Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There is a mention of fish on fish violence. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: I have no excuses to offer. Just this chapter before I switch chimera.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 16); MC4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: La Vie Boheme; Adult Activities; My Favorite Things; Xover Bae-Toven; Medic MC; Medic MC; Medic MC; Disabled; Neurodivergent; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Rian-Russo Inversion; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Ethnic & Present; Lovely Triangle; Claimed; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); New Fandom Smell; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y)
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 16 – Assignment 01
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [157](Complain); 1000 Prompts Challenge [611](No "Said"); Days of the Year [Dec 26] (Someone using a can); Play God Day [20] (Ambitious); Appreciate a Dragon Day [01] (Someone acting aggressively); Colors [08] (Rose Pink); Crystals & Gemstones [12] (Exhausted); Alphabetti [E] (Emerald); Treat Yourself [Scrub] (Friendship)
Other MC4A Challenges: WiB [3B](Found Family); Vocab [2D](Gumption); Ship (n/a)[FaMic1 (Different Era)]; Chim [Sulfa] (Emerald; "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas); Hunt [Wi Item (Yo-Yo)]; Fire [x3](Bell Ringer; Sprinter; Speedster); Garden [Bulbs (Rose Pink)]; Hang [Phrase 05] (n/a)
Representation(s): Gregory House & James Wilson QPR; James Wilson/Amber Volakis; Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Civil Disobedience; placeholder; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Nightingale; Unwanted Advice; Three's Company; For the Vine; Lovely Coconuts; Lyre Liar; Muck & Slime; Hot Apple; Under the Bridge); Chorus (Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Tomorrow's Shade; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Surprise!; Turtle-Duck; Sitting Hummingbird; Hot Stuff)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Thimble); LiCK (Tansy; Yarrow); FR (Satisfaction; Gestation); O3 (Olivine); SHoE (Terse; Onus); War (Sanctuary); Mea (Rampant); Share (Ameliorate; Drogman)
Word Count: 494 words

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House & Homes
Lures
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House didn't look up from his computer screen when they walked into his office. James knew that House knew they had arrived by the way his cheek had twitched as they had entered. Neither Amber nor Chase were likely to have noticed, of course. Well, maybe Amber would have. She had the same thing for micro-expressions that House did. It was one of many things the two had in common.

James was about to say something about House choosing to ignore them when he spotted the television shoved into the corner farthest from the door. It was playing a documentary about deep sea creatures. As if that wasn't weird enough, the screen was positioned in such a way that House would have been forced to sit with his back to his desk if he wanted to watch.

He wouldn't be able to watch and work at the same time.

House also wasn't the type to put on anything with talking if he needed background noise. He put on music, with the genre depending on his mood. He also wasn't the type to watch nature documentaries. He would sometimes watch them if they were the type with extreme weather, but mostly House only watched his soaps and anything with fast vehicles. James watched as an angler fish lured in prey on the screen.

Then again, maybe this documentary was weird enough to potentially fit House's interests.

Amber walked up to the strange wall of archival boxes stacked around House's desk, blatantly reading the label on the lid. James watched as a bit of tension made her shoulders tighten. She laid her hand on the top of the next stack, fingers moving briefly across the label there. She stepped around to the stack at the end of desk. House grabbed his cane and snapped it straight out into the small space between the end of the desk and the rolling stand that held the television. The quick action knocked a rose pink yo-yo over the edge of the desk.

"Don't you know it's rude to invade another person's space?" House complained, finally turning away from whatever he was doing on his computer. Amber crossed her arms in front of her chest. The navy and emerald embroidery moved like flowering vines caught in a breeze. She looked thoroughly unimpressed with his gumption as she examined House like he was a slide under a microscope. James sighed and held up the bag he had never returned to Chase.

"Your order from Gino's," he announced. House's gaze shifted to the bag and then to him. Slowly, House lowered his cane. James watched as House connected whatever pieces of evidence he was seeing. "Feeling sick?"

"Absolutely dying, Mother," House quipped. James frowned at him. House sighed like he was even more exhausted than the late hour would suggest.

And Amber took advantage to lean down to look under the desk while House was distracted from stopping her.

"What the hell?"

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To Be Continued
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