Catch The Snitch

[Reserved for Darcy Hutton]
The faint scent of engine oil hung in the air of the seventh-floor corridor of Hogwarts Castle, a curious smell that one would associate more with a garage than a magical school. Not that anyone was around to complain: it was a Monday night, a couple of hours before the curfew kicked in, and few people – if any – would venture to this part of the castle at this time.

While the smell seemed to have come from seemingly out of nowhere, anyone who knew about a particular little secret – one of the many about Hogwarts Castle – would be able to deduce that the the smell came from the Room of Requirement, a mysterious chamber that only opened its doors to anyone who was in great need of something. Tonight, that person was Professor Nigel Dextera, who had found himself once again in need of a suitable location and some tools and supplies to maintain his vintage motorcycle.

Raised up on a motorcycle lift was the vehicle in question – a Royal Enfield 250CC Type 11F, to be exact. Carefully removing the carburettor, Nigel disassembled it and began to clean the individual components. Given that it was after office hours, he was dressed simply and comfortably for the task at hand: a well-worn pair of jeans, sturdy work boots, and a dark grey long-sleeved tee. Under normal circumstances he would have covered up his arms to hide his scars and avoid having to answer any questions about them. However, the relative privacy offered by the Room of Requirement had convinced him to take the practical option and roll up his sleeves so as to not stain them. And so he did, in the process revealing the multiple ugly scars that criss-crossed his forearms, as well as a fresh bandage that was wrapped around a recently-reopened wound near his left elbow.

Before long, he was done with the carburettor, and he was in the midst of reinstalling it when he thought he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. “Who is it?” he asked, hoping that he was mistaken and that there wasn’t anyone else in this part of the castle at this hour.

[Hope this is ok. I've not done an RP in a loong time, but hope this is a good start/reply?]
It had been a silent night and everyone pretty much had been in their House common rooms at this hour, or doing other stuff. So of course Darcy had been done with cleaning up her class room and making it tidy for the next class. She did need to make a stop to a special place only some knew of. They truly had to be in need of a thing to see it, and yes it was the Room of Requirement.

She had needed a quiet space to do her lesson plan alongside figuring out some new Muggle items and whatnot to show off to the class. So far she showed off basically everything past professors did mostly to the new coming students who chose to take her class. To up it a little bit, she wanted to reserve a special item for the students who were higher up in their year at Hogwarts.

Darcy took a deep breath and had thought in her head about what she had truly needed, and thus that door opened for her finally. Darcy went straight in the room and noticed it did meet her needs. Darcy just wore a black colored robe with black dressy shoes with white socks. Her hair was clean and not messy as she made sure to take care of herself as most anyone else does.

As Darcy stepped in and walked closer, she had sworn she heard somebody or something? Was she not the only one in here? Darcy inched closer, and yes it did appear someone else had been here...? She looked closer, and saw that there was some sort of...motorcycle. It looked quite interesting, but what got her attention more is the person who was working on it.

Darcy heard the person speak, and wanted to ensure she did reply to them.

"It's me Darcy Hutton" Darcy stated in a calm tone. "I didn't realize somebody else had been here."

It soon became clear to Nigel that he hadn’t imagined hearing those footsteps. For a moment he was concerned that it would be a student (or worse, Professor Sigma), but his worries about the potentially awkward situation were dispelled when the newcomer came into view and introduced herself. To his relief, it was Darcy Hutton, the Muggle Studies professor.

“Neither was I expecting that someone else would be needing the Room of Requirement tonight,” he replied with a warm smile that concealed his anxiety over his heavily scarred arms. To pull his sleeves down now with his still-greasy hands would only serve to draw more attention to his scars, so he might as well try to play it cool. “Her engine wasn’t running as smoothly as I liked over the weekend, and I couldn’t sleep till the problem was fixed.” He gave a weary half shrug before returning to his work, long resigned to the fact that he was a slave to his beloved motorcycle, and how any issues with it always weighed heavily on his mind and bugged him to no end until he resolved them. “Oh, she's not enchanted, by the way,” he added, voluntarily providing the information even though it wasn't asked for. It was a legal issue after all, even though he had knowingly sidestepped it with a convenient loophole in the form of a golden broom compass of his own design – enchanted, of course – that was clipped onto the handlebar.

Once the carburettor was securely fitted onto the motorcycle again, Nigel wiped his hands on a rag and looked up. “If I may… what brings you here at this hour?” he asked, curious about what had spurred Darcy to specifically seek out the Room of Requirement.

Yes, she was here and those footsteps were not just something magical or anything. Darcy had required this room for now, but didn't expect any on else to be here this hour at all. She could have used it during the day time, but with being busy and such all day it didn't cross her mind.

"Yes, indeed. I was needing the Room of Requirement tonight." Darcy replied with a normal expression on her face. "Actually didn't expect anybody else to be here this time of the night." Darcy continued replying.

Darcy glanced at the vehicle in front of her, and took notice at how amazing and nice this bike looked. She had been curious as she'd only ever seen motorcycles in Muggle magazines, newspapers, and so on. She never saw one actually IN PERSON whatsoever. This had amazed Darcy a bit honestly!

She listened to what Nigel had to say and allowed him to finish talking before she spoke. "Oh my, this looks quite great. I had never ever seen one of these up close in person at all!" Darcy admitted with a happy look on her face. "Sure thing, you can repair your thing and do whatever you wish." It hadn't been like she needed this room right now anyway and she could easily come back tomorrow.

"Oh, right. I was here to do some work in peace and quiet in regards to Muggle Studies class this school year." Darcy explained. "I wanted to just do some lesson planning and then perhaps deciding on what sort of Muggle items I should show off to the class."

Darcy was trying to think of some things still, and had an idea now. Perhaps she could show off this...motorcycle to the class for fun. They could learn about different transportation means Muggles use? So many different Muggle things in relation to that, but she had this...motorcycle in front of her.

As Darcy said that she didn’t expect anyone else to be here at this hour, Nigel chuckled. He had thought the same way too, which was why he was here tonight, but through fate or sheer coincidence he ended up bumping into someone else who needed the Room of Requirement too.

Nigel’s worries about Darcy noticing or commenting on the scars on his arms faded when he realised that her attention was fully on the motorcycle. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” he said proudly as he gazed lovingly at his prized possession. He always had a soft spot for motorcycles, but there was something about that particular model that made his heart sing, so much so that he purchase one for himself a few years ago. The motorcycle was in poor condition and missing quite a number of key components when he had first acquired her, and he had painstakingly restored her to her former glory the Muggle way. Using magic to repair her would have defeated the point of owning a vintage motorcycle and erased the history behind every single component.

“I’m almost done actually,” he announced, putting aside his tools and discreetly rolling down his sleeves. All there was left was to see how well the engine ran, and he was about to do that when Darcy stated that she intended to do some lesson planning and decide on what sort of Muggle items she could show off to the class.

Under most circumstances Nigel would have merely brushed it off as a mere coincidence, but the fact that they were in the Room of Requirement – a mysterious chamber that worked in ways nobody yet understood – was enough to give him pause. Was he supposed to be the Room’s answer to Darcy’s request? Granted, he couldn’t tell for certain if the Room had revealed itself to Darcy, or if she had merely walked into the already open Room, but the possibility of it being the former was definitely there.

Regardless, the ball was in his court. All things considered, his motorcycle wasn’t the most ideal model to showcase, and he felt that it would be important to flag this out. “Granted, she's far from the most iconic or significant military motorcycle, but she's still a piece of transportation and military history,” he mused aloud. It would have been a lot better if he had a Royal Enfield WD/RE “Flying Flea” instead, but alas such a motorcycle wouldn’t just drop from the sky for them, even if that was ironically what it was designed to do. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be more than happy to lend her to you for your class,” he offered.

Darcy had to agree with the fact that this was quite a lovely thing. It looked nice despite it needing some work on it. Darcy did become super interested in it. And yeah, Darcy did not comment or mention any of the scars or anything as she didn't pay much mind to them. It hadn't been like she'd judge or be rude about it. "Yes, indeed it is." Darcy responds. "Quite a lovely motorcycle"

She almost lost track of why she had even been here, honestly. At this time she still did need to focus on studying and doing all the work for her class. Darcy had yet to do a proper class yet, and plans are being made to hopefully start it up soon!

"It's all good. Take all your time you need." It wasn't as if she wanted to rush or hurry Nigel up. "I'll likely be here for a bit to get things ready for class which am hoping it will come happen sometime soonish."

Even if this vechile wasn't like super decent or great right now, Darcy still had been interested and was tempted to ask that question about showing it off. "That is quite neat! Actually wondered about showing it off sometime in the class. It could be interesting Muggle history and knowledge." This of course was just an idea, though. Darcy was actually going to find some simpler things to show off in class, then perhaps go more advanced. "Of course it doesn't have to be right away or anything! It can be later on during the year."

"Anyway, uhhh, yeah, sure! I think it'd be perfect."

Despite Darcy saying that he could take as much time as he needed, Nigel was no dilly daw. He was eager to have his motorcycle back in good working condition, and the faster he worked, the quicker he could set his heart at ease. After a quick final check, he fired up the engine, expecting it to purr to life… only to have it sputter and fail to start. “Oh for—“ he began, just catching himself in the nick of time before he swore out loud. “Sorry,” he said, apologising for both the almost faux pass and the delay as he reinspected other parts of the motorcycle carefully, starting with the spark plugs. “I was so confident she’d run like a dream, but alas.”

Upon hearing that Darcy didn’t need his motorcycle urgently, the gears in his head began to turn. “I might know someone who owns a Flying Flea…” he began, mentally running through a list of fellow motorcycle enthusiasts before another idea occurred to him. “Or I could get one for myself,” he said aloud to himself as he gave voice to the thought he was toying with. Could he afford the time and money to restore it? Probably. Did he need another vintage motorcycle? Maybe not. But did he want it? Now that was another question altogether, albeit one that he didn’t need an answer for this very moment.

Besides, there was another question that was more important. “By any chance, are you familiar with the Flying Flea?” he asked Darcy as he continued to work. While few within the wizarding community shared his keen interest in Muggle motor vehicles, the Flying Flea was well-known enough that those who were familiar with World War II might have heard of it. “I'm thinking it'll likely be more interesting to the students than this,” he explained as he indicated his motorcycle.