Author's Note: This didn't take that long...right? Comparatively? Thank you my lovelies Q'Spoon, nsisdazl, WaveMasterYami, dreamin'BIG, GoodGirlzDead, Totally CRAZY, Eskimo, RandomRiter, and Ummm!

This first little bit is for us Lucius fangirls and should answer a lot of your questions about him and Alex, such as how did he know about the Dance of the Cobweb etc. I'm happy I finally got the opportunity to reveal this info about Alex!

SUMMER, FIFTH YEAR/SIXTH YEAR; VIENNA, AUSTRIA

"Alex, love. What a surprise," drawled Lucius, not showing any surprise at all at her sudden appearance. He casually leaned against the doorway to his bedroom, drawing attention to the fact that he was clad in only a towel.

Alex tried not to notice how well he pulled off the half-naked thing. "Look, I don't have much time. My parents are downstairs talking to yours before the opera. We aren't staying."

"Ah. And how are Claudia and Jonathan these days?"

"Don't be smooth. You know what I want to talk about."

One corner of his mouth quirked into a half smile. He knew exactly what she was referring to.

"The flowers. The secret admirer notes." She raised an eyebrow. "Oh. I suppose now you're going to deny it."

"There is nothing secret about my admiration."

Alex ignored him. Lucius always avoided directness with faux-flirtation. "There was a boy. You scared him off. He thought he had competition."

"Muggle?"

"Of course."

"Then you can thank me later. In whatever manner," Lucius gave her a slow wink, "you feel most appropriate. Or…inappropriate," he drawled. Alex just looked at him, somewhat tiredly. "I'm always willing to be your knight-in-shining-amour."

She let out an incredulous laugh. "Did you just say amour? As in, lover?"

"I must have misspoke. You must excuse my innocent slip of tongue," he said smoothly.

"Please, keep your subconscious in your pants." This conversation was quickly going downhill. Alex was regretting confronting Lucius. He was the sort of guy who was always coming out of rooms straightening his tie and tucking his shirt back in, and when one questioned him about it, one immediately became the subject of his charming attentions and suave flirtation. It was time to regain control of the conversation.

"You," Lucius said decidedly, "look like you do not have an escort for this evening's opera."

"Why, I thought you'd never offer." She smiled.

It was his turn to pause.

Alex placed her hand on the doorframe and leaned in closer. "Our parents will be so pleased. Now, I excuse you to attire yourself and contact your 'date' to inform her that her services are no longer required." She stepped back abruptly and left.

In a rare moment of self-expression, Lucius fondly watched her leave, his lips curving into a miniscule smile.

Damn, that girl was good.

SIXTH YEAR

"Curses!" I snatched my hand back and stuck my finger in my mouth. "Paper-cut," I explained to Amanda's questioning look.

She grunted and returned to rifling through her pile of papers. "You're getting bad karma for breaking into the Headmaster's office and going through his things. Oh, nothing in this one. Just forms and boring official documenty stuff." She wandered over to a side table piled high with stacks of papers and various odds and ends. "He has so much crap. Dumbledore is so odd. I bet none of it does anything remotely useful."

"I wouldn't open that one if I were you," warned a high-pitched voiced.

I quickly took my good hand off the handle of the desk drawer. The portrait of Dilys Derwent was examining me. "Booby-trapped?" I asked.

A crotchety "What do you think?" was her only response.

I decided not to test her wisdom, and instead backed away from Dumbledore's desk and turned my attention to a bookcase.

Amanda was fiddling with an odd contraption made of silver spheres and wires. Every time she touched the largest sphere the entire thing started to whirr and sputter. "What is this supposed to do? Remind Dumbledore where his spectacles are?"

"And this…" She picked up a jar. Something inside was suspended in a jelly-like substance. "Must be his false teeth."

"Amanda…" I warned. "You can leave if you're just going to make snarky comments."

She suddenly burst out laughing. "Look!" She pointed to a glass cabinet. "He even locks up his socks!"

It was true. Unfortunately. I couldn't explain to Amanda that inside those socks were some items of a delicate nature and the socks were more of a theft deterrence than the locked cabinet was. So Amanda had more ammo to use in her lovely exercise of free speech and independent opinion.

"You know, I've been thinking about where Dumbledore's gone off to. Isn't it just like him to be on an extended vacation at his secret truffle farm? Or a lemon drop convention?" Amanda snorted at her genius.

"Actually," I said seriously, "he's more likely to be running with the wolves."

We both paused to consider the mental image of Dumbledore, in a moonlit forest, knobby knees and spindly arms flailing about as he scrambles on all fours after the pack. In my vision, his gray beard whipped through the air behind him, tied at the end with a piece of bark, and he was naked except for his socks and spectacles.

It took us a while to regain our breath after the laugh attack. The portraits frowned down on us disapprovingly. "So sorry, please excuse us," I wheezed. "All in good fun."

"If you're quite finished," snapped Dilys Derwent, "you would do well to check the fireplace."

I leaped over to the fireplace and stuck my arm up the chimney. While I was feeling around, Dilys Derwent gave an annoyed sigh. "The ashes, girl. The ashes."

After flashing her a sheepish look, I knelt down to poke in the ashes. Once my hands were sufficiently dirty I…actually found something. I pulled it out and brushed it off to get a closer look.

"What is that?" Amanda asked, kneeling next to me.

Examining the object in my palm, I said, confused, "It's an earring."

"An earring?! Dumbledore wears earrings?" Amanda exclaimed incredulously. "I knew it."

"No…" I frowned. "But why does this look so familiar?" Another thought struck my mind. "Professor Derwent," I said, turning to face the portrait, "how did you know this was here? Do you know what happened to Dumbledore?"

"Of course, child."

I gaped at her. "But you didn't feel like mentioning—?"

"You never asked." She gave me a mean old woman smirk. Of all the nasty things to do… When I was old I was going to make people suffer like I was suffering now! They'd be crying, I'd be cackling in delight at their pain! So take that, Dilys Derwent!

"So what happened to Dumbledore?" Amanda asked, getting to the point while I was still smarting from my egregious oversight.

"It was a while ago," the portrait started. "The Headmaster was sitting at his desk when he got an owl. It gave him a box. That earring was in it. The Headmaster ran to the fireplace and flooed out. A couple hours later he was back. He grabbed a few things. Then he was gone again. And that's it. It's getting close to four o'clock." From a pocket she pulled out some pink earmuffs and placed them on her head.

I considered the circumstances. On the one hand, I had azerbaijillion questions I wanted to ask the old meanie. On the other hand, it was getting close to four o'clock.

This was a serious dilemma.

Amanda was watching me closely, looking vulnerable, so I made the decision to save her. "We must leave immediately!" I cried, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the spiral stone steps.

"Wha—?" Amanda exclaimed.

"No time for questions!"

We were just bursting out into the corridor when four o'clock came. Behind and above us, Dumbledore's office exploded into eardrum-splitting uproar as all his 281 cuckoo clocks triumphantly and gleefully crowed the coming of the new hour.

"A ball?!" James repeated, sitting up in his favorite comfy chair in the library.

"It's officially confirmed," Sirius stated. "By Ralphie Phillis who got it from Lucinda Layflower who sometimes cleans up after class for Slughorn."

"But why?" James looked terrified.

"Apparently it's a tradition left over from some tournament they used to have every once in a while. Usually it's on Christmas but now it's before winter break," supplied Remus.

"No." James still seemed horrified. "How could anyone willingly enslave themselves to the Slugbag?"

"Extra credit," decided Sirius. "The alternative is too horrible to consider."

Remus sighed.

"So." James started counting on his fingers. "I only have a little more than a month to get Lily to agree to go with me. Oh, and learn how to dance."

"Tough," said Sirius sympathetically. "You still count with your fingers?"

James punched him in the arm.

"I can teach you how to dance," offered Remus. "A day or so of practice is all you really need."

"Thanks, mate." James clasped Remus' shoulder gratefully. "Do you have plans yet for asking someone?"

"I haven't really thought about it," Remus allowed. This sparked a free for all in which his friends shouted suggestions of cute girls for several minutes, all at once. By the end of it, Remus looked fairly disheveled.

"Uh…Thanks for the advice," Remus stammered, patting his hair back down.

"Anytime," Sirius assured him.

"Peter has that Hufflepuff girl," said James. Peter stuttered out an embarrassed affirmative. "That takes care of us. Except, Padfoot, for you."

Sirius gave him a wry grin.

"Oh, come on, mate," James said, exasperated. "You're not still going on about that girl, are you? That was forever ago. And I thought you learned your lesson after all you went through. Geez, Padfoot, the sea is yours for the fishing."

"Your concern is noted," said Sirius, examining his nails.

"But you can't stand in the way of true love!" cried Peter.

The others stared at Peter, who blushed and hid his face.

"Who said anything about love?" Sirius scoffed.

Peter looked even more ashamed.

"It's alright, Wormtail," Remus said soothingly. "It's nice that you're a romantic."

"Being romantic is overrated," dismissed Sirius.

"You catch more flies with honey and all that, sure, but then you're stuck with a freaking fly." James laughed at his own joke. "Romance is for nancy boy Malfoy."

"Lucius has more success on a daily basis than you two have had in your life," Remus pointed out.

James frowned at the thought.

"Malfoy is a manwhore," argued Sirius.

This caused James to burst out laughing. "Mate, so are you!"

Sirius grinned.

Author's Note: *sings* Sirius is in denial...

Ooh, do I smell plot?