Please note that I've gone back and rewriten chapter 41. There are
some pretty serious differences from the first one. I'll be rewriting
other chapters following 41 so that I can do some stuff I really want
to do. I just needed a way to do it. -- The Itch
---
Yeah, it's been a few weeks, and I'd like to apologize for the lack of
chapters.
Viruses are a bitch-- and I don't just mean the computer viruses.
After I sprained my wrist a couple weeks back (when I missed my first
weekly chapter-ness. The guys in my group heard about it while I was
awkwardly typing one-handed) I ended up catching the flu. We're still
debating if I caught it from Leigh, Leigh's brother, or Leigh's mom,
since they all had it. .
Erebus - Next chapter is (finally) out. Multiple items you say? I've
been there, although I'm usually being told to get off one of the
consol systems I've got (four of them, likely soon to be five) ^__^
legion - I didn't really want romance in this fic. It has a bad
tendancy to take over and destroy my plotlines. No, really, it does.
Be forever thankful that none of you have ever read the original
'Series Offense' (one of the stories I'm rewriting). Somehow it went
from being a dark fic into being a lovey-dovey fic.
Shila - *thud-smack* I get the feeling you want 78 chapters or more...
Drow seriously rock. Why else would I put them in? ^__^
Esperanze Fuega - scratching the walls with stones wouldn't really
help. I guess you missed the line where I wrote that the walls were
shifting from place to place, the maze in an eternal state of
movement.
Caet Rae - I'm trying to avoid making mistakes any more. Still... they
do have a band tendancy to happen, and sometimes I don't catch them
when I read over the fic.
Phoenix Flight - Shock is far to light a word for what Remus is going
to get when he finally comes back to Hogwarts ^__^
Scamber Dragon - Yeah, Sulnore is the main connection between the two,
but not likely for the reason you're thinking. *rubs her hadns
together* Mwahahahahahaha~
lostgirl - I take pride in coming up with new things. I haven't seent
he censorship deal in other fics either, it just seemed to... jump out
at me. I don't know, it always seemed like there was something wrong
with that bit of information. That there was only one paper, and thus
only one idea being presented to the world. *shrugs*
howling wolf - You're quite welcome to do a Spin-Off ^__^
Earunda - Sulnore lost the thrown to her as of yet unnamed sister.
Helkaer is the drow who respects Harry most, due to the replacement of
his hand. Sulnore is the one missing her eye; it was considered bad
luck to have a ruler with one eye, because she couldn't see everything
that happened around her. Thus she lost her thrown to her sister when
she lost her eye.
Eaiva le Fay - Draco's over with Black Rose's character, Rosanna, in
america. I believe they just got into a fight. The Drow exist in my
AU, the only reason the majority of the Wizadring World has no idea
that they exist is because they live underground in heavily fortified
caverns. Wizards attribute people vanishing into them to dragons.
RainWaters - Hints? *waggles a finger* Ah-ah, that will spoil the
surprise.
Fool's Defense - Hmmm, maybe, maybe not. I'll have to think about
Remus becoming a Living Weapon.
Brion - In the english version, it is never stated it Blaise is male
or female (as such, Blaise in my RPG is actually female). However, I
read somewhere that in the french version Blaise is said to be male.
This is where all the confusion coems from on the arguement of whether
Blaise is a he, or a she.
Flummox - Yeah, I know what you mean. Normally I jump right over MOM
stuff and get back to the interesting parts of the story. S'why I kept
that part short. I'm glad you're happy with the way I'm doing things,
oh evil minnion reviewer (fan) of mine.
Black Rose - I hast decided. Somehow or another, I will send Severus
to you. Now, I just have to figure out a way to send him off... hmm...
Harry Potter is a product of JK Rowling's mind. Itch is not Rowling.
---
Blackened Sunrise
Chapter Fifty-Three: Matter
The Itch
---
The dark caverns of the Drow were not usually quite so loud. Normally,
the echoing of bellowed shouts and outraged screeches would have rung
painfully in any listening Drow's ears, the dark elves having such
extreme hearing to help pinpoint the origins of the haunting echoes of
the sounds their prey made.
Today, however, was not a normal day.
One of the edan walked the passages of the Kaiserin's noble city of
Agarwaen. Without the chains or garments that would have portrayed him
as a slave. No, the edan stood tall, black hair messily surrounding
chilling eyes of emerald, the glint of the city's pale silver lighting
shimmering off the metal that decorated his face and ears. He was
dressed, from head to toe, in black, and the cool curve of his lips
was something that would be seen in the nightmares of the youngest of
Drow for years to come.
Beside him, her stride equal to that, neither overtaking, nor falling
behind, was the former heir to the throne, Sulnore of House
Mor'kuunemegil, herself. Her battle staff rested comfortably against
her back in it's normal sheath, although it one looked closely, it
appeared to have a network of cracks near one end. The dark cloak
marked with the symbol commonly found upon the back a black widow
spider signified her as one of the Warrior-Priestesses that guarded
the entrances and exits of the city. The silver that decorated her
black boots and gauntlets shimmered almost sinisterly as she walked,
calmly, by the edan.
Sulnore had been one of the Drow had participated in a riot some years
back over the edan slaves living in Agarwaen-- she'd wanted them all
publically executed.
To have her walking by one...!
And to have Helkaer, a well known dissident, and not exactly someone
who would bow his head to any, gliding along behind them... was not
exactly something that cheered people. They had never seen Helkaer
move so swiftly, so silently and with an aura of lethality before.
There were some who had known of his training in the city's foremost
army some years back, but he had left the company shortly after being
informed that even if he had the talent, he would never be put to use.
The army was female run, and men were little more than breeding stock.
The only reason Helkaer had even been allowed into the corps was
because one of his older sisters had pulled a number of strings.
Common belief was that she did it to get him out of her, her sisters,
and her mother's hair.
But that was neither here nor now, and the people of the city raised
their voices in outrage as the edan walked freely, as the former heir
strode calmly, and the most well known figurehead for men's rights
activists slipped past them.
A rock came soaring out of the shadows of one building, where a number
of teenaged Drow had taken to sitting. Their leader's ruby eyes
glinted maliciously, and she hefted another rock. The first had
skimmed the edan's head, causing him to halt. Piercing green eyes
turned to stare coolly up at the female who had thrown the rock.
"Go back to where you came from, Edan!" she bellowed, whipping the
rock at his head, once more.
"Shouldn't have done that," Helkaer smirked. The edan failed to look
impressed, even as the rock arched through the air, ready to slam him
directly between the eyes.
One foot away, the rock exploded into a cloud of dust-- dust that
could not go past the barrier that surrounded the edan. His chill
smile stretched into a most certainly psychotic grin.
"Stupid, stupid mistake," he purred, and the green in his eyes seemed
to leech away, leaving him with icy silver-steel irises.
Then the collective mouths of the watching citizens fell open as the
edan's already abused shirt tore into pieces, fluttering to the
ground. They didn't really care about that.
It was the massive silver and black wings that had shorn his back
open, splattering blood here and there, on Sulnore and Helkaer, and
those watching. It was the talons that tipped his hands. It was the
tail covered in boney protrusions. It was the muzzle full of razor
bladed fangs.
It was all that put together alongside the look in his eyes that
clearly told the foolish Drow that she wasn't going to like her fate.
Her throat had seemed paralyzed for an eternal moment. And then she
found her voice, a terrified scream rippling out and over the city as
the Living Weapon lunged for her.
---
"Bloody fucking _hell_!"
The shriek echoed through the passages of the dreary maze, and
Hermione Granger shook her hand, knuckles stinging horribly. Anger and
frustration had finally gotten the better of the sixteen year old, and
the Enchantress had foolishly slammed her fist into the closest wall.
Blood dribbled from her knuckles, both from attacking the wall itself,
and from the scratches that had been created as she had dragged her
hands along the walls. Upon deciding that shaking her hand wasn't
really helping, the teenager stuffed a knuckle into her hand and
sucked at the bloodied digit.
The coppery taste in her mouth wasn't exactly welcome, but at that
moment, she didn't really care. Merlin be damned, but it hurt.
With annoyance coloring her gaze, she lifted her eyes from the pale
white of her hands, to stare around the passage that she was standing
in. Over her time in the maze, her eyes had adjusted-- apparently, the
lack of light hadn't been absolute, otherwise she would never have
been able to see without a spell-- but it hadn't helped her any. All
there had been was passage after passage, the aggravating sound of the
walls shifting positions around her, as only a magical labyrinth
could.
Which was confusing. How could the walls be magic, and yet, she unable
to use hers...?
As her gaze flickered over the walls and the strange symbols
decorating the walls, she caught sight of something near the floor.
Curiously, and yet warily, as she had not seen anything of the like
since she had begun this stupid 'test' as she had mentally dubbed it,
Granger stepped closer, dropping into a crouch to investigate whatever
it was that lay along the floor.
It appeared to be a simple metal bar, long and straight, almost two
and a half feet. Gingerly, she reached out, picking the bar up off the
ground, and she startled to hear the scraping of metal across the
stone floor. Her gaze shifted to the distance between floor and bar,
surprised to note the chain dangling down from the end. Apparently,
that had been what had been making the irritating grinding noise.
Carefully, the female tugged the chain-- and it was a good thing she'd
only carefully pulled it. Any harder, and she would have likely ended
up on her back, as the chain was unattached to anything. How odd.
Investigation revealed that the length of chain could slide into the
metal bar, although it refused to stay in until she had the end that
the chain came out of straight up. Gravity could be both helpful and a
hindrance. Hermione was leaning more toward hindrance with this new
development. However, she slid the metal bar between her back and her
belt, hoping that it would stay there.
She had no idea what the metal and chain were for, but she was rather
hoping that it would help her get out of this infuriating maze.
She didn't notice that the sound of the movement of the passages
behind her slowed, and slowly, very, very slowly, came to a halt.
---
Nathaniel Calaveras was, at the same time, both glad and sad that he
was leaving the Training Center at last. He couldn't tell how long
he'd been in there, exactly-- he hadn't bothered to keep track-- but
it was certainly close to six months. Less than a day had gone by, but
that didn't really matter to him. What mattered was what he'd thought
of, all the scenarios, all the problems, everything he'd bounced off
Blaise, who had in turn bounced them off of Dart.
Shaking his head, the human cursed to become a rabbit with but a touch
stuffed his hands into his pockets and wandered away from the doors of
the Training Center. He was distantly aware of slipping past various
members of Harry Potter's 'army', although they likely hadn't even
realized he was there. If the months in the Training Center had taught
him anything, it was how not to be seen.
After all, if one wasn't training, one wasn't supposed to be in the
Training Center, and Sirius Black was well known for the inventive
ways he would 'convince' someone to train if he caught them in the
Center and not training. Nate had become a master of stealth while
avoiding the oldest of Hogwarts' Living Weapons. Still, he had the
feeling that Black had known he was there, the Power would have
pointed it out to him, but either Black was to preoccupied with
training the Druids, or Nate's own abilities were good enough to
circumvent the Power.
Calaveras was leaning towards Dart being distracted.
"And a voice that's dark like tinted glass. She is fast, thorough, and
sharp as a tack. She is touring the facility and picking up slack! I
want a girl with a short skirt, and a long, long jacket!" he sung
rather loudly as he sauntered into a room at random, not really
noticing or caring where he went. Well no, he'd freak if he'd wandered
into the girls washrooms while he'd been out of it and singing.
"God dammit, Nathaniel," grumped the brunette at the computer,
hacking satellites, "Would you stop singing your stupid songs for one
day?!"
"Uh... no," he grinned, and purposely sung even louder, utilizing his
special 'ability' to drown out that gynephobic voice in the back of
his head, "I want a girl with smooth liquidation! I want a girl with
good divid--" he was cut off by having the girl's boot thrown at him.
With a yelp, he dropped to the floor and watched the foot wear sail
over head, "You're so mean!"
"Wrong way to say it, numbskull. You do it like this:" the other
Ravenclaw chirped, and then purposely pitched her voice fair to high,
"You so mean!"
"Oh god... anime freak..." Nathaniel moaned, all to familiar with
anime thanks to his annoying older sister, before he rolled over and
buried his face between the stones of the floor. After a few minutes,
he blinked, slowly, "Hey, this is actually comfortable."
"And you're a moron," was the dry response of the Living Weapon who
had just entered. Ginny nudged him with her toes, "Get up, Nate. Got a
new mission for you."
He rolled over again, staring up at her, blinking owlishly. Strange
how this was the only female in the whole school who didn't scare him
shitless, when it should be the other way around. She was lethal,
right? A Living Weapon, capable of ripping him into itty-bitty tiny
pieces... but he wasn't afraid of her. He was afraid of all the girls
who could do little more than cast an itching curse on him. Weird.
"I'm a political liaison," he half-whined, "Why do I have to go on a
mission?"
"Because the government is scattered," the brunette added helpfully,
before returning to her job manning the computer systems.
"Say wha...?"
"We just got news of it, ourselves," and suddenly Ginny Weasley was
General Gunn. The shift was a start, but not all that surprising. Nate
pulled himself to his feet in response, falling into step behind the
younger female as she headed towards the computer screens and the
brown haired hacker. It was a bit of a struggle to force down his
natural reaction to run, but he did it. Gunn's finger targeted the
satellite-mapped image on the screen, "You see this?"
"Yeah, I see it. So?"
"That's the head office of the Ministry of Magic, Nathaniel," Ginny
crossed her arms and stared dispassionately at the building, "Some
hours ago, Erika here watched the Death Eaters raid it."
"Damn," Nate whistled. They were getting their courage up, were
they...? "How many corpses?"
"Uncounted," Erika returned calmly, manipulating the satellite to zoom
in on the map. It did as commanded, and the image on screen got
larger, and more detailed, "There were no Ministry agents insi--"
"Dammit!" Nathaniel cursed, whirling in a furious circle and starting
to pace back and forth, "I was _really_ hoping that the Ministry would
have just been destroyed!"
The two females watched his antics curiously, not having expected the
explosion. Sure Nate was well known for his stunning array of
emotions, but he hadn't had one of his serious mood swings for some
time now. Nathaniel was muttering under his breath irritably, one foot
after another, trying to calm himself down without the use of his
beloved bass guitar. Once that had been accomplished-- and nearly ten
minutes had passed-- Ginny began to speak.
"Thanks for that amusing show, Nate. Any way, what I want you to do is
simple. You're going to take a message to one of the Ministers."
"Oh, gee, thanks," grumbled Calaveras, "I'd rather not get anywhere
near a minister right now. At least without a weapon. Can I bring a
weapon?"
"No!" barked the girl, "You are _not_ going to injure my father,
_do_you_understand_me_?!"
"Eep!"
---
End Chapter.
w00t, go me! I finally finished this chapter. No serious revelations
about indoctrinations or censorship in this chapter though. Just some
good old murder and mayhem in the first part and Nate-ness in the
last. And Hermione's actually starting to get somewhere. ^__^
some pretty serious differences from the first one. I'll be rewriting
other chapters following 41 so that I can do some stuff I really want
to do. I just needed a way to do it. -- The Itch
---
Yeah, it's been a few weeks, and I'd like to apologize for the lack of
chapters.
Viruses are a bitch-- and I don't just mean the computer viruses.
After I sprained my wrist a couple weeks back (when I missed my first
weekly chapter-ness. The guys in my group heard about it while I was
awkwardly typing one-handed) I ended up catching the flu. We're still
debating if I caught it from Leigh, Leigh's brother, or Leigh's mom,
since they all had it. .
Erebus - Next chapter is (finally) out. Multiple items you say? I've
been there, although I'm usually being told to get off one of the
consol systems I've got (four of them, likely soon to be five) ^__^
legion - I didn't really want romance in this fic. It has a bad
tendancy to take over and destroy my plotlines. No, really, it does.
Be forever thankful that none of you have ever read the original
'Series Offense' (one of the stories I'm rewriting). Somehow it went
from being a dark fic into being a lovey-dovey fic.
Shila - *thud-smack* I get the feeling you want 78 chapters or more...
Drow seriously rock. Why else would I put them in? ^__^
Esperanze Fuega - scratching the walls with stones wouldn't really
help. I guess you missed the line where I wrote that the walls were
shifting from place to place, the maze in an eternal state of
movement.
Caet Rae - I'm trying to avoid making mistakes any more. Still... they
do have a band tendancy to happen, and sometimes I don't catch them
when I read over the fic.
Phoenix Flight - Shock is far to light a word for what Remus is going
to get when he finally comes back to Hogwarts ^__^
Scamber Dragon - Yeah, Sulnore is the main connection between the two,
but not likely for the reason you're thinking. *rubs her hadns
together* Mwahahahahahaha~
lostgirl - I take pride in coming up with new things. I haven't seent
he censorship deal in other fics either, it just seemed to... jump out
at me. I don't know, it always seemed like there was something wrong
with that bit of information. That there was only one paper, and thus
only one idea being presented to the world. *shrugs*
howling wolf - You're quite welcome to do a Spin-Off ^__^
Earunda - Sulnore lost the thrown to her as of yet unnamed sister.
Helkaer is the drow who respects Harry most, due to the replacement of
his hand. Sulnore is the one missing her eye; it was considered bad
luck to have a ruler with one eye, because she couldn't see everything
that happened around her. Thus she lost her thrown to her sister when
she lost her eye.
Eaiva le Fay - Draco's over with Black Rose's character, Rosanna, in
america. I believe they just got into a fight. The Drow exist in my
AU, the only reason the majority of the Wizadring World has no idea
that they exist is because they live underground in heavily fortified
caverns. Wizards attribute people vanishing into them to dragons.
RainWaters - Hints? *waggles a finger* Ah-ah, that will spoil the
surprise.
Fool's Defense - Hmmm, maybe, maybe not. I'll have to think about
Remus becoming a Living Weapon.
Brion - In the english version, it is never stated it Blaise is male
or female (as such, Blaise in my RPG is actually female). However, I
read somewhere that in the french version Blaise is said to be male.
This is where all the confusion coems from on the arguement of whether
Blaise is a he, or a she.
Flummox - Yeah, I know what you mean. Normally I jump right over MOM
stuff and get back to the interesting parts of the story. S'why I kept
that part short. I'm glad you're happy with the way I'm doing things,
oh evil minnion reviewer (fan) of mine.
Black Rose - I hast decided. Somehow or another, I will send Severus
to you. Now, I just have to figure out a way to send him off... hmm...
Harry Potter is a product of JK Rowling's mind. Itch is not Rowling.
---
Blackened Sunrise
Chapter Fifty-Three: Matter
The Itch
---
The dark caverns of the Drow were not usually quite so loud. Normally,
the echoing of bellowed shouts and outraged screeches would have rung
painfully in any listening Drow's ears, the dark elves having such
extreme hearing to help pinpoint the origins of the haunting echoes of
the sounds their prey made.
Today, however, was not a normal day.
One of the edan walked the passages of the Kaiserin's noble city of
Agarwaen. Without the chains or garments that would have portrayed him
as a slave. No, the edan stood tall, black hair messily surrounding
chilling eyes of emerald, the glint of the city's pale silver lighting
shimmering off the metal that decorated his face and ears. He was
dressed, from head to toe, in black, and the cool curve of his lips
was something that would be seen in the nightmares of the youngest of
Drow for years to come.
Beside him, her stride equal to that, neither overtaking, nor falling
behind, was the former heir to the throne, Sulnore of House
Mor'kuunemegil, herself. Her battle staff rested comfortably against
her back in it's normal sheath, although it one looked closely, it
appeared to have a network of cracks near one end. The dark cloak
marked with the symbol commonly found upon the back a black widow
spider signified her as one of the Warrior-Priestesses that guarded
the entrances and exits of the city. The silver that decorated her
black boots and gauntlets shimmered almost sinisterly as she walked,
calmly, by the edan.
Sulnore had been one of the Drow had participated in a riot some years
back over the edan slaves living in Agarwaen-- she'd wanted them all
publically executed.
To have her walking by one...!
And to have Helkaer, a well known dissident, and not exactly someone
who would bow his head to any, gliding along behind them... was not
exactly something that cheered people. They had never seen Helkaer
move so swiftly, so silently and with an aura of lethality before.
There were some who had known of his training in the city's foremost
army some years back, but he had left the company shortly after being
informed that even if he had the talent, he would never be put to use.
The army was female run, and men were little more than breeding stock.
The only reason Helkaer had even been allowed into the corps was
because one of his older sisters had pulled a number of strings.
Common belief was that she did it to get him out of her, her sisters,
and her mother's hair.
But that was neither here nor now, and the people of the city raised
their voices in outrage as the edan walked freely, as the former heir
strode calmly, and the most well known figurehead for men's rights
activists slipped past them.
A rock came soaring out of the shadows of one building, where a number
of teenaged Drow had taken to sitting. Their leader's ruby eyes
glinted maliciously, and she hefted another rock. The first had
skimmed the edan's head, causing him to halt. Piercing green eyes
turned to stare coolly up at the female who had thrown the rock.
"Go back to where you came from, Edan!" she bellowed, whipping the
rock at his head, once more.
"Shouldn't have done that," Helkaer smirked. The edan failed to look
impressed, even as the rock arched through the air, ready to slam him
directly between the eyes.
One foot away, the rock exploded into a cloud of dust-- dust that
could not go past the barrier that surrounded the edan. His chill
smile stretched into a most certainly psychotic grin.
"Stupid, stupid mistake," he purred, and the green in his eyes seemed
to leech away, leaving him with icy silver-steel irises.
Then the collective mouths of the watching citizens fell open as the
edan's already abused shirt tore into pieces, fluttering to the
ground. They didn't really care about that.
It was the massive silver and black wings that had shorn his back
open, splattering blood here and there, on Sulnore and Helkaer, and
those watching. It was the talons that tipped his hands. It was the
tail covered in boney protrusions. It was the muzzle full of razor
bladed fangs.
It was all that put together alongside the look in his eyes that
clearly told the foolish Drow that she wasn't going to like her fate.
Her throat had seemed paralyzed for an eternal moment. And then she
found her voice, a terrified scream rippling out and over the city as
the Living Weapon lunged for her.
---
"Bloody fucking _hell_!"
The shriek echoed through the passages of the dreary maze, and
Hermione Granger shook her hand, knuckles stinging horribly. Anger and
frustration had finally gotten the better of the sixteen year old, and
the Enchantress had foolishly slammed her fist into the closest wall.
Blood dribbled from her knuckles, both from attacking the wall itself,
and from the scratches that had been created as she had dragged her
hands along the walls. Upon deciding that shaking her hand wasn't
really helping, the teenager stuffed a knuckle into her hand and
sucked at the bloodied digit.
The coppery taste in her mouth wasn't exactly welcome, but at that
moment, she didn't really care. Merlin be damned, but it hurt.
With annoyance coloring her gaze, she lifted her eyes from the pale
white of her hands, to stare around the passage that she was standing
in. Over her time in the maze, her eyes had adjusted-- apparently, the
lack of light hadn't been absolute, otherwise she would never have
been able to see without a spell-- but it hadn't helped her any. All
there had been was passage after passage, the aggravating sound of the
walls shifting positions around her, as only a magical labyrinth
could.
Which was confusing. How could the walls be magic, and yet, she unable
to use hers...?
As her gaze flickered over the walls and the strange symbols
decorating the walls, she caught sight of something near the floor.
Curiously, and yet warily, as she had not seen anything of the like
since she had begun this stupid 'test' as she had mentally dubbed it,
Granger stepped closer, dropping into a crouch to investigate whatever
it was that lay along the floor.
It appeared to be a simple metal bar, long and straight, almost two
and a half feet. Gingerly, she reached out, picking the bar up off the
ground, and she startled to hear the scraping of metal across the
stone floor. Her gaze shifted to the distance between floor and bar,
surprised to note the chain dangling down from the end. Apparently,
that had been what had been making the irritating grinding noise.
Carefully, the female tugged the chain-- and it was a good thing she'd
only carefully pulled it. Any harder, and she would have likely ended
up on her back, as the chain was unattached to anything. How odd.
Investigation revealed that the length of chain could slide into the
metal bar, although it refused to stay in until she had the end that
the chain came out of straight up. Gravity could be both helpful and a
hindrance. Hermione was leaning more toward hindrance with this new
development. However, she slid the metal bar between her back and her
belt, hoping that it would stay there.
She had no idea what the metal and chain were for, but she was rather
hoping that it would help her get out of this infuriating maze.
She didn't notice that the sound of the movement of the passages
behind her slowed, and slowly, very, very slowly, came to a halt.
---
Nathaniel Calaveras was, at the same time, both glad and sad that he
was leaving the Training Center at last. He couldn't tell how long
he'd been in there, exactly-- he hadn't bothered to keep track-- but
it was certainly close to six months. Less than a day had gone by, but
that didn't really matter to him. What mattered was what he'd thought
of, all the scenarios, all the problems, everything he'd bounced off
Blaise, who had in turn bounced them off of Dart.
Shaking his head, the human cursed to become a rabbit with but a touch
stuffed his hands into his pockets and wandered away from the doors of
the Training Center. He was distantly aware of slipping past various
members of Harry Potter's 'army', although they likely hadn't even
realized he was there. If the months in the Training Center had taught
him anything, it was how not to be seen.
After all, if one wasn't training, one wasn't supposed to be in the
Training Center, and Sirius Black was well known for the inventive
ways he would 'convince' someone to train if he caught them in the
Center and not training. Nate had become a master of stealth while
avoiding the oldest of Hogwarts' Living Weapons. Still, he had the
feeling that Black had known he was there, the Power would have
pointed it out to him, but either Black was to preoccupied with
training the Druids, or Nate's own abilities were good enough to
circumvent the Power.
Calaveras was leaning towards Dart being distracted.
"And a voice that's dark like tinted glass. She is fast, thorough, and
sharp as a tack. She is touring the facility and picking up slack! I
want a girl with a short skirt, and a long, long jacket!" he sung
rather loudly as he sauntered into a room at random, not really
noticing or caring where he went. Well no, he'd freak if he'd wandered
into the girls washrooms while he'd been out of it and singing.
"God dammit, Nathaniel," grumped the brunette at the computer,
hacking satellites, "Would you stop singing your stupid songs for one
day?!"
"Uh... no," he grinned, and purposely sung even louder, utilizing his
special 'ability' to drown out that gynephobic voice in the back of
his head, "I want a girl with smooth liquidation! I want a girl with
good divid--" he was cut off by having the girl's boot thrown at him.
With a yelp, he dropped to the floor and watched the foot wear sail
over head, "You're so mean!"
"Wrong way to say it, numbskull. You do it like this:" the other
Ravenclaw chirped, and then purposely pitched her voice fair to high,
"You so mean!"
"Oh god... anime freak..." Nathaniel moaned, all to familiar with
anime thanks to his annoying older sister, before he rolled over and
buried his face between the stones of the floor. After a few minutes,
he blinked, slowly, "Hey, this is actually comfortable."
"And you're a moron," was the dry response of the Living Weapon who
had just entered. Ginny nudged him with her toes, "Get up, Nate. Got a
new mission for you."
He rolled over again, staring up at her, blinking owlishly. Strange
how this was the only female in the whole school who didn't scare him
shitless, when it should be the other way around. She was lethal,
right? A Living Weapon, capable of ripping him into itty-bitty tiny
pieces... but he wasn't afraid of her. He was afraid of all the girls
who could do little more than cast an itching curse on him. Weird.
"I'm a political liaison," he half-whined, "Why do I have to go on a
mission?"
"Because the government is scattered," the brunette added helpfully,
before returning to her job manning the computer systems.
"Say wha...?"
"We just got news of it, ourselves," and suddenly Ginny Weasley was
General Gunn. The shift was a start, but not all that surprising. Nate
pulled himself to his feet in response, falling into step behind the
younger female as she headed towards the computer screens and the
brown haired hacker. It was a bit of a struggle to force down his
natural reaction to run, but he did it. Gunn's finger targeted the
satellite-mapped image on the screen, "You see this?"
"Yeah, I see it. So?"
"That's the head office of the Ministry of Magic, Nathaniel," Ginny
crossed her arms and stared dispassionately at the building, "Some
hours ago, Erika here watched the Death Eaters raid it."
"Damn," Nate whistled. They were getting their courage up, were
they...? "How many corpses?"
"Uncounted," Erika returned calmly, manipulating the satellite to zoom
in on the map. It did as commanded, and the image on screen got
larger, and more detailed, "There were no Ministry agents insi--"
"Dammit!" Nathaniel cursed, whirling in a furious circle and starting
to pace back and forth, "I was _really_ hoping that the Ministry would
have just been destroyed!"
The two females watched his antics curiously, not having expected the
explosion. Sure Nate was well known for his stunning array of
emotions, but he hadn't had one of his serious mood swings for some
time now. Nathaniel was muttering under his breath irritably, one foot
after another, trying to calm himself down without the use of his
beloved bass guitar. Once that had been accomplished-- and nearly ten
minutes had passed-- Ginny began to speak.
"Thanks for that amusing show, Nate. Any way, what I want you to do is
simple. You're going to take a message to one of the Ministers."
"Oh, gee, thanks," grumbled Calaveras, "I'd rather not get anywhere
near a minister right now. At least without a weapon. Can I bring a
weapon?"
"No!" barked the girl, "You are _not_ going to injure my father,
_do_you_understand_me_?!"
"Eep!"
---
End Chapter.
w00t, go me! I finally finished this chapter. No serious revelations
about indoctrinations or censorship in this chapter though. Just some
good old murder and mayhem in the first part and Nate-ness in the
last. And Hermione's actually starting to get somewhere. ^__^