Two Lifetimes PV Simon Kincaid Finished

Cold Nose and Warm Heart for @Simon Kincaid

The sudden, lurching stop was harsh to put it mildly. Their teeth literally clacked against the other's as their lips were crushed in between. Even before Simon quickly pulled away, AngelFyre felt the sharp sting as her bottom lip painfully raked against his teeth. She pulled back quickly, too, praying that her lip had not split. The last thing Simon needed right now would be the taunt of blood... even a trace of it... so she was not at all focused on why they had stopped. Her eyes were glued only on him as he looked all around, seeming to be in no way phased by a blood-lust moment, so she figured all was well on that score. She had been licking her lips like crazy, but honestly, she tasted no blood. She at least began to relax knowing whatever was going on now was not going to be compounded by other urges that would simply drag him into his own personal hell spiral.

Seeing him first look down and then behind them, he turned to her with that gorgeous smile of his and proclaimed, "We've got a spectacular view." She nodded and chuckled, marveling as he found the good in every situation. She truly admired that about him. It was quite comforting. Moving back into his arms, and resting her head on his shoulder, she replied, "That we most certainly do," before she buried her cold nose into the warmth of his neck, which was covered by a snuggly-soft scarf.

They sat there, in silence, simply holding each other when the silence itself triggered something in her lizard brain. She sat straight up and focused her attention on the chairs on the lift ahead of them. They were ALL empty. She felt the cold finger of fright trace down her spine before she gulped and looked behind them, afraid she would see the same thing.

She did.

"Simon, I do not believe this is a mechanical issue. I think the lift has been shut down for the evening. Look around. We are the only ones in a chair up here." Then she looked down. Bad news came in threes she had always heard. It certainly seemed to be true in this case. One - they were very high up. Two - there was no one on the slope beneath them. Three - the ski run's blue lights had been turned off. That had gone unnoticed, at least initially, by her because the moon was reflecting so much light off of the snow.

Normally she would have delighted in having uninterrupted alone time with her fellow, but it was a clear, cloudless night. Yes, the night sky was beautiful, but it was also cold... much colder than if they had had some protective cloud cover to help insulate them from the loss of body heat. She looked over at her dhampir, no worse for the wear... yet. But Simon was a more cold-blooded creature than she was. Like the hot tub had been too much for her warm-blooded self more quickly than it had been for him, this frigid night air would eventually take its toll on him before her. Time was not on their side here at all, but it was especially not on his.

He was always talking about being the one to protect her, but her protective drive was gearing up to protect him, and it was quickly moving into overdrive. She leaned over and kissed his cheek before patting down her pocket for her phone. One pat turned into two and then three and then finally into a mildly frenetic series of pats to both pockets. Then she realized as she focused on her rapid breaths manifesting into white vapor around them that she had left her cell phone on her bathroom counter in her room. "Some protector," she muttered to herself.

That was a real swifty dum-dum move there, AF.

She regained her composure and looked hopefully at Simon. "What time is it, love? Surely he would not have let us on the lift knowing that it would be shutting down so soon, would he? They close at 11:00, so last call for lifts would be what? Maybe 10:30? Did we make it before then? Do you know?" Her brain was simply whirring trying to make sense of it. None of it was making sense though, until she remembered her brief conversation with the chair lift operator as she stood next to him, waiting to be scooped into the chair on their first run of the evening.

"Simon, I think I know the why of it. Our chair lift operator... remember? His colleague called in sick so he was operating the lift by himself. I -... I think he may have forgotten us. I am not certain he, or anyone from the resort, knows we are up here, love. I think you should call my folks."

She gave him some room to get to his cell phone. Everything would be fine once her father knew the situation. He would have every ski patrol member on this slope to get them down, and even those from nearby resorts if necessary. Of that AngelFyre had no doubt.

But she hoped it would be a quick resolution as she became even more aware of the biting breeze that was beginning to pick up, bobbing their chair up and down, high above the powdery snow below.

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OOC: Simon and AngelFyre's writers have given longstanding permission to Godmod one another.

Statute of Secrecy be Damned @Simon Kincaid

They both leaned over and watched as Simon's gloves fell to the ground. AngelFyre had two thoughts in those moments. First was thank God it had not been his phone and the second was that it really was a long way down. "Slowing down in your advanced age, I see," she chuckled, trying to be reassuring through humor while tamping down even more reason to now be concerned for his safety. "My dhampy is turning into a gampy at the ripe ol' age of 13. pffffft," she smiled-teased him as he then reached for his phone.

From there, it was nothing but a rapid, and truly dangerous, cascade of failures, culminating in a pit of fear in her stomach. She was sitting there and hearing a stream of nonsense coming from him, and one of the shocking aspects to all of it was how he delivered his dead-right-out-the-gate idea about climbing up and shimmying along the line to get to somewhere to do some other dangerously crazy thing to save them that would, in reality, most likely have him stone cold dead at the end of it.

Not on my watch, Mister.

She knew he would be affected by the cold more quickly, but the situation had now turned dire. Hypothermia was rearing its ugly head. She also knew her boy was stubborn beyond belief, so she needed to stay calm and think quickly on how to keep him seated while coming up with her own rescue plan.

"Simon, love, before you take off, let me help your chances of success, yeah?" she said encouragingly. She began to rummage in her own pockets, stalling for time, when she found two things that honestly could help him.

The first were some pocket warmers her mother had made sure she always carried when it was cold. She could have cried the moment she felt the packets in her pocket. "Here, handsome. I have something that should help warm you up a bit,", and she opened one packet and shook it for about 10 seconds, feeling the heat almost immediately. Relief began to instantly chew away at her pit of fear and she was feeling more hopeful. She placed it in his far, coat pocket, leaning across his exposed chest in a surreptitious move to gauge just how cold his core was. He was non-stop shivering and was much colder than was safe... even for a dhampir.

"Simon, I only have two of these, so I want you to trade off between your coat pockets with one of them to warm your hands, okay?" and she grabbed the other packet and opened it, preparing it for her boy as well. "This one I want you to put in your chest pocket, love. You should be feeling much toastier in no time. If you get too warm," she said optimistically, "then pass them over to me for a bit. What is it you always say? Sharing is caring!" and she leaned over and kissed him while placing it in his pocket for him.

He, of course, smiled his Simon smile back at her when she pulled away which was enough to melt her heart any time and keep any cold at bay. Then she reached back into her pocket for her chapstick and swept it across her lips a few times. It took a few extra passes to soften up before gliding smoothly on, and then she had a brilliant idea.

"Hey, let me try something," and she leaned over to him and placed her hand with the chapstick tube against the outside of his chest pocket to warm it up. After a few seconds, she took his coat front in hand and held it taut in front of her. She ran the now softened waxy substance over his coat's zipper, hoping it would ease the tension and give a bit of slip, allowing them to get it zipped up. It was a few minutes of a herky jerky effort, but it paid off huge dividends as they were able to get his coat zipped back up.

AngelFrye smiled bye-bye to her pit of fear as problem by problem began to fade. She looked over at Simon, just as engaged as she had been in getting his zipper up, and she could tell he was coming back to his senses by the time he was zipped back up.

"I assume I no longer have to worry that you are planning to impersonate a monkey and try to climb your way to certain death while trying to save us?" and she leaned back over to him, folding herself into his embrace. She felt better just being in his arms, but that was compounded by also feeling the warmth now emanating from his jacket.

Still holding each other, her mind was flying through anything and everything she thought might be available to them to help extricate them from this. The Statute of Secrecy kept tickling her brain when she thought of her wand, but she knew time was still not on their side. The pocket warmers offered only 8 hours of warmth, but would that be enough?

"Simon, I think we need to talk about the verboten (forbidden). I think we need to talk about using magic. I have an idea, but it is going to mean you have to trust me, literally, with your life."

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Always A Girl With A Plan... Or Three, @Simon Kincaid

"Once upon a time, in a castle far, far away, a handsome young musician met a spirited young girl in the warmth and light of their Common Room. It was a most auspicious place for the two to meet, really, because since having found one another, warmth and light had followed them, for the most part, in all of their endeavors. But like any good fairy tale/love story, there had been their fair share of bumps in the road and nightmarish beasts to be found along the way, just to keep things interesting, of course."

AngelFyre momentarily stopped in the middle of her mini recitation in answer to his question and leaned her cheek against the top of Simon's head, now resting on her shoulder. She safely passed the pocket warmer back over to his pocket. "I have my gloves, love. You keep this. I honestly am fine right now and I need you to be fine, too." She lifted her arm to enfold him closer to her and wrapped her other arm across him, hugging him tightly to her. Simon was still shivering, but it was not anything near as violent as it had been earlier, and she prayed a silent 'Thank you' to their Maker for that bit of welcome news.

After getting him settled snugly in her grasp, she continued. "The two had overcome every obstacle... and everyone... thrown in their way to keep them apart, but together they would be. Luckily for them, one of them was a Seer who knew there was a happily ever after waiting for the both of them," and she turned her head to kiss his capped head as the chilling breeze bobbed their chair briskly a moment or two, but she knew he would hear the smile in her voice. "Our happily ever after has barely begun, mo chridhe (my heart). We have a long way to go yet on that path, so here is what I propose."

She took in a deep breath before proceeding because she knew he might be resistant. The frigid air was bracing and that was good for her clarity of thought in the moment. "You know I would not suggest magic unless I thought it absolutely necessary, but Simon, we have to do something to save ourselves, and you taking on the role of one of the Great Wallenda's is absolutely out of the question," and she looked into his inky black eyes and smiled at him when he lifted his head as she had begun her talk of magic.

"They teach us Periculum as first years for a reason. My first thought is we start with that. I know magic casting outside of Hogwarts breaks the Statute of Secrecy, but I hardly believe I am going to be punished for casting a Mayday in an emergency. Look around us again. No one is coming for us yet."

She watched him carefully as he did look around them once again. His vision at night was leaps and bounds better than hers. If he saw any lights or movement coming their way, their talk of magic could end right there. His silence said it all.

"Given the events of last Fall's Hag Doll Ball, you may understand that I am more than a bit skeptical that casting Periculum will do the slightest thing to help us out. If it did not bring out the adult witches and wizards populating the school of magic to help the students they are charged with overseeing, my faith in it helping us here is even weaker. But to placate the Ministry, that would be Plan A."

Simon did not look at her as if she were being unreasonable, so she continued, thinking all that might change now. "Plans B and C are variations of essentially the same plan, but I am telling you frankly, I lean towards Plan B because my casting is much stronger than yours." She did not say it boastfully. They both knew it was true. He was automatically handicapped because of his dhampirism and she had hundreds more hours of practice under her belt as a duelist. Her focus was superb and she knew if Simon's safety depended upon her, there was no way she would fail.

"Plan B has me cast the levitation spell on myself and lower myself down. Once I am safely down, you cast Lumos so I can see you and you do a dead drop. I will cast an Arresto Momentum on you and stop you before you hit. I have been practicing my casting lately on dodging targets."

He knew well the time she had been putting into her dueling practice, and she stopped short of continuing by telling him she had gotten very good at it. That would sound less convincing. She had, in fact, gotten good at it, but what she thought would resonate with him more was the fact that he knew her love for him. Simon would know by now, beyond a shadow of doubt, she would not risk what she was not willing to lose, and Simon Ezra Kincaid was the single most important thing in this world to AngelFyre Afton McCubbin. The bigger risk would be to do nothing and continue to sit in that chairlift.

"Plan C is that we simultaneously cast the levitation spell on each other and lower ourselves to the ground together." She searched his eyes, but the super-dilated pupils made reading them so much harder. She could always tell so much of his thoughts by looking into his baby brown eyes, but not now... not tonight.

"I know it is a risk, Simon, in a lot of ways, but we just cannot stay up here, love. We have to get down... and soon. Then we can just ski to the base of the run with that wonderful dhampir vision of yours to lead the way. Perhaps by that time someone will have started a search party for us."

And just as AngelFyre had finished, eagerly awaiting his answer, the first swirling of snowflakes began to dance around them.

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You are safe in My hands, @Simon Kincaid

"Plan B." Simon said it so softly she was not certain she had not actually imagined hearing him say it, but the look of resolute concern written all over his face said it all. AngelFyre was so awash in relief and surprise in the moment that all she could do was sit there and smile at him. No back and forth in debate meant precious minutes would be saved and get them to safety that much sooner.

But she could not lie to herself. She was nervous. She would be an idiot not to be. Still, being nervous did not equate to a vote of no confidence in herself. If anything, she hoped it meant there was a tempered confidence that was not overblown and therefore a danger to them both.

As her mind was suddenly gearing up for the things she needed to do, Simon stilled her storm of thoughts with prayer. Growing up, she had so often seen her father gather her mother and herself and pray over them when something particularly troubling reared its head. Though she had not been home most of this past year, AngelFyre had no doubt whatsoever that her father had prayed over his wife and Grandma Ruth hundreds of times. Outcomes may not always be what one had hoped, but there was always a peace that came upon her after such ministrations. That was the true point of prayer... faith in and peace with... what was to come. Not our will, but Yours, O Lord, she thought to herself as Simon concluded his prayer, and she added her soft "Amen."

She smiled at him before starting on her mental checklist. "Thank you for that, Love. More than I can say right now, thank you for hemming us in with His protection." Then he leaned over and kissed her hand and then her lips. She pressed into his hand as he stroked her cheek and she was more than a little surprised at how much more calm she was and how her thinking was so much less scattered.

Okay, first things first. As she reached for her wand, she smiled at her boy. "I am going to start with Plan A. Who knows? It might actually produce a welcome result." She had no reason to believe it would given past history, but it had to be their first shot at self-preservation here. If she were wrong about how understanding the Ministry might be over the breaking of the Statute of Secrecy, even under these circumstances, she wanted to be able to point to that first, red stream of light as an attempt at honestly upholding their end of the bargain and ask what else were they do to do? Sit there and freeze?

It had to be AngelFyre facing the possible consequences and not Simon. Being magical just meant so much more to him than it did to her, so for him to be separated or banned from it and all that it promised for his future would utterly devastate him. No way she would wish to be responsible for that. If push came to shove, she felt she would be more than able to make the case for their choices and actions, but she honestly did not see it becoming an issue once some context was put to the matter. If it did become an issue, then there was little to no justice in the world of magic as she saw it.

"Avert your eyes, love. I am not certain if this red light could hurt them a bit," and when he had turned the other way, AngelFyre simply pointed her wand straight up to the sky and clearly intoned,"Periculum!" Immediately she felt the tingling in her left arm as the power moved through her and then through the wand. She smiled as the stream of red light, much like a flare, shot into the sky. She had to admit that it was a beautiful sight and quite bright. Surely if other wizards were here on vacation, help would arrive soon. Then turning her gaze downward, she noted there was a faint reddish-pink glow on the surface of the snow.

Muggle flares tended to go out rather quickly, and this magical flare seemed to as well. She thought it may have been because she broke her concentration and looked down at the reddish-pink snow. Perhaps if she had kept her concentration fixed on the flare in the sky, it may have stayed up a little longer.

After about 5 minutes had gone by and there was no sign of help on its way, AngelFyre could not risk waiting any longer. She removed her gloves and handed them over to Simon. "Here, handsome. I need the use of my hands... and a better grip... for casting. You can put those on if you wish while I lower myself and then you can put them in your inside pocket before it is your turn to drop in on me and say a fond 'Hello' at our joyous reunion below," and she winked at him. Then taking her teasing tone even further, because she wanted him to feel that she was not as nervous as she actually was, she poked and prodded him a bit. "When we survive this... and we will... if the Ministry sees my actions differently than we do, be sure to come visit me at Azkaban and bring that key I gave you in your Scadventger calendar. Maybe it will open my cell door there!" and she laughed more convincingly than she expected to be able to. A warm smile and a few quick blinks later, it was back to business.

AngelFyre momentarily tucked her wand back into her jacket and then loosened her scarf, unraveling it from around her neck. She tipped her right ski up towards her and tied one scarf end about a foot from the very tip. Simon wrapped his strong arms around her so she would not fall forward before she meant to, and she breathed deeply and easily in his care as she concentrated on her scarf knot. It was a long scarf and she thought this was a somewhat brilliant idea, but it would need some testing before she just willy-nilly cast the levitation spell on herself.

The spell worked on clothing, not the person, so the scarf would be her target for the levitation. She had left some slack in the scarf because the ski was ultimately going to be her steering wheel. Levitating was only half the issue - she was going to need to be able to direct herself down. When she wanted to go down, she would point the ski tip down, wand still focused on the scarf, and she believed it would get her there. She was not heavy and her casting was strong, so she felt confident she would be able to maintain her rate of descent at a safe speed. That was the goal anyway. Fear had not crossed her mind... yet... and the only reason she felt as calm as she did was because of Simon's prayer and her belief that she just absolutely would not let anything happen to him, so by extension, nothing would happen to her.

A true fallacy of logic mixed with bulldogged determination and buoyed by faith. It was the perfect recipe for succes. AngelFyre was sure of it.

When she was finished tying the scarf around the ski tip, she explained what her plan was in detail to him and told him the last thing to do was to just try it out. She extracted a promise from him that if it were to not work and she did not immediately hover but began to plunge, he was absolutely NOT to reach out for her. It could drag him over with her and then they would both be in a pickle having to rely on his casting. If she were to plummet, he needed to let her and she would do a stop and start series of Arresto Momentums and Finite Incantatems until she reached the bottom.

Simon did not look at all happy about any of it, but he promised her, and told her, without using words but just by the look of concern on his face, that he would be at the ready to cast in a moment's notice if necessary. She smiled to herself as she had never doubted it. Keeping to his always chipper self, he kissed her one more time and reiterated that she totally had this.

"Of course I do! Piece of cake, my love. I like to think of this whole experience as our test run, of sorts, for the skydiving trip we will be making on my 16th birthday! Think what experts we will be by that time, yeah! I love you, mo chridhe (my heart), and will see you in a few minutes at the bottom."

Then before she got all emotional, AngelFyre took a single, slow yoga breath and pulled the scarf around her right ski tip up with her right hand as she pointed her left hand at the scarf and intoned "Wingardium Leviosa," motioning her wand perfectly as she spoke. She was at once aware of two phenomenal things: 1) there was once again comforting warmth engulfing her hand as her arcane power came to life and moved through her wand and out to her scarf; and 2) she felt herself almost immediately begin to lift up. She was still above her seat, so she pointed her right ski out 90 degrees in front of her to get her away from the chairlift, keeping her magic focused on the scarf itself. If this worked, this would be the real test as to whether her "steering" hypothesis would be feasible or not. If it did not work, it would be the series of Arresto Momentums if she were to suddenly drop.

Unbelievably, it actually did work! She had to force herself to keep her focus, but her heart was racing with excitement. She wanted to be able to squeal her delight to Simon, but that would have to wait. Saving him meant getting herself safely down. AngelFyre could not take her focus from the scarf. That scarf was ALL she should be concentrating on right now, but what she did do was tip her right ski tip down.

That worked beautifully for about 15 seconds. She faithfully kept her eyes on the scarf, and the directed stream of magic, but she had no idea how far down she had come. She was not moving particularly fast, she knew that, and she was not yet aware of tree tops in her periphery vision, so she knew she still had a good ways to go. She and Simon had earlier estimated that they were probably 50 - 60 meters off the ground, maybe even higher, hovering over a wide, but deep, ravine. He was better at guesstimating distances than she was. But after about 15 seconds in her downward trajectory, something made brief contact with her eye. It was likely a snowflake, but it was enough to disrupt her concentration. She was not aware of it, but the sound of her fearful distress leaped from her throat and out into the frosty evening as she plummeted. Simon, of course, heard it, but that was not crossing her mind right then.

She was trying to gather her thoughts as quickly as she could and then she made a change she had not meant to make, but it worked out for her just the same.

Basic physics told her there was not enough time given the distance between AngelFyre and the ground to do a series of stop and start Arresto Momentums as she had originally planned. Well, maybe there would have been had the initial fear from suddenly plummeting not taking so much of her valuable casting time.

As she was falling, she glanced quickly to see how far from the ground she was and knowing this was a do or die moment, literally, she put her skis together making a larger target. AngelFyre quickly intoned her "Arresto Momentum" while making the requisite capital "M" motion. Almost immediately she began to slow but she did not stop entirely. She gently slowed down and when she was little more than a meter off the ground, she cast her "Finite Incantatem" at the skis and made her shield shape. She hit the deep, powdery snow almost as soon as she finished her incantation and the shock of all of it working kept her still and quiet for a moment.

As she pinched herself... hard... to make certain she was not dreaming (or unconscious), she felt the sting of the pinch and knew she had done it. She had actually done it!!! Because of the blanket of reflective snow all around her, her vision was a little better down here than up in the chairlift sitting in the dark. The first things she noticed were Simon's gloves and she let out a loud "Woo Hoo!" as she raced over to them, picking up one and then the other about 3 meters apart. Dusting them off, she happily made her way back to her landing spot and looked up to the chairlift above her. She could not see Simon clearly, but she could make out a general outline of his figure leaning over the side. She knew without a doubt he had kept an eye on her the whole way down.

"Guess whose gloves I am now holding in my hands, handsome?" she shouted as she waved them at him. "You can have them just as soon as you get that shapely backend of yours down here and and pay the very small finder's fee of one lonnnnnnnnnnnng, delicious kiss!" and her relieved laughter echoed just a little around her.

"So light up and give me a countdown before you do take your leap of faith. I have totally got you, Love, and so does He. I promise you are in the best of hands. Now hurry up. I want my finder's fee!"

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Banner lyrics are from the song Never by Tasha Layton

Say "Hello" to Gravity, Your Old Friend, @Simon Kincaid

She could not help but get a little tickled as Simon called out his actions as if he were in the Mission Control Center at Cape Canaveral for a space launch. She took a deep breath and said yet another silent prayer, asking that her aim be true. Another wave of peace washed over her and she could clearly see that Simon had cast his Lumos. That peace lasted much too short a time as it became suddenly... much too suddenly... apparent that Simon had already made his launch from the chairlift. The last thing she heard from him was, "Ready for descent." That was nice, but what about the countdown? He forgot to give her the countdown!!!

She dropped his gloves where she stood and grasped her wand tightly, immediately getting in position to cast. That was all second nature to her, but her heartbeats were thundering in her ears as she had to now quickly try to get a bead on how fast he was falling. Thanks to his Lumos, she could make out his chest and she targeted that area as it was the largest surface area and provided her the best chance to hit his moving target.

Clearly and distinctly she motioned her wand as she spoke, "Arresto Momentum!" There was no time to worry or second guess herself. She felt the power surge through and out her wand and recognized immediately that her aim had been true as the stream of blue light flashed up and made contact with Simon's chest.

Thank you, Father!

Simon immediately slowed his descent with about 30 feet left to go. It took maybe 10 seconds for him to get to a level where AngelFyre would be able to ski over to him to help position him into a vertical posture as opposed to the nearly parallel to the ground posture he had assumed while falling. But for right now, the most important thing was that he was absolutely safe and his momentum had completely stopped, leaving him to hover.

If the fact that his life had not literally just been in her hands, she might have taken a minute or more to enjoy and play with her hovering wizard, but all she wanted to do right then was to get him planted safely on terra firma and just hug the stuffing out of him. AngelFyre quickly cast the "Finite Incantatem," at him so that he could land in a standing position on his skis. As soon he dropped the couple of inches to the powdery snow, she was in his arms in nothing flat. Her eyes were closed but the thin skin of her eyelids told her that his Lumos was still lit as his arms encircled her.

The unrelenting, rapid pounding of her heartbeats drowned everything out. She knew her hug must feel more like vice grip than anything else in those moments, but that was okay. Even with so many layers of clothing between them she would not have been surprised if Simon could have felt the hammering of her heart. As the adrenaline rush subsided, she became aware that she could once again hear and form coherent thoughts. That is when the enormity of it all pressed down on her. What had she been thinking? He could have died. They both could have. What if she had missed?

But you did not, AF. Get a grip on yourself. It was a good plan... a necessary plan. He would have likely died without it. Focus on that!

She turned and kissed his ear and whispered shakily, "We did it, Simon! We did it! I swear, with you I believe I can do anything," and she hugged him again before releasing him. Turning back around to where she had dropped them, she skied back to get his gloves. Beginning to feel the fear leave her, she teased him a bit.

"You are luckier to be alive than you know, Mav. The countdown... what happened to the countdown?!? There is always a countdown at Mission Control, donchaknow? And for good reason. You were falling before I even had my wand ready. Sheesh," and she did a couple of playful tsk tsks at him.

"Here ya go, love," and she held up his gloves. "I imagine you will be very happy to get these on and IIIIIIIIII will be most happy to collect on that finder's fee I mentioned earlier. Oh! By the way... it is due upon receipt of the merchandise, so get over here and pucker up, you delicious hunk of handsome Hufflepuffness."

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