A Brave Yet Terrifying Decision

Eleonora's mind was preoccupied as she drifted through Diagon Alley. Her small frame effortlessly slid through any crowd and avoided any obstacle. Some times it seemed as if she was nearly invisible to others. This was just fine to her at the moment, for she was on the verge of a meltdown.

I just quit my job, I just quit my job kept repeating in her mind, becoming a mantra that caused her heart rate to increase and her body to shudder. Finding an unoccupied bench Eleonora sat down in an attempt to calm herself.

It had started like any other day; she had arrived at the Ministry bright and early, eager to see what the day held. She had recently been giving a pair of baby hippogriffs to watch over and study and as she walked through the halls to her office all she could think about was their cute beaks and what to feed them.

However, when she got to her desk a letter signed by the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was sitting face up. When she read its contents Eleonora's body froze, her mind reeled. This can't be right. She had rushed to the head's office, a determined look on her face.

“Sir, this letter...” she started after finding the head sitting calmly at his desk. She paused, carefully forming her words in her head before continuing, making sure they would have the intended effect.

“Is this a joke? You surely cannot mean for me to...dispose of these hippogriffs? To,” here her voice broke, betraying her emotion, “kill them?”

“Yes, I do Ms. Velenta. Now get out of my office and get to work. You've got a lot to do today.”

“But...”

“Now, Ms Velenta! You will kill those useless beasts or you will never work for the Ministry again!”

Eleonora stood perfectly still, considering her options. In the end she only saw one she could live with choosing.

“Then I am formally submitting my resignation.”

Oh god what did I just do? Eleonora replayed the scene in her head as she sat on the cold bench in Diagon Alley. She had just grabbed the two small creatures, one under each arm, and walked out of the Ministry doors like nothing had happened.

One of the hippogriffs nibbled at her long hair, the other looked at the people passing by who were giving it ample distance. Where do I go now?

(Would you mind if Adeon joined you? If you do I understand!)

(Not at all! Feel free to join!)

(I'll be heading off to work soon, but I'll keep up as much as I can until I'm done!)

Adeon, on this bright and, for him, too hot of a day found himself fighting the crowd in Diagon Alley. Everyone seemed to decide that this would be a great day to go shopping, and it pissed him off. He thought that everyone would have stayed inside, where they could keep cool, but no. They decided to crowd the tiny, and growing tinier, alley.

The reason for Adeon's appearance was simple. He had no work to be done today. And some may be very glad to hear such a thing, like a day off, but that was no how Adeon felt. It was a day wasted to him, where he wouldn't be gaining any profit, and ultimately losing his money. His time was best spent working, where he could make thousands just in one day, with one job. He used to find himself having to turn down customers until a later date, because he was too busy. Now, he wasn't making what he used to, and that bothered him.

He continued to push his way through the Alley, cloaked in his black robes, with one goal in mind. He wanted to make it down the way, so that he could sneak into Knockturn Alley in order to find himself some nice, new, sharpened weapons. He smirked at the idea of the new glimmer, sharp enough to cut through anything in a matter of seconds. But his attention was quickly drawn back to the crowd in front of him.

Red hair was bouncing just a few feet in front of him, but Adeon didn't notice that it was Eleonora. He thought that it was someone else, Carling, and that immediately got him upset. What was she doing? Following him? She was doing a pretty poor job. God, he just couldn't get away from her!

"Seriously? Just go back to the muggle world for god's sake. You're a pain in my as-"

He stopped as he approached her, noticing the girl's face was nothing like Carling's fox-like features. He was angry at himself for being so dumb, and so quick to assume, that he hardly recognized that he pretty much just yelled at a total stranger, who probably now thought her was crazy.

"Oh--uh, sorry. Thought you were someone else."

After noticing that the hippogriffs were drawing unwanted attention from passerbys, Eleonora stood up and started again through the crowd. She scolded herself for sitting down in the first place. Of course people would notice wild animals on a bench in a crowded alley. She was just not used to paying attention to the people around her or taking into account what they may do. She could have predicted the hippogriffs behavior but that of her fellow humans was hard to judge.

Trying her best to speed through the thickening crowd Elenora began to sweat and lose her breath. Carrying the hippogriffs was getting harder, her arms getting sore from their weight. Her destination was in view though, a small dark alleyway where no one would bother her
.
However before she could reach it a voice rang out right by her ear, “"Seriously? Just go back to the muggle world for god's sake. You're a pain in my as-"

Eleonora nearly dropped the hippogriffs as she jumped and made a startled noise. A young man was standing next to her, suddenly looking a little embarrassed and apologizing. She was so shaken by his loud voice that she couldn't quite get any words out for a moment, so instead just let her eyes drift back down the alley before responding.

“Oh, it's ok. I guess I have one of those faces that people mistake?” Her quiet voice could barely be heard in the crowd. She really didn't know what to say to this stranger, how does one respond to being yelled at? At any rate, she needed to get the hippogriffs out of the crowd and heat, and soon. They were starting to look at the man standing by her with an uneasy glare.


“I'm sorry, but I'm kind of in a rush to get out of this crowd.”

"Yeah, me too...here,"

Adeon was never this nice, but he was feeling guilty today. She took everything he said, even though it wasn't intended for her. Adeon normally wouldn't care, but she seemed pretty nice...perhaps it was because he was expecting the sassy red headed Carling, and instead he found this girl, who appeared to be on quite the opposite end of the spectrum, even if it were only in a few words they had exchanged.

Grabbing her forearm, Adeon pulled them both into the closest alley way. He knew the alley really well, of course, seeing that his profession was...sketchy. He needed to know the lay of the land by heart, not just in brief. He then half turned to the girl, noticing the creatures on her shoulder. Adeon wasn't particularly familiar with creatures, but he was certain that she had a hippogriff. Unless it was some sort of crossbreed.

"Where are you trying to get to?"

He avoided looking at her for too long. Adeon didn't need too many people to memorize his face, or be able to recognize him in public. No, he wanted to be just another face in the crowd, one that no one took note of in a positive or negative way, suspicious or familiar. He'd have to lay low for a while, after interacting with this girl. But he really couldn't help what he was doing now. He was already involved, and if he just left he'd appear even more suspicious. He'd do what he needed, quick and fast, and then he'd be done with it.

She flinched when the man grabbed a hold of her arm, pulling her into the alley way she had been making her way to before. Eleonora was not used to any physical contact, especially with someone she didn't even know the name of. The warmth of his hand made her uncomfortable, his tight grip somewhat menacing. She tried to get a good look at his face when they stopped out of sight of the crowds but could only manage a quick glance revealing a somewhat hardened expression.

Elenora noticed his eyes shift to the hippogriffs resting on her shoulder. She supposed she must make for an odd site, a small girl like her with dangerous creatures curling their necks around her and nuzzling her hair.

“Don't worry, they're just babies and won't hurt you, you don't have to avoid looking at them.” She had mistaken his avoidance of making eye contact with her as the proper way of addressing hippogriffs before bowing to them.

Pulling her arm away from him, Eleonora considered how to answer his question. A strange man had just pulled her into a dark alley that he seemed perfectly comfortable in. Should she tell him the truth? Avoiding interaction now was out of the question, she would have to trust him for the time being.

“I'm not quite sure where I am headed, to be honest. I need a place to bring these hippogriffs that will be safe for them...” She was having trouble keeping one of them up on her shoulder, the weight becoming too much, she found herself beginning to slump forward and become unsteady on her feet.

Well, at least she came up with her own reason for why he had yet to look at her in the eye since their original encounter. He could feel the glare of the hippogriffs on the nape of his neck, and their motions as they stirred the air about the alley with every little move that they had made. He didn't like creatures very much. They were too unpredictable, their thoughts and actions being much more instinctive than that of a humans. Than that in which Adeon was trained to have known and was capable of predicting.

Where did hippogriffs live, anyway? He had no idea. He wasn't even sure if they were really meant to be in these parts, as natives, or if they belonged far away. Or perhaps they were an alien species of sorts, that don't belong here but were brought here and were adapting to the different environment. Adeon was relatively intelligent, but only on the things that he found worth knowing. Most of which involved weapons and the human mind and body.

At this point, Adeon would have loved to just leave. Disapparate, and be done with it, both the girl and the situation, and perhaps the day itself. But, once more, he knew better then that. It would draw even more attention onto himself, and he had enough as is.

"Well I can't really help you if you don't have a destination. Do you know of anyplace that you'd want to be near?"

He had no idea what else to say, but he continued to talk with his back turned to the redheaded girl, and slowly he began to walk straight forward, into the alley way. He knew that she wouldn't be wanting to go back into that crowd, so that at least gave him a little bit of direction to go in. Plus, a little time to waste until he could get away and back onto his own business.

Eleonora was beginning to get the impression that the man she was with was avoiding her gaze for a reason other than the hippogriffs. She suddenly felt a tinge of fear seep through her. It was shaping up to be a very bad day. 

As he walked farther into the alley Eleonora wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to turn back to the crowd, not with her creatures getting feisty, but she also didn't want to follow the unnamed stranger deeper into the shadows.

“I'm really thankful for your help, sir. I think I'll try to get these boys out into the forests near Gloucestershire for the time being,” And as far from the ministry as possible.


A thought then immediately occurred to her that sent shivers running down her spine. She had just run out of the ministry against orders and stealing some of their possessions. She had heard rumors of the ministry taking action against those opposed to it, maybe this was such an action. Sure, it was quick, but who knew what they were capable of. This man could have  been sent to take back the hippogriffs and even herself. She was scared and didn't quite know how to deal with this kind of situation. So she did what she thought gave her the best chance of survival; appealing to the goodness she thought was inside everyone, and blurted out, “I'm sorry I took them, please don't take them back and kill them!”

Gloucestershire. Great, just great. He'd basically be bringing her home, and he wasn't that willing to do it. But the town was usually quiet, so perhaps he could just drop her off there. Not that she'd be able to find his home, seeing all of the traps and spells that he had up around it, but he didn't want to lead her anywhere near that direction. He didn't want to risk running into her again if she were to explore the same forest that he lived in. This was a one time interaction, and a one time occurrence. He had no intention to ever see or speak with this girl again.

Something that wasn't because of who she was. It was because of Adeon, and his job, and the exposure that he had to maintain to the public had to be minimal. Not that he necessarily wanted to see the girl again, either. He had no preference. He learned to live a solitary life, because he needed to, but he never craved a social one, either. Adeon's life was his job, and that's how he treated it. He didn't mind either way.

When the girl started screaming sorry and other nonsense, Adeon couldn't help but turn and look at her. He had no idea what was going on, or what she meant. None of it made any sense to him at all, and he almost thought that she may have been schizophrenic. Did she steal the hippogriffs? Not that he cared either way, it wasn't any of his business, and he had no intention of making it his business. And to kill them? He wouldn't waste his energy on those little creatures. His energy was kept for the real monsters of this world, the humans, witches and wizards alike.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He turned abruptly, this time staring at her. The alley was dark enough that if they were to run into each other, he was sure that she wouldn't know him. He may look vaguely familiar, but it would be easy for him to pass that off as nothing. Still, the act of him turning was careless, and on slight impulse, he was simply trying to convince himself that he was okay to have done do, and to show even the slightest outline of his facial features.

The man in the shadows turned and stared right at her.

Oh no, I've done it again. She had completely misread the entire situation and ended up acting without thinking it through enough. This was exactly the reason Eleonora avoided interactions with people as much as possible. There were too many variables, too many things that she couldn't understand about how people worked. In the end she either came off as too shy and timid or making a huge fool of herself. The latter, of course, she had the misfortune to do today. If only she had done what she usually did and stopped to think about everything for a moment. Eleonora was not good under the kind of pressure she had found herself apart of in this back alleyway.

She wanted nothing more than to disapparate right then and there, leave this man in the alley thinking she was insane and never have think of him and her silly mistake ever again. She wasn't sure she had the stamina to do so at the moment though. She could hardly hold the hippogriffs up much longer, let alone disapparate with both of them in tow. If this man was really just trying to help her, for whatever reason Eleonora could not discern, then she could really use it.

She glanced back over at him. He was still looking at her, as far she she could tell. The shadows hid most of his face but it was at least turned towards her for the first time since he had called out at her in the street. From what she could see of him he looked pretty forgettable, not a face she could associate with anything in particular. If he was willing to help her bring the hippogriffs to the forest she could easily leave him and forget this entire thing ever happened, something the burning feeling in her cheeks pleaded for.

She had to make a choice, something that Eleonora loathed doing when other people were involved. What was best for the hippogriffs, getting them out into the open air, was what she had to consider, not her own safety or feelings at the moment.


“You're not from the ministry, are you?” she started, her eyes breaking from his face and looking nervously away. “I'm sorry, I must seem crazy right now. Please, though, if you can help me get the two of these back to Gloucestershire I would be forever grateful.” She tried a small smile, hoping that it would make her seem a little more like a normal person than she had been making herself out to be.

"Hell no."

Adeon was quick to speak as she asked if he was part of the ministry. Like hell. Adeon worked for himself and himself alone. Yes, he had clients, so in theory he worked for them, but it was Adeon's choice if he did what they wanted him to do or not. There was no big guy upstairs telling him that he had to do all of these small or big jobs. It really was his own decision making, which was another reason why Adeon liked the job that he did.

This girl was seeming weirder and weirder. She had the creatures on her shoulders. Then she had stolen these creatures. And now just the way she was acting about everything. There was something off about her to Adeon, but he didn't question it. He probably didn't seem 100% right to her, either. And he wouldn't bother to say it outloud, well, not entirely. He wouldn't deeply question it. He just wasn't that willing to be thrown into a long conversation. And typically those kinds of conversations bring up some sort of tragic, sop story of a past, and he didn't want to hear it.

"Yeah..." He replied to both her seeming crazy, and his ability to help her to Gloucestershire, "Just follow me."

It was that hard, actually, to get there. Adeon led the girl through the alleyway, going mostly straight and only taking one small right, before he looked back to make sure that she was following, red hair, creatures, and all. And she was, which was fine. It was only a few feet before Adeon stopped, seemingly in front of a brick wall, but when he looked to his left he could see out into a more forested area with a wide dirt path.

"Just follow that. It leads straight to the town of Gloucestershire. There shouldn't be any forks, only the occasional left or right turn. Just keep going straight, and you'll be there in...30 to 45 minutes by foot, depending on how fast you are."

Eleonora had to quicken her pace to follow the man through the alley. He moved so fast and easily it was obvious to her that he knew this area like the back of his hand. She was relived to be a good distance behind him and even more relived that he wasn't prone to conversation. She had no idea how she would have explained her situation to him if he had not just brushed off her weird outbursts. She wasn't even sure how to explain it to herself. Why had she randomly chosen Gloucestershire? It's not like she had ever been there, just heard of its forests and minimal population. It sounded like as good a place as any to go at the moment. A good place to collect her thoughts privately and figure out what do with what had just become of her life.  

Lost in her thoughts Eleonora nearly ran into the man when he stopped in front of a dead end. His head was turned to the left so she followed his lead and found herself looking into forest, a path laid out before her. It was too simple. How did he know exactly how to get to where she asked ? His familiarity with the empty passageways and his hidden features was making her uneasy. Even if he wasn't someone from the ministry he definitely was not someone she wanted to be around for much longer.

“Thanks,” was all she could think to say. She wasn’t going to ask how he knew of this passage to the forests or who he was. Eleonora was aware that there were people who didn't care to share any details with others, which she didn't mind at all. She had spent most her life the same way, partly because she never thought much of what she would have said was worth breaking a perfectly good silence for. She was thankful for his help, if not a little confused by it, though. Feeling like she now owed him something (Eleonora figured this was how most people viewed helping others) she looked back towards him one last time.

“If I can ever return this favor by...I don't know, watching over your pet dragon or something, I'm Nora.” With that said, she was eager to be on her way. Holding firmly onto the two hippogriffs she stepped over the threshold of brick and into the cooler air of the forest. After a few steps she turned back, expecting to see the dark shadows of the alley with the man watching her leave. In its place, however, was nothing but trees and dirt. She slumped onto her knees and let the creatures rest on the ground, thankful to be done with such a bizarre encounter.

Adeon nodded, but never gave his own name. He wouldn't need a favor from her, on top of which he'd never own a pet anyway. He watched for only a second as the girl, Nora, entered into the woods, before he disappeared back down the alley.

Nora wasn't a common name around these parts, maybe in the muggle world, but not really around here. It certainly wasn't Carling or anything crazy like that though. A nice and easy name to remember, just in case something did happen. Not that Adeon would need her, no, he'd never admit to needing anyone. He believed that he could do everything on his own. But still, for his purpose of information, it was good to know her name.

He continued to walk down the alley, disappearing completely out of sight.