Hold on to Your Pride

[Charlie Jones]

15 January 2008 12:49 PM

Forget it. If Charlie had to face eating another routine meal like the way she did, then it would make her sick. The whole manner of it made her feel down and dirty, like a prisoner. Sure enough, that's what they were... prisoners, inmates, POWs. It was all the same except for the little fact that they had done nothing wrong. And if anything, it was as if they were being punished for existing, for being in the Deva's way. She certainly felt like that was happening to them. But as they grew more and more along the hours, she had the revelation that while it was possible that they were in the Deva's way... she was going to stay in their way. She owed herself that bit of courage, because she felt like it all drained through her fear and paranoia.

Her bits and pieces of revealing philosophy came through anywhere but the Slytherin table. Charlie was still firmly planted there like a guardsman from time to time. But when she had time to come around the Great Hall, she didn't have to feel absolutely tense as she did. Already did her body feel sore from being taut in stress, and it was just painful to sit around some more.

"I'll be back," she said to anyone listening, knowing that if she had to be gone, then there had to be someone to look over the lot of Snakes. Getting up from the table, she walked slowly to the exit of the great hall, knowing that plenty of eyes were on her to survey her every move.

As she did feel eyes burn their hate on her, she reached into her pocket to take a look at a piece of parchment that had appeared out of nowhere. No surprise, as her pockets were often filled with forgotten objects that would outdate and wear out. This time it was a ripped piece of Herbology notes from about three weeks ago. She scoffed at it. "Shaw'd be frickin' proud," she commented to herself sourly as she continued into the Entrance Hall, slowing her pace to more of a stroll.

She had no agenda behind what she did next. It would be assumed later on out that she had a momentary lapse of judgment and she couldn't separate two realities-- one being school in session and not under siege, and during the take over. Yet somewhere in her head, she found herself instantly shuddering at the stuffiness of the place and looked on to the small, barely there window by the side of the entrance doors. As she came to turn in that direction, she seemed to mutter rather loudly, "What's with the no sunlight?!?" and proceeded to get the window to jimmie it open. She knew beforehand that it would only open slightly, but she seemed to forget that with the parchment in her hands, it seemed like she was getting her message sent out to the outside world.

Logic flew out the door long ago.

(A. Jedynak/??)

[alfonztytusjedynak]

As of yet, no point to why they were there had even appeared to Alfonz. At least Celina knew he was there, and she was accepting his explanation of why he was working under Shaw. He knew it wouldn’t take much to convince her of the truth. Alfonz knew that Celina was smart enough to see it in the light of which he was now fighting. Sure, as he was different from many of the members of the Deva, his goals were the same as theirs. That’s why he joined them to begin with, and that’s why he stayed. At least with Celina now with the knowledge of her own safety, he didn’t feel as doubtful as he once had. Though, with no new developments as of yet that Alfonz took interest in, and nothing really to do since no one was doing anything out of the ordinary, Alfonz found himself to be quite bored.

He sighed stiffly as he walked throughout the whole entrance way, back and forth from the Great Hall, back to the front doors. He even looked out the windows to see the snow falling still among the court yard. Hogwarts, he had to admit, had its own qualities of beauty. But he’d never say it out loud. Durmstrung was his own, his home away from home, and his pride. It was where he struggled, survived, and accomplished. That would never change for him. The only tie he even had with Hogwarts was Celina…though in that sense, the tie was great.

His wand was in his pocket securely, as he felt it was useless to carry it and hang on to it the entire time he walked. As he looked around, a slight noise was heard coming from down the hall back toward the entrance doors he had just walked away from. He hadn’t seen anyone pass him, but then again he had been preoccupied looking at everything else and thinking of Celina.

What's with the no sunlight?!?

A familiar, yet not, voice was heard from coming down the hall. As Alfonz strolled down the hall, taking his damn time, he smirked a bit and wondered what in bloody hell the student who was trying to get the window open was doing. Finally, something to do! Even if it was to tell this girl to knock it off, at least it would be something. It wasn’t until Alfonz moved closer, where he became a bit angrier at what he saw.

It was Amber. She was the same girl who he had hired in Hogsmead to keep that Thornton and Hjort friends away from Celina. After their meeting, he had never heard word from her. Not one peep. Blood traitor, was the first words that popped into Alfonz’s mind. It was a hard habit to break, getting out of the concept that blood type no longer mattered in the idea of purity. But this was a girl who had call the school scum, and filled with mudbloods. This was a pureblood who had been hired to do a job, she obviously didn’t have the heart for. And with his face being hidden, there were oh so many words he would have said to her, but knew he couldn’t directly. So…he called out to her instead…

“There’s only sun when those who want to see the light, truly are worthy.”

[Charlie Jones]

The words chilled Charlie to the bone, but it brought her back. Immediately she wasn't thinking that she had to do some sort of N.E.W.T. assignment or get to thinking up some qudditch plays. No, of course not! She had to be brought back somehow. The words that came from behind her did the job right in doing so. The problem was that the words spoken had the bit of familiarity to them, but not in the sense that she had known this person previouslly and personally.

Taken aback by her foolish move, she put her hands up to the offenders and gestured that she had no plan. In fact, she threw the segment of parchment at the guarding Deva and gave them a scowl.

Charlie would have liked to be a bit antagonizing to them, but she still had the voice burning her brain with an anxiety that was slightly familiar. Slowly she turned around, her disgust coming as usual to the tall man with no face, but was seen with Shaw a lot. This in itself indicated to Charlie that he had more up his sleeve than most of the other bandits.

"Wh-Who's worthy?" She seemed to blurt out despite herself. Was it not her? The question gave her a troubled burn in her brain, as if the sunlight really had touched her, but in excess.

[alfonztytusjedynak]

Alfoz watched as the girl turned with her hands in the air. Who was she? This was not the young woman he had met with in Hogsmead, though she looked exactly like her. This girl was willing to give in to him almost immediately, and he had only said one statement. Wouldn’t Amber have given him a snide remark? Remember his voice? Or was she just playing coy? Alfonz didn’t know.

“Put your hands down,” he commanded sternly. It wasn’t as if he was going to hurt her, and under his mask his eyes rolled a bit. What was wrong with this girl? As he thought about who he looked at, a piece of parchment flew at him and even more confused like, he picked it up slowly, not taking his eyes off of her. All he needed was to get kicked in the head or something for foolishly looking away. For all he knew, it could have been a trap and there could be more students hiding behind the nearest walls. He doubted it, but at the same time…didn’t.

“What?” he asked as he looked at it. It was a piece of a book? Now he was definitely confused. What in bloody hell was happening at the moment? Alfonz had no idea, and almost wondered if the whole thing was an elaborate plot set up by the students. He briefly glanced around wondering when the others in hiding would come out to bombard him with an attack. He shouldn’t have stopped….or at least he should have brought someone with him. Looking down the hallway, he made sure he saw some of his colleagues….just in case.

Wh-who’s worthy?

Distracted by the paper for a bit, Alfonz almost missed the question. Was she really asking who was worthy? Just months before she would be arguing with him that out of anyone at the scum loving school, she was probably one of the most worthy. This couldn’t be….no….was this really that girl Amber?

“Worthy? Well isn’t that obvious? Those who agree to do something and actually follow through….those are the people who are worthy. Those who are true to themselves, and deserve more than what is taken away from them. They are worthy. But…I’m sure you have no idea what I am speaking of.” Alfonz could feel his irritation with Amber rise. How did she not know what worth was?

“I doubt though, that you have any concept of what I speak.” Aflonz’s disgust was evident with the girl. She had failed him, and still Celina was friends with the two he had hired Amber to get out of the picture. Failure…blood traitor…..unworthy and useless. As he had told Celina once in a letter…those are the people who needed to be….discarded.

It was only lucky for the young woman who stood before him that he wasn’t the killing type.

[Charlie Jones]

Charlie watched him go between the paper and her as she obediently lowered her hands, although she couldn't tell when exactly he did do that. Being the person in front of the man with no lips, eyes, or nose, it was hard to tell what he had in mind. His association with the Deva was enough to bring her heart to a racing speed, spending all the fast heartbeats she would have used on qudditch practice for this moment.

She paused after what he said. Who would follow through with what? She had no recollection as to why she could understand his voice and pick it out of a memory, but what memory would it be? She gave him a look of confusion and scratched her head.

"Look, dude, I don't know who spit in your cereal or nothing, but I really don' know what yer talkin' about." She bit her lip, thinking that her response wasn't satisfactory to him, and so she added, "It really sucks when people don't keep promises though...."

[alfonztytusjedynak]

Spit in his cereal? This was not the young woman he had met in Hogsmead. Did she have a twin? And if so, what did he say in general? He was becoming more and more irritating. "Especially, when the promise could have life altering consequences."

One more try, if she didn't get it now then he didn't know what he was going to do. Hassle her about the paper? He could. But what would be the point in that? She was a blood traitor and he knew it, no matter if she was Amber or not. And he didn't want to deal with it.

[Charlie Jones]

Again, questions threw at Charlie like rapid fire. What could have life altering consequences? What promise? This wouldn't have bothered her if it weren't for the gut feeling that he was talking about her. Anything else, and she could have seen it as though he had randomly come up to her to complain about someone who didn't keep their promise. But this man didn't dilly-dally. He stood in front of her for a purpose, and he wouldn't have wasted time on her if it wasn't about something she did.

But she never met him before in her life! Just putting that little part in along with her recognition of his voice, she wondered just how much she could fool herself with it. Amber had come back to haunt her in the most indirect way.

Charlie had a chill down her spine. Somehow along the way... she had gotten herself associated with the Deva. The idea seemed to make her step back in fright. "Look... I'm not who you think I am, man..." She gulped. "I-I'm someone else!"

[alfonztytusjedynak]

"Bullocks!" he snapped immediately. That was ridiculous. Unless she in fact did have a twin sister that Alfonz knew nothing about, this was the girl. Though her dialect was different, immature even compared to Amber's, but still, something didn't sit right with Alfonz. He tried to brush it off...tried to forget it, but he couldn't. She had promised that she'd get the job done, and do it right, and failed.

"Then tell me something miss...Do you know Drew Thornton?" Alfonz snarled, trying to remain calm.

[Charlie Jones]

She seemed to jump up at his outburst, not knowing what to do. It seemed like things weren't promising-- like Dragos or Arty, she knew she couldn't convince the man that she hadn't been the little devil who gone around, manipulating anything and anyone. It looked as easy as just switching up mannerisms to look like a two-face. Her head seemed to loop around with the same curse word in fright.

Her heart started to pound way too hard, and it was almost ready to drown out his next words when she heard her friend's name being thrown in the debacle. Thornton? "Thornton?" It was thought and said in unison, as she was unable to comprehend how he was factored into this. She slowly began to nod, his authority putting a subservient impression on her. ".... ye-yeah..."

[alfonztytusjedynak]

Alfonz had to remain calm. The girl was playing him for a fool, and if he was going to figure out what went wrong with the plan, he had to get a grip on the situation at hand. The girl looked the same, sounded the same, and knew the same people, it seemed, as the girl he had met in the Hogs Head. So, why then did she look at him blankly, scared even of him? Surely his faceless features would never have scared Amber this much. She would have been helping them, or at least going to one of them looking for a way out. Though, it was also true, he didn't know the girl, he was sure that this girl was far from whoever she was supposed to be.

"I asked a young woman, such as yourself to....." he had to work his words right and keep Celina as far out of the conversation as possible. If not to protect her, than to protect his own identity. "....to gather some information on him, and those he hangs out with. This being said, I give you that this was only to gather reference on someone who owes us something, nothing more. The girl.....look, rather peculiarly a lot like yourself....miss" Alfonz hissed his ending still trying to keep his cool. If she didn't tell him what was going on, he'd find someone wouldn't mind teaching her the truth of what a blood traitor was really good for.

[Charlie Jones]

Charlie's heartbeats seemed to race faster than her mind. This man was just throwing about the worst of the memories of Amber for the Slytherin, and she was barely able to understand it without this urge to vomit. No matter what now... I'm dead meat, she told herself, suppressing a whimper along with the foreboding thought. The words in her head alone seemed to strike her subconsciously, and she took it to mind not too far off in the future, when all she had in her evenings was to stare at the natural disasters that the ceiling of the Great Hall likened to create.

"Th-That's weird," she laughed short and nervously. "Isn't it? Youthinkyertalkin'tosomeoneyouknowbutyernotreally?" Her words seemed to spill and crash each other, as if it were a cure of lightheartedness. "H-Hope you find her and sock it to her for me, 'cause I don' like bein' impersonated, hehehe..."

She stepped back again and had her heel ready to turn. If she could just escape, she might as well. It was hard enough to avoid the dark haired Deva member that kept on staring at her, so it was be a heavy task to try to escape the watch of yet another Deva member, this being the man in front of her.

[alfonztytusjedynak]

The girl's jumbled together and Alfonz couldn't understand a word, and so, he took that as a confession. This was Amber, and no matter what she said afterwards, it no longer mattered.

H-Hope you find her and sock it to her for me, 'cause I don' like bein' impersonated, hehehe...

Did she really think of him as unintelligent? It obviously came with the Deva stereotype. Thank you Schmidt... Alfonz found himself irritatedly thinking. The girl turned as fast as she stopped speaking and Alfonz didn't move, just watched her wondering what or if there was anything left to say.

"It doesn't matter....the job will be done, with or without you," he called after her. Alfonz had already insured that one. Celina's friends had more enimies than just that girl. And ones with more guts to match...or obediance, either way worked for Alfonz.