Kiri was in good spirits after the last Quidditch practice session with her team. All of them had flown really well, and she was confident that they had a decent shot at winning the game against Gryffindor. Her mood even went so far as to make her look forward to finishing the homework she still had to do. Such was the Quidditch Captain's life, caught between sport and school...

The only downside was that she did not get to fly as much as she wanted to, she considered as she wandered down the dungeons to the Slytherin common room. During the practice sessions, she was supposed to supervise the team. What she really felt like doing was just... kick off from the ground and speed around the Pitch a few times, like she'd done when it had been open for general flying.

Tossing one of her Quidditch gloves back and forth in her hands, Kiri had nearly reached the entrance to the common room when something made her stop. She was just passing the Potions classroom - noticeable from the sulphuric smell emanating from it - and she'd noticed something odd about it.
It took her a moment to figure out what it was: There was an open door there! She'd never seen that before... It was small, sure, so if it was closed it would be pretty hard to see in the gloom of the dungeons, but was she really that unobservant?

"Erm... Professor Kazimeriz?" she ventured, prodding the door open a little wider and glancing inside. "Hello?" The door opened into a high-ceilinged room, and it was full of old shelves. The shelves were filled with bottles and phials. Spiders had merrily spun their webs all over the place. "Professor?" Kiri repeated, stepping a little further into the room. This place was creepy!

Leading Dylan down the corridor, Kapoor turned until they were standing near the entrance of the potions room and an old cupboard whose doors had been opened was within sights.

Kapoor was surprised to see another student in the Potions storeroom. Was she hurt too, perhaps? As he drew closer, quiet as a ninja, he could see that it was Kiri Starstalker. An amusing thought suddenly occurred to him and he considered sneaking up on her to give her a little scare, but it occurred to him that she might be in there fetching something for Kazimeriz. Wisely, he stayed hidden for a moment longer, trying to keep himself and the injured Dylan out of sight.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small tin that had a scratched up indigo and gold decorated lid. He blew upon it to knock out some dust and chuckled to himself as he read the birthday gift greeting from his old friend. Reaching his round fingers into the tin, Kapoor pinched off enough Peruvian darkness powder and released it near to the entrance of the storeroom. His booming voice could be heard through the darkness summoning the small bottle of essence of dittany and he scrambled to get himself and Dylan away from the darkness so that they could hurry up and heal Dylans injuries.

"Here you are, lad. Just take a little of this and apply it to your cuts." Kapoor said, handing the bottle over to Dylan.

Dylan was almost carried to, no idea where. Actually he had no idea where he was. He was near the potions lab, he knew that much. Ummm, crazy Professor-man had dragged him, somewhere. And then it suddenly went dark. What was going on?

"Take what?" he couldn't see what he was meant to be taking. Was it a potion? A pill? A herb? WHAT?

This had to be Professor Kazimeriz's storeroom. Even though the things on the shelves were just that, things, dusty glass bottles and curiously shaped chemical instruments, they somehow managed to exude that extra bit of creepiness that followed the old man around like a travelling cloak that was too big.

She wondered vaguely what all those bottles contained. Unlike the potions they usually concocted in their lessons, most of these seemed to be colourless. One could easily mistake them for water - but only for a moment. Some of them looked as if they were moving ever so slightly, and others reflected the light in vaguely disconcerting ways. Kiri reached out to tap a finger against one and that was when everything went pitch-black.

For a second, Kiri thought that her reaching out had been the cause of this. But even as she was wondering what kind of spell could do this, a booming voice, amplified by the room and Kiri's heavily thumping heart, came out of the darkness, casting a Summoning Charm. With a tinkling noise, something (a potion bottle, Kiri guessed) whizzed past her head. Kiri still had no idea where she was - but even as she was fumbling for her wand, the darkness began to clear. It seemed to be some kind of dark mist or steam of sorts, and when Kiri blew against it, it moved. She didn't think waving her arms to clear the way would be a good idea, though. It was bad enough that she'd stumbled into this room (even if by accident), but if she hit something and smashed it...

Coughing, she emerged from he storeroom and looked around.

"The bottle. Can you feel a bottle?" Kapoor answered Dylan, trying to make the most of what was left of the darkness cloud.

And when the blackish cloud caused by darkness powder cleared - as it did, eventually- there was Kapoor, standing there, holding a small glass phial of something and smiling at Kiri.

"Good evening." He said as though nothing were wrong at all as he tried to hide Dylans injuries, hoping that he was still holding out alright and that his injuries hadn't worsened as they traveled down the corridor.

Dylan fumbled around in the darkness, his hand flailing slightly. His fingers grazed something cold. He caught it in his hand. "This bottle?" he popped the top off of it. It smelt nasty. "And you want me to drink it?" He wasn't putting that foul smelling liquid anywhere near his lips.

The darkness faded and before him stood Kiri. Oh great. "Hi Kiri." He gave her a slight wave.

"Professor Kapoor? Er... Dylan?" Kiri stared. She found herself raising her hand in reply to Dylan's wave, was still holding her heavy Quidditch gloves. The darkness was disappearing quickly now. The smoke seeped away into the walls and the ceiling, leaving behind a faintly acrid smell and a very curious scene.

There was Kiri, wearing her Quidditch uniform. A few cobwebs had settled in her hair, making it look as if she was wearing the remnants of a whitish hairnet. Then there was the giant form of Professor Kapoor - of course, Kiri now remembered, he wasn't a proper teacher anymore. He'd taken over supervision of the library from Madame Kohan. So what was he doing down here in the dungeons? This hardly seemed like the place for him to be.

Although it was Dylan's place to be, seeing as he was a Slytherin. Here was where things became even stranger. Maybe it was just the after effect of the strange darkness (which Kiri vaguely thought to be some Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product), but he looked unusually pale to her. And he was all hunched up and clutching his stomach too... That was about as much as Kiri could see of him, however, as Professor Kapoor was more or less obscuring the boy completely.

"Good evening," she heard herself say, still staring. "Erm... Professor! I didn't mean to, er, sneak into the storeroom. The door was open when I came by!"

Before Kapoor could say much more, Kiri had already spoken. For that, he was grateful, because in her speaking she explained why she was down there. Not for Professor Kazimeriz.
"Nothing to worry over, Miss Starstalker. I wont be mentioning a thing. Just remember to replace whatever you've taken as Professor Kazimeriz is bound to take notice." Whew! That was a close one! That was when he noticed Kiri noticing Dylan and as the smoke cleared he could see him much better too. Was he...getting any worse? Best to administer that dittany to him right away.


"No, no, not drink it." He said with a surprising amount of calm as he pulled out his wand and conjured a cloth handkerchief to hand it over to Dylan. "Dab it onto the places you've been cut. It should heal it straight away."

Dylan's eyes widened at the man, "Have you seen my chest?" He peered down at it. He was still trying to shield it from Kiri. How was he meant to dab this potion on his chest?

His chest? He realized it a bit too late, but the thought did finally occur to him. Just where was the young man wounded?

"I haven't. No." He paused for a moment to remember a similar situation in which he randomly decided to visit a pristine lake for a swim. "Would you care for a privacy divider?"

The smoke had more or less cleared. And Kiri was staring at Dylan now. She felt slightly sick, and not from the smoke. There were huge gashes all over Dylan's chest (he wasn't wearing a shirt), wounds that looked like they had been inflicted by something with sharp claws or someone with sharp knives. And they looked very recent.

"Er..." Kiri looked away pointedly, at least for a few seconds. "No, Professor!" she protested. "I... well, thank you, first of all, but I didn't take anything. I just came by when the door was open, and I, er, I guess I had a look around." That did not make her sound guilty at all, but she was distracted by Dylan again.
Professor Kapoor seemed to be too, because without further comment, he turned around and crouched down next to the boy, uncorking the bottle and handing it over.

She glanced around. No on else was in the corridor to witness this very strange scene, and Kiri had the distinct impression that she wasn't supposed to either. She decided to ignore the comment about the "privacy divider". There wasn't anything on display she hadn't seen before - and that included the wounds! "Professor?" she repeated, trying not to stare too openly. "What, what happened? Should I go and look for Professor Kazimeriz? Or Healer Ashford?"

Dylan shook his head. He didn't need privacy. It was only Kiri. SHe had probably seen loads of people half naked. She was a quidditch player after all. Was she staring at him? He did look good, but there was no need to stare. "Um Kiri, you ok?" Maybe she was tired and had just zoned out.

Kazi? Nooooooooo! Actually maybe a good idea.

A brief gust of air breezes through the room, buffeting those inside or near the door. One of the small canisters from a high shelf floats down, and is joined by a couple of dusty bottles- as though an invisible wizard is shopping for supplies. As the bottles and jars disappear from sight, the low sound of Peeves' snickers fill the corridor.

"It's alright, Kiri." Kapoor almost interjected the concern Kiri must've had over being 'caught'. He soon realized that he was happy to see her when she offered to fetch help. "Healer Ashford! Yes, Kiri please. She'll know how best to handle this as he's not making it to the hospital wing himself."

"Dylan, was it? I think you should try the dittany. Just in case it works. You look a bit ...faint." He said commenting on the loss of colour. Was it possible that Dylan had done this to himself? Sleep magicking wasn't all that uncommon, was it?

Kapoor watched silently as a band of singing bottles vacated from their storeroom prison. He rolled his eyes for a moment and sighed in what sounded like relief. They had a blessed scapegoat.

Dylan eyed the moving jars. He would've thought it odd, but it was a magic school. Anything was possible. He eyed the one in his hand. Dittany. He took a deep breath. He poured some of it onto the rag. He started to dab the hole. ARGH stung!!!! It hurt. He winced slightly. Now to pass off the fact that he was feeling better.

He smiled, "I feel alot better now thank you." Yep alot better.

Well, at least he was not bleeding anymore. And that lifted a large portion of the uneasiness. But, one thing still remained uncertain. Just how did Dylan end up with such an injury to begin with?
"Good, Good." He said feeling more relieved. "Dylan? Dylan, do you remember anything about the dreams you had last night?"

"Oh, Miss Starstalker?" He cut his own statement. "Miss Starstalker, do not worry about fetching the healer just yet." He said, hoping to stop her before she got too far.

Dylan frowned, "Dreams? I didn't dream last night." Why did he think he was dreaming? "I rarely dream. I express myself in waking, not in sleep. Don't need to." He rocked on his heels, he was most uncomfortable on the floor.

Right, Healer Ashford. Kiri nodded, her face set, and hurried off... only to be stopped a second later. They didn't need the nurse just yet? What did that mean? Wondering why she couldn't just look for the healer anyway (it would take Kiri a few minutes to find her, most likely), she swivelled around and slowly walked back to where Professor Kapoor and Dylan stood. Hunched. Leaned against the wall. Whichever worked.

"Erm, alright," said Kiri, joining the professor. Even now, sort of kneeling, he was almost as tall as Kiri. "It's no problem, though..." She trailed off. Dylan was dabbing one of his wounds with the potion the professor had got for him.
Kiri hurriedly looked elsewhere - when the liquid, which she now knew to be Dittany, touched Dylan's skin, it started to hiss loudly. The sound reminded Kiri eerily of meat thrown into hot oil.

Why was she here? It wasn't as if she could do anything to help. She kneaded the Quidditch glove in her hand nervously. And why was Professor Kapoor asking about dreams? The wounds didn't look as if Dylan could have somehow inflicted them himself (if that was even possible, Kiri did not know), and in any case, Kiri wasn't sure she wanted to hear him talk about his dreams... That would be uncomfortable for both of them.

He realized that it had crossed his mind too late. Of course, priorities being what they were there probably wouldn't have been alot that Professor Lupa could've done. "Miss Starstalker, I'm sorry to ask your favour again, but if you still want to help, do you think you could find Professor Lupa and tell her that Dylan was found in the dungeons with severe injuries? She should at least be informed of the situation while we figure out how something like this could've happened."

"Perhaps, one of your room mates was having a dream and casted upon you in his sleep. Must've been a fairly bad dream, given the size of your injury." Curious as that was, it could've been a possibility. And the sooner they knew what the cause of this was, the sooner they could fix it.

"How did you end up in the corridor?" Had he been going for help? Kapoor wanted to know how far back Dylan could remember.

"I was going to the hospital wing. It isn't normal to wake up like this. So I thought I would go get help. But I am all fixed now. So it is fine," Dylan smiled. "I'll go to the headmaster later. Don't worry Professor Lupa. She doesn't need to panic or anything. Thank you for the help Professor." Yep the Headmaster. He was the one that needed to know.

Kapoor put a finger to his chin. Dylan seemed to be feeling better, and sweet of him not to want to panic the Runes professor, nonetheless...

"Alright, Dylan. You should probably go back to your common room and take a rest, then." This was indeed one of the stranger incidents he'd found himself in in a long time. And for Kapoor that was saying something.

Dylan smiled, "I'll do that Professor. Maybe go to the kitchen and grab a drink. I am a bit thirsty." That sounded like a plan. Now where was the kitchen? "Um how do I get into the kitchen?" Kapoor should know. Right?

"A floor up from here. Take the stairway." He pointed in the direction of the staircase, thinking about how exactly he was going to find the words to convey this to Headmaster Tate and Professor Lupa.

"Up a floor and take the stairway? Which stairway?" Dylan frowned, "I have never been that way before. I tend to just attend classes. Never explore so much. Only found the room of requirement recently."