Paranoia

Renny typically did not like going to the Shrieking Shack, but she had failed to do so until now. Her group of pleasant, smiling friends told her they would meet up with her at the Three Broomsticks later and to have fun. She needed to get away from the smiles any way, she had a lot on her mind, and the best way for her to feel better was to get away from the same faces and the same conversations.

She walked up the drive and the babble began to fade. She reached up and tied the ribbon in her hair a bit tighter, as her bangs fluttered across her face. She reached up and tucked the strands behind her ear, her blue eyes wide against her pale face. She approached the railing of the Shrieking Shack and placed her hands on the wood slats.

There was nothing so scary about the building... She heard a snap and she whipped around, her hands still tightly gripping the wood behind her. She laughed at herself and turned back, but another snap made her freeze up. She swallowed and stared forward. Finally, she relaxed. There was nothing to fear. Snap. She let out a gasp and turned around, her blue eyes staring around. "Is someone here?"

The battered country rode looked the same as all of the others. Unlike the others though, this one had signs. These signs gave Marcus the directions he needed to get into Hogsmeade. He was coming up the rear, battered, bruised and fatigued. He could barely stand. It had been a troublesome Full Moon, one that had left him completely exposed to a village in the south. He’d woken up in a forest somewhere smothered in blood with no idea where he was. The corpse not too far from where he’d woken told the story he needed to know, though, and after a quick burial, Marcus set off again this time in search of shelter, food and a place to wash himself.

He found the last of his desires in a little village just north of where he’d woken up. There was a river running through it and after pilfering some clothes and a loaf of fresh bread, Marcus escaped to the outskirts and into the thick bush, following the river until it grew wider and started to bend. When he decided he was far enough out, he pulled what was left of his shirt away from his body, shed his lower half of the materials that covered him and submerged his self in the cool, fresh flowing water. It was there that he washed, using nature to cleanse him of his stains. Marcus admittedly felt better afterwards and after donning the stolen clothes and breaking the bread, he set off once more.

Now, he found himself at the Shrieking Shack. It was far more overgrown than he cared to remember and it was a struggle to get through the bracken and fallen tree branches. Somehow he made it but not without making noise first. This noise caught the attention of someone in the area and when that person called out, Marcus froze. He slipped his wand out of his pocket and held it up, mumbling a spell to tell him who was there. When the spell supplied him with the relevant information, Marcus moved forward slightly, breaking yet more twigs. He cursed quietly to himself and tucked his wand into the pocket of the slightly too-big trousers before emerging from the undergrowth.

And there she was; a vision in Raven blue. It made Marcus’ heart feel lighter. It made him smile and smile he did.

“It’s just me,” he assured her, holding up his hands to show he meant no harm to the wide-eyed Ravenclaw. “It’s just me, Renny. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Renny felt her voice catch as a figure got closer. She was about to be attacked. The quiet girl, Salem... another Ravenclaw... Rumors were she had been attacked in Hogsmeade. Naomi Quinn had been abducted from there, what had she been thinking leaving her friends?! Her wand was in her pocket, completely useless. So much for being smart...

But the face was familiar. She blinked as the voice reached her, taking her back. Her eyes widened even more and her mouth tipped open. "Marcus?! W-what?" A look of incredulousness took over as she stumbled forward and then laughed, throwing her arms around him to embrace her old friend in a relieved, happy hug. She was not going to be attacked! She was seeing her friend again! "Marcus, you terrified me!" She laughed.

She released him, though her hand stayed on his shoulders so she was holding him out at arm's length to look up at him and smile. "I haven't seen you in so long!" she said, a look of joy on her face. It slowly faded and her brow creased into confusion. "But why is that? We are in the same year, aren't we?" She blinked a few times, still gripping him. "Where have you been?"

The last thing Marcus had been prepared for was a hug. That was exactly what Renny saw fit to give him though and although he was unprepared, that didn't mean he enjoyed it any less. He wrapped his arms around the diddy Ravenclaw and buried his face in her hair, smelling the sweet scent of pure Renny and shampoo. He chuckled at her enthusiasm and managed to keep a look of discomfort off of his face as she grasped his shoulders. He'd not had the best of Full Moon's last time and for some reason, his shoulders hurt more than anything else.

"I'm sorry I scared you," Marcus apologised, ducking his head in embarrassment. The happiness soon drifted away as she became suspicious and Marcus gently shrugged her hands off of his shoulders. He caught the small appendages in his much larger ones and gave them a light squeeze. "I've been..busy," he whispered evasively, running his fingers across the tantalisingly soft skin she possessed. "How are you?" He asked gently.

Renny cared too much, she knew. But as she was hugging Marcus, she remembered why she so readily accepted that fact without complaint. It was human companionship, friendship, hugs. That was what filled life up, and she would not trade that for anything. She wished she could express this to her sister. Maybe a hug was all Piper really needed. She could try.

Marcus was hiding something. Too often had Renny been confided to, to often had she been a secret keeper, a guardian angel to know when some one was keeping something from her. Most other Ravenclaws could read people but few possessed Renny's skills. She knew when someone was hurt, it was just a matter of convincing them to let her fix it.

Still, she knew better than to push it. Yet. He held her hands in his pleasantly and asked about how she was in a soft voice. She smiled warmly. "Well far from perfect, but I have little room to complain, right? Some people don't have a roof over their head, don't get enough of the basic things they need. On top of all that, I have my friends to always watch out for me." She said it lightly enough, but her words were carefully measured. She knew how to comfort someone. "What about you? I haven't spoken to you in such a long time! I miss you."

There was so much Marcus wanted to tell Renny. There was so much he wanted to know about her. He’d missed enough hadn’t he? She could have evolved into a completely different person and he wouldn’t have known.

Sucking in a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been denying his lungs; Marcus brought the tiny Ravenclaw back into his arms. She smelt so clean, so fresh and so wonderfully innocent. She smelt like magic. Beautiful.

Involuntarily, Marcus ran his fingers through Renny’s hair. It felt like silk. Marcus dropped his head down onto Renny’s shoulder and he sighed shakily. He wrapped his arms around her waist, determined not to let her go.

“It’s been a long couple of weeks,” he murmured in her ear, lifting his head. He brushed her hair back out of her eyes and smiled slightly. “I feel old,” he admitted wearily. “I feel as if I’ve lived my entire life in the space of a few days. I’ve discovered I don’t like it and now, I’d gladly spend the rest of eternity sleeping. I’m sorry I’ve been, well, missing..Ren.”

Marcus brought Renny into another hug and she wrapped her arms around him tightly, knowing now there was something wrong and right now he needed comfort and safety. She rested her head against him and felt his fingers brush her hair and his head rest on her shoulder. His sigh made her heart ache for him. What was wrong with the poor boy who had gone missing? How could she help him? What had he seen to make him seem so... afraid.

He lifted his head and whispered into her ear. She nodded, indicating she understood. He moved so he could look into her eyes and he brushed her hair away. She blinked, staring up at him. His eyes were full of pain and sadness. She wanted to alleviate them of their burden of suffering. He smiled but she was not fooled. Marcus was not happy.

His words worried her. She found his hand with her left hand and squeezed it tightly, saying, "Don't say that Marcus. You're still young. Life wasn't made for sleeping. It was made for living." She was just worried he meant something else besides eternal sleep... He apologized and she shook her head. "Don't say sorry. Just tell me what I can do to make you feel better. To help you."

She was so determined to help him. Marcus didn't honestly think anyone could. As it was, he didn't want anyone to go out of their way to, Renny in particular. She'd only get hurt. He could get himself under control, he knew he could. He could feel the presence of the wolf in the back of his mind, lumbering about, yearning for its next kill. It would have to wait, though. If only Marcus could get his hands on some Wolfsbane. He was in Hogsmeade. He couldn't kill wizards. He didn't want to kill Muggles either really, but the dog wanted someone and he felt that of the two, Muggles were a more affordable loss.

And that in itself was an awful, awful thought.

Sighing once more, Marcus listened to Renny. He was tired. Beyond tired. He was exhausted. The money in his back pocket would be enough to give him a room in the Three Broomsticks. Perhaps if he staggered up there after this then he could get an empty room. He was also hungry. The bread was no longer filling him. Perhaps if there was anything left over then he could get some lunch. Marcus didn't think there would be though. He'd have to find a house with a person inside silly enough to leave the fruits of their labour on the window sill to cool.

"You're alright, Renny," Marcus managed another smile. "I'll be alright. I promise. I just need to sort myself out."

Renny stared up at him, her brow still knitted with worry as she stared up at her friend that had mysteriously disappeared. She knew there was no point in trying to push her point now. She had a feeling she was going to be ramming her head through a wall rather than getting him to open up at present. The pain with Marcus went deeper than the whims and hormonal tragedies of teens at Hogwarts.

She sighed and set her hands on his shoulders, giving them a supportive squeeze, before saying, "Okay. If you say so, Marcus." She looked at him critically for a moment, trying to gauge his needs discreetly. "Well, why don't we catch up a little? Let me buy you some lunch and tell you what's been going on at Hogwarts. Sound good?"

The air around them was crisp and every scent that was there to be admired didn't go unnoticed by Marcus. He inhaled deeply, letting his eyes slide shut. He could hear the sound of water trickling over pebbles in the riverbed not too far from where they stood. The scent of a grazing pair of deer, one with child if he wasn't mistaken, was dancing on the breeze. Then, he smelt it, he heard it and under his feet he could touch it. Nature. Pure, unadulterated, untouched by man. Just simply, an animal's land.

He wanted much more than lunch at that moment. He wanted to jump from tree to tree as he'd been doing for the last weeks to speed up his travel time. Forests had become his home and he was reluctant to go into the village, however small it was. He wanted to show Renny how beautiful the world around them was. It wasn't apparent, even from the tallest tower in Hogwarts. He wanted her to see, he wanted her to breathe in everything her lungs could carry.

Food however, sounded just as good. Real food sounded good. He was going to go crazy if he had to kill and cook another animal or steal plates of food from houses and retreat into the woods.

Marcus laughed weakly. "Lunch actually...sounds great. I want to show you something afterwards though. Maybe it'll make up for it." He managed another smile and ran his hand through his hair. "D'you want to lead the way?"