A/N: I'm back! Well, I've technically been back for five days now, but I didn't really feel like working so early in the break.

I bet you guys need to re-read the story to remember what's going on. Okay, go on then. Here's the next chapter!

XXX

Chapter 14: Danger

XXX

As soon as he got home, Blaine called Kurt. He had been worried throughout his weeklong "break" that the bullying may have gotten worse, to the point that Kurt could no longer handle it. He heard Kurt pick up the phone. "Hey Kurt, it's Blaine."

"Blaine!" He heard Kurt exclaim happily.

"How have you been?" Blaine asked. "This is probably the longest we've been without communication. It feels like I haven't spoken to you for months."

He heard Kurt laugh dryly. "Oh Gaga, you have no idea. It's actually felt like months since the last time I had a break."

"What? Why?"

"Let's see, for starters my dad got married to Carole," Kurt said nonchalantly. "So guess what? Now Finn's my stepbrother!"

Blaine blinked, taken aback. "What? They were engaged?"

"Not when you were here." Kurt said airily. "They got engaged the day you left and were quickly married in a week. They said there was no point in waiting… although I certainly didn't appreciate that when I had to plan the entire wedding."

"That must have been fun." Blaine said, thinking back to Kurt's wedding scrapbook. "I'm guessing I don't need to ask if it was amazing."

"No, you don't." Kurt scoffed. "Of course it was amazing. And I hired the New Directions to sing, and we put on a number and everything! Finn even dedicated a song to me, if you can believe it." Kurt said with a laugh.

"Wow, I go away for one week and you plan a wedding. Maybe I should skip vacations altogether from now on." Blaine joked.

"How was your vacation, by the way?" Kurt asked.

"Great!" Blaine said, making up a lie on the spot. "I visited my grandparents, and my aunts and uncles came by to visit as well. I spent the entire week playing football with my cousins, and it was awesome."

"That sounds like fun," Kurt said, his tone slightly strained.

"Something happened." Blaine said quietly, sensing Kurt's distress. "With Karofsky?"

He could almost see Kurt attempt a smile. "Yeah, how did you guess?"

"What happened?" Blaine asked. "Was it bad?"

"Something like that…"

"Kurt…"

"Karofsky…" Kurt said, his voice cracking, "he threatened to kill me."

"Oh god, Kurt." Blaine said softly. "You have to tell someone!"

"Don't worry, my dad already found out." Kurt said, so quietly that Blaine had to strain to hear. "Blaine… I'm being transferred to Dalton."

Blaine paused, taken aback by the sudden news. "Wow, Kurt, that's great! Well, not really considering Karofsky threatened to kill you and all…" Blaine rambled. Wow, Kurt at Dalton… he never imagined that.

"I'm running away, aren't I?" Kurt's timid voice cut through his thoughts.

"No, no you're not." Blaine reassured him quickly. "It isn't running away if it's to protect your life." As soon as he said those words, Blaine remembered the weeks that he was guilt-wracked after leaving the Wizarding World. It had felt like he was giving up, surrendering to Voldemort. While he had known that leaving Britain was the most reasonable course of action, emotionally he hadn't been so convinced. This was what Kurt was feeling right now?

"Maybe it was just an empty threat." Kurt was talking again. "Maybe Karofsky was just scared so he was saying anything that came into his mind."

"Kurt, what if he isn't?"

Kurt was silent.

Blaine continued. "Kurt, you're not running away from your problems. Forget all that I said before, courage can only take you so far. This is your life we're talking about, and neither your parents nor I want you to die because of some scared bully. The way I see it is this: if you aren't leaving McKinley for your own sake, do it for mine. I don't know what I would do without you, Kurt, and I don't want to find out."

Kurt was quiet for a moment, and then he spoke. "Thanks, Blaine." He said, his voice thick with emotion. "I… really needed that."

"It's no problem." Blaine said. "What are friends for anyways? Besides, now you can join the Warblers and we can crush the New Directions at Sectionals."

Kurt laughed, though not as freely as he usually did. "I'm not sure if I want to join the opposition to beat my own team."

"You can't just neglect a talent like yours." Blaine argued. "Besides, we don't have a countertenor. You'd be narrowing down our song choices if you don't join us!"

"And I wouldn't want to stop you from singing more Katy Perry, would I?" Kurt asked sarcastically.

"Exactly!" Blaine crowed. He was happy that the depressed undertone in Kurt's voice was now gone, indicating that his attempt at making Kurt forget all his troubles had succeeded.

"But Gaga, those blazers…" Kurt said with a groan. "And I just went shopping for winter clothes too. What am I supposed to do with all of my Marc Jacob scarves now?"

"You could always donate them to charity." Blaine said innocently.

Kurt sputtered. "You… you're so lucky you're in Celina right now. But don't think I'll have forgotten that comment when I get to Dalton!"

Blaine grinned at the thought. "I don't expect you to. And what makes it even more perfect is that you'll be in most of my classes! That's the up-side to going to a small school with limited classes, huh?"

"You mean I'll have to see you every day?" Kurt asked dramatically. "This will be more torturous than I thought!"

"Oh please, you love me." Blaine said with a scoff.

There was a pause, and then Kurt forced out a laugh. "Yeah right." He said unconvincingly. Unsurprisingly, Blaine didn't notice.

"Sorry for calling you so late," Blaine apologized belatedly. "I'll see you in school tomorrow, right? Try to get a good night's sleep, and don't worry about anything. If you have any trouble, I'll be right there for you."

"Thanks, Blaine." Kurt said sincerely.

"Good night."

"Night."

XXX

Blaine was halfway through first period, the next day, when his scar began to hurt. Well, not hurt, per say, more like… prickle. It meant one of two things: Voldemort was either getting closer, or there was a Death Eater somewhere nearby. Neither of the above boded well for Blaine.

Maybe he should contact Dumbledore again, just in case. But no, there was nothing Dumbledore could do unless he had solid proof that his life was in danger. It was trouble enough relocating him in America, let alone moving him again because Blaine thought there was a threat.

It was probably paranoia, Blaine convinced himself. Now that he mastered wandless magic, he was itching to use it, and was thinking up excuses that would require him to use his magic. Yes, there was no problem. He didn't have to tell Dumbledore anything.

Just as Blaine had decided, Kurt appeared, in his full Dalton uniform. Kurt grinned happily, "Blaine! This school is so awesome; nobody pushed me or anything when I was walking in the hallway. And these hallways make me feel like I'm in some fancy manor, or something."

"Kurt," Blaine said with a automatic smile. "You look great. Don't worry, you'll soon get sick of the lavish decorations of the school. Where were you first period? I didn't see you."

"Signing in and getting all my stuff." Kurt said with a shrug. "Since my transfer was so abrupt, they haven't gotten everything settled yet, so I had to fill out some forms. Hey, could you tell me where the French classroom is? I kind of ditched my student advisor person to catch up to you."

"Sure, just make a left and it's the third classroom to your left."

"Great, thanks," Kurt said. "I think I'll go introduce myself to the teacher before class begins. I'll see you next period, right?"

"In Physics, yeah." Blaine agreed. He watched as Kurt weaved his way through the crowd of blazers, easily fitting right in. He had to remember to get Kurt an audition for the Warblers as soon as possible! They could definitely use his voice for Sectionals.

As if called by his thoughts, Wes and David turned the corner, laughing rambunctiously.

"Hey, Wes, David." Blaine said, squeezing his way between the two. "Kurt's at Dalton!"

"Yes, Blaine, we know." Wes said patronizingly. "You've told us he was coming yesterday, remember?"

"Yeah," Blaine said, waving off his remark. "Anyways, I was thinking to get him an audition for the Warblers."

"Sure," David agreed easily. "The Warbler rulebook states that transfer students should be allowed the chance to audition in the case that there are available spots in the group, which there are. But we'll have to do this fast. Sectionals are soon and we have to decide on our set list today. So have him audition during lunch so we don't waste practice time."

"Great, I'll tell Kurt!" Blaine said with a grin.

"And I'll get Thad." Wes said distractedly. "Tell Kurt to meet us in the Warbler practice room. While we're auditioning him, could you look through the sheet music that Thad picked out? We need your input on what would suit us the best when we're competing against the New Directions."

"Sure thing," Blaine said, happy that they agreed to Kurt's audition so easily. "I'll see you two at practice."

"And hopefully we'll have a new member by then." David said with a smile.

"We will," Blaine said confidently, "I trust Kurt."

XXX

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" Blaine called out, throwing his car keys on the table near the door. He let his bag fall down near the couch, sighing at what an awful mess the day had been. To start it off, his scar was just irritating him, yet he wasn't allowed to touch it for fear of smudging the concealer and revealing the scar. And the whole mess with Kurt at Warbler practice… that had just been awkward.

He felt kind of bad that he hadn't been more supportive of Kurt's ideas, yet at the same time it was true that Kurt needed to… tone it down a bit to fit in at Dalton. He already could see his friend would struggle at the more conservative school.

"Maybe I can get him a solo audition to cheer him up." Blaine mumbled to himself, shrugging off his blazer as he entered the kitchen.

He spotted a note on the fridge. "Blaine, both your father and I were called away to work tonight. Dinner's in the microwave. I love you!" Cristina had written.

Blaine shrugged and took out the food. This had happened a few times before, and he didn't mind it all that much. He sat down at the counter to eat, shifting through the mail absentmindedly.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. It was a letter from his dad's company, but it didn't seem like the usual business letter. No, something felt off… Blaine opened it, brushing off the slight twinge of guilt as he did so.

The news left a horrible pit in his stomach. From what he saw, Everett's company was in danger of going bankrupt and his dad might lose his job. This was bad, very bad. He had learned, while at the safe house, that the Order didn't have enough funds to supply all their members, so Cristina and Everett weren't getting paid at all anymore. So his Dalton expenses, and all the Warbler stuff… they weren't going to be able to afford it anymore.

He put down the letter grimly. Judging by the looks of the letter, his father had known of his soon-to-be unemployment for quite some time now. And neither his mom nor his dad had given any mention of this pending crisis. This led Blaine to one conclusion: they weren't plan on telling him. They were probably going to keep dipping into their savings to keep him safe and happy at Dalton while they were struggling with the funds.

No, he couldn't let them do that. Blaine picked up the newspaper that Everett had left sitting on the counter. He had to help them; he had to get a job.

Blaine chewed his food thoughtfully, searching through the limited "Help Wanted!" section of the newspaper. It would be tough getting a job in this economy, but he would do it. He had to.

XXX

A/N: I'm still trying to pick back up my writing habits, but it isn't going so well. Despite my struggles, updates will be once-per-week, as usual. I'll try to get working on the Intermission series as well!

But for all of you waiting for that NaNoWriMo Merlin/HP xover I was talking about… probably not going to happen. I know, I'm unhappy too! And I even bought a notebook and everything to plan it out, but it's just way to big and I don't have the patience at the moment. Please accept my apology.

And just a side note, why isn't Pottermore up yet? She said October (or was it November? Well, it was some time ago), and now it's December and there's nothing! Is anyone else frustrated with this?