a grown queen doing grown things (thius)

Bellona hadn't spent any decent length of time in Melanthius's Head Boy dormitory, as this week they had mostly been in the common room during the evening times. A kiss goodnight, and they travelled their separate ways. After that gruelling lesson of Professor Renshaw's, however, she felt compelled to be somewhere private - out of sight and out of mind, with only her boyfriend as company.

She was very quiet when they'd come out of the class, except to suggest to him that they made way to his dormitory. She didn't speak again until the door was closed and they were inside there, but it was to marvel at her surroundings.

"I simply have to make Head Girl when the time comes..." The furnishings were exquisite, and the bed looked big enough to hide a small army. Peeking into the bathroom, she noticed the golden facets and gleaming tiles: pure opulence. "I'd heard that Weasley didn't spend much time in here, and preferred being in his old dormitory. What possessed him, I wonder?"

At least for a moment she wasn't thinking about Renshaw's lesson. Instead she was running her hands along the side of furnishings: cabinets and chests and bed stands.

@Melanthius Burke

Thius gleamed at her, and the dorm, with pride as he watched her check it out; he had been wanting to show her it since they stepped into Hogwarts, but the craziness of returning to regular school life played a role, especially now that he had Head Boy duties to attend to.

"If Headmaster Riddle doesn't pick you for Head Girl, I'd think he was under the Imperius Curse."

There were times where he still couldn't quite believe that this was his very own dorm. How was it more extravagant than his quarters at home? His personal bathroom didn't have gold furnishings! Draping his backpack of books and other supplies onto one of the chairs, he joined her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, glad they seemed to have the same idea: talking privately after that disaster of a class.

"I think it's that he simply lacks any kind of taste, which is inherent to the Weasleys as we are both well-aware. Though, I heard that it was much less glamorous the previous year. Personally, I'm quite grateful to not need to wear earplugs at night anymore nor wait for the restroom to be unoccupied..."

Speaking of that...

"You should touch the bed, I'm not sure where the mattress was sourced from, but it's superior to the ones we've slept on for years."

@Bellona Lestrange

Her nose scrunched.

"But he still didn't make me a prefect, did he?" she sighed, taking a seat on the bed as was recommended.

That sigh of resentment turned to one of utter contentment. "Ooh..." It was as if the mattress was moulding to the shape of her, seemingly fitting to her and her needs instead of having to shift about and find adequate comfort. "This is heavenly!" She shuffled about then fell backwards, arms spread, letting another sigh escape her.

Even the ceiling was lovely, she thought, gazing up at it with the first smile of the day.

There hadn't been a lot to smile about before that.

"I think I may have overreacted a bit," she said, now thinking back to the class, "But I don't suppose I was the only one. A lot of the girls felt uncomfortable, certainly. You could see it. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the boys and the girls completely separate?"

@Melanthius Burke

"I thought it was Head of House who usually picked prefects? Did that change and nobody told me?"

Whoever it was, he'd have to hope they regret the decision, but on the other hand...

"Well, because I'm Head Boy, you get to enjoy the best perks without having to deal with the workload of a prefect. I'd say that puts you in a better position than Estrada or Jetson."

Thius took off his robe to allow himself and the rest of the uniform underneath to unwind. Watching his girlfriend get quickly comfy on the bed, he chuckled, sitting down beside her. Ah, this really was a nice place to talk, wasn't it?

Then, he lied back hoping the shifting of his weight wouldn't disturb her position too much.

"I can say a few of us boys were just as uncomfortable. I'd think so too considering how delicate some of the topics are..."

Thius turned his face to look at hers, biting his lip. "I wanted to hold your hand so badly while we were in class to comfort you, but it's our luck that one of the classes we actually have together is like that."

@Bellona Lestrange

"And we're not actually together at all!" she despaired, "We're at opposite sides of a room. Sakura was good at being comforting, but I don't think she was very happy about it either."

She turned as well, having felt the slight rumple of the bed when he'd flopped back onto it.

"Don't worry about it. There wasn't anything you could have done. Perhaps it will get easier as time goes on. I think I just had a bit of a shock to it: there was no easing in slowly, it was just thrown out the bag."

And they all thrashed and flopped around like fish out of water. It was painful.

@Melanthius Burke

"How are we supposed to learn if our professor keeps 'teaching' like he's some kind of second-rate court jester? I know I can't get away with checking out some of the books in the library, my family would get the wrong idea, though I suppose I'd have an easier time with Hector being out of the picture this term..."

Thius extended his hand out to touch hers, desperate to ease some of the longing that had consumed him throughout the class period.

"Oh, babe, that class was torturous! Not only is our professor an oaf, I had to be stuck near all of the filth! Why couldn't they have divided it by house?"

@Bellona Lestrange

--- A Few Days Later ---

Ever since the most recent encounter with Vaulkley, Thius had grown concerned about his potential intentions. What if he might use his girlfriend's vulnerabilities against her? Just the fact that he blabbered about Estrada's plans, as helpful as it was, made him skeptical that his heart was in the right place when it came to helping her. Besides being cautious in general, he wasn't going to discuss anything that could be used against either of them in a communal area. On the other hand, he was glad that Bellona was acquainted with someone who could relate to some of her plights that came with having an uncommon ability as she only really had her younger sister as far as he was aware.

It was after classes, and they were spending some time in his dorm. He stood by the table in one corner of the dorm, carefully pouring lemongrass tea for the both of them. "Babe? I spoke with Vaulkley recently, and I'm somewhat skeptical of his intentions. He seems to be a bit of a money-grubber..."

If it wasn't for the fact that Vaulkley wanted him to pay 100 galleons for a service he would only reap the benefits of by extension, he would've just ignored his offers.

@Bellona Lestrange

With Nightstar settled on her lap for a while, Bellona was idly stroking through her fur while Melanthius prepared tea for them. She loved having this exclusive space where they could spend time together out of the eyes and ears of their peers, but she had a feeling something was bothering Thius. This was exactly the right time and place for them to confide in one another, so he did.

"Yes, he is," she stated calmly, knowing exactly what he was like. There needed to be slightly more context than that though, so she asked: "What exactly did he say?"

@Melanthius Burke

"Well, he offered to tell me Estrada's plans for the duel for ten galleons. I accepted simply because we both know how that mudblood lacks," he replied, taking the other seat. "His plan was information you'd learn during the first few duelling lessons many moons ago, so he essentially didn't have one. I didn't tell Vaulkley my plans simply because I'd rather not end up giving Estrada an advantage, though it'd likely be minimal as, again, it's not his strength."

Thius blew onto his tea, encouraging it to cool down. "Not long afterwards, he tried to get a hundred galleons out of me to guarantee that you'd snog me. When most of our peers say something like that, they're usually trying to get you to use a love potion, so I declined, merely stating that we've snogged and kissed before in an attempt to get him to back off. He did not back off, he kept pressing me about it and tried to say I was calling you a liar. Not a single hint discouraged him. As Travers was there, I tried having her corroborate the attempt seeing as she gags whenever we breath in each other's direction, but that didn't dissuade him."

It was so irritating.

"And I simply wasn't going to say anything about our relationship seeing as how we were in the community lounge and both my siblings and my grandmother happened to be in there at the time. Thank Merlin they were occupied looking at some magazine, but then he vaguely went on about how the two of you were similar in ways. I questioned him on how seeing as I wasn't going to tell him anything you didn't want out for the consumption of the Hogwarts rumor mill."

This was getting him winded by the way his voice was sounding. As his tea still needed to cool down, Thius nonverbally summoned over his water bottle and took a big drink, wiping his lips with the back of his hand afterwards.

"I told him he was coming off like a charlatan simply because he wanted a hundred galleons for a service that wasn't mine to directly receive that sounded like a miracle cure, and I'm not quite sure if his intentions when it comes to helping you are out of goodwill."

@Bellona Lestrange

In the time she was listening to Thius, Nightstar had leapt from her lap and sleekly abandoned the room without so much of an eck. Bellona had a feeling she would patrol the adjoining corridor for them, because that was just the sort of loyal familiar she was. If someone came within potential earshot, they would get a feline version of a warning.

But she didn't have much time to think about Nightstar and her intentions. Although Melanthius went into a detailed explanation of the events, Bellona was grateful for it. That way, she could envision the scenario as if she were there - no stone unturned, so to speak.

When he mentioned the ten galleon squander, she suppressed a titter by putting her hand up to her mouth. Although she didn't like Piran being so desperate for galleons, ten wasn't enough to be rattled by. What she found amusing was Jerome's apparent lack of a game plan. Then again, why was she surprised? Under the next line of explanation, however, her expression changed and reflected her contempt to what she was hearing.

By the time he'd finished, she didn't look in the best of moods.

"I can only speculate as to what he's playing at," she said, reaching for her tea. "Firstly - I think he realised he couldn't get a hundred galleons out of you, and was only trying to rattle you. For stakes that high, he thought if he got under your skin enough, then you might cave in. Secondly - he definitely should not be saying any of this where eyes and ears are because, and thirdly - he knows about my power potentially getting in the way of our... intimacy."

She put the cup down, realising it was too hot to drink. She couldn't look at Thius, though. He was probably very annoyed by what had happened.

"He doesn't know all the details," she went on quietly, still avoiding his gaze, "But he and I have always been - well I wouldn't say friends - but bonded, perhaps, because of our abilities are similar. He gets burdened by his as well. From the sounds of things, he had to try a lot harder than I have to suppress them, which is why I'd reached out to him for help."

She paused, biting on her lip.

"And he already said he would help me. So that whole charade about paying him for the service is a load of rubbish. He planned on helping me anyway."

"Which... leads me to believe he just wanted us to have this exact conversation. So that you'd know about it. Because I'd... um - not been sure about telling you..."

@Melanthius Burke

Now that he was able to get his concerns out of his system, it had been eating him up from the inside all day when he wasn't feeling titillated, Thius listened to his girlfriend as he took more gulps of his water. His breaths were deep and shallow as he worked on recapturing it; it didn't help that his sleep hadn't been the best the past couple of nights as the horrid, horrible thoughts were staging a coup from the stresses of school returning.

As usual, it played with what he valued most.

You'll be in an asylum before you can see her walking down the aisle.

What if you fooled everyone and yourself to think you're not crazy? You know you're not sane. You'll never achieve anything just like your grandfather.

They even intruded on his more pleasant dreams as if they were determined to actually make him lose his mind.

Soundless numbers were coming out of his mouth as he gazed at Bellona, the bigger, rational portion of his cruel, cruel brain soaked in her words, absorbing it like a sponge. His concerns were at least starting to ease; Vaulkley was trying to be some kind of money-grubbing middle man?

"Oh, babe..."

He knew he wanted to be intimate with her later on, and it sounded like she definitely did too. They just had their own holdups to conquer. He had his family. She had her ability which had a strange effect on him that felt too ungentlemanly to bring up.

Reaching his hand out, Thius gave her a smile as if to reassure her and himself.

"Your powers don't bother me, 'Ona, but if you want to wait until you feel more in control of them before we snog, you have my full support. We have other ways of expressing our affection for each other..."

@Bellona Lestrange

When he reached out to her, she felt a surge of affection towards him. There wasn't any more he wanted to dispute: her explanation was enough for him, and that showed exactly the sort of boyfriend he was. Perhaps he still didn't trust Piran Vaulkley, but that didn't matter. He trusted her. That was enough.

"There are certain risks I'm not willing to take, and potentially hurting you is one of them..."

Bellona took his hand, smiling, finally able to meet his eyes.

Just what sort of other ways were there? Other than the chaste: the hand holding, the spending time with one another, laughing and talking together: was it really enough? She had a feeling it wasn't enough for him, and perhaps... it wasn't enough for her, either. He was supporting her in every corner of her life. His happiness was her happiness. But she wasn't conceited enough to take it all and give nothing in return...

"What other ways?" she asked quietly, watching the steam rise from her cup.

@Melanthius Burke

Merlin, she was so caring... It was one of many reasons he adored her so much, and the fact he was privileged enough to see that side of her made him feel special.

"We can cuddle like we did the one time..."

If Hector was there, he would've thrown a fit. If his grandmother was there, who knows what she would've done. But none of them were there. It was just the two of them in the lounge after that mudblood and Jordan vacated the premises. There was nobody there that could've stopped them from cuddling weeks ago.

He gently stroked her hand with his thumb, giving it a light squeeze.

"It didn't cause us to do anything considered vulgar."

Hugs were the closest to cuddling, but it simply wasn't the same. Those were brief and not the most intimate in feeling.

"We can't get in trouble cuddling in here, it's private."

@Bellona Lestrange

"... and that's enough for you, is it?"

Call it scepticism, but she wasn't entirely convinced. If she had the key to see within his mind, she would have seen all the 'vulgarity' in its plainest form - but she couldn't. What she did know, however, was that he'd enjoyed whatever results occurred from Travers's potion testing. Was he really willing to wait? And what about her - was she willing to wait? Bellona felt conflicted, and certainly wasn't covering it well.

"Is doesn't bother you at all?"

As long as they were being honest.

"I mean at all?"

@Melanthius Burke

"I don't know," he answered softly, knowing what the ramifications of not waiting might be if his family were to find out.

The fact he had his own dormitory now made it much easier to bash the bishop. No longer did he have to wait for the dormitory and bathrooms to be unoccupied. It did little to temporarily quash all of the hormones that coarsed through his veins however.

"But it's more than what we could do over the summer, isn't it?"

It was torture having to keep his hands to himself for the most innocuous things.

"We don't have Hector around to scrutinize every move of ours."

"Your powers genuinely don't bother me, babe. It's one of many aspects of you I adore. I think the coldness feels comforting actually."

The fact it could be so destructive was part of the allure; it did nothing to damper how positively he viewed her gift.

@Bellona Lestrange