Lost.

[Declan Lesley]

Declan felt like he was fresh out of school again, even though he left a little over a year ago. The United Kingdom was an entirely new place for him, everyone was so different here. To make things more difficult, he had to brush up on his English again, which was not very good to begin with. The part-veela had an English translation book with him, because he wasn't very confident in his memory, the last thing he wanted was to be stuck in a conversation with someone he couldn't understand. Why did Danika have to move here with that guy? Couldn't they just live in Bulgaria, or France? It would be so much easier for everyone if she stayed closer to her real family. Declan huffed quietly. Where was he even going? Was this an actual street he'd normally go down? It was a little bit shady. The street was long, and dark and really creepy and before Declan knew it, he was totally lost. There was a sign over the doors of some shops that Declan would never, ever enter, but they weren't in French or Bulgarian, so reading them was never going to happen. Declan sighed and lent against a brick wall and opened up his map. It was a magical map, because he was in the magical side of London, any Muggle maps would be absolutely useless to him. unfortunately, the magic in the map didn't include language translations, which right now would have been lovely.

He opened his English translation book and began trying to decipher the map, but it was going to be hard work. it was difficult to read because of the darkness. The street was dark, but to add extra darkness, the sun was blocked by clouds anyway. "Lumos." That was better. He could actually see more of what was around him, and he didn't really like it. The area was pretty dirty and probably hadn't seen the light of day in a very long time. "Where am I?"​

 

[Zane Preston]

Zane walked along the dark path. His cloak covered his face in darkness. Most wizards around here did the same. It was much easier to discuss shady deals when one couldn't be described in any great detail. Diagon Alley was not that far away and the dark part of the alley was much more appealing then the bright and happy faces of parents with their children. He shook his head in disgust. What was the point of all the novelty and sham? The children were off to a magical school where their true magical power would be squashed. Wizards and witches could not get so powerful learning useless household spells. Even though he had been a Ravenclaw in school, he had not allowed himself to be turned to a lackey of the weak magic. He had vowed to learn its secrets and no-one was going to stop him, not whilst he had any say in it. It was maddening the things students were taught at school. He shook his head and continued to stalk along the path, never making eye contact with others. It would have to have been about midday, but considering that it was very dark, he could not be sure. No matter what time of day, the Dark Alley was always dark. He supposed it was half of where the name came from. He didn't care about how people saw it. All things powerful were feared, it just went to show how much the Ministry had been withholding. If students were taught about the powerful magic that existed from a young age, they would not grow to fear it as they do now. He would make sure that any child of his was able to have access to all types of magic, no matter how dark.

As he turned one of the many corners, an interesting sight faced him. His lips twitched in amusement. It seemed that the boy in front of him was terribly lost. He was far too vanilla to be in this part of London. He smirked and stepped closer to the wall, the already dark street shadowing him from view. He simply watched for a while as he tried to figure out where he was. It was very funny really and it was only once he used Lumos, that he got anywhere. Zane had enough of it all and he stepped out of the darkness, keeping his face covered. The boy was attractive, blonde hair and blue eyes. Typically stupid too, from the way he was looking around in utter confusion. Zane stepped closer to his position, folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Speaking slowly. "You know, looking so obviously lost, in this part of town, is very dangerous." Not that he was lying either. If he Zane had wanted to hurt him, he could have, very easily. The boy had so obviously never been here before, the innocence dripped off of him like water.

 

[Declan Lesley]

Declan couldn't believe he had gotten himself in this situation. He should have just gotten Danika to apparate him or something, but no, he had to find his own way. And now he was lost with no-where to go, and no-one to help him. What if he ran into someone here?! After a few minutes, Declan realised that he wasn't alone, and at that exact moment, the person decided to speak to him. Just the tone of the man's voice sent shivers down the blondes spine. He was able to make out a few words. 'Lost', 'Town' and 'Dangerous'. They didn't make him feel very good at all. He also understood most of the start of what the man said, but that still didn't make the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach go away. Declan decided that there was no point in freaking out. He had his wand, and he was a good at duelling and he could also just apparate away if things started to get really bad. maybe this guy wasn't as scary as he appeared, maybe he was nice? Who was he kidding? Of course this guy was going to attempt to kill him. How many nice people hung around dark alleys? Scaring unsuspecting foreigners? Not many.

It took Declan a moment to fully gather himself and to wipe the shocked expression off of his face. It was time to try and figure out where he was, and if that meant trying to communicate with this person, then so be it. He flipped through his book in an attepmt to translate what the man said to the best of his ability. What he got didn't seem to be entirely accurate, but he got the jist of what the guy was saying. It was dangerous to be lost here. Wonderful. Now to fashion up a reply. With a small smile on his face, Declan attempted to reply, and make some sort of sense. But what was he going to say? Hello? I'm lost? Can you help me? "My name is Declan." Just by his mixed Bulgarian and French accent, it was all too easy to tell that he wasn't from these parts. He was beginning to get really nervous, but he continued. There was no stopping now. "I need to get... here." He explained, well, he hoped he was explaining it right. Just to make it easier for himself, he decided to stick to nice small words, because the big ones just gave him headaches when he tried to pronounce them. "Can you... assist me?" He didn't trust the guy, he couldn't even see his face clearly because of the shadows his Lumos was creating, so just in case, he was imagining the wide open spaces of Bulgaria, just to make a last second apparation easier.​

 

[Zane Preston]

Zane smirked as the kid shivered. How old was he anyway? Five? He wasn't sure he had seen a reaction like that in a while. It served only to make him more amused and more willing to prolong this pleasant exchange. He was so obviously confused and scared and Zane figured he could get the kid to do just about anything right now. It would be interesting an experiment. His hand twitched toward his wand, but he ignored the need to posses it. It was much more fun to toy with him like this then with a wand. Besides, Zane had the feeling that he was atleast seventeen, in which case he would be able to apparate. Though, he did have to wonder how he had managed to get lost here. Was he visiting some one nearby? If that was the case, was the person he was visiting, on the dark side of the road? Perhaps that was it? Zane was slightly more hesitant now, he didn't want to risk angering a higher power, but honestly, if someone was stupid enough to let this innocent out on his own, they deserved what happened. They really did. It was not likely that they cared for him if he was out wondering around. Why hadn't he just apparated to where he wanted to go? Wasn't that what he should have done. Unless of course he had never been there before. Boy this was a dilemma indeed.

Zane waited uncharacteristically patiently for the kid to compose himself, which had taken longer then Zane had expected. Though he was a dumb blonde so that possibly had something to do with it. He rolled his eyes when the kid started to talk. Great, he doesn't f*cking speak English. Zane shook his head. So he was a foreigner then. His accent seemed to be a mixture of two things, though he distinctly heard some french in there, was that what he spoke? He was asking for help, who was Zane to deny him. He stepped out of the shadows and pulled back his hood, his piercing green eyes taking in the boys, rather puzzled expression. He smirked. "Not a local I see." He purred, licking his lips lightly for effect. "Well, Declan, I'm afraid you are very lost indeed. You are not even in the right section of London." He was going to have alot of fun with this he could tell. He smirked again and pushed the boy slightly in the opposite direction. "That, is the way you need to go, but it will take you hours to get there now. You don't know what it looks like? Never been there before?" He asked, wanting to gather as much information as was necessary. He was sure he could grow to like this boy. He might be a dumb blonde, but he could get used to that. "Would you prefer that I escort you?" He tilted his head, trying to look as innocent as possible. Hmm, interesting.​

 

[Declan Lesley]

Danika would kill him right now. Declan was sure that his big sister would have a heart attack if she knew where he was right now, and her fiancée would probably have one too. In fact, his entire family would probably have a coronary, except maybe his father. Declan chewed quietly on his lip. Right now, he was about ready to just apparate and see what happened, he did have an advantage. Unlike this guy, Declan already had his wand firmly in his hand and he might not look like much, but he was confident in his magical abilities, they had yet to fail him. But a small part of him, the more understanding and naive part, had to wonder if the person was going to hurt him, or if they were just going to terrorise him. Declan wasn't exactly 'in the know' when it came to bad witches and wizards, he had gone to Durmstrang for a portion of his life, but the professor's were scary, they didn't really go around killing students or anything. But if Declan were an evil person, he'd just kill the lost person, just for fun. So the fact that he wasn't dead yet possibly meant that he was doing something right. either way, he didn't like this game he was currently in, it wasn't very safe, or sane.

The man shook his head. Had Declan said something wrong? He was pretty sure he pronounced everything somewhat correct, certainly enough for someone to be able to understand him. When the stranger replied, in French, Declan's relief was quickly destroyed into oblivion because of the fact that this guy, had to be the most creepiest thing in the universe. Ever. So creepy that Declan physically cringed, it took all of his self-control to not scream and run away. It was probably too late for that. Maybe he should have used a fake name. From this moment onward, Declan decided that he would change his name and just get an entirely new identity, move to some far away place like... Switzerland and live out his days there, in hiding. That is, if he managed to get away. He was pulled from his thoughts when he was nudged to what was supposed to be the right direction. Now he was facing a slightly lighter part. That was somewhat relieving. But to find that he was in the wrong part of London made him frown. This was a disaster! How was he supposed to meet his niece? Now he was just going to die in this horrible place. To hear that his journey would take hours was also something that made him frown. He sighed. "Unfortunately, no, I've never seen my destination." Normally he would have mentioned that it was his sister's house, not a 'destination', but he figured the less information he gave out, the better. But now he was faced with an even bigger problem. Travel with this creepy guy, or go by himself. With his current track record of getting lost, there was a fair chance that he would run into someone else, and what if that person was even worse than this person? If that were possible. It was a very, very tough decision, but in the end Declan decided that it would be better to go with someone that he could communicate with and didn't appear to want him dead yet, than to potentially run into someone else. He forced a smile on his face, feigning innocence. The stupider he acted, the more likely he was going to be underestimated. "I would appreciate that." He said, making sure he acted as daft as possible.​

<i></i>

 

[Zane Preston]

Zane looked creepily at Declan and secretly loured him into a dungeon where he lived out his life as Zane's Potion ingredient.

Spoiler: Real Reply

Zane was in the happiest place he had been in quite a while right now. If Buddy could see him, he was sure the man would worship at his feet for all the vibes that were rolling of the blonde in waves. He had to admitt he was having alittle too much fun with this. He was going to have to tone it down if he wanted to stop himself from laughing, even though right now it might add a much enjoyable touch. He didn't really have a wish to completely petrify the boy. Even though it would likely bring him much joy and he could tell a veela from miles away. He was sure he could whip up a few good potions from veela parts.He shook his head to rid his mind of the bad thoughts. This boy had family, he didn't want to earn himself a one way ticket to Azkaban. Not for that sort of thing anyway. It wasn't like he really wanted to hurt the guy, scare him maybe, creep him out definitely, but hurt him, no. One thing he knew, but didn't really want to say, was that he was likely going to have to take the kid to a motel or something first, because he was never going to get where he wanted to go before nightfall. He wondered what the blonde would say to that and when a good time would be to bring it up. Perhaps the kid would want to keep walking all the night. It was already mid day, they weren't going to get anywhere fast. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, it wasn't like he particularly cared for him, he was just... interesting. Zane had never encountered anyone quite like him before.

Zane shook his head as his suspicions were confirmed. Who walked somewhere for the first time, without getting proper directions, an apparation, or atleast a picture to go by? This kid really was dumb. Zane truly could not believe that anyone would willing let this kid outside, let alone, leave him to his own devices. "Was it your idea to walk to the place you are going? Or did someone force you?" He asked, raising a tentative eyebrow and smirking slightly. The uplift in his lips was almost foreign, but it felt good. So good infact, that he was sure that he wanted to smirk again. "You aren't very bright are you? Do you know how dangerous, this place is?" He asked, not concerned but more out of curiousness. He had definitely never been here before, but surely any normal person would simply just cringe at the dark vibes and keep walking? This guy didn't seem to even notice what was going on. He seemed to only register danger as Zane and not the alley itself. "Fine. I shall escort you as far as you will allow me, then we can go our separate ways. Agreed?" Zane was really rather bored by now.

 

[Declan Lesley]

Out of Character:

---

Declan shrugged. "It was my own idea." He admitted. Declan was one of those people that had always wanted independence, but never got it, but the one time they they do get it, they have no idea what to do. This was one of those times. Declan had the chance to get somewhere by himself, without the aid of someone else and now here he was, getting the aid of a stranger to get him somewhere. It was pretty bad. But as the guy continued to speak, the blonde frown slightly. Declan was quite offended. Sure, sometimes he could be... rash, but that didn't mean he was a total idiot. He shrugged once again, what else could he do? "I must admit, I didn't come here because I thought it'd be a nice walk. But I must admit, I did think it'd be easier than it currently is." It probably would be easier, if it weren't for having to run into creeps. It this place was completely creep-less, it wouldn't be so bad. All it needed were new shops, some new lamps, a highly dedicated street cleaner, some new plants and nicer people. It'd be a lovely place than, just like home, in fact. Too bad this place was probably destined to forever be a horrible little place. Hopefully he wouldn't be here for too long.

Declan nodded. All he had to do was just suck it up and walk forward, which was what he began to do. Perhaps it would be better to just walk off and find his own way? He already knew the direction he needed to go, and he had a rough estimate of the time it would take. Did he really need this guy? Other than the fact that it was probably safer to travel with him, than by himself? He shook his head slightly too himself. He might as well try to benefit as much from this guy as he possibly could, because he stuck out like a really sore thumb here. Anyone would be able to tell that he didn't belong here, unless he was a bad guy that just happened to be the greatest actor in the universe. But just by the way he was reacting to this guy would tell anyone that he was foreign to any places remotely like this. The silence was beginning to kill him, and he was kicking himself for wanting to talk to a complete stranger, but then again, stranger danger never really did sink in. "So..." He mused quietly, looking around for lack of a better thing to do, he certainly didn't want to look at the creepy guy. "I didn't catch your name. Can I call you Mike?" It wasn't like he could openly call him 'creepy guy', was it? There was just someone about the creepy guy that made him want to talk to him. Maybe he wasn't as creepy as he thought? Or was he just being naive again?​

<i></i>