Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

"T-t-thanks," Kurumi whimpered taking the tissues from Treyen. The, she started giggling softly. The look of utter panic on his face was amusing. "Treyen, a smile suits you better," she said dabbing a few more tears from her eyes. She smiled up at the two older students. She was a little embarrassed, perhaps even ashamed, that she was crying right now. She had told herself that she was going to be stronger on the subject. Must have been all the emotions flying around right now: the excitement of going back to school, the mystery revolving around this paper, talking about her past...it all could be very overwhelming for a 12-year-old.

Originally Posted by Lockhartian

But look, Vashti had done a much better job in trying to calm Kurumi. Sigh. I think we know what Treyen needs to work on, right?

Since he was still speechless, mostly because he didn't want to dare messing things up, he merely nodded as if accepting her 'Thanks'. It was the least he could do, since he had a feeling that he, Treyen Lockhart, had managed to make a little girl cry. If Aaron was here he'd probably laugh about it, if Arya was here, she'll be consoling the poor girl, surely.

And then...what? He laughed, very loudly (by the way) at her next comment, "You're probably right," he said, as he ventured another smile. Just, not one of those charming smiles. It was enough for today. Kurumi was a smart one, stating the obvious.

"Vashti is right, you know? You don't to worry," he said, with a nod, "I'd read about Nargles, instead, they don't exist but are very fun to read about," he winked, turning a couple pages on her magazine.


Why did he have the feeling she was already blaming someone for this? Er, never mind. She probably wasn't.

Kurumi's tears just got to him, that was all.

"I--don't know, perhaps they have a new Editor?" he had no idea who the former Editor was, so there was no real way of figuring that out. "Or...just forget I said anything? This is probably nothing," and he'd become a master at overreacting about little things and details, like Saylen wanting to have him dead? Yeah, that was soooo real.

"Here," he said, passing one along. She was a brave one, was she not?

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

"Aren't those the creatures that are known to infest mistletoe?" Kurumi asked rather seriously as she flipped through the pages. "Don't they steal things....like tennis shoes or chocolate frogs?" Yep, Kurumi was distracted already. Any time a creature was mention, she went right into curious mode.

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

He spotted Kurumi, Treyen and Vashti not too far away, holding some kind of parchment and talking. His brows furrowed a little as his eyes fell back onto the trolley and saw a stack of copies of that parchment they were holding-- The Quibbler. He tossed a few more coins, picked up his copy and skimmed the front page. He started to feel like he wanted his 12 sickles back when he spotted something he thought he'd never have to read on paper again. Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. His frown deepened.

Originally Posted by Lockhartian

Well, she got distracted real quickly, didn't she? Brilliant! "Actually, yeah, but--," he was stopped from answering one question when Kurumi asked another one already. That was fast.

"Apparently they do, but they don't really exist, it's like...," a myth? a legend? No, Nargles weren't Chosens. "...something made up," yeah, clever, Lockhart boy. And he'd smile, but he feared that's all he could do when standing next to the bright Ravenclaw. "It's been proven already, there's nothing surrounding mistletoe," was it really proven, though? Treyen didn't think anyone actually took the time to research Nargles. They probably existed just because no one had taken interest in making sure they didn't.

He laughed softly, remembering the tennis shoes, "If they disappear, I'd blame someone in your Common Room instead of Nargles," or probably Peeves.



As he looked up he noticed a familiar boy standing close to them, and...picking up another copy of The Quibbler. Yeah, Treyen didn't know this paper was that popular nowadays. AND...Oh? Salander was frowning, while reading it! He certainly hoped Kurumi didn't catch this. Treyen wanted to hint Salander to knock it off, but he didn't know how to do it without gaining Kurumi's attention.

So, instead, he made Kurumi focus on the paper even more.

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

"Hmm," Kurumi murmured checking out the article a bit more. "Are you sure they don't exist? I haven't come across anything in my magical creature research, but perhaps they are just very very sneaky buggers?" Kurumi closed the paper for a moment to think. "Or, perhaps they are like Pogrebins and can blend with the environment really well?" Add another thing on her list of things to research.



Kurumi looked up to ask more questions about the existence or non-existence of Nargles when she saw Treyen standing rather close and blocking her peripheral vision. There was that shinny smile of his again...but this time it was a suspicious shinny smile. Tilting her head to the side, Kurumi tried to look past Treyen to see what he was trying to block. Was the trolley out of licorice wands?! Because that would be terrible. "What's that?" she asked pointing to something, really nothing, off to the side hoping to distract him long enough to see what was behind him. "It looks like a Nargle." Or not...