What if...

[cleo]

((Closed for me. And no coming afte rme with sharp objects for not having Kris and Cleo pick on each other the way the usually do, Katie! They need some serious time to become friends too! And I promise I'll give them a cute moment or an ending just for you. )


What happens if all hope forsakes you? When your entire being is cold? When you don’t have anyone reaching out a hand for you to hold onto when the night falls upon your soul? When you try so hard and give your ultimate best and yet that isn’t good enough? What happens when there are no dreams left? Nothing to make your heart and soul want to sing for? When you feel worthless? When your guardian angels are mere shadows with broken wings? When you have given every piece of yourself there is to be given? When nothing remains and everything you have given is being thrown away as junk? When you only wish to curl up and cry your heart out because there is nothing left to care for? When there is no one left to care for? What happens if life seems to hold no value? When you don’t find any reason for your entire being?

Cleo let out a long breath watching as the glass in front of her was slowly covered with mist. Raising one her fingers Cleo traced a lazy pattern on the glass in front of her her finger looking almost white in the almost eerie seeming candle-light. It was Christmas-time. At least Christmas-time was coming soon and Cleo felt... cold.It wasn’t the kind of coldness that made you shiver and wish for a thicker sweater. It was the kind of cold that started within the depths of your soul. Cleo wasn’t even sure why she felt so sad and forsaken while there were hundreds of other people in the castle. But none of the others seemed to understand! They laughed and their laughter seemed hollow and over-used. Yet Cleo almost envied them. They had homes to go to. Loving parents, brothers and sisters. And Cleo had no one. No one who would simply care for her despite all her mistakes. Someone who would love her for her mistakes. Her mother had died at birth. She didn’t have a clue who her father was other than the fact that he was a pureblood. Friends... sure, Cleo had some of those. Yet right now she needed something more than just friends, something more than bought Christmas presents. Cleo needed to feel the warmth of an other soul, of an other heart. She almost ached for someone who would understand her.

And yet she was standing in an empty room with only a couple of candles lighted in the room and staring out of a window.in a tower-top room. Her own red sweater and red hair were the only splashes of colour in the room. Somehow Cleo had felt the need for some time to be spent alone today, even though she yearned for company at the same time. But those who she would dare to see her so down-trodden would find their way to her themselves. Cleo just had to believe it. There was still magic that couldn’t be explained. If it were explained... then the magic of love would loose it’s charm, it would become ordinary and boring. Cleo sighed and leaned her forehead against the cold glass befor shting herself so that she could see the moon from the window through the slowly falling snow.

[kris]

Kris slipped in and out of shadows as he made his way slowly towards one the most abandoned towers in Hogwarts. It was after curfew. Actually it should be nearing midnight relatively soon. Kris had actually even went to bed already and tossed on the silky sheets in his dormitory for about 5 minutes before admitting defeat. He wouldn’t catch any sleep while he knew that Cleo was somewhere in the castle feeling so incredibly depressed. They couldn’t exactly be called friends, but Kris had to admit to himself that he was rather fond of the younger girl, liking the spark of fire within her. So Kris had dragged hismelf up again, dressed into his regular black clothes and was now sauntering through the castle looking for the red-head from her favorite places he had came to know.

Stumbling lightly on a loose stone on the stair-case Kris bit back a couple of swear-words. He didn’t have a clue as to where Filch would be lurking. And without his eye-sight he wouldn’t get a very long warning before he would walk into Filch. Morrrigan gave a quiet hiss on Kris’s shoulder as they finished climbing the long spiralling stair-case and Kris stopped after pushing open the door. The sharp intake of breath told Kris all he needed to know. He had found his pharoah. Closing the door behind him quietly Kris walked forward slowly finding his way through the room with the help of his walking-cane. Hanging the walking-cane calmly on the window-sill Kris leaned his arms slightly on the window-sill as well, trapping Cleo effectively between himself and the window.

Letting his head drop Kris felt the silence stretch before he finally opened his mouth, murmuring quietly in front of herself, thugh in the deadly quiet room his words were easily heard. „I tried to go and get some sleep but a small red-haired girl kept prancing through my mind, telling me I need to sort out something before I can get any sleep. So tell me. What causes fire to die? What makes you hide in a dusty old room in a high tower at night?“ Kris wrinkled his nose slightly at the semll of dust firmly hanging in the air as he raised his just a little waiting for Cleo’s reply.

[cleo]

Cleo sighed watching as her breath created mist on the window once again her shoulders stiffening as the light movement of air and the quiet click as the door closed again told her that someone had entered her sanctuary for tonight. Turning her head sharply with her shoulders squared and her back stiff Cleo was a bit surprised to see Kris here. How had he found his way here? “I’m really not in a mood to bicker with you today. We’ll have to reschedule it to tomorrow,” Cleo told Kris rather snappishly knowing herself as well that her voice didn’t carry any character but tiredness. They fought, cursed and argued. Yet they had always respected each other while all that and backed down when one was a bit troubled or busy. And both made sure that the jinxes they used wouldn’t hurt the other. Kris being even much more careful about that than Cleo.

Kris didn’t pay any heed to her words however and Cleo found herself backed and trapped against the window-sill. Cleo tried to start some minding for this half-hug Kris was giving her, but wasn’t really able to do so. Turning around Cleo stared out of the window as Kris’s words sent a bit of a thrill through her. Had he really been thinking about that? Yet, did it even matter? “I hope you mind yourself near the kid in your mind. Make sure you aren’t going to suffocate or over-power her. Don’t forget the age difference there might be between you and that poor kid,” Cleo remarked dryly, forcefully destroying all shimmers in her heart at Kris’s rather careless comment, “And last time I checked water puts down fire. Perhaps you should try it sometime. And what makes you think I was hiding? Perhaps I just didn’t wish to see overly-arrogant Slyths? While admiring the view to stars?”

[kris]

Kris turned her head at Cleo’s words. Usually he would back off and let the girl be. But today there was something shining form behind her words today. Despair, hopeless… the words were harsh, yet something in Cleo’s tone almost begged Kris to stay and comfort her, make stars shine again for her so Kris didn’t move himself just waiting patiently for Cleo to continue speaking. He didn’t know how he could help, but he would most certainly give his best. Lately Cleo had became one thing that kept him insane. He wouldn’t let the girl fall into depression now – that would influence his own mood to the worse as well. Besides Cleo’s hair smelled like cherries. The vividly red colour and tasty fruits – yup, Kris knew what Cleo looked like. Dana had refreshed some of his memory and some he recalled himself case Cleo was a pureblood. Not a very honoured family, but a long line of purebloods.

Kris laughed quietly while shaking his head: “Nah, this red-head I’m talking about is no ordinary girl. Haven’t met someone who can throw a hex as quickly as she can for quite a while. And with all the bickering and shoving me where she wants me she has pretty much gotten me wrapped around her fingers. Pathetic really, how the might have fallen,” Kris smiled softly as he draw Cleo’s face in his mind, “Over-arrogant Slyths? Has someone been bothering you, pharaoh? I can do something about who ever it is and fire can always be lighted again. Now tell me, firesprite, what or who got you so down so I can either torture them slowly or help you with whatever is wrong?”

[cleo]

Cleo threw a curious glance at Kris. She had him wrapped around her fingers? Now that wasn’t bloody likely. It would took an earthquake to make him budge if he didn’t want to move. Cleo – though she had some good qualities – wasn’t in any way comparable to an earthquake or any other nature disaster. But Kris had seemed to have taken some kind of a liking to her. Why else would he be here right now and asking if anyone had given her any trouble.
“It’s just… it’s Christmas! I mean look at people and listen to them. All they speak about is presents, families, parties they are going to attend and whatever else! Don’t they see that there are more important things than matter than the quanitity of presents? That Christmas isn’t about receiving a lot of expensive presents, but rather in the feeling? In the feeling that someone cares enough for you to actually spend a moment thinking of you? That the mere existence of your family is much more…2 feel tears stinging in her eyes Cleo didn’t finish her rants as her voice had broken. People had all that. Parents, sisters and brothers and did they ever understood how lucky they were? Did they ever understand how lucky they actually were? Didn’t they understand how much it hurt Cleo, that she was robbed from a loving family?

“It’s just… I suppose I miss my mother more than usual at Christmas time. She died at birth you know and sometimes I just wonder what if… what if she hadn’t died? Would she be proud of me? Would she even like me? Or would I just be a big mistake for her, someone she despises and someone she would be ashamed of? Sometimes I just… I just wish I could see my mother, talk to her. I just want it so badly,” Cleo let her head fall forward as a sob broke from he and shivered from cold, “Would my mother be ashamed of me? It’s just that… that no one seems to care! No one seems to care for those not lucky enough to get presents, those who won’t be able to go home to their family, nothing inside people seems to matter. Who cries for broken dreams still? Who helps angels with broken wings fly?” Cleo turned around taking hold of the front of Kris’s blouse while staring in his face with a fire burning in her eyes, as she almost willed Kris to answer. Willed for Kris to make everything seem better once again.

[kris]

Kris listened to Cleo’s words, understand her perhaps better than the girl realized. No, Kris didn’t care about his mother. But he missed his father about as much as Cleo missed her mother. “I care. Dana cares, a lot of people care. You are just a strong character, fire-spirit, so seeing you hurt makes a lot of things much more scaring than they really are for a lot of people. It’s must more devastating to see a strong character break.”
Raising his hand as Morrigan meowed quietly on his shoulder Kris let his hand glide upwards on Cleo’s arm that was clutching the front of her robes. Reaching the girls shoulder Kris raised his arm slightly brushing back a strand of her hair noticing the wetness of a tear on her cheek, that Kris brushed away: “And angels will learn to fly again. It may be slow, but they will raise to their feet, spread their wings once again and laugh until rain stops, whether it is raining outside or inside your heart. And did that just sound overly cheesy to you as well?”

Pulling Cleo closer Kris wrapped his arms calmly around her engulfing Cleo in a warm embrace as she sniffled and after a while seemed to calm her emotions a little. Dropping a calm kiss on her forehead Kris waved his wand while muttering a couple of forceful commends that made the trap-door high in the ceiling slam open. Casting a warming-charm on both Cleo and himself before pulling Cleo along with himself as he climbed to the roof top.
“Dance with me,” Kris asked offering Cleo a charming smile as he pulled her to him Cleo laughed quietly as she stepped closer wrapping her own arms around Kris’s neck as they slowly waltzed on the roof-top of the Hogwarts tower, paying no attention to the fact that until an hour ago they had been enemies. The falling snow and the lack of music around them had no importance. Kris and Cleo had found a friend in each other and that was a good enough reason to waltz slowly to the tune being played only in their hearts.