Chapter 10: Save Yourself.
Dannii: I have a Dark!Ginny plotbunny all ready to go; maybe I should post it, eh? And thanks!
ennui deMorte: Glad to know Dru's coming through with the comedy.
Aliesha: I love that dance. ^_^ You'll see what I meant about Snape soon. Heh. I'm so evil. Mwahaha!
Amelle: *bows* Thank you, thank you.
Warning: Swearing and Snape-style snark ahead. Also, one of my theories about life is "Men are easily distracted by sex." You'll see what I mean soon.
"Hogwart's!"
Tom and Ginny whirled around together just in time to see Professor Snape, who had been inching his way to the fireplace, disappear in a ball of green flame.
"No!" Tom screamed, charging over to the fireplace. "Vedivicite!" he roared at the fireplace, but Snape was gone. Trembling with rage, he turned to Ginny, who was staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the fireplace. "You let him escape." he growled.
Ginny swallowed quickly and snapped her gaze up to meet Tom's. "He doesn't matter." she said coldly. "So, he goes back to the school. He won't - "
Ginny barely ducked in time as Tom threw the jar of floo powder against the wall behind Ginny's head. "He was supposed to die, Virginia!" he howled. "You were supposed to make sure of that!"
"It's not my fault!" she screamed, grabbing an inkwell off the desk and launching it at the fireplace.
Tom moved just in time and it shattered against the mantle. "How hard could it possibly be to kill someone with a disabled portkey?" he yelled, storming across the room and grabbing her wrist. "I'm beginning to doubt your true allegiances again, Virginia." he growled, inches from her face.
Ginny easily shook free from Tom's grip and stood a few steps away, livid. "Get a hold of yourself!" she seethed. "If I were still loyal to that doddering old fool, then I couldn't have stabbed him in the first place! Think about it! If I had really been sent here undercover, then I would've just stabbed my only link to my supposed home base!" She took a step towards him and jabbed her index finger into his chest. "I hate Hogwart's and everyone in it! And I'd skewer the greasy ass again, if I had to!" she said, pent-up anger at the whole situation adding fuel to her words. "Give me those wands and I'll prove my loyalty. Again!" She looked searchingly into his furious face and turned away, exhaling harshly. Then, the key to calming him clicked in her head and she turned slowly around, tentatively taking the final step to where Tom was standing. "You're all I've got now, can't you see that?" she whispered desperately. "I can't afford to betray you." She took his balled fists in her hands. "I want to be here, with you." she murmured as she kissed each of his fingers and blew softly on his white knuckles before lifting her eyes to his face.
He was staring down at her, his face a war between angry incredulity and hopeful desire. "If you are genuine," he said thickly. "then you will bring my Death Eaters home to me, each and every one of them." He slowly withdrew his hands from hers and picked up the wands. "Go now." he ordered quietly, handing them to her. "I'll be along shortly with the portkey."
Ginny nodded grimly and deposited the wands inside her robes. "You won't be disappointed." she said before turning to leave.
"I hope not." he whispered as she left. "For both of our sakes."
*
"I'm going to kill that bitch! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!" Harry yelled, throwing himself into a sharp dive, pulling up at the last possible second, and repeating the process. The whole thing was quite annoying Draco.
"I can't carry on a conversation with you if you keep doing that!" Draco called to the other boy. He and Harry had decided to take their lunch hour and spend it flying around the Quidditch patch, both to practice and to cool off. Thankfully, the field was empty; the teams would not start practicing until the next week.
Harry pulled to an abrupt stop beside Draco. "Seriously, would it be such a loss to the world if Parkinson decided to throw herself from the Astronomy tower?" he groused.
Draco shook his head. "You're just angry because she forced Ginny to do what you couldn't." He let go of his Nimbus 2001 and sat up, cracking his back. "You know she would've gone anyway."
"What?" Harry cried. "You can't be serious. She would not have gone willingly to that psychopath!"
Draco raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever listened to the way she talks about him? How many times she's called him 'Tom' instead of 'Voldemort' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'?" Draco shook his head sadly. "She still sees the boy in the book."
Harry was suspicious. "And you've gleaned this from the 24 hours you've known her?" he asked, brow furrowing.
Draco shrugged. "Maybe I'm just more observant than you are." he replied bluntly. "I believe Granger made reference to Ron having the emotional range of a teaspoon and you not noticing the fact that she's a girl." he teased.
Harry shifted on his broom. "Well, I um...there are reasons...for that." he finished lamely.
Draco smirked. "Oh, don't I know that." he said, leering at Harry.
The dark-haired boy smiled shyly. "Here?" he asked, looking around the open air.
The ex-Slytherin shook his head. "Follow me." he said enigmatically before diving sharply. Harry followed immediately and soon found himself dismounting and being held against the underside of the Gryffindor bleachers.
"I've always wanted to try this." Draco purred, pulling Harry close against him and seizing his mouth into a searing kiss.
"Oy! Harry! Where you at? Come on out, mate! "
The boys jumped back as if struck by lightening. "That was close." Harry muttered, picking up his Firebolt.
"We're over here!" Draco replied, already starting down the pitch to the redhead.
"What is it, Ron?" Harry asked, seeing the panicked look on his best friend's face.
"You'd better come quick, guys." Ron said, shaking. "It's Snape."
*
"Miss Summers! Will you stop hovering and let me do my job!" snapped Madame Pomphrey as the three boys entered the infirmary.
Buffy backed off but kept craning her neck over the taller Mediwitch. "I just want to know if he's going to be okay." she asked impatiently.
The Meditwitch frowned. "Well, if you would just give me room to do my job, we'd know in a moment."
Harry, Ron, and Draco inched silently into the bed area. None of them dared say a word as they watched Madame Pomphrey muttering spells and pouring potions. Seemingly oblivious, Buffy watched intently as the Mediwitch did her best to revive the still figure on the bed. The boys squinted, each trying to get a better look.
"I can't see a thing." Harry whispered
"Neither can I." Draco answered. "How can we even be sure that's Snape?" he asked suspiciously.
Ron was about to hiss a scathing reply when suddenly, Madame Pomphrey moved to the other side of the bed and all three boys gasped.
The Potions Master lay almost completely still on the bed, his haggard face covered in soot. His usual billowing robes had been stripped away, and the pallor of his naked chest seemed to accentuate the deep red rivers of drying blood that left sickening trails down his side. It was only the extremely shallow rise and fall of the man's chest that gave any indication that he was in deed alive at all.
"Merlin..." Ron whimpered. "He's not....is he?"
Madame Pomphrey's head shot up from her ministrations to glare at the Gryffindors but she had no time to reprimand them and went back to her work.
"No, he's not." Buffy answered dully, never taking her worried eyes off the Professor. "Apparently he's stable; it just looks worse than it really is."
Harry was the first to regain the ability to speak. "Wh-what h-happened?" he winced, unable to tear his gaze away from the gaping wound.
Buffy bit her lip slightly as she followed Harry's gaze. "I don't know." she said quietly. "I was in the staff room getting some supplies when all of a sudden, there was a really loud crash. I turned around and there he was, just lying there in the fireplace." She stroked the back of his hand. "I carried him here as fast as I could, but he hasn't regained consciousness; it's been half an hour."
Ron nodded slowly. "Hermoine and I were on our way out to look for you guys when Professor Summers came running by." he said, mouth dry. "She took off without saying anything. I think she went to get Dumbledore." He turned to Harry and Draco. "I didn't know what else to do."
Madame Pomphrey sighed as she waved her wand over the comatose professor. "He could wake anytime." she said, putting a calming hand on Buffy's shoulder. "You need to get to your classes, all of you." she added, looking sternly down at Harry, Ron, and Draco.
The three Gryffindors nodded and Buffy was about to follow them when Snape groaned. Instantly, everyone was at his bedside, anxiously looking down at him. "What are you all looking at?" he groaned.
Everyone let out the breaths they had been holding. "Are you okay, Professor?" Draco asked urgently.
Snape groaned again. "Do I look 'okay' to you, Mr. Malfoy?" he snapped.
"Merlin, what happened to you?" Ron blurted out.
Madame Pomphrey glared sharply at him. "Honestly, Mr. Weasley. The man is barely conscious and you start -"
"It was Ginny."
Everyone froze.
Buffy stared, wide eyed. "Oh my God. What happened?"
"Voldemort. He knew." he groaned. "She had to, or he would kill her as well..."
Draco paled. "You were her only connection to us." he murmured.
Ron's hand flew to his mouth. "She...she..." He took a deep, calming breath. "Merlin, she must be so scared."
"Not enough to refrain from practically snogging him to death." Snape muttered bitterly.
"No." Harry stepped quickly away from the group and retched into a basin on one of the other nightstands. Draco was instantly at his side, stroking his back. "It's alright. You couldn't have known." he murmured soothingly.
Ron gaze wavered between looking helplessly at Harry and glaring at Snape. "You're lying." he ground out. "There's no way my sister would do that."
Harry swallowed the cup of water Draco handed him and set it down shakily. "I felt it, Ron." Harry said, weakly. "She and Vold...oh God..." Harry retched again, and it was only his well-trained Seeker reflexes that saved Draco from being covered in bile.
Ron stared in mute horror at his friend. "He and Ginny...they didn't..." He couldn't finish.
Snape rolled his eyes. "Not yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if - "
Buffy clamped a hand over Snape's mouth, much to his impotent fury. "I think that's enough out of you." she said, glaring.
Harry groaned again and Madame Pomphrey tuttered nervously as she got him another glass of water. "Here, then. Drink up Mr. Potter." she said soothingly. "Nice and easy, that's it."
"Can I ask a dumb question?" Buffy ventured. "How can you feel what Voldemort is feeling? Is it some magic thing that I don't know about or what?"
Draco looked over at her, still rubbing circles on Harry's tired back. "It's his scar. Voldemort tried to kill him when he was a baby, but it backfired." He looked at the other boy proudly. "He's the only person in history to survive the Killing Curse. Anyway, it connects them somehow, and ever since Voldemort's been getting stronger, Harry's been feeling it whenever he gets angry or excited." He winced, blushing at the unintentional double entendre.
"Oh." Buffy was stunned. "Sorry I asked."
Snape cleared his throat and glared at the Slayer. Buffy rolled her eyes and removed her hand. "I wasn't finished." he said impatiently.
"Yes, Severus. Please continue."
Dumbledore glided in the infirmary with a worried Hermoine right on his heels.
"Thank you, Professor. There is going to be an attack on Azkaban tonight." Snape announced bluntly.
Everyone stopped and stared for a second time.
"The Death Eaters!" cried Hermoine.
"Mollly and Arthur!" added Madame Pomphrey.
"Molly and Arthur once the Death Eaters get out!" Ron shrieked. He looked wildly at the Head Master. "What are we going to do?"
Dumbledore thought for a minute. "I guess the only solution is to pull them off duty tonight. They can trade shifts with Tonks and Alastor Moody." He sighed. "I won't ask them to extract their own daughter, especially if she's under Voldemort's influence."
Ron leapt to his feet. "How are you going to let them know? Owl? I can send off the message right now." He searched frantically around the nightstand. "Just let me find a piece of parchment and a quill." he muttered.
Dumbledore held up his hand. "That won't be necessary, Mr. Weasley." he said gently. "I have ways of contacting the Order, ones that aren't as vulnerable to interception."
Ron stopped his search reluctantly. "But you'll do it soon, right?" he asked. "My parents need to know."
"Of course, Mr. Weasley." the Head Master said gently. "But I need to hear the entire account before I compose the details of my message. Severus?"
Snape nodded, and proceeded to recount the morning's events. "I had just enough energy to send myself to Hogwart's before passing out." He turned and scowled weakly at Buffy. "Why the fates saw fit send me to you is beyond me."
Buffy returned the glare in full force, before turning to Dumbledore. "So what do we do now?" she asked.
"I will send word to Molly and Arthur." he replied. "It won't be easy, but they need to know what has happened since Ginny left. They need to be prepared."
"Tell them to be especially careful around pointed objects." Snape called sarcastically as Dumbledore left.
Ron turned around to tower over Snape. "Keep your mouth shut, you greasy git!" he roared.
"Oh, boy." Draco muttered nervously.
Even with a hole in his side and a phenomenal amount of blood loss (or perhaps because of it), Snape still managed to look incredibly menacing. "Your succubus of a sister just skewered me, Mr. Weasley." Snape replied, voice steadily becoming more threatening.
Ron seethed. "She saved your life!"
"By nearly ending it. Or did you just enjoy that part?" Snape spat. "10 points from Gryffindor." he smarmed.
"Maybe I would have if she had just cut off your head!" Ron yelled back.
Snape sneered. "She just might if her lover orders her to. 20 points"
Ron's eye twitched and his face turned a shade of purple that Harry thought only his uncle could pull off. "Why you...!" he choked.
Buffy stepped in between Snape and Ron. "Hey! She saved you - don't forget that, no matter what condition you're in now." she lectured to Snape. Then she turned to Ron. "But Ginny has done something really serious. It's going to affect who she is." Buffy finished seriously. Ron backed off and shoved his hands in his pockets, but fixed his glare on the Potions master, who ignored him.
Hermoine cleared her throat. "Shouldn't we be working on a way to get her away from Voldemort?" she asked the group.
Draco shook his head. "He may come through on his promise and burn this place down." he said bluntly. "If he thinks we did it, then his first stop would most likely be Hogwart's and we're right back where we started at breakfast."
The group was silent for a minute as they tried to work out other solutions. Everyone, that is, except Snape, who was still nursing his pride. 'Honestly. Stabbed by a little girl.' he thought miserably.
Finally, Buffy broke the silence. "I guess we really might have to leave her there. But just for now." she said, looking apologetically around the group.
No one said a word.
A/N: about the portkey: For the purposes of this story, Voldemort stopped calling Snape to him after he found out he could get to Harry through the dreams. He had no immediate need to get reports from the Hogwart's spy, so his portkey was deactivated. Does that make a little more sense now?
As usual, if you liked that, please leave a review after the beep.
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