This one's for Hexe. Man, how much do you rock?Our wonderfull fan who joined Gaia to meet us. We love you and thank you so much for reading the story, chat to us on Gaia again soon ok? (Princess gives Hexe a hug, and Wolfmoon grins)
We promised more Harry, thus we give you naked Saul. Dont ask, it works.
Chapter Eight: Distractions
Justine opened her eyes in the morning and looked around the hospital wing. Her uncle was dozing in the chair beside her bed; she could see him easily from where she lay. Carefully Justine pushed herself up, and quickly realised that her left arm hurt like hell.
Once she was leaning back against the pillows – trying not to make a noise and disturb her uncle – she looked around the hospital wing, and had a lot of trouble not bursting into laughter. Kris and Tanya were lying on one bed – Kris was flat on his back and snoring gently, and Tanya was lying, half spread over him, with her head on his chest, being lifted and raised as Kris snored. Justine was amused to note that Tanya was snoring also.
Then there were Ax and Alyson, both of whom were lying on their sides, facing one another. Alyson's head was burrowed into Ax's shoulder and they looked extremely peaceful. Justine continued to look around the room, wondering what had woken her up.
It was then that she saw Ginny Weasley standing just inside the door, trying hard not to laugh. Ginny looked at Justine. Justine looked at Ginny. Both of them burst in rather loud laughter, and managed to wake everyone else in the hospital wing.
Tanya jerked awake, realised how she was positioned, and immediately tried to roll away, and ended up tumbling straight onto the ground. Ax and Alyson woke up much more peacefully. Alyson looked blearily at Ax, silver-blond hair falling around her shoulders in a state of disarray. "You have a very comfortable shoulder, you know that?" she asked.
"I've been told that before," Ax remarked. "Quite a few times, actually."
"Ever had the same person tell you twice?" Kris joked.
"Of course not," Ax replied. "You only give them one chance."
Severus was already fussing over Justine, making sure she was still OK. She was slapping him away, trying to get up. "We have the hunt today. I have to get up, I have to see to Nubie, I have to get dressed …" Justine was saying.
"No! Young lady you are staying right there until Madam Pomfrey's checked you out," Severus replied firmly, then noticed Ginny standing in the doorway.
"What do you want Weasley?" he demanded.
"What in the world did you guys do to yourselves?" Ginny demanded.
"I SAID WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Severus roared, losing his temper because Ginny hadn't answered. "HOW DARE YOU BE INSULENT AND NOT ANSWER?"
Outside, the McEwen dragon roared, sensing more than one of her children in distress.
"Leave the adopted Aussie alone Severus – she's cool," Kris remarked. "And we didn't do it to ourselves. Lupin did it to us."
"Professor Lupin? But it was the last night of the full moon last night!" Ginny cried in obvious distress. "He didn't bite you did he?" she looked at Justine in worry, but there was no fear in her eyes.
"You didn't hear any of this Weasley," Severus interrupted. "Get what you came here and go. Forget any of this happened."
Ginny looked at him for a moment, then nodded. She walked over to the office and spoke briefly with Madam Pomfrey, and then left the hospital wing with only a single backward glance.
Justine watched the girl leave, and wondered if she had been looking at Kris.
"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you," Severus interrupted her thoughts. "I think he would like to see all of you, actually."
"Oh fine, but let me go down to the cruiser and get properly dressed first, will you?" Justine said.
"Let's just get this over with," Kris replied.
Justine shrugged, "Fine," she replied and stood up, waving a hand to call her dressing gown to her. The group of Australians followed Severus from the room and through the confusing jumble of corridors that Tanya doubted she would ever get used to.
Suddenly they could hear people coming from up ahead. Justine looked down at what she was wearing. She hoped this would not be Draco Malfoy, as she was only wearing her underwear and a nearly see-through dressing gown …
Around the corner walked not only Draco but also Harry Potter and … this was getting steadily worse. Ron Weasley also.
"So, how do you think we'll go in the Time Trials today?" Ron asked.
"We'll win," Draco replied.
"Are you sure? Those magazine articles said that … certain Australians … were rather good," Harry remarked.
"We'll do great," Draco replied as they turned the corner and froze.
Ron chocked, Draco's expression closed, hiding emotion. Harry hid a smile. Justine was probably the oddest Australian of the lot. She was wearing black underwear and a white, fairly see-through silk dressing gown … and high heels. That girl was the queen of inappropriate footwear.
"Good morning," Tanya Bussa said evenly, also from a state of slight undress. She was, however, wearing actual clothes – a jumper and the skirt she had been wearing the night before.
"What happened to you?" Ron asked.
"Werewolves, midnight, flying, ouchies … don't ask," Tanya replied, touching her cheek, where there was a fading patch of pink, newly healed skin.
"Justine, you're arm looks really bad, have you seen Madam Pomfrey?" Ron asked.
Draco shot him a murderous glance, the revelation from the day before that she had been with Ron before him was still getting to him.
"Been there, done that," Justine replied, as Kris, Ax, Alyson and Severus walked around the corner.
"Move along," Severus said coolly, and brushed past Harry, Ron and Draco, just as Hermione came around the corner.
"Hi Harry! I was looking for you," she said, and then spotted Ax. "Hi," she added. Ax didn't wear tops to bed, and was dressed in nothing more than a hastily thrown on outer robe and black silk pants. Kris was wearing boxer shorts and a blue shirt with "Wollongong Warriors" written across it. "Kris … I can see Ginny's attraction."
"What?" Ron yelped.
"What?" Draco drawled.
"What?" Kris asked, delightedly.
"I didn't say that!" Gasped Hermione.
Harry smiled faintly, as did Tanya. Justine shook her head and strode after Severus. "If we can move on, I would like to get dressed at some point this morning," she remarked. "Ron, Harry, Hermione, don't forget the party tonight – and make sure Ginny doesn't forget either."
The three Hogwarts students nodded quickly as the Australian group swept past them. "Party?" Draco asked.
"Ice Mice," Severus drawled superciliously at the ugly gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office.
"What is it with you guys and passwords?" Tanya asked. "We don't do them at Kallaix! Just a tap of your wand and Bobs your uncle!"
"You have an Uncle named Bob?" Severus enquired.
Justine rolled her eyes, "It's a saying," she replied, and then started to explain it as the gargoyle leapt aside.
"I'll look forward to an explanation later – right now I think we should concentrate," Severus replied.
"Why? We haven't done anything wrong, in fact, we probably saved loads of lives," Justine pointed out.
"Lives that would not have been in danger if you hadn't brought your friend along," Severus pointed out. "Nothing against Tegan, of course, but that's what people are going to say."
"Then people are going to die," Ax said.
"No, then people are close minded fools," Justine corrected him.
"And are therefore going to die," Ax reiterated.
"We will all die eventually. To the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure, as I am quite fond of saying," the door to Dumbledore's office had opened, and the man himself was standing in the doorway, watching them. "I must admit, I'm not accustomed to students coming to my office at six thirty in the morning …"
"Well, you asked us to come," Justine said. "Or so Sevie told us."
Severus gave Justine a look, conveying the fact that she should be calling Severus now, as there were people other than the Australian contingent present. "Sorry," she muttered.
"Sevie? Delightful nickname I'm sure," Dumbledore remarked. "A better one than many of the others that have been awarded him."
"I'm sure my various nicknames are fascinating to you, Headmaster, but I must point out that this was not the purpose of our visit to your office this morning, and I believe my niece would like to get dressed and get ready for the Hunt, which begins in an hour and a half," Severus interrupted before Dumbledore could wander too badly off topic.
"Of course. Miss Snape, I believe you never registered when you became an Animagus," Dumbledore said clearly.
"Neither did I, so sue us," Tanya muttered. She was not a morning person, especially not when mornings were so god damn cold!
"Whilst I have acclimatised to the British temperatures, most of my countrymen and women have not," Justine put in. "Therefore I must apologies for any rudeness from any of them over the course of the meeting."
"How well spoken your niece is, Sevie," Dumbledore remarked. Severus glared alternately at Justine and Dumbledore, the former of whom just shrugged slightly. "But, Miss Bussa, did you imply in your former statement that you are also an Animagus?"
"We found this old diary in our school library that told us about a former case in which three friends discovered that a fourth member of their group was a werewolf. They became Animagi to keep the fourth member company. The author laid down explicit instructions as to how one was to accomplish this feat. As Alyson already had a head start, and Justine was a Magi, it sent the spell kind of wonky … but the girls accomplished it non the less," Kris spoke up.
Dumbledore got a look of interest in his eyes, then said, "So exactly how many of your party are Animagi? Miss Deveréaux is of course registered," he said.
"Four," Justine replied. "Myself, a panther, Tanya, a Letterwing Kite, she's our scout, Tegan has become an Animagus-wolf as well as a werewolf, maybe we shouldn't have included her in the spell, and Alyson is, of course, a unicorn."
"I see … and why was it that you didn't see fit to inform the Ministry of this?" Dumbledore asked.
"Dude, they did it in my basement," Kris replied, "I am the Minister of Magic's son, I think it stands to reason that I live with my dad, therefore he knew about it … we just never told anyone else," Kris replied.
"Did he require you to register, are you?"
"We never told anyone else," Kris reiterated, "But an authority does know about it! See, I'm great with loop holes," he added to Justine, "I've told you this before, but did you believe me? There's no way you can be charged."
"You certainly seem to have done your research, Mr. Crompton," Dumbledore asked.
"The legal requirement of performing the Animagus spell is to notify an authority, as is laid down by the Australian Witches Constitution of 1912, so this whole 'Animagus Registration Division' are up themselves – any authority can be chosen, they just like to think it has to be them." Kris quoted Saul.
"You really are your fathers son, I'd never noticed," Ax remarked.
Dumbledore, on the other hand, seemed to find Kris's use of law's as an arguement quite amusing
"Dude, Minister of Magic's son," Kris reiterated to Ax. "I have to know the law, otherwise how I am supposed to get around my old man when I've done something he perceives as wrong."
"You see the bitch fights they've had before," Justine shook her head sadly, " I swear, you are going to end up a lawyer honey."
"I was thinking mega time Quidditch star … but lawyer will work," Kris replied.
"Well, your dad was a Quidditch star, so you have a precedent," Justine said. "You can be anything!"
"Even a porn star?" Ax asked.
"I'm sure Mr. Crompton's future is a delightful topic of conversation, and if he choses to be a porn star we will all simply have to respect his decision," Dumbledore remarked somewhat blandly "But this conversation at least convinces me that we don't have an Animagus epidemic on our hands, as i can assume from your comments that this - diary, has been kept to yourselves."
"Well obviously – Greg made us promise not to tell anyone else about it," Justine replied, laughing quietly as she remembered that day.
"Geggly, can we use your basement?" Justine asked her adopted the uncle, the Minister of Magic, with pleading eyes.
"What for? It's not the full moon yet," Greg replied, glancing at Tegan.
"Something to help her when she changes," Justine replied.
"Which would be?"
"Um…" all of them rolled their eyes off to the side.
"If it's illegal, just don't tell anyone else about it, definitely no Kris involved, and don't tell anyone that I gave you permission," Greg replied. "Other than that, go ahead!"
"Thanks Greg!" Justine said, while Kris swore because his father wouldn't let him be in on it.
"That has set my mind at rest," Dumbledore remarked, "And once again, I find myself realising that you are innocent when many would pronounce you guilty. I also must thank you for protecting the students, though in future, if you could refrain from knocking students out and locking in the closets, I would be much in your debt." At the last comment Justine detected a slight tone of 'Do it again and pay.'
Ax and Kris were trying not to laugh. They were failing miserably.
"Ok, let's go get to back to the boat, I need to get dressed for the Hunt before we go to breakfast – there probably won't be time afterwards after all."
"At least I got a night off the boat – that was a relief," Alyson remarked as they headed out of the office, Alyson seemed to be the only one of the group realising just how easy Dumbledore was going on them, and was thankfull, but wary.
Wearing her Riding uniform of cream jodhpurs and white dress shirt, Justine entered the Great Hall for breakfast, already ready to go to the Time Trials. She had pulled on her shiny knee high black riding boots and grabbed her black riding jacket and crisp, silky white scarf which she was carrying draped over one arm, making sure her emerald cuff links and scarf pin were in the jacket pocket.
Justine carefully hung her jacket on the bench to make sure it didn't wrinkle, she was the only one of the Hunt team who was at breakfast so far - Alyson was waiting for Tegan to get ready after the night last night.
Justine glanced up at the staff table and grinned wickedly, Lupin was sitting there. She managed to catch his eye, and held up her arm, pointing to the still bandages wound, a hurt expression on her face. He looked totally mortified, and Justine wondered if teasing him was really a good idea ... oh well, it didn't really matter. Tegan hadn't even arrived yet ...
The doors opened and Alyson and Tegan walked into the room, Alyson's white mane of hair tied back out of her face, her riding uniform spotless. Tegan was looking a little dishevelled, and most of the Hogwarts students put this down to stress, though a select group of students knew the truth.
Tegan looked up at the teachers table and spotted Lupin, with a wicked grin, she blew a kiss in his direction. Lupin covered his eyes with one hand and stared pointedly at the ground, his mortified expression returning full strength.
"That wasn't very nice" Tanya remarked as Tegan flopped down at the table.
"Eh, what are you going to do about it? Besides, it's sooo much fun! The potential for teasing, embarrassing ..."
"Alright alright, we get the point. We do not need hear the story of a werewolf's love life - besides, he's like, three times your age" Saul remarked. "I know some guys would do anything to get a girl, any girl, but that is really just SAD."
"I think he's closer to twice my age actually" Tegan said, giving Lupin a considering look. Lupin caught it, blushed pink and hid his face again. "Werewolves often age quite quickly, or appear to do so."
"Dude, his hair is almost fully grey" Kris said.
"Or appear to do so" Tegan reiterated.
"Oh, I getcha" Kris nodded.
"Besides, some people, Muggles especially, go grey at thirty" Tanya put in.
"I said I got it" Kris repeated.
"Break it up guys, just eat" Saul advised. "And you" he looked at Tegan"No more talk of kinky werewolf sex lives - we AREN'T interested."
"You sure about that? I caught a weird expression on your face when they were talking ..." Ax said"Sure you wouldn't like to try a werewolf one day? I mean, it's pretty much as good as you're going to get - nothing against you Tegan, but I'm sure some of those chicks are VICIOUS."
Saul made a gagging face"Ax, that's just NASTY. I know you've had no luck in your sex life recently, but that's not reason to bitch about everyone elses" with that, he took a huge bite of bacon, closing the subject. No one tried to speak with Saul when he was eating - it was bad luck.
Justine entered the riding arena and walked to where her horse Anubis was waiting to be ridden, his shining black polished saddle and bridle already on. Isis and Loki were also seemingly ready. Tegan and Alyson were standing tending to their saddles; both wearing the riding uniform also, though Justine noticed they both had already put on their coats and scarves, probably to fight the English wind.
Kallaix was set up in one of eight purple tents to one side of the arena. Inside Jacque was charming all of her equipment with burglar-resisting and anti-theft charms. Kris, Ax, Jeffery, Saul, Tanya and Adam were all prepared to cheer, holding 'K' flags.
"Anubis, lets show them all why they need to be so scared of us today okay" Justine said as she stroked his silky cheek. "Honestly, we've got this in the bag, lets show off a little, thus Draconic abilty is allowed ok?"
"A little cocky wouldn't you say" Alyson asked coming over and grinning, "Apparently Daphne and Pansy are good."
Justine's eyebrows shot up. "Did you just stick up for Pansy"
"God no" Alyson exclaimed "I was merely pointing out the fact that Daphne, as cocky and bitchy as she is, may think she can give us a run for our money."
"Not a chance" Tegan said as she approached.
"Ladies" Justine said as she finished dressing"And Nubie, I propose that was beat them magnificently for fun, recreation if you will. It's for their own good."
The Judges for the event were Albus Dumbledore; Daphne's mother Emmaline, who was the British champion in her day, and Madam Maxime, whom Justine had met during the Tri-Wizard tournament in fourth year.
Dumbledore got to his feet and his voice was magnified across the arena. "Welcome to the Hunt!" and everyone began to clap. Anubis stamped his front horned hooves on the ground.
"You're meant to be a normal horse already, act clueless" Tegan muttered.
"The schools will be called to complete the course, to gain points overall, based on time and precision of which there is two portions. The first section requires the rider to locate ten markers and the second to complete an obstacle course. Each school will compete on by one, called at random by our impartial chooser, the sorting hat." There was scattered applause at this.
"The Unicorn Hunt is one of the pivotal events in the united youth conference calendar, and the press will no doubt be at our next event, as I must warn you. During the event, no school may leave the allotted area within the forest, and the course will light up if a section is not completed. Good Luck Hogwarts, and now as a completely unbiased judge I would now like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best"
The sorting hat suddenly bellowed "Villefort!" and it was on.
The first three schools to compete were nothing out of the hat. Justine had nothing against them of course, but they were in fact school competition level riders.
Then the Egyptians, Thundreds, rode and Justine sat up to watch. They were riding some of the most beautiful purebred Arabs she had ever seen, pure liquid muscle. They brought home a great time in the first half of the race, where the schools were sent into a set portion of the forest and had to find ten tokens that were hidden amongst the trees. They then re-entered the forest to take the obstacle course part of the time trial, and again performed wonderfully.
The fifth school was Hogwarts. Daphne really had some good skills. Pansy could ride, but she looked terrified and relied hard on her horse's mouth. Ginny was good, Justine could tell why they had pulled in the sixth year to be their third. Daphne pulled home a spectacular time for them in the first portion of the event, Justine watching her closely when she could for weaknesses or faults in her technique. In the second portion they flew to the entrance of the obstacle course so well that Justine had the distinct impression Daphne had been practising on it. Pansy's body language was giving it away; she wasn't directing, just asking the horse to move faster. The horse knew the course. "How deliriously weak."
They beat the Egyptian score by a few points and Justine was in some way of the inclination that the Egyptians were probably more deserving of the win.
Seventh in line was the Kallaixians. With Kris's help Justine hoisted herself up onto Anubis, moving to the line, he was one of the few males Anubis dealt with. "Good luck Bunny," he said, walking back to the tent. "On the count of three" Dumbledore announced. "One, two... THREE" and Anubis was off, Justine immediately adjusting to his massive gait.
Justine could tell that Alyson and Tegan were right on her tail, and raising one hand she gestured that she was going to make a fast right when she entered the trees. The Tokens were small, but emitted an intense blue light, easily discernable against the trees. Tegan took the left flank, and Alyson fell in on the right, each weaving along parallel to Justine as they covered the area.
"Count!" Justine yelled, "I've got five!"
"Two." Tegan returned, Alyson, "Two, hang on I see the last one!"
Alyson suddenly let go of her reigns and flipped her leg up and over the saddle to be only holding on by one foot in the stirrup and an arm draped across the saddle. She gasped the last token, which was very low to the ground, between two trees.
"Let's move, it's been what, two minutes?"
They thundered back out of the tree's shocking everyone with the speed of their return and as they crossed the finish line, the line turned green to signify the presence of all ten markers.
"Well done, Miss Snape," Dumbledore said, "I believe although it is not confirmed that that was a Hogwarts course record time. Are you prepared to go in for to Obstacle course?"
"Let's rock and roll!" Yelled Justine and quite suddenly music rolled out of the Kallaix Tent, Jacque grinning and bobbing her head along with the heavy beat.
"GO!"
Justine was off, and Jacque traced her on the plasma flat screen in front of her. Damn Justine could ride. Anubis wasn't even fazed by anything that was thrown at him, Isis seemed to be having fun and Loki was skipping and jumping and having a great time. They were moving through at roughly a third faster so far than any other school, and were increasing their speed continually.
At the bottom of her screen the screen tab titled 'scores' began to flash blue. "Oi, guys," she said as she opened the menu. "Surprise, surprise. Justine has pulled into first place, a comfortable one point four minutes in the lead for the first section. It seems Greengrass tried to give her a penalty for the fact the horses are Llysanyins, but this Maxime chick has challenged this, and it was dissipated."
"YEAH!" Kris and Ax threw their hands in the air. "Was there ever any doubt?"
Jacque's attention was back on the screen. Justine was still maintaining a strong lead, according to her schematics, but The Egyptians from Thundreds had done this section, the sand trap, with more efficiency. Anubis's size was giving him leverage on the sand, and the agility of Isis and Loki was a definite plus.
They were bringing it home.
Justine came thundering into view, Isis and Loki right behind, and the boys and Tanya began to bellow. The time ended when the last horse in the team had crossed the line. Isis crossed first, her sleek lines and strong muscled body built for flat speed. Anubis crossed next, Justine bringing him around, while he roared in triumph, (scaring quite a few students.) Loki stopped. She just ran to about a meter from the line and stopped dead.
"Tegan, MOVE!" Justine yelled, pulling Anubis around.
"Loki, DON'T be such a NAG! Get across the line NOW" Tegan yelled.
"Justine you've only got thirty more seconds of lead!" Jacque yelled. Loki stepped forward and daintily crossed the line.
Tegan leapt down and dragged her horse over to the tent. "HOW DARE YOU!" she yelled. Justine winced; she wouldn't want to be in Loki's shoes right now. Sure the horse was mischievous, but seriously, why do this on the last night of the moon? Tegan was grumpy as. "You are not getting any treats, at all, for the rest of the conference, and no apples, and you'll be lucky if I ever give you molasses ever again!
Loki's jaw dropped as if to say what? But Tegan had continued "and your grounded to the stables when your not being ridden", you cant do this mummy it was just a joke! "And in training, Justine can ride you" Loki looked at Justine perched on Anubis holding her wicked looking emerald encrusted handled crop. Good lord no! Mummy, don't do this to me! I love you, please no! She'll kill me, she's used to Anubis, and she can wear out even him mummy noooooooo…although Loki didnt speak her expressions spoke volumes.
Justine chucked as Tegan turned her back on the pleading horse. "And I'm not talking to you." A stable hand came to look after Loki.
"Guy's final scores are in!" Jacque yelled across to them.
Dumbledore stood and raised his hands. "In third place with a wonderful score, Thundreds! Wonderful, yes. Second place Hogwarts! Very well done I'm sure! And in first place Kallaix Academy, who took it away - the best score ever recorded on this track! Amazing work, very well done!"
Justine jumped down of Anubis and was swept up into Kris's arms, then swung onto Ax's shoulder where she perched, one arm in the air. When she had been hugged and congratulated all round she broke away to go to the Thundreds table, where similar celebrations were continuing. She walked over to the Head girl and held her hand out. "Your horses are beautiful and it truly was a pleasure competing against you." She said.
The dark haired girl smiled and returned the hand. "As was competing with you. I envy your Llysanyin."
"Oh, if you ever want a ride just holler, he looks fearsome, but he's a big kitten really. He was a birthday gift from my Uncle." Justine grinned. "Maybe we can do lunch or something."
Tegan glowered at Loki, who was still looking sheep faced from her embarrassing scene earlier. Everyone gave Tegan an hour till she gave in. She was a sucker for animals. She turned the hose on the horse to mask the softening in her expression. "Take that you evil beastie!" She yelled as she hosed down the naughty horses sweaty face.
Tanya looked over to where the stable hand was removing Anubis's huge saddlery and bridle. He was behaving well, and Tanya could see it was because it was a girl, "hang on…" she muttered as a piece of auburn hair, remarkably like her own, only darker, fell free. "Ginny? What are you doing acting as a stable hand."
Ginny turned and smiled sarcastically. "It appears Daphne heard about me being on your boat, and she said I was fraternising with the enemy, and I've been given stable hand duties as a punishment."
"Good lord, that malevolent BITCH!" yelled Tanya, causing the Aussies to group together.
"YOU BITCH!" Justine screamed, glaring Daphne into a corner. "YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Then she turned her attention a cowering Pansy. "YOU LITTLE FUCKING CHEATING BITCH! You've been training Pansy on the fucking course! You bastards aren't supposed to have ANY advantage over the rest of the Schools!"
Ginny was standing a little way away from the brits, still clutching Anubis' huge saddle to her chest and quivering slightly. Justine's temper was a fearsome thing, even when it wasn't directed at you. You could really see the family resemblance coming out.
"And look at Ginny! She's just had to ride in this gruelling race, and now you're making her unsaddle OUR horses!" Tanya snarled. "You don't fucking deserve to have her in your "elite" little club. She's so much better than that. She's an AUSSIE!"
"AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!" Kris thundered as loud as he could, grabbing the saddle from Ginny. The rest of the Aussies, Ginny included, punched their arms in the air and responded with a boisterous, "OI OI OI!"
"You dirty traitor, you're a Hogwarts competitor, how dare you!" Pansy snarled.
Everyone turned to stare at Ginny, who's expression hardened, she seemed to be working hard to keep her temper in check, striding over to stand with Kris and Ax, who both rested an arm gently on her shoulders.
"I'm afraid she an Aussie now, and none of us will hear a word against any of our own, so shut your big flapping mouth, Pansy." Alyson put in scornfully.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME…" Pansy began to bellow, but it was short lived as Saul and Jeffery both stepped into the forefront quite peacefully.
"Pansy, I believe you were told to shut that disgusting orifice of yours, so politely do so, you're polluting the air with your verbal diarrhoea, and I really can't take any more of your unsightly behaviour. Are you retarded or something? If you were a dog I would have had you put down." Jeffery quipped scathingly, glaring hatred at Pansy. Even the Kallaix students were a little surprised - Jeffery rarely lost his temper, but when he did ... he went all the way.
Seamus, Neville and Ron arrived just to hear the end of this speech and immediately jumped to the conclusion that the Aussies were picking fights. Again.
"Now listen hear, I may not see eye to eye with Daphne and Pansy on everything, but you cant go around calling our schools ladies such awful names," Seamus began. "And you've gone and stolen Ginny again!"
"Again? We didn't do the kidnapping last time you did! Stolen Ginny my ass, she's ours!" Tegan quipped.
"Guy's lets go back to the castle." Ron seemed to have assessed the situation, and was looking somewhere over behind the group. "I don't know what caused this bitch fight, but Ginny is safe with the Australians. Justine are we still on for lunch?" He asked as he passed the girl following his friends up to the castle.
Justine turned a luminous smile onto Ron, "Yep, let's say 12:30 at the Gryffindor table?"
"Oh, I'm over this, lets go Ginny." Daphne said striding over and grabbing Ginny by the wrist.
Smile fading Justine's hand descended and grabbed Daphne's. "Don't." was all she said, her eyes cracked as though they were full of lightning. Daphne ripped her hand back and gripped her wrist to her chest, obviously remembering her painful experience the day before.
"Keep away from me you freak! You think I don't know what you are. Don't touch me!" Daphne screamed, her pretty face full of anger. Suddenly without warning she was lifted off the ground and thrown into the air to be held there.
"I swear I didn't do it this time." Justine said as she looked around at the others.
"I did actually," came the masculine response from across behind the Australians. Harry stood there with one hand extended in front of him, palm up. He was using wandless magic to hold Daphne air. "I took the example off Justine, actually. I've been watching this whole thing play out and I'm disgusted with your behaviour Daphne and Pansy. You cheated?"
"No, I would never cheat!" Daphne screamed.
"LIAR!" Ginny exploded, "YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINING ON THE COURSE FOR WEEKS!"
"NO!" Pansy yelled, quite terrified to join Daphne, who was floating down to the ground, before being released into a lump from about four meters up.
"I'm afraid I've known since first year, Pansy ... Daphne, I may not have known you that long, but I know you've become too much like Pansy for your own good. I doubt either of you would care that cheating is against the rules of the tournament ... I desire a Hogwarts win as much as anyone here, but I will not stoop to cheating to achieve my aims" Harry's voice was short and cold.
Pansy and Daphne both stared at him in amazement. "You're believing the AUSTRALIANS over US" Daphne shrieked. "You believe foreigners who have shown that they love causing trouble over people from your own school, your own TEAM! YOUR SIDE"
"My SIDE is the light" Harry spat"My team will not cheat with my knowledge, you are walking on THIN ice! I'm afraid that your claim about the Kallaix students causing trouble seems to revolve around you ... I know that they have been quite friendly to Hermione, and to Ginny."
"Oh, so they've accepted your girlfriend and your little fan girl so now your going to support them over us" Daphne demanded.
"Ginny, what happened" Harry asked, ignoring her completely.
"Well, Daphne and Pansy cheated ... they were training on the course. They made me the stable hand for the Kallaix students because I went on the boat the other day..."
"I went on the boat the other day too Daphne, are you going to attempt to punish me" Lighting seemed to crack from Harry's eyes and Daphne rose back into the air and gave a small shriek of fear.
"Draco they're hurting me" she yelled, as the blonde haired Slytherin boy stalked into the stable. He gave Daphne a disgusted look, and remained silent and still.
"Ginny, continue" Harry said, glancing at Draco to warn his brother not to interrupt just yet.
"Anyway, Justine confronted Daphne about training Pansy on the obstacle course - which she did - and then Tanya said that they shouldn't have made me the stable hand, then Daphne tried to have a go at her and that's pretty much where you came in Harry."
"I see ... Daphne, I'm strongly thinking of banning you, and possibly Pansy, for the rest of the Hunt events ... Ginny, if you can find anyone you consider able to take their places, I'd like to know about them. Pansy, if you can't ride the horse without being trained on the course, you're definitely off. Daphne, I won't tolerate cheating. If you do so again, I will be asking Draco to find a new female member from seventh year to take your place on the DC" Harry glared stonily at the girl.
"Draco! You won't let him do that to me" Daphne begged as she drifted back to the ground.
"Try me" Draco said, a sneer creeping onto his face.
"Draco, could you have a look around to see if you can find someone, just in case" Harry enquired.
"Of course" Draco replied. "Though I hope a replacement won't be necessary. Dumbledore wants to see us about the Quest."
Harry nodded. "If you don't mind ladies, I'll take my leave - Pansy, Daphne, get out and take care of your horses, let the Australians take care of theirs."
He and Draco swept from the stables and up towards the castle, heads together and talking quietly. Sniffling, Pansy hurried from the stables, with Daphne stalking behind her, a murderous expression on her face.
"You alright" Kris asked Ginny quietly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've been wanting to have a go at them for AGES" Ginny replied smiling.
"Just a point, never try to unsaddle Anubis on your own - call me if you need to" Kris added firmly. "That saddle is quite heavy, I'm sure you noticed."
"She did a bloody good job" Justine said "But Kris is right - that saddle is really heavy. Get one of the guys to help you out. Nubie likes Kris, so he's a good choice."
"Thanks" Ginny said. "And thanks for sticking up for me."
"You're an Aussie - that's what we do" Saul assured her, grinning.
Hermione was, for lack of a better adjective, flustered. It had been hours since she had last seen Harry, having had lost him during the morning at the hunt, and now rumours of another incident with the damn Australians were filtering back to her. What the hell kind of magnetism did they have to capture the attention of those around them so damn easy?
She stomped into the DC tower and flopped into the nearest chair. She was now borderline annoyed. Harry wasn't here either. She flicked her eyes around the room dejectedly. In a nearby chair Padma Patil was staring into the empty fireplace with a peculiar expression, listening to Lavender brown.
"And then they arranged to have lunch together, right there, in front of everyone. God I swear that hussy of an Australian is after your man!"
Hermione's eyes went wide. She knew Harry would be with Ron, and if Justine had been speaking to Ron… Harry was with Justine again. What the hell did a girl have to do to stake her claim on a bloody man with Aussies? DAMMIT! She had to admit they had seemed innocent yesterday but she wasn't fooled anymore. In a fit of pique she turned to the other girls and threw on a fake exited voice.
"What are you two wearing to the Australians party tonight? I just can't wait can you?"
She watched in satisfaction as both girls were deadpanned. "We didn't hear about any party." Padma said flatly.
"Well Ronald was told to invite you," Hermione put in sweetly, "Oh dear… well you might just have to catch up to him at lunch and find out why he doesn't want you there, must go, bye" and with a sweet smile she left the angry girls behind and went to her room.
She entered the great hall five minutes early and hung around the door wondering if it was ok to go and sit at the Gryffindor table without Ron. Justine had run back to the ship and changed, and was now wearing a black trench coat, high heeled boots and black pants. Ron solved the problem by coming through the doors and touching her arm. "You look smashing."
"Well, thankyou good sir, I do aim to please." Justine parried, giving him a mock curtsey.
"Ah, so that explains the distinct lack of fabric to all of your clothing?" Ron asked cracking a grin.
"Why sir, are you implying I am scantily clad?" Justine asked raising an eyebrow.
Ron began to laugh, "Well not at the moment, but have you ever looked at that uniform skirt of yours in the mirror?"
Justine grinned, "It's got a charm so it will stay down and cover everything. Where are Harry and Hermione?"
Ron waved a had aimlessly in the air, "Off at some meeting about the Quest tomorrow, Harry and Draco are in charge, and Hermione is making some list for them…"
"So Harry and that are in charge of the event, like they did all the planning and stuff?"
"Yeah and tomorrow morning they're being obliviated so they don't remember anything, then its all fair again, but we will kick your schools ass regardless…"
"Wench!" Justine said, pretending to slap him around the head as he led her to the table to eat. "I should revoke your party invitation for that!"
"If you two can stop flirting, Ron, come and sit with me," Padma turned up, glaring and Justine and grabbing Ron's arm, towing him off to the Hogwarts table. Ron glanced back at Justine, and then turned to explain to Padma.
"See you at the party!" Justine called out clearly, so that Padma could certainly hear it.
As the majority of the DA walked out of the Room of Requirement, Draco leant against the wall and watched them, a faint sneer playing at his lips as he watched the rest of the people leave. Harry, with Seamus and Leon walking beside him, stepped into the corridor, but didn't walk away.
"Harry, I think we need to do something about Draco," Leon said, "He's been being a right little bastard again lately … going back to how he used to be, before you and became friends. Everyone's getting pissed off at it."
"He's hurting," Harry said, "He doesn't know how to react. His emotions are completely alien to him, he doesn't understand what he's doing, or what he should be doing differently. He was never taught how emotions worked."
"Then we'll have to teach him," Seamus shrugged.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Harry demanded. "I wouldn't know where to start, and he's my brother!"
"I think he needs to calm down, for a start. Get away from his emotions," Leon said. "If he can push them back for a little while, then he can start to learn to deal with them … but he really did get pushed off the deep end, didn't he?"
Harry and Seamus both nodded. "He really was," Harry agreed. "He was only just learning to deal with positive emotions, now he's surrounded by negative ones … the question is, how are we going to get him to relax?"
"I think I can help there," Leon remarked unexpectedly. "Let's go get our swords and convince Draco to come with us … that shouldn't be too hard. We're going to go and practice elsewhere today." The other two looked at him, obviously wondering how this was going to help, but Leon just smiled and said, "Mate! Trust me."
Ten minutes later they were walking into the edge of the forest, carrying all of their gear and ready for an intense training session. They didn't go deep into the forest, and long before Harry, Draco and Seamus could get nervous about being in the forest, Leon stepped past a tree and stopped.
The others stepped up beside and stopped too, amazed at the beauty that could be found in this forbidden place. The trees had somehow conspired to grow in an almost perfect circle, and rather than the darkness that prevailed when you got into the deeper forest, they had lighter green leaves, and the sun shone down from above them, lighting the ground with a relaxing dapple effect.
"Beautiful," Harry murmured, then turned around to examine things further, and realized that the clearing looked out over the lake. Normally, this was a good thing, enhancing the perfect quality of the spot. But right now, it was anything but good.
The Kallaix cruiser was moored right in front of them and, less than six hundred metres away, Justine was lying, wearing a white bikini that barely covered the essentials, across the thin board that separated the pool from the edge of the boat. If she moved a centimeter or two in either direction, she would fall into water. She had something white and sparkly under her head, wearing big dark sunglasses, seemingly fast asleep.
Harry wondered if it would be possible to get Draco out of here before he realized what was going on, but looking back at the clearing, he found the other three boys cheerfully setting up the training mat, Draco looking more relaxed than he had in some time.
Sword fighting always relaxed Draco, it gave him something that he had to concentrate on completely, which meant that he wasn't thinking about anything else at the time. They faced off, Harry against Seamus, Draco against Leon, and began. Harry whipped his sword in a swift arch, aiming for Seamus's head, but Seamus blocked it effortlessly.
They had a similar fighting style, with similar weapons. Draco fought with the same sort of style, so Leon was the one who was really different in the group, fighting in a Japanese style, rather than the European from the rest of the group.
Leon and Draco circled each other, looking for an opening, and Leon was the first to attack, raising his blade of his right shoulder to swing down across the midsection. Although Draco blocked the oncoming blow with the effortless grace that he always seemed to have when sword fighting, Leon knew that he was almost a match for the Slytherin boy, and he was one of the few people who Draco had to think to defeat. That gave him some pride, even though he didn't win.
Draco kept blocking, rather than attacking, letting Leon practice his moves so that they would be ready for the dueling when the day arrived; it wasn't that far away, after all. And Leon needed more practice than Draco did.
Leon stepped back to twist and thrust his blade towards Draco, who pushed it away. Using the momentum, Leon adjusted his sword into a rising swing that would have sliced Draco from thigh to shoulder, if it had landed. Draco skipped back, rather than blocking the strike and feinted at Leon, who blocked, but Draco slipped in and scored a nick across Leon's stomach.
"Point to me, I believe," Draco smirked, as they broke back. There was a faint smile playing on his face, and he was clearly enjoying himself, as he only did when he was fighting. Leon thought it was worth losing to make Draco happy – otherwise he would have tried to persuade Harry or Seamus to go against the true master in the group.
But Draco wouldn't enjoy that half as much, because he didn't have to think at all defeat either of the Gryffindor boys, which, in his words 'took the fun out of the whole thing completely. What's the point in winning if it isn't hard to do so?' Leon agreed with the statement entirely.
Before they could join again, Draco looked over Leon's shoulder and suddenly froze completely. Leon turned around, and immediately realized what Draco was looking at. On the boat, Justine had moved, her arm falling down the side of the boat, fingers a couple of inches from the tops of the waves that rippled across the surface of the lake.
Draco's eyes were focused on her, and the happiness that had filled him for a moment drained away. Leon could see it leaving his face, as if it had never been, to be replaced by the cold mask that he had begun to wear more and more often of late. He looked around for Harry, wondering what he should do. Should he just leave Draco alone, or should he try and distract the other boy.
Just then, there was the sound of voices coming through the woods, one male and one female, laughing and talking. Draco's eyes didn't leave Justine, and Leon turned just in time to see Ax and Tanya walk out into the clearing, each of them holding a sword. It was pretty obvious that they were here to train as well.
Tanya and Ax walked into the clearing, not expecting to meet anyone. They had been coming here because it was secluded, and they had never met anyone here before. Today, for the first time, there were people. Leon and Draco were staring out at something in the direction of the lake. Harry and Seamus was leaning against each other, each jabbing at the other with a sword, and shaking with laughter so hard that it was a wonder they could move at all.
They were gasping through their tears of laughter, "I'm gonna getcha!" "No, I'm gonna get CHU!"
"What the hell is going on here?" Ax demanded, looking around in frank amazement. Harry and Seamus both looked up, startled, then both of them almost simultaneous tumbled over their sword blades as they went to move forward. The resulting clatter was enough to shock Draco out of his stupor, and when he looked around and saw Harry and Seamus sprawled over their swords, laughing fit to burst, he gave them a disdainful look, and then returned to whatever had caught his attention on the lake.
"What are you doing here?" Ax and Leon asked each other at the same time.
"We're training," Leon said, "In my clearing. What are you doing?"
"Training in my clearing," Ax said, "I've been coming here since first year."
"So have I!" Leon exclaimed. "This is my training place."
"It was mine for the duration of time I spent at Hogwarts," Ax stated "And this was the best place I could think of to train when I got back."
"Guys, why are you fighting over whose clearing this is?" Tanya asked, looking between her two friends. "Ax, you're only going to be here for another week or so, and then Leon can have the clearing to himself. For now, I think you're just going to have to share."
"But he'll see my training techniques!" both of them cried at the same time.
"I want you to stay out of here while we're still here," Ax informed Leon superciliously, "This place is mine, and I can prove it," he strode over to one of the trees and pointed to a place where he had carved Ax Rules This Place in the bark with the tip of his sword.
"You know, I never noticed that," Leon said, then glared at Ax, "And there's no way I'm going to just walk out of here. If you want this place, you're going to have to fight me for it."
"As if you'd beat me," Ax smirked. "But if you really want…"
Leon realized that he had just challenged a sword mage to a duel with swords, and decided that might not be such a good idea. Before the two of them could continue their argument, Tanya walked over to Draco, who was standing, jaw dropped, and still staring at the boat.
"What are you looking at?" she asked, and followed his gaze. For a moment there was a stunned silence, then "OI!" Tanya yelled, loud enough to startle Draco out of his stupor again, then screamed at the top of her lungs, "Justine, get some clothes on, you're being perved on!"
Over on the boat, Justine started upright in surprise, completely forgetting where she was, and tumbled over the side of the boat. Draco and Tanya both yelped and started forwards, as if they could help her, even though they were too far away to actually do anything.
Just before Justine hit the water of the lake, a bubble appeared around her, and the head of the McEwen dragon appeared from beneath the water. "It is a good thing I was watching," the dragon remarked to Justine, as it floated her back to the deck, where the bubble burst.
Justine snatched up her sarong, wrapping it firmly around herself as she looked in the direction of the yell that had startled her. When she saw Draco, Leon and Tanya staring over at her, she gave a soft shriek and dove for the stairs, disappearing below decks.
Over in the clearing, Tanya rounded on Draco, "Why were you perving on Justine?"
Draco just gazed at her in shock, for a moment completely taken over by the shock of watching Justine fall, and the surprise from Tanya suggesting that he was perving on a girl that he hated beyond life itself for ruining his own.
"Whatever you might like to believe I wasn't perving on her, as you so … delightfully … put it. But when she's putting it on display, I can scarcely help noticing," Draco sneered.
"So you were perving on her," Tanya said, and suddenly the clearing was filled the sound a resounding smack, as she slapped him around the face. "How dare you!"
Draco's temper, only barely held in check, snapped completely and he raised his hand to hit her back. Seamus, behind him, had recovered and gotten to his feet, only to lunge forward and grab Draco's arm to stop him, but it was already a superfluous move. The moment Draco's arm had come back, Ax was there, standing in front of Tanya, one arm behind him, keeping her shielded by his own body, other hand holding his sword pointing straight a Draco with a very cold look on his face. "I dare you," he hissed softly.
Harry and Leon were already beside Draco, pulling him back, out of range of Ax's powerful sword and uncertain temper. Before Draco could think of anything to say, Ax had sheathed his blade and draped an arm over Tanya. "You know what, we'll just leave you to her little kinky day dreams and train on the boat," he sneered, before steering Tanya out of the clearing.
Behind them, Draco let out something between a shriek and a roar of pure fury that didn't sound even remotely human.
"You know what," Seamus said weakly as the Australians disappeared from view, "I think we should call it a day."
Leon and Harry nodded quickly in agreement and started packing up. Draco ignored them completely and stormed out of the clearing towards the castle. Seamus started after him, and then belatedly dropped back as if to help the other two boys with cleaning up. "You go," Harry said, "Make him get ready for the Quidditch. Just make sure he doesn't kill anyone. I'll come and try to calm him down when we've cleaned up down here."
Seamus nodded and hurried off again, following Draco from the clearing. When he found Draco, the Slytherin boy was muttering under his breath. "How dare that little so-and-so accuse me of … that little bitch! She hit me …" and other such comments. Seamus decided that he would have little luck with persuading Draco to calm down, so he simply trailed the other boy, making sure, as Harry had ordered that Draco didn't kill anyone before the Quidditch match.
"OK, so we have now found out that Draco and Harry are designing the Quest," Justine said, pacing up and down in front of the sombre –well almost- group of Australians. "Therefore, they will once more have an advantage over us … this means that we must steal the advantage from them … but first we have to find out where the plans are."
"I saw a pile of papers in Dumbledore's office," Alyson piped up, "It had Quest written over it."
"That's it! We need to break into Dumbledore's office and steal the plans for the Quest, who's with me?" Justine cried the last out in true adventurer style.
"AYE!" The Australian's roared back boisterously. The fact that most of the males were a little tipsy probably wasn't a good thing.
"The only time that we will have to steal the plans will be during the first Quidditch match," Justine continued, resuming pacing now that the one potential flaw in her plan, which had been locating said plans. "This means that we must sneak up to the castle unobservd during this Quidditch match, which means …"
"That you need a distraction," Saul finished for her. "Don't worry, I'm on it."
When Saul said don't worry, it was time to find a bomb shelter and panic. "Are you sure?" Justine asked, "Do you want some help?"
"Nah," Saul said with a slightly mischievous grin, "I'm on it."
"OK," Justine said, "Saul is in charge of distractions. Jacque, you're on survelience, Jeffery, Adam, watch the match, let Jacque know the moment the Snitch is caught, Tanya, Alyson, Ax, Kris and myself will be on mission "Information", Tegan, infiltrate the teachers box and if necessary distract Dumbledore."
Tegan saluted and left the boat. Jacque rose and headed down to her secret operations booth in the wheel house. Jeffery and Adam saluted in Tegan style and headed off to find the good seats in the Quidditch stands – the game was not due to start for another twenty minutes but oh well.
Ax, Kris, Justine and Tanya went downstairs to their room to get ready for their mission. "Good thing Saul isn't coming with us," Ax remarked, "He'd have us all dressed up in black suits with balaclavas."
"You should consider that you know," Saul said, wandering down behind them. "But I understand if you can't listen to logic."
Ax rolled his eyes at Kris where Saul couldn't see him. "What are you doing here?"
"Preparing," Saul responded, eyes dancing wickedly. "I'm going to give those poncy French guys a shock."
A few minutes later Saul left, with no visible traces of 'preparation'. The Australians were well used to Saul's methods – they knew his distraction would be good.
"Alright. We better get going – Dumbledore's sure to have defensive charms all over the place, so we'll need as long as possible to get through them all, and then reset them when we leave," Kris said, looking over his team.
"Yeah yeah, we got you, let's just get started!" Ax said, having no patience with Kris doing the 'I'm going to be the wise leader' thing. He tolerated it sometimes – particularly when it came to football – but not now.
"I'm just making sure everyone knows what's going on."
"While you're giving your little speeches, the clock is ticking," Ax replied, heading up towards the deck. Everyone else followed him, Kris managed to insert himself as second in line, then neatly overtake Ax on the deck as they all broke into a run, waving to Jacque as they passed.
There were sounds of cheering from the pitch – evidently someone had just scored a goal. "Quick," Kris grunted, "Get into the castle as quickly as possible, less chance of anyone seeing us."
They all ducked quickly into Hogwarts castle and stopped to do a quick checkup and catch their breath, because half of them were laughing now.
"OK, let's move before anyone comes and finds us here," Kris said.
"let's move," Justine agreed, and they were off again.
"There's someone coming," Alyson said.
"Here!" Ax said, dragging a broom cupboard open, and everyone clambered in, standing still and holding their breath as a few footsteps pattered past outside. The moment the coast was clear, they pushed the door open and sprawled out into the corridor again.
"OK Kris, you're doing a great job of leading, but I think you'd better leave that to Ax or me now," Justine said, "We're familiar with the ground, and we will probably have to hide again before we get to our destination."
"Fine," Kris replied, more than a little sullen.
Ax set them out at a quick dog trot, according to him going by a route which had cupboards and classrooms within sight at all times. Five times more they had to hide from people heading down late to the Quidditch match, which was nerve wracking and frustrating.
They reached the gargoyle in fairly good time, and could still hear the sounds of the Quidditch game going on out on the grounds. "Ice Mice," Ax said clearly to the gargoyle, which jumped to life and got out of the way so that the door could open.
Kris was about to step inside, since Dumbledore's office was one of the few places in Hogwarts he had seen enough of to know.
"Stop," Alyson said quietly, reaching a hand out to touch Kris's shoulder.
"Something's wrong," Justine said, "I can sense it."
"Yeah, I can see where it is," Ax agreed. "Justine, will you handle it or shall I?"
"It's a trip wire," Alyson said.
Justine raised her hands, and suddenly an area of air became frozen, so that those who could not sense it any fashion could see it properly.
Ax took out his sword and swung it down to smash into the tripwire, which dissapeared. "What are we going to do about that when leave?" Tanya asked.
"I only Banished it," Ax replied, "I'll call it back when we leave. I just do things my way."
"Let's go," Kris said. "Alyson, you'd better lead. You can see spells."
They only encountered one spell on the stairs, which they got rid of easily. Most people would have difficulty getting past it, since the stair was moving towards the wire all the time. This one, Justine froze and everyone jumped over it.
The office door was locked tight, and everyone figured that it would take more than 'Alohomora' to open it. Justine laid her hand on the door with her eyes closed. "Ax, there's a very strong lock spell on this door, as well a sensor that will activate if the lock spell is disarmed, and become touch sensitive. I'm going to make the door hot – Kris, you're our resident lock expert, you take care of the lock and I'll swing the door the open without touching it, then I think we should sent Ax in first, he has the strongest and fastest reflexes."
"Let's go!" Kris said, reaching out and grabbing one of the bobby pins that were holding Justine's ponytail together. Justine stepped back and placed one hand palm out towards the door, and heat began to radiate off it in almost visible waves.
"Aren't you all glad that I mastered temperatures long ago…" She said, decreasing the heat and allowing Kris to step forward. He slipped the pin into the lock and motioned for quiet, within seconds a clicking sound signified the lock opening.
"I've still got it," Kris said standing up. "I'm the man."
Justine grinned and made a flicking gesture with the back of her hand the door opened enough for Alyson to glance a little way in. "Yep, the phoenix is still in their, wish me luck…" Justine threw the door completely open.
Fawkes stood up taller on his perch, and was throwing up his mighty head to squeal when he got his first good look at Alyson. Transfixed by her eyes he began to calm and stare deeply at her, stooping on the perch and finally falling into a deep sleep.
"I say," said a voice from above the Aussies, "what a neat trick, Fawksie has gone right off to nipper land."
Justine stopped and stared upwards, a few of the millions of portraits on the wall could see the group at the door, most prominently the man dressed in green, and all could see Ally. Raising a hand she muttered some words under her breath and a warm breeze tickled up the walls. Each of the faces went blissfully blank and Justine waved her hand in a round sweeping gesture and each canvass went black.
"Dude, did you just erase all the paintings?" Kris asked worriedly "I'm pretty sure that Dumbledore will notice missing art."
"She's just played with their memory and dimmed their canvasses." Ax said, "I should know, I taught her the memory charm, and the canvass thing is from when we broke into the potions lab that time…"
"Oh yes, the portrait of the woman in the meadow, such a flirt." Kris mused, "Makes potions worth it…"
"Flashing us…" Ax joined in.
"Causing distractions…" Kris wistfully added.
"When you two are quite done musing on the painting of that hussy…" Tanya quipped from Dumbledore's desk, "I found the papers."
"Where!" suddenly everyone leapt over to her. She had opened one of the draws in Dumbledore's desk and there, clearly labelled, was a set of papers. "The Quest," Ax read. "OK, that sounds like what we were looking for."
"Shouldn't we check?" Kris asked, "They might be trying to lead us away from the real papers."
"Kris – how would they know what we were like? How many people do you think could break into Dumbledore's office?" Ax demanded. "Let's go!"
"He'd probably notice if the papers just disappeared," Justine quipped.
"Then copy them!" Alyson hissed.
"Who knows how to copy?" Tanya asked. "Hang on! I know how to copy! Duplicatus!" a second set of papers appeared.
"Take the copy, just in case the original has some sort of charm on it," Ax said.
"No, don't!" Kris replied, "Take the original, odds are there's a charm on it that will make the copy slightly different … Dumbledore probably won't look through it carefully, my dad used to do that all the time."
"Whatever," Ax shrugged.
Suddenly a wave of cheering broke out. "Shit! The match is over!" Justine yelped, "And from the volume, I think Hogwarts won. We better get down there, now."
Suddenly there was a howl of laughter.
"We have approximately ten minutes. Distraction is in progress," a litter receiver on Kris's phone piped up. Jacque sounded as if she was trying very hard not to laugh.
"What's he done?" Kris asked as they headed out of the office. Fawkes was beginning to stir, Alyson was having trouble keeping him asleep, and they decided they didn't want to be there when her effect on him wore off.
Justine was waving her hands, setting everything in the office to rights. They leapt over the trip wire on the stairs as Jacque laughed and said, "You'll have to wait and see … oh god, I don't know whether to laugh or hide!" with that she ended the transmission.
They sprinted through the doors guarded by the gargoyle, and at the last second Ax spun around and slashed out with his sword, through the area where the other trip wire had been, while Justine was starting to close the door.
Then they were out and pelting down towards the pitch, most of them heading for the Kallaix change rooms to get ready for the match that they would have to play.
Tegan walked out of the Change Room, where she had found Saul's clothes and broom, Ax was already up in the stands waiting for her. In the middle of the Quidditch pitch, surrounded by a circle of incense and candles, Saul was … I suppose you call it dancing, butt naked. He was bobbing up and down and waving his arms around like a hippy.
Tegan sighed. "Saul, get changed, you have a game to play," she said, holding out Saul's Quidditch uniform and broom, looking up at the sky rather than at her countryman.
Saul stopped dancing and put out the candles with a wave of his wand. Before accepting his clothes, he bowed to each of the four stands, earning himself a wave of applause, then winked and said, "Yes ladies, it's all real."
"Saul, if I were you, I wouldn't be bragging about that," Tegan said with a slight sneer, still not looking at Saul. "I have had the misfortune of seeing it before," she shuddered delicately.
Ron Weasley, wearing a badge that said 'Security' pinned to his black Quidditch uniform, came across the pitch towards them, also trying not to look at Saul. "If you don't put your clothes on Saul, I'm going to have ban you from the Quidditch pitch, which would mean you couldn't play for your school."
"What?" Saul yelled.
"You've got to be joking," Tegan added, glaring at Ron, "This is nowhere near as bad as what he did when Greg got elected as Minister of Magic this last time … and no one even mentioned getting him in trouble for that!"
"Well maybe they should have! And in case you haven't noticed, this is England, not Australia," Ron replied.
"Piss off you little bastard! You have no right to tell us what we can and can't do! You're on security, that means breaking up fights, like that one over there," she pointed to the place where Ax was threatening Leon. As Ron ran off, she commented, "And you'd look really hot with black hair."
"DID YOU LOOK AT MY WOMAN? DID YOU? I KNOW YOU DID, DON'T TRY TO LIE!" Ax was screaming, holding Leon off the ground against the stands. Leon was looking bemused and yelling that he hadn't looked at anyone anyway.
"I said don't try to lie," Ax snarled at him, no longer yelling, "I saw you looking at her. Remember this – she is mine, and if I catch you, or anyone else, looking at her again, I will decapitate them."
No one but the other Australians noticed Justine and Kris standing in the change room doorway, laughing so hard they could hardly stand up any more. Tanya was standing not far away, her head in her hands, shoulders shaking, though no one knew if was from laughter or tears.
"Shit!" Ron yelped and raced over to join the crowd that was growing around the pair.
"What happened?" Saul asked.
"Ax is covering for you," Tegan replied, glancing at him to see if he was dressed. He had managed to pull on his unclothes and was currently struggling with the robes. "I don't think anyone saw the beginning, but Ax walked over to Leon and said 'Work with me' then started screaming. It's all a set up."
"I see," Saul said, now fully dressed. He accepted his broom from Tegan and nodded in thanks, "So, let's go kick some Spanish butt," he said.
Thanks:
Ava Monroe – glad that you enjoyed the chapter! It's good to know that you're getting who everyone is. We know the characters really intimately, because we've been talking about this story for almost a year now, so sometimes we might not go into enough description, but I think we're doing an alright job. The Kallaix kids get taken down a notch soon, don't worry. Hogwarts will have her chance to shine!
The Evil Percussionist – ah, our ever so observant beta reader. You didn't even notice we dedicated the chapter to you! –falls of chair laughing- well done! It is good seeing the story published, isn't it? Hope you liked the added bits to this chapter … you'll have to go over them of course, I'm sure I made loads of mistakes.
goDDark – how can you hate chocolate cookies? Oh well, we all have our little idiosyncrasies I suppose! I'm glad that you like the Kallaix crew. We are doing everything we can to make them good. Glad to know that it's succeeding in your case! I'm glad that you like Ax. He's a joint effort between the two of us. We didn't even realize that people could get the impression of were-sex when we wrote that – it was one of the original scenes from the story (back from the days before I was involved)!