Wir treffen uns wieder, junge Dame

[Joseph Adler]

It was mid December and the skies above Germany were grey. The air was chill and the people of the town in which Joseph stood, could be seen shrugging off the cold as best as they could, wrapped in warm clothing. Joseph, however, was wearing a light black suit and shining shoes which he seemed able to hop about in and move swiftly from one place to another. He rarely felt the cold, it was the sun that bothered him with his pale skin which burnt so easily. He was stood by a large frozen water fountain, one leg up on the stone structure as he leant on it to light a cigarette: Not a muggle cigarette, no, that would go against all he believed in. Joseph only smoked that made by his own hands.

As he released a breath of spoke, watching it curl into the air and feeling a little more relaxed, his eye roamed about the people present.
He was in muggle territory for the time being, a place where most wizards would find it uncomfortable to be themselves. Joseph didn't fear getting caught by muggles or the authorities. He would enjoy himself even if it killed him. Joseph took another puff of his cigarette, watching a small girl in a little red coat, skipping past, hand in hand with her filth-blood mother. No, Joseph did not know these people but he had developed a knack for distinguishing who was filth and who wasn't. The mother was, surely, a muggle but that little girl.. Joseph could see that she was going to grow up different. The girl looked his way. Joseph stared back.

He leant hard against his bent leg, almost at the end of his cigarette. It wasn't the best of days and so there were barely any people about. Joseph brushed a hand over his short red hair, turning his head this way and that to stop it ceasing up. Maybe he would go for a drink later. He hated to drink alone but often did so at the Adler mansion. He hadn't seen a lot of his friends since Durmstrang but those he had tended to dislike what he had become.

 

[Clara Schwarz]

It had been quite a while since Clara had been back to Germany. What was the point. Her family was all dead, after all. Her mother's family, in Belgium, weren't, but she couldn't care less about them. Germany, however, she supposed was her home, so it was natural for her to return on occaision for the purpose of reacquainting herself with home. Besides, Germany was much more refined than New Zealand. Just setting foot back in the country made her feel a lot more...classy.

The sensual scent of smoke filled Clara's nose and lungs - but not just any smoke. Fine smoke, made from a fine cigarette. A small smile curled across Clara's red lips. There was somebody of some interest to her here. Looking over towards the source of the smoke, her smile changed in to more of a smirk. Well now. Who have we here? "Joseph Adler," Clara purred, in soft German. "It has been a long time."

 

[Joseph Adler]

Joseph looked up as he heard someone speak his name, turning his head to the woman beside him. He did not have to ask her name to know who she was. No-one could forget someone quite like her. "Well if it isn't little Clara Schwarz," He smiled, stubbing his cigarette out and stepping on it with his shoe. She was far from little now, though, Joseph could see that. His grin was something nasty, something people only usually saw right before they experienced the worst pain of their lives.

"Long time, no see." He spoke in German, his accent thick. His forehead wrinkled slightly as he looked up towards Clara, head downwards a little to keep his eye on what he was doing. He took out two fine cigarettes and held one out to Clara, casually. "How have you been?" He asked, shuffling to a more comfortable position. Now he stood up straight before Clara. "Where is Mark?" Naturally, he was curious as to his favourite old school friend's whereabouts.

 

[Clara Schwarz]

Little, was she? Well, she may have still been petite, but she was far from little. One of the last times she'd seen Joseph, she'd been but a second or third year at Durmstrang. She'd since gone on to become Head Girl, an expert potioneer, and a Death Eater. She was a far cry from the little girl she'd been back then. Clara looked up at Joseph, mirroring his grin with a poisonous smile and innocent look of her own.

"Indeed, it had been a rather long time," Clara said, simply, bowing her head in acceptance as she took the cigarette he offered and lit it with a small 'incendio'. "I have been rather well," she explained, taking a drag before coughing and spluttering, then quickly regaining her composure. She did not smoke often, so she wasn't exactly used to it. "And yourself?" she quickly asked, trying to make up for her failure. "My brother is in New Zealand. As I believe, he is at work. You will have to settle for my company, should you choose to accept it."

 

[Joseph Adler]

Joseph lit his own cigarette, taking a puff but almost choking as he smirked at the spluttering Clara. Ah, yes, good old Clara. "I have done alright. I have little to speak of for these years." Alright, he could have talked about a lot of things, but Joseph was not in the mood for discussing such matters here around muggles. How does one usually go about saying that they torture those who annoy them or those who are of filth?

"I am happy to endure your company, Clara," he spoke, breathing out a ring of smoke. "Just as long as you don't threaten to hex me again for calling you short." A broad grin stretched across his face. Oh, how he missed those long summer days at Durmstrang, hanging about the castle with his closest friends, practicing the Dark Arts on those he disliked the most.

 

[Clara Schwarz]

Clara scowled at the cigarette, before allowing herself to take another drag - with much more success, this time. She nodded at Joseph, knowing that anything he would be willing to speak of, he would not speak of in such...vulgar...company. After all, they were surrounded by muggles. Disgusting, vile, abhorrent creatures. What she wouldn't give to cleanse the world of those with unclean, impure blood. Those who were born in to muggle families were the worst of all. Clara shook her head, and stood up straight and tall. Maybe Joseph would see, aside from her earlier foolishness, that she was not a mere little girl to be trifled with. Not anymore.

"I should hardly say that I'm quite as small and foolish as I was back when we were previously acquainted," she stated calmly, not willing to lose her temper. No, she was not so easily shaken up. Though Joseph had always known how to get on her nerves. She respected him, of course - he was her brother's friend and a fellow pureblood - but he had always been on the recieving end of her bad temper back then. At least now she focused all of her rage on those with disgusting blood. "Should we move to somewhere more...suitable for conversation?" Clara asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

[Joseph Adler]

Clara seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Joseph and he simply nodded, looking over to a nearby building. It was quite full and smoking was not allowed. "Stupid muggles." He muttered under his breath before surveying the area once more: There was a small and broken down building not too far from them. It had once been used as a private classroom but in recent years, the building had been used as hideout for kids or storage for illegal substances.

Joseph nodded to Clara, plucking the cigarette from his mouth briefly to gesture, wordlessly, towards the building. "We should go undisturbed in such a place, no.. unwanted visitors should disturb us there." Joseph did not bother to ask Clara's view on what she thought of the place and whether they should go because, frankly, he didn't care. However, it was true that seeing her again was not an unpleasant experience. Especially as Clara was no longer trying to boss him about.

Joseph casually kicked open the door of the building and stepped inside, his wand out, casting boxes aside and finding a nice sturdy desk. It was one of those things he did, yet he couldn't have explained why, but Joseph walked to the desk and sat down on it, his feet hanging down from it's edge, touching the ground. His cigarette was back in his mouth and he seemed completely at ease. "So, Clara," Joseph said, leaning his head against the wall with a thump. "I can only assume that the reason you and your brother have not visited me for so many years is because you have both been hard at work raising families, no?" Of course, Joseph didn't think this true. Mark, perhaps, but Clara was still fairly young.

 

[Clara Schwarz]

The building Joseph gestured to was not exactly a pretty sight, but it would have to do. Besides, it would be good to have a conversation with someone who held similar beliefs to her. Even if he did have to be someone who really easily got on Clara's nerves. He hoped he wasn't going to treat her like a child this whole time. She'd been foolish and immature when they'd known each other, but she'd grown up a lot in the years. Now she, in her own view, of course, was not a woman to be trifled with. Of course, her own opinions of herself wouldn't change his, but still. She did not have much patience for his patronising attitude. She was younger than him, but she was not a child any longer.

Rather elegantly, Clara sank on to a pile of boxes, crossing one leg over the other and neatly smoothing down her skirt. It seemed so pointless to bother with her appearance in a place like this, but appearance was very important to Clara. She laughed out loud at Joseph's question. "Raising families? Hah, not likely." After all, Clara was only twenty-three, which she felt was far too young to consider starting a family, and Mark, who was soon to be twenty-nine, was too busy with his job - that, and as far as she knew, the girl he had his eyes on was far too young to consider starting a family. Nor was she pure - she was part-Veela, apparently. Nevertheless, she didn't seem to be completely bad blood, from what she'd heard, and she made Mark happy enough, so she really couldn't argue. Clara, however, wanted no less than a pureblood husband. When she considered marriage, however. "I shall tell Mark to visit. He had some...issues...with his old job, and felt he needed a change of scenery, so he moved to New Zealand. I joined him after graduation. I apologise, on mine and my brother's behalf, for not having visited earlier." Clara bowed her head, before continuing. "But I suppose you have found a lovely pureblood woman, stolen her heart, and now live in married "bliss"?" Clara asked, with very obvious sarcasm. She hadn't picked Joseph the type to settle down, not until he was much older, in any case.

 

[Joseph Adler]

Joseph listened to Clara's apology and waved it away with his cigarette. "Don't apologize for Mark," he said, puffing away at his cigarette, "he can come here and do it himself." He somewhat doubted that it could solely be work keeping Mark away from Germany. If this was the case, however, then his old friend had become a very, very sad man. Soon, Clara was speaking of Joseph having a wife. But her tone was filled to the brim with pure sarcasm. Joseph gave a sarcastic laugh. "It would take a very special woman to convince me to wed. However, just because I am unwed does not mean I have had no fun." At this, Joseph shot Clara a sly smirk.

Of course Joseph knew that his behaviour- treating Clara like a child- would be getting to her. But Joseph liked to make others suffer and his comments would only drill deeper until she was in floods of tears. A sadistic man he was, but Joseph wouldn't have it any other way. "You're just as I remember you, Clara," he began, "Still so stubborn to remain cool, still a venomous little girl, still strangely intriguing.." Joseph looked her up and down for a moment before clonking his head back against the wall once more, cigarette shrinking.

 

[Clara Schwarz]

Sure, it wasn't just work keeping her brother away. Some of his workmates had been a little suspicious of his outside of work activities, an it was only natural to move - which seemed suspicious anyway, but New Zealand seemed relatively safe. After all, he was quite good at keeping a low profile. Clara, though, couldn't resist getting out and engaging in cruelty. Oh, sweet torture. Like Joseph, Clara had plenty of fun of her own. Destroying those of filthy blood the main way she knew how - through seduction, followed by torturous death. Usually involving poisons. It wasn't exactly a subtle way of killing, but Clara enjoyed it regardless. Clara wasn't sure if she'd get married - though she suspected she'd have to, one day - one of the Schwarz children had to marry a pureblood, after all. But the man would have to be very good at convincing for her to marry him.

Though if anyone was as good at torture as she was, it was him. And this infuriated Clara to no end. Her hands clutched in to fists, her nails digging in to the palms of her hands. He knew what he was doing. She knew that just as well. And she knew she shouldn't react, she'd grown up now...but..."I am not a little girl!" she snapped, a haughty expression on her fact. "I may still have some growing up to do, but I am twenty-three, and I am not the silly little girl you remember from Durmstrang. And I don't need to be told otherwise, not by an arrogant fool of a man like yourself," she exclaimed, her voice trembling slightly. Folding her arms over her chest, her mind dwelled on the last words he uttered. Strangely intriguing? Clara scoffed, pulling down on the fabric of her dress, exposing a little more skin.

 

[Joseph Adler]

Joseph sniggered. Though he had aged physically, Joseph was still that cruel teenage boy who enjoyed watching others suffer. He especially loved getting a reaction out of Clara. She had always been a fun one for winding up and, by the way things seemed to be going, she still was. But insulting Clara this much was certainly not enough. Joseph wanted to push this as far as he possibly could. He stubbed out the cigarette he was holding- The thing which was keeping him relaxed and clam- and smirked.

"Such childish behaviour," he went on, "You certainly have a lot of growing up to do.. Look at you, pouting." Alright, he may have a while to go yet before she cracked but he would get there. It was fun doing so. "Your brother was always so much better than you, much more fun, too." His eyes were dark grey and Joseph was staring directly at Clara. Sibling rivalry was a big thing in most families and he saw no reason for it to be different in the Schwarz one. Joseph couldn't help that his eyes dropped briefly to the visible bare skin of Clara. He put those thoughts aside and was looking back at her eyes again. "What have you been doing with your time, little girl? Have you been all awone?" He spoke in a baby voice. A mocking one. "Does nobody love ickle Clara Schwarz?" He was enjoying this, perhaps a little too much.

 

[Clara Schwarz]

Keep calm, Clara, keep calm. Joseph had always known how to torture her. Mark used to join in, but at least she could tell he never ment much harm. He would always stop before it all got too serious, and he would always be kind to her afterwards. He knew how fragile she really was. She could be as venomous as she liked, but she was still a fragile girl at heart.

And so as Joseph taunted her, Clara breathed in and out, keeping her calm. The words stung, but she hardly believed him - after all, looking at the facts, she was the best child in the family. She'd been Head Girl, she hadn't run off with a mudblood, like Gretchen, nor had she fallen for a half-breed, like Mark. She was the one with the ideals of purity, she was the one who'd had success at school. So while those words were stinging, she could've just as well laughed in his face. Lies, Clara, don't believe the lies. "You're one to talk, Joseph Adler. Always second to Ruth, never as good as your big sister. Oh, it must have killed you, being second to a girl," Clara taunted, a wicked smirk on her face. "Poor Joseph. Never good enough. Maybe you are the one who has been all alone, wishing someone would think as much of you as you think of yourself," she stated, calmly. "And it's never going to happen, is it? You'll always be in her shadow."

 

[Joseph Adler]

Ouch. Joseph felt his blood boiling, Clara's words stinging him. So she was putting up a fight, eh? Well, Joseph was never one to back down from a fight. He would not give up simply because some little girl had found his weak spot. He had always envied Ruth, so relaxed about her actions, so content with who she was, next in line for the Adler throne.. That was, unless Joseph stopped her. That wouldn't be easy. She was dangerous when she wanted something. She was cruel and Joseph, always torturing many, had to take his hat off to her ways.

Joseph was becoming hot with anger. He pulled off his suit-jacket and threw it aside. He was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and a, now, thoroughly loosened tie. He looked truly flustered by Clara's comments. Well, he was. "The sad little girl," he started, unbuttoning his sleeves and rummaging about for a cigarette in his pocket. "That girl with a sister who married filth," he spat these words, desperately searching for a cigarette now. He needed to calm down, he needed to stop this anger. He didn't particularly wish to kill his old friend's sister but if it came to that..

"Planning on following in sister's footsteps, are we?" He said poisonously, turning his head towards Clara. The cigarette he had just found had rolled to the floor and that was exactly where Joseph left it. "Planning on spawning with filth.. Little freaks running around. Freaks like you who think they're all grown up. Children like you."

 

[Clara Schwarz]

Have I put my foot in it? No. I'm a Death Eater. I'm a woman. I can handle this. She'd well and truly gotten some points back from her insults towards Joseph, but what was he going to do in return? Clara stood her ground, keeping her arms folded in a defensive stanse. Her jacket fell to the floor, exposing her bare shoulders and arms, as she shrugged it off nonchalantly, despite the fact that she was burning in anger. Joseph hadn't changed at all in all those years. He was still the most infuriating bastard she had ever met, and that was saying something.

"She is barely my sister. She was always the mistake. Rather like you, really," Clara stated, holding her head up high. Sad, was she? Hardly. "That is hardly my intention, Joseph. I am not so foolish. Children like me? You mean perfect children who value blood purity above all else, as opposed to children like you who are family failures? When the time comes, I will find a respectable man - which shall be no problem for me - and bear children. You? You'd be lucky to find a mudblood or half-breed who'd have you." Clara was shaking now, she was so angry. But there was no way Joseph Adler would get the better of her. He may have done so many times in the past, but it was different now.

 

[Joseph Adler]

The anger had reached the peak. This was it. Joseph was going to kill Clara. Her words made him sick with rage. He found his hand reaching to his pocket, to his wand. He was going to hurt her. She was going suffer, feel the worst pain possible and only then would Joseph put her out of her misery. They were standing so close, both firey with anger, eyes glued to one another, ready to attack. He wanted Clara to suffer for her words. No-one had dared speak to him like that before.

Yet here he was, able to whip out his wand and inflict excruciating pain upon Clara, so much so that she would beg for death. But he didn't. Why? What was wrong with him? Maybe it was the fact that she was the sister of Mark? His anger was still at peak, he was still fired up and ready to kill, to torture, full of energy. He wanted nothing more than to spill the blood of this pretty little creature. He wanted nothing more than to hurt her as her words had hurt him.

Everything happened to fast: One minute, Joseph was preparing for battle, hand hovering by his wand pocket, the next, he had grabbed Clara's bare shoulders, digging, what nails he had, into them, leaving red marks. But he had not just gripped her shoulders. Joseph had pushed Clara back against a wall, viciously and now he was.. Kissing her? No, that couldn't be right.. But he was. His lips were on hers, his nails clawing at her, all his strength forcing her back against the nearest wall.

 

[Clara Schwarz]

Clara cursed her stupidity, having her wand in a thigh-holster under her dress. She'd thought it was a good idea at the time, rather stylish, actually, but not being able to easily get her wand had its drawbacks. She had her hand poised on her skirt, ready to lift it slightly to access her wand if she needed it - and she suspected she would - but he hadn't grabbed his. Likewise, Clara found herself momentarily frozen. She could've killed Joseph, or at least, she wanted to be ready to stop him from killing her, and yet...and yet she did nothing. Why? She'd had a foolish crush on him back at Durmstrang, but that was dead now, wasn't it? He was nothing but an arrogant arse to her, and Clara had come to accept that fact. Besides, she was beautiful and clever. She could get any man she wanted to.

But as Joseph approached her, Clara found herself momentarily shocked as he kissed her, before kissing back just as ferociously as he was. Her hands wandered over his back, her nails digging in to him as she grabbed on to his shoulders, using him to keep herself balaced as he forced her in to the wall. It was a strange situation, to be sure, but Clara wasn't exactly going to complain about it. Not that she was going to admit it or anything.

 

[Joseph Adler]

---

Joseph leant against the wall, sat on the desk, a cigarette in his mouth, eyes on the wall opposite. He wasn't exactly proud of his actions. In many ways, this was worse than killing Clara. At least Mark could eventually forgive him for murdering his annoying little sister but this.. This was somehow worse. Joseph pulled on his shirt and stood up to slip on his shoes. He turned to look back at Clara and, as much as he wanted to, he didn't smirk. He just stared. If Mark ever found out, Joseph was a dead man.

He walked, silently, from the little building and out into the open. He stubbed out his cigarette and took out his wand and, with a loud "CRACK!" Joseph disappeared. He had gone home. He couldn't stand an environment such as that for much longer: He still hated Clara. He was sure of that. But he no longer wished to meet up with Mark again. Not if Mark found out about what had happened.