Harry awoke suddenly to a bucket of water tossed over his head. For a moment, he just sputtered while trying to reason out where he was and why he was so wet. The second question was answered by the sight of the bucket still in the hands of his awakener, but the first proved more difficult. He appeared to be in a plain white room, occupied only by himself, the chair he was tied to, and the water thrower. Somehow, he must use these objects to deduce his whereabouts. He swiftly crossed himself and the chair off his mental 'to interrogate' list because chairs usually don't talk and it was already stated that he didn't know where he was. Unless he did actually know, and had forgotten. But how? Had he been memory charmed? How could he tell? Oh no! What had he forgotten? Quick! What was his name? How old was he? Where was he? He didn't know where he was! What to do? Harry took a deep breath and decided not to panic. Instead, he looked around at his surroundings for something to tell him where he was. He appeared to be in a plain white room, occupied only by himself, the chair he was tied to, and the water thrower. Somehow, he must use these objects…

Meanwhile, the aforementioned water thrower was watching Harry with no small amount of confusion. He'd been ready for tears, for begging, and for fervent declarations of innocence. After all, the boy looked to be only 14. Yes, Alex Rider had shown SCORPIA how dangerous 14 year old boys could be, but how many of those could there be in the world? There's no way this skinny dark haired boy calmly sizing up his surroundings and examining his bonds with a practiced eye, who also happened to come from the same house Rider was in could be dangerous, right? He took a few steps back, just to be sure and cleared his throat. It was time for the 'surrender all hope, bwahaha' speech. Although, his bosses didn't like him doing the 'bwahaha' part. They said it was too cliché. SCORPIA didn't do cliché.

Just as the thrower was about to begin speaking, another voice echoed down the hall.

"Marcus! Are you done yet? The boss is waiting for you to bring him in, and you know how he gets grouchy when he has to wait."

The water thrower, apparently named Marcus started guiltily.

"Of course I'm done! Do you think that I don't know how to do my job? He's just been making a real mess of himself and we need a bit more time."

"Alright, but you better hurry. I'll cover for you this once, but you owe me a favor."

Marcus turned back to Harry, looking frazzled.

"Sorry kid, looks like I've got to skip the intro. Don't tell anyone, would ya? I'm already on probation for taking the last of the potato salad at the company picnic."

Harry nodded slowly, unsure of the mental stability of the other man, but certain that being on good terms with him would come in handy later.

"And would you mind calling up a few tears? If not, they'll know I lied about you making a fuss."

Harry nodded obligingly again, and began to rub at his eyes as soon as Marcus untied his hands.

"Okay, that's red enough. Let's go."

Marcus grabbed Harry by the upper arm and hauled him out of the room. Harry looked at his surroundings in poorly concealed surprise. His first theory for his unplanned displacement had been Death Eaters, but everything looked too professional for that. In fact, compared to his previous kidnapping at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, this one has been downright luxurious. There were no dirty old gravestones to be tied to or creepy people in masks. Instead, here he was, untied after only a brief amount of time in a fairly nice chair, being led down a hall by a man who didn't seem so bad. At least, his level of personal hygiene was better than most of the Death Eaters. Look at Snape, for example.

They arrived at the end of the hall, and with it a door. It wasn't a particularly nice door. There were a few mildly suspicious stains near the bottom, and it didn't sit quite right on the hinges. However, there was a twisted appeal in the unevenness…

Harry's contemplation of the door was broken by his guard opening it. The room inside had a recently cleaned tile floor, and a man seated behind a desk. As Harry entered the room, the man behind the desk stood up and walked around it to stand in front of the boy.

"Well, you certainly don't look like much, but Rider doesn't either, does he? Looks can be so deceiving these days." The man paused, and seemed to be waiting for an answer.

"Sure," Harry tried. It didn't seem to be what the man was hoping to hear.

"It's amazing what technology can do these days. Open any door, destroy any barrier, even stop sound entirely, I've heard." Again, he looked expectantly at Harry, who was beginning to feel confused.

"…Really?" Harry hadn't exactly been keeping up with new technology, what with magic and all. That last part sounded pretty cool, though. Like the silencing charm, but for muggles.

"Yes. Some even say that objects out of science fiction are only years away. Others say that they may be here already." And there was that expectant look. Harry didn't bother answering. It didn't seem to matter to the man. He continued speaking.

"There are rumors of a functional ray gun that has been developed." Why was he telling Harry this? And what was a ray gun anyway? It sounded like something Dudley would enjoy.

The man had stopped talking and was staring intently at Harry's face. Eventually, he nodded and stepped back.

"I see it would be unwise to underestimate you. You obviously have been well trained. However, even the most experienced make mistakes, and eventually, so will you. We'll talk again later." With that, he signaled for Marcus to return Harry to the white room he had been in before.

Marcus turned to Harry as they walked down the hall.

"I'm impressed, kid. I've never seen anyone handle one of boss' interrogations so well. You didn't even blink! He didn't get anything out of you, and he's an expert on body language. It really seemed like you had no idea what he was talking about!" With that, they arrived at Harry's cell, and Marcus led him inside.

"Seems a bit silly to tie you up knowing that you'll escape the rope as soon as I'm gone. Experts like you always do. Would you mind if we skipped it? Tying those ropes is so inconvenient, and there's a really nice lock on the outside of the door that you won't be able to get past."

Harry was even more confused, but not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Sure, I'm fine with that if you are."

Marcus smiled at Harry's reply and left, making sure to slam the door and loudly click the lock into place. Harry looked around his new room and shrugged. It was nicer than the cupboard under the stairs. He still had no idea where he was, why he was there, or what was going on, but he was surprisingly fine with that. These people were obviously muggles, and they weren't too bad. One of them, the boss, had mentioned Alex. Maybe they were his friends?

Be careful, everyone! There's this monster running around called 'College,' and it likes to devour free time. It seems to have found mine especially appetizing.