A/N: I own nothing

Saturday, September the twenty-third came far too quickly for Clio's taste and in the days before the Earl's arrival, the castle had miraculously become spotlessly clean and the grounds, perfectly manicured. Dumbledore also seemed rather twitchy and Clio had felt him try to enter her mind several times, only to be repelled by her Occlumency shields, which the Earl had helped her build over the summer and which she continued to strengthen everyday when she meditated. Now that she thought about it, all the teachers seemed a bit twitchy over the last few days, well not so much twitchy as worried and uneasy. Just Dumbledore was twitchy and Hermione was both excited and nervous. Even Umbridge was nervous and jumpy, despite the fact that she had been name 'High Inquisitor of Hogwarts'. In fact, Umbridge appeared to have forgotten about her appointment the moment it became known that the Earl would be coming to Hogwarts. Sighing a bit, Clio looked at the clock. Adam would be here in a half an hour, so she needed to get ready.

"Hey, Mione." said Clio as she walked over to her wardrobe "Could you help me pick something to wear?"

"Sure." said Hermione as Clio unlocked her wardrobe and opened "Holy cricket. Since when did you own all these clothes?"

"Since Road decided that I was the perfect person to use as a doll for her fashion experiments." grumbled Clio "She gives me anything that she claims looks good on me and she's the one that shoved everything that isn't a school uniform in my trunk. I personally think that she feels the need to spoil me with new clothes since I had such horrible hand-me-downs."

"I remember those." said Hermione with a shudder "Though you never told me why you had them when you had enough money to buy new clothes."

"It was habit." said Clio "One of many that had been ingrained into me over the course of my childhood and that my fiancé has been trying to correct. I never had new clothes. All I had was clothes that my whale of a cousin grew too fat to wear but even then, I was only allowed to have three outfits." Hermione looked at Clio for a long moment as if she were seeing her friend for the first time. She looked like she wanted to say something but wisely decided against it.

"Let's take a look at what you've got." said Hermione "Then we'll pick out something that works." It took several minutes before they decided on a dark gray knee length skirt and a purple blouse with a dark gray blazer and black loafers. Once dressed, Clio brushed her hair and used her star shaped hair clips to keep her bangs out of her face.

"So, how do I look?" she asked.

"You look good." said Hermione with a smile "Come on, we need to get down to the Entrance Hall." Clio nodded and the two of them quickly left Gryffindor Tower.

-meanwhile-

"Quite an impressive castle." said Sheril as he looked up at the castle upon stepping out of the Ark gate after the Earl. Getting no response, he looked at the Earl, who was clenching his jaw while his amber eyes were practically glowing.

"Duke Millennium?" questioned Sheril before the Earl exhaled softly, his whole body relaxing.

"Someone tried to catch me unawares with a compulsion spell as I stepped through the gate." said Adam before giving Sheril a reassuring smile "No harm done though. The spell burned away after a moment and it won't happen again now that I'm aware but I suggest you keep your guard up, Dezaiasu."

"I will." said Sheril as they walked up the path to the front doors "If I may be so bold as to ask: Why did you chose me to accompany you today?"

"I needed someone to deal with the politicians." said Adam "I'd like to spend some time with Clio and not get interrupted by idiotic politicians."

"So you brought me to throw me to the wolves?" asked Sheril with a sweat drop.

"Yes." said Adam.

"How kind of you, Duke Millennium." said Sheril as he looked up at the castle that seemed foreboding and welcoming all at once "Ah." he saw a few people standing on the front steps "It seems as though the welcoming committee is present. Though I don't see Lulubell."

"She's just beyond the doors with Clio." said Adam. Sheril nodded and slipped on his business face as they reached the steps.

-back inside-

Clio toyed with her ring nervously until Lulubell placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He's here." said the shapeshifter "And he's not as upset as expected." Clio nodded and straightened her skirt before sighing heavily.

"Did he bring anyone with him?" asked Clio.

"Sheril." replied Lulubell.

"Ah." said Clio.

"Who's Sheril?" asked Hermione.

"A family member." said Clio "He's the Minister of Portugal as well as a skirt-chaser and a flirt." Lulubell snorted.

"Understatement of the century." she said before looking up as the front doors opened and the Earl came through with Dumbledore and Minister Fudge trailing just behind him, trying to speak with him. The Earl stopped and turned to them.

"We will have this conversation after I have a word with miss Potter." said the Earl "We can discuss things as we wait for Nathaniel Davis of the International Confederation of Wizards to set up the arrays in the Great Hall. He should be here in no more than a half hour. Until then, I'll be having a private conversation in Professor Millennium's classroom." With that said, the Earl motioned for the three of them to follow and walked off down the hall with them and Sheril not far behind him. Once they were safely in Lulubell's classroom, he threw a slew of wards up with a wave of his hand before sighing heavily as he ran a hand down his face. Clio hesitated before approaching him. Carefully, she placed a hand on his arm and he covered it with his own hand, giving it a light squeeze before letting go as he turned to face her. His fingers traced her jawline before he placed a kiss on her forehead as he pulled her into his arms. Her arms wrapped around his torso as she rested her cheek against his chest.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"No, I'm sorry." he replied "I should've expected this to have happened. You can't deny your nature just like I can't deny mine." he pulled back and offered her a gentle smile "Now, why don't you introduce me to your friend, my muse?" Clio nodded and turned to Hermione.

"Adam, this is my best friend, Hermione Granger." said Clio "Mione, the is Adam Millennium, my fiancé."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Hermione." said Adam with a smile while mentally noting at how intensely Sheril was staring at Hermione. Oh, could it be possible? Could Clio's friend be Sheril's soul mate?

"Likewise, lord Millennium." said Hermione and Adam saw Sheril swallow nervously as he shifted slightly. Adam mentally cackled. This was just too good. From what Clio had told him about her friend, Hermione didn't really fall for good looks or status and she absolutely hated perverts. Which meant that Sheril would actually have to work to get his mate's affection instead of having her fall at his feet like all the other women did. This would be most interesting~

-line-line-

The Great Hall was oddly silent, the handful of people assembled in the hall watching quietly as a mid-aged wizard drew a runic array in the center of the hall. Once finished, he turned towards Clio.

"Miss Potter," he said "Could you please stand in the center of the array?" Clio nodded and walked forward, carefully stepping over the lines and runes that made up the array before coming to stand in the center. Once she was situated, the wizard turned to Adam, Dumbledore, and Fudge.

"This array is designed to reveal what type of elemental a person is and from which of the known elemental families they are descended from." said the wizard "It will also reveal if they have a soul mate and if the person is within this room, a thread of magic will connect the two of them."

"Very well, you my begin, Mr. Davis." said Dumbledore. The wizard snorted before pulling out his wand and touching it to one of the lines of the array, muttering a spell that made the runes and lines glow bright with magic. He took a step back as the array began to flash numerous colors.

"What do those colors mean?" demanded Fudge.

"The red flash is fire affinity," said Nathaniel as if he were talking to a small child "Blue is water, green is earth, yellow is wind. The various color shades and colors blending indicate control over all known sub-elements. The black and white melding but still remaining separate is a sign of the Ancient House of Evans, the founder of all elemental lines and families." Clio could see Dumbledore and Fudge practically drooling at this news "The silver sparks indicates that she does indeed have a soul mate while the golden glow indicates that the bond has already begun to form and subtle pulsing of the glow indicates that the bond is stable but still immature." Clio kept herself from smirking when she saw the shocked looks on Dumbledore's and Fudge's faces as their plans were quickly destroyed "Let's see if I can find out any other information." Nathaniel prodded the array with his wand and a golden thread of magic shot out from the array and delicately wrapped around Adam while a second thread, this one silver, just wove about the array like a snake, seeking something that obviously wasn't there "Unusual. It appears as though miss Potter has two soul mates. One being lord Millennium while the other has yet to be found." Nathaniel deactivated the array and Clio wobbly made her way out of the array and over to Adam, who placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her over to one of the tables to sit down. Adam placed a soft kiss on her knuckles before returning.

"Thank you, Nathaniel." he said as the ICW wizard banished the array.

"It was my pleasure." said Nathaniel "If you ever need anything else, just let me know." With that said, Nathaniel turned and left. Once he was gone, Adam turned to Dumbledore and Fudge.

"I hope you found that highly informative." said Adam "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to spend the rest of the day with my fiancée. Good day to you gentlemen." Turning, Adam walked back over to Clio and offered her his hand, which she accepted with a smile. Once she was back on her feet, the two of them headed out of the Great Hall and away from the two problem causing wizards.

"Clio, why don't you give me tour of this charming castle?" asked Adam "We can talk about how your schooling has gone so far as we walk." Clio nodded and took the lead, her fingers intertwining with Adam's as they walked.

"Where would you like go first?" she asked.

"Let's start with the first floor." said Adam with a soft smile.

"Okay." said Clio "This way." She lead him through each floor, showing him where each of the classrooms were and occasionally introducing him to her professors. The last place she took him to was Gryffindor Tower (at his insistence). They didn't stay there long as several of the girls actually had the gaul to flirt with Adam while Clio was standing there next to him and Ron had decided to make an ass of himself by insulting Adam and trying to rile him up (with no success).

"I'm so sorry about my housemates." said Clio as they headed down the Grand Staircase.

"It's nothing, my muse." said Adam as he lifted her hand up to his lips and kissed it "Sheril's parties are far, far worse when it comes to flirting women. Which is why I prefer to not attend them." he entwined their fingers as his free hand pulled out his pocket watch "It seems as though we missed lunch."

"We can go down to the kitchen and get some food." suggested Clio shyly "We can even eat it down by the lake if you want."

"An excellent idea, my muse." purred Adam "Lead the way."