Bad News

Piper shook off her protective sisters in the hubbub of the Three Broomsticks. Renny had been so flustered lately it had not even been difficult. Something went down at that party that had messed with her head- Piper almost missed having to put up a fight to escape being under her perfectly manicured thumb. Almost.

Once Piper escaped, however, she found the road of Diagon Alley to be full of the pretentious idiots she hid away from at Hogwarts. She stared around, feeling out of place in her dark outfit surrounded by bright shops and brighter characters. She scowled at no one in particular and took down the street, feeling a little warm. She zipped down her jacket and continued on.

She stopped at the sign that said Knockturn Alley and pondered it. Piper was not as bad as Renny thought she was; she took off for a smoke occasionally, but she wanted to stay under the radar as much as possible. Still, how could she be a Slytherin and not have gone down Knockturn Alley once in her life.

She turned and strode down the alley, glad she had dressed appropriately- dark eye makeup, red smeared lips. She would fit right in here. She slowly and stopped outside one of the shops, looking inside. It wasn't like she had any money.. Or any idea of what to do here. She crossed her arms and stared through the window, casually window shopping.

The sun had greeted Damien when it annoyed him sufficiently to get him up and out of bed. Unlike most sunny days, though, the boy ceased to stay annoyed for long. Not one to stay cooped up at home for long, Damien got dressed and headed out of the d'Eath residence. Just last night, Lorcan d'Eath had taken some time out of his usual frolicking with women and entertainment to spend some quality time with his son. Despite a gnawing sense of slight unfamiliarity with his father, Damien had felt pleased at the older d'Eath's effort. Lorcan delighted him even further when he had given his boy some galleons to spend in his free time.

Whistling, Damien turned into Knockturn Alley. He was in a good mood. A lot has been happening at Hogwarts, and he found times like these to be exciting ones. Furthermore, just a couple of days ago, Kendall Rookwood had invited him to join the Dark Followers. Damien had jumped at the opportunity. It made him feel more involved with where he had always wanted to tend towards, the dark and powerful wizards. Besides, he has always enjoyed the company of older students, and this was definitely another avenue to do so. As for now, he had decided to spend a day at Knockturn Alley. With both hands in the front pockets of his jeans, Damien jiggled the galleons in his left pocket. He had hoped to get a new toy here with his father's galleons.

Damien let his attention be fixed to the shop displays. His eyes landed on a Hand of Glory and lit up with amazement. He had heard a lot about this 'toy', but never really thought that he could afford it. Lorcan d'Eath is wealthy, but Marissa Knight was not. Damien had lived with her for the first eleven years of his life. She had lived independently from her family when she became an obliviator at the Ministry, and Damien was only starting to get comfortable with the idea of immense wealth, now that he is living with father instead of mother. While admiring the Hand of Glory, Damien felt himself coming into a pretty hard contact with something in front of him ... or someone.

Swiftly, Damien turned his head and saw a head of blonde hair. Stopping himself from further colliding into her hair, the boy pulled himself back away from a girl he quickly recognized to be a girl from Slytherin. Strangely, though, he found it difficult to conjure a memory of her name. A little unaware, Damien frowned in concentration as he tried to recall. Out of the awkward silence, he suddenly realized that a apology was required. Clearing the frown from his face, Damien eyed the girl and attempted an apologetic tone of voice: "Would have been happier if I had knocked into a Gryffie. But ... I recognize that face. I apologize for that."

It always started this way. Piper was minding her own business, not looking for trouble, and someone decided she was and tried to get her to prove them right. She just wanted to go on her way, ignored by everyone, so she could escape this place. Go to Paris, be the shining star there that she could never ever be here. She would not be able to do that if she did not keep herself sane, though. And lately, people were making that a lot harder than it should have been.

When someone walked into her, she could not respond immediately, as she was too busy being knocked against the window she had been watching. She hit it and stumbled back into the person, creating quite a mess for both of them. She squirmed, displeased to be in such a close proximity with another human being. How she detested the human race..

Finally, she untangled herself from the other being and backed away, her back to the window, her hand flying up to catch some flyaway hair and push it back behind her ears. She blinked and recognized him as a Slytherin, a year younger. Unlike her sister who knew everyone and their mother's names, Piper hardly ever reached out so she rarely knew anybody.

She did know he was younger though, so she was fully in her right to let her hands alight to her hips, her steely blue eyes narrowing on him. That icy stare could freeze a fir crab. "You could have really hurt me. You should really pay attention where you're going or you might be in trouble." It was meant as a threat but perhaps it was better suited as a warning to herself, as a short, creepy-looking wizard walked by, openly leering at her. She tried to ignore him.

If there was one thing the boy strongly dislikes, it would have to be disrespect shown towards himself. Perhaps it is a problem stemming from a big ego, or just simple displeasure at being talked down by someone he actually bothered to bother himself with. Damien frowned a little to himself when the girl that he had collided into glared at him and retorted for what he believed was a forgivable accident on his part. Despite a slight irritation that arose within him, the boy tried to quell it as he inhaled a strong breath of the Alley's air. He bit his bottom lip before venturing in what he thought was the only possible way that he could respond to this girl.

"Why, hello to you too. An accidental chance seeing you here at Knockturn." He began, fighting the sarcasm that threatened to rule that sentence of his. Damien did not want to offend this girl, yet. Well, if there was even a 'yet'. Judging from her face, he had thoroughly offended her already, alright. Before he could continue, Damien also noticed the short, creepy-looking wizard leering the the girl. It was not hard to miss, seeing that the guy walked extremely close to her as he eyed her, only missing her by a hair. Damien smirked as he turned his attention from the guy, back to this girl that he had just collided into.

"Someone checking you out?" He began in a tone of amusement. "Thank your lucky demons that it was I who knocked into you, not mister good-looking that just passed." Not one for much humility despite actually possessing a rather insecure personality, Damien attempted to keep a cool front.

He was trying to explain that it had been an accident knocking into her, not that it had made it any better- he ad still slammed her against a store front, had he not? Still, she was a little impressed with his response- wit was nearly dead among her generation and it irked her to no end. She honestly missed witty banter and even though this boy had committed what she thought should be a criminal offense, she could blame him less than she would blame others.

Piper hated spineless people. Had it been a Huffer who knocked into her, they would have begged for forgiveness, all contrite and blubbery, offering to buy her a drink and be best friends or something to make up for it. She missed running into someone who would not shrivel when she snapped, but would bite back. She missed putting up a fight.

Not that she'd let on.

She crossed her arms, replying, "Intentionally or accidentally, it was still ignorance. Intentions matter little to me." Lies. She blamed people for intentions consistently. At his words, she hugged herself tighter, saying, "For that I could be thankful, I suppose. Some people don't know when to be appropriate!" she said, calling after the man who slowed. She shivered and stepped away from his direction, unfortunately jostling the boy she was speaking with. "What'd you say?" the wizard wheezed.

"I said keep walking," she demanded, not moving away from the boy, trying to seem tough and as though she had back up. It was bringing back memories of other men who leered, though, and she felt as though her knees had liquefied, though her expression remained set.

Damien chuckled at the mini episode between the girl and the odd-looking wizard, forgetting what the girl had said to him about his intentions because this was so much more fun to entertain. He had always appreciated girls with a lot of spine. Despite being at the end of it sometimes, he would rather have a challenge than have none at all. Girls who grovel are the least attractive. Wait a minute, he stopped himself. What was the point of bringing that up. Confused, he shook his head slightly, as if the action itself could diffuse and mark an end to that train of thought.

Quickly, Damien noticed how this girl had pressed herself closer towards him to avoid the freak. Smirking in further amusement at her need for that, he began, "Damien d'Eath". He had assumed the girl would at least be interested in his name, and had proceeded to introduce himself. Without waiting for an answer first, the boy launched into a drawl: "now that we're getting a little cosy in this place ... what did you say your name was again?"

Being half a head taller than the girl, Damien could not help but catch a whiff of the scent of her hair because of her proximity to him. For one who always had a sharp nose, smells always matter to him, even when it came to friends. He could care less for someone who smells bad. This girl, though, he approved of, silently, in his head.

The wizard seemed to be getting through his obtuse skull that Piper was no easy target, she was not prey to him, but he gave her one full up down and glanced at the boy next to her before continuing on his way. Piper stared after him, her lip curled in disgust, her entire expression demonstrating just how loathsome she found the man.

"Vulture," she spat. She was getting sick of it really-- it seemed her life was always full of men trying to do unspeakable things to her. How many times had she been pinned to a couch in the Slytherin common room, called sweet cheeks, oogled, 'bumped' into, brushed against. She did not know what made her a target, but she had earned how to aim too- right for the crotch.

She heard the boy say a name and she responded automatically, "Piper." She never gave out her last name, simply because she hated being related to her despicable family. She processed his full statement, her face snapped to look at him and she quickly stepped away, scowling at him. "We weren't getting cosy. I was escaping out of necessity. I had to choose the lesser of two evils, one could say."

A really angry girl, Damien thought, when he watched Piper's final retort to the intruder. The identity of this girl is still a mystery, even though she had given him her first name. The boy frowned again as he concentrated on sifting through his memory for some inkling of this girl being talked about. He had certainly seen her around, but she had successfully stayed out of gossip, which could only mean that she had been lying really low at Hogwarts, probably deliberately.

As soon as Damien gave up trying to figure out the girl's presence at Hogwarts, he registered her reply to him. "Pity," he started. "I would have preferred to be the more evil one." He paused for effect. "Evil is sexy." He smirked. "Besides, you gave up mister good-looking for evil here. I see how you like it." He was in a good mood. Besides, Damien could really be sociable. That is, if you are a Slytherin, or of some appeal to him.

When Piper had jostled towards him, she had accidentally brushed her shoe against his. Damien never shared his obsessive-compulsive disorder with anyone other than family, and he dread other people discovering it. However, he knew that some of the boys in his dormitory had begun to suspect. What with his excessive cleaning of himself and his possessions, and the nightly repetition of arranging and rearranging the items that he had brought to his dorm. He had also, on occasions, flared at the mess they were making near his area.

Now, though, Damien eyed his left foot, seeing some dirt on the front of his dark-brown loafers. The dirt started to bug him, but he did not want to lose control in front of someone he just met. Pressing his lips firmly together, he attempted to block the image of what he just spotted, out of his mind. He felt his insides churn, but he started fighting to keep from feeling sick at the mark of dirt at his shoe. He could only hope that Piper would not notice what he is going through.

Yes, this boy was trying to flirt with her, she could sense it, and crazy amounts of alarms began going off in her head. She felt the walls of her mind being lowered, and her REAL artillery of sarcasm, biting language, and scowls began to roll on out preparing to shut Damien down at every turn, to shoot him down and scare him off. Piper did not need another boy after her.

She really could not comprehend what about her made her so susceptible to having to be forced to sit through terrible pick up lines, flirting expressions, and innuendos. She supposed she would need to tattoo the words 'NOT INTERESTED' across her forehead before she was able to get i through all of their thick skulls that it was not going to happen.

"Charming," she responded curtly. "I found evil tedious and overdone. Been there, seen that, not that impressive anymore. And really, it's just creepy. Now if you don't mind, I would like to continue my shopping in peace." She turned and walked into the store, hoping maybe he would stay behind, but knowing from experience he was going to want to confirm that it was not him, but her causing the failure to interact.

Boys were idiotic.

Scratch that. People were.

As soon as Piper turned to make her way into the store, Damien seized the opportunity to squat down for his shoe. With his face fixed in frustration, he rubbed vigorously at the mark of dirt on it. Once that was out of the way, the boy lifted himself up, hoping that it was done swiftly and without notice. Exhaling a little too forcefully, Damien walked into the store after Piper, rubbing the hand that tried to clean the dirt at the back of his pants now. He never liked being alone. The boy had spent the earlier half of his life just with his mother, and it got really boring after awhile. Besides, he was curious about where this acquaintanship would take him.

"Sounds like you've had bad run-ins with evil, eh?" He started suddenly behind Piper as soon as he saw her. "What sort? Anything ..." Damien paused as he tried to think of how we would phrase his question. He had always been interested in anything to do with Dark Arts and Wizards, history, or latest development. And after what Piper said about evil, his interest was piqued. "Well, anything to do with the powers that are fighting for the order of our world?" There, he thought, decently put. Young and slightly naive, though learning in this best way he can, along with a thirst for schemes, Damien still has a lot of enthusiasm in him.