Looks Like Stars... ((Drake)) [PG-13]

[Josephine Bowman S7]

((This post is rated PG-13 due to drug use reference and adult themes regarding drug use. Please read at your own discretion))



The dress was anything but casual. It’s silky green fabric clinging loosely to the curves of the sixteen year old Slytherin as form moved through the cold dingy dungeons, the only light that existed came from the candles that flamed to life as she moved further through the corridors. She walked tall, her head held a little higher than normal, chin strong and locked as if at any moment it would crush into a thousand pieces from the tension that was being displayed there. Deep ocean blue orbs pinned themselves in front of her, not straying from the constant light that appeared in front of her. Hands were by her sides, moving with the sway of her body, the silver band on her wrist tapped against the sheath for her wand, giving a soft tapping noise that echoed down the corridors.

Voices echoed off the stonewalls long before Josephine Bowman saw the faces behind them. As they drew near she slipped down another passageway, bound and determined not to run into anyone from her own house, not when she was feeling so good about life. The dungeons were peaceful to her, even in their dark and dank atmosphere; they brought a sense of calming joy to her. Or that could have been the drugs that laced her system at the moment. A lazy smiled pulled at the corner of her lips as she moved away from the sound, further and further into the darkening corridors of the dungeons. Every few feet a candle would flame to life, showing her the pathway. It was almost beyond thought for her as she continued moving…it was almost like a dream, even a hazy appearance had begun to invade the corners of her vision like that of a dream.

A soft giggle sounded from her lips as she brushed a stray strand of black hair back behind her ear. Blue orbs traveled back and forth as she came to a stop. She was at a crossroads. Should she continue straight, turn left, or go to the right? It was a question she wasn’t even sure she really felt like thinking about. Thoughts…she was always thinking, always contemplating…well ideas weren’t great anymore, and thinking before reacting was just ridiculous. She was Josephine Faith Bowman, the eldest of the Bowman children…or at east she was now. There! That was why she didn’t like thinking…the thoughts always turned back to her sister, always back to the one she had failed so miserably. Yes, it was her fault. Jo felt a wave of dizziness come over her, fingers reaching out for the wall to her left. Bracing herself for a few moments she let the wave pass before choosing to travel to the left.

The smile returned as glazed red eyes tried to pick their way through the darkness. Candles were few and far between down this tunnel and Jo was having a hard time concentrating on much of anything. Her left hand continued to guide her down the hall, reminding her that she still was standing upright. Of course she didn’t see the bench until she was already tripping over it. Graceful form, no…not in that moment, tripped head over heels and landed on the ground face looking up at the darkened stone ceiling. “Looks like stars…” she muttered to herself. “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away. Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day. For love may come and tap you on the shoulder, some starless night. Just in case you feel you wanna hold her, you’ll have a pocketful of starlight.” The familiar song of Perry Como’s fell easily from her lips as she sang, loving the soft echo that sounded off the walls.

[Drake Manning]

Almost done. His time at Hogwarts, his time having to deal with others like India and Brianna, his time having to pretend he was someone that he really wasn't. They were all almost done, and Drake couldn't be more relieved. His entire Hogwarts experience had been one of utter disappointment and pain. Drake was a loner. Always had been, and as far as he was concerned, he always would be. Sure he had womanized his way around the school, somehow received the title of prefect, and even been in an arranged marriage. But that would all be a thing of the past. Even India was quickly fading from his life, or at least he was trying to make her. The feelings he had for India were so strong and overwhelming though, and they were feelings that Drake hadn't quit figured out. But he was trying his damnedest to make them go away. He was locking up all things that had meaning, and getting ready to leave them at Hogwarts for good. Drake was ready to move on, or at least he was telling himself that he was.

Strolling quite aimlessly down the dungeon corridors, Drake was primarily looking for an escape from his room. The less time he had to spend around others, the better. It was all just another aspect of his plan to leave Hogwarts behind him in its entirety. As he was walking though, as fate would have it, he almost tripped over the body of what he soon realized to be Josephine Bowman. A slight scream escaped his lips as his eyes darted to the ground. "What the hell?" he cursed, catching himself from falling and looking down at Josephine, the sister of his dead bride-to-be. How ironic. Drake had half a mind to just walk away, leaving the obviously intoxicated Josephine to fend for herself. He wasn't sure what she was using, but whatever it was had left her in an almost trance-like state, muttering some silly song about stars and pockets.

As memories of Brianna flooded his mind like a raging river might destroy a weakened dam, Drake stood frozen, unable to keep walking like he might have wished. His eyes were fixed on Jo, her beautiful body which lay sprawled on the ground, a delicate green fabric hugging her curves. Drake's mind wandered, filling with the usual Drake-like thoughts of lust and love (if that's what you would even call it). He tried pushing them away, but as always, it was no use. He was weak. He had been weakened to his habits and desires since he could remember. Despite fighting them on occasion, it never seemed to work, and so there he was, finding himself once again in a position to retreat behind his wall and give in to the inner Drake that seemed to rule his life. Slumping to the ground, he rested his back against the stone walls, his arms resting on his knees. He wasn't looking at Jo anymore though, as his eyes were gazing off into the darkness of the dungeon.

"I'm not really the monster that everyone thinks I am," he said, his voice trailing off and getting lost in the echoes of Jo's song. He wasn't sure if she was listening, nor did he really care. Sitting there in that moment though, he felt a bit freer. A bit lighter. A bit less consumed by the loneliness and fear that had always surrounded him.

[Josephine Bowman S7]

“Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away! Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day! For love may come an’ tap you on the shoulder, some star-less night! An’ just in case you feel you wanna hold her, you’ll have a pocketful of starlight!” the soft song faded down to a whisper as the smile on her face grew. She had company and even in her immensely fogged up mind she could still recognize who it was that had joined her. Dear Drake Manning…the one man on Earth that Josephine would have liked nothing more than to destroy piece by piece…of course that was when she still cared. Now she was little more than an empty shell. Her soft smile grew as she turned her head in the direction of his words, her lips pressed together as she hummed through her smile…not willing to leave the Perry Como song unfinished.

“Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away! Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day! For when your troubles start multiplying, an’ they just might! It’s easy to forget them without trying, with just a pocketful of starlight,” she finished in a soft tone as she slowly rose, her legs folding beneath her as blue orbs found Drake. She couldn’t help the feeling that came over her…everything sparkling around her. She was wrong…stars didn’t surround her diamonds did. Every sparkling light that glinted off the stone walls was really a thousand tiny diamonds blinking at her, telling her it was all going to be all right. She was going to be just fine.

A soft melody began to fill her ears and she smiled serenely as she closed her eyes to listen. “Do you hear it?” she asked with a soft reverence to her voice. She had to whisper…knew if she didn’t the song would disappear, that everything around them would disappear. Drake had stumbled in on the greatest invoking of magic Josephine had ever seen. It was like the finger of God touching the area around them. Blue light seemed to glow around them as the music crescendoed. Josephine felt the call to her bones to move, to sway as she slowly rose to her feet, hands running down the folds of her smooth dress. It was a soft, slow dance that called to her and she twirled in a slow turn as she laughed quietly.

The music grew louder still and Josephine stopped for only a minute to bend down and take Drake’s hands. “Dance with me! Don’t you hear it?” she asked anxiously, the smile wide across her face, deep blue orbs lit with an almost unnatural light, pupils wide. “It wants us to dance, it calls us to! We must!” Josephine was almost crazed with fever as the first signs of sweat began to bead on her forehead. She dropped to her knees briefly…just long enough to let her lips meet his. There was no way of stopping her body. The drugs had her in too deep, her mind just one chaotic hallucinogen that called to her being, but as her lips met his for that moment she let her hand slide slowly down his torso before grabbing his hand once more and tipping back on her heels so she could rise. Her breathing had increased by now and the music pounding against her eardrums. “Come…dance!”

[Drake Manning]

In his sobriety, Drake was easily able to recognize that Josephine was completely and utterly unaware of what she was doing. Well, she may have been aware, but it was obvious that she had not a care in the world as she so blatantly seemed to ignore him while she continued to sing her song in a dream-like voice. Eventually, she stopped her singing and began talking to Drake. She didn't reply to the conversation that he had started, but he was intrigued by her actions nonetheless. It was rather amusing on one hand and a bit seductive on the other. Drake found himself less and less resistant to just letting his body do the deciding, rather than his head.

At first, he didn't obey Josephine's requests for him to join her free-form dancing. Instead, he watched with boyish amazement, allowing his mind to slip into a blissful carefree state. At one point then, she fell back to the ground where Drake was sitting, and what happened next was almost more than what he could have asked for. Their lips met, and he didn't refuse her. He closed his eyes, enjoying her touch. Without even stopping himself though, his mind instantly was elsewhere, the visions of long blonde locks in the place of Josephine's brown ones. India's eyes starring back at him, haunting his every action. When he opened his eyes, they were gone. It was only Josephine in front of him, and she was moving to her feet again.

Come... dance! The voice was India's too, though it was coming from Josephine, and Drake obeyed, standing to his feet and letting his hands take hers. For a few moments, he let the emotion guide them, though he was quite certain Josephine was feeling something entirely different than himself. While she seemed alive by some invisible force, Drake was alive in his passion, though it was a passion he barely understood. It was a passion he had been avoiding for so long. And now that he had finally given in to that passion, he didn't know what to do. It was clear that India had invaded his entire being, and so as fearful as he was, Drake simply clung to the only person who was there with him, and together, he and Josephine danced their own dance under the stars.

[Josephine Bowman S7]

Josephine was hardly surprised when he followed her…well maybe she would have been…but the world was spinning, twirling, dancing! There was no colour unseen, no note unsung as Josephine twirled in his arms. There was nothing she could think of that would be better than this moment…unless of course you included another dose of magnificence. Hands slid up Drake’s arms as they danced, her body pressing up against him in a very unconventional way as her fingers danced over his arms to his chest. He wasn’t alive in the same way she was…didn’t feel what she felt…that’s when she knew she had to do it…had to let him know what she was feeling. The world was singing to both of them, but only she could hear it. He didn’t know what was going on, couldn’t hear the songs, or see the colours around them. The brilliant light that shined around them was pulsing with the vibration of the song and she pulled back from him her whole being a light as she found the small nearly empty vial in a small satchel around her neck.

Dipping her pinky in she moved back to Drake, the smile on her face was a lit with excitement, beauty, and something almost lethargic. She didn’t take her eyes of Drake and she knew he was probably more confused than ever as to her behavior, but she knew that all would be revealed shortly as her finger slowly withdrew. For the third time that night Josephine’s finger showed a brilliant shade of deep red and as she came within inches of Drake she lifted her finger and spread the liquid along her lower lip. It beaded there and she resisted the urge to taste it as her free hand pulled Drake down kissing him, letting the drug melt between them, some finding her tongue and the rest finding his. She was determined to have Drake Manning know what she knew…to hear the music she heard, feel what she felt, see what she saw…that’s how it would be as she deepened her kiss, not wanting to pull away as the drug spiked through her. She pulled away just long enough to slide her pinky into Drake’s mouth, letting the rest of the liquid find his tongue before she tucked the vial back away.

The music seemed to grow louder as Josephine stepped back from Drake, her hand still in his as she closed her eyes to listen. “Do you hear it now?” He had to hear it now…just had to. It was a deep, rhythmic sound that made her blood boil and her body tingle. She was quickly losing control, as the feel of his skin seemed to meld with hers, bond them and not release them as her lips touched the skin on his wrist. “Do you feel it?” Her words were hardly whispered as her mind slipped. The music had grown to an unbearable decibel and yet she didn’t notice it as she pulled Drake back in, her lips finding his once more. This was what she had needed…getting lost in someone other than her supplier. Innocence was still hers to claim, but in that moment she didn’t want to claim it. She wanted to fall head over heels with the man that had ruined her sister’s life. The greatest punishment and yet the deepest revival.

[Drake Manning]

What happened next could only remain in Drake's memory for mere moments. He recalled the sensual dance that he and Jo shared. He remember her taking a small vile out and dabbling the liquid on her lips. He remember her kissing him... and then... nothing. A blur. Drake's memory after that point was nothing more than a blissful creation of his own mind as he faltered between reality and imagination. Whatever it was though, Drake loved it. He loved the feeling, the weightlessness, the freedom that it brought. It was better than the alcohol, better than the sex. Better than anything he had ever remembered.

It didn't take long until he understood what Josephine was talking about. "Yes. I do! I hear it. I hear the music!" It was music that rang out in the same rhythm that they were dancing to. But it was more than just the music. It was stars, and lights, and the two of them standing at the base of a waterfall. It was Heaven, or at least what Drake dreamed that Heaven might be. But how was he here? Had he died? Was that poison that Josephine had laced upon her lips? It couldn't have been. This was too perfect to be death. And, quite frankly, if Drake believed in Heaven, he was certain that he would never end up there. But surely this couldn't be Hell. Another breath of air and a taste of Jo's lips sent another shiver of pure ecstasy from his own lips to the ends of his toes. This was amazing.

After a time period that Drake couldn't quite fathom, the effects of the mystery liquid had slowly worn off, and Drake began to feel the sinking feeling as his high was fading. He felt a bit dizzy, but not in a sick way at least. While the alcohol made him sick, this stuff just made him a little bit tired. "What the f*** was that?" he asked, another long breath escaping his lungs. By then, he and Josephine were sitting with their backs against the wall, entangled in each other. Drake was almost certain though that they hadn't had sex. He couldn't really tell though, as his memory was still a bit fuzzy as to what he had just experienced.

With a slow moving stare, he looked over at Josephine as he waited for her to answer. She seemed equally affected by whatever they had just done, and he wondered if she even heard him ask. "What the hell just happened to us," he asked again, this time a bit more demand in his voice. Drake watched her carefully, hardly believing that this was the sister of his dead bride-to-be. Talk about a messed up life.