Chapter Three: Dark Magic Ministry

Angel moved silently through the Hospital Wing, helping the last limping victim out the door. Her mind was with Lily's last thought inside Harry's head. It had been her sole comfort for many years in her life, stemming from the night she was locked in the tower until she gave it to Harry. She felt... cold. Cold and empty. Her mind was telling her that she'd never be able to center herself. Her body said "Nonsense." Her mind won out.

Ron sat awake in silence, unable to sleep. He could hear the scratching from the other side of the trapdoor and knew that Draco was on the other side of it, waiting for Harry to start snoring. When the final light noise came, the door swung open, revealing that Draco was indeed on the other side. Ron slipped out of bed and darted across to Harry's. Clamping a hand over his friend's mouth, he woke Harry from a peaceful slumber.

"I need a witness. Pretend to be asleep," Ron whispered, not knowing exactly what he was going to do.

Harry nodded and Ron stepped out from behind the curtain.

"What do you want? Angel'll have your head for being in here," Ron growled.

"We never finished what we started, my bitch," Draco hissed.

"We're never going to finish it. I'm tired of being raped by you. Get out or I'll go get Angel."

"Turning to a girl for help?"

"No, I'm turning to your Queen," Ron growled.

Draco went pale as snow in the darkness. He hadn't known that he was defying the Queen, but it felt too damn good to pass up. Taking advantage of the lull, Draco grabbed Ron's wrist and pulled him close.

"I know your secret," he whispered.

"No..."

"Oh, yes. I've seen it. Your dirty little love of that stupid boy. How would Harry feel if he knew you loved him?" Draco replied.

"HARRY DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!" Ron screamed, waking all the others.

Before anyone could react, Draco was up the ladder and in the hole. Harry ran to Ron, embracing him and setting him down. The red head was shaking; Harry knew. Behind his solid greens, he knew that Ron loved him. He must be so disgusted, Ron thought. Without pausing to think about what he was doing, Ron ran from the dormitory. Harry stared after him, confused. Then he understood. Draco hadn't been lying, and Ron thought that he hated him.

Ron ran from the portrait hole, causing Hermione, who'd heard him scream to Harry, to shriek and try to follow. Ron didn't know what stopped her, but he kept on running until he reached the entrance to the Eastern Tower. He jumped up and grabbed the handle, pulling down the door and the ladder. He scrambled up with tears in his eyes, not understanding why he'd come, but just wanting someone to help him. Angel stood in shock with Lucius standing before her. Her first thought was rape, but then she picked up on the fear and sorrow. It wasn't rape, it was something else; something that she'd felt before but couldn't quite pinpoint. Being a severely emotional vampire, she rushed to Ron's side.

"Oh Ron... What happened?" Angel pleaded.

Ron just shook his head, tears chasing each other down his now severely pale cheeks. Lucius instantly turned cold again with the presence of the Weasley boy, and Angel shooed him away, picking Ron up in her arms and carrying him to the couch. She rocked him back and forth until he calmed enough. He was still shaking, but no longer sobbing.

"Ron... what's going on?"

"...Malfoy... came up to the Dormitories... he... he was trying to get at me even after I reminded him who you were... He pulled me close to him... and told me that he knew my secret... he told me that he knew I loved Harry... and I'd woken Harry up in case he managed to get me anyway... Harry heard... he has to hate me now, doesn't he?"

"Oh, Ron... no, he doesn't... I don't know if you ever heard but... Severus... and Harry's father... they... they had a fling once," Angel said, lying through her teeth about the fling. "I'm sure Harry doesn't hate you, especially if he has any of Lily in him. Lily was only capable of hating one person... and even then she didn't."

Ron smiled weakly, but when Angel tried to shoo him out the door, he clung to her. Resigning herself to defeat, Angel whisked some blankets out of the air and let Ron sleep on the couch. She left the room to speak to Lucius, leaving Ron to his own devices.

Ron plucked a razor out of his pocket. It was a dangerous device if used wrong, but he knew how to use it. He knew very well how to use it.

"Lucius, your boy is out of control," Angel said as she entered the room.

"What do you mean, My Lady?"

"He has raped Ron Weasley repeatedly," Angel growled.

"So Weasley says."

"So I've seen," Angel hissed.

"My Lady, that is quite impossible," Lucius replied.

"No, it isn't. I've seen him trying to drag Ron to the dungeons, and I've heard his thoughts. He keeps reliving it until it gets old, then he does it again."

Lucius' hands clenched, finally letting him see reason. Angel folded her arms and sighed.

"I heard you mention something about Severus and James Potter. What were you referring to?"

"I was speaking about their long time relationship in their fourth year, your seventh and my sixth," Angel said softly.

"They didn't have one. I would've known about it."

"Most of it was conducted in the woods, under cover of darkness. I saw the first time and their last fight. It stopped the first month we came back after you graduated because James wanted to use it to unify the houses whereas Snape wanted to keep it in the closet," Angel replied.

Lucius fell silent. It hadn't been the answer he'd wanted to hear; Angel could tell. Silently, she placed a hand on his shoulder. Memories flooded his brain; they were obviously from Severus' mind, since they detailed long strolls with Lucius and his thoughts. It was all Lucius needed to see to understand that Severus really did love him. Nodding with a smile, Lucius left the tower, and Angel bit down hard on her lip.

Back in the Gryffindor Tower, Harry filled Hermione in on the happenings of the night leading up to Ron's rush from the tower. Hermione's lower lip quivered as Harry guessed, quite correctly, that Ron had been doing this behind their backs to protect them. It positively trembled when Harry told about Ron's feelings.

"Oh... Harry, I've wanted to tell you, but Ron made me swear. You kept your secret with Cedric pretty well, I'd say," Hermione laughed half heartedly.

Harry lowered himself, and in turn his egg, into the hot water of the Prefect's bath. The mermaid in the window danced around, trying to entice him, but failing miserably. Harry had known for quite some time now that he was not very interested in girls. Cho was pretty, and therefore open for him to ask out to the Yule Ball to keep suspicion away. Where his affections truly sat, was with one Cedric Diggory. Right on cue, the door behind him opened, revealing a lean, muscular Cedric outlined in the dim torchlight. Harry suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Cedric obviously didn't know that he had been down there, and he most likely did not know of Harry's chosen persuasion. His only prayer was that there was a snake in the water, instead of his own rigid member. Cedric nearly jumped out of his skin upon seeing Harry there, egg in hand and arms clenched around his body.

"Put it in the water and open it," Cedric told him.

Harry, trying to prevent himself from being noticeable, dove under the water and did as instructed.

Harry flinched at the last words of the poem; "It won't come back." Cedric gave a weak smile from across the bath tub before swimming closer.

"What do you plan to do about your little problem?" Cedric asked.

"I dunno... I don't think I can hold my breath for an hour..."

"I was talking about a bigger problem than that one," Cedric replied, looking down.

"Oh... that... it's..."

"Monstrous," Cedric smiled, diving beneath the water.

The minute Harry felt the warmth around his engorged penis, he ceased thinking about a single thing other than how skilled Cedric's mouth was. He came up for air, and then dove back down again, moving faster than before. Finally, when Harry felt like he was going to burst, Cedric resurfaced, and sat back, waiting for the feeling to dissolve. Then, Harry felt Cedric's erection pulsing against his own. Their lust-filled eyes locked, and Cedric pinned down Harry with his lips. Harry moaned into the kiss. He ground himself upward against the friction, trying to keep the heat in his loins. Their movements sped up until-

Harry immediately cut himself off at the pass, keeping himself from becoming hard. Hermione touched his shoulder gently before returning to her dormitory. He sat there, arms wrapped around his body, hugging himself tight, and waited for the sun to rise and bring his ginger headed mate back to him.

Ron awoke with a start the next morning to find himself once again in his own bed with a note on his bed stand. Heart pounding in his chest, he reached over and plucked it from the nightstand.

Dear Ron,

Don't go into the Common Room until I get there. I will help you out with explaining the situation and try to patch things up as best as I can. I will send Neville up after you.

Angel

Just as he finished reading, Neville rushed up the stairs and pointed down. Ron got out of bed hesitantly and walked to the spiral staircase. He took the steps extraordinarily slowly, trying his hardest to avoid doing what he was about to do at all costs. He heard angelic laughter and knew that Angel was down there, waiting for him. He desperately wanted to go back in bed and grab his knife, but resisted the urge. Harry's green eyes stared up at him from the Common Room, as if they knew he was on his way. Angel fell silent midway through a joke with Ginny and smiled a little. Ron didn't come down any faster. Just as he reached the ground floor, Hermione nearly tackled him in a hug, professing her worries through her actions. Angel smiled a little wider and beckoned the pair over. Casting her charm on the room, no one could hear them as she began to speak.

"As you've undoubtedly heard, Ron had... a little secret that was divulged by a certain Mr. Draconis Malfoy. Draco, as we speak, is probably having the snot beaten out of him by his father. However, there is the certain matter of friendship, or rather fellowship, that must be maintained."

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak with Ron on my own, thanks," Harry told Angel.

Angel was taken aback, but lowered her charm none the less. Harry grabbed Ron around the wrist and pulled him back up to their dorm, locking the door behind him.

"You're not going to kill me, are you?" Ron said as he took a defensive position.

"Ron-"

"Cause Malfoy was just-"

"Ron!"

"He was only-"

"RON!"

"You have every right-"

This time, Harry silenced his best friend, the man for whom his affections had longed for, with a passionate kiss. Ron stared at him, aghast and lost for words at the action.

"Ron... I don't know how long this has been going on, and frankly, I don't care. It's going to stop, because you... are... mine," Harry whispered seductively in Ron's ear.

Ron shivered at the action and Harry kissed him again. This time, Ron was quite a bit more responsive, tangling his fingers in Harry's black mass of untamable hair to deepen the kiss. Ron fell back onto Harry's bed, and Harry fell on top of him, reaching up to pull the curtains shut. He pulled the night shirt off his companion's torso, revealing a pale chest that was coated in freckles. Harry left Ron's mouth to trail kisses down to his nipple. First, he teased one with his tongue, forcing it taught with his mouth, and then he trailed kissed to the other, repeating the process. Unfortunately, they were interrupted by a terrified scream and a feral growl. Ron and Harry burst from the dorm, Ron still shirtless, but the lust gone from their eyes. It had been Hermione who had screamed and Angel who had growled as Theodore Nott wrapped his arm around Ginny's throat. Angel Blaire was a much different girl than the sweet one they all knew and loved. Her eyes had darkened from crimson to a deep brick red, almost black, color and she circled Nott like prey. Her eyes never once left his throat, and she looked... hungry, like a woman who had been meandering through the desert for a month without food. Her body tried to scream out about the girl in his arms and the people gathered in the common room, but all she could sense was the Dark Mark, pulsing like some evil entity embedded in his flesh, and she longed to taste its degradation. Nott, however, was unconcerned with the woman that should've been his Queen. Instead, he looked to Hermione for the slightest hint of raising a wand. This gave Angel her opening. She lunged, catching Nott in the ribs and forcing him into the portrait hole. Everyone rushed to Ginny, and did not see Angel rip Nott's throat out with her teeth and drain him in the matter of sixteen seconds.

"You have red on you," Hermione said softly, looking at Angel's lips and chin, which were stained with Nott's blood. She plucked a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped it clean before anyone else could see.

"Thanks, Hermione."

Hermione nodded. Just then, there was a shriek in the portrait hole and a cry of "I told you she was dangerous" as McGonagall discovered Nott's body, drained of all blood.

"Nott was a Death Eater spy, as was his father. His death is no concern of ours since he never would've been any better. He followed that false lord as faithfully as we Knights serve the Queen," Snape replied.

"Still, did she have to drain him?"

"Didn't have much of a choice if you think about it, Professor. He would've kept coming, no matter what I did," Angel replied.

McGonagall and the rest of Gryffindor fell silent. Then, all the kids began clapping, remembering that Lupin had been a werewolf, and he was the best Defense teacher they'd ever had. Angel bowed like Angel, and then raised her hands for silence.

"I have a list of all the Slytherins that have checked out. If anyone other than those on the list approach you, do whatever you can to prevent them from being able to get at your throat. Do NOT attempt to attack anyone who isn't on the list in the halls because the ones that have checked out are the only ones we've checked. We don't know for sure," Angel called.

Everyone nodded, and Snape placed a hand on each shoulder and steered Angel out. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny followed. Luna joined them in the hallway, and they walked down to the Great Hall together. There stood sixty Knights, awaiting the command of their Queen. Lucius stepped forward and gave a roll of parchment to Angel. She looked it over and smiled a little. Rolling it up, she shoved it in her pocket and looked at her Knights. Then, she moved over to Dumbledore and whispered something in his ear. Dumbledore nodded and walked up the stairs. Silently, Angel took her place at the front of the crowd and led them outside. Hagrid was standing near an entryway to the Forbidden Forest, and he flicked his umbrella, lighting a long winding path of lanterns. Angel smiled at him before ducking inside the forest. She led the Knights to the end of the path, where there was a small, level clearing. Angel dropped a single seed in the center and stretched her hand over it. What grew was no ordinary tree. It was as big as a house, with branches thick enough for several people to stand in, and it stretched far above the forest canopy. Inside the trunk was an elevator. The tree itself took up the entire clearing and blended in perfectly with the rest of the forest. Only someone who knew what they were looking for could've found it, and even then the chances were slim. Angel beckoned her Knights to fill it, and suddenly, a set of red lanterns spelled out the words "Open For Business, the Knights of the Mirrormar, Dark Magic Ministry. Queen and Head of Offices, Angelic Blaire." Lucius smiled as he stepped into the tree. The only people left in the clearing were Sirius and Remus, who had just arrived, Dumbledore, the Six, and Angel.

"Come on! You have offices too, since you're our liaisons," Angel beamed.