not herself [invite]

Dahlia had snuck out of Hogsmeade when she was meant to be there for the day. She had things to discuss with Hector about her potions and the business they would be starting together once the school year was over and she had graduated. Though, when she had walked into the shop something had caught her eye. It was a painting she assumed but it was covered by a sheet in a dark corner of the shop. She tried to avoid letting her curiosity get the better of her but it was too difficult since Hector was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she should have written to him to let him know she would be stopping by. But she hadn't been sure she would be able to sneak out and she hadn't wanted to keep him waiting in the event it had been impossible.

She moved over towards the sheet-covered painting as if it called to her. She knew that she shouldn't... But her good sense went out the window as she lifted her hand and her fingers closed around the fabric covering the canvas. She pulled it down and looked upon the painting. She had to admit that she was slightly disappointed. The portrait looked rather ordinary. At first it just looked like an empty castle. Nothing to write home about. So why had it been covered up? She wasn't entirely sure but she continued to study the image anyway.

That was when movement caught her eye. She looked at one of the windows of the castle and saw a pair of eyes staring back at her. They held her entranced for a moment, her green eyes locked on those that stared back at her. Then she blinked and the spell seemed to be broken but she couldn't help but to feel like something was off. She needed to get out of the store. She felt as if she had been there for far too long already. But what of her goal for coming here? It seemed of minimal importance now. She turned away from the painting and left the store without looking back, the sheet that had been over the picture still laying in a heap in front of it as she apparated back to Hogsmeade only to nearly run into someone as she exited the alleyway she had apparated into.

Piran had been invited to Ye Olde Nickelodeon by Jerome Estrada, which he found both surprising and extremely off-putting. He wondered when he'd made the mistake of giving the impression they were friends, or that he'd enjoy sitting in a darkened room with a stark screen, where the shadows would manifest very easily.

Seeing as it was a Hogsmeade weekend, however, he decided not to waste the opportunity to top up on supplies. Thankfully, he hadn't bumped into Estrada or any of his presumed friends. That meant he didn't have to give his excuse, which he'd formulated before exiting the castle, just in case.

He turned towards the cauldron shop near the river, walked across an alleyway, and almost inhaled someone's hair when they bashed into him.

Well - bashed wasn't the word. As Dahlia Travers was so slight, it was like a raven had lost its flight and flapped against him. As he emerged from the impact, however, raising his brow; he thought of how uncharacteristic it was of her to walk into people. She didn't seem the type to lose navigation. She moved with purpose, he thought, like fluid - weaving through the crowd like a wraith.

"Careful. Knock into me and you might come away being a coin purse lighter," he drawled, knowing that she already thought him to be untrustworthy. He just liked to sow some more seeds. Make them more paranoid. It was one way to have fun.

@Dahlia Travers

One moment she was turning the corner from the alleyway she had apparated into and the next, she found herself running into a solid body. What was she doing? She never had such issues of running into people, she was normally very graceful and observant of her surroundings. Green eyes trailed up to see that the person was none other than Vaulkley. When he spoke, she wanted to give some sort of biting retort. She wanted to tell him how she didn't doubt that was true. But there was something that held her back. She wanted to hurt him. But why would she want to hurt him so badly just because he had gotten into her way? It didn't make sense but as if something had overtaken her, she wanted to do more than poison him for his infraction which was the norm for her.

She wanted him to truly pay before he met his demise.

It was unlike her but at the moment she didn't even realize how much it was unlike her as she put her hand up to his chest as if she were trying to regain her balance when really she had never lost it. His heart beat beneath her palm and she got the strange desire to dig through his chest wall and into the organ... But that wouldn't do. She must break it first. "Vaulkley." She merely said his name, a purr not normally heard from her evident in her voice. "I didn't see you there." She said, more of an apology than she thought she had ever given to someone like him but what did it matter? She hadn't stepped away from him either.

@Piran Vaulkley

Ah, well, this - this was a clever bit of tickery, on her part. Her dark eyes were shimmering craftily as she kept her hand on his chest. At one point he thought she was pressing further onto his sternum, but far from being uncomfortable, he thought for a moment she was going to push him back...

It had to be a trick though. Dahlia wasn't known for ensnaring men with a sultry tone and a beckoning stare. Trick or not, he wasn't in any rush to call it out. Perhaps when she realised he was more than happy to play out this sort of scene with her, she'd drop the act.

"I never knew you were so forward," he said, sliding his fingers under a piece of her hair, brushing gently against her collarbone, then positioning it back behind her shoulder.

Now, give yourself away.

There was no way she would stand him touching her without a flinch of revulsion. No way she'd be able to listen to him without recoiling. "Do you really think I can complain now, when you sound so willing?"

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia was actually rather surprised that Vaulkley didn't at the very least step back and away from her touch. She had honestly expected him to slap her hand away, turn around, and walk away without a backward glance. But he seemed far more susceptive to her feminine charm than she had expected. Perfect. She didn't know why it was so important to her to seduce him but she knew that she had to. She had to make him pay. What he was paying for, she couldn't be sure but she was sure he wasn't without his sins.

He was watching her closely, waiting for her to slip up or maybe expecting her to have some sort of poison hidden that she might splash upon his skin when he wasn't looking? That would be far too easy. What she had in mind was something far more hands-on, something far more personal. But she knew that she had to convince him of her attraction to him first, make him fall in love with her and that would be when she would strike like the viper she was. It would be oh-so-satisfying. So, when he touched her hair with his large hands, she didn't let any sign of disgust flare in her emerald eyes. If anything there was excitement there. Things were falling into place so easily.

Thin shoulders were lifted at his questioning. "I have always been very forward about going after what I want." She said, and it was true. She worked hard for the things she wanted. She pored over potions tombs and spent countless hours testing and concocting to try to meet her goal. But this was a different goal. But oh, the thrill it gave her to think she would succeed! She could almost see the blood dripping between her fingers already.

"I would be very disappointed if you were to complain." She said with honesty in every word she spoke. It would be disappointing because that would make her goal so much more difficult. She moved her hand up his chest, not breaking contact until her fingers rested upon his cheek as a lover might. "Walk with me?" Because she knew that she couldn't make a scene standing here. If Comarth, Melanthius, or Bellona were to happen along then they could ruin everything! She didn't want that to happen. "Unless you're headed somewhere in particular or were hoping for solitude?" The streets were far emptier than normal, probably because much of the student body was at that muggle-inspired theater but she didn't care about them right then. Only that Vaulkley played into her hand.

@Piran Vaulkley

She didn't recoil, she didn't flinch, she didn't even blink.

Piran jerked his head back in blatant surprise, shattering his act at once. His lips parted and his brows knitted together. This was the logical part of him: saying that there was something undoubtedly wrong with her, that this wasn't the sort of trick she could pull off on her own. Was it Polyjuice potion? Was someone else imitating her? Had one of her potions unexpectedly backfired, or someone spiked her with a love potion designed to attract her to him?

He thought logically until her hand cupped his cheek. Then his oafish, male brain took over. Logic left the party. All he could think was that her eyes were very pretty, she was very clever, and exactly the sort of girl he wanted to walk with.

"Okay... we can walk," he murmured croakily, swallowing. "People must assume I'd want to be alone. But I don't, really..."

He shouldn't have admitted that. This is what happened to brainless twits when an attractive girl showed interest. Urgh. Logic, logic, logic: come on!

"Dahlia," he managed to interject, irritated with himself. "This is obviously some kind of ploy. You know that if you want something out of me, you can just pay. You don't have to go through the bother of flirting with me. I thought you worked in simple transactions. This isn't you." He narrowed his eyes, scanning her. "So what's happened? Why are you being this way? Are you really Dahlia?"

He tugged at her cheek, as though expecting a mask to fall off.

@Dahlia Travers

A frown turned down the corners of Dahlia's lips when he jerked away from her as if she had somehow burnt him. She had thought that things were going so well. He was buying into things perfectly... Or maybe he was just testing her. Even some part of her knew that this wasn't normal but she knew that she had to seduce him. It was very important that she did. He was putty in her hands once more when her hand cupped his cheek. Perfect. She would just have to make up excuses to touch him if she wanted this to work. It seemed he reacted very positively to her touch.

A bit of a smile now replaced the frown when he agreed to walk with her and explained how he didn't really want to be alone. "I had always assumed you were the type that would rather be your own company. I stand mistaken." She admitted. Hadn't he always been a solitary type much like herself? She thought so but maybe he didn't enjoy it but his constant hustling for money was what drove others away. It was possible.

They had only taken a few steps when she heard him speak her name. Had he ever called her anything other than Travers? That was what most people called her... Maybe that meant they were dropping the proper facade because she was already breaking through his walls. Her own brows drew together. "I'm not flirting with you because I want something from you, Piran." She said as if the notion was crazy. "I have no problems using more direct means if I am in search of a simple transaction." She said with another frown. "Maybe I just saw you in a different light when you actually agreed to help us the other day at Bellona's request." It would make sense, right? She hadn't trusted him... Hadn't expected him to do anything other than run straight to Headmaster Riddle and rat them out but since they hadn't been expelled yet she assumed that he hadn't. "I didn't trust you any further than I could toss you but maybe I was wrong." She knew that she wasn't. He would still doublecross her in the drop of a hat if it suited him better but it sounded good... At least, she thought that it did.

@Piran Vaulkley

His brows knitted further, his eyes darting between her left and right, as though searching for a sign or a glint or a fleck of deception.

The polyjuice potion theory went out the window. Only she, Lestrange, Burke and Selwyn would know about the help he'd given to the group after they'd returned from Hogsmeade in the middle of the night. He felt as though Burke wouldn't be able to pull off something like this for several reasons: touching his face being one of them. Lestrange couldn't for the same reason. Selwyn was unapologetically himself, so Piran would have seen right through him.

As for love potion, this wasn't characteristic of any love potion he knew. Dahlia wasn't throwing her arms around him, desperate and fawning and giddy. She still sounded like herself somewhat: able to think rationally, for starters.

"What about Selwyn?" he pressed, still unconvinced, no matter how much his hormones were instructing him to throw caution to the wind. "I thought you two were together. Or you were trying to convince everyone you were together, or something - I don't care - the point being that this could be counter-intuitive..."

@Dahlia Travers

Selwyn? Why cared about Selwyn at that moment in time? Then he went on about the little act that they were supposed to be putting on for their families to keep them both from being paired off in arranged marriages with people who might get in their way. But that didn't seem to matter to her all that much now. "You let me worry about that." She said, letting it be known that she thought that the case was closed. It would all be made clear to anyone who might witness this in time. They would all understand once she was able to carve his heart from his chest.

"Unless you're worried that Selwyn might have a problem and think he might cause you issues." If he wouldn't go for her flattery then maybe he would rise to the challenge. No guy would want to have a girl think that he was too intimidated by someone else to be seen with her. It would make him seem weak and she was pretty sure by the way that Piran had already reacted to her advances that he wouldn't want her to see him as being some sort of a wimp. "If he makes you nervous I understand..." She said, looking away from him with a sigh.

@Piran Vaulkley

"He doesn't make me nervous," he muttered exasperatedly, with a pinch of annoyance mixed in there. Her desired effect was achieved, but he wasn't to know that.

Of course he wasn't intimidated by weedy Comarth Selwyn, he thought. Perhaps if this was a different situation that didn't involve her flirting with him, his analysis would've been more thorough. However, the idea of them walking side by side appealed to him. That was the bottom line.

"If you say you'll take care of it, then so be it."

Perhaps he should try relaxing now. The shadows were becoming restless: he could feel them. For once he would like to take a walk without thinking about the possibility of them manifesting into something sinister.

A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Shall we go and get a drink at The Three Broomsticks?"

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia had known that insinuating that Piran might be intimidated by Comarth would have the desired effect. Sure enough, she had been right since he immediately jumped to defend himself. The corners of her lips turned up just a little bit, probably the closest to a smile that most people would ever see from her. Though, she said nothing and just continued walking. She never was one to be very chatty and even now she couldn't find it in her to break the comfortable silence between them. This was working out perfectly.

Even more perfectly than she realized, it seemed. Once again he was rewarded with the corners of her lips tipping up just that little bit before responding. "Not afraid I might slip something into it?" She said, teasing a bit just as he had about her losing her coin purse to him. "I wouldn't do that, of course. Too many witnesses." She assured him. Not that she wanted to poison him and if he knew anything about her then he would know that if she wanted to that witnesses wouldn't matter. "I am growing quite parched, though." She finally agreed.

@Piran Vaulkley