young god

“No you don’t.” Caius replied with a grin. “It was quite clearly a joke Carrow, I could never imagine you out causing a ruckus with a sign in the streets like some ruffian.” His grin faltered ever so slightly as she mentioned her financial situation. Caius silently liked to pretend that things were as they always were, that Alecto at The Grave Affair was something she did to irritate her parents and did to cause mischief. When she mentioned her financial ruin the spell was somewhat broken and he began to internally reassess talking to her, knowing what his mother would say if she found he was in ten yards of her let alone asking her to spend time with him and flirting so unapologetically. 

As quickly as it was gone his sly smile had returned, his eyes running up and down Alecto as he took her in, one of his favourite things to do whenever he was lucky enough to see her. “I could never consider myself a knight in shining armour Alecto.” The smile became more wicked as he leaned into the bar and winked at her. “I’m way too dangerous for that.” Of course Alecto didn’t know exactly how true that was. He’d risked his neck for a stupid bloody glass ball he’d not even gotten the chance to listen to the blasted thing. “I’m more dangerous and suave and sophisticated than you could even consider Miss Carrow. So I’d bare that in mind if I were you.” He added, sipping his drink. 

—

Alecto rarely talked about her misfortune with Caius. She would try to say that it was because she was too proud, that she didn’t want his, or anyone else’s pity. But with Caius. It was because it hit too close to home. To talk about it with him just reminded her what she had lost. Alecto hadn’t even told him how she had really felt, and now she wouldn’t get the chance. If only she hadn’t fallen in love with such a mommy’s boy. She’d been stupid to ever think she’d be enough for him to still want, despite everything. It sucked, and it was why she rarely brought it up. “I like to cause my chaos different ways….” She mused, a little smirk on he lips, though even Caius would know it was half hearted. 

But he distracted her by flirting, and even if she didn’t want to be, she was reeled in even more. Her heart was constantly telling her to stay away, to be careful, but she couldn’t help but be pulled close to him. “Good thing I like dangerous…..” She murmured, biting on her lip as she looked at him. It was dangerous. She shouldn’t be flirting with him like this. But it was like the old days, and it made her happy. So that was why she did it. “I especially like dangerous when it looks like you….” She murmured, leaning a little over the bar so that she was closer to him. “I think I can handle you Burke.”

That small smirk playing upon her lips was enough to make him feel hot under the collar. The events of the past few days seemed to melt away when he spoke with Alecto. Flirting with her was his favourite hobby of all, besides looking at dark artefacts, and was something he could have spent his life doing if it were allowed, though he had to admit it was perhaps even more enjoyable now that it wasn’t. As she leaned in, Caius grinned, her long red hair hanging around her face and framing her pale eyes, so beautiful and crystal clear they reminded him of tropical waters. “Well you’re in for a treat then.” He replied nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. “As I am both dangerous and look like me, you’d be happy to know.” Caius was more than confident Alecto was able to handle him, she was probably the only woman in London he was sure could. That was what he liked about her. She was confident, sure of herself and even despite what had happened she hadn’t much changed savour a slight bitterness which was bound to come from losing your family fortune and standing in society. Alecto Carrow was as resilient as a member of The Twenty-Eight should be and as dark and mysterious as the objects he studied and treasured at daily in their shop.

“Speaking of dangerous...” He began, taking a sip of his beer and changing the subject slightly. “Have you been talking to any of the heavy auror presence that seemed to have popped up like daisies around the city after what happened to Fenwick? I was practically tripping over them to get here.” He asked mainly out of curiosity but slightly out of concern. Alecto wasn’t aware of it, mainly because Caius didn’t want her to be, but she was very dear to him- and although he was sure she wasn’t wrapped up in similar business to him, she as she eloquently said ‘liked to cause her chaos in other ways’ which would definitely make her a target for suspicion. 

“Alcohol and protests who would have thought.” He joked. “Maybe it’s like grief, lightens the mood I suppose.” Caius hadn’t had much experience with protests, or funerals for that matter, his life has lacked any form of real struggle or any sort of sadness. If he had been more self aware he might have felt lucky, but Caius had always been too self invested to see beyond the end of his own nose half the time unless he felt inconvenienced. “Don’t fancy picking up a placard and shouting for the rights of the less fortunate then Carrow, would have pegged you for the social justice type as well- I’m both shocked and appalled to find I’ve been masquerading under false pretences.” 

This was exactly what he needed, a flirt with a pretty girl and a stiff drink. Bellatrix was going to be furious with him, not only because he was part of the crew who had lost the prophecy to a blood traitor, a half-blood and a mudblood but because he had the ball in his hand and dropped it so carelessly. He needed to forget about today. Whatever it took to forget. “What time do you get off today?” Caius asked with a raised eyebrow, before sipping his beer. “I’m more than willing to provide a safe arm to grip onto through the streets if that’s wha you’re looking for.” 

—

“Or helps people forget about what is going on around them” Alecto offered with a little shrug. She didn't’ mind too much. Whatever got the customers in was what she was interested in. She had made a decent amount of tips today, and so it was worth it for her. Maybe it would be worth it because she’d seen Caius too. Alecto would never admit to that though. She didn’t need to feed his ego anymore than she already had done. “Do I look like someone who gives a damn about the less fortunate?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Anyway. I believe I am one of those less fortunate now. Maybe I’ll go protest about how my daddy gambled away all my money tomorrow.” She laughed, clearly joking. She would never stoop down low enough to do that. The Carrows might have fallen on hard times, but she wasn’t that desperate. 

Alecto liked to joke about the situation, but it did sting a little when it was with Caius, considering that she had lost him because of it. But she pushed through the stinging. “Oh…..” She glanced down at the watch on her wrist. “Half hour” Which she hadn’t even known that was the time. Hopefully it was a little less busy outside because she didn’t fancy trailing through a crowd again after a good few hours on her feet at the bar. “Hmmm. Fancy yourself as my knight in shining armour now Caius? How charming. How could a girl resist”

“No you don’t.” Caius replied with a grin. “It was quite clearly a joke Carrow, I could never imagine you out causing a ruckus with a sign in the streets like some ruffian.” His grin faltered ever so slightly as she mentioned her financial situation. Caius silently liked to pretend that things were as they always were, that Alecto at The Grave Affair was something she did to irritate her parents and did to cause mischief. When she mentioned her financial ruin the spell was somewhat broken and he began to internally reassess talking to her, knowing what his mother would say if she found he was in ten yards of her let alone asking her to spend time with him and flirting so unapologetically. 

As quickly as it was gone his sly smile had returned, his eyes running up and down Alecto as he took her in, one of his favourite things to do whenever he was lucky enough to see her. “I could never consider myself a knight in shining armour Alecto.” The smile became more wicked as he leaned into the bar and winked at her. “I’m way too dangerous for that.” Of course Alecto didn’t know exactly how true that was. He’d risked his neck for a stupid bloody glass ball he’d not even gotten the chance to listen to the blasted thing. “I’m more dangerous and suave and sophisticated than you could even consider Miss Carrow. So I’d bare that in mind if I were you.” He added, sipping his drink. 

“We’re doomed.” Caius replied after a heavy sigh. “You and your salad fingers.” He added, looking into his drink and taking a long swig. Losing the prophecy had been one of the worst things to happen to Caius since Lyra used all his moisturiser she’d made for him when they were both home at Christmas and Alys Warrington said he wasn’t “quite her type” when he tried to chat her up two summers ago. “The thing is...” Caius began, gesturing for two more pints of ale to Jonathan which he dutifully placed in front of them. “...what I don’t get is how they even showed up in the first place. Where did they come from that’s the first thing and how did they even find out? I didn’t speak to anyone other than you and Prewett. Did you?” 

“Listen here Luci.” Caius replied quickly, sitting down in the chair Lucille had guided him to. “I can see a little bit it’s dark in here and I keep crying because my eyes really hurt. I need support not sass.” Truthfully, Caius would have taken sass as long as it came with the ability to use both his eyes again without being in searing pain. Huffing loudly, Caius straightened his back and prepared for Lucille’s spell to hit his face. “Let’s do it here, I don’t think anyone is paying attention and I can’t be bothered moving around again looking like this, my face probably looks like a troll had sex with a mushroom. I’m trusting you Lucille. Fix my money maker.” 

Her face remained flat at his comment. “You’re sounding more dramatic than my Mother when someone gets lipstick on her white Valentino bag,” Lucille said with a roll of her eyes before pulling her shoulders back. “Right —” After waving her wand in the correct configuration, Lucille cast the spell with ease. She waited for a couple of seconds after before reacting. “There.”

“It’s my face Lucille! I am going to be dramatic!” He shouted fairly loudly, pointing angrily at his face with both hands at the direction he believed he could see Lucille in. “Well I feel for your poor mother and her bag, you love what you love and I love my face, enough so I feel understandably a bit put out that it’s broken!” Caius knew he was being slightly dramatic, they were magical after all, it was nothing a good spell or a potion couldn’t fix- although the nature of the spell he knew that all she’d be able to do would be to take down the swelling, what would be left afterwards he’d have to wait and see how it turned out. 

Bracing for the spell, Caius squinted more than he already was and allowed Lucille to do her thing. The sensation in it was strange, like a balloon deflating slowly as everything went down. Touching his face he was relieved to feel the bones in his face, sighing happily as he could feel himself going back to normal. “Throw me your compact mirror Jones, let me get a look at my kisser.” He called to her, beckoning to her with his hand to put the small mirror in. “Waiter!” He yelled out to Amycus, clicking twice in his direction. “Get the lady whatever she wants, Luci what do you want?”

Stumbling into what he thought was The Grave Affair, Caius’ hands came down on the nearest table as he tried to feel his way to the toilets to take a look at his face. His eyes stung and his vision was blurry, no doubt a side effect from the horrible curse one of the blood traitors back at the Ministry had placed upon him. As his hands came into contact with something that he thought to be parchment, the familiar voice of Lucille Jones rang out, her tone as irritated as usual. “Lucille!” He shouted quickly. “It’s me Caius! I ran into a stinging jinx and I can’t see, can you help me? Please I’ll get you a drink, a nice bag, a priceless artefact, whatever you want it’s yours!” 

Lucille had to narrow her eyes and focus before she realised that it was indeed Caius. “Would you quieten down?” She said firmly, looking around. Lucille leaned over the table and grabbed his hand, guiding him to sit down in the chair. “Calm yourself down,” She huffed while pulling out her wand. “You can obviously see a little how else would you have got here,” A small laugh escaped her lips with those words before she raised her wand. The woman was quite confident with casting a counter-jinx. “Now do you want to do this here or outside?” 

“Listen here Luci.” Caius replied quickly, sitting down in the chair Lucille had guided him to. “I can see a little bit it’s dark in here and I keep crying because my eyes really hurt. I need support not sass.” Truthfully, Caius would have taken sass as long as it came with the ability to use both his eyes again without being in searing pain. Huffing loudly, Caius straightened his back and prepared for Lucille’s spell to hit his face. “Let’s do it here, I don’t think anyone is paying attention and I can’t be bothered moving around again looking like this, my face probably looks like a troll had sex with a mushroom. I’m trusting you Lucille. Fix my money maker.” 

As the darkness of The Grave Affair began to engulf him, Caius felt himself breathe more easily, though he still felt like he was going to have a heart attack. The march had disrupted Wizarding London and through the painful haze of the stinging jinx he had managed to feel his way to the bar into the bathroom. Finally faced with the effects of the jinx Caius gasped in horror. The swelling had gone down but his face was red and blistered on the the side where the spell had hit his face. Luckily the bar wasn’t well lit and the red glow from what little light there was he hoped would disguise the injury. 

Breathing deeply, Caius pushed open the bathroom door and made his way onto the floor of the bar, eyes searching for a familiar face he could seek refuge with. The flash of red hair, almost made his heart stop, the bar was filled but all he could see was her. Moving quickly toward Alecto, he watched her place the pint of beer in front of her, a familiar grin on her face that disarmed him suddenly. Caius wasn’t sure how to behave around her, he’d been through something horrific yet he couldn’t tell her what or how he felt. Sinking into the stool in front of her, Caius smiled weakly, taking the beer with a shaky hand and sipping it briefly before setting it down again. “Have you seen it outside, it looks like a madhouse. You want to be happy you’re down here with all the normal people.” Picking up the beer again he sipped it a little more smoothly, settling into his usual confident facade though he still felt incredibly uneasy. “Has it been busy?”

—

It was dark, and she could barely see him. But maybe that was a good thing. Caius Burke distracted her enough as it was. She didn’t need to be able to fully see his handsome face to be distracted. To be honest, she probably should have served him, and then moved onto the next customer. But she wouldn’t. Luckily, things were pretty manageable right now, so she could let Caius distract her for a few minutes. But even Alecto knew it was dangerous. She shouldn’t be letting herself get her hopes up. She knew Caius was a mommy’s boy, and would never do anything to disappoint his mother. Alecto ought to stay away, protect her heart, but it still didn’t appear enough to keep her away.

“Maybe you stumbled upon the reason I agreed to work today” The red head pointed out with a little smirk on her lips. That wasn’t one of the reasons, but it had meant she’d been away from the madhouse that was outside. And so, that had worked well. The Grave Affair had always seemed to have sold a lot of alcohol today too, which she knew was a positive. “Though maybe less normal now you’re here” she teased, that smirk still on her lips. She shrugged at his questions. “Not more than usual, though the night is young. We’ve sold a ton of booze though. Idiots wanting right for them self makes for you guys thirsty apparently.”

“Alcohol and protests who would have thought.” He joked. “Maybe it’s like grief, lightens the mood I suppose.” Caius hadn’t had much experience with protests, or funerals for that matter, his life has lacked any form of real struggle or any sort of sadness. If he had been more self aware he might have felt lucky, but Caius had always been too self invested to see beyond the end of his own nose half the time unless he felt inconvenienced. “Don’t fancy picking up a placard and shouting for the rights of the less fortunate then Carrow, would have pegged you for the social justice type as well- I’m both shocked and appalled to find I’ve been masquerading under false pretences.” 

This was exactly what he needed, a flirt with a pretty girl and a stiff drink. Bellatrix was going to be furious with him, not only because he was part of the crew who had lost the prophecy to a blood traitor, a half-blood and a mudblood but because he had the ball in his hand and dropped it so carelessly. He needed to forget about today. Whatever it took to forget. “What time do you get off today?” Caius asked with a raised eyebrow, before sipping his beer. “I’m more than willing to provide a safe arm to grip onto through the streets if that’s wha you’re looking for.” 

Stumbling into what he thought was The Grave Affair, Caius’ hands came down on the nearest table as he tried to feel his way to the toilets to take a look at his face. His eyes stung and his vision was blurry, no doubt a side effect from the horrible curse one of the blood traitors back at the Ministry had placed upon him. As his hands came into contact with something that he thought to be parchment, the familiar voice of Lucille Jones rang out, her tone as irritated as usual. “Lucille!” He shouted quickly. “It’s me Caius! I ran into a stinging jinx and I can’t see, can you help me? Please I’ll get you a drink, a nice bag, a priceless artefact, whatever you want it’s yours!” 

burkehs​:

with: @youngestxlestrange || @wickedbellax || @badgepuff

“Well you only have to look at history.” Caius agreed, shrugging his shoulders and taking a sip of his pint. “Protests in our world go fucking nowhere, the squib marches of the 70s prove that more than anything, I mean look how many rights squibs have now, sweet fuck all…” He paused for a moment taking another sip of his beer. “People like Burbage are idealistic because they saw change in the Muggle world through similar methods, but were not Muggles and our world is nowhere near as broken as their one, it’s their ridiculous ideology breaking everything in my opinion.” Caius knew about various stages of Muggle history through the books he and Erik had read. In order to research artefacts that found their way into their shop they had to have some idea about the various stages of Muggle history as so often artefacts from their world had been cursed or enchanted and ended up in theirs. “I think good forward planning is better than anything Burbage and Fenwick can pull out of their bag,” he added with a wink in Bellatrix’s direction and giving Rabastan a nudge in the process. “What say you Lestrange, you’ve been awfully broody, all the Mudbloods giving you a stomach ache, it’s enough to turn even the strongest of guts.”

.

with: @wickedbellax || @burkehs || @badgepuff

​Rabastan had become very comfortable far too quickly. He always enjoyed hanging out with his friends at a bar and with the White Wyvern being deep in Knockturn Alley, you couldn’t hear the circus outside. He found himself allowing the others to carry the conversation, listening and watching the ice melt in his whiskey. It was the nudge that brought him back to reality. “When am I not broody?” He asked with a faint smile. Caius was right, nobody would even remember this march in 10 years time, the whole idea would be absurd, especially when the Dark Lord achieves his goals. “I had a similar conversation with Regulus this morning. He recons that the best way to dull the whole thing would be to delegitimise it. Make it really look like the joke it is.” He sipped his own drink with a shrug. “I’m just not sure how we can do that without being caught or stopped?” As he said the words he could already feel the mischief in him building, ready for action. Rabastan might not know what to do, but sure as merlin the others would.

.

Bella couldn’t help but scoff at the idea of Burbage thinking Muggle planning would be successful in the wizarding world. “Suppose they don’t realize we’ve always held more power here, we have enough control of the Ministry that nothing will ever get achieved the way they want,” She mused, taking a sip of her drink. Of course with the Dark Lord’s movement inching closer and closer to their goal everyday, these stupid attempts at making the wizarding world fair would moving further and further away from ever becoming a true thing. “Of course it is, we know what’s going to work and what we need to put into action to stop everything else,” Rolling her eyes at Caius and his flirtatious personality before turning to Rabastan. She leaned back in her chair as she reflected on what Rabastan and Regulus had talked about, of course her cousin was eager to dismiss the whole event as ridiculous and continue his day not caring to acknowledge it. In some ways she wish she could just turn a blind eye to the pathetic displace but one the other hand, she enjoyed riling all the protesters up as she poked holes in all their arguments. Taking another sip of her drink, she took a moment to swirl the liquid around as she got to thinking, “I heard some of them talking about having speeches today. Such inspiring people hoping to instill the crowd with their wisdom.” The witch spoke with an eye roll, it came as no surprise that Charity and Benjy would speak up but a few others had been unexpected. “Ted Tonks is one of them. I don’t know about you two, but I know I’d get a good laugh out of messing with that Mudblood.” || @burkehs​ || @youngestxlestrange​ || @badgepuff​​

Laughing once, he brought a hand to his friend’s shoulder and squeezed in gently. “That is true come to think of it Rab, you’ve always been a moody get.” He teased, taking another sip of his beer. “It’s all a big performance to make Burbage, Fenwick and all those other blood traitors feel like they’re doing something, they all go home to their fancy families and good jobs, they just like to pretend they’re all for the people when I bet half of them don’t care as much as they pretend to.” Caius was glad he had like minded friends that also felt no need to take part in this pretence that was suddenly all the rage. Caius Burke knew he was better than most. He was handsome, wealthy, intelligent and from a good family, he had the world at his feet and he had never been raised to apologise for it, nor ever would he. The mention of delegitimising the march, made his brain turn in all sorts of wicked ways, a large grin spreading over his face as he thought briefly about how to achieve such an aim. “We could play an old school joke...” He mused aloud, turning suddenly back toward Rabastan and  Bellatrix as he lowered his voice. “Remember back at school when they used to dump blue blood on us as a joke about purity... we could douse our old friend Tonks in a spot of brown emulsion, really show everyone what it looks like to be a dirty Mudblood while he’s spilling his guts talking about how hard his life is.” Caius knew it was a brilliant plan, his grin wider than it had been all day as he raised his pint of beer to his lips and took a long hard sip. “It’s just how to do it without us getting caught, wouldn’t be good for any of our names to be in the papers for something so childish, but I would love to see the look on all their faces when they realise they can shout as loud as they can but nothing will ever change.” He chuckled wickedly.

Who: Aleco and @burkehs​

Alecto still detested working. The young Carrow had never imagined her life would come to this. In actual fact she remembered being on the other side of the bar. Laughing and drinking the night away, but now she was the one serving the drinks. She hated it with a passion. The same passion with which she had hated it on her first shift. Her brother had said it would get easier, but she disagreed. The sooner they got back up in the world, the better.

But for tonight. She was behind the bar yet again. Tonight seemed a little more interesting though, with people discussing that march. She figured she hadn’t missed much. The night was going too badly, until she saw a familar figure walk in. Alecto sighed, unsure if she could face another night of watching Caius flirt. But still, the red head had a pint waiting for him on the bar once he’d sauntered over.

“Looks like you’ve had a tough day”

As the darkness of The Grave Affair began to engulf him, Caius felt himself breathe more easily, though he still felt like he was going to have a heart attack. The march had disrupted Wizarding London and through the painful haze of the stinging jinx he had managed to feel his way to the bar into the bathroom. Finally faced with the effects of the jinx Caius gasped in horror. The swelling had gone down but his face was red and blistered on the the side where the spell had hit his face. Luckily the bar wasn’t well lit and the red glow from what little light there was he hoped would disguise the injury. 

Breathing deeply, Caius pushed open the bathroom door and made his way onto the floor of the bar, eyes searching for a familiar face he could seek refuge with. The flash of red hair, almost made his heart stop, the bar was filled but all he could see was her. Moving quickly toward Alecto, he watched her place the pint of beer in front of her, a familiar grin on her face that disarmed him suddenly. Caius wasn’t sure how to behave around her, he’d been through something horrific yet he couldn’t tell her what or how he felt. Sinking into the stool in front of her, Caius smiled weakly, taking the beer with a shaky hand and sipping it briefly before setting it down again. “Have you seen it outside, it looks like a madhouse. You want to be happy you’re down here with all the normal people.” Picking up the beer again he sipped it a little more smoothly, settling into his usual confident facade though he still felt incredibly uneasy. “Has it been busy?”

with: @gidprewett

Rolling his eyes comically, Caius stepped ahead of the trio, filing into the little red phone box, closely followed by Erik and Gideon. The door swung closed behind them, with Caius stood at the back of the booth, whilst his two friends faced out into the street. “Well this is cozy.” Caius laughed, watching as Gideon swivelled around within the box and punched in a series of numbers which were attached to the phone inside the box. Suddenly, Caius felt a shudder, a series of creaking and cracking noises erupting around them. His eyes widened slightly, a look which was reflected back in Erik’s own as the booth began to move downward and the street above them disappeared. The box was plunged into darkness, prompting a moment of comedy. Impersonating a sad spirit, Caius began making loud ghost noises, prodding his two friends in the back and laughing until the box shuddered to a halt and the foyer to the Ministry was revealed. 

“Smashing stuff Prewett!” He commended, stretching slightly as he walked out into the basement level and looked around. “Right then! Which way is the prophecy room?” Doing a quick scan of the area, it seemed entirely empty, but even still Caius didn’t feel the need to hang around just in case anyone had taken the opportunity to do a bit of work that particular Saturday. His brief visits to the Ministry had just been that, but it was somewhere his sister had spoken about often enough for him to have a vague understanding of it as a building. Spotting the lift, he began striding toward it, grinning backwards at Erik who was staring up at the statue. “Come on fellas we haven’t got all day. My sister said she works on the 9th floor, so that seems a good a place as any to start having a look don’t you think?’ With the enthusiasm of a small child who’d been told he was allowed to push the buttons within a lift, Caius prodded the button to call the lift and smiled excitedly at his two comrades. “After you I think this time Prewett, you can press the next one Erik. Floor 9 and away we go!”

Gideon was never comfortable when he went on missions. Whether for the Order or for the Death Eaters he didn’t know a sense of comfort. A sense of belonging anymore. He was half in and half out on both sides. He couldn’t be a spy for the Death Eaters without helping them advance their objectives and he couldn’t help the Order without putting himself in jeopardy with the Death Eaters. Moments like this though made him feel like he had a sense of camaraderie even if it was with the wrong side. Erik and Caius would be his real friends in any other world. “Are you sure the ninth floor is where we want to go?” He questioned even as he followed the other two down the hall to the lift. He didn’t have any better guess as to where they should go. He knew how to get into the ministry but he didn’t know much else. 

A push of the button had them flying to the ninth floor and in no time the three of them were stepping out into the hallway. He didn’t know if they would run into anyone from the Order and he wondered who exactly they would have sent on the mission. He didn’t know for sure. He wasn’t told exact details of the missions he didn’t go on. He could thank his spy status for that he supposed but he knew someone would be going after the prophesy. “After you Caius.” He motioned the other in front of him as they continued on his eyes glancing at the signs on the different doors stating what they were. He let Erik stay in front of him as well wanting to be at the back in case they encountered anyone in the hallway. “Let’s make this quick. This place gives me the creeps. I’ve never liked spending time at the ministry. Too many worker bees you know?” He made his attempt at a joke as he smiled at the two other men trying to get his nerves out. 

As the lift shuddered to a stop, Caius followed his friends out into the hallway and looked around. A long corridor lay in front of them, immediately giving the floor a different feel to the others he had visited. “Well aren’t you polite Prewett.” Caius replied with a grin, winking at Gideon and wandering down the corridor with his two friends at his heels. “No I get you Prewett, give me haunted objects and a dark and dusty antiques shop any day of the week, I think I can smell the corruption from this place running down the corridor- thank Merlin people like my sister work here, good to know there are people with the right way of thinking here not fucking things up.” Given Lyra’s work, the two of them didn’t speak much about what she did. Her work in The Love Chamber remained a mystery to Caius, but she’d given him enough information he felt he could get them to The Hall of Prophecy without Amy issues. The corridor opened up into a strange foyer, black tiles surrounded the space and split off into more corridors. “My sister said she never has to pass through any of the other rooms, her one is locked...” Pointing to the corridors, he considered what lay behind each one. “One..two..three?” He wondered aloud, before pointing to the first corridor and nodding. “Let’s work methodically and try the first corridor, we can always loop back if we’re wrong.” 

Turning around to see his friends, Caius grinned and took the corridor, following it down as they plunged into darkness. “These people ever heard of a lamp?” He mused with a laugh. “It’s darker than the Slytherin dungeons in here.” As they moved further, a light began to appear through a crack under the door at the far end and a loud sound of ticking started to drown out the noise of the boys conversing. “Wands at the ready gents.” Caius said before opening the door and revealing the first room they had discovered in The Department of Mysteries. The Time Room.