A dark purpose

Moonlight streamed through the window Lucy had opened to add more atmosphere to the room. The wind that accompanied the moonlight made the black candles on the desk gutter and stream. It was perfect.

She pulled the hood of her robe up and stood by the window, looking over the moon-bleached grounds. The effect was somewhat ruined by the wind, which kept threatening to push the hood back, and she had to hold it in place. This sort of thing never happened in those muggle films her uncles showed her.

Lucy gave it up as a lost cause and returned to the desk, where one of the candles had gone out. There was a flare in the dark as she relit it with her wand. Bluebell flames would have been more useful for this, but they wouldn't have been as dramatic.

She tugged her hood lower, so it shadowed her face, and waited for her friend to join her. She really hoped he would join her. She didn't want to wait in here all night, slowly freezing her toes off and wondering if she was going to be caught.

"Lumos"

The end of Keith's wand lit up, throwing a swath of light across the door. The note had said come here, but Keith was nervous...he had seen too many horror movies to come here unprepared.

He had garlic strapped to him, plenty of salt in a half opened bottle, and a silver fork taped to the back of his right hand. He was totally ready for whatever was waiting for him behind this door. He carefully reached out, keeping his hand a few inches above the doorknob to make sure it wasn't freezing, burning or electrically charged, and turned it slightly, cracking the door open

"And a-one, and a-two, and a-one two three four," he muttered, kicking the door open and holding his wand out. "Aw yeah, B****."

"I beg your pardon?"

The language had made Lucy forget her purpose, but she wasn't used to being addressed that way.

"No, actually, I don't beg your pardon at all. You should be the one begging MY pardon. If that's what you think of me, you can get out right now!"

She went over to the window, because it obviously hadn't had the intended effect anyway, and slammed it closed. There, at least the wind wasn't freezing her any more.

Lucy turned and looked at Keith. He looked really stupid, with garlic and was that a salt cellar? How he'd talked the house elves into parting with those, she did not want to know. No, wait, she did want to know. That was why she'd invited him here. He could be useful.

Damnit, deceit was so not her area.

Keith was seriously regretting his decision to actually listen to the stupid note he had found. Vampires and zombies? He could totally handle that. A pissed off teenage girl? A tad bit more difficult.

"Uh..." Keith said, rubbing the back of his neck. The fork he had taped to the back of his hand poked him in the head, and he quickly began undoing the tape. Unless the girl decided to suddenly turn into a werewolf, he wouldn't be needing it. "Hi?"

Now that the girl was facing him, her face partly illuminated by the candles in the room, Keith could recognize her as Lucy Weasley from the train. She looked fairly ridiculous, with the long flowing robes and the hood and such. And why was it so damned cold in here? Had she seriously had the window open for more than a few minutes?

Keith shook his head. "I suppose you're the reason I'm here..." he said, tightening the cap of his salt shaker. "Care to explain?"

"NO."

Lucy did not care to explain. Lucy had this all figured out, and Keith had ruined it. She was stupid to think he would make a useful agent.

And yet...

Can you keep a secret was such a stupid question, but it was the one she needed answered. Of course, that was the reason she'd set up this whole elaborate scheme. So he wouldn't have to keep a secret - he would never know.

"I know you're an untrustworthy so-and-so. That's why you're here. I need someone very untrustworthy."

Keith put his hands up. "I beg your pardon?" he said, his voice rising in mock anger. "No, actually, I don't beg your pardon at all. You should be the one begging MY pardon. If that's what you think of me, you can get out right now!"

He began stomping around the room in theatrical rage, mumbling things loud enough for her to hear. "Leaving creepy notes in people's bags..." He shook his head. "What are you supposed to be anyway? A ringwraith? Does that make me Frodo? I wanna be Gimili. He has an axe...I think. I wasn't really paying attention to the names after like, the first ten minutes," he said, slowly slipping into a steady ramble and straying further and further from his initial line of thought. "And then like, the wizard came back to life, which makes him Jesus I guess, and there was this big eye of fire..."

"Are you insane?" Lucy asked.

She wasn't really interested in ganging up with people who were insane.

"Look, I have some very important business to do, and I can't do it with someone no in his right mind."

"I suppose you know my uncle is George Weasley," she added airily, as a hook.

Keith looked offended. "It's a movie!" He said, staring at her in disbelief. "Have you honestly never seen Lord of the Rings? I mean really?" He shook his head before remembering that the girl he was talking to was a Weasley. They tended to be pretty ignorant about muggle technology and culture, even to the extent of never seeing Lord of the Rings.

He betted she had never seen Inception either. It was disgusting, that's what it was.

But then, just as he was about to write her off as somebody not worth wasting his time with, she said something that landed her in the very interesting category of Keith's mind.

Her uncle was George Weasley.

Keith thought about that for a sec. Yeah, he guessed George would be her uncle. Keith wasn't sure what to think about that - of course, Fred and George were two of his personal heroes, but that was nothing special. Every wanna be prankster in Hogwarts knew about them.The fact that she was related though....

"Im listening," he said finally, rocking back on his heels.