"Mother, I don't want to go to fifth year," I said to the nymph
beside me who still looked as though she was in her twenties although she
was well within her forties.
"Sianai," she said to shush me. Sianai is the nicest way to say
'shut the fuck up' in the nymphian tongue.
"Mother.I'm not even a warlock. You're a nymph and Father is a
werewolf, how does it work?" I continued to press as she crystallized a
bunch of my clothes so they would be fresh and neatly pressed by the time I
got to Hogwarts.
"James, darling, if you don't be quiet, I'll make you be quiet," she
threatened as she hummed. I shut up this time. Everything was packed
except my invisibility cloak and my charmed necklace.
"MOTHER!"
"James, what did I tell you about talking!?"
"My necklace. I need it."
"You lost it again? I don't understand why you can't just transform
into a werewolf on full moon nights and leave the rest of us alone. At the
rate you lose that necklace, I'd think you liked changing," she said
ruffling my already unruly hair. I scowled.
"Do you know where it is?" I asked.
"You left it in the kitchen on the counter. Don't disturb anything
or I'll make sure you rue it," she said with a smile. My mother is an odd
woman. Loveable, but odd all the same. I found my necklace on the
counter. It changed colors with the moon phase, and when it was keeping me
from becoming a werewolf, it changed to black. It burned whomever else
tried to wear it and left a crescent moon on their chest. I found it
amusing. It had cost a fortune to get it, but we had the money, and that's
all that matters. I put the necklace on, as I searched for a shirt and
jeans. A grey shirt for today, I decided firmly. There was one good
thing about Hogwarts, and that was that they didn't have ballet. I went
through many embarrassing years taking ballet, my mom is a nymph. She has
this thing about all nymphs must be able to dance in a classical way. She
put me in ballet not listening to my protests. I danced well, according
to my teacher, but while I was in ballet, friends of my enemies were
learning karate. I sighed at the reflection of the memory, and found my
shirt silently without disturbing my mother's merry packing. Sometimes, I
think she enjoys sending me off. I tugged it over my head. I found my
jeans not long after.
"James, darling, where's your cloak? You know your father likes it
when you have it with you," she said actually giving me permission to talk
and help with my packing. I went to my dresser, and tapped it in code it
opened. Any wrong tap and the intruder would be red for a week. Talk
about red handed! I got the invisibility cloak out.
"Here, Mother," I said handing it to her.
"I swear James, another word and you'll be silenced," she threatened.
My mother is.a temperamental woman.
I needed something to keep me entertained, anything. Unlike my
mother, I didn't want to pack, I didn't want to take ballet. I wanted to
see what it is like to be in blood wrath. To have a lust to eat any living
thing. I fingered my precious necklace carefully. I could easily take it
off.I shook the thought away as though it was an annoying fly. Remus
Lupin, my comrade, he went through Blood Lust. He had tried to kill us all
once, but I have nature on my side.it is almost a gift from my mother,
although it is my birthright as a half-nymph. There's no doubt my mother
loves me, but I wasn't exactly wanted. Nymphs are just a little
temperamental, and the way they're genetic build up is set up they have a
high regard for dance, any dance, and they have a high regard for female
children. Unfortunately for them, I was born male, which I'm happy about.
They, meaning my mother and her many sisters, don't know how to treat a
male child. I mean, once I received a make up kit for Christmas. I
charmed it, though and placed the powders into a pie and hurled it as best
I could at Serverus Snape. It not only bruised his face, but it left him
looking like a messed up girl with lipstick on his forehead and blush on
his nose. It stuck to him too, for a good long while. He scrubbed his
pasty face until it did turn red. I laughed at the memory. I had no one
to owl, nothing to do, and school was starting tomorrow.
I don't know why, I just didn't like attending Hogwarts. To me,
Hogwarts is where girls who don't know you or truly care about you, swoon
over you and your two best comrades, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, if you
just grin at them. To me, Hogwarts is the best place to play pranks on
Lucious Malfoy and his greasy, slimeball of a side-kick, Severus Snape.
But, these things got old. They got old quickly. I needed to be among
animals, to talk to them once more, like my mother had done as a child, I
needed to dance upon water and air as if I was on land, I needed to see my
enemies flash before my eyes, so I knew who to stay away from. I needed to
be away from silver, my father's bloodline of course, I needed to be away
from homework. I needed to bolt. I've gone through this ever since second
year. I always ended up on the train. My mother is a very convincing
woman, or perhaps it is her magic that makes her thus. Yeah, probably the
magic.
"Mother, must I really go? I mean, I won't have a chance to say good
bye to Father, and-" I stopped as she waved her hand producing a large
thunderous clap outside.
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TALKING RIGHT NOW?" she asked. Her eyes
lit to be on the brink of red. I knew Father was a wild man, but he had
never told me he was insane enough to marry a silence freak. I shook my
head. "Good, Jamsie. Go make yourself a snack and go play," she cooed. I
felt like calling her a freak, but she's my mother and there are some
things you don't do.
Play? Was she crazy? With those ballet lessons she made me take the
guys in my grade won't talk to me. The girls will, but they want to do
more then talk. Here I am, the ultimate trickster, and I was stuck in
here.
Hardly anyone at Hogwarts knew I had taken ballet, those that did,
a.k.a. Sirius and Remus, made fun of me and privately called me things like
"Prongs on Pointe". I didn't mind so much. as long as they didn't publicly
broadcast it. They also knew my mother was a nymph and that I wasn't a
wizard at all. Remus accepted me for what I was because he's got it worse.
There is no cure for a full-blown werewolf; he had to be guarded on
moonlit nights. Sirius and I risked our lives, but with the permission of
Dumbledore, our headmaster.
Neither my mother or my father know. They'd flip and probably kill
Dumbledore, putting us in grave danger like that. My father spends a lot
of time out of the house, so he wouldn't attack us when he has the blood
lust.
"James, love, you're all packed," my mother said with a smile. I
rolled my eyes. I didn't even WANT to go, so telling me I'm all packed
didn't do anything but make me scowl. I wandered upstairs to look through
the telescope. A nice, crescent waxing moon greeted me through the lens,
and washed its pale, ivory beams upon me. I smiled at no one in the
stillness of the night. Tomorrow, such silence will not be possible. I
sighed. The stars danced in the starry sky oblivious to my troubles. I
watched their flickering patterns, and unconsciously followed them twirling
around on the roof top, which is luckily flat. I had no idea that the
stars actually did dance, perhaps that's why we look up at them so, I said
as I leaped with the North Star. This was a workout my legs haven't had
in.forever, but it was something I needed to do, something to comfort me in
my troubled state without thought. I turned at the sound of clapping, and
whirled to face my mother.
"Bravo, James, darling. You've learned it. Our dance to honor the
sky," my mother said as she came closer to me and hugged me gently. "You
did it as well as I did on my first try, if not better. I'm proud of you."
My mother hadn't embraced me in ages, mostly what she did was threaten me
to make me be quiet. She has something against noise unless it is a
classic song.
