Lost or just curious?

[Melina Kozlova]

Melina was glad to get out of the wintery land of Europe and land at the summer sunshine island of New Zealand, although, there wasn't really anything to do at her mother's house. A trip to Obsidian Harbour was her get go. Nevertheless the weather, the holiday spirit was still there. The harbour's street was busy of people getting last minute gifts and some are probably having their leisurely window shopping. Lina was just there to soak up the sun, read a book and probably do her own window shopping later on. She was about to get some ice cream at Florean's when Melina spotted an alley with a street sign that says Bleak Street. She had been so curious what lies inside that alley, she thought about it first, her wand was safely tucked on her hair that was bun up to hold it. "Nothing could go wrong, right?" Melina asked herself and made her mind to explore the dark side of the harbour. The blonde Durmstrang abandon her ice cream run and entered the cold and dark place that is Bleak Street. The warm sun was replaced by the cold cobble stone alley.

 

[Daniel Crawford]

Daniel was on his way out of Borgin and Burkes after he was 'just browsing', playing with an unknown item in his pocket. His past few months have been great. Finally scoring a somewhat okay job at the Hog's Head, he finally had a source of income. He was independent after all these years of being a slave to a terrible family. He always had a nose for trouble, so Bleak Street was the place he would often visit just to see things go down. A squabble between a few beggars, caused by a few loose coins was always something to watch, and he was always the one to let the coins loose.

But besides the old hags, fancy vampire-like criminals and the usual beggar, one figure, one face stood out. This was no place for a young girl like her. Everyone around here actually has a way of getting around, knowing how to be careful. This girl came unprepared. Or so he thought.
Not afraid to investigate the situation at hand, he went in to maybe even help. He didn't care for the people already here because they either have it great in life, or they're already ruined enough to stay here. Anyone that might fall into that hole, he had to prevent.

Approaching the girl, keeping his hat down to obscure his face, he intervened his path with hers, bumping into her 'accidentally', mostly to see the reaction.

"Oh, damn, I'm sorry. Clumsy me.. What's a girl like you doing in a-.." He stopped to look around the damp alleyway, frowning a bit "-..place like this?" Although the words he said usually sound creepy, Daniel had a way to speak confidently, a bit cheerfully too.

 

[Melina Kozlova]

It was hard for her to walk on a dark alley but, at least, a few candle lamps dimly lit her path as she walk further where the shops are. Melina was very careful not to talk to any strangers whether they're nice looking or not. She window shop, slowly walking to gather information about what the shops sells. It was odd though, there were shrunken heads and icky stuff that you won't be seeing in Obsidian Harbour shops. Melina was very engross on the shops while walking when the blonde felt a force hit her shoulder. That got her attention back to the dark street. "I'm sorry, sir. I-i w-was just window shopping?" Her lie sometimes gets her into trouble. Everyone can tell she was lying.

Her rule not to talk to any strangers was out the window, her reflex seems to have vanished because she dare to walk in in the dangerous part of the harbour. Her wand was beyond out of reach being it was on her hair bun. Melina step back a little bit because they were inches apart when they bump into each other. "Wait? What are you doing in here too? You don't look like them." She asked and was pointing at the people who looked like they're into something dark and horrible dealings. Melina wanted to go out of this place but she was already at the center of Bleak Street and wanted to see the other shops.

 

[Daniel Crawford]

Daniel took a step back as well, leaving enough comfortable space for the girl between them. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he took a few moments in silence to think over what she said. He knew how students think, he was one at some point. The Bleak Street was always a point of interest for Daniel, even with all the 'dangers' inside it.

"Window shoppin'.. Right. Look, no need to apologize to me. I know this street might seem interesting and thrilling, but don't go snooping around alone, have a few friends around, that's how we always did it back in the day.."
He scratches his stubble, thinking hard whether he has any shaving cream left at home, before snapping back into reality upon hearing her question.
"Oh I'm uh.." He rattles his hand in his pocket, checking if the item he bought was still there.
"I went to see a friend.. Lives nearby." Daniel lied but he didn't hide the lie. He didn't even need to. In fact, he made it into a bit of an obvious lie, just to see if the girl would be curious enough to pursue it.

"Point is, you're not likely to get hurt here, but bumping into people here with full pockets will lead to you leaving the street with empty pockets. People are very, very skilled in being scum around here."

 

[Melina Kozlova]

Melina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest. How could her friends be with her to come and join her in Bleak Street when they're not even living in New Zealand? It was the bad perks of studying abroad. "Well, you're here now. You seems to be nice enough. I'm Melina, might as well introduce myself if you're going to hoover around me while I take the tour." The blonde stated with an introduction, her tone nice enough to be trusted. Melina chuckled at the seemingly constant battle of lying. It was very obvious that he's here for something and she didn't care what was it for as long as she's out of there when something bad happens to him. "We're pretty much bad liars but you don't have to tell me what you came here for, that's not my business." And it seems like she was talking to her mum, the guy was full of cautious advice on her.

The Durmstrang step closer to him and raised a finger to his lip to shut him up. She wanted to explore the dark alley more before the sun goes down for the night and that will happen if they don't keep moving on. "Mister, we're much more in danger if we keep standing in the same spot. People might think we're lost and don't know these parts. They think they'll have the advantage ... So, come on." Melina replaced her arm back to her side and smiled at him, nodding at the direction towards The Poison Ater.

 

[Daniel Crawford]

"Daniel Crawford, nice enough to meet you." He snarled sarcastically, but in a joking manner. He was starting to like Melina, which is a first for Daniel. Closest thing to a friend he had was the single mom he met and went drinking with a couple of months back. Showing some sort of kindness seemed to pay off, but to what extent? His guard was still up, but he was going with the flow.

A nice, wide smirk appeared over Daniels face as Melina pointed out they're both liars. Daniel just nodded and smiled, deciding to do a bold move, and tell the truth.

"I was in Borgin and Burkes, went shopping for something. Maybe you'll find out what."

As she put her finger to his lips, Daniel was stunned. This is as close as anyone's gotten to him, without the intention of hurting him. He kept silent for a few seconds, but quickly snapped out of it.
"Oh I doubt someone would try something on me." He smirks once again, looking around at the people around him, nodding at a seemingly random old man, which just proceeded to walk away more quickly.
"We're fine, but if you insist.. Come on then."
Daniel chuckled, leaning back, starting to walk in the direction of the Poison Ater with his hands in his pockets, aiming to show Melina around. If she's already here and if she so desperately wants to see Bleak Street, he might as well be the one to show her around.

 

[Melina Kozlova]

Now it seems Bleak Street wasn't so scary anymore, the guy, who's name was Daniel has a sense of humor. Her nervous feeling was washed away in an instant. Although, Melina put her palms on her face as she laughed and could feel the burning on her cheeks. "Please, never do that again. It doesn't suit you." She said once she was alright to speak. But the blonde was totally joking, he look sexy when serious but of course, she won't let him know that. Melina had a lot of guy friends being that she goes to Durmstrang and all that but none of them appeal her. This was a first for her liking someone and in an odd situation as well. Melina's thoughts about boys vanished when Daniel revealed why he was there, the Durmstrang had no clue what was it he said. She shook her head slightly, curious. "Is that a shop for clothes? Grocery store?" Her clueless expression was visible and she can't help but to get excited.

She wonders why her mum wouldn't allow her to go here, it seems dark and dangerous but maybe that's just a facade. Tilting her head to the side, Melina wasn't exactly believing what Daniel was saying. Was he acting brave because of her? She wasn't the type to get easily shown off, they have to earn that. There was something on her mind though that keeps peeking but it can wait or she can just erase it from her memory. She smiled to him when Daniel agreed to come with her, "What's the Poison Ater anyways? Is it something worth seeing?" Melina asked while walking beside Daniel. She can't pretend that height matters because it seems that the guy is a bit taller than her. It would be nice if she was wearing heels but she knows not to bother with it. "My mum works for the Ministry and I keep hearing from her about these people called Scitoraris. That they go here frequently, is that true?" Melina didn't know what's the danger giving out her information but those rebels had been on her mind since.

 

[Daniel Crawford]

"Doesn't suit me!?" He placed his hand on his chest, acting as insulted as he could look, when he really wasn't. He couldn't hide the smirk on his face. The tone he used was the same sarcastic tone he had before.
"Nah, I think I'll keep doing it."
He chuckled, before the conversation flew back to the bleakness of Bleak Street.
"Borgin and Burkes? Yeah, sure a grocery store.. It's like.. If you want to buy all the weirdest s**t you can find, you go there.. For an example.."
He shoves his hand into his pocket, grabbing the item he was playing with the whole time, pulling it out. A pair of dangling, shrunken human heads. And they seemed to be enchanted to speak

"FEED THE HABIT; FEED THE HABIT", they screamed, as he shoved them back into his pocket.

"Stuff like that. And that's just the stuff on the shelves, who knows what happens under the counter."

As they approached the Poison Ater, he started to speak in a grand voice.
"Ahh.. The fanciest restaurant around here!... Which isn't saying much for a place like this." He smirked at the sounds coming from it, or lack there of. The Poison Ater was protected from the outside, which always fascinated Daniel. He always thought the place would be perfect for a shady meeting he might have in the future, but he had no shady business to do, sadly.

Daniel raised an eyebrow at the information Melina was sharing, not quite sure how to react to it.

"Scitoraris.. I'm not that active in the community, I just hear whispers, but I always found them extremely intriguing.. And yeah, by logic, this would be the perfect place for people like them to hang around here... You say your mom works for the Ministry? Not the smartest to wander around here in that situation. At least keep your voice down." Daniel smirked once again, thinking of a good way to frighten the girl a little bit.

"Imagine this.. You and me are walking through this crappy street.. In the shadows, some of the Scitoraris overhears you talking about your mother being in the ministry.. You're here alone.. Well, I'm here, but you know. They have a good opportunity to snatch you here and now, kidnap you, just because of your connections to the ministry. You'd be good blackmail material..
But that's just a hypothesis! You're fine" His sly smirk stays on his face as he stares up to the store.

"Want to see the next stop?", he extends his hand in the direction of the Silver Snake, bowing slightly, but even his movements were sarcastic.

 

[Melina Kozlova]

Melina rolled her eyes playfully at Daniel as he did that thing again. She didn't said anything about it anymore instead she paid attention on what he was saying. "So, it's like a souvenir shop." She nod slightly, understanding what he meant but what surprised her was the shrunken heads Daniel bought at the said shop. Melina yelp enough to echo through the whole street. They were ugly, that's what she thought and scary. It seems cruel to her to see such thing. It wasn't practical. Thankful for Daniel to keep it hidden on his pocket, Melina sigh in relief. The blonde girl wanted to sleep that night without any nightmares of shrunken heads and Scitoraris in mind. The two stopped at the said restaurant and Melina's gaze only to the building while she listened to the man beside her tell sort of stories.

Her gaze only settled back to him when he started telling her what could happen if people found out that she's the daughter of a ministry employee. "Do you think you can scare me like that?" She asked the dark haired guy. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and had put weight on her right leg. "I may not be allowed to use the unforgivable curses but I can duel. I bet I'll win against you." Melina smirked. She can be b*tch, too, if she wanted but Daniel was nice enough to tour her around the god awful place that is Bleak Street. After the restaurant, which they didn't stay at, Daniel led her to a shop that has a fancy name. "Could we at least go in? I mean, I might find something worth buying anyways." She wiggled her eyebrows to charm the man. Melina was quarter veela, who couldn't resist her beauty?

 

[Daniel Crawford]

Daniel shrugged, making a lot of 'Eh' gestures, before agreeing.
"Souvenir shop?.. Eh.. I mean you can get a lot of f***ed up illegal, cursed stuff in there, but sure, let's call them that!"
Her yelp brought a wide smirk on his face. He managed to scare the girl a little, even though it was a pretty jumpy one. He felt relieved at the fact she didn't question the phrases the heads were enchanted to shout, so he decided to keep that topic buried away in his pocket.

Daniel chuckled as she showed her braveness. He found it cute, that a girl like this would still keep her cool in a place like this. He found it a bit stupid in a way, but brave, and he respected that.

"You're right, you'd beat me in one spell. I dropped out of Hogwarts early on and I never learned much. Spells are where you'd demolish me in a manner of seconds.."

He sighed, remembering his early days, the days of getting kicked out, he remembered everything. And although the days brought back memories of shame, sadness and anger, a wide smirk was across his face.

"I'm more of a 'practical' man. Without that wand of yours.."He didn't finish.

Daniel smirked and nodded, as they approached the Silver Snake.
"Now this is an interesting place.. Kind of like Borgin and Burkes, but even weirder. You know, I don't know much about this place but I'm 99% sure something illegal goes down here. You can buy all sorts of artifacts. Cursed rings, evil monkeys.. Uh.. Contact lenses.. Potions.. Again, that's just over the counter stuff. See for yourself."
He opened the door for her, leading towards the inside of the shop. He smiled at the serpent statues waiting outside, almost as if greeting them.

 

[Melina Kozlova]

The blonde frowned curiously when Daniel stop what was he going to say but disregard it as bad statement. Nevertheless, him dropping out of school was still bothering her but she can ask about that some other time or after they're done with Bleak Street. As they arrived at the Silver Snake, Melina listened to Daniel as he told her about the things that may happened inside the shop. She smiled at him as he opened the door to the store for her, although, the statue that greeted them made her jump back and held his hand. "You go first." She whispered to him. It was probably silly but Melina was afraid of snakes but she can handle magical creatures but not snakes. Ordinary snakes. Melina was still holding his hand while she looked around for the shop assistant and it seems the store was deserted. "I'm not really good at fist fighting if ever we come across someone. You look like you can." Melina wanted to lighten the mood as she was still nervous about the whole ordeal coming to Bleak Street.

 

[Daniel Crawford]

Daniel laughed, stepping inside first, laughing along as he did so. He waltzed inside with a wide grin on his face.

"If you say so.." He said quietly, before speaking up to the shop assistant. "Good day to you." He said, scratching his chest slightly as he looked around the shop with slightly narrowed eyes. He used his left hand to fix the cap on his head to the side so he could see better indoors. After assessing the situation, he looked over his shoulder at Melina.

"Don't worry, been through worse than fist fights."

Sliding his hand into his pocket, he took out a toothpick from it's container, placing it in his mouth, after which he put his hands in his pockets, looking around the shop.

"So, like it here?"

 

[Emmett Lancaster]

The sound of the door to The Silver Snake opening, announcing the appearance of two customers, was enough to draw Emmett's attention away from his process of wandcarving at a cluttered desk behind the front counter, his eyes shifting toward the entrance, where he was greeted by one of the newcomers. He raised his metal hand slightly in response, it's polished surface glinting briefly in the light, before he returned to his work, ensuring he kept an eye on their presence. They, or at least one of them, didn't look to be much like the usual suspects on Bleak Street. If they knew what was best, they'd avoid causing too much trouble in this part of Obsidian.