Alecto

He wasn’t leaving! Alecto felt sure she was being dismissed and he was going to leave but he wasn’t. Instead he was continuing to talk to her. Maybe he did like her. The thought gave her a little thrill. Alecto had never had someone like her before, in any sense. Amycus did but that was the only person. Though she hoped Ceneweard liked her in a different way then how her brother liked her. It wasn’t something she’d ever thought she’d find herself thinking. Blokes liking her seemed to be a ridiculous notion but maybe not. Smiling Alecto went to say something more but a voice called out behind her and cut her off. “Cene!” Looking around Alecto was irritated to see the happy, shining face of a Tooker girl, the one in her year. Even more so to see how quickly the girl advanced on both of them to take his arm in her grubby little hands. “Sorry to interrupt.” That was a lie, Alecto could tell by how happy the Tooker looked as she was already starting to pull Ceneweard around her. Positioning herself between Alecto and him. “Everyone’s waiting, we really have to go.” Alecto couldn’t do anything but watch as this bitch pulled Ceneweard away from her. Damn it! Talking to him had been a mistake but wow...

“Uh…” Cene trailed off, his eyes widening, and he felt an awful lot like a deer caught in wandlight. Alarms were going off in his head, warning him to abort, only he didn’t know how to get out of this conversation without making things weirder. He had not set out to talk about the girls he dated – or didn’t date, more like – nor did he mean to pity her. If anything, his words had been intended to do the opposite. He just didn’t know how to say that without making her think he was hitting on her. “Right, yeah, uh…right. Sorry,” he answered quickly, his cheeks reddening as he chose to ignore that bit about him and birds. “All I meant was…never mind,” he quickly gave up on the thought of explaining further. “I should, ah, I should probably get going….”

He aggravated Alecto. Not because of his wide eyed, cute animal about to be used for hex practice look. Or his stilted speech. Not even because of his blushing. No Alecto was mad because she found all of that endearing or some shit. It was bullshit. Amycus would have hexed her if he could see her, and rightly so. She’d do the same thing in a heartbeat if she ever caught him being this dumb over some idiot. Instead of standing there thinking of ways to make the idiot in front of her scream she was wishing she had paid more attention to the birds she’d roomed with. They always seemed to know how to get a bloke’s attention. Even stupid Greengrass who was too far up Selwyn’s arse to really care about other blokes. Instead of some cute trick to get his attention or get closer — she’d never been this close to him before — she just nodded. “Right. Hadn’t meant to keep you.” Despite her words she made no effort to get out of his way. “It was completely unexpected running into you. But nice,” she added awkwardly, social graces were never her thing. Alecto just wanted to emphasis the accidentally nature of this run in because she certainly didn’t want him knowing she was occasionally stalking him.

Cene’s brows pulled together in confusion when she laughed at his answer, and even more so when she so bluntly rejected it. It wasn’t that Cene disagreed. In fact, he was pretty sure she was right. But it felt rude to say so, and it certainly wasn’t a topic of conversation he knew how to carry on. And yet Alecto seemed set on not only continuing it, but making it even worse. He frowned, disagreeing with her words but also feeling incredibly awkward. Bloody hell, he was not equipped for this. “No, I…that’s not true,” he managed, and he meant it. “Those birds are all sort of…” Cene hesitated, not wanting to make fun of his fans in front of another one. “They’re a lot. I…” He personally preferred normal birds, but he felt weird saying that to her so he quickly continued, “Being normal is loads better, trust me.”

His words surprised her. Especially because he seemed to mean them, even if he hadn’t finished his thought. Not really. A lot wasn’t finishing it. But it did make her wonder. Maybe his comment about being normal wasn’t just nice guy bullshit. Though Alecto didn’t like the idea that she was normal. What bird would want to be called normal? Besides normal birds didn’t know how to preform the Unforgivables so easily like she did. Sadly not a thing she could brag about right then, stupid Ministry. Still she found herself scoffing at his words. “Yeah, I’m sure you date lots of normal birds.” Alecto didn’t want to talk about who he was dating, if she found out it was for sure Meadowes she’d explode. “I don’t need your pity, it’s fine. I’m fine.” 

Cene frowned slightly at the way her smile dropped at his question, uneasy for a moment. She hadn’t seemed like a crazy fan, aside from asking for an autograph, but it was hard to tell sometimes. And people could be sneaky, even if Cene was still inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt until proven wrong. It seemed he was not about to be proven wrong, though. She wasn’t looking for him, she was looking for someone else. A he. “Oh.” Instantly Cene felt his cheeks darkening as he realized he had absolutely no idea what to say here. His hand found its way back to his neck and he swallowed. “Uh…sorry. I uh…maybe he just got…lost,” Cene finished weakly, though he didn’t believe that at all. Bloody hell, he shouldn’t have asked.

Alecto let out a huff of a laugh. Hopefully he’d think it was at his answer. The reality was she was just happy he’d bought her story. “More like he split.” She shrugged her shoulders because this fictional bloke was just that fictional. “Guess I can’t compete with half-naked quidditch fans.” That time she did sound a little more upset. Alecto knew she couldn’t compete with birds like that just like she couldn’t compete with birds like Nott and Rosier. Not that she cared. She didn’t really. Blokes were dumb, Alecto wanted no part of them. Maybe a little part of the one in front of her but whatever that didn’t count.

“I – …yeah.” Cene nodded, surprised with himself and equally surprised that she did not suddenly seem put off by him. The whole ‘speaking-his-mind’ thing was a fairly new development, and he still struggled to shake the feeling that he was being too pushy, or wasting his time on people who shouldn’t matter. But it also felt sort of good. “Yeah, I do,” he repeated, straightening up slightly without realizing it. Though what her concerns with his plans for the future were Cene had no idea. “Ah..yep,” he answered with another nod, slightly sheepish smile returning to his lips as the same energy he’d had moments earlier mostly faded away. “Anyways, I should uh, probably be on my way…” he began. This conversation had been sort of weird, but not unpleasant, and he paused a moment to consider Alecto. “Er…were you waiting on something here? Is there anything I can help you with?” There had to have been a reason she was still hanging around the pitch so long after the game, and she’d been pleasant enough that Cene would feel bad just leaving her here if there’d been something she needed.

There was definitely more to Ceneweard then she’d begun to suspect. Even the way he straightened up a bit gave him away. The confidence she’d always noticed on a broom finally seemed to be coming out off the broom. Insulting him hadn’t been intended but she wasn’t sorry for it all. Though she was sorry to here him say his goodbyes. She’d been enjoying their conversation. At least until now. Fuck. Alecto couldn’t really tell him she was stalking him. Or that she’d only meant to watch him from the shadows not fucking talk to him like an idiot. “Oh I….” she started nervously. “I was um looking for someone actually yeah. It’s just I came with someone and he wanted an autograph so I was waiting and he never came back so I came looking for him but found you instead.” Sounded reasonable. Except not really it was the most unbelievable lie she could have told. To get stood up she’d have had to actually been on a date. Unless he just automatically assumed it was her brother. Oh shit! Did saying she got stood up make her sound like a loser? Whatever, it was said and she was sticking to it.

Oookay. Maybe he was just overreacting because he knew her to be a Slytherin, but Cene couldn’t help thinking it was a little odd, to say the least, that she went so quickly from urgency back to smiling at him. Confusion flickered across his face once more when she brushed aside his thanks, and he managed a small nod. “Uh…right. Thanks. I mean – yeah.” He blustered awkwardly, offering a small smile and hoping he didn’t sound as dumb as he felt like he did. Not a feeling that increased any at her lackluster response to his thoughts on joining the national team, though he bristled slightly at the obvious judgement in her tone. “I worked my arse off for seven years to wear the Puddlemere colors. I didn’t do that so I could be on the team for two years and then leave for something better. The national teams don’t get as much playing time as teams in the league, and there’s a lot more turnover. I’m happy where I am, for now.”

Okay maybe she didn’t hate herself so much for being attracted to him. At least not when he was like this. Alecto liked this look on him much better than bashful puppy. There was a fire to him. Maybe he did have plans for his future after all. Plans that bitch Meadows was going to fuck up but maybe he’d figure that out before it was too late. Plenty of people were jumping sides. Like all the Death Eaters she’d heard about the attack on the Order and the traitor in their midst. “I hadn’t realized that. Guess you’ve got it all worked out.” Alecto wondered what else she might be able to insult him on to see that fire in him again. Most of the easy stuff she ran the risk of exposing herself and she wasn’t keen on a trip to Azkaban, no matter how short. “It’s good you’re thinking of the future,” she added off handedly noting the ‘for now’ at the end of his comments. Too bad he wasn’t doing that in all aspects of his life.

“Uh…” Cene’s eyes widened in confusion at her sudden, emphatic rejection of what he’d meant only as a friendly offer. He frowned, his brows furrowing together, and he wondered if he’d just been too presumptuous. Of course she didn’t need to have his autograph; no one needed it. Still he didn’t think the offer merited that strong a reaction, and he could feel his cheeks reddening slightly from embarrassment. “…Yeah, okay, I – sorry,” he mumbled, his hand finding its way back to his neck as it tended to do when he was flustered. He was much happier to have the subject turn back to quidditch, though her compliment didn’t help him feel any less flustered. “Oh, well I er…thanks,” he managed to answer, though he still wasn’t sure he was quite up to the level of his childhood heroes just yet. Her question surprised him, had him frowning slightly because in all truth, he hadn’t been worried about that. “Oh. I….I dunno. Guess I hadn’t thought about it,” he answered, unsure, and unnerved given what he’d taken to spending his free time doing. It had him realizing that maybe she was right. Maybe he didn’t have that much time. Of course she likely hadn’t meant it like that. “I guess that’s possible…not sure I want to be done playing for Puddlemere yet, though.”

Why was he so fucking cute flustered? He was like a little puppy that Alecto just wanted to kick and make go away. But also wanted to pet. Infuriating. “It’s fine,” she told him flashing another smile. Honestly how had her face not cracked by now with all these smiles. At least he wasn’t going to be sending her any owls. That was the last thing either of them needed. “It’s the truth,” she brushed off his thanks with all the tact of someone who wasn’t used to be thanked for anything she said. Alecto frowned slightly at his admission. Honestly he was siding with the losing team and he hadn’t thought about that? Bloody hell it was a good thing he was so damn attractive because he was dumb as hell. “Oh.” Was the only thing she could force out of her mouth without physically shaking him and asking him why he was joined up with that bitch if he hadn’t thought about these things. His next words did nothing to cool the burning irritation at herself for liking him. He had no ambition at all. “I’m sure Puddlemere is glad of that,” it was the nicest thing she could think to say though why she was trying to say something nice was beyond her. Probably because she wanted nothing more than to snatch him up and kiss him.

Vaguely Cene was aware of the thought that Alecto had never seemed particularly smiley back at school (or maybe that was just all Slytherins in general), but he didn’t give the fact she was smiling so much a lot of thought. It certainly beat the alternative. His brows furrowed slightly in surprise at her confusion, but she brushed the questions aside quickly so Cene just nodded. “Ah…thanks.” Maybe he just shouldn’t have said anything at all, but that seemed unnecessarily rude. Why wouldn’t it be good to see an old Hogwarts quidditch player? It sure beat some crazy person jumping out of the dumpster. Even if she did still want an autograph. “Oh, uh,” he let out a sheepish laugh and gave her a small smile. Merlin knew he tended to get mobbed, especially after games. Especially after wins. And for as much as he hated getting swarmed by birds who just wanted their names in the paper, he also felt bad for avoiding some of his other fans so often. Fans who stuck with him regardless. It was that thought that had him tacking on, “I mean, I could uh owl you one or something.” He shrugged lightly. That wouldn’t be so bad, as long as she didn’t have plans to sell it or something. He was spared thinking on it any longer, though, her compliment bringing another surprised smile to his lips. “Oh, I – thanks. I uh, haven’t actually gone out for it yet,” he explained, his eyes flickering to the ground. “I figure I’ve got time.”

Anyone who knew Alecto would be surprised to see her smiling so much. Even Amycus and he saw her smile more than anyone. Though not this kind of smile, it was one she normally only wore on those nights she allowed herself to look through her box. His offer surprised Alecto. Why was he so nice? Weird. “No!” she said quickly because an owl from him would not go over well. “That is way too much effort. Really. It was just a passing thought since you were here. Nothing you have to worry about. Really.” Please Merlin do not send me anything or I’ll have to kill you and that would be such a disappointment. Talking about his quidditch plans was a much nicer topic. Even if she did hate herself completely for thinking how cute he was when he was being all bashful. What a fucking idiot! “Really? You should,” she told him honestly. His words about having time nearly made her laugh. There was a war and he was sided with the wrong people, time was one thing he didn’t have. Not unless he shifted his alliances. “Aren’t you worried you might wait too long?” Briefly Alecto wondered if quidditch was something that the Dark Lord would allow in his new order. It wasn’t something important enough to be talked about so she wasn’t sure. Maybe so, everyone loved quidditch. Though the Dark Lord at a quidditch match was hard to picture. None of this would matter for him though if he didn’t stop associating with that bitch Meadowes. 

Cene remembered just about everybody he’d ever played quidditch with or against at school, because he felt like there had been something to learn from each and every opponent he faced. Different playing styles, different strategies, different strengths and weaknesses. So he wasn’t surprised to hear Alecto confirm he’d remembered her correctly. “Well uh, good t’see you again,” he answered her with a small smile. At least she wasn’t just some random crazy bird, surely. Although the autograph business was a little odd. But she hadn’t been expecting to talk to him, and Cene took comfort in that. Maybe it was something else that had her still hanging around so long after the match. Her next words making him lift his eyebrows in slight surprise. “Oh, uh…well, ‘m sorry I can’t give ya one…” He trailed off awkwardly, his hand staying at the back of his neck, but he offered her another small smile. “Maybe next time.”

Alecto smiled at him again, it was hard not to when he was smiling at her. This was probably the closest she’d ever been to him. “It is?” It was weird hearing someone tell her it was good to see her, no one ever thought that. “I mean you too,” she quickly tacked on. Briefly she wondered if she could hide a large adult male in her room without anyone noticing it but Amycus was sure to find a way in. Such a disappointment. Much like the lack of an autograph. “It’s ok, I figured I’d ask since you were here and not surrounded by tons of people.” Alecto brushed if off as if were no big deal even though she’d love an autograph. If only because it would give her an excuse to lean in closer to him. Merlin was he even hotter this close. She tried to think of something else to say because she wasn’t ready for this conversation to end. “I’m surprised you’re not on the National team already. I mean you’re talented enough for it.” Guys liked flattery right….Alecto seemed to remember those awful birds she’d shared a room with for seven years saying that before.

Fuck. Was she blushing? No, Cene reassured himself quickly. Of course she wasn’t. Quidditch, they were just talking about quidditch, and so long as that was the case he could work his way through this interaction without turning into a complete idiot. Or having to run away before she went all crazy on him. She didn’t seem crazy, at least not yet. “Oh yeah…” he nodded, suddenly remembering. “Alecto, right? Chaser?” He felt certain of that, and also certain she’d been a Slytherin. Never a good team to play against, but she seemed friendly enough right now and after getting to know Vi a little better it seemed wrong to immediately judge all people from that house. Still he couldn’t help but feel a bit wary, though that was quickly forgotten when she spoke up again. 

OH! MY! MERLIN! He remembered her name and her position. He’d been into her, she’d always felt like that might have been the case but now she was certain. “Yes, that’s me.” Oh wow. Alecto felt dizzy this was amazing. She just wished she could get just a bit closer and smell him. Maybe when he was giving her the autograph she could lean in a little. Yeah that was a brilliant plan. Surely he wouldn’t say no to an autograph and Alecto was already pulling the carefully folded poster she’d gotten earlier out of her pocket. “Oh….” her face fell because clearly she hadn’t thought this through. “I don’t have a quill either. I hadn’t expected to talk to you.” Briefly she thought about suggesting blood. His or hers she wasn’t picky, though his would be way more exciting. But she thought better of it. He seemed the type to get weird over something like that and Alecto was enjoying being this close to him. Talking to him hadn’t been part of the plan she was only supposed to watch him from a distance. “I don’t usually ask people for autographs,” she tacked on feeling slightly foolish for asking for one this time. But it would have been an amazing addition to her collection. Something more personal than the few bits of discarded parchment she had.

Cene looked up from his hand and jumped slightly in surprise when there was a bird where there definitely had not been one before. Where had she come from? He didn’t get a chance to guess at an answer before she was speaking to him, and it took everything he had not to turn around and flee. Clearly she was a fan – and she looked really happy to see him – but she was talking about the match, at least. That was something Cene could handle. “Ah – thanks,” he answered with a bashful smile. “I’ve just been practicing with both hands since I started playing. Never know what’s gonna happen out there.” He shrugged modestly, his eyes flickering to the ground. It was still weird to him, how impressive people thought he was. Cene knew he was good, but he’d just worked hard, was all. And it hadn’t often felt like work, either. 

Alecto watched him keenly, she couldn’t believe she was standing this close to him. Breathing in the same air as he was exhaling. Even his bashfulness and modesty didn’t ruin this moment. She didn’t understand why he was either when he was such an amazing player. Even back at Hogwarts he’d been amazing. She’d watched him countless times zooming around the pitch like he owned it. Something all the Slytherins had complained about including her, though for her part it wasn’t Cenweard but those idiots Selwyn and Podmore that she was talking about. It irritated her a little to find someone so bashful and modest so attractive.

Cene was used to hours upon hours of practice, of pushing himself even harder than his coaches ever asked him. If you asked him, he would never be a perfect player. But he could strive for that, he could keep working to get better and better, and maybe one day he would be beating for the national team. It was harder, though, to push himself as hard when more of his spare time was spent in lessons. While they weren’t anywhere near as physically draining as quidditch practice, it was the mental strain he was noticing more than anything. Concentration and focus were something he lacked when it came to spellwork, something he lacked for the most part outside of the quidditch pitch. And then there were the gaggles of girls who showed up just to stare at him. The way it was harder to avoid the press now, harder to avoid people in general whenever he was out and about. 

Alecto had always been a die hard quidditch fan. Her favorite team was by far the Falcons, their matches were far more exciting bloody than any of the others. But secretly she was a complete fan girl for one Cenweard Tooker. Had been since the first time she’d seen him play back at Hogwarts. Not that she could say anything back then. Or now. Or ever. He was her little secret. Maybe not so little if you counted the large box of posters, clippings, and other assorted Tooker related things stashed in the back of her closet. And maybe there was a little more to it then just a healthy appreciation for his quidditch skills. It wasn’t like she was blind or anything. Even though Alecto liked to pretend that human emotions were foreign to her she still felt annoying things like attraction.

mccormackmeaghan:

….Yeah? How we gonna do that?

...Not sure yet. But I'll get it worked out.

…Oh….that’s true….

...We'll get ours. We are the best torturers He's got. We'll get our chance to prove it. Then it won't matter who runs these little traps, we'll get to have all the fun.