Disclaimer: All things Ats, BtVS, and Harry Potter belong to their respective owners, Joss Whedon and JK Rowling. However, the plot is mine as far as I can tell, so please ask if you want to use it.
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Cordelia rolled over and sighed in frustration, punching the pillow on the small bed that had been added to Ginny's room for the week. She couldn't sleep again, and this time it WAS the mattress. She gave the offending item one final glare before climbing out of bed and heading down the stairs for a glass of water and a piece of leftover birthday cake. However, when she reached the kitchen, the light was already on.
She debated whether to continue on or to go back up to bed. She preferred to be alone, as everyone but Remus and Harry was angry with her for yelling at Dumbledore, but the thought of the hard mattress waiting for her at the top of the stairs was enough to make her square her shoulders and continue on. Besides, she was Queen C. She didn't run from someone just because they could (literally) hex her into oblivion.Taking a deep breath and plastering a smile on her face, Cordelia stepped into the kitchen prepared to utter a falsely cheerful, "Couldn't sleep either?" to whoever was in the room, only to have the words die on her lips at the sight that greeted her.
Molly Weasley crying at the table, a cold cup of tea sitting forgotten by her hands.
Cordelia felt an irrational fear rising in her throat and when she finally found the strength to speak her voice was choked. "Has something happened? Oh, God, is Harry all right? I thought he was asleep upstairs! It's not Remus is it? Did he get hurt on some sort of top secret Order mission?"
Despite her tears, and the shock of seeing the normally composed and intimidating young woman standing in her nightgown in the middle of the night and panicking, Mrs. Weasley still managed to speak. "No, no, dear. It's nothing like that. I couldn't sleep so I came down to get a cup of tea, and I found this lying on the table," she said, gesturing at a piece of paper Cordelia hadn't noticed before. "It's a letter from my other son, Percy. It just upset me is all. I'm sorry I scared you."
Cordelia took a deep breath and then sat at the table, across from Molly. "It's okay. Do you want to talk about?"
"Oh, no. It's nothing new really. Just seemed to hit me harder than usual tonight for some reason. I wouldn't mind a nice chat though." Then, seeing the apprehensive and slightly irritated look on Cordelia's face she hurried to add. "I promise not to scold. I hate to admit it, because I worry about him so much already, but you were right, even if you did express it in a rather. . . but that's not important."
Cordelia studied her for a moment and finally gave a small nod. "A chat. Okay."
However, neither of them seemed to know what to say to one another, so the room was silent for a long time. Finally, Molly said a bit hesitantly, "Harry seems very taken with you."
"I guess so. I get the feeling sometimes that he wishes I was. . . well, you know."
"Sirius?" Cordelia nodded, and Molly continued. "I don't know, he seems to be doing very well. Much better than I expected to be honest. I would imagine that's because of you."
Cordelia shook her head. "He's not. He hides it well most of the time, but I can tell. I mean, please, after Angel I can pretty much read anyone. Still, if you watch him closely, you'll see it too. Sometimes when he's laughing he gets this look on his face like, 'What am I DOING? I shouldn't be LAUGHING!' Also, whenever I mention California, or my friends, he kind of panics and says something to the effect of, 'You're not going to leave TOO, are you?' "
"What have you done about it?"
"Nothing. I tried to talk to him about it once, right after I got here, but he got really mad at me and I couldn't stand it, so I've left him alone. I figure he's got to let it out eventually, and when he does, I'll be there."
Molly gazed at the young woman across from her, a new understanding shining in her eyes. She spoke softly. "You really care for him don't you?"
Cordelia nodded vigerously. "Absolutely. I know I haven't known him very long, but I would do almost anything for that kid."
Molly chuckled. "I noticed."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I like Dumbledore, I really do, it's just, I can't help but feel that some of the descisions he made led to Sirius' death, and I know Harry feels that way too. I'd like to keep it from happening again. Besides, it could have been SO much worse. The kids could have been killed too. I know Dumbledore knows that, but I'm not sure he gets that keeping things from all of them, not just Harry, is the problem, not the solution. If it were up to me. . ."
"If it were up to you?"
"It's not my place. They're not my children."
"Earlier you said-"
"I know what I said, but when I'm angry like that I tend to revert to the sixteen year old me. And I was witch then, too. Just a different kind than you are."
It was Molly's turn to laugh then, and she did, but when she stopped she looked at Cordelia for a moment, thinking. She took a deep breath, hoping very much that she would never regret what she was about to say. "It could be nice to have the opinion of someone outside the family. I think I might to be too close. I want to keep my children safe, but sometimes the fact that I'm their mother keeps me from doing that. All my maternal instincts are screaming to pack them up and ship them of to Antarctica and keep them safe, but I know I can't."
"Well, you could, but it wouldn't work. You can't keep a child safe from everything, forever. If he doesn't die being born, he'll be kidnapped by an old enemy and taken to a hell dimension."
At Mrs. Weasley's confused look, Cordelia quickly covered her little slip. "Hehe. Just a saying, you know. An example. Look, if you want my opinion, and even if you don't, you should let Ron and Ginny join the Order along with Harry. Hermione too. I'm not saying send them on missions, but let them come to meetings, tell them what's going on. They're always getting into the thick of things anyway, they might as well be as prepared as they can."
Molly considered that. Although it hadn't been what she wanted to hear, she had been expecting it. As much as she hated it, she was beginning to suspect that Cordelia was right. That her children had been right. They should be in the Order. She smiled thinly and said, "Maybe. I'll discuss it with Arthur."
Cordelia was shocked. She honestly had been expecting Molly to disagree with her wholeheartedly. Then, pushing her conscience aside until later she told a little white lie. "If it makes you feel any better, I was involved with this sort of thing when I was their age, except I was on active duty. And I'm still alive."
Molly smiled a real smile this time. "Well, that's enough of the heavy stuff. Tell me about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do? What about your friends?"
"Oh. Well, um, I don't really have friends anymore. Except for Harry and Remus."
"Really now? What about that Angel person? Or, let's see, Giles was it?"
Cordelia felt tears coming to her eyes and she looked down at her hands to keep them from being seen. "They're in California."
Molly chuckled. "I know that dear, but you can always floo there. Or take one of those um, hairpains?"
"Airplanes. I can't go back. I just. . . can't."
Molly couldn't help but feel that there was a story there, but she could tell the other woman didn't want to talk about it, so she changed the subject. "I couldn't help but notice that you were rather concerned about Remus as well as Harry. Not to mention you two seemed awfully chummy this afternoon. Fancy him, do you?"
Cordelia's head snapped up and she said, "What! No, I don't. I really, really don't."
"Really? I was sure you did. You couldn't do much better. He's a good man."
"I know that. I like Remus a lot. But I'm not, he's just, I don't . . . I'm in love with someone else."
"Really? Well then why aren't you with him? Or why isn't he with you?"
Cordelia was just about to answer when something occured to her. Doyle said they didn't send guardians that the guardees knew were dead, but that didn't make sense in this case. In her world, people came back from the dead all the time. Darla had done it. Angel himself had done it. Hell, Buffy had done it twice. Why couldn't she? Why in the hell wasn't she with Angel?
No matter what Doyle said, she knew Angel needed her. Just like she needed him.Was she being punished for last year, for Connor, for Lilah? But that wasn't her fault! Suddenly, she was exhausted, more tired than she could ever remember being, and even the hard mattress upstairs sounded inviting.
In a daze, Cordelia stood and was heading for the stairs and bed when she heard Mrs. Weasley speak once more, as if from far away.
"Oh, I'm sorry I offended you. I didn't mean to be nosy. Please accept my apology, Miss Chase."
Cordelia stopped and turned slowly to face the woman at the table. She gave her a weak smile and said softly, in a voice thick with unshed tears, "You didn't offend me. I'm just. . .tired. I'm going to bed." She moved toward the the stairs again and then stopped once more. "You can call me Cordelia, if you want too. Goodnight Mrs. Weasley."
"Molly. Goodnight Cordelia."
Cordelia climbed stiffly up the stairs and into her bed, still lost in thought. Normally, she didn't believe in punishment, but it was the only reason she could think of for being kept away from everyone. That didn't really make sense though. If the PTBs had wanted to punish her, surely they wouldn't have given her the final visit like they did. Which brought her back again to, "So, why am I not with Angel?" Then Cordelia did something she had only done twice before, when Xander cheated on her with Willow, and when that man impregnated her with demon spawn. She buried her head in her pillow and cried herself to sleep.
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In another dimension, Doyle sat watching the goings on at the Weasley household on a tv not unlike the one that had first shown Harry to Cordelia. With him was a woman with long, dark hair.
"Doyle, this is not good. She's starting to get suspicious. You shouldn't be sending her those dreams."
"I want her to be suspicious. He won't be alone, Angel and the others will help research what's going on. Cordelia will have to figure it out by herself. She'll need the extra time."
"Dumbledore would . . ."
"Yes, Dumbledore would. However, after seeing what he's got planned to test her, I doubt Queen C is going to be feeling too kindly towards old Albus anytime in the near future."
"Old fool. I wish he'd leave well enough alone."
"He's not an old fool!" Doyle said sharply to his companion. "He's right not to trust her. Well, not her specifically, she's fine, but after everything that's happened to Harry Potter because people in the Wizarding World were just a little too trusting, it's good that someone is starting to smarten up. Besides, they'll start getting along eventually."
"Still, I think it's moving too fast. If she figures out what they're supposed to do before he does, your whole plan could fall apart. And I don't think I have to remind you what we'll lose, not to mention what happens to your precious Cordelia if we bungle up another assignment. They're still angry about the Jasmine debacle."
"Which was NOT our fault. How were we supposed to know some nutty Higher Power would like my idea a little TOO much? Damn her and her well-thought-out plans. She just hitched a ride. We had nothing to do with it. Course, if she hadn't, we could have sent Cordelia to Harry when we were supposed to and we might not have so much work to do now."
"You know that, I know that, but the bosses don't care. If this goes wrong, we're dead." Doyle raised his eyebrow and she hit him on the arm. "You know what I mean. I'm just worried." The woman blinked back tears and looked down at her hands.
Noticing this, Doyle reached out and lifted her chin with his hand. He wiped the tears away and said softly, "Don't. They'll both figure it out at exactly the same time. I'm not going to let you down. It's gonna be okay." He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. "I promise, Jen."
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Hehehe. Just a tiny little cliffhanger for you there. And yeah, I know I promised the beginning of Dumbledore's "diabolical" plans in this chapter, but this just flowed so well that I decided to go with it. Anyway, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, chapter three has been heavily edited in regards to what exactly Doyle told Dumbledore and co. about the guardian angel system in general, and him and Cordelia in particular. The changes will be important later in the story, so I suggest going back and reading that part of the chapter.
Next chapter: Snarky Cordy comes back when Queen C rips someone a new one at King's Cross Station. Harry, Cordy, and a couple of surprises head to Hogwart's, and Dumbledore sets the first stage of his plan in motion (promise).
Thanks to: Thsutton, Eternal Dragon 101, Tap Dancing Widow, blackswolfs900, chicklepea, cyndur, Olafr, rcaqua, and The Lady Morgaine for their wonderful reviews. Loved them all, and they are what inspired me to get this chapter out so quickly.