I'm taking Cordelia's powers a bit far, but it's not like we were ever
really sure of everything she could do.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter Seven
It had been almost a month since Cordelia dropped her bombshell about him and Draco being champions. So far Harry only seemed to be Champion babysitter. Draco kept 'kindly' offering his services whenever he wanted to take Cordelia out, which seemed to be way too much.
Harry was sitting in his house, only Connor for company. It was one am and he knew Cordelia and Draco would be home soon. They had taken to going back to Cordelia's apartment after their dates, but they very rarely stayed all night. Cordelia hated to be away from Connor for too long, but they didn't like to stay in the house with Harry and Connor there. It took a lot of effort to leave him at a childminder while she was working during the day. She couldn't be away from him all night as well.
Sometimes Harry thought there was more than just normal parental worry there. He knew something of Cordelia's old life and he wondered if there was something in there that made her so reluctant to be away from her child. It didn't take long before these thoughts were replaced with the normal thoughts of why he was always the baby sitter. Even back home with Hermione and Ron's baby he was always the babysitter.
--------------
The man walked nervously into the big office. "I'm here to see Harold Graham" he told the receptionist.
The receptionist checked on her computer. "You're from Angel Investigations?" she asked.
The man just nodded.
"Go through. It's the second door on your left; Mr Graham is waiting for you"
He did so, he was still nervous. The others couldn't know where he was. He had acted like he accepted what everybody else had, that Cordelia would come back with Connor. It hadn't stopped him looking though, so here he was, at a big private investigation company. As Gunn had said, they sucked as investigators.
"Good to se you again" said Mr Graham, shaking his hand. "I have good news, please have a seat" He sat behind his desk, opposite his client. "I think we've found her, your girl left something of a trail. She used credit cards to pay for gas a few times; she used it at the same supermarket twice though, about two weeks apart. She's probably trying to use cash but she got desperate. Chances are that's where she is. We can do some more tracking, if you..."
"No" he cut him off. "I'm going, just tell me where"
A few minutes later he had the name of the town and all business was taken care. Mr Graham shook his hand again "Glad I could help Mr Angel"
Angel just smiled as he read where his son was. "New Mexico, here I come". He didn't even bother to go back to the hotel before driving off in his newly rented car.
--------------
Cordelia woke up and looked around her. "Damn" she said quietly. She had fallen asleep at Draco's; she was sitting on the sofa leaning against him. She felt like something had woken her up so she automatically looked over to where Connor was fast asleep. That wasn't it.
She heard the noise; it was a tapping against the window. "Draco" she whispered. He didn't move. She poked him. "Draco" she said again.
"What?" he asked
"There's a bird head butting the window" she whispered
"What?" he said again. She pointed at the window. He looked over and saw the owl trying to get in.
"Damn it" he stood up and opened the window. The bird flew in and dropped a letter in Draco's waiting hand.
"Obviously because it's the post bird. That's normal" said Cordelia.
Draco read the letter. "Harry" he shouted.
There was no answer from Harry but Connor started screaming, meaning Cordelia had to calm him down before she could start her questioning on the freaky bird. Draco went upstairs, and was back down a few minutes later.
"He's not there" he told her. "Shit"
"Calm down" said Cordelia, rocking Connor who was nearly back to sleep. "Start by telling me about the bird"
"That's how the post gets delivered in our world. It works quite well; hardly ever get any going missing and rarely get strikes. The letter was from Dumbledore, head of the Order of Phoenix"
"He's the guy who sent you here right?" asked Cordelia, trying to remember which one he was, "Powerful wizard, knows everything and probably had some ulterior motive that nobody will ever understand for sending you together?"
"You've been talking to Harry haven't you? I still reckon he's a crackpot old fool"
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in the world" said a stern voice from the door. They both turned to see Harry
"Where the hell have you been?" demanded Draco
"Why? Were you worried for my safety?" he mocked
"No I was worried Dumbledore would kill me because I lost you. This just arrived" he passed him the letter and Harry read it.
"He wants us to go back? But nothing's changed, why would he want us to go back?"
"There's gonna be an attack" said Cordelia, they looked to see her watching something they couldn't see. She kept watching for a little while before she continued. "It won't work. You two only fight in it and you lose. You have to go back and stop it; the only way you win is when you lead"
"Vision?" asked Draco
"Yeah" she answered. Then she got another vision. It was so intense that she felt some of the old pain. She passed the baby to whoever was closest; she couldn't see who it was. She screamed in pain. When it was over she realised she was on the floor. The visions weren't meant to hurt, and on the whole they didn't, what had hurt here was what she saw. "Wesley" she whispered, the image of his body imprinted on her brain. Fred and Gunn had been there too, but Angel was gone. "I need to speak to Angel" she said without thinking
"What did you see?" asked Harry. He was the one holding Connor.
"It doesn't concern you. It concerns..."
"Me" finished off the figure in the doorway.
"I think I left the door open" muttered Harry; he was just out of sight of the doorway.
"Angel?" whispered Cordelia with disbelief. She walked up to him, careful to stay on her side of the doorway. He hadn't been invited so he was stuck outside.
"Cordelia, good to see you. My cars outside so I presume my son's inside"
"You didn't kill Holtz" she said.
"What can I say? I was distracted"
"Go now please. You have like a day at the most to get back to LA; he's going for the hotel"
"Wow, you get a vision? Just give me Connor and I'll leave"
"Angel I will bring him back to when it's safe. Please go, they need you"
"I need my son"
"Wesley will die"
He paused. "If I don't get my son back he won't be the only one"
That was too much for Draco. Harry wanted to step in to but decided it was best to keep Connor away from the door. "Ok, let's not get onto threats"
"Don't worry" said Cordelia. "Unless your or Harry invites him in he's stuck out there for along time. It's not us I'm worried about. It's Wesley, I saw him die Angel. It was painful and all the while he thought you were going to come and save him. Fred and Gunn were barely alive; if nobody came they would have died. Stop it, please"
"Give me one good reason while I should believe you"
She stepped forward, laying a hand on his face. She was acting on instinct because she had never done this before. She remembered the vision and her hand began to glow. She placed the other hand on his face too, by this time her whole body was glowing.
Angel screamed in pain until they both fell to their knees. Cordelia finally broke contact. Angel just stared at her for a few seconds. Then he got up and ran in one fluid motion.
--------------
"Come with me" said Draco.
"No" said Cordelia as she packed all her stuff.
"Why not?"
"You're only asking me because you think you have to. Connor and I have to leave in case Angel comes back. I don't care where we go but I'm not going back to Hogwarts with you out of sympathy"
"I'm not asking you out of sympathy. I would done this anyway"
"Why?" she asked sceptically.
"Because I need you" God he hated begging. He was Draco Malfoy for God's sake, Slytherin Prince, heir to a great fortune, yet recently he seemed to be doing a lot of begging. "I need you because you're a seer" he said avoiding the real reason. "And you see things that are really helpful to stop people dying" Way to go Malfoy, he thought, appeal to her sense of honour, she's a good guy she's bound to come now.
"I'll owl you" she said
Or not. "I love you"
This made her stop packing for a moment. She looked at him. "What?"
"I need you because I'm in love with you, and it feels really strange, I've never felt like this before, but I know it's true. Please come with me because I love you"
She smiled "I love you too" she said and kissed him.
"So you'll come?" he asked breaking away. She just nodded.
--------------
They had spent half an hour planning how they were going to get to London safely. Harry had mentioned that the spell that stopped anybody from using port keys on them or apparating them anywhere also meant they couldn't do those things themselves. They were planning a way to make sure nobody recognised them.
"So do these people all know what you look like then?" asked Cordelia
"Not really, but they look for the scar" replied Harry
"So? Why don't you do some magic mojo and get rid of it"
"Tried, nothing works, no glamours, a polyjuice potion worked once, but every time I've used that one since the scar appears anyway"
"Oh please" said Cordelia rolling her eyes. "I could hide that thing easily"
"You could? With what? Your demon powers?"
"No" she said searching through her purse. She pulled out a smaller bag "A little female magic" She sat Harry down in front of her and pulled out some concealer. She dabbed some on and blended it properly. She added a tiny bit of powder to make it more natural. "See all gone" she said handing him a mirror.
"Wow" he said
"Why didn't anyone think of that before?" asked Draco
"I think they did, but assumed if magic didn't work then make up wouldn't"
Cordelia snorted. "Never underestimate the powers of a good concealer. I've hidden so many battle wounds with that stuff, pricy but very worth it"
Draco laughed "Prat, you've been moaning about this scar that you could never get rid of your whole life and all you needed was a little make up"
"That's that then" said Cordelia. "Hide the scar, nobody recognises us, fly like normal people. Get a taxi to Kings cross and a train to the school. Was all that really so hard?"
Both men looked down at their feet.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter Seven
It had been almost a month since Cordelia dropped her bombshell about him and Draco being champions. So far Harry only seemed to be Champion babysitter. Draco kept 'kindly' offering his services whenever he wanted to take Cordelia out, which seemed to be way too much.
Harry was sitting in his house, only Connor for company. It was one am and he knew Cordelia and Draco would be home soon. They had taken to going back to Cordelia's apartment after their dates, but they very rarely stayed all night. Cordelia hated to be away from Connor for too long, but they didn't like to stay in the house with Harry and Connor there. It took a lot of effort to leave him at a childminder while she was working during the day. She couldn't be away from him all night as well.
Sometimes Harry thought there was more than just normal parental worry there. He knew something of Cordelia's old life and he wondered if there was something in there that made her so reluctant to be away from her child. It didn't take long before these thoughts were replaced with the normal thoughts of why he was always the baby sitter. Even back home with Hermione and Ron's baby he was always the babysitter.
--------------
The man walked nervously into the big office. "I'm here to see Harold Graham" he told the receptionist.
The receptionist checked on her computer. "You're from Angel Investigations?" she asked.
The man just nodded.
"Go through. It's the second door on your left; Mr Graham is waiting for you"
He did so, he was still nervous. The others couldn't know where he was. He had acted like he accepted what everybody else had, that Cordelia would come back with Connor. It hadn't stopped him looking though, so here he was, at a big private investigation company. As Gunn had said, they sucked as investigators.
"Good to se you again" said Mr Graham, shaking his hand. "I have good news, please have a seat" He sat behind his desk, opposite his client. "I think we've found her, your girl left something of a trail. She used credit cards to pay for gas a few times; she used it at the same supermarket twice though, about two weeks apart. She's probably trying to use cash but she got desperate. Chances are that's where she is. We can do some more tracking, if you..."
"No" he cut him off. "I'm going, just tell me where"
A few minutes later he had the name of the town and all business was taken care. Mr Graham shook his hand again "Glad I could help Mr Angel"
Angel just smiled as he read where his son was. "New Mexico, here I come". He didn't even bother to go back to the hotel before driving off in his newly rented car.
--------------
Cordelia woke up and looked around her. "Damn" she said quietly. She had fallen asleep at Draco's; she was sitting on the sofa leaning against him. She felt like something had woken her up so she automatically looked over to where Connor was fast asleep. That wasn't it.
She heard the noise; it was a tapping against the window. "Draco" she whispered. He didn't move. She poked him. "Draco" she said again.
"What?" he asked
"There's a bird head butting the window" she whispered
"What?" he said again. She pointed at the window. He looked over and saw the owl trying to get in.
"Damn it" he stood up and opened the window. The bird flew in and dropped a letter in Draco's waiting hand.
"Obviously because it's the post bird. That's normal" said Cordelia.
Draco read the letter. "Harry" he shouted.
There was no answer from Harry but Connor started screaming, meaning Cordelia had to calm him down before she could start her questioning on the freaky bird. Draco went upstairs, and was back down a few minutes later.
"He's not there" he told her. "Shit"
"Calm down" said Cordelia, rocking Connor who was nearly back to sleep. "Start by telling me about the bird"
"That's how the post gets delivered in our world. It works quite well; hardly ever get any going missing and rarely get strikes. The letter was from Dumbledore, head of the Order of Phoenix"
"He's the guy who sent you here right?" asked Cordelia, trying to remember which one he was, "Powerful wizard, knows everything and probably had some ulterior motive that nobody will ever understand for sending you together?"
"You've been talking to Harry haven't you? I still reckon he's a crackpot old fool"
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in the world" said a stern voice from the door. They both turned to see Harry
"Where the hell have you been?" demanded Draco
"Why? Were you worried for my safety?" he mocked
"No I was worried Dumbledore would kill me because I lost you. This just arrived" he passed him the letter and Harry read it.
"He wants us to go back? But nothing's changed, why would he want us to go back?"
"There's gonna be an attack" said Cordelia, they looked to see her watching something they couldn't see. She kept watching for a little while before she continued. "It won't work. You two only fight in it and you lose. You have to go back and stop it; the only way you win is when you lead"
"Vision?" asked Draco
"Yeah" she answered. Then she got another vision. It was so intense that she felt some of the old pain. She passed the baby to whoever was closest; she couldn't see who it was. She screamed in pain. When it was over she realised she was on the floor. The visions weren't meant to hurt, and on the whole they didn't, what had hurt here was what she saw. "Wesley" she whispered, the image of his body imprinted on her brain. Fred and Gunn had been there too, but Angel was gone. "I need to speak to Angel" she said without thinking
"What did you see?" asked Harry. He was the one holding Connor.
"It doesn't concern you. It concerns..."
"Me" finished off the figure in the doorway.
"I think I left the door open" muttered Harry; he was just out of sight of the doorway.
"Angel?" whispered Cordelia with disbelief. She walked up to him, careful to stay on her side of the doorway. He hadn't been invited so he was stuck outside.
"Cordelia, good to see you. My cars outside so I presume my son's inside"
"You didn't kill Holtz" she said.
"What can I say? I was distracted"
"Go now please. You have like a day at the most to get back to LA; he's going for the hotel"
"Wow, you get a vision? Just give me Connor and I'll leave"
"Angel I will bring him back to when it's safe. Please go, they need you"
"I need my son"
"Wesley will die"
He paused. "If I don't get my son back he won't be the only one"
That was too much for Draco. Harry wanted to step in to but decided it was best to keep Connor away from the door. "Ok, let's not get onto threats"
"Don't worry" said Cordelia. "Unless your or Harry invites him in he's stuck out there for along time. It's not us I'm worried about. It's Wesley, I saw him die Angel. It was painful and all the while he thought you were going to come and save him. Fred and Gunn were barely alive; if nobody came they would have died. Stop it, please"
"Give me one good reason while I should believe you"
She stepped forward, laying a hand on his face. She was acting on instinct because she had never done this before. She remembered the vision and her hand began to glow. She placed the other hand on his face too, by this time her whole body was glowing.
Angel screamed in pain until they both fell to their knees. Cordelia finally broke contact. Angel just stared at her for a few seconds. Then he got up and ran in one fluid motion.
--------------
"Come with me" said Draco.
"No" said Cordelia as she packed all her stuff.
"Why not?"
"You're only asking me because you think you have to. Connor and I have to leave in case Angel comes back. I don't care where we go but I'm not going back to Hogwarts with you out of sympathy"
"I'm not asking you out of sympathy. I would done this anyway"
"Why?" she asked sceptically.
"Because I need you" God he hated begging. He was Draco Malfoy for God's sake, Slytherin Prince, heir to a great fortune, yet recently he seemed to be doing a lot of begging. "I need you because you're a seer" he said avoiding the real reason. "And you see things that are really helpful to stop people dying" Way to go Malfoy, he thought, appeal to her sense of honour, she's a good guy she's bound to come now.
"I'll owl you" she said
Or not. "I love you"
This made her stop packing for a moment. She looked at him. "What?"
"I need you because I'm in love with you, and it feels really strange, I've never felt like this before, but I know it's true. Please come with me because I love you"
She smiled "I love you too" she said and kissed him.
"So you'll come?" he asked breaking away. She just nodded.
--------------
They had spent half an hour planning how they were going to get to London safely. Harry had mentioned that the spell that stopped anybody from using port keys on them or apparating them anywhere also meant they couldn't do those things themselves. They were planning a way to make sure nobody recognised them.
"So do these people all know what you look like then?" asked Cordelia
"Not really, but they look for the scar" replied Harry
"So? Why don't you do some magic mojo and get rid of it"
"Tried, nothing works, no glamours, a polyjuice potion worked once, but every time I've used that one since the scar appears anyway"
"Oh please" said Cordelia rolling her eyes. "I could hide that thing easily"
"You could? With what? Your demon powers?"
"No" she said searching through her purse. She pulled out a smaller bag "A little female magic" She sat Harry down in front of her and pulled out some concealer. She dabbed some on and blended it properly. She added a tiny bit of powder to make it more natural. "See all gone" she said handing him a mirror.
"Wow" he said
"Why didn't anyone think of that before?" asked Draco
"I think they did, but assumed if magic didn't work then make up wouldn't"
Cordelia snorted. "Never underestimate the powers of a good concealer. I've hidden so many battle wounds with that stuff, pricy but very worth it"
Draco laughed "Prat, you've been moaning about this scar that you could never get rid of your whole life and all you needed was a little make up"
"That's that then" said Cordelia. "Hide the scar, nobody recognises us, fly like normal people. Get a taxi to Kings cross and a train to the school. Was all that really so hard?"
Both men looked down at their feet.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~