Chapter 17 Siriusly Wicked Ideas

The water sprayed across his face, it was an exhillirating experience for which he never got tired of. Seidon loved the wide expanse that his new lake offer, he never had this much freedom and space to run when he resided at that river within the forbidden forest.

'Seidon, we need to talk; it is a matter of great importance.'

The kelpie shook his head in an attempt to clear it; he was still not used to hear that voice speak inside his head. He growled and wondered what was so important for Dyrdar to disturb him at such a time. He trotted over to the lakeshore where the unicorn stood and waited; Tenebrus was also there.

'This better be important, Dyrdar.'

The unicorn's green eyes stared at him calmly, 'I would never venture out of the forest if it isn't. The problem involves a dragon.'

The kelpie snorted. 'That was no dragon. That was merely one of Sirius' creations. Sometimes I wonder if that boy has Leprechaun blood in him...'

'I do not mean the Chinese Fireball. The large human has a Norwegian Egg inside his home.'

'And why should we worry about a mere egg?' the kelpie scoffed.

Tenebrus saw that Seidon was once again testing Dyrdar's patience; she therefore decided to take control of the situation. 'The egg will eventually grow into a dragon. As guardians, we ought to make sure that the dragon will not harm our charge.'

The kelpie tossed back his head proudly. 'There's no need to worry. I can handle the situation.'

At times like this, even Dyrdar was surprised by the kelpie's arrogance. 'Fool! Dragons breathes fire. You are no match for them.'

'Did I say anything about facing a dragon head on? I am no reckless fool, Dyrdar. I meant the boy's protection will not be a problem; because I can easily transport him to a safer place. Your age-old unicorn wisdom is failing you Dyrdar.'

Tenebrus decided to interupt and avoid any further clashes, 'Seidon, that'll work only if Sirius is far from the dragon, but what if he's directly confronted by the creature? You would not be of any help, for you can do little against fire.'

The unicorn nodded. 'And neither Tenebrus or myself are a match for a dragon.'

'The solution is simple then,' Seidon swished his tail arrogantly. 'We destroy the egg now.'

The thestral bowed its head, 'That would break Hagrid's heart...'

''What do you suggest then?' Dyrdar challenged, just this once, she believed the kelpie's solution to be brilliant.

''We call upon a Hinoema. They are best fitted to fight dragons; they do stand to lose more, if the last of the Black dies.'

'That's true,' the unicorn grudgingly agreed, 'but I won't ask for their help.'

'Neither would I.' Seidon stated.

The thestral sighed. 'Then give me time to try and seek their assistance and if I should fail, then you two can push through with your plan.'

-0-

"Fred! George! Do you really think this is funny?"

All occupants of the room winced, their ears rang from that shrill scream.

Sirius placed the last of his books inside his trunk, turned around. He gaped at Percy Weasley, who stood by the open doorway.

George rolled over with laughter. Fred attempted to hold his own back as he tried to defend his brother and himself. "We have nothing to do with this. Alright, Sirius, what did you do?" His attempt to reprimand the younger boy was ruined when he guffawed and joined his brother on the floor, laughing.

Sirius just stared at Percy, the prefect now sported green hair, leaves sprouted out of his head as well as a pair of donkey's ears. He bit his lower lip and muttered, "I'm in trouble..."

"That's the understatement of the year," Percy hissed.

Sirius twindled his fingers nervously, "The ears, I did on purpose and I have the counter-solution ... but..."

Harry sighed for he doesn't like the sound of this.

"But what?" Ron prodded.

"I have no idea why Percy's hair turned green and leafy. I think I may have messed up somewhere..." Sirius smiled nervously and handed Percy the antidote for the donkey's ears, "...if it helps green is the colour of the season..." his voice trailed off and eyes pleaded for someone to help him out.

Fred and George continued to laugh and wheeze at the background.

Percy glared at the first year. "What do you mean by messed up?"

"The ears? I was attempting to create 'elf ears'," he gave the older boy a nervous smile, "to go with the spirit of the Christmas season..." his voiced trailed off, "but seems I didn't do it right either."

George grinned at his brother, "Well Percy, we did warn you that the invisible hair antidote ought to be tested first, but noooo, you won't listen..."

"And neither did the Slytherins," Fred snickered.

Harry stared at Percy and decided to try help Sirius out. "Since those new ears did not turn green, I'd assume that the thing which was supposed to do that, turned your hair green instead," despite Percy's glare he continued. "So, maybe Sirius' antidote would also cure the green hair..."

"What about those leaves?" Ron's eyes twinkled in amusement.

Sirius groaned, "I don't know why those leaves grew."

"George? Did that contract Sirius signed also include patents to all solutions accidentally created while finding an antidote?"

George studied a piece of parchment and frowned. "I'm afraid not, Fred."

"Sirius, my mate!" Fred placed an arm around Sirius, "How about signing over the exclusive production and distribution rights of that wicked leafy growth formula to us?"

"We'd even give you a share on the profits from the sale," George added.

Percy growled. "Oh for Merlin's sake, give me the formula for that counter-solution and I'll figure out a solution for this mess, myself."

"No can do, Percy," George shook his head emphatically.

"Patent," Fred explained.

"SIRIUS BLACK!"

"Why do I get the feeling that I will be spending my Christmas vacation here, just so I can serve all that extra detention coming." Sirius moaned as he recognized the voice of their Deputy Headmistress.

"Mate, I hate to say this, but you've brought this upon yourself." Ron said sympathetically.

Sirius dropped to the floor and groaned. "This time around, it IS an accident. I don't even know what I did wrong."

Harry smirked. "Except for the ears..."

Sirius gave a small smile. "Well that went wrong too..."

Minerva McGonagall stood by the doorway and tapped her foot. "Care to explain why after trying your antidote, all the Slytherins now have leafy green hairs and donkey's ears?"

"Because they're all asses," Sirius muttered to himself.

"What did you say, Mr. Black?"

"Ummm... I messed up big time?" He gave the Headmistress an expression akin to a lost puppy, "but maybe they won't mind, because green is their house colour and I'd gladly try and help figure out how I messed up that antidote..."

Harry again tried to help Sirius out, "Professor, Sirius is only a first year, like myself. You don't really expect him to create a perfect antidote in only three hours don't you?"

Fred and George held onto one another for support, as they both tried to stifle their laughter. Ron, on the other hand could not resist; he rolled over laughing.

The Deputy Headmistress eyed all three of the Weasleys brothers. "Seeing as the three of you find this amusing, I believe you'd enjoy helping Sirius figure out the CORRECT antidote."

Ron looked up to the Deputy Headmistress and bit his lower lip. "Uhmm... what about the patent enchantment?"

"I believe the patent contract only holds for the antidote of the Invisible Hair Formula and not this one," McGonagall pointed out.

All three Weasley brothers groaned, for the task would entail plenty of boring research.

-0-

"And so we found that..."

"Sirius used fresh Holly twigs..."

"Instead of dried ones!"

"Thus the leafy situation!"

Bill laughed at his brothers' tales, he always did enjoy the stories of their 'misadventures', but this year's tales were all the more amusing and somehow almost all of it involved one, Sirius Black.

Ron grinned. "Tell everyone about the dragon!"

"Don't forget about The Dark Lord of the Chess Set!" Harry laughed.

Charlie Weasley laughed as well. "I sure wished I was around to at least see some of your plans in action."

Percy grumbled. "It's not that much fun when you're actually there."

Fred once again turned towards his mother and pleaded, "Come on mum, just for one day."

"It's the Christmas season after all..." George placed his chin on the table and stared up at Molly Weasley forlornly.

Molly Weasley's lips thinned as she is determined not to give in to Fred and George's pleas. Thankfully Bill changed the subject.

"Ron, you asked me yesterday about a historical figure, for your history homework."

Ron scratched his head and stared at his brother, "Huh?"

"I was thinking, maybe you ought to focus on Malinda Krobrell."

"Who?" Ron was now utterly confused.

Charlie grinned for he caught on, "Malinda was the great grand daughter of Argus Krobrell the infamous dark wizard who was responsible for the massacre of Half-bloods on the late 16th century. They unearthed her diary recently."

Bill shook his head sadly. "Such a sad story, She didn't really started out as the evil witch that history now knows her to be. It was just that everyone blamed her for the sins of her ancestors and never gave her a chance to take another path. That diary tells how she was slowly pushed towards her dark path, how only those who are deeply entrenched in the dark arts gave her acceptance and a chance; that passage where she wrote about the first time she threw a killing curse was..."

Molly Weasley threw up her hands in exasperation. "Alright Already! But I expect Bill, Charley and Percy to watch you boys to make sure that he won't be teaching you anything that's even remotely related to the dark arts!"

"Mum! We told you..." Fred whined.

George nudged his brother, he did not want to take the risk and have their permission revoked.

"And Ginny is not to spend time with you boys while he's here."

"Mum!" Ginny whined, "Where do you expect me to go while they're having fun?"

"You can stay in the kitchen with me."

"Mum! That's not fair!" Ginny pouted for she had wanted to spend more time with Ron's friend Harry; and Sirius sounds like a fun guy.

Charlie felt a twinge of sympathy for his sister and decided to try and help her out. "Mum, there's no need to worry. Bill and I will be here, we'll make sure that the boys won't be too rough on her."

Molly Weasley frowned. She was not so sure about this.

"I agree with mum, Ginny ought to stay in the kitchen. Girls tend to slow down our fun," George smirked.

Fred nodded, "Yeah, little Ginny won't be able to keep up with us."

Ginny glared at her twin brothers, "I can too!"

Molly smiled for she had made her decision. "Ok, Ginny can play with the boys, and I don't want to hear about you boys intentionally leaving her out. Is that clear Fred, George?"

Both twins gulped, and exchanged nervous looks. "Yes, mum."

-0-

"I still don't see why we can't leave him with the Crabbes like Draco, or at least with Alastor Moody," Lucius grumbled.

Narcissa Malfoy smiled at her husband. "Because, the Crabbes still have not forgotten that little stunt Sirius pulled involving a 'permanent sticking charm', a mosquito, and their Great Aunt Marjorie's portrait. Alastor Moody is still winding down the last details of his retirement. You should be happy dear, Sirius' atrocious behavior would not be causing you any embarassment. Moreover, you can always refuse to pay for any damages; I would have expected you to encourage Sirius, to be at his worst."

"You're absolutely right Narcissa," Lucius smiled evilly. "I think I ought to have a talk with Sirius," he stood up and headed towards the door.

"Lucius, remember to be nice. So far he's only told us part of the whole story. We now know that he can speak to some form of his father in that book, but I believe there's more."

"Cissy," Lucius turned around and smirked. "I only want to tell the boy that if he's in his worst behavior, I wouldn't mind a bit," his eyes gleamed evilly, "In fact I would encourage him to have fun."

-0-

It was a typical morning in the Weasley household. Percy screamed at the twins for some prank they pulled, Molly prepared quite a breakfast feast. A loud crash emanated from the living room was suddenly heard...

"Ow that hurts. Now I know why Draco always insisted on using portkeys."

Fred, George, Harry and Ron grinned at one another and rushed towards the living room. Molly Weasley sighed and shook her head, her husband placed an arm around her for reassurance. "Relax Molly, we're doing the right thing."

"Arthur, it's just so hard," tears threathened to fall, "Bellatrix was one of the death eaters who killed my brothers, Fabian and Gideon; and Nadine ... my parents ..."

"Shush Molly, just be brave. Sirius may have the physical traits and that name but..."

"Arthur, how sure are you? I mean that family had everyone fooled for generations. I grew up admiring them for their brand of class, and mystique, and ..."

"Molly, as Alastor always said: He is just a child."

"But he's one of them..."

Arthur Weasley signaled his wife to be silent. He can hear Fred and George's voices as they pushed their guest towards the kitchen.

"Ohh... such nice robes you have..."

"Lord Black, shall I prepare your.."

"Shut up you gits. Cissy made me wear this."

"Excellent taste she has indeed."

"Right you are, brother. Only the best for dear Sirius."

"Prats!"

"Tsk... such language does not befit..."

Sirius stopped by the kitchen threshold and bowed formally. "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, thank you for inviting me to your home," he nodded towards the other occupants of the room. "You must be Bill, Charlie and Ginny. Pleased to meet you."

Ginny stared at the boy by the doorway and turned towards her brother. "Bill? Why does he greet us in that funny way?"

"Olden wizarding class, Ginny. I'll explain later."

Fred and George rolled over in laughter.

"You should have seen yourself!"

"Thank you for inviting me..."

"Pleased to meet you..."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You twits just don't have an iota of class and manners."

"Amen to that." Ron snickered.

Molly held back an urge to bite her lower lip. Sirius Black was as she had expected; he had the classical Black looks, the polish manners, and that air of arrogance which all Blacks possessed. She feared that she may have made the wrong decision. She should not have given in to her son's pleads.

Sirius assessed his surroundings. "Is this the kitchen?"

"Yes dear," Molly Weasley sighed. "Why don't you take a seat and I'll get you some breakfast."

"You mean you don't have house elves?"

Ron groaned for Sirius was definitely not making a good first impression.

"No dear, I do all the cooking on my own," Molly stiffly answered.

"Wow! Amazing. Can I help? I've never seen anyone cook in a kitchen before."

Molly blinked, she did not know what to think, or how to respond to Sirius' offer.

Percy, however was quick to answer. He had numerous experience when it comes to Sirius' brand of 'help'; he jumped up from his seat and shouted,"NO! LEAVE OUR KITCHEN ALONE!"

Bill decided to soften Percy's rude answer and their mother's lack thereof, "What Percy meant is that you're a guest here, so it wouldn't be proper to have you do some chores."

-0-

Fred grumbled. "A tea party! She wants us to have a stupid tea party. Do we look like 8-year-old girls?"

"Don't look at me like that! This boring tea party wasn't my idea either," Ginny glared at her brother.

Sirius laughed. "What you guys lack is imagination."

"Do tell Black, you want to invite some imaginary friends of yours to this stupid party?" Ron muttered sarcastically.

"No you moron, this is a party," Sirius waved is arms to point out the whole expanse of the Living Room. "To host a successful party, we ought to have more guests, and games as well."

George grinned evilly. "Do tell, oh great twisted one."

-0-

"Grab as many as you can and throw them in the sack!"

"How many do we have so far, George?"

"Fourteen."

"How much time left, Ginny?"

"Time's up. Lets hope we have enough to beat Harry, Ron and Sirius."

"Harry and Sirius had never plucked a gnome in their life. We have an advantage. Come on, let's head back."

Fred grinned for he saw Harry and Ron each held a fairly empty sack; Sirius whistled along and held nothing at all.

George smirked and held their sack up high, "We've got fourteen guests here! Seems like you guys haven't had much luck."

Ron smiled smugly. "I've got three gnomes and Harry's got two puffskeins."

Ginny smirked. "Just five guests? Guess we won by a landslide, you guys ought to be ..."

"Hold it," Harry interrupted.

Sirius smiled and opened the living room window; he placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. A blur of electric blue flew in. "Ten blue faires! That would make fifteen guests for our side."

Percy's mouth fell open; he sat up from the couch which he, Bill, and Charlie occupied. "You morons! Those are cornish pixies!"

"What's wrong with pixies?" Harry asked.

Ron shrugged. "Don't mind Percy, he's always uptight about every little thing."

George turned to his twin and grinned. "Ah, first years..."

"So naive..."

"So ignorant..."

"They still have so much to learn..." Fred sighed melodramatically.

Charlie turned to Bill, "Do you still think that this is a cute idea?"

Bill held back his laughter as the pixies began to pour some tea onto Percy. The mischievous creatures then freed the gnomes out of the sack and generally caused chaos.

-0-

Ron sighed, his hands on his chin. "Now what?"

Harry sighed as well. For Bill, Charlie, and Percy pushed them into the basement and told them to stay put whilst they clean up the mess. They're working on getting rid of the creatures before Mrs. Weasley gets a whiff of the trouble they had caused. They had offered to help, but Percy insisted that it would be best, if they stay out of the way.

Fred, George, and Ginny entertained themselves by scouring through their father's 'Muggle' stuff. Sirius found an old textbook leafed through it.

"What do you supposed this is?" Fred held out an adapter plug.

Sirius plucked a similar item from the box and studied it from all sides; he picked a second plug and smiled. "I know! It's Muggle building blocks!" he demontrated by putting the two plugs together, "You see Muggles needs a way to make the blocks stick together without the use of a 'sticking charm'."

Harry stifled his laughter and decided not to tell his friend what the item truly is; he figured it'll be interesting to watch and observe their wacky conclusions.

"Dad says it's for Ekeltricity," Ginny supplied.

"Ekeltricity?" Sirius stared blankly at Ginny.

Ron explained, "It's what Muggles use to make things work, since they don't have magic. Dad says that lightning is a pure form of Ekeltricity."

Sirius' eyes brightened as his mind formed a theory on how the muggle blocks should work. "Fred, you guys build something out of those Muggle building blocks."

"What do you have in mind?"

Sirius began to leaf through the text book once again, "We're going to experience how Muggle children play the 'Muggle' way."

Run turned to Harry, "Do you think we ought to go along with another one of Sirius' ideas?"

"I don't see how we could get into trouble by building a few towers," Harry shrugged.

-0-

Ginny stepped back and admired their work. Ron and Harry each built a tower. Fred and George, decided to be creative and used some copper wires to string a web in between the buildings. Their structures were a bit wobbly, so Ginny got some more wires, wrapped it on each one of the buildings and tied one end to the stair railings, the other onto the window latch. She smiled for their Muggle tower looked pretty enough.

All the while, Sirius sat on a corner with his wand; he seemed to be practicing some sort of spell. He closed the book and approached the structure. "Wow. It looks great."

"Was ther any doubt?" George crossed his arms smugly.

"What now?" Ginny asked.

Sirius smiled and raised his wand, "I don't know how Muggles do this, but we can't just wait for a lightning storm; so we now create some Ekeltricity the wizard's way."

Harry's eyes widened in horror, "Sirius...don't..." but is was too late.

"Aduro!"

Electric Blue lights sizzled and traveled about the exposed wires.

Harry sighed with relief for the jolt was not powerful enough to do any harm.

Ginny clapped her hands, "Do it again!"

Fred nodded. "Yeah, but this time make it bigger..."

"Stronger!" George continued

"Brighter!" Fred raised his arms into the air.

Harry's mouth opened; he was about to protest ...

Just then the door to the basement creaked open. Percy stood by the doorway, his hand on the railing, "What the bloody hell is that? I thought I told you..."

"ADURO!"

-0-

Charley Weasley felt a jolt of static. "Bill did you feel that?"

"Whatever it is, Charlie, it can wait. I think that's Percy screaming in a weird shaky manner."

"Fred and George?" Charlie held back his laughter for the twins usually go out of their way to irritate Percy.

Bill shook his head. "Worse... Fred, George, and Sirius."

Charlie laughed. "He does bring the worse in them."

"I don't know Charlie, their grades did improve and mom got a whole lot less letters, about their behavior these days."

Charlie smirked. "That may be because they don't often get caught nowadays."

-0-

Molly Weasley wearily sat on the couch, her husband took the seat beside her. "Molly?"

"What a day..." he closed her eyes and leaned back onto her husband.

(Flashback)

When she had heard Percy's screamed, Molly rushed in and found Percy's hair standing on its ends; Fred and George laughed uncontrollably. She was about to ground the twins, when Sirius Black spoke up:

"Mrs. Weasley, they had nothing to do with this. I did it, but it was an accident. I was only trying to get that Muggle tower to light up again."

"What Muggle tower?"

Sirius gingerly pointed towards the basement.

"What were you children doing in the basement?"

"Percy, Bill, and Charlie told us to stay there," Ginny explained.

"Bill! Charlie! Explain why you locked the kids up in the basement!"

Bill winced. "Uh... you see mum..."

"We had to contain a dragon."

Bill nudged Charlie. "You're no longer in Romania, you doofus."

"I mean pixies!"

"The cornish types-" Fred supplied helpfully.

"bright blue-" George elaborated.

"Wonderful creatures poured tea for Percy," Fred continued.

"On Percy," George corrected.

"Enough already!" Molly glared at the twins, "What were those cornish pixies doing inside the house?"

Sirius bit his lower lip and answered hesitantly, "Party guests."

Charlie tried to change the subject, "A good try on that 'Lightning Charm', Sirius, but the reason why it was weak was because you flicked your wrist too quickly ... a common mistake..." He swallowed hard as he felt his mother's glare. This time around, his diversionary tactic didn't work.

(End of Flashback)

Arthur chuckled, "At least now you know that he doesn't teach them any dark tricks."

Molly glared at her husband.

"Molly, children are liable to form stupid ideas to entertain themselves when bored. You insisted on that boring tea party instead of Quidditch."

"I didn't want Ginny to get hurt. You know how roughly the Slytherins play Quid..."

"Molly, he's in Gryffindor."

"Are you saying that Percy's state is my fault?"

"Percy wasn't hurt, Molly. That jolt of ekeltricity was not strong enough to hurt anyone," Arthur pointed out.

Molly Wealey frowned, "He could have been... that child is..."

"..extremely curious with a wild imagination," Arthur sighed. "Unfortunately our children possess the..."

"Arthur, why are you defending him?"

"Molly, even Alastor Moody believed him to be only a child. Albeit, a highly intelligent and extremely hyper-active one."

"He called him 'hell spawn'," Molly stated indignantly.

"As a term of endearment. Sirius Black can be a bit troublesome as you can see..."

"That's an understatement," Molly muttered.

Percy excitedly rushed inside the room. Mum! Guess what! We're all going to the Minister's New Year Ball!"

Molly sighed, "Percy, your father works for the ministry, but those tickets are only given to the more high profiled officials and we can hardly afford to buy..."

"Mum, Sirius sent us some tickets," Percy waved ten tickets proudly. "I got an owl from him. He apologized for causing so much trouble and hoped this will make up for it."

"Percy! We will not accept that. Our family may be poor, but I won't allow Sirius Black to buy our..."

"Mum, he didn't bought it," Percy whined. "He got it from various Ministry officials. It's got those 'Ministry Guest' stamp on it and the sequence of the tickets are not even in order. I already told Penelope I'll be there. If you don't want to go, can I at least keep my ticket?"

"Percy, there's no telling how he got those..."

"Actually Molly, I have an idea how he did," Arthus Weasley interrupted his wife's tirade. "Sirius spent plenty of time in the Ministry growing up. I'm pretty sure Alastor Moody, Amelia Bones, Ludo Bagman, Gilbert Whimple and even Mrs. Marchbanks are quite fond of the boy. They probably gave him those extra tickets."

Percy shook his head, "Dad, how come you can't procure tickets from those people?"

"Because, I'm not in the habit of pulling pranks on Department Heads."

Peals of laughter were heard outside the doorway. Molly discovered that the source of which were none other than her incorrigle twin sons. "Eaves-dropping again? I thought I told you two..."

"Mum, we were just passing by-"

"We here just overheard the last part of the conversation-"

"Very much like Sirius to pull pranks on Ministry officials-"

"I like the boy's guts-"

"We already know he's got plenty of guts-"

"Hogwarts' professors are not in the same league as Ministry officials-"

"We pulled some wicked pranks on the Headmaster-"

"Ah yes, Albus Dumbledore ... now that.."

"We!?! You two pranked the Headmaster?" Molly glared down onto her sons.

Fred swallowed hard, "Now you've done it, flobberhead."

"You didn't have to agree with me, puffapod-brain."

-0-

He had never been in this part of the forbidden forest before. He did not like it one bit. Seidon was not one to like to stray far from his lake, and the forest reminded him of his own close encounter with death, just a few moths earlier.

'Took you long enough to get here, Seidon.'

The kelpie snorted and ignored the unicorn. 'Tenebrus, you better have a good reason for this. I don't like coming all the way here for nothing.'

'Just as you don't like to be near flames, the newest member of our circle does not like being near water,' the thestral explained. ''Seidon, meet Seng-Yi.'

A stocky black stallion with red eyes stared hard at Seidon. 'This colt is the main guardian? It's no wonder you need our help,' smoke came out of his nose as he smorted.

Seidon tossed back his head, 'I dont. Tenebrus, however wanted to do things the hard way.' He glared at the thestral, 'I can easily tranport that dragon's egg underwater, thus effective kill the thing before it hatches.'

Dyrdar reluctantly supported the kelpie, 'Which is the wisest course of action.'

'And here I thought unicorns support life,' the hinoema gave Dyrdar a hard look.

The unicorn remained unruffled and drawled. 'You are mistaking me for my softer cousins. Sometimes death is necessary, your kind should understand the necessity of killing a lot more than we do.'

'Killing malicious humans who sought to enslave and control us is one thing. Killing a creature who has not done anything to you, is entirely diffferent,' Seng-Yi responded hotly.

'Spare us the lecture,' Seidon changed to his human form just to irritate the hinoema, because the kelpie knew that these creatures do not like humans. "Dyrdar and I will stay true to our word and not destroy that egg, but it is now your responsibility. It is not yet too late for you to back out, and let us handle this situation. After all your kind cannot handle the pressure and rigour required to live outside the protection of the isle ... I'm not entirely sure..."

Seng-Yi red eyes burned brighter. He held back a very strong urge to give that kelpie, the swift strong kick which the creature deserved. 'Our kind had endured more battles than you can imagine. I can handle the dragon. Just do me a favour, and stay out of my way.'

''We would not even dream of seeking your self-righteous and delusional presense,' Dyrdar answered haughtily.

Tenebrus held back a sigh. She had hope that Seidon would at least try not annoy Seng-Yi at this very first meeting, but her only consolation was the fact that Seidon and Dyrdar seemed to have finally gotten along.

-0-

"Where's Dobby?"

"Lucius, What's wrong?" Narcissa frowned for she had never seen her husband so harassed.

"There's a gnome in my underwear drawer!"

Sirius stopped eating his pancakes and smiled. "So that's where Mr. Potatohead went."

Draco stared at his cousin and sneered. "You named a gnome, Mr. Potatohead?"

"$ &*% $#! You brat! I ought to..."

Narcissa stopped her husband from approaching the breakfast table, "Lucius darling, calm down. Dobby, get rid of that gnome and wash everything in Lucius' drawer..."

Sirius tried to argue, "But that's my new pet."

"How in the world did you get that gnome?" Lucius ranted angrily, "Dobby! I thought I told you to make sure that our gardens are gnomeless..."

"Master... Dobby takes special care..."

Sirius jumped up to defend the elf, "I didn't find Mr. Potatohead in our garden. I took him home from my visit from the Weasleys. I've never seen a gnome before, can I keep him?"

"No!" Lucuis shouted, he glared at his wife. "I told you not to leave him with those Weasley trash! See what sort of trash he brought home from that visit!"

Draco snickered by the background.

Narcissa gave her husband a look of warning and turned her attention to Sirius, "Sirius honey, if you wanted a pet, all you needed to do was ask. Let us go to Diagon Alley later and pick you an owl."

"But I like Mr. Potatohead..."

-End of Chapter 17-

A/N: After much deliberation, I've decided to allow Sirius to cause chaos in both households. I'm still having trouble with the serious portions, but thought I ought to still get the story moving. Snape and the puffskien will be back when school re-opens.

Facts:

cornish pixie - These mischievous creatures are a bright electric blue in colour and are very rude. Professor Lockhart brought some of these creatures in his DADA classes.

To all my silent readers. Thanks for putting this story in your favourite list (all 25 of you). I really appreciate that - makes me know that you guys are following this story of mine.