Beware of Snake Bites

[Isabella Pisces]

A loud frustrated scream sounded the dungeons as Isabella Pisces hurled one of her textbooks with impressive force. It landed a couple of feet away from her half open and bent. Never before had the young Slytherin been this frustrated with something! She had been working and working on this spell for the past couple of hours and there was still no progress to be seen. Most people wouldn’t guess by judging Isabella from her behavior, but she was a very strong perfectionist. Due to the way she treated people, friendship and love weren’t really her forte for getting what she wanted. If she wounded up being a dictator, she wouldn’t rule with love. No, Isabella would rule with an iron fist. So to make sure she could stand her own ground, and keep a good control on her magical abilities, Isabella practiced whenever possible. Whenever she couldn’t seem to get something done the way she wanted it to be done, Isabella got frustrated, which wasn’t a very good thing. When Isabella got frustrated, she had a tendency to get really mad and do things she often didn’t intend to. Getting upset with people she barely had a problem with was one of them most common problems she knew she needed to control at one point or another. . "Then again, I wouldn’t get mad like this if I could just get these spells down without all of this trouble." Isabella kicked her book to the side and tried to use the spell again. When nothing happened once more Isabella growled under her breath. It kind of stunk that she couldn’t practice magic outside of school. Isabella could only imagine all that she would accomplish if she would work on them at home as well as in school. But, it wasn’t allowed so Isabella figured she would just have to deal with it.

Isabella was about to go and give it another shot. But she was interrupted by someone else entering the area of the dungeons she was already in. Most of the time she would just tell the person to scram and let her get back to work, but this certain someone and Isabella had somewhat of a history. At least they had enough of one to make stop what she was doing to communicate with him. "Romanes." Isabella hissed as her blue eyes narrowed in disgust. He was the last person she wanted to see down here when she was in a mood like this. There was just something about this boy that she really disliked. Maybe it was his hair, or his stupid little smile. Whatever it was, it made Isabella want to smack him every time he came around her. Isabella vowed that she would make his life a living hell for that too, and to think that it all started with him being a brat and hitting her with a soccer ball. If he had never done that, chances were that Isabella never even would have known his name. Isabella heard a rumor about him through the grapevine over him being in an arranged marriage. Of course, she had no idea if it was true or not. Just something she thought she heard people mentioning. Or maybe it was the rumor has it magazine? Isabella couldn’t remember. Would he even tell her if she asked? It seemed unlikely, but Isabella knew that everyone had his or her dirty little secret. Even she did. "Get lost loser!" Isabella called out to Sergios as she went over to reclaim her book. She was too tired and frustrated for this kind of stuff. She somewhat doubted that he really cared, but that was his own problem. If he wanted to poke the bear and get her upset, it couldn’t really be held against her if she decided to knock him upside the head now was it? ​

 

[Sergios Romanes]

The last thing that one would ever expect a Gryffindor to be was in the dungeons, practicing his potions from the previous year in an empty room. Sergios Romanes added the final ingredient and what would one know, he managed to deal with getting it right by the first time. He smirked since he needed it, and he managed to get it right! He was proud of himself. Sergios looked around the classroom as he could have sworn that he had heard something down here. Shrugging, he went on to practice his potion. He started to think over his siblings and family. Ostensia was heartbroken over someone he used to look up to. Damian Metzger. Isabella was married to Demeter and seemed to be living a good life. She managed a good one with a stable job as well, the badass Slytherin developed a heart at last. And there was Isaia, the Head Boy of the school. A Ravenclaw dating one of the hottest Gryffindors in the school, Aphrodite Snow and they were completely and totally in love. Acia was too young to love, or live rather. And then there was him. Sergios, the one that was in one of those stupid marriages that he could not see the bride for a long time. It was a total secret that Sergios hated his life, and he never told anyone about it. He instead took his frustrations out during soccer and Quidditch. Other than that, he was just going to have to look toward the good part of life. He would figure it out soon enough. As long as he kept away from that stupid girl, Isabella Pisces. Her name was the same as his sister, and he could not bear to think that someone with that name could be so horrid. He just wished that he knew why she hated him, and why he hated her.

Sergios would have to figure that out. He managed to make another potion from the previous year, and he finished with his review. This was all just fun for him since he was never really that good at it anyway. He sighed and he started to think more and more about it, and wondered why he was even bothering with potions. He would not use them really. Shrugging, he cleaned up everything, and Sergios left the classroom and headed further into the dungeons, to make his way out when he heard someone hiss his last name. He turned his brown eyes to look at her and he raised an eyebrow. He did not initially want to talk to her before she told him to get lost. He gave her a look like Isabella was out of her mind. "Are you stupid or something? I was perfectly happy with ignoring you. But since you apparently want my attention..." Sergios smirked and he flourished his wand. He cast a verbal spell to banish her book from her, to cause her to go chase it. He waited to see if it would hit, but if it hit her, then he would be thoroughly pleased with that too. Sergios just hoped that she would not use the protection spell, and then cause a duel. Oh wait, now that would be really fun if she did. Perhaps that would be something too, and it was supposed to be fun. Sergios folded his arms across his chest before he snarked, "Are you really lonely enough to make me notice you so that you have something to yell at? Come on, you know I would not have noticed you until you said my name." Sergios was actually lost in his own mind before she had managed to catch his attention. He never would have seen her down here. Even if he had, he would have ignored her. He had a headache and did not want to deal with a basket case.​

 

[Isabella Pisces]

Isabella raised an eyebrow at Sergios' comment before she snorted softly and rolled her eyes. Yes, Isabella was obviously so dumb. That's how she managed to make it all the way to her Fourth Year after all. Just to humor him though the brunette shrugged her shoulders and left it for him to decide. "If you're so content with ignoring me...why are you paying attention to me now? Don't say it's because I said something to you. We both know that you still had the power to keep ignoring me." Isabella smirked, knowing that she was right. He could have kept ignoring her. In fact ignoring Isabella and her harsh ways was one of the fastest ways to get her to stop. It was no fun for Isabella if the other person didn't give her a reason to keep going. Isabella frowned when Sergios flourished his wand. He then cast a verbal spell to banish her book from her. Probably to cause her to go chase it. "And he calls me the stupid one." As eager as Isabella was to knock his teeth in, she wasn't an idiot. Getting into trouble and dealing with Professor Styx for fighting was the last thing on her agenda right now. Plus Isabella hated that stupid book, so he was only doing her a favor by getting rid of it. Isabella approached Sergios, not because she wanted to hurt him, but because she wanted him to take a chill pill before she got upset and they both got into trouble. Isabella wasn't worried about him getting into trouble as much as she was worried about herself getting into trouble. Professor Styx didn't put up with that crap and Isabella hated being detention more than she hated life itself. Isabella would rather be locked inside a broom closet for hours rather than be stuck in detention for an hour.

"Knock it off you idiot! You're going to get us into trouble! Plus I hated that stupid book anyways so thanks for doing me a favor and getting rid of it." Isabella hissed, making sure that Sergios knew that other than her not battling with him like he probably wanted, he wasn't getting the satisfaction of winning this little brawl between them. Ever since that Quidditch match, things seemed different, but at the same time they seemed more the same than ever. When Sergios asked her if she was that lonely or something, Isabella scowled at him. Isabella saw it as a weakness for others to know that she had been a lonely kid. Her parents died when she was little and only one of her siblings really ever bothered to connect with her. Isabella had grown up without a single friend other than her pet raccoon Bandit, who had died last year. "I am not lonely." Isabella practically snarled this. Her voice was filled with rage and hurt. How did he know what she was feeling when the most she had ever said to him was insults. "Even if I was, you'd be the last person I would ever turn to." Isabella felt like she was vulnerable if he was able to read her so easily. Was her cold exterior starting to slip and show the true Isabella underneath? That couldn't happen! If she started to look weak in front of others they would walk all over her. Isabella felt the sudden urge to take her shoe and beat Sergios upside the head with it. But she ignored it. "I have to go." Isabella let out quickly as she turned and tried to get away from Sergios as fast as possible. He was starting to figure her out, and that was bad. He would become a threat to her if he wiggled his way too far into her personal life. ​

 

[Sergios Romanes]

Sergios rolled his eyes. Obviously she did not know just how obnoxious her voice was. It was like trying to ignore a mosquito that kept flying around the ear. The high pitched buzzing that just made others want to tear off their ears. Sergios pointed his finger at her and he said, “You really underestimate your ability to annoy someone. It is incredibly hard to ignore your voice, like a little gnat flying around. You try to ignore it, but it doesn’t go away until you swat it, or kill it.” Of course, he would never talk about the latter part. The Gryffindor never imagined himself as a murderer, and he knew that he wouldn’t ever do that either. It was just annoying, she really did not know what in the hell she did to him. She frustrated him, made his time here at Hogwarts New Zealand miserable. Sergios really wanted to just have the day end, and he would be glad to get on with his life but it seemed like she had other things planned. She did not even chase after her book which was a bummer. Why didn’t she? If she was holding it or something, did she not care about it in the least bit? The Slytherin girl was really getting to him, and he didn’t know why. She hated him, and he hated her. Yet the hate seemed to be begin out of nothing at all. He did not know why he hated her, but ever since she made that one snobby face, he picked just about everything he could to make her repulsive, since she was cute and all. He would never, ever admit it though, she would never know how he really thought about her, what he really felt. It was not like he was crushing on her, just that she was attractive looking. That was it.

Apparently she hated that book, and she was scared that they were going to get in trouble. He put his wand away and his eyebrows raised. So she cared about that? She did not want to get in trouble? Well, that was something. As soon as he asked if she was that lonely, she scowled. Rather than doing anything bad, she just claimed in a rather nasty tone that she was not lonely. The guilty dog barked the loudest, thus he realized, she was definitely lonely. Her voice, he could tell that there was more than just rage in there. Sadness maybe? Wait, when could he tell her emotions? He never thought that he had paid that much attention to them. There was something more showing through, and he could see it. He was starting to see the real girl underneath that little tough girl exterior. Then she said that she had to go. Seriously? After he was realizing this, he was not about to let her get away with that! “Now hang on just a minute!” Sergios called out before he abandoned everything he had on him to take off after Isabella. After playing soccer for so long, he was a really fast runner. He was able to catch up to Isabella, but instead of just grabbing her and stopping, Sergios did something a little more dramatic. He pounced on her. He literally took them both down to the dungeon floor. Pinning her down, Sergios stated, “I am getting sick of this little dance. While I have you right here, you could tell me why in the world you hate me so much. Even at sorting, you had this nasty ass look on your face when you saw me. I won’t touch your issues with your loneliness, or lack thereof, but you owe me that.” Sergios was just dying to know what he had done that had her so riled up against him. Without reason. They could get along for a few seconds, so that was there. Sergios hung around girls all of his life, so he knew several of their tricks and kinks.​

 

[Isabella Pisces]

Sergios must have thought he was so clever. Isabella knew better, he was more talk than he was bite. That's why she insisted on getting away from him as soon as possible, before he talked his way into finding out some of her secrets. Isabella didn't even let her sisters know all about some of the things she kept hidden from people. Her sisters would probably think she was nuts if she told them everything. Like how angry she was with her parents for dying on her. Callisto did a good job taking care of Isabella, but she just wasn't her mom. How could Isabella ever have the heart to tell her sister that? Isabella was about to round the corner when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps quickly headed her away. Isabella heard Sergios' voice from behind her and turned around to see what he wanted. The last thing she was expecting to happen though, was so suddenly see him flying right towards her. "Ah!" Suddenly the pair was on the floor, with Isabella absolutely stunned that she had just been tackled by Sergios Romanes. They hit the floor hard enough to even caught a slight bit of a jolt run up her spinal cord. What on earth was the matter with this guy? Isabella understood that they didn't get along, but it wasn't like she had said anything that would have provoked him to attack her! "What's the matter with you?! I ended the conversation and left you be! There was no reason for you to chase me down and-ugh get off of me!" Isabella didn't like being touched by someone she barely knew or trusted. Particularly Sergios with nosy ways. What if this was just another one of his ploys to try and figure out more about her? Isabella's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at what he began saying to her.

"I had no idea who you were during sorting so there was no way that any sort of look was directed at you. I was unhappy about being at Hogwarts so naturally I had an unhappy look on my face, stupid!" Isabella didn't even remember seeing Sergios during sorting. The first time she had met him was when he hit her with his stupid soccer ball. Isabella may have looked grumpy on her first day at the school, but it wasn't really directed at anyone. Sergios must have stupidly jumped to conclusions, a common trait that most Gryffindors seemed to share for some reason. "I hate you because you rudely threw a ball at my damn head for no reason. There happy now?" Isabella was unsure why he needed to have this actually explained to him, but then again he was a guy. Apparently most guys seemed to have problems figuring out why women were mad at them. Why else would they have to ask all of the time instead of just figuring it out on their own? "Will you get off of me now? You're really kind of heavy." Isabella gave him the answered he wanted, and now she wanted to go before he decided that he had anymore questions to ask her. Without even thinking about it, Isabella brought her hand up and pinched him on the arm as hard as she could, hoping he would get the picture and get up. Or he would get mad and fight with her some more. Either way Isabella wanted the questions about her to cease and the attention to go somewhere else. It felt weird having someone want to know that much about her. ​

 

[Sergios Romanes]

Sergios made sure that her body was pinned down by the shoulders, and that his wrists were away from her teeth. The last thing he wanted to do endure was her teeth going into his skin. The Gryffindor looked down at the Slytherin and he could not resist smirking a bit. He had her, and she could not do anything about it. Thankfully the professors were not around to see this or else they would think something else was going on, which was definitely not on his mind. She was not his type. She was cute and all, but Sergios was too young for crap like that. She said that she had ended the conversation right then and there, but he disagreed. Sergios shrugged his shoulders and he replied in a cocky tone, "Nope. Not leaving you alone until I say that we have ended this conversation. Besides, don't pretend you don't like the extra attention." She might not like the attention at all. Then again he did not even like giving it to her like he was now, and he looked down at the floor for a moment. He was joking, for the most part. In fact, he was very uncomfortable, but if it was the only way for her to talk to him, then so be it. He was starting to figure out a bit about her but he was just using theories right now. She did not have any friends, so she had to be lonely. There was just something like that going on. That was all he had thought anyway. At least she was going to be talking now. She did not have much of a choice but to talk to him. Sergios might hate what he hears, but he needed answers, and he needed them right then and there. Isabella was still a little cute when she was as feisty as she was now.

The moment that she spilled, Sergios raised his eyebrows. So she was just grumpy, and not looking at him in particular? Sergios looked within her eyes and he could not see if she was lying or not. Sergios just thought, well, he simply thought. Now he had no reason to dislike her since that threw his first reason out of the window. It was the source of his irritation with her. "So you were just mad at the situation, and not with someone directly. Well, this is embarrassing." She hated him because he had threw, well, actually kicked, a ball at her head. Sergios knew that was an accident, but he did not apologize for the reason above that was voided out. He shook his head, "That was an accident. I kicked the ball at the tree and it bounced and hit your head. I just didn't apologize since I thought you were some brat giving me the stink eye at sorting which apparently did not happen." She asked if he could get off her now, and that he was kind of heavy. Sergios looked as though he was debating on it before nodding and lifting his hands from her shoulders. He received the pinch and just brushed her hand away. He stood up on his feet, thought about extending his hand out to help her up, but knew that she would just turn it down. "I would have offered to help you up, but you would have rejected, so... It seems like the entire thing was a misunderstanding. So sorry about hitting you in the head back then." He dusted off his shoulder, and had no idea how to progress with this anymore. He was used to hating Isabella, but now he had no reason to.​

 

[Isabella Pisces]

The cockiness coming from Sergios right now wanted to make Isabella knee him right where the sun didn’t shine, only to see him cringe. However, she withheld that action and waited to see what else he was going to say. If he kept it up though he was getting smacked for sure. Isabella didn’t have enough patience to be in the position she was, but she thought she owed him enough to at least hear him out. "Of course I would love the extra attention! But only if you were maybe a lot less annoying and much cuter." Isabella threw in, not willing to let him win this round. He should have known that she was going to say or do something when he said that. Isabella actually didn’t think she would enjoy attention from boys at all. Isabella could be quite the bully, and she had never had a boyfriend before. The only attention she had ever gotten from boys before were about her attitude really. Isabella had no idea how to flirt or show a guy she was interested in him. So the extra attention was probably a bad idea. Isabella wouldn’t know what to do with it. "Dude you should really get off before someone sees us and gets some wild crazy idea that we’re doing something!" Isabella would want to jump off of a cliff before she let rumors fly around that she and Sergios were into each other or something. If they were seen by a younger student, there was no doubt that it’s what they would mistake the position they were in now for. Either Sergios didn’t realize how bad it looked, or he didn’t care as much what other people said about him. Surely he hated her enough to be disgusted by the thought of people thinking he was into her? Isabella didn’t dare ask though. She didn’t want Sergios to think that she cared.

"Why would I have been mad at you during sorting? I had never seen you before? I don’t treat people like crap unless they give me a reason!" The most common reason was that they were annoying as hell and didn’t seem to realize it. Sergios looked as if his entire life had just been changed around, and Isabella grew confused. What was the matter with him? Her blue eyes glanced around, in hopes of an escape. Then he revealed the whole story, and Isabella’s eyes quickly narrowed. He explained that hitting her in the head was an accident, but he didn’t apologize because of the whole thing during sorting. Wow did he deserve another kick in the head. At least he finally let her up. Isabella didn’t waste a single second on getting back onto her feet so she could wipe off her clothes. "You’re seriously apologizing to me now? Whatever. Do want you want." Isabella shrugged her shoulders and inspected her clothing to make sure it didn’t look too dirty or anything. The last thing she wanted to do was have it look as if she had been rolling around on the floor. "For future reference….you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. The pages are always much more informative." Isabella explained to him. It was the same way with everyone. Isabella might have been a bully, but did anyone ever think about why she was the way she was? Chances were that they didn’t. Everyone had some kind of story, and Isabella was no different. Sergios misjudged her and he seemed to live his life by misjudging her. She wondered how bad he felt right now, or if he cared at all. It was likely that he didn’t care, but at least he knew the whole story now. ​

 

[Sergios Romanes]

Sergios smirked a bit more when she said that she would love the extra attention, if he were less annoying and much cuter. He knew that he looked cute. So that was not an issue. "Ha. I am cute. I know I am, with this face? Can't deny me." He shrugged his shoulders and wondered if she would have thought that was really the case. Now he was just confused about how she would have seemed really mad, and then she was just in a bad mood. He seriously felt weird about it. He looked down and he shrugged his shoulders. "I thought it was my hair or something, since it was long. But clearly, I was wrong." He hated admitting that he was wrong, as it was aggravating as hell. His pride was very much affected by this. Sergios rolls his eyes as she said that he was apologizing to her, and that he should do what he wanted. Sure, he knew that he had been mean to her, but she was equally mean right back. She had some fight in her and it was somewhat attractive. He narrowed his eyes and he said, "My conscience is clear and that's all that matters. So yes, I will do what I want." Even now he could see that she was still one of those girls that he would get annoyed by, but this time he was going to do it the right way. She then told him not to judge a book by its cover, and how the pages were more informative. Well, that was really wise of her to say. "Okay then. I will take that as an invite to get to know the princess beneath the Slytherin attire. I'll see you later, Isabella." He reached out to touch her shoulder, before he gave her a sly wink, smirk and then walk away from her to go back to where he was heading before this event. He knew that she wanted to get away from him, and he knew that he needed to be somewhere. He forgot what, but he was going to play Quidditch anyway.​

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Fin​