Experimentation (Open)

[Bartemius Crouch Jr.]

It was getting to be that time of night where people began to retire to their dorms, or else risk being out after curfew. There was still time before that restrictive hour arrived, but the crowds had begun thinning at least a little. Some knew they had time, some didn't care about curfew. Barty was a little bit of both. As of this year, he was a prefect; he had no curfew, or at least, he had an alibi. That's what the little badge on his robes meant to him, an alibi only, or rather, a symbol of triumph that he had won the trust and favor of the Hogwarts staff. Of course, he knew he had, but Dumbledore was always an issue, the man seemed to know everything but he had not, apparently, been able to see through him. To others, it was a symbol of authority, which again, some people didn't care to acknowledge and some feared that he would punish them for staying out too late when the time came. In all honesty, he could not care less about staying up after hours, but he had to play the part.

For now, though, Barty had no obligations nor rules to enforce, but he had a thought in his head that had been there since reading about wand versatility over the summer. Therefore, as he strolled casually and seemingly without destination through the long winding hallways, he did in fact have somewhere to be. Each year, some young first years or something misplaced their wands, or one of the older students had one too many to drink during a party and lost theirs, so he had no doubt that there would be some wands without owners in the Lost Wands room on the second floor. He slipped in the room without notice, or rather, without caring whether anyone noticed because he could always make up some excuse, and took up a wand on a counter, waiting to be claimed.

It had always been said that the wand and the wizard form a very special bond, and that using another's wand is much trickier, very hard to get the wand to do your bidding. Barty did not like that limitation. He wanted flexibility, the ease of switching back and forth between wands in case of emergency. He waved the wand to light the tip and illuminate the small room, which before was very dark. But he was not satisfied. He waved it off and submerged the room into darkness once more. All he had to do was quickly and easily adjust to the unfamiliarity of the new wand, whoever's this was. All he had to was be someone else. For him that was much easier than it sounded, but he was an accomplished actor, so very accustomed to being someone else. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment while he waved it a second time. The light beamed through his eyelids and he knew this result was much more satisfactory. Already this unknown wand was becoming more familiar - but then again, it was only the simplest of spells.

[Lucas Cassidy]

The sudden eerie silence of the library startled the bespectacled boy, it must have been that time of day again, people had already headed to their selected dorms in time for curfew and Lucas had been too engrossed in a book he had stumbled upon several hours earlier to notice. Knowing he still had some time left, the boy carelessly shrugged it off and continued reading the selected book, wanting to finish it before he left for the night. Minutes passed like seconds and he finally was able to put the book down after another hour had passed; satisfied with his fulfilment, he stood up slowly, his muscles aching from the unexpected movement and headed out of the library and into the empty corridor.

Lucas never cared much for the curfew rule, even as a first year he roamed freely with some stealth that he had learned from the time being at Hogwarts and bent a few rules now and again to his liking. Used to hearing the own sound of his footsteps he was somewhat cautious when he heard someone else's further down the hall, the darkness masked his identity and that of the other persons, of course Lucas was curious to who the other was and, being the type of guy he was, he decided to check it out. He followed the figure to the second floor silently and watched the other as they entered the Lost Wands Room, surely the other would catch him if he entered the room after him but any roaming prefect or professor would catch him if he stood outside of the room, so silently again he followed the other inside deciding to hide behind the nearest thing he could find, while allowing his curious eyes to wander around the odd room that they found themselves in.

Gradually, Lucas became accustomed to the darkness of the room and gazed around the room quickly, noticing the mass amount of lost wands that were piled around the room. His eyes returned to the unknown stranger before he was blinded by the light that came out of the end of the wand, blinking rapidly, Lucas could see the lit section of the mans face, he was definitely older than the young boy but he wasn't quite sure of just how much older the stranger was.

[Bartemius Crouch Jr.]

It was not until his second and more successful attempt at casting the illumination charm that Barty noticed that he was not alone. The realization came from simple chance, just looking at the right place at the right time, because when he had opened his eyes, the satisfaction of having cast a very successful spell with an unfamiliar wand was quickly triumphed by a slight worry that someone was watching him. He had caught eye of a strange glimmer, strange, but unmistakably the glimmer of light reflected off one's eyes. He cast the same Lumos spell with his own wand before putting out the other, so there was no moment of darkness in between, and the level of luminosity remained the same. Then silently he placed the stranger's wand back where he'd found it, and walked very slowly toward the cabinet where he'd thought he'd seen the glint of light, hoping he was wrong.


When he reached it, Barty pointed his wand straight at the accuser's face as he rounded the corner. Well, he actually had to lower it a little, considering the person in question was far smaller than he was. It was very obvious that he was younger, probably a first year; in fact, a familiar looking one. Barty assumed he was a fellow Slytherin; as a Prefect, he'd interacted with the first years more than most considering he had to lead them around and answer their questions, so he recognized this one even if he could not recollect a name. He had half a mind to go easy on the boy because they shared the same house, but no matter how young or lost or curious or whatever it was that had brought him here, he was hiding, and watching, and that set off warnings in Barty's mind.


Barty lowered his wand so that the light wasn't blaring accusingly in the young boy's face, but he kept his voice slightly stern from annoyance, but still willing to help, like a concerned but angered parent talking to their misbehaving child. "You, do you realize it's past curfew?" Barty asked. Some first years got a bit confused as far as curfew and directions went, so it was entirely possible that this was the case. But why was he hiding? He kept the questions. "Have you misplaced your wand?"

[Lucas Cassidy]

Lucas was clearly in a bad situation as he noticed the others realisation, what was he to do, he could run but that was asking for a chase and the other was far bigger than he was so he would be caught without a doubt, or he could come up with some type of lie to get him out of it. Panic filled the younger boys mind as he crouched further behind the cabinet, the other was approaching him and he hadn't come up with a plan, he was going to be in a substantial amount of trouble. That he knew for sure.

Lucas instinctively covered his eyes at the blinding light that was pouring out of the end of the other mans wand, he could only see a white outline of him between his parted fingers though his glasses didn't help with the brightness of the spell that was cast. The speed that the other had found him was impressive to Lucas, though he knew this wasn't the right time to be impressed by another's abilities. Once his eyes had adjusted, he could somewhat recollect the others face, he had seen it once before but couldn't really remember where, the badge on his person however, reminded Lucas of the other persons identity, a Prefect, belonging to the house of Slytherin, though he had forgotten his name.

The boy stood upright as the other lowered his wand, guilty but not showing the emotion on his face. "I am aware." He replied carelessly, his attitude had always been terrible whenever he was caught for rule breaking. He could have pulled the usual first year stunt but for Lucas, this would be late night entertainment. As the second question was asked, Lucas bit his tongue and shook his head silently, his honesty mixed terribly with his appalling attitude as usual, he could usually lie his way out of anything but found himself speechless as he spoke the truth almost unwillingly.

[Bartemius Crouch Jr.]

Logic would tell him that this boy was harmless - a first year, a month into the school year, hiding in the dark - but logic didn't always drive Barty. Intellect, yes, he was unquestionably a bright individual, but sometimes the rationality wasn't at the forefront of his mind. When he was caught off guard, followed, spied on, unknowingly, then the irrationality began to cloud his mind, and several thoughts crossed his mind on how to handle this situation. If he were more accustomed to memory charms he would erase any of the boy's memory from the past 15 minutes or so, but he was not... though this would be good practice... perhaps if it were not a Slytherin, he would, but he had a certain loyalty to his house that prevented him from experimenting his skills on a housemate, and instead he made a mental note to practice on it later so this situation would not arise again. He could threaten him... but there were risks there as well, and he didn't even know how much the boy saw. Barty had, after all, barely done anything with the other's wand, and the first year was at such a distance and a darkness that perhaps he couldn't even tell that it was another's wand he had used.

As Barty fought through these thoughts and tried to put his train of thought back on a reasonable track, the younger Slytherin had given answers to his previous inquiries. His tone and his answer did not help speed up the process, and a twinge of irritation shot through his body at the boy's blatant disrespect for the rules and more importantly to his authority. And what was he doing here if he did not lose his wand? He would not be so unnerved were it not for the hiding. If it weren't for that, Barty could easily have believed the boy was lost... well, not so easily, considering they were nowhere near the Slytherin Common Room. Now going into the year Barty had no intention of obtaining the reputation of a really mean, strict Prefect; in fact, he'd rather just use his power for its benefits rather than its responsibilities, but unfortunately, one did not come without the other, and he had a reputation to uphold among the staff and Hogwarts upper echelon, so he was forced to figure out how to deal - reasonably and responsibly - with this defiant young first year. "Are you also aware that Hogwarts takes its curfew rule very seriously and violators are strictly disciplined?" he asked, but everyone knew that, from the moment the headmaster spoke at the feast, everyone knew. It was a crack in the careless demeanor he was looking for, even an apology.

Responsibility told Barty he had to dole out punishments for being out after curfew. His own personal curiosity - or anxiety - told him to find out why the boy was in the room. Perhaps they could reach a compromise. "If you haven't lost your wand, nor are you lost yourself," he began. The boy never actually said he wasn't lost, but he wouldn't believe him even if he did. Barty was a pretty accomplished liar himself, and generally he was very good at picking up on the signs of a lie because of this. "then what purpose have you here?" And he watched for any recognizable indications of lying, because if he told the truth then perhaps he could go easy on the kid, but if not, well, Barty was not going to be happy. He was determined to find out exactly why he had been hiding here watching him in some way or another.

[Lucas Cassidy]

Lucas tried his hardest to remain silent, though his urge to tell the truth drove him mad. He was smart enough to remember the rules of the school and he was stealthy enough to have been able to continue unnoticed, but for some reason he allowed himself to be caught. It was more interesting to be in this situation, he thought to himself, though the usual adrenalin rush wasn't there, most likely because he wasn't hiding in the shadows avoiding teachers. He knew he would be punished, he knew he had no business there but even so, he found himself wanting to know more about the other.

The question almost made him laugh, though he kept his mouth shut and his face straight. Of course he knew, that's what excited him the most, strict discipline. It was intriguing to him, he wanted to see it for himself, what punishment would await a rule breaker; expulsion, the dungeons, the forbidden forest? Whatever it was, Lucas wanted to know. But he also was curios about the other, he had questions of his own that required answers, and he would get them, if it was the last thing he did. He nodded silently again, faking a bored expression, was he trying to threaten him or just simply lecture him?

The following question pulled out a grin which Lucas couldn't contain, it probably looked terrifying in the dim light of the others wand. "I followed you." He answered in a playful tone, he couldn't lie about it, it was too amusing to him. Lucas wasn't the one to smile or joke around unless it pleased him in some way, however this seemed like the appropriate time and place to tease the anxious person in front of him, which caused him to want to do it over and over again. "What purpose do you have here?" His grin widened, he was anticipating the answer, excited for what words would follow from the older boys mouth.

[Bartemius Crouch Jr.]

Merlin, had he ever been this insolent and obnoxious as a kid? Barty knew the answer; of course not. As imaginative and juvenile as he was, he was also strictly disciplined, extraordinarily well-behaved, respectful of authority. Perhaps it was still because it was the dawn of the year, and the young ones had not been put in their place just yet - had not come to realize that they did not own the school. He might expect this sort of behavior of a Gryffindor, or even a Hufflepuff, but somehow he associated Slytherins with a higher level of maturity than what he was experiencing from this young man. For now, though, Barty was having a hard time feeling  a sense of bondage and sympathy through a common house. He was quick to be irritated, yes, but years of acting had perfected his poker face, perfected the ability to mask his emotions, and it was this trait that earned him the Prefect position in the first place - it was only appropriate that it was this trait too that he need employ during his time as Prefect as well. So as much as he wanted to seize the boy by the collar and point his wand at his neck and dare him to be so disrespectful to him again... he settled for an exasperated but stern, parental expression that was unmistakably not amused at how the young snake was not taking the situation seriously.

"There's nothing funny about this," Barty shook his head as the young kid's face broke out into a grin. If he had ever acted like this before his father - well, it wouldn't have ended well. His father could be lucky to have a son as great as he did... but that was another story, for another time, and the last thing he needed was to think about his father right now. "Come with me," Barty said, suddenly very tired of being in the wands room, and he took the boy by the shoulder and steered him to the near door and into the hallway, but he stopped soon after. Perhaps being in a more public venue would help keep his temper at bay. But his anger had diminished at this point, and he was more irritated that he was even in this situation. Why did the most obnoxious first year elect to follow him? He was trying to be a bother, it was clear, but what horrible luck did Barty have to be the victim of the kid's irritating mannerisms. "I'm going to need to know your name," he said matter-of-factly, so that he could have something to address him by other than 'kid' which sounded rude or 'young man' which sounded way too formal more than anything. He still wasn't sure that he wanted to give out punishment. Honestly, the kid needed a good hex more than a stint in detention.

Other less-practiced men might have panicked at the question, or stumbled over their words, or been unable to produce a lie instantaneously. But lying was so second-nature to Barty that it came out far easier than the truth, that it was considered mere sport, that sometimes he actually convinced his polluted mind that the lies were the truth. That was the key to a convincing lie, after all, believing it yourself. So he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as the boy reciprocated his question. "You are in no position to ask questions here," he stated conclusively. "But I am returning wands. Unless you are doing so or claiming one yourself, I advise you not to come around here. People might begin to suspect you are up to something," he said in his traditional vague but cryptic way that he had come to adore. After all, what fun was it being a chronic liar and closeted sociopath if you could not drop hints, but in no way give evidence? And his favorite way of doing so was just like this... talking about himself while literally talking about another.