a/n: ::ahem:: We wish you a Harry Christmas! We wish you a Harry Christmas! We wish you a Harry Christmas, with lots of butterbeer!!! ::bows:: It's time for notes!

DarkKestralSilkeQueen Actually, I did spell "effect" properly. I used the right version of it. "Effect" is a noun, "Affect" is the verb and I wanted the noun. You can check if you don't believe me. And I had exams, which is why I didn't update for a while. My apologies. ::bows:: Thanks for reading! D

Nina Hikari: I have an HP pillow too!! It's purple and it has a Snitch on it with a big "HP". D it makes me happy indeed! I'm glad you liked the chappie, thanks for reviewing!!

Padfoot's Sidekick: I did! D

Bitter Twilight: Hiya, Judgey! Haha, yes, Snape is a buffoon. And did you ever doubt me about the fun??? ::wink:: I still have to run my idea for the sequel by you, don't let me forget! You rock my socks! YAY JULY 16TH! D

Lady Taliesin: Oh yay! Someone thinks I'm funny! ::giggles happily:: Yay! Yes, I quite enjoy twisting the plot! It's as satisfying as ringing out a sponge of soapy water. D I'm a little weird lol! And are you SURE it's not their tombs?! I mean, she hasn't gone through any of the doors yet and she's been wrong before…MWHAHAHA! Haha, thanks for always reading, you rock my socks too!

Alright, that about does it! Enjoy the chappie, one and all! ::skips off singing her made up Christmas carols::

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, but I do own a nice fruitcake! ::shoots the fruitcake a quizzical glance and edges away from it:: Um…maybe "nice" wasn't exactly the word I was looking for…;;;

Chapter 16: Not Playing with a Full Deck

"Can't…BREATHE…Must…keep flying…Gah…"

Now as you've been informed, Aquinas was not the largest of birds. In fact, he probably would be a fit rival for the smallest. But this was a fact Aquinas would simply have to ignore, for he was a bird of his word. And he had promised a very flea-bitten fugitive he would bring him some food—even if that meant the food was larger than he was.

"Yes…I can…see…the cave!...ARGHHH!!"

Aquinas experienced a slight loss of altitude in his moment of excitement, but it made it all the easier for him to swoop into the cave and come in for a crash landing along with his sack of food.

However, the crash did not earn him the hero's welcome he thought he'd receive. Instead, he was greeted by a dog growling at him with very, very sharp pointed teeth.

He gulped, raising both his wings in a sign of surrender. Thankfully, the dog spotted him and put it's sharp fangs away ("Whew…"). Thinking it was unwise to transform, Sirius came over and sniffed Aquinas. After completely destroying cleanliness and discovering that this was indeed the same bird—Sirius turned his attention to the large parcel, which contained an entire meatloaf, a large flask of water, and some biscuits.

The dog leapt back on his hind legs in celebration, and actually licked Aquinas's feathery head he was so excited! Shivering involuntarily, Aquinas merely gave a hoot of acknowledgment before flying up onto a sheaf of rock to watch the dog wolf down a meal. He had a content feeling inside, very glad he had done some good.

However, there was another feeling inside Aquinas: distress. That prank on the unsuspecting caretaker was supposed to take place tonight and he was pretty sure the girl was going to go through with it. Oh, how he wished she wouldn't! If only she knew what could happen…but that was all part of the rules. She couldn't know; decisions of this nature had to be made on one's own. He sighed. He only wished that i he /i didn't know what was going to happen, then it wouldn't be so incredibly painful to watch.

Nevertheless, it was his duty to oversee the situation—otherwise he'd be in trouble with the System. So he gave the dog a quick nip on the ear in promise that he would return in a few days and soared out the tiny hole and into the darkening sky.

As he flew, his little brain was formulating a big plan. You see, Aquinas wasn't allowed to be present when Claire made her decision, but being a small, aerial creature was going to work to his advantage this time around. Ah, how he loved loopholes!

Counting over the correct number of windows, Aquinas swooped over to hover outside the office of the caretaker. Perching himself on the windowsill, he squinted to look inside.

Almost immediately he wished he hadn't.

"Oh no…"

His little heart sunk in his chest as he saw Claire open the tiny drawstring bag in her hands.

Claire peered out the door at the two boys smiling mischievously. One of them gave her a thumbs up.

She sighed. What would they say if she came out of the room with this little bag still fully of powder? They would certainly be very disappointed…maybe not even speak to her ever again! And then on top of that she'd have to go to Professor McGonagall about the chamber, and in turn go talk to the headmaster, meaning her mission would be complete and she would have to leave Hogwarts…

And she had questioned herself?!

She dumped the powder into the caretaker's coffee mug. Stuffing the empty bag in the pocket of her robes, she exhaled quickly and looked up at the window before she turned to leave.

Her breath caught in her chest. A small brown and white owl was watching her sadly through narrowed eyes. But it was too late to worry about Aquinas's disappointment now. The deed was done.

She took one step back and slipped out the door quietly.

"Excellent job, mate!" Fred said, clapping her on the back proudly.

"See, that wasn't so bad was it?" George said with a smile.

Claire saw the owl fly away from the window and out of sight.

"I guess not," she said, also grinning.

"Okay," Fred said, clapping his hands together. "It looks like George and I can handle it from here!"

"You head off for some well-deserved dinner!" George said as Fred looked up and down the hallway once more.

"Thanks guys! See ya later!"

And as she headed down the marble staircase, the boys slipped behind a suit of armor, waiting for Filch to return.

After dinner, Claire returned to Gryffindor Tower with Bethany and Ginny. She made tons of stupid jokes, laughing loudly and causing her friends to go into random fits of giggles. She couldn't help it; half of it was just the relief of knowing she was allowed to enjoy their company for a while longer, the other half was letting off some steam. She was actually shaking in fear of what Aquinas was going to say when they reached their destination.

But Aquinas was nowhere to be seen in the common room. Claire breathed a sigh of relief.

"How 'bout a game of Exploding Snap?" Ginny suggested, pulling out a deck of cards and jumping into a squashy armchair.

"I'm in!" said Claire, plopping down as well while Ginny began to shuffle. She looked up. "What about you, Bethie? Wanna play?"

Bethany looked hesitant, her eyes shoting a longing look over to the girl's staircase. Claire shot her a look.

"C'mon, your homework won't jump out the window while your playing—" Claire started to tease.

"No, it's just…" Bethany's eyes darted about the room. "What if the cards explode? All these people are in here…"

Claire actually laughed out loud. Ginny grinned. Bethany looked rather uncomfortable.

"If you're that conscious of yourself that you can't play a card game in a room full of people, then you have something to learn, darlin'," Claire replied, beckoning her over to sit down. She did, however reluctantly, as Claire added, "You care that much about what people think?"

"Well—no.."

"Yeah, ya do!" Ginny snuck in, dealing out seven cards to each player. "I tell ya, when you live in a house with six brothers you learn not to care about these things…"

Claire let out a short laugh again.

"What?!" Ginny demanded, drawing one card from the pile in the middle and adding it to her hand. "It's the truth!"

"Well, maybe it is," Claire said simply, placing two cards face down and drawing two more, "but if you did learn that from your brothers, you certainly don't abide by it every day."

"Now wait just a—" Ginny began defensively.

"C'mon!" Claire laughed, leaning forward a little a lowering her voice. "Everybody knows that you fancy Harry Potter. But do you even talk to the guy? No!"

Ginny's face flushed a brilliant shade of magenta, a blush worthy to rival her big brother's.

"Well—er…"

Claire smirked. Ginny was growing irritated. Bethany merely peered over her hand curiously at the other two.

"Watch it there, Bethie! It might explode!" Claire said jokingly.

"How can I even think of talking to Harry!" Ginny continued while Claire continued to play, smirking some more. "He's my brother's best friend! He comes over to our house every summer, practically! How could I—"

"No, no, no!" Claire said, shaking her head. "The proper question is how could you NOT? C'mon, you're around him all the time! You don't have to flirt or anything, just start with a simple 'hello' for Merlin's sake…"

Claire gave herself a pat on the back for the Merlin comment. She was getting used to this wizard lingo.

"But—oh, I don't know," Ginny admitted, looking a little put out as she threw down her cards in frustration. "I just get so—I don't know he just makes me freeze."

"Awwwwww!" Claire said before she could stop herself. Ginny flushed a little rosier. Bethany chuckled.

"It's not a bad idea, Gin," Bethany agreed, trying to set down a couple of cards as gingerly as possible. "I mean, saying hi wouldn't kill you—AHH!"

The entire deck chose that moment to explode. Bethany, Claire, and Ginny's hair stood on end from the static electricity and the whole room went silent.

Claire couldn't help it—she burst out laughing, shortly followed by Ginny. Even Bethany couldn't keep a straight face for long. Slowly, the room resumed it's usually rambunctious aura.

"That's a nice look for you, Ginny," said a voice from behind Claire. It was Ron. "Mum would be so proud."

"I'm sure she would," Ginny replied, doing her best to try and flatten out the frizzy mess.

"Who made it explode?" Ron demanded, looking around at the three of them as Harry and Hermione came over and joined him.

"Er—that would be me," Bethany responded. "Sorry if you were studying or something…"

Hermione snorted.

"Ron? Studying? Yeah right!" she said with a smirk.

"Very funny, very funny," Ron retorted while Claire smiled in an all-knowing manner. It was amazing how blind they were! She just might have to do something about that, too…

Ron turned back to the girls. "I was just saying, it's no wonder the cards exploded! You aren't playing with a full deck, Gin, these were up in my dormitory."

"She's not the only one playing without a full deck..." Hermione commented as Ron threw three other cards onto the table.

"What was that?" Ron asked, turning around and glaring.

"Nothing, Ronald! Nothing!" she said, smirking.

"Well, let's see if you play cards better than you come back to Hermione's insults," Harry said, leaping over the back of the couch to sit between Claire and Bethany. "Can we play?"

"Sure!" Claire insisted. "Deal him in, Ginny," she added pointedly.

If you combined her hair color, freckles, and flushed cheeks, Ginny looked like a little strawberry as she dealt out three more hands.

"Oh, don't deal me in," Hermione said, picking up a ball of fluff that was Crookshanks. "I'm going to go study for our Transfiguration test, like i these /i two should be doing!"

"Studying! More like brushing that demon you call a cat, that's what," Ron muttered to no one in particular while rearranging his hand.

"What was that, Ron?" Hermione said, spinning around. Apparently she wasn't out of earshot.

"Nothing, 'Mione! Nothing!" Ron said, smiling sweetly over his shoulder.

Hermione rolled her eyes and retreated up the girl's staircases. Claire chuckled.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Nothing," Claire added, throwing a couple cards down on the table where they turned into a small puff of smoke. "Well, sadly, I have some things of my own I must attend to. But luckily, Ginny can still stay and play, right Ginny?"

The little strawberry gulped.

"Can't you at least play one game?" Harry protested.

"Yeah!" Ron joined in. "What's so important that you can't play one game, eh?"

Claire thought for a second how best to put it.

"Well, I have to go see a bird about a dog," Claire said simply, shrugging. "I'll see you all in the morning!"

And with that she skipped off up the girl's staircases after Hermione, leaving them all with very quizzical looks on their faces. Hopefully, she had just given Ginny plenty of material to strike up a decent conversation.

She took a deep breath before entering the dormitory. It was empty except for a little brown and white owl perched on the edge of her open trunk. Apparently, he was looking for something.

"Quin?" she said tentatively, edging forward.

The bird said nothing. Claire felt as if a lead weight had dropped into her stomach. All he wanted was for her to follow his advice…but she just couldn't do it! Not now! Not so soon…

"Quin?" she said again. Maybe he didn't hear her?

Still silent.

She sighed.

"Look, Aquinas, I'm sorry—"

"You don't have to apologize," Aquinas said, hopping into the trunk to continue his search for whatever it was. "You needed to make a choice and, clearly, you have made it."

It was quiet once more. Was that all he was going to say? For once he wasn't going to make any sarcastic remarks about her lack of brain power? Wow…the poor little guy must have really been troubled…

"But—?" Claire said, lost for words.

"But nothing. That's the end of it. Period." Aquinas said, hopping out of the trunk with something shiny in his beak. He flew into the air and tossed whatever it was at Claire.

She caught it, but it cut her hand a little, as it was thrown with a little more force than really necessary. It was the set of three rusty keys that she had received her first day at Hogwarts. It had been in the trunk at the Quidditch pitch along with the Rememberall, ominoculars, and Sneakoscope.

"Why are you giving me these…?" Claire said, completely bewildered. But Aquinas was rummaging in the trunk once again.

"They open locked doors of course," Aquinas said obviously. He was muttering to himself. Claire edged forward, the better to hear. "Honestly, I'm all for a bit of fun! I mean—when I'm not a midget, twitchy bird I can prank better than best of 'em, I can…"

"What do you mean, 'when I'm not a midget, twitchy bird,' Aquinas?" Claire said suspiciously. What was he talking about?

"Never you mind!" he snapped, tossing something else up at her. As she caught it, he added, "You might want to have a gander at that, too. Now I'm going to spend the night in the owlery. Good night."

And with that he flew out the open window and into the night.

Claire frowned. As much as he annoyed her, it didn't feel right to be on bad terms with him. He was, after all, just trying to help…

She looked down at her hand and saw that Aquinas had tossed her the Rememberall. As she stared down at the sphere, the smoke swirling within was turning scarlet.

She stared from the keys in one hand to the open window, lost in thought. What had she forgotten?

a/n: DUN DUN DAAAAAAAAAAaaa!! Oh the juiciness of it all! Anyone know what Claire forgot? Anyone have an incline as to what Aquinas was talking about? (I very much doubt this, but you can guess if you like! ::wink::) And who wants to guess what the Twinnies did after Claire left? Or if Ginny did in fact strike up that "interesting conversation?" I hope you're in a guessing kinda mood…or else you'll just have to sit around and wait until the next chapter to find out…