Did Not, Did Too ((Annie))

[Jez Cuthbert]

((Set in the last week of September or thereabouts.))

Jez had grown extremely protective of Aluca since she’d finally returned to him, having been kept captive by his surprisingly cruel adversary. Her feathers were glossy once again and she had regained a lot of her spirit, but then again, this was about a month and a half on from the two-week period of neglect. Jez went to check up on her in the Owlery at least one time per day. After all, Annie also had access to the Owlery, and it seemed she wasn’t to be trusted when it came to treating animals humanely. Sure, she had always come across as cold – although Jez thought of it more as resilient – but he hadn’t imagined her capable of cruelty to innocent creatures until he’d witnessed it.

Poor Aluca. It still caused Jez regret to think of what had happened to her, but at least she was all right now. He did have to admit that he, too, was completely – well, at least almost completely – in the wrong. Considering Ariane’s circumstances, what he had said to her on that August day a year ago had been unacceptable, and her response most likely justified, even though he hadn’t known it at the time. Instead, he’d subjected her to countless pranks in retribution: he could hardly consider himself to be any better than Annie. She appeared to consider it unnecessary to treat animals humanely; he hadn’t been treating Ariane anywhere near humanely. His behaviour had been that of a jerk.

He saw it now, but he should have seen it a long time ago. It shouldn’t have been necessary to know what he knew now. Of course, this didn’t mean that he despised Annie any less. After what she’d done to his owl… well, he wasn’t about to forgive her for that. Then again, he wouldn’t be exacting any further revenge, because he’d already caused her far more trouble than he had any right –

“Oh crap.” That was Jez’s general feeling whenever he thought of Ariane now, but this time he’d vocalised it due to the fact that her thin, straight form was already occupying the Owlery as he stepped in through the open doorway. He hadn’t said it particularly loudly, so she might not have been able to distinguish his actual words, depending on how preoccupied she had been when he said them (he expected that her hearing would be as sharp as that of the owls surrounding them). Anyhow, that didn’t matter, but she would know immediately that someone had joined her in the room, would turn any second now… ah, there. As she turned, she revealed the owl she had been petting, a large black bird of prey that, haughty and majestic, looked Ariane’s equal.

“Hi,” Jez said, colouring in embarrassment. He’d not wanted any more interaction with Ariane, ever. He thought they had built up enough mutual dissatisfaction already, and to be honest, then he was ashamed of himself. “What’s her name?” he asked, indicating her owl. He swallowed a little nervously, but couldn’t stop himself from saying what he was wondering. “I’m surprised you have an owl. After… I would have thought that would have stopped you from mistreating other owls,” he said in a calm, quiet voice contrasting the colour still rising in his face, “but apparently not.” He looked away and so missed any lack of comprehension on Ariane’s part that would have made him rethink his certainty that it had been her who mistreated Aluca. He clicked his fingers and Aluca flew over, settling on his arm; she would have recognised his voice as soon as he spoke, but had been waiting to be summoned.

“This is Aluca,” he said, feeling the ominous silence to be unsettling. Everything must now be clear; all suspicions certain. Spreading his arms (Aluca readjusted herself), he took out his wand and laid it aside with great deliberation, balanced on a perch. “Go on then,” he urged Ariane, “hex me.” He looked down at the floor. “I know I deserve it.” He glanced at Ariane’s face and wondered what form her explosion of anger was going to take, because it looked like there was one coming. “What are you waiting for?” he egged her on. “Don’t want to harm an innocent creature?” he asked, raising his eyebrows as with a gentle push he persuaded Aluca onto the same perch as his wand. “It’s a bit late for that now,” he reminded her coldly.

[Ariane Chan]

Ariane preened Atalanta's feathers gently. Normally Helix, Aurora's snowy owl, would be with her, but Ata was alone today, as Aurora had sent Helix to her parents the night before. Ariane always chose mornings to come and visit Atalanta; mainly because not many people were up and about and she could avoid socialising and contact. Brushing down Atalanta's glossy black feathers, Ariane contemplated the two weeks or so since they had returned to school. Not much had changed; the daily cycle was the same, with the same classes and professors, besides one change: Hermione Granger had replaced McGonagall, as she had ascended to become Headmistress. Professor Hardy was now Head of Gryffindor, which was fine with Ariane; although she had never taken Muggle Studies, she had heard about her from Aurora, and she liked the teacher. Ariane was gradually getting used to Professor Druex's teaching methods; she neither liked or disliked the man, but she was enjoying the lessons. Auror. Ariane rolled the word in her head playfully. Ariane and auror; they seemed to fit each other. For a long time Ariane had had not a clue about her future, but she was gradually becoming more certain of her fate: she would become an auror. She was sure her mother would have been proud.

Ariane was alerted to a pair of footsteps increasing in sound, nearing the Owlery, and scowled to herself. Her peaceful sanctuary and solitude would soon be invaded. Sighing to herself, Ariane decided she'd stay for another five minutes with Ata, unless the intruder was an obnoxious jerk from Slytherin. Ariane disliked the Seventh Year Slytherin boys more than ever since Tristan had gone. He'd left a gaping hole in his year: Ariane looked at Pyro Blackfire, Cyrus Thorn, Drake Manning and the lot and felt empty. None of them were her Tristan. But, then again, Tristan was not hers anymore. He was probably with some bimbo in America, right? Ariane's palm tightened in her pocket, but she unfurled it after a few seconds and withdrew some owl treats for Atalanta, who pecked at them graciously. Ariane had almost forgotten about the individual who was about to shatter her tranquility, and was only alerted to them when she heard the words 'oh crap'. It was quiet, but seeing as the Owlery was completely silent, Ariane heard it clearly. Her back was to the entrance of the Owlery, but it took only a few seconds for her to recognise the voice. With narrowing eyes, Ariane turned around and her suspicions were confirmed.

Jez Cuthbert. Ah. Just who Ariane had been thinking about searching out when she returned to Hogwarts. Jez had a lot to answer for. Ariane completely ignored Jez's feeble 'hi' and merely stared at him, expecting him to - to what? Apologise? Yes. Explain himself? Yes. Instead, much to Ariane's surprise, he gestured at Atalanta and asked her for her name. Blinking, Ariane slowly answered, "Atalanta." Her expression furrowed into a frown of confusion when he claimed she had 'mistreated other owls', but she did not interrupt, thinking it unnecessary; evidently Jez was quite an odd child - out of his mind, really. Ariane was rather tempted to retort with, "Whether or not I have an owl is none of your business", but she refrained from doing so. Instead, Ariane watched with hawk-like eyes the very familiar owl hopping onto Jez's arm. That was, no doubt, the very same owl who had visited her twice with first the mushrooms and then the thing that got rid of them. "We've met," Ariane managed to reply with narrowed eyes at the owl's introduction.

Ariane blinked. Hex him? Did he really think she solved her issues through hexing people? Okay, so she had felt very inclined to hex his bloody head off a few months ago, but right now she was downright confused at his attitude towards her. Her gaze growing even colder to match Jez's, she spoke after he had finished his tirade. "If you think I would sacrifice my prefect status to get revenge on you, you are sorely mistaken. You do deserve it, though. I don't know what I've done to warrant your hatred. Certainly, I am tempted to hurt you you. I was very tempted during the summer to hex your owl the second time it came to me. But, your owl is an innocent creature and I would never harm the innocent." Ariane sent Jez a withering look, stroking Atalanta subconsciously to calm herself. "You were the culprit. Although I had no evidence, who else could it be?" She snorted to herself incredulously. "Tell me: was the Barney toy from you too? Because I didn't find it amusing. Juvenile, really. Aurora did, but she doesn't know it was you. None of them do and I intend to keep it that way." When Ariane took out an owl treat for Atalanta she noticed Jez's owl, Aluca, looking at it; she then dipped into her pocket for another and threw it across to Aluca, who caught it in her mouth expertly. "In reply to your previous comment, I don't mistreat animals," Ariane muttered quietly. "Quite the opposite. I mistreat people."

[Jez Cuthbert]

‘I don’t know what I’ve done to warrant your hatred.’

Didn’t she? She realised it had been him she’d slammed with a toilet door shortly after he mocked her tears… didn’t she? She’d certainly glared at him aplenty last year, although perhaps that had been because he’d kept on pranking her rather than because she also knew the reason why he wouldn’t leave her alone. But surely she did… he’d been pretty certain she had. Had he been mistaken? He’d have to remind her.
“Yes, it was me. I’m no threat to your Prefect status so…” – he gave a little gesture – “…go ahead if it would help. Or you’d prefer an explanation?” He shrugged. “I laughed at you. You made me feel the error of my ways – believe me, I felt it, not that I took much notice other than of the pain. Do you remember? Do you remember?” He looked for some sign that she understood. “Last August; a small café just off Diagon Alley,” he said, in case she didn’t.

“I wanted revenge,” he continued quietly, “but I was in the wrong. I was in the wrong from the very start. I’m – what do you mean, did I send the Barney as well?” His contemplative and regretful expression turned to one of incredulous outrage, his voice also betraying his bewilderment. Usually Jez could control his voice, but his facial expression told the truth almost without exception. Right now, he just couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Of course I bloody well did,” he retorted, rather lowering the calibre of conversation. “Did you really think I wouldn’t send it back? Juvenile – fine, but don’t you think it was juvenile sending it in the first place? I only modified it a bit. I don’t know how you… well. Never mind, I don’t want to know how,” he decided finally. “Please don’t tell anyone,” he added. He turned away and paced once up and down the cold stone floor, fretting again over how on earth Annie had found out his first name (how dare you suggest that he’s unhinged, good reader; much as the writer respects you she won’t be putting up with any thoughts like that!). On the stretch back towards her, he burst out once again, repeating his accusations.

“You know, keeping Aluca from going home – fine, very clever; stopped me from doing anything else. You could even say it was my fault for sending her. But don’t you think” – he stopped close enough to her that his height advantage became suddenly much more obvious – “do you not think you could at least have fed her? Not sent her back with a wound infested with Chizpurfles? She was lucky to make it home.” He signalled to Aluca to lift up her talon to show the newly healed wound, still lacking any feathers, (it was a request she had grown to understood since it had been made repeatedly for about a month as the wound had been cleaned, healed and checked) to Ariane. It was obviously going to turn into a long, thin scar, from where “You think you don’t mistreat animals? I’ve got news for you then – you do. Take a look, if you’ve managed to ignore it up until now.”

He glared at Ariane and realised how close he was standing to her as, stroking Aluca’s feathers, his blood boiled a little less. Jez was usually quite mild-mannered and he felt not a little surprised at finding himself looking down at Ariane in quite such close proximity. As usual, the surprise showed on his face. It was quite remarkable that she hadn’t hexed him yet, all things considered. Perhaps she was about to go for the more physical approach again, he thought, wincing in memory, and he stepped back and spoke in a more measured tone. “I won’t apologise for sending the Barney back to you,” he said. “I don’t know what else you could possibly have expected when you sent it back with Aluca, especially considering the condition she was in. Everything else, I can’t justify and I’m–” he couldn’t bring himself to say sorry to those piercing, uncompassionate eyes – “I regret it now.”

Ariane’s owl hooted and Jez regarded it thoughtfully. “Why Atalanta?” he asked, referring to why she had chosen that name (it has to be said that his knowledge of Greek mythology wasn’t too good). He wasn’t meaning to be conversational; the thought simply popped out as soon as it occurred to him. He was back observing again; he spent his whole life observing the interesting things around him, apart from when anger or grief closed his mind to them. Ariane’s eyes held him riveted: cold, contemptuous and possibly, after having held her gaze for so long… affronted. What was it? What had he said that she considered an affront? Or done? Maybe it was just the fact that he was still staring at her – bad habit. He looked away.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, “that’s none of my business. I just wondered.”

[Ariane Chan]

Ariane's gaze turned cold. On the contrary of what most people believed about her, Ariane was not actually a cold personality. She was indifferent, antisocial and distant, yes, but not cold. If Ariane gave you her 'cold' look then you must have done something to deserve... or rather, provoke it. "Remember?" Ariane lightened her scoff into a sarcastic, sharp response. "I find personal attacks on my integrity and dignity rather hard to forget." The pain of Jez's words still stung at Ariane's internal wounds, ripped open and raw from Tristan's recent departure. However, at least Tristan had helped heal that old scar before he'd left. When Ariane had learnt of the true identity of the individual in that café in Diagon Alley, the pain had lessened considerably... Though she had not forgotten - not ever - those taunting words.

"I've never sought revenge," Ariane calmly replied after a taut silence, stemming her resentment to portray a picture of peace. She didn't understand what Jez meant when he implied she had already gained her revenge on him. "What you did that summer was childish and unnecessary, and its harmful consequences hurt a lot of people. However, I'm not as childish as yourself to want revenge for something so trivial. You upset me," (as if Ariane would utter and admit the word 'cry'), "and that is all. I left that day to pick up the pieces and you continue to break and shatter everything. Why? What is your purpose? What have I ever done to you?" she accused, her demeanour collected but her anger simmering from the trouble Jez had inflicted upon her over the last year. "Anyone would think you, like myself in Diagon Alley, have an issue of mistaken identity," she concluded in a mutter, her free hand curling a strand of black round her ear as she stared defiantly at Jez.

Ariane's eyebrow arched in puzzlement at Jez's words. "Revenge for what?" she asked rather disbelievingly, her bitterness threatening to escape her controlled stature. "You said some hurtful words to me when I was in a vulnerable state and made me think you were someone else entirely. You performed stupid, immature pranks on me throughout our Sixth Year. You stole the contents of my trunk, made mushrooms grow in my room that I couldn't get rid of them for a week. You sent an enlarged soft toy dinosaur to me. What was that? Entertainment? Am I just a source of entertainment to you?" Ariane glared at Jez scornfully, disdain evident on her scowl. "I have been nothing put your toy for too long and I am sick of it. You tell me what I have done to warrant your vengeance, because I have never, to my own knowledge, attacked your integrity, your dignity, the way you enjoy attacking mine."

Ariane looked at Jez as though he had just said something extremely odd and unbelievable. "...I think you are mistaken. I have never sent you anything." Ariane's glare increased in annoyance and incredulity. "I have never wanted revenge and my mental capabilities are beyond wanting to prank you in turn. I just want you to stop your antics, because they are beginning to truly irritate me, and I must warn you to stop before you do incite my honest wrath. If I want my revenge, I will have it." Ariane felt Atalanta shift on her arm, and with her other hand soothed her by stroking her back feathers. It seemed her owl was becoming restless with Ariane's building frustration. "I have better things to do with my time than waste it thinking over tricks to make your life a misery," Ariane said, before frowning deeply. "Tell who what? ...You either enjoy speaking in riddles or you really do love to irritate me. I'm not dumb or deaf, but you need to explain yourself before I give up on communicating with you at all." Ariane sighed in frustration and let Atalanta hop off her arm as she turned away from Jez, having had enough of his lunacy-laced jibes.

At Jez's next accusation, Ariane's eyebrows remained raised as she turned to inspect his owl, Aluca. Observing her condition, Ariane knew that Jez was definitely mistaking her for someone else. The idiot. "You... are an idiot," she voiced aloud with an almost amused shake of the head. Looking away, she brushed Ata's beautiful black feathers down gently and spoke. "It wasn't me who hurt your owl. Quite the opposite; it was always your owl who bore irritance for me, time and time again. I became rather... wary of her." Ariane remembered the second time she had seen Aluca, bearing the potion that finally got rid of the mushrooms from her floorboards. She had been extremely annoyed and fearful of what that owl had come with at the beginning. But, she had never seen her again. Straightening up, Ariane gestured towards Aluca, an owl treat in her hand. "I only saw your owl twice: first, when she brought the mushroom spores, and second, when she gave me the 'antidote'."

Aluca diligently hopped across the small distance between Jez and Ariane, and landed on her outstretched arm, taking the owl treat between her fingers. Ariane petted the brown owl before sending Jez a withering look. "I don't need to be telling the truth for you to figure out that she would not have come to me were she frightened of me... were I the one who harmed her. I've never laid a hurtful finger on any animal..." Ariane knew the same could not be said for humans, because she had, indeed, stabbed her own father. She still carried her own scar, her own self-mutilation. Ariane noted Jez's regretful tone and felt nothing. She didn't care for apologies... she felt they meant little. Sorrys were difficult for her to give and accept, for her pride constantly stood in her way. "You regret, but it won't change the past. You can't give someone back a year of their life," Ariane muttered darkly, giving Aluca a light shove so she jumped back onto Jez's arm. Atalanta was hooting for her attention behind her - she disliked Araine giving other owls attention, even Helix - and Ariane wisely chucked her last few owl treats at her pet to silence her.

Blinking at Jez's question that had come out of nowhere, Ariane contemplated answering him for a minute or so, and then spoke. She found no harm in telling him, and ignored his apology about minding his own business. "Atalanta is the name of a goddess in Greek mythology. Aurora helped me name her. She likes her stories and myths. She said Atalanta was a very fast goddess, and that suited her." Ariane gestured briefly at Atalanta, nipping at the food and unaware that she was the topic of conversation. Ariane was aware of Atalanta's story in Greek mythology, but decided to omit that to Jez. Ariane had only found out after she had named Atalanta, and by then she had grown fond of the name. Atalanta would never be a love-sick owl, though she would always be one of the fastest of her kind.