#bencvolences

Send “ø” for a LATE NIGHT text.

[ text ] i can’t sleeeeeeeeep.[ text ] are you awake? wake up. i wanna hang out.[ text ] how much trouble do you think we’d get it if we went out to play quidditch at this hour? because i’m willing to find out if you’re up for it. 

Send “@” for a SCARED text.

[ text ] am i just imagining things or did you hear that.[ text ] wait. i think there’s someone in the common room. i’m gonna check it out.[ text ] they’re here. you know who and friends.[ text ] oh fuck. i think they saw me. if something happens, tell -

Send “♀” for a HEARTBREAKING text. 

Send “✘” for a HATEFUL text.

tracey looks up at the clouds and thinks, well, fuck.

sally-anne’s lying down next to her as the sun starts to set, the general chatter of the davis-perks band quieter than usual. she can smell her father burning vegetables on the grill, can hear her mother’s quiet laughter. the calendar in the living room reads july, and tracey feels the nervous energy trying to claw out of her skin.

they’ve been lying here… doing nothing… for ages, now. the perks’ arrived two days ago, and all their parents have been doing is speak in low voices about things that the two of them know, but shouldn’t. tracey’s cried over padma exactly three and a half times ever since sally-anne’s been here. finn’s tried to cheer her up with his usual antics, but the heavy atmosphere of the house hasn’t helped any of them.

❤ for a fake dating au

TW: homophobic slurs, bullying

it started in october of fifth year. the first time it happened he was on his way to potions, a large stack of textbooks and parchment in hand. he had been chatting with justin, minding his own business when a hand sent his stack of books toppling to the ground, and then it was on his chest, shoving him roughly against the wall, smacking his head against the stone. 

“faggot” zacharias smith spat at him before laughing with one of his mates, justin starting to yell something but the older boy was already on his way down the corridor. he helped ernie collect his scattered books and papers quietly, neither of them sure what to say but both willing to put the incident behind them.

when it happened again later that month ernie brushed it off, it didn’t matter, sticks and stones he would say to justin, it just only left him with a slight bump and unorganized papers. 

later that week hannah (after justin told her what happened) ripped zacharias such a new one he knew better to stay away from ernie, and justin for that matter. he stayed away and things went back to normal, and they could forget that the incidents ever happened. until sixth year, and hannah was gone, justin and him closer then ever, and in january he felt a familiar hand on his back while on his way to muggle studies, shoving him to the ground, ernie not having enough time to drop his books and brace his fall. 

a familiar hand, a familiar cruel laugh and a familiar word that made ernie’s cheeks burn.

sally-anne had been nearby though, she arrived as zacharias left, helping ernie to his feet glaring in the direction of the older hufflepuff. hufflepuffs had enough trouble with the other houses, they certainly didn’t need any in-house bullying. but it continued to happen, always on the way to muggle studies, smith must have had a class on the first floor as well, always passing through the corridor at the same time as ernie, always sneering at him or shoving him around. sally-anne sticking up for him when she saw it, calling after zacharias as he continued on his way after shoving ernie to the ground for the third time that week. 

helping gather his things she sighed, “i’m sorry ernie,” she said shaking her head, “you’re a prefect, why don’t you tell professor sprout, i’m sure she’d do something about it.” she suggested 

ernie only shrugged it off, picking up his things, “i’d just rather not make such a big deal over it,” he said as they continued on their way to class. 

when march came around, and it was still happening, not just in the corridor anymore but in the common room, the great hall, sally-anne could see how alert ernie was, how on guard he was when he sat in the common room, waiting for zacharias to enter at any moment, but his insistence on not reporting any of it to sprout, coming with a different excuse every other month. this months was that he didn’t want to waste professor sprout’s time with a problem he could fix himself. he insisted, he could fix this himself.

which is how they found themselves sitting in madam puddifoot’s the last weekend of march, awkwardly holding hands across the table over cups of tea that ernie insisted on paying for.

“your hands a bit sweaty” she whispered with a small laugh.

“sorry,” ernie muttered, pulling his hand away wiping it on a fancy napkin before hesitantly taking sally-anne’s hand again.

surrounded by frilly decorations and lacey tablecloths, both of the hufflepuffs feeling a bit out of their element, not only being entrapped by the decorations but by the other (real) couples gushing over each other, or snogging. that was a rule though, absolutely no snogging. it seemed like a good idea at first though ernie had that sort of confidence that he could probably make anything sound like a good idea. just a few dates and the rumour mill of hogwarts would handle the rest. zacharias couldn’t keep picking on him if it was a clear fact he was wrong ernie had decided. but as they sat surrounded by couples and lace and frills both hufflepuffs felt like shrinking into their seats. 

they finished their tea and bundled up and headed out into the winter-spring transition cold, ernie hesitating as he took sally-anne’s gloved hand in his own as they walked through hogsmeade. outside they felt the awkwardness drift, holding hands and talking was easy. sally-anne was just laughing at something ridiculous ernie had said when she felt his hand squeeze hers, she glanced up at him finding him staring straight ahead at who was coming over the hill, his jaw clenched. she saw the moment that zacharias spotted ernie and he started to approach them, though he was still a far ways away. she pulled ernie by the hand off the path, trying to pretend as if they hadn’t seen him but out of the corner of her eye she could still see him drawing nearer. 

“ernie,” she said hesitantly. 

“what?” 

“don’t freak out.” she warned before leaning up, lightly kissing him, ernie’s eyes going wide too shocked to reciprocate at all. they stood like that for what was definitely an awkward amount of time, to stand mouth to mouth, lips practically completely unmoving. but it had worked, the uncomfortable moment had been too much even for parties not involved, and he slunked off. she pulled away from ernie the minute zacharias was out of sight, ernie still speechless. 

“i hope that’s not how you usually kiss ern,” she said with a small smile breaking the tension. 

ernie tried to defend himself but sally-anne cut him off, “because if that’s the case no one is going to want to kiss you,” she teased, “boy or girl.” 

ernie huffed a bit at that, defences and denials left unsaid, but he took her hand in his again as they made their way back to school.  

Beaming, Mandy nodded.“Hi! This is a great party, you really out-did yourself.” Her mood quickly changed when she heard her question. Tensing at Sally-Anne’s sudden presence, every fibre in Mandy screamed in protest, urging herself to laugh off the intrusion and carry on as before. Confrontation was fun - but not when you were the one underneath the spotlight.  “I haven’t had the chance yet. This really isn’t as big a deal as you think it is.”

Send ⚡+ A DARE for my muse to complete in truth or dare.

Thrown by the question, Mandy narrowed her gaze - trying to figure out her intentions.  Batting off the question playfully, Mandy laughed. “Come on Parvati. I have a boyfriend. I’m immune to the charms of others.” Shooting a glance at Wayne, something inside of her stiffened, a small piece of doubt. “But - since I’m a sucker for rules. Kevin Entwhistle for sure. He had those Quidditch muscles going for him. Even if Morag is a better captain.” 

he lets out a laugh at the dare, grinning at parvati. when he’d picked dare, he’d been expecting something wild. this, in comparison to some things that he would dare others to do, was relatively tame. not that he minded. he wanted to enjoy the party and make sure as many other people did as possible - while avoiding embarrassment and/or humiliation. 

putting his drink on the ground, he shrugged his shoulders. “if that’s the worst you got, i can deal with it.” he grabbed the hem of his jumper and pulled it over his head, before pulling off the thin undershirt that was left behind. holding his arms out now that he was completely shirtless, he tossed his shirts to the side of the couch, hoping he’d remember to pick them up later

“merlin, it’s fucking cold. guess i better take another drink to warm up,” he said with smile, before holding his cup up and finishing it. “alright, who’s next!” 

AN INTERACTION ON CASTLE GROUNDS.

It had been a while since Millicent had, well, talked to Sally-Anne. Though, that mightn’t be the most accurate term for their previous interactions, she supposed. The last relevant one was more like… working together, if not exactly with each other. And there was this odd limbo between the gratitude or — odd sense of truce mingled with both discomfort and respect of working together for the first year kid, Gemma (for, as much as Millicent tended not to give many her attention, Gemma’s name had sort of… stuck with her, as did the kid’s face, so much so that Millicent noticed her in the corridors and it was odd, all right, it was, but it seemed like the sort of thing you couldn’t stop noticing once you’d started, and Millicent couldn’t decide if she was disgruntled about it or if she just thought she ought to be out of force of habit), and her absolute simmering cold fury at how Sally-Anne had treated Noah, at the things she’d said, and —- Millicent thought of Noah that night, tear-stained and desperate and heartbroken and trying, he’d been trying so hard, and that cold fist of fury clenched her heart all over again.

But then, apparently, it was all right. Or, well, maybe Noah and Sally-Anne weren’t, but he and Stephen were… something, and that was something enough that it was making Noah careful again with her (though, Millicent reasoned, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t been trying to be that night —- it was Sally-Anne, after all, who had decided to go after Noah on his birthday — Sally-Anne who decided to fucking ruin his night and blame him for something her best friend had done, as if it wasn’t hard enough for Noah to have to have made the call to step back for both of their well-being — Sally-Anne who had been brutal and angry and careless and wrong, Sally-Anne who —- well), and Millicent was keeping stock of that. Besides, well, the truth of it was, Sally-Anne occupied a complex spot in Millicent’s head —- fury & regret & bitterness & rage & vindictiveness & satisfaction & something like a sorry she didn’t know how to articulate and didn’t want to try if she couldn’t be sure she always meant it —- and so did the idea of forgiveness: because it wasn’t as if Millicent was perfect, far from it. The thing was, she had no tendency in her bones to give an inch to anyone who hurt Noah, but there was always that point in the back of her mind that people could change, or become more, maybe. It was just so hard with Hufflepuffs —- not because of the colour of their tie or anything, nothing defined by their house, but rather their house became defined to her by their behaviour. They were just… so bad at fronting up, Millicent thought. It was hard to put her finger on sometimes, but it was the way they could be just as cruel as any other house, just as sharp & as angry & as destructive, but somehow they always seemed to think they were fundamentally better. It was almost like Gryffindors, but —- something about Gryffindors bothered her less. Perhaps it was that there was nothing especially compelling about Gryffindors, whereas Hufflepuffs, well —- she could absolutely get behind their loyalty. It was their extraordinarily frustrating way of acting like their actions were always somehow moral that got to her. Millicent wouldn’t care —- beyond their effects on her friends, of course, but that was on par for course —- about anything they did, if only they didn’t always try to act like they were right to do it and scorn anyone else who did it while wearing the wrong colour tie.

Say what you will about Slytherins. At least they know what they are.

Still. Sally-Anne was a more complicated situation than most Hufflepuffs —- than most students, even. Sally-Anne, Stephen, and her fellow Slytherins: they were the complex things, the ones Millicent could muse about for hours if the fancy took her and still not untangle how she felt. So it was easier not to.

But there she was, on the grounds, and —- Millicent didn’t know. It was like, despite everything else, despite her genuine gratitude for helping with Gemma, despite her seething outrage about Noah’s birthday, despite her own dichotomy of regret / satisfaction with regards to her, when she saw her there on the grounds, she was just… a girl. Which, obviously, she always was, but there was something about the redhead standing in the wind that made her look entirely separate from everything else Millicent associated with her.

“Hey,” she said, curious despite herself. “Are you—-were you going to the Greenhouses or something?”

And if it sounded uncertain, well. That was par for course with Sally-Anne Perks these days, apparently.