Not Your Usual Hufflepuff

don't bother me unless it's important.

[selena-soto]

[photografya-deactivated20230917]

[recaption]

[puerxinsolens]

what crystal are you?

howlite

you thirst for knowledge with a one track mind. goal oriented and focused, it's always been easy for you to drive ahead. you won't let anything stop you from obtaining your goals. and you want those around you to succeed as well. you push your loved ones and while it might be overbearing at times, you try to be someone who lift up the people around them to their own level. i fear one day you might burn out. you might finally reach where you're going and realize you never appreciate the process. what happens once you have all you've wanted? where does the path end?

[destroymylife]

[thepunishergifs]

“Easy’s got nothing to do with it.”

[especially]

[puerxinsolens]

the spins; flashback [ vannah & zach ]

The empty side of his bed his cold. Zach grumbles before his eyes are open, the heat of the light that pours into the dormitory stirring him in his in between state of asleep and awake. He pushes the sheets back a little, peering blearily up at the ceiling when he's lying on his back, frowning. Two different kind of aches plague his body; the muscles of his shoulders and abdomen from the last Quidditch practice, and the pulsing ache in his forehead and burning in his throat from the incoming winter, threatening Zach's body with a cold. The dormitory is empty, the students filing out to Hogsmeade on the busy Sunday or heading to the Quidditch Pitch for extra practice, both of which Zach had skipped out on due to his illness, leaving him alone as a means to get well. It takes him several moments to notice the steaming mug of tea on the bedside table, and a tiny dragon balled up within itself, snoring as small wisps of smoke leave it's nostrils.

Zach reaches a gentle hand out and strokes the end of Puff's tail. The dragon lifts its sleepy head up and blinks warily at him before groaning, curling away from him in an attempt for more rest. A smile tugs at the corner of Zach's mouth. The door opens then, a disheveled Vannah Reyes pushing past as she carries a tray in. A rather large bowl of soup is steaming as she maneuvers through the room, closing the door shut with her foot. Zach blinks at her, moving out of bed to assist her. "No," she drags out and the smile that had pulled at Zach's mouth finds it's way onto his lips as he crosses the room, taking the tray away from her. Her arms fall to her sides, defeated yet her brows knit together. "You're sick, I'm the one that's supposed to be helping you." She pokes him in the chest, blushing a little when she realizes she had just touched his bare chest with her forefinger. Zach pretends not to notice, laughs a little hoarsely at her and brings the tray to the bed. "You don't have to, I can take care of myself." If he had been well, his tone would have been clipped, but Zach doesn't seem to have the fight in him when he cups the mug of tea in both his hands, blowing on to the piping hot liquid. Chamomile with a hint of honey and lemon. Vannah humphs as she crosses the room to his bed and takes a seat next to him, reaching for the tray and pulling apart a slice of toast. "I'm surprised you're still here," Zach tells her honestly, putting down the tea and reaching for another slice of toast, tearing it into two and handing a slice to Vannah on a paper napkin. She hesitates before taking it, smiling sheepishly when her stomach growls. "I thought you'd be with your friends." There's a pause and Vannah doesn't meet his gaze. She chews slow, stares into the chicken noodle soup abyss and Zach doesn't know what to make of her silence. Instead, he eats a spoon full of chicken bits and yellow broth, that of which seems to snap her out of her stupor. "They're a little busy," she tells him and Zach has known resentment long enough to recognize it in another. He does not comment on it; finishes his soup and tea, and gives Vannah the rest of his toast despite her refusing to take it at first. Puff stirs and crawls away from the night table, venturing onto the bed and snaking around Vannah's wrist as they eat. "Thanks," Zach says, voice a little better after the tea had soothed the scratchiness in his throat. "For the soup. Both yesterday and right now." Her cheeks flush as she smiles, the tug on her mouth kind and it warms Zach's insides. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, bashful, and her eyes avert to look away from him. A chuckle resonates within his chest and he tries to get her to look at him again, brows raised and a laugh of her own falls from her mouth. "It's not a big deal," she waves the weight of his appreciation away with her hand. "I told you that I used to make this for my sister all the time when she was sick." He recalls the conversation in the kitchens not even twenty four hours ago. There's another pause, the same one that stretched the silence when her sibling was mentioned the first time. The question tickled at the inside of his brain, Do you have any siblings? It feels a little like amnesia, that the deep depths of his heart knows something but keeps it locked away inside. Zach doesn't mention it. Instead, he takes the tray and places it on the floor to pick up later. "Still," he says, stretching and leaning back against the sheets, warm from sunlight and body heat. "You didn't have to," He presses his lips into a pause, almost tells her she didn't have to stay the night either. The corner of her mouth twitches and amusement sparks behind her eyes. "Actually," she begins, stroking Puff with her forefinger. "I kinda did. Did you know that you're very persistent when you're sleepy?" Zach's grin falters, quivering out into a frown and he groans into the space of the room, covering his face in mortification while Vannah's laughter fills the room. "I didn't take Zacharias Smith as a cuddler." "I'm not a cuddler." He insists behind his hands, but even he isn't convinced by his muffled words. Her hands are soft on his and she barely has to tug on them for Zach to remove them from his face, resting them on his chest as he looks at her. Vannah is closer now as she lays on her stomach, facing him. Resting her head in one of her hands, she lets the other linger, their fingers brushing. Puff untangles himself from her wrist and crawls about Zach's taunt middle, resting at his belly button as he once more curls within himself. Zach doesn't watch the tiny dragon. Instead, finds himself immersed in Vannah's gaze, the touch of her hand. His fingers twitch underneath hers and he wonders if the desire to lace their fingers together is genuine or out of the need for affection due to his illness. "Are you sleepy now?" She asks him, her voice low and teasing and Zach has to roll her eyes at her. "Don't make me kick you out, Reyes." Another pause. She presses her lips together to conceal her grin, but Zach can see it in her cheeks and eyes. A bite of her lip before, "Are you always the little spoon or is that only when you're sick?" He closes his eyes, exasperated and Vannah bursts out laughing again, deep in her gut and echoes throughout the room. Zach gently scoops Puff up in his palm and sits him onto the pillow above their heads. "Turn around," he means it as a demand, but it doesn't come out quite as rough as he would have liked it to. Vannah, still in a fit of giggles, turns on to her other side as Zach pushes at her shoulders. He wraps an arm around her middle, pulling her close for warmth and comfort. For something stable. Forehead pressed to the back of Vannah's neck, his eyes flutter closed. She is still giggling when he falls asleep.

[hunterschafer]

ARCHIE RENAUX Gold Digger (2019)

[tylerlockwood]

CHICAGO P.D. | 8.11 – “SIGNS OF VIOLENCE”

[soracities]

“(I am ashamed—but it is useless—I am what I am)”

— Walt Whitman, from “[Hours Continuing Long, Sore and Heavy-hearted] (Rejected Poems), Leaves of Grass

[puerxinsolens]

{ SEQUENCE THREE: FRAGMENTS }

The train heaved it’s way across the tracks, the industrial London left behind for Scotland’s green scenery. Zach carried his heavy trunk with both hands, cheeks puffed up as he searched for an empty compartment. Above the sounds of the working steam wheels, laughter and chatter of students echoed throughout the long corridor, connecting the private compartments and public booths.

“Need any help?”

She was standing in the doorway to a compartment, unsorted students like himself in the background play fighting, speaking loudly and eating snacks bought off the trolley. Already, she was wearing her plain robes, ready to be sorted into her house. Long and wavy strands of hair folded away from her face and into a braid at the back of her head. Her eyes were wide, but dark around the edges as she raised her brow and Zach nodded.

She pulled the rest of the door open, standing aside as Zach hauled in and slipped his trunk in the space underneath their seats, and she shut the door behind him. Three faces glanced back up at him when he took a seat, exhaling out a breath as he brought a hand to wipe at his forehead.

“I’m Verity,” she told him. Zach’s parents may have mentioned how her parents were murdered. The corner of his mouth curled into a polite smile despite that bit of news. "This is Caius and Ethan.”

“I’m Zach.”

* * *

“Better be... Hufflepuff!”

Zach’s heart sank into his stomach. As McGonagall took the hat from his head, Zach slowly slid from the stool. Despite his ancestors being in the house since the beginning of time, there must have been a mistake. He thought of the fantastic things he had heard about the house of the snake Verity had told him, the wide and proud smile on her mouth as she told him stories of the Founders with such detail, such vigor. He had heard the story of the Founders before, but not like that. Not like anyone has ever told him.

He spotted Caius at the Slytherin table, a small and apologetic smile on his mouth as Zach made his way to the Hufflepuff table. At least not everyone was sorted into Slytherin, Zach thought as he managed to catch Ethan sitting at the Gryffindor table.

When Zach sat, he met Verity’s gaze; her lips together, her eyes incredibly dark in the dimly lit Hall.

The edges of her mouth twitch.

* * *

Hannah and Justin introduced him to girl named Jezebel Higgs in first year. Verity reintroduced him to Jezebel Higgs in second year.

Study Hall consisted of coming up with theories on how Harry Potter was petrifying students and making bets on who would be next. Bullshit spewed from Ernie’s mouth and Zach shook his head, trying  to concentrate, muttering excuses to move away from the Hufflepuff table. Caius scoot over enough to make room for Zach as he sat, busying himself in his work in silence.

She sat right across from him, her books making a small clap as she set them down. Her blonde hair bounced on her shoulders as she did and brushed her hair away with her hand, pink polish on her nails. He watched her, quill in his hand pausing. There were pink stickers neatly stuck to the front of her notebook. Their ties the same color.

Verity dropped down next to him with a sigh and Zach snapped out of his stupor, pretending to busy himself again in his work. “Zach, you know Jezebel, right?”

She glanced at him then, smiling. His stomach swarmed with butterflies. Smiling back, he replied, “Yeah.”

* * *

That same year, Justin got sent into the hospital wing. Petrified. The antidote took weeks to be prepared, twice as long to be ready.

Worry sat in Zach’s chest. Despite the constant of Verity and the Slytherin house, he had kept their friendship relatively secret. Hannah had no idea where he would go after dinner, and Ernie always asked where Zach was off too in the middle of the night with his wand in hand. They were suspicious.

“We’re going to see Justin before Transfiguration,” Ernie started, throwing his bag over his shoulder. He pushed his hair back away from his face and waited for Zach to respond. Instead, he kept quiet and packed his own bag. Slow.

Ernie stopped, brows furrowed and expression hard. “You are coming, right?”

“Yeah,” Zach replied. He wanted to be there, he did. He swore. The swelling in his gut told him he was scared for Justin. There was no telling if he would come back from that and if he would be the same. Everything could be different. He met Ernie’s gaze and smiled softly. “I’ll be there.”

Ernie’s own expression softened, the creases in his forehead and mouth thinning. “Okay. Good.” There was a pause as he reached for the door to exit the common room. He looks back over his shoulder, their eyes locking. “I know you’ve been working hard and stuff, y’know, with course work and then tryouts for Quidditch next term, but. We miss you.”

Zach tucked his bottom lip into his mouth. Considering. “I’ll try harder.”

Ernie smiled, nodded and left the common room.

“I can’t hangout tonight,” Zach started, leaning against one of the pillars. Verity frowned, the wind whipping her hair into her face. “I need to go see Justin in the Hospital Wing.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Zach, you don’t have to pretend to be friends with these mudbloods and blood traitors. You may be in their House, but you don’t belong there. And you don’t have to pretend that you do.” She reached for his wrist, collecting his hand in hers. Zach held his breath, assessing her words.

“Okay,” he told her, giving in. She smiled at him, holding his hand in both of hers. Zach mirrors her smile but it doesn’t quite reach his mouth. 

Ernie and Hannah ignore him for a week. 

They stick together, whisper when Zach wasn’t around and seize whispering when he was. Zach conveniently missed them at breakfast, again at lunch. They don’t meet up for dinner. They don’t ask questions. Ernie couldn’t quite look him in the eye, but he didn’t have to with the glares Hannah gave him her brows furrowed and the lines of her mouth hard.

She cornered him in the common room, grabbing him by the wrist as he ascended the stairs to bed. “I need to talk to you.” Her tone was harsh and Zach knew when he was going to be lectured by her. Hannah never coward away from telling someone when they were fucking up. And Zach was fucking up. She pulled them into a secluded corner, folding her arms across her chest.

“You’re being a shitty friend.” She told him outright, not even bothering to hear his counter argument. There was none anyway. “Justin’s in the hospital wing and you’re acting like you don’t even care.”

“I do care,” Zach started, guilt gnawing at his insides. “I do. We all deal with things differently. And he’s going to be okay. They’re working up an antidote--”

“That we don’t know for sure will work.” There was a pause before, “He could’ve died.” Another pause, the every day sounds of the common room alive. She stared at him, waiting for a response that Zach didn’t have. He saw the way her shoulders softened. Hannah tried to go for comforting, but still had her clip of resentment when she spoke again,“You can have friends beyond your house, just don’t forget about us, too. Okay?”

She let him off easy. He wished she hadn’t.

He canceled on having breakfast with Verity the morning the antidote was finally ready. Hannah and Ernie were already in the hospital wing when he arrived, bright eyes and wide smiles as Justin sat upright in his bed, already talking their ears off.

Sheepishly, Zach strolled in, a gift basket filled with sweets in his arms. He stopped some feet away when Hannah looked up at him in surprise. It was pleasant. She didn’t tell him to fuck off, so that was a good sign. He cleared his throat as he approached the three of them, setting his gift basket on the table along with the many get well soon cards and chocolates that littered the space. 

“Zach!” Justin beamed, sitting up a little straighter in his bed. “I was wondering when the hell you were coming.” 

Ernie broke out in a smile, laughing a little as he brought his fist up to his mouth. Hannah punched Zach lightly on the arm as he took a seat. They swapped candies, tearing open the lot of the get well gifts, laughing, joking. The tension eased, lifted. Despite Zach’s friendship with Verity and the likes of the Slytherin house, it never felt like this. It never felt like family. 

* * * 

In third year, Jezebel tried out for the Quidditch Team with him. During a paired assignment in Potions, she whispered idly under her breath she was thinking about trying for Chaser. Zach’s lips twitched, scoffing out a laugh as he shook his head and Jezebel gently touched his wrist.

“What?”

“I was thinking about going for Chaser, too.”

“Well,” she glanced around the room on the lookout for Snape. When she spotted him harassing a pair of Ravenclaws at the far corner of the classroom, she quirked a smile of her own at Zach. “Looks like I’ve got some competition.”

When they both made it on the team, Zach had suggested they practice together after dinner every other night. He had crouched down, approaching her from behind in the Great Hall, whispering close to her ear. She started to smile even before he had finished the question, turning to look at him. He felt her breath on his face when she accepted the offer, “I thought you’d never ask.”

After their first win in a match in April, she bumped her arm into Zach’s sweaty side. “We should celebrate.” Her eyes were wide and flirty, and in all of Zach’s thirteen years, she made his heart stutter. Skip a beat. Made the blush on his cheeks rush to his ears, lower tummy and toes.

He did not think twice about kissing her under the bleachers, the smell of sweat, grass and her invading all of his senses. She put her hands on his ribs and his stomach clenched, and she sighed into his mouth. Her body pressed against his and as he shuffled forward into her. In the distance, a wolf howled.

* * *

Over the summer, she invited him over to her house. The Higgs’ family was prestigious for Halfbloods, expensive taste in their nature with how large their home was, smack dab in the middle of France. 

She showed him the Wizarding community there, walking along the busy cobblestone streets, her hand in his as they walked along, peering into the windows of shops for hours. They shared a strawberry macaroon and Zach tasted the jam on her lips when she kissed him under the Eiffel Tower. 

After dinner, they climbed the staircase to her bedroom and her parents let him stay a few hours after desert. Her brother reminded her to leave her bedroom door open, and Jezebel cracked the door a little. Zach’s palms sweat in his nervousness, Jezebel tugging lightly on his shirt to pull him closer. They snogged against the back of the door, keeping quiet as Jezebel let him go to second base with her, breathing into each other’s mouths, soft touches against skin.

The feeling on his stomach from where her hands had been doesn’t go away, not even when Zach landed in the fireplace back in London. Goosebumps rose to his skin at the remembrance of the way she gasped his name into his ear.

* * *

In November of fourth year, Jezebel cornered him after her Charms lesson, pulling on his elbow and drawing him away from the crowd of students in the hallway. He had been sitting with a crowd of Hufflepuffs, Hannah and Justin and Ernie, POTTER STINKS buttons pinned to their robes. Her lips were turned down and Zach blinked, having seen the expression before when they were arguing. They were always arguing lately.

The smile that had been on his mouth quivered before fizzling out.

She crossed her arms over her chest, deep lines in her forehead. “What happened last night? You ditched me again. This time I want the truth.”

Shit. Zach ran a hand through his hair, forgetting their planned night in the common room together when Verity sent the owl telling him to meet her in the Restricted Section of the library. ( She had sent the note, a spell that made the letter appear across his parchment paper. Each word burned, fire springing across the page.

Meet me outside the library. Come alone. -V.

He waited. Anxiously. Counting every second. 1:52 am.

She had crept up behind him, a ghostly hand on his shoulder and he fought the urge to jump at her touch, a pleasant surprised. There had been a smirk on her mouth, eyes dark. Mischievous.

“What are we doing?” He asked in a whisper and she grinned, eyes rounding. A childish look about her face. She grabbed his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together and pulling towards into the library, into the darkness. “It’s dark in there.”

“I’ve always liked a little darkness,” she told him, not even bothering to keep her voice to a whisper. He hadn’t noticed until then the bottle of whiskey in her other hand until then. “Don’t you?” )

He groaned then, annoyance licking at his insides at the pressing feeling Jezebel was going to start a fight with him. “I’m sorry. Something came up.”

Her lips turned down, wrinkles on her forehead. “Really? That’s funny, considering I have Charms class with Verity. And she just told me you were with her last night. Again.”

A groan started in his chest, spilling past his lips as Zach’s eyes closed. “Not this again,” he mumbled and Jezebel forced out a laugh, her arms crossed over her chest. He’s caught. Zach’s lips part, but Jezebel holds a hand up to stop him. 

“Don’t.” She tells him before turning away. 

Hannah, Ernie, and Justin are quiet for a moment before Justin let’s out a low, “Oooooooh.”

When the Yule Ball arrives and it’s time to ask around for dates, Zach has his mind set up to make things up to Jezebel.

“I’m going with Michael Settler.” she replies coldly.

Zach frowns. “Settler? Are you kidding?” 

Jezebel gets up from her seat, clutching her books. “You wish.” As she leaves the Great Hall, Zach’s eyes fall upon Charlotte McDonnell.

* * * 

“Well, I’m going,” Michael Corner says, folding his arms on top of the table. They are in the Great Hall, chattering over breakfast. Zach attempts to get some homework done before classes,  messy scrawl of handwriting across the parchment paper, too busy from another one of Verity’s outings the night before. 

“What? Why?”

“Because Ginny is going.” Red dusts over his cheeks and the tips of his ears. Zach shakes his head and sets his quill down. Ever since Umbridge has taken over, Harry Potter has gathered a secret meeting at The Hog’s Head. 

“Amazing how much power a woman has over a man.” The corner of Zach’s lips twitch up in amusement and Michael scoffs before reaching over and pushing at the blond’s shoulder with a rough palm. 

“Shove off. But seriously, you should come. I don’t want to be by myself.” 

“You won’t be by yourself, you’ll have Ginny.” 

Michael’s shoulders shrug. “Yeah, but y’know what I mean. S’not the same.” 

Zach ends up goes anyway, Justin and Hannah muttering about it in the common room, pulling him into the conversation. He doesn’t want to disappoint them again, not when he’s already disappointed Jezebel, their romance fizzling out until it just wasn’t there anymore. 

Dumbledore’s Army is what the formation calls itself, Zach’s name scrawled across the parchment, a pact. The classes in the Room of Requirement are informative, white magic that he’s yet to have learned. It’s Verity that decides it’s not worth it.

“You’re wasting your time,” she says, her mouth a hard line and she crosses her arms over her chest. “You’re with us.” It’s that very night she shows him the tattoo on her forearm that she earned. Zach’s eyes widen at the sight. “We are your family, Zach. Your true family.”

The D.A. is disbanded, Marietta Edgecomb scarred with the word SNEAK across her face in boils. 

***

“Wake up!” 

Someone is pushing at Zach’s shoulders when he regains consciousness, his cheek pressed against the cold ground. He groans as Darren helps him back to his feet, wobbling with his uneasy footing, head pulsing. “What happened?”

And then he remembers. Being attacked by Death Eaters. Were they even in Italy anymore?

“We were attacked,” Darren explains, looking around them in bewilderment. “Where are we?”

Zach surveys their surroundings. “It looks like a cave...” He remembers suddenly, speaking to his parent’s just after his encounter with Vannah. The caves they were in were familiar, though Zach hadn’t been in this part of Sweden for years. “I know where we are.” He brushes his cloak off, Darren trailing behind him as they walk further into the cave. “Lumos.” The tip of Zach’s wand illuminates the darkness as his other hand scales the damp walls of the caves. 

“This looks...familiar,” Darren starts, his voice echoing. 

Zach chuckles. “We used to come here a lot when we were kids. Before--” he trails off, wondering how he should put it. “Before they wiped your memory.” 

They are quiet for a moment before Darren speaks again, “You really are my brother...aren’t you?” Zach doesn’t respond before Darren has another question, “What are you? How did we get here?” 

“Magic,” Zach replies, looking back over his shoulder at his brother, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. Darren looks at him warily, though there was no other explanation. 

“And the people that were after us?”

“Death Eaters. Bad wizards, basically.” 

“Why were they after us?”

Zach pauses. “I...did some bad things.” He stops then, turns to face Darren, shame written on his face. “They’re after you because they want to hurt me. Because you’re not like us. Because you’re--”

“Normal?”

The corners of Zach’s lips twitch. “Yes.” 

Footsteps can be heard in the distance and the two boys turn at the sound, their eyes wild in fear, ready to flee. Zach grabs Darren’s hand, ready to apparate if need be, while his other hand clutched his wand tightly. 

“Zacharias?” 

His parents--their parents emerge from the darkness, tips of their wands lit. Tears swell in his mother’s eyes as she approaches them, their father lingering meters away, a frown set on his mouth though pain and grief shines behind his eyes. Their eyes land on Darren. 

“Merlin,” she mutters, reaching toward Darren’s face, cupping his cheeks with both hands. Darren freezes at first, confusion clear on his face, but he melts into the touch and tears spill from their mother’s eyes. “My Darren...I’m so sorry.” She bursts into tears as she embraces him, Darren taken aback slightly, but there is something in his eyes that indicates a faint remembrance. He hesitates before reaching his arms around her and embracing her back, gaze locking with Zach’s. 

His father touches Zach by the elbow and he turns to face the man. Maxwell’s face is set in a pained expression, his eyes misty, but he won’t dare to show any more emotion. “Thank you.” 

Zach nods, fulfilling his duty to his biological family. 

In front of him, a letter appears in fire, Zach catching it just as the flames disappear. he handwriting on the parchment is familiar. The image of a vinyl record gives the sender away. Vannah. 

Now, it was time to do right by his found family. 

“I have to go,” Zach tells them, tucking the letter inside his pocket.

“I want to help,” Darren offers, their mother still clutching them tight. 

“No. There are people looking for you,” He manages a smile, “Plus, we just got you back. We can’t lose you now.” 

Darren’s mouth his set hard, glancing between their parents, but he nods nonetheless. “Be safe.”

There was no guarantee, but Zach doesn’t disclose that. They must all already know by their grim faces. Zach nods before he apparates.  

[13rwhyblog]

[unsends-deactivated20170829]

The Texts I Never Sent #348

[puerxinsolens]

the almosts // bananas pt. 1

[puerxinsolens]

the almosts // zavannah pt 1.

[puerxinsolens]

a tanka: vannah reyes

                                                      [ did you know we have                                                  seven soulmates in the world?                                                          sometimes, i think we                                               must be made from the same dust.                                                         only fate would know. ]