Dumbledore, Grey and the girls stayed until the next afternoon. The Death Eaters fled just before Grey entered the Refuge, so the round-up of the escaped creatures, though difficult, was not hindered by outside attack. Along with the remaining aurors, Dumbledore's forces accomplished it quickly. The air dome succeeded, preventing the vast majority of dragons and flying creatures from escaping, much to the girls' delight.
Cansbury had been virtually sacked. The loss of life seemed smaller afterwards, with final estimates topping out at 400.
The tally of dead aurors came to 22.
Grey explained to the other three that he and Jess fought to a draw before she disapparated. Willow could tell there was more, but knew better than to ask in public. She explained her loss of control, to which Grey responded by taking her in his arms. She immediately felt stronger.
Pansy Parkinson's mother, who had been captured at Hogwarts, had aborted Drusilla's attempt to drain her daughter completely. Madam Pomfrey restored her quickly to good health, but the other Hogwarts students noticed her bad attitude seemed greatly subdued. Amazingly enough, Hogwarts suffered no other casualties. Cornelius Fudge owled Dumbledore, offering gruff words of thanks. As horrible an event as Cansbury had been, a rampage at Hogwarts would have been infinitely worse. For the time being, Fudge's interference in Dumbledore's affairs remained negligible.
Spike, despite the torture, began to heal rapidly. Within a week he would be training with Grey and Neville again. Giles turned Drusilla over to Quentin Travers, who wanted to study her unique gifts. Spike, menacing despite his bedridden state, forced a promise from Travers that she would not be tortured or staked.
Despite serious lectures from Giles and McGonagall, Harry and company knew they made the right decision. Harry wondered what would happen between them and Malfoy now, but decided to let it occur at its own pace. He wasn't even sure what he wanted to happen.
In Voldemort's camp, Jess seethed at her inability to kill Grey. At the same time, she found it harder and harder to tune out the part of her that missed him. Her master, despite the failure to bring carnage at Hogwarts, was pleased with her accomplishments. Each day, she tired a bit more of his orders.
"It's not fair if I don't let them decide, Will."
"This is guilt talking, Grey."
She rubbed lazy circles on his bare back with her right hand. He perched on the edge of the bed, clad only in his faded blue sweatpants; she reclined under the covers, her Hello Kitty pajamas keeping her warm. A dying fire glowed orange across the room, casting odd planes and shadows everywhere. They had returned from Cansbury three days earlier.
"Maybe. I do feel responsible. But I realized something when that energy flash went off." He had explained the whole story to her, including his speculation about the conflict he felt within Jess. "If anyone had been with me, they would have died."
He leaned down, looming heavily over her as he stared into her emerald eyes.
"I'm the only one who knows her. Everyone else is doing this at my request. It isn't fair. We at least need to all agree upon it. I won't have everyone risking their lives anymore without knowing why. Before it was hypothetical. Now … now I know she's there, and I know that I won't be able to bring her back by myself." After finishing the thought he returned to his former position.
"What if they change course?" Silently, she agreed with him, but she knew he needed to be absolutely sure before revealing his secrets and putting this to a vote.
"Then I go after it alone and hope I find it before they hurt her."
"Before you go putting on your Lone Ranger mask, which by the way would be kind of kinky but uber-sexy on you, you should remember that I'll help you regardless."
"I can't ask you to do that."
"Who said you did? I heard no asking. These Willow ears are finely tuned instruments, and they heard no questions." She shifted to a softer, more serious tone. "Grey, I know what this means to you. I also know what you mean to me. How could I not help, when I care so much about you?"
"I think you'll like her," he said sadly, "if we can get rid of the darkness. She's such a beautiful person."
"She will be again," Willow said.
"How can you do this?"
"What?"
"Sit here like this with me? Say these things? Offer to help me bring my first love back into my life? I know how you must worry that I'll go back to her. I know you a little bit now. This is probably setting your insecurities ablaze."
"The fires are burning, yeah." A soft touch on his shoulder brought him around to face her again. "Something fierce, too. The thing is, it's kinda part of the Grey package, which I like. When this is over," Willow said with more confidence than she felt, "you'll be friends with her. She'll be in your life. I'll take my chances with you. I'm not the scared geek who mooned after Xander. I might feel like it inside sometimes, but she's not me anymore. I can take a risk for something I want. For someone I want."
Watching her face, he saw the pride she took in that, and also the pain that allowed her to get there. She was a real person, three-dimensional, the product of happies and hurts. He liked that she knew her limits and could push them, really push them, when the danger to heart and head was so great.
"I would feel so badly if I hurt you that way."
"I can't ask you not to. I know you don't do the hollow promise thing. Besides, this is so less of a risk than the others. Let's see, Xander? Lifelong best friend. Impossible to live without. Oz? Werewolf. Serious bite damage may ensue. Tara? Hello, woman. I mean, you're a nice Jewish boy. How much of a risk is that?"
"You're babbling," he said, cracking a small grin.
"Possibly."
He slid under the covers, wrapping an arm over her and leaning in. She felt his soft breath on her lips when he spoke.
"Willow, I hope you know how much I care about you. I honestly do not believe that, if and when we bring Jess back, I will want anything more than to end each day with several Willow kisses. If I did, if I even suspected, I would not have ever advanced beyond friendship with you."
"So I'm thinking I know your plans for ending today, then."
The next night, they came together.
He brought them to the library, at Willow's suggestion. She said libraries had good vibes for this sort of thing, and he took her word for it. When they walked in, the buzz of conversation dimmed noticeably.
Everyone had arrived. Hermione and Ron sat together, holding hands. Harry, Ginny, and Neville occupied the seats to their right. Spike, still injured but healing, smoked his ever-present cigarette as he reclined at the table. Giles, McGonagall and Tara had seats to Hermione's left; Willow joined them after giving Grey's hand a final squeeze. Grey had asked her to let him do this alone.
He walked to the front of the room, and conversation ceased.
"Thank you all for coming," he began. His stomach rolled and dipped with each syllable. "You've all been a part of something for awhile now, a fight that's drawn each of us in. Until now, some of us have known more about what's happening than others. Those of us with the knowledge, mostly Willow, Giles and me, have dictated our strategy, but asked you all to take part. Before I explain further about what we've done and what I want to do, you all need to know some things."
He leaned against the wall and glanced at Willow for support. She nodded, a half-smile on her face. The others watched him intently.
"Hermione?"
"Yes, Grey?"
"After Halloween, you asked me about the woman who attacked us." Hermione nodded. She had privately guessed that this was about the woman.
"Her name is Jess O'Brien. I met her when I first started training to be an auror. She was my partner. We were engaged to be married." He heard a sharp intake of breath. "Last winter…" He told the entire story, including what they didn't know about Halloween. Then he explained their inability to kill each other. At the end, the children had mostly gone pale. Professor McGonagall, her face tightly pinched, sat frozen in astonishment. Spike continued to puff his cigarette calmly. Tara put a hand on Willow's shoulder for reassurance.
"Here's the dilemma. To this point, we have been searching for ways to cure her." He nodded to Hermione. "I'm going to try and do that, whether you all join me or not. Willow has offered to help. The problem with that solution is that we may face much greater danger than by simply trying to kill her. Much as I might like to, I can't put you all in more danger unwittingly. I hope you'll help, but I can't force you to. I wouldn't want to force you to. Regardless of what you choose to do, though, you deserve to know the truth," he finished. His heart thudded rapidly in his chest.
A quiet pall hung over the room. The lack of noise made the thumping of his heart noticeably louder. Each of the listeners looked around, attempting to gauge the group mood. Willow perched tensely in her chair, her eyes on Giles and Tara.
"I-I don't know about anyone else," Neville said, shattering the silence with his soft voice, "and I don't know what I can really do, but I'll help. You've been nothing but nice to me since you got here, and I'd be glad to." They were keeping his training secret, but Grey knew that was what he meant. The Jedi nodded his thanks.
"Me too," Hermione said. "I wish you had told me earlier, since I've been researching it for so long, but I'm not going to stop."
"Guess that counts me in, too," Ron said.
"And me," Harry added. "I mean, we've been to the Hellmouth together. Could it be worse?" The remark broke the tension, as all of the Sunnydale residents laughed.
"I-I couldn't let Willow do it alone," Tara said.
"Nor could I," Giles agreed.
"She was my student, you know," McGonagall said to the group. "I rather miss having her about. It would indeed be nice to bring her back."
"Engaged to the cupcake, eh, Jedi?" The wounds made Spike's voice scratchy and weak. "Not too shabby. As long as I get a good scrap or two out of it, and maybe some smokes, I'll help you out."
Grey's heart slowed and he let out the breath he had been holding. He looked at Willow and smiled. She had predicted it, after all.
"Thank you, all of you." A few stray tears made their way towards the floor. "If Jess were here, she would be absolutely bawling in appreciation. Hopefully, someday she'll have the chance to do that. This … means a lot to me." He paused, gathering himself and quelling his emotions. "Hermione?"
"Mmm?"
"While we're all here, why don't you share what you've found in your research so far?"