Blood (Amelie)

Fabien wanted his older brother to take him school supply shopping. It was nearing the time to when he would leave them and not see them until Christmas. So, Fabien decided to go with Max, Eddie, and the twins, Briar and Isabel to spend more time with them. Even though they made fun of him, Fabien loved them. The five of them sat on a bench outside the pet store with some of Fabien's school supplies by their side.

Fabien looked at Eddie, and moved his hand in Rufus's mouth to make him talk. Rufus said, "Can we go look in the pet store?" The family was used to Fabien's puppet by now, and everybody hoped that being away from them for a while would help Fabien's social awkwardness. But since Sara died, they hadn't seen much improvement.

They agreed to go look in the pet store. Max and Freddie told Briar and Isabel to go with him, as they wanted to do something special for him. Fabien moved his hand to make Rufus nod, and followed his twin sisters into the building. In there, Fabien saw all sorts of cool animals. But he knew he couldn't have. He went up to the guinea pigs and looked at Rufus. Fabien stuck his hand into the cage, but instantly pulled away when he felt a sting. He held up his puppet free hand, and saw blood dripping from the tip of his finger.

He didn't know what to do. He couldn't wipe it on Rufus, Rufus was too good for blood. And he couldn't wipe it on his favorite scarf either. It was too precious. He looked over and saw a girl. He looked at his finger and back to the girl again. He had made up his mind. He took his finger and wiped it on the girl's sleeve. He didn't try to run away, for he knew that he was in trouble no matter what.

Amelie was loving this magical new world, with amazing shops and a wonderful school at which to learn magic, and strange people in strange clothes and wooden sticks which made things explode. Because she’d been so excited, she’d convinced her parents to take her school shopping early in the summer. But then she’d become enticed with this wonderful place, and her big sister had agreed to take her to look around the shops just for fun, and to buy her a new dress! It was going to be light purple and it was going to make her look beautiful!

Her papa drove them to Avenue De Ombre Noir and dropped them off before wandering off towards the centre of the muggle shopping district in Paris. Today was one of the few days where she absolutely adored her sister. If not for Kalle, Amelie would be stuck at home watching cartoons, bored out of her mind. Her parents didn’t think she was grown-up enough to go to places by herself - it was really quite annoying. The lack of trust they seemed to have in their obviously intelligent, e a rare streetwise daughter was very insulting. She dealt with it pretty well, though. Big diva tantrums were a rare occurrence nowadays. It didn’t matter, though, really. Most of the time she wasn’t desperate to go somewhere by herself. Just today. But Kalle had solved the problem.

They wandered along the street quite slowly, giving Amelie time to gawp and giggle at all the funny shops. Then she saw a weird, cool looking place called Animaux Mystiques. “Kalle, Kalle, Kalle!” she exclaimed excitedly. “We have to go in there! We have to!” Kalle’s cat had given birth to four new kittens recently, so Amelie’s pet was one of the new babies. Nonetheless, she wanted to see all the animals in the shop and her sister seemed to agree, so they headed into the fairly crowded shop. Admittedly she was no animal obsessionist, but she was still delighted with all the cats and frogs and rats and everything else.

She was too busy staring at the most adorable kitten she’d ever seen when she felt someone touch her sleeve. Thinking it had probably just been an accident, she glanced around. And caught sight of a disgusting, red, sticky substance on the sleeve of her cardigan. It was only a smear, but she had to hold back a cry of dismay. “My cardigan!” Mama would be angry. It was a new, white cardigan, and now it was ruined! By a gross boy’s blood! “Why did you do that?” she asked, calmly but with annoyance clear in her tone.

Why did he do it? Well, obviously because there was nothing else to wipe it on, and his finger was injured. So, when he had discussed it with Rufus about were to put the blood, Rufus had suggested the girls sweater. Yes. He could blame Rufus. Rufus was always to blame. So, he looked a Rufus, and moved his hand to look at the girl. His hand moved, "My finger was bleeding and Fabien needed something to wipe it on. So I said your sleeve." Fabien nodded at Rufus. It wasn't Fabien's fault. Fabien had no say in this.

Rufus was the culprit. Rufus ruined the girls sweater, and Fabien had no say. That was all Fabien could think. And he couldn't apologize to the girl. No, that would involve speaking to her. And he was too terribly shy for that. Fabien couldn't speak to his own brothers let alone a strange girl that he had just met.

Fabien looked at Rufus, and he moved his hand, "I'm Rufus, and this is Fabien, what's your name?"Fabien hoped that the girl would forget what Rufus did to her, and move on. Maybe they could be friends. After all, she did look to be around his age. Maybe they would be going to Beauxbatons together! Wouldn't that be fun! A new friend already! He senserly hoped that the girl wasn't too offended by what Rufus did. Rufus wasn't mean all the time.

He was actually very nice, and sometimes even gave compliments. Fabien looked at the girl with pleading eyes and begged her to forgive him. Hopefully he didn't have to speak out loud. That would be terrifying, as he rarely spoke to his siblings, and the one he did speak to was dead.

Amelie was taken aback, and she didn't know what to do. On one hand, she wanted to make a fuss and declare this boy her sworn enemy for ruining her beautiful cardigan. But on the other hand, she wanted to be gracious and graceful and patient and forgive him and make a new friend. He looked about her age - maybe he was going to start school at Beauxbatons with her? In that case, she wanted to make sure she had an ally in this new place. So she decided to forgive him, and be polite and ladylike like her mama would want her to be.

"It's very nice to meet you Rufus, and Fabien too," she smiled. "My name is Amelie, and this is..." Suddenly her sister had disappeared. Nevermind. It didn't matter, for her sister would probably only embarrass her in front of her potential new friend and his weird, slightly creepy puppet. "Are you starting Beauxbatons this year too, Fabien? In first-year?" She was so ahead of herself, ensuring friendships at her new school before she even started. She smiled, trying to appear friendly. Because now that she had got the idea that she could have a friend, she was quite anxious to make the most of the opportunity.

Kalle needed to get back here. She didn't want to be left all alone in this unfamiliar alley, without her older sister to guide her around and buy her ice-cream. But she managed to forget about her sister and focus on puppet boy. "Are you buying an animal here?" Amelie asked, slightly envious. It would be nice to be able to choose her own pet, even though she was completely happy with the kitten she had.

Fabien looked at Rufus. This girl wasn't mad. Or even the slightest bit annoyed that Rufus had wiped blood on her cardigan. Fabien blinked several times, shocked at this observation. And blinked again when she decided to have a conversation with him afterwards. Was this girl really worth it? She wanted to be friends with him and Rufus. And she was talking to Rufus. Fabien was so in shock at the situation that he couldn't speak. Fabien wasn't good with talking to people, which was why he had Rufus there to guide him. He looked around for his siblings, and saw none of them in site. Which was bad. How was he going to get home? They would get yelled at for leaving their helpless brother all alone in a place he wasn't familiar with.

Fabien then realized the girl was waiting on answers to her questions. He looked at Rufus and gave him the ok that it was good to talk to her. He moved his hands and said, "Yes, we are going to Beaxbaton's. What about you?" Well, of course she was stupid Rufus. She wouldn't be asking if she wasn't! But, could this be the only chance that Fabien where to meet a friend, he was willing to open up to her. Through Rufus of course. Nobody would ever be able to talk to him personally. His sister ruined that when she died.

She asked about an animal and if he was buying one. His parents had gotten him an owl already, and he had just been in here to look. Rufus said, "Nope, just looking. We already have an owl." Fabien nodded in agreement with Rufus. Just looking. And even though he was the weird kid with the puppet, this girl was giving Fabien a chance, and accepting Rufus as well.