(A/N): Elaine, Mia, Remus, and Dahrya all go meet up with Brooke and her friends, who we get more insight into than ever before.
Trigger Warnings: References to self harm.
Elaine
I didn't know what to say to that- what could be said- and apparently the feeling was mutual, because after a minute or two of vaguely contemplative but definitely uncomfortable silence, Mia cleared her throat and said, "So, um... Brooke?" That was easy enough for me to nod to, considering how intensely I wanted the awkwardness to disappear... and as much as Brooke and I had had our differences in the past courtesy of our respective relationships with Leo, I had the feeling that talking to her would have to be better than continuing this conversation. Although, I'm sure that could be said of most things.
"Right, yes. Brooke." I ignored how amused they all seemed by my discomfort, if only because I knew bringing it up would do nothing but extend the duration of said discomfort. "Gryffindor Common Room is our best bet; breakfast would have to be almost over by now, and Brooke always goes early." I suppose her time dating Leo had been useful for one thing, at least- drilling her schedule into my head. "And if she isn't there, well- we can always check with James." I wasn't sure whether Leo had told either of them about the map project the Marauders were working on, but if he hadn't, I would leave that up to the other boys.
Our trek up to the Common Room- or, back up to the Common Room, in Remus and I's case- was by no means made in silence, but it featured none of the painfully deep revelations our previous discussion had, and I, for one, was extremely grateful for the reprieve- no matter how brief it turned out to be. As it happened, we were just in time to catch Brooke as she came out of the portrait hole with her friends, and the look on her face when she saw us gave me the impression she somehow knew we were there for her.
"Elaine," She greeted with a surprisingly respectful nod, and for a second I thought it was odd that she had chosen to address me first, but when I actually considered it, I couldn't figure out who else I expected her to put first. "Mia, Dahrya, Remus." It took me a moment to realise that she was- at least partially- arranging us in terms of our relationship with Leo. I say partially, because while technically Remus probably should have been closer than Dahrya, given his 'male best friend' status, Brooke was smart enough to know that putting Dahrya last was a bad idea... and would only hurt her feelings. Remus, on the other hand, didn't even seem to notice that she had put him last, let alone care- though I highly suspected his obliviousness was an act, at least in this case.
"Hi, Brooke." I glanced at her friends, who I certainly didn't know well enough to try to order by their closeness with her. "Aria, Ezra, Farryse." When in doubt, go alphabetical.
Brooke snorted- far more primly than I ever could- at my attempt to mimic her, and folded her arms over her chest as she leaned against the wall beside the portrait. "I take it this wasn't an accident- catching me here, like this. I can only hope this conversation will go better than our last." Our last conversation- where we had informed her that Leo had hurt himself more than once. Yeah, I couldn't blame her for that.
"Merlin, I hope so, too." Her neat, dark brow quirked upward at the same time the corner of her mouth did, and her friends watched us warily. "It's not- It's nothing like that, I promise, but it isn't-" I glanced at her friends again, before refocusing on her. "I wanted to ask you about Leo in general- and I've managed to convince Mia to talk to you, too, about..." I trailed off, not sure whether her friends knew she was part veela, and on top of that, not wanting to tell them that Mia was, as well. "If that's okay with you, that is." Her nod was quick, if not immediate.
"Yeah, that's fine- good, even. I- Yes. Um..." She turned to her friends, and reached a hand toward Aria. "This is going to take a while, you should… Don't wait up."
Aria reached for her in return, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly, as though it might imbue Brooke with the strength she needed to get through this. Then she nodded and stepped away, only to be replaced by Ezra, who pinched Brooke's chin between his thumb and forefinger unbelievably gently- as though he was worried about breaking her, despite the fact that the most threatening thing about him was the wicked grin he was wearing. "Come find us, after." She nodded, and he wiggled her lightly by his grip on her chin. "Have fun, and don't do anything I wouldn't do." He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she snorted distinctly less primly than earlier. Before Ezra could step away like Aria had, Farryse playfully pushed him over to her and turned on Brooke.
"Seriously, don't; he'll never let us hear the end of it, and you don't want to be known as the person that went harder than Ezra Kennedy, do you?" She shook her head, clearly trying to hold back a laugh, and Ezra did his best to look put-out, even with that grin still on his face. "Good girl." He leaned in close to her, and I had the feeling I wasn't supposed to hear what he said next, despite the fact that he hadn't tried to lower his voice or obscure it in any way. "Remember that it's okay to walk away, yeah? Not everything has to be your problem, and even if it is... it's okay to take a break. Necessary, sometimes, too." He pulled back to shoot her a pointed look and she flushed, batting at his arm lightly.
"Alright, alright, message received; go... hang out in the greenhouses, or something." He shrugged loosely and stepped away, only to have Ezra step back in to ruffle her hair. "Ugh- Ez!" His laugh was more of a wheeze than a bark, but it was almost as contagious as Sirius's. "Seriously? Go bother someone else, you pest."
His eyes flicked to Aria in an instant, and she pinned him with a glare in return. "Don't even think about it," She growled, but he just laughed again- more boisterously now, if anything. "I'm serious, Ez!" Somehow, despite her clear irritation, I didn't think she was- and obviously he didn't either, if the way he casually slung an arm across her shoulders was anything to go by.
"I know you're serious, Staria," He said easily. "It's just that I think this is worth the risk of losing a hand." She continued to glare at him but made no attempt to push him away, so he just stared down at her with a decidedly less wicked grin- and it was this part of things that made it click for me; the way he was looking at her with a kind of tender awe, and she was glaring up at him from under his arm with slightly pink cheeks... It was obvious, now that I knew what to look for- had Leo and I been that easy to read?
I caught Brooke's eye and tilted my head in their direction. She grinned as though she couldn't keep it contained, and shook her head as if to tell me not to say anything- as if I would. Farryse echoed her head shake, and grabbed Aria's hand to start to drag the other two away. "C'mon, let's gooo! Say 'Bye bye, Brookie!'" Ezra and Aria echoed his teasing farewell, the former more enthusiastic than the latter, and when Brooke waved after them fondly, Ezra raised the hand that wasn't attached to the arm draped over Aria's shoulder in return, right before they disappeared from view.
Brooke turned her attention back to me, now that her friends were gone. "What did you want to know?" She asked. "Knowing you- knowing Leo- it isn't anything casual, so... what is it?" I hesitated briefly, if only because of the way she had cut to the core of things so succinctly.
"Well... it's- veela stuff, mostly, but... I went to Dahrya and Mia to try to figure Leo out-" She threw a look my way that was surprisingly skeptical- not as though she didn't believe me, but as if she didn't believe that there was anything left about Leo that I might still need to figure out. "-to try to understand why he might be inclined to..." I trailed off and she sobered, knowing exactly what I meant by that. One of the few things I'm sure she would agree that we were all completely stumped by.
"And you think... I can help you with that?"
I shrugged. "I mean, on top of the veela stuff, there's also the fact that you dated him for over a year- so, I would assume you know him pretty well. Have some sort of insight into him that we don't have." She cocked an eyebrow at me, looking more than a little amused.
"I'm sure I do, but... while I think you're probably the person who would benefit from that insight the most, I don't think you'd be able to handle hearing about it." Huh? "Nor," She said somewhat smugly. "Do I think it's appropriate to talk about in front of his little sister." Her eyes lingered not just on Mia, but Dahrya, as well. It took a few seconds for her meaning to sink in.
"Oh! Oh, I, um..." She thought I would benefit from knowing- that? "Okay, first of all, that's not what I had in mind." She smirked at me as if she knew that now that she had put it there, I wasn't going to be able to get it out of my mind anytime soon. "Second of all, Mary already expressed interest on that front, so knock yourself out telling her all the dirty little details."
Brooke's smirk only increased. "Oh, they're not little," She practically purred, which- Okay. Wow. Not something I needed to know. At least… not anytime soon. But again, that was something that was going to stick in my head. Mia and Dahrya made twin exaggerated gagging noises from behind me, and when I turned to look at them, I saw that Remus was slightly flushed, but far more than slightly amused. "Mary, huh? I'll have to be sure to talk to her, before he gets back." Whether that was to tell her to mind her own business, or to share all the juicy details, I couldn't tell. "So, what did you have in mind?" I- Honestly, I couldn't remember, anymore. There was only one thing in my head right now, and it definitely wasn't something I wanted to put words to. My mouth, however, maybe.
"Um..." I pressed a hand to my forehead, sighing quietly. "I don't know, something about intimacy- Romantic intimacy, not- not sexual intimacy." Brooke grinned as I pre-empted her.
"I'd pay good money to see Leo's reaction to hearing you say the words, 'sexual intimacy'," She joked, and I hoped they would all ignore my blush the same way I was trying to. "We didn't really have that kind of relationship, but... you ask your questions, and I'll do my best to answer them."
I nodded firmly. "Right," I said. "Um... boys dorm?"
(A/N): Ezra Kennedy, Aria Harding Young, and Farryse Fowler-Wallace. Yes, Aria and Farryse both have double-barrelled surnames, Farryse with a hyphen and Aria without, both of which are common in the UK. So, they're Mr Kennedy, Miss Harding Young, and Mr Fowler-Wallace.
Also I have been waiting to work in Ezra and Aria's complicated relationship since Ezra asked about 'the cute brunette' (AKA, Elaine) in 181 (aptly named, 'The Cute Brunette'). I came up with the idea that Ezra has a thing for brunettes, and then remembered that Aria also just so happened to be a brunette, and from there, their relationship formed in my head.
Elaine saying Brooke's brows are 'perfect', and saying that Brooke snorted 'far more primly than she (Elaine) ever could', because she still feels insecure around Brooke because Leo sort of essentially chose Brooke over her.
Marauder's map prototype.
Elaine being distracted by Brooke's not-so-subtle comment about Leo being well-endowed. Elaine saying she didn't need to know the details of Leo's sex life 'at least… not anytime soon', as well as her saying she only had one thing in her head right then, and she 'didn't want to put words to it, but her mouth, however, maybe.' Basically, Elaine is super into Leo and trying to act chill, and Brooke is NOT! BUYING IT!
Also, if you were wondering who Brooke is closest to, it's probably Farryse first, and then Aria and Ezra are tied, because they serve different purposes in her life. Who does she go to for advice? Aria. Who does she go to for hugs? Ezra. Farryse is sort of Brooke's Elaine, if Elaine was gay. Wait, have I mentioned that Farryse is gay, yet? If not... oops? I don't think he's out, out, I think it's mostly just Brooke, Aria, and Ezra that know, so I probably won't have, like, Elaine mention it, but yeah- he likes boys. (okay, sidenote, I was going to write 'da bois', as in 'the boys', then googled it because it looked sort of French and found out that 'de bois' means 'wood' which... isn't wrong, lol)
I just finished chapter 685, which means I'm over two years ahead by at least three chapters.
I've also been editing the first draft of a book I wrote for Camp NaNoWriMo in 2014, and its half finished sequel, which made me realise that that entire story needs some deep thinking done on it (mostly to do with the entire premise for the book, which is an unnatural version of an natural events [really bad floods], and the fact that I had the characters scale a cliff toward the end of the book that they would absolutely NOT be able to do, physically, because you can only climb like that for like, a few minutes at a time, and I had them doing for literally like, three hours straight just ONE of the several times they did it). The characterisation is mostly fine (there is some cringey dialogue in places, but not as much as you would think), and the actual plot is... again, MOSTLY fine. I'm having trouble because it doesn't really follow a traditional hero's journey plot structure, which is what everyone tries to give you advice on how to write. It's more a Fichtean curve, but I'm worried it will come across more 'this happens, then this, then this, and this, then this', whereas with a hero's journey plot structure, there's a rise and fall- if you don't know, Fichtean is pretty much all rise. The stakes get worse and worse as time goes on, there's not really a, 'ah, we're safe, time to breathe' until the story is over. In this book, the one time they're like, 'Oh, thank God, we're finally safe', it's literally only later that night that the danger I've been building up the whole book (the floods) strike, and then it's go time again. In some ways, the plot structure almost follows more of a romance novel plot (which makes sense, since romance is pretty central to it), but it's sort of an adventure novel structured like a romance novel, if that makes sense? I don't know if I've mentioned this story before, but if I have, this is the one with Monty, Holly, and Vince (for the most part). Imagine two brothers go on a roadtrip where everything tries to kill them, and they make some friends along the way- some of which also try to kill them- and you sort of have the gist of the story.