I Don't Belong Here

[Cora Ashby]

Of course someone had to go and mess with the fireworks at the New Years Eve celebration in Hogsmeade. And of course Cora had to get home somehow and she was sure that Floo would be safer than Apparation. Although when the green flames subsided, she was sure she did not make it far as she stumbled into a dimly lit shop that she could only assume meant it was clearly after hours. She gulped. Cora had fallen to one knee and she glanced around. It was eerily quiet. She heard footsteps and what she thought was the sound of a cloak sweeping across the wooden floor.

Cora clenched her hands into tight fists, knuckles turning white. She felt the color drain from her face. Surely she was in the wrong place. Surely though this shop catered to a different clientele no one would hurt her. Or maybe that was Cora being beyond naive and she hoped that someone wouldn't hurt her even though they could.

"Who's there?" she croaked. She took one fist to steady herself on the ground while she drew her wand. Hopefully Defense Against the Dark Arts taught her something useful enough to use in this scenario though she was terribly out of practice.

  

[Seth Amin]

Seth had spent New Years Eve in London and after it had struck midnight, he had decided that it was time to go home. Of course, he had no clue that there was a blizzard happening in Hogsmeade though he was obviously quite aware of the snow storm that was striking up in London. Seth had figured that with apparition, he could make it home safely enough.

However, when he had reappeared after popping out of where he had spent the evening - he had no clue where it was. Wherever it was, it was quite creepy. He was not willing to try apparating again so he silently tried to discern where he was by the contents of the area. It was some sort of shop - his eyes widened a little as they fell onto a very obviously dark magic sort of artifact.

Moving through the shop, he thought he heard something and moved in that direction, his warm winter cloack dragging over the floor since he was kind of crouched in case it was something dangerous. "Hello?" He called out cautiously, slowly drawing his wand and muttering 'lumos'.

  

[Cora Ashby]

Cora covered her eyes when a light suddenly shone bright in the shop. "H-hello?" she echoed, standing up all the way, though somewhat clumsy as she had no right help to balance herself. "Wh-who are you?"

Her heart was racing and she turned her wand slowly in her hand, its smooth handle comforting in the room lit only by a wand. Lowering her own wand surely meant disaster if the other person was unfriendly. "Wh-where am I?" she stammered. Cora hoped the other person in the room was friendly. That was, of course, the best case scenario. She just hoped that she could remember some self-defense spells if she needed them.

  

[Seth Amin]

Seth listened as he heard a womans voice and he paused in his tracks. "Seth Amin," he replied as he moved in the direction that the voice had come from. She didn't sound dangerous and from her question of where she was, he had to guess that she'd ended up here in the same way that he had. "I think the weathers thrown off the floo network. That's how I got here and I'm not sure where 'here' is."

It dawned on him that he was likely alone with this woman and that was just awkward. The weather outside seemed bad enough that he couldn't even see out a window. "I don't like the looks of this shop, though," he murmured as he came to face with some dark looking artefact. This place was creepy.

  

[Cora Ashby]

Cora relaxed a little from her defensive position. She still kept her wand at the ready just in case Mr Amin wasn't who he said he was. Of course, the alternative was also that he was right; this shop was not a place Cora wanted to be alone. It was also creeping her out, causing the hair on the back of her neck and arms to raise. "I think you may be right," she replied. "I am Cora Ashby, by the way." She looked around. "I wonder where we ended up."

  

[Seth Amin]

"I would say it's a pleasure to meet you but the circumstances," Seth said awkwardly. Why did he have to end up lost somewhere with a woman that he was pretty sure he didn't know? He could barely even speak to the women that he did know. Seth did feel duty bound to ensure her safety, though. Moving towards what he could make out as a shop counter with a register, it hit him where they might be. "I think we're in that shady shop in Knockturn." He never went to Knockturn and the fact that places like this existed within it was exactly why.