PreFlight

by GD-7

Prequel to Flight of the Thestrals. It's the start of 6th year and Hermione feels it's high time she got a bit more attention from her best friends. Will she get what she wants? Or perhaps find something even better...

36. Odessa

Chapter 36
Odessa

Snape's mind was buzzing as he mentally checked and rechecked all of his preparations for the trip. He was pretty sure he had everything in place. He was usually easily capable of coordinating such outings with meticulous care... but he had to admit he'd been a bit distracted with this one. He quickly barred the particularly persistant distraction from his mind, trying valiantly to focus. He was almost to the Great Hall, and Dumbledore's current mental blindness to him or no, he was sure to pick up on his reservations about the trip if Snape didn't banish them from his mind.

He came to a stop suddenly as he caught sight of an all too familiar profile at the top of the stairs. He slowly resumed his ascent, furrowing his brow curiously. Derik was standing there in a plain black robe, leaning against the wall as if waiting... but he wasn't alone. Tish Van Burkina was standing before him and they appeared to be in deep discussion. He wouldn't put it past the girl to flirt with Derik, even if she had any clue how much older he was (She'd even had the audacity to try to flirt with Snape the year before when he'd threatened to owl her parents if she didn't start turning in her assignments). She didn't look even the slightest bit flirty at the moment though. In fact, she looked more serious than he'd ever seen her.

Derik glanced over and spotted him and ended the conversation before Snape could get within earshot. He didn't even bother watching as the girl left (though Snape had rarely seen him miss the opportunity to watch a girl's backside, especially when they were wearing a school uniform skirt as short as hers was), his attention going completely to watching Snape approach.

"What was that about?" Snape asked suspiciously as he came to a stop beside him.

"What? Van Burkina?" Derik grinned, scrubbing his fingers through his hair ruefully, "Ah, yes, well she stumbled across me the other day when I was trying to get out of here after lending you a hand. She figured out I wasn't all that eager to explain my presence to anyone and used it to blackmail me into agreeing to help her out with a legal matter. She's a shrewd little thing."

"Yes, well that doesn't explain why you were talking to her today. Dumbledore knows it was you now, so she really hasn't got anything on you anymore."

Derik furrowed his brow. "I agreed to help."

Snape rolled his eyes. He wasn't about to argue this with him. "Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Biddles?"

Derik watched the small group of third year Slytherins pass by and on out of hearing range before responding, "Just heard you'd be romping off soon, so I thought I'd get this week's report early. Wouldn't want to fall down on the job first time out." He said with a grin.

"Ah." Snape said, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. He wondered again at this ponderous and rather illogical method of reporting. Well, at least for this week, he did have something to pass on. "Let's talk somewhere a bit more private, shall we?"

"No problem. Let's use this room." He said, leading Snape into a little unused room off the Entrance Hall.

Snape looked around curiously as they entered. There was a definite hush to the ambiant magic in this room. It felt decidedly odd once Derik had closed the door behind them. The room was obviously already warded, and far more than necessary for a simple conversation. "Any particular reason you picked this room?" Snape asked warily.

"Well, this is the room Adrian used to have a 'chat' with his son when we came to investigate that whole Liberatis mess. He rarely remembers to take his wards back down when he's done with them so I figured it'd save us the trouble. From the feel of them, I'd say he was having a very intense conversation with the boy." He ran his hand along the wall. "I'd say these would even block the detection of the use of Unforgivables, and he's not one to waste effort. Well, this would seem to confirm my theory that he was the one daft enough to hand that potion over to a school child."

"That was my conclusion as well."

Derik grinned over at him. "Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist... anyway, so what's up? What do you want me to tell the big guy?"

"I will be leaving Hogwarts on a foraging trip for the next four to seven days depending on how it goes. It will be very important that this trip not be interrupted. I will be taking a couple of my students with me, and it will be out of the country, so I will not be able to simply leave to return if called without risking my position. If anything happens to any of them on this trip, there will undoubtedly be a hearing and my position would be in serious jeopardy."

"No calls, no visits. Got it." Derik said with a smirk. "Malfoy's going, isn't he?"

Snape eyed him for a long moment. "Picked that out of my mind, did you?"

Derik snorted in amusement. "No, I just figured with as close as you two are, he'd be the first one to sign up, and your first choice to go as well. You would know if I was picking through your thoughts now, now wouldn't you?"

Snape narrowed his eyes. "What did you do to me?"

Derik gave a little shrug. "Just figured as long as I was having to do a complete rebuild I might as well upgrade you a bit. What's the matter? Don't like it?"

"It has come in handy I suppose..." Snape conceded, "I'm just not sure why you did it and if I can trust it."

Derik sighed, "I don't really like my workmanship challenged. It's not going to fall apart or whatever you're afraid it'll do... of course I doubt you'll ever simply take my word for that... but you know what? Too bad. I couldn't put you back the way you were if I tried. As to why I did it... well I thought that'd be obvious."

"And this obvious reason would be...?"

"I gave you mental barriers even I couldn't get through without serious effort because... well, quite frankly I was tired of hearing what you thought of me!"

That certainly wasn't what Snape had been expecting. He couldn't really think of a proper response for it.

Derik sighed after the silence had drawn out a bit. "Don't sweat it. Most people think of me like that or worse. I know I'm far from perfect. I just get really tired of hearing it sometimes. I know my faults. I don't need them enumerated for me. Especially not by you."

Snape watched him for a long moment before speaking. "Surface thoughts are in the moment, Derik. They are capricious, and often out of the control of the one who thinks them. If you are going to build your sense of self worth off of the fleeting fancies of those around you, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment."

"Ah. I see. And I suppose I'm supposed to believe that deep down you respect me and think I'm a great guy, eh? I'm not buying that, Snape. Especially not with your little mental nicknames for me. But it doesn't matter. I don't even care. What you think of me is irrelevant. Let's not dwell."

"Very well." Snape said softly. "I am curious, however as to what you did to Draco and Miss Granger, and why."

"Listen to him... 'Miss Granger'." Derik said with open amusement, his solemn attitude of just a moment before already having disappeared. "Well, I'd think that should be obvious as well. If anyone peeked into either of those heads they'd find out your little secret, now wouldn't they? Dumbledore could probably have heard that from across the Great Hall! I kind of like having that particular secret to myself. It's useless if everyone knows it, now isn't it?"

"I suppose it is." Snape conceded.

"Don't worry. Your dirty little secret's safe with me."

Snape wasn't sure about the veracity of that statement, but since there was no way Derik would be 'forgetting' that tidbit of knowledge, it was best not to antagonize him overly much on the subject. "Speaking of secrets... I would very much prefer that Lucius not find out that Draco will be accompanying me. I cannot afford to have him stopping in for a 'social visit'."

"Got it. Oh, and don't worry, I plan on keeping him occupied this weekend. He's only really dangerous when he's bored."

"I wouldn't depend on that theory if I were you." Snape said softly.

Derik shrugged. "Sorry if I like him and you don't. We obviously have very different tastes. Except perhaps in women. Well, the adult ones anyway."

Snape just shook his head slightly. This boy was heading for a rude awakening, of that he had no doubt.

"When will you be leaving?"

"Today."

Derik rolled his eyes. "Since I'm supposed to bring a response, something a little more specific would be nice."

"Around three I imagine."

Derik sighed, "Come on! That's less than three hours away!" he said a bit petulantly.

"So?" Snape asked, furrowing his brow, "You could be there and back inside an hour. Half an hour if they don't make you go through that bloody maze."

"Ya, but I also have to drop by the Ministry to pick something up, so that only leaves me an hour and a half, two at best with my demented little lover, now doesn't it?" Derik asked with a wicked smirk.

Snape sighed, "I would really suggest you consider toning back your relationship with her. It's not healthy, trust me."

Derik rolled his eyes. "Your concern is duly noted. Now if you don't mind, I'm on the clock." Derik started for the door, but paused as he started to reach for the knob. He looked back at Snape consideringly. "Um... I was curious about one other thing actually..."

Snape watched him warily. His tone and demeanor had suddenly become much different... almost reluctant. "Yes?"

"Um... it's about you and Oblique..."

"How on Earth did you hear about that?" Snape asked in surprise. Were they putting out a bloody newsletter on his life and personal habits or what?

Derik let out a little amused breath. "I'm banging Bellatrix. You really think she's not going to mention the woman you were 'cheating on her' with?"

"Oh bloody Hell..." Snape muttered, rubbing his hands over his face.

"But you and Oblique are through, right?"

Snape folded his arms across his chest. "Yes, for the last bloody time, we're through. She can nix any little hunting parties she's getting together." He said a bit irritably.

"I wasn't asking for Bellatrix." Derik said. He stared at Snape contemplatively for a moment before asking, "Seriously, and psychotic ex-girlfriends aside... are you two really through?"

Snape let out a little amused breath, catching on. "Are you seriously asking permission to go after one of my ex-lovers while on the way to shag a different one?"

"If you want to put it that way." Derik said, completely seriously and looking as if he found nothing even slightly wrong with the request.

"Olivia and I are through. I do not, however, want to see anything bad happen to her. She's an intelligent, thoughtful and loving woman. If you mess about and get Bellatrix back on her trail, you and I are going to have issues."

"You just don't know how to control Bellatrix properly." Derik said dismissively.

Snape snorted, "If you honestly think you can control that woman, you are severely deluded! She could be kissing you one second, gutting you the next. Please take me seriously when I tell you that you have to tread very carefully around her."

"I'm curious... when did you become the relationship guru? I'm fine, Snape. You just deal with your own rather messed up love life and leave me worry about mine, ok?"

Snape stepped up to him, taking a hold of his arms and pulling him back around as Derik tried to head for the door once again. "I want you to listen to me." He said in a low, serious voice, "You are in very dangerous territory and you don't even seem to realize it. Bellatrix Lestrange is a very dangerous, very unstable woman. If she feels challenged, she has absolutely no qualms about killing off any opposition. She also feel loyalty to no one but the Dark Lord, so if you think you mean more to her than any of the many other lovers she's had, you're wrong. You also don't seem to realize what a real threat Lucius is. He is very smooth, and yes, he can be a very likable bloke if he wants to be... but even with your talents, you cannot possibly know what is going on in the back of that very twisted mind. Those two can, and most likely will betray you sooner or later, mark my words. I spoke to Dumbledore, and he is willing to accept you and will offer what protection he can. He cannot, however, protect you from yourself. If you truly want to live through this war, you had best start reevaluating your situation and most especially your new little friends."

Derik shrugged the hands off. "That's the difference between you and me, Snape. You look at someone and see only the worst in them. I look at the best."

Snape could do no more than shake his head sadly as Derik took his leave.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Ah, there you are." Lucius said, capping the crystal decanter of liquor and picking up his glass as Derik entered the room. "I heard you had arrived. Quite surprised to see you again so soon. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I just heard Snape was going to be unavailable this weekend, so I got a head start."

"Unavailable?" Lucius asked, his curiosity obviously peaked.

Derik nodded. "Taking a trip to try to replace some of the things that got destroyed in Cornfoot's daft attempt on his life. He said he'll be gone four to seven days and it's vital that he is not contacted, called or visited in any way for the duration. Hell, with a trip like this with students along and everything the Ministry will probably even be keeping an eye on him, so keep that in mind." He turned towards the door, but then quickly turned back, "Of course that bit about Cornfoot being responsible isn't technically provable, so you should probably leave that out when you pass along my report."

"Our Lord should be back shortly... don't you want to stick around and give him the report in person?" Lucius asked, watching his face.

"Yes, well that would be lovely, but I only have until three to get back, and I haven't seen Bellatrix in days, so that's a rather pressing need right now, as I'm sure you can understand." He moved closer, putting his hand on Lucius' shoulder and dropping his voice conspiratously, "Oh, and I have a little something special planned for you this weekend."

"Indeed? And what might that be?" Lucius asked curiously.

"Now if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise. You'll find out this weekend. Trust me, you'll like it." Derik said, patting his shoulder before hurrying off.

Lucius took a drink from his glass, watching him contemplatively as he left.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Hermione held the shirt up before her once again. Try as she might, she just couldn't find any clothes she really liked. She didn't realize what a blessing the school uniforms were! How was she only just now realizing that all of her clothes were rubbish?!? She didn't want Snape to see her in this... then again, he probably already had... but she hadn't cared what he thought of her clothing then! She hadn't a whole lot of clothing that would be suitable for warmer weather. Most of the school year it was cold. Even when it was merely cool outside, the stone of the castle made the inside rather chill. She was irritated to discover she only had three shirts with short sleeves and nothing but full length trousers and that old manky pair of jogging pants.

She spotted a small grease stain on the collar of the shirt and tossed it aside with an exasperated huff. She went over to her trunk to look for more, but it was virtually empty by this point. She shifted the remaining socks and under things around, looking to make sure there were no other suitable garments hidden underneath. A book that had been leaning against the side of the trunk tipped and fell over, bumping her hand. She was just about to set it aside when she recognized it.

Hermione sat back on her knees, blushing and feeling rather horrid. It was Diana. She'd all but forgotten about her! She couldn't believe she'd just tossed her into her trunk and left her there like a common book. She hesitantly opened the cover, bracing herself for a chewing out. "Sorry," She muttered, glancing back to make sure the door was closed all the way. Everyone should be in classes right now, but no use taking chances. "I didn't mean to neglect you like that."

It's alright. I'm a book. I get tossed aside and forgotten quite often really. You would have remembered me if you needed me. To be honest, it was nice to have a little free time to myself. I could have done without being smothered in laundry though.

"Sorry." Hermione said again, not knowing what else to say really. How does one make up for such rudeness to a book? "Well, it's a good thing I came across you now. I can take you with me. I'm going on a foraging trip. We'll be gone up to a week."

Over night foraging trips? When did they start those?

"Well... they didn't really. There was a little incident in the potions store room and there was considerable damage. Apparently some of the destroyed ingredients Snape needs for his classes this year grow near his summer home, so I... a couple of other students and I, that is..." She quickly added, her cheeks flushing a bit, "Will be going along to help."

So you're going to Snape's summer home?

"Um... the four of us will be, yes."

Oh boy. I sure hope you two know what you're getting yourselves into.

"It's just a trip. Don't read too much into it." Hermione said primly.

Ya, ok. Whatever you say. Just don't hurt him. I mean it. He's had far too much pain and suffering already.

"I have no intention of hurting him." Hermione said, glancing at the door again a bit nervously, her cheeks reaching a nice rosy glow. "I have to finish packing now. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of room in the pack. We each got one of these specially made ones, see?" She said, setting the journal on top of the incubus journal that was already laying on the bed, waiting to be packed. She picked up the rather compact backpack and held it up before Diana. She felt a bit daft displaying a backpack in front of a book after a moment and quickly put it down, opening the pack up. "It has a magically expanded interior, but with lightening spells so it only weighs about a kilo no matter how much you put in it. That's a pretty lucky thing actually. We have all of these containers and utensils and such for gathering and preparing the ingredients and they divided them up and we'll each be carrying some. Once this is fully packed this would probably outweigh me without the spell!"

She glanced over, but the cover of the journal had closed and there was no writing on it. "Oh brilliant." Hermione muttered a bit irritably to herself. "I've even managed to bore a bloody book!" She sighed and gave up on talking to Diana. She was obviously still not quite over being snubbed and tossed into a trunk. She busied herself finishing up sorting her things. She really should have been well done with this... but perhaps it was the sense of unreality to it, but she just hadn't been able to make herself pack before. It was like if she packed it would turn out to be a mistake or a dream or they would change their minds or something would happen to keep her from going. She carefully tucked the proper number of shirts, trousers, socks and other undergarments in, then the bag containing her toiletries, a robe and slippers, a light jacket and a couple of quills, ink and parchment in case she should want to write any letters or the like while she was away.

She shifted up and surveyed the pack for a moment. There was still a considerable amount of room inside. She couldn't help but feel there was more she should take. She remembered the chocolates and put them in. No use leaving them at Hogwarts. They'd probably either get snitched or tampered with. She looked around at the remaining belongings scattered about in a rather uncharacteristically slovenly fashion. No... she didn't see anything else she wanted to bring. She tucked the two journals into the bag and fastened it up, then took out her wand and flicked it. The errant items swirled up into the air and deposited themselves back in the trunk. It wasn't tidy, but she'd rather deal with putting it into proper order when she had more time after she returned. She glanced at her watch. She should probably get going. The boys would be getting out of their afternoon class and would undoubtedly be wanting to say their goodbyes (or try to talk her out of it one last time more likely).

She reached for the pack, but it suddenly flopped over. She furrowed her brow. It'd never done that before. It was small, but it had a good flat bit at the bottom so it should set properly even when set upright. Curious, she set it up again. It sat there for a moment, then with a slight jerk, flopped over again. Well, she certainly recognized that attention getting method. She unfastened the pack and pulled Diana out. "Is there a problem?"

Leave me on the bed.

"Is this about neglecting you? Because I've already said I was sorry." Hermione said with a bit of exasperation.

No. I'm not supposed to go with you on this trip.

"Then why didn't you just say that before I put you in the pack?" She asked curiously.

I was reading.

Hermione furrowed her brow, "Reading? Reading what?"

That journal. It was very... enlightening.

Hermione blinked in surprise, glancing in the pack at the thick journal. "You read that?"

Yes.

"The whole bloody thing?"

Yes.

"But it's only been a couple of minutes!"

Well I'm a book! All I have to do is absorb the knowledge. It doesn't take long.

"Oh." Hermione said softly. What an amazing ability that must be! Learning everything a book held in moments using nothing but osmosis. Then again, she wasn't sure she'd like that actually. Could she really take pleasure in simply suddenly knowing what was in the book? She shook herself from her musings, "So why don't you want to go? Sure I'd be working most of the time, but I'd still probably have time to talk to you."

Sorry, but I have a feeling I might be needed here. Just leave me out on the bed.

"Ok..." Hermione said with trepidation, setting her on the bed. She fastened the pack back up and shouldered it, then grabbed up her robe. When she got over to the door, she looked back one last time. She wondered if Diana would be there when she got back. She felt an odd little feeling in her chest when she realized that sooner or later Diana would be passed on and she may never see her again. She hopped this wasn't that time. "Goodbye, Diana." She said softly before turning and slipping out.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"How much longer before we leave?" Draco asked as he set his pack next to the others.

Snape looked across the Great Hall to where Hermione was saying goodbye to the boys. The other Gryffindors appeared to be saying goodbye (or making playful jibes) as well. He spotted McGonagall making her way purposefully over to Hermione and sighed. "I'd say it'll be at least a further five or ten minutes. Knowing McGonagall, she'll want to give loads of advice about how to deal with Slytherins. Honestly! Sometimes they treat us like a different bloody species..." He said, shaking his head a bit irritably.

"I'll be right back then." Draco said.

Snape just gave him a little nod of acknowledgment, combing his eyes around to see where Blaise had gotten off to.

Draco slipped back out into the Entrance Hall. He knew he'd seen Derik on his way in, but he hadn't followed him into the Great Hall. That was alright with Draco, though. He wanted a private word with that enigmatic prat.

He turned, hearing something, and followed the sound of soft voices. There was an alcove near the far end of the Entrance Hall, and one of the voices issuing from it was unquestionably Derik's.

"Are you absolutely sure about this? This isn't something you can change your mind about later." Derik's voice whispered as Draco got close enough to hear.

"I've been waiting for this for five bloody years now! I've never been more sure! Just give me the bloody paper!" An insistant and slightly moody sounding female voice replied.

"Very well. Here. Just remember it was your idea. I'll come back to make sure you don't have any problems."

"Lovely." She said a bit haughtily, then Draco suddenly found himself face to face with Tish Van Burkina as she strode out of the alcove. She came to a startled stop, then smirked as she saw who it was and merely brushed past him.

"It's not polite to eaves drop."

Draco looked over, spotting Derik leaning against the wall at the entrance of the alcove. "Just waiting in line." Draco grumbled, putting his hands on Derik's chest and shoving the surprised young man back into the alcove. Once they were well in out of sight, Draco shoved him up against the wall hard. "What did you do to me?" He hissed.

"What? So your mind is a bit harder to peek into now. It's not nearly as impenetrable as Snape's, but then I would have had to rip up your mind and start over from scratch for that. Still, I didn't think you'd object to the extra protection!"

"I'm not talking about that!" Draco growled, giving him an extra shove, then shifting back and starting to unbutton his shirt.

"I don't know what you've heard," Derik said with a smirk, "But I don't play with little boys."

"Shut it, you bloody prat! I'm talking about this!" Draco said, pulling his shirt aside a bit and displaying the 'rash' that now covered a goodly portion of his shoulder, the lines and symbols by now clearly visible, though they made little sense to Draco.

"Would you look at that..." Derik said with amused fascination. He leaned closer, reaching out and gingerly touching the marks.

Draco pulled away as the symbols started tingling at Derik's touch. "I know it was you! Don't try to deny it!"

"Oh I'm sure it probably was." Derik replied blithely. "It definitely feels like mine."

"What is it? Why'd you put it there and what does it do?" Draco demanded.

"Well, I'm afraid that the answer to all three of those questions would be that I haven't a clue."

"How could you put something like this on me and not even know what it is?"

Derik shrugged. "It's happened before. All I can tell you is that it was an unconscious manifestation of my power... and that, though I have no idea what it does, it's very important that you leave it there and not try to remove it."

"Why on earth would I leave some unknown hex or curse or whatever it is on me?" Draco demanded.

"Because... well I can't really read most of this, which believe me when I say is very unusual... but this bit right here I can read..." He said, indicating a slightly different set of symbols running along the bottom edge, "And it says that if you remove this mark, you will die."

Draco grabbed his shirt again.

Derik quickly held his hands up in a placating gesture, "It's not a threat, Draco! It's a warning."

Draco eased his hold on him, eyeing him distrustfully.

"I know you don't much like me, and you sure as Hell don't trust me, and that is completely understandable." Derik said softly, "But my powers have never manifested unbidden in this manner to cause anyone harm. If they put that mark there, they did it because you are destined to play an important part in the future... but you will never make it to that future without my assistance at some crucial juncture. The symbols in the center of that mark appear to represent the planets. That tells me it is set to be triggered at one very specific moment in time. I can't tell you when that time will be, or what it will do at that time, but you just have to trust that it is crucial that that mark is on your shoulder when that time comes. You just need to have a little faith."

"Faith in you?" Draco asked derisively.

"No. Faith in whatever higher powers guide our hands... and guide mine a bit more directly on occasion. They're trying to protect you."

Draco snorted. "If there really were any 'higher powers' then I'd have to say they are doing one Hell of a piss poor job. If you haven't noticed, we're at war... and the dark side is bloody well winning! You really think Potter is going to win when the final battle comes? He's a bloody immature child! He won't last two bloody minutes with the Dark Lord!"

"I believe that fate, the 'higher powers', God... whatever name you choose to give to the power that guides our lives, will prepare him... will give him the strength to persevere. I don't know how, but I believe that when the time comes, he will be ready. I also believe that you need to be ready as well. All prophesies aside, winning a war is not a one man job."

"You think I'd help that bloody prat?" Draco spat incredulously, "I'd rather be the one cursing him!"

"I don't think even you honestly believe that. You may hate him, but I think it's more for his shortcomings... because you can't see him winning. Perhaps I'd be angry with him as well... if I hadn't faith that he will find a way to fulfil his destiny. Why do you find it so impossible to believe?"

Draco just glared at him, not even dignifying that with an answer.

Derik grinned. "Alright. Good enough. You want an answer you can swallow? I think you're going to leave that right where it is out of morbid curiosity. Sure, it might kill you... but after leafing through your loaf, I don't think you find that prospect nearly as disturbing as most people would. If you take it off... well you'll never know what it was meant to do, now will you? And what if what I'm saying is true? If this does what I say it will... well then maybe the rest of what I said is true... maybe you really are destined for more than a black cloak and a dark mark branded into your soul. Sure it's a gamble... but then your life as it is right now... well it seems to be leading one direction, and one only. Do yourself a favor, Draco. Get off the path."

Draco just glared silently after him as he left.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Hermione was blushing so hard she was feeling lightheaded. Over half of the Gryffindors were here to see her off. She would take that as heartwarming, except she knew they were all probably just trying to find out why she was going or see if they could come up with scraps of information on which to base wild rumors while she was gone. Some were even insisting on giving her what they apparently felt was wonderfully insightful tips on how to deal with these Slytherins she was going to be stuck with. She even saw a couple of them openly taking bets on the outcome of the trip. The odds were on at least one of the students ending up snuffed. They also were't favoring her to be one of the survivors.

School life could be so aggravating sometimes! Even McGonagall had insisted on giving her unsolicited advice! Did everyone truly think her completely incapable of taking care of herself? Ever since what happened with Dean it seemed like people looked at her different. Like she was somehow fragile now. Perhaps it'd been too long since she gave them a little reminder of what happened when she got pissed off! If she stuck around here much longer, she just might give them one!

"I've got to get going!" She said in a voice loud enough to carry to the students clustering around her, though carefully contained.

"Back off, you lot!" Harry said gruffly when they didn't disburse in the slightest.

Perhaps it had been his moody nature of late, but the other students listened and began wandering away. Harry and Ron walked beside her as she made her way towards the door, where Snape and the others were.

"I still don't like this. You know that, right?" Harry asked in a soft voice.

She gave a soft sigh. "I know. Don't worry! I'll be fine!"

His little nod wasn't that enthusiastic, but at least he'd been nice enough not to try to refute the statement this time.

"Got everything?" Ron asked. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and he didn't really seem to know what else to say.

"I think so. My clothes and such, a book to read. What else would I need?"

Ron shrugged, "I dunno. Just your wand I suppose."

"Well I have that!" She said with amusement, patting it... only it wasn't there! She stopped where she was, hurriedly searching through her robe pockets.

Harry just reached over, pulling it out of her trouser pocket and handed it to her with a little smile.

She blushed darkly once again. "Of course. I wasn't wearing my robe yet last I used it." She said, putting it in her proper robe pocket. She felt something odd in the pocket beside it and peeked in. "Oh! Oh I can't believe I still have this!" She said in mortification, pulling out the Marauder's Map. She glanced around and moved a bit closer to Harry, handing it to him surreptitiously. "I'm so sorry! I should have returned that ages ago!" She whispered.

He slipped it away in his own robe. "It's ok. Not like I've needed it really."

"I never even thanked you properly for lending it to me. I've been wretched!" She said penitently.

His smile grew a bit. "Just come back in one piece and we'll call it even."

"You two just keep yourselves in one piece during that Quidditch game!" She shot back with a warm smile.

"We'll do that." Harry replied, stepping up and wrapping his arms around her. "Hurry back." He said softly.

"We'll make sure the beaters give Cornfoot your best on Saturday." Ron said with a smirk, wrapping his arms around her as well.

Hermione beamed. She couldn't help but feel warm and content at that moment. All irritation at the other Gryffindors was forgotten as they hugged her. Who cared what those other prats thought anyway? The ones that mattered still cared about her.

They released her as they started getting a couple of stares. She blushed again and they started once more for the door.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Trying to get out without saying goodbye?"

Snape sighed and turned, watching Derik approach. "Knew I couldn't avoid you!"

"Nope. Well, safe journey and quick return." Derik said curtly.

"I didn't know you cared." Snape replied dryly.

Derik smiled. "I don't. That wasn't from me."

"Ah. I see." Snape said, glancing around a bit uneasily. He gave Oblique a little nod as she smiled at him in passing, but he noticed her eyes trailed over to Derik before she looked away. He sighed. He should probably have a little talk with her, but unfortunately he didn't have time right now. He looked over at Derik, but Derik was still busy watching Oblique walking away. "You should get going, don't you think?"

Derik looked back over at him and actually blushed slightly, "Oh yeah... right... work. They probably will be expecting me back sooner or later." He took a deep breath and sighed theatrically, "You're really lucky, Snape. Can't tell you the last time I had a vacation!"

"This isn't a vacation." Snape said a bit irritably.

"Mmhmm. Whatever you say. Have fun!" Derik said, giving him a little mock salute and striding out.

Snape noticed Draco glaring at Derik as he passed by him. Yet another issue he should probably deal with. Then again, he still wasn't absolutely sure Derik could be trusted, so he wasn't quite ready to dissolve any animosity between the two.

"Let's head out!" He called as he saw Hermione approaching at last. He looked over, then tapped Blaise's shoulder. He rolled his eyes when the boy didn't even seem to notice, still in heavy liplock with Pansy.

Draco sighed as he came over, smacking Blaise on the back, "Rein in the hormones, Zabini. We don't have time for you two to find a room!"

Blaise sighed sadly into the kiss, pulling her extra tight for a moment before releasing her. "We'll finish that conversation when I get back!" He said suggestively before giving her a little smack on the rump. She just giggled and watched, waving as he grabbed up his pack and started after the others.

Hermione felt a bit odd as they walked through the other students towards the door. There weren't usually many student in the Great Hall at this time of day, but it seemed like this trip was enough of an oddity to draw a good number of the students of all Houses. As she made her way through the onlookers, she was very aware that the pack on her back was green. It wasn't precisely Slytherin green, more like the kind of green she'd seen soldiers wear on the television, but at Hogwarts that distinction wasn't really observed. She was greatly relieved when the Entrance doors finally closed behind them, cutting them off from the noisily chattering students.

"We'll use the public link at Hogsmeade station." Snape said as they started down the path towards the gates, "It's better suited for long distances than the links at Hogwarts."

They all nodded and fell into a companionable silence as they made their way towards the station. Draco and Snape seemed as solemn a usual, but Blaise was openly smiling at the prospect of the trip. Hermione had to smile a bit as well. The boy seemed to simply exude enthusiasm. There was a bounce in his step, and she wouldn't be surprised at all if he started humming or whistling merrily. He didn't, thankfully. She somehow doubted Draco would have left something like that continue for long.

She was feeling a bit jittery with excitement by the time they reached the station. Snape led them over to a part she hadn't seen before. Of course she hadn't really been paying much attention to the station itself when she had been through it before. There was a small building off to the side of the station house marked with a symbol that resembled a stylized fireplace.

Snape paused before the door and turned towards Draco and Blaise, "Remember, you two aren't yet seventeen, so no using your wands in public except in life threatening situations. While on my grounds it will be allowed as long as you are not in sight of Muggles, but let me show you the limits of the boundaries before trying it, understand? Underage Wizardry is accounted for entirely by age, not legal standing, so even legal heads of households need to observe the rules."

They both nodded. Hermione felt a bit odd as she realized that for the first time, her own wand usage wouldn't be limited. Well, other than the Muggle issue of course, but that was for everyone. It was still so very strange thinking of herself as somehow being an 'adult' now. She followed them as they entered the room. It was small and rather drab... no windows or anything, just a huge fireplace standing before them.

"We'll go in twos. Draco and Miss Granger first." He said, taking out a small flask.

"Why do I get stuck with her?" Draco asked in surprise.

Snape looked up. "You and I know where we're going, they don't. Take her through and keep her out of trouble. We'll follow you in a few moments to make sure you're well clear."

"Fine." Draco said, getting into the fireplace. Hermione followed hesitantly after. She'd never traveled by Floo Powder with someone else. She hadn't thought it was done that way, but then she realized that had probably just been a matter of the size of the fireplace. This one was more than large enough for two. She watched nervously as Draco grabbed a hold of her arm and held out his hand. Snape poured a healthy amount of floo powder out of the flask into his hand. At least she assumed that's what it was supposed to be. She'd never seen floo powder that bright turquoise color before. She didn't have long to wonder at the different color. Draco threw the powder at their feet and said, "Odessa Station!"

With a flash of green flames they hurtled through the floo network. It was utterly disorienting being tossed about, the world in green swirling past in flashes, changing direction time and again. She'd only been through the floo network a couple of times before, but she couldn't remember it ever being this bad! Usually it was no more than a moment before it spat you back out, feeling a bit like a rather wild water slide at an amusement park, but this just kept going! After another couple of moments, it evened out, no more than a steady green flow of light around her for over a minute, then the flashing images started up again. She was starting to worry they'd somehow gotten trapped! She'd grabbed a hold of Draco's arm. He was her only link to anything other than this green maelstrom around her.

With an abruptness that startled her, she was flung free. She just lay there where she landed, coughing from the ash hanging in the air and trying to make sense of her surroundings.

"I'm not a bloody landing cushion, Granger. I'd appreciate if you'd stop using me as one."

Hermione looked down, realizing she was laying on top of Draco. She quickly rolled off and scrambled up, though the world kept making odd lurches around her like she'd been on a lift too long. She grabbed a hold of a rail set along the wall, looking around and getting her bearings. This room had big windows that showed a bright, sunny day outside. She looked back, noting the exhaust fan that had kicked on, quickly and efficiently drawing the choking ash out of the air.

"What happened?" She gasped, "What went wrong?"

Draco got up, dusting himself off. "What are you going on about? We made it here, didn't we?" He said, nodding his head towards the sign over the door.

Sure enough, it read 'Odessa Station'. "But... then... I mean it took so long... and there was that odd stretch in the middle..."

"Yeah... transcontinental links are always a bit wonky. You get used to it. That was a pretty smooth ride actually. You don't even want to know what it would have been like if we hadn't gotten the more refined floo powder. We probably would have been in there half a bloody hour or more. Move over here. They should be arriving shortly." Draco said, moving over to the far side of the room and taking off his backpack.

She moved over uncertainly, looking out the window a bit more attentively. Transcontinental? She'd had no idea... well she'd known it was somewhere a bit warmer, but still... where on earth were they? She started stripping down as well, the warm air of the room already starting to make her excessive clothing uncomfortable. She looked back out at the people outside. Well they looked pretty normal. They were all rather scantily clad, some even strolling about in their swimsuits, but they were just going about their business. She wasn't sure what else she expected.

"Incoming." Draco said, reaching over and pushing her back a bit.

She looked over and saw a small light over the fireplace that was now flashing brightly. She shielded her eyes and held her breath as ash billowed out, then squinted carefully through the haze. Blaise was sprawled on the floor. Snape stepped out of the fireplace and gave him a hand up, looking completely unfazed by the trip.

"We all in one piece?" He asked casually, looking them over as the vents once more started clearing the air. "Very well." He pulled out his wand and flicked it at each of them in turn, cleaning off the ash and soot. When he was done, he took off his pack and pulled off his robe. Blaise quickly followed suit and they were all soon stripped down properly. Hermione bit her lip as she folded her robe and opened her pack. She wasn't sure her clothes were going to be quite as comfortable as she'd thought.

"Long sleeves?" Draco asked, reaching over and snagging out one of the tops she'd brought. "He did say the weather would be warm."

She snatched it back and tucked it away along with her robe and vest. "Yes, well it's the end of September! I hardly expected it to be this warm!"

Draco just rolled his eyes, fastening up his pack and rising. Hermione quickly followed suit. It felt a bit odd seeing Snape in nothing but a black vest over his white dress shirt and black trousers. It almost felt as if something was missing without his ever-present shrouding black robe. She blushed as Blaise winked at her. She hadn't noticed his attire before. He was wearing a completely Muggle black t-shirt advertising some band she'd never heard of and a worn pair of completely Muggle looking bluejeans. Now where had he gotten those?

"Everyone ready?" Snape asked.

Hermione slipped her arm through the other strap of her backpack and nodded.

"This station is disguised as a bus station outbuilding. Muggle Aversion charms are the only thing keeping Muggles from discovering it. The windows are not visible from outside. They are here so you can see the weather and adjust your clothing accordingly so you won't look out of place. Those people out there are Muggles, so behave yourselves."

They all nodded. Snape opened the door and they dutifully followed him.

Hermione looked around with fascination as they moved into the mainstream of people walking along the street. The people were speaking English for the most part, but their accents were entirely different and the town didn't look anything like what she was used to. The crowd of scantily clad people grew rather thick as they reached the main strip of shops. They were all around, walking, biking, skating and there were even a couple of boys on skate boards zipping through the crowd. She also got the oddest feeling that it was morning instead of afternoon like it should be. Well she supposed she should have expected some kind of time change, but it was rather jarring to have it change so radically and so abruptly!

She paused as she caught a glimpse of something between two buildings. She stepped back... and just stared...

"Is that... the ocean?" She asked, stunned.

Blaise, who had lagged behind when he noticed her stopping came up beside her and peered between the buildings. "Yep. Beach houses tend to be along oceans. It works out better that way."

She looked over at him in surprise, "A beach house? But... but I thought his summer place would be in a forest or something!"

Blaise snorted with amusement. "Beaches are much more fun. Less misquotes and more lovely, well tanned naked flesh! Come on, let's find you a nice string bikini! I hear thongs are in..." he said, giving her a mischievous wink.

Her jaw dropped in indignation, "I am not wearing a bikini, let alone a thong! Those things are vulgar!" She blushed and muttered "Sorry." As a woman in a thong glared over at her in passing. She quickly hurried to catch up with the others.

"Do keep up. I don't want to lose any students the first day out." Snape said, glancing back as she rejoined them. "Well," he sighed, "You were all clamoring about not having enough of the proper attire, so somebody pick a shop already. I don't want to spend all day in town!"

The boys looked around with interest, gazing into each storefront as they passed. There were a good number of clothing stores, most apparently specializing in t-shirts, but neither Draco nor Blaise seemed to care for any of them.

"There we go!" Blaise said, smacking Draco's arm and pointing.

There was a little, rather dark shop near the end of the row with a couple of racks of black t-shirts in front of it. They headed across the street eagerly.

Snape gave a little snort of amusement. "Somehow I knew they'd manage to find the one shop in town that sells anything other than pastels." He muttered, starting after them.

Well, the pale to lurid shades she'd seen in the other shops hadn't been particularly appealing, but she wasn't sure about this place. Still, she hadn't really a choice in the matter. When they entered the shop, it was just as cramped as she had imagined it would be. Also as expected, the majority of the clothing was black.

They spread out into the little shop. Hermione looked around, but couldn't spot any swimsuits. She made her way to the counter against the wall near the middle. There was a sales clerk behind the counter... well of sorts anyway. She hadn't seen too many that looked like this. Ghostly pale skin, jet black hair that had been moused and tousled so it stuck up in wildly random spikes, black fingernails, black lips, thick black eyeliner and a silver nose ring. The clothes, as expected, were also black. Black jeans and what looked like army boots that had been spray painted black (and were currently propped up on the counter) as well. The only indicator that this person felt the rather sweltering heat was a small rotating fan buzzing away on the counter and the concession of a plain black t-shirt instead of long sleeves. He looked to be no more than eighteen or nineteen. Well, she was pretty sure it was a boy... but it was a bit hard to tell with as... well delicate was the only way she could think to describe his facial features. She wouldn't quite say effeminate, but it was bordering.

"Ya?" he asked without even glancing up from his comic book, the characters in which all also appeared to be wearing black.

At least she was a little more certain of his gender now. The voice had a definite masculine hint to it. "Um... I was just wondering if you carry any swimming attire?"

He looked up and smirked. "You're obviously not from around here..." He said with amusement. He tossed aside the comic book and got up, coming around the counter and wending his way through the racks of clothing without further comment.

Not knowing what else to do, she followed him. He led over to a rack of swimsuits she hadn't noticed near a triple set of mirrors near the back.

"I think swimsuits are like required by law around here or something." He said in a rather bored voice.

"Oh. Thanks." She said, starting to look the suits over. They looked nice enough, though a bit revealing for her taste. She looked up when he didn't move away, but his attention was across the store and there was a little smile on his lips. She followed his gaze. He appeared to be watching Snape. "What?" she asked curiously.

"He with you?"

She blushed slightly, "He's my professor. We're on a school trip." She said.

"So he talks with that funny accent too?"

"I... suppose..." She said uncertainly. She'd never been told she had a funny accent.

He glanced over at her and grinned, "Don't sweat it, sugar lips. It's hot. So, any chance he's gay?"

"No!" She said, taken a bit aback.

"Damn." He muttered dejectedly. "That sucks. He looks intense. Then again, the tall, dark and sinister ones never seem to be. How about that one? He with you?"

She looked over and saw he was nodding towards Blaise. "Um... actually... I think he's a bit... um... well... I've been told he bats for both teams." She said delicately.

He looked over at her and gave a little laugh. "So by that I take it you mean he's bi? Not perfect, but good enough..." He said with a shrug, starting off in Blaise's direction.

She just watched, a bit stunned as he leaned against a post near Blaise and started talking to him. From his manner and the little smile on Blaise's face, the talk was obviously flirtatious in nature.

"Odds are, one of those two is going to be getting fucked up the ass within five minutes."

Hermione started and looked over at the boy who'd come up beside her unnoticed. Her eyes went wide, then darted back over to Blaise and his new friend before returning to the boy beside her. He was an exact duplicate of the boy flirting with Blaise!

He looked over at her and smirked. "Ya, I get that a lot. Sorry about my perverted dopple-gangbanger over there. He only deigns to work here to get the first chance at the new tourists. I'm Nyle, by the way. My twisted other half is Trent."

She hesitantly shook his hand as he offered it. She hadn't seen two such identical twins since Fred and George!

He sighed and moved over to the swimsuit rack. He leafed through it for a minute, then pulled out a blue suit and handed it to her. "There you go. You can try it on if you like... in fact I wouldn't mind seeing that... but trust me, it's your size, and for your complexion and body type, that one is going to be the most flattering one out of the bunch. You need sandals to go with that? A beach towel maybe?"

"Um... thanks... I think I'll just look around." Hermione said, blushing a bit from the attention. At least he'd picked a one piece (Well, it was relatively one piece at any rate). From his rather interested gaze, this one didn't share his brother's sexual preference.

"Where you from?"

"Near London."

"How long you in town for?"

"Not long. Probably four or five days."

"I heard you say it was a school trip... what are you studying?"

"Herbology and Biochemistry." Draco said, coming to a stop and leaning against the rack beside her. Hermione looked over at him and blushed as she realized she hadn't even thought to ask about their cover story. "Gathering local plants and animals to study."

"Sorry. Didn't know she was taken." Nyle said, holding up his hands, obviously taking Draco's slightly gruff manner as proprietary. "Hey, if you guys have any free nights come on over and we'll show you the local night life. We know a couple of places that don't card. This is our dad's shop, so we got the apartment upstairs. Just give us a ring or come on by." He said, fishing out a slightly crumpled business card and handing it to Draco. "Our friends would really dig you guys. We love foreigners."

Draco glanced at the card and slipped it in his pocket. "We'll keep it in mind."

"You need anything, just give me a holler. I best go man the desk. Hope you guys aren't in too much of a hurry." He said, nodding his head over towards the side a bit ruefully. They looked where he'd indicated and saw his brother leading Blaise into the back room, and from their close proximity to one another and their demeanors it wasn't just so Blaise could use the loo.

Draco sighed with a hint of disgust in his voice, shaking his head. Hermione just blushed and tried to pretend she had no idea what they might be up to.

"Well, welcome to the states!" Nyle said, clapping Draco on the shoulder in a friendly fashion before heading over to the desk.

"The states?" Hermione asked in a stunned whisper once the boy was gone, her eyes darting over to Draco, "We're in America?!?"

He grinned and gave a little snort of amusement. "You really should learn to ask more questions."

"But I don't have any American money! I never even thought to exchange any! The only Muggle money I have is British Pounds!" She located the tag on the swimsuit and looked at it, then sighed. "I don't even have any clue how much this is. What's the exchange rate?"

"Calm down, Granger. You worry too much about money."

She glared at him. "That's easy for you to say!"

He considered that for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, it is."

She rolled her eyes and put the swimsuit back on the rack and walked away. She really couldn't afford to let him get to her. She was going to be stuck working with him for the better part of a week, and it really wasn't worth the aggravation. She'd just cut off a pair of jeans and call it good. Looked like she was going to be having to trim quite a bit of her wardrobe, but so long as she kept the sleeves and legs she'd be able to mend them back once she got back to school. Still, she was a bit aggravated with herself for not knowing better what she was getting herself into before plunging headlong into a situation like this. She went out, sitting on the old bench out front with peeling green paint and just tried to get a handle on this situation. She never thought she'd even set eyes on America, and now here she was! It was a bit mind boggling really.

"Is there a problem?" Snape asked softly.

She started a bit, looking over and seeing him standing in the doorway of the shop. She blushed and shook her head. "Just didn't realize how very far we were going. It just took me a bit by surprise."

"My apologies. I never even thought to mention it. Are you... alright with this?"

She grinned ruefully. "I'm fine. I think I'll just wait out here though if you don't mind. Let it sink in a bit."

"Very well. I'll be just inside."

Hermione just nodded, sitting back and watching the people pass. She lost herself in musings for a while, just letting the strange world around her find its place in her mind. It was a good half hour before they finally emerged from the shop, but it was still a bit startling. She grabbed up her backpack and pulled it on as they filed out, each carrying a decent sized bag. Draco was carrying two in fact. He shoved the larger one into her arms as he passed by.

"Carry your own, Granger." He muttered, following after Snape without pause.

Hermione stood there for a moment, stunned. "Mine?" She asked, opening the bag and looking into it. There looked to be properly 'summery' clothes to last her at least an entire week, a couple of pairs of sandals, a green beach towel and laying across the top was the blue swimsuit.

"Come along, Miss Granger." Snape called back.

She broke out of it and hurried after them. "But... but I didn't pick out anything..." She said, still a bit flabbergasted.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, it would have been nice if you at least helped out with that part, but I had Nyle pick you out some things. He was eyeing your arse through the window long enough to have a good idea what your measurements were."

"But how was it paid for?"

Draco pulled out a small green plastic rectangle with glittering silver lettering on it and showed it to her. "Gringotts universal card."

"You have a credit card?!?" She asked, stunned.

He tucked it back away. "It's not really credit. They just take all expenditures out of my vault. A lot easier than having to deal with converting money back and forth."

"But... I mean you bought these things for me?"

He gave a little snort. "Like I wanted to be seen around you if you were wearing those rags you brought! Don't think on it, Granger. Like I said, you worry too much about money."

She fell silent, feeling decidedly awkward. She wasn't used to people buying things for her. She wasn't really sure how to respond to it, or if she even should. She looked over and noticed the brilliant smile on Blaise's face. She quickly decided she really didn't want to know what had put it there.

They stopped at a bank and Draco, Blaise and Snape all got some cash out. Much to her amazement, they all had the Gringotts cards. She couldn't believe the tellers took them without even raising an eyebrow. They were probably spelled to look like whatever card the establishment accepted, but her mind still boggled trying to figure out how the Gringotts goblins managed to get such things to work with Muggle devices, especially in other countries! Then again, she supposed they probably had branches in other countries as well.

She exchanged her Muggle money, but she knew it probably wasn't really that much, even though she got quite a few more dollars back than she'd had pounds. She didn't usually have a whole lot of money on her, and she certainly hadn't wanted to write her parents for more. They would have wanted to know what she needed it for! Yes, she'd have to tell them about it sooner or later, but she preferred it be after she got back (so there's no way they could tell her no!). As she looked over the little receipt they gave her, she realized she wouldn't have even had quite enough to afford that swimsuit! That was depressing.

When they were done at the bank they headed out of town, stopping only for some bottled drinks at a street vendor. She paid for her own, but the price seemed a bit exorbitant now that she had an idea what the exchange rate as. This was definitely a tourist town! Once they were out of sight of town, and more importantly the Muggles, they stopped and tucked their shopping away in their packs. It was much easier going after that.

Hermione looked over as Draco slowed a bit to walk beside her. He pulled out the rather impressive wad of money he'd gotten at the bank and sorted out a bit, then held it out to her.

"I don't need that!" She said, blushing.

"If we stop anywhere you will. That little pittance you have wasn't even worth exchanging. The exchange fee alone probably took half of it!" he said, still holding the money out as he slipped the rest of it away in his pocket. After a moment he huffed and moved closer, stuffing the money in her pocket. "If I keep buying things for you whenever we're in public, everyone really will think I'm your boyfriend!"

She blushed brilliantly, but couldn't think up an objection to that. Of course he didn't wait for one, quickening his pace until he was walking beside Snape.

"Don't say no if he gives you something." Blaise said in a soft voice, coming up beside her. "It's a rare enough occasion when he does, so he finds it a bit insulting if it's thrown back in his face."

"I just... I'm not used to people buying me things and giving me money. It feels like charity."

"Don't be so bloody proud! He could buy that whole bloody town without breaking a financial sweat. Those clothes and that money, they're less than pocket change. We are all just trying to get along and enjoy ourselves a bit on this trip. There's no sense worrying about something as frivolous as money. You're with three rather affluent men here... just sit back and let us take care of the financial aspects for the duration. Forget about price tags. Forget about who's paying for what. We'll all be a lot more relaxed and happier for it, believe me."

She bit her lip and dropped her eyes, but gave a little nod. "Ok." She said softly.

"He's bloody adorable, isn't he?" He asked out of the blue a few moments later, that silly little smile back on his face.

Hermione furrowed her brow, "Draco?" She asked in confusion.

Blaise let out a little laugh, "Well, that's a given, but I was talking about Trent."

"Oh... well, I guess they were alright looking. The black was a bit severe, but..." She shrugged.

"The black was brilliant! The way the eyeliner made the blue of his eyes just pop like that!" He said with a little contented sigh.

"If you say so." Hermione muttered, wondering why he was suddenly talking to her about boys like they were old friends. Girlfriends at that!

He glanced over at her. "Don't tell me you didn't fancy Nyle. He had quite an eye for you too. You could probably have him easy. He kind of has a girlfriend, but they're on again off again all the time, so he keeps his options open. Trent thinks Nyle is just living in denial, but I got a real solid straight vibe off him. I mean if he didn't even check out Draco's arse he's definitely straight! I mean look at it! Perfection." He sighed, gazing adoringly at Draco's backside.

Hermione smirked she heard Draco give a disgusted huff.

"See?" Blaise said, "He doesn't even need words to be absolutely shaggable! Trent probably would have given him a try, but he found that gruff exterior a bit intimidating. Looked like he'd take too long to bring around, and with tourists he usually doesn't have that much time to work with. Apparently, I look a whole lot more 'achievable' for some reason..." Blaise said musingly.

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head ruefully.

"What?"

"Well apparently he's just rather perceptive. I can't believe you! I mean he was a complete stranger!"

"No he wasn't. We introduced ourselves and talked a bit. He's a right likable bloke. If you'd stuck around maybe you'd know that." Blaise said a bit defensively.

"You're in a different country, practically on the other side of the bloody world, for less than an hour before you're shagging someone! Don't tell me you can't see anything wrong with that!"

"Hey, that's what travel is for... so you can shag people from foreign lands! It's the whole point!" Blaise said blithely, making Hermione roll her eyes again. "Besides, I never said I shagged him."

She looked over at him suspiciously, "You went in the back room with him. You can't honestly expect us to believe it was just to look at his comic book collection or some rubbish like that!"

"No. I let him go down on me. That's not shagging. That's just being friendly and getting to know someone. I would have returned the favor, but those two were banging on the bloody door!" He said, pouting at Snape's and Draco's backs.

Hermione grimaced at the mental images.

"Oh, it was brilliant though!" Blaise sighed blissfully. "He has a tongue stud! I've never had someone with one of those go down on me before! It felt amazing when he swirled it around just right... and when he..."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Hermione asked, quickly breaking into his colorful recounting as he was obviously just getting warmed up.

"Because they won't let me tell them." He said as if that should be obvious, nodding his head towards Snape and Draco (whom she noted had picked up their pace to put more distance between Blaise and themselves).

"So you decided to tell me? I mean we're not even friends. Don't you feel even the slightest bit awkward discussing such... intimate details with me?"

He looked over at her. "Well, we might not be best mates, but it's not like we're enemies or anything. I usually talk to Pansy about this kind of thing, but she's not here..."

She looked over at him incredulously. That he would discuss such things with Pansy to her face when they were supposed to be somewhat of a couple was shocking enough... but his voice had gone uncharacteristically soft and he actually seemed to be missing her. She hadn't expected such a promiscuous boy to miss anyone, let alone missing someone when they'd been gone such a short amount of time.

He shrugged off his introspection after a minute. "Oh well. I'll just write her. I didn't realize it would bug you so much." He said softly. He quickened his pace as if to catch up with the others, but then slowed and kept pace once he was about half way between.

Hermione felt a bit guilty now, but she couldn't put a finger on just exactly why she felt that way. They walked in silence after that. The road they were walking along wound a bit. Whenever they were in sight of the beaches there were always packed parking areas and she could see the beach and water liberally dotted with people out enjoying the rather glorious day. It felt like she'd been transported through time. This couldn't possibly be September! Her hair was clinging all around her face and to the back of her neck from sweat and that water looked wretchedly tempting. She took another deep draft from her bottle of juice, finishing it off. It was starting to get a bit warm anyway.

Snape came to a stop and waited until she and Blaise caught up. "There's been unseasonably warm temperatures this year." Snape said, as if reading her mind. "With luck, the plants we are collecting should still be strong and thriving, despite how late it is in the season. Unfortunately, that also means an extended tourist season." He said, starting over towards the sand. "I'm afraid we'll have to take the beach from here. The road veers around my grounds, so following the shore makes for a much shorter walk. Mind where you put your trash. There's laws against littering." He said, tossing his own empty bottle in a rubbish bin as he passed it. Draco and Blaise quickly polished theirs off and they all deposited their bottles as well. The beach stretched on into the distance, but this looked to be the last public beach for quite a ways, so it was doubtful there would be many rubbish bins further on. She certainly hoped they were almost there!

Once they were on the beach proper, Snape paused again, taking off his shoes and socks. "I suggest we go barefoot from here. Winston will have your hides if you track sand into the house." He said as he knocked the sand out of the shoes and placed them in his pack.

"Who's Winston?" Hermione asked curiously as she pulled off her shoes. She wasn't sad to see them go. They were making her feet sweat.

He glanced over at her, then pulled his pack back on. "My house elf." He said softly before starting along the beach.

She stumbled slightly, getting the sock she'd been trying to remove quite sandy. She quickly yanked it off and shook it out, then packed her socks and shoes away and hurried after him. "You have a house elf?" She asked a bit incredulously.

He sighed. "Of course I do, Miss Granger. I have a number of them in fact. I could hardly keep up three houses without them, now could I? I have one here, three in my main home outside London, and two in my cabin in the mountains. I usually keep them at least in pairs for company, but Winston has never gotten along well with the others. He prefers to have the house to himself."

She digested that for a few minutes, then looked back over at him, biting her lip, debating whether she could press the subject right now.

"No, I do not pay them or any of that tripe, so don't bother asking." He said shortly, anticipating her next question.

She just followed along after that, falling a bit behind. She wasn't sure how she felt about this new bit of information. She supposed it was silly of her to imagine he wouldn't keep house elves. She didn't know he had more than one house, but even with just one, he lives at the school during the school year, so he had to have someone taking care of his house! Besides, now that she thought about it, she remembered why the name Winston had sounded so familiar. She'd heard it in one of his memories. His mother had told him that Winston and the other house elves would help take care of him once she was gone. She'd just kind of mentally overlooked the reference before.

"You going to get all upset over half a dozen house elves?" Draco asked as he came up beside her, "Because I've got about forty or fifty."

Hermione's jaw dropped.

"I don't know if I've got quite that many," Blaise said consideringly as he came up on her other side, "But then they're really hard to count since the best ones you don't even know are there. I could have more than that for all I know. Do you judge how good or bad a person is by the number of house elves they own? Because Hogwarts has us both well beat."

"Then again, some good citizens agree with you and rarely employ such creatures." Draco added, "The Dark Lord for example... If he has any at all, it's only because father took a couple with him when he ran off and went into hiding. The Dark Lord doesn't care for house elves himself. Won't let them wait on him or even be in the same room with him. Doesn't trust creatures capable of human speech with even a modicum of freewill that come and go unnoticed. Too much potential for spies in his opinion. He prefers bewitching Muggles to be his servants. Only logical really. They are mindless and unquestioningly loyal. They literally exist on his whim alone, so he knows they will never betray him. And of course it gives him a bit of rough for him and his Death Eaters to shag when they get the urge as well. Would you prefer that?"

Hermione was just staring at him, horrified.

"So, is employing and providing a home for some creatures who's sole joy in life is serving humans such a terrible thing? I mean honestly!" Draco added a bit derisively before speeding up a bit to walk beside Snape once more.

Hermione looked over at Blaise. "He was joking, wasn't he?" She asked hopefully.

Blaise's expression was unusually somber. He looked over at her for a long moment, then shook his head and looked back forward again. "'Fraid not." He muttered.

She tried hard not to think about that too much. It was just atrocious! Then again, it was Voldemort, so that was really to be expected she supposed. She watched the sand before her, following the slowly filling footprints of the others that blurred as each wave sent a thin sheet of water over their path. They were walking along the waterline, which made the sand much firmer and easier to walk on, not to mention much cooler. She also liked the way the cool water trickled up to brush her toes just ever so lightly before being pulled back out to sea. Even as she thought that, a large wave came in, splashing up and soaking the bottoms of her trouser legs.

Blaise gave a little laugh. "That's why you're supposed to roll them up a bit, Granger."

She looked up and stuck her tongue out at him... then her eyes went past him and just stared. What lay before them was surprisingly familiar! There was a stately old Manor house up on the hill ahead... just as it had been in that painting! "That's..."

"Been in my family for many generations. Well, on my mother's side." Snape said, breaking in.

She tried not to blush, only just remembering where that painting was located. "It's lovely." She said, hoping Blaise found nothing odd about her comment. To her knowledge, no one but Dumbledore, McGonagall and Draco knew she helped out with Snape while he was incapacitated (or in fact that he had ever even been incapacitated!), so by rights, she never should have seen it... so mentioning it in front of Blaise probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to do.

She just looked it over in silence as they approached it. The painting was obviously a bit old. The shoreline had changed some. Natural erosion had eaten away at the land around it. She could even see an old abandoned road a ways further on, large sections of it washed away, but the hill on which his house was perched remained unchanged. It had been pretty much one with the shoreline in the painting, but now it was almost like a short peninsula. Every bit of the fenced in land and the ancient pier before it were still firmly in place. There had to be some kind of very strong protective spells at work on his land. No wonder the road now veered around his land. It had no choice but to really if they wanted it to last.

Snape sighed as he apparently noted how evident it was becoming as well. "Looks like I'll have to do something about the surrounding beaches again. It's been too long since I visited last. With those bloody bans on placing lasting spells on Muggle owned land, I can't exactly do too much to prevent it. Probably have to hire someone before it becomes a bloody island. I certainly haven't the kind of time it will take to fix it without the Muggles noticing."

"I can put you in touch with a bloke my family's used before." Draco offered, "He does pretty good work and he's honest. My father didn't employ many like that, so he was rather refreshing to meet. He doesn't gouge on the price, even with people who can afford to be gouged a bit. He really appears to be concerned with shoreline conservation. He works with local plants and such, and is willing to take however many months you like to blend it back in."

"I'd like to meet him."

"I'll owl him tonight."

She may have been enmeshed in the magical world for years now, but sometimes it still amazed her. They were talking about major shoreline reconstruction as if it were no more than a faulty bit of plumbing!

"You should probably make another bid on the surrounding land before you fix it though." Blaise said with a smirk, "That road looks long abandoned, so they would probably sell it to you now. Then you could put the spells on it so you wouldn't have to worry about it again any time soon."

"You may be right." Snape said consideringly. "I could probably get it rather cheap in fact. With the rate it's receding, they'll probably think I'm a fool for even offering."

They had to walk around the inlet that had formed on this side of his land, then up the beach beside it to reach the wooden stairway leading up towards the house. It looked old and rather unstable, but it felt surprisingly sturdy beneath her feet. She couldn't even feel the slight vibration of the others' footfalls through the wood like she usually could on such staircases. The wood also felt thankfully smooth, though it looked worn and splintery. Obviously another subtle piece of magic.

They reached the top and Snape opened the gate. Once they were through, he closed it, then turned towards them, gesturing to the obviously rather ancient, somewhat rickety fence that stretched out in either direction, circling the huge hill. "This fence delineates the main boundaries of my land. You may use magic within the fence unless a Muggle is inside the fence line. Even if you were to do magic in plain sight inside the fence and there was a Muggle standing outside the fence looking in, they would see nothing. Glamors shield the land from prying Muggles. There are, of course, aversion charms to ward them off, but you still get the occasional strong willed ones that can approach. Even such a strong willed one would find it impossible to cross the fence without someone actively allowing them in though. The beach between my land and the ocean, and of course extending out into the ocean until about two hundred meters past the end of the pier is mine as well. Law enforcement agencies will not detect underage wizardry within those limits, but there are no glamors so you do need to watch for errant Muggles. Another interesting thing to note, due to the well known muffling effect of naturally running water on magic, they cannot detect wand usage below the ocean's surface, so using it while procuring underwater plants should be fine. If you are uncertain if it's allowable any other place in particular, please ask before trying it out."

They all nodded obediently. None of them was eager to find out what kind of magical (or Muggle!) law enforcement they had around there.

Hermione had a much better view of the grounds once they started up the cobblestone path towards the house. She could see a decent sized greenhouse around back. Not unexpected at all. There was also what looked like a second, much smaller, house behind the main one. It was set a bit down the back slope of the hill, another cobblestone path leading from it to both the main house and the greenhouse. The plant life was a bit sporadically placed, but looked well tended and the placement of everything looked very intentional. She even saw a couple of places where low growing plants had been placed in patterns carefully contained but decorative stones and shells. Obviously, his house elf liked gardening.

Draco elbowed Blaise and pointed out a particularly intricate design, even the pebbles around which had obviously been meticulously placed in geometric patterns by hand. "Winston must be getting exceedingly bored." He said with obvious amusement. "Last time I was here it was nothing more than sand and odd clumps of weeds."

Hermione looked over as she started passing a thick clump of vegetation. They were some kind of very tall, stiff looking leaves that resembled giant blades of grass more than anything. She paused, spotting movement on them. Looking closer, she saw that there were adorably tiny green lizards clambering over them, blending in almost completely whenever they stopped. Once she knew what to look for, she spotted over a dozen of them easily. They were just so bloody cute! She watched as one paused, obviously catching sight of her. It sat there, cocking its tiny head at her for a moment before darting away.

She was about to get moving again when she spotted a flash of color. She shifted around, but it was gone. She got off the path, moving around to try to spot it again. Suddenly it scampered up the blade right beside her. She stared, wide eyed. It was... well, at least it looked like... a small pink salamander! She just couldn't stop staring... but the color was irrefutable. It was an almost lurid fluorescent pink! She and the little creature contemplated each other, both looking just as fascinated.

She jumped in surprise as something darted in front of her, snapping up the salamander.

"Brilliant!" Draco said as the odd device in his hand started retracting. It looked like nothing more than a pole with a wire mesh cage at the end that was shaped like a snapping turtle's head. She could see the little creature scurrying around inside, trying to find a way out.

"Why'd you do that?" Hermione demanded indignantly, following after as he started back along the path towards the house, carefully extracting the severed leaf in bits through the holes and gazing at his prize through the cage.

He looked up and smirked. "You're kidding, right? Don't tell me you've never seen one of these?"

She furrowed her brow. "Should I have?"

He shrugged, "Well, they are one of the most prevalent magical creatures in Muggle areas. They've been spotted all over the world in fact, even in very cold climates, but only in close proximity to Muggles. They secrete a substance that comes in very useful in potions to hide things from Muggles, especially other magical creatures witches and wizards like keeping as pets. See Muggles can't see these, or anything treated with their secretions."

"Unless they're completely kaylied!" Blaise added from where he was walking beside Draco, gazing at Draco's little pet with amused interest, Draco's pack in his hands.

"Well yes." Draco conceded. "That's when Muggles can see the most, really. The pink salamanders and the other creatures we hide using them. Then again, no one believes them when they're that far gone anyway, and they usually forget or think it was all in their head by the next morning as well."

"I thought that was just a joke or an old wives tale!" Hermione laughed, "I mean my uncle always said you know you've drank too much when you start seeing pink salamanders!"

Draco and Blaise just smirked in response.

Hermione's expression sobered. "You aren't going to kill it, are you?"

"Why would we do that?" Draco said with a derisive snort, "It's useless dead, now isn't it? If you see any more, grab them up. Use your hands if you need to. Don't worry, they're harmless and extremely durable. We don't really need them, but they're valuable. They're devilishly hard to catch, and even harder to do so without looking starkers in front of the Muggles. That might be why the creatures like Muggles so much."

"Well, that and they love Muggle liquor!" Blaise said with a little snicker.

Draco just nodded, "And of course they're much easier to catch when they've been imbibing. If we can catch a number of them we can probably trade them in Diagon Alley for some of the stuff we do need." He paused as Blaise opened his pack for him. He slid the cage-device in and fastened it up, then just slipped it back on his back.

"You're just going to toss it in your pack?!? What if it gets crushed or suffocates or something?" Hermione asked worriedly.

Snape, who had paused and waited for them at the door, chuckled as he heard this. "Those packs have even stronger spells on them than those foraging bags you were given at school. Nothing is going to crush the contents, and nothing will suffocate in there. It was made with the expectation that it might be used to transport live cargo."

"Oh." She muttered, blushing slightly. She really should have anticipated that. It was a bit irritating how she always felt like she'd missed a class or something when she was around these Slytherins!

"Otherwise that cage would have been a bit mashed already, now wouldn't it?" Draco muttered to her mischievously as Snape opened the door and led in.

Hermione blushed, remembering how she'd landed on him when they came out of the floo network. She promptly forgot all about that a moment later as she walked into the house. She stared around in fascination. The walls were covered with old family photos and portraits, though only the photos appeared to be moving. As they went down the hall, she saw a study that reminded her strongly of Snape's quarters. All natural wood, floor to ceiling bookshelves packed with books, wooden sculptures, though they were of a more pleasant nature. There were none of the dark, brooding pieces that she could see from there. The place was also immaculately clean and absolutely ordered. There was not a speck of dust anywhere, not a thing out of place, not a single smudge on the woodwork or windows... and there were a lot of windows! The shutters were all open, letting the cheerful sunshine light up the rooms and fill them with a kind of welcoming warmth she hadn't expected. Many of them had been propped open a bit as well so a cool ocean breeze wafted through the house.

She furrowed her eyebrows as a thought occurred. She stopped, gazing into a large sitting room with huge bay windows. "I could have sworn all the windows were closed and shuttered when we were approaching!" She said in surprise.

"Obviously a Muggleborn. Can't even recognize a glamor!" A low, grumbling voice muttered from ahead, "What were you thinking?"

She looked, but couldn't locate the speaker. Snape had disappeared into a room up ahead that seemed to be the source of the voice. She hurried forward as she heard Snape making a soft but irritated shushing sound.

She entered the room just behind Draco and Blaise. It was a huge kitchen. Snape was standing there, setting his pack on a nearby counter. There was a house elf standing beside him. Well... he looked a bit odd for a house elf, but she supposed that might be because he was older. If he'd been full grown when Snape was a toddler, he'd have to be at least fifty or so she imagined. Then again, she had no idea what the life expectancy was for house elves. At roughly four foot in height, this one was about the largest one she'd ever seen, and not nearly as thin and emaciated as usual. His arms and legs were actually about as thick as she would expect to see on a healthy human youth his size. His eyes weren't quite as large as she was used to, and neither were his feet or ears. They were proportionally oversized of course, just not nearly as much as she was used to. His nose was narrow and beak-like, like Dobby's was, but shorter, almost close the size of an average human's nose. His head even seemed a bit smaller than usual, but she supposed that might just be the effect of the larger, thicker frame making the head simply look smaller. The odd appearance was made downright bizarre by the bright Hawaiian shirt and Khaki shorts he was wearing.

"Winston," Snape said once they were all present, "These are some of my students. They will be staying here while we gather and prepare some ingredients. I would appreciate it if you would show them where things are and help them out as needed."

"I is not knowing you is bringing guests, master." Winston squeaked, "I will be needing to order more food from the store." He said, turning and picking up a tablet of paper and a pen that were sitting on the counter and starting to write up a list of things to get. "A bit of notice might have been nice." A soft voice whispered from behind the tablet. "Couldn't send an owl? Pick up a phone? Send some bloody smoke signals?"

Snape cleared his throat irritably, pointedly pretending not to have heard anything. "We'll order out today. I'm sure you'll have adequate supplies by tomorrow. Let me introduce you properly. This is Hermione Granger, Blaise Zabini, and..."

"I is recognizing little Malfoy." The elf squeaked. The tablet dipped a little lower as he looked over it at Draco. He actually looked to be glowering a bit.

Draco just settled back against the counter behind him, folding his arms over his chest, then reaching up and rubbing the side of eye. She noticed he was using his middle finger to do so.

Winston let out a little amused snort, going back to his list.

Draco reached over, dragging a finger over the shelf near him, then looked at it, noting the lack of dust. "So, when did you learn how to clean?"

The tablet dropped down a bit and the elf was definitely glaring this time. "It is being a house elf's place to be cleaning his master's home."

"Yes, well I've never seen this place this clean since you ran off all of the other house elves. Did you hire a maid?"

"It isn't Winston's fault little Malfoy is not even having to wipe his own arse at his home." Winston muttered from behind the tablet.

Draco opened his mouth, and it was obvious the retort was going to be scathing, but Snape quickly intervened. "Draco..." Snape said softly, rolling his eyes, "Let's not start again."

Draco just let out a little huff. "Fine, but I'm not staying in here."

"The guest house is the same place it's always been." Snape replied.

"There is being plenty of room for his little friends too." Winston interjected helpfully.

Snape looked over at the others and shrugged. "There are two bedrooms. If either of you would like to stay in there as well... well, I'll leave it up to you."

Blaise smirked and put on a affected considering expression. "Let's see... stay in here with the infamous Winston... or play house with Draco... Hmmm..." Then he just smirked, looking over at Hermione, "Sorry, Granger. You drew the short straw. Have fun with Winston. I'd tell you to lock your door at night, but that doesn't help with house elves."

"I, on the other hand, will most definitely be locking my door at night!" Draco muttered.

Blaise leaned a bit closer to Hermione and stage-whispered in a confidential tone, "He'll loosen up. I know he really wants me deep down." He glanced over, noting Draco's glare, "Um... perhaps I should say really deep down..."

Hermione just chuckled.

"How long is you staying, Master?" Winston squeaked.

Snape flinched a bit. "We'll be here up to a week, and please stop with the squeaking. You're giving me a headache!"

"Thank God." Winston sighed, his voice dropping and becoming deep and a bit gravely, "That was ripping my bloody throat up! I'm going to be sore for a bloody week!" He said, rubbing his throat.

Hermione just stared in shock.

He glared over at her, "What are you staring at, Muggleborn?" he grumbled. He looked up at Snape, "Is she going to be gaping at me the whole bloody time? It's really bloody irritating."

Hermione blushed and snapped out of it, dropping her eyes. "Sorry." She muttered.

"Be nice, Winston." Snape said with a slightly warning edge to his voice.

"Hey, if you want to ruin your reputation among the purebloods by bringing one of those here, be my guest. Far be it from me to offer up common sense. You aren't going to be parading her around outside, are you?"

"He lets you outside, doesn't he?" Draco said with a slightly malicious smirk. "What would the other purebloods say if they knew he had an elflin?"

Winston glared back at him angrily.

"Um... what's an elflin?" Hermione asked, perplexed as to why the name seemed to irritate Winston so.

"It's a rather infantile name..." Snape said, looking pointedly at Draco, "For a cross between a goblin and a house elf."

"I'm just tall." Winston muttered irritably.

Snape sighed, "No one cares about that, Winston! You know very well he's just having you on!"

Draco just snorted, then looked back over at Hermione, "He forgot to mention that they also make piss poor servants. Let me demonstrate." He tossed his pack to Winston, "Put that in my room and turn down the bed."

Winston tossed it back hard, "Bite me, Malfoy!" He growled, making Blaise and Draco snicker as Snape sighed and covered his eyes with one hand. "I'll be in my room." the disgruntled elf muttered to Snape, not even bothering to wait for a response.

Hermione just watched, stunned, as he strode past her and on out the door.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N - I didn't think I'd be posting this week, but today (well, pretty much yesterday now) we up and had a snow day. Couldn't send the boy to school, so I couldn't go to work. I was truly heartbroken over that, as you can well imagine! ;P Happy Valentines day I guess. Well, I got the chapter out, so I at least have one less reason to be horribly, horrible depressed today.

Before any of you ask, no, Odessa is not a real place. If such a place exists in real life it is purely coincidental. I believe Odessa is either the name of a little town or a company near me... I can't remember, but the name stuck with me. Before you ask, I am absolutely nowhere near any coast (I wish!). I have not specified, nor do I have any intention to at the moment, which coast 'Odessa' is on. I have been to both the East & West American coasts, and Odessa is just an odd little mix of snippets of those from my memories and pure fantasy. I have a rather strong mental image of it, but until they perfect the technology that lets you see inside my head, or at the very least lets me output mental images into video files, I'll have to just try to describe it for you :)

I have a technical question for you all... does it send you emails when a chapter is just changed? Because I'm getting really tired of people bitching at me about not updating Flight (one just told me to update or take it off of fanfiction! Just slightly irritating...). Apparently, there are a lot of people who don't even glance at someone's profile for the answer, or even to see if there is a different story I might be working on that is putting off the ending of Flight, before complaining. I'd like to add a note to the bottom of the last chapter so they would know that I was still intending to finish that, but it might take a while (Not to mention possibly a note on chapter 1 that they should read PreFlight first, cause the ending isn't going to make sense to them if they haven't read this) but I don't want to tease my Flight fans with emails saying I've updated if it's only to add a note. I've been a bit worried about when I finish this and start revamping Flight as well. If it sends a bunch of emails then people are gonna get ticked if there's nothing NEW yet. Anyhow, can someone tell me how this thing works in that respect? I plan on updating chapter 35 for a couple of little oopsies and the forgotten reference to Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them for the Runespoor information at the same time that I post this, so tell me if it tells you, ok? It would be nice if it wouldn't change the last updated date either, but I doubt it would be that obliging.