Under the Rainbow [open to anyone!]

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

And everything is black and white
Except these choices I am making
About the coloured boxes I could fit in
And the room, it gently spins


Folding the letter, unfolding the letter, folding it again, preparing to rip it up - no. He sighed quietly and looked down at the parchment in his hands with a thoughtful frown. No. He needed to detach himself and look at this objectively, study it, if you will. Why was he upset? It was illogical to be upset.
Frowning deeper, he shook his head (to make his reading glasses slide out of his hair and back onto his nose), and reread the letter he'd gotten that morning and had been on his mind ever since. For your convenience, I have translated the Russian -

Mr. D. M. Zolnerowich,

To inform you of the passing of your uncle. You are not required to return home - he has been cremated.

Sincerely,
N. P. A. Zolnerowich.

Well, it was hardly a letter at all, just two sentences. The question was what it meant, though. What it meant and why he was so upset.
Dimitri had known his uncle had died - it had been in the papers. He didn't like reading the papers because of all the bad news these days, but as a member of the Order he felt that it was important that he remained up to date as to recent happenings. His uncle had died three days ago, that information from the letter was hardly a surprise, it shouldn't throw him off. Besides, he didn't like his family, did he now? Still.. wrong side of the war or not.. he had always been fond of his uncle. His father's younger brother had always been less strict than Nikita and had taken young Dimitri on outings a lot when he was still a child. To the zoo, to the pool, to the Taiga forest, or anywhere, really - Pjotr Zolnerowich had been Dimitri's favourite uncle. Granted, also his only uncle, but as a child, Dim had adored him and deep down, he liked to think the feeling had been mutual.
Of course, Pjort had been as 'bad' as the rest of them. It had been a bigger desillusion than realising his parents weren't the good examples he had thought they were. But anyway - that was not the point. So his uncle was dead. His uncle that he had liked, but that was a long time ago. No. Dimitri did not think he was upset because his uncle Pjotr was dead. He hadn't felt like that when he had read it in the papers three days ago. This was not why he felt upset.

He reread the letter again. Dimitri knew it by heart by now, so it was technically unnecessary, but his eyes kept wandering back to the words. Cyrillic script. Immaculate handwriting. Control. Formal. It could hardly be the detachment, the coldness that was getting to him.. could it? Dimitri frowned to himself. No, his parents had always been formal and detached towards him, why would that be it?
Then again, this was the first word he had had from his parents since he had left. The first sign of life in a decade. So they knew where he lived, they knew where he was. Of course they did - of course, Dimitri had expected nothing less. But why bother to contact him over nothing?
He drew a slow breath and ripped the letter in half in one fluid motion. A nearby owl hooted indignantly, as though to say 'are you going to answer that letter or shall I just go back to sleep?' and Dimitri turned his back towards the bird. Because he got it now.

His parents hadn't mailed him to let him know his uncle was dead. They hadn't mailed him to let him know they didn't want him back home. This, this letter - that had just been to hurt him.
Dimitri was sure of it.


I'm somewhere
Under the rainbow
Way down low

I'm under the waves and I am under the weather
I'm under the pump and I am under the pressure
And I am under the spell of a life lived in leisure
And I am underperforming and so under-pleasured

[integra echoes]

She was clunking up the steep hill to the owlery as the chill of the afternoon bit her nose. Pulling her scarf around her face, Integra's boots hit the water of the cold puddles as she darted to the steps of the ever hooting tower. The stairs were a little slick but she made it inside and shook back the hood of her cloak. Her dark eyes looked up the tower at the sound of ripping parchment. A professor. Not something he wanted to hear huh? Splendid. Integra loved bad news. And she loved poor moods even more. Professor Zolnerowich did not look happy.

Step by step, Integra made her way through the mess of owl droppings to stand behind the professor, where she then cleared her throat. "A love letter, professor?" She let out a soft little giggle before climbing a few more little steps and standing level with him. "No.. it can't be. Not with such an upset stuck upon your tired face." Her ice cold fingers swept his cheek. In the castle she wouldn't normally be this forward with a member of the staff. But Dimitri was younger than most others and they weren't exactly in the castle. He was a much easier target of prey. Not that she wanted to bed him. It was just fun to toy with poor defenseless defense against the dark arts teachers. All puns intended of course.

Grinning wildly, she plucked at the collar of his clothes and looked up at him with her piercing golden brown eyes. "So it must be a letter of regret. Perhaps...." She faked a gasp. And faked it rather well. "Perhaps she has written to tell you she had fallen into the arms of another man?" tutting her tongue against her pearly teeth. "You poor poor dear." She ran her hand along his cheek and feigned concern for him. Integra was good at this act by now.

{Word Count} 326
{Clothes} Click me!
{Comments} I couldn't resist. Dim is so....easy! and she so very much likes to toy with people. She all but begged me to allow her to play with him.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

He didn't hear her come upstairs. It wasn't exactly unusual for him, really, Dimitri tended to be absorbed by his thoughts and forget about the world surrounding him - but this was just bad timing. Dim did look unhappy (not in the least because he didn't like wearing bright colours, so his choice of wardrobe only emphasised his mood) and he preferred not being seen when he was feeling like this. It was something private, something that was unfit for sharing. Unfortunately, here was one of the students he'd least like to see right now.
He knew it would be unfair of him to dislike Integra for the person she was (no matter how.. unnerving). Dimitri believed everyone had the right to be themselves and if this was the way that Integra was.. well.. what gave him the right to say she ought to be different? Besides, he had to be objective and unprejudiced as a teacher. Still, he couldn't deny that he wasn't particularly fond of her. She was loud and rude and so many more things that Dimitri didn't like, but he tried not to show that in class.

Now, though, they weren't in class, and Dimitri was far, very far, from teacher-mode as he turned around as she spoke. He hadn't heard her coming so he was more than a bit surprised, but at least he hadn't spun around like an idiot and made a fool of himself. It took a few seconds before her words were properly interpreted, though, and he frowned a little deeper, disapproving. A love letter - that was preposterous. He didn't get love letters. Annoyance bloomed behind his stomach as she moved closer. It was so easy, going from hurt to annoyance, because deep inside, he didn't just feel hurt - he was angry that he allowed his family to push him around, still, hundreds of miles away, after all these years. Dimitri was sick of being pushed around.
His student had moved on, though - talking, talking, filling the air with syllables he didn't care to hear. Oh, so he looked tired and upset, did he? That was hardly news - just like the contents of the letter had been - so the goal of the words was probably similar: to get to him.
He scowled as she touched his face and turned away, not willing to step back and lose his ground. Dimitri was not going to back away from a student, least of all Integra. So she wanted to play a game, did she? Well, Dimitri was in no mood for playing around and if Integra thought she was going to get the better of him, she was going to be so, so wrong.

She was in his personal space again and it made his skin crawl, but he met her surprisingly warm-coloured eyes with his own ice cold grey ones. If she was at least a little perceptive she might've seen the warning in them. Of course she didn't.
No, she was still babbling, guessing the contents of the letter and being way off (of course). Dim shuddered in what he wasn't sure was disgust or cold as she ran her hand along his cheek and, grabbing her wrist roughly, pulled her fingers away from his skin. "Do not touch me, Miss Echoes." His voice was quiet, but there was an underlying tone that frightened even Dimitri himself. Something angry, something destructive. He just wanted to break something, God, he wanted to hurt something and the realisation that he wanted to made him feel terrible. This wasn't how he was supposed to cope! That would make him no better than-
No time for doubting himself now, though, so he pulled himself together. He'd worry about strange destructive tendencies later, when he was alone and had time to think. Pushing Integra out of his personal space (not particularly caring if she stumbled or slipped on the wooden floor at this point - she shouldn't have touched him!), he turned away from her and unceremoniously dropped the remains of the letter to the floor. Dimitri didn't give her a second glance as he drew his wand, pointed it at the torn pieces of parchment on the floor and muttered a quiet, yet very obviously quietly angry сжечь в ничто. Fire flared up briefly, bright like burning magnesium, parchment curling, burning, and turning to ashes which he scattered with his boot.
He didn't feel any better at all.

[integra echoes]

She gasped a little when he touched her, but mostly out of excitement. Integra loved when someone had enough balls to be forceful with her. Usually it was her being the forceful one. Her pinning men down or throwing them around. Not the other way. But as he shoved her away and she stumbled a little she grinned wickedly. "Pushing a student...tsk tsk." As the paper went up in flames (no pun intended) Integra's smile, if possible, got even more wicked.

"My my, We have some serious anger issues. It's really not good for you ya know." She lowered her chin as she shoved off the railing against the wall and rolled her shoulders a little. "Anger makes you like me." her words rolled off her tongue like a hiss. "Anger makes you...mad. And madness consumes the soul to mask it's fears." She licked her deep red lips and let her eyes pour over him. The woman seemed to exude terror and malice. It surrounded her as if it were the very being of her existence.

Taking in a deep breath and rolling her neck a little she quarked a brow at him and smiled. His anger made it dreadfully obvious that she was getting under his skin. She loved being under someone's skin. It made her heart race and her body tingle. It kept her going. Fed her life. She lived for making people uncomfortable in their suffering. "So....Dimirti....What is it that you are afraid of?"

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

He could hear Integra make a theatrical gasping noise. Dimitri didn't look. He didn't care. Though, he had to admit, he felt at least a little surge of vindictiveness as she stumbled and a little disappointed as she didn't fall. He should've known it would only fan the flames and that he was only giving her cause to mock him - which she did. Who would Integra Echoes be if she did not grasp that opportunity with both hands? Dimitri still didn't feel sorry for pushing her off him, though, no matter if she was a student and he was a teacher - she had been touching him in a way he could not accept, so, after warning her, he had pushed her off. Was there anything really wrong about such a reaction? He didn't think so. He would do it again in a heartbeat. For now, the only answer Integra got to her mocking words was a scowl.

Deceptively calm (and knowing he wasn't fooling anyone), Dimitri pocketed his wand again. Pushing a student was one thing, turning on them, wand drawn, was another, and right now he didn't trust himself. She wasn't doing anything to him, so he had no reasons to justify his actions, after all. Should she try and get into his personal space again, however..
"Anger issues?" he echoed, voice quiet, but cautious and dark. It sounded smooth enough, but on the inside, he was trembling. Of course he was angry - angry with his parents (who were far away) and angry with her. It was easier to be angry with her, she was right there. But he shouldn't and he knew it. It could cost him his job - and that was all he had right now.

Integra stepped closer to him again, but he stood his ground, hands in his pockets, watching quietly - but with smoldering eyes. "I don't think so," he said at long last. "I don't think I believe you. I don't think I care enough to believe you." He looked her in the eye for a moment. Sure, there was some truth in the words she said. They were undoubtably true for her. She didn't know him, however, she didn't know him. Dimitri believed he made his own future and if he'd come this far, he wasn't going to let this ruin it for him. Whether it was fear or anger, he didn't care, but it wasn't going to get the better of him - or at least not here, with Integra present to witness it.
Still, he could prevent the emotion behind his eyes from flaring as she licked her lips and looked at him. Oh, that was just disgusting. That had to be the most repulsive thing he had ever witnessed.

Straightening his back, he glanced at the door opening. He didn't particularly want to have to walk out and have his back to her. Then again, he knew it would make him the better man, the bigger person, doing what was right - not losing his cool, just walking away. Because she was getting under his skin. He couldn't let her. He couldn't let her just like he hadn't let his family; he had walked away from there, he could do it again.
"I have other places to be," he muttered, sending her a last glare before turning away from her and towards the stairs. "I'll see you in class." He had planned to say 'good day, miss Echoes', but the words had choked before the air had left his lungs.



[Back towards Integra, doesn't seem like a good idea to me! xD]

[integra echoes]

"Zolnerowich...Hmm.." She folded her arms and stared him down. Her gaze almost burning holes in the back of his head. If she didn't know she'd be in major shit with Rabastan, let alone major shit with Voldemort, she would have hexed the living hell out of Dimitri the second he'd turned away from her. She felt her fingers itching to reach for her wand. Licking her lips she rolled her neck around and tried to resist the lingering urges she felt.

"Ahh.. Now its all so clear why that name seems so familiar to me." She was grinning wickedly now as she took a few steps towards him. "Your entire family is made up of Death Eaters and other dark wizards. Poor little Dimirti.. the odd man out... Trying to do the right thing..." She circled back around him and smiled up into his stone set face. Resting a hand on his cheek she batted her eye lashes. "Now, Dimmy.... why would you abandon us like that? Why don't you just make mummy and daddy proud..." She lowered her voice to a whisper and pressed her body to his. "Come back with me Dimirti. You'd make an excellent addition. We could rule the world you and I. Two very strong pure blooded death eaters. We could change everything Dimirti. Let the anger consume you. Let it make you mad and we can be together. Wouldn't that be better?" Her breath was hot on his skin. Her scent almost paralyzing with its poisonous floral aromas. And footsteps could be heard outside. One swift flick of her wand jammed the door. It'd take someone a while to get through there. He was trapped right where she wanted him.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

Dimitri exhaled slowly and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He'd rather have crossed his arms, but that was a position he found all too defensive right now - and he wasn't going to be defensive (even if the feel of her gaze made his skin crawl), he wasn't going to back down. He was simply going to walk away. Or, well, he was until she jammed the door.
All her little theatricalities were getting on her nerves more than ever, especially when he knew exactly where she was going the moment she had been lisping his surname in that manner - horribly mispronounced, of course. As much as it annoyed him, it was just that, annoyance - why didn't she just get to the point? Dramaqueen. (It was easier to point his anger to her way of doing things, rather than on the things she was saying.)

He glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not surprised that name would be familiar to you," he replied, and really, that was a veiled insult. Not willing to have his back towards her any longer, he half turned around, looking at her cooly. "And if you think you can make me crack by telling me information I already know, don't bother." As she circled closer to him, he froze a little - not out of fear, rather he was strung tightly, in case he had to act fast.
Her touching him again hardened his eyes futher, making the ice in them burn with a very clear warning. Don't touch me. Dimitri wasn't much of a touchy-feely person to begin with and other people invading his personal bubble without him consenting? That was unacceptable. He tried not to listen to her, knowing that her words would just serve to annoy and upset him, try and provoke him - but how could he ignore this? Besides, her touching him, being so close, it made him sick - sick and angry.

Now, with any other student, Dimitri would've held onto his status as a teacher; threaten with detention, or maybe even expulsion. He didn't see Integra as a student, though. She was not a student at all, she was just a Death Eater forced to stay in school until she graduated, but then she'd be loose and she would be no different.
"You really are an idiot," he muttered quietly, still angry, but trying to be (and seem) amused (if only to hide the anger). After all - wasn't it hylarious? How could she possibly think she'd be able to convince him? Better yet - what made her believe that she could upset him more than his parents had done? Compared to what he had been through - leaving his home, being kicked out by his fiance, trying to find a place for himself in this world - what made her think she could possibly be worse than that?
"I'm not going to do anything of the sort. I'm going downstairs and grade essays." He raised an eyebrow at her, caught her wrists, and pushed her off again - less quick, but certainly more forceful. "And you are going to open the door right now, or I'll do it myself." His voice shook slightly, in anger not fear, and his eyes found Integra's, boring into hers. A threat lay simmering beneath them, but he never verbalised it, although his hand did move to his wand pocket. He didn't even try to do so sneakily - what was the point in that? She'd notice anyway.

[integra echoes]

Integra laughed wildly. He was certainly a riot. "Oh Dimirti! You think this is all about me trying to get something out of you! You really are a riot. I don't want information from you Dimmy darling and I certainly haven't the slightest care in the world about if you want to grade term papers. I'd as soon as wiped my ass with mine rather than have bothered to even write it." She rolled her eyes and held herself up as he got even more forceful with her. Turning her away once more.

The sound of Miss Pucket trying the door and failing could be heard. "Now this is interesting. See Dimirti my entire reason for being here... is to fuck with you. And Professor Obsessive Compulsive out there.. is just going to be icing on the cake.. I've seen you two. Making small talk. Smiling at each other. Sickos." Grinning she raised her hand and slapped herself hard across the face. Yanking off her shirt and pulling at her hair, Integra gasped and made a strangled little sound. "Please!! Professor!! NO!!" She threw herself on the floor and in two swift wand flicks had his pants around his ankles and unlocked the door. The petite young female assistant fell into the room after the door.

"Miss Pucket! Thank God!" Integra watched from the floor as the other woman's eyes took in the scene then landed on Dimitri and stayed there. It was quiet for all too long. Integra was loving every second of this tense torture that was hanging in the balance of their lives. Inside she was laughing like a loon. Outside she was putting on her best victim face.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

He didn't like the way she said his name - neither his full name or that ridiculous nickname she used. The way the syllables rolled off her tongue and lips made his bones ache, shook something right down in his core. Some civilisations believed that once you know someone's name, you could exert power over them. This wasn't quite the same, but it was sure what it felt like.
Dimitri set his jaw, took a deep breath and frowned even deeper. He was just about to tell Integra that this conversation was definitely over and that he was going to leave right now, but then he heard a sound on the other side of the door. A rather familiar sound that made his head whip around. Maybe he was going soft, because he could feel himself go pale, blood draining away from his face as though it wanted to hide deep inside him - maybe it did. he liked Devin, that couldn't be denied, but what Integra knew about his family.. that was not something he was ready to confront her with and, oh God, when he was ready (if he'd ever be) he wanted to tell her that himself.

He was so struck by and afraid of that option, that the worse situation, the one Integra was creating right now, sank in just a little too late and when it did, the whole world ground to a painful halt with himself in the centre of the chaos.
His reflexes were too slow to stop her from undoing his trousers, but mercifully he managed to catch them halfway and pull them up, button them hastily. Not that it helped much. Devin wouldn't have missed what Integra was hinting at and Dimitri was speechless. He could think of nothing to say, of not anything to say. Part of him was just about ready to skin Integra alive and kill her then and there (messily, if possible). Either that or kill himself before he died of shame. But those things would mean letting her win and that was something Dimitri was not willing to do.

After a few moments of blind panic and feeling sick, so, so, so ill deep down to his core, he felt a calmness settling in which always went along with anger. He knew it couldn't mean a lot of good if he were to act upon it, but he couldn't imagine excuses and trying to assure Devin that it wasn't what it looked like do any better sort of job. For now, he was just going to accept that anything he had with her was lost anyway (and really, shouldn't he be used to messing things up with women by now?).
Glaring down on Integra, who was still happily acting (how could she believe she was fooling anyone?), he raised his wand at her. "Drop your wand, miss Echoes," he muttered, voice laced with anger and (dare I say it?) something cooly hateful, merciless. It was almost as though it wasn't Dimitri speaking. Oh, he could be ruthless, sure he could, he just never showed - but now he'd snapped. Without waiting for Integra to actually respond, he flicked his wand at her. He didn't expect her to fight back, because fighting back would mean she had to drop the act - but even if she did? Oh, he was ready for her. She had nothing on him. злой запястье. With a sickening twist, bones grinding over each other, her right hand rotated on her wrist 180 degrees, forcing her to drop her wand as the tendons in the joint snapped and made her lose control over her fingers. Harsh treatment, maybe, but at least it rendered her less dangerous than before. Dimitri felt a small spark of satisfaction that he both enjoyed and feared. He'd forgotten how good this could feel - and how wrong.

As all this happened, Dimitri hadn't looked at Devin once, unable to meet her gaze, too afraid of what he'd find (even if he was just assuming that whatever they'd had was over).
For now, he was just glad to ride the adrenaline wave of his anger and not deal with anything else just yet. Being angry was so much easier.
Deep down, though, he still felt sick and nauseous and he just wanted to crawl away somewhere where no one would ever find him ever again. Ironic, wasn't it, that Integra was pretended to be assaulted by him - and he was the one left feeling violated?

[integra echoes]

((I'm gonna through in a little Devin in this post too... as its only natural that she gets a post too.. I just don't want to have to post two different things... seems unnecessary.))

She could see him boiling with anger now. That was exactly what she wanted. The look on his little girlfriend's face was priceless. She looked so perplexed. As if the mouse hearted woman had been struck with a stick on the head. Dimitri's face was giving him away as he lost it. Integra was loving every second of this. She simply got out a snort as he told her to drop her wand. Was he mad? Intgra would do nothing of the sort. That would really be ridiculous! Then the pain came.

Her whole arm burned with the twist of her hand. Letting out a strangled little growl, her nostrals flared. "Is that all you've got?!" She cackled picking her wand up with her other hand.

(Devin)

She couldn't believe it. This was insanity. Staring at Dimitri, Devin tried to make sense of it all in her brain. How could he? Something didn't....Ah It was Integra Echoes laying on the floor. That was it. He couldn't have, because he didn't. She did. That girl was nuts. She was nuts in class she was nuts to the core. "Dimirti..."

Her hand flew to her mouth as he hexed her, letting out a little yelp. What was he doing?! "Dimitri! Stop!!" Lunging forward Devin tugged on his arm. "She's just a child, Dimitri! A child! And-" She looked to Integra who was tenderly pulling herself up off the floor. There was a crazed look in her eyes. "Dim-" With a little shove Devin pushed passed and put herself between the two of them. The agony raced up her spin, arching her backwards a little in the pain. A blood curdling scream erupted from her lungs.

((Teggy....again))

Devin was taking his side. Pitty. It would have been amusing to see them argue. But what did she expect, Integra was not a very trustworthy individual at that moment. Not to them any way. She only told the truth when it mattered to her. She never cared about the rest of them. Her hand was throbbing with pain. She'd make him pay.

Standing, she put a sick smile on her face and gripped her wand tightly. Make it count. REALLY want it. That's the trick! Raising her wand she jabbed it toward him "Crucio!" The thing was... It hit the wrong person. The woman was trying to be a hero...Idiot. That only got people killed. Integra held onto the curse for a bit longer than what could have been considered a warning shot then snatched her clothes from the floor and disappeared out the door in a flash as Dimitri's darling woman fell against him writhing in pain.


(told you it was gonna be a good one)

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

He should've expected the pain would only make her do desperate things and seeing her switch her wand to the other hand he was just about to cripple her left as well when Devin caught his attention by tugging on his arm.
Stop? She had to be insane, he was not going to stop - Integra was a danger to the both of them and reasoning with her was not going to help, offensive defense seemed the best course of action regarding the situation here. "She is not a child," he snapped at Devin, angry fire in his eyes. Integra really, really wasn't a child. She was of age, for one thing-!

As Devin's scream echoed in his ears, he was pretty sure that casting an unforgivable pretty much evaporated any thought anyone might've had about Integra not being an adult who was responsible for her own actions. It was just a short thought, though, as the rest of his focus was immediately on Devin's fitting form against him in agony.
He had half-registered Integra shouting the word 'crucio' at some point and he'd braced himself for it, but when nothing happened it took him a few miserable seconds to realise it was Devin who'd been hurt. As Integra left and the spell unwound and Devin was released from it, she slumped against him and Dimitri put her on the floor carefully, sprinting to the door his first reaction.
"грязная блядь!" The profanity spilled from his lips and echoed down the staircase before he'd been able to stop it and would have shocked him, had he not been too upset to care. He gripped his wand tightly and would almost have ran after her to show her how a proper, full crucio was done - but that meant leaving Devin and whatever she thought of him, he couldn't just leave her here. (Also, if cursing a student didn't get him fired, using crucio on her certainly would.)

Slumping against the wall for a moment, he allowed himself to take a shivering breath before turning back to Devin, casting a silent diagnostic spell. A cruciatus was bad enough to start with, but with a mind like Integra's casting it, who knew what damage it might've done.
Sitting next to her, he gently propper her up against his shoulder, checking her pulse briefly just in case the diagnostic spell was off because he was so upset. "I'm so sorry - are you okay?" he mumbled, which was a very unnecessary question, because he knew the answer would be 'no', but right now, Dimitri did not know what else he could possibly say. Nothing would make this better. It seemed like the war had finally found its way into Hogwarts. Even if this had been personal and not specifically about the war going on, Dimitri still feared that this was just the beginning.

[devin pucket]

The ache was radiating through her bones as she clung to him. The rush of it gave away as the spell was stopped and Integra left. "No.. Please" She was holding tight to his sleeve as he laid her on the floor. With ridged limbs she closed her eyes, a tear rolling down her pale cheek. It was all sweet of him to want to go after her, but she desperately didn't want to be alone at that moment. Devin's jaw was clenched as she cried out a little.

Her knuckles were going white as she tightened her fingers around the nothing. "Dimitri...." Holding tight to the collar of his shirt as he propped her up she took deep breaths. "I... I don't know.. I feel like my bones have been turned to ice and then shattered. Everything....It just...." Swallowing she buried her face into him. "I was wrong. She's not a child.. she's a god damn changeling." Devin was shaking still, but felt a little more calm as he looked after her. She felt like death. Like it was wrapping its fists around her spine and yanking it out through her chest. That woman was a sick individual.

Swallowing she tried to roll her head around and stretch her body. "Its... really cold out here...Dimitri... could you take me back to the castle please?? But... Not the hospital wing... It's rather embarrassing honestly..." She'd never been cursed like that before and honestly it had all her nerves shot and standing on end. Now she understood why it was unforgivable. She was certainly not going to forgive that miscreant for this. "Can't you please just make it go away yourself?" She was crying quietly. Devin wasn't a strong person physically by any means. She was a sheltered child. Devin was her father's precious child! And he of course coddled her plenty. In short, she was a sissy wimp who couldn't take curses very well. Obviously.


((DISCLAIMER: I've made an error. I seem to have forgotten that she has no mother so the post in the other thread about her mother liking the french tutor Jock, should actually be her Father liking the french teacher Babette. Also in the Valentines thing, when she says she nearly gave her mother a heart attack.. it should be father. I've made a serious oops. LOL!))

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

[Haha, no worries (:
I'll try and get a post out at the Valentine's Day topic tomorrow, but I can't promise anything as tomorrow will be bat shit crazy with business xP]



Dimitri knew that leaving Devin there would be a bad choice for so many reasons. For one thing, she was in pain and needed his help (and it was sort of his fault she was in this mess to begin with) and apart from that it was more important to focus on helping her than on venting his anger on Integra, no matter how much he wanted to. And, oh, he wanted to. He was positively fuming and even as he carefully handled his colleague, friend, Devin, he was having trouble putting his anger aside. It was as though a dam had burst and it all was spilling out. He didn't want it to, but there was little he could do to stop it, apart from taking deep breaths and trying to force it back inside his chest where it belonged.
"I'm here, it's going to be fine," he muttered quietly, using a weak lumos to check Devin's pupil responses. "Where did the spell hit?" He was afraid it had been her spine, to be honest. The more he wrecked his brain over it, the more insecure he was about whether what he'd seen was correct, but Dimitri was pretty sure it had been Devin's spine. That would also explain the amount of pain she was still in and he just hoped to Mordred that there would be no neurological damage.

He nodded shallowly when she asked him to please take her somewhere else, as long as it wasn't the hospital wing, and lifted her carefully - too carefully, almost, but he couldn't be careful enough, really. Dimitri would have preferred just levitating her, because carrying her down the stairs would mean shock waves and that might lead to her muscles cramping up or just more general discomfort - but Dim guessed Devin could use a hug, so carrying her was a better option than levitating her. And just maybe he wanted to make sure she was alright by feeling her heart pulse against him. Just maybe.
"I'll take you to your rooms," he said. I won't let Poppy check up on you if you don't want her to, but we'll have to check if there's any damage. He didn't want to think of the possibility that her nerve endings could be fried or her spine damaged - now she would still be too much in shock to notice, but later.. "I'll do what I can, it shouldn't be too hard to deal with," he half-lied. Truth was, he knew how to damage. He could deduct from that how to fix things, but he was by no means a mediwizard or anything. He felt responsible, though, so it only felt right for him to deal with it.
She shouldn't have gotten between them! Part of him wanted to be angry with Devin, because anger was so much easier to deal with than this nauseating worry, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

He walked quickly, perhaps quicker than he ought to considering the fact he was carrying a hurt person. He just didn't want them to be seen. Dimitri was in no mood to answer questions right now and he knew Devin wasn't, either, so he just got them to her rooms as quickly as possible and carried her inside, setting her down in a chair that looked comfortable enough. "Have you got valerian tea?" he asked, already rummaging through her cupboards (rude of him, but the goal justified the means). He needed her to calm down first before he could assess if there was any further damage.

[devin pucket]

Leaning her head back on the chair she sighed and closed her eyes trying to keep her breaths even. She sniffed a little and tried to think of the answer to his question. "Third shelf down second in from the right. Its a little purple vial." Her body felt icy to the core and she breathed. Why did she do that? It was the single most stupid thing she'd done all year. Dimitri was probably much better primed for taking a hit than she was. Her smaller frame was definitely not as tough as Dimitri seemed to be.

Sighing she looked up at him. He was...an amazing person. Actually it made her feel better to know he'd bother fussing over her. It meant he was a good person. "That woman.... is insane....What in the world were the two of you talking about that made you so upset you cursed her?" Her words were shallow and quiet. The crucio had made her rather tired and closed her eyes again as she carefully unbuttoned her coat to give her some air.

She was on a fence trying to decide if Dimitri was right in hexing Integra or not. Of course, Devin knew the little scene Integra had made up was fake. Devin hadn't fallen off the turnip truck yesterday. With her eyes closed she replayed the events of the owlery in her head. She'd gone up there to send a letter to her father. She'd have to send it tomorrow. If she could walk tomorrow. She scooted around her right foot and though it stung in her hips where her spine connected she could move it. She could tell she'd be stiff for a few days. Lucky for her, Dimitri was a wonderful man and she could rely on him to be there for her.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

Dimitri carefully lowered Devin into a chair. To be honest, he'd rather put her on her bed, because he didn't want to put any pressure on her spine, like sitting or standing would. Lying down would definitely be better - but he hadn't just wanted to walk into her bedroom like that. That was private.
He turned to her shelves, searching for tea as he charmed a kettle to boil, and gave her a moment to accomodate and try to calm herself. Dim was guessing it wasn't working so well - and guilt wrecked through him. If he had kept his cool, things wouldn't have escalated as they had. He put his wand aside and got her a cup, brewing her tea in silence and, on a second thought, making himself a cup as well.

Devin might feel better with Dim worrying about her and trying to make sure she was fine, but Dimitri felt wholly inadequate and a bit at a loss. He could fix the basic things, but what if he missed something - he was already worrying about hypothetical things.
"She is," he agreed, handing her the cup carefully, keenly watching her hands. Were they trembling, could she use all her fingers, was she feeling the heat of the liquid radiating through the cup? Was she alright? "Don't worry about that now," Dim added, sipping his own tea. It was still too hot, he could feel his throat blister but managed to keep the tears from his eyes even though it hurt. "Let's just take a moment and then I'm going to have to check you out." Nerve reactions, possible internal bruising - you never knew when a cruciatus curse was used, never even mind by such an unstable person.

The last thing he wanted to do right now was discuss what Integra and he had been 'talking' about (he hardly thought of it as a conversation). Not only was it a subject he didn't want to breech, he was also afraid that when he mentioned it again, the anger would return and he was doing such a good job of suppressing it at the moment.
He frowned a little when Devin closed her eyes. The last thing he wanted right now was for her to lose consciousness. He closely watched her, a blush of embarrassment and guilt creeping up his face as she moved a little and an expression of pain crossed her features.
"How about I just check your reflexes and everything and then you just go lie down?" he suggested, worrying his half-empty tea cup in his hands.