Surrounded By Shadows (Dare)

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn gasped in shock. "You know the name of the fan-club?" Her eyes narrowed in mock suspicion. "I'd say that the other members have been leaking information but I know that I haven't mentioned the name to anyone...unless I talk in my sleep. Then the girls in my dorm would know." Myn played along with the scene he set easily. Playing the admiring fan was a new experience for her, a completely different attitude to the quiet and compassionate personality that was actually hers. "Biggest and most devoted fan. Thats definitely me. I'm surprised you haven't noticed me following you around and waiting outside your classes." Myn grinned at Dare mischievously, her eyes shining with youthful laughter.

Myn lifted herself up onto her toes lightly, attempting to see what Dare was writing on the parchment. Her nose wrinkled slightly in amused annoyance when she realised that she couldn't actually see anything. Being short was really disadvantageous at times. Myn merely blinked as he tapped her nose and let a small smile cross her face. He reminded her of her cousin in a way, her cousin had always treated her like Dare did. Tapping her nose, ruffling her hair and letting her tease him. Sadness dampened the laughter in her eyes for a moment. If she had seen more of her cousin then maybe she could have thought of him as a brother more than a cousin. Myn shrugged slightly, there was no way to change the past and so there was no good dwelling on it. She could've had a brother-figure but she didn't, there was no way to change that. "Dare or Ray," she looked up at him thoughtfully. "Which do you prefer?"

"I sometimes wonder why we have feelings. They complicate things beyond our wildest imagination. But...they also liven things. Without feelings, we wouldn't be scared or angry or depressed. Yet without feelings, we wouldn't ever fall in love or have true friends or even joke around. Its a two-sided coin and it spins on a fine line between good and bad. The bad side is if we choose to bury our feelings and never show that we have any. The good side is if we accept all of our feelings and hide none. To accept the laughter and the sadness, the depression and the happiness, the hysterics and the hyperness." Myn looked down after her speech, unused to talking so much and about such important things. In her eyes, she was only a child, able to comprehend what was going on but almost unwilling to admit it. Childish innocence was robbed by the horrors of the world and Myn wasn't ready to relinquish her innocence yet. Myn raised an eyebrow in slight amusement. "Clouds?"

[darien]

Dare chuckled a little as Myn tried to see what he wrote on the parchment. Dare raised his hands a little to prevent Myn from seeing not that he had to worry too much about it. Myn lowered herself back and continued walking next to him. Dare pretend to be shocked as he glanced at Myn and placed one of his hands over his heart while gasping: “That was you? Do you always purr while stalking people or should I feel privileged? And are those small presents and chocolates on my pillow from you?” Dare smiled at Myn happily as he played with his own fantasy. He wasn’t sure how correct it was though. Dare didn’t have much first hand experience with stalking people.

Dare stared off into space thoughtfully. Dare or Ray. “My family calls me Dare, except for that parchment dry grandfather I have already mentioned. And my closest friends call me Dare. Professors usually call me Darien, mr. Fletcher or Ray. And random people who just socialize with me when there’s nothing better to do call me Ray. I’m afraid I can’t give you a straight answer to that. I react to both names and there are people who call me either way. So I think you’ll have to decide yourself which nickname fits me more, doll.” Dare listened to Myn’s musings carefully looking at her without interrupting her words.

“Maybe I should ask for your autograph before you go and become all famous philosopher,” Dare commented with a smile after Myn had finished. Are smiled gently with some pride as if he had prompted the words to flow out. “How would we know good without bad? How can we appreciate something if we don’t know what if feels like to loose it? How can you eve understand that life doesn’t have a value unless you have suffered through heart-break when someone close to you has died? It’s a hard question you ask and I’m afraid I don’t know how to answer to it.” Dare smiled and glanced upwards searching the sky for some cloud. Finding one Dare touched Myn’s shoulder and pointed the cloud out to her.
“Clouds. See that one just there? It can hold some water in it? And then the cloud comes and sees that I have to wash my hair and decides to give me a hand and starts a small rain on top of my head. But will I appreciate it? Hardly. See? The cloud only wanted to hand, yet I would curse out at it. I’m prejudiced against clouds,” Dare said with a wink and a smile as he explained his train of thought.

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn shook her head with mock-seriousness. "Oh, the purring isn't me. That'll be my kitten. You've probably seen her around, she's always wandering around. I spend half the day looking for her." Myn's face lit up as she talked about her kitten. That kitten was the most precious thing in her life and Myn would be devastated if she ever lost her, despite all the hours she spent looking for the kitten. Myn smiled impishly, never even considering that Dare would take her seriously about the stalking. "Chocolates and presents on your pillow? That's not me, must be another admirer. She, I'm assuming its a she, would have to be third year or older and get the presents and chocolates from Hogsmeade so it can't be me." Myn performed a rather strange hop-skip-jump walk to catch up to Dare, her small legs struggling to match the pace he set but her childishness providing her with ways to keep up.

Myn listened to Dare carefully, her eyes narrowed slightly in a mixture of concentration and thoughtfulness. Dare had first introduced himself as Ray, which made sense since he wasn't exactly expecting to be stuck with a crying girl. Then he had invited her to use either name after he tried to comfort her. And now he said that 'Dare' was reserved for his closest friends. Myn squirmed slightly before deciding to stick with Ray. She didn't want to use a name that his closest friends used when she had only just met him.

Myn laughed in surprised delight. She had only spoke her mind but Dare thought of her as a budding philosopher, the idea of him joking about it crossed her mind and was shrugged away. Why spoil a compliment, even if it was only said in jest, by dwelling on it for too long? "You can have my autograph anytime, Ray. I don't know what you would do with it but you can have it." Myn grinned at him easily, comfortable with the joking and banter. "Sure, we wouldn't know good without bad but if we didn't have bad, then would we really need to know good? Without bad, we'd all be good and therefore wouldn't need to know good. But without bad, life would be considerably more boring. Bad can make our lives more exciting, if given in the right amount."

A tap on the shoulder caught Myn's attention and she followed Dare's gaze to the sky. Myn looked at him in laughing exasperation. Gryffindors really did seem to have the queerest logic. "So stop cursing at the poor cloud and get on with washing your hair. That poor cloud only wants to help but instead hears your curses and feels upset. You owe the cloud an apology, you meanie." Myn stuck her tongue out at Ray childishly, her compassion truly caught by the fantasy plight of the cloud. Trying to help but being cursed at, it served Dare right if he did get wet!

[darien]

“That purring isn’t you? Shameful. I was already starting to feel privileged. I’ll live and what makes you think it’s a third year? Ever heard of owl deliveries?” Dare winked at Myn messing up her hair while slowing his pace a little bit. Myn didn’t seem to have much trouble with hopping around him but Dare knew from walks with his younger sister that such kind of constant skipping could be quite tiring. It would be easier for him to slow down a little as his legs were longer than Myn’s. Dare squinted towards the sky as he gave Myn’s quill back to her as well as he tired to guess what time it was. Not that it mattered much to him right now as he rather enjoyed the current company but it was always useful to know what time it was. It wasn’t polite to be late to anywhere.

“I’d sell it when you become old and famous and I’d become rich. Have my future secured that way. And I still don’t disagree with you. Without knowing good and bad we wouldn’t be human. Animals don’t have a sense of good and bad, they just follow their instincts. As we have created laws and regulations for us to follow, then we should also know what would happen if we broke those rules. We have to know anarchy in order to appreciate democracy.” Dare shook his head before bursting out laughing at Myn’s words. Bad was good to some extent? Who was smart enough to judge when there was enough of bad? “Tall, dark, handsome and evil. Yes, I know that’s all you girls think of leaving simple guys like me in dirt to sigh after you! That’s the bad you would enjoy?” Dare asked with a chuckle as he looked at Myn.

Dare laughed and turned to look at the cloud again. “Sorry, cloud, I didn’t mean any harm! I just needed an example, you know! But I still would greatly appreciate if I could wait with washing my hair a little bit! Just washed them this morning!” Dare called after the cloud before waiting for a few moments for a reply. Dare pulled on a sad face and picking up a random small flower from the side of the path handed it to Myn: “I think I hurt the clouds feelings. Could you forward my apologizes to it once again as you seem to be quite friendly with the clouds?”

[Myn Katrenya R2]

"I'm sure that Sleet would purr at you anytime you want. Getting me to purr however, might prove slightly more difficult." Myn tilted her head to grin up at him before turning slightly red with embarrassment at his next comment. "Oh...right. Owl deliveries. Forgot about them..." Myn stuck her tongue out at him childishly, not bothering to smooth her hair although she could practically feel it standing on end. Who was there to impress when you were eleven years old? There were so many things that were so much more important! Like reading and learning. Myn sighed in relief as Dare slowed down and switched back to a normal walk, it was fun to walk that way but not very practical. All the hopping and skipping and jumping soon sapped energy, even the unboundless energy of a child.

"Oh now thats not fair! I gave you my autograph for free and you're going to make me pay for yours!" Myn pouted sulkily, her arms folded across her chest but her green eyes twinkling with laughter. "Of course animals have a sense of good and bad. Its just slightly different to our definition of good and bad. Animals have a code to follow, just as we do. They probably find us strange and think that we don't have a sense of good and bad, just because ours is different from theirs. I know that my kitten knows how to behave...I hope she does anyway. If not then I'll have to have a talk with her. Make sure she knows about right and wrong."

Myn blinked up at him in confusion, how did they go from good and evil to boys? Wasn't that more of a girl thing? Well, thats mostly all she heard the girls gossiping about in the Student Lounge, it was enough to drive her away from it forever. "Dare, if you've been sighing over me then you have a bigger problem than who I find attractive. And while I admit that tall, dark and handsome sounds extremely enticing, the evil part deters me. And you're not simple! Dare, you are a heck of a lot more intelligent than some of the muggles I have met and probably some of the wizards that I have yet to meet. How many of them would have had the compassion to help a stranger, let alone have the knowledge of how to comfort her." While her words had started out as teasing, they quickly turned annoyed and at the end of her mini-outburst, Myn had stopped walking and was glaring at him. Her green eyes gleamed up at him with anger, Myn may have only known him for a while but she trusted him already and she wouldn't hear a bad word against anyone she considered a friend. Not even by the person in question. Friends were in short supply for the serious child and that made them even more appreciated.

Myn looked up at the cloud thoughtfully, her lips moving in a silent conversation. Finally, she turned back to Dare and smiled at him triumphantly. "The clouds have agreed to forgive you but on one condition." Myn paused for dramatic effect before telling him what the clouds had ordered. "They want...a song. And a dance. And perhaps some acting." Her triumphant grin turned to a serious smile and Myn nodded to show that she was being truthful. Only the slight twitching of her lips as she fought to keep back her laughter gave her away.

[darien]

“Sleet? That’s an interesting name. I take it that you aren’t prejudiced against bad weather then. Or at least prejudiced against weather that is usually considered bad. And getting you to purr? Would it be that hard really, doll?” Dare grinned wickedly as he reached out to grab Myn and tickle her, “Are you ticklish, doll? We’re about to see that, aren’t we? And maybe we will even manage to get you to purr.” Dare laughed himself as he tickled Myn for a few moments before returning to the little bit more serious conversations they were also balancing. Animals and their codes of ethics. Actually Dare found himself doubting the fact. He liked the fat old cat they had back at home but that didn’t mean Dare thought animals to be equal to humans. “I think it’s rather different for animals. They don’t try to impress others from their species by how much feathers they have or something like that at most cases. It’s rather that carniavores kill only when they are hungry and no more. That’s unlike humans. Hunters kill if they want to so humans need a harsher moral to make sure we keep on behaving.”

Dare laughed and raised his arms in a gesture to show surrender. Chuckling deeply Dare glanced at Myn with some amusement glinting in his eyes. “Glad to know you don’t think of me as the big bad wolf who came outside to eat you up, doll. Though you certainly would have made a delicious snack I believe. And I do believe it’s not fair to compare me to muggles. We just know different things. Muggles know next to nothing about real magic as they don’t tend to believe their fairy-tales. And I don’t have a clue how they manage their everyday lives without magic. I would be like a headless chicken to use a bad metaphor if I ever landed in some muggle city. I wouldn’t know what to do as I couldn’t really use magic there either. And if I happened to land there without my wand I think I would simply sit down and cry for mommy.”
Dare raised Myn’s chin a little while winking at her: “Do have some faith in people, doll. Most everyone would have stopped. You have just got to have some faith in people to make it through life happily.”

Dare observed Myn almost quizzically as she conversed with the clouds quietly applauding for the little actress. Her imagination could be applauded too. “A song? I’m afraid I don’t know many,” Dare admitted with a small smile before thinkginf for al itlte bit. He had an acceptable voice even if Dare did miss a note as he started humming Lady in red while making a sweeping bow before Myn and holing his hand out for her: “May I have your hand for the dance, doll?”

[Myn Katrenya R2]

"I love sleet, both the weather and the kitten. How anyone can find sleet to be bad weather is beyond me. If there is sleet outside then you'll find me there, sitting or dancing. Though I'm not that good a dancer, I must admit." Myn lifted an eyebrow at Dare in faint amusement. "Me, purring? That would be beyond hard, that would be impossi-" The end of the word was lost in laughing shrieks as Myn squirmed and twisted to try to escape. "Mean! Have mercy!!" Not many people had discovered that Myn was ticklish and she was usually careful to hide her weakness, especially since her Dad had found out and tickled her ruthlessly. Myn sighed in relief as Dare let go, sticking out her tongue childishly and skipping backward a few steps to get out of his range. After having only just escaped Dare's strong hold, Myn wasn't really eager to be caught again although she privately admitted that it was fun. More fun than she'd had in a while.

"How do you know? Some animals might try to show off. Humans do and humans are mammals, just like some animals. Who's to say that dogs and cats don't try to impress each other? Though not with how many feathers they have, surely. Wouldn't that be rather difficult for dogs and cats?" Myn smiled impishly, already planning ways to get revenge for the tickling attack. Oh no, if Dare thought that he was going to get away with it then he had to think again. "Stop focusing on the small part of what I was saying! Though no, you're certainly not a big bad wolf. Maybe...an angel in disguise? Or perhaps the devil?" Myn smiled mischievously, mentally sorting him into the angel category but to be honest, all of her friends would go into the angel category just for being there for her.

"I believed my fairy tales," Myn smiled sheepishly at her innocence, "but in my defense, they turned out to be true. Wizards, witches, goblins. I half expect to turn around and see a frog asking me to kiss him and turn him into my prince. I don't think thats likely to happen, unfortunately." Myn shrugged, she had abandoned her wishes about a frog prince about a week after discovering that her Dad's fairy stories were real. Myn had spent many nights curled up in bed, reading the stories written for her in the scruffy hand-writing of her Dad. They seemed so much more intriguing than the muggle ones. "I lived without magic until I got my letter, its not really that hard. The problem with you,and mostly every other pureblood here, is that you wouldn't last five minutes in the muggle world. And one day you might need to and you wouldn't have a clue. Thats why I'm grateful that my Dad raised me in the muggle world, I can survive in both worlds now." Myn smiled and shrugged again, knowing that one day the light side of the war might have to move into the muggle world. If they did then the muggles would find out about them in seconds, not every muggle was as blind as purebloods seemed to think.

"Faith in people? I give faith where its deserved. Faith and trust isn't something to be thrown about, Dare, they have to be earned. And it takes a long time to build both and they can be destroyed in less than a second." Her serious side evaporated after those words and Myn laughed quietly at Dare's bow before returning it with a fairly impressive curtsy of her own...well, it would have been impressive if she hadn't tripped over and was now lying on the floor. Myn waved up at Dare sheepishly and jumped up energetically, her enthusiasm not harmed by the fall although her elbow would undoubtedly be bruised in the morning. "Of course you can have my hand, Dare. But would my hand really be much good for dancing? Surely the whole of me would be better." Myn tilted her head, trying to remain serious but failing, as the quirk of her mouth showed.

[darien]

Dare smiled a little as he listened to Myn’s chattering. She seemed to have gotten over her bit stressing and depressed mood and there seemed to be no end to her energy. Dare rather liked that so he laughed along with Myn easily before she managed to squirm away. “Oh, are you trying to earn some more tickling, doll?” Dare asked with a grin taking a couple of steps towards Myn as she stuck her tongue out towards him. Not that Dare really meant it seriously. You couldn’t really over-do anything, lest is lost it’s charm. Besides Myn had skipped out of his reach anyway for the time at least.

Dare threw his head back and laughed out loud. “Angel or devil? I’m afraid you are sadly mistaken, doll. I’m neither. Just a simple mammal here. So perhaps big bad wolf would hit closest to that as I’m not entirely sure angels or devils for that matter have kids and kindergartens.” Dare winked at Myn cheerily finding the idea amusing which caused him to let out one more gasp of laughter. Laughter was always good but If you couldn’t make fun of yourself, then laughter didn’t sound correct. Then you became bitter and easily insulted and life kind of just lost it’s charm. Dare didn’t want to end up like that. “Now, don’t go kissing frogs, doll, when there are perfectly suitable chaps around. Even if I do understand that you need a collection of princes before you make up your final decision. But dating a frog has the disadvantage that you never do know when the prince turns back into a frog. And while I don’t know about you, personally I would rather dislike constantly kissing a toad.”

Dare smiled and nodded. He was a pureblood and had been raised as one. His parents were a bit curious about muggles as both had some contact with them in their fields of work. But Dare didn’t know much about them. Muggles were just… so different and while Dare sometimes tried he couldn’t really completely fathom how they managed with their lifestyles. He knew that among the 7th and 6th years there were even some purebloods who could drive a car and who frequently visited the muggle world, but Dare knew he wouldn’t last there alone. “Maybe one day you’ll show me miracles of the muggle world then, doll. You could make sure I’d last. Unless it starts raining. How did that limerick go? Girls are made of sugar and strawberries and everything sweet, while boys are made of dog-tails, warts and something more?” Dare looked at Myn with a small smile as he shook his head almost morosely. Faith isn’t to be thrown about? There were so many people who thought this, so many who believed it and acted after this mantra. Maybe that was why there were so many conflicts and fights in the world.

“You believed your fairy-tales, but did you actually read them? Would the hero or heroine in those stories have made it on his or her own? They trusted people, had faith in their kindness. If you don’t even give the other person a chance, why would he try to be kind back? You have to have faith, otherwise you will one day wake to see all your dreams crumbled into nothingness and no one there,” Dare told Myn almost sadly as he looked at her for a few long moments. He could talk in length as to how Slytherins weren’t bad to the bone and how there were still good did being done, but Dare didn’t do it. There was no need. Myn would either have to learn it herself or otherwise learn to life on her own. If you didn’t open up, you couldn’t expect other to.

“So it’s an ultimatum? The whole of you if I want to dance with your arm?” Dare asked while thinking for a few moments, “I think I’ll take the whole of you at that case. I do adore your hand after all,” Dare took Myn’s hand bowing and raising her fingers to his lips in a fully chivlarious gesture, “It’s my pleasure to have this dance, mademoiselle.” Dare twirled around with Myn in quick dance-steps while seeking the cloud from the sky with his eyes from a moment before peeking down towards Myn again: “Think the poor cloud I was so prejudiced against feels a bit better now?

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn jumped back again and laughed. "No more tickling. Bad Dare! Bad! I'll get Sleet to scratch you." Myn threatened, managing to stop her laughter long enough to deliver the threat before collapsing into laughter again. Sleet couldn't hurt anyone but Dare didn't need to know that. He could just live in fear of a big cat attacking him while Myn kept the fact that Sleet was tiny and gentle to herself. Myn tilted her head thoughtfully, eyeing Dare intently. How to get revenge? Tickling him in return was merely copying his idea and she had no guarantee that Dare was ticklish anyway. No, best to wait a while and plan it out. Only then would the revenge be amplified to its maximum potential.

"I'm never mistaken. Ravenclaws are always right, didn't you know?" Myn shot a superior glance at Dare, easily slipping into the role of an arrogant know-it-all. Myn had the untrained talent of changing herself to make people like her and used it often but rarely did she allow herself to play about like this, slipping from role to role just to amuse herself. "And, as an intelligent young idiot," Myn continued with a slight smile, "I hereby declare you to be an angel. An angel of compassion." Myn glanced up at him, her green eyes filled with laughter, thanks and a hint of affection. Dare had helped her and comforted her and Myn swore to never forget it. That was proof that some good did exist in humans and it was proof enough for Myn. If Dare could help her then surely there was someone out there waiting for someone else to help them? And maybe that help would arrive in the form of a studious and quiet eleven year old who had more tears than laughter but was slowly changing.

"Perfectly suitable chaps." Myn repeated dubiously, her pale cheeks holding just the slightest hint of a blush. Eleven was young for a relationship and Myn didn't care for one but the prospect was interesting if not slightly embarrassing. "Frogs might just be more interesting than the boys here, Dare They're all the same and none are interesting. Which makes frogs look more appealing day by day. So I'll keep kissing my frogs and hopefully, my dream prince will appear and sweep me off my feet. Not just yet though, maybe when I'm as old as you." Myn smirked at Dare mischievously, her eyes dancing with suppressed laughter. It was easy to laugh about it now, when boyfriends and princes seemed to be a distant event on the horizon but Myn wouldn't be laughing when she finally found interest in boys and still found none to her liking.

"Make sure you'd last? What makes you so sure that I won't make a bit of extra money by selling you to a circus and letting the circus animals eat you?" Myn laughed easily, green eyes glinting with mock-seriousness, "Seriously Dare, I'll show you around the muggle world whenever you like. I think Dad has plans to move us into the wizarding world but I'll still be visiting the muggle world. There are too many wonderful things there to not visit. Dad wouldn't move us far anyway, just from the muggle part of London to the wizarding part, I expect." Myn shrugged, determined to have her way about visiting the muggle world. She had spent most of her life there and had friends there, Myn wasn't willing to give that up. Eventually she would have to, the differences between the two worlds were too great and she couldn't keep hopping from one to another, but not yet. Maybe soon but not yet.

Myn listened to Dare's words, considering his point and storing it in the back of her mind. Later on, when she was alone, Myn would think over it and come to a decision. Whether to believe or not. It was a big decision but one that had to be made, despite the impact it would have on her future. Myn grinned in childish delight as Dare started to twirl them around, matching his steps with an uneasiness that gradually turned to familiarity as the dance continued. "Oh I'm pretty sure that the cloud has forgiven you by now. But surely the poor cloud, who had to suffer your anger and annoyance, would prefer for you to ask it yourself. Only the cloud knows how it is feeling."

[darien]

((Sorry, for not replying for so long. But Dare has lost his finger and has to think a lot so I think it's time to call this thread to an end, no matter how amusing it has been. We can have an other one somewhere else. )

Dare laughed as Myn threatened him with her cat. Scratch him? Scratches healed. Dare wouldn’t be afraid of the cat until the cat actually came chasing after him. He would scramble to find some suitable treat to use a bribe when the problem actually rose up. Until then he would continue being the happy-go-lucky fellow most of the school was used to seeing in him. Or at least the girls had. Dare glanced at Myn and smiled a little with a shake of his head: “I’m glad I’m not a Ravenclaw then. I’d hate to be right all the time. I would destroy all the fun of guessing and having someone as pretty taking time to talk to me and correct me. Or maybe I’m just saying that because I don’t know how it would feel to be an all powerful know-it-all. Knowledge is power after all.” Dare winked towards Myn. He wasn’t stupid at all but dare rather enjoyed studying with someone else, especially so if the someone else was a female. That made the process all the more interesting and fun.

Dare cluctched his heart playfully even as he laughed out loud. “As old as I am? You wound me, doll. Do I really seem that ancient already? As if I’m from the previous century? Or maybe even from the time of the French Kings? Or were you only referring to my dazzling wisdom that has been gathered with hard work over the years?” Dare laughed out loud once more being amused himself as well over the concept that he had spent his time gathering wisdom. He had learned when opportunities arouse, but he most surely hadn’t gone out of his way to find the opportunities. The experience of life he did actually possess came from the numerous times he had been wrong or mistaken and Dare knew that he would still have many errors coming up to him. Yet if Myn wanted to see compassion and an angel in him, then why not let her? It might urge her to open up to others as well because no member of mankind could live and survive alone.

“Frogs are interesting. Boys are all the same and boring. I am a boy. Therefore I’m boring and there are hundreds of thousands of others like me around. Following that logic you just named the whole male gender to be angels of compassion. But as you are the Ravenclaw who is never wrong – I suppose there is a point there in your words,” Dare told Myn with a wink, messing up her hair once again before looking up as a droplet of rain fell onto his head. While they had been walking and talking Dare’s earlier guess had came true. The sky was covered with clouds and it was most surely going to start raining. “Come on,” Dare told Myn taking her hand as they ran back towards the castle to get under shelter. They weren’t soaked by the time they got there but a little bet wet still. Laughing Dare pulled the door open and let Myn slip in before he entered the school himself. “I suppose I’ll have to go and wash my hair no after all.” Dare smiled and gave a pat on Myn’s shoulder that was still covered with his jacket as Dare had placed it on the younger girl when he first noticed her, “Go get dressed in something warm as well. I’ll see you around, alright?” Dare waved at Myn before heading towards the staircase to treck upwards 7 stories to reach his common room.

[Myn Katrenya R2]

"Knowledge is power," Myn agreed quietly, grinning at Dare's wink. "But power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Being a Ravenclaw isn't so bad because none of us know everything - thus pushing us to learn more in the race to be the first to gain the power of knowledge," Myn chuckled, amused by the idea of being an all-powerful know-it-all. Many other people knew more than her but one day she would know those things too; of course, older people would still know more but that would just push her to learn more in an attempt to better herself and further her knowledge. Absolute power might corrupt but Myn wasn't after absolute power. Just enough knowledge to help her get good OWL and NEWT results. After all, the weren't so far away as people might think. Just four years until OWLs - less than four years since it was nearly the end of Myn's first year - and less then six years for the NEWTs! Knowledge would definitely be a good thing to have during those exams.

Myn laughed with pure enjoyment before answering, using the few seconds of laughter to think up a friendly retort. "Of course you're old, Dare. I can just see the wrinkles appearing on your face. You've gained another ten wrinkles just during this conversation. You should invest in some anti-wrinkle cream." Myn nodded seriously, showing no sign of laughter or joking except the teasing lilt to her voice and the slight quirk of her lips. "Dazzling wisdom? Surely you mean startling delusions. After all, if you consider yourself to be full of wisdom then you must be utterly delusional. But to answer your original question; yes, you're old. Possibly from three centuries ago but I'm not quite sure. I wasn't the one alive all that time ago so I wouldn't know." Myn grinned easily and blew a lock of hair out of her eyes again, making a mental note to either tie her hair back next time she ventured into the grounds again or to get it cut over the summer. She'd probably choose the first option. Myn's hair might not be the silkiest or the most beautiful but she liked it just the way it was; regardless of annoying locks of hair in her eyes.

"Oh I didn't mean you, Dare," Myn waved a hand dismissively. "You're interesting. Well, as interesting as a boy can be, I suppose. Since you've made it quite clear that you are a boy. Which rather destroys my previous theory that you were a girl." Myn raised an eyebrow questioningly. She had named all boys to be compassionate angels? Had all boys stopped to comfort a crying girl? Myn didn't think so. Therefore not all boys were compassionate angels and shouldn't be labeled as such unless they actually did something worthy of the title. Myn looked up in surprise when the rain started to fall. She hadn't even noticed the clouds gathering overhead. Myn wrinkled her nose slightly as Dare took her hand and made her run toward the castle but followed dutifully. Rain wasn't so bad and Myn generally would have stayed out there to enjoy the refreshing feeling of rain falling on her face. Eh well, she could always go back out later and jump in a puddle or two. Rain was full of possibilities, whether the rain was still falling or not.

"Yes, yes. You go and act like a girl and wash your hair." Myn rolled her eyes and smiled playfully. "Yes, mother. I'll wrap myself up in a blanket and a thick woolly jumper." Myn chuckled quietly, watching Dare walk away. Myn pulled a hand through her hair, shuddering at the wet feel of her hair. Honestly, it must look completely tangled and probably was. Myn opened her mouth to call Dare back when she realized that she was still wearing his jacket but closed her mouth again when Dare disappeared from sight, probably heading for Gryffindor Tower to get changed. "Boys," Myn muttered quietly, turning to make her way toward her own common room. "They'd forget their own head if it wasn't attached to their body." Myn rolled her eyes in faint exasperation. Now she'd have to head to the Owlery later to send the jacket back to him. After all, Hogwarts was a big place and had many students. What was the likelihood of Myn meeting him again? They weren't in the same house, weren't in the same year, probably shared no friends or acquaintances. No, owl delivery was definitely the best bet for returning the jacket. Myn sighed, making her way toward the other side of the castle to get changed. Maybe rain wasn't so good after all.

((Amusing it has been but all good things come to an end. How nice of you to leave Myn your jacket though, I'm she'd love to add it to her shrine. ))