Spaghetti worms and silent tears Finished

Eris wasn't a fan of school. It was long, arduous, and just not fun. That had all changed when she had started at Hogwarts. Every day was an adventure, and all the other kids were interesting and nice to talk too. Eris had never had friends before, but at Hogwarts she had already made quite a few close friends, including her friend with a demonic pet salamander, Kaegen. She often found herself thinking about Kaegen--in a friendship way, not a gross cootie spreading way-- and the time they had spent at the lake together. Eris had found that to be an extremely eventful day, and even though she thought the other boy was a little weird, she loved his different outlook on the world. Eris just loved the way he radiated magic, and it also helped that he had pockets full of magical creatures. She didn't know what it was about the boy, but she related to him. Maybe he had a weird childhood too. Either way, Eris was too busy to dwell on it.

The short red-head wasn't thinking about Kaegen when she left the great hall after lunch ,and walked into the small hall. She was thinking about homework, and how much she hated it. Even at a magical school, homework sucked. Eris was glowering at the ground, deep in thought about how to get out of charms homework, when she finally stopped in her tracks. There was moving spaghetti on the floor. Eris had seen plenty of weird things at Hogwarts so far, including an acid salamander and an infectious disease called cooties, but never before had she seen moving food.

Her eyes finally caught on her friend, crouched in the midst of the possessed Italian food. There was a messenger bag with something that looked like spaghetti sauce or blood spilling out of it, along with more of the satan spaghetti. Eris was so busy looking at the wiggling food, that she almost didn't see the tear fall, or the ones accompanying it, but when she did Eris frowned deeply. Why on earth was Kaegen crying in the midst of evil dinner? All of a sudden it clicked, as Eris stared at the spaghetti wiggling around on the floor. They were a creature of some sort, or possessed food that Kaegen had somehow gotten his hands on. He hadn't been attacked by them. He had just tripped and released them, in the same manner he had released Vortigern on the train. At least Eris hoped that was what was going on. It was better than the alternative that Kaegen was getting eaten alive by food.

Eris vowed never to eat spaghetti again, as she hitched up her robes and took a hesitant step into the sticky mess of sauce and spaghetti things doing the worm on the stone floor. "Don't touch me demon pasta!" She muttered, as a worm inched close to her foot.

Finally, she reached the centre of the mess, where Kaegen was still sitting. The small girl knelt down besides him, not sure of what to do. She carefully placed a hand on his back, waiting from him to jerk away. The feeling of touching somebody else was so odd to Eris, that she wrinkled her nose and had to think for a second before talking.

"Kaegen. It's Eris." She said softly, as if talking to a baby. "It's going to be okay." Eris didn't know why he was crying, but she still was trying to offer him support. The school was wonderful, what could of been bothering him? Maybe something from home? Eris didn't want to bring it up yet, so instead she just sat there, a hand on Kaegen's back as she tried to offer comfort with solidarity. Kaegen could talk when he was ready. Until then, Eris would let him cry. Then she would ask why and how in the bloody hell he had somehow turned spaghetti into a living devil thing. That seemed fair enough.

The tears stopped when eris came closer. She said it was going to be okay, like she could do something about any of this. She couldn't get rid of the stairs, or the people or the horrible social cues people expected you to pick up on. It would be nice, if she could. He had talked with her before, she was on the train, in compartment 7. She was by the lake when he got to see the squid. Thinking back on it, she had been a pretty consistent friend, even though vortigern had melted her shirt. It made him happy, in a sad kind of way.
Like if you are in a sea of misery, but there is one candle. Perhaps more, out there. But right now you just have the one. It makes you sad that it's only a little candle, but also happy that it is a little candle. That the little speck of light is trying to make a difference, however small. He got over the sadness enough to turn and look over at eris. He was still way too tired. Too much was weighing down on the little boy, he wanted a break. But there wasn't really a break in sight. He had too much planned, too many goals to complete before he died. He gave a half hearted attempt at a smile, trying to make eris think that maybe he wasn't all that bad off. That she really shouldn't worry. If he could survive the fens, adapt there, he could adapt and survive here. And maybe he would try asking for help from someone. He might regret it, but maybe not.

Eris gave a half smile in return as Kaegen turned to look at her. When he finally smiled at her, Eris's smile vanished. She had seen too many sad watery smiles coming from other friends and family to believe that Kaegen had recovered from his crying fit in a moment. She calmly removed her hand from his back, and pushed herself up to her knees, than finally pushed herself all the way up. Resisting the urge to dust the spaghetti sauce and demon spaghetti off her knees, as they feebly wigged around, sliding down her robes, Eris offered a hand to help Kaegen up, frown still on her face.

"What's wrong?" She said quietly, finding it hard to speak in the somber atmosphere. It would of been a lot more somber if it wasn't for the spaghetti flopping around on the floor like worms of some sort. "You don't have to tell me, but I'm here for you." Eris said, after a brief pause. Her hand was still extended, in a silent request for Kaegen to take it and get up. Dinner was just ending. Maybe Eris could slip out and get him hot chocolate when he got up. She knew that hot chocolate was very helpful for bad moments.

What could be wrong with Kaegen? Eris's heart was pounding, as she looked at him with a concerned look. Was he going to be okay? Eris could barely even think about things that would be wrong, but tried to consider what might of been going on for Kaegen. Not everybody had the same problems as Eris. Maybe he was having a hard time with some other friends. For all Eris knew, he could be unhappy at school, although the idea of that seemed absurd to the young red-head.

What was wrong? At first glance an easy question to answer, but on a second glance not so much. It was so many, many things. As he thought more about it, he finally decided on an answer. It seemed to sum up what he was feeling right then. Taking her hand gently, he stood up.
"I'm tired."
His voice was even quieter than it normally was. A whisper of a whisper.
He looked at the girl, she was so much shorter than he was, but seemed to stand a lot taller. Crouching a bit, he started scooping the spaghetti worms back into the bag. He had too many things on his plate, had gone through a change in everything way too fast. He wondered what the girl was thinking about, why she was coming over and helping him. Why was the candle stopping over by his boat on this ocean? It didn't make much sense, but at this point, he might as well ask.
"Why are you talking to me?"
It would help him to understand this a bit more. Why some people were so nice, why some people would take the time to do something like this. It was very, very comforting.

Eris nodded. Being tired was normal. But was he tired in the physical sense or in the sense were everything was getting too hard and you just couldn't do anything? Eris wasn't able to tell with Kaegen sometimes. He was too soft-spoken, and Eris wasn't a mind reader. Although she sometimes wished she was one, like her other ravenclaw friend seemed to be. Eris couldn't remember the girl's name though, and now wasn't the time to be thinking about other people. Chiding herself, Eris turned her attention back to Kaegen.

"Why are you talking to me?" Eris had to listen hard to hear Kaegen's voice, as he cleaned up the spaghetti things. She moved her hand back to her side, and took a breath, to collect her thoughts before she responded. "I'm talking to you because I'm your friend and you're sad. Friends talk to their friends and try to help them when they're tired." Eris said, in an equally quiet voice, as she studied Kaegen and the things he was shoving into his pouch. "Besides, I'm also talking to you because I enjoy talking to you about magical creatures, and just things in general." She shorter red-head said, kneeling down once again to help Kaegen pick up the spaghetti things.

With a shaking hand, Eris helped shovel the spaghetti into the bag. They were disgusting, but she wasn't about to quit. The sooner they got the mess on the floor cleaned up the better. Eris didn't want anybody to fall into the growing puddle of sauce on the floor, nor did she want any of Kaegen's spaghetti monsters to get hurt.

A friend, yeah that was nice, a nice reason.
Kaegen took the pain, and fatigue that was weighing on him and pushed it away, off to that dark corner where the rest of it was locked away. He would he happy, by force if necessary. He would be someone fun to talk to, someone that could be called friend. It would be alright, one day he would leave this school, he would go somewhere else and have a decent life. In a nice forest, or swamp somewhere. One day he wouldn't have to be tired, he wouldn't have to force himself to keep going.
Kaegen took a deep breath. He was being way over dramatic. He was going to try and have fun now. Try and enjoy the time spend in the hard-floored death trap.
"Do you like them? I call them spaghetti worms." They were almost done with the cleanup. Kaegen grabbed one and popped it into his mouth, slurping it and the spaghetti sauce. It tasted pretty good, and through trial and error, had been somewhat proven to not be very poisonous. He still made sure to spit out the head, however. He didn't want that thing living in his stomach, he just wanted to snack.

Eris thought that Kaegen could use a nap. He looked almost as tired as Eris's father had looked when he talked to her mother. Eris didn't like seeing her friend look so tired and sad. Friend. How funny it felt to say that. Just months before coming to school Eris hadn't a friend in the world besides her sister, and now she was standing in the small hall of a magical school helping her dear friend pick up writhing pasta and to clean up pasta sauce. Eris hoped Kaegen considered her a friend too, because she would do anything for the boy. Including, climbing up the stairs on all fours because he was doing it, glaring at anybody who judged him, and of course, not dying when he threw an acid salamander named Vortigern at her. And most importantly, Eris had risked her life for Kaegen! She was still friends with him even though he was a boy and could give her.. cooties.

It would be well-worth it if Eris got cooties though, just if she could have a friendship with the odd boy that she so enjoyed talking too.

Wait no. She'd have to change her mind on that, seeing Kaegen stick one of the so-called spaghetti worms into his mouth. Oh god, why was she friends with him? Eris let out a gasp, before staring at Kaegen with wide eyes. "Er, they're lovely Kaegen." She said, swallowing down her revulsion, as she slowly began to wonder what they tasted like. "Do they taste like worms," not that she had any idea what worms tasted like, "Or do they taste like spaghetti?" She watched him spit out the still moving head, revulsion and child-like interest still warring in her head. She couldn't pick which emotion she should feel. Was it cool that her friend had made worms out of food, or was it gross that he had ate the previously mentioned food worms? Eris was very confused.

Did they taste like worms? No, not really, more like spaghetti, but with pasta sauce flavoring on the inside.
"They taste like whatever they've been eating"
He looked over at the girl, picked up a worm and passed it over. "do you want one?"
They had just finished cleaning up the worms, and Kaegen strapped the bag back on under his robe. He was feeling alright now. It amazed him how much better the girl made him feel. Just by being there, making him not be alone. Not feeling alone, feeling like someone tolerates you is a amazing feeling. In fact, he was feeling a bit better than alright. He was feeling good. He was feeling ready to take on the next challenge that life threw his way. A smile, this time a real one, spread slightly across his mouth. "Wait one second." Reaching into his robe, Kaegen took out a small knife, in a brown sheath that looked poorly made. Kaegen had made the sheath when he was younger, he hadn't been pretty good then. He wasn't even especially good now, but the knife was made by his grandfather. It was shining metal, with a perfect edge. Curving up to a point.
"Here, you can have it."
It seemed like a fair trade. A good friend for a good knife.

Eris giggled, repulsion fading away because of the stark honesty and interest on her friend's face. "What if they were eating something gross?" She asked, nose wrinkling. What did worms eat anyways? Noticing the worm coming her way, Eris knew she had a split second to decide. Either she took the worm and tried something new that her friend made, or said no and was safe from something growing in her stomach or a gross tasting worm. Eris accepted the worm from Kaegen's sauce stained hands and held it up to her face, squinting at the wiggling worm.

Five second rule, right? Praying that the worm had only been on the floor for five seconds or less , Eris mimicked Kaegen's motions and took a bite of the worm. She spit out the head a second later, still obeying what Kaegen had done with the worm he had taken a bite from. With a wrinkled nose, Eris chewed up the worm and swallowed it.

It didn't taste bad exactly. A lot like spaghetti, but with an undertone of something earthy. Maybe dirt or soil. Assuming that was whatever Kaegen fed them. It wasn't a bad taste, but Eris wasn't exactly going to try eating it again.

Wait one second. For what? Eris stared at Kaegen in confusion, as he withdrew a blade from his robes. The sheath wasn't well crafted, and Eris had a feeling a child made it. Maybe Kaegen made it when he was younger. Carefully she extended her hands, and took the blade, safely in the sheath in her hands, cradling it like precious cargo. "You don't have to give me anything Kaegen." Eris said, confusion and gratefulness expressed on her face as she stared at her friend. She had never received a gift from a friend before, nor had she ever received a knife. The short red-head didn't even know what one did with a knife, although she supposed the gesture of giving one to her was nice on Kaegen's part, and she was extremely grateful.