Sounds Legit

Felix was a torn up, bloody mess, no longer the handsome man who had once commanded authority and respect. A man who was feared, and hated by many far and wide, this man now sat with a cloak drawn over his bloody face, dark glasses covered his eyes, and his hair was longer, much longer than it had used to be, it fell down around his shoulders, tangled and caked with mud.

Felix has been on the run for nearly 7 months, and he was risking everything by being here, everything. He was so weak, he couldn't have lifted his wand to defend himself if the need was to come. But he needed this.. for whatever sanity was left in his head, he needed something familiar.. anything familiar. He had gone as far as to leave the country to escape the illness that had plagued it, escape the aurors who's jobs it was to track him down and take him back to Azkaban, escape the haunted memories of his loving Naomi, a werewolf, but his lover all the same.

He was back though.. in the cloak of darkness, eating greedily the food that had been set in front of him, not even bothering with his normal manners, not bothering to sit up straight, the less he did that was normal for him, the safer he was until he was full and on his way. At least.. for now.

The Leaky Cauldron was now a place that Elijah frequented often when he was in London, visiting Khaat or meeting up with family members that implored with him to return to Bulgaria to reconcile with his father at the first available opportunity. It was also at the Leaky Cauldron that Elijah would find Irina idling in the foyer with Gabriel wrapped in swaddling, an uncomfortable weight in her rail thin arms. Elijah would take the child and treat her to a hot meal before filling her with sweet wine that he promised would do little harm to the child growing within her. She didn’t seem to be reassured by him, though she did not seem to need that assurance as she did not appear to care as to whether the child was alright or not. Elijah observed a woman at the end of her tether and though he coaxed her towards his way of thinking, she was still hopelessly besotted with his father and would not leave for her safety and the safety of her children. He had, Elijah had told her, a home, a mansion of sorts, tucked up in northern most reaches of Scotland but she would not leave him. Nothing would sway her completely, leaving Elijah wondering whether she wanted to be saved at all. She blew hot and cold too frequently for him to truly understand what it was she wanted. He tried though; Merlin knew how hard he tried.

Descending the stairs into the bar, Elijah was exhausted. The young woman had fallen asleep after another tearful encounter and he’d left her tucked up in the large double bed that his room boasted. He’d transfigured a cot out of a chair for Gabriel and left him with Irina, knowing that both would sleep after what seemed like another emotionally traumatic day. Elijah needed a drink desperately and was infinitely glad to find that the bar was open. Elijah ordered his drink straight away and took it from the more than willing bartender. Elijah thanked the man and tipped the neck of the bottle to him before taking a large gulp, thankful for the burn that scorched down his throat, relieving him of his dry throat.

Elijah then cast a look around the bar, his eyes falling to a familiar frame. Elijah pushed himself away from the bar and frowned a little, finding his feet taking him over to the table. Bending slightly, Elijah peered underneath the person’s hood. His smile was wiped away at the sight of who it was, replaced by a grimace. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, aren’t you? Mind if I sit? Nah, course you won’t.” Elijah promptly sat himself down opposite Felix and placed his beer bottle on the surface. “Will you be wanting more of that once you’ve finished massacring it? Then I think perhaps a bath and a well-deserved rest is in order for you.”

Felix was eating like a starved man when suddenly there was a face inches from his own. Felix flinched backwards slightly at the site of who it was, a man who he had tortured on occasion, tortured his family members, tortured his loved ones.. and yet he was so calm, talking as though to an old friend, though the look on his face betrayed him. "The hell do you want kid?" Felix asked, tearing into another chicken breast, his plate already littered with bones of the ones he had already eaten. Felix wasn't in the mood to get shown up by a bratty teenager who needed to get his hand out of his pants. The kid thought he ruled the world just because he came from a rich family who could do as they pleased without anyone looking at them differently, Felix hated the kid, but obviously the kid had other things on his mind than leaving Felix alone.

Felix glanced up at him as the kid spoke, he was hunched over and immediately he found himself sitting upright under the gaze of the boy across from him. What kind of person walked up to someone and behaved like that? Especially someone who had tortured him, and his family, and friends, and then become his teacher, torturing a few of his classmates as well. Felix frowned down at his plate, and then pushed it away from him, leaning back, keeping his hood up, in case anyone else recognized him as easily. "Not in town for chit chat bud, just in town for something familiar and good food." He said with a small smirk, his charm lost beneath the dirt, long greasy hair, and sunken eyes.

Kid was hardly a word best used to describe Elijah Krum now. The boy had long since made the awkward transition from a pre-teen into a rather brief fully-fledged teenage male to the state he was at now: a begrudging adult. With his face unshaven and his hair having been left to grow out he would have looked unkempt and not unalike a homeless person had he not been keeping both masses of hair at somewhat sensible lengths, giving him this bizarre air of sophistication. As the boy-man took a seat, he reached into the pocket of his jacket from which he produced a packet of cigarettes that he’d bought the day before, still covered in its film. He had after all quit and so he’d hesitated upon buying them but had paid his money all the same before tucking them into the same pocket he’d taken them from, deciding they were there as a just-in-case rather than something he planned on smoking. This was not a just-in-case moment but he didn’t think one would go amiss so he took the film off and offered Felix one before lighting his own with a flick of his wand.

Elijah raised an eyebrow at Felix, curious as to why he was in such a poor mood. Of course that wasn’t a legitimate curiosity as Elijah knew why the man was in such a bad mood - he could see it in Felix’s very appearance. Removing his cigarette from between his lips, Elijah blew the lungful of smoke he held within him out into the open air, encouraging some of the flames atop the candle wicks to dance.

“Nothing,” Elijah stated simply. “I would’ve said if I’d wanted something. However, I suppose this is a want: I want to help you.” Elijah sat back comfortably in his chair. “Not quite as selfish as the term ‘want’ would suggest, hmm?” Elijah raised an eyebrow and leaned forward again, placing his forearms down on the table and looking at Felix curiously, tipping his head to the side. “Aren’t I familiar to you, Felix? Or do we need to relive that day again and the subsequent lessons? The Finnigan Girl? I’m sure Higurashi had her fair share too didn’t she? Names, Felix, names and faces. We’re all familiar to you. You’ve all screwed us in some crude manner or another so I suppose that’s what makes it so bizarre, hmm? But still, here I am. Here you are. We’re here. Together. Alive. Take my offer, Felix. I’m the only friendly face you’re ever going to see in these parts. I can offer something to you, another hot meal at the very least if that’s all you want. I should think I could offer you a bit more though, if you would allow me to.”

Felix stared at the Krum kid with a look of bewilderment and shock. The kid wanted to help him? What kind of person did that? Helped the person that had literally tortured them. Either the kid was an idiot, or had something up his sleeve, like aurors waiting wherever he took Felix to, but Felix was so downtrodden, so dirty, and greasy, and gross, and so.. unlike himself, that he couldn't help but stare at Elijah, and take the offer seriously. The love of his life had been ripped away from him, yet again, when he had been forced to quite literally RUN out of Hogwarts, leaving everything he had behind, and going straight to the Forbidden Forest in an attempt to escape the people who were after him. Grindelwald gone, he was on his own.. no protection, and nothing to keep him safe from the laws of the land.. especially the man who wanted him dead.. the Minster of Magic.. and yet here a was a kid, who sat in the lap of luxury, who was the Minister's pet in a way, and yet he was offering to help a condemned murderer? What kind of kid was he?

Elijah knew names, faces, things that he shouldn't know.. but at the same time.. he knew that that kind of stuff must be common knowledge by now.. But at least the scars would stay on those children forever, if not physical, as they could get the scars removed.. but mental, and that's what mattered. Felix looked at Elijah, and could feel his shoulders sagging under the weight of the world, could feel his muscles giving up, as he listened to the words the kid said, words that would either, in the end, kill him or save him. And at this point, Felix didn't care which it was.

"What's the catch Krum?" He asked, running his hand over his face, feeling the dirt, grease, and hair that had become apart of him. Felix slowly looked up at Elijah with small sorrowful eyes, he had a defeated look to him, as though he had known that by coming here he was both giving up, and getting back.. with the hope of either dying quickly, or getting back to his former glory.

The scepticism in Felix’s eyes made Elijah wonder momentarily whether the man would take his offer up at all; but then there was a subtle change in Felix that Elijah picked up on immediately, and though as blasé as he appeared he was secretly very glad Felix was slowly coming around to the idea.

Elijah reached forward and flicked his ash into the glass bowl between them. He placed his forearms on the table again and left the cigarette between his lips as he waited for Felix to speak. He took a moment to observe the man as he did so and remembered exactly why he was helping him: Felix was a wreck.

The first thing the man needed was a bloody good bath, then he needed a month of three meals a day to get some meat back on those bones of his and Elijah was determined to provide that. He didn’t know why, for the life of him he couldn’t figure out his own motives. The last person to ever do wrong by him had ended up dead. Felix wasn’t someone Elijah had the intention of murdering in cold blood, though. No, he wanted to do right by Felix because he felt as if he owed that to him even though he hadn’t been the one doing the torturing.

“Nothing,” Elijah answered simply. “There’s nothing in this that’ll benefit me. Just you.”

Felix couldn't believe the thoughts that flew through his brain in a moment. He had completely ignored the cigarette offered him, though he longed for it more then anything. After a long moment, he picked it up off the table and lit it with his own, battered wand. Inhaling the sweet smoke, he sat and pondered his situation for the moment. He had planned on getting the hell out of this city the second he was done eating, and then this man came to him.. Felix couldn't help it, as he looked at Elijah, he knew he wasn't a kid anymore, his face had grown older, his voice more mature.. it was obvious that Elijah was no longer a child, or for that fact even a teenager, he was a full grown man, as much as Felix hated to admit it.

What else was obvious was that Elijah was much larger than Felix, Felix had grown weak, thin, and lost his normal charm that made him always seem like the bigger man, instead of fury, and power in his voice, he kept his head down so as not to draw attention to himself. Felix didn't know where else to go, didn't know what else to do but accept his offer and take whatever was given to him.

"Fine.. if you.. if you can.. do what you want.. I have no where else to go, and nothing else to do." He said in a low voice, his eyes moving to roam around the bar. "Don't turn me in Krum.. or it'll be the last thing you ever do." he said softly, pushing his plate away and standing up, his eyes locked on Elijah.