Walking into the Panther's Chamber, Kris dismisses his loyal panther companion. He sighs, recounting on the days earlier events: Ottery, Pinboria, the "Bugbear" room, and finally the grounds. The grounds wherein Kris witnessed another death, a suicide.

Remembering the gory image, himself covered in blood as well, Kris shook his head. "Bah... what are we coming to here?" He chuckles right afterward, immediately thinking of Priggo making fun of him for sulking and being a complete mood downer only a month or so earlier.

"Fine, Priggo. Fine." He was speaking to the walls; Priggo was no where in sight as he was on a trip. "I've cheered up, I'm back, and I'm damn well staying back if I can. After today's incident I s'pose I'll have to be."

He sighed again, staring into the dueling pit where he once stood for his Panther initiation. "This is it, mate, this is it." Closing his eyes, Kris sprawled out, laying down on the cold, uncomfortable stone floor. "Good night."

"Everything would be so much easier without fear." Kris said the words as bluntly as possible, his arms fully covered by the snow that always seemed to fall near Durmstrang.

She had asked him what he meant by that, he had to have brought it up for a reason. What specific fear was he speaking of? He only shrugged it off, not wanting to speak of it any further as Felien brought up the same point as last time they sat in the mountains.

"... there has to be something, or you wouldn't have come back last time. Remember? You even threatened to leave the Panthers."

He sighed, the words as true as they could be. There was something keeping him there, everything was keeping him there. "There is always something to go back to... even if all that is left is one moron like De'Burrows, there is something." He shook his head slowly before continuing. "Anything is better than being alone, anything at all."

Another short moment of silence before she spoke again, in a whisper that seemed only half-random. "... that's my boggart." His mind swirled as he looked to her, trying to take it in. "Mine... too."

"Kris, what form does you boggart take?" Sierra asked during their game of questions. He frowned, his wand hand twitching. A flashback. "... may I have another question?" She was already too drunk to have realized the pause, and everyone else wasn't truly paying attention. "Sure... hmm, where is your favorite place?" Another frown, and even with a stronger flashback he was able to answer this one. "The mountains, anywhere cold and snowy... like around Durmstrang. And then there's the library," He paused, looking at her for a short moment. "besides that I just walk around Hogsmeade, stopping here in the Hog's Head on occasion." And so the game continued, and Kris began to play with his bracelets.

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A day had passed since the game at the Hog's Head and the camping in Olgavich. Kris wandered the halls aimlessly, waiting for curfew. He had seen Sierra occasionally since the day before but she rarely spoke to him. It didn't affect him much, he was too busy thinking... but he felt odd, as if it should be bothering him. All he could do was shrug it off, stare at nothing, hope it would go away.

As curfew came he went up to his room in the Ravenclaw commons, immediately attempting sleep. That was what he needed, sleep... he hadn't slept yet, not since before the Hog's Head. Within five minutes he passed out, and then it struck him. He was dreaming... it was him and everyone he had every been friends with and they were all in a room. He had no idea where the room was, but that was of no importance; they were all here. Everyone from Reece, Perin, and Vilia up to the few he met recently, who he considered at least partial-friends: Tyson, Nik, Sierra... though those first two had
bothered him. It started slowly at first, the room was shrinking, turning black, one-by-one his friends were fading away. Back in the real world his body thrashed, groaning, reaching up to nothing, grasping at air. This went on for hours, repeating itself continuously until he finally woke up shaking visibly. He shook his head sharply to lose the dream, the nightmare, as he had lost the sleep, or lack thereof to be exact.

-----------------------
He sighed as he sat down for breakfast in the great hall, quickly falling asleep at the table. The nightmare. He woke with a jump, leaping from the bench and once more shaking his head to dispel the visions. His head hurt and there wasn't anything he could do but let it. Hours passed as he stared at nothing, occasionally watching Sierra as she crossed the hall. Once... twice... three times.

--"Are you still standing there?" She asked.
-"Seems so..."
--"Doesn't that get boring?"
-"Not really..."

He tapped his head. "Enough up here to keep me busy for the rest of my life." She murmured under her breath. "Hmm?" No reply, she just stood there for much longer than necessary before walking away. Four times... this time she stopped completely. "Yes?" He took his gaze off of the air in front of him, turning his heard to her. She stood there, imitating him.

--"I'm just trying to find the appeal with standing here. It's like some odd experiment."
-"No appeal, just old habit."
--"Yeah, that's gotta be it 'cause this isn't all that fun."
-"It's not supposed to be."
--"Why not?" She rocked back and forth on her feet.
-"It's harder to think purposely if you're enjoying yourself."
--"And what are you thinking about now that is so purposeful?"
-"The sixth floor, but it's none of your concern."

She took a deep breath, slowly exhaling. "The sixth floor." He nodded slowly as she whispered.

--"What's on the sixth floor that would be worth considering?"
-"Like I said... none of your concern."

He glanced back at her for a quick moment, she was massaging her neck. Their conversation went on as he slowly lost interest, barely paying attention to her or his own answers. They went quiet for a while, and when she began to speak again he wasn't listening as he looked up at the ceiling, catching his hood before it fell from his face. "Yeah sure... I'll be reading... feel free..." He trailed off, walking away mid-sentence.

He walked towards the library but he turned up the staircase and before realizing that he had changed course he was sitting on the sixth floor staring at a door that held the illusion of his greatest fear. A boggart.

[[ My apologies for any bad grammar or general sucky-ness that accompanies this post, it's 6:30 AM, I haven't slept for a while, and I'm honestly not that great with forum RP anymore. Please PM me if you have any questions, comments, criticism, etc. ]]

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"The Hufflepuffs are the ones that wind up making all the small differences that keep the world running while the Ravenclaws are too busy thinking about it, the Slytherins are too busy rushing it and screwing it up, and the Gryffindors are off getting themselves killed." -SleepingSun7

"Friends don't let friends RP OOCly distracted."