Gits and Gadgets

'✭.<Alora Ivory>.*•
Irresponsible kids with dangerous weapons

Mattheo and I went through passage quickly, it was dark, dim-lit and scary as shit. It was filled with cobwebs and dust, it was very closed in and what I found out about Mattheo is that he was very claustrophobic, he complained that we should hurry blaming it on Lorenzo saying 'he doesn't like waiting' but the whole time we were walking, his eyes darted to the closed in walls, and he kept taking deep breathes, his shoulders were hunced together the whole time until we made our way out, he felt calmer and less anxious then earlier.

The passage led us outside to the castle and into the cold breeze in the entrances of the greenhouses. And there was them. Waiting. Alex stood, arms folded against his cloak, leaning against a wall. He didn't say anything when he saw us—his narrowed, sharp eyes was unrelenting and unsettling. Lorenzo was little farther, moving back and forth—his shoes scuffing the stone, and him constantly looking at his wrist watching the hands on his watch move. Theodore was sitting on the stone steps, lazily. His back turned to us, facing in the direction of the greenhouses. A cigarette was in between his fingers, Smoke curling upwards in the hair. Lorenzo looked up from his watch, and looked towards us. "Took you guys long enough." Lorenzo scoffed, clearly annoyed at our tardiness. "Thought the ghosts or Flich got you."

Alex didn't say anything just walked over closer to where we were standing—Theodore turned his head back, tilting his head giving me and Mattheo this lopsided grin, "Or each other." His eyes flicked between Me and Mattheo, insinuating something that I hadn't wanted to. "We ran into prefects." I explained, stepping a step away from Mattheo. Lorenzo completely lost his annoyance in his face, and his eyes widened. "They saw you?" He gasped. "Nearly." Mattheo answered, clearly not bothered of course. "But I handled it." That pause made everyone look at him, not scared but nervous. "With my lovely charm, and handsome face." He grinned, enjoying everyone awaiting afraid faces—they all let out their breathes. I rolled my eyes, letting out a sigh. "If that's what your ability is called to easily manipulate people in under a couple minutes, then sure. Call it Charm." Because that's it's exactly what it shouldn't be.

Charm? It wasn't cleverness, hell it wasn't even a lie. It was just Mattheo stepping into the light, fixating it perfectly to make it admire his sharp features, his tousled curly hair and his voice filled with fake emotion. He didn't even dare to try that hard, he knew what worked for him and using that powerful weapon that is called his smile just happen to captivate that poor girl. He flicked his gaze at me and smiled, "It worked, didn't it?" He said. I didn't dare respond. I could be annoyed all I want but it was true, he was the reason why we aren't in trouble. "Let's just get onto it...what did everyone bring?" I muttered, scanning the group. Lorenzo dropped to one knee, flipping open a flap of a newly leather bag. "Right, here is what I got." He lifted up a smaller rounded jar, it was dark stained glass with a lock that was securing the lid. "What is that?" I stepped closer to see it. "A listening jar. It's helps capture whispers, any residual sound. Anything that we might miss.."

"So it traps voices?" I asked, clearly not understanding the use of this. "Basically. If something is murmuring, or we need to capture a line. This will be essential." Lorenzo explained. Next, he pulled out a small velvet pouch, tipping it over in his hand. There was a few small beads fell across his hand. "A necklace? Really, Lorenzo." Mattheo scoffed. Lorenzo shook his head as he swished around the beads in his hand. "These are tether beads. They are basically our magical breadcrumb trail. As long as you have one, it's our trail out of that house. If it's intact then this is our trail out." He put these beads back in the velvet back carefully, calmly. "If?" I asked. He glanced up at me, "Here's the catch, the beads will be connected to us, as a group. It relies on us, the connection. The better the connection, the better it will stay intact and we will be able to find our way back. However, if one of us is pulling away, ruining the pact—harboring any part of the bond your bead will dim, then it could break. Causing our trail back weaker, harder to find." That sent a shiver down my spine. This group is fractured as is and depending our bond together just feels like a disaster awaiting.

It seems like we were all uncomfortable of what Lorenzo told us about this beads but him? He wasn't he just shrugged it off and pulled out a map. "And this is, a draft scroll. It will sketch out a map of the house with every step we take. It might mess up when it react with dark magic but it's better to understand where we are facing against." He gently put away the scroll back to bag along with everything else. Mattheo laughed, "So you just randomly have this shit laying around?" Lorenzo stood up, shrugging. "Always be prepared. With this school you never know."

Next, Theodore stood up from the stairs dropping his cigarette on the ground, stomping it to ashes. He pulled out a thin sliver chain from inside his cloak. A rounded locked dangled at the end. "Mirror-eye. Reveals anything watching us, even if it's not well visible." He explain, flicking it open. My stomach turned. "That's...unusual." Theodore gave me a crooked smile before shutting it close. "That's the theme." He reached in his pocket again, pulling out a warped silver time watch. "This freezes a magical event for about five seconds, not the longest but it is a short magical pause button.." It's not a long time but it's enough for an emergency.

"Well compared to you two, I feel a lot unprepared but, flashlight. Camera. Rope and a medkit." Lorenzo gave me a sincere nod, "well, you thought practical too even if it's plain. We are gonna need that." Theodore agreed, "especially the medkit. Someone's bound to trip over their huge ego. My moneys on Mattheo." Mattheo scoffed. "You're hilarious." Theodore shrugged, returning a grin. "I try." Everyone turned to Mattheo. He didn't move right away, confused before he finally understood what we were waiting for. "I brought my wand, my charming winning personality," he grinned before digging inside his cloak and there was a sliver flask, the sliver shined with the moonlight glimmer. "You brought alcohol?" I gasped in disbelief. Actually so unbelievable. He brought nothing useful to help us in the house.

"I brought something I would need. For my morale." He said, completely serious. "And something that I won't be sharing with any of you." Lorenzo looked at him disappointed , "you're lucky that we prepared and brought stuff to help us, because I don't think a flask will protect you from a cursed house." Mattheo put the flash back in his pocket and placed his hand on Lorenzo shoulder. "Who said anything about protection? This is what I call coping." The only protection he had brought was his wand while everyone else brought stuff like they were ready for a heist, and Mattheo rather be drinking like we are going to a party. "Well, Mattheo probably wants the buzz to take the edge off of the creepy shit and whispers that is in that house. So it's makes sense in terms of Mattheo big head." Theodore explained, like it was basic logic. Mattheo jumped toward him—swinging his arm around him in excitement. "See? Theodore gets it."

I rolled my eyes, and then there my gaze turned to my brother. Who really hadn't said much ever since we got here, he was engaged in everyone showing off what we brought but really was just silent. He had pulled out a small bag from inside his cloak pocket, it was actually one that I was familiar with. It was one I got for him, it a small looking bag but inside the space is endless so you could really hide anything in there. He pulled out a long wooden case. Inside, nestled in a dark navy velvet bed was single curved dagger. Sleek, silver and I swear you could see a perfect reflection from it. "A spectral blade. It breaks through magical barriers, found this in a pawn shop in Diagon alley." I stared at him then at the blade, we all were staring at it. It's definitely not something I would see my brother to have—he never had interest in weapons like that. "That's...nice. It's smart. And you guys need to calm your faces, it's for magical purposes not killing purposes" Theodore laughed, Alex nodded before slipping the case back to the bag.

"Well, now that Mr. Doomblade had his moment—I say that we get going before we chicken out, yeah?" Lorenzo said, his voices raised in momentum. Before running off to exit outsides Theodore agreed. "Better now than never." The group scrambled and started making the way outside but I couldn't move like my feet were molded to the ground. My head ran to Tristian. I don't know what is gonna happen in that house, what if...we don't come back. And I left staying mad at Tristian. My Tristian. The one that I never stayed mad at. What if he just waited and waited for me to come back and I never did. I just remembered the way Tristian look at the house too, I knew he had a feeling about it too.

Mattheo had drifted next to me, close enough where I can smell the strong cologne he dunked himself in. He leaned towards me, speaking a low whisper. "What you thinking about, Ivory?" I blinked, getting completely startled. "You know, you chew at your lips like you are holding into a secret, and you're clenching your bag tightly." I looked down and saw I was, that you could see my knuckles getting white. "Oh, I just...was thinking if maybe Tristan felt that pull too." The words slipped out before I could catch them. Everyone stopped in their traces, Lorenzo turned towards me with a groan. "Seriously, Alora?"
"I just...mean that when we all passed that house, what if he felt it too? What if he felt the house aliveness?" Mattheo snorted like what I said was funny. "Tristan? The only pull he felt was when Hagrid ordered him after picking fight. Which he seems pretty good at lately." Mattheo said his name like it was bitter. Theodore added on, "Pretty sure if Tristian felt any pull, it was the weight of his ego."

"Okay, geez. I was just saying, alright I mean what if—" i was cut off by Alex, it being the first time he has actually spoken to me since earlier. "Merlin, Alora. He honestly didn't care about that house. And frankly thank Merlin for that. The last thing we need is a brooding, bitter asshole in a house that eats off of it." That words stung, and hit me bard. I knew they hated Tristian but I didn't think they hated him this much. It made me sad. Tristian isn't like that—he nothing like that. "Your brother is right Alora. Having Tristian there is just calling for a complete disaster." Mattheo said, he put his hand on back and gave me a small smile. "You've got all of us, you know? Why have the anger-issued boyfriend when you have emotionally stable boys that are friends." I didn't say anything, I couldn't.

"Define stable?" Theodore laughed, Mattheo moved his hand away and walked over to Theodore. "Now let's not let the girl doubt us." Lorenzo nudged his arm at me. "I've got an emotional support coin in my pocket, so don't worry about me being unstable." He winked at me playfully before walking outside with the other trialing behind him. Everyone but Mattheo. He looked at me again and grinned. "Come on, Ivory. Let's go see if that thing is still alive." I glanced back at the castle and made my final decision. I nodded and walked my way to follow the other. Mattheo clapped his hands together in excitement.

Leaving the greenhouses behind felt like we were jumping from the edge of a cliff. The warm lights from the windows of the castle flicked once more before it became harder to see. The castle sat far behind us now, we were closer to the shadows each step. None of us said anything, just the gravel moving around at each step, not until I noticed Alex was talking to Theodore. He was still tense, I could tell. He had his shoulders almost up to his ears and his focus ahead was the only thing he really paid attention to until Theodore said something about cursed house being 'misunderstood fixer-uppers' Alex actually let out a laugh, the first one i had seen. He relaxed and I actually liked seeing him like this, instead of brooding and angry. Unfortunately, he was really only speaking to the other boy, figured.

I was towards the middle of the group, Mattheo was by my side kicking the pebbles at the back of Lorenzo leg, which made him turn him and hit him on his arm. "Mattheo, I'm going to literally curse you before the house gets too." Lorenzo hissed, furrowing his eyebrows at Mattheo. "Merlin forbid I got bored on this silent hike. I mean that's why I'm here. For enjoyment." He shrugged. Lorenzo scoffed and pushed the other boys out of the way to get away from him. "Thats the reason why you are? You're not even curious what's in there?" He shook his head, before giving me a crooked smile. "Well the other part is that if I wasn't here then you wouldn't come. And I would like to see your face when you get scared shitless." Unbelievable, but I can't be too shocked like this is Mattheo we are talking about. He lives off of joking. "Please, I would've been fine in my own." He leaned in slightly. "That's what they all say, like in horror stories but then tragic hits—they trip over a branch, left behind and BOOM! Dead." I rolled my eyes, almost too hard that it made him frown. "Really? I think you would be the one to fall first. Especially with you sipping on that flask of yours." I poked at him and felt the flask hidden inside his cloak. "Aren't you a jokester."

There was a light laugh from the group, and the tension from earlier finally cracked and began crumbling down. We were just like normal, reckless, stupid. But terrified. "Why is it colder in here?" Theodore said as we crossed the tree line entering the forest. The trees felt taller, like the never end and it just goes up and up. The light from our wands felt weak, the darkness just surrounded us too much. "You know I read stuff about cursed houses and stuff, and how the dark magic settles in everything around it. The ground the trees, maybe even the animals." Lorenzo turned to look at me with his look just screaming at me to shut up. "You couldn't keep that positive insight to yourself?" He muttered. I shrugged simply. "Well sorry. Didn't know facts was a negative thing." We became quiet again, I think we felt the pressure of the forest that it made the jokes quiet down. Then we saw it. The house.

It's looming, melancholy feeling. It looked more open now. More alive. Like it was really inviting us, open arm. Before it was less open armed, maybe because Hagrid's presence was there? But now that we are alone and vulnerable, at any moment it can claw at us. We stopped at the clearing. "This is where we will do the little ritual with the beads." Lorenzo said already pulling out the velvet pouch. His hands no longer steady—shakily tipped the beads in his hands. Six polished stones. "You hold one, then press it to the bead of the person you are tethering to, say their name. We all go around until we all connect we each other. It' sort of will pulse or shock when it's linked and it will fuse to a bracelet, each bead represents our bond." He said.

"Magical friendship bracelets. How cute." Mattheo said, Lorenzo rolled his eyes. "Well this is our only way out, Matty boy. So take one or get lost in the horror house." Mattheo sighed, and each of us stepped forward to grab a bead. We all stood still not one of us went first, just stood around in circle wondering who would go until Alex did—he stepped closer to me unable to meet my eyes. I blinked at him and noticed everyone's else reaction—no one expected it. He grabbed my hand, and with both of our together asking with beads in hand. "Alora." The beads flash through our hands, and the magic reacts—a fine silver threads wrapped around her wrists, forming a bracelet. The bead that was once in our hand formed in the center, glowing dimly. "It's actually worked!" Lorenzo clapped his hands together, way too excited.

One by one each of began tethering to each other. Mattheo walked up to me, his bead still in hand playing around with it. I looked at him confused why he went up to me first. "Cute, I'm your first connection." I grinned, Mattheo rolled his eyes, "I need my first connect to be logical and rational. When you're with people that aren't like that 24/7, my chance of surviving is low" Theodore nudged Mattheo on the arm where Lorenzo returned a sarcastic smile. "Is that compliment, Riddle." I pretended to gasp loudly. "Don't make me take it back. Just give me your hand." And I did, we held our had together until Mattheo's bead turned to a bracelet. One by one each of us when around until our beads glowed brighter, Lorenzo put the final bead in a hole he dig near a rotting tree as he said that this is where the beads will lead, and we were ready.