OH. MY. GOD! Can you all believe it?! We have an updated chapter!! It's amazing! It's stupendous! And it took me less than 2 months this time (I know, I'm awful and neglective, but I crashed into my fence and midterms took a majority of my time, but now I'm back!!) Anywho, now that everything's sorted out, hopefully we'll see chapters that are less than a month apart;) a-heh heh...heh...Okay, enough of that, onto the story!
Chapter 25: Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire
-------
"Are you quite sure you want to do this, Minerva?"
"I'm quite capable, Albus, if that's what you mean."
"I was only suggesting that you don't have to take the duty upon yourself."
"Posh. I'm not going to let some bumbling ministry official come in here and cause all sorts of unnecessary raucous and alert the enemy that we're onto them. Besides, I'm the only one small enough to fit into the burrow."
It was far past midnight, and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape were en route to the North Courtyard for a bit of sleuth-work. Since the recent discovery of the rabbit and it's devious nature, the courtyard had been "quarantined" under the guise of spraying for agitated, aggravated lawn gnomes to protect the students. Such an excuse was readily accepted after word of what had happened to those Slytherins had gotten around, and the students voluntarily kept their distance.
And now it was time to execute the plan, specifically involving that of sending Minerva down the veritable rabbit hole in her animagis cat form, and seeing where it lead. It had risks, to be sure, and going in after Belletrix Lestrange wasn't a good idea, in animal form or otherwise, but they needed to know from where and how she was able to get in, and if need be, collapse the burrow for the safety of the students.
Minerva was all but adamant at the thought of having some ministry official come out and do the job which she could complete in minimal time and with having the element of surprise on their hands. She felt the situation was too big for the ministry to handle ("The incompetent twits," she said, bristling) and volunteered at the emergency Order meeting to do the task herself. They'd taken far too much time talking and even less action, so she'd volunteered, and this is where it lead them, the cold North Courtyard at three in the morning.
"Remember, five minutes, and get out at that time else we need to come in after you."
"Your concern is duly noted, Severus," Minerva responded with a smug grin. He merely frowned in his Snape-ish way as they awaited the right moment. He hated Belletrix Lestrange more than anything, and even worse than the average Death Eater, she was certifiably insane.
But then, Azkaban did that to a person.
One second Minerva was there, the next a tabby cat sat on the ground in her place. She mewed up at Dumbledore and seconds later disappeared into the hole.
The minutes seemed like hours as they waited in the silence, warm breath turning to steam in the cold of the night. It was silent but for Snape's pacing and the ticking of Dumbledore's pocket watch.
As the five-minute time-limit came and went, they watched the rabbit hole with expectancy. At seven minutes the tension grew. Nine minutes had Snape pacing back and forth muttering various curse words. Once ten minutes had come and gone, Snape was rather unmanageable and even Dumbledore seemed perturbed.
"Does the woman have no sense of time?!" Snape hissed as he glared at the dark rabbit hole. "The limit is twice up! Can she not follow plans?!"
"If I didn't know that you said that out of concern, Severus, I'd have to curse you myself," the aforementioned woman said as she brushed herself off and walked away from the bush.
"What did you find out?!" he asked, ignoring her remark.
"Give her a moment, my lad," Dumbledore told him with a warm smile.
She came to stand before them and finished brushing the dirt off her robes. "The tunnel goes on practically forever and I could smell her scent in it everywhere. She was there recently." "Not surprising."
"When I finally reached the end, I was somewhere within the Forbidden Forest. Far within it. I sniffed around but there was no trail to follow; no scent. I believe, Albus, that she apparates there and then comes to the school in this way."
"That may be a problem we can easily fix. But we need to know -where- it is she's apparating from," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
Snape mentally cursed. These things could never be easy.
---
Harry was dueling with Ron during the afternoon. It was much needed practice for the both of them, and Harry thought it was a sure way that he could get rid of a little excess magic.
The sparks had started yesterday. He was sitting with Ron in the Gryffindor common room, playing Gobstones (Ron had a most commanding lead) and discussing what to do about you-know-what and you-know-who. Harry was giving Ron the sickles they'd wagered over the game, when he shocked him, and shocked him good.
Throughout the game, touching the Gobstones and things of that nature had given Harry a little static electricity-like shock, nothing to be concerned about really, but there were veritable sparks when transferring the coins from his hand to Ron's.
"Nothing to worry about," Ron had said, rubbing his hand. "It's just a fluke."
But the fluke happened again and again throughout the rest of the evening. At dinner Harry accidentally shocked Seamus in passing the potatoes, and the sparks from that had nearly caught Neville's robes on fire. Ron suggested jestingly that Harry go and sit with some Slytherins and catch a few of -them- on fire, but it got Harry thinking once more that he was a danger to himself and those around him. Going back to Gryffindor tower was no better an ordeal, the sparks coming off him nearly sending the Fat Lady into a fit (which was understandable as paintings were highly flammable) and once inside even Crookshanks, Hermione's bandy-legged tabby cat, wouldn't come near him.
He'd stayed up most of the night worrying and watching as the sparks became more numerous and frequent, jolting off his hands and fingertips like celebration fireworks. He had Hermione cast a charm to fire-proof his bed earlier, and it was a good thing too as he'd dozed off and woken the next morning with sparklers for fingers.
Fred and George paid him a visit ("We could use you as a human firework!") and Hermione had come in suggesting that he get rid of some excess magic after some research on such wizarding-phenomenas.
So far, her plan was working for as they'd been dueling, the sparks had all but ceased shooting from his fingertips. While it put Harry's immediate concerns of arson to rest, it did nothing to calm his fears and worries about what was happening to him.
The Dractnox creatures were worrying him to no end. As of late they'd been acting so strange that it frightened Harry to use them or speak to them, let alone watch them. They weren't behaving at all how they first had- that is, if gelatinous floating blobs even had certain standards of behavior. They were showing signs of purely human gestures and emotions as opposed to their seemingly normal indifference to what was going on around them. There were times when they were zipping around so fast it made Harry's stomach do somersaults, and other times when they were stationary for the entire day. They seemed to be showing worry, anxiety, and a general nervousness that put Harry's own nerves on end. From what Dumbeldore's ancient book of the creatures had told him, they weren't at all supposed to be creatures of any human worry or discretions, let alone behavior characteristics.
Moreover, Harry's magic was growing at such an alarming rate that he was having power-overloads, and that didn't just affect him, but put those in his immediate proximity at chance as well. It seemed no one was quite safe from him and there was no warning he could give if something was about to happen. Still, Hermione and Ron stuck by him and tried to help him work through the problem.
"Here, Harry, vaporize this one," Ron shouted as he magicked a large stump into the air. Harry took his aim at it and threw spell after spell at the tree-stump until there was nothing left but the sheer memory. Little to say, they were finding great ways to get rid of an excess of magic in little to no time.
"I'm getting a bit tired," Harry panted as Ron had another stump flying through the air. Harry tossed a few more spells and reduced it to splinters as he sat down on the grass next to Hermione.
"That should be fine for today, if not put you back into working order," Hermione told him as Ron sat next to them.
"Yeah, and if you start sparking up again, Fred and George will always have a job ready for you," Ron told him, grinning.
"They've been calling me 'sparky' all day, and I know they're your brothers, Ron, but if they try to light one more firework off me I think I'll just explode right in their faces."
Ron laughed and grimaced as they saw a familiar face headed their way. "Speaking of things blowing up..."
"Hey Harry," Seamus called as he neared them. He stopped before them, looking a bit anxious. "Snape's been looking for you."
"Great, one problem solved, and here another comes. It just isn't your day, is it, mate?" Ron said contritely.
"What? Why?"
"I don't know, but he didn't look happy."
"Since when does that man look happy?" Ron asked exasperatedly.
Seamus shrugged. "I dunno, but word is that we'll not be seeing you after today. Lee Jordan is taking bets on how quickly Snape curses you into oblivion."
"What?! Why?" Hermione asked with irritation.
"He was really mad, you should've seen him. I heard from Lavender Brown that he came up to Gryffindor Tower yelling all sorts of curses and taking points off people left and right for not finding you."
"I believe the point-taking part, but cursing people?" Ron asked. "I mean, I know it's Snape, but..."
"Well, that's if you believe the type of gossip Lavender spreads around," Hermione said lightly. "That girl is the biggest gossip-monger I know."
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have believed it myself but I heard Ramona Ariati from Ravenclaw telling Alicia Spinnet that she saw it all!" Seamus declared, more interested in bantering with Hermione over the gossip than warning Harry to assume an alias and go on the run.
"But -why- was Snape so mad?" Harry asked exasperatedly. His question went unanswered as Hermione drowned him out to argue with Seamus.
"Ramona is friends with Padma Patil, Seamus," she said quite concisely.
"Yeah, so?"
"Parvati and Lavender share the same room, remember?" For some reason unknown to her, Seamus flushed, and it made Ron smirk. Oh, he knew all about Seamus' little crush...
"We know," Ron said, wanting Hermione to hurry up and make her point.
"Well Parvati and Padma are sisters and -through- Lavender's gossip, Lavender being roomies with Parvati, she told Ramona who told Alicia who you think is your prime source of information. Get your facts straight," Hermione said bluntly. "It's highly unlikely that all that's true."
"Can anyone tell me how this matters at ALL as to WHY Snape is so mad at me?!" Harry asked with aggravation. He already had enough to worry about without the dour potions master being pissed at him for no reason. Well...at least no -new- reason...
"I suggest you go into hiding for awhile," Seamus told him. "-I- wouldn't want to be the focus of Snape's wrath. Not this time, anyways."
"Ugh...Better go face the music," Harry said, rising from the grass and brushing himself off.
"Are you so sure about that?" Hermione inquired with concern.
"I thought you said that the gossip wasn't true?" Ron challenged. "Nothing to worry about?"
"Would -you- want to find out the hard way?" Seamus asked him. Hermione grimaced at the thought. She knew Harry was on some-what okay terms with Snape, as far as training him went, but the man was unpredictable and being a knowledge-hound, Hermione didn't like the unknown.
"Just watch yourself, mate," Ron told him.
"I'll go with you," Hemione volunteered. Afterall, misery loves company.
"No, you stay here with Ron. I'll go see what's up, and if you don't see me tomorrow, send out a search party," he joked.
"We most certainly will," Seamus replied seriously.
Harry bit his lower lip in consternation and padded across the grass to the castle, hoping that Lavender's love to gossip had the facts terribly wrong, like usual.
-------
Okais, if you read it, review it. And to those who hung in there so long....
FlyingPixie: You think -that- took a long time...heh heh heh...Yeah, stupid rabbit. She's crazy like that murderous one from the movie The Holy Grail. Now -that's- entertainment!
Destiny's Dragon: Hope you didn't wait too long:) Thanx!
FlamingIceMuggle: Love the name! Awesome! I hoped people would pick up on the darn rabbit from the beginning. Good to know ya did:)
PaddycakePadfoot: Thanx a bunch and I'm so glad you're still enjoying this. And yes, it is rubbish, but I like doing it, so whatevers:D I'm pleased that you like the plot (Hm, I wonder what that is?) even though, in my sister's words, I don't know jack about plots:D heh heh...Glad you liked the rabbit thingy, it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing:) Thankies so much!
divinething: Don't worry, I wouldn't abandon the story, It may take me forever, but I do get things done. I'm not a quitter:D Yeah, it's all so neat, the latin stuff and whatnot. I don't visit many (if any) harry potter sites, so I was sort of proud that I drew the parallels on my own:D I'm a dork that way, hence my ramblings:) I was so utterly utterly mad at freakin' Belletrix Lestrange in OotP. I refuse to accept the fact. Sirius reigns supreme!! Anywho, thanks for the review and for hangin' in there:)
missjackiesparrow: Thankies so very much, and hope you've gotten that fic-age problem fixed out:) They -are- the best damn movies/books out there!!
Lady-of-the-Dragon-Flame: Heh heh, you went through so much for my fic! Thank you! I must say I found your review quite amusing, and I'll let ya in on a little secret, I too love it when things go wrong for the characters. I guess we are just horrid:) heh heh he...anyways, thanks and hope to hear from ya again!
S.S.I.: Well, hell, thanks for reading it through once more (you were able to without falling asleep? Your butt must be tired:) Anywho, I'm not sure if this is sooner than last time, but hey, here's an update for ya, eh? heh heh...It's nice to see a dedicated reader:D Love ya and thanx for the kind words! Kiminess: Thanx a lot, and hopefully we'll see more action soon:) No, I don't write slash. I've only done slash once, but I can see why you think that. Reading over my stuff I found that it did seem to have a kind of slashy Draco/Harry vibe even though that's not what I'm going for. But whatever, it works. Yeah, I understand what you mean about it losing its shimmer and shine. This is what happens when you go for long epriods without updating and then update out of guilt, not out of plot necessity (in other words, useless filler-chapters). Little to say, my fics have both suffered from that, but I've identified the problem so hopefully it won't happen again:D Yeah, I realized that 'Fawkes' misspelling quite awhile ago, but those chaps are far enough back that I just don't bother. It's cause I took two years of latin, and Faux in latin means 'torch', and I thought it was clever that JKR gave the Phoenix such an insightful name. Little to say, don't write past midnight when you think you know everything:D anywho, thanx for the review and hope to hear from ya again.
Klare: Thank you so much! You're actually the one everyone should be thanking, as since I got your review a few days ago I decided it was high time that I update:D So thank you, and hope to hear from ya again!
Chapter 25: Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire
-------
"Are you quite sure you want to do this, Minerva?"
"I'm quite capable, Albus, if that's what you mean."
"I was only suggesting that you don't have to take the duty upon yourself."
"Posh. I'm not going to let some bumbling ministry official come in here and cause all sorts of unnecessary raucous and alert the enemy that we're onto them. Besides, I'm the only one small enough to fit into the burrow."
It was far past midnight, and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape were en route to the North Courtyard for a bit of sleuth-work. Since the recent discovery of the rabbit and it's devious nature, the courtyard had been "quarantined" under the guise of spraying for agitated, aggravated lawn gnomes to protect the students. Such an excuse was readily accepted after word of what had happened to those Slytherins had gotten around, and the students voluntarily kept their distance.
And now it was time to execute the plan, specifically involving that of sending Minerva down the veritable rabbit hole in her animagis cat form, and seeing where it lead. It had risks, to be sure, and going in after Belletrix Lestrange wasn't a good idea, in animal form or otherwise, but they needed to know from where and how she was able to get in, and if need be, collapse the burrow for the safety of the students.
Minerva was all but adamant at the thought of having some ministry official come out and do the job which she could complete in minimal time and with having the element of surprise on their hands. She felt the situation was too big for the ministry to handle ("The incompetent twits," she said, bristling) and volunteered at the emergency Order meeting to do the task herself. They'd taken far too much time talking and even less action, so she'd volunteered, and this is where it lead them, the cold North Courtyard at three in the morning.
"Remember, five minutes, and get out at that time else we need to come in after you."
"Your concern is duly noted, Severus," Minerva responded with a smug grin. He merely frowned in his Snape-ish way as they awaited the right moment. He hated Belletrix Lestrange more than anything, and even worse than the average Death Eater, she was certifiably insane.
But then, Azkaban did that to a person.
One second Minerva was there, the next a tabby cat sat on the ground in her place. She mewed up at Dumbledore and seconds later disappeared into the hole.
The minutes seemed like hours as they waited in the silence, warm breath turning to steam in the cold of the night. It was silent but for Snape's pacing and the ticking of Dumbledore's pocket watch.
As the five-minute time-limit came and went, they watched the rabbit hole with expectancy. At seven minutes the tension grew. Nine minutes had Snape pacing back and forth muttering various curse words. Once ten minutes had come and gone, Snape was rather unmanageable and even Dumbledore seemed perturbed.
"Does the woman have no sense of time?!" Snape hissed as he glared at the dark rabbit hole. "The limit is twice up! Can she not follow plans?!"
"If I didn't know that you said that out of concern, Severus, I'd have to curse you myself," the aforementioned woman said as she brushed herself off and walked away from the bush.
"What did you find out?!" he asked, ignoring her remark.
"Give her a moment, my lad," Dumbledore told him with a warm smile.
She came to stand before them and finished brushing the dirt off her robes. "The tunnel goes on practically forever and I could smell her scent in it everywhere. She was there recently." "Not surprising."
"When I finally reached the end, I was somewhere within the Forbidden Forest. Far within it. I sniffed around but there was no trail to follow; no scent. I believe, Albus, that she apparates there and then comes to the school in this way."
"That may be a problem we can easily fix. But we need to know -where- it is she's apparating from," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
Snape mentally cursed. These things could never be easy.
---
Harry was dueling with Ron during the afternoon. It was much needed practice for the both of them, and Harry thought it was a sure way that he could get rid of a little excess magic.
The sparks had started yesterday. He was sitting with Ron in the Gryffindor common room, playing Gobstones (Ron had a most commanding lead) and discussing what to do about you-know-what and you-know-who. Harry was giving Ron the sickles they'd wagered over the game, when he shocked him, and shocked him good.
Throughout the game, touching the Gobstones and things of that nature had given Harry a little static electricity-like shock, nothing to be concerned about really, but there were veritable sparks when transferring the coins from his hand to Ron's.
"Nothing to worry about," Ron had said, rubbing his hand. "It's just a fluke."
But the fluke happened again and again throughout the rest of the evening. At dinner Harry accidentally shocked Seamus in passing the potatoes, and the sparks from that had nearly caught Neville's robes on fire. Ron suggested jestingly that Harry go and sit with some Slytherins and catch a few of -them- on fire, but it got Harry thinking once more that he was a danger to himself and those around him. Going back to Gryffindor tower was no better an ordeal, the sparks coming off him nearly sending the Fat Lady into a fit (which was understandable as paintings were highly flammable) and once inside even Crookshanks, Hermione's bandy-legged tabby cat, wouldn't come near him.
He'd stayed up most of the night worrying and watching as the sparks became more numerous and frequent, jolting off his hands and fingertips like celebration fireworks. He had Hermione cast a charm to fire-proof his bed earlier, and it was a good thing too as he'd dozed off and woken the next morning with sparklers for fingers.
Fred and George paid him a visit ("We could use you as a human firework!") and Hermione had come in suggesting that he get rid of some excess magic after some research on such wizarding-phenomenas.
So far, her plan was working for as they'd been dueling, the sparks had all but ceased shooting from his fingertips. While it put Harry's immediate concerns of arson to rest, it did nothing to calm his fears and worries about what was happening to him.
The Dractnox creatures were worrying him to no end. As of late they'd been acting so strange that it frightened Harry to use them or speak to them, let alone watch them. They weren't behaving at all how they first had- that is, if gelatinous floating blobs even had certain standards of behavior. They were showing signs of purely human gestures and emotions as opposed to their seemingly normal indifference to what was going on around them. There were times when they were zipping around so fast it made Harry's stomach do somersaults, and other times when they were stationary for the entire day. They seemed to be showing worry, anxiety, and a general nervousness that put Harry's own nerves on end. From what Dumbeldore's ancient book of the creatures had told him, they weren't at all supposed to be creatures of any human worry or discretions, let alone behavior characteristics.
Moreover, Harry's magic was growing at such an alarming rate that he was having power-overloads, and that didn't just affect him, but put those in his immediate proximity at chance as well. It seemed no one was quite safe from him and there was no warning he could give if something was about to happen. Still, Hermione and Ron stuck by him and tried to help him work through the problem.
"Here, Harry, vaporize this one," Ron shouted as he magicked a large stump into the air. Harry took his aim at it and threw spell after spell at the tree-stump until there was nothing left but the sheer memory. Little to say, they were finding great ways to get rid of an excess of magic in little to no time.
"I'm getting a bit tired," Harry panted as Ron had another stump flying through the air. Harry tossed a few more spells and reduced it to splinters as he sat down on the grass next to Hermione.
"That should be fine for today, if not put you back into working order," Hermione told him as Ron sat next to them.
"Yeah, and if you start sparking up again, Fred and George will always have a job ready for you," Ron told him, grinning.
"They've been calling me 'sparky' all day, and I know they're your brothers, Ron, but if they try to light one more firework off me I think I'll just explode right in their faces."
Ron laughed and grimaced as they saw a familiar face headed their way. "Speaking of things blowing up..."
"Hey Harry," Seamus called as he neared them. He stopped before them, looking a bit anxious. "Snape's been looking for you."
"Great, one problem solved, and here another comes. It just isn't your day, is it, mate?" Ron said contritely.
"What? Why?"
"I don't know, but he didn't look happy."
"Since when does that man look happy?" Ron asked exasperatedly.
Seamus shrugged. "I dunno, but word is that we'll not be seeing you after today. Lee Jordan is taking bets on how quickly Snape curses you into oblivion."
"What?! Why?" Hermione asked with irritation.
"He was really mad, you should've seen him. I heard from Lavender Brown that he came up to Gryffindor Tower yelling all sorts of curses and taking points off people left and right for not finding you."
"I believe the point-taking part, but cursing people?" Ron asked. "I mean, I know it's Snape, but..."
"Well, that's if you believe the type of gossip Lavender spreads around," Hermione said lightly. "That girl is the biggest gossip-monger I know."
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have believed it myself but I heard Ramona Ariati from Ravenclaw telling Alicia Spinnet that she saw it all!" Seamus declared, more interested in bantering with Hermione over the gossip than warning Harry to assume an alias and go on the run.
"But -why- was Snape so mad?" Harry asked exasperatedly. His question went unanswered as Hermione drowned him out to argue with Seamus.
"Ramona is friends with Padma Patil, Seamus," she said quite concisely.
"Yeah, so?"
"Parvati and Lavender share the same room, remember?" For some reason unknown to her, Seamus flushed, and it made Ron smirk. Oh, he knew all about Seamus' little crush...
"We know," Ron said, wanting Hermione to hurry up and make her point.
"Well Parvati and Padma are sisters and -through- Lavender's gossip, Lavender being roomies with Parvati, she told Ramona who told Alicia who you think is your prime source of information. Get your facts straight," Hermione said bluntly. "It's highly unlikely that all that's true."
"Can anyone tell me how this matters at ALL as to WHY Snape is so mad at me?!" Harry asked with aggravation. He already had enough to worry about without the dour potions master being pissed at him for no reason. Well...at least no -new- reason...
"I suggest you go into hiding for awhile," Seamus told him. "-I- wouldn't want to be the focus of Snape's wrath. Not this time, anyways."
"Ugh...Better go face the music," Harry said, rising from the grass and brushing himself off.
"Are you so sure about that?" Hermione inquired with concern.
"I thought you said that the gossip wasn't true?" Ron challenged. "Nothing to worry about?"
"Would -you- want to find out the hard way?" Seamus asked him. Hermione grimaced at the thought. She knew Harry was on some-what okay terms with Snape, as far as training him went, but the man was unpredictable and being a knowledge-hound, Hermione didn't like the unknown.
"Just watch yourself, mate," Ron told him.
"I'll go with you," Hemione volunteered. Afterall, misery loves company.
"No, you stay here with Ron. I'll go see what's up, and if you don't see me tomorrow, send out a search party," he joked.
"We most certainly will," Seamus replied seriously.
Harry bit his lower lip in consternation and padded across the grass to the castle, hoping that Lavender's love to gossip had the facts terribly wrong, like usual.
-------
Okais, if you read it, review it. And to those who hung in there so long....
FlyingPixie: You think -that- took a long time...heh heh heh...Yeah, stupid rabbit. She's crazy like that murderous one from the movie The Holy Grail. Now -that's- entertainment!
Destiny's Dragon: Hope you didn't wait too long:) Thanx!
FlamingIceMuggle: Love the name! Awesome! I hoped people would pick up on the darn rabbit from the beginning. Good to know ya did:)
PaddycakePadfoot: Thanx a bunch and I'm so glad you're still enjoying this. And yes, it is rubbish, but I like doing it, so whatevers:D I'm pleased that you like the plot (Hm, I wonder what that is?) even though, in my sister's words, I don't know jack about plots:D heh heh...Glad you liked the rabbit thingy, it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing:) Thankies so much!
divinething: Don't worry, I wouldn't abandon the story, It may take me forever, but I do get things done. I'm not a quitter:D Yeah, it's all so neat, the latin stuff and whatnot. I don't visit many (if any) harry potter sites, so I was sort of proud that I drew the parallels on my own:D I'm a dork that way, hence my ramblings:) I was so utterly utterly mad at freakin' Belletrix Lestrange in OotP. I refuse to accept the fact. Sirius reigns supreme!! Anywho, thanks for the review and for hangin' in there:)
missjackiesparrow: Thankies so very much, and hope you've gotten that fic-age problem fixed out:) They -are- the best damn movies/books out there!!
Lady-of-the-Dragon-Flame: Heh heh, you went through so much for my fic! Thank you! I must say I found your review quite amusing, and I'll let ya in on a little secret, I too love it when things go wrong for the characters. I guess we are just horrid:) heh heh he...anyways, thanks and hope to hear from ya again!
S.S.I.: Well, hell, thanks for reading it through once more (you were able to without falling asleep? Your butt must be tired:) Anywho, I'm not sure if this is sooner than last time, but hey, here's an update for ya, eh? heh heh...It's nice to see a dedicated reader:D Love ya and thanx for the kind words! Kiminess: Thanx a lot, and hopefully we'll see more action soon:) No, I don't write slash. I've only done slash once, but I can see why you think that. Reading over my stuff I found that it did seem to have a kind of slashy Draco/Harry vibe even though that's not what I'm going for. But whatever, it works. Yeah, I understand what you mean about it losing its shimmer and shine. This is what happens when you go for long epriods without updating and then update out of guilt, not out of plot necessity (in other words, useless filler-chapters). Little to say, my fics have both suffered from that, but I've identified the problem so hopefully it won't happen again:D Yeah, I realized that 'Fawkes' misspelling quite awhile ago, but those chaps are far enough back that I just don't bother. It's cause I took two years of latin, and Faux in latin means 'torch', and I thought it was clever that JKR gave the Phoenix such an insightful name. Little to say, don't write past midnight when you think you know everything:D anywho, thanx for the review and hope to hear from ya again.
Klare: Thank you so much! You're actually the one everyone should be thanking, as since I got your review a few days ago I decided it was high time that I update:D So thank you, and hope to hear from ya again!