Infiltrations and Friendships
Rose sat on her bed as she watched Astoria examine herself in the mirror one last time before going downstairs to meet Theodore and go to the Yule Ball.
“Astoria, you look fantastic. Now, you better go downstairs before Theodore thinks that you stood him up,” Rose said with a grin.
“Fine, fine,” Astoria conceded and walked to the door with Rose following. As they walked, Astoria asked, “Are you sure that you’ll be fine here by yourself without us?”
“Yes,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “You’re acting like I’m a child and can’t take care of myself. Besides, while you two are having a boring time at the Ball, Luna and I will be having fun,” Rose finished smirking.
“Why do you look like you’re up to something?” Astoria asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
“Maybe because I am,” Rose said in an innocent tone.
Astoria sighed but composed herself. She decided that she won’t get worked up since that was probably was Rose’s goal and Rose wasn’t really up to something.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs where Theodore was waiting looking spiffy in his dress robes, Theodore courteously kissed Astoria’s hand before greeting them, “Ladies, you both look stunning.”
Rose rolled her eyes and sarcastically replied, “Yeah, because my plain black robes are so flattering on me.” Rose shrugged and added, “But they serve their purpose so that I hopefully won’t be seen and caught tonight.”
“Rose!” Astoria exclaimed vexed.
Theodore put a hand on Astoria’s arm to calm her. “Rose,” Theodore started calmly, “why don’t you want to get caught?”
“So I don’t get in enormous trouble of course,” Rose stated like it was common sense.
“Who would you get in trouble by?”
“The Hogwarts professors, the Durmstrang people, and maybe even the Beauxbatons if Luna and I have enough time tonight,” Rose shrugged, trying to look indifferent but failing because of the smirk threatening to show.
Rose looked at the clock on the wall. “I have to go meet Luna to start our investigations. Have fun!” Rose ran off before her friends could respond.
“I think those are the last Durmstrang students,” Rose whispered to Luna, pointing to the small group of Durmstrang students entering Hogwarts. “Let’s go before anyone comes back.”
Rose and Luna ran out from in the bush that they were hiding in and stealthily made their way onto the Durmstrang ship. Once they were on it, Rose silently motioned with her hands for Luna to follow her. They climbed down into the ship, and the many similar looking hallways made it seem like a labyrinth.
Luna and Rose had already explored the library (Luna and Rose put a couple of the more interesting books in their bags to translate and read later), the headmaster’s office and living quarters (they were surprisingly spacious and lavish), and a few of the classrooms (once you’ve seen one, you’ve practically seen them all), when they turned a corner and ran into a tall dark-haired boy who was clearly a Durmstrang student. Rose’s shocked face was mirrored on the boy, while Luna stayed as composed as always.
“What are you doing here?” the Durmstrang student blurted out.
“What are you doing here?” countered Rose.
“I live here,” the boy shot back.
“Okay, carry on then,” Rose waved nonchalantly towards the boy. She turned to leave and had started leading Luna in the opposite direction before the boy reacted.
“Wait,” the Durmstrang student called out. “What are you Hogwarts students doing on the Durmstrang ship?”
Rose waved her hand in front of him and said, “These are not the Hogwarts students you are looking for.”
The boy gave her a half disbelief, half amused look. “You’re not a Jedi so you can’t use the Force.”
Rose’s eyes widened in surprise. “You know Star Wars?”
The Durmstrang student rolled his eyes. “No, I’m just referencing Jedi and the Force which have no relation at all to Star Wars,” the boy said sarcastically.
“I’m glad to meet someone else who is well versed in the finest of Muggle culture,” Rose said overjoyed.
“So am I. Now can you answer my question? What are you doing here, and who are you?”
“That’s more than one question, and you never asked who we were,” Rose pointed out.
The Durmstrang student sighed and turned to Luna to ask, “Is your friend always like this?”
Luna smiled her usual spaced-out smile and answered, “Not always. Sometimes she has a large infestation of smonderlaks. Right now she has a more than the usual amount of flompers flocking around her.”
The Durmstrang student threw his arms up into the air and asked no one, “How do I get into these situations?”
“I can answer that,” Rose said smartly. When he looked at her in surprise, she smirked and continued, “You literally walked into it.”
The Durmstrang student face-palmed as Rose laughed and Luna smiled. However, the sound of feet above them caused them to freeze.
Rose turned to the boy strictly serious now. “It was nice exchanging quips with you, but we really have to be going now. Bye!”
But before Rose could grab Luna and flee, the Durmstrang student seized their arms and dragged them into a nearby room.
Rose began to protest, “What are you-“
But the Durmstrang boy cut her off with a “Shush!”
Then, the sound of footsteps became louder as the owners of the feet came closer to the room they were hiding in. The three of them unconsciously held their breaths as they waited in the darkness for the other people to pass. Once they ceased to hear the footsteps, the three collectively sighed in relief. The sound of the Durmstrang student’s sigh reminded Rose who was with them.
Rose turned towards him and questioned, “Why did you do that?”
“A thank you would be nice,” the boy muttered under his breath. To the girls, he said, “You might want to keep it down. This is a main hallway, so someone might discover us. Let’s move to another room to continue this conversation without the risk of being found, if you want to, that is. I’m not going to stop you if you want to be caught.”
Luna squeezed Rose’s hand to show that she respects him enough to do what he suggested, and since Rose trusts Luna’s opinions of people, Rose decided to follow.
Rose sighed and grumbled, “We’ll go with you, but no funny business. Understood?”
They could hear the smile in his voice when the boy replied, “Perfectly.” He proceeded to open the door and motioned for them to follow him.
Trusting him, Luna and Rose followed him down the hallway, a stairway, another couple hallways, and finally into a room. Inside the room were two beds, two trunks, two wardrobes, two desks, and two chairs.
After the boy closed the door behind them, he turned to face them and offered, “This is my room. My roommate’s probably not going to be back until late, so you’re safe from discovery in here. Feel free to take a seat anywhere.” As the boy took a seat at his desk, the girls cautiously sat on the edge of his bed.
“Now, back to my previous questions, who are you and what are you doing on our ship? And please answer seriously because you do owe me for helping you not get caught by anyone else.”
Luna immediately answered with a smile, “I’m Luna Lovegood, and this is my best friend Rose Evans. We’re both 3rd year Hogwarts students. Who are you?”
The boy smiled like ‘See, that wasn’t difficult at all’ at Rose, who pouted. The boy responded to Luna’s inquiry with “I’m Adalrik Specht, and I’m a 7th year Durmstrang student. What are you two doing on the Durmstrang ship instead of inside the Hogwarts castle?”
Rose cut Luna’s reply off. “We’ll answer that question once you tell us your motive for helping us out.” Rose crossed her arms and tried to look intimidating.
“Honestly, I have nothing better to do. I didn’t want to go to the Yule Ball unlike my friends so I was bored before you two appeared and made things interesting. And you,” he said looking directly at Rose, “remind me of my very sassy little sister.”
Feeling awkward at his admission, Rose admitted, “We were bored since we didn’t want to go to the Yule Ball (and we were too young to go anyway), so we decided to explore the Durmstrang ship and maybe even the Beauxbatons carriages if we had time before people started returning. That’s why we are here on the Durmstrang ship instead of in our castle.”
Adalrik smiled, “Well, in that case, would you like the behind the scenes tour of the Durmstrang ship complete with commentary by yours truly? The only disadvantage would be that you probably wouldn’t have time to explore the Beauxbatons carriages before people started returning.”
Luna and Rose shared a look, and then both turned with a grin to give an affirmative answer to their new friend.