As Strong As We Are United
Chapter 7 – As Weak As We Are Divided
Buffy awoke on Saturday morning to find the other side of the bed empty. She sat up, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and looked around for Charlie. He was seated in an armchair on the other side of the room, staring out the window, apparently deep in thought.
Buffy quietly slid out of bed and crossed the room. Standing behind Charlie, she wrapped her arms around him. He tenses, but relaxed instantly when he realized it was Buffy. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked, her voice soft.
"Couldn't sleep," he replied, as he resumed staring out the window.
Buffy slid onto his lap. Charlie wrapped his arms around her. They sat silently for a few minutes, before Buffy spoke again. "You look deep in thought," she mused.
Charlie spoke softly. "I was thinking about how Bill would handle everything that's going on with the kids. He was getting ready to be a father. Somehow it seems like he would have known what to do." Buffy nodded for him to continue. "How am I ever going to manage with our kids, if I can't even figure out how to help Ron grieve, let alone how to prevent him, Hermione, and Harry from throwing away what was once such a strong friendship?"
Buffy looked into Charlie's eyes. The fear and worry were evident in their depths. She took a moment to find her words before speaking. "First, you need to talk to Ron. Dawn told me that Hermione said he refuses to grieve because he thinks it's unmanly."
Charlie was shocked. "What? Why would he think something like that? Even Ron isn't that thick. We lost our parents and our brother. We're supposed to grieve."
"Maybe he needs a man that he respects to tell him that it's okay to cry. Maybe, someone like his big brother," Buffy replied meaningfully. "I know that you've been grieving, and I'm sure that your other brothers have too. But, Ron hasn't seen any of it. He's only seen you trying to hold it together. Maybe he thinks that he has to hold it together too."
"I'll talk to him," stated Charlie.
"Good," replied Buffy. "And if that doesn't work, maybe some of the Scooby guys can talk to him too." Charlie nodded.
Buffy continued. "As for Ron, Hermione, and Harry – I think that Hermione will be perfectly receptive to Ron again, if he'll just allow himself to grieve and give her a chance to do the same." Charlie again nodded. "Harry's going to be harder," Buffy added. "According to Dawn, he isn't really talking to anyone. Although he and Draco had a few words the day they got into that fight that Cat broke up." Buffy rolled her eyes. "Harry's feeling guilty. His friends are the only one's who are going to be able to get through to him. Once we have Ron and Hermione squared away, we can recruit them to help with Harry."
Charlie looked unsure. "It will all work out in the end," Buffy assured him.
"You've really thought this through, haven't you?" Charlie asked.
"You aren't the only one who's been thinking about it," Buffy replied. "There is one other thing though," she added.
"What?"
"It's about what you said before, about how you're going to manage with our kids. Have you thought about us, you and me, having kids?" she asked nervously.
"I've thought about it," Charlie admitted. "Does that bother you?"
"Not as long as you preface it with someday or in the future or in five years or so," explained Buffy. "I don't think I'm quite mom material yet."
Charlie chuckled and pulled Buffy more tightly into his arms. "I don't know about that. You seem to have a pretty good handle on what to do with teenagers."
Buffy giggled. "Teenagers aren't that hard. It's babies that I don't have a clue what to do with."
Charlie kissed her. When their lips parted, he spoke again. "Someday, in the future, like five years or so from now, I would love to have children with you." They kissed again.
****************
Late that afternoon Wesley, Spike, and Genevieve arrived from Los Angeles via a portkey provided by Professor Dumbledore. Cat had been sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for them. When the group had dropped their bags on the floor, Cat sprang up and gave Wesley a big hug. "I've missed you this last week," she whispered to him.
Wesley bent down and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. "I've missed you too," he replied.
"That's the most physical I've ever seen those two be with each other," Willow whispered to Buffy. The two women had been waiting in the hallway outside of the kitchen for their friends to arrive.
Spike and Genevieve heard Willow's words with their enhanced vampiric hearing. "You should see them, when there's no chance of a student catching them. They have no shame," said Spike rather loudly. Wesley and Cat both blushed, as Genevieve told Spike not to embarrass their friends.
Spike shrugged his shoulders and picked up his and Genevieve's bags. "Where are we staying?" he asked.
"I'll show you," said Cat. She had slipped her arm through Wesley's, after he picked up his own bag.
"After you settle in, let's meet up in the drawing room," said Buffy. "Everyone else should be here soon, and we have some serious stuff to talk about, while the kids are making dinner."
"You're having the kids cook?" asked Genevieve.
"Got yourself some slave labor," added Spike.
Cat called from the stairs. "Are you two coming or not?" Spike and Genevieve hastened to catch up with Cat and Wesley.
"Are you sure this making them cook together is a good thing?" Willow asked, when everyone else had gone.
Buffy shrugged. "We'll see. They need to manage to do something together."
"Why do I have a feeling that we aren't eating tonight," said Willow, sharing a significant look with her best friend.
****************
While Buffy waited for her friends to arrive from Los Angeles, Charlie took the opportunity to have a talk with Ron. Charlie knocked on Ron's bedroom door, before letting himself in. Ron was lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling, and Draco was sitting on his bed, scowling at a letter. "You all right there, Draco?" Charlie asked.
Draco looked up, startled. He had been so intently scowling at the reply from his mother that he had not noticed Charlie enter the room. "Why do parents have to be so difficult? I asked my mother about relatives that she never bothered to mention, and she says that I have to wait until tonight for her to tell me. Like it would have been such a big deal to tell me she has another sister in a letter." Draco continued scowling.
"Don't complain," said Ron flatly. "At least you still have a mother." Draco went silent, looking suddenly contrite. "What do you want, Charlie?" Ron asked in the same flat voice.
"We need to talk," said Charlie.
"Later.
"No, Ron, now. Get your lazy arse off that bed and come with me." Ron did not want to talk to Charlie, or anyone for that matter. But the tone of Charlie's voice told Ron in no uncertain terms that he would not take no for an answer. "Fine," sighed Ron, standing and following Charlie out of the room and up the stairs to the third floor bedroom that he shared with Buffy.
Ron threw himself in a chair and glared at his older brother. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Well, you and Hermione for starters," replied Charlie, calmly taking a seat on the other side of the room.
"Hermione and I are fine," started Ron.
"Do I look stupid?" asked Charlie. "The entire week after the attacks you never left her side, but for the whole last week you two haven't so much as looked at each other. So, what happened?"
"We had a fight," replied Ron. "It's not like we've never fought before. It'll be fine." Ron did not look like he believed what he was saying.
"What did you fight about?" asked Charlie.
Ron glared at his brother. "None of your business. Just leave me alone."
"I'm not going to leave you alone," stated Charlie. "And if you won't tell me, then I'll tell you. Hermione needs to grieve. But she can't do that with you around, because since you think you need to hold it together for her, she thinks that she needs to hold it together for you too. She wants you to grieve, because then she can grieve with you and you can help each other through things. But, you refuse to grieve in front of her or at all, because for some stupid reason you think it's unmanly."
Ron looked shocked that his brother knew so much about his fight with Hermione. After a moment comprehension dawned. "Stupid significant other, best friend grapevine," Ron mumbled.
"What?" asked Charlie.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Significant other, best friend grapevine," Ron stated more clearly. "Ginny explained it to me once. Everyone tells their significant other and best friend everything. So, Hermione told Dawn who told Buffy who told you."
Charlie chucked. "Pretty much. But how I know isn't really the point. Ron, you have to let yourself grieve, with or without Hermione."
"Yeah right," snorted Ron. "I should just start crying all over the place like a girl – like that wouldn't make me some kind of freak wimp."
"Ron, it's okay to cry. You've suffered a great loss. You need to mourn," explained Charlie.
"Would you stop treating me like a child," demanded Ron. "I'm not a kid. I can act like a man."
"A man in your position would cry," stated Charlie simply. "I've cried, more times than I care to count. Poor Buffy's had to deal with me sobbing on her shoulder most nights."
Ron looked unconvinced. "You've cried?" he asked.
"Of course I have," replied Charlie. "I'm sure that Fred, George, and Percy have cried too. You can ask them yourself. Or you can talk to any of the Scooby men. They've all suffered losses, and I'm sure they cried too."
"I haven't seen you cry," said Ron, still skeptically.
"Well as you said, I don't want to go crying all over the place like a girl." Charlie laughed. "For me, crying is a private thing. I'm only comfortable doing it alone or with Buffy. Look, Ron, I'm not saying you should go crying all over the place. Find a private place to do it if you need to. Or, I'm sure that Hermione would be happy to mourn with you. Sharing something like that will only make you closer."
Ron still was not convinced, but he was sure that Charlie was telling him the truth. "I need time to think about it," said Ron.
Charlie nodded, as they both stood and moved toward the door. "If you want to talk about it more, you know where to find me," he told his youngest brother.
****************
When the rest of the Scoobies arrived, Buffy showed them to the drawing room. She then gathered the students and Andrew and ordered them into the kitchen. They stood around the room. Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Andrew stood comfortably together. Draco was on one side of the room staring at Dawn, who was busy shielding Hermione from Ron. Shannon, who was supposed to be helping shield Hermione, was busy staring at Harry, who was pointedly ignoring everyone in the room.
Buffy sighed heavily before addressing the teens. "Look, I don't care if you have issues with each other. I don't care if you refuse to talk to each other. But you are going to work together. We'll be having dinner in two hours. All the ingredients you need are on the table. Get busy." She turned and left the room, the teens staring after her in a stunned silence.
"Is she kidding?" asked Shannon, breaking the silence.
"I don't think so," replied Dawn. "I guess we should get busy."
No one moved. "Oh, this is ridiculous," stated Hermione. She surveyed the ingredients on the table. "Neville, Ginny, Andrew, and Luna cut up the vegetables for the salad. Dawn, clean the string beans and get them boiling. Draco, shuck the corn and get that cooking. Ron and Harry get peeling the potatoes, then put them in the oven with the roast. Shannon and I will make the treacle tart for dessert."
Everyone began to move around the kitchen to do his or her work, except for Ron, who stood perfectly still, staring at Hermione. "Why do you always have to tell everyone what to do?" he asked scathingly.
Hermione glared at him. "Someone obviously has to, since some people are too thick to figure out what to do on their own." Before he could reply, she turned her back on him and began reading the recipe for the treacle tart.
****************
Buffy and Willow served drinks to all the adults who were gathered in the drawing room. Everyone made themselves comfortable. "So, what did you need to talk to us about, Buff?" asked Xander.
Buffy took a deep breath. "Things aren't going too well here. The Death Eater attacks, all the deaths, they've torn the kids apart. Ginny, Neville, and Luna seem to be holding up pretty well, but the others. . . Hermione refuses to speak to Ron. Ron won't even consider actually grieving and seems be picking fights with everyone. I think Harry is blaming himself for the attacks. He's completely withdrawn. Won't talk to anyone – well, except for picking a fight with Draco. Dawnie and Shannon are trying to help Hermione, but won't even acknowledge Harry or Ron."
Buffy's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I'm at a loss here. Charlie tried talking to Ron, which I think helped a little – at least he listened. I don't know what to do about the others. I think it would be a good idea for the kids to confront Harry about his guilt, but since most of them aren't speaking to each other, that isn't going to happen any time soon."
"Wait a minute," interrupted Xander. "The kids are fighting among themselves and you left them to cook our dinner. We're never going to eat." Everyone shot Xander nasty looks.
"I hope you took away all the knives," commented Faith.
"Worst case scenario we order pizza," added Cat with a shrug. She had watched the teens for the past week and was all for trying anything that might help.
"Have you thought about telling them about your own experiences?" asked Giles. He surveyed the Scoobies. "We've all experienced loss in our fight against evil, and we've always managed to come back together."
"I agree," said Genevieve. "We can't stop them from hurting, but we can help them redirect their emotions. I'm sure that Buffy and Faith agree that our emotions are what make us able to keep fighting."
"I can see why the Watchers Council didn't like you," quipped Faith. Genevieve laughed softly.
"And I believe that they will heal faster with support from each other, than on their own," added Narcissa.
"She's right," agreed Anya. "Apart their emotions are too easy to use against them. They would be perfect candidates for a vengeance demon."
"Too bad, there aren't any around," mused Robin. "They could just wish their vengeance on Voldemort." Everyone laughed.
"That would be too easy," mumbled Buffy.
"The vengeance demon would probably just twist it around so that Voldemort came out stronger anyway," stated Anya with certainty.
"Okay so forget the vengeance demon plan," said Faith.
Following Anya's initial comment about vengeance demons, Spike had stood and begun pacing, brow furrowed. Anya's comment made him think about the purpose of the attacks themselves. "William? What's wrong?" asked Genevieve.
"Why did Voldemort do it?" Spike asked the group.
"Because he's evil," guessed Xander.
"Does it even matter?" asked Willow. "The damage is done."
Spike gave Xander and Willow an annoyed look. "Of course it matters," Spike stated. "The big bad never wastes its energy doing something for no reason. Your run of the mill demons will kill for the pleasure of it, but the big bad always has a plan. So why did Voldemort decide to finally take action now? Why did he target the people he did?"
"Well, I suppose that since everyone knows that he's back and we ruined his plan to gain power from the First Evil, he decided that he needed to take some action. Show the wizarding world that he's a serious threat. It was bound to happen sooner or later," Wesley hypothesized.
"As for the targets, it was revenge pure and simple," stated Robin. "He targeted the students who ruined his plan with the First. As for those at the Hog's Head, it's possible that when the Death Eaters found Narcissa's home empty, they just picked another target in Hogsmeade."
"It's just lucky that the kids were all at Harry's that night," said Faith.
"I don't think it was luck," stated Spike. "I think Voldemort purposely struck, when the kids would be away."
"But how would he have known?" asked Charlie.
"Well, it wasn't exactly a big secret," mused Buffy. "Shannon ordered the food for the party from The Three Broomsticks. She may have mentioned that they were having a surprise party for Harry."
"And anyone could have overheard her," added Giles. "If you sit quietly at the bar in The Three Broomsticks for any length of time, you always pick up interesting tidbits of information. That's how Ethan and I used to find out what teachers were on duty what nights; so, we could plan our pranks accordingly."
"But if Voldemort wanted revenge, why strike when his intended targets were away?" asked Willow. "Goddess, they weren't his intended targets."
"Bastard," swore Narcissa. "What better way to take revenge than to take away what is most important to the kids – their parents."
"Which brings us back to what I said before," said Xander. "He did it because he's evil."
"But it's more than that," argued Giles. "Think about Buffy and Genevieve. They survived so long because they had friends and family fighting with them. Harry is the same. Each time Voldemort's plans have been ruined, it was because Harry was working together with his friends."
"Divide and conquer," stated Faith.
"At the leaving feast, Professor Dumbledore said we are as weak as we are divided," Willow reminded the group.
"He's weakening Harry by taking away his friends," said Cat softly.
"So then why not kill them?" asked Xander.
"Because our emotions give us strength," Genevieve explained. "If Harry was truly left alone, he would have nothing to lose. His focus on killing Voldemort would be total. The way things are now, he's riddled by guilt but afraid to do anything that would further put his friends at risk. And, they're in no position to help him through it."
"We need to get those kids back together," stated Buffy. A sense of urgency had crept into her voice.
"What exactly are we going to do?" asked Cat.
"We confront them with what we know," said Robin. "Lay it all on the line."
"I agree," said Giles. "They need to understand what's happening – Voldemort's plan, everything."
"And if they aren't willing to work out their issues together, then we force them to do it," added Buffy.
"How?" asked Willow.
"We resort to magic," replied Cat.
"You know, a simple boggart would force them to show each other their fears," mused Genevieve.
"Oh, and we could ask Dumbledore to lend us that Mirror of Erised to help them acknowledge their greatest desires," said Willow. "Ever since Ron told me about that, I've been wanting to try it out."
"And speaking of Dumbledore, I'm sure he can help us find a way to force them to work together once they're back at Hogwarts," added Buffy.
The conversation was interrupted by a loud crash from the basement, followed by several people shouting. The portrait of Mrs. Black began shrieking. "Muggles, Mudbloods, and Blood Traitors." Willow ran out into the hallway to pull the hangings back over the portrait.
"Hey, Xand," said Buffy. "When you get a chance, could you talk to Shannon? She said that she had an idea for getting rid of that horrible portrait, but that she needed your help."
Meanwhile Cat had pulled out her cellphone. "Yes, I'd like to order ten pizzas."