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AS SKEPTICAL AS SHE had been, Perenelle couldn't believe how good she looked in muggle clothing.
"Damn Marceline" She laughed, looking at herself in the mirror, "where were you hiding all this?"
She could not believe she was wearing jeans, or a t shirt— one with a neckline that tapered down in a 'V' to just slightly expose her chest at that. She mused her hair a little— she had left it down and curly today, though she was beginning to regret her choice as she fussed with it in the mirror.
Marcie, who was wearing a pair of light blue bell bottoms and a similar cut t shirt shook her head, "listen, my dad travels a lot— and I'm left alone nearly ninety nine percent of the time on these trips, I get bored and like to explore"
"I don't hate it as much as I thought I would" Vaudeline mused, shooing Pera out of the way to use the mirror. Marcie had put Vaud in a green corduroy pinafore dress (Marcie's words, not hers) with a black turtleneck underneath, "but it still feels bloody strange"
"Well we can feel strange about it later" Pera announced, the clock on her bedside table read quarter to nine, and she quickly took a generous swig of her bottle of chateau rum, "Ugh— we have to go, our chaperone to hell is waiting on us"
Marcie snorted, "chaperone to hell— hilarious, I would have gone with prince charming"
Pera looked at her in confusion, she understood the implication of Marcie's words (and furiously fought the blush she felt growing on her cheeks) but did not understand the reference.
"Sorry— another muggle thing I've picked up on my travels"
Once they had made it outside of the Slytherin common room Perenelle allowed herself to breathe, practically ripping the hood of her cloak off of her head. Fuck— what they were doing had finally caught up with her. Sure she realized how screwed she was, but it seemed her body had finally caught up to speed, as her heart was pounding so fast she feared it might break through the wall of her chest any second.
That would be a bloody— pun intended, mess.
"Vaud how is it you made sure the boys would be in their dormitory so early?"
Vaudeline snorted at Marcie's question, the pair oblivious to Perenelle having an existential crisis to their left.
"I didn't actually have to do anything, Damien and Antonin stormed off to bed to nurse their bruised egos and Snape follows them wherever they go"
"Okay right here" Perenelle said. They had reached the staircase— though Gideon was nowhere to be found. For a split second Pera's body heated with embarrassment, had it been a prank? Was she standing outside the kitchens in muggle clothing for a laugh? The thought made her want to puke, though thankfully just as Perenelle's brain began sending warning signals heavy footsteps came bounding down the stairs.
Gideon appeared immediately, cheeks flushed and a bottle of fire-whiskey peeking out of the pocket of his robes.
"Woah" He said as he noticed them, "I didn't realize you'd be bringing guests"
Perenelle froze in horror, though her sister quickly let out a curt laugh,
"Oh come on Prewett— as if we'd let my sister go to your territory alone"
"My territory? Merlin Vaudeline you make it sound so primal" He teased, "I'm surprised you two would even want to come, given halloween being what— four days ago?"
"Samhain, don't pretend you're not pureblood" Vaud corrected, and Pera found a moment to jump in, "Besides it was a Tuesday— even if we did all dress up in costumes like everyone else most of us don't fancy Professor Binns first thing in the morning with a hangover"
Gideon grimaced at the thought, and the group began to walk towards the Gryffindor Tower, "I'm sure students thought he should retire before he died, bit late now"
"My nana told me once that he was her teacher, so I don't see us getting rid of him anytime soon" Marceline mused.
The group lapsed into silence as they walked through the castle, and Gideon paused to fall into line with Perenelle, Marcie and Vaudeline two steps ahead of them.
"Are you okay? I was only joking earlier, it's not a problem you brought them" He whispered, "It's a good thing really— I like your sister, and Avery's a laugh"
"You scared me for a moment— I'm scared enough as it is" She reasoned, and Gideon looked apologetic for a brief second before he smiled devilishly,
"Fire-whiskey for your nerves?"
He extended the bottle towards Perenelle and she grabbed it immediately, taking a generous sip and trying not to sputter as the liquor burned her throat.
"Ugh— I forgot how violent fire-whiskey tasted" She complained, and Gideon rolled his eyes— playfully elbowing her in the arm, "I get ittt, you're used to the finest elvish liquor"
Perenelle didn't answer, and she failed to hide her smirk at his words. Merlin, the fact that he was right made her seem so stuck up— but she wasn't lying, fire-whiskey was not an enjoyable alcohol by itself.
"Oh bloody hell that's what you lot were drinking wasn't it?" He snickered, and Perenelle rolled her eyes, "I could smell it on your breath"
"Oh ha—ha" She countered, and Gideon's voice went much quieter, "Alice is pretty excited you're coming you know"
"In all fairness the prospect of seeing Alice is what's keeping me from tearing my hair out"
They reached the Gryffindor common room much quicker than Perenelle had anticipated, distracted by her and Gideon's conversation.
"Ouch— not even me?" He asked, grasping his chest through his robes before beginning to move past her to give the Fat Lady the password (who was complaining that they had woken her up).
She blushed at his words and looked away. Sure, a part of her was looking forward to being at a party with him, even if her fear outweighed it. She loathed how easy it was for him to make her blush— she wasn't thirteen, she no longer had a pathetic school girl crush on the older boy, but she couldn't find an answer as to why he got the reactions out of her he did. It was going to drive her mad, that and all the troublesome situations he seemed so good at getting her into. (But why did she let him?).
Gideon paused and turned back to her, "You look really pretty tonight by the way Nell" it was barely above a whisper and the two girls hadn't heard it, but her stomach tied itself in knots nonetheless. Before she had a chance to respond— with Merlin knows what, she didn't know what would come out if she opened her mouth, the portrait swung back to reveal the common room.
Chin up— Perenelle told herself, she may as well go down with her pride intact.
Oh who was she kidding.
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It was loud— and crowded, the change in temperature due to the amount of bodies crammed in the common room was almost suffocating. That and the overlapping voices and music seemed to awaken the many shots of various liquors in Perenelle's body, as suddenly she began to feel woozy.
It could have been her nerves, and that certainly contributed to the feeling— though Perenelle knew better. She was tipsy.
She could feel her sister and Marceline on either side of her, and all three were tensed— even Marcie, who basically bloody begged to come. The Gryffindor common room was enough to send second thoughts flying through even the most adventurous Slytherin's heads.
Speaking of the common room— Perenelle's eyes were assaulted with a horrifying amount of red and gold. Though, in a sense that was slightly hypocritical of her— as surely a Gryffindor would say the same about Slytherin's green and silver adorned place of solitude.
To be completely honest— and without even a shred of house bias, Perenelle thought the Slytherin common room did it far more tastefully. If Vaudeline could hear the musings in Perenelle's head she would butt in at that moment and comment that Slytherin's were just more tasteful in general.
Perenelle would normally agree— but given the fact that their new muggles clothes (which, has she mentioned looked weirdly amazing on her?) matched most of the party goers in the room, maybe the Gryffindor's weren't as tasteless as she'd previously thought.
"Oh my Godric you came!"
Alice's yell had broken Perenelle from her musings, and the shorter girl squeezed her in a hug so tight Pera felt her breath catch in her throat.
"I said I'd deliver her safely, I'm a man of my word Al" Gideon clapped his hand on Perenelle's shoulder just as Alice let her go, and the bob-haired Gryffindor squealed in excitement. Oh Alice was drunk.
"I need to be on your level" Vaudeline practically growled, and Perenelle had almost forgotten that her sister and Marcie were behind her, "immediately."
"Oh I am so happy!" Alice's hands were on her cheeks, as she too just noticed Perenelle had brought company, and she hugged both girls in greeting. Perenelle snorted at the almost bewildered look on her sister's face as Alice squeezed the bloody life out of her.
"Al, go take Vaud and Marcie to get a drink, Nell and I will catch up in a few" Gideon said, and his hand was back on Perenelle's shoulder. Her eyes widened at both his touch and words in Vaud'a direction. For a second that felt like an hour, nobody spoke, and a weird through eyes only conversation played out.
Vaudeline raised an eyebrow at Perenelle in response to her wide eyes, and Pera could feel Marcie's eyes burrowing into the side of her head. Marcie must have made a face at Vaud, as Pera's sister suddenly looked as though she was trying not to laugh.
Alice's face was pure calculation— and she looked between Perenelle and Gideon before something, Merlin knows what, must have clicked, as the drunk girl shrugged her shoulders.
"Sounds good, you two follow me"
And Perenelle watched as the three girls delved deeper into the crowd of people— her composure it seemed, going with them.
Gideon didn't even give her a moment to reflect on the fact that they had been left alone together, as he grabbed her hand in his and began to weave them through the crowd. His hand was warm, and rough— no doubt calloused from quidditch.
"Fabian's around here somewhere— probably with Lupin, I can't wait to tell him you brought your sister, he'll get such a kick out of it"
They had stopped near the common room's fireplace, and he got so close to Perenelle's face she could practically feel his breath on the side of her neck as he spoke in her ear— she could feel goosebumps rise with every word the redhead spoke.
Perenelle furrowed her eyebrows in confusion,
"Why would your brother be with Lupin? I didn't realize they hung out"
Gideon let out a small chuckle and looked around the room, no doubt looking for the pair, and Perenelle tried not to notice the way the muscles in his neck tensed as he moved his head.
"They've been seeing each other" he said, and from Gideon's tone Perenelle— even in her slightly tipsy state was able to tell that he was testing her. In all truth Perenelle did not care if anyone was gay, let alone Fabian. She had no idea him or Remus liked men, but it wasn't her business. Others definitely disagreed in the pureblood circle, and Perenelle was aware the stigma largely surrounded the issue of heirs.
If a man did not marry— who would inherit? There was usually less care when it was a woman, and honestly, Perenelle was pretty sure her great aunt Cassiopeia was a lesbian, though she couldn't confirm it. Her aunt spending her life travelling the world with her dear Italian female companion however was a hint enough. Women in her world were often overlooked though— and it was still depressing even if in circumstances such as sexual equality it worked in their favour. At the end of the day the women were pawns yet the men would always be the kings.
"Really? I had no idea, good for Fabian" and Perenelle meant it, Remus wasn't bad looking— and embarrassingly for her he was a nice bloke. She had never apologized for snapping at him what now felt like ages ago. Though he did snitch to Sirius. Merlin she didn't even want to think about Sirius at that moment, sneaking around his common room was bad enough,
Gideon smiled, and Perenelle noticed that her answer made him significantly less tense than he had been a moment ago, "Yeah, they've be— oh, there they are!"
He took her hand again, and Perenelle followed after him. She was a tall girl— most of the women in her family were, yet besides the people on each side of her all she could see was the back of Gideon's neck as they squeezed through the room.
"No fucking way"
Frank Longbottom had a bottle of fire-whiskey in his hand, and his open mouth and stare of disbelief was the first thing Perenelle saw when her and Gideon reached the staircase.
"How in Godric's name did this tosser" and he shook Gideon's shoulders as he said it, "Convince you to show up"
The tosser in question rolled his eyes, and Perenelle took the opportunity to steal the bottle of fire-whiskey from Frank's grasp— he was more than happy to hand it over,
"Well Longbottom, I foolishly agreed to a bet that I obviously lost, and turns out I am an honourable person"
"Here-here!" Fabian raised his glass of Merlin knows what, and Perenelle cheersed him with the bottle— now forced to look in his direction.
Sure enough, Remus Lupin (next to his boyfriend— was he Fabian's boyfriend? Gideon hadn't really specified their relationship status, though what did it matter) seemed to be staring straight into her soul. He was sort of looking at her as if he had seen a ghost.
If Perenelle had to guess what Remus was thinking— a vindictive part of her figured he was probably scheming to snitch on her again, though the rational side of her read the boy's incredulous expression as pointing to him being highly confused. Whichever it was— she took a very generous swig of fire-whiskey. So generous she started having a less than attractive coughing fit that ended in Gideon patting her on the back.
"Bloody hell— do you want a cup and some soda or do you fancy throwing up tonight?" Gideon asked her, and Frank laughed.
The situation Perenelle had found herself in was more ridiculous the more she thought about it, and she (against her better judgement, though maybe better for her sanity) took another— smaller, sip from the bottle,
"Hm— can I get back to you on that when I decide?"
"Well I think I'll decide" Fabian snorted, and a smile finally found itself on Remus' face. Fabian grabbed a cup of soda from a nearby table and plucked the bottle away from her, pouring some in the cup before returning the bottle to Frank and handing Perenelle her drink. It did not have enough alcohol in it to keep her sane. If it weren't for the booze and pure adrenaline Perenelle probably would have run out of the common room the second she had seen the first red tapestry.
"Well that's no fun, this is my first real party and you grandpa's won't let me have the full experience" She pouted, and the three older boys laughed. Well— it was now or never. Perenelle took the brief second of silence and the generous helping of fire-whiskey a minute before as a sign and smiled in Remus' direction.
"How are you Lupin?"
He seemed almost shocked she had addressed him, though quickly nodded his head,
"I'm good— how are you? I didn't, well, I wouldn't have expected to see you here"
The other boys had lapsed into a conversation of their own, about Frank's upcoming Head Boy duties from what she could hear. Remus had pointed out the obvious of course, as if he told Perenelle a week ago where she would find herself on the third of November— even after the other abnormalities that had occurred over the term she would have thought he had gone starking mad, and also wonder why he was speaking to her. Though going mad seemed to be a more likely trait among Blacks, as apposed to Lupins.
"I'm good" She nodded, Merlin it was awkward, "I didn't know you and Fabian were seeing each other, I don't expect you would know but I've known the twins since we were small, Fabian's a good catch"
"Yeah I think Sirius has mentioned it before"
Remus had brought up the elephant in the room. Speaking of the elephant— Perenelle was surprised she hadn't seen or heard him. She very much expected a loud spectacle considering it was the ingrate's birthday.
"Can you maybe, I don't know— not tell him... that I'm here?"
Somehow, Lupin looked more anxious than her. As he had what she assumed was a habit of swaying awkwardly on his feet when he didn't know what to say. That and he looked like he had eaten several sour melon drops.
"Uhh, listen Perenelle" Remus began, and he moved a little closer to her as he lowered the volume of his voice, "Sirius is one of my best friends and I know things have been weird lately... I wasn't going to tell him anyway— mostly because I don't want to upset him on his birthday, but" and he paused again, "Just because he's my best friend doesn't mean I can't recognize when he's a tosser, you know?"
Perenelle fought the urge to snort at Remus' insinuation, and found herself reminded of what Alice had told her only a week before. Sirius' band of brothers were insanely close— like freakishly. Perenelle had no idea how any of them would survive after graduation when they weren't sharing a bedroom and getting up to the mischief they always found themselves in. But, the three boys her cousin surrounded himself with happened to possess empathy and common sense. They pitied her a bit. She suspected Remus Lupin was the only one who had the nerve to address it with her directly though.
Perenelle wasn't an idiot, and she certainly wasn't hot headed like her sister or Sirius. She was able to view the situation critically when she wasn't directly in it— that is to say, face to face with Sirius, and the feud between them was multi layered and had no true victim or villain.
One thing Perenelle did know for certain, and she suspected was the reason her cousin's friends viewed her with any sympathy at all was because in all their years of schooling together she had never gone out of her way to pick a fight with him.
Did she respond when he did? She wasn't a complete pushover— the Black blood coursing through her veins more often than not resulted in her falling for Sirius' bait. But Perenelle had never sought him out for the purpose of berating him.
Vaudeline did— though her twin had a temper in the same category as their eldest sister, their aunt Walburga, and not shockingly, Sirius himself. Perenelle's only crime was association— she was more often than not present for the many glares, insults— and as proven lately, public outbursts her dysfunctional family thrived in. Though lately they had begun to take a toll on her. Clearly on Vaudeline as well— Regulus was dealing with something else entirely Perenelle didn't even want to know about. But she wondered if maybe Sirius was beginning to feel the effects.
"Thanks Lupin" She smiled softly, "Would you like to take a shot? I feel like we should commemorate speaking to each other normally outside of a prefects meeting"
Remus laughed, and she stole the bottle of fire-whiskey back from Frank when he was too focused on a debate with Gideon to notice.
She found Marcie and Alice some time later— though Vaudeline was nowhere to be found.
"Ah! You've escaped Prewett" Alice giggled, pulling her into the circle of girls surrounding what looked like a portrait of a headless knight.
"You say that like he was holding me hostage" Perenelle rolled her eyes, her words slurring. The shot— or shots she had taken with Remus Lupin had really pushed her over into full inebriety.
"He kind of was" Marcie waged, "We haven't seen you in an hour" eyeing Perenelle suspiciously, which made Alice laugh. Merlin— she had a feeling she could look forward to Alice questioning her when they were sober if the Gryffindor girl remembered the events of the night.
"Whatever— Per you know Lily, but this is Marlene and Mary" Alice changed the subject, and Perenelle greeted Lily warmly. A small part of Pera tensed when she remembered Mary's blood status. Though she quickly buried the feeling, reminding herself that Lily too was a muggleborn, and she was perfectly nice.
"You're the one who wouldn't stop teasing Sirius" Pera accused— half laughing as she pointed a finger in Marlene McKinnon's direction, and the tall blonde pointed her finger right back,
"And you are the one he supposedly shagged— also the one he loathes apparently, so I have to admire your balls of steel being here" Mary elbowed Marlene in the ribs, an annoyed expression on her face, "For Merlin's sake Marlene!"
Perenelle laughed, and faked a curtsy— though in her stated it came out a bit wobbly. No matter, the others seemed too far into their drinks as well to care. Lily even snorted.
"I can laugh about it now" Perenelle shrugged, "but thanks for the compliment, I don't know if it's balls of steel or an insane death wish, I've yet to figure that out"
"Respect" Marlene praised, and Mary stared at Perenelle.
"I love your shirt, do you like ABBA?"
Perenelle looked down at herself in confusion, and noting that the words on her t shirt did spell out whatever an ABBA was.
"I'm gonna be honest— the shirt's not mine and I have no idea what an ABBA is"
"You don't know ABBA!" Alice questioned, quite loudly, and Perenelle shook her head, trying and failing not to laugh at the seriousness in Alice's voice.
"What the fuck is an ABBA?" Marcie mused, hiding her face behind her cup, and Mary shook her head— staring at Lily as if to say are they bloody joking?.
"Only the best band ever— honestly, do you two know any muggle music?"
Marcie shook her head no, which only made the other girls more passionate in their shock.
"Gideon's shown me Billy Joel actually, he's quite good" Perenelle answered, and Marlene smiled,
"Well that's good— there's hope for you yet, make sure he shows you ABBA next—ooh! And Bowie or Zeppelin"
Perenelle wasn't even sure she would remember the names of any musicians Marlene proceeded to list, though she nodded fervently. She quite enjoyed Billy Joel— so ABBA and the others were probably good too.
"Where's my sister?" Perenelle asked, and Marceline sighed, "She went to get some air a little while ago— I dunno where, she should be back soon though" and Perenelle nodded. She wondered if Vaudeline was uncomfortable— that was silly. Of course Vaudeline was uncomfortable. She merely wondered if that's why Vaudeline had wandered off.
"I quite like your sister Black— Sirius has painted you lot out to be some sort of demon spawn, but she's a laugh who knows how to drink" Marlene commented, and Perenelle faltered at the double compliment-insult. "Thanks, I think"
"I think I'm going to go get some air too" Mary said suddenly, avoiding looking at any of them, "I'll be back" and she skipped off. Perenelle hadn't really held a conversation of any importance with the curly haired girl, though she seemed very nice.
"I think I'm gonna go too, I'll see if I can find Vaud and bring her back" Perenelle announced, and Marcie looked at her, "do you want me to come?"
"No it's okay Marce" Perenelle shook her head, whatever state Vaudeline was in, Perenelle thought it be best she speak to her twin alone, "You stay and have fun, I'll be right back"
She navigated herself through the common room, and though she couldn't find her sister, she did find Gideon.
"There you are!" He sighed— his cheeks were pink, and his words came out a tad jumbled. In her intoxicated state Perenelle thought he looked almost devilishly cute at that moment.
"Well hello to you too Gideon" She smiled, and he took her hand, "—woah, what are you doing?"
"We're dancing Nell, come on, it's your first party!" And Perenelle laughed uncomfortably as Gideon basically swung her around, "They're even playing Billy Joel"
If Gideon's statement was true she couldn't confirm it, as it wasn't a song he had shown her, thought the voice was familiar,
"That reminds me— Alice and her friends said that next time you show me muggle music you have to show me ABBA" she said, rather strained against the loud room, and Gideon grimaced, "Ugh, ABBA's so girly"
"Well I am a girl" Pera quipped, and Gideon chuckled, "trust me I know"
The way Gideon said it made her feel funny— self conscious even, and she didn't respond, instead allowing Gideon to continue leading her in whatever you could call the dance he was attempting. It consisted mostly of jumping around and she fought the urge to laugh.
"So you want there to be a next time then?" Gideon suddenly questioned, and Perenelle felt a blush growing on her cheeks— which were probably pink already. It was very hot in the crowded room. "I like hanging out with you Gideon, you're alright" She admitted.
"Only alright? Merlin Nell you wound me!"
She hid her face, instead looking around the room. Suddenly she remembered why she had left the girls in the first place.
"I'm gonna go look for Vaud— I'll be back" and she was back to walking (more like squeezing) through the room. Until of course she squeezed a little too hard and ended up bonking heads with whoever she ran into, and both parties nearly fell over. Well, the other one actually did.
"Shit— I'm so sorry!" She grimaced, and extended her hand to help the boy up. He took it wearily and soon they were eye level. Huh, they were nearly the same height. The boy was looking at her with a shocked expression on her face, and before Perenelle could even react she realized who exactly she had knocked on his arse.
She had never spoken to Peter Pettigrew before, but of course, he was hard to miss considering he was one of the boys her cousin had attached himself to at the hip.
"S'all good" He mumbled, though the expression didn't leave his face, and suddenly Perenelle was spun on her heels to come face to face with a confused— but mostly annoyed Sirius.
"Why the fuck are you here?"
She must have looked like a fish the way her mouth sputtered open and closed searching for an answer, though her cousin only rolled his eyes.
She could sense Peter fleeing the scene behind her and spat out the first words that came to her mind, "Uh— I was invited?"
"Alice needs to mind her business, I'll be sure to tell her that" Sirius accused, and suddenly the alcohol in Perenelle's body made its way to her head and kickstarted the annoyance that swept over her.
"Leave Alice alone Sirius, it wasn't her, and even if she did she's my friend— it's none of your business" She defended, "I'm not bothering you am I? I've been in here for ages and only seen you now!"
If Sirius rolled his eyes again Perenelle was sure they would fall right out of his arrogant head, and she continued, "Take it up with the Prewetts if you're so peeved— I have to go find Vaud" and now it was Sirius' turn to look like a fish out of water, "Happy Birthday by the way"— she wasn't an animal, she'd acknowledge his seventeenth, and she stomped in the opposite direction.
Perenelle walked around for what seemed like fifteen minutes and she still could find no sign of her sister. It was a little worrying. She hoped that worst case Vaudeline had left and was in their dormitory— Perenelle didn't even want to picture her other worst case thought. As it seemed a little foolish and was likely fuelled by the alcohol. It was a long standing true stereotype that Gryffindor-Slytherin house relations were strained, but she highly doubted anyone in the room would actually harm her sister.
She didn't have time to ponder it further as suddenly a girl was in her face, and Perenelle backed up.
"Don't think I don't know who you are— you have a lot of bloody nerve showing your face in here after what you did!" The girl accused, and Perenelle had genuinely no idea who she was. They must not be in the same year, and the girl was clearly a Gryffindor. Maybe younger?
"I beg your pardon?"
"Are you not the snake who took a hundred points from my sister?"
Oh fuck. Perenelle's stomach dropped— which did not fair well with the fire-whiskey in her system. Each step closer to Perenelle the girl took only made her nauseous.
Though suddenly Perenelle remembered the missing detail— the annoying and lying, bloody fucking lying little girl she had taken the points from said the rumour had come from her sister. Perenelle's eyes turned to slits.
"So you're the sister who made up the lie she was stupid enough to bloody repeat?" Perenelle spat, "if anything you are the reason the points were taken— so get out of my face and take it up with Mcgnagall if you're stupid like your sister, she signed off on it!"
Now maybe Perenelle shouldn't have called the angry girl in her face and her sister stupid. But each time the bitch practically barked at her Perenelle felt her blood boiling hotter.
"What the fuck did you just say to me?"
"Are you stupid and deaf? My apologi—" She was cut off by the girl letting out a rather shrill scream, and suddenly half the party was staring in their direction.
"Oh you are fucking dead!" and against her better judgement Perenelle was pretty sure she replied with something along the lines of I'd like to see you bloody try— but thankfully she saw Gideon's curly red head pushing through the crowd to her aid.
Though someone else had managed to push through first, and just as the girl began to draw her wand Perenelle found herself pushed back.
Sirius— of all people, was suddenly in front of her.
"Bloody knock it off Daniels" Sirius practically commanded, and Perenelle was in disbelief, unable to think or do anything but watch the scene unfold.
"Why are you defending her?" The girl, who Perenelle now knew was Daniels, was only angrier, "She to—"
"—Yeah well now I know it was you who started that bloody rumour, I mean honestly Fiona, we snogged one time at the beginning of term, were you that peeved? Did you think you were getting back at me for not taking you out?"
Somehow, the room was silent. No really— someone had even turned the music off.
"I didn't— well, I—"
"You are the one who's responsible for the points, don't blame anyone else— clearly you're not a Ravenclaw with the fucking brick between your ears, get the fuck out!"
Perenelle almost felt bad for Fiona Daniels when the girl's face dropped at Sirius' words, and she sputtered as the crowd of people began to react,
"W-where? I'm a Gry—"
"And this is my bloody birthday party, go to your dorm or something!"
Daniels turned quick on her heels and ran as best she could towards the staircase that led to the dormitories.
If Perenelle were to thank Sirius— which, she didn't know if she would, she didn't get the chance. As he spared her one confusing glance before stalking off and away from her. She couldn't read it exactly, but it wasn't inherently malicious.
What the fuck. She didn't even want to think about the fact that Sirius had just defended her. The very contemplation would make her brain explode.
"Hey" Gideon had reached her, Marcie in tow, "I should probably get you two back" and she didn't respond, only following the pair in shock out of the Gryffindor common room, and silently all the way to the dungeons and their common room.
"Thanks for tonight" She suddenly found her voice as Gideon was about to leave, and smiled, "Yeah it was... interesting— fun for the most part" he quickly corrected. "You okay?"
"I'll see you around" She said, ignoring the question, and thankfully Gideon only nodded before leaving back towards where he came.
Luckily for Perenelle and Marceline, the common room was empty, and she didn't realize how late it was until she read the clock beside the fireplace— two in the morning. Bloody hell.
Perenelle was embarrassed to admit she had forgotten about her sister and was only reminded when they entered their dorm to find her in her bed. Marceline went straight to the bathroom, and Pera heard what she thought was the girl emptying the contents of her stomach. Marcie did look a little green on their walk back.
Vaudeline hadn't noticed the expression on either of their faces (if Pera had to guess, it was a strange mix of shock, disbelief— and on Marcie's as she walked by, amusement), "Sorry I left early.. I didn't feel well"
"That's okay" Pera replied almost robotically, shedding Marcie's muggle clothes off of her what felt like as fast as she could. She felt a bit more normal when the silk of her nightgown hit her skin. "I was looking for you, are you alright?"
Vaudeline didn't say anything at first, and Perenelle noticed that her sister's face was splotchy— and her eyes seemed red, like she had been crying. What the hell happened to her?
"Yeah— I just have a stomach ache, you guys can tell me about what I missed tomorrow, I want to sleep"
Perenelle was grateful— though slightly concerned by Vaudeline's deflection, as she did not exactly look forward to telling her sister what she missed.
Perenelle didn't even want to think about it, it confused her too much. Maybe it would be easier to rationalize in the morning when she was sober.
At least that's what she told herself as she tried to fall asleep. Though thinking about it only made sleep harder to come by. Fucking hell.
•° ✿ °•.
°•. ✿ .•°
ahhh!!! so many things I do not even know where to start.
this chapter is a long one to make up for how short the last one was as well as how long it took me to update that one, so I hope you all enjoyed it!
I love this chapter for many reasons, but mostly because I have now successfully integrated perenelle with all of the gryffindor's I planned to, so that's great!
I've also scattered some hints in there for maybe future subplots and what not, but whether or not they're obvious enough for anyone who knows.
I am SO excited to read any comments you guys leave, so much to unpack this chapter!
until next time, jess <3