"Moxx, I'm hungry," Millie complained.

They were all lounging around in the space that they'd been provided with. Though at first they had been all riled up and chatty, talking about their conversation with Dumbledore and Moxxie's experience with Snape, they soon became a little bored of just having themselves to be around. So they lounged around the room, pacing and walking up and down as if waiting for something to happen, or rather, someone to come looking for them.

Both Loona and Moxxie had shifted back to their normal forms just to do something, but even that was quick and unexciting. "This is like being on a plane," Blitzo grumbled.

But despite Millie and Blitzo's whining, it was Loona that seemed to be having the biggest problem with being cooped up.

It was probably due to her abstinence. She ping-ponged all around the room, pacing, stretching, and every once in a while just letting out a big old scream that startled everyone.

Her very eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets like that of an addict's, and the worst part of it was that most of their uneasiness could be solved by just doing something, whereas Loona wasn't likely to get a charger anytime soon.

She had been to the bathroom at least twelve times in the past three hours, most of them to pee because all they had as an activity was drinking the strange pumpkin juice that had been left out for them. Still, other times she went had been there to re-check her smudged makeup, which had mostly worn off, or run her fingers through her fur, or really just look at anything but the scenery they'd been set before for all those hours.

In truth, a normal person would've been fine with that - in fact, there were even some books on the shelves, but none of them were big on reading except for Moxxie, and all the books were on some advanced level of Alchemy.

Magic made him nervous, and even if it hadn't, he couldn't understand a word written in the books.

After a lot of restlessness, Millie finally caved.

"The hell are we doing? I'm hungry, and I want some food - we're IMPS, not preschoolers, they can't keep us locked in here."

"But Dumbledore-" Moxxie started. "Fuck Dumbledore!" Blitzo suddenly interrupted, even though he had liked the old man well enough a couple of hours earlier. "Millie's right, let's just go out.

I'm hungry, do these fuckers only drink liquid pumpkin, or what?" "We should go out," Loona agreed, tugging at a hair of a different color that was poking out of her forehead.

Moxxie sighed, realizing he wouldn't appease them if he didn't at the very least get them some food.

And besides, it wasn't like he was all too keen on being Dumbledore's little monkey, anyway. He liked the man well enough, but he trusted him about as far as he could throw him, and everyone in the school had a weird and suspicious air to him because of the strangeness of the situation.

"Alright, fine," he accepted. "But it should only be Loona and me. Who goes looking for professor McGonagall." "Lucifer - no, I want to go out and see what else this freaky palace has to offer. Maybe there's a special magic-sex-torture chamber," Blitzo said. "Ew," Loona growled. "Tonight, we can go.

Do you really want to go around by yourself in this magical castle?

What if a ghost kills you or something?" Blitzo huffed at that. "Ghosts aren't real." "He's got a point there, Blitzo. We also didn't think that magic or wizards were real. Who knows what might be out there?" Millie agreed.

"Don't be greedy. We can go out tonight, right? I'm just starvin'.

Go get the McGonagall woman and find some food, please." Blitzo didn't protest any further, and in just a few seconds, both Moxxie and Loona had changed into their human forms and were headed out the door.

Even the excitement of going out was enough to change the humid, oppressive atmosphere in the room.

They stepped out carefully, poking their heads from the door to check if the coast was clear. They didn't want to meet any kids, either - they probably wanted to avoid it just as much as Dumbledore and the rest of the faculty wanted to.

They closed the door behind them, seeing that the vast hallway that they were in was completely deserted, and all at once, they were struck by a great sense of massive space.

They just knew that the path to the right was in the general direction of Dumbledore's office, but after that, they would probably be lost.

"So…" Moxxie began, already feeling the excitement of the adventure waning and the anxiety of the unknown beyond begin to grip him. "Right?" Loona asked, clearly delighted.

At least she was more collected and seemed far more enthusiastic than he was.

"Snape took me down a set of stairs. If I can retrace our path, then maybe we can find the kitchen before we find McGonagall." Loona nodded, and they set out. The place was a maze, obviously.

Try as he might, it still took Moxxie and Loona at least half an hour to find the stairs where they had gone down, and on many occasions, they had had to double back and start again almost back to their rooms.

Sometimes a horde of teenagers would pass by them, and they would have to haul ass to a corner to avoid being seen.

Despite that, they were still having a pretty good time: now that they had the entire castle to inspect and had no one rushing them to go someplace or another, they could fully appreciate it.

Even Loona, who was usually apathetic to her surroundings, seemed enraptured by how interesting the castle was.

Everything from the torch-holder, not yet lit, on the walls, to the massive windows that looked out on the vast grounds and a wondrous sunny day were a spectacle.

At some point, they simply stopped completely and stared out of a window, caught up by it.

That was when a person suddenly flew by them on a goddamn broom.

They both looked at one another in awe as if to confirm that they had both seen it.

"Funny. Out of all the stereotypes, I didn't think the broom thing would be true." Loona shrugged, and they continued their ceaseless circles. When they finally got to the stairs, they went as far as possible before it started moving.

They got off immediately, almost sea-sick from the motion, and left wherever the hell the stairs had decided they should be let out.

As they descended, a pair of students came their way, and since the hallway that led to the stairs cut through in a straight line, it was plain that they were caught.

They were both about to step back onto the stairs when it started moving again and left them stranded.

They had no escape and could only face the students as they walked through the hallway.

They ducked their heads as they walked past, hoping that the kids would be far too focused on whatever fervent argument they were having to really stop and look at them. Still, though they tried, they were far too striking to the eye: Moxxie clearly being in the age to be a member of the faculty but wearing fairly simple, everyday clothes, not the cloaks and robes everyone here sported; and though Loona was probably in the age range of the students, her goth apparel set her aside drastically in contrast to the school clothes.

The boy and the girl stopped dead in their tracks, staring straight at them, and though Moxxie and Loona tried to rush past, the boy called out after them.

Loona started to jog, but Moxxie stayed glued in place. Once she realized that Moxxie had been left behind, Loona circled back and returned to Moxxie, rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms and looked straight at the kids, who had their mouths wide open.

Loona's stance looked like she completely belonged here, and the kids were challenging an unquestionable position, whereas Moxxie looked like he had just been caught peeing in a pond by the police.

The boy that had stopped them had flaming red hair and a squashy look to his face, though he looked amicable enough. Still, he was clearly startled and taken aback.

The girl, with her massive, bushy brown hair and large eyes, was staring at them like she'd been electrocuted and then deadly threatened.

They all exchanged looks for a few seconds before the ginger boy caught sight of the scar on Moxxie's forehead. "Are you Harry Potter?" He asked, his mouth wide open, incredulous, and suddenly out of breath.

The girl looked from him to them comically, like she was watching a tennis match.

"Uhm… yes," Moxxie finally replied hesitantly, still not used to be being addressed by that name. "So… so it's true, then?" The boy stuttered. Loona rolled her eyes.

"I mean, didn't you see him drop out of the ceiling the other day?" She told him, clearly irritated. She wasn't very good with children. "Loona," Moxxie warned under his breath. The boy ignored Loona. "S-Sirius-" he began.

The bushy-haired girl suddenly hit his shoulder. "Ron!" She whispered angrily, much like Moxxie had done with Loona just a moment ago. "He's got to know," he answered, thinking he was being discreet but still very much observed.

"Serious? About what?" Moxxie asked. "We should get g-" Loona began. "Sirius, your godfather, he-" at that moment, they all turned to see how another person's footsteps came echoing from the other end of the hallway. "Weasley!" It screeched in a dry voice that Moxxie recognized but couldn't quite place in the muddle of people that he had in his mind.

The ginger boy gulped and looked at the man, utterly frightened. He looked even more frightened than he had been with Harry and Loona.

As he approached, Moxxie placed him as the scary-looking, one-eyed man who had been in Dumbledore's office the night that he had arrived.

"What are you two doing?" The man asked grouchily when he was close, giving a side glance to Harry and Loona but barely recognizing their existence. "I- we- they-" "I- we- they," the man mocked in a way that was very unlike a teacher. Maybe the kind of teacher you might see in Hell if there were teachers in Hell, but not the kind you'd see up here.

"Looks to me like you and Ms. Granger were skipping class," he grumbled.

"You'd best hurry out of here before I start removing points from Gryffindor.

Or hairs from your head," the boy and the girl skittered off in a rush after that. Once they were gone, the man turned back to Moxxie and Loona, but he didn't look quite as upset as he had been with the kids, who, as far as Moxxie could tell, had just been walking down a hallway, whereas neither he nor Loona was where they were supposed to be.

"Mr. Potter," he said, leaning heavily on his cane.

"Might I ask what you're doing out of your rooms?

I thought professor Dumbledore had given strict instructions not to have you wondering about and scaring the students," his tone now, like with everything he said, was severe, but Moxxie thought he had said that last bit with a bit of amusement in his tone.

"We were just…." Moxxie began. "We were hungry," Loona cut in. "Do wizards not eat or something?" The man's crazy blue eye focused on Loona creepily, while his natural one was still on Moxxie.

"Yes, we eat, and lunch would be served to you in about a half-hour, Ms…" "Loona," she said in a small voice, looking down at her paws. She had started out strong, but there was no denying that the man was the worst combination of scary and intimidating.

"Right. Might I suggest not fraternizing with the students on your next adventure?" He looked from Moxxie to Loona, and they both nodded eagerly under the intensity of his stare, feeling like they were the fourteen-year-olds that had just left in a hurry. "Well, then.

Let me escort you back to your rooms," the man said, turning his back and leading back the way that they had come.

0-0-0-0-0

The man hobbled along in front of them, surprisingly quick despite his limp.

"So, Mr. Potter," he said, licking his lower lip. "How is your training going?" He asked. "Uhm…" Moxxie said. "I see you've had the pleasure of meeting Snape, the prick," he mumbled under his breath. Loona had to stifle a laugh. They hadn't heard any of these wizards curse yet, and it was surprisingly refreshing.

"Yeah, a complete A-hole, if you ask me," Moxxie responded, liking the man already more than he had most of the others he had met.

"What was your name again, sir?" "Moody. Some call me Mad-Eye. Not to my face," he grumbled. Now Loona did laugh.

"Dumbledore shouldn't have put you with that good-for-nothing Snape," Moody complained in that gruff, displeased voice of his.

"Yeah, I agree," Moxxie said, starting to recognize the corridors that led to his rooms and thinking that maybe now he had a better idea of the layout of the castle, or where he was, at the very least. Moody carried on in silence until they arrived.

When they were about to open the door and thank Moody, still feeling somewhat like scolded children, though, Moody took Moxxie to the side.

"I don't know what they told you, Mr. Potter, but this tournament is dangerous as can be.

Forget winning it. If you want to survive it, training with Snape will do you no good." Moxxie gulped.

"So what can I do?" He asked, feeling that the was the only question that was natural to ask now. "Meet me at the stairs at midnight tonight.

I'll make sure you live long enough to return to wherever it is that you came from - I'm sure you can find your way to the stairs by now," Mad-Eye grumbled before heading off quickly. Loona had been watching with her hand on the door handle, an interested expression on her face.

"You can't seriously tell me that guy hasn't been in Hell."