Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the Harry Potter series belong to J.K. Rowling. I also must confess that a lot of my knowledge of the Middle-Ages is largely due to Michael Chrichton's Timeline. Balthamos is from Philip Pullamn's The Amber Spyglass. Sir Guy is Sir Guy de Malegant from Timeline. I draw on universe concepts from both Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy as well as Michael Crichton's Timeline.

Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to Sara, who honestly edits every chapter of this story and every other one that I have and will produce. This story would be here for no one else to read if she had not first encouraged me to write it and gratuitously praised it along the way. She is the biggest fan of Galahad and of painful little conflicts—all of which find a home in this chapter. Enjoy and review if you do.

Thank You's: There aren't many this week, but I totally understand that. This is coming up on the end of the series right around exam time. I know my loyal readers will pick this up again at their convenience.

Lady Brannon: I have never had anyone thanking me for writing what I would have written anyway…even if I were flamed. Thank you for taking the time to go through the entire story thus far. I hope you will stick it out…happy ending, sad, or a mix of both. I hope you're not averse to a mix (leaning more toward tragic?).

Oliverwoodsgirl: As always you are cool. I don't quite know how to answer your question about Gabriel and the army…I know that everyone hates hearing this, but just read and find out…it's all pretty simple after this, no tricks. Thanks for your reviews. They are a constant in my writing and I look forward to them all.

Chapter Nineteen

Born Blind

"Someday they'll find your small town world

On a big town avenue

Gonna make you like the way they talk

When they're talking to you

Gonna make you break out of your shell

'Cause they tell you to

Gonna make you like the way they lie

Better than the truth

They'll tell you everything you wanted someone else to say

They're gonna break your heart

Yeah, from what I've seen, you're just one more hand-me-down

'Cause no one's tried to give you what you need

So lay all your troubles down

I am with you now

Somebody ought to take you in

Try to make you love again

Try to make you like the way they feel

When they're under your skin

Never once did you think they'd lie

When they're holding you

You'll wonder why they never call

When they said they'd call you

You'll start to wonder if you're ever going to make it by

You'll start to think you were born blind…"

Matchbox Twenty: 'Hand-me-down'

              Ron felt Hermione's hand tighten around his own as the small flower girl was brought inside.

              "Cora! Oh God, it's my Cora!" he heard the mother of the child wail. Hermione had let out a small sob as she watched the hysterical parents. Anni sat in wide-eyed shock. Mum was shaking and everyone else was reverently silent. There was a tangible fear for the missing boy as his dead companion was laid half on the table and half in her mother's arms. Bill slowly backed away as he handed the child over to her frantic and sorrowful parents.

              "Has Sirius and Jill found anything? What about father?" he asked urgently.

              Mum had just shaken her head, not taking her eyes from the blue lips and closed eyes, head crowned with curls and heather. "Are you sure you checked everywhere for the boy, for Gabriel?" she asked to anyone who would answer.

              "There was no one else there, mum. We checked," came Fred's voice from beside Ron.

              A look from mum had told them all that they should continue looking for the boy, if for no other reason than to give the poor girl and her parents a moment alone. Goodbye was all that was left for them to say. What had been a day of perfect celebration had turned into a profound tragedy. And even though no one could guess the others' thoughts, everyone was in a succinct prayer that the boy would be found and the hours before midnight would not sink into further tragedy.

              Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, hearing the voices, the cries from his sister over her child, had appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, soon shooed away by Anni and Molly. Enraged conversation wafted over the threshold and into the already full air of the kitchen, charging it with more tensions than it could hold. It nearly pushed the others outside with the force of it.

              Everyone had been commissioned to continue the search. They boy had to be found. He may be the only one who could offer an explanation about the girl.

              Charlie led Ron, Hermione, Fred and George through the back garden fence and into the deepening snowy expanse. There was little chance that the boy could survive the night if her were not found. Ron realized this with an unconscious tug of his cloak around him. He turned and watched Bill detach from the group and head back to the house just as they had all grouped outside. He would have to maintain control of the worsening situation inside, as there was a small girl dead and no explanation for the grieved parents. Anni and Molly would not be able to handle the situation alone.

              Something else more urgent and cryptic pulled at Ron's mind at the same moment. It was the same something that pulled at Hermione's mind. He could tell that they had been connected by the unified fear because her trudging footfalls were silenced the moment that his were. They both glanced back at the garden gate and then at each other. Twin looks of terror had written the same conclusions on their features, a coincidence that frightened Ron more than anything.

              "Where's Ginny?" Hermione said in a whisper of frosted breath.

              "And Harry and Imogen?" Ron said in reply.

              Hermione took a moment to think about this. Slowly she answered as the others reached the forest, well out of earshot. "We saw Harry and Ginny as Bill brought the girl in. Imogen wasn't with them—do we call her Imogen still or is it Lucy?" Hermione wondered.

              "Call her traitor. I know she's behind this. Do you think Harry went to stop her?" Ron said, blowing on his hands.

              Hermione leveled an impatiently perturbed glance on him before continuing. "I highly doubt that Lucy is behind Gabriel's disappearance at all. And I'm shocked that you'd think so. You seemed to respect Lucy before…" she struggled for the right phrase. "Before all of this."

              "Before she faked her own death and lied," Ron corrected.

              "She must have had reason. Her life hasn't exactly been a simple one by the looks of it, Ron. I don't think she really had a choice." She took a deep breath that stung her throat and lips in the frigid air. "So Lucy is gone, Ginny is gone and Harry is gone. One of the three has to know what's going on, where Gabriel has gone. I'm putting my money on Ginny. She is a seer after all. The simple explanation could be that Ginny knows and the other two are helping her find him."

              "The dead girl. Explain the dead girl. How does our finding her frozen at the edge of the forest fit into the simple explanation?" Ron said folding his arms over his chest in an effort to warm them.

              "She's the guarantee that there is no simple explanation. I'm thinking that there's a lot more to the story. Was she in the way? If so, who killed her and why wouldn't they kill Gabriel as well?" Hermione thought aloud.

              "The girl was a Muggle. Who says she was killed in the first place?" Ron paused, looking at Hermione sideways.

              "Ginny makes me think that. I don't think she sees things like little children wandering harmlessly off into the forest. She saw something linked to dark activity and that's why she's gone. Plus, there is a mark on the little girl's neck. I saw it when Bill laid her down. Her head fell back and there was a small mark, like a cigarette burn but only smaller, on her neck. It was a magical burn, a wand at close range. Now what do you suppose killed that little girl?" Hermione asked, warily checking Ron's expression.

              He blinked. "The Killing Curse. Who would want to murder a little girl at a wedding?" he asked, horrified.

              "Someone who wanted the little boy that she was chasing into the forest. That girl was simply in the wrong place." Hermione plunged her hands into her cloak pockets and allowed herself one small shuddering shiver.

              "I have to find them. They can't do this alone." Ron started for the door.

              "No, Ron. You can't," Hermione called after him, stopping him in his snowy tracks. 

***

             "Let me see your neck," Harry said, teeth chattering, as they made it to the first line of trees. They had stopped when he noticed Ginny was having a time of keeping up. She was having a fair bit of trouble breathing. But they had both been too dazed and eager to get away from that field of dying soldiers that they ran despite their bodies' protestations.

              Ginny stopped just behind him. She clenched her teeth as he placed icy fingers on her skin, moving aside the collar of her cloak and her shirt. Her neck showed bruising already. Clear finger marks were growing more livid just under her ears. She met his eyes directly and said, "I'm fine. I'll keep up."

              "I shouldn't have brought you," Harry said under his breath, turning to continue.

              "I was the one who brought you," Ginny argued, double pacing to keep up with his vigilant strides.

              He said nothing. But the way Ginny watched his jaw work. she knew he was eager to argue the point.

              After walking in silence for a few moments longer Harry turned to her and said, "And what do you plan on us doing when we come to the outer wall? Knock?"

              Ginny sighed and shivered, but was patient. She knew he was anxious and that he was unhappy to be traveling in a direction that took him further from Lucy. She suppressed a mild twinge of jealousy. At that moment she couldn't have even begun to assess what that might have meant; jealousy of Lucy for deserving Harry, Harry's open devotion to her, or knowing that they would walk into their own deaths for the other. It could have been any of these things. But mostly it was that they could be sure of each other's devotion. To be left in wonder…it was Purgatory of a greater magnitude than that which the soul experiences. She came to realize that the love that she was prone to experience was the kind that had the shortest shelf life.

              "I wanted to get a good look around. If there are any friendly troops around, they would help us. And they would know where Mungo and Azria are, too," she said after a moment's consideration.

              Again, Harry stared at her as if he wanted to argue a better plan, but stayed silent. They walked on, Harry seething and Ginny in tormented silence.

              "Do you know exactly what it is you plan to do? How do you think you can help them?" Harry asked. His questions were intermittent with silence and crackling twigs. The terrain was getting steeper and seemed to rush on almost vertical the father they went. The mud was soft under the snow and the purchase that their feet were able to keep was a flimsy one, what little light the moon had offered them was cut out by the canopy of trees closing them in on all sides.

              Ginny had to suppress the urge to call out to him when he fell silent, just to reassure herself that she wasn't alone. She stayed quiet despite her fear and only spoke when he had asked a question.

              "It was a dream I had. I know that there was something that Mungo needed to tell me. I went back there to hear what he had to say. But we always seemed to be interrupted just before he was able to come out with it. It happened like that every time. That's what happened when he and Faramir found Lucy with her father—only she wasn't Lucy, but Elena. They thought she was a spy."

              "Wait a minute," Harry said in a harsh but quiet tone. "You knew about Lucy spying on her father? You let them point her out and you didn't—," Ginny would have been shocked to hear Harry finish the accusation that he was making toward her, if she weren't shocked already by his falling and disappearing down the ravine. She heard him call out for a while and then his calls became faint and stopped altogether.

              She was alone.

              She thought she might have been alone. The sound of footfalls on the path that she and Harry had been carefully picking out announced only moments later that there was someone else in the forest, someone who may have followed them. And she was by herself. She couldn't see. She couldn't breath. She reached for her wand and prayed.

***

              Lucy took the small gold chain from around her neck and placed it around Gabriel's feverish head, sliding it down onto the sleeping boy's neck.

              She took a deep breath. She hoped that she was doing the right thing. It seemed to be the only way. She didn't hesitate.

              She would have to stay behind. Her brother would not leave her and so she would not leave him. Though, she may very well die for what she was about to do, she didn't think about that. If she could get this child out, she would.

              The Time-Turner rested in her hands, the chain around Gabriel's neck and she turned it.

              A small crack appeared on the face of the hourglass-like charm as she turned it. It had broken.

              Damn!

              There must have been wards in place. Her father wouldn't have forgotten that.

              But now she was stuck. There was no other way out of 1352 for her…or Gabriel.

              She slipped it off of the boy and examined it closely. It could be repaired, but how would she be able to do that? She didn't have a wand and it would take more delicate magic than she possessed.

              Footsteps announced visitors and she hurriedly placed the broken Time-Turner around her neck and tucked it down the front of her linen robes as they entered. 

Two guards came through the door followed by Eowyn. She looked at Lucy acidly and then to the boy asleep on her lap. With a nod to the guards, the one on the right lifted the child away from Lucy and cradled him in massive arms. The other one stood beside Lucy as Eowyn commanded her to get up and follow.

              Lucy did this silently, all of the time taking careful measurement of how far away the guard was from her, how far the one that carried Gabriel was away from Eowyn, how well she thought Eowyn could handle herself. She seemed to carry no wand but trusted in the sheer muscle power of her guards to ensure orders were followed and no one stepped out of line.

              She continued down a corridor lit by torches, descending stairs. They must be at least two levels below ground at the moment. She could only guess that they were headed for a secret way out of the castle. Surely they would not remain in a castle that was little defended. She could not think of another place Eowyn would retreat to.

              Presently, Eowyn turned to Lucy who looked forward and past her captor, but she listened.

              "Your father tells me that you are the murderer of his mistresses, an interesting pastime. Tell me," she said with a smile. "Would you try to kill me as well if you knew of our affair?"

              Lucy remained a mask of indifference. "Are you telling me that you are one of his whores?"

              "I don't deny that I admire your father. He is a man like no other," Eowyn elaborated cryptically. "And did you kill his woman, Elena, to spite him?"

              Lucy raised an eyebrow at this. She vaguely wondered what type of response this woman wanted from her. She was on no crusade to keep her father faithful to her dead mother. She would certainly need more reason than that to kill someone. How often, she wondered, had this woman killed? She talked and fantasized about it so openly.

              "She was in my way. It was necessary," Lucy replied in a monotone. Eyeing the guard next to her, Lucy almost didn't hear the words that Eowyn had spoken next.

              "And would you kill me if I were in your way?"

              "Perhaps," Lucy replied in the same manner.

              They traversed the remainder of the underground in silence.

              There was confusion as they reached the opening at the back of the grounds. They had walked underground for quite a while. Lucy did not realized that they had bypassed a small forest while they were in the dark and silent tunnel.

              The passage terminated in a modest wooden door to the side of an equally modest building, a wall actually. The remainder of the structure was a mystery to Lucy. Had she ever seen this building before? She looked behind her and could see the flames of the mill hidden by an avenue of trees and the Hufflepuff castle that they had just left, far in the distance.

              There was the clanging and zing of metal colliding with metal as a raid party met a small force in gold and scarlet quite a way down field.

              Lucy watched all of this, as did the guards.

              Eowyn remained focused on the child in the larger guard's arms. She seemed to Lucy overly concerned with the child's safety.

              It was this moment in which Lucy chose to strike.

              The guard closest to her was turned to observe the combat for only the briefest of seconds. She felt and heard the gratifying zing as she pulled his sword from its scabbard and past his reach before he had the time to turn and recognize her action fully.

              In one fluid and focused swing, the hand that he had put out to reach for his sword was severed from his arm and he leapt at her. In his shock and astonishment, not realizing that the small and seemingly helpless girl could handle herself with a sword exceptionally well, he ran on the sword that she held out in front of her.

              His blinked for a moment and held her gaze. She wondered sickly how many more times she would have to kill tonight. She didn't like the feel of blood on her hands. But better his than her brother's or Gabriel's, she thought.

              "Take him through," she heard Eowyn order as she pulled the sword from the second guard's sheath. He carried the child through the opened door as a monk came out and offered assistance with the child. So it was the monks that had helped Eowyn and her father to set up their crackpot other universe scheme. She thought that most of that had been super-villain psychobabble. But it was all true.

              "Don't leave that child's side," Eowyn commanded, wielding the blade in both of her determined and skilled hands. The sword looked more at home in her grasp that it did, unwieldy and awkward, in Lucy's. But Lucy had learned and she was up for this fight.

              The door shut behind them, leaving them on the field with the raiding party and the Gryffindor scouts in a torrent of colors and clangs behind them.

              Lucy, blocking and dealing blows in turn, thought that she had learned much in the past five minutes outside of this monastery door. The first being that this order of monks was in the pocket of the Slytherin family, secondly Mungo belonged to an order that he was unaware had acted as a front against his family for who knows how long. Gabriel was being held here. There may be people she could trust inside if Eowyn didn't think that the child was safe with the monks alone. The only thing that she didn't know was how to get in and then get out with Gabriel.

              Lucy ducked agilely as Eowyn exacted another furious blow, just missing its mark. She was fast and expertly trained and Lucy had been in wheelchair for the majority of the past three years. She was tiring fast and Eowyn advanced, driving her backwards, away from the monastery entrance and closer to the fray behind them.

              She could see on Eowyn's face that, while this would be the quickest way to distract Lucy, she didn't want to risk being seen. She was easily recognizable as the antagonistic Lady of a generations-old family who've terrorized this region for decades.

              Lucy switched hands, feeling her right hand tighten with cramps. She was only blocking now—and only just that. She had little energy to drive even the most glancing blows at her opponent. She had never fought with such a large sword—never a broadsword at that.

              She was beginning to despair of distracting Eowyn long enough to strike at her, or move away. But she would not concede the fight. Her opportunity presented itself in the form of a dead soldier.

              Just behind Eowyn lay the corpse of a soldier fallen in earlier conflict. It was clear to Lucy that Eowyn's arrogance would not allow her to remain fully conscious of her surroundings. She was far more distracted in throwing taunts at Lucy in true tournament fashion. Lucy would do without the show and save her breath.

              With all of the strength she could summon, Lucy brought the large blade down on the lady, slashing at her with both down and back swings. She put on and extra burst of strength that drove Eowyn back a few more paces and brought her sword down again. This time the swing glanced and tore at her shoulder, surprising Eowyn. One more step and she had tumbled over the dead soldier and lost the grip on the hilt of her weapon.

              Lucy had both swords in hand as Eowyn raised her wand and trained it on the girl.

              Eowyn's saving grace and Lucy's downfall came in gold and scarlet surcoats.

              Gryffindor soldiers that had been driving back the raiding party had seen the women in combat. Behind Lucy two forceful and strong scouts had seized her and disarmed her.

              Looking back to make sure that Eowyn was apprehended with her, Lucy met a sickening sight…sickening for what consequences it would have on later events, events many years to come.

              Eowyn had Apparated. It was magic of another time, employed wrongfully in this time. The consequences would be severe.

              Lucy thought on this, her mind spinning dizzily, as she was bound with her wrists tightly together behind her back.

              The soldiers spoke like most people in this time, in a language that she didn't understand, Occitan.

              She was lifted onto a horse in front of a large scout in scarlet and gold, and still she thought that what she had just witnessed would be detrimental to wizarding future. How much had they already changed, she and Ginny, in their many trips back here? How much would she risk and destroy now, on her own?

              She rode for sometime with the scout on a horse that she was only now beginning to appreciate for its enormity. It was huge. She knew destriers were enormous in the middle ages and that they carried huge men in armor. She was not prepared for riding one.

              The small and scattered contingent of scouts was well out of the district designated as Hogwarts, the castle, keep and surrounding lands. They stopped at a camp just beneath the large cliff face that extended to the north and surrounded the castle on three sides. The only access that an attacking army would have on the castle itself was from the west and the sloping plain that was cleared of trees: a suicide mission for anyone.

              She was roughly handed from the horse to another scout in the colors of Gryffindor who flung her bodily to the ground. Forced to her knees in front of a pair of formidable boots, desperately trying to remain upright without the support of her hands, the guard grabbed her hair roughly from the back of her head and forced her neck back.

              She was looking directly into the stern and questioning eyes of Galahad Ravenclaw.   

***

             "I look like an idiot and so do you," Draco said, surveying the Slytherin surcoat in green and silver as his father handed him a sword.

              "I give you this only because you may need it where we are going. I needn't remind you that using it against me or others of the Lady Eowyn's soldiers will sentence your sister to death. And you don't look like an idiot, you look like a soldier and it does you well. Besides, the soldiers of Slytherin House are trained to kill all who are not associated with the green and silver of this House. You should be proud to wear it. You were born to it," Lucius lectured.

              Draco had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. He finished strapping the rest of his gear on hoping that he wouldn't have to use half of it.

              He didn't see the point in further arguing with his father and was silent while he followed him out of the castle, past the bailey and to the heavily defended walls. There was a small scouting troop of about five sharp faced and stern soldiers in green and silver outside the gate. One held the reins of two horses.

              Draco was amazed at the size but said nothing as he hoisted himself to the saddle, thinking the entire time that this horse could eat Emile easily.

              He heard his father mutter something in Occitan to the nearest scout who replied in the same language. Draco couldn't hear what they had said and if he did it would have taken him twice as long to translate. He was familiar with the dead language but he couldn't speak it and could understand about half of it. His father, of course, had picked it up with ease and spoke it like French or English or Russian; fluently.

              Lucius paid very little attention to his son, under the assurance that he wouldn't try anything. His sister's life was not something he would jeopardize in so blasé a manner.

              Past a mill that had been under siege and now stood consumed in flame, and skirting the imposing Hogwarts castle, the scouts road out. They passed a few camps, mostly of Slytherin and others of red and gold and blue and bronze. They were careful to remain at a distance from these. Draco had the feeling that things were going to escalate rapidly before the sun even peeked from behind the Hebrides. There was more of a military presence surrounding the two castles than he had ever witnessed or even read about. He vaguely remembered this battle as described in Hogwarts: A History. He had a weird sense of suspended reality as he realized that it was nothing like the text and that he would have the opportunity to experience it firsthand.

             A movement caught his attention and the attention of one of the other scouts to his right. The moon glinted on the armor of bodies on a killing field. The movement terminated in a stand of trees to the Northwest. It could have been peasants pillaging the dead. Draco had turned his attention to the guard who had also caught the movement. Presently he was discussing the movements with Lucius in Occitan. Draco strained to understand them, but had no need of it. His father turned to him seconds later and said, you will go with them," indicating two scouts who had broken from the group already. "Check the woods. Deserters: kill them. Enemy soldiers: kill them as well."

              Draco nodded solemnly and wheeled his horse to follow the two scouts looking behind him he noticed that his father was still motionless, watching him.

              "You'd be surprised at how quickly I could get word to Eowyn to kill Lucilla if you set one foot out of line, Draco. I wouldn't, if I were you," he warned. Turning in the direction that the rest of the scouts were heading, to meet up with Eowyn's army, Lucius rode out of sight.

              Draco turned and followed the two scouts to the stand of trees.

              The scout to his left spoke to the other—Draco couldn't grasp the meaning. The one in front that had been spoken to turned to him and gestured: split up and search.

              Draco dug his heel into the horse's flank and headed right in toward the middle, he'd been certain that the person or people that had traversed the field had come in through this opening in the trees. The two scouts plunged into the forest on either side of him about fifty yards down on each side.

              As the trees closed in Draco was forced to dismount and proceed on foot. The enormous steed was left tied to a tree near the edge and Draco continued cautiously forward.

***

              "Are you telling me that you forbid me to go and help my best friend?" Ron wheeled around and leveled an angry glare at Hermione. "Do I have to remind you that he's your friend too? And what about my sister?"

              Hermione remained cool. She nodded and said simply, "Do you not trust Harry with Ginny?"

              "I don't trust Lucy with either of them," Ron answered acidly. He walked back to where Hermione stood in the snow, apparently ready for a row to end all.

              "But he trusts Lucy and so does Ginny. That's why they left," Hermione pointed out.

              "And I would have helped him. I always help him. He knows I would have," Ron argued.

              "But he didn't want your help, Ron. That's why you and I only found out about this now. He didn't want us involved. I know that you feel left out. But I know Harry didn't mean to make you feel that way. He knew that whatever it was would be dangerous." Hermione placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. Ron shrugged her hand off and backed away.

              "I would have gone anyway. It's because you didn't want me to go and he knew that. You…you're trying to make me choose. I have to choose between you and Harry?" He looked angrier than she had ever seen him look, hurt also.

              "No. I never…Ron, I didn't make him do anything. That's unfair," she said, amazed at the accusation. "But, if you want to choose, fine. I already know who it will be." Hermione looked at him for some moments longer. His expression remained set. He would have chosen Harry if he could, she knew it. It hurt but it was reasonable. Harry had tenure…the best friend…she was just the bossy girlfriend…who held him back.

              "I'll see if I can be of any help inside," she said in a hollow tone and left him in the snow to seethe.

              If she had been expecting him to stop her, or apologize, or at least contradict her, he never did. He was silent and resolute. She went inside.

              As she entered, Bill pulled her unexpectedly to the side.

Anni's parents and those of the little girl, Molly and Anni had left for the nearest Muggle hospital.

"You saw what I did, didn't you?" he asked.

"The close range magical burn?" Hermione asked, elaborating where elaboration wasn't necessary. "Yes, I did."

"Any ideas?" Bill asked.

"Why would I have any ideas," Hermione asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Because when strange and unexplainable things happen, you, Ron and Harry all seem to be at the heart of them," Bill said impatiently. "That girl is dead and someone killed her. There is another child out there right now in real danger. Don't play games, Hermione."

"I'm not playing games. It's a little unfair of you to automatically point the finger at us," Hermione said, trying to gain hold of her rage in vain. They were the only two left in the house and therefore she took this as license to be loud.

"Where is Harry, then. Is it unfair to ask that?" Bill said, matching her pitch.

"Outside with the others, looking for Gabriel?" Hermione ventured.

Bill looked at her and then flung the backdoor open. "Ron, get in here. Now!"

***

Lucy blinked, wondering what Galahad would do, if he would recognize her.

"Unhand her and step back. I hardly think that she would be a threat to me, especially as she is bound," Galahad said, addressing the guard that held Lucy's hair.

She felt a blessed release of tension as the guard removed his hand. She blinked and felt dizzy.

"Forgive me, sire. She has bested the Lady Eowyn. She is more of a threat than she looks," the guard offered.

Galahad smirked and glanced down at Lucy for the barest of seconds and then turned to his guard again. "The Lady Eowyn?"

"Yeah, my lord. She is a spy of some sort. We are unsure," the guard replied.

"Pray, where is the lady? Was she not brought in with the girl? Or are you merely in the habit of arresting those that reside on the same side as you, letting the enemy run free?" Galahad said as he removed a small blade from his belt and bent, releasing Lucy's bound wrists.

"The Lady Eowyn…" the guard hesitated, understandably. "She has vanished, my lord."

"Vanished?" Galahad was free in showing his surprise. He helped Lucy to her feet.

"Pray, lord. I will explain all," Lucy ventured. The guard looked grateful and was dismissed.

Leading the way to a tent with a warm fire outside, Galahad turned to Lucy and said, "You look nothing like Maren. The other chosen heirs, as I understand it, resemble their ancestors much more closely."

"I am fair-haired. But this is a disguise," Lucy explained, tugging on her dark-raven hair that was cropped at her chin.

"You have been the subject of much debate among my sister, Mungo and Faramir. You caused quiet a confusion in showing yourself to be in connection with Eowyn and her mysterious guest," Galahad said, inviting her to sit close to the fire.

"That is my father. I was spying, yes. But not for him," Lucy replied.

Galahad smiled. "I understand from Azria that their confusion and quick judgment had caused you a hardship."

"Yes. Broken bones. I can handle much worse. Think no more on it," Lucy said, shaking her head.

"You are troubled?"

"I have a task to perform and I cannot contrive a way to accomplish it," replied Lucy darkly.

"With the Lady Eowyn? How is it that you came to combat with the lady?" asked Galahad.

"I was asked to follow my father. I contrived a way of disguising myself as someone that he trusted." She wasn't entirely sure on this point, but for simplicity's sake, that is how she told it to Galahad. "I uncovered a plot of Ewoyn's that my father was involved in. The Hufflepuff chosen heir and I came back a few times prior to this mission, and found that they had been plotting something devastating.

"He had been taking children from my time and severing their souls. There is enough to make an army. And, indeed, they are here. They are a gift to the lady in exchange for something that my father was eager to be in possession of."

"There is an army of children who are not in possession of their souls? Here?" Galahad asked, disbelieving. "How are they a match for two powerful armies of trained warriors? Indeed, the army of the House of Slytherin is not even a match for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw together."

Lucy took a deep breath. "They have one unconditional master. They are fierce and numerous and will fight to the death."

"But they are children," Galahad said.

"They were children. They are powerful killing agents now. There are thousands. I have seen them," Lucy said slowly and as if she had interpreted his next concern she added, "This is not possible with adults. Dementors feed from the experiences of an adult life, one that is not innocent—one that has made mistakes and must live with them. The severing of an adult's soul is more humane but leaves the body useless, emotionless, thoughtless. With a child it is painful—an ever conscious pain, pain that fuels hatred and a lust for blood. My father is an evil man, I know." She looked as if she regretted saying this. She had never openly admitted before what her father was capable of and took some of the guilt that would never touch him onto her own shoulders.

Galahad seemed alarmed by this but hid it very well. Draco couldn't have done a better job of masking the fear. "Tell me of what Eowyn has agreed to exchange for this army," Galahad said finally.

"But that is the strangest part of it all," Lucy said. "He has become disillusioned with this world. He disagrees with the everyday encroachment of Muggle life on our society of people."

"Magical and Muggle live separately?" he asked curiously.

"No, not in every way. There are a lot of people who live in both worlds. Then there are people like my father who hold magical people on a higher standard than those without the ability to perform magic. He wishes to be free of them for good. He wishes to give his son a world free of Muggles. They are too numerous to annihilate from our time. Eowyn has given him another universe. But I don't understand how that universe works. It sounds so perverse and nonsensical."

Galahad thrust a stick into the fire and stirred the embers. He didn't speak for a long time and when he did look up at Lucy there was a deep sense of sadness written in his eyes.

"Mungo and I shared a deep friendship with a man named Eomer. He was like a brother to both of us. He was in the same order that Mungo belongs to."

"He was a monk?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. And he was the brother of Eowyn. He was a great student of nature. And of the physical world. He had an idea that Mungo and I had both dismissed as heresy: a universal shift theory. He believed that wherever there was one action and reaction, there could be another, a mirror opposite of that action and reaction. Each held a different set of outcomes and consequences," Galahad explained.

"The negative power of one." Lucy looked at him expectantly.

"I am a warrior. I have no head for numbers," Galahad replied simply.

"There is an infinite possibility of outcomes, of permutations," she explained.

"Eomer used the word permutation. Yes, I believe you are right. It is the same concept," he continued. "Eomer was a great student of this phenomenon. He was a thinker, a philosopher like Mungo. He was gentle and didn't like conflict. His sister was a thousand degrees his opposite, but they adored each other. It is true. His father took his findings and his ideas."

"You mean Salazar Slytherin?" Lucy asked for clarity.

"The very one. Eomer was outraged. He railed against his father. His sister was employed to calm him, but with little effect. He denounced his father and his sister. It was then that my mother, Lord Godric and the Lady Helga became involved in the conspiracy, for there was too much dark magic being developed by the two. It was a dangerous time. Eomer was sadly caught in the middle of it all. He was never deceitful like his sister and his father. But his love for them became his downfall. And sadly, neither Mungo nor I could save him, our brother, our friend."

Lucy sat in wide-eyed curiosity. "What happened?"

Galahad continued heavily, "He died. His father used him as a test case. He had been pursuing immortality, heresy all of it. He was bound and used as a human case. His father killed him. Eowyn sought the healing talents of Mungo, but even that could not save him."

Lucy looked as though she wanted to say something, but held back.

"What is it, child? You may speak freely," Galahad offered.

"Forgive me if it is a rude question, but why did you not kill Eowyn? It seems as though you had plenty of opportunity."

"Yes, we had that. As Eomer lay dying, his father's experiments having gone disastrously wrong, his one thought was of his sister. He loved her more then life itself and she had a part in taking that life away from him," he continued bitterly. "He made Mungo swear on their friendship and his memory to look after her. He knew his father would be executed soon for his treachery. He did not want Eowyn to be left alone. Mungo has held to that promise at great pains. Isaiah will not speak to him. A lot has come to pass since Eomer's death. Mungo feels very responsible for it, I know," Galahad said.

"Poor Eomer," Lucy said in a regretful tone.

"His father pursued his greatest wishes, immortality and opening a universe like the one Eomer theorized. He did both of these. He opened a universe and, although he could not master immortality for himself, he made assurances that his line could remain immortal while he cursed ours and we will end. So there is the universe that Ewoyn speaks of. Now tell me of her vanishing."

***

"Hold out your hands where I can see them and turn slowly," she heard from behind her. The sound of the voice chilled her more than the water she had been submerged in earlier. She didn't move.

"Turn around, now!" the voice bellowed loudly this time. "My wand is trained on you and I will use it."

Ginny turned, holding out her hands, dropping the wand that she held in her right.

The look on his face suggested that it was too dark for him to recognize her in the dim moonlight. Her hood was about her head, hiding her telltale red hair as well.

She set her chin and held her head in high defiance. Her hands raised in front of her she made a slow movement to let down the hood of her soaked cloak and let it fall to her shoulders.

Draco had not been expecting to find her in the woods.

He dropped his wand and gaped.

Ginny stared in firm and calculated composure. No one spoke for a long time. The hoot of an owl and the rustle of the last remaining leaves was all the noise that the night afforded.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked, stunned but matching Ginny in resolve.

"I could ask the same about you, but that looks apparent," Ginny said, nodding at the crest of Slytherin blatantly displayed on his chest. "Is this why you left me? For your father? For this?"

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about," Draco said.

"I thought you had already made your choice, Draco?" she asked.

"You and Lucy made that choice for me when you meddled in things that you didn't understand," Draco spat.

"How so? How can you blame your bad choices on me?" She was unforgivable in her surmising.

He would be just as unforgivable with his words. "You gave me no choice. He's going to kill her if I don't jump through his hoops. I have you to thank for that."

"Draco, that's bullshit! Stop hiding behind your sister and grow a backbone damn it! You still have a choice. Come with me," Ginny said.

"God, you are so dim. I said that he will kill her. My father has Lucy right now. All he has to do is say the word and Eowyn will kill her." He plucked at the surcoat in green and silver that covered his chest. "Besides, it looks as if I've already chosen."

"You're giving up then?" she asked.

"No, I'm being smart. You should too. Go home. You've done enough."

"I'm not going anywhere. I have people relying on me. They need me and I'm not going to abandon them," she said accusingly.

Draco snorted and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. "You've never been let down by anyone, have you?"

"Just myself," Ginny answered. "And you have always been let down by people, haven't you?"

"Everyone but myself," Draco replied, mocking her. "You're wasting my time," he continued, making to turn away and leave her.

"Wait!" Ginny called out urgently behind him.

He turned. "What?"

"There's just something I want to know. One thing. And then you can go your way and I'll go mine. I promise."

"What's that?" he asked, becoming impatient.

"That night, the last time you left me…did you say anything? I might have been sleeping. I thought—," Ginny began.

"No. You must have been dreaming. I left and I thought it had been for good. But you keep following me for some reason," Draco answered in more of a barbed tone than he intended.

"So, that's it then. That's what I wanted to know," she replied, obviously disappointed.

"And now you know. Goodbye," Draco turned and this time she let him walk away.

She didn't expect him to make a choice that would result in Lucy's death, especially in exchange for the only thing that she had to offer him: a second hand heart, broken and mended many times, not worth what he would have to give for it. And it was apparent that he didn't want it in the first place.

"Ginny!" she heard at the back of her mind. It took her several moments more to come back to the present and realize that Harry was calling to her from down in the ravine.

She picked up her wand and started to pick a path slowly down to the bottom.

***

"So that's Apparating and…I guess my father showed her how to do it," Lucy said regretfully.

Galahad looked meditatively into the flames. "I guess I will have to discuss this with Azria. She may know what sort of consequences this will have on the yet to come."

"My lord?" Lucy ventured.

"Yes?" Galahad answered, leaning back. The firelight caught his deep and reflective dark eyes. Lucy had never taken the time before to really look at him. She had noticed right from the off that he was a good-looking man, but had he always carted all of this sadness around with him? Did he see as well as Azria? Was it a hopeless fight? Had it all been for nothing?

"I want to save the child—the one that my father took from my world. He is the one that they want—a key, I think the lady referred to him as. He is just a small child, innocent of everything. He does not know what will happen to him. He has a mother that is grieving over him. She wants him back. He is loved."

"I know of the child. There is always a child murdered to follow this universal shift. He is a key. But how could he have come from your world? Are you quite sure?" Galahad was alarmed.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Lucy asked, puzzled.

"There is usually a village child taken, one of the tenants' children. It is Eowyn's greatest pleasure in the task. They fear her. A ceremony of whose origins I am sorry that I do not know how to explain to you is performed on the child. They rarely survive this. There are few left in the villages here, she is well known for prizing them. Most live in the forests and further down the river from here."

"Perhaps that is why she employed my father to get her one. But she named the child specifically." Lucy shook her head. It made no sense to either of them.

"So you want to save the child?" Galahad said. "Do you know where it is that she has taken him?"

"He's being held at the monastery." She stopped and blinked. "Is Mungo aware of Eowyn's dealings with the monastery?"

"It does not seem likely, for this is the first time that I have heard of her dealings with it," Galahad said. "But there is a new Abbot, an Abbot who is a lover of flesh. This news of the Lady Eowyn, though I know I should not speak ill of a lady, is not surprising." Galahad stood.

"What is the Abbot's name, lord?" Lucy asked.

"The Abbot Marcus."

"There is one more thing," Lucy said timidly. She knew that he was busy and that she had given him a lot of news that he was eager to act and reflect on. He was the leader of one of the armies that would be the savior of this land. She didn't wish to detain him for much longer. "My Time-Turner, the means by which I am able to travel from my time to yours, it is broken. Do you have a smith that could mend glass?"

"Delicate hands are needed for glass mending. I know of a child that is skilled in the craft. I will send for her," Galahad announced, easing her worries.

"By my sword I pledge myself to you and your cause. But I must not desert my army. A battle will begin at dawn. I see the fires of the enemy camps from here," he explained.

"No, my lord. I would not wish you to abandon your army and your cause for me and mine," Lucy said, her hopes falling.

"Balthamos! Sir Guy!" Galahad commanded with a loud presence, unlike that which Lucy had experienced from him yet. He exuded the abilities of a natural leader.

"My lord." Two formidably armored men bowed slightly and stood. 

Lucy didn't look at them directly.

"Bring this child to the Lady Azria. There is a child among her staff, Claire, who will be of use in mending her trinket. See her safely there. Balthamos, you will remain with her and to whatever service she employs of you." Galahad turned to Lucy. "Is there more that you require?"

"No, my lord. You have done quite more than enough. I thank you," Lucy said.

Sir Guy handed her up behind Balthamos on his high steed. And the three sped out of the camp and up the pass toward the imposing castle that would be Hogwarts, dotted with the lightened windows of several inhabitants that would not sleep tonight.

Lucy glanced back at Galahad and was overcome with the sick and unpleasant thought that this would be the last time that she would see him alive.

***

"Are you all right?" Ginny said despite the fact that hot tears were warming her face as her teeth chattered.

"Oh, just grand," Harry spat sarcastically. He was sprawled on the leaf-strewn forest floor clutching at his left leg.

Ginny brushed her tears and her grief aside and paid no attention to the fact that Harry was angry with her. She bent shivering to the ground and felt the bone below his knee—a clean break. It would be easy for her to heal, even though she was a medical magic dropout.

She put her wand to the injury and muttered the incantation that repaired the damage. Silently she helped him to his feet and turned to continue their trek to the castle.

"Are you going to ignore my question all night and pretend that you did the right thing?" Harry asked after a while.

Ginny sighed with exhaustion and said, "What question was that?"

"Don't pretend that you don't know what we were talking about," Harry raged.

Ginny stopped and spun around to look at him. He was following her closely and had to stop quickly to avoid a collision. It was apparent that they had already collided in another sense. "I'm sorry that I wasn't hanging on your every word, Harry. I do have other concerns, you know, than jumping to your will."

"That's not what I meant," Harry yelled. "And what other concerns would you have? You were up there for like five minutes!"

Ginny's tears were flooding her cheeks with angry rage. Couldn't everyone stop for just two goddamn seconds so that she could catch her breath? "Five minutes was plenty of time for Draco to find me in the woods in 1352 and tell me to stay the hell out of his life because I had fucked it up irrevocably."

"Malfoy's here?" was all Harry said.

"Yes."

"Jesus, Ginny! What the hell is wrong with you?" Harry began. "What were you doing with him to begin with? You knew that this would happen. I think you like it."

Ginny blinked, "I like it?"

"All of this drama. It's always been that way, ever since I met you. It wouldn't have happened the way it had if you hadn't whined to Tom and thrown yourself a pity party for him to prey on. It's always been that way. I think you're a masochist. Why else would you give Draco the time of day?"

Ginny was just as angry. "Well, I don't know, Harry. Why are you chasing after a girl who doesn't want your rescuing?"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"Lucy, you great dim idiot!" Ginny raged. "She didn't want you interfering, but here you are."

"That's not the same," Harry insisted.

"Why isn't it?"

Harry set his jaw and glared at her. "Because she's worth it and because I know that she—," he stopped wisely. But it had been enough for Ginny to get his meaning.

She looked struck. "Because you know she loves you. And me, I'm just chasing the idea of love." She said it softly, hollowly, like a fact.

"Ginny," Harry began.

"For once, you know, you're probably right. I must be a masochist," she said.

Harry looked like he wanted to say something, to apologize, but didn't.

Ginny turned and continued. There was a path now and the castle was only about twenty minutes away. She saw two men on horseback approaching as well. They must have heard the commotion that she had caused. She was numb. She didn't care. It would have been nice to be run through on a broadsword at the moment—a reprieve.

She was almost disappointed when she saw that it was Faramir and Isaiah on horseback.

Isaiah had his sword drawn.

Harry took a deep breath behind her. She knew he would reach for his sword. "Don't Harry. Don't let him see that you have it. That's Isaiah and he'll kill you for it…in fact," she said, icily, "pull it right out and wave it in his face."

Harry took his hand from the hilt and drew his cloak around it.

Ginny approached the two coolly.

Isaiah addressed her first. "Virginia. How glad I am to see you. Azria has been waiting for you."

"Will you take us to her?" Ginny asked.

"Tell me who this is?" he asked.

"Humbly, my lord," Ginny said with a quick bow. "This is Harry Potter." She turned to Faramir and said, "Your heir, good sir."

"Very well. Come with us," Isaiah conceded, extending a hand to Ginny and swinging her up on his horse behind him. Harry rode with Faramir, stealing tentative looks at Ginny. None of them were returned though she was aware of everyone. She kept a mask of a blank expression.

As the drawbridge closed behind them, she saw Mungo. It was the first sight that truly did her heart good. She didn't wait for Isaiah to help her down but jumped by herself and ran to him.

"Mungo!" she cried, flinging herself into his arms. He was shocked but characteristically compassionate.

"Virginia? Are you not well?" he asked.

"I am well. But glad to see you," she answered.

"Ginny?" Harry said from behind her.

"Go, Harry. Go with Isaiah and Faramir."

"But, Ginny. I said I wouldn't leave you," Harry argued.

"Please go. You wanted to find Lucy didn't you?" she said just as icily as she had before.

Harry didn't argue. He knew he had hurt her and she would not hear an apology. He left with his ancestor and the Gryffindor Lord regretfully.

***

"You both had better start explaining," Bill said when Ron had come inside.

Ron looked to Hermione and she didn't return the look.

He began to explain everything that he and Hermione had discussed in the snow outside.

Hermione turned and went upstairs, locking Ginny's door behind her.