Devin had come back to Hogwarts to get away from the Aubreys... and to be close to Sasha. He had not wanted to admit that second part to himself back in January, but it had been the case. Even if he had already found a flat for himself, he still would have been tempted back to the castle. And it was not for schooling. It was not for the free food, because truth be told, he missed cooking his  own food. It had been for her. It had been to get a chance to set things to right when he had made such a mess of them. He had thought he was doing the smart, right thing driving her away that night at his fight. But it had just been stupid.

He had her back now. He had made things right. Now he could turn his eyes to the future--to his future--to theirs. Two more years of Hogwarts classes just was not the future he wanted. It did not make sense. He was too old. Graduating at twenty was beyond pathetic. There were ways to get NEWT scores, too, outside of the school, if sometime in the future he decided he needed them. But that wasn't really something he saw happening. It just did not make sense. 

Fighting, thieving, cooking, playing Quidditch--those were the things he was good at. Those were the avenues that were really open for him in the future. He explained his position to Sasha and she seemed to understand it. He nodded as she spoke about that being what he wanted then he should go for it. "I know I don't need your permissions, but we are in this shit together. I want to talk to you. I value what you have to say. I want to make the right decisions. Merlin knows I've had shit for examples." He really did trust that Sasha would encourage him to take the right path. And the wizard believed in the depths of himself that not coming back to Hogwarts was the right thing. 

Devin rolled his eyes as she talked about the Cannons. "There is not much of a chance that I'd even make it, but if I could, then that would be good money for us." He was worried about being able to cover all the bills. The f lat they had taken a lease on was really a bit above the budget he would have actually felt comfortable spending. But Sasha had seemed to like it-- and really while it was the nicest place he had ever lived, it was a big downgrade from where she lived with her parents. He didn't want to her to regret the life changes she was making with him. He wanted to give her all the good things. She deserved them 

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She would not have thought that getting a flat would be in her future. Let alone a flat with Devin. It was just not something that had even crossed her mind. Sasha had not even thought about what she would do after she graduated. She’d had no ideas. She hadn’t known if she would stay in the magical world or go back to the Muggle one. Of course, she knew what option her parents preferred, but she didn’t know what she wanted to do. It wasn’t something that she had even considered all that often. She had to move out eventually. It wasn’t as if she thought she’d be living there for the rest of her life.

She had just never thought that she would be moving out. On her own. Well… with Devin. But without their permission. Without their funding. She was going to be on her own. There would be no Augustine credit cards in her possession once they found out she was leaving. She was sure about that. They would take them when she moved out or cancel them if they couldn’t physically get their hands on them. She would have no money to her name, and she had never thought that would happen. It had when she had been at Kolna, in a way. But this was different. It was something that she was choosing to do. She was making the decision to walk away.

Not entirely or anything. Sasha was sure that they would still want her to show up at the social gatherings that people expected her at, to put on a good face and all that. But she would still have to figure out the whole money thing. It wasn’t something that she had thought she’d have to worry about, but she would have to figure out how to pay her portion of rent somehow. “Like mine were much better.” He knew enough about her parents by now—from stories and from meeting him, to know that they weren’t the greatest either. “But I think you’re right. You’re not going to use any of this. Neither am I.” If she was thinking about it, was there really any reason for her to come back either?

His words went to money and it brought her back to her own worries. She really didn’t know how she was going to get her portion of rent. Devin was good at cooking, good at Quidditch, good at fighting. He had options. What was she good at? Nothing that translated well into any job, really. “It would be,” she echoed. She didn’t know how much Quidditch players made, at least on those teams. Surely enough, right? The flat was small by her standards. How hard could it be to get that much money? It didn’t seem like that much. “I should probably figure out a job, shouldn’t I?” She just honestly had no ideas.

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486 - definitely losing perspective on what rapid means, guys

TW: Abuse

Devin did not want Sasha to have to worry about anything. He wanted to be able to take care of everything--to take care of her. He was that kind of guy.  His dad had been a shit father and husband, but the idea that it was a man's duty to work was one that was familiar to Dev. Hackney was a backwards place. The women who worked around there earned their living on their backs--and even they had their pimps looking out for them. Men were supposed to be strong. 

He tried his best to be strong. He had tried in Kolna--and failed. But he liked to believe he had kept the worst from happening to Sasha...and they had both survived. That was more than could be said for some. He had not completely failed her...and he wasn't going to let anything like that happen again. He would make the right sort of friends outside of Hogwarts. He would make sure they were safe. 

Sasha compared her parents to his and he turned a face. "They really were though." And they were. Devin had not opened up too much about the things he had seen growing up. He did not want to burden Sasha with that sort of knowledge. She knew his dad had split and that his mum and sister were dead. But she did not know the sort of things that he seen. She knew he had circular scars on his arms and back. They hadn't talked about the fact those had been burned into him by his old man. She did not need to know that. 

She brought up something he had been worried she would--the notion that she might not use what she learned in school either. He frowned at this. "Sash, you are so much smarter than me--and you are so close. You shouldn't not finish. You deserve to all the doors open for you." He absolutely did not want to be the reason she left school. "Mari will kick both our arses if you don't come back next year. You gotta finish with her." He was not above pulling the best friend card. 

Devin did not like the hints of worry on his girl's face. No, no, no, this was all wrong. He was supposed to be the one thinking about money. He was supposed to be the one making sure she had the things she needed and wanted. "You don't have to worry about that. You should focus on finding something you can enjoy. I was going to get a flat anyway. I'll cover the rent." He prayed that she did not have enough exposure to mundane aspects of life to realize that there would be utilities and other expenses, too. He wanted her keeping anything she earned, if she decided to get a job, to stay in her pocket--for spa days and pretty things that would make her happy.  

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She really didn’t know just how difficult it was going to be for them when they left school for the summer. Bills and rent and that sort of thing… she had never had to worry about it before. Worrying about money was just a completely foreign concept to her. If she wanted something, she used one of her credit cards and she bought it. Her dad paid the bills and she never even looked at them. She had no idea how much money she spent in a month on clothes, spa days, champagne, brunch—she didn’t know. As embarrassing as it was to admit it to someone who had spent his life struggling to make ends meet, Sasha had never been the type to look at price tags.

Things had been different in Kolna, of course. She had no money at all, which was a stark extreme for her. But she had also not been in a position to shop or do any of the things that she normally did. There were no bills at Kolna. No expenses to be paid. They went to work and they came home. That was it. It had given her no further insight as to how the real world worked. It was just one extreme to the other. Having money and no problems, to having no money and a whole slew of different problems.

This was going to be different. She knew that. They would have an apartment, and they would have rent to pay. She would have no credit cards to fall back on. She would have no money at all if she didn’t find some kind of job. Clothes cost money. Spa days cost money. And so did food and all that. She knew that she had to figure out how to help out. She just had no idea how. Her parents had never taught her that sort of thing. She softened at his words, eyes on his expression as she tried to glean some kind of insight from his answer. They had talked plenty, but she did not know too much about his parents. “I’m not trying to compare. I just mean—” She didn’t honestly know what she meant. Their parents were not the same. His parents, his childhood, it hadn’t been great either, not that she knew all the details. It had been hard—impossible in a way that she could not understand from her ivory tower. Yes, her parents were demanding, and they were critical, and they plied her with pills, but she’d always had food and had never worried about the sort of thing she knew Devin had to growing up.

She shook her head at his words. “No, I’m not.” She did not think she was smarter than him at all. Passable at best, maybe. “Mari would be fine.” Pissed, of course, but she would get over it. She probably saw the benefit to not coming back either, in all honesty. A lot of Muggleborns were probably having the same thoughts themselves. And with a flat to worry about, why should either of them come back? It wasn’t like she’d be bringing money in at school. “But can you? Cover the rent, I mean?” It didn’t seem like a lot to her, but she didn’t really know. Maybe it was.

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TW: Abuse, bad shit, idk?

Devin had not been actively keeping things from Sasha. He was not dishonest like that. He just had never talked to anyone about his parents. None of his friends knew the hell he had come from. They did not know the way his dad had beat his mum. They did not know the things his mum had done for money to keep herself high. No one knew...and Devin had no idea how to tell anyone. Sasha knew that he came from a part part of town, that he had been poor, but what would she actually think of him if she knew his mum had been a junkie prostitute who overdosed? He assumed his dad was dead. He didn't have any proof of that, but he just sort of felt like he knew it was true. 

It was true. Cole had died in the years Devin was at Kolna. The man had been killed in a back alley over running his mouth off to the wrong bloke. It was a fitting end for the piece of shit. There had been no one to identify the body, but he had been arrested enough times that his fingerprints and tattoo descriptions were on file. He was cremated and who even knew what happened to those ashes. Not that it mattered to Devin anyway. He never wanted to see Cole again. Being around his old man had never been a good thing for the wizard. 

Still, Devin did not mean to put down the shit that Sasha had endured with her parents-- He felt bad for it, truly. He gave her a little smile and nodded as she defended her position a bit. "I know. It's cool. I know things weren't great with your parents. The way your mum was. The way they tried to fix problems. It's not fair and it's not right." Maybe he would have traded being thrown Prozac and credit cards over being left to dig through garbage for scraps for him and Jen to eat. He had been why his sister had not starved to death... but then he had left her. That thought was always threatening to creep in and attack him. He left her--and she was dead now. Missing her... thinking about her... nothing good could come from that. He pushed the dark thoughts away. He buried that pain down deep. 

Devin gave Sasha an are you serious look when she objected to his comments on her being smarter than he was. "Yes, you are," he insisted flatly. She wasn't some bookworm, goodie-two-shoes that studied all the time, but she was better at academics than him. Most people were. He expected a lot of Trolls on his OWLs. He'd pass Charms, do decent in Charms and COMC, too...but that would be it. Potions were too precise. He sucked in that class. Transfiguration was really hit and miss. He could conjure some inanimate things, but he sucked at changing living shit into other shit. It just wasn't for him. 

He brought up Mari. He hoped that would be more convincing to Sasha than it seemed to be. "You just say that because you know she would kick my arse first and be tired by the time she got to you." His lips twisted up in a wry grin. He was a fan of his girl's best friend. She was fun. They had flirted some back in the day, but it had always just been for fun. He had never been into her--and he knew she hadn't been into him either. They just liked to joke, particularly when it could ruffle the princess's feathers. 

The Wright tried to look confident as he nodded at Sasha. "Oh, yeah- definitely. I got it." His voice sounded sure in his ears. He had that devil-may-care smirk playing on his lips. He looked sure of himself. He knew how to portray confidence. He knew how to act like he knew what he was doing... and he would figure it out. He would make sure that he could cover all the necessities---and he would earn the coin necessary to buy Sasha some nice things every now and again. A girl like her needed to be spoiled. 

"You could always do one of those internships next year--maybe at Witch Weekly? I think us trying out some of those sex toys would be a great work project. I'm fully committed to helping you." He was being mock serious now. His voice had taken on a formal tone not befitting the topic he was talking about. "But for real--then you wouldn't have to be here all the time, but you would still get your NEWTs and your diploma and shit. We'd see each other. It wouldn't be so bad." He would miss her like crazy at night though. Shit, would he ever. He hated not sleeping beside her. 

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Now that the prospect of not returning to Hogwarts was on her mind, Sasha wasn’t sure if she could get the thought out. She understood why Devin didn’t want to come back after this summer. Why should he? What had this place really done for them? Yes, before the registration, it had just been school. Maybe everything would have been fine if everything had happened as normal. If there had been no registration, maybe he would have seen a reason to graduate and take his exams. But the registration had happened. There was no changing that. There was no changing what they had seen, there was no changing what had been done to them. Not just that night. But every day.

They had been told to come back to Hogwarts as if everything was normal again. Some people welcomed them back with open arms, others glared and did not shy away from giving their opinions on the return of Muggleborns to the school. She didn’t know what was worse. She was used to the contempt—they all were. But the people that wanted to act like nothing had changed, like they could just go back to class and schoolwork as if everything was normal and good again—they were so naïve that it was actually annoying. Going back to the daily monotony of school after everything that had happened was just… ridiculous. Incomprehensible.

This term had dragged by because of that. It hadn’t been the same, being back here. She knew that she wasn’t the only one that felt like that. She was certain that Devin wasn’t the only one that was considering not coming back next year. Being held back, being old for their year, having everyone looking at them with their own opinions on their return—and for what? Some NEWT scores? There were other ways to take those tests outside of the school, wasn’t there? Octavia had done that. She had taken them and had not come back at all. So, what was the point in staying? It had pretty much just exclusively been miserable since their return.

Devin knew more about her parents than most others did. Not everything. She hadn’t told him everything, but she knew that he had seen plenty too. It didn’t mean that they could compare their situations. She had not known poverty until Kolna, and Devin had grown up in it—and she imagined with parents that made hers look like saints in their own right. It felt foolish for her to even complain, honestly. It was stupid for her to even talk about her parents as if she had been through anything difficult in her life. “No, no—it’s fine. They’re fine. I was just blowing off steam, saying all that.” It was ridiculous to even complain. It was so not even on the same playing field as what Devin had been through.

She didn’t know why Devin wanted her to stay in school if he was leaving. What was she going to do with a diploma either? She had no grand ambitions. She didn’t feel like she was great at any particular subject and she didn’t honestly like all that many of them anyway. “I don’t know why you think that.” It wasn’t that she thought she was stupid or anything. She was just about average in every subject. Maybe that was because she didn’t put much effort in, maybe not. There was no real reason to find out. “Yes, absolutely. I would be totally safe from her wrath,” she teased, a smile playing on her lips. Mari would be pissed. She knew that. Sasha was just doing her best to try not to think about that bit.

“You’re positive? I know the other places were cheaper.” The whole money side of things she was mostly leaving to Devin. He knew more about it than she did. But she had at least caught some of the numbers of the flats they had looked at, and she knew it was more than the other ones they’d looked at. It still didn’t sound like a lot of money to her, but she didn’t know for sure.

Rolling her eyes at his words, she shoved him playfully, but she did consider his words. An internship would definitely make next year more tolerable. It would be a way out of the castle, a way to spend all of her spare time at their flat if she could get away with it. “I’m sure that work project is well in demand. Not sure I’d be the lucky girl assigned to it.” But she honestly had no idea how internships worked. Of all of the people in her year, somehow she doubted that she’d be the one chosen. “Except you’d be countries away at night. Nine months without you keeping me warm at night does not sound like much fun.” And she had no problem admitting that.

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The wizard shrugged noncommittally when Sasha tried to retract her complaints about her parents. "You are allowed to blow of steam. You know how I feel about them. They have to be wankers to not see how gorgeous and amazing you are." It had set him off when he had heard how Sasha's mom talked to her. He'd been ready to punch the bint right in the face. But he hadn't--out of respect for Sasha. He didn't think she would appreciate him assaulting her mother.

Devin hated Sasha's parents. He tried not to. He knew it was not his place to hate them. She had to have some level of affection for them. Most kids had fond feelings for the people who were responsible for their existence. He didn't. But he was not normal. He was definitely not normal. His family situation was not anything like the lives the other kids he had come to know at Hogwarts had experienced. Well, most of the other students, anyway--there were a few who had some overlap, but most of those he had not come to know at school. He'd met them in the more questionable parts of town, in gambling dens, and at his fights. The people who were like him were people like Finn.

How Finn had gotten that penthouse apartment and to be in charge of Paroxysm was the sort of luck that Devin needed to have. The Harlow wasn't from any better than he was. They'd talked a bit over beers now and again when Devin had been fighting. What they needed to talk about soon was just how Finn had made so much money. Devin needed in on that. He would work on that soon. He had already owled to set up a fight next Friday night. As soon as they were back in London, he was going to be in the ring. Finn had agreed to get him into the ring a couple times a week as long as he kept winning and putting on a show. He could definitely do that. He knew how to take and give a beating. Now that the Korean was not fighting anymore, there was really no competition in his weight class. The heavyweighters would kick his ass, but he was solid against an opponent from anywhere light-, welter- or middleweight. They didn't really have any bantamweight guys. Or they hadn't when he had been there, but he felt good going up against any of the lowerweight classes.

Maybe he should just stick to fighting and other more lucrative, and less legal, enterprises. He would probably be more well suited to them than pro Quidditch anyway. But the training for being a beater would align well with the work he did prepping to get into the ring. It was sort of double dipping without really any extra work. If he could get some team to sign him, he just needed money.

Still, he did not want Sasha worrying about money. He could take care of all of that. He was going to take care of her. No matter what it meant, no matter what it took--he was going to do that. When she asked if he was positive, he nodded. "I am. I got it. Don't you worry about it for even a second," the promise came off his tongue with such surety, it would leave no room for doubt. He kissed her, too, after he said it. The firm, lingering affection stood as a further promise that he would take care of everything.

"And I think you are smarter than me, because you are." He flashed her one of those dimpled grins. It made him look like a rascal, but the stars in his eyes when he looked at her just made him look like a kid in love. He was head over heels for her. There was nothing that Devin Wright wouldn't do to give Sasha Augustine anything and everything. No matter what it cost him...

He did not have a good objection for her comments about them being apart at night. He did not like to think of that either. "It really doesn't sound like any fun at all. I just don't want to be the reason you do something you regret. You weren't thinking about not coming back...not until I mentioned it. I know it is the right thing for me, but I just don't know if it is for you. I want to only be supporting you doing the right things in life. You gotta know that, Sash." His voice rang with so much emotion and sincerity. The boy wore his heart on his sleeve. He couldn't help it. He just cared so much.

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Her relationship with her parents was complicated, to say the least. It had been that way for as long as she could remember. Hogwarts hadn’t helped with that. Her being a witch had meant she wasn’t normal, and her parents didn’t take to it well. It meant that something wasn’t going according to their well-constructed plan. Going to Hogwarts had taken her making plenty of promises when it came to what they expected of her when she was home. And she had always done her best to fulfill those wishes. It hadn’t been all that hard to do. She’d been going to parties since she was old enough to be expected at them.

As she got older, her relationship with them grew more difficult, and since she had gotten back from the registration, it had strained further. They didn’t know how to deal with her, she didn’t know how to deal with them. They thought that drugging her up was the answer, her mother thought that complimenting her on how much weight she had lost was the right thing to say. All that mattered to them were appearances. She was back and she was damaged and if tossing pills her way was the best way of subduing her, then that was what they were going to do. Merlin forbid they talk about their problems. That’s what pills and therapists were for.

It was not comparable to Devin’s past, both what she knew and what he hadn’t told her. The fact that she had even complained about them to him was a little bit absurd. She felt a little ridiculous for it. Even without knowing the details, it felt impossible to compare. She didn’t even know what he must think of it. “You’re a little biased, you know.” He had to say nice things about her. It was contractually obligated of him as her boyfriend. She knew, just like her mother knew, that she’d be prettier if she lost four or five kilos. That was just engrained in her by this point.

Sasha really didn’t know anything about money and spending it on bills. Spending it on clothes and on makeup, sure. But she wouldn’t even begin to know how much rent was for a normal person, or if there were other expenses to worry about. It was just never something that she had needed to worry about. If Devin said that he had it sorted out, then she believed that he did. It wasn’t like she knew how much he made off of his fights or anything like that. Maybe he got enough from one fight to pay rent. With how much people loved to gamble at Paroxysm, she supposed it was possible. Maybe. She didn’t know the particulars. He was kissing her before she could answer him, but that was fine. She believed him. And kissing him was much better than worrying about money anyhow.

“Maybe you should take a look at my OWL scores before you go thinking that,” she retorted, shaking her head. She had pretty much completely failed Herbology and History of Magic. The only Outstanding she had gotten was in Transfiguration, and she had mostly scraped by on the rest. She didn’t consider herself to be a stellar student by any stretch of the imagination. Certainly not good enough in any of the subjects to actually do it for a living, even if she wanted to. And she didn’t, honestly. She didn’t enjoy anything enough to actually pursue it for any kind of job.

She really hadn’t thought about not coming back to Hogwarts, but that didn’t mean that it was a bad idea. She didn’t know what she wanted to do for a living, but she was decently sure that it would be nothing having to do with anything that she learned here. And it wasn’t as if she had any plans to go to university or anything like that. “I do know that. Well—that or you’re trying to get the flat to yourself for some reason.” She was mostly joking. It wasn’t that she really thought he wanted the flat to himself so he could bring other girls home or anything like that. If he hadn’t wanted her to move in with him, he would have said no when she had sort of invited herself along to the idea.

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It relieved him that Sasha accepted his assertion that  he was going to be able to cover their bills. He would figure out a way to do that. She did not need to worry about that sort of bullshit. He had pulled her out of luxury; the least he could do was make sure she did not need to have a job to pay for necessities. He wanted to do more than that, but he really wasn't sure how much money he was going to be able to make. He could always steal shit for her. Pretty things from shops were easy enough to lift. He could even legally practice magic out in the world now, so he was definitely going to be able to thieve enough for some really lux gifts.

Devin would still absolutely think that Sasha was smart if he actually did see her OWL scores. The witch had gotten an O. He had never gotten an Outstanding in anything. Maybe on a charms test that was only cooking charms, but nothing else. He was not that good at magic of any kind. He  just could not care enough in class to even really try. He did not do  revision. He had not done a homework assignment outside of detention maybe his entire scholastic career. He just was not invested. Maybe it could be different at Goshawk, if he was just doing culinary stuff... but even still, he was not in any rush to go to school. That would cost money. He needed to earn for now. 

"I'm sure your scores were better than mine are going to be. I don't even want to take this bloody exams." Half a year back at school really was not enough time to get his head back on right...Then again, Sasha had taken hers like right before coming back to school. She had not had any time at Hogwarts--it'd just been whatever prep she had managed on her own outside of school. 

The wizard rolled his eyes when Sasha joked about him trying to get the flat to himself. His face bore a very questioning expression that said she surely knew better than that. "You know that isn't it. I want you with me all the time. I wanted to ask you to move in with me, but I was nervous before you seemed so open to the idea without me even having to explicitly ask. I know living with me is going to be a downgrade. But I'm going to try my damnedest to make it worth it." He really was nervous about Sasha regretting the choice of living with him. As much as he wanted her as far away from the toxicity of her parents, he knew that the Augustines had things to offer her that he didn't. It was the whole reason he was going to try to get a Division E team to give him a chance. He wanted to be someone that she could really be proud of being with--and not just at Hogwarts, but in real life after it. 

This was not just a school romance for Devin. He  wanted them to be more than that. He wanted them to be end game. He just had to be enough, to earn enough, to be able to give her enough to keep her happy. And no matter what that meant he had to do, the Wright was going to do it. 

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She did not know how it was going to go after they got out of school for the summer. Sasha had no idea how living with Devin was going to be. Yes, they had lived together at Kolna, but that was definitely not the same thing. Not even close. There was definitely a chance that it was going to be hard. But she didn’t think that she had to worry about getting sick of each other or anything like that. Or at least, she didn’t think that she was going to get sick of him. Sasha couldn’t speak for him on that front. She didn’t really know how easy of a person she was to live with. She knew that she had a lot of clothes and stuff that would be coming along with her, which was probably enough to annoy the average person.

Of course, there was also a good chance that she’d end up selling some of her clothes. She didn’t need every little thing to come to the flat with her. In reality, her closet was bigger than their bedroom, so there was also just no chance that they would even have room for all of her clothes. She was just going to have to pick what she wanted and get rid of the rest.

But that was fine. She hoped that she could convince Devin to use that money for rent while she was at school. If she did go back, anyway. It would be a little extra money to have around, which she thought would probably do them some good. She just definitely did not need all of the clothes in her closet—there were so many things that she did not think she was going to have a reason to wear again.

“Tell me you’ll at least take them though. Blowing off your exams wouldn’t do you any good.” Even if he wasn’t coming back, if he ever did decide to take his NEWTs, it would probably be a lot easier to do if he didn’t fail every single one of his OWL exams. She was sure that he’d get through them and get better marks than he was expecting, even if it was just in the few classes that he actually liked. It wasn’t like the other ones mattered all that much anyway.

Sasha didn’t really know what to do—now that the idea of not coming back to school was on her mind, she knew that she was going to have to figure out what was the best idea for her. It didn’t sound too bad to try to get an internship in London and spend as much time as possible at it or at the flat. But it was still another year of schooling. Yes, Mari would still be here, but Devin wouldn’t be and that did not sound like a lot of fun. As ridiculous and dependent as it sounded, she was used to having him around and being here without him would suck. “It’s not a downgrade.” Maybe it was as far as where they were actually living was concerned, but she thought it would be fine. If she missed anything at her parents’ house, it would likely just be the indoor pool and hot tub. Apart from that, she could do without the place.

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