Year/Job
Dad
"I'm pretty major and I'll sing it out loud." |
Travis
Fox Bishop
Flourish and Blotts Employee IS OFFLINE
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Sunrise
May 26, 2023 21:52:51 GMT -8
Post by Fox Bishop on May 26, 2023 21:52:51 GMT -8
If you had told Fox before he’d met Emilia at that party that the most important moment of his life would transpire while he was drunk, he probably would have been mortified. Fox had been the type who had to have every detail planned. He couldn’t make a decision without doing his research first. If he were living in the Muggle world, he would probably have to hunt through dozens of tech reviews before settling on a TV to buy. Is that a bad example?
Listen: before Emilia, Fox had a plan. It didn’t involve girls or elopements. It involved Head Boy badges and internships with the Wizengamot where he could destroy the system from the inside. His five year plan included making a following five year plan. After making a name for himself in magical litigation, he’d split less-than-amicably from the Ministry and forge his own path where he could use his knowledge of the inside to make the world better for those without any power. It was all a bit much, but Fox was A Bit Much all the time.
Now that he was living in a post-Emilia world, though, Fox found himself taking more risks. Suddenly his five year plans were less like plans and more like embarrassing Fox fanfiction that he’d rather keep hidden on whatever part of the Wiznet he’d posted them on in fourth year. Fox was happy taking Emilia’s hand and following her blindly into the dark. As long as he had Emilia—that was what mattered.
As Fox attempted to wheel his trunk down Hogsmeade’s snow-covered roads, he reminisced on the last several weeks as if years had passed since his first midnight lesson with Emilia. In those days—and by those days I mean literal days ago—they had been driven simply by a powerful infatuation. Though they had feigned disappointment after the party, they couldn’t stop running into each other. It didn’t take long before they’d surrendered all pretense and simply begun snogging in secret. But it wasn’t until the first Quidditch match that things had really become serious.
It was the first time Fox had seen Emilia throw herself into something that she truly loved—not including his lips—and as he watched her navigate the skies above Hogwarts, he realized that he was falling in love with her. There were a lot of other signs: the hours he’d spent learning Spanish, the red carnation, the weird jealousy he felt when he saw her laughing with Matteo. But none of those compared to the feeling of pride when Fox watched Emilia put the game on her back and pull out a victory for Slytherin. He happily swallowed his Gryffindor pride as he pulled Emilia into a hug and cried, “You were amazing! You were transcendent! I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Emilia responded to Fox with a kiss. Maybe there was some love behind it, but there was more to it. It was a passion that Fox hadn’t yet felt. There was a hunger in Emilia that night that had taken Fox by complete surprise. And by the time they woke up the next morning in the room of requirement, Fox found himself in complete darkness. He had no idea about what he’d done with Emilia, only that he wanted this to last forever, and even though there was no map he was happy to share the road with her. They shared a smile. Then Fox said, “I have to go to the library.”
As Fox’s mind lingered on this memory, he came to a stop just outside of the Hogshead and took a seat on his trunk. He’d agreed to meet Emilia here early in the morning when all of the other students were most likely still enjoying their last breakfast before winter break. Some of the students were being picked up in Hogsmeade and with parents on different schedules, the carriages were running all throughout the day. Though Fox was reluctant to travel without Emilia to Hogsmeade, they had agreed that it would be better to go separately so as to avoid suspicion from their friends. Fox wasn’t too worried about any of his pals in Gryffindor, but he knew that Liv already suspected that they were up to something. He didn’t like asking Emilia to keep secrets from her best friend, but it was her who worried Liv would try to convince her otherwise.
Fox heaved a heavy sigh as he studied the road to Hogwarts castle. It had been less than a few hours, but he was eager to see Emilia again. His stomach fluttered as he imagined her smile walking down that road. Though his sigh was heavy, it wasn’t a nervous weight but an excited one. Today was the beginning of everything. -Emilia Montes
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Year/Job
Healer
Potion & Plant Poisoning
Heaven’s here, it’s right where you’re standing. |
Steph
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Sunrise
May 27, 2023 7:04:54 GMT -8
Post by Emilia Montes on May 27, 2023 7:04:54 GMT -8
Emilia knew this was crazy and reckless. She'd always been cautious about the way the rest of the world perceived her, especially after her mother married into a wealthy, pureblood family. Alfred Lennox ran a tight ship at home and he expected his step daughter to uphold his family name. Being in a relationship with a muggleborn was prohibited, though it was not ever explicitly stated, Emilia and her mother could read between the lines. What Emilia and Fox were planning was on a completely different level. She had fought the urge to be around him following their first drunken night at the party and even after weeks of stealing kisses under the cover of night, but something had changed the night of the Quidditch match. Emilia was on a high from winning the first game of the season and when Fox embraced and blurted out how he felt, something clicked in her mind. At first, all she could do was stare back in amazement and then when words failed her, she closed the gap between them and let herself melt into him. It was all over from that moment on, there was no fighting it.
Emilia had been waiting for the first day of holiday break with excitement and anxiety. Mostly excitement but there was always the possibility of accidentally letting part of their plan slip out. As she looked at herself in the mirror this morning, she let out a long sigh. She'd been up at the break of dawn to gather her belongings before her roommates even woke up. Em didn't want or need anyone asking her too many questions. She'd been giving people vague answers about her plans for a couple of weeks now and she had a sinking feeling that her best friend had a suspicion of what was about to actually transpire. She tiptoed her way out of the dorm, but not before looking over at her friend’s bed to make sure she was still asleep. Thankfully, the common room, the corridors and even the roads to Hogsmeade weren't too crowded at this hour, most students took the opportunity to sleep in. As she also struggled to pull her trunk along the snowy roads of Hogsmeade, she regretted asking Fox to go separately. Emilia found the coldness of winter a miserable experience and she usually stayed inside at the first sight of snow. In truth, it wasn't the weather than made her miserable this morning, she just wanted to be in Spain with Fox already. They were so close to fulfilling their plan and she was starting to get impatient. All the negative thoughts left her mind as she spotted him outside the Hogshead. She stopped in her tracks as she felt a familiar pressure pushing down on her chest. Emilia had to take a deep breath to calm her heart. She held her right hand up to give him a small wave and a smile as she started to make her way to him. While Fox saw what they were doing as venturing into darkness together, Emilia felt as if she was being led in to the light. He always had a way of making her feel as if nothing mattered except the little world they had been living in for the last few weeks. And as she thought about this, she was convinced once again that this was exactly what she wanted. Emilia stopped right in front of Fox, the smile never leaving her lips, and she reached over to pat his head affectionately. Then she leaned down, grabbing his face in her hands as she pulled him in for a kiss. Her lips lingered for much longer than she had planned but she didn't want it to stop. "Good morning," she whispered when she finally pulled away from Fox. Her hazel eyes studied his face and she wondered if he could tell how much she had missed him in the last few, sleepless hours she had spent away from him. Emilia's goal for the next two weeks was to enjoy every moment with him. She didn't want to think about having to be separated once again when they returned to Hogwarts.
Fox Bishop
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Year/Job
Dad
"I'm pretty major and I'll sing it out loud." |
Travis
Fox Bishop
Flourish and Blotts Employee IS OFFLINE
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Sunrise
May 27, 2023 7:11:09 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by Fox Bishop on May 27, 2023 7:11:09 GMT -8
To understand what Fox and Emilia were planning to do, you have to understand the kinds of lives they were facing at the end of the school year. Hell, at the end of this semester even. Fox understood that Emilia’s step father was something of a fascist, and though she had a good relationship with her mother, he loathed the idea of sending her back to a home where she didn’t feel safe. As the Ministry moved to impose backdoor restrictions on magical creatures, it set the stakes pretty high for Emilia and himself. Though Fox’s family weren’t outright dangerous to him, he did have to live with the constant threat that they would find a way to pull him from Hogwarts and force him to spend the rest of his education in a good Muggle Christian school. Fox had once been desperate only to prove himself as a wizard, but Emilia was the first thing he had that really tied him to the magical world. Suddenly the threat of having all of this taken away from him without provocation felt even worse.
They were young. Maybe they were even a little dumb. But they were in love, and falling harder for each other than any couple at Hogwarts since Archie Larkin and Opheliya Warrington. This made sense for their situation. And when Fox saw her approaching with an unbroken smile, and when she stopped there and front of him, and when she reached out and patted him on the head, and when he felt those butterflies stirring up all over again, Fox knew that this was the right choice for their situation.
“What if we do something really stupid?” Fox had asked her just a couple weeks earlier. As the threat of Christmas break loomed, Fox’s dreams were haunted by apocalyptic images of nuclear bombs, satellites crashing, endless infomercials on every television channel. Everything ends, but he wanted this to last forever. So he rolled over in the little bed that had materialized for them in the Room of Requirement and he studied the dimly lit stone on the ceiling as he pondered. “We could make it official,” he said. “And then,” His eyes were darting back and forth as if he could see the math on the ceiling and he was only a few factored numbers from solving it. “Nobody will ever be able to keep us apart.”
Fox flipped over on his side now to face Emilia, his eyes now shining with a uniquely Fox-like conspiratorial gaze. “Is that something you would want to do? Do you think you could be with me forever?”
Fox didn’t doubt Emilia’s answer to his question that day outside of the Hog’s Head when she pulled him into a kiss. It was a kiss of both love and longing, an unspoken message that she was crazy about him and didn’t want to spend another night apart. Fox had the pleasure of seeing Emilia every single day, but when you’d fallen this far for somebody those few hours after lights out could feel like an eternity. So they kissed there in the snow, a better greeting than any dumb shit Fox might have said to her that morning. His hands found their way up to brush the hair from her face, resting there as the kiss lingered, and any nerves that Fox might have had as he watched her approach from the road to Hogwarts faded away in the moment.
And as Fox fell back Emilia whispered, “Good morning,” and he let out a small laugh.
“I missed you,” it felt silly to admit, but he knew Emilia felt the same way. Only a few weeks ago Fox might have been scared to tell her how it felt to go back to his common room where he only had memories of the last few hours with her. Every time they were together, it became harder to leave. He knew that spending a whole Christmas break with her would only make it harder to return to this routine, but that wasn’t something they had to worry about right now. For just this moment they could exist as a couple in love.
Fox released a heavy, content sigh. He took hold of the handle on his luggage, reaching out with his free hand to take hers. “Now let’s go find that portkey.”
Emilia Montes
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Year/Job
Healer
Potion & Plant Poisoning
Heaven’s here, it’s right where you’re standing. |
Steph
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Sunrise
May 27, 2023 7:39:08 GMT -8
Post by Emilia Montes on May 27, 2023 7:39:08 GMT -8
The first time Fox suggested they should "make it official" Emilia had been confused. Isn't that what they had done when they told their friends about their relationship? She had watched him as he stared up at the ceiling and the realization of what he was implying hit her when he turned back to face her. She turned on her side as well when he asked if she could be with him forever. Her heart was beating faster than that first night after the Quidditch match. Her hand reached over to caress his cheek. Something about Fox had changed in the last few weeks they had spent together in the room of requirerment and she wanted to experience it over and over again.
They would definitely be doing something really stupid if they did this, but her mind had been made up the second he gave her that look. The day to do something stupid was here.
Emilia's breath caught in her throat when he told her he missed her. She didn't have to say it back for him to know she felt the same way. The night before she had made it difficult for him to leave. Every time Fox would make up his mind to go back to the Gryffindor tower, Emilia would pull him back in. Eventually, she let him go, knowing that staying out of the dorms that night would be a bad idea. She had pouted and told him she'd miss him before walking herself back to the dungeons. So she was determined to keep him close through out their escape.
Their fingers interlocked and Emilia also pulled her luggage behind her. Walking through the snow was difficult but she didn't dare say anything to him. There was no time to complain. Her aunt had set up a portkey to take them to the south of Spain. As far as her aunt was concerned, Emilia was visiting Spain with friends for a couple of days. Emilia might have left a few details out. Like, you know, getting married to her boyfriend of a couple months. And yes, Emilia did fabricate a lie where there would be more people other than just herself and Fox. It didn't matter, no one had to know until it was said and done.
"It shouldn't be far, she said the alley between the Hog's Head and Dervish & Banges." Emilia took the lead as she pulled Fox along the way. She was in a hurry to get out of the snow and she also wanted to be back home after two years. Emilia's mind was already imagining the whitewashed houses in Frigiliana and where their first stop would be once the set foot there.
She pulled Fox in to the alleyway and away from the few people out at this early hour. No one seemed to bat an eye at the pair of teenagers as they disappeared out of the main road.
"It's a cauldron." She let go of his hand while she wandered further in to the narrow path. Fox Bishop
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Year/Job
Dad
"I'm pretty major and I'll sing it out loud." |
Travis
Fox Bishop
Flourish and Blotts Employee IS OFFLINE
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Sunrise
May 27, 2023 8:46:53 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by Fox Bishop on May 27, 2023 8:46:53 GMT -8
Fox had learned all too quickly how addictive Emilia was. What started as one night had turned into ten nights sneaking off into the darkness to find a private place to snog. Soon that darkness became the Room of Requirement, and by this point Fox was finding it harder and harder to leave Emilia every night. He knew the repercussions of getting caught after hours, if the prefects discovered his bed empty in the morning. The dark truth about Hogwarts was that students were always escaping the common rooms after dark. Before Emilia, most of Fox’s after dark adventures were in the restricted section of the library. But now that he had the pleasure of sharing those broken rules with the girl he loved, he never wanted those nights to end. And each night seemed to end quicker than the last. Fox would glance at his watch and see the hour hand on the two and know that his time was almost up. He’d feel something sink in his stomach and look at Emilia with his sad boy eyes.
The same eyes he looked at her today. Now less sad than they were hopeful. He understood that getting married wouldn’t solve all of their problems. Fox had penned a letter to the Headmistress respectfully requesting his own dorm with Emilia, but it remained safely tucked away in his luggage until Emilia could convince him not to send it. He was confident enough to believe that he could change Professor McGonagall’s mind by simply finding the right combination of words, but the truth was that Hogwarts would likely not recognize the legitimacy of the marriage until they had graduated. In the least, it was a way of cutting out their families, which was Fox’s biggest concern. It was a bummer that he’d still have to leave her every night, but part of the thrill of their relationship was the sneaking around.
Fox followed Emilia’s lead as he dragged their luggage through the snow. She led him to the alleyway between the Hog’s Head and Dervish and Bangs and she confirmed, “It’s a cauldron.”
At the end of the alleyway sat a pile of rubbish. Bloated trash bags busting at the seams, a few pallets, and at the bottom of the pile rested a rusted cauldron. “There,” Fox pointed. He really hoped he was right about this, because he didn’t want to risk tetanus for nothing. He approached the cauldron slowly, his grip tightening around Emilia’s hand as his expectations for winter break flashed through his mind. This was the week he married the love his life. This was the week the rest of his life would begin.
“Are you ready?” Fox swallowed, looking into Emilia’s eyes, sharing all of the nerves and excitement and butterflies with her. He waited for her to nod, and then slowly he reached out to touch the cauldron. Fox was engulfed by a dizzying whoosh as the world zipped around him at what felt like thousands of miles per hour. This was the Muggleborn’s first time traveling by portkey and all the research he’d done on the method couldn’t prepare him for this. He could feel his heart rising through his chest, and he was overcome with the fear that he’d lose his grip and drop Emilia or their luggage somewhere in the Thames. It was only a few seconds, but one Fox’s feet touched down again he collapsed in sheer respect for solid ground. If he’d eaten a breakfast, he might have thrown it up. But he was able to gather himself and save face.
Fox’s next thought has he pulled himself up to his feet was that he was overdressed. They were standing at the base of a green hill overlooking a gorgeously rustic town. “Jesus, Emilia,” Fox said. “Your aunt lives here? This is paradise.” Truthfully Fox knew that wherever he was with Emilia was paradise, but this was pretty close to unbeatable. He turned to face her again, thankful to just be somewhere completely new and he said unprompted, “I love you so much.” -Emilia Montes
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