Passing Times

The sky was a nice shade of azure that day, Gordan looking straight up from his usual bench, relaxing casually on his back, head resting on his hands, and the sky his only companion. The wind continued to shriek softly in his ear, the whole canyon below them echoing it's constant song. Gordan however didn't feel like hearing it's intended tune, he just wanted the world to be a bit more quiet than it normally would, his mind feeling a bit more hazy than usual. He had won in his endeavor to get revenge against the Soulless, in fact, he was positive that she would never want to talk with him again. He could feel it deep inside that she thought he was insane, a complete psychopath that was spawned from Hades himself...but he couldn't stop going over the last few moments of that victory.

She had been tearing up, reaching out for imaginary figures in an attempt to embrace them. He was putting on the persona of being a madman, but he had actually been dealing with some who was clearly insane. That bothered him. It wasn't the question of 'did he go to far', it was the question of 'what will come next' that haunted him. He wasn't sure she'd show up out of nowhere one day, knife in hand, stabbing him in the gut and walk away, just as casually. No, he thought he'd be dealing with some bully, a high and mighty princess that didn't seem to know her own limits. He made a mistake in calculating who she was...was he feeling regret over his own mistake? That was it, wasn't it? He just made a mistake and ended up pushing himself in a direction that was wrong, and now, he would have to pay the price of that mistake for later.

Dammit Karma, stop being a cruel mistress.

Humans were bound to make mistakes, that was a fact, but this mistake could well end up costing him his life. He'd seen enough specials on television when he was younger to know that the clinically insane showed no remorse, no mercy when killing their victims. He wondered if the Soulless could end up being the next Dahmer, and that instilled fear into his heart.

Shaking his head to rid himself of those terrible thoughts, he lifted himself up from his spot, taking a quick check of his surroundings. His same old spot, with no one around except for the wind. His name was still etched on the wall, large white lines that spelt out 'GORDAN GRAY' in big letters. A recent addition thanks to she-who-must-not-be-named herself. He clicked his tongue at the thought, pushing himself upright and stood up. The wind felt cool against his cheek, his hands cold and numb from being pressed against stone for so long.

Walking over to the large fence that kept students from falling into the crevice below, he took a gander once more at the jagged rocks that spiraled down for dozens of feet below. He pulled out another coin from his pocket, a sickle this time, and flicked it down below, the audible clanging of metal on rock reverberating for some time. "Here's to you," he said in a soft voice, his mind filled with the possible lives this canyon took "Might not mean much to you now...but hope you've found your way."

With that, he let out a large quantity of air that was trapped in his lungs and stared out into the distance. What a nice day it was.

Airy couldn't get that stupid boy out of her head now. It had been two days, and she couldn't help but see that look of pity and fear he had given her before handing the potion to her and walking out. Sitting in a secluded corner of an empty classroom, Airy stared up at the ceiling, her head rested back. He must have felt bad about doing such things in front of her sister. That had to be it... but the look on her face made he wonder all the more.

Why had he looked so sad? He was the one who had done all that to her! Made her day a living hell, made her realize her own reputation in the school, and the fact that no one there thought she would get anywhere in life. Honestly she had no idea what she wanted to do after school, she wasn't exactly talented in anything at all. Occasionally she made potions, and she did kind of like plants, but mostly the ones that tried to eat you, or could kill you in a single prick.

Most people became Aurors, or healers, some people opened their own shops, or became curse breakers for Gringotts, others still became workers in the Ministry, going after their own field of work. But what did Airy want to become? She had no idea.. she didn't want a shop, she DEFINITELY didn't want to become an Auror, or anything to do with the ministry. There was always bad people who did bad things, but Airy had never been involved with them either.

She didn't particularly enjoy being evil, but she hated anyone who was good. She defended herself and got angry.. that was all that she had to her name. Airy groaned and rolled over onto her stomach, resting her head against the cool stones of the floor, trying to bring her thoughts together, but every time she came close, the image of that boy sneering at her pushed itself into the front of her mind.

Fine.. I'll go talk to him.

She jumped off the floor and took off down the hallway, her school robes billowing out behind her as she pushed past other students, her face dark, but not exactly scary, just gaining a few swears and murmurs as she passed. She flung herself down the Entrance Hall steps, and turned a corner sharply, heading directly to where she knew his little hiding place to be.

Slowing down before she reached it, she calmed her breathing, let her heart rate slow down, before carefully stepping down the steps, taking care to be quiet, before slowly leaning forward to glance around the corner to see if he was there.

Bingo!

There he was, staring down at the crevice on the other side of the fence, she stood for a moment silently, and vaguely heard him say something, which nearly made her jump before she realized he had said it to himself. Calming herself down again, she descended the stairs as quietly as possible, making her way over to his bench and carefully sitting down on it. Sitting back, she crossed her legs and stared upwards, completely ignoring him for the moment.

As Gordan stood by the railing admiring the view of the land before him, a large amount of anxiety began to creep into him, something that felt rather strange considering this peaceful environment he was in. Normally he wouldn't feel that amount of anxiety unless his instincts were telling him that someone was coming, which quickly gave him a thought. Reaching into the inside of his robes, he quickly fished out a large watch from the hem of his pocket and quickly peered at the time inside. It was around 3:48, normally the 'flower children' showed up at 4:30. Something wasn't right, he just knew something was wrong in his area.

Losing his rather rare smile, he quickly turned his head towards the stairwell, to check for any foreign intruders. Nobody was there, like always. Now he began to feel increasingly delusional, it almost felt like something was watching him from afar. Immediately, his spine tensed up, his blood running cold and his nerves walking amongst paper thin glass. Did whatever...down there...hear him!? Instantly he reacted, peering over the railing in front of him to get a good look at whatever was down there. Nothing, just the same old jagged peaks and valley, he couldn't even see the coins he had tossed down over the past few months. No, no, it was just his nerves getting to him. He spooked himself out momentarily because of this buisness with the Soulless, all he needed to do was just relax some more and get his mind off things for a while. With that, he calmly took a large breath of air into his system before turning around.

How he wished he didn't.

There, he immediately set his visage on his normally unoccupied bench, but this time, it was preoccupied. The Soulless was sitting there, legs crossed, hair slightly dancing from the breeze that fluttered around them. The air became permanently cold and stagnant as it watched this unexpected event, the mild shrieks that came from afar carrying the songs of the damned. He gulped rather subtlety, completely floor by this unexpected arrival. Was she some kind of masochist or something?! He was pretty sure he put on a genuinely horrifying act the last time he spoke with her, and yet, why did she come back!?

Quickly recapturing his old essence before he had the misfortune of being absolutely scared out of his wits, he spook in a dry and sardonic manner "I told you to never speak with me again. Trouble would come from it otherwise...yet here you are." Shit, he wasn't prepared for another 'performance' by this women, he felt completely safe in his fortress of solitude, yet here she was, destroying that safety like some mystical Frost Giant hellbent on destroying everything! "I mean really, I did tell you that..." Words couldn't flow into his mind, he only had questions and possible means of making sure she'd never visit again, but he was completely powerless right now.

Running, maybe he could try running. It seemed like the best bet for Gordan, because for all he knew, she had a knife lined up against her back, waiting to strike against her tormentor that got on her wrong side! Curses flew into his mind rapidly as he tried to prepare himself for the inevitable. He wasn't going to die here, not now! He wouldn't become just another ghost of this valley! He had too much to live for!

Airy watched as he suddenly grew nervous, looked at the stairs, then back down into the crevice, before finally turning and seeing her. The look on his face was almost worth coming down here for. He looked terrified. Was it terror? She wasn't quite sure if her presence had made him scared, or maybe she was just delusional into thinking maybe she'd scared him. But why would he be afraid of her?

She wasn't quite sure what there was to be afraid of. She had teased him a bit once, and then he had taken his revenge, as far as she was concerned they were even, but she could feel a little bit of annoyance creep into her. He was stuttering about how he had warned her not to talk to him again. But as far as she was concerned, she hadn't said a word.

So Airy kept her mouth shut, shrugging once and leaning her head back again, closing her eyes and not moving. Her hands lay in her lap lightly, her jaw was the only thing that moved, chewing on the piece of gum she inevitably had in her mouth. Even after the bad experience with it a few days ago, she hadn't given up on gum. She was just much more careful about the kind she got, and made sure to get special gum ordered in by owl in the morning, instead of from the person she usually got it from.

After a moment of silence, she lifted her head to look at him, one eyebrow raised as she smirked and patted the seat beside her, still staying silent. He had told her to not speak to him or she would regret it, so she wasn't going to speak to him, just sit in his area and wait until he demanded an answer from her, or gave her permission to talk. Until then she didn't even care if he left, she just wanted to talk, and if he was going to be a big baby about it all, she'd come back here everyday until he finally let her talk. Then she could get the horrible pressure off her chest.

No, no, this wasn't making any sense to Gordan as he continued to stare her down, mind hesitant yet sharp. The countless amount of questions that rolled into his head were fierce and unrelenting, he barely had time to process his next few words because of this massive overhaul. The thing was, even though her display of insanity had been shocking to say the least, he felt as if she showed no hostility towards him. Which instantly caused Gordan to fly into a frenzy of confusion and denial inside his own mind. He didn't show it on the outside, but inside he was a nervous wreck. She had embarrassed him, teased him, made him her toy and once he retaliated, it was like this!? The last thing he wanted was to be able to talk to this woman normally, he just wanted her out of his life! Why couldn't she accept that, he had no qualms about having her leave forever!

His brow furrowed though, eyes piercing and way as he had no idea as to why she was wanting to talk. The fact of the matter was, she was trying to get him to speak with her, that was obvious enough by the gestures she was throwing towards him, knowingly not saying a word so he would not be irritated...well, at least she figured out that part correctly. He didn't want to ask her why she was here, he didn't even want her here to begin with...yet here she was. Sitting in his seat that was meant for his enjoyment. Crap.

Pinching his nose between his index finger and thumb, he let out a slight groan, his mind to the point of breaking. She was infuriating, why did she have to choose him for whatever it was that she had planned? Just pick on some dumb Gryffindor or something, not him. Trusting his own instincts on this one, he felt the need to just walk away. With that, he walked over to the bench that she had taken control of and merely snagged his bag that was resting against the edge. He didn't want this, he didn't need this. He just wanted to be left alone to his own fruits.

Slinging his bag over his shoulders, he merely looked at her in the eyes and said "Don't. Whatever it is that you want, I won't have it. Just leave me alone, because you won't get any answers from me. Goodbye." With that, he turned on his heels and proceeded towards the stairwell exit.

Airy watched him leave, her mind twisting as he stared at her in confusion, shock, and fear, before grabbing his bag, and leaving. What was with him anyway? She wasn't going to deal with it though, she simply let her head fall back again and let out a large sigh. He was a strange person, and she could feel her stomach shuddering slightly, as though she were nervous, but it was more of an angry feeling.

After some time passed, she got up and left the area, knowing he wouldn't return that evening if he wasn't going to come back immediately. She'd just have to meet him there again. She WOULD make him talk to her.

--Next day--

Airy sat on the bench in some comfortable clothes. Sneakers, a baggy sweatshirt, and sweatpants. Her makeup was much heavier today, and she looked tired. She rested her head back on the bench before turning her head to stare at the name on the wall. GORDAN GRAY.

That was his name, he had written that in a fit of anger towards her, and then stormed away. She had chased him, kissed his cheek, and he had made her life living hell. Now all she wanted to do was talk. After what felt an eternity, she heard footsteps down the stairs, she shifted slightly in her seat and waited with bated breath. Until finally she saw him come down.

Their eyes must have met for a split second and he was gone again. Back the way he had come. Her eyes widened, and then she fell back against the bench again, letting out an annoyed sigh before waiting a bit and then leaving herself.

--Day after--

Airy laid out on the bench, her short skirt much shorter then school regulations, her muggle shirt low cut and showing a bit too much cleavage, especially in the position she laying in. She was bored and laying on the bench with her legs up on the wall beside her, throwing a small bean bag upwards, and catching it again. She had nicked it from the Charms Classroom where they had been practicing banishing spells.

Airy got bored of her game quickly though and sat up on the bench, huffing a piece of hair away from her face before leaning her head back again. Was he going to come today? She had no idea.. but she sure as hell hoped so. There had to be something she could do to get him to talk to her.. he had just walked away earlier, and if he didn't come back today, she'd know she'd have to track him down at some other part of the school, and she really didn't feel like doing that.

It felt like an eternity since Gordan had last spent time in his sanctuary. Granted, it had only been a day, but that day was spent listening to students prattling on and on in the common room. Sure, if you looked hard enough, you'd be able to find a nice shadowy corner someplace, but the chances of still being caught and having a conversation or two thrown your way was still high. He could start searching for other places, but there were so many students in Hogwarts you'd actually have to walk backwards in order to find anything new. It was frustrating, he had his own little corner of heaven, but some vixen was trying to steal it. What a load of havoc.

The day before he had managed to run into her again. Already waiting for him, possibly resting in his spot! The sight of that moment, that usage of what was his being used by some insane masochist just infuriated him. He wanted to throw her off the railing, he wanted to kick her out of his corner, his life even, and just call it a day. But no, she was wanting something. The most logical thing to do would be to cave in and ask her what she wanted. After what had happened the last time he had tried to be polite towards her, she had tortured him and downright embarrassed him. He wouldn't subject himself to that kind of ridicule once more, he still heard whispers about his encounter in the hallways, hell, even the professors were taking notice! They never noticed anything! So long as you didn't kill anyone, you'd be absolutely fine and walk away Scot free, yet somehow, they caught word about this deal! All those moments still fresh in his mind, the only thing he could've done was walk away. He would sentence her fate another time, at that moment, he was pissed.

The day afterwords finally made him snap. She was staying there again, but this time wearing provocative clothing! Would that really make a difference, he loathed her all the same! Was this how his glorious bench deserved to be treated, made a mockery of by some woman trying to gain his attention?! He wasn't even sure she was wearing a skirt, it might as well have been a small piece of paper wrapped around her waist! Hands balled into a fist and his headache returning, he finally had enough of this. It was time to get rid of her, he needed to act now. He didn't care if he would die, what was the point in trying to live if you couldn't enjoy the simple things in life?!

With an aura that could only be described as 'murderous', he made his way down towards his spot, teeth gritting to the point of hurting. Why his anger meter was beyond the mere limits right now didn't matter, all he wanted to do was just get her to go. He approached her, and in the most intimidating voice he could muster, he began his rant.

"What the hell do you want?!" he started, his eyes practically bloodshot and his tone smeared with venom "All I asked was that you just leave me alone! I don't want you here, but you somehow keep showing up as if I did! Newsflash, I don't want you here, I can't understand why you would bother?! You don't seem to understand this, so I guess I'll just say it again, I hate you! Just leave, go, F*** die for all I care, JUST GO!"

Steam rolling out of his ears, he showed no attempt of recovering any time soon. He was pushed to the point of no return, her constant reappearances just making things worse for his psyche. She was insane, he was sane, she was short tempered, he was the most patient man in the world, but she somehow thought she deserved to be here!

Airy jerked her head up when he came barreling up to her and started to yell. Talking about how he hated her, and wanted her to go die. Well that was nice... she had simply been sitting here, minding her own business when some random kid came up and started to shout obscenities at her. But ah well, she had things to say, and at least he was talking to her now, but he still hadn't quite given her permission to talk, and she'd rather not be hexed into next Tuesday.

So Airy stared at him, still chewing her gum, and carefully patted the seat again beside her, scooting over and looking away from him again silently. There wasn't much she could do, but she had to have an answer. The look of terror on his face every time he saw her was too much.

Sure she was a bit hot-headed, had a bit of a temper, sure she had kissed him on the cheek the other day, and followed him around for her own amusement, but that didn't add up to how he was treating her, and she needed to know WHY he hated her before she would leave him alone.

Airy carefully bit her lip and stared at the ground, almost looking sad after his little outburst. She didn't know what to say to it all. She had never really been hated before, well sure people disliked her greatly, she was angry, and hot-headed, and much prettier then everyone in that school. She had made a few enemies in her day, but this boy...

This Ravenclaw boy who she had done nothing really bad to, was treating her like she was the Dark Lord. Flinching when he saw her, screaming about how he wanted her to go die. Her actions didn't measure up to this hate. After letting this process a bit in her brain, she looked up at him slowly, and took a deep breath.

"What did I do so badly to make you hate me?"

Her voice was pained, it almost hurt to speak to him. She was afraid the very sound of her voice around him would cause him to hex her. So immediately after her words, she let her head drop, staring at her feet, clicking her heels together and clutching the edge of the bench. She felt like she had just run a mile, and couldn't breathe, but maybe that was just the fear that in his insanity he'd whip out a knife or his wand and kill her on the spot.

She was the sane one, he was absolutely insane, he had a worst temper then her, making her seem like the most patient person on the planet, and he thought he had the right to yell at her!

While not visibly noticeable due to his rather impromptu rage, Gordan felt incredulous by the Soulless' reaction to his anger. While she was known to be hot-headed and absolutely cunning in her designs to torture those around her, she was acting...meek, worried even. Sure, it was a natural response to anger, revert to a submissive form to try and guilt the aggressor into backing down, but why did she have to go so far just to pull another trick on him? That's what this was, there was no doubt in his mind that this was what she was after. She seemed to be like a strong girl, showing a moment of weakness even for a second seemed out of the ordinary. It wouldn't be the first time he'd met with someone like that, some of Gordan's previous associates had developed personalities like that over the years, but for someone like the Soulless to become this destitute by his response...it was unthinkable.

Naturally, Gordan began to feel something along the lines of an admission of guilt. He had been unprovoked in his anger and he willingly flailed his anger towards someone who wouldn't even fight back. All in all, he was expecting a punch to the face, a shove in the chest, something that would give him motive to go all out. It never showed however, it seemed as if that opportunity had sailed past a long time ago. Even the tone of her voice helped cement that fact into his mind...she wasn't looking for a fight. The final question remained then: why was she still here? He wasn't looking for friends, that was obvious enough in his mind, but this constant and blatant disregard of what he had been telling her was...strange. This was someone with a purpose now, was she possibly after his work or something? A quick turnaround for some essay or assignment that had passed some time ago? He couldn't figure it out, and that bothered him most of all.

Letting the guilt go as quickly as it had come, he quickly clicked his tongue at her in irritation and turned his visage towards the wall, his face cementing into a rather normal tone. He crossed his arms together and merely allowed the breeze to help guide his thoughts as he started to sift through his own thought process. He wanted her gone, that was the main objective here. Nothing else mattered, he needed her to leave before he decided to have another event with his sanity. He figured he'd just roll with his instincts on this one, see where the flow would turn in the next few moments.

"You keep bothering me," he stated in an obvious tone of voice "haven't you been listening to what I have been saying? Every time I come here, I expect moments of solitude, times where I can forget about what I have to worry about, and here you are...intruding upon that time. Instead of removing the stress, you're just causing it."

He shot another piercing glare at her, his mind set on making her leave. He wanted nothing further to do with her, this game of cat and mouse was starting to get old. "You don't know me, I don't know you. Frankly, I don't want to know you. So you should just leave, because you won't get anything further out of me."

As if declaring his point as a sound one, he allowed himself to sit back down on his familiar bench, an aura of defiance constantly rising from him, his irritation levels refusing to waver. The Soulless sat next to him, but he would not be bothered by that fact. She was already in a state of weariness anyway, probably from this long debacle they have been put through in the past few days.

"Just leave," he restated "nothing will be gained by talking with me, because I offer you nothing."

He was so angry...

Is this really the response she initiated from people all the time? She had never seen it more visible then with this guy. He stood in front of her, and she could feel the waves of heat coming off of him from his anger. And she was still so confused. Why did he hate her THIS much? She had followed him around, teased him a bit, and he was acting like she had killed his mother or something. How did a harmless teasing of a kid who seemed a bit too wound up, end up with all of this anger towards her?

She had been expecting him to start hexing her the moment she opened her mouth, but instead he went on another angry tirade about wanting to be alone. She couldn't help but wonder what it was about people that made him need to be alone so often. People may not like HER, but she certainly liked being around people (unless it was in a big crowd of them). But he seemed dead set on never being near another person ever.

She wasn't angry at him though, and that confused her all the more. Why wasn't she angry? Where was her usual spark of annoyance, her anger that made her tighten her fist around her wand and send green and silver sparks towards the ground? Her hand found her wand handle, and she held it tightly, but nothing happened. No anger. No sparks.

"Are you..." She swallowed hard. "Afraid of me... or something?" Her voice was annoyingly high pitched, while she struggled to hold back emotion. Aurora hated showing weakness, it was dumb and uncalled for. However, this kid had made her fall into the point of not only wanting to know, but needing to know why he hated her so much. Why he had suddenly turned and let her go. Why he was so terrified of her.

"You looked so freaked out when my sister came in.. I mean, I know she's younger, and she shouldn't have been there in the first place. But you looked so freaked, was it cause you were caught being nasty? Is this a guilt trip because you allowed yourself to take revenge? I'll admit, you were right to take revenge.. maybe not to the degree you did, I mean all I did was follow you around and then kiss your cheek, but really."

Airy was on a role now, and she couldn't stop talking now that he seemed to be willing to give her the chance.

"I'm sorry I'm disturbing your peace, and believe me, it's not easy for me to say sorry. But I am... I was pissed off when I came down here in the first place, and you were an easy target... I apologize for acting rashly towards you. I just want to know why you seem so hell-bent on not talking to me... I didn't really do anything THAT bad.." She stopped finally, her eyes wide, before finally she looked back down at her lap with a sigh.

"Just like to know what I did this time to make everyone hate me... usually I know."