A/N: First off I majorly apologize. Between work and some other crap(including me being slightly forgetful and lazy) I didn't even realize I vwas late with my update until now. So sorry! The nexttime that happens somebody please review or email me to let me know. I always have my updates ready in advance...I just forget to post them.

Second, there is a little Plot in this chapter. And yes the Plot timeline is a little (just a little) messed up as what is happening now happens right after the bit back in chapter...20?...with the Blaise backstory. It doesn't really matter, just keep that in mind please.

"An-and th-that's what happened m-m'Lord." Wormtail stuttered fearfully.

"So, you've failed." Voldemort hissed quietly, almost gently. Wormtail shuddered. "What do you intend to do about it?"

"I-I th-thought to g-go back tonight. His wards lead me to believe he lives above his store, Master. It could only be in such a place where he would hide the books we search for."

For the first time since Wormtail had reentered his service Voldemort smiled. It was a cruel twisted thing more akin to anguish than joy, but it was a smile nonetheless. Wormtail felt the light go out of the world and wondered, not for the first time, if his Master was kin to the Dementors.

"A thought worthy of being called such has just come from you, Wormtail. I applaud your continued evolution towards sentience."

"Th-thank you milord." I think.

"So, tonight we will go pay this Jackle a visit." In his strange half-body Voldemort appeared to be stretching. "Perhaps the exercise will do me good."

"Yes, milord."

"Of course." Alex muttered to herself, taking the first terrifying step into the darkened room. Once she was safely in Draco moved in behind her, shutting the door with a hard Thunk.

Though dim light filtered in from the tiny window to their right it was far less than enough for them to see by. Alex felt a motion behind her and turned, just in time to see Draco point his wand at her.

"Lumos complexo."

Instead of the blinding light she'd expected a steady, sunlight type brilliance filled the entire house.

"Well," Alex tried to joke, "aren't you useful to have around."

"So I've been told." Between them they eyed the room.

It was a rectangle, with the back door situated about a quarter of the way along one of the long sides. To their left sat a worn wooden table, capable of seating six at a crunch. Only one chair sat next to it, and a bench ran along the wall behind. To their right ran waist high counters and the one window. Practically every other inch was covered with cabinets.

"I'll start left," Alex volunteered.

Draco shrugged. "Alright with me."

Stepping closer to the much marked wooden surface, and resolutely ignoring the bad pun, Alex scanned the scars and stains first. Nothing appeared to be a spell matrix in any of the languages or codes she knew so she took a chance and ran her fingers over the wood.

As she'd expected, nothing happened. It was just a table. And, after a few seconds she could confidently say that the chair was only a chair and the bench likewise harmless. Kneeling down to make sure there weren't any cabinets or anything stored under the bench Alex got a look at the bottom of the table.

"Weird," she muttered, crawling in further.

"What is?" she heard Draco ask, his voice muffled by the cabinet he had his head in.

"There's a scorch mark on the bottom of the table top. Looks like a blasting spell….or…no, maybe a Disarming charm."

"Hmph." Draco pulled himself back out of the cabinet. "Nothing. Well," he glanced over at Alex before moving on. All he could see of her were her shoes and socks, her legs, sticking out from under the kitchen table, the crawling having pulled up her robes. A smirk graced his features. "you know Moody. He probably thought the table was an intruder when he came down for a midnight snack."

"Hmm…..maybe. Or someone could have actually broken in. The person who shattered the door wards?" Alex scooted back out blinking slightly and shaking dust out of her hair.

Draco hurriedly wiped the smirk from his face and turned his back on her before she looked over at him. "Possible. Makes some sense. But then who set it back up like normal?"

"Umm, Moody himself? If it was a long time ago." With a rustle of robes Alex started searching the other cabinets; a light tapping told him she was doing Detection on every one before opening it. Draco rolled his eyes. So far there had been exactly nothing in all five cabinets he'd looked into. And certainly no spells.

Wondering if this was going to be a really long and boring day, Draco fought a yawn before pulling open Number Eight. Something like a cold wind rushed around his hand and up his arm as he reached into it's depths.

An ache settled into his brain, his bones….and time ended for one Draco Malfoy.

"Boys!" a slightly shrill female voice called. Greg and Vince, by previous mutual agreement ignored it.

"Crabbe! Goyle!"

Still the hulking figures lumbered on down the hallway, appearing not to recognize their own names.

"Oh for the love of…Wait!" Putting on a burst of speed Pansy caught up with the two boys and grabbed an arm of each. They actually dragged her a few steps before they "realized" she was there and stopped walking.

Looking down at the smaller(though in reality most people were 'smaller') girl Greg blinked slowly and Vince just stared.

"Didn't you hear me?" Pansy demanded, releasing their sleeves.

After a long silence Vince replied, "No."

Pansy sighed and looked at them both with something like compassion…well at least with less annoyance. "Well, that's alright. I just wanted to know where Draco was."

Greg frowned. "Why?"

"He wasn't in the group heading for Hogsmeade so I thought maybe he wasn't feeling well."

Inwardly Vince winced. Well duh people were going to worry if the Draco didn't show his face at Hogsmeade. They should have put together a cover story or something so people wouldn't dwell on him so much. Well…he heaved a sigh, at least between them he and Greg could divert some of the suspicion.

Then inspiration hit.

"Yeah." Vince said mournfully. "He's not feeling too good. He's in bed."

Greg shot him a glance but played along, nodding his agreement.

"Oh! Poor thing. You men are all absolute babies when you get sick. Do you think he'd be up to a visitor?"

Bad! Uh oh! Red Alert! Run Away! Vince licked his lips, trying to come up with an excuse…

"No." Greg supplied. "Madam Pomfrey said it'll be really contagious for the next six hours, 'til the potions all kick in. We aren't even allowed in our own dorm."

Pansy shrugged. "Oh well. I'll pass the word. Make sure people leave him alone. It wouldn't do for the whole House to get sick."

They both nodded at her.

"Tell Draco, when you see him, that he's to come to us if he needs anything to help his recovery. The collection of cures in the Girl's Dorm is rather impressive."

"Will do." Vince said courteously.

"Gotta run. Stay out of trouble." With a brisk wave Pansy headed off the way she'd come.

A/N: complexo: latin for "emcompass"

A/N...again: Yeah Pansy's a little OOC for the way I was playing her, yes? Well, no, not really. See all we've seen is her trying to well, pick things up where they left off last year. But things have changed and, like all good Slytherins she's adapting.

It's not like she's evil. She'd just not part of the group yet….oh bugger did I say "yet"? Good grief! The next I'll be doing is spilling the beans about the Poker Night.

:Innocent look:

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