Disclaimer: These characters belong to either the brilliant Joss Whedon, or the wonderful J.K. Rowling. :)
Author's Note: It's been a while… but if you read my profile, you'll see all the reasons and that I promised to finish this story, and that I shall do. So I really hope that you enjoy this chapter. Oh, and Uni over here has finished for the year so I have a couple of months of free time… hopefully more writing. :)And all I can say is, good ol' yahoo… used it to come up with a suitable password for Tara's room. Ended up with 'Hecate' which is the Greek god of Sorcery/Magic, or so the website told me. Kind of makes me appreciate all the background research and preparation that both Joss and J.K go through, wow they must be so dedicated.
Once again, thank you so much to pay-day1999 for reviewing time after time… I'm really glad you enjoyed the last chapter; I was quite pleased with how all the interactions turned out. As for Draco, the worst is still yet to come for him… that's all I can say.
As for reviews, I am in desperate need of encouragement from more different people as well. I was looking at the stats, many people have this story in their favourites list, and yet I don't think I've ever received any comments or suggestions from them. I would love it though. Please, if I could hear from you I don't think their would be such a long wait in between chapters because I would feel more motivated and make the time for this story.
Chapter 24 – Hurt Like Hell
It was not long before the students had returned from spending their Christmas with their families, where they had received many presents and enjoyed the company of their parents and siblings. Well, not all of the students had been with their families during this time. One such student was Draco Malfoy. No, he'd spent the better part of Christmas Eve tracing through the freezing, wet snow in an attempt to escape his family.
Those actions had also had an effect on his life back at Hogwarts. News had travelled fast, and most of the Slytherins has already heard from their parents about how Draco had turned his back on his family and by doing that, ultimately, Voldemort. But of course many students in the other houses hadn't bought into that story and remained skeptical.
Draco walked the halls alone, which most still found extremely odd as he usually had his two shadows, Crabbe and Goyle, following not far behind.
However, it wasn't long before the first morning before classes, when he was walking the halls that someone filled in one of the voids left by Crabbe and Goyle. Since Draco was deep in thought, the made their presence noticed by throwing their hand casually on his shoulder.
"Hey, Malfoy. What's this I hear to about you leaving home?" The tall, dark-haired Blaise Zabini questioned.
Draco quickly shrugged his hand off. "Well, what exactly have you heard, Zabini?"
"Well, I mainly overheard my parents discussing it, they'd been talking to your parents and were saying something about you going missing on Christmas Eve," Blaise paused for a moment as another thought came to him. "Uh, where exactly did you go?"
Draco wiped his face of any expressions or emotions, which he did regularly, in order to make what he was about to say more believable.
"Well if you must know, Zabini, nowhere slightly exciting," Draco stated, which was basically the truth because he'd found Grimmauld Place to be a bore. "Ended up at some hole of a place in Muggle London… just needed to get away for a while."
Blaise seemed satisfied by this answer and gave a slight nod. "What about your parents, have you contacted them yet?"
Draco took this time to pull out his timetable and glance at it, trying to seem as casual about the whole thing as possible.
"I suppose I will owl them soon." He revealed, although he really had no intention of doing so.
Harry sat at breakfast that morning, intently watching the happenings of the Slytherin table, more specifically watching Draco Malfoy like a hawk. He had been trying the past few days to formulate a plan on getting the book back.
Should he just inconspicuously hex him in a corridor while he was alone and getting the book back that way. Who was he kidding; there was no way of doing that without drawing any attention from any of the Order members. On top of that dilemma, Harry couldn't be sure of whether he would be carrying the book with him.
Dawn gave him a quick bump on the arm to break him out of his reverie.
"You're staring too much, someone will notice that something's up." He heard whispered quietly in his ear, while the breath against his ear sent shivers down his spine and brought a small smile across his face.
"Oh no, Hermione, look at that." Both Dawn and Harry heard from across the table, which came from Ron. "Now they're whispering sweet nothings into each others ears."
Both Hermione and Ron chuckled a little, receiving clueless and confused looks from the two sitting across from them.
"Why do they always play ignorant?" Hermione spoke out loud, continuing to butter her toast.
Although they were lying to Hermione and Ron, Dawn could still see the humour in the situation. Whilst her and Harry were always discussing their secret and anything related to that topic, everyone else had the tendency to mistake it for something else. Although, she couldn't argue the fact that having kept this information from everyone had brought her and Harry closer.
She just paused for a moment and then also resumed nibbling on her jam toast. Meanwhile, a large grey barn owl swiftly flew its way around the roof, descending on the table nearby. It shuffled its way up the table, while accidentally knocking over a glass or two. The owl stopped its way in front of Harry, holding out its leg to him.
Harry hastily took the parchment from the owl and it flew off contently.
"That owl has rotten timing," Ron pointed out as he looked at the letter curiously. "Considering all of the other owls delivered their post before we started eating… and not to mention, it also spilt my orange juice."
"What does it say, Harry?" Hermione inquired as she played the mother and poured Ron another orange juice to silence him.
"I could get used to this." She vaguely heard Ron say, however she was still focused on Harry, waiting for his reply.
Harry quickly unfolded the parchment to reveal the words: My room is located on the 2nd floor, near the staff room. Look for the portrait of the very first Quidditch match. Password is 'Hecate'. Please feel free to come and see me whenever.
He looked up towards the teachers' table, knowing exactly who had sent the message, even though he didn't recognise the writing, although that was expected.
Tara subtly turned away from her conversation with Snape and Anya, in which Snape seemed particularly sour and uncomfortable from listening to Anya and her antics.
She gave Harry a small smile to acknowledge that the message was hers and that she'd meant what she had said. Harry returned the favour and then broke eye contact with her to quickly scan around the room to see if anyone had noticed this small exchange.
Tara and Harry, under the advisement of Dumbledore, had decided that it would be best if they kept quiet about what they'd discovered over the Christmas break. It would draw too much attention from everyone, and not to mention what Voldemort would do if he gained knowledge of this.
That was just something that they weren't willing to deal with right now.
Willow, Xander and Anya sat around a table in the staff room, not long before classes were due to start. Books were in disarray across the whole surface. Buffy rushed into the room, frantically dashing around the room to gather all her teaching materials.
"Hey guys, why are you all sitting around now? Will, class is about to begin… Wow, listen to myself… I was never this eager to go to class when we were back at Sunnydale High - what is happening to me?" Buffy joked, which earned a chuckle from Xander and Anya.
"You wouldn't be so eager to get to class if you had to work with Hagrid… I've dealt with demons less harmful than some of the creatures he makes me look after, and the burn on my-" Anya began to complain, however Xander quickly intervened with a nudge on the arm. "Uh, leg, still hasn't healed."
Buffy smiled as she observed Xander and Anya's interactions, then turning her attention towards Willow. "So, how's that brainwave working for you at the moment?"
Willow hesitated, however it didn't take long for Anya to jump in. "Do you want me to tell her the bad news? Xander always says I'm good at being blunt," Willow nodded in response. "Well, you're not going to like this, Buffy, but if you don't want those insanely nutty people to be that way forever, you can't kill Glory."
Buffy put her hands on her hip in frustration. "But we only have two options: let Glory to find the Key and wreak havoc, then give the Key to Voldemort so he can wreak even more havoc, or kill Glory and hopefully that will help to keep the Key safe. I vote for the second option."
Xander spoke up. "I understand, Buff, after what she's done to Giles and the others, I would vote for the most violent option in killing Glory too…"
"But we can't do that," Willow finished off. "Just think about when Glory does that brain-sucking thing – it's like she's taking a very important part of their minds. And that part has to go somewhere… I believe that it is somehow integrated into her head and she uses it for energy… but I don't think that it is used up or destroyed."
"Then how come Glory needs to keep brain-sucking to maintain her energy if the victim's minds aren't used up?" Buffy questioned.
Willow sighed and gave a small shrug; many things didn't make sense to her. "I don't know, the only reason I could think of is that these minds begin to put up a fight."
"Wouldn't that explain her insanity, all these different voices or minds trying to fight their way out?" Xander suggested logically.
"We need a vessel," Willow said leaving a short silence, the others looked at her inquisitively. "Someone who is able to create a connection between Glory and the person, to give somewhere for their minds to travel back across and to where they belong. Kind of like a salt bridge in a Galvanic cell."
Buffy, Xander and Anya stared at her blankly for several moments until Willow noticed. "Sorry, it's the nerd in me coming out again," She explained, and then jokingly hit her head a few times. "Get back in there!"
Buffy smiled. "Anyway… who will act as the 'vessel'?"
Willow stopped smiling. "Unfortunately, I haven't worked that part out yet."
"We should tell Dumbledore and everyone else all this after class."
The four occupants of the staff room quickly left to go to their different parts of the castle.
After the final class for the day, Ginny walked along the corridor with Luna Lovegood, hearing her ramble on about Aquavirious Maggots, which she mentioned often. Ginny spent the time nodding appreciatively. Although she was skeptical about some of the odd things Luna came out with, she considered Luna a good friend to spend time with, especially if she was sick of Ron's antics.
"Well Luna, I better get back to my common room. See you at dinner." Ginny spoke up, giving Luna a smile before they both went their separate ways.
As she rounded one of the next corners, quietly humming to herself, a voice resonated from the shadows, causing Ginny to jump back in fright, clutching her chest.
"It's about time," The voice drawled, bouncing off the walls of the deserted corridor. "I thought Looney Lovegood would never leave."
Ginny whipped around to glare at Draco. "Okay, now I'm really concerned for my wellbeing. Were you stalking me, Malfoy?"
Draco smirked. "Don't flatter yourself, Weasley," But although he wouldn't admit it, not even to himself, he did spend several moments just standing in the shadows watching her. "I just came here to give you this, and I thought you wouldn't want me giving it to you while Lovegood was still there."
He held out the dusty, green-leather book and waited impatiently for her to take it. However, she stood there staring at him, completely bemused.
"Go on," He urged emotionlessly, keeping a straight face. "Otherwise I could return you the favour of hauling it at your head."
She grabbed the book swiftly, but not after a moment's hesitation. However, it didn't take her long to accept the book without any questions, after all it wasn't even hers in the first place. Which made her wonder how it had come into Dawn's possession and why she had it, the book talked about some mystical 'Key' that carried an awfully strong amount of power and something about it being green light in its true form.
Ginny broke her string of thoughts, realising that both she and Draco Malfoy were both standing there silently, and more importantly, they weren't throwing insults or hexes each other's way.
"…I suppose you're happy now, to be back here again." She decided to break the silence by recalling back to how he spent his time complaining or hidden away at Order Headquarters.
For a second she though she saw a flicker of discomfort in his body language in response to the question, however, it was soon wiped clean off his face.
"Of course I am, Weasley. Anything is better than that filthy, disgusting place." He answered confidently.
It was then that she gave him a smirk, almost so uncannily like his own that he was quite concerned. "You're lying, Malfoy," She said simply, before continuing again. "I think you didn't have as bad a time as you put on."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Weasley." He was quick to defend.
Ginny put her hands up in defeat. "Alright then," He voice dripping with sarcasm. "… You're absolutely, one-hundred percent right."
"Now we're seeing eye to eye." He retorted arrogantly, however Ginny noticed that his voice carried what could only be described as a light quality to it, well as light as a Malfoy could sound.
"Anyway," She began uncomfortably, shifting her feet. "Better go back to the common room… Ron almost acts like a second mother sometimes." She could see that Draco got some entertainment out of this comment.
"Thank you for actually giving me this back." She finished genuinely, displaying the book in her hand.
"No trouble." He said equally uncomfortable, shortly before spinning around and confidently striding down the corridor.
Harry remembered back to his second year, when he and the other three had spent time brewing up the Polyjuice Potion. Dawn had stayed back with her miss-transformed sister, whilst he and Ron had gone to the Slytherin Common Room. He was now wandering up and down the hallways, trying to re-jog his memory of those events.
He had concocted some excuse to Ron and Hermione about sending an owl to Sirius, given Dawn a look to indicate that he was up to something, before quickly leaving the common room without drawing to much attention to himself.
"Was it left or right from here?" He asked himself, his memory of that day three years ago was failing him.
"Potter," A voice from behind spat, Harry spun around to face his nemesis, Malfoy. "What brings you to this part of the castle, especially without the Mudbloods and the Weasel? You wouldn't happen to be looking for someone… or more importantly something? A book… perhaps?"
Harry whipped out his wand and stepped closer in one swift moment, which he thought must have looked quite intimidating. "Okay Malfoy, I'll make you a deal: give me the book and I won't be forced to throw any nasty hexes at you."
Draco pretended to consider this bargaining for a moment before answering. "No… can't do that, Potter. Doesn't look like you're in a position to bargain, since you seem to want the book so desperately."
"How did I know this wouldn't be easy?" Harry asked himself disappointedly.
"Oh no, but it's going to get harder, Potter. You see, I did my research and this particular book belongs in the Restricted Section of the library, and the book has been reported missing by Madam Pince, so that rules out the idea that a teacher allowed you to get it… maybe I should give it to Dumbledore and see what he thinks about all this."
Harry laughed at this. "That's fine with me, I don't care if I even get a years worth of detentions."
Dawn took that particular moment to step in; it was obvious that she had been following Harry after he'd left the common room. "Harry, no!" She called out in dread.
Draco rolled his eyes when he saw Dawn had come to join the argument. Harry turned around and walked over to Dawn.
"We can't let him do that," She whispered just loud enough that Harry could hear. "Otherwise things would become complicated… they might find out. If no one else knows then I'm safe."
Draco watched the exchange with interest, although he could not hear what was being said. There was something extremely peculiar about this whole situation, all this over a book. More importantly, he got the impression that there was something more; they were concerned about more than just getting into trouble with Dumbledore. He decided to test that theory, just to see how they would react on top of what they had already done.
"Well, I think I'll just leave you two to your pathetic conversations and go for a walk… hmm, Dumbledore's Office is sounding good…" He trailed off; as he turned around to walk away he heard both Harry and Dawn cry out in distress.
"Malfoy!" He heard Dawn's voice scream out to stop him.
She persisted again, this time as she did so he decided to turn around and observe the state he'd left the two Gryffindors in. As he turned around, his eyes burned at the intense green energy that shot out from Dawn. The energy rocketed towards him at a great speed, hitting him directly in the chest, causing him to be thrown several feet across the corridor. He then collided with a nearby stone statue, made unconscious on impact.
Both Dawn and Harry's eyes opened up, wide with terror.
"Shit! Oh my god!" Dawn panicked, bringing her hands up to he face in shock.
Harry turned to glance at her, with a look on his face that she couldn't quite place. Was it fear? Shock? Amazement? She didn't get long to stand there and figure it out. They heard a couple of voices travelling up the corridor adjacent to the one there were in.
"Dawn, we have to get out of here!" Harry yelled, pulling her by the arm.
A.N – Hmm, well… so that's it for now. I hope this chapter is still to the same standard as before (or even better would be good!). Remember what I said, if you want me to actually finish this story without taking another 2 years, please give me some encouragement (especially if you haven't reviewed before). Thanks for reading! -Akalea :)