Spelunking

Delaney had slipped out of the house... again.

As she got older she was getting more prone to doing that, again and again, and it was going to drive her father and aunt crazy before long.

However she jsut could not stand be cooped up in there anymore. She needted to be free, and what not. Today her wandering had brought her to the caves just outside of the town of Hogsmeade.

At first it had been exciting, winding through the caves, she was pretending she was on a mission to save the princess.

Now however... well she wasn't entirely sure she had gotten so far in, and it was dark, and scary now. She could hear funny noises coming from far off places.... she didn't know what they were and it frightened her even more.

She bit her lip as her eye began to fill. THe small girl curled her knees in and huddled into the shadows. She jsut wanted to go home.

Nolan wound through the caves with intense purpose. With every turn the map in his head became more and more complex. He'd have to write it down eventually, but the layout was simple enough to hold in his mind. At least until he came across a piece of paper.

He made a mental note on how vast this labyrinth was, and how useful a hiding place it would have been if the local teenagers didn't frequent upon it so often. After he had been in there for little over two hours, Nolan was confident that he had explored all there was to be explored, when he encountered a surprisingly small figure just barely visible in the dim light of the cave.

"Aren't you a little young to be out here alone?" he asked the figure after identifying it to be a child, most likely not much older than five or six.

Delaney could hear the footsteps echoing closer and closer to her, but she couldn't figure out where they were coming from. She bit her shaking lip to keep from calling out.

The young girl jumped as the voice called out, and a figure approached, she whimpered slightly before seeing that it was a man... a strange man, true but... he sort of reminded her of her Daddy - at least he'd be the same age as her father.

That was were most similarities would end. Not that Delaney could know that at the moment.

"I'm old enough to do what evew I what," the young girl stated, a stuborn streak coming through her.



[OOC - a note: Del can't say her 'r's (I'll probably have to get her to fix that eventually ) so if you see an 'w' where it shouldn't be, replace it with an 'r' and the word will probably make sense."

Nolan stared at her for a moment, icy blue eyes studying the girl coldly, "You're lost, aren't you?" He looked around the cave, and judging by the stalactites they were fairly far from the entrance.

"Come on, let's take you back to Hogwarts," he said with an internal sigh. Why couldn't parents be more responsible?

Without stopping for her response, he began to stroll through the caves, his hands in his suit pockets.

Delaney looked back at the man's gaze with wide eyes.. it was so... cold... and...

She shivered slight before pouting, "Nuh-Uh! I just-just-just..."

The man was already walking away. With a nervous glance over her shoulder, too worried about being stuck in there forever, she pulled herself to her feet and ran after the man.

"You all dwessed up," she stated after a moment. "Ain't you gunna get all dwity in a cave?"

A small smile pulled at Nolan's lips when he heard soft, rapid footsteps behind him. What a smart girl she was.

He looked down at her, the smile still there. It was one of the few times that it was actually genuine, "I do prefer to always look my best. If that means 'dressing up' at all times, then I'm more than happy to."

"Well, yes. But I have magic," he said, tapping the pocket where he kept his wand, "And I just need to cast a spell, and the dirt will be gone."

"Oh," Del breathed, moving up beside the man as the passage widened. She glances up at him wide-eyed and then looked back down. "Why you always dwessed up? Do you gotta always be some whewe?"

She frowned as she tried to think this through, but then her eye lit up at the mention of magic.

"I gots Magic!! But... I only use it sometimes... when I don't wanna... Daddy says I get it bettew when I'm oldew."

Nolan tilted his head slightly to the side, "I suppose so," It wasn't the first time he had been caught off guard by the boundless curiosity of children. If more adults were that inquisitive, he'd be in some serious trouble, "My job requires me to look impressive at all times, mostly because I'm always working."

"That happens to the best of us," he said with a sigh, "When I was your age, I remember I accidentally turned my toothbrush into a firecracker." He chuckled at the thought.

"Oh," Del breath again, as she began to think about what he said. A soft frown began to form on her little face.

"I no think I wanna job like that - I can't be all pwetty all the time."

Delaney let out a childish giggle at the story, "Did got Boom?!"