Participants:
@Meenauh Silmataurea
@Galton Lansdale
@Ruby Cazares
@Annie Morgan
@Bridget Collins
Open to any 5th year

The 23rd of December 2022
Late Afternoon

"Thank you and Merry Christmas!" she smiled to the shopkeeper, and stepped outside the shop, while still packing the parcel into her bottomless satchel.

A gust of fresh holiday wind struck her insides and shook her body. It was a very tender and nice winter. While the muggle world was shaken by some global geopolitical disasters, she was still happy the wizarding world was isolated from the rest. It was almost Christmas Eve, and they had to stay happy. They ought to stay happy.

She didn't know why she purchased the thing she purchased. It was a gift for herself. Her parents went on to buy their own presents and, of course, she asked to purchase hers alone.

Diagon Alley was decorated as good as it could have been. It was vivid and alive, colourful and spectacular. It was just enough and at the same time — it was too much. Some colder part of her requested privacy, tranquillity, black and white. She was dressed in white, but she purchased something black. Something to stay out of sight. Something warm and something that can hide her if needed.

She was standing near the shop and watching the faces of the people passing by. Some of them were Hogwarts students, some faces even seemed familiar to her. She could swear some faces even smiled at her, but she just awkwardly half-smiled back.

The voices were giving her a break. She didn't hear from them for several days now. As if, her inner dialogue was silent, and she was thankful for that. Another gust of wind lured her away from the shop, just a few steps to the side so that she could leave a few footsteps on the Christmas snow. She danced it to the melody of the street and smiled at how merry it was there.

But something kept luring her away. Luring her towards that side street where she should never be. Years passed, but the neighbouring alley stayed there, dark and cold — a place where merriness wasn't welcome. But to her — it was always like… the darker the dungeon was, the rarer was the loot. Right?

She levelled with the turn and shoot a glance at it. It sounded like someone was knocking there. Was it why it was called that way? She just stood there looking into the dark void, questioning her own motivations.

This thread is open to all students in their 5th year.
Meenauh leaves for the Knockturn Alley in 3 posts.

Galton was, in fact, a last-minute-holiday shopper. As surprising as that may be to anyone and everyone - and it must certainly be shocking to those closest to him - he always found himself a day (or two) away from Christmas with naught but lint to gift to those he held dear. It used to not be as big of a deal. Who expects actual gifts from a child? But now, with all of Galton’s maturity, it would be rude for him not to provide presents. Top notch presents - to really make a splash.

And so Galton Lansdale found himself (like the past few years) out and about, on the hunt. But unlike previous years, he knew exactly the present he would be purchasing. Unlike previous years, he would need more than money to acquire them. A summer splurge would allow him the “safety” to pursue these bombarda-stic gifts. Clad in the stylish black coat and grey robes beneath he slunk towards his goal.

That was until he happened upon a familiar face. None other than his famed (ex-) dueling partner and co-caption, Meenauh. It took much in him to resist the urge to bolt right over to her. But in this garb he knew he had to keep it cool. So he began his approach, slow and steady. Natural like. Just meeting an old friend for butter beer - calm. It was extra important he stay calm because he didn't quite look like the Galton the Glorious she knew. In his head he was sure she would be startled by his stunning looks, the cunning sharpness that an extra year or two gave him. He'd look like the model version of himself.

In actuality, all the added years did was trim some candy baby-fat off his chin and grow his mustache out to match the one he'd been sporting with his Much Mustachio Ring from time to time. Nothing that his fellow Gryffindor wouldn't see through within seconds. As he closed in a familiar smile would slip over Galton's face. Mustache bristles would dig into his upper lip as he did.

"Didn't think you were one to shop at the last minute, Meenauh the Mighty." A less vain teen might have cringed at even the thought of calling someone by their stage name, let alone one they had invented themselves, in such a public setting, but Galton was not a lesser teen. The words would come out with confidence, though they did lack some of the usual volume. He was trying to keep a low profile. "What 'ave you got there?"

Interacting with: @ Meenauh Silmataurea

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

It was the first day of the Christmas holidays and, truth be told, Ruby was glad to have a break from Hogwarts. While she truly loved absorbing herself in new learning and studying advanced topics, she talked to people very infrequently, caught up in a cycle of self-isolation that she viewed as protection. Being at Hogwarts and seeing people together all the time sometimes wore on her, reminding her of happier, blissful times in her first year when she made such an effort to go out and talk to new people all the time, making many new friends in the process.

She was tired. After all that had happened over her time at Hogwarts—fiery balls, people leaving and never hearing from them again, people leaving and returning under shady circumstances (Thomas), the attack of the venomous shadow spiders, the attack of the Mosps, a divided student body that had a habit of getting into fights—there was a lot to process. As a result, she would be glad to have a moment away from the constant threat of danger that plagued the halls of Hogwarts, even if it was only for a little over a week. She could go out to new places, spend time with friends and her cousins, and just take some time to decompress. This would be good for her.

At least that was what she told herself as she walked down Diagon Alley that afternoon, her cousins—who were now adults and thus able to sufficiently accompany her here—departing with a “Bye, Rubes”, “See you in a bit”, “Don’t forget to meet us at Fortescue’s when you’re done” after they had done some gift shopping as a group. She strode over to Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and briefly stopped to buy gifts for them there. The three brothers had a fondness for mischief and pranking that hadn’t faded with age, and Ruby was sure they would appreciate nearly anything from the store.

When she emerged, she didn’t have to travel far before she saw a familiar face—that of Meenauh Silmataurea. While it had been a long time since they had last talked—over two years, actually—Ruby still had great respect for the other girl. Their first meeting in particular had left a lasting impact on Ruby, having never found someone so alike in terms of such a questioning mind that longed for knowledge and research. The sight of her (former?) friend brought a smile to her face, but she was unsure if she would still be welcomed in her presence. Nevertheless, it couldn’t hurt to try, so she began approaching.

A stranger who clearly knew Meenauh showed up around the same time, just a moment before Ruby did. She wasn’t sure if she had met him or not, she reckoned she had seen him around the halls from time to time and thought maybe he had been at an errand with her before (House of Toads), but she couldn’t be sure. “Hello, Meenauh,” she greeted, a gentle half-smile playing across her lips. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything. It’s just been a long time and I figured it would be nice to say hi.” The Slytherin then turned to Meenauh’s companion. “I don’t believe I’ve met you before, what’s your name? I’m Ruby Cazares,” she introduced herself, hoping they wouldn’t mind the extra company.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

A little bell tinkled as the brunette strolled in. Scanning the shop, her eyes landing on the magical chess sets. It was her third time in the store this past year for that exact item. A small number of words were exchanged as she waited to pay for the item.

"Ah.. well it was the Monster Book this time eheh.." The girl muttered scratching the back of her neck. A few more words were exchanged before she nodded her thanks, grabbed her bag and exited the shop, bell thinking again at her exit.

Taking a deep breath, she'd mentally tick it off the shopping list in her head, what was next? Calculating where she had to go, it was all a straight line, and it wouldn't be too busy during the later afternoon hours right?

Shifting her feet towards the direction she needed to go, her first foot stepped forward and WHAM! Somebody's (Ruby's) back was now crushed against her face. "Mmf sorry-" She'd back up, rubbing her nose which was seemingly bright red from the impact, luckily stopping the rest of her face from getting distorted. Her mind had floated off, unable to recall where she was supposed to go and merely froze in the middle of the alleyway, puzzled.

Snapping back to reality and catching in on a name from the conversation going on around her, it seemed she ran into a group of students conveniently also shopping. Although that didn't help as she couldn't recognize any of the voices and barely recognized the name, that being Meenauh, she was.. somehow important or familiar in a sense although the impact fogged her brain, or at least that was the story she was going with.

Dusting off her clothes, and turning in the general direction of the voices, she'd slide into the conversation, casually if not being a bit nosy as well. "Pardon, Meenauh is it? Sorry again for running into you lot, what brings you down here? Holiday shopping, I suppose? She'd shake her bag, still clutched by her side, the contents luckily not flying out or ending up on the floor somewhere. With her luck recently it could've been a fourth trip into the shop, at this point her and the worker would become well acquainted, and the Magical Chess Sets would fear her. Getting lost in thought again, she'd daze off, forgetting her surroundings for a few seconds and listening to the chatter and footsteps of people ducking and weaving through Diagon Alley.

Interactions with:@Meenauh Silmataurea & @Ruby Cazares

Her gaze into the darkness was gently interrupted by the King himself. She abruptly turned her head away from where she was staring to greet Galton with a smile.

Interacting with @Galton Lansdale

"Ask our professors why we have to end the school right before the holidays!" she answered, because really — classes, train, Merry Christmas! But apart from the train, the wizarding world's travel was quick, so a trip to Diagon Alley was not big of a deal.

"Not much really, yet, just some clothes and books," she gave her satchel a gentle friendly pat, "What about you?"

And just a second after, she noticed a person coming closer to the two of them. She couldn't quite believe for another second whether it was her or not, but once her senses confirmed it, her eyebrows flew up in great surprise as, indeed, they hadn't seen or talked to each other for quite a while now. Somehow, she even didn't see her during classes.

Interacting with @Ruby Cazares

"Sweet Merlin, Ruby! We haven't seen each other for ages!" she had a rare urge to hug her, but wasn't sure it was acceptable not only in the current situation but in general. They were friends, but quite a lot of time passed. In an awkward move, she just kept standing there smiling at the Slytherin.

As Ruby firmly finished her introductions to Galton, a ball of chaos hit Ruby in the back. In a way that made Meenauh freeze in space and time until the ball of chaos muffled a sorry and appeared before them, apologizing. Annie Morgan, a sweet little Hufflepuff. Meenauh was back unfrozen and slowly the world kept rotating around the four of them, sending more snowflakes to warm them up.

Interacting with @Annie Morgan

"Hey-hey," she greeted the girl, "Holiday shopping it is, Annie. Ruby, are you okay? That seemed quite a painful collision to me."

As they kept casually chatting and checking each other, a distant ringing sound dragged Meenauh's gaze towards the neighbouring alley again. Was it the sound of a store doorbell, or something inside Meenauh's head?

Meenauh and anyone who wishes leave for the Knockturn Alley in 2 posts.

@Meenauh Silmataurea, @Galton Lansdale, @Ruby Cazares, @Annie Morgan

One of the nicest things about her family's move to London was the proximity to more of the wizarding world, specifically Diagon Alley. It was as easy as Bridget coming here for a few hours while her parents did their Christmas shopping on the non-magical side of London. Mostly she was looking for gifts for friends, but her siblings seemed very excited at the idea of having anything made by wizards, so Bridget had an eye out for things that didn't have magical properties. The Ministry of Magic probably wouldn't appreciate her buying them fanged frisbees or anything similar.

Her older brother would be interested in a book, that was easy enough, a copy of The Philosophy of the Mundane already purchased and tucked in her satchel. He was a nerd, it felt appropriate. The twins would be harder, they needed something more exciting and most of the exciting things here were very much magical.

So she was meandering down the street, peeking into windows with her hands shoved into her jacket pockets to keep warm, and really just taking in the atmosphere. It was nice to be around wizards again.

It was the commotion that caught her eye, a collision a little ways up the street. Bridget looked up instinctively, and then realized that, hey, those were her classmates! Galton and Ruby and Meenauh and... well, she had the back of a head to work with, she honestly wasn't 100% sure. They were all here at the same time, that was cool.

Should she say hi? Bridget actually did want to say hi, these were her... not friends, exactly, but five years in the same classes and sports brought a level of familiarity. There was no way it would really be an intrusion, right? If the collision was any indication, this little group forming was at least partly accidental. Yeah, she should just do it. She walked over.

"Hi, everyone," Bridget greeted. Oh, the other person was Annie! She was cool, and that probably explained the collision. "Are you all having a good break?"

Disappointment. He’d gone to such great lengths to conceal his identity - to age himself up - and there had been no shock and awe so far. While he hadn’t expected to fool Meenauh, he thought for a moment that some mysterious adult talking to her would be of some interest. But all he had been met with was a large commotion and some general inquiries about his break.

No - wait! He had managed to fool someone. Ruby was asking who he was before they were rudely interrupted. While it was true that Galton had never interacted with the girl, she surely would have known him if it wasn’t for the coat. He was a public enough figure, with a fair bit of renown (in his opinion), there was no way she wouldn’t have been beaming with joy to meet normal Galton.

It was perfect, he could now leverage the coat. He could use his almost-adult looking features to beguile and trick his unsuspecting classmates. Or at least one of them. All things would be perfect, if Galton was a good liar. As the cogs in his head slowly ground together, desperately trying to come up with a new identity his face would go blank for a second. He’d look devoid of thought. But oh, how he was thinking.

Galton Lansdale, the genius who had been shaving his cat to avoid parental wrath - wrath that certainly didn’t exist and was entirely in his head - for 4 years could not find a sufficient lie. No, Galton was, without the proper conviction, a bad liar. But nonetheless, he had to make some reply to Ruby, and to the others.

“I’m Gal…” The cogs ground to halt, he grasped for anything he could, or any name that started with ‘Gal’ at least. “I’m Galton.” He would say with defeat in his voice. While the defeated sound may have left an impression of sadness for being Galton, it was really for having lost the internal name game with himself.

A small bit of frustration would bubble up in the teen. He hadn’t been able to trick anyone?! Why did he buy this blasted thing. Well, other than in pursuit of crocs. Or maybe it they hadn’t noticed with all the commotion. “Break is break. But more importantly - notice anything?” He would throw out his arms in a celebratory manner, rotate slowly a few degrees to show off his coat and aged face. Surely they would notice something.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

In the brief pause before Meenauh and the other member of their little group had a chance to respond to Ruby, something slammed into the Slytherin’s back. Hard. She went stumbling forward, losing her balance, barely able to catch herself and stop herself from fully falling. She spun around, a flash of anger shooting through her at the idea that someone would dare to have the insolence to interfere with her dignity and safety like that. The girl, Annie Morgan, was someone she vaguely knew from being prefects together—they had both showed up to Xailah’s little party in the prefects’ bathroom years ago. Ruby took a breath—thought about the fact that Meenauh, someone she still held in high esteem, was right there, thought about the fact that Annie had apologized and clearly meant no harm—and she managed to let it go.

“It’s alright. No harm done,” she said to Annie with a small smile. Meenauh’s enthusiastic reception of Ruby’s presence made her smile grow far larger. “It’s really been too long,” she agreed. “And, yes, it’s quite alright. Thank you, though,” she answered regarding the collision. Bridget arrived and Ruby greeted her with a friendly nod. She asked about their break, which Ruby found a bit odd considering that they had got off the train just earlier that day. She elected not to reply since Galton—who had just properly introduced himself, albeit dejectedly—jumped in, briefly answering the question and then asking if people noticed anything. Since she didn’t have any other baselines to go off of, she assumed it was the outfit that he was showing off. “That’s a stylish coat you have there,” she commented politely.

She glanced at Meenauh and saw that she was looking away from the group, down a different street—none other than Knockturn Alley, known as the darker side of these magical stores. She moved closer to the Gryffindor and lowered her voice. “Has something piqued your curiosity?” she asked quietly, eyebrows raised slightly, ice blue eyes alight as her own gaze drifted to the subject of Meenauh’s attention. She knew Meenauh’s desire for knowledge and wondered what the girl was thinking—did she want to explore the alley herself or was it just a fleeting interest, something that momentarily caught her attention? Either way, Ruby was curious to know what angle Meenauh was coming from.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

The party continued to gather. As Bridget approached them, Meenauh really felt that it was no coincidence. Was it some kind of mind manipulation that made them all get to Diagon Alley and meet just like that.

Cognitive biases everywhere. It was just earlier that they've arrived to London and soon was Christmas. It was just natural that all of them rushed to Diagon Alley to buy presents and everything. So… yeah, no destiny, or anyone's malicious plan.

Knock-knock, who's there. The alley kept calling. Meenauh tried to ignore.

She waved at Bridget, smiling. Without a word. The fellow duellist was a nice girl, and she honestly didn't mind her company at all. Meenauh snickered as Galton tried hard to speak in what seemed to be not his own voice. The request to notice was met with a huge grin — of course she noticed, Galton, she just didn't comment on it. But Ruby did, so Meenauh waited for Galton to look at her and approvingly nodded to confirm that she noticed, and that indeed the coat was stylish.

Knock-knock. It was turning into annoyance, really. The whole merry alley — that would be the Diagon one, of course — was full of Christmas sounds, bells, melodies, choir singing. But somewhere in all those sounds there was a distinctive sequence of consistent wooden sounds, as if someone wanted to gain entrance. The logic would tell her that it was just a sound play, a game of mind, a random sound that was appearing in the entire cacophony of other completely unrelated sounds. Or maybe she just had a really nice ear, so she actually heard someone knocking — people must have lived around, so why not.

But the logic and magic, despite have more than half letters in common, were still different concepts. The assumptions were cut by Ruby's quiet voice with notes of sparkling curiosity, it seemed. Meenauh, who managed to look away for several seconds, turned her head towards the side street once again, trying to collect her sensations about all this.

She replied without taking her eyes off the narrow side street leading to the Knockturn Alley:

"Have you ever been there?"

She actually said it in a much louder voice than Ruby asked, so, despite all the noises around, there was a pretty high chance everyone in their group heard her distinctively.

"I mean, I believe there was never that could pick our interest when we were younger," she shrugged, "But something is telling me we have to look for less trivial presents this year, don't you think?"

She turned back to the group and allowed a full smirk to cross her face.

Meenauh will leave for the Knockturn Alley in the next post. Anyone who wishes to join is kindly welcome to follow.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Ruby noted that Meenauh’s eyes did not move from the alley when she responded. Was there some form of dark magic at play or was it simply the lure of the unknown, with the spell binding her merely the metaphorical one of curiosity? “No, I’ve never been,” she replied. Why would she have? She was only fifteen and had no reason to go there. But just as she thought that, she realized that that was a poor excuse. When did adventure and gaining new knowledge through exploration need a reason? They weren’t meant to go there, sure, but didn’t that make it all the more appealing? What was hidden down those shadowed streets?

Meenauh’s question had been loud, so clearly she was not intending to keep her interest a secret. Ruby had offered her privacy with a soft tone, but clearly the Gryffindor had a different plan, which was fine by her. What game was she playing? In the back of her mind, she was aware of the dangers that could be at play. They were only children—duelling captains and children who excelled, sure, but children nevertheless—and so their abilities were limited. This was the real world, with dark wizards and cruelty and adults who cared little for younglings driven by foolishly strong curiosity. If something happened, no professors would be running to keep them safe. But she found herself unable to emotionally grasp the risks involved in the situation, and the concerns were pushed aside by the thrill of adrenaline and the pull to learn what lurked beyond.

“Well then, how about a little trip?” she responded with a smile, indulging Meenauh and her implied suggestion. She looked idly at the others, wondering who else would join, whose curiosity was insatiable enough or desire to be included strong enough to lead them astray. She would take a few steps in the direction of Knockturn Alley, glancing back, encouraging the others to make a decision. Would they back out or would they follow? Her own concern was overpowered by interest, rationale left behind in the cheery street she had been walking down minutes before. She could never resist the temptation to seek new and rare information, no matter the cost.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*