187 Morningwood Lane, Obsidian.

G

Gregory White

Well-Known Member
 
Messages
668
Gregory buried his head into his pillow. A single ray of sunshine felt as though it was piercing his ear. He rolled over with a groan.
Bugger mornings.
Bugger starvation.
Bugger that damn window!
With a sudden whirl of movement, he leapt up and rammed the curtains closed. The force of it pulled the curtain rod down, and to his horror is sprung up again and fell. He ducked, covering his head and was enveloped in a dusty curtain. Faint twitters could be heard from under the material also, and with tweats of disapproval, out hopped Nessie. He wrestled with the curtain for some time before wriggling his way free and collapsing onto his bed. Moaning, Gregory closed his eyes.
Poke poke, scratch.
Peck poke scratch.
Already in a foul mood, he opened his eyes slowly and found himself face to face with a very angry sparrow.
Peck. went its little beak, directly onto his nose. He flapped his arms with a shout and a mixture of curses.
"Ah, sod it all you little blighter! Damn 'ye eyes! Come back here, ow! Dammit!"
This morning was turning out to be quite eventful.

Greg massaged his temple slowly, pouring over the pumpkin juice stained pieces of parchment. He reached up into his hair, trying to find his quill. Perplexed, he looked up and began searching more earnestly. A wet trickle had begun down the back of his neck.
Bugger.
Reaching out, he pulled out the quill that had found its way to the nape of his neck. Scowling, he pulled it out and continued writing.
 
Audel paused with his hand on the knocker.
He closed his eyes and removed it slowly. What the hell was he doing here? Father would rip his bones out and leave him as a useless meatsack if he knew he was here. At the same time, Audel barely even wanted to be here himself.
To hell with it. His connections had managed to get him this far, although not without difficulty, so why should he not see a friend? The word bubbled like a cauldron in his mind. Friend. Euch.
Without realising it, his hand had crept up to the door knocker again. Almost mindlessly, he knocked.

Bang bang bang.

There was a short pause, before the soft of soft footsteps padding down the stairs could be heard. The sound filtered through the crack between the dirty stone and white wood. There was no time to retract it. Oh well, thought Audel. If it wasn't Gregory, he would Obliviate whoever met him or apparate out, leaving the person to think it was a prank. How classless, he thought.
The door creaked open.
 
Gregory looked up from his work as several loud knocks reverberated from downstairs. Who could it possibly be? It couldn't be Hayden or Michael. Michael was studying, and Hayden with down the hall in his room. With a little chitter, Nessie hopped onto his shoulder, poking and pricking his way into a comfortable position. Greg petted him absently as he stood and padded down the stairs.

He leaned forward and looked through the little eyeglass and almost collapsed. He was here! Dear Lord, Audel Ater was here, on his doorstep! How on Earth did he find him? Wide-eyed, he pushed open the door slowly and stared Audel in the face. There he was, standing awkwardly as though he had half a mind to leave, with his hands jammed into his pockets. Crisp black suit as always with no tie, with little hints of flour and sugar peppering the shoulders. Red eyes met grey.

"Audel!" roared Greg, clasping him in an unbreakable embrace. He leaned back, hands still on his shoulders and exclaimed; "How the bloody 'ell did 'ye find me? Never mind, never mind, come in!"
Ecstatic, Gregory hustled Audel through the door without formality and began chatting immediately.
"Goodness to God, what are you doing in this area? I suppose it doesn't matter, but it looks like ye're on business, aye? Never mind that, are you hungry? Thirsty? We don't have much here, but tea-"
 
"Gregory."
"And 'ye wouldn't believe how hard it was to find this place! I was bloody lucky, let me tell 'ye-"
"Gregory-"
"You out 'ta meet my roommates! I was lucky to fine them, too, come to think-"
"Gregory!"
"-and I just couldn't say no, of course! Funny circumstances, that. The was pumpkin juice all over the-"
"Gregory Luther Yearling!" bellowed Audel. He was irritated in having to yell. Of course, Gregory shut up.
Audel pushed back his hair with a sigh. "What in God's name are you on about."
The hug had startled him when Greg threw open the door. Gregory was what Audel liked to think of as a 'mutual' acquaintance that he cared for more than he was likely to admit. Even so, physical contact with him was completely unnecessary, uncalled for and completely out of the question. He had decided to ignore the hug until Greg continued to touch his shoulders. Enough was enough.
"I think we had better sit down." he said coldly. He meant it coldly. Not only was Audel irritated by the personal space invasion, but was made more livid by the fact that Gregory had left no sign of his leaving England, nor had he alerted Audel (or anyone for that matter) of his coming. Being an information-holic, Audel liked to know where everyone was and what they were doing at all times. Coming to the same country that your friend (he shuddered) lives in and not telling them? Ridiculous! He ought to hex him.
 
"Er..." replied Greg awkwardly. "Aye. In here" he said, directing him to the kitchen.
Together they walked in, Audel sitting down stiffly on the thin wooden chair. Always with a fine memory, Greg took the tea for the both of them, sugar-less and plenty of cream for Audel, two sugars and cream-less for himself. It seemed that he had picked up a habit from Audel, as he pushed back his hair in a similar way.
Finally he sat, shifting awkwardly in the silence. He knew Audel was never one to waste words, so he got straight to the point.
"How did you find me?"
 
Audel was as stiff as Gregory had perceived. He stared, stony faced, as Greg finished the tea. He looked down at it and suppressed a smile. He still remembered the way he took his tea. Serious again, there was a pause as Gregory spoke.
"How did you find me?"
Audel scoffed at the question. "Oh, how do you think, Gregory Yearling? If you came within a hundred meters of the Pacific ocean around NZ, I'd know."
Gregory looked down at this.
"Let us start with why you are here, shall we?"
It was a valid question. As soon as he had received such an urgent letter from him not three weeks back, further contact ceased. His curiosity and, he hated to admit, his compassion was piqued in the letter. Whatever compassion Audel had was a shriveled black speck at the bottom of his heart that merely twitched when Gregory wrote for help. At least, that is what he preferred to think. At the same time, he was irritated when no further word came to him from Gregory about his whereabouts, his personal status or even about the problem itself. The letters on the paper were almost invisible from use, and Audel had poured over it, simply aching with curiosity.
 
Greg looked down once more at the question. It was a long story, and he was loathe to tell it. However, if anyone was owed an explanation, it was Audel. Frank was best. He hated to tell Audel that it was all his fault that he had to leave England; No, that wasn't right. He was as much to blame as him. This whole event was simply an unfortunate misunderstanding, coupled with prejudice and denial. Denial on Gregory's part, although he did not know it.
"My father discovered our friendship." said Gregory frankly. There was no other way to say it. No words could express his father's irrational behaviour, and it simply did not need to be said. Audel would understand instantly.

Gregory did not believe that Audel was in league with Death Eater's. This was some feat of denial. The Ater's were one of the greatest Death Eater families alive to this day. A whole clan of vicious, self-serving people whose only care was to be as nasty to everyone except each other as possible. Even then, more than once had Audel visited him with black turtle neck sweaters, hiding ugly hex marks and jinxes that everyone loved to bestow on each other. Greg was simply too sweet and too naive to believe that they were really as dark as they seemed. After all; he had gotten to know one Ater, and he believed him to be a charming, well-mannered person when he chose to be. He hoped.
 
"My father discovered our friendship."
And so he threw you out, did he? thought Audel. Understandable. A respectable Healer would not stand to have his son be associated with such evil, he grinned. Sobering himself, he looked at Gregory seriously. This would take some tact to navigate. Audel was a suave gentleman, but he was navigating a rocky bay.
"Am I to offer you compensation?" he said sarcastically. Such a ridiculous show. He was almost ashamed of himself.
Audel leaned back into the rickety chair and stroked his chin, frowning at Gregory.
"I'll retract that last statement, if you will permit me to say that you have indeed been very foolish."
It was quite true. Perhaps the Ater reputation had not reached as far as England, but after spending so much time in Audel's presence, surely Gregory would have known what lot he was throwing himself in with.
 
Michael let out a huge yawn as he turned the handle of his front door. Rubbing his face with his free hand Michael lugged himself and his unnaturally heavy backpack into his home. He was glad the door was open, he would have hated to go through his backpack simply to find his house keys which would no doubt be right at the bottom. It was a good benefit from having two room-mates he supposed. It was always likely that at least one of them was in the house. Throwing his bag into his bedroom which was closest to the door at the front of the house, he let out another yawn as he kicked his shoes off and threw them in with his bag. Michael could hear voices coming from the kitchen, so he padded down the hallway in his socks, reaching his destination to find an unfamiliar face. "Hey Gregory." He said. "And company." He added, too tired from his day of studying to assess whether the guy was good looking. He headed straight for the kettle and made himself a strong coffee, not wanting to interfere with whatever conversation the two men were having, but needing a coffee regardless of who was in the room.
 
At the sight of Michael, both men in the kitchen froze.
Gregory almost dropped his tea onto the table.
Audel had frozen out of wariness and suspicion, Greg out of shock and embarrassment. Together, they stood to attention, looked at each other and away again.
"Er, Michael, this is-" Gregory was silenced halfway with a hand over his mouth. Michael, still making tea, didn't turn around. Audel shook his head at Gregory and took his hand away from his mouth.
"Yes," said Greg, giving Audel a strange look. "This is an old friend. Sorry I didn't call to tell you of visitors, this was unexpected." he tried instead, always polite.
 
Audel almost slapped his forehead. That ridiculous goof! The last thing he needed was to have his name circulating around Obsidian whilst trying to keep a low profile. Auror's would be tailing him all the way back to the mansion within an hour if Gregory had said his name.

He silence Gregory again with a look. Nodding to both of them, as if Michael could not see, he turned tail and headed for the door.
This was just brilliant. There would be a fight at the door, of course. Or at least a fight on Gregory's side. If there was any doubt to the affection Audel held for Gregory, there was none for the affection Greg held for him. It was obvious. Gregory was shy, and probably didn't have many friends at all.
Unlucky to have met me, thought Audel, with almost a touch of regret. He picked up the pace, hoping to reach his apparation point before Gregory caught up to him.
 
Gregory was speechless for a moment. Snapping back into himself, he raced to catch up to Audel.
"Hold on a minu'! Come back, 'ye bastard!" he roared, pushing the chair out of the way as he bolted down the hallway.
Panting, he leaned on the door frame at Audel paused to apparate."I said wait! Petrificus-Totalus!" he cried, flashing out his wand and pointing it at Audel.
 
The moment Audel paused for concentration, he was caught.
There was no moment to cry out in fury before he was flat on his back, mouth half open in a grimace of anger.
Inside his mind, Audel floundered in both shock and rage. How dare that little rabbit jinx him, when his back was turned! The moment Audel was free, he would curse Gregory's legs off. He'd melt his face and burn his heart. He would disembowel that treacherous stomach and remove his kidneys and wear them for a necklace. He would-
Audel continued in his mind like this for some seconds as Gregory walked up to him, panting. In the back of his mind, Audel was also grudgingly impressed. It was a fine jinx.
 
"I thought I said to wait." said Gregory, grey eyes becoming stormy. Never a darker look had graced his face before. The fury was unknown to him, and so it was uncontrollable. Slowly he knelt, and pressed his wand tip to Audel's breastbone.
"You are going to meet me outside of The Dark Serpent tomorrow at noon. And we will resolve this matter before things get too out of hand. I hope you agree, because if if I find that you are not there at exactly noon..." his voice lowered the most venomous hiss. "There will be a reckoning."
There was a long pause as Gregory stared down at the petrified, but still obviously furious Audel.
"Do not forget." he added as he stood. Turning his back, Gregory walked up the steps. Not even turning around, he pointed his wand in Audel's direction and said "Finite Incantatum." He shut the door. A click of the lock was heard in the cold air.
 
Audel rose, stunned. If asked again, he would never admit to being as flabbergasted as he was then. The raw shock of seeing such poison features on Gregory left his head reeling. It was quite understandable. If anyone knew Gregory and had witnessed this seen, they would surely say he was jinxed.
The longer he stood up to his knees in the snow, the more the fury crept back. A reckoning? There certainly would be. Pulling out his pocket journal, he wrote. "12. Dark Serpent" in green pen. Snapping the pen shut, he turn on his heel and stalked to his apparition point. Under the blanket of snow, the click of his heels could still be heard.

END SCENE​
 
Gregory collapsed on the snow-covered steps of 187 Morningwood lane, aching from head to foot. Greg and Audel had practically dragged each other here, occasionally using side-along apparation. His lungs were burning with cold and both of them needed a warm bath, hot chocolate and a fire (although Audel would most likely demand a firewhiskey).
His head fell back onto the door with his eyes half shut, breathing heavily with his fingers turning blue in the cold snow. He knew they were both very, very lucky to make it out alive. He had just made an entire murderous clan-full of Death Eaters his enemies. Greg felt both exhilarated and terrified at the same time. With a gasp, he dragged himself to his feet and opened the door, stumbling in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top