Thunder and Lightening

Shaking off the Full Moon was impossible. You couldn't really shed its weight because it always lingered; just like the wolf. There were moments when it seemed impossible, that the weight was too much. It was these moments that brought Ariel to the Hospital Wing. It wasn't because he needed a potion or anything of the like (although the offer wouldn't be passed up) he just simply wanted the company. Ariel wanted someone to tell him that they'd miss him. Even if the words weren't sincere, he needed someone to pull him back.

Those days weren't few and far between, they were often and recurring. Today for example, was one of those days. So, after only picking at his breakfast, Ariel had decided to skip his first lesson and went up to the Hospital Wing where he found the matron all too willing to fuss over him. He accepted it without complaint and took the potions she offered him for it was what he wanted. He wanted to feel cared about instead of feeling like the whole world was out to get him.

Ollie came to get him,though, as always. He offered Ariel a smile but it wasn't regarded. The two boys then left the Hospital Wing and wandered down the hallways of Hogwarts in relative silence. Ollie was used to that though; just like he was used to the tears and the begging for him to end Ariel's pain. Ollie figured it could only get worse.

It had been a couple of weeks since the last Full Moon and he figured it could only get worse for Ariel. He'd not exactly walked away from that. He'd gotten into a fight, naturally, but over what, he wouldn't divulge to anyone. Ollie guessed it was Rise but Ariel had said nothing, either lending consent or suggesting it was someone else.

"Ollie?"

The two boys stopped in the hallway and Ariel lifted his gaze over to the girl that had made her presence known. Ariel offered her a small smile and she beamed in return, gliding over to kiss Ariel on the cheek before slipping into Ollie's willing arms.

"You don't mind if I steal him do you, Ari?" She asked, her hand coming up to rest over Ollie's heart.

Ariel bristled but shook his head. He gestured for them to go along and she smiled before dragging the dumbstruck Ravenclaw off. No doubt he was about to get lucky. Ariel didn't envy him.

Sighing, Ariel ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes, allowing himself to have a second of rest before the next set of footsteps came thundering down the corridor.

Jack was livid, but for once, she did not know who was the most deserving of her wrath. If she could have her way, she would give the world a nice kick to the groin, but that didn't help. That article would ruin her. There was no doubt. She had confronted Keith but that had made her more frustrated than ever, having to struggle between her usual strong self by defending her own honor, and then struggling not to reveal her softer side as she tried to discreetly defend Ari.

But the week had been dreadful. Eyes glancing at her, people turning in class, making winking faces at her. People shoving her towards Ariel. It had finally gotten to its worse yesterday when some Slytherin boy had made a rude comment and she had attacked, without a wand too. Just turned and football tackled the boy, beginning to whale on him. He finally got free and took off. She expected a detention but apparently, he didn't want to admit she had almost made him cry.

She realized it was going too far. She woke up late and sat in bed, refusing to go to class to be tempted to kill someone. She found her mind wander to Ari; what had happened to him? She hadn't seen him privately since that day that had landed her in this mess. What were people doing to him? Had he noticed the hell that the school was putting her through?

And why hadn't he done anything?

Now she found a vent for her anger.

She pulled out the Marauder's Map and when she found him, he was with Ollie. She waited until she saw someone heading towards them and then left the common room to tail them. She ran into no one- everyone was in class- and soon the other dot and Ollie's dot headed away from Ari. She checked the map. No one was here.

That's when she went in for the kill.

She stomped after him, reaching out a hand to wheel him around, her face aglow with a frightening ferocity as she glared at him. "Remember me? We need to talk."

His baby-faced friend was going to get some sexual attention from his newest girlfriend and Ariel could barely keep the girl he liked in a good mood. He wasn’t avoiding Jack – that wasn’t it at all – but he just wasn’t going out of his way to look for her or to talk to her. Slytherin and Gryffindor were worlds away from each other and he was a fool for thinking that they could make something as temperamental as a relationship work. Ariel didn’t want that; or at least that was what he was telling himself. He could find many nice, willing girls in the Slytherin Common Room who wanted a piece of someone that was usually unattainable. Ariel didn’t particularly want to bed an over-enthusiastic fifteen-year-old. He knew they were there though; waiting for the day when he wasn’t quite as content with imagination and wanted the real thing.

Ariel’s mind had been on other things since the article had come out. He’d had to get his wand out a few times to hex a few unlucky blighters and he had yet to be caught. He figured the matron knew it was him putting all of those nosy kids in the Hospital Wing but for whatever reason, she wasn’t telling anyone and for that Ariel was thankful. Apart from those little discrepancies, Ariel was having to deal with the repercussion of the northern werewolf movement. The Ministry didn’t seem to be doing anything – as if they didn’t know – so it was Ariel and, oddly enough, his father that had to clear up the mess left behind by whoever was making an army. Fenrir wasn’t best pleased – that much was evident in the way he disposed of those they caught. After getting answers from them, they were killed and the bodies were burned with those that they’d feasted upon the night before.

The worrying part was that the Full Moon was soon. Ariel didn’t know what problems it was going to bring but he didn’t know if he could deal with it himself. He knew of a werewolf from Gryffindor that seemed to be residing in Hogsmeade. He’d have to leave or at least take some Wolfsbane before the change. He was causing far too much trouble. Ariel had a feeling it might be best to get Risé out and let her stretch her legs. She’d enjoy it, he hoped. She’d be useful. She was new enough but she’d be able to outsmart the ones driven by the lust of the kill. It was perhaps the only time when he and his father saw eye to eye and they were becoming closer because of it. Ariel wasn’t going to lie – he liked it. He thought his father did too. It was definitely proving something: Ariel would be able to look after the pack if Fenrir died. There was no doubt about that now.

And oddly, Ariel didn’t seem disgruntled about the prospect.

Stifling a yawn, Ariel watched Ollie and his girlfriend disappear down the hall. He saw a flail of limbs and there was a slam as one of them was pushed up against a wall. Shuddering, Ariel turned away and began to walk down the hall towards the Clock Tower. There he’d be able to think clearer, even if the ‘tick tock’ interrupted his train of thought.

Unfortunately though, Ariel wasn’t quite allowed to have the privacy he wanted because before he knew it, he found himself face to face with the redhead that he’d been thinking about mere moments ago. She was angry; more than angry - she was livid. Ariel pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest in a protective gesture. He didn’t want to be berated by her. He didn’t have the patience. If she was going to push then he’d push back ten-fold.

“No...I don’t remember you I’m afraid. Fancy refreshing my memory?” He shot back disdainfully.

Jack shook her head,realizing she was in for a fight. Good. On the one hand she KNEW she was right- it was Jack, she was ALWAYS right. On the other hand, she didn't want him to pull the whole puppy-dogged eyes 'I-didn't-know-better-I'm-so-sorry' thing either. She didn't want to be a big girl and forgive him. She wanted to get angry.

For once, he did something that wasn't supposed to make her grow as a person. Something that would come back to haunt her later as stupid.

"Let's refresh your memory," she said and she pulled her fist back and punched his arm...hard. "Remember? The girl who told you people were afraid of her, and that's the way she liked it. The girl who preferred the fact that people just didn't like her, because people make things more complicated than she wants them to be? The girl that was perfectly fine on her own? Perfectly fine that she did not do relationships. Who accepted you when you wouldn't accept yourself? But you just couldn't accept the fact hat she isn't normal. That she doesn't do kissy faces and hold hands... The girl you tried to change and is now getting bullied, something that SHE used to do? The girl you've been avoiding because you know you've done wrong?" She drew back her fist again. "Or is your memory still s little foggy?"

It was, of course, a stupid question to ask. He was baiting her though. Of course he remembered her. He owed a heck of a lot to her even when she’d told him that he didn’t. He’d stolen so much of her time, her compassion and even, dare he think it, a little bit of her heart. That all boiled down to nothing didn’t it, though? Those moments when he tore down Gary because he wanted to get at her meant nothing didn’t they? Those moments when he struggled to find the words to explain exactly how he felt and what he wanted to do were no longer important. Those moments when she would smile and tease him as he teased her back....they were just figments of his imagination...weren’t they?

No; they weren’t. Each one of those moments, those little peaks into what could have been instead of what was, happened and Ariel wasn’t prepared to forget that. He didn’t want to. But it was time to go back to factory settings. Enough of this being nice bollocks. He hated everyone and they hated him right on back – why was he stupid enough to think Jack would be any different. His only friend was Ollie and that was the way it was always going to stay. Ollie was the only one that could put up with him – the only one that wanted to. Ariel shouldn’t have wanted to let anyone else in. But he had. He’d invited, in fact. In the end though, he’d brought it on himself. He’d brought this on himself and on Jack.

He shouldn’t have kissed her. She shouldn’t have let him. He was going to pay for his error, though. First with a punch, then with words.

Ariel recoiled when her fist connected with his arm. He brought his hand up to grasp it and glared. It was an uneven match. He couldn’t, and wouldn’t, lay a hand on her but she’d quite happily punch him. He’d shout and curse and hurt her verbally but he wouldn’t strike her. It wasn’t because he knew he could inflict serious harm on her either but it was because, for some reason, he cared about her. He didn’t want her to get hurt. But in caring, he’d managed to hurt her anyway.

Next, she began to remind him exactly who she was. All of it he knew (although he’d dispute the fact that he tried to change her) bar the bullying. It was a taste of her own medicine perhaps. But still, while he dealt with the ones that crossed him, he hadn’t thought that anyone would want to even mention the whole affair to Jack – not if they wanted to keep their life. Much to his surprise, they seemed to have done more than that. But why hadn’t she told him?

“It isn’t my fault that some crazy little Half-Blooded, Ravenclaw midget follows people around!” Ariel seethed, clenching his fists but keeping his arms glued to his sides. “What have I done that is so bloody wrong, huh? I kissed you, Jack, and you let me! It takes two people to do that and as fond as I am of those enchanted mirrors – I am not about to kiss someone who lives in a mirror. You are real. You are you and if you think I was trying to change that then you are sorely mistaken and blind to my intentions. You accepted me – fine – that was your choice. I am wondering now whether that was the right thing to do.”

Of course it wasn’t, the wolf sang in the back of his mind, What she has on you is leverage. If she is feeling vindictive then...why not?

“And I haven’t said anything to you because you’ve avoided me like I had the plague so forgive me if I’m not as willing to speak to you as you are to inflict pain on me. Now, are we done here? I have places to be – people to hex. Who knows, maybe I’ll come across that soppy Ravenclaw and give him a piece of my mind? I’ve been dying to try out this new spell whirling around. Apparently it eats you from the inside out. It’ll be thrilling. And I truly doubt you want to spend any more time with me than necessary so I’ll just be on my way now shall I?”

She could have went on and on, but he seemed to already be feeling the repercussions of his rather idiotic question. He had been aiming for snippy and smart-alec-y but he had only dug an even worse hole for himself when he should have just put down the shovel. He had not thought she might actually have an answer, and especially not one so thorough.

She was seething. "If you really knew who I was and didn't want to change me you would have never asked to kiss me. Either you don't know me at all or you know me but you don't care and you want me to be someone else. That's the only explanation." She glared at him. "Do you know me, Ari? Have I ever struckyou as the type of girl to kiss Slytherins in the Room of Requirement." For a second, she worried he'd answer incorrectly so she supplied the answer. "No."

She glared at him. "I had to avoid you or I would have been attacked." Not physically of course. But if she was seen in public trying to talk to him, she would have never lived it down, she'd never have rest. But still... it would have been nice to see him try to acknowledge her. She stared at him as he continued to speak and slowly closed her eyes. "Wow... And to think... I was ever tempted by you. I thought you were more mature. I thought you were more like me. I didn't realize you were just like everyone else here, the angsty always-the-victim type." She rolled her eyes, giving him a look of mild distaste before turning away, intending to leave.

As thrilling as it was to have these arguments with Jack, Ariel was sure he had something better to be doing. He didn’t want to do this now; or ever. He hadn’t foreseen repercussions at all. He’d acted on impulse; something his father was encouraging more of. But this was where impulse had gotten him. This was where desire had gotten him. So now, once again Ariel reminded himself that it was back to factory settings. Push people out and let no one else in. He needed to focus on the pack, on his father and on the hundreds of people that were dead because someone was going around biting kids. But of course, according to Keith, he was the guy that was going to go around biting kids and sending them out into the big wide world to do the same.

Out of principle, he’d refused to read the article. That was until one of the braver members of Slytherin house decided to read it for Ariel’s benefit. That had been two days ago. Ariel had seen red and had Ollie not dragged him away, there wouldn’t have been a lot left of the cocky bastard. Perhaps it was that emotional drain that had brought Ariel to the Hospital Wing that morning. His father’s expectations were becoming too great and people...well they seemed to hate him all the more. He’d turned out to be exactly what they always thought he’d be: exactly like his father.

So f-ck it. What was the point? There was no point looking down upon them all with disdain because they knew. They avoided him more so than ever but instead of fear of his forked tongue, it was fear of his teeth, of his claws and the disease that he’d been struck down with. Why try and prove them wrong? They knew now. They had the closure. And despite everything wrong with Jack’s life, she hadn’t been called a monster. She hadn’t had everything she already knew thrown back in her face and put on display for the whole world to see. Pick on the werewolf - that was it. Pick on the werewolf that didn’t want to lay a hand on anyone – the werewolf that didn’t want to hurt anyone.

And she was dwelling on a kiss. His whole world could quite easily be taken away from him if he was deemed unfit to be around the students. His entire existence could be wiped away if the Ministry decided he was the cause of the increase in the werewolf population. He could be killed and she was blaming him for something she didn’t say no to? And he wasn’t the mature one?

“SHUT UP!” He exploded, rounding on her. “Don’t you think I know all this already!? Perhaps it has escaped your notice – because perhaps Gryffindor brains are really that small – but usually people kiss other people because they WANT TO not because they want to change someone! You’re dwelling on this – on your loss of reputation. LOOK AT ME! I was this close from being scot free! Seven years of none of them knowing and then what happens? I get involved with YOU and the world and his wife finds out that I am a werewolf! AND ALL BECAUSE OF SOME FIVE FOOT NOTHING MIDGET WITH TOO MUCH GOB AND NOT ENOUGH SENSE! And you have the gall to stand there and talk about how your life has gone tits up?! Think for a minute Jack. I did what I did because I liked you and I wanted to see if there was anything like that in you regarding me. I took a chance. It has blown up in my face and yours but you didn’t say no! You could have done but you didn’t. You let it happen. So don’t stand there all high and mighty blaming me. It takes two remember?!”

Ariel sighed and ran his hands through his hair, mussing up what was already a sorry state. He took a peek at Jack and admitted defeat. He was exhausted. He couldn’t handle much more of this. “I’m sorry, Jack, alright? I’m sorry I ruined your life and your reputation. I am sorry for liking you. I’m sorry for kissing you and most of all I am sorry for caring. Happy? I’m done. I’m finished – in every sense of the word. I don’t know what you want from me.” It was time to go now wasn’t it? He had a date with a headache potion the matron didn’t know about and he was eager to get on with that.”

Suddenly, a mighty bellow reached her ears and she whipped around, putting on an expression of stone so she could face him as fearlessly as she had always faced Vito whenever he blew up. Keith called Ariel a lot of things, and Vito had been known to been one of the most despicable things alive- Jack knew how to look past people like that when they were at their worst and still manage to see the best no one else saw. And that almost always came at times like this.

She had compared Ari to Vito because people regarded Ariel the way that they had regarded Vito- danger, a threat, someone to avoid rather than ever understand. But she had been unfair. She knew Vito did not want to be understood. Ari, though... He had been too earnest and too ashamed when he had admitted to being a werewolf for anyone to think that he really did not want people to just understand.

Had she not started thinking about working in werewolf-human relations? Well, what a great start she had gotten off to. She had brought about even more pain and discrimination into the life of the most important werewolf in her life. The thing she was mad about had little to do with Ariel, she just resented him because he was the trigger.

Jack was growing up, and she was at a crossroads. She had to decide who she wanted to be. The person she had always been, or the person she was bound to become. The road forward was uncertain and full of weakness, though, and Jack didn't know if she was strong enough for it. But something about what Ariel was saying was making her realize she couldn't stay stagnant forever.

She thought he was done, but then he began to apologize and Jack cursed herself. Cursed herself for being someone no one, herself included, would ever be able to predict or understand. He finished, looking exhausted and truly sorry, and Jack stepped forward, her face still set on his She sighed and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest, holding him tight and not caring if Keith was right behind them. She tried to say something but she didn't think she could communicate better than she was.

That little creep could write a whole article from just that one outburst and Ariel hoped to Merlin he wouldn’t. If it did then Ariel would have to give into temptation and seek him out. He may have been lying about the spell but he’d definitely steal one of Athena’s Dark Arts books to find a spell that did the same job. It was all words in the end but they were words that didn’t ultimately mean nothing. They hurt. The words so casually written filled with such discrimination and rejection – the type that Ariel feared – had hurt Jack as well as himself. The fact that they had hurt Jack didn’t sit well with Ariel at all. She was a girl that was supposed to be so strong, so self-assured. She’d said it herself – she didn’t want to be changed. She didn’t want anyone to change her. She had self-confidence. What that Ravenclaw had done was knocked that and gave the rest of the students something to pick on her for.

Him.

He’d said his bit and the pregnant silence that followed told Ariel that it was time to go and buy that bottle of headache solution some dinner. He knew the matron would argue. After the nice bout of potions she’d given him earlier, the last thing she wanted to do was give him more. Ariel had a habit of getting what he wanted, though; especially from the matron. She’d argue but in the end she’d relent when she realised that in actual fact he did need it and that a Hogsmeade pass wouldn’t go amiss either. But then, everything changed. In an instant, the whole tone of the situation changed dramatically with Jack doing the simplest of things: hugging him.

Her arms came around him and Ariel brought his own arms around her little body. As her face burrowed into his chest, Ariel found himself leaning his cheek against her short little mane of red hair. He exhaled and rubbed her back. Hugs fixed everything. That’s what his mother had always told him. Everything could be fixed with a hug because that was the best way to prove that you loved someone. Maybe that didn’t quite apply to them but it certainly made Ariel feel better. He hoped it was making Jack feel at least a fraction better as well. He was sorry. He knew he should have helped her and he knew from now on he would. They were friends. Friends protected each other. What he’d been doing hadn’t been at all friendly. He had been avoiding her, yes, but that was only because he didn’t feel the slightest bit wanted.

As much as Ariel didn’t want to break the silence, he knew he had to. He had to make sure of something. “Are we...” he paused, unsure how to proceed. “I mean to say...are we good...again? After all that? Are we friends again?”

Very articulate, lad, He could almost hear the smirk in the wolf’s voice.

He hugged her back, and this was one of the few un-jack things she had found herself doing that did not make her mind reel. Jack did not hug often. But sometimes... it had to be done. When Vito had fallen apart in her arms... When she almost lost who she could consider the only friend she had left in Hogwarts... Maybe that's why she had freaked out. She was still getting used to having a friend.

Jack had lived a long time without friends and without romance. She was still adjusting form her brush with friendship. She had truly cared for Chas and Andrew, truly truly cared. And now she would probably never be able to fully trust a friend again. And once she had finally opened herself to trusting someone and making them a friend... things had snowballed.

She knew that she cared about Ariel. But she could not say how much because she was still figuring out this whole act of caring. Caring had never helped her before.

As he asked, very slowly, the question that still needed to be asked, Jack sighed. "Yeah. I don't know what we are fully, but that's because I need to figure out who I am. But I can..." This was hard for her. "I can promise that we're still friends."

She had had too many similar promises broken for her to want to try. But she knew she had to.