UNDER CONTROL.
The front door slammed behind her as Leya walked out of the house that morning. She was tired as hell even though the last few days were reasonably quiet considering the previous couple events. The last few days Leya had been practicing her magic. Refining it, so she wouldn't forget certain spells and perfecting others that she hadn't been able to do before.
Of course, it was tiring. Her magic wasn't just something she could whip out at any moment and perform with perfection. It took time and concentration, but extensively exercising your magical core can tire the body.
But there was still one branch of magic Leya hadn't practiced. A branch she hated to practice because she could never really do it right: Occlumency. It was hard to let go of everything, how could she just let go when everything was so complicated lately? But still, she had to try. Only this time the practicing would be on her terms and no one would forcefully (and at times painfully) enter her mind.
In fact Leya actually had a theory about Occlumency. She thought since she had already kind of practiced it back in England to avoid Voldemort's mental attacks (although she wasn't very determined to learn it back then) she already had some sort of barrier around her mind however weak it was.
A barrier that even vampires and their compulsion wouldn't be able to cross.
Leya dumped her bag in the backseat of her car and slammed the door shut when a loud 'Hey!' was yelled. She ignored it thinking it wasn't for her but when the second 'Hey!' was louder and closer she looked up.
"Hey, uh, I'm John. You must be the new neighbor." The man said holding out his hand with a small smile.
It took Leya a second to respond shaking his hand with a fake smile. "Uh, yeah, yeah. I'm Leya Potter."
There was something creepy about him, whether it was his receding hair line or the deceiving smile, Leya instantly did not like him.
"So what brings you to Mystic Falls?" He asked, seeing Leya's hesitant look he added. "It's just not many people want to move here of all places."
"I don't know, I kinda like here." Leya responded cautiously. "Change of scenery and all that stuff."
"Right. Well, you have a good day." He replied with a cheery smile that was so obviously fake it made her want to cringe watching as he walked away and – and into Elena's house?
Leya walked closer to the Gilbert household and didn't have to wait long before all three Gilberts exited their house like bats outta hell.
She briefly share a smile with Jeremy who had gotten into Jenna's car as Elena walked over to her.
"Hey." Elena greeted with a smile.
"Hey, who's Mr. Creepy?" Leya asked nodding her head towards her house.
"Mr. Creepy is my Uncle John." Elena replied just as Jenna joined them.
"Oh my God, Elena I didn't know, I – I didn't mean to insult-"
"Oh, sweetie don't worry about it." Jenna said butting into the conversation with an amused smile. "Mr. Creepy is in fact the perfect name for him, no one likes John. So I guess it could also be Mr. Asshole."
Leya and Elena laughed as they went their separate ways, Elena with her Aunt and Leya by herself.
The day seemed to pass by in a blur and soon enough Leya returned home from school completely exhausted. Just as her bag hit the couch the doorbell rang, with a tired groan she reluctantly headed to the door and opened it halfway before trying to shut it but Damon's hand stopped the door.
"Really?" He asked amused as Leya put all her weight into trying to close the door.
"A girl can try." She snapped back as she gave up with a sigh. "What do you want?"
"Look, you and I both know Stefan's off the rails and I don't think you're buying his bull about getting better, you're smarter than that." Damon began. "So I think you and I need to team up together and just watch out for Stefan."
With a raised eyebrow Leya responded. "Me, teaming up… with you."
"Yeah, I thought the last time we teamed up it went pretty well. Kinda like those combat turtles."
"Ninja." Leya interrupted. "It's ninja turtles."
"Whatever, either way just think of this as you being his best friend trying to help him for the better." Damon continued. "You've already been to the house a couple of times, you know how different he is when he's not on animal blood and I can tell you, it's only gonna get worse."
"Fine." She gave in. "For Stefan's sake only."
"Deal." Damon replied smug. "So, since we have this deal going on don't you think I deserve an invite in?"
"The only time you will ever enter this house, Damon is if I die." Leya replied. "And that will not be happening anytime soon."
Damon opened his mouth, probably to try (and fail) to persuade her into inviting him in when both their phones rang with a new text.
Can you come over? – Elena
"You get one from Elena?" Damon asked as Leya went to grab her jacket.
"Yeah, it must be pretty important if she's calling you over too." Leya retorted closing the door behind her and shooting a sarcastic smile Damon's way.
"Ha, ha, ha." Damon replied flatly as they walked the short distance to Elena's. "I'll have you know I can be helpful in tight situations."
"Oh, yes, Damon. Of course that's only after you create the situation and while trying to fix it kill a couple of people in the process."
Leya yelped when Damon pinched her lightly just as Elena opened the door.
"Oh, good you're both here." Elena greeted relieved.
"You ask, we come. We're easy like that." Damon replied walking in.
"Speak for yourself." Leya grumbled following him in glaring furiously in his direction.
Elena held a finger up to her lip and pointed in the direction of the kitchen where Jeremy was eating.
"No, Elena, I will not… go to your bedroom with you and Leya." Damon said loudly watching for Jeremy's reaction.
Leya scoffed and walked up to Elena's room leaving her to deal with Damon. She jumped onto Elena's bed leaning against her headboard, she was so tired and she was dreading the fact that she had to force herself to practice Occlumency. But it was a necessary evil, she just had to do.
"Ah, just like I remembered." Damon purred as he walked in the room.
"Stop messing around." Elena grumbled lowly as she closed the door behind her.
Damon picked up Elena's teddy that was next to Leya and hoped onto to the bed much like she did, placing the teddy on his stomach. He smiled cheekily at her before addressing Elena.
"Did you know that your uncle has been kicking it with the Founder's Council?"
"What?" Elena asked a little surprised.
"Yep."
"Perfect, we'll just add it to the growing list of how everything is falling apart."
Leya noticed a couple of Elena's things were broken and stuffed into the corner of the room. She tapped her foot against Damon's making him look her way and nodded her head in the direction of broken furniture.
"What happened right there?" Damon asked using the teddy's arm to point to the corner.
"Uh… nothing." Elena was lying, it was so obvious Leya couldn't help but give her a deadpanned look.
"Look, Damon, Leya, I called you guys here 'cause I'm worried about Stefan. He says that everything's okay but he's clearly struggling. How long is it gonna take before he goes back to normal?"
Leya and Damon shared a look.
"A few days. Give or take." Leya answered, with a little shrug to make it seem like it was nothing.
Which it was not. This was a huge deal and from what Leya saw the few times she's been over at the Salvatore boarding house just like Damon said, Stefan on human blood was not as nice as Stefan on Bambi blood.
"It's been a few days." Elena said looking from Leya to Damon.
"Give then, I don't know. What's the big deal?" Damon replied throwing the teddy bear into Leya's stomach before standing up to walk over to Elena's dresser.
"He's not himself, Damon."
"Well, maybe his problem is that he has spent too long not being himself." Damon replied opening her drawer and picking up a bra with raised eyebrows.
"Please don't make me sorry for asking you." Elena grumbles through gritted teeth snatching the bra back and stuffing it in her drawer.
Damon swiftly snatched a photo that was blue tacked to her mirror and ranted while Elena tried to grab the photo back.
"It is what it is, Elena. The Stefan you know was 'good behavior Stefan', 'reign it in Stefan', 'fight against his nature into an annoying excessive level Stefan' but if you think there isn't another part to this then you have not been paying attention."
Elena finally manages to take the picture back. "He's not you, not even close."
"Well, he doesn't want to be me. That doesn't mean that deep down that he's not." Damon replied walking up close to her and giving her a look.
Leya watched with raised eyebrows as they stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Damon turned to leave without another word. That was very, very strange Leya thought as Elena turned to place her picture back on her mirror.
"I hate this." Elena said as she turned to face Leya. "I hate not being able to help him, it's all I wanna do. I just want to help him get better."
"He will, Elena. But the only time Stefan will get better is if we force him to."
Elena sighed as she sat down on the bed. She hated to admit it but Leya was right and so was Damon but she believed Stefan could get better if he wanted to, he just needed a little help is all. Stefan had always been there for her and now the time comes up where he needs her and she can't there, it's frustrating.
"You know what, this is slightly depressing and I have better things to do than sit around and contemplate Stefan's eating habits. Like grocery shopping, I'm running low on food." Leya began as she got up off the bed.
"I really think you should take your mind off this, Elena, even if it's only for a moment. You mentioned once that you were close to Jeremy, I think maybe now be a good time for a little catch up session."
"Yeah, maybe you're right."
And with a smile and quick farewell Leya left to food shop while Elena went to her brother's room.
Grocery shopping was never fun. When she was younger and Mrs. Figg couldn't take care of her on that particular day Aunt Petunia would reluctantly drag her to the shops. There were rules of course; no talking, no wandering around, no playing and most importantly no asking for any item Leya wanted. Grocery shopping was never fun with Aunt Petunia.
After the war was over, Leya had moved into moved into Sirius' home and the Order of Phoenix old headquarters; Grimmauld Place. There Mrs. Weasley had continuously dropped by with food so Leya never really had to buy any. But now that she was here in Mystic Falls food wasn't just going to mysteriously appear in her fridge and pantry no matter how much she wanted it to. It felt so strange to do something so mundane when everything was going crazy around her. But at the same time it was nice to have a little normalcy.
Leya sighed as she picked up one of the many Greek yogurts and dropped it into her shopping cart. Next to her was a boy not that much older than her, probably the same age muttering to himself.
"Two percent, why does it have to be two percent? Why can't it be low-fat or half cream? Why is there so much milk?"
Leya raised an eyebrow and tried to contain her amused smile. "Uh, do you need any help?"
"What?" He asked turning around surprised.
Leya paused unsure as he stared. She turned her head a fraction behind her to see if he was staring at someone behind her, but there was no one there but her. "Um do you need any help?... Or do you just like staring at milk?"
He looked back at the cartons of milk before turning to her with a sheepish grin. "Uh no…I just...well, you see, I didn't realize that there were more than one kind…" He stuttered, as if he was thinking half a million things when he was talking to her. "My mom asked for two percent but there are like three kinds so…"
"Well, I would go with this one." Leya said picking up one of the three choices. "But only because it looks promising."
"I'll take your word for it." He said chuckling as he placed it in his cart. "Thanks, Leya."
"You know my name?" Leya asked surprised staring at him.
"Uh, yeah. We go to the same school and… well we're sorta in the same English and Chemistry class."
"Oh." Leya paused unsure of what to say.
"Uh, I'm Austin."
Leya smile shyly as he grinned at her.
"I – I should get back to shopping."
"Oh, uh yeah, yeah. Me too. You know I have more dairy products to buy." Austin replied as Leya started to push her cart around him.
"I'll see you at school, I guess?" Leya meant for it to be a statement but it had come out more as a question.
"Definitely." Austin replied. "I mean, uh y - yeah I guess I - I'll see you there."
"Okay." Leya replied simply.
Leya started to push her cart away from the dairy area head down. Just as she was about to turn into another lane she looked up to see Austin staring at her. She smiled turning away as he grinned, looking down she bit her lip in embarrassment. Maybe shopping wasn't that bad after all.
Sometime later as Leya was putting the groceries away there was a knock at her door. She hesitated before walking over, it's was like whenever she wanted a peaceful night someone or something wanted to ruin it.
"Get ready." Were the words Damon greeted her with when she opened the door.
"For what?"
"You're coming with me to the Founder's Day kickoff party." Damon explained.
"Founder's Day kickoff party? Damon, only founding families are invited and in case you haven't notice I'm not a part of the elite founding families."
"Just get ready and wear something pretty, Stefan will be there and we need to keep an eye on him."
"Why is Stefan going to be there in the first place? You know what don't answer that, give me twenty minutes." Leya said as she walked back into her house leaving the door open.
"Fifteen!" Damon shouted at her retreating back.
"Twenty-five!"
And sure enough Leya came back twenty-five minutes later in a simple yet elegant white dress and shoes.
"It took you twenty-five minutes to put that on?" Damon asked annoyed, looking her up and down. Damon did have to hand it to her though twenty-five minutes and she looked good. Really good. Especially since most women he had known over a century took at least an hour to look as good as Leya did in only twenty-five minutes.
"Shut up."
"Oh god! I shouldn't be here." Stefan stated nervously as the three stood in the entrance of the Founders Hall, classical music flowing from within the rooms.
"Come on, don't be a downer." Damon consoled. "It's a party for the founding families! That would be us. It would be rude to skip it."
"Why is Leya here, then?" Stefan asked looking over to Leya as she looked around with a frown.
"She's my arm candy." Damon replied looking at Leya and smirked.
"And here I thought you liked me for my company." Leya replied sarcastically.
"That as well as your witty remarks, and it also doesn't hurt that you're smoking hot."
"I think I liked you a whole lot better when you hated everybody." Stefan said butting in before Damon could try and make a move on Leya who was obviously uncomfortable at his confession.
"Oh, I still do. I just love that they love me." Damon smiled. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm good, I'm fine." Stefan replied a little too quickly.
"No cravings? No urges? Is that whiskey you've been drinking all day doing its job?"
Stefan laughs uncomfortably as Leya looks on concerned.
"We are who we are, Stefan. Nothing's gonna change that."
"Ah! Nothing will make you happier to just see me give up, huh, Damon?"
"Whatever, it's inevitable."
"Well, I'm gonna find Elena." Stefan said shooting a quick smile to Leya as he walked away, Damon half-jokingly saying to his retreating back.
"Don't embarrass me young man!"
Damon then turns to Leya and whispers lowly just in case Stefan might be listening. "Keep an eye on him, will you."
"What about you?"
"I gotta talk to Sherriff Forbes." Damon replies as they go their separate ways.
Leya followed Stefan and quickly became bored out of her mind as she watched Stefan down drink after drink without stopping.
"I think you should slow down a little." Leya announced as she walked up to Stefan.
"Oh, come on, Leya. Live a little, have some fun. You know what I think it's you who needs a drink." Stefan said snapping his fingers to the bartender who with lightning speed placed a drink in front of Leya with a glazed look in his eyes.
"Really?" Leya asked rhetorically with raised eyebrows making Stefan shrug in response with an amused smile.
"Hey!" Elena said as she walked closer.
"Hey, how are you?" Stefan asked enthusiastically kissing her on the cheek.
"Are you drunk?"
"Yes." Leya butted in taking a sip from her drink.
Stefan gave Leya a look turning back to Elena. "Okay, I know it's a little weird but it's really helping me. The alcohol takes the edge off."
"You're totally that drunk high school guy at parties sneaking booze." Elena stated amused.
"I totally am, yeah."
"How worried do I need to be?" Elena asked.
"Oh no! You don't need to be worried. It's just until the cravings go away. Listen, I think we should enjoy it while it lasts. Would you like to dance with me?"
"You hate dancing. I usually have to beg you."
"No, no, no you have to beg the sober me. The drunk me there is no begging necessary."
"There's really no one dancing." Elena said as she looked to the empty dance floor.
"That's because they need something better to dance to. I'll be right back." Stefan says walking over to the DJ.
"Yeah… That's not gonna work. I already tried to bribe the guy with 20 bucks and a date. He said Carol Lockwood has complete control over the music choices." Kelly Donovan said as she slid up to Leya and Elena.
"You'd be surprised what Stefan can accomplish when he puts his mind to it." Leya supplied offhandedly as she and Elena watched him compel the DJ.
And in that moment an upbeat song blared through the speakers making the people wandering around flock the dance floor.
"Thank God!" Kelly exclaimed as she started to dance towards a man who was already on the floor.
Leya's eyes widened as Stefan started to walk towards her a grin plastered across his face. She tried to protest as he grabbed her hand and dragged her onto the dance floor but gave up knowing it was inevitable and started going along with it dancing to the song.
After the song ended Leya had gone on her own way and just wandered through the crowd, she thought she might've seen creepy Uncle John join Damon outside on the balcony but thought nothing of it. The only thing that was going through her mind at the moment was home.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry." Leya blurted out as she accidently bumped into someone spilling their drink.
"Oh, uh don't worry about it." A familiar voice replied as he turned around to see who the culprit was.
"Austin?" Leya asked surprised as she backed away a little realizing just how close they were standing next to each other. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm a part of the founding family." At Leya's raised eyebrow he elaborated. "I'm a Fell."
"Right, of course you are." Leya a muttered softly.
"What?"
"Nothing." Leya replied hastily.
"Um, you look really pretty." Austin said his brown eyes slowly looking her up and down.
"Oh, uh, well you look really pretty too. Oh, I- I mean h - handsome. You look really handsome." Leya stuttered wondering why she was acting really weird when out of nowhere Damon interrupted grabbing her arm.
"Not really sorry to break… whatever this is up but I need to borrow Leya for a moment. Excuse us."
"What are you doing?" Leya snapped as Damon dragged her further and further down the hall away from Austin to a drunk looking Stefan.
"You want to hear the bad news or the really bad news?" Damon asked both Leya and Stefan.
"Actually, I don't want any news, Damon and I'm pretty sure Leya doesn't either with that look on her face."
"Alright, let me rephrase. Do you want to hear how the council is back in vampire mode or how I just killed Uncle John Gilbert?"
"What?" Leya and Stefan asked the latter sobering up at Damon's announcement.
"Great party by the way, huh?"
Damon started to walk off, Leya and Stefan furiously trailing behind him when he got distracted, but Leya caught up to Damon.
"What the hell do you mean you killed Uncle John Gilbert?" Leya hissed irately grabbing onto his arm bringing Damon to a halt.
"I mean exactly that. He's dead, gone, outta our lives forever." Damon said exaggeratedly whispering the last part.
Leya was about to respond when she caught sight of John Gilbert, alive and well, color in his cheeks over Damon's shoulder.
"I thought you said you killed John Gilbert?" Leya asked confused, knowing Damon wasn't joking because he rarely made a joke out of killing someone.
Damon scrunched his eyebrows and turned around to see what Leya was staring at so intently when she asked that only to see the very person he had just killed.
"You got to be kidding me."
Damon grabbed her hand leading her to stand beside Alaric where all three listened to Mayor Lockwood's speech.
"Thank you all, thank you very much, thank you. Thank you all for joining us tonight in just a few moments we will officially start the countdown for our upcoming Founder's Day Celebration and it's a very special one this year. The 150th birthday of our own town." Mayor Lockwood said with a smile as he looked over the crowd as everyone clapped.
"And I would like to welcome back one of our town favorite's sons to do the honor of ringing our official charter bell. John Gilbert would you please join me up here?" Everyone clapped once more as John Gilbert walked happily up onto the stage.
Leya was confused as she watched Elena's uncle look around the crowd stopping when his eyes caught Damon.
"One hundred and fifty years of community, prosperity, family. We take care of each other, look after each other, protect each other." John said staring straight at Damon. "It's good to be home."
"Look at his right hand." Damon muttered to Leya and Alaric.
"Whose?"
"Towns favorite's son. Look at his ring."
Leya looked at John as he pulled the rope, ringing the bell. She focused on his hand and saw a ring that looked identical to Alaric's.
"Well, it looks like mine." Alaric told the vampire.
"Yeah and that would be a big coincidence if he didn't just come back from the dead five minutes ago." Damon snarled. "Where the hell did you get that ring?"
"Isobel, my wife." Alaric answered, looking down at his ring.
"You don't think…?" Leya murmured suspiciously as she looked at both Damon and Alaric.
"Wait you think John knew Isobel?" Alaric asked skeptically.
"I think John knows a lot of things." Damon responded.
All of their eyes were locked on John.
The three of them followed John as he started to move after he delivered his speech, Damon jogging slightly to catch him as he walked out the door.
"Going somewhere?"
"I never like to be that last one to leave a party." John replied not slowing his pace. "It's too desperate. Are you going to kill me again or are you gonna let Ms. Potter and Mr. Saltzman do your dirty work."
Leya tensed keeping pace with John staring him in the eye as he looked over to her and Alaric.
"Okay, you obviously know who we are." Alaric said slightly threatened.
"I do." John stopped walking bringing everyone to a halt. "Alaric Saltzman, the high school history teacher with a secret. And let's not forget the newest edition to town, Cattleya Potter you're a bit more complicated to put in a few simple adjectives."
"Sure know a lot for someone who just got to town." Damon said sensing how Alaric and Leya felt threatened.
"More than you can imagine, Damon." John replied walking past the trio to stand before them. "My knowledge of this town goes beyond anything that you, or either of you…" he said looking between Alaric and Leya. "Or the council knows. So if you were planning on some clever high-speed-snatch-ring-vamp-kill move know that if I die everything I know goes to the council."
Damon shared an uncomfortable look with Leya and Alaric. Unfortunately that clever high-speed-snatch-ring-vamp-kill move was exactly what Damon was planning despite Leya telling him numerous times that they had to be more careful.
John continued. "Including a fascinating little tale of the original Salvatore brothers and their present-day return to Mystic Falls."
"How'd you get that ring?" Alaric butted in cutting through John and Damon's stare down.
"I inherited one. My brother Gray, the other." John explained, holding up his hand the ring shined slightly with the fairy lights. "This was his. And I wouldn't have given mine to Isobel had I known she'd hand it over to another guy."
"So you did know her?"
"Who do you think sent her your way when she wanted to become a vampire?"
"You sent her?"
"Guilty." John said smirking. "Why? Did you think someone else sent her? Maybe Katherine Pierce?"
"How do you know about Katherine?" Damon asked tensing.
"How do I know anything, Damon?"
"What do you want?" Leya asked frustrated with the answers he was giving.
"So many questions. It's a pleasure meeting you, Leya, Ric. I've heard so much about you two." John said turning around and walking away without another word.
Leya breathed out, tense. He had to be taken care of, whatever John Gilbert knew about her Leya had to find out. She needed to know who told him and what it was they told him. It was a problem, a major problem practically a global crisis and it had to be taken care of, immediately.
A/N: So who is Austin, hmm? I guess you'll have to wait and find out ;) But if you want to know how I imagine him you should watch The First Time I think it came out in 2012 anyway I imagine Austin as Dave, if you haven't watched the movie I highly recommend it, so watch it, now! And as usual review!