Depression (Open...Please come play I need some friends)

Tabi really didn't want to come to school this year, if fact she drug her feet so bad she arrived at school late. She really missed Ivano who was attending another school this year, and to top it all off she had to put up with Damien for the whole summer.

Granted Damien didn't like it any more than she did, but they didn't have a choice. Damien had told her that Anne was going to try and convince his father that the two of them being together was not such a good idea.

It was days like this that someone she knew would come in and talk to her, she missed her sister and was at least glad they could talk to each other in their minds but feeling like this she wanted her close.

All Tabi could do was lay on the couch and cry.

Charlotte hopped into the common room and immediately stopped when she heard the sounds of someone crying, she didn't think that there were any ghosts that did that in here, so it must be a person, truth be told she had not spent all that much time in the common room lately, and had been neglecting her fellow Slytherins a little bit, but that didn't really bother her as long as she had other friends.

Peeking her head around some of the chairs, eventually she found the source of the crying, it was a girl that she had not spoken to that much, but she did know her, they had spoken at the very start of year one, and had drifted apart since then.

Sucking at her lip piercing, Charlotte gently knocked on the table nearest her, not wanting to interrupt something private;

"I was wondering...if you perhaps...needed someone to talk to about, about the reason why you're crying?" she asked tentatively.

Tabi sat up and wondered who was tapping on the table sitting up she noticed it was Charlotte. Charlotte wanted to talk to her now, for the last year she has hardly said two words too me and because I am crying now she wants to talk.

Tabi knew it wasn't Charlotte's fault, Tabi took her sleeve and wiped away her tears.

"Sure, if you want to listen to my problems, usually any more no one cares about me." Tabi sighed

Tess was in a very good mood, ever since her summer so much had changed, and she saw it all as a positive thing. She had gone through growth both emotional and physical and she appreciated it all. Still, her cheeriness was mucked a bit as she heard someone crying.

She frowned and walked towards the noise. She saw two blonds and she guessed who they were.

Oh Tabi she thought frowning.

Last year, she had not managed to talk to her much, but rather she spent her time with Ivano, and Tess herself spent time with Xander. She walked forward and sat down, feeling bad if she'd neglected her.

Tabi noticed that Tess had come and sat down on the other side of her so she moved over a little so she would fit. She always did like Tess and Charlotte but since first year she had not really talked to Charlotte and last year she pretty much ignored Tess even though she shared a room.

Tabi leaned her head on Tess and placed a hand on Charlotte, "I am sorry that you have to see me like this, I just don't know what to do any more. I just want things my way, and not my fathers."

Tess was glad that Tabi trusted her enough to lean forward and initiate contact. She wrapped her arms around her delicately trying to comfort her. She really did like Tabi, while brash and blunt, she found her honesty refreshing and reliable to not lie to her. She rubbed her arm sympathetically and tried to calm her down.

It hurt her to see someone she considered a friend to be hurt. She was soft, yes she knew it, but she realized it wasn't too terrible to be such a softy, especially when it came to her friends.

"It's okay Tabi" she whispered. "We're here, you can trust us."

She knew what she meant, Damien was what was stopping her from being truly happy, well Damien and their bond. She felt a pang thinking if she had to face that as well.

"Open up if need be" she added softly.

She smiled softly at Charlotte, mentally thanking her for being kind enough to be with Tabi. She hadn't really talked to Charlotte in a while, and while on friendly terms it was never the same since first year.

Tabi new the one thing about being a Slytherin was that what happens in the house always stays in the house, everyone may at one point stab you in the back, but in the next breathe they will have your back.

"My summer, was horrible I had to be pranced around all summer as Damien's little wife to be." Tabi was sniffling

"Then Ivano told me he won't be back, his parents shipped him elsewhere."

Tabi sighed a little, "Then I had to listen to them say how worthless Leshia was, still. So what she didn't get in Slytherin, she is still a person."

Charlotte smiled lighlty as Tess came over too, she was a lot more comfortable now it was not just her on her own, she didn't know why, perhaps it was juts in case she said something wrong she didn't want to end up making them feel worse than they already did.

Listening to Tess begin to try and comfort Tabi, Charlotte had to wait for a moment to piece together what had been going on, she didn't know much about what had happened between everyone else, so the realisation that Tabi was engaged came as a little bit of a shock.

"Wow, that sounds like a lot of hurt for someone so young like us," Charlotte said, biting her lip, because it did sound as if it was the end of her world, or the world and how she knew it "Families can be horrible, believe me I know, but, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel, maybe you could try and get out of this engagement somehow? Although I know you've probably already tried."

Tabi sighed Charlotte was right, but then she always was when Tabi did listen to her. Many people may have thought Tabi wasn't listening but she did.

"I just wish my parents were not so strict on their beliefs" Having to follow their ever wish gets old after awhile.

"No, we don't have any ideas how to talk our parents into getting ride of the contract. So if you guys have any ideas let me know." Tabi sighed but she did try to smile.

Tess sighed a bit. She could never imagine herself in that situation, and felt grateful it was not the case for her. She tried to smile, trying to calm Tabi down, cheer her up a bit. She wasn't particularly fond of Damien, especially since she saw the bruises last year. She sighed and looked at her softly.

"I wish I had a good idea Tabi" she murmured. "What have you two tried?"

Charlotte smiled lightly, and she wondered about what they could do to help Tabi, she couldn't believe that she had been signed away to Damien, almost like she was some sort of posession rather than the person that she was, and it made Charlotte even more compelled to help her out.

She hated people who treated others like property, they had no right. Tracing the heart she had drawn on her hand, Charlotte hummed while she thought, and then she had an idea;

"Is the contract like, up on display? Do they check it regularily?" she asked "I might have an idea."

Tabi face lite up when Charlotte said she might have an idea, but first she looked at Tess,

"All I have tried to do was talk to my parents, and all that got me was a couple of lashes from my father. I guess I should be glad it was not from Mr. Greene Tabi sighed "He is more strict than my parents."

When Charlotte asked about the contract, "I really do not know much about the marital contract, it was signed when Damien was born. Sometimes I wonder if the Greene's have something on my parents."

Tabi didn't care what happened, she just wanted to be untied from Damien.

Tess was glad that Charlotte had some sort of idea as to how to stop it. She wondered just what the contract stated and figured she might ask.

"Have you read it thoroughly?"

It sounded foolish to ask, but there were often times loopholes in many contracts. And if it was signed with blood...well that should would be detrimental to be destroyed.

Tabi looked at Tess and began to think about the contract. She had never actually seen the contract her parents just told her that it was there.

"You know Tess, I have never seen anything." Tabi actually smiled "Only what they have told me."

Tabi hugged Tess and then hug Charlotte, "Thank you both, maybe there really isn't one and this is just their trick."

Tabi began to wonder if it would really be that easy.

Charlotte thought that this was going to be a lot harder if Tabi didn't know where the contract was, in many ways it would have been better if it was up on display or something like that, sucking on her lip peircing, Charlotte ran her hands through her hair and she suggested;

"I could always attempt to forge a document that would help, a counter contract or something, I'm not sure if that would work but, if you wanted and think it would do something, I could try."

With a small smile, Charlotte hugged Tabi back, and she felt as if she was a lot closer to the girl now, she had been let into her life unexpectadly, and she thought that it was not only flattering, but that it was important that Charlotte respected what she had done for her.

"Maybe, maybe it is just a trick, but why would they do that to two young people?" she sighed quietly "I guess it's something that we couldn't understand."

Tess gladly hugged Tabi back and gave her a small grin. She didn’t want her hurt in any way, and she knew it would crush her if she married Damien. Damien wasn’t good for her, she felt this since the moment she saw those bruises. It was a good thing she didn’t know him or else…well she’s glad she didn’t know him or she’d end up in Azkaban.

“Why not wait it out?” she asked softly. “You are promised to one another but yet you must marry until you are of age. Why not simply wait it out and when time comes...marry first? I know this may sound stupid to ask, but what exactly are the terms?”

Tabi got a big smile on her face and clapped her hands together. "You know that would be perfect, we could have some sort of forged document, and then the minute we graduate if we were to marry who we wanted they couldn't stop us."

Tabi had not been this happy for a long time, "I will just talk with Damien and explain everything and if we play our parts no one would be the wiser."

Tabi was trying to think of what kind of forged documents there could be. Tabi was almost 14 and with the way she was raise she could almost pass for 16, most Slytherins were always that way.

"Now what kind of forged papers do you think?" Tabi asked looking at Charlotte

Charlotte was so pleased that she was able to make Tabi a little bit happier by what she had suggested, of course it was risky, she could get in a lot of trouble for it, but with her artistic eye she could be able to reduplicate them graphically almost perfectly if given enough time, they just needed to be able to know what it was that she was supposed to be making in the first place.

"That would be completely right, and hopefully when I make it, nobody will be able to tell that it's forged, but it might take a while to be able to make properly, after all it's got to look real and be able to pass for legal..."

Frowning a little bit, she sucked at her lip piercings;

"The only problem is I don't know much about the legalities of it all, or what we could even make to allow you to slip out of the contract, do you have any ideas?" she looked at Tess "I mean, we should probably research it first, just to make sure it would work, I dont want you getting into even more trouble."

Tess was glad that Tabi was more cheerful and hopeful of being free from the marriage, but as she pondered over Charlotte's question she wondered if it was wise to forge it. The legalities behind it could probably land them in Azkaban.

"Well....based on what I've read, most contracts within marriages are signed by the patriarchs of the family. What if you actually write a real contract, but instead using the signatures of both parties (you and Damien) and that would have equal standing if you were to have an adult create the contract itself."

She bit her bottom lip thinking.

"Or we could try and find the contract and well...make it disappear?"

Charlotte nodded her head, it sounded like the right way to go about it and it was a lot less likely to get her into a whole heap of trouble, which was not what she needed right now, and she could end up somewhere that she really did not want to end up...shuddering at the thought she thought that Tess' idea was getting more and more appealing by the second.

"I think that would be good, if we perhaps found someone in the ministry and explained the situation to them, they might have more knowledge on what we could do to get the contract nulled." she smiled "That's a better idea than mine Tess, and a lot more legal." she grinned.

Sucking her her lip peircing Charlotte nodded her head again;

"There could be something to that too, although I don't think even Tabi knows where it is."

Tabi was excited as she listened to the two girl talk and tried to think about where things would be kept.

"I guess when we have the next holiday I can check out my dad's office." Tabi got to think about ideas on how to get it done.

"I am sure between Damien, Leshia, and my little brother we can create some diversion to get me into the office. Either Damien or I can get in there."

Tabi would spend the next few weeks trying to decide what to do.

Charlotte was glad that there was something that they could do to help Tabi, it seemed as if it was going to be possible to do something that would make her feel a lot better about the while thing that her and Damien were going through, and hopefully it would stop anyone else getting hurt by it.

"I think that would be a good idea, I ocould try and ask my Papa about something that we can do legal wise, after all he works for the Ministry sometimes." she smiled happily, glad to be a help in any way she could be.

Hoping that everything would go well and that she wouldn't get into trouble, Charlotte sucked on her lip piercing a little bit;

"I just hope that you don't get into trouble, hopefully there will be enough of a diversion to help you look."

Tabi could not believe how much better she felt she had to hug Tess and Charlotte.

"Thank you so much, for being nice to me, I know I have not been the best person to be around the last two years." Tabi had been a down right witch and she knew that.

"I am trying to be a better person, I really am." Tabi sighed, she didn't care about her parents any more or what they thought.

Tess hugged her back and smiled glad she could help. She wanted her friend to be happy, after all despite their differences she viewed Tabi as her friend.

"I'll help in anyway I can Tabi I promise you that" she said softly.

She felt a bit bad at her comment about being a better person. After all despite her beliefs she wasn't terrible.

Charlotte smiled happily and returned the hug that Tabi gave her, it was nice to have re-made friends with the girl, after all they had known each other for a bit and then they had slowly began to drift apart, it was nice to be back together again, and with Tess too.

Unhappy that Tabi seemed to think that she had been a bad person, Charlotte wanted to make sure that she told her that she wasn't after all, people clashed on different aspects, it didn't mean that either of them were bad people.

"I'm happy to help too, after all, that's what friends and house mates are for right? We're your family while you are away from home, and family members always help each other out." she grinned with a happy tone to her voice.