âI guess youâre right,â Ester said with a chuckle. âMan, that blows, I guess everyoneâs really come together tonight though. Tell me about yourself, I donât know if weâve ever talked, what makes you different? Maybe we can try leaning into the differences.â
âThere is that at least, all of us easily united by the thought of a party,â she agreed with a soft laugh. âWell, Iâm Aeres if you didnât know and Iâm Welsh which never changes I guess. And as a slytherin, I made the stupid stupid decision to lie about my blood status - a truth that got exposed right before the timeline swap. Or at least it did in this timeline.â
âThatâd be so lovely, Aeres, thank you.â Dorcas listened to her muse, happy to have this conversation, happy to discuss because it had been fascinating and bewildering to live through. She needed answers, she needed peopleâs thoughts, SOMETHING, she felt a need to consume all the information that had been shared around her. The question Aeres asked struck her as odd â nothing had changed for her as far as she knew. âIâm confused because actually, I feel exactly the way you do. Itâs awfully disconcerting especially considering it seems some of the people I thought I knew, I donât know quite at all. But no, it hasnât changed for me, I guess weâre lucky arenât we? Iâve heard some some scary stories. â
âOh, youâre welcome, Dorcas,â she waved off the thanks, just as grateful for the company, if not more. âItâs terrifying, I never thought that Iâd be this scared of something that you canât even see - itâs going to mess with my boggart I just know it.â She laughed at the thought. âYouâre right though at least we donât have memories of a war that no longer happened - that would be the worst, I think. Or dealing with suddenly having a war at all.â
he raised a brow at her comment, it was cheesy, and he could tell she was drunk, though so was he. âwell i am the brightest star here. and youâre not so bad yourself, you know, for a slytherin,â his interactions with aeres had been limited in the past, more just fleeting comments, much the same as his interactions of many of her house members. âto what do i owe this pleasure, aeres?â
âitâs because my mom was a hufflepuff, and all hufflepuffs are beautiful,â she whispered, leaning in as if she was revealing some world shattering secret. âoh! i just wanted to see you, and your beautiful star face. and iâm avoiding my housemates, because having to get to know people i already know? or knew? not super interested, is that bad?â
â aeres, hi, â alecto said, doing her best to match aeresâ smile. doing her best to outdo aeresâ smile â she wasnât quite sure what the other girl was feeling, but she didnât seem like someone who wanted to smile at alecto. which was fine; alecto was tipsy, not in the mood to deal with unpleasantness or complications. she could keep conversation light. â it is a little crazy. but Iâm doing my best not to think about any of it. the party makes it easier. â as if to show off her ease, she laughed and tapped the lip of her cup against aereâs shoulder.Â
âhi,â she echoed without thinking, smile fading in a more natural one when alecto returned it - or more accurately, literally beamed at her. this might be okay, then. âa good party is always what the healer called for, isnât it? drinks leave a little to be desired though, my throat still cannot handle firewhiskey for the life of me!â she pouts as she thinks about the burning sensation and shudders slightly.
âListen, there are two ways to look at whatâs happening,â Ester says looking Aeres in the eye. âWe can look at our differences, or at our similarities. I know you are under a lot of stress, not the mention under the influence, so I donât know how much of this youâre going to get, but my parents abandoned me when I was 11 because they couldnât see past our differences. Itâs best not to dwell on the differences.â
âThis world has never been about similarities, has it? Blood status, houses and now timelines wow-ee, itâs so good at finding ways to divide us!â A laugh escaped their lips before they sobered slightly, twisting to look at the other with a saddened look on her face. âThatâs stupid though, of your parents, shitty shitty shit. Theyâll regret it one day, if they donât already.â
âHere, sit down buddy,â Ester said patting the ground next to her. Ester looked into her eyes and could see that something was not right. âDo you need to talk? I can listen if you need, or we can just sit whatever you need.â
Aeres stumbled over to where Ester was sitting, plopping down next to the other. âEverything is just so wrong, and I donât know how to fix it. And Iâm so, I donât know I just feel lost. And everyone else, weâre all just so different now. Itâs all broken,â she wiped away a tear, staring up at stars.
âIâll have to see if I can talk my parents into sending me some, for the next party,â she muses, sipping on the bottle as she pauses. âIt hasnât changed for me, and itâs so weird. Everyone says that their world has been tilted like the axis of the earth shifted, like everything is different - and everything is the same for me for the most part. And yet, I donât know what I was like when peoople knew me which is troublesome. It changed for you, didnât it?â Aeres can tell that she had been rambling, suddenly too aware of the fact and wanted to direct it back to Dorcas for a moment.
Ester waded out into the grasses on the Hogwarts grounds. The past 24 hours has been a hectic and overwhelming. All of the different timelines converging on the castle had given her a lot to process. Hogwarts had always been her safe place, but learning that it might not have always have been that way was a lot to take in. She looked up into the sky and breathed a sigh before sitting down in the grass. Just as she sits though she hears footsteps coming her way.Â
Looking up she asks, âYou need a place to come and think too?â
Aeres robes dragged along the ground, long hair tangled as it tumbled past her shoulders; as she headed away from the main party. Eyes glancing up the sky, she lets out a sigh as fingers go to grasp at a bottle that she had already abandoned. âTo think?â she repeated the word as if considering it, as it turns over in her mind. âMaybe, I donât know. Iâve never been much of a thinker,â she finally answers still looking confused. âCan I - Can I sit with you?â
âwell, well, well if it isnât sirius black,â she slurs, stumbling as she approaches him. sirius was nice - or at least nice for a gryffindor in her timeline, and had never been too concerned with the whole blood purity thing which was comforting. âyou look beautiful, you know that? like iâm beautiful but you - is it cheesy to say that stars sparkle in your eyes?â it definitely was, she thought, nodding to herself. âwell. the wine thinks that and i donât disagree.â
when aeres first saw alecto, admittedly her first instinct was to run. her feet apparently didnât get that message though, as she froze for a moment; just long enough that she couldnât avoid the other. âalecto,â she greeted, an uneasy smile crossing her face. âhow are you? this is all so crazy, isnât it? itâs like everything is all spun around, no way to tell truth from lies.â
the bottle in aeresâ hand was empty save for a few drops, but she refused to set it down instead cluching it almost protectively to her chest. âalice fortescue,â she greeted, spare arm going up as if to wrap around the othersâ shoulder before dropping to her side. âsay,â she begun, leaning in close and whispering, âis your cousin still like weirdly obsessed with the squid? because like i totally remember him kissing it once and i gotta know if thatâs gonna be a thing again.â
âPlease do, Iâd adore your company,â Dorcas squeezes Aeresâ arm in greeting, a warm smile on her face, soon wrapping said arm around the others, not knowing what exactly to say but knowing she was glad to see the welcome and familiar face of Aeres. âHow are you doing with all of this? Please donât tell me youâve drunk ANY of what theyâre serving, I know you have better taste than that.â
âSplendid,â she grins, a million words wrapped up in those words; words that will never be said because there isnât time and besides, where would she even begin? She leans into the othersâ touch, thankful to see a friendly face. âI brought my own beverage of choice - red wine from glyndwr vineyard, perfect a lively party like this.â
Whoever pulled off this party really knew how to get a crowd and even though Dorcas wasnât the fondest of parties like this â she didnât mind it today. Was she partaking in getting wasted? Absolutely not. But as a prefect and as someone who did want to socialize a bit with her peers, she went to be more of a chaperone of sorts. âHi, HELLO, do you know where the water is?â
the party wasnât necessarily to aeresâs particular taste - although it got notably better after pull the cork on the bottle of wine that she had snuck in. the socialization part of this party was certainly going better than it would have otherwise, a face reaffirmed by dorcasâ approach. âoh yeah, of course dorcas. the waterâs just over there i think, iâll come with you.â
aeres gwynn :: romance moodboard :: requested by @mackayari
aeres knows that love isnât all sweet kisses under the moonlight, and letters written in shaky cursive or even whisper declarations - but sheâs a dreamer, so she often falls into romanticizing relationships. itâs easier to see the good than the bad.
aeres gwunn :: fashion moodboard :: requested by @hstiajcnes
and itâs all glossy lip gloss and sparkling dresses, itâs all beautiful - all so perfectly manicured, all of the time because she likes feeling like a princess. itâs all a dream and thatâs perfectly okay.
have you been re-introduced to aeres gwynn? last we heard, the half-blood was most familiar with timeline 3. I donât recall if they were always a slytherin, but Iâve heard the seventh year is still diplomatic, ambitious, kind-hearted and reluctant, cowardly, selfish, so thatâs familiar. at least she remembers their way around the castle.
timeline three ( aka her home timeline ):
aeres had seen the other slytherinsâ reactions to her last name, knew that they were mentally marking her down as being a pureblood of welsh heritage, knew that they were erasing her mothersâ existence as a muggleborn witch. but she also knew that correcting them would only serve to cause issues for herself, so she stayed silent. silence was itâs own sort of weapon, a self-inflicted one perhaps, but a weapon nonetheless. aeres fit easily with the slytherins, listening with silent disgust as they casually degraded muggleborn wix, listening silently as they paraded their blood statuses. aeres was the silent one, always waiting never acting and only speaking when she couldnât possibly avoid saying something.
the thing about lies, is that they eventually start to fracture. but aeres learned to patch up the lies, to distract with truth that was prettier. she wove stories about family trips to paris, talking about the custom made gowns that she had to wear to parties - failing to mention that they were made by contacts of her muggeborn mother. lies of omission to hide other lies of omission, and eventually she found herself in quite the web. she had been living the life of a pureblood - a life that her own blood didnât entitle her to even if her parents were both talented, and her fathersâ line could be traced back to the founding of hogwarts. and the truth always comes to light.
in timeline three, the truth came to light just before the timelines crashed together. she was exposed, as a fraud and a liar. some of her fellow slytherins called for her head on a silver platter and she knew that the dark didnât think very highly of her - not when it had all been lies. but she kept her head held high, continuing to insist that her mother was a perfectly acceptable child of two squibs - a fact that couldnât be proven without a blood test. and luckily for her, her mother agreed to not risk it instead agreeing to go along with her lies until graduation. and now it feels like sheâs counting down the days until it all falls apart again.
timeline one:
thereâs less at risk if she tells the truth - but aeres always lies, no matter what the timeline is, no matter the circumstances. itâs not purposeful, never is. but keeping up the lie is, although in timeline one she did a better job. with less of a divide and no war on the horizon, aeres keeps her secret hidden away - connections are connections and as dishonest as it be sheâs grown attached to the life. sheâs still mostly the same girl - materialistic to the core but a social butterfly with the grace of someone raised in the pureblood circles.
timeline two:
her life is at stake - it was a small lie in first year but now? not so much. the war may be over, and aeres may have kept her secret while hiding among the death eater hopefuls but she knows itâs wrong. sheâs quieter in this timeline, almost silence as if scared to be noticed, scared of the attention that a single wrong move could draw to her. and she hates herself, for not fighting in the war, for not running when her parents did - for staying silent, always silent. like a well-dressed ghost flitting around the castle; only she was merely counting down the days to her death rather than counting the days until her next death-day anniversary party.
similiarities:
in each timeline, aeres is chosen to serve as one of the prefects for her year, her dedication to her studies and subtle leadership methods earning her the title even when she wishes it didnât.Â
she is always invited to join the slug club - perhaps slughorn can sense the publicity of the scandal that lurks below the surface, or perhaps he admires her dedication to her studies and the finer things in life.
