Gathering of the Dementor Hunters Closed

Edric watched, fascinated, as Alma pulled out a map of the Hogwarts Grounds. The drawing was not professional and the script used to label the different locations was all but unreadable to him, but a map was map. It would certainly help them to find whatever it was they would be looking for.

Get to know the others a bit seemed like a good start. Syragh was the only one of their little group he hadn't talked to previously, but still Edric didn't know the others that. Alma and Marcia he had talked to the most and Sebastian was his dorm mate, who he didn't know as much about as he maybe should. So this was a good occasion to learn more about his fellow housemates.

"Hm," he mumbled while taking a closer look at the map. "The Dragon Pavilion sounds interesting, is it that buildings besides the greenhouses?" The pointed at the spot on the map and then tapped another place of the parchment. "Those buildings by the lake, what are they? One is the boathouse of course, but I'd like to see what the others are for. You couldn't really see them on the night we came here."

With childish curiosity Marcia turned peeked over Almas shoulder to see what she wanted to show them all. The wind coming from the Lake was strong and pulled at the parchment Alma was holding with her fingers.

It was a map, provisorily painted and with some labels. There were a few markers where the library was and some of the classrooms, but Marcia was particularly struck by the floorplan of the castle. She knew it was a huge castle, she had gotten lost more than once during her first days at school after all and she had seen no end to the castle's rooms and hallways. She wished to have a map as well, this could come in handy.

When Edric started to lay out some ideas where they could go first, Marcia almost spaced off, her gaze still fixed at the map, when one word made her mouth go dry. "Boathouse!" she said before anyone could agree to his proposal. "I would rather not. There is nothing but old boats, isn't it? I say we go anywhere else, more exciting." She didn't want to sound rude but her response was quickly spoken, with a high voice. She really didn't want to go to the boathouse.

"I like the sound of the Dragon Pavillion. Could be the pavilions near the greenhouse, at least I've seen some dragon statues there." She pointed with the finger at the map to where she expected the greenhouses to be. "That's greenhouse seven, it's the nearest to the Forest as well. We could go there and hike besides the edge of the Forest for some time."

She followed the line she imagined in her head with her finger and ended at the forest. "This should take us a while and it should be enough, I guess." To walk along the trees was a more pleasant experience for Marcia than to visit the boathouse, so she hoped the group would decide to do the latter. Unknown to anyone she put her left hand on Almas back and pulled at her robe. She was the only one who would know her reason to not wanting to go to the boathouse and she wanted to send her a silent sign.

As Syrah listened, no one seemed to offended by her arrival, so she smiled to herself and settled in. She had brought her pack with her, but it simply held some water and light snacks, as well as one notebook and pen in case she wanted to write anything down, though she doubted it. Hm. She learned as she listened that the Dementor Hunters were more of a club rather than a goal. She was fine with that. In any case she was extremely interested in exploring the Grounds, and all the suggestions sounded amazing.

Piping in she expressed her opinions, "I think the greenhouse would be a good place to start. The Professor is always going on about how we cant go in the other greenhouses. But if not the Dragon pavilion sound awesome, but they probably don't have actual dragons there, do they?"

She knew going into the other pavilions was not allowed, but she fond a bit of excitement in that. She was a naturally curious girl, and, although she didn't necessarily want to get in trouble or anything like that, but she did want a peak. Though she did agree with some of the others that the boathouses would be a bit boring. Plus she was sure she could find an excuse her for club, the Magical Aquatic Animal Exploration club, to go visit the boathouse sometime.

The discussion was largely uninteresting, not due to the people but simply the talk of where to go. Since no one seemed inclined to venture into the Forbidden Forest, it left the more public grounds available, which was a little unfortunate, since Sebastian had looked around several areas and found very little. Still, perhaps they would get lucky, and some kind of creature might appear or otherwise be discovered.

Sebastian put his hands into his pockets, the long robes of his student uniform tucked back. He would wait, listening to each person as they voiced an opinion, and simply agree with whoever suggested the most interesting location to begin investigating.

I wonder, Sebastian thought to himself, at the reference of the Dragon Pavilion.

The mention of the Greenhouses caused the boy to raise an eyebrow. Those were very much off-limits, and given it was during the day, the chances of being discovered in a group like they were now was equally as high. That course of action wouldn't be wise, especially not with Professor Sorrel keeping an eye on everything and being so overly critical - if her homework was any indication about her stance on maintaining rules.

"I still vote on the Dragon Pavilion," Sebastian said, looking to Syrah. At least she seemed interested in the potential the name had to offer. "And from what I understand, it's not far from where we are now. It's on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and a short walk from the great lake... I saw a map, and the name stood out."

Glancing to the west, toward the forest in the distance, Sebastian motioned with his head.

"It's that way, if we skirt the forest and follow it south-west..."

The boy wondered if he ought to mention he wanted to investigate for other reasons, namely the reports being spread of growls and creature sounds from the place at night. Some of the sources were questionable, but Sebastian couldn't deny an interest because of the increased rumors following a similar theme - someone, or something, was definitely near the Pavilion at night...

Alma stood up straight again, folding the map before putting it back into her coat pocket. No matter where they went, they shouldn’t get too lost as long as they had her brother’s mediocre drawings to rely on.

“Very well,” she said, looking at the group of First Years. “Dragon Pavilion it is. A good place as any to start this little exploration trip, really. I also second the motion of visiting the Greenhouses. While we aren’t allowed to go inside, I’m certain looking through the glass and seeing what plants are housed inside should prove enlightening enough. ”

The walk to the Pavilion itself was a short one. As Sebastian had already said, the small structure was rather close to both the Black Lake and the Forbidden Forest. It was a very tempting idea to just abandon all sense of self-preservation and venture into the Forest. Yet as long as Alma’s arsenal of spells was still abysmally sad to look at (she highly doubted that the Acromantula that were rumoured to still live inside the Forest would be very impressed by her casting Incendio or Flipendo at them), she would refrain from following the urge to explore the parts of the Grounds that were off-limits to students. The Pavilion itself wasn’t all too interesting, yet she found a couple of interesting herbs, mostly Miner’s Lettuce and Purslane, both of which she recognised from her father’s garden.

“Oh look, Marcia, here’s something for you. I believe you are our expert in the group when it comes to plants and there are a couple of interesting herbs growing by the Pavilion. I only recognise some of them, but what are these white flowers?” Alma asked, gesturing to the pretty white flowers growing amongst the weeds.

When they started walking, she was relieved, and she couldn't care less where they're going as long as it wasn't the boathouse. Still, she wondered what this Dragon Pavilion was supposed to be. From what Sebastian had told them she was fairly sure that it just was the Pavillion connecting the greenhouses, which was guarded by some dragon statues. They wouldn't see much besides some old, partly broken figures, which were overgrown with grass, though.

"There were no Dragons here at Hogwarts since 1994," she said with a wink to Syrah, who had been the last one to join them. "It's probably just a name, although our late caretaker could have hidden an egg here somewhere." She was joking, but she herself enjoyed the thought of an hidden egg, which went undetected for years. That would be a nice development, if they would find a mysterious egg or a forgotten creature. Anything was better that facing a Dementors, she thought eyes rolling.

Still, she followed them while she watched they surrounding, her hands were folded behind her back. Alma had took the lead, which was fine by Marcia, who liked to walk behind everyone anyway. She wasn't fast and she preferred to go her own pace, especially when they indeed drew nearer to the greenhouses. Since she loved plants, she spent most of her free time here anyway; at least in the small fields which weren't off limits.

"Why have you decided to come along, Syrah?" Marcia asked when they had been walking for a few minutes in silence. She wasn't sure if she had spoken the name correctly, so she quickly continued. "I know Alma can be persuasive, I'm guilty myself, but I was just wondering, if you really would want to meet a Dementor?" When she realized that she was asking rather personal questions, she held her hands up. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer, if you don't want to."

She felt herself blush and had to surpress the urge to hit herself at the back of her head, so she nearly missed Alma calling her name. "What?" Some eyes were pointed at her and waited for her answer, while she looked around. "Oh, these? Eh, nothing special, they're Chickenweed." Most of the plants and herbs growing outside the greenhouses were harmless weeds or wild flowers, and she doubted that anyone besides herself would find them interesting. Marcia would be happy to tell them more about the small flowers, but she remained silent. The others were here so find some monsters, they didn't want to listen to her talking.

The Dragon Pavilion. At least there was something dangerous and exciting in the name, otherwise this exploration trip wasn't going as Edric had expected it to. No dementors, no Forbidden Forest, no dangerous creatures, no lake with an eerie monster living in it... he wasn't one for facing enemies or being brave, but the valued a good adventure as much as the next kid. Edric had obviously had false hopes concerning exactly how exciting this "hunt" would be.

Still he followed along behind as Alam lead the way towards the greenhouses. Leaving the group just because he hadn't gotten what he'd wanted would be childish, and to be honest Edric didn't have the nerve to stand up to the others and complain either. So he walked behind the girls and listened as Alma started asking questions about herbs - or flowers, they mostly looked the same to him anyway - and Marcia told them some interesting things about dragons... yeah, seeing a dragon would have been nice, even if it was just from afar.

Then Marcia started asking the girl he hadn't gotten to know yet some questions about dementors which he would have enjoyed answering, but since he didn't know Syrah he didn't want to butt in.

Taking a step to the side to give them some space he somehow ended up next to Sebastian Leeds, the boy who had left their dorm on the first day because he'd been made prefect. Edric had thought him a bit strange then for his very rich but seemingly estranged family relations, but the other boy had been nice otherwise. They hadn't talked since, as they didn't share any close friends Edric was aware of.

He nodded to the other Slytherin. "Hey, Sebastian. We didn't really talk after you became a prefect. Did you join the duelling club? I remember you wanted to become a member."

Well, the Dragon Pavillion, while not her first choice, seemed somewhat interesting. Even if it just ended up some sort of entrance to the Greenhouses, they could simply pop over to the Forbidden greenhouses and take a peek. As they were walking Syrah stayed relatively quiet. She felt a little out of place having not been officially invited to the group, instead just kind of joining it without permission, and so she didn't want to interrupt. 

But as they made their way to the Pavillion, she heard her name. Looking over she saw Marcia talking to her. Instantly she got a little anxious because the girls question seemed passive aggressive, but as the girl continued Syrah relaxed and realized she was simply curious. 

Syrah answered, walking nearer to the girl. "Oh, I knew we weren't actually going to see a Dementor. There's nothing like that any where near campus, I'm sure." She started. "I mean I still think it would be cool to see, but like from a safe and supervised position. I honestly just wanted to see what you guys were up to because it sounded interesting!" Dhe hoped dashing on the groups hopes like that wouldn't be taken offensively. No one really expected a Dementor, did they?

"I've heard the odd rumor about the dragon pavilion, at any rate," Sebastian said with a nod, wondering if the stories were really true. "Some students say there is a reason its named after dragons, and had to do with the Tri-Wizard Tournament about twenty years ago. Others say it's because dragons use it to rest when traveling or migrating... but I'm not sure if they even migrate, so don't hold me to that last one."

As the group moved, Sebastian walked casually in the back. His hands were in his pockets, his head down, as he considered the group and their purpose. Part of him really liked the idea, and it could prove smart to develop a small group who weren't afraid to adventure together; but on the other hand, they all seemed to have different ideas and interests, and that could lead to clashes if there was no sense of leadership involved. Nothing worse than indecisiveness.

"I'll follow up some more leads," Sebastian decided, giving a shrug. He liked the idea of finding out information, especially if he could put some students on the spot with questions. "Depending on-- oh, I completely forgot, I have a study session planned!"

Grimacing, Sebastian looked at the group, his expression saying 'sorry'.

"It was nice meeting you all, but I really can't be late!"

Sebastian smiled, before he turned around and walked back to the castle at a quick pace...