Chapter Thirteen: The Boys Are Back in Town
She tried to sit up immediately, but found herself unable to do so.
** Not so fast cricket, being deprived of its soul tends to weaken the body, you're going to need quite a bit of rest before you're back to yourself.**
"Faustas? It's you, isn't it? It was you who pulled me back, you're really here?"
** Very much so.**
"But- Diego! Where's Diego, is he all right?"
** Yes, yes, of course he is. He's in Egypt and doing splendidly, or so he was when last I checked.**
"Did you wake him up too?"
** Of course not, I was here with you. Let me see if I can make this clear. According to Sofia and Abraham, who were the first to arrive in your rooms and apprehend the attackers, they decided that if this was any indication of the situation, you and Diego were much more of a target together than apart. So they had one of the Cairo ambassadors take Diego back to Egypt, and Anna brought you here.**
"Then who woke Diego?"
** Well, now, and that was the question I was about to ask you. Apparently as Diego was being settled in at the Cairo school, one of the librarians returned from a trip to Greece with his daughter. The situation is explained to them, the others had been getting nowhere trying to wake Diego, and then the girl, quick as you please, is up the stairs and inside his head and after about two hours, the boy is wide awake. So what HAS been going on around here since I left?**
Lucy giggled, "Diego's got a girlfriend. He won't let me see her though."
** Wise decision.**
Lucy stuck out her tongue.
** You are one ungrateful girl, you know that, don't you?**
"Well, I learned from the best. And now, a little explanation, if you please."
** I just told you-**
"No. I would like to know what you are doing here. We thought you were, um, well...we thought-"
** Ah, I see. Well, to answer your first question, I am here because you needed me. As a tierra guardian my first job is to protect this land. But what many people don't understand is that the people who live on the land are as much a part of it as anything else. So in protecting the land it is often necessary to protect the people. And when you were brought here, obviously in need of help, and a member of this school, I responded.**
"Where were you before? Do you..."
** No Lucy, no. I'm sorry, but I haven't been with the... rest. When the school was attacked I was pulled home very quickly. I was literally pulled out of my physical form and back to the insubstantial but in general much more efficient true avatar form. There was much work to be done. We had to protect the energy lines, in case the intruders tried to tap them. And when it became clear that we were not going to be able to hold them off, cut off from the web as we were, we had to cushion the passage of the remnant into the void, we helped stabilize the gate so that so many could pass through. And then, when it was all over, the stain left on the land was so serious and devastating that no one was spared to trot back out into the physical world and look for you or Diego.**
"No one could be spared? But, you couldn't have-"
** You didn't need me, chica. You thought you did, but you didn't. You had adjusted just fine, you had a few friends, you weren't crying yourself to sleep at night anymore. Look at yourself, you've done wonderfully on your own.**
Lucy pouted a little, "Just because I was surviving doesn't mean I was happy all alone."
Faustas' eyes saddened. ** I know, believe me morenita, when I had to try and find you I picked up a lot, and I'm sorry that you were left like that. But there was nothing to be done. The land needed me and I had to stay.**
Lucy nodded and sighed. "So, you're going to go back now?"
** Are you so eager to get rid of me?**
"But- I thought-"
** Times have changed Lucy. You and your blood brother are now apparently two of the many targets of a sadistic madman who plans to use you to exploit natural energy sources in an attempt to aid in his plan of global domination. I think you could use my help.**
"So you're staying?"
** At least until the wind changes. Now go to sleep. You're leaving in the morning.**
"Leaving? Where to?"
** Back to school, of course. If these weirdos really are looking for you, this would be a pretty obvious place to look. And you are in no condition to help yourself. At least back at the mausoleum you're under the eye of Dumbledore. Although he seems to think sacrificing entire communities in far off countries is acceptable, I doubt he'd condone the abduction of a student from his own castle. Now go to bed.**
It wasn't hard to fall asleep. Lucy felt as if her head had barely reached the pillow before she was being woken up again. Ann was smiling at her and pushing a tray of oatmeal towards her.
"And don't event think of wrinkling your nose either. This was all that I could find that was edible, what HAVE you been eating all this time?"
"Pizza," Lucy said between grimaces and mouthfuls of oatmeal, which she had lost her taste for ever since she had gotten poison sumac one summer and been forced to take a bath in it. The oatmeal, that is, not the poison sumac.
Ann muttered a sound of disgust and helped Lucy sit up a little better before going about the room and, per Lucy's instructions, packing her trunk.
"So, what about council Ann?"
"Um..." her voice was muffled as she bent in a corner to retrieve a pair of blue jeans. "They'll be sending you both the minutes from everything you miss. You can absentee vote if anything big comes up, and if it is extremely important they'll get a hold of you somehow."
"Right. Does Dumbledore know about any of this?"
Ann looked puzzled for a moment. "Oh, the headmaster. No, of course not. The less those people know about you the better for all of us. You were never at high council, you were never at Espiritu, you spent your entire vacation at the Seville school-"
"With me." Lucy turned toward the door to see a tall, dark haired, blue eyed young man in his twenties with a distinctive Cajun accent leaning against the frame.
"What are you doing here Thomas?"
"Taking you home. Ann needs to get back to council, so I'm gonna gate you to Seville and then back to Hogwarts. We're going to have to use some rather devious methods if we're going to slip you in early."
Lucy raised her eyebrows, but Thomas didn't clarify, just went to work packing the rest of the clothes laid out by her trunk.
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"So what is this all about?"
Lucy was sitting in the courtyard at Seville, waiting for Thomas to replenish his energy and get her back to Hogwarts. He was also putting on a very heavy cloak and wrapping a blanket around her shoulders.
"Well the point, cricket, is to slip you in without anyone being the wiser. Now, all the girls went home for the holidays from your room, right?"
Lucy sipped her tea and nodded.
"Then all we have to do is get you into bed without anyone noticing. You stay there, and just act like you beat everyone back to the room when they start to arrive at the end of the break."
"Thomas, I'll starve, and I can't hold my bladder that long. And I'll never be able to just stay in that room the whole time, I'll go crazy."
"Fine, you tell me where we can stash you. But the point is we don't want them knowing you came home early."
"Why?"
"Because if they know anything about the council, that would reinforce that you were there. And I'm pretty sure on the list of lies to tell important people they gave you denying that you were ever at council is pretty high up there."
It was. Lucy didn't like it, but she was going to have to stay out of sight until classes resumed in about a week. There was only one room in the whole school that was going to be able to keep her hidden for that long.
"Fine, I know a place. But it is going to be tricky getting there."
Thomas waggled his eyebrows. "I have spent years honing my practice at avoiding Therese, I can get in and out of anywhere. I am the terror that flaps in the night."
Lucy sighed. "Whenever you're ready Darkwing."
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It was cold, very cold, and it was snowing. The gate had dumped them as close to the school as possible, but it was still quite a walk from the gate through Hogsmeade and up to the school. Lucy had decided that it wasn't worth breaking into Honeydukes to get to the tunnel, so the plan was to simply walk up to the school and hover/climb up to the girls bedroom window. Faustas was serving as a lookout, and giving Lucy enough energy to walk, since Thomas was floating the trunk along. But they had to stop every now and then since between the cold and the snow and her own illness, Lucy wasn't as sprightly as normal.
** You two better hurry up.**
Lucy looked up, trying to make out Faustas, but there was no moon tonight and she had no idea where he was.
** What's the matter?**
** There is a very big dog heading in this direction.**
Lucy groaned and started to run, Thomas followed.
** It's worse than that. That thing isn't a dog at all. He's an escaped convict and one of Dumbledore's very loyal spies. And I wasn't exactly nice to him the last time I saw him.**
** We need to work on you're people skills chica.**
Luckily, the snow and the wind had picked up, and seeing anything more than twenty feet away was next to impossible, unless you were looking with the Sight. That was how both Lucy and Thomas managed to climb the wall up to the girls tower bedroom window; Lucy manipulated the latch and they both tumbled in, with the trunk and Faustas following. Lucy peeked her head out the window and looked below.
There was a tall dark haired man staring up into the snow. But he couldn't possibly have seen them.
Lucy carefully grabbed a towel and they dried themselves off so as not to squeak or leave footprints. Lucy stuffed the towel under her pillow. They took the trunk and Lucy peeked out the door and down the stairs. It was very late, and the common room looked empty. Carefully they made their way down.
Harry was asleep in the couch in front of the fire. Lucy swore, and Thomas damped the fire and sent the room into darkness. They quickly snuck across the floor and out the portrait hole, the Fat Lady was dozing and didn't notice a thing.
** Hurry, and watch out for cats.**
She cast a wary glance around and then headed down the hallway and stopped right before the last portrait.
"Godric," she whispered, and taking Thomas's hand, pulled him and the trunk thorugh behind her.
"Wow," Thomas looked around the dark stairwell. "Are you planning on living in the dungeon Lucy?"
Lucy pulled him behind her as she made her way down to the door, unlocked it with the password, and entered the BA room. She ignited the fire and set the trunk down near the table.
"Nice digs, so this is the classroom?"
Lucy nodded. "There's a bathroom behind the bookcase and that door leads to the kitchens. I can make the floor in front of the fire cushion stone, I'll survive."
Thomas nodded, "Keep the blanket then, you'll need it. So, what's the best was out of here?"
Lucy took him back into the stairwell, and up through the trapdoor into the OWL prep room. She walked over to the window, opened it, and looked down.
"Not too far, actually, you won't even have to climb."
Thomas eyed the drop, "Right, I think I'll be the judge of that."
Lucy shrugged, "Faustas is going to be your eyes until you get safely away, watch out for that dog, he's trouble."
Thomas nodded and gave her a hug. "Take care of yourself old girl. I'll keep an eye out for Diego if he ever comes my way."
Lucy looked puzzled, "What do you mean."
Thomas cringed, "Um, nothing. Here, I was supposed to give you this. Don't read it till after I'm gone."
"What-" Lucy looked down at a scroll being thrust into her hands.
"I've got to go, be careful, ok Lucy? Just for god's sake be careful." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and hoisted himself over the windowsill, hovering his way safely to the ground before taking off across the snowy landscape.
Lucy shut the window to avoid the biting wind, and waited by it until long after Thomas had disappeared from sight and Faustas had finally told her that the gate was safely closed. Now, if Lucy didn't like being penned up, Faustas liked it even less, and he was going to spend his time out of doors.
So as soon as she got the all clear Lucy headed back down to her temporary living space and snuggled up in the blanket to read the missive Thomas hadn't wanted to be around to hear.
"To Lucy Montero-
An investigation of the incident at High Council has come to the conclusion that both yourself and Diego Alvarez were maliciously attacked by traitors from within our midst. You should feel safe in knowing that these two have been apprehended and are being thoroughly examined for more information. The Guild of Minors, who are responsible for Mr. Alvarez, and the Guild of Masters, in whose care you are entrusted, have decided that to maintain the highest level of safety in the absence of your legal guardians, you and Mr. Alvarez shall be kept as far away from each other as possible. There will be no contact between you, as it is suspected that enemies of this circle could discern your whereabouts from intercepted letters, or eavesdropping on mirror communications. I don't think I need to remind you how damaging it would be to every member of our circle if certain information, information inside the minds of yourself and Mr. Alvarez, reached those who seek to harm us. Therefore we expect the highest level of cooperation from Mr. Alvarez and yourself, in the hopes that we will be able to end this business as soon as possible."
The letter was signed with the seals of the Guild of Minors and the Guild of Masters.
If Lucy hadn't been in deepest hiding she would have screamed. She was about to toss the missive into the flames when it dissolved in her hands.
"Great, just great. Isolate me, cut me off." She settled into her cushion stone bed and fingered the delicate string of multicolored beads around her wrist. Well, if they thought than cutting off letters and mirror conversations was going to cut her off from Diego, they had another thing coming.
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She was fortunate that the house elves didn't seem to have a clue who was supposed to be around the castle and who wasn't, and Lucy found herself well supplied with food for the duration of her containment indoors. The lack of sunlight was rather disheartening, and she would occasionally risk a trip to the upstairs room for a glimpse out the window.
The rest of her confinement was spent devising a method of keeping in contact with Diego. The circle be damned, Diego was family, and the only piece of it she had left. They weren't going to separate them any more than they already were. However, she hadn't been able to work very well since more than an hour or so of any type of exertion made her head spin and her knees wobble. Apparently Anna had been right about the need for rest. A great deal of her time was spent napping and feeling completely useless.
She was no closer to a solution the night before end of break than she had been when she arrived, and went to bed a very disgruntled woman.
She was half asleep when
** Lucy?**
She jerked upright at the sound of Diego's voice in her head.
** Diego, where are you?**
** In Egypt, for the moment. They want to move me elsewhere but I think Zahra's dad is doing a lot to convince them I'm going to need a few more days.**
** And why would he be doing that?**
** I have no idea.**
Lucy smiled to herself. ** You realize you can't marry this girl until your mother comes back?**
** WHAT?**
** Oh don't be daft, Rosa would be furious!**
** Lucy I am NOT getting married.**
**Yet. Anyway, you're all right?**
** Right as rain, and you?**
** I'm fine, and I picked up an old friend.**
**Huh?**
** Faustas pulled me out.**
** I wondered who it was. I tried to get to you, honestly, but they wouldn't let me out of bed.**
** They're very smart. And I'm fine.**
** And I take it that the bag of feathers is with you? Where ARE you, by the way?**
** Back at Hogwarts, I sort of sneaked in. They don't know I'm here.**
** I'm betting this doesn't make the Inquisition happy.**
** I'm hoping with so many students they'll just overlook it.**
** How long are you in hiding?**
** I come out of the annex tomorrow. I can't wait.**
** I'll bet, just be careful.**
** I will, so I take it this means we're not holding to what the Guilds decided was the most reasonable way of dealing with us?**
** Most unreasonable way of NOT dealing with us was more like it. Can't blame them for throwing it together, they have bigger problems than the two of us. Still, I thought it rather naive of Sofia, she knows us too well.**
** Which is exactly why she went along with it. She knew we'd find some other way.**
** I bet she didn't guess it would be this.**
** Neither did I, how are you keeping this up?**
** Part of the reason that we're trying to keep me in Egypt as long as possible. You find us our way in and I think I've got a way of slowing the energy drain until we get everyone out. But I have to translate the book.**
** Sumerian?**
** Aramaic. I can do Aramaic, but it'll take about a week, and then I have to get a workable spell, so you just keep on working on the gate.**
** You realize we are going to have to test this at some point, and soon. I need to know what modifications to make.**
** Let's think about that later, there's no way anyone is going in there until I'm satisfied that there are going to be enough reserves to pull them out.**
** Agreed.**
** Good. All right, I'm fading and if you weren't being stubborn you would have told me you were ages ago. I'll contact you as soon as I can get something worked out, or when they move me, whichever comes first. Try to stay out of trouble.**
** You know me.**
** Which is why I am worried. TRY this time Luce.**
** I'll do my best. I love you.**
** Te amo tambien. Buenas noches hermanita.**
No sooner had Diego blinked out of her mind than Lucy was fast asleep on the stone.
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She listened very carefully the next day, and when she heard the noise of troops of feet clattering through the halls she made her move. Heaving her trunk behind her she exited through the bathroom and disappeared into the throng of students moving towards the stairs. By the time she reached the bedroom Parvati and Lavender were already unpacking.
"Didn't see you on the train Lucy, where were you?" Lavender delicately removed her crystal ball from its carrying case with a swatch of velvet and placed it back in its stand.
"Asleep, it's the only way to travel." Lucy dumped her trunk on the end of her bed and fought with the latch until it opened.
"You ended up with firsties again, didn't you?"
Lucy shrugged.
Parvati waved a peppermint stick at her, "That'll teach you to show up late all the time. There was plenty of room up front."
Lucy shrugged again and collapsed on her bed. "Blame it on rain."
"The rain?"
"Mmmhmmm, the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. It also made me sleepy and slow."
She turned back to unpacking at that point and let the other girls squeal over the clothes they received for Christmas.
No one else mentioned anything about Lucy's lack of appearance on the Express, and when she didn't find any Ministry officials bearing down on her as she entered the Great Hall for dinner, she figured she was more or less in the clear. She also had anyone from the house that talked to her convinced that she had spent a tranquil holiday in Seville. She didn't exactly like lying, but at times it was rather entertaining.
Faustas had decided it would be best if he kept his presence very low key. But he also insist that he be close to keep an eye on her as much as possible. He managed it by simply perching high up outside one of the windows in the Great Hall, or outside her classrooms. But they had both decided it would be most convenient if they let the girls know about him so he could come inside if necessary. Lucy wasn't sure when they were going to break the news, but as she re-entered the common room that night, it seemed as if Faustas had already decided.
A shriek came from the door Lavender had just entered, and Parvati and Lucy came in hard on her heels.
Faustas was looking unconcerned, perhaps a bit annoyed, and was patiently grooming himself while perched in Parvati's bedpost.
Lavender was clutching her chest in shock.
"Lucy! You can't just bring home a pet and not tell anyone! I nearly died."
Lucy grimaced, "Sorry, he was supposed to have stayed outside until I told you," with this she gave Faustas a deadly glare.
** It's snowing, querida, nasty wet snow, and I don't intend to turn into a Popsicle waiting for you to cut to the chase.**
Parvati looked at the bird with her hands on her hips. "Well I hope you don't think you're living in my bed."
Lucy grinned, "Wrong bed, senor, I'm in that one this year," she gestured to the bed to the right of Parvati's.
If red shouldered hawks could shrug, Faustas did. Lucy let him carefully climb on her arm, wincing as the sharp talons pierced through her robe and against her un-gauntleted arm. She transferred him to her bed, letting him settle himself unsteadily on the mattress while she opened her trunk and began to sort through it for the perch they had packed.
It was while she was digging, for Anna had packed far too neatly and she couldn't find a damn thing, that she found a small package in the corner. She tossed it on the bed and pulled out the various wooden pieces that were supposed to assemble into a perch. With some not so gentle prompting from her new guardian, and her Swiss Army knife, she had the stand assembled and weighted down with Hermione's third year textbooks in under thirty minutes.
From his new perch Faustas surveyed the room around Lucy's bed. His eye fell on the license plate.
** Something I need to know about?**
Lucy kissed him on his head, "I'm all in one piece, Diego is all in one piece. It was just her time." Best leave tales of last summer's joyride through New Mexico and Arizona till a later date.
Parvati shook her head. "Not again."
Lucy looked up, "Huh?"
The Indian girl shrugged. "Nothing, it's nothing. Just that it took me several months to get used to you talking out loud for no particular reason, and now I have to do it all over again."
"Sorry," Lucy said weakly, and sat crossed-legged on the end of her bed. "Um, listen, if it's not too terribly hard on you, I want to try and keep Faustas's presence here sort of... unnoticed. He'll be in the room, but he won't be in the common room, he won't follow me around. He'll probably be outside most of the time once the weather lightens up anyway. So, can you just not tell anyone else that he's here?"
The girls looked at each other, and then at Lucy.
Lavender shrugged and plopped down on the floor into a yoga stretch. "Sure Lucy, if that's what you want. But you didn't have any trouble with him last year, why the change?"
Lucy grimaced at the way Lavender's back bent and turned back to unpacking. "Because I did get a lot of attention. McGonagall didn't like him at all. And I don't know if you've noticed, but things have started getting really weird for international students around here and I'd rather not stick out anymore than I have to."
Parvati nodded. "OK, the bird will be our little secret."
It was at that moment that Hermione burst through the door.
"You guys will never guess what- OH MY GOD!"
Lucy telekinetically slammed the door and Parvati jumped to clamp a hand over Hermione's mouth at the same time, as Lavender whimpered in pain as Parvati's leap toppled her out of a backbend to land painfully on the floor.
** Like the "bloody" Russian Circus around here isn't it chiquita?**
She tried to sit up immediately, but found herself unable to do so.
** Not so fast cricket, being deprived of its soul tends to weaken the body, you're going to need quite a bit of rest before you're back to yourself.**
"Faustas? It's you, isn't it? It was you who pulled me back, you're really here?"
** Very much so.**
"But- Diego! Where's Diego, is he all right?"
** Yes, yes, of course he is. He's in Egypt and doing splendidly, or so he was when last I checked.**
"Did you wake him up too?"
** Of course not, I was here with you. Let me see if I can make this clear. According to Sofia and Abraham, who were the first to arrive in your rooms and apprehend the attackers, they decided that if this was any indication of the situation, you and Diego were much more of a target together than apart. So they had one of the Cairo ambassadors take Diego back to Egypt, and Anna brought you here.**
"Then who woke Diego?"
** Well, now, and that was the question I was about to ask you. Apparently as Diego was being settled in at the Cairo school, one of the librarians returned from a trip to Greece with his daughter. The situation is explained to them, the others had been getting nowhere trying to wake Diego, and then the girl, quick as you please, is up the stairs and inside his head and after about two hours, the boy is wide awake. So what HAS been going on around here since I left?**
Lucy giggled, "Diego's got a girlfriend. He won't let me see her though."
** Wise decision.**
Lucy stuck out her tongue.
** You are one ungrateful girl, you know that, don't you?**
"Well, I learned from the best. And now, a little explanation, if you please."
** I just told you-**
"No. I would like to know what you are doing here. We thought you were, um, well...we thought-"
** Ah, I see. Well, to answer your first question, I am here because you needed me. As a tierra guardian my first job is to protect this land. But what many people don't understand is that the people who live on the land are as much a part of it as anything else. So in protecting the land it is often necessary to protect the people. And when you were brought here, obviously in need of help, and a member of this school, I responded.**
"Where were you before? Do you..."
** No Lucy, no. I'm sorry, but I haven't been with the... rest. When the school was attacked I was pulled home very quickly. I was literally pulled out of my physical form and back to the insubstantial but in general much more efficient true avatar form. There was much work to be done. We had to protect the energy lines, in case the intruders tried to tap them. And when it became clear that we were not going to be able to hold them off, cut off from the web as we were, we had to cushion the passage of the remnant into the void, we helped stabilize the gate so that so many could pass through. And then, when it was all over, the stain left on the land was so serious and devastating that no one was spared to trot back out into the physical world and look for you or Diego.**
"No one could be spared? But, you couldn't have-"
** You didn't need me, chica. You thought you did, but you didn't. You had adjusted just fine, you had a few friends, you weren't crying yourself to sleep at night anymore. Look at yourself, you've done wonderfully on your own.**
Lucy pouted a little, "Just because I was surviving doesn't mean I was happy all alone."
Faustas' eyes saddened. ** I know, believe me morenita, when I had to try and find you I picked up a lot, and I'm sorry that you were left like that. But there was nothing to be done. The land needed me and I had to stay.**
Lucy nodded and sighed. "So, you're going to go back now?"
** Are you so eager to get rid of me?**
"But- I thought-"
** Times have changed Lucy. You and your blood brother are now apparently two of the many targets of a sadistic madman who plans to use you to exploit natural energy sources in an attempt to aid in his plan of global domination. I think you could use my help.**
"So you're staying?"
** At least until the wind changes. Now go to sleep. You're leaving in the morning.**
"Leaving? Where to?"
** Back to school, of course. If these weirdos really are looking for you, this would be a pretty obvious place to look. And you are in no condition to help yourself. At least back at the mausoleum you're under the eye of Dumbledore. Although he seems to think sacrificing entire communities in far off countries is acceptable, I doubt he'd condone the abduction of a student from his own castle. Now go to bed.**
It wasn't hard to fall asleep. Lucy felt as if her head had barely reached the pillow before she was being woken up again. Ann was smiling at her and pushing a tray of oatmeal towards her.
"And don't event think of wrinkling your nose either. This was all that I could find that was edible, what HAVE you been eating all this time?"
"Pizza," Lucy said between grimaces and mouthfuls of oatmeal, which she had lost her taste for ever since she had gotten poison sumac one summer and been forced to take a bath in it. The oatmeal, that is, not the poison sumac.
Ann muttered a sound of disgust and helped Lucy sit up a little better before going about the room and, per Lucy's instructions, packing her trunk.
"So, what about council Ann?"
"Um..." her voice was muffled as she bent in a corner to retrieve a pair of blue jeans. "They'll be sending you both the minutes from everything you miss. You can absentee vote if anything big comes up, and if it is extremely important they'll get a hold of you somehow."
"Right. Does Dumbledore know about any of this?"
Ann looked puzzled for a moment. "Oh, the headmaster. No, of course not. The less those people know about you the better for all of us. You were never at high council, you were never at Espiritu, you spent your entire vacation at the Seville school-"
"With me." Lucy turned toward the door to see a tall, dark haired, blue eyed young man in his twenties with a distinctive Cajun accent leaning against the frame.
"What are you doing here Thomas?"
"Taking you home. Ann needs to get back to council, so I'm gonna gate you to Seville and then back to Hogwarts. We're going to have to use some rather devious methods if we're going to slip you in early."
Lucy raised her eyebrows, but Thomas didn't clarify, just went to work packing the rest of the clothes laid out by her trunk.
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"So what is this all about?"
Lucy was sitting in the courtyard at Seville, waiting for Thomas to replenish his energy and get her back to Hogwarts. He was also putting on a very heavy cloak and wrapping a blanket around her shoulders.
"Well the point, cricket, is to slip you in without anyone being the wiser. Now, all the girls went home for the holidays from your room, right?"
Lucy sipped her tea and nodded.
"Then all we have to do is get you into bed without anyone noticing. You stay there, and just act like you beat everyone back to the room when they start to arrive at the end of the break."
"Thomas, I'll starve, and I can't hold my bladder that long. And I'll never be able to just stay in that room the whole time, I'll go crazy."
"Fine, you tell me where we can stash you. But the point is we don't want them knowing you came home early."
"Why?"
"Because if they know anything about the council, that would reinforce that you were there. And I'm pretty sure on the list of lies to tell important people they gave you denying that you were ever at council is pretty high up there."
It was. Lucy didn't like it, but she was going to have to stay out of sight until classes resumed in about a week. There was only one room in the whole school that was going to be able to keep her hidden for that long.
"Fine, I know a place. But it is going to be tricky getting there."
Thomas waggled his eyebrows. "I have spent years honing my practice at avoiding Therese, I can get in and out of anywhere. I am the terror that flaps in the night."
Lucy sighed. "Whenever you're ready Darkwing."
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It was cold, very cold, and it was snowing. The gate had dumped them as close to the school as possible, but it was still quite a walk from the gate through Hogsmeade and up to the school. Lucy had decided that it wasn't worth breaking into Honeydukes to get to the tunnel, so the plan was to simply walk up to the school and hover/climb up to the girls bedroom window. Faustas was serving as a lookout, and giving Lucy enough energy to walk, since Thomas was floating the trunk along. But they had to stop every now and then since between the cold and the snow and her own illness, Lucy wasn't as sprightly as normal.
** You two better hurry up.**
Lucy looked up, trying to make out Faustas, but there was no moon tonight and she had no idea where he was.
** What's the matter?**
** There is a very big dog heading in this direction.**
Lucy groaned and started to run, Thomas followed.
** It's worse than that. That thing isn't a dog at all. He's an escaped convict and one of Dumbledore's very loyal spies. And I wasn't exactly nice to him the last time I saw him.**
** We need to work on you're people skills chica.**
Luckily, the snow and the wind had picked up, and seeing anything more than twenty feet away was next to impossible, unless you were looking with the Sight. That was how both Lucy and Thomas managed to climb the wall up to the girls tower bedroom window; Lucy manipulated the latch and they both tumbled in, with the trunk and Faustas following. Lucy peeked her head out the window and looked below.
There was a tall dark haired man staring up into the snow. But he couldn't possibly have seen them.
Lucy carefully grabbed a towel and they dried themselves off so as not to squeak or leave footprints. Lucy stuffed the towel under her pillow. They took the trunk and Lucy peeked out the door and down the stairs. It was very late, and the common room looked empty. Carefully they made their way down.
Harry was asleep in the couch in front of the fire. Lucy swore, and Thomas damped the fire and sent the room into darkness. They quickly snuck across the floor and out the portrait hole, the Fat Lady was dozing and didn't notice a thing.
** Hurry, and watch out for cats.**
She cast a wary glance around and then headed down the hallway and stopped right before the last portrait.
"Godric," she whispered, and taking Thomas's hand, pulled him and the trunk thorugh behind her.
"Wow," Thomas looked around the dark stairwell. "Are you planning on living in the dungeon Lucy?"
Lucy pulled him behind her as she made her way down to the door, unlocked it with the password, and entered the BA room. She ignited the fire and set the trunk down near the table.
"Nice digs, so this is the classroom?"
Lucy nodded. "There's a bathroom behind the bookcase and that door leads to the kitchens. I can make the floor in front of the fire cushion stone, I'll survive."
Thomas nodded, "Keep the blanket then, you'll need it. So, what's the best was out of here?"
Lucy took him back into the stairwell, and up through the trapdoor into the OWL prep room. She walked over to the window, opened it, and looked down.
"Not too far, actually, you won't even have to climb."
Thomas eyed the drop, "Right, I think I'll be the judge of that."
Lucy shrugged, "Faustas is going to be your eyes until you get safely away, watch out for that dog, he's trouble."
Thomas nodded and gave her a hug. "Take care of yourself old girl. I'll keep an eye out for Diego if he ever comes my way."
Lucy looked puzzled, "What do you mean."
Thomas cringed, "Um, nothing. Here, I was supposed to give you this. Don't read it till after I'm gone."
"What-" Lucy looked down at a scroll being thrust into her hands.
"I've got to go, be careful, ok Lucy? Just for god's sake be careful." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and hoisted himself over the windowsill, hovering his way safely to the ground before taking off across the snowy landscape.
Lucy shut the window to avoid the biting wind, and waited by it until long after Thomas had disappeared from sight and Faustas had finally told her that the gate was safely closed. Now, if Lucy didn't like being penned up, Faustas liked it even less, and he was going to spend his time out of doors.
So as soon as she got the all clear Lucy headed back down to her temporary living space and snuggled up in the blanket to read the missive Thomas hadn't wanted to be around to hear.
"To Lucy Montero-
An investigation of the incident at High Council has come to the conclusion that both yourself and Diego Alvarez were maliciously attacked by traitors from within our midst. You should feel safe in knowing that these two have been apprehended and are being thoroughly examined for more information. The Guild of Minors, who are responsible for Mr. Alvarez, and the Guild of Masters, in whose care you are entrusted, have decided that to maintain the highest level of safety in the absence of your legal guardians, you and Mr. Alvarez shall be kept as far away from each other as possible. There will be no contact between you, as it is suspected that enemies of this circle could discern your whereabouts from intercepted letters, or eavesdropping on mirror communications. I don't think I need to remind you how damaging it would be to every member of our circle if certain information, information inside the minds of yourself and Mr. Alvarez, reached those who seek to harm us. Therefore we expect the highest level of cooperation from Mr. Alvarez and yourself, in the hopes that we will be able to end this business as soon as possible."
The letter was signed with the seals of the Guild of Minors and the Guild of Masters.
If Lucy hadn't been in deepest hiding she would have screamed. She was about to toss the missive into the flames when it dissolved in her hands.
"Great, just great. Isolate me, cut me off." She settled into her cushion stone bed and fingered the delicate string of multicolored beads around her wrist. Well, if they thought than cutting off letters and mirror conversations was going to cut her off from Diego, they had another thing coming.
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She was fortunate that the house elves didn't seem to have a clue who was supposed to be around the castle and who wasn't, and Lucy found herself well supplied with food for the duration of her containment indoors. The lack of sunlight was rather disheartening, and she would occasionally risk a trip to the upstairs room for a glimpse out the window.
The rest of her confinement was spent devising a method of keeping in contact with Diego. The circle be damned, Diego was family, and the only piece of it she had left. They weren't going to separate them any more than they already were. However, she hadn't been able to work very well since more than an hour or so of any type of exertion made her head spin and her knees wobble. Apparently Anna had been right about the need for rest. A great deal of her time was spent napping and feeling completely useless.
She was no closer to a solution the night before end of break than she had been when she arrived, and went to bed a very disgruntled woman.
She was half asleep when
** Lucy?**
She jerked upright at the sound of Diego's voice in her head.
** Diego, where are you?**
** In Egypt, for the moment. They want to move me elsewhere but I think Zahra's dad is doing a lot to convince them I'm going to need a few more days.**
** And why would he be doing that?**
** I have no idea.**
Lucy smiled to herself. ** You realize you can't marry this girl until your mother comes back?**
** WHAT?**
** Oh don't be daft, Rosa would be furious!**
** Lucy I am NOT getting married.**
**Yet. Anyway, you're all right?**
** Right as rain, and you?**
** I'm fine, and I picked up an old friend.**
**Huh?**
** Faustas pulled me out.**
** I wondered who it was. I tried to get to you, honestly, but they wouldn't let me out of bed.**
** They're very smart. And I'm fine.**
** And I take it that the bag of feathers is with you? Where ARE you, by the way?**
** Back at Hogwarts, I sort of sneaked in. They don't know I'm here.**
** I'm betting this doesn't make the Inquisition happy.**
** I'm hoping with so many students they'll just overlook it.**
** How long are you in hiding?**
** I come out of the annex tomorrow. I can't wait.**
** I'll bet, just be careful.**
** I will, so I take it this means we're not holding to what the Guilds decided was the most reasonable way of dealing with us?**
** Most unreasonable way of NOT dealing with us was more like it. Can't blame them for throwing it together, they have bigger problems than the two of us. Still, I thought it rather naive of Sofia, she knows us too well.**
** Which is exactly why she went along with it. She knew we'd find some other way.**
** I bet she didn't guess it would be this.**
** Neither did I, how are you keeping this up?**
** Part of the reason that we're trying to keep me in Egypt as long as possible. You find us our way in and I think I've got a way of slowing the energy drain until we get everyone out. But I have to translate the book.**
** Sumerian?**
** Aramaic. I can do Aramaic, but it'll take about a week, and then I have to get a workable spell, so you just keep on working on the gate.**
** You realize we are going to have to test this at some point, and soon. I need to know what modifications to make.**
** Let's think about that later, there's no way anyone is going in there until I'm satisfied that there are going to be enough reserves to pull them out.**
** Agreed.**
** Good. All right, I'm fading and if you weren't being stubborn you would have told me you were ages ago. I'll contact you as soon as I can get something worked out, or when they move me, whichever comes first. Try to stay out of trouble.**
** You know me.**
** Which is why I am worried. TRY this time Luce.**
** I'll do my best. I love you.**
** Te amo tambien. Buenas noches hermanita.**
No sooner had Diego blinked out of her mind than Lucy was fast asleep on the stone.
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She listened very carefully the next day, and when she heard the noise of troops of feet clattering through the halls she made her move. Heaving her trunk behind her she exited through the bathroom and disappeared into the throng of students moving towards the stairs. By the time she reached the bedroom Parvati and Lavender were already unpacking.
"Didn't see you on the train Lucy, where were you?" Lavender delicately removed her crystal ball from its carrying case with a swatch of velvet and placed it back in its stand.
"Asleep, it's the only way to travel." Lucy dumped her trunk on the end of her bed and fought with the latch until it opened.
"You ended up with firsties again, didn't you?"
Lucy shrugged.
Parvati waved a peppermint stick at her, "That'll teach you to show up late all the time. There was plenty of room up front."
Lucy shrugged again and collapsed on her bed. "Blame it on rain."
"The rain?"
"Mmmhmmm, the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. It also made me sleepy and slow."
She turned back to unpacking at that point and let the other girls squeal over the clothes they received for Christmas.
No one else mentioned anything about Lucy's lack of appearance on the Express, and when she didn't find any Ministry officials bearing down on her as she entered the Great Hall for dinner, she figured she was more or less in the clear. She also had anyone from the house that talked to her convinced that she had spent a tranquil holiday in Seville. She didn't exactly like lying, but at times it was rather entertaining.
Faustas had decided it would be best if he kept his presence very low key. But he also insist that he be close to keep an eye on her as much as possible. He managed it by simply perching high up outside one of the windows in the Great Hall, or outside her classrooms. But they had both decided it would be most convenient if they let the girls know about him so he could come inside if necessary. Lucy wasn't sure when they were going to break the news, but as she re-entered the common room that night, it seemed as if Faustas had already decided.
A shriek came from the door Lavender had just entered, and Parvati and Lucy came in hard on her heels.
Faustas was looking unconcerned, perhaps a bit annoyed, and was patiently grooming himself while perched in Parvati's bedpost.
Lavender was clutching her chest in shock.
"Lucy! You can't just bring home a pet and not tell anyone! I nearly died."
Lucy grimaced, "Sorry, he was supposed to have stayed outside until I told you," with this she gave Faustas a deadly glare.
** It's snowing, querida, nasty wet snow, and I don't intend to turn into a Popsicle waiting for you to cut to the chase.**
Parvati looked at the bird with her hands on her hips. "Well I hope you don't think you're living in my bed."
Lucy grinned, "Wrong bed, senor, I'm in that one this year," she gestured to the bed to the right of Parvati's.
If red shouldered hawks could shrug, Faustas did. Lucy let him carefully climb on her arm, wincing as the sharp talons pierced through her robe and against her un-gauntleted arm. She transferred him to her bed, letting him settle himself unsteadily on the mattress while she opened her trunk and began to sort through it for the perch they had packed.
It was while she was digging, for Anna had packed far too neatly and she couldn't find a damn thing, that she found a small package in the corner. She tossed it on the bed and pulled out the various wooden pieces that were supposed to assemble into a perch. With some not so gentle prompting from her new guardian, and her Swiss Army knife, she had the stand assembled and weighted down with Hermione's third year textbooks in under thirty minutes.
From his new perch Faustas surveyed the room around Lucy's bed. His eye fell on the license plate.
** Something I need to know about?**
Lucy kissed him on his head, "I'm all in one piece, Diego is all in one piece. It was just her time." Best leave tales of last summer's joyride through New Mexico and Arizona till a later date.
Parvati shook her head. "Not again."
Lucy looked up, "Huh?"
The Indian girl shrugged. "Nothing, it's nothing. Just that it took me several months to get used to you talking out loud for no particular reason, and now I have to do it all over again."
"Sorry," Lucy said weakly, and sat crossed-legged on the end of her bed. "Um, listen, if it's not too terribly hard on you, I want to try and keep Faustas's presence here sort of... unnoticed. He'll be in the room, but he won't be in the common room, he won't follow me around. He'll probably be outside most of the time once the weather lightens up anyway. So, can you just not tell anyone else that he's here?"
The girls looked at each other, and then at Lucy.
Lavender shrugged and plopped down on the floor into a yoga stretch. "Sure Lucy, if that's what you want. But you didn't have any trouble with him last year, why the change?"
Lucy grimaced at the way Lavender's back bent and turned back to unpacking. "Because I did get a lot of attention. McGonagall didn't like him at all. And I don't know if you've noticed, but things have started getting really weird for international students around here and I'd rather not stick out anymore than I have to."
Parvati nodded. "OK, the bird will be our little secret."
It was at that moment that Hermione burst through the door.
"You guys will never guess what- OH MY GOD!"
Lucy telekinetically slammed the door and Parvati jumped to clamp a hand over Hermione's mouth at the same time, as Lavender whimpered in pain as Parvati's leap toppled her out of a backbend to land painfully on the floor.
** Like the "bloody" Russian Circus around here isn't it chiquita?**