The Yule Ball

"I know," Elrohir said apologeticly "I'm sorry."
he pointed to a chair by her bed "mind if I sit?"

"Of course not." she blushes. "I should have asked you to, but ever since i found out I have to stay here against my will, i guess I lost my manners."

"You'll be staying here in the guestroom." Filch said, grumpily, leading them into a room that had two beds and a small table with two chairs. "Goodbye." he then walked out of the room.
"Wow!" Caroline said. "I didn't know Hogwarts had a guestroom!"
"There's a lot of things people don't know about this place." Max told her.
"Well." Caroline said, reaching inside her jacket pocket and taking out a Spider-Man comicbook. "Whatever." She then walked over to one of the chairs by the table and sat down, reading the comicbook. Max watched this in confusion. he then walked over to her.
"You know, Caroline." Max said. "You never did tell me what you were doing at the Ministry of Magic."
"I had certain business to attend to." Caroline replied.
"Really?" Max said, raising his eyebrows. "What kind of business?" Caroline looked over at Max.
"Oh, You'll learn eventually." She told him. Max then sat in the other seat and looked at the cover of the comicbook Caroline was reading.
"Which Spider-Man comicbook is that?"
"Oh, this is an Ultimate Spider-Man comicbook. I don't find it as interesting as the Amazing Spider-Man, but it's still a great read."
"How many different Spider-Man comicbook series are there?" he asked.
"Well there's, of course, the Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, The Sensational Spider-Man Peter Parker: Spider-Man, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Spider-Man unlimited, Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099; Who has no relation to Peter Parker, by the way; Marvel Knights Spider-Man, and then there's one that's just plainly entitled Spider-Man. And that's pretty much it." Max just stared at Caroline in bewilderment.
"When did... uh... Spider-Man make his first appearance?" He asked.
"In 1962, in a comicbook called Amazing Fantasy issue #15." Caroline replied. Max continued to stare at her in awe.
Wow! he thought to himself. She's obsessed!
"Man! you got a lot of knowledge about that guy." Max said.
"Of course I do!" Caroline said, smiling. "I'm a Spider-Man fan!" Max smiled at this.
"Who do you prefer more? Spider-Man or Superman?"
"What kind of stupid question is that?" Caroline asked. "Spider-Man! he is so much more interesting."
"Can I see the comicbook?" Max asked.
"Sure!" Caroline replied handing the book to Max. he looked through it.
"Who's the red haired girl?" He asked.
"That's Mary Jane Watson. Peter eventually marries her in the Amazing Spider-Man comics."
"Ah. That's the first time I've ever seen the damsel in distress with red hair. they usually have brown or blonde hair." He handed the comicbook back to Caroline. "Very interesting, those... Comicbooks. I wonder what muggle thought up of the idea of using drawings and word bubbles to tell a story."
"Got me." Caroline replied.
"Well," Max said, getting up from his seat, "I need to head to Hogsmeade so I could talk to Tyrone. Why don't you go ahead and roam around Hogwarts if you want. Maybe you'll find something interesting. or you could go down to the great hall and grab some food or something. It's almost lunch time."
"Okay." Caroline replied.
"Good." Max said, putting on his jacket. "I'll hopefully be back by five 'o' clock or something. see you then."
"Yeah," Caroline said. "later." and with that, Max left for Hogsmeade.

"I think, under the circumstances, your behavior is excusable." Elrohir smiled as he sat down. He wasn't sure what his purpose was in being there, but he was perfectly content to stay.

Maik walked grumpily into St. Mungo's, looking for Elrohir. She didn't know what had bacome of him, and she'd been wanting to talk to him. Instead of finding him, however, she found the Huberts instead. And that made the situation rather awkward.

Descartes turned Blushing he bit his lip. "He's with Sonia." he tells Maik. "I can show you to her room."

Sonia looks at Elrohir and sighs. "I think I just want to poof out of here. Can you do that?"

"No." Elrohir replied, as much as he wanted to say yes, he knew he couldn't do it.

Maik shook her head "No, you don't need to do that. I'll just find him later I guess. I just wanted to talk to him about something."

"Is everything okay, Maik. You look tired. WOuld you like some coffee or something." Descartes asked.

Sonia sighed. "I've a good mind just to walk out of this bloody hell hole."

"You could try. But I wouldn't let you." Elrohir said. "What are you so worried about?"

Maik almost smiled. "I love coffee, thanks."
she plopped into a chair and stretched out her legs "And no, everything's not okay."

Descartes nods. "Let me go get you some coffee then we can talk, maybe. How do you like it?"

Sonia sighed. "They may find something wrong."

Leonard, who Maik had tied up, was standing nearbye, angrily trying to get his hand free. "You might've captured me, but let me assure you that I WILL escape!" Leonard said in a sinister tone.

Max had finally reached the three broomsticks, Where Tyrone was patiently waiting for him at one of the tables. Max walked over. "Hey Ty!" Max said, taking a seat next to him.
"Hey Max." Tyrone replied, taking a sip from his cup. "What took you so long.
"Sorry." Max said. "I had a little run in on my way to the train station."
"A deatheater?" Tyrone asked.
"No. An Auror." Max replied.
"An auror stopped you?" Tyrone said in surprise.
"Yeah." Max said. "I have a feeling she thought I was a deatheater." Tyrone rolled his eyes.
"That's what you get with Aurors. they get orders from a Higher ranking personnel to come after you, then they're always on your back."
"Well, it's their job." Max retorted while shrugging. "What else could they do."
"You do have a point, Max." Tyrone said. "Any other run ins on your trip here?"
"Yeah. Caroline Carnarvon's joined in on this little escapade." Max replied.
"You mean the girl who was a huge Spider-Man fan?" Tyrone asked.
"Yeah." Max answered.
"Doesn't she have a crush on you?" Tyrone asked.
"Yeah." Max replied. "I think. Or she used to, I'm not sure if she still does." Tyrone started to look around.
Then he leaned in toward Max and said, "Do YOU like her?" Max was surprised by this question.
"Um..." Max said. "If you mean like her as in love her, no... Well, actually, I don't know." Tyrone started to snort.
"Awe come on, lover boy." Tyrone teased. "You're allowed to tell me." Max stared at Tyrone with narrow eyes. Tyrone quickly shut his mouth. "Okay." He said. "I'll shut up." Max then decided to get down to business.
"So what is it you wanted to tell me?" Max asked. Tyrone then cautiously looked around.
he then leaned in, again, and whispered so that no one else would hear, "It's the Corruptor. we believe he's hiding somewhere near Hogwarts. "
"Is that why you made us come here?" Max asked.
"Yes." Tyrone replied.
"Shouldn't we tell the Aurors?" Max asked.
"No." Tyrone replied. "Because if this gets out, it's sure to go public and then the Corruptor will find us. and this is why we need to stay here. we need to find the corruptor and spy on him. then when we get back to the ministry, where we are out of harm's way, then we can let it go public by telling the aurors where he is."
"Well." Max muttered. "If you say so."
"Good." Tyrone said, "Then I guess we should go look around. Oh yeah. And Max..." he put a hand on Max's arm, who was getting up from his seat. "Remember to keep a low profile. you never know when he's around."
"Got it." Max said, getting up and walking out the door of the three broomsticks.

"Lots of milk and sugar." Maik replied gratefully

"You'll be fine, I'm sure of it." Elrohir said with confidence he didn't really feel.

Sonia nods. "I hope you're right, but you better go. You're an aurora. I wouldn't want you to get fired or anything because of me."

Descartes returned with her coffee and gently handed it to her.

"Fire me? I doubt it." Elrohir said with a chuckle "If they did then my sister would leave too, and they don't want that."
He poked a finger at her in mock accusation "are you saying you don't want me here?"

Maik thanked Descartes and took the coffee. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Leonard continued trying to break free of the ropes that bound his hand. Once I get free, I'm gonna kill all these aurors and then hunt down Max! he thought.

Caroline sat in the room wondering what she was going to do. she decided to head down to the great hall. she put the comicbook down and started heading to the door when she discovered a parchment on the ground. it was in Max's handwriting. This must have fell out of Max's pocket she thought. she decided to take the parchment with her and give it to Max when he got back. and maybe during that time, she could read the parchment, and learn a little more about Max.

Sonia laughed. "Oh never." she teased. "I was just worried."

"My sister is here being seen. They're going to keep her over night."

"What's the matter with her?" Maik asked, downing some coffee. To her surprise Descartes had made it the way she liked it. She made a mental note of that for future referance.

Elrohir smiled "I'm sure there's nothing to be worried about. You'll be fine."

Sonia pouted. "They took my wand and I can't use any magic." she said.

Descartes sighed. "Were you there when she passed out?"

Maik shook her head. "I was dealing with something else. What happened?"

"You shouldn't pout." Elrohir said, tapping the offending mouth with his finger.

"Sonia touch the death eater's corpse and past out. We brought her hear to see if anything was wrong. Her eyes had gone all black and she started convulsing before it completely stopped and she was normal again" Descartes explained.

Sonia blinked. "And why not?"

"Because, if you pout, then I couldn't do this." Elrohir explained, and he leaned over and gently kissed her lips. "That's why."

Maik frowned slightly. "That doesn't sound good."