Dark and Darker [Tagged]

[MAEVE THORNE]

Late November

To Maeve's considerable surprise and immense relief, the group had already gone almost three months without any misfortunes. There had been no injuries that would require a Healer's aid, no authority figure seemed to be the least bit suspicious, and none of the members were getting cold feet. So far, every recruit had proven to be reliable and responsible. Even Meredith and Olivia - the additions that had troubled her the most due to their young age - had not caused any issues. The only difficulty was diversifying the activities so younger students would be able to participate; most Dark spells were far above a twelve-year-old's casting level and took them longer to master. This gathering could not function like a lesson or a club meeting, with a single topic for everyone attending - the difference in participants' age and experience was too great for unified activities. If they attempted that, the seventh-years would be waiting for multiple meetings while everyone else tried to learn a single advanced curse. Therefore, it seemed prudent to allow everyone the freedom of choosing what to learn, when, and at what pace.

In theory, the members were allowed to do whatever they wanted. Dueling one another, casting at dummies or other targets, learning an easy spell or taking numerous sessions to conquer a complex one, brewing potions, or simply reading one of the many Dark Arts books provided by the Room - the options were abundant. In practice, there were still limitations. Youngest students could not duel the oldest ones, since that would be dangerous for the former and dull for the latter; only spells each opponent agreed to potentially suffer could be used; all spells that could be cast at one another had to be approved by the founding members; anyone who wanted to use some new jinx or curse in a duel had to first master its use against a dummy; a duel had to stop once someone was hit, and the spell effects had to be healed or reversed without delay. They could not afford any risks.

Not needing to prepare any plans or materials in advance was liberating, in a way. Then again, the range of activities the members chose on their own meant Maeve had to constantly be on her toes. She would not admit to being the leader of this group, but the responsibility was still largely hers - as the oldest and most experienced of the founders. Someone had to guide those who were trying out new spells or potions, and she was often the one to drift over and offer assistance. Of course, all members were encouraged to help each other and teach whatever bits of Dark Magic they knew. The general purpose of these meetings was to share knowledge that Hogwarts professors refused to impart, after all.

As always, the first thing she did before entering the Room of Requirement was hanging a small two-way mirror on the wall outside and concealing it with the Disillusionment Charm. Its counterpart, placed inside the Room and covered with cloth most of the time, was used as a spyhole to make sure nobody was in the corridor when the members had to depart.

Once inside the Room, she went to the potioneering section. A range of ingredients had been delivered to her via owl just this morning - none of them were illicit, but all were expensive. The Room could only provide what its visitors had once left in it, and students must have stashed away plenty of basic potion components over the years. However, few Dark potions could be brewed with them alone, which prompted Maeve to order additional ingredients. She was careful never to purchase multiple items required for any questionable concoction - at least not in one place. There were various apothecary, potioneering and botanical shops that gladly sold their wares to a Potions enthusiast who just wanted to stock up, and she did not want any one of their sales logs to contain implicating entries tied to her name.

Maeve placed the goods into the ingredient cupboard, which was kept clean and organised - even though brewing was not the group's favourite activity. Perhaps some of them would be tempted to use the potioneering area today.


ooc: This would be around the 10th or so meeting. You can decide if your character joined earlier - anywhere from the third week of September - or if this is the first time they are attending.

Members other than the founding four would have restricting spells placed on them (such as the Tongue-Tying Curse) so they cannot speak or write about the group to outsiders.

Everyone has been advised to bring a spare set of robes - to avoid walking around with residue of Dark Magic clinging to their clothes.

The Room of Requirement access formula: "A place to study Dark Arts; inaccessible to Hogwarts staff and anyone else who was not personally invited."

Founding members: MAEVE THORNE, JULIAN MULCIBER, ORION HAWTHORNE, LEVI HILFIGER


Recruited members & reasons for their recruitment:

MEREDITH MORGAN FAY - suggested and invited by Maeve; agrees with purist ideals; has a keen mind and is otherwise talented; claims descent from Morgan le Fay;

OLIVIA MULCIBER - suggested and invited by Julian; purist; already has basic theoretical knowledge of Dark Arts; Julian's cousin, Maeve's third cousin (attending for the sixth time);

THALIA BURKE - suggested by Meredith, invited by Maeve; curious about Dark Arts; both her parents are from Sacred Twenty-Eight families (attending for the first time);

PHOENIX SHADE - suggested and invited by Maeve; purist, shows interest during Dark Arts Theory classes; Prefect, which gives extra security to the group;

SEPTIMUS WATERFIELD - suggested by Orion? purist, shows interest in Dark Arts? Head Boy, which gives extra security to the group;

[LEVI HILFIGER]

Levi had gotten comfortable with his normal routine whenever he would attend their so called study group. He created a routine which involved walking around the whole level prior to making his way to the corridor in which the room of requirement was found. Here, he would utter those special words which would open the entry way into the bustling scenes of creativity. 

Today, he managed to slide in two dark arts spell books given to him by his father. Of course, he knew he couldn’t be seen just carrying it around obnoxiously. He managed to place a small disillusionment charm on it with the help of his mother prior to getting it sent by owl to look like a standard book of spells chapter six unless uttered some very special words which would reveal the true identity of the spell book.  

He took one last glance to his left, right and behind him before making his way through the entry to see some familiar faces and some new faces too to which Levi approached first as he placed his books in the small reading corner of the room. A place that Levi had been building over the few months. A collection of textbooks, spell books, potion recipes and the sort. 

“ Well look who we have here. “ He said as he approached Thalia. It was always interesting to see new members join over the months as it revealed just how capable some people were at hiding their true intentions when it came to learning. “ Thalia Burke. I would have never of guessed. “ He said shooting a smile at her before giving her a nod and slowly walking off toward Maeve. 

“ The members seem to be growing quite nicely and steadily. Good work thinking about the Tounge-tying curse too. “ He agreed that extra layer of protection was necessary due to the secrecy of what they were doing. “ Dad managed to gift me some spell books which may come in handy.”

 

MAEVE THORNE,
THALIA BURKE

[THALIA BURKE]

Thalia's interest in the Dark Arts had been growing for quite a while now. She knew both of her parents' families had been practicing this type of magic only a few generations ago. One of the most notable shops dedicated to the Dark Arts still had the Burke name in its title, too. Why shouldn't she be curious? It was a legacy, despite its ill repute.

If not for Meredith, she might not have begun actively seeking such knowledge quite so soon. The Ravenclaw was supportive of this nascent inquisitiveness and encouraged its growth enthusiastically. Thalia couldn't imagine any of her other friends endorsing this path, so she didn't dare to mention her recent thoughts to them - not even her cousins. Meredith was the only one she could confide in without any worries of being judged.

It was a bit of a shock to learn that there was an underground club - or group, or whatever - of students who were actively learning Dark Arts. Initially, she was a little upset with Meredith for being a part of it and not telling her earlier. Being approached by the Head Girl had been an intimidating experience, one Thalia hadn't been prepared for at all. However, she quickly learned the reason for such secrecy. The limiting spells that were cast on her soon after she accepted the invitation worked with scary effectiveness. She tried writing about the meeting with Thorne in her diary, but what she saw on the page upon rereading the entry were just some garbled sentences about the weather. Although she hadn't tried talking to anybody but Meredith about it - and she could talk to Meredith, provided they did so when nobody else was within earshot - she was sure only an embarrassing jibber-jabber would come out of her mouth. Apparently, members of this secret club could only talk about it to one another; it was an impressive set-up, if a little chilling.

Today was the first time she would participate in the meeting. Naturally, she was anxious. What if she did poorly and got kicked out at once? What if the other participants didn't want her there because her dad was a professor? What if it was dangerous? What if the club was discovered by the faculty and everyone found out she was a part of it? Of course, she showed up nonetheless, swallowing all the fears and putting on a brave face.

The vastness of the space that opened up before her as she entered froze Thalia in her tracks. So many bookshelves, so many dummies and other targets, so many odd trinkets... and were those brewing stations? This was nothing like the room she had entered with her friends at the end of the previous school year. She spotted mobile blackboards that had lists of incantations written down in neat, spiky handwriting and walked closer to read through them. Only a few spells were vaguely familiar to her - Leg-Locker Curse, Fur Curse, and Stinging Hex. A part of her immediately became excited at the thought of learning new offensive spells, while another part grew fretful at the idea of being hit by some of those same spells.

The second-year flinched when an older boy spoke to her, tearing her gaze away from the blackboard and turning to face him. Wasn't he a Ravenclaw Prefect? How many of the members were authority figures within the student body? "That means nobody else will be able to guess, either," she responded, attempting to sound smug and confident. The effect was probably ruined by the heat she felt in her cheeks, which meant she was turning pink. Talking to older students was unnerving, especially if they happened to also be cute boys.

LEVI HILFIGER, MEREDITH MORGAN FAY (mentions), MAEVE THORNE (mentions)

[OLIVIA MULCIBER]

For the last few meetings, Olivia had been comfortably dueling Meredith to practice the few jinxes she'd learned. Of course, the older girl was better at it, but the first-year felt she was holding her own. Today, however, it seemed she wouldn't have anyone to spar with. The new arrival, her housemate Thalia, was Meredith's friend - Olivia had noticed them spending lots of time together.

Suppressing her disappointment, she strolled over to the potioneering area. She could try and join Julian today, but he would get much better practice with that Ravenclaw friend of his. And anyway, she didn't need to cast spells all the time - it was pretty tiring, actually, since most of them were so advanced. Perhaps trying to brew something would be a good change of pace. Potions was her least favourite class - she was still struggling to touch some of the nastier ingredients without retching - but she knew it was a vital part of witchcraft. Her inadequacies in the subject had to be remedied.

She selected one of the many available potion books and flipped through it in search of a likely concoction - preferably one with a tolerable amount of slimy, gooey or stinky components. One of the poison recipes caught her eye. It seemed simple enough, largely made up of ingredients that came in readily bottled-up liquid form. Most of the brewing process involved maintaining high temperatures and stirring in the correct direction - which was easy. Olivia set the book down on the table, open on the page with instructions, and began filling a pewter cauldron with water.

MEREDITH MORGAN FAY (mentions), JULIAN MULCIBER (mentions)

[MAEVE THORNE]

The decision to bind most members with a few limiting spells was the main reason why Maeve felt sufficiently comfortable with the group's increasing numbers. There were ways around those restrictive enchantments, she was sure, but one would have to put considerable effort into finding them. None of the recruits could be that determined to turn their coats.

She looked up at Levi, accepting his commendation with a nod. "It wasn't as difficult to cast as I thought." All she had to do was focus on the subject she didn't want her target babbling about, and make sure to close up potential loopholes in defining it.

Never one to ignore the mention of a book, she was immediately intrigued by Levi's words. "Any rare spells mentioned in them?"

Speaking of rarity... her expression grew serious as she remembered something she wanted to discuss with the other founding members. Maeve checked the proximity of the younger students and lowered her voice. "The Muggleborn that was petrified - Beaton - do you think it was one of us that did it?" Whatever magic affected that kid had been unequivocally Dark. Although their study group did not focus on blood purism during the meetings, having the correct views was a major recruitment criterion. She suspected quite a few of the members harboured resentment towards Muggles and their spawn. But would any of them be so reckless as to attack someone here, at Hogwarts?

LEVI HILFIGER

[LEVI HILFIGER]

He was only a few steps away when he heard what Thalia had to say to which he reacted by pausing in place and slowly turning to face her. “ It would be well for you continue to remain inconspicuous too.” He said as he bowed his head and moved onto Maeve. Still, he was quite surprised at the amount of students who were here especially those who he assumed didn’t share the same interest as the founding members did. 

Placing the books down only to pick up the first book with a bookmark hanging out to the side may of already answered what Maeve had asked. “ Transfiguration Dark Charm. “ He replied showing the spell page for a dark charm known as Mutatio Skullus. “ So from what I’ve read and what I’ve got from dad, this spell can be used to mutate a person’s skull. “ He paused for a second as the thought of the spell taking effect made him ever so curious. 

“ I wonder if we can rework this charm to mutate other things too. Arms, legs, brain….” His mind also began to explore other things such as the endless opportunities this spell could have . “ I’ve been working on my own charms too. “ He shared dropping hints of him having explored the restricted section on books on creating charms. “ Just a general overview of how to create spells was really interesting… “

He lost his train of thought when he listened to what Maeve had to ask him which naturally, caught his attention. He leaned in to get a better understanding of what she had said.. “ I doubt anyone here is capable of such a thing. But then it also makes me wonder if anyone here is actually capable of such magic…. “

 

MAEVE THORNE ,THALIA BURKE,

[JULIAN MULCIBER]

It had been three months of stalking the halls of the seventh level corridor at odd times throughout the week, checking over his shoulder and pacing before the blank sandstone wall so as to conjure the Room of the Requirement. Since the groups inception, Julian - the youngest founding member - had found more motivation and pleasure in broadening his knowledge of dark magic with like-minded individuals... One could even go so far as to suggest that he enjoyed tolerated the other members' company.

Today, he knew, introduced a new member to their growing number - Thalia Burke. As all four founding members of the group were required to vote on each new member prior to them being invited - there were no surprises and everyone was vetted thoroughly. Admittedly, Julian had not yet interacted with the fellow Slytherin, though this was not at all surprising - it was rare that he approached (or was approached by) other students, much less strike up a worthless conversation of pleasantries. However, he gave mild consideration to Burke as her nominator Meredith Fay had proven a worthy addition to the group, which bode well for the younger student. 

Julian waited for the door to materialize before him, his impatience only demonstrated by the light tapping of his boot on the floor, his crossed arms and the almost permanent frown fixated on his face. He was listening intently for any approaching footsteps or drifting voices as was expected when turning up for one of these sessions. Be cautious, be aware, be resolute.. Julian sighed softly, the sandstone bricks finally giving way for the dark oak doorway. Without missing a beat, Julian stepped forward and entered the room, his heavy footfalls taking him deep inside the cavernous room. The splendour of it all had long since been lost on him - for he had frequented the space too many times now to be further impressed by its architecture. Instead, his attention went to those already within, taking count methodically while scanning the room for anything of interest as he continued through toward the training area.

Burke and Hilfiger were exchanging a few quiet words before the latter moved toward the potioneering station to converse instead with Thorne. Julian nodded once at everyone present in silent greeting as he passed by, gaze lingering a second longer on Thalia, eyes narrowing as he examined her, catching sight of the pink hue in her cheeks. He raised an eyebrow thoughtfully, attention then moving to the student situated not far from the three: his cousin, of whom he had brought forward as a prospective member of this group. Although the other members were initially hesitant to recruit her for her age - Julian was determined to see her take part for he knew she was far more capable than the limitations of her age. Olivia was defiantly sharp and eager to learn, and seemed respectful of those she deemed worthy. And despite the fact that they had gotten off to a somewhat shaky start due to their parents' feud, Julian had found it more and more difficult to not appreciate having another Mulciber present. He wouldn't verbalise this to his cousin, of course, but the fact that he didn't try to hex her when she approached him was proof enough that he had taken a liking to her. 

Julian peeled his eyes away from her after a brief moment - casually tossing his spare set of robes over one of the armchairs nearby before squaring himself to face one of the training dummies - having made it to his destination without much interference. It was common for Julian not to interact with people in the room - and most had probably learned that his silence did not equate to a dislike or avoidance - only an avoidance of needless talk. Julian unsheathed his wand, feeling the familiar trickle of anticipation down his spine as his mind brought forward the curse he had recently been taught in his healing class - of all places.

He did not hesitate in his casting. "Sectumsempra," it was a whisper of a command, barely breathed as he guided his wand upward, then dexterously altered its path, casting a second time to open another deep wound on his faux opponent. He felt as though his body was adjusting well to the movements and stance of a duellist - his balance and poise had become almost instinctual, though his casting remained rather savage - unlike the more eloquent movements Thorne seemed to create as she cast spells - Julian's, in comparison, were almost wild. 

Julian observed the dummy he had cast at, the curse seemingly having eaten away at most of its torso. He tilted his head to the left, reminded briefly of the bone-deep gash he had given Hilfiger a few months prior - thankfully not as life-threatening as this may have been. 

MAEVE THORNE (mentions) LEVI HILFIGER (mentions) OLIVIA MULCIBER (mentions) THALIA BURKE (mentions) MEREDITH MORGAN FAY (mentions)

[THALIA BURKE]

The Ravenclaw boy was so formally cordial that Thalia wasn't sure how to respond - so she didn't. Nodding in assent, she watched him join the Head Girl and start conversing with her. So far, the older students here were less daunting than she had expected them to be, but still scary in their own way. At least she wasn't the youngest one here. Thalia watched the Mulciber girl for a few moments. She was always so bold and opinionated in class, it was no surprise to find her here.

Another member had entered the Room, and the second-year now shifted her attention to him. Though the two of them had never spoken, she knew who he was - the Beauxbatons transfer, Julian Mulciber. He had been the subject of so much gossip and speculation at the start of the last term. Too intimidating to be approached, he was still mostly a mystery to her. An intriguing one.

Thalia watched him draw closer to a dummy and cast a spell at it. His motions were captivatingly aggressive, as if he loathed the effigy he was aiming at. Her initial response to witnessing the effects of the spell was to flinch and step back; it was a powerful, dangerous and malicious magic for sure. But the duelist part of her was enthralled. Her gaze moved from the ravaged dummy to the French boy. Her admiration was mixed with fright, creating an unfamiliar, tantalizing sensation in her chest. She wanted to see him cast the spell again - or perhaps perform some other bit of devastating magic. Her eyes were immovably glued to her older housemate; restless as she was, however, she was sure to look away if he so much as turned in her direction.

JULIAN MULCIBER (mentions), LEVI HILFIGER (mentions)

[OLIVIA MULCIBER]

Following the instructions attentively, Olivia added six drops of Lobalug venom to the cold water before turning on the maximum heat. The next step, requiring evenly sliced Boomslang skin, would only start once the water was boiling. Luckily, the skin was dry and not at all disgusting to handle. The Slytherin picked up a knife and began working on it.

Not too far from her, Thorne was chatting with Hilfiger. Their voices were too low for her to eavesdrop, though she certainly would have been curious to learn what they might be discussing.

She heard the impact of a spell hitting a dummy, and looked up to see her cousin standing in front of the severely damaged target. A tingle of family pride brought a smile to her lips. He was so good at this type of magic; in a few years, she would be able to cast like that as well.

JULIAN MULCIBER (mentions)

[MEREDITH MORGAN FAY]

Meredith was in a bit of a foul mood as she finally made it to the seventh floor secret entrance, it having taken much longer than she had anticipated to make it through the halls unnoticed. She had run into some of Thalia’s Gryffindor friends, who had insisted on stopping for a chat, much to her dismay. She couldn’t risk any of them seeing her near the Room of Requirement, lest the club get out somehow and she become attached due to her proximity, so she had to take multiple detours to ensure she was not seen. Unfortunately, the castle was still a bit of a maze to her and she had gotten turned around in the process. Why in hell would a school make moving staircases and hidden hallways that seemed to change every day? Did they not want their students to find their classes every day?

It was only when she finally made it into the room, surrounded by her true peers, that she felt she could relax. Scanning the space, she quickly noticed Thalia standing on her own, watching Julian practice a spell on a dummy. The dummy was lacerated to bits, and Meredith made a note to ask the older Slytherin about the spell later on. Walking over to her friend, she tapped on her shoulder with a wide smirk. “Welcome to the club. What do you think so far?”

TAGGED: THALIA BURKE, JULIAN MULCIBER (mention)

[MAEVE THORNE]

Another Transfiguration charm; Levi seemed to have an affinity for those. Well, he or his father who provided the book. "Would it work on a lifeless skeleton?" She could provide skulls if needed; Borgin and Burkes certainly had a selection available. Of course, they would eventually have to practice on a living target. Not each other, though. Spells that affected one's head were far too dangerous.

She was not entirely willing to discard the possibility of someone within their study group having cursed the fist-year. The younger students were not powerful enough for that, of course, but that still left a handful of suspects. Petrification of a human being was difficult magic to perform; Maeve knew of no spell that could achieve it without actually killing the target. But someone else might have discovered it - most of them were actively searching for new spells to learn. There was no point in trying to convince Levi of it; she dropped the subject.

"Creating new spells and modifying existing ones is certainly a glamorous project. I have created a few curses myself," she admitted. Sharing them with the group was something she had been planning to do, but never got around to it. The idea of being the only one to know a certain spell was alluring... However, it was just as tempting to see others use her creations. She looked over at Julian, who was demolishing a dummy with the curse Professor Collins professor had inadvertently revealed to his class. "One of them is fairly similar to Sectumsempra, only no healing spell can close the wounds. They sometimes bleed for weeks before the curse fades." Since developing such magic required live targets, a fair amount of rats had perished while she was perfecting the curse. Only one human being had experienced its effects so far, and she knew he had bled for at least three days. "Should we be sharing our inventions with the rest of the group?" Her cold eyes left Julian and stopped on Thalia Burke. She couldn't be sure how the second-year would take the idea of practicing a dark spell on a rodent, during her very first meeting no less. A lot of kids had a soft spot for furry animals; even Maeve herself didn't feel particularly comfortable causing pain to them, despite its necessity for the practice of Dark Arts.

LEVI HILFIGER, JULIAN MULCIBER (mentions), THALIA BURKE (mentions)

[OLIVIA MULCIBER]

Once finished with the snake skin, Olivia had nothing else to do before the water in her cauldron started boiling. She scanned the rest of the instructions, but no other ingredient had to be processed in any way. That gave her some time to watch the other members.

The two second-year girls were chatting about something, too far for her to make out any words. Much closer were two founding members, no longer whispering conspiratorially. With the excuse of needing something else from the ingredient cupboard, she walked closer to them. Picking up a random green-tinted bottle, Olivia pretended to read its label. Now she could hear most of what they were saying. Something about inventing and modifying spells...

Her ears pricked up even more when Thorne mentioned the effects of some curse she had invented. Keeping her eyes on the bottle in her hand, she was quietly endearing Hilfiger to agree with the suggestion of sharing the spells they created.

MAEVE THORNE (mentions), LEVI HILFIGER (mentions)

[THALIA BURKE]

The Ravenclaw girl's voice jerked Thalia out of her mesmerized state. Her cheeks were burning again as she turned, realising she must have been staring at the older boy for a while. "It all looks very... well-provided. I didn't expect there to be so much equipment. I thought it's more like an abandoned classroom with a few dummies brought in from the dueling tower." The set-up here was almost fancy, even though she could see that a lot of the targets and the vast majority of books were fairly shabby.

Now that Meredith was here, she was feeling more at ease. Her trepidation was being gradually replaced with eagerness. "I want to try out some of those spells," she declared, indicating one of the blackboards. "Especially the Fur Curse and the Stinging Hex. Have you learned either of those?" Since the Ravenclaw had been attending the club for a while, some of the listed spells might already be familiar to her. Thalia wouldn't dare to duel her just yet, not before mastering a few of the listed incantations - but the row of dummies was inviting. In the Dueling Club, most spells they were allowed to use just pushed the targets around a little bit. Changing or damaging one would be thrilling.

MEREDITH MORGAN FAY

[LEVI HILFIGER]

Hearing that Maeve was able to create her own curses really wowed him more than he thought. He honestly assumed that he was one of the rare ones that decided to explore this branch of difficult magic. He knew that there was a lot of complexities involved with the creation of a new spell let alone a curse which was even harder. He only had small experiences with spell making not that it was any good but it was the start of something none the less. 

The the corner of his eye, Julian's attempt at the spell echoed in the air as his eye sight and attention quickly scanned and watched Julian attempt the spell. Perhaps it was the secret lessons they had been doing but he could see such an improvement in Julian's magical ability for not just his spell work but also the other crafts. A soft smile appeared on his face as he took a short pause from what Julian was doing and speaking with Maeve as he scanned the room seeing the other students attempting different types of magic. 

He was quite pleased to see the growth of the group albeit it be slow yet a constant growth. His attention pulled back to Maeve, he took note of what she had said. " An actual human skull could be interesting and a fine addition to our little room. " He said considering it would add to the already dark ambience the room provided. " I wonder if the spell could work on a real life skull of a living person. " He began nodding his head when asked about sharing their learnings. 


"If we're to share our learnings, we need a test subject. " He said before looking coldly at the others around him. Levi had already been the test subjects to one of the spells that he had worked with Maeve with before so he knew he was going to skip this attempt. " What do you suggest? " He asked as he looked over to Maeve and waved Julian back down to come closer to seek his opinion and then shortly followed by waving down Orion. The founding members. 

 


MAEVE THORNE,LEVI HILFIGER,THALIA BURKE,OLIVIA MULCIBER,JULIAN MULCIBER,MEREDITH MORGAN FAY, ORION HAWTHORNE 

[JULIAN MULCIBER]

Feeling satisfied with how potent the cast of his curse was, Julian twirled his wand between his fingers, thinking back on his recent History of Magic lesson where they had studied wand lore. He recalled that his wands combination of wood and core made for an exceptionally dark-leaning, sentient wand that would only further adapt with his own personal style of magic. Its Rougarou core, naturally, was drawn more to dark magic, giving a significant boost to aggressive curses. Perhaps this was why his sectumsempra seemed to perform so naturally at his first attempt. 
A slight smirk crossed his features at the thought as he turned his attention to the second effigy, catching his wand at the base to halt his mindless twirling before casting his third curse. "Sectumsempra," it was another breath, an almost silent vocalisation that impacted the second dummy almost immediately, carving a slice from right shoulder down to hip. His aim was far better, requiring only one curse to obliterate what could have been a live foe.

Julian lowered his wand, feeling it almost reverberate in hunger for more. That's enough, he commanded inwardly, feeling eyes on him. He turned his head slowly to take in the cavernous room behind him, having blocked out everyone else present to practice. Now, however, he was aware that as a founding member he had the responsibility for others - albeit he took that responsibility rather reluctantly. He could see Burke standing a short distance away, body turned in his direction. So it had been her gaze that he had felt on him. Julian narrowed his eyes a little as he turned towards her, knowing very little about the younger Slytherin - aside from the fact that her family belonged to the Sacred 28 - the knowledge of which allowed her certain privileges in his books. He had yet to converse with her, however, though he supposed now that she was a member of their growing group - it was only a matter of time before they crossed paths... Just as he was about to approach her - perhaps frostily offer to guide her through his performed curse-casting (that was what he was supposed to do, wasn't it?) - she was joined by Fay - the Ravenclaw that has suggested Burke to the group. Fine.

He directed his attention elsewhere, catching Thorne and Hilfiger still conversing in the corner of the library section, clearly deep in discussion about something. Movement quite near to them distracted his thoughts, and his gaze darted to his cousin as she lingered there - studying something in her hands. Julian watched Olivia for a moment, understanding that she was staring at the vial for far too long to have been reading it... She was eavesdropping. He almost smirked at the realisation - he would have to tease her later about her sly tactics. Hilfiger waved him over then, and Julian moved his attention away from his cousin, sweeping over to the other founding members. "What is it?" He questioned as he was close enough to speak in lowered tones, though he kept his voice just loud enough for Olivia to hear, should she still be listening. He was not about to starve her of information - she was family, after all.

His eyes lowered to the book in Hilfiger's hand - an old looking tome, opened to a page on transfiguration. He glanced back up, eyebrow slightly raised, "something new to practice?" Levi seemed an endless source of dark literature - of which Julian was suspect of. It had been revealed to him only rather recently that Hilfigers father had been abusing his son under the guise of training him in the dark arts - the image of Levi's bruised body had been seared into his mind since their last duelling session. He had not spoken to Hilfiger much since that evening, and was still trying to comprehend his fathers motives. He knew, then, that the Hilfiger patriarch was heavily into the dark arts, and was likely providing these books. 

MAEVE THORNE LEVI HILFIGER OLIVIA MULCIBER THALIA BURKE (mentions) MEREDITH MORGAN FAY (mentions)