Clarke widened his eyes in surprise, "Surely there's no need for this," he said when Kaegen drew his wand. He was pretty sure that was against the rules, using magic outside of hogwarts? attempting to attack another student in Diagon Alley. He suddenly really wished that he could get his robes soon and get out of there. It was all unraveling very quickly and his instinct to deescalate was first and foremost.

"No one meant to be rude they were just telling me about Hogwarts because I'll be new this year. I'm Clarke" He said holding out his hand, still sounding a little afraid but holding himself strong anyway, "It's nice to meet you," he added.

He felt small and maybe like he was shaking even though his hand was held sturdy out in front of him. His father always talked to him about being brave and being tough. He would tell Clarke about times when a bludger was flying towards him and instead of dodging it he'd launch the Quaffle through the hoop, choosing to score rather than avoid breaking an arm. That was bravery. That's what he told Clarke was bravery anyway. His mother on the other hand had a different take of bravery. She would consider his dads version of bravery idiotic. Instead she told Clarke that bravery was doing something even when you were scared to do it. So maybe this was bravery, or maybe he was being a coward. It depended on which parent he wanted to believe in that moment.

People had been plotting something about him behind his back, he was now in stand off with a conniving, yet probably stupid, ravenclaw and two unknown wildcards. His wand was ready with his spell of choice, a single word on the tip of his tongue. He was prefect, and using magic outside of Hogwarts was forbidden. But what did he care? If he didn’t use the spell he could very well die. For all he knew the idiotic girl was not, in fact, stupid. She could have been acting, pretending to be oblivious of the world around her to throw him off his guard. Like a fox playing dead to lure in the crows.

The boy said something confusing. “Surely there’s no need for this” what the heck did that mean? Did he mean that him resisting his supposedly imminent demise had no use, that the three of them were going to eradicate the prefect and there was nothing he could do about it? Or did he mean that there was no need for any of them to fight. Kaegen had spent most of his life in the fens, a magical swamp full of unpredictable dangers he spent all his time hiding from. His grandfather had taught him, but unconventionally. He had been taught to be paranoid, to stay alive. That coupled with a complete lack of human understanding made for a rather dangerous boy.

"No one meant to be rude they were just telling me about Hogwarts because I'll be new this year. I'm Clarke" Who was being rude? What the heck did being rude even mean? As far as the prefect knew it meant choosing the wrong knife at a table or some such foolishness. But as confusing as the statement was, the rest was extremely enlightening. This boy was a liar. Clerk, was a liar. They were not talking about Hogwarts, they were talking about him. What exactly he didn’t know, but unless the prefect was secretly the physical embodiment of the school, the boy had just made a error he would not be able to correct any time soon.

Along with the fact that it made it clear that the boy was, in fact, completely devoid of honor, it also made it clear whose side he was on. The insane woman, the probable death witch standing right next to him. With the revelation of the kind of people she had been plotting with came the realization that there was no way she was just some dunce. If she came out and admitted to full death witch status he would not be surprised in the slightest. And that meant she was up on the list with Airheat and Bones Cull-them. Not to be taken lightly. Not a mouse at all, but a tiger.

The boy’s mind was running faster and faster, magnifying every situation and placing it in the worst light possible. A mind that used to see evil and death everywhere because it was everywhere now wandered a world where that was not the case, and it was confused, bewildered. It searched hard for the predators it knew must exist, because it would make no sense for them not to. Why would Diagon ally be any different from the Fens?

And so, when the boy reached his hand over to Kaegen, the boy from the fens took a quick step back, free hand vanishing inside his robes, reaching for the handle of the blade he knew was resting close to his chest. His eyes stared at the boy, confidence quickly turning into the fear that commonly racked his brain. Far too commonly, as his body took to the terror like a fish to water. His pupils expanding slightly as his Vampiric blood struggled to burst forth, to rend the threats in front of him limb from limb, or at least escape in a timely manner. This was not panning out well.

The boy was either asking to shake hands, or trying to get Kaegen to fall for whatever wicked magical trap he had laid in the palm of his hand. As unlikely as that was it was a chance that he was not willing to take. If only one of them walked out of madame malkin’s alive, it was going to be him.

Why do I always start trouble? Especially trouble with the vampire boy. Kaegan asked why she had been talking about him. Amanda opened her mouth to say something but couldn’t get the words out. “I just wanted to tell Clarke about something interesting at Hogwarts. I suppose I could’ve mentioned the masked man instead.” Amanda finally mumbled. Her eyes widened as she saw Kaegan pull out his wand. He can’t do that, can he? Amanda was sure that you couldn’t do magic outside of school, but she wasn’t willing to push it with this kid.

Amanda was just about to reply that her move was “getting the hell out of here,” when Clarke stepped up and intervened. Oh great. Now I’ve sent this new kid to his death. I ruin everything. Clarke then offered Kaegan his hand. There is no way that this kid is going to do this. If somebody’s gonna die here, it should be me. I started this whole goddamn thing. Amanda stepped up next to Clarke. “Clarke, I’m sorry that I ruined your shopping trip. You don’t have to do this. You didn’t do anything.” Then Amanda turned to face Kaegan. “Listen, if you’re looking to kill someone, kill me. Just let Clarke and Frost live.” This is it, she thought as she spread her arms out, showing that she had no weapons. Amanda had always thought that when she died, she would go down fighting or maybe even cry a bit. But her eyes showed no signs of tears. She was unwilling to show this vampire boy that she was scared. “I’m all yours.”

"There are monster beyond this swamp, boy. Monsters that make your blood run cold. They find what you love and they take it. Oh, you love something, boy. Everyone loves something."
-Grandfather

He must have fallen into the trap. The girl was commiting suicide, what happened when he killed her, and what on earth were they planning? As he stared into the eyes of the girl he realized something, a difference between humans and creatures from the Fens. The difference was simply that there were more humans. And that humans could talk. They were just as bloodthirsty, just as conniving. She was willing to die in order to get Kaegen to do something, to trip into the pitfall the three had dug. Was the black burn lurking around the corner, ready to strike the prefect down for his transgressions? For the fact that he would have broken a promise?

And then it struck him harder, revelation on top of revelation. She was trying to steal his name. She was trying to take away who he was, what he was. He had promised to help and guide Ravenclaw house, killing a Ravenclaw would directly contradict that. It would mean he had gone back on his word, the word that was always tied to his name. If he didn’t know what kind of monster the girl was before, he certainly did now. The kind of monster that wasn’t satisfied with killing you, the kind of monster that would rather kill who you are and watch you suffer the rest of your life without a purpose or identity.

A Death witch to be sure. And possibly worse. They were everywhere, literally everywhere. And the boy was just one man, not even a man. He was a scared child from a world of monsters, expected to understand how to act, expected to know what he was looking at, to acclimate to a place completely different from everything he had ever known. His eyes started to dart around, going from face to face then the door then to random things that didn’t even have any significance.
But the eyes weren’t right anymore. The pupils had started to spread. Not much, but enough to make his iris completely black.

He was scared, and up against something that was trying to steal who he was from him. It shook the boy to the very core, shattering the illusions he had built up around what he held sacred. He didn’t think it possible that someone would go after his name. His life made sense, it made sense for people to want to kill him, but they didn’t even want that. It was a special kind of evil he thought lived only in the dark places. Yet here it was, leaking out into the world, imbuing the death witches with more profound bad than he ever thought possible.

The boy’s voice, the voice that hardly ever changed pitch from the quiet monotone that sounded so whimsically like rustling leaves started to quaver, a alien sound that he himself couldn’t remember coming out of his mouth.



A single word and then the boy was gone, gone as fast as could possibly go, at speeds faster than a normal boy his age should realistically be able to go. He shot through the crowd, pointing his umbrella out in front like a javelin he started to increase in speed, moving 5, 10, 15 miles per hour and still moving faster, people to either side moving out of the way or getting sideswiped. A few cursed the boy loudly, but they were half hearted attempts. It was hard to stay mad at a little boy running so fast his feet barely touched the ground with a unusually long umbrella. If anything, it was a bit amusing.

Clarke looked after the boy with an odd glance, "that was ridiculous," He muttered and shook his head and then he turned to Amanda, "don't offer your life up" He told her, "You have people behind you it doesn't have to come to that."

Clarke felt a sense of righteousness well up inside of him. Where he was once cowering inside he felt a surge of energy and confidence. He wasn't about to let anyone bully others like that, to almost kill them because what? A complete misunderstanding? Clarke had completely explained the situation to him and he was ready to attack anyway. Anyone who went after innocents like that. Clarke shook his head minutely at the thought.

"Besides," He said, "My trip wasn't ruined or anything, now I know who to look out for. This has been a very... uh... eye opening trip," He smiled. IF anything this girl had shown him a great deal of kindness by just stepping between him and danger. He could forgive her for most anything at this point. That was honor as far as he was concerned. His mother would surely have a heart attack if she had known what just went down but there was no way he was telling her. If anything he'd end up in trouble and not be able to do anything on his own again. He wasn't going to risk that.

“Business is a doggie-dog world. And I am a shark, who eats doggie-dogs.”
- Michael Scott

This is it. Amanda’s eyes were squeezed shut. She braced herself for some grand and majestic experience, but nothing happened. She then heard one word, barely louder than a breeze: “Monster.” Amanda opened her eyes slowly. The vampire boy Kaegan was gone. She was still in Madam Malkin’s. But most importantly, she was still alive. Amanda grinned and turned to Clarke as he addressed her. “If you say so. I definitely will not be doing that again anytime soon.”

Amanda let out a deep breath that she had been holding. She could feel her hands shaking slightly. She had looked into the face of death and had not found it inviting. She made a silent promise to herself right then and there, a promise to avoid dying at all costs. It was a dog-eat-dog world, and Amanda would just have to be a top dog in order to survive. And plus, her being dead wasn’t going to help anyone, not even the vampire boy.

Amanda turned her attention back to Clarke. “Yeah, I suppose that’s one way to put it,” she said lightly. If my mum ever found out that I challenged Kaegan Deathmote, I’d be dead for sure.

"Well it's definitely been an interesting day," Clarke laughed. He had never imagined that his trip for more robes would end up like this. Now that everything was settling down he felt a little more giddy than was probably appropriate. Maybe it was the adrenaline that was still running through his veins even though the danger had been averted. But either way he couldn't help but just feel lucky that things hadn't ended up worse.

It would have been dumb if someone had done anything here in the middle of a robe shop in one of the busiest places in wizarding London. Still though, witnesses to the fact couldn't help much after they had already been killed. But they hadn't been killed and Clarke was more concerned about the adults around them thinking they were rowdy. There weren't many in the shop and he wasn't sure anyone really saw what went down. But still. If anything like this got back to his mother or the media... if anyone recognized Jeremiah Laredo's son trying to start a fight in Diagon Alley he would not live it down. His father wouldn't either. Well actually his father would probably be proud of him but his mother sure would not. And Clarke had to actually live with his mother.

Amanda laughed along with Clarke, trying to forget about that crazy vampire boy. She could feel herself starting to calm down, but her heart was still thumping against her rib cage. Mental note to self for future reference: that kid is not to be trifled with. Amanda wondered why he hadn’t killed her. Maybe he was just too chicken. But something told Amanda that was not the reason. He’s a psycho. He probably thinks that I’m an all-powerful sorceress from another dimension. Amanda smiled to herself. Yes, that has a nice sound to it. I certainly don’t mind being viewed as dangerous.

Amanda glanced at the clock on the wall, checking the time. “It looks like I’d better get home with this silly dress,” she said, waving the dress she had picked out in the air before draping it over her arm. She had almost forgotten to pick it up off of the counter in all of the chaos. She paid the clerk for it and turned back to Clarke. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Clarke! I hope I run into you around Hogwarts. Also, you’re the son of Jeremiah Laredo, aren’t you? I can kind of see the resemblance. Anyways, I’ve gotta dash. See ya.” Amanda waved and headed out of the shop.