what are they selling? CHOCOLATES

Adam stares at her for a moment, a brow raised. Is that what she thought life was like? That a party RSVP would outweigh his job? He tries to let his irritation only flash on his face so he doesn’t lash out with words. However, it still infects his tone, “I don’t care about your party, and neither does the ministry,” he says quickly, “I’m here to do my job. You are,” he pauses, biting his tongue as best he can, “Wrong. I doubt you’ll be the only person with security, and if you are, I doubt anyone will judge you for being the daughter of Percy Weasley any more than they already have,” he pauses and inhales, “I don’t really count as a person in this circumstance, or any others. So, stop complaining and let me do my job,” he says, as a means of explanation. Though, really how anyone thought that was beyond him.

Straightening, he gestures and inhales, deciding immediately that he wanted to speak to her as little as possible, “Go in, and don’t worry about it.”

“Wrong about what?” Lucy narrowed her eyes. All she did was point out that he wasn’t on the list; why the fuck did it behoove him to give her a lecture on being Percy Weasley’s daughter? There were only two candidates in the election, and only four Weasleys with Ministry security; the Aurors around the clock was a pretty atypical situation.

She realized she didn’t exactly care to listen though; the whole reason for the RSVP was to limit the people going inside, and just because he was Ministry employed doesn’t mean he was invited in. They don’t just let riff-raff inside! And it wasn’t as if she were going to get attacked inside of a bookstore. These were elites they were talking about.

And shouldn’t Aurors make better use of their time and patrol the streets anyway? His creepy stare would be better utilized elsewhere anyway.

While this sort of assignment was not one he was entirely looking forward to, the event in question was not one he was dreading. The pomp and circumstance surrounding the re-opening seemed a bit much, but he’d be willing to admit it was probably going to be at least all right. 

Tailing someone never felt less weird. Obviously, she knew full well he was there, but the irritating and irrational voices in his head always had something to say about the process. When she stops, he stands a few feet back and raises both brows at her statement, “Right,” he mutters, deciding to approach. Glancing over the paper, he nods, “Go on in, I certainly wouldn’t count as a companion, if you’re expecting someone,” he says briskly, “If that’s what you’re concerned about,” he adds.

Lucy breathed through her nose, her lips pursed together to keep herself from saying what she was actually thinking. Merlin knows she had enough practice being polite in front of her father, but she was more afraid of him than she was of the random Auror.

Was he really so stupid?

“I’m not expecting anyone – I broke up with my boyfriend weeks ago –” Though no one would call her out on that lie; it had literally been only a week since. But it was certainly on her mind often enough, and she shook her head because that wasn’t the point she was trying to make. She bit her tongue for a moment, before deciding to thoroughly explain.

“You –” She pointed at him. “—are not coming with me.” Then she pointed at herself. “Because –” She pointed at the bouncer, if you could call this other random third party in this conversation that who was waiting for one of them to go in already. “I didn’t RSVP for more than one person.”

Samuel Prince probably wasn’t expecting her to bring anyone anyway; he was the one comforting her when she was crying. Lucy cringed when this guy actually thought that he could have been her plus-one? If she wasn’t supposed to be on her best behavior, she would have smacked him with her purse for insinuating that he was actually worthy of her anxieties. That thought hadn’t even crossed her mind!

“Don’t take it personally,” she snapped. “You just can’t come in. You’re not on the list!”

Rosa scoffed at the younger female’s statement – did she really look like she worked for the Prophet? She didn’t think so, but according to Lucy she was just another interviewer looking for the latest scoop. “No, no. I don’t – that’s not the kind of work of I was referring to.” She took a small sip of her drink, deciding on wether she should bring up what her and Ana had decided without the older woman there – where did she even go? “You’re an artist, yes? A painter?”

Rosa got the feeling Lucy wasn’t interested in conversation, whether it was because she didn’t want to speak to Rosa or because she was in a foul mood, she wasn’t sure, but it made the young brunette uneasy. Ana was better at this than her and she was nowhere to be found, she was starting to think she had creeped her out with the necklace. She assumed Molly wasn’t doing so well by the way Lucy was acting, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hurting, just not as badly as the faceless female. Most of it was her head: migraines, insomnia, nightmares, dizziness, but that didn’t make it any less real than what Molly might be going through. She kept these feelings to herself, though, keeping the plan in mind.

She mustered up all the charm and charisma she could, giving her a smile. “That’s good, I’m glad,” she began, taking a small sip of the drink in her hands. “I was actually looking to see if you were interested in some work.”

What the status report on Molly wasn’t this girl’s business and Lucy should have known better growing up under the public eye. Everyone wanted a piece of the Weasleys. Whether that piece was given or taken wasn’t a luxury that any of them really had to choose. At the mention of work, Lucy wasn’t sure if they were really talking about the same thing – sometimes people just wanted her to talk about her father or other family members.

Recent events had made Lucy forget that she had her own business to care for – and whatever this work was, she thought it had to do with reporting on the family. As hard as she worked to put her name out as something other than one of the Weasley’s or Percy’s daughter, she just wasn’t known for what she wanted to actually be known for.

Usually she was willing. But after Molly’s accident, she just felt like she was just repeating the same stories over and over again – especially since there weren’t any real stories to tell anymore and nothing worth uncovering that hadn’t already been uncovered. “I’m not working for the Prophet.”

It was safe to say that it was a rocky meeting when Rosa had seen Lucy for the first time, but she didn’t blame her for being upset and would have been the same if one of her siblings was stuck in there, but none of Rosa’s step siblings gave a shit about her anymore because of her mother’s mistake and she didn’t even know her biological ones. 

Rosa looked down for a moment, biting her lip. “I didn’t make it there, actually. I was attacked before I was able to get to the dungeons – I was released not too long ago.” She didn’t want this woman’s sympathy, but she might as well tell her what happened. She had no one now, maybe she could confine in this stranger? If worst came to worst she’d just blame it on the few glasses of wine she had downed before spotting the other female. “What about you? How was your sister? Molly, right?”

“Oh – I’m sorry… I guess?” Lucy wasn’t really taking well to this girl she barely knew. And she looked like she was fine; Molly was still obviously in recovery.

Sure, Rosa just wanted to make small talk, but Lucy wasn’t in the best of moods after breaking it off with Aidan. She was much more straightforward, though straining to be polite. “Yeah, Molly’s fine. Why – why do you ask? Did you need something?”

Lucy wasn’t the famous Weasley but it wasn’t the first time she had been approached by a stranger at random. Even though the other girl tried to comfort Lucy when her sister was in the castle behind the gate, there wasn’t anything else that made them friends.

James could tell something was off about his favorite little cousin. Usually Lucy was all smiles and carried herself with a sense of confidence in a way. She was the little sister he always wanted: non judgemental and willing to follow him in any adventure that was headed their way. The high he was previous on from making out with what’s her name was now gone. He was starting to worry about Lucy. Something he didn’t do with a lot of people. 

“Wait…weren’t you dating that prick Wood? I could have sworn…” He had a lot of questions. This wasn’t the Lucy he was use to being around. It was like the aliens took her away and replaced her with someone else he had never really interacted with before. Did Lucy and Aiden get into a fight and they just taking time to relax? Did Aiden do something stupid again? It wouldn’t be surprising if a Wood did something stupid since it was in their DNA. Sure with all the crap going on, people were on edge and emotions were high for the most part. Yet shouldn’t couples be holding each other close by the fire instead of fighting? 

Lucy’s next few words threw him for a little loop. He shook his head and put his hands on his hips, trying to process this piece of information. “Wait…back up…what do you mean you don’t have a boyfriend? You and Aiden are over now?” James couldn’t hide the tiny bit of relief he had. He wasn’t a big Wood fan. They were all pricks in his mind. Yet he also wanted to find Aiden and punch him to next Thursday. He couldn’t believe that this shit head had put his little cousin in this position and he was ready to fight. Lucy didn’t need any of that drama though. It wasn’t right. Especially since Grandma Molly would literally kill him for starting some crap. So instead, he wrapped his arm around Lucy’s shoulder for support. 

“Or we could find an cake and eat it together while doing shots. Or an even better idea, we can throw cake at Aiden. It would be entertaining and I would love to have the chance to do it.” he said proudly. “Besides, it’s not a proper Weasley-Potter event without a little bit of chaos am I right?” He kissed the top of her head and started to lead her to the stairs. “Come on Sturtevant, its a party! We need to get out of those old stuffy rooms from the dark ages and have some fun. What do you say? Want to try an Irish Car Bomb?”

Lucy laughed as the words tumbled out of his mouth. “Well, yeah – because he’s a prick, just like you said!”

It didn’t really make her feel that much better that he was stating the obvious and still just… not getting it. But James didn’t know what happened during that argument nor how their relationship was deteriorating. The details would take forever and she knew James wasn’t the kind of cousin to really care about shit like that – but she did feel stupid for letting this go on for so long on some hope that it was going to get better.

But her mouth did twitch in a little smile when he suggested that she throw cake at Aidan, and she squealed before slapping him in the arm.

“Kuya! I don’t wanna throw cake at him, I just –” She paused. Throwing cake wasn’t the kind of decorum Percy Weasley wanted during events like these, even if Aidan deserved to have something harder than cake thrown at him. Lucy finally settled for getting drunk as hell though, even if it meant screaming like a banshee while doing whatever dare James told her to. This was a Weasley function after all, and Lucy was sure that someone in her family would make a bigger scene than she did. Her money would be on Dominique, especially considering the Halloween fiasco with the copycat dresses and vomit on the floor.

Lynx quickly scribbled the address on the notepad, making sure to steal a look at the sketch Lucy had been working on. Lynx now understood the ornery approach the artist took, she was good. Like, really good. Of course she wouldn’t work for just anyone, Lynx thought to herself, she had to have her potential clients prove themselves before she put her reputation and time on the line.

Lynx felt a bit more comfortable sitting in front of Lucy after coming up with this hypothesis. She’d overcome the first hurdle, now she just needed to follow through.

“I think the venue is perfect for what I’m doing. The owners like to keep things on the down low at first, but then it explodes through word of mouth. So it mimics the spread of a movement.”

In all honesty she’d only heard of the club, this would be her first time being in there and performing. So, Lynx didn’t know what to expect.

“In all honesty, I’m not sure. What I’ve heard through the grapevine is that there are some expanding charms in the space so the capacity can fluctuate with how many people are there. But I dont really know anything for certain.”

Lucy raised her brow at that explanation for the club; it still didn’t make sense to her how to hype up a place when there were no people around to hype it up to begin with. No one would get hype with an empty club; what the hell were these people thinking? “But what if it doesn’t explode by word of mouth? Oh wait – that’s clearly why you need me, then….”

She was finally satisfied with the meeting. Though she wasn’t convinced that Lynx totally had her act together, it wasn’t as if her time had gone to waste. In a way, Lucy thought she was helping her by laying down these expectations. While Lucy was a tough one to please, there were definitely critics that were more difficult to impress. And it was in Lynx’s best interest to pay attention to what Lucy was getting at – though Lucy herself was mostly working in her own self-interests, which just happened to align with what Lynx was in need of: her name in black and white.

“Okay. I’ll come see you.” Lucy, resolute, now reached for her sketchpad and stood up. She flicked her wand to vanish the eraser shavings on the table and glanced at Lynx with a small smile. “But not tomorrow – that makes too much sense and it’s too convenient… what if I show up tomorrow and you do your best set then, but be a total fluke when I’m not looking? Best to do it when you don’t know when I’m coming.”

aidan didn’t know what to expect from his meeting from his girlfriend. – their relationship has been one of the choppiest, and though it got worse and worse after every other time that the man spent more times with his bros than his actually lover, he never thought it would come to this point.

a break – or even seeing someone for their relationship problems was what he was expecting, but it sounded just so foreign hearing the words slip passed her voice. the man’s eyes went straight towards hers for a brief second, pulling away when their gaze met and moving it down to the ground, primarily at a little spec of dirt on the sidewalk.

he stood there for a few seconds, quiet with his hands in his pockets before looking back at her. “you’re kidding right?” he asked, the tone of his voice as serious as it would be on the quidditch pitch. “we’re – we’re not the best, but we’re – we’re good, aren’t we? why do you want to break up? – why do you want to leave me?” the words came out selfishly, though being the man that he was, he didn’t even bother to apologise for it. 

“Well. We were.” Lucy didn’t want to talk anymore; she just wanted to get all of this over with. “We were the best…”

They had been cute together. They had fun together. They had decent sex together. But when it came down to it, Aidan just wasn’t a good boyfriend in times of trouble. He wasn’t exactly present when Lucy was struggling to kickstart her business, and he only came around to use Lucy as a distraction from his own problems. She steeled herself to start talking again, reminding herself that words are nothing without action, though this didn’t seem like that much of a problem really, he just didn’t bother defending himself. But Lucy hadn’t accused him of anything – yet.

Rosa couldn’t help but realize that, even though she had been working in England for many years now, she barely knew anyone attending the party she was at. Other than Ana, she wasn’t even sure who was attending, much less if she liked them – god forbid she run into Marius. She sighed. Ana had wondered off, which Rosa didn’t mind but couldn’t help to think she annoyed or creeped her out. Maybe she could find someone else to talked to, someone who didn’t make her want to become an enucleator and scoop her eyeballs out with a plastic, Christmas themed spoon. 

Across the way he saw a familiar face – but what was her name again? She wasn’t even sure if the younger female told her her name last time they spoke. All she remembered was what happened after they spoke – when that two faced bitch attacked her and left her for dead in the dungeons of Hogwarts. She decided she might as well ask her how she was doing, she hadn’t seen her since then and she hoped that at least someone had a better experience than her. “Hey, you’re the one from the Hogwarts thing, right? I don’t think I properly introduced myself, I’m Rosa Maria Lopez.”

@lucy–corazonweasley

Lucy narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t in the best mood to meet anyone; evidently breaking up with your boyfriend on Christmas tended to put a damper in anyone’s mood. Even if she was the one who had done it, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t sad or upsetting.

She looked Rosa up and down, though she was right about one thing: Lucy was too busy losing her mind about her sister to really receive a proper introduction. Although Lucy was famous now; she had given radio talks and press conferences about her sister being hurt and how all of this was so damn outrageous. But she was famous for the total opposite reason of what she wanted to be famous for.

“Yeah, I know you,” Lucy exhaled. Rosa Maria Lopez carried herself differently from everyone else and definitely dressed differently than everyone else. More ostentatiously it seemed. Now Lucy questioned why this wealthy bitch needed to get into the castle anyway. “Did you find your friend or what? He’s not dead, is he?”

Lynx nearly melted into the seat when Lucy’s disposition changed. The same glimmer in her eyes from before had been ignited again. For the first time since she’d sat down, Lynx felt like Lucy actually wanted to be here.

“Yeah, Wikker’s is new. Right now it’s on the fringe of the club scene, but I really think theres a lot of potential for growth. Especially with the management.”

Lynx was proud of herself for managing to even get in. Despite them being new, the people in charge certainly had their connections and had even gained a bit of a cult-following already.

“Its based in Diagon Alley. I can tell you the address, if you’d like?”

“Of course I do,” Lucy nodded, finally relaxing into a less threatening demeanor, especially since Lynx had found her stride. It wouldn’t be a bad idea at all to do work for not only an up-and-coming artist, but an up-and-coming venue. If they didn’t already have some sort of marketing team, Lucy could figure out a way to charm her way in. The actual graphic design aspect meant that she had to be good at what she actually did; no one cared that she was a Weasley if she couldn’t put ideas to paper and from paper to the hearts and minds of that audience they wanted to capture.

Lucy pushed her pad with the sketch and dropped her pencil so Lynx could write the address. She was surprised that she hadn’t figured out where this place was since Diagon Alley wasn’t exactly large – or maybe it was just made larger somehow by magic. She had never really thought about it. “What do you think of the place? Do they have some sort of… secret charms to hide?”

Lynx felt the pit of her stomach fall onto the Café’s grease-coated tiles. This woman scared her, no doubt about it. She didn’t expect the brunette in front of her, with the telltale slender fingers of an artist, to be such a bastion of power.

She definitely should’ve looked into politics.

The endless debates needed someone like this woman, someone who would address the issues at hand and fearlessly tread into the territories that had the current politicians wringing their hands in trepidation.

Why can’t you be that person?

Lynx was sent reeling with the thought. She didn’t have any political background and most of what she knew was what was cycled through the press in a system of regurgitation and retraction. Nobody wanted to make a stand. That’s what scared her.

“Okay… I have a performance tomorrow night at Wikker’s, if you’re dissatisfied with what you see, I’ll reimburse you for your time.”

Lynx’s voice didn’t shake with the adrenaline that was coursing through her body. Instead, it was filled with a cool resoluteness she hadn’t heard before.

Lucy didn’t want to say that she didn’t care about the money at the mention of a reimbursment – but what was passion without a little bit of reward? Lucy didn’t think of it as a reimbursement, though she wouldn’t be paid at all if this meeting didn’t come to fruition at all. Lucy finally leaned back, again watching the girl squirm. She didn’t get a kick out of it since to her it was just business, but it was then she realized that she had to be the one asking the tough questions since no one else really did.

Lucy actually smiled genuinely for the first time during that entire meeting. Something about the girl made her less awkward when she talked about her performance. Lucy surmised that maybe it was because she had been practiced time and time again, but she didn’t bring that performer persona when she was performing in front of everyone else. That disappointed Lucy a little, but it wasn’t this version of Lynx that Lucy would be creating art about. The first page on her sketch pad fluttered a bit as she took her pencil and wrote down the place; Lucy wasn’t about to walk out on her, not yet anyway. After all, it was a chance to work with someone up and coming... but Camellia didn't seem like hot shit, she seemed more like hot mess. And Lucy couldn't believe she had to be the one to clean it up.

samuel–prince‌:

It had been a few years since Sam had celebrated the holidays with anyone else, so when he heard about a Christmas party open to everyone, he was in. His usually shy and socially awkward self was gone with the wind, but he was sure that was because of the few glasses of wine he had previously. He couldn’t help himself, he was so nervous when Teddy said he was going to meet his family he needed to loosen up and now that he was done meeting the parents he may have had just a bit more than he was expecting (though he was a total lightweight so he should have known).

He wasn’t sure where his friends had gone, they had probably wandered off somewhere with their families or loved ones, leaving him by himself with the snacks, which he wasn’t awfully mad about. Although human food wasn’t nearly enough to suffice a vampire’s appetite, he couldn’t help but shove the sweet desserts and savory snacks in his mouth – so much so that he didn’t realize he was in the way until he was bumped into. The plate of snacks almost fell, his hands struggling to grab it before it and all the tasty goodness hit the floor. The person said hello, causing him to look up from the plate with a shy smile (and chipmunk cheeks from the cookie he previously put in his mouth) and gave them a little wave. He hadn’t talked to Lucy Weasley in awhile, but she was good company and if he didn’t get distracted he might eat the whole snack table. He swallowed hard, ridding his mouth of the cookie, “Hi~ how have you been?”

Sam couldn’t help it, Lucy was sort and Sam was easy distracted, so he found himself searching around over her head. Although the room was filled with people, he could still tell someone was sad. Their heartbeat was slow and he could almost smell the despair coming from them, which made his poor tipsy heart hurt. He squinted, eyes settling on a familiar head of blonde: Dominique. Sam frowned. He hated when his friends were sad, it made him sad. “Dooooommi~” he called, reaching a hand towards her. “Are you okaaay?”

@dommi-weasley​

She hadn’t cried as much as she thought she would. She had been preparing herself for the break up for a while and in her mind she had expected her and Danny’s separation to be soul crushing as all of her breakups usually were. It was, kind of. But she had that little voice in her head saying she’d done the right thing that kept her from sinking onto the floor in a sobbing fit. 

She was still crying of course, soaking up tears with the sleeve of her coat. Dominique had gotten used the crying in public a long time ago and did it without shame. She was sad. She was allowed to be sad. She was allowed to show that she was sad. At least she wasn’t wailing, just sniffling slightly. 

As she made her way back towards the burrow hoping to sneak inside and find her mother or grandmother or someone comforting she heard her name. 

“Sam!” She said putting on a smile despite her red eyes and approaching him taking the hand offered and giving him a hug before spotting Lucy. The last time they’d seen each other things hadn’t gone well but judging from Lucy’s red eyes neither of them were having a good night. “Hey Luce.” 

“I - erm - I’m ok.” She responded to Sam’s question, very clearly lying. “Well, Danny and I split up but it’s probably for the best.” Her voice wobbled ever so slightly.

“Hey…” Lucy was hesitant to even speak, and she narrowed her eyes at Dominique. Did she do this on purpose? Was she trying to one-up Lucy again? First with the dress and now with a breakup? There was no way that Dominique should have known than Lucy was planning to break up with Aidan tonight – though it probably made more sense to have done it after Christmas and New Years and Valentine’s Day. But Lucy wasn’t ready to wait that long. “I’m sorry that – about that…”

The only fact that Lucy knew about Dom’s boyfriend at the time was that he was a hot American who looked kind of homeless. She’s probably gushed to Rose about him too, so Lucy wasn’t exactly sure if she should feel bad for Dominique since she had Rose to go crying to. Lucy was slow to reveal her own heartbreak from earlier that evening, letting a long quiet moment pass (or as quiet as it was with Samuel Prince loudly munching on desserts) before saying something back. “I didn’t know what I saw in him. You know. Aidan.”

The name slipped between her teeth, but barely. She didn’t say she broke up with him, and she wasn’t sure she expected Dom to read between the lines – though as a diviner, she should. But it called into question what Dom had seen in him too. What was it about Aidan exactly that was worth warring over, other than the muscular arm to hang from? Her swollen eyes narrowed a bit, daring Dominique to speak on what vague statement she had about Aidan, before turning her attention to the taller man hovering over them.

Samuel Prince broke the tension in a way that Lucy didn’t expect. The last time they had met, they had a long conversation about love and life and how he was a squib but that was supposed to be secret or something. It wasn’t that Lucy had seen him in a bad mood that day – but his demeanor now was so much less tense from when he had taken Lucy to paint in his studio. Maybe it was because he knew Lucy and Dom were fans. Maybe it was because he was totally drunk. Lucy didn’t come to that conclusion first, but authors did that sometimes, right? As awkward as Samuel Prince was the first time they had met, he didn’t come across as the kind of person to be bitter enough to resort to drinking regularly… and it was obvious. “So – er – how do you know Dominique?”