Small World (J.J./Maya)

Maya was panicking.

She had lost Passion. The woman had been talking to her, and then Maya saw the most beautiful red bird on a man's shoulder- so naturally her curiosity made her feet follow- and now she had lost the man, the bird, and her guide.

Maya squeezed through the crowd, desperate to get away from the chaos. She needed to clear her head.

Stay where you are. That's what you're meant to do when you're lost, right? The girl groaned softly and leaned against one of the walls of a shop.

Trust her to be the stupid "muggle" who got lost in a world she didn't belong in. Weren't there people here that would kill her?!

Act like one of them!

J. J. was at Diagon Alley. It was decided amongs those who she assumed knew best that it might be a good idea for her to get away from the school for a bit - to try going back out again.

She wasn't on her own of course. She had brought someone with her - someone that she trusted very much. Only...

Well J. J. had always been distracted by many things, and when she was reluctant to talk (She just couldn't get over the weird way the magical voice sounded. It wasn't hers she was even more difficult to keep track of).

So she had wandered off on her own. She considered it a point of pride that after the first few seconds, she hadn't panicked.

At least not completely. She felt, unsettled, it was true - but maybe they were right. Maybe this getting away was good for her.

As she walked about, looking around at the things that the street had to offer - and looking for her compainion once more - she noticed a girl, a little older than her, J. J. would ballpark around Zach's age, who looked more panicked then her.

Giving a quick look over both shoulders, the young Hufflepuff decided to risk it and done something she hadn't done since the attack - approach a complete stranger.

"Hello there," she said slowly, in her fake voice, "Are you alright? Do-do you need help of some kind?"

Magic. What do you know about magic, Maya? She questioned herself and groaned inwardly at the wild images of fairy tale magic that immediately surfaced.

Oh no, a magical girl! She had to-to...say something magical!

"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!" she blurted in reply. Her hand flew to her mouth, as if she could stop the noise that had already escaped. Her eyes widened, as if she were caught in a trap, and waited for the girls reaction.

Would she have to run from this seemingly harmless girl?

J. J. tilted her head and furrowed her brow as the girl. Did she just say... she looked around her, before turning back at the girl.

And then, because she couldn't help it, she laughed. After a moment, she put her hand over her mouth and attemtped to sober.

"I am sorry," she stated after a moment, for once glad that her odd magic voice wasn't affected by what would have been her own, so the laughter did not come through. "I liked Cinderella too?"

Maya blushed a terrible crimson as the girl laughed at her.

But did that mean she had gotten away with it?

"Y-yeah. Cinderella's really sweet." she laughed nervously.

"Erm, so, so, er" she mumbled, looking down.

"What are you doing in...Diagon Alley?" she asked politely, panicking for a moment that she had pronounced the name incorrectly. That was a sure sign of a foreigner.

J. J. saw the girl blush and really did feel bad about laughing.

"I am sorry. I really am. I should not have laughed," she fiddled with her jacket for a moment before looking at the girl, "You are very nervous? Why?"

As someone how had spent many days fighting nervous attacks, she was good at spoting the emotion in others.

"Me? I am... merely getting away from school for a bit. It is nice to have a change of scenery," she said tactfully avoiding the fact that she hadn't really wanted to, and that it was more or less when muggles would call a shrink who told her to do it.

"It's okay, really, it's fine." she reassured the stranger with a small smile. "I just blush easily." Maya laughed- a real laugh.

"I-I'm a bit new to these parts, is all." It wasn't a lie. She frowned and studied the girl for a moment. She reminded her of...Weird.

"You look a bit nervous too." she stated, blinking once. "Are you alright?" Maya asked confidently, finding herself feeling more comfortable with the magical folk- well, at least this one.

"What's your name? I'm Maya." she grinned.

J. J. looked at her for a long moment before nodding her head, "If you are sure then."

"Well then this must feel like a lot," she siad with a smile, remembering the first time she had been to Diagon Alley. "Its all rather overwhelming at first isn't it?"

J. J. paused a moment to think about how she should answer that question. She had just met this girl, she certainly didn't need the whole story - I was kidnapped, tortured, lost my voice and now have a weird Robovoice that supposed to make it sort of better - yeah saying that to complete strangers would go over well.

"I am fine - Better than I use to be, actually. I am just always nervous these days. Its been... a dramatic few months for me."

She smiled at the girl, "It is nice to meet you Maya, I'm J. J."

Maya nodded quickly.

"Very. And I seem to have lost my guide." she shook her head at herself, but now being able to laugh at the situation a bit now she was more comfortable.

"Oh." she frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that, dear." Her face quickly lit up. "Glad that you're getting better, though!" she flashed an encouraging grin at her.

"J.J...Jones?!" Maya gasped. "Do you..do you know a boy called Zach?" she wandered. Coincidence, maybe?

J. J.'s concer immidieatly showed on her face as she looked around, "Do you know what you're guide looked like? Or-or was there somewhere you'd both know to go?" Being lost was the worst... well maybe not the worst. J. J. could think of worse things now, but she could still feel sympathy for that disorienting feeling being lost created.

Nodded her head in thanks, but any response that she might have been making was lost as soon as she said her last name and then..

"How did you - Zach?" her eyes widened and she nodded dumbly. What was someone who knew Zach doing here. Was Zach... or... "I-I have brother named Zach."

"Yes, yes- I know her personally. Her name is Passion. She'll turn up soon, I'm sure of it."

I'm certain a vampire's tracking skills work pretty well. Maya thought, smiling a bit. Even a fluffy one's.

"Zachary Jones? Dark hair-" she rose her hand into the air a bit above her own head "-about this tall?!" she squealed.

"You're JJ?" she breathed, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"Well then... would you like the company while you wait for her to show up?"

J. J. nodded her head, completely overwhelmed by what was going on. Did-did Zach know witches now? Was he getting in some sort of trouble... or was this girl...

If she was a muggle then what the held was she doing here.

"Obnoxious as hell, but you some how like him anyways?" she added as a joke with a tired smile, her brain slowly wraping its way around what was going on.

Slowly she nodded her head, as the girl pronounced who she was in a manor that clearly stated she knew of her, but didn't know her.

"I am," she said slowly. Biting her lip. She didn't want to sound like a jerk but... "I'm sorry but... I don't... how exactly do you know my brother?"

"Yes, please." she smiled. J.J. was friendly. Maya laughed inwardly at herself- when she first saw the girl, she was convinced that the stranger was going to turn her into a frog.

Maya giggled quietly, then stopped.

Dear God, please let this not be awkward. she prayed.

"I-I'm his friend....his, erm. Like, partner thing. Sorry, no, forget that! I'm his..his...girlfriend." she nodded, stumbling over her words the whole time.

"Yes, girlfriend." she gave a small wave to JJ.

"Hi?" she squeaked.

Girlfriend...

J. J. took a moment to process that. She had known Zach had had a girl of course, he had meantioned her on more than one occation in their letters, and she recalled a meantion of a girl on the night before she had left for school.

THat seemed like ages ago.

She had just never expected to... well to find the girl here.

"Hello," she responded with a little grin, that was slightly strained from the shock of it all.

"What are you doing - I mean if you don't mind me asking... I did not think that you would, that Zach was..." she trailed off and shook her head. This was all fruitless, anyway she asked it would make her sound like a hack. "How is my Zachie?"

It felt like it had been forever since she had written him. In fact it was probably before her attack... no, it had been right after, she remembered now. She had written that letter to send with the formal one, trying to convince the boy that despite what it said she was alright... looking back on it now, that letter probably had just made it all worse. She hadn't really been in a great place then.

Maya noticed a little shock tainted her smile.

"Sorry, I know this is a bit weird for you, huh?" she blushed a bit, but bit her lip and fought it back.

"I'm not...Erm..I'm not-" she mouthed the word Magic.

Maya frowned a bit. "He's good. But...I don't know, he seems a bit worried about something sometimes. He hasn't told me what. Do you know?" she tilted her head slightly.

"So you go to Hog..warts..right?" she asked, trying to remember the name.

She gave out a laugh and then a real smile, holding her fingers up to illistrate her words, "Only a little bit."

J. J. made an 'Oh' sort of sound of her throat and nodded, even though that answered some of her questions she was still highly confused.

"So- so.. who brought you here?" she did not think Muggle came to Diagon Alley much.

The young girl bit her lip and hung her head slightly. He shouldn't worry. It wasn't like his worry did anything anyways.

"Probably me," she said softly.

She nodded her head at the last remark.

"I do, I miss Zach having to go there but... its really great."

"Sorry." she said, half laughing, half suddenly very conscious of the way she carried herself in front of Zach's sister.

"Someone I met, I guess I'm sort of helping her with something." Maya wasn't sure how much she was meant to talk about Passion's order.

Maya frowned and ducked her own head a little so she could read JJ's expression.

"...are you...you're alright, aren't you?" she asked, voice suddenly motherly and concerned.

"The whole idea of the place confuses me." she laughed quietly. "Staircases moving? It sounds like a madhouse." she said lowly, as to not draw attention to herself.

J. J. laughed and shook her head at the girl, "What do you have to be sorry for? It wasn't like you planned to find and overwhelm me now did you."

The girl nodded her head. She guessed that made sense. She wasn't entirely sure how she had met a withc, nor what she'd need to help with, but that was Maya's business. She seemed nice enough, and J. J. kind of thought it cool that she was - you know - okay with magic and stuff.

"Now who's worrying?" she half joked, giving Maya a half grin as she looked back up. "I'm fine... sort of," she shrugged and smiled. "I'm a lot better than I was so we're heading in the right direction, right?"

She laughed then, and shook her head.

"It kind of is - though honestly what place where you house a bunch of children wouldn't be? Then throw in magic, and assorted creatures," she shrugged. "Its a lot to get use to, but... its kind of home now. I belong there - even if it took me a while to believe it."

"Right. Sor-" she cut herself off before the sentence was finished and laughed at her mistake.

"I'm always worrying." Maya smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head, then shrugged, as if it was unable to be changed.

"As long as you're on track." she nodded. After all, Maya had only just met the girl, she was in no place to pry.

"Now it sounds even more insane. And a little harder to believe." she joked, but becoming more and more fascinated by the mysterious place.

J. J. smiled at the girl and gave a little chuckle. So far she liked her.


"Well, I'm nothing anyone needs to worry about," she gave a little grin, only lying slightly. Sure, maybe she wasn't perfectly fine, but she was much, much better. She really did believe that there was no point in worrying about her anymore. "So do not even think about adding me to a list... and if you could pass the message along to Zachie, it would be great... just slap him if he doesn't look like he's getting it."

"Oh I assure you its there," she grinned impishly, "Vampires and all." She knew that one for a fact - since she seemed to attract the schools blood suckers. Her brain jumping to Dimi she began to fiddle with her ring absent mindedly.

Maya rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"It might be a bit hard to tell him exactly how I met you- I haven't really told him about...well, all of this- " she gestured to their setting, and pointed to herself -" yet." she grinned cheekily. "How did he react when he found out about your magic?" she asked, making a conscious effort of trying to make the word magic sound nonchalant.

"The only vampire I've ever met describes herself as "fluffy."" Maya giggled, referring to Passion.

J. J. smiled at her sheepish expression, "It's not exactly something you just blurt out is it?"

"He was okay - good actually, better than everyone else," she gave a little smile. "I think he thinks its cool, but eitherway, he kept treating me like me so..."

She leaned against a near by wall and gave a small smirk, "Whether you tell him or not, still slap him for me will you. He probably deserves it."

J. J. laughed along with her.

"Fluffy? I think I want to read that one... mine is more... brooding."

"I plan on telling him, I just don't know how, exactly." she scrunched up her face in confusion. "I think I may just blurt it out. It might make it easier to handle for me and him." Maya shrugged.

"Slap him?! I would never." the girl grinned.

"Yours?" she raised an eyebrow at JJ teasingly. "Is there a vampire boy Zach should know about?" Maya laughed and nudged JJ playfully. She nodded thoughtfully.

"I thought all of them would be brooding, to be honest. Passion sort of breaks that mold." she smiled.

J. J. smiled softly, "I don't think it will be as big a deal as you think. Zach's good - He's still stuck with me anyways."

"Well then you'll never be able to handle him," the girl stated with a laugh, "If my brother is thinking, he's probably managed to do something that he deserves to be smacked for."

J. J. flushed. She hadn't meant to say mine... or well, she had but not in that way- or did she?

"No, no theres not... I mean he's not... Zach doesn't really need to know...." She trailed off shaking her head, and blushing even more. She really had managed to buggle that one up.

"I hope not. I tend to work things up in my head." Maya grinned guiltily.

"Awh, J.J. - I think you're being a little harsh on your brother there." she said, but still laughed.

"There isn't? Are you sure? Because I would just love to hear..." Maya trailed off, beaming at the younger girl.