Chapter: 8 The life and times of Karista Flannigan
Karista sat on the end of her four poster bed unpacking the rest of the trunk at the end of her bed. It was not dinner yet, and she had a considerable amount of time to work with. Looking around at her bland atmosphere, she tried to think of where to put everything. A tap on the window jerked her out of her stupor. She quickly opened it to find three large packages carried by six owls, along with a smaller seventh one carrying a note.
Hello dear!
I hope everything made it safely. As we promised, here are your things. I hope that you are having fun. We were happy to hear that you are in Gryffindor! Dear me, how cool is that. Well, I must start getting ready because your uncle is having a dinner party.
Write soon
Auntie
Karista smiled broadly at the two oddly shaped packages and the box that were now lying on her bed. She picked up her broom when she suddenly realized that it wasn't her Comet 360. It was different. Lighter with the twigs all straight. She carefully unwrapped the broom to find…
"A firebolt," she marveled, turning the broom over in her hands. "Excellent!"
She let the broom fall out of her hands and it floated in midair at a perfect height and angle. She couldn't help but laugh. There was also another note in the wrappings.
Karista,
Hope you win some Quidditch matches.
Your Father
Karista was amazed at how her father had managed such a sophisticated broom for her, after all, she managed to have many accidents on her brooms…she gently place the broom on her bed and threw away the wrapping. She then picked up the heaviest parcel, which she knew immediately as her guitar. She hastily shredded the wrapping to pieces and clicked the case open. Her mahogany guitar with sparkling shoulder strap glinted beautifully in the light. She slowly lifted the guitar out of its case and strummed it, slowly fixing the cords so that they were in tune. Finally happy with its sound, she placed it back into the black leather case's furry interior and closed the lid. She placed it near her wardrobe, then attacked the box. Once she opened the lid, she began to laugh. Inside was about 12 boxes (with six each) of Chocolate frog. She never forgets, Karista grinned to herself.
She picked up one of the boxes and put it on her nightstand. She then sifted through the rest of the box to find some home baked fudge, mince pies, muffins and a handmade card from her cousin, with a picture of a castle that glowed murkily under a moon.
"How pretty," Karista said under her breath as she pinned it up to the bulletin board she just hung in her open wardrobe. She sifted further through the boxes, and had to put her hand to her mouth to keep her from screaming. It was a muggle radio/tape player. She read the note that had been stuck to it.
Karista,
We knew you would probably miss your favorite music from New York, so we magicked it into this radio. It plays without elec- whatever muggles call it, so it should work inside Hogwarts. -Auntie
Karista was so happy by now. Not only did it have the time, it played her favorite songs, which was a plus. She placed it on the nightstand and hit a green button that said play. Suddenly, the Offspring came belting on, playing Vultures.
"WOW!" she screeched, toying with the volume to make it louder. She placed the box of goodies under her bed, which curiously fit there, then threw away all the wrapping paper. Then continued going through her trunk, now singing and dancing in rhythm with the song, when it changed into an early song by blink182. All the commotion seemed to arouse some people from the common room. Parvati, Lavender and Hermione entered their common room to a blaze of sound coming from Coldplay.
"What is that?" Lavender whispered, looking at the little black radio playing soundly on Karista's dresser.
"I have no clue…it can't possibly be running on electricity," Hermione said, awe struck.
"Hello!" Karista said cheerfully, noticing for the first time that her roommates had entered. "It is a wizard radio. My Auntie put some of my favorite muggle songs from New York in it."
"Oh, that is so cool! I've always wanted one of those," Parvati said, putting her face into a pout.
Karista couldn't help but smile as she pulled out her possibly most prized possession. Equally rare and valuable, she couldn't help but stroke it.
"Is that what I think it is?" asked Lavender, her eyes growing wide.
Karista hit the little red button on her radio and showed it to her. It was a poster, white on the outside, but on the inside…
"A star chart!" Parvati said, equaling Lavender's wide eyes. "Wow, those things hardly exist."
"It was my mom's when she came here," Karista murmured, unrolling the thick sheet, which amazingly didn't show it was rolled…as a matter of fact, it had hardly a crease. The stars, few as there were, looked strangely like the ones in the Great Hall.
"It is a sheet of thick paper that has the same charm on it as the Great Hall. I noticed that when I first walked in," she said, touching the inky black that was slowly spreading across the paper. "It imitates the sky. And every half and hour, it rotates hemispheres."
While Lavender, Parvati and Hermione were admiring the poster, Karista pulled out a globe that looked mysteriously like it was a fortune telling ball, except it had ten glowing spheres inside it.
"Wow, just full of surprises!" Lavender said, noticing the ball she was holding. Each of the nine planets were rotating around a ball of orange fire in the center of the globe.
She placed it on her nightstand, and returned to her trunk, carefully pulling out three more posters, which, to her roommate's surprise, were posters of her favorite muggle-America bands. They didn't move, which made them even more interesting.
"Weezer? What a strange name for a band," said Parvati in awe.
Karista kept pulling out objects from her trunk; a tiger figurine that really moved, a dashboard hula doll which Parvati shrieked at because it kept moving strangely, a fake flower lei, a box full of pictures and bumper stickers which she said she usually put on her mirror in her room, a sneakoscope her cousin gave her before she left the Manor, her own Quaffle, until at last, her two favorite things remained in the bottom of the trunk. She pulled out a long, fluffy, friendly looking stuffed snake.
"Cute!" Hermione said, feeling how soft the snake was. Parvati and Lavender kept remarking how pretty it was.
Karista then looked back inside her near empty trunk. All that was left was her mother's invisibility cloak. She didn't want anyone to know about it, so she carefully picked it up and placed it behind her back. She moved stealthily towards her wardrobe and found the secret compartment she had put in the back. She dumped the cloak inside and quickly turned around.
"Most of the wizarding stuff belonged to my mother," Said Karista, holding up a velvety blue winter cloak. "I got it all."
"I wish my mom and dad could give me stuff like this," Parvati said, looking at the globe.
"OOO! Don't touch it Lavender!" Karista said, snatching a leather bound book off the bed. "It's cursed."
"Well, you touched it," Lavender said, slightly angry at Karista's sudden mood swing.
"Yeah, that is because I am the only one who can touch it because I put the curse on it," she muttered guiltily. "I had…er…problems with people reading it."
"Oh," Lavender said, putting a smile on her face.
"I really wouldn't want to touch it if I were you though," Karista added. "When my cousin tried to read it, she got terrible boils on her hands."
Lavender, Hermione and Parvati looked slightly shaken, yet Karista reassured them. "Just stay away from it."
"You don't really talk about yourself or your parents," Hermione said, sitting on Karista's bed.
"Yeah, why is that?" Lavender and Parvati said at once.
"Well, if you would like to hear it, it is kind of a long story," Karista said, sitting down in her dish chair.
"Ooo, we have time, go on, tell us!"
"alright, alright, where do I start?" Karista asked, thinking to herself. "Ah, right on."
" Many years ago, Around the 60's or something, my mom was born from a witch named Shale. She married a muggle named Tom in the English countryside and they had my Mom, Uncle and Auntie. Tom soon found out that Shale, my grandmother was a witch, and left her. Soon after my mom was about 8 she was the oldest, by the way), Shale became very sick…very sick. Nothing any witch doctor could say or do could save her. So, she died," Karista said, a silent tone to her voice. She looked at her roommates and started again.
"My mom, auntie and Uncle had to go live in an orphanage, a muggle orphanage. They all grew up, and when my mom was 11, she came to Hogwarts. Also my Uncle and Auntie attended Hogwarts later. When she graduated in 1978, she went to America to visit, and met my dad. They fell in love. 3 years later, they were married. It was hard to imagine, for me personally, my father when he was young and sweet and full of love. But he was. The had me in 1981. They were happy, really happy. But about 10 months after I was born, my mother became terribly sick. Nothing could cure her. She then asked if she could speak to my mom and myself alone, none of my other muggle family, or other family. My Wizarding family immediately knew what she was going to do.
"She told my father to sit down, and told him that she was a witch. The color of his face, according to my aunt and uncle when he left the room was white. But before he left the room, she said she was sorry that she never told him sooner. That to tell me if I ever got a letter to go to a wizarding school to let me go, and tell me about my roots. So, when I was 11, my father told me."
Parvati, Lavender and Hermione sat wide mouthed with sad looks in their eyes.
"Now you must understand, my father thought that I had taken something from my mom, or that I killed her. So, he blamed me for taking the love of his life away from him, witch or not. So, I am the 'cursed child' in his eyes."
"That is tragic," Lavender murmured, her hand over her heart.
"Terrible, just terrible!" Hermione said, looking at Karista with a different perspective. Parvati had a single tear rolling down her cheek.
"Please cheer up. I had to get over it when I was a year old," Karista said, standing up and stretching.
Her roommates smiled as they slowly got up and stretched with her.
"Now I'm starving," Karista said, glancing at the clock.
***
They slowly headed down the stairs into the Great hall, talking about tragic stories of other students, when Malfoy approached Karista. Parvati, Lavender and Hermione were taken aback by his sudden appearance.
"Karista," he drawled, staring at Karista. "can I speak to you?"
"sure," she said, an evil glint in her eyes. "Don't worry, this shouldn't take to long," she whispered to Lavender, Parvati and Hermione, making them giggle.
"what do you want?" She asked impatiently. That chicken sure smelled great.
"I couldn't help noticing the excellent antidote you produced in Potions this morning," he said, a slight creep in his voice.
"Thanks," Karista muttered. "Can this wai-."
"Um, look, I wanted to ask you. Are you attached to Potter?" he asked haphazardly.
"No."
"You're not?" he said, his eyes brightening up as he looked down into her eyes. He was at least the same height at Harry was, so she was shorter than he was.
"No. We just me about maybe two weeks ago. I don't think that we should get into this-."
Draco was moving towards her, getting closer. He suddenly went in to kiss her.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING???" She screamed, slapping him across the face. "NEVER IN ALL MY LIFE HAVE I BEEN SO INSULTED! HOW RUDE!"
Karista turned, bright-faced and streaked through the probing crowd, who was staring at the shocked expression on Malfoy's face, a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
"What is going on out here?" Professor McGonagall's voice boomed through the entrance hall.
"he tried…he tried…he tried to kiss me!" Karista shrieked, anger pouring out of her mouth like a river.
"Malfoy, keep your emotions to yourself," she snapped, fighting any comments that he was about to make. "10 points from Slytherin, and if I hear of you trying to harass her again," she spoke steadily, her beady eyes like slits. "It will be more."
Malfoy, furious at the wave of sniggering voices, stormed off towards the dungeons.
Inside the hall, Karista sat down, her face a bright red as she picked up a piece of chicken and slapped it on her plate.
"Are you alright? What happe-?" Harry began, until he say professor McGonagall came up behind Karista.
"I hope you are okay, Karista. Please notify me again of this such unwanted behavior," she said, a look of maternal concern on her face.
"You SLAPPED Malfoy! WOW! Everyone is talking about it!" George Weasley bellowed, an evil grin on his face.
"He didn't even know what hit him! He was so scared he ran off to his dungeon, bawling like a baby!" Fred followed, laughing harder than George did.
"you slapped him?" Harry asked, letting out a chuckle.
"He…he tried to kiss me for no reason and I slapped him," she said quietly, picking the meat off the chicken.
"For no reason? For god sakes Karista, he likes you! He's got the hots for you!" Ron said, giving a hearty snigger.
"I'd say he deserved it," Hermione said, a look of triumphant joy on her face.
"I was so embarrassed! You would have thought that me ignoring him would have given him the hint that I wasn't interested. So, he found out the hard way…"
"Oh man, Karista, today, you have been full of surprises," Said Dean, chomping down on his garlic bread.
I guess it is, Karista said to herself, letting her mind wander up to her room where she would be able to finish decorating.
***
Once back in her room, Karista cleaned up and put everything back in its' place. Snatching her pajamas out of the wardrobe, she pulled them on, then hopped into bed, silently listening to her roommates do the same.
"g'night," Karista muttered lazily, slowly drifting to sleep.
"Goodnight," Hermione said.
"night," Lavender said, half asleep.
Parvati's stifled snores arose from the other end of the room. Soon after, Karista was in a deep sleep.
"You must understand," a voice said. It was her mother. "There is something about me that not you, not anyone can know about except Karista, but she is too young. When the time comes, she will understand her power."
"Why can't you tell me? I am your own damn husband!" her father shrieked, bewildered by the whole situation. Karista sat watching in a corner. She hated this dream. It was so painful watching her mother waste away.
"Because, you wouldn't understand."
"AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS? HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME? OUR CHILD? YOURSELF?" he boomed, making the pictures on the wall shake. Suddenly, her father gasped, as her mother had just fallen asleep. But only it wasn't sleep, it was death. Her father suddenly started shaking, he was bawling at the top of his lungs, his face buried in Anna, her mother's lap.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he bawled. "why?"
The storm outside raged on, as the room around her swirled into a graveyard, where a light rain was falling. The same yew trees stood around them as in all graveyards. Her father had her hand, as the 15-year-old Karista leaned next to a gravestone, which said T.R, R.I.P. on it. She watched as her mother's casket was lowered into the damp earth, her father sobbing, the young Karista looking puzzled by her father's expression. If only you could have told dad what you wanted to tell him Karista said to herself, watching the mahogany casket get lower…lower…lower
She woke with a start. Tears had been streaming down her face. The dream kept coming back to her, and it always horrified her. Why does this happen? She asked herself as she turned onto her stomach and fell back into another uneasy sleep.
Karista sat on the end of her four poster bed unpacking the rest of the trunk at the end of her bed. It was not dinner yet, and she had a considerable amount of time to work with. Looking around at her bland atmosphere, she tried to think of where to put everything. A tap on the window jerked her out of her stupor. She quickly opened it to find three large packages carried by six owls, along with a smaller seventh one carrying a note.
Hello dear!
I hope everything made it safely. As we promised, here are your things. I hope that you are having fun. We were happy to hear that you are in Gryffindor! Dear me, how cool is that. Well, I must start getting ready because your uncle is having a dinner party.
Write soon
Auntie
Karista smiled broadly at the two oddly shaped packages and the box that were now lying on her bed. She picked up her broom when she suddenly realized that it wasn't her Comet 360. It was different. Lighter with the twigs all straight. She carefully unwrapped the broom to find…
"A firebolt," she marveled, turning the broom over in her hands. "Excellent!"
She let the broom fall out of her hands and it floated in midair at a perfect height and angle. She couldn't help but laugh. There was also another note in the wrappings.
Karista,
Hope you win some Quidditch matches.
Your Father
Karista was amazed at how her father had managed such a sophisticated broom for her, after all, she managed to have many accidents on her brooms…she gently place the broom on her bed and threw away the wrapping. She then picked up the heaviest parcel, which she knew immediately as her guitar. She hastily shredded the wrapping to pieces and clicked the case open. Her mahogany guitar with sparkling shoulder strap glinted beautifully in the light. She slowly lifted the guitar out of its case and strummed it, slowly fixing the cords so that they were in tune. Finally happy with its sound, she placed it back into the black leather case's furry interior and closed the lid. She placed it near her wardrobe, then attacked the box. Once she opened the lid, she began to laugh. Inside was about 12 boxes (with six each) of Chocolate frog. She never forgets, Karista grinned to herself.
She picked up one of the boxes and put it on her nightstand. She then sifted through the rest of the box to find some home baked fudge, mince pies, muffins and a handmade card from her cousin, with a picture of a castle that glowed murkily under a moon.
"How pretty," Karista said under her breath as she pinned it up to the bulletin board she just hung in her open wardrobe. She sifted further through the boxes, and had to put her hand to her mouth to keep her from screaming. It was a muggle radio/tape player. She read the note that had been stuck to it.
Karista,
We knew you would probably miss your favorite music from New York, so we magicked it into this radio. It plays without elec- whatever muggles call it, so it should work inside Hogwarts. -Auntie
Karista was so happy by now. Not only did it have the time, it played her favorite songs, which was a plus. She placed it on the nightstand and hit a green button that said play. Suddenly, the Offspring came belting on, playing Vultures.
"WOW!" she screeched, toying with the volume to make it louder. She placed the box of goodies under her bed, which curiously fit there, then threw away all the wrapping paper. Then continued going through her trunk, now singing and dancing in rhythm with the song, when it changed into an early song by blink182. All the commotion seemed to arouse some people from the common room. Parvati, Lavender and Hermione entered their common room to a blaze of sound coming from Coldplay.
"What is that?" Lavender whispered, looking at the little black radio playing soundly on Karista's dresser.
"I have no clue…it can't possibly be running on electricity," Hermione said, awe struck.
"Hello!" Karista said cheerfully, noticing for the first time that her roommates had entered. "It is a wizard radio. My Auntie put some of my favorite muggle songs from New York in it."
"Oh, that is so cool! I've always wanted one of those," Parvati said, putting her face into a pout.
Karista couldn't help but smile as she pulled out her possibly most prized possession. Equally rare and valuable, she couldn't help but stroke it.
"Is that what I think it is?" asked Lavender, her eyes growing wide.
Karista hit the little red button on her radio and showed it to her. It was a poster, white on the outside, but on the inside…
"A star chart!" Parvati said, equaling Lavender's wide eyes. "Wow, those things hardly exist."
"It was my mom's when she came here," Karista murmured, unrolling the thick sheet, which amazingly didn't show it was rolled…as a matter of fact, it had hardly a crease. The stars, few as there were, looked strangely like the ones in the Great Hall.
"It is a sheet of thick paper that has the same charm on it as the Great Hall. I noticed that when I first walked in," she said, touching the inky black that was slowly spreading across the paper. "It imitates the sky. And every half and hour, it rotates hemispheres."
While Lavender, Parvati and Hermione were admiring the poster, Karista pulled out a globe that looked mysteriously like it was a fortune telling ball, except it had ten glowing spheres inside it.
"Wow, just full of surprises!" Lavender said, noticing the ball she was holding. Each of the nine planets were rotating around a ball of orange fire in the center of the globe.
She placed it on her nightstand, and returned to her trunk, carefully pulling out three more posters, which, to her roommate's surprise, were posters of her favorite muggle-America bands. They didn't move, which made them even more interesting.
"Weezer? What a strange name for a band," said Parvati in awe.
Karista kept pulling out objects from her trunk; a tiger figurine that really moved, a dashboard hula doll which Parvati shrieked at because it kept moving strangely, a fake flower lei, a box full of pictures and bumper stickers which she said she usually put on her mirror in her room, a sneakoscope her cousin gave her before she left the Manor, her own Quaffle, until at last, her two favorite things remained in the bottom of the trunk. She pulled out a long, fluffy, friendly looking stuffed snake.
"Cute!" Hermione said, feeling how soft the snake was. Parvati and Lavender kept remarking how pretty it was.
Karista then looked back inside her near empty trunk. All that was left was her mother's invisibility cloak. She didn't want anyone to know about it, so she carefully picked it up and placed it behind her back. She moved stealthily towards her wardrobe and found the secret compartment she had put in the back. She dumped the cloak inside and quickly turned around.
"Most of the wizarding stuff belonged to my mother," Said Karista, holding up a velvety blue winter cloak. "I got it all."
"I wish my mom and dad could give me stuff like this," Parvati said, looking at the globe.
"OOO! Don't touch it Lavender!" Karista said, snatching a leather bound book off the bed. "It's cursed."
"Well, you touched it," Lavender said, slightly angry at Karista's sudden mood swing.
"Yeah, that is because I am the only one who can touch it because I put the curse on it," she muttered guiltily. "I had…er…problems with people reading it."
"Oh," Lavender said, putting a smile on her face.
"I really wouldn't want to touch it if I were you though," Karista added. "When my cousin tried to read it, she got terrible boils on her hands."
Lavender, Hermione and Parvati looked slightly shaken, yet Karista reassured them. "Just stay away from it."
"You don't really talk about yourself or your parents," Hermione said, sitting on Karista's bed.
"Yeah, why is that?" Lavender and Parvati said at once.
"Well, if you would like to hear it, it is kind of a long story," Karista said, sitting down in her dish chair.
"Ooo, we have time, go on, tell us!"
"alright, alright, where do I start?" Karista asked, thinking to herself. "Ah, right on."
" Many years ago, Around the 60's or something, my mom was born from a witch named Shale. She married a muggle named Tom in the English countryside and they had my Mom, Uncle and Auntie. Tom soon found out that Shale, my grandmother was a witch, and left her. Soon after my mom was about 8 she was the oldest, by the way), Shale became very sick…very sick. Nothing any witch doctor could say or do could save her. So, she died," Karista said, a silent tone to her voice. She looked at her roommates and started again.
"My mom, auntie and Uncle had to go live in an orphanage, a muggle orphanage. They all grew up, and when my mom was 11, she came to Hogwarts. Also my Uncle and Auntie attended Hogwarts later. When she graduated in 1978, she went to America to visit, and met my dad. They fell in love. 3 years later, they were married. It was hard to imagine, for me personally, my father when he was young and sweet and full of love. But he was. The had me in 1981. They were happy, really happy. But about 10 months after I was born, my mother became terribly sick. Nothing could cure her. She then asked if she could speak to my mom and myself alone, none of my other muggle family, or other family. My Wizarding family immediately knew what she was going to do.
"She told my father to sit down, and told him that she was a witch. The color of his face, according to my aunt and uncle when he left the room was white. But before he left the room, she said she was sorry that she never told him sooner. That to tell me if I ever got a letter to go to a wizarding school to let me go, and tell me about my roots. So, when I was 11, my father told me."
Parvati, Lavender and Hermione sat wide mouthed with sad looks in their eyes.
"Now you must understand, my father thought that I had taken something from my mom, or that I killed her. So, he blamed me for taking the love of his life away from him, witch or not. So, I am the 'cursed child' in his eyes."
"That is tragic," Lavender murmured, her hand over her heart.
"Terrible, just terrible!" Hermione said, looking at Karista with a different perspective. Parvati had a single tear rolling down her cheek.
"Please cheer up. I had to get over it when I was a year old," Karista said, standing up and stretching.
Her roommates smiled as they slowly got up and stretched with her.
"Now I'm starving," Karista said, glancing at the clock.
***
They slowly headed down the stairs into the Great hall, talking about tragic stories of other students, when Malfoy approached Karista. Parvati, Lavender and Hermione were taken aback by his sudden appearance.
"Karista," he drawled, staring at Karista. "can I speak to you?"
"sure," she said, an evil glint in her eyes. "Don't worry, this shouldn't take to long," she whispered to Lavender, Parvati and Hermione, making them giggle.
"what do you want?" She asked impatiently. That chicken sure smelled great.
"I couldn't help noticing the excellent antidote you produced in Potions this morning," he said, a slight creep in his voice.
"Thanks," Karista muttered. "Can this wai-."
"Um, look, I wanted to ask you. Are you attached to Potter?" he asked haphazardly.
"No."
"You're not?" he said, his eyes brightening up as he looked down into her eyes. He was at least the same height at Harry was, so she was shorter than he was.
"No. We just me about maybe two weeks ago. I don't think that we should get into this-."
Draco was moving towards her, getting closer. He suddenly went in to kiss her.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING???" She screamed, slapping him across the face. "NEVER IN ALL MY LIFE HAVE I BEEN SO INSULTED! HOW RUDE!"
Karista turned, bright-faced and streaked through the probing crowd, who was staring at the shocked expression on Malfoy's face, a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
"What is going on out here?" Professor McGonagall's voice boomed through the entrance hall.
"he tried…he tried…he tried to kiss me!" Karista shrieked, anger pouring out of her mouth like a river.
"Malfoy, keep your emotions to yourself," she snapped, fighting any comments that he was about to make. "10 points from Slytherin, and if I hear of you trying to harass her again," she spoke steadily, her beady eyes like slits. "It will be more."
Malfoy, furious at the wave of sniggering voices, stormed off towards the dungeons.
Inside the hall, Karista sat down, her face a bright red as she picked up a piece of chicken and slapped it on her plate.
"Are you alright? What happe-?" Harry began, until he say professor McGonagall came up behind Karista.
"I hope you are okay, Karista. Please notify me again of this such unwanted behavior," she said, a look of maternal concern on her face.
"You SLAPPED Malfoy! WOW! Everyone is talking about it!" George Weasley bellowed, an evil grin on his face.
"He didn't even know what hit him! He was so scared he ran off to his dungeon, bawling like a baby!" Fred followed, laughing harder than George did.
"you slapped him?" Harry asked, letting out a chuckle.
"He…he tried to kiss me for no reason and I slapped him," she said quietly, picking the meat off the chicken.
"For no reason? For god sakes Karista, he likes you! He's got the hots for you!" Ron said, giving a hearty snigger.
"I'd say he deserved it," Hermione said, a look of triumphant joy on her face.
"I was so embarrassed! You would have thought that me ignoring him would have given him the hint that I wasn't interested. So, he found out the hard way…"
"Oh man, Karista, today, you have been full of surprises," Said Dean, chomping down on his garlic bread.
I guess it is, Karista said to herself, letting her mind wander up to her room where she would be able to finish decorating.
***
Once back in her room, Karista cleaned up and put everything back in its' place. Snatching her pajamas out of the wardrobe, she pulled them on, then hopped into bed, silently listening to her roommates do the same.
"g'night," Karista muttered lazily, slowly drifting to sleep.
"Goodnight," Hermione said.
"night," Lavender said, half asleep.
Parvati's stifled snores arose from the other end of the room. Soon after, Karista was in a deep sleep.
"You must understand," a voice said. It was her mother. "There is something about me that not you, not anyone can know about except Karista, but she is too young. When the time comes, she will understand her power."
"Why can't you tell me? I am your own damn husband!" her father shrieked, bewildered by the whole situation. Karista sat watching in a corner. She hated this dream. It was so painful watching her mother waste away.
"Because, you wouldn't understand."
"AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS? HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME? OUR CHILD? YOURSELF?" he boomed, making the pictures on the wall shake. Suddenly, her father gasped, as her mother had just fallen asleep. But only it wasn't sleep, it was death. Her father suddenly started shaking, he was bawling at the top of his lungs, his face buried in Anna, her mother's lap.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he bawled. "why?"
The storm outside raged on, as the room around her swirled into a graveyard, where a light rain was falling. The same yew trees stood around them as in all graveyards. Her father had her hand, as the 15-year-old Karista leaned next to a gravestone, which said T.R, R.I.P. on it. She watched as her mother's casket was lowered into the damp earth, her father sobbing, the young Karista looking puzzled by her father's expression. If only you could have told dad what you wanted to tell him Karista said to herself, watching the mahogany casket get lower…lower…lower
She woke with a start. Tears had been streaming down her face. The dream kept coming back to her, and it always horrified her. Why does this happen? She asked herself as she turned onto her stomach and fell back into another uneasy sleep.