No new questions, but feel free to ask away.
In the next few chapters, things will start to get dark. That's just the way it is. Here's your fair warning. This is part one of a two-parter. And it has a cliffhanger. Heh.
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Chapter 5
Random Thoughts
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It was a long, green corridor. There were doors on both sides, and they seemed to be mocking her. Figures huddled in the protection of the rooms, laughing, pointing, smirking. Their laughter rang in her ears as she walked along.
"Time for your medication," a voice said at her elbow, sounding long and drawn out as a sharp needle suddenly came into focus. She felt a piercing sharp pain in her shoulder and suddenly screamed.
"Nooooooooooo!"
And everything went dark.
Dawn blinked. Recognition suddenly started in her eyes as Dr. Cretin pulled away the flashlight. "There's definitely been some progress with the therapy," he said, handing the flashlight to his assistant and turning to Buffy, who stood with her arms crossed next to Willow and Spike. "We're hoping that in the next few sessions she'll be able to comprehend whichever memory is coming back to her. And I'm hoping that in the next few months, your sister will regain the full use of her speech capacity."
"Thank you, Doctor," Buffy said, shaking his hand. "You've done so much for us. Thank you."
He bowed his head and left, leaving Buffy in the room with her friends and her sister. She walked slowly over to Dawn and bent down, placing her hands on Dawn's knees. "We're going to get you out of there, Dawnie. We're going to bring you back.
"We're going to bring you back."
The nurse turned to her, a tray in hand. "Time for your medications, dear."
She heard her own voice, full of bitterness, hatred and anger. "I don't want more drugs. I want to go home."
"But you are home, dear."
"I want my sister."
"Easy, dear, easy now."
"I won't let you hurt me again... get out! Get out! GET OUT!"
With that, she launched forward, attacking the nurse as the two pummeled down onto the cold floor, down a staircase and landed, Dawn on top, her hands around the nurses' frail neck, her beady eyes full of terror, her hands clutching for the silver cross around her neck.
Buffy gasped as Dawn flung herself into her, knocking them both against the wall. Dawn's hands were ice cold as they found her throat and held it in a vise-like grip.
"A little... help..." Buffy gasped as Spike and Willow came forward and pulled Dawn away. There was no recognition in her eyes, except a dark look of intense hatred.
Buffy rubbed her throat slightly as Dawn was pushed by Spike back into the rocking chair. Her facial expression didn't change however. It stayed angry, remote and cold as ever.
"What was that?" Willow gasped.
Buffy felt along her throat and pulled out her silver cross necklace, which Dawn had grasped first. "There was something in her memory that made her do this..."
"That's a bit too much reading into things, Buffy," Spike said gently, leading her away from Dawn, who continued to stare at the fireplace.
"No," Willow said softly. "I think she's right... Dawn isn't like this. She isn't violent. Something happened to her. Something bad."
"I think it's time I get in touch with the Ministry again," Buffy said, turning on her heel. "Look after her, will you?"
"Always," Spike said, watching Buffy and Willow leave before turning to Dawn. He walked over and sat on the overturned crate by her side. "So... it's just you and me now, nibblet. Whatever fight you have in those veins of yours, it's power. Just use that power. Come on now... talk to me."
Outside the cell, Buffy continued rubbing her throat. "That was a strong grip."
"It looked like she could have killed you," Willow said worriedly, casting a look back down the corridor as she pressed the 'down' button on the elevator. Suddenly, it occurred to her how silent the floor was. "Buffy..."
Buffy was pulled from her thoughts and looked around. "What is it?"
"Look around," Willow said softly, pointing. "Where are all the patients?"
"This is a high-security ward," Buffy said stiffly as the cage opened and both women got inside.
"Not just that," Willow said slowly. "This entire hospital seems too empty."
Buffy noticed Willow's point as the two walked down the long corridor to the entrance lounge. There were only two other patients, and they were relatively free on their own, being wheeled around the sunny courtyard.
"Something's definitely wrong here," Willow said as the two left.
"You're telling me," Buffy muttered as they emerged into sunlight.
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"Harry! Harry!"
Harry dropped the water glass and ran from the bathroom, where Ginny was jumping up and down on the balls of her feet, her finger pointed to the television. "Look!"
He turned toward the "Prophet News" program and saw a pale-faced, tall boy being lead into custody by a group of armed security Wizards. "Draco?" he asked uncertainly.
"Draco Malfoy, age 20, was brought in for questioning today on the nine-month disappearance of nineteen year old Dawn Harris..."
"Ron!" Harry shouted as Ron emerged, wrapping himself in a bathrobe. "You've got to see this."
"I've heard," Ron said weakly as it showed Lucius Malfoy making a cold statement at his son's innocence.
As the story disappeared to an advertisement for the new Hogsmeade village, Harry turned toward Ron and Ginny. "If they're bringing in Malfoy..."
"Don't you see?" Ginny asked, her face stretched with anxiety. "They think that Draco had a dealing with her disappearance for all these months!"
"That means the Ministry of Magic has heard all about this," Ron said, sitting in his armchair. "I don't believe it."
"Well, believe it," said Ginny, folding back that evening's issue of The Evening Prophet. "Listen to this... 'Draco Malfoy, aged twenty, was brought in this morning for questioning concerning the nine-month disappearance of his girlfriend, Dawn Harris. Dawn supposedly left England on the twenty second of June but returned to California the fourteenth of March the following year...' This is serious."
Harry muted the television and paced the living room for a moment. "I'm going to send an owl to Lupin. He deserves to know what's been going on."
"He probably already knows," Ginny said in exasperation as she longingly eyed her racing broom perched on the coffee table in the living area. "Harry... if they're bringing Draco into this now... there's no telling whether or not they'll bring you into this too..."
"I'm not going to give them that chance," he said, picking up a stack of parchment and searching around the breakfast nook for a bottle of ink.
"What are you getting at?" Ron asked, turning his sleepy eyes toward his best friend.
"It's time we went to America," Harry said in triumph, seizing his best quill as he sat down and began to write his letter.
"You're mad," Ron said, sounding awed.
"No, he's not," Ginny said, crossing her arms. "He's right. The moment we found out Dawn had been missing between here and there, we should have gone over. We need to be there now."
"You're both hoppin'," Ron finally said, standing up. "Look, I know that you and Harry love to play detective together. I'm not mocking you or anything. I'm just saying think about what you're saying. Are you willing to go this far to do what it takes?"
"Ron," Ginny said through gritted teeth. "Dawn Harris has been in a state of catatonic amnesia since she arrived back in California fourteen months ago. We're the only people who saw her her last day in London. And Lupin was the last person to ever see her. Something bad happened to her and it's about time we start talking. She wasn't like that when she left."
"She was down though," said Harry, putting down his quill a moment to think. "Draco had just basically ripped her heart out through her spleen... the things he did behind her back..."
Ginny's voice drowned out his low curses. "Whatever Draco did or said to her isn't the point. The point is, we need to be there for her. We need to be there for Dawn. We're her friends. And right now we're all that's standing between Dawn and her entire life spent in silence."
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Dinner was a muted affair that night as usual. Cho was eating with them because she and Xander had some things to work out for their wedding. The rest of the girls were eagerly anticipating their first spiritual retreat. Giles was barely able to smile as Buffy and Willow recounted their observations of the mental institution.
But it was Angel who piped up first. "Did you contact the Ministry again?"
Buffy nodded. "I talked to the American Ministry the moment I came back," she said, gesturing at Willow. "We both did."
"Did they have anything to report?" Giles asked.
"No," Willow admitted. "But I have a feeling that they're not being entirely truthful."
Angel nodded slightly. "I'll have the firm check into it if you'd like."
"I'd like that," Buffy said, smiling at him.
He smiled back at her as he glanced at the table groaning under the weight of dishes upon dishes ladled with food.
"I didn't have much to do this afternoon," Xander said, noticing Angel's expression. "So Cho and I decided to test her culinary expertise. She's a dish, isn't she?"
"She makes a good one too," said Buffy, sampling rosemary potatoes.
"You guys are too much," Cho said softly, setting down her fork. "I really do have a lot of free time now that... you've given me some time off to prepare for my wedding."
"How are your parents taking it?" Tara asked kindly from down the table.
"Not well," Cho said, wincing. "They're supposed to call soon. They want to come to California and meet Xander and his family first."
"How does it feel when they say it's time to meet the folks?" Buffy asked with a grin as she poured more water into her goblet and sipped it.
"Nervous, mostly," Xander reacted, placing his hand over Cho's on the table. "But I'm looking forward to it."
"That's a good thing," Willow said as the phone rang in the other room.
Buffy rose and went to get it. She returned a few moments later, looking as pale as death, as though all life had been drained from her. "What is it?" Tara asked gently as Buffy collapsed back down on her seat.
"Dawn's been sedated," she said, her voice cracking slightly. "She broke a window and was about ready to jump when they... when they found her."
"Oh my God," Tara said, touching Buffy's arm gently. "I'm so sorry."
"Thank God for Spike," Buffy muttered, sniffling loudly as she looked away, her eyes just meeting Angel's. "If there is anything you can do to find out anything about this Ministry or this Institution, would you?"
"Of course," he said softly.
Buffy sighed and went back to dinner as the phone rang again.
"Someone else can get it," Buffy groaned, reaching for her water. "I've had enough bad news."
"I'll take care of it," Willow said, rising from the other side of Tara and disappearing into the kitchen. She returned a half minute later. "Cho, it's for you."
"It's my parents," she said, her stomach dropping as she rose to take the call.
Xander held his breath nearly the entire time before Cho returned, also quite pale. "Was that your parents? When are they coming?"
"They're not," she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she dropped back into her seat.
"Does that mean we have to go over there for the wedding?" he asked curiously. "That was my idea in the first place."
Cho's eyes were beginning to fill with tears. "No," she said, her voice little more than a soft moan. "They're not coming here. We're not going there." With a crash as her silverware clattered to the floor, she stood up and looked tearfully at the group. "They've forbidden me to marry a Muggle... there isn't going to be a wedding!"
There was silence at the table as Cho ran from the room in tears.
And there was silence in the moments thereafter.
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To be continued...
Chapter 6 -- Draco's questioning, Cho's heart searching and Angel's investigation finally leads Buffy to some answers.