#agh!ryder

[text to Lily]: Merlin, what the hell did Jake give me this time?[text to Lily]: I’m glad I was looking out for those big old little guys though. Someone’s got to take care of them![text to Lily]: I mean, it was cold enough at Durmstrang for them to have polar bears, I bet the Krum twins love me now for taking care of their friends, huh?

[Text to Lily]: Crap, you were never supposed to catch me doing that. But I accidentally dropped it one day and it smells really good, Lil. Like super duper awesome. [Text to Lily]: Oh yeah, and the traffic cone was my Christmas prank on Hugo. And also my Christmas present to your Grandpa Arthur. You weren’t supposed to find it first... oops?

Send “✆” for a MORNING text. 

[Text to Gracie]: Dear Fake Girlfriend, for future reference, one’s bum hurts like crap the day after falling off of their broom.[Text to Gracie]: Can we bring a cushion to the match with your parents tonight? I can barely get out of bed, much less sit on a hard wooden bench for hours.[Text to Gracie]: Where’s Nurse Prince when you need her?

Send “✉” for a text that WASN’T SENT. 

[Text to Gracie]: You’re a better kisser than Lily.[Text to Gracie]: That’s not a very just-friends thing to say, thank Merlin that my phone had no service to send it.

Send “☎” for a RUSHED text. 

[Text to Gracie]: Kitty’s getting suspicious, kick Piers out of your house ASAP!!!!

Send “⁇” for a DRUNK text.

[Text to Gracie]: thsi bdumb bottle gamae suhcs.[Text to Gracie]:you lieookd like yoiu wera having way too muxh fun snogign hugp.

Send “✿” for a SUGGESTIVE text. 

[Text to Gracie]: Hey fake girlfriend, want to come over and practice some very not-fake kissing later?

Send “ø” for a LATE NIGHT text.

[Text to Gracie]: Do you think it would be hard to play Quidditch in those bright lights that Muggles use at their sports stadiums?[Text to Gracie]: I mean, the pros seem to do it okay, but we’ve never actually gotten to have night games at Hogwarts.

Send “✘” for a HATEFUL text.

[Text to Gracie]: OI HOW COULD YOU LET MY SISTER ONTO YOUR TEAM LIKE THAT? [Text to Gracie]: HER HEAD’S GOING TO GET SO BIG!

Send “#” for a RANDOM text.

[Text to Gracie]: Do you think there’s an alternate universe where furbies actually exist?

Send “@” for a SCARED text.

[Text to Gracie]: Do you think Lily loves Sam more than she ever loved me?[Text to Gracie]: They just... seem like they’re moving so fast with stuff. Do you think she always just felt like I was holding her back?[Text to Gracie]: What if I’m just the world’s worst boyfriend and I’m a waste of everyone’s time?

Send “&” for a LOVING text.

[Text to Gracie]: You’re the best fake girlfriend a guy could ever ask for <3

Send “%” for a CURIOUS text.

[Text to Gracie]: Have you ever looked at the sky and thought that there was a constellation that looked like a broom? 

Send “ツ” for an EXCITED text.

[Text to Gracie]: I CONVINCED THE WHOLE FROG CHOIR TO SING OCTOPUS’S GARDEN! IT’S NOT JUST A SOLO ANYMORE, IT’S A BFD!

Send “$” for an ACCIDENTAL text.

[Text to Gracie]: Marley, it didn’t mean anything, okay? I’m sorry for doing it, but I’m just... I think I’m really falling for her, I don’t want to mess that up.[Text to Gracie]: Oh, hey Gracie... Uh, did I tell you I’ve been owling with Professor Starfire? I think I totally have a chance now. 

Send “♀” for a HEARTBREAKING text.

[Text to Gracie]: This is the best relationship I’ve ever been in and id didn’t even mean anything to you :/

Ryder and Gracie were tucked away at the corner of his birthday party, going over what they needed to know before everyone arrived and the real pretending started. They’d hung out in smaller groups, and seen people at the Quidditch World Cup, but this was different. This was a night all about Ryder -- well, half about Ryder, since he and Henry insisted on having joint parties -- and people would get suspicious if they didn’t make sure they knew exactly what they were doing.

Except... Ryder looked down at their intertwined hands, and it didn’t feel so hard to fake anymore. The only person that knew they were lying was Marley, but the lies had gotten so easy that it barely even felt like they were pretending. He liked spending time with Gracie, she liked spending time with him... and Ryder was in way, way over his head, completely unsure what was fake and what was reality anymore. He squeezed her hand, running his thumbs over her knuckles as people cast glances in their direction.

“Yeah...yeah, I guess they are,” he told her, ducking his head so the onlookers wouldn’t see the way he furrowed his brows as he tried to figure out how he meant it. Shaking it off, he stood up, tugging her up with him and dragging her in the direction of their friends and swallowing the lump in his throat. “Hand-holding’s enough to convince them since Lily and Hugo are here, right?”