~Feathery Findings~

Valentine's Day had come in a flurry decorative cards and endless amounts of sweets being shared and gifted amongst student sweethearts. Once class was over for the day, the students with significant others excitedly ran to their dorms to prepare for their holiday evening plans.

Alyona sat comfortably in her dorm, gently passing her oval paddle brush through her smooth blonde locks as she watched the various creature inhabitants of the black lake through the substantial floor to ceiling window that surrounded the room.

Despite the Blossom family's signature hue being synonymous with Valentine's Day, Alyona was dressed in all black, apart from a pair of sophisticated pink diamond earrings that she had received for Christmas. Draco had been right about her looking stunning in all black.

Alyona had felt far more stylish and expensive when dressed head to toe in the inky-hued luxury items that were gifted to her. Seeing Pansy regularly sporting her family's signature shade in various forms for the past month hadn't made the thought of wearing pink any more appealing to Alyona either.

Deciding that she had spent enough time in the dimly green lit atmosphere of the dorm, Alyona decided to head down to the common room and wait for Draco there. The common room wasn't much brighter than the dorms, but at least there was a large fire place to add a bit of a warm glow to the area.

The sound of Alyona's heeled boots clicked and echoed throughout the spacious stairwell as she descended down the glossy marble steps. The wall opposite the hand railing was also a thick glass window looking out into the dark depths of the lake.

Upon opening the massive French-style doors that led to the common room, Alyona's presence was immediately noticed by Theodore Nott, who was planted at one of the ebony wood desks with an open book resting in his hands.

"Well, hello there," Theodore said in a more than friendly manner as he stood up from his seat, "Don't you look lovely."

Alyona's all black ensemble consisted of a fit and flare dress that went to her knees, sheer tights and a pair of heeled dress boots while she held her fur trimmed cloak in her arms in anticipation that Draco would most likely offer to take her for a stroll around the castle grounds.

The lanky teen smirked as he scanned the girl's appearance while slowly walking over to her.

"I must admit, I'm liking the new you — style wise, that is. But even I would have thought you'd go all out with the pink on a day like today."

Alyona chuckled and rolled her eyes at his blatant flirtatiousness when she responded: "Yes well, all of the gauche pink clothing was starting to feel a bit…cheap, in my opinion. I am wearing a touch of pink, though."

Alyona tucked her long hair behind her ear to expose her glittery pink earrings.

Theo's brow raised upon hearing this.

"Wow, a Blossom expressing their disdain for pink? Now that's downright blasphemy if I've ever heard it," Theo joked, "It wouldn't have anything to do with others taking up a sudden interest in the color, would it?"

Alyona knew exactly he meant.

"That may have something to do with it…"

Theo giggled, "I suppose after you saved her life at the pub, she now sees you as somewhat of an inspiration."

"Well if that's the case, then she's going about it the wrong way, entirely," Alyona replied with an irritated huff, "It's not flattering at all what she's doing, I suppose mostly because I know why she's doing it…"

Theo nodded, "I agree. If her plan was to be subtle about it, I think someone ought to teach her the definition of the word, because her garish outfits have been everything but subtle.

Theo's comment struck a nerve, leaving a soured expression on Alyona's face.

"Hey! I use to dress like that, you know..?" She said with a irritated chuckle.

Theo laughed without any sign of regard for Alyona's feelings. "I know you did. The whole Malibu Barbie thing was cute, but dark colors really let your pretty features take the spotlight."

Alyona was about to respond when she was struck off guard by Theo's metaphor.

'How does he know what that is?'

She wasn't sure weather to appreciate that fact that he was familiar with something from the muggle world or if he was testing her to see how loyal to pure blooded wizard-kind she was. Either way, she couldn't take the risk.

Alyona attempted an authentic look of confusion as she responded with: "Who's that?"

Theo chortled but waved her off. "Oh, Don't worry about it."

"— Come on, no one will be up there right now. Let's just go and enjoy our time…" a voice pleaded. The two Slytherins turned to see Daphne tugging at Alden's dark pink sweater sleeve in an attempt to guide him back towards the dorms.

"I'm not risking Pansy walking in on us, knowing her, she'll definitely report it," he responded with concern.

"Well, what about your dorm? I'm sure it'll be empty," Daphne suggested as she twirled her dark, dishwater blonde hair.

"No can do, Aaron is already down there with his girlfriend, knowing the two of them, they probably won't have the common decency to use a silencing charm on their bunk…" Alden expressed.

Alden and Daphne caught sight of his sister conversing with Theo when the Greengrass girl spoke up with: "Would you leave her alone, Nott? Malfoy will lose it if he sees you flirting with her."

Theo scoffed, "I think I can handle him should he try something."

Daphne chuckled at his display of confidence, "If you say so…"

After this, Alden and Daphne strolled out of the common room hand in hand. Alyona recalled her saying that her dorm would be empty for a decent amount of time. This was perfect.

"Hello, Darling," Draco greeted her, "You look ni—"

"I'll be right back," Alyona said in a rushed manner as she darted toward the stairs leading to the dorms. Rather than taking the usual turn toward her year's dorm, she took the opposite turn toward the third year's dwelling.

The young witch opened the large wooden door leading into the familiar layout that all of the Slytherin dormitories shared. The green-lit, gothic style room comprised of black marble flooring and the floor to ceiling window, outlined by detailed stone carvings that displayed the murky depths of the black lake. The same mural covered ceiling with depictions of coiling serpents viciously attacking armies clad in steel plated armor and the pasteltongued wizards who were controlling them.

It was rather easy to spot Pansy's bedside table due to one of the bright pink ribbons she had been wearing in her hair for the last month and a half. Alyona longed for nothing more than to set the the thin piece of pink fabric on fire and watch it disintegrate into cinders, but she knew she couldn't risk Pansy realizing that someone had tampered with her belongings.

Glancing back toward the door, Alyona checked for the faint sound of anyone making their way up to the dorm, but no such sound could be heard.

Assuming the coast was clear, she threw open Pansy's top drawer and started rifling threw the mess of jewelry, old used quills and other knickknacks that rested loosely at the bottom of it.

Alyona didn't know exactly what she was looking for — A note? A weapon? Bloody clothes? She wasn't sure, but she knew she had to look.

After finding nothing suspicious in the first drawer, Alyona moved from table to table around the room until she found one that contained some graded assignments with Daphne's name written on them.

Daphne's bed-side and drawer was much cleaner and neater than Pansy's. The table top had a neat stack of which weekly magazines and a vase of purple clusters of flowers.

Inside of her drawer was a maroon covered book with the title: ~Curses and Cures~

A purple bookmark peeked out from to the top of the pages, which intrigued Alyona's curiosity. She picked up the book and flipped to the marked page and began to examine it's contents.

This particular section of the book detailed blood curses, specifically the rarer forms. Alyona's quickly skimmed over the words on the pages, vaguely taking in some of the information regarding how this type of curse is bestowed upon its victim and the options available to lessen and manage the devastating effects it has.

Alyona was mildly interested in the substance she was currently reading, maybe this is what third years learned Defense Against the Dark Arts, she would have to ask Draco.

The blonde witch put the textbook back into the drawer just as neatly as she had found it before quietly closing the wooden drawer.

Next was Tracy's bunk. Alyona opened up her drawer only to find a heap of familiar looking shiny black feathers. Alyona delicately pulled out the object to discover it to be an identical feather shawl to the one that she had received after the Christmas holiday.

'Could Tracy have stolen it?' No way, I just saw it before I came down here…' she thought to herself.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs just outside of the door alerted Alyona of someone's impending arrival. In one swift motion, she stuffed the shawl back into the drawer and slid under Tracy's bunk.

The door opened, revealing non other than Pansy's sidekick, Tracy Davis.

The brunette walked over to her bunk which made Alyona's heart stop in her chest. She watched as Tracy bent down to open up the very same drawer that she was just snooping around in. Tracy grabbed at the black feathers and pulled out the garment. She covered her shoulders with it, admiring herself in the mirror before heading back down to the common room.

Alyona waited a brief moment, making sure she was truly gone before carefully sliding back out into the open. She once again opened Tracy's table drawer, hoping to find something that may have been hiding beneath the fluffy shawl.

Just as she suspected, a black envelope with the same decorative stamp as the one she had received laid at the bottom of the deep drawer. Alyona picked it up, opened it, and began to read.

…………………………………………………………………………

~You forgot to pack this, my little bird ~

…………………………………………………………………………

'What is going on?' Alyona thought as she replaced the letter within the envelope and placed it back into the drawer.

Alyona walked back over to the main door of the room as quietly as she could given the face that her high heels audibly made themselves present upon even the slightest tap to the hard flooring. She cracked open the door and looked down the dark stairwell, making sure she was alone before heading down.

Alyona walked through the doors that led into the common room to be met with a confused and slightly upset Draco.

"Why did you just run off like that?" He asked earnestly.

"I'm sorry," she replied, "I had to take the opportunity to see if I could find anything in the third year's dorm that had anything to do with Alexander or the letter."

"And?" Draco asked, "What did you find?"

Alyona looked defeated, "Nothing pertaining to that. But I did find something interesting. I think Tracy was given the same feather shawl as me. You know, the one from the mystery sender. There was even a nearly identical note left with it as well."

"I was just about to ask you about that, I saw her prancing down here with it on like she was royalty or something," Draco mocked the absent girl, "I thought maybe you lent it to her."

Alyona shook her head, "I actually almost wore mine today."

Draco grinned a half smile, "It does look lovely on you. You should wear it to make her jealous."

Alyona smirked at Draco's pettiness and turned on her heels to head up to her dorm.

She returned moments later donning the feathery shawl draped over her shoulders as her silky blonde locks cascaded down and around it.

"Pretty," Draco cooed, "Shall we take a quick walk around the castle, or would you like to open your gifts first?"

"Let's take our walk first, I do want to take on the views from the astronomy tower before the sun sets," Alyona suggested.

"Very well, Darling," Draco happily replied as he took her hand in his and guided her out of the luxe common room.

~ooOOOoo~

The blond pairs were just about to walk up the stairs of the massive astronomy tower when they were met with two familiar faces coming down at the same time.

"Davis?" Draco asked, "What are you doing with that Mudblood?"

Tracy quivered in front of her housemates as she clutched onto Bradley's hand.

"I—I….."

She then looked over to Alyona, who sported the same feather shawl as her and grinned at the opportunity to change the subject.

"What's she doing with that? Get your own style, won't you?!"

"I received this as a gift just like you!" Alyona harped back.

Tracy squinted her eyes, "how do you know this was gifted to me?"

Alyona gulped as she realized that she needed a good excuse if she was going to explain herself out of this.

"Well, considering it's identical, I assumed you received it as a gift as well. Does yours have initials on it too?

Tracy glared at the Blossom girl before responding with: Yes, and what!?"

Alyona rolled her eyes at Tracy's stubbornness, "And what are they?"

Tracy wrinkled her nose before searching for the leather tag on the underside of the garment.

"A.C.B," Tracy stiffly replied.

"A.C.B," Alyona asked, "Mine says N.E.B. Do you know what yours stand for?"

Tracy shook her head, "No, do you?"

"Me neither," Alyona replied softly.

The two boys present had been silent during this entire exchange until Brad spoke up.

"Let's get going, shall we?"

Tracy turned to him with a smile as the two glared at their fellow Slytherins and walked down the corridor.

"Different initials, I wonder why," Draco said in a perplexed tone as he began escorting Alyona up the spiral staircase.

"I don't think it's the initials of a designer. It might be past owners possibly."

~ooOOOoo~

The pair returned to the common room just before curfew set in. Almost immediately after walking through the door was when they were met with the sight of Alden desperately trying to console Daphne as she sat on the sofa, hunched over and balling her eyes out.

"I'm telling you, someone went through my stuff, I know it!" She sobbed.

Alden soothed Daphne's back as she covered her face in her hands.

"We asked all the girls that room with you, none of them have been in the dorm for hours, even before we left."

"Someone touched my book! The bookmark was crooked! I always leave it sticking straight up, you know how neat I am!" Daphne retorted.

Alyona's face flushed of color upon hearing this, even though there was nothing tying her to the crime, her body still shivered with guilt as she and Draco walked over to the opposite sofa.

Alyona glanced at Daphne. For a moment, there seemed to be a some sort of silent communication between the two as Daphne's face became twisted with anger.

"It was you!"

"What??" Alden said confusedly.

"Daphne pointed an accusatory finger at the girl.

"She did this, look at her guilty face!"

Alden looked at his sister apologetically as he lifted the distressed girl from her seat.

"Daph, I don't think she woul—"

"It was her, can't you tell!?" Daphne wailed.

"Alright alright, I think it's best you get some sleep, yeah?" Alden suggested.

Alden dragged the girl to the dormitories as she kept going on about her suspicions, her head turning as to not take her eyes off of Alyona.

"If you're going to snoop around in someone's belongings, you need to be more careful about it," Draco murmured, " What book was she talking about.

"It was just a book on curses, I don't know why she'd be so upset about it, it's not like I tore the pages or dirtied the cover…" Alyona replied.

Draco shrugged, "Oh well, she'll get over herself eventually. Now, how about we open your gifts.

"Alyona nodded with a smile as Draco went up to the dorm to grab the presents. She sat there with much on her mind.

'Why was Daphne so upset?'

'Was that the same book that Astoria was reading?'

'Who sent Tracy that shawl, was it the same person that sent her's?

'What did the initials mean?'

'Why is this all happening…?'