After the sort

Annie sat in stunned silence when Kerry emerged from the flames. His face was tear-stained and he looked as if he was cradling an injured hand. She rose to go to him when their new head professor stood and quickly crossed the room to collect him.

She quickly dried her face and smiled at his haunted expression. It didn't look like he went through anything easier than what she just experienced.

He took her hand and rested his head on her shoulder and before she realized what she was doing, she kissed the top of his head and whispered, "Kerry, do we choose our destiny or is everything in our lives already predetermined?"

He gave Annie's question a little thought. "The way the universe is set up, it's impossible for everything to be laid out so that you have no way of not altering your path," he said softly. "You take what information you have and you decide where to go." Just like what happened with me; I couldn't end up who I am now were I to go back and be someone else. I wouldn't be here; I wouldn't be with Annie.

He sat up, wiping his eyes. "Just don't use Terminator 2 as your guide for how to run your life."

"The Flame gave me so much to think about. I'm worried about my destiny, Kerry."

As he sat up, Annie gazed deeply into his eyes. "'Work as though you will live a hundred years; think as though you will die tomorrow.' My father used to tell me that all the time and I never understood what he meant...until tonight."

She leaned closer and whispered, "Kerry, I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you. I just needed you to know that...just in case."

Kerry was surprised to see this from Annie. Sure, she'd been his one, good friend--his only friend--since he'd come into this magical wizarding stuff, and though they'd been almost inseparable since meeting and entering Hogwarts together, and then coming here, he was hearing things that . . . well, that if that Flaming Bird in Lycra had been right, would never last.

But then, what the heck ever did last?

"I'm glad to know you, too, Annie," he replied in a near whisper. "And don't worry; you're not dying tomorrow. Maybe in a hundred years, but not tomorrow. 'Cause, that would be weird, since we're both sleeping in Scotland right now, too!"

Annie giggled. It felt good to laugh and even better to be sitting next to Kerry. Still, Annie wasn't finished.

"I'm guessing the Flame played with your head as much as she did mine." She ran her fingers through her long hair, shaking it out as she went.

"She forced me to admit things about myself that I was too weak or too much of a coward to face before." Annie looked down at the table and traced the patterns of the wood grain with her fingertips. "The fact is—you walked into my life at that bookstore. Actually, you didn't just walk, you sort of collided into it. And I didn’t even realize I needed you until I started to miss you whenever you weren't there. That is destiny…fate if you will. What if there is something else out there waiting for me that I need as much as I need you, but isn't nearly as good for me..."

She left that last sentence to hang in the air and exhaled deeply.

Hearing "I needed you" put just a bit of a spin on Kerry's head. He listened to the rest of what Annie had to say, and spent more than a couple of minutes in silent wondering if he should speak, if he should tell her just how much this Flame played with his head.

"Yeah, she played with my head," he told her after clearing his throat. "And I had to face a lot of stuff . . .

"My mother wanted a girl, real bad. She told me that a couple of times. Once when I was young she was in a good mood and playing with me, and joked about how cute I would have been if I'd been her daughter. I was like 5, so I didn't give it a lot of mind; in fact, it's not one of those things you give much of a second thought to.

"A few years ago she and I got into a fight about school, and she really laid into me, and she said something like, 'I hate you! If you'd been a girl you'd be so different!' It really pissed me off, but it hurt a lot, too. It's like being told you're this huge disappointment and that it'd been better if you weren't around. And that's how I felt.

"I got all that thrown in my face. And . . . I got to be my mom's little girl. I was--" He nodded toward the circle. "Her girl. And never having been a girl before, let me tell you . . .."

He giggled, then looked Annie in the eyes. "If I could have been Kari--with an "AI"--I would be different. And I wouldn't know you. We might be friends, maybe, but I wouldn't know you." He clutched her hand again, gave it a nice squeeze, then released it. "If you need me, I'll always be here. Don't worry about that, okay?"

Annie listened, wide-eyed, while Kerry told her about his experiences both in the Flame and with his mother. “Kerry, I…” she had an overwhelming urge to grab his hand and run out of the Great Hall to get away from the small crowd of people milling around and watching the rest of the 1st years being sorted.

She looked around to see if anyone was paying particular attention to the two of them and, after she was satisfied that all of the others were busying themselves with the sort, she began again.

“I can’t imagine how terrible your mother must have made you feel, but believe me when I tell you that it’s your destiny to be male. Whether we are able to choose it or it chooses us, I am not entirely sure.

“I do know that if you were not who you are, I would be incomplete, and so our lives would be in chaos because each of us would have lost their, er,” Annie floundered for the right word and it slipped out in Bulgarian. “Moyata dusha.” She gazed into Kerry’s eyes and continued. “Their…soul mate.”

“My father always says there is no hero without a wound. This is the way it should be, Kerry.”


Annie smiled. “I have a riddle for you. My father asks my mother it every day and she always replies one way.” Her cheeks flushed as she thought of the years of fierce devotion and passion shared between her mother and father. “What is both the sweetest and the bitterest thing in the world?”

Kerry heard the words "soul mate" and his mind went eurrr. Maybe it was something Eastern European; maybe she really liked him; maybe . . . well, he didn't want to think about the third maybe.

He might not be the sharpest knife in the box, but he was getting the gist of Annie's riddle. Mostly because he'd spent time with her family, and he'd seen how that were together, so when it came time for Annie to Sphinx up stuff in where her parents came into the picture . . . yeah, didn't take a genius.

But he had an idea--

"I know the answer to that," he whispered to her. "And I'm going to tell it to you . . . the first time you ride a broom alongside me." He smiled. "After all, we're suppose to face those fears, aren't we?"

Annie felt her cheeks burn as she remembered her ride within the flames. Her lip trembled as her head tilted down. “She forced me on a broom.”

She closed her eyes, remembering the awful vision of the Flames cruel glowing eyes and the blood-curdling scream that erupted from a place hidden deep within Annie’s being, as she raced toward the Earth on the broom. A single tear escaped, rounding her cheek and landing on her blouse.

“I will ride again. My destiny will be fulfilled.” She opened her eyes and faced Kerry once again. “You’re part of that,” she laughed. “and I’ll be expecting that answer.”

"Hey." Kerry gave she a peck on a cheek to show her he wasn't trying to put in her a difficult situation. "I won't force you to do anything, but I know you'll be able to do it. Because when the time comes, you'll want to do it.

"And you know what? You're gonna be better than me." His smile told her all she needed to know about how he felt. "And when you ask me for that answer, I'm going to give it." He paused for dramatic effect. "Just remember, you start asking for answer to riddles from you soul mate, it might lead somewhere from which you can never return."

Kerry shrugged. "Oh, and and I was told purple is a good color for me," he said, smiling broadly.

"Purple?? Whoever told you that lie!" Annie sniggered thinking about Kerry in purple dress robes.

She leaned over, rested her head on his shoulder, and yawned. It had been a very long and emotional day for both of them.

"Omrazna mi," Annie said, forgetting to speak in English. "Sorry about that. I suppose I am just a little too comfortable right here." she snuggled a little closer. "I said I'm tired." She yawned once again and shut her eyes.

Kerry pulled in her close and let her rest, his arm around his shoulder. He saw the shell-shocked looks on the faces of some of the other students who'd been in the flames, and he noticed most everyone was leaving them be, except in cases where they were still obviously shook up and didn't want to be left alone.

It had been a long, crazy, two weeks, and it didn't look like it was going to get any easier. If anything, it looked like they'd really stepped into something strange here. But strange was Kerry's forte, and as much as Annie talked about Dark Arts--and as much as she'd bugged Tonkies back at The 'Wart--he had a feeling she was going to show him something he'd never seen before.

Whether he would welcome it--different story.

He hugged her as she relaxed. "It's okay, sweetie," he whispered. "We're here. Everything's good now."

Seeing that Annie's color didn't look too good, Kerry tapped the coven head on the arm. "Professor?" he asked. "Would it be okay if I take Annie to your hospital? She's not looking good . . . I think the flames make her kinda sick." He leaned towards Professor Holoč and whispered, "She gets like that."

He was about to recommend that a little juice or milk might calm the girl's stomach down, but was hit with two things: one, remembered something Helena Lovecraft had said to him two day prior, and the earnest look on the boy's face.

"Go on," he replied. "Hospital is in the West Transept, 2nd Floor--" he pointed in that direction. "The nurse should be there." As Kerry and Annie rose, he added, "If you aren't able to get back in time to go to the towers, I'll have one of the elves bring someone along to the commons." He nodded and let them leave--

And thought for a moment he thought he heard the boy say, "Okay, Sweets, this way," as they walked away. He smile: Ah to be like that again.