A Day by the Fountain((Twiggy))

[Zeak Nitesh G2]

“I believe you’ll want to make a left turn to make it to the courtyard.” Zeak stated quietly so as to not startle the group of first years; it didn’t go according to plan. With a shriek the trio of girls spun around to look at the fifth year standing behind them. Zeak wore his customary dark sunglasses, a thick pair of pants, a warm sweater, and a thin coat around his shoulders. His brown hair was naturally spiked and sticking out in all directions. His custom cane rested easily on the ground in front of him. The girl’s destination was the same as his, so he had been forced to fall into step behind them until they got stuck at one of Hogwart’s many intersections and didn’t know the correct way. Zeak wasn’t rude, he wasn’t going to simply push by and be on his way. He arched an eyebrow, visible above his glasses and put on a disarming smile. There was a moment of stunned silence, Zeak timed it perfectly and began speaking just as the tension began to ease from the little girl’s muscles. “You are attempting to find the courtyard correct?” Zeak lifted his cane and pointed toward the left. “It’s that way.”

There was another moment of silence as the confusion of the situation was starting to clear for the little group. Zeak waited patiently for the moment to clear, he knew what was going to happen and he didn’t quite mind. Zeak could almost see the group stare at one another, deciding who would be the brave leader among the group. “Ho…How did you know where we were going?” Came a small timid voice from the left. Zeak turned to face her; although he couldn’t see her he found that this usually put people at ease. The voice was familiar to him; something he had heard in the common room, this girl was a Gryffindor. “Well, young Ms. Gryffindor. Although I did not mean to do it, I was eavesdropping on your conversation.” Zeak tapped one of his ears, “Eagles may have great site, well I have great ears. As I recall you just got done with your Transfiguration lesson and were looking to grab some fresh air in the courtyard.” Zeak smiled, it always amazed him how amazed others became when he managed to guess the simplest of actions that they were performing.

He once again heard the girl begin to speak but managed to cut her off. “I knew you were a Gryffindor because I’ve heard your voice before in the common room.” Zeak sighed and took a few steps forward, making him even with the intersection. “Now, not only have I memorized most of the paths in this school after five years of attending, but I have a few other tricks that help me get around.” Zeak once again pointed to the left. “That way, smells of fresh air, flowers just barely clinging to life as the season shifts fully into winter, and of course the approaching smell of fresh snow.” Zeak grinned and pointed to the right. “That way, smells old, dingy, and moldy. I also detect a faint odor of Potion ingredients, which lets me know that Snape’s classroom is down that way, or otherwise known as the dungeons.” Still smiling Zeak pointed straight ahead. “And that way… Well I’d rather not describe the smells of the hospital wing to you.” Zeak could hear the girls giggle at this comment and heard them start down the left path. “Thanks for the help.” They called down and Zeak waved them off and paused in the hall.

He grinned a little and couldn’t help but break into his sports commentator voice. “And once again its Nitesh with the student assist! He shoots he scores! Another day saved and another lesson learned by a small group of first year students.” Still grinning Zeak moved down the hall and out into the courtyard. He couldn’t help but wonder if Angel was already out here. Perhaps they would be able to get started on another book. Smiling Zeak moved over to his favorite spot, the fountain and sat down on the edge. He dipped his hand into the cool water, resting his cane across his knees and sighed as he allowed the sounds and smell nature to wash over him.

[twiggy]

"Now, Ms. Twigg could you please tell me why you enjoy this so much? School policy clearly states that the dress code -"

blah blah blah. It was all the same. Gabrielle heard it from nearly every professor in the school. No jean vests! No converse shoes! No green hair! And especially, no sewing patches with punk band logos onto her skirts. The only problem with "the rules" was that Gabrielle hated following them. The professors rarely took points away for dress code violations and the sixth year took every enjoyment she could in taking that to her advantage. Gabrielle turned away once the professor was done with her lecture with a new skirt in hand. It was normal for a professor to either instruct her to take the patches off, or give her a brand new skirt. The women usually liked to just shove a new skirt in Gabrielle's face, somehow thinking that because they gave it to her, it will go untouched.

Gabrielle shook her head with a smile, a plan already forming in her mind. It was a nice day out, the sun was shining, and she could not think of anything better to do than sit on a bench in the court yard and deface her newly acquired skirt with a few lovely patches. Her smile widened as she ran to the Slytherin common room and dove into her trunk. It was definitely hard to decide, however. She only had a few patches left. The Ramones or Bad Religion. It was much too hard to decide, so she just grabbed them both and her sewing kit.

Throwing her cloak on, she left the Common Room and walked outside. Thankfully she didn't have any classes left that day, not that she really attended class much anyway. She found that when she attended class, she just slept, so then why not stay in bed? There wasn't a big difference, except she was more comfortable in her bed. However, since she had no more classes for the day she wouldn't have to deal with a professor giving her more lectures for being outside. Although, if a professor found her in the courtyard sewing patches onto her skirt, then they might just have a problem anyway...

The cold was always a surprise when she opened the front door to the castle. It was so much warmer in the castle than outside, so the sudden gust of wind, although not freezing, was startling to the senses. A shiver wound down her spin as she closed the door behind her and started on her way to the courtyard. Thankfully, it was empty. Just how she liked it.

Finding a spot near the fountain, Gabrielle settled down on a bench and laid out her sewing things on her lap. Licking the thread, she attempted to push it through the eye of the needle. Miss. She sighed and tried again. Miss. Biting her lip and squinting her eyes in concentration, she tried yet again. Miss. Gabrielle sighed, the beginnings of frustration starting to build in her stomach, and went to try again. Her fingers slipped a bit as she gripped the needle and the sharp tip found it's way into her finger tip.

"Ouch!" She yelped as she dropped the needle into the grass. Cursing, she leaned over trying to find it, while sucking on her injured finger tip. As she searched, her sewing things started to gradually slip off of her lap. Prying her finger from her mouth, she tried to grab everything from falling. She was successful and somehow found the needle she was looking for at the same time. With a deep breath, she settled down yet again to try and thread the damn needle. Success! She laid the needle aside and pulled out her prized, charmed ipod and placed the headphones in her ears, blasting The Ramones. It was only fitting to play The Ramones while she sewed their patch onto her skirt. While "I Wanna Be Sedated" blasted into her ears, she picked up her skirt yet again and began to, quite badly, sew the patch, banging her head to the music and even singing along.

[Zeak Nitesh G2]

Zeak’s hand quickly started to grow numb in the cool waters of the fountain so he quickly removed it. A quick shake of the hand, a short wave of the wand and Zeak’s hand was nice and warm once again. He turned his face up toward the sky, letting the soft breeze blow through his unruly hair. It seemed that even the hair matched his personality, not a single brush could claim victory over his hair, just like his disability had not claimed a victory over him. Zeak’s hand dropped down onto his lap and landed on top of the custom cane’s dragon headed handle. The grip was laced with rubber so as to not put much pressure against the hand. His sensitive fingers played over the grip and found the bite marks within the rubber, aside from him only one other person, Angel White, knew what those bite marks meant, and he hoped it would stay that way. Zeak didn’t like to burden people with his problems, he hadn’t even wanted Angel to witness what she had.

He sighed and once again attuned his senses to the environment around him. This was his and Angel’s usual meeting spot, they had a few others strewn across the school. Angel was a free spirit, but she usually made it to 80% of their assigned meetings. Zeak didn’t mind when she didn’t show. He enjoyed her company, the two had basically become inseparable since they had met in their second year. Zeak was forced to look at the world in a mathematical formula. Angles of approach, distance between objects, geometry, but Angel saw the world through a vibrant expression of colors. She viewed the world through sharp color contrasts and artistic shapes. Zeak’s one regret in life was that he would never be able to see one of Angel’s paintings. Just than the sound of footsteps approaching caught his attention.

Zeak tuned in, he had many friends here at Hogwarts, and he was able to identify each and every one by simply listening to their approach. Every person had a different way of walking, a different speed, different length of a stride, and a different weight in their step, to this day Zeak had not guessed wrong, to the amazement of his friends. This walk was one that Zeak did not recognize. Curious, Zeak followed the approach of the new comer with perfect accuracy. They moved around to the other side of the fountain and sat down. A few tiny clicks and clinks reached his ear, almost inaudible, and there was a moment of silence. Zeak was about to shrug and turn away, probably just reading a book or something, when a sigh of frustration broke the silence. Curious again, Zeak stood up and picked up his cane and began to make his way around the fountain as someone yelled “ouch” and a frantic scuffle could be heard, followed by more clicks and clanks. It was clearly a girl that had cried out.

Zeak came around the fountain, if his eyes could see he would have been able to spot the odd looking girl by now, though she seemed not to notice his approach. As he neared the girl a small metallic click reached his ears, like a needle being set down and suddenly the entire situation made sense. The clicks and clacks must have been the separate spools of threads clicking together, and she must of obviously had a hard time threading her needle, even pricking herself with it. Zeak grinned, either this girl wasn’t much of a seamstress, or she was preoccupied. Zeak was about to speak but was interrupted as the sound of music filled the air. At first it was coming from some device, followed shortly by the girls voice singing along. Zeak had taken Radio Broadcasting and Music Appreciation classes the last two summers. Him being blind the only avenue for his voice impressions would be through radio, and the only way to get into radio was to know your way around music.

The song was “I Wanna Be Sedated,” by the Ramones, and old American classic punk rock group. The first of the generation, the Ramones had paved the way for most punk rock groups. Zeak couldn’t help but grin at the sound of Johnny Ramone rocking out on the guitar. This girl had to be a muggle, or at least half-blood. Not to mention she had a portable music player, another muggleish trait. Whatever she was using obviously had to be charmed with wizardly magic or else it shouldn’t work here at Hogwarts. The music kept rocking up and down, suggesting that the girl was head banging. Zeak couldn’t help but chuckle and lifted his voice, hoping it would carry over the sound of the music. “You know, I can’t imagine that your stitching will be very straight with your head banging like it is. Although I do have to say that the Ramones are an excellent choice.”

[twiggy]

"Over that stitch, poke it through..." Gabrielle was a terrible seamstress, but she did alright. As long as the damn thing was attached to the skirt, she didn't particularly care how well she'd done it. The music blared in her ears and tickled her ear drums. She loved the raw punk rock ringing through her ears. She felt a smile rise to her lips as she banged her head to the music, nearly pricking her already injured finger, which she had to suck on every now and then to stop the bleeding. Just as she was finishing up a corner of the patch, a very dulled voice seemed to break her reverie. She felt confusion as she pulled a headphone out of her ear and looked up. She felt her body start at the sudden appearance of the boy. She hadn't noticed him there. She felt the needle prick her finger again in her surprise.

"Ow!" She jammed the finger tip in her mouth again as she looked up at the boy. He seemed a year younger than her and was, oddly, wearing sunglasses. She felt confused and then saw his cane. Realization dawned on her and she knew it was the blind boy from Gryffindor.

"Oh... I'm sorry." She chuckled a bit as she took her finger out of her mouth, "What did you say? I didn't hear you." She turned off her ipod so that she could better hear his response and carefully set the needle down in her sewing box so as not to accidentally injure herself any farther.

((Sorry it's so short. Class is about to end, lol, and I don't have much time to finish...))

[Zeak Nitesh G2]

Clearly Zeak hadn’t spoken loudly enough since there was no reply to his statement. Zeak was about to speak again but suddenly the girl cried out in pain again. Zeak winced at the sound, which was twice now that the girl had pricked herself, though he had a sneaking suspicion that this second prick was due to his startling entrance into her reverie. There was a moment of silence as the girl was probably sizing him up, noticing his sunglasses and cane and probably coming to the conclusion that he was blind. Zeak found that his reputation preceded him in many cases. After the short pause the girl spoke and he couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I said that I can’t imagine your stitching will be very straight with your head banging the way it is, though the Ramones aren’t a bad choice, not at all.” Zeak smiled and turned his body and leaned back so that he was half sitting and half leaning against the fountain’s edge. He turned his head to face the girl again.

“Too bad they split up, but they had one heck of a run. Really paved the way for Punk Rock groups in America.” Zeak sighed and then something clicked inside his brain. Something odd about the girls voice. It took him a second but suddenly it came to him, her accent. He was so used to living around Brits that he almost didn’t recognize the American accent when he heard it. Her accent was close to his, but he had been living in Britain since he was about 4 years old. The only reason he had an accent at all was because his mother had raised him during those earlier years and he hadn’t gone outside a lot so he picked up on her American inflection. “Your American aren’t you?” He asked and grinned. “Me too. Though I’ve been living in this part of the world for as long as I can remember. My father has taken me on a few summer trips to America though, let me learn about my roots.” He chuckled.

“If you don’t mind, could you tell me where you had that charmed?” He asked poking his cane and pointing in the direction of her music player. “I take Music Appreciation classes during the summer and I have a ton of music, but I can never get my players to work here at the school. My parents both are Muggles so they don’t exactly know what I’m talking about when I tell them.” He chuckled again. “My name is Zeak. Zeak Nitesh.” He wondered if the girl would recognize his surname since his parents used to be big time actors a few years back. “Don’t worry about shaking my hand, I don’t wanna be doing this all day.” He stuck his hand out and pretended to grope around as if he was searching for a hand to shake.

[twiggy]

Gabrielle felt a grin spread over her lips as she clicked off her ipod and popped the other headphone out of her ear. The boy mentioned that she probably wouldn't be able to sew very well while dancing like that and should couldn't help but be surprised that he knew who the Ramones were. She smiled even wider. "Well, I can't sew at all anyway," she chuckled, "so a little head banging can't do much more damage, but I am surprised. How did you know I was head banging? If you don't mind me asking..." she felt nervous. She didn't want to be rude, but it was in her nature to speak her mind. She couldn't help but wonder. If he was indeed blind, then how did he know?

Gabrielle was more surprised to hear him start remarking on the Ramones further. It was a complete rarity for any Hogwarts student to so much as hear of them, much less know of their music. "Wow, I can't believe you've heard of the Ramones. I swear, the kids here look at me like I'm completely insane whenever I so much as mention a punk band... especially the Ramones. Since they are American." The boy suddenly caught on to her American accent and she couldn't help but smile even more. She was so happy to find someone who didn't judge her, but then again, he couldn't even see how oddly she dressed. And a blind boy wouldn't be judgmental anyway. She felt excited. A Hogwarts student was actually giving her a chance to be herself without even caring. Not only that, but he was American too. She practically jumped out off of the bench when she responded.

"Oh wow, really? That's nuts!" She was so excited she couldn't even make much sense, "Ya. I grew up in this little city. Well, it's not terribly small. It's not like everyone knows everyone else, although if you meet someone for the first time, they're bound to know one of your friends or your cousin or something." She laughed a little, "Where in America are you from? I go visit my mom every now and then. My dad lives in London. I've only lived there since I was 10, but I really only visit my mom on holidays. Summer is my time with my friends in London..." She suddenly had flashes of parties from last summer and felt a pang of loneliness. She missed her friends...

He then asked where she'd charmed her ipod and she couldn't help but glance at it before answering. "Oh, this? I did it myself. I swear its the only thing I've ever been able to do correctly, although it still sparks every now and then..."

"I'm Gabrielle, but all my friends call me Twiggy." She introduced herself after Zeak and laughed at his joke. She was surprised how easy going he was. If she were blind, she'd be high strung and pissed off all the time, but not this kid. He was cool. He accepted his disability and even made jokes about it. She didn't feel bad for laughing, because she knew that's what he was trying to do. She decided right there and then that if Zeak was comfortable about his blindness, then she would be too.

She grabbed his hand anyway and shook it, just to be weird.

"It's very nice to make your acquaintance Zeak Nitesh. I'm Gabrielle Twigg." She said with a formal tone to her voice and smiled.

[Zeak Nitesh G2]

Zeak couldn’t help but grin at her statement, “Well, I’m sure if you did a little less head-banging you’d prick your finger a lot less.” He chuckled, “But I guess since you can’t sew pricking your finger is your only talent in the hobby so I say. Continue on!” He grinned and immediately noticed something about the conversation that pleased him. This girl wasn’t walking on egg shells around him. There had only been a slight awkwardness around him when she realized he was blind, but the moment passed quickly and suddenly she was talking to him as if he was quite normal. He grinned at her question to dispel any nervousness she might feel. “Oh that, that’s easy. The center of the music kept moving. Up, down, up down. So it was actually quite easy to figure out what you were doing.”

He shrugged calmly as she exclaimed amazement at his knowledge of the Ramones, though he wasn’t surprised to hear of the resistance from the other students. “Yea, I take summer classes for Radio Broadcasting and Music History, so I know my way around the music scene.” He grinned, anybody who was anybody in music knew of the Ramones. They had been a pivotal band for the punk rock era and therefore they were a name that was known everywhere. He grinned as he thought about what the other student must think of her choice of music. “Well, the Brits have always been a tad snobby with their mannerisms. Not to mention that most students here are from Wizarding families and the Ramones are Muggle. I’m not surprised that many people have never heard of them at this school.”

Zeak recoiled slightly in surprise at her over excited reaction but he recovered fast. He couldn’t help but smile in amusement at her saying “That’s nuts.” Zeak had never exactly heard that one before and it was quite appropriate and fit the bill nicely. He stored it in his mind for later use, he could always use a catch phrase when he was on the radio. “L.A.” He answered. “My parents both were actors, so that’s where they had their primary house, until the fire.” He paused for a moment but quickly moved past the subject. “We moved to Britain shortly after and have been here since. Dad still goes back to America for an occasional acting gig.” He shrugged.

Once again a smile crested his face as the conversation returned to her music player. “Well, at least the sparks add some cool Pyrotechnics to the player.” He poked out his tongue in a childish manner. He hadn’t heard her name so he wasn’t able to discern if she was older or younger than him yet. She sounded too old to be much younger than him so she had to be around his age. Before he could question her though she introduced herself. Once again she surprised him by grabbing up his hand and shaking it anyway. He was impressed, he had a few friends at this school, but only one of them was comfortable enough around him to be so cool and blatant with him as to simply snatch up his hand to shake it properly. Zeak liked it.

He grinned at her formal tone, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Madame.” He said, dipping into his old man British butler voice to counteract her formal tone. Armed with her name and nickname he quickly checked his mental database and noticed that he could not find her name, this meant that she had to be at least one year above him. He cursed, hopefully she wasn’t a 7th year. “Well, Twiggy.” He said, using her nickname with great pleasure. “You must either be a 6th or 7th year. I hope you’re not a 7th year cause I’d really like to bring my music player next year and have you charm it for me, if you would?” He grinned. “And don’t worry, my clothes are spark resistant.”

[twiggy]

Gabrielle couldn't help but laugh at Zeak's jokes. He was different than the snobby Brits she had to deal with from day to day. She couldn't stand how judgmental people could be. Especially since she was in Slytherin house. Those rich brats couldn't be more spoiled. They all seemed to think they walked on top of the world and it turned her stomach. She could care less what house someone was in. With a glance at Zeak's robes, she knew he was a Gryffindor and it didn't faze her. She liked him. He was a kid she could not only relate to, but not be afraid of being judged. She didn't have any friends in Hogwarts and a small bubble of hope sprung up in Gabrielle. Maybe she finally found one.

She couldn't help but be impressed by Zeak's explanation on how he figured out she was head banging. The sensitivity of his ears was astounding. She was enthralled by the aspect. Just the slightest change in sound and he could practically see what was happening. "Wow. That's pretty cool. I would never have been able to figure that out." She chuckled a bit at herself and pushed her puffed out blond hair behind an ear.

Zeak mentioned how he took music classes and Gabrielle brightened slightly. He knew about music, huh? And not only punk music, obviously, but all types most likely. She was interested in what his opinion was. What his favorite band was or his favorite genre. It amused her how he talked about the Ramones. It was like he was an encyclopedia. She'd never heard someone talk about a band that way. Nor had she ever thought to call the Ramones a pivotal band. She grinned when he continued and said the Brits were snobby. She almost said something rather nasty about Brits in general, but bit her tongue. She didn't want to be rude, and although he wasn't British either, the risk of offending the only chance for a friend was too much.

"Pivotal, huh?" She giggled, "I've never heard someone talk like that before," she laughed a bit and continued, "But yeah, i know what you mean. About how snobby they can be. Its a difficult place to be a punk kid in, I can tell you that much..."

She sighed but cheered up to listen Zeak talk about where he was from. L.A. wow... she'd never been to L.A. actually, but always wanted to. She wasn't into movies, really, but the city always sounded so much more exciting than her own home town. "Your parents were actors? Whoa! I bet that was cool, seeing 'em in movies and stuff! Ha! I'd be so excited." She didn't say anything about the fire he mentioned. He moved past the subject rather quickly which meant he didn't want to talk about it and Gabrielle wasn't about to push him.

She laughed again, "Pyrotechnics. Yeah, right! I always worry about my stuff catching on fire at any moment."

When Zeak used her nickname, Gabrielle's mouth broke into a grin that would put anyone else's to shame. It was a bigger shame that he couldn't see it. She hadn't heard any student in Hogwarts use it to her face. Everyone knew it, of course, but they only used it to talk about her. In fact, no one really knew her real name. It was always Twiggy. She liked it that way, though.

"Well it's a good thing you're clothes are spark resistant, then," she laughed, "But ya, I can attempt it once more. I think I could do it better actually. It takes practice... I mean, it's the only spell I can really do. I'm terrible in charms."

[Zeak Nitesh G2]

Zeak grinned a little and shrugged, not even he knew how exactly it was that he did the things he did, but the fact that they amazed and entertained people made him happy. He leaned back against the fountain after getting his hand back and crossed his arms across his chest. He liked this girl, their initial meeting had gone well and she had already accepted and moved past his disability and was interacted with him like a regular human. “Well, it’s really not that difficult. It’s all a matter of just listening, if I listen to the sounds correctly everything just sort of clicks in my head.”

Zeak chuckled a little as he remarked on the way he spoke about bands. “Well, since I have to learn about all sorts of different bands and genres, I tend to look and talk about bands from a textbook history type view.” He grinned again, just than Twiggy did something that made him quite happy. Her comment rang in his ears, I bet that was cool, seeing them in movies and stuff. Zeak knew it had just been a natural comment between two people, but usually when people said something about seeing around him they realized what they had said and started tripping over themselves trying to apologize for the slip. The fact that Twiggy had allowed such a natural comment to flow out of her and she had continued without even realizing what she had said made Zeak smile.

“Well, my mother retired from serious work when they had my sister. So all of my mother’s movie would be considered oldies by now. Dad continued to work until the… Until the move to Britain.” Zeak sighed, “Now he only does small roles, guest appearances on shows and stuff, mostly just for the shock value to get the ratings you know.” He grinned again, “So even my dad’s stuff would be considered oldies to watch.”

Zeak laughed, “Well, fire is always a danger with awesome Pyrotechnics. Just look at what happened to Michael Jackson during that Pepsi commercial.” He grinned and shuddered a little at the thought. “That’s why I always make sure to fire proof all of my belongings.” Zeak winked from behind his glasses, “Great, actually I might be able to get my mother to send it to me. I usually never bring it with me because it doesn’t work at Hogwarts, I was never skilled enough at Charms to charm the thing myself.” Zeak grinned, it wasn’t a lie, he really wasn’t that good at Charms. Charms required a keen eye to detail to get all the swishes and flicks right, not to mention it helps to see what happens to what your trying to charm.

He laughed, “I remember this one time in Charms during my first year. We were suppose to make this feather fly and for some reason I thought I felt something pass through my wand, I believed it to be magic power so I thought my feather was floating. Professor Flitwick had to break it to me five minutes later that the feather was still sitting on the table.”