A bit of shopping <open>

[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius Malfoy was not supposed to be out and about away from Hogwarts. Especially not here. But he couldn't help it. The power of these Dark objects drew him. Called to him like a siren. How he got here...well, that was best left a secret. What nobody, not even his family knew, was that Scorpius could already Apparate pretty well.

Why didn't he tell his parents? Well, it was simple. If they knew, they'd tell his teachers. And his teachers would be on the lookout for signs of it. The less they know, the better, Scorpius mused. It was his secret mode of transportation once he reached Hogwarts' gates. Just...POOF.

In any event, it was high noon. Scorpius had discarded his school robes for some plain black and green ones like the ones his father wore. He had taken a bit of aging potion so no questions would be asked. But if you knew him, or looked really hard...you could still see the real 15-year-old underneath.

He was in the former Diagon Alley, now merged with Knockturn Alley, and he was pacing the streets, looking for a good store to check out. So many new Dark stores had opened up, it was hard for him to choose. Finally, Scorpius' eyes landed on Zonko's. He loved a good laugh, and he was supposed to meet Juila here, anyway.

[julia]

Julia made her way slowly through the crowd that mingled in Knockturn Alley, shooting glares at most of the people there. She hated them, and they knew it. But being who she was, and all that her brother spoke about her, people just dealt with her. After all, they all thought she would be joining the Dark Lord when he time came. But if she didn't like being in Knockturn, why would she come willingly?

To keep up the charade. Scorpius Malfoy had contacted her, asking to meet in Zonko's. If she wanted people to even remotely believe that she had some sort of loyalty to the Dark Lord, then keeping contact with a Malfoy was a good thing. A great thing, just the kind of friend she would need if she wanted to go far as a Death Eater. And so she had made her way to Knockturn.

She entered the store, one of the few she could stand in the era of Dark Arts shops. Her eyes fell on Scorpius and Julia forced a friendly smile onto her face. Who knew, maybe she'd learn something about his parents that Neville could use. "Scorpius! Hi!" She put on the front that James always wanted her to have, being the best of friends with the Malfoy brat.

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[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius whirled around. He saw Julia and smiled. He had a big grin on his face. "Julia! Hi!" He put a finger to his lips. "Ssh, don't announce it so loud. I don't want anyone to know it's me. People might get...suspiscious." He looked her over. "Where's your disguise?"

He sighed. This charade was so tiresome. By his father's orders, he wasn't supposed to like anyone but his fellow Slytherins. But Scorpius was honestly coming to care for Julia. She made him smile, and she wasn't bad-looking either.

Scorpius motioned to Zonko's. "Shall we go in, then?" He made a sweeping bow and motioned for her to go first. He was a gentleman, as his mother had raised him to be. He smiled. "Julia, whom shall we play a prank on when we get back?""

[julia]

Julia did feel a little bad, just meeting Scorpius to keep up the charade that she was loyal to Voldemort. But it was better than getting Crucio-ed to death. She smirked at him, rather amused that he was worried about being recognized. It wasn't like anyone in Knockturn wanted to kill him. The Order members were smarter than to draw their wand on someone in a place crawling with Dark Wizards.

"My disguise? I'm not worried about people knowing who I am or knowing that I'm here. What are they going to do, call my brother?" She chuckled at that idea, knowing that James wouldn't do anything if someone told him. And even if he tried, Julia rarely listened to him.

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[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius shook his head. "No, it's not that. But we're not supposed to be away from Hogwarts. At all. Especially on a school day. So I simply took...precautions. But oh well, on your own head be it." He walked to the door and held it open for Julia to enter first. He was a gentleman, after all. Well to those that mattered. And Julia mattered. She had the potnetial to be a close follower of the Dark Lord, and he would ride her tailwind while making his own way in.

[julia]

Julia smirked at his words. It was amusing, really, how much Scorpius followed their little rules. Julia reminded herself that she was trying to keep her front up, but couldn't help but continue to smirk as she looked back at him. In truth, she didn't care what they threatened to do to students who snuck out. She would leave Hogwarts whenever she felt like it, and damn anyone who tried to stop her.

"We're not going to get caught. Don't worry. And it isn't like an Order member is going to come around the corner and blast us into oblivion." Well, even if an Order member appeared, she hoped that Neville had described her well enough that they wouldn't blast her into oblivion. The young witch lead the way out the door, muttering a quick "Thank you". It was cute, really. No doubt he was just as manipulative as every other Malfoy, and saw her as a way to further himself. If he knew Julia's true intentions, she was sure he'd be running as far away as possible, maybe even telling his dear father or grandfather about her to turn her in as a traitor.

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[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius smiled. "Who's worried about the the Order? I'm worried about Nagini. Just because she's my Head of House doesn't mean she'll cut me slack." He smirked faintly. "Besides, haven't you noticed the teachers are all Crucio-happy? No thanks." He continued to hold the door open as she made her way in, before following her himself.

He looked around and grinned. He did so love Zonko's. Looking around, he saw numerous things; long, lethal-looking objects tapered to a point, swamps that refused to leave for days, Garroting gas, which made you choke on seemingly nothing, and alarm clocks that couldn't be broken until the song finished. The song was, of course, 'A Cauldron Full Of Hot, Strong Love.' Scorpius shuddered. The thing was super-loud, enough to wake the castle.

Scorpius smiled again. It was rather noisy in the store, so he raised his voice a bit, "Julia, what sort of prank shall we play?" He had heard rumors of her tendency to dislike the Dark Arts, but he hoped it wasn't true. Not that Scorpius would say anything. In fact, he'd most likely go out of his way to help her. She was the only non-Slytherin person he could call....well, not a friend. But close enough. He'd hate to see anything happen to her, and so dearly hoped the rumors were false.

[julia]

Julia had to admit, she had been expecting him to be at least a bit worried about Order members. They did conduct raids, after all. She let out a slight shudder at the mention of Nagini, the one professor she really didn't want to cross, but quickly shook the feeling off. "Scorpius, if they're going to use that on us, they'll find some offense so it doesn't really matter, does it?" Really, how did the professors think that students would remain loyal through that kind of treatment?

Julia let those feelings melt away as she moved into the store, smirking a bit. While there were some things in here that she would never even think of using, things that were just a bit darker. But then there were things that would leave her laughing for days. Her fingers brushed along shelves, wincing at certain objects and grinning at others.

She turned back to Scorpius as he spoke, taking her eyes away from a rather nasty looking implement that she wouldn't envision being a prank in a thousand years. "Well, that depends. I'm graduating this year. There isn't too much they can do to me. You still have a bit to go." She chuckled, running a hand through her hair. "Probably something huge. Something big, attention drawing." Something that drew attention to a certain area of the school, giving a perfect time for a prankster to escape. But she wasn't going to add that.

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[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius wandered over to where Julia was looking. As she winced, he laughed. "Ah, a bit sqeamish, Julia?" He fingered one of the sharp objects. He imagined impaling anyone who didn't follow the Dark Lord on it, and laughed. "I could really have some fun with this." He pointed his wand towards the baskets. "Accio basket!" Smiling, he added, "Be fun to torture non-loyal followers of the Dark Lord, yes?"

A purple basket came zooming at them and right into Scorpius' hands. He picked up one of the lethal-looking objects and put it in the basket. Then he added another and grinned. "Just in case." Next, he walked over to the swamps and added 7 of them. Next, he loaded a few bottles of Garroting gas, and a couple of alarm clocks. Looking at Juila, he said, "Hmm...what else?"

[julia]

Laughing at an object that would cause pain? Disgusting. Julia kept an amused smirk on her face as he spoke, not wanting to crumple the front she had up. But she couldn't stop her stomach from twisting into a knot and trying to rise up as he mentioned impaling someone who wasn't loyal to Voldemort. Someone like her. Julia had never really been the pain-causing type. Where some of her peers struck with the Cruciatus Curse, Julia incapacitated someone with a nice dose of Rictusempra, rendering them useless with fits of laughter.

She swallowed hard, looking at the nasty implement before letting her gaze move back to Scorpius. "Yeah, sounds fun." She hoped her words didn't sound too forced. She watched him place it in the basket and hoped to high heaven that Scorpius never found out how she really felt. At least until there was no chance of the two of them seeing each other ever again. Ah, the swamps. That was her type of prank. Nobody got hurt too badly. The bottles of gas made her cringe again, but she hid it as much as possible. Choking, really?

"I don't know, I was going to go with just the swamps, Scorpius. I'm not really the pain-inflicting type, you know that."

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[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius shook his head. "Such a shame. You know Julia, you'll have to enjoy causing pain eventually, if you want to make a good Death Eater." He stared at her for a moment. Did her words sound forced, or was it just his imagination? Must be just him. He shook his head to clear it. Julia had the potential to be an inner-circle Death Eater, why wouldn't she like pain?

He grabbed 10 more of the swamps, and 14 more of the alarm clocks. Now he had 17 of each, and 2 of the lethal objects. He grabbed 5 more of them, bringing his total to 7 of them, and 41 objects total. Scorpius glanced at her again. "OK, fine. Do you see anything that won't hurt anyone?" The word 'hurt' was said sarcastically.

"Julia, my friend, we're supposed to be learning the Dark Arts, not wishy-washy stuff. Father says the quality of the school has improved tenfold since he was a student," Scorpius said. "He and Grandfather remember when Hogwarts still had the Houses of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff." He snorted. "Honor, wit, cleverness--what does any of it matter? All that matters is loyalty; loyalty to the Dark Lord."

[julia]

"Scorpius, if I want to make a good Death Eater I'll shut up, look into a crystal ball, and find out a way to force visions to avoid being tortured until I see something. I mean, I'll be going in to be the Dark Lord's Seer. Well, second Seer I guess. I mean, thats what my brother has been talking me up as. And why risk your Seer getting hurt in a fight with an Order member?" She made a good point. If she ever became a Death Eater, she doubted that she'd be out there hunting down the Order.

She watched him as he looked at her, hoping he didn't see through her guise. She smiled at the swamps and alarm clocks, but it faded when he grabbed more of those lethal-looking objects. "Well, the swamps and alarm clocks I'm all for. What about some of this?" She grabbed a few packs of a candy that made the eater speak nonsense. Amusing in the middle of a class. "I'm looking to disrupt the normal, not to get more people angry at me than already are, Scorpius." She chuckled, getting her own basket and putting a few things in.

"Wishy-washy stuff, Scorpius? What do you mean? I'm learning the same stuff you are. Just because I pay more attention in, say, Divination than I do in Dark Arts... I'll probably need Divination more than I will Dark Arts." She smirked. Her point was strong on that one. She didn't say anything about loyalty to Voldemort, not wanting to shoot herself in the foot.

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[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius laughed. "You're a Seer? Wow! I didn't know that. Your brother is James, yes?" He gently took the candy from her and threw it in the basket. Grabbing 10 more, he said causally, "I've decided who I'm going to prank. It's...Nagini. Am I a bit nuts? Yep. Do I care? Nope. Father and Grandfather have used the Cruciatus Curse on me a bunch of times. It still hurts, buit not as bad as it once did. It was their way of punishing me." He glanced at her. "So, if you're the second Seer, who's the first one?" He grinned. "True, that. So, you pay attention in Diviniation, and I'll pay attention in the Dark Arts. We can be each other's back-up." Scorpius glanced down. "I think I'm done. You?"

[julia]

"Yeah, I'm a Seer. Not always the most reliable, but its not like I can control when I have visions. Which people really don't understand. Including James." She rolled her eyes, ready to steer the conversation away from her brother. When Scorpius revealed who he was planning on pranking, Julia closed her eyes for a moment. "Scorpius, if you're planning on going anywhere in the ranks of Death Eaters, I think it would be best to not prank the Dark Lord's little pet." She chose to not comment on the fact that his family membes had used the Cruciatus on him, thinking it rather barbaric.

"Professor Moriarty is a Seer as well. I guess thats why we've always gotten along so well. But the way she gets treated by the Dark Lord and his followers... Like she's just some sort of object they can force into seeing things. I don't think I could last very long in that sort of lifestyle, Scorpius." She admitted, looking her friend in the eyes for a moment before continuing. "I'm finished here."

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[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius sighed. "Perhaps you're right. I don't think she would hurt me though, considering who my father is." He went to the counter and waited for everything to be run up. His total came to 15 Galleons, which he fished out of his robes to pay the man. He walked to the door and opened it, waiting for Julia to exit. Then he said softly, "Julia, the Dark Lord is all. if you don't want to join him, I won't tell. But I suggest you either be a damn good actress about it, or else run. Run away and never return."

Scorpius looked at his friend. While anyone else he would gladly torture if they said this, he wouldn't do so to Julia. Not his one true friend. He looked at her, to see what she would say or do. Then he added, "Know this. Grandfather said some guys named Regulus Black and Igor Karkaroff tried to run away as well. The first was murdered within 3 days, the other lasted a year. And Father said Potter was stupid enough to try too, and look at them. Dead. All dead."

Scorpius cupped her face softly. "And then there's Nagini. I heard she takes great pleasure in eating people who displease her master. I really don't want to see you become a snake treat. Just be careful, whatever choice you make, OK?" He let go and looked at his trainers before speaking again. "If you leave...please, find the Order. They'll help you."

((You know I had to steal the run away bit from The Lion King. LOL.))