A/N: Thank you very much to Amani Ishikawa for her recent review! :)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Horribly Wrong

Mae put down Frederick Binns's book and set it aside. She had been reading the whole treatise that the History of Magic Professor's brother had written, which covered many unknown phenomena about ghosts, over again upon Dinah and Professor Snape's suggestion. They had given her some other books, too; ones that had been in that Ambrose Ramkin's office, for her to help them research. It was so nice of them to let her take part in their investigations, giving her a healthy distraction from her problems.

Although she had still promised to give Andrew his birthday present and now, on Saturday October Twenty-Third, Two Thousand and Four, that day had arrived and she could no longer put it off. Her heart racing and fluttering like a hundred tiny beating snidget wings, she reached for the small wrapped package that had been sitting on her bedside table for the past month, fingering the green and blue bows that she'd tied around it for their houses. "I can't do this!" she moaned, suddenly dropping it as she buried her face in her pillow.

"Yes, you can!" a friendly voice scolded.

"Begonia?" Mae lifted her head just enough to turn and get a look at her other bunkmate and closest friend in her house, Begonia Brown, standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Who do you think?" she grinned, "Now, you pick that cute little gift back up and take it over to your boyfriend for his birthday. You are the one who keeps saying you're not broken up, right?"

"Yeah..." she managed with a little sniffle, nodding and forcing herself to sit back up.

"Then why do you two keep acting like you are?"

"I don't know," she mumbled, grabbing the gift and setting it in her lap to start playing with the ribbon again. She didn't know anything anymore, to be honest. At least that's how it felt. And Begonia had been so busy lately preparing to go to Durmstrang at the end of next week. So many students in their year would be leaving and Mae was starting to regret her choice not to go as well. The only reason she had decided to stay was because Andrew had been so insistent that he wasn't going in order so that they could spend Christmas with his family. But she had been uneasy about it from the beginning and now that she knew why he had wanted them there, to announce the engagement she had denied him and which had led to their current situation...

Begonia came to sit next to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't you think maybe he's as confused as you?"

She gave a silent nod, trying not to cry again as she thought about her friend leaving. She and Begonia and Lisette had been close ever since their first year, but because of Lisette's various issues more often than not she was the odd person out. But now Begonia and Lisette would be going to Durmstrang without Mae and it would be Mae that was all alone. The only other girl in their year that was staying was Lysandra, and that was just because her parents didn't want her to go. Something about thinking Durmstrang was too dangerous because its former headmaster had been a Death Eater.

In a way it would be good to have Lisette out of her hair for a bit, but Begonia really supported Mae's relationship with Andrew and having her gone was going to be difficult. Andrew, also, was going to lose a lot of his friends, although Cantrell was thankfully leaving. But Alexei was leaving, too, though as she understood it Arnold was going to stay. Either way, their year was going to be a pretty empty one, and if they weren't even talking to each other...

Mae stood up, that final thought helping her to make a decision, "I'll go," she decided, turning to Begonia, "Come with me?"

"Of course," she nodded, standing with her, "I'll go for moral support. But you've got to do the talking and hand it to him on your own. I can't do it for you."

"I know," Mae sighed, but was just grateful for her friend's presence as they made their way towards the Great Hall for lunch. Andrew usually got there early with Alexei and Arnold and so she was fairly certain they'd be able to find him. She thought her heart was going to explode from her chest it was beating so fast when they entered the dining area. The Snapes would not be there; she knew they were visiting their friends the Malfoys today for information about Ramkin. But she had Begonia and so, she thought, she could do it.

But she froze when she saw him. She tried to move her legs but they seemed glued to the floor. It was only when Begonia gave her a gentle, encouraging push that she stumbled forward, catching Alexei's surprised eye first when he saw her approaching Andrew's back.

"What?" Andrew asked his friend as Arnold spotted her next and looked just as surprised.

There was no turning back now. "I... I... I..." Mae stammered, her throat closing up as Begonia took a step back away from her and her hands trembled around the present.

Andrew's shoulders went tense at her voice and he spun around. They were facing each other now. Really looking into each other's eyes for the first time since their big fight, after which they had really done nothing but avoid and avert their gazes from each other. He was staring at her and looking so shocked and nervous that Mae felt her eyes well up with tears and next thing she knew he was too blurry to make out anymore. She was surprised at her ability to blink them back and keep them from falling, though. For now at least.

"M-Mae... uh... what?" he stammered, still looking like he was in shock from seeing her.

She knew how he felt; "I... it... um... your birthday. Here," she was surprised she didn't drop the gift her hands were shaking so much as she held it out to him.

"What? Really?" he managed, sounding so surprised that she would give him a gift that it hurt. And when he reached to take it and his fingers brushed against hers for a brief moment it was all Mae could do not to burst into tears. She had missed his touch so much. She didn't know how she had handled going on this long without it. She wanted to curl up in his arms and bury her face in his neck and have him hold her and comfort her and make everything better, but she had to resist for now. They were in such a delicate place and she didn't want to spoil anything.

"H-Happy Birthday. I'd bought it... I wanted to give it to you..."

"Oh," a shadow fell across his gaze, "You'd already bought it. I see."

"No!" she exclaimed in a loud whimper, making everyone jump a bit and causing some of the people in the vicinity to look over at them. But Mae didn't care. Because in one instant she could feel her whole world crumbling around her yet again; "Well, yes, I did, but..." she tried desperately to salvage the situation, "Even if I hadn't I still would have... I wanted to give you a present. It's your birthday... how could I not-? I just- I tried-" she could no longer form an intelligible sentence.

"Sorry," he mumbled, hanging his head so she could barely see his face and looking down at the gift, "I just thought... well, I didn't know if you'd want to give me anything, so..."

"Why would you think that?" she moaned, finding her voice again, "All I said was that I didn't want to marry you right now, I never said... I never told you I didn't want to be together or I wasn't going to give you a birthday present! What kind of horrible person do you think I am?" How she had gone from sad to angry she did not know, but now his words hurt so much that she felt rage boiling within her.

"I don't think you're horrible!" he countered, looking back up at her. Now he was the one desperately trying to salvage the situation and she had to admit it gave her some satisfaction. Really, how could he think that of her? "I just... I just wasn't sure if you would want to give me anything, after you told me no... You said no," he reminded her again of the marriage proposal.

"I said 'no' to right now, not forever! You're the one who keeps thinking that if we don't get married right away we're going to break up! You don't trust me at all!"

"That's not true!" he defended, "It's only... a girl like you... and someone like me. It doesn't make sense. Our whole time together has been like a dream that should have been someone else's life, so it doesn't make sense that-"

"That's just what Harry Potter told Ginny Weasley at the end of his stupid sixth book!" she cut him off, feeling tears prickling at the back of her eyes again, "And at least he was trying to protect her, even if it was misguided. If you're going to bring your stupid issues into this at least have the decency to come up with a comment on your own and not steal from something else!"

"I..." his mouth fell open and he looked a little crushed. It hurt to see him so upset but Mae was hurt, too, and she didn't know what to say or do anymore. Even if he did have issues, he should trust her a little bit more. It made her feel so alone.

"Oh, and in case you cared..." she whimpered, digging into her pocket to pull out the rest of the konpeito which she had decided to give to him, "I did pick out something to give you after our fight. My grandparents sent this... I knew you like it so I wanted to give you some and I just added this to the gift early this week," she told him, stuffing it into his hands, "So think about that next time you're worried I don't care about you. And we're still not broken up!" she declared, getting that last bit of fire out of her system before her tears overcame her and she turned around so he could not see her crying. Running up, she grabbed the concerned-looking Begonia's arm and started to lead them out of the Great Hall. She wasn't hungry anymore. Instead, she'd spend lunch hour crying on her friend's shoulder and trying to figure out how everything had gone wrong yet again.

"Auntie Astoria, you have to make Uncle Draco and Tommy play dress-up with us, okay? You're good at it and Tommy has to play the spider even if he says no!" May declared, tugging on her young 'aunt's' hand.

"Won't be spider!" Tommy shouted his protest against his sister as Astoria and Draco led the children off to another part of Malfoy Manor to entertain them while the adults stayed in the parlor to discuss their 'grown up things'.

They all chuckled as they watched the children leave; "Who would have known Draco's old Acromantula costume would get so much use out of it in later years," Narcissa mused with a smile.

"Yes, but what better evil creature to imprison the princess so that her prince or, in this case, Uncle Draco, can rescue her?" Dinah smiled, enjoying the camaraderie she now shared with the other woman which had taken a couple of years to really build up because of her birth.

"Mm. At home it is usually a dragon and Prince Owen, but I believe she prefers the 'spider' enemy more," Severus agreed, "And, of course, Thomas hates either costume."

Lucius smiled, "Yes, children can be quite enjoyable to have around, can't they? I look forward to the day when Draco and Astoria produce our next heir," he said, taking Narcissa's hand and bringing it to his lips.

"Mm," she agreed, meeting his smile and leaning her head on his shoulder.

Dinah smiled as well, twining her fingers with her own husband's as both couples took a moment to enjoy a bit of quiet affection. But too soon it was time to get down to business.

"So you say you believe that the ultimate culprit behind the letters is Ambrose Ramkin?" Narcissa asked, looking as surprised as she did every time it had been mentioned to her, and Lucius's expression was much the same.

"Yes," Dinah agreed.

"Mm, and according to your estranged cousin, it seems Bellatrix was rather... enamored of him for a time," Severus said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, she was," Narcissa murmured agreement, not bothering to talk about Sirius. The Blacks and Malfoys tended to just keep quiet about each other when they could, though there was less malice in the relationship at this point. One of these days they were going to have to officially reconcile, Dinah thought, but now was not the time. "But I'm surprised," the other woman continued, "Lucius and I have heard nothing of Ramkin's whereabouts for ages. I wasn't even aware he was working at the Ministry. No one in our..." she blushed, "'circle' has heard anything of him recently as far as I know."

"Odd," Severus frowned, "Do you think it is possible he has purposefully been avoiding former Death Eaters for one reason or another? Myself excluded, I suppose..." he trailed, and Dinah reached over to take his hand. She knew he still deeply regretted his Death Eater days, though they had been very brief. He gave her a slight smile and squeezed her fingers before turning back to the Malfoys and continuing, "Because there are other social circles that are quite aware of him and his apparent ghost research. And as you know the Airaldis were never Death Eaters, so perhaps a correspondence with Andre is something he deemed safe?"

"It's quite possible," Lucius agreed, "Though I can't imagine why. Of course, in school he was a very quiet individual. Almost no one knew what was going on inside of his head. Bella thought she did, but..."

"Yes, my sister had many delusions throughout her life," Narcissa said with a quiet frown, "Either way, although Ambrose made it clear he was on the side of pureblood supremacy, I don't recall him ever showing much interest in joining the Dark Lord's cause. He agreed with its many points, but never spoke of becoming a Death Eater or anything of the sort."

"He never spoke much of anything, really," Lucius pointed out.

"Do you think he was avoiding the Dark – Voldemort's cause because he knew of the consequences of joining and then failing?" Dinah asked, "Because he knew of Voldemort's brutality? That's why the Airaldis avoided the cause."

"No, it wasn't like that," Lucius shook his head, "He did not communicate much, but from my personal impression Ambrose Ramkin was a rather fearless type. If anything, he may have avoided the Dark Lord's specific cause because he did not want to submit to him. He would have thought he deserved to be a leader, not a follower."

"Merlin," Dinah breathed, feeling her chest sink a little as her heart fluttered in fear, "Then, that does seem to fit with his comment in the first letter about the rise of a new Dark Lord. He wants to do it himself," she murmured, filling with dread for the fate of Hogwarts and their family if someone was truly going to try and start up a new war.

"Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Severus murmured, placing his other hand over their clasped ones to hold hers securely between his, bringing her some much-needed comfort. He turned to Lucius, "From what you know of Ramkin, which is certainly more than me, do you think he is actually capable of such a feat? He may think he is, but we all know how easy it is to become disillusioned by a desire for power and how so many believe that they are capable of things they truly aren't."

"I couldn't say," Lucius shook his head.

"Nor I," Narcissa agreed, "He kept his thoughts well-hidden, though he was certainly a talented and intelligent wizard. But that doesn't necessarily mean he could coordinate such a massive effort on his own."

"He's not on his own," Dinah said bitterly, "He has Andre Airaldi. I doubt the boy even realizes he is Ramkin's slave and his first honorary Death Eater." She gasped, turning to Severus, "We have to let Ennio and Amanda know."

"In good time," her husband tempered, "We still have no certain answers, only speculation. And we have no idea where Andre Airaldi is; or Ramkin for that matter. Best not to get his parents worked up with worry until we know more."

"I suppose you're right," she sighed, laying her head on his shoulder and turning to look over at the other couple, "Do either of you know anything about his ghost research? Do you know if he had any interests in the subject while at school to help us figure out what he's doing and how he's doing it? And how it might fit in with his other plans?"

"He studied each and every subject constantly and with equal fervor," Lucius said, "I cannot truly recall him ever focusing too much on one thing in particular, at least not in school."

"I'm sorry we can't be more helpful," Narcissa apologized.

"No," Dinah shook her head with a sigh, "You've been helpful. Ramkin has just really covered his tracks well, I guess... but you've gotten us quite a bit closer to putting the puzzle pieces together. I just hope that when we finally get the last piece in it won't be too late."

And that was the biggest concern now, really. They were putting things together, but the question was whether or not they would be fast enough.

Andrew sat in his bed staring at the little wrapped gift on the bedside table. He had been sitting here for what felt like hours now, staring at it and thinking of how much he'd messed up this afternoon. If he had just said one thing different maybe he and Mae would be better right now instead of worse. But there was no way he could know that for sure. Either way, he felt guilty opening her gift after he'd hurt her so much over it.

But he couldn't not open it. She had got it for him out of the goodness of her heart and had even had the decency to assure him they weren't broken up before she ran off. He still didn't understand, though, how she could still want to be together if she didn't want to marry him. Maybe he was an idiot for not understanding it, but he didn't understand it. And her comment about his 'issues'... that had hurt. What was he supposed to tell her? Guys like him didn't usually 'get the girl' under normal circumstances. In proposing, he was seeking reassurance that they would be together forever, but when she said 'no' he'd gotten... nervous.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was just...

He sighed. He couldn't explain it, even to himself. Reaching over to the bedside table, Andrew finally took the gift back into his hand and brought it onto his lap, fingering the curled ribbons for a bit first, as he thought of how much effort Mae had put into the presentation, making it represent both of their houses. He wondered if she had wrapped it before or after their fight.

He cursed himself for thinking along those lines again, as that was what had gotten him into this mess today. He unwrapped the small box and out popped a card, dropping onto the bedspread. He would look at that in a moment; he was a bit apprehensive about what it might say. Instead, Andrew first turned his attention to the gift he held. It was a very nice set of Exploding Snap cards, in an intricately carved wooden case. The carvings were of birds and snakes, making him wonder if his girlfriend had had it custom made.

His throat dry with a combination of nervousness and tentative emotion, he placed the Exploding Snap set – a game that was a favorite hobby of his and his friends' – aside and reached for the card, opening it to read what it said inside.

It appeared to be a generic enough romantic birthday card, probably purchased in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, professing a desire to stay by his side, gratitude for the time they had spent together, and other such affectionate sentiments. But Mae had written in the words 'Dear Andrew' at the beginning, and at the end, after the 'Happy Birthday', a little note:

I love you so much! Can you believe it's our last year of Hogwarts? No matter what comes our way, I know we're going to have the most wonderful future together! I hope your birthday is the best ever!

All my love and yours always, Mae

Well, if her words and the little hearts and smiling face she drew with her signature were any indication, this had clearly been written before their fight. Probably even before they'd arrived at Hogwarts and things had gotten uneasy between them. Somehow, Andrew felt guilty that he was responsible for ruining the wonderful future she had been talking about. Just because he'd proposed at the wrong time, he thought, his chest hurting.

He looked to the bedside table once more at the konpeito she had included with the gift and felt like crying. How had they gone from the happiness in her card to the agony of now? Was it his fault? Was it anyone's fault? He took the bag of candy and tried to ease the pain he felt by eating a piece of the star-shaped sugar, but it didn't help. It just brought back a flood of memories of happier times.

Mae had introduced him to the food and the language of her other culture; he could speak Japanese fairly well himself now, though not fluently as Mae did. He had spent so many dinners with her family, immediate and extended, eating foods like these candies and other Japanese things as well as traditional British fare, familiarizing himself with the Muggle world, a world he had known very little about growing up but had realized wasn't so bad after all. Some things about it were even nice, although they had taken him some getting used to.

Her family had been uncertain of him at first but they had quickly warmed up just as he had warmed up to them. His family had never done that with Mae, and Mae had never even met anyone besides his parents. He wished she could meet Grandmum Annette, but his parents wouldn't even allow him to write in his owls to her that Mae was Muggle-born. Apparently they didn't think Grandmum could take it, but he wasn't so sure... she was a pretty worldly woman; maybe she would be all right with Mae. But he wasn't going to know for sure until he could see her in person and tell her directly.

And now he was starting to wonder if he would even get the chance.

He took another little piece of konpeito, savoring more of the bittersweet memories of happy moments with Mae.

Happier times he desperately hoped they could have again, only now he wasn't so sure.

Mae closed and replaced Frederick Binns's book after having finished reading the final sentence. After her little spat with Andrew she had gotten ridiculously fast and finished the thing in record time. Only now her problem was that she didn't know if she was sad or angry. Probably a bit of both, but she felt a lot of irritated tension that she wanted to get out of her system. Begonia and well, really, all of her housemates had noticed it. And of course it hadn't helped her irritation when she'd come up to her bunk this Sunday evening to find a thank-you note from Andrew for the birthday gift. Obviously, he hadn't talked to Dinah about the inappropriateness of sending notes for this sort of thing. At least he had put 'Love, Andrew' at the end, even if the rest of it was horribly generic.

"Finished?" Begonia asked with a raised eyebrow, putting Mae in mind of the Snapes.

"Yes," Mae clipped her response. She didn't really snap, she just didn't have much else to say but 'yes' at the moment.

"And?" her friend pressed, obviously biting back a chuckle.

Mae heaved a sigh, "Well, he does mention the same phenomenon of stealing ghost power, or at least he mentions the possibility of weakened ghosts and speculates on their nature. I wonder if I should go through Great-Granddad's stuff again. There's so much of it and I've read it all, but you forget things after a time, you know? And if it was something that didn't seem immediately relevant..."

"I think you've already decided to do so. You know..." Begonia sighed, as their window began to rattle, "I know you need to get this frustration out but I hope it doesn't last too long. You and Andrew really need to talk now, more even than before, probably. It will be best for both of-"

"Merlin, I have had it with the damn window rattling!" Mae leapt from her bed in a sudden rush of fury, forgetting whatever her friend had been saying as she went over to check again the sides of the window and make sure they were secure. As usual, they were, but the thing had been rattling off and on for what seemed like all school year and it was beginning to drive her mad. Or maybe it had already driven her mad.

"Yes, well, never mind," Begonia said, her tone frustrated, "You know we should really just report the window to Filch or something if it's bothering you so much. It really hasn't been that often, in my opinion..."

"Oh, as if Filch would do anything about it," this time Mae did snap at her friend as she stormed back to her bed with the window now quiet behind her, jumping into it so that she collapsed face-first onto the pillow.

"What's going on here?" Through her now-muffled world Mae heard the undesirable voice of Lisette as the door creaking open also signaled her entry.

"Mae's still irritated," Begonia's voice explained in a quieter muffle.

"Oh..." Lisette paused for a moment, "Well, you want to know what I think?"

"No, I do not!" Mae lifted her head just long enough to declare this with finality before returning her face to the soft, dark security of her pillow, the plush enveloping her and blocking out the world. If she buried her head deep enough she would not have to hear them talk about her and Andrew, wouldn't have to think about anything at all. And that was more than desirable.

She probably shouldn't have made that comment about Andrew's issues, she knew, and she wished she hadn't hurt him, but he had hurt her with his lack of trust. She believed they'd stay together, married or not. He believed... well, she didn't really know what he believed. And she didn't care.

Or, at least, she was going to pretend like she didn't care. For now.