A/N: I'm not sure what I was doing with this chapter, but anyway, read it and tell me what you think.

(Rose)

High Street of Hogsmeade was lined with shops, pubs and cottages covered in a thin layer of snow. The area was lit by hanging candled lamps; though they were of no use now since it's only the middle of the day. The locals and students littered the street and were searching through the shops like us, only a few turned heads and stared as we walked by, but they were easily ignored, we kept walking along and continued scanning through the crowds.

Mia, Lissa and Shane had left us to check out a shop called 'Gladrags Wizardwear', much to Shane's disappointment, since that was the whole reason Mia had came out here in the first place. And of course as soon as Adrian spotted a pub he disappeared through the crowds, none of us wanted to follow after him but Eddie eventually volunteered and entered the Hog's Head Inn to babysit him. So that just leaves me and Christian out in the cold, and he wanted to introduce me to his mates. Lovely.

"There they are," Christian pointed out to a pair of tall, red haired identical twins standing outside one of the shops: Zonko's .

"Oi! Christian!" The twins spotted us and waved us over.

I followed Christian through a small group of school kids with mixed coloured scarfs and straight towards the two brothers.

"Who's this then? You're girlfriend you were talking about?" One of them teased as we stopped in front of them.

Christian and I both snorted at the comment. As if I would go out with this hothead.

"Hell no. This is Rose," he slapped a hand on my shoulder, "'the badass Strigoi slayer' remember? My girl ran off to do some shopping or something and left me with this one."

"What a shame," I said sarcastically. I was partially hurt by that comment but mostly amused by his discomfort.

Christian and I don't get along too well. It's not that we hate each other, we're actually real close mates, but I guess our personalities are too similar so we can't be left alone long without having some sort of argument to release the pressure.

Of course it's worse when Adrian is alone with him; Lissa being the main reason they fight. Ever since we found out Adrian was a Spirit user he had been spending a lot of time with Lissa, taking over Christian's alone time with her and ultimately making him very jealous.

"I'm Fred," the same guy spoke again, "and this is my younger brother George. We're just heading inside for a few things. You want to come with us?"

I looked behind them and surveyed the front entrance. The entire double storey building was mostly red with two large windows on each side of the centred door, for those wishing to browse from the outside. I could see a few students searching the shelves on both levels, looking at each product and looking tempted to buy half the store. What I didn't notice before was a yellow sign hanging above the door saying 'Tricks & Jokes'.

"A Joke Shop, is it? Haven't you bought the entire store yet?"I teased.

George chuckled. He grabbed my arm and started to drag me towards the building, "Come on in."

(Shane)

I shouldn't have agreed to stay with these two. I should have followed Rose and Christian or maybe even went to go babysit the Ivashkov. Too late now, my fate has been sealed.

"What about this one?" Mia raised yet another item of clothing in front of Lissa's face.

They've been at this for almost an hour, why couldn't they be this interested at a food court?

"Hmmm," Lissa took the robe out from Mia's hands, "Maybe, but not in this colour. I don't think we have the right shoes to go with it."

I groaned loudly, catching their attention.

"Can we go already?" I know I sound like a kid, but I can't take much more of this torture!

"Ten more minutes, then I will buy you all the food you can eat," Lissa knows my weakness so she's trying to bribe me.

"Fine," I huffed and sat back down on the bench.

I quickly scanned the shop out of habit, being trained as a Guardian your whole life tends to make you do that. I didn't recognise anyone here; it was hard to tell who was a student and who wasn't since they've now changed into casual clothing. I haven't seen a single Moroi or Dhampir here, I suppose we're that special then.

My stomach rumbled, I clenched my abdomen and groaned, "Need Food. I'm starving."

Mia sighed, removed her hands from the rack of clothes and turned to Lissa, "Okay. Let's feed him."

I got off the bench, trying not to look too happy about it. The girls bought the stuff that they picked out earlier and I led them outside. I spotted a sweet shop earlier when we arrived in Hogsmeade.

Alto had given us some money before we left; it's in a different, strange currency: Galleons, knuts and sickles. He said it was not a whole lot, and if we wanted more we had to earn it through good behaviour and by attending all classes. Whatever.

The moment we stepped outside in the cold air a familiar blonde haired boy appeared in front of us. Two of his mates were standing behind him, trying to look threatening but ultimately failing. We already had a run in with these guys back at Hogwarts.

"Ah, I see you don't have that pathetic brute with you," He snarled as he looked between us. "Next time he's near me I'll make sure my father will send that blood sucker to Azkaban."

First time this kid made an appearance he straight away pissed Christian off; it's not that hard to do really. He was flirting with Lissa outside the Great Hall and didn't get the message that she was taken, so Christian took the liberty to singe some of the hair off his head to help clear the confusion. Looks like it magically grew back now.

"Do you always run to your Dad when things go sour, kid?" I used my best threatening glare, it wasn't as good as Rose's but it still worked.

He took a quick look at me and stepped back into his 'body guards', "Shut up! I didn't know Dumbledore was that stupid that he let you lot in here. You're worse than those filthy mudbloods hanging around in the school." He turned back to his friends, "Let's go, before they kill us all in our sleep."

We watched them turn around and flee, I have a feeling this won't be the last time we'll have a run in with them.

Eddie and Adrian

"...and then she's all 'Adrian, stop doing that! Or I'm going put my new shiny boot up you're royal arse'." He made a 'pffft' noise before he continued, "I tell you, she is a real piece of work sometimes." Adrian took another swig of his brandy.

They were both sitting at the dusty bar by themselves, the bartender was busy cleaning up used mugs from last week to pay attention to the two. Only a few others, who were mostly men, sat at the rough wooden tables scattered around the marbled floor, either alone or talking with another.

Eddie only drank water, not just because he was underage but because he wanted to act as if he was on duty, like a normal Guardian. The older bartender had raised an eyebrow at his request of beverage but slid him a mug of iced water anyway.

The Hog's Head Inn was a shady kind of pub, it was where the 'merchants' would sell their stolen wares or make deals with the customers. This dirty, rundown venue only had one room but they still couldn't manage to keep the place tidy; never the less, they still had a fair amount of customers to serve day in day out.

"Oh, yeah?" Eddie wasn't paying attention to what Adrian was talking about right now. He had been talking nonstop about anything that crossed his mind so he gave in and stared at the different drinks lined on the wall in front of them.

"Yeah! Did you know that we went to-"

"Okay, okay," Eddie waved his hand to help stop him, he couldn't take it anymore, "I think we've had enough to talk about now, don't you? I want to head back to the others already."

"What? It's only-" Adrian looked at his wrist as if to check his watch, he didn't have one so he searched around the four walls for a clock, but they were almost bare, "What the hell is the time?"

Eddie sighed, "Exactly, we've been here too long."

They both stepped down from the high bar stools and headed out for the door, but they were stopped as a hooded man called out to them.

"Leaving without checking out my merchandise, aye?"

Adrian whipped around and faced the man, "What stuff you got, Old Man?" He slurred and staggered up to the table in the darkened corner.

"Anything that you could possible want or need. You want a dragon egg? I can get it for you. A couple of cheap tickets to this years Quidditch game? I got a few right here," he patted his jacket pocket. "The question is: do you have the skill and money?"

Adrian squinted and pointed at the man, "Did you say dragon egg?"

Eddie placed a hand on Adrian's shoulder, "Adrian, let's go. You can't keep care of yourself, how are you going to look after a fire-breathing monster?"

Adrian chuckled and whispered to Ed, "I live with Christian, don't I?" He turned back to the man and asked, "How much is it?"

The hooded man 'tsked', "For that item? Well, I did ask if you had the skill and money. If you can beat me at a poker tournament this Friday you can have a Ukrainian Ironbelly." He leant forward on his elbows, "You know how to take care of one, right?"

Adrian waved him off, "Of course I do! Just put food in its gob, set down a litter for its crap and chuck it off a roof if you want it to fly."

The room was silent. But the hooded man broke it by straight out laughing, "Oh, my young man, I hope you're joking. For keeps sake I will add in a few books to help teach you how to care for one. That is, as I said, if you win."

Adrian gave a lopsided grin and stretched out his hand, "Deal."

R&R Please.