Carter sat perched on one of the stone walls, his back pressed into the uneven stone of one of the four pillars. It was a beautiful cool day, he sat with his knees pulled up and some paper lying across them. As he worked on a letter, he felt the wind whip through his hair, draping some of his dark locks over his sunglasses. With his free hand he pushed the hair, back and took a deep breath. Feeling the cold air filter into his lungs, the expansion of his chest was pure bliss. Soon the weather would be changing drastically and these refreshing writing sessions would have to be moved by the fire in the common room, but for now he would enjoy the cool November morning. It was still relatively early so he wasnt surprised to see only a handful of people wandering about, leaving him some time to think in peace.

He had worked hard this year and had gotten ahead in almost all of his classes, which left the right amount of free time that he could enjoy an early morning without fear of forgetting homework or an upcoming test, he was in a great place in his school work. The letter he was working on was pressed onto a book he had pulled out of the restricted section, discussing the most advanced charms in the world, some of which were pretty god damn dangerous, which more than enough to pique his interest.

As he finished his letter he folded it, just perfectly and then placed it inside the book. Using it as a book marker, to remind himself to come back to the charm that dealt with water manipulation inside the body. He smirked and let his eyes close softly, covering the illegal book with his bag and pulling it closer to his chest. The cool air left his eyes feeling heavy, he hadnt even heard someone approach him in his stone makeshift bed. 

Nikola had always adored the Quad, though she rarely went to it, preferring to stick to the familiarity of the library or, better yet, the Slytherin common room. It was just such a nice day that staying down in the dungeons, no matter how much she loved them, seemed absolutely absurd even to her. She brought a book with her so she wouldn't be bothered by anyone she didn't particularly like - or deem worthy of speaking to and wasting her time on - and trooped happily out into the Quad. 

She breathed in a breath, clearing her lungs. It was the perfect sort of day: most people preferred hot weather and sunshine, but Nikola had never exactly been the kind to "forlic" in the sun. Instead, she loved this exact weather, when the wind whipped her loose hair around madly and the air tasted crisp. Somebody was already in the Quad, though, seemingly content without any company... considering he was using the stone as a bed. Nikola walked towards the person to gauge her own stealth, trying not to be heard. It was a game she liked to play with herself, sneaking up on unaware suspects just to test herself. 

The person didn't notice anything as she approached, so she smirked and spoke in a heavy accent that she had thought was long gone by now (the accent part was purely accidental). "All well?" 

Carter was not asleep by any measure, but he was definitely relaxing his eyes and the rest of the world was slipping beyond the darkness and cool air surrounding him. When the voice snapped him out of it, his hand moved without thought or decision, pure instinct led his head to his wand and then turning it on the voice. His eyes snapping open before he spoke any sort of spell, and immediately helping him realize his overreaction. His bag, along with the book and letter had tumbled off the pillar in his haste. He smiled at @forevermaria the seventh year Prefect from Slytherin and quickly returned his wand to the holster on his forearm, pulling the sleeve down over it. 

He knelt to retrieve his things when he realized what she had said, and shook his head at her. "It was until you bloody scared me to death." He pushed the illegal book into his book quickly and then reached for his other things. "Not the best time to be sneaking up on people is it Kovachev" He quite liked the Prefect, he didnt know her well but she always seemed willing to help and was a good student. A good enough person for Carter to get along with over the years. 

He shook his head as he stood again, and with a grin spoke. "My apologies about the wand, just a little on edge with...well you know" Everyone knew. Everyone was on edge following the weekends events, no one wanted to talk about the fire snake and what the burnt students had meant but everyone was thinking about it. Constantly, how couldnt you?

Nikola nodded her understanding, not at all offended when he had reached for his wand on instinct. Lately, she had found herself doing the same. Situations when she could have easily been wandless - such as at night - she found herself keeping it near her. Even if in reality she wouldn't do much good if someone where to attempt to jump her or another fiery snake decided to make an appearance. Everybody was on edge lately.

Many Slytherin's she knew had been burned. She herself had been overlooked in the light of her half-blood status, but the message held signifigance for that very reason: Nikola's family back in Bulgaria were half-blooded but pretended not to be, so it was for that reason she had so many sins the snake could have been referring to. Awful, her family had been, and as far as she knew they still were. "I'm aware," she said with a nod. "It's come to the point that I've been hexed by students out after curfew. Whoever did it was quite effective in mixing things up around here." 

Carter smiled at her as she seemed to get his jitters and immediate response to pull his wand. People were going a right bit crazy since the Halloween incident and while he understood, it seemed a right bit foolish for him to be so on edge. He had been burnt, a fact he had kept to himself since that night and planned to keep it that way. Up until recently he had been sure he was a muggleborn, and so had all of his classmates, it made more sense that he had been mistaken than that the entire school had assumed wrong and pureblood weren't the target. Too many halfblooded and muggleborn students had walked through the flames untouched. A brilliant spell and masterfully pulled off, regardless of how many were hurt those were still the facts.

He chuckled softly at the idea of students hexing a prefect and getting away with it. “Sorry I know you getting hexed isn't funny. Please tell me you put those kids in their place?” He would have been hard pressed, not to murder someone if he had been in her shoes. The whole school going nuts and you’re out after curfew and attack me. Yeah that wouldn't fly with Carter, not for a second. “I think for me, its more curious than anything else. Yes people were injured but what was the point of the whole thing. Just to scare the hell out of everyone?” He had thought about it hard, and was curious what @forevermaria thought on the subject. It would be nice to get an outside point of view, his own mind seemed to be split.

Nikola remembered what had become of the students who had hexed her. Sure, they had a bloody good reason to, but it hardly meant she would let somebody get away with drawing a wand to her. Much less when she was on duty, and they were the ones without the right to even protest! "Oh, don't worry, I did." She was shite at DADA, so obviously there had not been many of those spells used to defend herself. Instead, she had given harsh punishments that she wouldn't wish upon Satan himself and called it fair... or something like it. Whatever. That's what they got for trying to pull one over on a snake.

"I think the point of it was to get the message through." she said, her laughter turning stony. "That simple. Somebody at Hogwarts is prejudiced against purebloods, so anybody with pure blood in them was hurt by the flame, while those without it were not. Whoever did it probably also wanted to get everyone scared enough so that nobody had their wits about them at the feast. That way it couldn't be traced until it was way too late to get a good look at everyone there." 

Nikola shrugged, understanding just how well-thought-out her little idea had been. It wasn't that she had actually thought too much about it. In all actuality, she tried to do the opposite. No, it was just the way she would have done it had she been trying to pull of some outrageous stunt like that. Not that she would: Nikola was much too careful and unwilling to ever do something of the sort.

Carter smiled at the pretty blonde as he watched her mind work in front of him, clearly she was replaying the nights with the out of bed students in her mind and she seemed to be proud of herself. Which if she had done as he expected she had, handed out more detentions than those kids had assumed possible he had to admit he would be proud of her. She wasn’t a pushover by any means, but he knew how he'd handle it and he had a feeling that was exactly why he wasn't a prefect and she was. He nodded when she verified his thought, she had taken care of them. “I’m proud Kovachev.”

He listened intently at her assumptions, which is what they were. There was no way for her to know whether or not she was correct but she seemed relatively certain as she spoke. He nodded along with her, he could see her point and where she was coming from. “I don't know if i’d call any of this simple.” He smiled tightly, and let his mind really process the rest of her opinion. “Not your first time thinking about this huh?” He smiled again and then pushed himself back onto the ledge he had been sitting on before she had nearly given him a heart attack. “You think it was just one person?” He had wondered that day in the hall, how many people could have tried something like that fiery snake. How many wanted to but didn't have the skills, and so on. The prejudice was more than one persons opinion, hell most of the ministry seemed to agree with the attack, whether they'd admit it or not. The work camps and all the precautions against pureblood and death eater families.

“You sound as if you think that was sloppy, that the message could have been sent more efficiently” His face was serious, he wasnt kidding and didnt want to seem as if he were joking. Her tone and words made it sound to him like she thought she would have done it differently. A curious way to look at the situation, but he'd be lying if he were to say it wouldn't be how he looked at the situation.

"Ah, yes, I had better get a gold star." she said on the remark of his being "proud" of her. As always, her mind seemed to find a way to flit through the actual conversation and start thinking about home. Had her mother, her family, had they ever been proud of her? She knew they had wanted to marry her off to a pureblooded wizard the second the became of age to do so... so maybe they had been proud of her good looks. But beyone that? She doubted it. She kept laughing, though, as was usual with her. She had learned somehow to let her mind flit to other things while keeping her body and general thoughts in her actual location.

"It could have been more than one person, but then it would have also been easier to attract attention to. They would need a place in the castle to meet without prefects or professors finding them all conversing, because if they had been seen conversing, especially more than once, and then they were al absent at the feast, it would have drawn  attention to their group." she voiced out loud. "Of course, they might have gone to the feast, but I find it hard to believe that they would want to show their faces somewhere traceable. And then they would ALL have to be very good actors, so to look surprised when the snake struck."

She decided to shut her mouth then. Merlin, she was honestly so opinionated, it was a wonder that she had been the one to run away from Bulgaria rather than them just kicking her out of the country. Not that she would have been able to hear the official degree over her own babbling. "I wouldn't have done it at all."

Carter laughed aloud when she mentioned that she had earned a gold star, it was such a childish approval tactic but one that almost everyone knew. The idea of the Headmaster or someone in the castle rewarding someone with a gold star was quite comical to him. He had dealt with such reward programs during his time in the muggle world, his adoptive parents were quite old fashioned in that way. “I’ll be sure to get you one before our next class together” He grinned at her, and shook away the thoughts of his life before Hogwarts. He had no desire to go back there, and after the information he had learned on Halloween night, he wasn't sure he wanted to think to much further on his parents.

As she went through her scenarios, Carter pictured them in sync with her voice. The idea of multiple people huddled in corridors, or in empty classrooms seemed insane. Clearly she was right someone would have noticed. He got ready to interrupt her, adding that they all could have went to the feast that night, which may have lessened the suspicions but before he could, she continued on talking and made the point herself. He smiled at her then, imagining a handful of people giving awful performances of faux horrified. “Of course we don't have too fantastic of actors here in the castle, but wouldn't they have known they wouldn't be burnt? Confusion has to be easier to pretend than horror” He spoke softly but sincerely, working his way through her scenarios.

“I’m not suggesting that you would or that you did” He spoke quickly and with a little more lightness to his tone. He hadn't made to seem like he was accusing her of being capable, he was more curious than anything else. “Hypothetically, if you were judging the culprit or culprits” He added the last part, to make up for his point earlier that it could have been a group of people. “What would your critique be, how would you have done it differently?” He had thought this same question over himself, @forevermaria wasn't one to hide her thoughts on a subject. She told the truth, blunt if necessary. It was something that Carter most definitely liked about her.

Nikola thought about it the way she always tried to think around a crazy problem she didn't want to be dealing with (which happened more than one would think). She thought about it completely logically. If she were to try and pull a hoax for some reason beyond comprehension, what would she have done differently? "Well, I probably wouldn't have made it a snake. The snake burning the Slytherin banner narrows down the category way too much... it should have just burnt purebloods if I were doing it, so that they wouldn't even be able to guess my house." she thought hard, knowing it was all for the sake of making a point. "And also, I would have created a diversion of some sort, so that it didn't catch everyone's attention so immediately. This sounds sadistic, but you asked what I would do: I would want it to last longer than it did, so the diversion would make it harder to get organized and put out the flame. If I were to want it, that is."

She didn't even want to think about how easily it had been to say it. She would make a decent criminal...