So... quick notes before we dive into things. Over three years ago (closer to four by now actually) I asked a question, regarding two fics that have gone... well, way too long uncontinued. I'm not making any excuses, it's pretty simple actually. I never wanted to be one of those writers who lists a story (or many)as Discontinued, as Abandoned. I tried really hard not to be. But the thing is, I lost a lot of the interest in the fandoms involved in these fics. I tried to come back, more than once, would write a few chapters and then... nothing. Finally, after over a decade, I admitted to myself that I was never going to do justice to these stories, no matter how hard I tried. It was then that I asked a very important question: whether you'd rather I just marked the stories as abandoned, post what I had and leave them like that, or post what I had, and then a summary of what was supposed to happen in the rest of the story. The last option won with a resounding 66%! Also, doing the summary proved a bit trickier than I ever expected. While I did have some ideas for the things that were going to happen, it still took me some time. But we're finally here!

So, apologies that it's taken so long. But I hope that while this still isn't making justice to things, you might at least get some level of closure, or something like that. Without further ado, here we go!

Chapter 15. As the Rain Falls

It was early evening when Billie walked down the main stone-path in the cemetery of Wales, dressed in comfortable pants and shirt, with a long jacket on top, she remembered the words she had been told by the 'three fates' earlier that day while still in SF.

"You've gotta go, gotta go, go you have to. He's waiting there, there, he is there, waiting in the shadow. Needs you he does, needs you now, he needs you before it's too late. Been waiting, for too long he has been, been waiting in the darkest shadow."

She had recognized, by their repetitive and kinda disordered way of speaking, that what they were saying was just a little short of a prophecy; what some people would call 'omens', or even 'prophecies of doom'.

So there she was, Phoebe herself had scryed the exact place her daughters had been talking about; and even when Billie had no idea who could be needing her so badly in a Welsh cemetery, someone who wasn't dead, therefore making the idea of her help moot.

For nearly an hour she paced through the ivory colored graves, until she reached a stone fence that seemed to encircle a smaller part of the graveyard, there was an arch on its entrance, with an inscription engraved in delicate letters: "A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. In here lie our heroes, may they forever be remembered."

Through the arch Billie entered another graveyard, except that this was much more, particular, to describe it someway. The stones not only included the names, but also the deed for which they had been deemed heroes, and some even included either a small sculpture, an engraving or a painting of some kind depicting the heroism mentioned. Granted, there weren't really that many in that small part of the graveyard, and Billie remembered some of the names from her time studying magic. Even though she hailed from an entirely different magical society, some of those heroes were known in all the world, even by the muggles (though for the muggles, their deeds were sometimes either slightly changed, or just kept as classified).

For example William Gladstone (1809-1898); whom muggles knew as a liberal Prime Minister, little did they know he'd also been the first to enter direct relationships with the Minister of Magic; a great help to settle ancient blood feuds between some prominent pureblood clans that had caused trouble since the beginning of the Inquisition, centuries prior.

Or Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), a woman who had worked as a nurse, who had raised the status of that vocation to the one it held in the present. What the muggles ignored was that she'd been also an equally famous medi-witch; had died way too young (for a witch), and it was believed this had been caused due to her extraordinary stubbornness when healing, which had caused her to wear herself out, eventually to the point of death.

So distracted Billie was in her own thoughts, she didn't notice the figure half-hidden in the shadows, close to one of the last graves, until she was already barely a couple of feet away. Covered in a black cloak with the hood drawn to shadow the head, Billie took a moment to consider the possibility that it may be a DE, but then why would one stand before the grave of a hero? And it wasn't just any hero, Billie realized as her eyes lay on the gravestone: "Roger Matthew O'Connell (1959-1980). Loyal Friend / Valiant Warrior / Silent Hero."

It took a few seconds for Billie to realize who he was:

"Roy…" She gasped as she covered her mouth with both hands.

The moment she spoke the stranger turned sharply in her direction and Billie could have sworn he was studying attentively for a few seconds before finally speaking:

"Bill…" A male voice whispered.

That immediately put the witch on her guard, no one had dared call her Bill since…

"Oh for Morgana…" She gasped for the second time in one minute. "Sev?!"

It seemed as if the man were considering if he should approach her or get away; she made the choice for him as, with a small wave of her hand, she pushed the hood back, revealing the face of a sickly thin, haggard-looking, even-more-pale-than-usual: Severus Snape.

.-.

Henry orbed into the Chang's sitting room, like had become his custom since beginning his training-protection of Miss Cho. And, also like had become usual, he entered the adjoining drawing room to find said young miss with her brow furrowed, eyes fixed straight into her palm as something seemed to be shifting into reality and then vanishing over and over again; until finally it disappeared completely and Cho collapsed into a sofa behind her.

"I believe I once warned you against exhausting yourself without me, or another wiccan present." Henry chastised her softly as he produced from his pocket a small vial.

It was a reenergizing tonic, safe to drink when in serious training, it wasn't addictive and had no serious side-effects other than the body's need to sleep more and deeper during the nights, for it was when they got back the energy that had to be over-produced during the day.

Henry explained to Cho that she should only take a couple of sips when she felt too exhausted to continue training, and wasn't to finish more than one vial every day; even when the tonic wasn't dangerous, she wouldn't want to sleep three days straight, which could happen if she abused the liquid. The young witch-conjurer understood and accepted the conditions, though she still seemed to be on a rush to learn everything that was needed for her new gift.

"You know this is not something you'll learn overnight." Henry told her calmly. "You can't skip steps, try to conjure a living creature when you haven't mastered it with inanimate things. Things have an order, and it's necessary for you to follow it. I know how much you wish to be able to conjure anything already. I know what it feels like to want to do everything right away, I was in your position once; but you need to take things slow. Even if you were born a wiccan, your talent was only recently activated; your body, your magical core, isn't used to the power needed to wield such a gift and you aren't used to the exertion wiccan magic has on one's mind and spirit. There's a reason why wands are used by so many witches and wizards…"

That caught Cho's attention, something Henry noticed.

"Wiccans and wand-wielders both possess magical cores, the origin of our magic." Henry explained, pretty much like it had been explained to him in Magic School. "The difference is that wand-witches use wands to focus that energy, to give it a shape and a purpose, that's why the moves and words are so important, and why it's hard to master nonverbal spell-casting. Now, most wiccans focus their magic through their own bodies; sometimes other tools can be used, like crystals, athames, or others, but most of the time our very bodies work like a wand would, which is why some tend to do certain motions to help them focus, and there are spells to model desires. The talent…is a more direct way of manifesting the magic, since it requires no words, and some times can be done with no motions either, just a thought. For example, a very famous witch that lived in the USA, a telekinetic, when she first developed her gift she'd to move her hands, as if repeating the action on the air; with time she was able to do less and less motions, until she just had to signal in the direction she wanted something to happen and it did; finally, the day came when she need not move her hands, just see…"

"Then what?" Cho asked, very interested. "Could she ever make things move, without seeing them? Or was that the limit?"

"There's no way of knowing what her limit might have been, for she died three years after her talent awoke, killed by a very powerful and cunning demon." Henry answered soberly. "I've told you already about Demon-Hunters, and their importance in our society."

"She was a Demon-Huntress then?" The conjurer guessed.

"She was more than that." Henry admitted in a whisper. "She was also a Charmed One…"

.-.

In the cemetery the shock had passed and Billie and Severus sat on a nearby bench to talk.

"I never thought I would see you again." Severus admitted after a while. "You left so long ago, and with so little warning."

"I had little warning myself, believe me." Billie admitted. "Did Lily ever tell you about my big sister and what happened to her?"

"She said that your sister was kidnapped one night, when you were about four or five." The wizard commented. "I didn't know you back then, and I never met your sister."

"That's about right." Billie nodded. "She was kidnapped by a demon."

"A demon?" Severus sounded a bit incredulous.

"Please don't use that tone with me. I know Riddle has allied himself with several clans of demons, you must have seen them at least once by now."

"Yes." Hadn't he been a master at masking emotions he might have flinched, and then gapped at the easy way in which she revealed her knowledge. "So you know what I am then?"

"I know the company you frequent now."

"It's the same thing."

"No it's not. One can immerse themselves into darkness, walk side by side with the most despicable being, and still have nothing but the best intentions at heart. I know how that is, I've been there before."

"Well, you know how the saying goes: good intentions is what the road to hell is paved with."

"That's bullshit Severus, and we both know it. The world isn't black and white, and it's not your company but your own actions that define you."

"Then you must know by now that I have killed and tortured more than once before."

"And I once killed my sister, or at least thought I had, came very close to killing three women who are now my best friends, and was the cause of my parents' death, albeit indirectly."

"Wha…" That seemed to truly surprise Severus.

"I told you the world isn't just white and black, and many things depend on how you look at them." She sighed. "Everyone has done something stupid at least once in their life, Severus."

"I've done too many stupid things in my life, Billie."

"Why don't you tell me then? I'm still your friend, if anything else has changed, that hasn't."

"How can you? You've already pointed out you know I'm a DE, I told you what I've done. How can you still sit there and look at me as if nothing had changed since you last saw me?"

"Because I believe that, deep down, you haven't. When I look into your eyes I still see that boy that would play with Lily and me in the park, who would protect us from the thugs, who eventually introduced us to Roy…what happened to him?"

"That's related to all the stupid things I said I did." Severus passed a hand through his hair and sighed. "Shortly after you and your family disappeared, Lily, Roy and I we were all invited to study at Hogwarts. In fact, for a short time we thought that maybe you had been invited too and had gone to buy your supplies."

"I was invited… but I didn't know; didn't find out 'til I was about twenty and confronted my parents on the issue of my developing magic, even when I never went to Hogwarts, my magic woke, eventually. Turns out that's what made them snap; it'd been hard enough when Christy was kidnapped, they did everything they could to make sure there'd never be any more magic, nothing that could ruin things again. Then the letter came. They didn't see it as an opportunity for me to learn new things, they could just think about what had happened to my sister, worry that it would be the same thing again. And in the end they decided it was better if we just left. I didn't really have any time to so much as say goodbye, it was all very sudden."

"We missed you. We were bent on keeping close, which wasn't easy when each of us was sent to a different house: Roy to Hufflepuff, Lily to Gryffindor, and I to Slytherin. Still, we did our best to stay friends for as long as possible. I tried especially hard, but being in Slytherin…it was hell, or so I thought back then…turns out I had no idea what hell was. There was a lot of pressure, Slytherins tended to stay with their own, and to mock and sneer at anyone else; they didn't agree with me being friends with a Hufflepuff, but especially with a Gryffindor, and one who was also a muggleborn. The stress was such that I began doing stupid things, one of them caused Lily and I to fall out, she's pretty much hated me since, even now she does."

"What happened with Roy?"

"That was perhaps the stupidest thing I ever did." Severus admitted. "Two or so years after we graduated I saw Roy, hadn't seen him since we were in seventh year; it was then that I finally cracked under the pressure and took the dark mark. I didn't want to, but I had little option, or so I thought back then. When I saw Roy again…he'd just become a DE! I couldn't believe it, Roy, calm and kind Roy, one of those monsters…It soon became obvious, however, he'd done it to be close to me. He said that Lily didn't understand, she was too blocked by fear to realize what was really going on; but he saw, he knew I didn't want to be there, not really. He joined so he could be there, to help me, to support me, said that's what you would have done…"

"I would have." Billie didn't doubt, it was the truth, she would have done it.

"I know, as I know I probably wouldn't have been able to handle it. It was bad enough with him…" his eyes filled with the deepest grief. "With Roy there I seemed to be able to recover my head, began to think things through in a way I didn't before. I considered trying to run, but Roy reminded me why that was impossible. So I decided that if I couldn't get out, then I'd do the best I could in my position…"

"You became a spy…"

"I did my best to pass information to Lily, though I made her think it was coming from Roy, it was the only way she would pass it on. I never told Roy what I was doing, didn't want him to put himself in even more danger than he was already just by being there. It was useless in the end. A little over ten months before Voldemort's fall, something happened. A few details got past me, I got sloppy, not much, but enough for other DEs to notice some inconsistencies, for Voldemort to get suspicious. He sent for both Roy and me, it wasn't a secret that we had been friends for a long time. We were both tortured as we were 'interrogated'; even back then my Oclummency was strong enough to resist even Voldemort's attacks, and since Roy hadn't been involved he was clean as well. But Voldemort was sure one of us was a spy and wouldn't let it go. And then, the last thing I could have ever expected: Roy confessed. He said he was the spy, I didn't even get the chance to try and deny it, he was killed in a second. Then I was tortured some more, so I would never even think about betraying the Dark Lord. I was so… I don't even know. My best friend, my last friend, was dead, and it was my fault. I couldn't be stupid, couldn't throw away my life, I owed that to Roy. So instead I buried myself in my duty as a spy, did everything that I could, anything, to bring the bastard who murdered my friend down. My chance came when I found out there was a prophecy, about a boy that would be born, one who would have the power to defeat Voldemort. Dumbledore knew I had heard, and told me to reveal the first part of the prophecy to the Dark Lord; he wanted the prophecy to be set into motion, to be sure that there would be someone who would destroy him."

"Wait a second." Billie suddenly interrupted him. "You're saying Dumbledore provoked, in a sense, what happened that Halloween night?!"

"In a sense." Severus admitted. "Why do you think he made sure the Potters weren't there that night? I really have no idea who was supposed to babysit the two brats, but the fact is that there was no one there at the time of the attack." He shook his head. "Dumbledore wanted so much a symbol of hope, he didn't care what it cost. In fact, I'm quite sure he thought the cost would be one of the boys' life. That one life would save another, and the one remaining would become the 'Chosen One'. In the end the two boys survived, impossible to know how exactly, but it doesn't matter. Dumbledore still got his 'little hero'; though for the life of me I don't understand how anyone can think that brat will save us all."

Billie was torn between screaming in a mix of fury and disgust, and crying for all the suffering two innocent little boys were subjected to, because one man was an evil bastard who wanted to rule the world (couldn't the evil guys think of a better goal?), and another was so cold-hearted he was willing to sacrifice children for the 'greater good'. In that moment Dumbledore lost any respect he could have had in Billie's eyes.

"I'll help." Billie announced suddenly.

"What?" Severus was absolutely shocked at that.

"You've been a spy so long, no way you would stop now." Billie explained. "Back in June, when that disaster in Hogwarts happened, Draco told me you tried to help him, to get him out of that madness, and it cost you. What happened hurt him Severus, you've no idea how much. He never wanted to believe that you would turn against him, against all of us. Many have told him that's just wishful thinking, but even then I had my doubts. Now I'm inclined to agree with him. You're still trying to help, and I'm gonna do anything I can to help you."

"You don't have to…" He began.

"But I want to." She interrupted him, shutting him with two fingers over his lips.

They stayed like that, looking into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever; ever so slowly they began inching closer, until their breath mingled, they were so close…

And then the rain began falling.

.-.

In the Chang household Cho had just taken the last sip from the tonic and was preparing to try again with her powers.

"Don't you think you should ease down a bit?" Henry suggested. "If you push yourself too hard you risk a serious drain; which would mean we would have to suspend training for a few days to a week, depending on the seriousness of the drain. So in the end it would not only affect your health but your training as well." He smiled softly. "Also, I don't want it to go down on my record that my first charge ended up in a magical coma because I wasn't careful enough when supervising her training."

Cho just sighed sadly, made a move to defy him, to conjure something else, but the truth is that already she was too tired; the last part of the tonic had only been enough for her to recover enough energy to stay awake, anything else was just impossible at that time.

"I'm useless." Cho mumbled suddenly.

"Excuse me." Henry certainly hadn't been expecting that.

"I'm useless." Cho repeated. "So much that even my fiancé is pushing me away!"

Henry did a double-take. Fiancé?! Pushing her away? From what he remembered Cho had dated Cedric Diggory, a boy from his house, a year ahead of her, for the past three years. They had been a dream couple from Hogwarts, the examples to follow by the younger ones, even after Cedric had graduated they had still been together; Henry had even seen the young man more than once visiting Hogsmeade the day the students had a visit to the town. And now Cho said he was pushing her away?!

"I don't understand." He admitted.

"Cedric joined a group that fights against the Dark Lord and his DE, he did so without telling me, shortly after graduating from Hogwarts. He always told me how he wanted to work for the Embassy, get to know people from other countries, get to see new places, he had no interest in fighting, especially after nearly being killed in that damned tournament, or so he told me. And then he went and joined them!" Cho wailed.

"You mean the Order of the Phoenix?" Henry guessed.

"So you know about them." The girl nodded, as if it were obvious. "When I finally found out I was so worried, I feared loosing him. He told me right after he asked me to marry him, a week after I graduated from Hogwarts. As worried as I was for him I decided I still wanted to be by his side, every moment I could, so I expressed my desire to join the Order myself. He refused, arguing it was too dangerous, that I didn't even like fighting…Neither does he! The only difference is that he actually has talent at magical dueling, while I'm abysmal at it; I hate so much the mere idea of fighting, I can't do well, no matter how hard I try. But now, now it's my Cedric's life on the line! I have to be able to help him somehow!"

"And you believe conjuring is the answer."

"Prof. Dumbledore trusts so much those new people who came from the States, all who have talents, I've heard they're capable of amazing things. You yourself said I'll be capable of many great things. I need that. I need to be able to do something incredible so I may help them. So I may be there for Cedric."

Henry didn't answer, truth is he understood where she came from, he saw it with Mel and Draco, how hard Draco tried to be a good backup for Melinda, to be of help to her instead of a liability; he could also see how it pained his own father some times not to be able to help his mother all the time, he had been told of when they had married, how her dad had pushed things in an attempt to give her a stronger reason to survive the battle that was coming, seeing as he couldn't actually be there to help.

"Very well." Henry declared rather suddenly. "I will help you."

Cho's face brightened immediately, she'd no idea what exactly was Henry supposedly going to do to help, but still, anything that assisted her in reaching her goal of being there for her beloved was enough to make her happy.

On the glass panes of the windows, the drops of rain began splattering.

.-.

In the shadowed corner of a street in downtown London Tonks stood, wand tightly in hand, comm in her ear, she waited for the order to begin the operation. They had received a tip, that a warehouse around the corner was being used by a group of DE as a negotiating point with some dark creatures, including dementors; which is why they were there.

"Operation begins now." The order of the head of the team sounded. "Go, go, go!"

Tonks let her instincts as an auror guide her; it was her vocation, what she liked to do, what she was good at. Even if she was just meant to guard the entrance and act as backup for the main team, she would do a good job.

Things were going well, they had found a few DEs, neither of them were high on the ranks, but at least it was something, what they weren't counting on was the sudden appearance of more than two dozen dementors.

"Patroni at three!" Tonks heard through her comm. "One…Tw…"

The end of the order never came.

"Three!" Tonks herself screamed into the speaking piece of her own comm.

"Expecto Patronum!" The spell came from several parts of the room at the same time.

From Tonks's wand a silvery wolf emerged, but it wasn't as strong as it should be, it was not strong enough for the dementors to be driven away…

"No…" she whispered to no one in particular. "No, no, no. This can't be happening. Not now, not yet…I haven't, haven't told him yet…please…"

It was too much, she could feel her strength leaving her, as the coldness began filling her ever so slowly, the darkness taking her consciousness.

"No…" she gasped, as her wand slipped from her fingers and the silver wolf vanished into a gust of wind. "Remus…"

The last thing she was conscious of, was the thick drops of rain as they fell on her face.

.-.

In a very different part of London Remus was getting out of his soaked cloak as he entered his home, he also took care to take off his boots, which were wet as well. He usually loved rain, but it was hard enough that there would be a full moon the following night, he felt the rain would make him sick.

He was about to go to the bathroom to take a hot bath when suddenly his already heightened senses alerted him that he wasn't the only one in the room. He whirled around in high alert, managing to see a man as he slowly got up from the sofa in the adjoining living room. When the light entering from a street lamp showed the stranger's face Remus was shocked.

"It can't be…" he gasped. "You…"

That was as far as he got, as he lost his consciousness with a red flash.

.-.

Two figures apparated before a plain two-story cream-colored house in the suburbs. The man guided his female companion inside, where he immediately headed to the bathroom to get some towels, they were both drenched and nearly frozen to the bone.

"I'm cold Severus…" she whispered as she sat down on the bed.

"You have to dry yourself before you get sick Billie." He told her.

She nodded and began slowly getting her soaked clothes off, before trying to towel herself dry. But she was going too slow, she was too cold.

Severus was even more soaked than her, having given her his cloak once the rain began. He got out of robes and got a towel around himself, and then began helping Billie.

Billie seemed to be trying to help him, but had trouble doing so.

"Come on Billie, come on, you're gonna get sick if you don't get out of those wet clothes soon." He told her in a low voice.

He hated not being able to use magic to help her, but they were in a muggle zone, the use of magic would be too noticeable, and they would be found; he couldn't deal with that right now.

Finally Billie managed to cooperate with him and got out of her shirt and pants, leaving her just in her underclothes before him; she either was too gone already or too comfortable with him, for she didn't seem to mind her half-dressed state.

Severus took the other towel and pulled it around her, helping her begin to dry, but she was moving very little by then.

"Bill!" Severus called, trying to make her react.

He heard her whisper something barely intelligible under her breath.

"Bill, come on." He insisted.

"Yo…so…ha…some…" She whispered, holding onto him with sudden strength.

And before he could understand what exactly was going on, she kissed him.