Thievery (Lucia)

Damn it. Hunter sighed in frustration as he rummaged through the cupboard in his dormitory, running a hand through his hair. "How the hell did I run out?" he said out loud to himself, still pulling ingredients out of the cupboard, in case the one that he was in search of was hiding behind something. As an alarm went off on the watch that was sitting on his bedside table, he started shuffling through the cupboard a bit more frantically. "Damn," he swore, when it became obvious that what he needed wasn't there. Sighing again, he turned and crossed the room, grabbing the watch and angrily turning the alarm off. The cauldron sitting on the table against the wall was bubbling gently, which was perfect, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. The alarm meant that he had exactly one hour before he would have to add the next - and final - batch of ingredients. And somehow Hunter had managed to run out of moondew. Well, not run out of it, but there wasn't enough left in the vial he had to finish the potion. He must have used it up on his last try and not remembered to replenish it!

If it was any other potion, he might have just scrapped it and called it a night. If he was any earlier into it's production, maybe he would have done the same thing. But Hunter was attempting to brew Veritaserum, the most difficult potion he'd attempted since mastering felix felices. And, like the golden potion of luck, it was no small task to make it. It had to brew for an entire lunar phase - exactly twenty eight days - and although it didn't require quite the attention that the felix potion had, it was tricky. And the potion had finally reached day twenty eight! So, after a month of tending to it, there was no way that Hunter was going to let it be ruined. But even if he'd be able to make it to the apothecary in Hogsmeade and back in an hour, it wouldn't matter. It was nighttime. The shops were closed. Which meant he had to go with his back up source for ingredients.

Without thinking twice, Hunter grabbed his bag and swept out of the room. He wasn't supposed to be in the corridors this late, but when the hell had that ever stopped him before? If he was lucky and there was nobody around, he'd be back with plenty of time to spare. Bounding down the stairs two at a time, Hunter once again cursed the fact that Gryffindor tower was so far away from the ground floor. It made instances like this overly inconvenient. But, before long, he'd emerged into the dungeon corridor, and he released a relieved sigh because the path to the Henley's private storeroom was clear. To be fair, Hunter hadn't stolen hardly anything from Henley so far this year. Since he'd turned seventeen, he was able to buy even the more dangerous ingredients that he needed, and he figured that, since he had the money, it was probably better not to steal them from the school. But of course, stealing the ingredients wasn't below him in a situation like this. Pulling his wand out, he unlocked the door to the closet and let himself inside, his eyes quickly searching the shelves for what he needed. It only took him a few minutes to find it. It was a huge vial of it, and he'd rushed out of his room without thinking to grab any small ones, so he just grabbed the whole thing. Hopefully, he could use it and sneak it back down before Henley noticed the difference. He quickly shoved it into his bag and headed for the door - but as he opened it, he almost ran straight into someone.

Shit. Henley. For the briefest of moments, Hunter just stared at her, completely stunned at being caught after years of successfully sneaking in and out. And being the amazing liar that he was might not get him out of this one. But, it wasn't like he could really just confess without trying to get out of it. "Er, sorry, Professor Henley, I didn't see you there," he said easily, quickly regaining his footing. Then, with a sigh, he continued smoothly into the only lie that he could think of that might get him out of the situation he was in. "Alright, I know, I'm out after hours," he said, letting the words fall the slightest bit desperately out of his mouth on purpose. "I forgot my book in your classroom earlier, and needed it to finish the Draught of Peace essay that's due tomorrow that I may have waited until now to start." Except that he'd finished it ages ago. "I ducked through here to dodge a prefect, but I guess it didn't do me much good," he confessed, a bit of amusement lingering in his tone as his hand gripped the strap of his bag. "Won't happen again, I promise," he finished apologetically, casually backing away and turning to head down the corridor. Not bad. Sometimes Hunter even impressed himself, and it actually seemed possible that he'd be able to get away with it.