It's dark; but is it quiet?

Rukevra Vanderzuk

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Not being able to sleep, Ruki sat up; and leaned against the head-board adorning the four poster bed he was slowly becoming comfortable sleeping in. It was nothing compared to the one he had at home, if he could still call it home. Over the past two days, Ruki's mind had slipped back to his parents more and more frequently; as something seemed to draw his memories outwards. Two weeks had past in the newest of Ruki's schools, two weeks of not fully under-standing why he was there. As many times as he had asked, no answer ever left his parents lips as to why they where constantly moving from country to country. No answer was ever given to why they had followed the dark path.

Sighing heavily, Ruki cast an eye towards the window; and where Fenton was still asleep, or at least pretended to be. Ruki couldn't help but feel the older student was a bit lost in the head. Getting up, Ruki silently made his way from the dorm-room; into the common room. Standing against the back of a huge chair for a brief moment, Ruki glanced towards the portrait hole. A walk wouldn't seem so bad; would it.

Stepping through the exit from the common-room, Ruki felt the cold air of the corridor against his skin. Closing his eyes, Ruki took a deep breath; and was back at Durmstrang.
 
A shudder past through Ruki as he stood in the Seventh floor corridor. The last place he wished to be was back at the institute of darkness. Opening his eyes, Ruki took in the surrounding walls; his pupils now accustomed to the faded glow of light passing from the windows. The portraits on the walls all continued to sleep, un-aware of the darkened figure.

Taking another deep breath, Ruki made his way towards the stair-case. His destination yet un-decided.
 
Many things had changed about Zazuka Bones over the years. She had managed to taim her wild curls at last, she was regestered as a true Seer now, she was no longer afraid for her life within Hogwarts walls. There where some things that hadn't changed. Zazuka could sleep no more now than she could the day she got to Hogwarts. She padded barefoot though the cold, dark, empty Hogwarts corredors like a ghost in the night. As she walked thoughts of what Brian and if they where really heading towards an end where going though her mind like rockets at launch.

It was not rare for Zazuka's mind to go top speed but tonight it seemed to go if possable even faster from all she had to think about. This did not take away from her extrasensory capablies. "There is a rule against wondering around at night you know." She said the Ravenclaw Prefect but there was no authority to her voice, real detemanation for the boy to get back into his bed. Like her he could have been suffering from a bout of insombia. The only diffrence would be that she would never get over her's.
 
The words cut through the darkness as Ruki moved closer to the stair-case. During the day-light hours, the voice would have seemed quiet; but the emptiness of the corridor was enough to give it some force. Stopping, Ruki turned; and allowed his eyes to locate the source of the voice. The night wasn't looking so good if he had only managed to step out of the common-room before being caught. "Then I feel we shall both be in trouble.". Ruki's voice was soft; a hint of tiredness fluttered from his words.

Noticing the girls bare feet, Ruki wondered if she had also had trouble sleeping. Not many prefects would wander around with-out footwear. Or at least, in Durmstrang they hadn't.
 
The lack of footware was the least of what was going on here. All she had on was a midnight blue seeming paper thin nightgown under a not much thicker night robe. "True enough." Zazuka said kindly then walked up to him. She had seen the boy before in class but had never really quite caught his name. "Would it be an intrusion if I asked what brings you out of your dorm so late at night when your voice tells of wearyness?" She said her own whispery dreamyness making it seem like she wasn't really awake at all but walking in her sleep.
 
Watching the girl in-front of him, Ruki allowed his eyes to take in her very presence. Whether he had seen the girl before escaped him; her face un-familiar. Hearing her own sleep filled words, Ruki thought about an answer; his in-sides screaming out to allow the intrusion. Over the past year, Ruki had begun to feel trapped beneath his parents; with little or no means of reaching freedom. No life of his own. The thought of being forced to become a death eater caused Ruki to shudder slightly. His right arm raised to take a-hold of his left instinctively, even though the corridor wasn't cold; Ruki felt as if ice was running through his veins.

"An intrusion wouldn't seem so bad.". Ruki sighed slightly. He simply needed someone to help him find his own path. To raise his lack of confidence. "The situation stems from my parents.". Ruki looked towards the girl. Would his troubles even interest her.
 
Zazuka smiled kindly her unfocused eyes briming with shaking stars even if there was little light to speak of. "Parents often want what is best for thier children. There is an exseption to this I believe that yours is that is it not?" She asked again very kindly. "My dreams are what have brought me to this corredor tonight. What I have dreamed I can not explain but I am disturbed to say the least." She said offering her own cause of insomnia as a comphert to the shaking boy. She slipped off the robe and tossed it in such a way that it would drap over the boy's shoulders. If Zazuka herself was cold she didn't show it. "The halls can be frezzing to one without protection against it." She said and offered the boy another smile. "Tell me if I can ask what is life like at your home?" She asked.
 
Fixing his eyes upon her smile, Ruki felt a little more at ease. That is, until the next question left her lips. Any form of politeness was about to be pushed down within him. How would this girl know even the slightest piece of information about him. It was true his parents wanted their best for Ruki, but it wasn't what would be best for him. It was possible he had hinted at something with his previous words. Ruki knew some people could read emotions well. Running her words through his mind, Ruki became puzzled as to why she would have a dream relating to him. A dream which had disturbed her. Ruki's gaze changed as he hit a stark realisation. His parents where in New Zealand to do something terrible. Had they finally found what they had been looking for through all of their years of travelling, and dragging Ruki, around the world.

The memories and visions where cut short as Ruki felt a material brush his shoulders. Glancing to the side, he noticed the girl had placed her robe around him. Was it obvious he was shaking in fear. In anger. And in hatred. Hearing the girls voice, Ruki focused his eyes upon her once more; where he noticed her night-gown. Ruki's mood shifted slightly. If there was any more light within the corridor, the gown would practically become see-through.

Ruki's gaze was snapped back to the girl herself, as she asked another question. Ruki felt this wasn't something he could answer. Especially to someone he didn't know. "Thank-you for the gown; your kindness is appreciated.". Ruki gave the girl a polite smile. "My home life would be a story for another night.". Ruki simply wished to forget his parents ever existed. Discussing his life on this night would do nothing to help him. Having only left the common-room wearing a tee-shirt, Ruki pulled the girls robe closer to him; in an attempt to stave off the now ever present coldness.

No longer wishing to stand within the corridor, Ruki chose to invite the girl for a walk through the castle. An act he would have currently been involved in, had she not graced him with her presence. "Would you care to walk with me?".
 
It was a strange fact that Zazuka did not use her glasses at night. It seemed that when the sun when down things that where normally hidden by the sun could be seen by the light of the moon and that Zazuka could see them without the aid of glass. She could almost hear the wheels in the head of the boy turning wonding what she had meant. Zazuka had long since stopped asking quiestions of anything within herself. There was little to gain from it exsept maybe more questions. He finally spoke to her. "Don't mention it. You seemed to need to it more than I did." She said.

Zazuka was not a short girl but she wasn't a tall girl either. She was looking up at the boy though she could not really see him in the normal sence. She could see colors that represented fear, anger and confusion. Zazuka, because of her nature, would do anything to help ease these feelings. "If it is fated that our pathes cross again then yes I believe you can tell me then." She said with a slight nod of her curly head. "Alright I see no harm in walking round the castle. It's usually at it's safest at night." She said a bit crypticly.
 
Ruki felt slightly at ease, as the girl a-head of him agree to hold off on the discussion of his past; and even the present. Looking towards the girl, Ruki allowed her words to flow across his ears. A grin appeared upon his face. Safety within these walls where the least of his worries. Durmstrang had been an institute of survival.

Turning slightly, Ruki indicated for the girl to lead the way. His parents lessons once more making their presence known. "Your knowledge of these walls may far surpass mine.". A gentleman should always follow behind a lady.
 
Zazuka float as she walked even in barefeet. The darkness didn't seem to bother her at all along with the cold. "I have lived at Hogwarts for five years now and still I can not tell you where we will end up if you follow me and yet this is my home." She said touching a stone pillar then removing her hand. "The original Hogwarts castle was most likely a school from the very start. This walls hold history though, much of it I can't understand and part of it deals with pain in different forms." She said with a sad sigh. Zazuka looked back at the boy she had met by chance on the seventh floor. "There are pleasant things though hidden among these stones. Quite conversations, friends telling secrets to more than each other, the warmth of love." She said smiling.

Zazuka kept walking again the reservation of herself was amazing under the vail of darkness. It was almost dark enough that the thin strap of her night-gown was almost enough to cover up the black ugly cross burn scar on her right shoulder blade. The only evidence left of cruelty she had grown up with and the reason she called Hogwarts her home. Zazuka passed a window and looked up at the half moon. The little bit of black that left in her eyes seemed to fill in with the sliver light. "You get used to it after a while of knowing me." She added with a spacy laugh. She knew that somewhere in there she might of lost the boy.
 
Allowing the girl to step into the lead, Ruki took in each of her words. Why anybody would create such a huge castle one could become lost within amused him slightly. The whole idea was rather ridiculous. As the girl continued to speak, Ruki realised how true his earlier comment had been. She knew a lot of the history, and seemingly the present, of the old walls. Love. Ruki had previously held the love of his parents once before. That all changed the day they decided to embrace their darker sides.

Walking slightly to the rear left of the girl, Ruki couldn't help but cast his eyes over her figure. As they past a window, The dim light from the moon lit the shadows briefly; and Ruki caught a tiny sliver of black along the girls lower shoulder. As Ruki wondered what the cause may have been, the girl spoke once more; seemingly apologising for the slight history lesson. Ruki felt the marking would be explained if she was ready.

Stepping beside her, Ruki responded. "From each of the people I have interacted with through-out my life, you are the most mysterious so far.". Ruki wasn't sure whether his remark was a compliment or not. "This castle is your home?" Ruki asked the girl. Having chosen to spend his holidays within the Durmstrang Institute, instead of going home to his parents, Ruki felt he knew what she meant by 'home'; having no-where permanent to stay, much like himself. "Do you not have a more permanent residence during holidays?".
 
Zazuka nodded softly. "A friend housed me when the holidays come around. The sisters have become something like a family to me. One that I've never really had. There are times when I think that while there are others that think they are meant to be alone that I am truly the one that is meant to stay by myself." She said still looking up at the half moon. Finally she looked back. She smiled softly then reached up, placing a hand on the boy's cheek.

"Your quite handsome." She said tilting her head to make it quite clear that she couldn't see him properly. "You should have no trouble making friends in this school." She added kindly. Zazuka moved from the window padding again down the corridors of the seventh floor. "I don't know if I should be happy about you calling me mysterious but I will take it as a complement. And you are the most friendly knew transfer I've meet so far." She said giving again her spacey laugh.
 
Ruki watched the girl nod in response. She had somewhere to go. A family to turn to. Listening intently as she spoke, Ruki wondered how anyone could ever be alone. As he looked over the girls face, Ruki could see the silver light of the moon filling her eyes. They looked different to anything he had seen before. For a brief moment, as the girls hand brushed his cheek, Ruki's mind flashed back to his mother; and when he was eight. He was happy then. Everything was as it should be now. Ruki could only wish his mother could love him the same as she had all those years ago.

Hearing the girl speak, Ruki re-focused his thoughts upon her. He needed all of the friends he could find. As the girl moved away, Ruki smiled at her comment. If it wasn't mystery, there was certainly something about her. The girl's final words caused Ruki to think for a few seconds. If only everyone else he had met could agree to him being friendly. Any previous interactions hadn't exactly gone so well.

"I truly hope I am able to make a few friends. At this point, my destiny is over-shadowed by darkness.". Ruki felt a few friends could help him chose the correct path to take through his future, and keep him walking along it. "If mysterious is not something you like, what would you prefer I call you?". It was a long-winded way to ask for the girls name, and Ruki couldn't help but smile.
 
Zazuka shook her head. "Even the caterpillar that is forced to become a butterfly has a choice on weather it wants to stay or go. I believe that one's path can be forged if one is strong enough to take that first step." She said giving her opinion. She didn't really know what was going on but she thought that this would help. She sighed and looked down. "I'm known as Zazuka. My friends call me Zuka though or just Z if that's what you wish. And you?" She asked finally.

She kept walking the until she reached a cup on a stone setting. Zazuka began to run her fingers over the cup almost as carefully as she had touched the boy. She had felt loss in the worst from there. She wanted to cry for him but not one drop fell from her eyes. She seemed to have touched the right place because the wall next to the cup opened up. "Again I say, this castle has many mysteries." She said with the brightest of smiles on her face.
 
Ruki could only listen, dumbfounded, to the girl. Her words where spoken in riddles. Ruki would simply prefer someone getting straight to the point. Frowning, he attempted to under-stand just what she meant. She had been the second person, so far, to mention he needed to take the first step along his path. Stamping all over it, how many more first steps could he take.

"Zazuka. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.". As much as she was mysterious, Ruki felt he could find answers from her. "And you are welcome to call me Ruki. Or Rukevra.". Very few people ever knew of his shortened name, and Ruki rarely ever introduced it first.

Tilting his head to the right side, Ruki watched; as a wall moved slightly after Zuka had touched a cup. "It would appear I have a lot to learn about these walls.". His lessons would start now, as he had no idea what the opening was for.
 
Zazuka tilted her head at the wall. "A pleasure to meet you Ruki. This is a passage I haven't been though before. Care to come explore it with me?" She asked. It was dark and Zazuka could not see the way normal people saw without her glasses but it was her feet that where carrying her somewhere she should be at. Then again there where times when even when she got to the place where the fates wanted her to be she didn't understand why.

This time she was happy to have someone that would be her normal eyes for her. On many of these wondering not only in the school she had gone to places where she could have gotten really hurt. She had gotten hurt at one point but she had gotten a little sister out of the experience also. Zazuka climbed into the space in the wall then smiled back and Ruki from the darkness.
 
As he looked on towards the girl, Ruki noticed her tilt her head. She seemed to contemplate the new passage-way before them. Ruki was impressed at the girls apparent sense of fun. Wandering along an un-known passage-way was certainly a good idea. Much better than wandering the same corridors he had walked along every day since he arrived at the castle at least. "I would be honoured to explore with you.". Ruki watched as the girl clambered into the space within the wall, before turning to face him; smiling.

Ruki move towards the wall, and, placing his hands either side of the opening, climbed through to follow Zazuka. Reaching the darkness, Ruki closed his eyes to allow them to become accustomed to the lack of light.
 
Zazuka was grateful for this then started to walk down what seemed to be a new passage way even for her. Zazuka's hand was on the wall because there where no colors coming to her from anything but Ruki. "I had to get around this way for about a month once when my glasses where stolen as a little girl. They where not kind to people with magic the people of Willow's Rain." She said more musing then anything else. She wondered just for a second how her little Epiphany was doing but then let it go knowing that she was alright.

The corridor twisted and turned every few feet making her wonder where exactly was it that the Fates where leading her. "Where are you taking me?" She asked softly but her hand was never away from the stone wall.
 
Moving through the darkness, Ruki followed the twisting passage-way; walking only a couple of steps behind the girl in front. After a few seconds, the young girl spoke. "You had to walk through un-known passage-ways?.". Ruki grinned slightly, but realised it was wasted within the darkness. Thinking about the rest of her words, Ruki felt his in-sides sink slightly. He had practically lived a privileged life throughout the years, and had never interacted with anyone who had been treat un-fairly. "Kindness seems to allude some people.". Ruki sighed.

Hearing the faintest of whispers, Ruki strained to repeat the words within his mind. "It would seem you are leading me.". Ruki was slightly confused.
 
Zazuka laughed into her left hand. "Cleaver! Really cleaver." She said started walking again. "By touch I'm nearly blind without my glasses, except at night. The moon shows things that the sun would like best hidden." She said her voice changing for a bit but then going back to it's spacey dreamy nature. She thought upon what Ruki had said then answered. "I came to know kindness when I left home. Life in my home town was hard for someone like me." She said with a sigh. She could not hate her father even though she may have been still scared of him.

Zazuka bit her lip. "You are following me this much is true but I am following the will of another the will of fate. There is no color here. Everything that has energy has color but it's black here. Where fate is leading me I don't know but will not be able to see until some energy shows up." She said again musing to herself more than Ruki.
 
Ruki listened to the girls laughter. The sound wasn't new to him, but through-out his four years at Durmstrang; Ruki had forgotten what laughter was. Hearing the sound now relaxed him slightly. The mysteriousness of the girl once again became apparent. "Surely your vision would be greatly impaired during darkness?". Ruki questioned her, slightly confused.

"Someone like you?" Ruki questioned the girl a second time. "A witch?". Ruki was slightly on edge now. Muggles had no place to suppress the magical world. Ruki thought to question further, but knew it was impolite; and likely to receive impossible answers. Ruki's thoughts flashed back to The Gables. Andromeda had mentioned fate at some point. Ruki slowed slightly. Surely this school wasn't full of enlightened people. Ruki knew if fate had a hand in his life, he would question it when he saw it arrive.
 
Zazuka looked on but then looked back at Ruki, him being the only source of energy in the corridor. "In a way it is. But in another it's helped. The night lets energy flow far better than daylight even though it is said that the sun is the greatest source of energy. Then again it could be cause it gives off so much energy that it doesn't let things flow in the way that moon does. This is not always a good thing." She said touching the wall behind her to know if there was a curve ahead or not. She turned and then looked around.

She saw red, anger mixed with pink, love. There had once been blood here. Zazuka's breath paused then she bit her lip. "This way." She said pointing down another corridor. It was black there but it was better than the mix of emotions and things that she had felt on the one they where on. That and she felt there was a way out on that end. "Yes a witch. My father was really... Enthusiastic about what he believed in. The people of Willow's Rain think magic as a slap in the face of God. They thought me a demon. It is how I got what you saw on my shoulder." She said, her hand was holding on the wall she was using to guide her tighter.
 
Still behind the girl, Ruki listened; as she began to speak. Slightly un-sure of what is was she was talking about, Ruki re-called a lesson he had studied previously. "I know of the sun and the moon having an effect on our abilities. Do they affect you more?". Ruki's question had barely left his lips as the girl moved along a new path. A path much darker than the one they where in. "Should we not illuminate our wands.". It wasn't so much a question. Ruki felt at ease in the darkness.

The girls following words caused him to re-coil a little. He had barely noticed the mark. There was most certainly something different about her, but to be classed as a demon; Ruki dis-agreed. "If they met my parents they would truly understand what a demon could do.". Ruki spoke more to himself than the girl.
 
Zazuka looked at where Ruki's energy was coming from and nodded. "Yes you can if you have your wand on you. I have an annoying habit of leaving it up in my room when I go on these walks." She said. There had been times when she wished she had gotten her wand just as there where times that she wished that she had her glasses. Neather would really help her with with what she found sometimes but still.

The color drained from Zazuka's face. "I think that your parents and my father would be a good match. I fear that my mother is no longer among the living." She said looking at Ruki. "Have figured out what I am yet?" She asked tilting her head. She had given clues, all she ever gave was clues to what her abilities where. This was because Zazuka never really liked to call herself a Seer.
 

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