Gemini

Prologue to The Other Kind of Evil

Chapter 11. Us and Them

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one.""

- C.S. Lewis

"I'll take two, please."

"Oh, right. Tom Riddle's been sick, ain't he? An' you're the girl what's takin' care of him?"

"Yes, something like that."

"Well tell him we're all prayin' for a speedy recovery from whatever it is that's ailin' him. Lord knows us girls miss him dearly, if you know what I mean!"

Nyx smirked as the girl giggled and blushed a little. Taking a second plate of food, she replied, "I'll tell him you said that."

The girl gasped in horror and protested, "No, no, no, you mustn't! He'll never come out of his room if he knows we'll all be starin' at his arse all day long!"

The vampire burst into peals of hysterical laughter.

"Well, you have to admit, it ain't a bad sight," the girl added. "Nicest arse around, anyway."

Wiping tears from her eyes, Nyx said, "I can't disagree with you there. I'd really, truly love to stay and chat about Tom Riddle's ass with you, but if I take much longer with his food, he'll be very angry with me, and I don't need that."

A minute or so later, she quietly entered his room and saw that he was seated on the end of his bed, staring out the window, looking very melancholy. Nyx was afraid she'd start laughing as soon as she saw him, but seeing that he was in another one of his moods helped her resist the urge.

"I brought breakfast, Tom," she said.

He looked at her slowly, and turned back to the window, muttering, "…I'm not hungry…"

"You've barely eaten for the past three days," she said exasperatedly. "I know you're still sick and still in pain now and then, but you need to eat something or you'll never get your strength back."

"If I'm not hungry, I'm not hungry," he replied simply.

Nyx rolled her eyes and sat down in her usual chair, and began munching on her pancakes. "Do what you want. I'll just leave the plate."

He continued staring out the window, looking bored and unhappy. She ate in silence, watching him and becoming rather worried about him. When she was finished, she said, "Look, I know you feel miserable and depressed because of the Horcrux sickness; it's a natural part of the mental damage it causes, but you can't let it control you like this. You have to fight it somehow. What do you do for fun? Maybe that will cheer you up."

"Fun?" Tom repeated, giving her an incredulous look.

"Oh, that's right, you don't have fun," she murmured. "Well, what would you do if you actually wanted to have fun?"

He sighed and turned back to the window. "I'm not in the mood for this nonsense…"

Nyx frowned at him and thought for a few moments, before a wicked grin crept across her face. "Do you want to stare at my boobs again?"

"What?!" he yelped, whipping his head around to gape at her. "You know that won't solve anything!"

"Oh…" Nyx sighed dejectedly. "…What if I let you feel them?" She prodded the left one and wiggled her eyebrows to illustrate.

Tom opened his mouth to say something, but she had rendered him speechless. As his cheeks started turning pinkish, he snapped, "Get out of here already! Stop trying to corrupt me!"

"Too late!" Nyx snickered. "If you were as pure as you pretended to be, you would have had a different reaction the first time you saw them."

Tom ignored her. "Did I not just tell you to leave?"

"Well, I'm sorry my boobs no longer appeal to you," she said with a huff. "But don't think that by rejecting that proposition, I'll offer you anything more blatantly sexual. I don't mind if you look or poke around a bit, but intense touching is out-of-bounds at this point."

"I'm glad to see that you have some morals after all," he replied flatly. "Now go away. I've had enough of your perversion for one day, and I've heard more than enough about your…things for a lifetime."

Nyx stared at him for several long moments before saying as if she had an epiphany, "Ohh, so you swing the other way!"

"WHAT?!" Tom nearly shrieked, jumping off the bed he was so furious. "I DO NOT! THAT'S REPULSIVE! HOW DARE YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT RIGHT TO MY FACE!"

"Denial."

"I AM NOT IN DENIAL!"

"You sure are lively when you get riled up. Otherwise you're pretty languid."

Tom could only stand there, seething at her and hoping she would go outside and get hit by a double-decker bus.

"Tell you what," Nyx said, folding her hands in front of her. "If you agree to go out with me and have fun today, I swear to you that I will cease and desist all jokes about boobs, boners, and whichever one you may prefer. How's that?"

"…I want it in writing."

"Fine."

"Signed in blood."

"…okay, that, too."

"With collateral."

"Like what?"

"Anything that will compensate for whatever further damage you might inflict upon me today, be it physical or mental. Your soul would do nicely."

"Someone's cranky today. That time of the month again, is it? …I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Put down the chair and I don't mean by throwing it in my direction!"

--

"Ooh, let's go in here!" Nyx grabbed Tom roughly by the wrist and tried to drag him into a building as they walked down the street side-by-side.

"Do you even know what this place is?" he asked critically. He was still in a very bad mood form the morning's events.

"Who cares? It's shiny!" The vampire was bouncing on her toes as she admired the blinking lights around the entrance. After slathering on a gallon of extra-powerful sunscreen, Nyx had worn a long-sleeved white blouse, a flowing blood red skirt that reached her ankles ("I told you this style looked better on me!" "It makes you look fat – OW!"), and her wide-brimmed straw hat. She would take no chances on a sunny, unpleasant day like this.

"This is a movie theater, and I refuse to have my brain melted by that drivel."

"What's a movie?" Nyx asked curiously.

Tom paused to think of the best way to explain it, and settled for, "It's sort of like enchanted paintings and photographs, except the scenes change in movies and they're quite complex."

"How on earth do they manage that?"

He sighed and replied, "I have no idea how the Muggles do anything, let alone create movies. Can we please go somewhere else?"

"Muggles make these things?" Nyx piped up, looking shocked and delighted at the same time. "Really? I thought we were the only ones capable of something like that!"

"Yes, somehow they pulled it off, wonderful for them," he said, waving it away with his hand. "Let's go already. You said we were supposed to do something fun today, and standing in the middle of the sidewalk talking about Muggles is not my idea of fun."

"But they're showing one of those movie things in fifteen minutes!" Nyx protested, pointing at the sign in the box office window. "…Gone with the Wind. I wonder what it's about."

"Then keep wondering because we are not –"

"Two please!"

Tom had to clench his jaw tightly to stop himself from screaming at her, but it was too late anyway. Nyx bought the tickets, stuffed one into his unwilling hand, and pulled him inside the opulent theater. She bought an enormous box of popcorn when she couldn't stand the delicious smell any longer; Tom refused to eat any more of "that disgusting Muggle food" than he had to, so Nyx insisted that she wouldn't share with him no matter how much he begged.

Four hours later, the pair emerged from the theater, laughing and in much better spirits.

"I wonder if anyone in London sells Civil-War-Era American dresses," Nyx said wistfully.

"Highly unlikely," Tom replied. "Why? Do you want to do a reenactment or something?"

"No but that sounds like a great idea!"

"I should learn when to keep my mouth shut."

"I sort of look like Scarlette anyway, don't I?"

"And you have her personality to boot. All you need is the accent, some better manners and the right clothes, and you're all set."

"Why does that sound like a veiled insult? You're not too different from Rhett, now that I think about it. You're just paler, scrawnier, less worldly, less wealthy, and not nearly as handsome as he is."

"I have more class than he does in his stupid gold-plated cufflinks."

"Well, that's true. And you're more polite. You're equally twisted and egotistical, though."

"…you thought he was handsome?"

"Not really. I just wanted to piss you off again."

"Hmph. I'm glad I'm not the one paying for this outing or I would have taken you home for that one."

Nyx laughed as she trotted along the street, with Tom following behind her. His long strides allowed him to keep a good pace with her without having to quicken his steps. Glancing at a large clock on the side of a bank, he saw that it was nearly 2 o'clock in the afternoon. His stomach growled loudly.

The vampire stopped abruptly and turned to look at him, smirking. "Did that noise come from you?"

"I haven't eaten anything all day," he replied, whining just a little bit. "If you had just given me some of your food I wouldn't be starving."

"You refused the popcorn the first time I offered to share, so I saw no point in offering again. I'm still hungry, anyway, so we ought to go find a place to eat."

Tom nodded happily and stared scanning the area for a restaurant that would suit him…when his eye caught a rather small, brightly colored, richly decorated building sandwiched between two towering, concrete behemoths. He almost had to slap himself to take his eyes off the place; he was lucky he had a conscience, or he would have pranced over there, singing hymns of joy.

He cleared his throat as he stood beside Nyx and told her slyly, "Do you see anything promising on the other side of the street?"

She immediately looked, and her attention was hooked on the bright, shiny objects she was so easily distracted by. "Pretty colors!" she yelled as she streaked across the busy street towards it, dodging the cars as if they were ravenous sharks swimming through a two-lane ocean. She still hadn't gotten over her motorphobia, but she wasn't going to let that keep her away from such an interesting looking little building.

Tom followed her with much more caution to find her with her face pressed against the glass, peering inside like some sort of culinary stalker. Pointing through the window, she asked as Tom approached, "What's all this?"

"Ice cream," he replied, forcing a childishly enormous grin down. "Do you want to try some?"

"Hell yes!"

Nyx yanked him through the door, though he would have happily run in there even faster than she did. She once again plastered her face onto the glass over the twenty different flavors of ice cream on display. Tom waited impatiently for her to decide which one sounded best, and firmly told her that, no, she could not ask if they had blood-flavored ice cream, because they didn't and they'd be kicked out. He had to laugh when she simply asked for one scoop of each, all foolishly piled on the same cone.

"Blackberry with hot fudge and rainbow sprinkles," Tom said to the man behind the counter, completely unabashed at the mere mention of rainbow sprinkles. The moment the cone was in his hand, he raced off towards the back of the parlor, telling Nyx, "I'll find a table!"

She stood there for a moment, looking slightly bewildered before paying the man and carefully following him, making sure not to tilt her towering ice cream in any direction. She looked at Tom just in time to see him grinning from ear-to-ear as he ravenously devoured his ice cream. As soon as he realized she was coming near, he wiped the look off of his face and assumed an air of total indifference.

"Don't try to fool me," Nyx teased. "I saw that heavenly look on your face a second ago. So ice cream is your 'thing,' huh? Didn't you say you hated Muggle food?"

Tom looked slightly guilty that she realized his one true weakness, besides mortality. "…I like it now and then. So what?"

"Well, regardless of your bizarre tastes," she added, smirking wickedly as she adopted a flirty tone. "You certainly have a very sexy way of eating it." She wiggled her eyebrows at him and grinned.

Tom almost dropped the cone in horror and glared at her as his cheeks flushed pink, hissing under his breath, "This is why I don't want to take you anywhere… Stop staring at me, you depraved freak!"

The vampire giggled wildly at his expense, but calmed down so that she could bite into the top scoop of ice cream – banana-flavored – and immediately her eyes became wide in alarm. Her muffled cried of distress, combined with her free hand frantically waving at her mouth, instantly told Tom that she had gotten brain freeze. Assuming that it was retribution for making fun of his secret love of blackberry-ice-cream-with-hot-fudge-and-rainbow-sprinkles, he didn't hesitate to point and laugh at her as the ice cream parlor's other patrons watched with mild curiosity.

Tom finished his ice cream, cone and all, in record time, but Nyx was slow to finish hers after paying the price for taking such a huge bite. After a while, they headed outside into the dreadfully sunny day again and pondered what else they should do. The vampire's keen eyes wandered back to the theater again, and to her obvious pleasure, a different movie was scheduled for the afternoon matinee.

"Look! There's another movie on in half an hour!" she said, shaking Tom excitedly. "We should go see it!"

"Are you sure you can sit through another couple hours? All that sugar seems to have wound you up pretty well… I don't want you to act like an annoying little kid in there, and embarrass me."

"I'll behave if the movie's good! Please?"

The Prefect looked across the road at the brightly lit entrance and finally sighed, "…I suppose if it looks interesting, I'll put up with one last movie."

"YAY!"

She flew across the street, nervously weaving through the cars and buses like a slalom skier, to Tom's dismay. By the time he was able to cross safely, she was standing next to the box office, leaning against the wall, and shaking badly.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asked, worried that she was going into another blood withdrawal. The last time that happened, she almost went after a mangy stray cat, she was so desperate for blood.

Nyx weakly lifted her head and he saw that she was laughing so hard she was speechless, and crying too. She pointed to the movie poster displayed behind her, showing the film being played at 3 o'clock.

"The Wizard of Oz?" Tom read in disbelief. "…We need to see this. I can't wait to see what those Americans have done now. …Maybe we should wait until you can breathe first."

By the time they reemerged from the dark theater, the two Slytherins were in stitches. After exchanging thousands of looks of disbelief and shook their heads in shame constantly, they had silently agreed that it was both the best and worst movie they would ever see in their lives.

"If bad witches and wizards are ugly, we must be saints!" Nyx cackled, almost knocking herself over.

"I hope it doesn't rain, or we'll melt," Tom laughed, glancing nervously up at the clear blue sky.

"Don't worry," she snickered. "You can float away in a magical rainbow bubble before it's too late! HA!"

"Not if someone drops a farmhouse on me first!"

"What a cruel movie… Those Muggles are sick and twisted little buggers! Going around, supporting blatant murder, and just because they think all witches but stupid, nancy-fancy Glinda are pure scum! Absolutely terrible!"

"I know," Tom agreed. "No wonder the Witch hated those Munchkins so much. They're bloody scary."

"If we continue your brilliant reenactment idea, which character would you probably be?"

"The Tin Man."

"Why, are you rusty?"

"No. Do I look like I have a heart to you?"

"Not really. But you do have a brain, and you're courageous enough to risk your life for the H-word thing, and you don't want to go home…"

"And I'm also not an incompetent magician who pretends to be a wizard."

"Or a terrier, though it would be cute. I should call you Toto from now on because it actually works with your name. Heehee, Toto!"

"Sure, and I'll call you Whale because you eat like one."

"Touché."

"You'd be the Witch, no question about it. I can easily see you with an army of flying monkeys. Well, not monkeys. Dragons, maybe."

"Of course!" Nyx said with a grin. "It's always been a dream of mine to have my own army, and some domesticated dragons, of my own before I died! …Looks like I'll have a while to complete that task, eh?"

"What do you mean?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Automatic immortality, remember?"

"Oh, right," he replied, looking embarrassed. "I know it sounds absurd, but I seem to forget what you really are most of the time. Seeing you behave like a fairly normal human instead of a bloodthirsty, merciless, scary you-know-what has certainly changed my perspective on a few things."

"I hope that means that you're more amused by my oddness than disappointed that I don't live up to my nature, most of the time anyway," Nyx said, grinning. "As you well know, I'm a lot more fun when I'm acting like a human rather than a ruthless predator."

Tom snorted derisively. "If you consider acting like an insane four-year-old and giving me premature gray hair 'fun,' I suppose."

"Lighten up," she said simply. "We still have about two hours of daylight left, but I'll be much more energetic once that stupid sun is out of sight, so we should find something else to do."

"Oh goody."

"I think we should get out of the city for a change. All we ever do is wander around here… I want to see other places! My curiosity must be satisfied!"

"Don't even bother looking at me for approval, then. You're going to do whatever you want regardless of what I say anyway."

Nyx nodded in assent as she skipped off to a newsstand nearby and quickly scoured a map of the London area, and exchanged a few brief sentences with the vendor. By the time Tom slowly trudged over to her, the vampire already knew where she wanted to go, and had memorized the way to get there; as usual, she grabbed him by the arm and nearly dragged him along as she set off.

An hour of walking (and a million complaints from Tom for being a neurotic moron and not simply taking a bus) later and the Slytherin duo had finally made it to the large park Nyx wanted to visit. It wasn't technically outside of the city, but it was the closest thing to "rural" as they were going to reach in one evening.

The Prefect stared at the sight before him, looking like he was going to be sick. "…a carnival?"

"Yeah, the guy selling the papers told me they were having one here, and it sounded fun to me," she replied, beaming at the glittering lights, rich smells and entrancing music radiating from the lively place.

"You don't even know what a carnival is!" he said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "This place is infested with Muggles and cheap stuffed animals and terrible grease-soaked food, not to mention the inane little games and horrifically unsafe rides that are supposed to amuse people! And the CLOWNS! Don't even get me started on the bloody clowns!"

"So you've been to a few of these, have you?" Nyx said, smirking.

"Against my will, yes," Tom snapped. "That idiotic woman at the orphanage thought it would be fun to take all of us to places like these over the past sixteen years of my life, and I've hated it with a passion ever since."

His companion stood there and watched the flickering rainbow of lights on the myriad of booths inside the park gates, feeling inexplicably drawn towards such a strange new event. She felt slightly guilty that she was making Tom unintentionally miserable, but she wasn't a self-sacrificing person by any means, and seeing other people suffer had never really tugged at her heartstrings very strongly.

"Well I have never been to one of these things before," she reminded him. "I'd like to at least see what all the fuss is about before I agree that it's a festering pool of worm-ridden filth, as you suggest it is. If nothing else, I'll probably do something unbelievably stupid and you'll have a good laugh at my expense. Again."

Tom stared at her coldly. He was getting very fed up with Nyx's unspoken fascination with Muggles and their remarkably unsubstantial forms of entertainment. Yet, he couldn't quite bring himself to refuse her. The promise of a good laugh and something to criticize mercilessly was just enough to make him reply, "…If you promise that this is the very last place we go today, then I will put up with it. But do not expect me to like it for even one second, because I won't."

Nyx cheered and skipped onward, her head swiveling all around as she took in all of the sensations that bombarded her from every angle. Tom couldn't understand her boundless interest in everything around her, but it was amusing to watch her get all worked up every time she discovered something new. He felt extremely uncomfortable at the carnival, surrounded by the Muggles he loathed, and he frequently found himself wondering how he had gotten into such an irksome situation.

But he soon remembered that it was because of Nyx's concern for him; she was worried that if his Horcrux-induced depression continued, he could suffer permanent damage from it. Because she was so like him, Tom was struck by the fact that she seemed to care about him, and that she was willing to annoy the hell out of him to try to make him feel better. He certainly wouldn't have felt any concern if he was in her place. Normally, that fact would have seemed normal and almost praiseworthy to his independent mind, but now it seemed childish and cruel. Tom felt that he did nothing to deserve any kind treatment from her, especially because he wasn't inclined to be kind in return.

As he thought about it more, he rethought his silent statement that he wouldn't have cared if Nyx were in trouble. She had already done so much for him; not caring seemed a bratty and foolish way to behave. Although he had complained a lot before, he now felt slightly guilty for resisting her help. Tom really was feeling much better now that she had forced him to loosen up a bit, and he really was grateful for that. Difficult as it was, given his stubborn egotistical nature, Tom tried very hard to enjoy himself at the carnival anyway and fought back the urge to bitch and moan about everything, as a small token of appreciation towards Nyx.

The sun finally began to dip below the horizon, leaving an almost bloody trail behind it in the reddening sky. It was around that time that Nyx saw the Ferris wheel up close and was overcome with excitement. Tom didn't fight her, for a change, when she pulled him towards it and jumped into the seat; out of all the rides there, the Ferris wheel was the only thing he actually liked a tiny, puny, little bit. He wouldn't admit it, of course, but this was the only one that didn't make him throw up every time he tried to ride it.

Nyx stared around in awe as the machine took them higher up, nibbling on a caramel apple she had just bought herself. Tom seemed to be bored albeit tolerant of the situation, but somewhere within him, he felt a warm, fuzzy feeling as he recalled the first time he had ever gotten onto one of these contraptions. Although it would seem normal for the nearly-adult-Tom, the six-year-old-Tom had felt his first sense of superiority on a Ferris wheel not unlike this one. The ride stopped at the top, and as the little boy looked down at the people below him, he felt a godlike sense of power and intelligence surpassing that of the pitiful little insects beneath him.

The sixteen-year-old felt the same familiar sensation when they were once again stuck at the very top, overlooking all of London just as the city's shining lights began to turn on to ward off the coming darkness of night. When he was a child he didn't understand his feelings, but he did now, and he embraced them more than ever. He glanced at Nyx, who was also peering down at the carnival, and wondered quietly what she was thinking about as she watched the Muggles drift by. Tom couldn't help but wonder if she, too, had ever felt the same way he did.

"Look at those pitiful creatures," she said suddenly, speaking in a soft, gentle voice. "They look like little bugs I could crush under my shoe."

She stuck out her foot and made a stomping motion to illustrate her comment. Tom could only stare at her, stunned that she seemed to be thinking the same things he was.

"Being up here really makes you feel powerful, doesn't it?" she went on, still quiet and deadly. "Normally I don't feel much different from this, being a vampire and all. I could tear every last one of those sad little people apart and sleep like a baby after I had my fill. They aren't worth a damn to me. I wouldn't blink if every last spineless human in this entire filth-ridden city dropped dead on the spot. And why should I? I eat them, for heaven's sakes! They're nothing more than meat with eyes! …no offense."

"None taken," Tom murmured, awestruck.

Nyx took a deep breath and looked at him. Her eyes seemed strangely steely, but he felt mesmerized by the absolute confidence and strength in them. Speaking in a straightforward tone, she said, "I think you've misunderstood me in these past few months, Tom. I do agree with much of what you believe in, as general philosophy of life and how the world ought to be. Like you, I don't think I'm superior to most people – I know I am. And like you, I am not afraid to keep the pecking order of the world intact.

"However, there is one thing I disagree with. Muggles are worthless, as a general rule, unless a truly exceptional individual does something extraordinary that makes them valuable. But the same goes for witches and wizards, and half-bloods, as well. A tragic lack of magic cannot be altered, that much is true, but stupidity is worse by far. Stupidity is the root of all evil, and by 'evil' I mean everything that is wrong with the world as it is. I'm not talking about moral values; I'm talking about blatant and simple incorrectness.

"It's one thing to have power, knowledge and influence and to use it for purely selfish means, to get whatever you want. It is quite another to have those things and misuse them because you are too stupid to use them effectively, no matter what the intended goal may be. It's also another thing to have the innate talent and drive to achieve greatness, but to be too stupid to go after it and therefore become a failure. Laziness, bad decisions, wastefulness, absence of free thought… All of these and more are all caused by stupidity, whether it has been bred into a person or actively taught to them.

"I want to help you, Tom, as much as I can. I criticize you mercilessly and frequently not because I think your actions are wrong and you should be different than you really are. It's because I don't want to see you give in to the stupidity that, unfortunately, lurks within everyone. It's the easy way out, and the way that damn Cowardly Lion would take.

"You are remarkably talented and skilled for your age, and you're not afraid to use that to your absolute advantage whenever possible. You know what you want, and it seems like you usually get it once you put your mind to it. You're not like those other brainless, moralistic chicken-shits who would question the 'rightness' of using your strengths to aid you in whatever way possible. I don't think either one of us has ever let ethics get in our way when we see something we want, and it's within our reach if we only try to grab it.

"But you are still very young in the grand scheme of things, and you lack experience and perspective because of that. It's nothing to blame you for since you can't always choose what happens to you, but that's why I have been trying to give you so much help, whether you asked for it or not. Being able to see things in different lights, besides the light you want to see it in, would clearly help you when it comes to, say, diplomacy – ass-kissing, in layman's terms. I'll use that as an example of what I'm talking about.

"You're pretty good at it as you are, but not perfect. Slughorn wasn't much of a challenge in and of himself, so don't get too haughty over that achievement. Not everyone will be so willing to give in to your subtle demands, and not everyone will be willing to listen to you from the start. Having a wide viewpoint will allow you to speak to anyone, anywhere, about anything…and 'convince' them agree with you, and thereby you will reach your goals. I know you realize this already, but seeing as you think you're right all the time, I thought I ought to put it into different words so that you would understand it better.

"You have an amazing amount of potential, but you currently lack the tools with which to hone your considerable skills to perfection. I know I seem like a straight-up heartless bitch when I harass you the way I like to, but I can assure you that I don't do it just for fun. I believe that everything has a purpose, somehow, and that is how I base many of my decisions when it comes to you as well as the rest of my life. Every time I call you a shortsighted, arrogant bastard, I'm teaching you how to handle harsh criticism. Every time I tell you you're wrong and explain why, I'm teaching you to listen to advice, consider multiple options and to not be so arrogant that you can't say, "I was wrong."

"…While I'm thinking of the arrogance issue I have with you, I'd like to tell you something I read last weekend about an American president – Teddy Roosevelt, I think his name was. He said something like, "Walk softly and carry a big stick." Personally I think that's the best advice anyone can get, especially someone like you. As I said, you're talented and you have an impressive future in store. But you're not the biggest frog in the pond yet, so quit croaking about how great you are. You have one Horcrux, but until you have all seven, you're still dangerously close to mortality. If anything were to happen to that ring, you'd be back at square one and just as vulnerable as any other human.

"When you can declare with confidence that no one around you can outmatch you, feel free to do as you please. Until then, don't go around showing off your power when someone else can defeat you. Dippet almost defeated you after you let the basilisk loose over and over again. Sure, you got the thrill you wanted, but you almost lost everything when they threatened to shut down the school because of your careless actions.

"I absolutely understand the desire you felt to overpower other people, to spread fear and chaos, and to prove that you were powerful. But if you had just kept a low profile this year and waited until next year to unleash hell upon your enemies, it would have been flawless! Closing the school would have had no effect on you since you weren't going to come back, and therefore you would have succeeded in the end. Do you see what I mean?

"I know I seem like a really horrible person when I criticize you like this, but it isn't because I want to make you hate me or feel miserable and worthless. I do it because I know you can handle it, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, as they say. I want to see you win in the end, and I am willing to do whatever I have to to ensure that, even if it makes you despise me with every cell in your body because of my methods. I mean every word of that."

Tom could only stare at her in wonder. She isn't totally against me after all… he thought. Nyx had completely baffled him yet again; it was as if the curious, fun-loving, childlike ball of energy before him had transformed mysteriously into a mature, brilliant and sinister teacher. Tom felt like a child himself, confronted with fire for the first time. Its heat was frightening yet welcoming, dangerous yet beautiful, powerful yet calm, destructive yet controlled. He longed to reach out and touch it, but he was terrified of being burnt. Instead, he remained hovering close by, like a moth dancing around a candle, mesmerized by the flickering glow.

Nyx had left Tom wondering many things, but there was one nagging question that stood out above the rest, and he had to have it answered right away: "But why would it matter to you whether I succeeded or not?"

She smiled at him enigmatically. "Just as you have a particular interest in Salazar Slytherin, I have a particular interest in you," she replied.

"But why?" he pressed. His voice was surprisingly quiet, and his tone was one of genuinely polite curiosity. "I'm the Heir of Slytherin, so it is logical for me to be interested in him. But… I see no such connection between the two of us. Or are you still hiding something from me?"

The vampire paused to bite into the caramel apple and think carefully about her response. "…there is a connection, although it's probably not what you would expect. I'll let you ponder it on your own for now. Maybe you'll figure it out without my help, you being so inconveniently clever and all."

She grinned mischievously, and a cloud blocking the sun drifted away, letting its brilliant red light spill across the city. The sinking star was reflected in their eyes as they gazed at each other intently, with the red light filling their irises hauntingly. Tom's mind and body went completely numb; his senses seemed to have shut down for one endless moment. He barely felt himself leaning towards Nyx – when the ride jerked violently to a start, thrusting him back into reality as his hands nervously gripped the metal safety bar tightly.

The shock had startled Nyx, too, and made her drop the caramel apple. She leaned forward, watching it fall to the muddy grass with a smushy thud.

"God dammit!" she snarled, frowning deeply. "I wasn't finished with that!"

She slouched deep into the seat and grumbled to herself, morphing back into the childish creature that seemed to be ruled by her emotions and instincts alone. Tom could only stare in a mix of confusion and amusement as Nyx resembled a toddler in time out.

The pair remained at the carnival late into the night until Tom absolutely couldn't keep up with her energy anymore, when they made the long walk back to the orphanage. (Nyx still refused to take a bus, which nearly drove the sixteen-year-old to tears.) Instead of trying to sneak into the orphanage and risk a meeting with Mrs. Cole, the vampire teleported them into Tom's room, bid him good night, and silently walked through the walls into her own room.

Nyx was finally satisfied that his soul was in no danger now that he was in a much better mood. After she had spilled her guts to him, they agreed that things would probably be quite different between them. Being the way they were, it was difficult to know what their intentions really were, and some of those intentions were still kept secret. But now that they had each taken their own steps to be more trusting and trust-worthy, it felt like a wall between them had been lowered.

Although he was exhausted, Tom found it difficult to rest after they returned. After what happened to him on the Ferris wheel, he had been deeply troubled. He had some idea of what he was about to do when he leaned towards Nyx, but he was utterly unable to explain it, to justify it, to apply logic to it. That scared him terribly. The idea of not being able to control his own actions was something out of his worst nightmares, and he certainly hadn't been able to control himself at that point.

Worse still, a peculiar, unnamed desire was beginning to grow in the pit of his stomach, and it seemed to have influenced him to behave so…strangely, as he saw it. He didn't understand why this desire was becoming so powerful, or why it existed in the first place. Tom felt helpless to control it as it invaded his thoughts like a disease. But unlike a sickness that had clearly defined causes, symptoms and treatments, this was something beyond his reach. He could not comprehend it no matter how hard he tried.

And despite the fear he felt when he thought about it, like the moth fluttering around the flame, he could not resist the temptation to inch closer and closer, to test that desire, to test himself, and to test the object of that desire.

But Nyx was right when she said that he was naïve because he was still so very young, no matter how powerful or skilled he was, or how much potential he held, or how many grandiose plans he had laid out for his future.

He couldn't have known that to dive headfirst into the fire meant a slow, agonizing death.

She couldn't have known that, for a curious moth, the beauty and warmth of the flames as they consumed him would have made such a death a goal unto itself.

Disclaimer: Own not, profit not, sue not. (Including Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz, of course.)

A/N: That quote is absolutely, positively perfect! I spazzed when I saw it. The song title is appropriate too – Pink Floyd, yay!

So. My life recently. Took my AP Biology test today. Yay? It was hard but not impossible, which is what I expected. I definitely got a 3, more likely a 4. I don't think I did quite well enough for a 5, but it IS a curved grade, so I might get lucky. Hopefully there were a ton of stupid people taking it, too, and then I'll definitely get a 5. Lol. XD I'm somewhat annoyed that I have to wait until July to get my score, but I'll live. Anyone else reading this take AP Biology?

Who here has seen The Omen Trilogy? (Not including the 2006 version or The Omen 4 because I haven't seen either one. I'm talking about the originals from the 70's and 80's.) If you haven't seen it, you really should. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Damien and Tom are basically the exact same goddamn person. I SEE YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS, JKR, AND I SAY "GOOD ON YA!" Damien is awesome. Is it wrong for me to find the kid in Omen 2 strangely attractive? You know, aside from the fact that he's, like, fourteen at the time? D: (I'm not a pedo! I swear!) And, sorry, but the guy that played adult Damien is just fugly. He was very good in the role, but fugly, fugly, fugly. I liked that guy better in Jurassic Park. (Another kickass movie. Scared me shitless when I saw it the first time since I was, what, four years old? Good job, babysitter. I couldn't sleep for two weeks. I love it now though, ironically.)

Kudos to my lovely betas, Tiff and Shan.

General Notes: "Ohh, so you swing the other way!" Hee. X3 Please do tell me if the perverted jokes ever get old. I'm not saying I'll leave them out, but at least I'll know that you're sick of them and they're too much. Personally, considering how much Nyx likes to push people's buttons, and how easily Tom's buttons are pushed, I don't think it'll be a problem. XD

Nyx is like Arthur Weasley except evil, corrupt, and a vampire. They're both absolutely fascinated by Muggles, though Nyx really doesn't like them. She just likes the things they make. Like movies and Oreos. XD

OLD MOVIES FOR THE WIN! XD When I saw that both Gone With the Wind AND The Wizard of Oz would have been available at this time, I fucking geeked out like nobody's business. Oz is absolutely the most ridiculous movie ever, in an extremely entertaining way, but I actually really like Gone With The Wind. Oh, and don't even try to argue that Nyx and Tom are not Scarlette and Rhett's reincarnations. They absolutely are. Don't deny it.

ICE CREAM FOR THE EPIC WIN! LOL! XD Ice cream is officially the funniest food in the world. Instead of making Tom a total yuppie snob and eating something like pistachio ice cream, I decided to go for broke and turn him into a picky little kid who likes once specifically obscure flavor, with hot fudge and MUTHAFUCKIN' RAINBOW SPRINKLES YAY! XDDDD (And all you OKoE people wondered why Nyx could never take him that seriously when he went too hardcore and became Voldemort. HAH. Blackmail, dear readers. Blackmail.)

Nyx monologue is probably one of my favorite parts of Gemini so far. I think it basically sums up most of what she's about, and explains a good bit of her relationship with Tom and everyone else she knows. The chapter would have been shorter than this, but that was before I doubled the size of her monologue when I got a bunch of ideas for other things she should say to him. XD The whole bit on the Ferris wheel basically makes the entire rest of the story happen. (Incidentally, I realize they probably wouldn't have been stopped at the top for that long, but like I said, I doubled Nyx's monologue but I didn't want to lose the rest of it just because she talked too much. Lol.)

The foreshadowing bit at the end was completely spur of the moment and turned out absolutely fuckawesome, IMHO. :D That more or less sums things up without revealing any details, so I'm pleased as pie with it. (Seeing The Omen 3 helped me come up with the whole "moth to the flame" thing, too. Heh.)

Review Responses: silvermoon00: Thanks! Don't worry, I am absolutely, 100 percent determined to finish Gemini. I won't give up like I did with OKoE. :3

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

-- kavi - sama --