Annabelle Nott

James grinned back at Annabelle, always ready to keep the world laughing. “Annabelle Nott, you are an absolute angel,” he insisted, his grin morphing into a beaming smile, his delight clearly evident. “Thank you.” He took the bottle she dangled in his face, cradling it against his chest for a moment. “Think we’re having a party tonight or something, you’ll be there, right?”

Annabelle had to swallow down the argument that she was in no way an angel. His use of the term was meant to be sweet, but it only served to remind her that she was not worthy of his friendship, nor any actual friendship, as long as she stayed a part of her family’s world. However, she was good at shoving her feelings under the figurative rug in her mind and going on with life. She smiled widely back at him, “It’s only the most important day of the year. Just don’t tell Sirius I said that.” The girl teased, her past betrothal to the Black boy had been, in many ways, the foundation of her friendship with people like James. “You are having a party tonight if I have anything to say about it, which, let’s be real, I always do. And yeah, of course. I wouldn’t miss it, babes; especially if there is alcohol to be had and mistakes to be made.”

Annabelle Nott’s feelings towards Gabrielle Nott Moodboard 1/?

“I don’t think you’ll ever get used to it. Betrothals are so fucking weird.” She was lucky, her parents didn’t seem to believe in it anymore. “That’s a good thing. If you stay the same forever… where’s the fun in that.”

“Ehh, my last one was better. At least Black was fun.” Annabelle said with a shrug, because she refused to actually go through with it, anyway. As soon as she could convince Stefan and Gabrielle to leave...well, that’d be it. There was no other reason to stay, besides her siblings. “That’s the point, isn’t it? Change makes the boring things so much more interesting.”

Annabelle: Do you think we could convince them to switch my and Brie’s?

Annabelle: At least until the Goyle situation can be sorted?

Annabelle: I think it’d be worth a try. At least Vale isn’t a psycho and he actually considers her a friend, as far as I can tell.

Another betrothal, another drama. He was unsure as to how many he would have to ruin and how many bridges he would have to burn to make his father realize that he was not interested in living life according to his purist agenda. Yes! He would torment or maybe even torture mudbloods every now and then. Yes! He would put up a fight to prove they were better than them… but to set him up to marry a girl he didn’t even care about for the sake or blood purity? No. All purists had their limit and that was probably his, it was either that or following some dark wizard, which was a whole different purist betrothal on its own. 

Vale groaned, almost gagging at being called hubby. If she wasn’t going to be helpful then he was going to need get more creative than the last time. “Not for my eyes,” he grimaced. He was being more dramatic than necessary but being caught off guard like that had never been his favorite, especially when he had been trying to avoid her. “Either that or someone must really like you… though I don’t think that’s the case.” He said with a grin. “Speaking of which, I need to talk to you, just not like this.” 

Annabelle wasn’t thrilled about being betrothed to this asshat, he certainly wasn’t any Sirius Black (@padxxfoot​). Still, she had an idea bubbling in her veins that she needed him for, as much as she hated it. But marrying him was not in the cards for her, of that she was sure. She’d never been one to listen to her father, but as time went on, Anna felt herself wanting to rebel more, listen less, and heed his demands no more. If it wasn’t for her siblings, she would have left her home during the Ball, as she had tried to do, if not sooner. The purist way of life was archaic and disgusting, parents setting their children up to breed, or fight, and raising them to hate others simply for who their parentage was.

His comment only elicited a roll of her eyes. Why did he have to be such a tool? It would be so much easier to deal with him if he’d just shut up sometimes. “If you don’t like it, then give me your cloak. But stop being an ass. Because I know you aren’t that bad of a person, I’ve seen you with Gabby before. But it’s like you try to make up for that lack of dickiness that is necessary for being a purist fuckhead, or maybe your fear of being close to people, by being an ass at all times.” The rush of words was surprising to her, but they felt kind of good. She took a satisfied breath and crossed her arms. “Look, I don’t want to marry you either, okay? I have an idea, though, and I don’t know if you’re going to like it, but if you’ve ever cared about my sister, you’ll at least hear me out.” The girl paused, “Current dress, or not. Just shut up and listen.”

“Ah… I forgot about that.” It was hard to keep track of who was betrothed to who these days. “God he really is. Pretty but he’s prettier when he doesn’t speak.”

Annabelle shook her head, “No, not many people know. It’s still kind of new.” She said with a shrug, and unless her family or close friends were concerned, the brunette didn’t normally bother herself with keeping track of such things either. “Eh, I don’t know about that. I might have thought so at twelve, but then my taste must have matured.”

Lucius had grown increasingly unsettled in the common room. Everyone found a special place inside his mind, grinding his nerves in their own special way. He was almost tempted to put his wardrobe closer to where Stefan slept, because Merlin knows no one would mess with Nott.

He had decided in the beginning to seek solace in the night air. This was immediately detoured when he ran into Annabelle. Blinking down to her he arched a brow, finding words hard to come by. This was a normality that Lucius didn’t want to become accustomed to. The boy stiffened and finally quipped, “What dream? Your ..own?” He glanced around them and became further puzzled. “Peeve’s dream? Does that transparent bastard even dream?”

Focus. Lucius. Focus.

“Do you normally bathe without your wand near?” He made a quick assumption that she must have forgotten anything, because why else would she be wandering the halls in a towel?

Originally posted by llinna

Annabelle looked over at the blonde with a small laugh. He was insufferable, in her opinion. She was certain, at some point in their lives, she’d told him that he was the sole reason she was grateful to not be sorted into the Slytherin house. Which was, of course, a lie, but anything to wind him up. “No, more like half of the student body’s. I mean...towel clad hottie in the hall? I’d be pretty happy about it too.” Looking over at him, she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “The real nightmare is how you’ve put yourself together. What is that on your feet? Do those even match?” Her falsely curious gaze fell to his feet with a look of disapproval. Anna shook her head, letting droplets of water splatter the air around her. 

“Peeves the perv? I mean, I guess that name does have a ring to it. I just never thought of poltergeists as sexual creatures.” It was a thought that she’d have to look into, as curiosity got the best of her. One day, she’d write a book about all of the idiosyncratic questions she had about the world.

“I didn’t bathe without my wand, Lulu. Someone took it, and my clothing. Probably as a prank.” The girl crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at him. “Do you normally oogle towel clad girls instead of summoning their clothes for them? It’s not very gentlemanly of you. One might wonder how you were raised, with a lack of manners like that.”

“And it doesn’t help that people like Mulciber continue to complain about having me as captain. It’s all too much, really.”

“Ahh, yes, my husband to be.” She shook her head. Annabelle liked quidditch and found the Slytherin team to be a good competitor in throughout the season. Emma, in her opinion, was a pretty good captain. “He’s an ass. I take everything his says with a grain of salt, and even that is sometimes too nice.”

The ball had brought Vale a series of ultimatums he couldn’t go on ignoring forever. The first was the hollow voice that had rung in his head warning people like him to either join or be targeted. He knew his father’s stance on blood purity and had followed it, but to follow someone else… that was different. The second ultimatum placed on him was yet again another betrothal, this time around to a Nott. His father broke out the news to him during the ball so  making a scene would have been futile, but upon his return to Hogwarts he began to work up a way to fix the problem.

Avoiding Annabelle had been the first step. He didn’t know whether she was aware or not, but the longer she didn’t the better. Step one had been working rather well for the first few days, until he actually ran into her during one of his prefect rounds. “Are you sure about that? Because to me it seems like I just walked into a nightmare.” Vale said with a roll of his eyes. “Why are you walking around like that?”

Annabelle had received the news of her betrothal by owl. Her father felt the news wasn’t important enough for a face to face meeting, or even to be accompanied by a proper letter. It was her second betrothal after all, it wasn’t as if an eighteen year old would need to cope with the idea of being paired off like a breeding horse. And she had handled the news fairly well. No tears, no beggin Stefan to fix it. It simply was, and unless she could somehow convince her father and step mother to switch the betrothal for her and Gabrielle, knowing that at least her sister would have a chance at happiness and safety with Vale, she would play along until the time came to leave her family. Annabelle just had to convince her siblings.

As the boy spotted her and began to speak, she sighed. When would this boy start having a little fun? He was too miserable for her liking. “Well, get used to it, Hubby, this is what you’re stuck with.” She shrugged, pushing away the insecurity that had risen pink to the surface of her skin. An insult like that would make anyone feel a bit insecure, though, Annabelle would recover momentarily. “I thought streaking would liven things up, Valentine.” The knowledge that he didn’t like to be called by his full name was where the nickname had originated from. Addressing him by the shortened and informal ‘Vale’ seemed too causal sometimes, especially when they didn’t particularly get along. So, she pretended to believe his full name was Valentine. Shrugging, Anna added, “Someone thought they could embarrass me by taking my clothes and wand. They failed, obviously. I give them merit for trying, though.”

“Lead the way. I’m not sure I have the mental capacity to do anything more than scream and hit a bludger.”

Annabelle laughed, leading the girl towards the exit of the castle. “Me neither. I have nothing left in me.”

“First years have decided I’m the end all be all when it comes to a complaint department. That sounds lovely.”

“Tell them to piss off.” Anna said with a laugh, gesturing for the other to follow her. “To the pitch we go.”

It worked, to a point. Anna was able to relax during her bath. She’d relaxed so much that when she climbed out of the tub over an hour later, her clothes had mysteriously disappeared, along with her wand. All that was left was a towel. Momentarily, she was horrified, as any person would be in that situation. But then something magical happened, and not in the sense of a wand casting a spell. 

Annabelle laughed.

Wrapping the towel around her, she strode out of the bathroom and down the corridor, the reminiscence of the laughter was left in a smile on her lips. Curious eyes found her, and the brunette shrugged, “Just trying to make dreams come true.”

Annabelle: I hate you both sometimes Annabelle: because she’s not your only sister Annabelle: and I need you tooo sometimes [Shared: Annabelle Nott’s Location] Annabelle: I’m sorry I didn’t mean to worry you