Zack walked around the shoreline of this familiar lake of the school, his hands clasped behind his back, as his eyes watched the earth before his gaze. Mud crusted over his entire form; reasonable, as he had just crossed through feet-deep muddy country-side; beneath and over the mud, red flecks stained. He was aware of the first years, yards away, gathering their belongings and scurrying away in dead fright. They would not recognize his rugged self; even so, it amused him, just the slightest.
He stopped and turned to gaze at the pristine lake, pausing. Then, he removed his worn black cloak, letting it fall to the ground. Upon his cloak, he dropped his many sheathed blades: removed from his arms, back, legs, and sides. The last, his favored long sword, he lowered to the top gently.
He removed his [what once was white] blood red shirt, revealing a well muscled abdomen, and dropped it to the ground next to the pile of weapons, squatting down next to the waters. He dipped his hands into the lake and threw up water into his face, washing off the dried dirt and blood, wiping the tricking waters off on the back of his fore-arm. He sighed, brushed his dark hair out of his eyes, and stared down into the lake, resting his elbows upon his knees.
He had been away too long.
A large gray wolf runs out and stands before him. The wolf does not growl, nor bark, as it simply stands still. Ginny walks up beside it and smiles warmley. "Hi Zack. Nice to see you again."
He turned his head and watched the wolf, recognizing her, though he did not move any more than that, for his muscles were sore and weary. He chuckled.
"Hello Ginny. Been well?"
"As well as can be expected for a teenage psychic." Her eyes looked tierd, but happy as her smile held. "And what of you, you seem to be a bit bloody."
Something flickered behind the grey eyes of his, but the glint left rather quickly.
"Battle is not as beautiful as it has been told by poets." He replied darkly. Then, after a slight pause, he laughed slightly.
"And this? Ha. I thought I looked quite dandy!"
She laughed. "If you wanted to see dnady, you should have seen the girls at the last ball. Everyone was dressed up to the max."
"Thanks, Gin." He said, in friendly sarcasm.
He turned back to the lake and washed off the remainder of the filth [though it would take a great deal more than that simple washing to get all of the dirt off his hands, and inside the little nicks in them], then he stood, now towering a few inches taller than when he had left.
"So, my old friend, how has life been at this old castle? How has it been with the inhabitants?"
He moved from standing, to sitting at the lake's edge in a fluid motion, yawning, watching Ginny for an answer, chuckling.
She grinned and put her hand on the wolves head. "Mostly the same old stuff. Except now I've allowed students into the foret."
"You've allowed students into the forest?"
He frowned. Of the many things, his wasn't what he had been expecting to hear. There were a certain amount of others who deserved to their dying breaths to go into the forest, but letting others in there?
"Has there been any trouble with that?" He asked quietly, wondering, if he was just being too protective.
She forced himself to stand, again, so he wouldn't doze off, scratching his left shoulder absently; it was yet another habit he'd formed, scratching that shoulder, when he wasn't thinking about it. It just burned, for some reason, over the long [new] scar there. Again, so very odd.
"I would think there must be.."
She sighed. "With some definet students, the ones who insist on crossing the barrier. Then I put them 9in a cell for a night. Not away from the real crimenals, though. It scares the wits out of them. No big p[roblems though"
He grinned.
"Good. I should have remembered you'd beat the tar out of them if they caused a disturbance."
He chuckled quietly, and suddenly caught himself in another yawn. He shook his head.
"So everything's been calm? Nothing big?"
"We still havn't managed to get Voldy out of our hair. Not that I've been around to help, but you know. "She smiled once again.
He laughed suddenly, his voice echoing it, "Nah, I don't expect you would have. Kind of like a tick, he is. You have to kill him completely before he's all the way gone and done for. Yes'm, I know it."
He continued to laugh, wondering to himself why he found the situation of the mass-murderer so funny. But alas, when one was in a tured and near uncaring state, it really didn't matter to make something suddenly so strikingly hilarious. Finally, he regained himself.
"Good, then. I was almost worried of what I would return to. I am glad, that nothing too exotic had been changed."
She laughed then snapped her fingers, "Oh, but I forgot to tell you, my little brother Josh has come to Hogwarts."
"Another one?"
He grinned. Yet another Weasley. They were a great family, after all. He would like to meet this new arrival.
He scratched his shoulder again absently, then turned to the castle. This large place was once his home. If he had his way, it would be so again. He smiled, and returned his eyes to Ginny.
"Would you care to walk with me up to Dumbledore's office? It's up to you, but I must go, upon orders to do so, as immediately when I'd returned from-, well, you get me."
He sighed, running his hand through his sandy hair.
"Sure, why not?" She looked at the wolf. "Moon, it's time to switch ranks, make sure it gets done, kay?" The wolf barked once and ran into the forest.
He watched the animal as it disappeared into the forest, smiling at Ginny, then he crouched down and held his cloak as a sack, holding within it the pile of weapons. Save his long sword. That, he clasped to the belt at his hip; he felt too off without it's weight there. He didn't bother to put on his shirt. It was too sliced up anyway, and it smelled of blood, sweat, and mud. Not a good combination, if he did indeed say so himself. So he didn't bother; he stuffed it in there with the rest. It was very fine, to have the hot sun on his damp shoulders and back, and chest.
He started off toward the castle, holding the sack at his side, smirking in amusement at the first years.
"Do they always scurry away in fright? Odd little kids, aren't they?" He said in Ginny's direction.
Unknown to him, however, was that he possessed a new 'look', so to say. The children sensed the treachery of his presence, and not knowing him, they fled. To him, it was off. To an onlooker, perhaps sensible.
She gave one of them a look."You. Go on ahead and clear the hall." The first year glanced at Zack once more than scampered down the hall. "Almost always odd. But it's sensible of them, Zack. They've never seen the likes of you before."
"The likes of me?" He said, frowning.
He looked down. Muddy black boots, worn in, and laced tightly; brown-black-red traveler's breeches of loose, weatherpreoof, red-dirt stained material; a black belt holding within its fixtures incrusted blood and more dirt; at his hip a sheathed, deadly sword, that had taken more than it gave. No shirt, and a black sack of weapons.
He turned his head toward Ginny, still frowning.
"What? Am I really that different?"
She raised an eyebrow. "This is a school, Zack. Dumbledore likes it when we keep the remains of battle away from them." She motions towards the few remaining students.
"Oh."
He laughed, suddenly, as they came to the stone steps. Very missed, stone steps.
"I'll need a few baths then."
He shook his head and began up the stairs, in stride with Ginny, but his movements quite effortless.
"Just the same, though. Things are changing. I have a dark feeling, that things won't be so peaceful for too long, more. It has been...hard, to keep things under control. It is not only Voldemort, anymore. I s'pose it never has been. I have duties at many other places now, and weather Dumbledore likes it or not, I think he knows, just the same, that battle is at his--our-- doorstep. "
He watched a few students go by in a wary way, falling silent.
Ginny nodded solomly. "I have yet to tell him that Conan's time and ours are going to mix. Unfortantly, that means more enimes. I think he knows somehow thiugh." She swallowed, her vision from afew months ago flashing quickly in her brain.
"Indeed." He muttered quietly.
Suddenly, he felt unnervingly weary; tired, and un-cheerful as the blade at his hip. However, he straightened his shoulders, and pushed open the door of Dumbledore's, stepping in anyway. His body wouldn't allow his mind to control it. So, he walked inside, his expression grave, and dark.
He stepped up to the Headmasters desk, bowing slightly [though not realizing it, of course, for this was another habit he had picked up]. He straitened, gently setting the cloak withholding his blades on the chair at his side.
"Headmaster."
She followed and closed the door softly, making sure her school robes didn't get caught. She nodded at Dumbledore.
"Proffeser." She said watching the Headmaster.
DD:: The Headmaster set down the book before him onto his desk, studying his pupils intently, and very silently for a moment. He then stood, his fingertips resting on the top of his desk.
"Hello, Ginny. Welcome back, Zack. I trust you have completed I disagreeignment?"
Z:: "Sir." He replied abruptly.
DD:: "And it wasn't taken seriously, was it?"
Z:: "No, sir, it wasn't."
DD:: "As to be suspected. We tried, my student. There was nothing more to do."
The old man paused, as he read the younger's eyes. Read them so very easily, it seemed, though in fact it was quite difficult.
"But there was? Tell me, what did my old friend request of you?"
Z:: "Merely that I slaughter a few of his enemies. Tell me, Headmaster, what is it your 'friend' has to help us that is so fragile? Yes he has strength in his forces, but, forgive me, he is an irrational man!"
DD:: "Did you kill them?"
Z:: "No. I am not an assassin, sent to kill whomever someone else finds pleasing for me to do so. Those were not my orders."
DD:: "You are so very fit, yet you are bloody and weary?"
Z:: Zack growled, running a hand through his sandy hair yet again.
"You are a stubborn old man. There were problems along my run home. A disagreement, which escalated to something even I have not seen in a while. Sadly, I was camped directly in the center as the two forces headed toward each other. And as neither knew me, all of them wanted me dead."
He shrugged, as if that explained it all away. There was more, so very much more, but the Headmaster was too wary to ask of him any more questions. The headmaster did not like to enflame his temper, and he knew, behind his half-moon spectacles, that the younger man would say no more. So the subject was finished, and the Headmaster took this time to smile, over Ginny, and Zack, in the most odd of his old man ways.
She sighed as she stepped forward. "Proffeser, I'm sure Zack would like to go and take a bath...or two. " She smiled laughingly at Zack. "And I need to to return to the forest. So, if you have nothing else to discuss with Zack, I'll remind him where everything is."
The Headmaster shook his head. "You may be off."
Zack turned, gathered his things again, and walked toward the entrance, muttering as he passed Ginny, "Dirt is a cleanser."
Outside of the Headmaster's office, he yawned widely, blinking tiredly in the aftereffects.
"Perhaps I shall meet you at the lake's edge, later, after I have had a long shower?"
She closed the door. "Sure. I've nothing better to do. Same old stuff today. Just send me a thought when your done. But...make sure your done first. I don't think any of you realize that I see you when you send telepathy to me." She laughed slightly.
He laughed heartily.
"I'd realized. I assure you, I won't. See you, then, my friend."
He smiled, and turned, striding off to the showers in the boy's dorm, constant scurrying continuing about him, as he growled teasingly every now and then, to his amusement, and to ease the tension a bit.
Zack ran a towel through his messy hair, after he'd finished dressing, about an hour or so later. When he dropped the towel, he ran a hand through his now black spiky mess, laughing. In the corner of his eye, he caught the reflection of himself; his laughter died.
The fresh water had seemed to taken away layers of color from him, literally. It was spooky.
His clothes hung off his broad frame loosely; more loose than before, as he had lost some weight. Gods, he looked like a ghost!
Laughing lightly, he stalked out of the castle much as a ghost would have, coming to the lakes edge. Forgetting to send a thought to Ginny, he sprawled out on his back, tucked his arms behind his head, and in seconds, he was in a dead sleep, undisturbed by the younger kids in the lake at his left, screaming and laughing and talking.
She stood yelling at a student who had dared to pull his wand in the forest. She felt Zacks preseance and felt his mind slow as he drifted of to sleep. She glared at the student and took his wand. "You'll get it back in a day's time. "She told him angerily.
Student:"But what will I tell my teacheres?" he asked, paniced.
"You will tell them the truth. " She dissapeard and reappered beside Zack. She stood, wondering wheather she should wake him or not.
He slept on, unknowing of all that was going on, his dark thoughts protested to a dreemless slumber. Beady eyes of curious younger ones gazed over the lake's edge, watching him, and glancing at Ginny warily. One, dared to take a stick from the shore-side, and jab him in the arm with it. Still, he did not stirr. So the kids continued to poke his arm with sticks as he slept quietly, glancing at Ginny with innocent eyes.
Ginny's anger flared up before she could stop it and she held out her hands. "Oh! Go for a swim you brats!" She yelled, using her telekinetics to throw them into the lake.
"Oh what a great role model you are..." He muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly, chuckling teasingly. "Thanks, I think. I'm not sure what was happening, anyway."
He sat up and grinned sleepily.
She laughed and dropped beside him. "They get on my nerves so eaisly, lately."
"I hope we weren't that odd at that age." He said, grinning. "I s'pose we were."
She smiled. "I didn't know you when you were that age. I wasn't even at Hogwarts when you were that age. I know I was pretty silly though. I got myself taken to the Chamber of Secrets. I was so silly to trust Riddle. "She shook her head.
"I wasn't at Hogwarts either. I didn't start at a magical school 'till fourth year. I was an arrogant idiot."
He laughed.
"The Chamber of Secrets? I think I might've heard of that tunnel. Not distinctly, though. That must have been a bit bad."
She looked at him, her eyes filled with past horror. "Bad enough to haunt me. Wake me up screaming." She paused and shuddered. "That was when Voldm0rt had power. At least, people were afraid of him."
"Bad experiences. Horrible.. Wouldn't you say the old man has power now, though, too? I think fear, isn't the word, now. Weird, how to put it."
"Not compared to other things. I learned I could take care of him when he captured Bill and Kiara. I'm not afraid of him anymore. What's going to happen is far worse than what he could do."
"And what do you know of what's going to happen?"
He lay back down, folding again his arms behind his head, closing his eyes.
She puts her arms on her knees and buries her head in them. "I'm not compleatly sure. I only know what I saw and..." Her voice is muffled.
"And..." He said, listening still.
"And it was bad." She stood, suddenly and walked closer to the edge. She scooped up a handful of rocks and began to skip rocks.
He peered over at her through half-opened eyes, and for a time, he was quiet.
Great, he thought bitterly. Like any of us needs more hellish times in our lives. Great. Joy. What a marvel this new thing is going to be.
He growled wolfishly, and laid his head back onto his arms, shutting his eyes. He said, nothing.
She looked up at him. "Thought you'd say that." Her voice is quiet and she looks at the lake again.
He raised his aching head and again, watched her with a blank stare.
"I bet. I'm quite predictable."
He sat up fully then, running a hand through his wet hair, ignoring the constant throb 'echoing' in his skull.
"I think you would agree, though. There's always something that hasn't happened yet. Always something we don't want to happen. And no matter how much we try to avoid things, they still come to bash us sideways."
She nodded. "I know."
Talking about bashing things, he thought groggily, what hit my head so hard?
Unknowing of the answer to this question, he simply sat there, unmoving.
"Domino effect." He said quietly, not knowing the purpose, but his thoughts reaching his lips before his admittance.
She looks at him, realizing how his head must hurt for him to make that face. She pulls a pouch off her waist, and upon pulling out a cookie hands it to him. "Eat it." (g2g)
He eyed the cookie, then a bit eagerly, took it and ate it so quickly, one might have thought he'd inhaled it whole. Well, pretty close. Moments later, the throbbing began to wear off, and he grinned.
"Thanks, Ginny. Whatever that was, it's working. Best place to put medicines, in cookies. Yes'm, they'll be acting to sick to get them some day."
(See ya later)
She grinned back. "I know, but the potion only works if you need it. Otherwise, it's just a cookie."
"And that's why they'll want them."
He laughed.
"What a teasing recipe. You and your Mum ca definately cook."
He was very fond of Mrs Weasly [and her cooking]. When he visited, she was always very kind to him. He figured all the Weasleys were an uncommon group of great people. There weren't many families like that anymore.
She nodded listening to his thoughts quiet unashamedly. "I wish my family was always like we are when company's around." She smiled at Zack.
It had become a second nature that when he was around old friends and such, he would let his guard down a few slips, so he wasn't bothered, or even really noticing that Ginny was answering to his thoughts, not his spoken words.
"Yes'm. Still kind folks, though. The people I used to live with, were idiots all around."
He chuckled slightly, and ran a hand through his hair, though quite un-amused of the people he's brought up.
She nodded, not wanting to pry.
"Ginny, you're too innocent."
He laughed, and stood, rolling his shoulders. He still had a ghostly look about him, but that didn't matter to him now. He was beyond the point of caring about that.
"Got anymore cookies on you?"
He grinned.
"Zack I have five thousand of them in this bag. "She held up the pouch before taking one out.
He continued to grin mischievously, as he gratefully took the cookie and ate it.
"Delicious." He said, laughing.
She smiled. "Good."
"Want to go get some lunch? Or dinner? Or whatever they're serving now?" He shook his quieted head.
"No matter how many cookies I could probably smuggle off you today, I don't think it would satisfy my ravenous hunger."
He laughed.
"And if I know my appetite, that is quite the understatement, in words."
He grinned and stood. All but looking completely ghostly, his continuous laugh was a bit starved.
She nodded. "Yeah. C'mon." She retied the bag to her waist. And waited for him.