Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me. This is just a fanfiction.
It was late at night when Holly Short was finally able to come to her home for a well deserved rest. When she quit the LEP she converted her humble abode to her new office as well. She was starting to regret the choice now because work never left her. But she didn't have much of a choice, she didn't start out with a lot of gold.
Business was slow at first, discouragingly so. The only person who Holly ever really saw was Mulch, her business partner. And he wasn't much to have for company but if she didn't keep her eyes on him then the kleptomaniac dwarf would take off with something of hers. She was already starting to note a shortage of silverware, but she didn't mention it. It wasn't that valuable.
But thank god for Foaly, thank god. He was the one who gave them their first job which sprung them into business. A shipment of old equipment had gone missing when it was on its way to be destroyed. The LEP couldn't find out who did it, and Foaly decided to call his good friend Holly who found it by the second day.
Holly had a suspicion though that Foaly had purposely misplaced it. She never questioned him about it, and neither did Mulch. But how the missing shipment ended up twenty feet underground where only a dwarf would be able to reach quickly was never brought up.
But Holly owed her business to her friend.
Being able to solve a case that the LEP hadn't been able to got both Holly and Mulch's name in the paper as a budding P.I. and one of the best out there. Needless to say, the calls haven't stopped once. They ranged from Sprites calling about runaway children to the LEP offering a variety of positions for both her and Mulch.
They both said no and had stopped taking calls. The only calls from the LEP that Holly would answer would be from Foaly or Trouble. That's it. Everyone else was swiftly disconnected.
Not like Holly or Mulch really had that much time to sit around answering calls. They were both so busy working on cases. They started early in the morning and ended late at night now. It would have been easier if they were able to split up and work on different cases at the same time but Holly didn't trust Mulch to be able to be in another's dwelling without letting his sticky fingers get in the way of things. Besides, he had certain skills in things that she didn't.
"I'm exhausted…but that was a nice tip, wasn't it." Mulch smirked as he entered Holly's home. Not only did she convert one of her rooms to an office, but she turned another room for a place for Mulch to stay in. It was easier to have him close under her watchful eye.
"Tip? They didn't give us a ti- Mulch! Do you want to go back to jail you miserable Dwarf!" she said and looked at him with astonishment. Their pay was well enough now that he didn't have to steal. She supposed that old habits die hard.
"What! It was a stupid case anyway and a waste of time! And those sprites were loaded they aren't going to miss it." Mulch said, defending himself as he pulled out a two silver candlesticks from the folds of his coat.
Despite the truth of his words, Holly still groaned. True, the case was stupid and those Sprites were loaded but that was no excuse. They couldn't have anything tarnishing their name. She sighed and took the two candlesticks from Mulch's greedy hands and looked it over in her own. She shook her head disapprovingly. The case was stupid. The woman had lost her earring and her house (Which wasn't very small) and they had spent the past six hour looking for it. No doubt they would call right back for help finding their missing candlesticks.
"We are returning these…tomorrow morning." She said, stifling a yawn.
"Yea, yea. I could be gone by tomorrow morning." Mulch snapped and grabbed the candlesticks back from her and marched angrily to his pigpen of a room.
Holly just rolled her eyes and headed towards her own room. On the way she passed the office and saw a small red light blinking. She paused and rested her hand on the doorframe as the hazel- eyed elf stared at it for a moment. It was a common sight now, they had missed calls. She should probably listen to them now but…a good bath was in order.
"I'll do it tomorrow morning, it's probably nothing important." She murmured as she tore her gaze away and headed to the bathroom. Indeed, the people who called most was the LEP or some of the Fairy Folk with a new job. It would have to wait till tomorrow morning. She didn't think it would be a life or death situation. It never is.
Nothing has been to that level of excitement since her adventures with Fowl had slowed down. None of her cases have been interesting to bother the child genius- now teenager.
"Good night Mulch!" she yelled so he would be able to hear. " Night!" his gruff voice yelled back. He sounded distracted. She wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to melt down those candlesticks into something new that he could sell for some quick gold.
Old habits die hard.
Tired eyes drifted open and a low groan emitted from Foaly's throat. How long had he been asleep?
He sat up and rubbed his eyes, feeling an indentation on his cheek from sleeping on his keyboard. He felt better though, refreshed. But now that he had satisfied one urge, the urge to sleep new urges for nagging at him. To eat, to bathe, to rest! He beat them down though. He had other things to think about.
Like getting to the surface.
He looked at his computer screen and frowned in dismay. Two hours had passed, and he had received no new word from Holly. He was going to go on his own then. He stood up, his muscles aching in protest. Since he was going to go alone, this visit was going to have to be quick. He would stay for a day, two at most. He just needed to get a look around. Maybe being on sight would allow him to figure out why all his equipment crashed.
He was going to take precautions of course.
When he needed a break from the computer crashes he would work on specially adjusting equipment. He had made things before to fit the other types of races that were part of the LEP and go in the field. A centaur wasn't one of them. He knew it was going to be hard for someone of his dimensions to go in a shuttle,
After shoving all the necessary things into a handy little bag which he slung over his shoulder he left his office and made sure to lock it behind him. There were to many valuable secrets in here that many would like to get their hands on. Things he needed to keep protected.
He sighed and began to walk towards Commander Trouble's office. Ever since the death of Root he had taken charge of things and did a fine job running everything. He was a man to be respected after all.
On the way, the faint aromas of someone's lunch drifted under the centaur's nose and he paused and took a deep breath, closing his eyes in ecstasy as the spicy scent teased his senses.
NO. Take care of this first…eat on the shuttle.
It was a firm command, one he really did not want to listen to, but this was going to take a lot of convincing to get Trouble Kelp to let him go above surface. He was confident he would be able to do it. One of the reasons he was denying himself food at the moment was to keep his appearance haggard.
A few of the LEP who passed him looked at him and paused. "You need a vacation Foaly!" was most of their comments and that just made him smile secretly as he continued on his way.
Yes… a vacation. And that was exactly his plan. He may have looked physically unfit but his mind was as clear as a whistle. As soon as he got clearance to go to the surface on his own he was going to gore himself with all of his favorite foods.
He just had to remember not to make himself sick during the flight.
"Hello Hagrid!" Harry and Ron said simultaneously as the large half-giant answered the door. A smile brightened on his face as his favorite students came to visit. "Come in, come in.. shut it Fang!" he said and turned to his large dog and grabbed him around collar and pulled him back so Harry and Ron could come in and take a seat at his table without being tackled.
"Where's 'Ermoine?" Hagrid asked once he released Fang and turned to face Harry and Ron. The two of them shared a look as Hagrid walked towards them, mumbling angrily under his breath. "I suppose I'm not important enough for her to visit anymore!" he said with a mixture of anger and hurt in his voice and began to busy himself by putting a kettle on the stove.
"Hagrid…It's not like that. Hermoine is reviewing her school work." Harry said as he defended his friend gently. "If you three bothered to take my class she wouldn't have to bother with it.." Hagrid mumbled under his breath.
"Come on Hagrid! We are busy now, with a lot of homework! We really wanted to take your class but anymore and we would die!" Ron said and looked at Hagrid with a desperate look.
"Care of Magical Creatures isn't required to be an auror now is it." Hagrid said almost bitterly. "Hagrid…" Harry said, putting his hand on Hagrid's shoulder. It seemed so small in comparision.
"You know we value your friendship! You were the one to first rescue me from the Dursleys after all." Harry said, his words causing a small smile to crack over Hagrid's callused features.
Before Hagrid could reply the kettle began to scream loudly as steam rushed over the top. "Oops!" Hagrid exclaimed and shot up and rushed to the pot. "Hot hot hot!" he muttered as he removed it from the flame. "I made some rock cakes, would you like to stay for tea?" Hagrid asked them pleasantly.
"Uh…. It's alright. We have to get going. " Ron said and stood up. Harry nodded his head and smiled. "We er… need to get back to Hermoine and make sure she doesn't over work herself." Harry said and nodded his head. "We'll see you later!" Ron said and together he and Harry waved and exited as fast as they could without seeming rude.
Hagrid walked to his door and watched them head back to the castle and waved. "Alright you two! Oh, and if you can try to stay out of Firenze's way! He's been in an odd mood lately!" Hagrid called after them.
Indeed, the centaur had been acting oddly lately. He had been spending more time then usual outside at night gazing at the stars . He didn't even tell Hagrid what was troubling him. But Hagrid could tell by studying his grim face that he was seeing something he didn't like in the stars.
Hmm..I came out with this next chapter awfully fast. And might I tell you how happy it was when I saw that my last one was reviewed!
Silverfingers: I'm glad you like it. I came up with the whole plot when I was trying to go to bed. And the last one was all centered because….er… well I'm not going to lie to you. I was just fooling around with all the buttons and stuff. Thanks for the Review! D