Guilt and Accusation pv Caradoc Closed

"Miss Seilun, correct?"

His deep voice would ask her gently. The girl seemed distraught or unsettled. An eyebrow quirked up on the man's face as he looked down to the slytherin. It was not uncommon to find a timid or firghtened student along the halls, especially these days. But he had to admit standing by a door to one of the most frequenty visited places in the castle was certainly not going to provide cover nor shelter. Stacking the newspaper under his arm, the man rested his weight on one hip as he waited for the girl to respond. Cocking his head slightly whilst frowning, the man tried to think of any occasion he would have met the girl before.

Obviously they were one of Nora's students. Uniforms tended to give away such things. He knew the slytherins had fallen under attack recently. A mass of shadowlike spiders, the same he encountered in the dungeons, lashing out to the poor young souls that made their bed down there. His hand reached out under instinct. A firm yet gentle tap on her shoulder would be given to offer what little comfort he could give her for now.

"Not sure if standing here will help anything you're thinking of right now." He gave her a friendly smile. Waiting for the student to either tell him if eh can help her or get some food in her belly. Both seemed important at this time.

Opeila was not prepared for the Head of Hufflepuff to approach her. She was not ready to talk to anyone. Not to mention that this was a teacher, who she had never spoken to in her whole life.
Would they expell her, when she told anyone?
Thousand thoughts were shooting through the little girl's head as she looked at the teacher. Would they sent her to Azkaban if they found out that she accidentally enabled an attack that ended up with half of her house being cursed? They couldn't do that, could they?

The first year couldn't even react to his question, too deep went fear and guilt in that moment. The brunette raised her hand and ran her fingers through her hair. "This is all my fault... This- This is my fault...", she murmured.
The Slytherin still looked at the Head of Hufflepuff, as if she was talking to him, but she was not. There was despair and fear written all over her face and she was still trying to catch her breath. "I did this... This was me...", she said again, now looking at the floor. What had she done. How could she have been so stupid. And surely they wouldn't let her get away with that knowledge, right? "They pulled me into this... They will kill me. They will kill me..."

She pressed a palm on her mouth before a sob could escape her. The pain that came with the spider bite was still a fresh memory and it scared the hell out of her.

@Caradoc Browne

His eyebrow quirked up as the girl began to explain it was all her fault. His hand would slowly tighten a little to hold the girl's attention as he spoke. He smiled softly, nod happy, but reassuring. Getting down on one knee, he made sure to get at roughly her eye level. "What is your name?" He asked gently, his voice deep and slow. Making sure not to frighten her further. He knew her last name, or at least she seemed to react positive to his guess. But first names where a detail too far for him to guess upon.

"Whatever you have done, kiddo. It can't be that bad?" His accent would break through in the few words he uttered. Trying to find out what had happened to a child wasn't always easy. You needed them to focus while for them, their world was seemingly falling apart. He gently wrapped his hand around her arm and led her to a corner in the hall. They now had a small distance out of earshot from the nearest table end. Making sure that no straggling students would suddenly find their ears tuning in on what's being said by the entrance.

"Can you explain to me what happened?" He asked with a low voice. His smile would stick to his face, as if it never left his face and he was destined to laugh forever.

Opeila looked at the Professor as he got down on one knee, to look at her face. His grip on her shoulder had tightened, stopped her from drifting off into panic. He asked her a question.
Her name. He was asking for her name. Didn't he just say her name a moment ago?
She answered anyway. "Opeila. Opeila Seilun, Sir."

The tone the Head of Hufflepuff spoke to her with, was calming. Like nothing could possibly harm her really. Like nothing she did could have been more than a little step into the wrong direction. Opeila almost believed it. Wasn't there the memory of the spider bite. The first year remembered clearly, how she held on to Flash, trembling in pain, asking him to kill her.

So she shook her head when Professor Browne said that watever she did couldn't be that bad. "Worse...", was her answer. She trembled lightly, slowly being able to grasp the full extent of what she had done- possibly had done. It was an assumption, she reminded herself. Although a very possible assumption... Was it even the full extent that she saw? Could it be any worse? Probably.

But she had to calm down. If she told the Professor, it would not only relieve her bad conscious, but also make her look less guilty. What if Vladimir would use this situation for himself? Make her look guilty? That didn't sound that unlikely to her...

"... I assume that you heard that we- house Slytherin- were attacked a few weeks ago. By spiders. It started with two students hearing strange noises. And after the attack we interrogated them, because they behaved suspicious. One of them dropped a name, Vladimir Athanatos. He had ratted their hiding places out..." Fear stood in the first year's eyes when she looked at the teachers. "I have met Athanatos before. My bag broke and I agreed for him to help me carry my books bag to the common room before they could get soaked with snow... I have let him in. It is only an assumption, but... What if I enabled the attack? What if all this is my fault? It seems quite likely to me..."

Opeila had calmed down a little now. Finally. "If he pulled me into this by using me like that... Does that make me a danger to him? Does that make me a target of possible attacks in the future? Why was I not silenced yet? Does that mean that all this doesn't matter or possibly... that I now have a... a role I still have to play? Or am I just completely wrong?" Now the words just flooded out of her mouth, so many fears she told the teacher that she had never even spoken to before. While talking, her hands started to tremble again. She was so scared, she could not put it into word really.

@Caradoc Browne

The man's expression would change from a kind smile tot hat of a concerned frown. The child released a stream of words upon him that he could make little sense from. She mentioned two witnesses within the Slytherin common room and gave him one other boy by name. Whoever this Vladimir Athanatos was, he was not a student Doc had met earlier as far as he had recalled. Narrowing his eyes towards Opeila, Doc leaned in to make sure he got every word right from her statement. Apparently she had allowed entry to another student not from Slytherin house. She was clearly panicking, the tension bringing her to madness. Poor child, how she had to endure so much at such a young age. He sympathised with her as he knew struggles like that very well.

Having survived Umbridge and war, Doc nodded towards the young girl and took hold of her arms. "tú cailín cróga*" He would say with a smile. "It's going to be alright, I swear." His eyes would inspect her for any visible wounds from the attack just out of precaution. Placing a strand of her hair behind her ear, he would smile. "Tell me about this boy, do you know where I can find him?" He had to, in order to find answers, there was no other choice left for him. If a student was truly in the midst of all this, then perhaps the situation was far graver than he had anticipated. It seemed the old man wasn't warning him lightly at all back when they first met.

His tone grew more serious eventually. "What is yet to come is uncertain for now, Opeila. But please know the professors are investigating. Slytherin is safe for now." A lie. And it hurt him to say it. He had not found out nearly enough to make such a guarantee. But what was he to tell a panicking little girl? Doubt filled his own mind to see if he really thought himself up for this task at all. His daughter would see through it in a split second, he was sure of it.

The professor took hold of her arms and said something to her. She did not understand a word of it, she wasn't even sure, what language that was. But it sounded calming somehow. Maybe it was a Hufflepuff thing, but like Willow the other night, he managed to slowly calm her down. She couldn't let her fear consume her like that, she had to stay calm. Use her fear as a tool, push it to a place, where she could control it, but where it had no control over her.

He promised her that it would all be okay. Liar. Opeila would not say it, but she thought it. He could not promise that, right? Since the spider attack, she felt like the teachers were just as clueless as the students. Maybe a little less, maybe even more. Whatever. He could not promise it.

"What does that mean...", she asked the Professor, referring to the unknown words. She would not comment his lie. Not that she was mad about it, what else was he supposed to tell her? She had been panicking, if she had been in his place, she would have probably told herself the same lie.

He asked about Vladimir. Opeila thought about what to say for a moment. "He... He is a third year. A Ravenclaw. I... I can't remember his height really, but he is tall. A... memorable smile and brown-ish hair." That was something, Victor had pointed out as well, the grin.

He once more promised that Slytherin was safe, that the teachers were investigating. This time Opeila shook her head. "... That is not true. The professors have been patrolling before, tried to keep us safe before. No one is safe..." This time she said it with a rather hopeless tone. The panic was gone, but she was not better. No one was safe. She was just scared, that she had drawn some extra targets on her back. She would not be surprised.

@Caradoc Browne

Caradoc smiled gently at the little girl. "It means you are brave, Opeila." He nodded. And she was, he would definitely think so. For a girl to face these fears of retribution all on her own, was living proof of her valour. While he realised she had been a fool if she had thought she could do this by herself, there had always been a fine line between both concepts.

She continued their conversation by describing the young man. Caradoc furrowed his brow as this... Ravenclaw was not someone that came to mind. Perhaps one of his own third years might have known the boy. Or Alaric. He had been expected to pay a visit to his old... friend, for quite some time now. He surely would have some notion on whom this young man would prove to be. After all, Doc knew he had learned all the badgers by name. He did not know them all very well as interactions were limited. But their faces would be known. Alaric was an attentive fellow, or at least he used to be. Doc recalled not seeing Alaric at the professors table that often over the year. A sense of regret swayed over him as he damned himself for not staying in touch.

The next bit nearly ripped Caradoc's heart right out from his chest. As Opeila countered his false promise with the truth. The man physically retracted as for a second he saw his own witty daughter stand in front of him telling him she knew very well what he was up to. With pursed lips the Head of Hufflepuff rose to his feet and looked down upon the girl. Now towering over her, he gave her a serious look for a few seconds. If the girl was smart enough to figure out the professors were indeed struggling to make their rounds. He could be sure that she was not the only one. Taking a glance across the great hall, he nodded to himself. It was time to play this game differently.

His daughter was a smart child. More than often she had bested him in wits and knowledge. But most of all, she was able to pick up on things adults such as him would look over. The professor turned his head back towards the Slytherin. "Opeila..." His voice would be deep and serious. Straightforward even. If she had been a badger she would have found the mention of her first name like that unusual as he always referred to his students by last name unless he was getting to an important point in their lives. Getting back on one knee he met the girl at eye-level once more. "I'm going to ask something from you, but I need you to truly understand what I am asking of you."

He snapped his fingers to make sure she was looking straight at him and paying attention. "I can not allow students, no, children to get hurt in any way. But in order to find this... evil that lurks within the castle, I need more information." He quickly placed a finger on both his own and her lips. Leaning in closer, he started to whisper. "Do you know more about what has been happening? I need more eyes and whispers in this castle, Opeila."

It was a test. If she divulged more to him after this. He had his suspicions confirmed. Students would see and hear more than any professor would. After all, the adults were so focused on keeping this school up and running. And only recently staff had found it within themselves to band together and work together on solving this issue. But even then he had seen little work be done. The pieces were moving on the board, but Hogwarts had already lost its king while it were the pawns that were running across the chequered field. It was time for knights, bishops & rooks to come to play. Though he knew the queen would not be liking what he was suggesting to one of her children...

Opeila looked at him when he called her brave. Was she? She didn't feel brave. She felt scared. She wanted to run to her dormitory and hide under her blanket. Or Flash and tell him the terrible things she had done. Opeila didn't want to be pulled into this conflict. She had tried to stay away, mind her own business, only to encounter this absolute charming Ravenclaw in a moment where she had not been suspicious for once.

And it- possibly- only needed that one moment to get her deeper in than most of the others. If her suspicions were true that meant. She was not brave. She was dumb and naive to let a stranger into the snake's den.
But when Opeila looked at Professor Browne, she didn't see any signs of him lying to her. Not that she knew him enough to be able to say something like that for sure, but she felt like she meant it.
She just didn't agree.

His voice was different, when she told him that he was saying untrue things. For a second she was scared that she might have crossed a border, but that thought was erased when he said that he would ask something from her.
Opeila was glad. She didn't even notice how much she had hoped for someone to tell her how to deal with the situation. She was only a twelve year old- for two days now- how was she supposed to make decisions like that? This was something adults should handle, how did she end up being involved?

He started to explain that he could not allow students to get hurt. He did not ask her to put herself at risk. And then he asked her if she knew more. He said he needed more eyes and wispers in the castle. Did that mean he wanted her to help him find out more about... the evil?
Should she tell him what she had heard? Her vision.

"Then a bargain is struck. The power to walk your own path, at the cost of everything."

"A contract between you and I. The power to feel, at the cost of your fortitude."

"A deal then. The capacity to dominate their mind, in exchange... your heart."

"Know bliss, hunger for more."

"She will love you... enough."

"I can bring her back, but it will cost you."

She said. The fear was now fully gone. The Professor was asking something she could give him, asked her to work with him. He needed her focused. "Do those phrases mean anything to you, Professor? Because I can't get them out of my head since I have heard them in a vision."
This seemed like a good place to start. This was still a riddle to her as well.

@Caradoc Browne

Caradoc's eyes widened a bit as the girl spoke a few sentences which were the most ominous thing he'd hear all day. He furrowed his brow, staring at the girl's face. "A deal?" He whispered to himself, clearly losing his mind to his own internalizations. His bright blue eyes snapped left to right and back as he tried to find something in his memory that would connect to this. He found nothing. Shaking his head at the girl he eventually spoke softly.

"I'm afraid not. Not even the slightest. I know hags are capable of making deals but-" He halted abruptly mid-sentence. Slowly his eyes locked back onto Opeila's. What was he doing? The girl would know far too much, and he barely knew her. "But that's common knowledge. And no deal has been mentioned so far." His smile was gone. Seeing Caradoc serious was a rare thing indeed. And somehow one could tell it was not something that suited his face, as if it was designed to smile eternally. "Do I get your promise you won't get in trouble Opeila? That you will run and come tell me when you find danger?"

The situation at Hogwarts was far worse than the girl knew. He needed to know what she was made of. Who she was within. It was clear she had already made mistakes, he could not allow that to happen on his account. No, students were needed for what they saw. Monsters hid from adults, but lured in the children. Caradoc needed their eyes to see. And they needed the adults to fight. They were no match for these beings. His own encounter with the one hag was enough to prove it. The three professor would have been decimated had he not got them out in time.

He thought some more on what Opeila had told him, memorising every bit of it. It wasn't clear if the message came from dialogue or a singular person speaking towards another. He supposed it were details Opeila either deemed unimportant or forgot. Eventually the man rose to his feet again and stared own to the girl. "Your word, Opeila."