Lyall Greyback's Story

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He hated the train station scene.

It was hard watching kids with their parents, it was hard slipping through the thick crowds of hugging families. It was especially hard when someone recognized him- usually one of his peers pointing out the wolf amongst them to their parents. He was good at ducking and hiding the moment he felt trouble, but he hated the feeling of cold eyes on him. It made his nick tingle, his stomach ache, and a weird gnawing sensation in his gums. Fear was not something that set well with wolves.

So, after his second year, he’d learned when the train arrived at the station and planned himself accordingly. He’d show up before the bustle of witches and wizards, load his trunk, and slip into the empty train before anyone else. It was actually quite
nice- they spent the entire ride yelling and chatting away, most people did not get to experience the Hogwarts Express while it was silent. Early in the morning, the lights were dim, sun filtered in through the windows and caught the dust motes floating lazily about. The silence in a place usually so full of energy warmed his chest and helped instill that feeling of home so much more.

---

Despite his keen senses, Lyall always had the uncanny ability to be late to almost every opening ceremony so far. He spent too much time wandering about the castle, too much time taking in scenes that should otherwise have been passed by. His brain was often working in overdrive and he was well aware that he had way too many thoughts to ever bring to words. People called him quiet, he was sure that was why. He just never seemed to be able to get his mouth to keep up with his head.
So when the dinner bell struck, he was halfway across the castle staring up at a moving statue of two wounded young wizards carrying each other. A memento of the war, so lifelike it unsettled him. He was staring at their pained yet determined aces when the sound of the clock jarred him, making him yelp in surprise and jump out of his skin.
The hallway was empty as everyone was in the Great Hall, so the sound seemed to echo down the marble floors forever. He cursed himself- coming in late meant he had to open that giant door for all to see and sneak in during Minerva’s speech. That woman had the eyes of a hawk and would surely see him trying to sneak in after the assembly time. Though it wasn’t his first time being late, he hated to disappoint her.

McGonagall wasn’t the only one with eyes on him as he attempted to squeeze through the narrowest gap in the massive doors. For a split second he had about half of the student bodies attention and it raked on him that he couldn’t just slip right back out the door. But he swallowed, forced his large body through, and found a seat at the very end of the Gryffindor table. There was a momentary pause from the Headmistress as the door gave a torturous squeak closed before she continued on. A few of the students around him suppressed giggles, someone snarked “late again Greyback?”, but he turned his slowly reddening face to his caretaker on the stage and tried to tune them out.

---

The one good thing about being near the back was he was able to make a hasty exit as soon as he finished his meal. They’d still been arranging the dormitories when the students had arrived or he probably would have headed straight to the common room as soon as he got off the train.

Like the train car, it was eerily quiet when he entered. Someone had set the fire, so the sound of crackling was the only noise that greeted him when he entered the Gryffindor common room. But oh, he felt the warmth of it all immediately.

Lyall laughed as he tossed himself onto an overly large plush couch, rolling onto his back so he could stair up at the golden ornate ceilings. Hogwarts was over the top, but in all the best ways. If he could die and come back as a ghost to haunt the halls here, he was sure he would spend all his time in this room.

He was stilling laying there on the couch when other students started arriving. Some of them tossed him a warm smile, others barely even a glance- some averted their eyes entirely. His fellow Gryffindors- for the most part- had long since given up any hostility towards him. Any of them with a problem had learned it safer to simply stay away. McGonagall had spent his first year quelling any bullying that began stirring up, acting as his one-woman army. Anyone that wanted to pick a fight with him know knew that Minerva always seemed to know when they did.

The common room filled with students, screaming and laughing as they reunited for the year. Lyall was happy to watch- he was especially happy to see Lily and Neo and returned their warm hugs with an all-encompassing one of his own. He was bigger then most boys his age- due to his disease or just because his father was a large man- he was not sure. So when he hugged, people seemed to disappear in his arms.

---

He slipped away when the common room was starting to get hot. Someone was passing a bottle of something around, people were talking loudly over each other, and he was starting to get an itch for open sky and fresh air.

Lyall took a lot of walks out on the grounds. He was especially good at sneaking out and had little to fear in the woods. The creatures their recognized him as one of their own and stayed clear when he slipped through the trees at night.

Things were clearer in the woods. Walls had a way of dampening sounds and smells, but when you were surrounded by trees there wasn’t a single thing that wasn’t laid out before you. Almost overwhelmingly so, he felt like he was gorging himself on his senses.

It was quiet enough that he could hear the chatter before he saw the students coming around the grassy bend. Lyall slipped behind a tree without thinking, cursing himself and them at the same time. Students couldn’t get other students in trouble… but they could be students that didn’t particularly like him. Minerva could protect him in the castle, but out in the woods he’d be fair game.

Or… they’d be fair game.

They were whispering, but not in a way that masked any of their voices. Stage whispers, used when people think they are being sneaky and are in fact not. Four Hufflepuff girls, high on something from what he could tell. He watched them disappear around a couple large rocks and without thinking, slipping on after them.

He really didn’t know what enticed him to follow them. He hated to think he was stalking (though he was) and he hated it even more that he was creeping through the trees like some beast. He was sure he looked terrifying, but the girls were so wrapped up in where they were going there was no chance they would look his way. He kept mentally yelling at himself as he slipped on light feet between trees, bushes, and rocks…. a fucking wolf indeed.

Lyall did not expect the shrieking shack to be their destination. He watched from a distance as they went inside the abandoned, haunted old house and closed the door. He stared, waiting for screaming, anything, thinking ”oh well see? Fucking good I followed these idiots”. But ten minutes went by and nothing. He rocked forward on his heels, wringing his hands tightly before letting out a gust of air and lunging forward.

The house was silent- but silent in one of those ways that he instantly knew something was wrong. The wood didn’t creak, the tall, lopsided structure shifted with the wind but made no noise. He stared at it, standing in front of the door like something was going to burst out at any second. There was an energy- a hum?- that he couldn’t place. Something that made him sweaty and itchy all over. But he’d watch four girls enter and not come back out and he’d be damned if he ended up finding out they died in there or something.

Oh, sometimes he wished he listened to his instincts more. They always turned out to be right, but he rebelled with that stubborn human brain of his.

He was blinded instantly. Smell, taste, sight, sound- everything was taken over by the intensity of the withering bodies inside. Someone screamed at him to shut the door and he did, hating that he ended up on the inside instead of out. Oh god. Was all of Hogwarts shoved inside of here? One of top of the other, sliding against each other, shoving and pulling and fuckfuckfuck.

He was getting that gnawing feeling again. Something eating at him to play, let loose, take a little.

Teddy bright hair lit up a corner of the room, a menagerie of illegal magical drugs in front of him that he was giving out in handfuls. He took tips, but mostly he just demanded a kiss from his customers. Lyall quickly slipped between the bodies, headed to the somewhat quieter corner beyond the dancing students. He could see Neo surrounded by other students he couldn’t see the faces of.

But Neo he knew and Neo was safe.

Lyall slid a hand down the back of Neo’s arm, his voice useless in the loud bass of the music. So he stepped forward, his body pressing into Neo’s side, “What the fuck did I just walk in on?”

Neo shivered at his touch, glancing sideways at Lyall. A smile became a smile became a grin with the joy. He slid his hand along the small of his back, drawing Lyall in closer. “You made it.”

Lyall shook his head, not really understanding the smile and not really understanding why Neo seemed to be melting into him. “Sure, yeah, I made it. But what is this? How is this? And how the hell does Teddy have all the drugs in London with him?”

Neo took a deep drag of his joint, smiling around the stick. “It’s a party. It’s loaded and it’s heavy. And don’t you know that a magician never reveals his secrets?”

With that he took Lyall’s chin between his fingers, pulling him down until their lips almost touched. Neo exhaled all of the smoke into Lyall’s mouth, eyes dancing with excitement.

Lyall inhaled sharply at the obtrusive gesture, immediately taking in the smoke and seating it deep within his lungs. There was a split second of gnawing anger- the kind he felt trickling through every once and a while and usually squashed easily- before he doubled over in a fit of coughing.

“Fuck you Neo” he managed through his hacking attempts at breath, every extreme exhale bringing a certain fogginess to his brain. Neo clapped a gentle hand to his back, that madding grin never leaving his face. He rubbed the ache from it, fingers distant and teasing.

“You’ll be alright. I’m here.” His voice was soft, exclusive for Lyall. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

Lyall glared up at him, his chest heaving one last time. His eyes were a bit wild as they went from Neo's face down to the lightly smoking joint in his hand, "I don't smoke asshole" He grumbled, standing up straight again. His brain did a whooshing thing that reminded him of the rocking of a boat and he had to restrain a small laugh at that. His face twisted in confusion and he let out a little "Ohh" noise, feeling like the smoke at somehow entered his brain and settled there. "Fuckin' hell. What is that?"

“Weed,” Neo said. He rested his head on Lyall’s shoulder. “You’ll be okay, bro. Pinky swear.”

"I don't hate it" He admitted out loud as his brain came to the same conclusion. He felt weird, sure, but in a way that made him ache for a bit more of it. He wasn't supposed to but....

"Can you..." Lyall gestured at the joint, curling in a bit to the leaning body at his side. Before he could finish, Neo was close again, his mouth was full of smoke, and his mind swirled. And he could swear that he felt Neo’s lips against his.

Lyall felt his mind give at the same time as thin arms wrapped around him and he grinned toothily, loving the curve of the body next to him and the white noise of the party soothe that over the active brain of his. This could be good, he wanted this to be good.

---

---

Thank ya to Jos for Neo words!

“You’ve got all your stuff? Not just your Quidditch stuff.”

“Yes Da,” Hollie answered, distracted. An excited first year had handed him her ferret when it had seemed interested in the rings looped through his ears. He was trying desperately to rub the things stomach, and the ferret wasn’t having it at all.

“-probably going to win the House Cup,” his Da was saying. As usual when talking about Hogwarts Quidditch, there was an air of fondness in his tone. “You’ll have to send us a picture when you do, yeah? House Cup is the first step to World Cup.”

“Yes Da,” Hollie answered again as he twisted in a circle, chasing the ferret down who had run across his shoulders to get to the other earring.

“Play a fair game though,” Oliver added sternly. “I don’t want a letter home this year, hear me?”

“Yes Da,” Hollie said. He just wanted to - he lurched towards the ferret who panicked over such a quick movement and suddenly fell backwards off of him. Hollie’s eyes went wide and he jerked forward, but before he could even attempt to do anything drastic and stupid, his Dad reached out and caught the fluff ball.

Hollie smiled sheepishly and tried not to look too guilty when Marcus turned to the first year who owned the little shit and handed it back to her with a promise that nothing bad had happened. She scurried off quickly and Hollie aimed for a brighter grin when his father turned towards him with an arched eyebrow. “Sorry?”

Oliver sighed. “Stay out of trouble.” Marcus said, “At least don’t get caught.”

Hollie grinned again and threw himself at both of his fathers, hugging them tightly. He was smaller than them, in height and stature, but somehow he had always managed to wrap them both up. “It’ll be a good year,” he said. “I promise.”

If he felt a hint of guilt as he made his way into the train, that was only because he’d never been a fan of lying. Not that he had really lied. He just hadn’t exactly expanded on the definition of the word ‘good’.

It didn’t really matter though. He tugged the collar of his shirt up around his neck a bit more and then grinned when he saw familiar faces and shoved himself into a compartment. He had stories to share.

---

The only thing better than Hogwarts was the new broom Hollie had gotten over the summer. It was the latest version of the Lightningbolt model, it was fast and beautiful and fit Hollie like it had been made specifically for him. And yet, somehow, he still fucking lost to Murphy.

A bet. To get out more. To make more friends. To do more living than just Quidditch.

It had been a sarcastic battle of wits at first, Murph had just been shooting the shit, but Hollie had a damn competitive streak a mile wide and before he even knew it they were trading bets and the brooms were out.

And then. And then. Murph had been distracted by a fucking butterfly. He’d flown higher to catch it, and in doing so the end of his damn broom blocked Hollie’s last shot.

At the words "Oh shit... Wait, did I win?", Hollie had demanded a rematch. But Murph, like the tenacious little fucker he was, hadn’t let Hollie back out. So there he was, somehow both excited and nervous as shit, standing inside the cramped Shrieking Shack, the scent of moondew overpowering, behind his friend that was dressed like that.

There were too many people and not enough room and someone wanted the door shut and before Hollie knew it, he wasn’t with Murphy any more. Someone handed him a drink and he took it without thinking, tasting the familiar burn of firewhiskey. That was fine.

The music was loud, the lights bright, and he did his best to make himself small as he tried to navigate his way out. He wasn’t sure who was touching him or who was tugging which parts of his clothes are who was too fucked up to even realize they weren’t his date.

“Uh, sorry,” Hollie muttered, probably too softly to be heard over the music. “My bad. Uh, ‘scuse me. Oops - didn’t mean to grab you - there. Okay. Um. I’m just gonna.”

He ran hard into the back of someone and twisted around quickly, his hands up to show that he meant no harm. Redheads. Weasley’s? The girls, he wasn’t sure what their first names were, they were Gryffindors though. “Fuck, I’m so sorry!” In fact, the group gathered there seemed to be mostly Gryffindors. Including Greyback, which surprised him. He was about to say so when he caught sight of the boy that Lyall was … almost cuddled up to.

“Hey!” Hollie said, pointing an accusatory finger at the curly haired boy. “I know you! You got me fucking detention last May for being out passed curfew. The fuck man, we were almost out for break and I got extra homework for that shit!”

Neo’s head lolled, loose on his neck. The moondew and weed were getting to him, hazing his senses. Lyall held him up; that big young man with so many muscles and soft face. Neo loved that soft face. He took Lyall by the front of his shirt, drawing him in. He didn’t dare kiss him, not yet anyway, so he did the next best thing: shotgunning.

Neo had no clue who had taught him to shotgun. It must have happened during one of these parties, back when they were still exclusive enough to tell who was who even after getting high as all get-out. If he had to bet on who had taught him, he would place a stack of galleons on Teddy. No way of telling though.

“Hey!” Someone shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Neo. “I know you! You got me fucking detention last May for being out passed curfew. The fuck man, we were almost out for break and I got extra homework for that shit!”

Neo blinked at the finger, following the limb attached to it up to a face. It was a lovely face, somewhere between sexy and adorable. The flush of anger on his cheeks made Neo smile. He rested his head against Lyall’s chest, taking a deep inhale of his joint. He released the smoke into that pretty face.

“Can’t say I’m sorry,” he said, residual smoke sliding of his lips with every word. “You broke the rules.”

“That’s what you’re doing now!” the guy said. “This is breaking a thousand school rules! And you’re a Prefect!”

Neo laughed, ungluing himself from Lyall. Lyall gave a soft whimper that made all of Neo’s body burn. “The trick to getting away with breaking a thousand school rules,” Neo laughed, taking another long drag, “is to not get caught.”

With that, he took the front of this pretty boy’s shirt and pulled him into him. Neo didn’t know what he did first, exhale the drug into this guy’s mouth or push his tongue into it. But he didn’t care. The dude tasted good, sweet and smokey, like strawberries and fire magic.

He pushed against Neo’s chest, hard. Neo flew back into Lyall’s arms, laughing, cuddling closer to Lyall when he draped his arms around him. The boy hacked as Neo laughed.

”You asshole!

Neo hummed. “I mean, I can be if you want me to.”

The guy’s head whipped around. “What?”

Neo laughed again, pausing to shotgunned Lyall when he nuzzled his neck for attention. He turned to the delicious looking jock before him, taking in his solid built and anger clouded face.

“Oh you really are a hot one. Come here and make out with me.”

---

collab with CharlotteV

"Oh you really are a hot one. Come here and make out with me."

Hollie wouldn't exactly consider himself shy or a prude by any means, but he definitely wasn't the kind of person that random guys offered to make out with. It was so unexpected that he did a mental check to make sure he wasn't actually high. He'd only had a couple of drinks and there was Moondew in the air and the taste of something earthy on his tongue, but he didn't think he was fucked up enough to imagine that.

He wasn't sure how long he stared at Dursley, blonde curls changing colors with the lighting in the room, smirk hidden behind a thin layer of smoke. Hollie had never really looked at him this closely. He thought there might be freckles across his cheeks. And his mouth was kind of ...

Greyback. Hollie had almost forgotten he was there, caught up in his surprise like he'd been. But the bigger boy was wrapped around Dursley like a puppy seeking warmth and cuddles. He was definitely high. So was Dursley. It seemed kind of nice.

It also seemed intimate. Which made him think back to that way Dursley had almost kissed Greyback. All smoke and up close. And that made him think of how Dursley had kissed him. All tongue and a hint of smoke. Leaving that earthy taste in his mouth. It hadn't exactly been bad. He didn't hate it.

His nerves said he hadn't had quite enough substance yet. "Looks like you've got your hands full in that department," Hollie said, with a nod towards Greyback. He knew he should go find Murphy. His friend would have never purposefully left him in the hands of an overly friendly Prefect. He needed saving.

But for some reason, he didn't move.

---

---

Lyall wasn’t really listening, at least not fully. He could hear everything and nothing all at once. It felt a little bit like how his senses over reacted to everything during the week of the full moon, but with so much more control. If he focused on the couple dancing in the center of a ton of other grinding bodies, he could hear their whispered conversation like they were standing right next him. He laughed a bit, kind of fucking loving that it seemed like weed gave him a bit of control to the craziness that was lycanthropy. He’d always assumed drugs were chaos- he’d seen people do bat-shit things under their control. But maybe his life was already too chaotic… so the drugs had to give him a little something back in return.

Neo was next to him. He was aware of the smaller mans breathing, of his weight against Lyall’s body, and the jostling movements of someone that could only be described as a whirlwind. Compared to Neo, Lyall felt like he was pulling himself through muddy water.

The tall blonde was still staring across the crowd, his eyes distant and body loose, when that little whirlwind came crashing back into him. Though he thought his body was moving slow, his arms instantly reacted and he easily caught the curly blonde haired man before he hit the ground. Neo instantly was all arms around him, plastering himself to Lyall’s body like the backside of a sticker. He didn’t mind, kind of enjoyed it actually. Neo had a way of just being that Lyall very much wish he could emulate. No overthinking, no backtracking or redacting words. He certainly never apologized for who he was. The opposite of Lyall in almost every way. He would never understand why Neo had decided he was worth collecting.

Neo was talking to someone. Lyall’s hazy brain was about turn and tell that person to fuck off- whoever it was had shoved Neo and was now distracting Lyall from the hazy warmth of the drugs. But Neo gave him no time to react, maybe sensing that Lyall was tugging himself out of that haze, and grabbed his face for another hit.

He was aware he was smiling stupidly. He should probably control that, put on a more placid expression. But, unlike Lyall’s normally hyper anxious brain and tendency to always look calm and passive, right now he did not give a shit.

Lyall was full on grinning. An expression he usually kept under lock and key because he thought it made him look like his father. All teeth, slightly sharp canines, a wild, unfiltered look in his eyes. It made him look like a person that didn’t care what everyone around him thought- the person he would have been if his father had been someone else. But, fuck, Lyall didn’t even know who Fenrir Greyback was right now. All he cared about was how the loudness of the party made his brain quiet, that Neo was a drug personified, and he was content for once.

His pinprick eyes landed on Hollie finally. He knew Hollie- Captain of the Hufflepuff team and fellow Beater. They were often alone on the Quidditch field after hours, no sound but the loud thump of the bludgers back and forth. Hollie was a legend in Lyall’s eyes- a fantastic Beater raised by two of his heroes. When Lyall was a kid, he’d often fantasized about being raised in a similar household. Quidditch every day, walls covered in posters and colors, a parade of game talk and practice.

So, when Lyall’s slowly chugging brain caught up to his quick-moving body, he peeled himself off of Neo and yanked Hollie into a one armed hug.

“Hi Hollie!” He yelled over the crowd- probably a tad loud as his face was currently buried in the shorter man's shoulder, “Neo got me high as fuck, on accident? I think. Either way it's weirdly great and you should probably be too”

Neo stood behind them, looking from Lyall to Hollie and back again. He was high, so fucking high, but he could still not bring himself to blame the drugs for the emotions that were ripping his chest apart.

He wanted to kiss Lyall. He wanted to kiss Hollie. He wanted those two, tall, broad jocks to kiss and watch them do so.

Neo was high. But it wasn’t the drugs that made his body burn.

Hollie stayed perfectly still in Lyall’s hug, staring at Greyback and Dursley. The intensity in which Dursley looked at him and Greyback made his stomach clench. The weed made his mind foggy.

Maybe Greyback was right. Maybe he should get high.

Lyall pulled back after he didn’t get an answer and held Hollie at arm's length, “Yeah?” He was still grinning, toothy smile looking more and more wolf-like, “Neo’s a pro if your worried. Never felt this good in my life”

Hollie swallowed. He’d come to party, hadn’t he? Merlin, his fathers would murder him. Dursley held a joint to his lips, inhaling deeply before blowing the smoke out over their heads. Hollie’s throat felt dry, and he wasn’t really sure why. He licked his lips, and although he wanted to reach for it, something held him back. There was worry on his face when he looked at Greyback. “You got me?”


Lyall laughed roughly, pulled Hollie back to their little circle, and slung a large arm around him, “I don’t really know if I got myself” he whispered conspiratorially, then gestured loosely at Neo, “I’m sure he does?”

Neo did not fight his devilish grin back very hard. It was a stark contrast, that innocent face with such a mischievous smirk. He held the joint out to Hollie.

Hollie took it tentatively, his heart pounding from anticipation. Dursley was watching him, Greyback was holding him, the thought of feeling as good as they obviously were was the final push. He licked his lips again then took a tentative, slow drag. Somehow, he didn’t cough. Thank magic.

Neo’s eyes raked over Hollie and Lyall’s bodies.

“You two should make out,” he deadpanned.

Lyall instantly rolled his eyes before taking the joint out of Hollie's fingers. He was used to Neo’s weirdness by now and tended to just shrug it off. He never really knew what to say and was usually way too nervous to come up with a reply. So he busied himself by taking a hit and looking away.

Lyall had to release Hollie when he doubled over coughing, handing the weed back over to the other beater. He wheezed, feeling like a slice of charcoal was slipping down his throat at the same time as his mind was slipping loose a fraction more.

“Oh fuuuuuck” he groaned, righting himself, “Alright, fuck, this is good”

He was nodding, not really sure why- maybe just at the whole situation? Lyall did a quick look around the room and pointed at someone taking a shot out of a vial.

“Neeeeo” Lyall frowned, did he just whine? He coughed and fixed himself, “Neo what’s that?”

Neo followed Lyall's finger, Hollie was watching too, but not speaking. The Euphoria Elixir came in tiny glass vials that fit in the palms of their hands. Teddy made sure that no dose was too strong or too much. Usually, it took a single shot for the effects to set in.

Neo disappeared from Lyall and Hollie's immediate eyesight for a moment, returning later with two vials. He handed each of them a single vial. Hollie’s eyebrows rose, like he wasn’t sure if he was that invested.

"Bottom's up, boys!"

He spanked them both, gripping their firm asses a little longer than they'd expected. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and watched them knock the drug back.

There was a split second where Lyall almost tossed the drug in favor of yelling at Neo for the ass grab, but Hollie was pulling the stopper out already. Lyall sent Neo a withering glare at the same time as mimicking Hollie, both of them a little apprehensive as they clinked the glasses together.

Lyall and Hollie threw them back at the same time. As the cold liquids burned warm down his throat, he remembered that he hadn’t even asked Neo what this was. But oh, fuck, it took all of five seconds for him to not really care anymore.

He turned wide eyes to Neo, blinking as the purest form of Good ran through him like molasses. Coating everything, filling dark cracks he didn’t know he had. It felt like the coziest fire, the warmest blanket, Minerva’s secret tea she only shared with him.

He reached forward and grabbed Neo, not really sure why. He knew the boy liked to be touched and he wanted Neo to feel this.

“Mmm” Lyalls voice had dropped down to a deep rumble, somewhere between human and wolf, “It’s fucking warm. It’s good, I like this. You feel like this?”

Neo sucked in his breath. He had a hard enough time pretending that he did not really feel anything for Lyall without him making it all the more difficult. He'd kept away, played and teased as a way to release some of his frustrated affections. Maybe giving him the drug had been a bad idea. Maybe Lyall should not be high. Because if he continued to act like that, Neo might just start believing that he had an actual, real-life chance.

Not getting any real answer, Lyall took that as Neo not really getting it. He’d only smoked weed, he hasn’t tried that godlike liquid with them.

Lyall grabbed Neos hand at the same time as steering Hollie around towards the bag of drugs on the counter, “Were getting more”

Hollie hadn’t said a word. He’d been too shocked by the flood of what he could only call … happiness to speak. It was pure, and gripping, and he kind of wanted to laugh but he didn’t know why? Until suddenly Lyall was touching him, and then he looked up to see an array of emotions flash across Dursley’s face. Not the happy emotions, not really. Dursley no longer looked playful or in control; he looked scared and vulnerable. Like he’d just had a secret discovered.

“Come on man,” Hollie said, and then the laughter escaped. He was giggling, it sounded a little bubbly, but he was pretty sure nothing was actually funny. “Leave the kid alone.” His smile was too wide. It was the drug. He took Dursley from Greyback’s grasp and tucked him against himself instead. “Maybe he’s allergic?”


Feeling slightly panicked, Neo coughed the last of the smoke in his lungs out. The motion rocked him deeper into Hollie's chest, taking him farther away from Lyall.

"It's Euphoria Elixir. It makes you feel happy." Neo explained

Lyall quirked a brow, his grin turning a bit more dangerous when he was denied, “And you don’t want that?”

Neo tensed. He had never expected this turn of events. He shook his head. “I like how weed makes me feel. I prefer Muggle drugs.”

He wanted to say, “But I’ll feel happy if you kiss me, if you love me, if you let me be yours.”

Neo didn’t say that. He never would.

Lyall gaze got a bit harder, the euphoria making his brain easily slip past any kind of line he would never have crossed, “You do this with me and I’ll trade you something”

Neo stared at Lyall. He could ask for anything. Anything.

With a heavy sigh, Neo pulled himself from Hollie and walked the rest of the way to the bar. He took some vials and handed one to each boy.

“No trades.”

He downed it in a single go.

Lyall followed along, his brain doing one more chug before slipping deeper into that thick warmth. His eyes slid into a bleary, sleepy look, which starkly contrasted to the yellow glow and pinprick pupils. He wasn’t tired, his brain was active and alive and smoldering, but damn was his body slow. He felt the kind of good you felt after a long nap- aware but wanting more.

Hollie didn’t think he should do more, but it didn’t really seem to matter, because he did. And he felt good. In fact, he was pretty sure he had never felt that good in his entire life. Well, no, that was a lie. It was the kind of happiness he’d felt on a broom before, high above the rest of the world, soaring fast, but it was still kind of different. Like he wasn’t having to chase that happiness.

Instead, that happiness chased him. Euphoria hit him straight in the chest like the goddamn Night Bus. The swirling colors around him, the faint smell of weed and moondew, the darkness he felt blanketed in, it was all so wonderful.

Neo hated the moment the drug hit his system. It messed with his head, made him happy. Too happy. A part of his brain wanted it to stop. A bigger part of him wanted to pull both boys to him and kiss them, ravish them.


Neo held his head in his hands, smiling back at Lyall because Lyall was smiling at him.

“‘s good, right?” Lyall slurred, his tongue a bit heavy in his mouth and his cheeks stuck in a permanent loose grin, “You’re good right?”

Neo did not feel good. He didn't think so, at least. He felt too happy and that scared him. He laughed really hard and leaned against Hollie.

"I'm good if you're good."

Lyall's eyes listed slowly away from Neo, his body swaying slightly in time with the music. He kind of felt like dancing, but one look at the grinding hot bodies under neon lights made him feel a bit queasy. He’d get eaten alive in there and probably not in a good way. But he still wanted something, though his drug-addled mind couldn’t put words to it.

So Lyall took two steps forward and swung his arm around Hollie on the opposite side of Neo. He sent a lazy smile to both of them before tugging them a few steps backwards and unceremoniously dumping all three on the worn out leather couch against the wall.

“‘s better, much better” he was still wrapped around Hollie's side, head on his shoulder cause his muscles really wanted a break.

His brain was doing the mush thing he couldn’t control, filtering from one subject to the next. Quidditch slid through, as it usually does around Hollie, and Lyall latched on. He leaned further into Hollie's side so he didn’t have to yell over the music to speak into his ear, “Did you catch the Moose Jaw game last week?”

“Hell yeah!” Hollie answered. He rarely ever missed a game. He was talking about it even though he barely registered what he was saying. Once he got the words out, they were gone, drifting away with the music. Lyall was touching him and then he was on something that felt vaguely of leather but definitely didn’t smell like it. A couch? Yeah. Lyall was right, it was better. He leaned his head back and felt another grin split his face.

Neo was aware that Lyall had deposited them all on one of the scattered old couches around the room. He was grateful for Lyall's unwilling nature to dance. Neo wasn't quite sure that he would be able to keep his body upright.

The thing about Neo and Euphoria Elixir was this: he went into hysterics. Somehow, the drug drew out all the happiness and hurt that Neo had ever felt. Neo sometimes wondered if it was because the drug had too much magic in it and he didn't have enough to keep up. Whatever the case, it sent his mind reeling. Neo always ended up laughing and crying.

He leaned into Lyall, his laughter drowned out by the music and the sound of fellow students. He could hear Lyall talking about the one thing Neo knew almost nothing about: Quidditch.

Both of the boys he had a crush the size of Gringott's underground vaults were bonding over the one thing he could not keep up with. He laughed as he watched them, thinking that they looked utterly lovely together. They really made a beautiful pair.

Laughing, Neo said, "You two are really beautiful. You know that right?"

He didn't know if they heard him. Neo didn't care. He leaned forward and started laughing. He laughed and laughed and laughed until he was crying.

Hollie and Lyall were so caught up in their tiny world of balls and broomsticks they almost missed Neo’s voice. Something with the word ‘beautiful’ in it, and Hollie felt his face heat up. If he were sober, it would have been a comment he would have moved passed. Because it was Neo and he never really knew how to handle Neo. He opened his mouth, sure he was going to say something, but then there were tears. Not his. Neo’s.

“Hey. No.” Hollie wasn’t sure why tears were wrong, but they were. There weren’t supposed to be tears here. “Dursley! My dude, this is the happy place.”

Lyall had a real hard time yanking him out of the euphoric glow of Quidditch and drugs and Hollie. Caught in that trap he'd never tried to remove himself from before. But Neo was up to his shit again, only this time the sincerity in his voice was enough to tug on Lyall's attention.

Beautiful, him? He could admit Hollie was an attractive dude, he guessed, but Big Bad Fenrir Lyall Greyback Jr.?

"Yeah, yeah man. See, we are both happy. You just gotta be happy with us. What can we do?" Lyall asked.

Neo’s head spun. His heart felt exposed and all the feelings he’d ever hidden came pouring out in hysterical cackles and sobs.

He gripped an arm. Lyall’s? Hollie’s? He didn’t know. He didn’t care.

“W-weed!” He gasped. “Get me some weed.”

He needed to dull the thundering force of Euphoria. He needed to be numb again.

Hollie was the one that moved, though he supposed that was kind of dumb because he didn’t even really know what he was looking for, but he found Neo’s bag without any trouble, and in there was another bag of the joints Neo had been smoking. He grabbed a handful of them and was back in no time, pressing them into Neo’s lap worriedly.

Neo’s fingers trembled as he struggled to light a joint. His hysterical laughter made it harder for him to stop shaking. If his tears dripped, he might lose his chance to smoke. After several failed attempts, he finally managed to light his stick.

Desperate, he took one, two, three deep hits. He held the smoke in his lungs, allowing it to burn. With a sigh, he released whatever was left into the area above them. There was the stillness that he had been seeking, teasing him in the swirls of the smoke.

He gave a laugh, this one more steady than all the others, and continued to smoke. “A’ight, their lads?”

Hollie laughed himself, but it still wasn’t funny. Neo was steadier, he thought, but it still didn’t quite seem alright. “Maybe we should call it a night, yeah?” he asked, looking between Lyall and Neo. And then, he didn’t know why, but he laughed and leaned forward to press a kiss against Neo’s forehead. “Think I’ve had enough for my first party.”

“Call it a night?” Lyall echoed back, his gaze drifting away now that it seemed like Neo was doing better. He frowned and shook his head, his eyes skimming over the life filling the room, “No, pretty sure I won’t ever need sleep again” He turned his attention back to the two boys on either side of him, “We could… go somewhere else though? Maybe…” A slow grin spread across his face as he made eye contact with Hollie, “Quidditch pitch? The stars will look great on this clear of a night”

Neo nodded. Yes, Quidditch pitch. Anything to get out and stop being unbearably high. “I’ll need help walking. Can’t walk straight.”

He giggled. “Can’t walk straight, can’t think straight, can’t be straight.”

Lyall laughed, grabbed Neo, and hefted him off the couch in a single move. He kept his arm around Neo’s waist and half carried him towards the back door, glancing back to make sure Hollie was still behind them.

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Thank ya to Char and Jos for the words and the collab!