'Til the Walls Fall Down

~Timeskip~

Alecto didn’t know what triggered it but she felt the sudden rush only few hours after her run-in with Thea, the intense need for control that felt familiar at this point. She knew the risk of doing it at school, but she couldn’t help herself and without realizing it she found herself in the washroom, curled above the toilet seat, throwing up her dinner. She could feel the warm streams of tears running down her cheeks simultaneously, both from embarassment and from the physical pain.

When she heard the voice she froze immediately, hands gripping the edge of the toilet. “Leave.” She groaned, her voice hoarse and deeper than usual.

Thea frowned slightly when she heard the voice, trying to place it. She was normally much sharper, she should be able to pick it out immediately... but the alcohol was making everything slightly fuzzy in her brain. She certainly didn’t want to try and peer under the stall door, that was weird... but it took her that moment of pause to realize who it was.

“Carrow?” She questioned. “Do you need... someone? Are you sick?”

WARDROBE

Siry Wedding

Underneath...

“I— Are you fucking kidding me right now, Thea? I wake up in a hospital bed, thinking it’s the 15th of February, to find out it’s fucking April, and everyone thought I was dead for the entire time. My own brother won’t look me in the fucking eye, because he doesn’t believe me. I might not remember most of it, but look at my fucking face Thea, I don’t think it was fucking sunshine and rainbows.” The words slipped from his lips, tone laced with anger. “Yeah well, perhaps you fucking shouldn’t have. You’ve seen me, now leave.”

Thea’s hard expression softened slightly as he spoke, but she clenched her jaw again by the time he’d finished. She didn’t even know what to say - what was there to say? There were so many things that came to mind, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to voice any of them. So, when he told her to leave, she felt herself deflating slightly. That moment of softness, however, only lasted a moment, before the cold resolve settled over her face again. The only emotion was hidden behind her eyes now, as she shook her head. Without a word, she turned, and headed for the door. 

He blinked a few times, until his eyes adjusted to the light, before looking up at her. A small, playful frown formed on his face as she spoke. “Did you take my clothes off, Arslan?” He started, slowly sitting up. “Because if you wanted to see me naked, there’s better ways to do it.” He teased, but still gladly took her robes. Somehow, walking around in practically nothing wasn’t all that appealing to him.

Thea let out a laugh as he asked if she’d stripped him. “No, I most certainly did not take your clothes off, Moody.” She said dryly, crossing her arms. “You’re right, if I wanted them off, I don’t think I would need to do it like that. But, happily for you, I don’t want to take your clothes off.” He was hot. She wasn’t going to deny that - but she wasn’t going to do anything with him. “Too much to drink last night?”

A rare, small chuckle escaped at her comment. “Yeah, seems like it could describe anyone in this school. Perhaps the school motto should be changed to that.” An eyebrow raised as she mentioned more drinks, taking a glance at his empty cup. “Oh, I’m not worried about what happens to them. It’s just… curiosity, I guess. But I’ll agree I might need another drink.”

Thea couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of pride as she’d managed to get him to laugh. It was just a first impression, but he seemed rather... stoic, straightfaced. “Oh, but it would have to be in Latin. Anything else would be unacceptable.” She pointed out, setting her empty cup down beside her, before raising an eyebrow at him. “Curiosity is a good trait, in my opinion. But yes, let’s get you another drink then.”

“Well I tried to be sensitive but I guess I failed.” Her mouth twisted in an empty grin, pushing her weight onto her elbows as she leaned over the table. “I’m good here.”

Thea shook her head a bit. “Whatever, I’ll find the book another day.” She told her, starting towards the exit. “I’m not putting up with your bullshit any more tonight.”

~Timeskip~

It had been a good party. However, when she started leaving the Gryffindor tower, and heading towards her own, she sighed and started towards the library again, drunkenly acknowledging that she really should find that book. She’d only just stepped into the library, though, when she heard what sounded like coughing in the washrooms, and she blinked. “Is someone there?” She called out, pushing the door open to go inside.

“Yeah well, I do.” Emrys shrugged his shoulders. “You have no idea what I’ve fucking been through, Thea, so don’t tell me how to think right now,”  The boy deadpanned, before scoffing. “Right of course. Make it all about you. I’ve just come back from the dead, Thea. I don’t need this shit right now.”

Thea raised her eyebrows at him, shrugging slightly. “Do you even know what you’ve been through?” She pointed out. “I thought you didn’t remember?” She was being unfair, and she knew that, but something in her kept pushing anyway. “You want to know why I’m here? Because you came back from the fucking dead. And I'm shocked you wouldn’t expect me to come.”

Emrys let out a sigh, running his hands through his hair. “I don’t know, Thea, okay? This shit is confusing. You try coming back from the dead and seeing how fucked up everything is. I’m starting to think it’d have been easier if I–” He cut himself off, blinking at her before letting out a sigh. “Never mind.”

Thea felt her brow furrowing as he kept talking, and she shook her head a little bit. “It wouldn’t have been better. You can’t think that way.” She told him stubbornly, crossing her arms. “But if you don’t want me here, I’ll go. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

He’d lost track of how many drinks he’d had after 5, only thing he could remember was that he hadn’t stopped after that. What he did know was that everything was blurry after, and that he certainly didn’t make it back to his dorm. He wasn’t sure what time it was, or where he was when he woke up, startled by a loud noise. “Merlin!” Alastor quickly straightened up, a small frown on his face as he tried to spot the source of the noise. It took him a moment, eyes squinting, before he spotted the other figure. “What do you want?”

( @finestra-starters​ )

Thea took a deep breath as she approached her sleeping classmate, rolling her eyes. “Cm’on, Moody, let’s get’cha up...” She muttered, starting to nudge his arm with the side of her foot... with no response. So, the brunette crouched next to him, brought her hands next to his ear, and clapped, cupping her hands to create as loud of a sound as possible. “Aha!” She exclaimed when he woke up. “I want you to put on some clothes.” She told him, pulling off her robes and throwing them at him.

Alecto laughed emptily, finding no insult in the other’s words. “Oh yes, too bad you won’t be able to come to the family dinners. I promise to bring flowers to your grave, though. That is if there’s anything left of you to be burried,”

Thea just shook her head, starting to scan the carts for the books again. “I don’t want your flowers, Carrow. Just fuck off.”

“Oh well that sounds way better than my scenario. Which, frankly, at the time felt as if from a horror movie. This school really needs to work on its PR managment.”

“I- yeah, I suppose. I just have to find someone that’s willing to teach me,” Wyatt shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, not always no. It’s mainly just for the students who major in it, I believe.”

Thea wasn’t normally the type to volunteer for these sorts of things. Hell, if she was, she’d help out at the tutoring centre... but something about Wyatt just struck a chord. “I could help, if you want.” She offered, glancing over at him. “Yeah. I’m in a few of the clubs like that, it looks good when you’re applying to be an auror.”

“Please don’t, I’ve done it before, it wasn’t fun.” Milo frowned, before letting out a laugh, “I’m right occasionally, and yeah, regular tea sounds great to me.”

“I can imagine.” Thea said with a bit of a nod, already starting to get some mugs for them, before turning to one of the house elves, and asking them politely to begin to boil some water for tea. “Sugar?” She asked the other after a moment, glancing up at him again. “Do you think the other wizarding schools go through the same things we do?”

“I have no idea, I’m honestly trying not to think about it if I’m being honest,” He admitted, watching her. “Why are you here, Thea? Did me dying actually knock some sense into you or something?”

“I suppose that’s fair...” Thea trailed off, glancing around the room after a moment, before blinking back down at him when he asked why she was there. “Why am--” She started to repeat, before frowning at him. Why was she there? She’d rushed there without even thinking, it was just instinct. “Is my being here a problem?”

He let his smile linger for a little longer as she spoke. “I think I needed that right now.” He said, omitting to mention the fact Remus came along just around the time he was about to reach the bottom. At her comment, he let out a small laugh. “Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t mind too much. I’d be happy for you, actually.” He admitted with a nod. 

Thea nodded a little bit at his words, genuinely glad that he’d found someone when he was going through something like this. “Then I’m glad you found it.” She told him with a firm nod. “Yeah, I didn’t think you’d have much of a problem with it.”

“I think you should, or people might think you don’t really belong in Ravenclaw.” He joked before letting out a small sigh. “Yeah, it is stressful. But I somehow always wait last minute.”

“Oh, trust me, Ravenclaws make mistakes. Just not academic ones, and even then...” Thea shrugged a little bit. “That’s because you’re a Gryffindor.”