#closedpara

   Bonnie trotted up the steps of the third floor walk up that late morning, eager to reach Elena’s front door. It’d been ages since they’d seen each other. The mayhem in the city, had left Bonnie feeling depleted in more ways than one as she hopped from realty to realty, and balanced classes and finances. She thought she might implode. Even her other friends dragged her out to Bourbon Street for a pick-me-up. Though it definitely helped, Bonnie’s only other course of treatment was a reunion with her best friend. 

    So, upon arriving at Elena’s door, the witch shoved her hand in her jean pocket and pulled out the key Elena had given her. Promptly, she let herself in, scanning the one bedroom for the brunette in question and coming up empty-handed. Shutting the door behind her, Bonnie cast one more glance around the living room and kitchen area before walking over to Elena’s bedroom. This time she rapped on the door twice, before twisting the knob and peering inside. “Hey.”

henrik opened the door when he heard knocking and thanked the post-man when he handed over the box. waving bye to the post-man, he closed the door and walked through to the kitchen inspecting the box. opening the box, he saw three sachets. "these must be the new protein powers that phill was talking about the other day in the gym." he said to himself.

lifting out one of the sachets, henrik ripped open the wrapper and put it in his protein shake bottle, topping it up with his preferred oat milk. shaking the bottle he lifted it to his lips to take a swig, chocolate, pretty good. henrik took another swig and carried on with his day. he went about his routine of doing this shift at the bar and then returning to the gym for his training sessions with clients before he would do his third training session for the day. he had stopped by phils office to thank him for the protein powers but he wasn't in, so henrik left the gym and made his way home to shower and change to then go see terence.

3 days post protein shake

he work feeling sluggish and apathetic. great, just what he needed right now, a flu. his skull was thumping like he could feel every brain wave pulsing in his head. the back of his eyes and body feeling like he hadn't just had eight hours of sleep. whatever flu was going round, he'd caught it bad. trying to stay in routine he forced himself out of bed, grabbed his morning protein shake from the samples he was sent and begrudgingly went about his day.

6 days post protein shake

calorie count be damned, henrik wanted to eat everything in sight. his stomach felt like it was caving in on itself, eating itself out of pure hunger, it made him want to throw up. sleep was now a distant dream, the headache feeling like his skull was in a vice and its cousin the fever having him burning up to new heights. he spoke to hayden since he was direct family as well as his boss and was keeping in touch with him to let him know how his flu was fairing.

7 days post protein shake

this was hell. this wasn't just a flu, he was sure of it. maybe some sort of chest infection plus flu he thought.

11 days post protein shake

he had long ago told terence, pegasus, travis, phil and anyone else he would normally see to stay away from his place but all he wanted was some sort of conversation - especially from terence. henrik looked at his phone on his bedside table and couldn't muster the energy to lift his arm to pick it up. he couldn't even if he wanted to. food had now joined sleep as a distant dream. he felt like death was genuinely looming over him and he couldn't call terence, his body wouldn't let him. he wanted to tell terence everything he could, for him and for the rest of their friends and family. he wanted to tell him he loved him and a million more things. his mind distracted with his thoughts of terence, his eyes fluttered closed and henrik succumbed to sleep.

12 days post protein shake

Lucy kicked the door open and their hinges creaked. Aberforth Dumbledore looked dumbfounded as Lucy stormed in, wand in hand and clothes still disheveled. She had been very distracted as of late.

“I need to get into the castle. Now.” Lucy’s teeth were clenched. As she approached the bar, Aberforth had this crazy look in his eye. He didn’t seem surprised at all, and it wouldn’t have been the first time that anyone’s come to the Hog’s Head to demand entrance to the school. “It’s my sister!”

That was almost a shriek as she banged her fist on the bar. How the hell was he supposed to know who she was? She came in without so much as an introduction, but instead demanded just to see her sister – whoever that was. Fortunately for Lucy, Aberforth was done playing gatekeeper for the Order of the Phoenix.

“We’re not the Order of the Phoenix,” Lucy spat. “It’s not like any of them are actually helping us!”

The rationale as to why he let Lucy and her friends – well, some of them were her friends, some of them were random people off the street who wanted to help – go through was something she didn’t think to ask about. Did he just know they were good just by the knowledge of the passageway? No one else but the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army knew of the passage. Did he think that the danger was out there and giving them the way in was better for them altogether?

Or did he understand the rage of what it was like to lose your sister?

The bartender motioned for the painting in the wall. “There’s not anyone on the other side, is there?”

Without so much as a question, Lucy ducked under the bar to stare at her. She wasn’t as pretty as Molly; her forehead was too big and her hair was too thin. All she did was move out of the way, revealing some smoothed stone steps, and Lucy pulled herself up into the painting. She lit up her wand tip, her shadow like a ripple against the stone.

She moved forward, expecting the group to follow. Any of them could turn back now, and she wouldn’t care. Lucy was that much closer to Molly that she would have sprinted down the passageway had it not been so dark. Was it like this when they told the stories about that night when Voldemort was defeated? Lucy didn’t think that it would have to come to a fight – Professor Wood sealed the castle to protect everyone. She was just going for Molly.

“Fuck –”

The Order of the Phoenix didn’t tell her any directions to get into the castle; that wasn’t in the stories at all. Was this a new defense put up by the Aurors, to cause an illusion? Or was Hogwarts itself getting better at keeping people out? The Room of Requirement had acted against Snape and the Carrows once upon a time. They were intruders but it wasn’t like they were going to hurt anyone! She just wanted Molly!

January 2016

 The New Year arrived and with the the realization that she was starting to feel more alone than before. Sofia saw most of her friends leaving town, getting jobs, attending new graduated courses, and with all that came less time to be with her or maybe she was just having too much time with nothing to do, getting paranoid about it.

 But was still one of her fears, being alone, excluded from everything. Which was happening in her family as well, until her parents decided to have a serious talk with her. Katherine wasn’t too happy about it, you could see it in her face, the frown on her forehead, the looks she was exchanging with Stefan - She didn’t want her only daughter involved. Stefan on the other hand, while trying to built a strong relationship with Sofia noticed the sadness that was starting to surround her and thought she should stand by his side - and was with that he mainly convinced Katherine to talk to Sofia, that and the fact that the young brunette should be able to protect herself.

 “Sofia please sit down.”, the words came out of Stefan’s mouth as if an order was being given, even with that fantastic ‘please’ in the middle of the sentence. The brunette did it anyway, remaining in silence, analyzing her parents’ expressions and only interrupted with her father’s question, “What do you know about my work?”

 Her eyebrows quickly rised, she wasn’t expecting that question, “For real..?..ahum, ok, you own some banks and something else that neither you, mom or even straight-up-Kyson don’t wanna tell me but clearly is related to your ‘death-faking-incident’ “, the brunette replied as a smirk formed on her lips.

 Stefan rolled his eyes hearing her last words before speaking, “Since you’re never letting that go I think it’s time you know what I really do. Listen carefully love because I’m going back to the time your mother and I got together for the first time...”.

 And with that the explanation Sofia waited for came, along with all it’s implications.

 Stefan explained to the young brunette his double life, how from a young age he had start making some dirty works to gain power as a drug dealer and even passing along some forbidden potions to other warlocks and witches back in San Francisco. The way he spoke about the explosion that he used to fake his own death and how it hurted him to leave the woman he loved at the time with his daughter made Sofia’s own feelings about that incident tremble. Could he really just have been protecting that at the time? Was she being unfair to him? A few questions started rising in the brunette’s mind but it didn’t stop there because the story continued.

 Sofia heard him talking about the life he lived in London, how he met his partner Kyson Hart and how the Lightwood’s empire was created over the cover up with a large bank agency to hide their dark business. Stefan told her that he never lost track of them, to make sure they weren’t in danger but he knew that his enemies were always looking for a way to hurt him. He told her that he was informed of their departure to the Southamptons, as well as the incidents that caught his attention: Katherine’s meetings with Frank for secret business, as well as the news about her getting transported to the hospital after a strange attack that year. 

 The mention of the attack made Sofia shift on her seat. It had been a while since it happened but she realized her father didn’t know who was the werewolf that did it. Good. It wasn’t for him to know. As for her mother’s meetings with the other guy, the brunette recalled that she stopped seeing the man for a few months now - the answer came right away with no filter or lies, Stefan had killed Frank. He was one of his enemies after all and was trying to mess with Katherine’s mind, no matter which who Stefan was at the time, he said he wasn’t going to let that man get anywhere close to the Blye’s women.

 “You know...this is...a lot of information for sure but I don’t get it, why having this conversation now?”, Sofia inquired trying to not sound as confused as she was.

 “Simple love, I want you to help me run things.”, Stefan answered calmly, “You’re a young bright witch that doesn’t have a job, lot’s of free time, very smart... and you’re my daughter, not today but one day all I have goes to you, I want you to learn. I want you to know what can come for any of us and I want you to know how to protect yourself from those people.”. Katherine got up abruptly and walk out to the kitchen, and with that Sofia got certain of her mother’s disapproval of this conversation.

 The brunette’s expression changed, was now a mixture of seriousness with confusion, “Let me see if I got it right: You’re asking me if I want to help you break the law and go to the dark side of the world?”.

 “I wouldn’t say ‘break’, I prefer ‘bend’ the law at our needs.”, the man replied with a smirk on his lips, “There’s a large world out there and I don’t need to tell you how dark it can be, you’ve seen pieces...I just want you to see it all and be prepared Sofia.”.

 “How did you convice my mother to be okay with this... with this.. criminal activities..”, the question left the girl’s lips with a small taste of pain. The woman she grew up with, her mother, the most loyal and rightful person she met. How could she be okay with all of this? She got involved in dark matters before but...

 “Sofia, your mother is no saint. Although if we are being honest, she’s not on board with bringing you in, you’re still her baby girl no matter how much you fight. I don’t want you to answer right now, I want you to think, sleep on it and when you’re ready to give me an answer, I’ll be here.”.

 “What happens if I accept?”

 “You will start training, studying and I’ll be there with you. With time, you will have access to everything we do and who knows if we don’t expand our business... But I also want you to know that if your answer is ‘no’, it’s alright. It’s your life Sofia and in no way we want to control it, but you will still need to learn how to protect yourself from those people.”.

April 2015

 Life can be a rollercoaster of adventures, misfortune and random events and still destiny has a fun way of mocking the ones living. Who would say that after everything they have been through Katherine Blye and Stefan Lightwood had found a way to be together again? Not Sofia. The 21 years old girl was not pleased with this reunion. She couldn’t forget that not so long ago her father had a short flying with a certain redhead, she couldn’t forget all those years that she thought he was dead and her mother’s struggle to be both mother and father.

 “Sofia?...SOFIA!”, Katherine shouted, “Dinner is on the table.”. The young brunette mumbled to herself while petting her loyal dog before flashing a forced smile at him, “It’s time to put on a good show...or not.”.

 The reunion of her parents began shortly after the Valentine’s Day but they kept it a secret until a few days ago when Sofia accidently ran into them kissing on the couch. Probably anyone else would be happy to watch their parents together again, for Sofia was just awkward. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this reunion would only bring more suffering to her mother and because of that her protective instincts often kicked whenever she was with Stefan. 

December 2015

 8 Months passed. Katherine and Stefan were still together against all the bets that Sofia had in the beginning. Eventually the now 22 years old brunette understood that it wasn’t her decision and that it wasn’t worth it to waste her time being angry all the time with them. They weren’t doing anything wrong, and Sofia had her own problems to deal with it.

 In July, around Sofia’s birthday, Stefan had a serious talk with Sofia. Another one where he showed himself to her, more vulnerable than the other times. That probably only happened when they first had the serious talk about his life and him wanting to built a relationship with his daughter; this time was because he wanted to keep his family together. It was around that time Sofia buried the problems and started relaxing more in his presence.

 No job yet, her friends mostly leaving to work or study abroard, and still living in her mother’s house with her and her father. Doesn’t really sound like a happy and exciting life that Sofia expected to have.

 Maybe it’s because Christmas was approaching but Sofia could almost say that she was enjoying her twisted family, that had been her rock through these past months. Wait, Twisted? Oh, that’s because someone didn’t stop with his business and even started talking more about it with his girlfriend. But not his daughter, for some reason Sofia had been excluded from those talks, something she did not appreciated nor helped with her trusting issues.

Her arms were sore from lugging the two brown paper bags full Thanksgiving necessities across campus. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember why she had offered to be the one to do the shop. Maybe because she knew she had zero chef talents to offer and would feel less guilty letting him do all the work this way. “Hello?” She called softly while she struggled to open his apartment door, kicking it closed with her foot once she was inside, she set the paper bags on the ground and shook out her arms, they were clearly angry with her. Shrugging out of her coat she looked around the place, “Dante?” She called a little bit louder this time just in time to notice someone stirring on the sofa. Her brows knit together, was he sleeping? Setting her coat on the back of his chair she walked over, “Hey... um, Dante?” She bit her lip as she noticed just how disheveled the apartment was for the first time. He looked no better. Dropping to her knees next to him a look of concern plastered over her features, she picked up the empty liquor bottle next to the sofa with a sigh, “What’s going on?”

@dante-ashur

Hayden walked slower than usual down the hallway. In one hand she had a bottle of red wine, in the other her cellphone to double check she was in the right place. She had only met Dante twenty-four hours earlier but she’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit she had been immediately intrigued by him. There was something simmering below the surface with him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on but she was more than eager to find out. Coming to a stop in front of an unfamiliar door she raised her hand to knock twice, “Hey...” she calls somewhat nervously, “It’s me- Hayden.”