Thank you for reading and even more, thanks to my reviewers for all the amusement, encouragement, and your thoughts!

Sorry for delay in posting but it's been hectic here, what with RL and the small flood...

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Of Dreams, Delusions, and Demons

Stolen Nights and Standing Stones

It was dark, night having fallen some time ago, but the woman was still driving around apparently aimlessly. Tonks was getting tired of flying at last. It was cold even when the sun was out as flight so high above the ground entailed a great rush of wind buffeting you and your broom. She was almost certain that she could feel her fingers going numb -- even with the warming charm she'd wisely called forth earlier! But though she groused fervently to herself, she didn't let this discomfort distract her, not once losing sight of the Muggle vehicle winding its way through the countryside.

She had just taken a deep breath for yet another creative rendition of English swearing when the rented car turned down a dirt road that wound circuitously to a well kept and neatly hidden manor. Between driveway and mansion, however, a gated entrance and guardhouse kept vigil. The young Auror forgot about both discomfort and ranting as she circled invisibly overhead watching the car slow down and stop at the guardhouse. After a short time, the gate was opened and the car was driven through. The vehicle did not stop but passed by the house and Tonks then realized the drive meandered on through a broad copse of trees to a small lot near a plain stone building. The Muggle woman parked her car and got out, dragging her overnight bag after her. She walked quickly to the single entrance and pausing fiddle with something at the door which soon opened just long enough for her to slip inside.

Tonks briefly considered following but decided to take Kingsley's orders to heart. She'd be an idiot to go barreling in with neither backup nor plan. And who was to say that Snape actually was here, anyway?

Where else would he be?

"Tonks!" She heard emanate from her bag.

Right. The mirror. Great. She let her broom hover and balanced herself upright as she dug through the bag in search of the antique compact. Her fingers closed on the cool surface and she pulled it out slowly, (lest something else get pulled out with it). She pried it open and saw a very worried face peering at her impatiently.

"Wotcher Kingsley! She's par--"

"Forget the Muggle. Get yourself to Stonehenge immediately!"

"What?! Why?! Another attack?!"

"Yes, go! I'll meet you there, or someone will. Hurry!"

Tonks snapped shut the artifact and dropped it back in the bag without another thought. She landed unseen and apparated, thankful that she'd been to the ancient site previously.

--

"I gave you form and substance. Know that you are nothing but a conduit for my power." Control had returned to fill him with its semblance of being. Ecstasy overwhelmed him so that his vision was blinded by its glare. "We will see if you are strong enough to be that conduit. First, I shall give you voice so that you may speak to me when I allow it. You may give thanks."

Obediently he replied, "Thank you, Control," ashamed at once that the sounds he made were grating and raspy. He stood motionless in the center of the room where the two men had brought him, unaware of the men and women watching him from the outer observation room, barely aware of Her circling him while Control spoke its thoughts in his otherwise empty mind. But there followed a long silence and he became aware of the roughly woven cloth of the garment that enshrouded him neck to ankles and wrists. He became aware of the cold metallic floor against the soles of his feet. Awareness puzzled him for it seemed oddly and frighteningly familiar.

She stopped in front of him and held out a thin stick. "Take the wand," Control's voice ordered.

Of course he obeyed and as he did, he felt a sense of rightness.

She pointed to a crate settled in one of the corners. Control's voice ordered, "Raise that."

Instinctively, he pointed the wand and knew the crate would rise.

--

Lightning flashed in the distance but there were no clouds that anyone could see. It had to be some kind of government cover up, the authorities weren't letting anyone get any closer than 5 kilometers to the ancient standing stones. The modern Druids who claimed it as their own special heritage were not placated by any of the assurances the police and military officials were giving them. On the other hand, it was, as one man out it, safer here, than there.

Death Eaters and Aurors flung curses and hexes and charms at one another as the former seemed to retreat toward the towering stones of the inner circles. The Aurors continued their assault, unwavering in their determination to vanquish the enemy.

And then there came a single loud crash and the entire prehistoric site disappeared behind an impenetrable dome of muddy gloom. The thunder faded into a weak quiet held together by occasional cackles that accompanied small bursts of lightning embedded in the roiling fog of the dome. There was no sign of the Death Eaters except those that had already been felled earlier in the battle.

"Bloody hell, what is it?!" Someone hissed in frustration while his colleagues gathered around to stare at the impediment.

A tall sandy haired Auror put out his hand warily. "Someone has to try something," he muttered. But his fingertips came to an abrupt halt and his eyebrows shot up to the top of his forehead in surprise.

"What?"

"It feels solid. Smooth."

Several others copied his research. The shield, for what else could it be?, did not react. It didn't need to as no one had any idea on how to penetrate it.

"Do you suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is in there?" A recently trained up Auror asked uncertainly.

"I have no doubt about it," Kingsley Shacklebolt replied worriedly to his subordinate. "We will set up a Watch. And we certainly can't let any Muggles get near." He shot a look at Tonks and mouthed a single word, Dumbledore. He had already moved on to the task of setting a watch schedule even as the young woman disapparated.

Tonks apparated to the apparation boundary that clothed Hogwarts and then ran all the way to the great doors and pounded mightily on them til they opened, seemingly of their own accord. She thought to look down and her anxious eyes lit upon a tiny house-elf dressed in a Hogwarts teacloth. "Miss is waking up the whole--"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, but I really must see Headmaster Dumbledore at once." Tonks barely held herself back from, figuratively anyway, storming the castle. "I know where his office is, I was a student here, you know."

The elf nodded but said, "Yes I remember Miss. But Miss is not student now and we has rules."

"Cheeky little thing! But I understand. Children need to be protected. Please let me in--"

"Lilla, who--" Minerva McGonagall, in dressing gown and slippers held her candle up as she moved to the still opened doors. "Tonks! What are you doing here?"

The pink haired Auror moved into the grand foyer, "You-Know-Who is at Stonehenge. He's cut it off completely! I need to see Professor Dumbledore!" Her (presently) hazel eyes begged the older witch to get a move on.

McGonagall nodded, her expression becoming grim. She glanced at the waiting elf. "Lilla, Tonks is welcome here. Thank you."

"Lilla bring tea to Headmaster's office," the elf announced before popping away. The two human witches hurried off to Dumbledore's chambers, both expecting he would no doubt be awake and alert and awaiting them.

Indeed, both the wizard and the tea were awaiting them and though she allowed herself to be coaxed into taking a few gulps of the calming infusion, Tonks related the whole episode as soon as she was seated in a plush armchair beneath the slumbering portrait of one of the long dead headmasters that preceded Dumbledore.

"This is indeed grave news. He is contained because he contains himself, not because we contain him," the old wizard mused carefully, stroking his long beard in thought. Both witches waited in silence, watching him think as they themselves also tried to consider what this news meant for the War.

Dumbledore, though dressed in his usual outrageously decorated nightwear, did not appear at all comical. His sapphire eyes did not twinkle in the slightest. His concern was palpable and both his companions knew this did not bode well.

"I suppose this means we have to give up on rescuing Severus," Tonks offered softly at last. "I think I may have found him tonight," she added when both her elders' heads shot up and they glared at her with twin expressions of shock. "Of course. You couldn't have known." She grimaced.

"Did you see him, then, my dear?" McGonagall asked.

Tonks had to shake her head. "No. But Sellinger finally returned to her apartment and finally left it again. I followed her to some remote manor--"

"I'm afraid that for the moment..." Dumbledore interrupted himself to sigh. "I am uncertain. Tom is up to something and I've no idea what. Severus may have to wait."

None of the three were happy about that, but for the moment it seemed that Stonehenge might be a disaster in the making that would have to be dealt with first. A knock on the door forestalled any further discussion. "Come in Harry," Dumbledore responded without any hint of surprise.

The door slid open and to no one's surprise, the sixteen year old student entered the office. There was no sign of sleepiness in his face, only consternation and confusion. Which deepened into fear when he recognized the pink haired witch. "Something's happened." He said looking back at the Headmaster. "He's gone."