Roman wasn’t quite sure how he felt these days. Well that was a lie. He knew exactly how he felt about a whole plethora of things. He was only sixteen years old and already his life had turned to absolute shit, and not in a typical, angsty, teenager way. He wished he could just complain that his parents wouldn’t let him go to an expensive quidditch camp over the summer, or how they couldn’t stay over at so-and-so’s house for the weekend. They were bloody lucky to have parents at all. Technically he still had parents, but they had already forgotten they had a son apparently. He was starting to believe the Minister was right. Maybe Death Eaters weren’t capable of changing, and purebloods would always stand by their side.

The pureblood thing had started to really bother him only recently, granted he had already pushed away every pureblood friend he had ever made over the past six years. As far as he was concerned they were all plotting along with the vile Death Eaters to destroy society again. He tried to keep himself a bit tamer around his girlfriend though it was growing more difficult to as the urge to shove everyone away was intensifying. It wasn’t only that, but he truly did not want to upset Cecilia. She was going through absolute hell too. Him spazzing out on her best friend for being a piece of shit pureblood just didn’t seem like a great idea. He looked around wondering when she would get there. They needed to get away for a bit. He just couldn’t handle anyone but her at the moment. Hell, she was the only one that seemed to help keep him together to an extent. He sat on the ground looking around at the rough surroundings waiting for Cecilia to arrive.

@cecilia

It had almost been a week since she’d been back at Hogwarts from the Easter holidays, and Cecilia was still thanking bloody Merlin that she was no longer stuck at home with her mother, stepfather and stepbrother. Being there was similar to or even perhaps a bit worse than being tortured with medieval torture devices, but she knew that she had very little to complain about. In the grand scheme of things, just about everyone in her life had more going on than she did, and that was even including the fact that her father had been writing her letters. Since she hadn’t heard from the man since her first year, this had been a bit shocking when it first began, but now she was almost getting used to it—even if she hadn’t replied yet. No one knew that he’d been contacting her, as it wasn’t something that seemed wise to bring up with everything happening. Having a Death Eater for a father was a touchy subject for anyone, including her boyfriend, and since Cecilia wasn’t even writing him back yet, it simply didn’t seem important to bring up. Her mother would clearly flip a shit if she knew, and she could only imagine that Klaus would somehow make it her fault. Merlin, everything really was going to hell, and that was with her trying to avoid thinking about her boyfriend hating her best friend on principle and how she wished that blood status could just not be a damn thing that anyone talked about anymore—like that was going to happen.

But all of that aside, Cecilia could use a much needed break from the thoughts on her mind and Roman would certainly be able to deliver on that. She weaved through the annoyingly busy hallway toward the courtyard, wondering why there were so many damn people about, shaking her head in irritation. Finally, though, she made it into the courtyard, having to dodge through one more pack of younger students in the hallway. Luckily, the courtyard wasn’t actually that busy, oddly enough, and she spotted Roman immediately, “Hey,” she said, breathlessly, dropping down onto the ground next to him.

Roman was deep in thought wondering what the hell he was going to do over summer break. He was technically supposed to stay at the orphanage, but he had no real intentions to do so. Sure his house was now gone and he had nowhere stable to stay, but being in the orphanage made things worse. There were quite a few kids at the home that lost their family to Death Eaters either by death or recruiting. It didn't help that some Death Eaters weren't permitted to have custody of their children. Part of him felt that was for the best, while the other part remembered how his father had been so loving before Death Eaters got into his head again. That only reinforced that Death Eaters and those that chose to socialize with them were bad news and should be locked up with no chance of being released.

He hadn't initially realized the his girlfriend had uttered the courtyard until she dropped down beside him. He looked over at her with a smile as he leaned in to give her a quick kiss. "Hey yourself." He said with a chuckle. He knew the break had been hard on her. She hadn't been able to just stay at the castle with him which did make him miss her terribly. He could have left but he would have been forced to stay at the bloody home and he just didn't have the bullshit tolerance to do so. One of the staff made to 'babysit' wasn't a bad woman by any means but fuck that. He put out his hand behind him and leaned back looking up at the sky. At least the next quidditch game would help him take his frustrations out, even if he had to deal with disgusting purebloods. "How's your day going so far? Anything interesting going on?" He asked absently trying to act casual though he just wasn't in the greatest of places right then.

Cecilia didn’t like complaining about her life in the slightest. First of all, it just wasn’t something that she did. She’d spent too much time at Hogwarts avoiding friendships with everyone and keeping her life to herself for speaking about anything bothering her to be that easy, up until she started dating Roman. Even then, she still did only speak about so much—he didn’t know whom her father was, as she knew exactly how that would end up. Of course, she had toyed with the idea of telling him about that at some point, but then something had clearly changed over the summer and now he hated purebloods and Death Eaters more than he had before. Telling him would go incredibly poorly and that wasn’t something that she wanted to have happened; but it was far easier to keep that from him when her father wasn’t trying to get in contact with her.

However, he did know how her mother was, and her stepfather—and he was the only one, really, that knew that. But he didn’t realize the extent of how much she disliked her stepbrother, because he was a whole other annoying situation. The three of them being home made her holidays incredibly hard to deal with, but the main reason that she didn’t talk about her problems was because she realized that everyone else’s were so much worse than hers. Comparatively, she had no reason to even contemplate complaining.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts in time to kiss him back, as the point was that she didn’t want to be thinking of any of it. Normally that was a hard thing to do, but it was easier to do around him—and that was probably just because she knew that he had more going on and wanted to be able to distract him too. Cecilia fell back to lie against the grass, glancing over at him at his question, “Well enough. Everyone’s talking about the game tomorrow which got old fast,” she joked, rolling her eyes. She supposed there was a time that she liked Quidditch and flying, but that was in her first year and times had certainly changed. Of course, her two friends and her boyfriend were on the Slytherin team, which meant that she at least tried to make an effort as far as the sport was concerned—but no one would get her on a broom, “Told them there was no use arguing over stats when clearly Slytherin’s going to win,” Cecilia added, her lips quirking up in an amused smirk. Most Gryffindors still held an inherent dislike toward Slytherin—house rivalry and the like, and she was certainly going to be one of the only Gryffindors actually rooting for the snakes to win, “Other than that, nothing interesting,” she concluded, though that wasn’t necessarily true since she’d also received a letter from her father again, but obviously that was being left out, “What about you?” She wanted to say that he seemed incredibly distracted, but she would leave that one be for a moment if only to wait and see what he said.

It seemed like his girlfriend was getting just as lost in thought as he had been. It felt like something was going on that he didn't know about though he would never badger her about it. She had always let him tell her things in his own time and would do the same for her. He still hadn't told her that his father had really left for good, or so it seemed. He couldn't bring himself too. She could read him fairly well so he was aware that she was already wondering what the hell was exactly going on with him. He had completely pulled away from one of their closest friends and that had never been like him. He had never been a particularly hateful or aggressive person up until that summer. Sometimes he had to laugh to himself about how absolutely different they were in most ways. He had normally been very friendly and charismatic. There hadn't been many people that could truly say they full on hated him. Not everyone liked him but damn near most people thought he was decent. That wasn't the case anymore and he felt that might only be making things worse for him. He had frightened enough people away to leave him the hell alone that now all he had was Cecilia, and sometimes he worried he would eventually do the same thing with her.

He wasn't particularly fond of her family, but he had remained respectful for her sake. Granted now he was dreading what the summer would bring as his patience was exceptionally thin with everyone let alone her pureblood step father. He hated the man enough for how he treated Cecilia and now his blood status would make it much more so. Everyone knew purebloods were all the same. No damn good. For now he wouldn't get himself all worked up over it. He still had a month or so before he had to face the arsehole. He laughed and shook his head before laying down beside her in the grass. "I'm sure it will be an easy win. I hear Slytherin has some of the best players to grace this castle." He smirked stretching his arms above his head before clasping the behind his neck. At least he still had quidditch, even if he had to play with disgusting purebloods. "Same old same old." He said with a slight shrug. He just hadn't been feeling like himself lately and it was really getting to him

It was almost odd to imagine her life prior to dating Roman and becoming good friends with Isabella and Evan. She’d spent so long thinking that she was better off with no one, and now they were the only three people that were even capable of keeping her sane. Without them, she would just be stuck with her insane family—she’d probably be getting married off to some Norwegian, if Klaus had anything to say about it. Well, he probably still thought he could ship her off to Norway or somewhere else far enough way that he wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore, and if that meant partnering her up with whatever pureblood he could find, then she was sure he would do it. The only difference was having Roman and her friends around meant that she’d speak up for herself to never let that happen, whereas before she might have gone along with it for lack of other ideas on what to do. Hence why she was sure she’d be screwed without them around. It was really too bad that her stepfather was so awful, as it was only going to further Roman’s reasoning for hating purebloods—and it would do some damn good to see that they weren’t all awful. Of course, Isabella wasn’t awful by any means, and he’d still pushed off their friendship was well. Bloody complications, she thought, knowing that she really did need to figure out a way to work that out, “I’ve heard that too,” she said, solemnly, though from what little she did know about Quidditch, Cecilia would wager that was a true statement, “I also heard there’s a really sexy Beater, but I guess he has a girlfriend,” Cecilia sighed, dramatically, letting her eyes fall closed to block out the sun.

She did wish that she could tell Roman about her father; though it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him. Cecilia just knew enough about how he’d react to hearing that her father was not only a pureblood, but a Death Eater as well—and it wasn’t a situation that she wanted to put herself into on purpose. Besides, she was doing a rather good job of just attempting to ignore the situation, though ignoring his letters apparently wasn’t getting the point across. She was starting to believe she’d actually have to write him back if only to get him to stop contacting her, as she really didn’t want to know what shit he was getting into. Once again, Cecilia was getting lost in her own thoughts, pushing them aside. Her father would get the point and leave her alone at some point, and that problem would be taken care of—and whatever was distracting Roman was probably a bit more important than some damn letters. Not that she would ever press him about what was going on, though that didn’t mean that she wasn’t curious. Cecilia just knew that he’d tell her if and when he wanted to, and that was fine. He wasn’t the only one keeping secrets, which was part of the reason they worked so well, “You didn’t miss me too much over the holidays, I hope,” she teased, turning her head toward him with an amused look. She had really bloody wished she had been able to stay at Hogwarts for Easter if only to avoid her family for a bit longer, but at least she was back in one damn piece without having killed anyone.

Roman took a deep breath as he sat in silence for a few moments. This whole situation was really starting to affect everything in his life. He didn’t have friends anymore, he had ‘old friends’, the kind that you used to be close to. It was taking a major toll on him as he no longer had as many outlets as he used to. It wasn’t like he could just throw her a broom and tell her it was time to get on the pitch to burn off energy. Granted he didn’t mind her idea of burning off energy. It was quite a bit more satisfying than flying, but it still would have been nice to have the other option available. He knew Cecilia had to be feeling the pressure the moment she realized that her boyfriend had a sudden vendetta against her best friend, the same friend he had known before Cecilia even came into the picture. While he still had no real problem with their other friend Evan, he kept quite a bit of distance between them. He was unsure what Evan’s reactions would be to Roman’s new dislike of all purebloods including his girlfriend. He imagined it probably wouldn’t go over well if he had a fit in front of the bloke. He preferred they didn’t get into an all out fight. He was sure they could probably take out a whole damn floor with one.

He chuckled glancing over at his girlfriend with a shake of his head. ”You think that beater is sexy? You should see his girlfriend. I’m sorry to say this baby, but if I get the chance… I’ll have to shag her.” He teased feeling a little better since she had shown up. The banter always did help a bit. He enjoyed the fact that he never felt pressured by her in anything. Unlike past girlfriends that just wouldn’t give him space physically or otherwise she seemed to encourage them to still have separate lives, after all they were two different people with two different sets of problems. He thought briefly about telling her about his father leaving when she began to speak again. He moved an arm from behind his head maneuvering it beneath her neck to give her a kiss before sliding down to her shoulders to urge her closer. ”Oh yes I cried every night that you were gone.” He said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes before bringing them back up to look at the sky above. Sometimes all he needed was to feel that closeness, just something to remind him that not all people were horrible in some way.

It was awful timing that Roman now had a problem with Isabella and soon after Cecilia was becoming friends with her. It certainly didn’t make things any easier, though she really just wished she knew what was going on with her boyfriend to cause such a shift in his personality over the summer. She was also so damn tempted to ask, but she wanted to give him the space to say it when he wanted to. That was just how they did things, really; he didn’t badger her about her issues either. Cecilia glanced over at Roman, attempting to keep a solemn expression, “If she’s as sexy as you say she is, I suppose I can give you a free pass,” she stated, her eyes sparkling mischievously. As she had expected, her mood was already improving, even as thoughts still lingered about everything going on, “of course, that’s only because I’m clearly plotting to shag the beater—as long as that’s okay with you,” Cecilia added, nonchalantly, her smile widening, “After all, you know what they say about beaters.” It really was amusing to her that she was dating arguably one of the best Quidditch players in school, but she hated Quidditch. Of course, his fan club didn’t find it nearly as amusing as she did, she realized, already used to the fact that him being good at Quidditch pretty much meant having bints at the school talking about him constantly and more if they were bold enough. And they had plenty to say about her not even liking Quidditch. Of course, jealous bints weren’t something that Cecilia found herself focusing or dwelling on at all—in fact they were even amusing to her occasionally.

Cecilia moved closer to kiss him back, always glad for the distraction. Although there was always something dramatic going on, with each of their respective problems, there was no better time like the present to attempt to forget about it, even if it was just for a few moments. Her smile widened as he moved her closer, resting her head against him before laughing under her breath at his words, “Every night? You must like me more than I thought,” she replied, teasingly. Before she dated Roman, she pretty much just lived life at Hogwarts on autopilot, except for occasions when someone pissed her off, as she was pretty well known for not exactly having control of her temper. Of course, that was actually still true to this day, though Cecilia would say she had gotten a bit better about it. She really didn’t know who or what to credit that to, but she did know that she was a lot calmer around Roman. She did also try to keep herself from getting pissed off at everyone who hated on Isabella just because she was a pureblood—especially since Roman was one of them… hence why shit was just far too complicated at the current time. Luckily, she was just going to not bother herself with those thoughts at the current time.

Sometimes Roman felt this whole situation would be easier if he just told someone the issues he was having. It was difficult to pretend that life was the same again. It wasn’t as if this was some insignificant little hiccup in his teenage years that wouldn’t be of concern years down the line. He only had one more year of schooling left, which did work to his advantage as he would only have to survive one more trying to pretend that everything was bloody fine. He was sure nothing would ever be ‘fine’ again. How could anyone really handle the idea that their family didn’t give a shit about them, and would rather run around like a bloody criminal? He was sure there were a ridiculous amount of people out there dealing with the same things he was.

He felt stupid for the letters he had started writing a month prior to his parents. Part of him had really hoped that maybe they saw the error of their ways, and would come back home. Shit he would have been happy with just an apology even if they refused to come back. But that wasn’t the case, and he never received a letter back. The last letter he had owled had been sent back to him. That had only made things worse. He couldn’t decide if the owl was just daft and couldn’t find them, or if his parents just refused to even take the letter. He had tried time and time again only to realize that nothing really mattered anymore. The Ministry had to be right if parents didn’t even want their children anymore because of Death Eater scum. When he had ventured into Knockturn Alley to find them he had come across quite of witches and wizards that supported whatever the hell was going on and if they weren’t Death Eaters, they were purebloods. Everyone who thought purebloods weren’t part of the problem were foolish or lying to themselves. He wasn’t sure just which one he would prefer it to be.

He laughed shaking his head as Cecilia gave him ‘permission’ to shag the beater’s girlfriend. ”I mean I’ll try to enjoy the shag. I have a confession…” He began making his face look grave. ”I’ve already shagged her, but I swear I was thinking about you the entire time.” Roman tried to keep his face stern as she spoke again though he was sure he already looked ridiculous trying not to smile. ”I guess I can give you a pass.” He chuckled before gently cocking his head to the side feigning confusion. ”No, I have no clue. What do they say about beaters?” He asked innocently. Roman let out a content sigh when she moved closer and brought his hand up to play with the ends of her hair while she spoke. ”Oh I most certainly did.” He said cryptically arching an eyebrow at her before hearing a group of girls walk past them giggling and whispering. Gods he hated most of the female population at that bloody school.

Every time she was at school, it was simply a welcome respite from being stuck at home with her family—even if those breaks were often far too short for her liking. No matter what, though, the break would end and she would find herself drawn right back into the expectations of being home. It certainly wasn’t easy being the only one in the damn house that didn’t hold to the belief that she was just supposed to find a rich man to marry, keep quiet, and procreate. Cecilia was pretty sure there was a time where her mother hadn’t believed that herself, or at least, she didn’t think she had acted quite this bad when married to her father. But Merlin knew she believed it now, and Klaus made it perfectly clear just how much he believed it, as did Lars. Although she disagreed with the lot of them, she had long since learned there was very little point in arguing about it, finding it easier to just ignore them or go along with it. But if they thought they were shipping her off to Norway after Hogwarts, they were kidding themselves—and Cecilia was pretty sure that was what they had planned. That was why it was so bloody great every time she was at school and away from them, even though in this case, the term was very quickly coming to an end.

Cecilia raised an eyebrow expectantly at his mention of a confession, holding back a laugh, “Oh you have, have you? Any good?” She was glad that even though something had clearly happened with Roman over the previous summer, they were still able to act normal… for the most part, though she did slightly worry that whatever had happened would eventually push him away from her too. Even if he didn’t know who her father was—she did have a pureblood step-father, a pureblood best friend, and although she was a halfblood, she was a Greengrass on her mother’s side, and they were about as pureblood as it got. She hoped it didn’t happen, but worrying about it did slightly put her on edge occasionally.

“Good, because I’m planning on seeing him later,” Cecilia told him, shooting him a solemn look, “So, I’m sorry if I have to cut this short, but I really can’t keep him waiting,” she said, before shrugging casually, “I mean, they hit those … bluggers,” Cecilia paused, wondering if that was too dumb of a comment even for her. She did hate Quidditch, but she knew a decent amount about it, actually—not that she would ever admit it, “at people all day, but apparently they’ve learned other ways to burn off all that pent-up aggression,” she added, innocently. Cecilia heard voices in the courtyard, not needing to look up to know that it was probably some group of bints that tittered about wherever Roman was. Some of the bints at this school were so desperate that Cecilia was surprised they didn’t try to off her for a better chance with Roman, though she supposed they probably weren’t smart enough for assassination attempts, “Well thank Merlin I’m back now then,” she replied, smiling slyly while continuing to ignore the presence of the posse of bints.