What was he doing here? More importantly, why was he putting himself through this?

These thoughts had plagued Devlin's mind for a good part of the day, mainly the part he had spent in Hogsmeade casually looking around for Fauna while pretending that he just happened to be there. In Hogsmeade. On Hogsmeade weekend. Miles upon miles away from his new job, new life and new father. It made perfect sense when you were desperate for an excuse to convince yourself that you weren't still yearning after your ex. Which Devlin totally wasn't doing. He was just curious if she had already gotten herself a new boyfriend, and if she had, he was making sure the douche-bag was being good to her. Not that he believed she had replaced him already.

Taking a drag on his cigarette, Devlin leaned against the wall of Honeydukes and looked suitably shady. As far as anyone knew, he was still just a petty criminal and he had to keep up appearances. Not that it was hard. Some first years passed by, flaunting their candy and Devlin reached out, snatching a bag of Berties. "Hey!" One of them started to exclaim, whipping around to yell at the thief only to come face to face with Devlin's dead pan expression, heavy lidded eyes and hanging cigarette. "What?" He said, spitting out the smoke and tossing a handful of the beans in his mouth. "...nuthin.." The kid muttered, turning and walking away quickly lest he lose more then just a bag of Jelly beans.

"Heh..." Devlin chuckled and then grimaced as he bit into a mud flavored jelly bean. Karma? He considered this a possibility, but then reminded himself that the torture he was dealt not too long ago was far more retribution then he deserved. The scars still hurt even now.

Fauna was headed back towards the castle early today, having told her friends that she needed to get a few hours of studying done while the Hufflepuff common room was still quiet. What would probably end up happening was that she'd fall asleep on the couch, and then Figaro Sellaphix would dash in minutes later and wake her up by flinging gummies from Honeydukes at the wall. The thought almost made her smile.

She passed by groups of younger years and familiar Hogsmeade residents, mired in a strange mood. Celebrating the Fayettes' birthday party yesterday at the Leaky Cauldron had been fun; they'd all needed a change of scenery and a chance to let loose. But now, on the second day of the weekend, she felt out of place. It was the last day of her last Hogsmeade weekend, and she couldn't quite enjoy it because she was so focuesd on what was coming next in her life.

Fauna paused when she glimpsed a figure leaning against the wall of Honeydukes, smoking a cigarette as if he'd never left since the Hogsmeade weekend in February. It was like that moment when she reached for her wand and it wasn't where she thought she'd put it. And it was like that moment when someone leaned in and kissed you on the mouth unexpectedly. Both jarring and exciting.

That someone, of course, was Devlin Matthews.

Fauna subconsciously put a hand to her mouth and shook her head, catching the entire incident with the Bertie Bott beans. Before she could think about it, she started walking closer to him, arms crossing automatically, her expression caught between apprehension and cautious enthusiasm.

"Devlin," she greeted him suddenly, stopping a few feet away and resisting the urge to wave at the smoke in the air.

"Um... you know, the blue ones are almost always a safe bet," Fauna glanced at the box of beans in his hand. "I mean, if that kid left any."

She gave him a knowing, amused look that turned awkward very fast. What was she saying? He wasn't going to want to talk to her. Fauna wasn't even sure why she'd stopped to comment anyway.

"Sorry," she mumbled and shook her head, turning to make a hasty exit.

"Devlin..."

His heart jumped nearly to his throat when the voice he had been longing to hear suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It took all the willpower he had not to snap to attention. Instead, he tried to play it cool. Plastering on a disinterested look, he finally met her eyes and managed to say "... Hey..." before popping a jelly bean into his mouth casually, as though they were more interesting than anything she had to say. A burst of jalapeño filled his mouth and Devlin barely managed not to gag. Apparently his attempts were not good enough as she still seemed to notice.

"Um... you know, the blue ones are almost always a safe bet, I mean, if that kid left any."

"Eh... I like a little risk..." he choked out, trying to be brave against the raging inferno in his mouth. To prove it, he tossed a puke green one in his mouth as though he had no idea that it was going to taste like baby poop. To his surprise, it tasted like avocado and mixed pretty nicely with the jalapeño. It allowed him to regain his composure and go back to acting nonchalant.

"Sorry,"

He realized quickly that his 'hard-to-get' demeanor was chasing her away and if he didn't do something soon, he was going to lose any chance he had to talk to her. That kinda defeated the purpose of coming all the way to Hogsmeade to catch a glimpse of her, didn't it? "Wait..." He said suddenly, and then backed up a little when he realized how desperate his voice sounded "... I mean... You don't have to leave. It's a public place and all..." He sounded so sheepish. When had he become so pathetic? Did Fauna really have that much of an affect on him, still?

"So uh..." He added after a few awkward minutes of silence, desperate to draw attention away from his foible "... how... have you been?" 

From the way he'd been popping jelly beans, Fauna had assumed that he'd rather scorch his throat than look at her, but the sound of Devlin's voice, with that touch of vulnerability, stopped her from scurrying off. She turned around, face flushed, nodding at his remark that it was a public place. She wondered why he was out here today. His plans probably included more than stealing candy from the younger years.

"Oh, you know. Um... same old," she shrugged, shuffling her feet. "Actually, just preparing for NEWTs." Whether he was bothering with NEWTs as well, she didn't know. She bit her lip, "Er, figuring out what I'm doing after graduation." Could she get any more generic?

There was a lot she could tell him, about wanting to go into Auror training, and moving into a house with the Fayettes and a few of the Gryffindors. But she wasn't sure what he wanted to hear, or how much she wanted to say, or how to handle the two bloated hippogriffs hanging in the air between them. One, the werewolf attack, when she'd been attacked and nearly turned by his father in March. Two, the obvious: their break up, and the hurtful things they had said to each other, that kept running through her head now.

"So, I hear you're off the hook?" Fauna ventured hesitantly, glancing at him. April 10th prophet article. She must have read it a dozen times. "I was going to ask..." she ran a hand through her hair, then shook her head as she realized that he might not appreciate her wondering where he'd run off to in February. Or the fact that Greyfriar had contacted her in a panic about it. For all she knew, he'd simply gotten sloshed at a pub for a few days because of her.

"Nevermind. How are you?"

"Oh, you know. Um... same old, Actually, just preparing for NEWTs. Er, figuring out what I'm doing after graduation."

"Good good... I am sure you will be fine..." He said offhandedly as he studied her. She was hiding something. He knew her tells. The bitten lip... the shuffling feet... her attempt to avoid his gaze, all so obvious. At first his lips twitched towards a smile at how cute it was that she couldn't lie her way out of a paper sac. Then the smile faltered a bit when he realized what it truly meant. She was lying to him. He had a sneaking suspicion creeping up his spine that perhaps she was seeing someone and didn't want him to know. He considered asking, but he wasn't sure he actually wanted to know the truth.

"So, I hear you're off the hook? I was going to ask..."

He glanced up at her as her words sent an electric shock of hope through him. She was concerned... at least, she seemed to be following the news regarding him. It wasn't much, but it meant that she probably... maybe... still cared about him. Maybe she wasn't lying about having a new lover... perhaps, instead, she was lying about wanting to be back with him. It was a pleasent thought. But how to answer, that was the problem.

He thought about asking if she had forgiven him. The ministry had, why not her? He realized, however, that begging for her forgiveness looked desperate. Pathetically desperate. No, he needed to tread a bit more cautiously.  She wanted someone who was steady and adaptable. Hard to get.

"Nevermind. How are you?"

He hadn't realized how awkward the silence was between them until she broke it. She also broke his train of thought. With it derailed, he didn't have a chance to plan the correct wording and, without a second thought, burst out with "... Ah I'm pretty good. New job... New home... New girl...friend..." Why the hell did you say that, he berated himself mentally, Now you look like some douche who just jumps girl to girl! Thats not hard to get, thats hard to want. Despite the fact that it was normally true for him to be "that guy" Devlin cursed his choice of words. It was just the first shovelful of dirt on his grave.

((I figure if you want to post Elle, Erika can jump in right after that :3))

Fauna had thought she'd seen a slight smile at her bumbling conversation, which was a good sign. But when she asked him the standard question of how he was, their meeting took a drastic turn and veered into humiliating and crushing territory. Oh Merlin, why had she stopped to say hello?

Her eyes widened and any trace of a smile vanished at his announcement. Disappointment flickered across her face. A girl friend? He had a girl friend already? She shouldn't care, she told herself, but she couldn't help it!

"Oh," Fauna swallowed, avoiding his eyes. "Um, that's great..." 

Now she was dying to know who this girl was. It couldn't be anyone from Hogwarts, she thought. A criminal, then? A muggle? A... oh feck, it better not be Ollie or she was just going to cry. Fauna wanted to ask, but didn't want to ask.

"Uh, is that why you're here? To see..." Fauna couldn't finish that sentence. "We can talk later then," she offered desperately, glancing around as if she'd scurry away at any moment.

This had been a huge mistake. He'd clearly moved on, and she needed to now. She was the one who had broken up with him, and he had every right to find someone else, someone who had stuck with him through the arrest and everything he'd gone through. Fauna wasn't quite angry at him anymore for using her to get back at Waker. There was a lot of bitterness and hurt, and a strong suspicion that they'd never be able to fix what they had, and certainly never have enough in common again after graduating Hogwarts. An Auror Trainee and Devlin Matthews. It just wouldn't work. But she still felt regret, still cared about him, and didn't want to think about him with any other girl so soon.

Maeve had been bumming around Hogsmeade most of the weekend. She spent some of it with a few of her Slytherin Queen Bees, but there came a point when she wanted to be on her own and not have to pretend to be fake-ly nice to them or have them do the same back to her. She knew they were all just wating for the year to be over so that they could take over the Hogwarts social scene. She was just a lame duck Queen Bee and even she was growing tired of the waiting to move on.

When she finally was alone, Maeve decided to head to Honeydukes to get some sweets to help her feel better. She didn't even care if it might wreak havoc on her figure. In a few weeks time she would no longer have anyone to impress with it.

She approached and saw two people that made her lips curl in a smirk. Devlin Matthews and Fauna Blake. The infamous former couple. How darling was this?

Maeve slowed up and watched their awkward exchange from afar, ear tuned to try and catch some juicy bits of their conversation. But the Slytherin Queen was left disappointed. The back and forth between the former Ravenclaw and Hogwarts resident klutzy Hufflepuff was quite boring. Until she heard Devlin mention a new girlfriend. Maeve could see that the news surprised Fauna and even she had to admit her intrigue.

So Devlin had gotten over sweet little Ms. Fauna already, huh? Maeve scrutinized Devlin's demeanor and expression, trying to pick up on any tells that would help her make sense of what he was really saying. Because of her own previous involvement with Devlin, it allowed her that sort of insight into him. And regrettably, he had similar knowledge about her. It never made for good arguments between the two as they could always find ways to fight unfairly, poking at each other's vulnerabilities. Maeve remembered an exchange prior to Devlin's expulsion where she had teased him about his relationship with Fauna. Devlin had fired back with his own ribbing about her relationship with Callum. It hadn't been pretty.

So part of Maeve wondered if it would be wise to butt in on Devlin's reunion with Fauna. But the other part of her—the part that was perfectly suited to be Queen Bee of Hogwarts, reveled in the thought torturing these two star crossed love birds.

Honing in on Fauna's last words and her desperate look around that said she only wanted to bolt out of there. Gliding up to the Hufflepuff, Maeve looped her arm through Fauna's and echoed, “That IS great.” She flashed Fauna a fake smile and then turned it to Devlin. “Don't leave no, Fauna Dear. We should really meet this lady friend of his.” Grinning, she added, “You know? To make sure she measures up to you, the love of his life...” Maeve turned a malicious stare to Devlin and quietly demanded, “Right?”

"Oh, Um, that's great..."

Success! For a brief second, Devlin felt a swell of satisfaction at the dejected look on Fauna's face. Not that he enjoyed seeing her sad, he normally wouldn't, but her sadness meant only one thing: She still cared. Now, how to turn this to his favor? Maybe he could suggest that it was just a passing fling... or that he didn't really love her, that he was just terribly lonely and heartbroken... or he could always just tell her the truth that he was woefully single. Which one to do?...

“That IS great.”

The voice, filled to the very brim with cruel amusement, caused Devlin's heart to sink rapidly.  Oh Merlin...Please. Not her, not now. Devlin cursed whatever asshole deity had the bright idea to let Maeve wander by at that exact moment. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising as a wave of her pure smugness washed over him. She was up to something, she always was, and Devlin felt his stomach seize as she took Fauna's arm. This did not bode well for him.

“Don't leave no, Fauna Dear. We should really meet this lady friend of his. You know? To make sure she measures up to you, the love of his life...Right?”

For a moment... just a fraction of a second, time slowed to a crawl and Devlin was left speechless. Single-handedly, Maeve managed to turn his guilt-trip against him, shoving him against the wall with no escape. He had to reluctantly admit how effortless it seemed for her to get under his skin. No other ex of his had ever been able to cause his blood to boil like Maeve could. Not that it should be a good thing, how easily she could infuriate him, but somehow it made her even more attractive. For that tiny moment, as he glared into Maeve's mischievous blue eyes, Devlin forgot that the whole point of telling Fauna he had a girlfriend was to gauge her reaction and whether or not she still had feelings for him. She obviously did and all he had to do was admit, somewhat sheepishly, that he had lied, yet for some reason all he wanted to do was annoy Maeve instead. It didn't take long for an equally devious idea to dawn on him.

"Don't be so cruel, Maeve..." He said, shaking his head slowly as though he were disappointed. "... I am trying to break us to her slowly..." He emphasized 'us' very slightly, knowing full well that Maeve was in a relationship and that any gossip about her being in an affair would send ripples through the pondscum known as the Hogwarts Royalty. She would hate him for that, especially considering how defensive she had gotten the last time he had poked fun of her 'relationship' (which he refused to say without air quotes) with Callum. He could barely contain the sneer that rose to his lips as he added, flippantly "... How would you like it if I broke it to Callum like that?"

Fauna's back stiffened and her expression grew more upset as Maeve Whitman, of all people, sidled up and snagged her arm. The Slytherin taunted her, then turned a strangely intent glare on Devlin, who seemed to lose his ability to form words.

What was going on? Face flushed, she stepped away from Maeve and crossed her arms, feeling small and dowdy and dumb next to her. It didn't help that Devlin kept staring at the girl. Fauna felt like she was in her sixth year again, invisible and easily bullied.

Us, Devlin said. It took Fauna a moment. Then she gaped at the... the couple, horror flitting across her face.

"What," she said flatly, looking like she'd just swallowed a Bertie Bott bean that made steam come out of her ears. "How..?"

Fauna shook her head and glared at both of them. "She doesn't care about anyone's feelings, Devlin. You've known her for seven years, you should know!"

All she really needed to do to complete the picture of scorned ex-girlfriend was stomp her foot. She resisted, just barely. "Actually, that makes you two great for each other! You can use people, lie to them, and then congratulate each other at the end of the day! It's a... perfect match!"

She struggled to get the last words out through the lump in her throat, and looked two seconds away from hexing the lot of them. While crying. Loudly.

Maeve could tell that her presence was not the most welcome for either of her two classmates. Or rather, one classmate and one former classmate. The latter just so happened to be an ex boyfriend. Perhaps it was that connection to him that made her enjoy torturing him so much. Granted, with his expulsion from school there was less opportunity to do that so it was no surprise that she wanted to take full advantage now.

Of course, this ruthlessness also contained a bit of recklessness as well. Maeve was ignoring the fact that Devlin could be just as ruthless in his backlash. But all Maeve saw for the moment was his reaction to her being there and that was enough to keep her smug for the time being.

After returning his glare, Maeve then turned to see Fauna's reaction and she found herself smiling inside to know how uncomfortable she made the Hufflepuff. Conceited as she was, Maeve would even say she was being unbearable to the other girl. She almost laughed at Devlin's use of “cruel” to describe her actions, but that reaction was choked up in her throat when he fired back with the verbal equivalent of a smack in the face.

Her crystalline blue Whitman eyes turned icy as Devlin [/i]dared[/i] to implicate them together. One could call her many things – snob, spoiled brat, flirt – but one thing Maeve prided herself on was that she was not a cheat.

The problem now was how to discredit him without looking like a fool in front of Fauna Blake? It seemed as though Fauna was already buying the tale that Devlin was telling and it was making the brunette miserable. Maeve had to give Fauna credit for lashing out as she did with insults.

“I'm the one who doesn't care about feelings?” Maeve said incredulously. For a moment she abandoned her quest to tell her that Devlin's claim was a farce. “Don't you see, Fauna? It's Devlin who is truly heartless. Clearly he enjoys shocking you with fantastical stories,” Maeve seethed. The blonde Slytherin aloofly raised her chin just so and fired back to Devlin, “Really, Devlin dear, you should be more considerate of her virgin ears...”

"Actually, that makes you two great for each other! You can use people, lie to them, and then congratulate each other at the end of the day! It's a... perfect match!"

"... Fauna..." Devlin said weakly, the emotion in her voice pulling him away from the gravitational force that was Maeve Whitman. He hadn't meant for this to go this far, not by a long shot, and the fact that he was just digging his grave deeper dawned on him. She wasn't going to ever want to see him again. Not after this... not after everything he had done. Furious he turned and glared at Maeve as she spoke, clearly enjoying every moment. He blamed her for this...

“I'm the one who doesn't care about feelings? Don't you see, Fauna? It's Devlin who is truly heartless. Clearly he enjoys shocking you with fantastical stories, Really, Devlin dear, you should be more considerate of her virgin ears...”

Devlins glare lessened slightly, replaced with a smug sense of satisfaction. So he had managed to get under her skin with that comment. If she thought she could ruin his life without getting a few bruises to hers in the process, she was sorely, sorely mistaken. And if she thought he was like Callum, all bark and no bite, she didn't know him as well as she thought she did. He mentally cracked his brain knuckles and sneered at her.

"Really... Fantastical? I suppose that is a good way to put it... It was pretty fantastic..." The corner of his mouth curled up into a vicious grin as he stared her down, daring her. "... And I was only telling her because at least she still has virgin ears..."

Fauna stared at the two of them. They stood inches away from each other: Maeve coldly angry, Devlin wearing a vindictive grin. They looked exactly like two lovers in the middle of a row.

It was impossible for Fauna to tell who was being truthful. But she did know that Devlin had barely glanced at her, and spewed vicious comments as easily as he lit a cigarette or plucked a box of candy out of someone's hands. Then there was Maeve, who had mocked her and taunted her for years.

Her hands curled into fists, and her expression looked stricken at Devlin's words. His last words, actually.

Fauna drew her wand and waved it at the pair, casting the trip jinx. When they fell forward and their faces touched, she glued their lips together with a final angry flourish.

"There!" She shouted at them, lowering her wand. "Happy? Now you two can both shut the feck up about what I have or haven't done in bed and you can just... stay like that for a while! Guess what, Maeve! I don't even have to tell Callum now, everyone can see it!" She gestured at the people watching. "Devlin," she started losing steam.

"You're an arsehole! I don't know what I saw in you!"

Face crumpling, Fauna turned and started down the path towards the castle, not bothering to glance back or worry about retaliation hexes.

Maeve was enjoying the exchange between Fauna and Devlin quite a bit. It was a lovely reminder of how easily she was able to make people like Fauna miserable and how she still had the ability to affect a member of the opposite sex, even if she no longer had an interest in being with him in a romantic way.

But that didn't mean he wasn't every bit as capable of affecting her, and Maeve could feel her annoyance rise as soon as he started to jab back at her. She wanted to laugh when he tried to use Fauna's innocence to do so. “Yes, I'm sure Fauna loves knowing what you think of her virgin ears. And how much you wanted to be the first to corrupt them,” Maeve snipped viciously. “Because we all know that's the only reason you were with her, Devlin. She was nothing but a conquest to you, no matter how much you may have tried to--”

Maeve didn't get to finish her little tirade because in the next moment she was tripping and falling towards Devlin who was tripping and falling towards her. Her  blue eyes went wide and she was even more shocked when her lips touched those of her one time ex. And before she could pull herself away, another spell was cast that wouldn't allow her to do so.

Maeve tried to scream but it only managed to be muffled against Devlin's lips. Fauna's departing words were forgotten and she turned to thrashing out at Devlin instead. She only hoped that he could somehow translate her actions.

Bullocks! FIX THIS!!!

“Yes, I'm sure Fauna loves knowing what you think of her virgin ears. And how much you wanted to be the first to corrupt them, Because we all know that's the only reason you were with her, Devlin. She was nothing but a conquest to you, no matter how much you may have tried to--”

"Oh that's bullshit Maeve and you know it. That wasn't my inten--" Devlin started to shout over her, likely in an attempt to regain at least some brownie points with Fauna. You couldn't be sure though, since he didn't have a chance to finish. While they were busy with their shouting match, Fauna had produced her wand and performed some magic that, well, was surprising coming from her. Looking at Maeve, who had also suddenly stopped talking, Devlin started to chuckle. She looked like she had tripped over her own two feet and was about to faceplant... waitaminute, so was he. The world lurched under him and Devlin's laugh died in his throat as he fell forward and found his lips pinned against hers.

For a moment, as soft lips pressed together and her lotus scented perfume washed over him, he was flung into the past when they used to do this quite a bit. As much as they could really. In the dorms (both his and hers), in the back of the classroom, in any spare nook and cranny they could find. In fact, they even did it once in the girls loo where that weird ghost girl pretended to sulk away so she could watch in secret. Back then he would have killed to be glued to her lips, but that time had come and gone. Now, instead of euphoria, it was a rather rude awakening when he realized that they were indeed stuck to each other at the mouth.

"There! Happy? Now you two can both shut the feck up about what I have or haven't done in bed and you can just... stay like that for a while! Guess what, Maeve! I don't even have to tell Callum now, everyone can see it! Devlin, You're an arsehole! I don't know what I saw in you!"

Devln tried to call after Faunas rapidly disappearing figure but found his words muffled by someones big mouth. His eyes met Maeves and they glared at each other. She begin to thrash in some ridiculous attempt at sign language, which he would have laughed at if he wasn't trying to breath and think about something other then the fact that Maeve was really hot when she was angry. He got the general idea of what she wanted, which was something along the lines of 'fix this', but he refused to comply. He was rubbish at silent magic and besides, he blamed her for getting them into this mess.

He grunted out something along the lines of 'No. You fix it' before crossing his arms and glaring at her.

Maeve did not expect any sort of retaliation from Fauna Blake. Seven years of complacency from the girl had made it easy to expect that now. Maeve had always believed that the best thing Fauna had been good at was running away when things got tough. And it gave her great pleasure to know that she had managed to annoy Devlin in the process as well. But now, to have her lips firmly planted on her ex-beau's was quite unnerving. And she was too worked up to think straight enough to begin to fix it.

And Devlin was to be no help at all, it seemed.

Maeve clutched at his arm with a fierce grip and began to walk towards the crowds in the village, hoping to find a professor or another adult who could help pry them apart. She would worry about damage control later...