signed anonymous

Enter Squeaky

When morning finally came I was still on the foot of the bed. But I had barely slept I couldn't get Voldemort's visit out of my head. Crashers frowned at me as he set up tea. Not only was Voldemort coming but so was Draco's mom. And I would be asking her to teach me lady stuff. Like walking in heels and how to move and sit. The one I was really nervous about asking was about makeup. I'd always wanted to but had always been told it was wrong for boys.

Taking a deep breath I sat up stiffly. "I'm nervous Crashers." Rubbing a hand over my face as I walked over to the table. "When do you think they will be here?" I sipped at my tea while I waited for him to say anything.

   "I can see how worried you are. They will likely not be here until the evening." As soon as he said that I felt myself relax. I smiled at him as a thought occured to me.

    "I could avoid seeing him altogether by simply going to bed early!" I smiled at my evasion plan. But seeing the frown on Crashers face I froze. "What? I can can't I?"

     With a heavy sigh Crashers sat across from me. "Yes, but Master is your host. And as a young lord it could be seen as a slight. If you are to be taken seriously as a lord you must push past being afraid of him and at least greet him before you retire for the day." He gave a reassuring smile then said. "An awkward dinner at least. I believe you can manage that. I have every confidence in you." He took a cup of tea for himself sipping on it and watching me soak it all in.

      "Okay so to show them I am a lord to be respected I should at least have dinner with him. But what should I talk about? What is and isn't okay to talk about at dinner?" I asked starting to stress as my hair turned olive green. "Oh gods!  What do I wear!" At that I put my tea down and ran for the closet. Hearing a chuckle from Crashers as I went.

      Looking around the closet in a panic. Dark light neon what to choose. Formal or informal. Maybe semiformal .... I started digging though the closet looking at outfits before tossing them back or throwing them on the maybe pile. Hearing an afronted sound I looked to my left seeing Toc and Tic. Crashers standing behind them looking amused. Toc looked insulted where as Tic looked horrified. "Erm need an outfit for dinner not sure if I should be formal informal or semi formal. Sorry for the mess"

      Tic now looked less horrified and more angry. When they both looked at Crashers I got worried. " You taught him this behavior your cleaning it up. Probably caused his panic too." Then they walked over to me taking the clothes from my hands leading me to the bathroom. "You's be getting ready for lessons. We set out clothes for's you's. We he's getting sir ready for dinners. Showers now." Toc said giving me a slight push towards the shower. As Tic handed me some lavender soaps.

Taking the hint I did my morning ablations while practicing my breathing exercises. They wanted me to calm down. I knew from the books I had read on occlumency that shutting my emotions down was a horrible idea and should only be used in worst case scenarios. After my shower I felt incredibly refreshed. Stepping out I saw clothes for the day set on the counter and shoes beneath it. Getting dressed quickly and stepping out all three smiled at me.

      "You's be looking good now. Off to breakfast with you's." Tic ordered doing me from the room. I quickly made my way to the informal dinning room for breakfast and sat down. When barty entered he looked as nervous as me. And was also dressed nicely.

     "We will only do the written work today. Also what do you think about having half a day?" He asked clearly nervous as his hands shook when pouring his milk. I nodded silently.

      " Might be best." My voice cracked causing it to sound very high. He looked at me and both our eyes were huge. Then like an unspoken cue had gone off we both broke off into peels of laughter. "We are both ridiculous aren't we?" I asked after we had both calmed down.

      Nodding he went back to fishing himself breakfast at a more steady pace. "Yes but I think we could both use some time to prepare. So squeaky do you think formal or what for dinner?" He said joking at me as I put fruit and bacon on my plate.

       I looked up horrified. "Squeaky!? Who's the one that was to shaky to pour his milk properly?" I snarked at his making a gesture to the puddle of milk. Then grabbing the juice and pouring myself a cup. After I had somehow finished the whole of my breakfast serving I looked at the sausages and figured I'd try to eat a little more. Taking two sausages I put then on my plate cutting them up before I began to eat them.

     When I looked up I saw Barty frozen in place head pointed towards his plate but eyes on me. I blushed setting my fork down. "I - I just.... Figured maybe a little more wouldn't be. I'll get to class." I started to get up. But was suddenly he was there he gave me a hug then gently pushed back to my seat.

      "No no Harry I just had a sudden thought is all. You see you keep say you want to wait for Snape for potions." I nod sitting back looking at him as he goes back to his seat. "Well it's just if we hold off on that the time table will fall through. So we need to address your desired time table with the dark lord. And figure out a time table to keep on track when we can manage to get him here." He finished looking for all the world like he had just found out he'd die tomorrow.

      "Oh!" I said brightly picking up my fork again. "Well we could see if we could have him on Saturday mornings. We only do about two hours of course work that day." Putting another bite in my mouth he nodded clearly trying to pick the idea apart for any reason Voldemort might say no.

      "And if snape isn't available that day?" He asked with suspicious eye's.

       Swallowing a bit of juice before I answered. " We can cover that if we run into that problem. "Mainly because we can work around it. We can take off the morning  schedule from any other day and add it to Saturday."I finished up and left as he sat there. Making my way into the makeshift class room.

      At lunch we ate quietly I again added a touch more to my plate. Only this time I did it before I started eating. Chicken salad and two whole bread sticks later. I felt like I might pop. Slowly getting up I called for Crashers. Asking him to take me out to the gardens.

         Once out there I followed a little path. Crashers smiling the whole time. So I raised an eyebrow silently questioning him. "Crashers is very proud of sir today. You be trying to eat more. This is good" Crashers looked like he would strat skipping any minute by this point. I laughed at this. " I think I'll spend some time out here then go relax and get ready. What do you think?" I asked sitting on the grass near some berry bushes. Crashers sat next to me knowing I wouldn't want to be alone. Thee hours later it was time to head to my rooms.

           When I entered my rooms Toc and Tic we're waiting. They had me in the bathroom in seconds I swear. And scrubbing me!? Next thing I know they are getting me dressed as Crashers couches me on appropriate topics for dinner. When Crashers stood and said they are here. " I'll send Tic when it's time to come to dinner. With that all three left the room. Having nothing else to do I went to my desk and began writing out a letter from Anonymous as soon as it was done I signed and sealed it. Placing it face down on my desk and quickly cleaned my hands of ink.

     Tic popped in looking at me. I took a deep breath letting it out slowly. "It is time sir."