"You should tell him, you know," a familiar voice softly said from behind her. "I know you love him." "Remus," she began turning around to face her friend, "You know I can't do that. He's my best friend, and h-he's in love with his perfect Lily-flower," Elsie sighed as tears began forming in her eyes. "But, Elsie... you don't see the way he looks at you, he-," his sentence was cut off by the girl with tears running down her face. "I don't see how he looks at me, but I see how he looks at her! And, t-that's enough to know that I will n-never be good enough to be with h-him," she snapped through stifled words. "But why don't you just tell him? Why don't you let yourself have a chance at happiness for once?" he asked stepping forwards, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs. "Because...loving him is a losing game. Either way, I'm the one getting hurt," Elsie whispered, falling into the arms of the boy in front of her. SLOW BURN {extended summary inside} (All characters, plots, and aspects of this story belonging to the Harry Potter Universe are credited to JK Rowling.)

A ragtag gang of teens teams up with a neighboring girl gang when a major cartel moves into town, threatening their families, their turf, and the community they've worked so hard to protect. ***** Cash West formed the Seven 20s - a gang of six overzealous teens with guns - to keep his tiny, crime-infested town in nowhere California safe. His methods are unorthodox and frankly illegal, but the town loves his Robin Hood heroics. However, the gang gets more than they bargained for when the Mendoza cartel rolls into town, determined to knock them off the map. As the threat hits closer to home, Cash has no choice but to team up with his ex-girlfriend Tiana's neighboring girl gang, the Hearts of Spades. Soon allies become enemies, families get trapped in the crossfire, and romance brews as Cash fights to unravel a massive conspiracy that puts everyone that matters to him at risk. When the stakes are life and death, will the gangs be able to overcome an enemy more powerful than any of them could have predicted? Book One of The Seven Twenties Series Content and Trigger Warning: contains violence, drug use, mentions of domestic abuse, and mature themes.

❝ 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝! 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐩 -- 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡! ❞ ❝ 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨. ❞ ... [din djarin x fem!oc] 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓵𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓷; 𝓼𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓸𝓷 𝓸𝓷𝓮, 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓸𝓷𝓮