Get to LaPointe...

[Alessandro Darko]

He paced in front of the stone gargoyle guarding the headmistresses study. What was that password again? He couldn't remember the password to make the gargoyle show the way to her office. "Lemon...." He mumbled running both hands through his hair, messing it up. "Lemmon Snaps..." he said whirling around to see if those were the magic words. Of course not. He let out a sigh of frustration as he dropped his hands at his sides. "Lemon Sorbet....Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin...Lemon Drop...." he said all of the things that inlcuded the word 'Lemon' that came to mind. With another sigh, this time of exasperation, he slumped down next to the gargoyle.

He had decided to talk to the headmistress about something that had been bothering him. During the time of the slow and systematic possession of his mind, he had made a prophecy of sorts relating to Darkness already having infiltrated Hogwarts. He didn't know exactly how he was going to bring up this information, nor did he know how the Headmistress would react to it. Maybe she already knew? That there were forces of Darkness that lurked behind the safeguarded walls of Hogwarts. The thought scared him, that there may be teachers and students working for the mage. His thoughts then shifted to Gat Soldier. He had attacked him in DaDA class for no apparent reason.

What was all of that about? He thought as he pondered why the Slytherin boy would cast such a dangerous dark spell at him. And....Dylan and I sent several spells at him...none of which seemed to have affected Gat... A very disturbing feeling swam over him as he felt a pitfall in his stomach. He swallowed hard with widened eyes as he came to a realization. He must be an agent of darkness... He thought, his mouth held in an 'O' shape. He blinked several times and he stood up.

"He's been given dark protection somehow...he's made a pact with the devil!" He began to rant to himself. He thrust a hand through his hair, the shortened lock flopping back first over his eye. He began to breathe heavily as he remembered the unwarranted hair cut courtesy of Gat's Sectumsempra curse.

He glanced down the corridor, looking left and right. Nobody was coming, and he desperately needed to talk to the Headmistress.

[Caira LaPointe]

Caira had been in her office working away diligently. There were so many duties expected of a Hogwart’s Headmistress… and she still wasn’t sure what her own mistress expected of her at this point. For now, all she could do was do her job… and attend to minor crises as they arose. She had dealt with a minor one already, fixing D’rorah’s memory after her return from the Shadow Realm so that she would not be able to implicate Gat after torturing her. She Mage was still working to build her own army and needed to have all of her servants together, at Hogwart’s so that they could disrupt the agents of light as much as possible.

Hearing a voice in the hall ranting, she rose from her seat and made her way over to the door to see what the commotion was all about. She stepped out into the hallway to see any angry Ravenclaw with a bad haircut muttering to himself. “Alessandro, right? Whatever is the matter dear?” she asked, stepping out into the hallway. “Did you need to talk to me?”

[Alessandro Darko]

“Alessandro, right? Whatever is the matter dear?” she asked, stepping out into the hallway. “Did you need to talk to me?”

"Headmistress...." He breathed as he whirled around, seeing that the Gargoyle had given way to her office. She was standing tall, poised with authority, yet her gentle voice was soothing.

He flushed a little as he was unprepared for the Headmistress to just burst out and discover him rattling on in the hallway outside her office. He indeed needed to speak with her. He collected himself and brought himself upright, drawing in a breath, preparing to tell her what he suspected.

"Professor LaPointe...I may have some startling news...." He began, wringing his hands anxiously as he hadn't much interaction with the Headmistress. He wouldn't know how she would handle this information and was hoping she wouldn't laugh in his face, nor give him detention for making up dangerous stories.

He glanced around the hallway and lowered his voice. "We ought to speak in the privacy of your office, Headmistress..." He said gravely as he stared up into her brilliant, honey-brown eyes, with the same halo of green that he had in his own.

[Caira LaPointe]

"Yes yes, come inside," she said, her voice full of concern. "My office is always open, Alessandro." She smiled a bit, trying to reassure him. "Next time, just try knocking a bit more loudly."

She gestured through the door, allowing him to lead the way into her office. "And please, call me Caira... my name never was and never will be 'Headmistress'."

Once inside, she shut the door and led the way to a pair of chairs by the fireplace. Her customary tray of tea and sweets was waiting, always available for anyone who happened to come by her office. "Please help yourself to anything you like," she said as she poured them each a cup of tea and passed him a delicate porcelain teacup and saucer.

"Now then," she began, settling back into her chair. "Tell me, exactly what is it that has you so upset?"

(Ooc: Sorry it took me so long to respond in the first place... I've been really busy lately.)

[Alessandro Darko]

Alessandro smirked as she told him to knock a little louder next time. It would be one thing to knock if the door was present, but there was a large stone Gargoyle that blocked the way, requesting a password. Wasn't it Sherbert-Lemon?

He strode into her office as she welcomed him in warmly enough, offering him an assortment of sweets and some tea. He took a seat in the cozy chair, and almost sank into it. He reached forward and took the delicate saucer and cup of tea she had poured for him.

"Thank you kindly." He smiled to her as he took a sip and set it down on a table next to the chair. "Headmistr...Caira..." He began, as he remembered she bade him to call her by her first name. It felt a little odd as he addressed her by name, as if they were friends, or equals. "I don't know exactly how to explain this to you...but I fear there may be...." He trailed off as he began to think.

What are you doing, Alessandro...she's going to laugh at you and expell you for fantastic tales! He thought reproachfully. But I need to tell her what I suspect, she's the headmistress, she'll know what to do. He counterthought.

"Caira...I have reason to believe that there may be forces of darkness dwelling behind....these walls..." He said slowly, quoting himself during his moment of prophecy.

[Caira LaPointe]

Caira smiled as Alessandro made himself comfortable in the chair she had offered him. If her information was correct, she had stumbled upon yet another Elemental Master. And this one seemed to be more trusting of her than the others... an asset.

She listened without commoent as he spoke, her face slowly changing to an expression of concern. "Forces of darkness? Here at Hogwart's?" she asked incredulously. "I know they were in the forest. There were dementors and..." she glanced around and lowered her voice as though she were telling a secret, "shadows." She followed up with a bit of nervous laughter. "Now you're sure to think I'm telling tales out of school."

She set her teacup aside, forgetting it for a moment as she leaned forward. "Why do you think there might be forces of darkness here? I've already dismissed Mordred for endangering students..." she debated for a moment whether it would seem odd for her to confide more than that in a student and settled for allowing the statement to trail off in an implication of more sinister reasons for his dismissal. "We have protections up at the school designed to keep such things out, Alessandro. How on earth would they get here? Why do you think they're here now? What would they be after?"

[Alessandro Darko]

He let out a sigh of relief as Caira seemed to know a little about the shadows herself. Well, she IS the headmistress.... He thought, as he explained to himself that of course the head of Hogwarts would know the goings on around the place.

"I don't think you're telling tales, Ms. La...Caira.." He corrected himself again. "I'm glad that you know of such things, as I have encountered aforementioned shadows. I'm happy to say that I'm quite adept at the Patronus charm now." He said with a flash of a smile, and then his face washed over with seriousness.

She set her tea cup down and leaned forward, telling him the reasons why she dismissed Mordred. He furrowed his brow at this news. He wasn't endangering us..he was helping us... He thought as the Headmistress may have made a hasty and incorrect decision. He smirked internally as she mentioned the safeguards that were implemented to keep the forces of darkness out. He knew all too well that there were ways, they could come through in a variety of ways, via textbook, possession, or, simply if the person in question was a voluntary follower of darkness themselves.

He drew in a deep breath. "Caira..." He looked at the ground and studied his black leather shoes. He smirked a little as he noted that they needed a good polishing before he continued.

"Caira...I believe I may have....certain talents....that allow me to sort of...forsee up and coming events..." He didn't know how to put it. "I may have divined that forces of darkness already have infiltrated hogwarts...." He reached forward onto her desk and obtained a quill and a piece of parchment. He began to scribble furiously in his normal print-cursive mix, a little more harried than usual, but it was not the strange font he had written in while in his trance.

He showed her the paper revealing the words he had written down:

Darkness dwells behind these walls,
Bringing about when the darkness falls,
Chaos of the wildest dream,
Severing life from light's sparkle and gleam.

He inhaled another breath and held it as he searched her face for a reaction.

"Sometimes I get deja vu...I feel like I've seen things before...and know things that I shouldn't because I have yet to know them...if that makes any sense at all." he explained a little out of sorts as he shifted in his seat.

[Caira LaPointe]

"A patronus charm," Caira nodded with encouragement. "It's useful for protection against some Shadows." She didn't sound entirely convinced, but clearly didn't want to discourage a student who had obviously worked diligently on establishing a means to protect himself.

"Prophecy?" she asked, quirking her head to the side a bit. As she looked at the paper, it certainly seemed the sort of words one would find in a prophetic statement. "You should develop your talents. Tell me," she settled back in her chair and regarded him curiously, "what else do you know of the darkness around Hogwart's. Maybe you even know something which might help us find these dark agents... though you might not know it yet."

Her look was one of compassion, trying to understand and support a student who seemed uncomfortable and unfamiliar with his own talents. She showed no disbelief; she knew of people who had experienced prophetic visions and he didn't seem the type to fake something like that for attention... but if he was, she needed to know exactly how much he knew or thought he knew. She certainly couldn't risk being discovered, not yet.

[Alessandro Darko]

"Well...I stumbled upon this girl....in the woods...." He realized he had just voluntarily mentioned that he had gone into the Forbidden Forest alone. "Forgive me, please, Caira...I was investigating something, but I came upon a girl. She lives out there? Do you know anything of that?" He asked as he cocked his head to the side. After his chat with Wysteria in the Hospital Wing, he was convinced that Vanessa had been an agent of darkness, trying to get him to surrender his body and mind to a ruthless shadow creature dwelling within.

He was unsure of telling her his trials and tribulations regarding the shadow, or the Maleficus Obscurum. He didn't want to give too much away, but he really wanted to trust in the Headmistress in hopes of her being able to help with protecting the school.

"This girl, Vanessa, she...I believe she tried to incapacitate me, in a manner of speaking, by alluring trickery...I almost lost myself forever if it weren't for my...friends..." He said with a brief smile. He was thankful for all of them, even if they had to hurt his physical body to get rid of that shadow.

He eyed Caira, wondering whether she knew about this girl or not, she knew about the dementors, and the shadows. But how did she know about the shadows exactly, where was the source of her knowledge.

How does she know about the shadows? Does she know about the Elementals and the Shadow Warriors?? He thought suspiciously.

[Caira LaPointe]

Caira listened intently, her lips pursing slightly in disapproval as he mentioned having gone into the forest. "No, I don't know anything about a girl living in the forest, Alessandro. Did she say where she was from? I just can't imagine anyone wanting to live in that dreadful forest... especially when there are Shaodws and the like all about."

Her interest was piqued regarding his friends' having saved him. "You say your friends saved you? What happened exactly? I know Mordred mentioned Shadows in the forest before he left and his..." she started to say 'harebrained' but held herself in check... "his plan to have students assist with ridding the forest of Shadows. It was just so dangerous, students going into the forest with shadows. I mean, sure, a patronus charm will ward off the weaker ones, but how many students can really conjure a strong, corporeal patronus?"

She took up her teacup and took another long, slow sip. "And then that poor young man died. And that girl, the Ravenclaw Prefect, D'rorah came back severely injured. Apparently she was captured by the Mage herself." She let out a deep sigh. "No, after all that happened, I simply couldn't let him stay here. But at least it did bring the severity of the situation to my attention. And now you say there's a girl in the forest. What did she try to do to you exactly? How did your friends save you?" Her face was filled with the concern of a Headmistress who cared about protecting her students and was looking for anything she might be able to use to that end.

[Alessandro Darko]

Immediately after hearing her speak and begin to ask questions, he felt that talking to the headmistress had become a bad idea. There were too many things he was unprepared to disclose, and felt awkward. She asked him what Vanessa tried to do to him, which was nothing, except encourage him to keep an evil book that was slowly growing a shadow in his mind that would take him over whence strong enough. His friends saving him? From that evil that broke free inside of him, forcing himself into the depths of his mind.

"I don't remember where she said she came from...she said she moves around from place to place...." He drifted off as he tried to remember. He gave out a nervous laugh as she insinuated that his friends save him. "Well that girl, Vanessa, she just encouraged me to keep a certain book that is now long gone." He lied, he knew D'rorah had it somewhere well away from his grasp, but he knew she had it none-the-less.

"The book was evil....and it was making me....do things." He said slowly not sure of how much to tell. "Basically it made me crazy and possessive of the book, when what really happened, was the book possessed me." He sighed."In the end I gave up, and let whatever possessed me take over...the next thing I know, I woke up on the ground with Wysteria and D'rorah standing over me. They said that I was acting strange and they....conjured their patronuses and it caused the shadow to dispossess me and wither into oblivion...." He lied, not really comfortable with telling her how the real exorcism went down.

"Thats why I wanted to talk to you, to see what could be done about strengthening our defenses, as I forsaw there to be people working for the mage here in Hogwarts..." He explained slowly as he brought his gaze up to Caira's face.

[Caira LaPointe]

“Long gone?” asked Caira, confused. “Where on earth did it go to? If the book is really that powerful, you’d need to destroy it completely… it would be really difficult to contain that kind of power.” She shook her head slightly and took another thoughtful sip from her teacup. “I’m starting to think the intricacies of international diplomacy would have been much simpler than dealing with the goings on at Hogwarts.”

At his statement that Wysteria and D’rorah had used their patronuses to ‘dispossess’ him of the Shadow, she stood and began pacing. She knew then that he was lying to her… but he had obviously come because he thought she had a right to know and to protect the school from whatever is happening. “A patronus can’t dispel anything which has joined with a human form, Alessandro. I’ve been doing a lot of reading since all of this began at the beginning of the year.”

She stopped and turned to face him, her eyes filled with concern. “I care about all of my students, Alessandro, but it’s so hard to figure out what I need to do to protect them when I’m surrounded by lies and half-truths. Your friend D’rorah is stubborn and won’t tell me anything at all. Professor Kade tried to satisfy me with watered-down versions of everything that’s been happening lately.” Her eyes shone with the light of a building film of tears. “If I’m going to help keep everyone safe, I have to know what it is I’m dealing with and who my allies are… without everyone lying to me and sneaking around behind my back.”

[Alessandro Darko]

Things were not going well at all. He had come to speak with the Headmistress regarding the fact that evil-doers, and followers of the mage may be attending and working inside of Hogwarts, and to see what could be done about extra precautionary defenses that could be enacted. He hadn't planned on getting thrown into a conversation that concerned his toils and contretemps with the shadows and the forces of darkness. He had to lie to her to protect his teammates as he knew that D'rorah had already suffered enough, and would dare not let anything like that happen to Wysteria.

Alessandro's face flushed a deep crimson as Caira called him out on his lie about the patronuses flushing out the shadow. He grimaced and covered his face with his left hand, bringing it down in a wiping fashion. He looked up at his Headmistress as she began to have tears welling up in her eyes. He became uncomfortable immediately, and stood up.

"Caira....this is besides the point, the intricate details of my experience with evil are irrelevant here. The fact that it happened is what I'm trying to convey! Hogwarts has been infiltrated! Followers of the mage walk amongst us!" He rattled as he stepped forward to be right in front of her. He had never confronted a figure of authority like that before, he always did what he was told. However, he felt like things were skewing from the subject, so he tried to bring the train back on track.

"Caira please, it may not look like it on the exterior, but I am fully capable of defending myself against the shadows...well, now at least. I won't be fooled again. As far as who to protect? Everyone, as we are all at stake, I urge you to invite aurors to Hogwarts. They could patrol the grounds, and the corridors. We must strengthen the defensive magic that safeguards this school, so many precautions to take..." He trailed off as he gazed out the window.

"And with these visions...I'm sure to find out the identities of who's a part of all of this treachery." He said dangerously slow, turning his gaze from the window and looking up into her honey-brown eyes.

[Caira LaPointe]

Caira listened patiently to Alessandro’s tirade. When he turned back to face her, her eyes still held the tears that had welled before. This time, however, her look was somewhat harder.

“Aurors, patronuses, strengthening protections,” she replied wearily. “Oh yes, I’ve been the whole route with the Ministry and everyone else. Officially, as far as the Ministry is concerned, Shadows don’t exist. Of course, they’re quick to disavow anything they aren’t prepared to defend against. A group of Aurors would be wiped out by Shadows fairly quickly if they made a concentrated attack… patronuses and all.”

She lowered her voice and leaned forward in her chair. “There’s supposed to be a group of people… witches and wizards who are able to effectively fight Shadows and other creatures from that realm.” She shook her head. “No one knows who they are. And they’re afraid to reveal themselves because the Ministry persecutes them. If I could find those… Shadow Warriors…” she trailed off and shook her head. “Well, they could help if I could find them. If they’re even still alive. If the attacks and problems with Shadows continue, we’ll have to close the school. Luckily, things have been mostly quiet since the forest was cleared out.”

She sat up with a slight hint of nervous laughter. “Here I am, telling my woes to a student. Don’t worry, Alessandro. I’m working on protecting my students. It’s the first thing on my mind,” she remarked as she stood from her seat. “Hopefully I won’t have to send you all home before the term is up.”

[Alessandro Darko]

He felt awkward as she strengthened her teary-eyed look as she continued to defend the fact that she's already taken the measures he had suggested. He let out a sigh of frustration and walked over to the bookcase she had in her office and leaned against it. Aurors would be wiped out by the shadows?? Maybe... He thought as if he couldn't quite believe it. She then switched the subject quite quickly in reference to the Elemental Masters and Shadow Warriors.

He turned around so fast he almost knocked several trinkets off the book case. He looked at her as if he were trying to read her mind. He was no telepath, but he felt he was good at studying the expressions one wore when they were trying to get information. His eyes were glued to her face as she spoke.

“No one knows who they are. And they’re afraid to reveal themselves because the Ministry persecutes them. If I could find those… Shadow Warriors…” she trailed off and shook her head. “Well, they could help if I could find them. If they’re even still alive. If the attacks and problems with Shadows continue, we’ll have to close the school. Luckily, things have been mostly quiet since the forest was cleared out.”

He drew in a quick breath at the mention of being afraid to reveal themselves. Yes of course, if he let the wrong people know about who they were, they could be in grave danger, and there was much training to be done, on all parts. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice, as he had already revealed his identity as an Elemental Master to Vanessa. Even though this was the Headmistress he was speaking to, and she was pleading for any sort of help, he for some reason felt that he should abstain from telling her that he was part of the Lightfighters.

"Yeah...I heard about them too..." He said simply, letting his eyes wander to the many objects on her desk. He took a sip of his tea and reached for a butter toffee on the candy tray.

She mentioned sending students home if matters took a turn for the worse and he nearly choked on his toffee.

"No...you mustn't do that!" He exclaimed thinking that if she sent the students home, that would separate the lightfighters and the darkness would surely win. "No, that would be absolutely dreadful, Caira, there's so much that I have yet to learn, and so much to master." He said thinking of his fire abilities and his most recent clairvoyant powers surfacing.