In the dark and dusty gloom

Dolohov was a respectable name, Liesl's family always maintained. And when they said respect, they referred to that type of respect that made men's knees tremble.

Liesl didn't have that kind of respect. She was Head Girl at Hogwarts and she knew for a fact that nobody's knees even got close to trembling when they spoke to her. It was probably because she was so short. Really, she needed better shoes, with pointier heels. Men always respected a woman in stilettos, probably because a stiletto was also a kind of dagger, and they worried for their personal items.

Today, Liesl's shoes were ordinary school shoes. Her clothes were ordinary school uniform. And yes, it was daytime. One of her pet peeves about the Dark Followers was their obsession with literal darkness. If you couldn't cast a dark spell at noon, what hope was there for you?

She looked down at the circle drawn on the floorboards of the room and decided it was good... enough. It didn't have to be perfect, only round.

Damien was sceptical. While he had been pleased to be alerted of a Dark Followers meeting so early in the term, he had also gotten wind of the news that he was supposed to take orders from a Fourth Year. Fortunately for her, the boy was not shy of the stake of Slytherin families in the pie of influence. He knew who she was. He had noticed her, albeit silently, since the day that the Sorting Hat had placed her in his house. She was a Dolohov; and by the looks of it, there was promise in this one. With that, Damien decided to reserve some of his judgement until he knew enough to decide.

Never one to have a problem with punctuality, the boy had all the time in the world to saunter into the Hideout. What better way to suss out the new leader than from some exchange of words in private? Ensuring that his robes were properly adjusted, Damien entered the room, wary of the presence of another, and satisfied to find that the leader was first to arrive. That was the first sign of responsibility; and as much as responsibility was a small matter to him, it certainly furnished her credibility. And that - credibility - was what was important to him.

Of course, the girl really didn't need his respect. It would, however, be a necessary tool of conviction for his cooperation. Damien wasn't shy, at all. He eyed the girl from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, making blatant his scrutiny. Just a year shy from being a part of the oldest batch of Slytherin seniors in Hogwarts, it seems that the boy had found a foot in some bollocksboldness this year. Besides, he had been itching, raring even, the entire summer, to embark on something. This time, he wasn't going to sit back and be a spectator. He had done enough of it for the past few years. It was his time, now.

Oh. Good. Merlin. Did Damien D'Eath just body-check her? Liesl was used to girls doing that, it was just a way of asserting dominance. They'd do that look and then go home and puke their guts up while Liesl was happily scoffing down ice cream. People were weird.

Guys, on the other hand, did not body-check. Unless they were gay, and then they did it to other guys. Or... they were checking you out. Was Damien D'Eath checking her out? Cool.

Sooooo, act cool.

Liesl returned the boy's look with the naive gaze of someone who was working on a whole other level.

"Hey, Damien, nice of you to turn up."

There was no real reason that a Ravenclaw should be in the dungeons but it was under the cover of darkness that Cerelia had always been able to make her escapes from the tower. During the day, people demanded her attention for varying reasons – whether that be for homework aid or because she was inconveniencing them with her consciousness. She was not a favourite amongst her peers but the friends she did have were compromised by her elusiveness and reluctance to share anything with anyone.

Yet at the same time, she was not particularly popular amongst the Dark Followers and let’s not get started on the relationship she had with Potter’s Army. She really was, potentially, in a lot of trouble with both factions but she kept her cool expertly. She’d been doing it for too long now. A year’s practise and she felt she could take on anything. Well, almost anything. It was time for another meeting though and with a change in leadership, Cerelia didn’t know what to expect.

Slinking away had been easier than she had first thought but she was disappointed to find that she was the only other one in there bar Damien and their leader, Liesl. Cerelia said nothing at first but the silence had begun to get to her as soon as she’d walked in through the door so she asked, albeit hesitantly, “How many are you expecting?”

It was obvious that Amaris was nervous, but not about the meeting. If anything, the meeting was the last thing she was worried about. It was odd that she was nervous about anything right now, but she was. And even she wasn't sure why she was so nervous, she'd been like that for a while. She'd even been catching herself touching her stomach more often than she ever would and though she'd been trying to ignore it, it was something odd that she would have to pay attention too eventually.

Amaris had been in the common room for a while, and when she realized it was just about time for the meeting to start, she went down to the Hideout quickly. There was one thing she was uncertain about with their leader, she was a Fourth Year. But the family she came from was a bit of comfort. She was a Dolohov, that was a good thing she supposed but the girl couldn't shake the feeling of uncertainty she had. Maybe the feeling wasn't even about the leader, or the Dark Followers at all.

As she entered the Hideout, Amaris saw that there were already a few people there. One of them being her cousin, and she walked closer to where he was yet she still kept her distance from everyone. She looked at their leader, and gave a half nod with little interest in the girl before she glanced over at the other girl there, Cerelia. Her gaze didn't last long on the girl before she just looked at her cousin without saying a word.

I shouldn't be here.

Sure, she had gotten the invitation to join the meeting just like everyone else. Sure, she had signed up for these shenanigans last year. Sure, she had finally gained the approval of the rest of the members. But no matter how much she appeared to fit in there was still that one troublesome thing looming over her - her family. Her mother was so sheltered by her father that Georgia needn't be worried about her being the cause of exposure. But her father? That was another matter. Fredrick Wheelbarrow was a proud blood traitor. He had always held the Order in the highest regard and would probably have joined it in his youth if he had been a better wizard and would have joined it for sure in his adulthood if he had not held the sanity of his blissfully muggle wife in his hands. Georgia didn't understand how he could handle it.. They had three children off at Hogwarts and his wife still believed that wizards and magic were something of myth.

Just go in. It's no big deal. Georgia didn't move. GO! Georgie went in.

Upon entering the room she felt a great wave of relief at the sight of Damien D'Eath already waiting within. She gave a quick wave and swiftly made her way towards him. Unfortunately there was a lip on one of the floorboards that caught her by surprise. As she was unaccustomed to the height that her body was giving her she miscalculated the weight she needed to bring herself back to an upright position. This left her with two options; either grab on to the nearest person or become very antiquated with the floor. She choose the former. Unfortunately the nearest person happened to be the groups new leader. But it was too late, Georgie grabbed onto Liesel, almost taking them both down. As quickly as she could she removed her hands and mumbled many sorry's as she scurried over to where Damien stood.

Her face displayed a look of perfect panic. A strong blush had come across her face and she looked to her friend. She gave a little shrug of apology. She knew how important this was to Damien. "I made it." she offered lamely.

Franki could kiss Georgia right now. The Malfoy girl had been following Miss Wheelbarrow into the designated meeting area, already humiliated. Lately, Franki's very existence humiliated her, and yet she managed to smile and seem oblivious to the problem. This did little for her image rather than forwarding the idea that she was unashamed by what she ought to be ashamed of, and she was possibly stupid if she thought she had any reason whatsoever to smile.

The worst part, in her opinion, was entering a room full of people. Briefly, everyone looked at you, and they all took the opportunity to judge you. She had tried her best to fit in- she wore her uniform, she had pulled her hair into a messy ponytail, and she had made herself look a little presentable. Still, she dreaded her entrance almost as much as she dreaded roll call.

But Georgia had tripped, giving Franki the diversion she needed to enter without eyes glued to her, with judgement hanging on her life hand-me-down robes. She moved to the edge of the room and was able to stand with confidence, knowing she had given no one an opportunity to think over how ridiculous she was.

Georgia Wheelbarrow was going down. Unfortunately, not only figuratively, but literally as well. Liesl staggered as the taller girl caught hold of her and pulled them both into the wonky circle she'd drawn before anybody arrived.

"Get off me, you clutz!" were the first words out of Liesl's mouth.

She might be trying a new tack around the rest of the school, but that stopped here. Most of the Dark Followers (who thought up that name; it was horrible) were Slytherin anyway. They'd never fall for it.

She stepped back over the line. The one everyone in the room except Georgia had been careful not to get on the wrong side of. But Georgia, well, she could sweat it out.

"No, no, you stay there," she told the other girl, as she made the move to join her boyfriend. "I think we can all guess what's on the menu today."

Alex seemed to enter the room without much Hesitation at all, only that it was the first meeting. A Headboy and Headgirl in Slytherin and members of the Dark Followers, this year looked grim indeed. He knew most of the people here, because they were all slytherin and he was apart of the Dark Followers since his fourth year. He rarely came to the meetings because he was trying to change, but Zada had given him a new outlook in life. She had trained him, in becoming a better dueler and creating the dangerous of Potions. But she wanted him to start to come to these meetings, just to inspect and get to know other people. Of course he knew who the leader was, but he wouldn't follow her, just to keep up appearances.

Entering the room, he stood close to the entrance as he planted one of his feet on the wall to keep him up. A simple task, but he just looked at everyone without much care. He chuckled at poor Liesl getting tossed to the ground, by another person and when she finally stood up. She spoke of a Menu of sorts, and he would guess it was about there plans for this year or something. " Maybe you can Enlighten us, Liesl of the menu. I think it would be rather interesting topic " Rolling his eyes, as he just stayed on his wall, making his presence known, but he doubted anyone cared.

When Liesl spoke Georgia's heart sank to her stomach. Not so much for herself but for Damien's sake. The level seriousness that he took with the Dark Followers and their actions amused Georgie to some level. Although in most cases she respected her friend's opinion more than she should this was one matter that she had her own view on. Geogie had trouble viewing this group of wanna-be Death Eaters as more than young children. Especially with Liesl as their leader. A forth year? If they ever wanted to be viewed as an actual threat (not that Georgia cared about such things) they would have to do a little better than this.

In almost all ways Georgia still viewed herself as the short, baby-faced girl that she had been her entire life. Not ugly, but never to be considered pretty. A Slythirin without a mean bone in her body. And it could not be denied that she was still mostly this girl underneath, used to being unnoticed and overlooked, but as Georgia returned to Liesl's side on command she couldn't help but notice that she towered over the younger girl. When had she become an Amazon?

She had the looks - she just needed the confidence. Don't slouch! her subconscious joined in. Shoulders back, tummy tight. Yes, like that. Stand tall, woman! And wipe that idiotic look off your face. You look like you are about to shit an egg. Georgia wiped her expression blank to the best of her ability and was prepared to turn and face Liesl strait on but at the last second she thought better of it. It would be smarter not to get any worse on her side right now. The revenge for the humiliation that she knew was coming could be had later. But when the boy in the corner spoke she almost lost it. Georgia swallowed the witty retort that was on the tip of her tongue just in time.

But that didn't stop the lazy smirk from coming across her lips.