i’m no sweet dream;;

addictive astrid;; a mix tape.

Even though she couldn’t see her, Gianna couldn’t help but return her smile. There really was something infectious about a smile, she thought, and she tilted her head up to the sky as well for just a moment. There was something serene about the moment, and she sighed slightly before lowering her chin again as Astrid looked at her. She didn’t know her, but Gianna thought she rather wanted to.

“In snowflakes?” She asked slowly, a bit too innocently as she raised her eyebrows slightly. Gianna shrugged slightly, reaching out to catch a small flurry as it drifted between them, holding it on her finger. “Sure.” She shrugged, her eyes snapping up from the snowflake to Astrid. “That’s not all I’m after, though.” She went on, what she hoped was a playful, coy smile playing across her lips as she licked them. “I like all sorts of …snowflakes. I guess I’m after whatever happens to come my way.”

Gianna was cute. Cute. Astrid was never attracted to cute or gave cute a chance as it usually meant naive or too perky. Perky in terms of annoyance. But something about the way Gianna carried herself was cute combined with mystery and intrigue. She had to have seen things. As she watched Gianna’s face Astrid wondered what. The response Gianna gave made Astrid shook her head but with the balls of her cheeks glowing. Gianna obviously was putting on a show; no way she was that innocent (Astrid truly hoped).

When she held her finger in front of Astrid’s face, Astrid could feel and hear the woman’s blood, warm and pleasing. Astrid’s heart began to beat quickly. Then the woman licked her lips. She knew what she was doing. But that’s okay because Astrid did too. She took her covered hand to her mouth and removed the glove with her teeth and ran the side of her index finger down Gianna’s soft, small nose. “Snow,” Astrid explained, eyes fixed on the other woman.

Her gaze was intense and wanting. Astrid always wanted but was used to taking it without consequence, was clear with her intentions and when she was done ...she was done. So what in the hell was she doing? Just take it.

Astrid removed her other glove, again with her teeth, but slower this time. She dropped the glove to the ground and she placed her hands on both of Gianna’s cheeks. “Cold?”

autumn & astrid.

astrid & gianna.

It felt like forever that she had been aimlessly wandering around the stupid twinkly lights. It was a dumb event, she hated every moment of being there. It would have been much better with Emmeline, but Autumn almost felt as though finding her was a lost cause at this point. With a huff, she pulled her flask from her jacket, taking a hearty swig before returning it. She headed off to the entrance of the event with the intention of leaving.

The sight of Astrid made her stop in her tracks. She was a regular at the Broomsticks for the longest time, it seemed as though as soon as the snow hit the ground she stopped showing up. What a shame, she really was a sight for sore eyes. Even now, completely covered from head to toe, she was still the best looking woman in the whole place.

“No snow is my favourite.” Autumn commented with a smile, unsure if Astrid even knew it was her approaching. “You been hibernating all winter or something?” She questioned, folding her arms over her chest. She didn’t really have any favourite customers, but having Astrid in the bar was never a dull moment and honestly she missed it.

She should have expected company considering Astrid was standing in an area of people gazing at the lights that were — admittedly — a little lovely. Was Astrid going soft? Maybe it’s because she hadn’t been in public for so long but what she was experiencing was something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Astrid had never really shut herself out from the world — not for as long as she had anyway. Maybe that’s why her surroundings had an effect they most likely wouldn’t have before.

Astrid reveled in the fact that Autumn was the one who approached her. The younger woman with attitude reminded Astrid of herself making her chuckle at Autumn’s pessimistic comment about the snow. Statements like that came out of Astrid on a normal basis.

Finally, she closed her mouth, squeezed her eyelids to rid them of water so it wouldn’t fall into her eyes as she opened them to see Autumn’s face. “Not at all?” Astrid made like she was giving it actual thought. “There must be something you like since you’re out here.” Astrid was one to talk but she usually was.

“Hibernation? I wouldn’t use that word. More like spending quality time drinking, naked in my flat, laying in front of the crackling fireplace. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be better than dealing with reality.”

Gianna meandered aimlessly down the street - it was peaceful, surrounded by the lights and the gentle falling of the snow around her. It was quiet, in this part, and she hummed slightly as she went, enjoying the bag of caramel corn she’d picked up on the way. 

She stopped when she saw Astrid, a soft smile creeping across her features as the bag of popcorn slowly drifted back down to her side, forgotten for the moment. She was beautiful, standing there in the snow, and the way she had her head tilted back, catching snowflakes - it was the perfect moment. It almost made her chuckle, when she thought of the last time they had met. She wanted to join in, but before she could make a move to, she was speaking. Gianna hadn’t realized she’d even noticed her there. “All snow is good snow.” She said softly, keeping her voice low. It felt like if she talked too loud, it would ruin the atmosphere. Now was a time to be gentle - to bask in the peace and calm while they could, as it seemed rather hard to come by these days. “I like the tiny ones myself. They’re just so dainty and…. cute.”

It was a sort of relief that her company was Gianna. There were too many people in the community who were rainbows and sunshine. Not that Gianna had a bit of idealism, but, from what she gathered with their interactions, Astrid and Gianna could share similar interactions. Once again: a relief.

Despite having recognized Gianna, Astrid kept her eyes closed but a wide smile crossed her face. Something inside her felt a bit ...happy to have had this moment with the snow ...and with another human being. Astrid didn’t hate company, but she had her circle and Gianna wasn’t necessarily in that group. Yet.

In all honesty, the only things they really knew about each other was that Gianna worked at the Three Broomsticks and Astrid was a familiar, drunkard, sexual presense. They also had had a shoplifting excursion in very odd times. No matter how much they had to learn about each other, there was enough there for Astrid to be intrigued.

Her face soaked from droplets of water from the snowflakes dropping on her cheeks, Astrid lowered her face slowly to look Gianna in the eyes. “So cute is what you’re after?” she asked knowing Astrid was never described as cute. How she asked that was different than the sly, coy way she often would. Instead there was only a hint of seduction combined with actual interest in the question.

Winter had never exactly been Lily’s favorite season, not when so many of her fondest memories involved springtime in her mother’s garden and the promise of warm daylight. But it had been a close contender for second place, even if it was a total opposite. She had always enjoyed the snow, loved Christmas. Now it was all muddled, and hard as Lily had tried to look on the bright side of things, that all existed in the before now. Before the attacks. Before her father died. Before James lost his father. Now, all Lily wanted was for the winter to be over. The sooner, the better, before anything else could go wrong. 

She hated the pessimism. Hated how easily it had been coming in recent weeks, always waiting for the other show to drop. It was a side effect of the grief, Lily knew that. But that didn’t make it any easier. More than ever, Lily wanted to see the bright side, to remember that hope and the world could still be shiny and pretty. Seven hells, when was that going to come back to her?

The sound of Astrid’s voice was welcomed. Heaving out a sigh, Lily shook her head.. “I’m hoping if I say it enough, I’ll start to believe it. So far, no such luck.” She admitted, the exhaustion in her voice hard to deny as her eyes peeled from the display and over towards Astrid. “How are you?”

Astrid may have spent all of her most recent time in her flat. However, she did leave to go to St. Mungo’s and perform her Healer duties. It was the only time she allowed anyone to see her. She stopped picking up extra shifts or covering for others. She needed time to herself and would be damned if anyone had gotten in the way of that. St. Mungo’s was also the only place she got her information about what was happening in the outside world she had been pushing away.

Of course she knew about Lily. And James.

She had dropped the ball of being the mentor to Lily she had become so comfortable to be. It wasn’t until she was in the young woman’s presence that she felt guilt and shame for being so self-involved. These were not normal emotions for Astrid. She didn’t know how to deal with the uncomfortable feeling. She held onto her confident exterior and took on her mentor role but hated how late it was coming.

Lily had friends. She had friends who were like family. Anyone who knew her were aware of that. Lily didn’t need Astrid but Astrid felt a pull to be a tough love support she assumed Lily may not have gotten otherwise. “Of course you’re having no luck. If words fixed anything we wouldn’t have jobs.”

But she was growing really fucking bored. If she couldn’t show off her caramel skin, she could resort to the tightest leather she owned. Her closet was full of the most elegant, sexy leather pants, coats and knee high boots. All from Sweden. She changed, fluffed her hair and bam! she apparated to the streets of Hogsmeade.

Surrounded by twinkling lights, falling snowflakes and laughter wasn’t exactly something Astrid was used to. Dark dives and wafts of smoke were her hideaways. Her surroundings were clean. Pure. Odd.

Astrid unexpectedly and slowly closed her eyes, raised her head and opened her mouth allowing snowflakes to land on her tongue.

Someone’s smell and hearing blood coursing through veins made her smile. Astrid kept her eyes closed and only moved her mouth to say, “the fat snow is my favorite,” before putting her tongue out again.

As a general rude, Ted didn’t make it a habit to be anywhere near Knockturn Alley. It was for the best, really, considering most anyone that willingly spent time there would sooner put a curse to him than let him be. Even if that wasn’t the case, the streets here were considerably colder than Diagon Alley no matter the time of year. If he didn’t know any better, he would think the wizards that frequented these shops had made it that way on purpose. Hell, maybe they had. Of all the things dark wizards did, that wouldn’t be the most surprising.

No, Ted didn’t enjoy Knockturn Alley. But early morning deliveries happened whether he liked them or not, and on occasion that meant being there in person instead of sending an owl. He never liked to think of what these people needed with the things he grew. It was probably better not to know, for his own sanity at least. Denying work to anyone capable of killing him in an instant for fun wasn’t worth saying no to, if they wanted something from the greenhouse - although Merlin knew how many times he had wanted to.

A gust of wind blew through the street, and Ted instinctively gripped his wand a bit tighter through the underside of his cloak. He just needed to get far enough away to apparate home without risk of being caught in the process – it wouldn’t be that hard. The collision pulled him to a stop, his instincts getting stronger until the familiarity struck. “Astrid,” he repeated, a frown worrying into his forehead. Of anyone he expected to see here, one of his friends certainly wasn’t one of them. “What are you d – are you alright?”

Astrid was in a daze. Normally she would be cool under fire, ready to jump at the next chance to stand up for someone — particularly herself — but the woman didn’t have it in her. The papers and whispers along the streets of what had happened to those muggles. And it not appearing to be just magic but the work of creatures as well. Although she didn’t tell everyone she was half-vampire, this was a time she could be called out and who knew what would happen then.

Would she try to be drafted by the Death Eaters and ousted by the Order? Would she be attacked? Or the worst: would the finger be pointed at her saying “she did it”? Astrid had a hard ass attitude but wasn’t one to truly harm anyone because she felt like it. She was part of the Order because she believed in its message, no matter how much she complained about the Order’s boring meetings. Astrid loved spontaneity but this wasn’t spontaneous. It was cruelty that put everyone in danger and it was the first time she felt she was included in that group.

It didn’t matter who she bumped into but it being Ted was a good thing, she supposed. He was a caring person. So kind and genuine. He was everything Astrid wasn’t. She had no idea why they were friends — or why he would want her in his life. At this point in the war, he’d be better off not being around her. It would be best for everyone to stay away. At this point she couldn’t discern who knew she was half-vampire and who didn’t.

Ted stumbled and Astrid pulled the sweater tightly across her, the air whipping through its holes. How to answer the question “are you alright?” No. She wasn’t but hated saying the words in such a straightforward way. She tilted her chin to look at Ted with a sad smile on her face and water forming behind her eyes. There weren’t any words. Not now.