Thread: Adventure: The Tale of Two - Sa16+
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Old 07-11-2010, 06:57 AM   #118 (permalink)
princess of*hp*
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Ch 29
The taxi slowed to a halt and ended what had been a virtually silent drive. As the driver had wound throughout the streets and past some of the world’s most famous landmarks, Agyness had gazed open-mouthed at the exquisite beauty that was Paris. The architectural design was positively jaw-dropping and the young witch could not believe that simple muggles years ago had created such wonders. It took all of her might and common sense not to apparate straight from the cab and onto the top of the Eiffel Tower, in front of the Louvre, or inside of the Notre Dame. Even after Gracie had paid the driver and Agyness had made her way to the front of the apartment complex, she itched to run off into the heart of the city and explore its rich history.

Alas, such adventuring would have to wait. Agyness was plucked from her reverie as Gracie began to hurry her along towards her lodgings. Quickly grabbing the other end of the trunk, Gracie wordlessly began to rush Agyness down hallways and up staircases until they reached the top floor. Once again, both women were winded as they finished yet another hurried journey. Quickly retrieving her keys from her trouser pocket and inserting a small, silver one into the door, the lock opened with a click and Gracie turned the silver doorknob. As she quickly stepped through the threshold and lugged Agyness’ trunk over the hardwood floor, Agyness took her time to absorb in the sights, smells, and atmosphere of the Parisian flat.

From where she stood in the hallway, in seemed quite quaint. The walls were painted in a monotonous white and everything seemed quite plain until Agyness stepped into the living room. Just like everything else, it was quite small. However, the plain white walls had come to life with the addition of numerous pictures. Some were polaroids, some were film strips, some were digital prints, and others looked like clippings from magazines. Seeing her interest, Gracie smiled and joined Agyness as she stood in front of the couch. “I’m a photographer,” She spoke proudly, her arms crossed over her chest as she scanned the images on the makeshift mural. Agyness nodded, noticing a mix of photos that seemed both personal and professional. How was it that on her travels she always managed to run into artsy folk? First were Marcus, the disc jockey, and Jesabelle, the actress. Now Agyness was in the company of what seemed to be a photographic obsessor? It was a pity that none of the photos moved. Agyness knew that with a simple charm she could make the stationary people come to life, but it was prudent not to muck around.

Gesturing towards what seemed like a magazine cut-out, Agyness inquired, “Is this yours? I mean, did you shoot this?” If it was possible, Gracie’s prideful grin widened evermore to reveal all of her teeth as she nodded. “Oui. It was my first professional photo shoot that was actually published. It took me years to finally achieve such success. After years of trying, I’ve just recently sunken my teeth into ze industry.”

Agyness couldn’t keep an impressed grin away from her face. “Wow,” She spoke, Gracie still standing tall and proud. She wanted to speak up, to mention how much money Gracie must have been raking in with such a high-class job, but she stopped herself. Presuming that Agyness’s silence was the product of adoration, she began in a vain tone, smiling as she picked at her fingernails, “Some call me ze French Annie Leibovitz, or Terry Richardson.” Agyness, having no clue who the woman spoke of, simply continued to smile and nod as she kept her gloved hands politely clasped together. Gracie made to continue on with her peacocking but immediately snapped out of it, throwing her hands in the air melodramatically. “Why, I am so sorry! You must think I’m a talkative fool. Here, let me take ze trunk and show you around my humble abode.”

As Agyness offered to lend a helping hand, Gracie quickly swatted her away as she began to lug the large, leather trunk down a narrow hallway. Before following her, Agyness had to smile and shake her head as she had a short moment to herself. Why was it that she always attracted the most whimsical sorts of folk? Maybe it was her heritage, the blood that pumped through her veins and made her a magical being, which attracted these characters to such a plain girl. Quickly ending her train of thought, Agyness rushed off to meet Gracie down the hallway before her absence was noticed.
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"Welcome to Paris, where the local time is nine o’ clock. We will be taxiing to the gate for the next few minutes, so please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened until the captain has turned off the seatbelt sign. We will be parking at gate eleven and for those of you for whom Paris is your final destination, bags can be claimed at carousel three. On behalf of the flight crew and Irish Airlines, thank you for choosing to fly with us today and we hope to see you again on a future flight. Use of cellular telephones is now permitted. Doors to arrival, cross-check, verify straps."

As the heavily-accented voice of the pilot faded from the intercom, Draco narrowed his eyes as he stared out of the small, Plexiglas window that he was seated by. The sun was shining brightly over the streets of Paris and the Eiffel Tower loomed large in the distance. Slowly pulling down the window’s shutter and facing the seat in front of him, Draco sighed impatiently. What had possessed him to take a flight? Couldn’t he have apparated, couldn’t he have found a fireplace with floo powder handy, couldn’t he have done anything that didn’t involve being in the company of muggles? The hour-long flight had been an hour too long. It had been a rather snap decision to fly to Paris, but Draco had figured that it was for the better; he could only hope and pray that Agyness had remained at the airport for at least another hour.

As the plane came to a complete stop, Draco couldn’t help but pull the Polaroid of Agyness from the chest pocket of his coat. The smile on her face brought one to his. Seeing her face, even though it was simply composed of ink and paper, helped to boost his spirits. He was reminded of his purpose for following her on this wild goose chase. His smile was replaced by his trademark smirk as he realized that the photograph was still. He resisted the temptation to pull his wand out and charm the inhabitants of the picture to move. Quickly placing the Polaroid back in his pocket, he unbuckled his seat belt and strode away from his business class seat. No matter how desperate he was, it would have been a dismal day to have seen Draco Malfoy take a commercial flight. Striding from the terminal and eventually reaching the parking lot, his recent burst of confidence quickly deflated. Agyness was nowhere to be found, as usual. A frown appeared on his features as he began to tread away from hordes of muggles, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black trousers. He quickly formed a mental plan.

After finding the closest, most upper-echelon hotel available, Draco would arrange to have Binka bring him his luggage in his suite. He had left his baggage far behind and it would be far easier to have his house elf take care of his belongings, as she did daily, than to place his posh, essential effects in the possession of incompetent muggles. No matter how much hardship Draco had seen during and after Voldemort’s reign, his prejudice against those with non-magical blood was deeply set in his DNA. After deciding that he would get his things together, Draco’s plan came to a standstill.

How would he go about searching for Agyness? Would he do as the ginger at the airport had done and take her Polaroid around, inquiring every person that he saw as to her whereabouts? Definitely not. It was too peasant-like, too muggle-like, and most of all, too perilous. If the nutter was still after Agyness and himself, putting oneself out in broad daylight was not the brightest idea. Draco’s mind reverted to a previous day, when Harry had given him important words of warning. Time was of the essence and fate seemed to be against him. The clock was ticking and it seemed like it wouldn’t be long before the chimes of defeat would echo in Draco’s psyche.
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