Wonder

ROSCOE_I_AM_YOUR_FATHER

"That little bitch!"

Ariel had a long time love affair with Harry Potter. The gangly, black haired boy had been her first crush, his life had been her first passion and his world her first dream. Her mother had read the books to her when she was a child, and as Ariel grew, she would go on to read each one at least ten times.

Scott would often grow bored less than a chapter into the book but Ariel would sit enraptured for hours. When she was in the hospital, she read them every day. There was something about the books that made her transcend the antiseptic and screams of the hospital. It carried her away to England, where she went to Hogwarts and fought along side the Order. She ate pumpkin pasties and brewed potions and never once had to worry about physical therapy and the idea that she might never fully heal.

So when she had bought herself a second edition Elder Wand it had been a huge occasion. She had been out of the hospital for around a year by then, but she still suffered from horrible flashbacks and had to walk with a crutch. There were weekly checkups for her heart condition and her mother had known how hard it was for her daughter. Ariel never said anything, never complained, but Melissa could hear her cry at night.

So she had gotten her a job at the hospital, an under the table accounting job where she filed papers and fielded calls. As much as Ariel hated the place, she was thrilled to have her own job, a sense of structure in her life.

Of course, she quit the second she had enough money to buy the Wand.

It was purchased online, in a backroom dealer site that she was sure was run by a gang. Ariel hadn't stopped to ask herself why a gang would run a pawn shop on Harry Potter merchandise, of course. It was two hundred dollars but she didn't regret any penny she spent on it.

How Lyra Carter knew she had it, Ariel had no idea.

She didn't even know that Lyra liked Harry Potter. The mean girl didn't seem like a Potter head in the slightest. But, that was her ultimatum. The elder wand or no Derek.

"That goddamn sourwolf owes me."

"What the hell are you talking about? You insane or something?" A couple stumbled past her, a guy spitting all over her as he tried to enunciate his words. The girls heels were slung over her shoulder and her dress was hiked up, the bottom muddy. The guys tie was askew and his fly undone. Ariel didn't want to know.

"Hell yes I am!" Ariel snarled, lunging at the pair and flaring her eyes. The anger that had built up from her meeting with the incorrigible Lyra was showing and taking it out on a drunk couple that wouldn't remember anything in the morning seemed like the right thing to do.

"What in the- ahh!!"

The couple fled, stumbling quickly down the concrete steps of the school and into the parking lot. Ariel huffed, patting her hair back into place before continuing into the school. Lyra Carter had ways of getting under her skin that Ariel didn't even want to fathom.

The dance was loud. The gymnasium was decked out in hanging see through cloth, with decorative stars dangling from the rafters. Blue lights were flashing through the other wise dark gym, illuminating throngs of dancing teenagers. A try hard punk band was set up in the middle, crooning out some loud love ballad about a girl that broke hearts. A few teachers stood to the side, shuffling awkwardly and yelling at obnoxious couples.