Her Return. (Angela & Damara)

[Dustin Hemingway]

“Why me?” Dustin thought as he lied in his bed and stared at his roof. He kept dreaming about Ava since they kissed almost a week ago and it was always the same dream. They were kissing in the storage room and then she just disappeared, in the dream she didn't give an excuse like she did when it really happened. One minute she was there and the next she disappeared into thin air. Most mornings sine then he woke up way before he had to be at work just like he did today and he couldn't go back to sleep, if he went back to sleep Ava would probably be there waiting to disappear again. It wasn't so much a nightmare as it just annoyed and depressed him. Why did she run off like she did? Was she actually playing some kind of weird game on Dustin? If that was true then it could only be seen as the worlds revenge for how it lived his life till this point. Dustin rolled out of bed and allowed himself to just roll to the floor, a mixture of laziness and just not caring allowed him to lie there a few minutes before finally getting up. There was no point in lying in bed if you didn't want to sleep.

Dustin decide he might as well get ready to go to work if he was going to be up so early, he toke a shower and got changed then looked in the mirror. He didn't look much like himself, sure the face and body was there but his mind and emotions were miles away maybe thousands of miles away, he didn't have any clue where Ava actually lived. He tried to find out but Thurston wouldn't tell him, he probably had some dark thought in his head of what Dustin would do. Dustin just wanted to talk to her and find out why she ran away from him or didn't bother to show up to work anymore. Thurston didn't seem to care much, he just guessed she had an emergency she had to take care of. Thurston had no idea what had happened the last day she came to work and when he asked Dustin just lied and told him nothing happened. He wished he could convince himself of that too just so he wouldn't feel how he felt right now and yet he never wanted to forget that night.

Dustin finally got out of his room and checked himself, he made sure he had his wand and some money. Lately he noticed how forgetful he had gotten because he was always thinking of something else. He made his way down stairs and as he did he looked at the clock, he had two hours before he needed to be at work. He sighed as he wondered how he was going to kill two full hours. Dustin kept walking into the kitchen where it seemed the house elves had already prepared breakfast and were off cleaning elsewhere. It wasn't much it, appeared they didn't have orders for what to make for breakfast today so it was just a plate full of muffins. Which was fine with Dustin he didn't really care what was for breakfast, he wasn't very hungry for that matter. Even though he thought he wasn't that hungry he still ate three muffins before he stopped himself. He would have kept going but that wouldn't have left many for everyone else and he didn't need the house elves getting yelled at for making too little because he ate them all. He walked around the house and kept thinking to himself, it was all about Ava. Every now and then he felt like he was getting almost mad are her but that feeling soon parted and was replaced with just being so confused.

Finally he made it back to the living room where the fireplace was, he had managed to kill an hour and a half which still left thirty minutes till he had to be at work. He just shrugged as he looked to the fireplace. “Might as well be early for once in my life.” He said in a tone that just gave off the impression like he didn't care one way or the other. He sighed as he threw some powder into the fire and watched it turn green and he stood there for a few seconds just looking into it then finally stepped in. As he turned back to his living room he saw Damara walking down the stairs, he would have made some sarcastic comment by now but he just didn't care. It seemed she tried to say something but Dustin just said where he was going and disappeared into the fireplace. The first thing Dustin heard was Thurston's voice. “Has hell frozen over?” Thurston said as Dustin walked out of the fireplace surprised to see him hear so early.

“I don't know is it snowing around here?” He said in the same tone as before, a tired and just not caring tone. Thurston just shrugged off Dustin's behavior, he had never seen Dustin this way and just guessed that not having a beautiful girl like Ava always around might be the cause and he would have been right but for a totally different reason. “Is..?” Was all Dustin got out before Thurston cut him of, it was the same question he asked Thurston since Ava disappeared. “No I don't know if she's coming in today, but I'll tell you that girl is going to get an ear full when I see her again.” Thurston trailed on as he moved what looked like boxes that were to heavy for him. “You and me both...” Dustin muttered not caring for how loud he said anything, not caring was his general emotion for anything not Ava related lately. “What was that?” Thurston say as he gave up on the box and turned to Dustin. “I said I'll move that for you.” Dustin said as he walked up to Thurston and picked up the box quite easily and put it on the shelve. “Well thanks, I'm glad to see Ava's disappearing has made you come in on time and help out more then normal. Some good seems to have come of it.” Thurston said with a smile as he looked on to Dustin who just turned away and made his way to the front of the store. “Yeah tons of good things.... just tons.” He said in a dry sarcastic tone, he didn't know why he was being so mean to Thurston lately. Well he knew why but he didn't know why he was taking Ava not being around out on him.

Dustin looked around the store then toke a seat behind the counter right in front of the register then opened it and started counting all the coins. Normally this was Ava's job but with her disappearing it was now Dustin's job. Thurston as grown too lazy from having Ava around to start counting it all himself, he forced Dustin to do it and he didn't really care. Dustin hadn't acted himself all week, he hadn't bothered to flirt with other girls as much. Sometimes he just couldn't help it, it was wired into his very personality so it slipped out sometimes even if he didn't mean it too. His patience was all but drained with annoying customers and Thurston had yelled at him once or twice for how he treated them but still he didn't care. After he was done counting the money he shut the draw then stared out the window at the Alley which would soon be full of annoying customers just waiting to bug Dustin all day long. “This....sucks...” He muttered to himself just blankly staring out the window.

[Angela Merciano S7]

Angela was being cowardly. Totally and completely cowardly. Whenever she had a hard time with something, she never backed down when things got too tough. Angela Merciano was a fearless competitor. But it seemed now was finally time to admit defeat. She had done what she had thought to be impossible. She had fallen head over heels for the man that was supposed to be her sworn enemy—for a man who just about a month ago she was intent on killing the moment she graduated. Now she couldn’t imagine hurting him. No wait, that was such a lie. Angela wanted to beat Dustin to a pulp with her bare hands just for being who he was. Had it not been for him, Angela would be able to live the life she’d dreamed of happily. She wouldn’t be so confused, so frustrated with the situation she’d placed herself in. She wouldn’t have to continue lying to her grandfather and the rest of her family and making up excuses for her odd behavior. Angela hated that she was so addicted to Dustin. It pained her to be with him because of all the resistance, but at the same time it pained her to stay away as well.

So Angela needed to devise a plan. She needed her space from Dustin, but she needed to be around the shop in case anyone suspicious decided to stop by to speak to Dustin or in case one of her family members wanted to check on her. For the week after that beautifully disastrous kiss, Angela created a disguise of her own. She had to pay someone to get her some polyjuice potion so she could disguise herself as a variety of people. The person she was disguised as changed with every hour she’d need to replenish her disguise. There were times where she was a short old man, an average looking twelve-year old, or a stunningly beautiful muggle girl with dark hair and shocking blue eyes. (That disguise had come from one of the muggle girls the man had dated the night before.) Angela spent the entire week during the hours she was supposed to be working pacing slowly across the long Diagon Alley street in which the Quidditch shop was located on. She kept a close eye on the store and when she saw the occasional red head or suspicious looking person walk into the shop, she went inside to check it out.

But it seemed like the shop had some sort of eerie pull. Every time Angela’s pacing led her anywhere near the shop doors, she was tempted to go inside, talk to Dustin, and tell him everything. But then she was scared. As much as she hated herself for even thinking it, she was still a bit scared Dustin didn’t feel that same addictive attraction for her. Sure he flirted with her constantly, but he also acted this way with many other girls. Angela couldn’t convince herself that she was risking this all because Dustin just thought she was a temporary prize.

But it was on the fourth day she’d been gone that Angela realized Dustin’s feelings for her didn’t stop at just physical attraction. It really did pain him to be away from her almost as much as it pained her to stay away from him. On the Thursday that Angela had once again mysteriously missed work, she noticed a young red haired girl and two others walk into the Quidditch shop. She couldn’t tell whether the girl was Damara or not, but she decided she should probably go inside and check things out. The girl ended up just being some stupid fan, but now that Angela was in the shop, she couldn’t just leave because of the false alarm. Angela saw firsthand the change that took place in Dustin in her absence. That just made the pull to the shop even worse. Angela knew she’d have to return to work soon before Thurston or anyone else got too suspicious, but even with all this time Angela had taken off work to think, she still had no idea what she was going to do. But she needed to figure out fast.

Part of her wanted to just tell him who she was and pray he was accepting, but another part of her wanted to just grow up and serve her family without the distractions. Then there was another that just wanted to submit to the pull, but she knew that would only get her into more trouble. Still though, it seemed the best out of all her options. Angela sighed as she got dressed that Friday morning for work. She was up before everyone else except for her grandfather and of course, she was forced to eat breakfast with him. She ate quietly, and her grandfather addressed her in Italian. She answered in English, knowing that Italian was not her strongest language. “Nena, you are so quiet lately. I assume you are working hard on the mission you’ve been given?” Angela swallowed hard and looked up at the wise old man who had taught her almost everything she knew. “Yes sir. The Hemingway boy has made small mentions of his loose-mouthed sister coming to visit. I have faith that we will know of mother’s location by the end of the summer.” Angela said quietly, not making far too much eye contact.

Angela wasn’t particularly lying, but she didn’t want to risk him seeing any sort of doubt in her eyes. He nodded, clearly taking notice of her near silence, though he didn’t comment on it. “Bueno. Well then you better get to work then Nena. I can’t wait to see you back to your natural beautiful color. The pale blonde look does not do you justice.” He said with the slightest hint of a smile as he excused himself from the table. Angela breathed a sigh of relief and she headed for the fire place. She still had no idea what she was going to do about Dustin, but she took a deep breath and dropped the powder into the fireplace anyway. Moments later, Angela was back outside that same storage room in the back of the shop. Just looking at the door, Angela felt the sweet pain and that eerie pull once more. She turned around and found herself staring at Dustin Hemingway once more. Her drug. After a week of withdrawals, all it took was one look at him to replenish her supply. But that pull didn’t stop. The moment she saw him she wanted to take him into her arms and kiss him once more. But she knew she couldn’t.

[Dustin Hemingway]

Dustin just sighed as he sat there and looked out the window which faced the Alley. He didn't want to work today, it was quite possibly the last thing he wanted to do. He always felt this way but with Ava having disappeared for the whole week and still no word from her it just made his laziness even worse. The first day wasn't so bad, he was confused and slightly worried but he just shrugged it off but the second day was when things started to really bug him. The feeling just kept getting worse as the days rolled on. “What the hell is wrong with me?” He muttered to himself as he put his arms on the counter and rested his head on the palm of his hands. He had never felt like this before and if he had a choice in the matter he never wanted to again. It was the strangest mixture of depression, worry and yet somehow happiness from the thought of Ava. He couldn't think of what he did wrong that night to make her run off and disappear for a whole week so far.

He hadn't even done anything he normally would have done under those circumstances out of the fear he might have messed it up. He laughed slightly to himself as he thought about what he just thought of. He was actually afraid to mess that kiss up, that night was the first time he ever had that happen. Normally it just meant nothing so if he did something wrong who cared but that night wasn't the same as those other kisses. Dustin made a slight grunting noise as he looked down to the counter now, all of this was so annoying. Why couldn't he just be like he normally was, why did he have to feel so off this whole week without Ava? All these questions floated around in his head along with about fifty other ones that all seemed to involve Ava.

“Where the hell could she be?” He muttered out loud for what seemed like the hundredth time since she had vanished that night. He honestly wanted to find her but he had no way of figuring out where she lived and yet even if he did find her what would he say. Could he honestly lie and say he just ran into her by accident, no he doubted he could hold a straight face while speaking that. Dustin was just stuck waiting, this is what girls must have felt like when he broke it off with them or said he would talk to them later and never did. This must all be some kind of weird revenge from the world, it must have finally gotten sick of his ways once and for all. That thought first started out as a joke but as he kept thinking about it started to seem to have some true to it.

Dustin sat there for what seemed like forever to him but it probably was only fifteen minutes till he heard the door open behind him. He didn't bother to look behind him, he was sure it was just Thurston coming up front finally and he didn't feel like turning his head just to try and fake a smile to him so he keep looking forward. Dustin couldn't help but smell Ava's perfume as he sat there, which brought him back to thoughts of her. He thought he had smelled it once or twice during the week but he didn't see her anywhere around, just random customers. He slowly turned as his hopes had risen along with his heartbeat as he smelt her perfume. He was shocked to see Ava standing there looking at him, he almost cursed himself out loud for not allowing himself to look earlier. Slowly a smile started to creep a crossed his face as he looked on to Ava, it was his first honest smile since she seemed to have disappeared. He tried to think of something to say but he was still trying to comprehend her now standing in front of him.

“If this week was some weird game of trying to get me to want you more..” Dustin paused slightly as he looked at Ava, she was as beautiful as she always was. “I'm going to have to say it worked.” He said with a slight laugh, as he tried to get back into his normal mood. Suddenly he didn't feel so depressed anymore or worried, just happy and yet still confused as to why she ran off that night. “So.. Thurston and me are expecting a pretty darn good reason as to why my Ice Queen ran off for a week without any warning.” Dustin said with a weak smirk as he looked at Ava as she stood there, he really wanted to hear what she had to say and hoped it wasn't some terrible excuse. That way he could finally lose the confusing part of all of his and return to just being happy that Ava was back. “Thurston might accept a weak excuse but I'm expecting something a little better then that out of you beautiful.” Dustin said with a slight laugh as he kept on looking at her, he wanted to take his eyes way but his body just wouldn't allow it.

[Angela Merciano S7]

Angela hadn’t realized until recently how despite all that time away, she hadn’t really thought this whole disappearance thing through. She had spent so much time thinking about what she was going to do about falling for Dustin Hemingway (and she hadn’t even come up with a proper solution for that either) that she hadn’t even thought about what she was going to tell Thurston and Dustin when she did finally return. Angela quickly racked her brain for the best excuse she could imagine and sadly, the best thing she could think of off the top of her head was a family emergency that required her to travel to some foreign country to see about a family member’s will or something. It was a decent excuse, but she knew Dustin wouldn’t fall for it. Even if he was as ignorant as Angela knew him to be, he was still a Hemingway. One thing that Hemingways and Mercianos had in common was their keen ability to detect a lie. Both families needed this ability with the line of work they were in, so it was pretty much impossible to get away with any sort of secrets within the family. That was why Angela was walking on thin ice whenever she was at home. She could say something wrong or look a certain way at the wrong time and in moments, her father would know what she was up to. Of course, none of the men were ever as skilled at detecting one of Angela or the other children’s lies as her mother was, but they were still pretty skilled. Mrs. Merciano was known for her sharp keen senses, her best of which was the ability to tell a liar within seconds.

Angela sighed as she confronted Dustin. Suddenly the pain she’d been feeling all week was gone, replaced by the strengthening of that intense pull she had toward him. Angela needed to resist it though. She had to keep her distance now more than ever because she knew the second she found herself within two feet of him alone, something was going to go down. She took a deep breath, but stood her ground. “I had a family emergency that needed tending to with my uncle. There was definitely no game playing going on at all. But I would appreciate it if you forgot about that…thing that happened. It was my mistake for getting too close.” She said, her voice level and calm. She didn’t want to give away too much emotion, but she had a feeling Dustin was seeing right through this façade. Now that they’d shared such an intimate moment together, Angela didn’t think the whole “Ice Queen” act was going to cut it for her. He’d seen for himself the way she seemed to be so hungry to be near him after all that time of resistance. It was going to be pretty damn hard to get herself out of this one, and she didn’t think she had any strength left in her system to continue to reject him when it seemed like every part of her soul except her common sense wanted nothing more than to be with him.

“So I see you’re counting out the change and you’re here early. The demons in hell must be ice skating right now.” Angela said in an almost bored tone. She couldn’t help but notice the sudden hope that had filled his eyes the moment she walked into the room. It killed her that not only did she feel this way about Dustin, but it seemed like Dustin felt the same way about her as well. But Angela wondered whether or not he would feel the same way if he knew who she really was. Part of her wanted to tell him exactly what was going on so he would understand why she acted this way. He always seemed so confused about why she was always so cold to him, but if he only knew how forbidden this whole relationship was he probably wouldn’t be so quick to call her his ice queen or try to kiss her the way he did.

Even Dustin Hemingway was smart enough to know that this was not a situation to be messed with. But then again, perhaps they were both in far too deep by now? Angela knew this was definitely true for a fact. At this point, she knew she wouldn’t just be able to leave this shop at the end of the summer and continue her life and her future goals the same way she did before she started working here. No matter which path she chose, it would change her future forever. She rubbed her temples like she always did when she was stressed out and had far too much on her mind. She wished life didn’t always have to be this difficult. Why couldn’t things be easy? Why couldn’t Dustin be a respectable Italian boy and not the filthy Hemingway enemy he really was? None of this was fair. It all seemed like some twisted form of karma that Angela had brought upon herself for breaking up Damara and Nico. Angela tried to wave the thought off, but it was a bit hard too when the evidence of her bad karma was staring her right in the face with awe and fascination like he’d never seen a more beautiful creature in his life. Why me? Angela thought bitterly to herself.

[Dustin Hemingway]

Dustin just sat there looking at Ava unable to take his eyes away from her, maybe because she had been gone for a whole week but it also could have just been from how beautiful she always looked. He sat there waiting as it seemed she was thinking to herself for a moment. It didn't take Dustin long to realized that whatever she would probably come up with was a lie, he wasn't going to need and form of magic to see that. He wanted to laugh slightly to himself as she said her excuse, it was obviously a lie but it was something Thurston would believe in a heartbeat. As for Dustin he was stuck still wondering where she must have been this whole time. He couldn't really think of anything good in his head that might explain her disappearance from the store for the week. Dustin was stuck believing her lie for the time being till he could figure out what really happened to her.

Her lying about where she was didn't bother Dustin as much as what she said next, he didn't let it show though. He was slightly upset about what she said but he hide it all under a warm smile. Here Dustin was being all depressed about her disappearing and she didn't even seem to care to give him a good excuse. Worse yet she just wanted to pretend their whole kiss never happened which bugged Dustin the most. “Forget, huh?” He said in his normal tone of voice as that had seemed to have returned along with Ava. “It's kind of hard to forget about something that you keep thinking about.” Dustin said with a slight fake laugh then kept smiling towards her. What he said was all too true and he even wished once or twice he could forget about it but then toke it back quickly.

He just laughed slightly as she made almost the same comment that Thurston had made when he arrived to work. “Yeah, it's just a winter wonderland down there lately.” Dustin said with a smirk as he finally found the strength to turn away and turned back to the counter and looked out the window. A few people were already walking by the window and a couple were looking in but kept walking. “Today is going to be a long day.” He thought to himself as he kept looking out the window, he was still slightly upset about what Ava had said before even if he did hide it well he didn't really want to hide it much longer. Dustin could lie like the best of them in his family but hiding emotions was just to straining and Dustin wasn't in the mood for hiding how he felt all day. “You know what?” He asked out loud as he turned back to Ava. “I'm not going to forget, I probably won't forget and to be honest with myself I never want to forget that night.” Dustin said as he stood up and looked at Ava, his face was somewhere between a smile and being serious.

“I've spent this whole week feeling like a complete wreck because of that night, I've even wished I could forget about it myself but I don't want to and I don't think you want to forget either.” Dustin said as he paused to just stare at Ava for a second. Dustin had never felt this way nor did he ever think had ever been more honest with how he was feeling. He didn't have any of this prepared but it just seemed to rolled out of mouth like it almost had to have been. “So if you want to pretend that it didn't happen that's fine, I'll wait till it's no longer a mistake for you but I can tell you that there was no way that was mistake for me.” Dustin couldn't stop himself from speaking even if he wanted to, all the feelings that had built up over the week seemed to have control over him at the moment. Dustin toke a few steps closer to her which put him standing right in front of her. “The only mistake I see here is that you want to forget that night.” He added as he looked into her eyes and realized just how much he missed looking into them.

Dustin couldn't help but think of kissing her as he stood this close to her, He started to get closer to her. He would have kissed her too if they hadn't been interrupted. “I think it's about time to open the store Dustin!” Thurston yelled from the storage room which caused Dustin to just sigh. “Yeah... whatever.” He said in an annoyed tone as he toke a step back from Ava. To come this close again and to be stopped both by Thurston and Ava's desire to forget that night just aggravated him down to the bone. Dustin walked passed Ava then headed to the door but stopped as yet again he felt like he couldn't control what he said. “Don't just disappear again, you had me worried.” He said not even turning around to look at Ava, all this was getting too frustrating for Dustin. Whatever happened to the days when he would sit around and be lazy then go off and hit on random girls and have fun. Ava seemed to change all of this and he couldn't even blame her, he wouldn't want to go back to that life after that night anyway. Dustin made it to the door and as soon as he unlocked it a small group of kids flooded in asking for help for stuff. Dustin was sure the kids wouldn't buy anything but at the moment he didn't care and just helped them out anyway, trying to ignore the thoughts of Ava he had in his head for the moment.

[Angela Merciano S7]

Angela couldn’t help but be shocked at the carefree tone in his voice as he replied her in his usual flirty, slightly sarcastic tone. She was so shocked in fact, that she didn’t even take time to look into his eyes and see the pain hidden behind his calm expression. Normally, she would have picked up a façade like that in an instant. But of course, she was blinded by yet another obvious element of her surroundings thanks to none other than Dustin Hemingway. She knew it was already too late to keep away and even too late to continue lying to Dustin about her feelings for him. It seemed he had finally surrendered his pride and was now pouring out his feelings to her. Before she knew it, Dustin had stepped in front of the counter and she’d found herself gravitating toward him unknowingly. Angela just stared at him square in the eye as he stared back and all of a sudden the addiction was back and Angela was getting dangerously close to an overdose of the drug that kept her both sane and insane these days.

She couldn’t begin to believe the words he was telling her. She couldn’t even really comprehend what was going on, so she just stood there, mere inches from Dustin as he spoke. His voice was hoarse with previously unexpressed pain and frustration and Angela couldn’t help but be taken aback by it. She hadn’t noticed it until later, but fresh tears were starting to cloud her vision. Angela didn’t cry. Ever. She didn’t even cry when she found out the Hemingways had stolen her mother. So why was she on the verge of tears now that Dustin was finally expressing his true feelings for her? Nothing about Angela’s romance with Dustin made any sort of sense, so Angela figured she should probably stop being so surprised whenever she couldn’t make much sense out of something. Everything that had any relation to Dustin was just so disorganized, lacking any form of common sense or judgement, and completely wrong and backwards in every way possible. She looked up at him. It was clear to anyone with eyes that the past week had been a trying one for her. She didn’t look her best today, but that wasn’t too much her fault. Her eyes had dark circles under them and she looked completely drained. In all aspects of the word, Angela pretty much was drained. Emotionally, mentally--even physically surprisingly.

Dustin took a step closer to her so they were standing almost as close as they were that night about a week ago. Her mind told her to back up, but her body just wouldn‘t allow itself to do so. “Listen Dustin, I’m sorry I got us into this situation but I really must--” Angela began to say quietly through gritted teeth before she was interrupted by Thurston’s voice alerting Dustin to open up shop for the day. When he saw Angela’s face, he grunted. “Ava! There you are at last. I’m glad to see you are doing well. Dustin and I were beginning to get a bit worried. Now would you care to enlighten me as to why you just disappeared from work for almost an entire week?” Angela sighed as Dustin walked off to open up shop and help the other costumers that were just starting to file into the shop. “I’m really sorry I disappeared like that. There was a family emergency concerning my father out of the country and I had to accompany my uncle to go see him about some personal family business. He rolled his eyes. “Starting to slack off, Jackson. I see Dustin has had a negative effect on you, girl. Just don’t let it happen again.”Said Thurston sternly. Angela merely nodded and went to go find Dustin.

When she did find him again, she was glad he was alone this time because Angela didn’t even attempt to hold it all back this time. “You’re right. I do care for you and yes, I think it’s obvious I have a significant attraction like that for you. But you just don’t understand why I have to at least try to forget it happened, even though that may be a very difficult task to do. “I can’t explain it to you, but can you please just respect that? Angela asked him softly. Just then, she heard the door open once more. This time, it was not a costumer who had shown at the door, but someone else. Angela had to compose herself not to let her mouth drop as she saw the figure of none other than Damara Hemingway enter the doorway.

[Damara Hemingway S7]

Damara’s tense attitude and composure didn’t even lack during her sleep, and her conscious scowling expression seemed to be permanently painted on her porcelain face, as she slept in her familiar bedroom. Her normally neat hair was tussled and sprawled across her pillow, and a hand lay on her cheek, the other hand slightly off the edge of her bed. Her breaths were slow and consistent, relaxed as she slept. A small, miniscule smile spread across her face slowly, as if he facial muscles struggled to allow it. Damara smiled sarcastically a good amount, but seldom ever truly, genuinely smiled anymore, unless something about the family business was absolutely heart-lifting, or something that strike anyone a part of or friends with the Merciano family as a tragedy, like an injury or even better: a casualty. The smile was caused by neither, but a dream of her once love, Nico Merciano, that was so suddenly stripped from her by his evil, heartless, cold, purely demonic cousin- Angela a year ago. Damara acted numb, as if it didn’t hurt her anymore, along with the death of her father and the drifting away of her mother, but it hurt her, it hurt her a lot.

Her dreams had started off slow, in a sky of blackness, and then grey clouds rolled in, and slowly in insides of her eyelids were transformed into the Room of Requirement. Nico smiled at her, and her heart throbbed for him. In her dream, she had smiled, reached out and placed her hand on his cheek, looking into his eyes. They were a mocha color, beautifu and sparkly in her opinion, but suddenly fear and sorrow flooded them and the sparkly effect was gone. Blonde hair whipped in between them, Damara’s hand stripped from Nico’s face. Damara had opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out, and Nico was gone. Angela Merciano stood, staring at Damara with a filthy smirk spread across her horrible face.

Damara opened her eyes and sat up, all traces of a smile gone from her face. Her eyes were cold, her lip with curved slightly downward, and her eyebrows hung vaguely in toward her eyes. She looked around, blinking. She shook her head, having the urge to just breakdown completely right there, within seconds of returning from her dream world filled with horrible reminders and hallucinations. She took her pillow and hugged it, burying her face in it and breathing in deeply, and then letting it out slowly. ‘Calm…calm it…Everything is fine. Everything is fine.’ She repeated to herself in her mind. She tossed the pillow back onto her bed and exited her room, walked down the stairs and into her living room. She saw Dustin, going to work…Dusting going to work? She checked the time, and it was well before Dustin was even due to go to work, and usually, he was late. He looked at him, puzzled before he was swallowed by the green flames.

The green flames comforted Damara in an odd way. But her thoughts of relative calmness vanished as the green flames transitioned into the orange and yellow flames flickering in the fireplace. She sighed and walked into the kitchen to fetch herself some breakfast before heading up and getting ready for the day. She thought about what she was going to do for a whole day, bored out of her mind. She didn’t have many friends; she sort of drifted away or snapped at any she had after Nico was ripped from her. Her only friends were family, and that was mostly Dustin. Vincent was family and she cared for him a lot, but he was too young and he didn’t know about much of her problems like Dustin did. She finished her breakfast and put it into the sink and head up toward her bedroom and then to the bathroom, taking a long steamy shower before getting dressed and combing her hair. Her hair was wavy and long, sort of like how her mother kept it, and it was exactly the same vibrant red that made her a Hemingway woman. Every Hemingway woman had vivid red hair.

She was ready and she check the time again. The shop would have open about twelve minutes ago. Damara took the Floo Powder and threw it into the fire place, causing the green flames to return. She stepped in saying “The Leaky Caudron” and appeared in the Leaky Cauldron. She rolled her wand in her hands and stepped out the back, tapping the bricks and walking into the not yet bustling Diagon Alley. Damara scanned the place and strolled toward the shop, looking in the windows of other shops she passed. She began hearing Nico’s whispering voice, bugging her in her head, and she hurried into the shop. The bell rang attatched to the door jingled as she opened it and she walked in. She smiled slightly in greeting to Dustin, walked behind the counter, and took a seat on the stool there, as she always did when visiting. “Hello Mr.Defy-All-Odds, I thought I’d never see the day when my twin would actually be on time for something, yet be early.” She said in her semi-monotone voice, a hint of sarcasm hidden in it. She looked toward the blonde girl, also a worked, as it seemed. “Who’s she? I haven’t seen her around.” She asked boldly, pointing to Ava. Damara looked at her again. Something told her she wasn’t going to like her, there was a feel of familiarity with her, but then, there seemed to be some tension. She took note of that in her head and waited for Dustin’s answer.

[Dustin Hemingway]

Dustin had pretty much run off from Ava once Thurston told him to open the store up. He wanted to be close to her so bad, the urge to be around her had built up the whole week she was gone. At the same time he just started to feel irritated with her, Dustin didn't want to show it but her just wanting to ignore what happened was pushing him to the edge of his patience. Dustin unlocked the door and tried to ignore Ava as she spoke to Thurston about why she had disappeared. Just as Dustin thought Thurston would, he believed every bit of the lie that spilled out of Ava's mouth. Part of Dustin didn't want Thurston to believe her, maybe if Thurston yelled or pushed her harder she would crack under the pressure and tell him where she really had been. Dustin just sighed as he went on to help the kids who rushed in as soon as the door was open.

“Yeah, it's a wonderful broom.” Dustin said in a bored and uninterested tone as the boys all gathered around the newest broom in the shop. Normally Dustin tried to at least have an upbeat and kind tone of voice but right now he didn't care. Thurston wasn't around to hear him and the kids didn't seem to be paying attention to him. Even if Thurston was around Dustin wasn't in the mood to pretend to be interested in what the kids were saying, his mind was off somewhere else thinking of someone else. Pretty soon the kids had run off again and Dustin didn't bother to follow them, they didn't need him around to just stare at stuff they would never buy. He stood there and looked at the broom the kids were staring at just second ago. It was suppose to be the fastest and best broom to come out yet but Dustin hadn't tried it yet. Normally he would have just taken it one night after work and would being it back later that night but during this past week he didn't feel like it.

He gave one last sigh as he turned to move away from the broom and find those kids again but as he turned he soon found Ava standing there. His mind told him he was happy to see her and he sure did feel happy but his body seemed to refuse both of those ideas and instead he just stood there and stared at her with a straight face. He had the urge to say something stupid just to get back at her slightly. “I'm sorry Ms. Jackson I'm in your way aren't I?” Sat on the tip of his tongue but he fought the urge as it soon passed once Ava started speaking. He couldn't understand why them being together was so wrong to her and she couldn't even tell him why it was so wrong, all of it was just so frustrating to Dustin. “I'm suppose to respect the fact that you want to forget what happened and how I feel and yet you can't tell me why?” Dustin said an a low tone as he stared at her but he could tell she was off looking at something else. Dustin turned slowly to see what she was looking at, he was expecting another customer but what he found was his sister.

“Today... really?” He muttered to himself as he watched her just smile then walked off behind the shop counter as sat down. “I guess bad things really do happen in threes.” Dustin muttered one last time as he glanced at Ava one last time then walked over to where Damara sat down. Why the hell was she here of all days rang in Dustin's mind as he walked closer. Damara visited every once and awhile and not all of them were pleasant visits, in fact most of them weren't. “Sorry young lady, only employees are allow to be back there I'm going to have to ask you to leave.” Dustin said with a slight smirk as he made it to the counter and stood there just looking at Damara, he completely ignored her first comment. He soon looked to where Damara was pointing and as he had already guessed she was walking about Ava. “Oh her.” He said in a tone like it wasn't really important as he turned back to Damara smiling, just looking at Ava made him smile and talking about her to someone else made him want to smile more.

“She's just my future girlfriend, maybe more.” He said with a slightly laugh as he was sure Damara would think the part at the end would be a joke but Dustin was less sure of that or maybe he already knew he wanted it to be more. “So what did I do to deserve your presence on just such a wonderful day as today?” Dustin asked in a sarcastic tone as he smirked looking at Damara. He wished she would go away so bad, he wanted to be alone with Ava some more but with Damara here he wasn't going to get to talk to her at all. “Also on a side note don't you have somewhere more important to be?” Dustin asked teasing her slightly but hoped that she might actually have somewhere else to be.

[Angela Merciano S7]

Angela’s thoughts were in a whirlwind. Suddenly, she was thrust back into reality. Now she could only wish for a time of simpler happenings--she had a duty to accomplish in this reality. Here, there were no happy endings. Not truly anyway. Damara just had to show up at the shop at that very moment to remind Angela that she was in the midst of a war. Angela, as a Merciano daughter had a duty to be loyal to her family. She was already too deep into the war to get herself out now, so she tried to flip the switch that would turn her back into the loyal Merciano daughter she needed to be. She backed away from Dustin at that very moment and proceeded to the tall book shelf to begin the very tedious task of organizing the books. She hadn’t been here in awhile and obviously Dustin hadn’t bothered to complete this task in her absence, so she had plenty to keep her busy. She held back a scowl as Damara passed her on her way to the front desk. Angela and Damara hated each other since even before they met each other. They truly were mortal enemies. Angela’s father had always joked that the moment the “Great Fight” was fought, Angela’s battle with Damara would probably the most interesting of all to watch, second only to the battle that would take place between Luciana Hemingway and Angela’s grandfather, Hector-Miguel.

The two were forced to share a dormitory together thanks to the bitter fact that they were in the same house and year and it took all the willpower Angela had not to suffocate her with her pillow as she slept. The consequences of that would be far too grand. Of course, there was also the fact that Angela had more pride than that. She hated Damara Hemingway so much that she didn’t want to just let her die peacefully in her sleep. She and Damara would have their fair fight one day, and Angela would be able to go home knowing that the red-haired little wench gave it her best and still died by Angela’s hand. She glanced up at the desk to find that Damara was pointing right at her. While still blocked by the books, Angela cast the same hearing spell she’d cast just a week ago in Diagon Alley. Suddenly, the quiet room was not quite so quiet anymore. She had to focus her attention on Damara and Dustin if she wanted to pick up a word of what they were saying. All the hustle and bustle outside of the shop made it hard for Angela to focus and gave her an immense headache, but she had been using this charm for ages, so she knew what she was doing by now. She assumed Damara had just asked who Angela was, because Dustin’s next answer managed to make her blush again in spite of herself. She made sure to keep her face low at this point, but she knew both of them were looking right at her, so that couldn’t be avoided. “She's just my future girlfriend, maybe more.” She heard him say. Angela grumbled, feeling the sudden warmth rush to her cheeks.

Angela needed to make herself scarce so that Damara could let something slip, which was something she highly expected. Damara had such a thirst to prove that she was worthy that she’d say anything to make her feel like she was more powerful than she really was. Her needless bragging would cost her one day, and Angela had a feeling that day would come very soon. Angela walked briskly past the shelves and past the front desk mumbling the words “it’s not polite to point” angrily as she passed. She decided to hide out in the storage room and listen in on what they were saying. The moment Angela opened the door and saw the area inside, the reality had been pushed back. Even with the hearing spell, all the madness of the world around her just faded into the background and it was like she was staring at the scene she’d experienced herself a week ago. Hadn’t Damara been in this same exact situation with Nico? The thought hadn’t occurred to her until just that very moment, and out of nowhere she felt a sudden surge of guilt.

Damara had fallen head over heels for Nico and Angela had taken that from her for the simple reason that she hated Damara. But she had to imagine losing Dustin right now that she had finally become so incredibly attached to him. Dustin was her drug now, and if he was taken from her she would very likely go insane. She felt so horrible, and not just for Damara, but for Nico. It was clear that her cousin felt strongly for the Hemingway wench, though she had no real idea why. He just slumped around the house now, cranky and bitter and just completely empty without his dose of Hemingway filth. Angela made a note to talk to Nico a bit nicer from now on. She’d always been so terrible to him for betraying the family. But now Angela knew that Nico probably didn’t have a choice in the matter. Just like with Angela, the betrayal probably just happened on accident and there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

((FINALLY. So, Damara next?))

[Damara Hemingway S7]

Damara stared at Dustin, her facial expression, the natural frown and serious look that seemed to be tattooed onto her face forever, not eve budging at Dustin’s usual comment. She went on in her thinking, ignoring it. She felt something odd about the girl, who she saw was now organizing a huge bookcase of books. The books were in a wreck, as if they all fell and a frantic fiver year old tossed them onto the shelves to avoid being the blame. Dustin’s doing, probably, or Dustin’s neglect. But she felt an instant hatred for the girl, for no apparent reason. Maybe it was the abnormal quietness and her actions of avoiding them, or maybe the aura of something…Damara put her finger quite on it, but the feelings she got the from the girl weren’t good ones.

Dustin had finally begun to answer her question, and her head snapped to him, her red tresses following her head and eyes toward Dustin. Girlfriend? More? Those thoughts registered in her mind as a potential threat. She wasn’t approving of the girl even before Dustin had mentioned his interest in her, even though, he seemed to have an interest in all human beings around his age and of the female gender, but this one girl bothered Damara.
“I don’t like her.” Damara said in a voice a little more chilly than her normal tone. “What’s her name?” she asked, her icy voice showing a hint of interest. She was going to make a mental note to watch that girl whenever she could. Something just wasn’t right about her. Dustin begun talking again and she looked took her attention from the girl who was getting up to him. She rolled her eyes at his remark. Typical Dustin… He was always messing with her, and she didn’t expect it to be or become and different. Big brothers were supposed to do that, even if they were only minutes older. She sighed but her attention was instantly drawed to the girl. She muttered something… “I-….polite….point….” Damara may not have heard the whole sentence, but she knew what she was getting at, and she knew that that was a dangerous attitude, especially to have toward a Hemingway. Even if the seemingly arrogant and annoying girl didn’t know her or her family, didn’t she have the little decency to respect? A small growl, close to nothing, escaped from her chest before she caught herself and looked to Dustin.

“How can you stand her? She’s a troll!” Damara half asked, half noted to Dustin. The girl may not have looked like a troll…much, but she sure did know how to impersonate and act like one. “She needs to put that nose of hers in her own damn business and learn some manners. I don’t care who she is, who she thinks I am, but no one…” she stopped mid-sentence and just shut up, not feeling like making Dustin angry. “Oh,” Damara began in a low tone, just above a whisper. She looked around the shop quickly, not wanting anyone to see or be able to listen to her, but not wanting to look around too much and look suspicious. “Mum told me last night that she was heading toward Manchester today. She didn’t tell me exactly where in Manchester she was going, or what she was doing, but she had brought a couple of guys with her, and she said she’d be back in a couple days or so. She also said to bring some of those…what do you call them…” Damara had said in a half whisper, but then her voice went back to its normal volume and tone at the end. What were those muggle cookies called? Orleans? Orlians? Orlios? “Oreos…I think she’s become quite addicted to those since she came home last time…” she said, allowing herself to become off topic. She didn’t want Dustin asking any detailed questions until she felt completely safe…And with that girl lurking somewhere, it definitely didn’t feel like a secure place to be.

Damara looked at the clock hung on the wall, frowning. There was only a little bit of time until she returned to Hogwarts, weeks, until she’d be locked up in a living hellhole with the devil herself-Angela Merciano. She tightened her hands in fists, just wanting the day of graduation to come, and they’d be free, and she’d finish that hag, Angela. Damara’d show what a true Slytherin was, and she’d kill her painfully. Maybe then, her mother would be proud of her, her and her brother, and instead of Dustin taking the reins, she would. Damara looked at Dustin, thinking. He had already been caught with drugs at school, and expelled. He had probably ruined his future that that. But herself, she had never been caught with anything, and for all the teachers and rest of the world knew, she was an innocent girl, looking for a job in the Ministry. No one would expect Damara Hemingway to have a little trick up her sleeve, and to empower the Entourage secretly. No one would expect Damara Hemingway to have the power and guts to murder a Merciano, and no one will expect her to make her mother to proud to give the whole Entourage to her, for her to control and run by herself. The corners of her lips twitched and rose-barely, before she blinked and looked back to Dustin.

[Dustin Hemingway]

Dustin just smiled as he watched Ava move quickly to where the books were and started organizing them. It was something Dustin had been told to do quite a number of times but never bothered to do it while Ava was gone. Dustin couldn't help but notice how his mood seemed to be changed all day, first he was happy to see Ava again then annoyed that she wanted to forget what happened and now he was just happy again to be talking about her to someone else. He slowly turned back to Damara and saw the look on her face, it wasn't much different from the normal frown and displeased look she always had on. Dustin just laughed slightly as Damara said that she didn't like her, like he cared if she liked Ava or not. “Oh darn isn't that a shame.” Dustin said in a sarcastic tone with a smile and soon heard Damara ask what her name was. “She's my Ice Queen but I guess it would be less awkward if you called her by her real name, Ava.” Dustin said laughing as he watched Ava walk by and mutter something then head into the Storage room, he couldn't help but laugh at what Ava said.

He just laughed again as a look of anger appeared on Damara's face, it seemed she heard what Ava had said too. Damara never did take insults or anything along those lines of things well, she normally always had to make a big deal out of something so small as a little disrespect. “Troll?” Dustin said while still laughing slightly. “I guess I have tons of practice dealing with people like that. I deal with you often enough.” He said in a playful tone and smirked. Damara wasn't all to bad but sometimes she could get really awful to be around. “And you were pointing, after all.” Dustin added still smirking as he messed with Damara some more which was always fun for him even on a day like today. “She's really quite amazing once you get to know her and spent a few weeks just trying to get her to warm up to you.” He said laughing then listened as Damara started talking all high and mighty for a second and Dustin was just about to say something about it but she stopped herself.

Damara had a very bad habit of letting her pride start to show when it wasn't really appropriate. She would probably go on and on about The Entourage if it hadn't been drilled into her to never talk about it in public. For Dustin it was quite the opposite, anything about The Entourage would be the last thing to come out of his mouth. Dustin just sighed as tried to ignore Damara but still try to seem like he was paying attention as the Conversation soon turned to what he knew would turn to, The Entourage. Damara always had to fit it into some conversation she was having it seemed. Dustin didn't really care what his mother was up to, he cared if she was going to be safe or if she was okay but after that he didn't even want to know what she was doing in Manchester. “Probably just some random business trip or something of that natural.” Dustin said in a rather bored tone which he didn't care to hide. He didn't even want to talk about the life they were trying to drag him into.

If things went his mothers way he would right now be off running errands for The Entourage and being groomed to be the head of it sooner or later. Damara was all set for the job but his mother was still focused on him taking the reigns of it all and Dustin could tell why. Damara was too focused on revenge and proving herself to run an organization, she'd more then likely run off into a fight without thinking and easily get killed and where would that leave The Entourage. Dustin soon sighed slightly as he realized what he was thinking about, he didn't care in the slightest about the The Entourage yet sadly they were directly related his his families safety. “So any particular reason you've come to bug me today?” Dustin said with a slight smirk, hoping to change the topic away from the Entourage. “ Or was bug Dustin day marked on the calendar for today?” He added with a with a slight laugh and a smirk as he messed with Damara some more.