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Marisol Woods

latina • lone wolf • st. mungo's receptionist
Messages
1,822
OOC First Name
Abby
Blood Status
Muggleborn
Relationship Status
Single
Sexual Orientation
Bisexual
Wand
Knotted 9 1/2 Inch Unyielding Blackthorn Wand with Essence of Belladonna Core
Age
2/2029 (24)
After getting her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework back from her Professor, Marisol was very curious about his response to her question. They were assigned to ask one question, so Marisol made sure to make it a good one, even if it did seem like it was a heavy question for a student to ask. She was even more surprised by her Professor's candid answer. He didn't sugarcoat anything for her. She essentially asked what was so dangerous out in the wizarding world that Defense against the Dark Arts was still needed for students to learn.

The Scitorari. That is what her DADA Professor told her to look up. Which is why Marisol now found herself wandering lost in the library, looking for old periodicals of newspapers. Her professor had mentioned The Daily Prophet so that's what she was on the lookout for. Surely much like Muggle libraries, they had to have archives of their old newspapers here too. The only problem was that this library was bigger than any she had ever been in before, so she was lost. It didn't help that the books seemed to float and shelve themselves, a sight she was still trying to get used to. She wandered down a shelf slowly, curiosity in the titles slowing down her initial search.
 
Asaiah was in the library, searching for books about a subject that wouldn't be teached in his first semester but in the second semester of his first year instead. Being at Hogwarts was great, and reading so much was too, but there was something gnawing at him. As much as he loved to read about Transfiguration, the first year also wanted to use his spare time to explore the castle a bit more. As the Slytherin was looking for any books regarding the subject Transfiguration, he smiled to the librarian whom he had met several times now. The library was commonly busy and Asaiah sighed to himself, seeing a rare couple of seats with no one in them. (and definitely not the comfortable sort of seats!) Asaiah wasn't naturally a good sports man, in the sense that he was hopeless at every sport imaginable except for Quidditch. Climbing the endless stairs to the library and the classrooms was therefore harder and more tiresome. I should really do something about this, otherwise I won't have any engery left once I'm in the Dungeons. He thought while sighing at the thought of having to walk down the stairs to his common room to get a comfy seat. As he turned to leave library and make his way down to the Slytherin common room, he caught sight of a familiar face. He recongized the girl almost immidiately, she was one of the Gryffindor girls in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Asaiah smiled as he walked towards her, ''Hi! Are you looking for something?''
 
Marisol was running her fingers along the spines of several books as she walked down the corridor, trying to get a better look at them. Then one particular title caught her eye, Wanderings with Werewolves. She was about to reach for the book when she saw someone approach her and she immediately jumped back away from the book. "Hi!" she said a little breathless, after being caught off guard, but smiled at the boy. When he asked if she was looking for something she bit her lip and asked, "Are you an assistant who works here?" Then as she got a better look at him she cocked her head to the side and said, "No wait, I recognize you. You're in my Defense Against the Dark Arts class right?"" She had seen him in class the day before, so she knew he must've been a Slytherin. In order to keep him from wondering what she was looking at Marisol told him what she was looking for. "I'm looking for old articles of The Daily Prophet, that's a newspaper right?"
 
''Oh I didn't mean to startle you or anything!'' He said quickly when he noticed that she was a little breathless. He honestly wasn't, the only thing he wanted to do was say hi and have a conversation with the other first year. The boy chuckled at the fact that she thought he was an assistant at first. ''No I'm not and yes, I'm in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class.'' Asaiah answered back. A smile appeared on his face. It was nice to know that the girl also seemed to recognize him. His head turned towards the shelves for a quick second, trying to figure out what kind of book she wanted to read, but because there were so many books on te shelves, he couldn't make out which book she wanted to read. ''Yes, it is!'' The Slytherin exclaimed happily. ''The archives are right over there.'' Asaiah pointed at one of the bookshelves in the back just near the restricted section of the library. ''Perhaps I can help you too? My brother is one of the many photographers of the Daily Prophet, and he has told me a lot about behind-the-scene stuff of certain articles. Is there anything you're looking for in particular like murders, quidditch stuff, interviews with certain famous wizards and witches or do you just want to read one of them old copies? I guess that can be fun too.. A bit boring though. Hope you're not going to use them to fall asleep, I mean, not that I ever fell asleep while I was reading an old copy of the Daily Prophet.'' Asaiah shook his head and changed his facial expression as if he was saying Nahh, that never happened to me without using any words. It obviously did happen to him.

could've been better
 
[no it's fine!! ^_^]

Marisol couldn't help but smile at the boy as he rambled on. She was glad that there were hundreds of books beside her to deter him from being able to figure out which one she was about to reach for, but she was even more glad that he seemed to be able to help her a lot. He even had insider information, how lucky was she! She glanced over towards the direction he pointed at and saw it was near a placed titled the Restricted Section. Immediately she grew curious about what could possibly be behind that section and why it was even available at a school for kids. But then again there were older teenagers attending Hogwarts too so she supposed it was for them.

As the boy kept talking she couldn't help but laugh at his joke and expression, so she put a hand up over her mouth to cover up her laugh. "As fun as reading a copy of the Daily Prophet sounds, I'm actually looking for something in particular," she explained with a small chuckle. "Do you know what the Scitorari is?" she asked with innocent wide eyes, not knowing how dangerous or fearful that group was in the wizarding world.
 
''The Scitorari?'' He repeated after her. ''It definitely rings a bell. Is it a popular band?'' Asaiah started thinking about it. He had definitely heard of the Scitorari before, he just couldn't place it anywhere. After moments of trying to remember everything his brother ever said to him about some of the more important articles that were in the Daily Prophet, Asaiah looked at the girl with a questioning look in his face. He rememberd his father mentioning the word Scitorari to his mother and grandfather, and remembered it had something to do with the murder of an important man who worked for the Ministry of Magic. ''I think I overheard my father talking about the Scitorari, or however you pronounce it, with my mother. It had something to do with a murder of a guy who worked at the Ministry.'' The first year still had a questioning look on his face. Why was this girl looking for any articles about the Scitorari? Did it do something to her or her family, or was she just curious to know about it. ''Not to be rude, but why are you looking for something that was involved with a murder?''
 
Marisol shrugged her shoulders when he asked if the Scitorari were a band; how would she know? Though something told her that her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor wasn't giving her a band recommendation when he told her to look them up. She was about to open her mouth and ask a few questions but then the Slytherin boy seemed to recall something about the Scitorari and a murder. Marisol's eyes grew wide, that seemed like something more likely her DADA professor was referencing.

Just then the boy looked at her curiously and asked why she was interested in something apparently involving a murder, at the Ministry no less. She bit her lip before she cleared her throat and said, "Well you know how Professor Styx asked us to ask one question about Defense Against the Dark Arts as our first assignment?" She was glad this boy was in her class so he would understand what she was talking about. Then she continued, "Well I asked him what was so scary in the wizarding world that we needed to learn defense, and he told me to look up the Scissor people! I mean the Scitorari," she corrected herself with a small giggle at her mis-pronounciation. "Is it bad that I'm looking them up?" she half whispered innocently, wondering if she was breaking some rule.
 
Asaiah's eyes wandered to the shelves once more as she was talking. Now that he know what she was looking for it would be easier to see if there were any books about the Scitorari sitting on one of these shelves. He nodded as she mentioned the homework assignment professor Styx gave them. ''Yeah, I do. I asked him if I was going to learn any awesome spells this year.'' The boy answered. Although he knew his question would probably be answered with a simple reply like; ''You'll find out soon enough.'' or ''No, not this year'' Asaiah still thought it was a proper question the ask the professor.''Well, I wouldn't say that it's a good thing to do, especially since we're both eleven year kids looking for something that commited a murder. But hey! If professor Styx really said that you should look up the Scitorari in order to find out why we still need to learn defensive spells and such..'' Asaiah paused to take a breath. ''Then what is stopping us?'' He hoped that she would let him help her in finding what she needed to answer her question.
 
Marisol chuckled when he told her what question he asked. She had definitely been wondering the same thing, but she chose to ask a different question to get to know more about the wizarding world. But now that murders of Ministry officials was part of the answer, she was beginning to rethink her decision. But as the boy said 'what is stopping us' Marisol didn't mind after all.

She grinned at him brightly and said, "You'll help me? Great!" and even bounced on her feet a little. She was so glad he hadn't looked at her like a weirdo for being interested in this topic. And he did have a point, their DADA professor told her to look them up, so technically she was just following her professor's orders. "Let's go then," she said as she turned to walk towards the area he had pointed to earlier. "I'm Marisol by the way, what's your name?" After all this she realized she still didn't know his name.
 
Asaiah smiled as she grinned, ''Yeah, of course I will!'' The boy replied happily. ''I'm way too curious now.'' He actually was curious to learn more about the Scitorari now that she was going to look further into it. It had be something dangerous because whatever it was, his parents had tried to hide it from him. For a quick second Asaiah wondered if his siblings knew of the Scitorari as well, but thought that if his parents tried to hide it from him, they probably hid it from Thomas, Jennifer and Hannah, his three older brother and sisters, too. ''Alright, let's go!'' He said while rubbing his hands, it was a sign that Asaiah was getting pretty excited. ''I'm Asaiah,'' the Slytherin answered. ''It's nice to meet you, Marisol. Funny name though, never heard it before you from around here, or are you from another country as well?.'' He thought about the girl he met in the Courtyard the day after the sorting ceremony, she also had a funny name that he hadn't heard before and she was from Norway.
 
Marisol smiled at him as they walked over to the area where they kept old articles. She didn't know how far back they would have to look to find articles on the Scitorari. Hopefully the Slytherin had some more information to help them look. When he said her name was funny she furrowed her brows in confusion. Her name was definitely not funny to her, it was normal. But when he asked if she was from here she understood what he meant. "I'm from Puerto Rico," she answered, her Spanish accent coming out in the answer. "But I'm technically from Colombia." It was a bit complicated. She was half Colombian and Mexican, but she grew up in Puerto Rico her entire life so that is what she identified as. "Are you from here, Asaiah?"
 
Asaiah walked besides her as they walked over the the back of the library. ''Puerto Rico? Isn't that somewhere near Brazil?'' Asaiah asked her, hoping he was correct. ''My brother had to go there once for the Daily Prophet.'' The first year really looked up to his brother. One of the reasons why he wanted to pay attention in every class this semester was so he could get good grades and impress his older brother. ''Colombia is also near Brazil, right? I'm sorry if I'm wrong, I suck at geography.'' Geography was, among other subjects like history and arithmetic, one of the subjects he always got bad grades for in primary school, mainly because Asaiah had a hard time remembering where everything was. When Marisol asked him where he was from he smiled. ''I'm from around here actually. Born and raised in Auckland.''
 
Marisol chuckled lightly as he tried to guess where her home countries were located. "Colombia is near Brazil, yes, but Puerto Rico is a tiny island further away from South America," she explained to him. She wondered why the Daily Prophet would be in Puerto Rico; it amazed Marisol how large and wide the wizarding world was, yet she had no idea it existed up until her acceptance to Hogwarts. They had certainly managed to keep it all a secret.

When he revealed he was from around here Marisol said, "Cool! So not only do I have someone who knows about magic stuff like the Scitorari, but I also have someone who can show me around New Zealand!" She was half joking, she didn't want to automatically assume they would be good friends after this. For all she knew the Slytherin was just extremely bored and was only helping her out to kill some time. For now all she could ask for was to be classmates and acquaintances at best.
 
Asaiah cheeks turned red when she chuckled lightly at his guess to where her home countries were located. ''Well, at least I got one of the two right.'' A smile appeared on his face and said, ''Yeah, sure, you will love it here! There are some really big mountains in New Zealand like mount Cook. It isn't really close to where we live at all, because it's on the other part of New Zealand, but I think my father would love to drive us there.'' Asaiah knew that Marisol was probably joking about him being the one who could show her around New Zealand, but he honestly did not mind showing her around; it wasn't like he had something better to do during his holidays. ''You should definitely come over during the next summer holidays, it will be fun and I'm sure that my parents wouldn't mind if I brought along a friend.''
 
Marisol looked at Asaiah with adoration and generosity and smiled. He was too nice, and it made Marisol feel equally as guilty as she felt grateful. She had only been half joking about exploring New Zealand. Right now she didn't have the best opinion of the small country and currently had no interest in exploring it anymore. It was on her trip to visit this country that she had gotten bitten while exploring the island, so now she associated New Zealand with that awful day. Yet perhaps with someone who actually lived here like Asaiah and his father, she wouldn't run into trouble again.

So with that in mind the Gryffindor girl smiled and said, "I would love that." She liked hearing that Asaiah would consider her a friend, for now at least. Then she remembered what would happen to her monthly, and she bit her lip. "Well, first I'll have to ask if I can go..." Most people would assume she was referring to asking her parents for permission, which she would have to of course (especially if it was a boy she wanted to visit). But Marisol was actually referring to the wizarding authorities who had explained to her about her newly afflicted condition. They had told her she would be of harm to her family if she went untreated, so she doubted they would let her visit another family over the holidays for the same reason. Perhaps if she went to visit before a full moon and only stayed for a week, then they would say she could go. It was an uplifting thought, but only briefly as she began to realize that every decision she made would have to revolve around the full moon for the rest of her life.

Trying not to let that bring her down because she had just made a friend, Marisol turned towards the stacks of old newspapers. "Okay so, let's look for these murdering Stick people," she said with newfound determination, handing the Slytherin boy a newspaper while she began to rifle through one. "Try not to fall asleep," she teased playfully, referencing the comment he made earlier.
 
Asaiah turned his head to look at her, ''It'd definitely be nice being around another person for once. My sisters are kind of mean to me sometimes, and whenever we get into a fight my parents always back them up because Hannah has the gift of crying whenever she pleases.'' It irritated him deeply that his parents would always side with his siblings instead of him, even if he hadn't done anything wrong. ''It might even change Hannah's mind and be nice to for once.'' Asaiah said with a shrug, knowing Hannah would probably try to embarres him if he brought along a friend, especially if that friend was a girl.

He laughed at was Marisol said and nodded in agreement. ''I hope we find something about your Stick people that might help us solve your question.'' he said as he took the paper she handed him. Asaiah looked at the front page of the Daily Prophet and read it outloud, ''On the Rise: Death Eaters.'' he looked at Marisol for a second and then back to the newspaper. ''What in Merlin's beard are Death Eater?'' The Slytherin asked her and without waiting for Marisol to answer his question he turned to the page the front indicated and read it softly so that only she could her it. ''The biggest news today are the Death Eaters. With the Dark Lord, or You-Know-Who gone, his supporters seem to be getting larger! All around New Zealand, the Death Eaters were sighted in their usual attire, spreading fear and chaos through the hearts of many.'' Asaiah stopped reading the article outloud and continued reading it for himself.

After a minute or two Asaiah looked up at her, ''Well, whoever these Death Eaters were, they certainly were dangerous enough that the Ministry send their Aurors after them.'' The boy said, throwing the, god knows how old, newspaper on a table next to them. ''Thanks for the interesting news about Death Eaters, mister Lothar Litvack.''
 
Marisol laughed when he told her all about his sisters. "Is Hannah younger than you?" she wondered. "'Cause I have a younger sister who annoys me all the time, so I kind of know what you mean," she chuckled, except Elda didn't tease her, she worshipped Mari. Her sister always wanted to do everything she did. But Marisol was glad that she had made her sister stay home while she went wandering off in New Zealand on her own, otherwise she would've gotten bitten too. She shuttered to think that her sister wouldn't have survived such an attack.

As the two began to search through the old newspapers, Marisol got distracted by all the moving pictures. It was crazy to see that the people within them had minds of their own and would wave up at her, probably happy to be looked at again seeing as the old copies were withered and had gathered dust. When Asaiah asked what Death Eaters were, Marisol looked at him and shrugged, how should she know? But the title 'Death Eater' didn't sound too good in itself so it wasn't hard to guess they were probably up to no good, to put it lightly.

As Asaiah began to read a story out loud, Marisol looked over his shoulder at the paper he was looking at. She had so many questions she didn't even know where to begin. "Are these Death Eaters the same as the Scitorari, you think?" she asked him in a whisper. She looked back down at the copies she had in her hand and began rifling through them. "Look! This one mentions 'Death Eaters' too!" she whispered excitedly. She read the story out loud to him, also full of terrorization and mentions of 'You-Know-Who' or the 'Dark Lord.' "What are Aurors?" she wondered out loud, looking at Asaiah with a curious look on her face. "Are they like police?"
 
Asaiah grabbed another newspaper from the stack and began to search for anything mentioning the Scitorari. ''Unfortunately not, I'm the youngest of the four children in our family. I wish I was older than Hannah though, I would love to know how it feels to get away with almost everything.'' He flipped through the newspaper, only reading the headlines of every article, waiting for something interesting to pop out. ''While we are on the topic of siblings, do you have more siblings besides your sister?'' He asked, curious to know more about her family.

''I don't know, they could be?'' Asaiah said trying to speak as quitly as possible. ''Maybe the Death Eaters changed their name to hide from the Ministry?'' In his head this theory didn't sound bad at all, the boy had seen enough films to actually think that changing names was something the Death Eaters would consider to do in order to stay off the radar. ''But these papers look and smell like they've been in this library for at least, I don't know, long enough for them to look and smell this way.'' Truth be told, Asaiah didn't have a clue as to how old these newspapers actually were. For all they knew, some of the papers could be from the early twenties. When Marisol asked him what Aurors were, Asaiah chuckled lightly. ''No, well, a bit I think. They're more like a special unit specialized in capturing Dark Wizards. Didn't they have Aurors in Puerto Rico?''

 
Marisol chuckled and said, "I hate to break it to you, but I think even if you weren't the youngest, you still wouldn't be able to get away with anything." She pouted at him playfully. "Just think, if Hannah was the youngest, she would be able to get away with more because they'd always say she's the 'baby'!" she pointed out, hoping that would make him feel grateful that she wasn't the youngest after all. That's what her parents always told her about Elda every time Marisol complained about her annoyance. "I just have an older brother, he's 16, so I'm the middle child," she answered while flipping through the newspapers.

Marisol tried not to get distracted by the stories inside of the newspaper and thought if the Scitorari were as dangerous as her professor made them seem, they would surely be front page news, not a side piece deep within a newspaper. When Asaiah gave his theory her eyes grew wide and she nodded vigorously. "That sounds likely!" she agreed. "Because if you check the dates of these articles, the Death Eaters are mentioned much less as the date gets later! So it seems like the Death Eaters 'went away', or just changed their name, like you said!" There was a bounce in her step because she felt like they were getting somewhere in their mini-investigation. But they had still not come across an actual mention of the Scitorari, so whoever they were, they hid themselves well.

When Asaiah asked if they didn't have Aurors in Puerto Rico, Marisol bit her lip and shrugged. "I wouldn't know," she answered truthfully. "I didn't even know magic existed until about two months ago. So for all I know, they had a secret underground wizarding community there that I didn't know about before," she said. The thought was mind boggling to her, but seeing as this entire world had been hidden from Muggles, it was possible that a wizarding community could exist on that island as well.
 
Asaiah looked as if someone had just told him the worst news ever, ''So what you're saying is that I'm actually cursed and that I will never get away with anything as long as Hannah is still alive?'' He answered back. ''Guess the only thing left do to is feed her to the wolves that are roaming the woods near our house and tell my parents that Hannah wouldn't listen to me.'' However brutal it might have sounded, Asaiah was obviously joking, even though he and his sister didn't always see eye to eye, deep down he loved her very much. When she told him about her family, the first year Slytherin smiled. ''Which house is your brother in?'' He said, automatically assuming that her brother was also a student at the school.

After reading countless headlines, Asaiah threw the newspaper on the table. ''It would be a smart move to do if they really wanted to lay low for awhile.'' He took another newspaper from the stack and let his eyes wander over the front page again. His eyes grew wider when he read the words 'Murderer sentenced to life imprisonment to Azkaban.' he quickly flipped through the paper until he found the right page and started reading it for himself at first. When the Daily Prophet mentioned the Scitorari Asaiah stopped reading the article. ''Hey, hey, Marisol, look at this!'' He exclaimed before reading the article outloud. '' 'Today, the woman responsible for the death of Head Auror Nicolas King was put on trial.' I think that was the man my parents were talking about.'' He continued. '' 'Harley Aria, a woman now known to be a member of the Scitorari, used the killing curse, an unforgivable, to rob the man of his life.' '' The boy looked up at Marisol, pointing at the date of the newpaper without saying a word.
 
At first, Marisol laughed at Asaiah's realization that as long as he had a sister, his life would always be unfairly doomed. But then he made a cruel joke about throwing his sisters to the wolves as a solution to his problem. She knew that he didn't really mean it but clearly it was a sore subject for her. "Don't joke about that," Marisol scowled. "That's not funny." She bit her lip afterward, regretting her sudden mood swing so for clarification she simply added, "I heard there are actually wolves out there so it could actually happen, and you should never wish that on anybody."

The Gryffindor girl avoided Asaiah's gaze and looked down at the newspapers, not really paying attention to what the pages said. "And my brother isn't a wizard, he goes to a regular school. So I guess he's a 'Muggle'," she explained, trying to get used to the terminology the wizarding community used. This caused her thoughts to change direction from Asaiah's insensitive joke to another curious thing for her. Her older brother hadn't been chosen to attend Hogwarts, but she was. She wondered why that was. Did Elda have magic potential too? Or would she just be ordinary like the rest of her family? It was an interesting situation for Marisol to think of.

Just as she was beginning to get back on track with her search, Marisol heard Asaiah hurriedly calling her. She perked up and rushed over to his side. She placed her hands on his shoulders to get a better look over his shoulder as he read the article to her. When he pointed at the date of the story, Marisol clapped a hand over her gaping mouth. "Oh my god, that was last year!!" she exclaimed, not even bothering to be quiet in their search anymore, completely forgetting they were in a public library. "What's an 'Unforgiveable'?" she wondered, trying to piece together more of the puzzle.
 
Professor Pendleton was a frequent visitor of the school's library. There were still hundreds of books upon its shelves he'd yet to read, though that certainly wasn't for lack of trying. His strolls there occurred on a weekly basis, which tended to be the length of time it took him to finish three books, and it was to return a particularly interesting trilogy on Defence Against the Dark Arts that he found himself there that afternoon. He flashed a smile at the librarian, with whom he was slowly growing familiar, and headed down the towering bookshelves in search of the empty space his had come from. The author's surname was quite peculiar, and Monty was almost at the back of the library by the time he reached the correct aisle. Since he couldn't reach the right shelf, he placed the books on the table below and let magic do the rest for him.

The Potions Professor had just turned to leave when from behind the bookshelf drifted a very unusual conversation. At least, it was an unusual conversation for first years to be having, which he knew at least one of them to be by familiarity of her voice. Curious, he pretended to be reading spines for a little while, listening to the excited crescendo of their chatter as they forgot themselves in grim and harrowing newspaper articles. It was only when the mention of wolves and unforgivable curses arose that Monty finally rounded the corner. "Ahem," he coughed, folding his arms and leaning against the corner of a bookshelf. "And what might two young first years such as yourselves be doing reading things as ghastly as that, hmm?"
 
Asaiah's facial expression changed when hearing her tone, ''I-I'm sorry I guess.'' For a minute the first year stood flabbergasted, still processing the sudden mood change in his mind. ''Guess I should get used to the fact that I won't get away with stuff.'' Asaiah said, hoping it would change the mood to what it was five minutes ago. When Marisol answered his question about which house her brother was in, he decided not to say anything and leave the subjec of family behind them.

He nodded vigorously at her words, ''We must be getting close now, I can feel it!'' Excitement and adrenaline rose inside of him, they had finally found something that mentioned the Scitorari, and the thing that really made his mind go ape sh!t was that the article was a year old. ''Maybe we should look for newpapers that are around this date?'' Asaiah said after a second of thinking. ''Maybe they aren't related to the Death Eaters at all?'' The Slytherin kept flipping through the pages, letting his eyes wander over the pages and only reading some of the headlines outloud. He looked up again when Marisol asked what an 'Unforgiveable' was. He shrugged and said, ''I don't know, never heard of them before.''

What happened next startled him so much that he let out a squeal. Turning around his head to see to who the voice belonged to, Asaiah looked right into the eyes of one of the professors he saw during the sorting ceremony. He swallowed and said, ''Professor.. We eh, we are just busy with a school project about old news articles..'' When he realized that he still holding the paper in his hands, Asaiah quickly hid it behind his back. The young Slytherin looked at Marisol, hoping she would back up his lie.
 
"Good idea," Marisol said, agreeing to the new plan for their search. She was about to open up the pages of a more recent article when she heard someone behind them clear their throat and she froze as if caught red handed. She quickly recovered when she heard Asaiah squeal but was too preoccupied with seeing who it was to even laugh at his reaction.

She was so ready to apologize for being too loud and explain what they were doing, but as soon as the first year saw which professor it was, she gulped. How long had he been there listening to their conversation? "Professor!" she said with a nervous laugh. Had he heard the part where they had briefly discussed wolves? She just wanted to scream 'I didn't tell him anything, I swear!' because Professor Pendleton was one of the few authorities here at Hogwarts who knew of her condition. And it had been thoroughly discussed in his office that her condition was extremely confidential, so she didn't want him to think she was telling others.

When Asaiah spoke up and answered Professor Pendleton's question she nodded weakly in agreement. When the Slytherin boy looked at her to back him up she cleared her throat and set her jaw firmly, trying to make themselves look less guilty and more like they knew what they were doing. "We were just doing an investig-- I mean research for a Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment," she answered, trying not to think of the fact that they'd only had one introductory lesson in DADA so far. "Me and Asaiah are in the same class together!" she added quickly, as if that one fact would authenticate her story even more.
 
Professor Pendleton regarded the first years with raised eyebrows. "Mmm-hmmnn," he said, in a tone which quite clearly expressed his incredulity; but in a matter of mere seconds he could no longer maintain this stern façade, and his features relaxed into light amusement. Scaring first years into thinking they'd done something terribly wrong was one of the many perks of his job. Though his smile suggested they were completely off the hook, Monty still wasn't entirely satisfied with the reasoning he'd been spun for their 'research'. Certainly nothing in the school's rules prohibited eleven year old children from taking such a keen interest in the dark arts, but it was inarguably odd. Still, children taking a keen interest in anything was quite odd these days, and so Monty found himself unmoving.

The inventor paused to glance at his pocket watch, and, upon seeing he had ten minutes to spare before his next lesson, unfolded his arms and stepped forward to withdraw a seat from a nearby table. "Well, better that you ask than to guess," he said, smiling as he sat down. As an almost-ex-Auror who was both well versed in history and an avid follower of Wizarding news, he thought he ought to be able to supply them with some of the information they were after. "What would you like to know?"
 

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