Dark arts and dealing.

Mmmmmhmmmmm.

Mordecai arched an eyebrow and looked down at Keith with an expression that clearly stated that he wasn't buying it. Kids may be kids but he knew from experience that after a certain age they couldn't fall under the "just children" category. Kids may do stupid things from time to time, hell so do adults, but children were not stupid no matter how dumbed-down the Ministry tried to make the curriculum.

"For a friend eh?" He asked Keith as he picked up the fire whiskey bottles and placed them on top of a nearby table. "Well, no matter how good it may make her feel, it'll bring nothing but misery in the long run. I suggest for the future that you steer clear from this stuff. Fire Whiskey is nothing but trouble. Take it from someone how knows."

Mordecai nailed the boy with a hard knowing look. He couldn't punish the kid because he didn't have the authority yet. Mind you he wouldn't if he were able to anyways. Kids had to learn life’s lessons the hard way and a slap on the wrist wasn't going to do anything for them. They'd just end up making the same mistake again.

Mordecai let out a heavy sigh as he rose to his feet and looked to the girl for an explanation as to what she was doing alone in the classroom with this pint-sized ruffian. However the girl opened her mouth to speak but didn't utter a sound. His arched eyebrow shot down into a deep frown as he followed her eyes to the object that she held in her hand. A spasm ran through his body, from neck to knees, and Mordecai was halfway across the classroom before he even realized what he was doing. A large hand shot out and caught the girl by her arm while he snatched the jeweled ball out of her hands with the hem of his cloak. He didn't touch the thing as he quickly enveloped it in the folds of his travelling cloak and chucked the thing into a corner. He had enough sense not to open his mouth as he dragged the girl after him as he stormed out of the classroom.

"Git outta there now!" Mordecai bellowed from the corridor as he released the girl and stormed back into the classroom. He scooped up Keith with one hand and his canvas bag with the other and ten seconds later all three of them were out of the classroom as the door slammed shut. Breathing heavily Mordecai withdrew his wand and with a sharp flick he sealed the cracks in the door with a protective charm that would keep whatever it was that was in that ball contained in the classroom until the proper authority could come and deal with it.

"What in blazes is that thing?" Mordecai growled as he fixed the two students with a dead-eye look that could have melted a pewter cauldron.

Keith visibly withered, stumbling back from Mordecai's glare. He was still on the ground, having collapsed when the mist hit him. He had no idea why he was affected the most, possibly due to his lower body mass. "I...I don't know." He said, gasping for air. "Honestly, I don't I thought it was just a pretty bauble! I wasn't under the imperious curse or anything, I thought a lazy house elf had left it lying around!" He was panicking now. That thing could've killed someone. "Bloody hell." He swore, sinking to his knees again. "Bloody hell. What was it?"

Alexa still could not answer. She just could not get her voice to work. She would have probably gotton it back now, but since Alexa had held the ball, she had taken in most of the mist. She crouched down, to help Keith up. Are you alright? She mouthed, and then wished she hadn't. A strong taste of paint was in her mouth.

Keith, with Alexa's help, managed to push himself to his feet. "I think so..." he said, leaning up against the wall. His vision was slightly blurry, and his ears were ringing. The taste of paint was in his mouth, and his throat was raw, but otherwise he felt fine. Whatever it was, he was glad they had gotten rid of it soon.

Alexa tried to speak, and then sort of let out a scream of silent fury. She whipped out a pad of paper from her pocket and a pen from her purse, and wrote down what she wanted to say. Keith said he got it from Hogsmeade. That is all I know about the thing. She tore the paper off the pad, and gave it to the teacher to read. She then pulled out a cream from her purse, and wrote another note, this time for Keith. Put this around your eyes. It should give them most of their sight back. But not all of it. She handed the note to Kieth.

Keith read the note, taking a few minutes because of his blurry vision, but applied the cream to his eyes.

The effect was immediate. It was like someone had washed out his eye sockets with liquid gold, and the blurriness lessened immediately. There were still a few spots in his vision, but he could function normally. "Look," He said finally. "I found that thing in the common room, ok? It was just lying on the ground, near James' bed. I'll just ask him about it and...sh*t" he muttered suddenly. James had just transferred back to Durmstrang. Apparently Hogwarts' academic curriculum wasn't up to scratch. He rubbed his head. "Well then...my dad knows a guy. In the ministry." He said, nodding thoughtfully. "Ill give him a call."

He turned to Alexa and handed her the entire sack, still full of chocolate and joke products. "The rest of it should be safe," He said, head hanging, "But you don't have to take it if you want." He then fished through his pockets and handed her back her money. it was probably the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

Alexa shook her head, and pushed back her money. She had no need of it; but she did accept the sack, taking out a box of chocolates. She took out three, and gave one to the teacher and one to Keith. She then pulled out her pad, and wrote another note, this one again for the teacher. I think I had better go to the hospital wing, maybe they can get my voice back.

There was a thunderous look in Mordecai's eyes as he looked from the boy to the girl and then back again. His adrenalin was up, his heart was pounding, and he had the sudden urge to smash his fist into the nearest suit of armor. Old battle tactics were hard to ignore but Mordecai had enough sense to know that flipping his lid in front of two underage wizards would do more harm than good. Judging by the look of their faces the kids had no idea what they had gotten themselves into and they shouldn't be held accountable for it.

Mordecai's eyes actually flashed as Keith stammered an apology. The boy was telling the truth. Mordecai didn't have to invade the kid's mind to know he wasn't trying to wheedle his way out of one hell of a talking to. As for the girl, well she needed to get looked after and figure out how to get her voice back. Air hissed through his clenched teeth as Mordecai slowly exhaled, counting back from twenty. His old coach had taught him that nifty little trick in order to help prevent him from getting his arse hauled off the Quidditch Pitch. Out on the Pitch Quid Players were not nice people and went tension was high a fight would break out soon than someone could say "holy hell in a hand basket!" Reverse counting allowed Mordecai to focus his mind on something other than pummeling someone's face into pulp and enabled him to get his head on straight.

Thankfully it worked this time.

"Alright. Alright. Up you get." Mordecai sighed as he ran both of his hands through his hair and breathed in deeply. He took the slip of paper the girl handed him and quickly read it. "Hogsmead eh? Is that true?"

Turned out that the boy had found it in a dormitory. Well this was something that was going to have to be brought to the Headmaster's attention. He was well aware of the students actions as he glanced over at the sealed doorway. Should he attempt to go back in there and destroy the object or should he leave it and wait for someone else to deal with this problem.

"Right you two. Git yourselves up to the hospital wing on the double. I'm sure the head nurse will be able to put you two right again. Go straight there. I'll know if you don't." He said, frowning at the pair as the girl placed a small chocolate in his hand. How thoughtful. "I'll be up to check on you two in a bit."

He glanced over at the door and ground his teeth together.

First he was going to have to do a little investigating.