Cloak*and*Dagger: Hi ho everyone!!! I was sitting here at my computer,
wearing a pair of jeans and two separate shirts, listening to the Nightmare
Before Christmas soundtrack, and eating out of a family sized tub of Cool
Whip, when I decided that I should write this! Lucky you! ^_^; I'm
hyper!!!!!!!! Ok now I meant to write sooner but I had caught a cold, and
whatever I would have written would have been total drivel. Ok on with the
story now!
Author's Response:
Savannah: I'm sorry it was so long between the chapters, but I have a rather busy life, and I'm doing the best I can. I'm glad you like this story! Yay, I'm original! Please don't give up on me, I'll alert the public if I were ever to stop writing, but trust me it isn't likely to happen, because Emilia would kill me if I ever stopped. Thank you for reviewing!
Emilia: *Twitch* Man that's a long review! Oh boy, I think my response is going to end up being bigger than my chapter! Oh well, here goes! "Aww! No matter how long you could take, this would still be the best Salazar fic I've ever (or ever will) read and it kicks ass!!!" *Wide eyed* REALLY?!? I feel faint! Emilia you make me so happy! ^_^ Since you're such a good reviewer I think I'll let you in on a secret. For a while I've been toying with a story idea. I think you'll like it. Basically it would be a what if fic. Ready? Here it is: What if the four founders (as teenagers of course) suddenly found themselves in the Weasley's house during the summer before 5th year. Sound interesting?? I'm not sure I if I want to do this yet. I was also toying with the idea of turning this into a challenge. *Sigh* I just don't know. Oh right, back to your review. Hehehe oh yes Salazar missed you terribly. I would hug him for you, but I don't think it would be the same coming from me, not to mention the large possibility that he might not let go until I swear that I'll play Kingdom Hearts with him (I just got PlayStation2!) Oh yes, I know cats sleep wherever they want, I have 4 cats. The sweetest one always wants to sleep on my face, but the problem is she weighs 13 pounds! Yes I quite enjoyed the shirtless Salazar as well. The amulet? I'd tell, but then what kind of authoress would I be? It's very important though. *Smiles* Yes it would be very hilarious if Jamie fell for him, but not in this story. *Smirks* My choice of wording shall leave you to think over the possibilities. ^_^ I agree, Salazar isn't very much fun when he's angry. I was going for dangerous, but I suppose I'm just not any good at writing intense scenes. Oh well. "I so agree about the hug thing! My mother used to rock back and forth while hugging me, and that ... that's just annoying! It's a hug, not a freaking dance!" *Laughs hysterically* Y'know I really don't know where it was proven, but I remember seeing it in an article somewhere. Salazar does have reading glasses they're very cute. They're small and square-ish, he looks so hot with them on! "I can just picture Harry's face if he were to find out about that - 'Salazar Slytherin - Hogwarts founder - Powerful Wizard - Murderer or Poor, Defenceless Cuckoo-Clock Birds'... Although they're not totally defenceless in some respects." *Laughs* I think I'm going to have to put that in the sequel! (With your permission of course!) Sorry Emilia, but I'm afraid that impaling Gryffindor was not the result of a temper fit (although that doesn't mean he wasn't impaled at all.) On the contrary, your logic makes perfect sense.. to me anyway. People never quite thought that my logic made sense, either. When I write those journal entries the thesaurus and dictionary are my best friends! I don't think I could pull those off without them. Yes I love that sentence too, if you look at it hard enough it's an oxy-moron. I often think too soon. I hate it when that happens, because just when I think I'm ok, I go flying off a hill, or something in my basement explodes.. Again. Trust me, you went beyond your limit. Thank you soooooo much! Although I think I may have to be a bad girl and cut this out to be that last chapter, because I really want to start the sequel! Well have fun!
Disclaimer: Still don't own them, but I do like to claim artistic license over my version of Salazar Slytherin.
Pearl of Wisdom #Uh- I lost count!: "People in general will much better bear being told of their vices or crimes than of their little failings or weaknesses."
Chapter12: The Accidental End.
Jamie spent the rest of the morning in the common room, avoiding everyone's questioning gaze by pretending to read a book. For a while she thought that her friends were buying it, until Lucius sat down next to her on the sofa. "Listen Jamie, as interesting as I'm sure that book must be upside-down.." Lucius trailed off once Jamie began to blush with embarrassment.
Severus sat down on the other side of Jamie. "What's up J-Girl?" He asked, using his little pet name for her.
Slightly miffed at the nickname, Jamie shut the book and put it down. "I'm confused," she started slowly, "I thinking that... maybe you two could help me figure something out?"
Severus and Lucius looked at each other quickly, nodded, and then said, "Anything," simultaneously.
"Good," Jamie sighed, and then began to tell them about the note that was owled to her, and what had happened earlier that morning between her and Salazar.
"Weird," Lucius commented, referring to Salazar's reaction. No one had ever seen him loose him cool calm, if slightly eccentric, composure, and it seemed odd to him that Salazar would yell at Jamie.
"Do you remember what the note said?" Severus questioned, adding, "Every bit helps."
Jamie screwed her face up in concentration. "Er- It was something like: To rid yourself of, The Trouble within, The one who plagues your thoughts, All you have to do, Is find the clue, In Sacramento Fauts."
Lucius seemed to look thoughtful, but Severus, on the other hand, flat out said, "That makes no sense!"
"Thank you for your help Mr. Let's Scream Out The Painfully Obvious!" Jamie replied sarcastically, lunging at Severus.
Lucius caught her before she even touched him, and with one arm held her wrists, and the other her waist. "Calm down now, children," Lucius said with amusement apparent in his voice and eyes.
"Let go of me!" Jamie hissed viciously.
"I think I've read that poem in book before," he said, completely ignoring her attempts to get him to let her go.
"Where?" Severus asked.
"I have a book, a biography on the four founders-"
"Any time you feel like letting the lady go Lucius," came a whispery Welsh- Irish voice.
Quickly they all turned around, and came upon the sight of Salazar, clad in something that looked like a cross between a combat suit/armor and a robe, with a sword strapped to his hip, and, like always, he had his amulet on. He narrowed his emerald eyes at Lucius, particularly where his hand was resting on Jamie's hip, until he let go of her. "Up for a game of Clue you three?" He asked, twirling the game board around like a basketball.
"I really don't-" Jamie began, but Lucius and Severus both covered her mouth.
"We'd be delighted," Severus said smoothly.
"Great I'll go set it up!" Salazar's face lit up in childish delight.
"What was that for?" Jamie hissed once Salazar was out of hearing range.
"This could help us out," Lucius replied. "Besides," he said smirking, "I know how much you just love that game." Jamie just glared at him. **************************************************************************** ***
"So who's dealing the cards?" Severus asked, once the game had been set up.
"I will," Jamie said, still pouting slightly. Slowly she shuffled the cards, then dealt them out.
"Hey, what's this?" Severus queried.
"What's wrong?" Jamie and Salazar asked.
"How are supposed to play with these cards?" Lucius asked. "They don't make sense, I don't even think that these are words!"
"What are you talking about?" Jamie asked, but once she looked at her own cards she understood. Instead on The Study or Candlestick it said things like Kcitseldnac or Yduts Eht. "Everything's backwards!"
They all looked at Salazar, who hardly went anywhere without the game, only to find that he looked supremely confused. "Don't look at me, I haven't a clue as to what happened to it," he said, chuckling nervously for what appeared to be no reason at all. "I think I'll have to give you all a raincheck on that game, until I've got this thing back to normal." And with that he picked up the game and left.
"Tell that was weird," Jamie whispered.
"That was weird," Lucius and Severus said at the same time. **************************************************************************** ***
Later that night, while everyone was at dinner, the three sat in the girl dormitory, thinking over everything that had happened.
"Alright, so first you get this poem from an anonymous sender, then Salazar gets all huffy and takes it away. After that we go to play clue, but everything was backwards. It just doesn't make enough sense, like we're missing a few pieces to the puzzle here," Severus thought out-loud.
"Damn! I just wish Salazar would go away, he's just trouble with legs!" Jamie yelled.
"Wait! Say that again!" Lucius said, eyes alight.
"He's trouble with legs?" Jamie repeated.
"Salazar, backwards, but what about Sacramento Fauts?" He started whispering to himself.
"Mind letting us in on this?" Severus asked his friend.
Lucius sighed, "It simple the whole 'trouble within' and 'one who plagues your thoughts' is about Salazar, then the poem goes on to talk about Clue. Well we found Clue, and all the clues in Clue were backwards. I just don't understand the Sacramento Fauts thing."
Suddenly something in Jamie's head clicked. "Sacramento Fauts? That's it! The amulet around his neck says Sacramento Fauts on it, only it's backwards!"
"And you would know this how?" Severus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's kind of hard to miss a six inch diameter piece of silver-gold, when it's hanging in your face because you're being hugged," Jamie could have laughed at the faces they were making. Severus who had a look of Big- Brotherly protection on, and Lucius who looked as though he'd kill the next person to touch Jamie.
"He hugged you?" Severus asked in silky, but dangerous tone.
"Yeah this morning," Jamie replied getting nervous.
"You didn't mention that earlier," Lucius said in voice that made Severus' seem like sandpaper.
"I didn't think that it was relevant."
At this both boys narrowed their eyes, but Severus was the first to say what they were thinking. "What else did you think irrelevant, and please start from the beginning."
Jamie, feeling that the conversation had taken a turn for the worse, said, "I think I'm going to catch a bite to eat before the food's completely gone," and started to stand until Lucius put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to sit back down. Feeling utterly trapped by her own friends, Jamie began to panic, she didn't want to talk anymore, and had just started wishing that they would go away, when Lucius began to put a bit of pressure on her shoulders to let her know that they were still waiting.
Looking up from her lap, tears in her eyes, Jamie whispered, "If I tell you, you won't take me back, will you?"
Severus narrowed his eyes a fraction further, while Lucius asked, "Take you back where, love?"
"The doctor's," she said uneasily hoping that wouldn't ask further.
But they wouldn't give up that easily. "What kind of doctor?" Severus asked in a soft tone.
Jamie hesitated until she felt Lucius give her a tiny shake, "A physiatrist," she said cringing as if saying the word gave her pain.
"Don't worry, love, we wouldn't dream of sending you anywhere you don't want to go," Lucius said reassuringly.
With eyes full of childish fear and innocence, she told them all about her childhood, right up to when her father left, and her mother trapped Salazar in the Jack-in-the-Box. Once she was finished, Jamie looked up into the eyes of the two boys, while chewing slightly on her lower lip. They seemed to be thinking, whatever it was about was a mystery to her, as long as she didn't have to go back. **************************************************************************** ***
After much convincing and words of honor, Lucius and Severus got Jamie to go to bed, but it wasn't a restful night, and next day found them all in the common room at six in the morning. To the boys Jamie still looked liked the child she had suppressed for so many years. Several hours of uneasy silence later, the three found themselves in front of a game board yet again.
In an effort to get Jamie to talk again, Lucius asked, "How would you pronounce that backwards anyway?"
Salazar, who was rather close by and had heard this, jumped up immediately. "What are doing?" he hissed at Lucius.
But Jamie, who seemed to have not noticed Salazar at all, replied, "Stuaf Otnemarcas."
Salazar howled as if his own sword had impaled him. Jamie's eyes went wide, as if just realizing what she had done. Quickly she looked over to where Salazar was standing.
It was the most amazing (and horrible) thing she and ever seen. There stood Salazar enveloped in the same tinted green light that had freed him from the old toy. But this time everything was different; he seemed to be fading right before her very eyes.
"Don't go," Jamie whispered like a lost five year old. Sure she had been annoyed by him, and even freaked out at times, but she hadn't wanted him to truly leave, after all he had been her best friend when she had been a little kid.
With sad emerald eyes and a sardonic smile that didn't look right on his face, Salazar just said, "Crimson tears, and crystal blood, that's just the way it goes love, that's just the way it goes."
Crying like never before Jamie dove to hug Salazar, and buried her face into his shoulder, until he had faded completely. Lucius walked up to her offering a shoulder to cry on, which she graciously took.
"I'm sorry Jamie. It's my fault, I shouldn't have said anything," Lucius said sounding miserable.
Jamie didn't say anything for a long time, just cried, but after a while, through her tears, she began to sing the only thing that came to mind.
"One last time,
We let down today,
One last time,
Until we fade away,
One last tiiiiiime,
We faaaaaade away!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Cloak*and*Dagger: And so ends A Child's Game. I hope you all liked it as much I did, and still do. It would be much appreciated if you reviewed, and hopefully I'll see you all in the sequel.
Chapter12.5: A Peek Into Salazar's Journal
I should tell you a rule. It is not my rule, necessarily. It came from a very grumpy-looking man at a holiday office party. A man coming down with a full-blown case of Scrooge-itis. He had just unwrapped his dinky little present from under the office tree. In tones of amused sorrow he said to nobody inparticular:
"You know, it's not true that what counts is the thought and not the gift. It just isn't true. My mother was pulling my leg on that one. I have collected so much gift-wrapped trash over the years from people who copped out and hurriedly bought a little plastic cheapie to give under the protective flag of good thoughts. I tell you, it is the gift that counts. Or, rather, people who think good thoughts give good gifts. It ought to be a rule-the Brass Rule of Gift Exchange."
And he stomped off towards a garbage can carrying his little gift as if it were a dead roach.
Well, maybe so. It's a kind of harsh judgment, and a little close for comfort. But the spirit of the season has been clear for a long time. God, who, it is said, started all of this, cared enough to send the very best. On more than one occasion. And Wise Men did not come bearing tacky knickknacks. Even old Santa, when he's making his list, is checking it twice. And the Angels came bringing Good News, which was not about a half- price sale.
I do know what I want someone to give me for Christmas. I've known since I was twenty. Wind-up mechanical toys that make noises and go round and round and do funny things. No batteries. Toys that need me to help them out from time to time. The old-fashioned painted tin ones that I had as a child. That's what I want. Nobody believes me. It's what I want, I tell you.
Well, okay, that's close, but not quite exactly it. It's delight and simplicity that I want. Foolishness and fantasy and noise. Angels and miracles and wonder and innocence and magic. That's closer to what I want.
It's harder to talk about, but what I really, really, *really* want for Christmas is just this:
I want to be five years old again for an hour.
I want to laugh a lot and cry a lot.
I want to be picked up and rocked to sleep in someone's arms, and carried up to bed just one more time.
I know what I really want for Christmas.
I want my childhood back.
Nobody is going to give me that. I might give at least the memory of it to myself if I try. I know it doesn't make sense, but since when is Christmas about sense, anyway? It is about a child, of long ago and far away, and it is about the child of now. In you and me. Waiting behind the door of our hearts for practical, unrealistic, simpleminded, and terribly vulnerable to joy. A child who does not need or want or understand gifts of socks or potholders.
The Brass Rule is true.
SALAZAR SLYTHERIN
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ **************************************************************************** *** !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And so ends 'A Child's Game". A story of things that one can never have back, no matter how hard they try. Once that child-like innocence is gone, it will never return. You can grow up and play your games of life, but none shall ever be as sweet or as sad as A Child's Game.
Author's Response:
Savannah: I'm sorry it was so long between the chapters, but I have a rather busy life, and I'm doing the best I can. I'm glad you like this story! Yay, I'm original! Please don't give up on me, I'll alert the public if I were ever to stop writing, but trust me it isn't likely to happen, because Emilia would kill me if I ever stopped. Thank you for reviewing!
Emilia: *Twitch* Man that's a long review! Oh boy, I think my response is going to end up being bigger than my chapter! Oh well, here goes! "Aww! No matter how long you could take, this would still be the best Salazar fic I've ever (or ever will) read and it kicks ass!!!" *Wide eyed* REALLY?!? I feel faint! Emilia you make me so happy! ^_^ Since you're such a good reviewer I think I'll let you in on a secret. For a while I've been toying with a story idea. I think you'll like it. Basically it would be a what if fic. Ready? Here it is: What if the four founders (as teenagers of course) suddenly found themselves in the Weasley's house during the summer before 5th year. Sound interesting?? I'm not sure I if I want to do this yet. I was also toying with the idea of turning this into a challenge. *Sigh* I just don't know. Oh right, back to your review. Hehehe oh yes Salazar missed you terribly. I would hug him for you, but I don't think it would be the same coming from me, not to mention the large possibility that he might not let go until I swear that I'll play Kingdom Hearts with him (I just got PlayStation2!) Oh yes, I know cats sleep wherever they want, I have 4 cats. The sweetest one always wants to sleep on my face, but the problem is she weighs 13 pounds! Yes I quite enjoyed the shirtless Salazar as well. The amulet? I'd tell, but then what kind of authoress would I be? It's very important though. *Smiles* Yes it would be very hilarious if Jamie fell for him, but not in this story. *Smirks* My choice of wording shall leave you to think over the possibilities. ^_^ I agree, Salazar isn't very much fun when he's angry. I was going for dangerous, but I suppose I'm just not any good at writing intense scenes. Oh well. "I so agree about the hug thing! My mother used to rock back and forth while hugging me, and that ... that's just annoying! It's a hug, not a freaking dance!" *Laughs hysterically* Y'know I really don't know where it was proven, but I remember seeing it in an article somewhere. Salazar does have reading glasses they're very cute. They're small and square-ish, he looks so hot with them on! "I can just picture Harry's face if he were to find out about that - 'Salazar Slytherin - Hogwarts founder - Powerful Wizard - Murderer or Poor, Defenceless Cuckoo-Clock Birds'... Although they're not totally defenceless in some respects." *Laughs* I think I'm going to have to put that in the sequel! (With your permission of course!) Sorry Emilia, but I'm afraid that impaling Gryffindor was not the result of a temper fit (although that doesn't mean he wasn't impaled at all.) On the contrary, your logic makes perfect sense.. to me anyway. People never quite thought that my logic made sense, either. When I write those journal entries the thesaurus and dictionary are my best friends! I don't think I could pull those off without them. Yes I love that sentence too, if you look at it hard enough it's an oxy-moron. I often think too soon. I hate it when that happens, because just when I think I'm ok, I go flying off a hill, or something in my basement explodes.. Again. Trust me, you went beyond your limit. Thank you soooooo much! Although I think I may have to be a bad girl and cut this out to be that last chapter, because I really want to start the sequel! Well have fun!
Disclaimer: Still don't own them, but I do like to claim artistic license over my version of Salazar Slytherin.
Pearl of Wisdom #Uh- I lost count!: "People in general will much better bear being told of their vices or crimes than of their little failings or weaknesses."
Chapter12: The Accidental End.
Jamie spent the rest of the morning in the common room, avoiding everyone's questioning gaze by pretending to read a book. For a while she thought that her friends were buying it, until Lucius sat down next to her on the sofa. "Listen Jamie, as interesting as I'm sure that book must be upside-down.." Lucius trailed off once Jamie began to blush with embarrassment.
Severus sat down on the other side of Jamie. "What's up J-Girl?" He asked, using his little pet name for her.
Slightly miffed at the nickname, Jamie shut the book and put it down. "I'm confused," she started slowly, "I thinking that... maybe you two could help me figure something out?"
Severus and Lucius looked at each other quickly, nodded, and then said, "Anything," simultaneously.
"Good," Jamie sighed, and then began to tell them about the note that was owled to her, and what had happened earlier that morning between her and Salazar.
"Weird," Lucius commented, referring to Salazar's reaction. No one had ever seen him loose him cool calm, if slightly eccentric, composure, and it seemed odd to him that Salazar would yell at Jamie.
"Do you remember what the note said?" Severus questioned, adding, "Every bit helps."
Jamie screwed her face up in concentration. "Er- It was something like: To rid yourself of, The Trouble within, The one who plagues your thoughts, All you have to do, Is find the clue, In Sacramento Fauts."
Lucius seemed to look thoughtful, but Severus, on the other hand, flat out said, "That makes no sense!"
"Thank you for your help Mr. Let's Scream Out The Painfully Obvious!" Jamie replied sarcastically, lunging at Severus.
Lucius caught her before she even touched him, and with one arm held her wrists, and the other her waist. "Calm down now, children," Lucius said with amusement apparent in his voice and eyes.
"Let go of me!" Jamie hissed viciously.
"I think I've read that poem in book before," he said, completely ignoring her attempts to get him to let her go.
"Where?" Severus asked.
"I have a book, a biography on the four founders-"
"Any time you feel like letting the lady go Lucius," came a whispery Welsh- Irish voice.
Quickly they all turned around, and came upon the sight of Salazar, clad in something that looked like a cross between a combat suit/armor and a robe, with a sword strapped to his hip, and, like always, he had his amulet on. He narrowed his emerald eyes at Lucius, particularly where his hand was resting on Jamie's hip, until he let go of her. "Up for a game of Clue you three?" He asked, twirling the game board around like a basketball.
"I really don't-" Jamie began, but Lucius and Severus both covered her mouth.
"We'd be delighted," Severus said smoothly.
"Great I'll go set it up!" Salazar's face lit up in childish delight.
"What was that for?" Jamie hissed once Salazar was out of hearing range.
"This could help us out," Lucius replied. "Besides," he said smirking, "I know how much you just love that game." Jamie just glared at him. **************************************************************************** ***
"So who's dealing the cards?" Severus asked, once the game had been set up.
"I will," Jamie said, still pouting slightly. Slowly she shuffled the cards, then dealt them out.
"Hey, what's this?" Severus queried.
"What's wrong?" Jamie and Salazar asked.
"How are supposed to play with these cards?" Lucius asked. "They don't make sense, I don't even think that these are words!"
"What are you talking about?" Jamie asked, but once she looked at her own cards she understood. Instead on The Study or Candlestick it said things like Kcitseldnac or Yduts Eht. "Everything's backwards!"
They all looked at Salazar, who hardly went anywhere without the game, only to find that he looked supremely confused. "Don't look at me, I haven't a clue as to what happened to it," he said, chuckling nervously for what appeared to be no reason at all. "I think I'll have to give you all a raincheck on that game, until I've got this thing back to normal." And with that he picked up the game and left.
"Tell that was weird," Jamie whispered.
"That was weird," Lucius and Severus said at the same time. **************************************************************************** ***
Later that night, while everyone was at dinner, the three sat in the girl dormitory, thinking over everything that had happened.
"Alright, so first you get this poem from an anonymous sender, then Salazar gets all huffy and takes it away. After that we go to play clue, but everything was backwards. It just doesn't make enough sense, like we're missing a few pieces to the puzzle here," Severus thought out-loud.
"Damn! I just wish Salazar would go away, he's just trouble with legs!" Jamie yelled.
"Wait! Say that again!" Lucius said, eyes alight.
"He's trouble with legs?" Jamie repeated.
"Salazar, backwards, but what about Sacramento Fauts?" He started whispering to himself.
"Mind letting us in on this?" Severus asked his friend.
Lucius sighed, "It simple the whole 'trouble within' and 'one who plagues your thoughts' is about Salazar, then the poem goes on to talk about Clue. Well we found Clue, and all the clues in Clue were backwards. I just don't understand the Sacramento Fauts thing."
Suddenly something in Jamie's head clicked. "Sacramento Fauts? That's it! The amulet around his neck says Sacramento Fauts on it, only it's backwards!"
"And you would know this how?" Severus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's kind of hard to miss a six inch diameter piece of silver-gold, when it's hanging in your face because you're being hugged," Jamie could have laughed at the faces they were making. Severus who had a look of Big- Brotherly protection on, and Lucius who looked as though he'd kill the next person to touch Jamie.
"He hugged you?" Severus asked in silky, but dangerous tone.
"Yeah this morning," Jamie replied getting nervous.
"You didn't mention that earlier," Lucius said in voice that made Severus' seem like sandpaper.
"I didn't think that it was relevant."
At this both boys narrowed their eyes, but Severus was the first to say what they were thinking. "What else did you think irrelevant, and please start from the beginning."
Jamie, feeling that the conversation had taken a turn for the worse, said, "I think I'm going to catch a bite to eat before the food's completely gone," and started to stand until Lucius put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to sit back down. Feeling utterly trapped by her own friends, Jamie began to panic, she didn't want to talk anymore, and had just started wishing that they would go away, when Lucius began to put a bit of pressure on her shoulders to let her know that they were still waiting.
Looking up from her lap, tears in her eyes, Jamie whispered, "If I tell you, you won't take me back, will you?"
Severus narrowed his eyes a fraction further, while Lucius asked, "Take you back where, love?"
"The doctor's," she said uneasily hoping that wouldn't ask further.
But they wouldn't give up that easily. "What kind of doctor?" Severus asked in a soft tone.
Jamie hesitated until she felt Lucius give her a tiny shake, "A physiatrist," she said cringing as if saying the word gave her pain.
"Don't worry, love, we wouldn't dream of sending you anywhere you don't want to go," Lucius said reassuringly.
With eyes full of childish fear and innocence, she told them all about her childhood, right up to when her father left, and her mother trapped Salazar in the Jack-in-the-Box. Once she was finished, Jamie looked up into the eyes of the two boys, while chewing slightly on her lower lip. They seemed to be thinking, whatever it was about was a mystery to her, as long as she didn't have to go back. **************************************************************************** ***
After much convincing and words of honor, Lucius and Severus got Jamie to go to bed, but it wasn't a restful night, and next day found them all in the common room at six in the morning. To the boys Jamie still looked liked the child she had suppressed for so many years. Several hours of uneasy silence later, the three found themselves in front of a game board yet again.
In an effort to get Jamie to talk again, Lucius asked, "How would you pronounce that backwards anyway?"
Salazar, who was rather close by and had heard this, jumped up immediately. "What are doing?" he hissed at Lucius.
But Jamie, who seemed to have not noticed Salazar at all, replied, "Stuaf Otnemarcas."
Salazar howled as if his own sword had impaled him. Jamie's eyes went wide, as if just realizing what she had done. Quickly she looked over to where Salazar was standing.
It was the most amazing (and horrible) thing she and ever seen. There stood Salazar enveloped in the same tinted green light that had freed him from the old toy. But this time everything was different; he seemed to be fading right before her very eyes.
"Don't go," Jamie whispered like a lost five year old. Sure she had been annoyed by him, and even freaked out at times, but she hadn't wanted him to truly leave, after all he had been her best friend when she had been a little kid.
With sad emerald eyes and a sardonic smile that didn't look right on his face, Salazar just said, "Crimson tears, and crystal blood, that's just the way it goes love, that's just the way it goes."
Crying like never before Jamie dove to hug Salazar, and buried her face into his shoulder, until he had faded completely. Lucius walked up to her offering a shoulder to cry on, which she graciously took.
"I'm sorry Jamie. It's my fault, I shouldn't have said anything," Lucius said sounding miserable.
Jamie didn't say anything for a long time, just cried, but after a while, through her tears, she began to sing the only thing that came to mind.
"One last time,
We let down today,
One last time,
Until we fade away,
One last tiiiiiime,
We faaaaaade away!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Cloak*and*Dagger: And so ends A Child's Game. I hope you all liked it as much I did, and still do. It would be much appreciated if you reviewed, and hopefully I'll see you all in the sequel.
Chapter12.5: A Peek Into Salazar's Journal
I should tell you a rule. It is not my rule, necessarily. It came from a very grumpy-looking man at a holiday office party. A man coming down with a full-blown case of Scrooge-itis. He had just unwrapped his dinky little present from under the office tree. In tones of amused sorrow he said to nobody inparticular:
"You know, it's not true that what counts is the thought and not the gift. It just isn't true. My mother was pulling my leg on that one. I have collected so much gift-wrapped trash over the years from people who copped out and hurriedly bought a little plastic cheapie to give under the protective flag of good thoughts. I tell you, it is the gift that counts. Or, rather, people who think good thoughts give good gifts. It ought to be a rule-the Brass Rule of Gift Exchange."
And he stomped off towards a garbage can carrying his little gift as if it were a dead roach.
Well, maybe so. It's a kind of harsh judgment, and a little close for comfort. But the spirit of the season has been clear for a long time. God, who, it is said, started all of this, cared enough to send the very best. On more than one occasion. And Wise Men did not come bearing tacky knickknacks. Even old Santa, when he's making his list, is checking it twice. And the Angels came bringing Good News, which was not about a half- price sale.
I do know what I want someone to give me for Christmas. I've known since I was twenty. Wind-up mechanical toys that make noises and go round and round and do funny things. No batteries. Toys that need me to help them out from time to time. The old-fashioned painted tin ones that I had as a child. That's what I want. Nobody believes me. It's what I want, I tell you.
Well, okay, that's close, but not quite exactly it. It's delight and simplicity that I want. Foolishness and fantasy and noise. Angels and miracles and wonder and innocence and magic. That's closer to what I want.
It's harder to talk about, but what I really, really, *really* want for Christmas is just this:
I want to be five years old again for an hour.
I want to laugh a lot and cry a lot.
I want to be picked up and rocked to sleep in someone's arms, and carried up to bed just one more time.
I know what I really want for Christmas.
I want my childhood back.
Nobody is going to give me that. I might give at least the memory of it to myself if I try. I know it doesn't make sense, but since when is Christmas about sense, anyway? It is about a child, of long ago and far away, and it is about the child of now. In you and me. Waiting behind the door of our hearts for practical, unrealistic, simpleminded, and terribly vulnerable to joy. A child who does not need or want or understand gifts of socks or potholders.
The Brass Rule is true.
SALAZAR SLYTHERIN
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And so ends 'A Child's Game". A story of things that one can never have back, no matter how hard they try. Once that child-like innocence is gone, it will never return. You can grow up and play your games of life, but none shall ever be as sweet or as sad as A Child's Game.