Investigations and Imagination PV Alan Finished

♫

A young boy sitting on a small hill, not exactly at but also not too far away from the stables. His gaze was wandering over the grounds until they began to settle on the forbidden forest until his mind finally zoned out. He would not think much about going into the forest, it was rather much the thought of what creatures would reside in the forest that made it so dangerous for inexperienced wizards and witches. The distant sound of barking made him snap out of his thoughts. A smile appeared on his face as he faced the stables, wondering if it was one of their cruppies. Maybe it had been Senkel even? He should visit those small beasts at some point, he missed the soft fur and the kindness in the small crups eyes. He could not express how grateful he was that Griffith was giving them the opportunity to learn more about those lovely creatures.

As he sat there crossed legged, he looked down at the notebook that was opened on his lap, that he used to scribble down notes and facts. It was opened on the page where he had eagerly noted down everything about cruppies after the event in front of the stables. He was proud at all the facts that filled two DIN A5 pages along with some mindless doodles. The young boy always had complications to concentrate on a task, which led to him doodling at the side of his notes. He had all that additional information about the cruppies after asking Moffy lots of questions. He added a distant sketch of Senkel with all the patches he had on his fur and facts about the small crup, such as 'likes to chew on laces and strings'-

He was not even noticing if anyone was around him, but he was bend over the small book now as he picked up his pen to add some more notes that he remembered now. His body crouched over the notebook and his hair falling down into his face, caged the pages from being seen. From afar the pages would not be able to be read or looked at, which might be suspicious for someone on lookout for anything susupicious.

Ruby was pleased to find that the boy wasn't looking at her yet. That meant that she could (well, hopefully, anyway) successfully walk across the grass towards him without being seen, which she began to do. Oh, but there was another thing! The boy was crouched over his notebook in a seemingly protective way, concealing it even though not many people were close by him except for her. This was very suspicious! He clearly had something to hide. What better way than to carefully shield all of it, looking as if he might be a normal boy writing/drawing something in a notebook? Ruby knew that this wasn't the case. She wouldn't fall for the boy's tricks!

Now, she knew not to underestimate her opponent. In general, she knew never to do that, especially not to a suspect, but in this case, she had witnessed the boy's trickery. He was good, she'd give him that. For the next bit, she'd need to be careful… She whipped out a small notepad, ready to jot things down. Hopefully, he would play along… please?

“Excuse me, sir. What's your name?” Ruby asked in a formal tone, glancing from him back to the notepad. “I suppose I ought to let you know that a crime has been committed, and I am interviewing people – possible suspects. Surely, you must realize that you look rather suspicious, hiding what you're doing like that,” she continued in the same formal, matter-of-fact voice. She decided to break this for a quick second by whispering quickly with a smile, “It's just an imaginary game. Please tell me if you're willing to play along.”

♫

The young Gryffindor was confused. What was she talking about and who was she even? However when she told him that this was some kind of imaginary game, the young boy grew excited. He loved stuff like that and it remdinded him of winter were he would always do stuff like that with Elena, playing royalty and conquering armies of other evil people. That was why Alan decided to play along and pretended to be extra suspicious while trying to figure out his role.

Maybe he could be a thief and his book hid the way to the stolen treasure? That's right! Alan was a pirate now and he quickly grabbed his notebook, stuffing it below his robes. "arr, You saw nothing, girl- I totally did nothing suspicous at all, mind your business!", he began to play, while totally suspicously hiding the book. "Who even are you to question me like that? Don't you know who I am?", he challenged the girl. He was bad at acting and it was obvious, but at least he played along, hoping that was enough to bring the other girl some joy. Maybe they could even become friends after this, but they would see about that.

Now he was a pirate, ready to defend his treasure.

Ruby watched the confusion cross the boy's face at first and hoped that he wouldn't scorn her and walk away. She just wanted someone to go on a pretend adventure with! She wanted a partner to play with. However, she hoped that she hadn't been too forward and that she had picked the right person. This could go so badly if he wasn't going to give it a go…

Then his expression changed and he looked happier – possibly even excited. Was he going to join her? She let a brief smile dance across her lips. Hopefully, the two of them would also make up what the crime was along the way so that she wouldn't accidentally choose something he might be uncomfortable with.

The boy suddenly started acting even more suspiciously, but then Ruby realized that he was pretending. He made an "arr" noise and she realized that he was a pirate in disguise! Well, at least for now, in the game. She gasped. “You're a pirate? Sir, what's in the book?” she asked in a tone that showed the suspicion. “I am a detective! I have a license to freely question you on both personal and impersonal matters, and you have to answer me. I do not know who you are, sir, but by revealing your identity as a pirate and hiding what's in that book of yours, I have reason to suspect you,” she continued.

When she had finished, she grinned at him briefly before she went back to the role of the serious investigator.

♫

Alan looked at the other girl and nearly had to laugh, but he held back so that he did not interrupt the game like that. However it was easily noticeable that he was having fun there by the way his eyes literally seemed to shine. ”What is in my book? Miss that is none of your concerns, arr- Get lost before I get my crew!”, he threatened jokingly.

He wondered if something like this could ever happen in real life. A detective and a pirate just seemed too surreal, yet like a very fun encounter. So Alan did not mind to imagine it happening, on the Hogwarts grounds. Was his boat maybe on the Great Lake, he wondered as he looked around.
”I do not care if you are a detective, snoop in someone else' business as I have never done something forbidden!”, he said suspiciously as he straightened up. ”You have literally no right to question me!”, he made himself more clear, as he grinned. This got more and more fun with every passing second. He was curious how the girl would react to his dialogue. Alan also hoped she took none of his words serious, as it was all the game she started.

Ruby allowed her eyes to narrow slightly in suspicion as part of the game. “Don't make me have to take it from you, sir!” she threatened, raising a hand with one finger raised warningly to emphasize her point. What would she do now? How would she get the plot of their little game to advance? “Your crew? Who are you, anyway, besides a pirate?” Maybe they could pretend that he was a famous pirate – a well-known, feared one. How would she communicate this idea to him?

Whatever happened, she was both relieved and happy that he was playing along. She still didn't know his name, but if he was willing to discard all the formalities and stiffness that came with many first interactions nowadays, then he must be worthy. “Worthy of what?” one might ask. Well, perhaps he could be a potential friend. She certainly appreciated the fact that he hadn't walked away or made fun of her. Too many people would do that. It was like they thought that they were so old, beyond the point of imaginary games and just being a kid. People tried to grow up too fast, and although Ruby possessed some rather grown-up views and wisdom that was often far beyond her years, she saw the value in enjoying being a child. It would be over before that long anyway, and she'd be forced to grow up and all that boring stuff. Right now, however, she could enjoy herself.

“I have no reason to believe that you haven't done anything forbidden! If you're so sure of that, then why can't you show me the book, hm?” she challenged. She hoped she didn't seem too rude – after all, if he actually felt pressured to show her the book and there was something important to him in there, she'd feel bad. She wasn't trying to pry. Obviously, she wasn't being serious, and she wasn't taking his words seriously. How could she when he kept saying "arr"? She almost giggled. The situation was still rather amusing. A detective questioning a pirate… and about what? A treasure map? Stolen treasure? Stolen loot of different kinds? Other pirate-y crimes?

On the topic of stealing… she gave a small gasp, as if she had had a revelation. “Is it even your book at all? Did you steal it? Sir, I'd like to at least examine the covers of it, just to see.”

♫

Alan stared at her and wanted to play along when a thought crossed his mind. He had that appointment of talking to Professor Pendrast, he had asked her to review some of his notes he had taken in class. For him it was always causing problems to keep concentrated so he usually just took some notes and asked some questions later. He really disliked the theoretical aspect of every subject even if he understood why it was taught. The reason was obvious, he couldn't understand the danger or requirements for a spell if he did not really learn about it. So because he would often space out during class he was not the best at casting either unless he took some extra time to study the theory of the spells.

”I'm really sorry, but I forgot about this important appointment I have to talk to Professor Pendrast!”, he exclaimed to tell her of his thoughts. So I sadly cannot continue this play, even if I would like to, but she extra took her time for this so yeah...”, he explained sheepishly, rubbing his neck with his palm, before smiling lightly at the girl. ”I'm Alan Vanes by the way, Gryffindor! If you wanna hang out again, send me an owl and I'll reply, okay?”, he asked her curiously as his nervous smile turned into a light grin. He waved one last time before turning around and jogging towards the castle.

Thread left, feel free to send Alan an IC owl from Ruby