Trey hadn’t gotten to spend much time with Cecilia, at least not one-on-one. When he did see her around the halls he did his usual show of acting like the doting boyfriend… or fiancé… whatever the hell he was now. He had been aggravated when they had started term and he caught her wearing the ring on the opposite hand. It really shouldn’t have irritated him if he only wanted her to wear it as a means of keeping her safe, but he wanted others to know that she was, for all intents and purposes, his. It was confusing him that suddenly he felt it necessary that others know she was taken. Even more strange was the fact that he had started to get bothered by other blokes staring at her. No, he wasn’t bothered, he just wanted to punch every single one of them in the face for it.

She was fucking gorgeous really. She had the perfect smile, perfect body, he started to love the way she looked at him when he did something irritating, or how she tried to hide her amusement when it came to him. He liked being near her, and obviously shagging her was one of his favorite activities. All of this shit was getting to be too much and they needed to figure out what the hell was going on. If he was the only one feeling all this weirdness he would need to back off. He couldn’t afford to bloody care about anyone like that. He couldn’t be distracted by it all… No, he wanted to see where this went. He leaned against the wall waiting for her to arrive as the moment the clock struck twelve they could slip inside the tower and finally have a sit down though he hadn’t bothered to tell her why he wanted to meet up. Given his track record he would assume she was thinking it might be for a late night shag.

@cecilia

She had to admit that she really didn’t think she would still be at Hogwarts by this point. But she had learned by now that she had no idea just what Trey was thinking at any given moment and that apparently meant that she was unable to predict just when this was coming to an end. Cecilia really was getting more confused by everything by the day, and it was not making this situation any easier. This was the bloke that was blackmailing her and had put her into a position where he controlled nearly every damn aspect of her life. Realistically, she should hate him. She should want to spend as little time as possible with him, and she absolutely should not be having some of the thoughts that had been on her mind in recent weeks. Ever since she had walked into his apartment to see him injured on the floor of the kitchen, Cecilia had had a hard time convincing herself that she didn’t care about him in some way. It was annoying to even think to herself, let alone contemplate it in any other way, shape, or form. Then he had thrown the whole engagement thing at her out of nowhere, and she was still trying to figure out his gain in that. Really, it just was a way to keep her from going to Norway, and it was only really helping her. She really doubted that he could be getting anything out of that.

Of course, she also highly doubted he’d tell her if she asked, so she was getting used to just not knowing what the hell was going on at any time. Although she had seen Trey a couple of times outside of class since the school year had begun, it had really just been little appearances that were necessary and nothing much more than that. It was because of this that she was actually the smallest bit suspicious as to why he actually wanted to see her all of a sudden. She’d wager a guess at that point, and it didn’t require much talking, but that was fine with her because talking was just bloody confusing at this point—and also not something that they did all that often, for obvious reasons. Cecilia had only been in the twilight turret a few times over the years, mostly because she didn’t feel the need to study more than she already did, but it wasn’t far from her dormitory so it was easy to make her way over there a few minutes before midnight. Cecilia smiled distractedly when she noticed that he was already standing there, “Hi,” she commented, moving to kiss him instinctively. Because she had to obviously—oh, who was she bloody kidding? She wasn’t even sure she was convincing herself anymore.

Outfit

It was starting to feel like she wouldn’t show at all. He was getting slightly nervous. He stood there trying to talk himself out of saying anything to her. He supposed if the moment they got into the room he could start tearing the clothes from her and just taking her right where they stood. Obviously who wouldn’t be able to think about anything else other than them being in the moment. Part of him really wanted to do that, well there was never a point where he didn’t want to do that. He could never really contain himself around her, which was very aggravating to put it mildly. He shouldn’t want her so much. Even though that idea sounded perfect he knew it would just be delaying the inevitable. He would eventually have to say something. She was bound to start wondering why he hadn’t cut her loose yet.

The thought that maybe she wouldn’t show was almost appealing. It would give him a reason to be pissed off at her, and stop thinking about all of that nonsense. That was obviously not going to happen as he spotted her coming down the hall. His eyes moved over her slowly, noting that it didn’t matter what the hell she wore as she still looked bloody sexy. He grinned as she approached before putting an arm around her waist to pull her closer as he kissed her back. He wondered if she was kissing him because she thought he expected that of her, or if it had simply become a habit. ”Hey.” He replied as he pulled his lips from hers. He paused for a moment, captivated by something in her eyes when he noticed the door finally appearing. That was odd and he was glad for the interruption. He nodded his head towards the door before opening it with an arm still around her waist as he ushered her in and closed the door behind them.

Everything was most definitely getting out of hand as far as this situation was concerned. She had no idea how she could simultaneously be relieved that she hadn’t seen Trey much outside of class and less-than-pleased with it. It was like she bloody missed him and that was a ridiculous thing to even be thinking, and Merlin bloody knew that she wasn’t going to vocalize it. However, even the reason that she was relieved that she hadn’t seen him was absurd—because she was glad for space from how damn confused and annoyed she was by this entire problem. Cecilia had absolutely not seen this coming, even in the slightest. When he had first walked into the east wing that damn day and turned everything upside down with the knowledge that he had and the way that he planned to use it, Cecilia had no intention of any of this happening the way that it had. In her mind, she was just going to get through it, not shag him, and he’d be bored by the end of the school year. Since her family wouldn’t have met him, then they wouldn’t be so pissed by the relationship ending to the point that they’d immediately ship her off. She’d be able to finish her last year at Hogwarts in peace, and that would sort out that. But no, it obviously had become much more than that.

She had no bloody idea what to blame it on. Obviously, she noted that her concern about him when she had walked in on him injured had been a bit of a turning point, though she had no idea if it had just been the first time she had actually realized it. But regardless of all of that insanity, she had to make sure that it was impossible for Trey to realize what was going on. That wouldn’t be too difficult, or so she would assume. Really, if she thought about it, she had no idea why she had even kissed him. It was midnight, and there was bloody no one around to fool. At this point, it was just something that she did without thinking and there lied another problem that she would have to deal with at some point. It was all too apparent to her that it was easy to relax against him as he pulled her closer and that was… just bad. This was just all no bloody good at all. When he pulled away, Cecilia contemplated if she was actually just bloody losing it. She had scarcely even noticed that the door had appeared until he opened it and she moved to go inside. It was unsurprisingly empty, since the door had only just materialized, and she was willing to guess that the chances of anyone joining them on a Saturday night was incredibly slim. That was probably why Trey had the idea to begin with, since it gave them a room that no one could enter for an entire hour.

Trey didn’t do feelings. Hell, he really didn’t have genuine feelings outside of disgust and hatred towards the political situation going on. It was just one big shit storm and the few people he cared about were the ones stuck in the middle of things. He didn’t like that this was all going on and he hated the fact that he even cared about anyone outside of his family. This was dangerous and part of him just wanted to start shagging her just so he didn’t have to talk. It had been awhile since they had had time to sneak off on their own to take care of business. There was no need to make shit weird. Well, at least not more odd than it already was. He knew she wasn’t stupid and she was probably questioning why he was still keeping this up. If he really thought about it he really didn’t have a good excuse as to why all of this was still happening. Sure he could probably make some shit up, but it more than likely wouldn’t make any bloody sense. None of this made any sense, and it was really starting to bother him.

His mind was running away with him and he was just relieved to see the door appear though it was once they were through that door that he knew he would have to do or say something. This was ridiculous. He had noticed her relaxing against him, but he was convinced that it was just out of habit since it happened so often. He had known what he wanted to do the moment he told her to meet him there. He had been confident that he needed to say something or break this whole thing off. The thought of breaking up made him feel sick to his stomach and that was frustrating to him. He shouldn’t care, but he did and he knew he couldn’t hide it forever. He pulled her into him before kissing her deeply, his hands moving to settle on her hips. ”Anything interesting happen today?” He asked as he pulled his lips from hers almost immediately feeling ridiculous for asking a question like that. It wasn’t normal for him to ask questions like that, let alone actually care about how she would respond. One hand moved to absently run up and down her side as he waited for her to respond hoping she wouldn’t notice just how weird he was being.

The last thing that she bloody needed, was Trey finding out that she gave a damn about him. He would probably laugh his way out the bloody door, and she would find herself in Norway by the end of the week. Somehow, she doubted that whatever the hell he was getting out of this would be worth it when he realized this, and he would want rid of her as quickly as possible. No, it was very clearly for the best that he did not find out about this at bloody all. It would… bloody go away, or something, as she would find a way to make it go away. Feeling like this was just unreasonable and ridiculous, and it couldn’t last. The bloke was blackmailing her. This was just a damn cliché, or some damn stupid romance novel, filled with the sex and the clichés, but not at all the happy endings—which was fine. At this point, she didn’t know how long it had been since she’d even believed that anything was going to end up all right with her. It wasn’t some damn pity party, she just considered herself a realist and she knew that nothing was really going her way at this point. There was no reason that it was bloody going to start now, obviously. She was not that damn naïve.

Cecilia could only hope that Trey wasn’t realizing any of this. It had been far too easy for her to relax into his hold, and she had kissed him without even thinking about it. Maybe he just thought that she was getting that damn good at playing the part…that was what she was going to hope, at least. She was glad that the door had appeared, because it gave her a moment to try to gather her thoughts and put on a good face. If he realized that she was catching feelings in any way, she would be out of the school in a heartbeat. He’d end this bullshit, alert her parents, they’d pull her out, and she’d be married to their damn plan b. Clearly they were sick of dealing with her. Cecilia smiled slightly as he pulled her against him again, her arms moving around his neck as she kissed him back. This was just getting bloody insane.

She was so lost in her own thoughts and focused on the feel of his hands on her hips that she scarcely even caught his question, and then she didn’t even know what to bloody say in response. She could admit that him asking her anything about her or her day or bloody anything of the sort was a bit different, but he had probably noticed that she was being ridiculous and was just gauging if something was outright wrong. Not that he would care if there was, obviously. Perhaps he just wanted to know shit that was going on that he needed to know about—that was possible. “Not really,” she replied, offhandedly, finding herself again distracted by his hand, “Magpies are in the finals.” Cecilia added. That was something that he might want to know about, bloody maybe. Frankly, she just didn’t have any other response coming to mind.

Trey was concerned that if he said anything about possibly having some kind of feelings for her that she would be disgusted by it. He didn’t know if he could handle her rejecting him. Well, he supposed that was a lie as he could just pretend to be joking and insult her before shagging her senseless and leaving. Shagging seemed to solve everything and that would do in a pinch if she didn’t feel the same. He was starting to regret this already. Sure he had a bit of a plan if things got weird, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to risk that. They had a good thing going already, and there was no need to ruin it now. Still he had to have some kind of reason for asking her to come with him to the tower. He didn’t want to lie to her, and he had never lied to her before if he were to think about it. Well, he stretched the truth a bit with the whole ring deal but he felt that was necessary.

Part of him felt like maybe she did already have feelings for him, but that was just absurd. How could she like him? He had done nothing but make her life a living hell for several months. There was nothing ‘nice’ about this arrangement. The only reprieve he could think of that he had ever given her was sex… that was it. Sure the sex was great, well better than bloody great, but that didn’t equate to anything more even if that was the only way he knew how to show affection. This was getting out of hand and he felt as if he really needed to stop this.

He smiled against her lips as he felt her kiss him back. It seemed like it was a natural reaction. They had no one to convince around, and he rarely ever kissed her in private without shagging her only moments later. He was wondering if maybe he should just do that. Maybe he should just shag her and pretend that was the whole reason he had asked her to meet him. He paused for a moment as she answered, almost missing her answer as he was so lost in his thoughts. He could have sworn she had just done the same a few moments before and that concerned him a bit. There was no way she had been thinking about anything good with him around. ”I asked about you… not your prick of a step brother.” He replied without even thinking about it. He had never said a bad word about her family as he had still been trying to keep up appearances. Now that would be all out the window.

Cecilia had never actually been in this room all that much, as she knew that it was mostly frequented by Ravenclaws for schoolwork, and never particularly used for this purpose… well, no, she supposed that they couldn’t be the only ones that thought about using this room for other reasons. After all, no one could enter for an entire hour, and that was something that was hard to come by in Hogwarts. Of course, that was assuming that he had asked her to come here for a shag, but she couldn’t really think of any other reason he would want to meet up with her in the middle of the night. There was no one to fool around here, clearly, and that would be the only other reason that he would want to be around her. Nothing else came to mind, but obviously she would not at all complain if a shag was indeed the reason that he’d asked her to meet him here. It was a part of their relationship that had made sense nearly from the very start. Well, she could admit that, at first, she had only agreed to it because she had been pissed off, and it hadn’t really made sense to her then. Actually, it had made no sense to her and she’d been questioning her own sanity—but past that, she could admit that it made a hell of a lot of sense.

Of course, it was also a helpful way of her forgetting other problems that were coming to her mind. Like, actually caring about someone that was blackmailing her, so now she was back to contemplating her own sanity. She had to be bloody mental for something like this to happen. All she should have to do was think back to every interaction she’d had with him, particularly around her family, and that should be enough to remind her that he was intolerable. He was just as bad as they were. He expected the same shit of her, thought she was only good for a shag and otherwise minding her place and keeping her mouth shut. Yes, he would more than likely be better than whatever pureblood they had lined up for her in Norway, but that was beside the point. It shouldn’t be so difficult for her to remember just what this situation was, but he was actually… all right to be around by himself. Merlin, maybe she bloody was going mental.

She felt him smile against her lips, but nearly didn’t even realize it, due to the distraction of her own thoughts. Unless they were in public, he didn’t normally kiss her unless he was planning on shagging her soon after, and it didn’t seem like he was making any moves to do so. Since he wasn’t exactly the most patient bloke, particularly when it involved getting her clothes of, Cecilia thought he would definitely be making that kind of move by now. Perhaps there was something on his mind too, she mused, but the only thing that she could think of was him officially deciding to end the relationship. Maybe he just wanted one more shag beforehand, so he was trying to play nice—not exactly like him, but maybe an option. However, she found herself raising her eyebrows at his comment, getting more confused by the moment. Normally, he would rather talk about just about anything but her, something that he had made clear from the beginning. She didn’t bother him with talk about herself for a reason, and it was because he didn’t give a damn. He had also never said a word against Lars or anyone in her family, and now he was calling the bloke a prick. This was just… an odd turn in conversation. “Oh,” she commented, pausing as she tried to contemplate an answer. Frankly, people also just didn’t ask her about herself all that often. “Well, nothing interesting is going on with me.” She replied, slowly, as it wasn’t really like she did much of anything.

With every passing moment Trey could feel himself losing his nerve to say something to her. If he had been smart he would have broken up with her before the summer was even over as he was sure these feelings had to have started over those months. If he really thought about it he would realize the day that she found him passed out in his apartment was the day when it felt like things had changed. He was unconscious for a good portion of that event but he could still vaguely remember bits and pieces from that afternoon. The moment he had realized she had gone to Greg of her own volition he had contemplated if she felt more for him. It didn’t take long for him to just ignore that feeling and feel like he was absolutely insane for even contemplating that that would be the outcome. It would just be ridiculous to think that after all of the shit he had put her through that she would really want anything to do with him.

He wasn’t entirely sure his plan would work if things didn’t go well with this little meeting. He was sure that he could get her to shag him with little problem as he had spent the past several months learning just about everything there was to know when it came to her body and what she liked. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that after shagging she still might question him about saying something as stupid as him caring about her. Then he would have to break up with her. He just wouldn’t be able to continue on the way they were if he was mistaken about how she felt. He already wanted to smack himself across the head for slipping up and calling her step-brother what he should rightfully be called. He was a bloody prick and so was the rest of her family. He personally didn’t like any of them. He was still on the fence about her mother, thinking that she must have been brainwashed so much so that there was no way to reverse the damage. He couldn’t imagine Cecilia being forced to wait on anyone hand and foot. Granted, he would always poke fun at her asking her why she wasn’t a proper woman and kissing the ground he walked on. His hand moved lazily up and down her side as he waited for her response, trying not to look too interested. This was stupid. ”What would you do if I told you I didn’t just want to shag tonight?” He asked with a quirked eyebrow hoping he at least sounded a bit nonchalant about the question.

Cecilia really did wonder just how long she was going to have to keep this up. It had been on her mind since she had walked into his apartment to see him bloody well unconscious on the floor of his kitchen, with far too much blood for her to think anything but the worst. She had reacted practically without thinking about it, only realizing after the fact that it was odd just how worried she had been. Obviously, her father saw fit to call her out on it, annoyingly enough, but she had been putting off such thoughts since then. But as this ‘fake’ little relationships continued, Cecilia wondered just when Trey was going to get bored, because it would mean that she would no longer have to figure this shit out… it wasn’t as if she wanted him to end it, because it meant she’d be shipped out before week’s end—it was just that it would make her dealing with these ridiculous feelings far easier. It would simply cease to be a problem, and he would never even have to know about it. Yes, him ending it would be the easy way of this working out, at this point. She had no idea when this was going to happen, but she could wager that it had to be soon; though she had learned not to even attempt to guess what was going on in his head as far as this was all concerned. She just continued to be surprised, so it was better to not even try to figure it out.

They had never met up in this particular room, though she could see the benefits to it—so she was quite sure that she was well aware just why he had asked her to meet him here. Cecilia couldn’t deny the benefits of heading to a room that no one else would be able to enter for an hour, and she hoped that shagging would help her to get her mind off of everything else… it had always had been successful in doing just that, after all, and she couldn’t imagine that tonight would be any different. However, even the feel of his hand moving against her side was still a reminder of all of the damn ridiculous things that she had been thinking about and she frankly just need to keep her wits about her to keep him from catching on. She could admit that it was odd that he’d called Lars a prick, because as far as she was aware, he liked everyone in her family—a fair bit more than he liked her. They all seemed to agree on her being stubborn, uncooperative, and unmarriageable, clearly. Cecilia raised her eyebrows at his words, trying to think just what else he could possibly come in mind. She couldn’t imagine that he would be acting like this if he was about to end this arrangement, and it wasn’t like they bloody talked. “I would wonder what else you have in mind.” Cecilia said in response, finding herself curious about what his response would be. Frankly, she couldn’t think of any other ideas as to why he’d want her to meet him here.