Gathering info for the Dark side

[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius walked into the Hog's Head and ordered a firewhiskey and a butterbeer. An unusual combination, to be sure, but he cared not. He was on a mission, and nothing would stop him. He knew the price of failure, and did not wish it upon himself. His body still ached from the three Crucio's the Dark Lord had cast upon him. Maybe the alcohol would dim it.

Taking a seat in a booth, he sat down and waited. Scorpius was looking for the whereabouts and abilities of a special creature called a Feles Diabolus. He knew of a few people that were knowledgeable about such things and they had agreed to meet him here.

It wouldn't do, after all, to meet in The Three Broomsticks, even if it was under new management. That was where ordinary students went. Sitting back in the booth, he hoped they would show up. And here they were now! He looked up and waved them over to him. He waited for them to sit down before speaking.

[Aldebaran Zephyr Orion]

The Hog’s Head pub in Hogsmeade had always been a nice place to relax if you wanted to get away from the normal hub-bub of the castle. Be you Student or Teacher, it was the place to be during the busy hours of the weekend; especially if you were old enough to visit the village. Aldebaran was more than old enough to visit, and today seemed like the right time to do so. Perhaps he would find someone there that had a mind like his, someone that he could talk to without offending them, someone who knew stuff like he did. Al entered the pub slowly and looked around for a free seat. The pub was quiet today, with only a few people here and there who were gathered in small talk of all kinds. Among those few who were there, Al noticed the pride of Slytherin, one each Scorpius Malfoy, appeared to be waiting for someone. This sparked his interest greatly, and although he didn’t know Malfoy personally, he did know through others that the guy had quite the personality. Al didn’t approach him right off, instead, he took a seat quite a ways off from him to mull over some new information that he had heard from home.
His mother, who was still actively passing information from unbranded Death Eater to unbranded Death Eater, had managed to wriggle some very interesting information from a few of them. This information was very limited, and only consisted of a location and perhaps a day of arrival.

Al repositioned himself into the chair so that his back was to the wall and pulled out his mother’s note again. It was written quickly and without much care as to how it would look to an outsider who dared look over her son’s shoulder while he was reading it. Sighing, Al tried once again to make sense of his mother’s letter.


Al, I have just learned from a underling that they are looking for some kind of were-creature. I didn’t get a chance to find out more about it, only that it might be found at the Leakey Cauldron on Saturdays and near Hogsmeade during the weekdays. Keep an eye out for this beast and send word to me as soon as you see it!


I hope you are studying hard and plan to make our family very proud, remember, we may not have the mark, but we come from a long line of dark arts servants and it is only fair that we serve the current one to the best of our abilities.


Your mother,


Frowning, Al put the letter back and started to think hard on what she could be going on about. A Were-creature was obviously a Werewolf, as there are no other were-creatures that Al knew of. But if the Dark Lord was looking for it, it must be very special and quite different from the others he has under his command. Confused and irritated that his mother would send him this piece of useless information, Al dove into his bag and pulled out a thick old book on creatures of the world. The thing was so old that the binding looked as if it would fall apart if someone stared at it too hard, and it was so thick, that it put Hogwarts: A History to shame two times over. Setting it down on the table before him, he opened the book to the section on shape-shifters, more specifically, Werewolves and Animagi. As he was shuffling through the book, he took note of the fact that it was missing six pages out of a section before Werewolves, and that a line of text in the Werewolves section was continuously struck out with ink. This line of text was being compared to the Werewolf in certain parts, or more like the Werewolf was being compared to it.

This further bothered and confused Al, who had thought that all the books in his house had been unaltered from the time of publication, to the time that the family acquired it. He wouldn’t dare ask his mother if she, or perhaps his father, had done this to the book, and if he might be able to look at the missing pages. First of all, the books are not to be read unless she is there to supervise it. Secondly, the books are not to leave the house. This small error on Al’s part had occurred after he decided he wanted to have a book on hand that covered pretty much everything he would be handling or running into at Hogwarts. And now that he was stumped with this new bit of information from his mother, he was glad that he had it.

Grumbling louder than he had hoped to about the possibility of finding an unaltered copy of this rare book being in the single digits, Al set his elbow on the table and tried hard to see at least a few letters of the inked out names. It was no use, the ink was too dark. He slammed the book shut and got up from his seat while pulling his bag over his shoulder. Suddenly, an idea hit him. Al looked over at Malfoy for a moment before deciding that the Slytherin might know something about other Were-Creatures.
They were only a table away from each other so why not ask?

Al slowly walked over and looked down at the Slytherin before him. "Excuse me, but do you know if there are any other types of Were-Creatures? I've run into a problem with this book here."
Al held the book up and tilted his head a little as if only just now realizing that Malfoy had two drinks.

[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius looked up. At last! he thought. One of the people that I've talked to is here. He motioned for the Marvolio student to have a seat before speaking. "Actually, yes. I've heard you occasionally dabble in the Dark Arts, and support the Dark Lord. Am I correct?" He waited for Aldebaran's reply.

He had heard of the guy...did pretty well in all his classes, liked to read on occasion. But he wasn't about to divulge information without checking if he supported the Dark Lord. Lord Voldemort would have his head.

[Aldebaran Zephyr Orion]

Al tilted his head some more as he took the offered seat; Malfoy was much more friendly than he thought. The whole Malfoy family were stuck up, snotty and short tempered, everyone knew that. And everyone knew that Draco Malfoy had been the meanest thing in Hogwarts since the Dark Lord himself really, even if he did have a cowardice streak a mile wide that kicked in at times. But eventually there would be the odd ball of the family that took a different approach to getting things done, a possibly better way at doing it, though not always as respected. Al nodded slightly and inclined his head toward Scorpius with an expression of indifference. “My whole family has been in the Dark Arts for ages, serving who ever was in power at the time. Mother thinks I should get branded...I think not..” he said casually. It was true that his mother wanted him to join the Death Eaters, seeing as she couldn’t so some reason unknown to her son. But Al didn’t want to be branded; in his mind, the best followers are the ones you can’t find. If you can blend in with everybody else, then you are more useful then those who cannot. “I feel that the best Death Eater is the one you can’t spot, someone who is like chameleon and cannot be identified by his mark”. Again his tone was casual, as was the shrug that followed it. It seemed that this Malfoy was testing him, he obviously knew something of the subject that Al wanted to discuss and it was very obvious now to this Marvolio, that the subject was sensitive.


He placed the book on the table and opened it to the section that was missing the six pages. Though he watched Malfoy’s expression for any hint of deceit; this was his family’s book and he would not have some outsider defile it in any manner, verbal or otherwise. Slowly he pulled out his mother’s letter, again watching Malfoy, but not opening the letter to show him what was inside; he wouldn’t let him see that just yet. He wanted something in return, as was the Orion way. You give me something, I give you something. Cheat me however and your will not live to reap the spoils of what you received in the deal. That was what his mother always said to any of her clients and so it had been adopted by her only child as he way of going about things. True it had worked for both her and him many a time, but sometimes being cheated out of one thing, got you something much better later on.

Al pointed to the missing pages and spoke clearly in a low, dangerous voice. “This book is sacred to our family and obviously someone else’s as well, seeing as six pages are missing from this section here. There is obviously something other than a Werewolf that exists and someone has destroyed that bit of information in this book.” he paused for a second before continuing his line of speech. “However.." he said, his voice a great imitation of Headmaster Snape’s in tone if not in likeness. “I have also received some details about a Were-creature from my mother, though she only states that the Dark Lord is looking for it...If you know anything about what might have been on these missing pages, I might just share with you the possible...Location of the beast the Dark Lord is seeking.”

There, the Orion in him had finally dealt its hand, now to see how the other party faired in their game. Perhaps this would prove to be nothing more than a game between two boys, but then again, it may turn out to be something far more...

[dove]

Eyes wide, my feet gently touching the ground, I entered the bar, as I would call it. My head titled to the side, I slide alittle ways into the seat by the door. 'What are those two up to?' Of course you could say I was spying. I wasn't in my normal clothes which belonged to hogwarts, I was in a plan white shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans. My hair was pulled back into a pony tail, curls still hanging from it. 'Got to get closer.' I thought, gently climbing to my feet and walking for-wards. I very gently changed my voice into a lighter older woman's tone. "Umm, water please." Than when I got that, I wanted to puke. 'Dirty Water.' During my back to Al and Scorpius, I listened in. I gasped alittle at what I was over hearing.... I knew I was alittle late of course, on some of the stuff they were talking about. Very gently I looked at the hand bag I had brought and very gently placed the fake glasses on my eyes and added a few fake freckles.

Turning swiftly, I looked at Scorpius and Al. Tilting my head I took a gulp of water and wrote on a piece of paper, rum. I was 12 when I had my first taste of it, so I could handle it. Having the tiny glass in my hand I took three steps and look at the door. I had brought Snake, but I had made him wear some muggle contacts, which changed you eye color. Now looking at him and than at myself in my mirror I sighed. 'Can't touch my face or the single strade of fake freckles will vanish.' I thought roughly and than looked at the two boys I knew little about... well one of them anyways. Deepening my voice slightly, I nodded. "Were-creatures.... like that Were-cat in Hogwarts?" My eyes twitched slightly. I knew that one of the teachers was a were-cat. My nose was itchy and I wanted to get it out of the way. "Hmmm lets see your book young sir." I muttered, my blue eyes blinking three times, I held out my hand and than dragged in back in.

'Shoot Dove.' I thought angrly, as I notice the same pen drawing on my right hand. It had my name in weird writing. I had always wanted a tattoo with my name of it like that, so I had designed one. Adding a dove above it. Than I looked at my left hand and than reached out to take the book from Al. 'Oh please don't know me... please. I'll be the greatest warrior in the dark lord's army if they won't see me as Dove.' I was battling myself again, than I was about to gulp. 'Shoot what's my fake name... ummm... Ginger... Ginger Kendell.' I groaned under my breath at my real mother's sister's last name. 'Great now I'm stuck... Ginger Kendell will have to do.'

_{Sorry I wanted to be the nosy best friend and weirdo mudblood. Could we pretend you don't know she's Dove or at least pretend to go along with her fake self. Took me an hour of debating either or not to post here XD and another hour to post...}

[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius nodded at the Malvolio's words. Good, this boy was loyal to the Dark Lord...or so it would seem. He would have to take a chance and pray that it turned out okay. He wasn't afraid of death, which was good when you considered who he was serving. He was, however, not fond of the Cruciatus curse, and that was most likely the fate that would befall him should he fail. Lots and lots of times, until he went insane.

His father had told him of Neville Longbottom's parents, how the Dark Lord's followers had tortured them until they went insane, and how they currently resided at St. Mungo's. Unless he wanted to join them, he'd have to play this right. So he said causally, "Cool. I personally want to get branded. Then I'll just cover it with a Concealment Charm."

His left eye twitched as he saw Dove. She was supposed to meet him here, but not like this. She obviously didn't want anyone to know it was her, thus the fake name. Smiling, he said, "Welcome, Ginger. I've been waiting for you." As she slid into a seat, he continued. "Now that my contact is here, we can begin. To start: yes, I do know of another Were-creature. It is called a Feles Diabolus. Where it resides or what it's powers are, I do not know. I was hoping one one you could tell me. I need to know, as Lord Voldemort...ah...has a vested interest in it." With that, he sat back and waited for one or both of them to speak.

[Aldebaran Zephyr Orion]

A strange woman took a seat near Al and Scorpius and immediately jumped into the conversation with a very odd bit of false information. Al glared suspiciously at the newcomer, who seemed to be awful eager to get her hands on his book. Holding it down with both hands and pulling it toward him protectively, Al growled out a reply. “There are no Were-creatures in Hogwarts currently...And this book stays with me madam”. He then turned to Scorpius with wide eyes; so the there were more Were-Creatures out there and the Dark Lord was looking for them. This was the perfect time to announce what he knew of the possible location, but this new person was quite odd indeed, making Al suspect that she might be a spy for the Order or some Anti-Voldemort sect that was trying to bust him and Scorpius for being supporters...Not that they could do much seeing as most of the current wizarding area was in deep in the Dark Arts anyways. Al looked from Scorpius to this Ginger woman, then back to the Slytherin. “Feles Diabolus...Doesn’t that mean Devil Cat in Latin? Quite an interesting name, wonder what they look like...” he said, now almost breathless at the idea of such a creature. Werewolves were fascinating enough, but a Werecat? Even more so if they were on the Dark Lord’s list of possible recruits. The Marvolio student shut his book and stuffed it away hurriedly, just in case this Ginger person wanted to snatch it for some reason. His mother would never let him forget it if he lost this book to some outsider, and if that outsider was against the Dark Lord? Al could kiss his life goodbye. His mother would murder him and hand his lifeless body over to the Dark Lord to be used as an Inferius to make up for whatever damages the outsider had done with the information they got from the book, or books as was the case with Al’s pack. He had stuffed quite a few of his mother’s books in there to assist him in his homework, which wasn’t cheating as the books were old school books, now quite out of print due to the many centuries that have passed since they were used.


Deciding that it was of no use to ask this other person to leave so that he could speak with Scorpius alone, Al unfolded his mother’s letter and handed it over to Scorpius. “That’s between you, me and whoever you have to report to. No outsiders, or my mum will flay and dry your skin, selling it to the highest bidder on the market... She may not be a DE, but she knows some wicked stuff that even I won’t touch...Should be married to the Dark Lord in my opinion..” Al said in an alert, yet warning tone. He didn’t want to seem like he was threatening this member of the Malfoy family, but he did want to get across the importance of secrecy in the matter should someone else overhear. Al then turned back to the Ginger woman, and looked her over some more with a strange expression; he had seen her somewhere before, and quite recently as well. The more he studied her face, the more he got the idea that she was a student at the school and that he had indeed made her acquaintance at least once before, though her name escaped him at the moment. Once Scorpius was done with the letter, Al took it back and placed it safely in his pocket, making sure that both it and his school bag were in his sight and within arms length should anyone want to view it by force.


“If that thing is there at those locations and is as dangerous as many think, you should probably get a higher up DE to help you as back up in case it turns on you. That is if the Dark Lord said you were allowed help. I’m assuming you’re doing this as an initiation task, am I right?” Al asked, his eyes searching Malfoy for information. He then directed a question to Ginger, without taking his eyes off of Malfoy. “So what do you do around here Miss Kendell? You’re obviously not a Professor at Hogwarts, yet you do seem quite familiar to this one...” Al was now speaking as his mother did at times, referring to herself as “this one” when she was overly suspicious or interested; something that bothered some who spoke to her as they said it made her seem otherworldly and not all there in the head.

[dove]

"Hey bartender, another glass of rum." Nodding I shoved the glass back, and turned my face from the boys, only nodding when they talked. Than I notice I had a smudge on my face. "Great..." I muttered, gently I rubbed it off and added the small dot again. "Feles Diabolus.... cool.." I whispered again. Turning back I nodded. "My bad sir, I do not work as a professor. I'm a friend of Malfoy...." Than I golped. 'Shoot he did remember.' Eyes opening gently, I nodded. "As I may as well inform you... I'm here to talk with Mr. Malfoy, this letter..." I looked at it and than at Scorpius. Snake had stumbled over to me now. "Stupid cat." I muttered and handed the letter.

(Dear Dove,
I'm coming for you okay...
Your not safe, I can feel it.
What's going on?! You haven't replyed to any of my letters!
Jeesh, you better be working on your god damn studies Dove or I'll come and kick you @$$! Don't you dare think that I can't do it, Cause I will.

Love
Fred)

I struttered from it, I hated that letter, I had got it moments before, and hensh the backpack. "I still want that book boy." I said pushing my fake glasses. 'Hummmm should I tell them, It's me, pretty sure someone knows already.' I looked at Al and sighed. "Come on, I won't bite... much." Now I was teasing. My eyes glittered angerly, as I waited for the Al to give me the book. I gave up, and sighed. "Stupid Orion..." I wapped my face and gently cleaned the fake freckles off. "Now Can I see that book, I'm wondering what might be in it." Than I grabbed my new glass of rum and took a slip. "Come on Al, It's Dove remember..." Eyes itching from the stupid glasses, I took them off and let my hair down. "Ha, I knew I could fool someone, Snake come here so I can take those Contacts out." I had my cat on my lap and nodded. "So this Feles Diabolus is some were-creature your sent to hunt down? Wow, that's awesome." I said petting Snake. "And Al here has information...."

[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius watched the debate between Dove and Ginger with a roll of the eyes. The fact that she hadn't thought up a fake name ahead of time, plus the fact that she kept rubbing her eyes gave her away. At least to him. He didn't know if Al knew she was fake or not, but he looked suspicious. He wondered when and if Dove would reveal her true self to Al.

He shrugged. "I think so. I know a bit of Latin, at Grandfather's insistence, but I'm not a big speaker of it." Scorpius took the letter form Al gingerly, as so not to rip it. He scanned the letter and handed back to the Marvolio student, with a glance at Dove saying not to interfere. He nodded to Al in thanks. "Thank you for sharing that with me. Shall we meet...ah...on the day and place it was said to be found, since I'm assuming you want to find it too?" He shuddered. "Wow, that's quite a complement to your mum."

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, I have been graciously gifted with this task to serve the Dark Lord." He looked around before continuing. "He said that no one knows where it is, or what it looks like. But I get the feeling none of that lot would help me anyway. I think they want to see me fail. And my family are too greedy for power to take interest in me."

He took a breath before continuing. "He didn't say if was allowed help or not. But I think not. He only said to ask around for information on this creature." When Dove revealed herself, he tried his best to look surprised. Tried, and failed. He gave her a smile and said, "Dove, how nice of you to drop by. But where's Ginger?" His eyes held a teasing gleam to them as he turned back to Al. "This is my best friend, Dove."

[Aldebaran Zephyr Orion]

Al folded his arms when Ginger revealed herself as being none other than Dove Harrington. This proved to be an error on the girl’s part, seeing as Al only ever really trusted someone once. If they broke his trust or tried to deceive him in anyway, he became distant and refused to trust them to that extent ever again. Even though he had never really allowed himself to fully trust the Delacroix girl, he still felt slightly betrayed at her deception. Narrowing his eyes coldly, Al addressed her not as he would a friend, but as a foe. “That was very sneaky of you miss Harrington. I have severe trust issues and because of that, it takes most people forever to get me to trust them as much as I had started to trust you before this little stunt.” His voice was laced with malice as he slowly pulled the book from its hiding place in his bag. “You may look at the area this conversation covers, but no more than that.” he said venomously.

His gaze shifted to the cat, which he figured would have been a dead give away had it not been for the contacts in his eyes, and gave him a slight frown at helping his owner pull off this little trick. Turning back to Malfoy as he placed the book on the table and opened it to Shapeshifters, Al returned to the conversation at hand.. “I definitely will be coming here to see the brute should he show! Just imagine if you will, for a moment, the feeling that you will get when you meet something that others know almost nothing about!” Al said excitedly as he repositioned himself on the chair; his previous anger with Dove now quite forgotten. “Seems odd that he wouldn’t allow you to get help in case the beast turns violent, but then again he is testing your abilities to carry out your mission”. The thought of something that mysterious getting pissed off in the middle of Hogsmeade brought shivers to Al’s body. If the thing did indeed show, how was Scorpius suppose to do whatever it is the Dark Lord wanted him to do?


Sighing heavily, Al took the book back from off the table in front of Dove and put it back in the safety of his bag. “Find what you were looking for?” he asked her in a plain, and emotionless tone. He hadn’t finished asking the question more than a few seconds ago when a shrill cry from the open window nearest the door, announced that Archie had returned from his trip out, forcing Al to jerk his head in the direction of the call. But the owl that swooped over the heads of many a surprised bar patron in his attempt to reach his mark as quickly as possible, was not Archie. Al thrust his arm out quickly to catch the bird, only to have the letter it carried tossed into his lap in haste, before the black owl flapped his wings quickly, and quite forcibly to leave out the same window he entered through with another loud shriek. Confused, Al looked down at the letter he had received with wide eyes. It was pitch black in color as if it had been burned before being delivered. The wax seal was also black and had the family crest of the Orions on it; a large gryphon with a hooded snake for a tail.

His mother couldn’t have sent him another letter today and even if she had, it wouldn’t be black with black wax seal; she never sealed them with black wax. Al racked his brains for someone in the family that did in fact use all black and only one came to mind. The one he dreaded more than anything - except the Dark Lord -, more than even his mother...was her brother. Al’s Uncle, Bjorn Orion, was quite evil, so much in fact that Al hid from him most of the times his Uncle visited the house. He was the only family member who would use black wax on all black parchment just to make a statement. Bjorn was much like his name, which was Old Norse for “Bear”; cruel, quick and unforgiving. He wanted to become a Vampire once he hit a certain age, probably near his sixties, seeing as he was the younger brother to Al’s mother. Bjorn also wanted this for his nephew, Aldebaran, who did not share his Uncle’s enthusiasm on becoming a blood sucker.

Slowly and quite oblivious to the others watching him, Al opened the letter and read it, losing what little color was still left in his skin as his face contorted into an expression of total defeat. He just stared at the words without a sound.


At last I have reached my goal....
At last I am coming for you...


It contained nothing more than a few words, words that others would be at a complete loss to understand. But Al knew what it meant and the idea made his stomach clench with fear; Bjorn had gotten his wish and now he was coming to make good on his promise.


Quickly shaking off the feeling that the world was about to end, Al stuffed the new letter into his pocket and tried to return to the conversation that had been doing so well before that last interruption “So what is the reason for you finding it? Do you have to talk to it or capture it?...What I mean is, what is the goal?”.

[dove]

"Oh Ginger, yeah ha to ditch her you know..." She muttered, casting a look at Scorpius that read, 'Arce'. Dove narrowed her eyes wanting to take a swing at Malfoy, but thinking again and walking towards the bartender. "Glass of water please." She said smiling, leaving the boys chat about whatever they needs. When she returned she huffed. "Oh, my bad Al, hope you don't mind me calling you that, I got all dressed up to prank someone, and you happened to be here. I'll just think up a better name, something that doesn't include memories better left hidden." She smiled. Than she cocked an eyebrow. "And if your going to be all nice but angry, you'll need to but tuned right, maybe get a angrier look, remember my offer, I can always had on acting stills and oh I know wha-... I'll shut up now." She blushed as she remembered she wasn't surprosed to interfere, and well, she wasn't the best listener. Tapping her fingers she looked at Al's book, and gently traced it, leting herself know the book you could say. Opening the front page she nodded, gently tracing the letters in the middle of the book, Dove closed it and let Al have it back. "Yeah thanks. Just wondering what might be sooo important in that book." She breathed book out as she laid her head on the table. She frowned, puffed her lower lip out and sighed. "Aww come on Al, I'm the ditcher remember, I'm the trouble maker, should of knew I do a stupid stunt like this... someday." She looked around wildly. Looking from the two boys she rolled her eyes and nodded. "Boys... so into playing dirty...." She was about to add that it sounded like fun, she remembered that once it was beautiful, warm.. no blazing hot at hogwarts, she go roll in mud. Yeah for the heck of it. Grabbing her rum and water she stared at both. She took the last gulp of the rum and nodded to the water. 'Oi if I get drunk I'll drink yeah.' But what got Dove's eyes locked on Al, was his reaction to the letter he got. He seemed out of place. Tilting her head, she knew Scorpius had told with his eyes, for her to stay out, but she was now into what was wrong. "What's wrong Al? Oh come on... don't you dare come up with the, Trust problems, I'll be good... promise." I asked under my breath, my eyes wide and innounce, than I sighed and bending over my piece of paper, to reply to my brother. 'Dear Fred, Okay so here's my final letter, and believe me if you keep lettering me, I'll rip some heads apart. Okay so where do I start, Oh yeah, I got two awesome friends. Malfoy and Orion. Like Oh my god right, your face is more in likely screwed up, so I'll hit the down low. Stay away from Malfoys, I have a secret to tell yeah too. But I don't think you need to know, you'll go head over heals made. Your ever loving sister Dove' Finsihing the letter I pushed it into my handbag and looked out the door. Before she even had the chance on saying she sat and watched Snake grab her letter and trot outside. "Better be careful with that Snake, or I'll rip your tail out." My cat turned and smirked, but was gone. "Can I hang with either of you today, maybe tomorrow, Snake's gonna be gone for a while...." 'Stupid cat... stupid brother... stupid day... cool three stupids and I'm only half way done my water now.

[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius looked at Al, whom seemed to be mad at Dove. Geez, this guy needs to take a chill pill, he thought. Although she probably should have just said who she was in the first place. Now she looks like a spy or something. Even though he knew she was loyal to the Dark Lord, if even a bit shy about killing. He looked over at Snake and decided not to comment on her cat, which was now licking its butt.

He shrugged. "I guess he figures if I'm made of the right stuff, I'll manage. If not...well, one less problem for him, right?" He spoke of his own death causally, the way he had heard his father do on so many occasions. 'Never act like your life was worth anything' was the second lesson he had been taught. The first was 'whatever the Dark Lord says, do it quickly and efficiently.'

He looked at Al as the Marvolio student's face drained of all color. He blinked quickly. Was it just his imagination, or had the boy gone even paler? Nah, couldn't be. He looked at Al with concern. "Al? Hey, you OK? You look someone who just lost a major war." Shrugging again, he said, "Lord...the Dark Lord didn't really specify. He just said gather information. So I guess that means talk to it and convince it to join the Dark side. It's human most of the time, so I'm going to try to appeal to its human side."

Scorpius smiled at the look on Dove's face, which was clearly calling him an arse. He looked at her and spread his hands as if to say 'This is not my fault'. He nodded at her words about ditching. "That is true. But I wouldn't go advertising that fact, Dove. Might be some professors of staff here, you know." He nodded. "Yeah, when we're done you can hang with me. Maybe we'll go out and strategize on how to best acquire power."

[Aldebaran Zephyr Orion]

Al ignored pretty much everything Dove said, more because he was still thinking on the note from his Uncle than it was anger at Dove for her prank. When the two of them both asked the same question about Al’s current mood, he simply shrugged and attempted to pass it off as nothing. “It’s just some bad news from home really, nothing to worry about.” he said, keeping his voice calm and smooth; no need to get them asking more on the matter or he would have to reveal more than he wanted of himself. The plan that Scorpius had involved approaching the beast on a certain level. None of them had any idea on what this thing’s personality was or how it would react to normal conversation. Striking up a conversation with it might be the wrong thing to do, then again, it could be the right choice. Either way, Al knew he would not be involved with speaking to it until the creature was at least comfortable with talking to Scorpius, before thrusting himself the game.


He was becoming tired of the current location, wanting new and more inviting surroundings to help with his current state of mind. He didn’t want to just up and leave without making sure that he had gotten all he could out of the subject, but once Scorpius had changed his line of speech to that of ‘hanging out’ with Dove, Al figured that there was nothing more he could learn from the two and stood up slowly. He pulled his bag over his shoulder and smirked at his comrades. “Well it’s been great talking with you both. Scorpius, when you do find this Werecat, send me an owl straight away, I want to get in on the conversation alright?” Al pushed the chair away from the table so that he could walk away; turning once more to the two people who were still seated. He opened his mouth for a second, as if to say something more than what was to be his last words, but decided against it almost as soon as the idea had come to mind. “See you around...” he murmured, and walked off to the door of the pub.


With one last look back, Al smiled and opened the door, stepping out into the cool air with a sigh of relief; today had been very productive.

[dove]

Dove flushed angerly. Purely cause Al still hadn't forgiven her. "Great arce, gonna beat him to a plub someday soon." She said watching him. Her eyes tainted with anger, but they shifted and looked at Scorpius and nodded. "Thanks Bud." She smiled, a faint smile of course, she not feeling up to she would do tomorrow. 'I'll go to the grave-yard.' She nodded and shivered slightly. "Well, I helped." She smiled gently and looked at the bartender who cocked an eye brow at her. "Anyways, sorry for walking in on that. I've talked to Al before, and I'm now just realizing, I might have hurt his feelings." Turning away from Scorpius she sighed and put her face in her hands. "Jeesh... I'm the worst of the worst."

Very quietly, she got up and stretched her arms around. She than narrowed her eyes at the bartender, "Should I get anouther drink?" She thought and spoke her idea out loud. Quessing she wouldn't she turned to Scorpius and smiled. "So, wow.... you better not get yourself killed, or I'll have no one left." She said as she sat back down. Very gently she groaned in protest and lead again into her hands. "Yeah... whatever you do, don't tell people I drink when I'm mad, or confused okay.. that's a secret." She felt like slapping herself silly, for letting Al and Scorpius see, but she covered her eyes again. 'Damn it...' She muttered rubbing her temples.

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[Scorpius Malfoy]

Scorpius shrugged. If Al said it all OK, he wasn't one to pry. It seemed to be nothing, and that was fine with him. Really, what did he care if the boy had gotten bad news? He had been and still was useful to Scorpius, and that was all he cared about. He smirked back at Al and watched the boy leave, calling out "See you around!" as the pub door swung shut.

Turning back to Dove, he smiled. "Nah. What do you say we ditch this joint and head down to the Three Broomsticks? It's cleaner and probably safer than here," he added in a low voice. He stood and waited for Dove to stand, extending a hand to help her up. Then he spoke again. "You're not the worst of the worst. I can think of a few you wouldn't want to meet alone in broad daylight, let alone a night." He shook his head. "I told you before, I don't divulge secrets that aren't mine to tell."