[Dungeons] Cold Air

[Edward Niven]

Edward stretched out his long legs in front of him as he sat comfortably on the cold stone floor of the dungeons. He was used to the chill and easily ignored the goose flesh that bumped over his arms. The jumper he wore also helped to quell the shivers and so the distractions were few as he leaned over a sheet of parchment.

The dampness of the dungeons always mussed his hair somewhat, and so his fringe fell against his forehead rather than gelled back as normal. Running an irritated hand through his dark locks, he paused once again the midst of writing his letter to think carefully of what he wanted to write next.

His Uncle had seemingly found another wife and Edward scowled at no one in particular. The wretched woman he seemed to attract always aggravated Edward and the Slytherin shook his head at his Uncle's apparent foolishness.

"That idiot." He murmured, dropping his quill to the ground and setting the half-finished letter aside.[/color]

[Girty Hubbles]

(Hope you do not mind me joning Darin!)

The Dungeons, why did Dan want her to go to the Dungeons? There was nothing down here rather the bat droppings, moss and stupidly damp walls, if you were lucky you might bump into the odd Slytherin because then at least you would have a bit of company in the dark depths of the castle. With a slight frown Girty looked up at the dark ceiling of the underground corridor, her wand held high as it carefully scanned the cracked roof. The odd droplet of water occasionally broke through and its splash on the stone flooring would echo around the empty tunnels.

With a groan Girty lowered her wand and pulled her jacket tightly around her trying to keep out the cold that seemed to surround the lower regions of the castle, even in the heart of the summer the place always seemed cold, dank and miserable to the Hufflepuff. Wondering farther down the corridor Girty slowly moved her wand from side to side half expecting something to jump out at her from the darkness; whether it is a monster or a Slytherin trying to pull a prank on an older student.

Almost as this thought fluttered through her mind a sounded echoed down the corridor and reached her, and it sounded a lot like someone calling her an idiot. Whirling around on the spot Girty retraced her steps to a t junction she had previously gone past and low and be hold there sat a male Slytherin on the floor who had seemingly been writing. Putting out the light from her wand and slipping into safely into her sock Girty stuffed her hands into her pockets and slowly ambled over towards him a small smile filling her face as she thought about the prospect of a Slytherin actually writing.

“You do know that writing in this low level of light is bad for your eyes.” She was trying to conceal her smile. “Also you should really write on a table as writing on your knee will badly affect your handwriting.”

[Edward Niven]

Edward folded his arms over his chest, still splayed awkwardly on the ground, as he stared at his intruder. He wondered briefly why a Hufflepuff would bother venturing down to the dungeons, as ordinarily they stayed quite far away from them. Though, Edward wasn't necessarily the curious sort, so instead of an inquiry he only smirked wryly at her discomfort.

"How kind of you to express such overtly concern about my business," Edward said nonchalantly, tilting his head to once side to peer at Girty properly.

Not offering anything else as response, Edward stood up and crumpled the letter swiftly. His eyes sought out a lantern and focusing on the lone candle inside, he carefully held up the parchment to it. Smiling a bit as it fell away to ash, hooded gaze turning to Hubbles again, Edward arched a brow. "And you should be the one worried about darkness. Not afraid I'm going to ambush you, Hubbles?"[/color]

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty looked down at Edward trying to work out what he was thinking, the glint in his eyes unnerved her slightly, all Slytherin’s did even now with many years of experience in the school she could not help but fear what they would do. The one thing though that Girty knew from experience was that you never let the bloody sneaks know that they had you on edge; they seemed to be able to sense fear and would pounce as soon as they sensed an opportunity.

“You are quite welcome Niven, always looking out for my fellow students.” She offered him a rather cheeky smile as she watched him stand up and destroy his letter. It was a strange way to protect his secrets, but then he was a Slytherin and they always did things the hard way, Girty would have simply folded it up and put it in her pocket. A frown etched its way across her face but she dared not comment on the matter as Edward seemed one of those Slytherin’s you really did not want to get on the wrong side of.

“You would not dare ambush me Niven.” Girty was trying to stop her voice from wavering and resist the urge to nervously look over her shoulder. Her hands automatically tightened into a fist ready to lash out if anyone…or thing came up from behind her, however the one thing Girty was sure on was that she was starting to wish she had not put her wand away. “And if you did try something it will be you who is afraid.”

[Edward Niven]

"Oh?" Edward grinned and it looked a bit sadistic in the flickering candlelight. "Well good thing I wasn't planning on actually doing so."

He couldn't quite tell what she was thinking, and so he brazenly walked up to her with an arched brow. "Although, let me tell you that I'm not really all that threatened. Who is it that's going to have me afraid, Hubbles?" He smirked, stopping a few feet away from her and casually adjusting his sweater. "Surely not you?"

His eyes fell on her wand and he finally got the proof he needed of her concern. Her fingers had flexed edgily just a tiny bit, the hold on her weapon becoming that much more firm. "You can't really expect to wander into the dungeons alone, it's dangerous." To prove his point, he took another careful step forward until his torso was only an inch or so away from the tip of her wand. "So that makes me wonder - what exactly are you doing down here?"[/color]

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty always liked to think about herself as being tough, she was not stupidly brave otherwise she would have been in Gryffindor, but then she did not like to think about the stereotypical view that all Hufflepuff’s were wimps who would jump out of their skin at a butterfly. Girty saw her braveness as common sense, she knew when there was a time to be tough and a time to allow your fears to take control and stop you from doing something and as the Slytherin moved closer to her Girty could not help but get a little but nervous.

Niven’s voice was so calm and the Hufflepuff hatred that because how could she work out what he was thinking if he was being so calm. The smirk was enough and then the fact that he started to adjust his sweater Girty could not help but gulp as it just felt like he was building up to something, he had already said that he was not scared of her and she knew that that was not an act. They were not only inches apart as they looked each other in the eye, the candle light flickered creating eerie shadows to dance across the Slytherin’s face and all Girty could do was tighten her grip around her wand.

“I…”Girty faltered as she tried to find the words to answer his question. It would not be hard after all Dan had hold her to come down here to fill in for him as he was meant to be on patrol in the dank place, however now Girty was starting to wish she had agreed to mark the stack of 4th year assignments. “I am on patrol Niven, so you best be careful otherwise you will be heading for a detention.”

The Hufflepuff somehow managed to find her voice and after her small stutter from before her voice held much more confidence. She had no reason to be scared not when she had her wand ready in her hand and a list of jinxes she could rattle off without even saying a word…having the Charms Professor as your brother did have its advantages.