Inevitable | OPEN

Vala entered the tavern, having completed some shopping in Zherdev Alley. In one corner of the tavern, a group of pub-goers were beginning to grow rather rowdy, but the girl ignored them. For now.

She took a seat at the bar, primly ordering a butterbeer and rewarding the bartender with a bright smile. The blonde gave a gentle sigh as he walked away.

Her mind kept going back to the dream - the one she'd been having for almost a year, now. The dream in which everything around her was shrouded in impermeable blackness. 'Dreams' probably would have been more accurate, as it hadn't actually been the exact same dream, save for the darkness. Sounds were different, as were smells and the placement of objects she tripped over. Regardless, she had dreamed of the blackness every night for nearly two weeks, this time.

The darkness scared her. It was so absolute, filling her with a hopeless inevitability.

Quickly downing her butterbeer, Vala had the bartender replace it with a firewhiskey. She didn't often drink anything stronger than butterbeer, but tonight, she somehow felt she needed it. At least the one.

Carina entered the pub, a place she had never really thought she would have the time to go into. Her mother had dropped her off and then disappeared to a place that she did not know or care to know. She knew how to use the floo and get back home. If she didn't want to go home, there was also the option to stay here she assumed. Her mother was not the one to complain really. She had lost a lot of the spark within her.

Looking around, Carina was pleased to see that the pub was at least geared towards being a warm, comfortable place to be in. Russia was such a hard, inhospitable country sometimes, that it was nice to see that the buildings within it projected warmth and welcome.

Although it was meant to be seen that way, Carina could not help but feel that it was not a safe place. At least, not one she would want to be in on her own, not without any weaponry or a wand she knew well enough how to wield. There was a group, mostly of men who began to grow more and more rowdy by the second it seemed. They made her uncomfortable and the only other presence really in the tavern other than the barkeep was a woman sitting on her own with a drink.

Carina approached the woman, trying not to appear at all hesitant. Stimulating conversation, that was all she would be looking for, and that was all anyone would think she was looking for.

"Would you mind if I sat here?" She asked, being deferential and respectful towards the woman. She was an adult, and deserving of respect.

Vala turned towards the newcomer, a smile immediately finding its way to her face. It was a girl, a little girl, really. The blonde thought she might be a Durmstrang student, but she wasn't certain.

"It is otherwise unoccupied," Vala replied. She cast a brief glance about the tavern, gaze resting momentarily on the group in the corner, before coming back to the girl. "Are you alone, then?" she asked curiously, though she tried not to make it sound patronizing. There were plenty of parents who left their children unaccompanied, after all.

The woman smiled at Carina when she seen her, which was always a good start. With a smile, it was far easier to understand the emotions people were feeling. Carina was better able to get bearings when someone smiled, in comparison to when they just looked at her with a blank expression.

"Thank you." Carina stated in reply, taking the woman's words as answer in the positive. She pulled out the spare chair and seated herself on it, resisting the urge to wipe her hand across the seat before she sat down. It was a prissy thing to do and it was something that had been drilled into her by her mother. She had spent the past few years trying to forget it.

When the woman asked if she was alone, Carina nodded her head, not finding anything offensive within the question. It was a natural question, and it was one she should have expected. She was still a young girl, as mature as she thought she was sometimes.

"Yes, my mater has gone somewhere." Carina said simply in reply. She didn't feel the need to let the other woman know anymore.

"Are you here alone also?" She asked in return. It seemed like a sensible thing to ask.

Vala smiled, once more. "I am," she confirmed. "I felt no need to bring anyone out with me. I had shopping to do, and having somebody with me would only hinder the process.

"Were you going to get a drink, then?" Vala asked the girl. "There isn't much you can drink here. You choose. I will buy you a drink. As a hello."

Carina was taken aback a little by the offer of having a drink bought for her. It was a nice gesture and it was one to be appreciated. It would be rude to refuse.

"I thank you and I would take a cup of water." Carina replied. She favoured water above most tastes available to her in this world. Pumpkin juice and the like were not her order of the day and never had been.

"Sometimes it is of benefit to shop with 'friends', if it is social shopping." Carina stated, trying to think back to a time she had ever went shopping with anyone other than her family. She couldn't.

"Did you get all that you needed?" Carina asked, not wanting to appear to be too intrusive.

Alexa entered the place in need of a drink. It had been a hard day as her mother once tried again to escape Azkaban. She went over to the bar and ordered a Fire whiskey. She looked around to see a Durmstrang Professor sitting with girl which was a student. She got her drink and went over.

"Mind if I join Both of you?" Alexa asked with a smile.

Vala raised a brow in surprise. "Just water? Very well, then." She directed the bartender to fill the order.

"It is, sometimes," the nineteen-year-old agreed. "And I did, thank you."

The blonde looked up at her colleague, motioning to a vacant seat. "Not at all." She opened her mouth to continue, intent on raising her voice a bit, as the group in the corner had grown rowdy once more. It was lost, however, her gaze slipping momentarily out of focus.

Blinking, Vala's expression became grim. Turning from her company, she faced the bartender, again.

"I need a piece of parchment and a quill," she told him intently. Once it was given her, she stared at it a moment, and then she began to write, deaf and blind to the world around her. Vala suddenly knew what the darkness was - and it was inevitable.

She would face it, though, but first, she had to write a letter.

Signing her name with a delicate flourish, Vala folded the parchment, using a charm to seal it. Then, she penned across it,


Setting her wand atop the page, she stood, finally turning back to the other two. Facing Alexa (she was certain that was her name), Vala gave a small smile. "I should have liked to have gotten to know you better, professor," she said lightly. "My... the books, in the library. They'll need proper care."

Moving over the girl - such a little girl, really - Vala gently stroked a strand of hair back behind the girl's ear, smile turning sad.

"It's not your fault," she murmured softly. "Don't look."

Shouting broke out in the corner of the room, one drunken man angry at another. "Oh, yeah? Well, take this - Avada Kedavra!"

Vala moved around the girl, interposing herself between the child and the curse.

It struck her.

And then the darkness claimed her.

Alexa knewwhat the woman was going to d. She watched as Valawas struck with the killing curse.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Alexa said as Vala fell to the floor.

Alexa flicked her rist at the men and they all froze. She got her wand out and flicked it to send a message to the Ministry. She got the girls letter and wand.

Alexa went to her student.

"Come on Miss Rosier, we need to get out of here child." Alexa said as she got hold of the child and took her out of the building.

Carina had gotten her glass of water and she took a sip of it. It was wonderful. As strange as it may have seemed, she liked her water. She took another sip and shut her eyes for a few moments savouring the taste. There was actually taste in the water, which is something that a lot of people did not believe in.

Another older woman came over and joined the table. Carina took this as a sign to zone out, and leave the adults to talk. She would hear if they spoke to her, she was atuned to her name at least.

She wondered to herself, once more, when her father and brother were going to come back if ever. She missed them, but at the same time she also felt betrayed by them. They had left without bringing her with them after all. Once again, the thought drifted into her mind that perhaps they didn't love her and all she was left with was her mother. She quickly dismissed that thought though, simply due to the circumstances under which they had left.

She was so deep in thought that she barely realised what was going on. She was brought suddenly out of her thoughts by the first woman's hands on her hair. If she hadn't been so confused about what was going on, Carina would have slapped the woman's hand away or flinched. Instead, all she did was watch her.

There was a sad expression on her face, and Carina was so very confused by her words. Had the woman heard her thoughts? If she had, how could she know that what had happened with her family wasn't her fault.

It all happened so quickly. She heard the killing curse, as she had heard it before. The flash of green light that would be enough to haunt anyone. The woman stepped in the way and it hit her. Carina jumped up from the chair immediatly and looked around the room, her breath coming sharp and fast as she watched on.

The other woman froze the group of men and took hold of Carina, taking her out of the pub. Carina went along with her, thinking it was the best idea.

"Why?" The single question that had so much meaning, Carina's usual harsh composure temporarily shattered. It was all she could think of and as she looked at the woman leading her away, a Professor at her school, all she could hope for was that there would be some answers.

This had been no ordinary day.

Alexa was going to take the girl to her Manor to tell the girl Why.

"Miss Rosier, I can explain what happened but you need to trust me as i will tell you some where safe. Like my Manor, Ok?" Alexa asked quickly.

Carina was a little hesitant to go to this woman's manner. Even though she was a Professor at the school, she was still a stranger, and something terrible could happen. Carina was not very trusting and she wasn't about to turn around and go off some place she didn't know where.

"Why your Manor? Are we not safe here?" Carina asked, pausing and putting her hands on her hips. She fixed the woman with a firm stare, waiting for a response.

"You are a stranger after all." Carina pointed out, to help the woman understand exactly why she wasn't just jumping at her suggestion.

Alexa Gleared.

"Thank you for the trust Miss Rosier. Fine we will go some where of your choice." Alexa said as she looked around.

Carina would normally have said something more, or refuse to even talk to that woman but she decided against it. She wanted to know, and this woman seemed to be able to give her answers. Carina hoped that she would deliver.

"Somewhere open and public, but still quite. Any ideas?" Carina asked. She didn't quite know the area all that well but she knew the sort of area that she wanted to speak in.

"Miss Rosier i think it would be better to talk about this when we are at school again. i'll send you a Owl when term begins again. This place is not safe. I'll give you your answers then!" Alexa said in worried tone.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Alexa was concerned about her students safety. That was her top priority at this moment.

Carina sighed heavily and nodded her head. That was a compromise that she would deal with. Answers were guarenteed and a safe place to meet and discuss was also guarenteed. If it wasn't safe to talk there then it was the best option.

"Okay. I can wait." Carina said slowly, considering what she was going to do next. The woman offered to take her back home and Carina shook her head. The last thing she wanted was her mother having any idea about what had happened.

"No thank you. I'll be fine. My mum should be picking me up soon." Carina said, lying a little. She assumed that her mother was going to pick her up, but she hadn't really said that she would.

Alexa picked up the lie.

"I wouldn't lie to me Miss Rosier. I am a skilled legilimence. Is your mother meeting you or not? Alexa asked with a raised eyebrow.

Carina couldn't help glowering at the older woman. If she knew, she could just have let her be.

"I don't know. I think so. She wouldn't really leave me alone." Carina said, being careful and trying not to add 'unfotunatly' at the end.

Alexa raised another eyebrow at the girl.

"Well for your safety you really need to be with your mother Miss Roiser." Alexa said as she looked around.

Carina tried not to scowl and nodded her head. Sure, being with her mother was a great idea. For her safety maybe, her sanity though, that was a whole different pumpkin patch. The further apart they were from each other the better.

"Yes, I know I should be. I'm not though, so she must have thought I could handle myself." Carina retorted. She hoped that her mother would eventually understand that she could actually handle herself properly. Maybe she already had. If so, it had been a long time coming.

"Well We better go find her then?" Alexa said to the girl.

Carina didn't particularly want to find her mother, and she didn't want to when this woman was still in her company. Her home life, it was something she wanted to try and keep seperate from her school life. Those two should never meet as far as she was concerned.

"Look, I will be fine. It's nice that you want to make sure I am okay, but I will be fine." Carina stated, hoping that the older woman would take the hint and leave her be.

"Fine then Miss Roiser, I will see you at the beginning of term then." Alexa said as she apperated on the spot.

Carina felt that the woman's disappearance was rather sudden but she wasn't about to complain. After all, she was on her own now again. As she walked away down the alley, she had to wonder to herself if sometimes it would be better if she just stayed away from people. After all, she had not expected what had happened in the pub to occur.

Carina sighed heavily and turned, heading into one of the open shops for a quick browse.

Alexa landed near her home and hoped the girl would be fine.
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