Older Than I Am (Rozalina)

[Deleted]

June 9, 2026

After making it out of Hogwarts alive, Dasha had never been more eager to get back to Little Hangleton. The journey took her longer than it should have because of her inability to Apparate, but it marked her first experience with the Knight Bus, on which she had had to lug her school trunk. Safely at home since (and alone because Dmitri had gone to Russia earlier in the spring), she had limited her trips out to run errands but didn't have much choice but to handle things on her own. At least it was better than it had been when she was a child. Even though she was alone, she had money to buy what she needed (including new textbooks with which to study for her OWLs); Dmitri hadn't abandoned her, and she didn't have to live in fear of what their father might do to her.

Figuring out what she would do for her schooling was another issue. She had sent a letter to Dmitri as soon as she had learned that Hogwarts wouldn't be an option for her sixth year. She didn't want to go to Koldovstoretz because they didn't play Quidditch like they did at Hogwarts. Selfishly, she still wanted the chance to play Seeker again, even if it meant going somewhere where she didn't speak the language. Out of convenience, she had narrowed it down to Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and even Ilvermorny, but she was still in the midst of weighing the pros and cons of each.

In the middle of making dinner for herself one evening, Dasha wished that she could have used magic outside of school in order to boil water more quickly. She wasn't a chef by any stretch, and nothing that she had made since returning from Hogwarts rivaled what had been served in the Great Hall. Still, she had food that she didn't have to beg for, even if it wasn't the greatest.

Hearing a knock at the door, Dasha turned down the heat on the pot of water on the stove and went to see who was there. She looked outside and saw there was a young woman there, but she wasn't anyone Dasha recognized. She wasn't even Heleen, who had been dating Dmitri. Cautiously, Dasha opened the door just a crack. "Hello?" she asked, keeping her tone as even as she could.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

[Rozalina Antonina Nightshade]

June 9, 2026
@dasha

Dimitri Krovopuskov was not someone that Rose sought out normally. But today was different. She needed information from him. While his past was "behind him" he was still one of the only people that knew where she could locate a particularly elusive individual. And since she couldn't use her usual contact for this job (Asher had gotten himself arrested), she'd been forced to find the man. Finding him wasn't particularly difficult. He hadn't gone to any sort of length to hide, after all. But she'd been surprised to find out he was in the UK with his sister. Oh well, made things easier, as she would be in the country another week or so before traveling.

She'd arrived at the place early in the evening, aparrating a block away from the building n question and walking the remaining way. It wasn't a slum, but wasn't really eye catching either. Approaching the door she knocked three times, and waited. Much to her surprise, though she didn't show it, a teenage girl answered and not Dimitri. "You must be Dimitri's sister. I'm looking for your brother," She answered immediately and coldly. She wasn't intentionally being intimidating but she had a naturally cold stare to her that didn't fade even in this moment as she stared intensely at the teenager.

[Deleted]

June 9, 2026

The young woman at the door said that she must be Dmitri's sister. She was; that was true, but Dasha knew better than to show it until she knew what the young woman wanted from her. It wasn't that she wanted something from her, though; she was looking for Dmitri, she said. Dasha eyed her, knowing that her Russian accent would clue the stranger in that she was at least speaking to someone who could have been related to Dmitri regardless of what came out of her mouth. The way that she was being stared at, Dasha knew that she was meant to feel intimidated, yet she felt more reassured in knowing that Dmitri wasn't there. Just as long as she didn't make it apparent that she was there alone, she would be fine.

"There is no Dmitri here," Dasha answered. That wasn't a lie, technically speaking. Dmitri wasn't there, and Russia wasn't exactly nearby. With enough Muggles living in the area, Dasha considered, perhaps she could pass herself off as one if it came to that. The coincidence of finding a Russian girl in a small village in England that was hardly known for having a plethora of Russians around, though? She couldn't explain that so easily.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

[Rozalina Antonina Nightshade]

June 9, 2026
@dasha

Rose wasn't expecting the teenager to answer like that. As far as she knew, Dimitri's mob days were long behind him so there wasn't any reason for him to be hiding. The answer sounded very much like an answer you'd coach others to give if you were on the run. The teenager was wary. A good reaction, but not one Rose wanted to deal with today. Rose wasn't feeling particularly patient.

"I'm not in the mood for games," Rose answer slowly, switching to Russian. Her accent in English was intentionally subdued, Rose having learned to mask her Russian accent to help hide her Nightshade heritage. But when she spoke Russian her fluency and accent made it clear she was Russian, just like this teenager. "I'll ask again, nicely. Dimitri. Get him." This time her words came out even colder, harsher, and with authority. As if daring to be defied.

[Deleted]

June 9, 2026

Hearing the woman at the door switch to speaking in Russian, Dasha tensed up. It was her native language; she still spoke it fluently and with Dmitri when they were in public so that they could carry on conversations that they didn't want to be overheard. Why there was another Russian looking for Dmitri was a good question, and Dasha didn't want to think about the reasons why that might have been. This woman was looking for him in Little Hangleton, though, which meant that she didn't know that Dmitri had left for Russia months before. Or she had tried there and come up empty.

Either way it had happened, she remained forceful. She said that she would ask again "nicely", but the way in which she spoke wasn't particularly nice. The way she told her to get Dmitri, Dasha knew that it was meant as an order, not a request.

"I told you already," Dasha shot back in Russian. "He's not here." Her brother wasn't hiding there, and she hoped that she had made her own point clear. "If you want proof that I'm not hiding him," she continued, "then search the house. I don't care." Dasha didn't really want to invite the stranger inside, but she wasn't lying. If seeing for herself that Dmitri wasn't there got her out of there that much sooner, then it was worth it not to get tortured because she hadn't been believed. She was sixteen years old. She had nothing in the house to hide.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

[Rozalina Antonina Nightshade]

June 9, 2026
@dasha

The teenager had a backbone, those that wasn't too surprising. Her brother was Dimitri after all. Rose wasn't in the mood for games though, and would much rather just deal with the brother and be done with this. She had better things to do, and getting information from the former mobster was just a single piece of a much bigger picture. Though, a crucial one. She needed a contact not connected to her family that knew the location of the merchant.

The teenager finally seemed to cough up some useful information though. He wasn't actually there. And by the way she spoke it sounded like he might not be coming back any time soon. He was away somewhere it seemed. Wonderful. Rose smirked at the confidence in the teenager's voice. Well, since she'd basically invited Rose in, she might as well. She'd need more information from the teenager if he really was gone. So, without any hesitation she stepped inside, sweeping past the teenager and strolling into the flat. She clasped her hands behind her back as she walked, her eyes scanning the space. It definitely looked as if only one person was living here at the moment. Rose moved to a couch and sat, crossing her leg over the other as she leaned back. "Well then, why don't you tell me where your brother is," she stated with that same confident and demanding tone.

[Deleted]

June 9, 2026

The woman came inside as casually as though she owned the place. Dasha, too young to use magic against her unless in defense of herself, had little choice but to allow her to do so. If she tried to put up a fight, thought Dasha, she wouldn't be very successful. She waited as the woman seated herself on their sofa, acting like she expected to be treated as a houseguest despite being a perfect stranger. It was worse than when Dmitri had brought home a woman without her knowing. That time, she had had him as a buffer.

Without even knowing who this woman was or what she wanted with her brother, Dasha had her in her house. She demanded to know where Dmitri was, and Dasha knew that she had to give her a response. If this stranger thought that Dmitri might be back soon, she had no idea for how long she might try to stay there or what of their belongings she might try to go through to gather enough proof that she wasn't being lied to by a teenager. Dasha closed the door and locked it against her better judgment, since anything that might get the attention of the Muggles in the village would be even worse.

"Dmitri is in Russia," Dasha replied as she stood in front of where the woman sat. There was a certain element of having told the woman that he wasn't there present in her tone. "I can't just 'get him'," she pointed out, not that she knew precisely where Dmitri had gone, either. "We last lived in Moscow," Dasha volunteered, in case that narrowed it down any. "But he could be in Yakutsk by now. I don't know." Russia was a very large country, after all.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade