acta non verba

“if you know what i’m going to say,” marlene starts, sitting down next to him, plucking the cigarette from his hands and taking a drag for herself, “then why do i need to say it, my sweet vin?” the nickname was both a jab and an act of their truce. that now they couldn’t afford to keep hating each other, that they needed a friend now more than ever. her voice drops slightly, her tone gentler now as she continues, “i know you were there.”

if there was one person vincent hadn’t hoped to run into after the attack, it was marlene. she already knew far too much. the control he’d found himself under was paramount, and unwavering. he was choking on air so badly a cigarette felt like relief. “if you wish to say something. just get it over with.”

“Yes, I’m betrothed again. So what? That doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind about going pro.” 

@petrificushq·

after all the commotion, the deaths, the violence. such trivial things threw vincent for a loop. “and those things are your largest concerns? your priorities seem quite selfish if i do say so myself, miss vanity.”

the sound of his voice made her stop and sigh, the pause brief before she continued walking slowly. side effect of wearing heavy boots? you were never quiet. what was different about this time though, was that hearing vince’s voice didn’t make her feel dread or frustration. this time, she felt like she was facing a storm cloud that was nearly ready to unleash it’s contents, only without an umbrella and no fear of rain. her hand trailed against the side of the wall, leading her around the corner as she mused softly but loud enough for him to hear, “i’ve been coming down these halls to the slytherin common room for the last two years. i think best here, it’s like the lake’s a weighted blanket.” marlene’s eyes landed on vince, only waiting for his quip. “it’s quiet, usually. and it’s like the walls tell you it’s okay to be a little bit sad.”

of course. what luck had vincent been blessed with? a curse, is perhaps a better word. “what’s there to be sad about?” he quips, the harsh chill of the concrete soothing his aching bones. “you’ve got everything you wanted, right?” he’s unsure if his words have bite, or if he’s genuine. reading himself was only becoming harder. they seemed to like the same thing for different reasons. wasn’t that always the way with them? marlene feeling an almost suffocating comfort, and vincent finding solitude in the least comfortable place he could think of. writing her up was pointless, so for now he’d simply look her over. the usual sickness he felt dissipating as his heart begs for her friendship.  

“Nothing you can help me with, curly” he said and then tilted his head to the side, arms crossed over his chest. “Now how come you look like someone just stole your favorite toy?” Lucius then moved closer and sighed. “Come on, do tell”

lucius was truly the last person vincent wanted to see right now. his problems would make no sense. and there was no way he could bring up remus comfortably with him. “just a bit on edge about the mark.” he says lowly. “think it’ll hurt?”

“you’re not as sneaky as you may think. i could hear you at the end of the corridor. can i help you?” vincent was cold as always, mind swirling with eerie, snake-like thoughts. his choice had been revoked. and for the first time. the war feels real. 

“Mhm well I could change that.. if you’d like?” he suggested, arching one of his eyebrows as he looked at the other. He then moved a strand of hair away from his face, the smile never once leaving his lips. “I would love to” he whispered, kissing his forehead. 

“sounds good. just no romantic stuff, can’t stand it.” he smiles, butterflies filling his stomach as he looks at him. “you want a caramel?”

            “  ask  me  no  questions  and  i’ll  tell  you  no  lies ,  ”  alice  smirks ,  looking  up  from  the  essay  she’d  been  writing .  “  i  wouldn’t  say  that .  let’s  call  it  homework  induced  isolation ?  ”

AS SOON AS HER NAME was called, a smile appeared on her face. she caught his hand in her own, looking up at him once he joined her side. “I can’t say you’ve missed much,” rita shrugged, although she was planning on dropping a new article this upcoming week, he didn’t need to know that bit. “and what have you been up to?”

“not a lot.” he scratches his neck, the clearest sign of deception he could accidentally give. if he didn’t know rita so well, he may have mentioned what was on his mind. but secrets were everything in this castle. with secrets came power. “need to get under someone, though. going a bit mad, here.”

Humming when he felt the warm, familiar embrace of Vincent, he smiled to himself a small but yet shy smile. “A muggle book. It’s good to be a halfblood, that way you are surrounded with amazing books” he whispered, closing the book in question as he turned to look at the other, pulling him down onto his lap. “Hey you”

“i don’t think i’ve read many of them.” he shrugs, a small noise of surprise escaping him as remus pulls him into his lap. “hi.” a smile finds it’s way onto vincent’s lips. “you wanna give me some stuff to read?”

without thinking he whirled and launched his fist into vince’s face, hoping for the satisfying crunch of a broken cheekbone to follow. his fury swelled at the words used. “do you like getting hit, vincent?”

oddly enough, vincent had never broken a bone before. not until today. the anger filled him whole within a second, wand pulled far too quickly from his robes. pointing the thing at rabastan’s neck, he raises an eyebrow over his swelling cheek. “you really wanna test me, lestrange? you’ll go blind before you touch me again.”

“ah, there you are.” the boy smirks. beginning to play with the ring dangling from his neck. the ring that bound vincent to peter’s girlfriend. if you could even call her that. despite the evidence, he felt no threat here. andromeda was his, and in the end, there were no winners in this game. “been looking for you.”

“better get outta my head, sweetheart. you may find things you won’t like.”

“ don’t tell ––– ” andromeda’s wide eyes plead with the other’s as she looks down from her perch on the higher steps of a moving staircase, cigarette dangling from her lips and hand clenched around a quill that scribbles out the few remaining words of her charms paper –– which was due forty minutes ago in class, along with her presence. “ tattling’s frowned upon, you know. ” 

@petrificusstarter·