i've got the kerosene and the desire [grey]

[Deleted]

There were several cool things about having a star Quidditch player as an older half-brother. The coolest by far was the fact that you could actually find information about him in books. Jamie had spent the past half hour in the Quidditch supply shop looking through their array of Quidditch themed books just for the joy of seeing Aaron’s name leap out of the pages at her. So far she had found him in three separate volumes – one about Puddlemere United, another about Seekers, and a third about up and coming players. It was kind of surreal, actually; she knew that her brother was famous, but that was a little different from actually seeing that he was famous.

When she was relatively sure that she had found all of the reading material that there was to find on Aaron, Jamie replaced the books – looking at them was one thing, but buying them would be a level of weird that she wasn’t willing to reach. Instead, she began to browse through the rest of the shop’s selection. She needed new gloves for the upcoming season, but was still not sure whether asking Aaron or her mother for money would be more pathetic. She ran her hands across a pair of black leather gloves, trying not to look too pitiful as she caressed them. Maybe someday.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Quidditch had always been one of Grey’s greater passions; watching, not playing though. He had always thought about joining the Gryffindor team but he happened to miss the tryouts every year, and going into his seventh year seemed a little late to jump onboard. Either way, he still maintained a long lasting relationship with his favorite team, the Ballycastle Bats, and it was that time of year where the new team gear was put out on the shelves. Making his way to Diagon Alley, Grey entered Quality Quidditch Supplies, one of his favorite stores in the shopping distract. He was rather surprised by the small amount of people milling around, mostly parents with younger students looking for equipment for flying lessons at Hogwarts. Those were the good old days. Hopefully one of them would be a future Quidditch star, carrying out their passion unlike Grey.

Browsing through the aisles, Grey finally happened upon the team gear. His goal was to get a jersey or shirt of one of the newer players, since he had already acquired the rest of the team over the years. Rows of other magical signs, cowbells, and other noise-making devices came in numerous colors, but they were lacking black and scarlet colors signifying Ballycastle. Frowning, Grey continued down the aisle, heading towards the end where the team shirts were. Luckily for him the store had the clothes he needed, and Grey grabbed the newest one he could find. The newly redesigned bat logo shimmered as he looked at it, a gigantic grin forming on his face. This was exactly what he had been looking for. Shirt in hand, Grey made his way towards the front of the store, weaving in and out of the aisles.

Eventually he entered into the equipment section of the shop, where the majority of the customers were. He spotted a few other students that he vaguely recognized, mostly from passing by them in the halls, and one, a girl, that was slightly more familiar than the rest. Grey knew her from watching the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, she was both their captain and one of their chasers. If it had been any other house team, aside from Gryffindor of course, he probably wouldn’t even had bothered to remember what the players looked like, or what their names were. But since Kyle was his closest friend on the team, Grey always heard stories about practices and matches from him. Grey couldn’t quite remember the girl’s name, but approached her nonetheless. “I’ve heard that those are some top notch gloves,” Grey said, indicating the leather gloves she was holding. “Think they’ll help on the pitch?”

grey xavier slater & @jamie
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none
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MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Jamie was in her element when she was in the Quidditch supply store, and a lot of other people seemed to recognize that; more than once someone had stopped to ask her for directions to a specific section of the store or for her opinion on a certain piece of equipment. That was what store attendants were for, but Jamie didn’t really mind, as long as they left her alone once their query had been satisfied. Being addressed wasn’t uncommon, but being drawn into a conversation, rather than simply asked to answer a question, was decidedly less common. When she turned to see who had spoken to her, Jamie found a Gryffindor boy looking back at her. She knew pretty much all of the Gryffindors by face, and she was pretty sure that this particular boy had something to do with her ex-friend Kyle, though his name was slipping her mind.

“If what I’ve heard is true, then yeah, they’re supposed to be amazing.” Jamie responded, trying to keep her voice casual. “I’m going to ask my brother what he thinks, though.” She said. It was a quick, meaningless lie to cover up the fact that she wasn’t sure whether or not she could buy the gloves of her own accord. It wasn’t a bad idea, though, now that she’d thought of it. Gesturing to the scarlet and black shirt in his hand, Jamie arched an eyebrow at the boy. “Ballycastle?” Of course, Jamie couldn’t really talk since she had only recently changed her allegiances from the Holyhead Harpies to Puddlemere United. She had an exceptional reason to make the change, of course. It just meant she was going to have to build her repertoire of team paraphernalia from the ground up.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Grey nodded in agreement as the girl affirmed that the gloves were top of the line. He recognized them from Quidditch magazines he read. They were relatively popular with the pros and it wasn’t strange to see them at Hogwarts from time to time. The students always thought it would give them an edge here and there. The one problem with them was the ridiculous price, which was what turned away the casual player. The price tag was what indicated their quality and advantage on the pitch though, and little things like better gloves could dictate the difference between a win and a loss. Grey had studied enough of the sport to know these little nuances, even if he had never actually played a match in his life. He definitely pissed his friends off with these factoids every so often. He thought of it as showing his loyalty to the sport.

Forgetting that he was clutching his new shirt in his hand, Grey was slightly puzzled by the girl’s inquiry about the team. “Ah, yeah. My dad was a huge fan of them when they were really good. Guess I follow after him,” he said, lightly laughing. Grey was well aware of the scoffing that usually followed that statement. Everyone nowadays seemed to be a bandwagon fan for the best teams. He thought it was refreshing to see people still routing for teams like Ballycastle that had struggled for years. Ballycastle had severely dropped in popularity over the past two decades, their glory days existing before Grey was born. The team had been a powerhouse up through 1999, but after that they suffered player and management problems that slowly drove the team into money problems. Grey was a fan despite this and he thought of them as somewhat of an underdog team that would someday return as the best in the league.

“So how do you think your team will fair this year? I’ve heard from a couple of your players that things are looking promising.” He hoped this wouldn’t be taken as intelligence gathering for Gryffindor. Grey had been wrung out by other house players before for asking that question, Kyle especially. Even though it was just a club sport, everyone took it seriously. Grey, on the other hand, just wanted to watch decent Quidditch and write about the matches for the school paper. Somehow he always happened to forget mentioning that fact. “Grey Slater by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I tend to get caught up in Quidditch easily,” Grey said, extending his hand out to the girl.

grey xavier slater & @jamie
433
Spaced by Aerosmith

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Ballycastle was good once? Jamie wasn’t sure she believed that. It wasn’t one of the teams that she had any sort of interest in, so her knowledge of their history was limited to the six years that had elapsed since when she had first attended Hogwarts. The teams she liked – the Harpies and now Puddlemere United – she had extensive knowledge on back to their foundings, though she doubted it would be of any use. Jamie wasn’t sure how she felt about inheriting a team preference from family. Again, her situation was a little different because her family member was actually on the team, not just a fan of it. She would be an awful younger sister if she didn’t support her brother.

Jamie gave the boy a puzzled look when he asked about how her team would do. She wasn’t sure whether he was trying to help Kyle out or just curious, but the Hufflepuff kept her answer purposefully vague, just in case. “We had a lot of players graduate, so it’s going to be interesting how the new recruits shape up.” She said neutrally. “I’m confident in all of our players, though. We work well as a team.” Cooperation was the modus operandi of most Hufflepuffs, so it would make sense that their Quidditch team was strong in that regard. Jamie did have some fears about how the new players would mesh with the old ones, but there was nothing she could do to fix that until she had held tryouts.

When the boy introduced himself, Jamie flinched a little. She should have remembered Grey, Kyle’s second in command in pretty much all things. She wondered briefly if Kyle had mentioned the bookstore altercation to Grey. She certainly hoped not, but those two had always been thick as thieves and it wasn’t totally out of the question. “Jamie.” She responded simply. She had gotten in the habit of introducing herself sans surname to avoid the disgusted looks she often received upon its hearing. “And it’s quite alright. Quidditch is very distracting.” Jamie added with a feeble attempt at a half-smile. She was too busy running through all the possible ways the scene could play out to invest herself emotionally any more than she already had with that smile-grimace hybrid.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

The Hufflepuff captain was a smart cookie. Her response to Grey’s question was so devoid of any information that he could take, that he smiled slightly from her cunningness. Just the response he was expecting from her too, but it pushed the conversation forward nonetheless. If he was a player for Gryffindor, he’d try and keep the team’s trade secrets as close to him as possible. Especially if someone from another house approached him. He knew he’d never get anything out of Kyle, even if their friendship depended on it. It was one of those things that Grey knew was off limits. For Kyle, it was Grey’s younger sister. Those were the things that their friendship was built on. Their love of Quidditch fell somewhere in between those two, and it was no surprise that Grey had never learned the Hufflepuff captain’s name before. Kyle tended to keep his teammates out of the picture for some unknown reason and Grey had always chalked it up to that Kyle was just tired of being around them after hours of practice. Thus when the girl introduced herself as Jamie, Grey had absolutely never heard her name mentioned before by Kyle, and he had only ever seen her play in Hufflepuff’s matches.

Regardless, Grey was happy that he had run into someone who seemed to have at least one similar interest with him. He had a bad habit of automatically turning people off, whether it was from something he’d say that could be misconstrued or they just approached him at the wrong time, it was nigh impossible for Grey to make casual conversation without it going sour at some point in time. A lot of people thought he was pushing their buttons on purpose, seeing how far he could get before they’d snap. That was never his intention of course, but it happened enough that Grey knew there was something he had to be doing wrong. So far, it seemed like everything was going smoothly with Jamie. “I’ll definitely be at most of Hufflepuff’s matches this year. Have to support Kyle in his last season. I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t at least cheer for him.” Grinning, Grey continued, “Unless you’re playing against Gryffindor, of course. No hard feelings at that point.”

grey xavier slater & @jamie
382
Hello by OMFG

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[Deleted]

“Most, but not all?” Jamie teased when Grey mentioned his plans for attending matches in the coming year. She understood why he wouldn’t commit to going to all of the matches – there were a lot, and with the homework load placed by N.E.W.T.s, it probably wouldn’t be feasible anyone to attend all of the Quidditch matches. Jamie was going to try to see as many as Gryffindor’s as possible, to support Adrian and Lily, but she had a feeling that most Saturdays she’d be cooped up studying. Jamie did her best to forget the fact that Grey was speaking in context of Kyle; at least he hadn’t noticed her grimace or brought up the events of the book shop. When Gryffindor was mentioned again, all of that faded away in favor of Jamie’s more competitive side. “No way am I letting my younger siblings beat me.” She said, shaking her head at that. She’d never hear the end of it. Considering that she was considering going into professional Quidditch, it would be more than a little embarrassing to be beaten by a couple of sixth years. Granted, they were talented sixth years that were related to her, but whatever.

Jamie figured that since the elephant of Kyle was in the room now, it would be better if she addressed it. It was going to make her antsy either way, so at least putting it out in the open would make her feel a little better. “Kyle and I haven’t been getting along so well for a while now, in case that changes anything.” She had her reasons, of course, all of them perfectly valid, but she didn’t want Grey to end up entrenched in their…whatever it was. Ideological war seemed a little too strong of a word choice, but when it boiled down to it, that was what it was; Jamie had to stand up against people who thought that Slytherins were bad and who could be friends with someone who could say that Fenrir Greyback was good, just misguided. “I don’t know how much of anything he shared with you, but I don’t know if he’d be happy to see you talking to me.” Kyle had seemed to want to repair their friendship before, but she doubted that it had stayed that way after her epic shouting match with the strange girl. Jamie still couldn’t decide whether or not that was a good thing in the long run.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

She had siblings in Gryffindor? And on the Quidditch team? Grey couldn’t pick up on any close resemblances to anyone he knew on the house team, and he was positive that there weren’t any siblings on the team other than the Longbottoms, and he was pretty sure Jamie wasn’t their sister. A look of confusion went over his face as he muddled the idea through his head, but to no avail. It didn’t really matter to him that much, and he wasn’t too keen on pushing the topic of her last name out on her right then and there. Maybe he had misheard her when she said siblings; because one would have made a lot more sense to him. Nonetheless, he understood her feelings of being compared to family members. Not the greatest feeling in the world, especially when you put forth as much effort into something as possible. From watching the Hufflepuff matches over the past few years, he knew Jamie was pretty good at the sport. The Gryffindor team wasn’t too shabby either, but there was a difference to how the two teams approached the game.

As Grey was still considering asking about her siblings, Jamie continued, mentioning that she hadn’t been getting along with Kyle recently. That was news to him. “No, I haven’t heard anything about this.” Grey could only imagine what could have possibly caused a rift between the two. He didn’t know Jamie at all, but she seemed like a nice, conversational person, especially to someone she had just met. And Kyle, well, Kyle was Kyle. Sure he had a flaw here and there, but everyone did. Kyle was pretty care free when it came to issues, typically resolving them as soon as they came up. That’s just how he was. “I think I’m safe from his wrath, assuming it’s at that point between the two of you.” It was slightly concerning that his friend was in a feud with a housemate and teammate. Sure, Grey had his own quarrels with his fellow Gryffindors here and there, but they were always resolved sooner or later. But this, this sounded like it was on a completely different level from what he was used to. What had Kyle done? Or was it something Jamie had done, and Kyle was being stubborn about the whole situation? Grey’s interest was definitely piqued, and he was eager to figure out the details to this mystery.

grey xavier slater & @jamie
406
I Won't See You Tonight Pt.2 (Demo) by Avenged Sevenfold

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Her words seemed to confuse Grey, and Jamie could understand why. Lily was her sibling, but certainly not Adrian’s, so there was a confusing map of relationships to be untangled to comprehend what she had said. The Gryffindor probably didn’t care enough about deciphering the Hufflepuff’s familial structure to dwell on it for too long, and in short order the conversation moved on to Jamie’s argument with Kyle. She was reassured by the fact that Grey didn’t know about the fight; she liked the boy a surprising amount, and didn’t want to jeopardize a possible relationship with him because she had lost her temper at the stranger. Maybe it hadn’t been as big of a deal for Kyle as she had thought; he had seemed upset, but Jamie wasn’t sure she knew how to read him anymore. She smirked when Grey said that he was safe from Kyle’s wrath. If only Jamie had the same reassurance.

“It’s kind of beyond the two of us. It’s complicated.” Jamie said, looking away from Grey. She didn’t want to talk about it, but she also didn’t know how to change the topic of conversation without making it desperately obvious how much she wanted to leave that day behind. Instead, she continued to stare at various things in the store, keeping quiet as she let her gaze roam.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Grey listened intently to Jamie, hoping that the story that was about to unfold was some kind of juicy gossip he could turn around on Kyle. The opportunity to grill his friend on little factoids he heard from other students was one of Grey’s favorite pastimes, and he always seemed to accumulate a lot of them over breaks. In only a few months they’d be riding back to school on the train, and that was the perfect opportunity to strike because Kyle would have nowhere to run. Grey recalled one year where he had heard from a little birdy that Kyle had asked a girl they both knew out on a date. Apparently it had gone fairly well, but he had neglected to tell Grey about it. In the long run, Grey cornered Kyle and threatened to hex him to high hell, smiling the entire time, if he didn’t share. It was all fun and games of course, and that was just how the two bonded over silly things.

It was complicated? And it was beyond the two of them? Grey wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but assumed it had to do with some kind of confliction between the beliefs of the two of them. He knew Kyle could be slightly stubborn about his ideals, but he was stupid about following them. Sure he had somewhat of an insane hatred for Slytherins, but there were reasons for that. Grey couldn’t see him defending that train of thought though, especially if it was going to interfere with a friendship. “I don’t really understand, but I can still talk to him about it. He can be pretty thick headed about things sometimes without realizing it.” Grey hoped that Jamie and Kyle would eventually be able to smooth things over, it sounded like they had gotten along pretty well before whatever happened. The bonds between housemates of the same year transgressed most friendships, sometimes reaching almost a familial level. He was positive that if there was a problem between Jamie and Kyle, their whole house was most likely feeling the effects of it in some way, shape, or form. “I swear, the way Kyle acts sometimes you wouldn’t think he was a Hufflepuff.” Grey said, shaking his head. “I’m sure you’ve noticed it as well, but he has a sick obsession with Slytherins. There’s no way that can be healthy.”

grey xavier slater & @jamie
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Five To One / Break On Through (To the Other Side) by Hollywood Vampires

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[Deleted]

Jamie was trying to puzzle out how exactly Grey and Kyle had become friends; she could see the similarities between the two of them, sure, but the differences were just as glaring. Her preference between the two of them was becoming more and more obvious, and Jamie couldn’t help but wish that Grey had been put into her house instead of Kyle. The feeling only intensified when Grey mentioned that his friend had a tendency to act decidedly unlike a Hufflepuff. Jamie considered herself a stereotype for her house, so when people acted outside of their normal traits, she noticed. Kyle’s blatant dislike of Slytherins definitely fell under that category; Hufflepuffs weren’t supposed to be malicious. As if he had read her mind, Grey brought up that same topic, and Jamie gave him a little half smile.

“If you want to talk to him about it, you can, but I doubt it would do much.” There were just too many layers of the slow decay of their relationship for it to be undone even by the most well-meaning of friends. “It started with the whole Slytherin thing – my little sister’s a Slytherin, and the idea that anyone could hate her just because of the house she was put into makes me really, really angry.” There she went, mentioning her siblings again. Hopefully it wasn’t as confusing to Grey as the first namedrop had been, since it wasn’t specific or plural. Then again, it could end up confusing him more if he tried to figure out who her sibling on the Gryffindor team was with this new information added on. Jamie pushed that thought aside, trying to pick her away around the conversation she didn’t want to have while also giving Grey enough information so that he could potentially make amends with Kyle for her. “It got a lot worse a week or so ago. One of his friends…well, she said a lot of things that I took offense to, and a lot of them were also insults against my family, and I don’t stand for that.” That was a lot more specific than she had meant to be, so Jamie decided that forging ahead with the rest of the details would be just as well, and would save Grey some breath. “I yelled. A lot.” She said sheepishly.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Somehow the whole Slytherin thing didn’t surprise Grey in the slightest. It had been a constant problem that the two friends had battled against since starting at Hogwarts; Kyle making pre-determined judgements on a quarter of the school before even getting to know them. Sure, Grey had his run-ins with a few nasties here and there, and yeah, they usually came out of Slytherin. But that was just how the whole house rivalry thing went. He was sure there were plenty of decent Slytherins who were constantly nagged at by unrelenting Gryffindors. That was how things worked between the two houses. Kyle and Hufflepuff however was extremely unwarranted. Grey knew his friend had a problem, and he had tried to help Kyle get over it, but it never seemed to work. Maybe this fight with Jamie was what he needed to get over his irrational behavior. It would definitely be a load off of Grey’s back. “Merlin’s beard…it was about a younger sibling too?” Grey could understand the more narcissistic Slytherins getting on Kyle’s nerves, but a younger student? Really? That was a new low, even for him. “I’ll definitely have a nice little chat with him about that. Now he’s just being stubborn about it.”

Grey was honestly disappointed with Kyle. He knew both of them had been wronged by Slytherins a few times, but it just wasn’t worth worrying about silly things like that. Forgive and forget was a motto that Grey had adopted over the past few years. It had helped him sort out his problems with his parents, and so far it looked like it had been working. There was no reason that he couldn’t convince Kyle to do the same. In the grand scheme of things, the divisions made between houses meant absolutely nothing after they graduated from Hogwarts. If you were a decent human being, then you’d survive in the working world. Ostracizing someone for something they can’t really control like the house they were in? That would never fly. “They went after your family too? I highly doubt your relatives have done anything abhorrent enough to warrant that kind of behavior.” Whoever this girl was that had been with Kyle at the bookstore sounded like she was drinking whatever he was. Or they both happened to wake up on the wrong side of the bed that day. Jamie genuinely seemed like a really nice girl, and the way she defended her family was admirable. There was no way her relatives could be that bad.

grey xavier slater & @jamie
421
Nothing But the Best by Frank Sinatra
notes here.

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Jamie bit her lip – it was hard to explain the situation in a way that didn’t paint Kyle as a total villain. She had liked him, and once upon a time, they had been friends. Things had changed, but she didn’t want to drag his name through the mud, especially not with Grey. “It wasn’t about my sister, but that was why I got offended by it.” Jamie thought back to her conversation with Mrs. Longbottom. Her disagreement with Kyle probably fell under the category of doing the right thing for the wrong reason – Jamie likely wouldn’t have reacted so poorly if Max hadn’t been in the picture. But Max was in the picture, so did it really matter that the reason had been wrong? The Hufflepuff sighed internally. Yes, it did matter. It mattered to her. “I just don’t see why he won’t give Slytherins a chance. A lot of them are good people. My sister definitely is.” If he had issues with specific Slytherins, then he could have issues with those particular Slytherins; there were certainly some that Jamie wasn’t fond of. But good people like Max shouldn’t have had to suffer so much hatred just because they were in a house with some not-so-nice people. The same thing could be said of every house.

When Grey mentioned that her relatives couldn’t have done anything that bad, Jamie was honestly speechless. She wasn’t sure whether Grey was purposefully discluding her father from that count or if he didn’t know, but Jamie intended to right that perception, especially since it had been the core of her argument. “My last name is Greyback, and my father is a genocidal maniac.” She said, her attempt to keep emotion out of her voice failing when her anger came through. Jamie couldn't hide that for long. “What made me yell was that someone had the gall to say that he was warranted in his beliefs that all non-werewolves should be turned, and that my siblings and I were better off because of him.” If anything, saying that was worse than saying that they were stupid or cowardly or whatever else people considered an insult. As Jamie had told the stranger, she and her siblings loved each other in spite of Fenrir, not because of him. Aaron let her stay with him because they were both willing to see past the man their father had been and into the people on the other side. Jamie realized belatedly how epicly she had failed at keeping the argument a secret. It felt better to get it off her chest, especially without any anger involved; it was just explaining what she had said and why.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

“I think his problem with Slytherins goes far beyond what any of us understand.” Grey had an inkling of what could have caused his friend’s spite, and if it was, Grey knew that it was something that had been the worst part of Kyle’s life thus far. Everyone had their demons, Grey included. Sometimes they showed themselves externally, in the case of Jamie and Kyle, very much so. It was very unlike him to take an interest in other people’s problems, but this time it concerned his best friend. If Kyle hadn’t brought it up to him yet, that means that he was probably trying to figure it out on his own first. But now that Grey kind of understood what had happened with Jamie, it was best that he stepped in and gave his friend a hand. It sounded like the other girl that had been with Kyle during his last encounter with Jamie escalated things to a whole new level. That was going to be a difficult hurdle to jump over when it came down to it. Grey was only worried about this problem getting out of control and causing problems for everyone involved, and that was something that none of them had the time for. “Kyle tends to stick to his guns when it comes to what he thinks. It’ll take a lot to get through to him, but he will eventually. Just need to show him there are Slytherins out there that aren’t out for his head.” Grey couldn’t help himself and chuckled a little at his last statement. It wasn’t funny in the slightest, but he thought there was tension building in their conversation, and a little laughter might ease that.

Oh was he wrong. Typical Grey reading things incorrectly. Jamie had continued talking as he was giggling like the little school-girl his parents had probably wished he had been, and she finally dropped her last name: Greyback. She was part of that family too? His confusion over the siblings on the Gryffindor Quidditch team now became clear. And so did the realization that the majority of her family were werewolves. Grey had nothing against them of course, whereas a lot of students seemed to have issues with it. A lot of that stuff was far beyond him, Grey choosing to only care about himself and his close-knit friends, shutting out the issues of others around him. But that was unavoidable at this point, and Jamie looked like she was starting to blow up as she told Grey what else had happened. People really believed that Greyback was right for everything he had done? That seemed completely absurd to him, but the way Jamie was reacting to all of it, there was no choice but to take her word. Sure, there were still people that hung on to the issues of the last wizarding war, and for good reason too. Entire families were destroyed by the dark wizards of that time, and it was hard for someone to not be affected by what had occurred. But that didn’t give the girl who was with Kyle permission to take her hatred out on Jamie and her family simply because they were the children of Greyback. That was never their choice.

Grey knew he had to choose his words carefully now. He was smart enough to know that people processed things differently when they were angry, and he had no intentions of getting on Jamie’s bad side as well. He wasn’t up to speed at all with the Greyback family, just vaguely aware of what their father had done, and that there were numerous siblings in the family and other werewolves at Hogwarts too. This was what always got him in trouble with others. His lack of understanding other people got in the way most of the time, but Grey was intent on not letting that happen today. He had to do what he could to help Jamie and Kyle figure out their differences, and what they could possibly do about this mysterious girl that resented Jamie so much. “Listen, I know we just met and all, and it’s probably weird to have some weird guy like me say it, but I don’t think you’re a bad person and I just met you five minutes ago.” Grey paused for a moment, thinking of what else to say. He wasn’t good at this kind of stuff, and he really wanted to slap himself silly for getting so invested in someone else’s business. “I also don’t think someone has the right to be treated poorly because of the actions of their family. What your father has done is beyond your control. It’s stupid and immature that people feel the need to show their hatred of him on you and your siblings. I’m sure you know that already, but I think what I’m trying to say is that I’m on your side in this.”

His adrenaline was slowly rising, an experience unique to only a few occasions. Grey was always neutral, but this was an issue he had found amongst his classmates for the past seven years. Too often they blamed and attacked others for their petty issues and beliefs. Too often he sat back and ignored all of it. Enough was enough. Hell, he didn’t even know Jamie and he was willing to help her prove to others that the Greyback family wasn’t as bad as some made them out to be. So what if their dad was a murderous psychopath? Things like that happened sometimes. Grey was going to do his best to fix the issue between Jamie and Kyle, and then continue from there. It was time for him to get involved. “I can tell you’ve dealt with this for a long time, and I’m not going to try and understand what that must be like. I also don’t want you to mistake this for me pitying you. I genuinely want to help when it’s needed. I want to fix things with you and Kyle. Getting past his rough spots, he’s an indispensable friend, and I’m sure you know that.” The only thing Grey knew to do at this point was stick out his hand and look Jamie directly in the eyes. He hoped he hadn’t overstepped his boundaries and she could see that he wanted to help her get to the bottom of all of this.

grey xavier slater & @jamie
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Never Be Alone by TheFatRat
woah this one is a little long

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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Honestly, Jamie didn’t want to understand anyone like Kyle. She didn’t want to understand why someone could hate hundreds or thousands of people he’d never met just because they happened to share one trait with someone he didn’t like. Jamie understood Grey’s point, but while stubbornness was admirable in some situations, if it kept people holding on to prejudice. “Sadly, I don’t think my sister would help with that one.” The Hufflepuff said wryly. “I’m afraid she’s a little…overprotective, as younger sisters go. If she knew that Kyle and I were in an argument, her opinion of him would probably not be all that high.” Max and Jamie were close, and one of the unfortunate side effects of that was that Jamie probably wouldn’t even have to say anything negative about Kyle for Max to realize they weren’t on good terms. Max wasn’t a generally pleasant person in general (Jamie loved her, but it was true), but she got about ten times worse when there was something actually to be cranky about. This would definitely qualify as something to be cranky about.

She nodded along awkwardly when Grey said he didn’t think she was a bad person. Jamie wished that wasn’t necessary, but everyone seemed to say it when they found out who she was the daughter of. At least people said that, instead of affirming that she was exactly like her father. “You can never have too many people on your side.” Jamie responded, hoping that it was satisfactory in affirming that she liked Grey, and that she as accepting his offer of sort-of friendship.

“Who says I want to fix things?” Jamie said sharply. Why did people always assume that you had to make amends with the ones in your life that were toxic? She had enough friends, ones who weren’t bigots, and she was not going to let people who she didn’t want back into her circle of friends just because someone else thought it was a good idea. “I’m fine with getting him help to get over his whole Slytherin thing, but I can’t be friends with him until after that’s over. I have too much on my plate already, with N.E.W.T.s and Quidditch and my girlfriend and my family, to try to invest energy into someone who might not change at all.” Grey had said himself that Kyle could be set in his ways, and Jamie wasn’t prepared to take that risk.

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