ONE
Wednesday, September 15th, 1976
It was a brisk fall afternoon at Hogwarts, mid-week, just about two weeks after the start of the term. Everyone seemed to be settled into their classes and dorms, for the most part, all ready for the new year. It was always exciting being back at Hogwarts, seeing old friends and making new ones. It was a place where magic was normal and accepted, which couldn’t be said for the homes most of the students came from. The students and teachers were all hopeful, feeling something in their bones. It was going to be a good term.
Grayson Rinehart was especially hoping it would be a good term, and without the annoyance it usually brought him. Luckily, he had his sister to keep him sane. Nicole. His twin. His other half. The only constant thing in his life. If anyone could keep him grounded, it was her. The two had been completely inseparable, ever since birth. Even when they got sorted into different houses, him into Slytherin and her into Hufflepuff, they spent nearly every waking moment possible together. Grayson was older but only by a few minutes, a few minutes he would take to his grave no matter how much Nicole argued. It was the reason he always took on the overly protective brother role. He knew he could certainly be a bit overbearing at times, but it all came from a good place. He knows the heart Nicole has, the good she sees in everyone, and how she wears it on her sleeve for everyone to see. Sometimes Grayson worries she puts trust in people too easily. That is usually where he intervened, steering her in the right direction. He protected her from the cruel world he knew all too well.
Nicole had always been good for Grayson too. She kept him in check, put him in his place when he needed to be knocked down a few notches, and pulled him back from the edge he always found himself teetering on. She was one of the few people that he actually listened to and it showed. In the way the fire in his eyes dampened whenever her calm voice of reason flooded his senses; how she could somehow always pull that bemused smirk from him even when all he wanted was to watch the world burn. They weren’t simply a good pair. They were two halves of a whole, two hearts made to beat as one, and that was just how it had always been.
On any normal day of classes like today, Grayson always had a free period, as did most of his friends. He and Nicole had accumulated a group of friends over the last six years and they had grown as close as siblings, though Nicole probably deserved all the credit. Nicole and Grayson Rinehart, Layla Harlow, Markus Greenwood, and Ivy Hale. The I’ve Got A Bad Idea Squad or I.G.A.B.I.S. for short. That was the name the five of them had settled on for themselves during their first drunken stupor together two years ago. Their group may seem a little dysfunctional from the outside. Their dynamic was certainly complicated. A Slytherin, two Hufflepuffs, and two Ravenclaws shouldn’t work well together. Yet, somehow they did. On most weekdays they went to the Great Hall and studied, talked, and just enjoyed each other’s company during their free period. Today was no different.
As his last class ended, Grayson made his way to the Great Hall to hopefully meet up with Nicole, Layla, Markus, and Ivy. Even for Grayson and his arms-length personality, it was one of his favorite parts of the day. Maybe he was quiet and a bit of a grouch, but he still thoroughly enjoyed his time with his friends.
Upon arrival at the Great Hall, the first person Grayson saw was Nicole. It was always like her to be the first one there, perfectly prompt for everything. He smiled softly to himself seeing her grumble something to herself. He walked over to the table and caught the tail end of what she was saying. “Dumbasses. Why are they always late? It’s like they don’t even try to be on time anymore.”He sat down next to her with a smirk but didn’t comment on her grumbling, silently reveling in the way her face lit up when she saw him.
“Hey, Nicki,” Grayson said softly and kissed her cheek before launching into his newest reason for annoyance. “I got paired with Gryffindors in Potions today. What a nightmare that was.”
Nicole chuckled to herself. She knew where this was going and buckled down for the ride. “Nice to see you too, Gray,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. Today was the first free period Nicole didn't have any homework to do, which was exciting for her because that meant she could just enjoy her time with Grayson, Ivy, Markus, and Layla. Maybe she would even get to give Markus his birthday present, even if it was almost two weeks late. She'd been so busy the past two weeks she hadn't actually had a chance to celebrate him.
Grayson rolled his eyes in faux annoyance as he continued. “Potter and Black nearly blew up the classroom. Probably another one of their pranks. Remind me to slap my potions partners upside the head for skipping class today.” Grayson grumbled, letting out a breath.
"Aw," Nicole half pouted, feeling slightly amused at how ticked off Grayson seemed to be. "I wish I had Potions with James or Sirius or even Remus this term. They always make it so much less boring and I don't fall asleep when Slughorn drones on and on and on. Merlin, he's boring." She shook her head.
“Agreed.” Grayson chuckled. “Anyway, how was your day? Hopefully better than mine.”
"My day? Eh, it was kind of boring. Mostly just trying to keep Layla out of too much trouble with Professor McGonagall today." Nicole laughed. "I think she likes being in detention. Remind me to take all of her dung bombs away after the next Hogsmeade trip."
Surprisingly, Grayson always liked Nicole's choice of a best friend, even if he would never actually say that out loud. Layla could be loud and obnoxious, but she could also be calm and easygoing. She definitely had a thing for mischief and Grayson always secretly liked the fact she didn't allow other people to determine her decisions. She was independent, and he'd always known her to be that way.
"Sounds like a pretty normal day to me then." He said with a chuckle, knowing Layla didn't stay out of trouble for long. Nicole laughed again.
“Yeah, yeah. Pretty normal day.” She responded to her brother with a shrug. Truth was, Nicole loved Layla and didn’t mind keeping her out of trouble. It made life more fun.
Moments later the three missing stooges stumbled into the Great Hall, Ivy trailing behind distractedly as she stuffed something into her bag, and all took their seats near the twins. Grayson quickly prepared himself for the chaos that would surely ensue.
"There you guys are! Finally, I've been waiting here for close to twenty minutes now." Nicole said with a pout that only lasted a few seconds before she smiled at her friends.
"Sorry, Nick. Got caught up with Slughorn again." Markus apologized with a smirk.
"Don't apologize," Layla said and crossed her arms over her chest. "Ms. Impatient over here deserved it for pushing me out of bed this morning."
"You wouldn't get up!" Nicole exclaimed incredulously, sticking her tongue out when Layla jokingly flipped her off.
Nicole couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her friends’ excuses. “You guys are lucky I like you enough to put up with you,” she teased and crossed her arms over her chest.
Ivy finally finished wrestling her bag and sat down next to Markus with a large smile on her face. "Sorry, Nick. Class seemed to run a little late, or rather I stayed late talking to Professor McGonagall about the beauty of transfiguration. Some people really don't give it enough credit." She explained, putting the bag down between her feet.
Layla looked over between Markus and Ivy, raising an eyebrow. “I know you’re both Ravenclaws but don’t you ever do anything other than suck up to teachers and do homework? Like, I dunno, have fun?” She asked jokingly. Markus opened his mouth to respond with a snarky comment but Nicole beat him to it.
“Oh, be nice,” Nicole said and kicked her under the table. Layla winced slightly but grinned at Nicole.
Ivy had a playful smile on her face at Layla's joke. "What do you mean? That is fun."
Layla couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the comment Ivy made but she still smiled. Even though Nicole was her best friend, Ivy was her close second; she loved the girl. “No. What’s fun is having a secret sleepover in the astronomy tower with plenty of snacks, booze, and weed to hold us all over. Anybody got any weekend plans?” She asked jokingly, but also slightly serious, and looked around the table at her friends.
“As long as I get to bring books and you keep the weed to one side of the tower, I’m free.” Markus piped up with a grin. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring more entertainment for those who are illiterate.”
Nicole chuckled softly. “I’m game too as long as we don’t get caught. I already have two detentions from just hanging out with you, Layla, and we’re barely two weeks into the term.” She glared half-heartedly at her roommate and best friend. It only lasted a few seconds before she was distracted again. “But that reminds me...here you go, Markus. I have a birthday present for you!” Nicole pulled the rectangular package from her robes and handed the gift over. “Sorry it’s kind of late but... I think you’ll find it fun.” She added and gave Layla a pointed look before smiling at Markus again.
Markus sighed at Nicole but smiled and accepted the gift nonetheless. “Thank you but this really wasn’t necessary. My birthday was two weeks ago.” He told her, trying to hide his excitement at the book-shaped gift.
“It was entirely necessary. You only turn sixteen once, do you not?” Nicole smirked, which made Markus give her a look. Merlin, he loved his friends.
Before Markus could respond or even try to open his gift, Grayson started grumbling about something again. Garreth Whitlock, one of Grayson’s roommates, had walked in with a number of other Slytherin students, a large smirk on his face as his friends joked about something funny. They were being quite obnoxious and loud as they entered, although Whitlock himself remained silent. Grayson looked over with an annoyed look on his face, scoffing and turning back to his friends. "I despise sharing a house with those idiots. Death Eaters, if we just want to call them what they really are." He said, having known enough about some of his fellow housemates and their snobby pure-blood families.
“Really?” Layla responded to Grayson with a smirk. “I would’ve thought those dimwits were your best friends.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Grayson looked at Layla as she very sarcastically responded to his comment. He somewhat rolled his eyes but was quickly cut off by Nicole before he could respond in turn.
“Can you not do this right now?” She asked her brother with a raised eyebrow. “Just because their parents follow Big Ol’ Baddie V doesn’t automatically mean they do too.” She just sighed. “Seriously. Come on. Let Markus open his present in peace and ignore the hooligans, Grayson.” She said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Layla had been slightly disappointed at Grayson getting cut off before he could respond to her ‘best friends’ comment and she smirked cockily at him as Nicole drilled into him, overlooking her part in it. She loved to push people’s buttons and, being Nicole’s brother, she loved pushing Grayson’s buttons even more. She knew more about him than most people probably did because of Nicole and it made it easier to get him riled up.
"Doesn't automatically make them good either, Nicki," Grayson replied in annoyance, although as she continued he decided he might drop it. For now. He still despised all of his housemates. He didn’t need proof. With the influence they'd grown up with there was no way they weren't following the same path as their parents. He was convinced they were all doomed for the role of a Death Eater themselves, if they hadn’t accepted the Mark already.
Nicole rolled her eyes, mostly at the nickname. Nicki. She hated that nickname. She had always preferred Nick but tolerated it from Grayson because well...it was Grayson. Anybody else she would have probably drop-kicked into the Whomping Willow. Plus, anything was better than hearing her full name.
“I never said that they were. All I’m saying is ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’, so to speak.” She grinned slightly, feeling proud at the pun she made. Markus let out a short snort of amusement, having understood the connection between her pun and his current gift situation.
Grayson looked at Nicole and shrugged, letting out a breath and ignoring her attempt at a pun. "You may not, but I surely will." He mumbled to himself, having already made up his mind about most of the Slytherin's in his year. No, he hadn't gotten to know them well, but he felt he knew enough. To be quite honest he didn't care to know any more than the bare minimum.
Nicole knew she wasn’t going to convince her brother to give his housemates a chance but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try. She may not have trusted them either but she was a firm believer in the whole innocent until proven guilty thing. It was probably the Hufflepuff in her. When their mother died, it forced Nicole to always try and look on the bright side and not focus on the dark, to try and find the best in people because there simply wasn’t enough of it in the world. The opposite happened to Grayson; it gave him trust issues and he usually had this gloom about him. And he definitely didn’t see the best in people. Sometimes it was annoying but most of the time Nicole didn’t mind. She understood better than anyone why he was like this and she didn’t mind being the happy one for the both of them.
The entirety of Nicole’s pun had Layla rolling her eyes. “Oh, come on. That was funny!” Nicole sighed in defeat at the look her best friend gave her. “Okay, whatever. Just open the present.” She added with a sigh and wave of her hand to Markus.
With a smile and permission from Nicole, Markus grinned, not bothering to hide his excitement any longer, and went back to opening the gift. As expected, it was a book. But not just any book. It was the book he’d been talking about for months. And in a rare collectors edition.
“Oh my god...Nick! This is amazing!” He practically jumped over the table to give her a hug. “Thank you so much.”
Nicole’s mood quickly shifted from annoyance at Grayson to joy at Markus’ reaction to the book. He was so overdramatic at times but it made her heart happy and she hugged her friend back tightly. Nicole just laughed and shrugged. “Honestly, we all pitched in a little to help.” She smiled at him.
“You guuuyyyysssss,” Markus whined at this newfound information and gave Ivy and Layla a hug as well. He would have given Grayson one but he never knew how to act around him so he opted out. “You guys are the best.”
Ivy smiled as it seemed Markus had thoroughly enjoyed his gift, giving him a hug with a smile on her face. “You’re welcome, bub!” Grayson, however, was relieved when Markus didn't hug him, he never was one for physical affection. He was hot and cold, nobody ever really knew what they were going to get from him...and it seemed he kinda liked it that way. He liked being unpredictable.
"You keep your head in those dusty books enough, so Nicki figured it might be the best option as a gift." Grayson then looked at Nicole with a bit of an annoyed yet playful expression on his face. "We only spent hours looking for it." He said, remembering the days he'd been dragged into bookstore after bookstore to go look for this book with Nicole and Layla. Ivy had been on duty to distract Markus from where they were.
“Stop complaining,” Nicole gently shoved Grayson. “I told you that you could just give me the money but you didn’t want to. I remember you spent most of that trip trying to talk up the store clerk and get her number anyway instead of actually trying to help us.” She exclaimed with a laugh before leaning into Grayson and resting her head on his shoulder.
Grayson smirked just a little as he was reminded of the store clerk and how he had tried to get her number. It seemed like she was into the conversation by the time they were about to leave the bookstore but he'd let it go and simply said goodbye to her as they left. Maybe he'd go back and see her again. "What? She was hot." He shrugged unapologetically. He then smiled as he looked over at Nicole, feeling her lean onto him and rest her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead softly before turning his attention back to the conversation.
If Nicole and Grayson were anything, they were incredibly close. They may have gotten on each other's nerves quite a lot, but they loved each other. It was an unspoken rule that they'd vowed to protect each other each and every day. It was how they had always lived their lives, especially after the death of their mother. Markus may have been afraid of touching Grayson but Nicole never was. She could often be found leaning on her brother just like this or in some other similar manner. Nicole didn’t exactly have a reason why. She guessed it was just her way of letting him know she was there if he needed her. And maybe she needed the reminder herself sometimes. She’d grown up crawling into his bed and sleeping in his arms whenever she had a nightmare. He was always the first person she went to when she was hurt or heartbroken or scared or upset. Grayson was Nicole’s safe place. And she liked to think she was his, even if he didn’t open up as much as she did.
Nicole couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Yeah, and look how that turned out. Do you even remember her name?” She smirked slightly when he mumbled a ‘no’ and dropped the conversation. She was glad that her brother still knew how to be a normal person even if he decided not to be.
“Most of that day had been Ivy’s idea actually,” Layla said with a shrug, bringing the conversation back to the book. “Nick thought about getting you a nice book where everyone pitched in but it was Ivy who picked out which book and thought of the plan to keep you distracted.” She smirked slightly. Nicole and Layla had been more than happy about that.
“Of course she did.” Markus chuckled and kissed Ivy’s cheek.
Ivy smiled at Markus. “I knew you’d lose your mind when you saw it. It seems I guessed right. You’re a sucker for classics.”
And that he was, Markus was truly ecstatic about getting the book. He opened to a random page and took a big, long sniff of the pages. “It’s even still got that new book smell,” he said with a small groan. “I can’t wait to stay up all night reading this. Can I bring this over to the sleepover?” He asked absentmindedly as he flipped through pages.
Layla just laughed and rolled her eyes. “Sure, Brain Boy. You can bring your fancy new book to the sleepover.” She shook her head slightly with another laugh. “Remind me why I’m friends with you lot again?” Layla asked jokingly after a few moments of watching Markus smell the book.
"Because you have a secret soft spot for all of us. Even me, surprisingly." Grayson said with a playful smirk as he teased her. He had always known Layla rather well considering she was Nicole's best friend. The two were vastly different even though they were alike in so many ways. She may have been a Hufflepuff but Layla always had a harder exterior, as did he. Maybe that's why Grayson and she always got along so well or rather got on each other’s nerves so much. She was definitely tough to crack, and Grayson had always wondered if he had ever even scratched the surface with Layla. They were good friends nonetheless, even if a lot of that was due to Nicole.
Layla looked at Grayson with an eyebrow raised, a slight smirk playing at her lips. “That’s where you’re wrong, Rinehart. I don’t have soft spots.” She said, “Especially not for nerds like you four.” Of course, that was a lie though. Layla loved all of them, even Grayson. She probably would have done anything for them except admitting that love to their faces. In her opinion, that was her only fault: being recklessly loyal. Anyone who doubted that she was a Hufflepuff only needed to look a little closer at her friends and it would all make sense.
Grayson rolled his eyes at Layla's response, knowing that her words weren't at all true. "I call bullshit." He said with a smirk on his face. He knew Layla well enough to know how much she did enjoy their group of friends, as he did, even if neither of them would really admit to that.
Ivy, however, was still stuck on the sleepover part of their conversation. "So, sleepover?" She said excitedly. "Please, I've missed doing those." It was something they did almost every year at the start of term, and a few in the middle and near the end as well; something their friend group had always enjoyed doing together. "I think I can bribe some of the prefects to keep their patrolling routes to a far side of the castle." She said, always happy to be spending some time with her friends.
Layla grinned wide at Ivy’s reaction to the sleepover. That meant everyone was in except Grayson but she figured Nicole would drag him there anyway. “I guess that settles it then. Sleepover. Saturday in the astronomy tower. Ivy is going to take care of the prefects. I’ve got drinks and other refreshments. Markus is bringing entertainment. Nicole can get snacks. Rinehart, you can help your sister if you decide to come. Everyone brings their own blankets and pillows for our pile.” She rubbed her hands together excitedly. “First I.G.A.B.I.S. sleepover of the new term. I can’t wait.”
Markus grinned and watched his friends talk. “I can help Ivy with the prefects since I know most of them personally. And I’ll make sure to bring some games and stuff too, not just books so you guys don’t throw me off the tower.” He joked lightly.
“Oh, right. I forget you’re a prefect too.” Layla smirked when Markus glared at her. “So both of you can take care of the prefects then.”
“I guess I'll come too," Grayson said begrudgingly, although a part of him only wanted to go for the alcohol and weed as he eyed Layla a bit. He knew she would know why he was going. He'd never actually told Nicole that he smoked. He knew the way she would react if she found out he'd done so with Layla once or twice...or all the time. It relaxed him, especially considering the anger and grouchy attitude he held a lot of the time. It was an unspoken mutual agreement between him and Layla not to tell Nicole.
The rest of that study hall was full of their banter as per usual. I.G.A.B.I.S. was known for that amongst each other, and they always took the teasing lightly. When it was time to bid each other farewell, it was with promises and excitement for Saturday night as they all headed back to their respective classes.