Interlude : Jason Cromwell/OPEN

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The Whomping Willow. Such a strange and dangerous tree. The fact that something that symbolized life in most cultures that could also take life so easily was oddly beautiful. Well, that's what Maura thought. She stood and silently gazed at the tree as it swayed it's limbs angrily at her as if it were daring her to go any closer. Maura wondered how many lives the ancient tree had taken during it's time. She took note of the skeletal remains of different birds, small and large, that lay scattered under the tree.

After several more long moments of reflection on the Whomping Willow, Maura pulled a small notepad from her pocket and a Muggle writing utensil. With these tools she began to write a poem about the tree before her and about the life and death that it simultaneously symbolized. From time to time she looked back up at the tree to reflect upon it again for inspiration.

Anger flared up again within Maura when he grabbed her wrists. She didn't take well to her actions being dictated in any way, but as she looked at him while his eyes were close, the anger faded slightly. Just enough to be placed to the side for the time being.

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Careful, anything more than that and I'll have to charge you. You intrigue me so completely.

Maura felt her face flush at the comment but didn't try to hide it that time. No one had ever said anything quite so touching to her. She tilted her head a bit in a shy sort of way and looked down at the ground, her previous anger completely forgotten. "You kinda intrigue me too," she said before looking up and adding with a smirk, "but only a little bit." She held up a hand and showed him "a little bit" with her fingers and then pushed past him and started to continue along the tunnel.

It felt easy to be around Maura, Jason already knew she could be feisty but he didn't have to pretend around her. One of the most annoying things about most people was that he more often than not had to walk on egg shells when he conversed with them. Some deemed it necessary to lecture him on his habits and impulsive acts and others just plain freaked - like his mother. Maura was at ease and it made him feel at ease.

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"You kinda intrigue me too, but only a little bit."

Jason laughed and followed after Maura down the tunnel. He held his wand at waist level, following the path it illuminated. Before long he felt a distinct breeze blow past him and started squinting into the darkness ahead of them. "Do you see anything?"

The laugh from Jason warmed Maura's heart. They had only known each other for, maybe, a few hours and he already seemed to understand her better than anyone else ever had. "I think I see some light up ahead..." Maura said as she squinted in the darkness. "Nox," she muttered and the light coming from her wand extinguished. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel better and picked up her pace. Before long she was looking up at some wood planks.

She pushed up on them and felt them budge a bit, but was unsuccessful in actually opening it. "Feels like there is something on the door..." she grunted as she tried again. Maura stood aside, annoyed by her lack of manly muscles, which she was also glad she didn't have. She would have looked very odd with big muscular arms. "Maybe you can open it..."

Jason hurried forward, eager to see what was at the end of the strange tunnel they'd found. He followed suit and extinguished his wand tip. The sudden lack of light made him see more clearly what Maura was seeing. There really was a light at the end of the tunnel, he could almost laugh at the old saying but he was too curious as to where this door lead.

When he approached it looked more like random planks pushed against the opening, but when he shoved the planks he realized they were attached to each other. He stepped back and grinned in the darkness. "Hold on, I need to push things around with my wand again." He raised his wand and cast the spell, seconds later the boards flipped away from the entrance. He'd been right, it wasn't really a door, just boards but they were attached to each other which gave them that look.

He looked in through the opening at the wooden building on the other side and looked back to Maura. "Lucky I didn't try blow the door away, huh? That would've been a big fire."

((I just realized that I mixed up this tunnel with the one that you get to from the one eyed humpbacked witch. Was the entrance to the Shrieking Shack a door thing that you just crawl through? If so, then I described it wrong. Sorry about that.))


"Not into using your muscles, are you?" she teased before peering out of the opening herself. “I wonder where we are…” she said before pulling herself out and looking around some more. “Seems like just some old shack,” she muttered in distaste. She had been hoping for something more interesting. Maura looked out through a crack in one of the boarded up windows and saw what looked like other buildings a ways away from them. “Looks like that tunnel took us to a ghost town,” she said with a little more pep in her voice. The prospect of many buildings to explore was much more interesting than one old shack.

((Hehe... Irunno, I was just winging it. ))

Jason laughed shortly and rolled his eyes. “Not when it’s not really needed, no.” He peered past her into the room and then followed her in. “Whoa, this is weird.” He stood staring up at the ceiling that stretched past a flight of stairs and up higher than the second floor. The ceiling was moving, it seemed like the actual little house in itself was swaying. “Some old shack that can move by itself.” Everything was covered in layers of thick dust, no one had been here in who knew how many years. Jason became aware of something else that was slightly out of place, or rather, just odd. A very large, thick cobweb stretched from the staircase to the second floor landing. He moved two steps to the side and looked at the landing. The web got thicker there and then appeared to expand. “Come look at this.” He’d never seen a web like that, but the place was so quiet there wasn’t really any chance the creature that had made it was anywhere near, something that could make a web like that was no doubt very large.

Maura rolled her eyes and then looked up at the ceiling. She hadn't noticed the movement of the place before he said something. When he spoke to her, she turned and walked around beside him. Her brows met and she wrinkled her nose. "That's lovely..." she muttered sarcastically. "Do spiders get very big?" she asked as she slowly got a little closer to the cobweb. She had been told stories of huge spiders, but had never really taken it to heart.

Jason studied the web and then looked at Maura when she moved closer to it. "I don't really know, but it doesn't look like something that could come out of a normal sized spider, or is that just my imagination?" He flashed a look at the landing again when he heard a soft creak and what sounded like shuffling. Of course, there was constantly noise from the building's movements and he was sure he'd imagined the shuffling but something was making him very uncomfortable. "Hey, do you think we should be here?" He didn't take his eyes off the landing, but made sure to listen for footsteps, just in case Maura decided to have another bravery spurt.

Maura grasped her wand tightly as something seemed to shuffle across the floor above. She was about to ask if Jason had heard that too, but she figured that he had from what he asked her. "No...we probably shouldn't be. It probably took us longer to go through that tunnel than we thought anyway. We should get back."

As Maura turned and took a step to walk away from the landing, her barefoot met with something small and sharp. She gasped in pain and jerked her foot up. In the process of trying to keep her balance, her hand met one of the many strands of spider silk and stuck there. Her wand went rolling across the floor and out of reach. She tried to extract her arm from the web, but only seemed to make it worse. Maura stopped where she was and looked over at Jason with her eyes wide. The shuffling that she thought that she had heard earlier seemed to become louder and more purposeful as if whatever was up there knew of the predicament that she had gotten herself into. The nature of the noises made Maura begin to panic. "Get this thing off of me!" she hissed as she put her whole body into trying to free her hand.

Everything that followed Maura's suggestion happened in seconds but it felt blurred and slowed to Jason, he'd turned on the spot when Maura had gasped and tried to reach out to her when she fell, but he misjudged the distance and she fell to the floor, the web covering her hand and holding her arm up - the sound of her wand rolling away sounded oddly disjointed from the whole picture and Jason tried to follow it's progress but was brought up short by the shuffling he'd heard a snip of earlier.

He hadn't imagined it, it was getting louder. His heart seemed to jump start and he turned again, looking up at the landing before quickly turning in search of Maura's wand. He saw it laying a little ways off and then heard Maura's hiss. She was yanking at the web when he turned and he closed the distance between them. "Stop! Stop pulling!" He knew enough about spiders in general to know that the vibrations on their webs told them there was prey when they had no clear view of the web.

Jason raised his wand and pushed the tip to the few strands that held Maura's hand. He made sure to keep the wand away from her skin and there was a bright flash as the web was severed, releasing her arm. He pulled her up and then ran to her wand, grabbing it up just as a pair of evil looking legs appeared over the edge of the landing. "Oh God." His words were a groan, forced in half a whisper and his eyes went wide in shock. It was the biggest spider he'd ever seen or even imagined.

When Jason told Maura to stop, she froze even though every cell in her body wanted to struggle. When he used a spell to cut her loose, Maura fell backward but was soon on her feet again thanks to Jason. She saw the look on Jason’s face and slowly turned around to see the giant spider as it emerged fully. At the sight of it an almost violent shiver ran through her body. Maura grimaced and took several steps backward toward Jason.

“Well…it was nice knowing you…” she said as she stopped beside him and held out her hand for her wand. She tried thinking of a good spell to use against the massive spider, but her brain seemed to have locked up. Having never before been in such a situation, Maura never thought that she would have such a hard time remembering the defensive spells that her father had taught her. In fact, she had always expected to do well in dangerous situations.

Jason half reached out for Maura when she took the steps back toward him but his hand had frozen at the sight of the spider. He held her wand out to her, not taking his eyes off the spider and not really hearing Maura all that well. It seemed his heart was pounding in his ears as he struggled to remember spells. He couldn’t really think of any spell that would get rid of a spider, not to mention one that large. He pressed her wand into her hand and held his own aloft... Fire... fire! “I don’t really know that much about defending myself from a giant spider but do you know any spells for fire?” He still hadn’t taken his eyes off the spider; it was slowly creeping closer having cleared the landing. The spider had crawled over the edge of the landing and sat for a moment underneath it, perched in an eerie quiet way as if it had more intelligence than the average spider. Jason reached out to Maura. “Come on...” He was moving toward the hole they’d climbed through when they’d arrived.

Maura took the wand that Jason shoved into her hand “Alright! Let me think!” Maura yelled, her panic and frustration clearly displayed. She thought furiously. When the first spell involving fire came to mind she raised her wand and, as she made a slashing motion at the spider, she yelled, “Puniceus Flamma!” A purple flame flew from her wand and struck the giant spider. It pulled it’s legs in and rolled across the floor from the force of the spell. The giant spider flailed its legs around in an attempt to get up and seemed greatly injured although it showed no outward sign of injury. The site of the injured spider gave Maura courage and she was able to think better. She took a few steps closer and pointed her wand at the beast as it rolled over onto its feet. “Avada Kedavra,” she hissed and a flash of green light struck the spider. It instantly fell limp to the ground, but, as is the case for most spiders, still look like it would spring to life again and attack. After several pounding heartbeats, Maura lowered her wand. “Let’s get out of here before we run into more of those…” she muttered.

Jason couldn't take his eyes off the huge creature scuttling toward them now. He wanted to run, as fast as he could, but he wanted to stick with Maura too so when it looked like she wasn't for the running option he stood his ground, raising his wand uselessly for once - there was nothing he could do about this creature.

The room was lit up by purple flames, the echo of the flames shining on the high ceiling that reached past the landing the spider had come from and made Maura's skin almost glow. He saw her in the corner of his eye and when she moved forward he followed, but didn't dare do anything more, the spider was twitching and trying to get up without any luck and Maura pointed her wand at it again.

He missed the sight of the spider keeling over. As soon as Maura had uttered the spell Jason had looked at her, staring hard at her. He definitely knew that spell. When he was old enough that his mother was sure he held the same position (magically) as she did she used to sit in his room with him for hours, telling him stories of the old days. Stories her mother had told her, and her mother before her and so on until hundreds of years ago one of his great great great great great grandfathers had helped fight off a wizard named Voldemort.

A wizard who had killed too many people to count, and who reveled in it. Jason had always taken an interest in the stories his mother had told him but only because it was a story about good vs evil and good won out the day. She told him details about a boy also, a student at the school called Hogwarts - Harry Potter. The boy who had survived a very dark curse - the only person to have ever survived the killing curse he'd now heard Maura use.

There was nothing in her face that made Jason think negatively... but in truth, he wasn't sure what to think. When she spoke he looked at the spider, completely stone cold dead. It seemed impossible that just one spell had had that effect. Jason realized what her words had been and nodded. "Yes... yeah -" He cleared his throat, feeling like he could drink up a whole river of water. "I don't know if it's a community spider but I sure don't wanna find out..." He turned away from the spider and headed toward the hole they'd come from. "Ladies first.

Maura followed him and then bent down to crawl through the hole. She avoided eye contact with Jason for the last spell she had cast was one she had never cast before. Her father had done so in front of her many times before on different beasts in the hopes of teaching it to her, but she had never been able to bring herself to do it before then. A strange detachment had come over Maura as she started to crawl through the tunnel. She continued on in the darkness, feeling far more comfortable without being able to see or be seen. The fact that it had taken her so long to react to the danger that they were in bothered her deeply, but the spell that she used touched her in a much deeper place. "Father would be proud," she said, more to herself, in a monotone voice that didn't sound like it could have come from her.

Jason followed after Maura, glancing back every few seconds until the darkness swallowed any sight of the room. His mind was abuzz with the thought of Maura's spell and he kept listening for the sounds of those long legs scraping on the ground behind them but nothing followed as far as he could tell. Maura didn't light her wand and neither did he, the darkness felt more comfortable now for some reason. Jason stopped walking when she spoke and stared at the blackness around him where he thought Maura had spoken from. Her voice sounded too different for him to ignore and then he lit his wand tip and stared at her. There was something strange in her eyes that he didn't like and any thought he'd had regarding the inappropriate spell vanished. He didn't like the look in her eyes. "Hey..." He walked towards her and reached out for her. "That thing would've killed us."

"Yeah," Maura whispered as she carefully stared at a root protruding from the wall, "I just never thought that I would try it, better yet be capable of using it...Guess my father just pounded it into me enough." She chewed her bottom lip absentmindedly and finally looked at Jason. "He isn't a bad man, just...as my mother puts it, misguided," Maura said even though she knew she was only making excuses for her father just as her mother had always done.

Her relationship with him had been strained because of the divorce with her mother and the fact that Maura wasn't as much like him as he would have liked. “Once, when he was trying to get me to cast that spell and failing, he said, ‘You’re more like me than you know. You’ll see.’ I didn’t speak to him for a month after that." She sighed heavily and added, "Guess he was right.”

Jason wondered at the way Maura was talking. It was like she was trying to defend someone who wasn't in trouble for anything. "Would you rather have had that thing kill us?" The question might have seemed harsh but his tone was soft and warm. He stroked her cheek and shook his head a little. "It was a question of it or us... I choose us." He could feel the conviction behind his words, he meant every letter of it. The spell had been a shock but it had helped them escape a potentially horrifying incident. "I don't believe for a second that just cause you used that curse you've somehow damaged yourself. There are a lot worse things you might've done if you were a bad person." The truth there, she could've run and left him with the creature and no hope of getting away...

Maura gazed at Jason for a long while and a smile finally touched her lips. "You're right," she blushed madly as she realized how she had been acting. It wasn't like her to lose herself so, especially in front of someone. This boy, that she hardly knew, seemed to bring out something in her that no one else had been able to. Maura held out her hand for his and said, "Let's get back..."

((Sorry, I couldn't remember what I had wanted to write before.))

Jason nodded, smiled and took Maura's hand. "Yeah, this place is giving me the creeps in an epic way now." He started walked back towards the castle, loving the fact that she had actually smiled after her mood had sunk so drastically.

((Sorry, can't think.))

Maura chuckled at his last comment and said, "I can't imagine why..." As they walked she couldn't help but glance over at the boy who's hand she held. After a while she could finally see the way out. She playfully shoved Jason and ran as much as one can run while crouching until she was crouched in the hole. She gazed out at the tree to see that it was quite still and then said, "We should probably make a run for it so we don't die."

Maura's hand slipped out of his and Jason felt the light push, he could see enough of her face to know she was being playful and he ran after her, while trying not to knock his head on the ceiling of the path. When Maura stopped Jason wasn't far behind and he stared past her and the tree, ominously quiet... he wouldn't have picked any different words. He pulled Maura into him, kissed her on the mouth and slipped past her out of the hole. "Wait there." He said, knowing she would, most likely either not listen or take offence to that. Immediately the tree started waving its branches, swiping at him menacingly with a particularly thick branch. Jason had his wand out and shot a spell at the node on the tree as he was punched yet again by the great tree. The branches went still as Jason coughed for air, having been knocked to his hands and knees. "At least I got the last word in." He said as he looked up at the now quiet branches. "... again."

Maura sniffed in annoyance when she was told to wait there, but she figured that there was no point in both of them getting killed. After the tree was still again, Maura crawled out of the hole and strolled past Jason, without so much as looking at him. She picked up her sandals and placed them back on her now filthy feet. As she put her dress right and straightened it out Maura finally looked at him again and found it rather difficult to still be annoyed. That fact annoyed her more than he had originally annoyed her. "Damn you," she whispered and turned on her heal. With her back straight, shoulders back, and head up, Maura made her way back around the castle, not really knowing where she was going. All she knew was that this boy, who she hardly knew at all, was making her come all unhinged and she didn't like someone having such an affect on her.

Jason pushed himself up when Maura passed but she didn’t look at him, his earlier thoughts regarding her taking offence were proven right then but as he turned to watch her ready herself to return to the castle he felt a twinge of regret. She was really going now, despite everything that had happened, he’d enjoyed spending time with her. He looked into her face just as she whispered the words and his heart sank.

His expression darkened as he watched her walking away for several seconds but then his body sprang into action and he ran after her, clutching at the spot where the tree had hit him. He only caught up to her once she’d gone around a corner, she was still walking fast in that huffy way girls did their thing, but he could slow down and still be at an even pace with her. “Hey! Wait a minute.” His breathing was labored and each inhale caused his stomach muscles to tense up. “I didn’t mean it like that, really!”

He paused and glanced around them, wondering where exactly she was going. He knew of a door not too far off, but he’d never used it as he had no idea where it would lead him. There were doors that led straight into the teacher’s lounge and that was never a good idea when you were trying to get away with things unseen. “Are you always this sensitive?”

"Sensitive?!" Maura close to shrieked. "You come into my life all of a sudden and turn everything upside down and you think I'm being sensitive?" she hissed, not really knowing why she was saying any of that to him. Her frustration only continued to build because she couldn't keep her head about her and that fact made her even more frustrated.

"Around anyone else, I'm fine. I can control myself and the situation, but with you? I hardly know you. No, I don't know you! We've only just met and you've made me feel things I've never felt and do things I would have never done. You grab me and push me around and think you can get away with it. A few times I let you get away with it! No one has ever gotten away with that! Why should you be any different?"

After finishing her rant, Maura stood there, out of breath and shocked at her own words. In fact, humiliated would be a better description. Maura's cheeks burned red in embarrassment and she turned again and stormed away from Jason.

Jason actually stopped in his tracks when Maura's voice went up an octave and he unwittingly took a step back... Angry tree = could be dealt with... Angry girl = Hell hath no fury. He stared at her with his mouth slightly open, taking in her words. Then his lips started curling up into a small smile. The more she spoke, the more he smiled. He never would have fully admitted how taken he was with her, but it seemed like she was just as taken.

He watched her storming off again for a few seconds before lurching into a full on sprint until he caught up to her. He pushed himself in front of her, basically forcing her to stop. "You're driving me nuts too, you know. Being all hot and bothered one minute and then warm and fuzzy the next... and in both instances you're practically torturing me with those eyes of yours." His tone was accusing, but it was an act. He loved the way she made him feel. The way he felt drawn to her, the way that feeling got stronger when he looked into her eyes.