Pretty little face stopped me in my tracks
But now she sleeps with one eye open
That's the price she'll pay

@lj - @desiree - outfit

Astoria was going to have a child. Of course, Sera had known that the woman wanted children because Theodore had told her it was part of the arrangement between then. He would recognise it as legitimate but it would have the Greengrass surname and it would not inherit anything of his. Sera was his first child, his first heir. He had given her his word, but it wouldn't be strange for anyone to hear that she very much did not believe him. After all, she knew that he had originally wanted her to marry Caerus in order to have children that still had his blood to carry the line. She was female, so whoever she married would have to take her name instead of the other way around. While she did not care much for people's opinions or desires, she knew that it would not be easy to find someone that would agree to that. All in all, there were many things that would probably persuade Theodore to acknowledge Astoria's child as his heir instead of Serafina, despite having promised it to her. Especially if the child turned out to be a boy. Theodore had promised many things and until now, he had broken most of those promises. Like the one in which he didn't wish to get married, didn't wish for more children, and had no interest in sentimentality. Yet he had married the sister of a friend of his, thus for sentimental reasons, and she was now pregnant. She was not a naturally violent person but sometimes she did consider going down into the infirmary and murdering the woman. After all, while she may not care specifically for the wealth or the title, he had promised her something. She had come with him and he had promised her all of this and to be her father. If there was one thing she disliked more than stupid people it was people who broke promises towards people they supposedly cared about. Though, she ought not to be so surprised. He claimed to care about Fernando too and there was nothing kind there.

She had been better before Easter break, and then this conversation came and she had been worse. It'd taken a lot of effort to go to LJ instead of destroying something in Stygian Hall. Sera was not used to dealing with particularly powerful emotions, and her anger had been very powerful at the time. Now she was just overrun by occasional waves of anger or annoyance, whenever her mind was idle enough to recall such matters. Mostly she worked on her research or she studied. She'd brought various rare books with her from home this time and she also had her OWLs coming up. That would be cause enough to keep her busy. When it wasn't enough, she sought someone out. Her cousins had usually been her most common options, or someone like Cassandra with whom she could speak Russian or Anne with whom she could discuss her research. The first choice always seemed to be LJ, however. The slight change in their dynamic had been slow enough that she had barely noticed, it felt completely natural to go to him first, even if it was just to sit in silence. He understood somewhat, her situation, and he was patient and he cared. That was enough for her to calm down, usually. Another way to just forget all about her issues. Sometimes they went out into the forest, other times they stayed in the common room or went to the library. It was less cold now, just cool enough for her to still be comfortable however, so she didn't mind being outside so much just yet. That would change in another month or so, she couldn't stand the heat.

"You have no rounds today?" Turning her head slightly to LJ, she made her way through the slightly crowded corridor. Saturday afternoons were always full of active students. She wasn't completely sure where they were going, but it had been a few days sine she'd gone to the Shack so going in there to take a look might be wise. Still, that would have to wait until tonight. Now, it would be better to go to the library or an alcove somewhere. She had her notepad with her. It would be perfectly all ri- turning the corner, not looking where she was going, she'd bumped against someone. Someone much shorter than her. The collision made her step back, pushed slightly against LJ, and she looked at whoever it was that had fallen. A... classmate of hers? A new girl. A Slytherin. Rhea had mentioned her sometimes and so did Rhea's friend Oralie. American, apparently. Sera, still not very used to keeping her manners -especially when surprised- merely blinked down at the girl, not apologising.

you're just another reason why i stay inside

just another reason that i hate this life
this has been a long time coming, i swear

The year was coming to an end soon and it felt like only yesterday that Desiree had entered the castle for the first time. She had hated it then... Well, she still kind of hated it, but she was getting more used to it. Still, she had her days where she loathed it, and her situation, entirely and others where she wasn't all that upset to be there. There were days where she swore that she would find a way to get out of this damn place and go back home, and there were days where she wished she didn't have to go home at all. It was complicated. This place was starting to grow on her, as much as she hated to admit it, and she felt like maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world to stay here just a few more years.

She had been making a few friends over the past couple months and they were kind enough to show her the ropes of Hogwarts. The stairs moved, don't go by the big tree that looks like a willow, and do NOT go in Myrtle's bathroom. There were little things here and there that she had learned that made the castle feel more livable. More likable, too. She found one of her greatest helps had been the portrait halls. They were always willing to share gossip they had heard about her, and willing to help her with her history homework. Although, they sometimes gave very bias opinions on that. It didn't take talking to a portrait to know that people had said things about her. Most of it was general run of the mill gunk like where she was from, what they had heard about her parents, what they had heard about her sister...

What had happened to Layla didn't seem to phase many of her Slytherin house mates. They understood purity and keeping a good name, though they were more likely to banish a squib here than kill one. Desiree had kept the fact that she was the reason for her sister's death a secret, as she always would, but some of these students spoke freely of their family's dark heritage like it was nothing. It was exhilarating, really. She wished more than ever that she had been of pure blood. She supposed by some standards she was, but if it boiled down to basic genetics she was not. Both her parents were half bloods, which meant they were each fifty-fifty and so forth passed that to their children. 

Desiree always assumed that was why Layla was such a screw up. She got the short end of the genetic stick, obviously. Poor thing, a genetic anomaly. It was a wonder they didn't cut her out of their lives sooner. If that had happened they would likely have made the move much sooner and Desiree wouldn't be trying to fit in now during her fifth year. Imagine the friendships she could have already made. Think of all the enemies...

The small witch had just left the empty classroom which she had been using as a quiet space to write home and was headed to meet one of these new friends, Emery, at the Library. She rounded the corner when suddenly she was knocked down by... Well, none other than that freaky giant Sera! She had seen the girl before and for some reason found her nearly insufferable. Never mind the fact that she didn't know the girl at all. Hell, did anyone know her? She was so quiet in strange, she couldn't possibly have any friends. Desiree glowered at her from her position on the floor. That gargantuan witch couldn't even muster an apology?

"No, that's quite all right, you're excused." Desiree picked herself up from the floor with no help from the girl and dusted off her robe. The words sounded sweet coming from her lips but there was a sting of sarcasm and annoyance behind them. "I'm sure it's not easy to see normal sized people from your view." You fucking giant. Desiree noted the boy with her giving him a nod to acknowledge his existence. 

I'll Cut Your Little Heart Out 'Cause You Made Her Cry

LJ knew that this month was going to be harder than most, probably for the rest of his life. This was the month that his ma had died, and he knew the day. Next Sunday. One week. One week from today and his ma would have been dead a year. His brother would have been a year old. It was crazy to think that that was the same day. That they were dead and alive because of the same accident. At least, he was going to think that it was an accident. He wasn't entirely sure. He knew that he could never be sure. Because he knew that Ondřej was capable of anything. Though he thought that it had something more to do with the muggles than it did with his aunt's father. With his dad's uncle. But he also knew that he didn't have to worry about Ondřej at all anymore. Malcolm had taken care of that. He had killed him, in an attempt to protect Teta, and LJ thought that that was the kind of man that he wanted to be. He knew that Dad had gone too. That they had gone together to protect them all, to protect her. They had gone for Teta. And he knew that that was something that he wanted to do. He wanted to be the man that did something about it.

It was funny to him really, that out of the man that was biologically his father, the man that had adopted him, and the man that was marrying his aunt. He wanted to be more like the second two. He wanted to be more like the men that had those marks on their arms than he did like the man that had helped give him life. He didn't want to be anything like Zamir. He didn't think that that was any way to act, and it was part of the reason he had asked Ares to adopt him. Not that he had been particularly pleased with Ares's choices this year either, but it wasn't his fault that he had loved before he had loved Ma. And it wasn't his fault that that first love wasn't actually dead. LJ thought that he would have taken it all in stride, and just sort of rolled with it if it wouldn't have been for the timing. There was nothing wrong with Issadora. Not really. She was nice, as far as he could tell. And he wasn't actually trying to be mean to her or anything. He just tended to avoid going home unless he was going to specifically see Dad.

Staying with the Mountbattens over break had been easier anyway, and he thought that it was a good thing that he did. When Sera had come looking for him, he thought that it was almost better to be there. The only adult that had showed up was Teta, and she was about to be Sera's family too. In a way… LJ didn't actually remember how Malcolm and Sera's father were related, but he thought that it was probably in one of those weird pureblood ways that would result in Sera calling them Aunt and Uncle too. Family terms came looser, but yet they were stricter at the same time in that world, and LJ didn't think that it was all that important that they understand them. He was almost convinced that things weren't going to be that easy. Not in the long run, but they could be easy for now. This week, he would take easy. He would take whatever it was that they wanted to do, whatever she wanted to do. It was easier to just be, and so when they had headed through the halls on the way to the library, he kept his head up, alert, watching.

They struck quite the figure walking down the corridor, they were both tall, and dressed in black, and navy, and he thought that they had to leave quite the impression really. It wasn't like they were going to do anything to anyone, they were both quiet, and he was even more quiet now than he had been lately. There had been a point in there where he had been getting better, this was not better. This was worse. But that was something that they were going to have to try and deal with later on. Not right now. "Tonight, I traded with Truly for her night rounds." He preferred rounds at night, they were quieter. Less people to bother him. When they turned the corner, he was a little surprised that the impact had sent the girl to the floor, but she was rather small in stature he supposed. The girl's comment reached LJ's ears and his eyebrows raised a little bit. He had instinctively put his hand on Sera's hip when she backed up into him, and he squeezed it just a fraction before his gaze moved back to the girl in front of them. He stood even taller than Sera did, at six foot two, but he wanted to see what she did before he inserted himself into what he assumed was an ongoing fight, of sorts…

All in all, Sera was under the impression that the both of them needed some distractions. If she thought too much about her current situation, she could do something that she may or may not end up regretting later. Admittedly, Theo had told her to warn him if she was going to murder Astoria, just so he could plan ahead. She had not been pregnant when he said that, so Sera doubted he would give his permission now. Not that she had ever wanted his permission in the first place, if she decided to kill anyone, nothing that was said to her would change her mind. She was a reliable person, in that way. She could be trusted to consider all options and inconveniences and if she decided to do something despite all of that then she would. Absolutely and completely. She needed, therefore, something to keep her from considering this homicide and convincing herself that she was going to do it. LJ, for his part, also needed something to get him out of his head lately. Well, lately, this month. Sera had know in theory what had happened to LJ a year ago, but she had never thought much of it because it was none of her business and clearly not something LJ wished to speak about. Rhea had taken her aside a few days ago to tell her it was this month that had held such misfortunes for LJ last year. It was an anniversary, which supposedly held some weight. Sera wouldn't know, but that was because she didn't know exactly what date her mother had died on. She just knew that it was somewhere in the middle of winter. Maybe she would understand better what he was feeling if she knew that date, but she knew what this hurting felt like. So she let him be silent when he needed to be silent, just like he let her. Mostly, they were both content with just being in each other's presence and leaving it at that.

It didn't change the fact that both of them were in bad moods, lately. Between LJ being more silent than usual and Sera still needing her occasional, violent outing to the forest, they had been given a slight space by most other students. It did not, apparently, extend to the new American student. Sera never paid much attention to anyone outside her small circle of contacts. The new addition to the school had not much called her attention other than Rhea's occasional comments about said girl's comments. Sera had never heard anything specific, but that was most likely because she didn't register English words unless she was focussing on it in particular. Her words now, however, made Sera blink slightly. Normal sized people? Well, she supposed it was true. Sera was much taller than most other girls in the castle. She was the same height as most boys, and that was without wearing heels. Pansy had told her that she was always to wear heels, however, so she wasn't about to change her shoes. She was used to this anyway and none of the people close to her seemed to mind. However, that didn't mean that her height made it hard to see anyone else. They had been walking swiftly and they had rounded a corner, maybe that did mean that she hadn't looked down to see her. "I don't tend to look down," she replied honestly. The other girl had issued Sera's apologies for her, it had slipped her mind, admittedly. That meant there was no need to speak them again. She turned to LJ behind her, slightly unsure of how to continue. He was still touching her hip, she didn't mind it. He was aware that she wasn't much sure of how to handle most impromptu interactions with new people.

"You're not hurt." Sera looked back at the Slytherin girl. "Who are you?" There was no reason for Desiree to be so bothered if apologies had already been issued for an incident that had been explained and in which she hadn't been hurt. She knew they hadn't ever actually interacted, Sera tended to avoid talking to new people. So she knew in theory who this girl was, but she didn't know her name or anything of the sort. Rhea never named her.