trouble is never far away

"I've decided."

"As if I’d just throw around the name of the venue so freely. I’m not stupid. Theo, you are simply an extension of the family I once had; an extension that is easily ignored.”

"You are stupid. And when I say my family I mean anyone related to me, including the people who used to pretend to be yours."

Ana simply grinned at such words of confidence from her eldest cousin, a little giggle quickly following as she wasn’t entirely sure whether or not take him seriously. “Of course you are, Th-Theo.. The best looking in this wh-whole room!” Another giggle then, for it really was far too easy to joke around with Theodore, even with the slightest hint of her stutter still present. At his adamancy she couldn’t help but blush further, the faintest of smiles curving at her lips even as she chose to ignore his compliment, entirely unable to handle them. “P-Probably; I don’t know why, th-though.”

"Exactly, which is why I'm talking to the prettiest girl in the room." He smiled at the memory of what Elphias had said to him earlier. There was no way he'd ever try to corrupt Ana but Athena was a lot more fun to mess with. He'd definitely have to try and find her later. "Because he thinks I'm a terrible influence on the pair of you. Five minutes with me and he's convinced you'll be dropping out of school or something."

"Mostly firewhisky, though you have the privilege of choosing a brand," Evan smiled generously, and mock sweetly as the male pulled out his rumbling trunk from under the bed. At the movement the clicking and light clunking of glass could be heard and revealed a fine selection of all kinds of liquors. "I could open a fuckin’ liquor store in here."

Theo reached over to the trunk and picked out a bottle from the selection. He opened it and began to drink. "You should, I'm sure the younger students would pay you loads to get it for them."

"He has plenty of family and we have plenty of friends who care about us and wish us all the happiness. I don’t need my family to approve or be there.”

"Well I wouldn't advertise the venue too much, you might end up with some unwanted guests. And there better not be any of my family there."

"Not tonight, no; he had a few pieces of business to take care of."

"That's a shame. If I were him I wouldn't leave a lady as beautiful as you by herself at a party."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know the room was occupied."

"It's fine, I'm just trying to get another copy of the textbook without McGonagall noticing. I've lost mine."

"A whole week into the new year and this is the first time I actually feel my body sobering up now. Who wants to counteract this?"

Theo flopped down onto his bed. "Definitely, what's the strongest thing you've got?"

"Dunno if I’d call Halloween a good night, per se, but it was definitely interesting," Severus returned, thinking back on the events from the previous holiday with just the slightest hint of a frown on his face for a moment. "Little hectic at the end, though. The ending was… shocking, to say the least."

"Well apart from the ending then, that was slightly unfortunate." Although Theo felt it was more unfortunate that he'd lost the girl he'd been talking to. "The rest of the night was good though. Who even was that girl? I didn't even recognise her, but they kept saying she went to Hogwarts."

"Can’t complain, can’t complain. A couple of small family events, but mostly just following fresh leads at the paper while the rest of the ninnies have been otherwise occupying themselves." Rita had never thought highly of her coworkers, and it was only worsening as she got more involved at the paper. "I must admit, the night off is a blessing. Especially when spent in such good company."

"So have you found any interesting leads then? Oh don't worry about the rest of them, you'll be running the paper soon I'm sure." He smirked, figuring that this was the kind of thing she'd want to hear. "I can't imagine working all the time is much fun. Of course, I'm the best company someone can have."

He snorts and nodded ‘or men.” He shrugged “Keeps my world wide doesn’t it?” He grinned and sipped his drink. “Ah well, it’ll be hard enough won’t it.”

"Yeah whatever you choose." Theo raised an eyebrow. "For you, yes. It'll be extremely easy for me."

"It’s not terrible, ‘cept the masks, really," Antonin returned, chuckling softly. "Dress robes aren’t bad. These masks, though, they’re damn foolish looking. They don’t even genuinely mask anyone’s faces, there’s little point to them at all."

"I just hate having to dress up, it's so uncomfortable. I don't think the masks are really supposed to be a disguise I just think they're to look stupid."

"Oh, Theo, is that supposed to flatter me?" she asked, eyebrows raised amusedly. "And how could you not enjoy this? It’s Christmas, after all, and we’re at an incredible party, with free food, isn’t that your thing?”

"Of course, don't lie you know it does." He raised an eyebrow back at her. "The food is alright but what I'm here for is the free alcohol." He told her holding up his glass of brandy. He took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and held it out to his cousin.

"Oh," Delia’s head snapped towards the voice. "Theo. I didn’t see you there. In that case, I’ll make sure I leave you off the invitation list."

"I hope that Bones guy has a big family otherwise the venue is going to be pretty empty. In fact might just be best to stick to the two witnesses."

"Oh, I’m sure Zach looks just as wonderful as you." Anastasia giggled, one hand moving to tuck a few loose strands of hair behind her ear before both hands moved to smooth down the front of her dress, an embarrassed smile accompanying the motion as her cousin complimented her. "I th-think you have m-me c-confused with a sister."

"He certainly doesn't. I'm far better looking than Zach and everybody knows it. In fact I'm the best looking out of all the Greengrass males." He felt a little sad as she began to stutter, he hated that his little cousin found it so hard to take a compliment despite being one of the loveliest girls he knew. "Nope, definitely not. I haven't even seen Athena tonight. I think Elphi's making an effort to keep me away from the pair of you."