A/N: Okay then. I've never gotten around ot doing this so I figured it was about time to thank all of my wonderful reviewin-type people. I adore you all, seriously. That said I have also decided to speak to/answer any questions or comments i found especially important in various reviews(and yes some of this is quite old. You'll have to for give me).

SO, a huge thanks to,

fire-sprite-14

Fireblade K'Chona

sheepdawg

jamesismysweetheart

Severiona Black

Wanamaker

LaLa-the-Panda

Hidden Relevance

Ozalan

Chaotic reign

Bubbles

Jadzania

Linthilde

CarbonMonoxide

Smidgens

katie

FlamingAmulet

mz malfoy

EvilStrawberry

Ehlonna

Now then here's them question things.

When's this set? Since everyone except the Detharts are Harry's age this is during Goblet of Fire.

...oh, poor Draco! Lucius is a stupid bastard. Agreed.

Just one question: what was Alex's motivation for telling Draco that she trusted him? Was it 'cuz she's a little scared, or is she trying to convince herself, or something else that I missed 'cuz I'm silly like that? Well, I don't know 100 myself. It just came out of her mouth, and to be honest it felt like it needed saying. She doesn't like him(mostly), barely knows him but, when it comes down to him or the rest of the world, she'd pick him...cause he's a Slytherin and they understand each other.

Poker Night? please tell more? Well, let me put it this way, at some point this spring(nad by that I mean the Spring I nthe story) the Slytherin girls will be having a sleepover/poker night thingy in Common Room. No boys allowed/enter at your own peril. At some point Blaise may try and crash it. We'll all just have to wait and see if he survives the experience.

I think you made Draco's middle name Lucious. Entirely possible(and thanks so much for the help). Many/Most fanfics do give him his father's name as a middle name so I might have taken the easy way out. As it is, a friend of mine is just starting to read my stuff so if she comes across me actually giving him that as a middle name I'll fix it. If not I'll just stick with the one I have.

the only reason you don't have a million zillion lotsa lotsa reviews is beacuse your story is not on any of the popular pairings, You know, I really want to say thanks for saying that. I was wondering about my lack of reviews(and was blaming several other things) but now that you say it that really does make sense. When I go looking for fics to read I search for pairings I like. Makes sense everyone else would too.

By the way, I would love to know how you picture Alex and Blaise. You don't happen to have a visual of Tania too, do you? Oh yeah. Lots of pics of everybody.(No one that was in the movies though) They're all under my profile at the very bottom. It was easier than trying to post all those links in my ANs. If I left out someone then please let me know and I'll do my best to find/post a pic of them.

Thanx for the update. And also, thanx for being so regular with your updates. My pleasure. It's kinda a head rush. This is the longest thing I've ever written...and that includes the work I've doen on any one of my novels(or even my trilogies put together).

I was also wondering if there is some sort of secret "romance" between Blaise and Alex? No. Really, emphatically no. They are(and will remain) brother and sister. When I get around to writing Blaise's story(which I will...eventually) you'll understand that better.

draco n alex have GOT 2 get 2getha! I know. I know. I'm working on it. But the two of them are just SO stubborn! I can promise you some good stuff in...hmm...five chapters. Or rather four plus this one.

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"I'm going with you this time." Blaise leaned across the bed (Alex was once more inside the boys' dorm) ready to do battle.

Alex shrugged. "Sure."

"And don't you give me tha-" he pulled himself up sharply and looked like he was going to hit her.

She grinned.

"Why do you do that to me!"

"Because I can't help myself." Alex flopped across the bed next to Blaise with a small, Oof. "It's an ingrown urge at this point."

"Agreed." Draco said, his back to them both as he selected a shirt from his wardrobe. "Now did you really have strategy to discuss or was that just an excuse to get past the door guard?"

"Are you implying that I merely wanted to see if I could catch another glimpse of your drool-worthy flesh before breakfast?" she sighed and shook her head sorrowfully. "Sorry to have to be the one to tell you this Draco, but you're a dandy. And dandies look best in their clothes, not out of them."

The 'door guard' smirked, Vince right along with him. Though no one could see his face the tensing of Draco's back gave away his annoyance the way his expression never would have.

Alex almost felt sorry for her remark. Almost. Male egos were so fragile!

"Seriously, Lex. It's early." Blaise groaned.

"Not so early you all weren't up and out of the shower when I got here. You can't blame me for waking you up."

"Girl has a point."

"Why thank you Vince."

He sketched her a bow. "My pleasure."

"I really just wanted to stop by and see if any of you thought we needed a better plan then, 'You three go right and we'll go left'."

"That sounds fine with me." Draco's voice was briefly muffled by a crisp white shirt. "Though I suggest we include a 'Don't touch that' and 'Shut up' clause."

She nodded and stood. "Good. Then I can go eat my morning fruit."

"I'm pairing up with you though, Lex." Blaise stated firmly, seeming, yet again, to expect a fight. Again she shrugged.

"Makes sense. I already trained Draco so he should know what to look for."

"Hey!"

"I'm off to eat my fruit." Alex said in a sing-song voice, speaking over and ignoring Draco's indignation. "See you down there boys."

With a wave and a grin she slipped out the door.

Draco gave up his sputtering and sank onto his bed with a sigh. "You think she'll ever get tired of getting that reaction out of me?" he asked, almost rhetorically, pulling a sock.

"Naw." Blaise replied, grinning. "Not as long as you keep playing it up like that."

Draco matched his dorm mate's grin with one of his own. "Oh good. She's so much fun to mess with. Especially when she thinks she's winning."

Vince snorted. "I don't think she'd be any fun at all if she didn't think she was winning."

"Please," and Blaise was all in earnest, "don't make her lose."

Greg and Vince exchanged looks as Draco lifted an eyebrow at their last dorm mate. Blaise usually wasn't so…quiet? Protective?

"She," Blaise seemed to be debating with himself over what to say and not say, "she doesn't handle it well. And it's not just her personality."

That was all they'd get out of him on the matter. Draco knew that and left it. "Well," he said instead, "if she keeps it up I won't have to fake losing very often at all."

"She's got you there." Greg put in, digging for his shoes.

"And most everywhere else I dare say."

"Your faith in your fellow men is somewhat lacking Zabini." Draco drawled, indolently.

"I don't doubt your prowess in any way, Malfoy. I just know Lex too well."

"How did that come about?" Vince was curious, "The Zabinis and the Bellmontes have no historical connections like they do with the Malfoys…"

Blaise's voice seemed to drop though in reality it didn't change a bit. Maybe it was his eyes. "I didn't get out a lot when I was little. My parents weren't big on handling a toddler and their Peers. So when I did go to my first party…well let's just say Lex rescued me."

From who, or what, he'd been rescued from went unsaid, though Draco had a good idea. The Bellmontes weren't the only one with connections.

"Boys!" an annoying, an all too familiar female voice sounded from the exact top of the stairs. "Uphold the House honor or I'll uphold you!"

Grinning, the four finished their morning preparation and turned out into the hallway to spot Tara Cromwell. In her usual spot exactly four inches from the top of the staircase, hustling(and hassling) lazy Slytherin boys out to breakfast.

There hadn't been a single Slytherin missing at the morning meal since that Incident in Tara's second year. She'd made it her mission, and done a good job at it.

Draco had been on her bad side only once and had made a point of rising early since then. She was just that kind of scary.

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"Umm, Professor?" Henrietta Laurence lifted her hand above her head in an unconsciously graceful movement. This group of Hufflepuffs shared several of the core classes with the Slytherins and had learned, as the Gryffindors hadn't, that if you left the Slytherins alone they would return the favor.

It was no longer a thing of terror to speak up in a class filled with them…and so the question. Moody turned, amazingly enough, both eyes on the girl in inquiry.

"Sir, may I ask, why are there only three Unforgivables? There are a ton of really evil, nasty spells so…" she trailed off. Moody looked thoughtful.

"Sir, if I may?" Draco drawled, lifting his own hand slightly.

And though he nodded agreement the Professor frowned, as if to warn Draco away from something.

Whatever it was Draco couldn't tell so he just started talking. "I completely agree with you Henrietta. The number of truly evil curses is appalling. What really sets the Three apart is ability."

"Ability?" the Hufflepuff asked it without thinking, but she was drinking in his every word(as were most of the class) and so didn't seem to notice.

"Yes, when it comes right down to it anyone can perform an Unforgivable."

"Really?" this from Moody, challenging.

"Of course Professor." Blaise leaned back in his chair and picked up the thread of conversation. "We were so interested in the subject that we did a whole ton of research on them. It would seem, according to the transcripts from the original council meeting where they decided what to include on the list, that all you need to use an Unforgivable effectively is to want it badly enough. Well, that and the spell word. You have to really desire the other person's pain or death or whatever."

Alex waited until he nodded at her on his last word before adding her own two bits. "Most other curses, however nasty the effects are, are much harder to perform and control. It would take a great deal of time and training to learn even a few, and even then, if you don't do it exactly right you might just get caught up in it yourself."

"Oh?" Moody tried not to sound condescending, and failed. His sharp tones were noticed by the whole class and even the Hufflepuffs looked at him in surprise and annoyance. "I find it hard to believe that the lot of you aren't merely making this up off the top of your heads."

And lastly Pansy, of all people, spoke up, her eyes flashing with dislike. "Would examples satisfy you Professor? Because some of the spells in far distant fourth and beyond are known, at least in theory to me. Tied for forth were the Sock spell and the Heartbreaker. Penitus Externus, which quite literally turns the victim inside out, and Viscus Intorqueo, which literally translated means twisted heart. It twists, squeezes the victims heart until it explodes within them. But the only reported uses of those two were in 1816 during the Domburian murders and in 1876 when the great-grandfather of-"

"I see you really have done your homework." Moody cut in sharply, well aware that she was going to bring his own ancestors into this, "Very well. We'll continue this discussion next class. You're all dismissed."

Standing with the rest of the students, Draco waded his way through his own kind to the Others. "Lady Henrietta," he started gallantly, "that was a good question."

She froze, along with all of her friends, to stare at him. "Th-thank you, Malfoy." Her voice drained of all color when his eyebrows twitched at the use of his last name. Surely not all the school had taken up that annoying little habit of Harry Potter's…

"I rather enjoyed an intelligent discussion during class. When one studies with Gryffindors one is often left to fend for one's self."

"I-I…thank you." She stammered again. "Excuse me."

Then without another word, or glance, the whole group swept off, leaving him alone. Draco began to feel That ache in his chest again. But the next instant Greg and Vince had found him again, and Zabini shot him a sympathetic look from his seat.

Draco swallowed the agony of isolation and rejoined his group. His very small group.

"Inflammo Tergum? A nice choice, Pansy, but don't you think that it would be a little...obvious? I mean human torches tend to light up quite a bit of space."

Pansy smiled frostily at Alex's statement. "Well, there is always, Tergum Emoveo."

"Tergum Emoveo?" Draco put in. "Never heard of it."

"Oh?" Alex wasn't paying him any attention at all as she answered, "That one skins the victim alive. I must say out all of the top ten though Decerpo Renovo has got to be my favorite. It's tricky but the effect is both subtle and spectacular. If you cast it correctly it will undo any magical healing the victim has ever had done. If he broke his arm when he was three then it'll rebreak it."

"Really?" Snape stopped beside their group, who were all very aware that Moody was eavesdropping on them, and lifted an eyebrow. "Interesting. The last person I knew who tried to learn it ended up not only resistant to Healing magic but actually reversed it."

"He cut himself and when he tried to heal he cut himself again?" Pansy asked, having grasped his meaning only a second before the rest.

"So I was told. But I believe class is over?"

"Yes sir, professor." They all replied meekly, standing and gathering their books. As one the Slytherins trooped out into the hallway.

"An interesting class." Pansy commented.

"I know." Alex agreed. "I was happily surprised. I'm so proud of our Hufflepuffs, they're learning."

"Well, with us around so much, they'd kind of have to."

"Wow! The two of you are actually agreeing on something." Draco looked from one girl to the other and smiled.

They didn't. Instead both stiffened, as if only just now realizing what they'd been doing and with whom. Exchanging heated glares that almost hissed Pansy whirled on her heel and stalked off.

Alex turned her glare on Draco. "You bloody bastard! Come on. Let's get this over with!"

Blaise held the classroom door open for her, careful to stay out of reach of her claws(which were, at the moment, fully extended).

Both professors had disappeared and the office was shut.

"We don't have much time." Draco muttered to his two friends.

"Ya think." Greg drawled. "You don't have much time to live either, if that look Bellmonte gave you was any indication."

"Oh shut up. I'll deal with Alex later."

"You do that." Alex whispered, her mouth just behind his left ear.

Draco just about jumped out of his skin. "Where did you learn to move so silently!" he hissed.

She laughed, not nicely either. "You'd like to know. Come on Blaise. The boy was right about one thing, we don't have a lot of time."

They split off to the left side of the room. Their actions and spells had to be a great deal more subtle this time, as they were only feet from the man himself, but, with three more competent searchers they still managed good speed.

Low, two-shelf, bookcases ran the length of the room and these, along with the students' desks, were quickly cleared. But then he would've been stupid to hide something there. Almost every book was moved or looked at every week by various classes.

In the natural course of things Draco and his group ended up with the wardrobe, the one that had once held a boggart in Professor Lupin's era. Alex wrinkled her nose. She'd liked Lupin. In many ways he'd reminded her of Snape.

But she had no time herself. She and Blaise had gotten Moody's desk. Oh joy!

"Papers. Papers. Homework, more homework."

"Well, what did you expect Blaise?" Alex muttered, sighing. "Admissions of guilt to a dozen murders? Anything worth copying?"

"Yeah. Just those."

"I got it." Almost before the spell word was out of her mouth Snape's voice filled her ears.

"Very well. I will inform my students."

Shit, shit, shit! Draco! She threw a balled scrap of parchment at him. It hit in the back of his head and he whirled, eyes blazing.

"The spell!" she mouthed, gesturing at the office door. It was still closed. "We have to Go!"

Clutching her copies in one hand Alex's other arm was grabbed by Blaise who hauled her out of the room.

"I was coming anyway, Blaise!" she snapped in the relative safety of a hallway two away from the classroom. "And what about the desk-"

"I had already put everything back."

"And Draco! If he gets caught-"

"Now why would I do that?" Alex fumed at being cut off twice in two sentences, but the sight of all three other boys lifted a weight of worry.

"Draco…!"

"Oh by the way, I have another reason why we should do this…not that we need one."

"Really?" Alex's curiosity killed her anger, for the moment.

"After you left, as we moved to the door we heard Moody say, and I quote, "One of these days, Severus, we'll finish what we started when I gave you that scar on your arm." Moody is after Snape!"

"You were wrong, Draco. We need this one. With this, if we need, we can get any other Slytherin to help. And besides it gives me the right to say this!" And with that Alex proceeded to give lie to the idea that Ladies had clean mouths, calling Moody the longest, foulest string of insults she could think of.

"Well…" Blaise said, blinking, after she'd finished. "that was informative. Tell me Alex, can you really do some of that?"

"How would I know? I'm a Lady."

"Yeah you keep thinking that, Lex."

Meanwhile, standing frozen Draco was cracking up hysterically. "Might I suggest," he gasped around breaths, "that we continue this in Common Room?"

"Boy has a point. Onward to count the spoils." Alex marched off, dragging Blaise as he had dragged her only moments before.

"I have got to know where she learned some of that." Vince said in awe, following her.

"From me." Draco flashed his friends a grin at their surprise. "Oh come now. What else do you think we talked about on the long walk back from Moody's house?"

.

As it turned out the "spoils" weren't much. A few more lists, each as useless as the one found in Moody's bedroom, a couple of other random papers and a letter from an unknown potion's emporium telling him that they couldn't have his order ready until next month.

The stuff Draco had gotten was both better and worse. Better, because they didn't know that it was mostly worthless, but worse because, to be blunt, they didn't have a clue what it was.

"It" was a strange machine, device thing. Draco had only gotten a passing look at it and, while he did manage to cast a copy spell, only got a three dimensional picture of the thing.

It looked mysterious and possibly important…but for all they knew it made his morning coffee.

"Dammit! Damn! It! I want him here!" Alex jabbed a finger at her own palm, her hands clenching unconsciously into fists. "But we have nothing! Less than nothing, because if we're caught with this stuff we're done for. Damn it all!"

Draco sighed, rubbing his eyes. "How's your contact doing with his Ministry records?"

"No go yet. Moody was an Auror, I can't just ask for them. Plus I'm going about this without my parents' influence…or permission for that matter. What about yours?"

"Same, same and exactly right. Without my parents pushing on them…well they aren't nearly as inspired to help me."

"Can't you just ask you parents?" Greg asked. Unknown to his friends his home was normal…esque.

"No!" they both shouted at once, drawling the attention of their Housemates.

"No." Alex repeated softly. "I hate to say it like this but if you can even ask that question then you couldn't begin to imagine…"

"We can't." It was all they'd get out of Draco.

The clock on the wall calmly informed the masses that it was dinner time. They all stood, but Alex moved away from the group.

"I'm not hungry. Plus I have a carriage-load of homework."

"Alex…" Vince looked concerned at her.

"Come on." Blaise said softly. "Let's go. I'll bring you something back Lex."

"Thanks."

"De nada."

"Show off." Gathering up the evidence Alex went up to her room. She decided that she had a headache and shut all the blinds. Sitting on her bed in the dark she sank into dark thoughts of past wrong and future revenge.

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A/N: I don't know why I ended it so dark. Heck I don't know why I do half of what I do when I'm writing. It's all instinct and, "Yeah that should go that way." (I also don't kno why Balise can speak a little spanish. Maybe it's because half the chefs at the restaurant do. :shrug:)

Anyways, you all know the drill. I'll see you next Monday and don't forget to go check out the pics in my profile.