A Sunny Day ((Zoey))

[Matthew Dorm R3]

That mornings bright sun pierced through a small gap in Matthew's room, causing a warm ray of sun to fall pleasantly onto his calm, sleeping face. The morning remained calm for not a second longer, as he rose with a sudden jolt, falling out of bed and landing, with a large bang and a grinding crunch, on a stray glass, lying on his untidy rooms floor. His mum, Alice, hearing the booming crash coming from upstairs, dropped her bowl of cornflakes with a splash in the middle of the kitchen, and tore herself up the small stairs, down the hallway, into Matthews' messy room, to find him rolling over and, groaning, picking out shattered remains of glass from underneath him. Noticing his Mothers sudden appearance in his doorway, with a towel wrapped tightly around her obvious shower-soaked hair and a look of up-most shock on her face, Matthew proceeded to chortle, whilst attempting to pick himself up from the floor, struggling on unraveling his leg from the difficult knot his blanket had wrapped it in.
"Are you still going to diagonal alleyway today, Matthew?" His mum questioned him, still trying to get to grips with wizarding terminology.
"Honestly mum, it's Diagon Alley, and yes, iam." He mumbled in reply, still preoccupied with the impossible knot his sheet had tightened around his leg. Sighing and laughing, Alice disappeared back downstairs, making a point to avoid slipping on the large pile of milk and cornflakes now situated on the kitchen floor, which Roger, Matthew's cat, had already started on, happily lapping up the cool milk. Finally making his way off the floor and into a standing position, Matthew proceeded over to his desk, unraveling a letter sent to him by a fellow student, by muggle post, due to Matthew's unfortunate situation of not possessing an owl. He read it over again, just to clarify the plan.

Matt,
It's all cleared, i can go.
So meet me at Diagon Alley, just outside Flourish & Blotts, around 1?
I hope you've still got that floo powder we 'acquired' from Hogwarts.
You still know how to use it, right?
Just remember; to the Leaky Cauldron, tap the bricks just outside with your wand, and you're there.
Try and get an owl soon, this muggle post is a nightmare.
See you soon,
Zoey.

Later that day, Matthew was standing in front of the large fireplace in the sitting room, a large handful of floo powder gripped tightly in his hand. Alice was sat perched, biting her nails, on the edge of a soft comfy armchair, staring at Matthews hand, half expecting it to burst into flames or turn into a huge carnivorous dragon and eat her alive. Glancing up at his mum, he sighed to himself. Ever since his arrival home from Hogwarts, his mum had been enthusiastic for him, but, at the same time, basically, had been on her nerves ends. Jumping at the slightest out of proportion sound, it was clear to Matthew that she would take a while to get used to the whole 'wizard thing', and just wished that she would stop questioning him if his homework assignments would result in the blowing up of the house.
"Mum, look, it's fine, i know what I'm doing, Ive read all about this type of travel, i know you only care, but, seriously, its ok."
She looked at him and smiled.
"Ok, here goes" He said, throwing the powder into the flames, momentarily awed by the flashing emerald green flames, before stepping bravely into them. The cool tongues of flame roaring around him, Matthew looked into the sitting room, and, flashing a grin and a wave at his Mum, he clearly spoke "Diagon Alley!"

Twenty Minutes later, still shaking from the experience of fireplace travel, Matthew found himself standing in Diagon Alley. Finding his way to Flourish & Blotts, he stared in wonder at everything around him, positive that even in 10 years the atmosphere and magic of the place would never fail to amaze him. It was a pleasant surprise when he seen the windows of Flourish & Blotts, laden with displays of books upon books, some dusty and battered, and some with sparkling, bright covers, with fancy, swirling titles. Matthew waited nervously outside the shop entrance, glancing up and down the street, waiting for Zoey.

[zoeyshay]

The alarm clock on the oak nightstand in Zoeys room was blaring, the sun was beaming onto her face, and the sound of clanking pots and pans form the kitchen below made her room seem to sort of echo, and yet, she was still sleeping peacefully. Well, she'd be peaceful if she wasn't kicking her covers violently, she wasn't half way screaming out random things, and her eyes weren't rimmed with purple. Over the last few days, she didn't seem to sleep well. She'd go to bed in the wee hours of the morning and wake up frequently and then wake up again. She didn't know exactly why, but she did think it was because she was back home and not still at Hogwarts.

Her mother, Rachel, finally got tired of hearing Zoey yell in her room, so she stopped cooking to eggs and walked up the wooden stairs and down the narrow hallway to Zoey's room. "Dad, save me a muffin...Dad?" Zoey said, starting in a peaceful whisper and at the end being a call. Rachel frowned and headed into the room. "Zoraida, dear?" she said, putting a shoulder onto her daughter's shoulder. Zoey shot up and almost hit her head on her mother's. "Oh..Sorrrry." she apologized sleepily, slurring a bit. Zoey stretched and shook her head, her wild black curls flying into her eyes.

"Remember, you have to go to...Diagon..Diagonal...Dia.." her mother said, looking up at the roof as if the place she was thinking of was written there. "Diagon Alley." Zoey smiled at her mother, standing up wobbly. She smirked, happy that she could finally correct and help her mother understand things, instead of the vice-versa way. "Oh, shut it." Rachel smiled back at Zoey, as if she read her mind. Rachel walked out to leave Zoey to get ready.

Zoey smirked and got dressed in a pair of grey skinny jeans and a black t-shirt with random neon pain splatters. She smiled. She loved skinny jeans, and she loved the colors on her shirt. It had to be her favorite outfit. She walked to the bathroom to attempt the wild mess she called her hair. She flipped the light switch and bent down to open the cabinet under the sink to get her brush and hair things, and she ended up hitting her head on the counter. "Ah!" She said, half gasping in shock and half giggling at herself. Of course, she had to accidentally hurt herself. It was a daily thing.

She returned to the mirror and looked at herself and frowned as her gaze found her eyes. Usually, they were a playful blue, like Caribbean waves, but today they were a dull, sickly green. That only happened when she was sick or upset and today, she was neither. She brought her hand to her forehead, feeling for a temperature, but she felt none, and she thought back to see if she was upset recently. She shook her head, returning to reality as she began to start day dreaming.

She was beginning to get frustrated after 20 minutes of trying to get her hair to stop frizzing in the middle and to stop being so poofy, she she ended up just tying it into a messy side swept ponytail. She looked at herself, and smiled a bit. It actually didn't look half bad. She decided to stop trying to perfect it and leave it as it was, because she knew she'd just mess it up more. She ran down the stairs and quickly ate breakfast with her mother. Rachel was talking to her, but Zoey wasn;t really paying attention. A few 'Oh's', 'Cool's' and 'Mhmm's' were enough to keep her mother calm.

She finished up getting ready and she went upstairs to look for the Floo Powder she had. She searched her bags, trunk, dresser, under her bed and in the living room and it was nowhere to be seen. "Zoey! What on earth are you looking for!" Rachel called in response to Zoey's frantic searching around the house. "The Floo Powder!!" Zoey called back, running back downstairs. This was a moment where she was happy to have ADHD, because if she didn't she was positive she would have passed out from all the running she did.

"Floo what? Is that some kind of disease dust?!" her mother questioned, sounding confused. "No, mom! It was in a little pot type thing and it looked like dust! It's how I was going to meet Matthew at Diagon Alley!" Zoey said to her mother, breathless. Rachel looked down and started fiddling with her feet. She knew what that meant. "Oh, mum!" Zoey frowned, knowing her mother either threw it away for vacuumed it. "It's okay, let's just get in the car and take me to the Leaky Cauldron in London." she said, pulling on a smile to try and make her mother feel better.

In about a half hour, they were there and they were entering the old place. "Are you sure..." Rachel began before Zoey interrupted her. "Yes, in the back is the entrance, I'm okay. Just lead me there so I'm not a wondering minor and come back to the car and go home. Remember, pick me up at 6:30 here." Zoey said. Her mother obeyed and Zoey was in the back, facing the brick wall. She took out her wand and tapped the bricks, and the wall moved away to reveal Diagon Alley. She smiled, still amazed how the bricks moved.

She found Flourish and Blotts, and found Matthew standing, his back toward her. She smirked, running up behind him and jumping on his back. He was an enormous 7 inches taller than her, even though she was two years older than her. "Hi!" sh smiled, messing with his hair. She loved doing that to him. She jumped off his back and walked to face him and she laughed.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

Matthew didn't have too wait for long. He spun around on the spot a couple times, continuing to look around him at the street, still amazed by its atmosphere. his heart thumped loudly in his chest, knowing that Zoey would be arriving any minute. The sun raised up above the the shops, spilling its warm light into the street, and shone into Matthew's eyes. There was a moments silence as he was momentarily awed by this sudden beauty, and a bird chirruped from far away, and then he felt someone jump on his back.

He knew it was her straight away, recognized the giggle as she landed on his back, and felt the tickle of her curly black hair as she dropped off him, he turned around, and hugged her. She messed with his hair, making it even more untamed, and then, laughing, he realized just how much he had missed her since the Summer holidays. Laughing, he returned her greeting, 'Hello', and, feeling random, he blew a raspberry, hoping not to set off a raspberry duel. He messed with his hair a little more, trying to sort it out, then changing his mind and ruffling it, whilst pulling the fringe further down his face, in case he suddenly became shy and started to blush. "So, how have your holidays been?, my mums treating me like I've got some secret homework assignment to blow up our living room and see how long it takes for her to notice, what about you?" Matthew spoke, as he led the way, slipping through the door into Flourish & Blotts; holding the door open for Zoey as they went.

He browsed some of the shelves, looking for some books for his second year at Hogwarts, but constantly being distracted. He couldn't help but continually glancing into Zoey's eyes, and hoped that his messy hair falling over his face would cover this. If she caught him glancing he would no doubt blush a ridiculous amount. Giving up on trying to remain focused on looking for the books himself, he approached the middle aged wizard at the till, and begun to read through his long lengthy list of books, many of which were not in the required books set for second year, but for Matthew to cover some extra ground, and study stuff that wasn't required. He liked to try to do well.

Twenty minutes later, and Matthew stood outside of Flourish & Blotts, a tottering pile of books cradled in his arms. Struck by a sudden inspiration, he asked Zoey to wait a minute, ran inside, and appeared outside again empty handed, after leaving the books behind the desk, and arranging to pick them up at the end of the day.

Grabbed by another moment of random inspiration, he hugged Zoey again, "I really did miss you by the way," and then, blushing furiously and attempting to ruffle up his hair in front of his face to hide his now burning scarlet cheeks, he spoke again "erm, i was going to maybe get an owl, if you want to come and pick one out with me?, i mean, we can get it later, if you want to go somewhere you want first." Then, trying to hide his still burning cheeks, he proceeded to resume with trying to cover his face with his hair, mostly making it even messier in the process.

[zoeyshay]

She laughed and hugged Matthew back, and laughed more at his comment. "Mine's been okay. Not much sleep. I dunno why. And you're mum sounds like mine. Mine keeps trying to learn about Floo Powder. On the Internet, I think she's gotten to this it's some sort of disease dust." she smiled walking in through the door Matthew opened for her. She stopped and waited for him inside, and when he came and looked up at him. His hair was ruffled, messy and untamed still, despite his efforts to straighten it out outside. She liked it more like that, rather than neat. It seemed to give people a more natural feeling to them, and more laid back versus uptight and nervous. She looked up at him again and smirked. "Are you growing again?" she asked, seeing that he she was having a harder time seeing his face, besides the hair covering it.

Zoey walked with Matt as he got his books, and she occasionally glancing at the shelves for books she recognized off the supply list that she needed for her fourth year. Otherwise, her eyes wandered the room, going from Matt, shelves, other people, her shoes, the roof, the windows, and then to the shelf she ran into. She bounced back a bit from the sudden impact and she started giggling hysterically. She quickly regained her balance and ran back to Matthew. She choked silently, until her giggles came to a stop. She glanced back at him and caught him looking at her eyes. She blushed immediately. Was her discolored eyes that visible?

She wished she had a pocket mirror, because she caught him keep looking at them through the corner of her eyes. She shoved the thoughts that flooded her head to the back of her mind and kept walking. She ended up following Matthew to the counter, and she didn't realize until she ran into the desk. It hit her hard in the ribs, as well as the neck and she frowned. She still had a nasty bruise from the last Quidditch match she was in from a bat hitting her in the ribs. She looked down, making her hair cover her face and then she winced. She quickly gathered herself and puled on a smile and began fake giggling at herself to cover for the pain.

Zoey walked behind Matthew outside, and then watched in confusion as he asked her to wait outside and he rushed back in. Probably forgot a book...Silly kid. She grinned and turned toward the walkway. It was only a little crowded today, nothing compared to how it was when she'd go school shopping. She liked it that way. Then, it wasn't that easy to get lost and separated from her group, when she was with one. Going solo was harder, because you had no one to ask for help, and you had to attempt to look over people's heads who were inches taller than you. Zoey shook her head to stop thinking and turned to look back toward Flourish and Blotts.

Matthew returned, empty handed, and she looked at him confused. "Did you forget your books or something?" she asked, hugging him back, more confused than she was before. She smiled as she saw the scarlet cheeks hidden behind his hair. "I-I missed you too, Matthew." she smiled, look up at him. She reached up and ruffled his hair again. Her attention as lagging from sleep deprivation, until she herd the word 'owl'. "Owl? You're getting one? Yay!" she smiled. "Owls are way faster, cheaper, and less confusing than normal mail." she said to him, excited. "You should get a snowy white one! Or a jet black one! It'd match my hair!" she rambled, excited.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

He worried about her seemingly bumping into loads of things. She seemed to be hurt when she momentarily disappeared inside Flourish & Blotts, and when she ran into the counter where he was purchasing his books. He would have said something, except she seemed to want to cover it up; pretend she wasn't hurt, so, Matthew, not wanting to embarrass her, said nothing.

Outside, Matthew laughed at her reaction when he spoke of buying an owl. She sensibly first reminded him of the practical side of using an owl, how it was much faster, and then, excitedly going through suggestions, she rambled that a black one would match her hair. Matthew, laughing, supported her idea, 'Yeah, maybe a black one would be good, if it matched your hair.' and then, just to clarify, whilst ruffling his hair absent mindedly, he added 'so, to the owl thingy place it is then?'

They were beautiful, Matthew thought to himself, and blushed furiously. He couldn't really take his eyes from hers, but made a conscious effort not to, in case she caught him, or, worse, thought that there were something wrong with them, or, perhaps, something wrong with him.

Matthew, completely confused, stood in the middle of the street, only a few yards from their set off point at Flourish & Blotts. He felt dizzy and faint, and the glistening, pounding sun's warmth that was spilling into the street made Matthew feel like passing out. Nervous that he was about to faint right there, he swayed precariously on the spot, and fell.

He lay there, still awake, but not sure for how much longer. The only thought running through his head was not for the amount of pedestrians walking by, seeing what a dolt Matthew was, but was for Zoey, obviously thinking he was a complete idiot.

He gained a slight bit of consciousness, and, making himself sit up, he brushed his hair out of his eyes, for probably the first time ever in front of Zoey. 'I'm sorry, i guess it's the heat, made me faint a little.' and then, somewhat boldly, giving the light of events occurring in the past five minutes, he added 'Um, I'm afraid i don't know the way to the owl thingy place, you got any ideas?'

And then, forgetting that his hair was no longer shyly masking most of his face, he met Zoey's stare. Worrying that her thoughts at this present moment of time were most likely of how much of an idiot he was, he added 'Your eyes are really nice by the way, sorry, just thought I'd say.'

[zoeyshay]

Zoey smiled. "Well, let's go then!" she practically squealed in excitement. She started, and took four steps before she realized that the usual shade that Matthew casted over her wasn't there, and she turned around. She gasped when she saw him on the grounds and she ran over, her black curls waving wildly in the air. "Matthew! Matthew! Are you alright?! Sit up, I'll get you some water. Wait, I don't want to leave you on the floor, get up and I'll help you to somewhere you can sit in the shade." she rambled quickly as she knelt by him. He was already sitting up, and she took his hand and attempted to pull him up.

He apologized and she smiled. "It's not your fault, silly. It's the bloody sun's! Now let's just get you..up!" she said, pulling as she said 'up'. He didn't seem to budge and she frowned. "Where's the Beater strength when I need it, eh?" she laughed a bit and then gave a frown. She was worried. She knew Matthew to be a little on the nervous side, but she had never, never seen him faint. She looked back at him, trying to focus and smiled as she saw his eyes. "Oooh! Pretty eyes!" she smiled, distracted. They were a piercing blue, and they made hers, even the normal shade of blue, look dull.

Zoey smiled. "It down here and around the corner." she said, pointing to the corresponding places. "Now let's get you up so that we can get you there and you can sit down in the shade!" she smiled, attempting to pull him up again. She epically failed, her grip sliding off his hand and the force of her pulling making her fall onto her back. She laughed a bit and got up right away. "Oop-" she began to say when she was distracted by Matt's comment. "Really?" she whispered, a little taken back.

She wondered again if her eyes had changed to their normal color, the beautiful mix of a playful blue with a hint of green, the color she loved the most, or if they were still the sickly green and Matthew was just trying to be nice. Maybe it was obvious that she wasn't to fond of the color, and he was trying to make her feel better. She didn't know but she looked down, played with a curl that hung loosely for her ponytail and bit her lip.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

Zoey Panicked. Which resulted in Matthew panicking even more. Looking up from the floor, he watched her take a few steps forwards, before realizing that something was missing, spun on the spot, and frantically appeared at Matthew's side. He caught something, blurred, about water, and about sitting. He was there for a further five minutes, slowly regaining consciousness as his fear of how scared and worried Zoey might be grew. Her comment on his eyes finally brought him to his senses, and he blushed, muttering about how they were horrible, and didn't see why people thought they were nice.

Sighing and lifting himself from the ground, he looked around. Embarrassed, he quickly noticed that a few people had stopped nearby to watch the event of his fainting unfold, and were now proceeding on with their business. He nervously spun on the spot, severely messed up his hair by ruffling it again, and looked at Zoey. "Okay, i think i can make it," and he added, whilst laughing a little and trying to brush himself down, "you lead the way."

They made their way down the street, a few people staring at Matthew, obviously aware of the previous commotion. He caught one particular person gazing at him out of the corner of his eye. He wore shabby robes, and his thick, red hair, fell in large locks around his dirty face. He wouldn't stop staring. Matthew brushed his hair further down his face, and reached a hand into his robe pocket, grasping his wand firmly with his hand. "Oi!, mudblood!, what you doing here?", he shouted, his dry voice booming throughout the entire street.

There were roughly three almost silent seconds. The entire street had gone quiet. Matthew and Zoey's footsteps carried on for roughly three paces, the muffled crunching of there footsteps visibly heard. It was perhaps more luck, rather than skill, that Matthew acted as he did.

With a loud cry, he dived, grabbing hold of Zoey and bringing her to the floor, just in time, as a curse was fired at them, narrowly missing the spot where she had stood brief moments before. The spell rebounded off a brick wall, and ricocheted, with a loud smash, into some object unknown to Matthew's eyes. Rolling over, whipping his wand out of his robe pocket, another spell narrowly missed his head. He heard a cry, and hoped Zoey wasn't hurt. Throwing himself up from the floor, he advanced on the man, ducking as another spell flew by him, and directed his wand at him. A disarming spell was fired, and Matthew's wand flew from his grasp, spinning into the distance. He stood there, helpless, for a just a few brief moments. The man laughed, then everything in Matthew's vision was blurred, as the man fired a curse, and Matthew flew from the spot, spinning like a rag doll in the air, before landing, thirty foot away, with a loud, echoing smash, into a shop window. He heard a scream, and then everything blacked out.

[zoeyshay]

She smiled and looked at his eyes more, knowing that soon he'd ruffle his hair and it would cover them once again. She heard him mutter and she turned to him. "Matt, you have too low of self confidence. They're brilliant. This," Zoey said, pointing to her eyes, "is ugly. I'm having a bad eye day." she smiling at him and letting out an embarrassed laugh, to cover the little embarrassment and the frustration that probably came out in her voice. She realized how she said it and she looked down. "I'm sorry if that came out wrong, I'm just a bit tired." she smiled, looking up at him as they were walking. As she guessed, he had ruffled his hair and it covered his eyes again. She gave a small frown and straightened out again. She saw the people staring at them, and she stared right back, a few then walking away, and a few giving dirty looks. Zoey walked on, not phased.

She didn't seem to see the shabby looking redhead wizard until he yelled. She huffed and spun on her heels, heading toward him angrily. "You listen h-" she began before Matthew knocked her off her feet. He had his hurt rib, right in the same spot the dreaded bat hit her, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She made contacted with the rugged street on her shoulder, and another shot of pain went through her as it was the shoulder that the Bludger had hit her. She ignored it and opened her eyes to see why he had done such a thing, to see something was shattered across the street and Matt and the wizard were about to duel.

"Matthew! Don't you-" she began in a shriek as she hurriedly got up, pain and anger showing in her face before she froze, breathless as Matt was sent airborne. The clash of the window he hit rang in her ears and she turned toward the wizard. "Dammit, you-" she began until she saw he wasn't there. She didn't bother to find him, she'd probably end up like Matthew- MATTHEW! Zoey ran, pushing people out of the way, to where Matthew was. Most of the people were still in shock from the attack, and the ones that weren't were in shock that such a force came from suck a petite girl, a petite girl that was a flash of grey and neon.

Zoey appeared where Matthew was, shoving people out of her way, sending them more flabbergasted than they were before. First a boy flying through a window, and then a little girl shoving them, shoving them hard. No one would have ever guessed that Zoey was a Beater, but she had quite a bit of strength packed into her body. The problem was, she couldn't really control it. Adrenaline seemed to be the key. When she was high in adrenaline, her strength was breath taking for such a little frame, but when it was normal circumstances, she was weak, what you would expect from a girl like her. She stared down at Matthew thinking he was dead for a second, but then someone pointed out that his chest was moving, and she smiled.

Thankfully, a doctor from St. Mungo's was in the crowd and he examined him, saying he'd be fine and that he sound be moved to a chair or something. A couple people from the diminishing crowd stepped forward and moved him about ten feet, away from the shattered glass and to a chair. She decided to surprise him when he got up, so she ran off to the owl shop. In about 20 minutes, she had found the perfect, well, almost perfect owl. It matched her hair exactly, it was fast and healthy and it was a good price. The only downside was that it bit. She gave the clerk the money and headed off to the store she had left Matt at.

She arrived and sat on the floor next to Matt, who was still passed out. She sat patiently, the owl at her side, silent. People stared as they passed, and Zoey gave them dirty looks. They walked passed, and only a couple challenged her and stared back. She'd stare back, unphased and they'd eventually linger out. She got bored and decided to pet the owl, not knowing it bit. She stuck her finger through the bars and it snapped. "Ahh! Bad owl! Bad!" she gasped, looking at her finger. It was red with blood and she turned pale. "Uhh.."she said, holding the finger out, looking at her with wide eyes. Blood was her weakness. There was something about it that made her weak kneed, frozen, pale, and turn dizzy. In large amounts, she'd pass out. She stared at it, unable to look away, the muscles in her neck frozen. Why she hadn't been like this in the attack, she did not know. All she knew that the red was slowly growing and trickling down her finger.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

The mutters and movement around him wove themselves in and out of focus, but still, the blackness resumed. He thought that he heard Zoey nearby, and the darkness lightened a little, but then it was gone, and everything was unfocused; again. An eternity seemed to pass as he lay there, not sure if he was even alive. Occasionally, he could dully speak to himself in his head, but other times, he must have been unconscious. Hazed out images of the shabby, red haired, man brought themselves in and out of focus in Matthew's mind, and, even though being passed out, he could sense his blood boil, and his face redden with anger. He could even feel the slight breeze whistling through the street, meeting with a cooling touch upon his hot, flustered face.

Realizing, with a huge jolt, and a loud gasp, that he was finally awake, he leapt from his seat, not even thinking twice about how he had got out of the shattered remains of the shop window. He went to brandish his wand form his robe pocket, but found it not there, and, instead, regardless of how ridiculously unarmed he was, he furiously marched forwards, intent upon finding the evil, shabby man. Then he remembered Zoey, and dropped everything, realizing, with another sudden gasp, the loud scream he had previously heard just as one of the curses had missed his head.

He found her back by the chair where he must have been temporarily placed, transfixed by a bleeding finger. She looked very pale, and kept blinking furiously, as if intent on maintaining consciousness. Nervously crouching down beside her sitting figure, he tried to help. "Wow, Zoey, are you okay? here, let me help..." and then, noticing the adorable but slightly fierce looking black owl sitting innocently perched in a cage nearby, he added, laughing "Hey, look at that owl, it matches your hair." Hit by a sudden idea, he reached deep into his robes pockets, hoping they were still there, whilst wiping Zoey's finger clean of blood with a tissue. At last finding them, and letting out a slight whoop of success, he pulled a couple plasters out of his pocket. "Here, this'll help stop it bleeding, my mum gave me some, told me that although wizards are great, the muggles can still be damn clever."

He finished his attempt to fix her finger, and sat down on the ground next to her, wondering if she could hear his brain whirring. Some random person had provoked him in the street, and then dueled him. Wondering if it was just because he was a 'mudblood', and then, with a small sigh, he begun to wonder how he even knew that he was muggle born. Suddenly remembering the loss of his wand, he left Zoey for a couple minutes, as he journeyed down the street to find it.

Returning moments later, happily pocketing his wand, he proceeded over to the owl, whom, Matthew couldn't help but notice, seemed to be putting a considerable amount of effort into looking as innocent as possible. "Hey, Zoey, look, he really does match your hair", he laughed, as he noticed the exact similarities in tone, even including a couple little curls dotted around the owls body.

He looked up from the owl, and onto the street, nervously messing up his hair as he noticed a couple bystanders staring at him as they passed by.

[zoeyshay]

Zoey didn't even realize Matthew had woke up and stormed out. All she could pay and attention to was her finger. She blinked, like being snapped out of a trance when Matt came and knelt down to her. He asked if she was okay, and she nodded slowly, as if she was made of tin and someone left her out in the rain. Her eyes slid up to meet his face, and she slightly jumped when he touched her finger. She let a small smile spread across her face as she realized he was fixing it. She let out a laugh at his comment and she nodded. When her finger was done, she shook her head to clear her head and return fully to reality.

She smiled at his comment about the owl and she nodded, happy he liked it. "It caught my eye. Oh! And be careful. It bites...or else it just doesn't like me." she smiled at him. She got up and stretched a bit. Her muscles were a little tense from the bleeding incident, and she was very happy Matt had fixed it, but that didn't help the small anger she had from being pushed to the ground. Zoey knew it was for her own good, out of protection, but she absolutely hated being pushed around. But not only was she pushed, but she was practically a damsel in distress...kind of. She hated that feeling.

"Hey, Matt?" she asked in as normal of a tone as possible. "Next time there's a loon firing a curse at us, could you let me handle myself next time?" she asked, letting a nervous laugh out at the end. She hoped he didn't take it the wrong way, she wouldn't want to hurt his feelings, after all, it was a nice thing he did even if it got her bruised more than she already was. Thinking of the bruises, she looked to her shoulder and pokes it, and let out a small squeak of pain. She looked back up to Matthew to see if he heard it, hoping he didn't. She didn't like people knowing she was hurt, she hated having pity.

Matt left in a hurry out the door after what looked like a moment of thinking, and returned, and she frowned when she forgot to pick up his wand. "Oh...Yeah, heh..Sorry I didn;t pick you your wand for you." she apologized, looking down. He then mentioned the owl again and she grinned. "So you really do like it?" she asked, picking up a strand of her hair in between her fingers and comparing it. It was almost scary how much the owl's feathers and her hair matched. Little curls, the same exact color, not a tint off and how it seemed to shine in the light. She smiled more.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

Matthew tried to control his anger, which was hard, seeing as how much anger he had already been through in the past hour. He was just about to turn around and storm off when Zoey mentioned his pathetic attempt at preventing her from getting hit by a curse and going through an hour of painful concussion, and instead experiencing it himself. Then he heard her let out a little gasp as she touched her shoulder, which he had obviously idiotically damaged. His stupid heroic side had come out, and had put someone before himself, without realizing that the other person was more capable than him of defending themselves.

She seemed to want to cover up her pain again, much like she had done earlier that day, when she kept on bumping into things. Matthew, a puzzled look on his face, looked up to the sky. She perhaps didn't want anyone to think or realize that she could have her weak moments, like everyone else, or maybe she just hated sympathy. Bearing in mind his observations, he looked at her full in the face. 'Zoey, I’m really sorry, i was just trying to protect you, I’m sorry' and then laughing, he added, 'I realize now that you're more capable than me of protecting yourself.'

He felt a sharp pain in his back, and flinched as he reached a discreet hand up his back and pulled out a shard of glass, not wanting Zoey to realize. He suspected that she had a weakness to blood, and the trickle of red now running down his back wouldn't do her any good if she noticed.

He looked up and down the street, not able to stop being jumpy, and begun to walk, half shuffling in the direction him and Zoey had been taking earlier. He looked at her and tried to smile, 'You're a good friend Zoey, not many people would have stuck with me through all that.'

He looked over at the shop he had crashed into, noticing its shiny transformation to its previous state; it looked although nothing had happened. He looked nervously over to the spot where he had been hit, and begun to walk slowly towards it, noticing as he went the difference of the ground, where it was slightly black on the spot that the curse had hit him.

And once again the street went quiet inside his head. A small gasp emitted itself from his lips, echoing dully into nothingness inside his head. The silence caved in on him as he reached the spot, and dropped sullenly to his knees. He remained there for brief seconds, before his brain finally clicked. Not only was the street silent in his head, but the whole world had gone quiet, as the realization of who the man really was happened inside his head. Not able to take the silence any longer, he screamed, the image of the scruffy man placed firmly in front of his eyes. Matthew's father had been killed that man.

He broke down right on that spot, knelt on the exact place where his father's murderer had stood. He should have grasped the chance, he shouldn't have let him escape, he shouldn't have let him leave alive. Clutching his eyes, intent on ripping them out, begging to his mind to get rid of the image of the man, still firmly stuck inside his head. He got up, wanting to punch everyone and everything, and he tore himself away from the spot, running down the street, not knowing where he was going.

No one would realize how much torture it was to him, laying there in the blackness after the duel with the man, that image of him swimming around in his thoughts. He wasn't sure how he knew that it was him, he had always thought he was too young to remember, but something in his mind had told him so, and he trusted it.

He found himself in a grim back garden, sitting there, quietly sobbing.

[zoeyshay]

Zoey saw the anger built up in his expression, and she quickly gulped and looked down. She peeked up at him through her hair for a moment, and saw that his expression changed to a puzzled look after she had touched her shoulder. She frowned, knowing that he thought it was him that did it, so she quickly decided to explain, at least bluntly, about why it hurt. "Matt, it wasn't you that hurt me, it was just the Quidditch match." She said, looking up at him. "Heh, yeah, I know it was like, a month ago, but I guess I just don't heal as fast as others." she shrugged, and played her her fingers nervously, hoping he'd stop thinking it was his fault.

She heard Matt start his apology, and instead of reaching up and covering his mouth, like she had the strong urge to do, she listened, hoping that'd make him feel better. Zoey had stopped for a moment and then laughed, seeming like he was nervous, and then she smiled up at him. "I-It's not that, I'm just as stubborn as a mule, as my lovely mum would say." she said, adding a nervous giggle at the end. She looked to him, seeing him do something with his back, and she shrugged it off, thinking maybe a plant seed or dirt was on his shirt and he was getting it off. She followed him, and an eyebrow rose as she noted his jumpy behavior. It was unlike him to be like that. She knew Matt as a calm, shy and mature incoming third year, and never, never was he like this. "Uh..Matt?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

She quickly shut up when he began talking. She smiled and looked down, shrugging. "What are friends for?" she said, smiling up at him and then following his gaze to the spot where the curse hit Matt. Zoey frowned, seeing its black colour, and it made her feel even worse about how she had said she wanted to do it herself next time. She felt like face-palming herself, wishing she had just kept quiet and let Matt have his satisfaction with saving her, but no, her big, stubborn mouth had to go off and tell him. She looked back form the ground to Matt, and as if enough horror of the day wasn't enough, it hit her again.

Matthew was on his knees, and Zoey froze. "Matt? Mattmattmatt, are you alright? I-" she she was cut off from her worried and nervous rambling by his heart wrenching scream. Wondering what the hell was going on, she knelt down beside him, looking at him with an extremely worried expression. She was frozen, not knowing what to do, or even what had caused Matt to be screaming, breaking down and looking like he wanted to rip his eyes out of his skull. "M-m-Matt?" she said, tears building up in her dull green eyes from seeing him like this. "M-" she was cut off once again by him bolting down the street.

"Bloody hell." she whispered, quickly getting up to follow and grabbing the owl. His long strides make Zoey slow compared to him, even though she was rather fast, being light weight and having an almost infinite energy level. The only thing that slowed her down from her running was the breathing part and the owl. She began panting heavily, but she follow Matthew, determined to find out what was going on in his head to change so quickly, and to at least attempt to help him and comfort him.

Zoey looked up at the sun, angry at it for it's harsh intensity of the blistering summer day as she was running. She blinked and looked back down to where she was running, and she skid, almost running at full speed into the wall of a shop. She looked at the side of the shop, noticing a small alleyway coated with grass and she followed it curiously to the back, seeing the small garden and most important to her-Matt. He was shaking like crazy, and she slowly made her way toward him, her breathing ragged from the running and from the sorrow she had from seeing a friend like this. She put the owl down and stood there, nervous and awkward feeling, before wrapping her small arms around him.

Her arms didn't wrap all the way around, but she didn't care, she felt as if it was her duty no matter what to calm down the hysterical looking Matt. Zoey closed her eyes, keeping the tears that were brought to her eyes from Matt, inside their green cages, knowing crying would just make things worse. She pulled back from her embrace, her arms and fingers shaking a little, and she looked at him again. It was purely agonizing seeing him like this. The sadness and all his emotions seemed to absorb into her like a sponge, as happiness and anger did, and she soon found the feeling of trickling tears running down her cheeks. She shook her head, forcing her bangs to come down from the side swept position and cover her eyes, hoping to make her watery green eyes not noticeable and to try and stop the tears for Matt's sake.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

All of his emotions were shutdown, and anger battled its way stubbornly to become the only sense of feeling within Matthew's body and mind. Overpowering his senses, it made him laugh as his brain suggested overreaction, and it taunted his senses, torturing him with images of his father slowly dying, writhing in agony, with the red headed man standing over him, laughing slowly. It was as if the sense of hatred was possessing him, slowly controlling his senses, providing him with images of his father's death that were probably not even real. Images that couldn't be real.

He lifted his head cautiously, precariously, from his cradling hands, looking around him, unable to take anything in. He felt like nothing more than an empty shell, with nothing more than a glimpse of a soul deep within him, screaming eternally as his mind was overpowered by feelings of pain, misery and regret. What was left of him prayed for it to stop, wishing for it all to end. He looked above him, seeing nothing more than a dull grey wispy cloud creeping tentatively across the sky, and let out a small whimper, his almost possessed mind allowing nothing more.

"You are mine now, Wrathis. Act as we say, and you will get what you want. You will gain revenge, drown your regret in blood, and reap the rewards."

Matthew tried to cry out, but nothing more than a faint whisper escaped him. He didn't want the voices to start again, he wouldn't allow them, not again.

Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Just as Matthew thought that his anger had tooken complete control of him, it stopped, as he felt something slam into him, tightly hugging him. He knew it must be Zoey, and he hugged her back, fighting back his tears. The voice had stopped. Just as suddenly as she had embraced him, she let go, and Matthew shyly wiped his eyes on his robe, brushed the hair out of his eyes, and looked Zoey full in the face, trying to keep control of his voice. 'Zoey, the man ... he, ... he killed my Dad, it was him.' He didn't want to tell her about the voice, about the possession, how his split personality, and how Wrathis, had almost come out. He just sat there, stuttering apologies, before he stood up, still nervously apologizing over and over again.

Twenty minutes later, Matthew and Zoey sat outside Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor. Not taking no for an answer, he had threatened to drag her there if he had to, intent on making up for his emotional display. Sitting back in his chair, peacefully enjoying the sun shining upon his face, warming up his entire body, he pushed the ice cream towards Zoey, whilst reaching over the table and pulling over the owl, beaming, as, putting in his finger, she stopped her looking around, and stared curiously at his finger now inside her cage. Shuffling sideways with a look of upmost suspicion on her face, she reached Matthew's finger, and, instead of biting it, gently nibbled it, and looked into his face, squinting as the sun met her eyes.

[zoeyshay]

Zoey blinked, shocked and startled by the sudden change Matt had did, yet again. It was wild. First almost breaking down, then angry looking convulsion, and then suddenly this? Bloody hell, what's going on inside this boy's head? She thought, trying to make any sense out of it while she stood there, her lips slightly parted and her green eyes wide and staring at him. She gave a final blink after giving up on her psychological thinking and went from paying attention to the whirring world in her head to the real one. She wanted to ask what was going on, but Matt had answered for her.

Feeling like sobbing more at the news he gave her, Zoey rubbed her forehead, it feeling like it was going to explode at today's events. Why couldn't things be normal? Everything was better when things were normal. There was no major agony of watching a friend suffer, no suffering yourself, not anything extremely complicated. Zoey could suffer with her not being normal, like if she found out her dad was killed. She could live with that better than watching someone else go through it. She wished the same thing she always wished when she saw a friend or even a stranger in pain: why couldn't it be her instead? She gulped and hugged him again as he stood and stuttered apologies, rocking side to side.

Somehow she agreed to go to an ice cream parlor, and she sat there, looking at her ice cream. It looked good, but she just wasn't hungry. She rested her elbows on the table and then her head on her hands and stared at it, and then to the owl. She gasped a bit as Matthew put his finger in the cage. "No! Stop! It-" her worried expression turned to jealousy as she watched the owl playfully nip at his fingers. "Well, that proves it, she is definitely your owl." she said, emphasizing the 'your'.

She returned to looking at the ice cream. "Matt? Do I have to eat it?" Zoey asked, looking at him. She was still a little upset from having to see him like that. The scene of the whole thing kept replaying in her head, like a broken CD. The man, the curse, airborne Matt, eye-clutching Matt, running Matt, shaking Matt and apologizing Matt. She was beginning to drift off into her head, trying to figure out what had caused all of that. She knew, of course, the man and the killing were to blame, but still, for him to change that quick, there had to be something wrong. She was considering Bipolar disorder, but then, he wasn't always like that. There had to be a trigger, a trigger for something to go off in his head. Her eyes were unfocused as she looked at the ice cream and was lost in her thoughts, and her position was frozen except for the rhythmic tapping of her foot.