Christmas is for morons

Compliments could only really be taken a few ways. Ariel chose to brush his, when he got them, off with arrogance. Jack seemed to just take them, roll them around a bit and set them free again, not sure whether she wanted to keep them or not. It was much better to just let the moment pass, Ariel thought; it got rid of any unwanted awkwardness between the two parties. Jack had spoken. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but it had made Ariel slightly uneasy. He didn’t know if she appreciated his comment or not. He was eating his words now though and he stopped himself from saying anything else by taking a large swig of the Firewhisky.

Wine...wine was safe subject of discussion. Ariel didn’t like to drink a lot of wine. He preferred Gin and Tonic himself although right now, anything was better than what he was drinking. He’d need to come up with how he knew the brand of his Head of House’s Firewhisky before subtly suggesting he get something better for both himself and for the next time Ariel nicks it. He wouldn’t mention that last part of course but that would be the idea. That was what it was for really. “Good friend?” Ariel asked mildly and oddly with a tone of politeness. “I’m sure they say something about friends that know their wine. I think they’re keepers...or maybe they’re ones you’re meant to be rid of. If you’re not a drinker then probably its best you’re rid of them,” Ariel shrugged and took a drink again.

The only blood Ariel really had a problem with was his own. The Pureblood maniacs weren’t wrong, there was a difference in blood but it certainly wasn’t a Muggleborn’s blood or a Half-blood’s blood that was different. No, werewolf blood was the different blood, the blood that should be feared. It was a crimson Ariel had never seen before. It was so dark it looked almost black. When it dried it didn’t go that amber colour that blood went, no it went the colour anyone else’s would have been if it had been fresh from the cut. It was why he was so careful when handling sharp objects. That time he’d cut himself in the kitchen with Amelia, he’d panicked; not only because of the fact that he’d cut himself but because of the blood. He loathed cutting himself shaving. It was all such a trial.

Ariel tapped his knee absentmindedly and sighed as he continued to swing the Kombolói. Jack flicked the beads and he looked at her, slowly raising a blonde eyebrow. He flicked them at her with a small smirk and flipped them into the palm of his hand. The aqua beads shone up at him and he smiled – only a little bit mind you. “They’re called Kombolói or...Worry Beads. They’re Greek. They look like prayer beads but have no real religious significance anymore. They’re more...stress relievers or are used to pass the time. I was eight when these were made for me...on Crete. There’s a little shop in one of the bays, the name escapes me at present but there are shelves all the way up to the ceiling filled with beads of every shape, size and colour; even colours that don’t really have names. You could spend a fortune in there. Here,” he held the beads out for her, “Try it. It’s difficult at first but only the babies use the ‘training’ ones.” He smirked.

Jack chewed her lips at his words. She was definitely not sure if friend was even a word that should be approached with a ten foot pole when it came to her and Vito, but it was much easier than saying 'the murderer of my ex-best friends family who tried to kill me but also can't seem to hurt me as much as he would like to, whose personality is eerily similar to mine.' So maybe 'friend' was not completely accurate but it was less of a mouthful.

It seemed Ariel was as unsure as to whether such a friend should be kept close or turned away as Jack was. It would be a lot easier to not associate with Vito ever again, but she had never done things the easy away. She had, however, always tried to minimize hurt in her life by pushing people away who may hurt her... except Vito. He had hurt her and was destined to hurt her again. And she had never dismissed him, she had no plans to turn her back on him... Even though sometimes she was kept up at night, thinking perhaps she should.

Ariel flicked the beads at her and she grinned, listening as he explained that they were some sort of worry beads called Kombolói. She mulled slightly to herself. Stress relievers or something to pass the time. She wondered what he used them for. Furthermore, if it were the former, what sort of stress could the boy have to cause the need for the beads? He did not seem like he had anything particularly troubling him ever... excluding now. But they had both established that was because the holidays were lames and families were useless. She then wondered why she even cared at all.

He held the beads out for her and she took them in her hands, squinting down at them. The beads almost looked like a bracelet with a tassel on the end. She picked it up and began fiddling with it, getting nowhere at first. She turned it over and tried again, pulling on one of the threads. The chord tipped and one of the beads slid down the length of the thread. She grinned and looked up at Ariel. "That's actually pretty cool."

The summer he got those must have been just before Richard had appeared on the scene and the August before Fenrir decided to make Ariel follow in his paw prints. Fiona had wanted to visit her family and she’d decided to make a holiday out of it. Ollie and Sarah had gone along as well and Sarah had wanted to take her son over to Crete. Ariel hadn’t made a huge impression on any of Fiona’s family, bar Phaedra who also seemed to be a misfit, so he’d hastened to join them. He’d had no plans to stay with the Greeks for the day. Their feathers were easily ruffled so he’d gone with them. Sarah and Ollie hadn’t appreciated the beads as much as he’d done but the liked them well enough.

He could remember entering the shop and not being tall enough to see over the counters. He had to crane his neck to see everything in the room and by golly he did. He remembered being drawn to the aqua beads almost instantly and coincidentally they were the most expensive. That was before he knew about Fenrir’s pile of gold in Gringotts and before he had Richard to steal from so he had this little wallet with Euros inside of it. He used all of his money; money that was supposed to last the entire holiday. He got the Aqua ones and mixed them up with some clear ones with black speckling. Those beads along with aqua string were what made up his Kombolói today. One day, he promised himself, he’d go back there and by a few more. Perhaps, if he was feeling particularly spiteful towards Richard or Fenrir, he’d buy the shop itself.

Ariel watched Jack as she fiddled with the beads before finally beginning to grasp the concept of them. She’d need to practice a bit more. He had a spare set in his dorm but he wasn’t going to start doing random acts of kindness. Giving was random enough without it being a kind gesture. Ariel smirked to himself and shook his head. He ran his hand through his hair, smoothing it back. He drank some more of the Firewhisky and shuddered before putting it down, for good this time. He looked down at Jack and felt the sides of his mouth twitch. He was half-tempted to let her keep the beads for a while but they were expensive and quite possibly his most cherished possession.

“Good,” Ariel said evenly, “I’m glad you like them.” The alcohol, however bad it was, was numbing his mind quite nicely. He was keeping it together though – somewhat. “I have red ones strangely...with green accompaniments. They’re nice...sort of...feminine. Maybe you’d like them?” A large gong went off in Ariel’s head and he hastily picked up the Firewhisky again. Alcohol equalled disaster and disaster was something he very much wanted to avoid.

Jack continued to work at it, trying to concentrate, though the alcohol did not help her too much. She had never exactly been nimble or graceful, but she liked a challenge so she had another bead following the first one, and the more she concentrated on the beads, the more she began to grasp the concept and the better her fingers worked at making the beads end up where she wanted them to.

She and Riley used to do puzzles, as cliche as it was. Except instead of buying real puzzles, they'd take turns drawing pictures, cutting them into as awkward shapes as possible, and then taping them all back together. Basically, it just ended up in crappy drawings, and Jack usually ended up cutting the puzzle to fit the way she wanted it to if she did not have any time. They did the same with Mad Libs. They would each write a story and then erase random words and then ask the others to supply subjects, adjectives and verbs. Her favorite, to this day, was the story of when Anne Frank and the pope went to the circus... She and her brother sometimes went a little crazy with the stories.

When Ariel responded, she slid the third bead after the first two and decided it was time to stop fiddling with it and return it. She held it out for him and nodded, reaching over to sip some of the wine. As the alcohol ran down her throat he began talking about some another one he had and offered them to her. She swallowed the wine and set down the bottle, pausing for a second and trying to see if there was any sarcasm in his words that she might be missing.

It seemed that he was genuinely offering her the other beads and she glanced up at him, realizing that it was, in a sense, the only Christmas gift she would have received. She said, "Yeah... I mean, sure. They're actually really sort of soothing. They make me concentrate on one thing." She smiled at him, curious as to what she should do next. She glanced down at the scarf that was meant for Riley and poked it, looking back up at Ariel. "Want a scarf? My brother didn't want it."

The beads, Ariel felt, were safer in his hands. He didn’t think they were the sort for probing and prodding. They could withstand it but they were too pretty. He gave Jack a small smile and nodded his head in thanks as he took the beads back. Ariel flipped the beads into the palm of his hand and ran his thumb across their smooth surface. He smiled to himself, a wave of nostalgia flooding over him. Ariel flipped the beads over his hand and continued to flip it to and fro. He rested his head back against the wall and hummed thoughtfully. He knew where the beads...well, Jack’s beads now, were. They were in his bedside cabinet beside a pot of Knuts that smelt like chocolate because the smell still lingered inside the plastic. He’d get them out later.

Ariel sighed and ceased flipping the beads. He let them fall into his palm and just left them there, figuring it better to just let them stay. They were old, tired things that just needed a rest really – like him. His gaze flicked towards Jack again when she spoke and he clenched his fist around the beads. His eyes fell to the scarf in her lap and he bit his lip. “Oh, uh...sure...” he threw the words out awkwardly. That would be a nice change; a real gift that wasn’t money or ‘daddy’ trying to get him to go back to the pack. Ariel was sure Fenrir was talking to some of the female wolves because they were sniffing around the forest lately. It was really beginning to rub Ariel the wrong way. He had enough female werewolves to deal with without more being added to the equation.

“I’ll give you them when I see you next then...” He said after a moment, sounding as English as ever. The Greek blood was nigh on useless, he spent too much time around the Scots. Then again, Ollie couldn’t exactly be called a Scot – he was from Newcastle. He wasn’t actually sure when he’d see Jack again. Perhaps the New Year would mean they’d go their separate ways. That wouldn’t be...bad but he’d miss her snippiness...a little bit. Ariel smirked to himself and reached up to scratch his cheek bone. Ariel cleared his throat and picked up his Firewhisky. He took a swig from the glass before quickly setting it back down again. Ariel screwed his face up and swallowed hard. He cringed and rubbed his hand over his face. “Bleh...”

Ariel dropped his hand and looked back over at Jack. “How’s your training going?” He asked. “Moved on from paperweights or do I need to throw you in a coat and send you up to go see a Boggart?” Ari picked the bottle of wine up and took a sneaky swig from it. He didn’t swallow but instead moved the wine around in his mouth to get rid of the bitter taste of the Firewhisky. He swallowed and took one more swig before putting the bottle back down. “Spiders are good...big ones...” He commented idly. “They’re pretty flipping fast though.”

He accepted the scarf and she picked it up and flung it towards him, though it gently floated over to him. It was tight knit felt and grey, though very soft with some tint of metallic silver. Riley had lots of scarfs so that he had one to match every outfit, but she had noticed he had been missing some sort of grey colored one. He had not even opened the gift, so it had never been his. She rarely wore scarves, and when she did, it was either Gryffindor colors or black.

She smiled, feeling a little better about Christmas. One normal thing... though how normal was it to exchange gifts with someone you hardly knew? For her, it was a step up. The few times she had met strangers she had gone to a farm, helped rescue a famous witch, learned Ministry secrets, and gotten a part time job. So this was definitely an improvement. Gift exchanges she could do.

He said he would give her the beads the next time he saw her, which she assumed would probably be during class. The only time she ever saw him was in class or in these sort of situations where one of them stumbled upon the other. She was fairly sure he was not into Quidditch, so she would not see him on the pitch, and he definitely was not in Potter's Army. So the most likely place was class. She nodded.

He said 'bleh' and she smirked, turning to look at him and she said, "Cheers!" She smirked and he turned to her, asking about training. She had not done much since the end of the first task. "Fairly nonexistent unless you count dancing lessons, which were crap." That was what you got when you got free lessons from a moody poltergeist who was just trying to figure out the quickest way to self destruct. Luckily, James had been a good help.

He asked about the paperweights and she let out an exasperated groan, shooting him a look and saying, "You're never going to let the paperweights go, are you?" She smirked at him shaking her head slightly. Would he never understand that she thought that would be enough?! "I'm hoping to have a go at the Boggart soon." She wanted to get one for Potter's Army, but she was a little weary about what form it would take... And whether or not she wanted them all to see it. Perhaps it was something best handled alone. "Ah, spiders are nothing. I've been squashing them since I was six. No big deal." She smirked and took another sip of her wine. "A Boggart though... I need to get to that soon."

The scarf was...soft. Perhaps it was his rapidly dissipating anger aided by the bad alcohol he was consuming but Ariel actually quite liked it. He smiled to himself and put his glass down. He picked the scarf up by the ends and wound it around his neck. It blocked out the chill that was getting to him almost immediately. It was definitely well made. “Thank You, Jack.” He said after a moment, still flicking the tassels with his fingers. He nibbled idly on his bottom lip before picking up the glass again and drinking some more of the Firewhisky. Ariel cleared his throat and put the glass back down on the floor. He’s stop for tonight. He didn’t want to drown himself in that muck.

Ariel would have to retrieve the beads when he got back to his dorm. He was guessing the alcohol was blurring his judgment. It was shady at best but he at least knew what he was like personality-wise. This he was confused by. He could have mistaken the feeling for something else but he actually thought he felt bad for not being able to supply Jack with something. Then, the solution came to Ariel. He wanted to be rid of the awful emotion so he took his wand from his pocket and waved it experimentally in the air. “Accio Beads!” There was no sign of movement in the room. All was quiet. Ariel sighed and put his wand down. He crossed his arms over his chest and pressed his face into the scarf. He inhaled the smell that must have belonged to Jack. It was nice, not at all offensive and it was uniquely her.

“Dance lessons?” Ariel queried. “What happened during them, then?” When she said they were crap, Ariel frowned. “You didn’t enjoy them? Dancing is fun.” Maybe it was the alcohol -- well it didn’t matter because that was what Ariel was blaming it on – but suddenly Ariel felt compelled to get up and so he did. He held his hand out to Jack and moved his index finger, beckoning her to him. “Come on...I’ll teach you. I’ll end up teaching you everything! I am your bloody guardian angel.”

Ariel snapped his fingers together and motioned for Jack to move again. He didn’t have all night. Well, he probably did but that didn’t matter anyway. A piano appeared somewhere in the room and Ariel glanced over his shoulder at it. At once it idly began to play a piece of music and Ariel looked back at Jack. He smirked a little bit and pocketed the Kombolói that was in his hand.

“No, I’m never going to let the paperweights go. I will send you some next Christmas and as per the Boggart...how about we go in search of one next week hmm?” His other hand was exposed and the beads he’d summoned fell into it from what appeared to be thin air. Ariel held them up between him and Jack and smirked. “Merry Christmas.”

Ariel thanked Jack and she shrugged, saying, "No problem." It really wasn't. She was not sure she would be able to wear the scarf herself, seeing as Riley had rejected it and she would feel weird wearing it, but to see it on someone else somehow reduced the baggage that was attached to it. As though she did not fail with all people... just the people closest to her.

After a few moments of silence, Ariel tried to summon the beads. They waited in silence again, but nothing happened. Jack knew that the Slytherin common room was in the dungeons- thank you, Marauder Map- so she figured the distance may be too much for them to travel, and then there was always the fact that the Room of Requirement seemed to have its own set or rules. She shrugged and said, "No worries. I'll get them in class or something."

He questioned her about the dance lessons and she shrugged. "Ah, nothing really. I kind of learned. But my teacher is sort of my enemy. Coincidentally he is the friend with the good taste in wine." She held up the wine bottle and smirked. "He's the owner of that Knockturn Alley club... Basically his life goal is to mess with my head and he's become sort of an expert so... you know, putting aside the psychological torment, the dancing lessons weren't a complete waste."

She suddenly caught herself. What was she doing? No one in Hogwarts, save for Andrew and Chase and possibly Elijah, knew anything about Vito. No one else knew that she and him had some sort of dynamic that would eventually destroy one of the, Inside these walls, she tried to forget the pain and the trouble their 'friendship' had caused... So why was she bringing him up so casually?

She stared at the wine. It wasn't working. She was remembering everything in sharper detail. She swigged some more anyway.

Suddenly Ariel stood and gestured for her to join him, offering to teach her to dance. She could not imagine why she would need to, seeing as the Yule Ball was over and she never planned on dancing again. But so far, they had been civil to each other- actually, they had been quite friendly- and she did not want to be the asshole to ruin that. She was tired of being that person. She also had to admit it was funny to hear him call himself her guardian angel, since last time she had assured him he was not. With an unconvinced look on her face, though, she to stumbled to her feet as he snapped.

A piano appeared- bless the room of requirement's convenience- and began to play a piece of music that even Jack would admit was beautiful. He smirked at her words and informed her he would never let the paperweights go and she shook her head, sighing with exasperation, though she grinned a little bit. He said they could go search for a Boggart the next week and she nodded, saying, "Sounds good."

Suddenly he held out the Kombolói he had tried to summon- an apparently succeeded in doing so- out for her. She opened her mouth slightly and then recovered, slowly reaching out and taking them from him. She looked at it and flipped the beads before glancing back up at him and grinning. "Merry Christmas." She slipped them in her pocket. "Now, I hope you don't mind if you won't be able to use your feet for the next few days. I probably will step on them." She smirked at him. By now, she had gotten past that, but she liked to kid.

Satan’s was the only club Ariel could recall in Knockturn Alley. The brothel didn’t exactly count as a club and the dingy, rotting wooden pubs from the 1500’s didn’t count either. He’d found his father one year in one of those pubs. He’d managed to get the Gringotts key off of the unconscious man after using some of Richard’s cash to continually buy Fenrir drinks. Then of course he went and withdrew some cash. Apparently the dwarfs hadn’t seen Fenrir since he had been in school. A lot of money had entered the vault but nothing much had come out. Ariel, either blessed or cursed with his father’s youthful good looks, passed for his father well enough. Only the family dwarf cottoned on that it wasn’t Fenrir and confronted Ariel once outside the vault. He relented though when a wand was pressed up against his throat and allowed Ariel entrance. They were begrudging friends now, the dwarf having forgotten about Ariel’s particularly sharp wand against his jugular.

Ariel smirked playfully at Jack when she took the beads. He watched as she flipped them and remembered why he liked them so much. The blur of red and green was quite mesmerising really. Once the beads had been pocket, Ariel stepped closer to Jack. He wasn’t entirely sure how she’d respond to him touching her. If she took dance lessons from a Poltergeist then he couldn’t be much worse. At least Ariel was something real. Perhaps that was what made the Poltergeist better; the fact that it wasn’t real. Still, perhaps that was what would make Ariel better; the fact that he was real. There was only one way to find out though and Ariel couldn’t help but feel awkward about the prospect of dancing with her. It was the alcohol. That’s what he was putting it down to. There would be no other reason as to why he would dance with a Gryffindor with a mane of fire.

“Okay, um...” Ariel moved her right arm and put his hand experimentally on Jack’s waist. He took her left hand in his and slowly moved it up into the air so they had some sort of frame providing she put her right hand on his upper arm. Ariel exhaled shakily and tried to keep his mind on what he was doing, not what it wanted to stray to. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and stepped back, taking her with him. He didn’t know how the Poltergeist had taught her to dance but she was going to be a follower in his frame. “...see...not so hard.” He said after a moment, not entirely sure whether he was reassuring himself or her. “And look,” he added, “my feet are alright,” Ariel smiled a little and lifted his arm up so Jack could spin.

Ariel hoped that when they were completely wasted, which they would be later no doubt, they didn’t attempt dancing again. He had a feeling they would though. He didn’t know why but he could envision them stumbling around the room, laughing like drains completely out of their respective trees. It worked for him though, as long as he didn’t end up with a bruise in a place he couldn’t cover in the morning. He didn’t like glamour spells. He didn’t want to start using them now. Ariel tugged Jack back after the spin and pulled her a little closer to him this time. It was marginal but it was enough for his over-active alcohol frazzled brain to pick up on. “You’re not that bad,” he gave her his opinion, “You could use a little bit work, though. You never know when you’re going end up dancing again. Perhaps you’ll enter yet another competition which requires a ball for you to dance in. Who knows; perhaps, like the Yule Ball this year, graduated members of the public will be able to attend.” Ariel chuckled, “Then you’ll have to know.”

Ariel seemed about as awkward as her when it came to this concept of dancing, something that made Jack relax just a bit. She had never been fond of dancing, preferring contact sports instead. That or sitting back an terrorizing the people who were enjoying their dance. Dances were to be enjoyed, and the best way Jack found she could do that was causing a little trouble. Besides, panzies enjoyed dancing. It was a useless skill. She had only learned it for the tournament.

Ariel put his hand on her waist and she did not feel the usual compulsion to hit whoever was touching her- she knew this was from the alcohol. Alcohol and obligation usually blurred her instincts to maul whoever was attempting to get close to her. He took her left hand and for a second she let her other hand stay limply at her side before thinking that it may get in the way there, so she lifted it and placed it on his shoulder, staring down at her feet, wondering if they were going to work.

He began moving and Jack followed him. Perhaps this was the reason she did not like dancing. She typically liked to run things on her terms, and she felt lost being lead rather than leading, but she was dreadful at dancing so she could not think of ever being able to lead. It was sort of a helpless feeling, following but she had been told that if you danced correctly, it was less of a leader-follower- sort of thing and more of a practice between equal partners. She felt too awkward to even think of having the time to consider it though.

She glanced up, smirking at his words, and then realized she had fallen into her habit of staring at her feet, something she just could not break it seemed. She supposed she was half-worried about what they might do, and half-surprised that they had not caused some major catastrophe. Ariel spun her and she did so, though not as gracefully as the girls at the ball. She remembered being spun by Vito at the summer party and how he had dipped her, purposely trying to make her fall, and how all hell had broken lose. She tensed.

But Ariel did not do anything to try and embarrass her, did not continue to mess with her, just pulled her back to him and she let out the smallest of relieved sighs, feeling herself relax a little. He told her she was not that bad and that she needed some work. She smirked. "You have a lot of alcohol in you, your judgment is blurred." She laughed because it sounded like the warnings adults always gave you on alcohol.

Jack shook her head. "I'm not going to be dancing again. The only reason I was this year was because I had to as a champion. The only reason I even got a date was because James took mercy on him and he knew I'd make his life hell if he didn't." She chuckled slightly. "Even so, I would not have gotten a date and I would not have danced if it hadn't been for the tournament." She shrugged and felt a smirk creep on her face as she remembered her plans for the Ball prior to being picked as a champion. Before she could stop herself, she looked up at Ariel and said, "Want to know a secret?"