perfidum

((RP blog for Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. This blog is set post-Deathly Hallows.))

[mamatriton]

perfidum started following you

[mamatriton]

“Well, it is a bit odd; but I think it comes from the fact that the professor is very known for liking puzzles. So whenever he goes to investigate someplace, people usually try to stump him with a puzzle. It’s strange, but it’s the closest I’ve come to make sense of it.”

[It was strange logic, but it was a strange situation, anyway.]

“At least he hasn’t had any trouble at school because of it. He can get a bit overzealous with his position as Hershel’s ‘apprentice’…”

[perfidum-blog]

"I suppose that makes some sense. I doubt there's any better explanation out there."

[He's not all too surprised by what else Brenda has to say. Luke definitely seemed proud of being the professor's apprentice, that much had been very clear from their previous conversation. He didn't see much wrong with it, though. If he was glad to have that position, then he should show it. But maybe that wasn't the best thing to say right then.]

"Right. Who knows how other kids would react towards constant puzzles and conversations about the professor?"

[numberoneapprentice-old]

[Luke gave Draco a comforting sort of smile. He wasn’t sure how close the other boy had been with his family’s servants, but Luke had remembered being very close to Doland before he moved away from Misthallery.]

I’ve moved quite a few times, actually. First when I moved from Misthallery to London, and then when Father got a job in America and we had to move over there. I’m sorry about your servants, though. I mean, I don’t know if that was rough on you or not, but I know if I were in that position it’d be sort of hard for me, so.

[perfidum-blog]

[Draco shakes his head. He never really got attached to any of the servants. That wouldn't be normal. Although, Luke is an entirely different kind of person. Weird behavior is expected from him.]

I don't know why you're apologizing. It wasn't "rough on me" at all. It's not like they were my friends, or anything. They were just servants.

[He assumes Luke will view that comment negatively, and continues as to avoid the conversation becoming awkward.]

What was America like? I've never been.

[numberoneapprentice-old]

[Luke blinked at the other boy for a moment before giving giving him another smile. Sure, Draco’s answer was vague, but it was more than he’d been getting out of him initially, so he didn’t mind all that much.]

I didn’t know you had servants! I had a butler and a housekeeper back in my hometown, but we didn’t take them with us when we moved to London.

[perfidum-blog]

[It was good to see that, despite how vague his answer may have been, what Draco said seemed to have been enough for Luke. He hadn't been sure what else to say, really.]

I've lived in one place my entire life, so I wouldn't know what that's life. I've seen servants come and go, though, for a number of reasons.

[mamatriton]

perfidum started following you

[mamatriton]

“That’s true. But it’s good for him to go out and live a little instead of staying sheltered all his life. Not like he would let himself stay that way.”

[Brenda wouldn’t have put it beside Luke to do all in his power to go along with any new investigation that came up and piqued his interest.]

“Oh, that’s good. Luke simply loves puzzles. Since everybody he meets on his investigations gives him at least one, he thinks that it’s normal for people to spontaneously give puzzles to strangers. I mean seriously it’s as if we were in some sort of puzzle game or something.”

[perfidum-blog]

"He seems like the kind of kid who learns better the way he's doing things right now, in my opinion."

[Or learns about the things he's interested in better that way. With mysteries and archeology, it's probably easier to learn if you put yourself out there in the situations. At least, that's what Draco assumes anyway. It's not like those are the things he's interested in, or ever tried to learn about.]

"He must meet strange people, if all of them have puzzles ready to give to a complete stranger at any moment."

[raven-feathered-crow-deactivate]

And how do you not know it’s me? Heheh, did your father tell ya exactly where to get this particular item? Hmm?

[Crow had a large grin behind the darkness of the hood. He didn’t know if Draco was telling the truth, but he just needed to make sure just where this boy was headed was the black market. If not—he’d leave him alone of course. Crow had no intentions of giving up quite yet, though.]

[perfidum-blog]

He did, which is why I know you're not the person I'm supposed to be meeting. Before you ask more questions, you should know I don't plan on telling you who the person is, where to meet them, or what I'm retrieving from them.

So I really think it's time for you to move out of my way.

[It's not as if Draco would actually resort to using his wand unless he really had to for very important reasons, but it's practically second-nature for him to try to act threatening when things begin to go this way. It's seeming more and more likely that he'll just have to try to walk around this person, and see where things go from there.]

[numberoneapprentice-old]

Well, maybe not my whole life, but I guess they’re a pretty big part of it! I want to be some sort of detective when I’m older, so the more practice I get with those sorts of things now, the better I’ll be at them later on.

[Luke paused to think about that for a second. Actually, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to be when he was older. He wanted to follow in Layton’s footsteps, that was for sure, but he wasn’t quite sure what that meant, when he stopped to think about it. Mostly he wanted to follow him in the mystery solving sort of sense, but being an archaeologist would be pretty neat, too.]

Anyway, I still don’t know all that much about you, I don’t think, so you should tell me some things about yourself! Well, not if you don’t want to, but you know.

[perfidum-blog]

I figured that would be the kind of job you'd be interested in.

[Draco hesitates for a moment, considering what he should tell Luke about himself, or if he should shrug the question off entirely. He decides that the latter isn't exactly what he wants to do. Luke is right that he doesn't know much about Draco compared about what Draco's been told about Luke. Normally, this wouldn't concern him at all, not that it does much now, but this time he'd actually like to answer the question. There's just that issue of being as vague as possible that makes it hard to give details.]

There's not much to tell. I live with my parents and our servants, and I'm finishing my last year of school. If you're looking for a life story, I can't give you one.

[numberoneapprentice-old]

Well…

[Luke paused for a moment before going on about his adventures with the professor. As much as he loved to go off about that sort of stuff, he had the feeling Draco wouldn’t really be too fond of having to listen to Luke’s investigation stories.]

All types of puzzles, really. Sometimes we need to solve them in order to understand things that are going on in our investigations, but most of the time we just do them for fun.

[perfidum-blog]

[That really didn't explain anything at all, truthfully, and it's apparent on Draco's face that that wasn't the answer he expected nor wanted. He wasn't about to ask again, though. It would be a waste of breath.]

It seems like nearly your whole life revolves around puzzles and mysteries, to be honest.

[Or at least that's what he's gotten from this conversation. Puzzle this, and mystery that. He's not sure he's even met a Ravenclaw so obsessed with things of the sort.]

[belletriton-blog]

perfidum started following you

Well YOU don’t look very nice at all. Stay away from my Flukiekins, alright? I don’t want him running around with anyone naughty.

[perfidum-blog]

I don't know who 'Flukiekins' is supposed to be, or if he's even worth my time, but I'll talk to who ever I want to talk to and I'd like to see you stop me.

[rauldds-deactivated20151221]

[raven-feathered-crow-deactivate]

Oh is that so? Heheh, so you’re just a boy out shoppin’ for his father. How nice, and of course, who would be this someone?

[Crow was amused, this boy certainly seemed more like the egoistic type. He was wondering if the boy was sent for the black market or just the regular market. It wasn’t every day an outsider would just show up to pick up something.]

[Another thing Crow noticed though is how Draco looked like he was about to pull something out of his pocket. What was he hiding under there…?]

[perfidum-blog]

Well, it isn't you, so what's it to you?

[Draco was no closer to answering this guy's question than he was to moving his hand away from the wand in his pocket - which he didn't plan to do, for his own safety. He had no idea if the thing he was supposed to pick up was something someone would want to take, since he didn't even know what it was (not that he didn't try asking), but if it was, he wouldn't let this person be a threat.]

[numberoneapprentice-old]

[Luke smiled a bit more, happy to hear that they at least shared some interests. Actually, it was more like interest, singular, but still. Luke secretly hoped that he could persuade the other boy into playing cards with him sometime.]

Sometime I play solitaire when I don’t have anything else to do, but my favorites are the ones you can play with another person or two. I guess I just prefer ones that I can play with the professor, really. Sometimes he makes puzzles for me to solve with them, too, and those are always fun.

[perfidum-blog]

[There he goes, mentioning that professor again, and puzzles to top it all off. He seems really happy about the topics being discussed at the moment too, and Draco has to admit to being at least a little curious about this professor guy. Is he going to regret asking this question? He's going to regret asking this question. He's going to ask anyway.]

What kind of puzzles do you two solve?

[mamatriton]

perfidum started following you

[mamatriton]

[Part of Draco’s remark made her wonder if he knew too many people who, as he said it, didn’t “have their head on their shoulders”. It was only fait to do what you must before throwing away everything… but either way, she smiled back at him and nodded.]

“Thank you, Mr Malfoy. It can get very hard to look after children all the time once they start growing up, you know. Not only hard, but a bit unhealthy as well.”

[“But I really should tell him to not just walk up to strangers and start bothering them” would be phrase that would go very well right after saying that. But it wasn’t something she could say. Brenda was not a hypocrite, and even she was aware of how strange her sudden way of approaching the young man had been.]

“I hope that he wasn’t too overbearing? Luke can get easily carried away sometimes with his puzzles…”

[perfidum-blog]

"It can't help that he's traveling around with someone else, I imagine."

[It's not like he's ever been through a similar situation. It's just that he remembers when he first left his home for school. His mother was so worried about him, she wouldn't let him go to a school farther away than Hogwarts, and even then she was constantly worried. It was obvious from the letters she sent. That just must be how parents are.]

"He wasn't. He talked a lot, but he didn't spring puzzles on me suddenly, or anything."

[If that actually was an issue with him, he had never shown it to Draco. The most he had done was mention mysteries a lot, and say that his friend was 'the best puzzle-solver in London!']

[raven-feathered-crow-deactivate]

perfidum started following you

[Crow watched the boy from a roof top, he cloaked himself, now becoming the Black Raven, and jumped down from the roof in front of the boy.]

Heh heh heh, and what business do you have here, stranger? You don’t look like you’re from around here, are ya? Come to take part of the black market? That’s what most strangers are here for.

[Now Crow didn’t usually approach people like this, but a little fun every once and awhile was okay.]

[perfidum-blog]

[Immediately, upon instinct, Draco takes several steps back and reaches inside his coat for his wand. He doesn't draw it, but holds it there, preparing to use it if need be. He had not been warned he may run into someone like this, so he wasn't sure what the best course of action would be. For now, he takes to giving this stranger the most menacing stare he can manage.]

I'm here on business. My father asked me to retrieve something from someone in the area. It isn't any of your business, so step aside.

[numberoneapprentice-old]

[Luke thought about it for a moment or two. Honestly, he wasn’t sure which card games were his favorites. His father usually introduced a new one to him each time they played. He had a hard time remembering some of the games’ titles, but he was rather fond of just about every one of them.]

I think war is probably my favorite. Old maid isn’t too bad, either, although I usually lose at that one. Oh, and my mother and I used to play go fish a lot when I was younger, but I sort of grew out of that one. I’ve played a lot of other ones, too, but I can’t really remember all of them.

[perfidum-blog]

[Just like he thought, there are wizard versions of some of those games. A lot of wizard card games make explosive noises or yell at you sometimes through out the game. A lot of them are enchanted to call out cheaters. What they do really depends on the game they're supposed to work with. That's why a lot of wizards choose to use regular decks, but honestly, Draco prefers them that way. It's more interesting.]

I've played War and Old Maid. They're not bad, but not my favorites either. I mostly like games I can play by myself.

[numberoneapprentice-old]

[Luke smiled, a little proud of himself. He was definitely better at school than he was at sports, and it was sort of nice that Draco could realize that about him, even though the two of them weren’t very well acquainted. He wasn’t quite sure why the other boy brought up ball-catching since that didn’t really have anything to do with football, but he let that comment slide. He didn’t want to risk upsetting him by questioning him about it.]

I was never really too into sports, anyway! I like to spend my time reading mystery novels and things like that, instead. I meant to write my own mystery story at one point, too, but I never really got around to it. Oh, and I like games, too. Just not sports games. I like thinks like checkers and cards. Chess, too, but I’m still rather awful at that one.

[perfidum-blog]

I used to play chess when I was younger, but it's been a long time since I've played it.

[He chooses to leave out the small detail that he only played it to watch the pieces destroy each other, and quit when that stopped being entertaining enough for him.]

I still play some card games sometimes, though. What kind do you play?

[Maybe what ever games Luke plays, there's a wizard version of it. Just like how there's a wizard version of chess. There's not many non-magic games Draco's ever played, honestly.]

[mamatriton]

perfidum started following you

[mamatriton]

“Yes! His name is Luke. That’s great! What are the chances?”

[Really, what were the chances? Even if Luke had been more exposed to the general populace of London than he ever had when he was younger; it was still surprising to hear that recently made aquintances had already met him. Perhaps she will never get used to it.]

“No, not really. It would be fun, but I have responsibilities to attend to. Can’t really spare my time for investigations at the moment, you see.”

[She then cupped her chin as she pondered about a small doubt that crept up to her mind.]

“Although that’s strange, Luke had never mentioned meeting you… I suppose your exchange was short-lived or very recently?”

[perfidum-blog]

"At least you have your head on your shoulders. It's good to see there are still people who know what's important."

[Although it's rare for someone he's only just met to hear something so close to a compliment from him, especially someone considered beneath him, he means what he says. He's heard so many stories of people leaving their families and tasks in order to "live life while they still can", most of them recently, that it honestly disgusts him.]

"It wasn't that long ago, really, and I doubt he considers any part of the conversation interesting enough to tell you about."

[It could have been interesting, but that was carefully avoided to prevent problems.]

[numberoneapprentice-old]

[Luke gave Draco a week smile, trying his best to keep this conversation going at a casual sort of pace. Which was proving to be a little difficult for the thirteen year old, in all honesty. He felt like their dialogue could slip into awkward silence if he said the wrong thing. Or even if he didn’t, really.]

That’s neat! I’ve never tried out for any sport teams at school, but I used to like to play football with other kids my age when I was a bit younger. I was never too good, though.

[Luke thought back to his life in Misthallery. He’d really only played sports with the other kids there once or twice. There wasn’t much room for those sorts of games there, not with the canals running through every other street, but it was still fun the few times he’d played with Finch and his friends.]

[perfidum-blog]

[Football. Which game was that again? The one with the basket or the one with the stick thing, or.... both? Well, if it's something called "football", then maybe it has something to do with kicking a ball around. Draco can't be entirely sure, though. He didn't know much (or anything, really) about muggle sports, and so he's not positive of a way to comment on it without seeming a bit more odd than he no doubt already does.]

You seem like the type to be better at bookwork than sports, but considering some of the people I've seen catch a ball, maybe all you need is practice.

[Weasley is our king, he cannot catch a single thing. Except when he does.]