Welcome to Until The End. We are a moderate Harry Potter role-playing site set in the Marauder's Era. Our plot is generally derived from details in the book, but as an AU site we do take liberties most anywhere we like. Those who died in the books can have a second chance at living, and those who lived are always at risk.
Tom Marvolo Riddle has long since disappeared and in his stead Lord Voldemort has risen, bringing a small army with him. The Ministry of Magic has thus far ignored the growing menace that is the Death Eaters and Albus Dumbledore has taken it upon himself to defend the wizarding community from an evil he knows is building. War is coming. Pick a side!
School's Out For Summer
The Hogwart's Express has pulled up to the station in King's Cross station and the summer holidays have officially begun. What mischeif will you get into in the warm summer sun?
*Coming Soon* - Summer Solstice Carnival
Travel by portkey to the biggest summer celebration in wizard society - The Summer Solstice Carnival! There will be food, games, prizes, fun and more!
Post by Lyra Ophelia Nott on Jan 20, 2019 11:36:30 GMT -8
She was putting the cart before the horse by stopping at the ice cream shop before dinner, but work had been exhausting and she'd determined her choices were to either have a little something sweet or to drink until she was able to properly cope with the stressors of the day. For a witch watching her figure, ice cream was actually the better option. The line at the counter was longer than she'd been expecting, though there was no reason to have expected it to be short by any means. It was summer holiday and she was getting ice cream, of course there would be a million children running around with their parents asking for sweets and treats, and of course their parents obliged because it kept the children happy for the time being and that was the role parents were to play in their children's lives. Ordering a strawberry sherbet on a waffle cone, Lyra found an empty seat at one of the small tables just outside the shop. A little people watching would be a fun distraction from the two things that had been on her mind as of late; work and Julian. He was always on her mind but this month marked a whole year since he'd been gone. She had prayed he would have returned by now, even if not to be with her but just come home to the people who loved him, yet she'd herd nothing. Liquid dripped onto her hand and Lyra looked down to see she'd let her ice cream begin to melt. Licking around the top layer of the rather large scoop, and then the top of the cone to stop any further dripping, Lyra then switched her cone to the other hand and licked the melted ice cream from her index finger.
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down.
I
t had been an eternity since Elara stepped foot in the quaint ice cream parlor, and by the expression on the young girl's face, another eternity could pass without complaint.
Years ago Elara's father took particular delight in spoiling her with many trips to Florean's and Honeydukes. Very few people knew about Elara's secret love for sweets - a love that was nearly snuffed out by ridicule and disdain from her mother. While the sweet tooth didn't die completely, the shame and caution followed until sweets were a secret indulgence. The same could be said for laughter and lightheartedness, some habits were hard to break - especially when they were beaten into you.
Smoothing her features she erased all traces of distaste and pressed forward until she was next to the pert blond she called friend - another "indulgence".
"I think I'm gaining a pound just watching you eat that."
Lara shrugged and delicately slipped onto the seat next to Lyra.
A year ago roughly around the same time Lyra was spiraling and Lara had been completely oblivious, well perhaps not completely oblivious, but she had no idea that her best friend would nearly end up taking her own life.
She didn't think that had been Lyra's intention, but Lara blamed herself all the same. She could have been more attentive, more aware of how deeply Lyra was hurting. Elara was a master manipulator. She could have made a living off of reading people's emotions and signs of weakness, of course she should have known, but she was blinded by her own affection. She wouldn't be so careless again.
Post by Lyra Ophelia Nott on Jan 21, 2019 22:29:35 GMT -8
Lyra looked up, her index finger still partially in her mouth, as Elara took one of the empty seats at their little table. She sucked the liquid in a completely non-sexy manner and smiled broadly. "Thank Merlin that is not how it actually works, or else I'd be out of mid-day indulgence." Lyra watched her figure, sometimes more carefully than others depending greatly on her mental state or her impression of other people's perspective towards her, and would often eat small, bland mid-day meals while chatting with her co-workers and living vicariously through their decadent lunches. No one had noticed her habit, as she had developed it in secret some time ago when she was still just a girl at Hogwarts, and it wasn't as though she was gawking or drooling over anything. She was simply being observant. She'd gained considerable weight while she was with Julian, nearly five pounds, but he never batted an eye at what she considered a puffy thigh or a roll on her stomach when she sat. In fact, he seemed to adore her figure and seemingly everything else while they were together, and he often showered her with home-cooked meals and posh evenings out that Lyra had rarely indulged in since he'd been gone. After his departure, she'd gone the other way, rarely eating and losing far more than the five pounds she'd put on while they were together. It had been a rocky road to recovery, but she owed Elara and Nik thanks for they were the ones who pulled her out of the funk she'd found herself lost in.
Swiping her tongue around the edge of the cone to catch anymore melting cream, Lyra looked to the shop doors then back to Elara. "Aren't you going to get something? I won't tell your mum." Lyra gave her friend a look that meant both that she was serious, and also that her mum was a bitch and she could go stuff it.
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down.
E
lara's lip curled in distaste, a break from the sunshine act she used to snow half of Hogwarts and the rest of wizarding society with.
Most people fell into two categories, those who believed the sun shined out of Lara's ass, and those who were too terrified of her to say otherwise. Lyra was an anomaly. A mistake. A bet that carried into something else that Elara was too selfish to put an end to.
In some ways Elara was obsessively protective over her friendship with the girl. Like a coveted treasure too easily broken or stolen away, but Lara would never reveal how much the blonde meant to her, not even to herself.
This willful blindness would be a problem one day, but Elara chose to ignore it for now. No doubt Nadya already knew about the relationship and wouldn't hesitate to use it against Lara to control her, but that was a fight for another day. Instead she put on a brave and careless shrug,
"Satan is in Ibiza this week, so long as Alejandro works his talented mouth I doubt she'd care one way or another what I put in mine."
She sighed looking almost longingly over at the counter, "That being said, I already ate." she lied. It wasn't that Elara was watching her weight, but rather she got a perverse thrill from being disciplined and it would take something a hell of a lot more tempting than ice cream to break her.
Post by Lyra Ophelia Nott on Jan 30, 2019 21:37:24 GMT -8
The mention of Elara’s mum and her apparent lover Alejandro elicited a sneer of disgust from Lyra. She didn’t want the mental image that came with the idea of her friend’s mum shagging some bloke. Lyra was no prude, she firmly believed everyone was entitled to a little action whenever they pleased, and there were several points in Lyra’s young life when she had been known as the “friendly” witch. Her time in Hogwarts had seen her labeled a whore, something she never really cared about at the time, at least not that she acknowledged. Then there was Julian, for whom she converted almost effortlessly to a one-man woman, not including a little blip during one of their one-again, off-again periods in which she was dating Mason Marlow and secretly shagging Julian without either being none the wiser – until she spilled the magic beans and ruined Julian’s and Mason’s friendship. That little pickle had yet to resolve itself, despite Lyra’s incessant interference. At least with Julian gone to whatever distant land he had disappeared to, they were all missing Julian’s friendship equally. If only that were a comfort, but alas it was as painful to think about as Nadya fucking some hot, young bloke barely older than her daughter.
Lyra looked pointedly at her friend, not completely assured that her friend was speaking the truth but not wanting to bother about it. “Of course you did,” she retorted, taking another lick of her ice cream cone and thoroughly enjoying the treat. Were it something more substantial than refraining from a little sweet now and then, Lyra would have made a bigger fuss about Lara’s refusal. As ignorant as she was to the larger picture in her moments of well-intentioned meddling, Lyra wasn’t a busy body. She only made mention of her concerns when they were really warranted. Skipping sweets? No need to bother. Turning off your emotions like a bloody robot whenever anything life-altering happens as an unhealthy coping mechanism? Lyra’s nose is firmly planted where it doesn’t belong, no matter that Lyra’s own poor choice of coping mechanisms landed her in the hospital and scared her true love away forever.
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down.
L
ara shrugged at Lyra's subtle contradiction, it wasn't worth arguing about.
Both girls had learned enough about each other to pick their battles wisely, and Elara's peculiar eating habits were not high on the list. That being said, it was rare for anyone outside of Nik or Lara's family to even contemplate contradicting the dark haired beauty. Whether you were dealing with the picture-perfect princess or the ruthless cut-throat bitch - Lara word was law in her universe; Lyra just didn't give a damn. And Lara loved her for that.
"Besides I came to collect you. Nik is taking us to dinner."
It was a small lie. Nik had indeed offered to take Lara to dinner, he had even sweetened the pot by suggesting his box seats for the Russian Ballet afterward, but it was a ploy. An obvious one at that.
Truthfully they hadn't spent much time alone since everything happened with Rafe and Nik's subsequent proposal. Lara didn't want to deal with it and Lyra was her buffer.
Post by Lyra Ophelia Nott on Jun 28, 2019 18:55:50 GMT -8
A warm wind blew at Lyra’s back, her soft blonde curls tickling her shoulders. With her free hand, Lyra gathered her hair and pulled her locks over one shoulder, hoping to keep the wind from blowing her hair into her ice cream and rather enjoying her sugary treat. They were sat near the awning that covered the entrance to the shoppe and with the sun slowly moving towards the horizon it cast a nice shadow over the table where the girls sat. There were several other small, spindly legged tables outside of the ice cream shoppe, shoved up tightly against the side of the building as to not block the busy walkway of Diagon Alley, but spaced out enough that Lyra didn’t feel trapped in when a little boy and his mum pulled out the chairs at the table next to her. She gave a small smile to the boy as he looked her way but her attention was easily pulled back to Elara who spoke of a dinner out.
It was still early for tea, but of course a meal out with Lara and Nik meant she’d need a bit of extra time to get herself ready. She was still in the same outfit she’d worn at work, the proverbial stench of business meetings still clinging to her. Lyra’s hair had been enchanted in the morning to keep her perfect curls in place and avoid falling flat in the summer heat, but if they were going out, she would want to refresh her hair despite it looking perfect as it were. This was precisely the right time to spring a casual dinner out with friends on her, and she was certain Lara would be making ensemble suggestions on the way home. “Is that so?” she pondered aloud, more rhetorical than questioning. “And where is it we’re going, then? I assume I have time to change.” Lyra rose from her seat, gathering up her handbag as she scooted her chair out with a horrid scraping of metal on cobblestone. Taking one last swirl of her tongue around the nearly finished ice cream cone, Lyra tossed it in the bin unceremoniously. If she were having a proper tea then there wasn’t much room to finish her pre-dinner dessert, not if she wanted to keep her trim figure.
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down.
E
lara watched Lyra adjust her hair and smile at the boy who sat near them. Not for the first time, the contrast between herself and the woman whom she considered her "best friend", caught Lara off guard. While they were physically very different and striking in their own ways, they had very different personalities as well.
Lara wouldn't be caught dead eating ice cream in the middle of Diagon Alley on a summer's day with the "common" folk - mostly because Nadya would use anything as a jumping point for berating her only daughter.
Her thoughts cleared when Lyra mentioned changing and for the first time she realized that Lyra had been working that morning. She eyed Lyra's clothing critically, tilted her head, then smiled.
"You look beautiful, one could hardly tell you'd been slaving in a board room all day. Enchanted is lucky to have you." she smirked. Enchanted was the magical equivalent of Vogue. Initially the publication was purchased to placate a petty Nadya Sirakov. Apparently a neglectful editor had failed to highlight Nadya's appearance at some social event and of course the most logical solution had been to purchase the magazine and run it into the ground. A few years ago Seamus - the financial advisor of the Sayre family - had put his foot down; either sell the magazine or turn it over to a new editor.
The new editor was absolutely brilliant and turned the venture upside down increasing profit beyond what they had been expecting - the only condition was absolute control - which left Nadya and her self-absorbed ravings to a much smaller audience.
It had been a hump and a half to get Lyra hired in the first place, as the girl had no qualifications or previous experience, but Lara insisted - and no one said no to the brunette for very long.
It had been a smart move. Three months after Lyra had started working at the magazine and Lyra was already up for a promotion. Adele - the editor in chief - had reached out and praised Lara for her recommendation and to send any others like Lyra her way.
Lara was happy for her friend - it was one of the small victories Lara could feel good about. "Did you land the Emmerson account yet?"
Lara was invested in fashion almost as an afterthought. Of course her clothes were always at the height of fashion and her style was impeccable, but she had no real lust for the newest designs. Board room sharks on the other hand interested Lara very much. She enjoyed going for the kill and hearing stories and strategy from Nik and now Lyra.
As she spoke she moved in sync with the blond toward the main street where the carriage waited. She was so absorbed by the thought of power dynamics she didn't notice the tall broad shouldered chest she carelessly stumbled into.
She was a moment away from a scathing set down when she noticed the fine tailoring on the clearly expensive suit, followed by the overwhelmingly familiar scent that had usually always brought her comfort - until his recent proposal.
Post by Lyra Ophelia Nott on Jul 3, 2019 10:50:12 GMT -8
Well of course she looked beautiful, but that wasn’t really the point now, was it? “Of course they are, but that hardly answers my question.” She preened herself as they headed away from the ice cream shoppe, Lyra’s nose a little higher in the air following her friend’s compliment. Lyra had always prided herself on looking her best and a couple of fashion changes a day was hardly anything new. If she had gone straight home after her venture into Diagon Alley, then perhaps she would have just put on some lounge clothes and not bothered with getting dolled up for a dinner alone, but if they were going out somewhere to eat, she wasn’t about to be caught in the same dress she’d worn to work. Her posh attitude toward fashion would never properly rival that of her best friend’s but it was something the girls could easily bond over despite Lyra or her family never having the galleons the Sayres had. The Notts weren’t destitute, but Lyra definitely spent outside their means as a teenager, and now that she was on her own and making respectable money, Lyra’s shopping had again become a problem. Thankfully, this time, the only problem was in having to enchant her wardrobe to hold more than it should, and not the sort of problem she’d had a few years before where creditors were sending howlers to her flat demanding she pay her bills with gold she did not possess.
Talk turned to her work easily and Lyra gave an irritated exhale at the mention of the Emmerson account. She’d been wooing the designer for a week now and had only recently learned they were also taking meetings with Enchanted’s competitor, Pur. It wasn’t uncommon, in fact it was par for the course, but her plans had originally been designed around there being little competition for the account. “I’ve a lunch meeting set for tomorrow with them. My newest pitch, a few drinks at Ambrosia, and that little purple dress ought to close the deal. Honestly, I’ve never had to work so hard to get a bloke to sign on. I’m nearly considering shagging him to close it,” she joked, an airy laugh following. Still talking to Elara, she wasn’t really paying much attention to the witch, her thoughts now fully emerged in her work yet again. It happened easily for the blonde. She rather enjoyed what she did and therefore it rarely felt like work at all. “I’ve convinced Kait to let me pitch it on my own. She seemed a bit apprehensive, but I assured her nothing could possibly get in the way of me succeeded tomorrow. I mean, the world would literally have to – ”
Without much notice, Lara walked straight into a man and halted Lyra’s work-obsessed ramble mid-sentence. An expression of offended concern for her friend quickly shifted as she realized it was Nik the girl had quite literally bumped into. Her expression shifted into a smile. “Fancy bumping into you here,” she teased, though there seemed to be a strange air about the man that Lyra couldn’t quite comprehend.
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies.
N
ik's eyes never left the pert blond he he had reluctantly come to care for.
He wasn't sure when Lyra had moved from annoying pest to cherished friend to something he couldn't quite explain, but she was there now. Deep in the secret vulnerable place inside of him that twisted in agony at the idea of bringing her pain. Feeling Elara press against him was a short reprieve from the knowledge he carried that would surely set the blond on her ears.
His attention shifted to the dark haired beauty at his chest as she steadied herself and he reached his arms out to help her while grounding himself in the news he had brought. Elara's affect on him was instant. Perhaps it was instinct. Nik had watched over her since her birth, and he typically felt simultaneously confident and out of sorts when she was around. It was the reprieve he needed before shifting his eyes back to Lyra.
His breath caught. She had been through enough and the reason she had suffered so much was back.
The last time Nik saw Julian he was escorting the man to the edge of the city, telling him to leave and never return. It was harsh in the moment and Nik wasn't sure he meant it anymore, but the longer Julian stayed away the guiltier Nik felt. Both for pushing the man away, and for the strange current that ran through him when he spent time with Lyra. His emotions were all over the board.
His normal eloquence was gone, and just as he had blurted out a spontaneous marriage proposal, he delivered the news without preamble, "He's back."
He didn't have to say more. His eyes sought Lyra's vibrant green ones and with a silent stern look he left no doubt as to who he was referring to. Julian was home.
Post by Lyra Ophelia Nott on Jul 17, 2019 20:40:52 GMT -8
She was smiling but the corners of her mouth started to slowly drop as she looked at Nik, waiting for what seemed an eternity for him to say something. In reality it was mere seconds but the look on his face was so strange to her. It vaguely reminded her of the looks he'd give her after her accident, when trying to walk on eggshells around her while simultaneously encouraging her to try to get better. But it was something different from that even. Lyra couldn't place the expression.
His words didn't help any, either. A cryptic message clearly intended for Lyra. Nik's eyes bore into her like a drill, conveying something she didn't immediately understand. "Who's back?" she asked innocently enough but almost immediately chills ran over her extremities and she asked again, a clear quiver in her voice, afraid she already knew the answer. "Who is it?" Tears were pooling in her eyes, emerald lily pads floating in a pond. Lyra couldn't contain the pained smile that broke out across her face. Her legs felt weak. Goose-pimples covered her arms and she felt a catch in her throat. "Nik?" Her voice cracked as took a shaky step forward, her previous conversation with Elara completely gone from mind. The first tear had fallen, the rest threatening to follow. Her hand rushed to cover her mouth as if that would stave off the tears but it was no use. They came regardless and Lyra felt light-headed. "Where?" was all she could manage through the sobs of joy, or sorrow for the pain she had felt in missing him for so long, and for the high hopes she could feel bubbling up inside her chest.
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down.
E
lara wasn't accustomed to Nik's split attention or his preoccupation with her best friend. If there was one thing that could be said about Elara - other than being terrifying - was that she was possessive. Lyra was her friend. Nik was just hers. And sometimes it was easier when they couldn't stand each other. Now, there were times when Lara felt like an interloper or outcast when the three of them were together because of the odd bond that developed between Nik and Lyra. Not that Elara could blame Nik.
Lyra had an infectious way about her. She was a light in their dark and cynical world and while Lara didn't openly acknowledge her weakness or desire for Lyra's unaffected ways, there was a noticeable difference in Lara's behavior. Similarly there was a noticeable difference in Nik's behavior. On the rare occasion that Lara felt introspective or insecure the relationship left a bad taste in her mouth even if it was irrational.
But the expression in Nik's face was serious and whatever his news was it didn't appear to be pleasant.
"He's back."
It took Lyra longer to figure out who Nik meant, but Lara had known Nik longer and was accustomed to all of his expressions - it wasn't uncommon for them to have full conversations without either person saying a word it was even less uncommon for them to have nuanced conversations with entirely different meanings than the words they spoke. So Elara knew at once who was back and when the realization hit Lyra, she felt the same dread Nik expressed.
Dread gave way to anger. As hope filled Lyra's eyes, an angry snarl formed on Lara's lips and they both asked "Where?!"
