Nothing but Tricks

Andrew was getting pretty bored of the country life. Frankly, he had only been in Utah for a couple of days, trying to forget his thoughts and worries as he was beginning to approach his sixth year of Hogwarts. He wasn't thrilled or elated that he was going to join the higher ranks of Hogwarts either, because the whole place was now run by Death Eaters and Majere. Nothing was right about that place anymore. The only peace he could probably find there would be PA training, Quidditch...and Nerissa as well, if she wouldn't be concentrated on studies and whatnot.

But now it was vacation time, and he had to relax. So much for a relaxing summer though. Dodging collapsing pyramids, fighting in a large battle that basically destroyed the order, having his mind f***ed by Ne'Os's tricks, getting a new girlfriend, kissing a friend he had met recently, finding treasure underneath the ground a couple of miles away from here, yeah Andrew shouldn't have been a happy camper. Yet for some reason, he still kept his sanity.

He just lied on the long grass, staring up at the sky trying to clear his thoughts. He wore his gray jacket, which had been unzipped to reveal his white T-shirt, blue jeans, his black and white shoes, and his two gauntlets, disguised as fingerless black gloves. In his mind, he felt that trying to dress up all fancy was just a waste of time. He preferred something casual and something that he could wear at any time. And this was his choice.

He continued to lie on the grass, staring up at the frequently moving skies wondering how they had felt. Yes it was a very stupid thought, but he was sort of mellow at the moment. He couldn't imagine seeing the world go by so fast as he just hovered up there seeing so many things happen take place. He could've called it one of his personal hells actually.

Just lieing on the grass made Andrew drowsy. He was still healing from the past battles and skirmishes that he had been involved with and the potions that he toke to help heal them made him completly tired. He could see his vision begin to slowly turn black as everything became disoriented. Faint sounds had been blocked out of his mind and he felt the world begin to expand. Shaking his head violently to keep himself awake, he stared back up hearing the sounds of the birds again. That was a good sign.

He then wondered if any of his friends would happen to catch him out here. Chances were pretty small, but then again still a chance. For once, he wished that something could just come to him instead of him trying to find everything out at once. He was too fatigued to do that at the moment.

Jack Dyllan's uncle Chip had a summer home just about everywhere. And she happened to be the only family he could tolerate, and he was to her, excluding her brother Riley of course. So it just so happened that she had a key to everyone of his homes and he trusted her enough to spend nights at those places alone. As long as she promised to pop in every once in awhile and pay her favorite uncle a visit.

She usually liked to go to his home in San Francisco, it being her favorite city in the whole wide world. But lately she was tired of big cities. Big cities reminded her of parties and clubs, which reminded her of Satin's in Knockturn Alley, which reminded her of Vito Dee Symons, and she did not need to reminded of the tricky poltergeist any more than she needed. She saw enough of him to not need to be reminded of him.

So she had decided to go to his summer home in Utah. Might as well. The pace of life out there was a little slower. She had spent the night in his sprawling country home, eating cookies and downing soda after soda, watching some of her favorite horror films and a few musicals...Sometimes she wondered about her uncle.

That morning she had waken up, wanting to something...Well, anything really. It was nice to be somewhere where life was not rushed, but Jack was convinced she had ADD and needed to be doing something bold or adventurous at most any time. Even at home, she was known for packing up her knapsack full of goodies, camping gear, and clothes in case she decided to take "an adventure."

So of course, that was exactly what she did. She packed up her gear and pulled on her most comfy pair of skinny jeans, a random tee shirt, her smiley faced watch and her beaten pair of Converse. She was ready for the day.

After locking up the house, she went outside and remembered a nearby sprawling area of pastures. No one would be out there and it would be a most excellent place to begin her trek into the unknown abyss that was the grand countryside of Utah. She turned on the spot and apparated to the pastures she had been thinking of.

As soon as she landed, she continued walking, the dizziness of apparating leaving her quickly. She walked briskly, bumping her knapsack up higher onto her back. Her head was held high, there was a slight bounce in her step, and her eyes were locked on the horizon, as though she could walk to the very ends of the earth...Nothing was going to stop her.

Suddenly, her foot caught on something and she was sent flying into the dirt, her knapsack flying off somewhere and she landed, sprawled in the dirt. She shook her head and cursed, pushing herself up until she was standing, brushing herself off and ignoring the fact that she now had weeds tucked into her always frazzled hair. "Damn...What the hell?" She turned and saw what had tripped her up.

"Andrew Thompson. Fancy finding you out here."

Andrew jumped once he felt Jack hit in him the side. He was pretty much half asleep at that point, thinking about passing out for just an hour. Yet the world knew that there was no rest for the wicked or good. He immedaitly sat up, ready to chew the ear off the person who, he had seemed, purposely tried to kick him in the side. Yet when he examined the scence, all he could find was just Jack, lying on the ground next to him. Again, the world seemed to prevail for him, even when he didn't want it to happen that quickly.

"Oh," he said, his eyes drooping a bit from the sudden awakening "hey Jack. The hell are you doing out here in Utah." He strecthed his arm, trying to get the blood flowing throughout his body and yanwed as he did. Man why was he so tired? After a moment of recollecting every short term and long term memory, he remembered that he had taken 3 vials of potions to help accelerate the healing process. He lifted up his jacket on his left arm to reveal smooth skin, like nothing had ever happened before. Thank you, magic, he thought grinning to himself.

He pulled the sleeve back down to where it touched his wrist and looked back over at Jack. She seemed...different to say the least. Huh. "Oh and before you ask me the same thing," he said, anticipating her choice of words "I was just here to relax, and get away from all these adventures. I need a break." He lied back down onto the ground, nearly slamming his head. He put both of his hands on the back of his head, using it as a makeshift pillow for his drowsy head.

What had occured to him next was the presence of something pressing against his head. He pulled his head up to see what it was, and it was a small knapsack, something Jack had brought since he only came with his cell phone that lurked in his pocket. He sat up again and grabbed the knapsack from behind with his right hand. He then held out the small backpack, the top pointing upwards to keep the contents from spilling out. "Are you alright?" he asked, getting his concerning genes back onto his mind again "not hurt or anything?" Wait. This was Jack he was talking about. She would be fine.

"I assume you're up to no good?" he asked once more, looking around to see if any dragon or mouse wizard was following her. He couldn't be surprised to see a magical creature following Jack Dyllan. He was more surprised that there wasn't in the first place. "No dragons or Nessie this time?" he said, grinning slyly at her, like he had just found out some big secret that he could blackmail her with. She was basically the daredevil out of all his friends and could always expect something good to happen around her.

Jack laughed when he asked what she was doing out here. What were the chances that two friends would stumble, literally, into each other in a random place that no one lived at and had no connection to their friendship at all. She would bet...astronomical. but that was the thing about the magical world and its odd but wonderful little community. You could expect the unexpected.

"My uncle Chip has a house a few miles or so from here, I think. Probably an hour or so away. I was looking for something to cure my boredom and I wounded up here." She laughed. He mentioned something about escaping all of the adventures and she smiled a toothy grin. She knew of quite a few of them. The Battle for Grimmauld Place could definitely be considered an adventure and it did not help that she liked to drag her friends into adventures like attempting to tame the Loch Ness monster. She knew that for some people enough was enough. Strange though, the more Jack tired of her little adventures, the more she was eagerly awaiting the next. For someone who complained about the mess that life tended to throw at her, she sure liked to cause a lot of it.

She replied, "What a coincidence, I was off to find another, though I'm sure I can pause my quest for a chat. Otherwise, it is very likely that my feet will in fact fall off. Or my brain might finally quit. It has been threatening to do so for awhile. My common sense handed in its resignation awhile ago."

She had been cooped up for awhile. Her parents had gotten sick and tired of smelling alcohol and smoke on her clothes (from Vito, of course, who always had one or both whenever she was in his company) and of her showing up and leaving at odd hours to go to Scotland or London and they had finally grounded her. She obeyed for three days, a record so her brother informed her, before setting out to Uncle Chip's various homes, or finding more trouble in London or Hogsmeade.

Andrew handed back her knapsack and she pulled it onto her back, plopping down next to him and tearing up the weeds around her. She was always tearing at something. It was a bad habit. Yanking on grass, chipping paint, loose anything... He asked her if she was okay and she just heartily laughed, continuing to pull weeds out by the roots and did not reply. Was there any need? Even if she was mortally injured, she would grin and act as though nothing were wrong. She had a high pain tolerance and did not tolerate looking weak.

He began to joke and she laughed again, looking at him. "Unfortunately no, but a very pissed off poltergeist may show up at any time." She chuckled but said no more on the matter. She doubted he would of course, because he was very incapable of functioning at the moment. But as far as she could tell, that was the only disgruntled being after her tail. "But you're right. I'm not up to no good, yet, but I'm looking for No Good, so tell me if you see him." She smirked and flicked a little pile of weeds she had collected on her knee, watching the wind carry it away slightly. She sighed and turned to him. "So, out here to just use up some of your youth or are you just in a thoughtful kind of mood?"

A summer house? Houses? Andrew had remembered that her family had been rich, but never heard of summer houses all around. He wondered if she would ever use one of them as a safe house, to escape one of her more infamous pranks that she may have pulled in her lifetime. Most likely, in Andrew's opinion. She was always up to no good. He then considered if she had been walking the entire way, notcing that she might have been packing for a camping trip or something. It would be a very short camping trip that might've ended badly, depending on the situation.

"A summer home?" he asked, almost suspiciously thinking of the odds that she could've have just accidently run into him. If he didn't know any better, he would've assumed that she was stalking him and would immediatly inform the Aurors. She did after all cause a lot of problems for Andrew whenever she was around. The loch ness monster, the battle of grimmauld place yet was inevidable and the message that was sent to her that led him to the dragon hunt(I know that is complete bull, but you were after all the dragon xD). He didn't mind, but always seemed to want to keep a distance. Like most friends did if they were troublemakers.

"Well your conscience needs to be revived," he said, grinning a sly grin that let the other person know that he was joking "otherwise, you may lose two years off your life." Speaking of which, he had noticed an odd aroma coming from Jack. He couldn't identify it to be exact, but he concluded that it was smoke, most likely something from a job or something. Maybe worse. He decided not to ask though, not wanting to start a fight with his friend. He had a lot, but actually wanted to keep some, unlike some other snobs that would just trade their friends for money or something.

He was a bit confused when Jack had begun to laugh, as he really did try to ask her a serious question, which she responded by ignoring him. That was nice. But his heart sunk quickly, nearly touching his stomach as he heard the word.

Poltergeist.

It was a poltergeist that had tried to attack him at Diagon Alley, whom he had tried to avoid. It was a poltergeist that Chase had claimed to have killed her family. And now Jack was claiming that an angry poltergeist may be trying to kill her. At that point, he figured that enough was enough. His muscles grew tense and a stern look appeared on his face. "Poltergeist?" he asked in a serious tone, no traces of disbelief or doubt in his voice. He believed that this poltergeist was probably planning something. But, when he saw the ghost, he had seen that he tried to dress...fancy like. It didn't exactly scream evil mastermind.

He thought that he should've responded to Jacks question, not wanting to seem a jerk, even if he was acting like he was down the right path. So he said "I came out here for some relaxation and peace," he then sighed looking back at the grass "but once again, trouble has found me and refuses to let go if her grip until I finish what she started. Awesome." He had always referred trouble as being a girl, as his brother Danny had always described them like that. Nothing. But. Trouble. Yet, most of his 'gal pals' (he didn't want to use the words girl friends, as it got confusing) were acutally very nice, and hardly caused any trouble towards him...who was he kidding?

He gave her a teasing odd look as he reiterated 'summer homes' as though to say it were all a very likely story. Pricking an eyebrow, she said in a sarcastic voice, "Just kidding, I have actually been following you." She rolled her eyes and sputtered into laughter. "I happen to have an eccentric uncle who loves to travel and has come into a bit of money...As in lots. He has a few homes. And while I don't mooch or anything, he lets me hang out at them and stuff. Cause I'm awesome." She winked and laughed.

She grinned as he made another comment but saw, out of the corner of her eye, a weird expression come onto his face when she made her comment about Vito. Ah. That look told her that Andrew knew exactly who she was referring to. It was not a question as if to say "Really? A poltergeist?" But as though he were clarifying, because he was putting two and two together. Most people who knew Vito would be making the same exact face that Andrew was making. Upset that someone they knew had had any sort of run-in with the easily angered poltergeist and a slight worry that he would indeed show up.

She said, "I was kidding. He's not after me or anything. It's more complicated then you would care to know or I would care to explain." The way she said it was case closed. Jack was usually somewhat open. Though she was guarded, she would not usually withhold information. She did not mind people knowing things about her. She was not ashamed of anything she did.

But the situation with Vito was unstable on both ends. It was a precarious teeter totter and usually they were balanced just right so no one got hurt. She did not care to test that balance. Instead she continued on, "Oh, you betcha. I'm actually thing of changing my middle name to trouble. Or danger. So when I say 'trouble is my middle name' or danger, I mean it." She grinned to let him know she was joking, but mentally filed that away in her good ideas slot in her brain.

Andrew rolled his eyes when Jack said that she had been following him. If that were true, then she would've had to have followed him from New York, and he didn't know if she had mastered apparation yet. Yet he knew that she only said that to try and make him irritated, and slightly it did. He didn't show it on his face nor anywhere on his body as well.

Andrews anger still kept pulsating at it's peak as he heard that name. He wasn't really surprised that Jack had managed to fall in with the same crowd as Vito. She was a strong person who didn't exactly like or want to follow the rules. Sometimes Andrew worried, being a friend and all, but other times, he didn't know what to say or think. But this time, he had the answer lurking in his brain. And it pissed him off.

"Well this poltergeist raped Chase's mother and killed her family," he said in a very serious tone. He didn't like it when he saw his friends sad or upset. He got mad when he saw the person who made his friend mad. He was furious at the fact the man had gone so far as to kill his friends family. That was just plain low, as in burning in the Earths core low.

He looked at Jack and laughed slightly when she said she would change her middle name to danger or trouble. He could see that happening, but what really made him curious is why her parents didn't do it when she was born. It wasn't a mean thought or anything, but rather a statement that could describe her from the genes of the parents. Depending on if they were troublemakers themselves, he didn't know.

[I think we should drop the last paragraph from now on, as it's getting serious in the 3rd and then we're laughing in the 4th xD]

(yeah, lets just forget that fourth one, in like all of them, haha)

Jack glanced over at Andrew and saw him twitch or wince or something, just ever so slightly. Geez, what had his knickers in a bunch? What had happened to carefree, laugh off everything Andrew. Did he honestly think that she really had followed him or something. In a slightly harsher voice she said, "Chill, man. I was kidding." She scoffed slightly and shook her head, looking out across the horizon.

What Andrew said next though caused her to look so sharply at him that her neck cracked slightly. She had never heard that. And while she and Chase were not like best friends or whatever, she would still not want to hear that about even a rival or hers.

And Vito? Jack had never approved of the things that Vito did, and she knew that he had done some pretty terrible things. But she could honestly say she had seen the parts of Vito that were sad and almost human. When you saw the weaker side of him, you could understand the worser side too. She could not deny; she was starting to have just a little hope for him.

But this...this frightened her. And it made her heart come crashing down. Not Vito. That was just downright terrible. She knew he could be evil but that was beyond evil, beyond forgivable. She shook her head and said, "I don't..." But why would Andrew lie. She blinked and swallowed before asking in an almost scared voice, "Are you sure?"

Andrew was already in a sort of bad mood talking about Vito, that he did not care to answer Jack when she spoke to him. It wasn't something that he would do normally, but it was a very difficult topic for him to talk about. He never would have brought up the Vito subject if it hadn't been for her mentioning it.

He could immediatly tell by Jack's facial expressions that she had met him and was not lying about it. He had no reason to suspect her of lying to him, but she could've been joking, like they usually had done. Yet now was different. Things seemed tense as she began to look dumbfounded by the explanation. In the end, Andrew wondered if it was a good idea after all to mention it to her.

"Yes Jack," he said softly, closing his eyes to think for a moment about his next words. Hopefully, Chase wouldn't kill him for this later on, but Jack needed to know. She needed to know of Vito and how dangerous he truly could be. It could probably save her life one day if she continued to hang out with the killer. "Chase told me that one day someone had knocked at her door and she thought it waas a muggle. Yet after a couple of minutes, the man asked for her parents to come downstairs and once she did, he killed her parents, raped her mother, and murdered her siblings. 2, I might add."

At this point, he had forgotenn about Chase and was focused on Jacks safety. If she were to continue being friends/rivals/enemies, she would have to know. But what really made him curious is how she was still alive. The man seemed to get angry out of the blue, and nearly tried to kill Andrew when he accidently bumped into him at Diagon Alley. If Vito had tried that when he first met Andrew, who knew what he was capable of.

Jack closed her eyes as Andrew said the story, and she tried to keep herself from getting worked up or pissed off too much. She honestly could not believe that Vito would do something that bad. Honestly, she did not want to believe it. Something that he and the rest of the world did not know was that she had made a promise to herself, to try and help the misguided spirit. He had admitted to her his creation as a being of hate and she had realized the situation had not been instigated by him and for some reason, a seed of hope had grown.

She did not know why it seemed so important to her that he could be at least part way decent. Maybe because of her own strict morals, she did not want to think that she associated herself with people like that. Or maybe because if he could be helped, she would not feel as though her cause of promoting good in the world was so desolate and forsaken. Or maybe because she had grown to know Vito, good and bad, and it broke her heart to think that nothing she had done could help him.

She did not let any of this register on her face, because Jack did not let people know that she cared. She liked to think of herself as a robot. Intense, efficient, and plain. What you see is what you get. No tricks, no gray areas. But in fact, she was actually very sensitive when it came to the people around her. She could care less for her well-being, but the people she associated herself with...

She sighed and her eyes flicked open, a cold blankness on her face. "I didn't know," she said, almost sounding like a robot as she controlled her voice. "I'm going to...to have to have a word with him. That is...unforgettable." She blinked, staring hard at the horizon.