Do Not Tempt My Fury
I know when to go out
And when to stay in
Get things done
On Sunday, Peter thinks he’s free of Ursa and pretending for the day. It’ll just be a Hogsmeade visit with just them Gryffindors (plus Regulus and Pandora because James loves to show him off). It’s going to be fun, he’s looking forward to it, after the whole Ursa drama and third wheeling, he just wants to have fun with his friends. That lasts him almost an entire minute. He makes it downstairs into the common room and finds Ursa sitting on a couch. She tilts her head at the sight of him with a smile, it’s a jerk of her head that makes it look like a robot doll. Peter’s man enough to admit it scares him a tiny bit. A tiny bit much “hello pet”
“Doll.” His face is tight and he doesn’t know if he’s smiling or grimacing “I didn’t know we had plans”
“We don’t” she replies easily
“Did the girls invite you?”
“Yes. But I already had plans, guess you’ll just have to miss me”
“What are you doing?” he hisses louder than he should’ve judging by the tight smirk tugging on her lips
“It’s just a makeover love, no need to be jealous” she bops his nose, she says it loud enough for people to hear but not being too obvious. She hasn’t tried to kiss him since they… fought? Can you even call it that when she didn’t seem to care in the slightest?
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m giving Frank a makeover” she says nonchalant like this is the most common, normal thing in the world
“What? Frank Longbottom?” she nods and he frowns “Since when are you friends with Frank Longbottom?”
“Who said I was friends with him?” she furrows her brows at him and he sighs, this isn’t worth it.
“Goodbye. Have fun with your little puppet makeover”
“Thank you, I will. Have fun doing the same thing you always do with the same people you always do it with”
“Being able to keep friends isn’t a bad thing!” he hisses but this time he remembered to keep his voice hushed and she just chuckles
“I’m just messing with you, have fun bonito” pretty
“Don’t call me that”
“Fine. Have fun, feito” ugly
He rolls his eyes at her, not deeming her important enough for a response, and simply walks out of the portrait.
Her doll for the day makes it down the stairs in the most hideous outfit Ursa has ever seen. He's wearing a pink Hawaiian shirt, red Adidas pants, socked sandals and zebra sunglasses tied back by a neon yellow string "ay dios mío" Ursa gasps at the sight of him
"We have a long day ahead of us" Alice slumps down beside her
"That's the boy you choose to date" Ursa reminds her "I want you to know, I'm judging you so hard" she’s really downgraded
"Hey, I can hear you!" Frank calls sitting between them and wrapping an arm around Alice
"We know, the thing in doubt is your eyesight, not your hearing" she tells him and Alice chuckles. Frank's response is a spawn of both indignation and humor.
"You're so mean. I don't know how Peter puts up with you"
"You and I clearly never made out"
"And you're not gonna" Alice shoves Frank back to stare at Ursa
"Relax, I wasn't offering" she pats her head "now come on, up, up, we have a wardrobe to burn, clothes to incinerate and shops to peruse!” she claps her hands excitedly and Frank chuckles, he stands up and holds out a hand for Alice, she takes it. “Hurry up, they’re probably waiting for us already!” she drags the two of them out the door with giggly smiles.
I catch a paper boy
But things don't really change
I'm standing in the wind
But I never wave bye-bye
“I still don’t know why I agreed to do this. How did you get me to agree to this?” Palmer groans onto a clothing rack in the small shop overflowing with things, Frank is still in the changing room buried deep in clothes the rest of the girls tossed at him.
“There, there” Poppy pats her back
“You’re so dramatic” Ursa chuckles, resting her chin on her shoulder “Ooh, Popes, try this one on” she reaches around Palmer’s waist and hands Poppy a mustard dress “come, I wanna look at the jewelry” she says softly onto Palmer’s ear and when she tugs her along, she goes. There’s a few stacks overflowing with necklaces, rings and bracelets. It’s next to the counter, where a tall girl with a buzz cut on one side, leather, piercings and a rainbow pin is reading a novel. Palmer reads the title, The Squib Life. She’s pretty much the embodiment of a queer stereotype. Ursa fishes around, rattling the jewelry “How much for this?” she holds up a silver bracelet
“Fifteen Sickles” the girl glances up from her book before going back to it
“How much for me?” Ursa leans forward on the counter, batting her lashes. The girl marks her page and sets the book aside with a laugh
“Sorry kid, you’re too young for me”
“And do I need to remind you you’re dating my brother?” Palmer pokes her side and Ursa rolls her eyes, she turns back to the girl behind the counter
“How old are you?”
“Nineteen, kiddo” she chuckles and Palmer can’t help but notice she has a lovely laugh
“What about her? She’s eighteen” it takes Palmer a second longer than she’d like to admit to notice she’s the ‘her’.
“Alright,” She feels the girl’s eyes travel her up and down, and she knows she’s blushing but the more she tells herself not to, the more she flushes “if you find something under ten sickles it’s yours”
“If she agrees to go on a date with you will you make it fifteen?” Ursa smiles brightly at her, the girl turns from brunette to blonde
“Will you?”
She doesn’t realize she’s meant to answer until Ursa elbows her on the side, startling her back to reality. She clears her suddenly dry throat “Uh, sure” she answers shyly, unable to hold those scrutinizing eyes the color of honey
“Perfect!” Ursa slips the bracelet around her wrist and dashes off to look at Frank as he comes out in plain pants and a floral vest “see? you can have fun, just not all at once” she smoothes out the wrinkles on his white shirt and turns him this way and that
“I’m Lucy, by the way” counter-girl smiles at Palmer warmly and she feels herself blushing again
“Palmer” she mutters
“You know, you don’t have to listen to her, we don’t have to—”
“No.” she cuts her off rapidly without thinking “I mean, it could be fun, you know?”
“Yeah” she looks at her and smiles warmly, Palmer returns a shy smile back “I get off at seven”
“Shit, I have to be back at school at seven”
“Why don’t you two go off? I’ll look after the shop”
“That’d be very irresponsible of me, I can’t leave the store to a stranger”
“Yeah, but my guess is you don’t get paid enough to be responsible”
“Yeah, fair point, we’ll be back in an hour— two tops”
“Have fun!” Ursa waves to them and hops onto the counter
“I think I’ll take the vest” Frank calls from the dressing room, stacking it in the yes pile
“That’ll be twenty galleons!” Ursa hollers back
“The tag says twelve”
“They tagged it down last weekend’s sale and forgot to update it” sweet, innocent Frank pays the twenty galleons and Ursa pockets seven of them.
“Where’s Palmer?” Poppy comes out wearing the summer dress and looks around to no signs of her sister
“She left— turn around, go on, give us a little spin” she hypes her up and Poppy soon forgets to make any follow up questions “come on, lets find you lovely things something to go with it— Ooh, Alice, this would be perfection on you”
There's no sign of life
It's just the power to charm
I'm lying in the rain
But I never wave bye-bye
Palmer and Lucy Skylar Diamas come back to the shop three hours later with bright smiles and the shop is brimming with about a dozen giggling, gossiping girls. Palmer ducks away at the sight of them but Ursa catches a glimpse of her heading for the hills. She hands the shop back over with a hushed warning to make sure the platinum blonde doesn’t steal anything. She hollers her goodbyes, promises to meet up with everyone in the three broomsticks in an hour and ditches.
It doesn’t take her long to find Palmer. She’s freaking out in an empty alley
“Bad date?” Ursa leans against the wall
“No” she huffs like she’s mad about that
“Bad kisser then?”
“No! She didn’t— I didn’t—- I’m not—” she doesn’t seem able to finish the sentence, the thought. Ursa brushes her off with a wave of her hand
“Oh, who cares what we are? What matters is: you’re both hot”
“But she’s a girl”
“So?”
“So I’m a girl”
“So? So am I” she shrugs and sits down on the lid of a huge garbarge can “Now tell me about your date, I wanna hear everything, what did you two talk about?” she crosses one leg in front of the other the same way she would if they were in a cafe gossiping about some guy she went out with. So, Palmer tells her. She tells her everything, all the way to the most irrelevant detail. In the end, she admits she’s known for a while now
“I don’t think I can deny it anymore”
“Maybe you’re one step closer to embracing it” she says as she cards her fingers through her hair
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that”
“I think Regulus felt the same way, until he fell for James and there’s no part of him that isn’t proud of that. Love makes things easier, you don’t have to do it alone”
“So I just need to fall in love?” Palmer laughs without humor, she knows not a single queer girl outside of Lucy and even if she’s lovely it’d be too hard to build a relationship while she’s at school and Lucy isn’t.
“Not all love is romantic, you know? It can help people connect with each other, feel connected. You can love what brings love into your life, and that doesn’t ever need to be romantic. The strongest kind of love isn’t romantic. I’d kill for your brother, but I’d die for mine” that turns on the faucet and Palmer sobs and sobs.
That’s how Peter and Marlene find them, right while he’s giving her a piggyback to The Three Broomsticks.
Peter then proceeds to lose his utter shit.
He straightens up, knocking Marlene off his back with an ungraceful thump and stalks up to them. He’s yelling at Ursa in an instant, raging about what that psycho-bitch did to his sister and how his sisters are off limits and yada-yada-yada. Marlene and Palmer try to calm him down while Ursa just sighs “Are you done?” But he isn’t done, and he charges at her. Palmer gets in between them and yanks him back demanding to know what the hell is wrong with him. Peter doesn’t stop spewing out shit about Ursa making his sister cry
“What the fuck is wrong with you?! Don’t you ever talk to a girl like that— especially not your bloody girlfriend!”
“She’s not my girlfriend, she’s the psycho who made you cry!”
“She didn’t make me cry! It wasn’t like that”
“Palmer, get out the way, I need to talk to her, I need to make some things clear to her because she clearly didn’t understand a few things!” Peter doesn’t relent
“We were just talking, she was trying to make me feel better!”
“I don’t fucking believe you! Stop defending her! I know what she’s capable of! She’s manipulating you! Can’t you see that!? What do you even need comforting about?! You don’t even have a reason to—”
“I’m fucking gay!” she roars and everyone freezes, you could hear a hair pin drop.
“Me too” Marlene shatters it and the awkwardness along with a hi-five. Palmer meets it slowly and hesitantly
“Told ya” Ursa winks at her and Palmer rolls her eyes before turning slowly to face Peter
“Don’t date Ursa” he says with broad, wide eyes and Palmer scowls at him in return
“Really? You think just because I’m gay I’d do that to you?”
“Yeah, Peter, she’s gay, not a terrible sister”
“No, that’s not what I meant—” but his eyes travel from the two outraged girls to the third, the one that smirks “That’s why you…” this is why she hadn’t been worried about his acting skills after she told him the truth “you were already planning on— at the beginning of the year you said you’d find someone else, you did” a Pettigrew girl would fill the part Voldemort casted her in better dating Peter ever could.
“Can you two give us a sec?” she nods to the girls gently with a soft smile that turns threatening the second they’re gone
“Leave my sister out of this” he balls his hands into fists at his sides, they tremble with fear but he pretends it’s his anger what makes them shake.
“I intend to. So long as you play your part right.”
“You are a wicked, wretched person” he spits at her and she nods
“I know” she hops off the trash can and parades away with a smile. She stops before the alley ends and holds her hand out. He grinds his teeth together and takes it. The last thing he wants to do is touch her, but as tar as a mere brush of her skin feels to him, he knows she despises it even more. So he punishes her. He wraps himself around her like a sweater, he touches as much of her bare skin as possible and nestles her close. When they step into the three broomsticks and people look up at them Peter wonders if maybe Ursa simply made him believe she hates touch just so he’d do just this, he’s putting on the exact show she wants.
“Peter. A word” Palmer tells him with crossed arms and a tapping foot.
“Later”
“Now” she yanks him away by the ear.
“Ouch” he slaps her away and when he looks up at her, she’s scowling.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” She smacks him on the head for good measure
“Stop hitting me!”
“What kind of toxic, abusive asshole are you?”
“I’m not!”
“Oh, so you weren’t yelling and degrading your girlfriend a second ago and all lovey dovey on the next? What kind of pathetic, weak man are you?!”
“It’s not like that! She’s not—” he sees a few prying eyes and stops himself “It’s not like that”
“It is like that”
“Look, I can’t explain it right now—”
“You can’t ever explain it! You can’t justify abuse!”
“Can you lower your voice?!” he hisses as more curious eyes turn to them
“Hasn’t that girl been through enough already? You told me yourself her family’s as shit as it comes and when she finally gets herself out of that abusive environment— of course she’s vulnerable to fall right back into a new abusive dynamic, she doesn’t know anything else, but you should know better. She ran from the arms of an abuser right into the arms of another and I’m disgusted by that person being my brother.”
“You don’t know the facts!”
“What is wrong with you?! I’m not asking you to justify yourself. Nothing you say will make it okay. I’m asking you to change. Fucking grow. Be a man instead of an insecure prat. You should be ashamed of yourself. I know I am” she leaves him with the words in his mouth.
There's no sign of life
It's just the power to charm
I'm lying in the rain
But I never wave bye-bye
Frank graces the common room with a runway show. Ursa’s insistence and Alice’s convincing. They rope Gideon into playing the “before”, wearing the most memorable controversial fashion decisions Frank has made this year and some of the seniors charm the boys’ stairs to lead into a runway stage and transform various things into front stage seats.
Even Remus is in the ‘audience’. He looks bored but he’s still there. Alice introduces Gideon in a “radioactive-vomit” shirt and orange trousers. Gideon models the runaway, he puckers his lips and swings a jacket over his shoulder with smoldering looks. He runs his tongue over his teeth in mock seduction and Fabian elbows Benji’s overly excited cheering only to become an even louder cheerleader an instant later and yells for him to take off his shirt. Gideon strikes various silly poses and his audience eats it up. They wolf whistles and cheer him on like their lives depend on it. If there’s something Gryffindors are brilliant at is loud cheering. He’s biting on his finger and batting his lashes at the audience when Changes by David Bowie comes roaring on. It’s like Remus’ been zapped with life. He and Sirius turn to look at each other suddenly sprung awake with that conspiring smile they share about their mad Bowie fascination. Sirius hops onto the stage and performs. True to his word, he doesn’t serenade a blushing Moony the way they all know he’s dying to. He sings to the audience and serenades Prongs instead, who doesn’t take long before he jumps in beside him. “I think you’re drooling there a bit, mate” Peter smirks at Remus and he clears his dry throat in response but doesn’t even bother blushing, that’s his boyfriend up there singing and dancing to the music like he’s a god. Remus would like to do some praying.
Pandora taps Regulus’ chin and shuts his gaping mouth. He has the decency of turning a furious red all the way down to his chest, but not enough to look away from the trance James has him in. Pandora and Peter’s eyes meet and they both giggle at their helpless friends.
“Where's your shame?
You've left us up to our necks in it”
Sirius tugs down on his collar to reveal his hickeys and winks at Remus who smirks, looking smug, despite the sudden red flush of his cheeks.
Alice shoves James and Sirius off the runway, simply hurls them off the stage without a care. They land with loud squeals and painful sounds just as Frank hits the runway. He waves to people as he goes with a small blush and a giggly smile. Sirius is furious about being demoted until Remus whispers something in his ear and they suspiciously disappear up the stairs. Nothing suspicious about what they’re doing though.
Marlene whispers something in Ursa’s ear, Peter can’t hear it. Ursa turns away from her creation to face Marlene fully, a small furrow traced across her features. Ursa slips her hand in hers and intertwines their fingers, she nods off to the portrait and, after a second longer of a conversation Peter still can’t make the words out of, Marlene guides her to the window. Ursa gives her a patient, gentle smile, one that seems to say ‘whenever you’re ready’.
“I’m sorry” Marlene tells their linked hands eventually “Peter was out of line and Palmer defended you— she was right to defend you— I did nothing. I’m sorry. I should’ve done something. I should’ve—”
“But you will next time” she cuts off her self deprecating rant “that’s it, you don’t have to be so hard on yourself. If you don’t like something about yourself, just change it” she shrugs like it’s the easiest thing to do
“That’s not who I am— not that I— I just mean— I’m not this loud, bigger than life person”
“Do you want to be?”
“I mean, who wouldn’t?” she admits with a dreamy sigh
“Then just decide you are”
“It’s not that easy”
“It isn’t until it is. Make the decision that that is the person you are, and then act accordingly to who you are. If you find that’s not who you want to be anymore, you adjust. It really is that easy. Try it. What would a loud, bigger than life person do right now?”
Marlene’s eyes drift over to the ‘runway show’ “she’d grab the mic and take over the hosting” her clear eyes turn back to Ursa with a frown and fear “But that’s not—”
“That's not the person you used to be. It’s the person you are. It’s the real you, be the real you” Ursa squeezes her hands and Marlene chews on her bottom lip “You can be whoever you want, you just need to be brave” she kisses the top of her head and walks back to her seat next to Mary.
Marlene closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens them again she charges onto the stage like a woman on a mission and snatches the mic off Alice’s hands. Alice seems upset until Ursa hollers for her to model with Frank instead –like that was Marlene’s plan all along– and Alice seems delighted.
Marlene stares at the microphone in her hands and regrets ever coming up here but no, this is who she is now. She clutches it in her hand so tight her knuckles are white but there’s no stopping her. She makes an awful joke about Frank’s hot-bottom but people are in such a good mood that they laugh anyway and she somehow ends up hosting a ‘best Gryffindor couple’ competition. James is banned from participating because Regulus isn’t a Gryffindor. James calls it homophobia “Ursa and Peter can’t compete either!”
“They know they’d never stand a chance if we did” Ursa winks at James
“Yeah!” James agrees “Everyone knows Reg and I are adorable!”
“The boar and the bore!” Ursa chuckles and Regulus sends a stinging hex her way
“Ursa and Peter got the whole beauty and the beast aesthetic going on” Mary notes
“Did you just call me a beast?”
“Yeah” Ursa says, somehow turning the insult on its head and making it sound like the filthiest, sexiest compliment one could give
“What about Sirius and Remus?” Lily offers
“They’re not here”
Somehow Peter and James end up as stand-in representatives of Remus and Sirius. They get eliminated quite quickly though, Sirius and Remus’ jealousy got in the way of people’s peace a few too many times before they finally got together, their fights too. James argued those had stopped since the sexual tension got sexed so that should be another reason why they should all be for their relationship. He doesn’t have a counter argument to someone’s “I can’t shag either of them now that they’re together”. Marlene kicks them off the stage and crowns Alice and Frank as the Golden Couple.
No confessions (God and man)
No religion (God and man)
Don't believe in modern love
“Why are we watching that recording again? You’ve watched it a million times and then a few” Ursa pouts to Regulus in his bedroom
“Feel free to leave if you like” he waves her off
“That’s not what I asked”
“Remus’ emotions seem to affect the wolf”
“Ew, what is that?” she wrinkles her nose at the black and white blurry splotch
“I don’t know, some forest animal, I don’t know yet— can’t you do your nails or something? You’re bugging me” she fling a pillow at his face and then he’s hexed with tickles. He’s still laughing when the door opens and Barty comes bursting in with Evan in leisure tow.
“What’s she doing in here?!”
“Hexing her favorite brother. Obviously” Evan shuts the door behind him and flops down on his own bed. Ursa smiles at him and the corner of his mouth tugs up.
“Oh, I see. You two made up. Did she tell you what’s going on?”
“Nope”
“You know, I hate how you are when she’s around” Barty huffs
“Then why did you literally threaten me so that I’d talk to him?” Ursa she smirks at him
“Yes, why did you do that, baby?” Evan sits up on his elbow with matching smug
“You were sad, I hate seeing you sad” he mumbles petulantly and Evan smiles at him with hearts in his eyes
“Awww” those slimy Blacks taunt him and he sends jinxes both their ways, they deject them easily
“Are you saying it worked?” Barty counters just as smugly
“I didn’t know he was so sad, you could’ve just told me that like a normal person”
“You know Barty, always an overachiever”
“Hey! I’m starting to regret ever salvaging your relationship” he pouts and Evan opens his arms up for him to throw himself right into them with a satisfied humph.
“Speaking of relationships,” Evan sighs as he runs his fingers through Barty’s hair
“That’s never a good start to a conversation,”
“I was thinking Amira could be my knew future bride to be, I’m sure she could charm my father well enough”
“Yeah, she’ll also definitely kill you both,” Ursa tells him “do I need to remind you that you’re loaded?”
“Isn’t she your best friend?”
“Yeah, and that is one of the many reasons why”
“She’s you”
“Ursa wouldn’t murder me”
“Because you do everything she says, Evan” Regulus remind him “and you’re her favorite”
“She would definitely take out your father though” Barty adds “actually, that’s not a bad idea”
“What can I say?” Ursa smiles at Evan and shrugs “I’d kill for you”
“That means never hurt him Crouch” Regulus chuckles and Barty pouts at Evan
“Don’t listen to them baby, I know you would never hurt me” he brushes their lips to
gether softly and spanks his bum when he heads to the bathroom
Never gonna fall for (modern love)
Walks beside me (modern love)
Walks on by (modern love)
Gets me to the church on time (church on time)