Kimi looked around, knowing that she should’ve worn something different but it was too late to change. She looked around, made a mental note of coming back to spend some money and get somethings for her dad. Kimi stopped when she noticed Lily in the lemonade line, she swallowed hard and lined up behind her. “So, how are you liking the event?” She asked aloud, knowing that she didnt need to be awkward but here she was. “I didnt know archery would be amazing, yet. It was.”
✘ It was the snap of a twig that created a knee-jerk reaction. One moment, Red watched with a wicked smirk as fire erupted, engulfing trees. People moved nearby but he remained hidden from casualties dragged like fresh meat to safety. The next moment, he withdrew like Devil’s Snare exposed to sunlight. Out popped Antonin Dolohov, blinking away sleepiness and confusion as he adjusted to new surroundings. A dark forest lit up by explosions and brought to life by not so distant screaming.
Set on his face, a silver mask that blocked ragged breathing from properly entering tight lungs and he was quick to remove it, not thinking of who might be nearby, of who may see him in this state. This wasn’t the first time he’d arrived on the scene of horror, confused and terrified, but it hadn’t happened frequently enough for him to know what the fuck to do. Who would know what to do here, now, with fire burning and---
---shit! A girl, pale-faced and in clear agony, rested against a nearby tree, unaware of his presence until--
---he stumbled back like a fucking idiot, the sight of her allowing his foot to crash down against a twig and---
---SNAP!!
The girl, despite all her body was putting her through, looked towards him and Antonin froze. It was dark, but the chance that she might recognize him beneath vague moonlight and glowing flames was far too great for him to simply take off, appearing guilty for sins he did not remember committing. Before she could process anything, Antonin stowed his, or whoever had been cursing his fucking body’s, mask away, and he moved forward.
“You alrigh’?” he asked, trying to speak softly but doing his best not to cause alarm. Genuinely, he wanted to help her, wanted her to help him, too, because Merlin knew what in the fuck was going on here. “You need some help? Look half dead, no offense.”
He’s come back a NEW person. It’s the most nervous he’s ever felt, anxiety piercing the deepest parts of his stomach and threatening to take over. It wasn’t much. Chopped off hair, pants that didn’t cling to his hips, flattened chest. Sirius had to tie his tie for him in the back carriage on the train. But this was H I M.
In all of his glory, the young boy was on the search for his friend. His closest allies and confidents knew this, now knew every thing about him from his identity to his affliction, and he was in the process of making sure everyone knew. Everyone saw him for who he was.
They had promised to room together this year, he and Lily. And he had to go and explain why that wouldn’t quite work out. He’s lanky for his age, able to look over the sea of heads for his favorite fire-headed gal, and he thinks he sees her, amongst all of the chaos.
“LILY--” He weaves through first years, and he’s shirking on his new duties as a prefect, but Pamela Greensworth was guiding the new kids to where they needed, and a few moments surely couldn’t hurt.
“Hi. Hey.” he stops in front of her, and he looks at her with green-gray eyes, and he tilts his head. “It’s. Me.” There’s an unsure pause there, and he sucks in a breath. “I’m, ah. Asking everyone to call me R E M U S now. Like the Roman brothers.”
🎨 for our muses to decorate/paint ornaments together
There were few things that made Nova want to stay inside and sit still, but painting had always been one of them. It was one of the things she loved most about having adopted Lily into their family, having someone to keep her company during her calmer times... even if they y hardly counted as calm at all. Today, Nova had dragged the older girl out of bed at the crack of dawn and plopped her down on a floor covered in newspapers, just in front of the largest of the castle’s Christmas trees. “I thought we needed inspiration! This tree’s so... normal. I swear the staff is always hiding the fun ornaments in the back of the tree, which is why we need to make new, better ones!” she insisted, gesturing towards the plain white balls that she’d gotten and the paints that she’d set out. “I’m thinking first thing I need to do is paint one of Flynn, though; since he was a gift last year, he’s not represented in ornament form, and that’s kind of a crime,” Nova declared, picking up a pencil first and starting to sketch her golden retriever’s face gently onto the side of the ornament. “What about you? Are you going to paint pretty boyssss to put up there?” Nova teased, drawing out her words and sticking her tongue out playfully at Lily.
When Nova had first heard that kids from the Isle of the Lost were going to be coming to Auradon, she’d thought it was the coolest news in the entire world. And when her mom had told her to be kind to whoever had grown up with Mother Gothel? Well, that had been easy, too. She’d glommed on to Lily Gothel the first chance she’d gotten, and things had hardly changed; in fact, she was glommed onto her tonight, literally dragging her into the ballroom to make sure the older girl attended the Halloween ball. “You... have... a costume!” Nova insisted as she tried her best not to mess up her Buttercup outfit or her black wig as she dragged Lily on. “You... have... to let... the world see it!” she added as she finally got Lily to the door of the ballroom.
Summary: With the last exam out of the way, Al desperately needs to calm his nerves. Little does he know his sister isn’t far away.
Albus couldn’t quite believe it, his second to last exam at Hogwarts in his best subject and yet, it was extremely challenging. He wasn’t sure if it was due to nerves or over thinking, yet he hadn’t felt more tense.
The second they were dismissed he had to get away, he had to calm his nerves before the Power Class Exam. Sure, he had a few hours but his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. He hadn’t even had time to remove his glasses. He made his way into a courtyard and fell against a stone pillar.
His hands fumbled into his cloak and he removed a single cigarette from the packet and slipped it between his teeth. With a small flick of his wand, a small orange flame produced from the tip which he used to light it.
He inhaled deeply and exhaled, his eyes rolling back with the comfort it provided. Albus glanced around at a few of the first years who were looking at him from the shadows of pilliar. He knew that they wouldn’t know who he was, he had faith in the shadows. Plus, this hadn’t been the first time he smoked on campus only, usually he prefered to smoke outside the owlery as it was further away.
Al took another drag and checked his phone as he enjoyed every hit of the cigarette. He had fallen into the habit due to his first girlfriend and in his eyes, his first love, Mary. She was a smoker and he eventually joined her. It was something he regretted yet, he couldn’t shake the habit. He could go a day or two without a smoke only, he had to get his fix every now and then. Exam period was a big time for his habit. He was so absorbed in his messages he barely noticed any students walking by.
TAGGING → Gracie Wood & Lily Potter (@lily--potter)
TIMELINE → Lunchtime, Friday, March 11th, 2024
SETTING → The Room of Requirement
SUMMARY → Gracie meets up with Lily in an attempt to apologize for her botched Umbra recruiting, hoping the two can move past it for the sake of the secret group.
GRACIE:
Gracie paced the Room of Requirement as she waited for Lily, reminding herself to take deep breaths. This was not going to be easy, not when the other girl so clearly had a chip on her shoulder still and seemed to have literally no interest in letting go of the harsh things Gracie had said to her. Which a gentler person might have understood, but not Gracie. In Gracie’s mind, Lily just needed to have tougher skin and get that people said things when they were mad sometimes, even things that maybe crossed a line. She was stubborn, and it was hard to change her mind, but for the sake of Umbra, she was going to try and at least play nice with Lily, no matter how much she didn’t want to.
Umbra was life and death -- or at last serious enough to get people expelled and even arrested, like Kitty and Ryder -- and Gracie had flipped out because she was scared. But like Roxy and Rose had told her, a good leader kept her head, even when people totally messed up... which, in her opinion, Lily had done. It was for the good of the group that she was here, though, and even if she still was pretty sure that Lily had deserved at least half of the names Gracie had thrown at her, she would suck it up and try to see if they could put that in the past. Surviving a war was more important than her stupid pride, no matter how difficult this was going to be for her.
GENERAL NOTES: Julian and Lily spend time talking about things including their feelings.
Lily put shoes on and a jacket and drove over to Julians place there were several things that she needed to get off her chest but she tried to stay calm as she made it to his and parked outside his apartment and got out of the car. As she walked up to his door and knocked it waiting for his response.
Julian was playing with Caitlin keeping his mind occupied, rolling a ball over to caitlin and watching caitlins smile kept him going. As he heard the door, he got up and whispered to Caitlin that her aunt lily was here as he left her in the room quickly playing with her toys as he opened the door.
Lily stood there as she saw the door open and she smiled softly as she saw Julian standing there before going straight in for a hug, he was always the person to make things right. As she pulled away she walked slowly in, "So where's my god daughter?"
Julian saw her before feeling her arms around him and he wrapped his arm around her tightly before looking her as she pulled away, hearing her question he walked towards the nursery, "Just this way." He smiled as he walked in to the nursery to see Caitlin playing with toys ad whispered to Caitlin, say hi to your aunt lily and as Caitlin waved at Lily, Julian smiled softly.
Lily watched him as she followed him towards the nursery and smiled as she saw Caitlin, seeing her wave at her she giggled and waved back before going to play a little with Caitlin before looking at Julian as she got up, "Can we talk?"
Julian glanced at the two together before Lily got up, hearing her question he nodded as he walked over to Caitlin and kissed her forehead before letting her stay in her nursery which wasn't so far from the living room so he could keep an eye on her. As they made it into the living room, he smiled at her, "Did you want a drink? Glass of wine?"
Lily looked at him as they walked in to the living room, nodding she took a seat on the sofa, "Yes please" She said, biting her lip, "You're doing a great job here with Cait by the way."
Julian glanced at her as he poured two glasses of wine smiling at the girl before walking over to her and handing her a glass before going to sit on the couch sitting next to her and nodded, "Thank you. Okay what was it you wanted to talk about?"
Lily played with her hair watching him pour the wine before noticing him return to the sofa handing her the glass she smiled, "Thanks" Hearing his question she bit her lip, "Well there's a few things but maybe we should start with meeting my parents.."
Julian watched the girl carefully as he put his hand through his scruffy hair getting comfortable on the sofa, taking a sip of his wine he bit his lip and nodded, "Okay well I can listen to everything." He nodded looking at her
Lily chewed her bottom lip as she put her hand throw her hair not knowing how to start, taking a sip of her wine she looked at him, "Well I met them, it was good, I mean it was alright we sat down and talked, they explained why they gave me up but I don't think I will be going to see them again or if I was too I don't know how well it would go..." She said quietly.
Julian glanced over to her as he put his drink on the table for a moment and listened to her carefully, making sure he didn't miss anything, "So were they nice? Did the like you? What was the reason?"
Lily watching him she sighed, still trying to process everything, "Well they were alright, but the gave me up because they weren't ready to be parents, and they were alcoholics and on drugs, it's kind of hard to know that I was pretty much a mistake to them."
Julian heard everything she said and he put his hand through his hair and looked at her before reaching for her hand, "Lily, if that's the case, you are better off without them and with the family you have I mean come on Santana and Brittany love you and you get along with your brother and sister right?"
Lily felt his hand on hers and she froze for a second she didn't know why but hearing his words she nodded, he was right as usual, " Yeah I guess you are right, I don't even know why I wasted the time going to find them in the first place" She said quietly.
Julian kept hold of her hand and looked at her, trying to understand why he felt sparks holding her hand, "Well you wanted to know them, there is nothing wrong with that" He said stroking her hand with his fingers.
Lily feeling evver movement of his fingers stopped her for a second before she looked at him, " I guess, there are other things I need to tell you though Julian, not just that." She said not sure if she wanted to say what she was going to.
Julian could tell she wasn't herself tonight, lucky having a baby monitor he could tell Caitlin was safe in the other room on her own, "What is it that you want to tell me?" He said before getting up, "Hang on one second i just want to check on Cait" He said looking at her.
Lily looked at him and sighed, how could she start but before she could he got up so she waited for him to return before she even tried to answer his question.
Julian put a hand through his hair as he checked on Caitlin who was fine playing with her toys, he walked out and looked at him, "Well I am back sorry about that, go on then."
Lily chewed her bottom lip as he returned and put a hand through her hair, "Look there is a reason I still go to you for like advice and stuff, and one of them might the reason I stil have feelings for you, i mean we might have ended a long time ago before you started dating Eleanor but I do still have feelings for you but I can't considering you're seeing someone.."
Julian raised his eyebrows noticing her chewing her lip, he knew she only did that when she was nervous, he sat down opposite her and took a swig of wine before placing the glass down again and looked at her before hearing the words, "Lily, what do you mean you still have feelings for me? Lily haven't you heard, me and Gen broke up..."
Lily could tell he knew she was nervous, as she looked up at him hearing his words, she didn't know how to answer them, " I mean I still love you in someways and even though we were a high school relationship those feelings didn't go but I kept them hidden from you because I wanted you to be happy. Oh you did? No I didn't hear, how come?"
Julian tilted his head to the side, before sitting up straight looking at her, "Why did you hold it back, you realize you have been hooking up with people all this time so if you told me then I could have helped and I am not going to lie, a little part of me still likes you Lily maybe even more then a little. Yeah we did, she had feelings for someone else, it's fine we are still friends."
Lily watched him, "I know what I have been doing, no need to worry about that J, how could you have helped? Wait you do? What do you mean?" She asked as she took some wine and raised her eye brows and hen looked at him, "I am so sorry Julian"
Julian glanced over at her as he finished his glass of wine, he thought about it and shook his head and then heard her question and looked at her before moving close to her and placed his hand on her cheek and moved in before placing a soft kiss on her lips.
Lily watched him before she finished her glass of wine as she put her hand through her hair. Seeing him get closer and feeling his hand on her cheek scared her but she let him kiss her and kissed him back softly.
Julian pulled away looking into her eyes before kissing her back again softly holding her close.
Lily felt him hold onto her and she pulled away, "Julian... I can't do this, I have to go" She said before getting up looking at him.
Julian watched her get up and sighed, "Lily. I'm sorry." He said and looked at her as he walked her to the door.
Lily looked at him, "It's not your fault, I just need to go, I will see you soon though" She said before kissing her cheek before walking out the door.
