Avoiding, not hiding

Why was it that even in such a large castle, it was hard to hide from someone. Well not exactly hide from someone, but just avoid them in a way. Not only did he have a terrible day filled with long classes, but now he had this girl following him around. She was obviously insane, but Andrei couldn't allow himself to blow up at her like he usually would. If she wasn't a family friend, he would have gotten rid of her already. But the last time he did that, the little brat wined to her parents until she got him into trouble. Apparently her family is influential enough for the rest of us to have to endure their stupidity. Or so his father said. And he got the message loud and clear, he had to play nice from now on.

That didn't mean however that he couldn't avoid her presence at all times. But this girl's tracking skills were impressive and somehow she always seemed to catch up with him everywhere. His only safe place at the moment was the Trophy room as no one came here really. Since he knew he would be here for a while, he started exploring the room. He wanted to see a Slytherin House Cup throphy but as he opened the glass he almost broke everything else inside, causing a loud noise. "Damn it!" he said angry at himself, hoping that this didn't meant the girl would find him now.

Passing the coridors unseen was quite a simple task for Avis. Her eyes were lowered to the ground, she made no sound and she walked quietly, passing by her housemates, classmates and other people who did not even bother to look at her. Even Slytherins did not notice her, which, by the way, only suited her.
Life as a wallflower was a paradise for Avis. Though some people asked her how she managed to surivive without any company, always hiding in the shadows and never going anywhere besides lessons or the classroom, where she boiled her potions, she did not know the answer either. It was just in her. Being alone in the shadows.

Today, however, she saw that the row of the students did not want to move. She'd have to stand for an hour at least in one spot to get trough them. Avis raised her head and looked around. There had to be another escape, a plan to somehow get to the library. Fast!
Her hands started shaking. Again. That happened when she did not know what to do. And then she saw it - a possible escape! Third floor had it's trophy room. Though Avis never visited the place, she figured that it was never too late to take a peek inside. That would save her some time, and if she's lucky, then maybe she'd rest her legs there.

As soon as she slid in, she gasped loudly. It was colder in the trophy room than somewhere else, but she felt delighted that she was finally alone. And what was better - trophy room was dark. A smile came across her lips, but it vanished fast when she heard someone's yell and then the noise. Curiously she stepped towards the boy and looked at the mess that he had made.
She made no sound while staring at the broken trophies and then at him. Guilt reflected from her eyes. Those students who worked their butts of to get those things in honor to their school were now broken! And he dared to do nothing about it? Avis narrowed her eyes.

"Bloody hell!", swore Andrei again as he gazed on the scattered pieces of glass on the floor. The only thing that was on his mind was fixing this mess before anyone saw him. Even a student can report him in and that would mean another row of dreadful detentions. No, he would surely do everything he could do avoid that. He had a bad enough reputation in this school as is. "Reparo", he said pointing his wand at the broken trophy. Perhaps he could clean this up and fix the trophy so no one would even notice was had happened here.

Trying to concentrate on the spell however wasn't very helpful. He wanted to just get this thing over with as soon as possible. He did fix the trophy in the end, but in a very clumsy way. The many cracks in it were very visible no matter how hard he tried to hide them. Perhaps another spell could help, but he could think of none. Not like he was used to fixing things that were broken, he would just throw them away.

Deciding he couldn't do anything else about this, he turned around to leave this place as quickly as possible. They couldn't blame this on him if no one saw him near this place. But as he headed towards the door he almost bumped into someone. Not aware that anyone was in the room, he couldn't help but stare at the girl in front of him and examine her for a while. He wondered if she was going to report him or just would keep her mouth shut. "Well are you going to help me or just keep standing there?", he asked with a frown. Noticing she was a Gryffindor by her robes, he just rolled her eyes. Well hopefully she wouldn't cause him any trouble.

Avis looked at the fixed trophy.
She knew about Andrei, about his weatlhy family and about his father. She also knew about his path - he was a Dark Follower. Not that the fact mattered to her. She just heard and saw things and it wasn't her thing to judge people.
But she had to confess that being a part of such family full of well known and smart wizards he did not know how to fix things properly. That surprised her, but she did not say anything as for now.

That was until he addressed her. Avis looked at him, their eyes meeting. She hated staring at people like this and she hated being stared upon. It was odd. His blue eyes were so clear while her own were mixture of brown and green.
His request sounded strange, funny even, which was why she smiled slightly. Did a Slytherin really require her help in fixing such thing like a trophy? There was nothing to do besides pointing and waving their wands and saying a simple spell. That was - if he knew a proper one. Avis cocked her head to the right. "Why? Can't you fix your own mess?" she asked.

Andrei rolled his eyes at her comment. He should have guessed that she wouldn't help him before saying something like that. How could he admit that in fact he had no knowledge of any cleaning or house maintenance spells at all. It was simply not something he ever did or needed. Asking for the help from this Gryffindor girl was the last thing he wanted, but he realized he had no other choice. It was either let go of his pride or get caught and send to yet another detention.

"Do I look like a housewife to you? I don't do those kind of things. Besides...you girls are supposed to be better at this stuff" said Andrei pointing his hand at the half broken trophy. Yes, he knew how bad that sounded but to him it was the truth. Growing up in a family wealthy such as his has taught him many things. But one of them was never to do something by yourself if you can hire someone else to do it. That was just wasting his time. He didn't do his own cleaning and cooking. He had staff, maids and people employed in his household who did that for him. So why would he ever even learn cleaning spells? His father insisted that such things are beneath a respectable pureblood family and he shouldn't know them at all.

"Can you just help me? We don't have much time before someone comes in. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of a week long detention", he said trying to convince her.

Avis narrowed her eyes. She wasn't one of those housewives either. She'd lock herself in the basement and stay there for weeks without any company or so. She did not like cleaning either, that was just a waste of time which was why she used her wand in most of the occasions.
Though since she was not seventeen yet, she could not use magic outside the school.
Her eyes were fixed on Dolohov again. What did he expect her to do now? Mend those trophies as if this were her fault?!

She sighed and she looked at those poor trophies. God, he was blind and stupid, too? "I thought that you were taught something during the lessons," she exclaimed. It was clear that she was protesting against his request. No, she did not want to clean up after him, yet she understood why he acted like this. His parents probably taught him that all those who were not wealthy as they were had to do all the job. Avis clenched her teeth. How barbaric.

"Watch and learn. Maybe one day you'll be useful or you'll learn how to do things on your own," she pushed him aside and took out her wand. Fixing things was easier that it seemed. She took out her wand and opened the door. Pointing it at the broken trophies, she fixed them up and mended the one that Andrei tried to fix. They were in their perfect shape after she was done with them.

Crossing his arms in front of him, Andrei just waited for her to finish. He had to make sure he kept his tongue under control, because insulting this girl right now certainly won't help this situation. Although that certainly didn't mean he had to be polite after she was done with fixing things. Who did this girl thing she was anyway, coming in this room with that attitude?

"Sorry, I guess I must have missed the how to be a middle age cleaning wife lesson. But then again I skip a lot of classes so it's not really a surprise", said Andrei through a smirk as he glared at the girl. Who was she really? He had never seen her around before. Not that he had a lot of Gryffindors friends, but he was at least familiar with some of them. But this girl, he didn't eve know her name.

"Oh yeah, that was very educational. Don't know how I survived my life without it", he said ironically rolling his eyes. He certainly wasn't the type to study the secrets of cleaning and mending, just because of a little accident. He would leave that to the people who did that for their living. What was she getting at as well? He was perfectly capable and probably more interdependent than most of this school. Still, cleaning was something he refused to learn how to do. "How come I don't know who you are?" he asked, examining this girl head to toe.

She noticed his position, but Avis did not say anything. There would be no use in teaching him how to act or how to make himself useful. She imagined that he already felt himself somewhat better when she did all the job.
Avis frowned. Stupid kid. He'd better learn how to fix his own mess next time. She already felt the urge to kick him right across the face for that. Her parents taught her that when she messed something up, she was the one who had to make it right. And with that lesson she had to survive.

"It's your problem," she replied coolly. No one forced him to attend any lessons and it seemed that he took the advantage of it. Again, she frowned. No, she was no angel either, but at least she did study and look into books to learn something new every once in a while. She guessed that Andrei had someone to read for him, too.

Avis looked at the trophies. Yes, it looked like all of them were now fixed and clean. Then she stood up and looked at Dolohov, rolling her eyes eventually at his ironic comment, but she did not answer. If they'd argue, they wouldn't get far with that and to be honest, she did not want to waste her time on such things either.
"Because you've never bothered to look around?" Avis guessed. She did a good job staying perfectly invisible, but those who did look around and felt slightly curious had a free road in meeting her. She did not bite.

It was obvious by the girl's attitude and the frown on her face that they weren't off to a good start. But Andrei couldn't care less. She was a Gryffindor nobody, just part of the crowd. Probably really quiet as well and simply average. That were the reasons Andrei decided that he didn't know her name in the first place. She looked around his age which meant that they went to the same school for around five to six years, yet somehow she wasn't even familiar to him.

"I never bothered to look around?", he asked with a loud chuckle. Her comment just seemed to funny for him to ignore it and say nothing in response. "It seems that you and the rest of Hogwarts have a very different definition about what 'looking around' means. But I actually prefer your version of it.", said Andrei with a laugh.

Examining her features, he decided she was rather pretty. Well she wasn't a part of the Potter's Army or he would have known about her. Or the Dark Followers as he would have seen her on the meetings. So who was this girl? "You can't be a Potter's Follower. Just...not arrogant enough I would say to fit into that crowd. Yet you're a Gryffindor. Not a Dark Follower either, or a pureblood. Not part of the Quidditch team. So tell me then, who are you?", he asked rather curiously. For now this girl was a total mystery and that made him curious. It was as if she was a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out just yet.

Oh, why did she even speak to him? Obviously most of the Slytherins did not bother to look around to notice other people around them.
Avis did so. She examined them and with every passing day she learned more and more about her house- and classmates.
But it seemed that Andrei did not care for such things. Sad, because when it actually came to facing off someone, he could use his knowledge about that certain person in his own benefit. That probably never crossed his mind.
"Do you..." she murmured quietly as an answer, though he probably didn't hear it.

While he looked at her, Avis took the advantage of taking another quick glance at him, too. Sad that such a pretty face was too spoiled.
Avis turned her eyes away. Not so long ago so met with another Slytherin. A setup, to be honest, and she still regretted going to that arena. That bastard ruined the impression of her first kiss. She shivered at the thought of it with disgust.

"Your deducting skills are amazing," she commented, sarcasm driping from her voice. Obviously, if she'd be in PA or one of the DF's, she'd be widely known. She'd be an activist no matter in which group.
Taking a deep breath, she calmed her sences and then she looked around. Good, there was a bench near by and she took a seat on it. "Avis," she introduced herself, doubting that her name would give Andrei any sorts of information.