Hating Mother Nature ((Loki))

[Ethan Jacobs G5]

Ethan walked around the grounds late in the evening, not knowing what to do with himself. It wasn’t late enough to get him in trouble, but there was almost no one around the grounds. The sun was setting, and everyone seemed to be making their way inside the castle for supper. Not Ethan, though. Ethan was simply too lazy to walk all the way back to the castle. He simply didn’t want to face the stares and the whispering that would surely go on when he entered. It had been just a few days since the big break-up, and there were only a few people who knew of it. No one else knew Ezzie Mendez and Ethan Jacobs was no longer an item. They weren’t stupid though, for they had seen Ezzie and Ethan’s behavior toward each other. They completely ignored one another, as if the other didn’t exist. It was no way a couple should act. Ethan didn’t even talk about Ezzie anymore, although he’d thought about her often. He thought about what she was doing and thinking. He thought about her love life, which was no longer a part of his. Did she like anyone? Was she planning on dating soon? All these questions were a complete mystery to Ethan, and even he, who was completely comfortable talking about anything could not bring himself to walk up to Ezzie to talk to her. She had been special to her, the only girl who had meant something in Ethan’s world of flirtatious babble.

Ethan pushed the thoughts out of his head, trying to convince himself the break-up was all for the best. If they got together again, they would just get into another stupid fight and break up again, hurting one another more and more every time. No, it was all for the best. Even though he wasn’t together with Ezzie anymore, he still had to learn to get over his issues with her and move on. He couldn’t ignore her forever. During the year, they spent all their time together. Now that Ezzie was famous, she spent a lot of time with the more popular party at Hogwarts. Coincidently, so did Ethan. The fact that they were in the same house didn’t help much either. He also couldn’t ignore the fact that they did live together, and they would have to run into each other once in awhile. Not to mention the press would have a field day if they found out about their break-up. Ethan was beginning to wonder if their break-up really was for the best. He looked up in the sky and smiled. The sun was beginning to set. He looked around at the beauty and the magnificence of the sunset. It left a beautiful yellow orange glow around the grounds. A breeze came by where he was standing, and he inhaled the fresh autumn air. He did love the outdoors. He glanced over at a tree, which stood so gracefully in the dim light of the sun. The breeze made the leaves rustle and fall to the ground. Fall was here, and no matter how hard Ethan tried to hold it back, it came anyway. He wanted so much to rewind time back to the previous summer, and have it happen over and over and over again. The memories that were shared during the first two months of Ethan and Ezzie’s relationship were priceless. He wished he could go back to that time when they never fought. He wanted to rewind back to last summer, but fall had come and now all Ethan could do was hate Mother Nature for letting it arrive so quickly. He sighed as he noticed he was all alone on the grounds. All alone except one. There was only one figure in the distance. Ethan watched as it came his way.

[Loki Fen'Rolphus G6]

Loki lay in bed, earlier than usual, but not incredibly early. It was slowly getting darker outside, instead of just dim. A smile was permanently plastered onto his face as he thought back over the day and all the things he’d talked about with Carey. That’s what he did every night before he fell asleep. I mean, he couldn’t stay with her at the nights, eventually he had to say good night, and that was always the hardest part of the day. Every single night it took him nearly an hour to say good night to her. How was he supposed to let her go? He had thought a million times of ways to spend the nights with her instead of letting her go, but he knew they had no way around it. He’d talked to some people, gotten some suggestions (a rather good one about staying in a classroom at nights from some guy in his history of magic class) but overall he knew there was no way around it. For now at least. Loki looked at the calendar hanging by his bed, smiling at the circled date on it. He’d spend the night with her then. That was a full moon night. But anyways, back to Loki thinking over the day’s events. His mind trailed finally to the last bit of conversation they had had. Saying good night and trying to convince each other that they had to go but that in the morning they’d see each other first thing.

Loki and Carey sat on the floor of the corridor, just a ways up from the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. She was leaning back against the wall, and he, as usual, was laying with his head in her lap, her hands in his hair. Loki had his eyes closed, like he usually did when Carey was playing with his hair and she was smiling down at him with that wonderful loving smile that she had. Finally, after a few moments of comfortable silence, Loki opened his eyes and looked up at her, just smiling at her for a while. Eventually, taking a slightly deep breath, he spoke, “You know what the 26th is?” It was a casual question, if not a random one. “Yup, it’s the night when the big round thing in the sky is completely whole.” Loki laughed lightly and looked up at her, nodding and smiling at her witty remark. “You know that I’ll have to head into the room of requirement at least three hours before the sun sets...” Carey looked at him for a few moments and then shrugged slightly. “Well I guess I’ll have to tell Professor Snape that I have to leave his class early.” Loki sat up slightly, leaning on his right hand, facing her with a confused look on his face. “Why would you do that? Just to say good night? I’ll probably be kind of out of it you know...it’s a bit tiring. I’ll be taking bloody, nasty potions all week so that I don’t completely pass out on a regular basis.” Loki sighed. “This whole werewolf thing is rather bothersome.”

Carey shook her head. "No no no no... I don't plan on saying goodnight until we decide to go to sleep...erm...well rather, until I decide to go to sleep because I dunno if you'd go to sleep when I would." This didn’t help Loki’s confusion at all and he was sure his facial expressions showed that. “But I have to go into that room all night honey...I can’t...I can’t sit out here with you like usual...” Loki let a frown throw itself into the confused look. Carey smiled lovingly at him and shook her head slightly. “Well I wasn’t saying that silly, I was saying I’d be in the room with you.” She smiled brightly as if this might have been something Loki heard all the time and he looked at her, completely taken aback, but not in a bad way. “You...want to do that? You’re not just saying that in the hopes I say no?” He waited, an eyebrow raised slightly. He most definitely had not ever been told that before. No one had ever offered something like that, though Loki had to admit Carey was the first person he’d ever allow to do that. "No, Loki, why would I hope that you'd say no? It's like... the one time I'll actually be able to be with you a whole night... why would I hope you say no? Besides, we both know it's perfectly safe.. you take the wolfsbane potion and you are completely in your own frame of mind. Do you want to say no? Because I'm ready to argue with you." Loki’s expression changed immediately and he shook his head vehemently and sat up more, sitting back against the wall and pulling her into his lap. “No no, I’m not going to tell you no.” He wrapped his arms around her and smirked lightly, looking at her. “I should warn you, I like to play fetch, and cuddle. I’ve never had anyone there to play with or to pet me before, so this’ll be new for me.” “Carey smiled at him and leaned against him, closing her eyes and yawning slightly. “Fine, as long as you don’t eat my homework. I’m already skipping class, you can’t eat my work too.” Loki laughed and rocked slightly. “No no, paper...bleh.” He smiled and held her for a few minutes before looking at her lovingly. “Bed time princess.”

Of course, he had argued with her for a few more minutes. ”I’m not tired!” Yes ma’am you are. “Am not...” Honey... “Ok...maybe a little...” And eventually, after many ‘I love you’s and kisses and hugs and more kisses and ‘I love you’s, Loki let her go to bed and he headed off to his. But now, as he lay in bed, wide awake and unable to sleep he lifted himself up, dressed, and left the dorms and the common room as quietly as possible. For a few moments he debated going to the hufflepuff commonroom and seeing if he could convince someone to wake Carey up, seeing as it was still relatively early in the night and someone was bound to be up, but he knew that she had classes tomorrow morning and needed her sleep. And so instead he decided that a nice walk on the grounds could do him good. He pulled his cloak around him tighter as he walked out the front doors and into the crisp night air that he hadn’t been prepared for and decided not to decide on a destination. Instead he just let his feet carry him. It wasn’t all that important for him to go somewhere in particular, he just needed out of that stuffy room. Not long into his walk he looked up from his feet and (though he was still far away) noticed that he was coming up on one of the few people Loki didn’t exactly want to come in contact with. Ethan Jacobs. Of course, Loki was in a rather good mood seeing as he’d just been given great news from Carey, and so when he came up on Ethan, within five or so feet he nodded slightly. “You’re out late eh?”

[Ethan Jacobs G5]

Ethan smiled just a bit as Loki approached him. He wasn’t sure he was ready to face Loki’s subtle jabs at the way Ethan lived his life. He was sure Loki would get some amusement out of hearing of Ezzie and Ethan’s break-up. Loki probably thought he was an immature flirt that didn’t know what he wanted, and the recent break-up would completely prove his point. Ethan hated proving people right. It was quite a juvenile feeling, but it was true. He hated to be wrong, and he hated when people rubbed their “I told you so” in his face. He looked around the grounds. The sun was setting and everyone was inside. He had a perfect view of the Great Hall from here. He could have sworn he saw Ezzie a few times, but he was sure he was just imagining things…again. He had imagined seeing Ezzie everywhere. First he thought he saw her in the boy’s toilets, then in his dorm room, and then swimming around in the lake. All of these instances ended up to be some other brunette or a boy that looked an awful lot like a girl. Loki did have a point. He was out late. He hadn’t realized just how late it was. It was just about time to go indoors before he got in trouble with a nosy prefect or that crazy Filch. He merely shrugged. “Eh, I’m not hungry right now.” He said casually, hoping the excuse would work. Even if Loki did catch on that there was more to the story, he was sure he wouldn’t go on and ask about it. Loki didn’t seem like one to shove himself into other people’s problems. Ethan wasn’t the type either. He would probably ask a quick question or two, but he wouldn’t go out of his way to find out what was wrong.

He didn’t feel up to explaining to Loki what was wrong. He didn’t want to admit (not even to himself) that Ezzie was all Ethan could think about. He didn’t want fess up and tell anyone that even though he had a date with Amber Hess this Saturday, he really wanted to be with Ezzie. No, Ethan wouldn’t even admit to himself these little details. For once in his life, Amber seemed like she could be the right girl for him. She was pretty (though she could do without the braces) she was sweet, she was funny, and she was pure. She wasn’t a fake doll that traveled around in groups of ten giggling about how Ethan Jacobs had winked at one of them. She was the one who had a crush on him at first (though Ethan couldn’t see why…he was two years younger than her) but she didn’t gossip and giggle about it. Her smile (although lined with metal) was meaningful and contained something deeper than just a flirty smile. Amber reminded Ethan a lot of Ezzie. She was the same way, only better. She laughed often, but didn’t laugh too much. She was smarter probably, than the smartest seventh year student at Hogwarts. Her voice aroused feelings from inside Ethan that even he didn’t know were there. Ethan shoved the rebelling thoughts out of his head. No. He didn’t like Ezzie anymore. Ethan had moved on to bigger and better things. He was with Amber now, and nothing, not even the clear view of Ezzie Mendez eating her dinner with her friends could stop him from going on that date with Amber on Saturday. He cocked his head a bit. Yes, he could see her perfectly now. She was laughing and having a great time. She was obviously over the break-up, so why couldn’t he be? Why couldn’t Ethan Jacobs; the boy that was known for skipping around from girl to girl not be able to get over his latest ex? He looked away from the large window and turned to Loki.

“And what about you? Why are you out so late?” He asked, still watching the window intently.

[Loki Fen'Rolphus G6]

To be honest, Loki wasn’t exactly eager to start anything with Ethan. Sure, he and Ethan had their differences, but Loki really didn’t like drama, and the most drama he had ever had in all his life had been the drama with Carey just a few weeks ago. Ethan drama was just far too unimportant to Loki. Sure, their little arguments were kind of humorous, and Loki was always up for a bit of jabbing, but tonight he wasn’t sure if he was in the mood to start any of the jabbing. Tonight he was in good spirits. He wouldn’t have to be alone for a full moon night, that was the strangest thing Loki had ever thought about. He was always alone on full moon nights; he had been since he was a child. I mean, when he was a child things were different, he was sure of that, but that was a memory Loki had pushed from his mind. For some reason he had chosen not to remember. Maybe it was too painful for a child to remember, or maybe Loki just didn’t want to think about what it must have been like to be in a place with so many others like him. Loki really, truthfully, was sickened by the thought of what he must have looked like when he changed. The idea of a wolf man always frightened him, and he was one himself. Maybe it wasn’t so much the wolf man, as the memory of one man in particular, one man that always seemed so wolf like. That man scared Loki. He always had.

Loki had seen Ethan easily from a distance at which most other people would only have seen a rough outline of a person. Loki, however, had seen Ethan plainly. He watched the boy stand, obviously in thought, staring at the castle not too far off. Loki saw Ethan look at him, and noted the smile of acknowledgment, if not pleasure, when Ethan realized he had company. Loki didn’t frown however, or start with a jab as he would normally have done, asking why Ethan was alone and not hanging all over his newest fling, no no, instead he had started simple. And Ethan had replied simply. Not hungry. Loki laughed, “Not hungry? That concept totally throws me off. I ate a whole ton just a bit ago, maybe that’s why I can’t sleep...too much food in my stomach.” Loki shrugged and stood beside Ethan, following his eye-line up to the window of the great hall There were a few reasons Loki could have assumed Ethan would be looking through the window, but none of which Loki cared to wonder on. Instead he looked back to Ethan when the boy asked why Loki was out so late. “Well like I said, can’t sleep. Carey and I normally go to bed earlier then most...but eh, tonight I guess there’s just too much going on in my head.

Loki looked at Ethan for a while now, as if trying to read his mind. He couldn’t help but wonder what Ethan thought of Carey and Loki dating. They had been for a while now, and so it would make sense that Ethan, (who seemed to be a hub for the wheel known as gossip) would know about it. Plus, as far as Loki knew, Ethan and Carey were friends...that didn’t mean that Loki approved though. Loki could honestly say that if he stumbled upon Carey and Ethan talking in the halls one day he wouldn’t hesitate to pull Carey to him and dismiss them both from Ethan’s company. The thought of Ethan flirting with Carey (even if she wasn’t flirting back) unnerved Loki. Yes, it bothered him, quite a lot. Loki didn’t approve of Ethan’s flirty ways, and so why would he possibly approve of him flirting with Carey? Carey who was his girlfriend....no, not happening. Loki could just imagine what he’d do to Ethan if he caught wind of the younger year flirting with Carey.

[Ethan Jacobs G5]

Ethan noticed Loki’s eyes following his and immediately averted his gaze, hoping Loki wouldn’t catch what he was staring at. He didn’t really mind much if Loki knew about his private life, it was just that he would rather if he didn’t. Once Loki and everyone else knew Ethan and Ezzie were over with, it wasn’t really a big deal. Ethan would have liked to avoid it as much as he could though. If he could avoid people finding out at all, then he would. However, the name Ethan Jacobs was known pretty much worldwide, so there was no way he could keep such things a secret for much too long. People were constantly going out of their way to find out what was going on in the life of Ethan Jacobs, or Ezzie Mendez. They craved more news all the time, even if that news never happened to affect their daily lives. There used to be a time when people read the news to keep up with everything that was going on around them, and to see how they could live their lives around the current events around the world. Now, all the world cared about was the happenings of a young teenage couple. It sickened Ethan every time his name was mentioned in a magazine or a newspaper magazine. He cringed every time his picture was featured in Europe’s most desirable single teens list. He just didn’t like that much exposure. But, he knew he could never just get away for once. He knew he could never be a normal guy like Loki or Carson. People like them had no idea how great they had it. They had never been followed. Their mother’s baby shower wasn’t on national television. But then again, while Ethan did admit to being conceited, he wasn’t conceited enough to think he was the only one with problems. It was common knowledge that Loki Fen’Rolphus was a werewolf, and only god knew how horrible that must be like. Ethan wouldn’t be able to deal with all the problems that had gone along with being a werewolf. He would have to go through that wolf cycle of course. He would have to make sure he was far enough away from people on the night of the full moon so he wouldn’t hurt anyone and he would have to go through a whole lot else to make sure nothing went wrong when he turned into a werewolf. To be honest, Ethan didn’t know how Loki coped with being what he was. Ethan would have never been able to handle it.

“Yea, I’m not normally a hungry guy.” Ethan almost laughed at his own lie. Ethan was a man; of course he was always hungry. He thought back to a couple of nights ago when he had almost scared Amber Hess with his extreme eating habits. He had piled anything and everything onto his plate and then some. It had probably surprised Amber quite a bit, but it definitely didn’t scare her away. Somehow, it had drawn her to him, but Ethan couldn’t really help that, now could he? Ethan had known for years he came equipped with some kind of magnet. It was part of the Duffy charm he had inherited from his mother. He had also inherited a strong mind from the Jacobs side of the family, packed and ready for some witty banter. If only Ethan wasn’t too lazy to use it.

Now that he was paying more attention to Loki and not in the Great Hall where Ezzie was sitting, he picked up on a lot more of the conversation. Loki had mentioned something about Carey. He hadn’t talked to Carey in ages. He remembered the last time he had seen her. They were at some stupid country club that Ethan was forced into going to. He really didn’t mind much, as he wasn’t one to complain, but the random gatherings of pureblood witches and wizards had become quite annoying over the years.
Ethan did recall hearing something along the rumor mill that Loki had been going out with Carey for awhile now. He was happy for the two. He imagined them sitting together. They did look good together. Somehow though, the image kept bringing back memories of him and Ezzie. Oh, if only he could get her out of his head for once! He was with Amber now, they had a date set up and everything. Ezzie and Ethan were no more. Ethan was sure of it.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. I did hear something about you two. I hope it all works out in the end. I’d hate to see you two end up like…” Ethan stopped himself. He wanted to say ‘like me and Ezzie’, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. “…like those classic bitter exes who hate each other’s guts.” He finished, hoping he sounded convincing. Ethan wasn’t too good at covering up today.