Olympic Gaslighter
“Lupin. Wake up” Ursa looms over Remus peacefully sleeping figure. His lids remain firmly shut “Lupin.” she pokes his side. Still nothing. She rolls her eyes and pinches his nose. He wakes with a start.
“What the hell?!” he kicks her off and she smirks down at his glare
“Good. You’re awake. There’s something we need to talk about”
“What are you doing here? Where’s Sirius” he brings the covers over his clothed chest — not that she’d care about Lupin’s chest in any possible conceivable scenario.
“Shut up and listen to me before he gets here”
“What do you want?” he stares at her with fear and trepidation and she rolls her eyes yet again
“Shut your trap and you’ll find out” Why is his brother settled on the decision of establishing bonds only with the most exasperating students Hogwarts has to offer? Really? He tries to make a break for it? “I may have a solution to your furry little problem” she says
“What?” the stiff boy freezes “Ursa it’s not fucking funny”
“Yeah, you’re right, my brother would technically be the furry out of the two of you”
“Ur—”
“You want to hear what I got to say or not? Because the second my brother is back, the offer’s off the table”
“Why can’t you tell me in front of him?” he narrows his eyes on her as his hand holds on to door handle
“Because it’s dangerous and it should be your decision, not his. Tell him for all I care, I won’t make that choice for you” it taste bitter to admit it out loud but Sirius won’t be long and she needs to wrap this up
“I’m listening” Remus nods and eases down to the bed closer to him –James– but doesn’t let go of his grip on the handle
“There’s a spell. It frees the wolf’s shackle to the moon”
“I would know if there were. It isn’t funny Ursa. My life isn’t—”
“Save me the speech. I’m not talking about regular wizard magic. You won’t find it in any of the books”
“How do you know about it?” he asks skeptically
“We don’t have time for that.”
“Is this real?” his hand slips away from the handle
“Yes, you bobblehead”
“I wouldn’t have to transform anymore?” he whispers, a forbidden thought he never lets himself contemplate
“Not exactly. It frees the wolf from the moon, which means—”
“I could transform at any moment. I’d be a danger not only on the full moon, I’d be dangerous to be around every single day”
“You could go somewhere remoted until –and if– you learn to control it. But if you learn to control your shift you could stop your brain from going coo-coo wolfy mind even when you do transform”
“How hard would it be? Learning to control it?”
“I don’t know. You might never learn how to. It’s a dangerous and not very well known spell. There’s many ways it could go wrong,”
“But it’s an option.”
“Yeah. Your brain turning to mush if it’s done wrong is also an option –just so you’re aware” he takes a highly dramatic big breath, eyes shut and all. Him dating her obnoxious older brother makes more sense now “it needs to be performed on the full moon, so think about it” she reaches the door and he surges back to life
“Is this real? Is this a real spell?”
“Of course it is Lupin, I don't care about you anywhere near enough to talk to you otherwise” she shuts the door behind her and lets him deal with that however he wants, it's not her problem anymore.
Peter wants to get back to kissing when he sees her but she's dealt with enough Gryffindor for the rest of the week. Unfortunately for Ursa, her brother disagrees. He yanks her aside in a hallway miles away from being gentle and she jinxes him onto his knees “What the fuck?!” He curses “What the bloody hell is wrong with you?! I just wanted to talk to you”
“then you should’ve asked” she says simply “and I’m not in the mood to talk, so see ya” she leaves before he gets a chance to do anything about it. He doesn’t give up though. He finds her again by the time the sun is setting, this time he lightly taps her on the shoulder instead of grabbing her “Ugh, you again” she groans at the sight of his ugly face, he truly is the ugliest in the family –that’s still probably prettier than most people but still. “What do you want?”
“Is it true?” he doesn’t beat around the bush, just goes straight to it, he’s always been brash and unpolished –at least since he joined his herd of red baboons.
“Is what true?” she asks as she casts a privacy spell around them because an explanation isn’t truly needed when it comes to Sirius, he’s predictable like that
“What you told Remus, that spell, is it true? Will it really work?”
“No, that’s the whole point, I warned him it might not work”
“Yes, but— it’s a real spell, true?”
“Grammatically incorrect, but yes. True.”
“Tell me how it’s done.”
“I’m not gonna do that”
“Why not? I want to look into it, see if it really can be done, why wouldn’t you tell me if what you claim is true—”
“Because, brother, if I tell you’re gonna try to do it yourself”
“So? Afraid we won’t owe you as much as if you do it then, because I assure you that if it works—”
“Because that spell means fucking with his bloody mind and if you fuck it up you’ll never forgive yourself. Also, your control over your own mind’s shit, you really shouldn’t be trying it on someone else’s”
“Ursa—”
“You need control, okay? A fuck ton of it. And we both know you can’t even keep attention in class, do you really think you’ll be able to keep your focus on a spell while he’s in pain?” she can see his mind struggle to find an argument, he’s trying to fight it but she’s right and he knows it “Sirius look,” ugh, she holds back a groan. She’s gonna have to do the sad mopey thing, it’s the fastest way. “I’m a control freak, okay? If this spell goes wrong you’re gonna blame me no matter what. So if it goes wrong, I’d rather it be my fault because I fucked up and not anyone else’s because I can’t control other people as well as I can control me and this spell needs as much control as possible. No one is as in control as I am. And you can try to argue with me about that but you know it’s true”
“Wanting control doesn’t mean you have it”
“I’m aware”
“You mean control like when you tortured me instead of having Bella do it? That’s your version of being in control? Or was it when you let Bellatrix torture you?”
“You shouldn’t talk about things you know nothing about. Trixie is part of that”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Are you defending her now? Fucking Bellatrix—”
“I’ve always defended her. And I always will. And you will never understand it. Just like you will never understand me. I’m not asking you to understand, I’m just telling you to accept it, because you don’t have another option”
“I could try a little trick I picked up from mother” Sirius snarls and she smiles at him
“Try. Liquify my brain if you want, but mother couldn’t get inside my mind, do you really think you could?”
“I don’t want… I don’t… I want to know that I can trust you” are the words he finally lands on
“Well that’s stupid Sirius, the only person you should trust is yourself, but I have more to lose than to gain if this shit goes wrong”
“Would you? If you had more to gain than to lose would you make it go wrong on purpose?” Sirius stares at her and his dramatic ass has tears in his eyes
“In a heartbeat.” She can be just as dramatic. Also, it’s true
“I thought we were getting along better, I thought you—”
“You thought what?”
“Nothing.” he shakes his head “nevermind. Forget I said anything”
Sirius spends the rest of the day in bed, but when the topic of who will perform the spell in case they decide to do it Sirius believes Ursa is the best option. Maybe she was right about being in control, because she got what she wanted after all.
“Don’t you look cute?” Ursa’s legs dangle off the ledge of a window in the hall. Snape freezes on his way out of class
“Stay away from me!” he takes a step away from her and maybe she can have some fun with this
“What?” she frowns at him. She doesn’t push too far into innocent confusion, she wants him to believe her
“You heard me!” he bellows and Ursa gives him an odd look up and down
“What crawled up yours today?”
“You know what!” He hisses and his ‘righteous’ anger overpowers his fear, he takes a step into her personal space and she has to bite down on a smile
“What the hell are you talking about?” she lowers her voice, this performance is just for him and his frail little mind
“You know what!” he snarls and she forces her eyes not to show her victory when he steps into her space
“No, I don’t know what. And personally, I don’t care. Now mind your own fucking business or I’ll tell my brother all about your spikey, pokey little secret” she tosses the bait and of course he bites
“You already have!”
“What are you talking about? Did you hit your head and your lonely standing brain cell fell out? I wouldn’t be threatening you with telling him if I’d already told him. I only threaten with things that carry weight, I already explained this to your friend” she flashes him a bored and annoyed look, oh the craft of gaslight is a wonderful, beautiful thing
“Cut the bullshit. I know you told him! I was there –can’t point at Severus and say that’s Severus without Severus being there!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Stop it. Last full moon. You know this.”
“Look, whatever sort of mind games you’re trying to play on me aren’t going to work, just leave me alone”
“I’m the one playing mind games?!” he raises his voice and then glances around when he realizes, his control is slipping through his cracks “You’re the one that talked to me!”
“Not voluntarily, you’re the weirdo that stalked up to me demanding I stay away from him when never in my life have I ever done the opposite– I’d gladly never speak you again”
“You called me cute!” he hisses and she bites down on a laugh
“I was talking to Cassie” she nods to the girl twirling a strand of hair in her finger as she talks to Marlene “But it’s nice to know you’re dying for me to call you cute— maybe try a new shampoo and we’ll talk” she winks and walks up to the pair of girls “Don’t you look cute?” she asks loudly for Snape to hear. He watches his reflection on a piece of armor and she can see his mind reeling. She hides her smugness but lets her smile shine through
“Cuter than you?” Marlene jives
“Now don’t get ahead of yourself, love, no one is cuter than me. And you know that” she watches the two girls and Snape yanks to loosen his tie as he stumps away.
“Oh, I wish I had your self-esteem” Dorcas says
“You would if you looked as cute as me” Ursa winks and Dorcas rolls her eyes “Oh Marls come on, I left the perfect spot for you to slip in a compliment and you totally missed it” Marlene’s entire face turns a deep shade of red
“I’m usually the one shamelessly flirting,” Dorcas informs her of their dynamic and Marlene smiles shyly at her “You are so much cuter than Ursa” she informs her and Ursa rolls her eyes at her
“Well now you’re just lying, how’s she meant to ever believe you compliment her then?”
“Want to know a secret?” Dorcas whispers conspiratorially “I think she’s prettier than you are”
“Okay, now you’re definitely lying” Marlene chimes and Ursa preens
“Hey! I am not. Don’t you think I’m prettier than her?” Dorcas crosses her arms over her chest and nods to Ursa who flicks her long ink black hair back
“Uhmmm”
“Be very careful how you answer that” Dorcas points a stern finger at her
“I want to kiss you more than I want to kiss Ursa”
“That wasn’t the question” Dorcas huffs
“Stop trying to make a liar out of her. Now, Marlene, please tell me you’ve seen my brother and his entourage of idiots”
“One of those idiots is your boyfriend” Marlene reminds her, sneaky of her, diverting the conversation away from her
“Yeah, but he has a cute butt, so it makes up for it” she shrugs and the blonde laughs
“We have transfiguration next” she tells her and Ursa pouts
“That’s on the other end of the castle”
“I know, probably why I should get going, I’ll see you two later” she greets Dorcas with a peck and she visibly melts.
“I’m going with you,” Ursa links their arms together
“Don't you have your own class to get to?”
“Eh,” she waves her off “I’ve never cared much about grades”
“Detentions then?”
“Nah, those neither” she dismisses it with a wave and peers up at marlene with big, round puppy eyes “I’m tired, carry me?” Marlene huffs and sighs but gestures for her to hop onto her back “Bye love” she waves back at Dorcas who both blows her a kiss and flips her off. Marlene makes it three fourths of the way there before she tells her to get down “Oh, you tired already? Maybe James is right and you should add a morning practice on Mondays to kickstart the week”
“I hate you” she huffs but carries the rest of the trek to the boys
“Peter Pet!” Ursa hops off as soon as they’re there and her eyes land on blond waves.
“Morning doll,” he holds an arm open for her to slip into. She hates the suffocating feeling of being under his hold but stitches the plastic smile onto her face as she wraps her arms around his middle “what are you doing here? Crashing another of Minnie’s classes? Missing me so much already, doll?” he cups her face and brushes their mouths together, he’s looking for a long deep snog but she presses quickly ahead for a short and sweet one.
She threads her fingers with his chubby ones and tugs him along over to the desk in front of Remus and Sirius’. She pushes Peter down onto the spot next to James and sits on top of his lap
“Oh, hi Ursa” James greets her with a smile and she casts a silencing charm as she greets him back
“Listen,”
“What are you doing here?” Sirius’ relax posture falls into stiff shoulders and tight jaw
“If you’d shut your trap and listen you’d find out sooner. You’re going to pretend last full moon didn’t happen”
“What?”
“Why on earth would we do that?!”
“Not amongst yourselves” she rolls her eyes “just in front of Snape”
“Why would we do that?”
“I want to see if I can make him believe he’s going insane and that never actually happen”
“Again, why?” Remus frowns
“It’ll be fun” she shrugs “Besides, if he thinks you don’t know about his Spikey alter ego, it’d give me some leverage”
“Leverage for what?”
“I don’t know yet, but he’s bound to piss me off eventually, he has that charming aspect to his personality that makes it inevitable”
“You want to mess with his head?” Remus clarifies
“Sounds like fun” Sirius admits reluctantly
“We’ve never tried that” Peter nods
“Because it’s messed up!” Remus reminds them “pranks are one thing, but you’re talking about seriously messing with someone’s head”
“Someone’s greasy head” she corrects him unhelpfully
“And speaking of the full moon,” James chimes “what the hell happen? Where did you go when you went missing? You were there one moment and gone the next”
“I climbed a tree” she shrugs
“No. Your scent was just gone” Sirius argues, he still remembers the desperation of that moment
“Yes. Gone up” she rolls her eyes and he wonders if that could be it, if that could be the truth “now, will you play along?”
“I guess.”
“Wait, if he thinks we don’t know wouldn’t that mean he’d come back around?”
“And maybe you’ll finally find out why he was there”
“That’s the whole point of this shit? Of making think he’s gone insane— making him go insane? For the first time you don’t know why someone did something and that just makes you feel so far out of your depth?”
“I thought about snooping around in that bonkers brain of his but ew, and also, I’ve had some inspiration and this is far much more fun. Aren’t you curious as to whether it’d work? I haven’t tried this type of brain play, it’s exciting”
“You’re fucked in the head”
“Well that ain’t news”
“At least it isn’t targeted at us for once” Sirius sighs
“Oh, no, hold up, I was lying, I did gaslight the fuck out of you when we were kids” she admits
“I knew it!” Sirius squeals “You did push me out that window on purpose! Didn’t you?!”
“Define on purpose” she smirks at him
“You little shit! I knew it!”
“Oh, come on it was funny”
“I broke my arm!”
“I know, that’s why it was funny, you should’ve seen the way you looked, all bent crooked and weeping for your mummy— what were you even thinking, crying for mother? Did you really think she’d comfort you?”
“I didn’t call out for our mother, I called out for our aunt there’s a difference”
“Oh, same shit, different turd” she waves him off and Peter snorts. Sirius glares at him
“Oh, come on, that was funny.”
“Not you falling!” James butts in before Sirius can rage “but I might start using same shit, different turd”
“You’re the turd” Sirius grumbles “and our uncles are no where near as bad as our parents” he defends himself and Ursa quirks a brow at him
“How would you know?”
“I know.”
“Do you though?”
“You can’t gaslight me right after telling me gaslighting people is fun!”
“I wasn’t. But, I will tell you that I’m glad our uncles aren’t our parents.”
“Oh, please” he scoffs
“Don’t take my word for it, ask Andromeda. You still talk to her, right? She’s on the list for the Potter’s Christmas Party afterall”
“How do you know that?”
“Mum sent her the list in case she wanted to add anyone” James explains unprompted
“Who did you want to invite?”
“No one who wasn’t already invited. If I’m being fair though I’d cross out around half those names out”
“I know you hate people and their existence, but they’re friends of my parents, you can just ignore them all night, no one expects you to prowse around like a christmas decoration”
“It was weird at first but you get used to being around adults and not dreading their reaction if you step out of line” Sirius tells her
“Do you now?” she smirks
“Not that you ever step out of line, do you?” Peter nods to her
“Right, well you won’t have to put on a show for the people at the party”
“So lucky of us to be surrounded by such nice and caring adults, very atentive to our needs”
“you don’t have to say it like that,” Sirius huffs “unlike our entire family, they’re intentions are true— and pure”
“Right,” she keeps the plastic smile on “so selfless of them” Sirius is about to hiss at her and defend those nameless friends when McGonagal walks in “Right,” she cuts him off before he starts yapping his big loud mouth “I’ll get going then, pay attention in class, might learn something useful or two” Sirius flips her off and she greets Minerva sweetly on her way out. The professor reminds her she should be in her own class and Ursa bats her lashes at her as she promises to be on her way. She drops her smile as soon as she’s out and Peeves joins her on her way to class and she pretends his presence doesn’t peeve her.
Amira is still not a big fan of Nina the dragon snake. Ursa, personally, doesn’t give a fuck about it. Still, she’s nice enough to offer finding another room for Amira to sleep in. Amira takes this more as an insult than the generous offer it truly is. Okay alright, she knew she’d be offended by Ursa preferring a snake over her, specially since they met they hadn’t seen so little of each other throughout the school year. Amira was growing weary that Dorcas dethroned her as best friend. Ursa suggested she buy her a brilliant christmas gift to insure that doesn’t happen. Then amira pretended to be mad even though they both knew she wasn’t “You should try and sleeping throughout the whole night tonight, you’ve been super cranky lately”
“Or maybe I’ve just been my true honest self who happens to be a bitch, ever think about that?”
“Obviously,” Amira waves her off “but I know the difference, I know you”
“Do you, now?” Ursa quirks a brow at her as she plays with Nina
“Yes. I know you Ursa, and I know you hate the thought of anyone knowing you but I do”
“Oh, and just when I thought you did know me” she pouts at her “I don’t actually care whether you know me or not”
“So long as I mind my own fucking busines, right?”
“Duh. Now, darling, we’ll be leaving for the winter break in no time and won’t see each other for weeks, so do you want to talk about winter outfits or not?”
“Yes please.”
“I saw you wearing diamonds with pearls the other day, what the hell were you thinking?! You really do need my help”
“I know, you weren’t here the other day and I fell asleep with my diamond earrings and forgot I was wearing them. What’s worse, the other day I went out with naked ears because you weren’t here to remind me to put on my jewelry” she tears up
“How dare I? Lets remedy that then, shall we? What are you planning on wearing for Christmas? You’re going to the Zabini’s, right? They invited you to their annual Christmas gala?”
“Yes! Can you believe it? I’m hoping to have a ring on my finger when we get back to school”
“Oh, I’m so jealous! Their gala is so elegant, you’ll need to take a mental note of the gowns so you can tell them about them later”
“Oh, I could take out the memory and we could watch it in a pensive!”
“Yes. And then we can watch the memories of my winter break and laugh at the fashion disasters I’m sure to encounter”
“Oh, yeah, if James takes after his parents then I’m sure your eyes are gonna fall victims to painful sights, he’s as unpolished and unrefined as a dementor”
“They’ll probably wear those hideous Christmas sweaters”
“You think they’ll make you wear one of those, do you?!” Amira gasps and Ursa’s jaw drops
“Over my rich, hot, dead body” she gasps and swallows down bile because her hot dead body is no longer rich. Amira immediately understands, she doesn’t need an explanation, just whispers soothing words because there’s plenty of rich dumb men who’d kill to marry her.
They set up and plan all of Amira’s outfits with the thought in mind for it not to clash with a diamond ring on her finger, they don’t know when Marcel will pop the question but she must always be ready.