Artistic Directions

"Good i just wanted to check whether you had an affinity for fire but it turns out you have just the opposite." He smiled. "So fire meets ice." He winked turning back to the flames. "Flames can be so hypnotising sometimes its hard to pull away from them. " He said shaking his head to clear his mind again.

"Char I want to keep all your art material." He ordered getting to his feet so he towered over her.

Charlotte smiled when he talked about fire and ice coming together it was pretty weird that two different elements could be drawn together like this. Her smiled was cut off and her eyes narrowed, Arsen was towering over her but not for long. Charlotte stood up and squared off to him, her lip curling upwards.

"No."

She said simply, but the force behind the word was great.

"If this is some stupid test of will it's pathetic."

Charlotte turned colder now, this wasn't a very good test of her strength.

His face turned cold looking her back into the eye. "You dare to defiy me, what you going to do if i steal them?" He laughed moving closer to her so there was inches between them. "What you going to do shrimp?" He spat his eyes burning into hers.

Charlotte growled her eyes turned black and they bored deep into Arsen's own eyes, she stepped closer to him so that their chests were touching and she kept her pencil in her hand. Placing it on his chest ready to shove it into one of the main veins should she need to.

"Yes I dare to defy you."

Charlotte couldn't help herself and the floor at her feet began to grow colder and more icy, she couldn't really control this aspect of her powers yet, she was still tuned to them emotionally.

"If I told you what I was planning to do, it would no longer be effective would it."

He smiled clenching his fists be his side and narrowing his eyes in concentration making the fire in the common room burn brighter and rise higher. "Now do i really need to call for my little friend over there?" He asked nodding his head over to the fire, not letting his eyes waver from hers.

He looked down at the pencil pushed against his chest just inches away from his scar. "Get that pencil away from me now before i break you both in half and don't think for a second i wont. I was picked to lead the Wraiths for a reason you know." He growled pulling his wand out his pocket.

"Hmm i'm thinking i've made the right choice." He laughed moving to back to sit in his seat making the fire relax back to normal.

Charlotte growled at Arsen and her temper flared violently ice bursting from the floor and creeping up his legs holding him to the floor, she couldn't bear to be in Arsen's company any more, this guy was a joke. There were better ways to get her to react than that, he had stepped over a line, albiet a line that he didn't know existed but still.

"I don't care if you made the right choice or not."

Her eyes narrowed and she melted the ice around his feet, picking up her art things she moved to leave him alone. She was in no mood to be around him now, she was absolutely livid. He could probably tell that because her eyes were still black, she was so angry the skin around them had turned black too. She supposed it was a frightening if not disturbing sight, she had only ever done that once before.

"You crossed a line. I don't appreciate it."

Arsen shrugged. "I couldn't have someone who couldn't stand up for themselves in my group never mind my right hand woman. I was just making sure but maybe i was wrong if your can't handle that. Everyone is going to cross the line at one point, that was nothing compared to what you could face, are you going to throw a tantrum against them too." He asked spinning his wand lazily around his fingers.

"You will do eventually, this groups will end up taking up your whole life, it's all you will be able to think about trust me. I need to make all the right decisions for us otherwise the Dark Lord will not be happy with me and we all know what happens then and it's something i'd rather not see." He explained looking around the common room to make sure they were still alone.

"You need to control your powers, they are out of control. You can't let your emotions over run them it could destroy you."

Charlotte put down her art things, she didn't want them to get hurt after all and she walked over to Arsen glaring at him still. His attitude now she was riled up was just grating on her nerves endlessly every word out of his mouth seemed to aggrivate her to no end. She could see the reason behind what he was saying and most of it was true but...Charlotte was a little too angry right now to appreciate it.

"Don't you think I know that already. It's taken me a long time to even get the ability to do that, it will take me longer to perfect it, I'm not someone who can just do spells the instant I'm taught them. The same principle with this."

She sat down in front the the fire and leant on the fireplace her back warming up as she did so, Charlotte sighed softly and placed her hand over the fire, it licked her hand and she smiled happily. Suddenly she heard a loud flapping and Hannibal her vulture came flapping into the common room, taking the letter from his leg he sat on her shoulder cawing dangerously at Arsen until Charlotte tapped him twice on the head, then he stopped.

The letter of course was not good news as most letter's aren't. Sighing lightly Charlotte thre it down onto the table and began to stroke Hannibal's feathers. This meant she had a lot more work to do this weekend, no social life for her.

"Well first you need to work on not letting it getting out of control with your emotions because it WILL start to take over them and we all know what happens then." He said placing his hands on the arms of the chair, relaxing.

"Power comes with responsibility and you've got to learn to control your temper, i'm calm and so should you." He smiled, he knew he was getting on her nerves but he had to prove a point.

"AR Stupid bird." He moaned once the bird began pecking at his head. He watched her face as she looked at the letter. "Bad news i take it, anything i can do to help? We are now working together after all." He asked leaning back in his chair.

Charlotte looked up at Arsen, her anger subsiding into a look of confusion, she was unsure of the sudden mood swings coming from Arsen but Charlotte sighed lightly tossing the letter to him, all that it said was she needed to review the business and money accounts of her father's business again as soon as possible.

"I don't know, can you? Are you good with numbers?"

Hannibal cooed lightly as Charlotte continued to play with his feathers, he wasn't sure about this boy, he seemed to be making his Mistress upset and he didn't like that. Moving from Charlotte's shoulder Hannibal sat on the arm of the chair Arsen sat on and squarked warningly.

"Hannibal!" Charlotte barked "Leave him alone."

Arsen took hold of the letter and read it carefully, he didn't understand why she had to do this. "Why do you have to do this?" He asked looking down at the letter again.

"I suppose i could try and help, im not that great with numbers but i guess it's got to be better than doing it alone." He sighed passing her back the letter.

"I swear if that bird doesn't leave me alone i will not be held responsible for my actions." He said moving forwards in his chair away from the bird. "I'm not too good with being attacked i tend to fight back no matter what or who it is. Wanna meet Kraken?" He asked bending down to pick up his bag hiding his sleeping snake.

Charlotte sighed, she knew she would have to explain the situation, not like she minded it wasn't sensitive or anything to her it was just very long and very complicated. Deciding that she had better simplify it, Charlotte didn't yet trust Arsen completely.

"My father, he died a couple of weeks ago, that's why I started late, I have to manage his business now and all our household estates. It makes for a very unhappy childhood, not like it was happy when he was alive either."

Her eyes glittered as she watched Hannibal flapping his wings, she coughed at him and he looked almost ashamed and promptly stopped.

"Sorry Dark, he's just a little protective, he think's you've upset me."

Almost spitting out the last couple of words Charlotte clicked her fingers and Hannibal flew back over to her, perching on the back of her sofa above her head. His beady eyes survayed Arsen steadily, still wary of him. Charlotte looked at Kraken, Arsen's snake as he got it out of his bag.

"He's lovely. What type of snake is he?"

"Wow mine too my whole family was killed the day before we started here, seems we all have family issues." He smiled weakly. "But i'm having nothing to do with anything he touched i gave everything to Hades as a thanks for taking care of me. He's the only thing between me and a muggle care home and that is not going to happen i'd kill them all within the first hour."

"It's okay Krackens the same, i wouldn't get too close just yet he's kranky when he first wakes up and he's awfully poisonous." He said holding the snakes head up to his eyes.

"He's a elapidae, they are the most poisonous snake there is." He smiled letting Kracken curl up in his lap. "Sorry I think he's turning nocturnal, we've had a rough few days poor thing needs to catch up on his sleep. He's like my own guard dog, he kept an eye out whilst i slept." He smiled stroking the back of the snakes head.



Here he is the loverly yet poisonous Kraken.

Charlotte smiled weakly and admired Kraken from afar, he was indeed a beautiful snake and Charlotte didn't want to end up dying because of the poinson that he carried in his fangs so she stayed a good distance away. Her hands petted Hannibal softly once more so he tilted his head affectionately towards her.

"I have to manage it, or I loose all my money, I loose my home and I don't have anyone to take me in. I'd rather have to give up my time, to ensure I'm safe. Well, as safe as I can be."

Clenching and unclenshing her fingers Charlotte tried to think about something else, even though she had been so happy when her father died she was scared, scared a lot of the time. Charlotte had never told anyone why, the only person who knew was Martha her housekeeper.

"I understand, it's nice. To have something that cares for you." Her voice turned soft and her eyes dulled while she shook her head trying to clear it of her thoughts.

"Oh well that sucks, but i was ready to live on the streets rather than rather than have anything to do with him again. Well that was until Hades forced me to stay in his dungeons against my will, with the guy that nearly killed me. It was torture, seeing him but not being able to kill him because of the shield Hades put in place." He snarled.

"I wouldn't call that caring would you? More like torture, he doesn't care because he's getting something out of it." He shrugged he was used to being used, but at least he was learning more magic than the others along the way.

"To be honest i think i''d rather live alone, i've always looked after myself because i've always been alone, i prefare it that way." He shrugged absent mindedly stroking Kracken.

Charlotte smirked a little she could see that Arsen was a very strong character and he was also very stubborn, however, if he knew all of her story he probably wouldn't be so brash about his choices of actions. Quickly she looked down to her hand and saw that her heart was fading away so, taking out her black marker Charlotte uncapped it and traced over the heart.

"I meant you're snake. It's nice that he cares for you."

Smiling sadly she tried to pick black paint off her knees but failed a little, only smudging it more. She supposed that Arsen was thinking her weaker and weaker by the second but Charlotte didn't see what else she could do...to her the house was everything, it still had it's enchantments and it was a base for her.

"It does get lonely living on your own. Especially in a big house like mine, sometimes, you find yourself getting completely lost with no sounds to guide you."

"Oh right yeah, he's the only one that does. I don't know what i'd do with out him sometimes." He smiled down stroking Krackens head, letting his hissing tongue flicker across the back of his other hand. "Of course it helps with him being posionous." He smiled up at her.

He shrugged. "I'm used to be alone, i always have been. My parents used to lock me in my room 24/7 of course they never knew i could pull myself through the gap in the window. So they never knew the fun i had. I used to scare my brother into thinking there were ghosts outside his window." He smiled at the memories. "It's not all bad being alone, sometimes i wonder how people can be surrounded by groups of people, it's just not normal." He sighed.

Charlotte gasped a little and looked up into Arsen's eyes with startled ones of her own. She couldn't believe he had gone through something similar to herself, but, her own story was a lot more complicated, or so she assumed, there was no reason for Arsen to tell her the entirity of his story, just like she wouldn't tell him all of hers.

"I was never locked in all the time, just when I did something my father didn't like."

Shivering lightly Charlotte hunched herself up, wrapping her arms around her legs which were in a triangle shape against the floor.

"It wasn't so much the dark that bothered me, it was the wraith he put in with me. Sometimes he'd even slip poisons into the food he gave me, I grew to spot them but I couldn't do anything he wouldn't give me any more food until I'd eaten it."

Taking off her grey blazer Charlotte showed Arsen her pale arms, several bite marks and scratches were visable down both of them, more were on her legs and back.

"I think the Wraith thought I was tasty though." She giggled with a shy smile

"I was born, that's what i did wrong, i accidently set my brother on fire when i was two, my magic came on really early for some reason and so then on my parents thought i was evil and deserved to be locked up." He explained looking down to his fathers ring. "It make's me sick thinking about his ring being on my finger, after everything he did to me. I think i'd take what you had any day. My father believed you had to beat the evil out of someone so i spent most of my life in pain either from physical beatings or magical. Crucio became quite popular when i was over the age of seven." His face scrunching up in disgust as he spoke about his father.

"Hades can control the dead, maybe he could sort him out for you if he's still there bothering you." He smiled weakly clasping his hands together in front of him.

He laughed. "It looks as if it did." He smiled rubbing the scar on his chest absent mindedly.

Charlotte smiled sadly, placing her blazer back on she supposed that Arsen deserved to know the whole truth about what went on in her life since he was being so open with her. She didn't know why she was trusting him but she was, hopefully it wouldn't come back to haunt her.

"Well, my mother, she left when I was young, she was a Death Eater but left my father when he refused to join, he never had much time for me because he was working. I took up art and music to fill my time, one day he just snapped, he shoved me into this closet and locked the door, and he slowly removed the oxygen from the room. He liked to do that.

After that day it became regular, perhaps once every 2 days, and eventually it got to the point where he'd lock me up for days at a time. He called me evil too because of my eyes, he used to make me do things for him, change into people, pretty people even my mother..."

Charlotte shuddered and moved on quickly not wanting to remember things like that in detail.

"Then, when I got into Hogwarts my mother sent me a package but...it wasn't something very nice, it was a heart, turns out it was my fathers. She told me if I ever left the house I was next...that's why...that's why I'm so scared all the time, I can't leave. I'm on my own and I'm scared..."

Charlotte fought back tears and clasped her hands so tight together that she dug the ring so hard into her finger it started to bleed.

He listened carefully maybe now he would find out why she was the way she was. He watched in shock, he had no idea other people had parents as screwed up as his. It seemed they were both punished for things they couldn't control.

He closed his eyes, he didn't want to hear anymore. "Char you will never be alone again, i know i'm the first person you'd pick but i can protect you, i know people." He said getting down onto his knees before her. "I could help you in so many ways, you see this?" He said pulling back his sleeve and pressing his finger to his forearm so his brand showed. "This means i'm part of something bigger than leading a group of students. Things are going to be changing very soon and i'm going to be smack bang in the middle of it." He explained lifting her head up so she looked at him.

"If you need protection i can give it to you, if you want your mum hunted down i can do that. Just tell me what you want and ill do it, people like us need to stick together, i've had enough of people being totured by their parents it time we stood up to them." He said.

"You know what annoyed me the most when my family died?" He asked.

Charlotte looked intently at the floor, feeling weak and stupid for getting so worked up about what had happened, the past was the past and there was nothing that you could do about it. She kept her gaze there, that was until she felt Arsen's fingers under her chin, lifting her head up. Charlotte fixed her crimson eyes upon him and they spilled a few glossy tears, falling down her cheeks.

"Y-y-you mean that Dark...?"

Wiping away her tears Charlotte threw her arms around him and hugged Arsen close, she could hardly dare to believe that she had managed to find a real person who would care for her.

"Thank you, I-I-I-I can't say how much that means to me."

Whispering those words into Arsen's ear Charlotte kept her arms wrapped around him and rested her head on his shoulder, taking in deep breaths, the contact seeming to calm her down from her tears Charlotte suddenly pulled away. A faint blush creeping up her cheeks she directed her gaze to her hands, she didn't want to make Arsen embarrassed by her hugging him.

"No, what Dark?"

"If there is one thing about me you can be sure of, it's that i am a man of my word. I don't say things i don't mean. I've had enough problems with my parents and if you think i'm going to sit back and watch it happen to some one else you have another thing coming." He smiled. "You're stuck with me for life now." He winked getting to his feet and picking her up with him.

He froze no one ever tries to hug him but he wrapped his spare arm around her none the less, Kracken now tightly hugged his right arm making it hard to bend. "Geesh man loosen up wouuld you." He hissed at the snake turning to look down at him. "Lussus susis." He said parceltongue coming easy to him, it was a part of him he like the most, it made him different to the other Barela's.

"It's nothing really, i'm free of my nightmare now it's your turn. Even if that means capturing you mother so you can speak to her or killing her i don't care either way. It's up to you how you want things to go." He said looking at her face to check she was fine.

"I found myself most bothered with the fact that those muggles had beaten me too it." He snarled. "The only thing that's been keeping me going for the last 8 years is the single thought of me being able to control my magic and using it against them, giving them a taste of their own medicine until finally they beg me to kill, them so i do." He explained.

Charlotte tried a small smile on her face, slowly, it grew into a larger one, then a larger one still until she was grinning. But then she stopped, Charlotte had wanted to ask Arsen something but she didn't want to impose anything on him, so she wouldn't ask, at least she knew she had someone there if she needed any help.

"I could think of worse things, I could be stuck looking like you for life now that would be awful."

Pulling her tongue at Arsen she wrapped her arms around him in a hug once more, grimacing a little when she pulled away, she had left some sort of white paint on his shoulder. Charlotte cleaned it swiftly away with an apologetic look.

"Dark, thank you, I don't know what I want to do yet...I just want to know I'm safe until I do. I was wondering...if...erm...no. It's stupid. I'm sorry."

Arsen gave her a weak smile before he was pulled into a hug again. He had never been hugged so much by one person. His smile grew, it was weird how she seemed to relax around him. No one else did.

"Hey you'd love to look like this i'm be-a-ut-iful." He smiled holding open his leather jacket and giving her a little swim. "Admit it you think i'm hot." He winked giving her a cheeky smile.

"Woah i hope that comes off Hades will kill me if i ruined it." He smiled rubbing away at his shoulder. "You will never have to be worried about that ever again." He smiled. "I bet you're glad i walked in here, i know i am. I've gained anouther member. What? No go on we're friends now right and friends tell each other everything. So what were you going to say?" He asked looking her straight in the eye all sign of joking gone.