A/N: My apologies for the delay in updating. The story is finished and the rest will be posted within a few days.

Chapter 3

Gary enjoyed a few more leisurely kisses with Mary, time passing quickly so that it felt like only a few seconds before the commotion began. The two stones heard students running by, heard them screaming in terror.

"Gary!" hissed a cold high-pitched voice.

"I have to face this, my love," Gary murmured. "I'll be back."

He peeled himself reluctantly away from Mary and fell to the floor with a painful thunk. That was when Gary had his first view of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The evil wizard was not, as he had envisioned, an iron stone, but rather a man or something resembling a man. He had mean looking red eyes and a cold snake-like face.

"Gary," he hissed again. "I have come for you. It is time for your destiny to be fulfilled."

With that, Voldemort levitated Gary and stalked out of the castle. The teachers and students, who had inexplicably done nothing to stop Voldemort from either entering or leaving Hogwarts, returned to business as usual leaving Mary alone to cry for her love.

Gary was taken to an old mansion, where he met several mysterious dark men in masks and the mother of his love Mary. His father spent days teaching him to perform wandless magic, mostly dark spells, and telling Gary what his duties would be. Gary quickly learned not to argue or resist, for every time he put up a fight his father cast a spell that hurt him greatly and chipped small pieces away from his edges. It was a slightly smaller Gary that was returned to Hogwarts at the end of the week, bruised and afraid. He had been told that he must either kill Harry Potter or else die a painful death.

It was night when Gary returned to Hogwarts and the first thing he saw was Mary, looking as lovely as ever if a bit sad.

"Gary!" she called out. "Is it really you?"
"It's really me, darling," he answered.

Gary used his newly learned magical ability to levitate himself up to Mary's level.

"I thought you were dead," she sobbed.

"No," he said in a soothing voice. "Mary, I have to tell you something. My life is in danger and I don't think it's wise for us to be together until after the danger has passed. I don't want to put you in harm's way."

Tears were flowing down Mary's stone surface. "I don't care," she cried. "I love you. I want to stand by you."
"No!" he yelled.

"Quiet!" the nearby stones shouted. "We're trying to sleep!"

Gary lowered his voice. "I have to face this alone, my love, but if I survive then we'll be together. We'll leave Hogwarts and start a home of our own. Dumbledore can find other stones to replace us."

"I love you," Mary said quietly. "Please be careful."

"I promise."

Gary slowly lowered himself back to his place in the floor and thought about all that had happened in the last week. For years he thought that he was just a simple flagstone, the worst thing that ever happened to him was having strange children stare at him. Now he knew that he was actually related to many important and powerful people, including the Dark Lord himself. Not only that, but he was expected to either kill a student or die in his place. In Gary's mind there was no decision, he would die rather than betray a Hogwarts student, but he would rather live and build a life with Mary. Perhaps they could have little cobblestones of their own when it was all over. Eventually, he drifted into a troubled sleep, dreaming incoherently about Harry Potter, Voldemort, and himself and Mary surrounded by several cute little stones.