Battered and Bruised

[Alex Mahoney]

Several clangs, dozens of bruises and a ton of twists and turns later, Alex Mahoney dropped into the fireplace after his things. Except his skateboard it fell after him onto his head. The boy winced in pain and groaned. He then stood up and stepped out of the fireplace as he brushed himself off.

"Great, now I'm going to have one hell of a welt on my head, just what I need. And just after I cut it too, so now it will so brilliantly."

He took a deep breath in and regretted it. Instantly he coughed from the ash and dust. After regaining proper breathing patterns, Lex looked around at the familiar school he just entered.

"Welcome home. Well, sort of."

[Josie Wright]

Everything looked the same to Josie, everything did. But she didn't feel at home, and she didn't expect that she would. She didn't have a home. Not at the Academy, not in Erie with her parents, not back at her other school, the one she just left. The young girl, but not as young as when she first left the school, pushed the doors open and walked into the lobby. The entrance looked the same, bright and huge, but it wasn't harsh or demanding. Josie remembered how students usually just came through the Floo network, rarely anyone came through the front doors on the first day. But she did, mostly because she didn't have access to Floo, but also because she wanted to walk there. She wanted to see everything, see how it had changed in the year she had been gone. So far, nothing had.

The lights were still bright, the fireplaces empty, but for one person. There were sounds of students and staff all around, echoing off the walls of the large, but comparatively small school. Josie had missed the place, even with all the torture she had gone through there. She didn't think she would ever feel at home there, but she hoped that maybe she would find something there she was missing, something that she didn't have before. If only, if only. So she trudged on down the hall toward the stairs, she would gather herself into her dorm, hopefully her old one would be open still.

"Ok, here we go. We can do this. Yes, yes we can. Maybe. No, wait. Yes."

She spoke to herself softly, then stopped. She didn't want to give off the wrong impression, but then again, she didn't want to hide who she was either. With a sigh and a shake of her head.

[Alex Mahoney]

Lex turned around from where he stood and furrowed his brows. A girl stood there, talking to herself, muttering in all honesty. She seemed familiar, but he couldn't place her, but so familiar. He gathered his bag and board and started off after her.

"Hey, welcome to the Academy. You new here?"

[Josie Wright]

Josie whipped her head around at the sound of the boys voice. She hadn't expected him to talk to her not out right. She gave a feeble smile and shook her head.

"No, well kinda. I mean. No, I've attended the Academy all my life. I just, well, I left for a year. Had to take some time for me."

She adjusted her shoulder bag and gripped her other tighter. Her wand was tucked safely away in her pocket, though she suspected she wouldn't need it so soon. Almost. Josie looked the boy over carefully. She knew him, his face at least. But names always escaped her. You'd think, a girl with power of memories, she'd remember everything, but no. Names always escaped her.

[Alex Mahoney]

"Oh. I thought you looked familiar. Must just have been a while. I'm Alex. Alex Mahoney."

Lex put his hand out to her as a greeting. Manners, always with manners. His family never did him wrong in that regard.

"So, you've come back. Where did you take off to? I mean, you'll be a year behind now won't you?"

[Josie Wright]

Josie bit her lip and shook his hand. She wasn't sure which name she wanted to give. Her real name, but which did she consider real? The one her parents gave her, or the one she gave herself? The Professors were going to know her as Josie, not the other. That name she had made years ago and used only with close close friends and at her other school. She couldn't use it now, she didn't feel like they right to use that name.

"Josie Wright, and no, I won't be. Well, I shouldn't be. There are extenuating circumstances surrounding that. But well, I should be all caught up. I went away to another school, to visit, um... My mum. Or well, she isn't my mum, but she is, really. More then my biological mum is, but she isn't my mum just my mother. That which birthed me...."

Josies face felt red and hot. She was talking to much, to fast. She never did that. Ok she did, but only when she was nervous or scared. And at the moment, she was a bit of both.

"I'm going to stop talking now."

[Alex Mahoney]

Lex's brows furrowed again. Josie Wright, the name was familiar and after a long moment of staring at her, he saw it. She looked different, seemed different. He shook his head and ran his hand over his newly cut hair.

"Josephine Wright. Wow, you've changed. Everyone wondered what happened to you. I mean, some thought you went crazy and died, killed yourself. Others were all for thinking that the guys with white coats came and took you to a padded room. It was weird. You caused quite a stir with that. Well, at least in those that knew you."

He watched her carefully. Alex wasn't sure what to think of her return. She could have been lying. She could really have gone insane and escaped and came back for revenge or something. He didn't know.

[Josie Wright]

Josie laughed.

"Killed myself? Gone crazy? Well... I guess you could say that. I mean, I didn't kill myself, but I did. And I'm not crazy, but I am."

Her eyes were wide for a second, but then she relaxed and breathed deeply. So everyone thought she was an utter nutter. That was nothing knew. They didn't like her from the beginning, didn't like her and what she could do, or suspected she could do. But that didn't matter now. Josie was there to fix things. She had been compelled to return and she had. Now she had to figure out why.

"Things happened. I attended a school on the west coast. Things got hairy. I did die, but I didn't. And I did go mad, but I'm not. Everyone has those moments, so don't worry so much about me. So, if that is what the others thought, what did you think happened to me Alex Mahoney? I do remember you, you were on the Quidditch teams. And a Guardian if I remember correctly. So we knew each other, not well, granted, but we did."

[Alex Mahoney]

"Me? Well, I didn't know you that well, that was all Rochelle and Salena. They knew you, or whatever. They said you did something to them in the early years. Scared the piss out of them. And since then, they just couldn't stand you. But me, I didn't know you. But I thought you just up and left. I mean, you left on time with the rest of the school, or was it a few days early? I don't really remember. But you left and just didn't come back. Who was to say you didn't do what you said? Just go to another school? I don't know. I just stayed out of the gossip and bullshit."

Alex crossed his arms over his chest. He hated just having his arms swinging at his sides, it was uncomfortable and distracting to him.

"No, but I just thought that you decided you didn't want to be here anymore. I'm not going to lie to you, I've never been fond of you, all the rumors and stories of you invading peoples minds and just, you know, messing with things. I don't like that idea."

[Josie Wright]

Josie bit her lip and shrugged. She knew people had heard about what she had done to those girls, but that was back when she really didn't understand how it worked, how to do it properly.

"Yes well, I did go to another school. And yes, I may have, maybe possibly, done something to them, but that was ages ago, and yeah, I understand why people don't like me. But whatever. Things change, so do people."

The bags on her shoulder were getting heavy, and Josie really did hope that her old room was still available. But she liked that someone was talking to her, she wasn't sure how many people would, but she wasn't going to worry about that. She had come to the school for a reason, and she intended on finishing it out.

"So, have things changed over the past year? I mean, obviously they have, but to what extent?"

[Alex Mahoney]

Alex shrugged and glanced around the hall. He couldn't think of a lot that had changed.

"Nothing really. Still the same classes and students. Of course graduation and new students coming, and a few professors left. You know the normal stuff, all that freak show crap that comes with attending a school like this."

He rubbed his chin and a light bulb clicked in his brain.

"Oh, well, in December around Yule, well. A girl was taken in my the Entity. You remember hearing about all the crap that happened through out the schools history? Well, Katrina Somethon fell victim, the first in about 10 years. She jumped off the roof after spooning her eyes out. And I mean spooning, in the literal picture of it."