"Did you know that filtered Cerberus drool can be used as an adhesive? Pretty cool right?"

-Neville Longbottom

Chapter 27: Are You There, Death? It's Me, Mary.

The ding of the bell rang as the door opened to the familiar scent of dust and wood. Mrs. Finnigan quickly closed the door behind us to keep out the draft. "Mr. Ollivander?...Mr. Ollivander!" She rang the bell on the counter.

There was the sound of an "OOF" followed by the crash of boxes before the old man hobbled out to the front desk in his wrinkled wool suit. "Welcome. How may I-oh…it is you."

I stared up at Mr. Ollivander from beneath my hat and freshly wet hair. Beside me, Seamus sneezed. "Yes," Mrs. Finnigan nodded. "It was communicated to me that you and Mary have made arrangements for her to assist you around the shop today? For some sort of community service credit?"

Mr. Ollivander looked from the older woman to me again. I practically begged him through my gaze. Please let one of your wizard powers be mind reading! "Community service," he drawled with a long look in my direction.

There was another long pause and I knew Mrs. Finnigan was beginning to become suspicious. Suddenly, I had an idea. I whipped out my wand and rushed forward to plop it on the counter. "And my wand polishing! You said stop by any time."

It was quiet again. With another long look from him, I imagine this was all very awkward for him, he finally cocked a brow. "Why yes indeed, I did say that. Thank you for stopping in to provide me an extra hand. I could use the help."

The tension visibly left me as I exhaled. "Very well," the older woman snipped. "Seamus is here to assist as well." Both of our immediate objections were silenced with a sharp glare. "The two of you will help with whatever Mr. Ollivander asks. I will return at 5pm sharp. And the TWO of you had better be here or so help me." Seamus shot me a disgruntled look and I turned away. Clearly this was all my fault.

My excuuursion…my excursion to my father's home landed me on a full and official guest house arrest. After arriving in Bulgaria, Viktor and I spent the night in my Papa's home. It was as if it had never been abandoned. House elves waited on us hand and foot. Almost to the point that they were a hinderance. I never got to do any exploration of the property. Everywhere I turned, they were always there. Viktor seemed even more giddy than me. My favorite part of the day was dinner. It was a genuine Hogwarts feast. I slept so hard I may have snored. The next morning I found the headmaster himself at the front gate. He did not look pleased.

Upon returning, I was not allowed out and Daphne was definitely not allowed to return. This was the only excuse I could find to leave the house. I may have even played up Mr. Ollivander's frailty to get her to finally agree. I didn't know it meant I would have to be babysat by Seamus of all people.

Still, it was worth it.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Yes, mum."

With another glare and grunt, she was out the door and back into the heavy snowfall.

"Well," Mr. Ollivander clapped his hands together. "Let us get to it shall we?" He lifted the wooden door to allow us behind the counter. "Come on in. There is a great many things to do before five." The two of us scuttled in and followed Mr. Ollivander deep into his shop. "Careful there. Step over that. Yes, yes now where are those rags?"

Soon after we went right to it. Seamus held onto the bottom of a ladder while I dusted a high shelf of wands boxed in blue. Dust each box carefully. Move them to one side and dust that half of the shelf. Move them to the other side and dust the other half. Repeat. Do NOT use magic. Our directions were very clear.

"You just couldn't stay put, could you?" Seamus grumbled. It was the first time he had spoken to me since…since…oh I couldn't remember. I continued dusting without response. There was another pause between us before Seamus decided to speak louder. "Why'd you even come back? Why didn't you just stay there. You've got a whole big house there by yourself, don't you?"

Oh Seamus was such a brat! "Yeah I do actually," I snapped with all the smugness I could muster. "It's my real Papa's house. It's really huge. It has a lot of rooms, maybe 50 or 60 even! And I have over 400 house elves that work for me and will make me whatever I want to eat. I don't know why I came back either!" Suddenly the ladder jerked and I nearly slipped. I grabbed onto it for dear life, having dropped my rag and bottle of cleaning solution. "Hey!"

Looking down at Seamus's panicked face as he held the ladder tightly, I could see the immediate regret in his face. "Sorry! Sorry."

With a huff, I climbed back down. "Look Seamus," I said when I was finally face to face with him, "I'm sorry you're stuck here with me. And I'm sorry I stole your friend."

"You didn't steal anything! Dean and I are still mates. Dean just has a lot of sisters is all so he's used to hanging out with girls."

We heard a chuckle from a far away room that let us know Garrick was still listening. "We should get back to cleaning," I mumbled before climbing back up the ladder.

It was hours later before all the shelves were thoroughly and completely dusted. Wand boxes were polished. Seamus had gone to the bathroom and had yet to return. He was likely inside reading the Quidditch magazine he had snuck in under his robe. I slowly retracted the ladder the way Mr. Ollivander had shown us how. There was still time for me to help him some other way, but I was mostly satisfied that I could clear the dust and cobwebs for him.

While placing the ladder back into the closet, I peaked something just outside my range of vision. After closing the closet door, there was nothing there. "Seamus?" I rounded the corner of one shelf and saw no one. Once again, behind me, there was the quick pass again, just beyond my sight. "Mr. Ollivander? Is that you?" I said turning back toward the large window on the far wall. No one was there. Still, I couldn't stop seeing something like an eye floaty. Every way my eyes moved, just outside recognition. "Who's there?" Why was it suddenly so cold? Had Mr. Ollivander's heater gone out?

There was a reflection in the window. Something dark, and large, with no real form. It looked to be behind me but when I turned, there was nothing. I could feel my heart beating hard against my chest. I needed to run. I felt like I needed to run. Why couldn't I run?

Something sharp pricked at the back of my neck. As soon as it began, it ended. The cold went with it. My legs gave out beneath me, weak with terror and I curled up on the floor. A burning was blooming there and spreading slowly, like a bad sunburn at first. Now it felt like that time I touched a hot poker. I yelped at the growing pain. That is how Mr. Ollivander found me. "Mary? Child what are you doing on the floor?"

"I-I-It hurts!" I clasped at the back of my neck. Hearing the commotion, Seamus came running.

"Mary! Mary are you okay?"

I hated to make Gary kneel like that. He probably had bad knees. People his age usually have bad knees. But he knelt beside me and peeled my hands away. "It's probably just a spider bite. This old shop is full of spiders. Let me have a look." His hand pushed up my hair to bare my neck.

"What is that?" my cousin asked in confusion, making me all the more panicked. The burning began to melt into a steady throbbing. What had just happened?

"Curious mark," Mr. Ollivander said in a halting sort of way. He spoke calmly but I could feel a large sort of shock and excitement in him. My bracelet glowed brightly again. "It seems you've made an unlikely friend. What have you been up to young lady?"

I sat up slowly, trying to feel what they could see that I couldn't. It still just felt like my same ol' neck to me. "I'm a Hufflepuff," I began. When his gaze turned expectant, I could tell he wasn't one. And he didn't know anything. Saying that was enough for Madame Pomphrey. It should have been enough for him. But it wasn't. So, he wouldn't be finding out what I've been up to. Instead I asked, "What do you mean I've made a friend?"

"In Death."

Seamus snorted. "What? Are you all there, Sir?"

Oh, Lord no. I've somehow managed to earn the Devil's favor and I don't know what I did to get it. "But I don't want to be friends!"

Mr. Ollivander held a finger up to his lips as he stood. "Careful," he said with a chuckle. "You don't want to go and cause offense. Death can be pretty sensitive. Tell me. Have you ever heard of The Tales of Merlin the Magnificent?"

(Lidia: I am trying to update as quickly as possible. I meant to be onto book two by now but my work schedule has been a bit crazy. Thank you to everyone sticking with me!

AlienfromNorth- Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

ChocoGummies- Yes Mary is half Bulgarian. Before ending up at Hogwarts, he attended Durmstrang. Thank you for the review!)