Strangers with Candy

[Evelyn Turner]

It was one of the Hogsmeade trips and Evelyn was excited to get off the castle grounds for a day. It had been bad enough being confined to the grounds for near a year, but on top of that it had been rainy for the longest time. The Hogsmeade trip couldn't have come at a better time. She walked with the rest of the students down the lawns, through the gates, across the railway tracks, and into town. Once there the horde disperced and scattered about the village eagerly.

Evelyn knew exactly where she wanted to go, the sweets shop. She had a sweet tooth like no other and was craving a sugar quill and even drifted off in class one day last week and started nibbling her real quill. She walked around the rest of the day with black ink on her face, no one bothered to tell her about it.

Honeydukes was crowded with Hogwarts students, as it usually was on these special days. But it didn't bother Evie, she just wanted her candies. Pushing through the crowd of browsers, she made her way to the large barrel that was always filled with sugar quills, right next to the barrel of ice mice. Why not get both? She grabbed three quills and two ice mice and began the treacherous journey through the teens to the front counter.

[caleb]

It was a Hogsmeade weekend and Caleb never missed a chance to mess with the ickle pupils. Since leaving Hogwarts he was no longer allowed on the premisis so he had to settle for these little outings. But it would do.

The best place to catch a baby is in the candy shop. Caleb had his own twist on that little saying. It's like stealing babies from the candy shop.

A pretty red head caught his eye, trying to get out of the corner that she had trapped herself in. With a wicked grin Caleb headed towards her.

"Ice mice, aye? They're my favorite. Since you're closest, and I don't desire to nock over any of these kids, woul you mind grabbing me one?"

He spoke over a short plump girl whose eyes were as big as galleons as she stared longingly at the blowing gum.

[Evelyn Turner]

She had nearly cleared the barreled sweets when an older boy asked her for some ice mice. She looked back to grab some but a Hufflepuff slid into the small gap to rummage for candies. Turning back, Evie decided to give him one of her own. "Here, I don't really need two."

She scooted around Marion, the girl looking at the blowing gum, and squeezed up next to the Ice Mice Boy. She handed the boy one of the packages, which freed up a little space in her hand for her to shift her three sugar quills. "Really, if I can't hold them properly it means I don't need them."

[caleb]

He took the candy from her and flashed her a toothy smile.

"Thanks."

He moved away a bit, watching to see if the girl would purchase her things next, or find something else to buy. He was sure, after her comment, what she had would be it, but you never knew with kids.

[Evelyn Turner]

"No problem," she said cheerfully. Taking a quick glance around the store she decided two things. She really didn't need anything else, and she really couldn't get to anything else. So she headed for the line that started at the front counter and ended near the front door. There were at least seven others in front of her. Looking up to the front of the line, the owner looked very happy. These day trips meant great business.

[caleb]

She had gotten in line and so he stepped in behind her. There were a few other people in front of him, so he had time to play around with her.

"Thanks again doll. I love these things."

Years of working over women was a learning experience. And the best thing he learned was that girls loved petnames. He couldn't understand why, but they seemed to respond positively to them.

[Evelyn Turner]

The boy she had given the ice mice to had gotten in line behind her. "It's really no problem." She turned back to face the line and waited patiently for the people in front of her. It was gonig to be a while, considering William Kent couldn't seem to find his coin pouch and was asking the ownder if he could start a tab. William was an arguer. This could go on for a long while, but Evelyn had been craving these candies for weeks now, she wasn't about to leave. She looked back to Ice Mice Boy. "I'm Evelyn. Or Evie, really. What's you're name?"

[caleb]

"I'm Cal. Evie, what an intriguing name. A family name perhaps?"

He smiled flirtatiously at her.

[Evelyn Turner]

Evelyn laughed. She had never actually asked her parents how they decided on her name, but she was quite sure no one else in her family had it. "No. I think my mum just liked the name." She smiled politely, he was obviously trying to start a conversation. So she assisted him. "You're not at Hogwarts are you? I haven't seen you around before."

[caleb]

"I graduated a few years back. Miss the place though. Greatest years of my life."

He spoke as if he enjoyed his time in school, which he did not. But he could tell she did. She looked the type to love classes, perhaps she was a Ravenclaw. Whatever house she was in, she would be perfect. It didn't really matter what the Sorting Hat thought of her, Caleb knew better.

The line continued to move as they spoke, and soon Evie was at the counter, which meant she would be leaving the shop. Now things would get rolling.

[Evelyn Turner]

She was next to pay and she did so quickly, not wanting to keep those behind her waiting any longer than they already had. After her sweets were bagged she headed outside, smiling at Cal and saying "bye."

[caleb]

Once she had turned her back and headed out the shop, Caleb tossed the ice mice into the nearest bin and followed her. He met up with her in the street.

"Hey, Evie, wait up." He jogged until he was next to her. "I was thinking, maybe we could talk."

He gestured to a small cafe off the high road, down a long, empty side street. He looked at her hopefully, a bit of a pathetic, lonely look in his eyes.

[Evelyn Turner]

Clearly he was lonely, why else would he want to chat up a girl three, maybe four, years his junior? Evelyn was too nice to let him look so sad. "Sure, I'd love to." She headed down the side street he gestured to. "Do you have anything in particular you wanted to talk about? I'm not really much for news or anything. I don't even get the Prophet."

[caleb]

Once out of the view of the rest of the town Caleb slowed his pace, beginning to lag behind the foolish girl as he drew his wand. She really was a slow, young thing. The cafe at the end of the street wasn't even real, it was an illusion created by a clever Death Eater. She hadn't even realized this cafe seemed to spring out of nowhere. Perhaps she had never been on a Hogsmeade trip before.

"It doesn't matter much that you don't read the paper. I'm not really interested in that sort of thing. Mostly lies, if you ask me."

He pointed his wand at the girl's back, an evil grin appearing slowly on his youthful face.

[Evelyn Turner]

"Lies? Well that's just silly. Why would the paper-" She had turned around and was stunned to see that he was pointing his wand at her. Her eyes widened and she froze, exactly the thing they taught you not to do in Dueling Club. "What-what are you doing?" Her voice shook as she spoke. Was this her reward for being nice?!

[caleb]

Caleb laughed. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

He took a step closer to her, watching her shake as he approached. He loved the smell of fear, it was permeating from her. He wouldn't waste another minute rabbiting on with this girl. He had things to be getting on with.

With a flourish of his wand, he cried "Imperio!" A bolt of light shot from the tip of his wand straight at the girl.

[Evelyn Turner]

The curse sprung from Cal's wand and hit her straight in the chest. In an instant her mind went blank. Her once green, vibrant eyes seemed dead, and she stood in the middle of the street lifelessly.

[caleb]

Caleb laughed again as she went blank. This was going to be easy, she hadn't even put up a fight. But then again, what fifth year would? Divvy little buggers, the lot of them.

"Now, let's see what sort of mischief we can get into, shall we?"

As a practice he instructed the girl to find one of her friends, and slap them across the face. He wanted to ensure that the spell had been done properly before he set his plan in motion.