Giving light to a night almost lost

[Hemi Te Rua]

Hemi took Charms class extremely seriously. When Professor Haden says practice, by gosh he intended to practice to his hearts content. The problem was that the spell he was trying to cast was Lumos and Lumos required darkness to work properly. A.k.a. it had to be night time! He tried practising in his dormitory but his room mates got annoyed with the disturbance, he moved down to the Common Room, but there was still too much light from the candles.

Nope, Hemi needed absolute darkness to assess how well he could cast the Lumos spell, he needed the corridors at night. In his opinion, it was admissible in regards to the rules as it was for academic progression. It conveniently gave him the opportunity to explore the castle too. He tip toed down the corridor, wandering the halls with his lit wand for guidance. The spell was working quite well and enabled him to see what was coming, he would give himself an O+ for his magic.

He sighed, three staircases later, Hemi hadn't found anything to explore with his new lighty-upy spell. He was hoping for an adventure to begin really!

 

[Dexter Lesley]

Dexter rarely did night patrol along the higher floors alone, as he often found himself bored and lonely. Not only was he far away from the Slytherin Common Room, but seeing as Rebecca was currently unable to accompany him, he was very much alone. With his badge pinned to his chest, the Slytherin walked back down the stairs for the millionth time. It was growing rather late, and his rounds were almost up, so he decided to get a head-start on returning to the Slytherin Common Room. It was quite a distance, seeing as he was coming from the top floor, but the Slytherin was fit and had walked up and down these corridors all his school career.

He had his own lumos activated, however the area was brighter than he expect, until his blue eyes caught the movement of another student. He knew the rounds and roster perfectly - and he and Rhiannon had written them up themselves. The fifth floor was to be patrolled for only half the night tonight, seeing as he would be crossing it towards the end. A few cases above the source, he quickened his pace and stood a few steps above the young man. The part-veela frowned slightly, his empty hand on his hip whilst the other held his wand.

"That's a good lumos, but you're not supposed to be out of bed at this time," he said softly, eyebrows knitting together. What happened next would determine whether he took house points or let this slide and just took him to his Common Room. "My name's Dexter Lesley, what's your name?"​

 

[Hemi Te Rua]

Hemi tried to open a door to explore but it was locked, they were all locked! If only he knew that spell to unlock doors, there would be so much more to do at night! Hemi sighed Hogwarts was actually kind of boring at this time and he might as well go to bed.

He turned on his heel to go back when he heard a noise, someone was coming. He needed to hide but Lumos made Hemi easier to spot than a centeour amongst horses. "Nox!" It was too late, he had been spotted and the Head Boy was actually speaking to him.

He had time to start running right?

Hemi first started walking fast, as if he simply hadn't heard what Dexter said, then he broke into a run. Maybe, with a bit of luck, he could out run the Head Boy and save himself from a heap of trouble.

 

[Dexter Lesley]

Dexter sighed. The Slytherin liked to view himself as rather the understanding sort, but he did not like being ignored. As a seventh year, he was adept at his lower-level spells, most of which would be very useful in this situation to stop a first year from running. The seventeen year old, whilst perfectly capable of catching him (seeing as he was faster and stronger) the effort to do so was just way too much for him, and so he opted to use what felt like more naturally means of stopping the boy - magic. It was his father's common use of punishment and capturing of his siblings if they misbehaved, and so seeing as he was already tired, running was not on his agenda today.

"No, stop," he called lazily, doubting it would carry much effect. Fine then. No skin off his nose. Yawning lightly, he flourished his wand and aim at the figure running away from him, before casting Locomotor Mortis to lock the boy's legs together. Once they were locked, he would have absolutely no way of escaping, or even moving anywhere. He just was not interested in a man-hunt tonight. He wanted to return to his chambers.
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[Hemi Te Rua]

Hemi's leg muscles spazzemed and he fell, hitting the stone floor fast and hard. He tried to regain his footing but his legs were useless, frozen together. What had the Head Boy done to him? Would he ever regain full control of his limbs again?

Hemi searched for some hope of an escape but it was futile, he just waiting to be officially caught. He laughed feebily, "Okay I'll cooperate"

 

[Dexter Lesley]

Dexter perked up considerably as his spell hit and the boy slumped to the floor. He wandered over to him, a skip in his step, and crouched in front of him as he spoke. He nodded firmly. It wasn't like he was in the position to do anything else. He frowned slightly. "Happy to hear it. I'll remove the spell if you promise to come with me and return to your Common Room. If you pull another stunt, I'll petrify you and carry you up the stairs myself." Drawing his wand once more, he moved to the lower half of his body. "And if I have to do that, I doubt Gryffindor will thank you for it." Because once Dexter was done with him, there would be a severe dint in his house points, as well as a trip to wake up his Head of House. "Now, what's your name?"
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[Hemi Te Rua]

Hemi nodded to show he understood, he wasn't going to run off now. Dexter had a good ID on him and in a place like Hogwarts you can run, but you can't hide for long. Plus being petrified and carried to bed by the head boy sounded humiliating, he wasn't going to opt for that one in a million years.

Hemi looked down at his legs, and for a brief second tried to force them apart but kept it stuble, he didn't want Dexter to think he was up to something and petrify him anyway. He kept looking at his legs, "Herry tre mura" He mummbled. Did he really have to do this? Did he really have to give his name up? He sighed, "Hemi Te Rua" He said, clearer this time, opting not to inadvertently choose petrification.

 

[Dexter Lesley]

Dexter's wand immediately tapped his legs, as a young man of his word. "Finite." He then stood up, and extended his hand to the younger boy. He wasn't out to ruin the kid's night, nor was he out to have to be forced to carry his weight up all of those stairs, but he wasn't prepared to take the first year's cheek. The Slytherin enjoyed friendly exchanges, but by no means was a pushover. Especially when tired.

"Well met, Hemi. Can I call you Hemi? You may call me Dex if you like. Sorry about the treatment about five seconds ago, but you were being incredibly rude. Now, come on, it's late, I'm tired and I still have a number of floors to get through before I can get to bed." Seeing as he slept in the lowest part of the castle, he was not looking forward to that trek after going all the way back up to the Gryffindor Common Room again. At least he wasn't a Ravenclaw.
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[Hemi Te Rua]

Finite! That was the counter-spell? Hemi has been taught Finite! He lay there like a potato when he knew the spell to free himself all along! He could've escaped retribution after all!

He stood up, brushed himself off and looked at Dex. "Okay Dex, uh sorry!" He nodded along as he explained the hard life of a prefect, "You volunteer to stay up late looking for trouble makers?" It sounded so boring, if Hemi were a prefect he would want all the trouble makers out in force on his watch to save himself the extreme boredom.

Not that it mattered, Hemi doubted he would ever be prefect material.

 

[Dexter Lesley]

Dexter almost snorted at 'volunteer'. because this was so clearly what he enjoyed spending his nights doing - he'd rather be sleeping - but responsibility was responsibility and someone had to do it, so the Head Boy thought it best to just do it himself. "Not exactly - someone's get to make sure students don't end up hurting themselves, or others." And not he had this badge pinned on his chest, without even being a prefect before hand, he really had to prove himself worthy of it. "Usually I have a partner, but she's feeling pretty awful. Anyway, what were you doing, running like that? Did you think you could actually get away?" He shook his head. "I've been here for seven years, man. I know this place like the back of my hand. Worse comes to worst I'd have asked the portraits where you were."
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[Hemi Te Rua]

Responsibility, pfft who wants responsibility before adulthood? "You should get paid!" He stated quite matter-of-factly. "Or leave it to the Professors, they found me last time-" Hemi paused, he was about to give away that he was not a first time offender, "Uh when I got lost in the middle of the day on my first week." Hemi shook out his legs, they felt strangely normal after the counter-spell was used. He expected some lingering side effects but there were none.

Hemi smiled, he could laugh at his attempt to run away now that it was over. "I panicked" He answered, "And I was already going back, there's nothing to do in the castle at this time anyway!"

 

[Dexter Lesley]

Dexter's eyebrow rose quizzically as he spoke. Truth be told, he doubted that this was his first offence, but he didn't see the point in digging through someone's past. If he did that, then he'd first have to look at Desideratus' record. He really didn't want to look into that, they were complete opposites. He had to admit though, there really was nothing to do at this time - hence why the Slytherin himself would be found sleeping rather than running around the halls looking for trouble.

"I agree, now come on, Common Room for you," he said quietly, casting another strong lumos. "If you want to find something to do, I suggest you try the lake during the day. Not only won't you find yourself in trouble because it's well into curfew, but you might see the giant squid, or the merpeople. They're pretty friendly, usually."
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[Hemi Te Rua]

Hemi couldn't delay any longer, it was time to return to the Common Room. He started up the stairs still listening to Dexter. He liked the Head Boy, he was actually kinda cool for a prefect "Alright I'll take your advice" Hemi said, "There's a forest near the lake I've been meaning to check out anyway, I'll swing by on my way there." He grinned at Dex, "Joke!" Hemi added even though he wasn't joking. He was bound to wander into the Forbidden Forest eventually. It was a matter of when, not if.

 

[Dexter Lesley]

Dexter frowned with concern as the forest was mentioned, walking up the stairs and keeping a close eye on Hemi. "I know this has been said a lot - I remember it all quite well from when I was a first year, but it's sort of out of bounds for a reason." He ruffled his own hair to try and discourage a yawn. "People - professors and students - have died in there, you know. There's all kinds of stuff in there, but the main issue's centaurs I think..." He then pulled out a small box of Bertie Botts, taking one for him, and offering the packet to Hemi as he winced at the sharp lemon flavour breaking out on his tongue and shook his head. "It's their lands, the centaurs, so you should try and not antagonise them." Chance were he was going to go running in there anyway - about nearly everyone did at least once - so he found it more beneficial to at least warn him of the dangers. Maybe he would think twice, or at least not go in blind.
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[Hemi Te Rua]

Dexter had given Hemi no reason not to trust him but did he seriously expect him to believe that Professors had died in the Forbidden Forest? "If it's so dangerous, then why don't they put a fence around it?" The Gryffindor asked, taking a sweet which he thanked him for and handing the box back. His purple bean was custard flavour which he enjoyed. "With a fence up the centaurs would not be disturbed and Hogwarts would be safer, win, win really." He nodded, finishing just as they arrived at the Fat Lady who was currently sleeping in her frame. He had never seen the Fat Lady sleep before, it must be late.

 

[Dexter Lesley]

"That's a very valid question," Dexter replied, having no idea at all why a fence couldn't be constructed. All he could do was guess. "Perhaps it's the centaurs themselves that don't like it, maybe the forest won't let a fence be constructed. Maybe there's a legal reason, because the forest is centaur lands. I'm not the headmistress, so I don't know. Maybe they never thought of it." He ate another bean, this time a much more pleasant tasting one, and continued offering them to Hemi along their walk and once the reaches the Gryffindor Common Room, he frowned at the portrait. "Huh, she's asleep. Should probably wake her up then." He walked to the portrait and knocked, calling to her until she slowly opened her eyes. He then returned to Hemi, and nodded to the entrance with his head. "Have a good rest - don't let me catch you out again otherwise you'll lose more points. I'm taking ten." He then smiled at him. "Do try to have fun here, Hemi - but if you break the rules... try not to get caught." He winked, before stepping away to end their conversation, but remain near to ensure he actually went in.
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