a little wicked | perpetua

June 2004

"What are you doing, creep?" Rowen whispered as she approached Perpetua from behind. Her shiny uniform shoes made nary a sound as she moved across the cobblestones. If not for her evil mouth, Rowen might have gone entirely unnoticed. Though, the teenager would never allow that. What was the point of sacrificing sleep, stress, and meals to have Perfect Hair and Perfect Grades if no one noticed? Sidestepping her dormmate, Rowen's black-brown eyes peered around the corridor to where Perpetua seemed to be staring, and then she made a sinister "Oh," sound and smiled.

Not two days ago, Rowen had witnessed Perpetua spying on this very same Gryffindor, Arnold Some-Last-Name-that-Didn't-Matter, and now she was at it again. The teenager moved back around Perpetua to stand behind her with her side to the wall. She pushed a lock of brown curls off of her finely pressed school robes and stared. Rowen was a lot of things, wicked, demanding, and elitist, to say the least, but she knew how the world worked. Or, at least, how her world worked. Everything was a transaction, and information had a price, and she felt like she'd found Perpetua in a compromising situation of value. And that filled her with cruel delight.

Rowen leaned against the wall behind Perpetua. She put one hand on her hip, making her the very picture of judgment, and sighed. "Does Arnold know he has a stalker? Should we tell him?" Rowen didn't care why Perpetua was doing it, but if Perpetua were willing to give her more ammunition free of charge, Rowen would happily take it. She waited for a moment, staring at the other girl impatiently.

@Perpetua Robbins

What was Arnold up to now? Perpetua was standing in the shadow, peeking around the corner to spy on Arnie who, together with another Gryffindor, was behaving sneakily and stifled his laughter. The girl frowned and, as usual, that made her glasses travel down her nose a little. Before she could readjust them, though, she heard a whisper that made a shiver run down her spine.

Rowen.

Perpetua spun around, her face turning red as she looked at her dormmate. She was used to being called a creep by her. She was used to Rowen being nasty towards her. It wasn’t anything new and it was giving her nightmares.

“Nothing,” she muttered, not daring to look at the other girl who had such a demanding and authoritative aura. Rowen was scary and Perpetua wished she didn’t have to share a dormitory with this evil girl.

Rowen’s question made Perpetua’s face turn chalky white. She shook her head a little too heavily. She knew that she could not stop Rowen from telling Arnold if she reacted too extremely to this suggestion.

“I’m not a stalker,” Perpetua whispered. “There’s no rule that doesn’t allow me to be here.” She was defensive and she knew that she had lost even before Rowen spoke again. Hopefully Rowen would just use her knowledge to torment her rather than go straight to Arnie.

Seeing the blush rising in Perpetua's cheeks, Rowen smiled triumphantly. If she weren't up to something, then there would have been no reason for the red cheeks, and the wicked little witch loved a delicious bit of blackmail material. And to think the dark witch thought today would be an ordinary, boring, old Wednesday. "Yeah, sure," She replied quickly, another insult on the tip of her tongue as the other witch paled. Rowen had barely gotten started, but she was already getting such results that she couldn't possibly stop tormenting Perpetua now. And she made no effort to hide how much Perpetua's discomfort pleased her.

"Are you sure there is no rule regarding invading another student's privacy?" Unlike many of her classmates, Rowen felt like she fell in a wholly different category from Rule Breakers and Rule Followers. She was the sort who learned the rules only to be able to stretch them in her favor. And so far, it had been effective. Rowen's perfect curls bounced a little as she shook her head at the other witch. "Maybe we should ask Professor Flitwick, instead?"

“I’m not…” Perpetua whispered. Then she pulled herself together and looked at the other girl. “I’m not invading anyone’s privacy,” she said. Then she added “but you are” in a trembling voice. She knew that she stood no chance against Rowen, not in a verbal fight, not in a duel, not in anything, really. However, she was putting up as much of a fight as she could (and that, admittedly, wasn’t much).

“No!,” Perpetua’s voice was shrill and the group of Gryffindors briefly looked in their direction before slowly walking down the corridor in the opposite direction.

“Why would you want to bother professor Flitwick?” she asked, hoping that Rowen would have mercy. However, mercy and Rowen were two words that didn’t really go well together. In fact, they felt quite like opposites.

“but you are” Rowen’s eyes narrowed, and her lips pressed together in disappointment as Perpetua had the nerve to stand up to her. Rowen still found it irritating, even if it was a teeny, tiny, whispered bit of bravery. “Am I? But we’re such good friends,” Rowen replied, the venom practically dripping from her words. Perpetua was her classmate, housemate, and dormmate, but she doubted either one of them would call the other friend. Then again, Rowen had very few friends, and she had never been prouder of that fact.

The irritation on her face faded as Perpetua nearly gave herself away with a shout, and Rowen’s near-black-brown eyes slid past her, hoping that the wizard she was stalking had noticed. That would have been just delightful. “Well, I suppose I could be convinced to bite my tongue on the matter,” As devious as ever, Rowen inspected her manicured fingernails and feigned boredom as she spoke. “What have you to offer?” Unlike stereotypical bully-types, Rowen had no use for stolen lunch money or finished assignments; the witch had more sickles than she’d ever need and would never, ever, let a classmate complete subpar homework for her.

“You must be creative this time, Perpetua. As you well know, my silence is expensive.” Just like everything else in Rowen's world, secrets had value. It wouldn't be the first time she'd pushed Perpetua around, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

Rowen’s voice sent a shiver down Perpetua’s spine. Written on paper her words would seem kind enough, hearing her say them they sounded scary as hell. Perpetua swallowed hard, regretting that she had said anything. She should not have tried to stand up to Rowen or maybe it was right to at least try? It was hard to say, the outcome was probably about the same anyway.

Friends. Perpetua shook her head a little belatedly. If the word was ever misplaced in a sentence it was here. Perpetua didn’t really call many (if any) people her friends but Rowen clearly was none of them.

Rowen said that she could be convinced to hold her tongue on the matter and Perpetua looked at her hopefully although she was quite aware that she’d have to pay the price for it. It would not be an easy deal for sure.

What did she have to offer? Perpetua had no idea. She knew that this wasn’t about any material values. Rowen had more money than she needed. She was an excellent student and actually seemed to enjoy most school work so doing her homework for her was not doing the trick either.

Feeling cold and shaky, Perpetua looked at Rowen’s perfect hair, avoiding looking directly into her face. She couldn’t make eye contact with the other girl. Looking her in the eyes was way too scary.

“I… I don’t know,” she stammered, “what do you want?” In her panic she could not come up with any creative thoughts just yet. Hopefully Rowen would ask something of her, something that she could actually comply with.

Perpetua had asked what she wanted, and Rowen couldn’t help but sneer at her. “Many things,” Power, control of her future, a new dress – the usual things. Unfortunately for the pair of them, these were not things Perpetua was likely able to give her. Rowen already had power over her, and the other two, she’d have to get on her own.  “Let’s start with information.”

Rowen held her arm out to the other girl, not because it was welcomed or because they were friends. Expecting Perpetua to loop hers around it or at the very least follow her while she walked, Rowen continued to speak. “Tell me why you are stalking that boy, and perhaps I will keep it a secret.” Did she care about whatever crush Perpetua had on Arnie? No, not really. But Rowen had never been above collecting ammunition for battles she might one day find herself in.

Merlin, Rowen was so intimidating and scary. Perpetua felt certain that she’d relive this moment in her nightmares for the next couple of days (until Rowen would replace the memory of this with something even worse.)

Perpetua stared at the other girl, not even attempting to pretend that she wasn’t feeling uncomfortable. She was not trying to smile or act as though she felt confident. There was no point. Rowen knew her well enough after all these years and Perpetua hoped that if she just reacted as little as possible Rowen would lose interest in her.

Information. Perpetua swallowed but didn’t comment, instead waiting for a clarification of what Rowen meant. Now she held out her arm for her to take and instinctively Perpetua shook her head. She was not going to act as though they were friends, having a nice little chat. They weren’t friends and this conversation was anything but nice.

“I’m not…” Perpetua began and then realised that she wouldn’t get anywhere denying that she was stalking Arnie. “Well... “ she muttered, pausing to chew on her lip and contemplate how much information she was willing to give. “if you must know - my mother and his father are dating,” she burst out, her cheeks reddening. They were more than dating, actually. They had moved into a house together. Arnold was something like her step brother now.

Rowen was exceptional at most things (according to a grand opinion of herself), and keeping secrets was one of those things. She was skilled in eavesdropping, knew when to keep her lips sealed, and most importantly, had no qualms with lying to throw off suspicions. Rowen could keep a secret when it benefited her, of course.

"You are," The dark witch corrected, inserting her words and abruptly interrupting any objection Perpetua might have had. She'd found her staring at the wizard; there was no use in denying she was stalking him. And then came the truth, and the corners of Rowen's crooked smile perked up. Folding her hands in front of her as things began to click into place, the young witch nodded quietly for a moment.

 "And what do you wish to learn about Arnold watching him from afar?"

Stalking someone wasn’t really a positive thing and so Rowen insisting on Perpetua stalking Arnold did sound a little like an insult. However, Perpetua knew that her dormmate was right - to some degree.

After she had admitted why she was watching Arnold, Rowen asked her what she wished to learn from it. Perpetua gave a noncommittal shrug and looked down the corridor where Arnold and his friends had been just moments ago.

“I… I don’t know…” Perpetua said, realising that she really didn’t know what she was hoping to find out. “I just want to know who his friends are. What he’s like… I mean…” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper, “I want to know who he is. He’s almost my step brother. I have a right to know more about him.” She blushed and looked down, chewing on her lip. Her glasses had travelled down to the tip of her nose and Perpetua quickly lifted her hand again to readjust them.