There is no good and evil

luna_cy_ — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 17:58:33 GMT

Looks like I'm ungrounded for the time being. But is this rpg still going?

Packing

bibliothca_lupe — Tue, 09 Mar 2004 15:12:39 GMT

Hermione started rounding up clothes and books and other "I can't live without them." things as she packed for the trip for her and Blaise.

In the 'Smoking Room'

love_is_idle — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:46:20 GMT

Pansy propped her feet up on the ottoman and leaned back. Ah, relaxation was good. She nursed the last of her whiskey in a small glass - it was the last of any alcohol she could find, which was a problem.

The room looked wonderful, though. Because of her, and Pansy smiled and gloated to herself. It was even done in a tasteful green and brown motif - which had better count as inter-House compromise. There were three or four of the old, used armchairs gathered around a fireplace (she assumed it had been used for cauldrons. This hadn't been her potions classroom, but maybe in years past that had been its use.), and a big heavy rug. And of course, her ottoman. Her Smoking Room was certainly more private than the Common Room, which was nice. Maybe she would start calling it Pansy's Parlor. She laughed, but the word Parlor did have a nice ring to it.

nev_l_b — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 17:22:15 GMT

In the wee morning hours of the day, Neville was up and fully awake, praying to the Altar of Ra like a monk in meditation. Concentrated and fully comitted to his prayers, the only part of his that moved was his lips that were reciting the words of the prayers in the magical language.

Out of nowhere, a ring or fire erupted into the air above the altar. Neville was quickly distracted and looked up at the ring, which had filled itself with an image of a group of red robed wizards.

"'Tis this Neville Longbottom, the only Pyromancer in England?" asked one of the wizards, who appeared to be pyromancers themselves.

"Yes, I am Neville Longbottom," Neville replied. A little confused about how communications could be done this way, Neville just went with the flow.

"Brother Neville, we are the leaders of the Pyromancy magic, from Heliopolis. We must gather our kind together for an important meeting regarding our religeon."

"Important meeting? How can I get there? I cannot leave my place, for I will be hunted down and...by sacrificed to the Dark Lord."

"Do not worry, come to Istanbul, a major city run by the Ministry and they are fighting against the Dark Lord. Only Istanbul and vatican City are the safest places for you to travel to in Europe, so you must be very careful elsewhere. But we will have the meeting in Istanbul, in the Topkapi Palace, we will provide you a portkey that transfers you from wherever you are to us."

All of a sudden, a flash of golden light emitted out and formed the shape of a golden skeleton key. This was the portkey, all he had to do was touch it and he was off, but he felt that he needed to talk with the others about it first.

"Thank you, but give me time, my priorities lie with my friends at the moment, I will talk with them before I arrive, if I arrive. Give me time, I ask of you."

"That is alright. We realie that you must help your friends and we respect that. Take all the time you need, but remember that the meeting is on going, arrive whenever you wish."

"Thank you very much" And with that, the fire ring disappeared, with the key lying on the floor. As long as he didn't touch it, he would remain here. But he needed someone to go with him, he still didn't feel safe going alone, but he needs to talk with the others before anything happens.

codename_harry — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 18:30:45 GMT

OOC:// This was set when Ginny agreed to go with Harry on a quick trip to Japan. For people who are interested, please read.

“Ginny! At last where have you been? I was looking for you.” Harry waved Ginny over to the Kitchen.

Ginny came over with a smile. “Hi Harry. Sorry, I was just getting ready. Are we going now?”

Harry nodded like a happy child, getting candy. "Of course, I have the port key right here." saying that, Harry produced a funny looking doll made of straw and sticks. "It should be activated... right now."

*Ginny and Harry touched the port key. With the familiar jerk they landed. Ginny looked around the place wide eyed* "Where exactly are we?"

"Harry looked around at the coming evening sky. Well, we're at Hiroshima right now. If we were coming fifty years ago, this place would have been all rubbles. Atom bomb." Harry offered as an explanation. Looking at his watch, he commented, "Well we still have some time. Would you like to see the temples? or would you like to shop around? I'm not really sure what you need and what you don't have."

Ginny thought for a moment. Distracted as she looked at her surroundings. "There's really not very much I need," she said in a bit of a dazzle. "I think we got everything when I went with shopping before..." Ginny drifted off and finally looked at Harry, "there are temples here?"

Harry nodded. "Yes well, there's a lot of temples here. Last time, Draco and I came... well let's just say that the temple really shouldn't have been used as a worshipping place. So you have everything you need? Then I guess we can go a little bit earlier to the place... Shouldn't be too hard to get there." Running a hand through his damp hair, he realized that the moon was coming up.

Ginny raised an eyebrow in question, "the place?" she asked. Seeing Harry look up she did too, noticing it was getting dark she felt a chill in the air and tightened her cloak about her.

"Well the place is actually the Japanese resistance and science group of medi-wizards that are fighting for the light side. They are having a meeting today about the traces of arsenic found on the DE bodies. I thought maybe you might be interested." Harry looked up at Ginny expectantly

Ginny bit her lip.
"Really..." Ginny trailed for a moment, looking back up at the sky. How on earth was she going to get out of this one? Harry had always been a very persistent person.
“Are you sure I would be allowed there?” she thought quickly and looked back at Harry.

Harry shrugged, "I don't see why not. The medi-wizards have always been insistent on getting new members to join. Besides, I remembered that you had a great Potions mark in your second last year there. Maybe you can help me understand some of it too. They always talked in big words." Harry saw the worried looked on Ginny's face, "Don't worry, it wouldn't be long."

Ginny frowned and took a step forwards.

“I guess so…” she hesitated and smiled weakly at Harry.

Harry didn't notice the shaky smile that Ginny gave him. "Well come on now, I guess we should be going." Then he led Ginny down the road to the nearest temple, where the moon illuminated to look white. Pushing a block and muttering the words - "Levitate", with a groan the door opened to a light hallway. Shaped lions appeared on the marbles, as Harry lead Ginny down. "Ahh we're here."

The halls were matted with straw rugs. The sidewalls were oriental Japanese decoration making the room look light and warm. Harry was soon greeted by a short bustling man, "Ahh good evening Mr. Potter, the results have come. It looks like that Voldemort indeed have a purpose for the arsenic."

Ginny blinked several times, squinting when the light hit her eyes because of the change from dark to light. She looked around the temple and saw the lions on the marble.

“Wow, very Gryffindor-ish,” she smiled as she scanned the rest of the place.
She sighed, feeling a bit calmer…
‘This isn’t too bad…’ she thought.
When the man came up and greeted Harry, Ginny listened and froze up,

“Hello,” she squeaked.

The man seized up Ginny before giving Ginny a hearty handshake. "Ahh, come, come everyone is welcome here, who fight for the light. The meeting is about to start. Before we go would you like anything?" Harry shook is head, then looking at Ginny is said, "Well maybe a Green Tea." He followed the short man, into one of the rooms

Ginny followed the two a bit hesitantly into the room where several chairs and a desk stud. All the rooms here felt surprisingly warm and inviting, but that didn’t put Ginny at ease.

“Thank you,” she said as she was handed a cup of green tea. “So, what are you guys doing here?” she asked, looking at Harry and the other man.

The jolly man answered quite enthusiastically, "Well for starters we are a connection to the medi-wizards in Vatican, only we take care part of the Oriental and Asian side. So far we've analyzed Mr. Potter's samples of the traces of arsenic found of DE bodies, and done some research on dark magic. This branch only focuses mostly on taking care of things that isn’t in right contact of the war."
Harry sat dully twisted apiece of napkin; he couldn't remember the last time that he had listened to such a long speech. Well other than Blaises of course. "So the results? Why was arsenic found?"

Ginny listened attentively, losing herself for a moment; she had always been interested in healing. In her sixth year she had begun to take the class necessary for such, she had always been told she was of a caring nature.
She looked over at Harry and smiled at him sympathetically.

“Interesting…” she asked interested, “what was the reason?”

This time, Monigama, looked seriously at Harry with round spectacles flickering in the beige light. "Arsenic as you know is a science component that is mostly used to kill rats. Using the human sign on the periodic table, Arsenic is a Halogen Gas, that can be liquid or gas...the sign is As, just for further reference. Now what we do know is that the trace is put on the bodies willingly..."

"It seems like," Monigama continued that the Death Eaters digested it, into their body or maybe they injected it. Now, with the right chemicals and the right formulas, this arsenic can give the Death Eaters great strength, but weakened mental state. Which is exactly what Voldemort wants. A weakened mind can be controlled better."

Harry leaned forward to this. "So you are saying that Voldemort is using this control people? Arsenic?" Harry frowned, "But even death eaters aren't that stupid and Voldemort already has such a strong control over them, why would he need this?"

Ginny’s smile faded immediately after this. She stumbled back a little bit and sat down on one of the chairs.

“A weakened mental state…?” Ginny asked, almost to herself as if she was just figuring something out. She frowned, this she hadn’t known...

“Didn’t-didn’t you say Harry, that it depended on the person’s strength how much the Dark Lord could control them? Maybe that’s why…” she stopped talking suddenly.

"Well it does depend on the person's state and his/her physical will. It's well known among groups who practice mind entering that they would do such things." Noticing Ginny's shaking form, he touched her arm gently, asking her concerned, "Ginny are you alright. Is there something wrong?"

There was that question again, and Ginny knew the answer.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said in a strange tone. She got up, steadying herself on the table.

“I’m sorry for interrupting,” she smiled apologetically at Monigama, eager to change the subject and said, “Please, do continue,”

Harry gave another concerned glance, knowing that he uses that phrase way too much, and Ginny's answer was quite smooth too. "Well that's all there is to it, we have found out what it is, and now all we need to do is watch and observe it." Monigama answered turning back into his jolly self. Harry smiled and thanked Monigama, "This information is quite valuable to us, and we can use it in the future."

Turning to Ginny, he asked again, "So would you like to go now? We can go back to the SH now." Monigama had already left in a stream of mumbled chemical formulas thought out. "Or we could eat in one of those little restaurants that sell sushi. Have you ever eaten that before? It's really good."

“I’m sure it will,” she mumbled as Harry commented on the information.

Shaking her head and absentmindedly tightening her cloak around her shoulders Ginny looked at Harry and smiled, a bit eager to get out of this place she was about to say she wanted to go back to the Serpents Hole, when her stomach growled.

“I’ve never tried it,” she commented, “some sushi sounds great,”

Harry nodded in agreement and led the way the tunnel again. Far out into the darkness that surrounded them, they wandered like little children down to the city lights. Stopping at the first sushi store they saw, they went in and sat in the cozy surrounding.

Ginny and Harry ate a delicious meal of sushi which Ginny decided she liked very much.

“Wow, I’m full,” she said to Harry, sitting back in her chair. It was the first time in a while she was. With her stomach full and the moon well in the sky Ginny yawned. What she wanted more than anything right now was a long soak in that tub and a very long nap.

“Want to head back now Harry? The sushi was great, and I’m beat,”

Harry smiled, "Well I can give you the port key and it'll take you to the living room in Serpent's hole. I have something I need to do." He looked away lost in though for a second. Leaving the restaurant, Harry gave the port key to Ginny and waved.

In an instant she disappeared. Harry watched the moving traffic for a while, before setting off to another direction.

Boobie Traps

nev_l_b — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 19:11:11 GMT

Neville proudly walked out of his room with a gigantic smile on his face and twirling the hanging belt ends of his robes. Popping open the trapdoor to the Serpent Hole for a split second, he closed it immediately in a satisfied manner.

"Today is the day that I added my new traps to the Serpent Hole!" Neville said to himself in a sing-song manner. He had been praying earlier to Ra, and Ra sent him a flock of birds. Phoenixes galore, disguised as peacocks and herons, and they would attack intruders if the shrine of Ra could depict the mark of death eaters. Neville was quite proud.

redrose_ — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 16:24:33 GMT

Waking up suddenly, Ginny jumped. She sat upright in her old Potion’s Professor’s chair, gazing at her surrounding’s as her heart beat began to slow to a normal thump. She couldn’t quite remember the dream, or rather nightmare she had just awakened from but she felt…frightened. Not only that, but her shoulder felt strange. It didn’t hurt, neither burn nor sting, but she knew something had to be up with the mark. She placed her hand firmly upon it and felt something different, but as the sensation slowly began to fade away she shrugged it off, scanning the bottles of different potion ingredients before her.

She had been searching these past few days for something that might speed up Malfoy’s sleep, not having much success, mind you before she had nodded off. She scolded herself mentally for drifting off to sleep and stud up, taking her parchment filled with lists of possible potions and the mug of tea she had been drinking from and walked towards the direction of the room where Draco lay, thinking she should make sure he was alright.

When she stepped in though there was no one there, she nearly dropped her mug.

“What the-!?” she yelled as she took a second look around the room.

She spun around and exited the room, looking around for someone who might have an explanation.
As far as she knew, unconscious bodies didn’t right well get up and walk out of a room by themselves.

codename_harry — Fri, 13 Feb 2004 15:41:10 GMT

Harry was standing outside, staring at the Hole... Just staring. His mind was playing battles and debating wither if he made the right choice or not to come here with a suitcase in hand. Staring intently into the hole, he wished that some kind of answer will pop into his mind and make the decision already. Moving in would be meaning to resume like that time in Hogwarts when he was still a student. Though it would be much different now, the people in there are still the same. Different/changed but still recognizable.

Having enough of his own debates, he shook clear his head and slipped in. Walking through the halls, he traced the floor and ceiling patterns with his eyes. Still debating, he walks into the now quite spacious living room. Seeing that Luna was sleeping, he quietly set his things down and sat for a while, staring into the fire that was moving lazily. Almost lost in his own thoughts about leaving or still staying, he realized that Luna didn't look right.

Walking over, he examined Luna, tapping her shoulder he said, "Luna? Luna can you hear me?" Luna lay a bit uncharacteristicly on the rugged floor, head slumped to one side, and only slightly breezing.

Harry wrinkled his eyebrows, checking for any signs of harm. Then, seeing that her condition was stable but weak, he stridded out the room to look for Blaise or Hermione. "Is someone here? This is Harry, Luna is unconcious.. Hello?"

luna_cy_ — Fri, 13 Feb 2004 12:16:03 GMT

Luna was sitting in the common room when the voices came. They filled her head, numbing her body. She screamed, smacking herself to make the voices stop.

"Get out of my head!! GET OUT!! I WILL NOT DO IT!!!" Luna flung herself at the walls and furniture, in a fit of rage.

We will get you Luna... You will see... You cannot escape your destiny... You will do everything we ask... Beware of us....

"NOOOOOOOOO!!" With one last effort to drive the voices out of her head with her fist, she collapsed and went unconscious in front of the fire.

nev_l_b — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:44:32 GMT

Finally, long hard work finally paid off, as Neville wrapped the red silk robes around him. Embroidered with a golden hem around the bottom, sleeves, and the egyptian style necklace cuff (but made out of silk). The eye of Ra was present on the silk necklace cuff, the silk belt, and the end of the long sash that hung from his neck and downwards to the floor, but tucked under the belt. On the robes themselves, symbols and images of the phoenix were embroidered, as well as miniature eyes of ra. Neville had also added to his visage with a black ocre paint the eye of Ra around his own eyes (a ceremonial thing done by the pyromancers, but it washes out and isn't worn as an everyday accessory).

Neville wallked out of his room, proud and letting the sunstones revolve around his body in a circular motion, now, he waited, for the group to walk out and see their new Neville!

Testing the Potions

b_n_zabini — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:16:44 GMT

The following entry was done on IM by Harry, Blaise, and Donna/Ophelia/Hermione, and is now being posted in its entirety behind the cut-tag.

"Hello, Hermione, I see you are looking well," Harry said as he and Blaise walked in. "Shall we get started?"

"Woof", she replied with a tail-wag, glad to see Harry and hoping to be herself again soon.

Blaise pulled out the leather case and opened it. Harry looked at it curiously, seeing that it was a carrying case for potions vials, with eleven of the twelve spots filled. Blaise picked one out and held it up to the light, admiring the clear yellow colour. "This is the one that will cause the animal transformation," he told Harry. "We have one for each of your guests."

Hermione looked at the three Death Eaters and gave a soft growl low in her throat.

Harry gave her a look. "Okay, well I guess I should introduce the test subjects... I really don't know their names... but we've given them nice nicknames... there's Snizzy over there, as you can guess why," he gestured to the particularly offended-looking prisoner. "That's Smelly, he has some weird odor coming off his clothes. And over there is Glump, because he looks like a big lump. Which one do you want first?" he asked Blaise.

"Glump is better known as Millicent Bulstrode's eldest brother, Thomas," Blaise said. "I never cared for him in the least. Let's start with him."

Hermione threw her head in the air, sniffing something, and took off out of the room with a sharp bark.

"Tesoro, where are you going?" Blaise called after her.

She dashed back into the room and started pulling at first Blaise's, then Harry's clothing. Given no choice, they followed her to the front door of the abandoned house and spied the party of Death Eaters waiting for them.

Harry got his wand out in preparation. "I see that we have company. Lucky they've gathered at the wrong house." Hermione gave a very soft woof of agreement. "What do you say we do, Blaise?" Harry asked.

"Neutralize, disarm, interrogate, and whatever else may come to mind," Blaise said casually. "Adligare!" he said, casting a binding spell at the five Death Eaters' hands, and added a larger binding spell to tie them all together. "Constringo!"

Harry sprayed them with a sleeping potion he kept for such occasions and took their wands. "This will do the job for right now, I'll call my men in the clean up the mess."

"Have them find out how they knew we were going to be here, too," Blaise said, wondering if Ginny was more of a threat than he'd thought.

Hermione dashed off again, running low to the ground. Blaise and Harry looked at each other as they heard a woman scream behind them, accompanied by the sound of tearing cloth. The growls and feminine cries continued, with a disturbing fleshy gnawing sound accompanying it.

They turned, wondering who she was chewing on, and saw her dragging an apparently unconscious form toward them, black robe clenched in her teeth. Harry looked down at the limp form.

"Well, look who we have here," he said. "It's our dear friend Cameron."

"Cameron?" Blaise asked, trying not to laugh out loud. "I thought for sure it was a girl, what with those high-pitched squeals and screams. Hrmm, your friend, Cameron, is more than he appears, it seems."

"Woof!" Hermione agreed, tail wagging furiously. She looked very proud of herself.

"Beautiful work, " Blaise said to Hermione. Her tail wagged even harder.

"Good girl--" Harry said, then corrected himself, "I mean, Hermione, nice job. I knew that for a while now. He's been following me wherever I go. Though, how do we make him talk?"

Hermione looked up at Harry then down at Cameron with a wolfish grin.

"Let's worry about that after we test our potions," Blaise suggested, leading the way back into the house. Harry took a moment to call his back-up to take care of the sleeping and unconscious Death Eaters outside, then followed them back inside.

"Okay, time to experiment." Harry was all business as he dragged "Glump" to a chair. "We've given them sedatives that makes it almost impossible for them to move on their own," he told Blaise.

"You've thought of everything, I see," Blaise said, carefully pouring the potion down Bulstrode's throat.

"Yes, I've tried to. . . " Harry let that statement trail off as he looked at the animal Bulstrode had become.

"I always suspected him of having a lot in common with a gorilla," Blaise said, picking up another potion and moving to his next test subject.

"Gorillas are too smart to be Death Eaters," Harry said, "well, smarter than him for sure."

Hermione made a chuffing noise that sounded like a wolfy laugh as the second one turned into a ferret. She grabbed the futilely squirming thing by the scruff of its neck and trotted over to Harry with it.

"A donkey!" Blaise exclaimed after he'd given the last potion. "What interesting inner lives these fellows lead."

"What is the reversal potion intended to do to them?" Harry asked.

"Hopefully return at least one, if not all, to their human form, or as close as they were before, anyway," Blaise said, setting the three empty potions vials to the side, and pulling two more out of his case, both a clear ocean blue in colour.

Hermione wagged her tail in anticipation when she saw him holding the blue potions.

Blaise handed one of them to Harry, who tilted the vial into the immobile gorilla's mouth. They watched in dismay as, instead of transforming back into Thomas Bulstrode, the gorilla went into convulsions and became very still, falling sideways off the chair.

Hermione's ears drooped and she sat down on her haunches, looking at Blaise and his potions case, still holding the ferret by its scruff.

Blaise deliberately dropped the other blue potion vial to the floor, watching distractedly as it broke and soaked into the plank flooring.

"Still two more to try," Harry said in a falsely cheerful voice, disturbed by the morose looks on his companion's faces.

Blaise pulled out two more potions, peridot green coloured. He handed one to Harry and held the other loosely in his fist. Hermione held her head up, offering the ferret to Harry. He took it from her and poured the green potion down it throat, then placed it on the chair recently abandoned by the now-dead Bulstrode/Gorilla.

The ferret transformed back into his pinch-faced human form, but almost immediately began drooling and babbling, tearing at his own hair.

"We've just got Longbottom back on the mend, there's no need to create a raving replacement for him just yet," Blaise said calmly, then suddenly threw the vial in his hand hard against the far wall, where it shattered. He took a deep breath and let in out in a sigh, forcing a smile at Hermione. He looked at the four potions left in the case, first touching a buttery yellow coloured one for a second then one that was a violent purple colour for a bit longer, before he pulled out two vials that contained a tomato red mixture. He passed one to Harry and bit his lower lip as he watched for its effect on the last transformed Death Eater.

Hermione hunched her shoulders tensely and pressed against Blaise's leg. He touched the top her head comfortingly.

They all visibly relaxed as the donkey changed back into his previous human form and immediately began screaming obscenities at them.

"At least he's raving sanely," Harry remarked, forcing a vial of sleeping potion down his throat and watching him collapse to the floor.

Blaise cleared his throat nervously and looked at the last reversal potion in his hand. "Well, tesoro, it looks as though Draco may have come through for us." He held up the vial in his hand. "Ready?"

She gave him a quite subdued "wuf".

He sat on the floor beside her and carefully tilted the vial so she could drink the potion.

Harry watched in horror and fascination as the wolf slowly changed into Hermione. "It's working," he said, relieved. "But it's happening so slowly."

Blaise wiped a drop of sweat from his temple. "It will probably take longer for her, she's been a wolf for some time now."

Harry nodded, trying to think of something to say that would comfort the obviously distressed Blaise. "You'll have her back, we will all have her back."

Blaise nodded, never taking his eyes off Hermione. As her transformation stopped, he realized she looked just a bit older than when the attack had happened, and that she was even more beautiful than he remembered her being. She whimpered slightly, wincing in pain and breathing heavily. He gathered her nude, porcelain-pale body into his arms and cradled her tenderly, to overcome to speak.

"Hermione. . ." Harry couldn't breathe properly. He shrugged off his trench coat and draped it around her.

"Oh," she said in a raspy voice, "that hurt."

"Ora li ho, il mio amore. Nonli lasci mai vanno," Blaise said, covering her face with kisses. "Thank you for everything, Harry. You can break the other two vials now. i won't require them after all."

Puzzled, Harry did as Blaise asked.

"Yes, Harry," Hermione said, "thank you for all your help. And the coat," she smiled up at him.

"I brought some warm clothes for you, tesoro," Blaise told her. "I'll get them in a moment."

"No problem," Harry said, looking at the happy couple. "I, uh--, I should go and check on the other Death Eaters. You two get reaquainted. I have a portkey to take you back to the Hole when you're ready."

Blaise pulled a bag out of his pocket and enlarged it. "Proper warm clothes for you," he said, giving Hermione the bag and pressing his face against her tangled mahogany coloured curls.
"Thank you, love," she said. "Hold on, Harry, and you can have your coat back. It's too cold for you to go without."

She slipped into the next room to change, coming back wearing the warm clothes Blaise had bought for her on their shopping trip, trying to finger comb the snarls out of her hair. She handed Harry his coat with a smile of thanks, then hugged him tightly.

Harry hugged her back, a gentle smile on his face. "I was honored to help. You two talk... I'll see you later Hermione, there's so much to say. I've signaled my men. They will be here soon, we'll take care of the rest of the clean-up."

"Do have fun playing with Cameron," she said, an almost Slytherin smile gracing her delicate features.

"And check his back, near the shoulder. You should find an interesting mark there," Blaise added.

"I think I will," Harry said, "though it should be more interesting when he wakes up and tries to explain himself."

"Just one more thing," Blaise said to Hermione, pulling a small box out his pocket. "I have something else to give you, and to ask you. I had a wonderful speech all prepared, but I've completely forgot it now. I just. . . I love you, Hermione, with all my heart, and I want to ask you what I should have asked a long time ago. Will you marry me?"

Hermione blinked and looked at Blaise in surprise. "Marry you?"

"I had this made while we were still in Spain, and I kept waiting for. . . I don't know what I was waiting for. I'll understand if you don't want to, but nothing would make me happier." He looked at her expectantly.

She walked closer and looked him in the eye a few seconds, then smiled and kissed him soundly. "Yes, beloved. I'd like nothing better."

"Well," Harry said, looking at the embracing lovers with a shy smile, "Congratulations Hermione, and Blaise, you finally have the girl you want... just remember what we talked about."

"Talked about?" Hermione asked curiously.

"I have to go now, the men are here," Harry said, holding out the portkey.

"Good idea," Blaise said, taking the portkey, "someone still smells like a wet dog."

"Hey!" hermione exclaimed, thumping him on his shoulder with her tiny fist.

"Don't worry about me hurting her, Harry, worry about her beating me up before the night's over," Blaise said with a laugh, rubbing at his shoulder.

"I think you'll both have a few sore spots in the morning," Harry said.

Hermione gave him a playful growl.

"Hermione," Harry laughed, " you need to get out of the wolf instinct."

She stuck her tongue out at both of them.

" Let's go back, tesoro, Harry has work to do, and I have your favourite lavender soap waiting for you.

"Lavender?" Hermione asked in an interested voice. "Well, perhaps I'll forgive you for saying I smell like a wet dog."

"I'll see you all tomorrow," Harry said, waving goodbye.

"Looking forward to it," Blaise told him.

"Bye, Harry!" Hermione said, waving back, then turning to Blaise. "Lavender huh... well if you are a good boy I might even let you help me wash my back."

"Yes, lavender soap and shampoo, too," Blaise confirmed. "And a new brush and comb." He smirked at her and gave her another kiss. " At least you won't need the flea dip now."

"Oh, honestly," Hermione said. "You know, you are just asking to sleep in the dog house tonight."

He gave her his most pleading expression, "But I'd rather sleep with you. Sleep being just a figure of speech, of course," he added in a wicked tone.

"We'll discuss it after you wash my back," Hermione said, and activated the portkey to take them home.

OOC:// End of scene.

A Talk with Harry in the Ghost Town of Hogsmeade

b_n_zabini — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 07:01:53 GMT

Blaise tried not to show his nervousness as he and Hermione left the ruins of Hogwarts heading to the remains of Hogsmeade, where they were to meet Harry with his three prisoners.

He prayed to every god he'd ever heard of that one of the three potions he carried would work. If not, hope was not lost, but he was impatient to have Hermione back as she should be. The waiting was torture, even for someone with his degree of patience.

Hogsmeade certainly looked different from the way he remembered it. It was nothing more than a ghost town now. It had been mostly destroyed right after Hogwarts castle fell, and the few survivors had dispersed across the rest of Britain; a few even found their way to Nuestro Aliso, where he and Hermione had been so happy for their short time.

He looked down at her, trotting along beside him, and knew in his heart that they would be happy again, even holed up in what was left of the Slytherin dungeon, no matter what his friends, or even hers, might think about it.

It was just a matter of finding the right potion. Draco had worked tirelessly on the three variations Hermione was most confident would work. That was probably the reason he'd got careless with the last cauldron of potion he was brewing, Blaise told himself. Lack of restful sleep did tend to make one careless. At least he hadn't had an accident with one of the transformation potions. That would have been all they needed, to have both of the best Potions makers giving instructions to the ones brewing reversal potions by pushing blocks around the floor with their noses.

BOOM!

bibliothca_lupe — Mon, 09 Feb 2004 18:30:36 GMT

The Fates having heard Blaise's words took the situation into their hands, and the Hole was rocked with an explosion. The lot of them of course went to see what was wrong and found Draco Malfoy out cold and in a seeming deep sleep from a potions accident.

redrose_ — Mon, 09 Feb 2004 16:49:42 GMT

It had been no lie when Ginny said she had been feeling sick, she had spent the last day and a half in one long sleep except for the odd moments where she got up for a while, only to go to sleep again. She had only gotten up not even an hour ago and taken a long, warm shower. Grateful for the warm water and the fragrant soaps and shampoos she had long forgotten about. She felt so clean (at least from the outside), rid of the dust, her hair clean and she smiled at the delightful smell that filled the air. She was surprised to see her reflection and how different she looked, her hair pulled away from her face, her skin finally cleared of all the dust and that ruddy old green dress gone.

She now walked down to the kitchens where she much looked forward to some hot tea and something to fill her empty stomach. She wore some of the clothes they had bought on their shopping trip. A pair of muggle jeans she had found luckily in the shop, they were quite comfortable, a small black simple t-shirt and a small sweater for the cold. Her long hair was still wet and pulled back up in a messy bun, strands hanging loose from it. Finally reaching the kitchens she pulled open the door, finding no one there and walking over to the fridge and was delighted to find it had been restocked and cleaned. She smiled rummaging through it but decided on some tea instead, considering she still wasn’t feeling completely recovered and searched until she found some tea bags and a kettle. Using her wand that she kept in the belt loop of her pants she heated up the water and transfigured a mug sitting down at the table, setting her wand on it and took slow sips of the hot drink.

nev_l_b — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 19:01:50 GMT

A bit early in the evening, Neville walked out of his room that he had been stuffed up in since early in the morning, sewing and embroidering his new robes. Neville was also given a new shirt and pair of trousers, also in red silk, possibly imported from China. And also a pair of new shoes to replace the old tattered ones. Neville didn't wear his bedsheet as he walked out, only in his new clothing and holding a velvet sack, which contained sun stones and now also his spices.

He took the "broken corridor" as he named it, leading to the kitchens. The corridor was a bit falling apart, dusty and had many views of the foundation of the original building. Stopping in the kitchens, Neville found the box of crackers that most have been eating from, was completely empty. With a sigh, Neville rummaged through cabinets and drawers, without much left inside. The cold storage, that was the alternative, however, it hasn't been opened by anybody yet since 3 years ago. The door frame had a border of ice that froze it shut.

"Flammatus!" Neville called out, as a single sun stone zipped out of the bag, erupted in flame, and melted away the ice from the metal door into the cold storage. The door flung itself open, revealing a cold, dark room.

"Helios Fota!" he cried out, and many more stones zipped out and flew to the ceiling, and started to glow like the sun itself. The room had been exposed with light. Snow lay on the floor, raw meat corpses hung from above, and crates were stacked in a corner. Neville wandered around carefully. It was cold, the raw meat didn't help comfort him either.

He headed for the crates, and tried prying them open. With frustration, he rammed his fist on the lid. Suddenly, the walls shook, and a bang came from behind him. For behind him, something fell from above. A series of golden dragon heads and mermaid carvings in a seashell moulded bowl with knobs of different colours. The Prefects' Bathtub, it had fallen from the upper level! Now the bathtub is in the middle of the cold storage room, but does it function properly?

Neville ran towards it, dusting off a bit of the dust. His hands traced over the designs of waves and squares in the borders. Greek make, no doubt about that. Rose marble founded itself within the seashell shaped bowl of the tub, and an odd fixation at the bottom instead of a drain. Ron and Hermione had been Prefects and had told them that when you finish your bath and get out of the tub, a built in portkey sends the water back to where it came from, depending on the knob you turn. Each colour symbolized a different type of bath water, and sometimes it wasn't even water. The green knob was used for an Asian herbal tea bath, hot and steaming, but very healthy for your inner organs. The blue one was for a traditional Turkish bath, and a Turkish coffee would pop out of the sides for you to drink. The purple one was for Cleopatra's golden milk bath, and probably the most nourishing one of all.

Turning the purple tap, milk begun to rise from out of nowhere. Suddenly, a teabag was dropped in and swirlled around, bronzing the milk. It was hot, steamy and fragrant.

Neville looked at it. The swirls and bubbles were tempting, the fragrance was giving him the euphoria to jump in. Neville stared at it with wide eyes, pleading that this is not a dream.

That was it, Neville couldn't take it anymore. He rushed into the tub like a dolphin at a circus, and stayed in there for a long long time.

*~*~*~*~*

Neville gotten out of the tub, dried himself with magically conjured towels from the tub, got dressed, and begun to head back. While walking, he noticed that he felt more airy and less "rough". The touch of silk against his skin was like butter.

Reaching his room, he looked at himself in the old broken mirror. His skin was radiant, rid from all the dirt and dust that the Serpent Hole carried. His hair shone in its natural mahogany brown colour and was silky smooth.

'I look incredible, what did the bath do to me? I like it! I must tell the others about my discovery!' Neville thought, and continued to gaze into the mirror.

In an out of the way classroom...

love_is_idle — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 18:02:44 GMT

Pansy had levitated the armchairs in from one of the unused dormitory rooms, spelled a little bedwarmer to work a hell of a lot better, and settled down to wait for Blaise and who ever else was coming to the meeting. She'd discovered there really were quite a few unused rooms. They could do so many things with this place. A library, like Ophelia-the-wolf wanted, maybe a smaller study or drawing room. She mused that it would end up feeling just like one of the old Pureblood manors before long. Ah, well, what you were raised with is in your blood, isn't it? She settled back into her chair and sipped a glass of hot cider, which she'd prepared a few extra mugs of. She knew how to be a good hostess, after all.

nev_l_b — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 12:42:08 GMT

Neville face brightened at the sound of Blaise talking to Ginny in the hallway. Leaving the old books behind, Neville rushed out the door and saw his prize on the couch. 12 feet of shimmering scarlet red silk with a bundle of golden thread and a pair of needles.

"Wonderful! I haven't been this happy since...ever!!!" Neville jumped. He grabbed the stuff, plus a bag of spices on the side, and ran into his room.

"Thanks Blaise!"

THE SHOPPING TRIP

b_n_zabini — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 21:42:54 GMT

"I know you're a good friend of Neville, or were," Blaise said to the wolf while they waited for Pansy to find Ginny and Luna, " but, by all the minor gods, he's lost what little sense he may have once had."

He sighed, wondering just how long they'd be out before Pansy, Ginny, and/or Luna were ready to hex one another.

Random FYI - Where We Stand with Voldie

bibliothca_lupe — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 21:00:26 GMT

Harry and Co - Green
Voldemort - Red
Natural - Purple

love_is_idle — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 19:44:56 GMT

Pansy paced through the now-dry hallways of the Serpent Hole on a pretense of looking for any other problems that the boys had neglected to fix. Really, she'd been bored out of her mind sitting still and had decided to get a bit of exercise. She sure as hell wasn't going to go above ground - and no one in this place would get the benefit of seeing her do yoga.

She couldn't remember having been bored during school. There was always someone to torment, class work, something. She stopped and looked at a statue for a moment. She hadn't changed much, so how come everything seemed different?

Yawn...

bibliothca_lupe — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 22:17:19 GMT

She climbs up on the bed where Blaise is sleeping and curls up by him and drifts off to sleep.

masked_identity — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 16:30:43 GMT

Cameron turned through the twisted corridors and passed a blankly staring Neville. Rolling his eyes, he really saw no point in talking to that useless git. Then he heard voices and the sound of a door opening, sharpening his sense, he put on a bright sunny smile. Through the doorway, in the room was Harry, a wolf and another man, the one who had opened the door, who at the sight of Cameron, surprised flickered over his face adn then confusion. "Great to see you again Harry and you are who?" He asked the confused looking man standing before him.

b_n_zabini — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 15:30:45 GMT

Blaise led the way to his room, and cast locking and sealing charms on the door after the three of them were inside.

"It's a long story how it happened," he said to Harry. "We don't think it would be a good idea to let Draco know who she really is, just in case he wants to be difficult about things. I'd rather not owe him any favors, if I can help it. I'll just deal with his tantrum when he finds out I've lied to him."

nev_l_b — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 13:43:25 GMT

Neville wandered around the rooms, bored, as usual. There wasn't much he could do. draco wouldn't let him touch the mermaid relics he found, and he already read the books left in the ruins many times. His purpose of living in the Serpent Hole had little meaning now. He first came to live here as a means of hiding and protection from the dark lord, as the dark lord requires Neville for a sacrifice. Ginny, too, is here for protection and hiding, but she won't tell anyone her reason.

Neville eventually layed down on a couch in the common room. There wasn't anyone he could talk to, Neville didn't fit in with all the Slytherins, and the others were very self contained. The others couldn't see his talent in pyromancy as an amazing skill, but rather as an excuse for not being able to use a wand properly, which made Neville look very low class in front of everyone.

Tired, miserable, and bored, Neville gazed at the ceiling of the common room. A dome shape, carved from the earth, reinforced with wood planks and glass. The paintings on the dome had a series of phases, like a story, but it wasn't the clearest over the ages of time. But the form of the snake was clearly visible, as were the phases of the moon, and an eye pattern. Neville couldn't logically put these things together, but hopefully someone would explain it.

b_n_zabini — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 10:25:40 GMT

Blaise was in the kitchen when Pansy wandered in looking for a snack. He was taking what seemed to be roasted rabbit out of an oven, and carrying on a conversation with the wolf, who was sitting in a chair at the table like a human.

"Good morning, Pans," he said cheerfully, "care for some lunch? Donna went hunting for us this morning. Rabbit with what few vegetables I could scrounge in here."

He placed some food on three plates and sat them on the table. "I have a lot to tell you, Pansy, and you should probably sit for most of it."

He sat himself and started to eat. The wolf picked food off her own plate delicately.