A Cancerous Toad

Gordan was instantly floored by the display in front of him. While he had been enjoying his own self-satisfaction in forcing this girl to co-operate, she suddenly began doing some very strange movements. As if reaching out for something and holding it close to her chest, tears streaming down her eyes. What happened next was something he felt something he never felt before. Shame. What the hell was he doing, he knew this girl had to be punished, but to the point of actually crying? He had enough pride as a man to know he should've never have done that, not while he was raised by a bunch of females. This was something that went against his pride, against who he was, yet here he was, doing the exact thing he hated. Blinking a few times, jaw agape, he could only stare as fresh tears fell down her eyes.

He rolled the vial up in his hand and looked away from the girl in front of him. There was obviously something wrong with her, that much was certain. Clearly, she was insane, looking like she was pulling off an improvised performance right in front of him. This was something he shouldn't have seen, but here it was, staring him in the face like a bad dream. He just wanted this girl to feel bad for him, just once, for the teasing she put him through. Now he was the bad guy, looking out only for himself again. That was it, wasn't it? He was just acting selfishly again, poisoned by his own rage once more. He needed allies, not enemies...acting like this wouldn't help.

No, that was it, wasn't it. She was someone that could be useful in his quest to rule this school. She was a bruiser, someone that could harm someone willingly without the regret. That was it. If he performed a small feat of kindness, maybe he could gain her favor. She was feared around the school, at least by the first years, having someone with those capabilities would come in handy. There was only one thing to do.

After looking remorseful for a moment, he quickly snapped back into his normal attitude and sighed from the bottom of his gut. He set the vial down on his desk and proceeded to pack up everything he had into his rucksack, not wanting to stay in that place another minute. The food he left out on the desk, it was already cold and he barely had enough room in his possessions as it was, there was no use having them. Flipping the pack over his shoulder, he stepped cautiously over towards the distraught girl, his face cold and blank.

He held out the vial by his fingers and looked towards the door. "Here," he said, never breaking his sight from the door "Just take it. Tell the teachers I came down with a stomachache from the food and left early. You stayed the rest of the time, throw my name and they'll vouch for you." He waited a moment as she grabbed the vial and immediately stomped his way towards the door without looking back. Turning the handle, he spoke one last time. "We will never speak again. If you do, there will be trouble." With that, he pushed open the door and went into the hallway, never looking back.

Airy didn't know what to do, he looked so sad, and she wasn't quite sure why. He must have felt bad about the tears stinging her cheeks. She had always hated that about herself, crying at the most inappropriate times, she had to look tough for her sister anyway. So she stuck out her jaw, and waited for him to do whatever he was going to do to her next. But he must have had a change of heart with her little sister in the room, and suddenly came forward with the vial.

She slowly reached for it and took it from him, nodding once as he spoke. There had to be some secret motive behind helping her, but for the moment she couldn't think properly, all she could think about was the food he had left on the table and for the ability to open her jaw once again. She gripped her sister tighter and watched as he headed towards the door before immediately letting go of her sister and opening the vial, putting a dab of it on her stuck lips, she felt a weird pop in her mouth and the gum came loose.

"Oh thank Merlin! Kelly you came at just the right time.." She croaked, taking the gum out of her mouth and throwing it away quickly, working her jaw up and down to loosen the stiff joint. "How'd you get in here anyway? I didn't even hear you come in." She grinned towards the little girl, only she could see, standing in the middle of the room, in Slytherin robes.

"I can't tell you my secret Rora!" She giggled and watched as Airy went across the room to the plate of food and immediately grabbed whatever she could find and putting it in her mouth, if only to quiet the rumbles coming from her stomach. "Well you know how glad I am you're here.. but you probably shouldn't have come, that guy was absolutely crazy! He jinxed my gum so it made my mouth stick shut, and then got me in detention for something I didn't do just because he could! But he did give me the stuff back anyway.. and he seemed so sad at the end.. wonder what that was about." She mumbled as she shoved some more food into her mouth.

"I don't know Rora.. he was an odd man wasn't he?" She giggled and moved to a table, sitting down on it and swinging her short little legs. "What did he want anyway?" She asked, watching Airy.

"Oh he wanted me to apologize, then ran off like I was crazy or something, it's like he's never seen a girl cry before or something.. stupid tears, you know how much I hate looking weak in front of you.. that won't happen again.. I'm sorry about that." She said softly, looking over towards Kelly with a big grin. "Just don't tell anyone I did okay?" She asked and the winked, turning back to the food to eat.

If anyone had glanced into the room at that moment, they would see Airy standing by the food, looking over at an empty desk, and talking to a person that wasn't there.