Boggart trouble. [OPEN!]

[alecto]

The worst thing about Hogwarts had to be its size. It was huge. Normally, to get from the dungeons to the Astronomy tower took about half an hour, if not more. It was ridiculous! Of course, the staircases did move and all, but it was really annoying when they moved the wrong way and caused someone to lose their direction. And why did teachers get mad at students if they were late? Not everyone had spent their entire lives at Hogwarts and not everyone knew it like the back of their hands. Even seventh years had trouble navigating through the castle. So what was one to do when that person forgot their book at the top most tower and had a common room below where everything was located, hypothetically.

Alecto Carrow was placed in this situation. She had a ton of D.A.D.A homework to finish and her book was nowhere to be found. She had looked up, down, and everywhere for it, until she realized she had left it in the D.A.D.A classroom. With a groan, she picked herself off the couch in the common room and braced herself for the long journey. And why did the Slytherin common room have to be located in the bottom most part of the castle? Not fair to them.

As soon as she made it to the classroom, the closet far off in the room caught her eye. What was in there? Clothes? She abandoned her search for her book and stood in front of there. Wasn't that where the boggart was supposed to be for the third years? Well, she had heard rumors that they had moved the boggart and some other thing was in there now. Her better judgment told her to turn around, get her book, and leave. Too bad Alecto never listened to her better judgment. It was times like these when she wished she had.

Out came a huge vulchar. It was about six feet tall. Impossible, yes, but it indeed was a Boggart and a tall bird was Alecto's greatest fear. With a gasp, Alecto backed away from the approaching bird and felt her blood pounding away in her veins. She was going to die, she was going to die, she was going to die. Alecto on her knees and stared at it wide-eyed. Suddenly she screamed loudly. Following the scream, Alecto placed her head in her hands and waited for a death she was sure would come soon.

[kalib]

“And why is this worth my time?” Kalib asked in a bored tone as he twirled his wand between his fingers. He was leaning back in his chair with his feet up on the table, the exact position he’d been in for what felt like hours. Twice now the cranky librarian had got on his case for having his feet propped up and twice he hadn’t listened. Zane had managed to drag him here and piled on the books, all of which were sporadically placed around his friend now.

“I’m telling you Pyro,” Zane muttered as he glanced around, “Girls dig those who appear intelligent. And put your feet down – are you trying to make me look bad?”

Kalib chuckled loudly. “What girls? The only people in here is that chick with the dorky glasses and Mr. Fatso with his gang of nerds.”

Zane glared at him reproachfully and then sighed in defeat, rubbing his eyes. “Okay, I admit – this was pointless. She’s not even here anyways.”

That perked his interest quickly. “Who’s not here?”

Zane caught his mistake a little too late. “No one,” he responded automatically and began gathering up the books that he’d been pretending to be reading. Kalib smacked his hand down on the one Zane had reached for next and looked him square in the eye. “Come on now, who is she? If you give me a name I could help you win her over,” he bargained and immediately Zane gave in: “Bella Swan.”

Kalib couldn’t help it.

He burst out laughing.

“You like that singing freak? Wow Zane, and here I thought you had a brain. All this time I’ve been lied to… Her? Really?” Kalib didn’t hide his bewilderment at how idiotic his friend was being – Swan? Of all people. She was a right pain in the butt; he felt sorry for whoever ended up with her. Zane clearly thought otherwise, his face beet red as he finished collecting his books. “Stop laughing,” Zane muttered quietly without much force. Kalib hushed down and smirked. “Get a backbone; girls look for one of those two…” He chuckled as he got up and patted Zane on the shoulder. “I’m not gunna waste anymore of my time for this hopeless cause. I’ll see ya later.” Still laughing, Kalib left the library in search of a little more excitement.

Without a destination in mind Kalib began treading the halls. No one of interest caught his eye as he walked along and started loosing hope that there was any way to salvage the day. He’d almost resolved to heading back to the Common Room when he heard a loud scream. “Excellent!” Instantly he broke into a run. He skidded into the classroom and confusion overtook his adrenaline – a rather ugly looking bird had been there a moment ago towering over a body when suddenly there were two bodies on the floor, one a girl, and the other his own. Kalib was covered in blood, splattered in death. As his mind finally registered the situation Kalib quickly withdrew his wand, “Ridiculous!!!” he shouted breathlessly as sweat trickled down his forehead. The Boggart made a loud crack and vanished.

Still heaving, Kalib ran over and knelt beside the girl. Once beside her, he realized it was Alecto. Without though he wrapped one arm around her shoulder and wiped away the hair in her face with the other. “Hey,” he said weakly, “How’s that for a rescue mission, eh?” Kalib managed a feeble chuckle. Leave it to Alecto to get into trouble.

[alecto]

It was times like this in which Alecto wished she had made a will. Then again, Boggarts didn't really kill people...did they? It was rather sad that an adult witch couldn't deal with a simple boggart. Then again, she never had been good at this. Everything else was rather easy, but she never had mastered these particular species. The girl had never thought she would ever encounter a boggart in her entire life. She always thought they were good to learn, but she would never have to deal with them in real life.

Alecto finally looked up to find a bloody body on the floor. Kalib Hemlock's more specifically. This confused her. Kalib dead wasn't exactly the number one thing she feared the most. Yes, it was sad, the thought of him dying, but not boggart-worthy. That is, unless she had witnessed his death. No, Kalib was still alive, she was sure. Then it clicked that she must not be alone. This theory was proven right as she heard the incantation and found a perfectly healthy Kalib kneeling beside her.

"Oh, Merlin," she muttered while glancing at the spot the Boggart had been a couple seconds ago. "Thanks," she mumbled as she rubbed her forehead. This had been a horrible day so far, it didn't need to get any worse. It was then that Alecto was thankful that it had been someone of the same house who had rescued her. She wouldn't have minded someone else of Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff really, but if it had been a Gryffindor. In her opinion, being "rescued" by a Hufflepuff wasn't that wonderful either. "Oh, I had it. I could have so taken on that Boggart," she lied. It was typical Alecto to pretend to be powerful and never let her weekness show.

[kalib]

Not that Kalib planned on admitting it to anyone anytime soon but death had always been his biggest fear in life. The idea that in it only took one action and you could die was rather unnerving to him. He liked living, he liked letting the air fill his lungs. Knowing that after everything was all said and done he’d wind up a pale corpse buried somewhere in the ground someday certainly wasn’t his ideal daydream. Kalib had never pictured himself dying a calm, resolved death either – like he knew that he would die horribly; he’d finally screw up so bad that it would cost him his life. It was that prospect that allowed him some ounce of responsibility, even if he didn’t always put it into practice.

Alecto was still shaken as he knelt beside her; probably thinking she’d lost her mind just like him. It was the awkward occurrences of Boggarts and the like that could get you jumpy. Even growing up in the magical world Kalib had yet to fully grasp that the things that happened in their daily life were far different then the Muggles. How would he have turned out if he’d been one of them, instead of a wizard? But the thoughts were insignificant for the time being, so he pushed them aside. No need to get distracted. From what? His little rescue mission of course; although Alecto had seemed to gather her sanity back up – her expression was harder. Kalib smiled. “Always a fighter,” he muttered more to himself then her.

“Come on, love,” Kalib said clearer, chuckling under his breath, “You can try and fool yourself all you want but it’s not working on me. You’re forgetting that a liar can tell when a liar is lying…” He grinned knowingly, giving her back a good pat. “You need to work on your tactics, now…” Kalib pulled himself up and offered her a hand, “You wanna stay in here with this thing all day or get up and let me accompany you to…wherever you where headed after this…” He glanced around questioningly and then added “What were you doing up here anyways? You don’t strike me as the sort of person who’d seek extra credit…” Hardly.

[alecto]

Extra Credit. Yea, right. For starter, Alecto did not need extra credit. Contrary to popular belief, Alecto did recieve good grades. This could come off as shocking as the girl didn't exactly seem like the most brightest student in school. If anything, she came off as rather unintelligent. Unlike most people, Alecto prefered others to think of her in such a way. It supposedly went with her persona. It was all an act, and that's what she was really, fake. The girl didn't like doing more work than was required. She took Kalib's hand and pulled herself up. With a sigh, Alecto wiped off some dust from the knees of her tights. These floors were filthy. Didn't anyone clean this school? Wasn't that why house elves were created? Dirt never did hurt anyone, but it would have been nice to go to a clean school.

"Of course not darling, I came here to get my book," she said while gliding towards the teacher's desk. That was a sure place to find a missing object. If a student had left something behind in class, they would simply put it on the desk in hopes that the student would come back and retrieve it. Not exactly the most brilliant plan. That's why people stole, teachers were just contributing to this crime. Alecto thought of this as she snatched her book from the desk.

"Hmm..." An idea was forming in her head, which was either a good thing, but in most cases a very bad thing. Part of her wanted to write a letter to the teacher and leave it there. A death threat. She didn't want to end up in Azkaban however. That had to be pushing it. Curiously, Alecto opened a drawer and went through the professor's belongings. "Nothing interesting. It's all crap. You'd think there would be SOMETHING worth taking..."

[kalib]

“Of course,” Kalib answered like it had been the most obvious fact he’d been missing. He shoved his hands into his jeans, posed to wait as she walked over to the professor’s desk. While he stood there, he noticed how messy the classroom appeared. He actually laughed some, thinking it was so contradictory for a teacher to lecture them on having an organized lifestyle when they couldn’t even keep their own classroom tidy. His dorm was more clean then this, which was saying something – a room full or Slytherin boys always proved interesting.

Kalib looked up as Alecto muttered, giving the desk a rather curious look before tugging a drawer open and ruffling through its contents. He smirked, noting dully “You know it’s wrong to steal.” Not that he cared. Truth be told he did it quick frequently himself, though he wasn’t about to boast about that fact. Not the best side of his personae. She answered his unasked question, mentioning nothing of interest was in the drawer. His curiosity perked up a bit and he walked over to stand behind her, watching over her shoulder.

“Professors have quite the life, don’t they?” he joked as he sidestepped to stand next to her and pull out a stack of detention slips. He thumbed through them, snorting with distaste. “What a freak – this guy got a slip for coughing too loudly. ‘Rudely disturbed the piece of the classroom’,” Kalib quoted sourly. “I thought Diable had a bit more sense then that. Stupid git.” He tossed the papers back in dissatisfied. Kalib pulled out another drawer and shuffled the belongings around – nothing. “Professors have no life,” he stated blankly, holding up some quill that supposedly shocked you if you spelt a word wrong.

Sighing, he snapped the drawer shut a little bit too hard. “Did you hear that?” he asked suddenly, staring at the desk with more scrutiny. Kalib knelt down to examine the desk, cocking his head when he saw a little knob jutting out form the underside. Smirking, Kalib reached to pull the compartment over and then fell back onto his rear with a yelp. “God, what’s he trying to do, rip my hand off?!” he shouted, glaring at his bleeding hand. Frowning he pulled out his wand with his healthy hand, sealing the wound with ease. Kalib pulled himself back up and kicked the leg of the desk. “Well, clearly he has something worth hiding.”

[alecto]

Alecto smirked as she listened to Kalib read what was on the detention slip. Pathetic. Was this the most excitement a teacher had? "This is exactly why I refuse to teach." Amycus had often times told her to become a professor and to educate the next generation of wizards. As if. Alecto would rather die than teach anything. With this in mind, she grabbed some detention slips and started reading through it. About half of them had to deal with the Marauders and their antics. How typical. One or two had to deal with Slytherins. Why did every single Slytherin have to be so perfect? It was nauseating. Alecto had had enough of this proper and prim kids. Something had to have been done about them.

Before she knew what was happening, she found Kalib down on the floor. Apparently something had bitten him. What was this, a Care of Magical Creatures classroom? There were more animals in here than there was anything else. Her lip twitched and she was laughing soon enough. It was rather hilarious. Cautioiusly, Alecto opened the drawer to find a puffskein. At this, she laughed even more.

"Yes, this has to be the most terrifying thing in the world Kalib," she teased while stretching out her hand for the animal to crawl on. "You have to be gentle with them," she said lifting it up to eye level. These things had teeth? She didn't know that. It couldn't have been this, it had to have been something else. "Anyways, I'm keeping it. It's kinda cute."

[kalib]

“I’m against all teacher-related things,” Kalib immediately coldly, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the desk. Having one of your very own professors be your mother could do that to you. Maybe if she’d been like, a ministry worker, or had a job down at the Leaky Cauldron he wouldn’t have turned out to be a rotten student. Well, he compromised, maybe not “rotten.” But a not-so-good one. He did pass all his classes, and did get some Outstandings too – but was he an over-achiever to the maximum? Hardly – the idea in itself was laughable.

After he’d fallen, Kalib could already see a notch in his pride being taken out. “Oh shut up,” he grunted as he pushed himself up. He was indeed human – he could afford to be a bit startled on occasion. Still, it didn’t help the fact that it was Alecto. She knew enough of him to know anything that remotely damaged his image scarred him more then he’d ever admit aloud. Although, better her then another guy – now that would have been awful.

Once he saw what it was though, he felt ashamed – almost. A stupid puffskien. That itty-bitty thing had bitten him? Since when did they even have any defense mechanism? He rolled his eyes, looking away for a moment to gain back a little dignity. “Why would you want to keep a thing like that?” he snorted, glancing at it reproachfully. Kalib wouldn’t have picked “cute”…but more like, “girly.” Alecto didn’t strike him as a pretty ‘n pink gal, but if she wanted to keep the thing well, more power to her. “Why does he even have that thing in there?” It seemed unlikely anyone but his mother would have little crawly things in her desk. She would do that.

[alecto]

Alecto stroked her new pet, already thinking of a name for it. She was entitled to have a pet, Amycus did. He got all the good stuff, but why? She was older. Probably that whole "passing-on-the-name" crap. Definately. "So I can torture you with it love," she said bringing up the puffskien to Kalib's face level. Maybe she could use what had happened five seconds ago as blackmail. Yes, that would be nice.

"It needs a name," she stated while scrunching up her face. It needed a cute name. Or maybe a evil, devious name. Either way, it had to be called something. She glanced around the room in hopes of getting some inspiration. Classrooms didn't inspire anything really. They were such a bore. Mischieveously she glanced at Kalib and grinned. "I should name it after you!"

Alecto shrugged as he asked why this animal had been in there. Probably confiscated from someone. It was horrible to lock an animal up and not give it breathing room. Normally, Alecto wouldn't care at all about it, but this was her new pet. It was her baby. This teacher deserved to be punished. "So that it could bite trespassers."

[kalib]

“You do and I’ll personally ring its little neck,” he threatened, aware he was a no advantage to try and bargain at this point. If Alecto spread word of this little incident his ego would be quickly reduced to a laughing stock. Not that it wouldn’t be a nice switch for a time: as of late, all he got in the hallways was one of two things: option one, the girls looking at him most reproachfully and practically daring him to say some perverted comment. Or, option two, which mostly came from the Slytheirn House, was that they provoked him into saying words later regretted. He didn’t need any word about his current affair floating about. So, maybe this little puffskien incident would be welcomed.

And then again: maybe not.

Kalib excused whatever may come from all this, deciding to ignore it completely and deny it ever happened if anyone did decide to ask him about it. It’s not like he wouldn’t know who told first. “How about you name it Ugly?” he suggested lightly, shoving his hands into his pockets. Kalib glanced around the quiet classroom and then back at the creature. The idea that anyone would be foolish enough to show their pet during a lesson – man, he’d lie to see that. What a freak. Probably some first year Hufflepuff or something. All idiots.

“Aha, ha, ha,” he laughed without humor, rolling his eyes and unable to help glancing down. His hand was perfectly find – it’s not like they had all that hard of a bit. It had just surprised him is all. It would have shocked anyone into being a little jumpy. “Well, whatever. Are you done here? Personally I feel I already spend too much time in the classroom. Anymore and I might puke.” It wasn’t unheard of – he’d personally never barfed up his lunch while in class, but he had seen and heard about it before. First time for everything I suppose.

[alecto]

Alecto flashed Kalib a look that signaled that she would kill him if he even looked at her little pet the wrong way. Already she was feeling defensive about it and felt a need to protect it. She brought the animal to eye level and cooed, "don't worry baby, I won't let Kalib do anything bad to you." Anything to annoy him.

"Then why don't I just call it Kalib? I mean, there's not much of a difference is there?" she snapped. Of course Kalib wasn't ugly, but the phrase slipped out before she could control herself. She didn't care. If he insulted the puffskien then she would insult him, easy enough. Alecto stroked the puffskein, determined to find a suitable name for it before the day ended. It then struck her that she didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. How did one figure this out? She lifted the animal higher and still had no idea. "Hey Kalib! Puffy here has a bigger Penis than you," she said in jest.

"Is it torturing you so much to be stuck in a room for three minutes?" It had been much longer than three minutes, but she was known for exaggerating. Alecto grabbed her book and placed her new puffskein on top of it. What did one feed these things? How was she going to raise it? Well, she'd figure it out...eventually.

[kalib]

“Oh stuff it,” Kalib laughed, rolling his eyes. “I could take you – not that I’d put that much effort into trying to kill that silly thing. He’s not exactly what I would call worth it.” He studied the little creature, hardly curious but thinking how funny it would be to watch it squirm. Of course, the idea of offsetting Alecto was enough to keep him at bay. They weren’t exactly best friends, but they did have a history – if you could call it that – and somewhere in him watching the puffskien suffer wasn’t worth watching her suffer over it. Kalib laughed dryly – and people said he didn’t have a heart.

“My name is not to be associated with such a low-life creature,” he said a matter-of-factly, now looking at the thing in something of amusement. The idea that it could live up to him was highly unlikely and very humorous. “I mean, please, give me some credit here.” He straightened up, only to become suddenly sulky. “Yeah, because you would know wouldn’t you Alecto?” he growled, reminding her promptly of that so-called history of theirs. “It’s probably not even a guy to begin with – more likely a helpless little female with no idea why it’s being held by someone it’ never seen before.” Although she was quite fond of it already – why did girls get so attached to anything with fur?

“Hey, if your mom was a professor you’d have something against the classrooms too,” he answered smugly, crossing his arms sourly. She’d been so set on having her baby boy grow up into some elite scholar that Kalib had openly rebelled against it. She learned quickly enough that if you tried to force him to do anything he’d often turn the other way. As Alecto picked up her things he waited no longer in his suffering, walking back around the esk and headed straight for the door. “Come on slow poke,” he teased, chuckling under his breath.

[alecto]

Alecto glared at Kalib before gently putting her new pet inside her robe pocket. That is until she realized it could sufficate and she would never see it alive again. So she took it out and gently placed it on top of her book, deciding to carry it like that back down to the common room. It didn't deserve to be stuck in some dark place, with no source of light, no escape, and possibly no oxygen. Oh that was such cruelty. "I think someone's jealous." Pathetic, jealous of a tiny animal? I thought you were better than that."

"Okay fine. I'll call it Puffy, happy? 'cause y'know Puffy is such a better name than Kalib." Talk about originality. No, Alecto was not content with this cruddy name Puffy, and she would change it as soon as she went back to the common room. Of course she would need to open a book and find the first interesting name that popped up and then name it. That's how she had named all of her pets. An evil smirk crossed her face and her left eyebrow went up along with her lips. "Of course I would. You expect me to forget that?" she purred while remembering their little fling. She would bring it up randomly and during occasions, such as this. Never would she bring it up infront of people or in other awkward situations. "Please, it likes me. At least it's not biting me."

Alecto did feel bad about Kalib's mother being a teacher. How horrible it must have been for him. Though, maybe he was used to it by now. Then again, did anyone really get used to such things? Alecto wouldn't have. "Come on Puffy, uncle Kalib is getting annoyed," she cooed to her new pet as she made her way to the door. "You hurry up slow poke," she said while moving her hand so as to smack Kalib's posterior.

[kalib]

“Jealous of that thing?” he scoffed, openly laughing at the idea. “I have no reason to ever feel any envy towards such a demeaning animal. If anything it should be jealous of me – not the other way about. Pah-lease.” He rolled his eyes and tapped his fingers against the doorknob impatiently. It was sort of sad really, the way he almost got fidgeting in a classroom. But it seemed like every day of his childhood has been spent in the confinements of school. His mother was big on the whole “include your child in your life” but took it just a bit far when it came to the working world. How come Andy had never had to suffer such punishments? He was a right suck up to “Professor Hemlock,” the momma’s boy. Well, that was probably why – precious little boy didn’t need punishment for anything did he?

“Puffy?” he questioned absently, studying the patterns on the wall. It was so bland, uninteresting – no wonder it felt like he was suffocating every time he was forced into one of them. It anti-schoolwork/homework/Hogwarts/professor rants had never gotten him much farther then detention, but really, could you blame him? The place was just so contradicting to his personality. Kalib laughed aloud – he was stating to sound like some sort of hippy Hufflepuff or something, which was completely unacceptable. “Whatever,” he shrugged, waiting for her to pass. And as she did so, he smirked. Nothing like a good old flirt to liven up ones day, no?

“Getting frisky are we?” he teased, closing the door behind her and leaning against it with his hand still on the knob. “You know, we don’t have to leave – nice empty classroom, you and me…Puffy…” Kalib chuckled under his breath and then straightened up, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “So, what were you up to before being scared to death? Not that I care, but I haven’t interrupted anything, have I?” He eyed her questioningly, noting the books for what seemed like the first time. “Were you actually going to go finish up some homework or something? That’s so wildly out of character – are you sick?” He reached over and placed one hand on her forehead. “Oh dear, a temperature…” Kalib murmured, faking concern well.

[alecto]

Alecto rolled her eyes as Kalib commented on how he wasn't jealous of her pygmy puff. He probably wasn't, but someone needed to sit Alecto down and explain this to her for about three hours. She now automatically had an emotional attachment to this animal. That was the thing about her, she built up attachments to other beings pretty quickly. True she only had it for about five minutes, but if Puffy randomly died within the next three seconds, she would cry her eyes out and hold funeral for it. She would even go so far as to invite people to this funeral. Even those she didn't know. Often times she came off as a hard-ass, but she was human and did have emotions.

She was ready to leave and almost bumped into Kalib when he closed the door. Her mouth twitched up into a mischieveous smirk. "You forgot the boggart," she pointed out. "Imagine the possiblities," she cooed while turning around to glance at the teacher's desk. "You know, that desk does look sturdy. Maybe we should check it out?" Alecto was all talk. She would never do anything with him again. Flirting was as far as it went. Not that she didn't want to, but she was scared. Maybe if she was sad or mad enough.

"I was getting my book," she replied holding it up. Never again would she take her book to class. They never needed it and she never wanted to deal with a boggart ever again. "What were you doing? Following me?" Lucky for her Kalib had shown up when he did or else she would have been dead. Clearly she needed to learn how to deal with Boggarts. These had been her weakness since forever. They were terrifying things. It wasn't easy to deal with ones fears, especially for Alecto.