Author's Notes: *points up* have a lookie at my name! Yes, It's zarah joyce now, as I absolutely abhor being referred to as zarah1. I'm not a clone for crying out loud!!!

Ahem. Yes, back to business. I'm so very glad that you guys have forgiven me for being MIA for a while… hehehe ;) My gawd, I'm supposed to be writing something for my class but now I can't do it unless I write this chappie down. And, hey! *insert shameless plugging here* Um… do any of you guys want to read an original story done by yours truly? Because I'm in dire need of an opinion of it… and I am in dire need of a BETA. The story's not done, though, in fact I'm only finished with chapter one (an introduction) and some character sketches… please, I appeal to your *ahem* pride… are there anyone of you who'd be willing and brave enough to dissect something from me? Oh please oh please oh please oh please somebody say yes…. Pppllleeeaaaasssseeee!!!

*sings* The end is quite near… did I just sing that? Hmm….

Ah, yes. With that said, let's get this chappie on the go… *sadistic laughter*

Behold the Façade

Chapter Sixteen

"What did you say?" Marguerite mumbled softly, but the hardening steel in her gray eyes was unmistakable.

"Marguerite," said Veronica worriedly, as she watched her friend steady herself by reaching out one of her hands and holding on to the table top. "You shouldn't be—"

But the older woman wasn't even acknowledging her presence, or her words. She just stood there, her eyes hard as glittering diamonds as she stared at Malone. "Where's my daughter?" she asked, the quietness in her voice completely belying the turmoil within her.

Ned glanced at his wife before he turned towards the distraught figure of Marguerite. Knowing that lying could just bring in more trouble, as it was blatantly clear that she had heard his words, he cleared his throat before he spoke, "Challenger doesn't have her anymore."

Marguerite absorbed these words without as much as a flicker of any emotion across her face. Then, after several moments passed, she turned sideways and rested both of her palms on the table. She took several, calming breaths, but it never did any good. "Where's Evelyn?" she asked again, and she very nearly hissed these words out.

He winced at the anger that could be heard from her words. "He doesn't—"

But before he could finish his words, he was shocked out of his coherent thoughts when Marguerite suddenly lifted the table and threw it effortlessly to one side of the room. "Damn it, Malone!" she shouted, as her tears finally made themselves known in the gray of her eyes, "Don't give me that! Don't tell me that bastard doesn't have her anymore! He just… has…"

Veronica quickly shook herself from her surprise and went to Marguerite, her arms lifted upwards to gather her in her arms. "Marguerite," she whispered soothingly, as she wrapped her friend in her embrace, "It's going to be alright."

But her words did not stop the woman from shaking uncontrollably. Sobs emerged from within the very depths of her soul, and these very nearly threatened to split her frail form apart. "How can it be alright?" she asked, the bitterness and the tears mixing in her tone, "Evelyn, she's… she's…"

"We're going to find her," Ned told her firmly. "She can't be far away."

Marguerite, whose eyes were closed until then, forced them open to glare menacingly at Malone. She quietly but deftly stepped out of Veronica's comforting hug. "How did he lose her?" she asked.

"Challenger said that the force knocked him out as well," said Ned with a doubting look on his face. "When he awoke, she was no longer there beside him."

"Bullshit," Marguerite whispered under her breath, "He's lying. I know he is."

Veronica was never the voice of reason, but now she felt the need to be one. "Why would he lie about something like that?" she asked, almost distraughtly. She was never proud, and she'd never thought, that the day will come when she was going to defend her uncle in front of her friend, much less this friend, who had already lost so much.

Apparently, she and Marguerite were thinking along the same lines. She turned and gazed at Veronica with her silver eyes, disbelief etched in every corner of her face. "Why would he?" Marguerite repeated, in an almost insulting tone, "Because he's a bloody bastard, who gets his fun out of watching other people suffer. He's angry that William's still alive, he's angry at me because I failed to kill him, and now he's taking his anger out on my daughter." She looked at Ned again. "Where's Challenger? I need to see him."

Before Ned could answer, Veronica did it for him. "Not on your condition," she firmly stated.

Marguerite glared at her, her face hard. "You're not a doctor, nor are you my mother, Veronica," she spat. "You cannot tell me what I can or cannot do."

Veronica scowled at the insinuation thrown at her way. "So this is the thanks I get for taking care of you, huh?" she asked. "This is your way of showing your appreciation to me, after all the time I spent caring for you. Gee, I'm touched."

There were several tensed moments that went by after the exchange of these words. However, something in Marguerite's face visibly softened. "I know very well that I owe you my life," she started to say in a low voice, "I know that I should be serving you after all that you've done for me. But, Veronica," she implored, the anguish in her very being coming to life in her face, "please understand. This is my daughter we're talking about. She's lost, and I am not going to risk her staying that way just because I am not well enough to go look for her." Marguerite hesitated, and then continued, "Maybe… maybe if you have a daughter… you will understand. You will know what I am feeling right now."

Veronica clenched her jaw and looked away without any word.

Ned filled in the sudden silence that cloaked the room. "We understand your situation, Marguerite. Don't ever think for a moment that we don't," he said softly, "but—"

"Then tell me where Challenger is, and how I can go to him." Marguerite took a step towards him, imploring openly, something she had never done before. "If you understand me, then you know how important it is for me to talk to him. Please, Ned. Please."

He sighed, and then finally relented. "Fine," he said, "come with me." He walked towards the door, pointedly ignoring the broken remnants of the table in this room.

Marguerite turned her back on Veronica to follow Malone, but before she could even take a step forward, Veronica's voice stopped her. She turned around again.

Veronica was looking at her, but the anger in her face was now gone. "I'm coming with you."

Her eyes widened at that. "But—"

The younger woman merely smiled slightly at her. "I may not be your doctor, or your mother, Marguerite. But I am your friend, and there's no way in hell that I'm going to let you leave and be alone in your condition."

*

John effortlessly lifted the young girl up and deposited her on his bed. He grimaced at the sharp bones that he felt under his fingers, and felt it right that he needed to vent his anger on the way the nurses were mistreating this girl. He gave her a smile and asked, "Are you hungry?"

She stared at her, the depths of her blue eyes unfathomable, before she slowly nodded.

Glad that he was making some progress, he went to the table that held all his food, picked up an apple and a pear from the basket of fruits that lied on one side and gave it to her.

She took one of the fruits, placed it inside the large pocket of her hospital gown, and then reached for the other. She immediately opened her mouth and bit into the apple.

John chuckled. "And they tell me that you're the one who doesn't want to eat," he mused dryly.

He let her eat for a few moments, then took the apple core from her little hands and threw it in the garbage can. Then he retrieved a towel from the bathroom and proceeded to wipe her hands clean with it. He watched her as she watched his hands covering the small of her own. "Tell me," he said gently, "what's your name?"

She raised her face and met his eyes. As though finally finding him to be worthy, she said, in a very small voice, "Evelyn."

"Evelyn," John repeated, "that's a pretty name." He gently touched her chin and grinned at her. "I'm John."

"John?" she repeated, as though making sure that she was saying it correctly. When he nodded, she gave him the slightest quirking of her lips. "John."

But to John, this was a monumental progress indeed. The little girl was finally talking, and to him for that matter. "Evelyn," he said again, "where are your parents?"

The quirk disappeared from her mouth, and John realized that he asked the wrong question. But before he could apologize, she told him, "My mom's in the church," she whispered, almost inaudibly. Then her lips quivered as tears formed in her eyes. "My mom's in the church when the fireworks started. I don't think she got out."

He lifted his hand and rubbed the girl's back. "Shh," he soothed, and then he bent down to kiss the top of the girl's head. "I'm sure your mom's okay."

"But you don't understand!" she suddenly yelled. "Uncle… uncle Geo… Georg—" the rest of her words were drowned by the hiccups that punctuated her every word.

"I'll tell you what," John told her as he wiped away her tears with his thumbs, "why don't we look around here to see if your mother is around, okay? Maybe she's somewhere here, and she's already looking and waiting for you."

Evelyn just nodded at him.

"Okay," John said, as he lifted her body off the bed and deposited her on the floor. He held out his hand, and unhesitatingly, she took it. They then left his room. "Evelyn," he called to her, once they were already walking along the corridor, "Evelyn, you have to tell me your mother's name so that I could ask for her."

She nodded, and then mumbled softly.

John raised his brows at her. "Hmm?" he asked gently, "What's that?"

"I said, my mom's name is Marguerite."

To be continued…

To those who were *Gryffindor* enough to review (yes, I'm still obsessed with Harry Potter *actually I'm obsessed with Draco Malfoy, but that's sooo not the point*):

LadySammyMRoxton - *closes her eyes and sighs contentedly* Ahh, yeeessss…. I certainly feel my head swelling bigger now. Thank you very much… I needed that! And I presume you're still glaring at me, right? *glares right back, but can't do it properly because of my rather large *ahem* head) Oh, and my ego is fine, very fine, in fact… *gives you a hug* Thank you, thank you, thank you, LadySammyMRoxton. I mean that! Oh, and THANK YOU!!!

AgentSteph – I can't tell you yet! Because if I tell you, then I'd have to kill you… hmm. Quick, almost painless death or intentionally prolonged agony? You decide… *wink* though I'm rrreeeaaaallllyyyy more inclined towards the agony, but that's just me, LOL!!!

SierraSunshine – Oh, HEY there! I haven't seen you around before so I'd like to extend my warmest regards towards you. Don't be confused, though, I'm usually nice to the new reviewers but hang on a bit and you'll get to see the REAL me!!! Nasty, I'll tell ya' *winks*

Wishes – Oh, thank you very much, wishes! At least *I'm* not the only one confused around here… *evil snigger* Just joking, just joking!!! ;)

Galxychild - *muses out loud* maybe I'll just leave John crazy and end it like that… *looks around, finally notices that Galxychild is here* Oh, HEY!!! *twitches* you didn't read that, did you? *Grins, then gives her last thought some more… well, thought* hmm…

TheChosenOne3 – Ahem. Before we go to business, let's get it on with HP first… *you know, you really shouldn't have told me you're crazy about HP too, 'coz now…* Have you seen the latest PoA pics? My gawd, how fast can these kids grow? Oh, I agree with you, Daniel isn't hard on the eyes… *gets dreamy eyed* and so is Tom… *fans self* whew. Is it bad to like someone three years younger than you are? *does ala-Umbridge* Hem hem. Anyways, yes, to TLW… Marguerite's going to be really busy these days, but speaking of Marguerite… do you know that, in school, I've christened myself as Marguerite Malfoy, long-lost sister of Lucius AND a proud member of the Death Eaters? See how demented I am? And see how I conveniently re-routed the conversation back to HP?!!! ;) ;) :) Oh, I'm OBSESSED, OBSESSED I tell 'ya… *winks* oh, before I forget, my site's a bit HP-related… it features D/Hr nowadays. Give it a lookie… please? *insert puppy eyes here*

A. Windsor - *tries to look stern* And, yes, may I ask why you are giggling, hmm? But oh, hey! Thanks for the compliment… ;)

AerinBrown – Nope, I haven't mentioned that N and V are married… *little bombshells like this are the keys to kill, 'ya know* Just to let you know, I've talked to William about your *ahem* fickleness *ahem* and you just lost yourself a boyfriend! But then, that's ANOTHER Roxton for ME, so, hrrmmm… *gets all dreamy eyed*

Michi17 – I'm very, very pleased to see that you are back, Michi ;) I've missed ya', seriously! What have you been up tom, hmm? ;) Oh, and thank you for the regular check-ups for updates, I'm very glad to read that you like this little story of mine :)

Veggie5 - *stomps foot angrily* SO glad to read that I'm not the only one having problems with ff.net. I can't read all my reviews! *whimpers* anyways… YOU were gone for quite a long time, but lucky you, you've got only a week to go! And, yes, your pleading looks do affect me, despite my stone-ish heart and all that… whaatt? I can be soft sometimes, 'ya know… *but that's just between you and me, hmm? Don't wanna ruin what's left of my reputation… *wink*

Smiley – Oh, you're just as bad as LadySammyMRoxton… you both just have the words to make me feel all important and stuff! Thank you!!! *gives you a hug, too*

* If you reviewed and I didn't acknowledge you, please know that its ff.net's fault. You see, in my stat page the review number is 140 (instead of 142) and I cannot access the other two reviews… if you're one of those two, please accept my heartfelt THANK YOU!