damn those wizard cops

[Hannah Loren]

Hannah had come up with a plan to earn money. It had come when she was drawing snitches on her paper in Astronomy. She could draw full size Quidditch posters and sell them; she was sure she could fetch a few galleons for them if the paper was big and they were good enough. There were a few problems though; if she wanted a good price for them she'd have to color them in, and coloring tools were expensive. So was big drawing-paper... there was no way her parents would buy her stuff for her. She paced back and forth in front of the tapestry of some idiot teaching trolls to dance on the seventh floor. "I need art stuff, I need art stuff, I need art stuff," she muttered, as if repeating it would make them magically appear. That was when she noticed the door that hadn't been there before. Hannah flounced over to it and flung the door open. Inside were piles of big paper, boxes of colored quills, and even a cauldron in the corner for... something. She clapped her hands together and yelled, "Ha! Thanks Hogwarts!" because the building seemed to have answered her pleas. Template by Emily Lyrics from Bling (Confessions of a King)

  

[Declan Wood]

He'd only been in school a month and he'd already received a detention. It was a record from last year, he decided, considering he had been rather ill-behaved. He had had at least twice the amount of detentions by this time the year before. His mother would be proud when he returned home for the winter holidays and told her of it. Declan figured he ought to at least try to be better behaved, seeing as how Maxine was planning on attending Hogwarts the year after. He needed to be a good example for her so that they could both keep their scholarship status. He had a suspicion that Miss Asperhand Mrs. Etherium had donated some money to either their mother or the school, because he had received several fresh school supplies only days before.

Despite all of this, he was on his way back from a detention as he passed by the corridor that a first year had just disappeared into. He recognized her from classes. She was quiet and he suspected she was a Hufflepuff, though he couldn't quite remember. It was with curiosity that he hid himself in a shadow of the corridor and watched her pace back and forth, muttering to herself. She resembled the crazy lady from the slums - Henrietta - who Declan was secretly terrified of. He avoided the woman at all costs.

It was with wide green eyes that he watched a door appear in the wall before her. She went inside of it like it was no big deal. The twelve year old would not have been nearly as careless about it - Hogwarts had plenty of secrets, not all were harmless. Despite this doubt, he just had to see where it was she had gone. He sprinted as quickly as he could to the door, took hold of the knob and with a huff, flung himself inside the room.

  

[Hannah Loren]

Hannah was still taking in the room when the door behind her crashed open. She tore her eyes away from the stiff, nice paper and the carefully capped paints to glare at the intruder. He was a second year that she remembered from classes as being incredibly obnoxious. She thought he was either a slytherin or a gryffindor; his disobedience versus the loudness she had seen him display. She had long since decided the second years as inconsequential to her, anyways. "Hello?" she said, voice rising and eyebrow arching warningly despite the fact that he could probably throw her out a window if he wanted too. Template by Emily Lyrics from Bling (Confessions of a King)

  

[Declan Wood]

The younger girl didn't seem at all happy to see him. He didn't think the hostility was necessary, even if he had been spying on her... and had followed her in here only because he was being nosy. Her attitude reminded him a bit of Maxine, which was why he merely brushed off the slightly annoyed look and shuffled over to see what it was that she had before her.

"What are ya doin' in here? 'S that?" He pointed at the jars of paint, unable to contain his growing excitement. They surely weren't supposed to be in here, whatever this place was. The jars were probably something a professor had stashed away to keep it out of the hands of students - which meant that they were dangerous and they certainly shouldn't be near them. He had the sudden urge to scoop one up and open it.

Declan reached his hand out for one that was a deep red, eager to open it and reek whatever havoc that belonged to the object all over the school.

  

[Hannah Loren]

"Same 's you, I guess," she said, the tongue she used at home slipping out. This kid was definitely from the slums- no middle or upper class kid would ever dare be caught speaking like this. "I was walking round outside thinking of if I wanted to make money I needed art stuff, and the door popped up." "That's paint," she said. "Don't open it, the room might not give us more if we run out." That was already a concern. "I wonder what's the cauldron for, though?" Unless... unless.... It had to have something to do with making her posters sell for more. How could a potion help with that? She thought vaguely of the paintings of Hogwarts and how they moved and blurted out, "Do potions make the paintings move?" Her hostility had mostly vanished; if he was useful, this could be great. Template by Emily Lyrics from Bling (Confessions of a King)

  

[Declan Wood]

When she mentioned the word "money" she immediately had his full attention. He did as he was told and replaced the jar of paint back where he had found it without so much as opening it a crack. Declan would never think that you could sell art for money - it was fairly worthless in the real world. You couldn't eat it to survive... well, you could, but that would probably just give you a stomachache. The people from the slums were worried about surviving, not making things pretty. However, at Hogwarts everyone was relatively well fed. Perhaps they would be interested in art. He immediately decided that whatever sort of art she wanted to sell, he would make sure he was in on it.

He looked at the cauldron skeptically and bumped it with the toe of his boot, "Ya could piss in'it I guess. Give the paint a sort a texture 'n smell." He snickered, quite amused by his inappropriate joke. He doubted she would be much offended by it, seeing as how they were made from the same cloth when it came to social class.

However, when a potion was mentioned, he turned thoughtful.

"Yeah I think there's a recipe for it in one 'o my books," He said finally, "Though I can't be for sure - I don't read those very much."

  

[Hannah Loren]

Hannah snorted at his joke. "Well, piss does match one of our colors," she said, yellow being a Hufflepuff color. A light-bulb went off in her head. "Oh!" she said. "We could sell some Quidditch themed posters. I feel like the rich people'd go nuts for that." Slummers liked Quidditch too, sure, but they were more likely to get drunk over it than buy posters and banners for them. "I don't blame you," she said. Hannah's books were terribly confusing. "But if you did read it, could you make it?" Posters were infinitely better (and therefor worth more) if they could move. She had already sort of decided that the half-stranger would be her business partner; he had expressed enough interest in it, and if he continued to make jokes he'd definitely be useful enough to get a share of the money. Crap, how much would they charge? This was terribly complicated. Template by Emily Lyrics from Bling (Confessions of a King)

  

[Declan Wood]

"Course they would," He agreed with a firm nod, "They buy the stupidest dumbest ridiculist stuff with all that money they got." Declan couldn't believe how idiotic the wealthy were. They could have spent their money on things that were worth it - like actually giving their money to their poor, or at least donating food to the starving children that lined the streets. No, they were much more interested in purchasing a fur coat for themselves.

Her question made him quirk a brow. Then, a thought sprung into his mind. It quickly blossomed into something he found quite brilliant. A mischievous grin crossed his face as he realized that she probably didn't have a clue about business or money. They could be business partners for sure, but he would definitely get a larger share of the profits. After all, all she was doing was coloring pictures. He was the one who had to do all the hard work.

"Aye I could. I'm pretty good at potions. S'one 'a ma only classes that I'm actually passin'. 'Course if I help ya, it ain't gonna be for free. I don't have time ta just sit around makin' pictures for nothin'."

  

[Hannah Loren]

"Psht," she said. "Of course you get a cut. Nobody but those rich idiots does nothing for free." And if they were poor, they never would have thought like that. Hannah wasn't sure if she hated the upper class or found them amusing, or if she was just wary of them. Maybe it was a mix of all three.... Whatever. She much preferred her own class, with their senses of self-preservation. "How much should we charge? I guess we could do it based on picture size," she said, glancing around at the piles of paper. She knew how much slummers would pay for pictures: maybe a tiny piece of food, but more likely they'd pay in teaching you interesting curses. She had never held much money in her life, except for when her mother had sent her off to buy school supplies, and that didn't count because it wasn't really her own money. Template by Emily Lyrics from Bling (Confessions of a King)

  

[Declan Wood]

"Prolly depends on how good of 'a drawer ya are," He told her logically, "If ya can only draw people that look like brooms with a big 'ol quaffle on their head they ain't gonna pay nothin' for them. Ya gotta make 'em look real. Here," He scooped down and picked up a loose sheet of parchment, "Paint me somethin' so I can decide on a fair price. I ain't gonna do this if there's no money involved." The last bit was a warning. If she were an awful artist, he wasn't going to waste his time helping her out.

Declan was glad there wasn't an argument about him getting a share of the earnings. She seemed easy going enough, though not stupid. He doubted she'd let him get away with getting more than fifty percent of the money. He could however, try to convince her that he did more of the work and therefore, deserved more of it. That would all come in due time, as he first needed to know this was worth his attention.

"Hurry up now, I don't wanna be here forever. I got things to do, places to go, people ta see..."

  

[Hannah Loren]

"Alright," she said, accepting the challenge. She picked up a thin paintbrush and dabbed it in the black paint. She clasped it in her left hand, considered the paper for a second, and started. She painted a quick sketch of someone in the Quidditch uniform hurling the quaffle at the goal hoop, complete with a baffled looking Keeper. The stands behind them just had the general shapes of the people in them, but she figured it was good enough. Hannah spun the sketch around to face Declan and wiped the paint off of the brush on the edge of the canister. She resealed it and said, "if I had more time it'd be better, 'f course." She waited for a reaction, hoping that this was going to work. Template by Emily Lyrics from Bling (Confessions of a King)

  

[Declan Wood]

Declan watched her sketch with his arms crossed, though the curious look in his green eyes was far from hidden. He saw the figures come alive, figuratively of course, as it was his duty to actually make them appear alive. The drawing took shape, fairly quickly as well, which was always good. It wasn't bad at all - they were quite good even, though he would never, ever tell her that.

"Looks good enough," He grunted, "I wager we get at least a sickle from 'em each, depenin' on where we're gonna sell 'em. Gotta be cheaper if it's gonna be at Hogwarts, but if ya sell 'em to the people in Wellingtonshire 'n Bartonburg, ya could probably get it up to at least two or three sickles a piece, if'n more."

The boy turned to leave, though stopped in order to toss out, "I'll get the potion ready in a week - meet me back here then, same time as now. Have all your drawins' ready." Then, he turned and left the hidden room that he hadn't previously known existed until a short while ago.