Holiday From Real

Tom stared at me, "What?"

Barely loud enough for me to hear, I whispered, "Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit."

Tom walked a step closer to me.

My legs started to wobble.

He kept on walking closer to me.

I had to idea what he was going to do. I drew in a deep breath, spun around, and took off. It was a straight line here from the staircase, so I booked it in a straight line. I didn't care if I stepped in puddles or if I stomped on the old, decaying bones of previous victims or unfortunate animals. I couldn't tell you when I started to shout in terror, I think it was when I heard something hiss. I was too afraid to look behind me to see if it was Tom or his basilisk, and I was too terrified to laugh at the wording in my thought.

"Karma!" He shouted, I could hear him catching up to me. I started to run faster, though. I didn't want to be with him, I wanted to get the hell out of here. The forgotten basement of Hogwarts, where my body could easily be lost, or eaten, is not exactly the place I want to have an argument with a psychopathic murder. He hasn't killed anyone yet, but I didn't want to wait around to see when he'd start. "Karma!" he shouted again, "You're right to it!"

Something inside me told me that 'it' wasn't the exit I was looking for, so I stopped and buried my face in my hands. Tom ran up to me, put his hands on his knees, and panted. I was too scared to laugh at him when he said, "Je-sus Christ, you run fast. Your boxing practice must be designed for the Gods of Muscle."

I just stood there, unable to control the shaking of my body. Tom slowly stood up and, with hesitance, awkwardly pulled me into him. He wrapped his robe around me while I practically fused into his chest. "The best exit is the basilisk."

"Whaaaat?" I shouted, but his chest muffled the sound of my surprise. "What the fuck do you mean?"

Tom laughed at me, "We could climb up four flights of stairs, in your case, probably end up crawling, we could forever search the infinite tunnels, or we could ride the basilisk out of here. Your choice."

"I'd like to apparate the hell out of here."

"We can't apparate. For one thing, we haven't been trained—"

"Just get me out of here!" My shriek shocked him.

Tom didn't know how to react. He hasn't been yelled at in a long time, especially not by a very angry, very scared, young woman. And we both know that I may be a small woman, but I can kick some serious ass. "Oh… Okay."

I wrapped my arms around him and quietly cried out of fear. My tears made his black sweater vest wet, but he didn't seem to care. Tom called the basilisk to us; when it was in front of us he seemed to be giving it instructions. My belief was confirmed when he told me, "I'm going to guide you onto it. Don't open your eyes until I tell you."

"Okay."

Tom pried me off of him and slowly turned me on. He instructed me on how to get on and securely straddle whatever part of the basilisk we were going to ride. He got on once I was securely on the beast, and probably straddled it the same way he told me to do it. Tom wrapped one arm around me, so I tightly held onto it. I leaned back against him much like when we were flying together. I was still shaking as we slithered away, but not as badly as before. I was still afraid of him, but he ignored the two biggest occurrences of the night to take me places. He didn't talk about kissing me, he just brought me here; he didn't ask me more about what I told him, he's just taking me somewhere else. I squeaked out, "Where are we going?"

In his silkiest, smoothest, calming voice, Tom replied, "To the dungeons. It's the safest place to be dropped off."

I found an odd, totally false sense of safety in his tone and his words. Of course, his protective hold on me helped, too. I relaxed against his body as my breathing slowly went back to its normal rate. I turned my head to the right and rested my face against the area of his chest near his shoulder. I breathed in his oddly sweet scent and let it relax me, even though my mind told me not to like it. Tom told the basilisk to go slower than usual so that I won't be flung off, or start screaming, or you know, react like a normal person would. The slow speed of the basilisk allowed Tom to tighten his protective hold around my waist with his left arm, and press his cold right hand onto my exposed cheek. He soothingly stroked my face and my hair as I refused to think. I didn't let my mental voice say anything, I didn't try to remember anything, and I didn't try to plan anything. I let him completely control everything. As bad as that is, and as bad as that is for him, he's pretty damn good at it, so why fight it when I can't even control the wobbling of my legs?

Tom slid us off the basilisk once we were in some dingy, obviously abandoned dungeon, and told it to go back to the chamber. My breathing started to become fast, loud, and labored again when the giant snake slithered back home. I looked at him with fear filled eyes. No emotion was on his face. That scared me beyond belief. I had to way to even guess his next move. Tom turned to start talking to me, but I booked it, again. He groaned and then started to run after me, again. But I was much more scared this time. I'm "safe" now, but I have no idea what's going on. And I couldn't shake my thoughts away anymore. Did I just ruin everything? Does letting him know his future put a giant slash through time and space and all those other dimensions I don't understand? What are the consequences of what I have done?

"Karma! Wait!"

I ran faster.

Tom half shouted, half panted, "Wait! Let me explain! KARMA!"

I half slipped, half turned the corner. I looked over my shoulder to see if Tom was close to me, but he was at least twenty yards behind me, so I didn't freak out. I slipped on something, though, and slid into Slughorn's office. I slid right into Doug as he yawned. My stomach slammed into his stretched out and flexed arm, making me hang over him and immediately puke. Doug looked down at me with shock and disgust. He quickly withdrew his arm from my stomach and held my hair away from my face. Doug balanced my weakening body as Slughorn and about a third of the Slug Club stared at me. Tom jogged into the room and stared at me with wide eyes. Doug tried to ask me what was wrong and what happened in between my heaves, but I couldn't talk, I could only pant. In an attempt to soothe me, Doug quietly sang me Behind the Sea by Panic! at the Disco. When I was finally able to stop puking, Doug sat me down in his chair. I slumped over and stared at the ground in between my knees.

Slughorn cleared his throat, "Did something happen in Astronomy, Miss Kinzek?"

I stayed silent, so Tom answered, "We didn't go to Astronomy, sir."

Everyone then stared at Tom. He leaned against the doorway and slid his hands in his pockets. Slughorn drew in a deep breath, "Why? And where did you two go?"

"We explored the hidden tunnels of the castle, sir."

Slughorn became slightly more assertive, "Why?"

Tom drew in a deep breath before answering him. "I was trying to swoon her, sir."

The boys chuckled while Slughorn smiled. Doug stood up completely straight and glared at Tom, "Nonsense."

Everyone looked at Doug.

"What were you doing to her?"

Tom put an innocent and confused look on his face, "I didn't do anything—"

Doug shouted, "Own up to your short comings!" He squeezed his left hand into a fist, "Karma doesn't just run away from shit and puke everywhere! Karma is a mothafuckin' badass! She stands up and she works through shit! So what the hell did you do to her?"

Everyone stared back and forth between Tom and Doug. Slughorn cleared his throat and said, "I think the best thing to do right now would be to get Karma back into her House."

Doug gently wrapped his right arm around me and helped me up. My legs were stable again, so I didn't need his help to stand or walk, but his muscular arm around me was a huge comfort. Doug stopped at the doorway because Tom said, "I'll walk her to the Gryffindor House."

Doug snapped his head to the right and practically growled, "It's my House, too. I'll walk her there. I'm going there anyway—"

In a very polite and calm voice, Tom told Doug, "I'd like to talk to her—"

Doug barked, "I'm sure you would!"

I softly cleared my throat and said, "I want to talk to him, too."

Tom smirked while Doug looked down at me, "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Then… Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to be close by?"

I smiled, "Yes."

Tom rolled his eyes and flicked his wand at my mess. Everything was almost instantly clean and fresh again. He waved his wand at me, too, and cleansed me of my puke and its smell and taste. Doug let go of me, but he whispered so only the three of us could hear, "Hurt her again and I'll shove my fist directly though your face. In from the front, clean outta the back of that smart head."

Tom gulped and nodded while I started to walk away. Tom followed me while Doug lingered in the doorway.

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Avery laughed at me, "Someone's over protective, ehy?"

"Someone has never experienced love, ehy?"

All the boys who were laughing at me stopped. I turned around while Avery asked, "You're in love with her?"

I leaned against the doorframe, "I'm not in love with her, but I do love her."

"What's the difference?"

Slughorn smiled and sat back down, "Boys, boys, boys."

We all looked at Slughorn while he made himself comfortable. I've never felt so sick with him. He's a nice guy and a good teacher, but my God is he weak. He just let us completely take over the situation, and he didn't pursue what was wrong with Karma. Who knows what that assfuck did to her, or where in the world he really took her. Or what the hell he's going to do to her now that they're alone again.

"There is a big difference between being in love and loving, boys."

Avery relaxed against his seat, "Please do tell us, Professor Slughorn."

He smiled, "You can love people without being in love with them. To love is to have an immense sense of care for someone. Of course affection, too, but it isn't a romantic affection. Think of your best friend, boys. You're not in love with him, but you care for him. What if he died? Wouldn't you boys be devastated?"

Avery nodded, "Yes, sir."

"But you're not in love with your best friend. You don't dream about them, you don't want to be with them all the time."

I interrupted Slughorn, "You creeps would be lucky to ever fall in love." I went over to my chair and grabbed my wand, "You bow down to a freak and you think it's great. Your racism blinds you and you think you're the best at everything possible, that everyone is beneath you."

Everyone glared at me, except Slughorn. He stared at me with curiosity.

"You come from rich families. Every boy in here comes from a rich family. You don't know real danger, and you don't know real pain. And yet you sit around like everything is just so beneath you. You haven't used your hands for anything but to pass a class, kiss some ass, and be creeps. May there be mercy for your sick souls."

I didn't wait around for them to reply or get defensive. I walked right out of there and didn't look back. I strained my ears to hear Karma and Tom's footsteps. He was walking her to Gryffindor Tower alright, but I don't know where the hell he walked her before all this. I stayed a good distance behind them, almost a flight behind them, but I did my best to ease drop on them the whole time.

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I crossed my arms across my chest and held my elbows in my hands. Tom kept looking at me, but he didn't say anything, so I stopped walking. He stopped walking, too, but he still didn't say anything, so I did. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing important."

I groaned and leaned against the wall. There was a brick that was jetted out just enough for me to step on it, so I did and became almost eye level with Tom. "I deserve answers, Tom. I deserve real, honest, answers."

Tom sighed and started up what I've learned to be his nervous habit: casually fiddling his wand and emptying his face of emotion. "What do you want to know?"

"Well…" I looked him up and down once, "Why did you kiss me?"

Tom rolled his eyes, "You already know why, next question."

"No!" I angrily shouted, "I don't know why!"

Tom stared at me. "Take a wild guess."

"I don't want to guess, Tom! Just tell me!"

Tom drew in a deep breath, "You've grown on me."

"What am I?" I glared at him, "A fungus to you? We spend all this time together, you've randomly opened up to me, and now you want to be your usual, introverted self?"

Tom laughed and rolled his head to the right and then to the left to relax himself, "I don't know, Karma. You're just different. You're different and I like it."

I sighed and stared off to the right.

Tom took a step closer to me, putting only six inches between us. He put his wand away and ran his newly free hand through his hair, "Why'd you…" He smiled awkwardly, "brush your lips against mine?"

I laughed and looked back up at him. His expression was soft with subtle hints of genuine curiosity. The candles floating around the castle were dimmer than usual, but we could still see clearly. They gave him a strange glow. The light didn't give him some sort of a halo around his hair or anything, but it gave him a silhouette of light, somehow enabling me to trust him. "I don't know," I stretched my legs by standing on my toes for a second or two, "I just like you, I guess."

Tom laughed and made the gap in between us four inches, "You answered your own question."

I sighed and looked into his green eyes, "I'm scared, Tom."

He sighed, "Why? Of what?"

In a very soft voice, I replied, "I think that deep down you don't really hate every single nonpureblood out there. I think what you really hate is being alone."

Tom silently stared at me.

"I think you feel alone, Tom. I think that you've always felt unwanted. And I know you're wrong."

Tom closed the gap in between us. Our lips were maybe a centimeter away when he said, "What am I wrong about?"

I gulped, "You're not alone, and you're not unwanted."

"I've been alone for fifteen years. No one's adopted me—""

I kissed him. I didn't care if he wanted me to or not. I didn't care if was in the mood for one or not. But he accepted it, he even returned it, so he must have wanted one. We parted for a very brief second. "I'll be with you as long as I live."

Tom put his right hand against the wall for support while he snaked his left arm around me. He brushed his lips against mine while I wrapped my arms around his neck, "Do you promise?"

I gently played with his hair and ran my hands through his perfectly combed hair. How is his hair still nice after all of that? "I will never willingly leave you."

Tom kissed me. He was rather clumsy at first, but he quickly got the hang of it. He let me lead the motions until he fully understood what to do and when to do it. I ran my hands through his hair and let out small groans of encouragement when he did things right. He smirked whenever I did that, but I didn't really care. He firmly pressed me into the wall behind me, but stopped kissing me when we heard Doug's footsteps. We parted and had some sort of silent agreement since we both started to walk again. I stopped and waited for Doug to catch up with us. Doug walked straight up to me, so I quietly told him, "I'm going to be alright."

"Are you sure?" he whispered.

"Yeah," I nodded my head up and down, "Yeah, go to bed. I have some talking to do."

Doug laughed and said, "Okay." He walked away from me and glared at Tom while walking past him. We waited for Doug to climb up the next flight of stairs before we started to talk again. Tom walked over to me and nervously sighed, "Why are you scared of me or for me?"

I sighed and leaned against the railing of the staircase. The staircase started to move, but I've seen it happen so many times now that it doesn't bother me. I stared at the sleeping people in the portraits, "I know what you become, and I'm afraid it's inevitable. But if it's inevitable I wouldn't have been sent back, right?"

Tom leaned against the railing, too. I could feel his eyes staring at my face. "Right."

"I mean, no one has been petrified or died yet. I've got to be doing something right."

Tom gently cupped my face in his right hand and whispered, "What do I become without your intervention?"

I gulped as I was forced to look up at him, "Something terrible and evil."

"And what happens?"

"I…" I seriously thought, "I… don't remember."

Tom didn't believe me. "What do you mean, you don't remember?"

I slowly brought my left hand up to his right and took his hand off of my face. I squeezed his hand and started to walk down the staircase. It stopped moving once it came into contact with a new area to walk. "What I mean is that everything happens for a reason, Tom—Tom, and that when things change other things further down change, too."

He rolled his eyes, "What are you talking about?"

I started to walk us down the stairs. "Take the movement of the stairs, for example. That particular case is usually pretty fixed, but it randomly moved in the middle of the night for what? For us. We're the only two out here, we're the only two on it. It didn't move for Doug, it moved for us."

"And where exactly is it supposed to be moving us to?"

I sighed, "Where does it go if we walk up the stairs?"

Tom shrugged, "I think a storage area. The storage tower or something."

"And if we keep walking down?"

"The Great Hall."

"And what House is near the Great Hall?"

Tom sighed, "The Hufflepuff House—"

"Karen's House."

Tom laughed at me, "You want to see Karen? I thought you didn't like her at all—"

"I'm not too fond of her, but she always seems to have something useful. She just never tells you about it. She always thinks that the things that you actually need are useless to you."

Tom laughed, "And what are you looking for?"

I shrugged and squeezed his hand, "A couple of books."