A/N - Truly sorry for the repost, but I changed a name while editing and just realized I missed updating a paragraph and I just know I'll get twenty "Who the heck are they talking about?" Reviews otherwise. The revisions are pretty minor. Also making sure this is showing up properly for everyone because I couldn't bring up the chapter on a different machine earlier.
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Chapter 66
The very weather itself seemed to have picked up on the tense and worried emotions that filled the hearts and minds of the gathered guests. It had become overcast almost to the point of being dark though it was still midday, snow falling like a blanket. Dumbledore and Kingsley had been called away on other business, but the others had all remained. They sat around one of the larger rooms in silence for the most part, no one wanting to even speculate at what might be happening at the hospital.
Kulia had been getting noticeably anxious. The twins tried to comfort her, but she barely seemed to notice them. Finally, she sighed in frustration, rising suddenly and starting to pace.
"Kulia..." Fred said softly, rising and trying to get her to stop pacing.
"It'll be ok..." George said, rising as well.
"They've barely been gone an hour..."
"We can't expect to have heard from them yet..."
She just shrugged off their hands, continuing pacing, looking progressively more aggravated. "I know!" She snapped. She paced faster, "I just... I feel..." She shook her head, wringing her hands, not sure what to say.
Suddenly she gasped and collapsed. George was closer but was only barely able to catch her before she hit. He eased her to the floor as she jerked in his grasp, letting out a strangled cry. Fred dropped down at her other side. They watched helplessly as she thrashed, her pupils shot so wide they looked like round black pools with thin rims of periwinkle. Then the tension flowed out of her as quickly as it had arrived and she let out a cry of anguish.
"Kulia!" Fred said, trying desperately to figure out what might be wrong with her.
George scooped her up gently, holding her as she started sobbing. "What's the matter?"
"My little one..." She sobbed.
"Is something wrong with the babies?" Fred asked in alarm.
She shook her head, still looking a bit disoriented, though her pupils were slowly returning to their usual slitted shape. "My little one calls to me... she's dying..."
"One of your gargoyles?" Charlie asked, having heard her use that term while he was caring for them.
She closed her eyes and nodded.
"Where are they?" He asked, looking up questioningly at the others who had all crowded around.
"Haven't seen 'em since the weddin." Hagrid said from the back. The others looked at eachother, nodding. No one had seen them since then.
"I sent them to your brother... to Percy... he was in danger..." She said weakly.
The Weasleys all stiffened at this. Molly clapped her hands over her mouth, then spun and hurried over to one of the house elves. It listened to her, gave a curt nod and dashed out of the room.
"What kind of danger?" Fred asked quickly.
"He wrote those articles. He knew he was marked, so he refused to stay here... he didn't want to put you all in danger..." She said, struggling to rise. The twins helped her to her feet. "Draco was worried about him... he asked me to send them to watch over him..."
"And one is hurt? What happened?" Arthur asked quickly.
Kulia shook her head, wiping at the tears. "She was confused, disoriented... I only got a glimpse..." She swallowed, her eyes tearing up again, "I just saw hooded figures and flashes of light... I don't know any more than that... I'm sorry..." She said, then turned as there was the sound of a sudden impact on the door. They all looked over, seeing the tips of talons protruding from the solid wood of the door. The door was yanked open, followed by the sound of splintering wood as the talons were wrenched free. The Thestral Stallion charged into the room, coming up and stopping beside Kulia.
She reached up, stroking her hand down his muzzle. "You heard her too..." She said softly.
The house elf Molly had sent off was already returning, carrying a box. Molly grabbed it from the panting elf's hands and placed it on the table, "I brought this so I could add Draco..." She said, opening it. Inside rested her clock from the Burrow. She let out an anguished cry, seeing the hand containing Percy's picture resting squarely on 'Mortal Peril'.
The Stallion shifted around so his side was facing Kulia, then lifting his wings away from his body slightly. "Thank you!" She said gratefully, springing up on the Stallion's back.
"Where do you think you're going?" Fred demanded.
She looked back at him, "I'm getting my bloody gargoyle!" She said stubbornly as the Stallion wheeled around and started for the door.
"Not without us you don't!" George said as they started after her. They both pulled out their wands and summoned their brooms. Arthur hurried out after them. He looked his sons over as they caught their brooms and mounted them.
"Bring him back, boys." He said softly.
They nodded, "We'll do our best." Fred said, then they zipped away after Kulia.
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The Stallion flew straight for the heart of London, but they had no fear of being spotted by Muggles. The storm had intensified and they could barely even see eachother, though they were flying in close formation, let alone where they were going. They had given up trying within a quarter mile, using their wands to magically link their brooms to the Thestral. As soon as Stallion felt the magical links fall into place he sped up. They had been going at full speed on their brooms, which was dizzyingly fast, but the Stallion had obviously been holding back quite a bit so they could keep up. The twins could do no more than hold on and pray the Stallion could at least see where they were going as they raced through the sky with supernatural speed.
By the time it finally slowed and started its descent they were all but frozen to their brooms. They had given up on trying to see and pulled their hoods all the way down over their heads and wrapped their sleeves around their hands within moments of leaving the grounds, but the robes they were wearing weren't their heavy winter ones. Never had they been so thankful for their mother's sweaters.
The Stallion set down and folded its tired wings. This was not a normal time for him to even be awake, let alone out flying great distances at full speed. He looked pointedly into a narrow alleyway a couple of yards before him. Kulia slipped off his back, patting his neck and starting forward. The alley was a bit narrow for the large Thestral and would likely damage his leathery wings should he try to slip through it.
The twins dismounted and left their brooms beside the Stallion, pulling off their frozen hoods and taking out their wands as they spotted the pock marks and other obvious signs of recent damage in the stonework around the alley. Their clothes were stiff and caked with snow, but Kulia (perhaps unsurprisingly) barely had a flake on her. The snowflakes drifted down on her, but then slid on past with the wind, not settling. She slipped her hood up. They were in Muggle territory and her brilliant white hair and pointed ears were hardly inconspicuous.
They followed the signs of battle down the alley, the eerie silence around them unnerving. At least the visibility was a bit better, despite the added darkness. The alley was so narrow few snowflakes even found their way into it, leaving no more that a dusting of snow on the ground though it was several inches deep everywhere else.
Kulia drew up against the wall as they neared a corner, then hazarded a glance. She tensed as she peered down the new passage. It widened quite a bit towards the end where it branched off into a number of other passages... and she could see her gargoyle...
It lay there lifelessly, the alley around it showing signs of a pitched battle, the sparse snow scuffed up by many feet and spattered with a great deal of blood. There were a number of black shrouded bodies laying sprawled around... and two still upright. One was obviously a man, facing away from them and crouched over the gargoyle's body. The other was smaller, almost petite looking despite the cloak it bore. It was crouched on the other side, but didn't seem to have caught sight of them yet.
Kulia approached angrily, intent on the figures before her. Fred and George followed after her worriedly, searching the bodies with their eyes for telltale signs of red hair. Suddenly they let out a cry as two of the 'bodies' they had just passed sprang up and grabbed ahold of them in one fluid movement. Kulia spun and found them each in the grasp of a shrouded figure, knives gleaming in the muted light as they pressed against their throats. She spun back to find the other figure standing mere inches before her. She raised her hands to cast, but he seized her wrists. He shifted his head back a bit and she saw under the hood.
"I knew you would come..." He said with a soft smile.
Kulia's struggling ceased immediately. "Balthys?" She asked in a soft, incredulous voice.
He grinned.
She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He made a little motion with his hand as he slipped his arms around her, and the two holding the twins released them. Fred and George quickly moved away from their former captors, trying to figure out what was going on.
"By the Gods..." Kulia murmured, still holding onto the man before her. "I thought you were long gone."
"No... just a bit out of touch. I know I've been terrible... I've known where you were all these years but I didn't even so much as write... please forgive me..."
She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Of course I forgive you... I'm just so glad to see you..."
He looked over at the Gargoyle. "She's badly wounded, but I think she'll make it if we can get her someplace safe and take care of her properly."
Kulia seemed to come to her senses, releasing him and hurrying over to crouch beside her gargoyle.
"I heard her call for help while we were on the outskirts of London. I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner."
"Did you see what happened?" She asked, looking up at him worriedly.
He gave a slight nod, "The tail end of it. The battle was almost over by the time we arrived. I'm afraid one of their charges was taken. Two men in black cloaks were able to Apparate away with them before we could intervene. The other gargoyle managed to get away with his charge, but by the time we finished off the remaining men they were gone without a trace."
"His charge? There were two?" Kulia asked, looking up at him in surprise.
He nodded. "Didn't get a very good look before he carried his away, but the way he was fighting the men off it was obvious that whomever it was was under his protection."
"But I just asked them to watch Percy. Who else would have been with him?" Kulia asked, puzzled.
"Penelope..." Fred said softly.
Kulia looked over at him in surprise.
"Percy's wife." George explained.
Kulia nodded thoughtfully, "That would make sense. They would guard the immediate family of the charge as well if they were near." She quickly cast a few more healing and stabilizing spells on the gargoyle, then rose. "We should get her back where it's safe... I cannot thank you enough for helping her... She's truly fortunate you were in the area... What are you doing here anyway?"
He chuckled softly, "How could I not be here? How often does one of our kind have twins?"
'Our kind'? Fred and George looked at eachother, then looked back at the two who stood there silently. The taller one lifted its head up a bit and smirked at them. The eyes peering at them from under the hood were a brilliant green... and slitted.
Kulia's eyes went wide. "How did you know?"
"I felt it of course. We all felt it..."
"All?" She looked down in surprise as the smallest figure wrapped its arms around her waist. The little figure lifted its head and the hood slipped back. There was a little elf no older than seven smiling up at her with bright green eyes. "Is this...?" Kulia asked faintly.
"Brought the whole lot. Couldn't rightly leave them behind, now could I? This is Celestial, and those two are Carys and Forester." He shifted closer, "Their mother named them." He murmured with a smirk.
Kulia turned her head, her eyes darting back to the other two figures. They took their hoods down and walked over to her. "Hey aunt Kulia..." The taller one said with a grin.
Fred and George looked at eachother and smirked in relief. For a moment there they were afraid she'd found some long lost lover. The younger elves were just as beautiful as Kulia was. From the names, they assumed the youngest was a girl, and of the other two, the taller appeared to be the other girl. They both looked to be in their teens, only the figure of the slightly shorter one giving any indication of gender. He obviously took after his father, who's broad shoulders and somewhat less delicate (yet still stunningly handsome) facial features left no doubt to his masculinity. The two teens didn't have quite as brightly white hair as Kulia, but it was hard to tell for sure in the muted lighting.
Balthys turned back to the wounded Gargoyle, and with a wave of his hand levitated it. He let out a little whistle and something suddenly dropped heavily from the rooftop above, landing in a crouch. It took them a moment to realize it was another Gargoyle, though not one of Kulia's. This one was nearly twice as big, and gave the impression of being much older, though it's fur was still jet black. It rose and sauntered over to Balthys, keeping its eyes on Fred and George as it did, then turned as it reached its master and they saw that it had black leather packs strapped to its back. Balthys pulled out a large blanket, then tossed it into the air. It settled, wrapping gingerly around the floating Gargoyle until it was well covered.
Fred looked over as George elbowed him, then followed his gaze. Five more Gargoyles sat perched on the rooftops around the alley, peering down at them silently.
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Draco made his way back down the corridor alone. They had been ready to give Ginny her pregnancy test by the time they were done patching him up, and he'd asked Snape to stay with her. He hadn't wanted to leave her alone, but he just couldn't handle not knowing what had happened after he left. It was already past the time she had scheduled her abortion for, and he knew there was no way he could reasonably expect that his mother had miraculously talked the woman into not going through with it, but there was an irritatingly irrational, yet persistent spark of hope in his heart that wouldn't seem to go away. He held his right arm protectively to him, the forearm wrapped almost painfully tight as the Skelegrow did its job. It hurt like Hell of course, but he barely noticed it. At least only one of the seven bones he had broken had been bad enough to warrant regrowing. He'd given himself a concussion as well... they had been able to fix it mostly, but there was still some residual swelling. They had given him a little soft pad that felt like it was made of gelatin and had been spelled to remain cold to put on the swelling. It just dangled uselessly from his hand.
He made his steps as soft as possible and darted quickly past the waiting room. He didn't really feel like having Blaise come out and try to comfort him right now. He was just a couple of doors from the room when the door opened. Several Healer's assistants he'd seen before came out into the hall and started walking towards him. He reached out and stopped one of them as the group passed.
"Can I help you?" She asked politely, noting the bandaged arm. Then of course she spotted the strange swirling color of his irises. He hadn't even thought to try to recover his glasses and see if they were fixable.
"The... the woman in there... were you... I mean did you...?" He couldn't quite force the words from his mouth.
She pulled her eyes away from the chaotic play of brown and gray, realizing that she was staring quite rudely. "Are you wanting to know how the procedure went?" She asked helpfully.
He stared at her silently, trying to swallow a large lump in his throat.
She took this for agreement. "It isn't a procedure we do very often obviously, but Healer Tirova is a very talented man and it went well. He's still finishing up, but he should be done soon. I'm sure he'd be glad to answer any questions you might have."
Draco just nodded numbly and stood there as she walked on after her coworkers. It was done. The baby was gone. He walked on, but not to the door. He passed it and went over to the far corner at the end of the hall just a bit further down. He put his back against the wall and sank down, staring at the door, feeling the last spark of hope die in his heart painfully.
He hugged himself, closing his eyes, the cold pack falling forgotten from his fingers. He couldn't handle even looking at the door. He pulled up his legs as his head drooped forward, tears stinging at his eyes. He tried to fight them but they kept slipping out. He couldn't recall ever crying as much as he had that day. It was irritating, but at the same time he wasn't sure he could have survived this day without the emotional release the simple reaction provided. He'd always thought of tears as an unforgivable sign of weakness, one he could never allow himself no matter what... but right now he couldn't even bring himself to care about what others might think of him if they were to see him like this. It just didn't seem to matter. He sat there for a time, trying desperately not to think about the painful events of this day... but failing miserably of course.
"You ok, mister?" a little voice asked.
He started slightly. He hadn't even heard the soft footfalls approaching. He rubbed the tears from his eyes, looking up. There was a little boy standing there, looking down at him with a concerned expression on his face. Draco blinked. The boy's warm, gentle, almond shaped brown eyes looked very familiar. He found himself staring. The boy had slightly mussed jet black hair and olive skin. Draco's eyes trailed down. He was wearing hospital robes. He couldn't possibly...
The little boy moved closer, dropping down and sitting near his side, watching him curiously. "You fall down?" He asked, looking at the bandage on Draco's arm.
Draco looked at his arm. His mind was too stunned to even comprehend why his arm was bandaged. He just nodded, "Kinda..."
"That must hurt... my daddy fell down too. The healers are putting him back to rights though." He said confidently. Then he looked at Draco curiously again. "You look sad..."
"I guess I am..." Draco admitted.
The boy nodded, then broke a piece off of the chocolate bar in his hand, holding it out to Draco. "Here. My mum always says if I'm feeling sad, a bit of chocolate will put it right. It's magic that way."
Draco reached out, taking the offered chocolate, trying to keep his hand from trembling.
"Well tuck in!" The boy said with a giggle when Draco just sat there holding the chocolate. "Chocolate melts, ya know!"
Draco gave him a little smile, eating the chocolate.
"There. All better." The boy said brightly when he'd finished it. "What's your name?"
"Draco."
The boy grinned. "There's a bunch of stars called that! My daddy showed me once. He says it's supposed to be a dragon, but I can't really see it unless he draws it for me. I'm Tobias. My sisters call me Toby, but they just do it to irritate me." He said with a grin.
"It's... nice to meet you Tobias." Draco said softly.
The boy grinned. "My sisters are down stairs, but they let me stay up here with mum and daddy." He leaned forward, lowering his voice confidentially, "I think it's cause I'm their favorite, but don't say nothin, cause parents aren't supposed to have favorites!" he whispered.
Draco smiled again at the impish grin on the boy's face.
Tobias leaned his head against Draco's knee, looking at him. "You have pretty eyes."
"Thanks. Most people think they look strange."
"Well, I like them. Wish I could have dancing eyes, but I'm ok with mine. They say I have my mum's eyes, but she's still got hers, so I think they're just being silly..." He said with a grin.
Draco let out a little chuckle. "Sounds like it..."
"Is it a spirit making your eyes do that?" He asked curiously.
Draco blinked in surprise. "Ya, actually... he's... the brown."
The boy nodded. "Spirits usually show up in the eyes." He said knowledgeably. "Do you know the other spirits?"
"Which other spirits?"
"The other two that were here before. Never heard of having three around all in one place, but I guess hospitals would be the place to find them."
Draco blinked. "What do the other two look like...?" He asked, getting an itching suspicion he knew already.
"Well," The boy said thoughtfully, "They look like regular people, but one's got pretty kinda white eyes that look like that stone in my gran's necklace.. the one that sparks all different colors when you turn it... the other's got red ones. Red is usually a creepy color in eyes, but I like his..." he said with consideration.
"You met them here, did you?"
The boy nodded. "Guess I fell asleep in the waiting room. The red eyed one woke me up. They're both quite friendly... I wasn't feeling good, so the one with white eyes gave me a hug and held me til I felt better. Mum says hugs are good for the soul... she also says spirits aren't good or bad, they just do good or bad sometimes... but I think those ones are good. Is your spirit good?"
Draco nodded his head. "He makes me feel better... makes me a better person..."
The boy nodded. "He sounds like a good one."
They both looked over as the door opened. Cullis Tirova walked out, pausing as he spotted them there. He came over, smiling. "Draco... I was just going to look for you..." He trailed off as his eyes fell on the boy beside him. Seeing his gaze, the boy smiled.
"Hello, Tobias." Cullis said softly, "I didn't expect to see you up..."
"I already took my nap!" Tobias said quickly, as if worried the man would march him off and make him go back to bed.
Cullis smiled. "Yes... I saw. How are you feeling?"
Tobias shrugged, "K. You my daddy's Healer?"
Cullis nodded, "I am."
"Is he gonna be ok now?"
Cullis smiled and nodded. "I think he's going to be just fine. You're going to have to take it easy on him for a while, but he should up and about in no time.
"Can I see him?"
"He's still asleep right now, but he did even better than expected, so he should probably be awake in just a couple of hours or so and I know he'll be glad to see you." Cullis assured him. "You can go back in the room now if you promise to be very quiet. Your mother is taking a little nap right now and she really needs some rest, ok?"
Tobias nodded quickly, then got to his feet and started towards the door. When he reached it, he turned and waved at Draco, chewing a mouthful of chocolate and grinning. When he was in Cullis quietly closed the door, then turned back to Draco, eyeing him curiously.
"What happened? I couldn't even get near him before without him shrieking in terror, and he gave absolutely no indication that he had any potential for improvement at all... Yet now he's walking around as if nothing happened! How is that possible?" He asked, obviously flabbergasted.
Draco shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I intent to find out..." he said, getting up and starting towards the waiting room.
"Don't you even want to know how the procedure went?" Cullis asked as he passed.
Draco came to an abrupt halt, but didn't turn. His heart was aching in his chest as his earlier pain was dredged up anew. "It 'went well'. Ya. I heard."
"And you didn't have any questions for me?"
Draco stood there, staring at the floor. "It didn't suffer, did it?" He asked softly.
Cullis came over, walking around until he faced him, then he reached out and lifted Draco's chin, searching his face. A little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You haven't a clue what I'm talking about, do you?"
Draco stared at his amused face, wondering what he was missing. "What do you mean?"
"I performed a slightly... different procedure than was previously scheduled... otherwise it would have been someone else tending to her. As a general rule I refuse to participate in any endeavor that would take a life. Just a personal decision."
Draco's eyes widened. "What kind of procedure was it then?"
"It's actually a very rarely used one... I've only performed it twice myself... well, I guess three times now. I don't think it's ever been used on someone who wasn't a werewolf..."
"A Werewolf?" Draco asked, getting confused.
Cullis nodded. "When a woman was bitten by a werewolf within the first two months of pregnancy or if a female werewolf became pregnant... The werewolf curse would be passed on to the baby if they were not removed before the next full moon. Usually it is best to use someone of very close blood, but I don't think that will become an issue. In most cases there is only about a fifty percent chance the baby will survive, but fortunately for this particular instance, the chances go up to around ninety percent if the female it is transferred to is already pregnant and the children were conceived within two or three weeks of eachother, because her body is already accepting the changes naturally..."
"Transferred?" Draco asked, breaking in.
"Surely you didn't think we could just grow it in a cauldron?" Cullis said mirthfully.
"But who did you...?" His eyes went even wider as Cullis smirked at him. Draco dodged around him, opening the door. He stared through it in disbelief.
A portable bed had been brought into the room and set up near Gray Feather's bed. His mother lay on it, looking rather pale in a hospital gown and half covered by a thin sheet. She appeared to be asleep, Lupin sitting in a chair at her side. Draco didn't miss the way his mother's hand clung to Lupin's, even though she was unconscious. For his part, Lupin didn't even appear to notice Draco, his eyes fixed in surprise on Tobias, who had climbed up into the bed beside his mother and was swinging his legs absently over the side, happily munching away at his candy.
Cullis took the door handle from his numb grasp, closing the door again. "Best to let them rest now. You can come back in an hour or so if you'd like. It should take and settle in within the hour if it's going to, which I believe is almost certain. And don't worry, even if, Merlin forbid, it doesn't, Narcissa's own baby will still be safe. It was never in any danger, otherwise I doubt Remus would have even suggested it. I understand you arrived by portkey?"
Draco nodded dazedly.
"Well I'm afraid she shouldn't use one of those for at least a couple of days, but it should be safe for her to Apparate within a couple of hours. I've talked to Healer Sanders about this substance currently in her bloodstream. I believe it will be a big help in keeping her strong enough to carry both babies to term..." He let off in surprise and Draco wrapped his good arm around him, hugging him.
"Thank you, Cullis..." He said in an aching voice, "I know how much you loath my father, and I just wanted to thank you for helping anyway. You have no idea how much this means to me..."
Cullis smiled, patting him on the back, "I believe your father is evil incarnate... there's no denying that... And he did procure my services in large part due to barely veiled threats that he might otherwise 'inadvertently' curse my family... but I've never had anything against you or your mother. How could I? I know better than most what he put you through. If you ever have need of my services, all you have to do is ask. That's why I became a healer in the first place. To help people."
Draco pulled away, sniffling slightly and nodding, an embarrassed blush coloring his cheeks. "Sorry... I've been a bit... emotional today..."
"So I've heard..." He said, eyeing the bandaged arm significantly.
Draco dropped his eyes, his cheeks approaching scarlet.
Cullis smiled. "You were just about to tell me what happened with Tobias I believe?"
Draco flashed him a smile, relieved to have the subject changed. He nodded. "He mentioned meeting two people whom I suspect are two that I arrived with..." He said, heading off towards the waiting room. Cullis followed after him eagerly.
It was empty.
Well, not completely. There was an empty chair hovering there where they had left Harry.
"Where could they have gone?" Draco asked, getting slightly worried. Grimsby still hadn't arrived, so Harry and the demon were in no shape to be wandering about, especially without the chair, and Blaise had been acting a bit off ever since they left the Manor. It was subtle, but Draco knew him well enough to pick up on it. The more he thought about it, the more his worry increased. "We have to find them..."
> > > > >
Draco and Cullis searched for quite a while, but couldn't find them anywhere. They asked the Healers and other staff members, but though most of them knew Blaise, none of them recalled seeing him recently. Draco hadn't realized just how very massive St. Mungo's was until he tried to search it top to bottom. On his own visits he'd mostly stuck to the Emergency area and the Youth Trauma Center...
Draco came to a stop as a thought occurred. "Where are the girls?"
Cullis looked over at him, "Girls?"
Draco nodded, "Tobias's sisters. Where are they?"
"The Trauma ward I'd imagine. Haven't seen them much myself except when they came to see their parents the other day. The memory charms appear to have been much more effective on them. They didn't stay long though. They kept asking what was wrong with Tobias."
"I'll wager that's where they went." Draco said, heading for the stairs.
When they got back down to the right level, they went down the long corridor leading to the Youth Trauma Center. Draco knew the way all too well. He hadn't thought to check there before since there was always a healer and several security type people there that wouldn't allow anyone entrance unless they had family members in the ward and were on a list. It was always a rather somber and depressing place really. Neutral pale gray walls and not much more than the occasional sounds of someone sobbing to break up the oppressive silence. They seemed to think any kind of stimulation would somehow traumatize the children even more.
As they approached the entrance to the ward, Draco looked around curiously. "Where is everyone?"
Cullis shook his head, looking just as mystified. "Never seen less than three or four people here..."
Draco went over to the small office behind the admission desk, which was the only door other than the one into the ward. He opened it and looked inside. "Bloody Hell!"
Cullis hurried past him into the room. There were two women and a man in hospital staff garb laying on the floor, as well as an Auror and two guards.
Cullis gave a little sigh of relief as he checked one of the women. "Sleeping."
"Well, I'd say we found them. Hold up!" Draco said quickly as Cullis took out his wand to revive the people. "Maybe we should check inside first... before we have a million questions to answer.
Cullis looked them over worriedly, but nodded, "Very well, but we should at least wake one to find out what happened."
"Ok, this one." He said, pointing to one of the women he knew quite well.
Cullis nodded, moving over to the woman, "Ennervate!"
The woman stirred, then sat up, shaking her head groggily and looking around in obvious bewilderment.
"You ok, Nancy?" Draco asked softly.
She looked up at him, "Malfoy?" she asked, surprised. She looked around at the others, "What...?"
"We were hoping you could answer that..." Cullis prompted gently.
She looked at him, obviously recognizing him as well. She scrubbed her hands over her face, then stopped, lowering her hands. "There... there were two young men..." She said, starting to remember, though it obviously took a bit of effort. "They wanted into the ward, but they weren't on the list... The one in white... he didn't listen. He just walked right past the guards... they tried to stop him, but then the other one..." She shuddered. "I've never heard anything like that before..."
Draco sighed. So the demon had stunned them in his native language. That suddenly struck him as odd. How could the demon have enough strength to cast? Last he'd seen him he couldn't even hold his head up proper without passing out.
"The children!" She said worriedly as she recovered from her shock. Cullis lent her a hand as she struggled to her feet, but as soon as she was up properly she was all but sprinting out the door. She had her wand out, a determined and very protective look on her face and looked fully capable of ripping the boys to pieces if they had injured the children under her care.
"Take it easy Nan." Draco said as he caught up to her. "I don't think they hurt anyone. Let's just figure out what's happening before you go blasting at anyone, ok?"
"If you're wanting them in one piece, you'd best hope they haven't touched any of my kids!" She snapped angrily.
Draco sighed and just tried to keep up with her.
"There's no one in the private suites right now, but we have nearly two dozen in the main ward, and a further three children in the werewolf containment room."
Draco just followed wordlessly. He'd never been in the main ward. His father had always insisted that he be given an private room so he wouldn't have to 'mingle with the commoners'. In truth, this translated into him not wanting anyone to see the state Draco was in and tell others. Lucius didn't want his 'recreational habits' to put a dent in his social image after all.
She hurried over to a door that bore a warning sign declaring the occupants to be carriers of the werewolf curse. She opened the door, peering inside anxiously. The candles were burning low and the three in the room all appeared to be asleep. She hurried over to the first one. It was a boy of perhaps thirteen, though Draco was pretty sure he didn't go to Hogwarts. From the insignia on the robe hanging at his bedside he appeared to go to be a Beauxbatons student.
"What on earth are they doing asleep at this hour?" She muttered as she leaned over him. She reached out and gently shook his shoulder. His head lolled to the side a bit, but he didn't so much as change his breathing pattern, which as slow and deep. "Justin? Justin, wake up dear..." She said, quickly getting alarmed. She pulled out her wand, but Cullis quickly stopped her.
"We don't know what's been done to them, so casting spells on them blindly could prove quite dangerous. They appear to be stable for now. Let's go check on the other children before we try anything rash."
She looked down at the boy worriedly, then over at the other two. There was a girl of about ten and a little boy who couldn't have been more than four, who both also appeared to be in a deep sleep. She let out a worried sound, but nodded, reluctantly moving back out into the hall. Draco practically had to jog to keep up with her after that. They turned down another hall and he saw a door at the end marked "Main Ward. Family members only."
As soon as she pushed through the door and into the room Draco knew there must be something amiss. She stopped dead in her tracks, staring around in stunned silence. The room was far from somber, and from her reaction the change was new. The floor was covered in a rich carpet of what appeared to be real grass and the walls and ceiling were all brilliantly painted with outdoor-type scenery. There were not only trees and bushes, but also long stretches of flower covered meadows. The images were even moving! The clouds drifted lazily past overhead, the trees shifting in the nonexistent breeze while unicorns frolicked and fairies and oddly cuddly looking dragons flitted about. All the torches were out, but with the painted sun shining down on them it made no difference. The only thing missing was... the children.
The beds were still sitting there in neat little rows, but they were all empty. Ahead, at the end of the long room, quite a number of privacy dividers had been arranged, cordoning off a section of the room. It was under a dense section of 'forest' and so looked to be relatively dark inside with the dividers in place. There was something that looked oddly like a Muggle spotlight hovering near the ceiling, pointed down into the section.
As they cautiously approached, they all started as they heard a collective roar of laughter. They looked at eachother, then picked up the pace. Draco could hear an odd little squeaky voice talking, then another calm and dignified voice replying, but he couldn't make out the words. There was more tittering, then it died away as the voices started talking again.
When they reached the enclosure, Draco peeked through a small break. He could see children sitting and laying around on the grass, all facing the back wall. He waved Nancy back, then shifted the divider out a bit and slipped in. He stared, stunned. Against the far wall were a number of bedside tables pushed together into a makeshift stage on which, lit up by the 'spotlight', stood a couple of what looked like muggle puppets except for their lack of strings.
The odd little dolls looked decidedly familiar. One was a dignified old wizard wearing blue robes with a long flowing white beard and hair. The other... was a rather dumpy, daft looking looking wizard that bore more than a passing resemblance to Cornelius Fudge. The children were all watching them raptly. The little Fudge puppet was blustering on about how everyone had to do what he said because he was in charge. The children all booed and hissed at him, and a number of them tossed handfuls of popcorn at him. Draco smirked, noting that each child had a little red and white striped bag of popcorn and a drink in a covered cup with a straw out of the top as if they were at a Muggle Theater. The Fudge puppet puffed up a bit indignantly (literally expanding slightly), and started chastising them in his little irritating, squeaky voice.
Draco tried to shift up a bit to see if there was someone behind the tables, but he couldn't see anyone from that angle. He started moving around, but then paused as the Fudge puppet fell silent and both puppets slowly sank down onto the table lifelessly.
"You mind? This kind of requires line of sight."
Draco spun around. There were two red eyes glowing up at him brightly. Draco blinked in surprise. Harry was laying there casually, propped up with half a dozen pillows.
"Budge up, mister!" One of the little boys near the back said. Draco looked over and saw all the children staring at him.
"Um... sorry..." He said contritely, moving aside.
The little puppets got back to their feet and the little Fudge continued his tirade, going so far as to declare himself supreme ruler of the universe in a triumphant little squeak. The little Dumbledore shook his head in obvious exasperation, then pulled out his little wand and flicked it at the Fudge doll. Fudge's trousers immediately fell around his ankles, revealing white boxers covered in tiny red hearts. Little Fudge immediately bent over to pull them up and the little Dumbledore gave him a swift boot in the rear, sending him flying off the edge of the table. The kids practically screamed with laughter, clapping enthusiastically as little Dumbledore bowed humbly, then hopped down off the table and into a large trunk that lay open just to the side of the tables.
"Who's next?" Harry called out to the children. All of their hands shot up immediately as several started hopping slight with eagerness.
Harry looked them over contemplatively. The children didn't look put off in the slightest by the way his eyes glowed. "Ok... you and you." He said, pointing to a little boy and girl. The rest looked a bit put out, making little petulant sounds. "Don't worry, you'll all get turns." He said to them, then looked at the two he had picked as they scampered over to him. "Any preference as to which you want?"
"Can I have Fudge? PLEASE?" The boy begged eagerly.
Harry grinned and handed over a small coin-like device. "You got it!"
The girl looked at the other coin he held thoughtfully. "Can I pick a different one?"
"Sure." Harry said, handing her the little controller. "Just put this back and pick whichever one you'd like."
The girl grinned broadly and took the coin, hurrying over to the trunk and digging through it as the boy set the Fudge doll back on the stage and resumed his seat. From what Draco could see, there appeared to be a good couple dozen dolls in the trunk.
The Fudge doll got back to its feet and started strutting around like a peacock, preening vainly. Draco stifled a burst of laughter as the girl made her selection and set a particularly irritated looking goblin on the table. She took her seat and the goblin started chasing Fudge around in circles, prodding his rump with something like a pitchfork. The little Fudge screamed like a woman every time he got prodded, squeaking on as he ran about how he was going to throw the goblin into Azkaban for poking the 'royal bum'. The other children were all laughing riotously.
"I think that one's going to be a favorite..." Pax said mischievously. "Be a dear and give us a hand." He said with a smirk, holding up an arm.
Draco took hold of it with his good arm and helped pull him to his feet. He seemed markedly lighter now, almost normal. He followed him out of the little enclosure and shifted the screen back into place behind them.
Nancy was standing there, looking completely stunned. As she pulled her eyes from the screens, she caught sight of Pax's eyes and quickly pulled out her wand. Pax rolled his brightly glowing eyes. "Typical." He muttered irritably.
"What did you do to those children?" She demanded.
"What? You have a problem with how they are now? Because if you want the little trembling balls of trauma I found when I got here back, I can do that." Pax said a bit testily.
Her eyes strayed back to the screen. She'd never have imagined any of those children acting as carefree as they appeared to be now. Even the ones on which the memory charms seemed to work completely always retained a slightly withdrawn manner that they could never seem to explain or reverse. She quickly mustered her resolve. "What about the ones in the werewolf ward?"
"Yes indeed... I put those in a vegetative state of course. I was quite shocked you'd left them this long. It's nearly the full moon. Are you daft?"
"Vegetative...?" she said in alarm, "You put them back to rights or I'll..."
"Or you'll what?" Pax sneered. "Poke me with your little wand? Please. You're more likely to hurt one of these children with your misguided efforts than so much as tickle me. If you haven't managed to figure it out on your own, I'm a bloody demon! You try to wake those children and I'll turn you into a mouse and drop you in a snake pit!"
"Werewolves can still be productive members of society!" Nancy replied indignantly.
"I'm not refuting that, I just don't see why those kids have to become them. They certainly seemed eager to avoid it!" Pax shook his head, looking over at Draco in askance. "What the bloody Hell is her problem? Does she want the curse to have a chance to settle in?"
"Hold on..." Cullis said quickly, "Are you telling me you can prevent those children from becoming werewolves?"
Pax looked over at him as if he were a bit slow, "All you have to do is nullify all brain activity a few days before the full moon and leave them like that until after the full moon is over for the first couple of months. The curse requires at least some level of consciousness to delve deeper and take hold, and it can only survive in a victim for about six to eight weeks unless it can insinuate itself and settle in properly. Once it's in, there's no help for it that I know of. You look to be a healer, surely you know that."
Cullis blinked at him, wide eyed. "So... we knock them out for the full moon a couple of times and they'll be ok?" He asked, clearly shocked.
Pax looked over at Draco in exasperation. "Why is this such a foreign concept? We've been using the practice for centuries. None in my care have ever turned."
Draco was staring at him. "You mean to tell me the Malfoys have know how to prevent the werewolf curse from being spread for centuries?"
Pax blinked, comprehension dawning. "They never told anyone... did they?" He asked softly.
Draco shook his head.
"Well that explains a lot." Pax sighed, then he stepped up to Cullis, taking his head between his hands and pressing his forefingers against his temples. Cullis was so surprised he didn't even have a chance to pull back. His eyes fluttered shut and he wavered slightly, then Pax released him and his eyes opened once again. "There. One little werewolf preventer..." He looked over at Nancy. "You want to know how as well?"
Nancy shot a glance over to Draco. Draco gave her a nod. She bit her lip, hesitantly putting her wand away. If there was a way she could prevent the werewolf curse being passed on to innocents she was willing to take a risk.
Pax reached over, repeating the process on her as Cullis started shaking off the disorientation having information thrust into your mind so suddenly often caused. "It's that simple?" He asked, surprised, "That one little incantation? To think... all the people who could have been spared a life of pain and persecution..." He said, shaking his head.
"Well why don't you just worry about the future ones you have a chance of preventing?" Pax asked with a little smile.
He sighed and nodded.
"What are you doing up and walking around anyway? And where's Blaise?" Draco asked, glancing around. He certainly hadn't seen him in with the children and there weren't many other places in the room to hide effectively.
Pax shrugged. "Wherever there are damaged souls I imagine. Children call the loudest, but I'm sure there are a good many more here in need."
"Damaged souls? Call? What the bloody Hell are you talking about?"
"T'was his decision..." Pax said with a smirk.
Draco's eyes snapped over to him, narrowing. "What have you done to him, demon?"
"He wanted to understand what he was feeling inside... I just... explained it to him. He would have eventually come to it on his own of course. There was no going back once he'd absorbed those soul fragments..."
"What. Did. You. Do?" Draco growled through clenched teeth, tired of Pax's beating around the bush.
Pax smirked. "He went too far in the transformation to wraith. He'd already been changed inside. All that was left was the extraction of his soul..."
"You stole his soul?" Draco snapped immediately.
Pax snorted at him irritably. "If I had you'd all be dead by now. Don't be daft!"
Draco relaxed a bit, letting him go on.
"As I was saying..." Pax said, giving Draco a little glare, "He'd already gotten the capacity, he just needed the means. I had only begun to lose my hold, the smallest pieces filtering out first... What I released were just fragments of ancient souls that had already dissolved into the particles you saw... these are normally just useless clutter... except perhaps to wraiths. Wraiths can utilize them to repair damaged souls..."
"Wraiths just steal souls. Why would they bother fixing them?" Cullis asked curiously.
"Well... they are what Muggles refer to as 'obsessive compulsive'. They can't abide the presence of a damaged soul. They feel the compulsion to repair it before stealing it. That's why Blaise couldn't stand my touch before. Demon's are close enough to souls to trigger the compulsion, and I had taken considerable damage. So I just helped him realize his potential and he fixed me up... then we... took a stroll."
"He fixed Tobias?" Draco asked softly.
Pax rolled his eyes. "Hardly all on his own. Trauma in children this young tends to damage their tender little souls as well, and that he fixed. As for their memories, I removed those pathetic charms you put on them. Do those things ever really work? It's like throwing a sheet over a dragon and pretending that makes it go away!"
"They have their memories back?" Nancy asked in alarm.
Pax rolled his eyes again, then held up his hand, shooting out a full set of shadowy talons. "That's what these things are for! I stole the memories. Now there's no chance they will resurface later. They're no longer there. Oh, and by the way... if you send little Sally back home and that bastard her mother is seeing touches her again I swear I'll hunt him down and kill him myself!" Pax growled, his eyes burning brighter with anger.
Nancy put her hand over her mouth, looking towards the enclosure. "It's her second time in here... we've suspected... we just couldn't prove it..."
"Well that's because the bastard's been putting memory charms on her before even bringing her in. Unfortunately he's not great shakes at memory charms and he was making a shambles of her mind. Give me a pensieve and I'll give you the memories you'll need to convict him."
Nancy didn't need to be asked twice. She dashed out of the room immediately.
"So can you find Blaise?" Draco asked worriedly.
Pax sighed, starting slowly after Nancy. "Just go where there's the most pain. You'll have to forgive me if I'm not simply springing up and hunting him down for you... I'm a bit done in right now. Harry took the brunt of the abuse earlier since he retained charge of the body while I was so badly damaged, but fixing up that many kids wasn't easy. I'll need a bit to shake it."
"Potter's alright though, isn't he?" Draco asked quickly.
Pax smiled. "Worried over Potter's well being now, are you?"
Draco rolled his eyes, "Hardly, but there's a number of people who'll be after my hide if anything happens to that silly prat!"
Pax grinned. "He's taking a nap. He'll be up in a bit no doubt."
Draco nodded, "Fine, just cut out the glowing eyes thing before they sic Aurors on you!" He said, then glanced back one last time as they went out the door. "You do the makeover on that room?"
"What? It was depressing in there. They wanted to go outside, but I thought others might object, so I brought the outside in."
"And the dolls?" Draco asked with a smirk.
"The puppets. It's called transfiguration, master. Pay a bit more attention in class and you might learn more. That McGonagall actually passes on a bit more than the books on the subject do. Did you like 'Fudge'? He used to be a bedpan..." He said with a snicker.
"Eww..." Draco said, wrinkling his nose (but with a definite smirk on his lips).
"Oh stop. I used a cleansing spell on it first."
Pax came to a stop once they reached the admission desk to the ward, where Nancy was already setting down a large pensieve. Without comment, Pax pulled out Harry's wand and proceeded to pull silvery strands of thought from his temple with the tip, depositing them one after the next into the pensieve. By the time he was done, he'd deposited well over a dozen memories. "Keep them as long as you'd like. I'm not eager to have them flitting back to me." he said as he tucked away his wand again.
They all looked up as a soft chime-like tone sounded from overhead. "Healer Allcome to Emergency. Healer Allcome to Emergency please." A soft, feminine voice said calmly before fading away.
"That's not good!" Cullis said, heading for the stairs immediately as Nancy darted into the other room to revive the others. Draco and Pax hurried to catch up with Cullis.
"Who's Healer Allcome?" Draco asked as they hurried up the stairs.
"It's a code they use to keep from alarming the other patients. Adapted from Muggle hospitals from what I'm told." Cullis said hurriedly, "Healer all-come. All available Healers are to report to the Emergency room. It's very rarely used, so whatever it is must be bad."
"Well if there's a bunch of hurt people, we'll probably find Blaise there sooner or later." Pax said, hurrying after him, though he was looking a bit winded.
Draco sighed. He didn't really want to be around a bunch of people right now, but it didn't look as if he had much of a choice. He pulled up his hood and followed.
Luckily the Emergency area was only two flights up. When they left the stairwell all three of them stopped, staring in horrified shock. There were dozens of people already being led or levitated through the emergency room lobby, all looking like they'd been through a war. They had every manner of injury imaginable. Draco had never seen so much carnage in one place before... and there were more people pouring from the apparation/port key arrival room in a constant stream.
Gladys was running around, having to rank the severity of each person's injuries and directing them into different rooms accordingly. Cullis immediately ran over and caught one badly bleeding woman as she swooned, carrying her over into one of the rooms so he could tended to her.
"Ruddy Nora!"
Draco turned and saw Becka standing beside them, staring at the arrivals, looking just as horrified. She looked over and spotted them, then grabbed their arms, pulling them over to what looked like a storage closet. She released them and opened it, rummaging around in the closet.
"What happened?" Draco asked softly, unable to tear his gaze from the injured people.
"They said Death Eaters attacked Diagon Alley! On today of all days!" She growled in disgust.
Draco looked over at her, startled as she started pulling off his robe. "What are you doing?" He asked in surprise as she prized it off him, then fished in the pocket, handing him his wand. In answer, she picked up a white robe and shoved it at him. He unfolded it and stared at it. It was a trainee robe. "What exactly am I supposed to do with this? I'm not a Healer in training!"
"Oh please! You know more healing spells than half the helpers around here!" Becka said as she pulled a triage robe on in place of her usual lab robe.
Draco looked over at Pax, but he was already pulling on another set of trainee robes. "Come on, master." He whispered mirthfully, "This should be fun..."
"You have a pretty twisted sense of 'fun'." Draco muttered, looking back at the refugees. "Besides, most of these people probably read that bloody article. I doubt they'd find my presence comforting!"
Pax whipped out his wand and waved it at him. Draco felt a breeze whip through his hair, making his scalp tingle. "There. No one ever need know who you are now." he said with a smirk, then he made another motion with his wand and the scar on his forehead shimmered and disappeared.
Draco stared as he took off his glasses, tucking them away safely in his new robe. Without either easily identifiable feature, he looked rather normal. Just like someone who vaguely resembled Harry Potter.
Becka looked up and smirked. "That's a nice look on you Drakie!" She said, hurrying past.
Draco grabbed at a bit of his bangs, trying to hold it out where he could see it better. It was sandy brown.
Pax chuckled. "It's only a glamour. Don't fret." He said, patting his cheek and heading off towards the injured people.
"Oh bloody Hell..." Draco said with a soft sigh, pulling on the robe and starting after him.
> > > > > > > > > > >
A/N - gotta get to work now, but I wanted to post this before it got to be TOO long between posts. Kindly forgive any spelling errors. Tired as usual, and as I said, running late so I don't have time for another read through.
Fuzzybubbles - ok... a listing of babies and their parents. Here goes... Ginny is of course having Draco/Darien's baby (The only single in the lot now!); Pansy is having fraternal twins, one is Ron's one Blaise's; Kulia is having identical twins, both fathered by Fred and George; Narcissa is now having twins as well, one is Blaise's, the other belongs to Lucius and Gray Feather, and therefore, strangely enough, has no direct blood relation to either Narcissa or her own baby (who is now its fraternal twin) at all. That's it for now... it's like raising rabbits, innit? ;P
Reed - I assume you're asking how Tobias is related... well if you couldn't tell from this chapter, he is the woman's (Gray Feather's) son, the one who was also... 'injured' by the Death Eaters. He is the one Dumbledore said had too strong of a magical talent for the memory charms to be effective without doing irreparable damage, and the Healers said he was most likely going to spend the rest of his life in the trauma ward. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, though of course that's the Muggle term for it.
LadySnake - I've already been nominated and the link to my story has been placed on the website under Original (rated Hard R at my request), but thank you for the thought. All that's left now is for them to find enough judges and get a few more entries. Not sure when we will find out the results (My entry alone probably added at least several days worth of reading to their plate!), but she said after the judges make their decision there will be a viewer's choice poll that will be open to everyone. I'm not sure how exactly that will work yet as it's not up quite yet, but I'll be sure to tell you all when I find out! Of course if you find any other contests you want to sign this fic up for, feel free :)
Appletini84 - Man are you psychic! I was just thinking the very same thing! (Lucius sharpens his knife and gets out the bamboo slivers) (evil grin) If only they wouldn't use names that sound too weird to be real names...
Madbiker52 - well, Blaise is, as you said, a very flamboyant character. He's always been completely open with his sexuality and never been the type to calmly insinuate himself into a story. To make his introduction subtle would be 'out of character'. I'll look at it when I'm editing, but don't know that I'll change anything. He's the type to enjoy shocking others :)
Jennyrain - the summary isn't misleading, it's just really outdated. I haven't bothered to update it since this fic began (except I updated the little teaser sentence once by removing the word "mild" from in front of slash ;P). This started off with my intending just a short story to see if reviews were a bit better in the Harry Potter section (since my post in Enterprise met with a truly abysmal total of 4 reviews). I just intended it as a bit of... well almost fluff, which was only supposed to be like 10 chapters tops, and I had no intention of getting graphic with the slash or do much more than simply make the occasional insinuation that it was happening. The problem is the characters. They got out of hand. Blaise is just too bloody irrepressible and he kinda took over. Not to mention the readers expressed a definite interest in reading more 'slash' and asking to see more of the relationship developing between Ron and Blaise and boom. shrugs To tell you the truth, I'm merely the writer. I have very little say over what my characters do. To be honest, I sometimes write just because I want to know what happens next! The 'planned' ending to this story and how I'm getting there has changed well over a dozen times already, so I don't even have a clue how it will end. I just have a vague idea of what I want to happen. I sometimes jot down what I want to happen in the next like four or five chapters, then the very next chapter changes everything and out go the others. ;P And I can't help but notice a definite hesitance and borderline fear in the suggestion that you see a problem with my fic. People keep walking on eggshells after I chew someone out... but I don't freak at just any suggestion... I just get upset at the ones that are hurtful and unconstructive. In fact, that I can think of, I have only ever really bitched at two people specifically (though one was repeated a couple times) and a couple of general gripes about some overall nagging. You gave reasons why you weren't all that pleased with the slash... I can understand that. It's not for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with that. I haven't updated the first chapter because I haven't been refreshing any of my chapters yet unless they have technical problems, but I am correcting my own copy as I reread it and I will probably go through and repost the chapters with the corrections at some point (probably when I'm done, or I may take a couple of days to do that before the judging starts actually), but right now I don't want people seeing I posted and then getting disappointed when they find out I was just reposting for some spelling errors. When I was a reader I always hated that. I toyed with the idea of making a slash-free version of this fic a while back... but as you've pointed out, that's virtually impossible now. This story wouldn't be this story without it. :P See? I didn't even use my claws! I was nice:)
That said...
Fiby - best bloody suggestion I've heard yet. Definitely run anything you intent to post where thousands of people can see it past someone else first. I don't need everything candy coated, but I do need reasoning behind negativity, otherwise it's nothing but hurtful and as you can tell I don't take well to that. I've been around blunt people before, and I can deal with them, but even they didn't seem to feel the need to include some kind of slight or negative comment every time they talked to me. Maybe you just don't see it, but it's there and it makes it very difficult for me to 'appreciate' your reviews like you seem to think I should. Saying sorry at the end of each review, surprisingly enough, does little to counter the emotional affect of the review. That's like calling someone some really foul names, and then saying 'no offense' and expecting that to be ok. Ya know what? It isn't. And just a hint: if you start a sentence with the words "You people", 9 times out of 10 it WILL be insulting. I certainly hope my fellow writers on here are not getting similar treatment, because if they are I implore you to have someone else proofread and post reviews for you, because something you might not even think is bad might well cause a more fragile writer to cease posting. You don't seem to realize just how vulnerable putting your art out there for everyone to see can make you feel. You are leaving yourself completely open where anyone can see... and negative comments made when you're that emotionally exposed can be devastating. I've known some very talented writers that have stopped writing simply because of a couple of harsh words, and admittedly it has very nearly happened to me as well, and I would hate to see that happen to anyone here. As for your comment about you've probably read more books than me... perhaps, but you don't know me, so I don't see how you could even hazard that guess. I think it's pretty safe to say I have read at least a thousand books in my life, and I may well be underestimating. It's the only way I made it through puberty (and college for that matter), so let's not go making baseless assumptions. I think that's what upset me the most about your latest review... you make a shitload of assumptions about me, who I am, what my background is, and even what I'm FEELING when you have no fucking clue. I refuse to have a one-upmanship contest with you over who's had a shittier life, because I know full well there are tons of people out there that have had it much worse than me... but on the other hand, I have some pretty decent ammo in that field myself! You also insinuate that some people are lying to me when they say they like my work, which means you are making assumptions about them as well. Why would they take the time to write a review telling me they liked my story if they didn't? That makes no sense whatsoever. If they didn't like it and just wanted to be POLITE, they could simply not comment. Believe it or not, the people who are putting down my story are not the only ones capable of telling the truth. Next time you write a review, if you aren't going to have someone else check it first, why don't you at least try reading back through it as if this is a review you have received on your own work (Which I would LOVE to see by the way!). Maybe that will give you a hint as to how very insulting it can be. I'm done being all "high and mighty" now. I certainly hope you are too. This will be my last response to you here unless you sign up, in which case I'm sure you can expect email responses to any further reviews.
Anonymous reviews are no longer accepted for my story. I truly apologize to those of you good reviewers who simply don't have an account here. I just wanted to say that I do appreciate most of you. I hope the inability to review anonymously will not detour you all, but I will understand if you don't sign up simply for my benefit. You can always still email me comments if you just don't want others seeing them. That's certainly understandable considering the nature of my story. Many people probably just don't want to admit they read anything containing slash and such. I'm sorry this step has become necessary, but I think I'm gonna go mental if I have to hear one more person slight me and/or my work without the ability to address them directly. I'm sure those of you who provide constructive reviews are tired of seeing me bitch and complain at someone for a whole page just because I have no other recourse to address their comments. Not saying I'll never bitch at someone at the end of the chapter again if I think others need to see my response, but hopefully it will cut down on the clutter.