For such a big damn castle, Cecilia was finding it difficult locating a place to hide away from just about everyone. It was nearing on two weeks since the ball, and she was irritated that Trey was not yet bored of this whole “dating” thing. Yes, he had actually, surprisingly, given her a bit of a break after the ball. She had thought that he’d be ready to piss Roman off the day after, which she would have done… albeit reluctantly and at the risk of her own sanity. But now it was officially underway, which meant Cecilia rather enjoyed being away from her classmates. There was a wide mix of reactions to her moving right along to another Rudolphi and the majority of those were simply unpleasant. She didn’t really listen to gossip, had never made it a habit to, but even she couldn’t ignore people bloody whispering around her all the time. Cecilia liked to think that she’d made progress in dealing with her temper, and she supposed the fact that she hadn’t choked someone out herself was proof that she had. Though there was still time…

Although she had thought Gryffindor Tower would be a pretty decent refuge from Trey, at the very least, she couldn’t really even be there for that long. Her fellow lions had just barely accepted her dating Roman, and Trey was worse, apparently. She didn’t have any friends in Gryffindor regardless, so it made little difference to her what they thought, but that didn’t stop them from giving her a hell of a lot of opinions whenever she was around. Since she was sure that Evan and Isabella had gotten enough information from Roman to hate her as well as having no doubt that Trey was probably bragging about nonsense all over the Slytherin common room, Cecilia had been avoiding her friends as well—though she doubted they could even be considered her friends anymore. Luckily, exams beginning meant that everyone had something else to focus on, though that worked against her as well since they were all looking for an excuse to do anything but study.

She had just been in the library, knowing that there wasn’t a person she knew that would be in there, but even in a room full of whispers, people liked making their opinions clear. Bloody aggravating, nosy, twits, she thought, glad that the balcony on the fourth floor was providing her a decent amount of privacy from her classmates. Cecilia blamed the weather, though she was bloody grateful for it. It had been raining all day, switching between an irritating mist and a damn downpour, and although the balcony was covered, not many people felt the need to venture onto it. In fact no one had in the hour that she’d been sitting there. Sighing, she let her head fall back against the wall behind her. She had actually been mildly looking forward to this summer, since she actually had excuses to get out of her house—Isabella, Roman, Evan. None of them had the best damn family lives either, but anything was better than being at home. Now, she had bloody Trey, though she was still holding out hope he’d be bored of her by the end of the year. Before she could think much more about what she was going to do this summer, she saw movement at the corner of her eye as someone stepped onto the balcony.

@isabella

A couple of weeks had passed since the ball and the small incident…or large, depending on who was referring to it…had occurred. Isabella still really wasn’t all that certain all that had happened, only knowing that her current best friend and her old best friend were all of a sudden, no longer dating…and that it had appeared that Cecilia was with Trey more often. Merlin, the Gryffindor had been with Trey more often when Isabella saw her with him only once, never knowing that they had ever communicated before. It was no secret that the two cousins despised each other so it only made sense for Cecilia to not want to have anything to do with the obnoxious seeker.

People had immediately seemed to think the worst of her friend, though Isabella refused to stoop that low. Misunderstandings occurred all of the time and this was her best friend, the girl who had been there for her during her lowest times. They didn’t have a perfect friendship, but their friendship worked for them. Unfortunately, trying to find either Roman or Cecilia around, beyond glimpses in class, had been near impossible, frustratingly enough. The rumors that Isabella had been hearing were absolutely horrible and she really needed to talk to her best friend to see what the bloody hell was going on. There was absolutely no way that the rumors were true in the slightest…they couldn’t be. Now, enough time had passed by that Isabella was just frustrated. She needed to find her best friend and figure out what was going on.

After a long, dreary day, Isabella decided that enough was enough. Cecilia needed to stop bloody hiding and she was going to find that Gryffindor. She supposed it wouldn’t be all that difficult, following the gossip until she had heard that Cecilia had been in the library. Unfortunately, she had apparently just missed the girl. Sighing in frustration, the Slytherin started to aimlessly walk, before passing by a couple of younger students whispering about the Gryffindor being out on the balcony. Well, they definitely didn’t phrase it as nicely, but Isabella would not repeat what they had said, getting agitated by the terminology used. Then she saw the familiar blonde, pausing briefly before entering the balcony.

“Hey,” she said as she pushed herself to stand next to her best friend, looking out at the grounds. “Remind me to never play hide and seek with you,” she joked lightly, sighing as she brought herself to the serious conversation that was bound to occur.

At first, she didn’t even look to see who had walked outside, knowing that if her present didn’t convince them to leave, more than likely the rain would. Yes, the balcony was protected from the elements, but it still wasn’t exactly a pleasant day to be lingering outside. It was why this location was working so well for her thus far, and was a hell of a lot better than being in the library had been. So when she immediately recognized the voice speaking, she had to stop herself from getting to her feet and leaving the balcony herself. Cecilia had gotten quite good at avoiding her best friend—former, she reminded herself, because she was sure that Isabella was more than likely only out here to give her shit for being a slag and cheating on Roman and whatever else people were apparently assuming. Even if Isabella wasn’t on that great of terms with Roman currently, Cecilia knew better than to think that she wouldn’t be pissed too. She had hoped that she just remained pissed from afar, but it seemed that she was going to actually have a conversation about this. Well, this is bound to go bloody well, she thought. Isabella didn’t sound all that angry, yet, but she hadn’t even really gotten started yet, so Cecilia figured that there was only a matter of time. “Hi,” she replied, warily, finally letting her gaze fall on the Slytherin. She sat up slightly on the bench as Isabella moved further onto the balcony, wondering how it was going to take for the girl to actually bring up the topic at hand. If she was about to get bitched out or hexed, she would really rather get it over with so that she could go back to her dormitory or even stay here if it remained otherwise quiet.

Cecilia had gone five years at this school with no friends, and she had done a very good job at putting on a hell of a show—portraying a personality that bloody no one would want to be friends with anyhow. Looking back, it would have been a hell of a lot easier for her if she had just decided to remain under the radar, and not some bitch that everyone knew of simply because she was a bitch. Then, perhaps, it wouldn’t be so easy for everyone to decide to hate her again, not that she cared about the random classmates that had irrelevant opinions at this point. No one had a damn clue what was actually going on outside of herself and Trey, which meant clearly people were going to think the worst. If Roman had never talked to her that day in the damn Quidditch Pitch, then none of this shit would currently be happening. Though if she hadn’t talked back, this also wouldn’t be happening, so she supposed she couldn’t really even blame him. The entire situation was just irritating, and all because Roman’s horrible cousin wanted another damn way to aggravate him. That’s family for you, she thought, mildly, before laughing probably a few seconds too late at Isabella’s joke. “Will do,” she stated, her lips quirking into an amused smile despite her realizing that she probably wasn’t going to be smiling for long. It was odd though, because that made it sound like Isabella had been seeking her out on purpose, which didn’t make sense—unless she was really so pissed that she wanted to find her intentionally. She supposed she’d be finding out soon enough.

Isabella could hear the sound of rain drops banging against the covered balcony, glad that the rain added a type of peace when this conversation was bound to be anything but all that peaceful. It was the best type of weather, really, listening to the soothing rain. This was particularly good to be around when circumstances were poor, such as this one. Looking for Cecilia had proven to take longer than she had thought it would, but it wasn’t like she was going to give up. The Gryffindor might be stubbornly avoiding everyone and their broomsticks, but Isabella was just as stubborn…especially when people she cared about were involved. There were too many rumors to keep track of that Isabella wasn’t even certain what to think anymore, just wanting the bloody truth of the matter. Everything had changed and gone to shit so quickly. She was just starting to become friends, or acquaintances at least, with Roman again, hoping that this would be a lot easier on Cecilia….only for that to go to shit. Now, even hearing how Cecilia had replied to her seemed way off from who her best friend was.

She quirked an eyebrow as her friend laughed a bit delayed for the joke that had been shared, but otherwise ignored it. Isabella moved to take a seat at the bench with Cecilia, looking out around the balcony. Now that she had found her best friend, she wasn’t really certain how to phrase anything that she had been meaning to ask. She let out a heavy sigh before continuing. “What’s going on, Ceci?” Isabella asked, not even certain how to word anything at all. Either way, this had been her best friend so she needed to at least try to figure out what was going on.

Part of her—well, no, a large portion of her, had wanted to tell Isabella what was going on the moment that Trey had talked to her in the east wing. She’d put it off then because she still thought there was a way to get out of it at that point. Then, even after that debacle at the ball, she had contemplated just letting her best friend know what was going on. But she hadn’t, and knew that she bloody couldn’t. Firstly, there was the obvious—Isabella would go straight to Roman, and Cecilia wouldn’t blame her for doing so, as it would be what she’d probably do in the same situation. Although she didn’t think Isabella would tell Roman the secret that she was being blackmailed for, it was certain to come out that way, making everything that she had tried to done to prevent the information from getting to them irrelevant. They would be just as pissed at her for lying about it as long as she had, and then choosing to ‘date’ Trey as opposed to just telling them the truth then. Then, of course, there was the fact that her father was a Death Eater, and all of the actual blackmailing bullshit aside, Cecilia was sure that they’d never speak to her again simply because of that fact alone.

Hell, she had even contemplated just telling Isabella that she was being blackmailed by Trey, but not tell her what information he had. She would press about it, obviously, but Cecilia knew that she could potentially keep that from her—as long as it took for her Slytheirn best friend to tell Roman again, and then Trey would immediately knew that she had told them. Then he would do the liberties of telling them who her father was himself. There was literally no way to make any of those scenarios work out in her mind. It only left her with the rumors, and sounding fickle as hell. It was the lesser of two evils, just like choosing to ‘date’ Trey had been. When was Trey going to realize that this was only torturing her, as she was pretty sure that Roman didn’t even give a shit?

She didn’t look at Isabella as she joined her on the bench, continuing to stare in front of her. Cecilia was actually unsure if she would be able to lie to the Slytherin if she was actually looking at her, which was a weakness she hadn’t anticipated when she had actually decided to give the whole friendship thing a try. Of course, she would bloody have to, because Isabella wasn’t going to believe a word she said if she wasn’t acting normal—and Merlin knew that she was doing a piss-poor job of that so far. Finally, Cecilia glanced over at her best friend, wondering if she could stall the conversation with some irrelevant response, perhaps about the weather. But she knew that would only work for less than half a damn second, and the stalling would only irritate the Slytherin. “I would have thought you’d have heard it all from Roman by now,” she said instead, shrugging. He had to have told her what a slag she was for cheating on him with his cousin, and all of that, by now. Merlin, she was still immeasurably bloody pissed that Trey had made this even more difficult on her and made her look even worse than she was already going to look. Figuring that she should say more than that, she continued, starting with something that was probably most truthful thing she’d say in this entire damn conversation. “I didn’t want to hurt him—though it doesn’t really seem that I did,” Cecilia added under her breath. She was glad that he was pissed; it bloody hurt, but it was better than him being upset, something that she was sure she was less equipped to deal with, “It’s complicated.”

She and Cecilia had only been friends for a few months, though that was difficult to believe. It seemed like they had known each other forever at this point and it didn’t feel right not seeing her the past couple of weeks. It had been lonely not having her girlfriend around, the friend that she had shared so much humor and good times with. They had their differences, but they were best friends. They knew quite a lot about each other and it was just incredibly difficult for Isabella to believe these rumors that she had heard floating about. Isabella just wanted to know the truth and whereas everyone was quick to believe the worst about her best friend and the situation, she refused to stoop that low. She and Cecilia were best friends for a reason and she be damned before she listened to a bloody rumor on the girl rather than actually talking to her. They weren’t petty bints, after all.

“I’ve heard it all from the bloody school, unfortunately. Though, I don’t believe a word of it,” Isabella shrugged back in response. “Besides, you’re prettier to talk to,” she chuckled lightly, trying to lighten up the already tense atmosphere. Honestly, it was like there was no air circulation on the bloody balcony. Both Cecilia and Roman had been rather difficult to find and Isabella wasn’t certain which one she had wanted to talk to first, deciding that Cecilia was her best bet. Not only was Cecilia her current best friend, but Cecilia had been there for her during her tough times. Cecilia also seemed to be at the center of it, based on the rumors that Isabella had heard, which meant that she probably knew more about what was going on than any party that was involved. It really wouldn’t be fair to Cecilia if Isabella had gone to Roman first, not that she could bloody find him either, and get his story.

Isabella continued to listen to the pattering rain against the covered balcony, finding it comforting for the moment. It was just the white noise that they had needed.“When aren’t things complicated?” Isabella quipped back, glancing towards Cecilia. “I can try to understand complicated,” she shrugged lightly, adjusting her position to move her legs underneath her, waiting to listen. She just really wanted to understand what in Merlin’s name happened.

This all would have been a hell of a lot easier if Isabella had just believed whatever the rest of the school was saying about her. She apparently had too much faith that her best friend wouldn’t be a slag sleeping with two blokes, cousins no less, before finally apparently getting caught at the ball. Assuming that was what they were saying, since she also wouldn’t be surprised if it had progressed past that to make her sound even worse. But now, in order to make this work for Trey, she’d really have to make sure that Isabella bought whatever it was she said. Otherwise, this would all go up in damn smokes. This was a hell of a lot more difficult than she’d anticipated, and Cecilia did hope, for the sake of her sanity, that Isabella wouldn’t take much convincing in thinking that she was a horrible person. No matter the current situation between Isabella’s friendship with Roman, she knew that there had to be some lingering loyalty there and that the Slytherin would take this well. “Maybe you should,” she replied, evenly. “It’s probably all true anyhow.” Whatever they were saying, Cecilia was sure it was bad enough to convince Isabella; although she didn’t want to lose her best friend too, she knew that there were very few routes to take that would have her not pissed and that Trey found acceptable enough, apparently. If Isabella didn’t believe what she was saying, it would clearly get back to the aggravating bloke. She laughed quietly at the girl’s comment, assuming that it would probably be the last time she would be laughing in this conversation. “You know me—always trying to impress you.”

Things were always complicated—that was true enough. She felt ridiculous even being in this situation with everything that was going on with Isabella, and she didn’t fancy their friendship ending right before the end of the year. Cecilia knew that Isabella would want to be getting out of the house as much as possible over the summer, and they had been scheming on plans that certainly wouldn’t be happening anymore. “Well, you’ve got me there,” she agreed, nodding. Cecilia sighed, knowing that she couldn’t stall this explanation, and that she really needed to make it seem realistic. She was just glad that Roman had been acting off enough to use that as an excuse, even if she was still worried about what the hell was going on with him. “I fucked it up—I know I went about it all wrong, but it just spiraled out of bloody control.” Cecilia stated, not yet looking at her friend. “Relationships are hard work, it’s not like I think it’s supposed to be easy. But being with Roman was so hard—it shouldn’t have been that damn hard.” She could have attempted to brush it off as being fickle or not caring that much about Roman, and that would be easier, but she was unsure that Isabella would believe that at all. A variation of the truth would work better, as it certainly hadn’t been damn easy this school year. “What with hating you, hating bloody everyone, and I had no clue what was going on with him or what had happened.” Also true. That was making this easier, she mused, even though this wasn’t easy at all. “But he didn’t trust me, or he would have told me and let me try to help, or something.” And now the lie, which would seal her damn fate, really, but she should have accepted that by now.

“Trey… it just happened. It’s easy—uncomplicated.” Merlin, she wanted to punch him in the damn face for putting her in this position, which was about as uncomplicated as it got. “I was going to tell Roman and break up with him… I just wanted to wait until the summer when they weren’t sharing a damn dormitory, since Merlin knows how that would have ended up.” Well, she couldn’t go back now, though she thought it had all sounded relatively believable. Isabella would probably just up and leave now, which wouldn’t bloody feel good, but she would just have to accept it and hope that the end of the year came soon so she could get away from everyone.

Isabella kept her face neutral, though she wanted to shoot Cecilia a look at her response. The Slytherin simply wasn’t one to believe rumors or gossip, hardly paying enough attention to any of it beyond hearing bits and pieces. Something was definitely seeming off in this conversation, though she supposed she should have expected that. Things had been tense all around and she still refused to believe what she had heard about her best friend. There just had to be some kind of misunderstanding, obviously. “I doubt it,” Isabella replied stubbornly, refusing to believe what she had heard. This wasn’t the Cecilia she had known...someone couldn’t change overnight, could they? Isabella smirked slightly in response to Cecilia’s statement, though the smirk almost seemed forced as her mind tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

From what Isabella could recall from the ball, Cecilia wasn’t originally going to go, only to show up and then quickly disappear to go converse with Trey. She remembered going to dance with Evan, but getting distracted by Roman starting to choke his cousin, only for Roman to break up with Cecilia in front of everyone in that group. She had heard from Evan that Cecilia was kissing Trey, though that didn’t mean all that much. Everyone had known that Trey and Roman hated each other…perhaps it was just for that, she mused. However, the more that time went on, the more she was having a difficult time understanding. Things just did not line up in her head in the slightest. It irritated Isabella to hear all of the rumors and the gossip surrounding people that she cared about, finding herself at the verge of hexing anyone she heard. Well, she supposed she already DID hex a few people…but if they didn’t know it was her, it could hardly be counted. The Slytherin stayed silent as Cecilia finally started to talk, narrowing her eyes subtly at the explanation.

It almost sounded like Cecilia was saying that she had cheated on Roman…and on top of that, it almost sounded as if she was blaming Roman for her…infidelity, if that was even a proper term for this situation. “Trey…just happened?” Isabella asked, rubbing her forehead as if she was suddenly extraordinarily exhausted. A snort of disbelief escaped Isabella as she glanced at Cecilia. “Uncomplicated? Trey’s a dunce that probably hates even more than Roman on a bloody good day,” she pointed out, still trying to make sense of it. “Merlin, Ceci…what the hell did…what were you thinking?” Isabella asked, exasperated. “Trey’s no bloody good for you…not that what you did, if you’re implying that you cheated on Roman…is any bloody better,” she continued, letting out a deep sigh. It was a wonder she even had hair left on her head at this point after the stressful year that this was proving to be as each day passed by. “You really did fuck up,” Isabella stated, sighing again as that seemed to be the only thing that appeared acceptable at this point. The rumors had been true, irritating enough, and Isabella was still trying to process through what exactly happened and how to even react to it, how to feel about it. Her best friend cheated on her old best friend, the old best friend that she was starting to rebuild a friendship with…and cheated with his cousin, no less. This really was bloody complicated.

Cecilia had no idea what everyone was saying… at least not the details of it, but she was sure that it wasn’t too far off of the mark. If Isabella could just believe it, then Cecilia wouldn’t have to explain it to her in what was bound to be an awful conversation, resulting in Isabella potentially trying to hex her before walking out. She supposed if she was being optimistic, she had at least not had to have an actual break-up with Roman, because that more than likely would have been impossible to do. Instead, he just wasn’t speaking to her and had broken up with her through a single sentence not even spoken to her. Was that easier, in a way? Yes, even if she didn’t like to think that their relationship had ended that damn quickly. He also hadn’t even given her the benefit of the doubt, but she supposed that she couldn’t have expected him to. The entire situation was just fucked. She scoffed under her breath at Isabella’s statement, vaguely thinking that it was quite interesting that the best friend that she’d only had for a few months didn’t believe the worst about her whereas her boyfriend of fourteen or so months had jumped straight to that conclusion. But since this really was all her fault, she knew that she had nothing to complain about.

She had hardly realized how tense she was until she had finally put the information out there, but now she was even more on edge waiting for Isabella’s reaction. It would be easiest if she just walked out then, as Cecilia knew that loyalty was very important to Isabella. That meant that, despite everything, she would still have some for Roman and would be pissed for him. It also very obviously meant that her betrayal of Roman was a show of her own disloyalty. Both meant that she was digging her own grave, but it was easier that way. But Isabella surprised her by speaking, not yet even sounding all that mad… yet. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but yes. It just happened.” Even the thought of cheating on Roman with Trey was absolutely absurd, to the point that she was actually surprised that anyone that knew her would believe it. He was arguably the most aggravating human being alive, and she had known that without even having much interaction with him, and his personality was such shit that it made the fact that he was attractive, she supposed, completely irrelevant. “He doesn’t hate everything,” Cecilia countered, but really, she didn’t even bloody know what he did hate. Roman, obviously, but other than that she didn’t know much about him.

Cecilia really hoped that Isabella didn’t ask details, but she doubted that she would. Once she actually started getting pissed, she was sure that the Slytherin wouldn’t care to ask much about how this ‘just happened,’ or when. She could make it up on the spot, but then she would have to remember what she said. “I don’t know what I was thinking. It was just too much with Roman, and I’m not trying to blame him because it’s not his fault that he has shit going on. I’m not trying to blame anyone other than myself for it—it’s clearly my fault.” Cecilia didn't even think she sounded like herself the way that she was talking, finding everything that she was saying to sound incredibly stereotypical and cliché since it hadn't bloody happened, after all. Now that she was talking about Roman, she was once again getting distracted by wondering what the hell was going on with him, but that apparently was no longer something that she got to worry about. She still probably would, but she supposed that came with the territory in caring about someone even if they hated her. “Trey’s not that bad.” He’s bloody worse, she concluded silently. “I’m not implying it—I did. I cheated on Roman.” Bloody Merlin that was a ridiculously hard thing to say out loud, particularly since it was not something that she ever would have done. But she just hoped that Isabella finally believed her and just got pissed. As was the situation with Roman’s anger, she’d rather deal with her best friend getting angry than getting upset and continuing to talk about it. Cecilia nodded in agreement to Isabella’s final statement, knowing that the girl really did believe her, even though she was surprised that she was still sitting there.

Cecilia had been Isabella’s best friend for such a short period of time, but they had quickly gotten along. They were two girls in this school who didn’t hold many friends at all, which she supposed helped them to get along the best. Isabella really wasn’t certain what to think if these rumors had even been remotely true, not that she had ever even listened long enough for a complete message to form. Every time she heard someone even sound like they were going to mention her best friend’s name, Isabella got really agitated, knowing that she couldn’t just hex everyone she saw. Even if the rumors WERE true, she still didn’t like them talking about her friend….or whatever they were now, seeing as Cecilia seemed to be avoiding her. Cecilia quickly had the entire school against her and now, Isabella just felt stuck…never having been in this type of situation since…well, ever. Friends were just so much work, she realized, now acknowledging that she had just potentially lost two best friends in the span of a year.

No, she wasn’t certain she would allow that to happen. She had let Roman leave, angry that he had been pushing her away, only to find out that there had been something more dire that had been occurring. Now, Cecilia was pushing her away for whatever bloody reason that was and she wasn’t about to let the EXACT same thing happen by just letting Cecilia make the decision of their friendship by herself. Here they were, at least attempting to talk. At least it didn’t seem like Cecilia was flat out going to yell at her and tell her to leave, she noted. Isabella blinked, remaining silent as her brain tried to process the information that she had just received. It didn’t make sense, if she were being completely honest. Isabella hadn’t even known that Trey even really knew who Cecilia was, though she supposed he obviously would…if he paid even the slightest bit of attention to Roman. “What are…” she started, stopping as her brows furrowed, trying to figure out how to phrase everything that was flowing through her mind. “When did…” she started again, only to stop as she realized nothing was forming into proper sentences even in her own mind. “How the hell does something like that just happen? Were you drunk or something?” she asked, giving the air an incredulous look. The headache that was oncoming was already irritating her even though it had yet to hit full swing.

Words were just not something that were coming to Isabella easily in the slightest. “No, it’s clearly your fault and Trey’s fault. I just….I don’t even know what to say, right now,” she sighed, leaning her elbows on her knees as she leant forward. “I just don’t get it. I don’t understand why you would do that to Roman. I think I would have rather the rumor of you being a super veela who was seducing the entire Slytherin Quidditch team be true at this point,” Isabella sighed out, shaking her head. “Was it really so difficult to just break up with him first?” she pointed out, her headache REALLY starting to hit now.