A Game of Cat and Mouse

T H I R T Y F I V E

It was a foggy night in mid-October and Elio Nott was sitting at the mahogany desk in his office, staring at a bunch of documents that all seemed to blend together. It wasn't that they were boring documents—well, others might find olive oil accounting ledgers boring but after spending months working as his father's right-hand man, studying their various businesses, he was happy to be put in charge of the company's finances. No, it wasn't boredom. His mind was simply too distracted to focus on the various exports they'd made that month.

First, he was thinking about his exhaustion. He'd had one of many guy's nights last night with his friends Albus, Scorpius, and James. They'd stayed up far too late watching some muggle movie about a man who killed other muggles who killed his dog. Albus cheered on every kickass move—since his dad was raised by muggles, he liked them best out of the group—while Scorpius drolled that things would have been much simpler and much less messy if he'd just been a wizard. James just scowled at the television and said, "This seems pointless."

Then, Elio was thinking about his parents, who were out on a date night, which was shocking considering been hovering more than usual. Elio supposed that it was because he was nearing ten months spent with Annie and, in their mind, that was much more than anyone ever expected him to last with a girlfriend. Eventually, they'd realize that he planned on having an eternity with her and would finally quit hovering. Elio had even caught his mother glancing a ring magazines, saying, "Oh, this one would be perfect for dainty fingers! Not that I have those, of course."

Finally, he was thinking about the girl with the dainty fingers, who he hadn't seen in six days. Her father had been home for more time than usual and only left yesterday. Elio wasn't the type of friend to abandon his guy's night so he settled on being patient, which wasn't Elio's strong suit.

Annie had reassured him via James that she would see him tomorrow. In theory, that was wonderful, as he had a lot of work to do still for his father. But in reality, waiting for tomorrow felt like the worst possible form of torture he could imagine. By that time, it would have been a week since he'd seen her last. A week since she smiled at him, a week since he'd kissed her, a week since he'd felt her body beneath him. Being patient was far from easy.

Well, there was something else too. Energy humming beneath his skin. Something was wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. But he couldn't tell what it was.

So, clearly, his time with the olive oil ledgers wasn't going well. Not going well at all.

Elio ran his fingers through his hair. I should probably change and go to bed. It was almost eleven and he was still wearing a grey henley long-sleeve shirt and black joggers. In the back of his mind, Elio knew that he (unfortunately) wasn't going anywhere but he also knew that if he stepped away from the ledgers, he probably wasn't coming back.

But as soon as he put his head back down to work, a loud CRACK sounded from upstairs. Sounds like it came from my bedroom, Elio mused as he grabbed his wand and prepared to defend himself. The noise was unmistakable; a wizard had apparated into his home. Most had better manners than to just appear in someone's house so whoever was here clearly cared little for niceties.

"NOTT!" A furious voice rang through the halls. Elio put his wand down. While he was indeed correct when he said that the wizard cared little for niceties, he also believed if James Riddle was planning on killing him, he would have already.

The older boy soon thundered down the staircase. He looked like a hurricane with violent winds and shattering lightning swirling around him. A hydra with the intent to kill. And all of its heads were aimed at Elio.

He quickly held up his hands in surrender. "I swear, I don't know what it is, but I didn't do it!"

"Come here," James growled. He stalked over to Elio and grabbed his arm. Surprisingly, his friend's grip wasn't harsh despite his tone and taut body. Elio was sure that if James Riddle were a rubber band, he would have been lying broken on the ground right now.