Paying off a Debt

He casually shook his head at her first question, moving himself up into an upright position. "The light is fine," he said, a smile still on his face "I just can't help but think it's funny. All these candles and everything." He looked at the candles, most of them already lit, and he couldn't help but feel a little flattered. She took this seriously, and here he thought she would just end up throwing him to some crocodiles as dinner. He crossed his arms together as he leaned more towards the table, his eyes back down on the menu again. Still, his gut was saying that this was all a little more than what he had anticipated. Sure, the nice dinner part was part of his condition, but the presentation of it all was just questionable. He had thought it once, so he will think it twice, this felt a little more than just some revenge dinner for making her wear pink.

He quickly trampled those thoughts, not really being able to shake it this time. He smiled at her next question, his only response being "I'm not into that stuff, I heard the cruciatus curse can cause permanent incapacitation or something." He was not really sure as to how the spell worked, he had only used Avada Kadavra whenever he needed to kill someone, but he never tried to torture them...well, there was that one time during the Battle of Hogwarts when he was 14. Ahh, good times being 14, good times. He looked back up, his gaze locking with hers, and said "I don't think you'd want to torture me anyway." A serious accusation, especially towards Mis, but he believed it to be true.

She agreed with that; the light was fine, perfect even. She was able to read everything from the menu and even words that were written in small little letters. Miseria looked down at the pages and turned them around to see (again) what interesting names foods had. Some of them had exotic names and sounded delicious, but as she looked at some of the ingredients, she had to reconsider about ordering this odd, yet good looking cake as a dessert. When he spoke again, she lifted her head and looked at him:“Well, of course! Everything to make us feel comfortable.“ She shrugged. Nothing personal, but she really disliked to sit in the dark in a place that was strange to her.

As soon as she mentioned the curse, she regretted it. Her thoughts went back to death and all the tortures that she'd seen in her life and experienced. She dropped the menu on the table and looked away, disappointed in herself and her stupid habits of mentioning such cruel things in a situation like that. They were supposed to have fun not to think about those things.
His words almost slipped trough her ears, yet, she was able to catch a glimpse of what he was saying and Miseria looked back at him. „Is that a challenge?“

Everyone could torture a person, even her daughter could if she wanted to, no doupt. She'd torture him, in fact, she'd love to do this more than just sitting here and eating and talking but with all the muggles around, she could not commit such a crime. They had to go somewhere private for this session. Perhaps after the dinner she'll drag him somewhere into the dark alleyway and then introduce him to a proper pain. She replied to his eyecontact and smiled, though her eyes remained serious. It was clear that she wasn't joking about it. „You want to try it out?“

Danny chuckled awkwardly at her response, obviously noticing the truth in her eyes. She wasn't kidding, and he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. That was a first, but anyone that would be willing to torture their friend after giving them dinner had to be a little intimidating. A little interesting at that, maybe that was why he was friends with her. "I'd rather not be tortured, thanks," he said with an awkward smile, trying to pass things off as normal "I wouldn't want my nice looking clothes to get ruined by my blood or anything like that." She was a crazy chick, that was for certain.

He paused for a moment, the silence feeling a little more awkward now than it had been before. At least the candles kept the sanity in this insane little part of the restaurant. After about a minute of silence, the waitress came back, wondering about their order. Danny told her his order of fish and chips, and quickly took Miseria's order (that's right, I GM'd, you wanna fight about it?) and she quickly left with their order, leaving them to their somewhat weird dinner.

"I hadn't really asked when we first met up again," he said, quickly locking his gaze back with hers "how's your life been lately?"

She clapped her hands gently and then raised them infront of her face in a paying position. Then she pinched the root of her nose and looked over at him with cold and calculating look. He wasn't feeling really comfortable with their subject, but hey, neither was she, so why not suffer together for some time?
Miseria wasn't upset when he declined her offer. In fact, it was his blood that would pour from the wounds, not hers. She'd just stand there and watch him suffer. Closing her eyes, she shook her sadistic and sick thoughts off. So much for being a normal person when she had such a crazy mind. And there was nothing that would change her into a better person.

She greeted the silence that fell upon them with happiness and thankfulness. This time, instead of looking into his eyes like she always did while speaking to a person or trying to make them feel even worse, she stared at the table with blunt look in her eyes. Something told her that the dinner would be over sooner than expected and she wouldn't blame him for that. It was her fault and she only ensured for things to fall appart. Like she always did.
When the waitress arrived to pick up their order, Danny was faster than Miseria by telling the young lady what she was having. She raised her eyebrow and looked at him just on time as he turned his eyes back at her. She waited for him to finish his sentence and to reply properly, she removed hands from her face. „Quite... good. Nothing special happened here.“ Her personal life was quiet and peaceful.

He couldn't help but notice she was feeling a little down now, something strange for him to see. Was she sad about him not agreeing to be tortured? It seemed like the just cause, but he wouldn't change his mind at all. He'd like to keep his skin on his body and the blood coursing through his veins, not on the ground at all. He shifted himself a little in his seat and put on a warm smile, trying to help keep things positive now. "I'm sure you had something happen," he said with a kind voice, his eyes attempting to read her mind. Eyes were a way into the soul, and well....there was a lot of death from what he saw. He was a little interested now.

He thought about Hogwarts for some reason, he remembered that she worked there as the nurse. His mind wandered to his earlier years, and he began searching his thoughts to try and bring something up, anything that might be relevant to them. After a second of thinking, Danny said "You know, I don't really remember much about Hogwarts...mind's elsewhere it seems. Do you remember how we originally met?"

The topic changed and she thanked him silently in her head. The fact that she was pleased with something else than blood actually made her feel uncomfortable, but she had to think about other people, too. She noticed that strangers were still looking at the odd couple. And she supposed that they were all used to those Hello Kitty fangirls who wore their clothing almost every day. Or perhaps it was all just in Japan where those things looked too normal to be noticed. And they were in London. She sighed quietly and returned her gaze to Danny. Was he really that interested about her personal life or was it just an excuse to talk about something else and shake off awkwardness?
„Nope, nothing at all. Nothing that you'd call interesting that is. I graduated and soon after that I was offered a job in Hogwarts as a nurse... so yeah... Nothing that special.“

Waitress came over to their table and brought some buns with her juice. She took the cold glass but didn't drink from it. He had something else in mind, she could sense it. And she was correct when he asked her one of the least expected questions. It was sad that he didn't remember it, though. Miseria did, on the other hand. „Near the lake,“ she replied quietly. Not only did she remember that day because she actually met a new friend, but also because that was the time when changes occured in her personality and looks.

When Miseria had mentioned the lake, it let a floodgate of memories flow back into Danny, his gaze averting down into the table. It was as if all those memories had suddenly become reality again in his eyes, he even knew what he was wearing at that time. He needed to have a serious lesson in what not to wear in public...oh wait, he already that lesson. But he remembered the time he saw Miseria, it seemed as if he met all of his friends there, even fighting a giant squid at one point. He smiled warmly at the vivid thoughts, a warm feeling settling inside him. He missed Hogwarts.

"I remember that," he said calmly, his voice kind and almost surreal "that day when I met you. It was a good day, that was for sure." He looked back up at Miseria, his eyes made contact with hers. "I was sitting there at the Lake and you happened to come up to me...strangely enough, that happened a lot at that place." He moved his hand to his drink, but he didn't pick it up. "Two years really pass by quickly, don't they?" he asked suddenly, his smile still warm and infectious

She sat quietly, allowing him to think his own thoughts and maybe even figure some things out. But her thoughts weren't different from his at all. Even she had met lot of people near that lake. It seemed that this place was one of the mos popular places where to hang out or just sit and talk with your friends. Or better yet, wait until someone approaches you and starts talking, and perhaps, if lucky, then even be-friend with that person.
Good thing that she was still connected to that school. After hard day of work she could go outside and look around to see if there were any changes in students.

„Yes it was,“ she agreed dreamingly, thoughts still somewhere in the past. „Pretty and sunny. Not so common for Britain, but like other students I came outside to take an advantage from the beams of sun.“ She grinned. Yeah, the time when she actually enjoyed going outside during the daytime. She couldn't remember which one of them was there first but he confirmed that he was actually already there when she arrived. Miseria smiled softly. „Yes well it's quite a popular place but unlike you, I suppose, I met most of the people in Potter's Army gatherings.“ And the last time when she arrived there she had succeeded in scaring few of the members by taking form of Felix Barker.
Refusing to keep on with the eyecontact, she looked down at her glass and nodded. „Yes they do.“ It was still kind of strange to think about Danny's sudden disappearance and then about his return.

Danny put on a straight face when Miseria had quickly avoided his gaze. He could tell she was still somewhat in disarray about his sudden reemergence from the grave, and it was perfectly understandable. He had randomly met with her in Diagon Alley after all, she was bound to have a few more questions in mind for him, and he was perfectly capable to answer them. Wrapping his hand around his drink, he quickly brought the edge to his lips and drank some of his soda. It was a good cover to give him a second to think about what to say next, he figured he should steer them away from that awkward conversation. He set his drink back down, another idea for a conversation in his head. "I need to visit Hogwarts again sometime," he said with a smile "but I think they don't accept visitors anymore, do they?"

He remembered when people could visit or leave Hogwarts freely, but then again, it was a crazier time for all. And a reason for so many battles to happen in Hogwarts. "I think it'd be nice to just sit down by the lake again...just for old times sake, y'know?" They did a lot of reminiscing it seemed, because after he finished his sentence, the waitress returned with their food, setting down Danny's plate in front of him and then Miseria's food in front of her. Danny thanked the waitress and she walked away with a courteous nod, Danny looked back down to his food. He grabbed one of the fish and took a bite from it, the food a little more than just average. Wasn't that great, the Cauldron had better food.

Silence fell again and Miseria felt even worse. She knew that she had to do something about it, but nothing came into her mind. She could mention something useless and silly, but that wouldn't do anything. It seemed that Danny too had ran out of words and she picked up one of the buns and started pecking it. Little pieces of white bread found their way into her mouth. After that she drank some of her juice and looked around again. Candles. In all of a sudden they disturbed her more than ever. Perhaps it was because she wasn't used to such light. She loved darkness after all.
Miseria took one candle and ''pinched'' the flames with her fingers. Her fingertips turned bright red from the heat but she was satisfied with the fact that there was one less burning candle. Putting it aside, she looked back at Danny who had asked yet another question. „They do allow visitors, but you have to send a letter or at least a word about your visit to the headmaster or secretary.“ Otherwise he'd be unexpected guest and they'd force him to leave. But she had to agree with this one; it would be rather nice to sit down near the lake and just talk and try to remember all the things that had happened in the past.

When their food arrived, Miseria thanked the waitress. She smiled at Danny, saying quietly bon appetit before digging into her salad.