The Magic of Money (Nirek + Cara)

Guest

Caramarienne bit down on her lower lip nervously.

She hated feeling like she had to keep a secret, but that’s exactly what she was doing. It was exhilarating, yes, but also exhausting. In a perfect world, Nirek and her would have met when she was younger. Or a world where she was a half-blood, or Hells, even if Nirek was a pureblood. In a perfect world, she’d walk through the halls with her head held high and her fingers interlaced with his. But instead she has to settle for light brushes against each other, or nightly meet-ups in the dark of the night. When Jacques or one of his lackeys has practice of any sort, or Elenore is covering for her, she has to content herself on those moments she can steal away. It’s hard to describe the sensation she has just by being in his presence, so intoxicating the power rush she gets from knowing she has someone who cares about her.

Knowing that there was someone who held her in a higher regard than anyone else, made her feel safe. Made her feel comforted. Made her feel needed. It was such a heady combination: to feel comforted and needed all at once.

After what happened at the attack… Well, Cara knew that she needed to see him. She didn’t have the time to indulge herself in more that a longing look or two, and therefore she went to painstaking lengths to ensure this meet-up. Just a day after the attack. It definitely wasn’t all that safe, but Jacques seemed preoccupied, and his usual informants as well. She’d used her own personal money, money from Joubert, to pay a Prefect to reserve a room under an adult alias in the Three Broomsticks. From there the Hufflepuff Prefect would check in, receive the key and sneak it to her. She’d be there for the Hogsmeade weekend, the village would be crawling with Aurors and teacher chaperones, but she trusted Nirek to be careful. The same Prefect was being paid for secrecy, and she knew this Prefects weakness for pretty girls. Luckily, a lesbian pureblood was enough leverage to lock down shut-lips for this little meeting.

Anxiously, Cara bit her lip as she contemplated eating the food she brought. She planned on keeping him here for the full six hours they’d have. She just hoped everything would go alright. At the sound of the gentle knock on the door, she stood up from her seat by the window and rushed to it.

“Who is it?” She called out from behind the door, her heart racing, praying it was her… Her Nirek.

Guest

The attack had left the wizarding world shaking, and Nirek was not fool enough to be unaffected by the events. His sleep the night of the attack had been fitful at best. Every time he fell asleep, his dreams would conjure images of how he had not made it to Caramarienne in time. Sometimes he saw her sprawled out on the floor, lifeless, eyes searching for him, but he was too late. Other times, he arrived in the moment the spell hit her chest. His name would fall from her lips as her figure fell.

Nirek would wake in a cold sweat, shouting out before realising that it was just a dream. After four hours of the same pattern, Nirek had given up on sleep, and moved down to the common room, watching the fire until others awoke. It was an odd atmosphere, Nirek could not... would not tolerate it.

A message had come for Nirek a couple of hours later, and in and amongst the commotion of the attack, he'd slipped out unnoticed. Many people were not going to Hogsmeade now, but Nirek made his way down, pulling his coat up around his neck and face to avoid being seen. Secrecy was for Cara's sake, not his own. He accepted this, though, knowing it best not to upset her family.

Arriving at the inn, Nirek slipped through to the back, to the rooms, and up to the door that he'd been told. He gave a single knock, and waited.

“Who is it?”

"It's me... Nirek." The Gryffindor explained, checking up and down the corridor for anyone who might be watching. "Coast's clear." He added, waiting for the door to open so that he could slip through. Slip through the door, and pull Caramarriene back in to his arms, where she belonged.

Guest

Growing up in the lifestyle that Caramarienne had, she knew that people were… Well, expendable to say the least. The only real constants in her life, at least from what was evident were to be Elenore, Joubert, and the money from her family. Louis and Adelisa would always be there to support her, and she was sure that if Caramarienne was ever some royal screw-up, someone who needed constant parenting, they would find a way to help her to the best of their abilities. They were, in a lot of ways, the parents she’d never had. Joubert told her, though he was still in such a reverent position of thinking highly of the Clement’s, that if their parents were still alive, she’d feel a different kind of way than she did with the Clement’s.

Sometimes, she wondered about that life.

Sadly, since starting to date Nirek, she’d thought about that possible life very often. From the stories Joubert tells her, she gathers that her mother was kind and lovely, but also smart and witty. Her greatest faults seemed to be her lack of common sense and forgetfulness, two traits that their father made up for. Their father was steady and strict, but loving and gentle. Joubert says that nothing would get in the way of their father when it came to their family. That if it weren’t for just one mistaken calling when he was an Auror, he never would have even left the night that he passed. Joubert promises that their parents wouldn’t be even as half as invested in pureblood traditions as the Clement’s are.

Never in her life as Cara regretted being a pureblood, except, somedays, some nights when it is dark and she is alone with her thoughts of Nirek, she silently wishes she were a half-blood. If she were a half-blood, age wouldn’t even matter because she’d just be any other regular student. She wouldn’t be held in a similar regard to the Clement’s, and it wouldn’t matter if she spoke back to Jacques. She’d be spiteful and … Cara’s thoughts never progressed past these, because reality always sunk back in. Pondering hypothetical worlds wasn’t worth it. She had a wonderful life, and contrary to every Aesop fable almost every told, she had her cake and ate it too. But Gods, she couldn’t help to feel that it was more her fault than Nirek’s for her status in life.

Relief flooded her system, completely tsunami’d over the anxiety she felt before he opened the door. She let out a sigh before she threw the door open, and unlike anything she’d ever done before, as was the common practice with Nirek, she fisted the collar of his shirt and dragged him quickly into the room. She shut the door fast behind him before pressing her face into his chest and laced her arms around his middle. She hummed happily as she felt his solid body underneath hers.

“I missed you,” she whispered, “I was so worried about you,” she added and closed her eyes tighter.

Guest

The moment the door opened just a tiny bit, Nirek's feet were moving forward. Being caught was not an option, he knew that, but as Caramarienne's small hands grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him through the door, he had to admit he was a little surprised. His Cara was always so soft, a very gentle being, but as the door closed and they found themselves wrapped up together, he knew exactly why the action had happened.

Fear.

Irrational fear.

Nirek's arms moved around the witch, holding her close to his chest. "It's okay." Nirek assured her, running his fingers carefully through her hair in what he hoped would be a soothing motion. "We're both safe. They're gone, and I doubt they will be back." Nirek explained to the younger witch, hoping this would be enough for them both to calm from the situation of the night before.

"I promise that I'll never let them hurt you, Cara." Nirek insisted, leaning down to place a kiss atop her head. The idea of losing her was much too much, but they had been nothing less than fortunate, running in to Professor Newbury as they did, and being kept safe by his clever concealing charms. "Did you sleep last night?" Nirek asked, because he knew he hadn't, hopefully Cara had been much more fortunate...

But he was not convinced, not by a long shot.

» My Lady (Nirek & Cara)
» Pleasure to See Safe (Nirek & Cara)
» Through the Window Glass (Nirek & Cara)
» Caramarienne "Cara" Florelle
» Obligatory (Jacques & Cara)