Defying Gravity ((Iyashii))

[Samantha Driscoll]

One summer ago, a terrified, confused, broken girl of seventeen had been incarcerated for three months in the darkest spot on earth, the place where the light of the sun did not warm up the hearts of the lost souls below, the constant misery and memories they lived in so real and depressing they shattered the souls and minds of those drowned in them. Samantha had had too many painful memories and when she had been thrown in Azkaban her guilt and her pain had driven her to the brink of insanity, and her harsh sentence was lifted, the three years reduced to only three months and in September of 1997 she had once again returned to Hogwarts, and after a long process of grieving and healing Samantha had finally decided she wanted to live again – and that she could put the past seventeen years behind her. It had been very difficult to believe in herself, because Samantha had never felt secure and had never felt loved for a day in her life before then, but her final year at Hogwarts had ended as well as could be hoped, and the Hogwarts graduate was now facing the challenge of making a life for herself all on her own, a life she could come to love and enjoy living.

This morning when she woke up it was not a constricted chest, it was not with a frantic feeling that she had to run for cover, when her eyes opened the roof above her was not the grey cement of her cell nor did she fear it was – finally, Samantha could wake up without fear, she was like everyone else, embracing the hope that today was a better day. She was on her own but she was free – a feeling that made her equally nervous and excited, but she was not plagued by anxiety or panic, she was ready to go out and discover what life had in store for her. Today was Saturday and she already had a plan, this new place of hers needed a bit of livening up and Samantha had decided to buy a few magical plants, the hatred she had once thought she had for Herbology had disappeared – in the few months that Samantha had been unable to use her wand because she had known the last spell she had cast with it was an Unforgivable Curse. The only class she had been able to do anything in was Herbology. Samantha was surprised to discover how much she liked working with plants once she gave it a try and today she thought she would go out for herself and try and purchase some, even if she didn’t find anything she liked, it would be a fun trip nonetheless.

It was just about 10 o'clock when Samantha entered the shop in Hogsmeade, which from the outside had the appearance of a small cottage but once you entered was shown to be a number of greenhouses. The WWN was playing in the background and Samantha could not help but be entranced by the serene, beautiful atmosphere created by the rich colours and scents pf the many plants she could see all around her. Plants were strewn all around her in the corridors in between the greenhouses. The different greenhouses were labelled, as the shop appeared to contain everything thing from plants used for healing purposes and aromatherapy to dangerous plants that required special handling and the plants she wanted, indoor plants. Samantha walked at a leisurely place to the back of the shop to look at these plants when someone walked out of a greenhouse and she felt an unwelcome hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach as she realised who it was.

Samantha wondered if he would recognise her and saw in his eyes that he did; the new hairstyle, the new makeup, and the black flowing robes that covered her body did not hide her identity from him, even though it was a completely different look than the one he was used to from the girl who had worn the latest in fashion and had her hair fashioned and face made up immaculately. Iyashii himself had changed very little, the superior, almost menacing air still there in the way he carried himself and in the severity of his oriental features. He still had a commanding presence despite his rather strange new choice of hair colour. Samantha could hardly believe that she once possessed the ability to carry herself with the same air. She wondered what his reason was for changing his hair colour – she herself had not divulged the reason to anyone about why she dressed as she did.

Samantha had no idea how to deal with the situation, she could not be her older self and react with the cold indifference she had perfected back then, she no longer possessed the power to become a mask when she so wished, and yet she could not react as she was trying to whenever she bumped into anyone these days, which was with a friendly, polite and as much as she could natural manner. Thought she kept her ground Samantha reacted as a child might; she lashed out with a rude remark simply because she felt threatened. "Well talk about doing a 180. Never thought you'd go for the Weasley look Iyashii," she said with a smirk.

[Iyashii Mitsuko]

This day was not unlike any other, aside from the fact that today he would approach the weak one. He had her watched, but ordered no one to approach her until he deemed otherwise. He had made sure that no one would ruin his chances with her and that no one would speak to her unless he said so. He stood in silence in the darkness of the room where he could think straight. He ran the plan over and over in his head until he was sure that his plan would go unhindered. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at the clock on the wall. Nine-thirty. He still had a small amount of time before he knew she would be there. He opened manila folder in front of him for the tenth time that morning and reread the information that Neku had received on Samantha Driscoll.

She was a year younger than he and yet she had already experienced more than he could imagine. She went to Azkaban for performing an Unforgivable Curse to protect her younger brother, Charles. He did not hold her in high esteem, but however secretly admired her. Had it been he in the same situation, he would protect Rin with his life. He looked back down at the file; after Azkaban (she had only been there a few three months) she relapsed became an entirely different person. A good little girl, who went back to school and was trying to make a life for herself. How sweet. Her soul had been on the edge of disappearance and her sanity was still questionable. He laughed to himself; she would make for an easy target.

He shut the file and threw it into his bag that sat on the edge of his bed. He threw his cloak over himself and exited the inn quickly and silently and into the shop where he knew she would be coming very soon. He went into one of the greenhouses and waited and was not shocked to find that his two friends were waiting for him. Shikyo was standing in the shadows, twirling his wand and looking very apprehensive as Neku smiled at the arrival of their undeclared leader.

“Did you get the file I left you?” she asked, her hair pulled tightly into a ponytail and her cloak pulled tightly around her. Iyashii nodded and Neku clapped her hands in excitement, “What will you say to her? Do you think she will join our cause?”
Iyashii looked at the ground and let out a dry laugh, “Eventually, yes…once your soul has tasted Darkness, it’s not hard to lure it back in.”
Neku and Shikyo laughed quietly, mostly out of nervousness and not knowing how to react to Iyashii’s cryptic sayings.
Neku cleared her throat, “We must be going, there is much to be done. We wil see you very soon, Iyashii-sama.”
With a crack, they were both gone. He glanced at his watch; ten o’clock. It was time. He exited the greenhouse and saw her, so different than what he remembered. She was thinner, plainer, pathetic…he mentally laughed at her. He could practically smell the fear on her, feed on its existence, and gave him the final burst of confidence he was sure he would not even need. He strode up to her, his presence demanding respect, and then she spoke. A certain bit of arrogance in her voice that he did not expect. He frowned at her, anger surging through his body. Don’t you dare compare me to that family of blood-traitors or I’ll kill you where you stand…
“I can honestly say no one has ever said something so foul to me and was able to say anything else for the rest of their short lives…” He did not raise his voice, but it was laced with a deadly tone that suggested he would curse her for calling him such a thing. “And you Samantha…? I never would have thought you would present yourself in such an undesirable way. So much has changed for the both of us…how have you been…I mean, I’ve heard some things…”

[Samantha Driscoll]

His frown was what she had expected and she felt an inner thrill at the fact that she had delivered the first blow, but it was short-lived. She had no idea whether she would deliver the last blow and knew it would require a great deal of strength for her to stand her ground; mostly because she had been trying for so long to distance herself from the cold sarcastic person she had always strived to be. She hated him for making her do this, she found no pleasure in being deliberately insulting, and what was more to keep her calm while she tried to throw vile insults at him in the hope that he would leave her be. But she knew how Slytherins thought; how quick and yet hurtful their words could be, and the cold, quiet way in which they aimed their blows way below the belt could be immensely hurtful. His unexpected appearance left her at a disadvantage as there was no-one around them and it was very early in the day – ironically, that had been the reason she had come here at this time. It was a cruel trick of fate to have him be here – why the hell was he here, anyway?

Samantha snorted, the unladylike sound coming from her sounding even ruder than it would from other people. "I can honestly say that's a pile of dragon dung, Iyashii, though no stranger to acts of brutal cruelty, I doubt you have ever killed anyone. Or perhaps you refer to a simple Silencing Charm that is not even considered to be Dark Magic? I should think that you would get that right, I mean, about seven times out of every 10?" she asked. Samantha looked down at herself, mostly to escape his eyes, his comment giving her another reason to pretend she was doing so, and then she slowly looked back up at Iyashii. She had almost forgotten how menacing Slytherins could sound, but she would not, could not let him get to her. She felt her whole body stiffen as if going into defence mode. She crossed her arms across her chest willing her mind not to freeze; she knew he would detect any sign of weakness on her part.

"Everything you have heard is true, in fact, probably worse." Samantha had a flashback to the insults Terrence Urbino had thrown at her the first time she had joined the Slytherin table after going back to Hogwarts – but at least Kris had been there then to get through it, right now she was completely on her own. "That is a matter of opinion Iyashii, I'm very glad I do not look desirable to you, it confirms my opinion that you do not have much taste," she said, a sugary smile on her face. "If you find me so undesirable though please do not waste anytime and move on. I do not what is it that has changed for you, but perhaps you have become one of those people who have nothing better to do than wonder about and prey on what they think is the story of the downfall of others? If so, then just pick up a magazine or newspaper from a year ago, I daresay you will find there all the grisly details of the things you say you've heard." Her smile was gone now. She tilted her head to the side and made a low impatient click with her tongue. He was in her way and she didn’t want to present her back to him, she wouldn't put it past him to try and curse her. She had completely ignored his question about how she had been; it was none of his business and she didn't think he cared, now she came to think of it she wondered what his reason was for talking to her at all.