Attention: This is the chapter for which I issued that warning, way back in the prologue. It is disturbing. Prepare yourself. This chapter is rated M. My apologies to those of you who read this chapter without being warned.

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Chapter Twenty-Nine

A True Gryffindor

"Thanks for springing us, Bear," Matt said uncertainly, "but I don't think Basil and I should leave until Dad gets back."

"Don't be stupid, Matthias Potter. I'm not springing you, I need you!"

"What's going on?"

"I can't believe your dad and Professor Malfoy are gone!"

"Bear! What is it?"

"I can't find Ferris."

"He's not with Letty?"

"No."

"Well, let's go find him, then," Matt said, dragging Basil with him. "Hurry up, Basil."

"We really should not be doing this," Basil muttered.

"If Ferris is missing, it could mean that whoever is so mad at the Forsythes has started attacking them directly."

"All the more reason to stay put until your dad gets back."

"By the time he gets here, whoever it is will be right back in his own common room and looking totally innocent," Bear snapped. "If we hurry, maybe we can catch him."

"Have I ever mentioned that I really hate you guys?" Basil sighed.

"Do you want to help your sister or not?"

Basil lunged at Bear, and Matt stepped in between them. "This is not the time."

"Do you think I don't want to help Kim?"

"No, I just don't want to see you get your ass handed to you by a girl," Matt said peevishly. "Now hurry up."

"Where are we going?"

"The forest, of course."

"What makes you think they're out there?"

"Because we know Ferris," Bear said. "He'd go straight to where the last attack happened to look around. He wants to save Letty."

"And why do you think the Curser will go out there again?"

"Because Ferris is less protected than you and Matt are right now, and even more determined to find the guy. Preemptive strike."

They ran outside and across the empty Quidditch pitch pell-mell, panting for breath and hoping to get there before anything happened to Ferris. They skidded to a halt at the edge of the forest and crept forward as quietly as they could.

"We all have a wand, right?" Matt whispered.

"Yes. Shhh."

They all heard the voices at the same moment, and looked at each other with excitement and fear. They continued to creep forward.

"What is your problem?" Ferris shouted. "You are such a sick freak!"

"That's not very nice, Ferris," came the much calmer voice, the voice Matt and Basil had heard before. Somehow, the light of day made it all so clear.

"Fayne?" Basil whispered in a strangled voice. His face was horrified. "My sister likes that humourless git?"

"Not really the point here, Baz," Bear muttered. "Shut up."

The three of them stayed just out of sight, listening.

"Oh, and cursing five people to have nightmares forever is really nice, Fayne."

"What makes you so sure it's me?"

"Because I know what a complete disgusting bastard you are."

"I see. Now we've gone to petty name-calling. And here I thought you were growing up, Ferris."

"Is that why you did Letty?" Ferris growled, his voice so angry that Matt was sort of glad he couldn't see him. "I'm too old to have girls for friends anymore?"

"You're quite intelligent when you try, dear brother."

"Letty was my girlfriend, you freak!"

"Even more motivation. You are not to have a girlfriend."

"Oh, am I supposed to save myself for— for the girls you've already had?"

"Ferris, we've talked about this before. We have to take very drastic measures to make sure our bloodline stays pure. If even the Malfoy family has stopped believing in the power of pureblood status, it's going to be extremely difficult to salvage it."

"Don't you think your measures might be just a little too drastic?"

"No, I don't."

"I beg to differ."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"Why don't you ask Faith and Felicity how they feel, Fayne?" Ferris shouted.

"Is it just me," Basil said in a very quiet voice, looking at Matt with a frown, "or does this conversation keep getting more confusing?"

"I'm not sure I like where this is going, either," Matt agreed, checking his grip on his wand. His hand was sweating. He wiped it on his robe.

Bear was silent. Her face was white.

"Our sisters are pureblooded witches. They know how important that is."

"I don't think they really give a flying fuck," Ferris snarled. "I think you've just scared them so badly they don't know how to put up a fight anymore."

"Fight? They've never fought this."

"Oh, they haven't," Ferris said in the most bitterly sarcastic voice Matt had ever heard. "Of course not. My mistake. I must have been seeing things."

"What are you talking about?"

"If they've never fought this, then why was Faith screaming and crying and trying to get away from you? Is that kind of the way Felicity never fought, too?"

"They did express some measure of uncertainty at first," Fayne said calmly. "They've come around."

"I repeat: they're too afraid of you to fight anymore."

"If you think that . . . why aren't you afraid me?"

"Well, you haven't raped me, at least not yet. Is that coming, Fayne? Is that part of your great pureblood plan?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Fayne snapped.

The three friends hiding in the trees looked at each other in horror. Bear's face had gone from white to gray. Matt wiped the sweat from his palms again. Basil's hands were starting to shake.

"Please tell me I didn't hear that," he muttered.

"You raped my sisters, you disgusting creep," Ferris said, and he sounded like he was crying. "You raped my sisters!"

"I did not rape them. I convinced them that there was only one way to preserve the purity of our blood, and they were perfectly willing."

"They were not fucking willing! And I don't care if they were! It's still sick!"

"They are the only girls worthy of my attentions . . . or yours, Ferris. Your little friend Paulette is certainly not. You are not going to destroy my plans. Not that idiot Waverly, not Knowles, and if that Slytherin boy thought he could so much as look at our sister—"

"And Kim Townsend, Fayne?"

"She was not worthy of my attentions, either," Fayne said stiffly. "Besides, she knew too much."

"That curse you're using . . . it's wrong, Fayne. It's just as bad as what you've done to Faith and Felicity."

"I'm afraid if you don't desist with this nonsense, I'm going to have to use it on you, too."

"Right, Fayne. You're not going to do anything to screw up your plans, and I'm part of them."

"You are not as intelligent as I hoped you were, if you think being my brother will save you," Fayne said, so softly Matt almost didn't hear him. "I don't really need you, Ferris. I can continue our bloodline with our sisters without your help."

"Just try it, you evil bastard," Ferris growled.

Matt and Basil looked at each other and nodded. They leapt out from behind the tree and saw Ferris and Fayne pointing their wands at each other. They couldn't be more completely opposite. Ferris on fire with rage and hatred, Fayne cold and haughty. Ferris' hand shaking, Fayne looking perfectly composed as always. They didn't see they had an audience.

"Stupefy!" Ferris shouted.

Fayne blocked it with ease. "Don't be stupid, Ferris," he said, and the stream of smoky darkness trailed out of his wand, mesmerizing Ferris for a moment.

"Stupefy!" Matt shouted, and Fayne flew back into a tree with a thunk of impact.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Basil added for good measure, and the body that hit the forest floor was rigid as a board.

Ferris was still trembling with anger and disgust. The first thing he felt when he saw his friends was shock and dismay.

Bear rushed out from behind her tree, and she ran straight to Fayne. She started kicking his body with her very impressive strength, spitting on him and calling him every foul name she could think up and a few she appeared to be inventing on the spot. Matt rushed up behind her and grabbed her.

"Bear, Bear, stop it!" he shouted.

She did, and turned to him with a face contorted with rage. "He deserves it."

"He probably does. But let's leave him for the adults, all right?"

Then, with trepidation, they turned to Ferris. Ferris was on his knees, his face buried in his hands. They all knelt down around him, and Matt and Bear both put an arm over him.

"It's all right, we've got him."

"I've known—" he sobbed. "He's so— I should have— He's my brother, but I should have—"

"You did, Ferris. You stood up to him."

"I should have told somebody."

"I don't blame you, mate," Basil muttered. "I would have kept it to myself, too."

"But I knew he was the one, I knew he was cursing them. Ever since Letty . . ."

"It's over now, Ferris. It's over."

Ferris lifted his face from his hands and his face was raw with grief. "Tell that to Faith," he whispered.

"What— what do you mean?" Matt stammered.

"She's pregnant," Ferris whispered hoarsely, his eyes on the stiffly unconscious body of his older brother. "I should have saved her. I should have saved them both. And now Faith . . ." He fell to weeping again.

"Stay with him," Matt muttered. "I'm going to go find my Dad. I don't care if he's in bloody Hong Kong, he needs to get back here now."

"But Matt, you shouldn't be alone— oh. Never mind," Bear said painfully.

Matt broke clear of the forest just in time to see his father come racing toward the school from the edge of the wards.

"Dad!" he screamed. "Dad!"

"Matt!" he screamed back, turning around and running toward his son. "They said you were missing, are you all right?"

"Dad . . ."

He fell into his father's arms.

"Dad, it's Fayne. Fayne's the one who's been cursing everyone."

"I know. Jack told us."

"Jack?"

"He's been under the Imperius curse. I'll explain later. You're all right, aren't you?"

"Fayne's not," Matt said grimly. "He hit a tree when I Stupefied him and I knocked him out. Basil froze him, just in case."

"Where?"

"In the forest. This way." But Matt held onto Dad's hand, held him back from going too fast. "Dad . . . Ferris fought with him. We heard the whole thing."

"Is Ferris all right?"

"Well, not really," Matt hedged.

Dad stopped and looked at him. "Matt, what is it?"

Matt could feel his face turning very red. "They were fighting because Fayne raped his sisters."

Dad made a noise like he'd been punched in the stomach. "Are you sure?"

"Well, the seventy-eighth time Ferris called him a sick freak sort of convinced me." Matt bit his lip. "He said Faith is pregnant."

"Merlin's hairy old— um, darn it. Darn it very much."

Matt allowed Dad to lead the way into the forest then. He looked at Fayne, laying on the ground with blood trickling from the side of his head, and he turned away to kneel down in front of Ferris. Matt was pretty sure that Dad was blocking Ferris' view of his brother on purpose.

"Are you all right, Ferris?" he asked gently. "Did he hurt you?"

Ferris shook his head. "No," he whispered. His face crumpled yet again. "He hurt . . . he . . ."

"Matt told me," Dad said, and he pulled Ferris into his arms. "We'll take care of everything, Ferris. We'll help your sisters. They're going to be okay. We'll take care of them."

Ferris shook his head against Dad's shoulder miserably. "Faith is pregnant."

"I know. Things are going to get better now."

"I should have kept them safe. I should have stopped him."

"I kind of thought that's why you were out here in the forest."

"Matt and Basil stopped him, not me."

"Well, that's the way we Gryffindors fight," Dad said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Didn't you know that? We always bring friends to back us up. Merlin, I thought you'd know that, and you a Gryffindor yourself."

"I didn't want to be in Ravenclaw. Not with him."

"I'm really proud of you for standing up to him, Ferris."

Ferris pushed away from Dad, and looked at Matt and Basil and Bear. "Thanks," he muttered, then he ran away. He ran toward the edge of the forest, back toward the school. Matt started to chase him, but Dad put a hand on him.

"Let him go. He needs a minute alone."

Through the trees, there came the solid noise of flesh meeting flesh, and the "oomph" of two people with the breath knocked out of them.

"Ferris, are you all— right . . ."

Professor Malfoy came into the forest with a puzzled look.

"Is Ferris supposed to be running away?"

"Yeah, let him go," Dad said. "I could use some help with this, though," he said, pushing Fayne's body with his foot.

Professor Malfoy raised his eyebrow. "Nice. Matt, I think I recognize your handiwork here."

"Sick bastard," Matt said, nudging Fayne possibly a little harder than his father had.

"Well, let's get him squared away. I want to be there when they wake up the kids, just in case something goes wrong."