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Difficult Roads Often Lead to Beautiful Destinations

[continued from previous thread (Memory War) re: Declan's wedding date]

Declan passed his exasperated look from Henry to Dom, letting her know he was displeased with his friend. When she introduced herself, however, Henry's eyebrows lifted and he looked between the two of them as well. Declan could practically feel himself deflate. This was going to be a mess. Indeed, the younger man reached out for her hand, saying, "Oh, really?"

Declan reached over and whacked him upside the head before he could lean all the way down to press a kiss to the back of her hand. Henry let out a cry of dismay, but released her hand without question.

"Come off it," Declan warned him, stepping over to Dom's side. "He's just... He's always like this. You'll get used to it," he assured her, hopping up onto the desk beside her. "He's talking about the reason Melena was in here earlier."

"There was a wedding this morning for some of Declan's friends," Henry started off, "and my brother's wife was there." His eyes jumped to Declan's jaw clenching. "Ryan showed up after you left, to help Danica clear everything away."

Declan's hand moved to the small of Dom's back to steady himself, letting out a frustrated sigh. "I can't believe she told him. She cannot be serious."

"Ryan found out from her co-worker, actually," Henry explained slowly, a frightened expression flashing across his face for a moment. "Danica, of course, was unhappy."

It was slightly unfortunate for Dom, Declan realized, that the two of them could have conversations whilst dropping entire words or explanations. They had known each other too long to bother will long sentences or extra explanations. Turning to the blonde beside him, Declan slid his hand to her waist, nudging her in front of him so he could settle his chin on her shoulder. Was he hiding from her a bit? He supposed so, but he chose to tell himself otherwise. He wondered for a moment if he should ask Henry to leave, but the two men were like brothers, and it didn't really feel as strange for Henry to be there as it did for Dom to be. But that wasn't really her fault.

"Dom," he began, next to her ear. "There is a reason why Henry and I are like family when he and Ryan aren't. Danica is-"

"The bitch that broke his heart and tried to break my family," Henry butted in, leaning back against the door and glowering at nothing in particular.

"She showed up at the wedding because she has a catering business. And she approached me while I was with Melena. Said she wanted to leave Ryan... for me." His gaze shifted to briefly to Henry before dropping down to the floor between Henry and Dom, not particularly enthused about seeing either one's reaction.

"The Candor sings the praises of the truth, but they never tell you how much it costs."

If there was anything that Declan Arryn was sure of, it was that he needed to get the hell out of that graduation ceremony. Aside from the fact that there would undoubtedly be people who thought of the Leaky as a place of family tradition. Although he had not always been a part of that, he was now. He had been for nearly two years, and he wanted to be back when the students and their families came out to the pub to celebrate. He wasn't going to be returning to Hogwarts anyway, so just as the ceremony ended, and the graduates were released to go and find their family and friends, Declan stood. Buttoning his suit jacket, he didn't waste any time in leaving the hall. He knew that anyone he wanted to see after leaving would be close enough and easy enough for him to access. Except the most obvious one, of course.

But it didn't feel right to say anything to her. Not anymore. That last time he'd been alone with her, she had walked away and left him standing there. It could have been one minute, but it was probably more like ten. (Okay, not ten, but that was beside the point.)

The graduation ceremony had been odd, certainly, especially at the beginning. But Declan didn't have too much time to focus on that, now. His escape had been successful, thankfully, and now he was watching the waiters seat people from behind the bar as he towel-dried the newly washed glasses. Tossing that cloth over his shoulder, he reached up to put them back on the shelf, and turned away from the door to talk to the new waiter about which tables he was covering.

Don't call it fate - it's just a poltergeist

Dom was honestly more surprised than anyone to have kept up the Gamekeeper job this long. She had bad luck when it came to jobs, as she seemed inherently irresponsible. She was too scattered, too spontaneous to be real employee material, but apparently she was doing something right. She couldn't think what. She had slept with a coworker, had a cousin who had almost gobbled up another student, and she still had no idea what the actual job had entailed. But here she was, still with a job and a title.

Weird.

Every now and again, an actual task presented itself. A note had come across her desk - as in, it had found her when she had been harassing the house elves for some banana nut muffins - informing her of a fight between some students in one of the unused dungeons. It took her a moment after she took off to locate the dungeon to realize that she was going to break up the fight, not watch it. It made her falter and then she realized stepping into fight was even more exciting than watching one. So she didn't mind.

She had taken to wearing whatever she wished, since no one seemed to care anymore, and she must have looked quite the sight, hurrying down to the dungeon in a colorful romper and scarf, her hair bouncing atop her shoulders.

She entered the dungeons, plunging deep into the room, her wand raised. It looked like an unused classroom, with extra chairs and tables moved in - classroom turned storage. It was obviously a student hideaway, with burnt cigarette butts and old bottles littering the corners of the room. But there was no fight. Weird.

[OPEN/GROUP] End of Year Party, Anyone?

Apollo had never been one to start the parties around Hogwarts, but dangit all, he was graduating. If there was any time to throw a party, this was it. The Zabini brothers were about to be released on the real world, and Merlin if he didn't feel a little bit bad for them. It wasn't as though they had not been involved in Diagon Alley and the sort with their ownership of Quality Quidditch Supplies or anything. But now they didn't have to attend school at Hogwarts for nine months out of the year. They would be free to do as they wished, when they wished, and with whomever they wanted.

So the elder of the twins led the way down the hall as the younger followed, not entirely sure if he should be there. Christian wasn't really the party type at all, Apollo knew, but it would have been more shocking, somehow, if the twins had not planned the potential fiasco of a party together. So they approached the Room of Requirement and passed in front of it, back and forth, until the door opened and presented them with the space for their get-together. It was easier than trying to hold the event in one of the common rooms, and the room immediately presented them with what they would have wanted and needed for a party that could possibly be made up of the entire school.

Christian made it known once more than he was not impressed with the fact that Apollo had said that anybody who wanted to could stop in. The younger students, he said, wouldn't necessarily feel safe drinking with the older students, and Christian himself wouldn't want to let them drink and hurt themselves. Nevermind if they got caught after the drinking. But it was too late for that, as Apollo reminded him. It was a students only party, and the time had come for it to begin.

The "Oldies"

Dom did not own any fancy dresses, especially ones that distinguished her from the students. One of the matrons had informed her of a more or less unofficial rule that staff needed to wear longer gowns, more adult dress robes. She needed to look more mature than the students that she was supposed to be of higher rank than. Unfortunately, she was only a few years their senior, and was still continually mistaken for an elder looking seventh year. Even those who knew her, mostly because of her family, they assumed she had just been taking a few years to graduate.

She couldn't blame them for the assumption.

Nevertheless, she had done her best to dress well. Her friend Adele LaReaux fortunately had a whole closet of dresses given to her by diplomats and dignitaries trying to woo her. The green dress had definitely been the perfect one for the job, and Adele even adorned her blonde pixie of a friend with jewelry that Dom was absolutely terrified of breaking or losing, despite Adele's assurance that she had replacements for her replacements.

So Dom walked into the Yule Ball, light silver dress robes draped over her shoulders. She slipped them off within moments of entering the ball, glancing about before draping them over an ice sculpture of a reindeer. She turned about, taking in a big breath before exhaling it. She had always loved Yule Balls, as she had always managed to be in the limelight. But now, she was irrelevant and she was not going to be looked upon with any regard.

Ah well.

She snagged a cup of punch, already spiked of course, and downed it quickly before picking up a new one. She turned and looked out on the dance floor. The students were all having a blast - what fun was to be had for the staff then?

No, I Ain't Broken, But I - I Need a Fix

Declan had come in early to Hogwarts, in order to get a handle on what was changing now that the staff was being altered. He had been asked to come in for the day on Friday, to meet the new staff and to plan for his occasional courses with the fourth years. So it was in the Staff Lounge that he lingered through Keiran's first meeting, concerned by the news he had been given about the younger man. The question of how much Keiran knew of Declan had not been answered, of course, considering no one had been given reason to ask after him before.

Somehow, he had a feeling that he would come out of the day's interaction desperate for a drink. It wasn't like he could expect to find anything in the lounge - regardless of the fact that most all of the professors were younger than him. The majority were, at least. Of the ones he knew, they didn't strike him as the sort to risk professionalism for want of a fix.

So Declan sank into one of the arm chairs, pulling out a book for lack of anything else to do, and attempted to focus on the words written before him. It was difficult, of course, when he would rather have just gotten his discussion with Keiran and the other new staffers over with so he could return to The Leaky, as he was more accustomed to. As he was comfortable with. Was that too much to ask? He glanced up as the door opened, hoping to see the Deputy Headmaster, but instead finding a brunette with long, curled hair. She gave him a confused glance in return for his own, but she offered him a nod as she entered, walking over to the table settled on the far side of the room.

From her bag, she drew out what appeared to be several stacks of parchment, and Declan had to wonder if she had assigned essays the first week. It seemed almost torturous for the kids - though, he hadn't exactly loved doing homework, so he supposed he was biased. Unable to help it, he turned slightly in his chair to face her properly, one ankle lifting to settle atop his knee.

"Sorry, but- are you already grading homework?" Declan questioned, one eyebrow lifted as if it would help the disdain dripping off of the words.

Her head snapped up, fixing him with an unamused stare. "In-class assignment," she corrected. "To see how they're doing." She waited until he nodded, lifting a hand in mock defeat, then turned back to her work.

A quiet chuckle left Declan, followed by an annoyed huff from the brunette across the room, which just led to him smiling down at his book as he endeavored to continue reading.