The Wicked Walk On Every Side

Chapter 14

"You know what I miss about the muggle world?" Ryot said to Abbey through a bite of chocolate-chip pancake.

"I'm not sure," Abbey replied. She was munching on some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Ryot had fake gagged when she proceeded to pour syrup over them.

"And you're not even going to guess?"

Abbey laid her fork down on her plate and fixed Ryot with a faux-annoyed look.

"I hate guessing." She lifted both of her hands abruptly and dramatically to rub her temples. In an exaggerated posh accent she said, "Oh! How it makes my head pound!"

Ryot, who had started to take a drink from his cup, snorted and almost shot milk out of his nose.

Once he had settled, Ryot turned back towards Abbey, and said, "Well, since you so detest guessing, I suppose that I shall have to tell you." Ryot shoved another bite of pancake into his mouth. "I miss the music."

"Is that so?" Abbey took another bite of syrupy eggs, and Ryot wrinkled his nose.

"Yep. I can't really listen to anything relatively modern, here, can I? All of the music I have is on my phone, which refuses to work here."

Abbey's eyes seemed to sparkle. "I think I have a solution to your problem."

The residents of the Ravenclaw table were giving off a far different atmosphere than the Gryffindor table that morning. Maxentius was rubbing Wolfbane's shoulders with one hand, and the other he was using to eat his breakfast. Mordecai was shoveling his breakfast into his mouth as if he were going to starve.

"I didn't quite catch that, Wolf." Maxentius said once his mouth was empty.

Wolfbane lifted his head out of his arms (which were crossed on top of the table) to repeat his statement.

"I wish someone could grab me by the neck and just-" Wolfbane made a fist and waved his arm as if he were shaking out a sheet. "Y'know?"

Maxentius could only look at him in exasperated confusion, but Mordecai spoke up:

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Wolfbane let out a petulant whine and softly slammed his face back into his arms. He then said something along the lines of 'my back hurts'. If one were to ask Maxentius, he would tell them that he couldn't really make out what Wolfbane said. Although, Wolfbane's tone told Maxentius all that he needed to know.

Just to be a tease, Maxentius said, "You're going to have to speak clearer!"

Maxentius turned towards Mordecai and offered him a playful smile. The small first year smiled back, and took another heaping bite of his breakfast.

"I wish someone would crack my spine like a glow stick! Is that clear enough for you?" Wolfbane said, one again picking his head up from the table. His hair had not been gelled that morning, leaving it slightly curly and definitely frizzy. His round glasses were slightly fogged up from where they had been squished against his face moments before.

"Maybe I could walk on your back? I used to do that for my mom when she needed her back cracked!" Mordecai piped up through a mouthful of food. Maxentius grimaced and handed the 11-year old a napkin.

"Yes, please." Wolfbane said miserably. He shoved his face back into his arms, but this time he made it so that his glasses were on top of his head.

"I suppose we'll be skipping our first class this morning?" Maxentius asked, a mischievous smile already forming on his face.

Out of the corner of Wolfbane's eye, he saw Ryot and Belladonna's friend Abbey stand and exit the Great Hall. It seemed that those two had similar thoughts about attending class that morning.

"Yep."

"Where are we going?"

Abbey was leading Ryot through the corridors by the hand. He was starting to notice a trend about Abbey leading him places this way, but he didn't mind. The skin contact was nice.

"You'll see! You're going to love this, I can just tell!" Abbey said, which didn't comfort Ryot at all.

Up and down stairways, they went. They traveled through corridors and alcoves and various nooks and crannies until they finally arrived at their destination.

"How is a solid wall going to solve my problems?" Ryot asked when they (finally, in his very humble opinion) stopped walking.

"Just hold on a second before you start passing judgement," Abbey said. Letting go of Ryot's hand, she turned to face him. "Think of the kind of music you enjoy, Ry. Think about it real hard, and pace back and forth in front of this wall."

Ryot was calling bullshit, but he had nothing better to do besides go to his first class, and he really didn't want to do that. He huffed (quietly, so as to not make Abbey upset. He never wanted to do that.) and started pacing in front of the wall. He closed his eyes and pictured the album covers, but that didn't seem to do anything, so Ryot started to sing some of the songs in his head. When he did that, it seemed like no time at all before a big double door opening appeared where a solid wall once stood.

"Before you go in, I would just like to say 'I told you so'." Abbey said, coming up behind Ryot and slipping her arm into his.

"And why is that?" He said.

"Just because I heard you sigh before you started pacing, and you look absolutely gobsmacked right now." Abbey chucked Ryot gently under his chin with her knuckle.

Ryot and Abbey walked up to the double-door, and Ryot placed a hand on one of them to open it.

"Oh, whatever!" Ryot rolled his eyes fondly, and pushed open the door.

The double-door opened up into a cozy little room. Two lumpy recliners and a soft looking love seat occupied the room, as well as two mismatched lamps. There were squares of multicolored cloth hanging from the semi-low ceiling, giving the room an even cozier feel. The center piece (although it wasn't really in the middle of the room), however, was the walls and the polished looking Victrola turntable on an end table by the love seat. The walls, at first, looked multicolored yet solid. At a second glance, however Ryot discovered that the walls were actually shelves, and on those shelves were hundreds upon hundreds of vinyl records.

"You know that technology won't work at Hogwarts, but older tech such as turntables and stuff like that will work." Abbey explained once she saw Ryot's slightly confused (yet awestruck) face.

Ryot rushed into the room and started looking at the records.

"I'm pretty sure half of these weren't even released on vinyl in the muggle world." Ryot said, his voice barely above a whisper. Abbey had shut the door (which looked like a single wooden door from the inside) and had begun looking at the vinyls with Ryot.

"Go ahead and pick one and put it on, music man." Abbey's eyes had a playful glint as she spoke.

Ryot smiled a smile that lit up his eyes. "Yes ma'am!"

Abbey took a seat on one of the recliners, as Ryot took a record out of its sleeve and placed it on the turntable. He set the needle in the groove, and laid down on the love seat (although part of his legs were hanging over the edge, but he was comfy).

The two of them stayed there for the majority of the day, listening to songs on vinyl and enjoying each other's company. It was a good day.