The Tale of the Black Knight: The Mark

Into The Forbidden Forest

After that  extravagant meal, for Professor Orpheus, the night was a difficult one.  No doubt there was in his mind that it was not the castle playing  tricks. He honed his senses and it was apparent that he was not alone in  this tapestry adorned corridor. As soon as he locked the last of the  day's successful potions into the storage room with a spell, he  stiffened as he eyed the other end of the hall, suspecting a soul  nearby. He could feel a presence, and it belonged to no ghost or a  colleague of his.

Bold and feirce, he kept his wand at the ready  and began his way down where he felt absolutely sure. He was a man who  was accustomed to living on the edge~ It was due to his own choices and  those he knew, and right now, he was still at his post, protecting  treasures, just as he vowed, as if, so very long ago.

The wand  held tight was as sleek as the dark, the handle completely written in  almost celtic designs, the heart of it a mystery to everyone but him.  Without the need of a light, he was able to scale a spiralling stair.  Something absolutely soft and beautiful reflected in his focused eyes  for a second as he caught onto the sight of another phenomenon that he  could only recall ever seeing years ago.

Once again, the glint vanished before he could focus on it...

Having  only his person being here, as the castle slept, Prince found himself  approaching a beautiful overlook into the forest below. A trail of snow,  as it may have seemed at first, trailed away into the night. The stars  were boasting their glory, trying to win over the moon, as soft clouds  traveled low upon the mountain range yonder. Drawn to this beauty, he  stopped for just a moment just to watch the starry scene as he began to  feel a calling from the mysterious wood... It was one way to take  advantage of, after the word he had just recently had with Albus  Dumbledore.

The Slytherin House as he was entrusted to guide were  becoming annoyance to the other Houses more than usual this year.  Particularly only Draco Malfoy who was known to be a fairly envious  fellow... On account that a Gryffindor dared to be close to the Head of  House Slytherin, yet the state of things had made this drama null.  Prince, indeed... He ruefully knew the Malfoy family and their... history,  as it so was.

A lovingly soft wind blew through him, and there  seemed to be a wish in the air, of good will. Or else, he was losing his  mind already. The silent wizard was almost mesmerized by the temptation  to flee away into those trees, to once again feel freedom lurch into  his heart. Yet, now was not the time.

Prince sighed, so heavily as if the entire world was on his shoulders but he had to press on.

Deeply  nestled in the dungeons eventually, he came upon a door and pushed it  wide open inside with a single swish of his wand. It was almost as  though he had just stepped through another portkey because through that  door entered into a living chamber.

One he could call his own.

Instead  of complete stone, save for the sparking fireplace, there were quaint  wood panelling dressed the room like a cloak. Smooth wood framed the  fireplace with such elegance with two emerald armchairs neatly set  before the flames. Close by there stood a wooden table along the carpet  adorned stone flooring, all set with a book base, a bowl of grapes and  green apples among a series of parchments and a few quills blanketing  the table so comfortably. A gold goblet was left with a few drops of  elven wine sat right beside one old, thickened potion book of recipes,  turned onto the page for Calming Draught. Many inked scribblings were  peppered all about the two visible pages.

He flipped through those  pages for a moment, whilst vanishing the old wine from his goblet  before it filled up again with fresher wine. Prince took the quill and  wrote down something else in the corner above the instruction of  crushing the lavender into a grind. He scratched out powder and wrote ~