Breathe *ROSLIN*

The sun was setting behind the blanket of trees that made up the Forbidden Forest as Sarah walked slowly to the courtyard. She looked over the trees to the bright red and yellow clouds covering the horizon and smiled. Sunsets were always more appreciated where Sarah was concerned, even though she didn't really have anyone to share them with. Sunsets had become something of a private enjoyment for her. She sighed as she ducked behind a wall that obscured the whole sight but smiled softly again when she turned the corner and the sunset was visible again. She was nearing the courtyard and the trees seemed to rise up to block out the majority of the clouds.

The courtyard was already darker than the path she'd taken, but it was still light enough for her to see where the bench stood. She pushed her hair back over her ears and pulled her jacket tightly around her before she sat down. The air was cooler here because the shadows always reached this section earlier, but it was a quieter place in the school. Though she enjoyed every minute of being at Hogwarts she couldn't help slinking off every now and then for some quiet time.

Movement caught her focus and she zeroed in on the fluttering of wings. A small bird lay on the ground. She stared hard at it before getting up and slowly walking over, it looked dead, laying on it's side as if the whole weight of the world was crushing down on it and Sarah knelt down. It was a small, brightly coloured bird. Sarah reached out towards it and it twitched before jumping into the air only to fall back to the ground. The action seemed so desperate that Sarah drew her wand - she knew little of healing magic but she could end it's suffering. She imagined the fragile little heart beating futilely beneath the soft layer of feathers that covered the bird's breast.

Her wand aimed low and close to the bird and Sarah muttered the words of the spell, there was a flash of green light from the tip of her wand and the fluttering bird fell still.

((Meh...))

Roslin Holcombe stood as still as the dead, cold and motionless, waiting for darkness to blanket the grounds so that he could make his way to the forest without any sort of detection. The professors didn't need to know what some of their students were. Of course, it was possible that his sister had told them. If she had, they haven't yet confronted him or the others.

He stared toward the forest, black against the setting sun, until a noise drew his gaze. He watched a scene play out in front of him. It seemed surreal, like watching a movie. He watched her lean over the bird and pull out her wand. He didn't need to hear what incantation she had uttered, the green flash told him, but he did hear it. A smile broke across his face, which a moment earlier, had seemed carved out of marble.

Like a gust of wind, Roslin moved toward the girl and stood behind her. "That is quite a spell for someone so young to know so well..." he said softly.

It sounded like the wind moved toward her, rushing... Sarah sighed at the same second the voice sounded behind her. She jumped, gasped and straightened while turning to face the boy who'd spoken, her eyes wide in shock. She'd been so convinced she was alone that the sight of him was like seeing a ghost. She coughed once, half choking on the sigh that had been pushed back to her lungs by the gasp and glared at him. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to sneak up on people?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head before exhaling and looking at him again. "It is a neat trick, eh." Her tone was warmer than the question she spewed in her surprise and shock at his arrival. Contrary to what most people thought she didn't particularly like picking fights, it was just her mouth that got her in trouble every now and then. "You obviously recognized it so you must have some special kind of death wish to sneak up on someone using it." She smiled, knowing the conversation could now go in two different directions, he'd either want to report her or he didn't really care that she'd just used a spell that was considered forbidden.

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Didn't your mother ever teach you not to sneak up on people? It is a neat trick, eh. You obviously recognized it so you must have some special kind of death wish to sneak up on someone using it.

He had known of the girl for only a moment, but Roslin already liked her. "On the contrary, I plan to live forever. Your spell would simply have no effect on me," he said in a purposefully pompous tone.

Roslin ran his hands through his hair, took a seat on the bench near by and looked back out at the Forbidden Forest. Reverting back to his normal careless tone, Roslin said, "You must have been one of few who's family kept the old ways. I doubt many other students know that spell."

He looked back over at her and asked, "Ever used it on a person?"

Sarah eyed the boy sceptically. "Wouldn't have any effect on you?" Her tone sounded as incredulous as she felt. It was the one spell she knew of that - if someone cast it on you - there'd be no escape. "IF that were true it would definitely be something to see, seeing as it's proved to be one of the most fatal spells, in that there's no getting away from it once it's been cast." The fact that he'd sat down on the bench caused some annoyance with her, it was her seat. There was space for her it just felt... wrong somehow.

She ignored her aversion to sitting so close to someone she didn't really know and sat down next to him, after all, he wasn't a total loss in the hunk department. "I suppose it's good that they wouldn't know it, just means less trouble for me." She didn't really like going into family details, the truth was her father used that spell more than she could even remember, that spell and others that were, perhaps (to some), even more horrid.

His question silenced the thoughts of her father and caused her to stare at him as if her comprehension of English had regressed. She swallowed and shook her head, "No, not on another person." She answered after a few moments. "Have you?" Her curiosity was more than just a need to know, it was harder, in some ways, to trust someone who could actually use the spell - unless they made it impossible not to trust them.

((I'm sorry if that sucked... I'm totally drained. Weekend was WAY too short.))

((Didn't suck at all.))

Roslin smiled at her reaction to the spell not working on him. He had been joking at the time, so the fact that she had taken him seriously made it so much more enjoyable. Then again, could a spell that simply strikes someone dead kill the undead? He had never had someone try it on him and had never seen it be done to another vampire. It was times like that when Roslin wished that he were still speaking to his sister. She would have been able to answer that question.

When the girl threw his own question back at him, he looked away from her and back at the forest. He had used the spell once, but it wasn't something that he was proud of after he had done it and had his ass kicked for doing it. He thought about lying to her, but then he didn't see any point. Maybe the fact that he had used it would get around and he could use that fear to his advantage. "Yes," he said before looking back at her. He stared hard at her and continued with, "I used it on a man who was hurting my sister." Half of that was a lie, but he knew how to lie.

The more she thought about it the more memories came back to her, she'd read somewhere that some were able to resist the killing curse, but she couldn't remember enough of it to know who those people or what those things were - she knew they weren't entirely human and that made her stare harder at the boy - sure he looked a little different from... she shrugged mentally, she was seeing things now because of her paranoia, he'd most likely been joking, after all, who wouldn't want to be immune to the killing curse.

His silence after her question made the answer clear, he didn't have to answer. Sarah looked away from him but back again when he voiced the answer she already knew. "Chivalrous... Didn't peg you for the type." Sarah cleared her throat, glanced away from him for a moment and then back again, a new fire in her eyes. "What's it feel like?" She tried her best to keep the fervor she felt out of her voice, but failed and felt in some small way ashamed that she wanted to know so badly.

((Bah, couldn't think of anything else.))

A smirk formed on Roslin's lips at the girls response. "It feels like you have all the power in the world. Like nothing could stop you..." he said and then thought of what happened right after he did it, "but it's short lived."

Roslin decided that this girl was a complicated one and it would be best to just be himself with her. He was used to being whatever any young woman who caught his fancy wanted, until he was done with them of course. "I lied. Well, part of it was a lie. The guy was my sister's boyfriend." Roslin thought of Jake and was annoyed with him all over again. The only reason he regretted it was because it had made Edolie try to kill him and had put that rift between them. She was his twin sister and, as much as he didn't want to admit it, she meant a lot to him. "He was a bloody git. Head Boy...acted like he ran the school, got into everyone else's business. He got in my way," Roslin said in a matter of fact tone.

She couldn't help the small smile that curled her lips, her eyes widening ever so slightly at his description. Her composure melted though when he mentioned it was a short lived high, her brows pulled together and she stared at the ground in thought. She'd contemplated seeing her father again, contemplated many times what she would do if she did. She'd never done it though, the only thing that had stopped her was the possible guilt feeling she would have to choke on after...

Looking back at Roslin was almost painful, the movement tore her mind away from things she desperately wanted to think through. She blinked several times, confused by his revelation. She smiled at him again, "He got in your way?" She spoke through the smile and leaned toward him as if expecting to hear some state secret revealed.

((Ah! I wrote one and pushed send and it didn't send it! I'll try again. *cries*))

The look on her face told Roslin exactly what he wanted to know; that she craved power. It was in her blood. Roslin mirrored her smile and nodded, "Some friends of mine and I had a plan. It was good but we were young and we weren't powerful enough. You see, what all of those Dark Wizards throughout history did wrong was trying to do it on their own. Sure, Voldemort had minions, but that's all they were, minions. The strongest Wizard he had on his side was Snape over there," He pointed at Severus Snape's coffin, "and he wasn't even really on his side."

Roslin looked back at the girl and said with an inviting look in his eye, "A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. Voldemort had many weak links. The more powerful people you surround yourself with, the more powerful you become. No one will be able to stop us this time."

((Hope this is ok. I really need to learn to save what I've written before I push send.))

((Hate when that happens. Sorry for taking so long.))

As much as Sarah didn't want it she couldn't help feeling a kind of kinship with this stranger, he knew what it was all about, getting what you wanted and doing what it took to get it. She looked in the direction of the tomb when Roslin indicated it and thought for a moment, her eyes unfocused in thought. "But, wouldn't that lead to a power struggle? Do you trust people that much to know they won't try stab you in the back as soon as you've risen to power?"

She stopped talking even though the question burned in her mind, the same question asked a hundred different ways. Sarah stared at him again with the little smile in place. "This time? Wow, my mother was right, there really is a lot more to this place than meets the eye." She shook her head and her smile widened. "I don't supposed your group would be interested in a new addition, would it?"

((That's alright, sorry from me as well. Haven't really had the time to actually post while I was on until now.))

The girl did give him something to think about. Did he really trust the others? He had before, but they have been apart for so long. People change over time. Roslin thought of Aurora and her obvious lust for power. Would she betray him to gain more power? If she would actually gain power from doing so, then he thought she likely would and he admired that.

"If they would actually gain some power from doing so, then they probably would. However, that would likely only make them weaker, so it isn't likely to happen. And we're always looking for those with potential to join us, but everyone has to accept you." He said, knowing that they likely would accept her. "What is your name anyway?"

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"If they would actually gain some power from doing so, then they probably would. However, that would likely only make them weaker, so it isn't likely to happen. And we're always looking for those with potential to join us, but everyone has to accept you."

Sarah grinned at the boy, he wasn't a total loss. It wasn't the same as with her though, her trust took a long time to earn, she might give off a vibe that she had her guard down but that was never the case. "Everyone... sounds like a good system, you'll have to introduce me to these others so we can see what they think." There was no reason for her to get her hopes up, she didn't expect anything from anyone, but a position like she would have in a group like that would be exactly what she needed.

She stuck out her hand in formally. "Sarah. And you aaare?"

((Sorry it's so short.))

"Roslin Holcombe," he said with a smirk, "You can call me Ros." The recruiting system seemed be lucrative already. "I'll tell them about you and then we can set up a place to meet. I'm sure I'll see you around to do so..."

Sarah sensed the conversation was drawing it's close and thought about leaving. Roslin seemed like he wanted to stick around for a bit and he didn't seem like the type that enjoyed idle chatter. She knew there was a way she could draw it all out, but she didn't really feel like whipping out that particular card just yet. "Well, it's nice to meet you." She said quietly, staring at Roslin without trying to hide the fact.

He was trouble, that was for sure. He was handsome but the kind of handsome that just increased the more you looked at him. Still smiling she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek. His skin was cold, almost too cold. Sarah got up and started walking away, willing herself to not turn around and look at him one last time.

((That's ok, mine wasn't too long either.))

Even as Sarah was walking away, Roslin could still feel the warmth of her kiss on his skin. "The pleasure is all mine," he said in a suave sort of tone as she walked away. He was under the impression that he had captured her already. "Good things will come of this one...I can feel it," he thought with his eyes still on her.