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In Pursuit of Knowledge; tag: aeryn
Topic Started: Tue Sep 13 14:03:09 GMT 2011 (291 Views)
Nathaniel Alexander
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Something clanked and Nathaniel froze, willing himself into the shadows as he turned his head slowly towards the origin of the noise. Muscles relaxed as he realised it was nothing, breath shuddering out on a long exhale, peering cautiously around him before continuing to inch down the corridor. Soft-soled boots kept his footsteps silent, and the dark clothing he’d chosen would hopefully keep him hidden from cursory eyes. He had no desire to land himself in any further detentions.

And yet he hadn’t been able to stay away. He knew that one of the classrooms on the fourth floor was restricted, and even had an inkling as to the contents – new books for the Restricted Section, requiring vetting before being placed with the others. It wouldn’t do to add a book on serious Dark Magic to the library, despite the security, as the sixth and seventh years were allowed to look through them at will for certain assignments. He’d looked through everything he could and, though he had discovered a few interesting titbits, had been fairly disappointed with the information available. Was it really worth hiding it away?

So now here he was, attempting to reach the books before anyone else took a look at them, hoping to discover something truly significant. It hadn’t been hard to get out of the common room and up to the sixth floor – he knew the prefects’ schedule – and there didn’t seem to be anyone guarding the classroom as he’d feared. He stood in front of the door, considering, a testing spell revealing that it was locked with sturdy enchantments. It would have been too much to ask to simply waltz right in.

Still, he wasn’t one of the best in his year for nothing, and he’d dabbled into the Dark Arts enough to have picked up a few tricks. Ten minutes of careful spellcasting and he was rewarded with a satisfying pop, probing the door magically before touching it hesitantly with his hand. When nothing seemed to happen, he pulled on the handle and edged it open, wincing as it squeaked.

He closed it behind him, muttering a quick “lumos” under his breath. The tip of his wand illuminated and his eyes lit up as they landed on the pile of books spread across some of the tables. Jackpot. He circled the area as he contemplated the titles, wondering which to start with. Secrets of the Darkest Art seemed promising enough, and he had the rest of the night to flick through the others. He might even be able to get away with taking one or two with him.

He placed his wand on the desk as he used both hands to open the heavy tome, smiling triumphantly as he began to read. Page after page was devoured by eager eyes, fingers reaching out to turn the page as he finished. Some things he skipped, hardly interested in enchanting clothes that would strangle the wearer, while others he poured over, attempting to commit the knowledge to memory.

He pulled himself away from the book with reluctance, eyeing the others as his fingers trailed across the last words on the page. He reached for his wand, frowning when his hand refused to leave the book. He used his free left hand to tug at the right, cursing himself for being such an idiot. Of course they hadn’t just left the books unprotected.
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Aeryn Lilyth
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The noise from outside the door startled Aeryn out of her daydream. She had been sat in her new-found hiding spot; the corner of a forbidden room on the fourth floor, a book on her lap lit only by the light of her wand. Hey eyes were glassy; she hadn't really been reading it. All this research into the little glass vial in her pocket was relatively boring to her, but at the same time, she was desperate to find out what it was and what it would do to her.

As luck would have it, one of her friends had clued her in to this little spot earlier that year. It was apparently a book depository; a place to hide all the knowledge people didn't want young, impressionable students to have. There were books in here deemed too dangerous for the restricted section, and as much as Aeryn disliked reading, she loved forbidden things. Something about being told no made her do everything in her power to disobey.

So here she sat, and from the sounds outside the door, someone was trying to disturb her little safe haven. She slammed the book shut and stuffed it aside, muttering "Nox" to extinguish the light from her wand. Almost as soon as she had done so, the door was opened, and someone slipped inside and closed it. The Gryffindor held her breath, listening in, praying she wasn't discovered. The intruder lit his wand, and Aeryn could sort of see him from where she sat. She recognised him; Nathaniel, Slytherin house. They hadn't had much interaction off of the Quidditch pitch, so she decided to keep to herself, at least for the time being. At least it wasn't a professor.

She watched, curious, as the boy took a book from the shelf and began to thumb through it. She must have been sat there for quite some time, in an extremely uncharacteristic silence, watching him. The longer he stayed, the more nervous she got. Eventually, though, he looked like he was finished. He reached for his wand - or rather, looked as if he was going to. He was doing some sort of mime, tugging at the book and his hand, almost as if the book was stuck to him. Aeryn let out a giggle, before clapping her hand over her mouth.

Shit, she thought. He had definitely heard that. No point in hiding now. She stood up, dusted herself off, and moved into the light of his wand. "Hey," she said awkwardly, "Stuck, by any chance?"
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Nathaniel Alexander
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He resisted the urge to jump when he heard the giggle, eyes narrowing as they peered into the darkness to try and discover the identity of the source. Not a professor, at least, and he doubted a prefect would have let him get this far – he hadn’t heard the door open, so they must have been here when he arrived. Wondering at the sanity of someone who sat in dark, restricted classrooms, he waited for her to show herself.

A Gryffindor. Fan-fucking-tastic. At least it was a little one, one he was relatively sure he could control if she seemed likely to run off. His interest in the Dark Arts had provided him with a fair collection of spells for rendering targets immobile and, whilst he normally wouldn’t use them, he wasn’t about to let some child turn him in. The consequences of discovery would be far more serious than simply being out of bed after hours, and Nathaniel did not want his pursuit of illegal knowledge made public to the Hogwarts staff. It would just be a shame if he had to drop his mask and reveal the monster that lurked inside, so he’d play nice until he had no other options.

He realised, after a moment of study, that he even remembered her name. That garishly bright hair definitely belonged to one of Gryffindor’s Beaters, Aeryn, though he’d never really talked to her. Little about her stood out in his mind and he dismissed her as unimportant, just another student in Hogwarts not worth wasting his time on. He just needed to keep her here until he managed to break free.

But going for help meant that she’d been here too. Curiosity piqued, he wondered exactly what brought a little Gryffindor – not exactly known for their brains – to a room full of dubious books, most of which contained magic she wouldn’t understand yet. “Hey there, little lion.” The words were almost purred, full of charm and confidence. “Seems it doesn’t want me to leave.” He shrugged nonchalantly, leaning back against the table as if the circumstances didn’t bother him in the slightest.

He doubted Aeryn would be able to help him. Whatever enchantment had been placed on the book would have been carefully crafted, considering the rather powerful magic outlined in some of the pages, and he suspected that it would respond only to the use of Dark Arts in turn. Still, he had caught her in here…maybe she would know something. “Out after lights out, in a restricted classroom, surrounded by books about the Dark Arts. Just what would your house say?” It was possible that he may be able to help her – he doubted she would have come here without a goal.
Edited by Nathaniel Alexander, Wed Sep 14 7:07:22 GMT 2011.
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Aeryn Lilyth
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Aeryn said nothing for a moment, carefully assessing the situation. There was something about the Slytherin boy that made her uncomfortable; she may be the lion, but he seemed like the predator. Outwardly, he was charming and pleasant, but something did not add up. Maybe it was just her house prejudice showing through - it was rare that she met a Slytherin she could trust. Her thoughts flickered to Damian Thorn for a moment, her sworn enemy, a Slytherin - one she was inexplicably helping. She was beginning to learn that people were more than just the house they belonged to.

Still, best not to be foolish. If her instincts were telling her not to trust the boy, then she was going to listen to them until she had something more concrete to go on. The way he was talking to her made her hairs stand on end. Even with a book hanging comically from his hand, he seemed slightly menacing, and being stuck in a darkened room with him was probably not the best idea. She examined the book he had been reading from where she stood, not wanting to step closer. "They do that sometimes," she said simply, "A few of them are cursed. You got off pretty lightly - there's a few in here that would most likely kill you. You ought to be more careful."

The fact that the Gryffindor girl was telling people to be careful was laughable - she was usually reckless, even by her house's standards. Headstrong, proud, brave, and guilty of overestimating her abilities until she was knee-deep in trouble. Aeryn could feel herself blushing slightly when Nathaniel asked her what she was doing out here. She had her reasons - and thinking about said reasons caused her to unthinkingly slip her hand into her robe pocket and clutch the little glass vial. She did not, however, want to discuss those reasons. She hadn't even told her closest friends about what had happened in Knockturn Alley - the only other person who knew, except the creepy street vendor, was Delaney Gale, a Ravenclaw whom Aeryn had barely interacted with until now.

"Could ask you the same question," she retorted childishly, eyebrows raised. "Although your house would probably all be in here if they knew how to get in." Truth was, so would most students, whether they were interested in learning forbidden magic, interested in research, or just doing it for the heck of it. Aeryn's reasons were a mixture of the last two. "I'm sure you don't exactly wanna be busted either," she continued, slightly amused, "And if you leave with that book dangling from your arm, the professors will know straight away."
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Nathaniel Alexander
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Oh, he knew how dangerous the books could be; he’d landed himself a pretty two week visit to St Mungo’s the summer previous, having activated some nasty curse that would have killed him if his blood hadn’t been pure and still nearly took his right arm. He’d stubbornly returned to it as soon as he’d been released, having refused to spill a word about exactly what he’d been doing, and painstakingly slow work had finally rendered the tome safe. It hadn’t even turned out to be too useful, but the burst of satisfaction experienced after beating it had made the exercise worthwhile. “I guess I should be thankful,” he returned with an easy smile, glancing at the rest of the tomes.

He tracked the movement of hand to pocket without a word, storing that little fact away as he pondered what it meant. Something was clearly hidden in there, though he hadn’t the faintest idea as to the type. Some dark object she’d wanted to research, perhaps, which might explain why she was in here, but it could just as easily be a bit of parchment with a half written spell or lucky talisman to ward away the big bad Slytherin.

“Curiosity,” he admitted freely in response to her questions about his motives, and it was completely truthful. “I was very nearly placed in Ravenclaw.” That, however, was a complete lie, as the hat had decided on Slytherin almost before it touched his head. Only eleven, he’d been terrified of ending up in the house his parents hated and had argued his case for being put in Ravenclaw – he was smart, logical, worked exceptionally hard – but it had refused to budge, and he’d soon seen that green and silver truly were his colours. Still, admitting he might not be a complete snake would hopefully get her to relax.

“Don’t worry, Aeryn. I got myself into this mess, I won’t drag you into it.” If he was caught, which he was still hoping wouldn’t happen, he couldn’t see any benefit in dragging the Gryffindor into it. She’d done nothing that made him want to punish her. “Even if I do get caught, I won’t say anything about you. There’s no point in both of us being punished.” Whether she believed him or not was a separate matter, but Nathaniel wasn’t lying.

Having given up on trying to pull his hand free, his left hand now picked up the discarded wand. He frowned for a moment, not entirely confident that he would pull off some of the trickier manoeuvres with a hand he rarely practiced with, and swished it experimentally. A sideways glance was also given to the Gryffindor girl, sizing her up and wondering what her response would be if he used a few more dubious spells. Chances were he’d only be able to free himself by using magic similar to that the book described. Maybe she wouldn’t notice – she’d only been studying at Hogwarts for three years, half as many as he had, and there would be plenty she wouldn’t recognise.
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Aeryn Lilyth
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Aeryn raised an eyebrow when Nathaniel explained his motives. She had no reason to distrust him, although she felt pretty sure that it was more than just an academic curiosity. His offhand comment about nearly being a Ravenclaw only served to further back up her suspicions - she mostly distrusted Slytherins on principle, and tended to take everything they said as meaning the opposite.

Which is why she also didn't believe him when he said he wouldn't get her into trouble. She had known people before - not always snakes, but still - who had gone out of their way to get the young Gryffindor into trouble. She didn't entirely believe that one of them would turn down a golden opportunity such as this, when they had fabricated things in the past. Although, on the other hand, he had no reason to get her into trouble, and he was the one stuck to a book. She had only been sitting in here. Ratting her out would likely get him into more trouble.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," she said with a smirk as the boy picked up his wand. The awkward way he was holding it was a dead giveaway that his wand arm was not his left. "You'll probably make it worse, they don't much like magic," Aeryn elaborated, gesturing to the book as she spoke. "Unless, of course, you want to lose your arm." The Gryffindor girl had got stuck in a very similar way during her first visit to the room, getting her right hand clamped inside a copy of 'Dream Magick and Dark Omens'. She had wanted to blast the thing off her hand, but had been unable to make the spell work with her left hand. That was a small blessing, she had learned, as the thing would have taken her hand off if she'd hit a curse at it.

Instead, she had stuffed her book-covered hand into her schoolbag, and hunted down Delaney. The Ravenclaw had freed her after a few hours of research, during which Aeryn had become increasingly more bored. Once rendered harmless, however, the book had given the pair a few interesting insights. The same book was currently hiding in the redhead's schoolbag, and hadn't tried to bite her hand off since.
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Nathaniel Alexander
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Her distrust of him was hardly important; in the grand scheme of things she was just a little Gryffindor girl, prejudiced and just as judgemental as they often accused the Slytherins of being. Honestly, when would others realise that the house did not define the person? Oh, the stereotypes might be perfectly true of him, but there were plenty who’d been placed in Slytherin that were as chivalrous as a Hufflepuff. Besides, look at Felix – the boy was as involved as him in the research, and was far more eager to put discoveries into practice, and the hat had still chosen Gryffindor.

“What would you suggest I do then?” He wasn’t as hopeless with his left had as she might imagine, having had his right incapacitated before, though he’d take any better solution that she might have to offer. Her pretentious tone was starting to irritate him; what, exactly, preaching from his shoulder would accomplish he had no idea, save stroking her ego.

“I could find Felix, drag him off whatever girl he’s currently attached to and ask him for help, but he’d probably find it amusing to cut my hand off or something.” He rolled his eyes, thinking back on the time that all the bones in his hand had ‘accidentally’ disappeared last time he Gryffindor had rescued him, after Nathaniel had triggered a curse that set his hand alight with cursed, charmed flames that resisted any attempts to put them out with water. There had, thankfully, been no lasting damage, but Nathaniel had been ready to throttle his best friend.
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Aeryn Lilyth
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Aeryn's face froze when the Slytherin boy asked her what she would do; truth was, she had no idea how to actually solve the problem. Delaney had done all the work for her, and she couldn't actually remember what he had done in the end. It involved some sort of charm, which Delaney had performed on her rather than the book, and... oh bugger. What else was it? And even if she could remember, there was no guarantee it would work on a different book.

"No idea," she said with a shrug, "Just thought I'd save you a trip to the hospital wing. I got stuck like that a while back," she offered with a shrug, slightly apprehensive about revealing that particular tidbit to the boy. She wasn't sure what he would do with the information, if anything, but it felt like a bad idea to tell him anything about herself at all. She raised her eyebrows at the mention of Felix - that's where she had seen this Slytherin before. Almost always attached to Felix Knight, a fellow Gryffindor. She sniggered at the comment; when Felix wasn't with his best friend, he was usually with a girl, and it was rarely the same one for more than a few weeks.

"Cutting your hand off isn't a bad idea," Aeryn remarked lightly, toying with the glass vial in her pocket. "I could help you with that. When I got stuck in one, my friend put a charm on me instead of the book, though. You could try that..." She wasn't sure why she was helping him - it wasn't exactly in her interests. She could have just gathered her things and left, but for some reason, she wanted to stay.
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Nathaniel Alexander
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Well, hesitating wasn’t going to get him anything except a detention. He muttered something almost silently, turning his head away so that Aeryn wouldn’t be able to catch the words, and flicked his wand in a rather uncomplicated pattern. Nothing happened for a moment and he scowled, presuming it hadn’t worked. It took another few moments before a red glow snaked up from the book to cover his hand and forearm, pooling around the area where palm met book.

Unfortunately, he knew what was coming next. Two dark spots appeared on the captured wrist, blood welling up and dripping down across pale fingers, where it appeared to disappear. He’d used this particular spell before; while it wouldn’t free him, it did reveal certain details about the trap holding him. Hopefully it would be enough to determine the counter-curse.

“Ow,” he muttered, glancing down at the wound. He’d have to leave the injuries to heal naturally – he’d tried various spells to heal them before, but they just seemed to make it worse. It must be something to do with the dark nature of the spell. “Looks like I might get to keep my hand. Shouldn’t take me too long to work it out now.” He wasn’t sure how she’d react to the use of dark magic, even though it had been obviously harmless (at least to anyone else), but he wasn’t going to stay stuck simply to cater to her sensibilities.
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Aeryn Lilyth
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She watched carefully as the boy turned away from her and performed magic she had never encountered. The book and his arm glowed red, and the final result seemed to be a bleeding hand. It was bizarre. Maybe he had just decided to ignore her advice, and the book had bitten him. If that was the case, serve him right... if it wasn't the case, then why on earth was he casting spells that would injure him?

Nathaniel's behaviour was, at this moment, exactly what Aeryn expected from a Slytherin; sly, secretive and a little unnerving. Granted, the girl was not the most studious of people, but she liked wandwork, and if she wasn't in the least bit aware of a spell, it was probably really bad news. That, or it was really dull - but whatever her companion had just done, it was most certainly not boring.

"Impressive," Aeryn muttered, unable to stop herself from commenting. "What did you just do?" Asking was stupid; at best, she wouldn't get an answer, and at worst, she'd likely find out something she really didn't want to know. But one of her biggest vices was curiosity - she was always sticking her nose where it didn't belong.
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