Braeden was completely lost.
Exactly how he'd ended up in here, he didn't know. He'd been looking for Honeydukes and... well, by the looks of it, he made a wrong turn somewhere. You'd think by now the boy would learn to carry a map around or something, with his ridiculously poor sense of direction. But no. Instead, he was stuck in a dark, creepy alley that smelled like... rotten cheese or something. Urgh...

Bringing a hand over over his nose, the boy pulled out his wand and whispered, "Lumos!" lighting his way further into the alley in the hopes of finding either a way out or a miracle. The hand holding his wand shook slightly. Not because he was scared, of course; he was a Gryffindor! He was just...
Absolutely terrified.

Caroline was walking pass the back alley when she spot a fimilar face. nah that be Braeden why would he be back here. She stopped and walked backwards in the middle of the back alley at the top of the road. She peered through the darkness, she saw a wand light. The holder of the wand light was to far down to make out the face. She blushed. She was sure it was him "Brae is that you down there, what are you doing down here?" Caroline said "Lumos" without the wand light from both wands it was dark, a scary dark. She walked toward Braeden and prayed that that's who she was walking to.

Braeden must've jumped at least three feet into the air when Caroline spoke.

He turned around slowly, his heart in his throat and his brown eyes widened than ever before. For the love of Merlin! He almost died! He hadn't even heard her come or anything, what if it would've been... a death eater or, worse yet, a dementor?! (Yeah 'cause death eaters and dementors like to just randomly stroll around Hogsmeade).

"Caroline?" the boy's voice came off hoarse as he watched the light of another wand approach, and as it came closer, he was able to make out Caroline's delicate features forming before him. At the sight of her, he sighed in relief and allowed himself a goofy smile. Whew. "Merlin, I thought something was out to get me..." he muttered with a soft, though slightly nervous chuckle, shaking his head slightly.

Then he remembered again where they were. "What're you doing here?" he asked, raising a dark eyebrow at the girl.

Ellie shook out her newly short bob. She had been convinced to shed her braids, but had begun to dislike the new look. And she wasn't even a vain person. It was just so... impractical. She longed to be able to put her hair up once again.

She had been walking down the main thoroughfare when she saw a flash of light in an alley. Always one for adventure, the girl wandered down the alley towards that light. "Oy!" she said as the disgusting smell of garbage wafted in her direction.

Eventually she found a two students, both looking somewhat distraught. "Hey..." she said quietly, approaching the small group. "Are... are you OK?" she asked. They both looked scared, which Ellie found silly, but wouldn't tell them that.

Just when Braeden thought the surprises were over, a third figure seemed to appear out of nowhere, giving him another heart attack that sent his heart bursting from his chest. UWAA! That was it! It was the death eaters! They had caught up with him and Caroline! (Not that Braeden knew why death eaters would be after him and his friend in the first place...)

And then the mystery silhouette spoke. It was a girl. Whew. Yeah, a girl couldn't be a death eater... Braeden gave a relieved lopsided grin.
Wait - girls couldn't be death eaters, right? Now he looked a little horrified. But as he was able to make out the girl's face he was convinced she was, in fact, harmless. Or so it seemed, anyway.

"Yeah, we're fine," muttered the boy with a small smile. "Just... a little lost. Well, I was anyway," he confessed with a bit of a sheepish grin. This girl didn't look too lost and he wasn't sure about Caroline but he had a feeling she had a better sense of direction than he did. "You?" he asked curiously. "Just a fan of strolling through dark, creepy, smelly alleyways on the weekends?" he asked, half teasing.

Ellie chuckled. She actually was a fan of wandering off the beaten path, though not necessarily a fan of grimy alleys. "Actually," she explained, "I saw your light and was curious. Plus, it's getting too crowded out there." She pointed her wand back where she came. "Thought something interesting might be going on... I think it's just rubbish back here," she giggled.

She looked back at the twisted series of turns she had made to get to this location. Living on a large farm had given the Ravenclaw an excellent sense of direction, and making her way back to the street would be no problem. She looked out ahead of her, past the group of lost students. She resisted the urge to rush that way.

"I'm Ellie, by the way," she said, advancing passed the other students towards the darkness that lay before them. "What led you down here, anyways... besides your terrible sense of direction?" she added sarcastically.

Caroline's eyes widened as Brarden jump, gosh she didn't mean to make him jump. She smiled never the less, Brae was just goofy like that. As she came closer she could see his brown eyes and face. Thank goodness it was him and not some crazy person, or worse. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." She said as she walked over to his and put her hand on his elbow. She blushed. Ever since that bump on the head, making her think something pretty crazy things, it was a bit arkward being around him never the less she did love the guys company. She moved her hand away quickly. "I was just heading to Honeydukes and saw you down here. What are you doing here?" She asked curiously.

"Merlins pants" She half shouted half sceamed and she jumped 10 feet. this was to the place to come up behind Caroline Scott without clearing your thoat or coughing at least. "Hey! Everything fine" She smiled at the girl

"Oh, of course. The light," muttered Braeden, glancing down to the wand he was holding with a still slightly shaky hand, listening as the Ravenclaw girl then went on to share that there was only rubbish in the back alley. "I hope just because we're out here too we're not included in that category," said Braeden, looking back up at the girl with raised eyebrows, though the slightly lopsided smile on his lips gave away the fact that he was only kidding.

He watched absentmindedly as the girl walked past them, apparently quite interested in whatever she saw further ahead. Braeden only saw darkness. And then she was introducing herself. He couldn't help but grin when she did; this was the second Ellie he met this term. "I'm Braeden," he shared with one of his goofy grins. "And this is Caroline," he added, referring to the pretty blonde girl beside him.

And then Ellie was asking if they were there because of their (or his, he wasn't sure who he was referring to)... terrible sense of direction?! Heeeyy! That's not very nice! Braeden's jaw dropped - not so much from offense but from... well, how frighteningly right the girl was. However, as a proud little Gryffindork, he wasn't going to confess.

"I wassss... I was looking for... something that I... dropped somewhere here... last term," he explained slowly, making up each word as he said it, completely forgetting that he had confessed to being lost just a minute ago when Ellie had first stumbled upon them. Oh yes, Braeden Stonem was Hogwarts's smoothest liar.

Braeden's eyebrows rose and his grin widened as Caroline shared that she had been looking for Honeydukes. Well, what a small world! "Really? So was I," he shared, looking like a little kid who'd just found an accomplice to break a rule or something.

Despite that incident a couple days ago with the whole... confusion, shall we say, Braeden still found it easy to be his goofy self around Caroline. He knew she'd only been confused, though he'd be lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed the confusion while it lasted.

"Well, ladies," started Braeden suddenly, feeling a lot more calm now that he wasn't completely alone worrying about dementors breathing down his neck. "While I am enjoying this chat in this... very pleasant place, I'd say we move somewhere a little... well, at least somewhere where there's less rats," he muttered the last bit as he caught sight of something moving on the floor and pointed his wand at it, only to find it was a couple rats scurrying down the alley between the students' feet.

Caroline nodded as Braeden introuced himself and then her to Ellie. She threw her hand up and gave a small wave to the new girl Ellie. She just listen for a moment as the other two talked of misdirection and whatever rubbbish around being lost and so forth. Rats oh lord, darkness she could take but not rats. She nearly jumped into his arms getting away from them "Ok, I'm all for a change or scenetry. Let's go"

Ellie felt badly that her appearance caused such a stir. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you all," she apologized. Lumos she said, her wand lighting up. Perhaps if she did that earlier, she could have avoided this kind of introduction.

Ellie noticed Braeden seemed a little put off. "I'm sorry if I was rude. Maybe this place is putting me on edge..." She was actually lying, but it was better than admitting she had a rather coarse demeanor. That's a trait better learned overtime and not during an introduction.

She jumped a little after she felt something scurry at her feet. She pointed her wand down, glad to see it was just a rat. Only a farm girl wouldn't be bothered by a rodent at her feet. Clearly the other crowd wasn't of that mind. "I think we ought to head elsewhere. Hate for this odour to follow us for the rest of the day."

Braeden tried his best not to grin proudly when Caroline nearly jumped on him after seeing the rats; what could he say? He liked playing hero. Especially since... he wasn't much of a hero. More of a cowardly knight, buuuut, let's just keep that 'hero' illusion rolling.

As both girls agreed to head on somewhere a little... brighter and less rodent-friendly, Braeden turned and began to lead the way to what he believed to be the way out.

Two minutes later, he was lost again.

Feeling rather hopeless, the boy turned to Ellie; she seemed to know her way around better than him or Caroline. "Er... which one's the way out again?"

Caroline shrugged "I think I came from mmmm.... That way. no That way" She pointed to her left and her right. How did she get lost. Oh yeah, she really didn't know why but she is. She turned to Ellie who seemed think a girl who never gets lost "You know?"

Ellie did her best to suppress a smile, but turned to the her peers. "Alright, let's go," she responded, turning around, wand in front of her. She deftly navigated the twists and turns of the alley. Who knew there was such a complicated sketchy network behind the nice streets of Hogsmeade.

Occasionally, she turned around and made sure she still had Braeden and Caroline behind her. "It's not far now..." she said, observing the others looked a little fatigued.

Shortly after she spoke, she started hearing the hustle and bustle of the main street. She leaned against the side of the alley entrance and waved her arm towards the main street. "Hurray!" she said dramatically, though for her two companions, they probably felt it genuinely. "After you," she said to the others, who were eager to get out of the dark alley.

Braeden smiled as he tried not to laugh when Caroline tried to figure out where she had come from. Oh, he knew that feeling of being completely lost. Braeden spent a large part of his time just being lost.

Luckily for he and Caroline, though, Ellie had taken the lead and now guided the other two through the darkness of the alleyway, passing through small crowds of rats and other undesirable creatures that liked to dig through the trash and junk that crowded against the walls of the alley.

And then there was light.
Braeden found himself grinning as Ellie led them out to the Hogsmeade streets, filled with other Hogwarts students and - most importantly for the boy - fresh air! He took a deep breath and smiled in delight. Oh yes. This was where he was supposed to have ended up ages ago.

"Anyone up for some butterbeer? It's on me," offered the boy, turning to the two girls with a smile. He sure could use some right about now, especially when the weather was getting so chilly.

Caroline followed Ellie to the top of the road where she heard and seen other Hogwarts students about. She walked pass Ellie smiled at her and said "Thanks" She continued to walk to the main road. She could smell fresh air, no rats, and well lit streets now. She turned and waited for the other two come to the road. She smiled as Braeden asked if anyone was up for some butterbeers "That would be great. It's chilly out here"

Walking down the main street of Hogsmeade was easy. It was getting into the alley without being noticed that was going to be hard. Mia was all bundled up in her winter clothes, with a scarf covering most of her face and her hair tucked up underneath her beanie.

She glanced around the street, trying not to look like she was up to no good and then slipped into the alleyway. She walked about halfway up before leaning up against the wall.

Standing with one foot pressed up against the wall, Mia shoved her hands into her pockets and watched the steam form in the air each time she blew out a breath.

Merlin she hated winter.

Hopefully she wouldn't be kept waiting TOO long.

It really wasn't all that hard to get to where she needed to go. Mostly since her pace and posture gave the impression that she was not in the mood for conversation or random stares.

Wearing dark jeans, black boots, and a dark pea coat with a grey scarf wrapped around her neck, Evelyn pulled out the hair tie from her hair, letting the dark curls fall around her shoulder as she paused in front of a shop right next to the dark alleyway. Glancing at the window for a moment as if checking how she looked, the Slytherin was actually using the window's reflection to make sure there was no one looking at her before she moved into the alley itself.

Besides, she already knew what she looked like. Perfect. Rosie cheeks and a red nose from the cold. Brilliant. "What? No open fire or blankets for warmth?" she asked jokingly, seeing Mia leaned up against the alley wall.

Marie knew that if she was going to make it to the back alley unnoticed she would have to dress in something that no one would recognize her in. So that's what she did. Instead of wearing her usual Slytherin robes and scarf today she was wearing the Ravenclaw robes that belonged to her boyfriend... the ones he had left her sitting on on the pathway. Sure they were a bit big on her but that was okay, that just made it easier for her to hide in them.

Hood up and covering most of her face she looked around to make sure no one was watching her she quickly made her way into the alley. Head down but eyes watching where she was going she stopped when she came to the Mia and Evelyn standing there. "So, what's this about? What's so important that you wanted to meet out here?" In the freezing cold.

Hmm, where was Destiny? For once Marie wasn't the last one there.

If it was easy for Evelyn to to get where she had to go, it was TWICE as easy for Destiny. She was used to being all sneaky like. A pro was more like it, but she was not one to boast about those things.

With the hood of her jacket pulled halfway over her face, Destiny slowly made her way down the street to Hogsmeade, occasionally stopping to play statue when someone turned around to look behind them. Either the people really did think she was The Thinker or they just thought she was just crazy and chose to ignore her, because they all turned back around and kept up their walking.

Sweet!

It only took her about an hour to finally arrive at the alleyway and pressing herself up against the wall, she sidled her way in. Coming to a stop when she reached her friends, she slowly pulled the hood off her head and glanced around. "So, where's the body?"

Because that was the only explanation as to why they would meet in a dark alleyway. Mia had killed someone.

Of course the first to arrive would be Evelyn. She could just tell that she was the punctual type. A punctual type with a sharp tongue. Mia was almost tempted to poke her own tongue out at the girl.

Instead she pulled out her wand and raised an eyebrow at Evelyn. "Would you really like me to conjure something? You do remember charms class last term, right?" Well at least they would be warm. You know with their bodies on fire and all.

And here was Maire. "Never one to beat around the bush are you hun?" She let out a small laugh as she looked her friend over. "What on earth are you wearing?" Yeah the blond definitely looked better in green than she did in blue.

Mia was tempted to tell them what she had in mind but she decided to wait for Destiny first.

Waiting.

Waiting.

...

....

Finally the last of their group decided to arrive and before Mia could tell them why they were here, Destiny was asking about a body.

Blinking a couple of times, she stared at the girl and then shook her head. She was not going to dignify that with an answer. Mia looked at the three girls with a hint of mischief on her face. "Ever heard of the game truth or dare?"

Yes?

No?

Not waiting for their answers, Mia went on. "That's what we're going to do today. Won't that be fun?"

Matching the Hufflepuff, Evelyn raised an eyebrow as she stared at the girl's wand for a moment before looking back to Mia. "At least there will be a fire." she replied, smiling ever so slightly before turning to see who was joining them.

For a moment, she thought someone random had followed her here, when she could've sworn that no one was watching. But no, that was Marie. Marie in...Ravenclaw robes. "Did you get robbed or something?" she asked, staring at her friend in concern. Or did she go mental and forget which house she was in?

Having been too busy trying to figure out what happened to her friend, she didn't notice Destiny walking over to them until she spoke up about...well, there was no doubt that Destiny wasn't someone using polyjuice potion. Only she could ask something like that. Eh. Actually, she would have preffered that there been a body instead of what Mia just suggested they do.

...

She was not amused. "We came all the way out, in the snow and cold, in a back alley, to play a silly kids game of truth or dare?" Oh how this year has been.

Marie looked over at Destiny when she arrived.

O___O

What was she talking about... a body? Leave it to Destiny to ask something like that.

Rolling her eyes at Destiny's question she looked over to Mia when she asked what she was wearing. "What does it look like I'm wearing. A disguise silly. I wasn't sure what you were up to so I didn't want anyone to know it was me sneaking back here." She looked down at what she was wearing. She thought she looked pretty darn good in blue. Not that she wanted to wear it all the time, but...

O__O

Robbed!?

"What makes you think I got robbed?" Just because she was wearing her boyfriends robes? Pfft, she was doing it to be all sneaky like, so people would think it was a brainiac Ravenclaw that entered the alley.

"A game? I wore this disguise because you want to play a game?" Not that she really minded what she was wearing. She just wouldn't let her friends know that one. "And what is in it for us if we play this game?" If Marie was gonna have to tell the truth about some things or do a dare there better be something in it for her.

Okay.

They needn't spell it out. Destiny got the hint that there was no body. The looks she received and their lack of even answering her told her that. Plus, there were no shovels. Anyone who ever watched the muggle box knew that where there is a dead body, there are shovels. "No body. Got it."

Just for clarification purposes and all.

Turning towards Marie, she waited to hear the reason why she decided to wear that HORRIBLE Ravenclaw robe. The answer was not what she expected. She was waiting for the answer to be something like 'I miss my boyfriend so I decided to wear his robes to feel close to him', but THANKFULLY it was nothing like that. "We were supposed to wear a disguise?" Why was she just finding this out!?

And why wasn't Evelyn wearing one?

Or Mia?

GAH! Destiny was just soooo confused!

And she only became even more confused, if that was even possible, when Mia mentioned playing a game. "Is this like hide and seek? I like that game."

Especially when she played with her Grandmother. Grandmum Tole never looked directly behind her.

When did they become such whiners? Okay Destiny wasn't. Mia knew that she would be up for anything.

Turning to look at Evelyn, Mia pointed her finger at her. "Yes I did. Because you need to get away from the books for five minutes and have a bit of fun." She then turned her finger to Marie. "You need to stop worrying about your relationship woes and have some fun too." Finally she turned to Destiny and dropped her hand and grinned. "I pretty much knew you would be up for anything and so I couldn't possibly leave you out."

Was that assertive enough? She would look pretty stupid if they didn't take her seriously.

"Now we are going to play and you are all going to enjoy yourselves." Mia paused to look at the three girls and raised her eyebrows just daring them to contradict her. Although she didn't dare glare at Marie for too long because that girl might just get physical.

"Now since Destiny was late. She can go first. Truth or dare." Then realising that the girl didn't know the game, Mia went on to explain. "You pick one or the other. If you pick truth, we ask you a question and you have to answer it truthfully. Bear in mind we can ask you anything. If you pick dare then we get to dare you to do something."

A disguise? Well, that was true. Who'd think Marie would wear ravenclaw robes as a disguise? Evelyn sure didn't!

"Your choice of outfit pretty much." she muttered, staring at BLUE-ness. Where did she get those anyway? The laundry? They at least better be clean. Unless...she robbed someone else to get those robes. Yea, that seemed more like Marie.

Crossing her arms, Evelyn looked back to Mia, only to see a finger being pointed at her. MEH!?

She would argue with the Hufflepuff but, what she said was true. Fresh freezing air and fun will do her some good. "Fine fine." she said breathlessly, looking down at her boots and making little circle designs in the snow with her shoe. Taking a deep breath, she let it out in a huff, watching the puff of white cloud appear and then disappear in front of her. Bleh, winter.

Aw well, Destiny was going first. Hehe. Smirking over at her friend, the Slytherin girl moved past Mia, and glanced down the rest of the alley, more towards the sides on the ground, all the while keeping her ears open on the conversation.

There has got to be something here to burn.