Ahhhh, the fire.

[jen]

Dalton noticed how tense her body quickly became. "I'm not going to tell anyone." he said, not sure of why she had reacted that way. He sat up, any sense of tiredness rushing out of him. He had finally met another Death Eater his age and going to the same school. Dalton never took his eyes off of her, waiting for some type of response.

[Batz]

"I know you won't... But if my dad finds out I blew it...." she murmured, trailing off. She relaxed a little, but she didn't want to see her dad's reaction when he found out about this. She didn't know how, but he always found out, somehow. And it was never pretty. Back when she was a little girl, and she'done something wrong, he'd locked her in a closet when she was still afraid of the dark. Maria never told her father her fears again, and she always, after that, tried to be a perfect child. It had been going great up until now.... She covered up her inner turmoil as quick as she could, but it had shown in her eyes a split second. She then donned the devil-may-care look, but it wasn;t as intense as before.

[jen]

"I'm in some pretty rough patches with my father as well. I can't wait to get out of the household. Maybe your dad'll realize one day that it was good, beacuase now you know I'm one and I know you are, so we can have each other's backs..." replied Dalton. After he said the last part, it sounded outright stupid to him and he just shrugged it off. He glanced down at his own mark, etched into his tanned arm and looking as it has ever since he was given the mark.

[Batz]

"Yea, I guess." she said, brightening a little. She really hated being so gloomy. Meaness, now, she was raised in a certain way, and this was how she turned out. But gloomy was not a feeling she liked. She realized she was sweating. She had a robe on to cover her mark, but she didn't need to cover it right now, now did she? She slipped off the robe, revealling the white tank top that she slept in on hot nights. On her mocha colored skin, the black mark stood out clearly, the skull with the snake, a sign that still gave some people nightmares.

[jen]

The corner of his lips turned slightly upwards, just enough to call it a small smile. "I think the mark makes you even more mysterious and intriguing," he said, overlooking the familiar dark mark. "How long have you had it?" he asked curiously. Dalton got his only a few months ago before given the assignment of looking for the Evanescance stone with his dad. Then, he was thrilled to be a Death Eater and thought he was full of power, but now its caused him more stress than he ever thought it would.

[Batz]

"Not too long ago." she said, staring at the fire again. "I was so happy. I thought it would make my dad like me. But all it did was make him ride on me more." she said, starting out in a quiet tone, something that could be called happy, and a small smile-or was it a smirk?- played on her lips. But by the time she finished, her tone had grown dark again, and the smile had disappeared.

[jen]

He nodded understandingly, "I know what you mean..." replied Dalton, following her gaze to the fire. A small sigh escaped him and he rested his chin on the palm of his hand. "Were you given any assignments yet?" he asked. Dalton wasn't going to share his yet, unsure of how much he could trust her and whether or not she knew about some of the plans the Death Eaters had. She most likely did, though, seeing how she was one.

[Batz]

"Yea, but my father was real pissed off about it. Apparently some yahoo got the location of the Evanescance stone wrong, so we had to go to the frigging reasearch to see where it really was. What an enjoyable summer that turned out to be." she said. She had no idea why she was telling him this. She barely knew him! But somehow, the common things they had- Being young Death Eaters, having evil tyrants for fathers- it made hr trust him. Her eyes travelled to his mark. It look real enough, a lot like her own, which she knew was real. But from this distance, she couldn't really tell. "So what about you? It got anything to do with what you were doing out so late tonight?"

[jen]

Dalton's eyes quickly moved from the fire to Maria. "Um, yeah. My father and I were also searching for the stone over the summer. I was at the Forbidden Forest tonight..he sent me a letter and he wanted to make sure I received it alone." he replied. He absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair, thinking about how they both had searched for the stone.

[Batz]

"Hmmm." she murmured. She wanted to ask about the letter, she really did, but she knew, if his father was anything like hers, alone meant alone. No telling anyone or anything. If he really wanted to, he would tell her, and if not, well, no skin off her back. She had her own things to worry about. Like figuring out where the stupid Evanescance stone even was, let alone finding it. She hoped that whoever the Death Eaters were taking orders from now- she was just relayed information from her father, would just say "screw it" and they could all go on with their lives. But no they had to keep searching. "So what were you up to this summer? Searching too?" she asked, but she was still dwelling on that letter. Stupid, letting her curiosity flare like this, but she couldn;t help it.

[jen]

Dalton nodded, thinking back to his summer search. "Yep, we went to Sweden. Searched for about a month or two and it was nowhere to be found." he answered. He looked around the room and was satisfied to find everything quiet and content. Dalton moved closer to her and used a lower voice before saying, "My father sent news to meet at the Malfoy's place next Saturday. I'm almost positive they found new info on the stone..."

[Batz]

Maria blinked. "Really? That's great!" then she paused. "Call me stupid, but what, exactly, does this stone do? Does it grant eternal life, like the Sorcerer's Stone?" she asked. She never really understood her father's crappy answers. 'We must get it' and 'It is the most important thing in the world to we Death Eaters' didn't really help much. All it did was make her more confused. She wondered vaguely if he knew anything about the stone. Her tone had been just as quiet, but now she lowered it even more. "Do you think I should-" she stopped and her gaze flickered to the window, where a deep, dark owl was resting, tapping on the window. "Almost as if on cue." she muttered and got up, gracefully and silently, and walked over to the window, opening the glass panel and taking the letter from the bird, scanning it, scrawling a reply, and sending the bird back out into the night. She walked back to Dalton without saying a word, then, in the same quiet tone, said: "I guess I'll be seeing you at Malfoy's place."

[jen]

Dalton smiled, which was the first real smile he had made all night. "Good, but we'll have to figure a way to get out of Hogwarts. I think my dad is trying to set something up. He said he would write me and give me exact instructions to follow when Saturday comes...so I'm guessing they might come up with a plan." he said, getting to his feet. Excitement was slowly building within him as the night wore on. "As for the stone- well I'm not sure exactly what it does, they wouldn't tell me."

[Batz]

Maria nodded. "All my dad would say was that it was important and that it was none of my business. What I want to know is how the hell its none of my business when it includes me too." she said. She stood too, as, well, for the first time in a long while, she had something to be excited about. "SO we wait until Saturday. Three days away. Then, apparently, we'll have a way out, and we'll go to the Malfoy's place. But the problem is getting back in before anyone notices that we're gone." she was thinking out loud, mostly. She was visibly relaxed, but all her senses were kicked on high. It would be bad if someone caught them awake, especially right now, with both their Marks in plain sight.