Chapter 13 – Feral Felicis – Part Three
A/N: We are re-piloting! And we have potential sponsors! Expect more delays.
I own neither franchise, only the characters I create specifically to ramrod a few new subplots into the third season.
Sunnydale High Library.
Buffy honestly felt unburdened when she left Mr. Platt's office. Her epiphany while in session convinced her that she did need an honest, outside perspective on things. She greatly appreciated now having Harry among her friends, but it was nice to know she could deal with things without going to some witch-doctor.
As she stepped through the door, her sense of dread began to rise. Giles was pacing back and forth, and appeared more 'frowny face' than usual. Willow and Oz were at the far side of the study table. She was rubbing her hand on his back in a comforting manner. Cordelia was across from the pair, the open book in front of her almost convincing that she was studying, except for the fact she couldn't stop looking back and forth between everyone. Xander was sitting apart from everyone on the stairs, looking more nervous than usual.
'It's going to be one of those day,' Buffy thought with a sigh, as she set her bag on the table. "I'm afraid to ask."
"Oz ate someone last night," blurted Cordelia.
Willow scooted closer to Oz, tightening her embrace of him. "He did not!"
"Oz does not eat people," Xander cut in, earning an eye roll from Cordelia. "It's more werewolf play. You know, 'I bat you around a little bit, like a cat toy. I have harmless, wolf fun.' Is it Oz's fault that?" No one in the room could bring themselves to comment in any way beyond slowly shaking their heads in disbelief. This had the unfortunate effect of Xander floundering like a drowning man.
"You know, side effect, people get cut to ribbons, and maybe then he'll take a little nibble, and... I'm not helping, am I?"
"No," Giles bit out in his trademark restrained, British manner, before he turned to Buffy. "Oz may have got out of his cage last night."
"Or maybe there's another werewolf roaming the woods." Oz looked torn about that idea, and Buffy sympathized; another werewolf took the blame off Oz, but just meant there was someone else with Oz's affliction.
Giles nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps." He looked thoughtful, and decided to broaden the scope beyond werewolves. "Perhaps it's something else entirely."
Buffy watched as Willow tenderly clasped her hands around Oz's, pouring as much affection into her action as possible. She saw as a brief, tiny smile reached the edge of Oz's mouth. "It's okay. We'll work together, and we'll figure this out," Buffy pledged.
"Yes. Um..." Giles took out his handkerchief and gave his lenses a quick wipe. "Buffy. Uh, you, uh, you patrol the woods—"
Before Giles could finish his sentence, both the doors of the library swung open. Faith and Harry entered, both in sweaty workout clothes. Harry kept himself upright, but was breathing heavily. Faith strode over to the counter as she took a relaxed sip from her sports bottle.
"Not bad, HP. I honestly didn't expect you'd be able to keep pace." She offered the sports bottle to Harry, and he drank deep from her.
"A couple mile jog is easier than spending a year on the run." Harry looked around at everyone in the room. Oz and Willow both rose up in their seats expectantly. "The attack site didn't yield much. Unfortunately, the investigators destroyed whatever tracks there might have been. Sorry."
Oz and Willow nodded understandingly at the news, but a trace of melancholy was visible.
"Quite alright," Giles answered. "As I was saying, Buffy will patrol the woods, Harry and, hopefully, Faith will watch over Oz tonight?" Both Giles and Harry turned questioningly toward Faith.
"Five by five. I got no prob dogsitting tonight. Especially with my roomie as company." Harry smiled at the playful wink Faith shot him.
Giles nodded, pleased Faith was willing. "And the others will, um, check out the morgue."
"Right!" Willow's expression brightened at having a clear goal to reach. "We can see if there's anything the coroner might have missed."
"I'll look through some research materials I have at home. Hopefully, we can narrow down the cause quickly as possible." Giles looked to the gathered Scoobies. "Any questions?"
Oz slowly raised his hand. "Any reasons you're having a Slayer watch me? Beyond, you know, overreacting?"
Harry moved to Oz's side of the table. "Nothing against you, Oz. Just, after last night, it might be best if your observer wasn't left alone." Harry turn a harsh glare toward Xander, who later would swear he felt he got hit by a stinging spell from Harry's eyes. "Xander's better off keeping his distance from any Brits tonight, and Cordelia is the only one, besides you, with a car."
Willow smiled as Oz's body visibly relaxed hearing Harry's explanation. Her smile dissolved when she looked to the clock, and noticed the time.
"Oz. Harry." Willow pointed at the clock on the wall: 5:34pm, almost sunset.
Giles went to his office, and returned shortly after with the container of potion from his locked desk. Harry took the lid off, and with a wave of his wand, lifted the stasis charm on the thermos. A light billow of steam rose up as he poured the dosage for Oz.
"We're cutting this as close to sunset as we safely can. We'll also do more check-ins after the six-hour mark. We need to know precisely when this wears off."
Without a word, Oz took the cup from Harry and drained it in one go.
"Ok." Oz walked hand in hand with Willow over to the cage. They only let go of each other's hand when Oz was inside. The door clanged shut as the lock fell into place.
"I'll see you in the morning, Oz."
"Promise to bring good news?" Oz asked sarcastically.
Willow bit her lip, as her eyes grew misty. She could only respond with a nod.
Sunnydale Woods – Late Evening
The light of the moon barely showed through the canopy of the woods that night. Buffy kept her eyes peeled, and her ears as sharp as her Slayer abilities allowed as she stalked the lesser used trails. Most would keep to the border of the woods at night, to provide room to run. Buffy knew that was a mistake when looking for something that could outrun normal humans. In a straightaway, werewolves and vampires matched a Slayer's ground speed. The best chance was to constantly change direction, and the trees provided enough natural obstacles to facilitate escape.
Of course, it had the drawback of providing an ambushing creature that same cover. And she couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her at very moment.
A nearly imperceptible movement in the underbrush to her left got Buffy's attention, and brought her to a halt. Unless her senses were messing her, there was something nearby. Buffy let her instincts guide her. Her head turned along the thickets in a trajectory moving around to her right side. A bush, in the direction of her gaze, shook and a small branch snapped a few feet away.
'There,' Buffy exclaimed in her head as she took off in pursuit.
Buffy closed the gap between her and the source of the noise. Her reflexes giving her enough time to roll with the impact as what she was following turned course and charged right into her. Her legs kicked with all her strength, flipping the attacker away from her. She froze as she began to rise. Her eyes grew wide in shock.
'No. It can't be!' Her mind screeched to a halt as she took in the sight of a familiar, dark haired man. Dressed only in a torn up pair of pants, his torso covered in dirt and various stains. His eyes were feral, and seemingly full of madness. 'Angel?'
As Buffy stared blankly, Angel slowly backed away, hunched over like he was used to moving on all fours. His only vocalizations were snarls and growls. This was not Angelus; this was something else. Something wild. Something dangerous.
'Oh, god,' Buffy trembled at the discouraging thought in her mind. 'What if Angel killed that student?'
Buffy jumped to her feet. The sight of which shifted Angel from 'flight' to 'fight.' He rushed at her, his snarls growing in volume. They grappled briefly, both sought to pin the other to the ground. Again, Buffy uses her feet to launch Angel away. He impacted the ground on his side, but quickly rose back to his feet.
She closed the distance in a few quick steps. A flurry of punches and kicks, aimed to knock him out. She dared not let up, worried his response would be more ferocious than she could likely handle.
He threw a wild haymaker that she easily managed to roll under. She rose to her feet and launched into a spinning heel kick as he turned towards her, too late to dodge. He flipped in the air and came down hard, unconscious on the ground.
The fight over, Buffy could once more reflect on the sorry state of her former lover.
"Angel," she whispered sadly, as she lowered her fists.
Sunnydale Library – September 8th – Midnight
"Is it very hard to learn to play guitar? I always thought of taking it up, but never really got the chance." Faith turned her head as Wolf-Oz started typing, a letter at a time, on the keyboard in his cage.
Depends. Play for friends: not long at all. For a band: longer. Professionally: very.
"Think you could teach me?" Faith paused awkwardly. "Not now, of course."
Sure. You good for Tuesdays?
"Kind of busy on Tuesdays, Wolfie. What about Thursdays?"
Wolf-Oz tilted his head, which gave him a pose like the RCA dog, before he typed his reply. I'll check my calendar.
Faith chuckled at Oz's cheek. She turned to see Harry jot some notes in Willow's logbook. She also saw the separate sheet of parchment he had to the side. Faith smiled knowingly; he was due to send a letter tomorrow. Harry had told them all about the friends he had grown up with at Hogwarts. She found herself wanting to meet them all, someday. She hadn't tried to be friends with people in a long time, and now, after the Scoobies, found she started to like the idea of meeting new people.
That, and she hoped the wizards, on average, were as hot as Harry.
Harry turned his attention from noting the time, and Oz's apparent mental state from his interactions with Faith, to the letter he was nearly finished writing to Hermione.
Hermione,
The dreams have started to come back. Thankfully, the current Wolfsbane research has helped me keep focused, and not dwell too much.
Yes, you read correctly. Harry James Potter is doing research. Really, it's more like observational study at the moment. The apothecary assisting us with the potion, will likely find it very fascinating that the potion seems to have a time limit in Muggle-Weres. Lupin was able to take his potion in the middle of the afternoon, and be fine until sunrise. Oz, however, the potion wore off well before sunrise.
I will be sure to ask Willow and Oz if it is all right to send you a copy of anything we learn. I'm sending this letter with a copy of the book Willow gave me about Wicca magic, and I am including a card with her address and other contact information, as well. I'm sure you'll find it more efficient to correspond directly with her, instead of going through me. Haha.
How is everyone back home? I haven't gotten anything from Ginny in a few days, so I guess she must already be getting ready for her final Quidditch season.
The lack of letters from his girlfriend had become noticeable lately. Now that he had broached the topic, he found he had so much to ask Ginny, but was starting to doubt it was worth the effort to write her so often. He sensed something was aggravating her, but couldn't, for the life of him, pin it down.
He picked up his pen with a sigh. Reread the letter once more, and decided that brevity was the best course to take.
Let her know that I'm rooting for her, and have no doubt she'll lead Gryffindor to another cup. And tell Luna I have yet to find any mention of Nargles in any of Mr. Giles' books.
Love,
Harry
With that done, he returned his attention to Wolf-Oz, who was entertaining Faith via the monitor with a number of Knock-Knock jokes.
Angel's Mansion
The length of chained shackles in her arms weighed down Buffy's arms as she ran down the stairs from the largest bedroom. 'I do not want to know what Drusilla did with these,'she thought to herself.
A well-aimed toss saw the shackle thread the bracket in the wall above the large fireplace. She deftly locks the shackles around the wrists of the still unconscious Angel. The chain was long enough that while seated, his arms were held aloft, but not stretched to their limit.
He stirred awake as she placed the key to the shackles on a far surface. The instant he was aware, he got to his knees, snarling again. He lashed out at her, but she was already beyond the reach of the chains. Buffy sighed to herself, as she saw the chain was strong enough to hold him.
The feel of the restraints brought about a swift change in Angel's expression. He ceased his thrashing, and retreated away from Buffy. His snarls changed to a pathetic whimpering as he crouched down and cowers like a trapped animal.
Buffy began to walk the room in a wide arc around Angel. The last thing she wanted was to rile Angel up again. A glance down stopped her movement. On the floor, surrounded by blackened and scorched carpet, was a perfect shape of a person. She didn't need more than one guess at who had left that void.
No longer fearful of an immediate attack, Angel continued to yank and pull against the chain. Buffy kneeled down by the silhouette, her hand slowly reached outward; like she needed to feel the ground on which he had landed.
Angel charged once more toward Buffy, causing her to flinch momentarily. The chains stopped him once more, a few feet from her. Buffy saw the fight ebb out of Angel's eyes, no longer quite as manic as they were before. He slumped down to the ground, one arm held awkwardly higher than the other. He ceased making noise, aside from panting that would befit a person coming down from an adrenaline rush.
She was near tears at the sight of him. She knew his soul had been restored when she sent him through the portal. This left her asking the same question, over and over, in her mind: What happened to Angel?
Sunnydale High Library – 1:08 a.m.
Wolf-Oz slowly hunts and pecks the keys on the keyboard. Feel drowsy. Is potion wearing off?
Harry scratched his chin in thought. "It's possible. We've passed the seven-and-a-half hour mark." Harry stretched out his arms as he let out a yawn. "Then again, it is one in the morning."
Fair point. Oz replied.
Faith danced around the open space of the library, oblivious as her headphones blasted out her music. She knew Harry was by the cage, conversing with Wolf-Oz, but had no clue that Buffy was behind her, until Buffy tapped on her shoulder. Instinctively, Faith spun around, and hit Buffy in the face with a backhanded punch.
"Oh!" Buffy stumbled backward a step, but steadied herself against the portable card catalog. The kerfuffle also drew the attention of Harry and Wolf-Oz. Harry had pulled his wand, but relaxed as he saw it was Buffy.
"Oh! Buffy!" Faith pulled her headphones off, an embarrassed grimace on her face. She moved closed to Buffy, and checked the side of her face for any damage. "Are you okay? What are you doing here?"
Buffy rubbed her jaw, slowly easing the ache from the hit. "Uh, bleeding internally, but I'll live."
"God, I'm sorry." Faith held up her CD player for Buffy to see. "I guess I didn't hear you."
"Figured as much." Buffy worked her jaw around a bit. "Ow. Again."
Buffy turned back toward the card catalog, as an idea came to her. "Actually, I came to give you the rest of the night off."
"Free pass from the Oz-watch? How come?"
Buffy shrugged her shoulder dismissively. "Couldn't sleep. Figured I'd cram for my French test. And, I get to have quality time with our friendly neighborhood wizard." Harry looked at Buffy with a confused expression.
"All right. I was going kind of crazy in here." Faith's voice went up as she continued, "there are only so many knock-knock jokes you can hear from a werewolf before the novelty is lost." She grinned, as her eyes glance over toward the cage.
Harry reads the missive aloud as Wolf-Oz types. "Orange you glad I didn't say 'banana?'" Buffy closed her eyes to keep from being seen rolling them.
Faith grabbed her jacket, and dropped her CD player into her bag. "Maybe I can get in a few stakings before sunrise."
Buffy leaned against the table as Faith moved to the door. "Knock yourself out. Not literally, though."
"Yeah," Faith chuckled. "Later, Wolfie. See you, Harry."
"Goodnight, Faith," Harry called after her as she left. The door swung back and forth on its hinges, the only sound in an otherwise silent room.
After a few awkward moments of silence, Harry spoke. "French test, huh?"
"Yep." Buffy nodded silently as she nervously rubbed her hands together. "You don't happen to know a spell that would let me speak perfect French for twenty-fours, do you?"
"No," Harry said with a chuckle. "Even if I did, I wouldn't use it for you now."
"Why not?"
"Because then Xander would want it too, and Willow would skin me alive for helping you cheat."
"I suppose that's true." Buffy remained standing in her spot near the card catalog.
"Besides, from the look of things, you'll do fine." Buffy quirked her eyebrow at Harry's statement. "I mean, you know French so well, you can apparently study without a textbook."
A glance down at her restless hands made Buffy realize the ridiculousness of her ruse. She sighed, and joined Harry at the table. After a moment to collect her thoughts, Buffy turned toward Harry. "What do you know about portals?"
Harry scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Other than the basic concept, nothing, really. The only times dimensions were mentioned at Hogwarts was in relation to expansion charms."
"You mean they didn't teach you about gateways to alternate, demon dimensions in that magic school of yours," Buffy asked in her signature sarcastic manner as she took the chair next to Harry.
Harry snorted at the very idea. "You're talking about a culture that classifies talking to snakes as a sure sign of the darkest of arts. I'm pretty sure the things you get up to on a regular basis would make their heads explode."
Buffy and Harry shared a chuckle at the image. Buffy's image in her head included a lot of snooty wizards losing their monocles right before detonation. To be fair, she imagined almost all British people wearing monocles.
After a strained moment of silence, Harry turned toward Buffy. "You don't have to worry," he said gently to her. "I won't pry into what you're looking into." Buffy held her innocent expression as long as she could, until she saw the sincerity in his eyes.
"I'm a firm believer in trusting your gut. If yours tells you to look for answers about portals on your own, do so. Just remember, we all fare better with a little help." The sound of clicking in the cage drew both sets of eyes to the monitor.
I'll keep it under my hat, too. Figuratively speaking.
Buffy swore she saw a smirk on Wolf-Oz's face. With a nod to Wolf-Oz, and a squeeze of the hand to Harry, she returned to the card catalog.
Sunnydale High Library – Morning
Giles took a moment as he stepped into his personal sanctuary that was the Library. The collective smell of musty old books, and the recently purchased textbooks hit him as it always did, reminding him of a thousand different days, in a hundred different libraries around the world. It also brought to mind a face that he felt he would always miss.
Despite the less-than-stellar connotation of being a high school librarian, he felt that the library of Sunnydale High was unique in its own way. Where else can a librarian come into work in the morning and find a Slayer, a Wizard, and a Werewolf laying in various states of repose in the same room, but for Sunnydale High. He internally gave a sigh of relief seeing Oz lying naked in the cage. He then mentally winced, and thanked that he neither spoke that thought aloud, nor that anyone was awake if he had said those words.
He took a sip of coffee as he unlocked the cage door, and left said door open just slightly for Oz to exit when he awoke. He left the keys on top of the cabinets, next to the monitor, and the thankfully retrieved keyboard. 'Those keys go everywhere when you break them,' he grumbled to himself.
A quick check on Harry, whose head rested on his folded arms at the table, found him in a deep sleep. Giles decided to leave him be for the moment. What Giles really wanted to check on was his Slayer. He very much wanted to know what Buffy was doing in the stacks, curled up and asleep in a chair, with a book on her lap and a drawer from the card catalog next to her on a stepstool. He also noticed the additional books on the floor around her.
He gently reached down for one of the books. Buffy stirred from her slumber as she felt the adjusting weight. Her eyes barely open as she began to speak.
"Hey, Giles."
"Hello." Giles sipped his coffee and counted in his head until Buffy was fully awake. About seven seconds passed before Buffy eyes went wide, and she guiltily look at what she had left out.
"Oh. Boy," Buffy lamely attempted. "Faith and her nutty books."
Giles scanned the titles of the books laid out around his Slayer. "'Exploring Demon Dimensions' and 'Mystery of Acathla'."
"Yeah," Buffy weakly exclaimed in an attempt to double-down on her story. "And she still listens to heavy metal. Freaky deaky." She nonchalantly rose to her feet and started for the stairs.
"Buffy." She realized he hadn't bought it when she saw that frowny, piercing face he makes when she leaves out details of a patrol. He stayed stationary, his attention focused on her, and slowly closed the distance as she spoke once more.
"What if..." Buffy was at a near total loss of words. She recalled all that Angelus had done to Giles, and feared his reaction to the news Angel was back. "What if I told you that... I had a dream about Angel... and, um... it brought up some questions?"
Buffy was surprised when he didn't call her on her weak half-truth right then and there. "I'd say it was to be expected. Must have been some dream." He nods toward the cart by the chair. "I didn't think you knew what a card index was for."
With Giles seemingly accepting what she was saying as a hypothetical, Buffy chose to continue in that vein. "I dreamt that he came back."
A wistful look filled Giles' eyes briefly and he nearly smiled as he recalled some pleasant dreams of his own. "Of course. After Jenny was killed, I had dreams that she was still alive, that I saved her."
Buffy felt a flash of guilt at Giles opening up to her like this. She was lying to him, even if only by omission, and deep down knew she couldn't hide this from him forever. She needed to lay the groundwork for if Angel came back to his senses. "This was vivid. Really vivid. Three-dimensional, sensurround, the hills are alive..."
She stopped when she realized how that could sound so soon after talking about Ms. Calendar. Giles gave no outward sign of taking offense. All he did was take off his glasses and ponder for a moment as he cleaned them.
"Do you believe it was a prophecy?"
"No," Buffy said in reflex. She mentally changed gears, ad decided not to be so definite. "I don't know. I… I guess it just... it made me wonder." Buffy paused as Giles took another look at the books she had been reading. "Is there a chance, even? Could it happen?"
"Well, there's no record of anyone returning from a demon dimension once the... gate was closed. I can't imagine how it could happen, or why."
Buffy was close to an answer she had tried to divine from the books: 'Why was Angel the way he was?' "Let's just pretend for a second that... Angel somehow found his way back to Sunnydale. What would he be like?"
"I really can't say. From what is known about that dimension, it would suggest a world of," Giles sought a gentle way to finish that thought. "Brutal torment. And time moves quite differently there…"
Buffy sadly nodded. "I remember. So he would've been down there for hundreds of years."
"Yes," Giles stated simply.
"Of torture."
Giles continued on, misinterpreting Buffy's expression at the thought of Angel's hypothetical mental state. "It would take someone of extraordinary will and character to survive that and, uh, retain any semblance of self." He swallowed hard imagining himself in that situation; he had barely lasted a day. "Most likely, he'd be a monster."
"A lost cause," Buffy spoke, barely above a whisper.
"Maybe. Maybe not." Giles now picked up fully on Buffy's emotional state, and attempted to mitigate the sting of his words "In my experience, there are two types of monster. The first can be redeemed, or, more importantly, wants to be redeemed."
"And the second type?"
"The second is void of humanity, cannot respond to reason," Giles made firm eye contact with Buffy before finishing his thought. "Or love. As Harry can attest to."
As though triggered by the mention of his name, Harry shot back in his chair, a pained cry on his lips. "NO!"
His momentum tipped the chair back, and caused Harry to fall harshly to the floor. Buffy and Giles rushed to his side. Noise from the cage alerted all in the room that Oz was now fully awake.
"Harry?" Buffy rested her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to keep Harry's wriggling to a minimum. "Harry, you're alright. It was just a nightmare."
Harry's eyes quickly transitioned from helpless terror to shocked confusion before finally settling deeply embarrassed. He squeezed his eyes shut as he grumbled to himself. Giles could have sworn he heard something along the lines of 'couldn't take my potion last night.'
Buffy took Harry's hand and helped him to his feet. The wizard brushed himself off before demurely looking at the Slayer and her Watcher. "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it," Buffy assured Harry. "It took me a while to get past the nightmares, too."
The Watcher smiled to himself at hearing Buffy's words. He could only dread what Buffy could have been like without the influence of the dark-haired wizard. 'She would have certainly kept everything bottled up, before.'
"As long as they stop eventually," Harry muttered. He straightened up when he spotted a familiar face over Buffy's shoulder. "Hey, Willow."
Willow stood in awkward silence, unsure how to respond to the scene she had walked in on. She set the box of donuts she had brought on the table, right next to Harry's notes from the previous night.
"I thought Faith was on duty," Willow asked, directing focus away from Harry's night terror.
"Oh, I got done early," Buffy explained as she helped Harry to his feet. "Thought I'd swap places, giver her the night off."
Willow merely nodded before manically picking up the donut box, holding it open for everyone. "Glazed or cake? It's fun to watch them make them. They use this spritzy thing, and they drop the batter into this..."
Buffy laid a calming hand on Willow's shoulder. "Couldn't sleep, huh?"
Willow sighed deeply, letting out a breath it felt like she had held for hours. "I've been at Mister Donut since the TV did that snowy thing." Willow's gaze was so fixated on the box in her hands, she missed Oz walking out of the cage and heading for her.
"How come you're the Wakey Girl?" Willow's head shot up in remembrance of her initial question. "I mean, this time, it's not your boyfriend who's the cold-blooded..."
Buffy and Harry's eyes were now wide and fixed over her right shoulder. From her periphery, she sees Oz button his outer shirt and comes to a stop next to her.
"Jelly doughnut?" Harry's palm covered his face at Willow's lame attempt at covering.
"Everything all right?" Willow seemed to release another breath at the hope that Oz had not heard her.
"Yeah," Buffy tossed out in an attempt to help friend. "What happened with the inspection of the body?"
Willow once more popped up the lid of the box. "Anyone? They're yummy delicious!"
Harry felt it was time to end the stalling. "Willow, come on. Was it a werewolf?" Willow's expression and body slumped as she set the box down on the table. "Was it a vampire?"
Her eyes squeezed shut, momentarily. Willow looked apprehensively at the gathered friends. "I-it wasn't conclusive."
Buffy leapt in with the obvious follow up. "How was it not conclusive? What did it look like? Was he bit?"
Giles laid his hand calmingly on Buffy's shoulder. "Let her finish, Buffy."
"No, it's just..." Buffy trailed off as she caught the tense expression on Oz's face, and the pained look in Willow's eyes. Buffy lowered her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry."
Giles gestured for Willow to finish her report as Buffy sat down.
"There was blood loss, but he wasn't drained," Willow said weakly. "Some bite wounds to the neck, but they seemed more like ripping wounds." Willow looked tearfully at Oz. "I couldn't conclusively eliminate any possible suspects, other than we know he won't be turned."
Oz hugged Willow tight, and stroked her hair.
'It's not fair,' Harry thought to himself. 'Oz and Willow don't deserve this kind of anguish. Is this what Remus went through after Sirius' prank on Snape?' The thought left Harry feeling very cold. Not since the trip in Snape's pensieve had Harry felt such disgust at his godfather's actions in school.
"Willow." Everyone turned toward Harry. He spoke in the same tone he had used in the D.A., the voice of a leader. "I swear to you, we will prove Oz innocent."
He spoke with such conviction, that Willow couldn't help but cheer-up slightly.
And now it is time for the mailbag, where I address some of the comments and questions left by you, my eager readers.
First, from BlackRevenant after reading Chapter 1:
Already a strike cause of the Mione/Ron relationship. Ugh. Just. Ugh.
Well, I may have mentioned this in a later chapter, but I feel some times that the bashing of certain characters can go a little overboard at times. In some stories, it works with the narrative being told, in the universe the story exists. Other times, it is superfluous. Now, while I will admit Harry/Hermione made more sense in the books (and yes, I say the interview J.K. Rowiling gave where she admitted much the same) I still feel that with the improvements Ron made in the back half of Deathly Hallows, it'd be interesting to see him continue to grow into a responsible adult. Which is another reason this story is not Epilogue-Compliant: That Ron was still not a responsible adult.
So, here's looking forward to more from you… Oh, there is more from BlackRevenant. From Chapter 5:
Off the bus. Thanks for the 4 interesting chapters.
…Well, sorry to see you go, Rev. No hard feelings.
Next, from Gaben, his comment from Chapter 3:
Why'd you make Harry into a spineless c*nt?
Sorry, Gaben, I had considered having Harry dispatch a couple of vampires with the sword of Gryffindor, while talking about how "There's always some motherfuckers trying to ice skate uphill." But I felt that would cause severe injuries from everyone's minds being exploded from the sheer awesomeness. I don't know what the emoji is for dismissive wank, but picture it [right here].
Who is screening these messages?!
Finally, from agnar, after Chapter 9:
Maybe the scoobs didn't get the full telling of LV's resurrection? Because in no way was LV human by most criteria during his second rise. He was a homunculus made up of dark magic, some bone, flesh and blood from 3 sources, and a tiny bit of his corrupted soul. Not even close to human, merely bipedal and human shaped.
An excellent point, agnar, and one I had not considered. In hindsight, it could be argued that Harry's understanding of it was shaped by how Dumbledore and the other adults referred to Voldemort. They always said the ritual "Restored his body," and "brought him back." In this universe, I'm going to say that Voldemort was a homunculus at the beginning of GoF, and that was why he was constantly needing to nurse from Nagini. The ritual made it a true body, and thus why he didn't need to feed from Nagini any more.
Keep the Reviews coming in, and I will do my best to finish this episode off before the editing of the show eats up all my free time again.
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