prat-ish

Shosh heard Bellamy’s pleading and winced, content just to leave him be to process what she’d told him and wondering guiltily if she’d even done the right thing in telling him about Grant; she thought it was important that he know, and hear it from someone who cared about Grant rather than someone crueler, or god forbid he go up to the Owlery and be caught completely by surprise—and then there was a commotion at the doors of the Great Hall and Shosh whirled back around.  Something that she couldn’t see hit Bellamy in his chest and he stumbled backwards, and Shosh, thinking it was a spell or someone trying to physically harm him, reached toward him instinctually without actually making contact.

Then she saw the flurry of brown wings flying around his head pecking at him and her mouth fell open. “Polly?” Shosh breathed in quiet disbelief, her heart swelling with recognition; Shoshana knew Grant’s owl very well, having had Polly as a constant companion on Shoshana and Grant’s regular trips beyond the castle walls for Hebrew lessons, or else her comforting, guardian-like presence on her perch in the Gryffindor Common Room. After Grant had found out Shosh had no roommates in her dorm and had a bad habit in early years of staying up all night reading and then sleeping through her earlier classes, Shosh was awoken occasionally to Polly hooting loudly at her bedside in the mornings and pulling Shosh’s bedcurtains open.

She’d had no idea animal familiars could change their human loyalties. “Polly!” Shosh said with loud enthusiasm, taking another step toward Bell and the owl and looking at the latter as she pleaded, “Please, just—the Owlery, you both have to go, I—I mean, when he’s ready, obviously…” Shosh blinked away some silly emotional tears and leaned back, taking a breath and reorienting herself. Then she looked at Bell and said, “…Bellamy, I—I know we don’t know each other very well, but…if you need a friend, or—or anything, just—you know where to find me, okay? And, um, sorry. For…you know, this.” Shosh gestured vaguely around them, where many people were still staring. She gave Bell a shrug and then turned and said loudly, to everyone else, “And what the fuck is there to stare at, people? Sheesh…” and then flounced with her head held high over to the Gryffindor table, where she sat alone at the far end and started piling breakfast food onto a plate.

“Would you just shut up?” Bellamy growled pushing Polly away from him as she flew around his head, her wings smacking him in the face with every flap. “Shut. Up.” He glared at Shosh hatefully. She might have thought she was helping, but she wasn’t and the longer Bellamy stood in the middle of the Great Hall surrounded by people who honestly didn’t give a fuck about him the more he wished he’d stayed home.

Shosh had been close with Grant and while Bellamy had seen her around whenever he visited Grant and had been passingly polite to her when he needed to be, Shosh was a little too much to handle for Bellamy. She was loud and bubbly and Bell could only handle her in small doses. He’d already reached his limit.

Cass stuck his middle finger up at his roommate. Just like old times. He dusted himself off and headed to the bathroom. When he opened the door, a ball of brown feathers flung itself at his face. Cass cried out, stumbling back and covering his face. “What the fuck?!” He yelled, stumbling back as the bird chased after him, and then perched atop Bellamy’s bed, leaning down to nip his ear, apparently affectionately.  Cass glared at the bird. “Since when’ve you got an owl?” He rubbed his nose where the owl had scratched.

Shosh rolled her eyes when he yanked away from her; time away certainly hadn’t made him any friendlier, had it?

Still, it was very difficult to deter someone like Shoshana, who never gave up on anything that easily and was so self-confident that it was rare anyone actually managed to hurt her feelings. She scrambled in front of Bellamy’s path again and said firmly, “Look—I know how stupid most people here are because they’re like that to me, too—but I’m not fucking with you right now….” Bellamy looked like he’d had about enough of Shosh and so impulsively, she blurted out, “…it’s about Grant!” Well, so much for the tactful approach. Shosh sniffed defensively and squared her shoulders, tilting up her chin and pushing onward with this. “Believe me, or don’t, it doesn’t matter to me. But Grant was one of the first and only people here who was genuinely nice to me, so I wouldn’t do him the dishonor of lying about this. He’s up in the Owlery, as a ghost. I don’t know how, or why—but he’s worried about you, and I’m sure he would like it if you went to see him…” With that, Shoshana started walking around Bellamy to grab some of the picked-over remains of breakfast. Before she was out of earshot though she turned back over her shoulder and added somewhat gently, “…oh, and Bellamy? If you do decide to go, just…keep in mind that he might not—look like you remember him, exactly.”

When Shosh mentioned Grant, Bell stopped in his tracks. Even months after the attack, Grant’s death was still fresh on his mind and the mention of his name hurt more than he thought it ever could. Jayden was careful not to talk about Grant’s accident and after sitting shiva with Grant’s family, Bellamy didn’t talk much at all.

“Stop ...” Bellamy voice rasped from the emotion stuck in his throat. “Please, just stop ...” Ghost appeared as they died. That meant that Grant would likely be Bellamy’s walking, talking, boggart and the pain and fear paralyzed him while his heart started beating so fast he worried everyone could hear it.

There’s a loud commotion outside the Great Hall doors, squawks and shouts followed by some poor second year Hufflepuff throwing open the door just for an angry brown ball of fluff to come barreling through the crowd and charging right for Bellamy. The force of the owl flying straight into his chest throws him back a couple steps. Bellamy tries to catch her but she’s already hovering over his head and angrily pecking him in the head. “Fuck, Polly! Stop!”

Polly had very different techniques when dealing with her humans. When Polly was Grant’s therapy owl, she used soothing hoots and soft strokes to try to calm him down when he was anxious, but when Grant had died and she appointed herself Bellamy’s therapy owl, her temperament quickly changed to match Bellamy’s stubborn denial of feelings. She dragged him out of his thoughts with pecks and wings smacking into his face. Her nails dig into his shoulders when he needs to know someone is there and he’s not alone. Since coming back to school, he left her in his dorm since that was where he spent most of his time, but obviously leaving her there today had been a bad idea and she was there to remind him that Bellamy was a fucking idiot.

Cass flipped the tape over, studying the track list again. The Graduate. Shosh said it was a Muggle movie soundtrack, something that absolutely fascinated Cass. Muggles made whole albums to go with their films? Adorable. He thumbed over the track Mrs Robinson, which made him purse his lips into a very thin line, remembering Shosh’s nickname for Pomonia.

He shuffled back against his pillows, grabbing his pencil and notebook from under his pillow and flipping to a spare page, then leaned over to his side table to grab his headphones, plugging them in. He put them in and started rewinding the tape, pausing and playing occasionally until he found the song. Then, he started writing the lyrics down as he heard them, ocassionally pausing and rewinding so that he got them right. By the time he finished his task, he had honestly forgotten about his roommate being back. 

He got up, headphones on, face buried in his notebook, prepared to walk to the bathroom to take a leak when he tripped over a suitcase that definitely hadn’t been there for the last few months. Cass face planted with a groan. He pushed himself up with the flats of his palms, quickly looking down to make sure his walkman was okay. Thank Vlad, it seemed okay. He scowled, getting up and kicking the dumb suitcase before shooting a glare over at the werewolf on the bed. “Can you put your shit away?”

Bell and Cass drifted into their own silences. Bellamy became preoccupied with watching Cass and just zoning out. Cass slowly seemed to forget that he was even there which was fine. After he put his headphones in he didn’t even acknowledge when Bell shifted onto his back and started tossing a quaffle up and catching it only to repeat the process in silent contemplation.

He still didn’t know what he was going to do with the information that Shosh told him the day before. Too shocked to properly process what she said, he’d gone to his dorm and slept for hours, exhausted by the weight of the news that Grant was here. Stuck in the Owlery somehow ... His long magical bloodline meant that ghost weren’t anything new to him, but he would admit that he didn’t look further than acknowledging that they existed. Bell didn’t know how or why they stayed, but after sitting shiva he assumed that Grant had been properly laid to rest ... 

Nate tried not to think too much about the fact that this was his first actual foray into a magical area since his self-enforced exile, as he apparated into Hogsmeade. Instead he kept his gaze down, and walked quickly, and told himself that Hogsmeade could hardly even be considered a place of notable magical importance, being in the middle of East-Bumfuck-Nowhere Scotland, where people probably didn’t even read the gossip section of the papers and wouldn’t even remember that Nathaniel Pinnock existed.

And it did help quell his anxieties, a little bit—particularly when he wasn’t immediately apprehended by the flashing of cameras in his face and was actually, to his relief, largely ignored. Until Bellamy almost managed to run directly into him, grumpy as ever, which brought a smirk of nostalgia to Nate’s face. “And you’re irritable…” he quipped back wryly, “…and no I’m not, even!” He ruffled up Bellamy’s hair annoyingly and then said, “Can we get off the street, please? Preferably somewhere dark. And with alcohol…”

Bell glared at Nate as he ruffled his hair and quickly reached out to straighten his hair again. “Yeah, sure,” he nodded and gestured for him to lead the way.  Bellamy could sense Nate’s anxiety and thought it would be best if he decided where they went even if there werent that many options in Hogsmeade.

“And you’re just as delightful as before.” Cass quipped right back, sitting back and looking around the hall. He couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of there and back to his room. And thank Vlad he agreed to leave, following his roommate away from the prying eyes of nosy professors, and down to the dungeons.

“I’m trying to think of any shit you need to know, but…” He shrugged. Cass didn’t know shit about Quidditch and he didn’t do too well in terms of people, so… Not much information there. “Yeah. Shit’s been pretty boring since you left.” The only shining light in his world right now was Cthulu. Most days it was the only thing getting him out of bed. When the pair arrived back at their dorm, Cass flopped back on his bed, before squirming to pull a casette out from under his back. Shosh must have returned it while he was at breakfast. “Oh. Some girls come in here sometimes. Shosh and Rhett. Shosh is okay but she’s mental, and Rhett is gay and probably mental too, so.” He shrugged again. 

Bellamy made a bee-line straight to his bed when they entered their room and laid down with his face buried into the pillows. Since leaving school he hadn’t thought much about how everyone else’s lives continued. The last couple of months were just a blur to him, but to everyone else, life just moved on. He shifted onto his side and raised an eyebrow at Cass when he mentioned that some people came around. His roommate must have gotten lonely without him he thought with a roll of his eyes.

He kept his head down since that first day back. He avoided most of the kids in his year except for Cass, but it was hard to avoid someone who spent just as much time as him moping in their dorm room. Bellamy missed Nate though. His wit would be a good distraction for him that he sorely missed these last couple of months.

After only waiting for a few minutes, Bellamy was already getting antsy. He stood from the bench and paced a small path in front of the bench, barely paying attention until he nearly paced right into Nate when he finally arrived. “You’re late,” he mumbled, belatedly realizing that they never did agree on a time. “Never mind. Hi.”

{TEXT TO: BELLAMY}

[19:05] The candy place?? Aw, you suddenly develop a sweet tooth or something?

[19:07] Actually don’t answer that, I know the answer already. I’ll see you there.

{TEXT TO: BELLAMY}

[18:48] Ugh, yeah. Definitely don’t miss that.

[18:51] Hah, I can only imagine. But I can assure you that the real world sucks just as much and you’re not missing out on anything over there in Scotland. Except, you know, being in fucking Scotland.

[18:55] On that note - I’m not really all that keen on showing my face in a lot of magicky areas right now, but I will make an exception and go to Hogsmeade to meet up with you at some point, if you want. 

[18:57] And only because it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten how pretty you are.

[ 19:00 ] Doubt that.

“That’s… good.” He said, hoping it sounded genuine. Even though his roommate smelled like shit, Cass was a compassionate little thing and he wouldn’t wish what had happened to him and his boyfriend on anyone. He frowned when Bell pushed his food away, recognising the move in something he did most mornings since his evening with Pomonia. Shosh was practically force-feeding him.

Cass rolled his eyes, “You’d do the same if I left. I’m sure they got you new stuff anyway,” He said, then sighed. The two of them sat in silence, both of them entirely aware that they were there just to appease people who were watching their state of health. “You need any help unpacking shit?” Cass asked hopefully, hoping to have an excuse to go back to their dorm so he could sulk. 

“I wouldn’t have announced it,” Bellamy complained mildly, rolling his eyes at his roommate's tack. “Neither of us needed the reminder that our dorm has an unpleasant smell. Unless that was your attempt at small talk? You haven’t gotten much better at it since I’ve left,” he teased smirking into his cup of pumpkin juice. Cass was right, of course. The elves gave him new sheets and if they hadn’t been a different color, Bellamy probably wouldn’t have even noticed.

Shoshana was late to breakfast that morning; she loved the time she’d spent practicing for the band with Cass and Rhett more than she ever imagined she would, but she’d been itching for a little alone time behind the piano and had gone down to the practice chamber at sunrise to do just that.

By the time she made it up to the Great Hall and started toward the Slytherin table to meet her friends, she found herself watching Rhett telling off someone who looked a lot like—Bellamy Adler? Shosh thought about following after Rhett when the wolf made her characteristically dramatic exit from the Hall, but decided she’d catch up with her later; if Bellamy Adler was back at Hogwarts, there was something Shosh needed to tell him that couldn’t wait…

Shosh trotted up to Bellamy as the Slytherin was making to leave as well, reaching out to grasp his arm. “Bellamy! Hey, um, welcome back? Sorry about Rhett…” Shosh hadn’t ever been that good of friends with the boy, but she’d known him by association (nosy thing she was) as Cass’ roommate, and as the boyfriend of her fellow Gryffindor Grant. Which was what made this so important, now. There wasn’t really a tactful way to tell someone their dead boyfriend was a ghost, though, was there? Even if Shoshana had ever been even slightly tactful—which she hadn’t. “…anyway, I just thought I should tell you that it’s, like—really important that you visit the Owlery. As soon as possible. Extremely important.”

Bellamy heard someone following after him and growled under his breath. Wasn’t their morning’s breakfast show enough entertainment for the day? On top of that, very few people touched him, so when the person following him grabbed his arm to pull him to a stop, his temper flared and he ripped his arm out of her grip. Welcome back. And what a welcome it had been ... Bellamy grunted and started to turn to continue on his way back to his dorm in the dungeons but stopped short at her words. 

Whether it was his own suspicious nature or paranoia due to Rhett telling everyone in the Great Hall he was a werewolf, he didn’t trust this Gryffindor to be telling him to go to the Owlery out of the goodness of their heart. “Right, whatever you say,” he muttered and tried to turn to leave again.

“Wolf?” She said it just barely louder than talking volume, sitting up taller than the boy with a crocked eyebrow. “What is the problem with being a Werewolf, Bellamy Adler?” Louder. She sat up on the table, the whites of her eyes flashing yellow aggressively. Her face was close enough to kiss him and she was only getting louder. “I am fucking awesome! You coward.” Her voice took on a growl as she stood on the bench seat and slapped Bellamy’s drink into his lap. She stepped off casually and began to walk away. “Rumours are true, boys!” She shouted at the crowd. “You gotcha selves a fucking baby beta Werewolf! What a loser.” She gave the crowd a howl and walked away.

Warning bells went of in his head just before he saw her eyes flash yellow and her face came close enough for him to count her teeth. “Please --” Bell mumbled but it was heard by deaf ears as she just kept steam rolling on. He hadn’t meant to offend her, but it was painfully obvious she hadn’t experienced the same level of hatred as he had ... or maybe she had but she was stronger. She was obviously stronger. Bell unconsciously submitted in the face of her anger by slightly ducking his head and tilting it to the side until she moved back to slap his drink into his lap.

“Oh. Sorry.” Wolves were normally good at body language. Maybe it was because she’d been away from them for so long, or maybe because she was just desperate for wolf attention. Both, all. She even missed being cuffed by an older male attempting to put her in her place. Her instincts were to push back, though, and at the same time she was endlessly curious. Did he attack someone? They’d been pretty strict about hurting other students when she joined. She was told she needed to understand she was stronger than them and that even a slap could really hurt a human. She wanted a wolf she could whine about all of that with her. “What word? What’s your problem? I’m bein fuckin delightful.” She frowned deeply at the boy, moving so she was in his line of sight.

“I started late because my family couldn’t contain me any more. I thought it would be good… I mean it is good, but no pack link kinda makes me feel like I’ve lost a sense.” She tapped her head as if he would know exactly what she was talking about. He looked a little lost. Sad. He probably didn’t get along with Cass because he had a proper stink on him and Cass was a sensitive little snowflake of a nose, even though he smelt like shit himself. He should try getting over it though because Rhett already liked Bellamy. “Why’d you take time off?” She asked, completely oblivious. “They put me in Ravenclaw. I guess I’m kind of smart but it’s fuckin weird to classify kids at eleven. Or seventeen or really any time. Anyway I normally eat here anyway, my friend Cass, like. You’re probably in his dorm. He’s the dead guy. Anyway, we’re in a band. So I sit here. He stinks but I like him. Uh. I normally don’t talk this much, I’m sorry, I just miss wolves so bad.”

Her family couldn’t contain her anymore? So they thought it was a good idea to send her to a school with children? Bell frowned, thinking the worse ... but aware that she wouldn’t still be here if she was causing issues in the school. He shook his head just the slightest bit when he realized he was getting more and more confused with what she was talking about and only got a more and more wary of her. He never had a pack and didn’t think he wanted one. He didn’t know any differently.

At her question his body language shifted from wary to defensive. He stiffened and cut his eyes away from her. “It was for the best ...” He didn’t know how recently Rhett had joined Hogwarts or even how recently she came to the UK. Obviously after the attack, but he doubted that news and rumors hadn’t been spreading around since he left. Jayden, his brother, kept news away from him and him away from society and it worked just fine-- if his plan was to isolate Bellamy even more than he already was. It was fine.

Bellamy raised an eyebrow. So he wasn’t the only one who could smell him. Hopefully she complained to Cass about how much he smelled as much as Cass complained about how much Bell smelled. It would only be fair ...

Wolf. She smelled it before she even got inside the doors. Was someone from home there to surprise her?! No. Wolfs didn’t surprise other wolves, dummie. She’d spent too long with humans, with girls at that. Plus Cass, an honoury girl. Not a human though. Just like the smell. It came from Slytherin and she wondered for a long moment if it was Cass? Wearing her clothes? No. This was a boy. She got closer, being very extremely suspicious as she did. She normally sat with Cass anyway, after everything. But she was walking and then would suddenly stop. Someone slammed into her back and yelled at her but she shut them up quickly by barking at them. Which felt really, really good. She edged closer and saw him. He looked sad. Lone wolf? The worst kind to be. She finally sat. “Hi.” She started awkwardly. “You might not be able to smell me. I mask it heaps ‘cause I play with Cass. Band I mean. Not like, monkey bars…” ugh. She was actually dying. “Sorry. Fuck. I’m a wolf. Were. Obviously. Fucking - ” She actually whined like a little puppy before standing bolt upright. “I’m Henrietta Andersen of the Australian branch of Andersen werewolves. I uh,” She sat, red as a tomato. “Call me Rhett, though.”

He stunk of wet dog, sweat and crusted mud. Cass could recognise the stink as soon as he walked into the Great Hall. Wondering if it was just Rhett who maybe hadn’t showered yet, Cass scanned the room and didn’t see her mess of blonde hair anywhere. But he did smell wolf- the unmistakable stench of someone he’d had the unfortunate misfortune of sharing a room with for the last 7 years. It was especially unfortunate for Cass, given he’d taken to spending most of his time in bed lately. 

He stalked to the Slytherin table, waiting for Shosh and Rhett to show up. He hadn’t been eating much, but they kicked up a stink if he didn’t at least show to meals. Cass moved to sit opposite Bellamy, wrinkling up his nose. “You’re back then?” Cass asked, voice dull. He didn’t sound too excited about the prospect. Both Bell and Cass were quiet people, they stuck to themselves. Cass usually had his headphones on in the dorm, anyway. “I got rid of your sheets. They were stinking up the place.” 

There was a sharp prickling feeling that ran down his spine only a few minutes after he’d sat at the table, followed by the hair on his neck and arms rising a second before Cass slides into the seat across from him. Bellamy shrugged, pushing his food around his plate absently. “For now,” he frowned and pushed the plate of food away when iron and ash settled in his senses. His stench never seemed to bother anyone besides Cass but that didn’t stop him from compulsively taking showers after spending more than a couple hours in Cass’ presence, especially with the look gracing his face.