Gravenmere Court - The 16th Birthday of Ellen Graymere | Open

Eira really needed to lighten up.

He'd thought she had all those years ago when they'd laughed and laid together under the stars, tendrils of smoke between them as they finally found some common ground. He remembered feeling some sort of kinship with her, in being misunderstood, in having a difficult background they'd both sooner forget. He knew, very well from all of his experiences over the years, that everyone handled trauma and family expectations differently.

But Benji wasn't a boy - or man - who would allow any of it to change the core of him. If he relinquished himself and his heart to a legacy, what would that leave him with? A name and a shell? What a dismal existence. He hoped Eira hadn't fallen into that trap.

"What do you mean she's not here. Where is she."

The smallest bend in Eira's cold, hard exterior, and it stirred something in the boy to know it was Rosie.

"What the fuck does that mean, Benji. Where is she."

"Okay," he said quickly at the second prompting, his voice lowering to barely above a whisper as his eyes drifted across the room for his own family. Somewhere behind them Matilda was shrieking about something - probably the outfit her granny had made her wear - and he was thankful for all eyes in the room turning to her. It gave him an opportunity.

He leaned in towards her, his face belying the seriousness of it all, and the own anger he felt towards his cousin's and friend's situation. "Last summer she - "

"Good evening. How are things going over here?"

Hmm? Benji immediately snapped up, standing straight and offering a polite smile to the man who had decided to interrupt their little reunion.

"We were just talking about you. Lev, Benji Laurence, a former classmate. Benji, Lev, my—fiancé."

Her sharp look and the way she stiffened around Lev didn't escape his notice, but Benji remained quiet, polite, offering her...fiance his hand to shake. "Good to meet you," Benji said with a calm ease that he had learned over the last two years. His uncle's training and carting him around to various galas, meetings and Ministry events hadn't escaped the boy. He was still Benji, but he could rein it in when needed.

Considering how uncomfortable Eira looked, it was needed and he wouldn't put her in an ugly position if he could help it. Still...

"How long have you two - "

His question was cut short as the room went quiet and Ellen descended down the stairs, the girl of the hour, ready to turn heads and catch herself a husband.

That was what these events were for, weren't they? Connections, alliances. Birthdays were just the excuse. He watched with tepid interest, noting he'd have to tease Ellen about all this when they got back to school in the fall, and he glanced over his shoulder for Rae.

He really should get back to her.

"Excuse us."

Benji smiled tightly, offering a little wave of dismissal, even as Eira shot him another of her looks. He wasn't going to be interfering in whatever that was, especially with his uncle in earshot.

Instead, he turned and headed back to his girlfriend, the prettiest girl in the room.

"Hey," he said warmly, taking her by the hand. "Was that you causing all that ruckus?" He smiled, tugging her close to him as he led her to the dance floor. "We're getting good at this gala, ball, masquerade bullshit. Dance with me and put the rest of them to shame?"

Well, that didn't take long.

Growing up, there had always been this unspoken understanding that those in the 'upper echelons' of society led a different life than dirty street urchins such as herself. They were thought to be sophisticated and above it all, living in the lap of luxury with problems that girls like her would 'never understand'. From what she'd heard, they were always meant to be above it all, floating somewhere in the clouds where they could toss scraps down to the hungry and unfortunate.

No one wanted to talk about the ugly little things or the way it changed people. With outside eyes, Ruth Anaya could see the pomp and pageantry for what it was. Barely there for five minutes, and it seemed all her friends were in a sour enough mood, hardly acknowledging a thing she said beyond a glare from Evander and...whatever the hell was going on with Matilda and the new boy. Nevermind whatever had Eira over there silently plotting murder by the look on her face.

Just another symptom of the turmoil beneath the surface, the kind they liked to wrap in pretty bows. Rather than try to interfere in things she was sure she wouldn't want to understand, Rae turned her attention to the staircase at Ellen's entrance.

She was the birthday girl, the reason for the event that brought some of "England's finest" together. They didn't speak much at school, nor did they run in the same circles. In fact, Rae was sure the girl was exasperated by her and her cavalier approach to life more often than she wasn't.

But connections, or whatever.

Rae's hands limply applauded at the end of the dance, the girl happy to be through with that bit of mundanity.

How boring these events were. Eat some food, sip some wine, smile at people you didn't particularly like, then wait for it to be over. It was a different sort of torture than the parties they sometimes had back at Hogwarts.

"Hey."

She turned as the hand slipped into hers, relieved to find Benji no longer being made into company by someone else. At least he wasn't in a sour mood. Sheesh.

"Was that you causing all that ruckus?"

"Hardly," Rae drawled. "Something about a betrothal; more adults intervening. Usual bullshit, standard affair, I don't know." She couldn't say she'd been paying the best attention; Rae seldom did in such settings. Already forgotten, really, what with how Benji was smiling at her. It coaxed a smile onto the young girl's lips, allowing much of the background to fade around them. Her boyfriend – when he wasn't being dragged away – had a way of making these things easier. In many ways, despite what her father insisted, Rae did feel out of place whenever she was made to attend. She was getting better at playing the part, but it never changed everything that existed on the inside. Benji was an anchor in that sense. He didn't belong either, not in the ways that mattered to her. It gave her an almost conspiratorial glee: two shitheads sneaking into a lavish banquet to take all they could from people who would've otherwise sneered at them. People who now had no choice but to smile, even when they didn't mean it.

"We're getting good at this gala, ball, masquerade bullshit. Dance with me and put the rest of them to shame?"

"Better at not being the most miserable people in the room, at least." she muttered, sparing another look in the direction of their friends, now absent those who'd excused themselves or been excused. "Drag me all over the dance floor and make me feel like a princess, Laurence," she said with a wry smile.