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last online May 2, 2024 19:30:41 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 8, 2020 6:22:18 GMT -7
Post by maxima ruqayyah greyback on Nov 8, 2020 6:22:18 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 Rhys mentioned how Jamie had always been a creative one, which wasn't untrue. She was clever, and it went without saying that she had a heart of gold beyond compare. "Aware Wolf" wasn't just a catchy name, though; Max didn't doubt that it would be something that would eventually change the lives of werewolves the world over. There was a lot of need for good in the world, and Max hoped that Jamie wouldn't be the only one to do it. Between the carelessness that had led to the Quidditch accident and the much more intentional explosions that had occurred prior—not to mention the murders, escaped convicts, or rogue dragons—knowing that there were people who wanted better and could actively envision that kind of a reality gave Max some hope that maybe not everything was so messed up. When she and Jamie had managed to escape from the Quidditch stadium, Max had anticipated that it was going to come with more deaths. It had been bad; it hadn't taken an Auror to assess the damage, when it had been happening all around her. What she hadn't been able to anticipate at that time, though, was that she would know her fair share of the dead. Rhys apologized for not having remembered Professor Fawley's death, but Max sort of understood; the Minister for Magic's death had eclipsed all the rest. That didn't mean that it wasn't sad, though. Professor Fawley was a good teacher, and she had been fairly young. She was only a few years older than Rhys, maybe, although Max hadn't known her age for sure. It would probably be awkward for her relatives who would be at Hogwarts still, and Max felt as though she could almost relate. The fact of being the relative of someone who had died tragically didn't ever go away, or at least it hadn't gone away for her yet from Elias's death. "I still hate that I wasn't there with you both," Rhys added. Max didn't want him to beat himself up over it. It had been weeks since it had happened, and it wasn't as though he had been there with her and Jamie and then deserted them when things got dangerous. Frightening though the experience had been for them, they had used Side-Along Apparition and had gotten out safely. They had made it out alive, and she was there conversing with him. Really, she was glad that he hadn't been there, at least from the standpoint of the trauma of it. It wasn't a normal thing to be taking in a Quidditch match and then have the stadium begin to fall to pieces. Regardless of the things he'd seen while out of the country as a Curse-Breaker, Rhys wouldn't have been able to anticipate the explosion of the stadium, either. "Rhys," Max started, her voice pointed as she looked at him again. While she appreciated that he wanted to protect her, there was plenty that she had been through, too. "I'm here, aren't I?" she reminded him. She wasn't dead yet. "And I'm seventeen now. I can do magic outside of school, finally." If she had to defend herself, she could defend herself without a problem. She was no longer a child in the eyes of the Ministry, which had to count for something. rhys alexander greyback
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rhys alexander greyback
HOGWARTS ALUM WEREWOLF CURSEBREAKER ECHO
1,173 posts
played by vanessa
the air around me still feels like a cage
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last online May 2, 2024 18:34:38 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 8, 2020 21:32:11 GMT -7
Post by rhys alexander greyback on Nov 8, 2020 21:32:11 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 The Three Broomsticks maxima ruqayyah greyback
Rhys in all his composed and stoic nature took certain things to heart even when he didn't mean to. His walls had weak points and holes though they weren't always visible to those around him. You had to be close, you had to be invited or just under his skin. When it came to his siblings it was always a sensitive topic, he was glad he had them and they all stayed close though he sometimes had to convince himself they weren't going to abandon him simply because they had their own families. They were all he had and if anything ever happened to them--well, he wasn't sure what he would do. The past couple of years had been hectic in terms of tragedies and other events, Rhys knew as much as the rest of the public was told and he wondered what would be the next thing to happen. How many more had to die before thing settled down? The Quidditch Stadium explosion had been absolutely tragic and he was only so very grateful the girls got out. Perhaps it was the timing, just over a year after his brother had been killed and even if they had only been acquainted for a short time that was still his brother.
Max spoke to him sternly, causing him to look at her from where he had been staring at a corner of the table. She reminded him that she was alright, Jamie was alright and it had passed and they had all survived. He took a breath and tried to convincingly at least half-smile. "You're right." He responded. "And I have no doubt you can all take care of yourselves." They were all capable in their own way, even Adrian--the only he really worried about the most. "I think I just have a hard time remember you all are not first years anymore." He smiled more now. Where had the time gone? Wasn't it just yesterday he was beginning his seventh and final year at school as Max was now and just meeting Jamie as a first year? It made him feel a bit old, which was unsettling the more he thought about it. All these years and while he wasn't the same lost little boy that walked onto the that train fourteen years ago, some traits never left him.
He'd made friends, he'd found love, found family, had his heart broken and yet wanted those close to him to stay nearby but he clung to his solitary lifestyle since that was what he was used to. Being a Curse Breaker was dangerous and risky but it was safer in his mind than any rejection he could face stepping out of that solitary comfort zone. Jamie had bugged him a few times about his serious dating life, or seemingly lack thereof as a younger sibling or sister might but he didn't feel the need to keep them up to date on anything that wasn't serious. And frankly, he didn't see anything on the forefront. Everything else--Maria, even Deva and whomever were only his business. Jamie had known Deva, however and by coincidence that his new found first year sister had been in the same house as his most recent ex-girlfriend at the time. It only seemed to add to Rhys' pattern of wrong place, wrong time.
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last online May 2, 2024 19:30:41 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 9, 2020 12:29:59 GMT -7
Post by maxima ruqayyah greyback on Nov 9, 2020 12:29:59 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 It was obvious to anyone who had known her for any real length of time that Maxima Greyback had become a completely different person than she had been at eleven years old. When she had started at Hogwarts, her way of handling her surname had been to play into it. She had never had a thing to do with Fenrir Greyback in her life, but the other students in her year hadn't known that to know that she wasn't even a werewolf. She didn't like getting close to people, and it provided her with some distance between herself and them. Why her mother hadn't chosen to give her her maiden name as her surname wasn't really something that Max had thought much about; she had just accepted it as the way that things were. She also hadn't taken her stepfather's surname when her mother had married him, although Mike Donovan was the only father she had had in her life. Maybe she should have asked, she thought, or maybe she should have changed her name—like how Adrian had changed his name to match his mother's. But what would that have done for her, really? Not that Max would have let her guard down enough to admit that her past judgment hadn't been the greatest at times, but she had grown up from being an angry little girl with a snarky comment in reply to everything. She didn't feel as much of a need to pretend to be something that she wasn't. It wasn't a matter of loving herself—because Max was still a long way from that—but she knew that she didn't need to act like a different person in order to get by in life. She wasn't perfect, nor did the prefect badge that she had never expected to pin onto her school robes suggest that she was. Within her household, at least, she was the eldest child, too, and it wasn't as though her mother and stepfather had spoiled her rotten. They had always expected her to take responsibility, and she had done it without a single issue. At the same time, she could understand that it couldn't have been easy for Rhys, either, to realize that his younger half-siblings were growing up. She knew that she would feel that even more once Simon and Sarah, her twin maternal half-siblings, were Hogwarts students, though she had another year before then. Max nodded to Rhys. "Thanks for wanting to protect us," she told him sincerely, even if she thought that it was sort of a futile effort. The world wasn't always the greatest, and at least she was focusing on doing something about it, Max thought. She wasn't so overwhelmed by it all, but she knew that it sucked. She looked more to Rhys's liquor than to his face then, pausing. "Erm, I know you can't exactly go anywhere because of Hag's Fever," since Gringotts couldn't very well send their Curse-Breakers beyond the British Isles while they were essentially locked out of the rest of the world, "but have you thought about, you know… staying for a bit?"rhys alexander greyback
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rhys alexander greyback
HOGWARTS ALUM WEREWOLF CURSEBREAKER ECHO
1,173 posts
played by vanessa
the air around me still feels like a cage
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last online May 2, 2024 18:34:38 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 9, 2020 15:56:50 GMT -7
Post by rhys alexander greyback on Nov 9, 2020 15:56:50 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 The Three Broomsticks maxima ruqayyah greyback
The Greyback name, even this many years after the end of the last war still had its connotations and associations but if you really got to know them you'd see that none of them were Fenrir and as far as he knew none of them had even met the man. Rhys had never wanted to meet Fenrir and deep down the thought of it did frighten him a little bit but that was probably just all the stories he'd heard. Perhaps it was the influence of each of their own individual upbringings but Rhys had watched with some pride as each of his younger siblings had grown up into a functioning member of society and not causing any trouble. Well minus Adrian but even then his brother seemed to march to the beat of his own drum specifically. Max wasn't the timid eleven year old he had met at nineteen anymore, and even if he would never stop fretting as a big brother would he knew she would be okay.
Often Rhys would forget to look beyond the Greyback family dynamic, Max had younger siblings as well so despite being one of his own youngers siblings she had some insight into being the oldest. It was a different role to play and it was probably why she wasn't afraid to stand up to him at times. Rhys' temper was a known trait and a fact and Max had no issues calling him out on that or other things. Granted at the time he didn't appreciate it but later on he found that he did, it helped keep him honest and just as he cared about them--they cared about him. There was still a lot he didn't talk about, such as details of when his mother died or he'd been bitten specifically and other personal things but they had enough of the gist of it to get a picture. Plus he was working and traveling pretty often. Rhys nodded, he knew Max didn't want him to feel responsible for something that was entirely not his fault and out of his hands. It was a matter of timing and there wouldn't have been anything to be done about that.
He looked up when she mentioned Hag's Fever, it had caused the quarantine that had left him back in the UK for so long and he considered her question. There was plenty he missed being abroad, though he'd made it back a handful of times during the tournament to meet Elias and see his family. "Well I'm here as long as the Quarantine lasts..." He thought and paused, maybe it wouldn't be such a terrible thing if he didn't leave as soon as he was cleared to. It wasn't as if there wasn't anything in the UK to keep him here. He had family, friends and other people in his life that had become part of his routine and the routine he wasn't terribly desperate to break despite how it might have nagged in the back of his head that he shouldn't be doing it. "But I don't have to leave right away." He added, trying to be reassuring. It was hard to have the stance that he wanted to be there for them when he was away so often. "I mean, I miss working but its been nice to be back."
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last online May 2, 2024 19:30:41 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 13, 2020 21:04:15 GMT -7
Post by maxima ruqayyah greyback on Nov 13, 2020 21:04:15 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 Rhys looked up at her at her mention of Hag's Fever. With a quickness that Max didn't really want to hear, he said that he was only there for as long as the quarantine would last. She knew that it was his job, but surely there was some way that he could have requested to remain in the country a little while longer. She knew that she would hardly see him, Adrian, or Jamie for most of the school year, because that was the reality of having family members who were no longer students. If she was lucky, she would get to see them on Hogsmeade weekends, but even that was never a guarantee. It was hard to get schedules to match up, even when she was able to find out the dates in advance. Although he had provided her with an answer, there was a pause. It was almost more uncomfortable for Max than the first response he had given her, mostly because she had to wait in silence for him to say something. "But I don't have to leave right away," he told her, correcting himself about what he had said to her just before. There would probably be time following the end of the travel restrictions before he would be able to be sent out anywhere, Max assumed; the bank probably wouldn't send him back out with only a day or two of notice. Or maybe they would; Max wasn't sure if the goblins who ran things were always considerate of their employees' time, particularly when they gave them so many freedoms on the job itself. Working as a Curse-Breaker didn't come with as many rules as, say, working for the Ministry in most roles, but it also felt to Max as though the Curse-Breakers were left their own devices. When Rhys admitted to her that he had missed working but that it was nice to be back all the same, Max nodded. It must have been weird for him not to have been doing anything for a few months already, with no end on the restrictions in sight. From her perspective, it wasn't just bad because she would have been on her summer holidays anyway; it didn't interfere with her day-to-day life much, though she didn't want to get sick if she could manage to avoid that. While her hope had been that maybe Rhys would have been able to request a temporary position in a desk job instead of out wherever Gringotts opted to send him the next time around, Max knew that she shouldn't have been ungrateful for the time that she had with him in that same moment. She had a few weeks of her summer left, which was enough to spend a little bit more time with him beyond their present meeting at the Three Broomsticks. "Yeah, I understand." Max understood his perspective, even if she didn't like it completely. "Does it feel weird, though, being here? Erm… Do you feel like… it's a shock? Or is it just sort of boring, you know, being in Hogsmeade like this when you could have been somewhere else?"rhys alexander greyback
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rhys alexander greyback
HOGWARTS ALUM WEREWOLF CURSEBREAKER ECHO
1,173 posts
played by vanessa
the air around me still feels like a cage
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last online May 2, 2024 18:34:38 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 13, 2020 22:35:17 GMT -7
Post by rhys alexander greyback on Nov 13, 2020 22:35:17 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 The Three Broomsticks maxima ruqayyah greyback
Rhys knew that his sisters liked it when he was home and around, it had been difficult over the years as he worked and tried to time visits home with Hogsmeade weekends as soon as they had been old enough to visit and then some time spent during the Holidays of course, but he enjoyed his work and he’d never admit it but he had always felt a small sense of intimidation at knowing that his siblings still had families technically and he was this floating sibling in between all of them. He hid behind his work and his busy schedule, but he still made time. Max asked him about perhaps staying long now that he was already here for the quarantine and it would have been a lie to say that he hadn’t thought about it, but as soon as he had started feeling a bit stir-crazy he had brushed it off. Plus, a lot of Curse Breakers used this opportunity to retire or find jobs closer to home especially if they had children. Rhys almost felt selfish taking one of those jobs from a mother or a father, but that was always the side of him that had felt orphaned.
She only nodded as his responses and that only told him that it wasn’t what she had wanted to hear, he felt a bit bad but he didn’t make it a habit to lie to his siblings. That was how relationships cracked and eventually shattered, whether it was a lie of fabrication or a lie of omission—it was all the same to him. As far as he knew most people didn’t like to be lied to and so he didn’t consider his negative opinion of it particularly special. He thought about her question and tried to think of how he would answer it. It would have been easier had he kept a relatively simple life between research, meeting with Jamie and Sienna and discussing the potion and whatever local work the bank had in the vaults but it wasn’t that simple—Maria didn’t make it simple. ”Its been quieter than I’m used to, but I’ve been able to get a lot of research done.” He admitted, and that kind of work wasn’t boring for him if he was being honest. He loved to read and learn things, but he did also enjoy being out at job sites. ”And helping your sister, of course.”
And drinking no small amount of whiskey though it was only a small amount of what he’d kept at home including what he picked up from where he traveled. But he didn’t feel the need to bring that up and cause any concern. Rhys himself didn’t feel like his drinking was an issue just as any Englishman would think that drinking an excessive amount of tea was an issue. ”But its not really a shock, I think some of the other Curse Breakers who mostly live abroad and had to stay struggle with it more.” He commented, it had been their foul luck that they were stuck here instead of where they normally lived every day. ”And I’m used to coming back to see you all. Its like I said, I do miss working but then I get to spend more time with you and Jamie and whenever Adrian feels like appearing.” Adrian certainly lived his own life and they cared for one another as brothers did and no amount of pushing from Rhys would ever move his brother off his own decided path.
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last online May 2, 2024 19:30:41 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 14, 2020 2:27:12 GMT -7
Post by maxima ruqayyah greyback on Nov 14, 2020 2:27:12 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 Rhys told her that working in Britain for once was quieter than he had expected for it to be, but he noted that he had gotten a lot of research done. He had been helping Jamie, too, and Max supposed that those things sounded pretty positive. Sometimes that was all that they could do. Finding something positive in everything was more of Jamie's way of thinking about life, but it did help not to be overly pessimistic about everything. He added, too, that it wasn't really a shock. It was harder, he told her, for the Curse-Breakers who mostly lived abroad. Max hadn't really thought about the fact that there were probably Curse-Breakers based in other countries more permanently, but they must have existed. For him, Rhys explained, he was used to coming back in order to see them. He missed working, as he had told her already, but he got to spend time with her and Jamie and Adrian. Max chuckled a little at Rhys's comment about the fact that Adrian only really spent time with him occasionally. It wasn't exactly a shock, Max thought, if one knew their half-brother. He had ties to the States and to Germany and worked with dragons. He was also more reserved, which made him and Lily Potter such an interesting pair. Lily was anything but reserved. "That's him, though, isn't it?" she joked, even though she was truly glad that she had gotten to spend a little bit more time with Adrian than she was supposed to have. He had transferred to Ilvermorny, and then he had transferred back to Hogwarts when everything had happened there. "He'll show up when we least expect it. Probably at Christmas. I'll send him an owl this week, though. Er, not about Christmas… yet. In general, I mean." If that wasn't enough, she knew that Lily would find some way to motivate him. rhys alexander greyback
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rhys alexander greyback
HOGWARTS ALUM WEREWOLF CURSEBREAKER ECHO
1,173 posts
played by vanessa
the air around me still feels like a cage
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last online May 2, 2024 18:34:38 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Nov 15, 2020 16:42:32 GMT -7
Post by rhys alexander greyback on Nov 15, 2020 16:42:32 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 The Three Broomsticks maxima ruqayyah greyback
Rhys always had a hard time finding the silver lining in situations, that was Jamie’s job as far as he was concerned, and he tended to look at it from a more negative perspective. How could things go wrong, how could this come back to haunt him later, when was the other shoe going to drop? It had been the pattern of his life in most cases aside from a just plain bad timing. When the quarantine had taken effect he hadn’t very happy about it all and had sunk into a bit of a dark place until he found a new routine and grew accustomed to it, plus when the end of term had arrived he was able to see his family which always pushed him into a better mood. Plus, he’d made new friends as well and was finding time to connect with old ones that he didn’t get much of a chance to see. It had also brought something else to light for him, he’d actually been quite exhausted. After Elias had died, he had thrown himself into work and when he was working, he was very deep in a bottle of firewhiskey. It had taken a toll on him, but he hadn’t realized it until he was forced to have a full stop. Everybody grieved in their own way though Rhys had a tough time just facing it.
Rhys nodded his head in agreement, they all knew how Adrian was despite how they attempted to be surprised in the end. Plus, he was closer in age to Jamie and Max so it was natural he was closer to them than he might have been Rhys. Fortunately, the sure way to find Adrian was to find Lily who was still at Hogwarts. She was an interesting personality, not at all what Rhys had expected when he met the daughter of one the highest regarding wizards of their time and she was certainly full of energy, at least enough for both her and Adrian. ”I suppose it is.” Not much Rhys could do about that, or really anything that his brother did at all. Max mentioned the Holidays and particularly Christmas. He had missed Christmas day itself the previous year and it hadn’t been intentional, but he hadn’t been all that disappointed—though he’d never admit it. With how he had stuck his head in the sand in terms of his own grief he had been taking a lot of solitary jobs and had shown up around the New Year to see his sisters as Adrian hadn’t been around either.
Rhys paused a moment, he thought about the current situation and even if the quarantine ended soon and how long a job typically took and what his schedule was like this year. ”I’ll be home for the Holidays this year though. Even if this whole thing ends and I take some work, I can stay.” He’d always felt that he had to make up for the previous year or any years he missed. Then again, the older they all got and the more they went on with their lives it did become difficult to time when to spend time together, but he could usually find one of the girls at least. ”If you all don’t already have plans.” Sometimes it slipped his mind that they all still had other family members that weren’t Greyback. Their mothers, sometimes siblings. Rhys didn’t have that and he didn’t hold it against them, but he was always in the back of his mind.
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last online May 2, 2024 19:30:41 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Dec 1, 2020 0:42:51 GMT -7
Post by maxima ruqayyah greyback on Dec 1, 2020 0:42:51 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 Rhys mentioned that he would be home for the holidays that year, which was exciting news for Max, even if he was right there in front of her already. "Even if this whole thing ends and I take some work," he added, "I can stay." That was good. Max didn't know if Rhys would be back to work by the time that Christmas came around, but she hoped that the Hag's Fever situation wouldn't continue on forever. "If you all don't already have plans," continued Rhys. "Well, no…" Max cut in. She didn't have any plans other than what was usual for her at Christmas, which was that she assumed that she would be returning home to her mother and stepfather for the holiday to celebrate it with them. It was only August, after all, and there was plenty of time for plans to change before Christmas, but of course she wanted to spend some of that time with her paternal half-siblings if their schedules permitted it. "I mean," she clarified, "nothing different from the usual. Going back home and…" Well, she would be doing whatever, really, after that. "You can spend Christmas with us, if you'd like," Max added with a little shrug. She knew her mother would be the last person to mind the company; she'd become used to it over the past handful of years, at least. "You're family, too, you know. You know my mum and Mike won't mind…"rhys alexander greyback
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rhys alexander greyback
HOGWARTS ALUM WEREWOLF CURSEBREAKER ECHO
1,173 posts
played by vanessa
the air around me still feels like a cage
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last online May 2, 2024 18:34:38 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Dec 5, 2020 0:58:01 GMT -7
Post by rhys alexander greyback on Dec 5, 2020 0:58:01 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 The Three Broomsticks maxima ruqayyah greyback
Rhys was used to spending most of his holidays with his friends, his co-workers and it hadn’t quite been on purpose as more of a timing issue. Last year had been on purpose as he had pushed off grieving and focused on working himself to the bone instead. Still, the few times he had spent with his half-siblings’ families had been wonderful and any anxiety he had about it had been purely from his own mind. Rhys smiled at the invitation, he’d met all their respective families and though nervous he’d been welcomed which had completely surprised him at the time. He still remembered the first invitation extended to him at seventeen and he’d politely refused it out really out of fear but while he was in training, he was able to spend Christmas with all of them and the memories still cheered him up.
”I’d like that, it’ll be nice to be home this year.” Well there was a silver lining to this quarantine after all, even though he was as comfortable as he’d ever been with having siblings and their whole situation it still felt almost unusual at times. Rhys drank the remaining Whiskey he had left in his glass. He was tempted to get another one but considering it was barely past lunch time he mentally told himself he’d get one later. Rhys enjoyed his whiskey, but he didn’t need his sister seeing him drink at his normal pace, not that Rhys thought that there was anything particularly wrong with it. ”I think it would be nice for all of us to get together if we can manage it.” It seemed there was always one of them missing, typically one of the boys it seemed. He paused and reached for his pocket and pulled out his phone, the screen was illuminated with a message—it wasn’t anything urgent, but he figured it was time anyway.
”Hm, I need to take care of something at the bank today.” Rhys put his phone back in his pocket. ”But I can come visit one of your Hogsmeade weekends.”
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last online May 2, 2024 19:30:41 GMT -7
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Jan 14, 2021 17:18:14 GMT -7
Post by maxima ruqayyah greyback on Jan 14, 2021 17:18:14 GMT -7
August 15, 2025 Max was glad that Rhys seemed to receive the invitation of spending Christmas with her and her family well. They had time to plan, though; it wasn't as though she would be completely unreachable when she left for Hogwarts. She had gotten a mobile phone, and owls still existed, too. They could coordinate something; she could get her mother in the loop while she was still at home, and she could always contact Rhys directly if school got in the way.
At about that time, though, Rhys pulled out his mobile phone and saw that he had received a message. "Hm, I need to take care of something at the bank today," he told her, sticking the phone back into his pocket as he spoke. "But I can come visit one of your Hogsmeade weekends."
"Yeah, that's not a problem," Max assured him. "I'll see you."
rhys alexander greyback Fin!
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