The other girl from his district-- Nastya wasn’t that her name?-- cried all the way during the train trip. He was tearing up inside too, but for some reason his tear ducts wont cooperate and he stayed sullen all the way till they got to the station. Never having left District 5 he found himself oddly distracted by even the most trivial things in this new city-- until he saw the ruins of an old castle.

This was Hogwarts? Both his mom and dad went to Hogwarts, and as they whispered stories during the time when they fought Voldemort and his Death Eaters Olexei’s mind was filled with incredible thoughts of valiant battles and heroes.

His brow furrowed and turned his face away from the ruins, his grand imaginations crushed by the reality that lay around him. There was nothing to be proud about this place now, to him it was a bitter reminder of the failure that has cursed them to the life they now live.

He sat himself at the shadows of a pillar, not far from the group of tributes who began socializing with each other. He pondered if he should do the same thing, and was torn because he didn’t really want to get too close to those he may eventually have to kill-- or be killed by them. His eyes then shifted to the boy who was stubbornly scampering up the wall just to be hurt time and time again. What did the others call him? Pax? What the boy was doing didnt make sense to him, unless he was trying to get himself killed before the games, and by the looks of those Peacekeepers he probably just might.

Not that Olexei wished him ill, but a dead tribute this early on means there are fewer tributes that he has to worry about during the games.

Then Nastya came into view, approaching a rather haughty looking girl. The other girl looked like she can kill any of them right there and then “Nastya…” he called out suddenly before he realized he had opened his mouth.