a/n: YAY! Exams are DONE! Which means I can update more often! YAY! ::laughs:: Anyway, you guys know you are amazing and I love you, so on with the chappie! J

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own a copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince…but thanks to JK Rowling, I will own #2 on July 16th! ::sobs hysterically:: Bless you, JKR! You listened to the disclaimer in chapter one of this silly story! ::cries happy tears while skipping down the street merrily, annoying all the neighbors just like she did when she found out book 5 was coming::

Chapter 15: Honor or Fun?

"We'll be famous!"

"We'll be rich!"

"People will whisper when they pass us in the hallways and say, 'Look! There's the girl who so smartly found the secret passage…' "

"I can employ someone to clean my feathers for me!"

Claire rolled her eyes, staring at the bird flitting about the chamber excitedly.

"What?" Aquinas said, looking a little shot-down. "A bird can dream, can't he?"

Deciding that was a rhetorical question, Claire didn't answer. Instead, she returned to her task of trying to decide which door she wanted to go through first.

Duh.

She took several cautious steps toward door number three. Her steps echoed around her as she stared up at the golden inscription.

"Godric Gryffindor," she said in awe.

"Yeah yeah, we know you can read," Aquinas said impatiently, landing on her shoulder once more. "Now open the door!!"

"Sheesh! Can't you at least allow me a moment to bask in the glory of my discovery?!"

"Your discovery?" he said, cocking a feathery eyebrow. "Excuse me, but who's the one who made the stone move first?"

"I moved it after you bit me, if my memory serves me well," Claire retorted.

"All beside the point! Now, open it open it open it—!"

Claire slowly curved her slender fingers around the golden handle. She took a breath and tugged.

Nothing. The door was locked.

"Ugh!!" said Aquinas in frustration, rustling his wings and hitting Claire repeatedly in the process. "You and your girlish muscles will NEVER open the door! Here, let me have a whack at it—"

"No! Get away!" she said, swatting at him as if he was an annoying mosquito. "And what do you mean 'girlish muscles'?! You don't even have thumbs!!"

"Bite me!" Aquinas said, tugging on the handle with his claws.

"I just might—"

"WOODS! KEEP IT DOWN!"

Their argument was immediately silenced by the voice of Severus Snape. The pair had completely forgot that Claire was supposed to be serving detention, and it wasn't like Professor Snape was very far away…had he heard everything that had been going on?

The pair exchanged a nervous glance.

"Let's go," Aquinas said, swooping into the tunnel. "This will have to wait for a more pertinent time…"

Claire sighed, knowing he was right. With one last glance back at the chamber, she clambered into the tunnel and the torch lights extinguished themselves.

"Actually I think this chamber could have an overall positive effect on our mission, Claire," Aquinas was saying as they headed up the stairs as a clock struck midnight somewhere in the depths of the castle.

"Huh?" Claire replied thickly. Her mind had been wandering as it usually did whenever Aquinas was talking. "What're you talking about? The tunnel has nothing to do with Snuffles! And while we're on this subject, are you gonna tell me—"

"No."

She sighed.

"Fine. Then explain how this could 'have a positive effect' or whatever it is you were babbling on about," she said, stepping into the dimly lit Entrance Hall.

"As I was saying," Aquinas continued, swooping around her and up the marble staircase, "this gives you a good reason to go to Dumbledore! Now tonight I'll help you come up with a short speech to explain to him, and tomorrow you can go to McGonagall—"

"What?" Claire said, stopping in mid-step and getting her foot caught in the trick-stair.

"NOW look what you've done!" Aquinas said, attempting to pull her out by yanking on the shoulder of her robes with his talons. "Jeez, you really aren't any good at multi-tasking! Even if it's just listening and walking—"

"Quin, why do I have to tell McGonagall about the chamber tomorrow?" Claire said, ignoring the numbing sensation spreading through her leg. The crestfallen feeling in her chest was far more painful. "Going to Dumbledore so soon? I mean—I won't get to have nearly the amount of fun I was planning on having…"

"Claire, I hate to break it to you, but you weren't sent here to have fun!" Aquinas said, tugging harder on her robes to now avail. "You were sent here to save someone's life, if I was informed correctly."

"But…if I go to Dumbledore this early…won't my mission be compl—"

"Claire?"

She looked up, blood draining from her face. She hadn't realized how loudly she had been talking—she really needed to stop doing that! And the person standing at the top of the stairs wasn't exactly the person she wanted to overhear this kind of conversation.

"H-Harry," she said, trying to remember how to talk. How much had he heard?

He shot her an amused sort of smile. It was then she remembered that she had her leg halfway stuck in the staircase, an owl the size of a large grapefruit tugging on her sleeve, and it looked to the passerby like she was talking to herself. Great way to make a decent impression on the kid. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.

"Erm…" Harry choked back a laugh and actually managed a half decent attempt at a straight face. "D'you want a hand?"

"That'd be lovely, thanks," she said sarcastically, swatting at Aquinas.

He jogged down the stairs to help.

"Here, put your arm around my neck and I'll pull ya out," he offered.

"I'm really sorry," she said, truly wishing she hadn't been so careless. "I just wasn't paying attention."

"Don't worry about it," Harry said, putting both arms around her waist and pulling her out with one good heave. Aquinas huffed as Harry set Claire down safely with both feet on the stairs. "It happens to Neville all the time—except I usually can't pull him out by myself."

Claire laughed as Aquinas landed on her arm. "Well I appreciate it. I woulda been stuck there all night if you—hang on—what are you doing out of the dormitory so late?!"

This was actually a cause for more panic. She didn't remember Harry taking any midnight strolls around November of this story…

"Um—I was actually meeting with Lupin." Harry said quickly. "He had some stuff he wanted to show me."

Claire smirked. He wasn't a bad liar—it's just that she knew him too well to know whether or not he was telling the truth. But what exactly he was doing, she couldn't be sure.

"Alright, you just keep telling yourself that," Claire laughed. "I myself was coming from detention, so I better be getting upstairs."

"I'll walk with you," Harry said, following her up the remainder of the stairs and down the corridor. "I really shouldn't be out. Kinda dumb of me. I mean the teachers get mad enough if I go to the toilet by myself…"

"That's gotta suck," Claire said, poking Aquinas just to make him angry. He glared, knowing she was only doing it because he couldn't talk in front of Harry.

Harry shrugged. "I guess so."

It was quiet until they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Oh, by the way," Harry said as the entered the common room. "That Robin girl—she's taking Patronus lessons, too. She told Lupin this afternoon."

"She is?!" Claire said excitedly. "Oh my God I KNEW she would! Hah! And she thought she could scare me! HAH!" Harry cocked an eyebrow. Claire coughed. "Sorry."

He smiled. "It's alright. Well, I guess I'll see you later."

"G'night," Claire yawned, heading up the girl's staircase with Aquinas still latched to her arm.

"Once again you prove my theory that you never think," the bird muttered as Claire changed into her nightgown.

"C'mon, Quin!" Claire hissed back, climbing into the four-poster and blowing out her candle so not to wake her sleeping roommates. "I was going to have to talk to Harry sooner or later! So what?"

"So what?!" Aquinas repeated, flapping his wings to get his point across. "Claire, do you realize that whatever you say to Harry could drastically alter the story?! You could have a serious effect on the PLOT, here—"

"Yeah yeah yeah," Claire muttered, rolling over in attempt to drain him out.

"Claire, I'm being quite serious!" Aquinas hissed, hopping over so that his gigantic eyes were right in her face.

"Gah!!!" Claire exclaimed, turning onto her other side. Did he EVER give up?!

"Listen to me, Claire!" Aquinas persisted, leaping onto her head and leaning over so that his eyes were level with hers. He looked so stern upside down that she actually didn't talk back this time. "I know you are very excited to be here at Hogwarts and get the full experience, but that was NOT what your birthday gift was intended for! You are here to save Snuffles and leave. Not change the outcome of a Quidditch match! Not to change who dates whoever else! Not to destroy the teacher you hate! You have some serious thinking to do about why you're really here and what your real intentions are. You have a reason to see Dumbledore, and you should take that chance while that door is still open. We'll see what you decide tomorrow night, and if you chose honor over fun, I'll help you get to Dumbledore. If not…well, that's your choice. You decide."

And with that he hopped over onto his perch on the bedside table and nuzzled into his feathers for some sleep.

Claire's eyes, however, remained wide open. Did the bird brain have a case? Was she being careless to enjoy her stay at Hogwarts rather than to just complete her task and get back home?

Home. Never did it sound as final as it did in that sentence. To go home was to leave this wonderful place forever; one of the only places she had ever been really happy…would she have to give that up? Was it really necessary?

She sighed. Aquinas was too deep for her, she decided. Always concerned with the big picture. That was the problem with people: why didn't they just live in the moment more often? She sighed again and rolled over, shutting her eyes and trying to ignore the voice inside her head that was telling her Aquinas was right.

After classes ended the next day, as everyone else was heading into the Great Hall for dinner, Claire met the twins outside Filch's office as planned. She walked up the stairs on her way there, thinking hard. Should she help them? Or should she just go down to dinner with Bethany and pretend she forgot? She was completely torn.

In the midst of all her thinking, she made it to the office nevertheless. Fred and George were there waiting for her.

"Ah, greetings, Grasshopper!" George said, bowing to her.

"Hey," Claire said, feeling sick to her stomach.

"Nervous?" Fred asked. Claire assumed she must've looked kinda pale.

"Slightly," she replied.

"Ah, it's only natural," Fred said with a wave of his hand. "Remember the first time we got sent to Filch's office, George?"

"Indeed I do, Fred," George commented, thrusting a bag into Claire's hands. "I was scared shitless, I was!"

"But just look at us now," Fred said proudly, "helping out a future trouble-maker such as ourselves!"

"You ready?" George said, smirking mischievously while his twin checked for witnesses. None were present.

"Erm—"

"Now remember," Fred said, "just slip that into his tea and we'll take care of the rest!"

"Best go now, before anyone comes…" George said.

And together, the twins shoved her into the grubby office.

As the door snapped shut behind her, Claire took a vague look at her surroundings. A file cabinet, a desk, a chair, a fireplace; it was nothing special. And on the desk sat a cup of steaming hot tea. Filch would no doubt be back any minute to kick back and read the paper for a few minutes before he returned to torturing the students as he liked to spend his evenings doing. All she had to do was pour the contents of this bag into the cup and slip back outside with the boys…

If you want honor over fun, I can help you…If not…well, that's your choice.

She gulped. She already had the excuse to go see Dumbledore. If she wanted to back out, now was her last chance…

a/n: DUN DUN DAAAAAAAAaaa!!! Will Claire side with Aquinas or the twinnies?! How will her decision effect…well, everything?! And when will these questions be answered?! Well fear not, my friends, for the author is on Christmas vacation, and can update whenever she pleases! But will the amount of reviews effect her desire to write? Hmm…maybe…D See you guys soon!

Are you excited about Half Blood Prince?! YOU BETTER BE! ::still dancing happily::