it's two a.m. in your car [zaire]

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The Slytherin common room normally was not Theodosia’s location of choice. There were too many people there – more specifically, too many witnesses – and she didn’t like being forced to mingle with anyone and everyone who came through the door and decided that they wanted to talk to her. There were a select few people that Theodosia could actually stand, and many of them had been busy lately – the seventh years with N.E.W.T.s, and Zaire with who knows what. Theo was honestly eager to share her task from Elaine with her betrothed, but the common room wasn’t a good place to do it, and she didn’t want to be rubbing his nose in anything if it turned out Zaire hadn’t been entrusted with anything similar. Why someone wouldn’t trust Zaire was beyond Theo, but the Dark Lady had her reasons for everything, and Theodosia wasn’t in a position where she could question such reasons. At least not if she wanted to keep her position in the Purifiers and her life. In any case, though, she was currently in the common room so that she could snatch Zaire up whenever he did decide to show his face, and then take him to a more secluded location so they could discuss their affiliation and her task where they wouldn’t get expelled for it.

@zaire

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It'd been a relatively calm day for Z. He'd been up in the dormitory, laughing and talking with a few of his dorm mates and not much else today. There was probably some homework assignment due tomorrow for some class but it didn't matter enough for him to figure out what it was much less do the assignment. He'd been fully prepared to spend the rest of the evening in his room but his stomach had let him know that wasn't an option. Maybe going to the Great Hall to get dinner wouldn't be too bad. He'd be able to get something on his stomach quickly and return to his relaxing. He was jogging down the stairs now and just as he hit the last step he noticed his betrothed, Theodosia, waiting in the common room. He hadn't seen her in a few days, his birthday having come and gone, which was perfectly fine. He hadn't liked actually celebrating his birthday since he'd been in school because his birthday came while school was in session. His meeting with Elaine had come and gone as well and it had been enlightening to say the least. He wondered what she was waiting on now. He stepped of the last step and decided he could say hi before he headed off. "Hello Theodosia. Been into anything lately," he smirked playfully at his best friend as he approached.

Tag; @theodosia

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Waiting for Zaire had not been a fruitless attempt, and Theodosia was all too happy to see him walk through the door. His birthday had just passed, and while Theodosia hadn’t said anything to him (or given anything to him, for that matter), on the day, she was planning on being overly kind to him in order to make up for her apparent oversight – which, of course, hadn’t been an oversight at all. “Nothing more than the usual, darling.” She said with a wave of her hand. The usual, of course, was just about everything. Theodosia wasn’t good at standing still, and she was even worse at keeping her nose out of everyone else’s business. “I would, however, like to get into you.” She said, voice laced with innuendo. The words left a bitter taste in her mouth, but if anyone was watching – and from what Theodosia was learning, someone was always watching – it would give a perfectly good excuse for her and Zaire to go gallivanting off together. Two young intendeds, sexually tense and alone? No one would be following the pair of snakes if they thought the pair was going to snog. And Theo was interested in making sure they were as alone as they could be. The girl stood, and then approached her betrothed. “Come with me, darling.” She purred. Hopefully Zaire would see that this was all an act…otherwise Theodosia was going to have some explaining to do when they got to their corner of solitude.

@zaire

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He smiled as she waved dismssively considering the usual could have meant just about anything or nothing at all for her. He didn't always know what she was up to but she didn't like to do nothing for long. She always found herself in the middle of something; it was one of the differences between him and her. He couldn't be bothered by uninteresting people much less getting involved with them and he knew some of the things she liked to involve herself in involved said uninteresting people. It was her next words that wiped the smile off of his face, quite abruptly. They were full of sexual intention and it took everything in him not to show his confusion. His mouth went dry and he could do nothing but blink. Had something changed? Had something clicked for her? No. He knew better than that. He had to command himself to recognize that. He had command all of himself to recognize that. He wouldn't believe that until she actually acted upon the intention he saw in her eyes. Lust also didn't equal love; maybe she was just starved for that kind of attention and he was what she had as an option. He couldn't necessarily say he minded being used like that by her. He mentally berated himself because he actually meant that; because it was her he didn't mind and he would take whatever she offered him. He really needed to quit this, it was getting pathetic. Maybe he could find some guy to... As she approached him he found his mouth become impossibly dryer, her words overheating him. Somewhere in his fogged mind it clicked that maybe she was just doing this to get him alone. Maybe there was something she wanted to talk to him about that she couldn't in the common room. Even through the hope that it was the former, he nodded, hand stretching out for her to lead the way.

Tag; @theodosia

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Watching Zaire’s reaction to her innuendo was amusing for Theodosia, to say the least. He wasn’t one of her normal targets when it came to distraction and deception, so to see how he reacted to it was… kind of cute, in a totally platonic way. It was typical teenage boy response, too – Zaire’s pupils had nearly tripled in size at the idea of something more than just conversation, and that would have been cute, too, if Theo didn’t wonder if he actually believed what she was telling him. If he did, that was just as well – the best deceptions deceived allies as well as enemies – but it would be a lot more to explain once they were safely alone. Zaire stretched out his hand to her, ever the obedient boy, and Theodosia smiled at him before twisting her fingers through his, still playing the part of the lover to the best of her ability. They must have a person or two on the way out, but Theodosia was still so intent on getting out of the way of prying ears and eyes that she didn’t pay attention to anyone else. As long as they weren’t being followed, another person was nothing to her. Once the pair of snakes was tucked into a back corner of the dungeon, far away from even the nearest portrait, Theodosia turned back to her betrothed, smiling sultrily at him. “Now, darling, tell me, what have you really been up to?” She asked, still not letting go of Zaire’s hand or putting any space in between them. His reaction was priceless, and she wasn’t going to give up the game unless Zaire figured it out and asked her to stop.

@zaire

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It was the smallest flash of amusement he noticed in her eyes that gave her away. She'd seen the way he'd reacted to her and she'd found it amusing? That was how he knew that the words she'd spoke were just that, words. He shut his desire down almost immediately as she took hold of his hand. It was hard because her words and the sultry look she gave was still fresh in his mind and the softness of her hand had his blood rushing in his ears. And he'd thought himself above baser instincts. He was a bit annoyed though that she was amused by his attraction to her. He could only imagine how she would react to him telling her how he really felt about her. Clearly that was out of the question now more than ever. He let her lead him out of the common room and down the hall to a much more secluded area of the dungeons. There wasn't anyone around where they were at so, paired with the knowledge that he knew her intentions weren't to seduce him, he figured that she was trying to get him alone to talk. Even still it wasn't as if this part of the castle didn't receive any foot traffic so if she wanted to discuss anything sensitive they would still have to be a bit careful. Once she paused she asked him what he'd been up to in a tone that made his ears ring, It didn't escape his notice that she was still standing close to him and the heat of her hand was still cradled in his own. His face was a barrier and he didn't show any of the stormy emotions that wanted to cloud his judgement. He took a step back, letting go of her fingers, crossing his arms and leaning on one shoulder against the stone wall in a relaxed position. "I met with a mutual friend of ours. What has been occupying your time?" he responded and asked in turn. He eyed her a bit curiously then, wondering if she'd keep up the vixen act or if she'd be her usual self, his best friend again. He found himself wishing it wasn't an act.

Tag; @theodosia

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It seemed that either Zaire had better control of his emotions, or he realized that she hadn’t been seducing him. Or maybe both. Theodosia didn’t particularly care, because she could no longer read what he was thinking on his face, which meant that the game wasn’t fun anymore. As one last-ditch effort to try to frazzle him, Theodosia stood on the tips of her toes to press a kiss to her betrothed’s cheek before releasing her hold on his hand. When Zaire said that he met with their mutual friend, Theodosia raised her eyebrows. “Are you going to tell me anything more than that, or am I going to have to beg, darling?” Theo asked. She wanted to know more than just that Zaire and Elaine had met – what had been said, what did the Dark Lady want from her betrothed, and more importantly, what could Theo get out of the entire situation? Zaire was her best friend, but he was also a stepping stone, someone she could use to get to the top. And she intended to get to the top – or at least as close to it as she possibly could. Elaine couldn’t be overthrown, of course, but she could be assisted, and Theo was going to continue to declare her intentions to be Elaine’s right hand until it happened. When Zaire asked what had been occupying her time, Theo shrugged. “I hear that one of the girls from Durmstrang went a little crazy in the head. What a shame it would be if someone else had caused that.” Theo grinned at her betrothed. She didn’t even have to say that it was her who had done it, who had poisoned Maria. From the whispers she had heard, no one even knew what had caused the insanity in the first place, which was wonderful, because Theodosia was sure that if she was ever found out, then she was toast – in more ways than one. In any case, Zaire would know what she meant, and hopefully, he would be proud of her. And then she wouldn’t have to desperately seek approval from Elaine – or at least not as much approval.

@zaire

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She was really pushing this wasn't she? When she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek just before his shoulder pressed up against the wall, he almost groaned audibly. Instead he just raised an eyebrow at her. The kiss didn't have any affect on him, not like her words had had. It was just a kiss, tame, just a peck that held no convincing promises of more. Her snarky question made him smirk. He wondered how many of their little group knew that she was going to be at Hogwarts soon. Of course the adults knew but how many of the student age Purifiers knew that Elaine would be in their presence soon? That she would be right under the noses of the people who wanted to catch her most. His pulse pounded at the thrill of it all. If Theodosia didn't know it did that actually mean he was the only one who knew? He smirked once again, secretive, because it meant that he might have information that none of the rest of them had. And that was power. He wasn't sure if he wanted to share that power yet. While Theodosia was his best friend, and his betrothed, and the woman he loved, everyone's goal was to get on top. Even hers, he was sure. And he wouldn't have it any other way. He shrugged and snickered. "She was wearing the face of this lovely woman. I hadn't seen her before so I almost didn't know it was her. We talked about that idiot Nott and the Shacklebolt girls she killed and tortured," he spoke nonchalantly though quietly. When she mentioned the mad Durmstrang girl, the grin on her face telling him she'd done it, his eyes shined with pride and he smirked. "Very nicely executed Theodosia, though we both know you had it in you." She must have met with Elaine too then. Before him. And she'd been given a task. Before him. He bounced back and forth between immense pride and annoyance. He'd hear about it around the school how the girl had gone through a period of seeing things and setting things on fire. To know that she'd had something to with it, he was awed. And jealous. But he wouldn't show that, of course. "How did you manage that?"

Tag; @theodosia

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Theodosia raised her eyebrows when Zaire said that Elaine had been wearing someone else’s face, trying to affect a polite surprise, though she knew that much was going to be true. Elaine had also been wearing a borrowed face when Theo had met her, as well. Theo waited patiently when Zaire recounted what he had discussed with Elaine. The death of her distant relative Theodorus had been nothing short of a shame on the family name, and Theodosia was more than a little upset that she was named in part for his family. She liked to pretend that she was named after Theodore rather than Theodosia, and Theodorus’s betrayal made that fantasy even more appealing. Zaire congratulated her on executing the plan nicely, and she nodded to him to accept his thanks. “What sort of person would I be if I hadn’t?” She asked. It hadn’t even been difficult to slip the potion into Maria’s drink. Anyone would could mess up such a simple task didn’t deserve to call themselves a Purifier.

When Zaire sked how she had done it, Theo was half-tempted to keep mum. But what good was a victory if you couldn’t revel in it? “I had heard that the girl would flirt with anything that breathes.” Theodosia explained. “So I decided to test that theory out.” It had certainly worked. Even though that had been the first (and thus far only) time she had spoken to Maria, the Durmstrang girl had thrown herself into flirting quite easily. Painting herself as a girl breathless with admiration of Maria – both her body and her command of fire – had been easier than Theodosia had wanted to admit, and the other girl had lapped up the attention like she was starved for it. That probably wasn’t the case, since Maria could command people to pay attention to her if she wanted to, using her Veela charm, but it had been an interesting conversation nonetheless. “Don’t worry, though, darling, she’s not my type.” Theodosia told Zaire with a toothy grin. She had no intention of elaborating beyond that, but she wanted to at least keep up the illusion of being heterosexual when it came to Zaire, and implying that Maria wasn’t her type because she was a girl was a means to that end. In reality, it was more like Theodosia didn’t like the crazy type. She liked a challenge, but not that much of a challenge.

@zaire

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"A singed one, I can only assume," Zaire commented with a snort at her words. Had she not succeeded or had the Durmstrang girl found out what she had done to her, Theodosia would probably end up in St. Mungo's recovering from harsh burns. He wouldn't let that happen to her though. He'd kill the Durmstrang girl if she even thought about laying a finger on his betrothed. Which is why it was better for all if Theodosia didn't go around driving crazed students to madness. He didn't want to end up in Azkaban, and therefore useless, to the cause. And he wasn't just saying that because he loved her. Best friend or not, Theodosia was an asset. It would be bad to lose her to some small task. At her explanation on how she'd gotten the job completed, he smirked in amusement. Definitely by any means necessary she'd gotten the job done. He'd also heard that the girl had a habit of seducing anything with a pulse. He'd also heard she was part Veela so he could only assume that most of her conquests hadn't been hers willingly. She could will anyone to like her with just her Veela allure. It was disturbing. "Did she use her Veela to call to you during the interation?" he asked anyway. He tried not to be too bothered by the thought of Theodosia flirting with someone else. It wasn't that hard when he thought about it as just something she'd needed to do for their cause. Recreational flirting? That wasn't too bad either. He knew she was his betrothed and she hadn't shown any interest in him as more than a friend so he could only expect her to stay committed to their engagement for so long. He tried to cut off that thought process as immediately as it had formed. He didn't want to think about her with anyone else. He just a bit as she stated that the Veela wasn't her type. "Not mine either. She doesn't have the... required tools" he snickered. Despite his earlier reactions, Theodosia knew that Zaire's attractions leaned more on the same-sex end of the spectrum. And he would keep it that way if he could. She would never knew how he felt about her if he had a say in it.

Tag; @theodosia

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Theodosia couldn’t help but smirk at Zaire when he said that she would be a singed person if she didn’t succeed. “I suspect I would be much worse off than just singed.” If Maria’s Veela ancestors were anything to go by, then the girl had a wicked temper. That was how Veelas went about throwing fireballs normally. Maria just seemed to be luckier than most when it came to controlling the fire. Or maybe she wasn’t – Theodosia didn’t particularly relish the idea of climbing inside the part-Veela’s head to see what she was thinking when she conjured her fire. In any case, it was likely that the Durmstrang student would not take well to being poisoned, and then Theodosia would end up needing to slather herself with several different burn-healing lotions. But that wasn’t what had happened, so Theo was all too pleased to move on to a different subject.

“If she did, I didn’t notice.” Theodosia said slowly. As far as she knew, Veela charm only worked on people that were actually capable of being attracted to the person, hence why it was normally males that ended up salivating over the idea of getting close to one. Since she was still playing desperately at being heterosexual, it would be unwise for the Slytherin to admit that she had noticed Maria using the Veela Charm on her, because that would be as good as saying that she had the potential to be attracted to Maria, and then the game would be up. At her comment about Maria not being Theodosia’s type, Zaire agreed, which only made the Slytherin girl laugh again. “I don’t, either, yet here we are.” Theodosia said. She knew that it wasn’t nice to rub the fact that she had firmly drawn the ‘just friends’ line with Zaire when he probably would have agreed to an arrangement that was much less platonic, but her cruelty didn’t know any limits. Even if she sometimes (well, most of the time) was less aggressive when it came to teasing Zai, Theodosia still needed the reminder that he was under her thumb, and there was no better way to do that than rub salt in the wound.

@zaire

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Zaire gave a smirk of his own at her assessment even though the thought of her in St. Mungo's did not sit well with him. It would be better not to think about it but he hoped, in the future if given any more tasks, they didn't involve anyone as volatile as the Durmstrang girls. At least anyone volatile who wasn't already on their side. When she replied that she hadn't felt the pull of the Veela, he raised an eyebrow at how slowly she spoke. It was almost questioning and he found himself amused. He wondered how much she knew about Veelas. He found it interesting that she didn't feel the pull of the Veela. Either the girl hadn't used it on her to begin with because she wasn't as attracted to Theodosia as she had made it seem, or Theodosia was one of the lucky women who it didn't affect. "Good. Even though you're a woman and she's not your type she can still use it on you unless you're immune." he commented anyway. Maybe then she'd be careful next time. Her next words made him snort, though he was actually caught off guard by them. Why was she making that comment? She didn't know how he felt and she had reiterated long ago that she had no interest in being more than friends. He had definitely given her no indications on how he felt about her and he'd never lead her to believe that he'd wanted more than to just be friends with her. So why was she saying that. He was going to have to be more careful, even still. "That, dear Theodosia, is exactly why I have never come on to you. I had as much say in this arrangement as you, unfortunately. But, really, you could have been anyone." his voice was filled with believable amusement as he looked at her and shrugged. "You're free to tell both of our parents that you don't like it though." They both knew neither of them could do such a thing, mostly because it would not change anything. Partially because if either of them spoke to the other's family about any dissatisfaction in the arrangement, there would be shame brought upon their family for attempting to break the engagement. He wondered what had changed. Not too long ago, she had been saying she was happy to marry him, as her best friend anyway. How curious. He couldn't think of any reasons that she would suddenly more against the arrangement. Unless... "So was that a request from Elaine? I'm guessing it was a potion too because you're not showcasing any burns or damage from a duel," he questioned her to hide his curious scrutiny of her. Was it possible..? Had she found some guy she was actually interested in? Someone she wanted to be betrothed to instead?

Tag; @theodosia

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Theodosia arched her eyebrows at Zaire when he said that even if she was a woman, Maria (and other Veela) could still use the charm on her. She hadn’t been aware that it worked that way – she just assumed that anyone who found a Veela sexually compatible with them (straight men and gay women, or people whose sexualities were in the grey area) would be able to be attracted to them. Theo tried not to think about it too much, because she did not need another sexuality crisis at the moment. If she realized that she wasn’t attracted to Maria, who was a beautiful woman, then things were going to get confusing. Theo nodded absently at Zaire’s warning about not letting anyone accidentally seduce her, obviously not paying that much attention to it. She hoped that he took it as her not taking the warning seriously, rather than being too deep in thought about something else.

Theo smirked at Zaire when he said that he had never come on to her. He reiterated that neither of them had a say in the relationship, and Theodosia wished that she could snap at him about it being worse for her. Even if Zaire leaned towards boys, he was still capable of finding happiness with a woman. Theodosia could never imagine being happy with a man, even if that man was her best friend. When Zai that she was free to tell their parents how she felt, Theodosia snickered. “As if they would listen to what we have to say.” Until they were seventeen, they were no more than chess pieces in their parents’ complicated social games. It was expected that when they were of age they would continue with the arrangement, because it would help consolidate power for them, too, and their future children. It would take much more than Theo’s disapproval of the gender of her match to make things change, and even then, Theodosia had no intentions of telling her parents that she wanted a female betrothed.

“Do you really think me capable of creating a potion that strong?” Theodosia asked. She was an accomplished witch for someone their age, but her talents lay more in the Transfiguration realm. Even if she was a potioneer, Theo would have had no place to brew a potion, especially such a dangerous one, with the guarantee that she was not going to be caught. There were too many things against the hypothesis that Theodosia would do such a thing herself, and she was almost disappointed that Zaire wasn’t clever enough to realize that on his own.

@zaire

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She nodded a bit too slow at his warning and he wondered if she was going over what happened again in her head. Maybe she was trying to remember if she felt the pull of the Veela or not? She seemed to be surprised by his revelation. He took that as a sign that maybe, just maybe, she might actually consider listening to him. It was still possible that she was immune to it so he didn't want to worry about it more than necessary. Her smirk only made him more curious as to how much she knew about his sexuality. He'd only ever alluded to the fact that he'd been into men around her. Before her, he had only known himself to be attracted to men. Mostly because he couldn't for the life of him find any pureblooded girl worthy enough for him. When his parents had been arranging his betrothal when he was younger, when he'd actually still been invited to the discussion meetings, he'd been met with girl after girl that he didn't find even slightly appealing. Then he'd gotten to know Theodosia. It was slow and unrecognizable at first, his feelings. Until one day it clicked. He liked her. He wanted to be stay with her. He didn't want to break the engagement anymore. It had been weird for him at first; he fought with himself a lot over it in the beginning. Being around her helped him to not think about it so much until he stopped thinking about it. By then of course he'd already known she wasn't interested but that didn't stop the feelings from forming. Even though is head was busy, he still smirked at her comment about their parents. "As you said, here we are." It wasn't as if he hadn't brought up breaking the engagement to his own parents before. That was a long time ago though and even then they'd blown him off, thinking that it was just his normal rebellion, which it had been at the time. Now though, after going so long without asking, they may take him more seriously and really get mad at him. He still didn't like disappointing his parents, as angry as they made him sometimes. She asked him if he'd thought her able to create the potion and a smirk graced his features once again. "I know better than to answer that question." his voice went flat as he spoke. Rationally, no, she couldn't make such a potion. He would succeed in doing that before she did because, with a bit more training, he could have the skills and he definitely had the means to do so.

Tag; @theodosia

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Here they were. That made everything seem so final, as if where they were was their destination, and not some journey in how to love the people that they wanted to love. Theodosia’s stomach pulled a little bit. She had never thought of herself as a person capable of love. There was so much in her that hated – hated Muggleborns and half-bloods, hated Gryffindors, hated herself – that the idea of someone being beyond all of that was… scary. Zaire was the only person outside of her family that Theodosia was even sure she cared for. But love? Love was caring for someone… but then being willing to give up much more for them than just your time or your care. There were many things that Theodosia would sacrifice for her betrothed, but she would never sacrifice herself to raise him higher. And that seemed to be the essence of love: being willing to give yourself up for the sake of someone else. Theodosia swallowed again. This conversation wasn’t supposed to be uncomfortable, and wasn’t supposed to make her question all these things. She was just supposed to tease Zaire and tell him of her triumph and hear what he had to say about her excellence. All of these extra emotions were just burdens, in the end. That was what love was, too: love was a burden. Theodosia straightened her shoulders, as if that would somehow create a wall between her thoughts and her feelings.

“Don’t worry, darling.” Theodosia cooed. “If I was capable of doing that sort of thing, I wouldn’t have waited for so long.” If Theodosia was more powerful, and more learned, then she would have been wreaking all sorts of havoc. Longbottom wouldn’t have lasted a month as headmaster, and most of their professors would be at her beck and call. Theodosia was still working on her mastery of the Imperius Curse, but as soon as she had that down? There were going to be an awful lot of pawns in the castle. She would be the queen, controlling them all for the sake of the king – for the sake of Elaine. The chess metaphor was actually surprisingly apt, considering how little mobility Elaine had these days due to being a wanted woman. “Have you heard anything?” Theodosia asked, just in case Zaire had also been given a mission and hadn’t wanted to step on her toes by cutting her own triumph off with his tale. If Zai didn’t have anything else to say, then they were done here.

@zaire