Thanks to The Red Dragons Order, whose review inspired me to keep writing this.

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When Simony walked back to find Zev's head repeatedly smacking the counter, she immediately knew there was something wrong. She dropped the shopping bag she was carrying – full of food; that's all – on the counter next to the other bag she dropped earlier – full of armadillo bile – and marched over to her brother. "Zeveth Nicolas Andrus, stop that right now before you give yourself brain damage!"

Zev glanced up into his sisters eyes and smiled. "Hey Simony. Back already?"

"Of course not, I'm just a shadow of your dear sister, sent from beyond the grave." Simony retorted.

"Okay, you probably want to know why I was about to give myself brain damage." Simony nodded at Zev's statement. "Well, we found another spy – and it's probably another double agent. It's Severus Snape. He quit teaching at Hogwarts when you supposedly died." Zev told his little sister, Simony Ryoku Potter Ashwood. "And now he's interested in you."

"Well, that's an inconvenience." Simony commented. Zev snorted. "Maybe a bit more than an inconvenience."

"Uh, yeah! And I, being a so-called 'Potions Master', have to go to Lazarin for a conference with the Dark Lord's Masters. And you have to come with." Zev exploded.

"Calm down – we're not in the crap pile yet." Simony calmed her brother. "Plus, I can handle myself if need be."

"Simony, Lazarin is the Headquarters of the darkest force on the Earth at this point in time. You are the Prophecy child; the one destined to defeat Voldemort. If you walk into Lazarin, you could be signing your death warrant." Zev emphasized his last sentence, grabbing his sister's shoulders. He was surprised when Simony, usually the last person to show emotion other then when acting, flung herself onto him, shoulders shaking with tears.

"I don't want it! I don't want any of it! I just want to be normal. No more hiding, no more lies, no treading carefully and learning to kill." Simony gasped between sobs. "Why couldn't someone else be the damn Prophecy Child? I don't want it…" The two siblings just sat there, waiting for Simony to wind down. Once she did, the blank mask that could bend but never break was back in place. She wiped her face dry and sat up straight, ready for business.

"Okay, are they any Death Munchers that can see through glamour charms like Moody?" the girl asked of her big brother. "If they can't, is there any chance Riddle will see us?"

"The only way the Munchers'll be able to see you truly is to place a detection charm on you, and most of them will never think of it. Those that will won't ever see you close enough to cast it." Zev smiled slightly. "This is guessing that you'll use glamour. And by the way, Riddle shouldn't be anywhere near you during your stay in Lazarin, but there's still a chance that a fan will recognize the coincidences. Just be on your guard."

Simony tweaked her brother's nose and stood up. "You'd better be careful, too, Mr. Zeveth Andrus! I'm not the one who was arguing with one of the most renowned Poisons Masters in the known Wizarding World. And you'll be the one working with the slimeball, not me. The worst I'll have to do is converse with some Munchers' children."

"That humor ain't gonna work with me this time, Miss Ashwood." Zev replied wryly. "But you're right; Snape is a slimeball. Although he knows 99 percent of the Poisons by heart, and can brew the other 1 percent well, he's a slimeball."

"A slimeball who should wash his hair more then twice a year." Simony grinned, pleased to have gotten his brother back to normal. "You know, if you smiled more often, you'd have girls hanging off you 24-7." She stretched and ascended the narrow staircase to the siblings' apartment above the small shop. She heard her brother have a date with his two favorite friends, balance and gravity.

CRASH!

The raven-haired girl giggled and started working on her glamour for their stay in Lazarin. Simony decided she should have blue eyes with hazel-ish streaks, reddish hair like Zev's. She was going as her brother's niece – a laugh, if you really think of it. The now-blue-eyed girl was going as her own daughter.

Simony shook her head to get those thoughts out of her head so she could concentrate. It was kind of hard to combine several charms (no matter that they were of the same kind), and since it was going to be up 24-7, the ten-year-old would have to center it on a keystone, preferably one that she could carry around on a necklace.

"You know, that emerald I gave you last year would work for the keystone." Simony almost shrieked as she spun around and saw that it was only her friend, Chris. "What's the matter, did I scare you?"

Chris Firestone was a… well, it was complicated. For the most part, he was a Vampire, but his great-grandmother was an Elf, his Great-grandfather was a Drow (shadow creature resembling an Elf), and his mother had Were-animal blood in her. So Chris was part Vampire, Elf, Drow, and Were-fox (a Were-fox is exactly the same as a Were-wolf, except the person changes into a type of fox, and it happens of New Moons, not Full Moons).

"Well, Firestone," Simony began, "I was concentrating on a way to keep you from breaking into my room every night. You're supposed to be tired, anyways. New Moon's tomorrow."

"I already drank my dose of yuck tonight." Chris rolled his eyes. "I swear, your brother, as nice as he may be, must have a sadistic side to him. If he's as good as he seems with Potions, he must have a way to make them taste better!"

Simony smirked. "Well, Mr. Almighty-Vampire, If you're so picky, try making it taste better yourself! I'd recommend adding nightshade and belladonna."

"I'll pass, thank you very much." Chris scowled darkly. "You know how much I hate brewing potions. If it weren't for you, I'd have failed my first year at Crow's Claw."

"Thank you for finally observing my superior-ness in Potions!" Simony bowed grandly with many waves of the hands and flourishes. It's not like anyone could see, anyways. "Now, you said that the Emerald you gave me would be a good keystone?"

"Yeah." Chris looked his friend's work over a couple of times. "It'll combine the spells inside the rock, but unfortunately, it'll hold only one combo. But it's the right size for a necklace charm." He grinned and produced a thin copper chain from his breast-pocket. "For such a fine lady as yourself."

"Thank you, kind sir." the girl quirked her head slightly. "Are you sure you can't read minds, or do that Legimenti-whatsit thing? Cuz that's the only way you'd have known I didn't have any chains to use."

Chris dropped the chain on Simony's desk and tapped his temples lightly. "It's Telepathy. Only Drow have it, unfortunately, along with the other two Tele-powers. Otherwise I'd teach them to you."

"Spoilsport." Simony grumbled. "Go away; I have things to do besides talking to a smug humanoid."

"Fine. I'll be downstairs with your less moody brother." With a swish of his trench, Chris went down the stairs. Simony heard the timbre of his brother's bass voice and the higher pitch of Chris's tenor start up under her. The words on the page spun beneath her eyes.

Simony blinked and suddenly felt another presence in the room. It was different from Chris's and Zev's. Older, more powerful, even. The sable haired girl turned her swivel chair around to face her new guest.

It was a man, about six feet, maybe taller. He had spiky brown hair and obsidian eyes that twinkled slightly. Simony wrenched her eyes away from those hypnotizing pits of black and found them landing on his teeth. His incisors were bared and looked dangerously sharp. Simony realized why she was feeling so… cut off from the world.

This was one of the Eldars, one of the oldest Vampires in existence. All of them were dmn powerful, were dangerously stealthy, and were unbearably polite and charming. "Are you going to invite me to sit down?" The Eldar's voice was rich and full, the kind that anyone would listen to for hours.

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Oooo! What does the Eldar want? Reviews would be nice... They can get me to write faster if you like it...

I modeled Chris after a friend of mine - whose name is Chris! Questions, Comments, Concerns, anyone?