Holy shit, one hundred chapters! Whoo!
I'll be honest, when I started this story, I honestly thought the overall plot could be covered and wrapped up inn fifty chapters. But the more I wrote, the more the story got away from me. Sure I had bullet points of major events, but it turns out you actually need filler details in between to explain WHY said events happen. Who knew?
Big thanks to all of you for hanging in there with me. And thank you to one specific reviewer who gave me such a heartfelt review. I'm so glad my story has been healing and cathartic for you in trouble times in your life and I hope it guides your daughter in her own journey of recovery and peace like you hope it does.
Warning for a teeny bit of teenage sexual content. But like, their 17, so...duh that's going to happen eventually, right?
If Someone Cared Enough
Chapter One Hundred: Crossing a New Milestone
Willow adjusted Hank's tie for the third time as they stood in the foyer of their home. It had become something of an ongoing ritual that the man would fiddled with—and therefore mess up—his wife's previous two attempts to set his tie to right as Hank Evans was hopeless at tying one himself. Still, he was always so sure that after watching his wife do it for him, it should be no trouble to just undo her hard work and attempt it himself if he just imitated her motions. Which never worked, hence Willow's usual Sunday morning frustrations.
The pair were currently waiting on Petunia to finish fixing her hair before they could depart for church. It was an odd concept to still hold fast to Christian principals after having discovered magic and had so much of the Good Book's teachings be contradicted—for example, the claim that witchcraft had anything to do with Satan, a figure most of the wizarding world didn't even believe in.
Still, Willow and Hank enjoyed the togetherness of their church community, the welcoming smiles and unity that came from being surrounded by teachings of love and compassion that were the staples of Jesus's teachings. Their church was rather unorthodox compared to others anyway; they'd been more than accepting and welcoming to the new choir director and his 'roommate', the church's new organist.
Willow saw little wrong with remaining religious if love was so strongly preached. Surely if there was a God, then It made witches and wizards just as intentionally as it had made regular man, so magic wasn't an evil mistake; just a different part of the many miracles that walked the Earth. That was Willow's take away at least.
"Petunia, dear, we're going to be late," Willow called up the stairs, slapping Hank's hands away from his tie again, "Are you almost done up there?"
"Just a minute," Petunia called back.
Severus chuckled from his seat on one of bottom steps of the staircase.
"Not sure why she spends so much time fussing," he told Lily, the redhead sitting one step lower, "No matter how presentable she makes herself, those stuffy old biddies in the front pews will still have something to pick at. 'She really shouldn't wear that color this season, her hair is all wrong, and…is that a smidgen of ankle I see?' Rubbish like that."
Petunia smacked the back of Severus's head as she passed him on the stairs, "And I still turn far more heads than any of them ever did in their day. They're just jealous that I look better than them."
"Of course they are, Tuney," Hank agreed, holding a hand out for his daughter to take as she drew near, "No one holds a candle to my girls."
Lily and Petunia beamed at his praise.
"Still don't know why you bother going," Severus said to Petunia, "It would drive me crazy to hear a bunch of hens cackle at me."
Petunia smirked at him, "Because, if I didn't go, I wouldn't be able to see the envious looks on their faces whenever I model something Simone and Thea sent me."
She gestured to the gold necklace dangling around her thin neck, glittering with pearls inlaid into the very chain.
"A goblin made original," she said proudly, "You like?"
Lily stood up, rushing up to examine the necklace, "It's gorgeous. Is that what came in the mail for you yesterday?"
"Yup," Petunia said, "They apparently sent it two weeks ago, but they've needed to rely on muggle post since the ministry is monitoring owls on the lookout for them. So deliveries take a while."
Severus came over as well, "It certainly is an elegant piece."
Petunia smiled smugly, "Just subtle enough to warrant wearing it to church, just pricy enough to make those old crones so jealous they might eat their garishly hideous hats."
"Petunia," Willow chided, "That's not very Christian."
Petunia rolled her eyes, "Sorry, mum."
"Now we better get going," Willow stated, waving Hank and Petunia through the door. Turning back to Severus and Lily, she smiled, "There's sandwiches in the kitchen should you two get hungry. Oh, and soup too; just heat it up on the stove a few minutes. Try not to burn the house down with a potion or something; you know the drill."
Willow closed the door behind her, the click of her heels racing down the driveway to the car gradually growing farther away.
Lily waited until the car could be heard pulling out and rumbling down the street before pouncing on Severus.
Severus for his part managed to maintain his footing through the kiss so they wouldn't end up in a heap on the floor.
"Lily," Severus cried when they parted, "Give me a little warning next time."
Lily at least had the decency to look a bit chagrined, "Sorry, it just feels like it's been ages since we got any time alone together."
"It is nice that the weather let up," Severus conceded. An awful storm had swept through Cokeworth little less than a week ago, driving most of the towns citizens into their homes to wait out a deluge of heavy rain and thunder. Only those with the usual nine to five dared risk venturing out into the storm to earn their weekly paycheck, meaning Severus and Lily had been forced to make due with a very bored Petunia and Mrs. Evans as the two women fussed and worried over whether or not Hank could safely drive in such weather.
This meant most of their time had been spent soothing Willow's frazzled nerves with countless 'family bonding' in front of the tv or building puzzles while being taste testers wo every little thing Petunia cooked up to beat her boredom. Ultimately it left Severus and Lily with hardly any time to themselves. Or rather, time together, just the two of them."
Lily pecked Severus on the cheek, wrapped around him like a limpet, "And with the sun finally out, we can enjoy a bit of privacy together while the others are out. So without further ado," she dove in for another kiss.
Severus successfully held on to some of his wits despite the thorough snogging Lily was so desperate to give him. Pulling his head back away from Lily's, he panted.
"Can we at least sit down? I'd rather have a few doors between us and the foyer. At least that way we have time to right ourselves before anyone walks in on us."
Lily grinned, a bashful glow rising to her cheeks, "Right, sorry. So…bedroom?"
The activities they got up to were still very mild as far as what randy teens could get up to, but still the unintended implication of Lily's question brought a blush to Severus's face.
"We'll want to be back downstairs before your parents get home," he warned, "It would look pretty suspect to your folks if we were hanging out upstairs together. At least if they find us in the sitting room, they'll assume we were reading or something."
Lily nodded, "We'll had back downstairs in a bit. I actually wouldn't mind going for a walk later, but for now, I need you all to myself."
"Well someone's feeling bold," Severus observed following Lily upstairs; he tried not to fixate on how enticingly her backside moved when she walked, "Weren't you the same girl not to long ago who would blush and giggle at innuendo?"
Lily sent Severus a flirty smirk over her shoulder, "I've been reading some of Tuney's romance novels. You know, for all her claims of them being sophisticated literature, they're surprisingly naughty."
Severus bit back a laugh, "Don't tell me you're taking romantic advice from books like Mutiny from Behind or—what was that one about the dashing rogue nursed back to health in a convent—Master of Nun? Lily those books are ghastly."
"And also very dirty," Lily said, dragging Severus down the hall and into her room, "They don't need to be well written to…stoke the cauldron, as they say."
"No one says that," Severus said, fighting off a chuckle, "Please don't start saying that."
"Oh don't be so stuffy," Lily teased, shoving Severus into her room.
Severus grinned at her, sitting down on the edge of Lily's bed, "Then don't spoil the mood."
"Please," Lily deadpanned, "You're a teenage boy; there's hardly anything that could spoil the mood for you."
"Not true," Severus denied, "Filch naked…now that can kill any mood."
Lily groaned, slapping her hands over her eyes, "I didn't need that in my head, thank you."
Severus's grin broadened into an evil smirk, "Well too bad, for there it shall fester for all your days."
"Oh really?" Lily said challengingly, sauntering over to Severus.
"There isn't anything," she plopped herself down on Severus's lap, "I can do…to distract the two of us?"
Severus tensed up, but didn't lose his cocky smirk, even as Lily trailed her fingers teasingly around the collar of his shirt.
"I'm sure you could think of something," he said with false confidence.
Lily grinned; Severus's attempts to be smooth were simply too adorable. Like a puppy trying to act tough.
Giggling, Lily wrapped her arms around Severus neck and drew him in for a kiss, smiling as the tension left Severus body and he all but melted into her embrace.
They went along at a languid pace, carefree, no rush, just basking in the security of the moment, the warmth of each other's bodies.
Lily sighed into the kiss, tilting her head to the side and pressing herself closer to Severus. She lived for these little private moments between them, the times they could just let the world fall away and simply feel. As cliché as it sounded, Lily felt at home in Severus arms, at ease in a way she had rarely felt since the past summer when one cruel boy nearly stripped away everything.
Severus had never pushed her to be physical, never instigating anything. His willingness to be by her side in exchange for nothing from her gave Lily the courage to get through her traumas at her own pace. He allowed her to reclaim her own authority over herself again, to be the sole governing force of her own body and what she did with it.
It felt nice to set the boundaries, to control the pace. Knowing Severus was holding himself back despite having longed for her for years meant the world to Lily.
Cupping Severus face, Lily leaned forward, shifting her position so that she was straddling Severus's lap, an act that had Severus tensing yet again, only to relax as Lily gently ran her fingertips across the back of his neck, coaxing him in for another kiss.
She flicked her tongue over Severus's lips, smirking at the little jolt he gave, his mouth open barely a centimeter, unsure.
Lily made her intentions clear, running her tongue along the crease of Severus lips before snaking through them to prod playfully at Severus tongue.
Getting the message, Severus was quick to follow Lily's lead, imitating her movements. He followed her tongue, allowing Lily to guide him into her mouth, the two battling as the kiss grew more intense.
Cautiously, Severus ran his hands slowly down Lily's sides, coming around to her back to rest just above her tailbone, waiting. When Lily showed no sign of discomfort, never breaking their kiss, Severus took a risk and slid one had lower, lower until he was cupping her perky bottom.
The response was more than gratifying. Lily let out a little squeak followed by a giggle, wiggling in his hands before sighing and settling into the kiss again, playfully flicking her tongue against the roof of Severus mouth and making him shiver.
Severus wasted no time in bringing his other hand down, both hands gripping Lily's shapely behind firmly and pulling her closer.
Eventually Lily pulled away, face flushed and her breath heavy. She pressed her forehead to Severus's the two of them panting for a minute or two.
"Hey Sev," Lily piped up after a moment.
"Hm?" Severus answered, eyes closed.
Lily looked at Severus, then shyly cast her gaze away, "Is it…do you think it's…weird that we haven't gone farther than this?"
Severus opened his eyes and leaned back to get a better look at Lily, "What do you mean?"
Lily worried her bottom lip between her teeth, "Well it's just…we are nearly seventeen; no one would be surprised if we had experimented a bit…shouldn't we be doing more by now?"
Severus regarded Lily carefully, a perplexing frown upon his face.
"Do you want to do more?" he asked curiously.
"Maybe," Lily said hesitantly, unsure of the answer herself, "or no…I mean, maybe just a little bit more…I don't think I'm ready for the real thing yet, but—"
"Lily," Severus cut in, though his tone was patient, gentle, "What do you want to do?"
Lily shook her head from side to side, with a sigh, "I don't know. I just…most couples that take it slow do it because they're still getting to know each other. But we've known each other practically forever, Sev. It would be perfectly reasonable that we move onto the 'next level', whatever that is. Expected, even. If anyone at school knew we were dating, I doubt any of them would be surprised if we had taken it all the way by now."
"But what we do isn't their business," Severus stated, "So who cares what they think?"
"It's not that I care what they think, Sev," Lily replied, "It's just…are we going too slow? I don't want that…incident," she waved her hand as if batting the memory of Avery away, "to be responsible for holding us back. I don't know, I just feel like we should have gotten farther along by now. Frank and Alice hardly lasted three months together before they went all the way."
Severus raised a brow, "I hardly find it fair to compare our relationship to Frank and Alice."
"I know," Lily agreed, eyes downcast, "They didn't know each other the way we do when they got together, we're closer on a different level."
Severus shook his head, "That isn't what I meant. Frank and Alice…they were two of Hogwarts top Gryffindors; over half the school was rooting for them to get together."
"Us on the other hand," Severus went on, "Had everyone trying to tear us part. I admit we've got longer history than most couples, but that doesn't mean we truly understood each other, Lily; not with some many whispering in our ears and making the divide that much bigger. We may have known each other since childhood, but let's face it, we grew a part. Much of what we knew of each other came from what other people said about us and how we chose to view each other because of it."
"I think it's only this past year that we've truly gotten to know each other once again," Severus concluded, "We've had a lot of damage from our classmates to undo, Lily. I hardly think it would have made sense to jump into bed with one another when we had been virtually strangers masquerading as friends for the past few years."
Lily snuggled closer to Severus, wrapping her arms around his neck as she rested her head on Sev's shoulder, "I guess you're right. It's just…I know now that you're the only person I want to be with. I think deep down I always felt that way; it's part of the reason I never could truly get behind the idea of dating James."
"Simone was right," Lily confessed, "A part of me was flattered by how attracted he was to me, and I suppose some shallow part of myself did find him a little handsome." She could feel the muscles in Severus's jaw tense, having no doubt he was scowling.
Lily hugged him tighter in reassurance, "But even with all my friends pushing for us to get together, there was always something holding me back. It just felt…wrong to picture myself without you, and I knew I would lose you if I ever picked him. How I picture my future…you were always in it; I guess I just never took the time to realize how prevalent you were in my imaging's to realize what I want was a future with you."
"Knowing now that it's always been you," Lily went on, "I can't help but wonder if we should have already taken the next big step, or several. We've practically meant to be, as cheesy as that sounds. Why should we wait?"
"Because we're not ready," Severus answered, "I know you're not. And frankly, I don't know if I am either. I mean…seeing you naked? Lily, I have no clue if I could even last with if you brushed your hand over my crotch, let alone if I could make it long enough to actually touch you back. And I'm sorry, but I refuse to let our first time be some anti climatic…climax."
Lily giggled, "Are you saying you wouldn't be able to control yourself around me?"
Severus groaned, resting his head on Lily's, "I don't think anyone could keep their cool seeing you in any state of undress, Lily. You're too…perfect."
Lily looked down, bashful, "You're exaggerating. My thighs are too big…"
Severus ran his hands along Lily's thighs, eliciting a shiver from her, "Some would call that shapely."
"My breasts hang a little low," Lily went on with a grimace, "The weight makes them sag…"
"You're trying to turn me off of big breasts?" Severus questioned, quirking a brow and smirking.
"I have freckles everywhere!" Lily blurted out.
Severus chuckled, leaning forward to press a kiss to a smattering of the aforementioned blemishes decorating Lily's collarbone, "I rather like them. Can't say I'm not curious to see where else they are."
"So you do want to go farther," Lily surmised, "I knew we were going too slowly."
Severus took Lily's hands in his own, "I never said that. Lily, I'll admit, the thought of seeing more of you is highly appealing. But, we can take it slow as we want. I'll be the first to admit my skills in this sort of thing are…severely lacking," Severus looked away with a frown, a blush rising to his cheeks, "Don't you think I'm particularly eager to go bumbling my way into this? What if my performance is…unsatisfactory? What if I disappoint you? All you need to do to make me happy is let me touch you at all; men are surprisingly easy to please. But women…I've been told need a bit more coaxing and skill to actually make…enjoy the whole event. What is I'm not good enough."
"You act as if I know what I'm doing," Lily said, amused, "This is all knew to me too. The most I know about men and what they like is mostly from Marlene's raunchy stories, and even then I was usually so mortified that I'd try to tune her out."
"So it's agreed," Severus said with finality, "Neither of us has any idea what we're doing."
Lily smiled, "Agreed. So…what would you feel comfortable doing?"
It was Severus turn to be bashful. Fighting the red growing in his cheeks, Severus wouldn't meet Lily's eye, "Well nothing too serious. But…maybe…I wouldn't mind doing what we're already doing…with a little less clothing…?"
Lily blushed, a shy smile coming to her lips, "I suppose…I could go that far."
Hesitantly, she fingered Severus's collar, before trailing her hands down to the bottom of his shirt, looking up at him questioningly.
Nodding with a small smile of his own, Severus took his hands from where they were comfortably resting on Lily's thighs and tugged his shirt off.
He flushed under Lily's gaze, uncertain what she must think of him. He was always so pale, unnaturally white under his clothes from a lifetime of hiding indoors while others flocked outside in the sun. A good three meals a day had put meat on his bones and done away with the gangly, almost concave torso he once possessed, but he'd never be as muscular as Potter or Black, getting his slim form from his mother and her own waif-like genes.
Then there were the scars. A cigarette burn here, a jagged cut there, a litter of contusions and poorly healed broken skin from the tyranny of Tobias and the occasion unhinged outburst of his mother. Having never been to a proper healer for any of them, they'd never fade; always a reminder of the life he escaped nearly a second too late.
Severus shivered as Lily lightly traced a warped scar along Severus pectoral; a misshapen half moon from where Tobias had slashed at him with a broken bottle when he was ten. He'd told Lily that summer that it was a nasty sunburn that kept him from taking his shirt off to swim, too ashamed to tell her the truth.
If Severus was expecting scorn or pity from Lily at the sight of him, he found none.
Looking up to meet Severus's gaze, Lily smiled, her eyes soft and warm even as the red seeped into her cheeks.
"Mind helping me with this?" Lily asked tentatively, tugging at the hem of her tank top.
Carefully, as if in a daze, Severus eased Lily's tank up over her head, his knuckles lightly scraping her sides as he went.
When Lily sat before him in nothing but her bra and shorts, Severus's felt his mouth go dry, too struck dumb to do or say anything.
Lily mercifully took the lead.
"Just…take it slow," she repeated their agreement from earlier, taking Severus's hand in hers.
Slowly, she brought it up to her breast, her eyes never leaving, Severus's.
{page break}
Simone sneered, unimpressed by the filthy, sorry excuse for a tenement before her.
Painting chipping in largely noticeable patches, the outer walls were old and lacking in care, cement and plaster wonkily smeared in places in a rushed patch job. The building had far too many floors for being so shoddily built, the rickety structure seemingly to sink in on itself from the mere weight.
The scent of excrement tinged the air; clearly someone's plumbing hadn't worked in a long time and all the balconies were laden with clothes hung out to dry, the cloying stench no doubt seeping into them and making their owner's attempts to wash them to begin with all the more futile.
Simone looked down on the pitiful place with contempt.
"They said he was a Slumlord," she said aloud to her companion, "But this is just…appalling."
Thea frowned at the building, "Do you really think he's in there, Sim?"
Simone shook her head, "No; he wouldn't live in the hovel he built for these poor folk. I bet you anything he's living relatively well on the overpriced rent he pries from their fingers. But he doesn't have a mailing address; stingy bloke's no doubt tax evading too. So if anyone might know where to find him, it would be the tenants who pay him to waste away here."
Simone carefully tested the first step of the weather-worn staircase that ran up the side of the building. The first step held, but the second one groaned under her weight.
"You best wait here," Simone advised "This thing is ready to break any time now."
"Are you sure?" Thea asked, reluctantly to leave Simone alone, "We don't know who's up there."
Simone smiled, all teeth, "None of these people could possibly be as bad as the man swindling them. Besides, I've dealt with drunks before. Magic is a good deterrent for men who get fresh." She waved her wand for emphasis before tucking it away again.
Slowly, Simone scaled the crumbling staircase, sidestepping a hole about the size of a baseball and avoiding a segment of a very splintered wood on the broken railing, not wanting to experience what muggle tetanus was like.
Reaching the first landing, Simone drew her coat tighter around her as the wind nipped at her ears and nose in the open corridor.
The rumbling sounds of poverty greeted her ears; couples shouting, bottles breaking, the cry of a hungry infant, all mixed in among the din of honking cars and clatter of trains on the nearby tracks. A bang sounded not too far away, though if it was a gun shot or a car backfire, Simone couldn't be sure, having little experience with either muggle invention.
Simone followed the sound of the crying babe to about three doors down, hazarding a guess that whoever was behind the door was a mother and hopefully not some addict blazed out of his mind.
Readying herself, she knocked firmly on the door.
A broken curse came from somewhere within, followed by heavy footsteps.
The door opened a crack, one wary eye peering out.
"Who is it?" a raspy, but feminine voice asked.
Simone tipped her head forward slightly in greeting, "Good afternoon, Miss or Mrs. Sorry to bother you on such a lovely day, but I am looking for a Mr. Bishop."
"Bishop?" the door opened another margin, "Whadday want with him?"
"I'm afraid that's classified information," Simone said smoothly, drawing up to her full height and making a show of straightening her pinstriped suit. She leaned forward slightly, "But confidentially, he's run into a bad spot with the law. Tax evasion, you see."
Her lie was bought hook, line, and sinker, as predicted. The door shut for a moment, then several locks could be heard sliding before the door opened all the way, revealing a haggard faced, heavyset woman with graying hair and a sleepy baby on one hip.
"His bullshit's finally caught up with him, has it?" she asked, something akin to delight shining in her dim, bagged eyes, "What do you want to know?"
Simone gave her a winning smile, "His address isn't listed in our records, I'm afraid. It's how he's avoided our letters and final notices. If you happen to have any information on where we could find him, I'd be ever so grateful, Miss…?"
"Wilkins," the woman replied, adjusting the babe on her hip, "Gretchen Wilkins. And I'll do you one better; I know where that sorry sack of shit lives."
"Wonderful," Simone clapped her hands together, "Is it nearby?"
Gretchen nodded, "Two streets over; the big gray Victorian after the vacant lot. Son of a bitch bought it last year after charging us all for replacing the plumbing," she spit on the floor, "Not that that lasted, the cheap little shit."
Simone made of show of writing down Gretchen's directions, "Thank you so much, Gretchen. This has been most helpful."
"Glad I could do my part," Gretchen said happily, seemingly overjoyed at the thought of her landlord getting the shaft, "He's had it a long time coming, he has. Penny pinching, always cutting corners. We went three months without hot water last year; had to heat it up in pots on the stove just to get the kids cleaned. It's bloody ridiculous!"
"You talking about Ol' Dennis?" a knobby kneed, middle-aged man came wandering down the hall followed by a younger chap. Both of them reeked heavily of whiskey.
"She's here about him dodging taxes, Michael," Gretchen explained.
Michael whistled, slapping one of his knees, "Well it's about time. You need any more dirt on him? I've got loads of it. He charges us each an extra pound for 'winter services'. A pound for plowing out the snow on the sidewalk!"
"He comes by at random hours for 'inspection'," the younger man added, "And he adds an extra charge to the rent for electrical if you have more than two lights running."
"Laundry room has been closed for weeks," called an elderly woman down the hall, leaning out her door, "Yet it still costs us as an amenity even if we can't use it."
"He wastes our money on booze and renovating his house," another man declared, "And he's a mean drunk, too."
"There's a hole in the wall of the tenement shower!" cried an outraged woman's voice from somewhere, "And I'm positive he's spying filming us through it!"
Simone raised her hands to calm the shouting crowd that had gathered, "These are all valid concerns, folks. I'll…I'll be sure to put in a word for you with my supervisor once the matter of his taxes are settled."
"See to it that you do," Gretchen snapped, "That bastard has jerked us around long enough."
There was a murmur of agreement from the crowd, several people nodding their heads.
"Well," Simone said, letting out an exhale, "I best be off. Want to get hold of Mr. Bishop before sundown, you know?"
She hastily bid the grumbling tenants goodbye, taking the steps two at a time in her quick descent. Passing the mailroom, Simone paused a minute, looking back up the stairs.
Drawing her wand, she unlocked all the mail slots, looking around to make sure no one saw her.
Pulling out her purse, Simone quickly dropped some money into each mailbox. It wasn't much; but hopefully something to make this month's rent a tad easier.
Satifised, Simone went out to meet up with Thea.
"There's no love lost between him and his tenants," Simone said, "Couldn't wait to sell him down the river."
Thea gestured to a couple walking a dog down the road, having apparently spoken to them moments ago, "Word on the street is that he fell into the bottle quite some time ago; always been a quiet, unfriendly fellow."
Simone tsked, "Dumbledore did say the bloke was never right after what happened. Neither was Amy Benson for that matter. It's why she stepped out in front of a train eleven years back."
"Dumbledore said they never spoke of the incident," Thea noted as the two began their trek to Bishop's house, "Too traumatized to say anything."
"Well he's going to talk to us," Simone said with finality, "Mrs. Cole kicked the bucket in '68; Bishops the only one we can ask now."
"What if he doesn't want to tell us anything?" Thea asked.
Simone paused on the doorstep of Bishop's house.
"We're in the middle of a war, Thea," Simone said grimly, "Sometimes circumstances call for us to play a little rough."
She shot a hex at Bishop's rubbish bins and sent them clattering into the yard, just enough racket to irritate whoever was inside into investigating.
Sure enough, cursing could be heard inside, followed by angry footsteps.
"Who the fuck did that?" a Wizened, crotchety man opened the front door, his eyes bloodshot and his nose red.
"Dennis Bishop," Simone said commandingly. She raised her wand, blowing the door open all the way and striding inside past the rapidly paling man, "I believe we have matters to discuss."
"Y-you…" Dennis quaked, shaking a pointing finger at Simone's wand, "H-how'd you do that?"
Simone raised a brow, "I take it you've seen unexplainable things like this before?" she snorted, "Of course you have. Normally I'd take pity on a muggle who's been hurt by magic—"
"Magic?" Dennis stammered, "It's the devil's witchcraft…"
"—But given how wretched a man you've turned out, I think I have more sympathy for your tenants," Simone continued, shutting and locking the front door with her wand.
"Now then," Simone said, stepping forward to stand over Dennis as the terrified man dropped into a chair Thea conjured, "Back to the matters at hand."
She placed a hand on both armrests, caging him in.
"Tom Riddle took you to a cave when you were nine," Simone said lowly, "Where is it?"
*cue orchestral sting*
The plot is thickening, folks. Wonder what Simone and Thea are up to (who am I kidding, we all know what they're looking for)?
I know Dennis and Amy are unfortunate victims of whatever Tom did to them back in that cave as children, so I'm sorry to portray Dennis in such bad light, but I felt it prudent to high light how some people turn out for the worse inn response to trauma, others seek comfort in addictions or unhealthy practices. Some get through it a stronger person...some just get bitter.
Honestly this is my first time writing any sort of real intimacy between two people in a long while. I read smut all the time (a weird past time for an asexual, I know) but writing it is rather unfamiliar territory to me. I know jack shit about writing convincing sex scenes or anything. I wonder if this is how straight people feel when they try to write gay couples in movies or books...or when us women get into the yaoi craze in high school and start writing homoerotic fanfiction XD (Hiei and Kurama...a monstrosity from my pubescent mind that shall never see the light of day)
Review please :)