the legacy of the old gamesroom (Jarred)

[Esmeralda Jones]

Was she afraid of sinking back into the darkness inside her mind? Yes. Yes of course she was. Locked up. But more maddening then not being able to move or see was feeling something living under her skin, something black and twisted crawling under her skin, pulling on her insides. How many times had she woken up, confused, with angry red scratches across her stomach where in her sleep she’d been desperate to get it out. She couldn’t stand it anymore. She just couldn’t. Holding the wand aloft, her arm shaking as she pointed it at the black ribbon writhing before her.
She glanced sideways at him as he yelled. She’d never heard him yell before and he momentary captured her attention. And she almost smiled at his last sentence and half turned to face him, though her wand never moving from it’s swirling black target.

“You mean you haven’t worked it out yet?”

she jerked her head in the direction of the seal.

“I know exactly how it works”

Lifting her hand, her palm flattened in Jared’s direction. A shield rose around him in a narrow dome, to protect him from any harm from what she was about to do.

“I made the illegal seal.”

She gave him a smile, then violently swiped the wand through the air, hurling an attack to the fragmented ribbon. Amazingly, it darted, the spell only shattering the tail end that didn’t move quite fast enough out of the way. In other circumstances, this sort of a seal was to be admired. It was sophisticated, able to do anything necessary to preserve itself, as no doubt the 12 year old Esme had intended. It hardened and glinted like steel as it fired right as Esme. She deflected it, twisting around but it glanced her side. Blood splattered the floor. Esme slashed the wand again and caught the damn thing in the middle, it’s ends were ragged and tattered. Her spare arm wrapped around her stomach, Esme’s agility as slowing. Light flashes and great cracks boomed through the library, trembling books from shelves until finally the ribbon lunged for her neck.

In pure reflex, she angrily backhanded it down onto the floor, pointed her wand down at it and yelled a final spell. There was a harsh explosion and when the smoke cleared, Erin was on her knees, a smoldering black scorch mark on the carpet all that remained of the illegal seal. She was panting, watching blood spread throughout the material of her gown, despite her hand putting pressure on the wound. The shield around Jarred flickered, phased and finally went out. But Erin seemed to only be able to sit there, her exhaustion finally catching up with her... her hand stil gripping the wand so hard her knuckles were white, still pointing it dead at the mark, as if expecting the seal to re-emerged from the burn fibres of the rug.

[Jarred McCallister]

He sighed when she asked if he hadnt figured it out. The was the problem with charms and puzzles. Half the time, the right answer has no clues and you either have to know the answer ahead of time, or you have to cheat. She had obviously cheated by KNOWING the answer ahead of time and not told him. This was all just nonesense, fighting your inner curse that you yourself ahd put there. And here she was fighting it with his wand because she was just so....aggrivating, why couldnt she just do the smart thing, whyd she have to go on a tagnent to do everything the hard way and emss everything up. This girl made waves where ever she went, It wasnt even a month ago she had become an animungus, and probably nearly got herself expelled.

Jarred had noticed the sheild she put up, ok so she didnt want him dead, at least that was a bonus. But all this was ridiculous. He saw the whole battle, and once the sheild dropped he walked over to her, standing over her. She looked alive, no major wounds besides the bleeding, which since she had his wand, she could fix if she gave a second. He started yellling at her.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? I MEAN REALLY, DID YOUR DADDY SPANK YOU TOO MUCH? DID MOMMY NOT BREAST FEED YOU? WAS THERE SOME HORRIFIC ACCIDENT AT THE AGE OF 2 WHERE YOU KILLED A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS AND THEIR BLOOD COVERED YOU AND MADE YOU SOME SORT OF PSYCHOPATH? YOU ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE ROCKY PATH, YOU CANT EVER TAKE THE EASY PATH CAN YOU? YOU CANT EVER LET A GOOD THING HAPPEN TO YOU BECAUSE YOUR ALWAYS CLAWING AT SOMETHING ELSE! OH, i WANNA BE AN ANIMUNGUS FOR WHAT EVER REASON, i WANNA MESS THE PREFECT TIL HE EXPLODES AND FUCKS UP YOUR MAGICAL ABILITY, OF, i WANNA FIX MYSELF INSTEAD OF DOING THE RIGHT THING AND TALKING TO EXPERTS. i MEAN REALLY, IS THAT HOW YOU WERE RAISED? TO FUCKING GO OFF AND DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF SO YOU CAN MAKE THIGNS WORSE AND HOPE THAT EVERYHING IS OK IN THE END? I MEAN FOR CHRISTS SAKE, 3 TIMES TODAY YOU HAVE NEARLY KILLED YOURSELF AND HERE YOU ARE SMILING ABOUT IT ALL, PANTING AND TRYING TO STOP THE MASSIVE BLEEDING YOU OWN CURSE FROM HOW EVER MANY FUCKING YEARS AGO YOU PUT ON YOURSELF. THIS IS A RIDICULOUS SITUATION THAT YOU HAVE YOURSELF IN AND I AM AFRAID I DONT THINK YUOR EVEN FIT TO BE PREFECT YOU YOUR LOOKING TO ENDANGER YOUR SELF AND OTHERS IF YOU HONESTLY HAVE SUCH A LACK OF SAFETY FOR YOURSELF.

he panted after yelling for so long but took a few more breaths, not letting her interrupt him.

I HAVE A MIND OF MYSELF TO KNOCK YOU UPSIDE THE HEAD AND HAVE THEM MAGICLALY SEAL YOU UP AGAIN JUST SO YOUR UNCEL CAN MAYBE GET YOU BACK UNDER CONTROL BECAUSE YOU HAVE OFFICIALL LOST YUOR MIND!

[Esmeralda Jones]

Esme jumped slightly as Jarred rounded on her in a torrent of fury and slightly lowered her wand from the burnt rug, sitting back on her haunches and squinting up at him. What the fuck was he talking about? He looked hysterical. Plain insane actually. Maybe she should restrain him… she glanced down at the wand again, but decided against it. If she tied him up he might start frothing at the mouth. At his breather she opened her mouth to interject but he started back up again. Now he was making her angry. Screaming at her like a psycho. Oooohhh, dizzy spell. Looking down at her bleeding side, ignoring that Jarred was still in front of her, she lifted her dress right up on one side revealing boy leg underwear and pressed the wand to the gash, muttering until the skin knotted back together. She lowered her gown down over her legs again. She would have dearly loved, reaaaly loved to get to her feet and scream right back at him full steam but the fact of the matter was she hadn’t slept for two days now, and had used up mammoth amounts of energy she didn’t have. Now she was so tired she could barely lift her arms. She let them hang down at her sides, though her sharp blue eyes were peering up at Jarred, her face stern and thin-lipped. The spirit was willing, but the body was weak. So when she spoke, she sounded worn and battle weary.

“Thinking I was a squib and becoming an Animagus was one of the proudest moment of my life, so shut your mouth. And it wasn’t until you smacked me face first into the carpet and I nearly fried the nerves in your arm that I started to work out that something else was wrong.”

She frowned at him

“Yeah, I am left to sort out my own shit most of the time actually. And there was an accident when I was about 6-7 and wasn’t remotely connected to seagulls! I have two uncles, with my father they worked together as aurors… the eldest though… the work messed him up. Became obsessed with dark magic and power. One night he took me and hooked me up to something cold and tried to suck the magic from my body into his. I was terrified, and reacted to the pain without meaning to, like with your arm...  only I burnt out part of his brain, then set the whole building on fire. He’s a vegetable now… and I suffered trauma.”

She sucked in a shaky breath and scrunched her eyes closed. Even though she's been speaking matter-a-factly, it seemed that on some level, retelling the story even briefly was disturbing to her. After a moment she opened them and busied herself healing her feet.

“Sealing my own magic... I wasn’t aware of doing it, I never meant to do it. I suppose my child mind thought that if I didn’t have any magic, he wouldn’t want it anymore. My brain got stuck in a loop you see, re-living it over and over… and over.”

So back in the hospital wing, when they’re first removed the seal on her memories, the fire, the screaming… ‘help him help him, he’s burning, he’s burning, it was a monster’… she’d been re-living the loop again. The terror of not knowing what was happening, screaming for someone to help her uncle as he burnt…  She’d separated the act of what she’d done into 'the monster' entity in her mind… to spare herself.

“The doctors couldn’t do anything for me, the seal I had made was placed in a way that they daren't tamper with it... in case it killed me. So my father demanded they take the risk and put a second seal on my memories, allowing me to live a somewhat normal life.”

She pursed her lips and seemed to be considering standing up, but didn’t for the moment.

“Having two seals in your body... Your body, your mind all fight it, the few who are forced to endure it usually breakdown… the strain never lets up, it gets harder and harder. You want to know why I did I on my own, not talking to your precious experts? On some level I remembered if my father, or doctors had found out that I was at risk of disocering the seals inside me… they would have wiped my memories clean. That all there was else to do for me. Everything I am, was… gone.”

She glared at him and dragged herself up to her feet.

“So that may sound like a ridiculous situation to you, but fuck you, I lived it. Sorry if I don’t really give a fuck about loosing my prefect badge in comparison."

She held out the wand, handle first for him to take. She still only had a seven year old's hold on her magic. She knew she probably shouldn't handle a wand unless she had to at this stage. She could already feel it spiking as her blood pressure rose. She was rapidly looking as though she was building up enough of a temper to punch him in the nose.

“You endangered yourself! I TOLD you to stay away, to let me to it alone. You chose to ignore me, then actually sought to manipulate me into a state where I had the power of a 16 year old with only the control of a seven year old child?!!! I WANTED TO MEDITATE! YOU WANTED TO PLAY THE EMOTIONAL PUPPET MASTER AND BRING ON THE FUCKING LIGHT SHOW!!!!! WHOSE got problem with a lack of safety??!!! Did you once consider the consiquences of WHAT you were doing??? OHHH no! Jarred knows best!!! I could have EASILY put you in a wheelchair for LIFE!! OR KILLED YOU!!! Instead, I protected you and nearly fried my own brain in the process!! At least the only person I was risking was ME! Your welcome, by the way, you JERK!! My heads still pounding from that!!! And you SCREAMING AT ME ISN'T HELPING!! SO KEEP IT UP AND I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL SLAP YOU SO HARD YOU WON'T KNOW WHICH WAY IS UP!!!!”

She had her hands on her hips, leaning forwards and glaring haughtily into his face, eyes like livid steel. Just DARING him to test her.

[Jarred McCallister]

He could see he was riling her up again, but he really didnt care at the moment, she had gotten him on a rant, and now she was trying to defend herself with all sorts of excuses. He... he just wasnt going to take it. From day one she was always pushing for more, More more more. and he had enough.

Proudest? proud that you didnt kill yourself but jumping blindly over a cliff?!?! but oh my that must be quite droll for the adventures of Erin Jones. Because she first had to nearly kill her family, get her memory erased, and still manage to curse herself before the age of eleven. Is nothing too grand for this girl?

He scowled at her.

You act like because maybe youve had a less then easy life that you deserve some sort of pity. Well youll get none from me. From what Ive seen you bring every thing that happens to you down on your own head. What is it? The attention? is that why you do all this? you know what, no. Dont answer that, I dont want to know.

He started walking away after snagging his wand from her. But then she started yelling, just egging him on further.

You know what. What measures a person isnt how they got to wear they are, but that they got there at all. So dont you start up with me about all your problems about this and that And how much you think your right because your going through something emotional. Just because your going through some hormonal disfunction does not give you the right of way And another thing if you think Im so defenseless, watch this.

He whipped his wand around and cast a paralyzing hex upon himself as it bounced off him, as a sheild spell visbily activated, protecting him from the spell.

Prefect experiance, 101, dont fucking walk around the school unprotected, learn your shit, or go home.

As he was walking away anyone in the room would be able to hear him say "b*tch"

[Esmeralda Jones]

How dare he… How DARE he. She felt sick to her stomach looking at him. Even after knowing everything, what she’d been through, how hard it had been to suck it up and fight tooth and nail for a third option, he was going to take it away from her. He wasn’t going to just let her rest. He ripped every achievement out from under her. Even though he knew how important they were. The second he inflippently remarked on her killing her family was the moment Esme Jones felt her stomach clench. Her anger mutated into a … cold fury that she’d never felt before. She could have screamed back, but she had no words. Nothing could re-cap how she felt towards him now. Did she feel downtrodden? No. He hadn’t made her feel small. In her eyes he looked small, pathetic like an abusive worm that was all talk and then only able to flop around, pink and fat and never much else. Grabbing his arm, almost gently, she turned him back around to face him and she didn’t look mad. In face her face was entirely without expression, almost peaceful, so despite the fore-warning, it was out of nowhere that the palm slapped so hard across his face that he’d see stars and probably dancing unicorns. The library resounded with the sound of the whack of skin on skin. He was kidding himself if he thought that what she’d electrocuted herself with earlier wouldn’t have made mince meat of any shield charm, which were temperamental at the best of times

“If I took a hit for someone like you… well then that’s my measure. Cause even hating your guts, I’d take it again. Situation reversed, I’m not confident you’d have done the same, so that leaves me to wonder if you’re any more fit to be wearing that badge then I am. I don't think so. Not as much as you think you are, anyways.”

She spoke in a steely voice that sounded almost calm, but there was lava flowing through her veins. Iced lava.

“You act as though you’re the authority around here but your wrong, all you’re superiority, it’s an illusion. You’re just something small, gutless, spineless and powerless talking about the consequences of what we're doing when you don't ever take any responsibility yourself."

She chuckled

“To think I used to look up to you when really, it's all an act, a ploy to manipulate who you want. To give you a false sense of control when, without your lies, you'd have none. And it works too... until they get close and realize that you're just something to be used,”

Esme reached up with her hand, grabbed a handful of his hair at the back of his head and twisted it so hard it would hurt, then yanked him forwards hard against her mouth. The kiss was rough, angry, bitter and somehow sensual. The softness of her mouth contrasting with the pain she was inflicting, confusing to the senses.

“I dare say you even like it.”

And strode from the library without a backwards glance, with the intention of heading directly back to the hospital wing. Her story, her explanation for her teachers could wait until tomorrow. Right now, all she wanted was to sleep in relief that an 9 year torment was over.

[Jarred McCallister]

Jarred was not the most sturdy boy, in fact, when it came to taking a "hit" he had no ability, the slap from Erin had enough force to throw him off balance and to the ground. But when it came to sheild spells, they often were over 500% more reliable and effective when put into magic items, rather then having them cast on the spot, which was why he didnt skimp, spending a good 90% of his yearly allowance on that one vest.

He looked up at her, a bit of fear in his eyes, unsure of what she was going to do next, first she was yelling at him, Then she was hitting him, then she was yelling, passing judgement on him. His eyes were wide as she looked at her. Almost frightened she would hit him again. Listening to what she said, she had her own points and such, and maybe all of that had some bit of turth to it. But it wasnt exactly 100% true. He stood up, still fear in his eyes, but he only stood up to be able to run if she was going to hurt him more. But then something else came.

His eyes were wide open in suprise as she wretched his hair, causing pain to streak down hsi neck and he could feel blood vessels breaking, bruising as she pressed her lips against his. He was in utter shock, and when she let go and left with a parting comment, he fell back on his ass. He was so confused.

Wait....what?