MACKAY

ariel wasn’t the happiest girl he’d come across at hogwarts       .       she was     ,     as the kids say     ,      quite fucking depressed     .       but dung liked her—- cared more about her than he did most people these days    .     watching someone desperately try to keep the pieces together was admirable      ,      she was admirable      ,       but he rarely told her such      .        his beliefs were evident though in the softness he showed her     .       while the boy’s heart was pure       ,      his mannerisms typically showed the opposite of this     .       he liked to fight and liked to drink– those weren’t things the pure of heart were known for        .        the blond tucked his harmonica back into his flannel pocket upon seeing her enter      ,        an eyebrow cocking up as he eyed the bottle hanging by her hip    .       ❛        those keep poppin’ up faster than we’re puttin’ ‘em away     ,      kid    .      do i gotta start worryin’?        ❜

     ❛  i  missed  ya  over  christmas  .   ❜   ariel  deflected  the  question  with  apparent  ease  ,   setting  the  bottle  on  the  nearest  table  before  crossing  the  room  to  perch  on  the  desk  across  from  dung  .   she’d  known  the  question  was  coming  ,   but  she  wasn’t  quite  ready  to  respond  ---  she  knew  she  would  .   he  knew  too  .   ❛  couldn’t  pass  up  an  opportunity  to  go  to  the  macdonald’s  ,   though  .   i’ve  told  you  about  their  place  ,   right  ?   it’s  fucking  huge  .   ❜   settling  more  comfortably  into  the  desk  (  as  comfortable  as  a  desk  could  get  ,   of  course  )  ,   she  released  a  near  silent  sigh  .   ❛  no  ,   ❜   she  finally  whispered  ,   a  response  to  his  earlier  question  .   ❛  don’t  worry  ‘bout  me  .   it’s  just  ...  a  couple  ,   y’know  .   the  holidays  ...  they’re  hard  .   ❜

bullshit. white lies were his specialty at this point and he had heard his fair share of them, this wasn’t creative  – “i’ll escort you –” he offered, it was more of a voluntold situation, but he could at least be polite about it. 

      the offer was so PROPER, forced just enough to make ariel laugh. ‘ escort ’ --- hilarious. in fact, ariel would much rather she went back on her own, or better yet, stay right where she was. but something told her he wouldn’t let her. not that he controlled her. but some part of her felt compelled to follow his instruction anyway... ❛ fine, ❜  she murmured, moving towards the doorway and brushing past him gently with her shoulder. the touch sent an involuntary shiver down her spine --- fuck feelings.  ❛ but don’t go asking me why i was out, or why i’m alone or some crap, ❜  she began, starting the walk back to the dungeons and speaking to him over her shoulder.  ❛ you wouldn’t care, anyway. ❜

          “ this might come as an absolute shock to you, ariel, but I’m sure that I’d love your smallest dress   —   which really only guarantees that they’d hate it. “   his amusement won out over any false seriousness he’d shrugged on; not a big surprise that it proved too much work to keep up, as conversations with ariel tended to leave nate feeling like a boy without a war. seeing her smirk bloom into a smile was enough to have his mouth mirroring hers.   “ it’s the perfect plan. alas   —   I’m probably staying here for the holidays. we’ll have to save it for some other time. maybe easter hols, if the staff loosens up their hold on us by then. but they’re not coming up for that dinner at least, so I get out of time with them without making you freeze for it. win - win, yeah? “

                                                                                                do not fall in love with me.                                                                                                 for i am hungry and cruel & i                                                                                                 will h o l l o w you out with heavy                                                                                                 secrets & ugly insides.

a MOODBOARD for ariel mackay & frank longbottom

      。•  * ☪    ❛    ariel  mackay    ,    ❜    he  offered   ,   albeit  quietly   ,   as  if  her  name  was  an  explosive  and  he  was  simply  waiting  for  it  to  GO  OFF    .    he  wasn’t  nervous   ;   he  had  grown  used  to  her  sharp  tongue           one  regrettably  aimed  at  his  jugular  more  often  than  not  .    no   ,   he  was  just  tired   .     ❛    have  you  opted  out  of  the  letter  writing    ?   ❜   placing  the  book  under  his  arm   ,   he  brushed  away  a  piece  of  lint  from  his  forearm   .     ❛    probably  for  the  best   .   he’ll  spend  the  better  part  of  his  holiday  reading  letters  from  people  he’s  never  met   .   ❜   remus  had  already  discussed  it  with  the  boys   .   if  they  could  sneak  out  to  go  to  hogsmeade    ,   then  they  could  sneak  out  to  go  see  peter   .   he  was  having  enough  trouble  as  it  was  staying  put  and  not  bursting  out  of  the  castle  that  very  second   .     ❛    i’ll  tell  him  though    .   because  you   …    you  he  knows   .  ❜  

          her  body  had  an  involuntary  ,   physical  reaction  to  the  sound  of  her  name  rolling  off  his  tongue  .   so  quiet  ---  like  he  knew  the  whisper  made  it  even  more  sacred  ,   ruined  .   holding  her  books  even  tighter  to  her  chest  and  clenching  her  jaw  ,   she  flicked  her  head  to  push  away  a  string  of  hair  that  was  playing  with  her  eyelashes  .   ❛  he  doesn’t  need  letters  ,   ❜   she  snapped  ,   unable  to  contain  herself  though  she  knew  she  should  be  polite  ,   recoiling  slightly  as  lupin  continued  ,   supporting  her  very  argument  .   at  this  point  ,   her  brain  was  telling  her  to  walk  away  .   instead  ,   she  spoke  up  again   ---   ❛  well  ...   i  assume  you’ve  been  told  to  stay  put  ,   so  ...   ❜   why  was  she  still  talking  ?   ❛  if  you  ,   potter  and  black  need  a  cover  to  get  out  i’ll  ,   um  ...   ❜   fuckin’  hell  .   fuck  feelings  .   ❛  just  gimme  a  shout  ,   i  guess  .  ❜

          。•  * ☪    he  didn’t  want  to  say   .   he  wanted  to  crumble  up  the  paper   ,   flowers  and  all   ,   and  shove  it  down  his  throat            never  to  be  seen  again   .      ❛    uh   ,   don’t  laugh   !   i  kinda  just  wanna   …   crumble  it  up   ,   flowers  and  all   ,   and  shove  it  down  my  throat    .    never  to  be  seen  again   .   ❜    the  boy  spoke  his  thoughts  way  too  often   ,   shyly  shrugging  before  passing  the  letter  over  to  her    .    ❛   yeah   ,   yeah    ,   ❜    he  chuckled   ,    ❛    wouldn’t  mind  a  nice  nap   .   i  dunno  though   ,   one  of  my  roommates  likes  to  draw  on  my  face  when  i  sleep   ,   so   …   ❜       

                      ariel  took  one  glance  at  the  letter  that  had  been  slid  her  way  and  felt  a  physical  pain  behind  her  eyes  as  she  tried  to  stop  them  from  rolling  .    she’d  heard  the  rumours  of  carpio’s  slightly  insane  parents  ,     but  this  felt  on  a  whole  other  level  .    deciding  not  to  read  it  ,   she  slid  it  back  to  the  hufflepuff  .     ❛    yeah  ,   a’ight  ,   you  can  eat  that  now  ,   ❜     she  teased  ,   hoping  to  alleviate  any  embarrassment  he    might’ve    felt  .   ❛    at    least    they    love    ya    enough    to    come    over    ---    i    assume    that’s    what  the  letter’s  about  .   you  should  count  yerself  lucky  .    ❜    shrugging  once  again  ,   ariel    replied  ,     ❛    who  said  you  had  to  nap  in  your  dorm  ?    ❜

          “ well,  mackay, “  nate said, giving ariel a look of mock seriousness as he let his quill fall to the half-started essay in front of him.  “ I wasn’t really planning on manning up today, so give me a minute here. “  he hadn’t been planning on much of anything today  —  aside from the assignment in front of him that had barely held his attention before ariel’s distracting, and much welcomed, arrival.  “ waiting until the last minute to man up is more my speed, “  he began, seriousness  ( even feigned as it was )  fading away in favor of amusement.  “ so since you’ve caught me off guard here, how about we settle and say  …  if they even let us out, you’re cordially invited to get me away from my lovely family on christmas? “ 

      ariel watched with a pleasant smirk as nate seemed to shift into the gear she had asked of him. ( boy did it feel good to feel good --- she’d spent far too much of the last week thinking of her mother and her impending absence at the coming christmas celebrations. the first christmas without her had been unbearable. something told her the second wouldn’t be any easier. nathaniel’s mock seriousness made it better --- he was a lightness where the rest of her friends were heavy and dark with unwanted sympathy. ) smirk turning to a grin, she nodded.  ❛ why, of course. what if i wear my smallest dress to pick you up? would that just emphasis their disappointment in your choice of friends? ❜

“i don’t want to be that guy, but it’s LATE. what has you roaming these halls?” had he wanted to approach her? no, he wasn’t in the mood for a verbal lashing. was he going to neglect his prefect duty? unfortunately, that was a no as well. it was all going downhill from here. 

@arielmuhckay·

      her head swung around at the sound of his voice, her heart already pounding in her chest as he made his way towards her. just the sight of him was enough to send her mind spiralling down a dark and windy road, but with just the two of them alone in these empty halls, him telling her off in his weirdly strict prefect voice, she felt trapped, her mind and body left with nowhere to go but towards him.  ❛ lost track of time. ❜  the excuse was as thin as paper, but she didn’t care. she didn’t have it in her to find anything else to say. there was too much on her mind, and frank longbottom only made it a thousand times worse.  ❛ is this the part where you tell me to take my ass to bed? ❜  don’t say it like you used to...

       。•  * ☪    the  werewolf  liked  to  think  he  knew  everything    ;   of  course   ,  he  knew  the  opposite  was  true   .    remus  lupin  was  ,   at  the  best  of  times   ,   a  moron   .   despite  his  fancy  prose  and  his  charming  smile   ,  he  could  very  well  be  the  dumbest  boy  in  the  room           because  he  had  NO  FUCKING  IDEA  why  ariel  mackay  hated  him  so  much   .   after  a  while  he  stopped  trying  to  understand   ,  eventually  chalking  it  up  to  poor  timing  and  some  other  bullshit   .   so  when  she  ran  into  him   ,   he  might  have  thought  she  did  it  on  purpose    ;    at  least  until  she  kindly  handed  him  one  of  his  books  back   .    ❛    …  trade  you   ,     ❜    he  said  with  a  soft  smile   ,   taking  hold  of  the  text  before  handing  off  a  single  sheet  of  parchment   .   he  wasn’t  in  the  mood  for  an  argument   .   that  and  he  could  only  assume  things  had  gone  to  shit  with  that  announcement   ;   students  giggling  and  openly  excited  about  the  appearance  of  their  parents     .      ❛    thanks  .    ❜

                      remus  lupin  was  an  arrogant  prick at  the  best  of  times  ---  an  unbearable  nightmare  at  the  worst .    if  peter  pettigrew  hadn’t  just  been  dragged  back  from  what  most  assumed  was  the  dead ,    ariel  might’ve  taken  this  opportunity  to  smack  the  boy  over  the  head  before  giving  his  book  back .    but  FUCK  ...   fuck  ...   ariel  had  dealt  with  death ,    and  it  had  nearly  killed  her .    and  so  instead  of  smacking  the  gryffindor  in  any  way ,    ariel  took  the  outstretched  parchment  back  in  what  she  hoped  wasn’t  a  snatch ,    clenching  her  jaw  and  keeping  her  eyes  away  from  his  smug  smile .    ❛  yeah ,    a’ight ,    ❜   she  murmured ,    gathering  the  rest  of  her  things  and  holding  them  tight  to  her  chest .    watching  the  boy  rise ,    she  cleared  her  throat ,    eyes  darting  around  the  halls  and  up  to  the  ceiling .    ❛  uh ,    ❜   another  cleared  throat .    ❛  um  ...   if  you  get  a  chance ,    tell  pettigrew  we’re  thinking  of  ‘im ,  eh ?    it’s  uh  ...   s ’ fucking  a  shit  way  to  spend  christmas ...   ❜

         。•  * ☪    the  girl  had  been  quiet   ,   so  much  so  that  roen  was  surprised  to  finally  hear  her  speak   .   with  a  quick  whip  of  his  gaze   ,   he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  she  had  either  fallen  asleep    ,   or  she  had  been  practicing  some  impressive  meditation  habits   .   if  the  latter   ,   his  parents  might  have  several  tips  to  share   .    ❛   mondays    .   ❜    he  mumbled    ,    stuffing  the  rest  of  his  letter  into  the  pocket  of  his  trousers    .    ❛   are  YOU  okay   ?    ❜    one  might  suggest  he  was  spinning  the  conversation  around   ;   avoiding  the  subject    ;   however    ,   it  was  real  concern  that  fused  with  his  voice   .   she  seemed  sad         the  girl  sitting  without  company  and  without  a  smile   .

                  ariel  quirked  a  brow  at  the  one-worded  response   ---   yeah,  mondays  sucked,  but  there  was  clearly  something  else  on  this  boys  mind.  eyes  flicking  down  to  the  parchment  paper  in  roen’s  hand,  she  considered  moving  closer  to  try  and  read  what  it  said,  but  frankly  he  was  wearing  too  much  cologne  to  bare  being  any  closer.  instead,  she  opted  for  a  question   ---   ❛  whatca  got  there ?   ❜   stretching  her  arms  above  her  head,  ariel  shrugged.  ❛  m’fine.  just  a  fan  of  a  good  nap,  really.  ❜   of  course  there  was  something  on  her  mind.  but  she  wasn’t  about  to  talk  to  some  random  sixth  year  about  it.