You sit on the side and expect to keep sane

Tap, tap, tap, tap. Keera tapped her fingers against the rough, splintering
table at which she sat. In her other hand she held a deck of worn, vintage
playing cards, running her index finger along the top card’s face. Her eyes,
however, were not as busy as her hands; she had both of her eyes closed
in attempt to put an end to the stinging that she was feeling in them as a result
of not sleeping nearly as many hours as she should have during the past few
nights. Keera’s lips moved slowly as she whispered to herself, “I’d like to meet
ol’ Voldy- tell him what he’s doing wrong.” Her lips curled upward into a smile
that looked too eerie to be real.

Keera opened her eyes after minutes of just sitting there, drumming her fingers
and gripping her cards protectively. The whites of her eyes were, surprisingly,
as white as every; you would expect someone who got as little sleep as she
did to have bloodshot eyes. Keera looked down at her hands, taking the playing
cards in each hand before shuffling them expertly just to hear the sound of the
cards mixing themselves up. The speed the cards shuffled at was too fast, even
for a professional, and, if the pub hadn’t been one for wizards and witches, it
would have been pointed out, and Keera would have to snap out of her tired
trance to come up with some clever tale. Her smile dropped, an angry frown taking
its place. “Smash that clock!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, extending a
boney finger to point in the direction of the ancient clock that hung on the upmost
section of the wall. Several people jumped and looked her way, bewilderment clear
on their faces, while as the regulars just smirked and continued what they were
doing; this wasn’t Keera’s first time to visit the Leaky Cauldron, in fact, she made
sure to pay the old place a visit at least two times a week. The bartended scowled
at Keera for a moment before making her way over to the clock to take it off the
wall. She grabbed a chair and climbed atop it so that she was tall enough to reach
it, but Keera saw no more; she had turned her attention back to her deck of cards.
She flicked her wrist and the whole deck of cards jumped into the air and began to
rearrange themselves, only inches from her face.

“Anyone up for a game?” she asked the people in the pub, as if the clock incident
only moments prior hadn’t even happened.

The cards stopped as soon as someone joined Keera at the old table- it was the first
time, in a long time, that someone else had sat down at that table other then herself;
most people knew it was ‘Mast’s Table’ and so, they left it be. Keera’s eyes darted all
over the women’s face, analyzing every detail as she tried to remember if she had ever
seen her before; she could have sworn she had seen that face before, but her usually
perfect memory was failing her at the time. “texas hold em,” she stated simply, returning
her attention to her hands which danced along the table, causing the hovering cards to
deal themselves. She moved her index finger forward quickly, causing two cards to drop
to the wood surface in front of Keera’s opponent. A twitch of her pinky and her own hand
was dealt, and then five more in the center of the table. She lifted up the top corner of her
cards and memorized each one, but her mind was elsewhere, “I wonder… what group do
you belong to? Hmmm. Could it be that you are wasting your life from behind a desk, filling
out paperwork for a Minister who claims to be doing something ‘good’ for the people? Or
perhaps you are one of the”- Keera looked up from her cards and leaned forward drama-
-tically, lowering her voice- “last Death Eaters. I’ve seen quite a few good witches and w-
-izards die because they chose to play ‘follow the leader’. Are you one of the people with
a ‘master’?” Keera leaned back in her chair once again and shot the young women a toothy
smile, “I’m curious,” being her closing statement.

"Check," Keera giggled to herself, nearly forgetting her need for sleep now that she was
playing her favorite game. Her clear green eyes darted up towards the women before
her, “well? its your call?” she stated rather impatiently.

The corners of Keera’s lips tugged upwards as she listened to the women speak.
It truly was a relief to hear someone other than herself speaking against the two
different sides of light and dark. Why did there have to be two different sides fig-
hting for the same thing? Power. That was all anyone ever wanted; it was human
nature- hell, it was vampire, werewolf, and ghost nature as well! Muggle wars, wi-
zarding wars- they were all fights over the same thing and it was something that
couldn’t be denied, and yet, the people had somehow convinced themselves that th-
ey had something else worth fighting for, centuries ago. “Splendid. Absolutely brilli-
-ant; I haven’t heard anyone speak like that, well, ever! It is not a side that we need
to choose, but a name we need to make for ourselves; power is the one thing both
‘good’ and ‘evil’ have in common, and they fail to see it for themselves!” Keera exc-
-laimed, her smirk growing into a full-blown smile, her yellow tinted teeth visible from
beneath her light pink lips.

Keera watched as the women folded, putting her cards face-up in front of her. A
two of hearts and a seven of spades; not a good hand to have but then again, you
could win with just about any hand in texas hold em if you had enough luck- though
Keera did not believe in such things as luck. “I’ve been playing for eleven years and
–ugh- four months I think, “she replied, placing her own cards on the table gently, as
if they were worth a fortune. “A full house. Not the best hand but not the worst,”
she muttered, mostly to herself.

[Note: so sorry this took so long! I was away]