A Treasure Hunt (Open)

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With all her homework done and nothing to study for, Lux had some free time on her hands, a rare thing indeed. Deciding that anything was better than sitting in her dorm, she put on a studded black tank top, her favourite black leather bangles, dark blue skinny jeans and knee high combat boots. Since it was summer, she didn't need to be bothered about the cold. Not that she was affected by cold weather in any way.

Exiting her dorm, she bypassed Hogsmeade Village. That whole place was nice and boring. She needed something else, something with a bit of an edge. Too much niceness made her want to vomit. She passed Diagon Alley and came to Knockturn Alley. Hmm. This may be promising. Her feet turned down the alley and she felt at home. Now this, this was something else.

She spied some interesting shop names and spent some time in each one, particularly The Coffin House. Once she was done with that place, she noticed a shop she hadn't yet visited. Borgin and Burkes. Not a very interesting name but Lux decided to drop by.

The moment she opened the door, she smiled. Ah yes. Perfect. She strolled down the aisle, paying particular attention to a jar of blood. She loved blood. Not drinking it of course, just seeing it and the thought of it. But she already had a small bottle of it in her dorm. Next was a pile of human bones. She needed to add this to her collection of items. She picked out a medium sized one and went on, passing a few other lovely nasty items. An interesting object caught her eye and she picked it up. It was a glass eye. Lux grinned. This day was proving to be better and better. She picked that up too and continued her search.

Guest

Finley had gotten lost.

That was to say, he'd grown much too inquisitive, and found himself on a street he knew he shouldn't have been on. The saying 'Curiosity kills the cat' was becoming ever increasingly a very viable story for him at the moment, even if he hadn't meant to venture so far.

The newly appointed prefect was getting flustered, and nobody looked approachable. His breathing was shallow, and - if he'd been asthmatic, he'd have been puffing on an inhaler by now. Thankfully, however, Finley was not asthmatic, but he did take a step in to a random shop to get out of the bustling street to catch his breath. Being out of his comfort zone was not something Finley enjoyed being, so this was not a good day for him.

As his breathing calmed, Finley was about to turn to the shopkeeper to ask how he got back to Diagon Alley when he noticed a familiar face. Not someone he knew by name, no, but he would recognise the Slytherin anywhere. Mostly because Finley had seen her with Nirek, and that meant that he did not wish to be caught by the witch when he was on his own.

Not to mention he remembered the look she'd given him in the last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Looking from the girl to the counter and then the door, Finley didn't know what he was to do, he'd frozen in place, simply hoping not to get seen...

And then something moved, towards him, sending Finley towards the floor with a squeal, trying to protect himself from the unknown. Falling straight at the feet of the one witch he had been trying to avoid...

Guest

Lux passed by many other interesting things. There was a pile of monkey fur, some human tongues in a jar, a lump of fat, animal innards and many many more. She felt like she was in paradise. The only thing bad were the decisions she had to make. Having a limited supply of money, she needed to choose wisely and commenced a raging battled during which she put items back on the shelf only to pick them up again for a short while then putting them back when she changed her mind.

She was so deep in thought over what looked like a torture device and whether it was worth having over the glass eye that she didn't hear anyone else entering the store. The eye she could add to her collection of odds and ends but the torture device may prove to be more useful in the future. She pursed her lips, playing a few scenarios in her head of a few ways each decision could end in. It wasn't until she heard a squeal and a thump and the feeling of something on her toes that she brought her mind back to the present.

Lux lifted one eyebrow and stared unfazed at the boy lying prone on the floor. "I've had boys fall for me but none of them were brainless enough to do it literally," she said in a smooth voice, a smile on her face though her tone could not be anything else but derision. She paused for a while and took on the appearance of someone pondering a highly important matter. "Then again, pigs squeal so I suppose you could be classified as one of those flea-ridden, garbage-loving, filthy animals instead of a two-legged young male human," she added.

"Unless you thought your nose was too pointy and took some action to flatten it so it would stick less into people faces," she paused and glanced down at him, "or in this case, toes, then I heartily agree with you."

Lux had a lot more to say, but decided that she would let the Ravenclaw stand up first. She had by means forgotten the grievous wrong he had done to her and now seized the opportunity to get back at him and make him pay. Oh, she would have such fun with him! She grinned in anticipation, waiting to see what his response would be. This day was turning out to be better and better.

Guest

"I'm n-not brainless." Finley responded to the witch as he pushed himself up to a sitting position and dusted his knees off. "And... I'm n-not falling for you." He added, more to himself than anything else, because if he was falling for anyone then it was a different Slytherin all together. A nice one, Finley thought to himself, but he wasn't brave enough to say that out loud.

However, it was a second later that Finley realised that he had said that out loud, and his eyes widened a little bit. Brave in his comments? Definitely not, he was being foolish for talking back to anyone and he felt silly now.

"My nose isn't p-pointy, either." Finley added, going cross-eyed for a moment as he tried to look at it, before he finally gave up and got to his feet. "I just t-tripped over." The conclusion was not necessary, anyone could see that Finley had indeed simply fallen over in that moment, but that was something he'd felt he needed to say in that moment.

There... now there was nothing to say. Finley gave the witch before him a small smile. "I'm s-sorry for falling on you." He told the witch, and he meant it, he definitely didn't want her to think he wasn't sincere in that apology.

But now, he needed to find an excuse to get away... Hmm...

Guest

When the boy next opened his mouth, his words came out in a stutter. It wasn't that particular fact that surprised Lux; she'd heard him talk in class before. What surprised her were the words he chose to say. He's more idiotic that I thought he was. Interesting. The supposedly smartest boy couldn't even tell when he was being made fun of. How hilarious. She curled her lip in contempt.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," she replied, her tone poisonous but keeping that toxic friendly smile on her face as she raised one eyebrow. Deciding facial expressions were not enough, she reached out one hand and patted his head the way she would a dog. "After all, you can't infer what I'm trying to tell you, so let me dumb it down."

Lux bent so that she could look right into his eyes. "You're stupid," she said, enunciating each word then added, "and I'm making fun of you - in case you didn't notice." When she was done, she straightened herself and crossed her arms.

She let out a scoff and grinned as he crossed his eyes. His actions further emphasized her point. "Really? I'd say that your nose - and everything about you - could use some improvement. Then maybe perhaps people would start to like you, though I seriously doubt it."

"Well, no. Your leg muscles decided they hate you and wanted to kill you. Of course you tripped, Captain Obvious!" she said with an eye-roll. Could this boy get any more stupid?

"Apology not accepted," she responded instantly, a malicious grin spreading on her lips wondering what he had to say to that. It would be fun to make him her personal slave if she could convince him that would somehow earn her forgiveness - not that she was ever going to give it to him.

Guest

Finley's eyes narrowed - even if only slightly - in the moment the witch before him decided to dumb things down for him. He got nervous, he wasn't stupid. His grades showed that much, and he wasn't going to have anyone think otherwise. "I'm not s-stupid." Finley insisted, though his timid nature made it very hard to assert himself when he needed to.

But as the comment turned to people liking him. How he needed improvement, Finley felt like he'd gone cold. Memories, feelings flashing over him as he looked back at the witch. Bile rose in his throat, but Finley swallowed it down. Confidence was not something the Ravenclaw had, in fact, his father had made very sure of it that he didn't have any confidence. Mostly because Finley was too soft, and not sporty enough, but also because Finley didn't stand up for himself and allowed people to walk all over him.

Finley's lips moved in retaliation, but the words didn't come out. He stood there, trying to get himself to tell the witch that he had friends. That people liked him. But the statement had done it's damage, the damage that had been intended. He doubted himself, and the friendships he'd made over the last four year at Hogwarts, before finally giving in to the truth.

No one would ever want to be your friend.

The words of being obvious didn't register with the Ravenclaw, his mind zoned out for a moment, before coming back in to the conversation when the witch said that his apology had not been accepted.

Letting out a soft sigh, Finley nodded. "Okay." The boy replied feebly, turning away from the witch and padding to the desk to ask the shop owner how he got back to the main streets. His heart was heavy, and his feelings were in a mess, but Finley would not let Lux see him upset - even if she might suspect. He would get away before he broke.

Guest

Lux's grin widened at the boy's feeble attempt to contradict her. This was what she lived for, putting people down and humiliating them. It was just too bad they didn't have a larger audience. She remembered once, when she was seven years old, she made a ten year old boy wet his pants in front of the whole orphanage. That had been absolute fun. Sure, she got baby duty for a month after that but it was worth it to see the boy turn red in the face, tears and snot running down his face and another kind of liquid making rivers down his legs and pooling on the floor.

"Are you absolutely certain?" she questioned, raising one eyebrow while letting her gaze slide ever so slowly down his body and up again. "Can you prove it?" she challenged.

She smirked when she saw the boy's lips moving but nothing came out. Either she'd rendered him speechless or he was too much of a coward to retaliate. From her observations, she was inclined to believe that the latter rang true. He didn't have it in him to stand up for himself. And here she was hoping that she could play with him more. Oh well, she would just have to find another opportunity.

"Cat got your tongue?" she teased, just for the sake of it. She could see in his eyes that he was resigned to believe her previous words. He was probably trying to hide it, but she knew what to look for, having been the cause of it many times before. It was usually accompanied by tears but she could see none in this guy. Hmm. Perhaps he wasn't as weak as she supposed him to be. Kudos to him.

His response to her refusing to accept his apology surprised her but she hid it carefully. "Okay? Is that all you can say? Okay?" she asked. "Perhaps you should go to the doctor. I'm sure that 'okay' is not the usual response when someone doesn't forgive you." She put a hand on her hip and waited for his response.

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