Snippet #1290581

The young man squinted, his sharp blue eyes peering through the mist and the branches. Taking a step forward, he noticed--"It's a giant keyboard."

Evelynne ignored the mud that coated her fair skin and matted her usually shining crimson locks and made her way out from under the tree. She had a better view of the giant keyboard now and she felt the immediate happiness that always filled her heart at the thought of music. She’d been playing the piano since before she could remember. The happiness faded as quickly as it appeared and was replaced with hesitation at the trap and aching sadness about Charlie.

"Bloody hell." Ryu sighed, crossing his arm. "Talk about your unusual defenses." While Ryu prided himself of being a master thief and being able to break into nearly anywhere, he had never seen this particular defense before. A giant piano keyboard. "Well, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd...suppose we might need to play a certain tune on it to get past. But, the problem is...what do we need to play??"

Eve moved so she stood directly next to Ryu and looked at the keyboard a little closer, trying to figure out if there were any hints, “I’d say that’s a good bet. Maybe there’s a hint as to what song we need to play?” She suggested, looking around them when suddenly a blue light appeared in one of the trees next to them. It was a beautiful pixie, which caught Eve completely off guard. It was odd to see one present itself so openly to humans. They were usually tricksters so Eve watched it cautiously and was even more surprised when the pixie… spoke???

"My fair lady," the pixie surprisingly enough shouted out in a sing-song voice, "to press the wrong key would result in a lot of falling down!"

Eve furrowed her brows at the pixie, knowing full well that pixies could only speak to each other, and knew that what was said must have been more than just a warning. Whoever had designed this… trap… was playing with them and was giving them a clue.

The Australian wizard snorted lightly, crossing his arms. "...Well, bloody hell. I suppose I was right to a certain extent." He bit his lip, gazing over at the keyboard again. "Great. And I'm no classical musician..."

Eve nodded at Ryu, too lost in thought to respond. She doubted the song would be part of a sonata, or anything too difficult for that matter. It would be a short little phrase, she could only assume, or perhaps a well-known song.

“My fair lady, to press the wrong key would result in a lot of falling down…” Eve muttered, mulling over the words the pixie had spoken. The pixie had seemed to stress the first few words, ‘my fair lady’, but that didn’t mean much on its own. Lots of songs had those words in them. Had the pixie stressed anything else? Evelynne tried to recall the way that the pixie had spoken the words and thought that maybe “falling down” had been stressed as well.

“My fair lady… falling down.” Eve muttered again, and then tried to think out loud, “falling down… falling down…” She repeated and suddenly it clicked, “London Bridge! It’s London Bridge!” Evelynne smiled and then sung softly, in her smooth soothing alto voice, “London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London bridge is falling down, my fair lady.”

She gave Ryu one quick glance of pure confidence and then took his hand in her own and pulled him out of the bushes and towards the giant keyboard. They now stood right at the edge of the giant keyboard, the castle looming infront of them. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if it mattered what key she played it in, and then brushed the hesitation away. They didn’t have time to figure that out as well (as far as she could tell there was no clue either), so she would play it in the most common key it was sung in.

She pulled out her wand and pointed it towards the keyboard and sung as she used her wand to magically lower each of the keys, “London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London bridge is falling down, my fair lady…” She finished, the last note ringing softly in an almost innocent way.

---

"I'm f-f-fine, Harry. Just...something doesn't feeeel right." She seemed to be squirming lightly in her own clothes, the sensitivity of her touch amplified to such a degree that everything registered in a way that it shouldn't. "EVERYTHING doesn't feel right. I think something in that potion...warped my sense of touch or something..."

Harry watched Hermione for a moment, and resisted putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He was glad it was only her sense of touch that was warped for the time being and not something more serious.

Kreazil picked up an empty vial. "One potion left. One more question. You up for that Mr. Potter? If not I will be taking my leave now."

He looked around a bit. "Many lives depend on me being where I am supposed to be when the full moon rises. And you know I won't hesitate to let them die, if you hinder me."

He pointed to the last potion. "Your choice."

Harry eyed the final potion and then shook his head, “Go, Kreazil. Just go.” He said shortly, not feeling any shame at not drinking the last potion. If he had been younger he would have grabbed the final potion and downed it immediately, but this situation didn’t call for blind heroics. He was more useful to the group alive and well.

Harry turned towards Charlie’s office and used his wand to create a deep grave and then levitated Charlie’s body into the deep hole in the wet earth. He cringed slightly as the body rested softly at the bottom of the hole, feeling his stomach turn uneasily at the sight of his best friend’s brother.

----

Natasha walked down the wooden board walk along the beach for a little while, considering who she would approach to ask about Drake’s family when suddenly a very tanned native, wearing nothing but a grass skirt, lea, and sandals, approached her.

"Nocsemo!" She greeted, a melodic tone in her voice as she suddenly tossed a lea around her neck, and just as immediately grasping her arms to plant her lips against the muggle's face in a greeting. "Welcome to the Dragon Islands. You are a tourist, yes? Welcome! It is always nice to see a new face to our shores. Please, have a wonderful time!"

Natasha mentally composed herself and smiled brightly back at the woman, “Thank you!” She said, her voice light as air, and hugged the girl back while making sure to angle her hips in a way that her hidden guns wouldn’t brush against the other woman.

The lady immediately let her go, gave her a smile, and promptly headed off to go assail another hapless tourist.

She watched the woman go, careful to keep the soft smile on her lips and carefree attitude present in the way she moved. She really wasn’t in the mood to play tourist, but she would keep it up a little longer. A while passed as she continued walking, when suddenly someone spoke behind her in a deep voice.

“Excuse me, miss?”

Natasha turned and found a very tall, broad chested, golden tanned mass of muscle standing before her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see passing women (natives and tourists alike), gazing lustfully towards him and figured he must be what passed as attractive now-in-days.

“Yes?” She replied taking a confident step towards him, gazing up at him through her thickly fanned lashes.

He smiled down at her, confidence exuding from every pore of his body, “I’m Adalrico, and who might you be?” His honey gold eyes took in her curves and smiling pink lips. There was something about her, aside from her obvious sexuality, which had drawn him to her.

“Pleasure to meet you, Adalrico. I’m Natasha.” She replied, following appropriate flirting protocol as she gave his body a once over with her own eyes before throwing an appreciate grin at him.

“Lovely name for an even more lovely woman.” He replied suavely.

If you only knew. She thought, biting back her comment. “Perhaps you could help me. I’m looking for a friend of mine who lives around here. His name is Drake. Do you know him?” Natasha asked, noticing the slight disappointment that flashed across Adalrico’s face when she mentioned a guy’s name, and smiled sweetly while awaiting an answer.

“Well, why would you want to go and find some other guy when I’m right here?” He countered. He knew Drake and he didn’t think there would be any reason why a gorgeous woman like Natasha would be looking for someone like him.

“Because he’s my friend and I haven’t seen him in ages.” Natasha insisted, refusing to play along with Adalrico’s jealousy.

“Well he’s not around. He has been gone for a while now.” Adalrico explained, shifting from one foot to the other. He was barefooted and wearing only a pair of white trunks.

Natasha waited for a moment, wondering if he would mention where his house was but he didn’t. “Oh…” She frowned sadly, shoulders sinking with disappointment, and then looked to the side, “I was looking forward to seeing him while I was here. Maybe I could leave a message with his family?” She ventured, looking back to Adalrico.

“Well, I don’t know where they’re at right now and the house is a good distance from here, but you could talk to his brother I guess.” He said, disappointed that she wasn’t more interested in getting a drink with him than passing on a message to Drake.

There we go, big boy. She thought and placed a soft hand on his ripped arms, “Yes, thank you! That would be great!” Natasha brushed some auburn curls out of her eyes and watched Adalrico gesture to the beach.

“Dimitri is right over there. The little guy sitting by himself.” He said, and put a hand just above her waist as she turned to go, “Meet me for a drink tonight? Just down the walk here there is a great place. Eight o’clock?” He suggested, eyeing her expectantly.

Natasha slid smoothly from her grasp, conscious of how close his hand had been to her guns, and nodded once before bending low to undo the straps of her black heels so that she could walk in the sand, “I’d like that. See you then.” She replied, making her way towards Dimitri but not before casting one last smile over her shoulder at Adalrico.

What a complete idiot. She thought, looking forward once again, and continued towards Dimitri. She had about five minutes before the hour would be up and the glass ball would take her back to the castle. She just needed to get Dimitri and get out of this swelteringly hot place.



OOC: Sorry gang! Hope that was okay-ish.