The snake who lived
Book 2: The Chamber of secrets
"We'll have to watch out for airplanes, now."
Harry Potter, Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets, page 81
Chapter 4: Rolling
"C'MON! WAKE UP!! RISE AND SHINE!!"
Normally, those words, coming from number six, privet drive, were loud, active and woke up not just their target, but the rest of the neighborhood as well. However, normally, those words were usually voiced by a high-pitched, female voice, not by the young boy's tone.
…and, normally, they didn't come with a shrill scream of:
"QUIT IT HARRY!!"
Or another of:
"Wake up! It's Hogwarts time!!"
"You had to remind me!"
Today was September 1. The day Harry Potter had been eagerly awaiting, and Blaise Zabini had feared like the plague. The day they would ride the Hogwarts express and get back in Hogwarts for another nine months of homework, learning, magic and crazy teachers.
After getting chased out of Blaise's room, Harry literally leaped downstairs, barging in the kitchen, where Mrs Zabini was sitting at the table, listening to an upbeat song on the wireless while absentmindedly tapping her fingers on the table at each beat. Mr Zabini was just starting to cook up breakfast, which, Harry guessed as soon as he smelled the air, was pancakes.
"Smells good!" Harry complimented, sitting down on 'his' seat. In the short time he had lived in the Zabini's house, the guest room and anything else that was 'spare' and handed to him felt more his than anything at the house on the other side of the fence, just beyond the window over the counter.
Blaise took that time to arrive, still fuming. Taking her seat in front of Harry and making a show of not looking at him, she listened to the music on the wireless, just as it ended.
"Oh, great timing. I like that song." She growled.
As the music ended, the waves were taken over by a young-sounding, cheerful man.
"And that was Flick at my heart, the new hit of Celestina Warbeck, who announced the release of her new disk, Spellbinding, set to December 15th, just in time for Christmas! Little warning to all Celestina fans, those disks will probably vanish like golden snitches!
I'll bet you all know what day it is, today! It's September first! Yes, it's the day Hogwarts opens it's gates to it's students… and, answering to the widely spread rumors, Gilderoy Lockhart, the famous expert against dark forces and author, as well as five-time winner of witch weekly's annual 'most charming smile' award, declared:
"It is my pleasure to confirm the rumors… have no fear, parents! Your kids' futures are in the best of hands."
...let's hope mister Lockhart doesn't find it's arch-nemesis in correcting homework and calming screaming classes of witches and wizards in training!"
Harry snorted. "Let's hope he does."
"Actually…" Blaise said, giving him a deadly grin "…let's make sure he does."
"Now, now… Don't plan anything back against him. At least not in front of me." Mrs Zabini said.
"Why are you defending him, mom?" Blaise asked.
Mrs Zabini shrugged. "I said you can't plan against him in front of me, that wouldn't be very responsible of me as a mother and temporary guardian. However, you can plan as much as you want out of my earshot."
Mr Zabini shot her a disapproving look as he distributed breakfast under everyone's laughs.
Time flew by quickly and, before they knew it, Harry's trunk was packed in the family's car, Mr Zabini was carrying Blaise's things down while Mrs Zabini was scraping the girl herself from the door.
"I dun wanna go!!" She whined.
"It's just nine months of school, Blaise!" Harry chirped cheerfully.
Shooting him a dark look, she growled. "Thanks for the moral boos(*Thump*)ow! Mom, careful!"
The woman, who was holding the girl's legs while the front was spread on the floor, shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry."
The ride to King's cross was also a quick thing, and relatively quiet… almost.
"Are we there yet?"
"…not this again…" Mr Zabini sighed.
They made it to King's cross with half an hour to spare. However, since the station was quite full, mostly with muggles, but the eventual wizard could be easily spotted in the crowd if one had any sense of taste.
Trolley in hand, Harry followed Mrs Zabini toward the barrier standing between platforms 9 and 10.
Remembering what he had done last year, Harry was ready to run through when he spotted Draco walking up ahead, also pushing a trolley in front of him. His parents were nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, Draco!" He called.
As soon as he spotted them, Draco's grey eyes lit up like lamps. A grin on his face, the platinum-haired boy walked up to stand in front of him.
"Hey Harry! 'Lo Blaise!"
The girl gave him a grin and a wave. "Good to see mister 'vindictive asshole' stayed home today!"
Draco frowned slightly and shrugged. "Hey, I gotta put up a convincing act… if dad learns about you two, I'm as good as dead."
"Talking about him, he's not here?" Harry asked, looking around.
Draco snorted and gave him an odd look. "Looks like all this time around Gryffs dulled you, Harry. If he was anywhere close by, do you honestly think I'd risk my skin talking to you?"
Feeling a bit sheepish, Harry gave a small shrug. "Probably not."
"No way he's anywhere close. And neither is mom. He left for the ministry sometime in the morning and she's waiting for guests at home. Quote dad: 'He's old enough to fend for himself.'. 'course, he left me with Crabbe and Goyle for protection, but they spotted Bulstrode a minute ago and I lost track of them."
"C'mon, let's get going." Blaise said. "All the good compartments are going to be taken."
Agreeing, Draco and Harry aimed toward the gates and checked to make sure no muggles would spot them. The bricks in front of them looked as solid as a regular wall, but Harry perfectly knew about the fact that they weren't. Beyond them was platform 9¾ and their ride to Hogwarts, the crimson Hogwarts Express.
"Race ya?" Draco said, turning toward him with a smirk..
"You lost already." Harry agreed.
"I don't think so!" The other boy taunted, running forward, with Harry soon following with a 'HEY!'
Blaise sighed as the two boys vanished through the gates.
"I'm starting to think I'm the most mature here." She mumbled before following her friends.
The other side was just as Harry remembered it. The first sight that welcomed him on the other side was the bright crimson paint of the train, along with the many people boarding it. Taking careful steps forward to avoid walking on one of the cats running around, Harry entered the closest boarding door, followed by Draco and Blaise.
A few minutes later, they settled in one of the empty compartments, with both Hedwig's cage and Nemesis laying on the table. The three Slytherins settled their things in the allocated place, before each launched in a story of their summer.
Blaise told hers first. As Harry had already heard it, he looked out the window, where he could see the Weasleys boarding the train, along with a familiar bushy-haired Hermione.
'Hmm… looks like she stayed with the Weasleys.' Harry mused.
"Well," Draco said after Blaise had finished her story "mine wasn't so bad. I spent most of my time in our new swimming pool, when dad wasn't forcing me to study to reach the impossible goal of developing a bigger IQ than Granger."
"I'm flattered, Malfoy." Hermione said as she, Ron and, to Harry's surprise, Ginny, entered the compartment.
"I thought you'd be." Draco replied with a shrug. "Father obviously doesn't realize I'd have to spend twenty-six hours a day studying just to go somewhere on the level of your grades."
Hermione blinked and gave him a look, before turning to the others. "Did any of you found it unusually cold outside?"
"No, why?" Blaise asked.
"I think hell just froze over."
"I'm not that bad." Draco protested with a frown, before turning to Harry. "What about your summer?"
"Well, I spend half of it enjoying pushing the Dursleys around…"
Some time later, Harry reached the moment where his summer turned around.
"Dobby?!" Draco gasped. "So that's where he was!!"
"You didn't know?" Harry asked.
"No, I didn't." Draco said with a frown. "All I knew is that my laundry wasn't done one morning. I found him later when he was closing the oven on his ears, but I figured he was punishing himself for forgetting it."
"It wouldn't have been much harder for you to do it yourself." Hermione said, frowning.
"Yes it would have." Draco replied flatly.
"What happened afterwards?" Blaise asked. "I know you got to the burrow, but…"
"They starved me." Harry replied.
"WHAT?!" Was the general chorus.
"They locked me up in my room and didn't give me a bit to eat."
"Why didn't you try to escape using magic?" Draco asked.
"I didn't want to take the chance of getting expelled."
"You do know underage witches and wizards are allowed to use magic if they are in danger, right?" Hermione asked.
"…I do now. I didn't back then."
"You definitely need to check up on what you can do, Harry." Draco sighed. "What happened afterwards?"
"Ron here went straight to my place in a flying car with the twins and got me out of there." Harry replied.
Hermione smiled at Ron. "I never knew you'd risk so much for Harry…"
"W-Well, he wasn't replying our letters. I just wanted to know if he was all right. That's all. Anyone would have done that." The boy was blushing slightly, edging away from Hermione's gaze.
"What happened then?" Draco asked, interrupting the two Gryffindors.
"I wasn't feeling too good for the next week or so, Ginny here took care of me." Harry replied, giving a look at the red-haired girl, who blushed bright red and looked at the ground.
"Oh yeah! The Weaslette." Draco said with a smirk.
Ginny gave him an angry glare. "Shut up, Malfoy."
"Oh, spunky." Draco noted with a smirk. "A shame she'll be lost in Gryffindor. They'll have her mellowed out into a giggly pile of girl fluff in the first ten seconds."
To which Hermione replied by giving him a sharp slap behind the head.
"Shut up! We're not all like Pavarti and Lavender."
"Naa, just two-thirds of the Gryffindor girls." Harry noted, before turning to Ginny. "Don't base your opinion of Draco on what he says. He sounds like an asshole, be he acts nice."
"Geez, thanks, Potter."
"It was my pleasure, Malfoy." Harry replied with a smirk.
"Wait a second… Aren't you all Slytherins?" Ginny asked.
"Was, am and proud to be." Blaise declared theatrically. Harry shot her a glare a mouthed "Copyrights."
"But… aren't you muggle-born?" Ginny asked Hermione. "Aren't you afraid of being near them?"
"Naa. They're the hamsters of Slytherin." The girl replied, causing gasps of mock-outrage from the green and silver audience.
"But… I thought all Slytherins hated muggles and muggle-borns…"
"That's a prejudice." Blaise said. "So, there's a few of us who don't like muggle blood. Same thing goes for every house. But to them, they're abnormal, while to us, they're considered typical. Not everyone of us is like you-know-who."
"It's like the prejudice that all Gryffindors are heroes or great." Draco drawled. "I honestly can't find anything heroic about Longbottom."
"Maybe if we get attacked by evil alien cauldrons," Harry snickered. "he'll make them all melt."
Time passed quickly. Before they knew it, it was dark outside. Hermione had switched books twice, Ginny had long since dozed off on her brother's shoulder while he was savagely destroying – and getting destroyed by – Draco's chess pieces, with Harry looking and giving 'helpful' tips to both players that would give them more pain than gain. The two had long since began to ignore him. In the meantime, Blaise was munching on Bertie bott's beans, mostly the red ones, in search for strawberries, without much luck so far – "Ugh, blood.".
"Shouldn't be much longer." Hermione noted. "We'll need to put on our robes."
"Go right ahead." Draco said, giving her a smirk. Hermione gave him another slap behind the head.
"Pervert." She growled, before getting up and waking Ginny up with a gentle prod. "C'mon, let's put our robes on."
The girl nodded and followed Hermione and Blaise, letting the three boys alone. Harry pulled his robe out of his trunk, turning toward Draco and Ron.
"You two better dress up before we make it there." He said, removing his shirt. He was not about to walk out wearing clothes underneath his robe this time around.
"Yeah, yeah, just gotta –Bishop to C-4, check– kill this guy." Draco said.
"In your dreams, Malfoy. Knight to C-4."
With a sigh, Harry slipped the robe over his head, then sat back down on his seat. Two minutes later, the match ended in a draw when only one of Ron's pawns were left. Both boys then proceeded to follow Harry's lead, removing their shirts…
…and were in the process of removing their pants when the three girls walked back in.
"So, did you two finished playi…p-pl-…p…" Hermione began, but stopped into an incoherent stutter as her cheeks took a bright red shade.
Ginny let out a squeak and ran out, blushing to her ears.
Ron blushed just as much and retied his belt a bit too tightly.
Blaise simply stared.
Harry and Nemesis both burst out laughing, the snake rolling around on the table in hilarity.
Draco blinked and stopped sliding his pants down, but didn't do anything to cover himself up.
"Well, well." He drawled. "You two little minxes just waited until we were nearly naked to come in here, didn't you"
"Maybe." Blaise absentmindedly sighed, still staring.
"N-NO!" Hermione gasped, blushing bright red and looking away. "Could you put some clothes on?!"
Another squeak came from outside the hallway. Harry burst out laughing at the mental picture of a Ginny with hair paling compared to her face.
"That's what I was about to do before you barged in here. So if you don't mind…" Draco said, before sliding his pants completely off, causing Hermione to squeak and run out, pulling a reluctant Blaise with her, slamming the door on the way out. Harry lost it and fell off his chair, his laughs causing a far away dog to bark out.
"Have you no shame?!" Ron gasped at Draco.
"Shame? What's that?" The other boy quipped, sliding the robe over his head. Harry lost it again and was sent in hysterics.
Blaise had yet to say a word while Ginny and Hermione were still blushing every time they turned toward Ron and Draco by the time the train pulled into the station and stopped. Still chuckling at his friends, Harry picked up Nemesis, making sure he was well concealed in his sleeve before turning to the other occupants of the compartment.
"C'mon, peeked and peekers, let's go before the train leave again."
"Oh, sure. You're no the one who got peeked on." Ron grumbled, sweating slightly from the heat. Not wanting to risk being caught nearly pantless twice, he had simply slid his robes over his clothes.
Draco let out a cough that sounded too awfully like "Sissy" to be accidental. The red-head gave him a sharp glare, which was replied by an equally sharp smirk.
The sky outside was black. Pure black. The clouds prevented the dim light of the stars and moon from reaching them, and the low amount of artificial light caused them to be dark themselves. The result? If it hadn't been for the many lamps lit up on the platform, they wouldn't have been able to see few inches in front of their noses.
"Lumos." Harry muttered, illuminating his wand. He was imitated by many students around him, some of which even slapped themselves for not thinking that sooner.
"Firs' years! Firs' years! Over here!" Hagrid's voice boomed.
Harry turned toward Ginny and nodded. "He means you."
"I know that." She replied, before giving the huge man another look. "He's scary…"
"Naa, he's harmless." Harry assured. "He's even fun to be around, when he doesn't have a dragon or a three-headed dog with him."
Ginny gave him a blank stare, before Ron pushed her away, toward Hagrid.
With one less person, the group headed toward the horseless carriages. Unfortunately, as there were only four seats in each carriage, Draco had to take another ride, with Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode. He was not delighted.
The carriage set in motion, with Blaise looking out the window gloomily while Hermione was still digging in another 'Lockhart' book. Ron, for lack of better things to do, hummed a tune, tapping the table with his fingers with the beat.
Harry gave a look at Blaise and grinned.
"We're back."
The girl, for all answer, groaned gave the table a vigorous smack with her forehead, her chestnut-brown eyes giving a rough glare at the black-haired boy, who snickered.
"Cheer up! It's only nine months to go!"
"You sure sound cheerful about it." Ron deadpanned.
"What can I say, this place is like my second home, apart from Blaise's house."
"When people aren't trying to kill you." Blaise deadpanned.
"Hey, it only happened once. What are the odds of that happening ag—" He was interrupted when the carriage gave a violent shudder. A sinister cracking came to them as the carriage tilted, causing Harry to be sent flying against the wooden door, which caved out, to Harry's surprise.
'What the… they're not supposed to be this weak!' He thought as he landed in a rough heap on the dirt path.
"Harry! Look out!!" Blaise screamed from onboard the carriage, which had stopped rolling, missing the right back wheel, which was laying on the floor in front of the boy.
Seeing her alarmed gaze set on something behind him, he turned around, only to be faced with the wooden wheel of another incoming carriage; it was about to roll over him!!
Using Quidditch-honed reflexes, Harry managed to roll out of the way, with only the hem of his robe getting caught in the wheel, which rolled harmlessly away from him. After it was by, Harry got back up and dusted himself, under the stares of the passengers of passing carriages.
"Pretty good, I'd say." Blaise replied.
"Why me?" Harry asked the air, expecting an answer some time in the next minute.
"Are you all okay?" Came Hooch's worried voice as she flew over them, mounted on a Cleansweep 6.
"Yeah, sure, almost got rolled on 'cause my carriage just happens to have a wheel that cracks, now I'm all dirty and my glasses feel weird. Never better." He said sarcastically, before repeating "Why me?"
Fetching a ride on school brooms, the four students followed Hooch in the school, where Madam Pomfrey was waiting for them. After getting inspected and diagnosed as perfectly fine, they were led to the great hall, where a crowd of first years was already waiting to get sorted. Then, Flitwick brought the hat in while the four new arrivals took their places at their respective tables, Harry and Blaise finding Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent near the end of the table.
The rip in the front of the hat opened like some kind of mouth as it threw itself in a song:
"It must have been a good thousand years
Four warlocks with great imagination
And probably a good dose of medication
Decided: "We'll build our school right here!"
Their names are still widely renowned
Since they did the smart decision
To leave their names and missions
And make sure their fame survives up to now
You may wonder what in the world am I
And what happened to me
To make me look so grubby
I'll answer your question here before your eyes
I am the sorting hat
No fancy names, just that
The name says my purpose, my mission
Which is not to entertain you with here intermission.
Put me on your head, let me take a peek
At the self-identity you secretly seek
You got four choices:
Just listen to this voice
Gryffindor is for the brave
Ravenclaw is for the strong of brains
Hufflepuff are very hard working
And none are sneakier than Slytherin
Now, come up here, put me on
Don't worry, it won't take long
For me to decide where you best fit in!"
Applauses came from everywhere at once as the sound ended and the hat gave the cappish equivalent of a bow.
Professor McGonagall stepped up, holding a list of names.
"When I say your name, come here, sit on the stool and put the hat on. Then, go to your assigned table." Clearing her throat, she began.
"Atkinson, Calvin!"
A boy shyly walked up to the hat, nervously putting it on. Soon after, the word "RAVENCLAW!" Shot out, causing said table to burst into applause, guiding the grinning boy into their midst.
"Chang, Xu!"
"It plonounced Shou, not that tough, Zhouma…" An Asian girl grumbled, her accent rather thick, as she stepped up to the sorting hat.
"Chang?" Harry asked, remembering the Ravenclaw seeker. "Think she's got any family with Cho Chang?"
Draco shrugged. "Maybe, but she sounds a bit too foreign for that. Chang doesn't have an accent."
"And she speaks in full English." Blaise noted wryly. .
"SLYTHERIN!"
The sorting continued otherwise uninterrupted. "Creevey, Colin" was sent in Hufflepuff after giving Harry an awed look. He didn't look all that happy.
"McKinnon, Emma" became the next Slytherin and was welcomed quite warmly.
"McKinnon?" Harry thought out loud. "Sounds familiar…"
"She's from one of the families that were nearly ended by you-know-who." Draco explained. "Probably the last one."
Rather impatiently, the group waited as "Owen, Adam" "Gryffindor!" made way to "Riley, Felicity" "Hufflepuff" until finally…
"Weasley, Virginia!"
"Virginia?" Harry repeated disbelievingly.
"I knew Ginny was a weird name," Blaise said. "it's probably just a nickname, like Ron's."
"Still… Virginia?"
"It's better than what your full name might be, Harold."
That shut Harry up. Draco let out a sigh.
"Why do they even bother sorting her? I mean, we all know she'll be a Gryffindor." He grumbled. "I'm hungry."
"Call it a tradition." Blaise said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
"She is taking an awfully long time, though." Harry noted.
"Hmm? That's true," Draco agreed, looking bored "but it won't change the result. I tell you, she'll be a—" "SLYTHERIN!"
Pumpkin juice sprayed out of Blaise's mouth, all over the table. Very few applauses came. Harry's head whipped toward the girl, who was still on the stool, eyes wide open in horror, her mouth gaping. Slowly, she remove the hat and gave it a look, before turning to McGonagall. Their voices were too low to be understood, but ended when McGonagall shook her head and guided her to Slytherin house.
"Mobilisedes" Harry cast, pulling a chair out from under a third year, causing him to fall on the floor in a heap. He moved the chair in between himself and Blaise and motioned Ginny over. Slowly, her eyes still horrified, she crashed down on the chair.
"Are you all right?" Harry asked.
Ginny slowly shook her head, giving a look at the Gryffindor table. With a dry sob, she burst out crying while Blaise hugged her tightly. Harry gave a look at the crimson table, finding Ron easily. He was standing up and staring at his sister, mouth gaping in angry horror, while Hermione was evidently trying to calm him down.
'Oh hell, what a way to start the year.' Harry thought dryly, patting the red-head on the back.
Author's notes: THIS is what I meant by "Some parts resemble Slytherin Rising". Slytherin!Ginny is a likely thing with a Slytherin!Harry. In my opinion, she does have what it takes. She is, after all, the youngest in a family of seven, over-overshadowed (Even Ron shadows her; he IS friend with Harry Potter and gets the backlash of the glory), over protected and, quite possibly, very tired of being poor. Being ambitious easily spawns from that. And here, like Harry, she had her opinion of Slytherin changed from other people's opinions. (Harry and Blaise)
Congratulations to ER, King Jasbon and Shireen Mclean for guessing correctly what was going to happen. BROWNIE POINTS!!
*WHAT? What the heck, why didn't Dobby block the gate?!* re-read that part. Notice who's crossing the gate with him. 'nuff said.
Apologies in advance if Xu Chang's Chinese is messed up, I may be nearly trilingual (*cough* or wish I was *cough*), but Chinese isn't one of the languages I speak. (Too many symbols! UGH!) She will not speak Chinese often. I would have put her Japanese, but… *Smirk* Hehe… Reason wa himitsu desu. ^_-
Colin, a Hufflepuff, you ask?
With Harry being in Slytherin, Colin wanted to follow him. However, as the hat told him, he wasn't quite Slytherin material. But Colin insisted, claiming he could work hard to be the perfect Slytherin. In a moment of irony, he was sent in Hufflepuff.
ANSWERS TO THE TEN FOOT TALL MAN-EATING SPATULAS JUST BEHIND THE REVIEWERS' BACKS:
Star Mage: Well, how's THAT for different? And no, I couldn't have Harry use the car. You're right, it's impulsive and not thought out. Not something a Slytherin would do. Though Harry is impulsive, as far as Slyths go.
Serapotter: Tahnks! Iw ill! ^_- hehehe. I'm evil.
Angel-in-disguise: Thanks! I'll have you know that my beta's French too. *sigh* Well, this one was co-betaed by Shireen McLean. Should be better, right?
Shireen Mclean: *awww* *pats ur back* Poor Shiree-chan. Well, then, I'll have to try to make up for your depression… *Blinks and looks at next chapter* Erm… errrr…. Oh boy. *Clears throat* You'll have to wait a long time. The foundations are there, but the building will be another story! ^_^;;;. And to answer your curiosity, it's light brown, sometimes golden. *sigh* I'm thinking it bleaching it… just so I won't have Gryff colors on me. Glad you liked the Knockturn alley thing, I just couldn't let slyth!Harry react the same way as Gryff!Harry did there. Canon Harry pretty much panicked, while this one kept head clear. Draco is human. Only, Cannon!Draco is human as well, with, for only influence on him, his father, Crabbe, Goyle and the rest of the Slytherins of his year, none of which are any good for his sake. As for Ron, well… as you can now see, expect complications ^_-.
Oh boy. What a reply… ^_^;;;
Aznviolin: Thanks! And I guess I'll have to thank V-chan, too ^_-. Yes, I'm quite hot clicking-on material ^_-. Glad to hear it! I'm actually looking forward to writing it ^_-. Thanks!
VMorticia: Hehe. If you notice, Harry didn't hide in the same direction than in the book; hence why Draco found him. And yes, I did inspire myself a bit. Execrated means hated. *Blink* well, you can't be as big a spotlight-hugger as Lockhart. *smirk* Same here. The Crimson Bucher is (MMMFFFHHH!! *mouth blocked by own hand*) YAY! Gonna see McGonnaflip!! ^_^ Hmm… maybe I will! Oh, and thanks for putting me in your faves, btw.
(Other note: Did you know your line of "Hehehehe"s made it a whole lot harder to read my reviews this time, V? 'specially Shireen's. try not to do that anymore, plz)
(From VMorticia to Flummox: "... oh, and I was reading some of your reviews - could you tell Flummox that if they want mental images of Lucie in drag, or just plain humour for the sake of laughing, that they should read The Chronicles of Lucius, by Fyrie - I reccomend it.")
Flummox: You like Percy's prefect badge?! You're definitely weird. *Snicker* True, imagine if Harry stumbled in a bar… Or maybe a night club!! ^_-. Yes, Dobby voodoo dolls. I certainly would buy one or a dozen. Naa, the hand of glory's in the book already. Hehe. I'm not going to reveal EVERY single secret in two books. Heck, what am I going to talk about in book 3 and 4!? He might make a few more rules during the rest of this fic/saga. LOL!!! Lucius in drag!! Lucie!! Thank you, I do admit I'm evil. You won't find the truth about the 'Crimson butcher' right away, *SMIRK*. Ahh… not really, I wear running shoes. *Shrug* YAYYY!! Someone told me it's a piece of shit!!! ^_^
Jordan: Thanks! Well, here you go! And yes, they know about Nemesis.
Blackheart Sayoran: Well, I'm looking forward to how you pull it off ^_-. And yes, that is the mother of all crash styles… though the big daddy's accidentally hitting the 'off' switch (behind the comp) while installing Windows ME. How's that for bad? ^_-
