Edelweiss [Rhys]

[rhys alexander greyback]

you knew the hand of the devil

And you kept us awake
with wolf teeth

December 19, 2018
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Detangling the lights felt like an interesting puzzle. Pull the chord the wrong way or from the wrong direction, and you tighten the entire thing. Just like impatiently dismantling a trap could lead to unknown consequences for a Cursebreaker. They stressed patience, which was difficult for Rhys. He struggled to fit in and find his place, albeit it was far less grueling than his time at Hogwarts. Last week a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him outside the pub they were visiting. With his temper unleashed, Rhys almost fought whoever grabbed him until he saw it was Karkaroff. A glare from that steely expression stopped Rhys in his tracks.

And then Casimir launched into a lecture on patience and control. But Rhys didn’t start paying attention until Casimir reminded Rhys they both had those types of names. His words on the subject stuck in his brain. And he supposed it only added to the pressure he put on himself to make a good impression, even with the handicap of already having a leg up on Juniper’s older sister and whoever she brought as a partner to present to the family. Rhys looked down to see Juniper feeding him the rest of the lights that would help it from tangling with whatever was in its way. And slowly, he moved lower down the tree.

”Fine, one picture.” It didn’t matter how much it annoyed Rhys. He ended up standing there for the photograph in the end. However many. But Juniper should know him well enough by now to know that if she wanted him to smile, she needed to work fast. The lights were easy to place, at least. The last bit of the cable Rhys let Juniper handle so he wouldn’t have to hunch over. It wouldn’t help how he already felt a little sore, among other things, with the upcoming full moon. This whole thing wasn’t so bad after all, and he’d gotten some of the reassurance he needed. Rhys just wanted to make a good impression for his own sake, but maybe he’d feel a little more worthy of this girl who’d stuck with him for so long.

”It feels strange.” Rhys began. ”I got so used to staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.” Talk about a massive shift. Seven years was a long time. The tree looked colorful and shiny, though the lights they’d just placed weren’t on yet. Were they magical lights? Rhys forgot to check. Or did muggles do something special to light them up? It wasn’t built like a lamp with an on-and-off switch. Or maybe they weren’t like the lights he saw in Hogsmeade this time of year. As a small child, Rhys used to read old ‘Muggle Infiltration Series’ articles and learn about various muggle items that way, but these hadn’t been one of those articles. ”Do the lights stay like that?” Rhys asked curiously, walking over and hugging her from behind—his arm encircling just under her collarbone.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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Victory! Each requested picture was less war of attrition and more annoying rambling until she got her way. These things mattered, and she knew Rhys would see it that way eventually. The little dumb things made her forget about work and by extension she sort of hoped they did the same thing for him as well. Which was why they were putting up the tree like a couple of muggles. As for the lights, a couple of solid loops around the tree (with Juniper feeling like a duckling plodding behind Rhys in circles), and they were finished with that portion. She dropped the last bit near the back of the tree, close to the outlet. Eventually they'd plug it in but she wanted to make sure everything was in place first. If, and that was a big if, somewhere along the way they screwed up, the wand was coming out. No way they were taking everything off and having another go at it. She didn't think she could get Rhys to do it a second time.

Stepping back to observe the tree so far, she sunk into Rhys as he wrapped his arms around her. She kept herself from laughing when he asked if the lights stayed like they currently were: off. "Well now you can get used to this," Juniper stated as she arched her neck to try and look up at him. Her height put her at a lot of disadvantages at times, but this wasn't one of those ones. "Off? No," she snorted. Fishing her wand out of her pocket, she pointed it at the tail end of the string of lights, swiftly guiding it into the socket. Instantly the twinkle of soft white light blinked on, the tree looking more complete than ever before. "We could probably charm it to turn on and off at specific times...that way we don't have to do this whenever we want it on."

And there she was, still being serious about the things she could or should do. Somehow it never ended. Which reminded her that she needed to ruin the moment with her previous request, "Picture time?"

rhys alexander greyback ● 358 ● Song by Artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

you knew the hand of the devil

And you kept us awake
with wolf teeth

December 19, 2018
juniper minerva mcgonagall

She never had to say she was happy at his submission. There was something in the way her eyebrows raised or her eyes changed. The things he began to notice during their time together in their sixth and seventh years. Juniper settled into his arms, and Rhys felt calm. A rare state for him, but she helped. When his heart pounded against his chest from a nightmare, she could calm him. And he supposed that’s what made being away for so long difficult, as much as he enjoyed the training and work otherwise. Rhys’ eyes stayed fixated on the lights and ornaments. It was quite a sight to see, if only because he had a hand in creating it. Or they created it—together.

Instinctively his arms wrapped just a little bit tighter. ’Well now you can get used to this.’ Rhys looked down, a bit of wonder in his eyes. Well, now he wanted to be home for Christmas. It seemed to be their time of the year, after all. ”Enchantment should be simple enough.” Rhys thought aloud, his mind already at work on how to charm it. Juniper might have excelled at Transfiguration, but Rhys had a mind for Charms which gave him a solid foundation to build upon as a Cursebreaker working with jinxes and curses. He could get something working for the tree and the lights.

So this was the big deal about a Christmas tree, decorations, and the whole thing. His heart did sink a little when he thought about this and what else he had missed out on all these years. But he was pulled out of his thoughts when Juniper asked about the picture. ”Yea, sure.” Rhys mumbled from where his head had settled next to hers, above her shoulder. Letting out a sigh through his nose, he reluctantly let go of Juniper and waited for some direction on where to move. Truly, he was useless for such things. And it was usually apparent based on how awkward he looked. She didn’t often pry him for details, such as when he simply said, ‘no, I’ve never decorated a tree for Christmas’, and Rhys was appreciative because he felt details only brought pity. The least he could do was stand for a picture.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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The more her eyes adjusted to the tree's lights, the more she liked what they had done so far to it. There was probably a little more to go, though she doubted they'd need every ornament in the box. Already she was planning on getting a larger tree for next year. That way she could make feel little next to it like she did with this one. Between the two of them, everything felt like it was possible. Especially with enchanting a tree. Or charming. Literally whatever worked unless it became so complicated that plugging it in manually was the best option. Her family had a bad habit of doing that with mundane items often and she was absolutely not going to be following in their footsteps there. She made a mental note to tell Rhys about the rice cooker incident of 2015. That was definitely an experience and said a lot about her parents, who should have known better considering their careers.

Maybe she shouldn't have asked immediately for the photograph. She kind of liked the coziness of how they were, and it forced Rhys to let go of her. "Only one." Before scampering off to grab her polaroid camera again, she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "I promise. Just stay there." The previous two she had taken were fully developed now and looked exactly how she wanted them too. Excitedly picking the camera up, she made sure there was enough film in it, and then cast a levitating charm on it before floating it back to where Rhys was standing.

"Ok...I think if we just pretend like someone else is taking it, like a normal picture, it'll be perfect." The floating polaroid was sort of intimidating because she'd never tried that before. The idea was that she'd keep her wand in the hand behind Rhys, using a second spell to activate the shutter. "Say when," she added quickly as she got into position in front of the tree, grinning at her camera.

rhys alexander greyback ● 337 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

you knew the hand of the devil

And you kept us awake
with wolf teeth

December 19, 2018
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Traveling the world felt like the perfect solution for someone who knew so little of it. Rhys’ world had been pretty much a bubble of the same few locations his entire life and the same few experiences. Though he doubted he’d find many people his age who had never decorated for the holidays. Merlin, he wondered what Nell would think. Rhys could have gone the rest of his life without decorating a tree, but Juniper had been so excited to do it, especially since he had not before. So he did it. Definitely a little different from the usually stubborn and inflexible Rhys. And especially with the polaroids.

All in one motion, she gave him a kiss and ran off to grab the camera. And he waited dutifully. Juniper ran back, and the camera floated in front of them. It was odd looking like a ghost might have been holding it, but then again, you could see ghosts most of the time. Maybe someone would invent a camera that floated permanently one day for such purposes. But Rhys couldn’t imagine what a quick-quotes quill version of a camera would produce.

”When.” Rhys responded after putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to his side. He didn’t smile all the time, though she prodded him from time to time to smile. But despite the upcoming full moon, he was feeling rather content. So, he grinned as he waited for the flash. He never quite got used to that part and was always left blinking after to encourage the spots to go away. But, he would hold her to her word—just one picture. ”What will you do with the rest of the ornaments?” Rhys asked as he stood over the box that was no longer full. They didn’t need to all go up, did they? The tree looked fine to Rhys, but what did he know?

Instead, he walked over to Juniper and the camera. One thing he did know was that if the picture didn’t look right, she’d insist on another one. ”It come out alright?” Rhys figured he’d get ahead of it rather than move on to something else. Rhys didn’t really know how to express what he was feeling most of the time. Someone else would have thanked her for creating this memorable experience for him. Rhys just wanted to make sure Juniper had the pictures she wanted. She seemed so excited about them.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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If the camera wasn't about to fire off on them, she probably would have rolled her eyes at the cheekiness in his response. Or maybe a elbow nudge in the side. But this was a happy moment, and capturing it was absolutely more important than screwing around. Should this be the last photo of the day, she had three good ones of Rhys and the tree, and a slew of them from earlier in the day. One for the ornament and the rest for the shoe box of polaroids that she needed to figure out what to do with. Having an arts and crafts oriented friend would be nice right about now. Actually, any kind of friend aside from Rhys would be awesome. Her coworkers weren't really at that level yet and she had a bad habit of only talking shop when outside of the office with them. Changing that would be an excellent resolution for the new year.

As soon as the tell-take sound of the camera capturing the image started to whir, Juniper made sure she was underneath the contraption and ended the floating charm. The best part about the instant polaroid was that it was extremely close to being instantaneous. She found this specific brand hilarious because the marketing on the outside said ' LIKE MAGIC' in fun colors and lettering. If only the muggles knew. "Probably put the box away. Unless you want to add more?" she responded to Rhys as she brought everything back over to the end table where it had previously been. The other option was to cheat and use magic to get the rest on. At least then they did most of the work. She sort of liked how it looked right now though.

The next bit was waiting for everything in the picture to fully develop, and then shrinking it down to size to fit the frame ornament. It was getting closer to that point as Rhys approached. "Wanna see?" she asked as she held it up for him to look. Everything seemed the way she wanted it to be. All that was left before magic was involved was putting the date on the bottom. Luckily there was always a pen within summoning distance and it launched itself across the room and into her hand with another flick of her wand.

Once it looked like everything was set, she scribbled the date at the bottom with a note labeled 'Rhys's first Christmas tree', and then placed the ornament next to it to figure out the size. "Reducio," Juniper commanded as the polaroid shrunk to the correct dimensions. Slipping it into the frame, she gave it one last look over before holding it out to Rhys. "One last one?"

rhys alexander greyback ● 457 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

you knew the hand of the devil

And you kept us awake
with wolf teeth

December 19, 2018
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys ignored the box of ornaments and decorations for now. He shook his head ‘no’ at her suggestion. Adding more felt like overdoing it and maybe would crowd the tree? Either way, Rhys figured that more ornaments meant another picture later. And at this rate, he’d permanently see spots with how often he’d stared at the flash of the polaroid camera. By the time Rhys reached her, the picture was starting to appear. He took it carefully between his fingers, only holding on to the bottom edge. And it didn’t seem either of them blinked or moved early or anything like that.

”Looks good to me.” Rhys announced as he handed it back. Juniper had already summoned a pen to label the picture. Merlin, he wondered what she’d labeled all the other pictures as. He watched as she shrank it and slid it into the frame. In his hands, Rhys looked at it. Even though it was much smaller, the picture was still clear. But where to place it? Somewhere in the middle felt right. At least that way, Juniper could reach it easily if she wanted to move it. And like that, the tree was done. Rhys hadn’t known what to expect of the experience, but he had liked that they had done it together.

That was one thing Rhys was learning these days. It wouldn’t do him any good to be alone in his life or at work. As a cursebreaker solo work was very dangerous, but he struggled with relying on another human being for anything. Satisfied, Rhys walked back over to Juniper and hugged her. He couldn’t explain this feeling in his chest. But perhaps all those cheesy things he used to hear his old classmates talk about had some foundation of truth. Rhys pulled away slightly so he could look at her, lean down and kiss her. He even forgot that he was tired from the upcoming full moon.

[ end rhys ]

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