Look who we have here!

Oh how boring. Even suicide would be more fun than just waiting and sitting here for something to happen.
Mis yawned loudly and looked around. Streets were crowded with students and their parents. Ah, how she loved to watch how those little aspiring witches and wizards clunged to their parents and looked around with those big shining curious eyes. She was just the same few years ago. And now, thinking of it, she realized how much she actually missed studying and playing quidditch. Now, all she had to do, was work as healer at Hogwarts. So much for the fun then.

She looked down, running her fingers over a book that she bought not so long ago. A book about amazing dark creatures. Yes, she was still fascinated by the dark arts and everything that touched the subject. She yawned once again; boredom had braught her here and she wanted to do something about it. Reading was out of the list. What if you'd set something on fire? asked familiar voice in her head.

Shut up. Miseria responded to her other self with an angry tone. Thank god it all happened in her head.

Oh come on! Both of us are bored and you can use magic now without fear of being captured by the ministry...

Idiot. Even if one of those little kids would cast a spell here, no one would arrive. This doesn't bother them anymore as far as I know. And no. I will not set anything or ANYONE on fire. Calm down.

You calm down.

Miseria hissed quietly. Oh, if her “other“ self would be real person, she'd smak herself it in the face. Or hex her.

God was it ever cold here?

Danny figured that if this was a secluded alleyway somewhere in England, there had to be at least a couple of breezes that would roll in. He was always used to cool air and wide open spaces back in the states, but now? Now he was dealing with humidity and large groups of people. The two separately never bothered him, but together, they proved to be an irritating combination. Well, at least Danny dressed up correctly for the heat, a t-shirt and shorts visible. He made the mistake of walking out in jeans one day earlier. Big mistake.

He sat on a public bench near Flourish and Blott's, staying in the shade for a little while before he decided to do something productive for the day. He hadn't really done much since he got back, only meeting up with Sophia and Jack. He had still yet to meet up with Andrian and all his other friends, to let them know he wasn't dead. It was hard enough telling Sophia, but eh, he'd get used to it and end up laughing about it ten years later.

Danny had been people watching for about fifteen minutes now, laughing at some poor kid who had slipped and dropped his bird cage, the owl flying away. Apparently that owl didn't like him that much, because it came back several minutes later, dropping a good luck charm on the poor kid's head. Still funny nevertheless.

But interestingly enough, he thought he'd recognized someone in the crowd. Her face seemed familiar, but everything else about her seemed different. He couldn't remember her name, barely recognizing her face even, but he knew her from somewhere. Curious, Danny stood up and walked over to the woman, feeling a little stupid and a little determined. It would drive him crazy if he didn't figure out her name later on.

"Excuse me!" he said, a slight jog in his step as he approached her "I believe I have seen you around before, but I can't recall your name."

You had to give Danny credit, he was a true Gryffindor.

Ah, sometimes I wonder why I'm stuck with you.

Because no one else loves you.

Yes, well, thank you for reminding me that. Maybe you should stop loving me and finally leave me alone?

You know that divorces are never easy. Besides, every time relationship ends, both of the sides suffer.

Oh yes, do tell me how you will suffer from that. Miseria remarked bitterly. On the other hand, it was funny – to have an argument inside your head and at the same time look like you're deep in tought. But on the other hand it was rather annoying. She had no chance of thinking about something personal. There was always this other, annoying side of her that sometimes even managed to embarras her.

Silence. Great. Now that she actually offended (at least she hoped) the other side, she could think like a sane person for a while. Miseria looked around once again to see if there was something enterntaining. Nothing.

She stood up and was ready to leave when suddenly she heard someone speaking to her. Miseria raised her eyebrows and looked at the young man who approached her. Smile appeared on her face.
We can torture him!
Oh, you're back... Yes, that would be delight – wait, NO!

With that little human part that she had left in her, she hugged young man tightly:“It's nice to see you again, Danny!“
She wasn't probably the first one who saw him, but she was interested in how others reacted when they saw a young man who was believed to be dead appearing. That surprised her as well, but happiness overwhelmed it. „Oh, sorry, you probabally don't remember my name. It's Miseria, if you remember. We were classmates.“

Danny was caught off guard when the woman hugged her, his expression a little more than surprised. Obviously she knew him, but still, his memory was hazy and he couldn't place a name on her. The voice definitely rang a bell in his head, but they still didn't allow a picture perfect memory. To spare the awkwardness, he placed his arms around her too and tried to think of something to say. 'Nice to see you again, what's-your-face?' Yeah, that would definitely earn him a lot of brownie points.

But he was spared the awkwardness of trying to dig through his mind for a name when she revealed hers. Suddenly, a surge of memories flowed back into his cranium, a smile now forming on his face.

"Oh, Miseria!" he said, a hint of excitement on his voice "I was positive I knew you from somewhere!" He was thankful he decided to stop her in her tracks, it had definitely been a while.

He sincerely hugged her back, his mind now aflutter again with his school memories. God he really missed out on a lot over the years, he had barely recognized her! Once they were done hugging, a smile was still firmly on his face."Geez, how long has it been?" he said, rubbing his eyes to try and get the juices flowing. He knew he was gone for about two or three years, and that certainly had a lot of time to change people. "Well, you look...different!" he said, trying to sound courteous "I barely recognized ya back there."

He began to examine her appearance a little more closely now. She definitely did something with her hair, that was for sure. He wasn't a famous designer or anything like that, but her outfit definitely showed a change in her personality as well. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not. Ehh, he would find out soon enough.

Miseria giggled when he finally recognized her.
So... I suppose that's a friend from your past... when we weren't connected yet.
She didn't answer but hugged Danny back „And I'm glad that someone actually remembers my face!“ She said happily and finally released him from her grasp. „Let me look at you... You've grown. Last time when I saw you, you were... well, a boy. And now... It's kind of unusual to see you as a grown man now.“

Her eyes were fixed on Danny's face, trying to match that younger boy she saw few years ago with the tall man who was now standing before her. Again, she started giggling when he rubbed his eyes. She wanted to cry as well and hug him once more, and squeeze him like a playdoll, but instead she held herself back. Ah, it was so good to see him again! „Three years,“ she replied.

„The only thing that has changed is my haircolour,“ she laughed at him. Last time when she saw Danny was before she transformed from little innocent schoolgirl into a gothic nightmare. Right before Danny disappeared, she had bright orange hair with blue stripes, later she changed it as well, turning her hair into ocean blue. Her lip was pierced and blue eyes, once full of sunshine and curiosity were filled with need for adrenaline and danger. As for the clothes, she never changed her style. She was stuck with black. Boots with high platforms made her taller than she actually was. Thanks to them she was able to keep eye contact with other's and not be stared down.

Danny shrugged his shoulders, trying to make himself look modest in a way. "I did a lot of maturing while I was gone," he said, his friendly smile still on his face "I got all the bats out of my head and can finally think clearly for once. And I'm surprised by how much you've grown since I last saw you." He hadn't noticed Miseria's platform boots, so he assumed she had grown several inches taller while he was gone. Would've been believable to say the least.

He couldn't help but notice that her new look seemed to compliment her. Somehow, it just seemed to fit her quite well. "Your new wardrobe still surprises me to say the least," he said, still examining her attire. He hoped she wasn't getting the wrong idea, he was just still taking into account that it had been three or so years since he last saw her. Things definitely did change about her.

"Just uh...wow" he said, looking back up at her. "I hope things are going well for ya!" Three years man, three years. Shit changes he thought to himself. He was so interested, mainly because the last time he saw her, she had a sort of...innocent approach to her. But now...well. Now. Err. How could he put this? She seemed to like black. Wait, would that be the right term? Err. Death? Maybe. He chuckled to himself, at a loss for words.

„Mature as in your looks or your head?“ Hopefully Danny won't run away this time like he did three years ago. God, everyone was panicing about a student disappearing in the middle of the schoolyear and never showing his face again. „Well, let's hope they won't come back, yea?“ she raised her eyebrows and started laughing at him.
„Grown? Sweetheart, look at these!“ she pointed at her shoes with her finger. „These things keep me tall enough to ride a rollercoaster!“ Walking with them was difficult enough, but sometimes she had to run and that's when her the world could hear how fascinating was her vocabulary.

„Let's just hope that you won't stumble upon it, okay?“ she said quietly. Her wardrobe was full of clothes, some of them just stood there and Mis never wore them. But basically she never allowed people near her wardrobe was because of her chains that were there. She adores those things. When they were on her clothes, obviously. But some people just get things wrong. And with her temper and odd behaviour, she'd be first one to be sent into prison or better yet – asylum.

She couldn't hold herself back but just smile again at him. Damn, it was good to see him. Alive, that is. „And you, though you've grown, you are just the same little Danny!“ She laughed quietly and tangled his hair. „Things are just fine. Tell me about yourself! Where where you? Why did you leave and so on. Just talk, I want to know everything!“

And here came the questions. It didn't bother them that much since he was in a friendly environment, but it still made him pause for a second. He never did like talking about his past, but it was even harder to explain that he just wanted to leave. Most people would just raise a brow at him and ask why did he want to leave in the first place? The true answer was: he had no idea. But he would figure out what to say.

"I guess you could say I had some stuff to do back in the states," he said casually, shrugging his shoulders.

He remembered using that excuse before, but no one had ever bothered him to press further about it. So hopefully that would work for others too. "I matured a lot though, both mind and body. Just glad I was about to come back with little examination. I figured if you listed dead for 3 years and come back, people tend to disbelief it's you on a credit card." Sure wizards didn't use anything like that, but hopefully she knew what he meant.

He looked down towards her feet and noticed what she meant. He was taken aback for a second and began to chuckle. "I shoulda thought," he smiled warmly "but it'd be believable to grow a couple of inches over a span of years."

It was clearly seen from Mis' face that this answer didn't satisfy her curiosity. She raised her eyebrows and punched him gently in his shoulder. „Come on now, I know that you're lying.“ Sometimes she had to attend some family business as well and she also visited Transylvania to see what had happened to her old house that she sold to a happy couple many years ago and to see that forest where werewolf once chased her. Ah, memories. Some people would never return to their homeland after such incidents. But Mis wasn't normal. She missed her homeland, and she missed even those neighbours who never accepted her for who she was.

„Credit card?“ Miseria's lack of knowledge about muggle world hadn't improved since their last meeting. Alright, it had; she knew what TV was and she even had her favourite TV shows. She had this thing called computer and even this fancy invisible, yet quite good thing, called internet connection. Although she didn't use it much, it was still fun to surf around on some sites and watch people or read about them. But credit card? What the hell was that?

She laughed with him when Danny finally realized that these were her shoes that actually made her that tall. „I guess that I won't be doing any growing anymore. It seems that I've reached my limit.“

Danny sighed and looked away for a moment. "I just needed to get away," he said plainly "I needed some time to myself and possibly have a little getaway. It's selfish, I know. But I needed it. I feel better about myself now, and I can finally move on with my life." He shrugged his shoulders "Plus, I was able to do some sightseeing. I've got pictures if you want to see them later."

Danny chuckled when she asked about a credit card. He had forgotten that Miseria didn't spend on much time in the Muggle world as he did. "A credit card is a little plastic card muggles use to make purchases when they don't have the money," he explained, a smile on his face "then they pay it off by the end of the month...or they don't have to, but they go into a shitload of debt if they don't."

"Size never matters," he said with a smile "it's all about who you are and whatnot. I'll stop being sappy now and just say 'damn, now I can make eye contact!'" He hoped she knew he was joking, he tried to make it painfully obvious in his tone.