tashaleway

[tashaleway]

KVAAFCRS: Chapter Seven: A Whole New Day

Chapter Seven: A Whole New Day

Chapter Seven: A Whole New Day A/N: So, it's been a while. Yeah. Sorry about that. But hey! At least it's not been a year, right? This chapter annoyed me greatly. I started out with the list of the things, I wanted to happen in this chapter but it just took off so I had to re-write almost completely to make it fit with my timeline.

Karkat woke up early in his bed in the Slytherin dorms, drew back the curtains and was met with a faintly familiar face. The red-eyed boy from yesterday. Caliban or something.

"Good morning?" Karkat remembered how he'd blown up yesterday, and wanted to at least pretend to be somewhat polite. It wouldn't do to make too many enemies. That could wait until next year.

Caliban-whatever took that as an invitation and stepped closer.

"I believe that we got on the wrong foot yesterday. And I wished to remedy that. As I mentioned last evening, we Slytherins must stand together. The rest of the school looks down on us, and we must not show any weaknesses, especially not amongst ourselves. So, I would like to offer my hand, maybe not in friendship, but as allies. You need one, don't you?" Caliban-whatever held out his hand in invitation. Karkat didn't like the gleam in the other boy's eyes, but he didn't really have a choice, did he? Karkat was sure, if he didn't accept, he would be thrown to the wolves. Better be one of them, than their food.

He shook the offered hand and his headache lifted a bit.

~naknaknak~

The first day of school was crap. It usually was anywhere else, but Karkat was pretty sure that the first day was supposed to be a way of gently introducing to the classes, get to know each other and the teacher, and then perhaps get a plan on the different subjects. Hogwarts had obviously never heard of that. When they arrived at the classrooms, they were told to sit down, find their books, told what was expected of them, a quick explanation what the class was about, and then they jumped straight into it! They were supposed to try and transfigure a match into a needle in their first transfiguration class, for fucks sake!

Karkat had never been taught at a public school before, no he had always been home-schooled along with Kankri. Speaking of Kankri, it seemed like the world was trying its damned hardest for them not to meet up. When Karkat had woken up that morning he had decided he would have a talk with his brother and make sure they were still alright. But when he had arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, he learned that Kankri had already eaten and left for his first classes. Karkat had then tried to follow and meet up before classes started, but the annoying kid, John had apparently spotted him and chatted him up all morning, right before classes had begun. Great.

And now he was here; in Transfiguration. Unable to focus, out of mind, worrying about what his brother would say to him later. Oh, and he had gained a new chatterbox of a follower. Mr-Sunglasses-Inside stole the seat next to Karkat as soon as he could and had not shut up since. One would think that the teacher would put a stop to it, but the kid had a gift of whispering so low that only Karkat could hear him. On top of that, the kid made sure to only speak when someone was writing something down, so the scratching of quills against parchment would mute him out. So, fuck that guy.

"Hey, so what did you get for question 14? I got 257," the guy would whisper. Karkat stared at him incredulously.

"This isn't bloody math, you absolute shitclusterfuck! It's not even an exam and we got fucking Transfiguration!" Karkat whispered as low as he could, trying to calm down and not get a detention. "What in the shitty world are you thinking?! Or is your lack of brain the reason you walk with those wall-fuckers called glasses? 'Cause that would explain everything about you!"

And then the guy would just smirk and snort and return to his notes. Karkat fucking hated him.

Even worse; as soon classes ended, Sir Sunglasses the Worst would follow him around and comment on every. Single. Thing.

"Hey, any idea why the Gryffindors hates us? I mean, I understand they're jealous, because… well, look at us! We're awesome, but still, they always sneer and growl at us. Do they think they’re lions or what? Hey! Does that mean we should hiss at them?? That would be fun, even though, everyone would think we’re furries, or, ew, copycats, yeah, scratch that idea! What about-“

“Can you PLEASE shut your dumbass piehole for just ONE second??! Every word out of your mouth is another nail in my skull, and I feel pretty crucified here! No, I’m beyond that! I’m beyond dead, I’m beyond saving! You can’t even play a pretty little song to the lord of the underworld to save me now! It’s too late! And even if you went so far and saved me, you would still have to guide me back to the living world, without looking back at me, and EVEN IF YOU WOULD HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THAT, I WOULD RATHER RUN BACK TO GET TORTURED EVEN MORE THAN LISTEN YO ANOTHER WORD FROM YOU! SO PLEASE JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU BRAIN-DEAD DUMB-FUCKING-“

“KARKAT VANTAS! DETENTION!”

“…Fuck…”

~naknaknaknaknaknaknak~

Karkat hated his life. It was nothing new, but today had to be the worst of all. First, he hadn’t been able to talk to Kankri at all because of the dumbass classes. Second, the classes themselves. They were horrible. Or maybe it was just Karkat. Whatever. Third, he hadn't had a chance to talk to Kanaya, the only sane person at this castle of insanity. Fourth, he had gotten himself some kind of a stalker. Or perhaps his own personal chatterbox, who got Karkat thrown into detention. Thanks, pal! Fifth, the detention itself, which was another thing that made it impossible to talk with his brother. Sixth, his companion at the detention; the blabbermouth himself! How awesome was that?! Apparently the idiot had tried to skate down the handrails of the stairs. He luckily got stopped before he got himself injured, but he ultimately landed himself in detention alongside Karkat. So yeah, his life was the worst.

Karkat tried to concentrate on a very stubborn piece of slimy and smelly potion in the cauldron he was cleaning. Meanwhile, Dave Strider; Ultimate Worst Person Ever, saw this as an opportunity to keep on talking.

"-and it was so cool! I would totally make it, of course, nothing can harm a Strider. Too bad the teacher was there, but I'm probably gonna try again tomorrow, wanna join? You can film me- wait… oh yeah, phones doesn't work here. Dammit! Oh well… hey! We can see what they are hiding behind the forbidden door! That'd be so epic! We can have bragging rights, and if we die, we at least left here in the most cool way ever! Unless of course the only reason it's locked, is because the room is full of deadly poison, then it wouldn't be as cool, I don't know about you, but if I ever die, it should only be because I did something very cool-"

"Like trying to fucking murder yourself by skating down the stairs??"

"Yeah. Something like that. Thanks, Kitkat, I knew you'd get me."

"Kitkat??!! Don't fucking call me that, you spewing magpie! My name's Karkat, not that you will ever need it, because our conversation ends here! Never talk to me again!" Karkat yelled. That would probably have prompted another detention, but for once, Karkat was lucky, and the seventh-year student had left the room five minutes prior to fetch their homework so they could work on it until the detention would be over in half an hour.

Those thirty minutes couldn't pass soon enough.

"Karkat?"

"Kaaarkaaaat"

Kaaaaaaaaaaaarkiiiittyyy"

"Kitkat?"

"Karkles"

"Karkat, are you ignoring me??"

"If you ignore me for much longer, I'll DIE! I need attention to live!" and with that dramatic speech, Dave toppled over the cauldron he was cleaning, getting sticky, black goo on his robes. Karkat still ignored him. Dave would give up eventually. But unfortunately for Karkat, he didn't know his housemate that well. And he had no idea how far Dave would go to get what he wanted.

It was silent for a few blessed moments.

"You killed me, Kitkat… My blood is on your hands… now…" Dave whispered and gave a final death rattle and mistakenly sticking his tongue out. And thereby accidentally touching the dirty cauldron. He flinched back with a scream that made Karkat burst out laughing. The first time he'd laughed in weeks. It felt good. And to imagine it was the pest, Dave, that made him do it.

His head hurt

Dave shot him a relieved smile, not that it was noticed by the laughing kid. Dave was happy. He'd been worried he wouldn't gain any friends, as he was pretty hard to get along with, and while Karkat had seemed like an unappreciable guy, he'd already heard some nasty rumors about the guy, both in Diagon Alley and on the train. And these rumors hadn't lessened a bit, since their arrival at the school. Getting sorted into the same House as Karkat had been a sign to Dave to immediately befriend the guy. Dave knew from personal experience that nobody wanted to talk to, let alone, befriend the weird guy, that everyone was gossiping about. It had taken hours, and the short, angry kid already hated Dave, but now it seemed that Karkat could potentially warm up to him. Maybe. Yeah… Maybe…

He hoped.

~naknaknak~

After the detention, they headed to the common room together, in higher spirits, joking around. That was, until they met one, Rose Lalonde.

A/N: I imagine that most of you would recognize what I was referencing in Karkat’s little rant, but if there’s an unlucky soul that either don’t know it, or if I was not that great in writing it, I’ll let you know that it’s the Greek myth about Orpheus who lost his wife (Eurydice), and traveled to the underworld to get her back. Most people already know this myth so I'm not gonna blab on about it. Cheers! (I also quickly want to mention that again, the way Karkat is thinking about the different houses are merely a by-product of his upbringing and rumors he's heard. I, the author don’t think that way. So, when Karkat associates Slytherins with wolves, that's just because he's a dramatic child that believes everything Kankri told him and from what Karkat can tell how Caliborn acts.

Over and out - TL!

[tashaleway]

KVAAFCRS: Chapter Six: Sortings and Low Tolerance of Babblings

The rest of the train ride had thankfully passed quietly, which Karkat contributed to his yelling. Ironically enough. He had hoped to meet Kanaya on the train, but he hadn't been able to find her. Or rather; he had looked in a few cars down the train, hadn't seen her and let that matter rest. It wasn't all that important anyway. He was certain that she got other friends and had only invited him because she was polite. People were like that. Polite. To spare others feelings, but if were able to look past the false veil, you would only get hurt even more. Kankri was wrong; politeness wasn't something to strive for. Bluntness and truth was. Or so he had decided a few years ago, when one of Kankri's speeches had been too much for him. He had lived by those rules ever since.

Soon they arrived. The older student all walked towards some carriages, but the first years were led by some random professor, or groundskeeper, as he introduced himself. It wasn't all that important. Karkat was sure he wouldn't see much of him. Karkat regretted that decision as soon as he saw the old, leaky boats. This groundskeeper would be his new archenemy.

The boat ride was… well… wet. And cold. He should leave it at that. After some chatter between the groundskeeper and the Deputy Headmistress, Umbrage, they finally reached the castle.

They had been ushered into a small room, where he finally found Kanaya. They had both been unable to find each other on the train. Kanaya admitted that she had only been able to search a small portion of the train, before a prefect had ordered her to find a seat. They weren't able to talk much more, before Professor Umbrage had ordered them all to follow her.

The Great Hall certainly lived up to its name. It certainly was great. And huge. And… pretty amazing actually. Karkat wondered briefly, if anyone got hit by the melted wax from the floating candles, but figured that there was some sort of spell or charm that kept the students safe from being occasionally burned. He hoped. All the first year students looked around the room nervously, but with Kanaya by his side, Karkat felt a bit better. Not that he was nervous or anything, no sir.

The witch who had introduced herself as Umbrage, placed a stool on the floor along with a mouldy old hat that had certainly seen better days. Karkat nearly jumped in shock when the Hat began to sing about the different houses. It was as he had expected from whatever Kankri had told him. Gryffindor valued honour and bravery. Hufflepuff was all about hard work and loyalty. Slytherin searched for those with ambition and cunning (to be frank, that didn't sound as bad, as when Kankri had told him tales about the Slytherins, but Karkat could feel a small headache building, so he decided to just focus on the matter of hand, and not whatever the Houses represented. It wasn't like it was important or anything) and Ravenclaw invited the witty, those with love for learning and wisdom. So far, Karkat couldn't see what House he would fit into, but alas, no child (or adult) was only made up from one House. Everyone had a bit of every House in them. Or so, one of his books had said. He thought that it sounded rather clever. And a tad confusing.

"Ampora, Eridan!" Umbrage called and a dark-haired boy with a purple streak, staggered nervously up to the hat.

After a moment the hat yelled, "SLYTHERIN!" the table far to the right clapped for their new member. Karkat noticed that their colours were green and silver.

The Sorting seemed forever. A Captor, Sollux apparently belonged to Ravenclaw. John Egbert, the boy from the bookshop and train, was a Gryffindor (he got the biggest applause so far as the red and gold table seemed rather excited to have him). Jade Harley, John's cousin, was a Hufflepuff. Lalonde, also a Ravenclaw. Leijon, Gryffindor. Karkat only half listened to names and their destination. Only five children had been sorted and he was already bored. A long way to the V's. He idly wondered if the rest of the school was as bored as he was. Karkat quickly refocused on the Sorting when 'Makara, Gamzee' was called forth. It was the kid, Kankri had warned him against, and when he thought about it, it was also the clown-kid that had visited him in his compartment along with McStutters. He honestly didn't seem all that dangerous.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Karkat nearly laughed out loud. From all the warnings, he'd heard, he hadn't expected Makara to end up in Hufflepuff, the House for the so-called losers. He ended up rolling his eyes. So much for being dangerous.

"Maryam, Kanaya!" Kanaya walked forward with grace. Karkat whispered a quick 'good luck' and was rewarded with a nervous smile. She wasn't on the stool for long, before the Hat proclaimed her to be in "RAVENCLAW!" for the next seven years of her life.

Karkat gave an assuring smile to Aradia when she was called up next. She also ended up in Ravenclaw. The Mohawk was next and got Sorted into Hufflepuff. What a surprise. Or maybe he just wanted to be in the same House as the clown. They seemed to be great friends. Hmpf.

A girl named Peixes also got Sorted into Hufflepuff, which she seemed to be very satisfied with. Pyrope, who seemed to be blind, if you noticed her cane, but didn't have much trouble finding the stool, got sent to Gryffindor. Serket, the girl with the spider and a wicked grin, got sent to Gryffindor as well. She seemed surprised, but quickly joined the Pyrope-girl. Strider, a boy who lazily walked up to the Hat, wearing sunglasses (who wears sunglasses indoors?) was put in Slytherin.

"Vantas, Karkat!" he was finally called, and Karkat wished that he didn't have to be Sorted right now. Couldn't it wait? For like… the rest of his life?

Karkat walked uncertainly up to the stool with the moulding hat, suddenly not so sure about this whole deal. Actually wishing to just turn around and leave. Why did they need to Sort the first years in front of everyone else?! He most likely looked like a wreck, but tried not to show the growing feeling of panic in his chest. He reached the stool, sat down and darkness surrounded him when the Deputy Headmistress placed the hat on his head.

"Hmmm… I see plenty of dreams and ideas for your future, huh? You certainly don't dream small. Wanting to be a leader? Perhaps the Minister of Magic? …No? you want to be higher up than others, so they won't look down at you? Plenty of loyalty as well, not a bad head, and  also hardworking. A fair sense of honour. But what is… hmmm… is it possible to..? …no… but who would..? …oh… Oh!... this is something you must solve yourself, I'm afraid. Just remember to look out for yourself. Only trust the few. I believe that SLYTHERIN will fit you best!"

Karkat froze, but the table, far to the right, started to clap loudly, so he stood up and stumbled towards the table in green. When he sat down, he risked a glance at the Gryffindor table. His brother looked more shocked than Karkat had ever seen him be. He was probably more shocked than Karkat. Imagine telling your brother horrortales of this place, and finding out that it's the place where your brother belongs. This line of thought didn't make Karkat feel better.

~naknaknak~

While being guided to his common room by the prefect, Karkat glanced at Kankri, who had apparently been staring worriedly at him for some time, but they didn't get a chance to talk before they were led in different directions. Tomorrow then.

Down in the dark common room, they were directed towards their dorms, where they would share rooms with their classmates. Sweaty Guy was there, along with Sir Sunglasses, another kid Karkat couldn't remember the sorting of, and Purple Streak. Karkat couldn't be bothered to remember their names at the moment. It was too goddamn late to be polite.

The other boys in the room seemed to share his sentimentality and went straight to bed. Well, except for one boy. The boy he couldn't remember the sorting of. His eyes were red, like Karkat's, but instead of being crimson, the other boy's eyes were more of a rusty colour. Karkat secretly hoped that the other boy had received as much trouble for the rare eye-colour, as he did himself. Or maybe it was more common in magical families. He hoped not.

The other boy walked towards Karkat and stretched out his hand. Karkat nervously shook it. It seemed awfully mature and grown-up to shake another kid's hand. What eleven year-old shook hands willingly anyway?

"My name is Caliborn Uranian. Your name is Karkat Vantas, correct?" it came out more like a command, than a question. Karkat nodded. He certainly didn't like this Caliborn Uranian. He was a douchemuffin.

"Good. Here in Slytherin, we need to stand together. Everyone is suspicious of us, so we need to show an united front, so no fighting outside the common room. And as we are obviously the superior house, we have to live up to that. So no slacking off. You need to show your best. We need every student here in Slytherin. Even those who are obviously usele-" a groan interrupted him mid-speech.

"God-fucking-damnit! Are you gonna drawl on forever or what?? We're all pissing ourselves in our half-asleep state, so I'd rather go to bed, than listen to another word come out of your shit-blubbering hole. Jesus! And no, I don't give flying fuck about what you think of me! I will probably not live to your insane expectations anyway! This is fucking school and we're like, eleven, so cry me a river, you whiny little fuckstick!" Karkat had finally lost his cool, after a long and trying day. Making an enemy out of a classmate the first day, might not be the smartest move, but he'd already tried to be polite (-ish), but he'd been polite the whole day! He'd reached his quota! There was only so much politeness he could do in one day. Come back tomorrow.

Caliborn was shocked, and didn't seem to mind, when Karkat crawled into bed, pulled the curtains on his bed shut and went to sleep. Or perhaps he was just shocked that anyone was stupid enough to be so rude to the son of one of the greatest wizards of all times; Calious Uranian. Karkat Vantas would regret his decisions, but firstly, Caliborn needed to inform his father about this.

[tashaleway]

KVAAFCRS: Chapter Five: The Murderous Wand

The day had finally come. Karkat stood in front of the brick wall between the platforms nine and ten. He drew in a deep breath and stepped through the wall, followed by his brother, babysitter and said babysitter’s two girls, Damara and Aradia, where they was greeted by a huge, red train, named “The Hogwarts Express” and a horde of wizards, witches and their younglings. “See you later, kiddoes. Have a nice year and remember to give everybody a good dose of pranking, or I’ll disown you both!” Droog said to his daughters and laughed at the end, which sounded a bit mad, while the parents closest to them gave him a disgruntled look and took a few steps away, dragging their children with them, muttering under their breaths. Damara and Aradia sighed and nudged their father with their elbows in each side of his ribs.

“Stop being such a moron, dad!” Damara ordered, while Droog chuckled at her antics. She was finally speaking English, but Karkat thought that it would only continue in classes. Outside of them…. Well… nobody would have any real chance of understanding her…. Except for Aradia perhaps… “Do I hear a fellow prankster?” a female voice asked and an older girl emerged from the crowd, looking old enough to be in one of her last years at Hogwarts. She was a bit chubby, but it suited her and she had a big, mischievous smile, firmly on her lips. Even with her completely blue-dressed style, which matched her eyes, it was obvious, this was a girl you had better stay away from, or else you could wake up one morning with rainbow-coloured hair. “A pleasure to meet you, Miss. And yes, I am indeed a pranker, but sadly; none of my children have inherited those of my genes,” Droog answered with a mock-disappointed shake of his head, while wiping an imaginary tear away. “Allow me to introduce myself; Jane Crocker to your service and humiliation!” she hold out her arms to her sides and gave a bow. Karkat recognized the name as Mr. Goof Mcfoolian English’s twin sister. He wondered why they had different last names. It was most likely due some inter-family stuff, that wouldn’t concern him, even if it crawled up his ass and puked. That is, if he ever cared enough to ask. “Diamond Droog, and these are my lovely girls, Damara and Aradia Megido. The two brats are Kankri and Karkat Vantas. Those are not mine, and I will not be held responsible for whatever they do, unless it’s pranks, of course.” Karkat and Damara shoot Droog death glares, while Kankri looked offended and Aradia just smiled softly and shook her head. It seemed like even Aradia was excited about today too, otherwise, she would normally daydream about adventures and hidden treasures, and nobody would be able to get any response out of her, yet here she was, communicating with the world around her and responding to their words and actions. Karkat was so proud. They heard a warning whistle from the train, and Droog shooed the children away, Jane Crocker disappeared into the crowd, probably trying to find her parents and give a last goodbye, while the four Hogwarts students quickly grabbed their trunks, boarded the train and headed off to find a compartment, with a last wave at the imbecilic babysitter/father. Damara found some dorm mates of hers and dragged Kankri after her, saying something about letting his poor brother find his own friends and to be more social. Whomever the last comment were meant for, only she knew and left the two first years on their own in their hunt for a place to sit. Not so long after, they found a compartment filled with first years (recognized with their still blank ties), but with only one empty seat. Not knowing, when they would find another seat, Aradia shrugged in apology, before entering. Just before he left, Karkat noted the five other children inside; one was a tall, sweating boy with far too showing muscles for an eleven year old and broken sunglasses (why anyone would wear such things would be a mystery to Karkat); a girl with long, black hair, a mischievous smirk and a young Acromantula on her shoulder, which seemed to bother everybody else in the compartment, except for herself. Beside her was a small, nervous boy with a mohawk, who was looking through his trunk and robe pockets frantically. The two last children were Jade and John from the bookstore. Karkat walked briskly past the other compartments in order to not be seen; he really didn’t want another “talk” like the one in Flourish and Blotts. He didn’t know that he had already been noticed. ~naknaknak~ Finally, almost at the end of the train, he found empty compartment, which was rather weird, when you thought about all the other full ones and all the children on the train, but perhaps the train was just magical that way? Karkat had only just stepped inside, when he tripped on something long, round and thin, and fell face first onto the floor. “Fucking piece of shit!” he raged, while pulling himself to his feet to look closer at the pencil-alike thing, he had fallen over. “Shitting, bloody, murderous wand of an unborn, immobile object!” he yelled as he picked said wand up, but when he didn’t recognize it as his own, that was still in his pocket, he placed the wand on the opposite seat. After that was done, he pulled out a book and then put his trunk away. He spend the next moments, trying to focus on the words, while fuming and throwing insults all the way. It took a few minutes, before he had calmed enough to actually read the sentences in the book, without having to read them trice. Karkat didn’t know how long, he had been buried in the book, when the door slid open, it could have been everything from five minutes to five hours. Karkat looked reluctant away from his book to see, who the newcomer was, but the minute he recognized the boy, he went back to his book about Defence Against the Dark Arts, not wanting to face the other boy. It was something better avoided, if he could, or else Karkat would probably have another rage fit within minutes. “Karkat, right?” the boy asked and shifted nervously from foot to foot. Karkat huffed in response. “I… uh… can I sit here? There is full everywhere else.” Yeah right! Because it’s not like you just had a seat! Filthy liar. “Huh, that’s funny. I thought that you had a really nice seat with your cousin, but I was apparently wrong. My eyes mustn’t have worked properly, when I passed. I really should get them fixed, because I can’t really go around and make assumptions about people, can I?” John seemed to be even more nervous, as he deflated in on himself, but in the end, he reached his hand out for Karkat. “I think we got off wrong, so let’s try again. My name is John Egbert. I’m trying to avoid Jade; she is also a first year like me, but really weird. You?” the insecure, lopsided grin he flashed was slowly, but steady getting on Karkat’s nerves. Karkat frowned, but agreed anyway, while rolling his eyes. Egbert was right. They had come off the wrong foot, or maybe it was just Jake Frigging English’s fault, so in the end he grasped the hand and shook it firmly once and let go. “Karkat Vantas. I’m a big asshat and currently, I’m hoping that my brother will not find me before the year ends, but neither of us ever get our wishes granted. That’s how life is, deal with it, you assnugget.” While greeting the other boy, Karkat had noticed the appearing of a young girl, dressed in green, one Jade Harley. How life is just full of joy and happiness. “Nice to meet you Karkat. We really didn’t have the time for a real greeting earlier, did we?” she asked cheerful and startled John in the progress. “No, we didn’t, and I don’t give a living shit about it. Now; bye!” Karkat snarled and to be honest, he just wanted to be alone. Yes, John had (in his own pathetic way) tried to apologize for his older cousin’s behaviour, and Jade seemed nice, but Karkat already knew, that the moment, Jake saw them talking together, he would either put an end to it or make John and Jade see the world from his view. Why not just end the friendship, before it started? Besides, Would Karkat even want to be friends with two pieces of sunshine that seemed to shit rainbows? Not-bloody-likely! On the other hand, Karkat was sure that John already would get a lot of friends (he was just like that), so why would he need Karkat? “Hey! How can you be such an asshole?! Come John, we’re leaving!” Jade walked angrily out, followed by a reluctant John, who frowned at Karkat’s behaviour. Bye friendship! It was nice, almost seeing you there! Once again, Karkat’s thoughts were clouded and confusing. Firstly, he really wanted a friend. John, despite his cheerfulness, seemed all right, but secondly, something told him that it would just be best, if he didn’t come any near the boy. He didn’t know how, but something told him that the friendship would be frowned upon. Not that he would care, but that didn’t stop the new thoughts. It was like… something inside him, tried to guide him, despite him wanting the complete opposite. ~naknaknak~ Once more, the door opened, but it was neither John nor Jade, but instead, the boy with the Mohawk and a really tall kid with long, dark, messy hair, a far-away expression and…. clown paint?… on his face… What? “Hey, uhh…have you seen a wand around here?” Mohawk asked, but avoided looking Karkat in the eyes. For some retarded reason or the other. “Some older guys… stole it… and the Prefects can’t summon it…” the boy continued Karkat held up The Murderous Wand (as Karkat had just named it) and waved it back and forth to get the boy’s attention. “This one?” The boy nodded nervously, but with relief and eyed Karkat a bit suspiciously, as if he expected Karkat to mock him or break the wand. As Karkat had already had his fair share with bullies, he would never do something like that (unless they deserved it, of course). Absorbed by those thoughts, Karkat got a shock, when the tall, lanky boy began to speak. “Hey, little bro, didn’t see you there! Did you also see the disappearing wall? My Da´ told me just to walk through, and I did, ‘cause my Da’s super smart! Suddenly the brick wall wasn’t there anymore, instead there were soooo many people! And this train of course! It was like a miracle!” the boy rambled, while his eyes glanced over. He was probably far away, to the train station, long lost in his own fogged mind. Karkat ignored him and rose up from his seat to hand the smaller boy the wand. “Watch out, it’s one fucked up, murderous wand.” Karkat warned, which earned him a fearful stare from the Mohawk. ~naknak~ After the nice, little meeting with Clown and Mohawk (read: shitclustery of collision by asswipes), Karkat tried to return to his book, while trying to ignore the other two first years that still stood by door to his compartment “WHAT IN THE GRUBEATING SHIT DO YOU WANT, YOU MUDSLINGERS?!!” Karkat yelled and the strange clown-faced boy took it as an invitation to waltz right into his compartment. Well, it wasn’t! The other boy with the mohawk stumbled in after his friend, trying to grab his sleeve. “I-I’m Tavros Nitram, um... by the way. And umm.. this, this is Gamzee Makara…” sigh…  If another person steps in here, I will throw them so hard out of the window that the rest of the train will feel the ricochet. Gosh he hated people. “Nice to meet you and your mentally hogtied mule. I’m Karkat Vantas, now please shut your trap, I’m trying to read this tree-corpse, as it is not yet possible to obtain information through osmosis.” Karkat tried so hard to be polite, but Mohawk’s… or Nitram’s voice was so annoying that Karkat would rather claw off his own ears than spend the rest of the train ride with Mr. Mumble. Karkat’s speech got the desired effect as Nitram shut up immediately and his friend Gamzee Makara just kept staring out of the window. Karkat let out a breath of relief and went back to his book.   At this speed, you can just volunteer yourself to Slytherin by now, because that is where you will end, if you proceed at this road. That thought made him stop, filling him with a sense of dread. Why was he thinking that? Where did the thought come from? But even if the thought’s sudden declaration scared him, he was more scared about the content of the thought. Because it was true. If he was interested in the Dark Arts, he was almost a Slytherin, because the Dark Arts was bad, right? Dark magic was evil. Everybody said so, just like Slytherins was evil. And if so many people said the same thing, it had to be true, right?

"Eh, sorry, we'll just go… uhh.. thanks for finding my wand…" dumb and dumber finally left Karkat alone with his brewing thoughts. He let out a little sigh. It didn't deem like he was going to be friends with the Makara kid, so Kankri could calm his shit down already.

"Is it just me, or does it feel like, this train ride have lasted an entire year??!" he groaned and placed his head in his hands.

[tashaleway]

KVAAFCRS: Chapter Four: Do Not Judge the Book by Its Cover

Karkat walked out of the bookshop as fast as he could, yet not quite running. His new books were under his arm, shrunken, in a little bag. He had only just managed to purchase them before his temper ran loose. He tried to take a calming breath, but the anger was still burning inside him like an Incendio. How dare he? Just insulting him without even knowing him! If Karkat had not been so angry, he would have snorted at the irony; was that not what he did himself? Insult people almost day in and day out, without ever knowing any of them.

Karkat crushed the traitorous little voice and tried to ignore the obvious point. But this is different! He thought. The older boy had been so cheerful in one moment, and in the next looked at him in blatant disgust, but with a tint of fear. As if… as if he was some kind of a freak… just like the bullies always called him. And here Karkat had thought that the magical world was better! Hah! How naïve could you be?! He let out a deep sigh, and tried to calm himself down. There was no reason to beat himself up over this. So what if others thought him a freak? So what if he never got any friend? He could handle himself… he was fine on his own… who needed friends anyway? Another deep sigh escaped him. Who was he kidding? He had always wanted friends. Yes, he could handle himself alone, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to be alone. It was all that Jake-Fucking-Idiot-English’s fault! ~Flashback~ The girl, Jade, continued to beg her father so Karkat turned away from the scene and was face to face with another boy, older than Karkat by five years or so. He looked a lot like the girl with the dog-book; black hair like her (but short hair instead), buckteeth, glasses (these on the other hand, were square) and the same facial structures. He had dark-green eyes and a huge, dopey smile that put Karkat on an edge. Nobody sane could be that ridiculous happy and show it. He frowned deeply. “Blimey!  What is such a little fella doing all alone here?” he asked, still smiling. How in the ever-loving fuck, was it possible to talk while showing so many teeth? The retarded kid was obviously years older than Karkat, as the fucker had the nerve to crouch in front of him, so the psycho could look him in the eyes without needing to look down. If Mr. Fucking-Fuckface had any idea, how much he pissed Karkat off, he would most likely have backed away, fearing for his life. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any idea, as the Great Idiot stayed in the same FUCKING position, smiling the same cheerful smile. “For starters, I am not alone, you fucking piece of shit, so back away, before I kick your balls off! And I am NOT a ‘little fella’, as you so nicely put it.” Karkat inwardly cringed at the word ‘fella’ and promised himself that he would never utter the word again. So if the other boy would just leave him THE FUCK ALONE! After, Karkat had calmed himself down a little; he realized just exactly, what he had just said. To the other boy that was much older and stronger than him. He was screwed. But instead of getting offended, the boy, who looked to be around seventeen or eighteen, laughed, causing him to get the attention of the begging girl and her father. “Sorry chum. You just looked so small, so I thought that you were lost!” “And you look retarded and insane.” Good retort, Karkat. Best insult. Karkat almost wished that the other boy would be angry at him, or something, as that would be more familiar to him, but the fool kept laughing. “What the fuck are you laughing at you dumb fuck?!” Karkat was getting really annoyed, most of the kids in their town, hated him, and even when they laughed at him, it was mocking and not like this, genuine, amused laugh. It was fucking weird. What would happen next? Would the other boy start sprouting rainbows out of his ears and leave for a magical (pun not intended… much) adventure on his unicorn? The fact that unicorns existed made this thought neither ridiculous, sarcastic nor amusing in any way… “Your anger, of course!” Karkat was about to attack this annoying, cheerful person, when another boy bumped into him. Another bucktoothed person. This one in blue clothes, though, but also with square glasses. Was it Annoy-the- Shit-Out-of-Karkat-Day, or what? “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry about that! I wasn’t looking! I am really sorry! Are you okay? I’m John Egbert, by the way! What about you?” the boy that had bumped into him said and shyly held his hand out for a shake. Mr GoofyFace was almost forgotten. Karkat frowned. He didn’t know what else to do. He was surrounded by people, he didn’t know, and he certainly didn’t like them either. He took the hand, nevertheless. “It’s not nice to meet you, Egbert, but can you tell me, who that mindless fool there is? By the looks of it, I would guess that you were family,” Karkat was proud. That was the second time today that he didn’t swear as the first thing to do, after being introduced to a stranger. Insulting them? Well, it was better than nothing, so shut up! John frowned by the insult of the green-clothed boy, but answered anyway. “His name is Jake English and he is my cousin. He is going to be a seventh year here to September. The girl in blue, over there, is Jade Harley. She is also my cousin. Jake and Jade are siblings. They also have another sister. Her name is Jane Crocker, but she is not here right now. She is Jake’s twin, but who are you? You never gave me your name.” “One big, happy family, huh? Well, I’m Karkat Vantas. You’re a first year, right?” the handshake was about to have another round, when John was quickly dragged away by Jake, before anyone could do anything. Karkat only got a bit of the whispered conversation “-bad influence. Stay away-“ and then, they were gone, taking the girl, Jade, and her father with them, only sparing him a hostile glance. ~Flashback end~ Good riddance, Karkat thought angrily. Now he was here, outside the bookshop, waiting for his brother and “babysitter”, while he tried to cool off. ~naknak~ It didn’t take Droog and Kankri long, before they too exited the shop. Without any trouble of any sort, they bought parchment, new quills and inkwells for both of them, as well as their potion ingredients (Kankri got a re-fill). They only needed one set of crystal phials, a cauldron and a telescope for Karkat. It was when they was in Ollivander’s (an old, creepy man that even seemed to freak dear, old Droog out), buying a wand for Karkat that they ran into a bit of trouble; no wand seemed to want the eleven year old. Twenty-two wands were already lying on the desk, not one of them had accepted Karkat. The old man had measured him, just as if he was measured for clothes and asked which arm was his wand arm (his right), but even with these helping tools (did it actually help, or was it just for show? Karkat had no idea), they didn’t get any further a new wand, or so it seemed. Karkat was about to get nervous, okay, he was already nervous, so it would be close to the truth to say that he was about to panic, but he did his best to hide it. He was after all going to be a Gryffindor, and Gryffindor’s were brave. They didn’t fear anything, but why didn’t any of the wands want him? Was he after all a Dark Wizard? Could it be that he was not good enough for any of these wands? Karkat came back to reality, when Kankri stepped forward and whispered something in the old man’s ear that made Ollivander’s eyes snap wide and pierce Karkat with a stare. It would have been funny. The man that could scare even adults with his silver-pale eyes and his seer-like abilities was shocked over something. No one else seemed to find it funny and Karkat might only have found it funny because of his near panic attack. “Are you sure?” Ollivander asked and Kankri nodded in response. “Ah, yes I can see it now. Looks like his father, all down to the eyes. I knew both Miss Paint and this boy’s father, but I had never imagined that they would end up together. I remember the little girl, always caring about others. Yes, she was something special, even the wands that didn’t accept her, didn’t damage anything like normal wands. Not because of a low magical core, but because of the kindness in her that could sooth even unchosen wands. Defiantly different from your father that was nothing more than a troublemaker, was he, but cunning and sly enough to never get caught. No one ever guessed he could be behind the pranks and so-called accidents. No surprise that he ended up in Slytherin.” Ollivander said, looking like he was in his own world, apparently not remembering that he had a costumer in front of him. A wand would be nice. Karkat thought sarcastically, not caring an inch about his parents. In addition, why should he? They were dead and gone, with no hope of ever returning. It wouldn’t matter how much knowledge he gained about them, they would still be cold corpses, buried six feet under. A piece of him actually wanted to know more, get to know them, but he crushed the thought, before it became strong. At least, he had now learned the last name of their mother, which Kankri would never speak of, and Crabdad most likely knew nothing of. As if able to read the first of Karkat’s thoughts, Ollivander ‘came back’ to the present. “Yes, yes. A wand for young Mr. Vantas! I am sorry for the wait. I was lost in my own little world. I will be right back!” with those words, he went thought the door that led into the back of the shop, probably, a place filled with even more wands. “What did you tell him?” Karkat asked his brother. “Who your parents were, because he didn’t seem to recognize you. Sometimes it helps him to know, who ones parents are, when you get your wand. Sometimes a family helps Mr. Ollivander with a magical core for his wands and that special wand is for one of their descendants, maybe hundred years after,” just as the last word was spoken, Ollivander entered the shop again, holding a long box (like all the other boxes, hiding and securing a wand) covered in dust. The old man held the box, like it was a precious treasure to him, but Karkat couldn’t see anything special about it, not even when he took the wand out. The wood was a deep dark brown, but other than that, it didn’t look any different from the other wands he had tried, more the opposite. Some of the other wands had symbols engraved, a special colour, or a beautiful handle. This wand looked ordinary. Plain. Nothing compared to the others. Without another word, not even saying, what tree gave wood to the wand of or anything about the wand core, Ollivander handed the wand to Karkat. The second, Karkat touched the wand and he could feel something. Something was different about this one. He felt light like he could fly, he felt magical, as if he could do anything now. He felt powerful; nothing could stop him from reaching his dreams. He was whole. He was a whole piece again. While Karkat was occupied with his new wand and these new feelings, the others saw the magic sprout from the boy, though the wand like fireworks, lighting up the shop, before the magic settled around Karkat like dust in both red, green and black. “Magnificent… That I would ever live to see this day with my own eyes…” Ollivander whispered. Before Karkat could ask him, what he meant, the old wand-maker continued. “I am sure, we will see some extraordinary things from you, young Mr. Vantas,” he said, not whispering anymore. Karkat was sure; it wasn’t the intention of the wand-maker to let him hear his whisper. “Yeah, whatever. What is the wand made of?” Karkat asked, trying not to sound shocked. A lot of things had freaked him out the last weeks and an insane wand-maker, who wouldn’t tell him about his wand, but would instead ramble about how an eleven-year old boy was expected to do great things, was close to be the last drop for him. Soon he would lose his cool (liar, you have never been able to keep your head cool). “Oh, yes, yes! This wand, you see, is very special, indeed. It’s nine inches long and the wood is oak, which is not that abnormal, no, but you see, normally, I only use hair from a unicorn, phoenix feathers and dragon heartstring, but this wand has a core of scales from an ashwinder snake. A member of your family gave them to me and made me make a wand of it. He must have known that this day would come. And to see that amount of magic! It was everything worth! That will be seven Galleons, young Master,” shocked, Karkat handed him the requested money and without another word, Droog and Kankri dragged him out of the shop, apparently wishing to get out of there in a huff. Just as they were outside, they almost bumped into a man and a boy. Both had smooth, black hair and green eyes. The man was wearing a green suit and robes that matched his eyes, while his son wore dark green robes and pants with a black shirt with some red symbols that Karkat didn’t have the time to decipher. “Move out of the way, peasants!” the man said with a cold voice and without thinking twice, Karkat & co. did so.  This was clearly a man you shouldn’t stand in the way for. The little group of three had only managed to walk for about a hundred meters when, they heard shouting from the wand shop, which made many people turn around and stare. While being dragged further away, Karkat wondered, what happened inside. ~naknak~ Without Karkat’s knowledge, the man, named Calious Umbrage Uranian had had that wand in mind for his son, as soon, he heard about the rare scales in it. Uranian was furious. The core of the wand was very special and the old man had just handed the wand out to the first and best costumer! Uranian was mad, although none of it showed, except a tightening around his eyes, to show his displeasure at the wand maker, who countered by showing his worth of not cowering before him, but instead said, that ‘the wand chose the wizard, not the other way around’ with a raised eyebrow. The lord sneered at those words. Just because the wands helped wizards and witches to wield their magic, it didn’t give them a consciousness. That was just sheer idiocy, like saying that mudbloods could be equal and even stronger than purebloods in magic! Blasphemy! How could that ever happen, with dirty, muggle blood running through their veins? Uranian was very close to just dash out on the street, hunt the boy down and make him give up the wand, with force if he needed to, but he restrained himself. The wand had already chosen its master, there was no way he could make it accept his son, unless they fought and his heir won, which he would, of course, if such a situation ever arose, but that was plotting for another time. Instead, Uranian’s son, Caliborn Calious Uranian, got another wand that chose him for its master. Ash, eight and a half inches and Dragon Heartstrings. Not bad, but still not the desired wand. The red-eyed boy would pay. As well as the wand-maker. Soon, but not now.

[tashaleway]

KVAAFCRS: Chapter Three: As A Friend Was Made

Karkat had waited for this moment for so long that he almost couldn’t believe what he saw in front of him. His acceptance letter from Hogwarts! If he was like every other eleven year old, he would most likely jump around the house and maybe worse; giggling. He shuddered. Or maybe he would be confused like all the muggleborns, those with non-magical parents; they would paddle around in the sea of confusion, until the Deputy Headmistress or Headmaster got their ass home to the children and finally explain the magical world to them. Think how many years these kids would have waddled around, thinking themselves to be freaks…

No matter his dark thoughts, Karkat smiled brightly. That was all he allowed himself. Float around in happiness for a few minutes, and then back to business. Oh, right. Business. He looked down at the still concealed envelope. He hadn’t even opened it yet. Feeling silly, he broke the seal, without any more hesitation and pulled out the letter. It read; HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) Dear Mr. Vantas,   We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July. Yours sincerely, Calliope Uranian Umbra. Deputy Headmistress. Ignoring Kankri, who was fawning over his own letter with the list of the year’s book and talking loudly about how he had to write his friends about the new books and which subjects they were likely to cover, Karkat took a look at his own list of supplies. HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY Uniform: First-year students will require:   1. Three sets of plain work robes (black).   2. One plain painted hat (black) for day wear.   3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar).    4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings). Please note that all pupils’ clothes should carry name tags. Set books:   All students should have a copy of each of the following:   The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk.   A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot.   Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling.   A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch.   One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore.   Magical Drafts and Potions by Arseniust Jigger.   Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.   The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble. Other Equipment   1 wand   1 cauldron (pewter standard size 2)   1 set of glass or crystal phials   1 telescope   1 set brass scales Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad. PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS. Awww… no broomsticks? How… unfortunate… Karkat thought sarcastically with a smirk that was soon gone. He couldn’t wait to hear some of those spoiled kids, whine about the lack of their broom, afterwards he read the supply list again and began counting how much it would cost, since they would need a set of everything, except for the books, where Karkat would just loan (read: steal) Kankri’s. That was at least one plus. And the rest they would just shop in secondhand stores, like they used to. Not that Karkat really cared. The clothes didn’t make the man, or something bullshit like that. It wasn’t like listened and remembered everything he said. Karkat knew that the other students would most likely pick on him for his already used stuff, but Karkat could care less about what they thought. They had a bigger pouch. Karkat had a bigger brain. Logic for the win. ~naknaknak~ With his acceptance letter already send away with the awaiting school own (and no curse word! Amazing, right?), Karkat couldn’t wait to get his hands on the books for classes, and actually be permitted. Keyword: Permitted. Since Kankri had arrived home from his first year at Hogwarts and in no need for most of the books, Karkat had “borrowed” them to read up on (mostly because he was bored) the subjects, but it would be nice nonetheless to just be able to sit and review the books now, when he would actually need it soon. And (another thought came to mind) he could finally discuss the theories with fellow classmates! He almost couldn’t contain a smile of the thought that he might even get friends. That would be great! He knew that he wasn’t the greatest people-person, but even he would be able to at least make one friend, right? Right? ~naknaknak~ “Welcome… to Diagon Alley!” Diamond Droog held his arm out dramatically after tapping the bricks on the gateway to the alley. Witches and wizards turned and look at the other wizard with a disgusted look for his antics. Karkat had pretty much the same urge, instead he sighed, in hopes to calm himself down somewhat. “Cut the crap, Droog. Both Kankri and I have already seen this before so keep your crappy presentation for somebody who hasn’t, instead of driving off your words off to their suicide mission in the land of total disgust and strangulation, got it?!” Yet again, Karkat failed to control his (in)famous temper. After this speech, Droog pouted mockingly before he broke into a face-splitting grin. “All right, all right! Come along kiddoes, we have a lot to do! Follow me!” Droog said, the grin still in place, before he waddled into the street, right into an old hag with a big, goo-dripping nose. She yelled at his careless with a shrieking voice, before sniffing the goo back into her nose and continued her path with the offending nose (if you could even call the thing that) in the air. The three males shuddered and vowed to themselves that they would avoid hags of all costs from now on. Trying to forget anything about that last sight, Karkat tried to focus on the Alley instead. The first shops were very expensive, so the bigoted, wealthy witches and wizards wouldn’t have to walk that far from the Cauldron and the Floo in there. “That nitwit do fucking realize that we actually only needed him to get through the brick wall, right? That we can handle this on our bloody own? And even that shitty brickwall, we don’t need him a fuck for! We could just as well get the help from Timmy the owner of the Leaky Cauldron!” Karkat said to his brother in a hushed tone. No need to anger said nitwit more than necessary. Kankri nodded, but didn’t look like he listened to a word, his brother said, having his mind a whole different place, staring Droog down. Hell, Kankri didn’t even correct Karkat, who liberate “forgot” that the owner wasn’t named “Timmy”, but “Tom”. Karkat frowned. What the heck was that shitstains on about now? The way, Kankri looked at Droog, reminded Karkat the way Kankri had looked at Karkat earlier this week. Didn’t he trust Droog? As long as Karkat could remember, Kankri had kept himself as far away from the man as possible, but from avoiding the man to actually glare him down, there was a long distance. What had happened? This was something the red-eyed would ponder about later, for now he needed to get his brother back to Planet Earth. “Hey, Kankri? Did you see that burning shop over there? It looks like the whole world is going to burn to burn to ashes. We are probably all going to die. Oh, and look! Heat-seeking killer bees! This is defiantly going to be the end for us!” Karkat said with a deadpan to Kankri, who nodded back, just as serious. Maybe a punch would bring his brother back? It was worth a try. “Ow! What was that for?” Kankri asked all innocently, while rubbing his now hurting arm. Karkat scoffed. “Kankri, you bloody excuse for a thinking being! I just told you, that we were going to die, because of the burning buildings around us, and you just nodded away like a mindless sheep!” he was most likely overreacting, but in this very moment, he didn’t gave a running shit about that. Kankri looked horrified that he hadn’t listened to a word his brother had said, and was just a bloody hypocrite with all his lectures about not ignoring the people around you and remember to be nice. It actually made the situation a bit funny, but also the more worrying. Kankri never ignored anyone. And especially not his brother. Or teachers. Or Crabdad. Or other authorities. Or his classmates. Let’s just say, he doesn’t ignore anyone. At all. “Oh, forget it, you plump of an asswhipe! It is human to fail, so we finally proved that you were human, and not a robot, alright?!” Karkat grabbed his brother’s sleeve and dragged him along with quick steps until they finally reached Droog that had won good twenty meters, while the brothers were occupied. The man hadn’t noticed a thing, he just kept babbling about Quidditch. Kankri and Karkat were afraid of heights and not the smallest bit interested in the violent sport. Just the thought about being high up in the air on a broom, made them uneasy. The thought about zooming after either the Quaffle or Snitch made them sick. The thought about the Bludgers… let’s not finish that thought, shall we? We don’t want to find out if fictional characters can vomit on readers, or worse; the author! Urgh. Normally a trip to Diagonal Alley would start with a visit to Gringotts, the wizarding bank, but since Crabdad was a creature, or being after whom you asked, he was not allowed to have an account at the bank. The wizards were even considered generous of letting him have a job, but only because he had two children to care for. Thank the prejudices. Therefore, their first stop would be Madam Maryam’s Robes and Clothes for Every Taste and Fashion. They were getting their robes. Joy. Karkat was getting Kankri’s old ones that Kankri had outgrown, while Kankri would have new sets. So now, Karkat was in for about half an hour of boredom. Fucking piece of shit. He felt himself ready to almost hit his head repeatedly against a wall, when Kankri’s crush walked into the shop from the backdoor. Porrim Maryam, Kankri had whispered to him. She was pretty. Hell, even Karkat could see that, but he had to admit that all the tattoos and piercings didn’t speak to him. She had long, smooth black hair and got a teasing glint in the green eyes, when she spotted Kankri in the middle in the shop, who was almost drooling. Smooth Kankri, really smooth. Porrim took Kankri by the arm, which made him blush feverously, while another girl came into the shop by the call of Porrim. Her name was Kanaya, she said. She looked to be around eleven or twelve, but the way she hold herself and let her jade green eyes sweep over the shop and the customers, made her look even older. She was without a doubt way more mature than Karkat with his decreasing anger tantrums. Like her older sister, Kanaya had black hair, but instead of being long it was just below her chin. Her choice of clothes was a long-sleeved, black shirt of fine material and a red skirt with buttons running diagonally from her waist and down to her feet. The colorful outfit clashed with Karkat’s gray jeans and black turtleneck. Karkat noted that she kept out of the sunrays from the windows, which made her appear mysterious. She was perhaps a follower of Dark Magic? Karkat discarded the idea as soon, it appeared. That was just plain stupid. The moment, Kanaya laid her eyes on the shorter boy, her lips quirked in a pleasant smile and lead him over to a section of shelves with Hogwarts robes in his seize, about four feet away from the other two. Kanaya didn’t talk that much, which Karkat appreciated, and she didn’t try to small talk, perhaps she could feel how unwilling Karkat was about strangers. The best part about Kanaya was most likely that she didn’t stare at his freakish eyes, but noticed them and let her eyes glide over the rest of his body to guess his size. “Are you a first year as well?” she asked. Karkat nodded and at her encouraging raised eyebrow, he told her his name. She froze a second, but quickly got her bearings together, and Karkat swept the incident away. It was most likely nothing. “It is nice to meet you, Karkat” after repeating the greeting, no more words were said for a time. It was only after Karkat’s clothes were paid for and he was waiting for his older brother, Kanaya dared ask him another question. “What house do you hope for?” ah, the awkward first year question, everybody was asked on the Hogwarts Express, when they had no idea, what to talk about. Sounded a bit dull, and from the looks of it, Kanaya thought the same thing, but she seemed somewhat obsessive with being a nice and polite person. Karkat was most likely the exact opposite. “Mr. I-shit-so-much-out-of-my-mouth-that-I-can-cover-whole-Britain-with-it over there is in Gryffindor and I guess it would be nice enough to be in the same house, but I have never really felt any bravery. Like at all. I think I am more of a run-and-survive-person. And after all the times I have stolen my brother’s textbooks, I guess that my honor level is so low that it is kissing Satan’s butt. Which house do you hope for?” he answered, while not really answering the question. During his little tirade, Kanaya’s eyebrows raised at every swearword, but she looked more amused than disturbed. And now, when he thought it through, what house would he actually land in? Well, as he just said, Gryffindor was pretty much out of the picture and if he should say so himself, so was Hufflepuff. Yes, he was somewhat loyal and hardworking, but it wasn’t his most visible traits. And by the way, Hufflepuffs was all seen as wimps and he would go to fucking hell and back, before he would subject himself to become one of them. He could perhaps end in Ravenclaw with all the books he read. And to be honest, he would have nothing against this. He didn’t even dare to think about the possibility that he would fit really good in Slytherin. Slytherin was for the bad guys after all. Right? And what would Kankri day, if he ended up there? Would he hate him? Would he be disgusted to call him his brother? Nope, not going there thoughts. Abscond! Abscond the shit out of there, you self-harming, unthinking, thinkable muscle. With this deep thinking, Karkat almost missed Kanaya’s response. “I believe I would fit nicely in Ravenclaw. I must admit that I enjoy reading and favor knowledge. Gryffindor has always been a respected House, but a lot of them was killed during the war against Jack Noir, as most of them ended as Aurors. And to be honest, I really cannot see myself in the House of the brave either. Perhaps, we will both land in Ravenclaw. Then, I would at least have one friend?” she made the last sound like a question, she obviously tried to hide her hope of a friend and Karkat was not in for crushing that hope. It would be nice to have a friend. And a friend that had not seemed disturbed in the last by his freaky red eyes or his choice of words. She was so far pretty cool. He nodded and Kanaya beamed at him, before asking, what his favorite subject was. “So far, I really like Defense Against the Dark Arts. The whole dueling thing sounds exciting and I look forward to learn about dark creatures! Even though, I cannot understand, why they are labeled as such. Yes, they can be dangerous, but most of them are still humans and still able to think somewhat intelligent thoughts and not just raging murder, and if you take your precautions, I can see no trouble with them having a job. Just see the werewolves. They only transform one night a month, on the full moon. The rest of the month, they are as harmful as the rest of us. Grindylows , on the other hand, are fucking terrifying. I think I once had an encounter with one. I swear! I wrapped its fingers around my leg and I almost shitted myself, I got loose, of course, but Kankri says that it was just seaweed.  I don’t fucking believe him, but whatever. Even such a creature doesn’t deserve to die. “ Realizing his rambling, Karkat quickly shut his mouth. “And what about you? What is your favorite subject?” Karkat asked somewhat lamely. He was such an idiot. He was asked a polite question, and he just rambled on like a freaking lunatic about his ‘free the werewolves’-campaign as Kankri always called it. Which was stupid. It was more like ‘free-all-creatures-there-is-labeled-as-dark-as-most-of-them-are-nice’. Also known as F.A.C.T.I.L.A.D.A.M.O.T.A.N. Also called F.A.C. He would soon find a cooler name. even though it was just a joke running around the family. “And here I thought that you were just really quiet. It would be a pleasure to discuss subjects even more as soon, we meet again. Like you, I also borrowed (and yes, I mean borrowed, not stealed) my older sibling’s course books and so far, I really enjoy Charms. The spells really do have their charm.” Kanaya winked at him at the last word and Karkat tried to withhold a snort of laughter, but failed miserably. Alright, this chick had a lame sense of humor, but in its own way, it was charming. Oh god! Just kill him now! Kanaya had infected him! Suddenly, he was blinded by a flash of light and a little cloud of smoke erupted from the light source. He turned completely around and was face to face with Kankri and Droog, the latter holding the still smoking camera, apparently having taken a picture. Now, that he thought about it, their other babysitter had done the same, when Kankri had been a first year, about to have his first set of supplies. Had Crabdad set them up to this? Wouldn’t fucking surprise him… After he had said goodbye to Kanaya Maryam, they ventured further down the alley, getting a cauldron, potions kit and brass scales for Karkat, before moving on to the books. The bookstore was named Flourish and Blotts and there were books everywhere! Karkat did indeed love books, but he was not like a lot of other die-hard bookworms. Yes, he enjoyed the smell of parchment, old books and ink, but it was not like, he loved all books and bought them because they were simply books or had stories to tell, but mostly for learning. The more he learned, the better he would fare in the world. No hard feelings. This didn’t mean he didn’t like the bookshop. He loved the bookshop, or loved was perhaps a strong word. Karkat was after all known for hating everything. Maybe not-hating the bookshop would be more accurate. He really not-hated this bookshop. After all, the shop was filled with knowledge, and not only, what Hogwarts would teach him, but so much more. There were books about advanced charms, advanced transfiguration, broom-caring, the dark arts, defense against the dark arts, house caring and spells, cookbooks, muggle books, you name it. Whatever subject, you could think of, was there. Too bad, Karkat was not allowed to buy any books other, than those Kankri had to keep for himself for this year, so Karkat would need another example. He was browsing through some of the other books, looking for something he would like to read when he came to Hogwarts (he had heard tales and myths about the library there. According to Kankri, it was so big, and so filled with books that even if, you did nothing, but read, you would not even be halfway done with the library before the end of your seventh and last year. A myth, but still. With this many books, there might be just a little chance of finding a copy of the books there, he could borrow). For future use, he scribbled down the names and name of author for those that perked his interest. He almost stumbled over a section labeled the Dark Arts. They didn’t fill more than a single shelve, which didn’t really surprise anyone, when you thought about how much magic theory and spells, the Ministry had banned as Dark and made illegal to read and sell. These books were most likely about, why the Dark Arts were so bad, why you should avoid them, what horrible things could happen to you, if you used them, what had happened to others, who had used them and afterward ended in Azkaban for ‘their own good’ and for harming others. Despite this, Karkat almost took another step towards the section, trying to read just some of the titles, when something made him stop. He had this thought… that the Dark Arts were really wrong. Not like the way the Ministry painted tit, but… wrong for him… it would be wrong of Karkat to read them, use them, even just glance at them. Not Kanaya, not Kankri, not Crabdad, not Droog, but him. Karkat. Shaking himself out of these thoughts, he stepped away from the section. He could always come back. Maybe. Instead, he searched for something else. And something else, he found, indeed. Or should he say someone? “Oh! This book looks cool! Can I have this one, Dad? Please? Look! It even has a white dog on it! It looks exactly like Bec! Please, please, please, pleeeeeease!” a girl’s voice sounded, begging her father to buy a book about something that looked like animal transfiguration. From his distance, Karkat couldn’t read the title, even if the girl could hold the book still, instead of jumping up and down, making huge puppy eyes to her father. Fucking maniac. Instead, he could see that like her father, the girl had licorice black hair. Hers was long and reached the middle of her back. Big, jade green eyes were enlarged behind big, round glasses. When she spoke, Karkat could see her buckteeth and braces, which didn’t seem to do much good. She wore an army green skirt and a white t-shirt with a blue atom on it, which looked to freak some of the purebloods out, those who saw it. What is this? Is that a new rune? What does it stand for? Or is she a Muggle? How dare she wear such hideousness in public?! Okay maybe not, but it was funny, fantasizing about such a scenario. “No, Jadey. You can’t get that book, just because it has a picture on it that looks like Bec. The book is too advanced for you yet. Come on, we only need Hogwarts books for you, John, Jane and Jake.” Her father replied with a fond smile, tugging his lips. What the actual fuck? Jadey? John? Jane? Jake? You can see the problem, right? Alright, Karkat and Kankri both started with ‘K’, but he was pretty sure, that if he had other siblings, they wouldn’t be named something with K. Their parents had more style than that. He hoped. “But Daaad!” she whined. Somehow she made it sound like a dog. She had perhaps spend too much time with that dog of hers? “I said ‘no’ Jade. And I know that your mother will agree.” After this the girl began to pout, making Karkat obvious about her buckteeth. IMPORTANT!!!! A/N: Hey, I just want to clear something up here: I have nothing; I repeat NOTHING against any of the other Houses. Even as a ‘slimy little Slytherin’ myself, I hold no dislike against them. I just thought that since little KitKat here was brought up in a (somewhat) wizarding home, he has been subject to a lot of prejudice, which here includes the always classical “Slytherin’s are always evil and they harbor Dark magic”, the sad “Hufflepuffs are weaklings and cries, seeing their own shadow”, the idiotic “Ravenclaws only care about their grades, school and books. Let their friend burn in front of them and they will wonder, if they will inheritance their books” and the one that always make me sigh; “Gryffindor is the best house, house for the brave and noble”. We all know that this is exaggerated, but you get the point: Houses are not people. People (and especially children) are not Houses. Don’t let anyone judge you for what House you belong to (or family for this matter), you are your own person.

[tashaleway]

Karkat Vantas and a Fucking Cherry-Red Stone: Chapter two: Feelings and Logic Do Not Work Well Together.

“I’m home!” Karkat yelled, when he entered the house, making sure no one was nearby, while the front door was open. If somebody saw the white crab, it would only spread panic in the little town. Better avoid that.

Crabdad answered with his usual shrieking, but before he could greet Karkat properly (in a bone crushing hug), the boy had disappeared to his room. As soon he had closed his door behind him, he tossed himself on the bed, letting out a groan. To be honest, his bruises didn’t even hurt, thanks god for magic, but the self-healing was draining, so he decided that a little nap would do him wonders. He pulled the duvet around him and was soon deep in sleep, every thought about the waiting nightmares, forgotten. “Skreeeeeeeeik!” the sound startled Karkat out of his dreams. For a second, he was still in dreamland, but quickly woke up, by his father’s calling. Not an emergency, just a reminder to wake up. Crabdad was about to leave for work, but Karkat let his mind wander to his dream for a minute. It had been one of the worse, he knew. The nightmare was already fading, but he could still recall the blood-eyed man clearly. He remembered something about the man wanting Karkat to go with him, but when he had refused, the man had aimed his wand at Kankri and Crabdad and then… he woke. Another screech sounded in the house and Karkat grumbled to himself. “Why can’t that fucking crab learn to wake people up, without scaring the shit out of them?” Karkat mumbled to himself, took on a black turtleneck and went downstairs, where his father waited beside Droog, who would babysit him, while Crabdad would go to the Ministry and help them out with whatever work they had for him. Sometimes, Karkat pictured his dad like a normal person, who went to work with a briefcase, a fedora hat and tie around his neck. That thought always made him smile, even just for a second. Crabdad hugged him goodbye, before being put under a disillusion charm, where after he climbed into a big, white ministry van, so he would not be seen by the muggles. Karkat was used to this. It was his every day. He always had to make sure of that nobody saw Crabdad; nobody from the muggle society was allowed to come inside their house. In ways, Karkat was glad that he didn’t have any friends, since he wouldn’t have to lie to them, why they couldn’t visit him. It made everything so much easier. He hoped it could change, when he came to Hogwarts. Meet somebody, who wouldn’t be scared of Crabdad and perhaps even like him. See him for the gentle soul he was. ~naknaknak~ The days went over quickly, as did the day, when they went to Kings Cross to get Kankri. Nothing special happened. Karkat was by now used to the red train and the witches and wizards on Platform 9 ¾. A few days after, they celebrated Karkat’s eleventh birthday, Droog was at their little party too, with his two daughters, Aradia and Damara Megido (they were probably named after their mother). Damara was a year under Kankri and hereby a year older than Karkat and Aradia, who also would start Hogwarts this year. Damara was rather weird; she was wearing make-up even though that she was only twelve and too short clothes that exposed too much, but this wasn’t all. She had actually learned Japanese when she was young after a wish from their Japanese, muggle mother. It was all fine, if she just would stop talking it all the time. Of course she could talk English, but she didn’t seem to care that she kept everybody else than her family outside her conversation. She was even so cheeky as asking Karkat questions on Japanese, so Aradia had to translate, until the younger girl got annoyed at it and asked her to stop. Aradia on the other side was nice. Her hair was brown, but tangled into knots and Karkat even found a leaf in it a few times, her clothes was tattered and the colour was faded, but it all suited her and her weird aura. Karkat didn’t know how to describe it. It just felt weird around her. Cold, even, like if there was something or someone more than just the girl. It all fitted together with her almost none-stop talking about death, which unnerved Karkat, but when you got closer to her, she was quite interesting after all. She told Karkat in all secret that, when they were finally out of Hogwarts, she would travel around the world and be on adventures. Her dream was childish, but Karkat thought it sounded cool, so in replace he told her his big dream about being a great leader and brave like his parents was. He told her that they were killed by Jack Noir, just because they were muggles. Even when Noir had told them to beg for their lives, that maybe, maybe he would kill them fast, they wouldn’t. They stood strong. Even after minutes of different painful curses they wouldn’t beg. Noir killed them after that. Leaving Kankri and Karkat alone. Aradia had frowned at the story. Yes, his parents were brave, but they were rather stupid too, not to ask for mercy, when they were tortured. They had stared at each other for ten minutes after that, both wanting to win the argument, until Karkat admitted that there was something right in it. Aradia cheered him a bit up by saying that he would do great as a leader. He didn’t give up, until he realized that he was wrong. The rest of the evening, Karkat was one big smile and he hoped that Aradia would continue to be his friend. ~naknaknak~ The guests had returned home and Karkat and Kankri sat in front of the fireplace. Karkat had asked about the Dark Lord, who had killed their parents, and hesitantly, Kankri began telling. “Noir was once a noble man. In Hogwarts he was known as a kind boy, even though he was in Slytherin. He was always ready to help others and he was really intelligent. But now, everybody knows that it was all just an act. Jack Noir was just like his older brother, Calious Uranian, who was a heartless man that had almost sacrificed their sister in a ritual, while they were still in school. Noir changed his name somewhere in his life from Spades Slick Uranian to Jack Noir. He became a ruthless man, who stood strong in his believes. According to him, muggles should be slaughtered, like they once slaughtered us. When he got power, he even went as far to attack muggleborns, because of their parents. It was gruesome. There didn’t go a week without an attack on a muggle village or a muggleborn house. Not even the half bloods were out of danger, but finally, almost ten years ago, a man stood up against this darkness. He found Noir’s family; yes he had a wife and even a son. The wife was just as evil as her husband, even joining him at times in his massacre, the son was no different. Still a baby, his magic was filled with darkness and already able to kill. But the man, names James Egbert, found this family. He was so noble that he wouldn’t even kill off these evil people. Instead, he gave Noir a choice; he could choose to stop fighting and get his family back, or continue the war and lose the only love he might ever find.” “What did he chose, then? He stopped the war?” “No. He killed his own wife and son.” “WHAT?!” “Yes. He sent the killing curse at his own wife and son, but that is not even the worst part. After he had fired the curses, he blamed James Egbert, for the killings. Noir murdered James Egbert and his wife, Janelyn. After that, he disappeared. It is known that he somewhat realized that he had killed his own family and presumable killed himself by remorse. In ten years, nobody have seen or heard anything from him. But not everything went good again over the night. The after effect from the war was still to be dealt with. His followers, named The Felt, were locked in Azkaban, while the innocents he had forced to follow his commands were finally free from their bonds. Today we can thank James Egbert for the war’s ending. If he hadn’t found Noir’s family, he would never have killed them off and would never have blamed himself to thereafter kill himself.” Karkat had a lot to think about now. How could anybody be so… so cruel (or insane) to actually murder their own family, just because he didn’t want to lose? Karkat was just happy that it was over. It sounded like a horrible time to live in, and only to add to the fact that Karkat’s own parents were killed by the same madman, which made Karkat ask his next question. “Kankri? Do you… do you remember mom and dad?” he was not entirely sure, if Kankri would answer that question, but he just wanted to know. Get to know them a bit, even if he would never see them again. Truth be told, Karkat didn’t miss them, how could he? He was only a year old, so how could he miss somebody he had never really ever met? Or in fact; couldn’t remember?  And they had Crabdad after all, but he just wanted to know. Know as much as possible. That would always be his weakness. At once, Kankri looked unsure and a bit… afraid? Was Karkat not allowed to ask that question? but he truly couldn’t fathom why.  Even as a three year old, Kankri should be able to at least remember something. Karkat waited patiently, but his brother didn’t say anything, instead, he just shrugged and left it as that. Knowing, that Kankri most likely wouldn’t (or couldn’t) tell much about it, he instead divided into safer topics, like Kankri’s school year. A Slytherin third year had apparently gone somewhat insane and cursed another third year (a Hufflepuff). The cursed girl and the Slytherin year boy had been friends since their first year, but the boy had one day snapped, and hit the girl with a Dark curse to her head that had the purpose of turning the victim deaf. The Hospital Wing hadn’t been able to reverse the curse and had sent the Hufflepuff to St. Mungo’s. The healers had searched through book in hopes of finding something that could negate it, heck they had even got a warrant to the Slytherin’s house, in hopes to find the book, the boy had found the spell. They found the book and the spell, but there was no cure. The girl would be permanently deaf. The girl’s family had invested almost their whole fortune, in hopes the healers would be able to find a cure, or develop one. They still had to hope. The boy had been found guilty in his trial, because he had every intention of hurting the girl, so far everybody could see, but the council was still concerned about the boy’s mental health. He was expelled from Hogwarts and was to never return to, but had been sent permanently to one of St. Mungo’s mindhealers. The family wanted the girl to be kept out of it and refused to let the press know of their name. Only the boy´s name was known; Kurloz Makara. Kankri was now giving Karkat a lecture about thinking all his actions though before doing anything rash, even if he was angry, because with magic, you could end up, seriously hurting another student. The lecture actually lasted an hour and a half, but Karkat listened through it all. It was after all a good enough advice. Not that he was ever going to tell him that, of course. The lecture led to Kankri’s point, which he had waited to tell about until he was sure that Karkat followed him in his concerned thoughts: the Slytherin boy had a little brother, who was coming to Hogwarts this year and would therefore be Karkat’s year mate. Under no circumstances, should Karkat interact with the boy. In fact, it would be best, if Karkat could keep himself as far away as possible. The soon-to-be Hogwarts student was named Gamzee Makara. Now, he at least know who he should avoid… But the rest of the day, Karkat had a nagging feeling that something was wrong, and he kept caught the weird glances that Kankri threw him. Kankri looked like he was searching for something in Karkat’s features. Something that wasn’t good. Maybe the morning would bring new light to the case, or even better, the looks would cease all together. ~naknaknak~ The morning didn’t bring anything better, as a matter of facts, it all got worse. Karkat tried to get more information about that Noir-guy, but Kankri paled and refused to tell him more and in fact, it would be better if Karkat never asked anyone else about him, or even saying his name. Ever. Better to call him He-Who-Is-Gone. Stupid. So if the bad guy should be called He-Who-Is-Gone, the good people should be called Those-Who-Are-Mindless-Sheep? Or Those-Who-Are-Scared-And-Stupid-Fucking-Sheep? Karkat sighed. Why could nobody think properly? Nothing could happen by saying the name of a person, who was dead, or in hiding, unless they had a finding spell on the name or something like that, but even if that was the name, something should have happened every time somebody uttered that name. For example yesterday, when Kankri told Karkat his name. But no, let us all fear a useless name, without a good reason. Yep. Perfect plan. Good work everybody. Now, I will open the fence and lead you all back to your enclosure. Good sheep. “Dicknuts” Karkat muttered to himself, lucky that nobody was near to hear him speaking to himself.  He realized that he had lost himself in his thoughts and hadn’t been aware of that he had missed the last half hour of his romcom “How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days” and the roll credits were now showing on the screen. With another sigh, he turned off the television and without making a noise walked past the kitchen in hopes, Kankri wouldn’t hear him and give him lectures, or pointers of how to behave at Hogwarts and to avoid the Slytherins at all cost, especially the younger Makara. Kankri didn’t hear him at all, but Karkat heard him. “Yes, I know. I have seen how strong his accidental magic is. And if he is that strong, maybe he is also strong enough to actually break the Memory Barrier.” Kankri’s voice wasn’t collected as usual, but so full of fear that if it wasn’t for the words Kankri was sprouting, he would have reveled himself to try and calm down the older. But the words made him pause. Who was under a Memory Barrier? And why? “I am just afraid that he will remember everything and realize the truth about him. Karkat is after all my brother. In some kind of way…” Where they talking about me? The truth about what? And who is “him”? There is a Memory Barrier on me? What was a Memory Barrier even?  The thoughts washed through Karkat’s mind with possibilities of what his brother’s conversation could mean, when some other thing, Kankri had said went through his head. Karkat is after all my brother. In some kind of way. In some kind of way? Not knowing what to do, except of getting away, Karkat hurried up the stairs and into his room, where he shakily closed the door after him. He took a calming breath, not noticing his legs giving up under him and tried to remember himself not to panic, and instead thinking everything over. Every possibility. Minutes passed before he was able to calm himself enough to actually think logical. He knew from past experiences that logic helped you the most. Not emotions. They only made things harder. Like tears, when he admitted, he missed his parents. Tears didn’t bring them back. Tears didn’t make it better. They didn’t close the whole he felt in his chest. They only made it bigger. And anger. Anger was most likely the emotion, he felt the most, but that was not helping him either. Logic, instead,  told him that they were gone and would never come back. Logic told him, even if he found a miracle, they would most likely not even be the same. And he didn’t even know them. He couldn’t remember them at all. No, it was better to acknowledge that they were gone and if he ever met them, it would be when he died. Until then, he should not dwell on things that couldn’t be and were gone. His parents would have wanted that. Kankri. Karkat had known him as long, he could remember. Known him as his brother. Kankri had said something that could be read as them not being brothers. The feelings made that hurt and logic made him wonder. They didn’t look like each other at all. Karkat had black hair, pale features and red, freakish eyes. Kankri had brown hair, slightly tanned skin and brown eyes. Karkat would always be the shorter one. When Kankri was eleven he had been at least two inches taller than Karkat was now. It would make sense, if they weren’t brothers. The childish part of Karkat made him think, even if they weren’t brothers by blood, they would be by everything else. He didn’t care. That was a lie. He cared. It hurt. Not that they weren’t brothers. Only a bit. It hurt a bit. But the thing that really hurt was the fact that they hadn’t trusted him with that information. Kankri and Crabdad. They didn’t trust him. He could have handled it. It would have bothered him. It would have hurt him, like it did now. He would be angry, but he would calm down. He would see reason. Like now. in a minute. Yes, it wouldn’t hurt so much in a minute. He could handle this. He would. ~naknaknak~ He was right. It didn’t hurt so much now. Not after trying to calm himself down in almost twenty minutes. Twenty!  How could it even take so long for him, just to think rational? To make the pain stop? But at last, he could feel the hurt, stabbing in his chest lessen. A bit by bit. Karkat scoffed, he was going to be a big pussy, if he kept this up. Needing a break, just because something doesn’t go after his head? Hmmf! It was bad enough with his addiction to his romcoms. He kept telling himself that he was trying to figure out humans reactions in different situations, but he knew that he was lying. He was enjoying the fluffy and funny romance. But he was getting off topic. So what, if he wasn’t Kankri’s brother? It would of course mean that they had different parents, but also solved his confusion about Kankri’s unwillingness to talk about their supposed parents. If Kankri told him about, what he remembered from his own parents, and Karkat remembered something completely different, there would be a problem. And if he was told about, how Karkat’s parents and how they looked, so the previous situation couldn’t happen then… then what? What could the problem be in that? Why hadn’t his brother told him about how Karkat’s parents was? Was it guilt? It could be… unless he didn’t know anything about them… but a three year old couldn’t come up with a scheme like this. And for what? Have a fake little brother? Unlikely. And Crabdad just didn’t seem like someone, who had the heart for it, no. Yes… everything was beginning to make sense. The government! Of course! The Ministry of Magic had its finger deep into this. Yes, they probably rescued Kankri after his parents was killed (as he knew so far, the story could easily have happened, but you could never be too sure), they must have found Karkat. His parents could perhaps be dead too (not knowing for sure, yet) and knew that these boys would need a home, so they placed both of them with a Lusus. Crabdad obviously knew about this lie, as Kankri was talking about it with him, so the only one they needed to fool was Karkat. Maybe the rest of the world to? Especially the wizarding world. But why? Why wasn’t he allowed to know the truth? What was wrong with him or his parents that made the Ministry of Magic to take such a step? Could it be his magic? The intensity of it? Karkat was sure of one thing; he would find out the truth.

[tashaleway]

Karkat Vantas and a Fucking Cherry-Red Stone: Chapter One: The Worst Introduction.

Summary: Karkat Vantas is going to Hogwarts where he will be judged because of something, he doesn’t even know about. How will he react, when he finds out that everybody around him lied? Will his friends stand with him through this, or will they abandon him? No game.

Karkat Vantas was no ordinary 10 year old boy, which was something you could tell already by looking at him. His hair was black and ruffled, which made it look something similar to a bird’s nest. Already here, we have some unnaturalness; the hair was not only black, but in such a shade that it was somewhat near the colour of a black hole. His skin was so pale that you doubted that he had ever stepped outside in his entire life. Dark circles hang under his eyes, pointing to the fact that the boy clearly didn’t sleep well, and this had been going on for quite some time. His clothes covered as much skin as possible, the dark attire making a shocking contrast to the white skin. The kid’s height was nothing to be proud of, since he was some good inches below average. His mouth grimaced in scowl, often showing off teeth like a cornered animal would, but his most shocking feature was most possible his eyes. Crimson red, they were. Like poisoned apples, they stared at you with anger, hate and mistrust, always seeking for an escape route. From a kid, who was showing so many negative feelings and always ready to give a person so much fright, one would think that the Lord at least had graced the kid with a gentle voice or vocabulary, but that was not the case. No, his voice was scratchy, like sandpaper and his words were harsh and insulting, aiming to hurt. Words were after all the only weapon the small boy could use in front of non-magical people. Muggles was the wizarding word for these. Just pointing out the fact that this boy was no near physical strong. Yes, Karkat Vantas was a wizard himself, not yet under education, but soon he would attend Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the only magical school in Britain. Karkat’s older brother, Kankri, was already about to finish his second year and in a few weeks, he would be home, just in time to celebrate Karkat’s 11th birthday with their father. When you saw the two brothers beside each other, you would not be able to tell that they were brothers, not even close relatives. Kankri had brown hair and soft, brown eyes. High cheekbones, a small face, thin lips and a slender figure. Average of high and a friendly nature and person, always making sure that everybody else was in a good mood. Even though that all his hard work was wasted, when they grew irritated of his trigger warnings. That was the sons, but what about the father, you ask? Well, if you expect some kind of man, who looks like a mix between the two kids, or with some of their features, you would be wrong. A man with dark hair, auburn eyes and pale skin, perhaps? Heh, the truth couldn’t have been further away. Their father was a monster. No, trust me, I am telling the truth! He is a monster; a two meter tall, white creature, who looks like some weird lobster with crab-alike legs. He could talk English, but only if he needed to, or else he would just screech or making weird clicking noises. No surprise that his sons are the only ones, who truly understand that language. Everybody else, who knew of the creature’s existence, had a vague idea of what the different sounds meant. Now, you may have guessed that this creature could not possible be the boys’ real father, and you are indeed correct. Their parents died almost ten years ago, under the last war against the Dark Lord, Jack Noir, and when the Aurors (wizarding policemen, who hunts down dark wizards, witches and other criminals, in case, you are an unknowing muggle) arrived with a scared three year old and a one year old baby and was told that their parents had just died, the creature hereafter took them in and raised them as his own, it was after all, what beasts like him were known for. The creature was called a Lusus, which is an almost unknown race, due to their rareness and shy personality. Not many of them are left, because muggles and wizards both hunted them down for their white skin, shell and blood that was (and still is) worth a lot of money. There had never been much information on these. They didn’t look alike anything else, but thing the magical people knew about them, was that they since the time of their beginning had taken care of orphaned younglings, humans and animals alike. Despite their frightening looks, they were a kind race. ~naknaknak~ The young soon-to-be wizard was waiting by the window of the local library for the other boys to grow tired of the hunt and return home. Karkat didn’t go to school, since it would cause more problems than it would solve with the father he had. Too many questions would be asked about the father no one saw. Therefore it would be much better for the brothers to be homeschooled instead. They learned all the basic muggle knowledge by different muggleborns from the Ministry of Magic, who were in fact not too happy to help the orphans, as some of the pureblooded saw it unnecessary and a scandal to the magical world. When it was decided that the two had finally learned enough from the muggle world, they were introduced to wizard customs and culture. It wouldn’t do them any good, if they `entered Hogwarts as ignorant mud- muggleborns, ehm´, as a snooty half-blood once said. As he was not a pureblood, he wasn’t in any rights or means to even dare whisper the insult. If he had been pureblood, no one would even dare to tell him off. But back to the story; Karkat had wandered around in the city after his lessons with Mr. Droog (a weird, strict man with too many war-alike stories from his time in school), with nothing to do since Kankri was still at Hogwarts and would first return in a little month’s time and nothing interesting on his schedule. He had no idea where he was going, lost in his thoughts about the coming year, where he would finally attend Hogwarts, when he walked headfirst into the chest of one of the older boys from the town. Simon Scratch, son of Doc Scratch himself, who was the principal of the town’s school. To make a long story short, Simon and his gang had bullied, hunted and occasionally beaten the younger boy for years. Being as young as he was, he could never do anything obvious. The thing was that he as often as he could, retort to magic as a solution. Not anything too harmful of course, but a little wind that would help him run faster, make him jump longer or push the other boys away, had never truly harmed anyone, had it? He never told his family about these confrontations and control of magic. See, young Karkat wasn’t that stupid. He fully well knew that the amount of control of his magic, he showed wasn’t normal. Yes sometimes a burst of accidental magic would help you out of a situation or grant a wish, so to say, but not in this aspect, no. So there for, he kept it a secret. Not only from his family, but also the magical society. Even from the bullies, who knew that the boy was freaky lucky all the time. A freak was what he was. Just a freak, which needed to be shown his place in the hierarchy.  After all, it wouldn’t do him any good, letting anyone know of this, would it? His family might try to understand, but would perhaps be frightened, which most likely would be the reaction from the two others. The society might want to exanimate him, which was something he would avoid for all costs. And for the bullies? They would be scared shitless if they knew just half the things Karkat did. No, it would be better this way. And after all, it was better being beaten for something, they didn’t understand, and able to somewhat defend himself with this power, than being beaten for something they did understand, and perhaps learned how to fight against. Obviously this “short” story became rather long. Back to the facts; when these bullies hunted Karkat, he liked to hide in the library. Ms. Dodd, the librarian, who was an older lady with thick glasses and her nose always buried in a book, but always knowing, when somebody broke the rules, had taken a liking to the red-eyed boy, who no matter his foul language, was quiet and nice around the books and her. When the gang was nowhere in sight, Karkat left the library with the promise that he would return and say a proper goodbye to the older lady, before he left for his boarding school (they had told everybody, who would ask that they went to a boarding school in Scotland, because they couldn’t very well tell them that they went to a magical castle with unicorns, moving pictures, broom riding and potion making, now could they? No matter what, it would be a very unwise decision.) “Hey freakazoid!” Oh shit. Simon and his gang had apparently only hid from view and waited for the boy to come out. Not showing anything that could be read as fear, Karkat turned around to meet the bullies. “What?” he asked in the most disrespectful tone he could muster. Not the most intelligent move, but the kid was only ten, soon eleven, so give him some slack. “I just want to chat,” the boy said and smirked, just to confirm Karkat’s theory about that Simon wouldn’t only talk. After this it went downhill. Karkat had some of the fault, annoying the boy senseless, Simon insulting Karkat’s dead parents, Karkat not going on a rage fit, but instead calling the other boy a retarded toilet, which Simon didn’t react kindly upon. Wonder why? He stepped closer to Karkat, his shoulders raised and fists clenched, but Karkat didn’t have his eyes on the threatening body language. His eyes were instead fixed on a black leather looking rope-thingy, slowly emerging from Simon’s breast pocket. It almost looked like a- “A snake!” Karkat gasped, not realizing that the word had come out like a hiss instead of English. The said snake turned its little black head towards him. Karkat hadn’t realized that the other boys hadn’t heard the words, the same way he and the snake had. They heard it as a threat and just to make things clear, they didn’t like threats from kids, who were younger than themselves. And a few seconds later, the first fist connected with Karkat’s jaw. When he tumbled to the ground in shock, he could taste blood and he slowly and carefully rubbed the sore spot. It was in that moment, Simon commanded the other boys to hold Karkat down, while he kicked him, yelled at him, hit him, insulted him some more and kicked him again, just to be sure. Karkat tried not to scream in pain by each blow, because that would only be the thing Simon wanted, but when the other boy kicked him for the last time, a long scream escaped from his throat, while something that felt like a lot of hot energy, that before was captured inside him, broke free in the same scream. Karkat didn’t hear the other boys’ scream or whining. Actually, he couldn’t hear a thing. Neither could he move and when he tried to speak, his mouth wouldn’t even open. The only thing, he could was just to lay there and breathe and search the sky above him for help. He tried not to panic, but not even that, could he muster. A little by little, the sounds came back and the edging fear that loomed over him, disappeared bit by bit together with the panic. He could hear the moaning and shocked sobs from the other boys, but he ignored it and only focused on making his body move. First, he could only wriggle his fingers and toes, but soon he could control face, feet and hands, and lastly legs, arms and torso. Inch by inch, he stood up and looked over the place. Simon and his gangs, lying on the ground about ten feet from him, caught his eyes, but he could see nothing wrong with them, no broken bones or even strong bruising and they soon realized themselves the same thing. Without hesitating, they stood up quickly, speared Karkat a fearful and shame filled glance, before they turned around and ran as fast as their long legs could carry them, leaving the still sobbing Simon behind them. Great friends, huh? Something slithered around his angle and Karkat quickly jumped away in panic and shook his foot in a desperate attempt to get the thing away. He didn’t recognize the little snake, which was only two feet long, before it lay on the ground again and gave an angry hiss. But to Karkat it wasn’t only a hiss. It was actually words. “Stupid, filthy human!” the words did actually come from the snake. If Karkat wasn’t panicking, he would without doubt find this incredible fascinating, but as I just said; he was panicking, and the only thing he could think was; `the snake just spoke! The fucking snake just spoke!´ `But how was that possible? Snakes can’t talk, can they?´ “Did you just… talk?” he asked weary. Talking animals didn’t sound like a normal thing, even in the wizarding world. “Of course I did! Or did you think it was your shoe?” Great. Karkat was mental, or maybe the snake could talk and had a sarcastic sense of humor. None of those options sounded good to him. ~naknaknak~ As Karkat talked to the little black snake, it turned out that the snake was female and named Sylvia by her mother, but now had a horrible male name, given by her even worse owner (Karkat had of course responded with giving his own name). When that case was closed, she told him that it was not her, who spoke English, but in fact Karkat, who talked snake language, which was apparently called Parseltongue. As a speaker of this language, Karkat was a Parselmouth. It was a lot of information to take in one bite, but when the boy got his thoughts under control, he asked in a somewhat shaky voice, why the human snake speakers, had a name, when Sylvia had never met one herself before now. So if they were so rare, why did they need a name? He was then told that she had once met a snake, who was magical, in a dark forest some years ago, before she was captured and sold to that horrid kid. The snake told her that his great grandfather or something like that had met a kid about twenty years ago, who spoke the language and had told the snake, what he was. The kid was apparently some descendent to an old, pureblooded family, who was known for speaking the snake language, but exactly, who they were, the snake had no idea. The kid never came back. After Karkat had been told this, he secretly hoped that the kid had been his father, an uncle, or maybe a grandfather, but the wish crushed to the ground, when he reminded himself, that both his parents was muggles and so was theirs parents, so there was no hope for either non-magical, being able to speak a language only wizards and witches was able to, if they had the rare gift. As for an uncle, he had never heard of any. In fact, he remembered a time, when he asked, if Kankri and he had any other relatives that their parents, either dead or alive, but the hope of any biological family left was burned to ashes by Crabdad’s answer. His voice was grave, when he responded with a single `no´. Knowing that he had somewhat distressed his adoptive father, Karkat promised himself that he would never ask that question again. In the meantime, Simon had come to his senses, realizing that nothing serious had happened to him. Simon was furious. How dared that kid to punch him (that was, what he thought happened, because such thing as magic surely didn’t exist!) and just think that he would get away with it? The freak did not even respect him! After the freak had punched him, he didn’t even run away, no he just sat there in the grass in front of Razor, mocking him! When the older boy crept closer, not even noticing his friends had ran the other way, he realized that the freak was pretending that he could speak with his black snake! Such a lunatic! In only a second, Simon was just behind the freak, Razor lifted its head and hissed threateningly, the young boy turned around in alarm, but before he could do anything else, Simon grabbed him around the neck and lifted the freak up in the air, making him gasp for air. He trashed violently, as soon he came over the first shock. He kicked, hit, scratched and tried to bite, but Simon stopped the fighting with a blow to the boy’s head with his other hand that made his vision blur and taste blood again. The kid now only scratched at the hand to release its grab. “I’m warning you, kid. Don’ ever, don’ ever go near my snake again. You hear me?!” the last words were spitted out and some of the liquid hit Karkat in his face. If he wasn’t about to be strangled, Karkat would have scrunched up his face in disgust.   Thinking that the freak got the point, Simon released him and Karkat fell to the ground, greedily sucking air in to fill his burning lungs. Karkat managed to nod in confirmation, Simon scooped up his pet snake, but when he returned his eyes to the kid, Karkat stood up. Not even realizing, what was going on, Simon received a kick in the gut for all his hard work. Ending in the exact same position as Karkat was in only a minute ago; Simon fell to his knees and gasped for breath. “Not funny, when it’s yourself, is it? Listen fuckass, and you better listen closely, understand? Don’t ever do such a trick again, got it?! Remember just fifteen minutes ago, when you and your little brainless goons flew through the air? What makes you think, I can’t do it again? Don’t ever cross my path again. I’m tired of all your bullshit. Do you. Understand?” Simon nodded furiously, remembering the hit all too well and realized that the kid really was a freak. His dad had been right all along! Before leaving, Karkat nodded to the snake in the boy’s grasp. “Until next time, Miss Sylvia. Please enjoy your time, and remember that you are more than welcome to bite your little human pet from me,” a hissing laughter of agreement was the response. ~naknaknak~ Karkat hadn’t meant to blurt out his secret, that he wasn’t as normal as people believed, but it was too late now. He just hoped that the other boy wouldn’t be a problem in the future.

[tashaleway]

Okay, so here it is: a whole blog just for my fic. Whoop