Stayin' Alive

Afonka hummed, brown eyes running across the familiar setting of Port Durmstrang. For the last five years, he'd spent more time here than he could really count. But this place, this isle, was practically home to the sixteen year old.

He spent more time here than anywhere else, after all.

And so, as he walked through an alley, his head in the clouds and his cut hands in his pockets, he hardly noticed the people around. He was too caught up in memories.

It was a wonder that he hadn't crashed into one of the many obstacles around, or tripped over his own feet.

But after a while, his luck ran out. Crashing into a red haired girl, he kept his balance and instantly reached out to steady her. "I'm so sorry," he gasped, eyes wide. "Are you alright?"

Rosetta ran around the streets of Port Durmstrang, trying to find the alley named Fangor. She grinned when she saw the post that said Fangor Alley and proceeded to run.

She scanned the buildings she passed, trying to find the candy store she spotted on the day of her arrival. "Where is it?" she clicked at herself, repeatedly as she scanned the buildings and making sure she didn't bump into anyone.

She frowned and halted to a stop thinking she had passed it and made to turn around and run back but instead crashing into someone, "Zoinks Great balls of fire!" she squeaked out, randomly before putting her palms together and kneeling "I'm sorry!" she said loudly, eyes shut tight. "I didn't mean to bump into you, I swear! Don't hurt me I just got here!" she added quickly.

Rosette knew she was acting a tad bit over but meh that was her.

Afonka stared blankly down at the redhead, his hands slowly falling to his sides. "It - It's alright. Really," nodding jerkily, he clasped his hands behind his back. "And I'm the one who crashed into you. It's my fault. I should be the one apologizing, so, sorry."

Taking a small step backwards, his hands materialized from behind his back, holding them above his shoulders. "I won't! I don't plan to! I don't like hurting people!"

Rosette slowly blinked her eyes open and clumsily rose to her feet, all the while blushing. "I'm so sorry" she said once more, biting her lip before thrusting her hand out to him, "Hello my name's Rose... Rosetta LaCross" she said, stopping slightly at Rose for a moment, just like she always had while introducing herself.

"Let's just say it's both our faults before we end up arguing" she said, a slight smile on her face.

He took her hand, all the while watching her with a mix of confusion and interest. He hardly knew her, and yet, he was already sure that she was different from everyone else he knew. "Afonka. Afonka Alkaev. Fifth year Hrabrost." The introduction was accompanied by a small nod from the dark haired boy.

"I guess that works," he said with a small laugh, "We're both guilty."

Rosetta chuckled and her eyes strayed down to their hands, noticing that his hands were cut. "What happened?" she said cupping his hands with her own, observing them. "Did you heal them?" she asked again with a slight pout before backing away, blushing. "I'm sorry I know it's not my business"

He stared down at his hands, mentally cursing himself for even allowing her to see them. But he couldn't have just not shaken her hand. That would've been rude.

"I scratched myself," Afonka said softly. It was the closest to the truth that he could muster. "And I was heading back to school to heal them," he gestured towards the castle in the horizon, the lie running over his tongue with too much grace for his liking. "Because, you know, no magic outside of school."

He blinked up at her, giving his head a small shake as he shoved his hands back into his pockets. "No, no. It's fine."

A flash of defiance flashed through Rosetta's eyes for a moment, "Pft rules! They were made for breaking!" she said loudly before blushing brightly "I mean what if we were in danger, outside of school, should we still not use magic?"

She takes his hands and examines them "If you were injured and it might get infected would you still not use magic?" She huffed and let his hands fall from her grasp "If you ask me Rules are a bloody menace"

He grinned down at the girl. He couldn't help but like her already. Her sense of humour was well, amusing. "I'd guess they'd let us then, but the Ministry'd probably make you prove that you were in real danger." Afonka nodded seriously. "I don't think they want any of us to die just because we followed a rule."

A flash of fear crossed his face. Infected? He could actually die from such a small cut? Swallowing hard, he stared down at his hands. "I don't want to die," he muttered. "Of course I'd use magic then."

Rosetta giggled as she saw the flash of fear in his eye's and reached out to poke his nose, "Say Fonny! Even the smallest of cuts could lead to dire danger if not treated well" she said warningly before smiling reassuringly at the boy.

"Hey how'd you cut yourself anyways" she asked him, taking his wrist and leading him to the castle. "How can we prove that when we're not in trouble anymore?" she said giggling "We do have our memories but that's a private thing that not even the ministry should look into" she added, staring straight ahead, moving gracefully in the crowd as though she was a snake.

"I'll keep that in mind," he giggled, poking her nose back. Despite her warning, he couldn't help but grin. Her personality and upbeatness was infectious.

"How? I scratched my hand on a rock." Another lie that was all too easy. But at least he'd felt guilty about it, right? Didn't that prove that despite everything, he had still managed to keep all his morals? He wasn't going to let himself become some sort of monster because of something he couldn't control.

He scratched his head with his free hand, allowing her to tug him along. "Well," he said finally. "Don't they have that potion that makes you tell the truth? That'd work."

"Verisaterum" she answered with a grin. "I agree that its a useful potion that'll make you tell the truth but it takes away the freedom of the consumer" she said as she treaded along the crowds, frowning as she thought she lost her way. "The one who made you drink it would ask you personal things and you'd have to answer them without hesitation no matter if you didn't want to say anything at all" she finished before blinking.

She stopped and looked down at his hands, tilting her head "A rock?" she repeated, eyebrow raised questioningly. "Tell the truth Fonny I know you're lying" she said before leading him into a store where she bought a cloth and a sort of greenish potion.

"Hope you don't mind" she said as she applied the potion-like balm onto his scratch. The scratches quickly fading away. "There" she said, satisfied.

"True," Afonka nodded, "But if all they were going to do was tell if you were telling the truth or not, then it wouldn't be that bad, right?" He trusted that the Ministry wasn't going to do anything dishonourable. After all, they were the good guys in this conflict.

"It was a sharp rock?" His tone was too much like a question and he turned away from her. "Okay, maybe it wasn't rock. I - I guess I spend a little too much time playing with knives." That wasn't a lie. He had been messing around with his collection of them. It had been on purpose that the blade had found its way into his skin.

"Thank you," he murmured, smiling at her as she applied the potion to his skin.

"Aha! That's were your wrong!" Rosetta exclaimed with a bright grin, "Ask yourself the question, "You see dear Fonny Veritaserum has it's limitations" she didn't care if she was on lecture mode. "It could be resisted by using its antidote or Occlumency, Since some people can resist it's effects it's considered unfair and reliable to use at a trial! Therefore cannot be used to know if what the consumer is saying is the truth or a lie."

Rosetta pursed her lips then pouted "Sorry might've ranted a bit" She raised an eyebrow at him "Knives?"

He nodded along to her words. They made sense. If someone could still lie while on Veritaserum, it just wouldn't be fair to use. Tilting his head, he wondered how easy it would be to train yourself to lie while having ingested the potion. Shaking the thought away, he grinned at Rosetta. "You're really smart, you know that?"

Afonka waved the apology away, "Don't apologize. It's fine." He shrugged sheepishly, staring down at his hands. "I sort of throw knives. It's a skill." He shrugged, glancing back up at the redhead. "I guess I should be more careful."

Rosetta made a face at his words, "Nuh uh! I ain'ttt!" she whined. It wasn't that she wasn't smart, she just wasn't used to people praising her, that's all. "But if I am smart then you're talented!" she countered, with a bright smile.

She chuckled and poked his chest, "You throw knives away from your hands not the other way around... so why the scars?" she said in a matter of fact tone, determination and curiosity shining in her eyes.

"You say that like being smart's a bad thing," Afonka laughed. It amused him how she didn't want to be smart, yet practically everyone he knew wanted to be smarter.

"I'm a klutz," he shrugged, amusement glittering in his eyes. "I crashed into you, didn't I?" He paused for a moment, humming. "Though, seeing as we both crashed into each other, we're just klutzes."

Rosetta shrugged and offered a small smile. "Being smart isn't a bad thing" she said before looking like she was thinking then shrugged "At least I don't think it is... It's just I'm not used to being called smart" she admitted with a soft smile.

She laughed merrily and nodded, "Yep! I'm the clumsiest!" she said before doing an over-exaggerated bow, effectively almost knocking down a stack of books. She chuckled nervously as she saw the store keeper glare at her and pushed Afonka out of the shop, blushing. "That so didn't just happen" she said once they were out while covering her blushing embarrassed face.

"Really?" he frowned, tilting his head. "Why's that? People should be lining up around the block to tell you how smart you are." She obviously deserved it. She looked younger than he was, and she knew much more than he did.

A grin spread across his face and the boy shook his head amusedly. As laughter bubbled from his throat as she showed just how clumsy she was, Afonka clapped his hands over his mouth in an attempt to atop.

Once they were out of the store, he uncovered his mouth, bursting out laughing. "I - I think it did," he giggled, choking out his words between pearls of laughter.

Rosetta shrugged at his comment over her smartness before burying her face deeper into her hands, groaning once he started laughing. "Nuh uh!" she said, her face probably having that light rosy blush of hers.

"Don't make me do something worse than that cut of yours!" she growled out before pouting, knowing she'll never do anything like that. "I hope Karma gets you" she grumbled.

He only laughed harder, unable to take anything she said seriously. He just couldn't help it. With what had just taken place, he found it impossible to stop laughing.

"K - Karma?" He choked out, looking over at her. "I - I know her!" Though he hadn't seen her since summer, he was very sure that she was at least aware of his existence. "You know her?"

Rosetta raised an eyebrow at him wondering if she should take him to an asylum or just plain whack him on the head. "Erm... everyone knows who Karma is?" she replied naively. She pursed her lips at him, stood up and whacked him upside the head. It wouldn't do good if he was in an asylum. Who else would she bug then? "Karma... if we show goodness, we will reap goodness?" she said, raising an eyebrow at him. Was there really a person named Karma?

Afonka blinked down at her, tilting his head slightly at the raised eyebrow. Had he said something wrong? But as she spoke, he nodded eagerly, a smile crossing his face. "I'm not really surprised. Karma's not an easy person to - Ow!" Rubbing at his head, a frown crossed his face. Why in the world had she hit him?

"Oh," he said softly, finally getting what she'd said. "I know a girl named Karma, so I thought you were talking about her." Shaking his head embarrassedly, his cheeks flamed red.