I'll be there just to watch you fall

A light rain dripped from the grey clouds overhead, which hid the sun from view
completely, making the whole of London look gloomy and unpleasant, leaving sm-
-all spots of on Keera’s jacket wherever the raindrops landed. Keera stopped be-
-fore crossing the road, watching the speeding cars dart after one other down t-
-he narrow street. She breathed in the mist and fog that the morning’s storm had
left in the air, it tasted cold and bitter in her throat, but she smiled; a man had just
cut off the man in front of him rudely and she couldn’t help but laughed when the
man left behind flipped him off. Keera waved enthusiastically at the dangerous dr-
-iver, smiling broadly. The man raised his eyebrows at her and continued on his
way, weaving his way through the midday traffic. Keera stepped off of the pale
sidewalk and on top the street, ignoring the crosswalk that was painted on the as-
-phalt to her left. A car honked, slamming down on the breaks to avoid hitting Keera.
Her happy mood vanished and her smile dropped as she turned to the car only inc-
-hes in front of her and slammed her fists against the hood. There was a loud thud
but nothing more than that; the car was pretty sturdy-looking and Keera hadn’t exp-
-ected to do any damage, if she had intended to damage the car she would have
used magic rather than blunt force. The women in the car gasped and stared at Ke-
-era with wide eyes. “Good Morning!” Keera greeted, flashing the women a threate-
-ning smirk.

Keera reached the other side of the road and continued forward, making her way
through a narrow ally that reeked of dead rats and week old garbage. She scowled,
kicking one of the rats that lay limp on the ground before her, sending it flying forw-
-ards a few feat. Keera howled with laughter, she even had to stop walking for a m-
-oment to keep herself steady on her feet. She breathed in slowly when her giggling
ceased and straightened up, wiping a tear away. Keera put her hands in her leather
vest pockets and walked out of the other end of the ally, turning around the corner &
up a flight of concrete steps. Above the steps dangled a large sign- just inches abo-
-ve Keera’s head- that had a picture of a steaming mug of coffee on it. Keera stopped
when she reached the door and stared at it for a moment; it took so, so much work
for her to act ‘normal’ around these people, and it was even harder for her to show
kindness towards the women she was meeting in the coffee shop before her. Keera
pictured a smaller version of herself standing inside of her skull, pushing her thoughts
out of her ears, and smiled. “Just stick to the plan,” she told herself before shoving the
door open and stepping inside.

Keera stepped inside the warm shop, the smell of coffee beans filling her nostrils
as she took a seat at one of the unoccupied tables closest to the door. She scan-
ned the place for any familiar faces, her fingers drumming along the smooth table
surface. “Can I get you anything, Ms?” An old women in a waitress uniform asked,
a worn-out smile on her wrinkled face. Keera nodded, pointing to a small sign that
sat on the empty table to her left. The waitress turned and walked away, humming
all the while. Keera grinned, why was it that older people always hummed? It was
as if it was some sort of unwritten law or something.

It only took a few minutes for the waitress to return with Keera’s coffee in her ha-
nds. “Here you are,” she said, setting the mug down in front of her. Keera took the
cup in both of her hands, breathing in the steam that floated up from the piping hot
drink. She sighed, she had expected Gabrielle to be there, after all, her good friend
& ‘tracker’ was never wrong when it came to pinpointing people- but then again, th-
ere was always a first for everything. Keera lifted the white coffee mug to her lips
and tilted it back, pouring the blazing liquid into her mouth. It burned, but Keera had e-
xpected it, so she knew she wouldn’t spit it up when it burned her tongue and blis-
tered her throat, however, she hadn’t expected to meet eyes with Gabrielle, who
sat only a few tables down. Keera coughed, but managed to swallow the coffee b-
efore spewing it out all over herself.

Once Keera was finished with her coffee she stood up and walked over to Gabrielle’s
table. “Delecour, is that you…?” Keera greeted, faking surprise pretty convincingly. S-
he slid into the booth opposite Gabrielle and laughed, “You look out of it today... The w-
orld being a B**** lately?”

[Note: I mentioned a friend of Keera’s in this post- use your imagination, I’ll give him/her
a name later]

Keera frowned, she hadn’t expected Gabrielle to have remembered her, but
she hadn’t expected her to have forgotten- if that makes any sense- after all,
they hadn’t exactly been friends during their school years, but they had still
been in the same classes and such. She nodded, “Of course, let me introduce
myself, I’m Kelly Ford, we had most of the same classes during our years at
Hogwarts,” she introduced herself, using the fake name she had created for
herself; Gabrielle was worked for the Ministry, and it was for that reason exa-
ctly that she couldn’t know her real name. Keera rested her chin in the palm of
her hand, drumming her fingers on the table as she watched Gabriella carefully;
if she was ever going to ‘become friends’ with her, she needed to pay attention,
she needed to make sure she knew exactly what she was getting herself into.
“I heard you joined the Ministry, it must be a very frustrating job, what with Ne’os
and the other…criminals running about,” she stated, trying to start up a conver-
sation that wasn’t too odd.

[Note: sorry this post is so short, Im a bit out of it today]

‘Kelly’ could sense the women’s suspicion, and forced a smile upon her lips to
ease Gabrielle into trusting her enough to at least have a relaxed conversation.
“ah, yes, I remember the headmaster introducing you to the school during the
welcoming feast that year!” she recalled, tilting her head to one side, “I’m sorry,
I don’t mean to force myself upon you, I can leave if you want, I was simply cu-
rious as to how you were doing,” Keera lied, faking innocents as she prepared
to get up and leave; she knew Gabrielle wouldn’t make her leave- or at least, th-
at was what her gut told her, and prayed that her hunch was correct, or else
she would be back at the start.

“I can imagine. I was pretty good friends with someone who ended up working
for the Ministry- we have gone our separate ways by now of course, but the p-
oint is, I know how many people –uh- dedicate their lives to heroics,” Keera had
to choose her words carefully; while she was thinking ‘waist their lives’ she had
to make sure those exact words didn’t leave her mouth. She was smirking inwa-
rdly, oh how wonderful it felt to put on such a believable act. “Me? I work as a
substitute teacher at Hogwarts, and when my services aren’t needed there I play
poker,” she replied, her eyes twinkling; whenever she even thought about running
her fingers over the smooth surface of a deck of cards her mood improved- thou-
gh it wasn’t obvious from the outside that her mood had been bad to begin with.
She had been through all of this before, the only difference about manipulating a
person of importance this time around was the fact that Keera had actually known
Gabrielle at one point- though they hadn’t been close, it was still a tiny bit more dif-
ficult than usual.

Keera nodded her head slowly, “Yes, I’m actually stuck teaching Herbology at the moment- I
hate that subject so very much- but hey, It’s... useful,” she replied, smiling to herself. Some-
thing inside Keera’s head snapped and she couldn’t keep herself from twitching; she started
to lose control whenever she didn’t have her playing cards safe in her hands, and at that
moment… she didn’t have them at all. Keera realized this and closed her eyes for a brief mo-
ment. Calm yourself or you’ll screw this up, you freak, her mind shouted at her, causing
her ears to ring. “I’m sorry, It seems I’ve had a bit too much caffeine… a little jumpy,” Keera lied,
her voice a bit quieter and scratchy than usual, as if she were fighting back a sob. I want
my cards…

The old waitress came back the Gabrielle’s table, and simply stood there, waiting for one of
them to say something. “I’m good, thanks,” Keera told her, choosing not to answer for Gabrielle
just in case she wanted to order another coffee. “It truly is my life. I play muggle poker, but I
use magic in just about every hand- just shuffling and such; I only use it for slight of hand when
I have no other option,” she answered with a small smile while she secretly searched her po-
ets for the deck. Oh where are you? Why have you left me? Keera glanced back at the table
she had been at moments before, out of the corner of her eyes. There on the smooth table sat
her deck of cards, the same deck she had owned for more than ten years, and in those ten ye-
ars, had only misplaced them once. Smile. Keera obeyed, smiling at Gabriella as pleasantly
as possible with her unhealthy teeth. “So what brings you here?” she asked.