Taylor led Lily back to the main lobby of the bank. Taking her to one of the many doors that read 'Staff Only,' she stopped and looked at Lily. "This is the conference room," she explained, "There should be at least one slacker in here. My bet is that it's Aiden."

Turning the brass handle, Taylor revealed a large room. There was a long table in the center with about two dozen black swivel chairs. Two men were occupying a pair of these chairs and appeared to be seeing who could spin the fastest. "C'mon old man, you've gotta do better than that!" cried one of them.

Taylor rolled her eyes at Lily, who giggled in response. Noticing the girls' presence, one of the men stopped his eyes wide. The other stood up and called out triumphantly, "Yes! I knew that there was no way you could beat me!" Swaying dangerously, the man fell back into his chair. "All hail Aiden McHugh, master of the swirly chairs!"

The man who had lost the competition stood up and swayed slightly. Catching his balance, he walked over to Taylor and Lily. "Hello Taylor," he said in a deep, gravelly voice.

"Hey Skippy," Taylor answered. "This is Lily Evans, the new curse breaker. Lily, this is Austin Skipper."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Skipper," Lily said politely, shaking his hand.

"Same to you, Lily. I won't have this 'Mr. Skipper business though. Call me Skippy," he replied. Skippy could probably be Lily's grandfather. He had snow colored hair, although there was a full head of it. Skippy had light blue eyes, which were magnified by his large glasses. Standing at around 5'7", Lily pinned him at around the age of 70. Despite his age, Skippy exerted some boyish charm that drew you to him. He was very plump, though showed some signs of once being athletic. He resembled Santa Clause greatly, just missing the mustache and beard.

"I'm sorry to run like this, but I was supposed to be in a meeting ten minutes ago. I'll just tell the Lestranges that I was in a conference," Skippy said. He walked out of the room with a wink towards his former competitor. Nearly as soon as he had disappeared, his head popped back in. "Aiden – you got lucky this time. Next time, you're going down."

The other man shot him a smile and said, "Bring it, old man." With another wink, Skippy was gone again.

The man named Aiden stood up and walked over to Taylor and Lily. As he approached them, Lily saw that he was very good looking. He was probably around 6 foot and had broad shoulders. His copper colored hair was floppy and reached just below his ears. He had dazzling light green eyes and wore a smile that screamed 'I know I'm good looking.'

Taylor shot him a disapproving look and said, "This is Aiden McHugh. Aiden, this is –"

"Lily Evans!" he said. To the girls' surprise, he gave Lily a huge hug, picking her right off the ground. "I thought that you'd never get here! We're gonna be the best of friends, just you wait."

"Umm…Aiden?" Taylor asked cautiously. "How do you know Lily?"

"Oh, umm," he started nervously, putting Lily back down. "They've had her name plate up for a week now! Yeah, that's it…" he trailed off, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself rather than the girls. "It's been so lonely not having anyone next to me." Here, he pouted slightly, making his eyes seem even lighter than before.

"Aiden, you are the weirdest person I have ever met," Scarlet stated with a slight frown on her face.

"Love you too, Taylor," he said offhandedly. "Anyway, I want to get to know you better Lily! Have a seat," he said, motioning to the chairs.

Sitting cautiously in the nearest chair, Lily was more than a bit shocked at this man's friendliness. And to think he was the best friend of Anthony Dolocelli!

"Okay," Aiden started. "You went to Hogwarts." This was not a question but a statement.

"I'm really very sorry, but you are scaring me," Lily said nervously.

Throwing his head back and laughing, Aiden just seemed very amused. "Lilybean, you haven't seen anything yet."

The three sat there for another half hour, talking and getting to know each other. Unknown to them, there was another listening to them the entire time. Standing at the doorway, Anthony Dolocelli hung to their every word.

Rushing to his office, he pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. Writing two simple words on it, he hurried over to his owl. "Take this to him as soon as possible," he whispered.

Many miles away, a pure black owl flew into a window, right into spider-like hands. Taking the letter, the unnaturally long finger opened the envelope. As he read the two words, a smirk formed on his thin lips. There was a malicious glint in his blood red eyes as he said to his followers, "It's her."

OMG! I'm alive! Sorry that I haven't updated in a while…5 months isn't THAT long, is it?

Isabel