Next Generation 2

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve froze. She didn't know what to do.
"Is he alright?" she asked. She wasn't sure what good it would do telling the truth. The room must be kept a secret, but the deed could possibly be revealed if it would help Nikolaus heal. The mirror seemed to her to be a dark object.
"Valencia." Geneve said, standing up. "Nikolaus saw something in a mirror, and the mirror shattered, and it nearly killed him. I can't tell you more than that. I couldn't tell you what he saw, or where the mirror is now. Nikolaus found it in a kind of ..... room of requirement. If he agrees to show you, then that's up to him. But I couldn't tell you where to find it again. I simply ran from the place dragging Nikolaus with all my strength." Geneve felt her eyes welling with tears. "Please, is he going to be okay?"
Liam looked up at Geneve. "You're lying again! Why must you always lie?! Who are you trying to protect? Him?! What if it was you in front of that mirror? Maybe you would already be dead! I saw him, Geneve, while you were gone. The wounds were deep, and they made his skin go black and green around where the glass had penetrated. All of this is bad news! HE is bad news." Liam stood up, glaring at Geneve. "Why can't you just be normal? Why can't you just.... leave all of this behind you?" Liam looked at Valencia, and then sat down again, frustrated.

[salemboy]

Damien closed the door quietly behind him. He had taken longer than he thought he had. Class was starting in ten minutes. Sighing, he walked back up to the Castle, and stood before the great oak doors. He really didn't want to teach today. Then, he realized that today was saturday. He didn't have to teach anybody today. Laughing at himself, he decided to take a walk on the grounds.

As he walked on the grounds, he slowly recounted all of his current troubles: Nikolaus's Dark Magic, Geneve's Inheritance, Gwydion altogether, and, probably the toughest trouble, the Sadistic Six. Damien kicked a stone, hearing it clang against the wall. It was so hard to imagine. How did they get out of the prison? How long will it take for them to find him? How long will it take for them to strike? And probably the hardest question, what will he do when they do strike?

Damien shook his head. He didn't want to think about that. So he looked up the castle. Hundreds, no thousands, of nooks and crannies cood be seen from just his vantage point. "I need some time alone," he thought to himself. So, he began climbing up the castle wall, up one of the towers. The climb was difficult, with Damien often having to hang on with one hand while he swung the rest of his body upwards. He found himself in a dilemma every ten feet or so. But as he climbed higher, it got easier. Cracks got larger, and Gargoyle's and windows aided his climb. Damien continued climbing, higher and higher, feeling the wind desperately try to throw him off, to kill him. But he perservered. He continued climbing, using everything possible, the cracks in the stone, the gargoyles on the walls, everything he could think of.

Finally, he reached the top. He had chosen wisely, as he was on the top of the Astronomy tower, so he could see everything. He steadily climbed the roof to the spire, and once he reached it, sat down. He hadn't realized that he had climbed so high. It had all seemed a blur to him. Checking his watch Damien saw that it had taken only an hour. An amazing feat, considering the height of the Astronomy tower.

Standing up, Damien saw all of the castle and grounds, and the students walking to and fro on them. Birds chirped and chimed as the flew past him. Taking a deep breathe, Damien closed his eyes, the sun beginning to beat across his back. Damien drew his wand, and said, "Accio Shakuhachi." Then he waited. After a few minutes, he heard the wooden instrument flying towards him, the wind whistling on its holes.

Damien grasped it, and began playing. Not any normal song. No, he just played, note after note, taking few breathes in between, listening to the sound as it travelled over the grounds and deep into the forest. He played, and played. And as he played, a tear welled up in his eye. Then another, and another. He didn't try to fight them back as they fell down his face. He just continued playing, recounting his life in vivid detail. Tears continued falling as he remembered every single wrong he did, and every single thing he regretted.

But it wasn't only that. No matter how hard he tried to forget it, how hard he tried to squash it, how hard he tried to deny it, he still had affection for Ouki Kaba, the woman who taught him to play the Shakuhachi. That was why he had never married, he couldn't forget about her, no matter how hard he tried. He had spent most of his time in prison moping, not because he was in jail, but because he had lost her. It had been heart-wrenching to fight her, and even more so to give her to the Ministry. It didn't matter that she was a murderer, he still felt affection for her.

Now, as he played the Shakuhachi, he thought of her, knowing that sooner or later, he would have to fight her again, and win. So, he played the Shakuhachi, crying as he did so. As the sound played over the grounds and forest, he felt that somehow, Ouki heard them. Whether or not she felt the same way he did he could not feel.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve gawked at Liam, not sure how to take his outburst. "I'm not lying. I just didn't tell YOU the truth. Why should you have to know what's going on anyway?!" Geneve scoffed. She turned to Valencia. "He was only in the hall when Nikolaus collapsed. He has nothing to do with this. He just stayed with Nikolaus until I returned with you." Geneve folder her arms. Valencia looked over at Liam for confirmation. Liam looked at Geneve, who promptly turned her back on him. Then he looked at Valencia, and knodded.
"That much of her story is true. I was out in the hall, like everyone else. I didn't see what happened." Liam shrugged as he said this.
"Does he have to stay here anymore, because I think he should leave." Geneve wished Liam would spontaneously combust, she was that angry with him. Liam jumped when she said this.
"Geneve, I... I want to help." he said softly.
"Ya, ok. whatever." she said. Valencia was getting impatient.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia stared long and hard at Geneve. Eventually she spoke, still keeping her gaze upon the girl. "Liam, you may go." she said shortly. "Geneve, come with me." And without another word Valencia set off down the hallway, not checking to make sure that Geneve followed.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve cast her glance outside the window for a moment, as something caught her eye. She took two long strides to reach the window and pressed her hands to the glass. Gliding through the sky, climbing higher and higher to a tower was a....
"An owl?" she said out loud. She watched as it proceded toward it's target, and then she noticed it dropped something. It was a letter. And on the far side of the tower wall, someone was standing there. Geneve could not see who it was, but the person caught the parchment, and the owl flew away once more.
"Wha..." Geneve turned around, her confused gaze fell on Liam. She quickly composed herself.
Liam paused for a moment, still holding Geneve in his stare. "Well I guess i'll get going then." Liam shrugged.
"Ya, guess you should." Geneve winced. Her voice was faultering. She was still so angry. Liam waited, staring at Geneve. His hand started to go up, almost in a pleading way, but then he thought better of it.
"I...." he began.
"You what?" Geneve snapped. Liam frowned.
"I'm sorry. I just hope you haven't screwed it up for yourself. Because you're screwing it up.... for ... well..." Liam let out a big sigh. "I just want things to be normal, Geny."
Geneve felt her mouth curl into a smile. Her fear and anger almost melted away. She approached Liam, wanting to reach out to him, but pride held her back.
"I don't have a choice. I was born to be... like this." Geneve spoke quietly.
"We can control our own destinies, of that I'm certain. Goodbye, Geneve. I expect you're getting expelled." Liam turned his back and left quickly without a backwards glance. Geneve watched him go. She turned her back on him too, and realised that Valencia was nearly out of view. She ran to catch up. She ran as fast as she could. She ran because she was so sad, so angry, so frustrated, so confused. She ran because she knew that something was about to be over.. that it already was over. If she was expelled, she would never see Liam again. She would be put into an orphanage and passed around from foster home to foster home. She was a fool. She felt her eyes well up with tears.
"Please! Wait!" She screamed out to Valencia.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia jumped in surprise at the sound of Geneve's voice. She came to a stop and turned around to see Geneve nearly in tears. "Gracious, Geneve, what has gotten into you?" she turned and started walking again as Geneve caught up. "Falling a bit behind me is certainly nothing to cry about," she muttered to herself, "how emotional this generation is..."

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve followed Valencia quietly, afraid to push her luck. She decided not to put it into her head the idea of expelling her. Geneve had not realised until that moment how much the idea of leaving Hogwarts scared her. Then another thought occured to her; they couldn't let her leave, not now. She was too much of a danger. Didn't they understand the need to control what she could do? Didn't they realise that was all Nikolaus was trying to do, to help her gain some control? She shook her head. What were their plans for her? She was sure that they had been watching her more closely than she had first believed. They were not a bunch of fools. Geneve continued to follow her teacher down the corridors.

[salemboy]

Damien looked at the parchment. It was sealed shut with wax. A more primitively done way to show that it was private. Damien slowly began to peel the wax away with his finger nail. His Shakuhachi lay at his side, having finally blown out his lips from playing it for too long.

Damien took a little while to do it, but he managed to get the wax off without damaging the parchment. He quickly unfolded and opened the parchment to see a message scribbled in Japanese. The way it was written suggested that it was written under difficult circumstances, probably having to write it out quickly. It was difficult to read, but Damien could handle it. It read:

"Hello, Damien. I just thought I'd give you a heads up. We're coming for you, whether you like it or not. And when we meet, I won't be as nice as last time. See you soon."

Damien swore under his breath. They were already planning. He wondered when they would strike... It couldn't be soon. They just got out but a few days ago. They were probably just planning for now. Still, he'd better notify Sprague.

"Accio My Broomstick," he said as he began walking towards the edge of the roof. Looking off in the distance, he could see his broomstick zooming to him from a small drainage pipe connected to his dungeon for potions. Then he leaped off of the building, with his broomstick zooming towards him.

He loved skydiving. Or his version of it at least. He felt the wind whipping through his clothing as he descended at an increasing rate. His eyes watered as he forced them open against the wind. He could see his broomstick racing along side him. Reaching out his hand, it drew itself into it. Pulling it in between his legs, he could already feel it resisting gravity. Then pulling it up, he finally slowed himself to a halt. He was about five feet off the ground. Jumping off the broomstick onto the grass, he began his search for Professor Sprague.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve had been sent back to class after being reprimanded by Valencia. She had been given detention, and was told she was being watched from now on. Her heart sank as she still felt the sting of being in trouble, and the fact that she was forbidden to see Nikolaus again was the icing on the cake. She collected her books as she checked her timetable. Potions. She went down to the dungeons and entered the classroom. She was already late, and there was one spare place left - right beside one of Harry Potter's sons. She tried not to opening sigh and display her annoyance as much as he did, and she set her books down and set to work preparing a potion for changing your hair from light to dark. She glanced across the room and saw Liam giving her a long look, but he quickly looked away. She didn't care. As alone as she felt, she was going to get through this. She just had to control her temper.

[FawkesthePhoenix]

Valencia sat at her desk and sighed, resisting the temptation to put her head in her hands. She'd been doing that far too much lately... any more and she might get a crick in her neck. How stressful this all was; trying to protect Geneve, not least to mention her... interactions.... with Nikolaus. What would she do about them? They had been so close, if only for a little while. And then it all fell to pieces. How could she presume to fix them? She was no good at this sort of thing.

[salemboy]

"Crud, crud, crud, crud, crud!!!" Damien ran into his classroom. How had he thought that today was saturday? He was so freaking late. If he wasn't a teacher, he'd have detention for this.

His students were waiting. First years, Gryffindors with Slytherins. Running over to the cupboard, Damien began pulling out ingrediants. Maybe have them do Polyjuice? No. Too advanced, and illegal at that. How about Felix Felicis? No, also too complicated.

"Ah, here's a simple one. Ok, everybody. Today, we'll be doing a simple potion." He started setting out the ingrediants on his desk. "Today, we'll be making a wit-sharpening potion."

Damien could hear snickers in the classroom. Standing up to face them, he said. "I don't know what you're laughing about, and I don't care. If I hear a one more snicker in the room, I'll give every last one of you detention." All the students shut up. Perhaps... it was the fact that he looked like a homicidal maniac.

His note was stowed away in his jeans pocket, while his Shackuhachi was still up on the tower. Not like it was going anywhere. Finally getting out all of the neccessary ingrediants, he calmed down. Taking a deep breath, he said, "For this potion, you will be allowed to use your books." Everybody started getting up, but then Damien said, "However! You will notice several extra ingrediants on my desk. Should you wish to use any of these extra ingrediants, I will not stop you. For every person who manages to not only create a wit-sharpening potion, but also make it reflex-increasing, will recieve 40 points for your house." Several students looked excited, as if hoping to bring glory to themselves by improving their house. "But, be warned. Mixing potions is dangerous business. I have been kind enough to only bring out the certain ingrediants that if you mess up, the worst that will happen are slight burns. Use your common sense. Are you good enough to create this kind of potion?"

He looked at the class. Both Geneve and Liam were in here, along with that Albus Potter boy. Albus was glowering at Damien. Obviously, the boy still remembered that Damien had gotten him in trouble. Tee, hee. Somebody had to take Snape's place in torturing Potters. "Oh, and one more thing before you begin." The children sighed once again. "Should you make either potion incorrectly, you will have twenty points deducted from your house for every incorrectly made potion." The class roared in dissaproval. "I'm teacher, my rules. Begin."

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Geneve sighed and scowled at Albus. "I suppose you like getting people in trouble?" she scoffed. Albus stared at her.
"What do you mean?" he said innocently.
"I was about to go on what you said to do, making the potion to change hair colours... oh, never mind!" Geneve waved her hand at Albus and started filing through her book to find the recipe for the wit-sharpening potion. She could hear Albus saying something like "Stupid, crazy girl.." which nearly sent her blood boiling. But she had to control it, so instead, she put her hand up and called to her teacher.
"Professor? Professor could you please tell me if these ingredients are fresh enough to use? I think they might have become too cold in my room..." As Professor Nomare acknowledged her and started to walk over, Albus started to frantically get to work. Geneve giggled. She loved making him squirm!

[salemboy]

"You have your own ingrediants?" Damien questioned. "That's responsible, although it beats me how you managed to get them past professor Longbottom." Looking down at the ingrediants, he stamped his feet. "That STINGY brat! Longbottom told me that he gave me the best Ginger root he had. And look at yours! No, Geneve, your ingrediants are topnotch. But, in case you want anything extra, feel free to grab some from my desk like the others."

[Ms. Elsewhere]

"Thank you professor." Geneve blushed. She was pleased for once that she was doing something right. She was lucky she had been able to aquire some ingredients when she shopped for her supplies in Diagon alley. Her mother had helped her there. Even though they weren't on the list, she insisted that Geneve be fully stocked. Geneve rolled her eyes. Probaby had an alterier motive, like, for her to have the makings to brew potions to kill people. Geneve was still in shock at how her mother was in on the whole Voldemort thing. She opened her book to the correct page and started making the potion. She laughed when Albus's potion shot smoke up into his face. He looked over at her and with black all over his cheeks.
"Oh shut up!" he murmured, and Geneve grinned. She liked the rivalry, she was going to kick his Griffindor butt.

[salemboy]

Damien waited an hour to allow the students to work as hard as possible on their potions. Several, he had seen, had gone the easy route, while a few risk-takers had gone for the gold. When the hour was up, he yelled, "Ok, everybody, stop working. Your potions are complete, whether you like it or not." As students began to put away their supplies he began looking at the potions. He had done 4 Gryffindors, and 3 Slytherins. 2 of the Gryffindors had gone for the special potion, while only one Slytherin had.

All three failed miserably. While the others made a decent Wit-Sharpening Potion. Then he came to Albus' potion. As soon as he saw it, he reached into his jacket and hastily threw three potions into the cauldron. "I don't know how you made that potion, boy. But remind me to never allow you to mess with potions again." This statement was met with several snickers from both Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Damien immediately turned around to catch them in the act, and assigned them hour long detentions cleaning cauldrons. Turning back around, he came to Geneve. He would've cried tears of joy if he weren't in class. "Geneve, I was expecting a good potion from you, but after seeing this..." He whisked everybody else's potions away, not even bothering to look. "You all get ten points each for your respective houses, thanks to Ms. Geneve, here. Now, except for Geneve, all of you GET OUT!"