Silent Explorings (OPEN)

[Markise Sterling]

Markise wanted badly to try some, but he fought himself on it. It was a potion, he told himself, not alcohol. He could tell just by how little of it she'd put into her drink. She said it tasted like cinnamon, not that he'd get drunk off it. It wasn't alcohol. But was it any better because it was a potion? He couldn't help thinking of Dare and his potion addiction. She only said it tasted like cinnamon, he thought. Any part of him that knew better wasn't paying attention.

To Markise's credit, it took him a while to nod. He didn't even know what the stuff was, it wasn't like he could hunt it down later to get hooked on. He just wanted to try it. He refused to acknowledge anything he knew Ariel would have had to say about that.

"Thank you," he said softly, glancing around as he shifted closer with his mug of pumpkin juice. If it was so innocent, why was he so worried about being caught?

[Dragomyra Zykarn]

She gave a smile as he agreed to try some. "Remember only two drops...any more than that...well you may not get up in the morning, and if you did, you'd surely have a massive headache." she said as she secretly added two drops of the stuff to his mug.

"It's made of cider actually, in case you're worried. Something that's been in my family for many years. It's not..." she looked around and then lowered her voice to barely above a whisper before continuing. "...alcohol exactly. Besides, we could get into trouble if it were...but it does have some nice effects to it." she said with a grin.

"But as I said, too much is not a very good thing, and one must use sparingly." she added as she finished her pastry and started in on the chocolate again. "Want some chocolate?" she asked him as she picked up the plate and held it out as an offering to him.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise eyed Dragomyra warily for a moment, but quickly gave up the pretense and joined her, accepting some kind of chocolate pastry. If he was going to accept some mysterious Wizarding non-alcohol, he might as well enjoy himself. He could pay penance with an extra half-mile run in the morning, since apparently two drops wasn't enough to have any lasting effects.

Ohh, it tasted good. Markise had to put effort into holding back any audible appreciation for the cinnamon-flavored warmth that spread through his body. His lips curved into a shadow of a hedonist's smile, and he shoved his conscience ruthlessly down. It wasn't alcohol. Not exactly. "Does your family make it or something?" he asked.

[Dragomyra Zykarn]

Dragomyra watched as Markise tasted his drink after the drops were added. She gave a smile as she sipped at her own. "Good huh?" she said as she picked up another piece of chocolate. As he spoke, she looked back at him. "Well, they used to, but luckily I learned how to make it myself. This batch was my second successful batch. My parents could have made a fortune off of this stuff, had they thought of it, and managed to stay alive long enough." she said.

Taking a bite of the chocolate, she fully chewed it before speaking again. "I make it in my cellar, away from the prying eyes of others. For now, I believe the less who know of it the better. In fact I am the only one who know the exact ingredients, and how it is brewed. And besides myself, you are the only other living soul who knows of the stuff." she said with a smile.

Looking around the kitchens for a moment, her bright green eyes flashing, she eyed a a particular elf who stood half hidden by the oven, staring at them. She was too far off to see or hear what was being said, but Dragomyra gave her a small smile anyway. "So, I know it's getting late now, but I assume you've been here for awhile...any suggestions or tips I should know about? Anything I should avoid? Or is there anything interesting to do around here?" she asked with a curious, yet devious tone to her voice.

[Markise Sterling]

Dragomyra was worrying Markise again. He looked at her suspiciously, trying to decide what, exactly, it was. She'd spoken pretty flippantly about her parents, something that threw him off completely after Dare's constant emotional constipation about his mom. That was one. Then there was the fact that she apparently made this potion herself, and that it was a family secret. That was two, and three was that for some reason she'd shared it with him.

Or maybe it was just the gleam of her eyes.

He shook it off. She'd asked him something, and he owed her an answer, if for nothing more than her cinnamon potion. "There's a club in Hogsmeade," he said, though he hadn't been there in forever. He'd really had no reason to. He shrugged lightly. "Depends what you're looking for." He wasn't about to guess, not with the way she'd asked.

[Dragomyra Zykarn]

Dragomyra looked away, looking at the elf hiding behind the oven. She narrowed her eyes at her for a moment, trying to figure out just why she was hiding and watching them. Turning back as Markise spoke, she gave a mischievous grin. "Depending on what I'm looking for hmm? Well something that is fun and exciting obviously. Because from what I have seen of this place...it's so...dreary and boring. I like fun, exciting and a bit of dangerous too." she replied.

Dragomyra began to pace a bit. "The kind of thing that could and would get one into trouble if caught. Of course I've no plans of getting caught...but just because I have no plans of it, doesn't mean it won't happen." she said as she gave a small mischievous laugh.

She enjoyed playing pranks, getting into mischief, having fun, disobeying authority, all of it was so interesting to her. But one thing she had to remember is to 'not' get caught. Sure she'd been caught a few times, but that just mean she had to step up her game, and just be better next time.

Dragomyra gave a smile at her thoughts of the last time she was nearly caught, but due to her knowing the forest a bit better than her pursuers, she was able to get away clean. Her pursuers had never even got close enough to see who she was, and because of the twists and turns in the forest, they were long lost behind her.

Flashing her green eyes back at Markise, "Club you say? What kind of club?" she asked.

[Markise Sterling]

The way Dragomyra spoke about danger made Markise want desperately to sneak to London some night. It brought back memories of slipping out of the gates just before curfew to go clubbing, keeping the hood of his cloak pulled up so no one would recognize him. It was part of the very same temptation he'd been trying to avoid staying away from the kitchens. But it turned out coming here hadn't hurt anything.

"A nightclub," he said, though that much was likely obvious. "Music, dancing, stuff like that. No alcohol, but I hear people sneak it in." He'd also heard a lot of other things about the club, about how it had been when it had first opened, before the Headmistress had stepped in. Stripper poles... But he'd missed that by a year or two.

[Dragomyra Zykarn]

Dragomyra had never been to any nightclubs, but she had heard many things about them. Her grin widened some. Perhaps she would go to this nightclub, sneak out past curfew and see if there is any enjoyment there is to be had. All she'd need are some directions and she'd find her way there.

Looking back at Markise, "Could you give me directions to this club. I just may go there tomorrow night. Too late tonight, else I'd go now." she said with a grin, looking forward to when she'd beable to sneak past those school gates she came through earlier. A good night's rest would do her good. She'll need to be focused if she were going to sneak out past curfew and not get caught. "Think this club will be open tomorrow night?" she asked.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise nodded definitively. "It's open every night," he said. "A student owns it; I think she just makes it in before the gates close at night." Much like him, actually, though he'd never run into her doing so. "It's in Hogsmeade, like I said. Past all the other shops and the Shrieking Shack. It's hard to miss."

It was the last building between the village and the forests, the wide open ground and the hills and mountains where it was rumored that Sirius Black himself hid to communicate with the infamous Harry Potter. It was strange to recall how much history Hogwarts held, even aside from his own.

Markise distracted himself from those thoughts with a long sip of his cinnamon-spiked drink. He had half a mind to ask Dragomyra how he could get some more, but on the off chance that it was a bad idea, he kept his mouth closed on the subject.

[Dragomyra Zykarn]

With a smile, her mind raced forward. Imagining herself slipping out and back in..."The Shrieking Shack? Interesting. Perhaps I'll leave early enough to do a bit of exploring. That Shrieking Shack sounds a bit interesting...Can you tell me a bit about that?" she asked as she finished her drink.

With a wave of her hand, the house elf returned to her. "More Pumpkin Juice please." she asked. The elf gave a small bow and ran off. He returned quickly with a pitcher of the drink, refilled Dragomyra's cup, then set the piture on the table and disappeared.

Dragomyra took out her small bottle once again and added two drops in the cup, made a swirling motion before sipping at it again.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's lips pressed tightly together a moment as he tried to think of what he knew about the shack. It wasn't much, of course. By the time he'd transferred to Hogwarts, all the basic Hogwarts; A History had been taught years before. But there was no forgetting its reputation. He took one last drink, finishing off his cup, then turned his attention back to Dragomyra.

"It's supposed to be haunted," he said, though that alone shouldn't interest anyone familiar with the Hogwarts ghosts. "But they say it's more than ghosts. A long time ago there used to be howling and shrieking, like banshees and poltergeists fighting. Now it's all boarded up." He shook his head slightly as he poured himself another mug of pumpkin juice. "It looks like the floors would fall in if you stepped wrong. Not that I've ever been in." He hadn't, but Brindle had, and she'd said it wasn't much to look at.

After a moment, Markise eyed Dragomyra's potion vial, then held out his cup, asking wordlessly for a bit more. If she'd meant four drops total would have side effects rather than four drops per cup, it didn't occur to him.

[Dragomyra Zykarn]

Dragomyra listened, her smile growing as she thought of the shack and what she herself could do. Of course she'd need some unsuspecting kids, but that wouldn't be too hard to find, she doubted. As Markise emptied his cup, and filled another, she pulled the vial out again.

"Hmm...I'm sure some unsuspecting kids could be rounded up to scare the pants off of. That would be great fun." she said as she gave a laugh. Dragomyra gave a smile as Markise wordlessly held out his cup. She knew he was hooked on it now...she hasn't found anyone who could or would resist. She gave a small laugh. "You like this stuff huh?" she said as she laughed again.

[Markise Sterling]

"It's okay," Markise teased, though the gleam in his eyes gave him away. The potion was a lot like butterbeer, or so he told himself. It warmed you, it tasted good, and no side effects, or so she said. He pushed that thought away. It was harmless, it had to be. Otherwise she'd have given him some kind of warning, wouldn't she? They didn't know each other well at all, but if the stuff was that rare, he'd think that she'd be careful with it.

"It really is good," he said after a moment, then moved back to what she'd been saying before. "Halloween is coming," he pointed out. "Kids are always hanging out at the shack around Halloween." If she wanted to prank some kids, now was the perfect time.

[Dragomyra Zykarn]

Popping the last bite of her chocolate into her mouth, she looked up at him for a moment. She knew he was teasing, and she also knew that many couldn't resist her concoction. "Good thing about this stuff, it can be used in anything to make foul stuff taste better. Originally it was used to cure illnesses, but the medicinal ingredients had been taken out, the concoction tweaked until it could be used safely in drinks to flavor them." she said giving a smile.

As he continued to speak, her smile widened, as thoughts formed in her head. "Perfect. Kids are the easiest to play pranks on. They scare so easily. I can imagine all sorts of things I could do? That shack would be the perfect place for it. I could lure them there easily." she said as she gave a small sinister laugh.

Markise probably thought she was some crazed lunatic with that laugh, but she didn't care....she wanted some fun, even if that meant scaring the lives out of others.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise looked aside at Dragomyra, slightly worried again. She seemed really nice, but every once in a while she did something like this, and he couldn't help recalling old warnings he'd gotten about Slytherins. He wasn't entirely certain she was a Slytherin, since he hadn't asked, but it was seeming more and more likely. Either a Slytherin, or a really twisted Ravenclaw.

As for pranking kids, there was little he could do to argue that. He was a hardworking, friendly Hufflepuff, but he'd done his share of mischief like anyone else. The only sign that the girl's pranks might not have been as harmless as most of his was that laughter, but for all he knew, that was just the way she laughed. He opted not to ask about that, and took his question back to the potion.

"Why were the healing properties taken out?" he asked. "Wouldn't the potion be worth more if it could heal?" It made sense to him, but maybe it only cured the common cold, and there was always Pepper-Up Potion for that.