Take on Me

There was already so much worry and discomfort aboard the Hogwarts Express this year that Darius was nearly out of a job. It was almost unfair. So many potential victims, but so few openings to take them from happy-go-lucky to completely destroyed. It seemed Grindelwald’s new plan and his ability to access every student simultaneously was making Darius’ particular brand of mental and emotional torture obsolete.

Darius didn’t know what all the fuss was about. The geezer had painted the train a different color and added some new security guards. Who cares? And it wasn’t like Darius had anything to worry about, either. His blood was as pure as it came, and he didn’t really care that much about anyone else’s blood purity. Sure, he acted like being pureblood was as important to him as oxygen (it was necessary to care about these types of things in his social circles), but if given the option to sleep with a mudblood, he certainly wasn’t turning it down. He wasn’t that proud.

After having walked the platform and corridors several times looking for someone to play with, Darius had found himself frustrated by all the gloom and doom that already existed. There was no fun in kicking an already injured dog – though there was plenty of fun in getting him to the point of already being injured – so Darius’ main form of entertainment had been removed. Sulking, the Slytherin boy had shoved open the door of an empty compartment and sprawled himself out on one of the empty seats, his long legs taking up all the space next to him. He had intentionally left the door open to keep an eye out for anyone to crack his whip against, but he wasn’t holding out much hope at this point.

Damn, I need a cigarette, he thought, beginning to dig through his pockets for the pack.

((Cue Athena))

The train was filled to bursting point with tiny children that had no idea where they were supposed to be going. Athena’s irritation was steadily rising as she made her way down the train corridor in search of some of her friends.

She’d left Damien in the compartment as she hadn’t expected the trip to take long at all. She had intended to gather up Pricilla and whoever else was lagging behind and taking them back to the compartment she and her current favourite had found.

However, Athena had found a small problem in her plan. During her searching, the corridor had filled with people so as a result she wasn’t entirely sure whether she was just simply lost in the crowd of First years or had been completely thoughtless when it came to remembering her steps. Athena, for her pride’s sake, would have rather blamed her befuddlement on the former.

Running a hand through her curls, Athena sighed in thinly veiled irritation. She pushed back through the sea of younglings and continued to look either side of herself in search of a familiar face or two. It wasn’t until she came to a compartment that had an open door that Athena stopped. She put her hand on the door frame and looked around to see Darius lounging rather obnoxiously on the seats. Athena gasped and pulled back, pinning herself to the outside wall of the compartment. She closed her eyes for a second and exhaled shakily before turning and moving into the doorway.

She could do this. She could hold herself together long enough to ask a question. She was sure of it. Then again, she had been sure of many things but life continued to try and prove her wrong. It was doing well at it too so there was no telling what would happen once Darius opened his mouth.

“Have you seen any of the others?” Athena asked sharply, deciding to forgo the greetings. They were unnecessary, especially after what happened. They weren’t as well acquainted as they’d been before. Athena could barely suffer through the few words she’d spoken then that were directed towards him in a fairly tactful manner. She didn’t want to know what would happen if he decided to bite at her for what had happened. Athena pushed those thoughts from her mind for a few moments. She would stay only to find out the answer to her question. She could only pray Darius would be straight forward and not act ridiculously. She wasn’t in the mood to exchange wits with him, she really just wanted to relax.

It didn’t take long for Darius to fish a half-empty pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket and light up. Sure, the things were contraband on the Hogwarts Express and were likely to kill him before his time, but who wanted to be decrepit and old anyway? Besides, the nicotine was one of the only thing that calmed his fury at the stupidity around him, so in his opinion, he deserved to smoke. He lit up without hesitation and opened the window a crack to blow the smoke outside instead of letting it linger in the compartment.

That’s the stuff… Darius thought, his eyes moving back to the open compartment door to watch passerby, not seeing anyone worthy of note until a head of dark hair with some very familiar eyes beneath it appeared in the doorway. Of course, Darius was familiar with the rest of Athena’s body as well… very, very familiar, even though lately he hadn’t been able to refresh his knowledge base.

“Well hel-“ Darius was about to greet Athena, cockily as usual, but before he could get the words completely out, the girl swung herself out of the doorway and his line of vision.

“Guess I should have seen that coming…” Darius mumbled to himself, taking a long, frustrated drag on his cigarette. He had gotten used to being avoided after the fallout at the party early in the summer, even if he didn’t like it. It was so much easier for him to get away with doing what he wanted when he was in a group, and losing that group had also cost him part of his reputation. Being in with the coolest group in school had added to the natural draw Darius had, and it had made many, many things easier. Being on the outs had left him with a lot of free time and not nearly enough victims to fill it, which was a recipe for boredom.

No matter how frustrating his current situation, however, Darius was far too stubborn to admit to having crossed a line with what he said to Athena. And he wasn’t going to apologize for being honest, either. What he had said was true; just because Athena didn’t like it doesn’t make it any less so. However, she and the rest of the group had informed him in no uncertain terms that he had stepped overstepped some socially-constructed line that other people could see but was painted in invisible ink for him. The bruises were gone, but he didn’t exactly need a physical reminder.

Blowing smoke heavily into the compartment, Darius closed his eyes for a moment and reopened them to find Athena had reappeared in the doorway, looking down on where he was sprawled like she was looking through him. This only added to Darius’ growing frustration, because he was used to getting attention, especially from women and Athena in particular. Up until last May, Athena had liked him more than any of the others, and she hadn’t been hesitant to show that affection… in her particular way. Now, though, her words were clipped and curt, and Darius didn’t like them one bit.

“Others… others…” Darius echoed as a question, as though he wasn’t quite following her line of thought, “Oh yes. The other people I used to spend time with until they all suddenly sprouted moral compasses and kicked the shit out of me? Is that who you’re referring to?” Darius asked mockingly, his temper flaring. Darius didn’t actually experience anger, per say, like he never experienced any other emotion, but he did understand annoyance and frustration, because they were hindrances to his own desires. And at the moment, he was feeling both, and they were closely tied to how little power he had in his present situation. He was holding a hand full of mismatched odds, and unless Athena tossed him the right card, he wasn’t going to be winning shit in this game.

It was impossible to determine how long the prideful Slytherin would still be smarting from the remarks at the party. She had been hurt more than anything. The anger had come later when she’d been wrapped in the privacy of her mind long enough to sort through what had happened. Once she’d returned home in the days after she was nigh on immediately sent off to the villa in Italy where she had been instructed to relax and wheedle her days away doing much of nothing. Athena had done just that but she had felt a lot more lonely than usual. She even missed Pricilla’s insufferable twitter. She’d spent the rest of the summer on that little corridor of sand that the villa possessed reading text after text on everything from Dark Magic to simple charms, just to refresh her mind for the school year ahead. There was only so much preparation that could be done and she certainly couldn’t have prepared for the inevitable confrontation between herself and Darius.

Athena thought she was taking his surly attitude quite well considering her initial shock. At least he didn’t go for the jugular from the word go. Athena wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be amicable with Darius again or not. Well, she did, she wanted to forgive him, but she wasn’t entirely sure if she was ready to do so. She was half tempted to rip into him herself but she wasn’t entirely prepared for him to bite back at her. In the past, Darius had been one of Athena’s favourites. She was in that sort of elevated position that allowed her to have favourites. Her current one was Damien and she couldn’t wait to get to grips with that apt yet so poorly protected mind that was growing with even the lightest titbit of knowledge. She was proud of him already though she daren’t allow him to be privy to that for fear of enlarging his head far too soon. In time he would have good reason to be arrogant and proud. Until then he would need to be humble and adhering to every direction she gave to him.

A large part of Athena wished she’d had someone to direct her when she was the tender age of fifteen. Instead of direction, she’d been a witness to the effects of the Cruciatus Curse. She’d been hardened, not refined. Though it seemed neither had worked. Never had she been as shaken as she had been when her worst fears had been realised. Quietly she’d prided herself on being the only young pureblood woman without any set path to follow. She’d been content with the bombardment of names and faces, each one denied and one never taken up. Darius had done much more than scald her with his words; he’d changed her viewpoint of all of it. No longer was that lack of path so desirable. She needed that security, she knew that now, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to admit it to anyone.

Athena brought her teeth down around her lip as Darius spoke. She contemplated closing her eyes so as to take the disdain better but she refrained, fixing her gaze instead on the patch of cream-coloured wall above his head. Athena’s foot left the floor instinctively and she threatened to take a step back. Instead though, she decided to keep her pride and instead gritted her teeth before placing her food firmly back down on the compartment floor. “Yes,” She hissed brusquely. “Yes, that is who I was referring to, Darius.” Athena sucked in a shaky breath before exhaling her next sentence. “I’m not sorry,” She declared to him. “And neither are you I don’t doubt.” Athena frowned a little before retreating back to her original question. “Have you seen them then?”

And there it was. That characteristic Athena self-control. With her teeth pressing down on her lower lip, Darius could tell he was getting to her. This was usually one of the first signs that he was beginning to take effect on one of his victims, these little signs of self-doubt. The biting of the lip, the wringing of the hands, the lips in a thin, firm line of supposed determination. These were usually the indications that Darius was on the right track, because usually, he was doing everything he could to piss someone off.

Now, however, Darius wasn’t sure what exactly he was doing. He hadn’t come onto the train with any precise plan of action of how he intended to deal with the sight of his old friends, though that might have been the smartest thing to do. But the more Darius-esque thing to do was to wing it, and that is what he was doing now. His response to her question had been snarky, he knew that, and it probably wasn’t winning him any points with the dark-haired beauty standing in the doorway. A few months ago, before ‘the incident’, Athena would have laughed off his comment, swatted him playfully and then passed him a note about meeting up for some ‘fun’ later. But since the girl’s emotions had been so motrally wounded by Darius’s words, their dynamic had changed, and although Darius wanted it to change back, he didn’t want to have to put the work in or sacrifice any piece of his pride to get what he desired.

After much longer than the question itself warranted, Athena finally responded, having gathered up enough self-control to form a complete sentence that didn’t contain any curse words. Her tone was still taught, indicating her discomfort with the situation, and Darius was torn between feeling accomplished for having pressed her buttons, and feeling stupid for having done exactly the opposite thing as would have gotten him back into the good graces of his group of Slytherin cronies. Athena was the queen bee in that sector, no doubt, so if he gained her forgiveness, he wouldn’t have any trouble with the others.

Before Darius could decide which reply would serve him best, Athena interjected another, seemingly unrelated comment, but both of them knew to what she was referring. Still, Darius raised a skeptical eyebrow in Athena’s direction, which was soon accompanied by a small smirk when she added her knowledge of his unrepentant state. Athena knew Darius better than most, and she wasn’t one to sugarcoat his personality. Still, she didn’t know all of Darius’s secrets, nor the extent to which his malice and self-interest pervaded his every action. She knew he could be an asshole, but that was part of what had drawn the two of them together in the first place: their mutual desire for attention and power.

“I’m sorry I haven’t seen your lovely visage all summer,” Darius conceded, though the slight leer in his voice likely negated any trace of actual repentance. It wasn’t an apology, but Darius wasn’t ever planning to give one. Or at least not an honest one. If it came down to it, he might form the correct words and take on the right tone and posture to appear as though he was a apologetic, but from where he was standing, the only problem with what he had said was everyone else’s reaction to it.

Darius was ignoring Athena’s persistent question intentionally, because as soon as he answered it, she would have no reason to stay and give him a chance to persuade her to give him another chance (that was the touchy-feely line people used for these situations, right?). Darius needed Athena to give him her blessing to return if his senior year was going to be anything worthwhile. And, if left to his own devices, Darius would be much more dangerous. It was really in everyone's best interest that Athena be in a more forgiving mood.

“But we could make up for lost time if you just take a seat,” Darius said, gesturing to the empty bench across from him in the compartment, “You can give me a good verbal lashing, I can sit quietly and watch you get angry. Everyone wins,” the Slytherin boy added with what he perceived to be a winning smile, though there were no guarantees at all that Athena would view it with such a favorable opinion.