CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: VEXING
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour – the prospect's bleak,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
Buffy hated riddles. They were too much like vague prophecies and she didn't much like those either. She lay on her stomach in the middle of her bed looking at the poetic riddle for the fourth time in the last ten minutes.
She'd worked out the first part of the riddle. Whoever couldn't sing 'above the ground' was in water. And from Buffy's extensive research into the creatures that lived within Hogwarts, Buffy had found out that there were merpeople in the lake. They were the only creatures in the lake that could have voices.
What worried Buffy though was the second part. 'Taken what you'll sorely miss.' That could mean absolutely anything really. She could miss anything from a pair of shoes to her favourite weapon, to her photo albums of the Scoobies, to her friends at Hogwarts. And she knew she wouldn't know what it was that they would take until she had to actually find it.
And then there was the next problem. She had an hour to search for what had been taken. An hour…underwater. She knew that she could stay under water without having to resurface for about three minutes. So what on earth could she possibly do to get to the bottom of the lake and take the time to search for whatever it was that was going to be taken.
Harry was having the same problems, and they had agreed to research for as many ideas that they could think of. So far, neither of them had come up with anything of interest. Harry had thought about trying to Summon scuba gear, but knew that it would be hopeless to even try.
"Of course the ideal solution would be for you to transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," Hermione said. "If only we'd done human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that until sixth year and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing…"
Harry wouldn't be able to perform the spell, but he wasn't a Sixth Year. He'd told Hermione's suggestion to Buffy who had been intrigued by it. She went through the notes she'd taken throughout the semester and saw that Hermione was right. They had studied human transformation. But what caught Buffy's attention even more was the section on cross-species switching spells.
Flicking through the textbooks, Buffy grinned and raced with the book in her hand towards Professor McGonagall's office. She knocked and entered when bidden to do so.
"Hey Professor," Buffy greeted.
"Summers," McGonagall replied. "What brings you here on a Sunday?"
"I was hoping you could give me a little help with something that we were covering earlier in the term," Buffy replied. She took a seat on the other side of McGonagall's desk as the Professor looked at her curiously.
"I'm not supposed to give help with your tasks," McGonagall reminded her.
"Tasks, schmasks," Buffy replied flippantly. "I'm not asking for help on that. Professor, I was raised muggle. I'm really behind in some of the spells that I'm meant to know by now."
McGonagall caught on quickly and gave a short laugh. "Yes, I suppose I could give you a hand catching up. What can I do for you?"
Buffy grinned and placed the book on McGonagall's desk. The Professor's eyebrows raised, an impressed look on her face.
"Summers, you realise that cross-species switching is incredibly dangerous," McGonagall warned.
"Which is why I was hoping that I'd have a Professor helping me to learn," she replied.
McGonagall hesitated a moment before nodding. She wanted Hogwarts to win as much as every other Professor, and it wasn't technically cheating. They had covered the cross-species switching spells, but never had the students tried it on themselves.
"What exactly are you hoping to be able to transform yourself into?" McGonagall asked.
"Let's just say…if you can't beat them, join them," Buffy replied cryptically.
McGonagall regarded her curiously before she caught on. The Professor laughed genuinely and shook her head in disbelief. "You are definitely a mystery Miss Summers."
"Black," Buffy replied. "Everyone knows, I don't see why I can't use it."
McGonagall nodded. "Of course. Well…you've only got two weeks to learn, I suppose we should get cracking."
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Between her tutoring sessions with Professor Moody, and extra Transfigurations with Professor McGonagall, and helping Harry research for another solution to breathing under water, Buffy had very little time for anything else. She could see why the champions didn't have to do their exams, and she was definitely grateful for it.
By the night before the second task, Harry still hadn't found anything useful. Hermione, Ron and Buffy were all seated around a library table helping him research. Giles was loitering behind a desk, desperately wanting to point them in the right direction, but his own research had come up with nothing as well. Plus, it would have been against the rules, though he wasn't really all that concerned with that small fact.
"Oh, this is useless," Hermione complained, slamming shut her copy of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow in ringlets?"
"I wouldn't mind," Fred Weasley's voice said from behind them. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"
"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.
"Looking for you," George replied. "McGonagall wants Hermione, Ron and me in her office."
"Why?" Hermione and Buffy asked together. Hermione was worried that she'd done something wrong. She didn't feel too secure if she was being lumped in with Ron and George Weasley for something.
"Dunno," Fred replied. It was odd that George was being summoned when he wasn't. It hadn't ever happened before. They'd only ever been in trouble together. "She looked a bit…grim though."
Fred, George, Hermione and Ron left the library, leaving Buffy and Harry to their research. Harry looked incredibly uneasy now that the group had been cut in half.
"Hey, don't stress," Buffy said. "Chances are we'll find a solution just in time."
Harry nodded, but didn't feel incredibly calm. He knew that Buffy had a plan, though she'd refused to divulge to anyone what it was. Not even George or Fred knew what she had planned, and Harry was looking forward to seeing what his cousin had come up with.
By eight o'clock, all of the library lamps had been extinguished, and Buffy and Harry were escorted out of the library by an apologetic Giles and a tired Madam Pince. They were carrying as many books as they could, and they'd spread out across the floor of the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Do you have any other books in your room that might help?" Buffy asked.
Harry sighed tiredly and shrugged. "Probably not. Dean and Seamus aren't really book-worm types. Neville…well…y'know."
"Mind if I rampage your room?" she asked.
"Feel free," Harry replied, too tired to argue.
Buffy stood and stretched tiredly. She didn't know how Hermione spent so much time in the library voluntarily. Buffy wandered up to the Fourth-Year boys dorms and knocked. She entered, grateful that none of the boys were back from dinner just yet. She wrinkled her nose at the mess, and wandered slowly around the room.
The boys had all of their books for the year on bookshelves, and there was very little variety in what was on their desks. Buffy sighed ready to give up, when something on Neville's desk caught her attention, mainly because of the word 'water'. She figured it was worth a shot and picked up Neville's copy of Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties.
She wandered back down to the Common Room and held up the book. Harry looked confused but shrugged, figuring that at this point in time, he was willing to give it a shot. He took the book from her and flicked through it tiredly. Buffy picked up another of the books that Harry had lugged up the stairs, and read through it.
An hour later, the Common Room had filled and emptied again. Harry had old Neville about the book he'd borrowed, and Neville had just nodded and continued up the stairs.
An hour after that, Harry threw the book down in defeat. "Nothing," he moaned.
Buffy picked it up despite Harry's complaint. She was bored of the other books, and needed a change of pace. Harry rested his head on his forearms and closed his sore eyes.
"I am so screwed," Harry moaned.
"No, you're not," Buffy replied, not taking her eyes from the book.
"Yes I am."
"Don't be so dramatic. Just…keep reading alright? You won't find the answer by studying the back of your eye-lids."
Harry rolled his eyes but picked up another book that he was sure he'd already read through.
An hour later, Harry was beginning to nod off. He was startled out of his sleep by Buffy suddenly jumping out of her chair. "What?" he asked tiredly.
Buffy grinned at him and handed him the open book. Harry took it and read through the page she was showing him. A grin slowly lifted on his face.
"Brilliant," he whispered. His life was beginning to look up. And then his heart sank. "How are we gonna get it?"
"You're too young to frown like that," Buffy admonished. "C'mon Harry, this isn't too big a problem. What teacher is gonna be likely to have gillyweed?"
Harry sighed. "Snape," he said sadly.
Buffy rolled her eyes and grabbed hold of her cousin's arm, hauling him to his feet. "Who else?" she asked.
Harry shook his head, too tired to think logically. "I dunno."
"Sprout," Buffy replied calmly, as though it was the world's most obvious answer. "The Herbology teacher."
Harry's grin suddenly came back.
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Buffy walked silently down the corridor, Harry walking behind her hidden by his invisibility cloak. The younger Gryffindor hadn't wanted to be left out of the adventure, but he knew that if he were caught out of bed at eleven-thirty at night, he would have had to do a month of detentions, knowing his luck.
Harry sucked in his breath as Argus Filch, the Caretaker of Hogwarts suddenly rounded the corner. Buffy remained completely calm and nodded to him politely as he passed. Filch ignored her, but said nothing about her late hours. Now that Buffy's identity as the Slayer had been revealed to the entire wizarding world, Buffy patrolling at night had become common knowledge to all of the Professors and the majority of the students at the school.
They made their way out to the greenhouses, listening carefully for ay sign of Professors or students. They heard nothing and snuck towards Greenhouse Four. Buffy knelt at the door, bending one of her bobby pins and getting ready to jimmy the lock as she'd been taught to do by Giles. He'd thought it a handy skill to pass down to her, and Buffy had to admit that it was a good skill to have.
They suddenly heard a soft whistling heading towards them, and Buffy jumped away from the door and moved to lean across the brick ledge that looked out over the grounds, trying to appear as casual as possible.
"Miss Summers," Professor Sprout's voice said in surprise. "I'd have thought you'd be in bed by now…what with tomorrow being the second task and all."
"Professor…I have a favour to ask," Buffy said.
Professor Sprout looked intrigued.
"Well, actually, we have a favour to ask," Buffy said, pulling off Harry's invisibility cloak.
Professor Sprout's eyebrows seemed to rise up beneath her hat in shock.
"Harry you shouldn't be out so late at night," Sprout admonished.
"We know," Harry replied. "It's just…I've been researching all night trying to work out how I'm going to do this task tomorrow, and…well, I finally found the answer, and…I need your help."
"You know I'm not permitted to offer the champions any help with the tasks," Sprout replied.
"It's not really help that he's after," Buffy said quickly.
"Right," Harry said, catching on quickly. "I did the research, and found out what I needed to know, and…besides Professor Snape, you are the only other person who would have what I need."
"Which is what?" Sprout asked.
"Gillyweed," Harry replied. "To help me breath underwater."
Professor Sprout finally smiled. She nodded and unlocked Greenhouse Four, gesturing them inside.
"I was wondering if you would discover the properties of that plant," Sprout said, walking towards the back of the greenhouse. There was a large tank of water with all manner of plants growing inside. "I'd hoped you would."
"I found it in Neville's book," Harry said. Buffy winked at him and Harry hid his grin. He couldn't say that it was Buffy who had found the plant that would help him.
Professor Sprout rolled up her sleeves and put her hands into the water before pulling out a clump of what looked like slimy, greyish green rat-tails. Harry looked at it in dismay as Professor Sprout handed it to him.
"I have to eat that?" Harry asked in dismay. The book hadn't had a picture, and he was suddenly reconsidering the entire plan.
Buffy was holding her hand over her mouth, but several soft snickers escaped. Harry glared at her in anger.
"Just before you go into the water," Sprout replied. "If you take it before hand…well, you'll start flapping around like a fish out of water."
Harry didn't look at all thrilled with her description.
"And it'll last the full hour right?" he asked.
Sprout nodded. She took out a small plastic container and scooped some of the water from the tank into it. She held it out to Harry who placed the gillyweed inside it.
"Make sure it stays wet, otherwise it'll be useless to you come morning."
Harry nodded and kept a tight grip on the container.
"Thanks Professor. You're a lifesaver."
"Good luck tomorrow…both of you."
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The two Hogwarts champions woke up bright and early. Or, more correctly, Buffy had walked into Harry's bedroom an hour before the task and ripped off Harry's sheets, startling the sleeping boy out of his slumber. Which was a good thing seeing as Harry probably would have slept through the entire second task if Buffy hadn't have woken him up.
They went down to breakfast, eating in nervous silence. Hermione and Ron were missing, which was making Harry even more worried. The twins were oddly absent as well, and Buffy wished that she could speak with George before the task started.
Giles approached the two teenagers, his eyes soft and sympathetic. "Did you discover anything useful?" the Watched asked, annoyed that he hadn't been able to find anything to help Harry.
Harry nodded tiredly, but gave a genuine smile. "Like Buffy said, we found something in the knick of time."
As with the first task, Professor McGonagall approached them and told them that they were to go and meet down at the lake. The rest of the students slowly ambled down to the lake to watch the second task. Fred stood on the shoreline looking oddly worried. Next to him stood Colin Creevey with his perpetually present camera.
Buffy approached Fred and he tried to grin, but failed miserable.
"Hey Fred," she greeted.
"Morning," he replied.
"You okay?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Right as rain…whatever that means."
Buffy grinned slightly. "Where's George?"
"He'll be here," he replied. "Promise. He wouldn't miss this for the world."
"Good," Buffy replied, feeling slightly better by the reassurance. "I'd miss him if he wasn't here."
Fred just nodded, and before Buffy could say anything more, she was pulled away by Ludo Bagman and pushed into a position slightly down from Fleur Delacour. On her other side, Harry was pushed into place. The cousins exchanged a grin and Harry felt for the gillyweed in his pocket, thankful that he wasn't about to make an idiot of himself in front of the entire school. And he was still curious about what Buffy was going to do.
"Well, all our champions are read for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to get back what was taken from them. On the count of three then. One…two…three!"
The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause.
Buffy toed off her shoes and socks, Harry doing the same. But Buffy didn't stop there. She removed her cloak and her white t-shirt as well as her long slacks, leaving her clad in only a bikini.
The entire male half of the school erupted into whistles and catcalls. Harry looked across, wondering what the commotion was about. When he saw his cousin, he merely rolled his eyes as he tried to chew on the gillyweed that felt as though he was chewing rubber.
To Harry's complete astonishment, Buffy began walking towards the lake in nothing but a bikini and a smile. He was starting to worry about her, and he waded out towards her, about to call out.
To Harry's utter astonishment, a ripple went through the water, but it appeared that nothing had happened to Buffy who was still half out of the water.
And then Buffy duck-dived, a magnificent jade-blue-green tail swishing out of the water and hitting the surface as she dived down into the depths of the lake.
Harry grinned, remembering Hermione's idea that Buffy had been incredibly interested in several weeks before. He hadn't thought anything more about it, but obviously Buffy had been keeping secrets from him.
Before he could think too much more about his cousin's deviousness, he suddenly felt as though an invisible pillow had been clapped over his mouth and nose. He tried to draw breath, but it made his head spin. His lungs were empty and he suddenly felt a piercing pain ion either side of his neck.
He clapped his hands to his throat, and felt two large slits just below his ears, flapping in the cold air. He had gills. Without pausing to think, he did the only thing that made sense – he flung himself forwards into the water.
In the depths of the water, dark shadows moved through the lake. Mostly, they were just logs or clumps of seaweed, but the occasional Grindylow would appear and try and stop the four champions from finding what they sought.
Buffy was having the time of her life, swimming faster than she'd ever swum before. She'd never been so deep in her life, and she didn't have the annoying problem of her ears popping at the depth. The cross-species switch that Professor McGonagall had helped her perfect had been a complete success, though she knew that it would be. She'd managed to perform it successfully the week before, though she'd only tried it in the bathtubs.
Her tail swished behind her, and water rushed in front of her, her vision as clear as crystal. A hauntingly beautiful song came through the water, and Buffy followed it, hoping that it wasn't some sort of trap or red herring.
She suddenly felt a tingle at the back of her neck and knew that Harry was close by. She stopped and looked through the clear water and saw Harry talking to…was that a ghost? Buffy just shook her head. You met some of the oddest people at Hogwarts.
Harry caught up to her, and tried to say something. It came out as nothing more than bubbles.
"Hey Harry," she replied.
Harry's brow furrowed in confusion. He could hear and understand Buffy perfectly. Then he remembered the song from the egg.
Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
Buffy had completely transfigured herself into a mermaid. "Come on!" Buffy yelled, and they began swimming over vast expanses of black mud which swirled murkily as they disturbed the water, Harry with his newly webbed feet, and Buffy with her new tail.
When they heard the sounds of the merpople singing the song that had emerged from the egg, they sped up and saw a large rock emerge from the muddy water. There were paintings of merpeople carrying spears and chasing what looked like the giant squid.
They exchanged a worried glance and continued on until they came across a cluster of crude stone dwellings with faces in the dark windows. As the merpeople came out of the dwellings, the two Hogwarts champions had a better look at them, their skin a greyish colour, and their eyes yellow. They leered at the two champions as they swam past, pointing at Harry's feet and Buffy's tail, whispering behind theirs hands.
They swam around a corner and stopped short at the sight in front of them. A whole crowd of merpeople were floating In front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of mermaids were singing in the middle, calling the champions towards them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue, a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the statue.
Ron was tied between Hermione and George Weasley. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silver hair made Harry and Buffy feel sure that she was Fleur Delacour's sister.
Buffy took a long hard look at the four people tied to the statue. She glanced towards Harry.
"What we'll sorely miss, huh?" she asked.
Harry nodded and they swam towards the hostages, almost expecting the merpeople to charge towards them with their spears, but they did nothing.
The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy and very strong. Buffy could have kicked herself. She usually never travelled anywhere without a weapon, but then again, where would she have put one in the bikini she'd worn?
She looked around for anything sharp, her eyes lighting on a spear that one of the mermen held.
She swam towards him, keeping her eyes locked on his. Giles had always taught her that her opponents would give everything away by the eyes.
"Can I borrow your spear?" she asked.
"We do not help," the merman replied in a harsh, croaky voice.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "I don't want your help, I want your spear," she replied.
"What will you give me for it?" he asked.
"What do you want?" she shot back.
The merman stopped to consider it for a moment. He looked at her speculatively and Buffy fought the urge to shudder. The merman in front of her was at least seven feet tall with a long-green beard and a choker of shark-fangs.
"A kiss," came the reply.
Buffy hesitated for a moment before looking back up to the statue where the four hostages were tied. Her gaze stayed on George's still form for a moment longer before she turned back to the merman.
"Alright," she conceded, floating forward slightly. She brushed her lips against his and pulled back, but the merman laughed harshly. He grabbed hold of Buffy's waist, and pulled her forward, crushing them together. For nearly ten seconds, the merman kissed her, and when Buffy could finally pull away, she looked completely shocked. Harry was staring at them, wide-eyed and completely bewildered.
With a toothy grin, the merman handed over his spear and Buffy took it without another word, swimming back to Harry and the hostages.
"Next time, you can ask to borrow things," Buffy muttered to her cousin.
Harry laughed, but it came out as a garbled set of bubbles.
With the sharp tip of the spear, Buffy cut through the ropes that were tying George, Ron, Hermione and the younger girl to the statue. She looked between Ron and Hermione and then back at her cousin.
"Which one are you meant to be rescuing?" she asked, confused.
Harry shrugged. They were his two best friends. Buffy looked around, trying to see where Viktor and Fleur where, but there was no sign of them anywhere.
"Should we maybe…" Buffy trailed off.
Harry nodded and grabbed hold of Hermione and Ron while Buffy grabbed George and the younger girl.
At once, several pairs of strong grey hands seized them. Half-a-dozen mermen were pulling each of them away from Hermione and Fleur's younger sister.
"You take your own hostage," the merman who had kissed Buffy said. "Leave the others."
"No way!" Harry replied furiously, again with only bubbles escaping.
"Your task is to retrieve your own friend."
"She is our friend!" Buffy replied angrily. "We're not about to let them die!"
Before they could argue the point any further, the merpeople started screeching with excitement. Harry and Buffy turned and saw something monstrous cutting through the water towards them: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark. It was Viktor Krum. He appeared to have Transfigured himself – but badly. He was a man from the waist down, but a shark from the waist up. He had no arms to speak of, only legs.
Buffy couldn't help but smirk with pride. She'd managed to do a very tricky spell when she'd only been learning magic for six months now, and Krum had done very poorly. The shark-man swam straight to Hermione and started biting around her, trying to figure out how to get a grip on her.
Buffy was just thankful that she'd cut Hermione's ropes before hand. Krum could have done some serious damage with his teeth. He finally nudged her over his shoulder so that Hermione's arm was caught on his fin, and began swimming upwards without a backwards glance.
They hesitated a few more moments, looking out for Fleur, but she didn't seem to be approaching at all.
"Come on…we'll take her up with us," Buffy finally said.
Harry nodded and grabbed hold of Ron with one hand and Fleur's younger sister with the other. Buffy tossed George over her shoulder and grabbed Fleur's sisters other hand.
The merpeople stepped forward threateningly once more. With her new tail-fin, she kicked up the spear she'd dropped earlier and grabbed hold of it, aiming it threateningly at the group who tried to stop them. They back off immediately and when Buffy and Harry had cleared the merpeoples village, she dropped the spear back down to the bottom.
They swam quickly towards the surface, though Harry was suddenly finding himself struggling to keep up. He completely let go of Fleur's sister and let Buffy swim ahead of him. The Slayer wouldn't have any of that though.
"Grab hold of my waist!" she yelled as Harry began slowly sinking as his webbed feet suddenly began transforming back to normal.
Harry didn't hesitated and he grabbed hold of Buffy, letting her take the five of them to the surface. Now that Harry could breath again, he shuffled Ron's weight around and helped Buffy drag the young Delacour girl up onto the banks, and then lay Ron and George out beside her.
Almost in unison, Ron and George suddenly spat out a mouthful of water, Fleur's young sister doing the same. Their eyes opened and they looked around in confusion.
George sat up slowly and looked to Buffy who was still half in the water, her tail shimmering in the sunlight.
"You truly are one of a kind Buffy Black," he said laughing.
Buffy grinned and pulled on George's hand, making him overbalance and fall into the shallow water. He laughed and hugged Buffy around the waist, lifting her slightly out of the water.
"I'm the thing you would miss most?" he asked softly.
Buffy grinned sheepishly and nodded. She tried to speak, but apparently her cross-species switch had worked far better than she'd thought. She really couldn't speak above the water. It was odd, and for a moment, Buffy felt very much like Ariel from The Little Mermaid.
George grinned widely and knew that if he didn't act on the impulse that he had, he would lose his courage far too quickly.
"I'm gonna kiss you now," he whispered. Buffy went to protest and George laid a single finger across her lips to stop her from trying to speak. "Something like this can't happen without me kissing you, so…I'm going to kiss you in about ten seconds. And if you don't want me to…well, if you don't want me to, then you're just going to have to stop me."
Buffy felt herself completely melt. Standing in the sunlight, with George's arms wrapped around her waist, she knew that she didn't want to stop him. George swallowed nervously and lowered his head forward. "Ten."
He slowly pressed his lips to hers, their kiss sweet and almost chaste, like the first kiss they'd shared in the woods at the Quidditch Cup Match. The kiss after that built with intensity, and the entire student body of Hogwarts whooped and cheered, whistled and catcalled as the Gryffindor couple refused to acknowledge their presence.
They pulled apart breathless and wanting more.
"As much as I like mermaid-Buffy," George began. "I think I'd much prefer the version with legs."
Buffy grinned and de-transfigured herself. George's mouth hung open as he took in the sight of his hopefully-girlfriend in only her bikini. He shrugged out of his Gryffindor robe as the cheering got all the more louder once more.
"You can't go round dressed like that!" he cried, draping the cloak around her to shield her from prying eyes. "Not in front of everyone else."
"So just in front of you then?" she teased.
"Bloody right, just in front of me," he replied. He then stopped and considered his words, blushing deeply.
They were pulled out of the water by a fussing Madam Pomfrey, but neither Buffy nor George let go of the others hands. Pomfrey sighed with annoyance, and just worked around the grinning couple.
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Nooo, I haven't been watching S3 of Dawson's Creek at all. Dum-dee-dah. sheepish grin Quote taken from Pacey to Joey in the ep 'Stolen Kisses'.
Ooo, long update. Huzzah. Again, I apologise for the lack of updates. It's this whole thing with a lost flash drive, and files being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sorry. Oh, do me a favour and poke Lisette to get her to update.
O, and check out my C2 community as well. It's for all those long lost sibling fics that people seem so found of lately. Subscribe, volunteer to be staff, enjoy!
Toodles.
DKG.