A Fool's Pain ((Mandi and Anyone))

[sammy]

Hogsmeade was always a nice, humble little village. Over the summer, it had been over-flowing with people. It was another catastrophic result of the attack on Diagon Alley. People were in a mad-dash trying to get all the last minute school supplies that couldn't be found anywhere else nearby. Now, it was quiet. Not many people were visiting, especially in these early hours. Cathy loved to go in the morning, in time to see the sun rise and start off a new day. Only a few footsteps were heard against the cobble-stone street, only a few voices ever whispering. At least it was quiet. Cathy despised busy places. Everyone got in her way somehow, which wasn't pleasant, especially if you got stepped on. Now, on Hogsmeade's empty streets, she felt at ease with everything in the surrounds. The birds twittered softly on the trees that were starting to turn colors for fall. Some were even losing leaves. They fell onto the ground and later today would be crunched on by some student visiting. Cathy smiled and twirled wildly, almost falling to her knees. It wasn't an every day experience to have the streets to herself. She could act foolishly without anyone judging her.

After leaping into the air and doing a few horrible plies, Cathy settled down in a cafe` seat to watch the colors of the rising sun. It was about five now. Cathy loved watching the sunrise; today was no different. The beautiful colors that played across the sky entered through her heart. She could almost feel the colors. Blue stood for sad and yellow for hope. Green for persistence and purple for wealth. It was amazing to behold and wield. Trying to get Giselle to feel the colors had been a failure; the girl didn't even want to try, let alone feel anything. Cathy then decided she would just let herself be one with the colors, and if anyone asked, she would attempt to explain the best as possible. It was a wonderful sunrise, with many flaming colors. Almost as good as sunsets too. Then, it was over as quick as it had appeared. The colors were smothered in the blue sky, leaving Cathy's soul too. Blue. All blue except for the fire ball that was the sun. Cathy slipped on her dark shades, ready for the powerful rays of the sun. Today was supposed to be surprisingly hot, so she had come prepared. Jean shorts and a light blue t-shirt adorned her figure. Her blond hair was drawn up in a loose bun, some of it falling down into her gray-blue eyes. Ah, if only Giselle could be here. Cathy trembled slightly. Maybe it was good she wasn't here. It would make out to be a traumatic experience, somehow or another. Giselle should join some drama club.

Cathy smirked slightly and stood from her seated place. The man at the cafe` had been watching her, but as she made motions to leave, he lost interest. Probably wanting her to eat there. She gave him a wry smile that clearly said maybe later to give him some hope for the day. She went back out to the stone streets, watching them glimmer and shine with the sun. It was quite neat to watch them dance. Even the glass windows had some sort of jazz to it. Cathy smiled wildly and began more ballet moves. Boredom often caused lack of thought, or so Cathy had heard before. She forgot that people would soon be coming and they would get to see her do all these funny movement. If she had her pointe shoes, things would be different, but she didn't. She only had her high-heels, and it was dangerous to be doing this. But, out of boredom, she continued to twirl and do pirouettes so quick she was just a blur. Her hair covered her vision and she made a wrong move. Her foot twisted beneath her and she crumbled to the floor with a soft, "oh!" The pain wasn't there at first, but after a few moments of silence, it built up until it became nearly unbearable. It was her left foot, thank goodness. She leaned backward to meet the floor as she removed her foot from underneath her. It was swollen to twice it's normal size! Cathy blanched for a few moments. What to do? She hastily reached for her wand but found nothing. Empty pockets. She searched and searched everywhere for her wand, but it was no where to be found. She must have left it at the school! Cathy moaned and laid down, closing her eyes against the sun. Her sunglasses had fallen off during the fall, shattering on the stone. Oh, someone come quick!

[livinghope1986]

Mandi woke early in the morning. The sun was shining in through the window and she could see the colors that were populating the sky as the sun rose. The red, orange, blue, and purple colors were dancing in the sky. She smiled brightly. She hadn't smiled in a long time and it was getting harder day by day to smile. The problems in her life seemed to be reaching to the sky, but she still tried to be happy. She hated it when she was sad and it worried her that her humor and happiness had dwindled in the last few weeks. She wanted to be known for her good cheer and smile. It was just so hard to smile and be happy when things seemed to be going so bad. Of course, she tried to hide it, but it would hit her so hard on some days and on those days she just couldn't smile. Most people had always seen her with a smile on her face and she didn't want them to be worried about her when she didn't.

Mandi quietly rose from her bed and looked around. Most of her dorm mates were asleep. It was the weekend and it was definitely a time to be sleeping, but Mandi was excited. They were able to visit Hogsmeade today and she really wanted to get some candy, a Butterbeer, and a few other joke items. She needed some laughter and to set off a dung bomb in the hallway would be just the ticket. She smiled at the past memories of watching Filch run around looking for the culprit of the dung bombs. She had done that many times. Some people looked at her as the next Fred and George, but she knew she would never go down in history like they have. Legends they were. She had known them and had loved watching them. She visited their shop often in Hogsmeade, that is until Diagon Alley was complete ran sacked by Death Eaters and Giants. The memories of that day came flooding back and Mandi held back her tears. She didn't want to think about that. Not here and not now.

Mandi quickly dressed and headed out of the castle toward Hogsmeade. The sun was still rising and the colors were brilliant. She loved sunrises and this one was one of the best. Mandi knew that Hogsmeade wouldn't be full of many students yet. Most were still sleeping, but Mandi loved Hogsmeade in the early morning. She could head to any store without having to wait in a line. She also loved how serene and quiet it was. Once all the students were in the streets it was loud and crowded. Here and now would be the perfect time to think about what she wanted to do for her next prank. She wanted it to be a good one. One that people would all be talking about. She kind of wanted to leave a legacy behind and she knew that this way it would be one the students would talk about and not just the professors. Of course, Filch might actually catch her and that was even more exciting. She had yet to be caught by him, but she was hoping that sooner or later she would end up in his office with detention. She knew it was kind of a silly thing to want, but she wanted it more than anything.

Heading down the stone path she watched as a girl was dancing through the streets of Hogsmeade. She looked to be having the time of her life. Mandi smiled to herself as she watched. She loved it when people showed so much love and happiness, even though they might be looked upon as crazy. Her smile quickly turned to a grimace as she watched the girl fall. Quickening her pace, Mandi went to the girl's side. "Are you okay?" Mandi asked quickly. It was then that she noticed who it was. It was Catherine Dumas, one of her dorm mates. Mandi hadn't really talked to her, but they did share a room and that was enough to know that Catherine was a pretty cool girl. Mandi looked at her ankle and winced. She had obviously twisted her ankle and it was swelling quickly. Pulling out her wand, Mandi quickly said a healing charm and waited to see if it worked.

[sammy]

Cathy blinked back tears. The pain was incredible! She winced and bit her bottom lip. Some dancers never danced again because of falls like this. Her ankle was huge now, purple and blue and swollen twice it normal size. She shuddered and whimpered a bit as she tried to find her wand again. It just wasn't anywhere! It had to be at the castle, probably in her dorm. She closed her eyes against the pain, not hearing the footsteps nearing her. The pain was throbbing in her ears, blocking out all other senses but her feel. She clutched the ankle as everyone did when pain coursed through something. Cathy didn't look up when the person came, only when she felt the ease slowly pine away did she look up with confusion. Mandi Aspden, a fellow Gryffindor fifth year, was over her, doing the healing charm. Cathy's eyes widened.

"Oh, thank you so much!" Cathy cried while standing up without any pain. It was swelling down now to normal size, which pleased her enormously. She did a small twirl just to test it out, although by now she already knew it was fine. Magic always worked, unless performed wrongly. Mandi and her had never really conversed before, but she had faith in her skills with spells and accuracy. She smiled gratefully at Mandi, pulling her blond hair behind her ear. "Thank you!" She gushed again, so completely happy that she had to do another twirl. She stopped herself before she got too carried away. Cathy would probably scare Mandi if she did. Holding herself with poise, Cathy struggled to replace her happiness with calm serenity. Giselle always could, why couldn't she? Looking around to take her eyes off Mandi, she saw a piece of wood laying about twenty-feet away. Her wand! Cathy jumped forward, running toward it and picking it up. Her fingers touched it with love. It had been her wand since age ten, when she had first discovered she was a witch. After she rejoiced with her wand, she flew over to Mandi again.

"I found my wand!" She said to Mandi, as she turned toward the broken sunglasses. "Reparo!" She smiled as her sunglass pieces regrouped together into the shades they had always been. She picked them up gently, placing them over her eyes with care. Here she was, Catherine Dumas, full again, thanks to Mandi. "How can I thank you?" She asked with complete sincerity. "I could have been laying there for hours, swelling so huge it would look like a balloon. A Slytherin could have come along and I would be worse off. Really, is there anything I can do to make up for it? Oh, I know! Have you had breakfast yet?" She jumped up and pulled Mandi toward the nearest cafe` without waiting for an answer. Sitting her down, Cathy took her place at the chair across from her. "I'm sorry. I'm not always like this. But I'm very grateful about what you did with me. I must do something to make it equal."