electricity in my bloodstream

antonia trevisani zhang. 2nd year. slytherin. obliviator.

[antoniatzhang]

hestiajones​:

“We’ll see about that,” Hestia teased. There would be no blood tonight if she could help it—and, Merlin, did she hope she could help it. “Are you sure you want to jump right in? Most people watch for a while first, before they jump into the races themselves.”

.

The movement around Antonia did seem interesting enough that she could get some entertaining by just watching, and perhaps some ideas, too — who to watch out for, what were the predominant non-obvious moves one could pull. “Fine, we can watch one. But only one.” She stroke Hestia a sideways glance, like a warning. She didn’t want to hold herself down for any longer than that.

[antoniatzhang]

jenniferburke​:

“Something shiny and new to tinker with?” Jennifer could only imagine, knowing only half of what came through that shop. It had never been any of her business.

.

“Yeah, but not what you’d expect, I reckon.” She appeared not to make much of it, but a timely pause was deliberately taken to make room for mystery. “A memory vial.”

[antoniatzhang]

rosalindselwyn​:

“Although,” there was a small smile on her face as she said her next words. “I’ll be moving in Winbourne House full time, when school starts back.”

.

Antonia’s smile came out fonder than she’d ever intented it to. Rosalind had been a fine roommate over their first year, but only then did a tiny, distant part of her realize  – though she’d never admit – that she actually missed it. Missed her. Perhaps the closest she’d had to a friend, in Hogwarts. As soon as the thought came to her, though, she shunned buried it. “I guess I’ll be seeing enough of you then. I’ll let you get back to it,” she excused herself with a cock of her brows, “you know, grieving, or whatever.” Proud at her own nonchalance, quaint good humour and all that, she strolled out back into the party, but more than that, secretly glad that she’d be seeing more of Rosalind. An odd secret to carry, but a secret nonetheless.

~ finite incantatem ~ 

[antoniatzhang]

asheravery​:

A funeral didn’t seem like the right time to ask why. Why he, out of everyone she had met, was worth forgiving. “Thank you.” He was quiet when he spoke, not having realized at first that he had said the words at all. And then he repeated them, this time louder. “Thank you for seeing something in me. Anything at all.”

.

Antonia snickered, her eyes drifting up to meet with his. ‘Thank you’ was a pathetic thing to say to that, and awfully short of anything she could place value in. Nothing was ever good enough for her, anyway. It felt like, each time something in her life felt short of enough, she grew a bit older. Certainly not wiser, but more tired. “You brought me away from the food table,” she denounced him. Her smirk was playful, and maybe just a bit apologetic, though she couldn’t tell what for. All the same, she grabbed his arm to pull him back inside, hopefully to find a glass of wine to warm up whatever was still left of her.

~ finite incantatem ~

[antoniatzhang]

asheravery​:

Asher thought it best he not reflect on, or speak for Rosalind. There was no use in keeping a story straight if he made haste to crumble it before it had even begun. They’d keep up the ruse for as long as possible. A grieving widow, a confused house guest. Just as things should be. “I think that’s my way of telling you that we’re all mad.”

.

Antonia nodded blindly to his words, but it felt like taking a step down from the stairs she’d been climbing. Maybe she wasn’t a tether, after all. Nothing to be bitter about. “I agree. And we’re all detestable.” Everyone, down to their core, brimming with foul desires, yet unwilling to admit it. It disgusted her. “I see that in everyone, but you’re the only one I can forgive for it.” He, who’d killed. “Like you said — mad.” 

[antoniatzhang]

jenniferburke​:

“Reckon I came from some Burke sperm, yeah,” Jennifer narrowed her eyes at Antonia, suspiciously.

.

She gave into a little contained snort at her choice of words. “So, the latter half of the Knockturn Alley shop, I suppose.” They might have had this conversation before, but she couldn’t be bothered to recall. “I found something very, very interesting there, the other day.”

[antoniatzhang]

rosalindselwyn​:

Rosalind’s lips twitched. “Cissa and I are going to Paris in the morning. Staying until school starts back.”

.

Of course, Antonia thought. Not because she minded not being invited to this little Rosalind-Narcissa rendez-vous, just because, well, she should’ve probably anticipated it. The rise in her brows was hardly noticeable. “Well, there you go. You’ve clearly got it figured it out.”

[antoniatzhang]

hestiajones​:

“Well a quidditch player should know how to—” But she stopped, realizing she was only egging Antonia on.

“No, but you’ll tell me, won’t you?” Hestia asked instead.

.

“It means if I die, my blood will be on your hands.” She smirked, knowing fully well she was not dying tonight.

[antoniatzhang]

asheravery​:

Turned out pretty good. Thankfully Asher had some sense of decorum, and kept his laughing to a minimum. “You only think that because you’re fucked up, too. That’s the whole fun of all of this. Most of us are bloody insane, and we go about making each other feel more grounded in reality than what we actually are.” He shrugged. “But you are a brimming optimist today.”

.

“Is that your way of telling me I keep you grounded in reality?” She teased. “That’s very poetic, Avery. I’ve always dreamed of being a tether.” Through the joking, however, Antonia resonated in quiet understanding of exactly what he meant with his words. Life had played out to her in such a way that drawing and maintaining these connections became the most painful thing in her existance. There was so very little grounding her to reality, so few tethers. Asher had become a surprisingly pain-free dose of connection to her, as few other people were. Only time would tell how long it would be before she ruined this, too. “Something about cheering up a widow, I suppose. Rosalind makes it an easy job.”

[antoniatzhang]

asheravery​:

“Oh, yeah. She took the hit for him. Or rather, he suggested she take the hit for him.” For love, he might’ve claimed it. The grandest thing a person could do for love. Sacrifice. 

.

Her whole face scrunched up at his words, the same expression she might have  on when staring at an exposed fracture. “Fuck,” she breathed out. Suddenly, her parents looked like least problematic couple on the planet. “I’ll have you know, you turned out pretty good then, all things considered.” She did look at him in a sort of awe— as if he was a true and tried survivor. Could she be romanticizing his story at all? Probably. “Merlin, I’m really looking at the bright side of things today. Maybe funerals bring out the optimist in me.”

[antoniatzhang]

asheravery​:

There was an endless supply of irony when he just came out and said—”Murder.” None of it was lost on him. He knew, that if his mother understood what he had become, that he was standing on the tip of a knife, threatening to become his father, that she might have clawed her way out of Azkaban. As it were, she was mostly mad these days anyway.

.

“Ah.” She looked down to her hands, nails pattering rythmically against her clutch. While Antonia didn’t know about Asher’s family life in that big of a depth, she did know his father had very recently married her perky ex-roommate, and both of them had wound up dead in the last summer. “Wild guess— your dad had something to do with that?”

[antoniatzhang]

asheravery​:

“I want to make sure that the person who’s actually prosecuting a case isn’t a fucking dickhead with his thumb up his arse.” And then, because he remembered he was at the funeral, he lowered his voice. “Besides, that way I can work on nailing the fuckwits who put my mum in Azkaban.”

.

“Asher, look, that is cute— noble, even. But I would bet if you’re a prosecutor, the entire incentive structure of your department will be built around how many chaps you can get behind bars, no matter how convincing the defense. Condemning them will be like your mission,” she argued. Even if she didn’t have much experience with law, she was convinced this must have been how the whole thing worked, and it felt like Asher had chosen the side of the government against the people, which she’d never expect from him. But when his argument came to a halt, things were suddenly clearer. “Oh. That’s why.” It seemed like the more she looked at Asher’s life, more misery there was to be found. “What is she in for?”

[antoniatzhang]

jenniferburke​:

“We get it, you’re brainy.” That didn’t stop Jennifer from propping her head up onto her elbows, looking very interested.

.

She couldn’t help but snort, because ‘brainy’ wasn’t how she, or anyone, really, who knew enough of her would ever describe her. No, she wasn’t studying. Her interest in the matter at hand went far beyond the academic. And she was about to explain that to Jen, too, when it hit her— “Jen,” she eyed her attentively, “you’re a Burke, aren’t you?”

[antoniatzhang]

rosalindselwyn​:

“No.” She answered honestly. “He – had qualities I admired. Especially at the start. I thought one day I might have.” There was no point dwelling on that now.

.

“Aw.” Antonia inched closer to her, briefly nudging her shoulder again Rosalind’s shoulder. It was kind of tragic that she’d been sold on this bullshit. That if she stood married to someone picked by her folks long enough, they would eventually fall into a loving daydream of a life. Rosalind certainly wouldn’t have wanted her to pity her, but she did, a bit. “Look, if I had to bet on it, my money would go on the chance that you’re going to be happier now. You’ll have a depressing couple of weeks, then you’ll take off to the Maldives, meet some interesting strangers and come back from it feeling like you run the whole damn world. It’s what I would do, in your position, I think.”

[antoniatzhang]

asheravery​:

“No. Well, yes. But no.” He looked at Antonia seriously now. “I’ll become a Prosecutor.”

.

Antonia squinted her eyes, trying to see through what he meant with this. “So you want to make sure the bad guys,” her fingers mimicked quotation marks at this, “stay out of the streets?” It was ironic, in the least. “Would’ve pictured you as more of a defense attorney.”

[antoniatzhang]

asheravery​:

“Oh, I already know how I’m going to be spending my free time.” That is, the spare time that might be afforded to him once he did graduate. Once the mark on his arm took an even firmer grasp of him. Asher intended on finishing out his degree in law. In proving that the average person should never be charged for a crime they didn’t commit.

.

She grinned. “Joining an MC?”

[antoniatzhang]

jenniferburke​:

When: 5 January 1980 Where: Hogwarts Who: Jen + @antoniatzhang​

“What’re you reading?” Jen asked, nosily. She was shockingly sober and focusing on this seemed to center her.

.

Antonia nearly jumped off her seat, so entranced she’d been in the reading. “Shit, Jen, what do you care?” But then, because she’d never miss an opportunity for bragging: “Memory charms. Grad level.”