Make the itching stop!

He looked so concerned for her. The concern was so evident, it calmed her a little bit. She let her body relax somewhat, and she looked at her hands, realizing how much she had spoken. She couldn't look at him as he began to speak, moving forward just a little bit, looking... sad? The emotion on his face wasn't what she had expected to see. She had expected something different from a Slytherin, disgust, amusement, but not... sadness, not even pity, but he looked truly sad for her and her plight, and she couldn't help but warm up to him a bit. He was nice after all wasn't he. It didn't make sense, but he was.. in the heat of the moment, Rise didn't even begin to contemplate the reason why he had been sorted into Slytherin in the first place, cunning, that was their verb. Cunning. But as it was, she was just happy that finally someone understood, and she found herself leaning forward also, a small, shy smile appearing on her lips.

He spoke such reassuring words, nice words to her, assuring her she wasn't a monster, and she couldn't help but smile at him, until he said she should let everyone see the scar, she immediately shrunk away. "Not even!" She whispered, suddenly putting her hand on her scar. "Most Werewolves don't have to deal with people seeing it.." She muttered, staring at the table. "I'm not just gonna.. waltz around and pretend it's not there! It is.. and I don't like people hating me... I don't wanna be judged like that." She said looking up at him. "That may work for you.. but if you'd like to see the affects of people knowing your a werewolf, go into the Forbidden Forest at the full moon, and then you can go around parading a scar like this." She said, suddenly finding herself getting angry. Damn full moon, it was coming up fast, and she was having mood swings. It was like PMSing, and it sucked, because when she actually WAS PMSing, it was usually opposite the full moon, she mood swings were just a common personality trait to her now.

She stared at her hands and then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry.. I erm... didn't mean to snap... I erm.. the full moon is coming actually.. and erm.. mood swings." She whispered, and felt her face flush red, closing her book and staring at the cover before throwing it into her bag. "I'm sorry... I'm probably bugging you now huh? I should.... I should get going... Or... well, I do have more homework, but I don't want to bother you anymore with my sad story, and... I'm sorry." She said staring at him, unsure whether she should get up or not.

Things somehow seemed to have eased. Kendall could not know for sure, though. Rise seemed to warm to him, like his approach was working, but she got worked up again. He waited for her to be done with her outburst, allowing his hand to run through his vanity again. It had become such a persistent habit, not that he was going to change it. People seem to like it, or at least, the girls do. He would much rather have a girl do it, than himself, though. Still, one could love oneself in that way, no? Kendall licked his lips before Rise seemed to have realised how she had went into another tirade, and had began to apologise for it. The boy shook his head, before waving a dismissive hand. The look of a friend was still on his face. He had no patience to lose. Everything was meant for him to savour, slowly, every nuance of Rise's face and words.

"I'm sorry, actually. I didn't mean to make light of your pain. After all, I'll never understand it, I'm sure." He pushed his act of sincerity further. "I know it's not fair. It's never fair to see people in this pain, and yet be shun for it. People have got to be brave, and learn to accept someone who could have been them." Kendall evaluated his words, and stopped there, not wanting to look like he was over-doing or over-saying anything. And then the girl looked like she was leaving. Kendall shook his head, and stopped her, with a slight touch of her hand, by reaching his from across the table. "Do I look bothered?" He asked, before he made a face that suggested complete ease.

"Stay, Rise. If you need a friend." He opened an avenue for her. Inside his head, though, Kendall was already thinking of ways to exploit this little muse. He eyed the girl. Annoying her by suddenly pulling one over her head badly was not going to be good. After all, despite his knowledge of some Dark Magic, he had yet to know the nature of Werewolves. In his mind, Kendall was already drafting a letter to his father. Perhaps he could make this one do things for him, if she was going to be like the conventional girls that he was used to, except those girls were just ordinary ones. Harmless, to say the least.

Rise knew that he was just trying to be nice, and she had snapped at him, she felt horrible. The monster was turning her into a monster, and just as she tried to stand up, his hand touched hers, and she froze. He touched her... no one ever did that... not once they knew what she was. No one but... well Ryo, who was a vampire had dared touch her after finding out what she was, and she froze in shock, staring at his hand that was now a couple of inches away from hers. The shock was clear on her face, it was like an electric static had gone up her arm and rooted her to the spot.

He spoke, and she stared at him, feeling unsure, but now she was feeling a bit more at ease. He smiled at her, and that made her melt back into her seat, staring at the table, head bent, unsure of what to do with herself anymore. "I.." She said softly, and then shut her mouth, unsure of what to say anymore. He didn't know her, but with one touch he had glued her to her seat. She didn't know him, but one look at his face, and she was calmed. It wasn't fair, he should hate her, he should fear her, he should be so afraid he couldn't touch her.. why was he being nice? Why couldn't he just hate her, she suddenly wished he did, just so she could go and nurse her wounds in peace, and not have to deal with this anymore, she didn't know what to say.

He could see it already. She would be like a pet, of his. She was far more interesting than the other girls that he had called pets affectionately. Here, she was not just going to be passing fancy, she was going to do things for him. He just had to play his game right, and of course, to make it not look like a game. Kendall smiled at Rise, happy to see that she had not leave. The smile merely extended maliciously through the spaces in him that the girl could not see. Again, he reached forward and patted her hand slowly, gently, reassuringly.

"See? I'm not bothered." Kendall shrugged, before removing his hand from touching hers. He had carried the action well, despite feeling disgusted at himself for having touched a tainted human being. It was a good thing that he did not have any compulsive disorder, or he would have been rubbing his hands vigorously against the material of his pants now. Kendall would much rather touch, or sleep with, a Gryffindor, rather than do that to a werewolf.

The tension of intrigue and disgust of the act, however, piqued his interest, both for Rise and at himself. He was keen to see how far he would push himself, how much or how far he could go before he could not tolerate it anymore. Touching was Kendall's currency, besides words. He knew how to manipulate it with girls. This one, he hoped, reacted the same way. There were some who pretended to transcend the stereotype, but who were reduced to a quivering mess under his touch. Kendall, however, had no complains about them. After all, it was fun to see people put up a losing battle anyway. That was what he intended for on the faces of his victims, in the future. He was still learning, after all. And from the best, at that -- Augustus. Kendall liked to look like he was just a conventional student, though a charming one who made a good reputation with girls. That was merely his entertainment, away from the serious tasks waiting for him.

"Rise ... I know you might not want to talk about it. But, sometimes, it helps, you know? Talking about pain, that's what psychoanalysts have advised, I've read. It helps. Everyone lives with pain. I know yours is bigger than most ..." He paused, bit his lip, as if he was trying to understand her pain. "I don't have a life without pain too. I ..." He paused now, about to share a pain that he would feign as his. " ... the way my father inflicts pain on my mother. I see it in her eyes, feel it through her words. Sometimes I wish I could help, but she doesn't talk about it. And I see her fading away because she keeps that pain in her, waiting to destroy herself." He inhaled, and then exhaled, deeply. "I just, don't want to see it happen to one more person, you know?" He ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated, but sadly so. "Don't fade away." He mouthed the words gently, willing them to be the break to Rise's guarded walls. "Talk through your pain. I may not understand, but I want to see it help you." He nodded, and waited. Kendall smiled.

Rise couldn't help but feel shocked by the touch of his hand, and she sat there, almost in a state of shock, staring at her hand. A human had touched her, a human had touched her and not flinched, not wiped their hand clean.. better yet.. a Slytherin who knew what she was had touched her. It was like, against the natural order of things, and it confused Rise to no end. He should hate her... scorn her, tease her, not pat her hand and ask her to talk to him, it wasn't right, and yet.. Rise was growing more and more fond of this person named Kendall.. he must have really broken away from his family to be like this.

He spoke so sincerely about talking about her issues, wanting to know.. caring, and in any other time, she would have been suspicious, but right then.. the fact that he was asking, caring, wanting her to talk to him, to get her fears out, she didn't know anyone else who did that.. not even Ryo. He spoke of his mother, and her heart went out to him. The pain he must feel.. seeing his father be mean to his mother, and not being able to do anything about it! That was just.. wrong. She stared at him in disbelief, and yet.. he still wanted to hear about her, well.. he had shared something private.. why shouldn't she? It was just her private was so much bigger and required a lot more explanation. She bit her lower lip, staring at the desk, her hands folded on it as she stared at her fingernails. When he mouthed the words "Don't fade away." She could feel something breaking inside of her, that wall that had been erected to keep everyone out, the wall she had kept up to hide that pain that filled her with the nasty looks, the pain of the transformation, the pain of the scar, the hurt of being ignored, the anger she felt towards everyone. It broke loose, and it was like a dam had broken behind her eyes, and her eyes immediately filled with tears, and she looked up at him, unsure of how to start.

"I was normal.." She whispered, staring at him, willing him to understand her. "I know I was.. no one bothered me.. I was.. background noise in a classroom.. I was another face in the hallway, and I liked it like that.. I liked being ignored, and it suited me fine.. well.. it was last year... and Christmas break was just starting... I was leaving the school with everyone else, planning on spending the winter holidays with my family... On the platform in Hogsmeade.. I was kinda.. standing off by myself.. when someone came up behind me.. and.. he hit me on the head.. after that.. I don't know what happened, but when I woke up.. I was in a tent.. dressed in this.. scrappy cloth, my hair was pulled back in a bun, and I could feel blood on my temple.." She looked up at him, and then pulled back her hair, showing a tiny scar at her scalp line. "He must have come around me or something.. those details are blurry." She said shaking her head, forcing her to go on.

"I was in a tent with an elderly couple.. both were werewolves, and they had joined the pack as a way to get away from the horrors they faced in society, and live out their lives.. and I became something of a daughter to them.. well not really a daughter, I was more.. a slave to them, but they were kind.. and I was lucky for that.. there were other girls there too... other girls... Katherine... I remember her, everyone thought she would be the next bit." She put her fingers on her chest, and stared at the table, her voice low, almost a whisper so anyone else couldn't hear.

"I swept for them.. I cleaned and cooked, and did... well slave stuff for them.. took care of them during their feasts... cleaned up their kills... washed their fur when they transformed... kept them clean, and happy.. and they gave me meager scraps of food.. shelter, and abuse." She whimpered slightly and hid her face for a moment from him, before looking back at him, she had small tears in her eyes. "There were younger men in the pack.. they.. they liked messing with the human servants.. they liked... messing with our heads.. with our bodies.." Rise could feel the tears leaking down her face. "One of them stole my first kiss.. the other stole my.." She stopped and couldn't say it aloud, couldn't say the word she wanted to say. "They stole my innocence I guess some would say." she whispered the words so softly she knew it would be hard for him to hear.

"No one knows that.." She said and stared at him, pleading for him to understand, to see how much she had been hurt. "One day... it was a normal feast, and I was supposed to be serving all high and mighty Fenrir Greyback.. and.. well... he decided it was my turn to be bit.. so he made his son.. his very own son bite me because his son had done something wrong.. he poisoned me.. and said if he didn't, I would die.. I wish he had just let me die.. I really do.. I begged him to let me die.. and he wouldn't!" Rise couldn't help but let a few tears fall down her face, putting her arms on the table and burying her face in them, hiding her tears from Kendall, ashamed of them, ashamed of her life.

"The only way to save me." She said after she had resurfaced from the small bout of tears. "Was to bite here..." She pointed at her chest, and looked up at him. "And... just like that, I was cured of the poison.. but infected with the curse.." She felt a soft sob escape her lips that sounded more like a puppy whimpering, and she stared at the table, trying to will away her tears. "After that.. the boy disappeared.. and I was.. tortured.." She winced at the word, remembering how aptly it fit what happened to her. "Whipped.." She flinched and rolled a shoulder in memory. "Ra..Hurt." she whispered, unable to say the word starting with an R. "The wound was bit.. over, and over, and over... making it worse, and worse... and I was kicked in the dirt.. not allowed to wash it, beaten..." She couldn't help but wince at her own memories, remembering each, and every blow. "And then.. I was blindfolded.. and taken to his son's house.. and there.. he saved me... he cleaned me up, and fed me, and healed my wounds as best he could.. and then I ran away.." She looked up at Kendall, and wiped her eyes.

"I ran away from him.. and was found on Knockturn Alley by a man named Frank Longbottom.. who saved me from an evil man on that street.. and he took me to the Leaky Cauldron.. and when I told him what I was.. he didn't hide.. he wasn't angry, he saved me, he took me to his home, and made me a family member there.. but now I can't go back.. I can't go back there.. Alice Longbottom hates me.. so I'm gonna move in with a friend.. and... and.. maybe I'll get a job.. and.. I'll.. grow up.. and make my own potions.. and... become something someday.. but for now.. this is what I am.. and I hate it." She hissed the last few words, and found herself staring at Kendall, tears running down her face.

It was a good act, Kendall thought it to himself. Or at least, she was a willing victim. Many of them were. As Kendall waited expectantly for his words to open the floodgates that Rise sealed tightly, he folded his arms at his chest, removing himself a little farther away from when he had closed up to her. That was just as she began telling her story, the one that she had said was too long a story. It was long alright, and Kendall would have grown bored of the length of it, if it were the usual girls talking about their mundane lives. He had always, however, been quick to pick up on useful details in conversations. It was something he was taught how to do. There were a lot of learning taught to him. Sometimes, it made his head yearn for an explosion -- rather the pain of an end than a pain that endured because it could not escape. But he always recovered. Nobody knew the expectations that weighed on him, and that was Kendall's true pain. However, he shouldered all of it, believing it to be his privileged lot in life. Rather the perpetrator in pain, than the victim of pain -- at least he would still be powerful.

Rise's story sounded familiar, despite the little details that differed. The name of Greyback told him why. After all, Augustus Rookwood and Fenrir Greyback were friends, and still are. Augustus had enlisted the help of Fenrir during all those times that he wanted to ensure that someone endure a lifetime of dreadfulness. It was, to him, one of the best torture to inflict. Kendall had listened, enraptured, to stories told by either of the men, about the kidnapping of people for the pack. Of course, that is, as long as he did not turn victim. Kendall loved being purely human, after all -- none of the werewolf or vampire nonsense. They were meant to be outcasts. Augustus merely befriended them for the harm that he could manipulate them to inflict on people he wanted to watch suffer. Kendall's idea of these creatures differed little from his father. Now that he was making an acquaintance with Rise, he too wanted a pet werewolf friend of his own. Perhaps Augustus would be proud.

When Rise mentioned the Greyback name, however, Kendall acted like he flinched. And then a knowing look came to his face, in which he nodded. "I've heard about them. They're dreadful, the people they've infected." He shook his head. "My father talked about him, Fenrir Greyback, and it has disturbed me ever since. He hurts people, but he is fine with it. I don't know how he deals with that. I wouldn't be able to sleep easy at night if I were him." Kendall knew the son, Ari. He almost smirked in delight at that recognition, as if he wanted to pat his old acquaintances on the back for Rise. But Kendall held his expression back. The act he was putting up had turned out to be too good, he could not ruin it. The boy continued to shake his head, a look of incredulity plastered on his face. "No, Rise. They did not take your innocence away. Innocence is intangible. They can try to destroy that, but if you keep it and believe you still have it, no one has that power. After all, everything is defined by something. You don't have to let them to that to you. Define it yourself." He smiled. "I define you as innocent. I hope you see the same." He nodded reassuringly, before he reached again to pat the girl's hand.

"Do you ... not have a home that accepts you?" He asked, concerned, although his choice of words merely intended to bring that pain out for her to see it fresh again, reminding her she had no home that accepted her. "Don't, Rise. Don't hate yourself. You hate yourself because you see yourself as how people or society sees you and wants to force you to see yourself." He ran a hand through his hair. "Rise above them. After all, isn't your name spelled that way?" He chuckled, as if in a good-natured manner. "So rise above them, Rise." And then he turn the grin to something more serious. "I'm glad you shared. Do you feel better? I want to help, RIse. I want you to not bring yourself down anymore. If society doesn't accept you, you overcome it." In his head, Kendall was already egging towards turning her against people, against everyone, except him, and of course Ari. He wanted to make her bitter, and vengeful, on the world. Oh, joy, if that was possible.

Rise couldn't help but feel absolutely miserable, the more he spoke, the more it made her like him, and the less she liked the world, and just about everyone in it. He understood her! He knew what she was going through! Everyone else hated her.. they would always hate her, no matter what she did! "They are horrible people Kendall.." She said looking up at him. "The things they did to me and the other girls... the girls who are still there.. kidnapped, tied up... ra...hurt." She whispered, and looked at him, finally realizing that he understood her, he didn't hate her! He didn't hate her, and he was was a Slytherin, a Slytherin boy, who was older then her, a Slytherin boy who finally understood what she had been put through! Not even Frank knew everything they had done to her... he knew about her family, he knew about her life, and that she had been taken, but she had never told him the full details, and he had never asked.

"They did take my innocence Kendall." She whispered, staring up at him. "They... r...they... they... forced me... they hurt me." She put her arms around her stomach and stared at the desk in front of her, tears dripping down her nose. Every dreadful memory resurfacing. Her fingers suddenly gripped the edge of the table, and she looked up at him. "They raped me Kendall... they tore at me.. hurt me... lashed me up in a dark room and laughed right in my ears...Burning wax their laughter.." His hand suddenly touched hers, and she looked up at him startled, drawn out of her terror induced trance, and a small smile appeared on her face again, looking at him. She was so easily swayed by kind words. Kind words were the one thing that she hadn't heard for so long, the last words she had heard were being yelled at, told that she had taken someone's family away.. it was her fault, it was always her fault.. and here Kendall was.. smiling, and comforting her, urging her to let it all out.

When he asked if she didn't have a home that accepted her, her face went red, and tears welled in her eyes. "I.. I don't know." She whispered, suddenly painfully aware that she really didn't have a home. "My.. My parents.. they.. disowned me after they found out what I was.. and this summer.. I stayed with the Longbottoms, but.. but Frank's sister.. Alice, she hates me.. I can't stay there.. I can't hurt her more then I already have! I can't stay there! And then.. and then there's Ryo.. he offered to let me stay in his house.. the guest house he stays in.. but... his family, they wouldn't like me either.. and I just.. I just want to be accepted, is that to much to ask for? To have a family who will like you no matter what you look like, or what.. what happens on the full moon." She looked up at him, silently pleading with him to understand her plight.

When he asked if she felt better, she suddenly realized that she did in fact feel a bit better. She had cried some, and met someone who understood, who patted her on the hand, who listened to her tale, and didn't pity her, only felt sad for her. "yes.. actually, I do kinda.." She said and then listened to his words about society. It was true... they were only making her feel that way.. if she had been raised in that pack that she had been imprisoned in, she might have thought differently, maybe she'd be happy with who she was, and would have hated being human.. it was everyone else who made her sad, and depressed, and lonely, and it wasn't until he spoke it aloud that she realized she had been thinking that way the entire time. She bit her lower lip, and stared at his hand, before finding his eyes again. "You're right... thank you... thank you so much." She said staring at him, now smiling widely. "I feel a lot better, and it wouldn't have happened if not for you.. thank you." She said, smiling at him. She couldn't touch him, she hadn't gotten over that barrier yet, but she could smile at him, and let him know she felt more at ease around him.

Kendall raised an eyebrow very subtly, an impulsive reaction to the mention of other girls in Rise's fantastic story. As soon as it went back down a second later, he thought about them, the girls. He wanted to know the reason for their capture. Or was it simply because they were useless unless they were made into werewolves too? He would not doubt that reason, and thought it sounded rational then. Useless people were good being invisible. They were better, however, when used for amusement. Kendall wondered, though, why people like Rise was still allowed into Hogwarts. If they were hardly accepted in the Wizarding World, why should it be any different at Hogwarts? Still, the law was not for him to make or influence, yet. As such, he would play the game with these ... creatures. Kendall had never really thought about even a single interaction with one of them. After all, he knew rather little about werewolves, unless the Greybacks counted as the entire population of them. Augustus seemed, however, to merely be friendly to the Greybacks, and he will follow suit.

She was clearly letting it all out. Shout, shout, let it all out. These are the things I can do without, Kendall mused within himself, wondering why that song came from. He watched the emotions that manifested themselves on the Rise's face, as if implanting the memory of her pain into his mind, with the need for her face to accompany it. He shook his head when Rise poured out the rejection she had to face, as if he thought them all to have done the greatest of errors to this poor child. "It's never too much to ask for a family to love you, to accept you, or to make you feel belonged. It's a basic human need, after all. Nobody wants to be lonely. Don't let them make you treat yourself in such a hard manner, Rise." Kendall did not care for the names that the girl tossed out in her confession. He had considered them, surely, and then brushed them off, for the lack of elicited amusement within himself. Kendall contemplated on an offer of his Manor for Rise. It would be an accommodation in his dungeons, of course. It was disgusting to think that she belonged anywhere else except the dungeons. Kendall decided to hold that invitation. Of course she was not going to let herself into the Rookwood Manor so easily. His father had a reputation. Kendall was just going to have to let time, trust, and even his father's compliance in his plot, to lead Rise into where she would belong in. Of course, there was the hindrance of the Greyback boy too. No, he would deal with them all, later.

Kendall smiled easily when it seemed like Rise had lost some of the earlier tension in her voice and her body language. "There, wasn't that easy?" He masked a smirk with a grin. Oh the stupidity of some, he thought with glee. At Rise's repetition of gratitude, Kendall shook his head vehemently before stating firmly, "you chose to let it out, Rise." He paused. "I merely suggested. You took the active step forward, and you helped yourself. It's your credit to take. Not mine." Kendall ran his fingers through his hair, and eyed the girl. "And I must say, that smile beats that previous look on your face. Wear it well ..." He wanted to call her something affectionately, but a part of his mind was disgusted. It was something he needed to work on. After all, if he could go this far into persuasion, it was not to be let down by personal displeasures, since an ultimate pleasure of a sort of ownership seemed potentially promising. "Mmmmm ... lovely smile," he continued, taking the girl in with his eyes, as if he really thought that she was attractive, and worth a thought romantically. He had to try not to overdo the act, as much as he wanted to push for it to be convincing.

Rise couldn't help but smile at Kendall when he spoke about just needing a family to love her. She nodded slowly, and kept her gaze on the table, unable to find his eyes again. The fact of the matter was, she felt in her heart that now that she was, what she was, she didn't deserve the love, or the affection. She didn't deserve his smile, she was a monster, and she knew it. But he was keeping her head up above the water, her nose was just barely above the water, and it was because of him, she felt like she was out of breath, and couldn't take in a big enough gasp of air before she was pulled back under by the currents.

When he praised her for opening up more, she felt prouder of herself. Happier, he was pleased! He was really pleased! It made her heart ache with joy, someone liked her! One of the most unlikely people was being kind to her, speaking to her, smiling at her! She felt herself blush at his push towards her acting out, and speaking about it, and feeling better because of it. "But... It was because of you that I did.. so thank you." She said softly, her eyes watering slightly, and she couldn't help but brush away the small tears that clung to her lashes, trying not to look to miserable, or completely upset. At his sentence about her smile, her whole body froze, and stiffened, her eyes shooting towards his to see the joke in them. Waiting to see him burst into laughter at her emotions, at her weakness, ready for his personality to slip somehow, but it didn't.

He was smiling at her, looking at her, her smile, her face, as though he thought she was... pretty? She didn't know what to say, didn't know what to think, her entire thought process was thrown out the window, and she was forced to stare a him, her lips slightly parted, surprise evident. Her emotions clearly visible for the world to see, and she couldn't even hide it. She was shocked, no one thought she was pretty, not even before she had been bitten, and especially not now after she was bitten.. so what was this? What was he doing? Was he joking? Was he playing with her? Or did he actually think she was pretty? She was so confused, and she couldn't help but blush at his compliment, before she stared at the table, unable to find the right words to say.

It was too easy. Kendall had never expected Monday to reap such a reward for him, when he was not even trying too hard. Why did he not meet Rise earlier? She was everything he wanted ... in a pet. He was amazed at how receptive she was to him. Every button he pressed worked. A part of him suspected it all to be an act, but he rationalised the suspicion, and thought that she could not have guessed it all to throw an act back at him. No, her eyes and her words were genuine. He had no reason to doubt them. He could afford a sense of security with this. Kendall nodded approvingly, as if it was meant for Rise, but really was meant for himself.

"Well ..." Kendall shrugged, but accepted the girl's gratitude, gratitude for him bothering with her even, he thought. And then Rise grew silent. He thought she wanted to retreat from his comment, but her face showed a possibility of relishing his compliment, and so he relaxed.

"Well, Rise, it's been great, chatting." He smiled, then ran his fingers through his hair. "I've ... business to take care off." Kendall thought about the letter he was eager to write to his father, although his finger gestured to the books in his bag. "We must meet again," he smiled, and nodded. Standing up, Kendall held his knapsack up before looking at Rise once again. "Smile, darling." With a wink, he turned and left her.