where is your boy tonight

i hope he is a gentleman
@nick 

This school was so different than anything Desiree had ever expected. It was nothing like Ilvermorny, and for that she hated it entirely. She hated everything about her situation, having moved across the damn world just because the lousy squib had died. Desiree couldn't fathom why her parents were still so upset, the whole ordeal had been months ago. It was time to move on, and by move on she hadn't meant moving across the damn planet! Any sane person might find their decision logical, albeit slightly extreme. Losing a child was the single most horrible thing for a parent to have to endure, living with their ghost was a close second. But Desiree was not her parents, in fact she was nothing like either of them.

Maybe once she had been, but not anymore. She couldn't validate their sorrow, for she didn't feel any of her own. Her sisters loss had been more....impactful than she had planned. It was just like Layla to punish her from beyond the grave and rip her life away, just as Desiree had hers ripped away. Still, Desiree found that she could not show her disdain, she had an image to uphold and that image was not one of feeling sorry for herself. She was saving face, putting her best foot forward, just as she always had. She had never let Layla dull her shine before, and she would be damned if it would start now. Now that she was dead...

Try as she might to pretend to enjoy her new school, she couldn't bring herself to be happy about what was before her. Desiree had made her way to the balcony of the entrance hall wanting to see the house standings for herself. She had heard that Ravenclaw had pulled ahead of Slytherin, which was quite upsetting. Desiree lived for perfection, always wanting to be the best, and to be losing to another house.... Unacceptable. The small girl leaned against the balcony's edge, tapping her chin as she stared at the house point hour glass. Unacceptable, indeed. Her mind was swarming with ideas on how to raise her house standings when she heard footsteps echoing up the stair case. A boy appeared, looking roughly her age, though she did not recognize him. 

Not that it was surprising in the least, she had only been in the enormous castle since the beginning of this year, as far as students went she only knew a very small portion. It was surprising still to see another student at the castle, especially during the Easter vacation. She had refused to return home to wallow with those miserable ingrates. Instead, she stayed in the castle which had become unbearably quiet in the absence of the majority of it's students. Desiree smiled at the boy, putting on a sweet face to mask her annoyance at the standings. "Nice to see someone who doesn't work here," she joked, her American accent laced with Latina flare. "Happy Easter."

Nick wasn't at home for Easter for the first time in a while, and it was odd, in a way. He wasn't back in Singapore, he wasn't in London, he was just in Hogwarts. Still in Hogwarts. He should have done something about that, even if it was just to go to Atha's and stay through the break. But he hadn't. He had decided to remain at Hogwarts and his younger sister had gone home by herself. Not home, not really. He thought that she had gone on to their auntie's, but he wasn't sure. Not anymore. She hadn't spoken to him since she had gotten the owl, and Nick knew why. He? He had known. He knew exactly what was happening, and he hadn't told her. Their Ah Ma had already informed him, a few weeks before, about the divorce, and he didn't warn Lizzy. He had just ignored it, he had pretended like nothing was going to go wrong, and then she had been blindsided at the breakfast table. He had heard that she had written that she was going home, and he didn't know what to do. Nick had tried to talk to her. He had tried to find her after she read the letter, but his sister was small and fast. She had gotten away and had refused to even look at him, and he had had to ask other people about her. His little sister. He didn't know anything about what was going on with his baby sister. She wouldn't speak to him, she wouldn't speak to Atha, and he was sure that Carin would lie if he asked them. Henry wouldn't, but he didn't want to put Henry in that situation. So he stayed at Hogwarts, he minded his own business, and he tried not to freak out.

His parents had just been together for so long. He couldn't imagine a life without his father, even though he knew that he should be mad. He just couldn't be. He understood it. It was family duty that made him do it, not anything else. His Ah Ma had been pressuring his father for years about his family. His mum was a muggleborn, and she had escaped Kolna by being a Singaporean resident... Which meant that he hadn't seen her since last year. His father was a pureblood, and he had dealings in London. That meant that they had to stay, that their family needed to remain on good terms, and as such his Ah Ma was of the belief that they needed to just terminate the marriage. His father needed to do his duty, his father needed to marry a younger wife and have pureblood kids. And he was already doing that. His father would never take a mistress, though Nick was sure that he would (just so that they could stay together). The new wife... Nick hadn't met her. He didn't really know her name, but he was sure that it was something stuffy. Old. They always tried to seem more British than Singaporean, they tried to keep their accents English and not natural. The new wife was probably from an old family, and she was probably young. Maybe only a few years older than him, knowing his Ah Ma. She wanted a real heir, and he didn't count. He was a halfblood. He was useless. Rich, but useless. 

Was he even considered rich anymore? They were keeping it quiet. They were making sure that everyone in England didn't know, that it was only him and his sister who were aware. His father would do his best and provide from them, and Nick would remain as solid and determined as normal. Lizzy... She would keep quiet, for her own honor. He knew  she would. He knew that she had burned the letter just because he knew her like the back of his hand. She was young, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that he would make sure she followed through, so she had without him needing to ask. And it was rough. They had come from such a happy family. They had duty, they had honor... Lizzy had been brought up and told how to act. But it didn't matter. Nick wasn't good enough for his Ah Ma, and neither was Lizzy. It was all because of their mother. They couldn't even lie and say that Eleanor wasn't their mother... People would know. So they were shoved aside so his father could have his new family, and Nick and Lizzy didn't even have a home anymore, and they didn't have their mother... She wasn't allowed to come to England, yet, because of her blood status. At least their Ah Ma had paid for her to stay in Singapore, just out of the main house... It didn't make it better, but it almost helped...

Nick let out a sigh. At least with the castle empty he was able to figure things out. He didn't have to worry about his sister, or her friends, or how people perceived him to be. Nick could just think. As he rounded the corner from his wanderings, he came to a slow stop. Someone else was there, staring at the house points. Well, he would have to hide how he felt for a little bit longer. "Happy Easter," he returned, face stoic. At least that wasn't out of the ordinary; he smiled often, but not until he really had to. "You're Navarro, right? Transfer student?"

WHERE IS YOUR BOY TONIGHT

I HOPE HE IS A GENTLEMAN

Leaving Ilvermorny had been hard, especially without any way of saying goodbye to her friends. At least, not in person. She had sent out owls, of course, letting them know of her family's choice to move. Many of them had been silent pleas for housing. She didn't want to move to the UK, she didn't want to leave her school or her friends or her life. Every owl she received back expressed sorrow, sympathy, but not once sanctuary. That had made her salty. These people who claimed to be her friends... It felt so fake to her. And maybe they were. Desiree held so much of herself back, only letting people see the grandeur she wanted them to see. She kept appearances and those friends, well, they had been for appearances as well.

Still, she had wished that maybe one person would be so distraught at her leaving that they would offer her shelter. But no one was. And since she had been at Hogwarts? Not a single letter had come from her friends back home. She tried to be un-phased by it, but it was hard, especially when the owls dropped mail in the great hall. The only letters she received were from her brokenhearted parents and she didn't want those letters. Merlin, if she had to hear one more damn thing about Layla she could resurrect her and kill her all over again with her own bare hands. What a specticle that would be. Murdering her in cold blood herself... In front of her parents? Maybe she should have been the one to pass the sentence on her sibling. Maybe then they would have left her behind when they moved. Then she could keep up with her pretend friendships completely unaware at how fake they were.

Fake friends were all Desiree had, even at Hogwarts. It was her first year and she had already made a great deal of friends. Not real friends, though. Never real friends. She just wanted someone to gossip with, someone to show her around and make her laugh and forget about the miserable home she would have to go back to come summer. She had no real intentions of making lasting friends here. Did she even know how to make lasting friends? It didn't matter. She wasn't going to be here long. There was no way, uh-uh, forget about it. Desiree would convince her parents, somehow, to go back home. She had to. She couldn't bare this castle another two years...

The boy who rounded the corner to the balcony looked as though he was the serious type. He reminded her of Jose, her brother. He was serious, stoic, just as this boy was. Jose wasn't so all the time, at least not with Desiree. He was friendly and kind, even going as far as to joke with her at times. Merlin, he was a terrible joker, but she appreciated that he tried with her. She wasn't sure if this boy would be like Jose in that way.

He asked if she was the transfer student and she couldn't stop herself from sneering ever so slightly as she let out a quick nasally laugh."Yes, that's me. The transfer." Great, this was her permanent title: Transferred Desiree Navarro. Awesome. They could plague her with it for the rest of her days, reminding her every time they spoke that she was a transplant. A transplant that she hadn't wanted. Desiree tucked a piece of wavy hair behind her ear and reconstituted her friendly attitude. "I'm sorry, I don't believe I know you're name. It's Desiree, by the way," she stuck out a well manicured hand for him to shake, or kiss or whatever the hell these people here did.