Kessen
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Posts: 41
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Post by Kessen on Dec 3, 2010 21:22:59 GMT -5
Garret stepped off of the Hogwarts express and felt a wave of familiar smells rush up to greet him. He swept a hand through his shoulder length black hair and inhaled deeply. It was good to be home. Garret had been at the beginning of the Battle of Hogwarts four years ago, though he had been too young to participate in the actual fighting, he remembered the feeling of being forced to flee the one place he had always felt the safest. Garret smiled and shouldered his backpack as he walked through the woods toward the carriages that would take him to the school. He looked around him and saw nothing but a crowd of black and silver robes. For the most part Garret didn't get along with his fellow Slytherin's. Garret was ambitious enough to be sure and wasn't overly opposed to the bending of the occasional rule or two but he lacked the cut throat mentality that had defined Slytherin's for so long. He wondered sometimes what his parents would have thought of him if they could see him now, they had both been Slytherin and by all accounts had been just as cruel as some of his class mates. Garret wondered if they would be proud of him, or just disappointed. He had come to terms with their deaths a long time ago but it didn't stop him wondering. Garret shook his head slightly dispelling these thoughts to the back of his mind. Tonight was a night to celebrate. He smiled and looked around for his friends and an empty coach.
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Post by NµKe on Dec 6, 2010 12:56:15 GMT -5
Dorian smiled to himself as one of his classmates walked by and her shoes changed color. He grinned and stood up, pulling his satchel over his shoulder and exiting the room of the train. He walked along the narrow aisle to the end, still watching the victim's colored shoes. His small, quirky grin was still on his face as he, a few minutes later, stepped off the train.
Walking along to the carriages, he was met by one of his old Ravenclaw friends, Matthew Wistleton, who had a large smile on his face. They shook hands, merely saying 'hi' and nodding somewhat awkwardly to each other. They studied together, hung out together, partied together, and adventured together, but throughout all of that, they still had not mastered, nor truly grasped, the concept of communication. They walked, side by side, along the path to the carriages and Dorian looked back over his shoulder as Matt, in front of him, climbed into the carriage. Dorian saw some Slytherins and let out something of a sigh. For some reason, probably all the dreaming he'd done during the summer, that the Slytherins wouldn't be coming back... as a house, they simply wouldn't return.
"As if..." he muttered to himself, then climbed into the carriage.
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Kessen
Junior Member
Posts: 41
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Post by Kessen on Dec 8, 2010 19:38:23 GMT -5
Garret slipped between a couple more Slytherin's and broke out into the open and away from the green and black mob. He stood looking around for a moment trying to find any of his friends but all of them seemed to have already left. This was the problem with having most of your friends be out of house. Garret briefly eyed the broomhandle sticking out of his bag but elected against flying to campus. After all the whole "giant tree of death" thing did serve as a bit of a deterrent. Garret sighed and headed for the carriage nearest to him, slipping his gear in the back and hauling himself into an empty seat. He didn't know either of the boys (both Ravenclaws) very well but he thought the blond was called Dorian.
"Cheers lads." He said a slight Scottish accent coloring his words. "Ready for another year than?"
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Post by NµKe on Dec 9, 2010 10:39:58 GMT -5
Matthew Whistleton immediately greeted the Slytherin. He offered to shake hands politely. Dorian simply nodded at the Slytherin and looked to his right, outside the carriage. He then remembered that the Slytherin had actually asked a question. Not wishing to be unnecessarily rude, Dorian muttered an answer that was somewhat along the lines of...
"Yup. You?"
Just before he let out his muttering, Matthew had launched into how ready he was for this next year. He had gotten great deals on his books, his wand had been mended (since it was broken by a Slytherin the previous year, but he left that part out), his robes had been sewn, and he had just received a new owl from his uncle who was supposedly rather rich. With the extent of this monologue and the loudness that Matthew delivered it with, Dorian was quite sure the Slytherin didn't hear his response. 'All the same,' he thought to himself and leaned back in the carriage preparing for a quiet, long ride to Hogwarts.
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Kessen
Junior Member
Posts: 41
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Post by Kessen on Dec 9, 2010 14:47:02 GMT -5
Garret shook Matthews hand and the Ravenclaw immediately went off on a long exposition on textbooks or something (he was a Ravenclaw after all). Garret listened politely inserting all the appropriate "yups" and "really's?" while only half registering what the kid was saying. The other passenger (Dorian, Garret thought) mumbled something and stared out into the night.
"Ah bigotry." Garret thought to himself. "Good to see some things never change."
Garret was allowed to be sarcastic. He was a slytherin. That said he did get tired of being judged out of hand by every first year in a red robe that happened to pass by and had a third cousin that had been hexed into a gerbil by a Slytherin. Granted most of his classmates weren't exactly warm and fuzzy (nor for that matter was Garret) but there had to be a line somewhere right?
"Don't suppose old McGonagal's will go back to Dumbledore's style of short speech long meal do ya lads?" He said aloud. McGonagal wasn't a bad Headmaster... er mistress. But the woman did tend to prattle on while everyone waited anxiously for their food!
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Post by NµKe on Dec 9, 2010 17:30:05 GMT -5
Dorian was slightly startled by the Slytherin's statement seeing as he was beginning to be hummed to sleep by Matthew's exposition. The Slytherin had caught a perfect point where Matthew was taking a break to breathe to insert a question about McGonagal. Dorian turned back towards the carriage. He made eye-contact with the Slytherin for only a split second, seeing as he was shy and didn't like direct eye contact for long.
"Probably." He said... "She'll probably stick with tradition."
Dorian shrugged, stating that either way it wasn't a big deal to him.
Matthew agreed and then went on to say...
"My Mom said that she'll probably do things similar to Dumbledore since she was such an advocate of how he handled things."
Matthew paused for a moment, as if hesitating... then he sort've blurted out...
"Do you like being a Slytherin? Were you happy you got placed there?"
Matthew's face clearly communicated his own shock by himself after he said this. His eyebrows moved into an "I'm sorry" position, but his mouth wouldn't allow him to say any more.
Dorian rolled his eyes to try and mask his own shock, discomfort, and embarrassment. He was about to turn back to the woods on his side of the carriage, but his curiosity to see the Slytherin's response was too strong.
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Kessen
Junior Member
Posts: 41
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Post by Kessen on Dec 9, 2010 19:42:26 GMT -5
The blond kid said something about McGonagol sticking to tradition and Garret rolled his eyes and looked off into the woods. Tradition had it's place he supposed but "tradition" had almost let Voldemort stroll right over the top of the world like it was his back yard. He supposed there was something to be said for doing what worked but not at the expense of ignoring something that worked better. Ah well though, McGonagol wasn't anyone's idea of young anymore so he supposed she could be excused for a little traditionalism.
It was as these thoughts were chasing themselves around inside Garret's head that Matthew suddenly blurted out something that sounded a very great deal like "DoyoulikebeingaSlytherin?" -Gasp- "Wereyouhappyyougotplacedthere" Garret took a moment to figure out what in the world the Ravenclaw had said meanwhile the boys face seemed to seize like someone had slapped a troll with a house elf. And the blond boy stared fixedly at the forest. On top of all that there were the questions to answer and Garret actually had to take a moment to think about it before he spoke.
"I don't mind being a Slytherin." He said after a moment. "I mean I don't mind being tall either, it's just what I am. Has it's high points and it's low points and that's about all there is to it really. Nothin' I can do to change it. I suppose I was happy to be sorted there too. Both my parents were in Slytherin so I was definitely expected to as well. Getting put in Slytherin sort of proved that I belong." He chose not to elaborate further (being an orphan wasn't nearly as romantic as stories made it out to be.) "What about you lot? Glad to be Ravenclaws?"
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Post by NµKe on Dec 10, 2010 22:49:30 GMT -5
Matthew chuckled at the line 'has its high points" as he thought it to be a pun. He quickly stopped after Garret simply continued.
Once the question was asked, Matthew responded with an excited and proud,
"I am very glad to be in Ravenclaw. We're taking the Quidditch cup this year, you know. Practically in the bag..."
As Matthew said this he winked at Dorian. Dorian gave something of a half-hearted grin. He suddenly remembered one place he had seen this Slytherin before -- he was on their Quidditch team. He tried to non-verbally communicate "shut-up-before-you-get-newt-ified" to Matthew who quickly got the hint; however, Matthew, never having been very good socially, didn't know how to non-awkwardly switch the topic so he reverted to his normal child-hood question.
"How much longer until we get there, do you think?"
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Kessen
Junior Member
Posts: 41
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Post by Kessen on Dec 12, 2010 14:21:33 GMT -5
A smile split Garret's face as Matthew the Ravenclaw went on about the Ravenclaw Quiditch team. Ravenclaws were more or less regarded as the Hogwarts bookworms and were (as a rule) only slightly better than Hufflepuff when it came to Quiditch or... well anything not involving a textbook. There were always exceptions to the rules Garret knew (being one of them himself) but than again the rules were the rules. Speaking of which generally speaking the rule here would be for the Slytherin (Garret) to put the Ravenclaw with a big mouth (Matthew) through the coach door and hex him into last Thursday. On the other hand.... it was Sunday. And Garret's wrist was a little tender from all the water he had drank on the train so... he supposed just this once he would let the Ravenclaw run his mouth a bit.
He raised an eyebrow in a slightly menacing fashion, and smirked at Matthew in a condescending sort of way (standards are standards after all).
"I expect it won't be too much longer." Garret said in response to Matthew's "oh my word what do I say now" question.
As if in response to Garret's answer Hogwarts castle appeared out of the fog not all that far in front of them.
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Post by NµKe on Dec 19, 2010 10:54:59 GMT -5
Dorian heaved a sigh of relief. 'At last, done with this wretched ride,' he thought to himself. He then was distracted by the beauty of Hogwarts. He loved this place. He often dreamed of it when he was away and he longed for it and the excitement-filled moments that populated the first few weeks of school. He loved the following days where he really could get into his classes, especially Charms, and learn lots. Dorian absolutely craved knowledge. He was definitely one of those life-long-learners who thrived on an excellent article, whether in a newspaper or in a well-written book.
Suppressing the desire to take out his Charms textbook and begin studying, Dorian relocated his bag to on his lap. He smiled and said...
"Glad to be back..." He said it half as a question to Garret and Matt, and half as a simple statement for himself. He half grinned, then looked over and made eye-contact with Matt, assuring the inquisitive nature of his statement.
Matt smiled, and said the first peaceful sentence of the ride that came from his mouth.
"Very glad, Dorian. Very glad indeed."
Matt then looked at Garret with an odd sense of kindness and comradery, probably simply because they had ridden in the coach and actually spoken (if a Ravenclaw has an legitimate conversation with a Slytherin, they are, somewhat, greater friends than most relationships that have ever existed between the house members), and gave him a caring inquisitive look as if he wanted to know whether Garret was truly glad to be back.
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Kessen
Junior Member
Posts: 41
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Post by Kessen on Dec 20, 2010 15:25:23 GMT -5
Garret stepped out of the coach and stared up at the wide stone staircase that led to the massive double doors into Hogwarts.
"Very glad." He answered Dorian heaving a huge sigh. He looked up at the towers massive spires his eyes surveying the old castle that had been more home to him than any other place he had ever been. "It's good to be home." A group of Slytherin's passed by and one or two of them waved Garret over towards them as they headed for the great hall and the feast that waited there for them. "Well lads," he said turning towards Dorian and Matthew. "It's been a pleasure but I'm off to do things of questionable moral standing. Enjoy the books eh?" He smiled gave Dorian a pat on the shoulder and headed up the stone staircase. He was halfway up before he turned again and flashed a wicked grin at Matthew. "See you on the Quidditch pitch than eh?" Before the Ravenclaw could answer Garret had turned and dissolved into the crowd.
(OOC: Head over to the molding table section once you've made your next Dorian post. We're going to be switching locations and characters real fast as the plot inevitably thickens!! We'll be back at Hogwarts with these guys before too long though)
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Post by NµKe on Dec 21, 2010 4:55:27 GMT -5
Matthew had been smiling at the "friend" that they seemed to have made in the Slytherin. As soon as Garret said the Quidditch taunt he quickly tried to call out...
"Definitely will!" He attempted to say it with some sort of defiance, but Matthew was never very good at smack talk or anything of the like. Dorian face-palmed and placed his hand on Matthew's shoulder.
"He doesn't mean for you to answer, Matt. When someone says something like that, then walks away, they mean for you to simply take the line and live with it. It's almost like a way of saying good-bye but with flare. Don't worry about it. Let's get some grub, shall we?"
Dorian smiled and continued to move with the crowd and the naturally excited Matthew. They began chatting about the classes they were most pumped about. As soon as Matthew mentioned Charms Dorian lit up like a lumos and began chattering away even faster, as a young school-girl might have if her crush was mentioned or walked by. Thus the beginning of their year came...
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Kessen
Junior Member
Posts: 41
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Post by Kessen on Dec 21, 2010 18:09:21 GMT -5
Phoenix Dark did not like waking up. He especially did not waking up on a strange bed in a hotel without the benefit of a cup of coffee or an alarm clock. Unfortunately for him that was exactly how he was waking up this morning... or tonight... or this afternoon... whatever.
"Dark!" The harsh voice growled from the fireplace. "You awake Dark?" "Apparently." Phoenix gathered his overcoat tightly around him (yes he had slept in his clothes the night before) and glared at the fireplace, inside of which was the dark outline of his boss's head. It was a bald head with the scruff of a goatee that seemed to come more from lack of grooming than any actual attempt at style. "We need you back home." Head Auror Jackson Flint said ignoring Phoenix's best attempts to strangle him with a glare.
"I need me back home to." Phoenix growled shifting his glare from the fire and onto the incredibly uncomfortable matress the hotel had provided. "But I also need sleep."
"You can sleep when your dead." Flint replied glibly.
"Can I sleep when you're dead?" Phoenix asked raising an eyebrow. "Cause that may be any minute now."
"You're hilarious." Flint said.
"You're flammable." Phoenix reached for his staff.
"I've got a case for you. Bad one. No leads, two bodies."
Phoenix sobered immediately. Flint was a good Auror, a veteran of the trade, when he said "bad" it meant something. Phoenix rose and stuffed his wand in his coats' inner pocket and started talking as he threw what few clothes he had brought with him into his bag. "Adress?"
"413 Bellings place. Your partner will meet you there."
"Since when do I have a partner?" Phoenix asked throwing his bag over his shoulder and turning to glare at the fireplace again.
"Since a sentence ago when I said you did." Flint said not taking notice of Phoenix's glare. "I told you Dark your one of the best I got, I can't have you taking a shot to the back just cause your stubborn."
"People die when I'm around Flint." Phoenix muttered.
"They also live Dark. You can't blame yourself for..."
"I can blame myself for whatever I want." Phoenix cut him off, a tense moment passed between the two of them but Phoenix finally sighed and said. "So who is it?"
"Katie Rill." Flint responded. "You know her?"
"Know of her. She as good as they say?"
"At least."
"She headed over there?" Phoenix asked.
"Should be."
"Tell her to bring coffee."
"Will do." The head started to fade away and with a thought and a distinct pop Phoenix Dark was gone.
(( OOC: For now Nikolai just get Katie headed toward the crime scene I'll have Phoenix get there first and set the scene a bit))
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Post by NµKe on Dec 22, 2010 16:12:21 GMT -5
[[*Cracks fingers. WOOT! Here we go!]]
Katie finished the final mug of ale and slammed it on the table, wiping her beard. She belched loudly then guffawed even louder.
"Hand it over, Faegan..." she victoriously stated and the man grasping onto the table in order to stay upright pulled out a small bag of coins and tossed it on the table.
"Well... *hiccup... drunk." Faegan abdicated, then shook hands with Katie. "See you around, Karl." He half-muttered, half-burped as he began to stagger back to his room. Katie stood up and tossed a few coins to the innkeeper. She nodded her thanks and walked outside into the slightly chilly weather. She began to walk, pleasantly enjoying the crunching sound of snow. As she rounded a corner, the older, larger, bearded, gruff man that was her turned back into her normal slender self. She brushed the hair away from her eye and smiled, rolling her shoulders back in admiration of herself. She loved being Karl every now and then. There is something beautifully simple about simply drinking in a tavern with the buddies. So unifying. Back to business now though.
As she reached the building where she was currently renting an apartment (yes, as an Auror she was moving around very often, but she also made a bit of money and loved having a place of her own. Hotels eventually get frustrating and annoying). Once she reached her room, her owl landed on the windowsill with a letter. Opening it she smiled, donned her hooded robe, and grabbed her wand. As she reached the main entrance room downstairs she noticed the housekeeper starting to sit down in his comfy chair with his cup of coffee and a nice book.
"Two coins for the cup, Ced? I'm in a hurry."
Cedrik agreed, as he usually did. She had made a bit of a habit of this, being an ex-coffee-addict herself.
"Thought you'd given it up, Katie." Cedrik said as he handed over the cup.
"Got a friend in need. You know how it goes." Katie smiled one of her winning smiles and stepped outside.
Three seconds later she was about a hundred feet outside the targeted town where this next mission was to take place. She walked quickly, but carefully as to not spill the coffee, towards 413 Bellings Place. 'It's nice to meet you, Mr. Dark. No... Hello Phoenix... No, too casual... Sup Dark?... No...' Katie went through possible greetings in her mind the entire way to the crime scene.
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Kessen
Junior Member
Posts: 41
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Post by Kessen on Dec 22, 2010 17:09:29 GMT -5
Belling Place was a little street on the far side of London. The street was mainly comprised of tall apartment buildings where the middle class of London lived. It's residents weren't quite well off enough to afford their own houses but rich enough to be able to afford the drive into town and the extra rent for the upper end apartments. The streets were clean and safe and silent as a man in a dark overcoat seemed to materialize with a pop behind a small news stand. Phoenix Dark inhaled the clean air of the little town in a long slow breath and looked up at the sky above him. Clouds partially covered a full moon that bathed the streets in light and clearly illuminated the silver sign in front of number 413. It was one of the nicer apartment buildings on the block, stretching high into the night sky and giving off a solid "well to do" vibe. Phoenix crossed the street and walked up to the door of the apartment building.
"Evening." The door man said tipping his red hat as Phoenix walked up. The man wore a nice red coat with gold buttons, and matching red slacks. A large mustache covered his upper lip and helped to give him an air of old fashioned hospitality as he smiled.
"Evening Murray." Phoenix replied smirking, as he looked up at the buildings windows.
"Blast it Dark." The doormans whole framed seem to shiver slightly as he spoke and he was replaced a moment later by a short slightly balding wizard in dark green robes. "How could you tell?"
"Shoes were off." Phoenix muttered. "It's after 10 so your obviously the night doorman meaning you would have had all day to polish the shoes. No self respecting doorman would show up for a shift without working on the shoes first."
"Your a git." Murray said without conviction. "You headed up?"
"Yup, you been in yet?"
"Saw it." Murray replied. "Bad business Phoenix. Bad business."
"So I've heard." Phoenix said wincing, he had enough nightmares without adding another horror scene to his sub-consciouses arsenal. "Which floor?"
"13th floor 3rd door on your left." Murray replied.
"Brilliant." Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Full moon, thirteenth floor... if I find a melted crucifix anywhere I'm resigning." Murray chuckled as Phoenix walked past towards the glass doors. "Oh," Phoenix said turning. "Katie Rill should be on her way, if she doesn't have coffee with her don't let her in."
Phoenix headed to the buildings set of elevators and punched the button for the thirteenth floor. He headed down the hallway gathering a few odd looks from the buildings tenants as he went (after all how many freakishly tall men in black trench coats carrying big wooden staffs have shown up at your apartment lately?). He entered the apartment without knocking and was nearly floored by the smell. Most people don't realize that blood has a distinct odor to it. This is purely because they've never exposed to enough of it. Phoenix had been before. He was again now. The whole apartment was covered in the tangy metallic smell of blood that seemed to be coming mainly from the room in the back. Phoenix's mind clicked through it's usual round of observations as he shoved the natural instinct to turn and run as far away as he could get, to the back of his mind. The apartment was nice, equipped with a sitting room, a kitchen, and a large dining room each immaculately clean and themed with a dark brown and green pattern that added a comfortably warm feel to it. The smell was coming from the bedroom. Reluctantly Phoenix pushed the door open. The room had the same deep brown paint on the wall as the rest of the apartment and the bed that took up most of the center of it had a comforter of the same color laid on top of it. Or at least it should have been the same color. The warm brown fabric had been mostly soaked through with dark crimson blood. A woman lay on the bed, her eyes open and staring at the ceiling, her wand still clutched in her too pale hand. Her throat had been cut along with two diagonal lines that started at her shoulder and went through her heart. On the floor in front of the bed was her husband. He had died cleaner at least... probably quicker too. The death curse. His green eyes stared upward, his face was screwed up with fear. Phoenix's stomach lurched and threated to reverse gears but he fought the urge down. He had been an Auror for years now, seen a lot of things he would rather not but they never got easier. Never got cleaner. He didn't want them too. The day Phoenix could look at something like this and not wretch inside would be the day he retired. Magic was such a beautiful thing. A miraculous, wondrous, force that was responsible for so much of the light and happiness in the world whether the world new it or not. Something like this wasn't just wrong it was... an abomination. Taking the force of something that should have been so beautiful and using it to slaughter the very people it should have been helping. Phoenix took his eyes away from the murdered couple in the bedroom and calmed himself... getting mad wouldn't help anyone. Getting justice on the other hand...
that would help everyone.
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