Narcissa took a deep breath, letting a sigh pass her lips as Greer poured her peace offering all over the floor. She took a step back so that she didn’t get any of the drink all over her shoes though she could see a few drops of it on her clothes. Even though Greer didn’t seem to want to cooperate just yet, Cissa missed hearing her voice and was happy that she was able to hear it again after weeks of being ignored.

As the other girl began to walk away from her, unlike at the Gala, she didn’t let her get very far. ❝Hey, come on.❞ Narcissa called out to her, reaching out and putting her hand on Greer’s shoulder to try and stop her. She couldn’t help the way her attempt at a friendly smile had faded into a soft pout and her eyes staring up at Greer like a wounded puppy.

❝You have to talk to me sooner or later…I hate seeing you so upset and I hate that I caused it. It’s been weeks. Will you please just give me a chance here?❞ she asked with the hope that maybe they would get a chance to actually talk. Greer had run off after Narcissa rejected her confession and stopped talking to her ever since. Though she wasn’t sure what she could do to make it better. It wasn’t like she could drop James to be with Greer when she didn’t have those feelings for her but she was hoping there was anything that could make this silent treatment end quicker.

Of course she couldn’t be so lucky that she walked away from Narcissa Black once and she could do it again. It would have only made this entire situation somewhat acceptable and not make her want to just punch-- no, actually, there were no back doors, no matter what happened here, Greer was going to walk away from this punching people. Or kicking them. Or throwing some more glass shards at them. Or just doing anything that would result in pain and misery, because rather anyone else than her again.

He rather lost track of how long he spent sobbing into Greer’s shoulder on the balcony, but any amount of time was an embarrassment. Amycus didn’t break down. He’d given up on crying long before he’d arrived at Hogwarts. But– fuck he had forgotten he could even hurt like this.

Biting his lip, he dashed furiously at his red and swollen eyes as he took a step back. Mortified he refused to look Greer in the eyes. Her shoulder was still damp with his tears for fucks sake. “Sorry, shit. I didn’t- fuck, I didn’t mean to— Shit, sorry.”

Amycus smirked at Greer over the crest of his sister’s shoulder. He could only just barely see her. Normally he hated sleeping in the absolute darkness. Even in his dorm he had a small nightlight that hovered over his own bed so nothing ever got completely dark. Here at least he had Alecto to curl up against. She always helped to keep his nightmares at bay. So yes, in a way her body was his lullaby. 

“Aww, but if I can’t drive you insane how am I supposed to ever have any fun?” He teased, ruining the effect by yawning into Alecto’s shoulder. “I value my fun, Greerie.” She had literally offered up her bed when Amycus had broken down on her, and he’d owe her his life for that.

Alecto almost snickered at Greer’s sudent protective self over her pets- she huffed amused though, her head shaking at the other’s words. ‘ Calm your tails, Greer- you think I’d ever let them eat any of your animals? Or them to bite you? Nah. Everything’s under control.’ She spoke solemenly because this was true: she would never let anything or anyone Greer loved get hurt if she could help it.

She then groaned in annoyance as the two kept on talking about her arse, finding it annoying that Greer had agreed with Amycus- it wasn’t weird to her that Amycus complimented her arse, it was more weird that Greer did so. ‘ Now, let’s be honest, who could ever hold himself from complimenting me? I’m gorgeous.’ she turned her head to look at Greer and then over her shoulder at Amycus.

She then closed her eyes and wrapped held an arm in front of her body, not moving an inch. ‘ You had your lullaby, can we go to sleep now?’ she mumbled under her bereath- wanting nothing more than to shut off the awkwardness.

“Just precautions,“ Greer said though she was smiling as she rolled her eyes. It was nice of Alecto to reassure her that she would never let anything happen to either of her animals or even her. It was a side of her that she saw more and more lately, and she couldn’t help but love it.

“Of course I will make sure when I’m-when I’m sober, I’ll remember to serenade you and prove you wrong.” she proclaimed almost like it was a challenge. Greer was definitely challenging her though, Gladys was able to get that much from her. At least nowadays she wasn’t as shy so she had no problem performing in front of others.

Gladys knew that Greer would be annoyed with her about the Gilderoy comment but it just slipped out. She couldn’t possibly think of anyone else in that moment who she would want to kiss at midnight, especially after her letters with Glenda. She might have thought about that magical daydream more than she’d like to admit. Her eyes locked with Greer’s when she stood in the way of her view and put her hands on her shoulders. “Me? Better looking than Gilderoy Lockhart? You really think so?” That was probably one of the highest compliments Gladys could have received and she had no idea Greer thought that way. At least the parts about her anyway.

As Greer took a step closer to Gladys and put her hand onto her ass, she was shocked that this was even happening, staring up at the other girl speechless.  She was enjoying it quite a bit but how long was she supposed to keep her hand where it was without it seeming inappropriate? “Alright, okay you’re right, this is uh…much better. Is this like…your go to move or something?” 

“Interesting choice of words,“ Greer noted as she laughed at the fact that Gladys decided to promise to serenade her later on when she wasn’t so drunk, "but yes, please, prove me wrong. Can’t wait to be proven wrong.” Either way, she was going to have fun for sure.

Gladys scoffed, almost offended that Greer even implied that she wasn’t a good singer. “Excuse me…I’m great. I sing…so good.” she slurred, taking a sip from her cup and pointing it at her. “Maybe not so good after drinking…or maybe better. But I was singing before I drank too much so you missed out on a great show.” Maybe it wasn’t her greatest performance but normally she did have a decent voice.

She nodded in agreement which was probably thanks to the alcohol since snogging random people wasn’t something she usually did. She looked over Greer though, who was super into kissing girls and was looking for a girl to kiss. Gladys was a girl who was super into the idea of being kissed. She tried to not let her mind wander towards fake scenarios that could never happen like it always did and tried to stay focused.

When Greer asked who it was that she wouldn’t mind kissing and she let her head loll from side to side as she considered it, humming as she did so. As her head was tilted to the side her eyes found Gilderoy across the room and she couldn’t help the giggle the passed her lips as she checked him out. “Weeeeell I mean you…you said you didn’t wanna talk about him. But god he looks so pretty over there. And his ass looks amaaazing.” 

„You know…” Greer said slowly, grinning in amusement at Gladys’ excuses and explanations. How was she so amusing and pushed a lot other bad mood out of the way, she didn’t know „You don’t sound too convincing,”Greer teased the other girl. „Maybe next time I won’t miss the show and I candraw my own conclusion of it.”

[ @greernotdear· ]

Narcissa had spotted Greer a few times throughout the night and most of the time she was either drinking, causing trouble with Evan or both. She desperately wanted to talk to her but she wasn’t sure when there would be a good moment to do it. She didn’t want to force or rush things, of course Greer had a right to be upset but Narcissa really wanted her friend back. 

At a moment where Greer and Evan were separated, she decided to make her move. Luckily she had a few drinks in her so that made it a little easier to approach. With one drink in hand she used her free hand to tap Greer on the shoulder to get her attention. ❝You looked like you could use another drink…❞ she offered the plastic cup with a smile, hoping the girl would take the peace offering.

There were two thoughts that crossed Greer’s mind when NarcissaBlack approached her. The first was that she really should have went with Evanto get another drink. She should have known better than to give an opening forthe Black girl to come and try to talk to her, though she hoped the otherwouldn’t try it, not after she made it clear during the Black Gala that shedidn’t want anything to do with her. And the second one was that she really wantedto punch someone. Or something. She just wanted to feel the pain of her knucklesthat came with a good, strong punch.

Amycus grumbled as the bed shifted and grew underneath him. They should’ve just fucking thought of that in the first place honestly. All the booze (and in his case, emotions) had obviously gone straight to his head. He buried his face in Alecto’s shoulder until the bed settled and Greer finally joined them.

He’d hardly paid attention to the two girls’ bantering as his mind whirred away trying to concoct some sort of plan to get Al confessing everything. Likely she’d cave if he asked but that was too easy and he desperately needed distraction. Thinking about ways to tease his sister beat the hell out of thinking of the vacant guarded look on his best friend’s face. Rodolphus hadn’t even let Am touch him. No. No, think of anything but that. Greer had already seen him cry once today.

“Y’know Greer, the only thing nicer than her legs is her ass.” He mumbled as he braced himself for an elbow to the cut and possibly a kick to the groin from his twin.

‘ One and Two would appreciate it- the compliment. Even if they’d eat Chips if he’d get really close to them, so I say watch out for that.’ Alecto didn’t bother to name her snakes more than this due different reasons: she thought that they looked like numbers when she first saw them so it was enough for her. ‘ They even tried to eat my pillow once, it’s fun.’

She wasn’t surprised when Greer came up with yet another ingenious idea and it made Alecto remember just how much she didn’t think about magic through the day and for her actions:for someone born with magic she truly had barely initiative. When Greer first commented about her legs, she found it amusing and just rolled her eyes. But, then her brother commented.

And Alecto stiffened into his arms at his words: he bloody knew it. Of course he did, it wasn’t like she could ever hide something from him- the only thing was that it alarmed her, him knowing, almost like it made the whole situation real. And it scared the hell out of her. ‘ Is my body the good night lullaby now?’ She mumbled, sounding amused as she sligthly shifted closer towards Amy though not to touch Greer as she made herself comfortable.

”Oh hell no, they’re not eating Chips!” Greer replied immediately. She called her hamster a dick, she sulked about the hamster not loving her, she might have put him at the bottom of the list when it came to her loving her pets, but she did love Chips and just like with every other pet of hers, she would kill for that idiot hamster. „I still think they’re cute, but they’re not coming anywhere near him. Or any of my babies, for that matter.”

Gladys jumped as she watched Greer throwing her glass onto the floor, watching it smash and shatter apart into pieces. She whipped her head around to see if there were any onlookers watching the destruction take place. She didn’t want to laugh because this was her friends stuff that she was breaking but with the help of the alcohol Gladys couldn’t deny how amusing it was to watch.

“Fiiiine we can talk about the party. Did you hear me and Reggie singing karaoke? That was great!” she giggled as she thought back to it and how much she enjoyed herself up there with Reginald.

“As a matter of fact no, I have not snogged anyone yet. I mean the nights still young though who knows what will happen.” she shrugged her shoulders and took a long sip of her drink, leaning her head back as she got closer to the bottom of the cup. “How about you? Scoping out any hotties to put the moves on?”

Greer thought back if she actually paid attention to those people who were attempting to karaoke. She couldn’t really remember anyone who was even mildly acceptable, and she definitely couldn’t remember Gladys being up there and singing, but she was curious. She never heard Gladys sing before, but whether she was really good or really bad, Greer was sure it would have been a good show. ”Naah, I missed that. I didn’t know you could sing. Are you actually good or you just think you’re good and the only reason people enjoyed the show was because it was so bad?”

Amycus let himself rock with the force of her hit, wincing even as he accepted the pain. He deserved this, he deserved every fucking second someone hit him for Rodolphus because god fucking knows his best friend wouldn’t do it even if Amycus had ruined everything and what had happened to the stability he’d gained back fighting Evan? That had only been an hour ago, two tops, and everything had resumed falling out from underneath him. 

Then Greer was hugging him. The second hug he’d gotten today, both terribly unexpected. First Damocles and now Greer and Amycus– Amycus couldn’t fucking do this any more. He clung to his friend, buried his face in the crook of her neck, and began to sob. 

Amycus looked up from muttering sweet nothings into Pepper’s ear to catch the way Alecto stared at Greer like the other girl had hung the moon. Interesting. Unexpected, but unwelcome. Alecto could certainly do a lot worse. And Greer couldn’t possibly do any better. No one could. It’d get Greer over Cissa, at least, and on to someone that could actually like her back. 

The wheels of his mind began churning, eager for any sort of distraction from Rodolphus or his father. No wonder Al had called dibs on the middle. Oh, he was going to tease her endlessly the minute they got back home. He swallowed down a smirk and gave each of the dogs a final kiss on the head.

“So glad I can claim the title of being the only man in your bed,” he teased Greer as he moved to flop down on the other side of Alecto and wrap his arms around her waist. “Suppose it even makes me forgive you for not letting me sleep with the puppies.”

Alecto froze when Greer turned around and locked her eyes with her- it wasn’t better when  the other threw her  a smile and it made her once again curse herself. Why was she like this? She huffed under her breath as she nodded absently and looked absently at the bunny not far away from her. She liked seeing it hopping around, wiggling it tail in happiness almost like  it was a dog as well. It almost made the numbess in Alecto fade away as she watched the puffiness rolling around the room.

‘ Alright, then no  new hamsters.’ she shrugged her shoulders. ‘ I’ll borrow you one of my snakes to make Chips feel a little scared, heard that anxiety makes animals develop as well. ‘ Because everybody already knew dark times made a human develop, made them more powerful or more shattered. Mostly the latter.  She let her head drop onto one of the pillows and bit the inside her of cheek as she did so. It was harder than she thought.

Alecto relaxed when Amycus wrapped his arm around her waist and she leaned against him, letting her eyes pervert from a spot on the cover to look up at Greer who was probably going to join. Fuck, it was a terrible idea to call the middle. 

It had been a while since the other started crying and Alecto hold onto her; it was like she could actually feel the other’s pain: something it only happened when she saw Amycus cry, even if in most of the causes Amycus was the one to fuck up, compared to Greer’s situation that only happened without her doing something for it. Alecto felt shattered and she didn’t do anything.So why the hell she felt shattered holding the other into her arms and feeling her cry into her arms?

She let out a breath she didn’t knew she was holding when the other stepped away, shaking her head at the other. ‘ You have nothing to apologize about.’ the older girl quickly pointed out and turned her head, looking at the girl who was still there, shaking from the previous hexes the two had given her; she had even forgot about her. Usuallly, Alecto would love to fuck someone’s lif,e but right now? She felt nothing. There was no pleasure.

The other kicked the girl and she had to bit her cheek instead of commenting, she nodded ligthly. ‘ If you think  it’s for any use, I’ll let you finish her.’ she gestured at the blonde, even if she didn’t even touch her more than just once; Greer seemed like she needed it. Within Alecto’s eyes it couldn’t be seen pity- it was understanding; it wasn’t something unclear into the way her eyes gleamed. ‘ I think you’ve earned it.’

However she didn’t say she’d touch her, she leaned and took the necklace off the other brutally, looking at it with a slight turn of her head. ‘Ah, this is pretty at least.’

Alecto did say she had nothing to apologize for, though Greer didn’t exactly agree with that, but still, she was grateful that her friend said that and that she was still here and supporting her. She could have easily just walked away and left here there to broke down all to herself. It probably would have gone so much worse that way and she would still be on the floor, sobbing her eyes out, and that wouldn’t be pretty. At least thanks to Lecto, she could get herself together now.

Amycus wanted to say that they were still best friends, that Rodolphus would always be his best friend, but… they probably weren’t any more, were they? Amycus had probably gone and fucking wrecked that as well. He hunched in on himself, absolutely fucking miserable. Fuck he really wanted to cry. But he’d made it this far without a single tear. Maybe he could avoid that embarrassment all together?

“Of course he deserved a conversation, he deserved to not get dumped at all, he deserved—” better. Amycus could be better, he could, if he could just, if he could just see another way but this out of the hole he’d dug himself. “I’d never be able to get the words out. I’d just— I’d look at him and the thought of watching him hurt, of hurting him, drove me fucking crazy, and I couldn’t– I can’t— just stand there any watch him fall apart without wanting to make it better. But I can’t make it better, because I don’t know what to do.”

Am was miserable, Greer could easily tell and as angry as she was at him, she still couldn’t stay like that and keep yelling at him because he probably caused a lot more pain to himself than anything she could say or do right now. It would be like kicking a puppy while he’s down. She scratched her forehead looking down, not really knowing what to do, how to handle this because she really wasn’t good at comforting anyone, especially not when she thought the other person made a huge mistake on so many levels it was hard to count, but Am didn’t get any further with that being thrown into his face.

Gladys would consider herself more of a social drinker if anything. She enjoyed the taste of certain drinks but unless she was at a party such as this one, she didn’t much care for any of it. It was mostly just to let loose and have fun which is what a party was all about anyway. 

Greer’s reaction to seeing her was a good sign that she wasn’t upset so Gladys was relieved about that. “Hey, hey look. I did a lot of yelling over those few days okay? It doesn’t mean you won it just means…I didn’t wanna keep screaming.” she replied, pointing her finger at the other girl because she  knew that even if it was a competition, she did not lose. “But I’m glad you’re not mad I got a little worried about it. I just am…very passionate about Gilderoy…speaking of, do you think he’s here?” she asked turning her head around excitedly as she tried to see if she could spot him anywhere.

“Sorry, sorry I’m just going to forget about him right now. Tell me about how your break has been! I missed getting to hang out with you.”

Greer never would actually say it out loud, but Gladys was one of those people outside of her usual circle whom she actually somewhat tolerated. Maybe even liked. She was definitely the only one who was fun in the Knitting Club and she enjoyed their usual weekly time together, and somehow, she did not irritate her currently like most people at this party did. Which was definitely a surprise, because she wanted to just punch at least half the people here right now. She didn’t have a specific reason for it, but she never needed one either.