In The Scary Scary Darkness

[Tallulah Skeffington]

(Dante Guerino Vroom)

With great power comes great responsibility. That wasn't an understatement. Tallulah bravely walked around the halls of Hogwarts, wand in hand, making sure that nothing suspicious was going on. With a steady hand she walked for what seemed like hours. Tallulah yawned so many times she lost count. Her only company was various pictures on the walls that either grunted at her presence or mumbled a feeble hello as she passed. This was going to be a long night.

Finally making it to the sixth floor she kept her steady pace. All she wanted to do was finish her patrol and make it back to her bedroom alive and with no problems. Until now nothing happened. Passing an unused classroom she heard something from inside the room. Her heart sped up as she stopped, hearing it again. Her thoughts went to the worst. Someone was breaking into the school or worse. She knew she was silly to think this. Raynor would have put the most powerful protection spells on the school. This was the safest place for them in the whole world. She should feel safe. Should being the word in question.

Her mind told her to run and find someone to help her. She shouldn't do this alone. It was idiotic. But what if it's nothing but a small animal or a house elf? She would be utterly embarrassed. She stood there in the moonlight as she contemplated her course of action. Both had their pros and their cons. In the end she went with the second one and decided to look in there by herself. As she lifted her hand to turn the knob she also lifted her wand, holding it at eye height. If anything was going to attack her she would give them one hell of a fight.

She turned to knob slowly, pushing against the door lightly. She didn't want to burst in on whatever was in there. The door's creaking added to the fear that was growing in her stomach. Tallulah took a step forward and stuck her wand into the room first. Quickly she walked into the room and scanned, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She didn't find anything. If you were to ask her if she heard anything she would swear she did. The feeling of dread slowly crept away but, since it wasn't away yet she dashed out of the room and back into the hall. Oh boy what a night this was turning out to be.

[Dante Vroom]

He flinched at a sound in the room, and instinctively looked back at the door. But the source of the sound went undetermined. So he went back to his device and connected the last string. He had to be quick, no time to figure out what the minor sound was. It was a dirty trick to be playing, and on his girlfriend no less. No one was safe though, and he knew she was well aware of that. Dante had to be quick with his work because he had no idea when exactly Tallulah would be walking past this area on rounds. He knew she did not like the dark of the castle, and she had told him of her fears on rounds. So what better thing than to keep her company for a bit, and maybe scare her. It would be a harmless joke they would laugh about later.

Wearing a blue hoodie with the hood up to somewhat hide his face he finished his work. He was not that worried if someone else came around. Being a prefect was the perfect excuse for leaving the dorms. Yes it was a minor abuse of his new title, but he figured as long as it was the worst thing he did for the year he was fairly safe.

For now though he had to make his way out of the classroom and to the next room down the hall. His strings would cause noise in the room as she passed, they ran just over the floor in the hall and into the closed room. He waited in the dark room and smirked. Ten or more minutes had passed before he heard footstep, and he peaked out of the room and caught a quick glimpse. It was her alright. He smiled more as he prepared for the sounds, his queue from the other room.

The pop was recognizable, as was the sound of the door opening. He stepped out of his own hiding spot, avoiding picking up his feet. He glided over to the now open door and waited. He crouched down a bit, ready to jump. As Tallulah left the room he jumped up “surprise,” he yelled with a huge grin on his face.

[Tallulah Skeffington]

Someone, something jumped out at her as she dashed out of the room. With a quiet yelp she raised her wand again and sent out sparks. As the sparks lit up the hall she saw who had jumped out at her. Dante. With a scowl that would give Tom Riddle the creeps she stood there half in shock, half in anger. He knew she was scared of the dark, more so he knew she was scared of doing her rounds. Tallulah was unable to say anything for a few seconds. She was still trying to regain some sort of composure. Once she gained it back she let loose on Dante.

"How could you do that?! You knew how scared I am." Hurt, her voice sounded hurt. He was her boyfriend. He shouldn't pull tricks on her like that. The scowl disappeared for her lips. She didn't know which emotion to feel at that moment. Sighing quietly she put her hand to her face and slumped against the wall. She was too tired to deal with this. These late night rounds were taking a toll on the Slytherin. You wouldn't notice unless you spent sometime around her. After a few more seconds of quiet she looked back over to him. "I'm sorry I yelled. I'm..you just scared the living crap out of me."

[Dante Vroom]

The reaction was not something Dante was expecting. Less of a jump, and afterward, even less of a smile, a laugh or anything pleasant. Actually, the glare he received made the boy stand straight up and give somewhat a puzzled look at his girlfriend. Oops, guess that was a mistake, the Ravenclaw thought to himself. He was just trying to make his entrance more grand than just walking up to her. Though, maybe that kind of entrance would have been a bit more

“I'm s-s-sorry hun” he said through his questioning expression, “I thought you could use some company out on rounds tonight.” He began to take a step toward her when she put her hand over her face. The gesture caused him to stop, hand extended just a bit in front of him it slowly came back to his side. Once she was talking to him again though he felt worse than just puzzled however. He felt bad, what did she have to apologize for? He was the one who should be making it up to her apparently. His joke had gone horribly wrong, that much he understood. “No need for you to apologize” he said through a smile.

He knew all about rounds getting to people. He remembered how tired he had been after his last tour through the castle. And Tallulah was no different than he was. It was a draining new task to add to their busy schedules, and it had allowed them to see each other even less than they were use to the year before. It was a change he was still adjusting to. He began to move closer to her, unsure what he should do at that very moment. Slump next to her, stand there, apologize and walk away? No, that last one was probably the worst of the ideas, so it was between standing and slumping. He waited for her reaction rather than to act on his own though. He had already apparently messed up once tonight, best not to make another mistake.