That Little Herbal Flower of Love

It was a shame Finnigan wasn’t a household name like Potter was but the latter of the Finnigan twins had sure as hell made name for herself since she’d been at Hogwarts. Though it was general accepted knowledge that Elliot, or as Melissa insisted ‘Brother-Bot’, was the younger twin, that wasn’t strictly true. No, it was she who was the younger twin and for some unfathomable reason, Elliot had allowed her to tell everyone that she was the eldest. He’d just accepted it and moved on, as if it were nothing. He put up with a hell of a lot with her and she would have been grateful had she not been so prideful, had she not been still stood up on her pedestal and had yet to be dragged down from it. That would all take place in due time but until then she was quite happy to lord it about with a cigarette in her mouth and a can of cider in her hand. Unfortunately though, today there was only room for one and that was the cigarette and thankfully the guards had yet to notice.

It hadn’t been long since she’d slipped into the Gryffindor compartment and it hadn’t been long since she’d slipped out, either. She was now stood in the corridor, leaning against one of the walls between the compartments as she leisurely smoked one of the many cigarettes she had on her. She hadn’t packed light in terms of her vices. She’d been to see Miles in the days before and he’d set her up with almost too much. Her trunk was chock-a-block, almost more so than Spencer’s usually was, and she had no idea what she was supposed to do with it all. She’d resorted to doing what she always did when in doubt - sell and make a quick buck. So that was what she was doing, casually standing there with a blank expression on her face, a cigarette between her lips and the promise of something sweet to make the whole process less....agonising.

They flocked to her as always, money in hand, and before long she was pocketing galleons with loads left to shift. She’d considered selling the fags but those she really couldn’t go without. No, for now, ‘The Herbal Flower of Love’ (as Spencer called it) could go. She needed the money. If they planned on burning it all then she intended on getting some cash to have a blow out in Dufftown as soon as they had a Hogsmeade weekend. Grindy could take a lot of things but the fags and the drugs was a no go. Until then, however, it was time to cash in on desperation and cash in she did.

That was until she spotted her favourite little Hufflepuff, Mr. Ryo....something-or-rather. She didn’t remember the details, only the bits that mattered. Millie smirked and pocked the galleons in her hand before taking her cigarette from her mouth. “Oh Ryo! Come ‘ere, baby...I want a word.”

This morning couldn't be worse Ryo thought, as he quickly got changed after his sister had thought it funny to throw a bucket of cold water over him while she slept. She couldn't have just woken him up by calling his name or shaking him awake. No she had to pour water all over him. After being slapped by the water, he had roled off the bed onto the floor out of surprise and he had chased her down to the living room, where his uncle and aunt were waiting to leave. They had told him to get ready, or they would leave him behind and he wouldn't get to go to Hogwarts. He had merely rolled his eyes and ran upstairs to change, which he was now doing. He put on whatever clothes he could find quickly, from the clothes that were left in his closet, everything else was in his trunk for Hogwarts.

He hurriedly brushed his teeth and ran back downstairs, to meet his uncle, aunt and sister again. They quickly filled into their car, and made it to King Cross station in 'record time', his aunt had said. They said their goodbyes and Ryo and Sayuri were on the train before they knew it. Without saying another word to each other, the two twins seperated and went with their friends. Or at least Sayuri did, she had always been the most favored twin, and therefore had many friends. But Ryo was almost always alone, pushing anyone who got to close to him away. He walked down the corridor, and set his stuff in an empty compartment he had found rather quickly. He didn't feel like staying inside the copartment though and he was out in the corridor again.

He had just begun to walk down the corridor again, when he heard someone call his name. He turned around to find Millie calling him. "Hi Millie." he said faintly, walking toward her. He put his hands in his front pants pockets as he walked. When he was face to face with her, Ryo leaned against the wall, and said nothing.

Hufflepuffs were so boring at times. Some called them duffers, Millie preferred the term socially challenged. Though that wasn’t necessarily the case all of the time, Ryo could be a right useless swot when he wasn’t feeling the most social of creatures. This was one of those times and Millie wasn’t quite in the mood to warm him up. She did, however, reach up to grab one of the outcroppings of metal that were supposedly handlebars. She raised an eyebrow at the Hufflepuff and smirked before bringing the cigarette to her lips. She winked at him and brought it back down again. She lifted her leg and pushed it up against the wall next to him. Millie cocked her head to the side, observing him for a moment before laughing.

“You are a man of few words, Ryo.” Millie remarked sardonically. She held the cigarette out to him, quirking an eyebrow at the Hufflepuff as if daring him to take it. “Go on. It won’t kill you, I promise baby. Listen. I want to ask whether you’re up for something or not. You’ve seen all of the signs haven’t you?”

Millie dropped her leg down and moved forward. She poked her bottom lip out at him before breaking into a smile. “You’re up for it aren’t you, darling? You’ll come off the best, I promise you. You just have to do me a little favour and I’ll reward you handsomely. Well, maybe not handsomely because up until about five minutes ago I was broke and I’m not parting with my cash but I will reward you. How, you’ll find out later I don’t doubt. But first, let’s talk about you...break up the monotony and distract the guards about six meters away from us. Tell me about your summer, how was it?”

Ryo let out a sarcastic laugh as Millie began to laugh. "I'm just not in the mood for much talking." he said simply. He took his hands out of his pockets and crossing them over his stomache. As she held out the cigarette to him, he simply stared at it for a moment, debating whether or not he should take it. He finally reached his hand out and took it from her, but he stared at it and rolled it a little in his hand. He shrugged and lifted it up to his lips. He looked at her for a moment and brought it back down. He gave a small cough, and he cleared his thraot as he gave it back to her. "How can you stand those things?" he asked, couching again.

He stared at her, his eyes narrowing. "Depends on what it is." he told her, letting his arms drop back down to his sides, putting them in his pockets again. "My summer?" he asked almost laughing. "It was horrible, like every other summer." he said, shaking his head.

"It was the same as other summers. I was forgotten the whole time, while my guardians paid attention to my sister." he said indifferently. "I guess it was good for me, because whatever I did they never noticed any of it. I could have had a party right in front of them and they wouldn't have noticed." he added. With that he stopped talking, he didn't want Millie to think he wanted any sympathy or anything, because that was the last thing he wanted.

“Not in the mood for talking?” Millie echoed with a cheeky smile. “Not even to dear old me? Well, there are other things we can do besides talking, many things. In some cases, talking is overrated but it helps you connect with people. Anyway, are you taking Div this year? I heard the Professor is feeling a little bit delicate...needs a lot of love. It’s my old haunt isn’t it - the Divination classroom I mean? The North Tower...oh I can smell the incense and the weed now. I swear to Merlin it’s the only class you can ever get away with being absolutely out of it. With the exception of dinner I suppose but that doesn’t count as a class and I’d like to say Care of Magical Creatures but again...does that really count as a class? Having said that I think I am taking it so that’s vaguely disconcerting. Oh well, I need the O.W.L.s. What for I don’t know. I’ve predicted my death, actually. It’s thrilling. Do you want me to do yours?”

Her bright face feigned the enthusiasm she most certainly did not feel. She was weary, especially regarding death which was something she truly feared at the moment. Her O.W.L.s she saw as being failures anyway and for however long she managed to drag out her pitiful little existence, she’d be doing what she always did - smoking, selling whatever Miles gave her and having sex for those few measly minutes where it actually felt like someone cared. Funny, really, but not. Sad, actually, really sad. It was a means to an end, before the climax of the pitiful parade. It was only time, after all. It was only a matter of time until Lavender wore Seamus down, until one of them left. It was only a matter of time until Elliot actually figured out that he was too good for the wasters they were and buggered off, saved his self. It was only a matter of time until the last cigarette was lit....

“A pity really,” Millie remarked slowly. “You should have done. With any luck they wouldn’t have noticed and you would have either: gotten laid, gotten drunk-slash-stoned or all of the above. Bummer, eh?” She looked at him with a smile and took the cigarette back. “They’re foul aren’t they?” She agreed with a laugh. “They’re not the best. I should be smoking the good ones now, in case they don’t make it through the incinerator but I figured...if I can get them through then why settle for the crap ones. These screw up your lungs quicker than I don’t know what. I can’t wait to get a cold this winter.” She would have laughed but it wasn’t funny really was it. “They say alcohol is a depressant, don’t know about fags. Probably. Who cares though eh? Life is a depressant. It’s too bad we don’t know what lies beyond that filmy black abyss otherwise we’d have something to look forward to. It’s almost funny. Almost.”

The last cigarette. The last inhalation. The last look. The last touch. The last taste. All of it the last until the inevitable; until the inevitable finally actually happened. And what a relief that would be. The final everything and beyond that, the limbo that was the afterlife.

“Listen, I need you to do me a favour. I need you to see if you can get some of my stuff into Hogwarts without it being burnt to a crisp. Please Ryo? It would mean so much to me...” Millie smiled gently and brought the cigarette back to her lips. The end glowed and the faint sound of burning could be heard. She dropped her hand back down and held it out to Ryo. She blew the smoke forward and her lips curled into a smirk. “I promised a reward didn’t I? Any reward...any reward I can give you.”

"Whatever." Ryo scoffed. "I might take it. I don't know." he shrugged. He didn't really care much about his classes anymore. "I think Care of Magical Creatures is a pretty stupid class. I don't even think alot of students take that class." he said softly. "Predict my death?" he asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. "Sure, why not?" he rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms across his stomache again and sighed.

Ryo laughed. "Well, maybe this year I'll do it. It's going to be the same as every year. It's the only good thing my sister has done for me. While she distracts them I can just do whatever I want." he said. "Yeah, they are. These things are horrible." he said, staring at the cigarette. "Why would you want to get a cold? It sucks to be sick." he told her. "Alcohol isn't always a depressant. It just depends how one reacts to it." he said. "For some people it might make them forget about whatever's wrong in their lives and they'll be happy, for others it reminds them more and they get depressed." he added, looking at the floor.

Ryo bit his lip and looked up at Millie. "Sneak some of your stuff into Hogwarts?" he echoed a little unsure of what to answer her. He sighed and stood up straight. "Fine. I'll do it." he said softly, giving her a forced smile, revealing his vampire fangs a little. He took the cigarette from Millie again, without giving it much thought this time, and brought it to his lips. He took a sort of long drag from it and dropped his hand. He turned his head a little and blew the smoke away from them. He handed the cigarette back to Millie and smirked. "I don't really care about a reward." he said.

He looked down at the floor again, and tried to imagine how he would get anything of Millie's into Hogwarts without being caught. He shook his head and thought, I'll think of something later.

Millie grinned wickedly at him. “How dare you scoff at my favourite class!” She exclaimed playfully. She placed the cigarette between her lips and threw her arm out; connecting her hand with his shoulder in what was, admittedly, a weak punch. “Okay,” Millie mumbled, reaching up to take the cigarette again. “So it is shit, filled with dozy prats who do nought but smoke, drink and shag. It makes the ‘60s look shit, Ryo. Was it the sixties? I don’t even know.” The Irish-girl shrugged her shoulders and smiled wistfully before cocking her head to the side and taking Ryo in. A few seconds later and she was absorbed in that same familiar space, the mental part that gave her the answers. And did she see it. She saw something much brighter than she’d ever seen before. It was if he’d died content; happy, even. “Wow...” She murmured as the luminous lights of the train brought her back into the conscious world. “You’re so...lucky.” She smiled again and shook her head. “Happy.” She assured. “You die happy.”

It wasn’t a fun game. The gift wasn’t fun. Not now. Not when she could see these things. Millie could feel her mind latching onto that familiar abyss of nothingness that was her future, the abyss that was Trent’s future. The lights were on. Blazing and hurting her head when she connected to Ryo. She was so settled in the abyss, so settled in Trent’s abyss, that it scared her. It was as if the little flicker of light was fading and her future was setting itself into stone. “There are choices you know. Choices that might not make you happy. Choices that might ruin us all.” Mille averted her eyes as she flicked the ash to the floor. “I think I’ve already made mine. It would be funny if it wasn’t the end of the line that it caused. Hm. The end of the line. I think I have a choice you know. I have a choice not to face the darkness of death. You, so far, look to be ending it happy. Me? It looks either painfully tragic or I’ll do it because....”

“I could never imagine this world without you in it. I don’t have to live in a world without you in it. Trent I...”

Millie closed her eyes as the familiar words rattled through her mind like a freight train, supplying the end of the sentence that Ryo didn’t need to hear. She gave a shuddering sigh and smiled at him instead. The nicotine was calming her down before she had the chance to become wrought with the anticipative sadness that had overwhelmed her in the days after she’d gone home. Perhaps that admittance her over-emotional, sober state had been her undoing. She’d made him promise. Her own brother. She’d made him promise not to let it happen. He wasn’t to let her die. He was a great believer in fate, too great perhaps. He did it. Just. He’d break it though. She could see it in his face in those moments. She could read through his lies. She could feel his anxiety. Still, even if his words were false, at least the need to placate her was there. That was...something.

“There are many benefits to having a cold,” Millie replied softly. “With no appetite you tend to lose weight and that’s not always a bad thing. Just a shame I feel like death warmed up every flipping time.” Millie shook her head. “So, in short, it is a depressant.” She remarked, shaking her head. “No matter. It does the job doesn’t it?”

When Ryo said he’d give it a go, (because that was all he could do really) Millie grinned and unzipped her jacket. She slipped it off and held it out to him by the hood. “Smoke some by all means...just don’t overdo it, okay babe?” Millie stepped forward and leaned up onto her tiptoes. She popped a kiss on Ryo’s cheek and stepped back. She winked at him and grinned before turning and walking back down the hallway. “See you later, darling!” She called her shoulder.