Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Harry Potter.

Chapter Three – To Hogwarts

Ten o'clock on the dot, Harry and Celesta joined Shane in the white paneled entry hall of Runes. Trunks were lined up against one wall, twenty-nine in all and Harry and Celesta dragged theirs over to complete the number to thirty-one. The Dueling Defenders were off to the side discussing how different Hogwarts was going to be to Runes and Harry, Celesta, and Shane moved over to join them.

Annette Castley, fourth in rank, was just commenting on the time difference between Hogwarts and Runes when Provost Hunter and Master Kane entered into the hall. Harry excused himself and quickly walked over, presenting his and Celesta's waver forms.

"My father said that it was my decision and that I could compete if I wanted to," Harry said very quickly as Master Kane took the forms. Diana glared at her nephew and Harry raised his hands in surrender, leaving his cane to balance magically beside his leg. "Just trying," he said cheekily.

The provost shook her head and looked to the ceiling as if to ask for patience, or maybe thanking the gods that Harry was graduating this year. Harry smirked either way and moved off to join the Defenders again as the rest of the Dueling Association, students from various years, mingled about in their own groups.

Everyone was dressed in their finest school robes, robes that had been made specifically for the Dueling Association. Like their typical school robes, they were of a deep blue color and held the crest of Runes, a circle of tiny runes with a wand down the middle, on the right breast. Unlike their school robes, however, a second crest was on the left side, this one very similar to the school crest except the wand was angled with a sword crossed over it. Also unlike their school robes, these robes were form fitting, and had charms specifically designed for dueling.

The Defenders had something more on their robes that the younger years did not. The hem, the bottom of their sleeves, and down their front and around their neck was lined with silver. It had been Celesta's idea that the Defenders had something different from the rest of the Association, simply because they strived to be the best, were the best, and wanted it known. It was agreed that when they all graduated, that the robes would be turned over to the next group of seventh year duelists, and so on and so forth. Harry was glad that though they were leaving, they were able to leave behind in the school, a tradition, a legacy.

Provost Hunter clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention and they all immediately turned to her. "Tonight, we are going to be stepping into an entirely different world. Not only is it going to be tomorrow when we arrive, but we are going to one of the founding schools of magic. It will be very different from what you are all used to. I've been told that they wear uniforms to classes and special events alike. That the school is separated into four houses, each that hold students from all seven years. And that Hogwarts is strictly a live in school and students are not permitted to leave property without express permission from the faculty, so do remember that, as we will be following this rule as well."

"There are two aspects of Hogwarts that you are going to find very unusual and perhaps startling," carried on Master Kane. "Firstly, ghosts are permitted to have free reign of the school, though I've been assured that they are harmless entities and one of their teachers is in fact a ghost." The provost looked a bit perturbed as her deputy explained this. The Dueling Master just looked amused. Several of the students covered their mouths to keep from showing their amusement as well, while others looked uncertain.

"The second," Provost Hunter continued. "Is that House Elves are responsible for the daily meals and the upkeep of the school and grounds. Now I know that this is very strange to you, since Elf slavery was abolished over a century ago in the America's, but you must keep in mind that it was never abolished in Europe and the House Elves there actually like being of service. I've been asked to tell all of you, not to try and free the Elves. They apparently already have one student continuously trying to do that and the Elves have all but abandoned their duties to that student's house in fear that they would be freed." Again, there were mixed feelings showing on many of the student faces, but amusement was prevalent after the last bit. Even the provost was smirking lightly.

"Their class day's start very early in the morning and go until just before dinner," Master Kane supplied. "I've been told that their classes are structured much differently to ours and in some subjects they may seem either ahead or behind to you. So be careful not to judge them on what they may or may not know. I've also been made aware that magic is permitted in their common rooms, classrooms, out on the grounds, and in their Great Hall, however it is not permitted in their library or in the hallways, due to portraits and other antiques. Also students are instructed to always have their wands available on them."

"Master?" Harry couldn't help but speak up. In fact, when among the Dueling Association, Harry was usually the one most looked at to ask these kinds of questions, so his speaking up was almost expected, though that didn't stop his classmates from hiding their amusement at his abruptness.

"Yes, Harry."

"Since their students are allowed to carry their wands on them, are we permitted ours?" He asked and could see that many of the others were wondering just the same thing, now that he'd brought it up.

"Yes, I was just about to get to that. While at Hogwarts, it is advised that you retain your wand on you at all times. Due to the age of the school, and the amount of magic in and around it, it is likely that objects and the like all over the school have been saturated by magic at some point. I am sure that the students there must have to deal with random oddities all the time that you would likely only run into at Runes every couple of years or so."

"Like random singing wardrobes that run after students, Master?" Shane asked with cheeky smile and several of the older students giggled in remembrance of such a happening. Harry smirked at his cousin knowingly.

"Quite, Mr. Edwards, and that incident still isn't funny," Provost Hunter, said seriously, though they could all see the laughter in her eyes. "Only I would wager some a bit more dangerous than that, so be on your guard, and always travel in pairs." The students nodded at that.

"Yes and there have been several other rules that have been sent to us by the Headmaster of Hogwarts. I've formulated them into a pamphlet and I advise you to memorize them, if only to prevent problems during our stay." Master Kane produced a stack of papers and began handing them out to the students.

Harry took his and started to read down the rather long list, frowning at some of them and rolling his eyes at others. Honestly if something is called forbidden, there is usually a reason for it to be called such, did it really need a written rule… Harry paused as he reached one. He looked up at his aunt. "No dueling? How is that going to work?"

"Ah, yes, I thought that would need explanation. You see, Quidditch is their team sport, not dueling. In fact dueling has been banned at Hogwarts for over fifty years. So the Hogwarts students who are your opponents may have had very little instruction beforehand or practice time. The Headmaster has been kind enough to set up classrooms to allow for our practices, as well as for the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, though I do not know how or if he is arranging practice times for his own students."

"So no mock duels then?" Celesta asked as others looked around each other in question at this news.

"I fear that the Defender's tradition of putting on mock duels at visiting schools will have to be put on hold this year. The showing off of your skill and discipline is likely to be perceived as breaking the rules and not good fun as you would wish it to be," the provost said regretfully and Harry could see Celesta fight not to stamp her foot down in frustration.

Harry simply frowned at it all. He hated when traditions that they had set forth, had to be broken because of the intolerance of the school they were going to, though that was just a small bit that they'd had to deal with before and he could get over. But when Harry had suggested challenging the schools in Europe, he hadn't imagined that they would be this unprepared to compete. If what his aunt said was true, the younger Association members alone would likely wipe the floor with the Hogwarts duelers. Harry had the feeling that this was all going to turn out to be a mockery of a true dueling tournament and he was rather glad that he wasn't competing now.

"Are they even going to take this seriously?" Harry couldn't stop himself from voicing his opinion aloud.

"I have been assured that though some Muggleborns will have little knowledge of dueling and dueling etiquette, that most of their other students take dueling very seriously. Many come from very old and wealthy families, where the tradition of the duel is held in the utmost respect," Master Kane said seriously.

Provost Hunter looked at her watch. "It's almost time for us to leave," she announced, and then slipped the timepiece from her wrist as if an afterthought. "I nearly forgot. I was informed this afternoon that there is no electricity whatsoever at Hogwarts. The wards, most as old as the school, are so powerful that it interferes with electronics of any kind. So I would suggest if you have anything electric with you, including digital watches that you leave them here and I will see to it that your belongings are locked in my office before we depart and are handed back to you when we return."

There were some grumbles at that as many students went to their trunks or pulled off their own watches and started handing random things over to the provost and Master Kane. Harry himself didn't have much in the way of electronics to begin with, but his watch was of the digital variety and so he handed it over with the others. He had a feeling that they were all going to be terribly lost on time for the duration of their stay, maybe they could get an outing to that Wizarding town Celesta had mentioned.

Celesta could be heard mumbling about how she couldn't believe she had to leave her music behind as she rummaged through her neatly packed trunk. Harry only roll his eyes at his sister as he watched Shane speaking to the provost about something. His aunt nodded and then handed something to Shane that Harry couldn't make out from where he was, but was surprised when Shane made a beeline for him. He stopped in front of Harry and practically blocked his view of everyone else with his two inches more of height.

"Harry, because you can't compete, the provost wanted you to have this, to remind everyone of who you are to us," Shane said and handed out a familiar palm-sized silver pendant attached to a thick chain. This pendant he had always seen hanging in his aunt's office. He took it delicately into his hands. The pendant had the Dueling Association crest on one side and DD on the other. The pendant also now bore his full initials, HJPA along the bottom. "The first Dueling Defender and our Captain," Shane said with a smile.

Harry could only smile back as he slipped the pendant over his neck, and then he quickly looked up when he heard clapping around him, and Shane moved out of his view and he realized that they were clapping for him. Harry rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment. Now knowing why Shane had blocked his view. "Umm, thanks guys," he said thickly as he clutched the pendant and forced his emotions back, least he did something really embarrassing and cry.

"You have done so much over the years for this school, Harry, we thought we'd give you something in return," Diana said with a watery smile then before she could embarrass Harry further, she pointed her wand at the various belongings at her feet and they danced off into her nearby office, with the door closing and locking behind them. Master Kane then pulled aside three of the Defenders and handed them each a length of rope.

"We're taking Portkeys then?" Shane asked in interest as he took the rope handed to him.

"Yes, the students are, ten to a rope, no more or less. The Defenders are in charge until the provost and I arrive, we will not be long, but I trust the lot of you can present a unified and dignified front until then?" The students all nodded. Master Kane then pulled Harry aside. "You'll be going a different way with us. Portkey landings can be difficult under the best of circumstances, and international Portkeys tend to be worse. We're going by Floo."

Harry couldn't help but groan at that. "I hate going by Floo," he muttered with a slight huff and Master Kane looked at him in amusement.

"I realize that the Floo network can be a bit disorienting, but it'll be better than landing on your legs wrong and spending your first days in their infirmly," the Dueling Master said wisely.

Harry grudgingly agreed. "I just hope that I don't lose my dinner, and lunch, and breakfast too, not to mention the way they are going to look at me when I stumble out of the fireplace like some drunk," he grumbled.

Master Kane actually laughed in response and then the two turned to watch as the three groups of students all disappeared with a pop. The provost came to stand beside them. "Well gentlemen, what say you help me shrink these trunks and then we'll head out ourselves? Oh and Harry, your father called ahead, the Association all know to use the family name and not Potter for the duration of our stay. I can't imagine that you'd want the attention that an old family name would bring you. We all know how you hate the spotlight," she said knowingly, pointedly, and Harry nodded. It was clear that his father had filled his aunt in on the trouble it would cause if anyone so much as thought that they recognized him. But at least he'd have an adult to turn to if someone did recognize him. That settled his nerves some.

Harry turned from the provost and snapped his wrist down, wincing slightly from the ache in his joints. He grasped his wand that shot quickly out of the holster he had secured on his right forearm. "Now I know why I'm here, to be the pack boy," Harry muttered under his breath and waved his wand and over half the trunks shrunk down at once.

His wand was likely one of the most unique wands among his peers. It had to be made specifically for him, which wasn't that different. Most students' wands were made for them. But his wasn't typically made. They'd tried several different types of cores and woods, but even with his final product, he still blew things up, or nothing happened at all, it was very strange, so had said his giddy wand maker.

It was finally made of two different woods, holly and alder; because of this, the wand itself was ivory in color, but looked as if it had been dipped in blood. The grains in the wood were all bright red, as was the tip of the wand, so it was pretty cool looking. Which was fine by Harry because after he'd found out that he was a Wizard, he'd decided that if they had to use sticks of wood to do magic, their wands should at least be flashy. The influence of one too many Muggle magic shows, his mother once had said.

The core was even more unique than the color. It contained the wingtip feather of a black phoenix, willingly given, very rare. The wand maker had said that his particular core was rarely used in wands simply because it tended to amplify a wizard's magic, making it unstable. In Harry's case, it seemed to settle it, though it was still unstable. So in the end, Harry's own blood was also in his core for added stability. Because of that alone Harry's father and the wand maker had gone through quite the gambit to allow for Harry the use of it. As his wand core was made with his blood, technically every spell he cast was now considered blood magic, which is illegal worldwide.

When finally the wand maker and his father had gotten permission for Harry to use the wand and it was handed over to him; he had been strictly warned not to allow anyone to use his wand, as it would likely kill the caster, or at least seriously harm them, considering the power of the spell. Harry had taken the wand maker's warning very seriously, and then promptly been overwhelmed by the sheer power of his wand. Power that was drawn from his own magical core. Over the years he'd come to fine-tune his control over that power and only really lost it when he was over emotional.

The two adults only shook their heads in amusement at his display, quite used to the levels of power Harry could put into some of his spells, as they continued shrinking and then levitating the trunks into a small box, for easy transport.

"This one seems to be having an issue, it refuses to shrink," his aunt said, as she cast the spell again and then looked over to Harry questioningly and then down at the trunk, Harry's trunk.

Harry's eyes widened. "Oh, that would be my fault," he said quickly and then moved over and dropping roughly to his knees, breathing through the wave of pain that hit him as he did. He really needed to learn to be more careful. He pushed open the lid of his trunk and pulled out a thick book. "Sorry, I already shrunk the book, forgot," he said and then closed the lid and shrunk his trunk, sans book, that he held in his arms, and levitated it into the box with the others. Harry returned his wand to his holster as he stood slowly, with liberal help of his cane.

"That book has been shrunk?" Master Kane questioned as he took in the size of it.

"Well yes, it is The Complete Compendium of Dueling Tactics. Can you imagine me trying to fit it into my trunk at its normal size? I'd I've no room for anything else." The two adults glanced at each other briefly. "What? I always bring the Compendium with me to tournaments," Harry said in an obviously sort of tone and then moved over to the large fireplace at the back wall of the entry hall as he tried to ignore the sniggers coming from the Dueling Master and provost.

"I'll go first," Master Kane said, coming up behind Harry. "Our Floo for the night has been open to international travel," he explained briefly. "The Floo destination is Hogwarts School, Headmaster's Office," he told Harry. He schooled his features back into sternness for whoever was waiting for them on the other side and then took a handful of the green powder and then threw it into the fire. "Hogwarts School, Headmaster's Office." He was gone a moment later along with the box of trunks.

"I'll be right behind you, Harry," Diana said reassuringly, patting him on the shoulder.

Harry reached out and took some of the powder into his left hand. He held his book, and cane close to him and then threw the powder into the fire. "Hogwarts School, Headmaster's Office," he said clearly and then stepped forward. His only thought as the rushing, dizzying feeling washed over him was that he hoped his aunt didn't trip over him when she arrived, as he was going to likely be on the floor when she did.

After what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, the spinning came to an abrupt stop and strong hands caught him as he stumbled out of the fireplace. Unfortunately, while the physical spinning had stopped, the dizziness was still quite a bit there. Harry felt himself moved over to a chair, and he winced visibly as he was sat down. He promptly put his head in his hands, taking deep steadying breaths.

"Harry, are you all right?" Master Kane asked quietly. "Harry?" he prompted worriedly when Harry didn't answer.

"I'll be fine, Emmanuel, just give me and the room a moment to stop spinning," Harry said through clenched teeth, the dizziness was already clearing, that wasn't the problem.

"You are in pain?" Diana asked moving towards him immediately.

Harry nodded. "I'll be fine," he repeated. "Though you were right, Master, it was a very good idea not to take the Portkey." Harry slowly pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane. "I just need to walk it off."

"You will tell me immediately if you feel worse, yes?" his aunt said in a voice that broke no arguments and handed him back his book that he'd clearly dropped.

Harry nodded and then looked around the room, now that it was no longer spinning. The room was huge, round, and stonewalled, with dozens of sleeping portraits and hundreds of books lining the walls. The furniture was much more antique than anything at Runes. It was pretty cool. "Wow, I bet you wish you had an office like this back at Runes, eh Diana," he said taking in the gold knickknacks and instruments.

"Oh hush you," his aunt said sternly, though there was amusement in her voice and a bit of envy in her eyes as she looked around herself. "Where is the Headmaster, he did say he was going to meet us here?" she asked Master Kane.

No sooner had he opened his mouth to reply, then a door opened and an old man, was the only thing Harry could think, walked in. He wore long deep purple robes, complete with matching hat, he had a white beard that reached to his waist, and wispy white hair that flowed over his shoulders and down his back. Good Lord, was he trying to outdo the stereotypical Merlin in looks? Harry looked to his fair-haired provost and the dark haired Master Kane, he'd never thought them young before, but standing before this man, well they almost looked like they were his age.

"Headmaster Dumbledore," the provost said as she walked forward with her hand held out to him.

Harry forced himself to straighten up and not lean so heavily on his cane at the announcement of who this old man was. He unconsciously straightened out his robes and hair. Albus Dumbledore had defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945 in what was said to be one of the greatest duels of the modern age. Was this the same man he'd read about in his European history text? He certainly looked old enough to be.

"Provost Hunter, Master Kane, welcome to Hogwarts. I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you, some of your students seemed to have had a bit of a landing issue, but they are all right now," he said with a no worries kind of air.

Harry wasn't put off by it at all. One bad landing could stop a duelist from competing, as they'd all discovered before. He made for the door before he'd even considered moving. He was sure Celesta could handle whatever happened, but what if something happened to Celesta, their father would kill him and not to mention they'd all have to put up with Cel complaining…

"Harry, Harry, Harry," Master Kane said his name three times, each more impatiently and then practically shouted. "Harold!"

Harry stopped then and turned back around sheepishly. "Yes, Master Kane?"

"They are fine," he stated firmly.

Harry nodded. "Yes, Master Kane, sorry, just remembering the last bad landing," he muttered.

Diana shook her head fondly at him and then turned to Dumbledore, who seemed to have just taken notice of him. "Headmaster, this is Harold Authland, our School President, Dueling Champion, and Captain of the Dueling Association for five years running," she said proudly.

Harry bowed respectfully over his cane. "Headmaster Dumbledore, it is an honor to meet you, Sir. I've read all about your duel with Grindelwald," he practically gushed, but if anyone were to ask, he'd never admit it.

The provost smiled at him. "I'm sure you are, Harry," she said and then turned back to Dumbledore, her smile fading to uncertainly when he said nothing in return, just stared at Harry with a startled expression on his face. "Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunate for your students, Mr. Authland will not be competing due to injuries he sustained at last year's winter tournament. But since he is Captain and Champion, we only thought it fair that he should attend, especially as he is the only reason we are able to have a winter tournament at all this year," she explained when the Headmaster continued to stare at Harry. Harry looked to his aunt apprehensively.

"Umm," Harry began, but fell silent when the Headmaster finally spoke.

"You were the one who issued the challenges to the schools then," Dumbledore finally said with a vague smile. "I must say that it was a very well worded challenge."

Harry blushed lightly. "I had help," he admitted. "It was my idea; however, the written challenge was more of a collaborative effort."

"Harry is very modest, he doesn't like praise, he thinks it's embarrassing," Master Kane mock whispered to the headmaster, who chuckled at that, his smile coming back onto his face fully, though his blue eyes never really left Harry.

"We even have to trick him into giving him awards," the provost added with a smile. Harry rolled his eyes, but it was true, he'd never been comfortable with people praising his achievements.

"Modesty is a virtue that I wish more people possessed," Headmaster Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Well then, shall I lead you to your students, and fellow duelers? My students will be starting to trickle down to the Great Hall for breakfast soon, but I wager that yours will want to get settled in, and have a few hours of sleep as you are quite a bit behind us in time. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students and staff joined us last night, so you will have the 'spotlight' as they say. We will announce your presence at lunch if that is all right with you?"

"I'm sure that will be fine, Headmaster, thank you," Provost Hunter said and Harry straight away made for the door, never mind that he didn't know where he was going. He didn't like the way the Headmaster kept looking at him.

…

Cassia Chase, the seventh in rank among the Defenders greeted Harry as he walked into the quarters assigned to the Runes duelers during their stay. Provost Hunter and Master Kane had rooms not too far down the next hall and had left Harry to organize the Association and get them settled, which wasn't an uncommon assignment for him.

Apparently, per the headmaster, the House Elves had been working on their rooms since the beginning of the semester as they'd opened up a whole wing for them that they'd had blocked off for years. Harry wasn't sure that he was comfortable with the idea of them making the elves go through all the trouble. Certainly, if they needed them too, they could have brought tents or expandable cabins to put on the lawn. They did so for Salem every couple of years.

"Harry, don't panic," Cassia said carefully. "Shane had a bad landing when we arrived, but he's all right now, just twisted his ankle and the nice Medi-Witch here, she fixed him up in less than a second," she finished with a smile, obviously to try and put Harry at ease.

"The headmaster already told me," Harry said dryly and continued walking further into the room. "He is all right though, right?" he asked, stopping after a couple of steps and looking back.

"He's fine," Cassia assured. "Are those our trunks?" she asked.

Harry looked down at the box he'd carried into the room awkwardly and then handed them over to the girl with a toothy smile. He then reached in and pulled out his own trunk and his book. "Why thank you for volunteering! You're now in charge of handing them out. I'm going on vacation," he said and then walked on as Cassia burst into laughter, nearly dropping the box as she did. It was an ongoing joke. The provost always left Harry in charge, and Harry without fail, always shuffled his duties off on anyone else he could find when she wasn't around.

Harry took a moment, as he amusedly ignored Cassia, to look around the room. It was kind of dark for his liking, though it was nice to see his school colors decorating… Harry looked more closely. All right, a few banners and maybe an armchair or two in their school colors was fine. But did the tables and fireplace really need to be in the same colors as well… and the rug? Harry shook his head with a snort and then plopped himself down in front of the blue fireplace, stretching his aching legs out slowly.

"Shane?" Harry called, looking around the large room, which seemed to have no problems holding and seating all thirty-one of them.

"Yes, oh champion of the great school of Runes, what is your bidding?" Shane said loudly, with a flourishing bow from the other side of the room.

"You really all right?" asked Harry over the laughter that had sprung up.

"Yes I am," he said seriously and Harry nodded.

"Good, you're in charge of making sure everyone is here and giving out room assignments," Harry said and then narrowed his eyes when he saw some of the older students look at each other excitedly. "And, Shane, no girl/boy rooms," he added with a singsong voice.

Shane gasped as if he'd been gravely offended. "As if I'd ever go against the rules set forth by our esteemed provost…" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Yeah okay," he finished and then went off to accomplish his task as quickly as possible. Harry could already see some of the younger students nodding off on couches or at tables.

Harry remembered when he and the other Defenders were that age and after a simple day like they just had, they were exhausted before even ten o'clock. How strange it was, that it was going on midnight back home and he wasn't even tired. In fact, he was antsy. He wanted to go wander the halls and find out what interesting things this place held, but he'd have plenty of time to do that later. There wasn't much point in him actually practicing, at least not as seriously as he normally would, if he weren't going to compete, so really he'd just have classes and homework to worry about, which was strange for him.

"Umm, Har," Celesta said as she came over holding something in her hand. "You weren't by chance the one to shrink our trunks, were you?"

Harry nodded. "Some of them, why?" he asked.

"You put too much power into it again," his sister said simply and placed her still shrunken trunk on the floor at his feet.

"Oh, oops," Harry said with a sheepish smile and flicked his wrist for this wand. "Why don't you tell those who can't cancel the spell on their trunks to come see me? Guess I was a little bit remembering that one time at Salem when we arrived with our trunks in our pockets and they all resized because of the wards," he said, starting to laugh at the end as he remembered more clearly the incident and the outraged look on Celesta's face.

"Ruined a perfectly good set of dueling robes," she muttered as she pulled her now full size trunk away to a staircase on one side of the room.

It wasn't long before she was back and then duelers started trickling over to Harry, some disappearing up an identical staircase to his left. Harry figured that must be the boy's side and stood after the last student's trunk was normal size. Harry didn't bother resizing his own trunk just yet, it was easier carrying it as it was, besides his copy of the dueler's compendium was difficult enough to maneuver around with while walking with his cane.

"Shane, am I rooming with you?" Harry asked, walking over to his cousin.

Shane nodded. "First floor up, the first door on the left; the other door is the bathroom. Right side's got Cargan and Knox."

Harry nodded. "Cool, thanks for keeping us on the lower level," he said gratefully and then wandered towards the left staircase. He'd love for them to take advantage of the top floor, as Harry was sure that the view was amazing, but it was going to be difficult enough for him getting around Hogwarts what with all of the staircases.

Harry shook his head as he remembered his reaction to seeing what seemed like hundreds of moving staircases on their way there. Something like, "Ah Hell," had slipped out of his mouth, he was sure. His grumbling didn't get much better when they'd been shown to the sixth floor where they were being housed.

…

AN: Therefore, another chapter.