A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out. I know I should have had it out a long time ago…things happened, as they always seem to do. I was very proud of Nova on the quick editing job she did on this—she'd had it for, what, three weeks (?), and then I gave her a new copy (with the old stuff, too), and BAM!! I had it in my hands by the end of the day. So, quick thank-you to Nova.
Dedicated to Inad and Chris, who are no longer among us.
…Erm, in case you were wondering, no, they didn't die; they just moved. ^.^;;
D/C: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
[Insert long list of names here that's posted in chapter five, which I can't (for some reason) access right now…] are based upon actual people, but their names have been changed to protect the actual persons from a life of fame and wealth (hah! You wish…).
"Talking inside of each other's heads" was made up by the real Kirsten and Inad. They came up with it freshman year. I have yet to figure out whether they actually do it or not.
The majority of the comments in this story actually came from the people that are said to have said them. A few were added by me, but I won't tell you which ones, 'cuz that would spoil the whole story. ~*sticks out tongue*~
TCTU/Crimson Rain is a band. All of their stuff is © by Heather Perry, myself, Kevin Fine, and Curtis McCallistar.
//…\\ means that it's a memory…
Chapter Eight-Falling Away
"You live under a mask/A façade with no cracks/But now your wall is crumbling/Falling away."
~Crimson Rain, Falling Away
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Chris jolted upright at the sound of his alarm going off. His heart felt like it was going a mile a minute, while his brain slowly adjusted to the harsh realities of life.
It was 6:00 in the morning.
Zack was still dead asleep, snoring slightly.
School would start in one hour and twenty-five minutes. Chris glanced at his clock. Well, twenty-four, now….
With a sigh, he got out of bed and slammed a hand down on the alarm on the way to Zack's bed, which was still screaming its wake-up call. It droned on for a second, and then seemed to die slowly as it wailed its objection to his hitting it so hard. Chris glanced at it: it now read 88:88.
Today was just not his day.
After waking Zack, which took a lot of persuasion on his part to get the Brit to even hear him, he rescued his cat from the back of his closet, and unplugged his now broken alarm clock, which was now making noises randomly. He dressed slowly and carefully, making sure that his clothes were clean and he had matching socks; he wasn't in the mood to get made fun of that day.
Finding a pair of shoes was a totally different matter. One from each of his three pairs were missing, and each from the same foot. He suspected Matt, his older brother, but after finding half of a shoelace somewhere between his room and the kitchen, he had a new suspect.
And sure enough, the culprit had fallen asleep, drool from her mouth forming a puddle over the front of one of the missing shoes. Chris sighed for the second time that morning, removed his stupid little Corgi from the pile of shoes she had collected from the various occupants of the house, and sorted through to find his other two.
Breakfast was scary. Someone had left the milk on the table from supper the night before, and it now tasted kind of funny. Chris hoped it wasn't rotten, put it in the fridge where it belonged, and grabbed a bagel instead.
Zack meandered into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and putting his glasses on. He mumbled good morning and promptly tripped over the hem of his too-large jeans. Chris jumped out of the way so that he wouldn't land on the Brit if he completely lost his balance and managed to drop his bagel, which landed right onto his other dog, who was quite pleased with the treat.
"Why me?" Chris yelled, ignoring the snore from the again asleep Zack.
~&~
On the other side of the world, in a land eight hours or so ahead of Chris and his friends, two students were also fighting away sleep with little success. Ron and Hermione had been going to classes for four full days already and were again used to the task of getting up earlier than their 9:00 schedule during the summer (or 10:30, in Ron's case). History of Magic hadn't gotten any less boring over the summer, just as Professor Binns hadn't gotten any less dead.
Hermione idly twisted her quill around in her hand, feeling the fletching of the feather brush lightly against the top of her hand. She had had it sent to her by her parents, another gift for becoming Head Girl. She hadn't enjoyed the job as much as she thought she would, though. No, it wasn't a popularity contest, as she hoped against hope it wouldn't be, but everything had tightened up now that Harry was gone, from going out onto the grounds to the Hogsmeade trips, which had been restricted now to fifth years and up. It just wasn't safe anymore.
The bell sounded, signaling the end of the class, and the students morosely packed their things into the bulging bags and headed back up to Gryffindor tower. Ron and Hermione lagged behind the rest, their low murmuring barely audible to even each other. Hermione was mostly remembering when Ron had stormed down to lunch earlier that day, furious at Professor Trelawney and her stupid predictions.
"She's done it again!" he had roared. The table was silent. Hermione just stared at her plate, knowing almost instinctively what he was going to say. "That overgrown bat keeps getting—"
Hermione stopped him in mid sentence with a sigh and tugged him into a chair. "I know that she's making predictions about Voldemort and…Harry," she told him, choking out Harry's name, "but that doesn't mean that you can just…I don't know…explode about it."
"But—"
"I know, Ron…believe me, I know…." She patted his hand comfortingly. "Everything's falling apart, Ron. We just need to step back until we can do something about it."
Ron's face read a mixture of expressions, and he quietly ate his lunch.
Now that they were back in the tower, however, excitement riffled through the air.
"A trip…? Now?"
"They're mad…"
"Where'd we be going?"
"Excuse me," Hermione said politely. "Head Girl coming through!" The majority of the students ignored her, so Ron pushed his way through, and Hermione followed in his wake.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRIPALL STUDENTS INTERESTED IN APPLYING FOR AN OVER-SEAS MUGGLE INTERACTION TRIP, PLEASE SEE PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL, OR YOUR HEAD BOY OR GIRL.
"Exchange trip?" Hermione said, confused. "I don't know anything about this."
"You will in a few moments, Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall's voice said. Hermione turned to see the woman opening the portrait hole from the outside. "Please, come with me."
~&~
Zack kept quiet the whole ride to school. He didn't know why Chris and Lia were, too, but Lia was driving, and he had the feeling that if they said anything, she'd turn around and smack them all upside the head.
I wonder who she's mad at, he thought idly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then he laughed at himself internally. Or it could be that we're all just tired, and no one feels like talking.Lia pulled up to the school and slid into a parking spot between a red convertible and a dark blue beater car. It looked like it would fall apart at any moment and could only have been held together by some little miracle. Kirsten was sitting in the red convertible, and it looked as though she had just pulled in, since she was putting up the roof to her car.
"Hey, Kirsten," Lia said, opening the door. Zack thought it was strange; now that she was at school, she seemed more energetic, as though the place of learning had some sort of power over her. Maybe she likes school? he thought to himself. He and Chris retrieved their bags from the back of the car and got out.
"Where're Jack and Pyro?"
"Jack's driving herself, and Pyro lives too close to the school for it to matter whether she drives or walks." Lia brushed a curl that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear and grabbed her shoulder bag with her good arm. "Have you seen anyone else that you know yet?"
"Nope." Kirsten jerked her head to the slowly rising top. "I'm attempting to take care of my car."
"And it's not working?"
"Oh, it's working," Kirsten said. "Just really, really slowly, like the computers."
"The old ones, you mean."
"Yeah."
Zack stared up at the school. Could it have gotten bigger since the last time he saw it? Or was it the lighting?
"You wanna go in?" Chris asked him.
"Not particularly."
"Me neither." He grinned at Zack, hoisted his backpack onto his back, and began to walk towards the school. "But we sorta have to."
Zack sighed and followed. "How many people go here?" he asked.
Chris thought for a moment. "Between fifteen hundred and two thousand. Why?"
Two thousand? Zack thought incredulously. "No reason."
//The entrance hall was filled with people ranging from ages ten to seventeen. He was one of them, heading towards his own house table with his year mates, all eight of them…\\
"No reason whatsoever," he added, shaking his head to clear the memory from his mind. He realized that it had been several weeks since he'd had one this clear. He hoped that he would eventually get his memory back. Then he wondered if it would affect his relationship with the Americans that had befriended him.
He prayed it wouldn't.
~&~
Lia was nearly skipping as she entered the school. She was back on her turf, her playground. Her friends were surrounding her, and she felt perfectly at home. Immediately, they began to catch up on the missed times, starting with what happened to her arm and who Zack was. By the time she had finished explaining, Jack and Pyro had arrived, their hair wet.
"Morning practice?" she asked, surprised. "On the first day of school?"
"Trying to keep in shape for when we go back," Jack explained with a shrug. She glanced down at her left hand, on which was a watch. "Darn it…we have five minutes…"
"What do you have first?"
"Same thing you do, probably."
"Math, then…blech…" Lia rolled her eyes. It was very amusing; she and Jack had been in the same math class for four years. This was the third year having the class first period.
"Are you going to actually do all your homework this year?" Lia turned to Jack and attempted to hit her in the head.
"Children," Chris warned them, separating the two. Lia felt her heart leap as the skin of his arm brushed her hand, knocking it askew, and pulled back. Damn her feelings for him, but she just couldn't help it!
Jack seemed to notice and rolled her eyes. Lia felt her cheeks warm as a blush crept up her neck.
"Shut up," she told her.
Chris looked confused. "Huh?"
Both girls grinned at him innocently. "Nothing," they said in unison.
The bell rang.
"Dammit!" Lia cried, frustrated. "I hate that thing…sometimes I just wish I could go bash the system with a bat so that we can just sit here and talk forever."
"Blah, blah, blah," Jack said, picking up her backpack. "Hurry up…we want to beat the preps to the middle of the hallway so they can't make us late."
"Oh, yeah," Chris said sarcastically, also gathering up his gear. "Because that always happens."
"I don't know about you, but have you tried to get to the other side of the school from here? It's damn near impossible with them blocking the way! You have to grab someone and navigate them through."
Lia sighed and grabbed Jack by the handle of her bag ("No touchy!!") and began to haul her towards the six hundred wing. "Have you seen Kaori?"
Jack glanced around and then shook her head. Almost grudgingly, Lia let go of her bag and walked beside her. "She's probably sleeping in. You know how she is."
"She'll miss first period."
"Goodie for her."
"You'll miss her."
"Your face will miss her."
Lia raised an eyebrow. Jack was in a bad mood. "What happened at morning practice?"
Jack sighed. "Throat attack."
"Aaah…I'm sorry."
They stopped as a group of preps did the same in front of them. Lia waited for a few seconds before grabbing the shoulders of two girls and ripping them apart, ignoring their yells of outrage.
Stupid preps…
[VWW: Yes, this has actually happened. More than once. A day. ::Rolls eyes::]
~&~
Zack covered his mouth to hide the huge yawn that escaped his mouth. Chris had warned him that Health would be boring—especially since it was first period—, but he hadn't known it would be enough to put him to sleep. The teacher, even as energetic as she was, couldn't seem to grab the attention of anyone. One boy even sat in the back reading and she didn't notice.
He glanced at the clock. They had ten minutes left, and then he would be off to…Zack pulled his schedule out of his pocket; Biology, also with Chris. Due to the fact that the administration had had no idea where to put him, they'd made him take a placement test. They concluded that he should be taking sophomore classes, although they believed his English and History skills to be those of a junior. How they had decided this, Zack didn't know. He hadn't even known most of the questions on the tests that he was given.
"Hey, Zack." The Brit started at the noise and turned to his left. Chris had turned toward him and was idly tapping two pencils against the desk as though it were a drum.
"What?"
"I'm bored." Zack stared at him. Chris stared back. "What? Can I help it if Health is the most boring class in existence?"
"It's not that," Zack told him. "I'm bored, too…but why did you feel that you had to tell me that?"
Chris stopped playing his pencils and buried his face in his hands. "Never mind…."
The bell rang, and both boys jumped.
"Get those papers signed by your parent or guardian and have them back to me by Tuesday, then," the teacher said over the noise of chairs scraping against the floor and zippers of bags being closed.
Zack looked at the stack of papers that had been casually thrown on his desk, as though it didn't matter. Looking up at the thirty other students in the class, he realized that it probably didn't.
~&~
"…With liberty and justice for all." Jack sighed heavily and sat back down in her chair, listening idly to the chattering students surrounding her. Whatever had possessed her to take Creative Writing as a miscellaneous credit escaped her at the moment, and she was fervently praying that some of the giggling students who were in here would remove themselves from the class as soon as possible.
"Welcome back, Skyview!" the ASB president said over the PA. [VWW: Anybody remember who got voted in? I have no clue…oh, wait…its what's-his-face…uh…NOVA!!!] [Nova: Phillip. Remember now?] [VWW: Nope. I don't think I was there when elections took place, anyway….] Jack busied herself with pulling out a notebook and a pencil, as the teacher was writing directions to do so on the board. "We have some new and interesting programs available for this year."
There was the sound of the microphone switching hands. "We have been given the opportunity to host students from foreign schools again this year," announced one of the language teachers. Jack frowned for a moment and then recognized the owner to be her French teacher from the year before. "If you are interested in being a host, please come by to any of the foreign language teachers, or drop by the office and pick up a form. There are several countries in Europe from which to choose from, including but not limited to France, Spain, Italy, and the UK."
The UK? Jack thought, bewildered. What the hell…they speak English there!
~&~
"America? What the hell…they speak English there!" Ron burst out, surprised. Hermione ran a hand through her bushy hair.
"It's not just anywhere in America, Ron," she told him.
"New York?"
"No."
"Well, where, then? There's not really very many desirable places in America…oh, wait, Florida? California?"
"Washington," Hermione said, impatient with his rong guesses.
"WASHINGTON? As in DC? We're going to the capital?"
"NO, VANCOUVER, Washington."
"Canada? What? The notice says we'll be in America!" Ron looked thoroughly confused.
"Vancouver, Washington," she said, rummaging for a map in her bag. "It's right about here." She pointed to a spot on the map. "See?!"
"Oh." Then, almost as an afterthought, "Why are we going there?"
"I honestly don't know," Hermione replied, staring down at her shoe.
"What's there to see in Washington?" Ron fumed. "All they have is trees."
"And rain," Hermione told him. "Fall is the rainy season."
[Lia: Well, actually, so is winter. And spring. And some of summer.]
"Great," Ron said, disheartened.
Hermione stared at the ground and rubbed the nub of her quill against the edge of the inkbottle, something she knew drove—used to drive—Harry insane.
Ron, catching on to her silence, sat down beside her. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.
Hermione sighed and put her quill down. "It's just…something's not right about the way that girl just…disappeared. She existed, they know that. She was real, not something just conjured by magic. She had friends with her."
Ron furrowed his brow. "Why didn't they try to trace through them?"
"I'm not sure," Hermione said. "That's why there's something not right about it…as though there was something that they were trying to hide."
Ron sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. Then, "When do we leave?"
"Pardon me?" Hermione was bewildered—when had he decided that he was going?
"When do we leave? The exchange trip."
"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed. "Sometime later this month. You have to send home for permission and money."
Ron paled slightly. "Money?"
"Well, of course. You can't go for free." Hermione noted the crestfallen look on his face and grew curious. "What's going on now?"
"Money!" he cried.
"Well, I'm sure that—"
Ron interrupted her by getting up and storming up to his room. Hermione sighed again and then as though struck by a thought, grabbed a piece of parchment from the table top, dipped her quill into the inkbottle, and began to write.
~&~
"…So the teacher—I have no idea how to pronounce his name, he just said to call him Mr. S, I think—told us the basics of the class, gave us this huge book to lug around, and told us to read to the end of the first chapter and do all the study questions—due tomorrow! I'm going to have so much homework tonight!" Lia looked about ready to burst from anger. She took a huge bite out of her sandwich and chewed on it angrily.
Kirsten and Inad giggled. "We don't have any homework yet!"
"Biology?" Lia growled. Zack knew that she knew that it was an Advanced Placement class—or AP, as everyone kept referring to it as.
"Yup!"
Zack and the rest of the people laughed as Lia set her jaw and pounded on the table. "Why me?!" she asked, as though in grievance.
"Because you're Lia," Jack answered, pointing at her with a French fry.
"And your point is?"
"Exactly."
"Huh?" Zack grinned at the confused expression on her face.
"What did I just say?"
"You said, 'Exactly.'"
"Exactly."
"Jaaaaaaaack!" Lia whined. "Stop teasing me!"
Jack looked thoughtful, as though she was considering it. "Hmmm, I don't think so, it's funner this way."
Lia stuck out her lower lip in a pout and slumped down in her chair, mumbling, "Funner isn't a word…."
The table erupted into giggles again.
"So…" Chris said, picking up a handful of multi-colored goldfish from his plastic baggie.
"So, what?" Pyro asked, sitting down with a tray that contained a hamburger and fries.
"Sew your pants," Lia grumbled, and crossed her arms. She uncrossed them again and took another bite from her sandwich. Cheering up, she asked, "What do you think about this supposedly 'foreign' exchange student trip?"
"It's not going to work with the students from the UK," Jack said. "They speak English!"
"Yes, but it's foreign English," argued Chris.
Zack shook his head. "Oh, really, now."
Chris gave him a sheepish grin while Lia, Jack, and Pyro laughed. "Foreign English, Chris? There's no such thing," Lia said.
Chris opened his mouth to argue and then shut it again.
"You look like a fish," Lia told him.
"I am a fish," he said, and proceeded to fan out his fingers and place his hands on either side of his head, all the while puffing out his cheeks and crossing his eyes. The overall effect looked so funny (and not the least bit like any water creature Zack could remember seeing), that it sent the entire table into fits of laughter.
~&~
Lia walked into the choir room, a small flutter of anticipation in her stomach. She had been waiting for this all summer: her chance to be in a choir again, the chance to spend an entire period just singing her heart out.
She groaned as she heard a snide voice commenting on the amount of freshmen in the class.
MarySue Davis sat in the center of the room, surrounded by a small gaggle of girls, speaking as though she were queen and they her servants.
"Oh, hello, Lianne," MarySue said as Lia walked past.
Lia resisted the urge to glare at the seventeen-year-old and instead put on a sickly sweet smile. "Good afternoon."
"Well," MarySue started to say, "it would be, except that it's only 11:09."
Lia rolled her eyes. "Technicalities," she said, waving her hand impatiently. Suddenly spotting a few of her sophomore friends on the other side of the room, Lia gave MarySue another smile and hastily abandoned the closing trap for some friendlier conversation.
The bell rang, sealing the fate of anyone trying to leave, and the choir teacher walked in. Lia didn't recognize her, but the older woman looked to be quite capable, with light brown eyes and her gray hair smoothed back into a knot in the back of her head.
"Good morning, class," she said curtly, putting her briefcase down on top of the lid of the baby grand piano and then leaning on it. "I'm glad to see such a turnout, but I'm afraid that most of you will be leaving before the end of the month."
Goodie, Lia thought sarcastically. A mean choir teacher—just what I've always wanted!
"Whether you signed up for general choir by choice," she said, looking around the room and catching the eyes of multiple students, including Lia, "by pressure of your friends"—here she almost casually glanced at MarySue and her conceited bunch—"or because you need an art credit, and this seemed like the easiest class to get an A in, you will be expected to participate in all of the concerts, functions, and anything else I should choose to dump on you."
Swimming immediately popped into Lia's head, and she raised her hand.
"Yes, miss?" the woman asked, nodding her head towards Lia.
"What if we have after school activities that would interfere with the concerts?"
"I'll get to that. In the meantime, I'll call roll, so the main office doesn't come hunting me down at the end of the day like it does towards a certain PE teacher."
Strained chuckles came from the older students who knew that teacher, along with annoyed sighs from MarySue's group. The freshmen, who had no idea why they'd been stuck in general choir instead of freshman choir, looked somewhat afraid.
After she'd finished, she resumed her speech. Lia zoned off, staring off into space, and thought about everything except for what was going on around her. She didn't realize that she was being spoken to until the person next to her nudged her in the side.
"Ouch! I'm sorry…yeah?"
"I asked you what activity you have after school."
"I swim," Lia said with a shrug.
The teacher looked moderately interested. "Really. The school has a swim team?"
"Yes," Lia replied. "We've been undefeated for the past two years, and we're hoping to make this year our third. But I'm also on a club team for the city. So's MarySue," she added as an afterthought, jerking her head in the older girl's direction.
MarySue smiled sweetly at the teacher. "I'm considering quitting, though, so I can fully devote my time to singing," she said in such a sugared voice that Lia thought she was going to gag.
To the teen's disgust, the teacher seemed to buy it. "Aww…what a darling girl you are," she said, a slight British accent slipping into her voice. Lia raised an eyebrow, but didn't mention it to anyone else. Since nobody else reacted, it was best that she didn't either, she supposed.
The woman went back to her briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers from it. She proceeded to walk to each row of chairs and hand a handful to the first person.
"These will need to be signed and returned by tomorrow," she announced. "It's nothing big—just the shows that you will be required to attend, and the other small performances that only a select few will be singing in."
When Lia received hers, she automatically checked down the list to see if any conflicted with her swimming schedule. To her delight, only one of them did, and it was one that wasn't required.
"Now, onto other things, like the curriculum requirements."
Lia looked up from the paper in surprise.
"Requirements?" she heard a few people mutter. One of the boys who were sitting near Lia looked worried. She frowned, trying to think if she knew him. She decided that he was a sophomore, but his name escaped her at the moment.
"You will need to complete tests and the like—again, nothing earth shattering," the teacher said with a lazy wave of her hand.
"What kind of tests?" someone asked.
"Tests on your ability to read music, and your knowledge of the song that we are currently singing."
Groans filled the room, but Lia felt anticipation fill her stomach. Baskin, a friend of hers that she had known since sixth grade, had warned her that general choir was mostly trash. This revelation that it wouldn't be excited Lia. Glancing at the teacher (Lia suddenly realized that she hadn't introduced herself to the class), she noticed that the woman's gaze was directed towards MarySue. Lia grinned happily. Although she had a small smile on her face, Lia saw that her eyes were narrowed, as though she had MarySue figured out.
Perhaps this year will be a fun one after all!
~&~
"Ouch!" Zack rubbed his hand gingerly after a pile of fists had removed themselves off of it. He hadn't thought that this card game would be so dangerous!
"Sorry, Zack," Therese told him with a slight grin. "With 'Screw, you just gotta look out!"
"No one told me that this was going to be violent," he said, collecting his cards and shuffling them into a neat pile. At least he was winning, even if he was being hurt during the game.
The cards began to find their way into the center of the table again as each player played his or her hand down.
"So, Zack," Therese said.
Zack felt worry nagging the back of his brain. He could almost tell that she was about to ask about his past. "Yes?"
Thud-thud-thud! Hands flew onto the pile of cards as they all spotted the two nines, one on top of the other. Zack winced; his hand had been at the bottom. "Man! You're fast! You must have played this back in…well, wherever you're from. Or did you practice something else? Were you a total loser back home?"
"Be nice, Therese." Zack looked up at the murmur. A short Asian girl of around their age (Or, Zack thought grimly, about how old I think I am,) turned around in her seat to look at them. Her almond shaped eyes were familiar somehow. Zack furrowed his brow, trying to remember.
//Her almond-shaped eyes stared into his own, such a clear brown that it was almost painful.
"I don't love you," he heard his voice saying. "I'm sorry, but I don't."
Those eyes filled with tears, and the older girl turned and ran in the direction of the Ra—\\
"Zack!"
Zack nearly fell out of his chair in surprise. "What?"
Therese was holding her binder and busily stuffing papers into it, along with a small box that had held the cards. Zack realized that other people were packing their bags as well.
"Zack, the bell just rang. Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah," he told her, aware that his hands were shaking slightly. He gripped the top of his bag to stop the movement. "Yeah…I'm just fine."
~&~
Hermione was grinning so hard that her face hurt as she ran through the corridors towards Gryffindor tower. The halls echoed with her sprinting footsteps, a quick tap-tap-tap-tap! against a background of chattering students who had yet to return to their respective common rooms.
"Ron!" she cried and she barreled through the portrait hole. A few other students (whom she was quite sure were not called Ron, even by nickname) turned to stare at her unique display.
Ron raised his eyebrows at her. "What are you on about?"
Panting slightly, Hermione thrust two scrolls of parchment at him.
"You want me to check your homework?!" he said in disbelieving tones.
Hermione snorted with laughter. "Check my homework?" Her eyes sparkled almost maliciously. "Open them!"
Ron stared at her for a moment with a strange expression on his face, and then went to read the contents of the parchment. She hasn't looked this happy in ages, he thought, glancing up at her as he pulled the wax seal off of the scrolls with his finger nails. Not since Harry…. He shook his head, trying to get the image of the shattered glasses lying on the pavement out of his mind, and read the first few sentences of the parchment. His jaw dropped. "What?! They…paid in full?!"
Hermione grinned broadly. "Looks like you're coming with us after all, Ron."
He just stared at the parchment in his hands. "And the other one…?"
"For Ginny. She's coming, too."
Rampaging rhinos couldn't wipe the smile from his face.
~&~
Voldemort's cold, cool smile scared Wormtail slightly. As he stared out of the window of the Riddle House, his hands clasped behind his back, the Dark Lord seemed to be contemplating something…something devious. The sneer at the corners of his lips said as much.
"Trouble, my Lord?" he asked, his voice barely trembling.
"The war has begun," Lord Voldemort said, and laughed sharply as Wormtail frowned in confusion. "The war has begun, yet nobody realizes the turmoil that I am about to inflict upon everyone—Muggles and all."
"My Lord?"
"It has begun, Wormtail. And not a living being on this earth shall escape unscathed."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for all your wonderful reviews!
Next chapter: the plot thickens, new arrivals to the high school, and people begin to mysteriously disappear…. ::evil grin:: Look out for Chapter Nine: Voices In The Dark—coming soon!!