"So that's it? We sit here? Again? Do we ever do our own fightin' anymore?"
"Ron, you didn't see her up there. We can't do anything against her, and Professor Giles said …"
Ron raised his voice another notch, his terror manifesting as anger. "Hermione, I know damn well what he said. You told us a dozen bleedin' times!"
"Well, what should we do then? Run up there and get ourselves flayed by dark magic?" Her own yelling drowned him out. "That sounds like a fantastic idea!"
Ginny made a 'cover-your-ears' motion to Harry, who shook his head in disgust. None of them were going anywhere, but Ron and Hermione had managed to devolve the discussion process into another explosion of tempers. Harry and Ginny had already reasoned out that if the woman was here to fight, she would have brought an army of Death Eaters with her.
"Listen, 'Mione, I know …"
"That will be quite enough, Mister Weasley," Professor McGonagall's pinched voice scolded as she walked through the door. "None of you will be going anywhere, and that is quite final."
As she finished, a loud crash shook the room and drowned out Ron's angry response. The Gryffindors watched in horror when Harry fell to his knees, both hands clutching his scar as he screamed in pain.
Sirius and Spike closed the distance to the prone elf quickly. A few shakes from Spike brought him awake.
"Hey! Dobby, wake up!"
"Erm… uh … M-master Spike? What is Dobby doing … Oh no!"
"Dobby, what happened?" Spike asked. Sirius had changed to dog form to avoid recognition.
"Professor Dumbledore, he's … oh Dobby! Dobby failed him!" The elf smashed his head forcefully against the floor. "Dobby is weak and foolish!" Another impact. "What has I done?" His big eyes filled with tears as he looked imploringly at Spike. "Is the great Professor being hurt?"
"Dumbledore?" Dobby nodded. "Well, he's …" Spike glanced at Sirius, but the dog stayed motionless. "He's been poisoned."
"Oh!" Dobby sucked in a huge breath, his rail thin fingers covering his mouth. His head thudded into the ground over and over again until Spike grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him into the air.
"Will you quit that shit, mate? What the hell could you have done to stop it?"
Dobby broke down and sobbed, haltingly explaining about his fight with Curly.
"Listen, Dobby," Spike said when the elf had finished. He felt ridiculous talking to a tiny creature with a soccer ball for a head, but he needed Dobby to calm down and tell them everything. "He's not dead yet, so save the whinin' and the cryin' for if he does. We've got bigger problems now." Like finding that damn imp.
"Bigger?"
"Yes, bigger. We think Voldemort is coming here now that Dumbledore's taken his lumps."
At the mention of Voldemort's name, Dobby scowled deeply and his self-pity vanished.
"He wants to hurt Harry Potter."
"Well … yeah."
"Dobby will not let him."
The elf, a look of terrible anger in his eyes, snapped his fingers and disappeared.
"Well, that was pleasant," Spike said as Sirius morphed into human form. "Ever wonder how he does that, with no apparatin' here an' all?"
Before the conversation could continue, the blast reverberated in the cavernous room and drove Spike and Sirius to their knees.
"I don't like it. I'm not leaving." Willow's resolve face was firmly in place, though it was paler than usual. Her arms and legs felt leaden and she wanted a nap badly enough to cry for it, but she wouldn't leave the two of them alone. Giles stood behind her, propping her up against his chest.
"Agreed," Giles said, despite his concern for Willow. "It's far too dangerous, especially with Albus incapacitated."
They stood in the midst of the empty dining hall, with Grey and Tara once again separating Jess from the other two.
"I-I'll stay with them," Tara suggested. "Will, you're too tired. If something does happen …"
"Nothing will happen," Jess broke in. Everyone but Grey glared at her.
"It will be to me," Grey added, ignoring his ex-fiancee. "Which is how it should be. The rest of you need to prepare for Voldemort. We need to get this place locked down." He turned to Willow, taking her hand and stroking it with his thumb. "Will, you need to rest. I'll be fine."
"See the face? You know what it …"
"I know what it means," he cut her off. "I respect it. I do. But you don't have any resolve left to back it up with. You're ready to drop."
"If Tara stays, that would be acceptable to me," Giles said. "Willow, you will not be a great deal of help in your current condition."
The redhead glowered, looking from Grey to Giles to Tara.
"I'll protect him, Will," Tara said.
After a long pause, Willow finally nodded. She gathered herself and pushed off from Giles. A dozen rapid steps put her nose to nose with Jess.
Her eyes flashed black as she spoke.
"You hurt him again, and … well, I can't even think of anything threatening enough to say. But I'm sure I'll find lots to do."
Jess nodded slowly, not speaking for fear that her voice would crack. Despite the childish phrasing, menace radiated off the redhead in thick waves and her tone would have frightened Death himself. She wondered if the girl had any idea how much power she truly possessed.
Willow spun to embrace Grey, but ended up stumbling and falling into his arms. He kissed her lightly. "Get some rest."
She paused, conflicting thoughts launching a full-scale war in her head. What the hell, he could very well die before I see him again, right?
"I love you."
She walked away, leaving Grey gaping at her retreating back.
"That was a very brave thing you just did," Giles said once they were alone in the hallway.
"Tara will keep him safe." She wobbled a little as they traversed the halls.
"You know that was not what I meant."
"I know." She stopped, leaning against the wall for support. All of her fears – for her heart, for his health, for the two of them – flooded her mind. Tears formed behind her eyes as she thought of them together. "I do love him, Giles. I didn't want to leave them alone without him knowing."
"As I said, it was a very brave thing. In all respects."
"I didn't want to … to trap him into staying with me, but with her here … she wants him back …"
The Watcher broke in abruptly, interrupting her babbling.
"You will listen to me very carefully now, Willow." Giles' paternal tone resonated in the stone corridor. "I have kept my distance from this, knowing what was going on and how much it must have torn you apart to help him as you have. I knew I could never dissuade you. Helping people … it's what you do, and it makes you very special, but I feared this time how much it could cost you. I was wrong in that fear. You could not see his eyes once you turned your back."
"He loves you. Never doubt it. Not for an instant. I imagine that he will tell you as much, as soon as he figures it out."
Willow watched him for a long second.
"You think?"
His smile had the familiar, reassuring cast that she had seen for years.
"Yes, Willow, I think. Now come, let's …"
The sound of the impact slammed into their ears as it drove dust from the walls.
Five minutes after Giles led her out, Grey was still watching the door in silence. No one had spoken since Willow said it.
"She loves me," he whispered.
Jess felt her heart breaking as she heard the words. He loved the girl, too. She had no doubts now. Instead of anger, it filled her with a sense of bottomless loss. The blonde, Tara, was looking right at her as her heart shattered into a thousand pieces. Jess wondered why it surprised her so much; in Cansbury, his feelings for the girl had been made plenty clear.
Tara saw surprise change to acceptance in the girl's green eyes. The sadness seemed to ooze from her, and despite her villainous nature Tara felt a rush of pity. Even though she had chosen not to be with Willow, it had still hurt to see her with Grey. Jess' pain had to be a thousand times worse.
Tara put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said softly.
Jess' façade slipped away for a fraction of a second, stunned by the empathetic gesture. "I lost him. I really lost him. I never thought …" She stopped as Grey finally turned around, hurriedly resuming her haughty, dark sorceress posture as she railed against the empty feeling in her stomach.
He shuttered his confusion and wonder away, putting on his impassive mask to face Jess. Grey was not blind, though. He caught the tiny flicker of heartbreak in her green eyes and chose to ignore it. They had more pressing matters.
Tara quickly removed her hand.
"You wanted to talk," Grey said calmly. "Talk."
"That's it? Nothing else? Don't want to rub it in my face about your little firecracker?"
"No," he said simply. He knew her way of dealing with hurt would be to bait him into an argument, and he wouldn't do it. Not now.
"Fine." She let it go. There would be time for that later, when they weren't the hunted. And she didn't know if she could bear to hear the truth spoken aloud. "What do you want to know, then?"
"Why are you here?"
"I told you. He wants me dead."
"And you thought we would protect you?"
"No. I thought you would," she answered. "The rest of them can help us stop him. Sure and he's comin' here anyway. That was his plan, to lead his forces out here with me in the van, then let us fight it out. He'd step in and finish off the winner."
Grey nodded. "With Dumbledore down for the count…" He saw the question in her eyes before she could ask it. "Poison. He's in a coma. He'll probably heal, but Madame Pomfrey said it would take time. With him out, chances are either you or Willow would kill the other. It makes sense, in a predictable way."
"He's got a hell of a diverse army," she said, anticipating his next question. "Death Eaters, but also vampires, giants, hellhounds. The whole bleedin' spectrum."
"When you say army …"
"Not like you're thinkin'. These are just token forces sent by his allies. But we aren't exactly legion here, David," she said pointedly. "Wouldn't take much to overwhelm us."
"You have a plan?"
She smiled mischievously, the familiar look tugging at his heart. "Nope. You're the brains, I'm the muscle, remember?" More seriously, she went on, "I was hoping you had a plan in place for this sort of thing."
"Not really."
"Well, isn't that…"
The thunderous concussion of the doors exploding inward obliterated the rest of her sentence.