As the roaring and crackling of the emerald-green flames dissipated, Alex Russo saw that she was now standing in a hall larger, she was sure, than any cathedral that stood in Manhattan; its dark stone walls and wood floors boasted a grandeur she had never before seen in Muggle London; a golden statue stood at the center of a playing fountain, displaying a house elf standing to one side of a wizard, whose wand was aloft; the elf's ears and the wand of the wizard spouted water, as did the leveled bow of a centaur, the wand of a witch, and the hat of a goblin. Unlike in many of the moving photographs she had seen, Alex' noticed that the faces were not upturned toward one another, but toward some indistinct, often elusive concept… the future.

"Mr. Russo," said a witch just shy of middle age, "Mr. Russo, I'm Padma Patil, head of the Muggle Liaison office. I was told to direct you to the Auror office. You're needed there."

"What about me and Stevie?" asked Alex, finding her girlfriend's hand with her own, taking hold of it. "Where do we go?"

"As many Muggles are still unaware of the present situation, you and Stevie Nichols will be on the Neighborhood Watch program, in the Ordinary Magical Law Enfocement Department. Justin and Max can-"

"Uh," said Justin, "I'm not sure sending Max somewhere is necessarily a good idea, Ms. Patil."

As if on cue, Max asked, "Does my wand make my ass look big?"

Padma nodded to Justin. "I see... Max, we'll need you to find our snipes, out of Experimental Charms. They're small birds that're invisible to the human eye."

Max nodded. "I get to find birds? Awesome!" For a moment, Max appeared elated. Then, as though someone had messily glued on his features, his face fell. "But... if they're invisible to the human eye, how am I going to find them?"

Padma Patil turned to Jerry Russo with an "Is-He-Bloody-Serious?" look, her brows raaised, a clear frown etched on her face. Jerry returned the gesture with an "I'm-Afraid-So" shrug. "Max, they're only visible through the eye of needle." Padma Patil withdrew her wand from an inner pocket of her Ministry-issue robe, twirled it once in the air, and caught it in the palm of her hand. "Just look through this. We'd love more people looking for the snipes, but right now so many people are looking for Flamel that we really can't be bothered." Handing Max the needle, she straightened. "Where were we before the conversation turned to snipes?"

"You were just about to assign me," said Justin, looking the voluptuous Padma Patil up and down. "Twate - I mean... whatever my assignment is, I'm okay with it."

Padma smiled vaguely and said, "There aren't many qualified people in the Department of Mysteries, right now, to help the Unspeakables. You're sufficiently qualified that you might be given access to the Department."

Alex, who until that moment had been preoccupieed with holding Stevie's hand and stroking her hair, looked up. "Wait... you mean Dad's going to the Auror Office and Justin's working with the Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries? Uh... Ms. Escadrille, I'd like to be reassigned."

Padma stepped forward. "I'm afraid that's not possible. Ms. Russo, we need more people than ever on the ground." She turned to Jerry. "Mr. Russo, unless Muggles seem to know too much about confidential Ministry information, it shouldn't be necessary to Obliviate. British Muggles have more-or-less accepted the existence of Wizardkind. Mr. Potter heads your Department. Ms. Russo, Ms. Nichols, you'll work under Seamus Finnigan. Sustin, your partner is Phillius Plum.

"If you excuse me, I'm required to speak with Scotland Yard about something that is more than just a rash of break-ins." She stepped into the fireplace and disappeared in the writhing, licking emerald flame.

A world away, Harper put on Ugh, neither angry at, hateful of, or loving her ex-best friend. After all, she had not been informed of the girl's homosexuality until that morning; apparently, it meant nothing that she had been the girl's best friend. And because of that, not knowing something big was nothing that could possibly have hurt her.

After sitting on her bed a while, she looked over at the computer on her desk and noticed a new IM from Cody Martin, one of her regular contacts from several years before.

zm: u there harper?

After a moment of hesitation, Harper typed her reply.

h: yeah. what's goin on?

She only had to wait a moment.

zm: bailey broke up w/ me

h: y?

zm: i was reprogramming the particle accelarator when bailey walked in saying we needed 2 talk. when i asked her what was on her mind, she said she'd been doing some thinking, and that while she loved me and thought i was cute, she didn't love me that way.

There was a long pause in which Harper did not breathe. She was about to respond when she saw Cody's three-word reply: bailey's a lesbian.

what?

xm: sum grl named miley stewart walked into the room, asking bailey if she was ready to go on their d8.

h: wtfh? that little snatch! u didn't deserve her, cody! neither does that little twat, miley stewart!

Harper wanted to type more, but she was unable to find the words to convey her true feelings for him.

zm: harper?

h: yea?

A pause.

zm: i'm lonely. i need u 2nite.

Seamus Finnigan paid for the drinks of his new subordinates and sat down at the table by the window of the Leaky Cauldron. Setting the drinks down, he said, "I hope you'll forgive us for the short notice." He sipped his firewhiskey. "The Ministry's been swamped after all this started. You wouldn't believe all the shite we've been dealing with in the past few days."

Alex neglected her gillywater and leaned forward. "So, what're we supposed to do first?"

"We've established patrols in most parts of Britain. Dufftown's about where security really starts amping up; we've got enchangments up the arse anywhere closer than that to Hogwarts."

"What about the Muggles? Do they know anything about this?"

"Their governments definitely do. They were a bit skeptical at first, but with a few well-placed Confundus Charms, the less willing ones caved. It sounds easy, I know, but it's not."

"We didn't have to use magic to convince some Muggles to wear Shield Hats and the like, said Paige Paisley, who sat down at the table next to them and sipped at her mead. "Some of them don't take them at face value... you know, for what they really are, but there were a few that had more than an inkling of what's going on. Those're the ones we least have to worry about."

"So, basically we just patrol the streets?" said Stevie incredulously, finishing off a shot of Barman Tom's sake.

"Just about," answered Seamus. "That, and we investigate anything that doesn't sit right. If you can help, though, call for the Auror Office, first. They'll really help in a tight corner.

"But... how're we supposed to catch this Flamel creep?" said Alex. She held Stevie's hand, her other occupied with her untouched glass of gillywater. "What's the chance that he'll just walk into a crowded public place and have fifty curses hit him at once?"

"Alex," said Stevie, "That would never happen. I'm sure we've got some sort of battle plan." She looked to Seamus, who nodded.

"Most Dark wizards try to learn from their own mistakes and the mistakes of others. The thing, though, is they end up making entirely new mistakes as a result. I've got a fairly good team tracking leads as it is. If they have a whiff of anything, they'll put it through to me. That's when we call in the Aurors."

"So, it's a little like a Muggle police raid?" said Alex, her eyebrows raised. "You wait for reinforcements at some old, creepy abandoned wearhousethat may or may not house the sick experiments of some random-ass Dark witch or wizard? Great, I can already see where we'll end up... back at square one."

"Erm... what?"

"All the ensigns in Star Trek end up dying first! I mean, it's called expendability for a reason!"

"Again... what?"

"Oh... this isn't Star Trek? Well, that explains why I'm still alive."

"You think this is a jokie?" said Dean Thomas, who was leaning against the wall and had refused drink. "Russo, you're no better than the fuck-hole Mundungus Fletcher who was supposed to be fighting alongside us against You-Know-Who! He was such a coward, the little cunt was, that he Disapparated when things got tough. An' who dies because he dodged the curse? Mad-Eye Moody!" Dean huffed and shook his head, then looked away.

"You know," said Seamus quietly, "he's right. I know you think a lot of this is rubbish, but people've already died at the hand of Flamel. I won't even let me grandkids out of sight, next time I see them."

Soonafter, Alex and Stevie retreated up the stairs of the bar for the night. Alex stared out the window at the unseen Muggle street far below, watching the carriage lights of a train flicker past.

After some time, she changed into a tee-turned-negligee and returned to staring out the window, looking for some vague, long-forgotten truth that she had missed.

"C'mere, babe," said Stevie, who now wore only a leather choker and her clitoris piercing. She was considering a navel piercing, and the Norwegian Ridgeback tattoo was plainly visible in the lights of the train carriages. "I want to take that nightie off of you and fuck you real hard." She kissed Alex' neck and fondled a firm, round buttock. "C'mere, babe... please? You don't have to if you don't want to."

In her mind's eye, Alex saw herself as she had been the day she'd met Stevie Nichols.

She'd been in detention with Larry-Tate, and even though she'd passed the hottie in question in the hall, she had either never found the time, courage or opportunity. Alex had desparately wanted to talk to her, but something had stopped her.

Regardless, that one detention had been a journey toward epiphany, revelation.

"Hey," said Stevie, walking up to Alex. "I'm Stevie Nichols." She held out her hand.

"Alex Russo." Hesitantly, she said, "you, uh... you wanna get a smoothie, or something?"

Stevie smiled. "You're checking me out, aren't you?"

"What? No!" Alex snorted. Realizing her uncertainty, which had never crippled her like this, she cleared her throat. "Uh... actually, y... yeah. I just... I've never met... I mean..." Her words had failed her. For the first time in her life, Alex Russo realized that she was infatuated; somehow, though, she knew it would last this time.

"I gotta show you something, Alex," said Stevie, grasping her hand. "If you're not okay, you don't have to."

Alex found that something in Stevie's eye was impossible to refuse. "Okay." For a moment, Stevie merely smiled at her. Then, she turned on the spot and Alex was following int the crushing darkness, which squeezed the breath from her.

The bands that seemed to be compressing, tightening around her relaxed until she could feel the breeze on her skin. She opened her eyes; atop the Empire State Building, she felt as though she was on top of the world. The sun was sinking toward the horizon, but hours of daylight still remained. "The Muggles won't see or hear us," said Stevie, smiling with her broad mouth. "We could say or do anything we want up here, and no one'll ever know." She was tantalyzingly close to Alex, who was transfixed on her smile.

"Stevie... Stevie, I've dated a few guys, but to feel this way about a girl... about anyone... it's something entirely new to me. I'm so..." She was unprepared for the kiss that had suddenly been planted on her lips; although they were quite as dry and chapped as the lips of many of the boys she had kissed, this new sensation spreading throughout her body was alarmingly brilliant... and right. They drew away from one another to assess their feelings.

Alex knew without having to open her eyes that the girl she had just kissed had opened her own. She, on the other hand, knew that she had found someone who understood her, knew how she worked; her heart, anyhow. I am so going to have to tell her this is never what I'm like, she thought. Not now, though. Let's see where this leads.

Opening her eyes, Alex found Stevie's face only inches from her own. "Well?"

It was then that she felt the most peculiar sensation of the wind on her open lips. "I..." For the first time, words failed to describe a kiss. It was perfect, but... "It's more than perfect," she murmured to herself. She leaned in for another kiss and found that Stevie's lips were sweeter than cotton candy, glossier than the pages of a fashion magazine, and as immovable as stone, though they yielded to her every touch, want and need. They were lips such that Alex wondered why she had ever dated members of the opposite sex, it was such a perfect kiss.

Okay... kisses, plural. It was difficult for Alex to stand; the jelly-like feeling in her knees was spreading throughout her boyd. But she felt a new sensation, that of her arms, as though she were Imperiused, allowing themselves to travel up to Stevie's shoulders. There, they rested long enough for a tongue to slide into her mouth and learn her teeth like a blind man reading braille, counting them, memorizing every molar, every canine... Every cavity from eating too much cake, anyone?

Stevie's tongue found hers, and as surprised as she was to feel it, she moaned in response, wanting it to last forever, to seem new for just as long. Now she was holding both sides of Stevie's face, a silent plea in a dead ancient language that told her a flame had been ignited in her heart that would not die with a kiss alone.

Feeling a hand slide down to her ass, in spite of all the attention her waist had been receiving thus far, she knew the girl had yielded. The hand, while firm, guiding and experienced, was gentle, almost reassuring. It slid up and down the length of her thigh, then returned to her ass, where goosebumps had formed; her skirt, after all, was only so long.

Whatever madness had possessed her, Alex felt a heat rising in her that she had never felt before, something far more powerful, even, than the passion she had talked herself into believeing she had for the boys she had gone out with. That, it seemed, broke the crucial link between reality and fantasy. She turned and felt her fingers curl around the metal bars of the safety wall, felt her back arch. Her eyes were closed, and her lips parted, her head turned instinctually. Alex felt strong arms embracing her, felt one hand slide gently, innocently downward.

The hot breath on her neck tickled, and an impossible effort kept Alex from coming. Stevie's lips met her neck, traced a gentle pattern of arousing sensuality, letting it flow across her body.

Stevie's hand had reached Alex' pantyline, had stopped there to torture her. No... thought Alex. No, she stopped there to study me, see what I'd do. Stubbornly, Alex stayed her body and mind, not allowing herself to plead for release. She waited, impatient but with steadfast resolve. It was so powerful that, while it made her hotter and hotter, it hurt in the deepest, most God-awful way.

Stevie's hand crept steadily beneath the waistband of Alex' panties, a maddening, aching, burning, tickling numb sensation that began in her midriff and crept northward into her small breasts, tightening her nipples, then double-timed its way down into her legs, finally reaching her tight, moist pussy. She felt herself whimpering in aroused agony, knew a finger touching her clit. Alex had never been touched there, and it seemed at that moment as though unexplored possibilities had flung open doors she had never known to exist. Her mouth opened and she cried out her acknowledgement of the fact.

Stevie pinched Alex' clit, gaining a cry of arousal from the girl who had so willingly and literally bent to her power. It was no surprise and at the same time a delightful surprise, therefore, that Alex felt a finger enter her pussy. The warmth of the lesser extremity was such that it surpassed, not only her expectations, but her heated arousal, as well.

"Stevie..." panted Alex. "Stevie, make me come! God, I wanna come!"

Stevie laughed and gradually began to penetrate further into Alex, who moaned with an increasing pleasure she was still certain could not possibly exist in the real world. It was impossible not to arch her back, allowing the penetrating fingers to burrow deeper into her. She allowed her head to fall back, giving her, through her closed eyelids, a snapshot of the light just hours after noon, an no more than two or three hours to sunset.

A warmth flowed through her, a tingling sensation that she soon realized was orgasm. I've never gotten off, before, she thought to herself. I've never gotten off, not really. I'd always thought I had. The feeling lasted long after she thought her body would have drained of fluids. She turned slowly on the spot to Stevie, who stood there and smiled. "How'd you like that?"

Alex answered by kneeling and unzipping Stevie's jeans...

Alex woke the next morning, still naked and lying with her arms wrapped around Stevie, who snored lightly and did not stir as she heaved herself from the bed and stood to stare out the window. The Muggles on the streets below went about their business, unaware and unconcerned that she stood there, her slightly-imperfect triangle was just as plain as the nose on her face. She turned at Stevie's touch. "Morning, babe," said Alex, her waist instinctually moving into Stevie's.

"Morning, babe," replied Stevie, bending and kissing Alex, who allowed herself to be pressed against the glass of the window.

"Oh," moaned Alex. "Aaah, God! I feel so fucking hot!"

"Watch your language," minded the talking mirror in one corner.

"Shut up," muttered Stevie, waving a hand at it and causing the bedsheet to levitate over and drape it like a curtain. "Alex... the sex last night was incredible." Stevie smiled her most mischevious smile, the dimples on her face prominent. "You sure do know how to use your hands..."

"And you know how to use your tongue..." Alex kissed Stevie.

A bright, pearl-white light blossomed from nothingness in the middle of the room, and as Alex turned to look, the Patronus spoke. "Alex, get down here, now... bring Stevie with you." Justin's voice carried only long enough for the silvery light to vanish.

Looking at Stevie, she moved and grabbed randomly at her pile of clothing...