Exploring Hogsmeade [Aldrich + Aleta]

Aldrich was in a very good mood, very good indeed. For you see, this weekend, he didn't have any duties, didn't have any homework, no detentions to supervise, nothing. This week end, for the first time since he had got here, he would be able to relax.

He went to the window of his room and looked out. It was a beautiful day for October; it was warm for the time of year and the sun was bright in the clear blue sky, the dew gilstening on the grass below him. He yearned to leave this place, to be around adults for once. Perhaps he should go to the village, it would be nice to see from the eyes of an adult; he hadn't been there in years. A gust of wind blew in to his room and he shivered, a few goosebumps pricking his arms.

It was such a beautiful day, he had decided - he would go out. He took his cloak out of the wardrobe, running his hand over the fine cloth. Elfish tailory was truely the best, he thought as he put it on, and picked up his cane, worried his leg would begin to hurt later in the day. Making sure he had his money, he left the house, walking quickly in to the grounds. Perhaps he should take a thestral in to town; it was a rather long way away.

But when he walked out on to the grass, felt the wind in his hair and watched the first few brown leaves of autumn blow past, he wanted to walk. He wanted to be able to enjoy it; the feeling of peace here. There were no students now; they were probably all in bed, he thought. Happily, he walked forward, enjoying the walk of one mile down to Hogsmeade immensely.

When he got there, it was about lunch time, so he decided that he would go, straight away, to the Three Broomsticks to buy a sandwhich or something similar, he wasn't a fussy nor a big eater. He could very happily go for days without eating, but he knew how unhealthy it was, so he made sure to eat three balanced meals a day - Aldrich was a very healthy person.

When he entered the pub, he noticed another teacher in there, who must have had the same plan as him and as he ordered his drink, he wondered if he should go over and say hello to her. You see, she was the herbology teacher so they worked in very different parts of the castle, and though he recognised her and knew here name, he didn't really know her at all, and even had his doubts about whether she knew his name.

The barmaid chatted with him; the daughter of the one who had been here when he was a child, he believed. She was about his age, a few years younger, and he vaguely rememered her from school, though she had been much younger than him. She was very pretty now, he thought, but in only a rather detatched way. He made his awkward talk with her then took his glass of butterbeer, that was truly something from the past. Smilling and thanking her, he went over to Aleta. "Hello," He said politely, "What are you doing down here; same thing as me I presume?" He asked, sitting down opposite her, though ready to leave if she didn't want him there.

He sipped his drink, looking down at the table, "It's good to get away from the children. It's not like working in a regular school, where the evenings, the weekends and holdiays belong to yourself. Here everything is devoted to the children and I find it... a little overwhelming." He admitted, "I'm not really experienced in teaching." He sighed.

"Still." He waved a hand dismissively. "May I join you?" He asked, realising he had been very impolite by simply sitting down, "I don't have any other companions for the day." He said, "And I must admit I don't know you very well, at least let me have lunch with you." He asked.

He noticed that she thought he was rude - though it wasn't hard to guess; the look she was giving him and the sarcastic answer she gave to his polite question. "I could just as easily move, however," He argued, "I just have to sit down occasionally, on account of my leg injury, and I walked from the school." He held up his cane. It didn't actually hurt him at that point, but it served as a good excuse nonetheless and often stopped the conversation. He smirked as she continued, "I'm flattered that you think I'd come out here for you, but I didn't even know you'd be down here." He said, "I had the day free so I took my chance and made a break for it." He joked slightly, exaggerating. "It's pure coincidence that I saw you here."

He wondered if she even remembered his name, the slightly panicked look in her eyes said no, but he didn't mind - he didn't expect her to at all. He thought, wondering what the best way to remind her of his name without embarrassing either of them. Oh yes! He had a letter from an old friend in his pocket. "To make up for the inconvenience, I'll buy you a drink, how about that?" he took the letter out of his pocket and placed it on the table in search of his coin purse, his name and address neatly written on the front. There; if she didn't know his name yet, she must now. After finding his change, he placed the letter back in his pocket, smiling, "It would be my pleasure, really." He insisted.

He could tell that she was a bit skeptical, and fair enough, since for the moment, he was faking, but she didn't say anything, so he didn't speak further about it either. He didn't like how much emphasis was put on his leg injury - he never bared his legs or else it was all everyone could look at - but admittedly, it was sometimes useful. Nobody, whether they were skeptical or not, would dare to defy him and ask him if he was faking. He placed his hand on the table awkwardly, pressing his fingers in to the grains of the wood.

He nodded as she agreed to let him buy a drink, having relinquished his grip on the table and now holding a handful of galleons in his hand, moving his fingers slighly and letting them slide over each other. It seemed like nowadays he couldn't keep still; he was always seemed to be doing something with his fingers these days, a habit he'd only started lately; in the last year. He hadn't really thought about it, but he was sure it had something to do with having to stop adventuring. He flicked his wrist and rolled it, while still pressing it firmly against his hip, as if trying to hide the fidgiting. "So," He asked, "What would you like then?" He asked.

When he had her answer he went back to the bar, flicking his hair out of his face and ordered the drinks. He felt a little bad for imposing on the other teacher, he would leave after lunch but he, in all honesty, didn't like eating alone. Besides it would be nice to get to know another teacher; he didn't know his colleagues all that well yet.

Ah, he had sort of expected that queston, it was very common. Well... it wasn't a difficult question to answer, it didn't hurt him to talk about, though he didn't go around bragging about it. He put a hand on his leg as it started to throb at the memory, carefully massaging the area. "I was in an ancient temple in Egypt. There was a trap that I didn't count on, I cut my leg against the blade of a weapon held by a figure. It was just an accident and I didn't think much about it, you know?" He took a drink, feeling the fear of the memory build up, "A few minutes later I was lying on the floor, screaming."

He sat up straighter in his chair, "The blade was laced with a corrosive posion that started to burn away the flesh. Luckily, my team stopped it from entering the blood stream or from burning the bone... I'm lucky really. Still couldn't walk for half a year..." He sighed and looked down, taking a sip of his drink. "The poison is resistant to accelerated healing so I just have to wait." He explained.

He nodded; he knew he was very lucky. After all, he could run now, there was a time that the healers thought that he would never be able to walk properly. Now he could potentially make a full recovery, which was amazing, though he sometimes didn't have the pateince for it. He stretched and took another drink. He wondered if he had any questions, since he probably was owed one, as she had already asked him something. Still, he didn't really have anything to ask her right now.

Then she asked him another question; he didn't really mind, he did have nothing to ask her. Besides; he liked talking about his days as an adventurer, he was deeply nostalgic about them. "I was in a temple in Egypt because my team and I were trying to retrieve the Amulet of Anubis for a museum collection, and a hefty price was paid for it. The Amulet of Anubis is an Egyptian, clearly, it's known for its magic powers; it's supposed to be dark and have the ability to cause a plague on anyone the user wishes. It was only rumoured to be in that temple, but rumours and ledgends are what we work with. I'm a sort of... freelance treasure hunter, I suppose. We're contracted to retrieve precious or mythical artefacts from say, tombs or ancient cave systems, sometimes catacombs." He explained, the often happy and always terrifying memories of his days adventuring flashed in to his head. He was terribly nostalgic.

"Another treasure hunter?" He perked up; it would be nice to have someone to swap stories with - someone who didn't think him mad for taking part in this life, "You mean there's another? Who?" He asked. He would try and meet them as soon as possible. Perhaps he already knew them? Who could it be? Not Romulus, he knew that much. But the other teachers were a mystery.

He took another drink as he thought of the best answer to her question, "I suppose it's possible that they could have had other intentions, yes." He said, "However there's a lot of checks to go through; background checks, whether the buyer has any affiliation with the dark arts, and we keep a watch on the artefact for the next six months to a year, make sure it is where they say. There's also wards to limit the artefact's power and notify us if it's used or moved."

He watched as Aleta pulled her hair down. She had very pretty hair, he thought. She should be proud of it, an elf would. He certianly found it a shame that she kept her hair up; she should be proud of it. Perhaps it was for her job, which was most likely. He noticed she liked playing with her hair - it was cute, made her look younger than she was in a sense, a bit like a school girl. "You have lovely hair," He said, not thinking the comment to be strange in any way. After all, it was the kind of comment that was quite normal and flattering in his society.

An excited smile split his face. "Really?" He said eagerly, "You were a treasure hunter as well? How long for?" It would be nice to have someone around who knew what a treasure hunter was and what they did. It woiuld be nice to have someone to compare stories and scars with, and to have them believe you fully (he was paranoid that one day he would be an old man and everyone would think he had lost his mind for the stories he had to tell). "What sort of group did you have?" He had a lot of questions to ask, as he was sure she did too, but he would try and keep calm, not blurt out a string of questions at once. Perhaps he should have realised earlier that she was also a treasure hunter; the way she had acted, maybe, or responded to his answers to her questions. But really, it didn't matter, it just mattered that he had another treasure hunter to talk to. You know why I stopped, I'm sure, but why did you?" He hoped it wasn't too peronal a question. But she did know his.

He noticed that Aleta had stopped playing with her hair and began to worry. Had it been odd to say that? Had he embarassed her or made her think of him strangely? He hoped not, but he didn't want to bring it up for fear that he just make things worse.

He smiled and nodded. "I think I was about... 18/19 when I started so I think I've been doing it for 18 years or so. 10 years is a good time to do it, I think. You managed not to get too badly hurt after all." He said with a small chuckle. "I started very young, it was the only thing that I ever wanted to do with my life" He accompanied this phrase with a bitter glance down at his leg. He didn't think it was fair that he had been taken away from what he loved.

Aldrich listened to what she said, nodding and thinking about her group combination. It was very normal, much more normal than his. "Mine was quite small too, there was me, my dragon, a muggle assasin, a goblin, and wizard cursebreaker. He missed that group and wished he could keep in touch with them better but since they were still adventuring, he couldn't always contact them. He wondered if they missed him as well. They had been close, so surely they had, but the little niggling insecurity in him wondered if they had just replaced him.

He frowned "What a shame." He said "I suppose you aren't still together, the way you say it. If so then... why did you stay here instead of going back.?" Thinking about it, she was probably attatched to the school. It's unusual for an adventurer to stay in one place long so the places they did stay, he had found anwyay, took on a particular significance in the person's life, memorable simply because there was time to remember it. He wondered if he would eventually go the same way as that...

He nodded, secretly doing a calculation in his head to work out her age, not that it really mattered; age is just a number and she certianly didn't look it, in his opinion, but then, wizards never do. He That wasn't terribly uncommon - he had known people who were older than that when they had started in this line of work. Age was nothing to do with this line of work, depending their skills were. "I know I started surprisingly early. When I got out of school I just felt like I didn't belong anywhere and I didn't have any direction. It was the first thing that struck a passion in me so I took it up." He explained, not ashamed to talk about how he had fallen in to his career. He wouldn't, honestly, talk about moping about his mother's house or his parents house, or in his appartment in Berlin, drinking and teetering on the edge of depression. he did grimace at the thought though. "And what about you?" He asked, whishing to distract her and himself from those thoughts.

He tugged on his fingers lightly in thought, "Oh, no doubt you were hurt, everyone does eventually, some worse or more permanent than others." He agreed. "Hopefully I will. I'm just worried that by that time I'll be out of shape or nobody will have me back." It was actually silly to worry, he was strong and even though his legs were hurt, he made sure to keep himself fit, almost to an obsessive level.

"They were fantastic,"He smiled wistfully. "I couldn't have asked for a better team." He sighed. "I don't see them often or keep in touch. It's a shame. There aren't many ways to get letters to people in the middle of the desert. We talk when we can but now I'm even further away. At least if they ever come to Hogwarts I can help." He said wistfully.

He listened to her, nodding slightly. "I'm sorry." He said sympathetically. Bad break ups where always terrible and with their job, it was always inevitable. "You don't feel you fit in any more." He chuckled, "Tell you what, when I get better, you and I will make our own team." He joked. He didn't actually think that he would ever get in a state where he could really adventure again.

"Pure luck," He assured her, "A group simply happened to be passing where I was staying at the time. If it hadn't been for that, I perhaps would have never found my calling." The depression he would have sunk in to if that happened was a terrifying thought; he was rather dispostioned towards it."As good a way as any to meet your team and I think how a lot of people actually join up, since it's not exactly a job which gives out leaflets to wizarding schools unlike, say, healing," He had always thought it was a shame. It was no more dangerous than Auror work and paid better as well.

He shrugged meekly, "I can't help but be worried." Okay, he knew it was true; he was rather fit, however, he couldn't help but think that even if he was more fit than a regular person, would he be in a good enough shape to actually do the job? He shook the thought away; no matter what, he wasn't healthy enough to go, on account of his leg. There was no point worrying over something he couldn't change.

He nodded, !But any items that were hidden here have probably already been found, unfortunately." He said. To be honest, the thought of his team coming to Hogwarts was a mere pipe dream; when he found himself truly bored of this place, he would imagine that - since he couldn't go to his team - his team went to Hogwarts. "But then, I suppose Hogwarts has many secrets that aren't known... such as the diadem." Well, he was allowed to keep a little hope, wasn't he?

He briefly thought about it, curious. He was, actually, in part serious, however, he knew that the probablility that he would never return to questing was high, either because his leg wouldn't recover, he would get too old or, like Aleta, he would come to enjoy it enough at hogwarts that he didn't want to leave. "One day," he promised jokingly, not wanting to get too serious about it and dissapoint either one of them.

It was about that time, he finished his food, looking down at the empty plate. "Would you like to go out with me?" He asked, then paused, "Ah... by which I mean... right now, exploring Hogsmeade. As friends." He flushed, stuttering. He was terribly awkward sometimes, unfortunately. It wasn't that he didn't find her beuatiful and she was kind, he just wasn't looking for anyone really, at that time; he wanted to make friends first.

He rubbed his temple, feeling so embarassed, his cheeks blushing lightly pink. "Well where would you like to go?" He asked, "I've always liked the sweetshop, so we could look around the town." He sugested, "But I've never been out of the main town, so I thought you might want to go for a walk around Hogsmeade, away from the village, I'm not sure where we will end up. But... it will probably be farmland." It was all farmland around here; he was sure that it was all there was over the mountains. "If we get lost, we can easily apperate back.