the serious-ness of the situation. "Listen 'ere," she said in her demanding manner. "Best defense is a good offense righ' ?" She grabbed a hold of his wrist, pulling him out of the Great Hall with haste. "Blimey! Can ye slow down fer a minute Daph!" <br> "No time, Seamus! We 'ave supplies ta fetch!" He had never known the girl to move so quickly. Up the stair cases they went till they reached the Gryffindor Common Room and soon after left him there for her to fetch a few things from her dormitory. Emerging with a huge box in her arms and her broomstick under one of her arms she dropped it onto one of the large, red couches. <br> "What's this all 'bout?" he asked as he looked over her shoulders. <br> "Ye didn't think I'd go on about all this without be'n prepared now did ye? Come on Sea-Sea ye know me betta then'tha!" She swung the strap of a small, knitted side bag over her shoulder and shoved a few phials of already made potions in them. <br> "What are they?" without hesitation he picked a few up, shoving them in his pockets. <br> "Just'a few thing I wipped up earlier this year," she pointed to the pink one she was aabout to shove into her bag. "Tha one causes a burn'n sensation on skin, so watch out, will ya? But really, just chuck'em something'll do something." She was so carefree about the matter. Perhaps nothing had really set in yet. <br> "Dungbombs?" he asked with a cocked brow, not hesitated to shove a few of those in his pockets as well.<br> "but'o course my dear Sea-Sea!" As if everything was peachy keen she smiled, before pulling out that last items in the box, her own beater's bat and a bludger. "Now or never eh?" After she picked it up, the bludger ceased from squirming and moving, comfortable in it's owner's hands. In that moment the ground beneath them shaked, and the portrait hanging over the mantel of the common room fell on the ground, it's inhabitants shrieaking with frieght. <br><br> Arriving up on the third floor she was shocked by the fact that it was still empty of intruders, but she couldn't shake the erie feeling in her spine. <br> "Daph!" Though she loved it, the familiar voice she heard was the last one she wanted to here. Turning her attention, wide eyed with Colin and Dennis Creevey beside her brother, wands already drawn out. <br> "Are ye bloody mad!" face red and fist clenched she stomped her way over, Seamus following carefully behind her. "Yer not of age! Ye trying ta get yerself killed or something? An' Dennis!  Did ye not think about tha boy? Colin, he's only fifteen, he hasn't even prepared for O.W.L's and ye expect him to live through this?" It wasn't that didn't have faith in younger Creevey brother, on the contrary, he thought he was very talented, just not talented enough to fight off death eaters at such a ripe age. <br> Looking ready to defend his words, Colin opened his mouth to speak but was cut off before he could muster out a single word.<br> "Their coming from the grounds," Kyle said narrowed eyed. With his most serious tone, which was very unlike the oldest Finnigan, he looked over at the Creevey brothers. "I'll have to agree wit Daph, Dennis shouldn't be here." <br> "The Kitchens should be the safest place," Jefferey Chimed in from almost out of nowhere. "Go, and STAY there. The opening to the Hogsheade has already be sealed." Moody had never struck Daphne as scary. He was odd yes, but never scary until that moment. She almost saw Alastar in him. She wondered how he was coping. "I'll cover you guys, but you've got to be quick on yer feet!" Slightly annoyed Jefferey already began to head down the stairs. "Quick now!" he demanded. <br> Poor Dennis looked almost helpless to speak, but Colin couldn't hold his tongue, brushing a few strands of his long, blonde, and slightly curly hair he huffed. "Fine, but I'm coming back ta fight!" <br> Daphne was about to say something but Moody was going interrupt that as well. "Fine, whatever, but the boy needs to not be here right now! There is no time for arguing, if yer here, than act  like yer adults." Yeah, he was definately scarier this time adn Daphne wondered how Kyle could keep such company. <br> "Fine," they both agreed. <br> "Kyle," Moody began but he finished his sentence.<br> "Get in'ta position, yeh I know." <br> With a quick hug to the Creevey brothers she placed a kiss on Colin's cheek, not wanting to cause too much of a scene at a time like this. "I love you, be careful." And the two families went on their seperate ways.<br><br> With a loud, shattering crash one of the large windows broke, glass falling to the ground. Luckily the three Finnigans were a few ways away from getting hurt, so far. <br> "S-spiders?" Seamus stuttered slightly, almost in the manner of Ron Weasley. It wasn't that he was frieghtened by the Arachnids, but he had never seen them at such a large scale. "Didn't see tha'one com'n" Kyle drew his wand out and pushed it forward with great force, "Depulso!" One of the large spiders heading in ther direction was pushed back out the window by his wand and just in that instant, Seamus mimiced him. <br> "I'll cover you," swinging a leg over her Nimbus 2000 she still carried with her she took into the air, bludger under her arm pit, and bat gripped alongside the wood of her broom. Making sure she was properly balance, she locked her legs over one another, gripping her broom, as she lifted her left arm to hold the bludger infront of her before colliding it with her bat, aiming for one of the large spiders. With it's violent forced she knocked two of them out like bowling pins, foiling their attempts to  attack her family. Emerald hues locking with the whereabouts of the bludger, she pushed her body down close to her broom to gain speed before throwing up her torso and taking another whack at it.<br><br> "Oi! Watch it!" <br> Seamus's voice had awaken her. The feeling on her broom, the grip of her bat, it had taken her to a different place. She had almost forgotten there was a war going on. <br> With a small explosion the bludger that was aiming towards the last bit of spiders entering from the window had incinerated and with wide eyes Daphne could see the cloaked death eaters making their way at them. Making a dive she narrowly missed the green light that had been designated for her. But the sudden change in altitude added with her unsteady hand caused her to crash into the maroon curtrains hanging from the very top of the glass windows. She raised her forearm to sheild her face from the burning sensation the rest of her body felt as skin met with fabric at high speeds heading towards the ground. <br><br> The ground had snapped her broom in half, bits of wood digging into her elbows as she pushed herself off quickly from the floor, ignoring the sharp pain in her ankle. Wand ready in her head she sent a stunning spell just past Seamus's shoulder, knocking out a Death Eater who was trying to sneak up on him. He would have grinned in graititude if he wasn't busy in his own dual.<br><br> What was only minutes felt like hours as the Finnigans continued to fight bravely. Daphne and Seamus dueling side by side but nothing compared to the fierce jinxes and defensive spells that Kyle lashed out at his enemies. <br> Stepping back Daphne thrusted her wand forward with full force, "Flipendo!" The hooded figure was knocked off his feet backwards and in on swift movement she had slipped her hand into her bag and chucked a phial in the Death Eater's direction. Shattering at his feet he began to scream in pain, complaining about an incredibly itching sensation. Beside her, Seamus had succeeded in knocking his own opponent down on his feet as well. But their brief victory came to an end.<br> Just a few feet away someone had found the Finnigan cousins to be a welcomed target, and without hesitation the Death Eater went for the kill, "Avada Kedevra!" Those two words hadn't even registered in their brain before turning to see Kyle shove himself in front of them with an apologetic look before the life left his eyes and his limp body fell forward.<br><br> A chill ran down Jefferey Moody's spine as he heard the very words that followed Death. Knocking his apponent unconscious on the ground he turned with shock to find his best-mates body lifeless on the ground. His cousin's hovering over him, frozen in place. He could have felt saddened, or even angered, but there was no time for emotions when everyone's life was at stake. Running forward he flicked his wrist and Kyle's killer was frozen in place by his charm. "Don't just stand there!"<br> Daphne opened her mouth to speak, but could not find any words. She was cold and her eyes were burning before looking up as soon as he heard Seamus cry. "D-d-d-emntors!" He raised a shaken hand up to a hole that they seemed to pour into. With that the remaining Finnigans raised their wands up, thinking now of a happy memory and forgetting what was right in front of them. The two small, silvery foxes danced around Jefferey's Giraffe as they pushed the negative feeding beings out of the castle. <br><br>

[starrnobella]

And the winner is... - HP One Shot

A/N: This story was written for The Fairest of the Rare: Sing Me A Rare Side B one-shot competition hosted during Spring 2018. There were approximately 27 stories written for this competition. Each story was inspired by a song from a list that participants were able to select from. This story was inspired by the song "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" by Bowling for Soup.

This story didn't win anything, but I am extremely proud of this story and the fact that I haven't competed in a competition in over a year.

I want to thank my beta and alpha, @gaeilgerua and @xxdustnight88, for taking the time to read this story before I submitted it to the competition.

As always, check me out on social media if you are interested in keeping up with my other works and updates! :)

I will say that this is one of my favorite stories I've ever written and I hope you all enjoy it too!

Let me know what you think!

Love always, ~starr

"She's gorgeous. There's no denying that," he mumbled, lifting a glass of firewhiskey to his lips.

"So go talk to her," Draco sighed, placing his empty glass down on the bar behind them. "Because if you aren't going to make a move on her, someone else will."

Theo glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before tipping his head back and allowing the amber liquid in his glass to burn it's way down his throat. Exhaling sharply, he placed the empty glass down and squared up to his friend. "What do you mean?"

"You said it yourself. She's gorgeous," Draco replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "Any guy would be lucky to go out with her. In fact, it looks like someone's about to make a move now."

His head snapped in her direction. While he was distracted by Draco, Blaise had made his way over to talk to her, all because Theo was too busy ogling her from afar. Cursing himself under his breath, he turned to face the bar and waved down the bartender for another drink. Slowly, he turned back around to face the room.

If he couldn't have her for the moment, he decided that maybe he really didn't need to be here. Besides, he'd rather be in his dorm listening to Agent Orange instead of in the middle of the insanity that was a dungeon party.

Shaking his head, he made his way across the common room walking directly past where Blaise was talking to his dream girl. As he passed them, his nose was filled with a mixture of firewhiskey and rose petal. Damn, she smelled good. Why did she have to be so far out of my league?

Ignoring the thoughts that were running rampantly through his head, Theo made his way to the door that led up to the boys dorms. He just needed to get away for a little while. This atmosphere was too much for him right now.

He paused with his hand on the door knob momentarily as he turned around to look at the room one last time. Draco had moved from the bar out into the middle of the room and was now chatting up with a potential hook-up for the evening. Blaise and his dream girl had moved to a quieter corner of the room.

Why did he always have to find a girl who seemed interested in anyone but him? The world may never know the answer to that question. Hanging his head, Theo opened the door to the dorms and left the party behind. It wasn't really his scene anyways.

. . . . . . . .

"What does he have that I don't?" The thought continued to run through Theo's head as the weekend pressed on. He could barely focus on his studies without his mind drifting away to thoughts of the gorgeous raven-haired girl he had noticed at the party Friday evening. He'd give anything to be able to talk to her without making a fool out of himself, but apparently someone like Blaise was more her speed. Well, at least that's the way Blaise made her out to be when he came back after the party the other night.

Draco had returned to the dorm a short while after Theo had left the party. Both of them were crashed out on their beds when Blaise returned well after curfew. Instead of being relatively quiet, in case the others were asleep, Blaise came bursting in the room all a chatter about the wonderful girl he had just spent the evening with.

"I'm in love," he yelled, collapsing on his bed, letting his arms dangle off the sides of bed. "I met the perfect girl tonight."

"After a five minute conversation and a quickie in the corner?" Draco scoffed, propping himself up on his elbows and quirking his brow at Blaise.

Reaching behind him, Blaise picked the pillow up off the bed and tossed it at Draco's face. "There was no quickie in the corner, Malfoy. I'm more of a gentleman than that."

"Not according to Daphne," Theo teased, pushing himself up into a seated position. "What's your new adventure's name?"

Blaise sat back up and crossed his legs to sit indian style, leaning back against the backboard of the bed. He crossed his arms behind his head and inhaled deeply. "Her name is Millie and her legs look great in fishnets."

"Millie," Theo mumbled to himself, nodding his head up and down. It was a fitting name for her beauty and style.

"She's everything I could ever want in a woman," Blaise cooed, closing his eyes briefly. He allowed his mind to drift off to thoughts of her.

"She is quite the looker," Draco said, dropping his head back down into his pillow. "I couldn't keep my eyes off her all night. Well, that was until you started talking to her."

Draco picked up the pillow Blaise had thrown at him and tossed it back a Blaise. Catching it swiftly, Blaise responded with a smirk. "She's a great kisser. I can't wait to get her alone to see what else that magical tongue of her's is good at."

"Those were images I didn't need to flash through my head," Theo groaned, collapsing against the headboard on his bed, covering his face with his hands.

"You can watch if you want," Blaise remarked with a wink.

"That is something I never want to hear you say to me ever again. Ugh, I'll have nightmares about that now. Thanks a lot, Zabini," Draco hissed, scrubbing his hands over his face.

Blaise tossed his head back, laughing as he scrubbed a hand over the top of his head before resting it behind his head once again. "C'mon now, Malfoy. I'm not that hard on the eyes."

"Man, I was hoping to have good dreams tonight. Now, they are all going to be tainted…"

"Mine too," Theo sighed, sliding down on the bed until his head came to rest on the pillow. "I had my eye on her this evening, until I looked over to find her talking to you."

Blaise jolted straight up in the bed and rested his hands in his lap as a wicked grin appeared on his face. An idea had struck him regarding the mysterious lady who had entered their lives this very evening. "I have an idea."

"And what would that be?" Theo replied, perking his head up slightly from the pillow. Of the three of them in this room, Blaise wasn't known for having the best of ideas or intentions when it came to women. If Theo was being honest with himself, none of them really knew what they were doing when it came to women. However, at least Draco and Blaise tried a little harder than he did.

"She's the girl we all want, so why don't we make it a competition?" Blaise said.

"I can already count the ways that this is going to blow up in our faces," Draco sighed, propping himself up on his elbow as he turned to face Blaise. "How do you figure we don't come off as dickheads if this goes south?"

Blaise pondered about it for a moment and shrugged. "I hadn't thought it out that far yet. Just thought that it could make the chase a little more fun."

"At least she's shown interest in you," Theo chimed in after listening to the the two of them argue for a few moments about all the ways this adventure could go horribly wrong if they weren't careful.

"Well, maybe if you would have had the bullocks to talk to her, she might have shown interest in you too," Blaise grumbled. "We can work out the details in the morning. I'm going to sleep."

"Nox," Theo whispered. As the darkness overtook the room, he allowed his mind to drift back to the mystery girl whose name he now knew. He just needed to figure out how to make her want him as much as he wanted her.

. . . . . . . .

He watched her from his seat in the back of Ancient Runes as she talked to everyone else in the room. Everyone, that was, except for him. What was so wrong with him that she didn't seem to want to talk to him? As the thought even crossed his mind, Theo shook his head and tossed the idea aside. He knew exactly why she wasn't talking to him.

He wasn't making the effort to talk to her because he was scared. Compared to Draco and Blaise, his confidence level was barely existent. He didn't make it a point to go up and start talking to girls he fancied because he knew he'd stumble over his words, making an arse of himself. Making an arse of himself was not something he was fond of doing.

Apparently, Draco and Blaise didn't suffer from the same self-doubt. He watched from afar as the two competed for her attention. Professor Babbling had set them to work on an assignment before locking herself away in her office to continue grading their exams from earlier in the week, so instead of working, Theo and his classmates were doing anything except their assignment.

Tipping his chair back to rest against the wall, Theo crossed his arms behind his head and propped a leg up on the desk in front of him. He needed to come up with a plan to win her heart, but, for now, he might as well take advantage of the fact that he could watch his competition at work now.

Blaise had his arm draped around her shoulders as they talked. His eyes were bright and lit up even more every time Millie turned to face him and she smiled at him. It was almost as though he became putty in her hands without her even trying.

"What are you doing after class today?" Blaise asked, leaning his head down to rest on her shoulder. He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck briefly, eliciting a fit of giggles to come bubbling up and her cheeks to flush momentarily.

"Wouldn't you love to know," she hummed, glancing at Draco out of the corner of her eyes as she winked at him.

It seemed that the only person in the room to catch the motion was Theo because everyone else continued their conversations. Furrowing his brow, Theo continued to watch on in hopes of gaining insight towards his own vie for her heart.

"Actually, I really would. I just got my hands on a record that I thought you might enjoy listening to," Blaise said, shrugging his shoulders as he picked his head up off her shoulder. He turned to meet her eyes, furrowing his brow as he waited for her to respond.

"I made plans with another Slytherin boy for the evening," she said, placing her hand on Draco's upper thigh with a wicked smile beaming brightly from her face. Although, from where Theo was sitting, the smile almost looked forced like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place and she wanted to be somewhere else. If only he could figure out where.

"Really, Malfoy?" Blaise hissed, leaning forward to make eye contact with him, only to catch sight of Millie's hand on his thigh. Exhaling sharply, Blaise rolled his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face as he removed his arm from around her shoulders.

"Jealous he asked me first?" Millie laughed, jumping down from the table they had been sitting on. She turned her back to Theo as she leaned in and pressed her lips softly to Draco's before pulling away and repeating the process with Blaise. "I'll see you in a few hours, Draco. Blaise, you'll just have to be quicker than that."

As she turned to walk away from the group, her eyes flitted over to Theo momentarily and a smile graced her face before she walked past him completely. He watched the way her hips swayed as she walked away. Sighing, he scrubbed his hands over his face before carding them through his hair.

Maybe, instead of overthinking every action he came up with to ask her out, he should just take action and hope for the best. That seemed to be working for Blaise and Draco.

Shaking his head, Theo leaned down and gathered his stuff. He needed time to think so he was going to go to the only place in the castle that he could guarantee would be quiet and he could be alone.

Pushing his chair back from the table, Theo noticed a few heads turning to look at him as he stood up. Quirking his brow at their confusion, he smiled and pushed his chair back in before taking a few steps away.

"Nott," Draco called after him, causing him to stop and look back at the group over his shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere you need to worry about," Theo replied.

"Then we definitely need to worry," Blaise said, jumping down off the table he was sitting on. "Why won't you tell us where you're going?"

"Because it's none of your business," Theo answered, shaking his head as he turned to walk away. "If you think I'm going to chase after her, you're wrong. I'm not the two of you."

"That's not a bad idea." He heard both Draco and Blaise mumble. That sound was quickly followed by the mass gathering of their belongings and before long they were shoving past him to get out the door.

The race was on, apparently.

Watching his friends take off down the hallway, Theo shook his head and made his way towards the yard near the Astronomy tower. Hopefully there he'd be able to think without the disruption he was sure to have if he went back to the dorms.

. . . . . . . .

Nearing the tree near the Astronomy tower, Theo noticed a pair of patent leather knee-high boots sticking out on the other side. Quirking his brow, he made his way around the tree to confront the person sitting in his spot. As he rounded the corner and spotted who was in his seat, his heart started to race and he froze where he stood. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Millie."

Her name fell from his lips before he even realised he was talking. She turned in the direction of his voice and looked up at him, a smile toying at the corner of her lips. He couldn't believe his luck at that exact moment, especially because he had no idea what to say to her.

"I was wondering when you'd finally talk to me," she said, pushing herself up off the ground and leaning against the tree as she spoke with him.

Theo opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He could feel his face warming as he stood there awkwardly. In his mind, he was sure he had the stupidest look on his face that he couldn't wipe off, no matter how hard he tried.

"Maybe you can't speak, and that's why you've never talked to me," she hummed, leaning down to pick up her bag. "I guess I'll just leave you be."

She turned to take a step away from him when she heard him speak.

"I can talk. I just wasn't sure what to say," he mumbled, carding his hand through his hair nervously as he kicked at the grass in front of him.

Millie turned back to face him and smiled. "Hi would have been a wonderful place to start."

Theo laughed, adjusting his bag on his shoulders as he nodded his head. "I can imagine it would have been. Although, I'm sure you've heard better pick up lines from the other guys you talk to."

"And who says that their lines worked?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her gaze at him.

"I just assumed they worked based on the boasting and stories I've heard floating around the common room," he replied with a sigh, dropping his bag to the ground by his feet.

"You know what they say about those who assume," she hummed, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers

"I know, I know," he laughed, watching her fingers as they wrapped themselves in her hair. "What can I say, you're intimidating."

She smirked at his choice of words and nodded her head briefly. "Good to know. I've seen you watching me."

She took a step toward him and placed her hand on his shoulder. She watched as his eyes trailed down to her hand and he swallowed the lump that had mysteriously appeared in his throat. Quickly, he shook his head and met her eyes. She noticed the brilliant blue flecks that were sparkling in the fading sunlight.

"You," he paused momentarily, adjusting his tie and swallowing once more. "You knew I was watching you?"

Smugly she nodded her head. "It's difficult not to notice when it feels like someone is burning holes in the back of your head with their eyes. I've been keeping my eye on you for a while though."

"Oh really?" he asked, quirking his brow and tilting his head to the side. A smug smile appeared on his face causing Millie to toss her head back with a laugh before meeting his eyes once more with a smile on her face.

"Mhmm," she replied. "Why didn't you strike up a conversation with me at the party the other night? I saw you looking at me while I was talking to Zabini."

"You seemed pretty invested in that conversation. Besides, you didn't notice me at all. You're just trying to make me feel better about myself." Theo took a step back from her and dropped his eyes to the ground in front of him, kicking the blades of grass with the tip of his shoe and watching them move intently.

Millie watched him for a few moments and contemplated her answer. She knew the reputation she had at this school and if she was being honest with herself, she hated all of the attention it gave her. She just wanted to get through the school year and graduate so that she could move away from London.

What she really wanted at that exact moment was for Theo to finally notice her. The attention she was getting from Blaise and Draco was nice, but it wasn't the attention she had been vying for since day one of their first year. What was it going to take for him to notice her?

"What makes you think I'm just trying to make you feel better?" she finally asked, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen between them. At the sound of her voice, he looked up from the grass and stopped kicking it, taken aback by the question.

"Because you're the girl every girl wants to be friends with and every guy wants to be with," he admitted, finding a place off in the distance to look at. "You'd probably never believe me, but I started listening to those bands that you and Zabini were talking about the other night. I overheard the name, so I thought I'd check them out…"

"I may be the girl all the bad guys want, but what about the good guys?" she asked, closing the space between them and reaching up to place her hand on his chest once more. His eyes met hers with a new found hope flickering there.

"Are you looking for a good guy or a bad one?" he asked, leaning in closer to her and allowing his eyes to flutter closed.

Taking a deep breath, Millie closed her eyes and leaned into him, pressing her lips to his momentarily before sliding her tongue along the seam of his lips. His lips parted slightly, allowing her tongue to slip inside as his tongue slid against her own, finding its way into her mouth. They remained like that for a few moments before slowly pulling apart.

Millie dragged her teeth over her bottom lip as she rested her forehead against his. "Does that answer your question?"

Theo paused momentarily before shrugging his shoulders. "I might need a bit more confirmation."

They both laughed before engaging in another kiss. That kiss was quickly followed by a few more before they were leaning up against the tree, snogging the afternoon away and the rest of the world forgotten.

. . . . . . . .

A little after curfew, Theo and Millie had finally made their way back to the Slytherin common room, saying their good nights and heading to their respective dorms. Each one donning a rather large smile on their faces.

As he walked into his dorm, he was greeted by the curious faces of both Draco and Blaise waiting impatiently by the door for his return. Closing the door behind him, Theo nodded hello to each of his friends and walked over to his bed, collapsing onto the mattress. "Waiting for something?"

"More like someone," Blaise grumbled. "Where have you been?"

"Out," Theo said with a laugh.

"Do you know why Millie missed our date?" Draco asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Theo propped himself up on his elbows and nodded his head.

"Can you tell me why?" Draco asked, gritting his teeth.

"She was with me," he replied, a smug smile appearing on his face.

"Well I'll be damned," Blaise said with a laugh, shaking his head. "Way to go, Nott. What was your master plan that stole her away from the guy who stole her from me?"

"The good guys always win in the end," Theo answered, dropping back down against the pillow. "Night boys."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You've got to give us more than that!" Blaise and Draco shouted in unison.

"Nox," Theo said with a laugh and the conversation was over, apart from some hushed mumblings coming from across the room.

[wandlores]

hansy !

This is a Muggle AU for the @slytherdornet and @hprarepairnet Summer Vacation Challenge!

You can also read this on AO3.

This is dedicated to @provocative-envy for her birthday!! I’m sorry it’s late, Andrea! I had some major writers block. I hope your day was fantastic. 

Harry hated summer. He hated the heat, he hated how his clothes would stick to his skin, and he especially hated going back to his aunt’s house after his spring semester because he couldn’t afford to live on his own if he was not in a dorm.

She was dreadful; her husband was dreadful. He was at least thankful his cousin was no longer around, but that didn’t mean he still wasn’t forced to work at their country club doing terrible jobs.

In high school, he was forced to be their janitor. But once he got into college, they made him pay for his own swimming courses to become a lifeguard for them. There could be worse things, he figured. He argued against it at first, but they told him they would no longer pay for his college if he didn’t do it.

So here he was overseeing prissy bitches and fuck boys by their salt water pools to make sure they didn’t die as they tried to flirt by playing Marco Polo. Harry knew all the male members suggested the game to potentially feel up the girl members, which made it even worse. Harry hated anything pretentious, and Golden Hills country club was the definition of pretentious. He didn’t think anything could top it.

Until he remembered Pansy Parkinson.

He knew about her in high school, sure. She was the cliche most popular girl in school who dated a new guy every few months but would always end up going back to her first boyfriend, Cormac McLaggen. It was enough to make Harry want to puke, but that was what high school had to be like. Right?

When he saw her by the pool the first day on his shift, he wasn’t surprised. Her father owned half the town, and it still amazed him that he hadn’t bought out his uncle yet.

She had grown her hair out since high school. It was now down to her mid-back, and she wore it in loose waves. He hadn’t seen her for three years, which seemed weird to him now. Where had she been? What had she been doing all the summers before this one? 

It was as though she could feel him watching her, because she turned around and looked up at him. He was sitting in his lifeguard’s chair, and he nearly fell off of it as he tried to look away quickly. He watched her right eye twinkle with amusement, and she smirked up at him. But she didn’t say anything, she just flipped her hair and kept walking with her oldest friend, Daphne Greengrass.

They made it to what Harry learned quickly was their favorite spot by the pool, and he watched as she rubbed sunscreen up and down her long tan legs. He felt his mouth water, but he pushed the thought away. He was here to protect people, not gape at them. And besides, that’s what they wanted. That’s what Pansy Parkinson wanted.

She always wanted that.

And he would not give her the light of day, because he, Harry Potter, was a stubborn son of a bitch.

Pansy was frustrated in more ways than one.

She was frustrated because her father refused to pay for her dream vacation to Peru, she was frustrated because she hadn’t sex in two months, she was frustrated because Cormac was still a jackass, and she was frustrated because Harry fucking Potter would not give her the light of day.

It made no sense to her. Everyone wanted her. He seemed to want her the first day by the pool, but then he suddenly acted as though she didn’t exist. Weeks passed, and she resorted to pathetic attempts of fake drowning to get his attention. He didn’t come and save her once. He just glanced down at her through his prescription sunglasses and gave her his famous, “you’re a dumbass” look. It drove her mad.

She didn’t understand why she even cared. He was a nobody in high school, and Pansy had always been somebody. Daphne pointed this out to her as she flipped through her newest issue of Vogue.

“I don’t understand why you’re so caught up on him,” Daphne pondered out loud, “He isn’t even that hot. He was weird in high school, I doubt that has changed, and he has to wear prescription sunglasses.Why can’t he just get contacts like a normal person guy his age?”

“Glasses are hot,” Pansy retorted.

“Yeah, but not on Potter.”

Pansy felt like she should defend herself and her unusual attraction, but she didn’t have the fight in her. So instead, she looked up at Potter and decided to analyze why she even liked him.

He had filled out since high school. He had black hair, broad shoulders, and startlingly green eyes when they weren’t hidden behind his glasses. He was smart, he was kind, and he was real. She realized he was her type; he was the type of guy she could never catch after many years of chasing. Maybe it was because she put on her rich girl facade to get everything she wanted, but that was the only way she knew how to survive.

Pansy was about to look away from him and give up for the day, but then he looked down at her.

Pansy’s mouth fell open slightly, and she blinked a few times in surprise. He had taken off his sunglasses, and his eyes looked fierce. It was intimidating, but she didn’t dare look away.

He didn’t either, and that’s when she realized he was challenging her.

Pansy always liked winning, but she knew Harry was a winner, too. 

It was after his twenty-first shift. Not that he was counting down the days.

She stayed by the pool the whole day, and he swore she was taunting him. Every time he glanced her way, she would lock her eyes on his and refuse to look away first. It was as though she was forcing him to relent, because he had to. Pansy Parkinson was everything he stood up against, and well, he didn’t want to get fired and lose his chance to finish college.

It pissed him off; she pissed him off. Summer pissed him off.

So as he stormed out of the Golden Hill’s overly immaculate locker room, he internally berated himself for his feelings. But then he caught sight of her and the fear in her eyes.

Cormac McLaggen was yelling at her in the parking lot. Harry watched as the vein in his neck popped out an abnormal amount, and he watched as he grabbed Pansy’s upper-arm. 

That’s when an overwhelming amount of anger rushed through him.

Harry dropped his bag and charged toward Cormac without even thinking. He grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the BMW parked next to them. The emergency alarm started blaring, but he didn’t care. He wanted people to see.

“You don’t ever put your hands on her,” Harry seethed, “Or any other woman for that matter! Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Cormac’s nostrils flared as he pushed Harry back. Harry turned his head slightly to the right to check on Pansy. Her mouth was slightly open, and she rubbed her upper arm. He was about to ask her if she was alright, but Cormac’s fist hit his jaw before he could utter the words.

Cormac didn’t wait to see if he was okay; he didn’t even say he a word. Harry spit out the blood from his mouth, and he watched as Cormac slipped into the blaring BMW and sped away. 

Pansy tried to bend down to help him up, but Harry wiped his mouth against his wrist and got up himself. He forgot about the pain in his jaw as he looked into her eyes.

They still looked afraid. Was she afraid of him now?

“Are you okay?” He asked her seriously, “Has he done that to you before?”

Pansy blinked a few times and looked down at the ground. She avoided answering his question.

“You might have a broken jaw, and you’re worried about a bruise on my upper arm?”

Harry’s eyes darted down to her arm, and he watched as a violet bruise bloomed. That’s when he walked toward the bag he dropped in the middle of the parking lot and grabbed his water bottle. He had just filled it up with fresh ice and water before he left the locker room. 

Yeah, even their locker rooms had ice and water machines.

But that wasn’t the point. He brought it up to her arm and gently pressed it against her skin. She flinched away from him at first, but she eventually let him hold it against her arm.

“You didn’t answer my question before,” Harry prodded, “Has he done this to you before?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes,” Harry answered immediately, “Of course it does.”

“Why does it matter to you?”

Harry took this as an opportunity to look into her eyes again, and as he did so, she guided his hand holding his water bottle up to his jaw. He winced as he felt the cold pressure and pain, but he didn’t dare move away from her.

“Because it is wrong,” he answered honestly, “No one should ever hit or roughly grab anyone.”

She surprised him by smirking.

“You just hit Cormac.”

“Well, I think you can bend the rules when someone is a complete jackass.”

She smiled and laughed, and Harry realized that was the first time he had ever seen a genuine smile on her face.

Pansy knew he had to go back to school. They had been anticipating this moment since the night he saved her.

Pansy didn’t like to say he saved her, because she liked to save herself. She always had, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t like that Harry wanted to protect her. 

It was nice to have someone that loved her for real. Someone who loved her for her. 

They were sitting by the pool after his last shift eating popsicles from the employee’s lounge. Their feet were dangling in the water, and Harry was laughing at one of her sarcastic remarks. She watched him smile, and she felt an in ache in her chest knowing that she wouldn’t see it again until winter break.

He watched the expression change on her face, and he gave her a concerned look.

“What’s wrong, Pans?”

She set down her popsicle stick and dipped her hands in the pool to rinse off the stickiness. She wanted to avoid answering him; she wanted to avoid the inevitable. He had to leave; they always had to leave.

“Nothing,” she lied, “I just hate sticky fingers.”

“You’re lying.”

He knew her too well; he could read her like an open book. She hated that about him. He had always been able to see through her facade.

Harry surprised her by bringing his sticky fingers up to cup her cheek. She would usually complain that he was touching her with popsicle fingers, but this wasn’t the time for that. She wanted to take in this moment; she didn’t want it to end.

She turned to look into his eyes, and her gut burned with passion. His eyes always ignited something in her, and she never wanted the flame to go out.

“Please tell me what’s wrong,” he begged quietly, “Tell me what I can do.”

Pansy surprised herself by smiling slightly. She grabbed his hand holding her cheek and brought it down to link their’s together. 

“You won,” she told him simply.

Harry perked his eyebrow up, but she could see the recognition in his eye. She expected him to have a look of triumph, but instead, he had a look of desire.

“You’re right,” he told her, “I did win, and I got the best prize of all.”

Pansy couldn’t help but smile wider as she leaned forward to kiss him. He smiled against her lips, too. This was what happiness was, she knew it. Nothing could get better than this moment.

As they pulled away from each other, she decided to add, “But I won, too. You can’t reap all the benefits. It was a tie.”

He laughed, and that’s when she couldn’t help herself. She laughed, too. 

Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes and memorized this moment.

She had finally caught up to him. The chase was over. 

[welcometophu]

Not Your Destiny: Chapter 17

Marked Book 1: Not Your Destiny

Chapter 17

[ Previous | First | Next ]

Luca leaves after an hour or two, taking Maritsa with him to drop her off at a dress fitting. Cleto remains camped in the same seat, chatting quietly with Hayley, answering questions about Ángel’s childhood. Ángel feels like he should regret this, especially when Tanner starts helping Cleto tell stories, but he can see how it helps. He doesn’t want to break the fragile peace that Tanner seems to feel.

Lira comes back, lips pursed when she looks at Cleto, gaze drifting from him to Hayley to Tanner with narrowed eyes. Ángel stares at her, waits for her attention to fall on him then meets her gaze calmly until she blinks and looks away, expression sour.

“Is there news?” Mary asks, twisting in her seat to look at Lira. Joey’s hand rests on Mary’s knee, Mary’s other hand tangled with Papi.

Lira smiles when she turns back to them, sweet and soft. “He’s awake,” she says, “and the doctor’s cleared him for visitors. Only two at a time; until we know what set off this round of seizures, the doctor would prefer to keep stimulation to a minimum. She’s also called for one of the elders of our Mages to come see him, see if she can see what has upset his Talent.”

Mary’s expression thins, and Tanner makes a low nose. Hayley’s brow furrows, but Ángel shakes his head. If Mary wants to explain how everyone’s seen Emerson at one time or another, that’s up to her. Not them. Every single adult Mage in the northern part of Florida met Emerson when he was younger, it seemed like, and none of them had any experience with his Talent. None of them knew why the seizures came with the magic, or why they seemed link to the color and number of the bubbles.

Ángel makes a mental note to talk to Pawel when he gets the chance. Maybe he’ll have a better idea, or at least someone else they could talk to. Someone with a new perspective.

“Do you want to see him?” Lira asks, and Tanner’s out of his seat, Hayley moving in his wake, before she finishes the sentence. Lira frowns as Hayley follows Tanner to the door, and Hayley stops, rocking back on her heels.

“I’ll just… wait… here.” Hayley turns, gestures at the chairs. “With Papi?”

“You don’t need to stay,” Mary says quietly, hugging Joey quickly, squeezing Papi’s hand. “I’ll be fine. Take Abuela home to get some rest, and Tanner and I will stay.”

Hayley bites her lip, wavers in place.

“Come on, Hayley, we’ll take you home.” Joey stands, smoothes the wrinkles from her shirt. “We’ll come back later to bring Tanner and Mary some lunch; something better than the hospital has in the cafeteria.”

“It’s okay,” Tanner says, his hand already on the handle for the door. He reaches for Mary, an arm across his mother’s back as they nudge open the door together. Hayley deflates as she watches them go.

“Do you want me to come home?” Ángel asks, because at this point he’s not really sure what he should do. He needs to work off the payment for Helga, but at the same time, he wants to support his family. But he can’t support Tanner if he leaves, although maybe he could help Hayley.

It’s confusing.

Hayley shakes her head, crosses her arms and bounces a little on her toes. “No, I’m fine. I mean. I’ll go home, and I’ll text Zita and maybe she needs some help today or something. I don’t really think I can sleep again. Not until tonight. I’m just.” She lifts her hands, flicks her fingers near her temples, and sparks spill out. “Wired.”

Cleto laughs, soft and low.

Tanner and Mary disappear. Ángel takes the moment to hug and be hugged by everyone except Cleto, before Cleto carefully pulls him away from his family. “I’ll drop you off,” Cleto offers, and well, that takes care of that decision.

The Camaro rumbles loudly, more like a friendly warning growl than a purr. But it rides smoothly, and the interior is clean and neat. Ángel suspects the upholstery has been redone, rather than patched, or else the seats have been replaced completely. “It looks good,” he says when they arrive, and Cleto just nods his reply.

Cleto doesn’t stick around while Ángel goes inside.

He walks past the floor, pausing when he hears Luca hiss. He glances over, and Luca points at the office door that sits mostly closed, then presses a finger to his lips, twists his fingers like a key.

Locked lips? Zipped lips? Ángel’s brow furrows, and he shakes his head, taking another step down the hall. Luca rolls his eyes, waves him away.

Gabi looks up as soon as Ángel walks in, eyebrows rising, then falling into a scowl just as quickly. “Of course it’s you,” she mutters. “Weren’t you taking the day off? Go help Emerson.”

“There’s not really anything I can do to help,” Ángel says. “Figured it’s better to come here. Hayley’s going to try to help out Zita again, if she needs it. Tanner and Mary are with Emerson.” Ángel glances back at the door, finally figuring out what was wrong when he walked in. “Is Luca the only one on the floor?”

A dark, dry laugh. “Million dollar question, there. Yes, yes he is,” Gabi grumbles. “Want to place your bet on how long he’s on his own, or do you want to get out there and help him?”

“Tony said not to touch anything unless he said—” Ángel cuts off at Gabi’s glare.

“Tony isn’t here, so take your orders from Luca,” she snaps. “Just go. Do something. We have too many cars and not enough mechanics and the work’s piling up. Someone needs to deal with it.”

There’s no arguing with her, and it isn’t worth Ángel’s life to sit there in the office with her glaring at him. He heads back out to the floor, takes the paperwork that Luca hands him, and hits the button to open the door for the middle bay. It’s an oil change, of course. Ángel has a feeling that they’ll all be oil changes, since that’s most of what Tony’s had him do so far. He’s going to be a mess by the time he goes home.

It’s easy to get lost in the work. He gets through three oil changes before Gabi yells for him to get the truck out to change a flat. He’s on his way back from that when she calls him to bring someone in with a car that won’t start. The woman comes with him, sitting quietly in the cab of the tow truck, ignoring him after he explained that neither Tony nor Cleto was coming to help.

The woman stalks inside while Ángel lowers the car, Luca coming to help him get it off the truck. They’re just winding the chains back up on the truck when a car pulls in and stops. Ángel glances over, expecting a customer, but Tony gets out. Luca clears his throat, taps his wrist, but Tony ignores him, leaning back in through the open door. Even from a distance, Ángel can see the way Daphne twists her hand in Tony’s collar, tugs him close before they kiss.

Ángel drops the coil of chain with a clatter.

Tony jerks back, just barely clearing the top of the door. He turns, glares as he slams the door, and Daphne peals out.

“You’re late!” Luca yells. “And we’re really fucking busy!”

“Are there any more oil changes on the list for today?” Ángel asks. He jumps down from the back of the truck, makes sure everything’s tight and solid. He could warn Tony that whoever she was is inside, and probably interested in running into him, but he decides he doesn’t care. He has a feeling Gabi will be entertained, anyway, if Tony has to deal with her.

“None that I saw, unless Gabi added one while you were out,” Luca says. He steps back from the truck, avoids Tony’s path as Ángel climbs into the truck. “Why?”

“Sounds like you don’t need me anymore. I’ll put the truck out back, clean up, and see what Gabi needs,” Ángel says. He slams the door closed, twists the key and revs the engine. It feels good when it rumbles under his foot, the shift moving with a low clunk into gear. He leaves them behind and takes the truck into the back lot, parking it in the open space.

Helga’s sitting there, off to one side, lonely and ignored. Ángel trails his fingers just above her hood, not wanting to touch with his greasy fingers. Maybe later. Maybe just for a little while.

He lingers over washing his hands, avoiding the office as long as he can hear Tony’s low voice inside. He waits until Tony stalks past on his way to the floor, then heads in to find Gabi slumped at the desk, her head resting against the cold wood.

Ángel grabs the other chair, slides it next to her and sinks into it, his hand at the nape of her neck. “Hey. You okay?”

“Frustrated,” Gabi mutters to the desk. “I bet Zita how long they’d stay broken up. She thought it’d take a month to get them back together. I said less than a week, but I really didn’t want to be right. And it’s not like he—” She cuts off with a sour growl, her back arching up into Ángel’s touch. He flattens his hand in response, rubs small circles until the sound she makes is more pleased than annoyed. She finally huffs, sighs, and pushes herself to sitting upright.

“You got anything you want me to do?” Ángel asks, pulling back enough to give her space.

Her gaze drifts to the paperwork, all neatly stacked and ready for filing, then she shakes her head. “I’ve got this. I’m not going out on the floor. Does Luca have anything else for you to do?”

Ángel bites his tongue on the response that Tony’s here now, and shouldn’t he check with him instead? He just shakes his head. “I’ve done all the oil changes, and I’m not approved for anything else yet.” If Gabi’s not going to say his name, then Ángel won’t either.

“Just go find something to do until the next call comes in,” Gabi says quietly. “You had a shit night. If you want to crawl into a corner and take a nap, I’m not telling, and Tony has no room to bitch.”

Ángel’s not tired. He’s getting hungry, but he can ignore it for the moment, and he’s not going to give up a chance at some quiet. “I’ll be out back if anyone’s looking. We’ve got a vacuum for cleaning cars somewhere, right?”

Gabi shows him where the vacuum’s tucked in a closet, and Ángel grabs that and a couple of trash bags and heads out to Helga. It’s not anything glamorous, but it’s needed to be done for months, and why not now? Ángel digs all the trash out, puts the returnable bottles into another bag to take back to New York after break to be returned. Once he’s got it clear, he shucks the hoodie he wore during the cooler overnight hours, leaving it on the hood, and crawls in under the dashboard to pull out the floor mats and vacuum up the multitude of crumbs that have somehow fallen down.

He slides out, straightens up to find Tony standing there, arms crossed, leaning one hip against the hood. Tony arches an eyebrow, and Ángel turns away. “Got another oil change for me?” Ángel asks dryly. “Gabi said she was all set, so I figured I’d clean Helga out.”

“Luca told me about Emerson,” Tony says, and Ángel turns around slowly.

“I’m not expecting special treatment because I was at the hospital overnight,” Ángel tells him. “Besides, I’m not the one who was—” He cuts off, not wanting to start an argument.

“I was thinking we could do her brakes.”

That’s not the response Ángel was expecting. “Aren’t you busy?”

Tony shrugs one shoulder. “Yes, but sometimes things take time while we’re waiting for parts to come in. Or we don’t get to them because there are calls that interrupt. Bring your car around, put her in the middle bay.”

Ángel wants to protest that it’s Wednesday. That they shouldn’t bump anyone else’s business for his car. But at the same time, he stubbornly wants one thing for himself right now, so he bites down on the words, instead choosing to say, “Helga.”

Tony snorts, comes to his feet with a roll of his shoulders. “Bring Helga around. I’ll meet you in the middle bay.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to push her?” Ángel asks. “She still won’t start. Hitching her to the truck seems like overkill.”

Tony makes a noise of agreement, and they open the two front doors, each getting a shoulder in. Ángel knocks the car into neutral, and together they push her around and get her situated in the bay. Tony puts her up on the lift, gathers what’s needed for the brakes.

It’s half work and half lessons. It’s not Ángel’s first brake job, but it’s been a couple of years. It helps that Luca’s doing the brakes on an Audi in his bay, and slowly the mood shifts from tense to something closer to the usual easy banter. It’s not as good as it was on Sunday, when it was just him and Tony, but that’s because there’s a residual tension in Tony’s shoulders, pinning them back.

Gabi comes out and brings up a chair, swings it around to sit on it backwards, her elbows and chin leaning on the back. “Is there any news from Tanner about Emerson?” she asks.

Ángel’s grip on the wrench slips; Tony reaches past him, leaning against him as he anchors it in place before Ángel can make a mess. Tony jerks his chin at the wrench, and Ángel leaves him holding it, steps back enough to be able to get his phone out.

He shakes his head at the blank screen. “Nothing.”

“But he’s going to be okay,” Gabi says quietly, and Ángel feels his heart twist at her concern.

“Hope so. They might have to change his meds.” Ángel isn’t sure how it all works, and he feels like there should be a better solution. He opens up his email while he’s thinking about it, composes a quick message to Pawel: I have a weird case of Talent I’d like to talk to you about.

Tony nudges him, and Ángel ducks in close again, listening while Tony explains what they’re doing next. In the background, he can hear Luca telling Gabi the story of Emerson’s first seizure, and he wonders how Luca heard that particular story. Ángel answers questions when he’s asked, but it’s only with half a brain.

“It’s a pity that there’s nothing that can just make Talent fizzle out and stop,” Gabi muses idly, and Ángel huffs.

“That’d be one solution.” He sinks down to sit for a moment, knees up. His ass is probably covered in grime, but what’s one more pair of jeans ruined at this point? “It’s like he’s got a half a Talent. It doesn’t do anything useful, and maybe it would if it worked completely. Maybe the seizures are his brain trying to do something else, but the bubbles just pop ineffectually and then his synapses short circuit, and down he goes. It’d be good if it could either be what it’s supposed to be, or just stop.”

“Do you think he can come over on New Year’s Eve?” Gabi spins back and forth in the chair, looks up at where Tony is reaching down, fingers opening and closing like he’s asking Ángel for something.

Ángel looks around, finds the part and rises to bring it to Tony.

“Are you inviting Emerson and not me?” Ángel asks, and Luca laughs out loud.

“Ángel, you are entertaining and of course you’re invited for the new year,” Luca calls out. “The whole family. This is a big party, not just us kids.” He makes a little scoffing noise. “Not that Zita and Tony are kids.”

“It’s my house,” Tony points out.

“Our house.” Gabi’s hand circles to indicate herself and Luca along with Tony. “Our house. All of us. Not you, Ángel, you don’t live there. If you decide to move in, you’re paying rent.”

Why would he do that? “I’m fine where I am,” Ángel says. “I’m going back to PHU in January, remember?”

“Expect to stay over on New Year’s Eve,” Luca tells him. “We have guest rooms. Most of our relatives will go home, but there’s plenty of space for anyone who wants to drink and stay.”

“Your father and grandmother can come,” Tony says quietly. “When we say family, we mean family. Our great aunt—our grandmother’s sister—will be there, at least for part of the evening, until Danny takes her home.”

“It’s about ringing in the new year with the most important people around you,” Gabi says. “You need your people there.”

“Why do you need me there?” It’s the most obvious question that Ángel has to ask. Luca’s silent, suddenly busy with a stuck lug nut, and Tony’s equally quiet. Ángel looks over at Gabi, and she raises both eyebrows, glances at his wrist.

“I licked you,” she says, amusement in her tone. “You’re stuck with me now.”

For all that it doesn’t make any sense, there also isn’t any argument Ángel can make against that. She licked him, therefore he’s family.

When Tony holds out his hand, Ángel hands him the wrench. Changing the brakes makes a lot more sense than this family right now.

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