Begin to Hope

"Orlando what?"

"Broom. Orlando Broom." He replied with an easy smile, looking directly at me.

"That is the gayest name I've ever heard in my entire life."

"Quiet, Klaus! Why are you here? And what were you doing going through our rubbish bins?" Maverick asked suspiciously, eyeing him up and down.

Without taking his eyes off me, Orlando replied, "I--well, I kind of-" He blushed and looked down at the ground. "I haven't eaten in quite a while, and I--"

"That's gross!" Kimberly said, looking at him in disgust.

"I know..." He said, a slight emphasize in his voice while he looked around at us all. I took the awkward silence then to look him up and down. He was tall, taller than Maverick, with dark hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a dark green set of robes that were patched in quite a few places. He had a commanding, and yet relaxed presence, like he knew he would be able to take control of a situation if necessary, but things usually went his way anyway.

I coughed nervously to end the uncomfortable quiet that had fallen over us and then looked at Klaus to confirm what I was going to say, "Would you like to come inside then, erm -- Orlando?"

His face lit up and he smiled brightly at me. "I'd be delighted to!"

"Hold it; he's not going inside with us anywhere!" Maverick said, stepping in front of me as I tried to get to the front door.

"Why not? He's obviously cold and hungry. Why don't we just let him in to get out from the cold?"

"Newsflash: It's May. It's not cold. And we're not letting him in!" Maverick turned to Orlando and glared at him threateningly.

Orlando put his hands in the air and stepped backward, to show that he wasn't going to try anything.

"Look, he's harmless," I said, trying to convince them.

"He looks harmless, until he rapes your dead body in the middle of the night. Look at him, he is such a homicidal murderer." Maverick leaned down, whispering in my ear fervently. "I'm sure you'll sleep soundly tonight -- until he cuts your throat! And then --"

"Er -- I'm right here. I can hear you..." Orlando looked at Maverick like he was crazy. "And I promise I won't rape your dead body," He winked at me.

Klaus made a face, but I ignored him.

"See? He won't rape us. Now let's get inside," I turned around and unlocked the door and pushed it open, guiding all of them inside. Orlando followed me in and started to look around, inspecting all of the gadgets and antiques the Death Eaters hadn't destroyed.

"Neat place," he said simply. Maverick and Klaus both glared at him as they pushed past him to go downstairs to their bedrooms and Kimberly looked at him strangely, as if not sure why I'd let someone like him in the house.

Tally started to come in the door, but stopped when she saw him standing by the knocked over bookcase.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"Hi." He grinned sheepishly. "I'm Orlando." He stuck out a hand for her to shake, but she ignored it.

"He's -- with me," I said. She gave me a glance, but continued on to the staircase.

"Oh. Farley told me to tell you that we're going to have a meeting to discuss..." Her eyes darted to Orlando and back to me, "...certain things, so meet in the library in ten. Alright?"

I nodded and she left.

Orlando and I looked at each other awkwardly.

"So -- er -- would you like something to eat or drink?"

"What have you got?" He asked eagerly.

I had him follow me downstairs to the partly destroyed kitchen and he sat on one of the only left untouched chairs.

"Not to be rude or anything, but... what happened to your house?" He took the glass of water I held out for him and he sipped at it. "It's so..."

"Ransacked?"

He choked back laughter, resulting in water coming up his nose and spilling all over the floor. "Yeah, exactly." He made a face and tried to sop up the water with his shoe, but it just spread it around.

I laughed and got a dishrag for him and cleaned it up.

"I'm sorry for snorting on your floor," he said, looking at me like a little boy that had misbehaved. I had returned to the sink and was starting to clean up some dishes, when he smiled up at me from where he was sitting, and I couldn't help but notice that he looked rather attractive. His dark brown eyes were captivating and his clear complexion and slightly tanned skin fit him right into the 'tall, dark, and handsome' group of individuals.

"It's okay," I smiled back at him.

"Do you guys live here alone?" He asked, standing up and walking over to put his glass in the sink.

"Yeah, we do... unfortunate circumstances have... arisen."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the Death Eaters, they --"

"Say no more; it's okay." He shook his head, leaning his back against the counter. "God, I'm sorry. That's awful. How long ago?"

"Just a few days,"

He shook his head again and closed his eyes. "They're terrible. Everything they do these days -- catastrophic. Completely disastrous."

"You're telling me," I replied, not looking at him as I tried to finish up the dishes.

"So, anyway... oh, geez, where are my manners? What's your name, miss?"

"Oh, Kerry. Kerry Creevey."

"A lovely name, for a lovely young woman," he said regally, and he grabbed my soapy hand and brought it to his mouth to kiss it.

I laughed nervously and was about to pull my hand away when Klaus entered the room.

He looked at us for a second, a pained expression on his face, and I jerked my hand away from Orlando. Orlando shifted away from me, back to the table, and suddenly appeared fascinated in the demolished table remains.

"Farley demands you get to the library now, for our meeting."

I nodded and started to dry my hands. Orlando stood up from the table, wanting to follow, but Klaus glared at him.

"You're not invited to the meeting," Klaus said stiffly before exiting as quickly as he'd come.

Orlando looked to me.

"I'm not allowed to attend the Royal Ball?" he asked in a fake Old English accent. "But I was so looking forward to it!"

I laughed and motioned for him to follow me anyway.

"They'll accept you, don't worry. I don't know what Klaus' problem is."

We headed out of the kitchen and down the stairs toward the library. Everyone else had already arrived by the time we got there, and they were impatiently waiting for us.

"It's about time you got here, Kerry. We've been waiting about an hour for -- who's that?" Farley scowled at Orlando.

"Everyone, this is Orlando." I introduced him to the group and he gave a little hand gesture to recognize them all.

I heard a few murmurs of greeting, the most noticeable one coming from Annabelle. I glanced at her and realized she was already swooning over him.

"He wasn't invited in here," Farley gritted through his teeth.

"Yes he was; I invited him!" I argued defensively.

"He's not part of our group. We don't know him and we can't trust him." Farley stood up, and if I knew Farley he would be ready to fight Orlando if necessary.

"I don't want any trouble, guys," Orlando replied innocently. "If you don't want me, I'll just leave."

"No!" Annabelle screamed, jumping out of her chair and over to where we were standing. "Farley is being completely unreasonable and doesn't know what he's talking about." She took ahold of his arm and practically dragged him over to an empty couch. "Come, sit by me, and we'll discuss our plans." She patted his arm comfortingly and he nodded, as if he understood what she was getting at. "Continue on, Farley!"

Farley's jaw dropped open and he looked at me, as if I would argue with Annabelle, but I only shrugged and made my way to one of the empty chairs in the room.

He stumbled back to the center of the room and several times attempted to speak but each time something held him back. Finally he coughed very unconvincingly and started to speak.

"So, we all know the point of this meeting--"

"I don't!" Orlando cried happily. Annabelle beamed and patted him on the arm again.

Farley gritted his teeth and ignored Orlando, continuing on. "--and that is what to do with the necklace."

"What necklace?" Orlando inquired.

"The necklace we found in Gringotts. Whoever wears it can't be hurt by magic!" Greg announced.

"Really?" Orlando raised an eyebrow at this. "How does it do that?"

"I don't know, but it's really neat!" Humphrey added.

"Does it really allow the wearer to be completely unharmed by magic?" Orlando asked, looking around at Annabelle, Farley and me.

Annabelle drooled slightly and nodded, while Farley folded his arms over his chest and didn't stop glaring at him.

"Apparently it really does," I offered, "And some of us don't think such power should be kept. I think we would be able to defeat Voldemort with such a thing! But the others..." I gestured to Annabelle, who instantly looked up.

"What?" She asked, looking at me. "What is it?"

"I think you should keep it! With power that amazing, why would you ever give it up? You could take over the world with that kind of power!" He stood up from his spot on the couch and started to walk toward me. "You could save everyone!"

Annabelle looked at him, shocked. "You think what?"

"I think it's a good idea! You should keep the necklace and use it for good!"

"No, we're not keeping it. We're going to give it away, or just put it somewhere else." Farley said firmly. "I'm sure it wasn't made for children to play with, and of course we have to put it somewhere safe. Maybe we should put it back in the vault where it came from..."

"Farley, stop talking rubbish! This is Voldemort we're talking about! We have to keep it; we'll only do good with it!"

"No, Farley's right." Klaus said suddenly.

"What?" I almost screamed. "Klaus -- how come you're on their side? Just a minute ago you were completely with me!"

He didn't reply; his jaw was firmly set.

Farley nodded at Klaus, a distinction that he was glad Klaus had finally seen the error of his ways. "Glad to see you've come around, Klaus." Farley strutted over to where Klaus was sitting and clamped a hand on his shoulder. "Tomorrow morning I'll start off on a journey with a few... ahem, trusted individuals... and we will travel far from here and deposit the necklace in a safe spot, where no one will ever find it. Case closed. Meeting adjourned, goodnight." Farley left the room proudly.

I stood there in shock. Had that really just happened? Just like that -- the necklace was going to be given away?

"But you can't do that!" I nearly shouted. I could feel myself shaking as I marched up to Klaus and pulled him to a corner of the room by the scruff of his robes.

"Who do you think you are?" I demanded, my hands on my hips. "Not more than an hour ago you were completely on my side, saying we should keep the necklace. Hell, you said that you and I should go off and save the world ourselves!"

"I know," he said stiffly, looking around the room as if he was bored, "But I changed my mind. Farley's right."

"But -- I -- ugh!" I screamed and stormed out of the room, pushing past Orlando and the three youngest boys, who were attacking him with questions about where he had come from, as well as Annabelle who was trying to show him to her room, for she had a neat "book collection" she wanted to show him.

"Do you plan to stay the night?" She was asking rather seducingly, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Yes, I was, rather. Do you have a spare bedroom?"

"Oh, you don't need a spare one. You can share mine... " She began to move in for the kill when he noticed I was leaving and pulled out of her grasp.

"Hey, Kerry, wait up!" He began to chase after me as I stomped toward my bedroom. I ignored him.

I went to slam the door in his face, but he stuck his foot out before I could close it.

"Don't be like that!" He joined me in my room and closed the door behind him, much to Annabelle's displeasure.

"What are you doing? Get out of my room," I threw myself onto my bed and put my pillow over my head.

"No, I shan't." He wandered over to my dresser and looked at the picture I kept there. He was silent for a moment before he asked, "Are these your parents?"

I flipped him the bird without looking up and he chuckled softly.

"I suppose that's a yes...." He said to himself.

"Go away, please."

"If you're so unhappy about Farley taking this necklace business then why don't you just steal it?"

"Because I can't just --" I stopped and thought about it for a second. Maybe I could steal it...

"But that would be wrong!" I said aloud. I took my head out from under my pillow and he shrugged at me.

"If you feel that strongly about it...."

"But how would I do it?" I asked him.

"During the night. When everyone's sleeping."

I grinned at him and he returned the smile.

"You're bad. You're very bad."