once; but no longer

 brows narrowed as slender palms pushed down any remaining wrinkles on the attire; in other words, a dress which she didn’t necessarily need to wear. it was a ball though, one with strict codes that needed to be followed. who was she to go against that? still, there was a part inside which signaled that everything about this place was off. taking a few strides forward; scanning the room, another nearly collided into her. close one too seeing with her luck a drink would have ruined the night by spilling. “oh no, no.” she began to say, realizing how that must sound. eyes became wide momentarily as  forced smile fell on delicate features, “i’m fine. it’s all good, nothing to worry about.”

Relief slackened Marius’ expression once he saw that the woman was alright. “What a relief!” At least that was one less thing for him to feel bad about him. There was no doubt in his mind that he would have spent the next week overthinking it had the woman been hurt or a drink spilt because of him. “Again, I am so sorry. Totally my fault - wasn’t paying attention.” He held up his offending phone. “Work doesn’t even stop for a party, apparently.”

@ofquondam​ Jamie

Robb felt like he was enjoying his time at the ball. It was nice to see some familiar faces, some new. He was used to all this sort of thing. Small talk came easy to him. He learned how to do it well from his mother and father. He took another glass of champagne, turning to the nearest person to him. “Cheers,” he said as he clinked their glasses. “This place doesn’t seem too horrible. Free alcohol.” Not as good as Winterfell but it didn’t really matter. Robb was still trying to get over the whole idea that he died. He didn’t like the thought of his family in pain over his own death. “Where are you from?”

Jamie’s head was spinning. The champagne had been a mistake, that much he was now aware of. Not long after he finished the glass the memories started to form. Slowly at first, and then all at once. Memories of a life that contradicted the one he believed was his. The time was wrong, circumstances were different, Claire was... Claire was still there, thank God for that. The Jacobites, Black Jack, Wentworth... it was all coming back to him now. It was overwhelming. He needed air. Stumbling out to the patio, grabbing a glass of something - anything - as he went, he leaned against the balustrade. What did all of this mean? “Aye,” he choked out. “I’ve been to worse places.” Where was Claire? Was she experiencing the same thing? Did she know what was happening? “Scotland. You?” Where Jamie was from was not the most pressing question at present - when was what currently mattered to him. “The champagne is, uh, strong stuff.”

Misty turned suddenly, the hand was was stirring the cup of tea stilling. “What do you mean?” She asked, feeling a little hurt at the question. “Delia,” she began, crossing to the couch where she sank down beside the other blonde, taking her hands in her own. “You know I am. There’s nowhere else that I would rather be.”

Éponine didn’t really care about events like this one. They were made for the people who wanted to show off everything they had – their wealth, their riches, their absolutely perfect family. Not for her, who wanted nothing more than to be away from here.  She wanted to be away from here as soon as possible and considering how her step-mother seemed to have disappeared in the middle of the crowd, that might happen sooner that she had expected.  Putting her glass down, Éponine started to move towards the door and, considering she was so lost in thoughts, barely noticed what was about to happen, before she bumped into someone. Cursing under her breath, Éponine looked over to the other, arms crossed over her chest. “I was clearly better, before you ruined the escape I was about to make. I..” He looked familiar, didn’t he? At least, a little bit. “It’s fine.” Looking around, Éponine sighed. Her step-mother was nowhere around, of course, but.. she didn’t doubt that it wouldn’t be long until the other showed up, so she had to be careful, if she wanted to leave before being caught.

Well, that was a little rude. Marius’ brow furrowed. It wasn’t as if he had purposefully knocked into her. “Again, I’m sorry.” Escape? That was a bit of an odd thing to say. “Do you need help, miss? Can I get you an uber or something?” There he was once again, trying to help the underdog. But there was something about the girl that made him want to help. They hadn’t met before, of that he was sure, but still, there was something in the back of his mind. There was an echo of familiarity in her dark eyes and posture - he just couldn’t think of what it was. “It’s the least I can do, seeing as I have unintentionally thwarted your escape.”

Ben couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his sister, and to say the reunion wasn’t awkward would be lying.

“You look well,” he commented, although this was perhaps aimed more at the glass in his hands than at his younger sister. Whilst he liked Jaina the best out of his other siblings, that wasn’t exactly saying all that much. They weren’t close, and Ben possessed a rather sinking feeling that Jacen had no doubt tried to pass Ben of as the antagonistic one in there recent encounters to anyone who would listen. 

“How is the uh... dancing, isn’t it?” That’s what she was doing, right? It had been so long since he had last seen her - several years? - that he had no knowledge of what was going on in her life. Did she see much of their family? Or had she broken off as he had? He doubted that.

Sirius had been feeling unnerved since his encounter with Snape, and after failing to find Lily amongst the crowd had made a beeline for the bar. Another whiskey would help to soothe his nerves. Turning from the bar, he took a long sip from his glass, the warmth of the liquid a soothing balm. 

Now, where was Lily? She couldn’t have gone far. Perhaps she’d bump into some friends. After all, most of the city had turned out for the event. He tapped the shoulder of the person next to him, raising his voice over the music. “Excuse me, you haven’t seen a redhead have you? Goes by the name of Lily.”

“Don’t pretend to be innocent, Black. I know you and I know what you do, very, very well. In fact, I’d go as far to say that I know you better than anyone in this room. You’re rotten, just like the rest of your family.” And so was he, but.. that was the thing. Severus was not pretending to be someone he was not, like Sirius Black was. As soon as he had remembered who he was, he had left Mary behind, no matter how much it had hurt him to do so. Because.. he knew that if she remembered who he was, eventually and what he had done, she would hate him anyway.

 “Don’t call me mate.  You’re my enemy, Black. Never forget that. And, if I were you.. I’d watch you back. You never know when I might finally feel like getting rid of you.” He hissed, before moving away from the other a little bit. “I’m not the one drinking. In fact, perhaps you should drink a little of this champagne. Maybe.. things would become more clear. About our shared past, I mean.” And then.. he could finally get rid of Black. Finally. “

You think I care about being thrown out? Not really. This ball is stupid and so is everyone else who is standing here, drinking the poisoned champagne. I have nothing to lose, Sirius Black. Remember that.”  He moved away a little bit, chuckling darkly. “You’re still the coward I remember. Potter would be disappointed, clearly. And so would Lupin and Pettigrew and.. even Lily.”  He placed a hand against the other’s chest, before pushing him away from him. “I’m sure that.. even somewhere in your clouded brain, it must hurt. All of your friends, dead because of you. Come on, Black. Do you really not remember anything?”

This was a mistake. He should have never approached Severus, the man was clearly troubled. And where was security? Shouldn’t they have dealt with him already? It certainly didn’t inspire any confidence in the event from Sirius. Which was a shame, as he had been enjoying himself up until that point. Finally, something they could agree on. “I agree with you there? But you don’t know my family. I haven’t had any contact for almost a decade now.” Part of the reason he had moved across an ocean was to get away from the oppressive nature of his home life.

Making threats again? Perhaps Sirius should call the cops on Severus. He certainly no longer felt safe. But he refused to show it. No, the man may have been potentially dangerous, but Sirius was not about to show any weakness. Perhaps back in his school years he would have given as good as he got, but he had changed. Whilst still impulsive, his temper had mellowed out. “You’re obsessed. That’s the only word for it.” He barked out a laugh. “With you acting like this, do you really think that I would want to remember our hypothetical past? You’re very, very, wrong.”

Again with the insistence. It was getting on his last nerves now. “For the last time.” He ground the words out. “I don’t know a Potter, I don’t know a Lupin and I don’t know a Pettigrew.” Why wouldn’t he listen? It was frustrating to say the least. It was like talking to a brick wall. Lily? “Lily’s not dead.”

If there was one person that Severus despised more than James Potter,  it was Sirius Black. It seemed that even after forgetting who he truly was, it had not made him any kinder.. in fact, he was much worse without his memories. He was trying to avoid the other as much as possible – Mary might have not remembered who she was meant to be and where they came from, but.. he knew that she would never forgive him if he murdered someone.. especially someone who used to be very important to her friends. Was he important to her? Severus didn’t want to know.  

But still, as he saw the other, approaching, Severus couldn’t help it but grunt, eyes rolling at the other’s nickname for him. “What do you want, Black? Did you get tired of harming innocents and now, you’ve come to find a new victim to torture? Stay away from me.” I don’t want to kill you, but I will, he added silently, before rolling his eyes at the other. “Well, that’s because you don’t know me at all. You and Potter, you never cared to.” He pushed the other’s arm from his shoulders, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, standing face to face. 

“I might have taken years of your abuse without fighting back, because of her, but she’s not here anymore.  So.. leave me be. Or you’ll regret it. There are much worse things than whatever they put in the champagne.” As a former potion master, Severus recognized that something was up immediately and was proven correct, as people started to act the way they weren’t supposed to act. He regretted it, now. Not fighting back had been one of his biggest mistakes because if he had, well.. things might have been very different.  For the both of them.

“Harming innocents?” He echoed with a frown. That didn’t sound right. Perhaps it had been a mistake to approach Severus, the alcohol-induced bravado woefully misguided. “That doesn’t sound right, mate. You know, you talk complete bollocks.” Nothing made any sense whatsoever. But then again, it hadn’t the last time. The pale man at his side was certainly a strange one. “We went over this last time.” Sirius heaved a sigh. “I don’t know anyone called Potter. Never have, maybe never will. Have you been drinking a lot again? I think you might be confused, bud.”

The sudden move caught Sirius by surprise. “Hey, hey, easy now! It does take much to get you riled up, does it. You’re gonna get yourself kicked out if you’re not careful. All I wanted to do was see how you were. No need to throttle me.” Because of who now? Whatever life Severus had clearly imagined for himself, it was clearly getting further away from the truth. “Because of who? Please, enlighten me. And while you’re at it, perhaps you could let go.” Raising his free hand, he took hold of Severus’ wrist, twisting until his shirt was free. Smoothing his shirt, he took another sip from his glass. “Do I look like the kinda guy who drinks champagne? Clearly you don’t know me as well as you claim to.”

Did Sirius feel nervous? Yes. But would he let it show? Not a bit. He would get through whatever this ended up being and then find Lily. No doubt they’d be able to laugh about it later.

As they entered the ballroom, Misty’s jaw dropped in awe, her hand tightening around Cordelia’s arm. She had never seen anything like it. The opulence far out-rivalled that of Miss Robichaux’s, which now seemed humble to Misty in comparison. She turned to the other blonde, delight apparent on her features. “Have you seen anything like this? It’s like...” She trailed off, trying to find the right words. “It’s almost like a movie, isn’t it?” 

She desperately hoped that it would be an enjoyable night for them both, Cordelia deserved that at the very least, what with everything with Michael and then her mother showing up. “Do you want a drink or something’? Sit down? A Dance?” All Misty wanted was for them to have one night where they could enjoy themselves; a night where all their trouble could fade into the background and they could just be.

Glasses of champagne in hand that Adam had no intention of either of them drinking, he turned from the bar in search of Mara. Surely there would be someone he could pass the flutes off to. He eyed the fizzing contents. If it hadn’t been for the next day’s early call time, he would have easily been a few glasses in. Spying Mara across the ballroom, Adam began to weave his way through the crowd. 

“Oh, Sunny, wasn’t expecting to see you tonight.” He hadn’t made it far before he stumbled across his girlfriend’s younger sister. “It’s been a while. What is it that you’re up to these days?” He could hardly excuse himself now, no matter how much he wanted to get back to Mara.  “Can’t remember the last time I saw you.” Not that it was something he paid all that much attention to, if he was honest.