Walking With A Ghost
Chapter One-Beginnings
The tavern was full of rowdy laughter, the clacking of mugs, and the scraping of the wood chairs against the dusty floor as snowflakes whirled by in circles outside foggy windows. It was late, on Christmas Eve. The only people there, who were actually quite a lot, were those who had no family for various reasons, or those who just didn't wish to see their families, and those whose family was already there. The scent of cigars filled the room, since almost everybody there smoked, from the pretty girls who would offer their "services" to those willing to pay, to the occasional strangers who would only stop for a five minute drink. The room buzzed with talk too, about what the Ministry screwed up today, how the Tornadoes were fixing the England Quidditch semi-finals, who was doing what with who, and of the ever lingering talk of the Dark Lord.
The door swung open, pulling in a sharp and cold draft along with a flurry of snowflakes. The visitor stumped inside, and dully closed the door behind her. She wore a thick black cloak with endless folds and a rather large hood, which cast a shadow over the wearer's face. The visitor tugged it off, revealing a rather beautiful woman, or a witch. She was wearing a long and fitted black turtleneck shirt, with a sleeveless leather jacket over it. She also wore faded jeans and Converse sneakers, along with gloves, a knit scarf, and a hat. Her hair was auburn and flecked with snow, and her eyes were of the palest of blues. She was beautiful, but her eyes had been hardened over her lifetime of about thirty to fourty years. They were the only thing that showed her age, from their look of lost hope. They showed cold hatred, nothing more and nothing less. Hatred of the world and what it had done to her and become, and of herself for letting the world change her.
Squinting around the bar, she spotted the mop of straggly ginger hair atop a squat wizard with bloodshot, baggy eyes from lack of sleep who was sitting at the bar with a tall cup of beer. "I really need to get glasses..." the witch mentally reminded herself.
"Hey, 'Dung!" she called out.
Mundungus Fletcher pratically fell out of his seat at the sound of the witch's clear, carrying voice. "Can't you ever be quiet? I might die a peaceful death in my old age in my sleep."
She plopped down on the bar stool next to him, and the bartender came over. "So, what can I get for you kids?" Aberforth wheezed through his many bandages, while wiping out a mug with a grungy old rag which really only made it even dirtier.
"Just give me some firewhiskey." she muttered as she pulled out a couple sickles from her pocket. "Just give me however much this is worth," and she pushed the money towards him, and he went in back to fetch the liquor.
"Ahh, no Mona!" the thief seated next to her said. "You always get so depressed around Christmas in paticular. Why don't you ever let me take you to the Order's Headquarters so you can have a fun holiday?"
The bartender returned with three tall bottles of the whiskey, and Mona popped the first one open and sipped it. "I have my reasons."
"Which are highly classified and you will never tell the general public, let alone us your closest friends!" the bartender said then pointed an accusing finger at her. "This year, you will tell us your whole, miserable past, Mona Lisa!"
Mona Lisa narrowed her pale eyes. "What makes you think that my past has made me miserable?"
"Oh, come on! You make a decent living," Mona snorted, and 'Dung rolled his eyes. "I said decent, not honorable. And you're pretty enough to find a decent boy to go off and marry and be happy with! In fact, I think I could comply to your obviously high standards..." he said while leaning in closer to Mona Lisa, letting her smell his scent of alcohol mixed with stale tobacco.
She pratically gagged. "Thanks, but no." Mundungus looked only slightly disappointed.
There was a pause, while everybody sipped their rum, beer, or whatever, and the band came out and struck up a tune. There was a guy with long greasy hair who was obviously going to try to sing, and a few others on guitars, and one on piano, and another on drums. They were a pretty motley bunch, but mostly everybody who came into the Hog's Head was.
The drag queen man in the front tapped the microphone, took a deep breath and began to sing, and the band to play. The guitars were out of tune, but Mona considered them fairly decent.
"Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends."
"You SUCK!" someone yelled from the crowd.
Mona turned around in her stool. "Ah, shut up!" she called back, and the band continued to play.
Mundungus chimed in. "Your MOM sucks!" he laughed. The bartender rolled his eyes at the comment.
"Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends."
Everybody turned back to their groups and conversations.
Mona Lisa slowly spoke. "You're right. A lot of things have happened to make me miserable."
"Care to embellish?" Mundungus prompted.
"Not really." Mona Lisa grumbled.
"Come on!" the bartender grunted. "I do this sort of support-group stuff all the time!"
Mona groaned. "I'm not a drug addict!"
Aberforth raised a finger. "But there is an incident or two in your foggy past that is holding you back from your full potential!" he said.
"Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
Ring out the bells again
Like we did when spring began
Wake me up when September ends."
"Please tell! We all want you to be happy!" 'Dung pleaded.
"Fine." Mona Lisa threw up her hands in defeat. "I know I'm going to regret this..."
"Beer on the house for being nice for a change!" Aberforth slammed down another bottle on the bar, and pulled up a stool in front of the duo to listen. "So, let's start at the beginning of whenever you feel nessecary." And he and 'Dung both attentively stared at the gorgeous witch, along with half the rest of the tavern, which they soon noticed.
"Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are."
"Hey, back off! She's mine!" Mundungus called out, and wrapped a protective arm around her waist. Suprisingly, Mona Lisa didn't hex him out of creation, but she leaned her head into his shoulder. She was not looking foward to telling her entire, sad life story. Over the fire place the clock chimed ten o'clock.
Mona sighed. "Hell, I don't even know where to begin..." she murmered softly to the two men who had come to be her friends in the past months.
"As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends."
Author's Ending Notes
Hope everybody liked it! I'm trying to write this, I've basically given up on 'Misfits' for now...maybe one day I'll write it again...and I'm still posting my other story on another site. I'll get it uploaded on here someday...I hope I caught all the grammer and spelling errors on here, but if I didn't, I don't really care so don't but me about it.
Please submit nice reviews! I got only "You suck" reviews before, and only one nice one on my last story! Wow, I am sounding really happy and sweet today. Wow. Where is the bitter, sarcastic bitch that I know we all love! But I've been planning this story for a long time, and yes, it is a Marauders story. In case you are really slow, I'm trying a new format. Mona Lisa's telling her story, so the majority of this will be her memories. But the ending won't be, but I don't even know how I'm going to end this! I just have the first part planned out, and a hazy outline. The 'present' is in the Hog's Head. Okay, you had to be really stupid not to catch that. So, whatevers. But I love 'Dung, had to put him in here! Peace out with inhalers for now, I'll try to update soon!