aligncenterChapter 6:
bWake Me Up Before You Go-Go/b/align
The sun rose early in the East this frosty morning. Birds were chirping, squirrels were busy gathering food. Muggles and wizards alike began their morning commute to their respected workplaces. All seemed peaceful in the world and Leo was oblivious to all of it, save for a certain muggle cartoon's theme song that was currently blasting on the TV.
"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" The pirate captain on TV taunted loudly.
Leona groaned loudly wishing she was capable of shutting out the sound. iHow could he be up so early?/i she wondered groaning. "Tristan turn it down," she moaned as she shifted around on the couch as she began to recall the events of last night. iCould it be a dream?/i Leona shifted once more to face the TV, when she opened her eyes she found no Tristan. "I guess not," she sighed to herself having just picked up the other voices in the room: They belonged to Crys and Dalejin.
Leona quickly ran over to her husband, eager to hear what news he had come by.
"Morning sunshine," Crys chuckled, finding Leo's early morning alertness amusing. Crys' wet hair was wrapped in Leona's favorite towel like a turban. Leona noticed.
"Crys, we have dozens of towels, why did you have to use my favorite one?" Leona asked her annoyed half tempted to pull the towel off.
"I didn't know it was your favorite," Crys said coolly, clearly not threatened with Leona's tone.
"It has Ariel on it for chrissakes; how could you NOT know!" Leo sighed loudly exasperated with her friend. Crys chuckled but didn't remove the towel even when Leo threatened her with a dangerous look.
"Well ladies, we can discuss information RELEVANT to our son's disappearance, or we can discuss bath towels, your choice," Dalejin finally interjected sarcastically. His displeasure was clearly evident as he stared at both the ladies, wanting to scold them further.
Leona looked at him. His brown eyes struggled to keep its anonymity against the familiar pangs of all the mixed emotions he was currently experiencing.
"What have you learned?" She asked sympathetically, feeling guilty that she hadn't asked that first.
"I went to visit a friend last night, he informed me that the best way to find where they're keeping Tristan is somehow linked through Gringotts," Dalejin responded, knowing the dangers that place could bring.
"Makes sense," Crys started, "seeing as the place is run by goblins"
"Yeah, which also means our magic is virtually worthless," Dalejin added uncomfortable with trying to navigate his way through the underbelly of the most dangerously complex bank in the world.
Leona looked at him doubting that Gringotts could be involved with Tristan's disappearance. Leona believed there was an alternate explanation. She hated to think that all the goblins could be in this plot, or would even allow the abduction to occur.
"So this…Friend," Crys said with a sly smirk, "this wouldn't be the very same friend that allegedly hung himself last night, would it?"
Leona couldn't be sure, but she could have sworn that Dalejin just stomped in Crys' foot. "Dalejin did you-"
"Oh, no no no no no…" Dalejin gave a laugh the practically gave away his guilt. "That was a different guy, totally different, besides, it was clearly suicide. Just like the radio said it was," he said talking at a thousand miles a minute.
Crys held her stomach tightly in an attempt to stifle her laughter. She fell to her knees biting her lip hard trying not to laugh at Dalejin. She had to bite her lip hard enough to draw blood in order to get her giggles to stop. When she stood back up recomposed Dalejin shot her an evil look. In returned she squeaked afraid.
"Anyhow, I think we should begin out search at Gringotts," Dalejin said returning to his serious tone. Leona nodded at him. She couldn't think of a better place to start their search.
"…Wait, you're letting me come!" Leona said feeling quite valued all of a sudden. A huge smile spread across her face. Dalejin hardly ever let her come on trips and quests with him. For the most part he was afraid she'd get herself killed.
"Of course, why wouldn't I let you come? He's our son, I know you can handle yourself against a few goblins," he said in a light tone, and then looked at Leona who was still dressed in her evening gown; her hair was a tangled mess.
"However Cinderella, you can't go to the ball looking like that," he said sarcastically.
Leona affronted reached for her hair. She could feel that most of her hair had fallen out of place during the night. With out further explanation she ran to her room to change.
"So what am I going to do?" Crys asked Dalejin eyeing him suspiciously, wondering if she was going to like his response.
"I need you to stay here and guard the house incase Tristan makes it back of his own accord." Crys looked at him with pure outrage. She couldn't believe he'd even suggest that.
"There's no way in hell that I'd stay here any longer-" Crys started shouting pointing a finger at him before she was interrupted.
"There would be a credit card left," He said slowly trying to tempt her, "for all the food and pay-per view you could want."
Crys seemed momentarily soothed, but she knew that she could hold out for more. "eBay too?" Crys added crossing her arms in a 'take it or leave it' fashion,
Dalejin looked at her skeptically and questioned the wisdom in his next response. He knew al too well what kinds of bills she could incur from eBay. "I'll give you my personal pay-pal account," Dalejin said placing his left hand over his heart and bowed slightly.
Crys let out a happy shout and bounced up and down. She was pleased with the transaction she just made. She held out her hand to him. "We have a deal then!"
Dalejin gave her his hand and she clasped it firmly. "Best not to mention this to Leo, she'd kill us both," he said letting go of her hand.
"Of course, as the excellent friend that I am, I obviously agreed to watch the house vigilantly while she was out," she said mocking concern.
Dalejin nodded curtly at her, mesmerized by how deceitful she could be. It certainly explained why she was in Slytherin.
Moments later Leona returned to the group dress in clothing that one typically saw only in fantasy movies. She wore an old tan tunic that had once belonged to Dalejin. It bore the Hufflepuff crest of a badger. It was about to sizes too big so Leo tightened it around her with a belt. She wore dark green boots over her black pants. Over her shoulder she carried a knap sack given to her by an old friend who lived by the Boy Scout motto, of 'be prepared.' The sack had everything imaginable inside from food to medicine, to camping gear and even weapons. Clipped to her belt were two crescent blades that attached to her wrists in battle.
In short, Leona looked ready to fight a war on her own. She flipped her hair that was done in a braid, over her shoulder. Dalejin stared at her with his mouth to the floor. He would never admit it, but seeing her dressed like that was like a personal fantasy come alive. "You certainly look ready now," he whispered in appreciation looking her up and down several times.
Ordinarily Leona would have thanked him for his comment, but she had business to take care of.
"Let's go get our son."