The school year had only been twelve days in and Corey was already aggravated. He had spent far too long being surrounded by the imbeciles of the school that he was long overdue for a nice break. Ever since he was allowed, Corey ensured that he attended every Hogsmeade trip, needing to get a break from acting like some fucking ball-less twit and remember that there was shit to do. Thankfully, because of the connections he had made throughout the years, mainly due to his godfather, he knew of a bloke who had an apartment in Hogsmeade. His father had apparently been friends with the bloke and his godfather had met him through his father. He was able to live in Hogsmeade because he was careful with who knew about his true beliefs. Even Corey didn’t really know much of the bloke beyond the basics, but that was bloody fine. It wasn’t as if they all needed to share shit about themselves when they all had the same focus. All that mattered was that they were on the same damn side.

Making his way through the crowds at Hogsmeade, he approached the apartment complex without notice, going towards the apartment. This was his bloody escape, a place where he could be his damn self and not have to feel as if he were fucking suffocating with the moronic fools he went to school with. Besides, it also would help him stay up to date with anything that was going on that he needed to know. After knocking on the door, he didn’t hear a response. Sighing, he took out the key he had been given and made his way into the apartment, letting the door close behind him, locking it again. He glanced briefly about the apartment, figuring that Josh probably headed out for whatever reason that didn't concern him any. The bloke knew that Corey would have been stopping by as it was the Hogsmeade weekend, not that he bloody needed supervision in his apartment as he hadn't throughout the summer. Making his way into the kitchen, he pulled open the refrigerator, and grabbed a firewhiskey, opening it in there as he leaned against the counter to take a long swig. It didn't matter how early it was; living at bloody Hogwarts made him want to drink more to get away from who he had to bloody pretend to be. He wasn't there long when he heard the door in the other room open, figuring it was probably Josh.

@odessa

She supposed that if she were to be the perfect little prefect, she’d be helping to make sure that none of the third years here in Hogsmeade for the first time bloody… dropped dead or ran amuck in the bloody streets or something of the sort. That was what she’d be expected to do, and she would make the necessary appearances later. But there was a reason she came to Hogsmeade the moment that she could, when some people waited until it wasn’t so early—taking advantage of their opportunities to sleep in, and that was because it meant that she got a much needed break. It was only a fortnight into the damn term and she already was looking forward to going to her uncle’s, getting out of this ridiculous outfit, drinking a few firewhiskeys, and not having to bloody pretend for anyone for a few hours. It was perhaps the best way to keep her damn sanity over the school years, even though her uncle was normally either asleep or gone at this hour. But she was fully capable of entertaining herself for a while, since there were no damn idiots around for her to fool. And Merlin, was it bloody easy to fool everyone. Every year she came back to Hogwarts, she wondered for a moment if there would be a spot of difficulty of getting back to this shit full time, but there never was. She was just that bloody good.

Odessa headed into the apartment building casually, after making sure that no one noticed her slipping off… easy. As she trekked up the stairs to her uncle’s unit, she contemplated if she had missed anything too interesting since she had been at school. Hopefully he had some entertaining stories to tell her, as it was always possible. They all ran under the radar, though her mother and herself more than Josh, so it was certainly probable that he had done something interesting that could keep her entertained. Odessa pulled out her key and unlocked the apartment door without even bothering to knock, letting it slam shut behind her after entering. “Merciful fucking Merlin, uncle, it’s been a bloody long couple of weeks,” she called out, depositing her bag onto the floor as she locked the door behind her. “Tell me something deliciously awful to distract me from the mundane existence of the Ravenclaw princess,” Odessa added, derisively, with a roll of her eyes before dropping down onto the couch and sprawling out. She wanted to change out of this ridiculous outfit first and foremost, though just when she was about to get up and head to the spare bedroom for a change of clothes, she noticed movement from the kitchen and sat up abruptly when she noticed who appeared. “You,” she commented, her eyes narrowing slightly as her mind immediately moved into problem-solving mode but coming up completely blank.

Outfit

Corey was just about to take another swig of his sweet release from this shitty world when a female voice that he vaguely recognized started to talk. One eyebrow shot up amusedly as the bint continued, himself feeling slightly confused. He had remembered Josh mentioning that he had a niece, but Corey really didn’t give a shit who it was as it didn’t concern him what family the bloke had. This was certainly an interesting surprise, though he wasn’t sure he understood completely. At least, he didn’t want to make any assumptions one way or the other, wondering just what exactly this woman was like. He knew that he had recognized the voice from the bash as that hideously dressed Ravenclaw that looked like a Herbology professor vomited all over her. At that bash, she looked far more dull than anyone he would have naturally wanted to spend any time with more than a quick shag, but now, he might even consider two shags or if she were lucky, three. For all he knew, though, was that her life being dull was something that carried over into her shagability and she would be just as mundane.

He waited as she continued, only stepping from his position when he heard her plopping down on the couch. Amused expression still intact, he leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen, staring out at the living room as he slowly took another sip of his drink. “Me,” he agreed with a nod before continuing. “You,” he commented, mimicking her earlier statement. “Something deliciously awful, eh? Well, for starters, the Ravenclaw princess has been hiding out on me,” he smirked, staying against the frame of the kitchen doorway. He wasn’t sure just where he wanted to go with this, but it seemed that the girl was more interesting than she had originally appeared to be, though he wanted to see just how interesting she would have been. For all he knew, this was an act that she put forth for her uncle while her true colors were aptly displayed on that piece of fabric covering her savory skin. He couldn’t really remember her name, though it hadn’t been important when he had learned it.

Well, this was just fucking perfect—that was the only consistent thought that was running through her mind. When the bloody hell was her uncle going to let her know that he was apparently buddies with someone that she went to school with? Didn’t he realize that was just asking for trouble? Merlin, she frankly didn’t know what was going through his mind, but perhaps he knew what he was doing, she contemplated. After all, apart from her mother, Josh was the only person that she trusted. Either he royally had screwed up, or he thought that this wasn’t an absolutely atrocious thing to have happen. It didn’t seem like he was bloody home to know for sure, but she just would have to play it by ear; it was unlike her for when her façade was in place, but she wasn’t a bloody idiot. She wasn’t going to sit here and backtrack, trying desperately to get him to believe that this was a misunderstanding and that she had walked into the wrong damn apartment or something. That put the power completely in his hands, and that was something that she was absolutely not all right with. No, she supposed she could make this work. Odessa had already had at least slight suspicions that he might be more interesting than the average Slytherin. If he was here and knew her uncle, that practically verified that he would be a potentially useful ally.

Besides, it was far wiser to keep her enemies closer—she wasn’t planning on making him one, and it wasn't smart to try to start lying to him when there was nearly no chance that he would believe her and then who bloody knew what he’d do with the information? “What can I say? People are far too easy to fool… particularly when they only see what I want them to see,” she commented, the mask falling from her face completely as a smug smirk grew across her features before she got to her feet. Hell, perhaps there was a way for this to even work in her benefit. “Ravenclaw so I’m boring, prim clothing so I’m a prude,” Odessa added as she headed over to him, gesturing at her ridiculous outfit that she really did need to change out of since there was no use being in it any longer anyhow. “Worth maybe a shag if you’re desperate since I’m attractive enough despite my shortcomings, and then not a second thought—sum up your thoughts well enough?” Odessa asked, raising an eyebrow at him before taking the firewhiskey from his hand and taking a swig, before setting it down and turning around, pulling her hair to the side. “Unzip me, will you? I like to spend as little time as possible in floral.”

This was an interesting development, and one that Corey rather liked. There was only one girl at the school that knew his true colors, and it was a bloody Gryffindor that he wasn’t going to be shagging anytime soon. Other than that, Corey was still his arse self, but in a much more pleasant manner, if he did say so himself. Any bloke could be an arse and still not be considered evil, which was much to his relief. He just acted like he gave a shit much more than he actually did. In actuality, he hated nearly bloody everyone at that school, finding them to be quite the waste to him as he went through the motions. It was needed, obviously, as the only alternative was not convincing people to join the proper side. He was just thankful that he had bloody Trey there and he wasn’t a fucking ponce, though his relationship with another slag was making him start to question just where it was that his mindset was. Beyond that, it was of no concern to him, as long as Trey didn’t forget which side he was on. Now this Ravenclaw…this was an interesting development indeed. He was close enough to the uncle to know that he could be trusted though he lived as if he were on the other side. His godfather trusted the man, so he saw no reason not to, and now, it led to something that would make his last year all the more interesting. He had assumed she was some prissy little princess that lived off of mummy and daddy’s income to get everything she wanted, retrieving good marks just because she wanted the bloody praise. Now, he wondered if she slept with the professors to keep up her marks as she pranced around like the perfect prefect that she pretended to be.

“And finally, a Ravenclaw that actually puts that little head to valuable use,” he responded, amusement still clear on his features. She was good, he would give her that…at least, in her head. She had the school fooled, and she probably bloody hated her life doing it. He couldn’t even imagine the torture of having to pretend for so long. “Smart first year you were, tricking the hat, I suppose? Or were you not snake enough to be a Slytherin?” he asked her curiously, wondering just how long she had lied her way through school. “Yes, that clothing really does scream ‘virgin’, which I’m supposing was the point,” he shrugged, slightly distastefully at her option of attire. “Well enough,” he simply agreed, smirking as he allowed her to take his firewhiskey, still curious about who she was pretending to be. “Bossy little claw,” he commented, unzipping the dress slowly as he towered closer to her, his lips coming to her ear. “As little time in clothing would suit you much better,” he smirked, though he pushed away again, picking up the firewhiskey and taking another swig. This afternoon was going to go much more entertaining than he had originally thought.

She could be casual now, because the situation required it. Even though that cat was out of the bag, so to speak, Odessa still needed to keep a careful eye on this conversation as there was specific information that she wanted out of it. She needed to know how he knew her uncle, how well, and how invested he was into their side of things. If he had a key to Josh’s apartment, and it was obviously safe to say he did since he was in here, then he’d have to be pretty fully on their side because there were only few people that Josh trusted to that extent. But she needed to know if it could work for her or against her having someone at Hogwarts know the truth—as far as she could tell, there were certainly worse people that could know, but it was too soon to know for certain. If all else failed, it would at least be tempting to shag a bloke that she didn’t have to act like a simpering virgin for… because that got old entirely fast. But at the same time, she could admit that it was a bit aggravating that she had kept this up flawlessly for so long only to be blindsided in her uncle’s damn apartment. Obviously, she still had to figure out what the hell Josh had been thinking, as that was important to her as well. He knew what he was doing, after all, because she trusted and knew that they always had a damn plan.

It had taken a hell of a lot of work to get this far, certainly. In fact, she could almost appreciate that someone outside of her family was now seeing just how bloody good she was at what she did. “Glad you appreciate,” she replied, her smirk only growing. Ravenclaws were so focused on their dull little books about their dull little topics that it was a wonder that they had time for anything else—and what they did do certainly wasn’t valuable in her mind, as they were far too safe… far too boring, and far too scared to do anything of interest. “I wouldn’t call it tricking so much as… convincing it of what I needed,” she answered with a shrug. Like a… healthy discussion, one could say. “Oh, trust me, babe, I am just as much of a Slytherin as you are,” Odessa replied with a dark laugh. Even the thought of her being anything but was amusing to her, but it would have been a fair bit harder to keep this up and keep under the radar if she was so tempted by like-minded individuals all the time. “It just wouldn’t have done me any long-term good.” Odessa added, as that had been what was on her mind, even then. She needed an innocuous house and she wouldn’t have chosen Hufflepuff or Gryffindor even if the hat saw those houses even a bit. She nodded slowly in response to his comment, an amused smirk on her lips. As if she would ever want to wear something that looked like a bloody tablecloth. “It certainly was the point—it was important to keep my… indiscretions discreet.” It wasn’t as if she was actually going to go without sex, hence why she had the simpering virgin act down pat whenever she did find someone worth a shag—though she’d found that was occasionally just as unsatisfying as abstaining altogether.

Her smirk widened as she felt him moving closer to her as he unzipped her dress, glancing at him once he’d spoken. “I’ll keep that in mind,” Odessa stated, before heading toward the spare bedroom and slipping the dress off as she went. It was good that she had clothes at the apartment, because she really did appreciate any time that she could wear what she wanted without any ramifications. As she kicked of her shoes and pulled on a pair of jeans, Odessa contemplated if her uncle had done this on purpose or not, because it wasn’t particularly clear to her. She sifted through the small bit of clothing she had in the drawer, sliding on a shirt and zipping it up before heading back into the living room. “So—he been gone since you got here?” Odessa asked, as she moved into the kitchen to grab a firewhiskey. As she opened it and took a swig, she returned to her spot on the couch, whipping the aggravating necklace off from around her neck and depositing it on the coffee table before moving her gaze back to the Slytherin.

Outfit

The most important thing that Corey now had to decide was just how to use this tidbit of information for his ultimate enjoyment and benefit. He wasn’t sure if it would be better to use her as an expense, or to utilize her as an asset. It could go either way, really, but one had to be the better of the ways. For now, no decision needed to be made at the moment as there was plenty of time outside of today. He was impressed, he supposed, that she had managed so long without blowing her cover. Even he had to take his breaks as pretending to like half of the school was simply exhausting when they all just made him want to curse himself. At least he got to stay in the Slytherin dormitories where there other like-minded folk. Even if the blokes weren’t necessarily like-minded, they were easier to deal with because the dorm wasn’t filled with idiots. It would be horrid having to be staying in one of the other dormitories, so to that, he would have to give her credit. He did wonder if she were learning anything useful, though he realized that now, he had the upper hand in this…relationship. While he could blackmail her, she certainly had nothing on him, and never would. He liked to think he had the perfect balance of shit-holery and chivalry. He figured that she could easily try to make the school believe that he hated them, but he didn’t plan on even showing her that side at the moment. For now, he would merely enjoy the fact that he could clearly tell precisely what the bint had been hiding.

When Josh had given him the key to his apartment and said to drop by whenever he wanted, he really didn’t think that something so interesting would come from it. Corey merely thought that it would be beneficial to actually relax and catch up on anything his godfather wanted to pass his way. Now, he had leverage on a Ravenclaw. “I can appreciate a work of art when I see it,” he commented back easily, his brain still moving to assess the situation. “I would have loved to be inside your head while you debated the hat into placing you where you wanted without it being too suspicious of motive. Or, was it?” he asked, truly wondering if she had even managed to convince the hat of her annoyingly claw personality. “I do look forward to seeing your more pleasant personality, not to bash this bore that you’ve had on display. Things for this year are certainly looking up,” he grinned, wondering when the last time she had a good shag was, though he wasn’t certain he wanted to help her out in that arena, far too amused with the situation at hand. “So, are the Ravenclaws really as dull as they appear to be?” he asked her, quirking an eyebrow in her direction. His eyes watched her as she sauntered off in the direction of a bedroom, rolling down her body as the dress came off just before she turned into the bedroom. “Not that I’ve done a thorough search of the apartment, but I figure yes,” he shrugged in response, moving towards the living room but not sitting on the couch. “Now tell me, how does an eleven year old consider manipulating the hat for the proper placement? Tired of playing with your dolls so soon?”

Odessa needed to stay at least slightly on defensive, without appearing to be. The last thing that she needed was him thinking that she was trying to get cagey, because she needed him to think that they were on the same side in this—they were, for all respects and terms, or so it seemed. She actually had no idea just what he got up to in his life, but by knowing her uncle, it was safe to say that he had the proper mindset. But just because they were on the same side, for lack of a less cliché word, it didn’t mean that this would necessarily work in her benefit. Blackmail was an option, should he really desire it; there were plenty of ways for him to extort this situation for his benefit and her downfall. There was a chance that he saw this as more of an opportunity for both of them than one for just him, but he was a Slytherin, and they mostly worked for just themselves. Odessa was truly a snake at heart, doing everything and anything she could for herself alone, and her family, obviously. There was no one in the world that she trusted more than her mother and uncle, even if she’d found recently that they were hiding some information that was certainly pertinent to her. Finding out that her mother had other siblings had been… intriguing, to say the least, though she was still figuring out when was the best time to work this to her advantage and find out more about it. For the most part, she didn’t think that she needed anyone else, and she truly didn’t—but having an ally in Hogwarts wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, if she worked it right.

Best case scenario, they both came out of this with some benefits working in their favor. Worst case, she had an enemy. But what he didn’t realize was that it really didn’t matter what he knew—no one would bloody believe him anyhow. He might come off as a skirt-chasing bloke with nothing on his mind but the next shag, but he was in Slytherin and she would assume that some people had their suspicions about him, from his last name alone. Who would they believe? The Slytherin who came across as nice enough but could easily be not quite as he seemed? Or the sweet, innocent Ravenclaw that had never been anything but perfect in the eyes of others? It was a clear victory on her side, obviously. “A work of art,” she repeated, raising an eyebrow at him. It felt like he was still riddling this out too, perhaps trying to make her comfortable as he still tried to determine how best to play this. “You sure know how to flatter a bint,” Odessa added, a smirk forming on her lips. In her mind, though, no matter what the reason behind his comment, what she did was certainly impressive and she was glad that he was catching onto that. Odessa lifted her shoulders in a casual shrug. She wasn’t going to let on too many details about her getting sorted or anything like that. There was no need to give him the power of information, when he was already starting this conversation out with an advantage. “It was certainly an interesting little debate,” she commented, blithely. “And to answer your question… I’d say the fact I’m in Ravenclaw answers to if it had any suspicions.” Odessa added, thinking that the hat had been well convinced that she belonged in Ravenclaw. It had been an exhausting time at Hogwarts, but Slytherin would have been far too risky of a move to make.

Odessa took a swig of her firewhiskey, thoroughly amused by his words. “Well, who says you’ll ever get to see it again?” She asked, raising her eyebrows at him. Really, depending on how this went, she wouldn’t mind him stopping by again on another Hogsmeade weekend. It was nearly a breath of fresh air, though her uncle’s company helped out as well. But this had other potential benefits that were coming to mind. “Oh, bash the bore anytime you want. It would thoroughly entertain me, I’m sure,” she added, knowing that she’d put on a hell of a show. In fact, even thinking back at the conversation that she had with Corey at the bash amused her, as she had been incredibly boring. He had clearly been looking for a shag, and she had been tempted, but had deemed it too risky. She sighed slowly, contemplating his question. Yes, of course they bloody were, though they were the lesser of all of the evils, obviously. “At any given time in the Ravenclaw common room, you can expect the most interesting thing to happen to be either a rousing debate about who really discovered the twelve uses of dragon’s blood, or someone getting an incredibly bad cut from their parchment,” she replied, far too bored to even contemplate her house even further. There was nothing more dreadfully dull than their common room, though luckily playing the part meant that she fit right in. sometimes, of course, there was a rare moment when there were students that actually wanted to chatter and that was always a surprise—but she still bloody hated all of her classmates for the most part, which meant it wasn’t a conversation that she’d want to be apart of anyhow.

Once she had returned to her seat, she’d felt as though she’d cleared her mind just a bit more. There were ways to work this to her advantage, but she’d just have to be cautious. Her uncle wasn’t a complete idiot, she highly doubted that he would give this bloke a key and not realize that Odessa always made her way here early in the day. It was just idiotic to think that her uncle had slipped up—they didn’t slip up. It wasn’t in their nature. “I wonder what he’s off doing…” she murmured, more to herself than to Corey. Although she wouldn’t mind seeing him, she also wouldn’t mind him staying away so that she could explore just what other benefits Corey could potentially have. “It was just the obvious move,” she replied. She wasn’t going to go on and explain her mother’s techniques in raising her, but she’d learned from the start that showing people what they wanted to see was the safest way to remain under the radar. “Dolls… no, I never was much for those,” Odessa commented. She hadn’t exactly had a traditional upbringing, after all.

What was supposed to be his soothing trip away from madness had turned into a trip of great amusement. His exciting moment of the day had simply been to grab a firewhiskey, try not to go bloody mad, and return to flattering bints in Hogsmeade before taking the trek back to the school and putting on his partial mask. He said partial because he was still true to himself, just opening up a bit more to bints in the sense of giving attention to even mudbloods and he wasn’t exactly verbal on his support for death eaters and the like. That would be a fool’s way of doing things, letting others know everything about them. In no world would that be a bloody good thing as people were always going to be set out on trying to step over each other. He didn’t find it offensive in the slightest, clearly, as he was very much willing to do the same. This was why he enjoyed to find information out about others because he could use it against them to his advantage. Nearly everything, Corey found that it could be used to his advantage, though some things took just a bit more thought than others.

But, here he was, accidentally being thrown into information he hadn’t even known to search for. How could he have possibly determined that a bloody Ravenclaw was more interesting than her arse when wearing a skirt? He certainly hadn’t been expecting it, but he was glad that he came across it because now, he had something over her and she had slightly less than what Joey had on him and that was…not enough to make the school question him. He wouldn’t give her much about his own viewpoints today, but only a little taste or enough to get her imagination going, but he was certain she would catch on, knowing that her uncle had given him a key to his apartment. Corey wasn’t exactly innocent, but he certainly never claimed to be. It was a shame her uncle let her be discovered like this, but that wasn’t his fault. They could certainly benefit each other this year if he found himself in need of something only a bint could provide, but he would think about that much later, after his amusement at the current situation. “Yes well, years of practice,” he shrugged jokingly, taking another long sip of his drink. Complimenting bints, in his own way, sure was tedious work. “Remind me to never believe a word you say, yeah, Ravenclaw?” he asked, chuckling softly. It was impressive, and he would like for her to think that he was more impressed than he really was, but credit was certainly due for someone that had something that was supposed to be charmed to read bloody thoughts into thinking Ravenclaw was best for her. Pity to be her, though, because that house was the bloody worst. Her deception was top notch, but that was only one aspect of her. It didn’t mean the rest of her was of an interest. “Because everyone needs a little breather. It’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” he asked her, quirking an eyebrow. “So I expect that I’ll be able to see this side again.” And if not, he was certain he could easily bring it out, particularly if he pulled her into a broom closet or somewhere more private.

“Wow, sounds rather tragic there. Nothing like the battle with paper to make things crazy,” he grinned. He didn’t know how she didn’t bloody hex herself, but to each their own. “Does it really matter? He’s not here now, threw you under the bus, and now your secret is safe with me,” he smirked, though he hadn’t yet determined how safe it would be. “So tell me, what’s the real Ravenclaw like?” he asked her, looking over at her.

After this, Odessa was unsure who she should get in contact with first—her mother, or her uncle, and of course, that was assuming that her uncle didn’t come back anytime soon. But she had known him her entire life, after all, and it was safe to say that if he was off doing something, he was probably going to be gone for a while. Really, she felt like she better tell her mother that her situation had been… a bit compromised, and see if Josh had done this intentionally, or if he had simply forgotten that he’d given Corey a key to his apartment that she happened to frequent. It seemed like a bit of an impractical thing to just forget, clearly—and he was a smart bloke, after all. Since her mother was her best friend, Odessa wanted to get her opinion on this and just what move that she personally thought should be made next. She was quite sure that she could handle Corey on her own, but it wouldn’t hurt to get an outside perspective in order to make sure that she was going about this in a way that didn’t end in him revealing what he knew about her. Of course, if worse came to worse, very few people would even believe him anyhow. Odessa would rather the rumor mill not get going about her, particularly when she knew that Corey was… rather vocal, and relatively well-liked. But he was a Slytherin at the end of the day, and she was an innocent little Ravenclaw. She wasn’t concerned.

It was a turn of events that she was quite certain she could spin in her favor when she put her mind to it. Yes, she was a Slytherin in every sense of the word, but the hat wouldn’t have put her in Ravenclaw if she had shown none of the house traits. Odessa was intelligent enough to come up with a solution if need be, though she could admit that it also seemed to have undeniable benefits. She wouldn’t assume that he was thinking the same, because that would be ridiculous, but it would not necessarily be bad to have someone around that did know what was going on. It brought up the point of trust, which she didn’t have for him or anyone at Hogwarts, but her uncle must trust him… and that was certainly something. She doubted that they would have much interaction like this at Hogwarts, as it was a rare situation to be entirely alone anywhere. “Oh yes, you’ve plenty of experience in that, so I hear,” she replied, an amused smirk forming across her lips before she took a swig of the firewhiskey. He was putting on a front of his own, clearly, because if he was close to her uncle in any way, he wasn’t just some skirt-chasing bloke with nothing else on his mind. “You’d be wise not to,” Odessa added, noting vaguely that there was quite the possibility that he didn’t even know her name. She would tell him that, if she cared, but she didn’t—and it would be better for him to not know her name anyhow, at least until she figured this out a bit more.

Although this was an interesting turn of events, and something that she was going to need to keep her eye on, she knew that she couldn’t act like she was overly interested or trying to sway him one way or another into stopping him from telling anyone about what he had discovered. Odessa just had to remain nonchalant, and that was something that she did on a daily basis. The mask wasn’t going to entirely come off… no, not yet—that would just be a horrific idea this early in the game. “Well, yes, and I’ll certainly be here again, but that doesn’t mean you will,” Odessa stated, raising an eyebrow at him. A test of sorts, she supposed, to see if he’d even slightly let on just how well he knew her uncle. Did he think he’d be extended an unlimited invitation, even if she told her uncle she didn’t want him around? How much sway did he think she had over the situation? It would be interesting to find out—not that she would ever even attempt to try to tell her uncle who could or couldn’t be at his apartment. But there was no harm in gauging Corey’s response to that.

“Quite tragic, indeed—battle wounds left and right in the common room,” she stated, dryly. Most people in her bloody house wouldn’t know a damn thing about any problems of real substance. It was something she found aggravating, to say the least. There were far too many Mudbloods and blood traitors in her house, and others, that had it far too good for their station. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too long before they returned to their rightful places, below those superior to them, or just in the damn ground. “Oh, is it now?” She asked, dryly, keeping her expression amused. Somehow, she was quite sure that he hadn’t made up his mind on that just yet… or else he was far dumber than he looked. It would be quite ridiculous to make such a promise so early, without figuring out what the benefits of other options would be. “What, and spoil the entire surprise? It would be far more interesting for you to figure it out yourself.” After all, that might be a test of his attention span, and if a pretty bint in a skirt came by, he might decide that figuring her out was not all that important.