A Beautiful Beginning (Zeke)

[desiree]

Desiree sighed, her bag on her shoulders as she made her way back into the Slytherin Common Room. She'd spent the afternoon looking over some notes she'd taken for Charms, trying to retain whatever information it was that they'd talked about. Her notes were always taken in purple pen, but they weren't very detailed. A lot of them consisted of doodles or things she wanted to talk to people about. She was a social butterfly, and even at only fourteen she had quite a master plan for herself. She had goals, and dreams, and all of them ended with her in charge. In charge of what she wasn't entirely sure, but she loved power, and being in control, and she would seek any means to any end. A grin crossed her face at the thought as she finally reached the wall that lead into the Slytherin common room.

It was surprisingly empty, but Desiree thought nothing of it as she waltzed over to the couch and laid her bag down. Her silver heels clicked against the smooth floor of the common room, and she smoothed the bottom of her dress before taking a seat, crossing one leg over another. It was only as she went to open her binder that she realized she wasn't alone. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw a figure sitting across from her on another armchair. She narrowed her eyes slightly. She was a social butterfly but she didn’t like surprises, and she didn’t like when she was caught off-guard by someone’s presence. Given that both of those things had just happened she was immediately put in a slightly foul mood. Still, her face softened and she smiled at him, but the words that left her mouth next didn’t match the innocence on her face.

“And who might you be?” she asked, tilting her head slightly before taking out a quill and parchment and beginning to scribble things down. Her head was constantly filled with ideas, and she liked to write them down whenever she could. You never knew when good ideas would come in handy, or when an opportunity might present itself, and so there she sat, scribbling down her latest idea and waiting for the unknown figure to speak. She inhaled, growing a bit impatient in the silence, so she filled it herself. This time her voice did match her voice.

“I’m Desi Jameson,” she said with a light giggle, placing her quill down and extending her hand to shake that of the unknown figure. She had no fear of other people in her own common room. She knew most of them, and those that she didn’t know she’d take her chances with. If anything were to go wrong, Elliot would hear about it straight away and things would be fixed. And that person would be so, so sorry. Desi smirked pleasantly at the thought.

[ZEKE ANTHONY MAXWELL]

Zeke had decided to skip out on his Advanced Charms class, besides, he knew what they were teaching today and he failed to see the point in listening to that bumbling fool Flitwick talk about how Zeke’s form wasn’t proper. Zeke had always had an unorthodox style went it came to his wand, he flicked kind of sideways as opposed to the vertical style Flitwick forced upon his students. Zeke meandered back to the common room, shedding his robes almost instantly; he always wore regular clothes under his robes just for this situation, he hated the robes, he felt that they made him… ordinary. Zeke was anything except ordinary, he couldn’t stand blending in with a crowd, he needed to stand out and be seen. Zeke settled down in one of the plush leather armchairs that had been so graciously provided to the common room by a Slytherin Alumni, he’d been in a couple other common rooms, and he had to say that Slytherin by far had the best accommodations. He reached into his leather messenger bag and pulled out his copy of “The Rise and Fall of Mussolini.” He quickly flicked his wrist and changed the outside cover disguising the book as copy of his potions book. No one would disturb Zeke when he was studying potions, they knew it was a danger to their health. Not that Zeke would hurt them, but that Zeke might ask them to help tutor him… and then he would hurt the both of them.

Zeke heard the annoying clicking of heels across the tile floor of the common room, he rolled his eyes and let out a soft sigh as he peaked over the top of his book to look at the 3rd year that was taking her seat on the couch. Zeke had seen her once or twice, but couldn’t quite remember her name, No Bother Zeke thought to himself, she was only a third year and didn’t quite serve him much good at this point so Zeke didn’t feel an overwhelming need to go over and charm her. But then she started talking to him, which perturbed Zeke a little, he had been looking forward to learning more about Mussolini and his mistakes, but just like a Good Politician he needed to take every opportunity to win over a potential voter. Zeke swiftly snapped his book shut and extended out his hand as he flashed Desi a warm and charming smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Desi, I am Zeke Maxwell.” Zeke pulled his hand back as he opened his bag once again and slid the book back inside before once again returning his full attention to Desi.

He gave her a quick once over, she was cute, but definitely a little young for Zeke, there was something familiar about her though… he just couldn’t place it. Zeke tried to go over things in his mind, making sure there wasn’t anything bad that had ever happened between the two of them; but then again if it had, she wouldn’t have come over and introduced herself. Likely she would have stormed off to her room and shot him a nasty look that he simply would have ignored. Then what was it that was so familiar about her? Desi Jameson… Ah, that’s it. “Jameson? You’re Eli’s little sister aren’t you?” Zeke hoped that wasn’t offensive, he could see how one could get annoyed by constantly having to live in a sibbling’s shadow, like some… Weasley or something. Zeke shuddered slightly at the thought of having to live like a Weasley, what a low and pathetic life to have to live. “Sorry, I hope I did not offend you by referring to you as Eli’s little sister.” Zeke once again flashed a polite and charming smile, he knew that his smile was undeniable and that no matter what grievances she might have had, she would accept his apology. After all, that was the mark of a good politician, being able to get people to forgive you for your mistakes.

[desiree]

It wasn’t long before the mysterious figure introduced himself as Zeke Maxwell. What an interesting name. It rolled off the tongue and was very… well, for lack of a better word, he had a very sleek last name. She flashed him a smile as they shook hands, making sure not to forget his name. She wasn’t quite sure why she would really need to remember it, but Desiree tried to remember everything and everyone. If she ever needed anything she wanted lots of people to count on, even if they didn’t necessarily like her. She’d throw a fit to get her way, just like she always did. She was almost to the age where things like that weren’t really acceptable, but she didn’t care. She’d scream until she had no voice left in order to get what she wanted.

Zeke had called her Eli’s little sister and she rolled her eyes a bit, but there was something about his smile that made it not such a big deal. It wasn’t really a big deal to begin with, so Desiree shrugged slightly.

“Better than ‘You’re Abby’s twin, right?’” she said with a light giggle leaving her. Her eyes fell upon the old looking Potions book and she was repulsed. He was a Slytherin, why in Merlin’s name would he be using such an old, disgusting book? Surely he could have afforded something better. It was practically a crime for a Slytherin not to have the best things, at least in her opinion. She always wanted the best things, and she always got the best things. She always got whatever she wanted. Besides, being called Abby’s twin wasn’t a bad thing at all. She and her sister got along famously most of the time, but occasionally there was a riff between them. Still, they’d always gotten ‘you’re ___’s twin,’ or even worse ‘you and ____ look so alike! Are you twins?’ The idiocy of some people made Desiree sick, but she’d never let them know that.

“So, why the old Potions book?” she tried to ask the question so it didn’t come out rude. She was just curious why he was using such an old book. She’d wanted to ask him if he couldn’t afford any better, but thought better against it. She didn’t need to do anything too off-putting and lose his interest, then he’d be of no use to her in the future.

[ZEKE ANTHONY MAXWELL]

Zeke kept his smile polite, he saw that his comment about being Eli’s little sister had offended her slightly, but judging on her response she was over it. “Abby? I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of making her acquaintance yet.” Formal. Zeke was always formal when meeting someone for the first time, and then over time he would slowly drop some of the formalities. However, Zeke wouldn’t be caught dead using terms like ’Dude’ or ’Bro’ they were repulsive words used by small-minded idiots with no control of the English language.

Zeke took notice as she glanced at his book, still with its transfigured cover to appear as an old potions book. “Oh this thing?” he picked it up and once again flicked his wand letting it transfigure back to ”The Rise and Fall of Benito Mussolini”, “I use that transfiguration as a way to back people think that I’m studying, typically they won’t bother me, so I can read in peace.” Zeke gave her a small smile indicating that he had wanted to be left alone but she had disturbed his reading time. It was no matter now, his reading had been disturbed and it was too late to try to get into it now, the common room would be filling with underclassmen soon; underclassmen that would be loud and obnoxious which was not conducive to reading. ”It’s no matter however, my reading was bound to be disturbed. I’m glad it was at least by someone who is articulate enough to hold a decent conversation.” Zeke looked down at her parchment and quill, he was too far away to actually be able to read it, but he figured since she was allowed to be nosey and pry into his personal matters, he was allowed to do the same. “What are you writing? If you don’t mind me asking.” He asked with a polite smile. He always asked with a smile, he had learned that in life you get further with sugar than you do with salt, and even if he was annoyed with someone, he could use a smile to still manipulate them into being useful for him. That was the endgame; giving everyone something useful to do for him. Zeke looked at life as a giant game of Wizard’s Chess, and everyone he knew were his pieces and he was in control of them, he just had to convince them to do what he wanted them to do. Sure some people might get hurt in the process, but as long as it advanced towards Zeke’s goal that was acceptable loss in his opinion.

Zeke quickly gave Desi a once-over and then smiled, “You look fairly young, I’d guess what? Fourth Year?” Zeke was a little thrown off with the ages because Hogwarts had made everyone repeat a year, something he found to be ludicrous. But Desi looked very mature and she carried herself better than most underclassmen, so he naturally assumed she was older than them.

[desiree]

Desiree shrugged slightly as he mentioned that he hadn’t run across her twin yet. It wasn’t really surprising. Abby was the quieter of the two twins, but she was hardly invisible to say the least. The Jameson’s fed off of other people’s adoration, after all, and Abby was no exception. The way Zeke spoke was so… eloquent. Or, perhaps eloquent wasn’t the best word. Mature? Polite? Definitely polite. She smiled at him.

“You’ll probably run into her at some point,” was the only reply that Desiree could find to offer for the moment. Abby would be around sometime. Though she supposed it was a shame for him to have met one half of the Jameson sisters and not the other. They really were quite a pair when they were together. Sometimes they were likely too much to handle, but that never stopped them from acting out or doing what they did best. The book that Zeke had been reading was transfigured directly into a different book and Desi’s eyes widened slightly. She was impressed. That was so brilliantly clever! She’d have to keep that in mind. At the mention of him being able to read in peace a sheepish smile crossed her lips. She had been about to apologize for her actions when he said it was no matter. Well that was a relief. Desiree Jameson could be a bit too much to handle at times, but one thing she hated being was rude. Well, rude to people who didn’t deserve it. She’d be rude to whoever she wanted if they deserved it.

She smiled as he’d asked about what she was writing. She didn’t usually enjoy sharing any of her ideas or anything, but Zeke was actually one of the only people who had asked about her writing, and she’d oblige him the courtesy of telling him the truth. After all, he could have lied about that old Potions book and he didn’t, so why should she? She looked down her parchment and shrugged slightly.

“It’s just lists of ideas and people I’d like to learn more about,” she said as simply as she could, though she knew the sentence wasn’t exactly as clear as the answer he’d given her, so she clarified the best she could. “I’m not entirely sure what I want to do with my life just yet… but I know I’m going to be great at it. I’d like to be in charge of something. Maybe the Ministry…” she pondered aloud with the small grin. A large amount of people on the list of things she’d been scribbling were indeed old Ministers of Magic. She wanted to learn about what they did right and wrong. She wasn’t interested in emulating any of them. Desiree would never change herself for any person, no matter if it meant being in power or not. But she would get in a position of power, and she’d do it without changing herself, and hopefully without working too hard. Desiree was an incredibly lazy person when it came to schoolwork. Occasionally she’d sit down and study like she had been a few hours prior, but those times were few and far between. She handed the parchment across to him. He could see the list if he wanted. After all, he was reading about the rise and fall of someone, and that was pretty much what she wanted to know about all the Ministers past anyway!

Desiree smirked when Zeke said she looked young. It was true, Desiree had been born with the curse of a young face. Even when she was 20 she’d likely look sixteen. She didn’t mind it though, she could use it to her advantage when she was older. In fact, Zeke had even guessed she was a year older than she actually was! So she either didn’t look as young as she thought, or she acted more mature than most of the girls her age. She was sure it was the latter rather than the former. She definitely looked her age.

“Third year, actually,” she said with a small chuckle, “but thanks for the ego boost.” She grinned. “Are you in Eli’s year?”