A/N: Lalalala.
Stuff.
Anyway, I'm in a funky mood. See waaaaay back in March I took the SAT and today the scores got pre-posted online. Which means I FINALLY know how I did! Woot! Math610, Critical Reading700, The other English section700 and BEST OF ALL, out of 12 points I could possibly get for my Essay I got, brace yourselves...TWELVE POINTS! Woo Hoo! I am not officially and legally smart!
Dance with me!
A spell, quiet and unassuming, echoed back to her across the slowly vibrating wand. It was a first, at least for this venture, and Alex had to pause a moment before she could catalog it. It wasn't a spell she specifically knew, but there were parts of it she recognized.
As confident as she was that she could solve the problem without him(and without scorching her eyebrows off) Alex turned around to where Draco should have been.
He wasn't there.
Throwing herself to her feet she spun 'til she spotted him. He was exactly where she'd left him fifteen minutes ago, reaching into his eighth cabinet, a thin strand of hair falling into his eyes.
And now, fifteen minutes later that strand had yet to complete it's surrender to gravity. A cold chasm opening in the pit of her stomach Alex crossed the distance between them.
"Draco?" making sure not to touch him she waved a hand in front of his eyes. No response. "Damn."
Her eyes falling half shut Alex recast, for the thirteenth time today, the detection spell. It arced slowly, invisibly, across the inches separating them. Gentle, lighting-like fingers twisted themselves into the shape of the spell and…vanished.
"Wh-what?"
Feeling her fears all come crashing in on her head Alex sank to the floor beside the unmoving body of her only ally. Pulling her knees up to her chin, she frantically chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Okay, okay girl. Think. He's not gone. He's just….I don't know what he is. But whatever has him can dispel my Detection…" she frowned and shivered. "…no. No wait! That's not right! It's still there. You fool! You know what a broken spell feels like! It's still there it's just been…" her eyes flew open and she knew she had it. "stopped!"
Lurching to her feet she conjured a handful of dust. With a hopeful grin she tossed it into the air above Draco.
It twisted and swirled, falling until it got within half an inch of him. There it did as his hair was. It stopped in mid-air. Blowing at it didn't effect it.
"Okay! Okay. Draco's been stopped. Umm…" Alex paced a half circle around him, twirling her wand between her fingers. "Umm…so…the…the time has been constrained within about half an inch around him. It's probably a surface following thing…
"Well, the one good thing about all of this is that time does not like to be confined in any way. It'll help the process along if I give it a place to start. Oh Merlin, Malfoy. Learn not stick you hand into small dark places!"
Bracing her feet and pointing her wand at the back of his head Alex muttered, "Might as well try the basics. Finite Inca-" she cut herself off mid-word. "Damn! What if, by ending the spell, I end time for Draco?"
Feeling a migraine coming on she sank back to the floor to think.
Don't be doing something stupid, Lex. Blaise's attention was pulled from his own, dark, worries, by the tiny, almost unnoticed, shiver of his companion.
"Are you cold?" he asked Tania kindly, smiling at her.
She nodded yes but said quietly, "N-no, I'm fine."
Knowing that once some of his worry was freed up from Alex he'd be very concerned about the small girl next to him, Blaise decided that what she said was entirely what she wanted him to hear and that her stuttering wasn't from fear but cold. Lightly, slowly, and very gently he slid an arm around her shoulders. "Let's go get warm. We're both frozen in out steps and I, at least, am starving."
"No. Okay then, fine." The spot inside her cheek that she'd been chewing on had begun to bleed sometime during the last half hour. Three spells and no effect later Alex was getting a little desperate. And what does a Bellmonte do when desperate?
Sticking her thumb into her mouth it came out covered in her blood. "GET A MOVE ON MALFOY!" she yelled jamming her thumb onto the middle of his forehead.
It wasn't until after her skin made contact with his, after he blinked at her in confusion and after he said, "Bellmonte, if you're going for a Wet Willie then you missed," that she realized she'd done it.
And so, of course, she started yelling at him.
"Are you out of your mind! What were you thinking sticking your hand into an unchecked cabinet! Do you know what you did! You STOPPED bloody TIME!"
Draco blinked slowly. "I…what?"
"45 minutes! Almost an hour you were in that same position! I've been working on getting you free for a half hour!"
"Damn." Understanding and concern flashed over his face as he absently wiped his forehead. The bloody he pulled away with his fingers brought some of the confusion back. "Blood, Alex? Blood!"
"I came up with twenty seven spells that might break the spell. Only three were safe to try. None of them worked."
"Why only three?"
"All the rest…well, I wasn't about to do something with even a chance of messing up, or ending, time for you forever. Anyway, I was a little desperate. But…" she tilted her head and looked thoughtful…completely missing the touched, slightly surprised, look that covered Draco's face at her words.
"What?" he prompted after a minute.
"I sent a Detection Spell at you first. It got caught in your time, but, since your time is the same as mine again, it finally 'reported back' I guess. I know mostly how the spell works, and definitely how my counter spell works."
"Good. But I promise you I won't be doing that again."
"I should hope not. Now, come over here and help me with this spell I found. We've wasted enough time already. I want to get this done."
"Is that better?" Blaise began to feel as if he was running a monologue while pulling teeth…or something like that. He never was one to remember Muggle phrases correctly.
Tania slid silently into the seat he pulled out for her, and nodded….silently. Not removing his own cloak, after all they were seated next to the window and the door(which was nearly always open as someone entered or left) he was glad when Tania decided to do the same.
"So, do you have anything in particular you wanted to try?" he asked, picking up and browsing his menu. "Everything here is good, I can vouch as I've eaten it all at least once."
He thought he saw a glimmer of interest from a pair of dark eyes that only appeared briefly above her menu. It was enough of an invitation. "Oh yeah. First off, the Dragon Steak. It isn't real dragon. I know. I've had real dragon. It is a really good try though, so if you aren't sure you want to try actual dragon it's a good place to start. The 'House Sauce' is a little spicy, but you can always ask for regular barbeque if you want it a little milder."
"Spicy is fine." It was spoken exactly like everything else she'd said, but not quite. Blaise clear heard the "What? You think I'm not up to spicy?" that ran through it. He grinned. Sometimes he forgot this girl was a Slytherin just like the rest of them.
"It's good either way. Just don't drink Butterbeer right after you take a bite. It'll cool your mouth like adding pure alcohol to a campfire will put it out." He grinned ruefully. "I know. I've tried it."
Tania snickered.
Blaise sniffed dramatically. "Yes, yes. Do go on and laugh at my pain. How I enjoy it so."
The laughter that emerged from behind the menu was as startling to the giver as the hearer. "Yes, you poor boy. So abused."
"Really." Blaise insisted pitifully. "I am. Will you be the one to save me from this cruel world and the women in it?"
"And if I do…who will save the women from you?" Tania asked. It was quiet, without the brashness that would have infected Alex's voice were she to have made the comment, but the effect was much the same…and Blaise was beside himself for having gotten through to the girl.
"Alas!" he clutched his heart. "You have wounded my soul, but I cannot deny your claims. Come dearest! Make an honest man of me! Marry me!"
There was a long silence, and Blaise was suddenly realizing he shouldn't've said it, when Tania spoke again. The amusement was a little strained but obviously she was making the effort. "Make an honest man of yourself then ask me. You might like the results better."
"Uh," retreating to safer ground Blaise said, "I recommend the Griddle Ribs. They come however you like them, with half a dozen sides and," he reached over and tapped a picture with one finger, "this lovely awesome chocolate…dessert…thingy."
Fifteen cabinets and two spells later(Alex's first one had done what she'd expected and blasted flames all over the place and the second one had tried to wrap them both in steel ropes) they ducked briefly into the large pantry. It was large yes, but empty. There were stains, powders and sticky spots amid the glass covering the floor.
"There was a fight here. I'm thinking right before he left for Hogwarts, else why wouldn't he have bought more food?"
Alex glanced at Draco as they exited the kitchen. "My thoughts exactly."
There was only one more room on the bottom floor, forcing them to officially declare this a tiny house. It was a sitting/living room with a strip of tile stretching from the front door to join with the matching tile in the kitchen. Obviously the 'foyer' per say.
Two dusty, faded loveseats and a table fulfilled the 'sitting' part with a large bookcase and a matching corner cabinet holding the only interesting parts. A second door did sit next to the stairs on the left, probably the hall closet.
"Let's eliminate the harmless looking furniture and all of the foyer stuff before tackling the bookcase and cabinet." she suggested.
"Good idea." Draco agreed, glancing longingly at the cabinet.
It went much as Alex' investigation of the kitchen table had. All of the furniture was clean. Completely normal and spell-less.
"I'll get the closet, you check on the front Wards."
"Sure."
Striding up to the unassuming door Draco cast his spell. It came back. There were no spells of attack on this door. Reaching out he tugged on the handle. For a second it didn't want to move. Just as it began to he heard an annoyed, "Dragon Shite."
He looked over and dove for Alex who was, at that moment, up to her waist in what looked like the welcome mat. Behind him, barely missing his feet as he lay stretched out on the floor, the completely Muggle steel door did as designed and slammed to the floor crushing the Draco that was no longer there.
"Dragon shite," he echoed.
"Umm, Draco?" Alex said pointedly, just a hint of fear in her voice as her Slytherin crest disappeared into the floor.
"Sorry." Sitting back he pulled until he could see her waist, re-gripped with one arm wrapped around her and finished heaving her from the mat. With a final sucking sound it released her feet and they both tumbled back. Draco cracked his head on the metal door and Alex cracked her head on him.
"Ow." It was a mutual sound grumbled by both as they sat up.
"Well, aren't we the brilliant little sleuths," Alex muttered from somewhere below his chin.
Draco chuckled and realized his nose was buried in her hair. "Come on, Bellmonte. Up we go."
Once on their feet the couple levitated the door back into place and turned to the 'interesting' parts of the room.
"Bookcase!" Alex claimed just as Draco said, "Cabinet!"
They exchanged looks and grinned.
A/N: Okay I'm getting fed up. I pretty much plan on having all of the rest of the "Inside Moody's House" stuff in the next chapter.
It may be kinda long.
Snape will definitely be in the one after that as will Voldemort.
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