taste blood in your mouth

alfred carrow / pure-blood. he tore beauty from his face, and called it t e r r o r.

[brookedaviz]

[elicsycxley]

the young man stood leaning onto a wall as he lazily flipped through a book margaery had buggered him to read, though he barely skimmed the pages he could tell it wasn’t too bad, but he wasn’t about to waste too much of his time on it. after all, as long as margaery thought he read it, she would be pleased, and that was really all he needed. as he heard someone approach and come to a stop next to him he drew a deep breath and closed the book slowly, looking up with the most neutral expression he could muster: he couldn’t really be bothered right now, but he also didn’t want to scare anyone off if they came with some news that were actually interesting or needed a favour — which meant he got one in return. “what do you want?” he asked, as he tried to sound mildly interested.

[cxrrowism-blog]

alfred watched the taller boy from afar for a few moments, trying to catch a glimpse of the cover of the book in his hands. to his dismay, elias always seemed to position it just out of the other boy’s eyesight, frustrating the prefect until he sauntered over, poised as ever. “just to see what you were reading, the look on your face makes it seem painfully droll,” he replied to the young man’s question, crossing his arms in front of him. though alfred was a confident individual, there was always something shift about the way he conducted himself with others--probably because most of his kind interactions were based on imitating what others wanted rather than any warmth in his own heart.

[so-pale-girl]

A pretty face doesn’t mean a pretty heart.

Teen (via menpale)

[cxrrowism-blog]

alfred was always glad that he stood on the same side as margaery--as valuable as she was as an ally, she would be a terrifying opponent. it wasn’t that alfred wasn’t a capable duelist, as he could easily hold his own in a fight, but his talents were best displayed in stealth. sneaking around, stealing, disguises, anything that involved hiding in plain sight was, ironically, where he stood out. “hm, i suppose you’re right. it’s better to understand one’s talents than lament over one’s weaknesses. or to waste time trying to compensate. perhaps that’s why i’ve never thought to join dueling club, myself. alfred sneered at the mention of other students. “is it really that surprising? people are fools. they can’t handle any truth that they perceive as too painful, so they choose to be blissfully unaware and go about living their stupid little lives, blinders on. they refuse to see, and they won’t until the world burns down around them,” he said, shaking his head. “be the one holding the match.”

[cxrrowism-blog]

ah, meg. a tender soul, alfred thought, eager to please and gain approval. he smiled back at her; a gentle, friendly smile. people usually described alfie as warm and loving, the kind of person who it seemed you had known for years when you had only met him hours before. “oh, thank you! i’m so clumsy, it must have fallen out of my bag,” he said, fingers curling around the paper as he took it from meg’s hand. as a prefect, the young man was forced to know much of the student body. of course, it was also helpful for his extracurricular interests to know who could potentially be a threat. the hufflepuff was decidedly nonthreatening. 

“ah, no. unfortunately, i’m afraid something terrible has happened. have you read the news?” he asked, his brow furrowing solemnly.  

[cxrrowism-blog]

alfie’s golden boy facade immediately fell whenever he was in private quarters with archibald. in some ways, he was his truest self around the other boy--vindictive, cruel, and unflinchingly cold. even with raziela he had moments of weakness, but with archie? never. 

“well, i do take you for an imbecile but i hardly see what that has to do with anything. and i am. astute observation, i’m glad to see you made it all by yourself.”

[cxrrowism-blog]

alfred understood where he fell in the pecking order--raziela and archibald, margaery, then himself. and in most cases, he was fine with it (though he ultimately hoped to overtake archie at the first opportunity). “nothing would delight me more,” he said, a cruel sincerity in his tone. alfie shrugged at the assertion about being a prefect, “it isn’t hard. people see what they want to see. and you know me--i do my best work when no one’s watching. being a prefect makes me invisible but gives me eyes everywhere. it’s come in handy on more than one occasion.”

[cxrrowism-blog]

“i’m sure you won’t,” alfred said, his lips curling into a smile. from across the library, he waved at two young ravenclaw students who had been tutoring, watching through half-lidded eyes as they waved at him. “you know, when we were that age, people used to be afraid of me. they thought that my family name meant that i must have inherited some kind of madness,” he mused, finally taking his hand off of abigail. “isn’t it wonderful how one’s opinion can change with just a smile? if you just act like a good person, everyone thinks you are. well, i guess i should go. have fun with your studying,” the other prefect said, nodding his head.

[cxrrowism-blog]

“i’ve always been rather fond of the ghosts, myself. i remember when i was a first year, asking them the secrets of the castle. i still find them kind of entertaining now,” alfred explained, then gave saffron a mysterious grin, “just curious. it’s always about this time of year that someone gets it in their head to spook the younger students. although i’m afraid with the recent news, real life is probably frightening enough...”

[cxrrowism-blog]

alfred walked into the room, staying close to the door for a moment before walking to lily and sitting down by her side, looking out at the forest. “i know that i’ve never really talked to you before, but--i hope you realize that you’re not alone, right now. i know that probably makes no sense coming from me, but what my father and aunt have done, what they are...” he trailed off, as if thinking what the right words to say were. “just know that i know what it’s like to be blamed for your father’s actions. i can’t change who my father is, but i try to live better than him. if you ever need anything, i hope you can be comfortable turning to me,” he assured.

[cxrrowism-blog]

alfred was fine flattering margaery a bit when it came to her dueling skills--she could see through insincere compliments, but his praise was mostly genuine. of the dark arts club members, alfie was probably the weakest when it came to any sort of dueling magic; his skills shone more when it came to infiltration and sneaking about. “of course. just let me know when the next good duel is. i’d love to see you win--or your brother lose,” he teased, then crossed his arms. “well, if you would have just worked to be a prefect like i suggested, you could just take extra rounds and get to look at all the cool hidden parts of the castle, but...”

[cxrrowism-blog]

alfred could practically see abigail’s seams beginning to fray, and it was such a joy to pull on them until she unraveled completely. “of course. just know that if you need anything,” he said, standing up and putting his hand on abigail’s shoulder. “you can always find me,” he said, bending down closely to abigail, just to invade her personal space. he lingered for a moment, eyes fixed on her profile, before standing up and regaining his usual, kindly smile. “also, number four is wrong. you should recheck your math,” he said.

[cxrrowism-blog]

how nice it was when they were manipulated so easily, alfred thought. “ha, well, i’m total bullocks at potions, so you’ve got that one over me. i’m better with something like ghoul studies, which is about as impractical as you can get,” he joked, keeping the tone light without being too much of a ham. “do you like scary stories, saffron?”

[cxrrowism-blog]

“of course you didn’t,” alfred said, giving her a gentle smile, realizing her may have pushed a bit too hard. after all, there was little sense in making the girl even more terrified. if he wanted to antagonize someone with fear, he would just scare paige lennox.  he reached out to give her a little pat on the shoulder. “don’t worry, they do say things behind my back, but...i just try to live a better life than them. one day they’ll see the kind of person i am, and that’s all that matters.”

[thathottiesoutofmyleague]

When a devil falls in love, it’s the most hauntingly beautiful thing ever. And you should be terrified, for he will go to the depths of hell for her.

(via stylestagram1x1)

@lcstrnge

[fysw]

J.J. emailed me and he said, ‘Can you travel down to Mayfair to meet me?’, so I got in a taxi; I probably paid £150 without knowing it just to get to J.J. to hear what was going on… He sat me down, he spoke to me about a couple of things and then said, 'You’re the new star of Star Wars,’ and literally everything just froze. The whole world was perfect in that one moment.

[cxrrowism-blog]

alfred couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride at the girl in front of him--maggie was easily one of the most cunning and shrill witches he had ever met, regardless of her age. “that’s very true. i’ve heard you’re quite a sight to see in dueling club--especially against that rhodes girl. i think i might have to stop by the next time you two face off; it’s beginning to be a bit of a spectacle,” he mused, nodding at her explanation. “that’s very true. i suppose if you ever fall under suspicion you can just spend more time with me and volunteer to sort books in the library or something,” he said, rolling his eyes. sometimes it was exhausting to play the part of a good-natured, well-adjusted young man.