Motivation Proclamation

Spend your lazy, endless crazy days, inside my head,
You're so selfish, you're not the only one who thinks he's dead
I'm paid to smile, now I'm on trial for what you think I said
But I never said that everything would be ok,
And I never said that we would live to see another day

"How'd Remus take it?"

"Oh, he cried and cried… and then some."

"Really?"

"Of course not. I'm only going back to school" Vala flicked through the magazine she picked up at the train station. "I suspect he's celebrating." Finding nothing of interest, she threw the magazine on the empty seat next to her. "Speaking of which, why are we going back early?"

Grant watched the trees run and hills tumble by. "No reason."

Vala squinted a bit. "Is that so…"

He glanced at her. "What are you getting at?"

She threw her arms up. "Oh nothing, nothing at all… it's just in the time I've known you you've never done anything without some reason or another. Now, whether that reason is a good one is debatable."

"Hmm…" He watched the rolling landscape again.

"Grant?"

Distracted, "What?"

"What's going on?"

He glanced at her again. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" she moved across the compartment to sit next to him. "Why are you acting so odd? Just yesterday you were fine, and today… well, you're not."

He stared at her.

"Grant-"

"Why do you care?"

"What?"

He shifted to face her better. "Why do you care what goes on in my life?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you always so concerned about me?"

He turned back to the window and muttered, "You wouldn't understand."

"Oh, is that so?" she almost laughed. "I've been through the graveyards and back. Please, enlighten me," she nearly mocked.

Grant glared at a far away mountain.

"Oh, Grant, don't be such a-"

He rounded on her. "Get a few dead friends and suddenly you think you know it all, do you? Think, 'Oh, that Grant, his problems can't be nearly as bad as mine. What could possibly hurt him?" Think you understand, do ya? Well you don't!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. Icily she said, "You don't have to be so nasty. I only wanted to know what was bothering you." She stood up. While walking back to her seat, "Curse a friend for wanting to help… You Slytherins are all the same."

"How dare you! You don't-"

"No, how dare you!" she yelled in retort, rounding on him. "Honestly, I'm amazed! How dare you even turn this around on me!" In the quickness of light, her open palm met his cheek. She pointed a stern finger at him. "I simply asked how you were. You've been quiet and reserved all day. And to be frank, my dear, that's quite out of your norm! So if you want to cry and moan, then do it, but don't you dare bring my past into it!" She sat down in a huff.

Grant turned quietly to the window. After a few heated minutes had passed, he said in a voice so quiet it almost appeared to be a whisper, "I'm sorry." He looked down at his hands. "It's just… Well… Do you know how it feels to be homeless?" He looked up at her desperately.

She blinked. "What?" A penny dropped. "But I thought-"

He shook his head. "No, I don't mean like that… I'm quite wealthy, really. Well, my family is anyhow." He dropped his eyes to his hands again. "You see… I had a home once… But then things changed. You see…" he fidgeted with his hands. "A home isn't made from bricks or wood or nails… a home is made from love. Corny, I know, but it's true. The structure of the house doesn't make it a home, the structure of the family does. You lose your family, and you lose your home." Finally, he looked at her.

"Grant, I… I don't think I understand. I thought you had-"

He shook his head again. "Not like that. I do have a family… a father and a mother. But what's the use of either if they're both cold and reserved? There's no comfort, no compassion, it's all so… cold. Do you understand?"

She sighed, and moved across the compartment again. She reached an arm around him. "Grant, when my parents…" She gulped. "When my parents died, I was hopeless. I had no home, no family… I was completely alone. And that felt horrible, oh so horrible." She closed her eyes momentarily. She reached her other arm across Grant's front. "But things change, Grant, they really do." A tear seeped from her eye. "You're gonna learn that there's other people out there." Her lips began to quiver. "You're gonna learn that there's better people out there. And oh, Grant!" She pulled him closer, tears spilling from her eyes. "Oh Grant, the things you'll learn!"

Grant wrapped his arms around Vala. He sniffled into her hair. Silently, they held each other, comforting each other without words.

~+~+~+~

Vala ducked into the nearest room. Saxon was around the next corner, and with luck he hadn't seen her.

"I wouldn't have thought he was that horrible," a voice commented behind her.

Strucken like a deer in head lights, she turned to the source. Almost immediately, she breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared me, Fae!" She rolled her eyes and stood up to inspect her surroundings. "Ah, Moaning Myrtle's… Figures."

Fae peered at the girl through slightly squinted eyes. She blew out a puff of smoke. That's when Vala noticed the tightly wrapped cigarette pressed between Fae's middle and index finger. "You smoke?"

Vala shook her head.

"You allergic?" she made a motion to put it out.

Vala shook her head again.

"Ah, good…" She relaxed. Fae stood at the opposite side of the bathroom, leaning against a wall, a nearby window letting in a draft.

Vala shivered a bit.

"What are you running from?" she asked, sucking on her homemade cigarette. "Or should I ask, Who?"

Vala sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's a long-"

"Your fiance?"

She stared at her. "You… You knew?"

"The whole school knows." She glanced to see how her cigarette was doing. "He's not the most subtle man…"

Vala sighed wearily.

"Tell me about it," Fae agreed. "Given the gift of hearing, but sometimes I wish I couldn't listen."

Vala's eyebrows furrowed. "Excuse me?"

Fae shook her head, propelling herself from the wall. "Nevermind." She stared critically at her cigarette, and tossed it in a toilet. She patted her pockets and cursed under her breath. "Just as well figures." She wiped her hands on the back of her cloak and backed past Vala. She paused. Quietly, she commented, "It's a shame really… To see two lives wasted."

Vala stared at her. "Wha…" A thought struck her. "Wait!"

Fae stopped at the door, glancing over her shoulder to signify she was listening.

"Dumbledore… Um, Dumbledore-"

"Lets on to more than he knows."

"Uh… yeah."

"Yes, leave at that." And she left.

Vala stood in the bathroom, her forehead wrinkling in concentration. What was she talking about? And… is she really psychic? But she knew just as well as everyone else what was said. Fae Mortel was an odd girl, nothing strange coming from Hufflepuff of course, but odd all the same.

~+~+~+~

He's sleeping again… Vala glanced up from her notes. She frowned. Nothing unusual. Maybe I should wake him. She reached over the table, but stopped. He can use the sleep. She copied down a few more notes. But… she glanced up again. I do have something I want to ask him… Maybe he won't mind. She began to reach for him, only to have her doubts. He can be a mad bugger when awoken. But I want to know! Before she could lose her courage halfway across the table, she poke him. "Grant?"

He grumbled, and turned his head the other way.

She poked him again. "Gra-ant?"

He smacked his lips.

"Grant!"

He squeezed his eyelids shut. "Go away," he mumbled.

"Oh come on, Grant," she pleaded. "I need to ask you something."

He opened his eyes. For a moment or two he simply stared at her, and then he finally rose his head. "What do you want?"

"Um… You know how I asked you about those ingredients a while back? Well, I was wondering if you found them all."

He glared at her. "You woke me up to ask me that?"

"Yes, do you have them?"

"Not on me!"

She rolled her eyes impatiently. "Well, obviously, but did you get them?"

"I can't believe you woke me up," he grumbled, fumbling for something in his pocket. "Here!" he tossed the list to her. "I collected everything that's checked."

She looked the note over. "You couldn't get 'Hair of Wherewolf"? It wasn't that hard of an ingredient."

"Hey, My father only had a few, and I wasn't keen on taking them. I only took what I hoped he wouldn't notice."

"Oh come now, Grant, some of these are so easy! I can't believe you didn't get all of them."

He pointed a finger at her, something he must have picked up from Vala, "Hey, don't you make me do something I'll regret anything."

"Oh Grant, I'm thankful, really I am… It's just, this needs to be brewed by this weekend. We need these supplies."

"What's this weekend?" he asked with a yawn.

"Nothing, but the week after is the full moon."

"Pleasant. Hey, don't look at me like that! I don't know where we're gonna get them!"

She frowned. Then a thought struck her. She leaned forward and whispered, "What about Snape?"

He threw his hands up. "Oh no, you can count me out!"

"But, Grant!"

He pushed his chair away from the table. "Don't 'but, Grant' me, I ain't doin' it, and that's final!"

She pouted. Then another idea struck her, and she had to grin. "Would you do it for a drink or two?"

A sly grin curled his lips. "I might do it for a few drinks and a pack of cigarettes."

She sat back. "You don't smoke."

"No, but I know a certain little witch that does." His grin grew.

Vala rolled her eyes again. "Fae Mortel?"

An expression passed Grant's face, which could only be taken as shock though it only lasted for a moment. "You know her?"

"Yes, but that's beside the point, why do you want her in on this?"

"Because she'd good in Divination."

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked, half amused and half bewildered.

"Everything," he stated as if it were common knowledge. "Snape is a very unpredictable man. I like to have someone who knows what she's doing on my side."

"Hey, I know what I'm doing!" Vala defended.

"Yeah, su-ure."

"I do!"