Repaying The Favour

[Lita Hollows R6]

She had owed Rister a debt for months and now, much to her delight, Lita was finally able to fulfil her obligation. It was simply a shame that she had to leave Gaenor in order to do so. Lita kissed Gaenor’s forehead, smiling softly when he blinked at her sleepily, and then stretched, smoothing her skirt. “I’ll be back tonight,” she informed him warmly. “I just recently realised that I had never properly thanked Rister for his help in setting us up, and I really do hate to be rude.” Gaenor looked at her suspiciously, eyes narrowed as he tried to guess at what mental torture she undoubtedly had planned for his godson, but Lita skipped out of his grasp happily. Her plan had formed in her mind, she had set everything up perfectly and she wasn’t going to miss her chance. Not even for Gaenor. He probably needed to get some work done anyway. Lita smiled guiltily, remembering how she had coaxed him away from his paperwork, and then shrugged cheerfully. Gaenor hadn’t complained.

Lita loved Rister; really, she did – she just wasn’t in love with him, though a lot of the rumours had suggested such idiocy at some point during their friendship. She complained about him and scolded him and just generally annoyed him (and was annoyed by him in turn) but he was her best friend. She had even skipped numerous Potions classes for him, which wasn’t really as terrible as she led Rister to believe because she had already brewed and memorised all the potions Snape included on the sixth year curriculum. Naturally, she wanted him to be happy. Rister had, with the help of his parents, helped her and Gaenor. Lita, being that loving and caring and utterly cuddly type of person, wanted to return the favour. The utter chaos that would ensue wasn’t in any way going to soothe the feelings of irritation and annoyance that Rister had managed to raise in her over the past year. Lita was a rather jealous, possessive person. She knew it, Gaenor knew it, and Rister probably knew it as well. For a long time, she had been the only permanent unrelated female in the Graas boys’ lives and she had grown to love them like brothers. Ashlyn had been hard enough to accept – Lita disliked huge change with a passion, and Ashlyn had been a big change to adjust to – but at least Lita liked Ashlyn and she had a soft spot for Layla too. The little Ravenclaw was just too adorable to dislike. Merry, on the other hand, was a liability and Lita disliked her. But Rister liked her, she knew Morgana’s secret and Lita had seen the dark jealousy on the Hufflepuff’s face. Lita knew that jealousy; she had worn it herself every time she had seen Gaenor with someone who wasn’t her. But Meredith was avoiding Rister and Lita wouldn’t allow it. If she was going to struggle to accept the Hufflepuff then Meredith should have the decency to accept the mutual attraction between herself and Rister.

Smiling grimly, Lita finished her trek back to Hogwarts and found Merry exactly where Lita had asked her to be, just outside the apparition wards. “I’m so sorry about this,” Lita apologised with a grin, slight sincerity showing as she easily guided Meredith along the path. “I know I promised to help you with Potions theory but I forgot one of the books that will probably be most helpful to you, and I figured it would be more entertaining for you to come with me rather than be bored as you wait for me. Maybe we can even study more comfortably. Some people don’t like the library because everyone has to be so silent; it really doesn’t help if you need to ask a question.” It was easy enough to apparate Meredith to the apartment, and Lita grinned when it wasn’t Rister who answered the door. That had been the riskiest part of the plan. If Rister had answered the door then everything would have gone wrong. “Will you just go up and ask Rister for my book?” Lita asked Meredith sweetly, brown eyes glimmering with mischief. “I just need to talk to Jared and Gabriel for a while.”

[Merry Garwin H6]

Merry wasn’t entirely sure why this book mattered quite so much – surely the Hogwarts library had everything that Lita would need – but she wasn’t about to complain. She was absolutely terrible at Potions and Lita was one of the best students in the year so Merry wasn’t really eager to lose a good tutor just because Lita was perhaps slightly picky about the books she used with her students. It was slightly annoying though, to have the tutoring session delayed for such a trivial reason. Merry had juggled her work shifts to free a period of time that would suit Lita and she was losing some of her wages for this. If Merry didn’t get at least an Exceeds Expectations in Potions then she was going to murder Lita in the most painful way possible for wasting her time.

...Perhaps she would murder Lita for bringing her to Rister’s apartment instead. Merry glowered darkly at the cheerful Ravenclaw as she waved a dismissive hand before starting a conversation with the two dark-haired teenagers who had welcomed her. Apparently feeling more helpful than Lita, one of the boys offered directions to their brother’s room so Merry grumbled silently as she navigated the apartment. It wasn’t obnoxiously self-indulgent – Merry actually reluctantly admitted that she quite liked the apartment – but the Graas’ were quite obviously rich. The Garwins weren’t too poor, but her mother had been kicked out of her pureblood family without any money and her father hadn’t come from a rich family. Every single member of the family – except Pip and Rosa, because they were too young and deserved a childhood for a few more years – worked hard and enjoyed their rewards. Merry had always expected herself to feel bitter and resentful if she ever found herself in the house of a rich pureblood because the people who owned the house probably wouldn’t even need to work hard to earn their money. Instead, Merry merely felt a quiet acceptance. Rister and his family were rich; the Garwins weren’t. They didn’t belong in the same world, but she didn’t hate him for it. It wasn’t his fault that her grandmother had disowned her mother for falling in love with a muggle.

Distracted, Merry knocked on the door that she thought was maybe supposed to lead to Rister’s bedroom and walked in after hearing something that sounded like an affirmative response. It didn’t really occur to her that Rister was only expecting his siblings to be in the apartment so he might not be exactly decent at that moment in time since he was probably going to be more comfortable around them than he would be around someone who was practically a complete stranger to him. Instead of such rational thinking, Merry entered the room, her eyebrows raised questioningly at the thin layer of steam in the room. The sight of Rister, stepping out of the shower, jolted Merry’s mind to the abrupt realisation that a shower would most definitely not be in Rister’s room so this was perhaps the bathroom and she had most likely messed up the directions that his brother had given her. The second realisation – that Rister was naked and staring at her because she, trying to understand the odd situation, was openly frowning at him in confusion – made her blush brightly and whirl around quickly to offer him some privacy. “Lita sent me to get her book,” Merry informed Rister embarrassedly, keeping her eyes determinedly locked on her hands even though she had her back to him.

[Rister Graas S6]

Rister was dragging off his shirt before the front door had even had time to close behind him. “You smell like a liquor factory. Don’t leave the shirt on the floor or you’ll get the cats drunk and then you’ll be the one cleaning after them,” Jared noted mildly, without making a pause in the simple tune of the children’s song he was playing on his guitar. Rister grumbled under his breath, but turned on his heel to snatch up the shirt: “And you have personal experience as to what liquor factories smell like?” Jared snorted and Rister ran up the round stairway to the second floor of the apartment to head for a much needed shower. Dragging of fhis pants mid-walking as well, Rister carried both items of clothing to the bathroom with him, where he chucked them with some irritation onto the muggle washing machine in the corner, before peeling off his shoes and socks and underwear and stepping under the shower. Pushing the handle to give hot water, Rister lowered his head and merely grunted as the firs burst of scalding water hit his shoulders. I didn’t take long for his body to adjust to the heat of the water though and Rister tilted his head back, letting the water soothe him. Even though he took care not to let the water directly hit his eyes. He hated having water near his eyes when he wasn’t swimming. Having water fro ma shower, for example, his eyes, even if they were closed, made him feel oddly vulnerable. He didn’t worry much about it though, as in his own opinion everyone was allowed their own quirks.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been under the shower, when a faint knock sounded on the door. “Scram,” he grunted absently, not even sure whether the voice carried over the sound of splashing water or not. Besides, his brothers would step in careless of the meaning of ‘scram’ anyway, even if they heard it. As he had expected, the door creaked open anyway and Rister sighed in the shower. Well, perhaps he could be benevolent if his brother was just here to be curious about what he wanted to eat. He was feeling hungry anyway. Shaking his head from side to side to get some of the water drip out of his hair faster, he caught sight of dark hair only from the corner of his eye. Dark hair, but not the shade of black he and his brothers had. Pausing, Rister slowly tilted his head and stared at Merry with quite a bit of surprise. What was she doing here? Why was she here? How had she even known to come here? Or was she here to demand compensation for keeping Morgana’s secret? Surprise, suspicion, puzzlement, and a faint trickle of hope upon her not so determinedly not avoiding him anymore all flashed across Rister face. But years of practice kicked in and his face had been schooled to an expressionless – if not to consider the somewhat ironic smirk at his mouth-corners – mask by the time Merry actually turned her eyes to his. And she was frowning. He was generally considered a handsome enough man, so what exactly was the reason for frowning? Surely she had known the basics of what a male body looked like before as well. Or was she expecting him to screech and run downstairs while naked, screaming ‘Meredith saw me naked! Meredith saw me naked!’

“We don’t really keep books in the bathroom,” Rister informed Merry somewhat dryly, at her somewhat choked sounding statement, “Who of the crowd downstairs directed you here?” But well, Rister supposed he couldn’t blame his brothers too badly for it. Besides Merry was a pretty girl. “Could you hand me a towel?” he asked, not truly even expecting an answer. For a long moment she stayed paralyzed in one spot still, until she somewhat shakily took a step forward, yanked towel off a hanger and twisting her hand under an awkward angle to hand it to him. “I don’t think that’s entirely going to do,” Rister remarked dryly as he observed the minuscule hand towel she was offering. Merry half-turned to question but upon catching sight of Rister again squeaked and rapidly twisted around again. He could hear her take a deep breath and frowned indignantly. It was somewhat hard on the ego, to have a girl react quite this badly to him. But Merry had seemed to realise that she was offering a hand towel and yanked a larger one off the hanger, tossing it towards Rister. Catching the towel Rister rubbed at his hair for a moment, before wrapping it loosely around his hips. Only then did he step by Merry, the girl flinching as their arms touched fro a moment, and stepped into the hallway. He would have had to saunter down the hallway for clothes either way, but he hadn’t entirely expected to do it in such company. Evidently Merry hadn’t been expecting quite such a meeting with him either, but Rister could hear her trailing after him as his own bare food padded softer on the floor-boards than her steps. Stepping into the room he generally shared with his brothers – the apartment was relatively spacious, but the first floor had only a small toilet and a connected sitting room and a kitchen and the second story four bedrooms. Not all of the family was usually here though, so generally they fit well enough and even when space was lacking, they got along well enough to survive sharing a room for a few nights.

Leaving the door open – she had followed him – Rister grabbed the pair of folded jeans laying on the bed, not bothering to search further away. The towel fell away at a single tug at the knot he had made and Rister bowed to pull the jeans on. Jared’s jeans, he discovered with the wry smile, as the jeans were a bit tighter than his own would have been, sticking to his wet skin like a second layer. Twisting his hips sharply, he pulled the jeans up on bare skin and closed the button and sipper. He wondered about Merry, but didn’t turn to look at her. He was somewhat indignant over her obvious distaste of him and he used the time to simple school his face into a mask of indifference. Tossing the towel over his shoulder, he stepped around the corner of the bed to the bookshelf between the two windows of the room. “Which book did Lita want?” he questioned, absently letting his eyes run over the titles before him. No answer was forthcoming, so Rister twisted around only to see Merry awkwardly shake her head. “She didn’t tell you the title?” Rister murmured thoughtfully. Why had Lita brought Merry here anyway? Since when were they even such great friends? Rister exhaled softly and then shrugged. Gesturing for Merry to go on, the two walked wordlessly down the hallway, Rister absently pulling the towel around his neck. He didn’t like the sensation of water dropping on his shoulders but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Following Merry down the staircase, Rister observed the faces of the trio that was sitting there. All three looked like cats who had just been served a canary on a silver plate. “You forgot to mention any book-title to Meredith,” Rister informed Lita softly, who opened her mouth, only to snap it closed again with a somewhat sheepish expression. Rister could feel Merry tensing somewhat and wondered if it was because of the fact she wasn’t’ quite ready to face the room or because she hadn’t realise how closely Rister had to pass her as he had finished descending the stair-case. The name ‘Meredith’ hadn’t sound quite as smooth as Merry either, but Rister could do nothing about that too. She had avoided him for a couple of months after the incident with Morgana and Rister wasn’t going to force any sort of familiarity on her, if she didn’t wish it. Rister smirked at Lita, recognising her game easily enough and it was because of that he couldn’t retreat back upstairs. Standing awkwardly still wasn’t something for him either, so Rister carried across the room, sidestepping Gabriel’s sleeping grey cat on the way, and headed to the fridge in the kitchen corner. “They’re here to study. I wasn’t aware male anatomy was part of the plan for today though. You should have asked me, I suppose I would have agreed to let you look somewhat as Lita’s an old friend,” Gabriel informed the room at large cheerily. Rister deduced that the had been the one to direct Merry to the bathroom and sent him a rather mild look that only made Gabriel grin wider. “Don’t we have anymore pancakes?” Rister merely asked, pulling the fridge open and throwing a glance inside. “How did your meeting with our esteemed relatives go?” Jared asked, a grin playing at his mouth as well as he stood and came over to the kitchen corner as well, fishing out flour and other ingredients he would need. It was Jared’s turn to cook and he was the best of the Graas brothers when it came to cooking. Probably because at the first start he learned to play the guitar in the castle’s kitchen. “Veela’s are somewhat more attractive when they aren’t throwing up on you,” Rister responded with a wry smile as he lifted the towel from around his neck to attempt to rub his hair a bit dryer, causing his next words to sound a bit more muffled, “Joylene’s addicted. Sent her to mom and made her swear she wouldn’t touch vodka again until she has seen mom. The rest I’ll leave to mom already.”

[Merry Garwin H6]

At least she wasn’t the only one surprised by the fact that Rister was naked. Though, Merry reconsidered, unconsciously rambling in her mind, Rister was probably completely unsurprised by his lack of clothing. He had, after all, been in the shower. He was more surprised by the fact that she, who really shouldn’t even be in the apartment anyway, had walked in on him just as he got out of the shower. It was terrible timing, and Merry wasn’t sure whether she blamed Lita or Gabriel more. Lita had dragged her here – wasting her time! – and Gabriel had given terrible directions. It wasn’t that she minded seeing Rister naked. He was very handsome and none of her brothers were bothered about the female members of the family walking in while they weren’t dressed. Rationally, there was no reason for her to be so embarrassed. Rister was the naked one; not her.

“This was meant to be your bedroom,” Merry mumbled miserably, not entirely sure whether she was making sense. Her mind seemed to have floated away to a pleasant place where there wasn’t a naked Rister standing behind her, probably smirking in amusement at her awkwardness. He wanted a towel. Why would he want a towel? Oh yes. Naked and wet. That was why he wanted a towel. For a long moment, the more hormonal part of Merry’s mind threatened to take over but Merry closed her eyes, inhaled deeply and then stepped forward to grab a towel and hand it to Rister. Not going to do? Merry frowned again, slightly annoyed. Was it the wrong colour? Had she failed to hand it to him in the proper manner? Wasn’t it fluffy enough? Forgetting exactly why she wasn’t facing him for a second, Merry turned and then instantly squeaked, flushed and spun back around again. That had been a bad idea, Merry chanted to herself mentally, a very very bad idea and she would not do something so foolish ever again. Head ducked uncertainly, light brown hair falling forward as if to shield her pink-tinted face, Merry trailed after Rister silently, feeling like a reprimanded puppy following her owner in the hopes of being forgiven for some misdemeanour because she was just too cute and adorably pathetic to be angry at for long.

Lita, Jared and Gabriel were all grinning widely as Merry and Rister came into sight, making her feel paranoid. Lita had brought her here and sent her upstairs without telling her the book title – had this been planned? No, of course not. Merry had forgotten to ask for the title of the book, so Lita had probably just forgotten to tell her. Uneasily, Merry ignored the feeling that Lita really didn’t seem like the type of person who would ever forget such an important detail. It wasn’t like Rister had a lot of Lita’s books in his bedroom, Merry reassured herself self-consciously. The Ravenclaw had probably guessed that Rister would just know what book she wanted. And Gabriel had probably given her correct directions to Rister’s room; she had just forgotten some of them and gotten slightly lost. It was an easy mistake to make. There was no huge conspiracy, even if Lita’s lingering smirk made her squirm uncomfortably.

Still flustered, Merry didn’t open her mouth to respond to Gabriel but Lita finally seemed to take pity on her. “Unless you want your anatomy to be used in a potion, Gabriel, I wouldn’t offer,” Lita drawled playfully, waiting until Rister was occupied by the search for food to stand next to Merry. “I would do anything for my best friend,” Lita murmured softly, making Merry shift closer to hear properly. There was a pause and Merry was wondering exactly what that had to do with her when Lita spoke again. “You’ve been avoiding Rister and it affects him. I don’t really care what your reasons are. You’re not my concern. You have your own family to keep an eye on you. Rister and his family are my family. You kept avoiding Rister after learning one of the most important secrets they have. That hurt him. I don’t like it when Rister’s unhappy.” Lost in thought, confusion increasing as she thought about Lita’s words and wondered why, despite the hissed declaration that the Graas’ were her family, Lita still seemed to consider herself separate and not one of the family, Merry didn’t look up to see Lita carefully studying both Merry and Rister with a look of amused puzzlement.

[Cleo Graas]

Shoving the door open, Cleo stepped into the hallway of their London department – well, in reality it was Dana’s but she was part of the family so such a formality didn’t really matter – and let the door slam closed behind her. Toeing her crimson red stiletto heels off, she left the shoes lying where they were. She adored shoes, but she had never been much of a stickler for order. Thankfully her husband was no better, she mused good-humouredly. They kept things they needed in order, but more often than not there were dresses or shirts or shoes thrown rather haphazardly all over their bedroom back in Italy. So Cleo merely smoothed the long black skirt over her hips, absently fixed a feminine flutter of red lace at the delicate decoltee of her crimson shirt as she caught sight of her from in the mirror before rounding the corner of the small hallway. It took her a mere moment to take in the scene. Lita and a girl turning towards her, Gabriel lounging on a couch, Rister leaning against a kitchen counter with his arms crossed over his bare chest with a definite sulk haunting his eyes and Jared cooking. And there somewhat frazzled look in the strangers eyes. Cleo wouldn’t blame her as the Graas family could exasperate absolutely anyone. But for now she pursed her lips thoughtfully and observed the girl. Her fast mind attached a name to the face soon enough. Meredith Garwin and supposedly Rister’s Cinderella.

Ignoring everyone else, Cleo let her eyes run up and down Garwin swiftly. A pretty girl. Not a genuine head-turner really, but then again neither was Cleo and she was most definitely a beautiful woman as well. But while Cleo’s beauty was bright and vibrant and eye-catching, a flame as her husband sometimes called her, this girl was more subdued and relaxed. She had a milder colouring and a more down to earth air about her. Cleo arched a mild eye-brow, her eyes still focused on the Garwin girl: “What on earth have you four been doing to make her look that spooked?” “I directed her to the bathroom Rister was showering in,” Gabriel answered brightly from his seat on the couch as he offered her a bright wave, “Hei, mom.” Cleo’s lips quirked upwards at the horrified blush pooling on Garwin’s face even at Gabriel’s face. “Good boy,” Cleo praised easily and Gabriel all but beamed at her. All her children were a loud and somewhat unruly bunch, but their parents had never had any problems with them. Over the years they had learned to accept and understand fair punishments and had often admitted their deeds before they were even discovered. They all looked up to Kris and easily surrendered to his authority. And they always worked their best to make Cleo proud of them. Sometimes Cleo wondered if the children feared disappointing her even more than bringing the wrath of their father on them.

“Lita brought Meredith over for some tutoring and asked her to retrieve a book from the bedrooms,” Jared chimed in as well from the oven and Cleo laughed merrily, the sound coming from deep inside her as she turned her eyes to Lita. “Truly, Lita, having Meredith and Rister enjoy a quick tumble in bed with you waiting for the tutoring lesson would have been simple rude. I’d hope all my sons have better timing sense than that as well as the skill to draw the experience out,” her husbands deep timber drawled lazily from behind her and Cleo relaxed into her husbands embrace almost subconsciously as he slipped an arm around her waist as she leaned back against his chest. Meredith was blushing more furiously than Cleo had ever thought possible, and she herself was a redhead and knew most everything about blushing. But it was interesting to observe her throwing a desperate glance at Rister, flinch upon seeing him sneering at Kris and then studiously observe the floor. Obviously sneers and smirks weren’t quite so good-natured in her family, but then again that was always the case, Cleo mused absently, resting a hand over the arm Kris had around her still slender waist. She wasn’t entirely sure about Garwin – even if she had a pleasant mother and a younger sister – but Lita was ferocious when it came to protecting Rister. Even so, she’d be having a word with Lita about this encounter later on, Cleo decided absently and said as much as well as she smiled lightly: “Awful preparation work too, Lita. Rister has always had a fondness for long unbound hair rather than the ponytail Meredith is supporting now. I shall truly need to have a word with you about you giving such encounters a bit more thought.”

And the trap had really been based on too much luck; Cleo decided absently and at a sudden bout of mercy decided to give Rister a simple card out, even as she watched Meredith’s eyes curiously shift between Kris and Rister. Their similarities were almost uncanny, even though it was possible to tell the difference. They both had the pitch-black hair pulled into a pony-tail at the nape of their neck, sharp cheekbones, almost coarse jaw line and a thin nose. But Kris’ face was more weatherworn and marked with small lines of age at his mouth and eye-corners. The monthly pains of transformation had left their print on his face that was narrower and a bit more sharply angled than his first-born sons. Cleo’s heart ached for love for Kris and the smile and look she sent her said as much. “Go walk that son of yours,” she told Kris in a brisk business-tone though, making him merely arch an eye-brow at her over his mirror-glassed sun-glasses, “Actually, walk both of the rattlesnakes.” Because Jared spread his hints out far wider than Gabriel and were far quieter of the two boys. Besides Jared was cooking and Cleo was hungry. Gabriel rose from his seat and was propelled towards the door with Kris’ hand between his shoulder blades as Rister pushed himself off the counter and sauntered across the room to join them, tossing the wet towel that had been hanging around his neck over Lita’s shoulders in passing. A gesture that made the girl grumble at him, but Cleo could see the quiet pleased note in her eyes as the gesture also showed that Rister wasn’t mad at her. Tilting her head upwards – she reached only the shoulders of his sons – Cleo allowed Rister to brush a kiss over her cheek, tossing after him: “Put a jacket on. You don’t need to come back with a string of broken hearts, uncomfortable questions and pneumonia. And bring back dinner. Pizza.” The last words were barely leaving her mouth when the door clicked close but Cleo didn’t over that. Kris’ ears had surely picked up on what she had said.

Cleo considered Lita and Meredith for a few moments, before slowly exhaling. “Why such a confrontation? Rister generally doesn’t have too much girl-trouble,” Cleo questioned curiously and silence stretched for a few long moments, Lita evidently not planning on answering. At least his son did inspire, earn and keep loyalty, Cleo told with a small smile at Lita as she half-turned and looked at Jared. “Jared,” her voice sounded as a whip-lash, the command of it clear as it revealed just why Cleo could keep a tight reign over their land and Italian society next to her husband. Jared’s face was bleak in resentment as he took time to choose his words. “There hadn’t been much socialising between us before, but she avoided all of us like the plague after discovering Morgana one full moon. Didn’t do much good to our – especially Rister’s – nerves as it buried him under a whole new mountain of troubles. Kind of hard to warn of Slytherin pranks from someone who so obviously has a clear distaste for us,” he finally clipped out, saying as little as she could. But it was enough for Cleo to draw her conclusions: “She avoided you all after the Oath. And Rister discovered that the girl he might be interested in was not quite as open-minded or nice as he had thought, for obviously avoiding the situation showed inability to accept the fact of life. A prejudice against her baby-sisters’ situation about which nothing could be done. Kind of like being born blind or deaf or mute.” Cleo observed the puzzlement flying over Meredith’s face as the girl followed the train of thought that had surely flown through Rister’s head as well. Cleo hid a secret smile, wondering if Meredith had ever considered the aspect from this point of view or if this would make any difference. “Mrs. Graas,” Meredith finally managed to sputter out, so Cleo held up one of her hands. “Hush. I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m not saying anything to push you to my son or anything to push you away from him. I was merely following a trail of thought Rister might have probably entertained.”

But she refrained from comment, averting her attention to Lita instead, who had been observing Meredith curiously as well. Clicking her tongue, Cleo shook her head mockingly at Lita. “Really, I thought you had more sense as well. You should know that on the occasions Rister isn’t feeling like charming the horn of an unicorn he has the temper of a thief caught red-handed and is as stubborn as a five-headed mule. He won’t forgive injustices and he is bound to consider such avoidance as a grave injustice to Morgana and transfer the blame to himself as Morgana revealed herself to Meredith for his sake. No matter how large his interest might have been, he won’t force himself on any woman, so if I know my son, the only thing that could urge something to grow out of this is Meredith going to him out of her own free will. Pouring Veritaserum down their throats will not work either as you can’t make them speak to each other. And next time you spring a trap, make sure there isn’t a way out,” she told the girl rather calmly. Jared tilted his head and almost as if merely humming to himself sang out to an upbeat country-rhythm:
“Maybe someday you'll realize I was good for you
Maybe someday you'll learn to love me too
Maybe someday you'll understand my love was true
But honey that might be the day when I'm over you.”
Cleo simply laughed. No, Jared was most certainly not a fool and while he had kept his hands busy making pancakes, he had obviously kept his ears peeled too. Jared peered at her over his shoulder with a fond smile and nodded lightly, Cleo assured that her words would not sail forward to Rister’s ears. “Now you girls have studying to do,” Cleo told Meredith and Lita briskly, grimacing lightly at the Potions books Lita started to spread open, as she turned to join Jared, slipping into soft Italian to converse with her son.

[Lita Hollows R6]

“Hi Cleo.” Lita waved and smiled without any shame at Rister’s mother walking in during the first stage of the plan. Lita had done far worse things than direct a reasonably innocent girl into a room containing naked Rister. Besides, Gabriel had given Meredith the directions; Lita just hadn’t corrected them, and Jared was equally to blame for that. “Kris,” Lita nodded in greeting, her smile slightly less wide but no less genuine as he entered the room. “Rister has kept me waiting for longer than it would take him to woo Meredith into bed; I’m sure I wouldn’t have been offended by being forced to wait yet again. Then again, I did leave Gaenor’s company for this so I expect more entertainment than being left with only Gabriel and Jared for company.” Poor Meredith was blushing quite heatedly now but Lita glanced at her without much pity. If Meredith wanted to join the family then she would have to get used to the teasing. Rister had helped to get Lita and Gaenor together but had seemed to believe that he therefore had more right to tease her about the relationship. Lita hadn’t been bothered by the teasing, still too surprised by the realisation that Gaenor loved her in return, but that was most thoroughly beside the point. There had been teasing and it had been worse than what Merry was being presented with. Lita smirked viciously, acknowledging Cleo’s words lightly. “The first encounter is not always the last. And this one wasn’t supposed to start with Rister showering; I have to give all credit to Gabriel for that turn of events.”

Rister liked Meredith, Lita reminded herself sharply. The other girl undoubtedly deserved the humiliation that was clearly written all over her for not fixing the situation when it first arose but Rister still liked her even though she was hurting him. For that reason, Lita tugged on Meredith’s arm kindly and pulled her over to a seat while the attention was diverted from them. Rister tossed his towel at her and Lita grumbled at him under her breath but couldn’t stop the small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She hated it when Rister was angry with her. “You need to calm down,” Lita informed Meredith firmly, remembering how it felt to be new to the Graas family dynamic. Her own family, if it could be called that, had operated so very differently and she had felt like a little stray cat that Rister had brought home to show off to his parents. There were times when she still felt like that lost little stray in the midst of the family who had tolerated the eldest son’s whims. “They really were just teasing, and no one is bothered by you walking in on Rister. These things happen, especially when one of the boys is feeling mischievous.” Meredith didn’t look overly reassured but Lita patted her head softly, smirking at the look of mixed distrust and hope aimed at her. On one hand, Lita was obviously blamed for Meredith’s humiliation but she also needed an ally she could rely on and Lita was the best candidate right now. Uneasily, Lita nearly squirmed under Cleo’s demanding eyes but refused to look away or answer the question. It wasn’t her place to answer. It hadn’t been her place to meddle either, but Lita would do what she could for the happiness of her family.

Carefully, Lita let one shoulder rise and fall in a half-hearted shrug. “She made Rister unhappy because of her reaction. It wasn’t hard to figure out what he thought was the reasoning behind Meredith’s avoidance, but something about it didn’t seem right.” For a moment, Lita fell silent, biting at her lower lip as she gathered her thoughts. She wanted Gaenor next to her. He was a reassuring presence that made her stop worrying about whether her reasoning had been wrong or flawed. “Meredith, from what the boys told me, handled the situation reasonably well. She didn’t really know any of you before discovering Morgana’s secret so it was logical that there should be a certain distrust from both sides. Which, from what I can see, brings us to the entire problem. I’m not entirely objective,” Lita admitted reluctantly, “I dislike the way Meredith found out, I wasn’t sure whether she could be trusted and I absolutely hate the fact that she hurt Rister. But I also hate not having answers. So I watched and I studied and I analysed. It annoyed Gaenor because my mind would still be partially on this problem when he took me out.” Lita grinned in fond remembrance then jumped to her feet and rifled through her bag. She was fully into her researching Ravenclaw mode and she was sure that she had the right answer. “I wasn’t certain that I was right in my final conclusion though. So I set up tutoring sessions with the person I needed to know more about if I was to be sure that I was right. Considering everything that happened today, I’ve never been more certain that I found the obvious answer that Rister didn’t consider.”

Meredith looked completely confused but she was leaning forward eagerly, eyes alert as she tried to decipher Lita’s fast flow of speaking. Lita guessed that the Hufflepuff really hadn't thought that Rister would see her avoidance as a prejudiced rejection. Breathing more heavily than usual, having barely stopped for breath as she explained to Cleo, Lita retook her seat without showing the pieces of scribbled parchment she had used during her quest to find the perfect answer for Meredith’s avoidance of Rister. “I just...forgot about one thing, I suppose.” Lita smiled slowly, brown eyes resigned as she remembered the one thing she had forgotten to consider. “Is it really my place to interfere quite so much in this matter? I wasn’t there when Meredith took the Oath nor am I family. This isn’t my business. I’m just the Potions tutor right now.”