Delicate

Maddison knew that she shouldn’t—for the sake of the Ravenclaw redhead, in the name of compassion and kindness. But her smile widened in gratitude for this certain kind of ammunition. She was practically buzzing in excitement at the thought of discovering what the Ravenclaw might be useful for. “I understand what you mean,” Maddison said, nodding in sympathy. “Oh, well, I suppose that it’s not entirely your fault, though. If you both knew that it wouldn’t lead to anything serious to begin with, she’s the only one at fault if she accuses you of hurting her feelings.”

“Hm, yes, I suppose so!” The younger girl laughed, lifting a shoulder in uncertainty. When she was younger, she had always looked forward to those gifts—of any kind, from anyone. “It’s the same thing over and over again—though I can’t judge them for the lack of creativity; rest assured that that wasn’t what I dated them for—but it’s nice to know that they still think of you sometimes.” As they should; she held their secrets with her after all. 

Despite knowing it was a cheap way out, Anthea just felt relief at the thought that she wouldn’t have to deal with the girl anymore. They usually did much better at finding people who didn’t get attached. Knowing their own heart was already given away, they didn’t really have it in them to break someone else’s. That Ravenclaw girl had been a fluke. “I did try to make that clear to her but you know how it is sometimes. They think that it’ll change and then they’re just impossible to deal with.” Maybe Maddison would be nice about it.

It made sense that Maddison might not be as enthralled with the gifts and attention now as she had been when she was younger. “Well maybe you’ll get luckier in the future? Or you could try to encourage more creativity somehow - make an example of someone who was really unfortunately dull, or something like that.” It was probably a silly suggestion but Anthea didn’t mind appearing silly at times.

louis thought he caught a reaction, but it was gone in a flash and he wasn’t entirely sure if he hadn’t imagined it.  still, to be safe, he mumbled a “sorry.”  he straightened up, trying to give the appearance of someone who had their shit together.  at least an impression of how he generally looked, at least.  “you really know how to make a guy feel special, you know that?  i think i get it.  i just haven’t been sleeping well, is all.  it’s fine.”

“Because I spend my whole life trying to make guys feel special,” they said scornfully. As if any of them - including Weasley here - needed their egos stroked further. “Is that all?” Somehow they didn’t quite believe him, because it would be stupid to. There was so much going on just generally, but specifically for his family. There was no way he could possibly be fine. “Maybe you should go back to bed then.”

“Where should we go, then? I would love Egypt or Greece, or maybe some faraway island … anywhere without a proper winter,” she mused, thinking about their options. If only they didn’t have school tying them down — then Ailyn would travel far away and see the world. Anthea being on her side was a nice addition to that fantasy, she decided. A laugh curled her lips, and Ailyn flipped her hair. “What can I say? It takes time to looks this good. And a bunch of good genes.” Ailyn, too picked up the menu, scanning the sweet-sounding options ( both due their ingredients and their cheesy names ) with one eye half on Anthea, still. “It’s been alright,” she answered. “Good, really. A bit dull, though. And yours?”

I would go anywhere with you. Luckily, Anthea managed to keep that sappy remark to herself, however true it might have been. They didn’t want to let on how they felt too soon, after all. “Oooh, any of those options sounds lovely! Maybe we could travel, have a - a house in each, and go from one to the other.” It sounded like heaven to them: warm places to stay, with Ailyn? Anthea would be absolutely beside themself with happiness. Their eyes followed the hair flip even as they laughed with Ailyn. “Oh, I completely understand.” They also took a long time on their appearance. “It’s certainly worth the wait though. My holiday has been perfectly lovely - maybe dull but I do so love spending time with Thalia, and that more than makes up for it.” Their sister was the most important person to them right now - beating out even Ailyn, if only for the fact that Thalia’s relationship was concrete, and Ailyn was just a very long-lasting crush. “But honestly I’m ready to go back to school and get on with this year, I think.”

“Regardless of what’s been tossed around, I’m glad that she’s feeling much better now. It’d be a shame to have a repeat, especially during NEWTs.” She said, nodding as empathetically as she could. Maddison couldn’t even imagine missing her own examinations despite being ill—in fact, the thought alone made her stomach bottom out.

She couldn’t help but laugh at Anthea’s—perhaps, far more genuine—thoughtfulness. They didn’t want to start anything? Well, for the likes of Maddison, the goal had always been exactly that. She beamed, delighted and amused by the other. “You really haven’t talked to her since your last encounter, huh? Hm, I could do that for you—say something—but you’d have to be honest with me.” Maddison leaned over collusively, lowering her voice. “You truly don’t fancy her anymore, yes?”

“Oh, me?” Maddison’s smile hurt. “Of course. Where do you think all these sweets keep coming from? I always think how much of a pain it is to deal with—but half of them give me such nice things even with their broken hearts.” Of course, but they were as meaningless as the Ravenclaw redhead was to Anthea, no doubt.

Anthea nodded with a sympathetic noise. Really, missing exams over being sick would be pretty awful. Even Anthea, who didn’t really put much stock in her marks in school, was trying their best to do well on NEWTs. What they would do after school was still up in the air but at least they would have a good report from Hogwarts to help them on their way. “I really haven’t,” they said. That wasn’t usually the case but this particular time - “It didn’t seem fair, to get her hopes up, you know. And . . .” They probably shouldn’t let someone else do the hard part for them but Anthea had no desire to have that conversation. “I really don’t fancy her. I never truly did though. She was pretty and fun and that’s all I wanted. And now it’s over.”

They laughed but it made sense that the sweets were coming from Maddison’s heartbroken fan club. “Well at least you’re getting something out of it, right? Too much of something but still, better than nothing.”

“You’re right. Sunglasses wouldn’t properly protect my eyes from this monstrosity; I’d need a blindfold,” Alice replied as she looked at the wall in disgust. “Graffiti’s one thing, but this… These colours, and— Oh, it’s not Ancient Runes, don’t worry. I’ve been taking that class since third year, and I don’t recognize any of these… Unless they’re ones I haven’t learned about yet. Think it’s a hidden message? Like, how to murder Alice and her eyes 101? Or something slightly more alarming?”

Anthea glanced back at the wall; truthfully, they thought Alice was making a bit more out of this than was absolutely necessary. “What do you even study in Ancient Runes?” The shrugged off the rest of her questions because they didn’t have an answer or really care about it that much. “I feel like it’s probably something less sinister? I think there’s enough going on that you don’t need to assume the graffiti is about you personally. But I could be wrong.”

louis rubbed the sleep — lack of sleep, rather — out of his eyes and tried to look alert.  putting on a game face.  he tried to control his face, now more than ever, but he couldn’t quite help if his expression was a little pointed right now.  “yeah.  i’m aware.  thanks.”  he couldn’t totally tell if they were being malicious or vaguely helpful.  either way, this wasn’t his favorite position to be in.  “no — don’t.”  the last thing he needed was anyone else seeing him like this, so vulnerable and shaken.  absolutely not.  “no need.  i’m fine.”

Anthea pursed their lips. This was what happened when they tried to be nice - people didn’t appreciate it, and that just made them less likely to be nice again. But really after everything that happened, they probably should cut him a little more slack. “Listen, I really don’t think I can believe you at all about that. I’m not kidding when I say you look like shit. Like the shittiest I remember seeing anyone look.”

WHERE: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. WHEN: Anytime between February 25th, 2024, and March 6th, 2024. WHO: Any Hogwarts student or professor.

“D’you think they know how aggressive the combination of those patterns look to me, and are trying to make me have my first heart attack at the tender age of sixteen? Or do you think they simply don’t have any taste whatsoever? Ooooooh, or maybe it’s a hidden message. No matter what’s the truth, though, I feel like I should be wearing sunglasses whenever I look at them. Make it stop.”

“It looks like runes to me,” Anthea said, wrinkling their nose. “I never liked runes. Ancient Runes seems like the most ridiculous class. Should we tell someone about this? I feel like we should tell someone so it can be cleaned up. And just look away if it’s bothering you. Sunglasses inside is absurd and you know that.”

where:  hogwarts corridor when:  29 february, 2024 who:  open to anyone @ hogwarts

     this was the most strung-out louis had been in his entire life, he was sure of it.  and given his general state of high-strung, that was definitely saying something.  things had been going okay-ish, as smoothly as they could have been this year.  and then …  boom.  everything came crumbling the fuck down the way it always seemed to, anymore.  lily was gone — vanished — kidnapped.  and this registry business.  truth be told, louis was more concerned about his sisters, his mother especially, than he was himself.  maybe with everything else going on, nothing would happen.  besides, who really cared about a kid who was only one-eighth veela anyway?  

     it was that thought that sent him spiraling, and before he knew it he was excusing himself from class and stumbling out into the hall.  once out of sight and out of earshot of the classroom, he pressed his back to the wall and closed his eyes.  he hadn’t been sleeping very much since shit hit the fan.  how could he?  he had to keep watch to make sure one of his housemates wasn’t about to smother him with a pillow.  louis’s eyes shot open at the thought.  “fuck,”  he whispered.  he tried to steady his breathing, finally glancing around at his surroundings.  “oh shit,”  he muttered, clearing his throat.  “i didn’t see you there.”

Anthea didn’t have much to do with the Weasley-Potter tribe. Just out of principle - it wouldn’t look good for them to be fraternizing with that sort of people if the war went the other way. And they figured they wouldn’t be linked to anything bad if the war went in that direction, so they were safe. But it seemed a bit much just to walk by when one of them was in the corridor looking so bad. Frowning, Anthea shifted their books to their other hand and looked him over. “It’s all right. You look like shit though. Need me to get someone for you?”

It used to only be like this: light hearted, ridiculous and harmless gossip. Maddison couldn’t differentiate whether it was a change brought about by the war or a rite of passage for their growing up. It used to only be like this, but girls like her were bound for other things—out of her control, pre-determined—and it turned her towards distasteful, hurtful idle talks for a purpose that sometimes seemed so much larger than her. It used to only be like this: easy, with no dirty motives aside from two friends attempting to pass the time. 

Her eyes widened in surprise, a hand coming up to cover her opening mouth. “Seventh year, red hair, Ravenclaw?” She repeated, wrinkling her nose in recognition. “Oh, yes, I think I do know her—she’s the one who had that awful food poisoning during OWL’s, right? I keep hearing people say that it was worse than that and she had to leave during the year to get a stomach transplant. That doesn’t sound right.” Maddison might’ve been remembering it all incorrectly, but it wasn’t as if it mattered that much. She pouted, “Aw, poor girl. I’ll be sure to send some her way. Non-expired, so none of the more… disgusting rumours come up again.”

With everything changing so rapidly, Anthea had been clinging to normalcy wherever they could. And idle gossip about other students was basically the peak of normal at the moment. It might make them cowardly not to address the other stuff, but they preferred to think that it was self-preservation. No need in drawing too much attention either way. A little giggle escaped at the mention of the issue, which again shouldn’t be as amusing as it was but they couldn’t help it. “That’s her, I felt very bad about that whole . . . incident. But she’s recovered now.”

Anthea tossed their hair over their shoulders and flashed a smile in Maddison’s direction. “That’s so thoughtful of you, and I’m sure she’ll appreciate it. Maybe I should say something to her, although I don’t want to start anything.” They laughed lightly, but it was quite true and they weren’t really interested in seeing anyone at the moment anyway. “Do you have any broken hearted people pining for you today?”

where: slytherin common room when: sunday, february 26th, 4:30pm who: open

Gemma found herself that afternoon in the Slytherin common room, lounging in one of her favorite armchairs and holding court as though she were the newly crowned queen of her house. If the high—the absolute exhilaration she felt was what pure, unopposed victory always felt like, she finally understood Odilia’s love of Quidditch. As much as everything within their organization was technically a group effort, this victory was hers, as far as she was concerned. And she was ready to do whatever it took to ensure their side remained firmly ahead.

“It’s just so sad, don’t you think?” She mused, legs crossed and dangling over the arm of her chair,  “I mean—-my bet is that Lily Potter finally cracked under all of the grief and pressure and ran away. I don’t blame her—-I think I’d be tempted to make a run for it too if I had to suffer the indignity of being a member of that family—-and we all know she’s never been the most…. stable. I can only hope that wherever she is, someone is giving her exactly the help she deserves.” Her words were sweet, coated with honey and a false sincerity, but a sly smile at those surrounding her belied, for those who knew, the true nature of her words. Lily Potter was getting exactly what she deserved.

Gemma’s eyes scanned the room around her, monitoring the reaction of those in the common room carefully. The other piece of information she’d gotten from Natalia—-that another leader fot he MA was in Slytherin—-was never far from her mind, and with one piece taken off the chessboard, Gemma was ready to focus her efforts on bringing their house to order; that meant finding the leader of the MA who dared to taint their house’s legacy, and seeing who on their own side might not be quite as enthusiastic about recent events as they should be. The time was far past for choosing sides.

Anthea knew what their parents believed about the war - wait until the winning side was quite clear and then make a firm declaration. In the meantime, it was better to stay safe and Anthea felt pretty confident that they knew which side would come out on top. So despite their personal feelings - that Lily Potter really had been through so much and whatever had happened, she probably didn’t deserve it - they hid that under a calm expression as they flipped through her potions book. 

The Slytherin common room was one of their preferred places to be at any given time: they weren’t really the studying type so the library was out, and they had never liked empty classrooms, and the Quidditch pitch just made them too restless to get any work done. But the common room was perfect, giving them enough distraction if they needed it but still a place where they could get enough done when necessary. 

They glanced up at Gemma’s words, burying any uncertainty under a falsely sympathetic expression. “Poor thing, she really does deserve a chance to get some help, doesn’t she? Maybe this will turn out to be for the best for her after all.” Anthea wanted to know what was going on but they also very much did not want to get involved in anything. They believed in blood purity and that purebloods were better than anyone else, but they had never been interested in the dirty work.

“I’m average at nothing, did you even see the last Quidditch match? That’s to say nothing of the people who keep trying to win my affection back. And since the only people I love are my family, and I know I’m good enough for them, I don’t have anything to worry about.”

“You’ll just have to come with me,” decided Ailyn, giving Anthea a cheesy wink that matched her words. If she would have heard anyone else speak those words, she would have most likely gagged, and while they made her slightly nauseous, she didn’t hate them as much coming from her own mouth. ( Of course, most things sounded better coming from her — that was just a simple fact. ) She returned Anthea’s squeeze, her lips curling into a more genuine smile then. “Me? Stand you up?” Ailyn shook her head gently. “I would never. I’m just fashionably late, is all!” A chuckle. Ailyn grabbed a menu, looking over her options for a moment, before returning her gaze to Anthea. “You know, it’s not like I can help it — I’m so horribly fashionable, I simply have no choice but to be late. I am sorry, though.”

“That changes everything then.” A certain hint of satisfaction took over their words and Anthea spent a nice moment imagining what it might look like to leave with Ailyn. They weren’t so attached to England that a change in location would be heartbreaking and truly, going away with Ailyn was a lovely thought. They put a hand to their heart with a pleased smile as they watched their companion, trying not to be too obvious or obnoxious about it. “Well, it’s worth the wait when you’re such an impeccable dresser. I can forgive you for that.” They turned their own attention to the menu, hoping to find something that wouldn’t be overly sweet; as much as they did have a sweet tooth, they wanted something a little more substantial at the moment. “Have you been enjoying your holiday?”

“You are not.” She countered, rolling her eyes at their dramatics as she tapped her fingers restlessly against the back cover. “Magical creatures are fascinating.” Alura argued, her brow furrowing as the obvious distaste on Anthea’s features. Everything new that she learned was riveting to Alura. Well, mostly everything. And if not riveting, she was certain it would be useful in the future, at some point. The more you knew, the more you were prepared for, and that was no small advantage in her life. “It’s the practical aspects that I take objection to.” A small pout formed across her face. “I got mud caked all over my favorite boots last class.”

“I could be,” they protested, pouting until a smile won out. It wouldn’t do to carry on too much and risk actually upsetting Alura. She had a point about creatures being fascinating but Anthea had never been able to be enthusiastic about them regardless of the fact. There was a wealth of knowledge to be gained in the area, no doubt, but it was hardly appealing to Anthea. “See, I just don’t understand the reasoning behind even risking mud getting over my favorite boots. Or any other article of clothing. I prefer to stick to safer subjects where there’s no real chance of ruining my clothes.”

Maddison beamed at her fellow Slytherin, “I hope you enjoy them regardless. A certain fourth-year blonde with an endearing gap tooth will be glad to know that their efforts of proclaiming their love for me has pleased someone else entirely.” There, she let out a small laugh. Maddison wondered, what gossip could she glean from Anthea—and what use would she have of them? No doubt, this little exchange could only be an excuse to crow about said broken-hearted flings, but she was an opportunist after all. 

“If kissing and telling is still a moral dilemma of today, then I suggest that this holiday be cancelled.” She waved a hand in the air dramatically. “Valentine’s Day has practically become an excuse for people to talk about their conquests, so I assure you that you won’t be judged.” She said, teasing. “So,” Maddison leaned closer, lowering her voice. “Do I happen to know any of these said broken-hearted flings? I still have a few chocolates lying around that I’m sure they could have a use for.”

“Undoubtedly I will. I have the ability to enjoy myself in a wide variety of situations.” Anthea giggled, very easily imaging the poor fourth year discovering that their treat had gone to someone else. Perhaps they should feel bad for it but it was just amusing. And considering their own less than stellar love life at the moment, they felt that their amusement was less mean-spirited than it might otherwise be. 

They leaned forward, resting their chin in their hands with a thoughtful expression. Although they would, obviously, avoid mentioning anything that might reveal their true feelings about a certain member of their dorm, it couldn’t hurt to gossip a little. And besides, they had several other people to mention as well. “Oh, I’m sure you do. Hogwarts isn’t so big that our associates are complete strangers, after all. I think the one most in need of some chocolates would be that Ravenclaw girl - I’m afraid I quite broke her heart when we came back to school, and she’s been trying to win me back ever since. Seventh year, red hair - I’m sure the name will come back in a minute.”

1. Fuck, marry, kill

“This is not a fun game because I love all three of those lovely ladies. But I think I would marry Ailyn because I know that we could live together happily. Genie and I have already had our fun so I guess I’d have to kill her and fuck Gemma. I’d much rather just fuck both Genie and Gemma, but that’s not how the game goes.”