Tired of Fighting

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire was walking down the street, music blaring through her headphones and a map in her hands. She wore a dark blue long sleeve shirt and faded black jeans. Her bag was slung over her shoulder and her black goodie was tied around her waist.

She hummed along to "Under Control" by Calvin Harris as she studied the map. If she was reading it right, then she was only one street over from- She lurched forward and fell to the ground as a younger kid barreled into her. Her bag fell beside her and she looked up, half her face covered by her jet black hair.

She started to get mad until she saw the look of fear on his face. She sighed in exasperation. She knew that look very well. Sapphire left her bag on the ground as she stood, turning to face three rather big boys maybe a year or so older than her.

She scowled and crossed her arms, taking a defensive stance in front of the boy. "I'm not in the mood for this, so I'll give you three one warning. Back off. Now."

The leader of the there scoffed and took a threatening step forward. "Why? What's a little girl like you going to do about it?"

Sapphire sighed and rolled her neck once. "Oliver is going to kill me," she complained. The leader boy opened his mouth to say something but Sapphire punched him so fast and so hard he fell back a few steps, looking astounded.

The other two rushed her. Leftie swung at her, and she ducked under his arm easily, stepping forward and planting a kick in the other boys chest as he tried to run forward. He fell to the ground. Leftie grabbed her from behind, and Sapphire jerked her head back hard, headbutting him. He fell back, clutching at his bloody nose. The leader tried to rush her again but Sapphire dropped too quickly, ramming her shoulder into his stomach as soon as he got close.

The three boys fell back, looks of fear on each of their faces. Sapphire flipped her hair and crossed her arms again. "If any of you twats even look at this kid again I will put my combat boot so far up your arses you'll be spitting leather for a month," She growled. "Do you understand me?"

The three of them nodded before bolting in the other direction as fast as they could go. Once they were gone, Sapphire reached up and touched her arm gingerly, not noticing how both of her sleeves were beginning to show blood.

She turned wearily to the kid behind her. "Hey," She said softly, "Are you okay?"

 

[Max Foy]

Max felt his heart pounding a rapid pace in his chest as he clambered past a row of trash cans, trying to lose the three brutes that pursued him closely. He just wished he'd listened to his brother and not run off on his own. Apparently he couldn't take care of himself like Oliver had warned him, and now he scrambled as quickly as he could down the long alleyway, one hand clutching at his eye. "Oliver!" He cried out as he heard them closing in on him. The boy knew it was pointless to call out for help, but all he could wish for in that moment was that his older brother was there.

He gasped as he hit something or someone, and frightened, he stared up at the person before stumbling backwards. His vision was blurry and it didn't help that his right eye swollen half way closed. The boy felt trapped, not knowing what was about to happen next, and fear was all he felt. Max watched with one wide eye as the older girl dropped her bag and stood to face the boys who'd used him as a punching bag. Wait, was she protecting him? As he looked at her, he saw she was definitely stronger than she firstly appeared, but he was still fearful. There were three huge brutes against well, one girl and him -- a scrawny, bruised up kid.

He was frozen in shock at what he'd just witnessed when the girl turned back towards him and spoke. Did she know his brother? He could've sworn she'd mentioned Oliver, and if it was his Oliver she knew, that would explain a lot. She had to be a witch! Max was about to answer her question when he caught sight of her arms. "Oh my god, you're hurt..." He barely got out the words, feeling terrible that he was responsible for her getting hurt. This was all his fault in the first place. Lying to his older brother about where he was, getting tangled up with those baffoons, and then this.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire looked down when the boy pointed out she was hurt. "Oh.... no, that's from yesterday. Forget that." She walked forward, kneeling down in front of him. 'Let's have a look at your eye."

She pulled his hands away from his face gently. "My name is Sapphire. What's yours?" She spoke softly, examining the boys face. He definitely had a black eye, and it would hurt for a few days. He would need to get ice on it.

She reached for her bag. She didn't have anything for his face with her right now. She set her things in front of her before taking her hoodie from around her waist and slipping it on, effectively covering her arms. At least the kid didn't see what was under her hair.

Sapphire put her bag on and stood up, offering a hand to the littler boy. "Come on, let's get you home. Where do you live?"

 

[Max Foy]

Max said nothing else as the girl brushed off the state of her arms, but he kept eyeing them worriedly as she knelt down to check on his eye. The boy hesitantly let his hand fall in order to reveal the almost shut lid. It was quite angrily swollen, and when he attempted to further open his eye he winced.

"I'm Max." The young boy answered while finding her name oddly familiar. While Oliver never really mentioned her by name, almost all his older brother had been talking about since he'd gotten back home was this girl he met at Hogwarts. He recalled she didn't live in the US though, so it was simply coincidence that she'd mentioned his brother's name.

Max groaned as he realized he had no clue of how to get home. His parents had dropped him off at the movie theater where he was supposed to be for a 2:00 showing, and to top it off, while running from the others he'd lost track of where he was in town. "I live about half an hour away from here." Max answered, but before he could say anything else he caught sight of three brutes. They were back, and they had brought company.

Two older boys strode closer towards them, maybe 15 or 16. They were quite tall and something made Max believe they wouldn't be as easy to defeat. "So, you're the pretty little lady who thought it would be fun to attack my friends like that." The taller boy spoke. His voice was pleasant, but a sinister smile lit up his otherwise seemingly friendly face. "I think it's only fair to teach you a lesson. Don't worry though, you'll appreciate it." He added, moving closer with the other older boy following suit. Max turned his head to watch as the other three circled around him and Sapphire, closing them off.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire's eyes widened as the boy said his name was Max. She gulped nervously. "Max. With blue eyes. Right. You're Oliver's little brother." Sapphire sighed. "There goes the surprise," She muttered. Before anything else though, a rather nasty voice started mocking her.

Her blood froze, and she reacted quickly. "You live one street over." She spoke quickly and quietly as she shoved her bag into Max's hands. "Go, now. Have Oliver put ice on your eye. I'll get rid of these guys and I'll be back later."

She winked before jumping to her feet and turning to face the boys. Five? She'd faced the same odds a few days ago. She still won, but she'd been in better condition then.

She narrowed her eyes at the group. "Couldn't take my advice, could you? Fine." She darted forward, sliding between the legs off the first boy and yanking his pants down to reveal bright blue boxers. She rolled, knocking two others to the side. As she hopped up she elbowed the fourth in the groin, dropping him to the ground. The fifth boy jumped out of the way as she sped by.

"Get her!" The red-faced leader yelled as he pulled up his pants. The group took off after her. Sapphire sped down the road, thinking quickly. There had been something resembling an open field not too far back, with a few trees. If she could just make it that far, she'd have a chance.

The boys were gaining on her as she made it to her destination. She dove left quickly, and the group ran a few feet past her before realizing she was gone.

She didn't make it much farther before they surrounded her. She fought hard, ducking and dodging. Her knuckles were bloody and the cuts on her arms were bleeding worse now. Sapphire was breathing heavy, and once she slowed they had her. They were all beaten up pretty bad, but that wasn't doing more than making them mad.

The leader threw Sapphire against a nearby tree trunk. She hit it with a hard thud and slid to the ground. She glared up at the boys, cussing silently.

This was not turning into a good day.

 

[Oliver Foy]

When the girl at the ticket counter informed them that none of the staff had seen a boy of that description purchase a ticket, Oliver sprinted out the double doors ahead of his parents and began running up the nearest street to the side of the theater. "Max!" He shouted, looking for a familiar head to pop up any second. While he was worried about his brother, he was also upset with him. The little devil had warned him he'd be pulling something like this, but Oliver thought he wouldn't dare. He dashed around the corner just in time to watch a small figure knock into him and fall onto the ground.

"Max, you've given us all a heart atta-" The Hufflepuff began before noticing the bag that had tumbled out of his little brother's arms and spilled out its contents. He stood motionless for a moment before reaching an arm out and pulling his sibling up onto his feet. Disbelief was still on his face as he took in his brother's bruised eye. "Go. Turn right down that way and get back with Mom and Dad." Oliver said before giving Max a gentle push and taking off into a run.

Sapphire was here. It didn't make any sense, but it simply had to be. Those familiar candies she always toted with her and then that yellow rose, so carefully preserved. He barely knew what to think as he rounded another corner to see her, and he yelled out when he witnessed her body fall to the ground. Oliver never felt angry in his life, and he set out after the boys, his gaze trained on the taller of them who'd hurt Sapphire.

He'd wrestled with the older bully, knocking them both onto the ground and with a little effort he was able to roll the boy beneath him before kneeing him in the stomach and delivering a swift uppercut to his jaw. The second eldest made a dash towards him with his fist drawn back, but Oliver was ready and he simply grabbed it and twisted it behind his back, causing the bully to turn around where the Hufflepuff could drive his heel into his shoulder.

It took him awhile to calm down, but the others fled the scene when they witnessed both of their leaders sprawled our cold on the ground. Glancing down at the two one last time, it was almost too tempting to not stop, but then Oliver turned his head back to see Sapphire there by the tree and all the wrath disappeared from his features. "H-how?..Are you hurt?" He began, crouching down to look the Slytherin in the face. The boy winced when he looked at her condition and wondered if he could carry her to the car.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire's mind raced as the older boy smirked and started towards her again. She needed a plan, some way out of this. She started to get up, her jaw clenched and defiance in her eyes. But then- a yell, and she tensed, dropping to the ground and covering her head on instinct. Another blow was coming, she knew it.

But she was wrong. She opened her eyes and slowly raised her head, only to tense completely. Crap. Oliver. Wait... Oliver? Her brow furrowed in confusion as the boy took on the two teens. Obviously, Max had found him, but there was no way Oliver would take a blow for her... right? He should be taking care of his little brother.

He turned to her before she could really process his presence. She took care of herself, she always had. He crouched down in front of her and spoke, once again the Oliver she was used to. She blinked and shook her head slowly.

"Oliver?" She looked at him again, unsure of what she was feeling. Whatever it was, she would deal with it later. There was another emotion rising in her gut, and it was one she knew how to deal with. Sort of. She slapped Oliver in the face. Not hard, but enough to make his head turn. "You bloody idiot!" She scolded him, fear nearly evident in her voice. "Why would you even- I don't need you to- You could have been hurt!"

She grabbed his face in her hands and made him look her in the eye. "You can't get hurt over me, you got that? What would I do without- what if you did, huh?" She very nearly said without you, but she switched it at the last possible second, afraid to let something bad slip in a moment of weakness.

Sapphire flopped back against the tree, mad enough to cry and stubborn enough not to. She half hoped Oliver would be mad enough to leave her there but was also terrified that he would.

She pouted, taking off her hoodie so she could examine her arms. The sweater was beyond saving now, the sleeves dark with blood. She winced as she pulled the sweater off. Underneath she wore a plain black tank top. She used the sweater to wipe the blood off her arms.

"I got in a fight," She said quietly, not looking up. "Yesterday. There were three of them, and they had a knife." She nodded to the now visible cuts on her outer arms. There were maybe half a dozen on each arm, all varying in depth and length.

"It was nothing major, so don't worry. I should've run, but they made me mad. I won," She smiled weakly. "But I'm not as fast as I thought. After a fight, I always... I just get so..." She sighed, not wanting to admit to being vulnerable but not sure what else to say in its place.

"Anyway, I found out one of the volunteers at the home was passing through here on their way to visit family. I asked, and they let me tag along." Sapph started to reach a hand to her hair before remembering it was covering her face to hide the split lip and bruise on her cheek. Her hand hardly faltered as it moved to rub her neck instead.

"I get it if you don't want me to stick around," She murmured sadly. "I can take off again."

 

[Oliver Foy]

Oliver's eyes brightened as Sapphire called his name and then he flinched, her hand connecting with his face in a slap hard enough to made his head move to one side. He remained still for a moment, simply out a shock at first and then a rather hurt look appeared over his features. The look was mingled with confusion as he stared at the Slythrin as she spoke scoldingly towards him.
"Oh, like you weren't getting hurt yourself?" The Hufflepuff responded, his normally light tone almost sounding correcting.

He couldn't bring himself to pull away from her as she held his face in between her hands, and after she began to speak the hurt from his light blue eyes faded. He smiled softly and rested one of his hands gently on her shoulder. "You know I'm too lucky for that." Oliver lightly responded in an attempt to cheer her up. "Besides, you're the sort of person I wouldn't mind getting hurt over." He added more sincerely, his voice slightly trailing off. She really did care about him, he thought to himself.

The Hufflepuff held in a gasp as Sapphire slipped her outer hoodie off and he caught sight of her arms. As he heard her explanation the boy gritted his teeth, the feeling he had before when he'd seen her shoved into the tree and fall making a return. Oliver stared up at the sky and breathed in until she finally finished, trying to keep his mind from imagining how it had gone down. "Be mad at me later." He said quietly before reaching down to scoop her up in his arms, barely hearing the latter of her talk. It would probably make Sapphire mad, but she needed those arms treated badly, and if anyone could heal them his father could. "You're coming with me back to the car."

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire squeaked as Oliver picked her up, blushing furiously. "Oli- put me down! I can walk! Just let me get my bag, I'll rewrap my stupid arms- hey!" She protested, but he didn't listen. They started moving quickly, and she held on for dear life, blushing harder than she could remember doing before.

She surrendered quickly, wrapping her arms gingerly around Oliver's neck and placing her cheek on his shoulder. She sulked as they moved. "You're stupid." She pouted.

"You don't ever listen to me. Next time you run into a fight like that I'll kick your butt myself." She couldn't even try to sound mad at him.

She grew quiet as they walked, not really wanting to admit that she was enjoying herself. "Surprise," She muttered after a bit.

 

[Oliver Foy]

"Mmhm. You can do just that when we get to the car, where your bag is." Oliver stated simply, focused on getting Sapphire the help she needed as soon as he could and trying to ignore her complaints. He didn't doubt that his younger brother had already filled in his parents about the situation, and for once he didn't feel like swatting Max like the pest he was. Oh, drop that, he thought,recalling the rather swollen eye the younger Foy had sported when he'd rounded the corner. Oliver realized Sapphire had probably saved his ass at her own expense and he suppressed a groan.

Finally looking down, his eyes met Sapphire's as he felt her cheek on his shoulder and her arms gingerly circling his neck. He'd missed the blush that had visited her cheeks just moments before, but could feel his own growing slightly warmer for some reason. Oliver couldn't help but let out a laugh at what she said next. "Well, thanks for putting up with it." He replied with a grin on his face, looking up briefly to see that they were nearing the theater.

The Hufflepuff let out another bark of laughter before shaking his head, his eyes bright and a look of amusement of his face. "You better stop that or I won't be able to hold you." He got out between laughter, relieved to see his family's car still parked out front, his dad standing outside and pulling the door to the back seat open. Oliver's face grew serious once more, his gaze sliding back towards the Slytherin's arms. "She needs help." He said quietly before gently bending his torso through the doorway to let Saphire sit.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire rolled her eyes as Oliver thanked her. He was more trouble than she had originally thought he would be. She briefly considered biting him, but he started laughing before she could. She rolled her eyes again, pressing her face into his shoulder to hide the grin she couldn't suppress. She wasn't ready to admit she wasn't still mad at him yet.

Sapph did manage to hide the wince as Oliver put her in what she assumed was the backseat of his car. It bugged her a little how she missed being close to him, but she had other things to worry about right now. She stuck her tongue out at him and slid back, hurrying away from the strange adult that she assumed was his dad. She had seen her bag in the back seat as they had approached.

"I'm perfectly fine, YOU, however, need your head checked," She griped halfheartedly as she pulled her bag into her lap. The action unplugged her headphones and the music she'd never paused filled the car, albeit muffled through the fabric of her bag. Sapph's eyes widened in panic as she scrambled through her bag for the stupid phone as the lyrics of an Adam Lambert song became clearer.

I know it gets hard sometimes
But I could never
Leave your side
No matter what I say
'Cause if I wanted to go
I would've gone by now but
I really need you near me
To keep my mind off the edge


Sapph tore through her bag, looking more panicked as the song continued. Various items made it onto the seat next to her- suckers, purple gauze, an old notebook, half a pack of erasers, a guitar pick. As the music continued Sapph tossed a tattered hoodie out of her bag, not really looking at it.

It was mostly black, interrupted only on one sleeve where dark green and yellow stitching interlocked in a simple pattern around the cuff. The same stitching had been started along the hem of the garment but stopped abruptly about halfway across. The entire body of the hoodie looked like it had been slashed.

Sapphire let a pleased smile cross her face as she pulled the old phone from the depths of her bag and switched the song off.

 

[Oliver Foy]

Oliver raised a brow at Sapphire as he slid into the seat beside her and clicked his seatbelt into place and leaned over to assist her with her's. "Maybe I need my head checked, but not as bad as you need your arms checked." He responded with a grin of amusement before being half-scolded by his mom.

The Hufflepuff chuckled when Sapphire looked panicked as her music began blaring out into the car. It happened to him all too often, and normally when he was listening to music that got him whacked on the ear. He picked out the artist's voice and the song out almost immediately, a smile on his face. Sapphire had good taste, he thought almost sad when she cut the song off. "That one's a good one." He told her with an approving nod before finally noticing the hoodie she'd cast aside from her bag.

Curiously, he eyed the pattern stitched around cuff of one sleeve and that of the same green and yellow thread near the hem. "Hey, did you make this?" He asked glancing back towards her before looking back down at the hoodie, his fingers reaching out to touch the stitching. For a moment it almost reminded him of her and him, a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin but he dismissed the thought with a smile.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire wrapped her headphones around the device, feeling a little embarrassed by the entire day. She stuck her tongue out at Oliver as he buckled her in and blushed when he complimented the song. She started putting things back into her bag, wondering how her plan had gone so awry when Oliver asked her a question. She looked confused as she turned, but the confusion quickly turned to panic as color drained from her face.

Sapphire snatched the hoodie from the seat and shoved it back into her bag. "S...sorta," she stammered, knowing she had to answer him without actually answering him. "You know that ravenclaw girl that basically lives in the library? Her sister owns this Inn and they offer lessons to kids sometimes and I kinda go once in a while." She chuckled nervously, hoping she had distracted him.

"A-anyway, where's Max? Is he okay?" She remembered, and started wrapping her arms again. They were still sore, and the movement made her wince slightly, but she was determined to fix this before Oliver tried doing anything else. She tried not to think about how the blond would end her existence if he knew why she looked like this, if he ever figured out just why the hoodie was tattered.

She grimaced a little as the thoughts banged around in her head. She knew that fighting for the damn thing was stupid, and her reasons had seemed justifiable at the time. But something made her think Oliver wouldn't really appreciate her choices so much if he managed to connect the dots.