Becoming a Writer

Gene waved happily as several reporters crowded around him, and took photographs of him and his new book.

Muggle and Wizarding History: A Summary

"How long did you use to write that book, Mr Downie!" A reporter asked, and Gene turned to face him.

"It took me a year, but this is the most complete breakdown of history for anyone looking for both muggle and wizarding history. And... A complete revalation of the secret of Horcruxes, and the dark childhood of You-Know-Who and how they get the Death Eater organization to work." Gene said happily.

"Wait! So you found the spell to make horcruxes?" A reporter asked, and Gene shook his head.

"No, I did not. And I do not plan on doing so. It just describes its uses and how one becomes one. All this content are so called extinct nowadays." Gene said, and the makeshift bookstore started its sale, with middle-aged and elderly men and women making up the majority of the buyers.

Darquesse, although not her usual read had made it her business to read every book that had ever been written, so far only a few remained unread, and she was sure that this book, although many of the material within she would already know Darquesse liked to support budding writers.

Trailing her hand across the cover of one of the books Darquesse picked it up and hugged it to her chest paying for it at the counter, wandering along the makeshift bookstore until she found who she presumed was the writer.

"Well done Mr. Downie, it takes courage to take the time to write a book. I trust that your writings will inform me endlessly, as history is not one of my strong points."

Gene suddenly heard a familiar voice and looked up, and saw the school librarian.

"Of course, Miss.... Vermont, if I am not wrong, as History of Magic teacher, my foundation of history with regards to magic, is strong, with regards to history, I received a Masters in MIT, one of the top muggle universities. But, the people I interviewed are extremely credible and well-known."

"Harry Potter before his unfortunate... Well... Then, Miss Granger before her disappearance. Records of Bathilda Bagshot..." Gene smiled, slightly proud of himself.

"Then, to muggle history, I have interviews with ex-generals, warheros, ex-ministers, Rudolf Hess and many others!" Gene said, half-laughing.

Darquesse smiled a little as she realised that Gene remembered her from Hogwarts, there were few people who even knew that she lived there she was so quiet and most of the students would rather goof off than study in the library.

"It's nice to finally meet you Gene. It's nice to find someone who knows I live at Hogwarts."

Darquesse smiled, it was unusual for someone to put this much effort into a book these days after all, she had read some horrible reads in her time, including several vampire books that just made her cringe to read them.

"You're enthusiasm is wonderful, I'm sure this book must have been fun for you to write because you got to meet all of those people."

Tilting her head to one side Darquesse locked eyes with Gene.

"There wasn't much talk of the British Dark Lord where I come from. This will prove interesting."

"I've been to the library before..." Gene said.

"Maybe you want to wait for a while instead? I'll buy you a drink. My treat." Gene smiled, as he continued to serve the other buyers.

"Voldermort... Was a failed leader. I figure people need to know more about this shockwave he created, so as NOT to join the dark side." Gene muttered.

Darquesse smiled at Gene and nodded her head in his direction, she would love to speak to him some more either about this book or about something else, because she could see that their views were not going to mesh. But he didn't need to know that.

"That would be nice, thank you Gene."

Moving her way over to the bar she sat there and waited for Gene to come over to her, casually ignoring the comment about the Dark Lord that had nothing to do with her.

"Where leaders have failed there will rise another where their strengths will fill those gaps."

"Yes... Just like a phoenix rising from the ashes, for a leader. But, there is always something called downfall." Gene said casually, as the last copy of his book went out and he sat down beside Darq.

"Firewhisky for the both of us." Gene said, and when the drinks arrived, he took a sip.

"You might want to actually bother reading the Appendixes. The footnotes I have there are enough for another book. It gets more and more interesting, gradually." Gene tilted his head and laugh.

Darquesse smiled when Gene came over to sit by her and she sipped her firewhiskey gently, enjoying the burning feeling it gave her at the back of her throat. Placing the glass back down on the table she looked into Genes eyes as he spoke, eyes, are the gateway to the soul after all.

"I read every single part of a book, even the publishing information at the front, have no fear I will read it from cover to cover."

Smiling at his laugh Daruquess tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Forgive me, I am not a good conversationalist."

"That's good with me, Darq. This book is my... Effort. I just have this grand wish of becoming a writer. That's it. But anyway, I also revealed some controversies and even gave the flight of Harry Potter and the other two as interviewed. You won't find a book like this anytime soon." Gene said happily.

"Conversations are delicate to me as well, but I figure its just that as long as we enjoy the company of the other, it makes the conversation successful. What say you?" Gene smiled.

"Books are always peoples efforts, when you write, you extend yourself onto that paper on which you write, and if you pour so much of yourself and your passion into that paper, it is sure to be a success."

Darquesse smiled gently at Gene and took another sip of her firewhiskey, curling a strand of hair around her finger then unwinding it and curling it around again she let a comfortable silence fall over the conversation.

"Tell me, Gene, have you ever been to America?"

Her accent coming through like it had been for the whole conversation.

"Yes, I have. I was educated in MIT, a muggle University? It is in the States." Gene laughed.

"Let me guess, you were getting SLIGHTLY amused that I didn't notice the American accent." Gene said, and he took another sip of Firewhiskey.

"Vermont... Is that an American name though? I am not so sure. I mean... I am not into names, you must forgive me if I offended you." Gene smiled slightly, taking off his tie.

Darquesse sighed a little and knew that she should have just kept quiet she hated feeling stupid because she was not so, she just had never been to certain parts of America and that University must have been there.

Downing the rest of the firewhiskey with a shudder Darquesse placed it back onto the bar and sat there clasping her hands on her knees.

"No, it is not."

She said simply, retreating back into her shell of silence.

Gene frowned when he saw her expression.

"Don't worry, MIT isn't a famous university anyway." He lied.

You kidding? It ranked second in the world.

"Another Firewhiskey for the lady!" He flicked his fingers.

"So.. Where was your family from? MY history vibes are starting again." Gene smiled.

Darquesse looked up at Gene through her frame of blonde hair and she sighed a little taking the new glass of firewhiskey and sipping it lightly not wanting to drink it all at once but to savour the taste this time.

"My family is originally from France, a long long time ago we moved to America, about 500 years ago but our name stuck throughout the generations, me personally, I come from Alabama."

She smiled a small shy smile and traced her finger around the glass of firewhiskey.

"What was Switzerland like then?"

"Alabama... I liked that state..." Gene said enviously, and he perked up when he heard about Switzerland.

"Its really nice there, fresh air... Friendly people... I lived near the Swiss Alps, so when I was a kid, playing along the mountains, we would stumble upon bunkers built by the Swiss during World War 2, which was disguised to blend into the mountain, and protect against a Nazi invasion."

"Silly me, do you know muggle history well?"

Darquesse listened intently to what Gene was saying about where he grew up, she wished that she could have some memories like that because you could read all of the books in the world and still not have the joy of actually experiencing something like which you read.

"I know a great deal about Muggle history the problem is I don't really care to read it much, I prefer reading fiction if you understand me?"

Shrugging lightly Darquesse smiled up at Gene.

"Regardless of my reading habits it sounds like you had a wonderful childhood."

"I..." Gene's smile faded.

"My parents were killed by Death Eaters when we moved here, to England." He said stonely.

Deciding not to stay on this chapter, he moved on.

"I figure fiction is more interesting in its own way too. It is... More of what we picture about alternative endings to things. Which makes non-fiction twisted in its own way." He tried to smile, but couldn't.

Darquesse winced a little, normally she was so sensitive about these things but she just didn't click on after all Gene was so happy normally people who had lost their parents had an air around them that warned her about this.

"I'm sorry for mentioning it Gene...forgive me."

Biting her lip and screwing her idea to keep the drink Darquesse chucked it back and felt the burn at the back of her throat.

"Eh, my parents may as well be dead to me. But I can't pretend to be sad about that. So I can't relate to how you feel."

"Sometimes you just have to put the past behind you." Gene said sadly.

Gene, slightly upset, downed his entire bottle of Firewhiskey.

"Bottle of white wine please." Gene ordered, and he opened it, and poured it into two glasses.

"Muggle wine. But it exists in the wizarding world, thank goodness. Try it." Gene smiled, taking a sip.

Darquesse rested a cool hand on Genes and smiled at him, her eyes holding a plea for him to feel happier, she wanted to help him she just didn't know how to.

"Sometimes you do yes...but if you want to talk about it, sometimes that helps more than forgetting."

Raising her eyebrow at the wine Darquesse took the glass that Gene held out to her and sipped it lightly, well, Muggles were good for something then.

"It's quite nice."

Darquesse grinned.

"I'm great. Thank you for your concern." Gene said.

"That's why muggles are good in their own way... Where I live, the muggles are so nice..." He sighed, and took another sip of wine.

"Hey, pass me my book." He said, and he pointed to a picture printed inside the book, which showed the Dark Mark.

"These people... Should... Die..." He said, slightly tipsy, but still enough to know he was purposely pissing her off to see if she was the enemy.

Darquesse passed him the book when he requested it and watched as he flipped through it, she wondered what he was going to show her within it and when he opened the book she saw a picture of the Dark Mark and immediately she thought of Draco.

"You think they should die..."

She growled snatching the book back from him, anger clear in her eyes. All pleasantaries gone down the drain, Darquesee wasn't the type to stand there and have someone she loved insulted like this. It just wasn't right.

"Death is a terrible thing to wish upon a person. I thought differently of you Gene."

"They killed so many people... And you are defending them!?" Gene yelled, instantly sober.

High chance she was one of them

"They killed... Professor Dumbledore... Harry Potter... The Boy who defended wizarding kind against these... Foul..." Gene said, anguished.

"Why are you so worked up? You connected to one of them?" Gene said casually, his hand already at his wand, which was pointed at her without her noticing.

Darquesse chuckled lightly at Gene and flicked through the pages of her book, looking at all of the pictures and even some of the interviews were read in the breif seconds that her eyes lingered on the page.

"I'm not telling you anything, my lips are sealed."

Her eyes flashed white and Darquesse muttered:

"Join, seal, shut, close, glue, stick."

And with that she smirked as Genes lips were sealed together, the flesh melting and resetting so that he couldn't speak only make odd muffled sounds from behind the skin.

"And now your lips are sealed too."

Raising her wand Darquesse murmered:

'Obliviate'

Keeping the Macabre in her head as the spell was cast all memories of it were on their way to being removed from Genes head.

Gene's eyes widened when the girl overpowered him so quickly, and when she raised his wand at him, he knew she was going to do a memory charm.

He waited when her mouth started to move, and though getting your mouth stuck together was a crappy feeling, he headbutted the witch in the stomach, causing her to fall over.

He then quickly picked up his own wand, and through non-verbal spells, he flicked his wand, and thought in his head, "Silencio!"

He then proceeded to cast the full-body bind curse.