Innocence died screaming, honey ask me, I should know.

Finn had loved Hogsmeade. When he was alive, that is. And that, of course, meant that his brother Dax absolutely hated it. Not as much as he hated the dark passages of Diagon and Knockturn Alley, of course, but very nearly as much. Because Finn had promised to bring Dax to Honeydukes after graduation and buy him whatever he wanted. But Finn had never seen Dax's graduation, and they certainly did not have the money to waste it like that.

Or, rather- he certainly did not have the money to waste it like that.

At any rate, he had to be there, and on a students' weekend, no less. Of all the horrible things he could be doing with his time. But he was there to meet Christian and talk about things at the store. Dax was not at all the sort to ruin his chances in a job he needed, so he had been running the store as carefully as Christian would have. He would not make any of the mistakes his brother had.

He would never live like that again.

So he sat outside the sweets shop, impatient because of the cold, and waited for Christian to arrive. When he did, Dax was nothing but friendly. A little smile - enough to seem genuine - and a casual stance that other people he spoke to were not typically afforded. He couldn't have known that, across the way, a few students were watching their interaction.

Perhaps Dax had a reputation. That would probably be fair to say. But not a positive one, or even a negative one. Just one of strangeness and curiosity from the other students. It could be said that he had always drawn the attention of others - either because his looks were almost handsome but somehow a little bit off, or because he had an eerie presence about him when he wasn't trying not to. It didn't really matter. He just knew that a combination of his odd traits and habits were bound to keep him isolated, and he had no problem with it.

Everything was essentially fine, he told Christian, but he wanted to do a bit of research into safety products designed specifically for chasers, as he wasn't convinced they were selling the best options on the market. Christian, obviously, understood that desire. That very problem - safety, that is - had turned him off of playing Quidditch forever.

Once they finished their chat, Christian gave him a nod, knowing better than to offer a hand to shake since Dax would never extend a hand in return, and bid him farewell.

Although Dax was tempted to head straight back to Diagon Alley, he was tempted quite suddenly to grab a bite to eat first. He had taken up living in the flat above Quality Quidditch Supplies while the boys were in school, paying them inordinately cheap rent, but was feeling a bit stir crazy after working all morning. So he turned instead towards the Three Broomsticks, fancying a pint and a bit of shepherd's pie.

"... Hit. Earth to Hit. Anabelle!"

A hand was waving in front of her face but only when she heard her actual name did she actually pay attention to the other person, and it was only to sass them for calling her by her real name. "Don't call me that." She glared at the boy next to her and couldn't help but feel embarrassed when he started laughing at her reaction.

"What's so funny?" She asked as she looked away, knowing her face was probably red now from the embarrassment.

The boy who was with her, the elder of the Yaxley twins, shrugged. "It's just funny that the only thing that made her react was the name you hate being called." he answered, causing the to glance at him before looking at what had taken her attention away from Cronis to begin with. "What are you so interested in anyway?" she heard him ask but didn't know if it was a good idea to tell him or not.

Well, it wasn't like anything was going on anymore. She sighed and looked at Cronis with an irritated look; how could she not, he didn't seem to know the meaning of personal space anymore as he moved himself next to her so he could see whatever she was looking at but that meant that now she was inches away from him. She didn't like feeling crowded. "You know how to get that close to me." she said seriously but it didn't seem like he was planning to move.

"I want to know what you were so interested in." His brother had told her that for some reason he seemed to like her.. in that way and she had tried to get a hold on the situation but no matter what she did, it didn't seem like Cronis had any plans on giving up on her - even though he knew she didn't (and wouldn't) like him back like that.

They'd probably been in Hogsmeade for about an hour, wandering around without any particular place they wanted to go but now Hit wanted to find someplace she could go alone, even though she'd promised to spend the day with the Yaxley boy. Even his brother had wandered off on his own somewhere, which Hit had actually found a little strange and made her think that Cronis had done something to make him go away. "If you're not going to listen, I'm just going to leave." she finally said after feeling that Cronis was getting even closer to her.

Hit heard him mutter something, but since he didn't move she started to walk away from the boy, in the direction of the people (person, now) who had made her curious. She knew both of them and for some reason, seeing them together intrigued her.

Maybe she was just being weird, though.

Leaving a confused Cronis behind, Hit made her way toward the older boy who had been a housemate of hers and had always interested her for some reason, maybe because he had always been pretty cold and she had never gotten the chance to properly speak to him. She stopped in her tracks suddenly while he continued walking toward the Three Broomsticks as she realized something important.

She'd never once had a proper conversation with him. How was she supposed to start one now?

The Gryffindor stood there, practically frozen in place as she overthought what she was supposed to do, watching the air she exhaled fade in front of her.

Guess she pretty much just had to wing it.

Hit lowered her face into the scarf around her neck and began to walk again, following the older boy to the Three Broomsticks. The closer she got, the more nervous she became as her mind desperately tried to figure out what she was supposed to do once she was close enough to him. And the only thing she ended up being able to think of was, "Um, h-hey.. Dax?"

She mentally facepalmed at her words. That was really the best she could come up with, that was great, and she didn't even know if that had been loud enough for him to hear.

[ooc: Sorry this is short. He's been a problem child XD]


He would have been content with walking in, eating alone, and heading back to the flat. It wasn't a perfect day, perhaps, but it would do. Life was easier when there were fewer people to interfere with it. Dax had never had that luxury, however, and today would apparently be no different. How unfortunate.

When he heard his name, Dax's stance stiffened and he turned around slowly. It took him a moment or two, but he recognized her. The Gryffindor girl that used to run about with Christian's brother. The 'used to' part was interesting. But he could come back to that later. For now, he was more intent on finding out why she had approached him, of all people.

"Anabelle."

Perhaps he should have been more polite. He didn't feel like it, though. It wasn't like he had been friends with this girl, anyway. But he was curious, and it was a start, he supposed.

So he tilted his head to one side, eyes narrowed slightly as he watched her. "Do you need something? I was on my way to lunch, and I imagine you would not want to waste a perfectly good Hogsmeade weekend outing."

At times like these she always wished she would've just continued on her way without her curiosity pulling her in a direction it shouldn't.

But then life wouldn't be fun.

She already didn't think her life was very fun, and her friends constantly harassing her to be with someone she didn't like didn't make things any easier. If she were anyone else, she would have agreed with Dax immediately, probably apologized, and walked away like nothing had happened.

But she wasn't anyone else. She was her, she was Hit, and that meant she couldn't do any of that without feeling awkward or like she'd done something wrong. So what did that mean? It meant she stood there awkwardly, not being able to form a thought that would make sense if she were to say it aloud to explain herself to him.

To her, his tone sounded like he didn't want her there. To be fair though, she couldn't blame him since she just randomly appeared. It wasn't like she was expecting to be greeted with extreme happiness, especially from someone like Dax who she'd never really interacted with.

"I was just wandering around, anyways. It wasn't like I was doing anything important." she finally said, her eyes darting from Dax to, well, pretty much anything else she could lay her eyes on. Hit had a habit of not being able to look anyone in the eye for too long. "I saw you with Christian.." I'm going to sound like such an idiot. ".. and I got curious."

She had to stop herself there, the embarrassment was making her cheeks a lot more red than she'd like and she had to sink her face into her scarf as she looked up at him again.