Disclaimer: I do not own HP. I repeat, I do NOT own HP. But, of course, you lot know this, right? If not, whack yourself repeatedly in the head with a blunt object until you do.
Chapter 26 – We Carry Each Other
"What do we do now?" asked Ginny, her head leaning against Harry's chest.
"Go to Dumbledore, I suppose," replied the dark-haired boy, playing with a lock of her fiery hair. "Its all we can do."
"Dumbledore won't help you," croaked Ron, looking beadily at them.
Harry's head whipped towards the ginger-haired boy and he snarled, "You shut up!"
Ron just grinned a Helter-Skelter grin and said, "And what'll you do if I don't? Have your cat eat me?"
Medusa (still twenty sizes larger than normal) gave a rumbling growl at that and Harry's upper lip curled slightly. "Don't tempt me," he growled. "I'll forever call you a friend, Ron, but so help me if you say one more thing that'll hurt Gin…" He paused here and narrowed his eyes at the ginger-haired boy. "I'll bloody well kill you myself," he finished in a snarl.
"Like to see you try," sneered Ron, leaning forward against the ropes that held him. Medusa growled softly and slapped a huge paw down on his lap.
Harry scowled and snapped, "Don't push me." He then looked over at Ethan and Hermione, who were sitting near him and Ginny, and said, "Let's go."
"To Albus?" asked Ethan as he rose, helping Hermione to her feet.
"Well…" began Harry, rising to his feet as well. He pulled Ginny gently up beside him as he continued, "We could send him back to Voldemort in a matchbox."
"Oh come now, Potter," quipped Draco, who was leaning against Medusa's hind leg with an arrow trained at Ron's back. "I'm certain we could fit the pieces of him in something smaller than a matchbox. A thimble, perhaps."
Ethan smirked. "I'm sure we could get the pieces down that small. But killing the lad wouldn't do any good. He'd still be an idiot, even if he was a dead one."
Ron bristled and snarled, "Who are you calling 'lad?'"
"You," replied Ethan, "lad. And I know a hell of a lot more about Voldemort than you."
Ron sneered and spat, "You don't know anything."
"Don't I?" said Ethan, arching an eyebrow. "I've seen things in my lifetime that would make you quiver in fear at the mere thought of, Weasley." He added a bit of the old Snape sneer into the ginger-haired boy's last name – just for fun.
"Pish," said Ron. Ethan laughed at that.
"What's he doing?" whispered Ginny, looking at Harry in confusion.
Harry answered her without looking away from Ethan and Ron.
"I believe he's giving him a good dose of what sort of idiot he's been."
"Pish?" repeated Ethan. "Don't believe me?"
"No," growled Ron. "You're the same age as me. How can you have seen so much?"
"Appearances can be deceiving," purred Ethan, looking at the ginger-haired boy through slitted eyes. "Isn't that right, Mister Potter?" He hissed out Harry's surname in the same manner as he'd done it six years before in the first Potions class. Ron's eyes boggled slightly and he frowned.
Harry smirked and replied, "Yes, Professor Snape." He chuckled softly as Ron's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Oh, yes, Ron. It is him. Surprised?"
"…" was Ron's only reply.
Hermione, a small smile on her face, came up beside Ethan and said softly, "I think he's speechless."
"I've always liked him much better that way," said Ethan, looping an arm about her waist. He then looked behind him at Harry and asked, "Shall we go up?"
"Now that you've thoroughly silenced Ron, yes, I think we shall. Malfoy, would you mind?" Harry gestured at the almost catatonic Ron and the blond grinned.
"It would be my pleasure," purred Draco, slinging his bow onto his shoulder before he strode forward. He and Harry grabbed Ron under the arms as one and hefted him to his feet.
* * * *
The six of them strode into the entrance hall at the exact moment that the Great Hall was clearing out. Other students stared and backed hurriedly away as Harry and Draco bustled a dazed Ron into the Hall. As they passed her, one third year shrieked, "The Dark Mark!"
Several students began to mutter amongst themselves and Ethan heard one sixth year Hufflepuff sneer, "I bet its just a joke."
"Idiots," he muttered.
If anything, it was the weaponry four of the six carried that brought the real stares.
Harry and Draco strode up to the Head Table between two of the long House tables, dragging Ron between them. Ethan came right in behind them, Medusa bounding along in his footsteps. A few of the older students trickled in behind them, each wondering what exactly was going on. The Prefects were busily bustling the younger students off (so they could hurry back).
"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" asked McGonagall, her eyes flicking from Harry to Draco to Ethan to Ron and back again in that same order.
"A little weasel has been discovered," snarled Draco as he let go of Ron and stepped back. Harry held up the taller boy for a moment before he lowered him to the floor and pulled away with the slow but hurried movements of someone who didn't want to contract something contagious.
"It was very foolish of you to take things into your own hands," said Dumbledore, looking from the dazed Ron to Harry. The dark-haired teen smiled wryly at the remark.
"Perhaps," he said. "But well worth it."
"You should have informed me of this," rumbled Dumbledore, frowning at him.
"If I'd informed you," sneered Harry, "he might have had the opportunity to run back to Voldemort. Something we need to prevent."
"Indubitably," commented Ethan in a dark tone.
Dumbledore looked between the two of them then slowly nodded in understanding. He turned towards McGonagall and said, "Minerva, if you would please take Mister Weasley to my office. Harry, Ethan, Mister Malfoy, Misses Weasley and Granger…if you would follow her. Everyone else – to bed!"
The students standing in the doorway looked suddenly guilty and sulk away as McGonagall swept around the Head Table towards Ron. She hauled the dazed boy to his feet with a furious look on her face and stormed out. The five slowly gathered together.
"Well, that was lovely," quipped Draco.
"Shut up and come on," ordered Ethan with a roll of his eyes.
* * * *
When the five entered Dumbledore's office, they found Ron finally out of his daze. He scowled darkly at all of them as they came in but most particularly at Ethan, who returned the dark gaze with one of his own. The glaring contest continued only for a moment as Hermione stepped in and threatened to hex the ginger-haired boy into the next millennia if he tried anything.
"Why should I do anything?" asked Ron, smirking. "Voldemort'll do enough when he finds out about this."
"Voldemort's not going to find out about anything," snapped Harry, not looking at him. "You aren't getting out of here to tell him and nobody else knows."
"Don't be so sure."
Harry started to turn towards the ginger-haired boy but was stopped by Hermione as she grabbed his arm. He turned blazing eyes on her and she flinched away, causing the dark-haired boy's eyes – which had been flooded black – to snap back to green.
"Sorry, Herm," he muttered, giving her an apologetic look.
"Its okay," mumbled Hermione, a little shaken by the rage she'd seen in her friend's eyes. Ron's betrayal had hit him the hardest – even more so than Ginny, perhaps. And she knew that he blamed himself for that betrayal. She smiled up at him and said, "Don't let him get to you."
Harry's expression suddenly hardened and he started to glare in Ron's direction but Ethan stepped in the way.
"She's right, Harry," he said. "He knows that you've got one serious 'hero' complex…"
"I resent that," muttered Harry.
"…and he's going to play on it," continued Ethan, ignoring the comment.
"He's threatening to give you to Voldemort!" spat Harry.
Ethan shrugged at that and said, "Maybe its time. We've been going for two years with this. I think its about time we stop dallying and tell the bastard that we're here, so why doesn't he try to come and get us."
"That's a really suicidal approach," commented Hermione with a frown at Ethan.
"Suicidal, maybe. But probably needed." Ethan sighed and looked at Harry, who was frowning at him. "Voldemort doesn't have any of us. Draco's on our side…"
"How did you two pull that one off again?" asked Hermione, frowning at both boys.
"Don't ask," chorused both before Ethan continued.
"As I was saying, Draco's on our side and we've finally got those damned weapons Salazar has been raving about."
"We're lacking those Animagus forms the Sorting Hat was talking about," said Harry.
"We can work on those. But, like I was saying, why don't we let Voldemort know that I'm alive? I'm rather ready to end this little façade."
Hermione blinked and both she and Harry gave the black/green-haired young man beside them odd looks.
"Ethan…" began Hermione.
"Your not about to say what I think…" started Harry.
Ethan smiled slowly, a malicious smile that brought back memories of Professor Severus Snape, and said, "I'm rather ready to have my old name back."