A/N Yeah, Okay, so the title's a dead giveaway that he didn't succeed, but you really didn't think he was going to get in by himself, did you? (g) JCWriter

XXI

Bill's First Detention

It was well after midnight when Bill slipped out of his room and nervously made his way down the hall. He froze only once when he heard a slight tsking sound, but when he looked around, he saw nothing but the sleepy paintings that didn't seem to be interested in him in the slightest. Pushing his heart back out of his throat, Bill kept going down the stairs.

The sound of his footsteps sounded incredibly loud in the empty halls, so much so he finally took off his shoes and tied the laces, hanging them around his neck before continuing. His breath sounded loud to him, but there was very little he could do about that. He was already near the library, and somehow managed to enter despite the urge to turn around the other way. But at last he found himself standing by the research library door, wand in hand, and wondering what he could try.

Suddenly the handle turned, and Bill dove behind a bookshelf just as it opened, dislodging a book in the process as someone came out of the back room. Panicking, he closed his eyes and covered his mouth, quite certain that he was caught now. But seconds ticked by, and nothing happened. Finally he opened his eyes. Had he just imagined it? He slowly bent down and reached for the book, carefully putting it back in place before peering around the corner. Then he had to do a double-take.

The door was open. What luck! Whoever had come through had forgotten to close it! Carefully he stepped closer and peered in, then frowned, for he saw nothing but a bookcase. Where was the crystal? Wasn't there a center isle? Bewildered, he tried to take a step forward and ended up knocking his foot against hard wood, the image of the bookcases beyond fading and the door appearing. Bill cried out in both surprise and pain, but became even more surprised when the open door behind him suddenly shrank and turned into a person, and in a split second his wand yanked out of his hand and forcefully turned around by Professor Slughorn.

"Mr. Kingfisher! What in Merlin's beard are you doing down here at this hour? You practically scared me to death!" he scowled.

"I scared you?" Bill said, still panting. "How did you do that?"

"I'm the one who'll be asking the questions if you don't mind, Mr. Kingfisher, and you'll answer my query to what you are doing here."

"I was…borrowing a book…"

"Borrowing a book," Slughorn repeated in obvious disbelief. "Come on, you are coming with me," he said, grabbing him by the collar. "You have a lot of explaining to do and such a flippant excuse does not hold water with me."

"Would it hold water if I was Lucky?" Bill retorted. Slughorn's face darkened.

"That's ten points from Hufflepuff for your tongue, on top of whatever else your advisor gives you for being out at this hour! Now, march!" he growled, giving him no choice whatsoever in the matter, for the teacher obviously had no intentions of letting go of him.

As they started up the hall towards his office, Slughorn couldn't help but be surprised to hear voices in front of them. Well, he could hardly investigate his normal way with a boy attached to his fist, he decided, but quickened his pace dramatically. Bill began to protest loudly as he was practically dragged to where the hall crossed another corridor. The noise made Hermione and the student beside her look up in surprise.

"Professor Slughorn!" Hermione said. "And Mr. Kingfisher, what on earth are you doing up?"

"It seems we're having a regular epidemic," Slughorn said, nodding to the thirteen year old boy in Slytherin robes beside her. "I found this one in the back of the library."

"Oh, this one was sneaking into the kitchen. I'm afraid our Durmstrang student here doesn't appreciate our food," Hermione said.

"Vell, da food here sucks," he shrugged.

"That's enough out of you, and if you keep that up, you won't have anything but bread and water tomorrow," Hermione threatened him.

"Do you t'ink I care?" he scoffed.

"Well, perhaps it is a culture shock for him, Professor, but this one definitely has no excuse lurking about the library with a wand in hand," he said, shaking the wand in his hand vigorously. The boy beside Hermione looked at the wand curiously then over at the younger boy, who stood with his mouth clamped. "He said he was there to borrow a book, but I say he was up to no good."

"I should think so," Hermione said, frowning at Bill. "Professor, might I have a quick word?"

"Eh? Oh," Slughorn said, letting go of Bill's collar. "You stay right here, Kingfisher," he warned him.

"It'll only be a moment, Mr. Runestein," Hermione said briskly as the two of them walked further up the corridor.

"Nice vand," Runestein murmured, and Bill looked over at the dark-haired boy in surprise.

"Huh? Oh, wand, yeah," Bill said.

"Did you point dat at him?" he asked thoughtfully.

"What? No, of course not! I only had it out to…well, it was dark, I was being cautious," Bill said, slightly annoyed. "Not that it's any of your business."

"I got caught because of da House Elves," the boy said casually. "Vut about you?"

"Oh, I thought he was a door," Bill said, then grimaced when he realized what he had just said. "Don't ask."

"Is hard to put t'ings over on dese teachers. Dey find out everyt'ing," he muttered.

"Well, not everything," Bill said.

"I vouldn't be so sure if I vere you," Runestein advised. "I cannot keep a secret here to save my live."

"All right Bill, Sigiwalt," Hermione said, and the two of them looked up to see both the Professors walking back over. "You're both coming with me to talk to your advisors now. Come, Bill, let's drop you off first."

"From now on, you'd better watch your step. I'll be keeping my eye on the both of you," Slughorn warned them. Runestein suddenly turned and glared viciously at Bill, although he wasn't quite sure why.

The next morning, Bill dragged himself into the Great Hall late…most had already finished their breakfast. Including Lucky, who jumped up the moment he came in went over to him.

"Sorry I couldn't meet you, but the sparring ran over," Lucky explained.

"Yeah," Bill said.

"You should have gone, it was fun. We absolutely toasted Slytherin, even that new kid from the other school ended up flat on his back. Want to get together after dinner tonight? Then I can tell you about it…"

"I can't, I have detention," Bill snapped angrily.

"Huh? What did you do?" Lucky said curiously.

"Something more important than trying to flatten a house in meaningless violence! You know, the way you act, I might think you don't even care that Craw and Snape are gone, let alone the rest of the family."

"Well of course I do, chico, but it's not like there isn't anything I can do about it…"

"You don't even care enough to try!" he shouted. Everyone turned to stare at him and he sighed, lowering his voice. "I was always taught not to really believe in luck, you know, but in your case, there really isn't any other explanation that you're here at Hogwarts, is there? Because you don't deserve to be here, and you definitely don't deserve them! And yes, perhaps I don't deserve to be here, but I don't abandon people I care about at the first sign of trouble, either!"

"Bill, come on…"

"Find someone else to tell your stories to!" Bill said, stomping off to his table. Lucky stared over at him a moment before sitting back down again, trying to digest what had just happened.

"There you are. Telling Kingfisher about your first sparring victory, I suppose," Cedric said with a fork in one hand and The Composition of Magic Minerals in the other.

"No, I didn't get that far," she murmured.

"Too bad you can't handle a broom like you handle a wand. We might have had a chance against Slytherin's Quidditch team this year," he said, looking wistfully over towards where Mary was sitting.

"Cedric, do you know where the Headmaster is staying?" Lucky asked.

"No one knows," Cedric said with a shrug.

"Well, I was just thinking maybe your father knew."

"He's got his hands full right now staying alive," Cedric said, lowering his voice. "It's terrible what they're going through, isn't it? They say Professor Black…I suppose you don't have her yet…but she's lost her magic, and Uncle Sirius is in St. Mungo's and Mum…" his voice faltered. "Well, the sooner this is over with the better for everyone. In fact, I don't know why it isn't over all ready!"

"Did you see the headlines today?" Reggie Weasley put in from the other side of Cedric. "Word leaked out that Alicia Snape has gone blind…can you imagine? A world famous painter who can't see, poof, just like that, all because of this curse," Reggie said. "Bet that came as a bit of a blow to the Headmaster. And from the rumors I've been hearing from his behavior, I don't think he's going to be able to keep it together long enough to get rid of this thing."

"He'll keep it together, and he'll get rid of the curse," Cedric said firmly. "Father's sure of it and I'm sure of it, and don't let me hear you say anything different again."

"All right, don't get snippy. It's not like I want an insane Headmaster either," Reggie said defensively.

"Why do I keep getting hooked up with these kinds of people?" Lucky suddenly asked herself and got up, storming away from the table. Reggie stared after her, while Cedric merely sighed.

"I hope she didn't mean us," Reggie said, crunching on a piece of bacon thoughtfully.

As the day wore on, Lucky's attention span grew shorter, barely able to finish even her Arithmantics test, let alone something like History or Transfiguration. She poked at her dinner, often glancing over at the Hufflepuff table. But she never once caught Bill's eye. He was busy talking to Delia, who for a change seemed quite enthusiastic about keeping up a conversation. One by one, students got up to see to their studies, and Lucky was still fiddling with her food, despite the fact it was getting cold. But as more people left, Lucky noticed something out of place, and realized it was the fact that all of their cups, plates and napkins were still on the table. Usually they disappeared the moment everyone got up, but not this time.

"What is wrong with the tables?" Lucky found herself asking out loud. Cedric, who had finished some time ago, was staring at his watch as if waiting for something. He looked around then, noticing it for the first time.

"Oh that. Well, either the House Elves are on strike, which is highly unlikely, or someone has the Great Hall for detention tonight," Cedric said, glancing at his watch again. But Lucky gaped.

"They wouldn't make one person do all of this, would they?" Lucky asked with alarm.

"Depends on what they did, I imagine," Cedric said. "At least it wasn't one of us. I'd look to a Slytherin or a Hufflepuff as being the culprit. They're the ones who lost points last night. I got to go," he said suddenly and got up. Lucky sighed and got up herself, deciding she didn't want to be the very last person to leave. That was when she realized that Bill was one of the few remaining.

She walked practically all the way to Gryffindor tower before she started to feel heavy hearted. She was staring at the portrait of the Fat Lady before she finally turned back. Down the stairs she went, pausing only for a moving staircase before heading back to the Great Hall to find the doors had been shut. Cautiously she pushed the door open a crack and peered inside.

Sitting in the Headmaster's chair, Professor Weasley poured over a set of books in front of her, while at the regular tables two figures began clearing the dishes…Bill and the Durmstrang boy, neither one of them looking too happy about Weasley's newest idea of detention. Chewing on her lip a moment, Lucky then walked into the room, Weasley's eyes immediately rising from the book and gazing at her questioningly.

"If you want to study, you'll have to go to the library, Miss Conejo. These boys have detention."

"I know, Professor," Lucky said. "But I thought they could use another set of hands."

"Lucky, you can't just…" Hermione began, but suddenly hesitated, looking over at Sigiwalt and then to Bill and back to Lucky again. "Oh, all right, I admit I would like to get back home at a decent hour tonight. But no talking, just work."

"Gracias, Professor," Lucky said, going over to the Gryffindor table with a quick glance to Bill who suddenly smiled and nodded to her, understanding it was her way of apologizing.