#t:archer

[switchhummel]

[Text] DTF tonight? -Archer

[text] I usually require a bit more finesse when being asked to get sexual, Archer. Nevetheless, your proposal does appeal to me.

@archer-clarington

[francofogarty]

[Text] He straighten up yet? -Archer

[text]: Erm.... I mean, I let him sit on the sofa after two minutes of seeing him on the floor and I'm letting him go see Elliot Friday if he behaves, so he's starting to buck up

@archer-clarington

[switchhummel]

[Text] Well, you certainly know how to pull off a uniform. -Archer

[text] Why thank you, Archer. I'm glad you like it. I think it fitted just right, don't you? ;)

[switchhummel]

[Text] Thanks for the treat, Sir. It was delicious. Though it's almost like you're trying to make me run extra laps around campus for your own benefit or something. -Archer

[text] I was in a baking mood, so I figured why not to share some of it with my favorite gourmet guinea pig. I'm glad you liked it though. GASP. I'm shocked at that assumption! Shocked, I tell you! But-- would that be such a bad thing? 😇

@archer-clarington

[ava-avery]

[ava-avery]

hc + siblings

When Ava was a kid, the word siblings was the easiest one in the world. Sure, Aiden, Ava and Archer would compete constantly and she reckoned that none of them was above finding new, sneaky ways to try and climb up. But she knew despite the competitiveness that she loved them above all. Then everything started to go to hell and suddenly it became the hardest word in the world. 

The epiphany came to her one sleepless night when she was curled up in a window sill watching the stars glide by. Archer was struggling on his own in his dungeon, Ava was struggling in her tower and maybe Aiden was in a different tower with a different problem. It hit her that at some point the competition had taken over- they were triplets, born to be closer than anything. And instead they were crouched in their own corners, watching hesitantly. If Ava had a time turner she would go back to that night, walk straight to the Slytherin common room and drag Archer down to sit with her. She would go force Aiden to join them, ignoring his inevitable protests, and spend the night with butterbeers just talking- the way siblings should do. But some things can never be. 

[ava-avery]

[ava-avery]

It’s quiet uptown

Ava hated this place more than anything in the world. 

It was quiet, lifeless and dull: everything her brother hadn't been. How ironic that such a depressing spot would be his final resting place. It made her want to shudder. 

Guilt lay low in her stomach as she walked past gravestones, careful to keep her eyes off them. Spring and summer had passed, leaving her in the chilling autumn air and yet she could count the number of times she had visited the cemetery on one hand. Even now, all she wanted to do was turn around and leave. Ava swallowed hard as she forced herself to keep walking. 

The first time had been easier than this. When everything was new and confusing: when it had felt as if she was dreaming. Still, the feeling was there; the low hum at the back of her head saying that the row of graves was nothing but a bad dream. But it had been months now. Ava knew better. 

Then there was his gravestone. 

"Hey," Ava said, her voice coming out in a hoarse whisper. "I'm sorry I haven't visited more often." 

She reached into her pocket to bring out the silver hip-flask she had brought with her last minute, holding it towards the headstone as if showing it. "I thought this would be more your thing rather than flowers." 

A part of her knew that this was crazy- she was talking to nothing but stones and bones. Yet she kept talking, almost desperately, as she sat down cross-legged in front of the grave. "It's yours actually. I know I swore on my life that I didn't take it, but I did. You can have it back now."

 Ava placed the small flask against the headstone. Far more suiting than flowers indeed. She stroked her fingers lightly over the dark stone. Archer Avery, beloved brother and son. There should have been more. He should have been given the opportunity to become more, find more. Find someone he loved, have children he loved. Be there for her when she did the same. Ava's breath caught. 

She tried so hard not to think about it. All she could do with was small doses of reality to ground her, too much and it became overwhelming. Her voice shivered as she went on. 

"Can you believe the train left without us this year?" She asked the grave. Stones and bones, but it was all she had now. This was the closest she would ever get. "It feels like I've forgotten something, like I stayed too long and now I'm in the wrong place."

Could she even remember his voice properly? His laugh? 

"I keep thinking it's not really September yet, that I'll go back to Hogwarts some day. Just the same as it feels like you're just off sulking somewhere. But you're not, are you?" 

Ava paused, burying her face in her hands. This was the reason she never visited, why she hated the place, why she avoided thinking about Archer. Because there was a gate in her mind, carefully locked up and guarded. It was a shut door keeping everything out because once it opened it all came tumbling down. 

She kept speaking against her hands, trying to keep her voice stable. She was afraid that if she started crying, she simply wouldn't stop. "I'm sure Aiden sends his regards too. Maybe he's here more often than me," Ava murmured. "I don't know. I know I should see him more, that I should be more protective now that I only have him. But he looks so much like you."

Ava closed her eyes. "And I guess I do too." 

Sometimes when she looked in the mirror, her eyes were wrong. Sometimes she turned her head too fast near a reflection and everything stopped for a moment while she forgot. Then she had to remember again, and it killed her each time. 

Her hands moved down, finding the soft grass beneath. It was still green: the only thing full of life in this place. Soon that would wither too. It was wrong, everything was wrong. 

"Y'know," she murmured. "It's insane how different everything turned out from what I imagined. It's September, the worst that should have happened to us was one of us winning and the others sulking." 

How sure she had been about it- that she would be crowned heir before her last train ride from Hogwarts. And here she was instead, pushing back tears in front of a grave. Ava bit her lip. "We would have gotten through it, you know. Maybe not right away but we would have. I know it, Archer-" her breath caught. "We would have gotten through it. One day, all three of us would have found each other again." 

But it wouldn't happen. The day would never come, these wounds would never close. 

 A pause. A small sigh, followed by a shaky breath. 

"I miss you."