Chap 15:
Callie looked up at the domed ceiling, her cream dress rustled slightly as she turned around slowly. She was dressed in a soft cream, strapless dress, a gold band highlighting the empire waist. Her feet were in dainty gold sandals, her hair up in an intricate bun, a gold band going around her head. She barely heard the bubbling laughter around her, the pounding thud of music as it blasted around her. She didn't feel the bodies press against her as the students danced and twirled with their friends and dates. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling, the star strewn sky, a bright moon hanging amongst the sparkling lights, so familiar. She was shoved to the side slightly, her gaze torn from the ceiling, her eyes danced around, looking through the sea of bodies for the person who dragged her from her own mind, but the offender was already lost into the masses of bodies. Callie turned around, looking through the crowd, spinning, her eyes searching. She whirled around again, the music making her head pound, the bodies where whirling and whizzing by, she felt sick, she was going to faint, any minute now, and then, it stopped. The bodies seemed to simply melt away, people turning towards each other, arms wrapping around waists and necks. The pounding had left her ears and mind, filling both with a soft gentle melody, piano, and violin. Callie nearly sank to the ground in relief, but two hands grabbed her waist, holding her up. She turned and looked up at Eric, he looked down concernedly, his eyes bright with uncertainty. Callie quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, holding onto him as her mind cleared even further. She saw the people around them rocking back and forth gently, couples smiling and joking with each other, and not for the first time in her life Callie was filled with jealousy. She blew a stray strand of hair out of her face, looking down at her feet as Eric twirled them around, holding her waist gently.
"Are you okay?"
Callie looked up, her eyes searching his, she then looked back out over the dance floor, and her eyes hardened as they crossed over the hugging and kissing couples, stars in their eyes as they looked at each other. She nodded her head sharply once, even though she was screaming on the inside, she would never admit it. Eric nodded and held her a little tighter as she rested her head against his chest. The song slowly came to an end, another pounding beat coming on. Eric quickly led Callie away from the happy, dancing crowd. He led her over to a table, Dakota, Alexa, Selena, Ben, and Alyssa were already there, Keilly soon joined them, carefully balancing drinks in her hands. Callie thankfully took a butter beer, letting the soothing liquid slip down her throat. The table was silent for a little while, Selena drumming her nails against her glass bottle and Ben tapping his foot to the music. Keilly hummed slightly and Alexa played with a piece of her hair. Alyssa sighed and turned, staring into the crowd of people. She laughed quietly and Callie looked up, the group followed Alyssa's line of sight and smiled, Pansy was glowering evilly in the corner, looking, strangely, rather pretty in a black, flowing dress, her straight black hair tied up in a bun with silver ribbons weaving through it. She had, much to Callie's surprise, decided against wearing tons of make-up, Callie nearly burst out laughing as she looked at what Pansy would be glowering at. Draco Malfoy was twirling elegantly on the dance floor with Daphne Greengrass, Blaise his usually distant, bored eyes, danced with amusement as he watched his friend twirl his girlfriend around, a small smile tugging at his lips when Daphne let out a little squeal when Draco dipped her into a back bend. Callie, slightly surprised, pondered Blaise's ability to enjoy watching his date have a great time with his best friend. From what Callie new, most men did not enjoy that, in fact, they usually resorted to abusive actions when things like this occurred, Callie new all too well. They would act calm and cool, watching apparently happily as their girlfriends and wives danced across the floor elegantly, but behind closed doors, the wives were lucky to be able to walk the next day. Callie remembered all to distinctly what happened when a woman looked at anyone but her husband. She was ripped out of her thoughts as she realized, Blaise was acting like most of the inwardly furious men, and when Daphne glided over towards him, he took her hand and they left, Callie watched, torn between making sure Blaise was not one of the men he had grown up with. And finally, making up her mind, she stood, nodded to her friends, and gliding out of the room, swiftly following blaise and Daphne. It had started snowing lightly outside the great, warm dome, but her bare shoulders and arms barely felt the biting cold as she scanned the lawns for the couple. She caught sight of them going towards the quidditch pitch, she quickly took off after them, keeping in the shadows, blending in with the darkness, even in her white dress. She watched as Blaise led Daphne out onto the quidditch pitch, twirling her around once before setting his hands on her waist, smiling down at her. Daphne smiled back uncertainly, Callie shuddered, she had seen that smile way too many times. She watched as Blaise started to twirl them around in the snow, large white flecks clinging to their hair. Callie crept closer, listening intently, but what she heard was not what she had expected. Daphne had been looking at Blaise uncertainly, and finally, opened her mouth and asked the much-awaited question.
"Blaise, what's going on? Why are we out here, on the quidditch pitch of all places, I mean it's beautiful, and I'm happy to be here, but is something wrong?"
Blaise looked down at her surprised, and then smiled, Callie felt her muscles tense, ready to jump in and rip the boy to shreds if he so much as flicked her.
"Well, we could have danced in the dome, but then I would have to live with Draco calling my twinkle toes or some other name he would undoubtedly think was clever for another month. So, I brought you out here, because you love snow, and quidditch."
Daphne laughed and Blaise twirled her around again, picking her up and spinning her in the air.
"You seriously snuck out here to watch them dance?"
Callie didn't even jump, but inwardly cursed herself for being caught off guard. She turned and looked at Eric, his hands were thrust in his pockets, and he was leaning against the stonewall, looking at her steadily.
"You followed me."
Eric shrugged, taking no heed to Callie's dangerous tone, she didn't like being surprised.
"You didn't answer the question."
Callie growled slightly under her breath, then shrugged, taking on his nonchalant expression.
"I was just checking on something, I love the snow, I wanted to be out here for a little while so I could enjoy it, alone."
She added extra emphasis on the last word. Eric narrowed his eyes at her, undoubtedly seeing through the lie.
"You're lying, you came out here to make sure he wasn't going to abuse her. God Callie!"
Callie glared at him, crossing her arms.
"When are you going to realize that there are good people in this world! You are so caught up in all the bad stuff that you can't take 2 seconds to think about all the incredible things happening. Why can't you just accept that people are not all bad!?"
Eric sounded generally fed up. His arms were also crossed and he was glaring at her. Callie stepped out of the shadows.
"Because good people are just bad people who got bored."
Eric groaned and put his head in his hands, massaging his eyelids.
"No they are not! Why are you so bent on seeing everyone as an enemy, why can't you just take a minute, a minute! To try and accept the fact that not everyone is out to get someone else! Just let someone in for five seconds Callie, let someone in and you'll see!"
Callie's glare hardened,
"I did let someone in, and look at how that turned out. I let them in, in everyway possible Eric, and they just did an about-face and took everything! Everything Eric, everything I had, my mind, my spirit, my soul, my heart! And you can stand here and tell me that I should give mankind a second chance! There is always going to be a part of everyone that longs to just do something bad, and you are standing here, self righteous and completely hypocritical! You act as if people never give into temptation, temptation that has driven men to the very deepest circle of hell, temptation that turns the greatest man into nothing more than another back stabber that hides around corners in the shadows to prey on the weak! There are no good people! There are the weak, who aren't strong enough to handle giving into their inner feelings, and those who can embrace the power they have and use it!"
Eric stared at her, disbelieving,
"You actually believe that Callie? You believe that there are no good intentions in this world. You don't think someone would do something, just to help someone else out, maybe you do belong with them, you sure think like one of them."
Callie growled slightly, clutching her left arm, her thumb running over the black mark.
"You give me one example of someone who has done something just to help someone else, received nothing in return, but was still happy to do it."
Eric thought for a second, staring at the glaring girl. While he tried to think of someone, Blaise and Daphne were racing back to the dome, having heard the two hissing at each other in the shadows, they burst into the room. Blaise ran over to Draco and his other friends, while Daphne, ran to Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The group quickly ran out of the dance, followed closely by Dumbledore, who had heard the exchange between Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy. As the ground tore across the grounds they could hear the voices, which were quickly escalating.
"Harry potter! The boy has lost everything! Everything Callie, and yet he still fights the dark lord when he could just give up, he keeps going, even when it means risking his own life!"
The group got there in time to see Callie scoff.
"Harry Potter, that's the best you could come up with, I've already shot down Dumbledore! And you think Harry Potter will change my mind! Did you ever think about the feeling of revenge he must have burning inside of him? Did you ever thin about how satisfying it will be for him to kill Tom?! You can't seriously think that Harry Potter is not getting anything out of this!"
Eric kicked the wall in frustration while Callie kept glaring. She turned and looked at the group of spectators, which had now been accompanied by a couple more teachers.
"Calliope, please calm down, what is the problem, I'm sure we can fix it. But degrading my students will not help the situation."
Dumbledore spoke calmly, even as Callie glared fiercely at him.
"Don't call my that, I hate when you call me that."
Dumbledore nodded.
"Well, Miss Gaunt, what is the problem?"
Many sharp intakes of breath could be heard; Harry was staring at her wide-eyed, mouthing the word Gaunt over and over again.
"Nothing sir, Callie and I were just discussing her views of man kind."
Eric's voice was stony and cold, he was staring at the lake, his eyes not looking at any of them as he spoke.
"Ah, well then, maybe this is a discussion better had in my office. Callie, you would do well not to repeat your views to anyone, as they seem to bring quite a disagreement into the community."
Callie nodded,
"Well, then I'll just have to discuss them with someone else."
Eric snorted,
"Yeah, how about who taught them to you? I'm sure he'd love to hear his teachings weren't a waste of time."
The students completely lost by this time, looked on the scene in a mixture of fascination, terror, and interest.
"Maybe he would, I guess it's time for a little family reunion!"
Eric laughed coldly, shaking his head. Dumbledore, however, looked horrified by the idea,
"Please Callio- Miss Gaunt, I do not believe a reunion is in order, I'm sure we can talk this out."
Callie snorted something that sounded oddly like 'not likely'. Eric growled,
"Callie! All you have to do is accept that there is some good in this world, all you have to do is see past the back stabbers, torturers, abusers, and evil bastards! Just admit that the world has angels and devils!"
Callie smiled cruelly at him,
"Careful Eric, or these angels of yours might find their halos have fallen a couple inches and become their noose."
Callie turned from the gaping boy and walked over to Dumbledore, the crowd parted quickly to let her through to the man with a sad look in his usually twinkling blue eyes.
"I resign."
Dumbledore went to protest but kept his mouth closed, nodded, his eyes losing their last spark.
"Good-bye Callie, good luck."
Callie smiled tightly at him, nodding. And with that, she ran from the grounds, quickly sprouting red feathers and bursting into flame, leaving the grounds of Hogwarts for the last time, never to return.