Fears ((Jack))

[crystal]

Sounds of laughter, joy, and happiness filtered down the corridors. Everyone seemed to be happy. They all seemed to know where they belonged. The world seemed to have embraced them, taught them their ways and brought everyone to the same place…Hogwarts. Hogwarts was supposed to be the place of belonging…of knowing that you weren’t the only one out there like this. However the world wasn’t truly like that and neither was Hogwarts. Not everyone that attended the school belonged there. Not everyone that was born belonged in the world. Well at least that was one person’s point of view. She didn’t feel like she belonged anywhere. How could she feel that way some might ask? She was born into a family that cared more about themselves than they did about others. Neglected would be one way of putting it, but it wasn’t as if that was a bad thing either. She had learned at an early age how to take care of herself and how to deal with everything, well just about everything.

The sounds of other students began getting louder. Crystal froze. Her biggest fear was coming right toward her. It was enough to make her turn and run in the other direction. She turned ready to move to a different corridor when she spotted another group of students. Everywhere she turned for an exit people were there. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She could deal with them; she could face her fear of people and walk right by them. How had she survived in the world like this? How could she be so afraid of interaction? Perhaps it wasn’t the interaction at all, but rather the fear of being judged, the fear that they would look at her and judge her before even getting to know her. Whatever her fear was she wasn’t ready to deal with being forced to interact with them, which she no doubt would be forced to do. So she moved back against the door that was behind her, her hand reaching out and grasping the cool metal handle. She quickly moved into the room, her eyes watching the hall as she shut the door, her back to the room. She was safe…for now.

Crystal jumped when she heard a banging come from behind her. She turned quickly her eyes falling on the dresser. She wasn’t stupid; she knew what was in there. Still she couldn’t help herself from moving toward the dresser, her hand reaching out to grasp the wooden handle. Her body didn’t shake with fear as she thought it might as she opened the dresser, her body being drawn backwards from the immense creature that barged out of its hiding place. She froze with fear at that point, why had she been so stupid? She stood staring at the boggart, but it wasn’t just a boggart anymore. Her body shook as she stared at the mass of people that were before her now. It had multiplied and everyone was staring at her. Every face of the students around her, every one of the habitants of Hogwarts stared at her, moving toward her as she caught her breath. Her heart raced, her pulse thudding hard against her skin as she backed against the wall, a scream entering her ears. Who’s voice had that been? Was it her own? Fear pumped through her veins as she shut her eyes and tried to get away. Why had she let it out? Why had she chosen to let her fear be shown to her? A figure stepped out from the crowd, trying to envelop her in his arms. She screamed again as she danced away. No…this wasn’t supposed to be one of her fears. No one was supposed to know who she was. She wanted to be a ghost…she wanted to fade away without anyone noticing. She slid down against the wall, her arms wrapping around her legs as she tried to tear her eyes from theirs. They couldn’t see her if she couldn’t see them…a childish thought, but one she clung to as she sat there…shaking with fear.

Then suddenly the voices, the people were gone. Her eyes held tears that she was unwilling to shed. Where once they stood they were now gone. Eyes fell onto the changed boggart and the dark brown eyes landed on the figure at the door. She covered her face, trying not to be seen by him. Not wanting someone to see her in such a weakened state and definitely not wanting to be seen at all. She still shook, shook with fear at being forced to live her fear. She thought she could handle it, she thought she could deal with it, but where she was at now was living proof that she couldn’t handle the people, or the care that had shown from the one figures eyes. She didn’t want to be cared for, she didn’t want to be loved, yet those eyes didn’t lie to her and it was what scared her ten times more than anything ever could.

[Jack Reid]

Jack Reid walked the corridors of the Hogwarts castle, passing a few people here and there, but mainly just the slackers and Slytherins that didn’t care about class. Fortunately for him, he didn’t have a class right now, so he had taken some time to study in the library and now he was making his way to the Great Hall to meet up with some friends. The few he had. He had always kept to himself, just because of the way his parents had always treated him, which was as a loner. He always got stuck with the boys, his brothers August and Bronsen. Ugh, Bronsen. He couldn’t stand the child, much less think he should be a Reid. But that was a whole other can of worms he didn’t want to think about at the moment. He looked forward, at the corridor he was facing, and saw a mass of students coming from an Astronomy class that had just let out. Jack was about halfway down the corridor, and he looked the other way, seeing another class that had just gotten out. It looked like he was going to have to deal with plowing through people to get anywhere.

As he walked forward, he saw a girl with the same color robes as him sneak into a door on the side of the corridor. It seemed like she was cutting through rooms to try and get away from the masses of people, but she seemed scared as she went through the door. It seemed like a good idea to Jack, so he made his way to the door, and just as he was about to get pummeled by the masses, he slipped through the door into a darkened room. Suddenly, everything came into focus, and he saw numbers of people flooding the room. What the hell, he thought, and then he looked to his right. There was the girl, now obviously to him a Slytherin, curled up, scared out of her wits. It was a boggart. The ghastly thing was showing the girl her worst fear, and now that he had entered the room, it would turn on him. Jack searched his mind, trying to remember the spell to stop the bloody thing, but it wasn’t coming. He looked up, and one by one, the people began to dissipate. His worst fear was being alone, and it was coming true as he watched the people disappear. Oh the horror, he thought. Everyone, gone. He couldn’t let the thing destroy him, but it was so hard to resist…

Suddenly, his mind clicked, and he remembered the spell. He quickly thought of something funny, and drew his wand. “Ridiculus!” he yelled, pointing his wand at the dark forms, still disappearing. He felt the surge of the spell go through the wand, and suddenly, the last remaining people that were slowly disappearing took the form of pigs. Small pigs flying through the air, trying to figure out which way was up. He looked at them and laughed. It was hilarious, at least he thought so, and almost as quickly as it had come about, the boggart was gone. He put his wand back in his pocket and went over to the girl, who was still shaking from the immense fear the dark being had pummeled her with. “Don’t worry, it’s gone. It can’t hurt you anymore. Are you okay now?” He looked at her, wondering what she was thinking.

[crystal]

An overwhelming sense of anger flew through Crystal as the guy addressed her. So it was more fear than anger, but she wasn’t about to let him see her any weaker than she was. It was everything inside of her not to bolt out of the room. He saw a part of her that no one ever saw, that no one should ever see. Not only that, but the guy saw her biggest fear. She shuddered as she tried to pull herself back to the present. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind, to yell at him for doing what he did. Why was he following her? What on earth could he have wanted to slip into the same room she did? Was he some sort of spy sent by her father? She growled at the thought. As if she didn’t have enough problems now there was some guy being sent after her? Damn her dysfunctional family! She had grown up being neglected, but now that her mother was dead, her father had a habit of trying to get the family to stick together by using manipulating means. Crystal was her own person. She had spent years becoming the individual that her family had made her. Now her father wanted them to be a family again? Hell no. She wasn’t going to be part of that family. Not ever.

Crystal glared up at the guy as she got to her feet, dusting the dirt off her robes. Her deep green orbs slowly changed to the brown she’d come to use most often. Anger coursed through her and she flipped her wavy brown hair back over her shoulder. She was convinced that her father sent this guy. She was convinced he was there to somehow get into her life and convince her that her father wasn’t such a bad guy, that he truly just wanted their family to be reunited. Crystal knew better. Her father had always had other plans for them. Her father was into the Dark Arts, a supporter of the old Dark Lord. The thing about her father was that he was too much of a coward to actually voice his opinions about the Dark Lord to anyone but the family. He hadn’t done anything when the man was in control; instead he had hung his head and hidden behind his desk at the Ministry. Crystal thought it was a sign of weakness and it certainly was. Her father was nothing but a coward, a coward that couldn’t even save his own wife, not that he would want to. They weren’t that close. It was almost as if her father and mother had just decided to get married on a whim or because they didn’t think anyone else would marry them. It was a disturbing thought. However she knew that there hadn’t been a lot of chemistry between them.

Crystal forced herself out of her thoughts as she eyed the man. He was tall and not bad looking, but she wasn’t about to think any different of it. Her father had sent him and that meant that she couldn’t trust him, not that she trusted anyone. She crossed her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing. “I was fine on my own and would have been if someone hadn’t been following me. So why don’t you just get on back out of here and leave me alone,” Crystal growled at him, venom dripping from her mouth as if she were the very snake her house had used for its mascot. She was ready to strike him down if necessary. She didn’t need his help. Deep down she was grateful that he had come to her rescue, but at the same time she wouldn’t admit that she needed rescuing. She had lived too long without kindness. She had lived so long alone and now here this guy was, protecting her…if that was even the right word to use. The thing was Crystal didn’t need anyone. She was an individual…someone that was used to handling everything on her own. She didn’t need anyone and she wasn’t afraid to admit that. “Why don’t you get on back to my father. I’m sure he’s wondering how you’re doing on following me. I don’t appreciate a fellow Slytherin working for my father. So just get the hell away from me.” Crystal glared at him, hoping to get the message across that she didn’t need him there spying on her. If her father wanted blood than he was going to have to go to her siblings…not her.

[Jack Reid]

Jack had never been that close to a boggart before, much less send one back to where it came from. He had only ever practiced the spell in class, and he had never needed to use it. He was glad it had worked right the first time, otherwise…Well he didn’t want to think about what could have happened. Seeing all those people disappear one by one was a horror that he never wanted to see again. The problems at home with his parents and his brothers were nothing compared to that terrifying feeling of being alone in this world. Jack wasn’t sure, but he thought that just before he had closed his eyes to speak the spell, he had seen Juliet Moreau, the first girl he had ever come to like here at Hogwarts, and she was disappearing as well. He couldn’t bear to see Juliet leave him, and if that happened, he truly would be alone. He looked back at the girl and saw she was eyeing him, so he hid the expressions from his face as best as he could.

As Jack got up from the ground, the girl got up as well, glaring at him like he had done something wrong. He had just saved her for the time being from a boggart, hadn’t he? Apparently she didn’t care, because she was glaring at him like she wanted to kill him. She explained how she was fine on her own, and how she was upset that he had been following her. “I wasn’t following you. I was—“, but that was all he got out before she accused him of being a spy or something from her father. “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t even know who you are,” he began, “much less who your father is. I’m not some spy or whatever from him. I only followed you in here because I figured you had found a quicker way to the other hallways. The two classes in this corridor out here both got out at the same time, so naturally the hallway would be plugged full. I didn’t want to have to deal with pushing through people.“ He looked at her again, trying to figure out what she was talking about. “Damn. I’m sorry I helped you. Geez, you help someone out when you think they'll appreciated it, and what do you get? Complaining." Jack's demeanor changed to anger quite quickly, and he spat out, "Why don’t you get the hell out of here? After all, I was following you, and apparently Daddy wouldn’t be happy if I had nothing to report.” He smirked at her, laughing at her stupid comment. What kind of father would send a student to follow his daughter? It was absurd.

Jack walked over to the door on the other side of the room, using his wand to light the floor as he walked. He opened it to reveal the opposite hallway, completely empty, as it was lunch time in the Great Hall. Everyone was likely there, and his friends would likely be waiting for him. “After you, Miss I-Don’t-Need-Saving.” He didn’t have time for this childish nonsense, especially from a girl he didn’t even know.

[crystal]

Crystal was at a lost for words as the boggart shifted its attention to the guy in the room, her eyes watching as one by one the people began to disappear. She pinpointed his fear exactly after a few seconds; it was quite obvious the guy didn’t want to be alone. She rolled her eyes at the thought. People that didn’t want to be alone never gained any independence. All they did was rely on everyone around them, on their friendships. Crystal didn’t have friendships. She knew people, was acquainted with people, but they didn’t really know her and she didn’t really know them. She was a shadow, a mere girl that was overlooked every day of her life. She didn’t care though, that’s how she liked it. Of course her professors noticed it too and would call on her in class just to get her in the lime light. She hated that…hated being noticed and right now she hated that boy…that poor pathetic excuse for a man for noticing her. She could have handled the boggart. She could have gotten it back in that damn dresser if he had given her a moment to actually perform the spell before playing He-Man.

Crystal wasn’t thrown off by his apparent ‘I-don’t-know-you’ attitude. She knew this guy had to be following her. It wouldn’t be the first person that had. After all, her father had his ways. She wasn’t going to help the git, even if he paid her in the money that he was trying to get. She scowled at the guy before her. She was trying to control her temper. It wasn’t easy getting her angry, but one she was it was a force no one wanted to reckon with. She may have wanted to be unnoticed, to be unseen, but once she was seen she didn’t hesitate in letting that person have it. Besides whom did he think she was? Better yet who did he think he was? Brown orbs traveled over his uniform and she noticed the Snake emblem. So he was a Slytherin eh? Her eyes landed back on his face and finally she recognized him. He was actually in the same year she was. The only thing was that she hadn’t ever talked to him and she made sure as hell that no one ever talked to her. There were a few girls in her dorm that tried, but after the apparent blow off from Crystal they had left her alone. Now she was one of the more disliked dorm mates, simply because she didn’t care to talk to anyone or listen to anyone talk. She was simply at Hogwarts to graduate and go back into her hermit lifestyle. Her mother had left her enough money to do whatever she wanted to do and she planned on it.

“Say what you wish. I know he sent you. Like he sent the last one,” Crystal growled out, her eyes changing to a deep, deep blue. They were icy, letting him know she wasn’t playing around…she never was. Crystal had no time for games; she had no time for people. If she wanted to get out of this damn place she had to keep her eyes on the prize, which was graduating…going back to her home, collecting the money her mother left her at 17, and getting the hell away from everyone. Crystal’s narrowed at his rather quick assumption that he had ‘helped’ her. “You didn’t help me. Helping me would have been to leave me alone and watch me take care of it. Haven’t you ever heard that old saying about giving a man a fish feeds him for a day, teaching a man to fish feeds him forever? I could have taken care of it myself so next time just sod off,” she growled at him, venom lacing her voice as her eyes become mere slits at his comments about her father. Maybe the kid wasn’t working for him, obviously with his air of annoyance, but it didn’t give him any right to be a prat about it. “Why don’t you just go back to my father and tell him that I won’t allow him to use me to get the inheritance? Tell him to sod off and remember that I’m not daft.”

Crystal moved after him in annoyance after he turned for her. “Where do you get off following people? If you’re not working for my father, which in all likely you aren’t. You’re too daft to be working for him.” Crystal glared at him at his comment. “Listen He-Man I didn’t need your help and I’m not going to tell you that again. If you just stay the hell away from me we’ll be okay. Besides it’s not like you even know who I am, so why try to help? I don’t need you or anyone else trying to save me.” She moved through the opening and into the opposite hallway, her arms crossed over her chest as she began walking. Of course…this would have been the perfect time to just walk away, to show strength of character and just forget about him, but of course Crystal in her attempt to do so was just clumsy enough to drip over thin air and land with a hard thump on the ground on her arse. She glared at him quickly. “One word and I’ll kill you.” She had to be the clumsiest person in the world. She was constantly falling over things or running into walls. It was as if her attempts to remain oblivious to the world were being foiled by her own body. How she hated not being graceful. She growled as she lifted her robes enough to see the bruise forming on her knee already. “Just great,” she muttered to herself.


((Figured you’d need to know some of the words I used. List of terms: ‘git’=scumbag, ‘sod off’= get lost, and ‘prat’=idiot.))

[Jack Reid]

Jack watched her as the girl stood there, still accusing him of being a spy sent by her father. Why would she think that? That was completely stupid. Why would any father send someone to follow their own daughter? Jack’s parents were messed up (at least as far as he knew), but they would never send someone to spy on him. However, what were his brothers? He had to take care of them while they were all here, so he guessed that it was possible that his brothers were telling Mum and Dad about how bad he was acting. It didn’t matter anyway, he didn’t care anymore. Mum was crazy, and Dad didn’t care. He just kept enjoying his long hours at work, finding more and more girls to sleep with. Sometimes Jack wondered why his father had decided to cheat in the first place. Was Mum close to divorcing him? Jack shook his head. It wasn’t something he needed to worry about.

Jack saw the girl’s eyes change color quite quickly, to a icy cold blue. It seemed her emotions changed her eye color. “If you don’t mind me asking, why do your eyes change color like that? I think it’s kind of interesting.” He was trying to change the subject, and get her off this stupid attitude problem she had. Otherwise, he’d just become the same way and it would end in a yelling match, probably along with a few spells thrown in. He didn’t feel like dealing with that right now. She continued, however, with the verbal abuse and telling him to go “sod off”, which he thought was quite an odd use of words. He had heard it before, just not in a very long time. “Look, girl, I was just trying to help. I came in and you seemed to be in trouble, so in the moment I took care of it. Damn, you really don’t like people, do you?” Jack was so appalled that this girl would think what she was thinking of him, how she thought he was a spy from her father and that she wasn’t appreciating his help. This was why he didn’t usually stick with people; they seemed to despise him no matter what he did.

“Look, like I said, I don’t even know your father. And even if I did, why in the world would he send someone after his daughter? Are you usually a bad kid or something? Does Daddy always have to check up on you?” He chuckled at her, wondering where she got off being so full of herself. “And by the way, I wasn’t trying to save you. That’s what heroes do. I just helped you. But if you think about it, I was saving myself, because the damn thing turned on me. So get over yourself.” The entire situation seemed to be irking the girl even more every minute, and she spun around to go out the door on the opposite side of the room, and she tripped, falling right on her behind. Jack had to laugh, but tried to stifle it, just so she wouldn’t get much more upset. Not that he cared, he just didn’t feel like dealing with her that day. She threatened to kill him if he said anything about her being clumsy, and he just shook his head. Jack wanted to reach his hand down to help her up, but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate it. “You’ve got quite the fiery attitude, even at your own leg. What’s your name? I’m Jack.” He hoped she would calm down a bit, but he doubted it would happen. If she kept this up, he would just walk off an not worry about it anymore, as he had a tendency to do.