Snakes + a Lion

Riley Sparkles

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OOC First Name
Donna
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Holly Wand 11" Essence of Phoenix Feather
Riley Sparkles lay on the grass, enjoying the fresh scent of flowers. Spring was one of Riley's favorite seasons. She loved flowers, she loved butterflies, she loved everything about a New Zealand Spring. It was the start of a new life for so many creatures being born, and she absolutely loved it.
Quickly growing bored, Riley started humming the tune to a song she loved. Slowly, without her realizing, her voice started to grow louder before she was belting out a song. A laugh rippled through her body before escaping through her mouth as she realized that this was the exact situation where she met Jerrod. It had been a while since she had seen him, the last having been the Wheelbarrow Race. Even though they hadn't made a place, she was still excited to have been with him. She looked around the Great Lawn to see if, by some weird coincidence, she would run into Jerrod again.
 
Jerrod was in a weirdly good mood. He'd managed to get rid of Lily without even having to make an excuse. She seemed to be off with some Hufflepuff girl at the moment. He didn't know who the girl was and he didn't really care much to be honest. He was just glad to get rid of his sister for a while.

Jerrod was walking along the grass on the lawn when a smile broke across his face. He heard a voice he recognised very well. It didn't take him long to find the owner of the voice. Jerrod snuck up behind Riley and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "You called??" He'd been very shy around Riley when he'd first met her but now he was getting to know her more and felt like he could tell her more than he'd ever told his sister or any of the rest of his family. She was his best friend and he didn't know what he'd do without her. Then again, he didn't know how he was going to introduce her to his family without them flipping.
 
Riley felt a pair of arms snake around her shoulders and voice in her ear. She grinned, recognizing the voice, and she turned around to be face to face with Jerrod. "Why yes I did." Riley replied, before wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing him tightly in a hug. She looked up at him, being quite a bit smaller, and smiled. Riley remembered when she used to get so nervous around Jerrod that she seemed to have verbal diarrhea, but now she felt so comfortable with him, her words barely rambled anymore. "Where have you been stranger?" Riley asked sweetly.
OOCOut of Character:
Yuck! Romance! :r
 
Jerrod laughed at her and kept his eyes on her. "No where in particular. Just here and there really." Jerrod never really planned doing anything. It just happened. And then he didn't really remember what he did. "Mostly just homework and messing with my sister's head." Jerrod knew he should send a letter to his mum at some point but he didn't know what he was going to write. All he had to talk about was Riley and school work. Nothing new or interesting there. Well, Riley was definitely interesting but he wasn't going to say a word to his mum about it. She was going to be clueless until she had to know or the time was right. Which ever one came first.

OOCOut of Character:
Haha. I agree :p
 
Riley smiled at Jerrod, not feeling threatened by the imprecise answer; she had quickly learnt that Jerrod didn't share too much, but she was cracking down the shell he held up; Riley remembered sitting in the garden with him, discussing his family, something he didn't want to get into too much when they first met. The more she got to know him, however, the more lucky she realized she was that he was allowing her into his life. It seemed like an odd mix, but Riley had never felt better about being with someone, and was certain he felt the same. "Well, that's a very vague answer." Riley grinned jokingly. "Homework sucks. I am planning on doing better with it this year though." She mused. Riley had previously been slack with doing her homework, or doing classwork in general, but she decided to pick up her game, especially if she wanted to be an Auror. "Why are you messing with your sister's head?" Riley laughed.
 
Jerrod laughed at Riley's reply. "It always does. I do it half hearted. I have this amazing privileged of having two very smart parents so it comes naturally to me." Jerrod was glad he didn't have to work too hard to get good grades. He always saw loads of people stressing out that they were going to fail their exams and then he did nothing for them and got nearly full marks for all of his exams. "I could tutor you if you want?? Help you get the grades you want. I get mine too easy. I don't mind helping you through yours if you're finding it hard." Usually, Jerrod would just laugh at people failing usually but this was Riley and he wanted her to get to her goals.

Jerrod laughed again. "I'm always messing with my sister's head. I've done it my whole life. She's used to it and I find it fun." He grinned cheekily. "There's always an upside to having a twin sister." Jerrod and Lily had been best friends their whole child hood but they were gradually moving further apart as they got into groups of new friends. The two of them were very different people and the only reason they were best friends was because they were twins. Now they had other friends and they barely saw each other any more.
 
Lily walked along the great lawn. She'd just been to see Izzy. Lily found it odd that she'd made friends with a Hufflepuff. She'd always thought that Slytherins were the only people she'd ever talk to. The other houses were horrible. Here she was making friends with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Of course, Gryffindors were never going to be worthy of her friendship. She hated them. They were too in love with themselves. Acting all courageous when actually they were wimped out by the smallest of things.

Lily stopped in her tracks when she saw an unbelievable sight. Jerrod was with a girl. Now, that wasn't too unbelievable. He'd had girls by him in the past. It wasn't like he was gay or anything - as far as she knew. What made it so unbelievable was the fact that it was a Gryffindor girl. Lily had always hated Gryffindor but Jerrod had been the one to persuade her into hating them. Why was he friends with one?? Plus, he was acting in a way that Lily had never seen him. Even when he'd messed around with her, he'd always had a glint of evil in his eyes, like no one was ever safe. Now his eyes were full of happiness and joy and...love...

Lily felt anger bubble up inside her, like a volcano waiting to erupt. She marched over to him and his new "friend" and glared at him. "Jerrod Darren Green!! What the hell do you think you're playing at?! Mum is going to kill you when she finds out and, believe me, she will find out. You'll be the laughing stock of our family." Lily had always thought Jerrod would be the most likely to bring pride to the Green family and now here he was shaming them. "Mum's had enough stress recently and you're just going to make the whole thing worse. Hanging around with this..." Lily looked the girl up and down before glaring at her brother again. "...scum. What the hell are you thinking?!" Lily had no idea what was gong trough her brother's head. This was so unlike him. There had to be something causing his idiodity.

OOCOut of Character:
Didn't realise I could write so much with Lily. Lol.
 
Riley's eyes lightened up when Jerrod offered to tutor her. It was like a double bonus; getting help with her work, and spending more time with Jerrod. "Ah, what an amazing privilege you have! I have a super smart dad, and an alright-smart mom, but their genes didn't really get passed down to me. I think my brother took them." Riley laughed. "But I really appreciate your offer, and I definitely think I'm going to hold you to that." She grinned sweetly.
Riley grinned when Jerrod said there was an upside to having a twin. Riley would have loved to have a twin, although she did have Nevaeh, and she was pretty much family to her. "Ah you are lucky! I have an older brother, but I'm not really allowed to mess around with him." Riley laughed. "He's too intense. And I haven't seen him in ages! He's too busy doing his Auror work." Riley rolled her eyes, a smile still on her face.

Riley started as a voice erupted behind her. She removed her hands from Jerrod's waist, but grabbed one of his hands to hold onto as she turned around to face the angry girl. She cocked an eyebrow as she listened to the girl shout at Jerrod. Why is his mom going to kill him? Laughing stock of his family? Why? Riley thought to herself. Riley's mind clicked and she realized that this was the twin they were just talking about. She looked between Jerrod and the girl she knew as Lily, unsure what to do or how to react. A shock ran through her as she heard Lily call her scum. Her mouth dropped slightly, and she raised her eyebrows. This girl didn't even know her! Why would she be so mean? Riley looked over at Jerrod to see what his reaction was, she didn't really want to get involved in a sibling fight.
 
Jerrod was glad Riley was accepting his offer. He loved spending time with her and would use any excuse. Even if the excuse was school work. He had to laugh at what she said next. "I have seven older brothers and they're all intense. That doesn't mean I'm not going to mess with their heads." Jerrod was the youngest boy so he got away with loads of pranks that his older brothers would be majorly grounded for. He enjoyed favoritism because it usually got him what he wanted. Well, unless it was between him and Lily. Then Lily won hands down.

Jerrod turned his head and let go off Riley when he heard his sister's voice. This was the moment he had been dreading since he became friends with Riley. He felt her hand in his and squeezed it slightly. He listened to what his sister had to say then shook his head. "Fine, go ahead, tell mum. See if I care. I don't need her approval. Riley is my best friend and I don't care what any of you think because she is worth it." Jerrod made sure he had his body between the two girls at all times. He knew what Lily could be like when she was in a bad mood and he didn't want her leaving any marks on Riley. "It's not like you can say much. You've dated a Ravenclaw and you're best friends with a Hufflepuff. What's so wrong with my best friend being a Gryffindor?!" Jerrod wasn't yelling but his voice was raised slightly. If he was telling the truth, he was worried about his mum finding out. He didn't want to disappoint her. But he cared about Riley and he wasn't about to ditch her just because of this.
 
Lily felt her rage starting to bubble over. Why didn't Jerrod care that he was betraying his family?? He was meant to care. She wouldn't mind so much if it was someone from one of the other house but Gryffindors were disgusting. "Hello, dumbo. There's a feud between the two houses. That means that you don't go making friends with them left, right and center. You stay away. I dated a Ravenclaw before I knew he was Ravenclaw and in case you haven't noticed, I am no longer with him. Plus, Slytherins aren't in a feud with Ravenclaws. Or Hufflepuffs. And I'm friends with her because you blackmailed her." Lily knew that Jerrod thought she didn't know about that so she waited for his reaction then grinned. "Oh, yes. I know about your little games. Don't try hiding things from me Jerrod. I am your sister. I know everything." That wasn't necessarily true but her and Sam made a good couple because one of them always knew something. "What's wrong with you being friends with her is the fact that you might as well be friends with the mud that you're walking on. The two are no different."
 
Riley smiled a small smile when Jerrod said she was worth it. It made her heart race, and butterflies fly spastically around her stomach, even in the midst of a fight. She didn't want to get involved in a sibling fight, but it seemed that the fight was about her. Riley flinched a little when Jerrod raised his voice. She had never heard him raise his voice before, but the fact that it wasn't towards her, and that his body was slightly in front of hers made her feel safe. The position frightened her somewhat in understanding that he did it so Lily wouldn't attack her, so she grasped on to Jerrod's hand tighter, hoping he would understand that she was frightened.
Riley cocked an eyebrow when Lily said that Jerrod was blackmailing someone. Jerrod? Blackmailing someone? It didn't make sense to her. He didn't seem like the type of guy who would do that. Lily went on to say that being friends with Riley was as bad as being friends with mud. An anger started to bubble in her chest, as the girl insulted her again. First she was lying about Jerrod, and then insulting her? She narrowed her eyes, and a bit of her Gryffindor braveness kicked in. Still holding onto Jerrod's hand, she stepped around his body and faced Lily, feeling the verbal diarrhea kicking in. "Where do you come off, lying about Jerrod like that? He is so not the type of person to blackmail someone, you seriously need to get your facts straight. Just because you're his sister doesn't mean that you can straight up lie about him! You really should get to know him more before you start yelling at him. And me? Scum, no better than mud?! Girl, you don't even know me! How can you say such things, to someone you don't even know? It's so insensitive, who cares what house I am from? That is such an old feud, only fueled on by people like you!" Riley said loudly, stopping herself before she went on any longer. She had never known herself to shout at someone like that, but she supposed that if someone had a go at her or her friends - especially Jerrod, she would fight for them.
 
Jerrod was surprised when Riley stepped in front of him. He'd always seen her as a nice, bubbly girl who would never do anything to hurt anyone and here she was yelling at Lily. He was starting to see the proper Gryffindor in her. The brave, defensive girl who wouldn't take cr@p from anyone and he liked this feisty side of her just as much as her bubbly side, maybe even more. He wasn't quite sure. What he was sure of was that he wanted to get to know this side a bit more.

Jerrod felt guilty when he heard Riley defending him when he had in fact blackmailed the girl. It was over a year ago though. Those times were behind him. He was getting more and more worried about Riley though. He saw Lily's face changing as Riley spoke and knew what was about to come. He stepped back in front of Riley and pushed Lily back a few steps, keeping his hands on her so she couldn't push past. "Lily, calm down." Short tempers ran in the family but Lily and Dervish had the worst of it. "You have no right to tell me who I can and can't be friends with. Just calm down. Take a breather and sit in the common room. We can talk later." Jerrod kept his voice down this time so he didn't worry Riley.
 
Lily felt her hands ball into fists when the girl started defending Jerrod. She was calling Lily a liar. This girl really needed to check her facts before making such accusations. She was about to take a step forward ready to hit the girl when Jerrod stepped in between them. She frowned at him feeling betrayed. He had never stopped her when she was trying to get in a fight before. He's always stood on the side and cheered her on. Now here he was blocking her. She hated feeling so alone and it infuriated her. She couldn't hold her anger in any more. Before she knew it, she swung her fist around and punch Jerrod in the face. She couldn't believe she'd done it. The most she'd ever done to hurt him was push him in a bush when they were six.
 
Riley took a step back when Jerrod stepped in front of her, realizing that Lily was getting angry enough to hit her. She held her breath, not understanding how such a good day turned into such a bad one, wishing she was still in bed. Maybe if she didn't get up in the morning none of this would have happened.
Riley nodded her head when Jerrod said that Lily should calm down. She poked her head around him, "I agree. There's no reason to be angry, just calm down." She commented. Riley hoped that the girl was going to listen to her brother and walk away so she could spend the rest of the day with Jerrod, hopefully forgetting what happened and moving on from it. The hope that Riley was feeling suddenly shattered when she saw Lily's fist collide with Jerrod's face. Her hands flew to her mouth in shock and she moved forward and grabbed Jerrod's hand again, turning to face him, and looking at him. "Are you okay?" She asked concerned putting a hand on his face.
 
Jerrod felt Lily's fist hit his face and felt a throbbing pain just below his temple. He looked over at his sister and saw the upset in her face. He understood why but why couldn't she accept that Riley was his friend not her's and she couldn't be in control of what he did. His eyes moved to Riley's when she started asking if he was okay. He put his hand over hers and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Jerrod had received a few heavy punches in his time but he'd never realised how hard Lily could punch. She was one person he'd never been punched by and the sheer strength behind it surprised him slightly. Jerrod looked back at his sister and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Lilz. Riley's my friend and I'm not about to change that just because she's a Gryffindor. I don't care what house she's in. She's been there for me the times when you've had too much on your mind." Jerrod hoped that some time they could get this all sorted out so he could have fun times with his best friend and sister. He couldn't see that being very likely though.
 
Lily felt the anger leave her body making it so all she felt was betrayal, loneliness and upset. She'd always thought that no matter how bad things got she would always have Jerrod there to help her through everything but here he was ditching her for some freaky little Gryffindor thing. She didn't have room in her head for the anger she felt. All she wanted to do was go home to her mum and cry with her. But she was stuck here. There was no way of her getting away from her traitor of a brother. "Fine. Have a good life without me." Lily shook her head. "You knew the decision would be me or her and you quite obviously have picked her." Lily felt her eyes watching the girl's hand on Jerrod's face and the way his hand just sat on top of it. She didn't want to hurt him anymore so instead of doing or saying anything else, she walked away. It's all she could think of doing...for now.
 
Riley smiled when Jerrod placed his hand over the top of hers, knowing that he wasn't angry at her; well she hoped as much. She knew that if he got angry with her, it would make her super depressed. It was a time of very mixed emotions, feeling happy that Jerrod was sticking up for her, and that she was there for him in times of need, but also upset that she had caused a fight between twins; and that Lily hadn't been there for him.
Riley's mouth dropped again as Lily said that Jerrod picked Riley over her. She couldn't believe how seriously she was taking this. She watched as Lily turned around and started to walk away, and she called after her. "Lily, this doesn't have to be a choice between me and you. I don't even know what your problem is, but don't walk away! You need to come back here and apologize to Jerrod for lying, and then punching him! Walking away isn't going to solve anything, it never does. This is so ridiculous, it shouldn't even be happening!" Riley exclaimed, before stopping herself from her long comments again.
 
Jerrod shook his head and pulled Riley back by her hand. "Don't bother. She's not going to listen. I'll talk to her later when she's calmed down a bit." His face was starting to sting now. It was a good thing he had a high pain tolerance or that would have been really painful. "Watch your back. She has a habit of sneaking up on the people she doesn't like. I don't know what I'd do if she hurt you." Jerrod still loved Lily as his sister but there wasn't much he could do if she'd got in her head that he was a traitor. He just had to wait till she was calm and talk things over with her, hoping for the best. Then there was the harder part of it. Jerrod had no idea how his mum would react. Most of his siblings he could predict and live with it but his mum was unpredictable and went mental if she was grabbed in the wrong mood.
 
Riley turned back around to face Jerrod when he told her to not bother. She huffed as the frown on her face lingered, and she knew it would for awhile. She looked down at the hand Jerrod was holding, then back up at Jerrod's face; shaking her head. "Why doesn't she like me though? I don't understand what I even did wrong. It's like, why would she hurt me? I don't understand Jerrod." She said, her eyes sparkling with tears. She had never met someone so mean before, who judged without knowing. Riley wasn't used to people hating her with no reason. Her whole life she had been naiive in thinking that people were like her, that people were nice to others, respecting them; all her beliefs had come shattering in one occasion with a boy whom she fancied's sister.
 
Jerrod hugged Riley when he saw that she looked like she was about to start crying. He hated seeing her like this. "It's the way we were brought up." Jerrod started to feel very guilty. He suddenly realised that he'd never actually told Riley who his family really were. "My dad was a death eater before he died. We've been brought up to act like death eaters do. Love no one but our families and other believers, hate mud bloods and muggle borns, feud with Gryffindors etcetera." Jerrod hoped Riley would forgive her for what he was about to tell her. "And what she was saying," He paused slightly, building up his courage. "It's the truth." He sighed then said "I'm so sorry Riley. I didn't mean to keep things for you and I didn't know Lily was going to over react that much. I thought she'd just yell at me for a bit."
 
Riley let herself be hugged by Jerrod, a single tear sliding down her cheek. It had been years since she had cried, she had almost forgotten what it felt like. Her heart, however, felt like it was being suffocated, even while being in Jerrod's arms at the moment. She sniffed, and pulled back, still holding around Jerrod's waist while he explained his position. She had already known that Jerrod's father was a Death Eater, but it never really sunk in; she never really thought about how it would have affected Jerrod and his sibling's up-bringing. Being brought up taught up to hate Gryffindor's explained Lily's attitude towards her, and she slowly nodded her head, understanding.
But the next few words dropped a bomb in her stomach. Lily was telling the truth? Jerrod had blackmailed someone? The worst she had ever heard him do was get his snake to scare people for dissing his father. But blackmailing? That is such a terrible thing to do. Her arms dropped from around his waist, confusion taking place on her face. She vaguely heard him apologize for keeping things from her, but the only thing she was upset about was the fact that he had let Riley yell at Lily for being a liar, when she was in fact telling the truth. Riley looked at the ground in thought, her teenage hormonal mind moving fast, sorting out all the information she had just recieved. She looked up at Jerrod, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "So. . .she was right about you blackmailing someone? Why, what'd they do? Are you going to just use me, so I can do things for you? Are you just being nice to me now, but going to run off behind my back with Lily and laugh at me? I mean, are you going to blackmail me? Are you still blackmailing that person? Why did you let me yell at her calling her a liar if she was telling the truth? Do you hate muggleborns and mudbloods? Do you hate me?" Riley started, her sentence speeding up with each word.
 
Jerrod started feeling pain stab through his heart when Riley moved away. He loved her, no matter how much he'd betrayed her. He just hoped she would still love him the same way she always had. He hoped the didn't change anything between them. He'd made many big mistakes in his life but this one was probably the biggest. He'd never managed to really really hurt two loved ones in one day. It was a new low for him and he wanted to try and redeem himself, even if he didn't deserve it.
Jerrod listened to Riley speak with every word breaking him a little further. "I'm so so sorry, Riley." He tried to think of answers to all her questions but he guessed that most of them had the same answer. "Yes, she was. I don't know what they did. Probably nothing. I haven't done anything to her in ages. It was a long time ago. I would never do the same to you. You're my best friend and I would never treat you the way I treated them." He groaned slightly then continued. "Of course I hate muggles and mudbloods. I've been brought up to. I don't know any other way I let you do it so I could talk to you now rather than telling you everything with Lily there laughing at you. I would never hate you. I love you." Those were three words he'd never said to anyone. Not even Lily. "I've changed since then. You've changed me. Before I met you, I was a stuck up, snobby b@stard. All I ever cared about was my family and my future and I would hurt anyone who got in my way." He shook his head at what he was saying. "I wouldn't do that anymore. I love you too much to hurt you like that." He could feel pain in his stomach, like someone had tied a rope around it and was tightening it more and more.
 
Riley's heart broke a little more when Jerrod apologized. The apology meant that this definitely was the truth, it wasn't just a stupid joke he was playing on her. He continued to go on explaining what happened. She let out a small shuddering breath when he said that the girl he was blackmailing probably didn't do anything. A tiny bit of relief pushed through into Riley's mind when he said he hadn't done it in ages, but it was still upsetting.
Riley shook her head when he said we wouldn't do it to her and that she was his best friend. She didn't believe him. He could have said that to the other girl as well! She heard his groan, and her mind kept getting more emotional. It was too much for her to handle. Another tear fell down her cheek as Jerrod said he hated mudbloods and muggles. She wondered how he would have reacted to her if she had been muggle-born. Riley started to shake her head again in disbelief, but stopped abruptly and looked up at Jerrod as he said he loved her. He loves me? Riley thought, the words slowly sinking in. She watched him, a frown still on her face, but some hope renewed in her eyes. She knew that just because he said he loved her doesn't mean he meant it; it shouldn't change anything. But Riley couldn't help it. It did change things. It changed the way she was feeling. It changed the way she was thinking. Riley listened as he said that she had changed him, that he wouldn't do bad things anymore. And not for the first time in her life, Riley wanted to kiss him. However, she fought the overwhelming urge to do so, and swallowed before she started to speak again. "And, er, you've said sorry, to um, this girl? Fo-for, for blackmailing her?" She managed to stutter out.
 
Jerrod shook his head. "No. I haven't even seen her in months. I don't know where she hangs out or who her friends are or anything. I didn't even know she was friends with Lily. I only found that out a few weeks ago when I saw the two of them down by the lake together." Jerrod didn't pay any attention to who Lily was friends with. That was her business and he didn't really care. It was a shame she felt differently about his friends. If she was so nosey and didn't but in everywhere then Jerrod would have been able to keep this to himself and maybe even be able to hang out with both of them at the same time. "Plus, I've never had to say sorry to anyone in my life. I was surprised when I heard myself say it to you." Jerrod sighed and looked down at Riley, wondering if she was going to accept him anymore. He wanted her to more than anything but would she have the strength to forgive someone with so much anger and pain in his past??
 
Riley swallowed hard when Jerrod said he hadn't seen the girl he bullied in ages. She breathed in deeply and wiped her cheeks, feeling stupid crying. Riley hadn't cried in a long time, and it was a weird feeling for her. Her mom had often taught her to laugh more than cry, and Riley had taken it to heart. The few tears falling down her face made Riley feel ashamed and embarrassed, especially in front of Jerrod; but she realized that she couldn't help it.
"Bu-but, surely you should seek her out, and uh, say sorry. . ." Riley started again, stuttering. This was something new to Riley that was also brought on by Jerrod - stuttering. Riley knew she had a small case of verbal diarrhea, but she had never had a problem with stuttering. The few words that Jerrod had uttered before were still floating around Riley's head, but she continued to fight the urge to kiss him. She had to make sure that he would not treat her like he treated the other girl. She was finding it hard to resist his charm, and started to find it easier to look at the ground, shuffling her feet. "And, uhm, saying sorry, is the ri-right thing to ddo. Right?" She asked, still looking downwards.
 

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