Bathwater [Rhys]

[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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March 16th, 2017

Something was off. Juniper wasn’t sure what the actual cause was, but she had a sixth sense telling her that things weren’t the way they were supposed to be. A few months had passed since she and Rhys had officially started dating. Looking back on it, she was starting to wonder if she had forced him into it. She sort of had a bad habit of grinding people down until they agreed with her. That was mostly used in group project settings, but also because she was always right too. Juniper couldn’t deny that she liked Rhys, and she was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. They had spent an inordinate amount of time with one another since the Potions class accident the previous September. She had gotten exactly what she wanted. Now what? What was the next step in all of this?

Everything almost felt more awkward now that they were ‘official’ than when they were studying together every day. With zero experience in any of this, she really didn’t know. To make matters worse, she didn’t have anyone to ask about it either. If her sister was a better role model, Juniper would have sent her an owl asking if having odd feelings so soon after a relationship started was normal. She thought asking Ewan would be kind of weird too.

But none of that changed the fact that Rhys was acting strangely. So that was sort of how Juniper knew it wasn’t her brain fabricating strange vibes. He’d been distant the last few weeks, and she was already afraid that she’d messed up somewhere along the way. Like maybe the grass wasn’t greener on the other side now that they were dating. Once again, she had nothing to put this up against. With no one to call a close enough friend or confidant, she was at a loss. So Juniper did what she did best: she cornered Nell Ollivander after a Charms class and tried to force her to fess up. If anyone knew what was going on with Rhys, it would be Nell. Unfortunately, the Slytherin girl held strong and didn’t relent, and if she had, Juniper wasn’t sure if she could trust any information gleaned under pressure like this. She’d seen Nell have a nervous breakdown over thinking she turned classwork in at the wrong time. The wrong time being before it was due, of course.

With that encounter seemingly going nowhere, Juniper had an epiphany. What if instead forced Nell to allow her into the Slytherin Common Room, where she could then catch Rhys off-guard Back him into a proverbial corner as well and see what happened next. None of this made logical sense, which was something she had thrown out months ago when she realized that she’d developed a crush on him. She was angry about something, it was related to him, and she needed to know why.

And that was how Juniper ended up standing in his dorm room late one afternoon, having shot a glare at one of his roommates that was also there, daring him to stay longer and witness all of this. Not even bothering to watch him scramble out of the room, she moved in-between Rhys’s bed and the exit, hands crossed tightly in front of her. ”I don’t know what it is, but something’s wrong. You keep acting like it’s a hassle to be around me for too long. Does dating me embarrass you, Rhys Greyback?” She had no proof, but those were the first things that came to mind now that she was there.

rhys alexander greyback ● 598

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[rhys alexander greyback]

I am underprepared,
but i am willing

and even better
I get to be the other half of you

March 16, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys heavily exhaled. He was still processing the look Sarah had given him earlier when she suggested stopping by that night, but Rhys declined. Hell, even he was surprised when those words came out of his mouth. It wasn’t abnormal for these meetings to occur throughout the month, especially before the full moon. At this point, Rhys could hardly remember when it started last year. Something like that. But it suited them. There was no drama. Both were discrete, and they got something out of it without making their friendship weird. Things now, however, were different. Rhys had a girlfriend as of the Christmas break, and while common sense hadn’t told him to stop with Sarah, something else blocked him.

But only Merlin knew what it was. Rhys couldn’t remember how it began. When they returned to the regular school schedule in January, things more or less remained the same as the previous term, with the addition of those moments when they’d sneak off to snog in an empty classroom. Starting some weeks ago, Rhys began to feel…weird. It was like the weight he felt with anxiety, but it wasn’t exactly that. Still, while he wanted to spend time with Juniper, he felt a little overwhelmed by this.

At first, Rhys wondered if she made him feel overwhelmed, but he decided that wasn’t it. The stupid thing was that when Rhys managed to get some alone time, he immediately regretted it. It wasn’t terribly late in the evening, but it wasn’t early either. The other boys in his dorm were probably in the common room or somewhere with their respective partners. Since the start of the year, Rhys had enjoyed the quiet of his shared dorm as its occupants were elsewhere more often. A few played Quidditch, so that held them up at practice until late.

Then the door opened, and Rhys didn’t hear the usual rowdy male voices—the one roommate who had remained suddenly left quickly. Sitting up, Rhys blinked a few times to ensure he wasn’t hallucinating. Juniper? ”Juniper?” He felt dazed, and all his reactions were delayed as she spoke a lot at once. ”What are you—“ Standing from his four-poster, Rhys forgot he was only wearing pajama bottoms and no shirt. Then his brain began to register what she was asking, and that sudden clarity hit him like a wave of ice-cold water. Even his heart rate jumped, and his ears felt hot.

”Juniper—Juni—what are you talking about?” Rhys began to approach her. She was far shorter than him, but her presence was borderline menacing. Nerves told him that saying the wrong thing would leave him transfigured into a shoe or something else to be thrown around. His heart didn’t stop pounding in his chest, now realizing his behavior had not gone unnoticed, and Juniper McGonagall was not the type to sit there and watch things happen without saying something. ”Of course it doesn’t.” Rhys’ brow furrowed. What kind of accusation was that? Shouldn’t Rhys ask her the same? ”How did you even get in here?”

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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Was he trying to distract her by having his shirt off? Juniper had momentarily forgotten that she was the one that had stormed into his dorm room, and not the other way around. Even though she was pissed off about something, she tried to maintain all of her eye contact on his face, which was hard to do. She hadn’t seen him without a shirt yet, always leaving her mind to wonder what was there. Now she knew. But she had to remain serious!

His approach didn’t help at all, and she suddenly felt very small inside the dorm room. She’d never been into a boy’s dorm either, always assuming that they were identical to the girl’s dorms. They were, sort of, but she could tell now that some of the beds were longer to accommodate for their owners, and that there was a general boyishness to the whole place. She didn’t want to imagine what it would be like if the house elves didn’t exist at Hogwarts.

Regardless, Rhys seemed confused by her sudden intrusion. Just how she wanted him. His answer about whether or not she embarrassed him sounded truthful, but anyone could say that without a second thought. ”That doesn’t matter,” she brushed aside his question about how she managed to waltz into the Slytherin common room. For being a brave little snake, Nell deserved anonymity.

”Why do you keep running off every time we’re around each other then? Because it’s starting to make me feel like you don’t want to be around me at all. It’s like one second, you’re all happy or whatever, and then you get this look on your face and you end up leaving soon after. I don’t get it.” It had to be about her, right? There were other times where she watched him from across the Great Hall interacting with Nell and others, and he never seemed to be like that around any of them. ”If it’s because people are saying things about us, you can tell me. I have no problem putting them in their place,” she added, almost feeling like she’d given him an out if he decided to latch onto it. That had been the first thing that came to mind when she started feeling like things were off. Juniper was positive that wasn’t the case though, otherwise Nell would have said so. It had to do with either her, or Rhys. One of them was being weird, and she was pretty certain it wasn’t her.

rhys alexander greyback ● 419

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[rhys alexander greyback]

I am underprepared,
but i am willing

and even better
I get to be the other half of you

March 16, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys waited for an answer, but she refused to answer. He couldn’t think of anyone who would just let her in, and the common room entrances were not rooms with doors where you knocked, either. Looking at her for a moment, his mind went through the few people it could have been. And with Juniper’s forceful personality, especially in this type of mood, it probably wouldn’t have been difficult to browbeat someone into letting her in. It wasn’t like she’d done the same to get him as her permanent potion’s partner last September using the same method.

So, reasonably, that left one person—Nell. Rhys made a mental note to find her the next day, one way or another. And then whatever irritation Rhys had felt from this sudden intrusion faded immediately into guilt, sinking from his chest to his stomach. Crossing his arms, Rhys shifted his weight to one foot, opting to let his gaze go anywhere but her while she spoke. Finally, he looked at her. While she was clearly angry with him, hurt lingered in her eyes, making him feel worse. ”It's not that—of course I want to be around you.” Merlin, what did he say when he hadn’t even put a name to it?

He opened his mouth to continue but closed it, doing his best to gather his thoughts—if only they were not so chaotically organized. ”You know I don’t care what people say…I’m sure they’re saying a lot about you dating a werewolf.” His tone was softer but still with that hint of ire. If only she knew the things he heard whispered, and mainly what in the world she was doing dating a Greyback. An overconfident fourth year in his house had already tried to make a smart comment toward him in the dorm corridors, which resulted in Rhys picking him up by his shirt collar and into the wall—asking if he’d like to repeat that comment.

The boy declined, naturally. The idea of anyone speaking ill of Juniper made him irrational faster than Bagman’s usual bullying. And he didn’t care if he was thrown in another suit of armor or several. ”I—I’ve just had a lot on my mind—“ He began, shifting now to the other foot. ”—but not about you. I mean, yes, about you but like in a good way…” Rhys let out a frustrated sigh, closing his eyes a moment. Words were never his strong suit—clearly. It was so difficult to wrap in some nice, neat little package of a sentence that he cared about her more than she knew and more than he ever thought he could—that night in the tower opened his eyes to feelings that had grown in the months before.

But whenever his brain went near those feelings, he might as well have seen a Dementor. And every time someone commented, Rhys wondered if she heard them, too. Would she wake up one morning and realize who she had first kissed in that tower? Not just another sixth-year boy, but him. Merlin, just the thought of it hurt. Wanting to try again, Rhys took a breath and began again. ” It's not you, I like you, I…” Whatever words wanted to come out next refused to leave his brain, but Rhys was sure he caught a glimpse. ”I just need to get my head straight.” Somehow, he felt he was digging a hole rather than assuring Juniper he wasn’t planning on breaking up with her as she feared. But if there was ever a time he could just have five minutes to think in silence, it was now.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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Juniper switched her arms from crossed to on her hips as she listened to him explain himself. She was confused. If he wanted to be around her, then why was he actively leaving all the time without a good explanation? Her head started to tilt to the side as he continued on, and she wasn’t getting any clearer message out of it. The werewolf part aside, which Juniper never cared about from the start, Rhys seemed to be giving semi-decent responses to her questioning. She had to keep reminding herself that this was all a perceived ‘wrongdoing’. Which might not even be a thing to begin with. Her hunch very well could have been wrong.

Then he started to talk about how he’s had a lot of things on his mind, and she instantly braced for it. Was this it? Was he thinking about breaking up with her already because she was overbearing and blunt, and rather forceful about everything in their brief time together? She’d only seen these sorts of things in muggle tv shows and was already dreading the magic words of ’I’m breaking up with you.’ This was an irrational worry, of course, as Rhys immediately followed up by explaining that what he was thinking about was her, but in a good way. That didn’t stop her internal thoughts from pelting her with the worst-case scenario. Maybe breaking up with her was good for him. It fell into that realm of possibility, didn’t it?

She hadn’t realized that she her gaze had slowly started to drift down towards the floor. None of this made any sense to her. ”What you’re saying and what you’re doing…they don’t match at all. If there’s a problem, why can’t you just tell me?” Because the problem was her. The first thought that rang through her head after she finished speaking had to be true. Everything he said could be true that way. Rhys could like her but also be having second thoughts, which was why he was avoiding her.

Rubbing her temples because she could feel a tension headache starting to come on from how confused she was, Juniper also began to pace back and forth. Every couple of steps, she looked back up at him, trying to figure out what to ask next. This wasn’t getting anywhere. And why was he still shirtless? ”Could you please put a shirt on? It’s distracting, and I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you…”

rhys alexander greyback ● 412

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

I am underprepared,
but i am willing

and even better
I get to be the other half of you

March 16, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Juniper’s body language quickly told Rhys his explanations were unhelpful, and her questions remained unanswered. A lot was running through Rhys’ mind, and he felt any attempt to explain all of that would only label him insane and perhaps land him in St. Mungo’s, where he would never leave again. Rhys knew the answer existed in that jumbled mess but didn’t know how to retrieve it. And especially not when Juniper was right here in front of him. Again, it made him feel worse that her questions were relatively simple, and he couldn’t answer them like his brain refused to produce words for him to speak.

So, Rhys didn’t answer and watched as Juniper began to pace—clearly stressed. ”Why? It’s my dorm.” A sudden defensiveness washed over him. She had barged in here and caught him off guard. But after a moment, he turned to get a shirt. He also reminded himself of his good fortune that day that Sarah was not in here. He supposed not all of his decisions were terrible after all. As he put his arm through the shirt sleeve, Rhys involuntarily grunted. That was the shoulder with his werewolf bite, and something about his body changing as he grew older and taller made it ache terribly sometimes—just another side effect of having been bitten so young.

Fully clothed, Rhys looked at Juniper again. ”Can we just talk tomorrow? I can’t really explain it right now…” Either way, he wouldn’t sleep at this rate. Racing thoughts would not dare let him. Or just his luck that any sleep would get interrupted by a nightmare. Such a request was probably futile. She was about as stubborn as he was. He sat on the edge of his bed and eyed the rest of the bed, plenty of room if she wanted to sit next to him. Frustration was beginning to simmer. ”Juni—I don’t know what to tell you. We’re together. Do you think I would’ve said yes if I didn’t want to be with you?”

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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Rhys had a good point about this being his dorm, but it absolutely did take away from what she was trying to say. Being forced to look between his alluring eyes and counting his muscles was not what she was here for despite wanting to desperately know if what he had constituted as a six-pack or not. If she hadn’t been trying to be so serious, she would have been drooling. That wouldn’t have made her any better than Dolohov at that point. The only difference being that the two of them were actually dating. For the time being. ”Fine,” she gave up on the shirt, but he still moved to put one on. It was unreasonable to ask in his own space when she stormed in. She knew that.

He tried to tell her that they could talk about it tomorrow, and she fidgeted in place. Why did this have to wait? Why couldn’t they talk now? If he was seriously thinking about whatever this was, shouldn’t he have an answer already? Changing the place and time from here and now to tomorrow at say, lunch, really didn’t buy him all that much time. She couldn’t produce an answer. She liked instantaneous responses, and correct and logical ones at that. Having more questions pop up than answers really hurt her head.

As he posed the final question, she found herself unable to answer right away again. She didn’t know whether or not if that was true. Didn’t people do that all the time, where they ‘dated’ someone else because they were dared into it by their friends or felt pressured to do so? She had really hammered it home that she was interested in the lead up to the Christmas break before finally explicitly saying it. At the same time, she knew he liked her. Why else would the two of them be running off to empty rooms between classes just to make-out?

Her arms found themselves crossed in front of her again and her pacing stopped, replaced by her foot nervously tapping on the floor. ”I just…I don’t know. Something’s off and I’ve noticed it for a while now. And you seem to agree that there’s something wrong too,” she said her thoughts aloud, her accusatory tone finally starting to mellow out. ”This isn’t going to be one of those ‘its’s not you, it’s me’ things, is it?” Even though he had repeatedly expressed his feelings about her, the invasive thought was forefront.

rhys alexander greyback ● 415

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[rhys alexander greyback]

I am underprepared,
but i am willing

and even better
I get to be the other half of you

March 16, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys put on the shirt to prevent that from being another point of contention in his argument or whatever this was. It sounded like a fight, so it must be. And not one that Rhys wanted to continue. Was it too much to ask for a bit of space? He wasn’t dumping her. Rhys thought he’d made that clear, but apparently, he had not. Thinking about his close circle of friends, none of them spent an inordinate amount of time with Rhys as they also liked their own space. The past term, Rhys hadn’t noticed how much time he spent with Juniper, and now that it was in his face, he realized the sheer quantity.

But he wanted to, which was the difference. But sometimes, he needed to literally be left alone so he didn’t feel upside down. Nothing in their education allowed him to express what he wanted to convey here, worsening the panic. What if she couldn’t deal with that? It was enough to leave him moping around as if the act was already done. As Juniper repeated her concern, Rhys stared at his hands, the side of the fingernail he anxiously picked at.

Honestly, he felt like he was going to burst in a way. And the wave of fear that washed over him didn’t help—what if he said the wrong thing and she didn’t want to deal with him anymore? Then, he will have opened himself up to someone for nothing. Finally, he slowly shook his head. ”You don’t get it, Juni…” Hindsight would tell him that it wasn’t her fault. Rhys wasn’t one to share a lot about himself. There were two—three people at most who knew Rhys or knew his life. ”I—I’ve—“ He tried to begin, but then clammed up. ”Can you just trust me that we’re okay?” He felt overwhelmed again, but she wouldn’t relent.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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He was right: she didn’t fucking get it at all. Juniper wasn’t asking him to come to her beck and call, but she expected some level of communication, especially with the way he’d been shifty lately. If it wasn’t about her and it wasn’t about them as a couple, then what was it? It felt like they were starting to talk in circles, and no matter how she re-phrased her questions, she wasn’t getting any closer to a real response from him.

Until she almost did. For a second, it sounded like he was going to relent. To tell her what was going on. And then he stopped himself and asked for her to trust him on this. Juniper could feel her jaw clench in her frustration. She really wasn’t getting anywhere with this, was she? Every time there seemed to be a sliver of hope, it immediately disappeared. The only guarantee that she had was that things were supposedly okay between the two of them and that it had nothing to do with their relationship.

”Fine,” she said after a few seconds of silence, somewhat hoping that the pause would make him squirm until he spoke. It didn’t look like it was going to work either. Her mouth opened, as if she was going to say something else, but she decided against it. There was a feeling of defeat starting to creep into her as she stood there, jaw tense, trying to choose her next move. The correct move. Because she already knew she just made whatever this was worse than it had been. Rhys didn’t need to tell her that.

Turning around, Juniper headed back towards the door. As she started to turn the knob, she mumbled, ”Good night,” to him, and then exited. The roommate she’d kicked out what was standing dangerously close to the door when she opened it, as well as a few extra onlookers. A pathetic looking Nell was cowering in a corner, probably hoping her neck wasn’t next. Juniper didn’t have the energy for yelling right now. It wouldn’t help her case at all. Feeling even more lost than when she’d gone in, she slowly made her way back in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room.

rhys alexander greyback ● 374

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