Escaping from the crowds

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura felt a ringing in her ears and knew she had to get away from all the friendly natives and her own school mates. It seemed like madness that no matter where she went she was surrounded by gangs of students, she wasn't the only one of course. All the students who had put their names into the goblet seemed to be getting the same treatment, even the HNZ students which was great to see. Of course the novelty of the foreign students being here would change if one of them began to win the tournament. She walked from the Great Hall about to leave when she decided that the dungeons were in dire need of exploring. Isabella would probably mangle her for doing it without her but she was off with James somewhere, so Saks was free to do her own thing.

Taking the steps two at a time, the first thing she noted was the dullness. Pulling out her wand immediately as she walked down one of the corridors she lit the tip stopping at the portrait of a rather awful looking family. Smiling to herself she wondered if they had owned the castle before the headmistress had taken it over.
Sakura had read a little of the history of the school and had found it fascinating. She continued looking at the picture noticing for the first time that unlike all the other pictures, the people in this one didn't move about.

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

Dominik had just managed to narrowly escape the entourage that he, as well as his friends, seemed to have accumulated over the last few days. He hadn't had much chance to do any exploring around this castle, which he had been looking forward to doing as Durmstrung was dark, dreary, and cold. The atmosphere here seemed to more inviting by far. He traipsed around a few of the corridors, but could find nothing at all appealing or even slightly attention worthy about any of them. Dom found an old stone staircase that led down to what he assumed to be the dungeons. Letting his curiosity get the better of him he started down the stairs, descending down into near darkness. Once his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit passageway he noticed a girl standing looking at a portrait. As he drew nearer, he noticed it to be Sakura, the girl he'd met briefly in the trophy room a few days prior. He ducked behind a stone pillar and watched her, wondering to himself is she would be one of his many conquests of the year.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Completely transfixed by the oddness of the painting Sakura wondered what it was doing here? It must have belonged to the previous owners obviously muggles. She lifted her wand another bit to get a better look at all the details of it, they really were an ugly looking bunch. She grinned again to herself before walking on convinced a few of the other paintings had actually tutted her for smiling cheekily at the picture. Obviously she wasn't the only one to do it.

Deciding to try a few doors along her travels she discovered the first one was locked. Typical, should she used the allohomora charm on it? she really couldn't be bothered. Continuing on to the next door she had a very wierd sensation as if someone was watching her. Shrugging it off and remembering the many eyes in the pictures around she chanced the next door. It opened easily.

"Great" she walked in leaving the door behind her open. The room was not in any way impressive, it had the most amazing huge chairs though. She ran to one of the overly large sofas and threw herself onto it.
"Now this I could get used to, peace at last".

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

Dominik continued to watch the girl, chuckling at her failed attempts to open doors that were obviously locked for a reason. Once she had found one that was opened and entered, he stepped silently out from behind the stone pillar and glided ever to gently behind her. "Do you often talk to yourself in a strange environment?" he smirked at her as he leaned up against the wall beside the still opened door. "People are going to think you're mad if you keep that up!" he added with a small laugh.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura all but leapt up from the sofa again with fright, she saw the boy who had been in the trophy room the other day and smiled.
"OH it's only you, thought it might have been someone who mattered" she smirked before throwing herself back on the sofa again.
"Sometimes talking to myself is the only decent conversation I can find so if people think I'm mad let them" she looked him dead on waiting for another of his quick comments and flashy smiles. He may have all the other girls here eating out of his hands but he'd soon find that Sakura was not like most girls.
"Do you usually go sneaking around in dungeons waiting for people to talk to themselves then like the nutty police or something?" she was smiling of course totally relaxed and enjoying the small bit of peace and quiet she had found.

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

Dominik gave Sakura an odd look and then a crooked sly grin. "Not very friendly are we?" he spouted sarcastically. He thought to himself for a moment and then crossed the room to where she was sitting. "I think we got off on a bad foot. How about we start over? Call it a truce of sorts." Dom said with his 'award winning' smile and a wink.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura was never one to back down from a challenge and she really felt as if this boy had just thrown down the gauntlet. She could have sworn she had been friendly, well her type of friendly, she really wasn't one of these batting of eyelashes cooing like a silly fool type of girls. Straight up, tell it like it is. If people couldn't handle her she usually left them to their own devices. But this was far from home and perhaps she needed to make more of an effort. Slowly she straightened herself up until she was sitting on the sofa and then she stood up to face him. She was very tall, 5' 9" to be exact. She noted they were actually about the same height. So often the boys she knew were slightly smaller than her and they always seemed to feel intimidated by this.

She held out her hand to him and once again looked him dead on, not flinching once but well able to give her own brilliant smile.
"Alright Dominik, a truce it is".

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

Dom gave the girl an odd look, but he even he had to admit he was slightly intrigued by this girl. He crossed the room, walking past Sakura and plopping down into one of the chairs next to the sofa from where the girl had just been sitting. "Great!" he said with a bit of a laugh. "So, Sakura, tell me a little about yourself." Dom added trying to sound genuinely interested. If all the girls here were as strong willed as Sakura seemed to be then this little running bet was going to be a bit more difficult than planned.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura looked down at the hand she had extended as her truce token, which the boy had completely ignored. Turning about to look at him sitting himself down comfortably into one of the chairs she relaxed her stance. Though she still looked more menacing than chilled out.
"Is that how you call a truce wherever you're from. Mention it then ignore the hand that is offered?"
she remained standing there mutely watching him wondering what nerve the guy had. She refused to budge on the subject, her story or whatever information he might like to discover about her could wait. He had in effect insulted her by snubbing her proffered hand, so she would wait, he could wait.

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

Dominik sighed heavily and stood back up. "Your right. That was horribly rude of me. I forget that people here are a bit warmer than those back home." he said as he offered his own hand, hoping that she would take it as a sign of apology.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura inhaled deeply as Dominik very quickly almost with a panthers prowess rose from the chair and stood before her with his hand outstretched. Was this a ploy of some kind or was he really not used to the hand of friendship? She had heard enough of the Durmstrang mention how more friendly and hospital the people here were compared to where they were from. Was Eastern Europe truly that different? She looked at his hand again and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Her own hand found his and she shook it in what she hoped was a firm enough hand shake.
"A truce then?"

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

"A truce." he said with genuine kindness, a crooked smile forming on his face. "So will you now please tell me something about yourself?" Dominik asked, waiting for the girl to sit before he too took his seat.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura smiled recognising sincerity when she heard it. She sat down once more but pulled her feet up underneath her on one end of the sofa that had been behind her. What is interesting about me? She didn't know that there really was anything.
"I'm from Nottingham in England, I attend Hogwarts Scotland, I belong in Gryffindor house. I'm the keeper for our quidditch team and a damn fine one too" she smiled at him, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear not knowing if she should keep going, was any of that interesting? She highly doubted it but shrugged and continued.

"I'm an only child, my family were..." she smiled thinking about them, "they are extremely over protective. My uncle was Cedric Diggory and when I told my family that I was coming here they all nearly lost the plot with me. Got angry" she wasn't sure if her colloquilisms{sp?} were familiar to him or not, even now she felt as if she had slowed down her speech just effective enough for him to comprehend every word she spoke. Otherwise she knew her strong Northern dialect might be completely impossible for him to understand.

"I don't blame them now of course. I'm worried about Nina our champion and she's only a friend so I can imagine what it must be like to worry about a loved one. I hadn't given that much thought when I put my name forward".
Was she rambling? Rolling her eyes she knew she probably was so looking at him she turned his own question back on him.

"Enough about me what about you Dominic?"

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

Dominik listened intently, smiling occasionally. This girl was definitely different from the ones he went to school with. She was friendly and open, the girls back home were frigid and harsh. When she turned his own question around to him he didn't really know what to say. He'd never been much of a conversationalist, but decided that she'd obliged and so should he. "Not really much to tell to be honest. I'm from Romania. I have one sister who's a squib. She lives in America and teaches school children." he replied in his slightly watered down Romanian accent. "I play beater when we get a chance to actually play a game, which isn't very often." Dom added sounding slightly disinterested in what he was saying. "So you are related to Cedric Diggory then? Were you born before or after, umm, well you know?" he asked Sakura hoping it didn't sound cold.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

"A beater, ooh" she smiled, "they are the bane of my life. I totally dread the opposing beaters. Got a pigeon whacked into my face once by a Slytherin beater".

She frowned now remembering how the beater had been feet infront of her, how the big ape had swung really hard at the bludger but had missed and instead had whacked a passing pigeon. The bird went straight for her, it had died instantly of course its neck getting smashed. But the image of the dead bird in her face and feathers everywhere, the shock and horror of it making her fall from her broom. The hospital wing had been her home for over a month has she tried to regain consciousness and regrow many broken bones.

She heard his question about her beloved uncle and smiled weakly at him.
"I was born long after, my parents hadn't even married then. Goodness it must be about 25 years ago now. Yet my grandfather still talks about him as if it were only yesterday. I would have loved to have known him but it just wasn't meant to be. So other than a beater, what is it you like to do?"

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

{Sorry it's taking so long for me to reply back to you lately Hoping that things will slow down a bit my way}

Dominik listened quietly, taking in every word of what Sakura said. He laughed when she mentioned being hit in the face by a pigeon because he himself had even whacked a few flying creatures towards his opponents. Dom instantly regretted asking the girl about her uncle when he saw that look that it brought about to her. It obviously pained her when she thought about it. Idiot he thought harshly to himself. "I'm sorry you never got to know him. I've read many great things about him. Things from his school mates and even the other three champions that competed with him." he added sincerely, not knowing if it would make Sakura feel any worse or not. He thought for only a fraction of a second on her other question. "I'm a bit of a bookworm myself. Like I said, we don't get very many opportunities to play quidditch very often and thats really the only thing that we have to take our minds from our studies." Dominik replied in a slightly bitter tone.

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura was taken aback by his sympathy and bristled against it at first, she didn't like to feel as if she were being pitied but some part of her chose to believe that he hadn't meant his sympathy to be in a bad way, certainly not in any way pitiable.
"Thank you" she smiled pushing the hair once more behind her ears and listened as he spoke about his own school. It sounded so dull and boring, no wonder they weren't used to the friendliness of the people around them here.
"You don't have any clubs or societies at Durmstrang? Just books" she smiled, definitely she wouldn't have taken him for a book worm at all.

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

"None that are of any interest to me. My father prefers that I take my studies more seriously than any organized student clubs. He thinks that they are a waste of time. He would probably give himself an aneursym if he knew that I find time for a game or two of quidditch." he replied to Sakura, chuckling a little at how utterly boring he sounded. "Not too much to do around there anyways. Its too cold for a good portion of the year to do much of anything outside. So being stuck inside to our own devices keeps a good bit of us in trouble, but then again a little mischeif never hurt anyone. I of course try to keep myself out of too much trouble." He added that last part on with a bit of sarcasm in his tone. Dom gave her an odd look and then asked, "Ever find yourself up to no good? I doubt it, you look like you walk a straight line all the time."

 

[Sakura Gemini]

Sakura laughed not being able to help herself really.
"Oh I walk a very straight line alright that's why I got passed over for the prefect position. I'm Queen of Detentions I'm afriad, I like going out of bounds and breaking curfew a lot unfortunately and have also managed to start, well actually end a few squabbles on the quidditch pitch but I guess every teenager kicks out at some point. I have promised myself though that this year, I will at least try not to..." she smiled mischievously in his direction, " get caught. So when you say you're own devices, would you care to elaborate or are you always evasive?"

 

[Katalina Harker]

Kat had been wandering about looking for any of her friends. The one day that she had some free time and she couldn't manage to find not one single person that she knew. This is ridiculous...they have to be in the school somewhere, I mean this castle isn't THAT big! she thought with a chuckle. She made her way down to the dungeons, which was her least favorite part of the school because it was cold, dark, and damp, but she figured it was worth a shot. Maybe she'd run into Makato down here. As Kat wandered down through the drafty corridor she happened to hear a set of voices coming from one of the classrooms. The door was cracked only slightly so she peeked in to see if either of the voices was from someone she knew. Unfortunately for her the old door creaked loudly. Kat's face flushed deep pink when she saw that it was an older boy and girl that happened to be inhabiting the room at the moment, neither of which even attended school here. "I..urm..I, well, I'm so sorry for interrupting. I..I.." she stammered stupidly. She wanted to turn to leave, but for some reason her legs seemed very heavy under the frustration and embarrassment she was now feeling. For the sweet name of Merlin Kat....what are you still standing here for? she berated herself, with her face turning an even deeper shade of pink, nearly red.

 

[Dominik Marinescu]

"You don't strike me as someone who gets into trouble often. If you'll forgive me for saying so, you seem a bit of a goody two shoes. I have to say that I'm very shocked by this revelation." Dom replied in repsone to Sakura. Then suddenly a younger girl, probably a year or so younger, entered the room. Dominik chuckled to himself at the girls reaction so he flashed her a smile and said, "Oh that's quite alright! Not really interrupting anything, just a discussion between friends." He winked at the girl and then asked her, "So what's your name cutie? I'm Dominik and this lovely lady here is Sakura!" Dom quickly turned on his charm again, remembering the bet that he had running with his two best mates. This is going to be just like taking candy from a baby! he thought with a small snort.