***A/N*** Hey guys! So I posted on my conversations board yesterday and I dunno if everyone saw it so I'm going to repeat myself here! If I was to create Spotify playlists of songs that remind me of/give me the same vibe as my big five (Freddie, Cass, Leah, Annie, and Theo) would you be interested in listening to them/checking them out? Let me know in the comments and I can post the links to the playlists next time I update! That's about it right now, I'll see you all later today!
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"Hey so remember that time last week when you said that I was right?" Theseus asks as Cass, Ash, Chandler, Larke, and I are all studying in the library after class.
Cassiopeia looks up from her notes and glares at her boyfriend, "Yes?"
Theseus smiles and chews on the nib of his quill, "Just making sure you haven't forgotten that I was... what's the word in English again? Just want to make sure I got it."
Cassie sighs, "You just said it."
"Yes but I want to make sure that it is what I think it is."
"Right."
"Sorry?"
"You're not honestly going to make me say the whole thing are you?"
Ash leans over and whispers into my ear, "Galleon says they're going to have another fight."
"I'm not betting on my sisters relationship falling apart," I whisper back to her.
Chandler inserts himself into our conversation with a smile on his face, "I'll take that bet, Nelson."
"Sure you would," Larke says rolling her eyes.
Theseus and Cassiopeia look at us, "Are you lot talking about us?" Cassie asks with her eyes squinted.
"No, why would we be talking about you when we could be talking about..." I sort through my notes, "Essence of Insanity?"
Theseus clears his throat, he's got a big, black spot of ink on his bottom lip from his quill but Cass doesn't make a move to tell him so I don't either, "You were right Theseus. Were right, past tense. It's not going to happen again."
Theseus raises his eyebrows, "I won't be right again? Fine, suppose I won't tell you that you've got the wrong date. Emeric the Evil got the Elder's wand in 1124, not 1024," He says looking down at Cassiopeia's notes, "But I'm not right anymore soooo."
Cassie crumples up the note that she was working on and throws it at Theseus' head, "δεν μας γάμας," she sneers.
Theseus laughs but none of us react in any way.
"What the fuck?" I ask, "Cass, you speak Greek all of a sudden?"
Cassie pulls out another bit of parchment as she responds, "Teaching myself yeah."
"Well, then what the fuck did you just say?" Chandler asks, "I feel like Greek will be useful picking up girls you know?"
Larke scoffs, "Right because your girlfriend sitting right beside you isn't enough?"
"Ah shit."
Theseus laughs, "The exact translation doesn't really make sense in English but she basically told me to fuck off, or go fuck myself."
Larke hums, "Seems like Chandler might be joining you tonight Theseus, sorry but I'm going to go meet with some friends." She packs up her things and when Chandler goes to give her a kiss she ignores him completely, "See you lot later yeah?"
"Bye Larkie," I say with a wink. Unlike Larke, Ash doesn't get all weird when I flirt with other people or make jokes about flirting with other people. Flirting is like second nature to me, just like Chandler. But the difference is my partner understands that and knows I mean no harm.
"What is up her arse?" Chandler asks the group once Larke is out of the library, "I can't even make a joke now?"
"Well depending on whether or not she's into that sort of stuff, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be up her arse mate," I say. Chandler's the only one that laughs but that's always the case when I make a crude joke. I know Theseus wants to laugh but I also know that Cass would hex his face off if he did.
"I can't make jokes anymore? Thought it was glaringly obvious that the Chan-man only had eyes for her."
"Don't refer to yourself in the third person and as the Chan-man," Ash says with a smile, "That might be your problem right there."
I turn to look at my girlfriend, "You're saying that if Ophelia started to refer to Ophelia in the third-person and with a nickname, for example... O-dog, you would break up with O-dog?"
"Ash-flash would not break up with O-dog but O-dog has to realize that if O-dog is going to be talking in third-person, so will Ash-flash."
Theseus, who was balancing his quill on his upper lip for this entire conversation lets it tumble to the desk and looks at us, "Ash-flash? O-dog?"
"O-dog takes offence that Cee-bee was not paying attention to O-dog and Ash-flash's conversation," I say to him.
Theseus looks at Cass then back at me, "Am I missing something?"
"They're being dumb," Cassie says to him, "Dumb and bloody distracting."
"Ash-flash doesn't think that O-dog and Ash-flash are being dumb and distracting. Does O-dog think that Ash-flash is being dumb and distracting?"
I shake my head no, "O-dog does not think that Ash-flash is dumb and distracting. O-dog thinks that Ash-flash is very bloody hot in her outfit."
Chandler groans and hits his head on the desk, nearly knocking his own inkpot all over his notes.
Ash looks down at what she is wearing, "Ash-flash is just wearing O-dog's pyjamas today."
I look my girlfriend up and down, making sure to make a show out of it, "O-dog is well aware of what Ash-flash is wearing."
"Get a room," Cassie groans.
I look around the library, "Pretty sure this is a room mate."
"Get a private room."
"Right cause you and Cee make sure to do all your flirting in private rooms."
Theseus smirks at Cass, "She's got a point."
"Who's side are you on?" Cassie says to him.
"Guess the left cause I'm no longer allowed to be right according to you."
"Here we go again bloody hell... bring up being right one more time..."
Theseus leans over in his seat and kisses Cassie's forehead. And it would have been a cute gesture if he didn't lean too far forward and fall to the ground afterwards.
"That ladies and gentlemen," Chandler says in an announcer's voice, "Is what being right looks like!"
It's late by the time we all decide to go back to our common rooms. Like almost curfew late.
Which honestly isn't that bad for me, but Theseus is a real stickler for the rules apparently and he drags us all back to the dungeons.
Except for Ash, she kisses me goodbye and heads up to the Ravenclaw tower for some trivia game with her friends. She asked me to come with, but they won't let me smoke cigs up there so I don't spend a great deal of time in her common room.
The Slytherin common room, however, no one cares what you smoke.
No seriously.
You can smoke anything down here and no one will bat an eye.
And because Slytherins tend to be rich on Daddy's money, there are a few kids who smoke crack.
I know what you're thinking.
Ophelia, you're rich on Daddy's money! You're a bloody billionaire! Probably the richest one in this school besides your siblings!
Which is true.
But I don't smoke crack.
Crack is bad.
Don't do crack kids.
Chandler pulls out a pack of cigs and hands me one before putting his own in between his lips and lighting it, "Larke is going to kick my arse when she kisses me next."
"If she kisses you," Theseus says, pulling out his own pack of cigs. He only ever smokes the brand Muratti which apparently he has shipped to him from Greece or something. Chandler and I on the other hand, really will smoke anything someone gives us as long as it has a half-decent filter.
I send a Snapchat to Ash as everyone gets comfortable. Cass takes a drag of Theseus' cig and then proceeds to blow the smoke of that drag into his mouth. Which honestly? I sort of wish that Ash smoked so that we could do shit like that.
"So when we're done with exams, is that it? You're gone?" Chandler asks me.
I put my phone down on the armrest of my chair and look at my friend, "Nah, I'll be around till September. I wanna see those two idiots try and find a flat together in London." I nod towards Theseus and Cass who are cuddling on the chair opposite of me.
"Finding a flat in London's gonna be easy. If Mum could do it with no knowledge of the muggle world, Theseus and I can do it." Cassie says. She plucks the cig out of Theseus' hand again.
"Do you just want your own?" Chandler asks, shoving his hand in his pocket, "Cause you can have one." He hands Cass his pack of cigs but she doesn't take it.
"I don't smoke," She says as she inhales, "Nasty habit," Are the words coming out of her mouth when she exhales.
I snort and flick some of the ash onto the ground and hope it doesn't burn a hole in the carpet, "Ah yeah, nasty habit." I look back at Chandler, "I also sort of want to stick around for Freddie's wedding? Figure given I'm a groom's person it would be sort of rude to move away before that."
"What? You're a grooms person? No fair," Cass huffs.
"You're playing the piano for the ceremony. How can you be a groom's person if you're playing the bloody piano?"
"Yeah but you're a grooms person, Theo's a grooms person, Theseus, Louis, Amar are all grooms people... I feel left out."
"Annie's not a grooms person..." I say reminding Cass that we do in fact have a younger sister.
"No, but she's the ring bearer. No one's even going to see me from the piano."
Theseus looks at her, "I'll be looking at you the whole time δεν μας γάμας, I promise," (Translation- my flower).
"Yeah, but you look at me all the time. It's not the same as other people seeing how good I plan on looking," Cassie says kissing the tip of Theseus' nose. Something that Mum and Dad have done our entire lives and apparently, amongst the whole hair ruffling thing, has made it's way in how we show our love to our partners cause I do the exact same thing to Ash.
My phone lights up, Ash has sent me an ugly picture of herself, taken from a low angle and making sure to look like she has five chins. I smile to myself till Chandler hits me with a pillow, "You're blushing mate."
"Am not shut the fuck up."
"You look like me when I see your Mum."
Theseus and Cass stop whispering dumb shit to each other and look at us, "You... you blush when you see my Mum?" Cass asks carefully, as if she might have heard wrong.
"Your Mum is so fit," Chandler kisses his hand like a stereotypical Italian would, "Just beautiful."
"I don't think I want you to come to my house anymore," Cassie says staring at Chandler.
He ignores her and looks at Theseus, "You know what I'm talking about eh mate? Violet Weasley is summat else."
Cassie looks back at her boyfriend and raises one of her eyebrows.
I suck on my teeth and sink lower into my chair, pulling out another cig cause I'm nearly finished my first, "Answer carefully bruv."
"Violet is a very beautiful woman and thanks to her, I have the most gorgeous girl sitting in my lap right now," Theseus tries his very best to word his sentence properly and tries to kiss Cass but she doesn't seem all that interested.
"Mhmm." Is the only thing that comes out of her mouth.
The next couple days basically involved studying, quidditch, classes, and pretending I didn't want to die. It wasn't till the weekend of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff game that I was actually able to spend some one-on-one time with my girlfriend.
"Give me your hand," Ash says to me once she's finished putting on her nail varnish. Every week is a new colour for her at this point but it always seems to be different shades of pink.
"There's absolutely no way I am letting you put pink varnish on my nails Nelson," I put my hands under my thighs so she can't get them, "You know how I feel about pink."
"I know that I gave you that pink jumper and you wore it for an entire week." She looks at me with a smile on her face, challenging me to say something back to her.
"That wasn't pink."
"It wasn't pink?"
"No, like I told Chan, it was just a very light shade of red."
Ash laughs and comes over to me on the sofa. She crawls into my lap so she's straddling my legs, "A very light shade of red," she repeats, "Just like your cheeks are now?"
"I'm not blushing," I say even though I know I'm blushing, and she totally knows I'm blushing.
She kisses my forehead, then my cheek, then my other cheek, then finally kisses my mouth. I forget all about the whole hiding my hands from my girlfriend's pink varnish and pull her closer to me so I can deepen our kiss.
Ash laughs against my lips and grabs my right hand, "You're so predictable," She mumbles against me before fully pulling away and turning around in my lap so her back is against me and my face is full of her hair.
"Fine, fine. Only put varnish on my pinky finger if you're going to put varnish on me." I say, spitting her hair out of my mouth.
"Really? I can?" I don't have to see her face to know just how excited she got.
"Yeah, but I better get a proper snog for all of my efforts."
Ash's grip on my hand tightens as she holds me still, "Your hands are shaking like mad."
"They're fighting against me, have a mind of their own. They don't want pink varnish either."
"You're so dramatic," She laughs. I can feel the cool varnish on my nail followed by Ash blowing air on it softly, "See? Wasn't that bad, was it? Now if you'd let me do your nails for the graduation ball in June..."
"Who's to say that I'm taking you to the graduation ball?"
Ash slips off my lap and looks at me funny, "What do you mean? All of a sudden you're not planning on taking your girlfriend to the graduation ball?"
I shrug, "I was sort of thinking of taking Chandler."
Ash laughs loudly and falls backwards on the sofa, "I think I want to see that happen. You and Chan trying to slow dance together might make my entire Hogwarts experience."
"So I can go to the ball with Channy?"
"No, you cannot go to the ball with Channy. Because you're going with me."
"Is this your way of asking me to the graduation ball that's happening in like two months so who even knows if we are going to be together then?"
Ash scoffs, "You act like you're allowed to date anyone but me Weasley."
"Sounds a bit like... ownershippy."
Ash rolls her eyes, "Are you really going to make me ask you properly?"
"I know that Chan would ask me properly..."
Ash sighs to herself and sinks off the sofa and onto her knees in front of me, "Ophelia Emma Weasley, will you do me the honour of being my date to the graduation ball and allowing me to paint your nails?"
I suck on my teeth, "You had me at the ball invite. Lost me at the nails."
"Nails and a spot of makeup. Because I know what I'm wearing for the ball and I can't have you showing up looking like a mess beside me."
"I haven't even said yes yet Nelson and you're already planning on matching your outfit with mine."
"Say yes you bastard I'm on my knees."
"I can think of a few ways that you could get me to say yes with you down there," I say with a sly smile.
"No sex till you agree to come to the ball with me," Ash huffs.
"That's a bit much don't you think love?"
She glares at me.
"Okay, I will go to the ball with you on my arm and we will automatically be the best looking couple there."
Ash's smile lights up the entire room it feels like and she clambers back onto the sofa with me, laying her head in my lap, "We really are going to be the best looking couple there. My dress is this really pale pink –"
"lalalalalalalalalala! I don't want to know what you're going to wear till the day of. And I don't have to know what you're wearing cause no matter what it's going to look perfect on you because you're perfect in... and out, of everything."
Ash laughs and takes my hand in hers, holding it against her chest, "You always seem to be able to make things sexual."
I squeeze one of her tits and she bursts into laughter, "You had to have seen that one coming," I laugh along with her.
A comfortable silence falls between us, the sound of our breathing mixes with the crackling fire, the dull lapping of the water hitting the glass walls, and the very, very faint sound of a nearby clan of mermaids singing.
Have I told you just how much I love my common room? Because I love it so bloody much. Especially when the rest of the school is out in the bleachers and far away from our quiet place.
Ash's cold fingers fiddle with my silver rings I wear on my hands as I start to read through my textbook for potions. At this point, it feels like I've read and reread this blasted book eight times in the past few weeks but I'd rather be over prepared than under prepared, especially with the looming pressure that is professional quidditch.
I know most people think that quidditch players are just pretty jocks, which I mean... we are. Have you seen me recently? Stunning and in the best shape of my life. Where was I? right. Quidditch teams won't let you join their team unless you get E's in all of your final classes at whatever school you're studying at. Even if you're the best player the world has ever seen like I am, if you don't have the grades you can't play and you can kiss your dreams of being a redhead living in Ireland goodbye.
"Do you think stars have feelings?" Ash whispers as she inspects one of my rings. It's one of the ones that she's purchased for me, where she got it, I'll never know. It looks like a normal silver band with all of the star signs etched into it, but when you take it off of your finger, it expands and turns into a little map of our solar system.
"Do I think stars have feelings?" I repeat her question in the same hushed tone as to not disrupt our vibe.
"Your sister was talking about it with the little Ravenclaw boys the other day. Stars explode and grow, and die out, and all these things... do you think they feel any of that? Feel pain when they explode?"
"Dunno, never really thought of it in that way," I say. If I say that I don't, and she thinks that they do, I don't want to ruin the little world that she has created in her head right now. With exams and quidditch and everything piling up, I know that she's stressed beyond belief. I want to give her as many moments of relief as I can. And if that means that I keep my mouth shut about how stupid it sounds talking about if stars feel it when they explode then it means that I keep my mouth shut about how stupid it sounds talking about it stars feel it when they explode.
"I hope they don't," She whispers.
Ash drops my middle finger, moving onto my ring finger and playing with the ring that Mum sent me when I first got sorted into Slytherin. Her mother... Bellatrix, tried to give it to her when she got out of Azkaban, said that all the Slytherin students in Bellatrix's year had matching ones. But Mum never wanted it, never wanted to wear it. But when Cass and I got into Slytherin, she made a second one and gave them to us along with a talk about how it might be different for us being in Slytherin than it was Albus or Dominique because we aren't just Weasleys, we're Blacks.
"If I was to explode after billions of years, I wouldn't want to feel it," she continues, "figure it would hurt quite a bit."
"Yeah," I look away from my textbook and down at my girlfriend. Instantly my heart swells with the amount of love and appreciation I have for this girl. How cute it is that she is fully content to lie here with me and inspect my fingers and my rings while I study. I know I joked about not being with her by the graduation ball, but I don't think I would know what to do with myself if I ever lost her. She's my light in this world, "I figure it would hurt quite a bit to be blown up. Doesn't matter how long you've been alive."
Ash sighs, "I wish there was a way for me to blow myself up without actually dying you know? Just so I could see how it feels."
"No," I do my best not to laugh, "Please don't try to blow yourself up. If it didn't work I really would have to take Chandler to the ball and that's just a disaster waiting to happen."
Ash smiles but doesn't quite laugh, "I like Chandler."
"I like him too."
"He's a good person for you," She sighs and moves to my pinky where I wear the ring that Ash made for me. She made herself a matching one too and wears it around her necklace on a rose gold chain, "Without him I don't think that you would be the person that I love you know. He fuels your crazy but not enough to cause a mess, and he grounds you in a way I don't think I'll ever be able to." Ash is apparently satisfied with her inspection of my rings because she sighs and places my hand down on her upper stomach. She tilts her head up so she can look at me, "I love you."
"I love you too," I whisper back to her.
She's content with that answer and rolls over onto her side, snaking her arms around my thighs and waist, holding me close to her as she drifts off to sleep, "I'd make a pretty star," She whispers to herself.
I put the hand that was on her stomach moments ago, in her blonde hair, running a bit if it through my fingers, careful as to not get it caught on my jewelry, "You would make a pretty star. But you make an enchanting human being."
Ash hugs onto me tighter and kisses my thigh. Neither of us are really dressed for the public so I am just in sweatpants, a sports bra and an open tartan shirt, and Ash is just in a pair of my boxers and a pink tank top with some lace around the neckline, and without any makeup. She's beautiful in anything she decides to wear of course. But there's something about her natural beauty that sweeps me off my feet.
Like my mother. She wears makeup when she's working in the shop and she keeps her hair as neat as possible, tight curls around her face, perfectly placed, perfectly shaped. And she's beautiful. But Mum in Dad's old quidditch jumper and some ratty pyjama pants, with her hair all frizzy and on the top of her head as she sings along to the radio on a morning; that's when I think she's the most beautiful woman in the entire world.
Not saying that I'm attracted to Mum the way that I'm attracted to Ash. That's weird. That – no I hate that I just thought that into existence. But you get what I'm trying to say.
Did I just make this weird?