Past curfew, Slytherin Common Room


Most, if not everyone, was asleep. Feliks waited in a corner of the common room where the emerald green light of lake water emanated a gentle glow in the windows. Every so often a small fish flicked into view and then returned to the cold darkness. The darkness, thought the young wizard, was terrifying and beautiful and he wished he could follow the creatures out into it.

He was bundled up in an oversized sweater and jeans, twirling his wand mindlessly while he waited for Sulwen to come down with Nicola in tow.

After their talk[1] earlier today, he had arranged with the former that they sneak out to explore the castle tonight. Nicola didn't know yet because they had to be sneaky about not letting Acrux find out: Feliks didn't trust older students who tried to make friends with them.

They always wanted something or wanted to order you around, like at SAWS.

He heard footsteps descending from the girls' dorms, and got up to wait by the fireplace. The flames were weak and dying, only to be revived by house elves in the morning. An excited smile was already tugging at his lips. He hoped Sulwen had a good time coaxing Nicola out of bed. Tonight, the three of them were going to go on an adventure!

1.	5th Jan - Just water in the eyes

Sulwen had made sly and sneaky plans this evening. She'd hid a change of clothes under the covers of her top bunk, and had wiggled into a short dress and slim trousers once the room had darkened and she'd heard the steady breathing of her roommates. She then landed, her feet hitting the floor with a soft thud. Sulwen slipped on her sturdiest shoes and shouldered the small bag she'd packed. It held a quill, a few spare sheets of parchment, a very basic map of the castle, her sweater, and two enchanted, glowing pendants.

She'd gotten the idea for enchantment from the small pocket watch she wore around her neck, which glowed when she flipped it open.

Feliks would be waiting downstairs, right? He wouldn't forget and fall asleep? She'd be so disappointed.

Sulwen had left Nicola a note on her pillow while they were all taking turns getting ready for bed earlier. It was just a few sentences, informing her that the first meeting of the secret club started in the common room tonight. Sulwen hovered near Nicola's bunk. Did she still think Sulwen was joking?

Sulwen was good at lying - had to be, growing up in a strict household - but she wasn't so good at joking around.

"Nicola," she whispered at the lump in the bed.

"Nicola... Nicola!" She finally whispered loudly enough.

"Feliks is downstairs," she murmured, her eyes darting around the room. Yes he was! Don't make a fool out of her, Feliks!

Once they'd both reached the bottom of the stairs, Sulwen paused in the doorway, her eyes adjusting to the darkened common room.

There stood Feliks with his mop of curly hair, the knit of his sweater visible in the dim glow of the embers in the fireplace.

Sulwen raised her eyebrows at Nicola. No joke!

Dressed in dark clothing, her straight black hair swinging just above her shoulders, as she came forward her face and hands were the most visible, taking on a light greenish cast from the murky windows.

"Hi," she whispered at Feliks, stopping in front of the fireplace.

"I've got something for you two. One moment."

Sulwen hesitated with her hand in her bag, finding the two pendants quickly but nervous about bringing them out. She'd thought she was very clever earlier, but she wasn't sure how long the glow would last, or if it would be easier to just cast Lumos whenever they needed it.

She handed one to Nicola, and one to Feliks, avoiding their eyes.

"You can hide it under your sweater when you don't need it," she affected a shrug.

Or if they didn't like it!

Where to? Sulwen was ready when they were.

Dressed in her nightgown Cole had stared at the note that had been waiting on her pillow. The writing was obviously Sulwen's though the other girl hadn't signed it due to the very nature of the note itself. She had sat in bed for a long while thinking it over, listening to the other girls in their room slowly fall asleep. She was feeling torn. Sulwen had made it clear earlier that she had no interest in a secret exploration club, so why had she sent the note?

When she heard someone stirring, she whipped the covers over herself and pretended to sleep until she heard her name being called. She dug herself out and saw Sulwen pulling aside the curtains on her four poster. Her eyes widened when she heard that Feliks was waiting for them and in a flurry of quiet motion she got herself dressed.

---

Down in the common room Nicola joined Feliks with Sulwen. She had grabbed the first things she could find in her trunk that caused the least amount of noise - a pair of thick leggings and one of Harrison's hand me down jumpers - she accepted the glowing pendant and tucked it under the dark red jumper emblazoned with the Gryffindor Lion.

"So, where are we going first?"

They were all here!

Feliks was relieved that the three of them managed to leave their dormitories without being detected - or if they were, without anyone else caring. He noticed that older students did not seem to think that the first years were very important or clever; this did not bother him because it made it easier for those people to underestimate them.

            "I've got something for you two. One moment."

Sulwen had made preparations! The young wizard accepted the necklace and looked at it appreciatively before he slipped it around his neck. "Thank you," Feliks smiled at her, touched. It meant a lot to him when he was given presents, having received so few before coming to live with papa.

The pendant went underneath the neckline of his khaki green jumper, and he looked up in time to catch Nicola's question. It was the question of the hour! And of every hour, from this night onward, when they had their meetings.

"Um, I was thinking about it..." he raised his hand, counting off with his fingers. "We can maybe go somewhere like... the Trophy Room? Or there is a Restricted Section in the library, yes?" Feliks was curious about seeing if his papa - or any Reids or Bagnolds - had their names in the trophy room.

And he was ALWAYS curious about books he should not be reading. "Unless," his dark eyes shifted from one girl to the next, "you want to leave the castle?"

Sulwen blinked at Nicola's red sweater, catching sight of the lion flickering a golden hue in the firelight. Her hand flew to her mouth and she suppressed a laugh, glancing back at the girl's dormitory. Clever Nicola! If anyone saw the three of them creeping down a long, dark hallway, they'd blame the Gryffindors first. Good.

She would have commented, but Nicola's silence gave her pause. The pendant went hidden underneath her red jumper. Did she not like it? Oh no! Well, Sulwen didn't care, she hadn't spent that much time on them, and it wasn't as if she'd thought and thought about this very reaction -

Feliks liked it! She smiled a bit at his thanks.

Of course, he had plenty of ideas. She raised an eyebrow at his third suggestion. No.

"Trophy room," Sulwen decided, then hesitated out of politeness.

"I'm curious about the Quidditch trophies," she glanced at Nicola. Not entirely true - she was curious about any Reid trophies. "Though I wouldn't mind exploring the restricted section of the library either."

They could start sensibly, with the less dangerous adventures, and work their way outside of the castle later on. The grounds! The edge of the forest! The forest! She hugged her arms to her and gave a thrilled shiver.

"Along the way, tell me about the book you got in the mail," Sulwen suggested with interest, having not been able to ask them about it with Rigel around.

While Feliks spoke Cole watched Sulwen out of the corner of her eye. The other girl seemed to look over her clothing choice with a mix of surprise but also something else, as if she was impressed? Did she approve? Nicola wasn't sure but it wasn't hard to miss the look of disappointment when she tucked the necklace under her jumper. Cole felt a light flush to her cheeks. She had been so focused on being quiet she hadn't even thanked the other girl for the effort she had put into it. She couldn't even thank her now, too much time had passed . . .

She nodded and added quietly, "Yes, the trophy room sounds like a good start." She made towards the entrance to the common room before adding, "we'll have to put extra preparations into the night we want to go to the Restricted Section."

As the trio moved to leave she sidled up to Sulwen, "one of my brothers is a Gryffindor. This used to be his jumper."

Sulwen nodded, relieved that Nicola agreed. She was pretty sure that Feliks was happy to adventure anywhere, but Nicola seemed more cautious, like her.

"Oh?" Sulwen glanced at her, surprised. Nicola must have noticed her covering up a laugh earlier. "Harrison, right?"

The Gryffindor brother. A shame that he'd been sorted into another house, but at least Nicola had older siblings at school to pester.

"It's clever. If anyone sees us, they might think it's the Gryffindors out and about," she finally expressed her thought from earlier with a slight, sly smile. Typical Slytherin!

Trophy room! He was glad they also liked that idea, striding ahead of them to the portrait entrance whilst Sulwen and Nicola walked next to one another a step behind. They were talking about clothes, and Feliks paused just outside the common room to reach behind him. He had rolled up a thin book and stuck it in the band of his trousers for safe keeping.

            "....anyone sees us, they might think it's the Gryffindors out and about," Sulwen said and he fell into line, walking with the girls.

"That is good," he grinned at the idea. "It was very clever of you Nicola," the boy wizard added, admiring her forethought. Both of his housemates had planned ahead for tonight! The only thing he had done was come up with ideas for where to go.

Feliks unrolled the book he'd taken out and handed it to Sulwen while they made their way through the dungeons. "Here. I had to make a copy. Greyfriar took the original book from me," he pulled a face; the headmaster was not one of his favourites.

The book was, in fact, a collection of separate sheets that he individually copied from The Lycan. Feliks had been alarmed by Zeta Pepper's warnings - as a result, he'd learnt a basic duplication charm so that he could share the book. Its pages were bound together with dark green ribbon and it sported the illustration of the Vitruvian wolf as a cover.

"There are also notes inside. I do not know who made them," he explained with a shrug. "But they are interesting."

Cole nodded, hiding her surprise that Sulwen knew her brother's name. After all most people in the house tended to over look her biological brothers, all three of which were in different houses, in favour of her adopted brother Kyson who was a Slytherin as well, "yeah. Harrison's in Gryffindor. The twins are in Ravenclaw."

She let herself chuckle at her friends and flashed them a sly smile. She was happy to take credit for the idea even though she had really only grabbed the jumper because it was the easiest thing to slip on quickly.

Cole took the book from Feliks and flipped through it, "I can't believe you made copies." She was impressed. She hadn't expected something like this from her friend. Not only that, the spell was really well performed too. She found herself wondering if she should ask him to show her how to do it.

"The Headmaster took it from you," Sulwen repeated, more surprised by this fact than by Feliks' forethought to make a copy of the gift. It was a gift, wasn't it? An anonymous gift he'd received via owl. She reached out to take the book from him, but too slowly. Nicola took it instead.

"Your fathers didn't gift it to you?" She clarified in a murmur, looking over Nicola's shoulder as the girl flipped through the pages.

It must be something terrible or terribly suspicious if the Headmaster had taken it away. During classes, Professor Greyfriar was never one to shy away from open discussions.

Sulwen held the light of her pendant close to the pages. The writing looked old-fashioned, and the words were packed densely together, making it difficult to read as they were walking through the darkened halls. She glimpsed a list of werewolf traits and how to identify them, a case study about a werewolf attack, and instructions for healing the wounds left by werewolves. She caught a few notes left in the margins, but couldn't read the notes very well.

Hm. Someone had sent the book anonymously. Someone had annotated the book. The book was old. The book wasn't about werewolves today, like she'd hoped. It was the typical fare of how to guard against werewolves.

Sulwen glanced at Feliks questioningly. She could understand why the Headmaster wouldn't like a book like that, but why would he confiscate it?

"Is the Headmaster trying to find out who sent it?"

He grinned when Nicola said she couldn't believe he'd made copies. Feliks owned very few things when he was growing up and to him, it had been a precaution against losing the book to people who thought the same as Zeta.

            "Your fathers didn't gift it to you?"

The boy wizard shook his head, shrugging as they made their way through the dark dungeon passageways and towards the stairs. Sulwen appeared to be thinking hard about the book through which the other witch was flipping. It was not a hard book to read; his own experience after perusing every chapter was that werewolves should be pitied. They did not have a choice, they became wild monsters without wanting it.

"Oui, I think he is." Feliks replied vaguely to the question that followed and glanced up the stairs to ensure no prefects were on their way down. "But I do not think it is a very dangerous book. It only makes me feel bad for people like Temple and Greyfriar..." his mouth relaxed into a half-smile.

He wasn't sure about going to more SAWS meetings. Maybe he would write to Johann and ask for advice. "Did you know their moods change close to a full moon? And they like bloody food," Feliks pulled a face, musing, "like a rare steak. Maybe we can ask the house elves to give Lucinda a rare steak when she is feeling bad?"

Food was always a good gift, in his opinion.