That summer, Fallon spent a lot of her time at the Callais summer house on the beach. Philippe had been hired to teach Arithmancy at Beauxbatons the next term, as their Arithmancy Professor, Monsieur Chapelle, was assuming the position of Interim Headmaster while Madame Maxime took an indefinite leave of absence to go on a special mission.
Philippe had enjoyed his year at Hogwarts; the students had been friendly to him, the food, although not nearly as good as French cuisine, was excellent, and there were so many pretty girls! He was sure that Fallon and her group of friends broke hearts right and left.
Fallon had laughed and scoffed at this belief: she and her friends, no matter how pretty, were Slytherins. This alone served as a deterrent for most of the boys. Moreover, some of her friends, such as Akasha, Morrigun, and Kate, were seeing Slytherin boys. And if a Slytherin girl was not scary enough on her own right, the risk of inciting a Slytherin boy's wrath certainly prevented the other boys from having such ideas.
Philippe had smiled at her, and asked if this applied to her as well. Fallon had shrugged; she was not seeing anyone. But then, in the past five years, she had quite firmly established her reputation as the unchallenged bitch of Slytherin House, second to none in her pugnacious and merciless disposition.
"But zere is also ze fact zat you, just like zose friends of yours, are ze object of a Slyzerin boy's affections, of course." Philippe had replied.
"What? Who?" Fallon had been flabbergasted.
"Ah, ze one zat you were dancing ze last dance at zat ball wis. 'E seems to... what is ze word... 'fancy' you vairy much. And you seem to like him vairy much as well."
"WARRINGTON?! The git?!"
Philippe had laughed, ruffled her hair, and told her that it was just an entirely harmless observation; she should think about it.
* * *
And think about it she did. Her and Cassius Warrington, in love?! What an utterly ridiculous idea! Just because she'd danced with him...
But was it really all that ridiculous?
All right, so he was an irritating git. But in all her recollection, no one else had ever been able to hack her off quite like he could. Sure, she'd certainly never been one to be overly concerned with pleasantries, and whenever someone had insulted or attacked her, she had never hesitated to make the offender take it back thrice over. But it was more a matter of principle than real anger. Somehow, almost all of her more intense emotions had always been centered on Warrington. No one else had ever been able to make her feel as keenly as he did.
Although the question now was... what WAS the feeling?
And... bloody hell... if she DID... as Philippe had said... love him... Fallon sighed. Love was, more or less, putting one's heart into another's hands. Something dangerous. She'd be torn to pieces if he were so inclined.
Something that she'd always, always tried to avoid. Especially now, after the events of last year. Showing any type of weakness was a great risk.
And then, she remembered that night, the night that had followed the worst day of her life. It was ironic that her first kiss, something that girls far more romantic than her claimed to be one of, if not THE most thrilling and happy moment of a girl's life, had occurred after something so terrible. She closed her eyes, and remembered that moment. Waking up from a nightmare, sitting up in his bed. Her clammy hands clenched around handfuls of his robe. How he'd looked startled and sleep-tousled and worried in the dim but luminous light of his wand. How he, a frown on his face, had rubbed her back and stroked her hair in a somewhat awkward, masculine sort of way, to calm her down. And then, he'd made a crack about Montague, and then told her to sleep some more. And something about the way he'd tried to do what he could to calm her, despite being discomfited and obviously unused to dealing with both a situation such as hers, and her in such an unnatural state, had made her kiss him. Something had told her that... all other things aside, if he were willing to do whatever he could to make her feel better in that situation, kissing him would somehow help take away the pain. It didn't really make much sense, but... somehow, at the time, she'd known that if they kissed, it would be free from the dirty carnality and hate that the nightmarish events earlier had been filled with. He had kissed her back, gently, soothingly, almost... if she dared say it... lovingly. And then, he'd pulled away, holding her at arm's length, realizing that had it not been for the circumstances earlier, it wouldn't have happened. And there had been something like pain in his eyes.
And when she went back to England and Diagon Alley in August, she avoided him, although for completely different reasons than before.
* * *
That year, the arguments that she'd used to enjoy... grew hurtful. It somehow upset her when he sneered at her and called her a silly little twit. She hated calling him names and knowing that while she didn't mean it, he DID. She did not notice the girls giving each other knowing looks as they screamed, because she was too occupied in keeping her composure up and her emotions firmly out of sight.
At the moment, they were having a flaming row. The 7th years had learned several charms to increase another person's benevolence. As far as Fallon could tell, the blasted things were simply very diluted versions of love and entrancement charms, and she'd remarked, in a rather snarky voice, that she was surprised that they were learning something so despicable.
He'd sneered, and said that there was nothing wrong with making a person be nice to another, and perhaps she could use a few of them.
It had just gone downhill from there.
Now, it was after dinner, and they were in the Common Room, still screaming at each other. The other Slytherin students were present, although they gave the two who were bickering a wide berth. Warrington was wicked with a wand when angry; and Fallon... well, almost everyone in the house had seen the 6th year girl practicing such things as knife-fighting in an open stretch of floor in the corner of the Common Room. NOT one to approach when she was in a temper.
"You're DESPICABLE if you want or need to use something like that to make a person act kindly towards you!" she was shrieking at Warrington, her beautiful face flushed with fury. He rolled his eyes.
"So you've told me, Anderson. But what business of yours would it be? Bloody hell, you're worse than a bloke's mother!"
"DON'T compare me to your mother, Warrington! Thank HEAVENS I'm not your mother! To have to see a son of mine think up something so horrid would be too much to bear!"
"Since when was it MY fault? Flitwick was the one who taught them to us, forgive me if I learnt something in class today, I'm sure that sometime, you'll be able to comprehend that feeling... and besides, why do you care? I can do whatever I want with whatever I learn!"
"Why do I care?! WHY DO I CARE?!? BECAUSE I LOVE YOU GODDAMMIT!" the furious, impassioned scream flew from her lips, and then, her eyes widened as deafening silence filled the room.
No one spoke for a few seconds, and then Fallon herself broke the silence. Her voice was soft, full of disbelief and tinged with something that sounded suspiciously like despair as she spoke, "Oh bloody abominable sodding unholy HELL..."
Morrigun and Akasha stepped forward briskly, and pushed the astonished pair into Morrigun's room. Morrigun looked at her friend, and then at Cassius, and cleared her throat, "Well, work it out, you two." And with that, Morrigun and Akasha walked out, and shut the door behind them, leaving Fallon and Warrington alone.
Fallon sat heavily down on Akasha's couch, drawing her knees up to her chest and curling up into a ball. She felt like crying, but... she'd already shown way... way too much weakness to Warrington. She remembered how Flint used to tally up 'wins' in their battles. Well... the battles were over now, and she had lost the war.
Belatedly, she became aware that he was speaking to her, and forced herself to look up at him. His expression was serious, solemn, even, and he was staring into her eyes, as if trying to figure something out. Fallon sighed and let him stare. He had won anyway.
"Did you mean what you said?" he asked quietly. She couldn't speak, but the scared, miserable expression on her face was all he needed to see. Fallon Anderson was fearless, except for one thing. Personal weakness was something terrible for her. Cautiously, he sat down next to her, as if afraid that she might disappear if he were not careful, and everything would be wrong again.
Her right hand was resting limply on her side, and gently, he took it in his, and looked at it, as if appraising it. The small appendage, the color of her skin, the nimble fingers, nails clipped short and practical. The hand had smacked him heaven knew how many times, thrown things, been balled into an angry fist... clung to his robe that one day, done magic, brewed her flawless potions... it was trembling slightly in his. She was frightened, and that made him feel bad. She should not be afraid... ever. Especially not of him. It would just be... wrong.
He let go of her hand, and instead, used his hand to cup her chin. This time, it was he who initiated the kiss, and it was not wrong.
It ended a moment later, and she opened those gorgeous, fiery dark eyes. And then she smiled. He was hers.
* * *
They were still locked together, his hands tangled in her hair and hers linked behind his neck, when Morrigun opened the door an hour later.
The Prefect arched an eyebrow at the snogging couple, and cleared her throat, "So glad that you two have figured out that you can't live without each other, but I need to sleep sometime tonight."
Warrington opened his eyes, and without letting go of the girl in his arms, steered both of them out the door and into the hallway.
The girls trooped over, and Persephone's voice cut triumphantly through the air, "All right, pay up! I TOLD you they would start snogging at the beginning of this term!"
And Fallon pulled away slightly at this. "You're actually all wrong. I snogged him long ago. You just don't know it. Perhaps you should all just pay ME."
Various exclamations of surprise and amusement filled the hall, and Fallon ignored them all. Giving the git (he was still a git, and always would be... but he was HER git!) one last kiss, she pulled herself out of his arms, and smirked at him. "Cassius Warrington, if you ever use those charms, I will hurt you in ways that you can't even comprehend. Good night!"
And, head held high, shoulders squared, she walked away to her dormitory. Warrington watched her leave, and grinned wryly to himself. She'd lead him on a merry chase... for as long as possible, if he had his way.
At least things would never be boring. And... oh dear. She would soon realize that he'd forgotten to tell her that he loved her too. There would be a scene in the morning.
* * *
Fallon swept into the Great Hall with a big smile on her pretty face the next morning. Slaine, inspecting her nails as Vittorio Derrick poured her a glass of pumpkin juice, smiled at Xanne, who was sitting next to her.
"Maybe they'll stop quarreling now."
Fallon sat down at her customary place among her friends, and Cassius Warrington raised an eyebrow. "Sit with me."
"Why should I?" she retorted archly, "I like it perfectly fine here."
Within minutes, the two were bickering once again. Slaine rolled her eyes, "I spoke too soon."
Kate shrugged expansively, "Ah... Fallon and Warrington... their love is an odd thing."
At that moment, a blueberry flew across the table and hit Warrington in the face. Kate chuckled, and amended her statement.
"But it's bloody hilarious to watch."
* * *
End chapter 14!!
* * *
w00t! La fin! Well, except for a short epilogue! ta-ta!
Philippe had enjoyed his year at Hogwarts; the students had been friendly to him, the food, although not nearly as good as French cuisine, was excellent, and there were so many pretty girls! He was sure that Fallon and her group of friends broke hearts right and left.
Fallon had laughed and scoffed at this belief: she and her friends, no matter how pretty, were Slytherins. This alone served as a deterrent for most of the boys. Moreover, some of her friends, such as Akasha, Morrigun, and Kate, were seeing Slytherin boys. And if a Slytherin girl was not scary enough on her own right, the risk of inciting a Slytherin boy's wrath certainly prevented the other boys from having such ideas.
Philippe had smiled at her, and asked if this applied to her as well. Fallon had shrugged; she was not seeing anyone. But then, in the past five years, she had quite firmly established her reputation as the unchallenged bitch of Slytherin House, second to none in her pugnacious and merciless disposition.
"But zere is also ze fact zat you, just like zose friends of yours, are ze object of a Slyzerin boy's affections, of course." Philippe had replied.
"What? Who?" Fallon had been flabbergasted.
"Ah, ze one zat you were dancing ze last dance at zat ball wis. 'E seems to... what is ze word... 'fancy' you vairy much. And you seem to like him vairy much as well."
"WARRINGTON?! The git?!"
Philippe had laughed, ruffled her hair, and told her that it was just an entirely harmless observation; she should think about it.
* * *
And think about it she did. Her and Cassius Warrington, in love?! What an utterly ridiculous idea! Just because she'd danced with him...
But was it really all that ridiculous?
All right, so he was an irritating git. But in all her recollection, no one else had ever been able to hack her off quite like he could. Sure, she'd certainly never been one to be overly concerned with pleasantries, and whenever someone had insulted or attacked her, she had never hesitated to make the offender take it back thrice over. But it was more a matter of principle than real anger. Somehow, almost all of her more intense emotions had always been centered on Warrington. No one else had ever been able to make her feel as keenly as he did.
Although the question now was... what WAS the feeling?
And... bloody hell... if she DID... as Philippe had said... love him... Fallon sighed. Love was, more or less, putting one's heart into another's hands. Something dangerous. She'd be torn to pieces if he were so inclined.
Something that she'd always, always tried to avoid. Especially now, after the events of last year. Showing any type of weakness was a great risk.
And then, she remembered that night, the night that had followed the worst day of her life. It was ironic that her first kiss, something that girls far more romantic than her claimed to be one of, if not THE most thrilling and happy moment of a girl's life, had occurred after something so terrible. She closed her eyes, and remembered that moment. Waking up from a nightmare, sitting up in his bed. Her clammy hands clenched around handfuls of his robe. How he'd looked startled and sleep-tousled and worried in the dim but luminous light of his wand. How he, a frown on his face, had rubbed her back and stroked her hair in a somewhat awkward, masculine sort of way, to calm her down. And then, he'd made a crack about Montague, and then told her to sleep some more. And something about the way he'd tried to do what he could to calm her, despite being discomfited and obviously unused to dealing with both a situation such as hers, and her in such an unnatural state, had made her kiss him. Something had told her that... all other things aside, if he were willing to do whatever he could to make her feel better in that situation, kissing him would somehow help take away the pain. It didn't really make much sense, but... somehow, at the time, she'd known that if they kissed, it would be free from the dirty carnality and hate that the nightmarish events earlier had been filled with. He had kissed her back, gently, soothingly, almost... if she dared say it... lovingly. And then, he'd pulled away, holding her at arm's length, realizing that had it not been for the circumstances earlier, it wouldn't have happened. And there had been something like pain in his eyes.
And when she went back to England and Diagon Alley in August, she avoided him, although for completely different reasons than before.
* * *
That year, the arguments that she'd used to enjoy... grew hurtful. It somehow upset her when he sneered at her and called her a silly little twit. She hated calling him names and knowing that while she didn't mean it, he DID. She did not notice the girls giving each other knowing looks as they screamed, because she was too occupied in keeping her composure up and her emotions firmly out of sight.
At the moment, they were having a flaming row. The 7th years had learned several charms to increase another person's benevolence. As far as Fallon could tell, the blasted things were simply very diluted versions of love and entrancement charms, and she'd remarked, in a rather snarky voice, that she was surprised that they were learning something so despicable.
He'd sneered, and said that there was nothing wrong with making a person be nice to another, and perhaps she could use a few of them.
It had just gone downhill from there.
Now, it was after dinner, and they were in the Common Room, still screaming at each other. The other Slytherin students were present, although they gave the two who were bickering a wide berth. Warrington was wicked with a wand when angry; and Fallon... well, almost everyone in the house had seen the 6th year girl practicing such things as knife-fighting in an open stretch of floor in the corner of the Common Room. NOT one to approach when she was in a temper.
"You're DESPICABLE if you want or need to use something like that to make a person act kindly towards you!" she was shrieking at Warrington, her beautiful face flushed with fury. He rolled his eyes.
"So you've told me, Anderson. But what business of yours would it be? Bloody hell, you're worse than a bloke's mother!"
"DON'T compare me to your mother, Warrington! Thank HEAVENS I'm not your mother! To have to see a son of mine think up something so horrid would be too much to bear!"
"Since when was it MY fault? Flitwick was the one who taught them to us, forgive me if I learnt something in class today, I'm sure that sometime, you'll be able to comprehend that feeling... and besides, why do you care? I can do whatever I want with whatever I learn!"
"Why do I care?! WHY DO I CARE?!? BECAUSE I LOVE YOU GODDAMMIT!" the furious, impassioned scream flew from her lips, and then, her eyes widened as deafening silence filled the room.
No one spoke for a few seconds, and then Fallon herself broke the silence. Her voice was soft, full of disbelief and tinged with something that sounded suspiciously like despair as she spoke, "Oh bloody abominable sodding unholy HELL..."
Morrigun and Akasha stepped forward briskly, and pushed the astonished pair into Morrigun's room. Morrigun looked at her friend, and then at Cassius, and cleared her throat, "Well, work it out, you two." And with that, Morrigun and Akasha walked out, and shut the door behind them, leaving Fallon and Warrington alone.
Fallon sat heavily down on Akasha's couch, drawing her knees up to her chest and curling up into a ball. She felt like crying, but... she'd already shown way... way too much weakness to Warrington. She remembered how Flint used to tally up 'wins' in their battles. Well... the battles were over now, and she had lost the war.
Belatedly, she became aware that he was speaking to her, and forced herself to look up at him. His expression was serious, solemn, even, and he was staring into her eyes, as if trying to figure something out. Fallon sighed and let him stare. He had won anyway.
"Did you mean what you said?" he asked quietly. She couldn't speak, but the scared, miserable expression on her face was all he needed to see. Fallon Anderson was fearless, except for one thing. Personal weakness was something terrible for her. Cautiously, he sat down next to her, as if afraid that she might disappear if he were not careful, and everything would be wrong again.
Her right hand was resting limply on her side, and gently, he took it in his, and looked at it, as if appraising it. The small appendage, the color of her skin, the nimble fingers, nails clipped short and practical. The hand had smacked him heaven knew how many times, thrown things, been balled into an angry fist... clung to his robe that one day, done magic, brewed her flawless potions... it was trembling slightly in his. She was frightened, and that made him feel bad. She should not be afraid... ever. Especially not of him. It would just be... wrong.
He let go of her hand, and instead, used his hand to cup her chin. This time, it was he who initiated the kiss, and it was not wrong.
It ended a moment later, and she opened those gorgeous, fiery dark eyes. And then she smiled. He was hers.
* * *
They were still locked together, his hands tangled in her hair and hers linked behind his neck, when Morrigun opened the door an hour later.
The Prefect arched an eyebrow at the snogging couple, and cleared her throat, "So glad that you two have figured out that you can't live without each other, but I need to sleep sometime tonight."
Warrington opened his eyes, and without letting go of the girl in his arms, steered both of them out the door and into the hallway.
The girls trooped over, and Persephone's voice cut triumphantly through the air, "All right, pay up! I TOLD you they would start snogging at the beginning of this term!"
And Fallon pulled away slightly at this. "You're actually all wrong. I snogged him long ago. You just don't know it. Perhaps you should all just pay ME."
Various exclamations of surprise and amusement filled the hall, and Fallon ignored them all. Giving the git (he was still a git, and always would be... but he was HER git!) one last kiss, she pulled herself out of his arms, and smirked at him. "Cassius Warrington, if you ever use those charms, I will hurt you in ways that you can't even comprehend. Good night!"
And, head held high, shoulders squared, she walked away to her dormitory. Warrington watched her leave, and grinned wryly to himself. She'd lead him on a merry chase... for as long as possible, if he had his way.
At least things would never be boring. And... oh dear. She would soon realize that he'd forgotten to tell her that he loved her too. There would be a scene in the morning.
* * *
Fallon swept into the Great Hall with a big smile on her pretty face the next morning. Slaine, inspecting her nails as Vittorio Derrick poured her a glass of pumpkin juice, smiled at Xanne, who was sitting next to her.
"Maybe they'll stop quarreling now."
Fallon sat down at her customary place among her friends, and Cassius Warrington raised an eyebrow. "Sit with me."
"Why should I?" she retorted archly, "I like it perfectly fine here."
Within minutes, the two were bickering once again. Slaine rolled her eyes, "I spoke too soon."
Kate shrugged expansively, "Ah... Fallon and Warrington... their love is an odd thing."
At that moment, a blueberry flew across the table and hit Warrington in the face. Kate chuckled, and amended her statement.
"But it's bloody hilarious to watch."
* * *
End chapter 14!!
* * *
w00t! La fin! Well, except for a short epilogue! ta-ta!