Chpt. 4
You were the morning star among the living,
But now in death your evening lights the dead.
-Plato.
A tornado with a halo.
It's that what it really is. A huge just of wind whirling around, dancing with the halo on his head. Or her.
---- ----
Lately I've gotten callers, the sort that I don't like.
Not the Lame Gang. No, but the people at that school who are in constant dying curiosity about me.
It bothers me that no one will leave me be. For some reason there's no one coming right up. Invites to parties, parties of people I have no idea who they are.
I mutter an incoherent 'uh huh' and get off the phone as quickly as I can.
At school there's bumping, asking questions, flirtations of all kinds.
My face is either red or blank.
I hope this goes away soon. That this interest in me goes away as fast as the Weasels ever disappeared.
---- -----
Her name is Tiffany Yunaruy, her father was once a friend of Rick's.
She's blonde and rich. Very rich.
From what I know she still comes over to see Kathy and Rick when her father pisses her off.
Though not voiced that way.
She giggles at all of Rick's' jokes, she inquires into Kathy's life as if she could possibly care about the menial hobbies.
I artfully ignore them all.
Today was worse at school than the other days. After all Hellbrows' pathetic attempts to be my 'friend' have been driving me up the wall.
I wonder if Potter ever had to deal with that?
No matter.
The reason why it was worse was because there was nothing to stop him from walking me with a bunch of his friends home.
When we got there he and his friends meet Kathy and Rick.
Now I have to deal with Kathy and Rick believing I have friends.
Yunaruy came over after them, making my obligation to sit in on the visit palpable.
She's wearing a plaid skirt that is short, a top shirt that allows her breasts seem bigger.
I don't believe its s school uniform, but she doesn't appear to be flirtatious with me, so my opinion of her isn't all that bad.
Well, if I did have an opinion of her. Incidentally I don't.
"Derek?" Rick's smiling at me, offering a cookie.
Oatmeal, yum.
--- ----
I'm worried, I'll admit it.
I'm worried because I know next to nothing about what's going on with the War. I have no way of finding out.
Sometimes, I watch Muggles, both in amazement on how couldn't they know, and in contempt when I think that if they can do all of this, why not help us.
Other times I don't think of it at all.
Sometimes I envy Muggles. Both for their ignorance and their intents of good positive things. Even when to the outside ears it still sounds wrong.
In my history class they've skimmed over World War 2, the war that happened at the same time as Grindelwald.
The things people did for the intentions of good as warped as it was. The cleaning for a good puritan race. The dropping of a bomb to destroy an enemy for the good of the world. The suicide deaths of honour. The burnt evidence…
On the other side of my envy is the pure adoration in the wake of what Muggles have had to go through to become superior than Wizard's in nearly every way.
I feel cheapened by Muggles because of this.
My entire life was focussed on learning spells to the point of doing nothing but steer a broom with my hands.
Hell to torture and kill a person there are the Unforgivables.
But Muggles play mind games. They have sick things such as ads that make me feel inadequate of who a person is.
Even for those they have remedies that can be fixed. Such as a little thing they call a 'pill', or tubes that suck out the fat from you body…
The last is gross. But they do it.
There are other things such as alcohol things the Teevee shows me that makes one want to buy some.
In stark contrast Muggles demand truth wherever you turn.
Truth about their government, truth about people, animals, religion, food, drugs…
I try not to watch the news too much. After a while I get a headache trying to keep up. Rick usually comes in the room and changes the channel without thinking to people kicking a ball around.
Muggles are more complicated than Arithmancy.
--- ----
"I'll pick you up at nine for Jeff's party." Hellbrows says.
I raise my eyebrow. I've already said no. If Hellbrows comes to Kathy and Rick's I'll have to go on their insistence.
Sighing I turn around and start to walk to my English class.
---- ---
The party is noisy and there ware rainbow lights blinking on and off all over the place.
I hadn't wanted to come.
"Heeeyyyy— Derek right?" Some person with a drunken grim comes right up to my face, learning in close as I lean back. The smell is unacceptable.
I sniff and turn my head trying to focus on something else.
Hellbrows shoves me into a different part of the house that is brighter with only a dim light and no blinking ones.
"Great! You brought him." Says some guy with dorky square glasses.
"Is this that guy you were just talking about?" Says some girl with a brassiere for a shirt.
I cringe at the fact that she's wearing such an inappropriate outfit.
"Yeah. Hey Dere, can we see the tattoo?" Without ceremony my arm is grabbed and the tattoo is shown.
"That's awesome! Where'd you get it done?" I snatch my arm back and don't answer. Not that I need to as they all start talking of everything tattoo related.
Yunaruy's apparently here too. She smiles at me and tips a red plastic cup at me. I nod, accepting the new one she offers me.
"Didn't know you knew Jack?" I shrug sipping the bitter watery liquid.
"How do you know him?" I don't care, but its awkward to be somewhere you don't know anybody.
She shrugs, "After you go to these things for a couple of months, you'll know everybody."
I frown when I see what she's wearing.
Short skirt and a scarf top.
Ridiculous.
Hellbrows comes back in. He and Yunaruy start talking, I start to stare off into space.
I start when something crashes into me. Only to find myself looking into the face of that girl who said 'We are the Generation raised without Religion.'
"Sorry." Her voice is soft and feminine, but her eyes are bloodshot. Her pupils huge and breath smells of an illicit plant.
I feel my heart race like it did when I first met Potter. Not love, but that excited feeling you get when you felt that a person could be your friend.
"Hey, Leper. We getting' outta here or what?" Comes a drawl from a girl with dark green hair and cranky face.
'Leper' nods.
I grab her arm.
"Can I come?"
Her lip pierce glints as she nods. Slightly.
--- -----
None of us are talking as we walk down the street. Deserted the party distant and odd sounding behind us.
"So kid, you don't seem the type to go to a party like that." The girl with green hair is smoking a cigarette.
"I'm not." She nods.
None of us talk.
In a strange way I like it more than I did all the times I talked with Blaise, Pansy or Theodore.
By the end of the walk we're in a neighbourhood that looks worse for wear.
"Do you do anything?" Her voice is not at all severe like her friends.
I assume that they're talking about Muggle drugs. I shake my head.
"That's cool." Her purple hair glints. Her friend actually smiles at me.
"Listen kid, we're gonna be at a friend's come with us that's cool, we're just hanging out. Hell, you seem like an all right kid. Got any money?" I pull out the papers that are Muggle currency.
"15 Pounds? Probably won't need to spend that all." She murmurs to herself.
I make a deal with myself. Buy the stuff and don't take it.
We finally make it to the house.
We go into the broken decrepit house, finding it smoky and full of people.
"Hey, where were you guys?" A big guy with long hair comes up.
"Went to that fuckin' Jeff's party. To drop of some shit Jay gave me." The soft feminine voice beside me says.
"Whatever you say Leper. Chantal get your arse over here."
Everyone here just lazes as they sit around and either talk softly, smoke (in one case a girl leans forward to sniff out of a tube) or do nothing at all.
I just lean back and take it all in.
Someone hands me something, "I'll give you three for 5 pounds." I nod.
They look like those Muggle pills. I inspect them.
"One's Green Exclamation, The others are Pink Heart, Blue Dolphin." I nod.
'Leper' nudges me. "Come on I'll get you some water."
--- ----