Darius sat on a window ledge in the second floor, a space normally fairly empty on a weekend, and crossed his legs in it. This left his knees sticking out, but the rest of him sort of invisible, hinted at but not seen from a distance. Most students wouldn't know who was there till they right up next to him and he liked the solitude of it. The book he needed for his study he set in his lap a moment before running his fingers over the cover. "How to Read an Egg: Divination for the Easily Bored by Colette Brown" was a muggle book and fairly inaccurate from what he had read, filled with misconceptions of the way magic worked and as if everyone could get accurate information from it. Still while it's value was low, it was very colorful drivel and would suit his purposes for his homework.

Having read it last night, he felt no qualms about what he was about to do as it really was a matter of destroying misinformation. Besides, he had asked the Divinations professor for a note to explain what he was doing without telling her it was a book and the receipt in his other pocket. He felt secure he had judged all contingencies and by picking a rather quiet area he hoped to avoid confrontation with another anyway. prepared, he opened up the book and laid it in his lap carefully, the first page open. Then his slim journal beside him for notes on what he saw. Writing down the name of the book and it's condition plus it's manner of importance, he set the quill down.

Examining the cover page carefully, he took hold of it's edge and tugged, feeling the resistance in the spine. Concentrating on a question about one of his dorm mates and what the boy was up to (as he was being secretive the past few days), he closed his eyes a minute and breathed deeply, letting the question roll around in his mind, calming his inner thoughts. Carefully, but with satisfaction, he pulled the sheet till it ripped, noting how it ripped all the way down. The sound was unmistakable, but the rip was not. Seeing the jagged line, he wrote down his impression and then took the page in both hands, ripping it again. As he studied the lines, he felt and write down the impressions that occurred to him. 'Furtive, erratic, curiously vague, ill-thought out, no planning...'

Interesting. Turning to the next page the contents, he repeated the gesture, leaving the page that was now ripped in quarters on his knee, the beginning of what would become a rather large pile soon enough. The sound of ripped paper was like a scream of agony in the book tongue and as he did it he felt satisfaction with the accomplishment, hoping the sounds did not bring a host of Ravens down upon him in a fury.

Alietta Marie Krum wandered up from the security of her dungeon common room on that clam weekend morning with no real destination in mind. In a few hours, she would make a trip out to the forbidden forest and check on the egg. According to her research and calculations, it would hatch in another three or so weeks. She had been watching the creation carefully, keeping track of everything it did and every time that the egg stirred. Alietta had never been a studious girl, but this was different; this wasn't a school project. This was real life. A real secret.

With her Dragon Journal and her book tucked in her arms, Alietta wandered around the castle in search for a place to read where she wouldn't be seen. She could only imagine what people would think of her if they thought that she was actually taking time to work on her studies. As if. But she did need to have most of her pre-research completed by the time that the egg actually hatched. She needed to know what she was up against. Taking care and hiding a dragon on her own would be no easy task. But they only had to survive the rest of the year here, then they would be free. Ali couldn't wait to feel free, her heart lay hollow, waiting for the feeling to be filled.

She made her way up to the second floor and took a turn away from the stairs. Anyone who would come onto the floor today would only be here in passing on their way down to the Great Hall or up to the Library, she was sure. This would be a good place to hide herself. She remembered a window where she had sat with Alexander about this time last year, when he was convinced that she would be the perfect wife for him. She scoffed at the memory. She hadn't even had to use her Veela charm to get him so completely smitten. It was lucky for her that she had been able to shake him. The window ledge would do quite nicely, however. It was quite, private and offered a nice view of the forest... just in case.

Ali turned the corner and stopped in her tracks when she saw a figure already there. "How lovely." She sighed but continued to walk over anyway. With any luck, it would have been a Hufflepuff boy whom she could easily convince to leave with the slightest little twitch of her pink lips. As she grew closer, she began to recognize him. She didn't know his name of course, who had time to actually learn everyone's names? But she had seen him around the common room, and, if she wasn't mistaking, he was in her same year as well. She could hear the paper ripping and while she cared little about the well being of books, she was sure that there was probably something wrong with the scene. "How... riveting. Any chance I could convince you to let me have this spot?" she asked with some but little interest in what was actually happening. She wasn't really in the mood for a struggle today, she could always find somewhere else.

(Hope it's cool if I jump in as well.)

Katrina had quite the interesting night. As Captain of the Art Club, it was her job to come up with a project for the club to do and finish by the end of the year. In past years, things were easily discussed and an idea was developed quickly. Katrina was certainly not egotistical and enjoyed listening to other members' suggestions. She hoped a variety of ideas could be combined into something big. This was her last year after all. However, her Co-Captain, a Ravenclaw, had other ideas and was not as open as Katrina to listening to the members. This ended up irritating everyone and the Co-Captain was ousted. And because of the drama, the meeting ended with no idea developed.

Katrina wasn't one to be outwardly frustrated, but the tired look in the eyes on her usual stone-like face could tell one that she wasn't in the best of moods. She needed some cheering up. Her sketchbook and other materials in her arms, she was heading down to the Slytherin Common Room. However, as she neared the Second Floor, she spotted her best friend Alietta Krum. With a shrug, she decided to follow Ali and see what she was up to. Probably no good, but hey... sometimes "no good" could be fun.

Stepping down to the Second Floor, she saw Ali approaching a boy she knew to be Darius Silver. Unlike Ali, Katrina was observant enough to know most of the names in her House, at least those belonging to the Fourth Year students and above anyway. As she drew close, she heard Ali trying to get Darius to let her sit where he was.

"You're just adorable when you sweet talk to get what you want," she said, playfully smirking at Ali. She then looked at them both and said in her usual quasi-emotionless voice, "Looks like the Second Floor is just the place to be tonight."

@shava444 ALIETTA MARIE KRUM

It was again, a satisfying sound, but it sounded somehow different from the first one though he ripped it the same way. A matter of the random way the paper had formed as it was made he assumed. The page gave him a very different angle and his eyebrow went up. He hadn't been as concentrated as the first one, but he doubted it had made that big a difference. 'Thought out, serious, direct, dangerous, seeking...' That was the opposite, but then he focused on one corner near the top, holding the page up in the air. 'Wait a minute, that wasn't Jeremy,' Reaching for his stack of other pages he pulled out the one he had started the rip with, compared the rips and frowned. Well now, that was a flip. He had been concentrating on his dorm mate and then it switched to someone--

His preview was interrupted by footsteps and he was just laying down the last rip when one of the girls from the dorm came around the corner of the windowsill suddenly into his view. His mind was scanning back over the way he was to interpret break-downs, deterioration, and destructive lines so as her face came into view it was the line of her brow which caught his eyes oddly so. 'Focused, a plan...' His eyes lit as a sudden thought occurred. She spoke of wanting this window space, but he only half gave that importance as another suspicion was growing. Could he have switched subjects just because another near him was focusing on where he was? Possible. "It's homework. I doubt it's ever supposed to be riveting, but I do find it a learning experience. And the space is not important to me so much as the silence."

A glance at the second girl and he nodded at her, curious why the sudden turn up of people.
"Afternoon, ladies." Darius pursed his lips. He had seen both before, but they had never interacted. "I will trade you the space in exchange for an answer to two questions, not invasive of course." He waited till she answered then glanced back at the rip, not having written down his thoughts yet as he was thinking he needed to write down more about this particular experience then before. "First question, would you be currently involved in something...hmm, somewhat dangerous or risky? Your current focus that is, a project of some kind perhaps." He watched her face while still holding the ripped paper as if it held the answers which, for him at least, it actually did.

It was funny how often people who were surprised gave away that knowledge in their faces during that first second or so...

ALIETTA MARIE KRUM, @katrina

Alietta hadn't been expecting to be followed, that was for sure. Actually, the addition of her friend made her quite upset. She hadn't told Katrina about the egg, and she doubted that she would. She was her best friend of course and she loved her to death, her being one of the few people that actually understood her on almost every level. But, this was something that she wasn't sure that she was going to tell anyone. This was her big moment. She was going to prove to the entire wizarding world two things. The first: it would be indeed possible for a wizard to keep a dragon as a pet without danger. And secondly: she, Alietta Marie Krum, was more than the name led her to be. She was more than the daughter of two famous wizards. She was more than just a pretty little Veela. She wasn't going to be her parents. Or her sister. Or her brother. She was... well... she was she.

"There's no need for me to use charm to get such a minor request." She shrugged to her friend, not showing the least bit of surprise that she appeared behind her. It was true, she liked to save her charms for the finer things in life, the things she couldn't get as easily. Plus, he was a Slytherin, and just being in the house made Ali give him a certain respect. If him keeping his spot was that important to him, she really wouldn't mind going somewhere with more privacy anyway. When he said he'd move if she answered him two questions, she shrugged, for the most part, she was an open book. And this had turned out to be more interesting that she had thought it to be. "Oh darling, I'm always involved in something dangerous or risky." she smirked and bit her lip. "But i wouldn't call it a 'project' exactly." She answered. "There. Happy?" She raised her eyebrows.

To Ali:

Katrina smirked when Ali said she wasn't flirting over such a minor request. She knew better to being with of course as by now she knew Ali more than well enough. Still, Ali was the first at Hogwarts to break Katrina out of her shell and gave her something of a personality, so she had to share her good-natured sarcasm with her best friend as often as possible.

"Didn't say you needed to," she said. "But since when did you do that because you needed to?" She then sighed. "Anyway, I saw you heading this way and decided that being around my best mate would keep me from going completely insane after dealing with Regina Vesperwood at the Art Club meeting. As you can see in my eyes, the madness is already beginning to take effect." Another joke, as evident by Kat's calm, deadpan voice.

To Darius:

She then nodded to the boy with them as he wished them good evening.

"Darius," she said. "Always a pleasure..."

She then listened as Ali and Darius discussed something that was a project, but then not a project, and was dangerous and risky. From the light convo alone, she once again found herself wondering just what her often mischievous friend was up to.

"Yes, Ali is always about the risky and dangerous," said Kat to Darius. "And I am the voice of reason that pulls her out of the incredibly dire situations that she finds herself is. I am the Yin to her Yang, and that is why we possess what is possibly the greatest friendship to exist in the history of this school." Katrina then stopped and blinked at Darius before looking at the book. "Sooo... what are you reading? I'm either curious or trying to overshadow the potential awkwardness of what I just said about Ali with another conversation. Pick one."

ALIETTA MARIE KRUM @shava444

While Darius was not nervous about dealing with people, it was rare he was confronted with two girls. Knowing his sisters this made him wary of their personalities and goals; women were, clearly, dangerous creatures when they put their minds to it. And in this case they seemed on the same page with each other as well. "I only ask questions because it will help with my homework in any case so it is a minor request like she said." Art club? Why Art needed one, he was not sure, but Darius had never thought clubs made much sense anyway. Free time should be spent on individuals goals such as knowledge or Quidditch or clothing. He nodded as Kat responded with respect.

Yes, the forms had been recognized and appreciated. He felt more in tune with what was happening then.

Ali's response amused him as he had very carefully said 'question one,' but he found her answer suited what he read. A glance at the torn out page again. "Exactly what I read, thank you. Question two, have you avoided planning for failure out of a sense of superstition or do you think you have it all planned out so well there is no need for being careful any more with this plan of yours? By superstition I refer to the fact some people feel by avoiding something they make it more likely to work the way they want it, of course." He had not tried to find out what she was actually doing but her answers helped him read his translations correctly and that he appreciated.

His head turned to Kat as she spoke. Yin to her yang? That part confused him, but he shelved it to look up later. "I'm not reading it because it is valueless muggle literature about divination. More then sixty percent of it is made up nonsense. I am sacrificing it for my homework as I have a talent in that field." He used his head to nod at Ali as he slid out of the windowsill softly and with little effort, the torn scraps in one hand, his two books in the other. "She is helping me confirm what it tells me along the way which is quite helpful." He nodded this time in thanks at Ali as he moved out of the window space.

ALIETTA MARIE KRUM, @katrina

Ali never really minded having Katrina around. She had always been such a loyal friend. Through out the years, Ali had had a lot of 'friends' but none had lasted. All of them had just wanted to be associated with her because she was a Veela and was a well known Party girl. And of course, Ali had know of their true intentions and she and let them have their small time in the light, but none had really understood her, and she hadn't clicked with any of them. She had people who she would willingly associate with at parties and such, but the only person she really considered a friend, not just a fair weather friend or a friend of convenience, was Katrina. She was almost like a side kick, but Ali didn't see her as a side kick, she saw her, and only her, as an equal. "I still don't see why you waste your time at such clubs." Ali shrugged, she knew her friend was more modest than she was and was more able to tolerate other people, but for the most part, Ali hated people: except for a select few.


Ali wasn't sure why she had agreed to answer the questions, she supposed there was no harm in it, but she really didn't want the window seat that incredibly much. Sure, it had some sentimental value from her days with Alexander, but those had been rather short lived anyway and she wasn't even sure what had happened to him. She may never know. Katrina seemed to know the young man and addressed him using his first name, which Ali raised her eyebrows to a bit. "I have no need to plan for failure. I know what I'm doing. I don't fail." She insisted. The majority of the time, this was true, though, Ali did have faults. She was just always very careful not to let them be seen by anyone but her. Though, in the case of her dragon, she knew she wasn't going to fail. She was going to do it all her own, she was the only one that the dragon would know so she was the one whom he would listen to. "Thanks, love." Ali smirked when he jumped down and she jumped up, situating herself back into the spot and unfortunately, remembering Alexander more and more. "I have to admit, I'm rather impressed by you." She told him. Which she was sure would shock her friend. Ali was forward, but she wasn't exactly polite.