Hello. :) This is my first Tintin fic (which is actually my first fic posted on here) so, please go easy on me! I have read the books and watched the show when I was very little. However, I went to go see the new Tintin movie in 3D, and I really liked how the characters were expressed. So, that's pretty much what inspired the story. I still plan on including other characters like Professor Calculus and Bianca Castafiore, but the way I will portray Tintin and the Captain will mostly be like how they were portrayed in the movie. I just believe that Tintin's personality in the movie is a bit more appealing than in the comics (despite that, I will ALWAYS love the comics!)

So, yeah. :) Enjoy!

Chapter 1

It seemed to be a busy day for everyone that day. Labrador Street was crowded with people constantly checking their watches, hurrying to their business, and rushing to call the nearest taxi. For Tintin, he had a call from Professor Calculus about his latest invention. Though, Tintin always wondered why he even bothered to waste his time rushing to see another ridiculous idea that the nutty Professor came up with. Perhaps it was to spice up his day, or just simply to find an excuse to leave the house. Either way, Tintin was always looking for something interesting to happen.

While making his way to the laboratory, Tintin grabbed a newspaper and flipped through the pages. The most exciting story he found was about some woman who lost her cat.

"Terrible," he muttered as he rolled up the article. "Simply terrible."

As a journalist, Tintin felt ashamed that there couldn't be a more adventurous article in the paper that someone wanted to share with the world. Though, nothing overly interesting was happening lately, so it was hard to find inspiration to write a story that was interesting enough to make the front page.

He looked at his feet to find Snowy happily trotting along beside him. He was carrying a twig in his mouth that he picked up earlier. During their stroll, the little dog has been throwing the stick around and catching it to amuse himself. At least Snowy found something to be excited about, Tintin thought.

Before knocking on the door to the laboratory, Tintin took a deep breath; only God knows what ridiculous idea the Professor came up with. He waited, but there was no response. He knocked again. Still, no answer. Then, Tintin remembered about the Professor's impaired hearing. So, he decided to let himself in.

"Who's there?" the Professor called. Snowy pranced into the room and pawed at the ends of the man's pants to say hello. "Why, hello there Snowy! Tintin, is that you?"

"Hello, Professor." Tintin greeted. "You wanted to show me your invention?"

"My pension? What on earth would you possibly want to know about my pension?" Calculus muttered, clearly mishearing the boy. "Anyway, I would like to show you what I have recently created!"

The silly man went over to his work area and held up an object that looked like a remote with an antenna sticking out at the end. On the remote, there was a screen that blinked in a steady rhythm with jagged lines moving across. Tintin observed the object, trying to figure out what possible purpose it could provide.

"It's very… interesting, Professor." Tintin said unsurely. "But, what is it?"

"Tintin! How dare you use such foul language towards my mechanism?" The man fumed, obviously mishearing the boy once again. "I call it the Fusion-powered Volt Pulse Monitor. With this device, you can immediately tell if the person it lying or telling the truth by watching the levels on the remote!" Tintin gave the man an incredulous look.

"I hate to appear unsupportive," Tintin made sure he would annunciate every word he said. "But haven't they already made a lie detector?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Tintin!" Calculus scolded. "This is much more efficient than your typical lie detector! Every time your heart beats, the device will beep with each pulse! The levels displayed here are what measure your breathing rate, your blood pressure, and your perspiration levels. It will even tell the temperature of your body! Do you know of any lie detectors that can do all of that on a small screen?"

"Actually," Tintin held the remote and observed the screen. Snowy woofed at the beeping the device made and cocked his head in curiosity. "This seems to be quite efficient. It's very innovative, Professor."

"I worked very hard on it," Calculus smiled contently to himself. "I knew you would be interested in it."

"You've really outdone yourself!" Tintin laughed and handed the device back to the man. "I can't believe it, actually."

"Yes, well, as amazing as my invention is," he placed his creation on a nearby desk. "That is not what I called you over here for." He led Tintin to a map spread out across a table. There was a red needle pinned in a location in South America and a few notes scribbled along the sides of the page.

"I was talking to a dear friend of mine, Professor Bruno Medina, who is a well-known archaeologist in South America. He recently uncovered an artefact on one of his expeditions to an ancient rainforest in Brazil, and he is going to present it in front of the press tonight at eight o'clock. I was wondering if you and Captain Haddock would be interested in joining me at the presentation."

"I would love to, Professor." Tintin happily accepted. At least a new artefact is more likely to make front page than a missing cat, he thought.

"I thought you would say that," Calculus said, pleased with himself. "I know you're always looking for an interesting story!"

"Well," Tintin sighed. "With the way things are going lately, anything will seem interesting."

"I hear the restaurant down the street serves good soup." Calculus mentioned, once again mishearing the young journalist. "But Tintin, this is a very important discovery! This could lead to even more discoveries!"

"I'm aware of that Professor," Tintin sighed in frustration. He made an effort to gesture to the professor about adjusting his hearing aid. "Do you know anything else about this artefact that Professor Medina found?" Calculus scratched his head.

"The only thing that I heard about it is that it supposedly used to be possessed by an evil power. It would be interesting to find more about it, yes?"

"Indeed…" Tintin murmured in thought. This was definitely a start to a new adventure; he could feel it. Snowy started wagging his tail and panted in excitement.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Snowy?" Tintin looked at his furry friend. Snowy barked and thumped his tail on the ground in response.

"Thanks for the information, Professor!" he said in excitement. "I already have ideas for an exciting story! I'll see you tonight!" With that, he eagerly scampered off.

A beep came from the monitor.

There has been a slight decrease in temperature in the facial region, said the voice of the machine.

"Oh my," Calculus adjusted his glasses. "I suppose I should take my pills."

"It looks like we found our story, Snowy." Tintin declared as he made his way back to Labrador Street. Snowy barked in response and playfully hopped around his owner's feet. "There will be no more stories about lost kittens, that's for sure." He threw his rolled up newspaper in the trash.

"A cursed artefact that was discovered in a Brazillian rainforest… how curious." Tintin thought aloud. "I bet there's an elaborate story behind this that's dying to be uncovered. I've always wanted to travel to Brazil! I wonder if the Professor plans on taking a trip there at some point… I'll ask him at the presentation tonight."

He opened the door to the apartment and saw Mrs. Finch coming down the stairs. This was unusual, since Mrs. Finch never went upstairs unless she was selling a new room to someone. As far as Tintin was concerned, all the rooms were taken, so this puzzled him.

"Mrs. Finch," Tintin said to her. "I thought you were no longer renting rooms out to anyone?"

"Yes, well…" Mrs. Finch cleared her throat. "Someone recently moved out of one of the rooms upstairs, so I sold it to a young lady just a few moments ago. It's in the room across from yours, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't disturb her stay here."

"Oh," Tintin said. "I see."

"Now go about your business, boy. I have a cup of cocoa heating up on the stove." With that, she left to the kitchen. Tintin chuckled at the landlady and he continued up the stairs.

"Back to business, I guess." He chuckled. "We should make a quick stop to the library before the presentation, right Snowy?" Snowy barked in reply. Then, Tintin felt his shoulder get pushed into the wall and heard several objects hitting the ground.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" said a feminine voice.

"No, I should be apologizing!" Tintin insisted as he helped her pick up her things. Most of the objects were books and sheets of paper shuffled all along the stairs. The sheets of paper were all sketches, detailed at that. They were mostly of animals: birds, monkeys, lions, and many more exotic creatures. He neatly stacked them together and handed them to her.

"Did you draw these?" he asked, looking at some of the pages.

"Um… yes, I did."

He fixed his focus up and his eyes widened.

The young lady appeared to be fairly tall, though she was shorter than Tintin. She had long, golden hair that gracefully fell past her narrow shoulders. She seemed to be thin, but she wasn't completely shapeless. For a willowy figure, she appeared to be in good physical shape. Her cheek bones were defined and when she smiled her dimples showed, which distinguished the fact that she wasn't very old; late teens to early twenties, Tintin assumed. Just above the left side of her lip was a beauty mark, like Marilyn Monroe's. Her lips were smaller than most girls, tinted lightly with a red lipstick. She was wearing a dark blue, casual cotton day dress that had a white bow tied in the back and she wore a black jacket over top. But, what fascinated him the most was her deep, blue eyes. They were like the daytime sky, or the depths of the ocean. They had a sense of adventure and mystery hidden within them, which, as everyone knows, is what fascinates Tintin the most.

"I know they aren't the best," she said modestly. "But I'm hoping I could improve."

"I think they're very good." Tintin said in a flustered manner. He started to awkwardly scratch the back of his head. The girl giggled.

"I'm glad you think so." She said. "Would you mind grabbing that novel? It fell over there."

"Ah, yes! Of course!" Tintin obediently picked it up and admired the cover. His jaw dropped when he read the title.

"You're reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo?" Tintin gasped. "This is one of the greatest books ever written! It's a classic- no, a masterpiece! I couldn't put it down. It took me a long time to finish, but it was definitely worth the time! I've always wanted my own copy of the book. "

"You may borrow it, if you'd like," the girl offered. "I'd be happy to lend it to you."

A giddy smile crept across his face. "Thank you," He heard a bark from Snowy and he looked down to see that his little terrier was carrying a wallet. He grabbed it from the dog's mouth and he glanced at the ID card.

"Your name is Eponine?" he said aloud. "Like the character in Les Miserables?" The girl chuckled.

"Yes, my parents also enjoyed the book." she said, taking the wallet. "Though, I prefer to be called by my middle name, since it's easier to remember. Maria Henry is what most people call me."

"It's a pleasure, Miss Henry." Tintin said politely as he held out his hand.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mister…?"

"Tintin," he answered. "My name is Tintin."

"How unique," Maria smiled warmly at him and shook his hand. She was a classy, mature young woman, who was clearly confident in herself. Tintin's cheeks flushed with color as he nervously chuckled.

"Er… um… I don't believe I've seen you around here before." He said.

"I just moved here," she said. "I've been studying to be an archaeologist. One of my greatest inspirations has recently made a visit here and I've been dying to meet him! So, I've decided to finish some of my courses here and then I'll hopefully get a chance to work with him."

"That must be exciting," Tintin said.

"Yes, I'm very excited!" Maria checked her watch. "Shoot, I'm late… Well, it was very nice meeting you Tintin, but I have to hurry to my lecture. Take care!" With that, the young lady strode down the stairs and out the door. Tintin smiled, somewhat proud that he made a new friend. He looked down at Snowy, who tilted his head in curiosity.

"Fascinating, wasn't she?" he said to his little friend. Snowy panted and happily wagged his tail in agreement. Tintin patted the puppy on the head. "We should probably get going. I want to look more into this story about cursed artefacts."

I hope you guys liked it. :) Feel free to tell me how what you think!

Please no flaming! I wrote this strictly for my own enjoyment and I wanted to share it with everyone on here.