This had been another one of his Terrible Ideas, but he'd been having a lot of those recently and so far none had exploded in his face, so he was just going to keep pushing his luck as long as it held (and as long as the impulse to do Incredibly Stupid Things held strong, which so far it had). On the train from Hogsmeade Lou had subtly surveyed the other members of his group, but hadn't started up any conversations. He was seized with curiosity about each of them, but asking about their entire life stories (which in the case of some members he supposed would be rather short, since a handful of these kids couldn't have been very long out of Hogwarts) would only solicit return questions, which he had no desire to field. At least only one of the members looked at all familiar: the old man reminded Lou of one of his Hogwarts teachers, though he hadn't heard anyone refer to him by name and so couldn't be sure. If it was one of his professors, hopefully his memory of his long-past students wasn't any better than Lou's memory of his teachers.
Lou had spent enough time in Irvingly to be familiar with the approach to the church, though he had never spoken to the man sitting forlornly at the door. Was he always so dramatic, or had the fog been particularly affecting him? "Like something from a bad penny dreadful," he muttered to one of the others as he surveyed what he could see of the outline of the church. It had never been haunted by anything before the arrival of the fog, but then, Hogsmeade had never been covered with frogs or locusts before the fog had arrived, either.
"How long've you been sitting out here?" Lou asked the Muggle. The church had more than one entrance, so it was entirely possible that if the answer was anything longer than ten minutes whatever had spooked the man might have already departed. Perhaps it had just been a locust stirring itself and causing a noise he didn't recognize, or a peculiar shadow in the fog? In any case, Lou wasn't worried. What was the worst that could happen, anyway? Just death.
Lou had spent enough time in Irvingly to be familiar with the approach to the church, though he had never spoken to the man sitting forlornly at the door. Was he always so dramatic, or had the fog been particularly affecting him? "Like something from a bad penny dreadful," he muttered to one of the others as he surveyed what he could see of the outline of the church. It had never been haunted by anything before the arrival of the fog, but then, Hogsmeade had never been covered with frogs or locusts before the fog had arrived, either.
"How long've you been sitting out here?" Lou asked the Muggle. The church had more than one entrance, so it was entirely possible that if the answer was anything longer than ten minutes whatever had spooked the man might have already departed. Perhaps it had just been a locust stirring itself and causing a noise he didn't recognize, or a peculiar shadow in the fog? In any case, Lou wasn't worried. What was the worst that could happen, anyway? Just death.