Just Stopping By To Say 'Up Yours'

Jack and Ariel apparated right outside her house- her parent's house that was. Jack really did not want to see them again, but she knew she needed to. And she wanted to see Riley, that much was true. He might hate her now, but he had been there for her for sixteen years, the only ally in this dreadful house, and that still meant she cared for her big brother, even if he had given up on her.

She paused and glanced over at Ariel. "My family is insane," she reiterated for what felt like the umpteenth time. "In a way that they think they are perfect and normal and everyone should be just like them. So take this as my apology in advance." She looked up at the house, the house that seemed perfect- but Jack knew that they used pesticides for the grass, the gutters were still full, the window panes paint was cracking when you got close, and the closed garage was full of junk- including her beloved crappy car.

Get in, grab your junk, say good bye, get the car, and go. Get in, grab your junk, say good bye, get the car, and go. She repeated this over and over, as though she would forget, though she knew that wasn't what she was worried about. She was worried they'd get on her nerves, start yelling at her,and she'd yell back. Not if she remembered what needed to be done.

And find the money Chip left for you she added. As of tonight, she would not have a place to live, but she knew her uncle had left some money here, being unable to send it to Hogwarts. Not great, because surely, her parents had claimed it as their own. Greedy bastards. But she needed that money and she would do what she had to to get it.

She sighed and glanced at Ari before walking across the lawn and then up to the door. She knocked and sighed. This was going to.. suck. Big time.

Riley answered the door and Jack's heart contracted- she had not expected to see Riley so soon. His welcoming expression fell sour, and he turned his head and called over his shoulder, "Mum. Dad."

Her dad reached them first, having been in the hall, searching through his jacket pockets for his wallet. He walked over to Riley, who turned away and walked off into the den, refusing to look at Jack. Jack kept her face normal and she looked up at her dad. "Jack." He glanced at Ari. "Jack's.. friend?"

"Who is it, darling?!"

God, how Jack hated her mother. She only sounded so pleasant when she wanted to impress- most of the time, she screeched across the house, her annoying high-pitched voice sending unpleasant tingles down Jack's spine. Now she had a stuffy, nasally, tone, trying to sound distinguished.

The smile remained for a moment once she turned to see Jack, before slipping off her face and turning into an ugly scowl. "What do you want?"

Jack never let these things get her down. She gathered her resolve and said in a sarcastically cheery, obviously fake voice, "Hi Mum! Hi Dad! It's great to see you too. Come in? Why, of course!" She pushed her way past them, grabbing onto Ari and pulling him in with her. She turned around to face them, catching Riley moving out of the den as she came into his eyesight- he literally did not want to see her.

"This is Ariel." Her parents were staring at her, the door open behind them. "You should close that." They continued to stare so she slipped her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at the door. The door closed and her parents jumped. Jack grinned. Little pleasures.

Texting was something Ariel’s mother had discovered recently; and so Fiona was making as much use of it as possible. Ariel had explained the ground rules to her, not expecting much to come of it, and so a week after he’d gotten his own phone, he received and email in the middle of a supermarket. Since then, his mother had been texting and emailing him non-stop, asking him to get bits and pieces or to help her, over the phone, with something she was making. Thankfully, Ariel had modified all of them so they’d run on magic and that meant that they’d never run out of charge so as a result Fiona used hers even more. She was insufferable but that didn’t mean he didn’t love her any less. He could envision the eyeful of George and Ollie (who was home again surprise, surprise) were getting as she leaned over to retrieve partly-burnt cookies from the oven. And yes, she still preferred wearing her nightdresses if she didn’t have to go anywhere – much like everyone in that house.

Open the cupboard to the left of the sink. Inside should be the 100’s and 1000’s.

Typing out the words got easier with practice and Ariel managed to hit send before he and Jack Apparated to her parent’s house. Honestly, Ariel was more apprehensive about meeting them than he was about taking over the pack. The latter was much more dangerous but he knew enough about Jack’s contempt for her family life to know that this wasn’t going to be smooth sailing. Part of him wanted to be recognised as Jack’s partner – he daren’t say boyfriend for he felt they weren’t as trivial as that. She was privy to something about him that had initially been kept between him and only a handful of people. It still irked him that he’d been ‘outed’ so to speak, but he valued Jack. He valued her friendship because he knew it was the only friendship he was going to get. Ollie didn’t count simply because Ariel was convinced he was his stalker and not his friend.

The egotistical arsehole part of Ariel was still present despite the way Jack had mellowed him. The narcissistic streak had also flourished once more under careful nurturing. He’d been dented by Jack and he needed to buff out that dent – it was one his armour couldn’t afford to have. People were dangerous and so were their forked tongues. Ariel had been working tirelessly to establish himself as, basically, a bastard. He’d been doing well for a few weeks and he had yet to slip up. Of course, the only change was that he waited for what he considered to be an open invitation for his opinion. He had begun to notice how dogged he was beginning to look, though – like his father. He found himself having to spend a good ten minutes scraping off the beard threatening to grow on his jaw line every morning and he was finding his hair nigh on untameable at times. He was terrified of the idea of looking like Fenrir and so Ariel had gone all out and now kept products with him in the event of the deterioration of his appearance.

The two appeared on the lawn and Ariel placed the Smartphone into his trouser pocket. He grazed his fingers across his hair and pushed a few strands back into place before brushing out the creases in his shirt. He bit his lip and looked up in search of Jack, surprised to find her already striding across the lawn. Ariel made a sound of protest, one that died quickly in his throat, and darted after her, joining her just as the door opened.

Ariel blinked and found himself staring at Jack’s brother. They didn’t really look alike but he could see bits of her in him. He had what Ariel would describe as a baby face and he was surprisingly unremarkable in comparison to Jack – but perhaps Ariel was bias.

The werewolf bit his tongue when he was described as Jack’s ‘friend’. But that’s what they were weren’t they? Friends. Their relationship was complicated. One kiss and everything went to pot – then they made up again and things were left unsaid when they were probably better being voiced. Ariel so badly wanted to correct her brother but he dare not, for fear of gaining some unwanted attention from these people. He could feel Jack’s figurative hackles rise beside him. She seemed to be instantly annoyed by these people and for the life of him Ariel couldn’t understand why.

Then of course, he heard her.

That high pitched squeal could have only come from a woman – or a man with too much oestrogen in his body. Nethertheless, Ariel could only assume it was Jack’s mother. Not a second later the woman appeared and Jack’s irritation seemed to flare even more. Ariel couldn’t help but notice the way the woman’s face fell at the sight of the redhead. Ariel’s eyes narrowed and he was about to open his mouth when Jack dragged him inside, stifling him before e said something he would have otherwise regretted; well, he would have told her that anyway. Anyone who was disappointed at the sight of their own child didn’t deserve to be a parent. Even Fenrir looked at him with some pride in his eyes. Even the most vicious werewolf in existence still loved his son.

When Jack introduced him, Ariel squared his shoulders and inclined his head slightly. He plastered a smile onto his face and glanced at Jack before stepping forward, his hand outstretched to shake her father’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Ariel said. “...sir,” he added as an afterthought.

He then turned to the banshee-woman and managed to keep that same smile on his face. He didn’t know quite whether he was going to flatter or not. As it was, Ariel held his hand out at an angle, for her to place hers into instead of to shake. He smirked a little and clicked one of the fingers on his other hand.

“And it is, of course, an equal pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Dyllan.” Oh, how it hurt to speak those words. Ariel decided to wrap the introductions up and he held his hand out for Riley. “And you must be the big brother – right?”

Jack felt a little proud of Ari just then- she could not imagine bringing anyone else to help her on this little journey. Chase would be too weak for it, she would probably get offended by how her parents stared. And Vito- well, Jack did not like her family all the time, but she did not want them dead either. And she would have already stormed away if she had come alone.

Ariel reached out to shake her dad's hand, and her dad immediately shook it, his usual firm handshake, his jaw squared, looking down at Ariel suspiciously- but not in a way of contempt, but more like a dad meeting a boy his daughter had brought home.. Huh.. Was her dad actually acting like a dad? She sort of stared at him, but was distracted as Ariel turned his attention to her mother.

Jack had to suppress a smirk, because she could see Ariel struggling to behave. However, Jack's attention returned to her mother, who was staring at Ariel. She could see the struggle. Ari was a boy, an attractive boy, and her mother had always desperately wanted a daughter who would bring one or two of those home. However, she has already assumed he had to be a wizard, a freak, just like her daughter.

Jack's thoughts were confirmed as her mother's eyes slid onto hers. "Is he one of you, too? Huh?" Jack narrowed her eyes and said in a dangerous voice, "You're being rude, mother, what would the neighbors think?" Her petty mother did not know if Jack meant they would think poorly of her for being rude, or for being connected to oddities. Jack was fine with acting out in front of the neighbors just to spite her mother.

"Rae," her father warned. She slipped her hand into Ari's and mumbled a greeting. Jack rolled her eyes. Ari extended an arm to Riley as he tried to escape. Riley stopped and looked at Ari, and then at Jack, his eyes cold. "Call me when they're gone, Mum," he said, and began upstairs.

Jack paused a second than walked over to the stairs, calling, "You're a prat, you know that!"

She turned and walked back to Ari, standing right next to him and glaring at her parents, more specifically, the blonde woman in front of her. "Nice to see you've brainwashed him, too. I'm just here to say I graduated and I'm gonna grab my stuff and get out of your hair." She glanced at Ari and said quietly, "Come on." She turned and began heading upstairs.

The suspicion, hesitance and general distaste rolling off of these people was suffocating for Ariel. Though he was used to contempt, he associated Jack with comfort and affection. To see her family the way they were, it struck an uncomfortable cord with Ariel. He knew that some Muggle families didn’t’ appreciate the gift their sons and daughters received but these people seemed genuinely contemptuous towards Jack – their daughter. Ariel was desperate to hex them and he could feel his wand nigh on vibrate in his back pocket. He wanted so badly to use it, to teach them why they should not only fear but respect magic and, more importantly, why they should have given Jack the love she so rightly deserved. Much to Ariel’s dismay though, he was able to stop himself – he was able to refrain.

Ariel smiled at her father but that smile fell when Jack’s mother opened her mouth. Ariel blanched, not quite sure what he was supposed to say, and looked over at Jack. Ariel retracted his hand and bit his lip, unsure as to what to say. He smoothed a piece of hair back before it fell into his eyes and cleared his throat before taking a step back to stand next to Jack. Her brother’s reception of him had been much the same and Ariel was quickly feeling the same rejection Jack must have felt all of these years. He swallowed and looked about himself, feeling the walls of the hallway start to close in on him. He exhaled and cracked his knuckles before looking over at Jack’s brother who seemed intent on retreating upstairs. His words did more than ruffle Ariel’s feathers and the werewolf managed to stifle a growl before it left his mouth.

Jack began to stomp up the stairs and Ariel bit his lip again. He ‘ummed’ and ‘ahhed’ for a few moments before slipping his shoes off and leaving them on the doormat. Ariel then flew up the stairs after Jack, taking a couple of steps at a time for fear of losing her in the strange house. He caught up with the redhead easily enough and he peered around the landing before murmuring into her ear,

“Do they get worse or is this them on a good day?”

Jack sighed at his question and said, "That's just them, I'm afraid. They haven't always been this bad- well, she has. Riley used to be decent though. The only one who kept me from going mad." She glanced up at him, grinning. "Now that's you, isn't it?" She reached out and squeezed his arm, glad to see he was on her side. It scared her a little to think he didn't know the full story, but even so, she thought he would still side with her.

Her mother had always been insufferable and her father had always been spineless. Of course, her mother peaked when she found out Jack was a witch- that's when she became a royal pain. Her dad seemed weirded out by her but no more. Riley had always told her it was weird but he could live with. Didn't help that Jack was close with Uncle Chip, the black sheep of the family, and his son Elliot. There was another thing Riley had to overlook. But what he could not live with was the way Jack had acted the summer before seventh year- disappearing for days, showing up smelling like liquor and cigarette smoke (not that she had any.. well, she hadn't smoked.) She had sown up once really bruised up- from when Vito had attacked Chase. And she supposed this all came from concern for her because this was when Riley switched sides and sided with her parents. Her mom just hated to think Jack was escaping her clutches and she brainwashed Riley into thinking Jack was rotten. Jack wasn't perfect, but she had been struggling. Support rather than condemnation would have been appreciated.

She pushed this from her mind and gestured down the hall, walking past some doors. She strode by Riley's and kicked it- the way obnoxious younger siblings are supposed to- before reaching her room. She jiggled the handle and slipped inside, holding the door open for Ari. Her room was painted dark and was covered in posters, muggle and wizard, from bands to Quidditch teams to movies. Some Daily Prophets had been hung up as well. Her room was cluttered with a lot of useless junk that she was going to leave to rot, she was sure. She walked towards the closet and pulled out a trunk, opening it and enlarging the inside. She stared around the room, trying to figure out what she would need to live life on her own.

No one loathed Ariel or Penny or Orion quite the way Jack’s parents seem to detest her. Ariel and his siblings were loved by their parents. Obviously Penny and Orion were without a father but Fenrir’s weekly visits (according to his mother) were beginning to make them forget Richard who Ariel had conveniently put in prison not too long ago. He was still very well off after tampering with the fool’s mind and Fenrir was beginning to feel grateful for his son’s selfishness. Fiona always seemed happier when her ex-lover was about. She was also, for some bizarre reason, worse at cooking than she’d ever been. Ollie had a theory that Fenrir was making her frazzled – Ariel hoped that meant that they weren’t shagging.

The animosity bothered him. Dysfunction was good. This was...this was awful. He was used to the smell of burning food, wet dog, crayons and Ollie. All he could smell was people and the smell of alcohol and make-up mixing in the air.

“I don’t like this place much,” Ariel said thoughtfully, looking about himself. “It’s too cold.” He looked down at Jack and smiled a little before adding. “I’ll always be here for you.”

He followed Jack across the landing and entered her room behind her. Immediately he smiled. This was Jack. This room was most definitely Jack. Ariel laughed and looked around at the posters that covered the walls as she pulled her trunk out. When he heard the slam of it opening, he turned and looked at the redhead curiously. She in turn looked around the room, a look of thought on her face as she was no doubt trying to decide what should go and what should be left. Ariel didn’t know about Jack but he thought that all of it should go with her, simply because it embodied what she was to him – herself.

“Keep it all,” He spoke his thoughts. “It’s you. It suits you. You suit these surroundings. It’s cooky but it’s...it’s sweet.”

At Ari's words, Jack's expression burst into a smile. She looked up at him. "You think so?" She grinned. She did not care if her family was up to their usual moodiness, because they would never know how it felt to have someone around like Ari. Someone who usually shut people out and decided to let you just wiggle into his life... and then you find out the layer of amazing that was beneath the exterior.

"Okay then," she said, turning back to the room. She pointed her wand at the posters and they began to peel off the wall and roll themselves up. She took off her bedding and stuffed it into the trunk. She yanked open her drawers and used her wand to start piling clothes into the trunk. She collected things herself like hats, books, journals, quills, joke items, decks of cards, wooden models, a chess set, joke books, old Quidditch gear... Endless junk.

She found a bundle of things under her bed and smiled. She had hidden this here awhile ago. It was a care package from Chase at Christmas- books on dragons, a mini Hungarian Horntail within a cage, and the band Ministry of Magic merchandise. She piled it into the trunk and looked around at her nearly empty room, mostly which was littered with trash and junk she did not want.

She glanced across the room and saw something that caught her eye. She smiled and retrieved it, holding her hand out to Ari. "My first pranking instrument ever- my laser pointer." She grinned and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small pouch she had purchased in Diagon Alley and opened it. She dropped the laser pointer and there was a distinctive clacking. She grinned up at Ariel. "Komboloi." She smiled. "Ready to head back into the lion's den?"

Always was an absolute of sorts and Ariel knew how the Gods adored to play with those who used them. Yet somehow, his words seemed more than an absolute; they seemed more than just an empty promise. He would always be there for Jack. It was not a promise, it was a guarantee; a fact. It was not a pathetic promise – one that could so easily be broken. It was a statement. He would always be there for her. It was Ariel, determined to stand by the woman he was slowly but surely falling in love with.

Ariel smiled a little at Jack and continued to look around the room in interest. It was so very clearly Jack; embodied in materialistic items that probably held very little sentimental value in the long run. He walked over to the window and peered out at the world below. He found himself smiling at the way the trees outside swayed so elegantly in the light, summer breeze and he turned to see Jack still sorting through all of her things. He chuckled absent mindedly and ran a hand through his hair, caring no longer for the gel that kept it down.

And in an instant, his hair was fluffy again.

Ariel walked back over to Jack when she held her hand out and he peered over her shoulder at the ‘laser pointer’. Ariel had no idea what it was but he didn’t ask. He grew up in a small village – the most entertaining thing that happened to him while at home was Ollie’s attempt to kill him via the bridge every time they went to the pub.

He smiled again when she took out the Kombolói. “You kept them,” he said, not quite believing it himself. He reached into his pocket and took his own set out of his pocket. He knocked the beads against Jack’s and smiled. “Snap.”

“Do we have to go back down there?” Ariel whined. “Can’t we just...climb out of the window or something..?”

Jack glanced up at Ari, to see his hair had sort of poofed up and she bit back a grin. He seemed a little bit in shock to see that she had kept the Komboloi. Jack had carried those beads in her pocket at Hogwarts up until the events leading up to the battle, in which she hid them away with a few other important items. On a Christmas where she had expected no presents and no company, those Komboloi beads had represented a lot more- a genuine friend.

Even if they had been drunk at the time.

He pulled out his own and clacked them together. Jack grinned and replied, "Of course I kept them. I made a friend that day. Needed something to remember it. And besides, they're cool." She grinned up at him and opened up the pouch, tipping her Komboloi int it before puling the string and slipping it back into her pocket. She smiled at his whining and then grimaced.

"We'd better just head down there. I want a clean break. 'Okay, Mum, Dad, hope I never see you again.' You know." She shrugged. "This way they won't try to see if I'm making any money, they'll know they're getting nothing." Her family was that greedy, that they would try to make up just to get a share of any money Jack came into.

She pointed her wand at her trunk and said, "Locomoter Trunk" before directing it out the door and down the stairs. She waited a good solid seconds, wanting the trunk to arrive obviously by magic, just to freak out her family. She turned back to Ariel and said, shrugging. "I wanted to freak them out." She paused and then added, "Thank you."

It only took a second for that sweet smile to be replaced by a devilish grin though as she stepped closer to him. "Now let's really freak them out." She reached up and mused his hair ever more, before grabbing his hand and dragging him into the hall.

She slowed down when she hit the stairs, but still held onto Ari. They finally reached the bottom, where the trunk was floating. Riley had joined his parents, who were staring at the trunk. Their eyes lifted to Jack and Ari and they gaped a little. Jack's mum looked torn, Riley looked thunderous, and her dad seemed to be sizing Ari up. Jack cleared her throat. "I got all my stuff. I'm moving out- not coming back."

There was a long silence, full of tension and mixed feelings. Finally, it was her dad who broke the silence, stepping forward to clap a hand on Jack's shoulder, his eyes softening. He turned and held out a hand to Ari. He looked deep within Ari's eyes and said, "Watch out for her, okay?"

Ariel was foolish for thinking Jack wouldn’t keep them. One day, perhaps he’d take her to that little shop he intended on going to again, where the walls were lined with beads of every colour and every material. He’d been spending Richard’s money for years now and Ariel decided that he’d blow the last lot on a house and some Kombolói. There wasn’t a lot left now – just enough to pay for a cottage-like thing when the time came to it and a few sets of beads. Ariel intended on spending it before they let him out. He wanted to spend whatever was left on something stupid – something that would really scorn the bloody bastard. Ariel had worked hard enough to get him in prison and he’d been adding insult to injury for years so why not just bring it all to a terrific climax. The bank wouldn’t know what had hit them.

“I don’t remember much of that,” Ariel admitted with a smirk. “Didn’t make too much of an arse of myself did I?” He chuckled and scratched his temple before pocketing his beads. He looked down at Jack with a dubious expression on his face and glanced over at the door. “Down there? Are you joking? I feel as if they’re going to slit my throat!”

Ariel watched with vague amusement as the trunk hovered out of the room. He cocked an eyebrow at Jack disapprovingly and chuckled. “I think you have achieved that without fail.” He laughed. “I’m sure there’s something written somewhere about not showing Muggles magic...about how it’s a bad idea.” Ariel shrugged noncommittally. “Sod ‘em. It’s Halloween months in advance.” He decided.

Ariel raised an eyebrow at Jack as her face morphed into a grin and he looked at her suspiciously as she raised her hand and began to muss his hair up. Ariel groaned and pulled his own hand over it, making it stick out on end. Ariel yelped as Jack pulled him out into the hall and he lifted his gaze as they thundered down the stairs. Ariel blanched at the look on her brother’s face. Merlin only knew what thoughts were running through his head.

Jack was as blunt as ever and Ariel stood there feeling fairly embarrassed as her family stared at them. The tension was palpable – suffocating. Ariel inhaled shakily and stayed by Jack’s side, her hand tucked into his. Ariel watched as her father stepped forward. He seemed to be the most forgiving and the most understanding of all of them. The way he clapped his and onto Jack’s shoulder almost seemed affectionate though Ariel couldn’t be so sure. His eyes snapped to her father’s when he addressed him and Ariel released Jack’s hand to shake her father’s. “Always,” he replied honestly.